A Toy Reviewer

Irtiza been surfing through lots of Disney/Pixar's Cars 2 toy reviews of late. Great....now I have 2 online product reviewers at home. Emmm....may I use my laptop now? (*sigh).

Today is Awal Muharram....Irtiza's 4th birthday according to the Islam calendar. Happy birthday son...we'll do lots of fun things tomorrow....it's a promise :)

Forever Black and Yellow…go Tiger!

It’s been almost 40 hours since the memorable game ended. It was the game with the Harimau Malaya securing a gold medal as a defending champion of the SEA Games 2011 football sport. Yet, people are still talking passionately about it at restaurants, Facebook, online forums, other media, and anywhere with a bunch of Malaysians around. The fire of the game is still very much alive…and roaring :)

The game really topped the finals of AFF Suzuki 2010 in terms of emotional display and Malaysian unity. It was no longer just for a gold medal, but a game to gain the national pride that was repeatedly tainted by flag burnings, bus-knocking, crowd-booing, desecration of national anthem, biased judging, and so on. With all the gold medals offered, that gold was the most important. It was coined the mother of all gold medals….and we’ve won it fair and square.

Truthfully, I’m not really a football fanatic (I belonged in a small percentage of weirdness in the Malaysian community where most people are either Liverpool or MU supporters). But I do have my moments of passion in football. I remember the Malaysia Cup finals back in 1991 when the Johor team fought against Selangor. The match was very dramatic, with Johor was down to 9 players due to injury and red card. It was Johor against all odds…and the team won 3 – 1 in the end. Boy I remember that clearly….plus my father’s memorable screams throughout the game.

Last Monday’s fight was a little bit similar to that….with lots of drama and gut-wrenching moments. The Harimau Malaya started slow and steady…and out of nowhere, a sudden goal was scored by Gunawan of Garuda at minute 5 of the first half of the game. That was a big downer, considering that the game was just starting and Malaysia faced tremendous pressure to get a tying goal to even things out. Mohd Asraruddin managed to do that with a very unique goal at minute 34. The second half of the game started with Harimau Malaya being more in the offensive mode compared to the first half. 

Two extra-time periods were given when both teams were unable to score a winning goal. Offside goals by both teams were a big teaser (I was very fortunate that my heart is in stable condition during that time).  Fakri was not a favourite among Malaysian fans that night due to his inconsistency in performance, with failed golden goal attempts and an easy third penalty kick. But all was temporarily forgiven through Khairul Fahmi’s amazing saves and Badrool’s goal that seal the deal to win the game for Malaysia. At that joyful moment, my wife and I gave our loudest roar of cheers….together with our condo neighbours.

The passion didn’t stop there. Rushed to my car at 6am yesterday to listen to the Hitz Morning Crew (they are very passionate in displaying their support for the Harimau Malaya…and they tend to inject a happy smile in your face). Was really keen to listen to their commentaries about the game. DJ JJ’s voice sounded hoarse due to lots of cheering. The DJs played Queen’s We are the Champions after that, and mentioned about their bet against Jak FM of Indonesia (resulted with the latter having to play Malaysian songs the whole day) The first song that Jak FM played for the day was Ultras Malaya-Selamanya…and that personally brings happy thoughts to me till today.

Harimau Malaya will be having the Olympic qualifying match against Syria tonight. Win or lose, you’re already a legend in the history of Asian football. All the best guys…..aummmm!

 The team celebrating their win :)

The Walking Dead: A Personal Insight

 

*May contain spoilers.

Kids do the darndest  things before age 7, like sliding down the stairs using the Monopoly board, getting creative with lipsticks and living room walls, and having drain frogs as pets. Emmm….(*wide grin). 

Well, compared to those things, what I did later was a lil bit more extreme; I watched my very first zombie movie. It was the Dawn of the Dead (the original 1978 version, not the 2003’s 28 Hours-ish remake). Not sure if the illicit exposure was due to bad parenting, or it was me who found the hidden VHS tape at home…and got curious. Mum said I brood a lot for a week. When things got to normal again, my thoughtful teenage babysitter brought me to the cinema to watch Night of the Creeps (with the alternate ending…the one with the graveyard scene). And Demons 2 back at her home…plus countless Chinese zombie movies after that….and…(Yikes…WTH did the adults think back in the 80’s?)

Either way, I’m just grateful that I don’t need therapy…coz the present moi could turn out to be a lil bit different at present… perhaps with no blog site, despise sushi, love durian, and share conversations with cats (Butterfly Effects people). Still, have to thank the adults for making me a big fan of zombie movies…and a zombie movie critic (Btw, Resident Evil 4: Afterlife suck)

The Walking Dead; got to know about the graphic novel through a review from The Star newspaper about 2 or 3 years ago. Since then, I got hooked as a reader and a big fan. You can imagine how it almost blew my head off with excitement when I got to know TWD was being made into a TV series. It was too cool to be true…but it did.

Of course the series is way different from the original counterpart. Shane is still alive and well, the addition of the Dixon brothers, the trip to CDC in Atlanta…the list is a long one. But there are Easter eggs/allusions from the novels that were used in the series, like Shane’s police cap, Carl’s hat, Andrea’s choice of weapon, and Hershel’s barn.

An extremely cool redneck Norman Reedus

At the moment, the latest episode entitled Chupacabra (Episode 5, Season 2) continues with the team’s never-ending search for Sophia (I wouldn’t really say it was a team effort…seems Daryl is doing most of the job). Hershel’s annoying qualities began to surface…that clearly depicts his displeasure at team Rick’s presence in his farm. I wonder why Rick could pick-up on that? And after more than 10 episodes, he couldn’t even see the tension between Lori and Shane (Rick needs to be more aware of his surroundings…the living can be dangerous too you know).

I love the scenes with Daryl and his face-off with imaginary big bro Merle. Still wonder if this will turn out to be something like Anakin-turned-Darth Vader thing (Or…dare if I say it…Daryl as the future Governor?). If AMC and the production kept in tune with the fan base, they would be best leave Glenn and Daryl from harm’s way (Aside: Norman Reedus rocks!)

Glenn came, Glenn saw, Glenn stuttered

Glenn’s horrific discovery was no biggie if you’ve read the novel beforehand. The biggest mystery is still Dr. Jenner’s whisper to Rick back in Season 1. Hope that will be revealed soon in the next episode that is aptly entitled ‘Secrets’. Either that, or it is a pending information that will put the end of the bromance between Rick and Shane.

The next episode is due Monday. Thank goodness for TWD’s new #91 issue (*grin).