Sunday, 30 March 2008
Continue driving course
Looks like it's gonna be another 1 week hiatus for me again. Yup, I'll be travelling down to my Aunt's place again to continue the course. Till the next time I connect to the net..lol
Friday, 28 March 2008
Chelsea FC coming to Malaysia
Woah..I got a surprise reading this at theStar. That's right, Chelsea FC will be coming down to play in Kuala Lumpur on 29th July. That is interesting..because Man Utd wanna come last year and they got screwed over Asian Cup. Though I don't fancy Chelsea, it's not everyday that one of the big four comes to Southeast Asia. They look set to bring their starry line-up but people like Ben-Haim should watch out..lol. On the other hand, Singapore could play host to Man City in May.
Well, I'll certainly attempt to get my hands on the tickets if I could find the avenue to buy it..haha. Anyways, theStar report contained the rather conspicuous picture between the infamous Khairy and Peter Kenyon holding the Chelsea jersey together. Spot the similiarities there between the both of them?
Well, I'll certainly attempt to get my hands on the tickets if I could find the avenue to buy it..haha. Anyways, theStar report contained the rather conspicuous picture between the infamous Khairy and Peter Kenyon holding the Chelsea jersey together. Spot the similiarities there between the both of them?
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
When cold war becomes hot
In 1989, the Cold War was supposed to end. But it didn't.
The storyline of World in Conflict is set in 1989 when the Soviet Union waged war to prevent her Eastern European satellites from falling. I've finished the campaign about a month ago but only found time to write a review on it now..lol. This real time strategy game draws inspiration from movies such as Red Dawn and notable PC games such as Freedom Fighters and Command and Conquer Red Alert. WiC is unlike many of the traditional RTS which requires players to build up a base, mind resources and create armies. Instead, players are assigned reinforcement points and play only a particular part in the battle. Thus, the need to coordinate with the AI in the mission is rather similiar to the idea in Call of Duty. Of course, unlike Red Alert, WiC does not contain any sort of "out-of-this-world" weapons, chronosphere or tesla coils. The units are based on historically correct military equipment used in the late 1980s such as the Abrams tank, Apache helicopter and troops using M16 and AK 47.
The campaign started off at the edge of Seattle where the Soviets were landing troops at the docks after disguising themselves in cargo ships. Then, there's the defence of Fort Teller in the Cascade Mountains to prevent the SDI to be known as a facade to the Soviets. There were some flashbacks to the European NATO campaign against the Soviets in the early days of the American colonel. And the final part is the counter attack and pushing the Soviets off Seattle. After going through the campaign, one probably wondered how Bannon could rise to rank of Captain in the first place. There's 14 missions altogether and I've completed also all the secondary objectives where they award US service medals with it. The campaign difficulty were generally easy but very fun to play. The more difficult ones are located at the last few missions especially on the one where two locations are needed to be defended simultaneously with the need to assault a base to complete the mission. Missions with specific timer on them could sometimes prove challenging too.
But 14 missions is a lil' short considering the theme has many potentials to expand other than "Seattle conquered-Flashback Europe-Seattle liberated". I would love to see more action in Europe itself and possibly the march to Moscow or something. Actually, if WiC put in more real-life cinematics like Red Alert instead of painted pictures with narration, the campaign fun factor would increase doubly.
Liberate Manhattan and Lady Liberty from the Spetsnaz (Russian Commando)!
Multiplayer in WiC is quite interesting in that it divides players into 4 different roles such as infantry, armour, airforce and artillery. So, players have to coordinate their attacks or defenses with one another. Units were very well developed, with special attacks and smoke screens. For example, the infantry has the M203 grenade barrage while airborne troops have the ability to call down light artillery strikes. Personally, my favourite unit is the Apache with its barrage of anti-tank missiles. Lol..quite fun to watch the heavy tank disintegrate with a few packet of shots.
Gameplay in WiC is quite fast paced and the need for quick decisions. It is unlike however, traditional RTS games which measures how fast you click. WiC focuses more on which kind of units you are using against the opponents, how the artillery is position and how effectively the tactical aid is being used. Tactical aids are also another fun factor in WiC. It's kinda like some sort of super weapons that helps to reduce your opponents to dust or soften a large invasion force. They are stuff like napalm strike, heavy artillery barrage, tactical nuke strike, carpet bombing
and laser-guided bombs. There's a long recharge time for these tactical aids and tactical points are needed to be earned in order to use them.
WiC is graphically awesome with the terrain battleground actually in 3D format. So, one could actually 360 the area, zoom in and out as close as 3rd person view, look up to the sky and enjoy the overall scenery. Too bad my lappy could only play it at low settings in order to get maximum efficient speed. It's kinda strange considering that Call of Duty 4 was of no problem to my lappy. I figured out that it could either be that the Nvidia 8400 is still too weak (gasp!) or that the lappy Intel processor is not as powerful as the desktop ones. But gameplay is not affected that much as long as the player doesn't zoom in too much to get horrifying polygons from the units.
Ivan got pounded heavily
Overall, WiC is a refreshing experience from the traditional RTS and encourages players to think more while playing instead of zergling rush through with a particular unit. Zergling rush tactics rarely worked in WiC since a whole battalion of a particular unit could be decimated easily by a mere few units that could exploit its weakness. However, I do wish that there would be more developments to the single player campaign. The ending of the campaign could give a clue perhaps that an expansion could be on the way.
The storyline of World in Conflict is set in 1989 when the Soviet Union waged war to prevent her Eastern European satellites from falling. I've finished the campaign about a month ago but only found time to write a review on it now..lol. This real time strategy game draws inspiration from movies such as Red Dawn and notable PC games such as Freedom Fighters and Command and Conquer Red Alert. WiC is unlike many of the traditional RTS which requires players to build up a base, mind resources and create armies. Instead, players are assigned reinforcement points and play only a particular part in the battle. Thus, the need to coordinate with the AI in the mission is rather similiar to the idea in Call of Duty. Of course, unlike Red Alert, WiC does not contain any sort of "out-of-this-world" weapons, chronosphere or tesla coils. The units are based on historically correct military equipment used in the late 1980s such as the Abrams tank, Apache helicopter and troops using M16 and AK 47.
The campaign started off at the edge of Seattle where the Soviets were landing troops at the docks after disguising themselves in cargo ships. Then, there's the defence of Fort Teller in the Cascade Mountains to prevent the SDI to be known as a facade to the Soviets. There were some flashbacks to the European NATO campaign against the Soviets in the early days of the American colonel. And the final part is the counter attack and pushing the Soviets off Seattle. After going through the campaign, one probably wondered how Bannon could rise to rank of Captain in the first place. There's 14 missions altogether and I've completed also all the secondary objectives where they award US service medals with it. The campaign difficulty were generally easy but very fun to play. The more difficult ones are located at the last few missions especially on the one where two locations are needed to be defended simultaneously with the need to assault a base to complete the mission. Missions with specific timer on them could sometimes prove challenging too.
But 14 missions is a lil' short considering the theme has many potentials to expand other than "Seattle conquered-Flashback Europe-Seattle liberated". I would love to see more action in Europe itself and possibly the march to Moscow or something. Actually, if WiC put in more real-life cinematics like Red Alert instead of painted pictures with narration, the campaign fun factor would increase doubly.
Liberate Manhattan and Lady Liberty from the Spetsnaz (Russian Commando)!Multiplayer in WiC is quite interesting in that it divides players into 4 different roles such as infantry, armour, airforce and artillery. So, players have to coordinate their attacks or defenses with one another. Units were very well developed, with special attacks and smoke screens. For example, the infantry has the M203 grenade barrage while airborne troops have the ability to call down light artillery strikes. Personally, my favourite unit is the Apache with its barrage of anti-tank missiles. Lol..quite fun to watch the heavy tank disintegrate with a few packet of shots.
Gameplay in WiC is quite fast paced and the need for quick decisions. It is unlike however, traditional RTS games which measures how fast you click. WiC focuses more on which kind of units you are using against the opponents, how the artillery is position and how effectively the tactical aid is being used. Tactical aids are also another fun factor in WiC. It's kinda like some sort of super weapons that helps to reduce your opponents to dust or soften a large invasion force. They are stuff like napalm strike, heavy artillery barrage, tactical nuke strike, carpet bombing
and laser-guided bombs. There's a long recharge time for these tactical aids and tactical points are needed to be earned in order to use them.
WiC is graphically awesome with the terrain battleground actually in 3D format. So, one could actually 360 the area, zoom in and out as close as 3rd person view, look up to the sky and enjoy the overall scenery. Too bad my lappy could only play it at low settings in order to get maximum efficient speed. It's kinda strange considering that Call of Duty 4 was of no problem to my lappy. I figured out that it could either be that the Nvidia 8400 is still too weak (gasp!) or that the lappy Intel processor is not as powerful as the desktop ones. But gameplay is not affected that much as long as the player doesn't zoom in too much to get horrifying polygons from the units.
Ivan got pounded heavilyOverall, WiC is a refreshing experience from the traditional RTS and encourages players to think more while playing instead of zergling rush through with a particular unit. Zergling rush tactics rarely worked in WiC since a whole battalion of a particular unit could be decimated easily by a mere few units that could exploit its weakness. However, I do wish that there would be more developments to the single player campaign. The ending of the campaign could give a clue perhaps that an expansion could be on the way.
Monday, 24 March 2008
United blazes through 3-0
What a match it was! (although some may say controversial). This time, the controversy had little to do with the Man Utd players and more with the referee Steve Bennet and the Liverpool players. It was an exciting build up in a match with many at stake. Ferguson started with only one striker and packed the central midfield with 3 - Carrick, Scholes and Anderson. It was a 4-5-1 and it was presumably that he would put Tevez in later should he need an extra firepower. Benitez had a similiar approach at the centre with Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso.
The game was lost by Liverpool in the first half and there was no way they could come back in the second. I would single out two Liverpool players - Reina and Mascherano. Pepe Reina's eccentricity was 20/20 in the first half. He was unsure of himself and there were panic moments especially at one time when he mistimed the catch on Giggs' cross which nearly ended up in the far top of the net. Next, his Liverpool teammates were horrified when one of his basic throws ended up on Anderson's legs. Fortunately for him, Anderson was a poor finisher and a poor decision maker to pass the ball for a counter attack. Brown's goal was the result of his failure to properly command his area against the defender and to pluck the ball from the air. Pepe Reina howewer did redeemed himself in the second half with some important saves.
And the most stupid one of course is the dear Javier Mascherano. No complains for the first yellow card that he receive for the hacking sliding tackle he had on Scholes. From the first minute, Mascherano had time and time again showed sarcasm and dissent to the referee's decisions. I have to say, his 2nd yellow is the result of the build up and his pure stupidity to get involve in something that has nothing to do with him. It all started when Torres was booked for dissent. And lo and behold! Mascherano comes charging from his centre midfield position towards Steve Bennet. Alonso tried to hold him back but the Argentine continued marching and decided that displaying his outrage openly was the "genius" thing to do. Bennet had enough of his shit and pull out a 2nd yellow to send the idiot for early showers. Seriously, how idiotic can one get? Regardless whether Steve Bennet is right anot, Mascherano actually took the INITIATIVE to run past some distance to get himself in a position that warrants him a sending-off. It would have been forgivable if he hasn't been booked yet. But he knew that he's walking on a tightrope and being 0-1 down, the last thing to do is to piss off the man in black. Even if he didn't get booked then, it would be sooner or later given the way he is shooting his mouth off. Mascherano still wanted have another swipe at Bennet after being shown the card and he had to be forcefully whisked away by his captain, coaches and manager. Lol, I bet his buddy Tevez must have been chuckling on the bench.
In the ESPN studio, there was some arguments between Shebby Singh and Paul Macefield on whether Mascherano should be sent off..haha. Andrew Leci was like the Malaysian Parliament moderator locked between the war of words of the MPs. Lol, he had to remind them that they're still on air in live television. As usual, Shebby is being in his silly hat and he seems to make a very strong effort to stress that he's pissed off with Bennet's decision too for "killing the game".
On the Man Utd side, nice header by Ronaldo to get his 34th goal. Quite amazing to see how much he developed as a total footballer. He is now not only deadly with his feet, he has gotten a couple of goals with his head too. Not all could master both aspects of goalscoring at the same time. For example, Henry may have been scoring countless of goals in his time with Arsenal but scoring with his head is still something he rarely does. And Arse-nal had lost at the Bridge, compounding even more misery to their campaign. The professor must have wondering how in the world to stop the rot. Worst, Arse-nal has been dislodged from 2nd place to 3rd and now Chelsea is closer to Man Utd than them by 1 point. In any case, great stuff for Man Utd in bypassing one of their three super rivals and having a 5 point lead at the top. Now, two more remains and I hope they keep on the concentration against the lower teams too. Just keep the focus on for a few more league matches and the League will be heading to Old Trafford once more!
The game was lost by Liverpool in the first half and there was no way they could come back in the second. I would single out two Liverpool players - Reina and Mascherano. Pepe Reina's eccentricity was 20/20 in the first half. He was unsure of himself and there were panic moments especially at one time when he mistimed the catch on Giggs' cross which nearly ended up in the far top of the net. Next, his Liverpool teammates were horrified when one of his basic throws ended up on Anderson's legs. Fortunately for him, Anderson was a poor finisher and a poor decision maker to pass the ball for a counter attack. Brown's goal was the result of his failure to properly command his area against the defender and to pluck the ball from the air. Pepe Reina howewer did redeemed himself in the second half with some important saves.
And the most stupid one of course is the dear Javier Mascherano. No complains for the first yellow card that he receive for the hacking sliding tackle he had on Scholes. From the first minute, Mascherano had time and time again showed sarcasm and dissent to the referee's decisions. I have to say, his 2nd yellow is the result of the build up and his pure stupidity to get involve in something that has nothing to do with him. It all started when Torres was booked for dissent. And lo and behold! Mascherano comes charging from his centre midfield position towards Steve Bennet. Alonso tried to hold him back but the Argentine continued marching and decided that displaying his outrage openly was the "genius" thing to do. Bennet had enough of his shit and pull out a 2nd yellow to send the idiot for early showers. Seriously, how idiotic can one get? Regardless whether Steve Bennet is right anot, Mascherano actually took the INITIATIVE to run past some distance to get himself in a position that warrants him a sending-off. It would have been forgivable if he hasn't been booked yet. But he knew that he's walking on a tightrope and being 0-1 down, the last thing to do is to piss off the man in black. Even if he didn't get booked then, it would be sooner or later given the way he is shooting his mouth off. Mascherano still wanted have another swipe at Bennet after being shown the card and he had to be forcefully whisked away by his captain, coaches and manager. Lol, I bet his buddy Tevez must have been chuckling on the bench.
In the ESPN studio, there was some arguments between Shebby Singh and Paul Macefield on whether Mascherano should be sent off..haha. Andrew Leci was like the Malaysian Parliament moderator locked between the war of words of the MPs. Lol, he had to remind them that they're still on air in live television. As usual, Shebby is being in his silly hat and he seems to make a very strong effort to stress that he's pissed off with Bennet's decision too for "killing the game".
On the Man Utd side, nice header by Ronaldo to get his 34th goal. Quite amazing to see how much he developed as a total footballer. He is now not only deadly with his feet, he has gotten a couple of goals with his head too. Not all could master both aspects of goalscoring at the same time. For example, Henry may have been scoring countless of goals in his time with Arsenal but scoring with his head is still something he rarely does. And Arse-nal had lost at the Bridge, compounding even more misery to their campaign. The professor must have wondering how in the world to stop the rot. Worst, Arse-nal has been dislodged from 2nd place to 3rd and now Chelsea is closer to Man Utd than them by 1 point. In any case, great stuff for Man Utd in bypassing one of their three super rivals and having a 5 point lead at the top. Now, two more remains and I hope they keep on the concentration against the lower teams too. Just keep the focus on for a few more league matches and the League will be heading to Old Trafford once more!
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Easter Sunday
Yesterday's youth meeting message about faith by Pastor Dabir was quite enlightning. I find that what he said about it is very accurate, "Faith does not go against reason but beyond reason." And Aunty Lai Ping sums it up well ,"Faith continues the journey that reason has started". There are some things in this world that could not just be explained using the mere boundaries that is set by the physical world.
Several of the STPM takers like Cassim and Jireh were missing from the meeting cos they have gone to KL for their university application. But Daniel is there though and I presumed he has handled everything already.
Today was Easter Sunday with a pastor from India. I must say he definitely has a very good speech command although his sermon points tended to be disorganized at times. Hmm..it seems that Easter is kinda low-key in Taiping as compared to Singapore where they have special items put up on that particular Sunday. Nevertheless, it is important to remember the gift of life that the Lord has bestowed upon mankind on this special day where Jesus has conquered over death.
Anyways, after service, I headed back home cos I declined to follow the old folks to Cameron Highlands. Even if they were going to Penang, I wouldn't follow given the "terrifying" and "bored-to-death" experience that I had with them for the past 2 months. In my opinion, any Sunday trips that do not end up in my Aunt Siu's place is a waste of time because of the bizarre habit of the old man to go to some ulu and ridiculous places. I find myself learning nothing at all and getting agitated in the process.
So, with the extra time alone, I cleared up all those rusty tin cans and pails in my room that they use in their overreaction to accumulate the rain water. Ahh, I really have to throw those rusty tins away and start reducing the amount of rubbish in the house. I dunnoe why, but they really love to retain so many junk which could potentially be health hazards. Hopefully by tommorow, I could shift back the furniture too.
Several of the STPM takers like Cassim and Jireh were missing from the meeting cos they have gone to KL for their university application. But Daniel is there though and I presumed he has handled everything already.
Today was Easter Sunday with a pastor from India. I must say he definitely has a very good speech command although his sermon points tended to be disorganized at times. Hmm..it seems that Easter is kinda low-key in Taiping as compared to Singapore where they have special items put up on that particular Sunday. Nevertheless, it is important to remember the gift of life that the Lord has bestowed upon mankind on this special day where Jesus has conquered over death.
Anyways, after service, I headed back home cos I declined to follow the old folks to Cameron Highlands. Even if they were going to Penang, I wouldn't follow given the "terrifying" and "bored-to-death" experience that I had with them for the past 2 months. In my opinion, any Sunday trips that do not end up in my Aunt Siu's place is a waste of time because of the bizarre habit of the old man to go to some ulu and ridiculous places. I find myself learning nothing at all and getting agitated in the process.
So, with the extra time alone, I cleared up all those rusty tin cans and pails in my room that they use in their overreaction to accumulate the rain water. Ahh, I really have to throw those rusty tins away and start reducing the amount of rubbish in the house. I dunnoe why, but they really love to retain so many junk which could potentially be health hazards. Hopefully by tommorow, I could shift back the furniture too.
Saturday, 22 March 2008
The title race heats up
I manage to catch back some EPL action following my return. Lol, I've been itching to watch some footie after going without it for two weeks in Singapore. But hey, thankfully the matches that I missed weren't that spectacular with United losing shockingly to Portsmouth and a bizarely tough match against lowly Derby.
So, on Thurday afternoon, I tuned in to the repeat telecast of United vs Bolton. It was another fabulous Ronaldo show at Old Trafford after he banged in another two goals for a win against Bolton. Captain Ronaldo's long range free-kick blast is just a brilliant sight to watch. It seems that this would become his trademark way taking free-kicks as opposed to the days of David Beckham's curling shots. Overall, pretty decent game even without Man Utd's usual starting eleven. However, Kuszczak better buck up his goalkeeping skills with the Liverpool match coming soon, if van der Sar doesn't recover in time.
Man Utd is now 3 points ahead of Arsenal and in control of the title race at the moment. The Gooners are on a free fall range as they draw their 4th match consecutively. And what's worst is that they're visiting Chelsea. The funny thing is that some people are saying that Adebayor is the new Samson after he shed his long locks. He hasn't been scoring since he lost his hair..haha. Man Utd ain't getting it easy too with a revived Liverpool that contained the on-form Torres. So, tommorow will be another grand slam of the big four. This looks suspiciously as if such a draw is intentionally made. For so many seasons, it's kinda rare to have such a match up on weekends between the big four. But for the past 2 years or so, it's starting to become rather frequent. Of course, not that the fans are complaining over such delicious encounters =p
So, on Thurday afternoon, I tuned in to the repeat telecast of United vs Bolton. It was another fabulous Ronaldo show at Old Trafford after he banged in another two goals for a win against Bolton. Captain Ronaldo's long range free-kick blast is just a brilliant sight to watch. It seems that this would become his trademark way taking free-kicks as opposed to the days of David Beckham's curling shots. Overall, pretty decent game even without Man Utd's usual starting eleven. However, Kuszczak better buck up his goalkeeping skills with the Liverpool match coming soon, if van der Sar doesn't recover in time.
Man Utd is now 3 points ahead of Arsenal and in control of the title race at the moment. The Gooners are on a free fall range as they draw their 4th match consecutively. And what's worst is that they're visiting Chelsea. The funny thing is that some people are saying that Adebayor is the new Samson after he shed his long locks. He hasn't been scoring since he lost his hair..haha. Man Utd ain't getting it easy too with a revived Liverpool that contained the on-form Torres. So, tommorow will be another grand slam of the big four. This looks suspiciously as if such a draw is intentionally made. For so many seasons, it's kinda rare to have such a match up on weekends between the big four. But for the past 2 years or so, it's starting to become rather frequent. Of course, not that the fans are complaining over such delicious encounters =p
Friday, 21 March 2008
Back in Malaysia
Ahaha..I have returned back to good old Malaysia after spending about 2 weeks in Singapore to undergo the last rites of my education there (taking results..lol) and also to sort out post-result plans. I'm not sure yet but I may make one final trip there for my birthday and NYJC's drama night. Afterthat, of course, it's the start of my university term.
I had planned to go to my aunt's house to continue my driving course this Sunday but had to put it on hold because my cousins are having exams the whole week. So, this means I have the whole free week in Taiping for me to revise back my driving theories and road regulations for the upcoming test. Now, my room in Taiping is of some big mess filled with so many pails and the furniture dislocated because the old folks there got overpanic about leaking ceilings. I usually let it leak and clean up afterthat since I had created certain "craters" to trap the water. I wondered how the room stay ok all these while before I brought to attention of the leaks. The good thing now is that the old folks got someone to repair the roof and this means that I'll never have to fight another battle on rainy days..hahaha.
On a sour note, I'm just annoyed that a southern country's government agency decide to extort money even after I've left. I gave up the status on the 6th and the school fees deduction happened to be on the 26th. So, I was charged based on the foreign student rate for a month (December) where I DIDN'T EVEN STEP ON THE PREMISES OF THE SCHOOL. So, basically I gave S$233 for nothing and that kind of money is one month's worth of pocket money for me in Malaysia. Wah lao! I could have use that money for part of the sum needed for my new digital camera lahhhh. This is sheer stupidity or possibly malicious but I guess they just had to find any way to strike back against the enemies of the state.
I had planned to go to my aunt's house to continue my driving course this Sunday but had to put it on hold because my cousins are having exams the whole week. So, this means I have the whole free week in Taiping for me to revise back my driving theories and road regulations for the upcoming test. Now, my room in Taiping is of some big mess filled with so many pails and the furniture dislocated because the old folks there got overpanic about leaking ceilings. I usually let it leak and clean up afterthat since I had created certain "craters" to trap the water. I wondered how the room stay ok all these while before I brought to attention of the leaks. The good thing now is that the old folks got someone to repair the roof and this means that I'll never have to fight another battle on rainy days..hahaha.
On a sour note, I'm just annoyed that a southern country's government agency decide to extort money even after I've left. I gave up the status on the 6th and the school fees deduction happened to be on the 26th. So, I was charged based on the foreign student rate for a month (December) where I DIDN'T EVEN STEP ON THE PREMISES OF THE SCHOOL. So, basically I gave S$233 for nothing and that kind of money is one month's worth of pocket money for me in Malaysia. Wah lao! I could have use that money for part of the sum needed for my new digital camera lahhhh. This is sheer stupidity or possibly malicious but I guess they just had to find any way to strike back against the enemies of the state.
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