The End

No, no, no... I'm not talking about footie here.

Yesterday, I finally watched the last two episodes of the final season of LOST. In my tweet, I did say that I was 80% satisfied by the ending.

But having thought harder about it, I am now 90% satisfied. Sure, there's still stuff hanging in the air, but the things that were tied up, gave me a sense of closure, which was something every fan of the show was desperately hoping for, I'm sure.

I must admit that the show, well, lost me somewhere in Season 3. But things really picked up after that and seasons 4 & 5, were absolutely enthralling. The writing was simply superb for me, and of course the production remained top class.

So the final season was something I really looked forward to. And it didn't disappoint me.

Unlike England's World Cup campaign.

No, I won't be going into the whole "if only the stupid referee had allowed Lampard's goal" argument. Yeah, England was robbed, but England also sucked 90% of the time at this year's World Cup.

So... the end.

World Cup 2nd Round Predictions

As I'm writing this, there's still an hour to go before the big ENGLAND vs GERMANY clash. No prizes for guessing which team I'm behind... My prediction? England will edge it 2-1, with a break out performance by one of their stars.

And here are my other predictions for the 2nd round (wanted to do this yesterday which would have included the 2 cracking games yesterday, but was too busy lah):

Argentina (3) vs Mexico (2)
Paraguay (0) vs Japan (1)
Spain (3) vs Portugal (1)
Holland (3) vs Slovakia (1)
Brazil (2) vs Chile (0)

Durian Day!

So for the second row in a year, Sri Pentas came together to binge on the king of all fruits, the Durian. Not that it's a bad thing...

......

Yup, our generous chairman treated everyone to an endless supply of the good stuff, and how everyone embraced it to the max.

...
..

Just like last year as well, things kicked off with the durian-eating competition, after which it was a glorious free-for-all ("free" being the operative word here)...

...
..

Yours truly was in good form as well. Not sure how much I ate, but it was enough to make myself proud. Haha.

On behalf everyone at Sri Pentas, I just wanna say, thank you Mr Chairman!

Oh England!

Caught the England vs Algeria game earlier this morning on RTM (no astro at the hotel where I'm staying), and I must say that I was simply disgusted. Disgusted!

It was without a doubt the worst England performance at the World Cup I've ever seen. Even worse than the horror show in 1990 when the Three Lions drew with Ireland, 1-1.

The England players looked devoid of ideas and conviction and as a commentator said on ESPN, when they left the field, "the boos actually drowned out the vuvuzelas". Padan muka!

The pundits were going on and on about England's lame performance but I think they needed more than the 30mins allocated.

But allow me to summarise. The "superstar" players were crap. Shrek, I mean Rooney, couldn't even control the ball, Lampard was reduced to 5mph shots, Gerrad gave away the ball too many times and even the corners were executed with no clear strategy or intent in mind.

And don't get me started about the "semi superstars". Lennon's too green for such a heavy task, Wright-Philips is basically on a free Safari vacation, Heskey's simply making up the numbers... and it goes on and on.

The only silver lining for Fabio Capello's squad is that their destiny is still in their own hands. Beat Slovenia (not as easy as it sounds), and they're through to the next round, where (judging by what's been dished out so far), they'll simply crash and burn.

I sooo pray that I'll be proven wrong...

The World Cup Is Here!

The World Cup is back! Woohoo!

As I write this, a few matches have been played and so far, it’s a mixed bag of yawners and semi-crackers. One thing everyone has somewhat agreed is this: the Vuvuzela is the most annoying thing at the World Cup. Ever.

Anyway, those who know me would know that my undivided support is for England. Yes, boring choice, bla bla bla... But, so what? I mean, instead of being a poseur and declare my support for a team I hardly know about just to sound cool, picking England is just natural for someone who’s been watching the English game since the days of “Big League Soccer”.

...

I know, I know… they’ve not won anything since 1966, but that’s called being a real FAN. Heartbreaks are part of the deal. Yes, you have the choice to switch support to a different team but then, that would be called a "sham".

But back to those heartbreaks, England have supplied plenty when it comes to the World Cup. The biggest was of course in 1986 when they got dumped out of the quarterfinals by Argentina. It wasn’t all their fault tho as we all know how Maradona used his hand to score that first goal, which immediately sowed the deepest of hatred in me for the man and his team.

But I remember after England lost that game, I wanted to quit school. For real! I knew the taunts from my classmates would be too much to bear. So I wanted to leave school and become a musician. If that’s not hardcore, I don’t know what is lah.

Then there was Italy in 1990. A great team that was, with the likes of Gascoigne, Lineker and Barnes in the side. But after doing well to reach the semis, they lost out to Germany in a penalty shoot-out.

...

I didn’t want to quit school then, but I did want to burn my whole Star Wars collection out of frustration, which I didn’t. Phew!

So this year, England are “favourites” again and there are plenty out there who believe that this generation of players will finally bring back the Cup for the Queen. Including me.

But I am preparing some old stuff to burn. Just in case.

Enjoy the World Cup, peeps!