Interesting Research

I read this news article in the newspaper today. I find it very interesting because it also reflects many Malaysian men. I for one can tell you that i will never stop loving United no matter how badly they fared. I wont comment about the relationship thing because i have no prior experience in that department. I also agree with the Scots that football give me a sense of national embarassment. Sad but true. Anyway, pay attention to the name of the research company who conducted the polls.

MEN are nearly twice as likely to walk away from a failing marriage as to abandon their struggling football team, research has revealed.

And the divorce rate would halve overnight if men showed the same commitment to their relationships as they did to their teams, according to a study by psychologist Dr Aric Sigman.

He found that around 94 per cent of men said they would never abandon their team, no matter how badly it performed, while 52 per cent would walk away from a relationship that was not working out.

Sixteen per cent admitted they would even go into debt to support their love of the beautiful game, according to the study, carried out for World Cup sponsors Duracell.

Dr Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, said: "If men showed the same fidelity, commitment, self-sacrifice and honesty towards their partners, the divorce rate would halve overnight."

In an increasingly uncertain world, where traditional values no longer dominate, football might have taken the place of former loyalties, he said.

Dr Sigman said: "In an age where politicians' loyalties are seen as chameleonic, where jobs and relationships come and go, loyalty is now reserved for something men feel they can actually believe in - football."

He added the survey also showed that football was an outlet for male emotion. Nearly 39 per cent of men questioned admitted they had cried tears of joy or woe over a football match.

Almost 32 per cent said the game had been instrumental in teaching them to bond with other men.

Dr Sigman said: "The Dad's Army generation would recoil in horror at the levels of vulnerability, emotion and sheer physical affection being openly displayed in front of millions of people by football players and fans today. Football, it seems, is being used as a catalyst to allow men to express emotion."

But the survey, involving 2,000 men across the UK, showed a marked difference in attitude between England and Scotland towards their national sides. Nearly 60 per cent of Englishmen said football gave them a sense of national pride, while 55 per cent of Scots said it caused them to feel a sense of national embarrassment.

The survey also revealed men's devotion to football. A quarter of those surveyed admitted they would miss a family funeral to watch a match, while more than half admitted they would travel to every UK stadium to watch an away game.

Pollsters TNS Global conducted the research for football World Cup sponsor Duracell.

Article sourced from news.scotsman.com. Written by Raymond Hainey.

V For Vendetta

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot;
I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot."

I managed to catch this movie at the cinema on Tuesday with Ashwin and Keng Mun. I have to say that this movie is very good. However, if you are those people who dont like movies which require you to listen to the dialogue to understand what's going on, i suggest that you skip this movie. My sister didnt like this movie because she falls into this particular category. I think i can deduce that she probably wouldnt like The Shawshank Redemption too. Anyway, back to the movie, Hugo Weaving was brilliant as V because he managed to potray his emotions even without the ability his facial expressions. I liked the part where V introduced himself/herself (in the comics, the gender of V was never revealed) to Evey. I was in a daze when he started spouting all those words beginning with the letter V. For those who had difficulties keeping pace with V during his/her introduction because you were too busy looking for your jaw on the cinema floor, i managed to find the whole transcript of it online to let you read it slowly this time around.

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

Oh, by the way, Natalie Portman looks damn hot, with or without hair. Muahahahahaha!

UPDATE! : I've read the first few chapters of the comics and it seems that Prothero identifies V as the man from room 5. So V is probably a guy after all.
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On another note, i know many people are disappointed that Nicol David didnt manage to win a medal in the Women's Singles Squash event. I think everyone should give her a break. I'm sure she did her best but somehow her opponent was better than her on that day. Yes, she is the world champion. Yes, she is the world number 1. But you cant expect her to win every single game she plays. Lin Dan isn't unbeatable. Roger Federer isn't unbeatable. Tiger Woods isn't unbeatable. Nicol David isn't unbeatable. So, i'm really proud of what Nicol has accomplished and i look forward to seeing her win more titles in the future.

To the Malaysian athletes who have won medals for the country, i salute and congratulate you. To the Malaysian athletes who didnt manage to win any medals, i'm still proud of you for representing the country at the games.
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No Joking Matter

You know how you used to tease your friends who had just got their driving licenses? You know how you used to act afraid when you sit in their cars for the first time? You know how you used to say "Dowan la. You just passed one. I damn scared la." when they offer you a ride in their cars? Well, now it seems that this is no more a joking matter. I sat in my sister's car for the first time ever today. I came back and told my dad that he should try sitting in her car, pretty scary experience. Somehow or another, she didnt get the joke. Suddenly, she snapped at me and got all defensive. Telling me that next time i shouldnt sit in her car anymore. Whoa whoa whoa. What's up with all these? I thought it was normal to say these kinda things about drivers who just got their licenses. I used to get teased too when i just started learning. People say that i drive dangerously and that i'm having a lesen kopi. In fact my mom didnt even dare sit in my car for the first 2 years after i got my license. She kept saying that i'm still new and she thinks its scary. Well, i didnt get upset by that. I mean it's fine by me if you dont want to sit in my car. I wont get myself worked up with all these petty stuff. Just not worth my time and effort.

I just dont get my sister. Why is driving such a sensitive issue to her? She says that if everyone keeps saying that her driving is bad, my mom wont let her drive anymore. That's just silly, worrying about things like that because she already has a car to drive. Nobody is going to stop you from driving, unless the police revoke you license la. That's a different story altogether. My aunts told her that they are afraid to sit in her car and she said next time dont ask her to send them anywhere. Get this, when you are new, surely people will be apprehensive about sitting in your car. It's human nature to be nervous and apprehensive about something new. It's because they dont know much about this new thing and they need some time to get adjusted to it.

I think she should just relax and dont think so much about her driving. You will get jokes, comments, criticisms, advises, and teasing in every part of your life. You can keep the important ones and let the others slide or you can keep them all in your heart and keep thinking about them. The former will enable you to improve yourself while the latter will leave you miserable with all the rojak going on in your head. My advise is this "Kita hidup mesti sempoi." Sempoi and enjoy your life but you also have to focus and concentrate on the important things in life. Some people think that i sempoi too much and the tidak apa attitude is not a good attitude. I know i look like i'm just sempoing around without anything to worry about but I just want to let you know that although i sempoi around, i still know when it's time to be serious. When it's time to study, i'll study. When it's time to play, i'll play. But then again, i think i'm more serious when it comes to sports. I play to win and not just for the fun of it. There's this competitive side of me when it comes to sports. Sadly, it's kinda lacking when it comes to my studies. Although i'm doing pretty ok in my studies, i think i could do better if i have the same drive and motivation as i have in sports.

FYP Reminder

I've been kinda busy lately with my FYP. Everday i leave the lab with a new problem to solve but finally i got my circuit to work on Thursday with the help of Keng Mun and Sheng Chao. By the way, Sheng Chao is my sifu when it comes to solving my circuit problems. He helped with Keng Mun's circuit too. That guy's a saviour and is worthy of a mention in my FYP report acknowledgement. Muahahahahaha! Actually, both of them will be mentioned in my report. Anyway, now it's time to do the PCB and to solder the components onto the PCB. Then i'll have to make my robot move and show it to my supervisor. After that, i hope to add 2 or 3 sensors to the robot to enable it to avoid obstacles. Sounds good rite? Just hope i'll be able to do that.

I know that everyone is damn stressed out with their FYP. So many of you all have busy status in their YM and MSN (me included...hahaha). I just want to remind you about these small minor details.

FYP report deadline: 17th April 2006
FYP presentation: 24th April - 6th May 2006
Exam week: 15th - 28th May 2006
Saying adios to MMU for the last time (that's if you dont fail any subject): The date of your last paper.
Convocation: 12th - 13th August 2006

So, all the best in your FYP and hope that you guys/gals will be able to finish your FYP and report in time. Good night, and good luck.

The Rooney Show

Firstly on F1. Ok it wasn't the perfect start for Ferrari but finishing second in the season opener is a good start. It shows that Ferrari are able to keep pace with Renault when Michael Schumacher managed to finish only about a second behind race winner Fernando Alonso. The pit stop strategy employed by Renault worked to perfection as it allowed Alonso to overtake Schumacher after his second pit stop. Sigh! Anyway, there were 2 driver-of-the-day yesterday, Kimi Raikkonen, for finishing third after starting the race dead last and Nico Rosberg, son of former world champion Keke Rosberg, for scoring 2 points in his debut race and also for setting the fastest lap of the race in his less competitive Williams Cosworth. Next stop: Malaysia!

Now on to The Rooney Show. Those United fans who missed yesterday's Man Utd v Newcastle match should kick themselves in the ass because Rooney decided to give the Newcastle players some lessons in football. He tormented the Newcastle defense for the whole 90 minutes, scoring 2 goals, the first one a delightful chip which had just enough height to escape the outstrecthed hand of Shay Given and enough weight to bring it in the inside of the far post and the second one a show of strength and determination against the pressure from Peter Ramage to score past Shay Given. His all-round contribution was tremendous, chasing after the ball, challenging for the ball, shrugging off tackles and body charges, chasing back to help out the defense, shooting, crossing, you name it, he did it.

However, the question on most people's minds would be how did United just win by 2 goals. United had 30 shots at the Newcastle goal with 12 of them being on target. Rooney himself had 11 shots at goal with 2 on target. Everyone was guilty of missing clear scoring chances, Rooney, Saha, Ronaldo, Park Ji Sung and Ruud van Nistelrooy. I hope that Sir Alex starts conducting shooting and scoring practise because there's nothing wrong with their passing. Yesterday's passing was probably the best i've seen this season, with the ball fizzing around quickly between United players on the sleet covered Old Trafford pitch. With Liverpool's defeat at Arsenal yesterday, United now have a 5-point advantage over Liverpool with a game in hand. As long as we keep up this pace, we can certainly finish second to secure the final automatic Champions League spot. (seriously, that's a damn sad statement...finishing second...we're supposed to be challenging for the title...damn Chelsea.)

Anyway, on to more good news. I just wan to congratulate my lil sister for obtaining 6A1s and 4Bs in her SPM. *clap clap clap* Good job on that but i'm still waiting for my free makan.

The Formula 1 Season Is Back

Alright, Formula 1 is back again for a brand new season. However, instead of the usual curtain raiser at Albert Park, Melbourne, this season kicks off at Sakhir, Bahrain because Melbourne is hosting the Commonwealth Games beginning March 15th. I'm really looking forward to this season because i lost interest last season due to the dismal performance of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. The signs are good this season because Schumi just qualified on pole for today's race and in doing so he equals the late Ayrton Senna's record of 65 career poles. Let's hope he'll claim more poles and wins this season.

There are also a few changes to the regulations for this season. Firstly, the single-lap is replaced by a new knockout system where the qualifying session is divided into 3 parts. The slowest 6 cars for the first and second part will qualify 17-22 and 11-16 respectively. The final part will feature a shootout between the top 10 cars to determine pole position and the top ten grid places. Secondly, the engines are reduced in size to 2.4-litre V8s from 3.0-litres V10s. This is done to reduce cost and improve safety. Lastly, teams are allowed to change their tyres during pit stops. This is a superb move because pit stops without tyre changes is just not as exciting. Seeing the crew change 4 tyres under 10 seconds is just breathtaking.

Hopefully with all these changes, we can see more overtaking manoeuvres and a more open and competitive season with multiple drivers challenging for the title. This is going to be a great Sunday because Formula 1 starts at 8pm which is then followed by Man Utd v Newcastle Utd at 9:30pm and proceeded by Arsenal v Liverpool at 12am. What a way to end the weekend.

Football Is For Real Men, Not Posers

Woohooo! Chelsea are out of the Champions League. Firstly, i would like to say that i have nothing against Chelsea FC, but i do have something against their manager who likes to think of himself as "the greatest" or "the special one". Anyway, serves him right that he lost to Barca. Barca played the game as it was meant to be played, the beautiful way or as Eric Cantona would say, Joga Bonito. Barca played passing football, with thinkers and ball players, with skills and trickery, but Chelsea played long ball style. Oh wait, the term "long ball" is only used for teams like Bolton. When Chelsea employ the same tactics, it's called "long pass". A load of bull la. It's the same tactic no matter what you call it. Stupid commentators and writers.

Back to the match, Chelsea was outplayed by Barca for the whole 180 minutes. Jose would point to the fact that in the first leg, Chelsea was playing most of the match with 10 men. I think that even with del Horno there, he wouldnt stand a chance against Messi. Messi outplayed him everytime he ran at him. He couldnt get close to the ball when Messi was in control and so had to resort to body charges and tackles ,on the leg mind you, to get the ball off him. It's kinda embarassing to see a defender worth 8 million pounds get trashed by an 18-year-old who's as tall as me. But then again, he is such a talent.

The second leg was a tactical affair where most of the football was played at the middle of the park but it was also peppered by some exciting flicks and tricks by the reigning world player of the year. At one point, he managed to flick the ball over Ferreira's head but then he pulled the ball back just to have a go at Ferreira again. Paulo Ferreira was made to look like a schoolboy throughout the match by Ronaldinho and Eto'o. Whenever Ronaldinho had the ball, he was challenged by 3 Chelsea players but the best thing was, none of them could get the ball off him. They had to foul him just to stop him going towards their goal. However, they couldnt shackle for long. On 78 minutes, Samuel Eto'o passed the ball to Ronaldinho and with those magical feet of his, he waltzed his way pass 3 Chelsea players, at the same time managing to brush off John Terry like he was a sack of potatoes, to score the decisive goal.

After the match, Jose's still going around saying that his team were the better team. I wonder which match has he been watching all along. Anybody who watched the match could tell you who were the better team. Even the statistics from both the legs will tell that Barca were clearly the better team. So, i think i represent a lot of people when i say this, PADAN MUKA KAU JOSE!

Anyway, back to the title of this post, did any of you manage to watch Didier Drogba's Oscar worthy acting last weekend? He was about to kick the ball when Jonathan Greening ran across him to block his shot. Apparently, Greening caught him somewhere in the stomach and he fell down as if he was shot by a sniper at the roof of the stadium. Then, he rolled around on the ground to get some nice grass stains on his jersey while screaming in agony. Another Oscar contender is Arjen Robben. When Reina placed his hand on his neck, he went down like he got shot through his neck by a revolver. Then he clutched his neck while rolling around on the ground like he was choking on a durian seed. There's also Cristiano Ronaldo, who's a serial diver. It's difficult to differentiate when he is really fouled and when he's not. I know that he's a Man Utd player but you cant seriously be condoning diving, even if he's playing for the team that you support. These guys are an embarassment to the game. On one side, you have the real gentlemen of the game. They are the guys who are committed in every game. They get kicked around but they get back up again just to taunt their opponents all over again. They play with dignity, passion, and pride. I'll just list down a few of these gentlemen: Thierry Henry, Roy Keane, Alan Shearer, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Gabriel Heinze. On the other side, we have the divers and play-actors who are staining the beautiful game. We really need to get rid of these posers before more of them appear in the game.

Hitz.fm Birthday Bash

My friends and i were at the Hitz.fm 9th Birthday Bash at the open air carpark of Mahkota Parade. Many big acts were there to rock Malacca, amongst them are K-Town Clan, Frequency Cannon, Reshmonu, Pop Shuvit, and Ferhad but Jason Lo was the one who really rocked the show. The crowd was singing Evening News all by themselves, without him needing to ask us to sing along. It was a great choice by Hitz to let him perform last cause he was the best of all. Anyway, here are some pictures i took at the bash.

The Hitz.fm Crew


The Hitz.fm Cruiser Crew


Frequency Cannon


Pop Shuvit


Serena C, Jay and Ferhad


Jay dancing away


Reshmonu


Jason Lo

After all the performance, my friends and i managed to take a few photos with the stars of the show.

Reshmonu


Jason Lo


Serena C

P/S: We want Jason Lo to rock Trinite, not Danielle. Too bad he'll be rocking the SPARC prom instead.

Excuses

I went to class earlier than usual today. I was lucky that the previous class had ended and there were only a few students discussing some class/homework with their lecturer at the front of the classroom. So i was minding my own business sitting at the back of the classroom when i overheard this conversation:

Lecturer: Why didn't you do your homework?
Student: I don't have graph paper.

To me, that is one of the stupidest excuses i've ever heard in my entire life. It's like one of those "my dog ate my homework" excuses. I was tempted to shout "buy la, stupid!" to the bloke but the lecturer beat me to it, although she said it in a much nicer way. I guess the only good thing about this is that he was being honest. He probably didnt know where the nearest stationery shop is. He's probably too shy to ask somebody for directions to the nearest stationery shop. He probably hasn't even heard of Jusco or he probably didnt have any friends who have graph papers. But my guess is that he's just a dumbass who couldn't be bothered to look for a graph paper to do his homework.

Speaking of dumbass, i miss hearing Red scold everyone that in That 70's Show. I wonder when will it be back on Star World. Sigh...