More of Shrek, soon...

" Man, you are a cat-tastrophe,
And you, are ri-donk-ulous. " - Shrek Forever After

Shrek 1 is amazing, Shrek 2 is fantastic, Shrek 3 is disappointing, but Shrek 4 is awesome. Shrek goes back to their true origin that captures the heart. This time, it's a twist, with Shrek playing the victim of his own act. Rumpelstiltskin becomes the villain, with his pet Fifi, tries to overrule the kingdom of Far Far Away. Fiona, with others, formed the ogre resistance. Shrek signed to an unscrupulous agreement and will face death if not being kissed by the love of his life before sunrise. The opposite to Fiona back in the other installments.

To be honest, this could be the best Shrek in the series and i enjoyed every second of the show.

On World Cup. Great, my 4 teams are through. Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain. Last night, Germany knocked out England. England deserved their second goal- it definitely crossed the line. But anyway, a 4-1 win, proving that Germany has counterattack tactics too! They deserved the spot in the Q- finals too. Argentina won Mexico and another great match awaits: Germany-Argentina. This route they have chosen is going to be challenging. Because, they could meet Spain if Spain beat Portugal and Paraguay/Japan in semi finals. Not much worries for Brazil yet if they continue to perform. Meeting Chile and Netherlands/Slovakia.

Won't be around for a few days.



Will be in Singapore. wc10 goes out...

The Last Song rules!

" Life (he realized) was much like a song.
In the beginning, there is a mystery, in the end there is a confirmation,
but it's in the middle where all the emotions resides to make the whole thing worthwhile. " - The Last Song.

The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks, is a true winner. It's actually his best and tops my favourite list amongst his other books. Seriously, The Wedding and A Walk To Remember, step aside, The Last Song becomes my personal favourite now and after completing this magnificent piece, it further proves that Nicholas Sparks is my all time favourite writer, and his writings have much influenced mine as well!

Why i like it? Simple, it's a fine combination of both my other favourites from him. Somehow, reading, it, i can feel the convergence between The Wedding and A Walk To Remember. We have Wilson Lewis in The Wedding, Steve in The Last Song. Landon Carter in A Walk To Remember, Will in The Last Song. And both these characters have been a pleasure to read. Fine characterisation.

And then we have an amazing storyline. Reading most of his books, i didn't really feel the twist in this; i'd anticipated that. In one way or another, NS kills the character, one of them. Then we have fire, rebellion, sister-brother love, father-daughter love, couple love, summer romances, piano, turtles, volleyball, fishing, church window, jealousy, friendship, trust, resentment, acceptance, forgiveness, joy and death. The ending of the story is absolutely tear-jerking.

He succeeds in all level. Jonah and Ronnie show beautiful brother-sister love. Ronnie-Blaze/Galadriel, Will-Scott, Steve-Pastor Harris all show the strength of their friendship and the turbulence they'd have to face. Ronnie-Will, similar to Landon and Jamie, show the powerful crafting of love blossoming between the two. From how they'd first met in the volleyball match, how she'd disliked him at first, slowly falling in love with one another, fishing dates, aquarium dates, and how the ending of the summer drifted them apart. However, it is Steve-Ronnie relationship that prevails the most. Steve, like Wilson, felt he'd left his family, and for after three years they'd never talked to each other.

It was this summer that he'd requested his ex-wife to invite both Ronnie and Jonah to accompany him during the break. And everything happened (i'm not telling much, just the necessary stuffs you may need to know). Ronnie was rebellious, disliking her presence in the little place from her New York home, disliking the people, but most importantly disliking his dad. She was angry at her dad for leaving her mother.

It's a true rollercoaster of emotion as well. As you read, you'll feel the change in character of Ronnie, how she'd then open her heart back to her dad (something happened, that's for you to investigate). And it was clearly her dad's love towards her.

This is the best title one could think of for this story. The Last Song. Why? Steve is a music teacher, then pursued his dreams to become a concert piano player. When Ronnie was a child, he taught her piano and when he'd left them, Ronnie hated the piano. She'd hated it a lot, while Steve loved it. And during the summer they'd spent together, for the love of her daughter, he'd built a wall to separate himself from the piano. Sacrifices of a father.

If you reach three quarter of the book, you'll understand what it means by The Last Song. And reading a book about piano heightened my love for it as well. During this holidays, i'm definitely dedicating myself to discovering more on the piano.

I'll stop here for the book review. In short, 5 stars! Awesome! Go-and-read and you'll-be-satisfied. This book is REALLY REALLY fantastic. Love and death.

Onto football, one by one, the big names are falling. Spain, France, Germany and Italy struggles. Brazil was amazing and i'd love to see them maintain their fighting spirit. Group stage coming to an end with all the third matches coming soon.

The Last Song is wc10 favourite book from now on.

" You have to love something before you can hate it. "

Nine Emperor Gods Temple, Queensbay Mall, FIFA...

" When i get older, i will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a wavin' flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back... "

When it comes to holiday, to me, it means going out and exploring the world. While i'm still not able to fund my own vacation completely, going out with my family is the best and the on every level, i enjoy it. Like it. Love it.

This time, it was a short visit to Penang. Without a doubt, Sungai Petani has great food! But Penang, it just simply has so much to offer. And, food aside, i just realized that Penang has so many interesting spots that stand out to attract tourist; tourists like us. Definitely, Penang is worth the UNESCO title.

On our way to Penang island, we stopped by to visit the Nine Emperor Gods temple and it was beautiful. Intricate carvings on the pillars, walls and ceilings. A tour around the temple simply is fascinating.

The majestic gate welcoming visitors.

Dragon carving! Amazing.

Dad and brother at the side of the temple. Notice the pagoda on the left and the phoenix carving on the right?

Lovely painting on the wall facing the Nine Dragons fountain.

Nine Dragons fountain at the centre of the temple, in front of one of the prayer rooms. This picture doesn't do it justice; it's bigger than what you see here.

If anyone wishes to visit Penang, this temple is on the mainland, somewhere near Butterworth, and absolutely a must-visit recommendation from me.

The next place we visited was the Queensbay Mall. It was, rather, a disappointment. We were there on Sunday and the traffic into the parking lot and the parking lot itself were terrible. The parking lots, outdoor, had no proper parking guidelines and the cars were parked as if those people had no brains. Seriously, it was like as if we had to squeeze through the cars and worst still, there was no parking in the first place we tried (the attendants still allowed people in) and we were forced to exit only to enter another empty, newly opened parking lots. And... I still don't get why the people didn't want to enter the newly open lots, plenty of spaces, but queued in line to enter the covered ones. I mean, the queue to enter was looong. Different thinking, i reasoned.



Anyhow, what made this visit interesting was the ways, i noticed, how soy bean could be consumed. I had tried one out of the three unique ways of soy bean and to be honest, the other two were tasty.

First, soy bean drink with 'yoo tiau'. Interesting combination. Will be trying this soon in KL.

Second, ice cream soy bean. As we descended the escalator, we say people making a beeline to this shop. Intrigued, we tried one. Not much to my liking though, it tastes... weird.

Third, and probably the more common, was the Michael Jackson drink. A combination of the soy bean drink with the 'cincau'.

Yes, if you're wondering, i took soy bean three times in one day. I might have an overdose of it already.

The trip ended with a satisfying dinner at Gurney Drive.

Onto World Cup. Spain suffered a devastating 1-0 loss to Switzerland. What a waste, i want Spain to advance to the next stage but looking at it now, it'll be a challenge. Brazil scored 2, Italy drew at one, Holland won 2-0. Argentina facing South Korea, France facing Mexico. It'll be interesting to see these teams continue to battle it out in the second round of Group Stage if they want to progress to the next stage. Germany remains my favourite for now.

On another note, this is another World Cup 2010 song, Waving Flag. Nice beat...



wc10 watches WC10, and liking Penang.

" And everybody will be singing it,
And you and i will be singing it,
And we all will be singing it... "

Eyes on South Africa, FIFA 2010 !

" You're on the front line, everyone's watching,
You know it's serious, we're getting closer,
This isn't over... "

The time is now, the time the world has been waiting for. The time the world sleeps no more for the next month, the time our productivity level will reduce and eye bags surface. The time the world watches and cheers for their team, the time when the winning team lifts the cup. The time of a lifetime, once every four years, the FIFA 2010 World Cup! And this time, South Africa takes the stage!

" The pressure is on, you feel it,
But you've got it all, believe it... "

There is something about FIFA that distinguishes itself from the other leagues like EPL, Champions, Euro, etc. Perhaps, it's because it's wonderful to see the world play as one and the true beauty of football can be seen and felt. Football does break down barriers; political views aside, when it comes to the ball, we follow the rules. It may not be all about winning, as to me, winning the cup alone can mean so much more. It means togetherness, it means unity. No team can win without this key quality and even though you field all star players, and if they are selfish, that won't be much a beautiful game and IF they'd won, they won't earn much of my respect.

It's about culture and arts too. It's amazing to witness South Africa hosting this much anticipated, most popular sport in the world. It shares to the world its culture, obviously shown during the kick-off concert, and their capability to hold an event on a giant scale. Since it's in S Africa too, we get to read more, and learn more, about the country and its people. 1Goal, Education for All.

" When you fall get up, oh oh,
And if you fall get up, eh eh... "

I won't call myself a football fanatic but the World Cup never fails to struck my heart, my long lost flame for football. As i watched these matches, often i wonder what happened to my passion for playing football. During FIFA 2002 in Korea-Japan, i was deeply interested in football and from then on became so involved in it, but as i aged older, i felt myself losing the touch. Football, i've realized, will not be my career. But still, watching football thrills and brings extreme fun!

" Tsamina mina, zangalewa,
Cause this is Africa... "

FIFA 2010 official poster.

Still in Group Stage. Germany impresses me the most hitherto. Thrashing 4-0. Argentina failed to shine; England and France failed to deliver. It's still too early to predict since teams like Brazil, Italy, Spain etc have yet to show their skills. Nevertheless, my money is on Germany to the next round, and probably to the finals if they continue their fantastic play!

" Waka waka eh eh... "

wc10 sings waka waka!

Season 4, Episode 10: Finishing the freshman year...

" Ke Nako (It's time). " - FIFA 2010

Alright, i made it this season to ten episodes. Looking back, i had to admit that this season had been rather busy and it made it felt as if this semester could be wrapped up all nicely into a week. I could remember entering the semester like it was yesterday.

Enough say about time and how fast this semester had been. Exams are over, and for one thing i can tell you for sure is that the holidays are my favourite time. Holidays are the only time when i can do what i like such as visiting the movies more often that i could (with Prince of Persia, Shrek kicking off the list), hang out with my friends, go for exercises (blame it on the tight schedule on the normal days), holidaying in Kedah and Singapore, and eat, eat and just simply eat.

And what more, i have the time to read (I'm on 'The Last Song' now and i can sense that it is real deal) and write. I'm currently on my next big project with the tentative title 'One Shot'. I can feel the challenges in this writing as the characters will require a little more effort to portray. Nevertheless, it's something i like to do and i wish you to read it when i am done with it. My target, my first draft is to complete by mid July. So, hang on tight!

And... FIFA 2010 in South Africa! Hopefully, the FIFA this time will revive my inner desire for football. The passion had dimmed over the years and to be honest, after the FIFA 2002 (my peak passion for it), i sort of lose touch. Bring it on!

Everywhere's getting ready for the World Cup... excitement! I will do a post on it alone when it kicks off this 2nd June.

As for now, i will close the fourth season and see you again in the next! wc10 is off for a break!