Harry Kewell, The Pride of Merseyside

Harry Kewell was the toast of Anfield yesterday after his second-half stunner sealed a hard fought 3-1 victory over Everton in a game which saw the European champions play without their talismanic captain,Steven Gerrard for over 70 minutes.
The game was a relative bore until Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard was sent off for a second bookable offence.
What followed was a game controlled by Everton until an own-goal by Phil Neville in the first-half of stoppage time handed Liverpool the lead. The second-half started in brilliant fashion for the Reds as Luis Garcia scored a gem of a goal to give Liverpool an unexpected 2-0 lead two minutes from the restart. Tim Cahill pulled one back on the hour mark after a superb header past Reina to give the blues a lifeline. In a game filled with ill tempers and gruesome tackles, Everton's Dutch substitute Andy Van Der Meyde was sent off in the 72nd minute for elbowing Liverpool's Xabi Alonso. The reds dug deep for the rest of the game and almost went close to scoring a winner after man-of-the match Xabi Alonso's freekick struck the crossbar.The Reds's persistence finally paid off in the 80th minute when Harry Kewell let fly a 30-yard stunner to end the 203rd merseyside derby in favour of the Red half of merseyside.

report by,
Jon Gan(guest blogger)

7th heaven - A post by a special guest blogger.

Liverpool made it through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup in scintillating fashion after demolishing a woeful Birmingham city side 7-0 at St Andrews.It was a night when everything seemed to go right for the boys in red.
Sami Hyypia got the ball rolling in the 1st minute when he headed home a superb cross by Steven Gerrard. Peter Crouch made it 2-0 a minute later and added another before the break to end the game as a contest by half-time. Just when you'd expect Liverpool to sit back and defend their three goal advantage, the reds ran riot in the second half when previously goal-shy Fernando Morientes made it 4-0 on the hour mark.
John Arne Riise made it 5-0, 20 minutes from time with a 30-yard screamer that left St.Andrews standing in ovation. Birmingham's miseries were further compounded when substitute defender Olivier Tebily put the ball into his own net to make it 6-0 for Liverpool.
Djibril Cisse wrapped up a night to remember for the reds after his long-range strike squirmed under Maik Taylor's arms to end a night of misery for Steve Bruce's side.

report by,
Jon Gun(guest blogger)

Magnificent 7

Liverpool hits 7 past Birmingham in a goal frenzy last Tuesday at St. Andrews. What a routing! What a great margin.
Live Liverpool. Details? Check out my guest blogger up there!!

Fresh graduates bogged down by self-pity

My long standing view has been the Education system or lack of, in this country has done our youth a great disservice.

Pretty good pov by the daughter of a government servant made good.

Fresh graduates bogged down by self-pity

J Vernes

Published:  Mar 22, 2006 3:43 PM

⋅

Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM

I refer to the letter Harsh realities facing fresh graduates .

I am the daughter of a simple government servant, who instilled in us the need to work hard and to keep on learning and growing intellectually. There are no prominent politicians, highly-connected families with power or money in my background. Yet today I hold a managerial position in a multinational. I, too, can speak from my heart about the reality of the so-called working world.

I recently had the opportunity to work with some fresh graduates on one of my projects. The majority of these students graduated in the areas of computer science, economics and science. Yet out of the almost 125 that I had under me from all over Malaysia, I can safely say that maybe only 10 of them could string a full sentence in English, let alone carry a conversation in one. Those that could were mostly from Sabah and Sarawak.

And before I am accused of being pro-Western, let me just say that when these students were given a free hand to converse in their familiar Bahasa Malaysia, their entire conversation was centred around who was their favorite person from Akademi Fantasia, what was Mawi's favourite food, how come Felix was given bad choices for songs, etc. Ask them about what they think government could do to help more graduates secure jobs and they stare at you blankly. Yet they are the ones that complain the loudest about the lack of jobs for them.

Go here > https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/48727 to read about our country's woes. 

Bombay

Mumbai is the second largest city in the world. (Tokyo is the largest, by population density). It also has the most number of homeless squatters in India. Just gaze out your window on landing or take off, you will see the plastic sheet roofs and cardboard box-like shanties line the airport perimeter fences and they spread outward like a sprawling mound of dark brown boxes with equally brown zinc rooftops stacked very closely together, the occassional clothesline slash the box landscape. Vagrant children with yellow sand peppered hair rush to give unwanted assistance with your baggage and in the end they always complain about the meagerness of your tip. I suspect it is a well rehearsed ploy.

Our hotels carry grand names; Park Plaza, The Oberoi, The Taj President and the Taj Mahal- this grand architectural masterpiece that stands alongside the Gateway of India landmark is a proud testimony to British rule. One cannot be blamed for equating Mumbai as a dustier, older, mustier version of London. It does look that way. The old and new Mumbai are actually locked in an eternal embrace for the world to see. And see they are, as corporations rush in to see what opportunities this city, the financial hub of India, await them.

Travelling

"..travelling is like flirting with life. It's saying, I love you but I can't stay.....this is my station" quote from our inflight magazine on Jet AirLines.
There is a certain romance in travel so they say except it is so kosher. I travel to Chennai en route to Mumbai this week. Travelling always excites me and this time India is especially exciting and daunting. Now that I've landed in Chennai, I realise you never know what to expect with fast changing India. The domestic airport is buzzing with human traffic and infrastructure development is frantic in its grounds. But the quaint cream coloured taxis still give Chennai its charm.

Our 14th Anniversary

My wife of 14 years texted me this morning with these words; " Happy 14th Anniversary Darling. We've done 2 cycles of the 7-year itch. Congratulations!" Yes indeed. 2 cycles and a lot to show for it. On that note I decided to take my wife uptown to a quiet dinner for 2. So we splurged abit and it was worth every moment. It was fine dining bar none. Excellent wines- NSW Sauvignon Blanc & Italian Pouilly Merlot, Examplary service.There were no exchanging or renewal of vows, just a much needed plotting and charting of course for the marriage and the family. Nett nett we choose to live our lives, really live fully only then can the children follow suit. Living life fully has it's parameters and it is when living within it's parameters that one is truly free amd perhaps contented. Our wish is to have no wish at all. I love you very much my wife of 14 years thanks for sharing that lovely story of the 6 children with 5 wishes and here's to the 3rd cycle. Happy Anniversary Darling!

The 78th Academy Awards

Arguably the most influential body in Hollywood, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, showed the world it had a role to play in the betterment of society by awarding the best picture oscar to 'Crash' rather than much hyped 'Brokeback Mountain'. There are after all more important issues to address in this much misaligned world, namely; journalism and the search for the truth, racism and the idea of seperateness.
Diana Ossana, who shared the best adapted screenplay award with Larry McMurty for Brokeback Mountain, did it for me in her acceptance speech by saying; "The duty of art is to send light into men's hearts."
The world looks to Hollywood for entertainment and therein lies its responsibility to drive home the messages of peace, justice and unity.
In walking the talk, they gave Ang Lee the Oscar for Best Director making him the first Asian to be bestowed the honour. Good shot ladies and gentlemen of the Academy.

Books to read before you die

Just like the Christmas present I got- '1000 places to see before you die', this is a very interesting list of must reads.
So guys get these classics from your local librarian before you buy another paperback.


It was published over 40 years ago and its American author has lived as a virtual recluse ever since, but according to Britain's librarians, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is the book that everyone should read.
The Pulitzer prize-winning classic has topped a World Book Day poll conducted by the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), in which librarians around the country were asked the question, "Which book should every adult read before they die?" The book, which has been a staple of schoolroom reading lists for many years, also came second in another poll released today on our favourite happy endings. It explores issues of race and class in 1930s deep south America, through the dramatic court case of a black man charged with the rape of white girl.

See List

Amex Red

When we launched Malaysia's first Amex Credit Card, it was silver and blue and very exciting, Hong Leong Bank achieved their entire years target in 3 months and our campaign won an award from Amex in New York. Now it's red for Amex, so refreshing for an old but gold brand.


Red Card for American Express

American Express is using various rich media formats to generate awareness of its new Red card, designed to raise funds for charity. The campaign has been created by Poke, and drives traffic to a dedicated microsite which simply delivers the information on how the card works and how to get it.

The Red credit card by American Express is part of a series of initiatives to support Product Red, a union of brands (Armani, Converse and Gap), people, ideas to fight against AIDS in Africa. Visit Joinred.com to find out more.

e e cummings

Watched a movie last nite and was introduced to the poetry of America's second most widely read poet (second to my favourite Robert Frost). Such deep declarations of love it's almost 'cheesy' but......



95 poems, 92

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Terena Tan

"I'll come back and see you real soon....." says Terena Faith Tan this morning before she boarded the 'First Coach' to Singapore. We spent a little quality time together, my niece and I just talking about the subject of travelling and taking good care of oneself. Just at that moment, I realised how nice if I could take a photo of her to capture that sweet innocence that is her. At the same time I also realised that sometimes we allow circumstance to overtake us and blur us to the beauty that is present around us.
She returns to Andorra next week, a beautiful little principality in the Pyrenees, her parents choice of living life purposefully.
I really appreciate you for what you are my darling Terena, and I promise to be a better uncle to you. Thank you for coming into our lives and thank you for loving us. Yes and I know we'll see you real soon.....

The Caricature Controversy

The Prophet Mohammad caricature controversy recently has brought into light so many things about Malaysia- her people, her newspapers, and most glaringly her politicians. It goes to show how lackadaisical the country has been run and how our current leadership has no clue or vision for the future of our country. There were so much mud slinging in the media and the ministries that the simple or complex subject of the caricatures were totally blown out of proportion and context for political mileage. But thank god good sense and clear thinking still prevails in the form of a letter to malaysiakini by TMF (don't know his real name) but I like to blog it here as one of the best pieces of common sense available on the controversy.



......."Over the years, I also have had several similar kinds of encounters involving my ignorance on religion of different faiths. But none got me into difficulty where I had to be punished, prosecuted, lose my job or business.

I may have been lucky. But the point is, should we punish and prosecute simply because we are offended, because the other party was ignorant or lacking in understanding or even truly insensitive? What does ‘deemed mocking’ mean? Does it mean unilateral interpretation without giving the so-called offending party the opportunity to explain the intent?

I believe that if we truly want others to understand and respect us, we must be confident in ourselves to be graceful and forgiving even though genuine offence has been committed against us.

A show of power to punish and prosecute is no more superior to a demonstration of confidence, strength and character to contain and forgive. Any responsible government which chooses to deal with the issue otherwise stands the risk of being viewed as politically motivated to mislead the masses."

Hear. Hear.