Saturday, September 30, 2006

24 HOURS OF GAME DESIGN

Contrast06

Check the website for the teams. I'm in the K.O. team. You can easily spot this guy with the blue Italian winning World Cup celebration t-shirt. I should have given the link before the competition as they update it throughout the 24 hours.

Well, why are we called K.O.? During registration, we are requested to come up with the team name. Out of the 10-11 teams, there are only 2 left in the end who still cannot figure out a name for the team. We argued, suggested and commented on the different names possible but I loved the name PWNSTARS! I wish we go for that! A team member said it will be politically incorrect and will create alot of problems for us in the competition. Haha! Shit, I wish we are called Pwnstars. It sounded so cool. We went from Critical Damage to 16 Hit Combos to Critical Error to whatever craps you can think of and decided to go for Knock Out in the end. Double Knock Out will be nice. Oh well....

Our team has two ideas so we pretty much debated on that for hours the day before to finalize it. The story is quite similar but it is just the gameplay idea which is totally different. I like the non-conventional way which I find quite out of this world but I guess that's how game design should be. There is no point designing very traditional gameplay genre which are available in the market because it has been done many times over. What else is new?

In the end, on the day itself, we got our subthemes and we were ready to roll! We even decided on which idea to take with voting! In the end, of course the more weird style of gameplay was chosen and we went off to design! I spent the most of the first 12 hours colouring all the characters with the weaker version of Photoshop called Paint.net because it is free. One of the team members have a friend to compose great music for us while I used my rendering skills to get great backgrounds for the game.

Honestly, we are all quite new to this software and in the end, we did not manage to completely design the game to what we wanted. Time was against us as we were ambitious in putting in too much Artificial Intelligence into the gameplay. AI forces alot of programming to solve the bugs as there are just too many interactions in the game. However, we hope we can at least get one of the prizes as I think we showed our gameplay idea enough. After the competition, we have a review of all the games created and I honestly feel ours is a game that is not well documented. Others look like a finished product ready to be sold in the market. Porfessionally done and I cannot argue since they are from the background of using the software and gone through those modules before.

Well, whathever it is, I had fun, great exposure, great experience and met up with some gamers. The rest is not of great importance. Met up with Mr. Damien Chee who programmed Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate who gave us some good ideas and comments so that was a great memory itself!

Monday, September 25, 2006

PROJECT CHURCH CROSS RENDERING

Proposals for a local Methodist church stage design in Singapore.

Frosted glass or metal strips on cross outline or totally empty. Well, testing...testing...testing...

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Sunday, September 24, 2006

LEARNING TAIJI / TAI CHI?

Are you kidding me? As a grandson, I have always follow grandma to her taiji / taichi classes in Rejang Park, Sibu early in the morning. We used to go as early as 3am but subsequently changed to 4am. In the darkness of the early morning, I will always see the teacher coming with his radio cassette player playing some English oldies for warming up and later basically a voice recording of 'breath in, breath out'. I have never really joined in the class with her.

Now, my martial arts-craze bro wants me to join him for taiji /taichi class in the university! I told him I will be as slow as a snail / tortoise after mastering this art! After I master this martial arts, I will be slow in everything I do -work, speech,movements! He told be in order to be fast, you need to master slowness. In other words, you must learn the Matrix's bullet time technique so you can slow down the time! OK, that was pure crap from me! Haha! Basically, he says it takes more concentration and it is more difficult to do slow movements. Well, we'll see how it goes. I am considering taking it up since people have been saying it is good for health and you will have balance of the Yi, Qi, Shen (mind, breath and soul) in your entire body.

Who is going to teach us? I wish it will be Jet Li, then every single human will be scared of you. Of course you need a grandmaster! I mean an experienced teacher. He is Mr. Rennie Chong Hien Choong. Mr. Chong is 66 years old to date (2005) and he is both an experienced Taichi instructor and a life long learner of the art. Mr. Chong started his Taiji lessons with his father at the age of 16. At the age of 18, he learnt Taiji from Taiwan’s famous Master Hwang Shien Xian, disciple of Master Chen Man Ching. In 1984 Mr. Chong learnt Chen Style Taichi from Master Choo Tian Chai for 9 months when the latter came to Singapore to conduct classes that year. My mom told me Master Hwang Shien Xian settled in my town, Sibu and even have a medical hall there!

NUS Taiji Sub Club

Saturday, September 23, 2006

MY OFFICE TABLE DECOR

Have a look at what are the things available at my research office table. A mask from ancient civilizations of SOMETHING colony.

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It loves to smoke so I give it two cigarettes to sustain its urge. Haha!

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Very well done, the white shiny parts are made from seashells. Apparently, this civilization's main HQ/base is at the seaside. Access for transport and war from the ocean, logical.

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Just looking at it enjoying the smoke gives me a good laugh all the time. Good to forget about your stress.

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Next stop, I have an architectural model made of paper of the famous Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris, France.

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The model has so many parts that it takes quite some time to assemble.

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Of course, the real thing is much more majestic and breathtaking!

A friend just visited France and check out his French holiday photos.

PARIS

Friday, September 22, 2006

SANDY LAM WORLD TOUR 2006

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Sandy Lam is coming to Singapore to stage a concert on the 9th December 2006. A tour that will include Beijing, Shanghai and Taiwan as well. Well, I am making decisions whether to go or not. I mean she had been singing since my primary school days and I don't mind paying for a veteran like her. She has been around for so long now! I just realized that all the Hong Kong female veterans are SK-II models - Sammy, Sandy and Kelly. I think probably just left with Sally.

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I spent the night going through youtube.com to watch her music videos. I was surprised she can sing English so well and good! Now, I am convinced and most probably going to buy her concert tickets! I am no big fan but it is worth going to a veteran's concert for all the memories and the great songs she has under her belt.

P/S: Xabi Alonso's goal is phenomenal! Poor Harper!

P/P/S: "A kid asked me on Wednesday if I would have liked to play for another team, Straight away I said Liverpool," said Thierry Henry.

"First of all, I would have loved to play with Steven Gerrard and second I like the club and their fans. There's something about Anfield that you can't explain."

"I love it when you step out of the dressing-room and you see the Kop, the scarves, and [hear people] singing You'll Never Walk Alone. Just that, that would do it for me."

P/P/P/S:
Materazzi - Headbutt Ad for Nike
Materazzi - Video Ad for Nike

Thursday, September 21, 2006

CONTRAST

A 24-Hour Game Design Jam.

Yes, a 24-hour game design competition is going to be organized in my university for the very first time. The theme is called Contrast. It is sponsored by Electronic Arts. I signed up and will start in the competition next weekend. This is to me more of a platform for getting some exposures in the industry as well as socializing with people with the same wavelength. Haha!

I am particularly impressed by the top two judges of the competition. I looked through their profiles and in awe of their experience!

Judge A
She has worked in a variety of companies, ranging from 3D graphics research in Institute of Systems Science, Singapore to building air traffic controller systems for MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates in Canada. Also, she was with Electronic Arts Canada on developing games such as FIFA and NBA and Reboot on different consoles. Before joining Lucasfilm Animation, she lectured at the Nanyang Polytechnic on games design and development. When she was with NYP, she was also the games group head as well as the business manager for the Games Creation Community in Singapore.

Judge B
He has been in the US game industry since 1999, working for Interplay Entertainment's reknowned Black Isle Studios as a programmer on the Icewind Dale series, and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 for the PS2 and Xbox. He joined Pandemic Studios on the Mercenaries team and shipped the million selling title before returning to Singapore to start Cabal Entertainment Software with partners in the US.

With people who had worked in Electronic Arts and Interplay before being your judges, you have to be damn proud if you achieve something in this competition!

Wish me luck people! I hope I have fun! During the competition, I heard you can view from the website the LIVE updates of the teams in the computer lab. We are not allowed to leave the room in the 24-hour competition.

On another news:

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said the attitude of neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia towards Singapore was shaped by the way they treat their own ethnic Chinese minorities.

"Our neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful. They are hardworking and therefore they are systemically marginalised," he said.

Indonesia and Malaysia "want Singapore, to put it simply, to be like their Chinese -- compliant", Lee said.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

WHERE TO EAT?

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Well, whenever friends and family and relatives visit me, I always have headache looking for new places to eat in Singapore. Therefore, a guide book is very much appreciated. Many of them always say they watch alot of shows which introduce Singapore's best food. Unfortunately, I never really have the time to watch all of those shows and record down where to find the best of the best of each kind.

Therefore, I saw this book and it seems to come really handy. It divides the whole island into north, south, east, west and central zones and further divides the zones into areas. Now, you can tell me where you are and I can locate all the nice food available at the place you are! Of course there are many others available in the market but this one is considered a great bargain with the amount of information it possesses! I hope it is reliable! Haha!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

MAXWELL RENDERER

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It has always been about noise. I just can't get over the noise issue of Next Limit's Maxwell Renderer. I know the clients list is very impressive and it has always been promoting itself as the closest to reality light simulator. Even in the galleries I can see lots of noise in the dark places. It just feels like using a normal digital camera VS. a digital slr. Well, the ISO settings when it goes beyond 400, it goes really noisy just like a normal digital camera. Well, this will make rendering interiors or night scenes a pain in the ass. Well, I was assured by my friend that the newest version has improved significantly but it is still among the heaviest renderers I ever feel running on my laptop, even with 2GB RAMs on my system.

In the world of rendering engines, the competition is just too big. Chaos Group's VRay is still the most lightest renderer in the market and probably the fastest. Then, there are fascinations with SplutterFish's Brazil r/s (Rendering System) as my animation friend said alot of giant companies use it. Cebas's finalRender is another option. Finally, of course the mental ray which had released the version 3.5 for the upcoming Max and Maya. The Final Gather is so much faster now to my great joy! I seriously don't have the time in the world to play with them all but sometimes it is good to monitor the strengths and weaknesses of each of them.

There are definitely others out there who are also quite famous like AccuRender, POV-Ray (Persistence of Vision Raytracer - I think open source too if I am not mistaken), Illuminate Lab's Turtle, BusyRay and Pixar's RenderMan, which are used for many animated films done by Pixar. There are open source selections too like Radiance, Pixie (Berkeley) , Aqsis (RenderMan interface standard) and toxic as well as one developed by nVidia called Gelato. Man, I wish I was born much later!

Monday, September 18, 2006

FOOTBALL: THEATRE OF DREAMS IS DREAMING!

I joked with Teg last week about 'Theatre of Dreaming' and 'Theatre of Dream On' but he said it is not funny at all! Haha! Now, at least Arsenal win there after deserving tried so many times and miss a penalty. Who is Rooney? Liverpool lost eventhough Chelsea played with 10 men from 51st minute onwards? I know they sold Morientes and now, Morientes is scoring goals for Valencia quite frequently. I think Bellamy and Kuyt have not fully settled down.

Glad that Duff and Martins scored for Newcastle and finally a win! Now, I just ask for some consistency and not to be another Inter Milan please! Real Madrid put Beckham on the bench! Let me celebrate! Woohoo! Still, I can't because Raul Madrid is missing billion of chances a match and still in the starting eleven. I am sick of this!!!!!!!!!! Bring in Robinho, please!!!!!!!!!! Barcelona, as expected, have an easy task to eliminate Racing Santander.

Since we are talking on the subject of dreaming, I went to watch Singapore Dreaming with friends. It is a movie with details, spending too much time on a scene sometimes. Apart from that, the story documents every character well and show us the reality of life in Singapore. Yes folks, the troubles Singaporeans face as well as the pressure to obtain the 6Cs! Image is very important to Singaporeans. A good image prevents you for being looked down upon in society. Pretty sad movie though so be prepared for a very depressing time in the cinemas or your homes (hehe!).

Teg, DoA review please! It will only arrive in Singapore on 26 October, 2006!!!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

AUTODESK M3 LAUNCH & THE CAFE' CARTEL

This post is long overdued! I went with Roni to the launching of the 3 holy trinity of Media & Entertainment category of Autodesk for a curious look of what new stuffs they have to offer. Pretty much loaded with more animation features though. Still, all those games made with Max and Maya just give me alot of encouragement. They do spend some time to sell their Combustion too. Although the focus is still very much the integration of Max, Maya and Motionbuilder, with the focus on this universal file format, .fbx. Of course, drop by the AREA for some great stuffs. My friends had told me much earlier about this site but I have yet to explore through thoroughly.

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I was pretty impressed with Onimusha 3. They show us how it was done for the game. Though I played Onimusha 1 & 2, I totally missed the 3 because I got sick of the technique eventhough they introduce new friends. Takeshi Kaneshiro is back for the 3rd. Well, Max and Maya have both jumped into the 64-bit bandwagon but the Windows Vista OS is not fully ready. Of course you have to understand that the next generation games on XBox360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation3 have all moved to the 64-bit arena. This will make the creation of games so much more easier to match these platforms.

Eventhough the Windows running machines are prepared with all the hardwares and now that Apple has walked to the DARK side by using Intel chips, running Windows on Apple is very highly possible. I am still chicken though waiting for my friend Wykeith to test drive it himself. Yeah, it is a heavy investment just to test drive so why not let my friend who loves Apple so much to try it? Haha! I am still not so convinced yet. Vista could take another year after Beta to really fix all the bugs.

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After the event, got really hungry and headed down for The Cafe' Cartel at the ground floor of Raffles City. I was surprised it is no longer maintaining the self service system anymore. In the past, you go order, you go serve yourself and you go cut free bread yourself. Yes, this is probably the only place which gives you free flow bread. Carl's Junior gives you free flow drinks though and sauces.

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They have people cutting bread for you in small slices now. Hehe! Probably there are many people wasting bread in the past.

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I ordered the Haiwaiian Porkchop. Why must anything Hawaiian has pineapples on them? Well, is Haiwaii super populated with pineapple plantations?

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Soup of the day...

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Finally, my set arrived...

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I love it. Why? Simple fact that most people overcook the porkchop, making it impossible to bite or tear off the meat with your teeth, like 'rubber' overcooked beef. This one is just done right in between. Therefore, it is really well timed. The Cafe Cartel special sauce and the baby carrots just give the dish alot more push for that peak of good taste.

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The pineapple looks so from the tin cans! They also mashed some up and serve them by the side. It is not too bad. I am ultra sensitive to pineapple, as in it cuts through my tongue. Even if you make fresh juice out of them, the juice cuts through me. However, these don't. Pretty obvious why.

Pineapple should be and probably the most sharpest fruit in this planet. I remember I use to take care of my uncle's goldsmith in the past and there was this old man who always walk around shops after shops to sell his pineapples. They are of good quality and sweet indeed. The knife used to cut pineapple all these years as claimed by my uncle is getting shinier and shinier for more and more pineapple that had been cut. The pineapples basically help polish the knife to be more shiny and sharper! Now, that pretty much tell you the state your stomach is in after all these years of excessive pineapple intake!!!

Finally, DoA (Dead or Alive) the movie is here! Thanks Teg for the info. Holly Valence will be starring, drool......nosebleed all the way! Must watch! So many hot chicks! Teg, give full reviews after you watch it today or I'll bite you!

Watch the trailer my friends and I guarantee you will nosebleed all the way! The way the chick wears her bra with men surrounding her in a fight when she only has her towel on is so damn cool! Yummy!
Trailers

Saturday, September 16, 2006

GOD OF RENDERERS

How to become the God of Renderers? You have to master the Art of Rendering.

Well, you just have to keep on rendering..........

Humans, objects, solids, surfaces, cloth, fabric, hair, fur, animals, nature, sky, sea, glass, metal, timber, concrete, skin, buildings, landscapes, trees, bushes, shrubs, grass..........

Basically organic and inorganic..........

Refraction, reflection, Z-depth, shadow, alpha, light, diffuse, global illumination, caustics, specular..........

Basically rendering layering outputs..........

Max, Maya, Cinema4D, Lightwave..........

And I march on in pursuit to invunerability..........

Reminds me of playing Quake when I acquire Invunerability, that's the most happiest moment of the game.

OK, spot the differences..........pretty obvious..........

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Finally, I am gonna miss the big match at Old Trafford, the "Theatre of 'Dreaming'" as well as the Stamford Bridge's classic!

Internet streaming..........please work!

Buffering..........buffering..........

Stupid firewall..........

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Sorry for putting my nick all over the place, have to copyright them for Sentosa's sake.

Friday, September 15, 2006

WHAT THE F*#K AM I BUSY WITH LATELY?

Been doing modelling (on software - not sexy enough to be a model myself), rendering and animating for days now! A lot of work! I am helping out in the proposal of the reconstruction of a British fort in Singapore from the 1890s and finally used in the 1940s up to the World War II where it is less effective when battles from the sky starts to be used! In this scene, you will see 5 kamikaze Japanese planes approaching the fort. If you look closely, you will see two 9.2 inch guns at the fort which can fire 20km radius. Well, this is a real reconstruction of the site but I decided to give it a battlefield scene rendering as well. I also am interested to play with the lens flare, the sea, the sky and nature modelling.

I am arranging 5 planes in the V formation for the battle. The plane model? Well, I think Captain Edwin should know morelah. I remember some models used by the Japanese includes 52c Zeros, Nakajima Ki-115 Tsurugi and Ki-116 (of course there are more other models I think). The planes come in from the sunset direction, thus making them harder to detect for attack. Well, I don't know much of war strategies but I think so. Hahaha! Just trying to have fun from all these work! I was even thinking of putting a gigantic Yamato warship at a distance but I guess I shouldn't take this too far. Haha!

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P.S: For those who don't know wtf 'kamikaze' is, it is usually translated as "divine wind" (kami is the word for "god", "spirit", or "divinity"; and kaze for "wind"), came into being as the name of a legendary typhoon said to have saved Japan from a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281. In Japanese, the exact term used for units carrying out these suicide attacks during World War II is tokubetsu kōgeki tai, which literally means "special attack unit." This is usually abbreviated to tokkōtai.

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Monday, September 11, 2006

MONEY RULES SINGAPORE

Yes, when I first came to Singapore doing my undergraduate 5 years back, you have a choice between EPL, Serie A and La Liga on public television. You also have full Champions League coverage. Year after year, one league goes at a time. First, EPL is no longer shown, then, it was Serie A, and finally the La Liga. This is the first World Cup year I spent in Singapore and I have a nightmare when I came to reality that they are so proud of advertising 4 free matches. 4 out of 64 and you even dare to show off?!!! Finally, the hammer hit the target straight on when I found out now that the Champions League is totally GONE for the first time from public television! Yes folks, in other words, I cannot watch any football LIVE on public television! Unlike Malaysia, we take for granted for free live coverage of Formula 1 races which are not shown at all here as well.

This inability to watch life coverage of football, which includes the Champions League now means I really have absolutely nothing to review or blog about football. I think either this site dies completely or I have to stop talking about football here.

I read with great interest the Ashley Cole saga. I for one am quite neutral about this story and always wondered why the equilibrium is so skewed? It seems like the whole club is going against him and the fans all call him Cashley Cole. The matter of fact is nobody actually knew what really happened. Therefore, why everyone believes he is not loyal to his club? I read about his side of the story and I totally agree that Thierry Henry is treated like a God in Arsenal and nobody give a damn about Ashley. Of course we know why Henry is treated that way but to me, he is given extra and over the ordinary treatment eventhough he is dragging the whole club and even the fans that he will not sign until the last match. For me, it is weird that the way he treated the club with all these transfer games for the whole season is acceptable and Ashley Cole's single meeting killed him off. Right now we are still uncertain who actually called for that meeting. When nobody believes in you like what Ashley Cole is, it is natural you have you leave. Since behind everyone's eyes, there is a giant word of TRAITOR on top of your head whenever they see you. If I am Ashley Cole, I will be jealous as well because the way Henry drags his decisions. They always say nobody is bigger than the club but Henry is and to me, he took the club and fans to ransom. They were just powerless as they beg for him to stay. I wonder why he is given such a privilege as nobody is bigger than the club.

Finally, before I left, shit, Real Madrid only scored 4 goals last night, I mean a goal last night courtesy of Cassano to earn a draw with Levante.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER RETIRING?

Michael Schumacher is finally going to retire? Oh my goodness! I will regret not going Sepang to watch him in a Formula 1 race! Will he win again this season? There is a high possibility if he keeps maintaining his performance. Alonso will of course give him a serious last season battle. If Michael should retire, he will retire as one of the most successful driver ever to grace the sport. His achievements could take many more years to be overtaken.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

MAX 9 . MAYA 8 . MOTIONBUILDER 7.5

Autodesk launches their M3 products in Singapore last Friday. I went to have a look at the new features the new versions have. The holy trinity under the Media and Entertainment category are actually the products under Discreet and Alias whicn Autodesk bought over.

More updates later...with the logo of the Double Snakes & the Gargoyle...

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I AM SAM

I have been reminded again and again throughout the week for this movie tonight for the commercial free movie show on TV. Yeah, it is very rare to get movies free of commercialism or any advertisements and sponsorships especially in such a corporate minded country like Singapore. Of course, with all these repeated reminders, I also tried to remind myself of catching this movie since Michelle Pfeiffer and Dakota Fanning are my favourites. Sean Penn reminds me of the movie Forrest Gump straight away.

Unlike Forrest Gump, this movie is not a comedy but more of a touching story of father-daughter relationship. It is definitely one of the best touching movies I ever watched. Michelle Pfeiffer is dazzling as ever and I just can't get enough of her timeless beauty .Sean Penn looks like Michael Schumacher sometimes! I mean his haircut and the angle in the movie.

The ending comes too fast and viewers are left wondering about the results of the court case for him to win over the custody of his 7 year old daughter. Dakota Fanning is as always very charming and always gives a good act on the screen. There was a time when I was worried Michelle Pfeiffer is falling for Sean Penn in the movie. That will make the whole story totally wacky! Overall, I love this movie and if you have not catch it, it is worth your time.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

FOOTBALL JERSEYS DEAL

Football Inc.

The prices are not too far apart from the market price but at least you have more choices.

OK folks, is it only me or do you guys also think the new ad in front of Milan's jersey, bwin is extremely ugly? I thought I will never buy Real Madrid's BENQ Siemens but this is even worse! I heard Barcelona will have their first ever ad on the jersey soon in the form of UNICEF. Remember they almost got the Beijing 2008 Olympics ad but it failed to materialize in the last minute?

Here is the article taken from Goal.com written on 8 September 2006.

Barça Sign Historic Deal With Unicef

FC Barcelona have signed a ground-breaking agreement with Unicef at the United Nations headquarters in New York and will carry the organisation's logo on their team shirts.

Barça president Joan Laporta attended the presentation in the United States as the club signed a partnership with the world children's charity.

The deal will see the Catalan club donate 0.7 per cent of their annual income, working out at approximately €2 million, to help support the UN's Millennium Development Goals campaign and Unicef activities.

With the emphasis placed firmly on Barça's motto of 'mès que un club' (more than a club) the team shirt will carry the Unicef logo in the Champions League encounter against Levski Sofia, the first time that any name has appeared on the famous Blaugrana strip.

The first benificiaries of the agreement will be children who are suffering from the AIDS virus in Swaziland, with money aimed at prevention of the disease, the spread of it and to give help to children that have lost their parents to it.

In his speech at the UN, Laporta said: "We believe we have a very powerful tool: soccer. We know that if this tool is put to a good use, we can really make a difference.
"This is why we have decided to work with UNICEF, an institution that shares our values and our vision. We want Barça to contribute to global UNICEF programs for the benefit of children in suffering."

Coach Frank Rijkaard fully supports the move that sees the club break its' 107-tradition of not carrying a logo, but he is proud that it is not the name of a company or conglomorate.

"It is an act of generosity" he said. "Something never seen before in the football world and let it be an example to other companies. I love it, it is something historic, and the board should be congratulated".

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Links:
UNICEF 01
UNICEF 02 (This has a video attachment with HIGH & LOW quality to view)

I am really proud of Barcelona for what they did. They earn all my respect. It is time I switch clubs! Haha! Even the UNICEF logo looks nice! They are truly the good example of the ever commercialized and money centered football world.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

FOOTBALL: GERMANY 13-0 SAN MARINO

EURO 2008 qualifying! WTF?!!! Podolski scored 5 times!

France 3-1 Italy, revenge served!

Macedonia 0-1 England, Crouch goal!

Netherland 3-0 Belarus, van Persie double!

Slovakia 0-3 Czech Republic, there is life after Nedved!

Northern Ireland 3-2 Spain, time to bench Raul please! Healy hattrick!

Ukraine 3-2 Georgia, Rotan scored? You mean our jungle's rattan?

Finland 1-1 Portugal, Ricardo saved Portugal!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

ITALIAN WORLD CUP VICTORY T-SHIRT

Spot this Italian World Cup victory t-shirt with the signatures of all the players by Puma.

The cool thing is the interesting stuff they wrote in the tag that comes with the product. You know we don't really bother what they write inside. It was just coincidence that I wanted to flip through it and saw the funny stuffs they have.

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I don't get these 4 graphics!

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The graph is weird, the Y-axis is the Boring Scale and the X-axis is the Things To Do?!! How do they measure that? They are just trying to be funny I guess. Wu liao.

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It is a simple design with both sleeves having the golden Puma logo and the signatures of the players and the 4 stars to signify the amount of World Cup wins. Can you spot the captain's signature? Il captaino Cannavaro.

How do you guys find the current results from the friendlies? England is again creating such a big hoohaa for beating some unknown football opponents and they celebrate it like they won the World Cup. The attention is surely on the Brazil 3-0 Argentina match. The victory is unexpected, I would expect a high score draw. I am waiting for Teg to review it in his blog! Come on! Faster eh! I heard Robinho was the star and Messi was quiet.

Well, speaking of Robinho just make my heart ache. I just cannot take it that he will feature in the bench of Real Madrid. Favouritism is reigning in Real Madrid even during the Capello era. I thought Capello will bring fairness and authority in selecting his starting 11. The first match already show that this is not the case.

Baptista's transfer is a very sad thing to me especially when he was the most consistent and hardworking performer of last season. The same went to Figo who was the most consistent and hardworking performer but was forced to move for the sake of Beckham. The same goes to Morientes for the sake of Ronaldo as well as Samuel Eto'o even after both of them proved Madrid over and over again they deserved a place in the starting eleven after beating Madrid over and over again by scoring against them! Solari was another victim too. He is one of my favourite players and he always play beautiful football. Isn't it heartbreaking as a fan to see all these happening clearly in your eyes? When the deserved are not being played but the lousy ones are sent out to get lousy results for the club?

I cry for you, Real Madrid! Coincidently, all these players who are more deserving that are not played are at the period where Real Madrid win no titles. It is the darkest period of an era where favouritism rules the club and hence, winning titles is impossible. Reyes for Baptista? I prefer Baptista over Reyes any time even if we just talk about talent alone, without regarding the attitudes involved.

Friday, September 01, 2006

FOOTBALL: LAST MINUTE MAD SHOPPING SPREE

So much work to do, don't even have time to go to the toilet! How to even shit? Haha! I will do more postings when my busiest moments end by the end of first week of September. I have so many things lined up to be posted but really the free time I have is to hit the bed!

Anyway, the last minute mad shopping spree had finished as the deadline for the transfer window comes. Which is the best last and biggest transfer? Surely West Ham with the capture of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Ashley Cole finally left Arsenal with Gallas going the opposite direction from Chelsea. Reyes also left with an exchange with Baptista on a loan. Of course I am not happy with the 'Beast' leaving but I guess he is not in Capello's DEFENSIVE plans so I also don't want him wasting his talents on the bench. He deserves more.

Reyes to Real Madrid, I guess I already declare enough how I hate him from my previous posts. The only two positives I can see from him coming is the younger age he has as well as him being not a defensive player. The amount of defensive players Capello bought is making Real Madrid into an Italian club or national team. I still cannot accept the fact that Beckham, Ronaldo and Raul is still playing for starting eleven. As long as these diseases are still there, Real Madrid won't win a single thing until at least 2/3 of them are gone. Enough said. Even Capello don't play more deserving players like Baptista and Robinho ahead of any of those three. Sucks!