Saturday 21 May 2016

Wayne Rooney in X-Men: Apocalypse

This is the most ridiculous thing ever.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn2D7-nezwY


"X: We're looking for a particular group of mutants to help us defeat Apocalypse. X: We need a mutant with incredible reflexes. H: How about David de Gea? X: Thank you Hank, I was thinking more like Nightcrawler. H: Of course. X: Next we need a speedster, fast as lightning H: How about Anthony Martial? He's pretty fast X: Well yes but not as fast as Quicksilver. H: Good point Charles. X: Finally we need someone with intensity and incredible focus. H: Wait I've got it. Cyclops. X: Actually Hank I'm thinking of a different mutant...... Hello old friend. Rooney: Hello Charles."


HAHAHAHA, and I actually laughed.

Andre Lim

Friday 20 May 2016

All the Goals of the European Championships 2000

This DVD, produced by Octagon CSI, is certainly one notch above the All the Goals of the World Cup 98.

Price: I bought this on eBay, second-hand, for about AUD$6.50 including shipping. It seems to be a relatively rare DVD.

Time: Just under an hour - about 58 minutes.




I have to say that All the Goals of the European Championships 2000 is somewhat good - you can tell that Octagon spent a bit more time on its presentation.

Goals are categorised under these headings, some of which are repeated:



  • Goals Goals Goals
  • Saves
  • That was close
  • What a miss
  • Penalty!
  • On me head
  • Ouch
  • Oops
  • Net busters
  • Off the woodwork
  • Golden boot (Milosevic and Kluivert)
  • Referee!
  • Ten of the best
Those of you who like everything to be in chronological order (Goals by group stage then knockout stage, for example - as in All the Goals of the World Cup 98), will be in for a rude awakening as all the goals are just put into these categories and they are randomly shown. Not that that is a bad thing I think. It is a nice change I suppose - but not everyone will necessarily agree with me.

The categories are very interesting and varied. For example the 'Golden boot' category features all the goals of Savo Milosevic and Patrick Kluivert, the joint leading goal scorers of this tournament. 

'What a miss', 'That was close' and 'Off the woodwork' are your standard highlights of near-misses, although some from memory were not that close at all.

Referee! shows funny moments involving the referee - such as interactions with the players (including lecturing etc).

Oops!, from memory, shows goals that were gifted from silly mistakes, own goals or just reckless fouls.

And the DVD wraps the whole thing up by showing ten of the 'best goals' as rated by the producers of the DVD I presume.

Random fan footage, which is always interesting

As you might have guessed, this DVD does a significantly better job of capturing the UEFA Euro 2000 tournament as a whole, I find, compared to what All the Goals of the World Cup 98 did for FIFA World Cup '98. 

The main reason for this is because the DVD shows more than just the goal itself - in the sense that:

a) The build-up to the each of the goals is better presented; and

b) Misses, random and funny moments are also included in the package.

Winning goal for Spain against Yugoslavia

In my view this makes all the difference. 

(Although I will concede that the 1998 World Cup had 171 goals and Euro 2000 only had 85 - nonetheless, I think that, certainly All the Goals of the World Cup 98 could have done better than to cram all their goals into such a short space of time.)

That being said, penalty shoot-outs are not included which is a bit sad, but I suppose is forgiveable.

Overmars with Edgar Davids

One main downside

There is one downside to this DVD, and that is the annoying music heard in some of the categories. But I suppose that can be overlooked. At least the live crowd can be heard even with the music on. 

The live commentary appears to be reserved for the main goals categories.


Rating

I think this DVD does a rather good job of fitting everything in under 1 hour. The variety and spread is simply put, fantastic. And the quality of the production and commentary is not bad either.

However the random order of the goals might leave some of you berserk. LOL

I didn't mind too much - perhaps lower the below score by 1-2 points if that kind of thing is likely to bother you.

I would recommend this DVD to all lovers of football.

Score7.5-8.0 out of 10 --- probably 7.7 out of 10


Andre Lim

Monday 16 May 2016

Chinese Last Names (2014)

I am told this is the more up-to-date list of most common Chinese surnames as of 2014


01李  02王  03張  04劉  05陳  06楊  07趙  08黃  09週  10吳  11徐  12孫  13胡  14朱  15高  16林  17何  18郭  19馬  20羅
21梁  22宋  23鄭  24謝 25韓  26唐  27馮  28於  29董  30蕭  31程  32曹  33袁  34鄧  35許  36傅  37沈  38曾  39彭  40呂
41蘇  42盧  43蔣  44蔡  45賈  46丁  47魏  48薛  49葉  50閻  51餘  52潘   53杜  54戴  55夏  56鐘  57汪  58田  59任  60姜
61範  62方  63石  64姚  65譚  66廖  67鄒  68熊  69金  70陸  71郝  72孔 73白  74崔  75康  76毛  77邱  78秦  79江  80史
81顧  82侯  83邵  84孟 85龍  86萬  87段  88漕  89錢  90湯  91尹  92黎   93易  94常  95武  96喬  97賀  98賴  99龔  100文


第101—200名

101龐 102樊 103蘭  104殷 105施 106陶 107洪 108翟 109安  110顏 111倪 112嚴 113牛 114溫 115蘆 116季 117俞 118章 119魯 120葛 121伍 122韋 123申 124尤 125畢 126聶 127叢 128焦 129向 130柳   131邢 132路 133岳 134齊 135沿 136梅 137莫 138莊 139辛 140管 141祝 142左 143塗 144谷 145祁 146時 147舒 148耿  149牟 150卜 151路 152詹 153關 154苗 155凌 156費 157紀 158靳 159盛 160童  161歐 162甄 163項 164曲 165成 166遊 167陽 168裴 169席 170衛 171查 172屈 173鮑 174位 175覃 176霍 177翁 178隋 179植 180甘 181景 182薄 183單 184包 185司 186柏 187寧 188柯 189阮 190桂 191閔 192歐陽 193解 194強 195柴 196華 197車 198冉 199房 200邊

第201—300名

201辜 202吉 203饒 204刁 205瞿 206戚 207丘 208古 209米 210池 211滕 212晉 213苑 214鄔 215臧 216暢 217宮 218來 219嵺 220苟 221全 222褚 223廉 224簡 225婁 226蓋 227符 228奚 229木 230穆 231黨 232燕 233郎 234邸 235冀 236談 237姬 238屠 239連 240郜 241晏 242欒 243鬱 244商 245蒙 246計 247喻 248揭 249竇 250遲 251宇 252敖 253糜 254鄢 255冷 256卓 257花 258仇 259艾 260藍 261都 262鞏 263稽 264井 265練 266仲 267樂 268虞 269卞 270封 271竺 272冼 273原 274官 275衣 276楚 277佟 278栗 279匡 280宗 281應 282台 283巫 284鞠 285僧 286桑 287荊 288諶 289銀 290揚 291明 292沙 293薄 294伏 295岑 296習 297胥 298保 299和 300藺


Andre Lim

Sunday 15 May 2016

Chinese Last Names and Interesting Chinese Words

Most common Chinese last names according to my textbook:

李 (Lǐ)
陈 (chén)
周 (zhōu)
胡 (hú)
何 (hé)
王 (wáng)
杨 (yáng)
吴 (wú)
朱 (zhū)
郭 (guō)
张 (zhāng)
赵 (zhào)
徐 (xú)
高 (gāo)
马 (mǎ)
刘 (liú)
黄 (huáng)
孙 (sūn)
林 (lín)
罗 (luō)


I also discovered something cool in my textbook:

The Chinese word for look (看) = Holding a hand (手) over your eyes (目) to gaze at something (for example, to cover the light shining in your eyes).

[The 'hooked' vertical part of 手 is written crookedly when written in another character]



Additionally:

亡 (Wáng) is the  Chinese character for 'to die'

The character for busy is 忙 (Máng)

This character for busy is formed with two parts...the part on the left is actually one of the short form characters for 'heart' (心。。written like 小 when in a character)

And the right part is 'to die'

So busy arguably means 'the heart is dying'.

Or as my father put it, you have to be alive for your heart to be capable of 'dying' - therefore only dead people are not busy. Ie. All people who are alive will be busy.

Therefore: Being busy is unavoidable while we are alive - - -

Is this some ancient wisdom passed down from the Chinese people?

Andre Lim

Saturday 14 May 2016

Chuen Tang

全**

I've not done a tribute for some time now but I thought it would be fitting to do one in honour of my friend Chuen Tang, whose birthday would have "quietly" been kept to himself some 2 days ago on 12 May 2016...



...were it not for the wonderful intervention of his cousin Sarah who surprised him in front of his friends with a birthday cake :)

One thing that comes to mind with Chuen is that he is a real thinker and a genuine genius. Certainly there can be no doubt about this when one considers the fact that he is more-or-less on the cusp of securing First-Class Honours in his Biomechanical/Mechatronics Engineering course. However, I find that he also has a good all-round knowledge of many things, be it science, sport or everyday topics. He knows what he is talking about.

But the more impressive thing about Chuen, in my view, is that he is a humble individual who displays exemplary qualities far beyond that of his age group. He is friendly, gentle, mild-mannered, respectful, kind, and never truly makes a big deal about how intelligent he is. Certainly I admire him for being such a mature individual in this respect. In my view, although I am his senior by a small amount, I actually think he is more mature and down-to-earth than I am. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I have more to learn from him than he does from me.

Chuen is also a great musician, singer, worship leader and indeed, Christian leader. Along with Uel, Shannelle, Josh, Collette and many others who I have not named, he has contributed much to the lives of the young adults and youth group. Sometimes I think that the organisation of such groups can be a thankless job, but I reckon all the people I've mentioned do a great job. Chuen is a large and important contributor in that respect.

At this stage I must give full credit to his parents, Uncle Yong and Aunty Fui, for having raised such a polite and lovely person. Having visited his house on a few occasions, I can tell he has been brought up well and his kindness is reflected in the warm and loving environment established by his parents. I am thankful that, through Chuen, I have also gotten to know his parents, who in my view, are kind-hearted individuals.

Of course, on a topic of relatively minor importance, I also quite enjoy talking to Chuen about football - particularly given that he supports Liverpool FC. Although passionate about his club, he does not let any aspect of it get to his head - which I think is absolutely key. Certainly these days some fans get too 'passionate' about the clubs they support and they let bad results ruin their day. Chuen would be the last person to let something like that happen to him. He has a balanced temperament which is very commendable.

Could I just say that I am very grateful for your warm friendship Chuen and I wish you all the happiness and the very best for everything you do.Truthfully I don't think you need to worry too much (we all worry a little) about life after university. God is with you.

I have ordered your birthday present about half an hour ago, and I hope you like it LOL. Please excuse my tardiness.

Andre Lim


**PS. Today you said your first name was actually the Chinese character for 'total' or 'complete' or 'circle' - if I had to guess could it be this character?

Because 全部 (Quánbù) means complete/total and 全 means something similar like all/whole.

Apologies if I am wrong.

全鄌?
(Quán táng)

Anyone else rooting for Dami Im/Australia at Eurovision?

She's second favourite according to the bookies!

How Australia came to be at Eurovision is an interesting story. Credit to SBS and the European Broadcasting Union for commemorating Australia's Eurovision fans and supporters at the 60th anniversary of the event.

Andre Lim

Thursday 5 May 2016

Okazaki and Schwarzer

Interestingly much has been made of the fact that Schwarzer will be the first player in EPL history to "win" back-to-back titles for two different clubs.....and get this.....not only winning back-to-back titles for two different clubs, but winning at each club without playing a single minute in the EPL.

What "winning" means is interesting because, as I understand it, a player needs to play in at least 5 EPL matches (which can include time on as a substitute) to qualify for a Winner's Medal. Nonetheless, I suppose "winning" here just means being part of the winning squad, even if in the reserves and even if no medal is received as such. I note that Jose Mourinho was kind enough to buy Mark Schwarzer a replica medal anyway to recognise his contribution as an excellent reserve goalkeeper. I hope Claudio Ranieri does the same.

I did find it amusing that Schwarzer could now be viewed as a "lucky charm" for Chelsea's and Leicester's success --- to test this theory perhaps we should send Schwarzer over to one of Liverpool or Arsenal next season, ensuring he doesn't play a single minute. If that team in receipt of Schwarzer wins next season I expect Schwarzer's transfer price to shoot through the roof as all clubs scramble to secure their next title through his purchase :)


Shinji Okazaki's contribution

Another interesting thing is Shinji Okazaki.

True it may be that he scored less goals than Vardy or Mahrez, and true it is that he seems to have less league starts than many of the others in the team, but as one fine example of the Leicester teamwork and spirit that has won them the title, look at all the games Okazaki has scored in:

West Ham 1-2 Leicester City
Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Leicester City
Newcastle United 0-3 Leicester City
Everton 2-3 Leicester City
Aston Villa 1-1 Leicester City
Leicester City 1-0 Newcastle United

With the exception of the away trip to Newcastle United - and this is indicative of Leicester's season of winning by tight margins or drawing matches - all of Shinji's goals were critical in securing points.

He scored the winning goal at home against Newcastle and I think he also scored the winner in another match.

He helped to convert draws into wins.

He contributed to Leicester obtaining draws instead of losses.

In total, by my count, that's about 14 points secured by Leicester where Okazaki was involved in those matches.

In terms of Okazaki's direct contribution to those points, if we say he helped Leicester earn 2 points for every match that was won by a single goal difference (ie. 'converting a draw into a win'), and 1 point for every match that was drawn (ie. 'converting a loss into a draw'), then by my count he earned at least 8 points for his team!! (and that's being conservative and not giving him credit for the away win at Newcastle --- on the basis that they would have won anyway even if he didn't score)

Certainly he did not score as many goals as he would probably have liked as a striker but that's not what matters - what matters is that he chipped in when it was important to chip in. Another oft-cited contribution of Okazaki's is his defensive duties. All season long Leicester have been known to sit back, with only about 40% possession, until an opportune moment arises to hit back with a fast counter-attack (usually resulting in a long ball from Drinkwater to Vardy). Okazaki is regarded as having put in his fair share in that respect.

That's the beauty, and, perhaps, overlooked importance, of teamwork.

Andre Lim


Tuesday 3 May 2016

Leicester City - Champions 2015/2016

So I woke up this morning at about 7am to read the score of "Chelsea 2 - 2 Tottenham", a result to a game that had finished some 15 minutes prior to me waking up.

At that moment it suddenly hit me that this result had actually sealed Leicester City's status as champions. I couldn't believe it.

Obviously that is pretty crazy.

What I find quite interesting though is that the squad boasts representation from every continent.

Is this a normal occurrence? I don't know, but for the record:

Schwarzer - Oceania/Australia
Okazaki - Asia
Ulloa - South America
Wes Morgan - North America (assuming Jamaica is part of NA - I think it is)
Mahrez, Schlupp and one other - Africa
Many from Europe.

True it is that Schwarzer didn't start any EPL matches, but that's still pretty cool I reckon.

If I were a superstar, assuming I wasn't bankrupt or greedy, and assuming my current club would let me, I would take a significant pay cut and offer my services to Leicester because I'd want to be part of their legacy..and help them win the Champions League.

Andre Lim