Introducing Mute Math!

I learned of that band name from one of Chad's buddies. So, I went to youtube to check out some of the group's videos and gosh...I'm really mesmerized especially by the "Typical" video. I would classify Mute Math as artistic rock. Their Transformers theme is so Picasso! And the drumming is wicked :)

The music video of "Typical" is truly a work of aesthetic genius. I never get tired watching it and after 10 times over, I still get amused by it. This sort of reverse narrative had been experimented by other bands before, notably Coldplay in their song "The Scientist". But, what was unique about Mute Math's video is that it's not only the singer that is doing it, the entire band is playing the song backwards for the video! Speaking of drumming backwards, playing the guitar chords backwards and singing backwards plus coordinating all of them together...that is really crazy.Great effort by the group in creating such a creative masterpiece and it's not easy to go against the common flow of brain thoughts. Lol, rewind the video and ta-dah! Awesome effects with many stuff on the screen defying the law of gravity. What makes it even more interesting is that even in reverse, some of the stuff that is reproduced make sense as they did in the forward time version. To prove that it is not a fluke, Mute Math performed their song backwards in the Jimmy Kimmel show. Of course the audiences were bewildered with what they perceived as totally random acts on stage by the band and the singer uttering foreign language..lol. I watched both the forwarded and rewind version of that live performance and I must say I was very confused at first in determining which was actually the real video.

In any case, I shall be looking forward to their new second album which is scheduled to come out in September this year.

CF meeting

Woah! It's been quite hectic during these few days with assignments to be completed and club meetings to attend. As usual, there is an overflowing amount of law books to read, digest and understand. I wanna blog but I always ended up having something more crucial to do first..lol. Anyways, yesterday was the Christian Fellowship meeting. There was a clash with the impac gathering night but I chose to go for CF instead..haha. It's kinda cool to know extra people plus make some new friends and yea, the worship team had some nice musical equipment. The drums set is the Pearl traveler set and it seems that they have a place to store it. They have two crashes and the right. In fact, their set is better than impac's one..lol.

Fellowship time was great and today is more of an introductory session. Sermon only starts next week. The CF group is rather diverse..there are Africans, Chinese and Indians and people coming from all parts of Malaysia. The hilarious things is that the leader of the cell group I'm attached to shares the same name with my bro. Friday's the cell group day.

In any case, I'm so not looking forward for the weekend with so many things to settle! But as usual, Stan would put them away until the very last minute....

Chad Blondel and Banting

Eric, my law senior invited us to church today. I was kinda glad that someone invited cos I've been waiting for that for quite a long time already. It's nice to have a van to fetch us there. The van went to Nilai College to pick up a couple of people before heading to Banting, somewhere near Klang. It's quite a distance from Inti, taking bout 40 minutes. Banting is certainly a small town and the church there looks like a family church from the outside. But when I walked inside, it was woah! Totally different from the outside as it's equipped with modern facilities and there are lots of youth that are basically urban lads. On second thought, that's because they are all from either Inti or Nilai UC..lol! Yea, quite a number from the Inti Christian Fellowship are also there. It seems that the more English oriented ones would go to Banting while the Chinese speaking one would go to another one.

Anyways, the church had a band visiting from Australia today, Chad Blondel. Very awesome stuff from there, especially the electric guitarist! Chad the lead singer had a great voice, the drummer is very solid on the drums that didn't contain toms and the bassist was very noticeable with the neat sound of his bass guitar. After the service, I went to purchase album and the whole band was nice to autograph the CD. I also had a couple of photos taken with them :)

Haha..pretty cool lar to have some vibrant Christian youths around Inti. I'm looking forward for the youth meeting on Wednesday!

More thoughts on UCL final 08

This is my personal experience watching the Champions League final at a kopitiam in Malaysia..haha..(btw, I wouldn't be sitting there watching the grand finale if not for certain decisions that I made earlier this year. So in a way, I was kinda glad..) Since street party ended around 1 am, there were quite a huge turnout of people watching the match at mamak stalls and coffee shops outside Inti. I went to one that had a giant screen with my law classmates. The area was already half filled, but we managed to get a place at the back with an quite an excellent view of the screen. There claps of cheers even at the kopitiam as the players emerge from the tunnel. The atmosphere is set as the starting whistle is blown.

The whole match is an emotional yo-yo rollercoaster for any Man Utd fan. Ronaldo's goal at the 26th minute was particularly pleasing since United drew first blood and still had chance if they were to concede one. Whenever a red shirt misses, there are sighs of frustrations and whenever a blue shirt misses, there are sighs of relieves. I was hoping that United should just park bus, hold out for the match and maybe wait for a counter attack on the second. When Chelsea pop the equalizer in through Lampard, the tensions rose. It was the Chelsea fans' turn to cheer. I had expected them to equalize but not so soon before half-time. The situation where Man Utd had one hand on the trophy already has now changed to an equal playing field instead.

In the second half, I think there were more sighs of relieves and I was beginning to worry when the game started to stretch to extra time. In such a situation, Chelsea always had a chance since they could remain concentrated for a long period of time. There were a couple of skirmishes on the field with the large one happening minutes before the final extra time whistle. Of course with Chelsea reduced to one man, I was hoping that the ball is in Man Utd's court to nick in a last minute goal. But I am equally glad with the Chelsea fans that the match went to penalties to settle the differences once and for all. Paradoxically however, moving into penalties meant the dreaded moments of unimaginable tension for both players and fans. Probably the penalty would also show how much any of team would regret for failing to score with the earlier chances. One thing on my mind was whether van der Sar could emulate his 3 consecutive saves against Chelsea in the Community shield.

I kinda foresee Ronaldo would end up shooting the ball straight at Cech especially when he hesitated for a moment. The feeling was horrible. The irony is that Carrick could convert his while Ronaldo misses his. Now, Chelsea has one hand on the cup and all they got to do is to score and if United want to win, they have to hope the unlikely probability that Chelsea would screw up twice. Nani's turn was the first point of climax since if he misses, Chelsea don't even need a 5th taker. It was a relief to see the ball hit the back of the net although Cech had guess the position right. When Terry step up to kick, I couldn't bear to watch it. I could already imagine he and his blue crew lifting the Champions League. There was a huge swell of disappointment that Ronaldo would be the villain of the night after his heroic headed goal during play time. Destiny dictates otherwise and when the ball flew off the post, the United fans screamed and punch the air with delight. At that point, I really wondered when the pinball exchange would finally end. It certainly don't look to end at the point when Anelka is the taker. As a striker, there's a 70-90% probability that he would just put it past van der Sar. It was destiny at work once again plus some great goalkeeping skills from the giant Dutch that settled the difference. The kopitiam erupted with the cheers of the Man Utd fans as they danced with joy. Strangers high-fived each other and celebrated the moment. The tables were banged in an ecstatic manner. The delighted faces of the Man Utd players as they sprint across the field to meet van der Sar is simply priceless. Outside the streets of Inti, United fans drove their cars and circled around the shops, shouting and waving the Man Utd jersey and scarves. Lol, I bet they won't cheer that loud even if Malaysia were to qualify for the World Cup!

I would say this is probably the best football match I had ever watched in my life. This match epitomises the beautiful game at its best. If any one had ever doubted the beautiful game, they clearly had not seen this match. The raw emotions run freely like mountain waters from the tears of relief in Ronaldo's eyes, the glint of jubilation in van der Sar's expression to John Terry quietly weeping in sorrow for the tragic turn of events. That night in Moscow is almost similiar to the one in Nou Camp 1999, where Man Utd won over Europe in a dramatic fashion. United fans have waited for this moment for a long time. I had witnessed Liverpool, Barcelona and AC Milan gracing the halls of victory. We came close last season but was swept aside shamefully by AC Milan in the San Siro. Nevertheless, it foretold of the sign of things to come. And that dream was realised in 2008. The feeling is just indescribable as Giggs and Ferdinand lifted the trophy together. I shall always remember that Thursday morning when I sat there to witness history in the making. Glory glory Man Utd!

Kings of Europe

Manchester United conquered Europe in 2008 on a rainy night in Moscow

Fate. That's the word to describe the events that had transpired in the Luzhniki Stadium. First, Champions of England and now, Kings of Europe. United went from heaven, to hell and further down hell again and then bursting back to glory again in a dramatic twist of events.

United's starting line up is probably the best 11 available to Fergie. There are no disputes regarding who should lead the attack or who should be at the back. The tricky selection is at the midfield, especially at the flanks, left to be precise. At this point in time, Giggs no longer starts at the left as he is used to and he is now more of a sub. Many would probably be wondering whether Park Ji Sung or Nani would be placed there instead. In the end, it looks like Fergie decided to deploy Hargreaves at his secondary role at the right since he has performed rather well in that area for the past few Champions League games. Not only that, he could help out with Brown to shut down Malouda. Ronaldo is placed on the left hand side, and it ain't a problem for him since he is versatile enough to play in any of the flanks. Hargreaves definitely has to be in the starting 11 since he is the other player other than van der Sar and Giggs to have played in a final. I'm really pleased with the way Fergie had arranged his starting 11.

Chelsea on the other hand played Drogba as the solo striker and being supported by a center midfield trio of Makalele, Ballack and Lampard. These 3 dominated the midfield extremely well with their outstanding physical strength and stamina and it's not surprising that these 3 would overrun Carrick and Scholes very easily. I was rather surprised by the inclusion of Malouda because he hasn't really played that frequently in the season, so there are some problems with his match fitness.

I would say the first 30 minutes of the game is controlled very well by Man Utd. There were some nice attempts, but just that the finishing is not there. Chelsea's control of the centre midfield is extremely overpowering and the only way United could attack is focusing on the flanks and floating the ball into the box for a header. In this game, Ronaldo really worked his socks off to provide vital crosses but it always end up with Hargreaves trying to knock it in with his head. Hargreaves is not well-known for his heading and so, these chances ended up wasted. But Hargreaves did provide a decent attacking build up in his flank too. In the 26th minute, a brilliant one-two exchange between Brown and Scholes resulted in a beautiful cross into the box in which an unmarked Ronaldo gleefully headed it past Cech. Essien was the guilty party there for ball watching and not putting the pressure onto Ronaldo. When Ronaldo is unmarked, you can be sure that the Portugese maestro would work something out of it.

Just before the half-time whistle was blown, Chelsea capitalised on some poor communication and mistake of Man Utd's defence to equalize. Van der Sar had a slight slip on the grass and was just fractionally off to stop Lampard from putting one in. Of course, Ferdinand's desperate sliding effort was futile. It's not the first time that Ferdinand and van der Sar got confused with each other..haha but still, Man Utd has the best defence in the league :) At the second half, Chelsea looked refreshed with determination and kept bringing the game to Man Utd. This is the difficult thing when playing against Chelsea cos teams really can't kill off the Blues. Dudes like Arse-nal concede defeat when they felt that their current opponents are pawning them. Not Chelsea. They can be 10 man down or 2 goals down, but they won't stop fighting until the 90 minutes is up. They are mentally resillient (even more than Man Utd at times) to the point that you'll probably ask "why can't they just die and get it over with?". Cech was fantastic between the post and it was clear that his superb handling stopped a two consecutive vicious shots chance by United. If anyone else had been at the post other than him, Chelsea would have been 0-2 down.

Both sides could not find a way past each other at the end of 90 minutes and it went to extra time and even after extra time, nobody could get the extra goal. Chelsea went close a few times and United would have certainly scored the winning goal had it not been bravely headed away by Terry. And yes, towards the end of extra time, something stupid just had to happen. It's a face off between the two biggest men on the pitch Vidic and Drogba and there is no love lost between them..lol. I was kinda worried with Vidic getting involved there because he had already picked up a yellow card. However, it was not him who gets the red marching orders. It was Drogba being sent off for a second yellow on something that is quite noob or even childish- a bitch slap on Vidic. This meant that with the match heading to penalties, Chelsea had lost a viable taker.

Like most of the previous seasons, it's difficult to separate Man Utd and Chelsea. It has to come to the dreaded penalty shootout. Tevez and Carrick (he whacked the ball well this time..yay!) converted it well for the first two. When it came to Ronaldo, I just had this shitty feeling that he'll miss or shoot straight at the keeper to box it away. And I was right. At that point of time, United fans were desperately hopeful that van der Sar could at least save one or that Chelsea make a mistake. No such opportunity and when it came down to Chelsea's 5th taker, it was 90% sure that United would definitely lose the title as the 5th taker just needs to beat the keeper to finish the game once and for all. It was in Chelsea's hands with just a few metres away. Ronaldo is already crestfallen, head hung in shame for that horrible miss and would have trouble forgiving himself for that mistake. He could only hope a miracle to redeem his mistake. Terry steps up to deliver the final blow, a symbolic gesture where many past sides have always done to put the captain there for the final kill. BUT he missed........with the ball whacking the post and away. United fans all over the world looked at disbelief at the sudden lifeline provided. A glimmer of hope has emerged and this drama just gets more interesting. 5 shots and still even at the end! It's penalty shootout sudden death style now. It was a relief for Utd fans whenever a Red Shirt converted his chance. Somebody has got to be the "bad" guy and the hero in the shootout and that unfortunate honour of bad guy fell to Anelka as van der Sar brilliantly punched and deflected the ball away. The tall Dutch has done it again! The hero of Old Trafford! What a drama! What a poetic finale yet again by Man Utd. They just had to win it the hard and special way :)

Chelsea hit the woodwork twice with van der Sar clearly beaten on that two occasions. That's really tragic and as I've said from the beginning, it's really fate. I'm very sure that Terry wasn't supposed to be on the list as the 5th taker and this was confirmed by Ten Cate in an interview. The planned script of symbolism didn't turn out well for Chelsea and they were made to pay for it. The question of course being asked is that if Drogba had still being on field, would Terry be even taking the shot? It's also tragic on Terry's part that the captain had to play as one of the bad guys in the penalty shootout. Lol, there is no doubt that Ronaldo would be so so so relieved that he got away with it and not having something to haunt him for the rest of his career. For Ronaldo, the question would be, would United fans remember him for the beautiful and vital goal that he scored in the first half or his failure to convert his chance in the penalty shootout? For me, I would rather remember and pay credit to the Portugese maestro for his goal since without it, Man Utd wouldn't even be shooting penalties.

Unlike Chelsea, Man Utd's romantic reverence for symbolism was further enhanced with this epic victory. The Busby Babes would have been proud of this United team for their European achievements. It's a fitting tribute for those that passed away in the Munich disaster 50 years ago, a proud moment for members of Busby's first European champions squad 40 years ago in 1968 and it was approximately 10 years since Fergie first tasted European victory. Paul Scholes was battered hard on his face early on in the game but the veteran was determined to remain on the field to enjoy the moment as much as possible. Ryan Giggs achieved his 759th appearance and he did his part for United's victory by scoring the last penalty kick to ensure that van der Sar's save meant something. As van der Sar punched Anelka's shot away, he screamed and raised his arms in celebration while the rest of the United team skidded across the pitch in jubilation. Under the raining sky in Moscow, Manchester United lifted Europe in their hands.

The Road to Moscow

Paul fires Manchester United into the Final

Manchester United and Chelsea face each other off for the final match of the season at the Luzhniki Stadium tomorrow. The holy grail of European Club football, the Champions League is up for grabs in the first all-English final in the tournament. United performed well in the group stages, garnering 5 wins and a draw while Chelsea had 3 wins and 3 draws. In the knockout stages, Man Utd overcame Lyon, Roma and Barcelona to seal the final spot. It was an excellent run-up to the final with Man Utd remaining undefeated for the whole course of tournament.

The greatest hurdle that United had to face was probably Barcelona in the semi-finals. The Catalans had a huge arsenal of talents at their disposal. One thing that probably gave United a slight edge is that Barca is currently undergoing through one of their most shittiest moment. Paul Scholes' screamer goal at Old Trafford and a clean sheet were enough to send United to their 3rd final in history. I think there would be some relief at Old Trafford that the penalty miss at Nou Camp did not return to haunt them. Like Giggs, Scholes is also a loyal servant of Man Utd. Much has been debated on the impact that he had on the team this season. A few of his performance had been lacklustre and recently, there's concern over some of his poor judgement on the field. These poor decision makings are usually his tendency to lunge into a player at the wrong time. It's kinda funny really cos Scholes has always being known to be a quiet guy outside the game but he could act savagely on the field at times.

Some pointed out that Scholes' time in the first team is coming to an end and that he should pass the baton to folks like Anderson and Hargreaves. However, on that semi-final night where it matters most, Scholes stood up to the task and rolled back the years to remind the fans why he is a Man Utd legend in the first place. In his younger days, his trademark scoring style and bossing the attacking midfield is like Lampard and Gerrard. Scholes' moment of brilliant in the form of the thunderbolt outside the box tells us why he deserves the midfield spot in the Final at Moscow. Paul was unfortunate in missing out from appearing in the 1999 Final through suspension. Now he can bury that ghost.

Who will get the last laugh at Europe? Will Ferguson get his 2nd Champions League title to his name or will Roman get his long lost unfulfilled wish in Chelsea? I dearly hope that Man Utd won't be mugged like in last year's FA Cup final where they virtually lost the endurance steam against Chelsea and allowed the Blues to pip one in. It seems that Chelsea loves to overexhaust their opponents and then catch them when they are not concentrating. They have peeps that could endure the physical 90 minutes plus extra time with no deficiency in performance. The United team may not be physically intimidating mammoths but I certainly believe that they have more flair and creativity compared to Chelsea.

All the best to Manchester United in Moscow. Hopefully, somebody from Old Trafford is gonna be a hero on 21st May :)

On a side note, below is a rather interesting ironic picture of Luzhniki. I bet Lenin will rise from his grave in shock to see what is happening to his former glorious red commy state.

Behold! Capitalist footie clubs right at Lenin's doorstep

Resupply Complete

I know that I'm supposed to at least start doing a little of my contract law assignment but as of now, I still hadn't get started on question 1. Oh man, slackness at its best..lol. It's hard to pick a pen and start writing when I just have the incentive to slack off and do something else. Anyways, I'm quite pleased with my resupplying activities over the weekend. I managed to get some files and Hitman Blood Money from the Popular bookstore in Bishan.

Of course, the 20% sale in Kino is not to be missed and this time, I grab the books which I failed to buy from the last trip. Btw, can somebody actually tell me where one can get a written hardcover version of the Singapore Constitution? I've tried to find in a few bookstores and even the mighty Kino does not have it except for a analytical version of it. Uhhh..isn't the constitution supposed to be available easily for the public in bookstores? It's citizens' rights to know their rights. What if the uncle don't know how to use internet? Anyways, I was quite disappointed with the variety of law books in Kino. The MPH in Mid-Valley had half a section of about 7 to 10 shelves dedicated for law while Kino had only about 3-4. I can't find Smith and Hogan Criminal Law in Kino at all. Zzzz..the biggest spaces were allocated of course to business law. Nevertheless, I still managed to pick up something useful from there; 2 quick revision books (contract and constitution) for all those last minute cheat ass learning.

It looks like I'll be carrying more load back to my hostel than I expected. I received a mini-fridge from one of my family friends and yup, this means Stan can finally can store his beloved cheese and some exclusive fridge stuff in his room..lol. Hmm..the only thing I need to consider is how to avoid large crowds on the way back..

Long weekend

Since this weekend has a public holiday attached on Monday, I've decided to pay my mama and bro a visit in Singapore. So yesterday, I shared a taxi with Vei Da and Lawrence's two friends to Seremban bus terminal. But we couldn't get any ticket at an early time slot of 2.30 pm and had to settle for a 4.30 pm bus. While waiting for our bus, me and Vei Da chill out and makan at KFC first. The bus ticket says for 4.30 pm but as usual, Malaysia time must plus 30 minutes late. We got so frustrated waiting that we had the tendency to jump into any bus that is heading to Johore. It happened once where we settled nicely at the seats only to realise that the bus is heading to Bentong and not Larkin. Anyways, the bus that we boarded was already three quarters filled with people already.

The checkpoint is not that crowded since it's already so late at night. I took public transport this time instead of taxi since I wasn't carrying anything heavy. Besides that, I'm counting my money now in terms of Malaysian Ringgit and not dividing it half in terms of Sg Dollars. Other than visitation, got a couple of things to shop but I'm just annoyed that I left my packet of Sg currencies in my room. Darn, now I have to borrow some money temporarily. Kino is having 20% discount this weekend and I may consider getting some original law books there too. Oh, and there's some important footie matches and programmes to be downloaded for archiving purposes and the super high speed in Sg is useful in getting it done within a few hours. Lol..looks like Sg is gonna be my resupply depot in the future for raw materials.

Zen Micro Obsolete

Argghh! Zen Micro doesn't work with Windows Vista. There's a way to get it to work but it's gonna involve lots of hassle. First, there's a need to upgrade a firmware but that involves wiping the entire hard drive of carefully compiled mp3s. Even after upgrading, the best thing that could happen (from what I read from the forum boards) is that the Zen Micro becomes something like a thumb drive. The Zen Media Player may not function well in uploading songs into the player. Awww, my trusty zen micro has always worked well with my XP desktop! Looks like I won't be able to upload songs into my mp3 in the future. Of course, the other option is to get a new mp3 player and that's gonna cost another bomb with my savings. If I do need to get one, I'm looking between Sandisk's Sansa and Apple's Ipod Nano.

On another note, it looks like I'm gonna have a ton of books to read up in my study of law. The seniors had a second hand book sale today and I managed to get a couple of them at a bargained price. It seems as though its a tradition in Inti for seniors to sell second hand books and if I'm not wrong, this would confirm that exams are on a module basis instead of the crazy year end A-bomb. I had a brief flip through with some of books and I would say constitution would be a very interesting read even though most of the students loath it...lol.

Prison Break Season 3

WARNING : Spoilers Ahead! The writer will not be liable for any climax bursting moment that occurred..lol. I just finished watching, so wanna input some thoughts regarding some interesting stuff in it.

Prison Break's 3rd Season was cut short to a mere 13 episodes due to the writer's strike that happened last year. Nevertheless, Season 3 still contained certain thrilling elements. This time, prison Sona in Panama is unlike Fox River in America. If one thinks that the overlord practice of Bellick and his lackeys is bad enough, they hadn't seen Sona yet. It is a place devoid of any sort of morality. The only rules available are created by a sole dictator called Lechero and enforced by his small band of gang through terror. The infamous symbolism of the chicken feet is the last thing that some unfortunate men saw in the prison. The loss of life through the trial of ring of death is considered to be legitimate.

It's interesting though to see the hunter and the hunted locked up together. Bellick and Mahone looked pale in comparison to their previous position when in captivity. One thing that struck me though, I'm not sure if the rest of the viewers realised, is that Lechero resembled Shakespeare's Othello especially in the later parts of the season. T-Bag is cast into the role of Iago to sow the seeds of distrust so as to make Lechero feel paranoid and suspicious especially of his deputy Sammy. I would say Sammy would only be a half Cassio because there ain't much being touched on the romantic side. Creativity had some part to play here in casting a subtle Desdemona. I would assume that it's the prostitute who dressed as a nun to enter the compound. Thus, the supposed chastity of "Desdemona" (as symbolised by a nun) is juxtaposed and fused ironically with the unholy image of a whore. The final scene of Lechero being smothered with a pillow by T-Bag reminisces a rather interesting twisted version of events from Shakespeare's play. The original Shakespeare Othello actually smothers innocent Desdemona to death with a pillow. And yet in here, "Othello" is (again ironically) being smothered with a pillow too by his betrayer. I would say "T-Bag Iago" completes his sinister plot even better and more vicious than the original Iago. He takes over "Lechero Othello's" general position and even gains the affection of the unholy Desdemona. Woah, that's really an interesting perspective to put into the show. Top marks to the producers and writers for the literary subtlety.

The ending of Season 3 suggests that there are more loose ends to tie up and questions to be answered of the mysterious Company. Whistler certainly didn't appear as simple as he is and I think many viewers would probably be puzzled with the dubious cooperation between Mahone and him. Will Michael get to see Sara again? What happens to Sucre in Sona? Will Lincoln join his brother in the crusade against the company or will he finally settle down for a tranquil life? Well, I think we can only find out months later..haha.

Man Utd Premier League Champions 07/08 !!!

Vice-captain Ryan Giggs lifts Man Utd's 10th Premier League title

Manchester United have done it again! The stakes were high for the top two teams in the Premier League table and both had the chance to be champions. In the end, it was United who prevailed and did more than enough to secure the title. Chelsea succumbed to a draw with a last minute strike from Bolton and this left them 2 points off the leaders in the final table. This meant that even if United had drawn with Wigan, they would still be champions. I guess that's fate huh..lol.

Honestly, Wigan gave a commendable effort in making it hard for Man Utd. They did not sit back and let the bigger team bully them. They constantly worked the defence and attempted a couple of decent shots. Man Utd were awarded a penalty when Rooney was brought down in the box. Ronaldo calmly stepped up to the task with perhaps, the failure at Nou Camp still lingering in his mind. Once again, the tension is intense but the Portugese golden boy slammed one into the goal to the delight of the Red fans, proving that the missed chance at Barca is merely an anomaly. His 31st goal matched Alan Shearer's tally as joint top scorer in a Premier League season. The temperature went one notch up when Chelsea led 1-0 at the Bridge at the 62nd minute. However, when Ryan Giggs coolly slotted the ball past Chris Kirkland in the 8oth minute, it was certain that Man Utd would retain their title and be Premier League champions for the 10th time. What a marvelous way to wrap up the victory! I would say that it's a poetic victory and jubilation. The loyal Man Utd servant matched the record of Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearance for the club. He will surpass that number and into the history books if he plays in the Moscow final on 21st May. Gigg's first eleven appearances had been limited in the past few weeks but it was he who had been leading the troops for more than 3/4 of the season in the absence of Gary Neville. Last season, he lifted the trophy alongside with Neville. This season, he stood solo to lift the trophy, an honourable position to be in that is reserved for the captain. I think it's a truly special moment for him, to be in a place where past United skippers like Keane and Schmeichel had been.

The start of this season had been particularly rocky due to the lack of goals. Most of the time had been spent chasing after Arse-nal. Disappointments in the season include double derby losses against Man City and some shocking loss and draws. When the Gooners did slip up at the last quarter of the season, United looked to be in prime position to win the title easily. Unfortunately, slip ups and draws at Boro and Blackburn coupled with the lost at the Bridge enabled the Blues to catch up to create a last day drama. Nevertheless, it's quite a good league season for United overall and they managed to achieve a couple of big wins against teams like Newcastle and Liverpool. Apart from the Carling Cup, performances in the FA Cup and Champions League were probably one of the best in Man Utd history. With one trophy in the cabinet for this season already, it's time to gun for the second one in Moscow.

Last Day Drama

Over the past couple of years, last day dramas are usually reserved for the relegated teams. This season still contain some heated battle of the tables and around a month or two ago, as many as 8 teams were fighting for survival. Some put in the effort and managed to get some vital points from unlikely sources. Bolton now are virtually safe while Fulham pulled themselves from guaranteed relegation to a point where they have a chance to stay at the Premier League. Nevertheless, Fulham still had to battle with Reading and Birmingham to avoid being sucked into the unfortunate remaining two relegation places.

Interestingly, this is the first time since many years where the last day would decide where the title would go. Lol, probably the bus that carries the Premier League trophy had to be on standby to be ready for any sudden fluctuations. Man Utd is still in control and as long as they win their game, they win the title regardless of Chelsea's result. However, Wigan must not be underestimated though since they did cause even Chelsea to drop points. I'm sure United would have the resilience to complete the final lap of glory. For starters, the guy wearing the number 7 red shirt whose name starting with R should finish off the opponents as quickly as possible..lol. All the best to the Man Utd squad in their final match of the season this Sunday!

Curious Questions

After going through the law syllabus, I’ve got a few comments on the stuff that I’m about to learn. In comparison with my previous arts subjects, I would say Law requires the skill from both History and English Literature. From history, it requires the tenacity of memorization and application of dates, names and events. There is a need in drawing out certain conclusions from the labyrinth of information that is available. Just like in History, mere memorization won’t get one very far as there is a strong need for understanding too. From English Literature, the value of words and the weight attached to each word must be analyzed thoroughly and not be taken for granted. Spontaneous quick thinking and sharpness for details are elements present in both studies. Law may not be as flamboyant as Literature in allowing any sort of extreme imaginative claims but I like to see it as a topic of subjectivity rather than black and white objectivity.

I heard this repeated a couple of times that the Law is used to regulate society’s behaviour and to protect the individual being in the country. Sounds simple enough but it’s kinda scary thinking deeper about “regulate society’s behaviour” and how that may be abused with the use of enforcement. Of course there’s an implied assumption in it that men are savages without the chains of regulations. In criminal law, there’s stuff like Actus Reus and Mens Rea – the act and the intention. Lol, that is pretty similar to the Kantian ethics ramblings that I learn before.

I’m very curious to see if the Law has an answer for stuff like abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research and these stuff go beyond legal or moral matters. Why is it that I may be a criminal doing Act A in Country Z but not in Country Y? Is morality a guideline in creating Laws or does power provide the final authority? How can something be morally wrong but legally right? How can the Law be applied or does it even exist if society descends into the chaotic tapestry of war? Should we obey the law if we live in a world such as the one in George Orwell’s 1984?

First Day at University

I had to wake up earlier today at bout 8.45 am for my 10 am Malaysian Studies class. I thought that I would be alone in the class but to my surprise, Vincent was there and it seems that he's taking the law degree too! Gosh, I was with him on the same group for two orientation nights and I had no idea that he was my classmate until this morning. Well, I got to know about other classmates like Keith and a couple of others in the Malaysian Studies lecture. Looking at the content, its quite a lot of stuff to do with presentations, assignments and test all bundled up together for the final evaluation. Of course, the good thing is that it's not like the A or O levels where the final examination is the be it and be all. Nothing much happened in the class except some introduction and group forming. My group chose Abdul Razak's foreign policy since I studied it from my dear Southeast Asian history classes. So, my SEA textbook comes in handy afterall..lol.

The final tally that I found out about my law degree class is 11. There are 7 boys and 4 gals. Today's law subject is on legal skills, so the lecture is actually at the moot court itself! Again, not much lesson going on as there are more introduction instead. Hmmm..it seems that Mr. Harpajan (my law lecturer) is most familiar with my name..haha. Anyways, I think that there would be more entering the class since even on actual lesson day, many more are still enrolling in the hall. Arghh..tomorrow is the worst day of the week since class starts at 8 am in the morning for 2 hrs and then there's straight 4 hrs of lessons after 2 hrs of break. The good thing about my timetable is that all stuff ends at 4 pm in the afternoon and on friday, it ends at 12 pm. The bad thing is that there are numerous chunks of 4 hrs lessons. Lol, the jury is still considering whether Singapore education is more stressful or law education in Malaysia is. I guess not many Malaysian Chinese nowadays would consider doing Law since its easier to make the big bucks from the medicine line. As for me, I'm a student of arts, humanity and language...haha. I would fall asleep pondering scientific+mathematical calculations and terms but could stay awake with eager anticipation when reading a historical or literature text. Oh well, looks like I gotta turn in early tonight too so as not to be late tomorrow.

One win to go

Double blitz from Ronnie to bring his league tally to 30

It was fortunate that the kick off time for the Man Utd match was at 8 pm this time. So, the hostel dining hall or outside shops broadcast the live match and I could pick any place I wan to watch. Even before I manage to settle myself down, Man Utd were already 3-0 up with the latest goal from Tevez at the 26th minute. I watched the replay and gosh, that was a brilliant thunderbolt from Carlos! United had earlier led by 2 goals with a quick 3rd minute goal by Ronaldo and then in the 24th minute, he cheekily used his thighs to guide the ball into the net. Well, this adds on the long list of reasons to justify him as the PFA player of the year for the second time in a row. Now, Ronnie is just 1 goal away from equaling Shearer's record in the Premier League.

When I get my butt warmed up with a drink on the table, Dean Ashton made it 3-1. These sudden roll of events was compounded bizarrely with Nani rolling down on the field and clutching his face. Well, lousy attempt by number 17 because it was clear to everyone in the stadium including himself that he was the guilty one. He felt pissed from Lucas Neill's taunting and decided that he should let Neill know that he means business with his headbutt. The referee also wants to mean business and promptly send him off to an early bath.

United were down one man but I was confident that they will pull through. Perhaps West Ham may pull another goal up but I doubt that they can even draw 3-3. The only thing is that Nani's team mates may feel irritated that they need to play extra hard for the one man deficit which was the result of his stupidity. However, the extra numbers for West Ham don't really matter since they still screw up with such an advantage as seen from their history with Chelsea. I was right but I certainly didn't see United scoring another to make it 4-1. I thought that they would just park bus and let the 45 minutes pass through. Game over for West Ham as Carrick slotted in from outside the penalty slot. Seriously, if a team concedes from Carrick's tame kitten shots, it's just not their day. I think Roma understands that from Carrick's brace last year..lol.

This is another massive result for Man Utd in retaining the title after the disappointment from last week's lost at the Bridge. Now, the ball is at Chelsea's court as they travel to St. James' Park. As I've mentioned before, this ain't gonna be easy for the Blues as Newcastle themselves are at a full swing momentum where they're getting the results. If the Blues fail to get any point there, it's as good as over for them.

Orientation Day 3

On Day 3 which is yesterday, I woke up earlier at about 7.15 am to get ready to have breakfast with my new friends at 8 am in the dining hall. Campus tour is at 9 am. The academic block may look small from the view above, but after walking around, it's really quite big. Besides the main square academic block, there's another extension of classrooms and library at the learning resource building. After campus tour, we're given an introduction talk on the library and its facilities plus also on the online resources available on the Inti network. Quite impressive really, because they have stuff like thesis, academic journals and also a Law article archive. Like in Singapore schools, assignments and lecture notes were uploaded onto the network.

After lunch, there's a talk on career counselling and it's interesting that the university organises seminars and language classes where attendance will all be compiled onto a record certificate. Again, it's something like the SGC down south. In addition to that, every 5 students will be attached to a mentor lecturer who will write a testimonial on the performance of the student at the university. Hmm..I'm just wondering why NYJC is withholding the form tutor's testimonial from being given out. The final talks were given by the big shots in the university management. Apparently, there's alot of stressing on the consequences of plagiarism which Stan of course is aware of, courtesy of reminders from Cambridge and the infamous Project Work Committee. The bottom line is that if you quote alot, make sure you compile your citation like mad. Citation is the lifeblood of research papers and reminds students that they are not such a smart ass to come out with complicated concepts..lol. The funniest talk is the one on the importance of English. The professor gave so much puns and misuse of the English language that I almost had stomach cramps from laughing! There was also stressing on students to use English in the campus no matter how bad they are. From my interaction with various students in the campus, I would say there's a need to brush up the level of English communication among the student population.

I had more opportunity to interact with more people at the orientation games. We were divided into groups that are different from the first day of orientation. During the ice-breaking game, it's kinda funny that I was at the centre of attention again. Most of the people in the group like to call either me or a guy called Vincent coz we had easy to remember English names. It was so frequent that the facilitator actually wondered whether my name or Vincent got called more often. Building the longest line was interesting because me and some of the boys in the group took out our shirts to form the line. Some fella at another group took off his pants also and this left him with his boxers only. By the time they had the animation game, I was really exhausted. I went to have late night supper with Veida and Michael and returned back to the hostel to check out the internet connection. It seems that every hostel block is filled with wireless internet waves and it's also possible to connect through the fat broadband cable as I've discovered today. The speed is not too bad. Normal surfing is way faster than dial-up but getting youtube video is still slower than streamyx in Taiping. But hey, with free broadband access, I can't complain much..lol =p

Orientation Day 1 & 2

I'm finally connected to the net from my university hostel! Haha, the previous 3 days of orientation were kinda fun and tiring at times. On the 29th, I took a bus to Seremban since it's nearer to Nilai than KL. It's my first time at Seremban but I managed to get a taxi to the KTM station. From there I go to the familiar route to Nilai KTM and then to Inti-UC. When I reach my hostel room, I was totally exhausted from carrying the heavy load of electronics. So, stayed overnight and then went to the enrollment hall in the morning at 11pm.

I collected the invoice paper and timetable from the law department office. Apparently, there's some problem with my admission letter since the A' levels results slip that I provide during registration was not as "valid" as the original certificate. There was an insistence on the original cert as I'm told that the A' Level students in Malaysia have received their original certificate. Well, that ain't really my problem because the Singapore MOE is still taking their time to print out the original certs. So, my unconditional admission becomes "conditional" now.

It was nice for the law office to introduce me to one of my classmates, Michael. So, in that way, I wasn't alone in orientation on the first day (yay!). At around 5pm, we were divided into a few groups and had some ice breaking session. It's interesting because my facilitator is an African from Nigeria. Lol, I asked him who is his favourite Nigerian football player and he said it's Jay Jay Okocha. At night there was some crazy newspaper fashion show and I was unfortunately picked as the male model to wear newspapers. Some fella from the group will have to explain what the outfit is and then the male and female model have to do some catwalk. I was glad to be able to pass through the catwalk and to my surprise, my group was declared the runner up for that event.

The next day was a public holiday and student council booked 3 buses to bring students to Jusco in Seremban 2 for a shopping trip. While waiting for the bus, Michael and me made another two new friends, Veida and Wei Jie. At Seremban 2 mall, we were given all the way to 5 o'clock to do what we want. To pass the time, the 4 of us makan and then went to watch movie. We wanted to watch Iron Man but then all the early shows were booked. In the end, we picked a ghost movie, Muoi, which is like a kinda weird combination and co-production between Koreans and Vietnamese. It's the first time I heard of a movie fusion of Koreans and Vietnamese together. The Korean babes in it were hot nevertheless..lol. We walked around aimlessly for about 1 hr before heading back to the bus. Anyways, I manage to get a pillow at Jusco and this means no more sleeping without a head rest!

Afterthat the bus took us to Putra Jaya to have a look at the place and I must say it's really impressive with all the govt buildings there. I get to see the Palace of Justice in front of me for the first time! The road leading to the Prime Minister office emits some form of grandeur aura and it reminds me of the European counterparts of the Brandenburg gate in Germany and the Arc de Triomphe in France. We stopped at Alamanda to have dinner and reached back at the hostel bout 10.30+ pm.