FOOTBALL: LEGENDARY SIR BOBBY WILL DIE 'SOONER RATHER THAN LATER'

It is very sad for the footballing world to hear about this. I hope for the very best for him.

Goal.com

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FOOTBALL: NO TRANSFER!

C.Ronaldo said: I'm Staying!

DieHardX replied: Thank goodness! The world record transfer fee will not be broken yet! May a more worthy future footballer legend who plays beautiful and spectacular football broke Zidane's record instead. Someone like Messi or Fabregas will be more worthy and not an actor and diver!

I like this Goal.com article which is trying its best to compare CR (€90m) and VDV (€9m).

Spanish Debate: Van Der Vaart - A Better Signing Than Ronaldo?
6 August 2008 09:44

Real Madrid completed their first true signing of the summer yesterday by landing not Cristiano Ronaldo, but rather Rafael van der Vaart.

Indeed, Ronaldo-mania has taken something of a back seat in recent days, with even the ever-excitable Madrid president Ramón Calderón proclaiming that the Dutchman might well be the only new arrival before the end of August.

In other words, prepare for a Ronaldo-less season at Madrid, contrary to the hype and counter to the blancos' hopes. But one can't help but wonder if, in a way, they might have got themselves a better deal in landing Rafa.

Better Or Best?

First of all, though, there needs to be a mention of who is actually 'better'. It's alwayts tough to compare players whose positions and roles don't precisely match up, but nonetheless we can attempt to do so.

Let's start by looking at what they have in common: both are, in simple terms, attacking midfielders; both get on the scoresheet with something approaching regularity; both have taken on leadership roles (after a fashion) for their respective club sides; both are young; and both are prominent on the international scene. In these ways they can be rightly compared.

In short, if you weigh up these factors then Ronaldo is superior. His goalscoring record would be phenonemal for an out-and-out striker; that he managed such a 40+ despite playing wide last season was only just short of miraculous. Van der Vaart's 20-odd Bundesliga goals in the past three seasons, while respectable, pale in comparison. Even in terms of set-pieces - a Rafa specialty - Ronaldo is perhaps even superior.

In terms of dictating play, Ronaldo may also have the edge. From his wide position he can either play the killer pass or, even more often, cut inside and use his blistering pace to fox full-backs and central defenders. Van der Vaart, too, can breach the back line, but he is not quite so adept in doing so; his through ball ability and ability to hit with both feet (yes, although it is his left that is famous, he is ambidextrous) are impressive, but insofar as they are compared to Ronaldo's he falls inches short, although his tendency to play more centrally means that he's no stranger to seeing plenty of the ball.

Ronaldo has been criticised for his form with Portugal, and all but the most die-hard fan would have to admit that his detractors are onto something. Try as he might, he can't quite replicate the world-class aura he has with United in the red-and-green of his country, whereas Rafa has arguably had some of his finest ever performances for the Oranje. However, for the sake of this debate this is quite irrelevant: Ronaldo is signing for a club, not a country, and at the absolute pinnacle of the club game he has proved his worth time after time. Van der Vaart, playing at second-tier clubs for his whole career, has yet to do so.

In other words, it would take a brave person to argue that Madrid have landed a better player on paper, for Ronaldo is not only better, but probably the world's best. Nonetheless there are compelling reasons as to why they Madrid, despite failing to land him, have made a better signing for their squad and for their pocketbook.

Positive Attributes

For one thing, he brings to Madrid the kind of range of passing that they need to feed forwards in Raúl and Van Nistelrooy. As I said on Monday, with Wesley Sneijder out medium-term it is important that someone else come in to deliver the killer pass, especially if Guti is injured, and in van der Vaart they have a cheap yet continental-class player just itching to do so.

Second, the ex-Ajax man, who sat in the stands with a furious expression on his face when stricken by injury at Ajax, has said that the occasional spell on the bench doesn't bother him. In a side so laden with midfield expertise this is no small matter, and even if his statement was to play up to the cameras and the fans, well, he's said it now and he can't take it back!

In all seriousness, though, Bernd Schuster is going to have a nearly impossible task in keeping his squad happy this season, and if Ronaldo arrived at the club he would (through absolutely no fault of his own or even Ronaldo's) have a player whose talent and cost necessitate a place in every single line-up for which he is available. Van der Vaart, having cost so much less, does not put this sort of pressure on his boss.

A Man Has His Price (Tag)

That brings us the deeply obvious, and perhaps most important factor: his price tag. At €9m VDV is something of a steal: that he was itching to leave Hamburg and he'd apparently set his heart on Spain meant that Madrid had an edge in negotiations, but even so a starting fee of this amount is some fine business for the Spanish side. Often only players at the end of their careers leave for such sums - Deco, approaching retirement, cost more to Chelsea - but despite being relatively young Rafael left Hamburg for quite little.

Compare and contrast this to the amounts being thrown in the media for Ronaldo. €90m? For the world's best player such a price may be considered "fair", insofar as such astronomical sums hold any meaning whatsoever, but is it prudent to spend it at all? One wonders if a single man can make such a difference that a price tag of this magnitude is appropriate. Fans of Luis Figo would argue that it is, but those with an eye on Madrid's financial future, not to mention the wealth of other players available for a third of the price of Ronaldo, may state otherwise.

And finally, it may now mean that Robinho remains at the Bernabéu. Regular readers of this column know of my admiration for the Brazilian, even aside from his off-the-field indiscretions, and I've also said in the past that for Madrid to punt an aspiring great in favour of a 'Galactico' would be short-sighted and self-defeating. Robinho could perhaps one day match Ronaldo - maybe he will, maybe he won't, but if he's sold now Madrid will never know if the wannabe best player in the world could outmatch the current best player in the world.

In short, there is no doubting that Cristiano Ronaldo would walk into any team on the planet, and almost certainly improve it. Definitely he would be an asset to Real Madrid. But whether or not his price tag and his influence outweigh such benefits are open to debate when another fine player is available is just a tenth of the price. I've said my piece: I now leave it, dear reader, to you.

Ewan Macdonald, Goal.com

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RISE AND FALL, RAGE AND GRACE

THE OFFSPRING

Listen to the songs here.



Alright, their album had been released since 16 June 2008. I am absolutely late on reporting this but I had known about it for a long time. I guess I totally forgot about checking it out after that. I have been hearing The Offspring since the Smash album in 1994. Later, Ixnay On The Hombre (1997), Americana (1998) and Conspiracy of One (2000) were the other albums I followed faithfully. I still remember I bought Americana extremely early, way before I hear any of the songs in the radio back then. It was the afternoon after I finished the school extra curriculum activities. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) caught my attention then for its uniqueness after I played it right after I reached home from school. The rest was history then when it was played so frequently after that it must be their most successful song ever.

I have to admit punk rock is really a very rare species nowadays, it is almost extinct like heavymetal. The only other influential punk rock band is Sex Pistols. I was brought up to enjoy these two genres but I really can't find anyone to be capable of replacing Metallica and The Offspring. The way the band was formed is in the most bizarre circumstances and I would say very weird combinations. Check out the history at Wikipedia, The Fountain of Knowledge.

The Offspring History

The Offspring always have very creative way of presenting their albums as well as getting all those playful introductions, intermissions and endings into their albums. I am not sure whether they still do that nowadays. Therefore, you are always in for a pleasant surprise. You will find yourself purposely wait until the very end after the last song of the album to find some funny / vulgar stuffs.

Some of the best songs they ever done were Come Out and Play (Keep 'em Separated), Self Esteem, All I want, Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), Why Don't You Get A Job?, The Kids Aren't Alrught and Original Prankster.

How is my opinion of the new album? Well, to hear Dexter Holland's voice after so long is surely nice. I never get bored with the music and voice of The Offspring and I love to hear the album regardless if all the songs suck by public opinion. I just miss such music so much. I am glad they are back. I am not at all disappointed by the music and voice! Keep on rocking baby!

Dexter Holland, by the way, is probably one of the coolest humans ever alive today. Holland was the class valedictorian at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California and was a Ph.D. candidate in Molecular Biology in University of Southern California but abandoned it to focus on his singing career. He has a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Molecular Biology from USC too. He is also a licensed Airline Transport Pilot, making a solo trip around the world in 10 days.

One of my ultimate dreams is to attend The Offspring and Metallica concerts at least once in my life. Will they ever come to this part of the world or will I ever get such opportunities in the future?

YOUTUBE The OffspringTV's Channel

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GAPMINDER

The future of how graphs and charts are to be presented? Maybe.... I checked it out and it is interesting.

Gapminder

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8.8.8.8.

8th August 2008 at 8pm. That's the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Chinese are crazy of the Number 8. They love it so much because they believe it means prosperity / wealth / fortune. Therefore, even the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will be focused on getting as many Eights as possible right from the date to the time.

Wikipedia has this to say:
The word for "eight" (八，捌) in Chinese (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发 - short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, eg Cantonese "baat" and "faat".

There is also a resemblance between two digits, "88", and the shuang xi ('double joy'), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 (xi, 'joy', 'happiness').

The many issues encountered before the games is really making this Olympic Games into more than just a sport event. The terrorist threats, the pollutions, the Sichuan earthquake, the Great FireWall of China to cut down on press freedom, the Xinjiang, Tibet and Falun Gong are all the problems and potential problems faced before the games. Hopefully, everything will settle down nicely when the real events take place.

When I was in Shanghai more than a year ago, they had already been promoting the games. The mascots were already appearing in all sorts of forms. Well, they have a full description from their website. Basically they all combined together to mean literally Beijing Is Welcoming You!

"Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature -- the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky -- all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation."

I like the ONE WORLD ONE DREAM as the main theme for the Games.



As for the architecture, of course there are a few crucial landmarks already created for the games. For the full descriptions, you can check out the information here. The two most crucial buildings are the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. The Bird's Nest is the National Stadium designed by the famous Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron with China Architecture Design Institute. Bird's nest is a Chinese culinary tradition with many health benefits and your guess is as good as mine why it ended up being the main building for the games. The Water Cube is actually the National Aquatics Centre. The famous environmental friendly Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), which is the 'in' thing now for architectural design is used heavily in the building design. It allows the light and heat penetration into the interior to cut down energy cost. The outer wall is based on the Weaire-Phelan structure, a foam. The building was designed by PTW Architects, CSCEC International Design and Arup.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

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BBQ CHICKEN

KOREA'S NO.1 CHICKEN RESTAURANT

What do you do if you want to be healthy and still want to enjoy fast food? Healthy fast food? No way man, they are totally the Yin and Yang of the extreme opposite. Healthy food and fast food are just not meant for each other.





Well, you can have a marriage of healthy fast food by going to BBQ Chicken restaurant. They claim they are the first in the world to 100% use olive oil. It is not just any ordinary olive oil but extra virgin olive oil, probably the most expensive cooking oil in the world. I use the oil for cooking too. From experience, I can tell you that you need a lot of oil to be able to cook stuffs because it is just not oily enough and hence, you will end up having things stuck on your wok. Therefore, to fry things with extra virgin olive oil, I am sure they need a huge amount! They opened their first branch in Johor Bahru and we decided to go to check it out. They have the 50% discount for the Mon-Fri 2-6pm promotions till 31st August 2008 at the Tesco Extra Plentong.







The shop was rather empty. When we went in, there was only us and another table. I guess it takes time to get people to know about this restaurant so they should really promote the restaurant more. I am not sure whether their extra virgin olive oil as the main attraction for business will really bring in the crowd in the third world country like Malaysia. In Malaysia, people don't really care about the healthy issues that much. What they care about is cheap and good taste. That's it!



We ordered the fried original chicken (RM13.40), jerk BBQ chicken(RM14.50), Teri-Q wings (RM11.50), a ChocoNata dessert (RM7.20) and a glass of Pepsi (RM3.50).





















Total: RM50.10
Discount: RM25.05
Service Charge: RM2.51
GST 5%: RM1.25
TOTAL DAMAGE: RM28.81 (8.78692 USD / 5.67997 EUR /4.49291 GBP / 12.1122 SGD)

My opinion of the food? It was generally nice and the oil really give it a more natural flavour. When you eat the fried chicken's extremely crunchy and crispy skin, you can tell they don't add any preservatives. The Korean BBQ sauce on the grilled chicken is great. The Teriyaki sauce chicken wings are well done too. The dessert is acceptable to me as well. Therefore, I guess the extra virgin olive oil really give a nice smell to the food and did give a unique taste to the fast food. It doesn't mean it is the best I ever tasted and it is not the worst. However, health conscious people who loves fast food now have a choice. Oh, they gave too much french fries to the meal. I saw repeated past customers not able to finish the amount of fries and so are we. I guess they need the huge amount of fries to cover the plate. Hehe!



There are branches available throughout the world:
Seoul
Singapore
New York
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Madrid
Barcelona
Tokyo
Beijing
Shanghai
Shenzhen
Sydney
Kuala Lumpur
Penang
Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh
Ulan Bator



Olive oil is unique when it comes to foods that have a direct impact on beautiful skin. A few of the benefits of a diet rich in anti-inflammatory anti-oxidant olive oil include:
-increase the skins ability to maintain moisture
-increases "good cholesterol"
-decrease "bad cholesterol"
-decreases gastric acid secretion in ulcers
-helps intestinal absorption
-helps gail bladder activity
-lowers probability of gallstones
-lowers glucose levels in diabetics
-stimulates pancreas secretion
-aids developing bone in children
-prevents osteoporosis
-reduces risk of prostate cancer
-reduces the risk of breast cancer



Well, the location of the shop is also not very nice. It is situated between Shakey's Pizza and KFC, their direct main competitor for fried chicken. I thought it was a big mistake in the very first place. Finally, your guess is as good as mine, why in the world do they call themselves BBQ Chicken when the main attraction seems to be the fried chicken? I wonder too.



BBQ Chicken

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FOOTBALL: DUTCH REAL MADRID

The latest signing of Rafael van der Vaart means Real Madrid are starting to look like a Dutch national team. Their eternal rivals, Barcelona used to be a Dutch team too. Now, Real Madrid look more Dutch than ever before. However, the news of Sneijder's long term injury come at a really wrong time. He will be out for at least 6 months and van der Vaart's signing is really a timely one to cover the midfield. Another Dutch, Robben, is as fragile as glass but perhaps slightly better than Ronaldo but still extremely risky.

Didier Drogba was also injured and could only play end of August. Robinho has been linked with Chelsea lately and seems to be on his way there. Juventus are chasing Schweinsteiger. C.Ronaldo? Can we stop all the rumours of his transfer talks already please? I am so tired and sick of it. Finally, Ronaldinho revealed that his last 5 months in Barcelona was the worst nightmare in his life. I hope he will regain his form and show his abilities to the crowds in San Siro. Kaka should be recovered fully for the new season. Eto'o said he will only consider offers from Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter or AC Milan and had rejected clubs like Roma and Valencia.

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MISIA IS COMING TO SINGAPORE!

Misia is going to have a concert in Singapore! The R&B singer with 5-octave voice range is going to hold a concert here on the 13th September 2008. She is to me the best female voice from Japan now and probably the other lady who can match her is Onitsuka Chihiro, whom I get to know after watching the famous and funny Trick (Season 1,2 and 3) Jdorama in 2000. There is another rising star called Ayaka Lida which I will keep watch. I will consider going to the concert!!!



Misia:


Onitsuka Chihiro:

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DOOR ~ THE KNOCK AGAIN~

For some reasons, I love hearing this song of Kobukuro. Never get bored of it. I guess it is the combination of both the voices and nice music (mixture of traditional and modern musical instruments). Another good combo that has a nice mix of modern electrical music instruments VS. traditional music instruments is when Metallica had a concert with Michael Kamen conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra back in 1999. That was the coolest mixture ever.

I'm trying to get the full English translation from my Japanese friend when I meet him later and will update it below. Of course it depends on when he's free.





DOOR ~ The knock again ~ LYRICS:
Kono umi wo wattara zutto soba ni i you・・

Kono arekuruu oounabara wo
Kantan ni watarou nante omoccha inai sa
Tada minato kara miokuru hito ni narenai dake
saUmi fukaku shizumeta yume wo hiroi atsumete
Jimanki ni katarou nante ato wa dasei de kurasu no kai?
Joushiki ni honrou sarete hibi wa kurikaesu
Shinjitsu wa mune no naka ni aru

Susumu beki michi nante jibun de kimeru no sa
Fuan ya osore ni ashimoto wo sukuware sou ni naru kedo
Meguri kuru kono toki ni sakarai tsuduke you
Koukai wa boku ni nani wo oshiete kureta darou?
“Ikushikanai darou!”

Jimonjidou wo kurikaeshi omoi nayami
tachitomaru kedo
Ano hi yume mita kagayaki dake ga mata boku no
kokoro wo yusaburu yo
Nemurenai hibi wo sugosu no nara nemurenai asu
wo oikake you
Yumemiru koto ga subete janakute kanae you to
suru koto ga subete

Kono arekuruu oounabara wo
Kantan ni watarou nante omoccha inai sa
Subete no mono wo te ni ireru nante dekinakute ii
Tada hitotsu tatta hitotsu de ii

Hiraku beki DOOR nante jibun de kimeru no sa
Fuan ya osore ni ashimoto wo sukuware sou ni naru kedo
Meguri kuru kono toki ni sakarai tsuduke you
Koukai wa boku ni nani wo oshiete kureta darou?
“Ikushikanai darou!”

Jimonjidou wo kurikaeshi omoi nayami
tachitomaru kedo
Ano hi yume mita kagayaki dake ga mata boku no
kokoro wo yusaburu yo
Nemurenai hibi wo sugosu no nara nemurenai asu
wo oikake you
Yumemiru koto ga subete janakute kanae you to
suru koto ga subete

Kono umi wo wattara zutto soba ni i you・・

credit: amy wong

English Translation: COMING SOON!

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FOOTBALL: CHELSEA'S MATCH IN MALAYSIA

I didn't go because of the Brazil match in Singapore. Here is an interesting letter I saw in the newspaper. Well, was it really so bad? I guess that depends on who managed the match. The Singapore match against Brazil didn't have all those problems mentioned by the letter.

thestar

Friday August 1, 2008

Football match a total letdown

The match between Malaysia and Chelsea on Wednesday was a total letdown.

To start with, there was smog or haze clouding the Stadium Shah Alam that was clearly visible through the floodlights. It was no wonder that the match was fairly dull.

In addition, the giant LCD screens were not even working properly.

There were spoilt pixels all over the screen, and the timer was at 00:00 the whole night.

To make matters worse, it seems as if the number of tickets sold exceeded the number of seats available, as many people were standing along staircases.

To get seats, we had to wait until halftime when people left their seats unguarded to relieve themselves.

And to add insult to injury, the stadium, where smoking is prohibited, was full of smokers.

What disgusted me most, was a police officer smoking about 3m away from a sign saying Dilarang merokok.

BEN KANE,
Petaling Jaya.

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