So. I finally got to watch the much-touted-movie-since-Titanic last Monday, 16/02/2010, 2 months or so after its release. I thought I might as well watch it in 3D just to maximise the experience.
My comments?
- It’s really as good as they say and I really loved it. The visual effects used were really excellent . Of course, this is not really something new. If you’re a gamer (even a once-in-a-blue-moon one like me), you’d realise that this technique has been used for a while already.
- Watching it in 3D is really a waste of money. Yes, really. There’s not much 3D effects other than the negligible bit of depth the images have (as opposed to flat). I was expecting some leaping-out-of-the-screen effects, especially during the aerial fight, that would make one goes ooohhhh and aaahhhh.. but nope, nothing whatsoever. Indeed, it was such a terrible let-down. I wonder if I can get a refund. Hey, it costs me RM19 wot…
- Remember the issue on racism raised by I-dunno-who not long after Avatar was released? Seriously, for the live of me, I could not see how the movie relates to it. All I could see was greed and a total lack of regard to the environment. Somebody must have had an overworked imagination somewhere.
- I also like the messages in Avatar:
- Save the earth.
- Do not destroy what you don’t understand (especially the natives – either plants, animals or people).
- Humans are a heartless, selfish and greedy bunch and they are the actual cause of the troubles currently faced by the earth.
- Mother nature will attempt to restore the balance and fix the damages to the earth. How? Removing the cause, of course. That brings up armageddon, doesn’t it? Hehehehe…
All in all, it’s really an excellent movie. I would consider watching it again, although maybe not in 3D. But that really depends on the crowd. They watch 3D, I watch 3D. Hehehehe… So, if you have not watched it, please do.
As for achievements, Avatar’s are pretty impressive. To name a few:
- 9 nominations for Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects).
- 8 nominations for British Film Academy Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Music, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound and Best Special Visual Effects).
- 9 nominations for Broadcast Film Critics, out of which they won 6 (Best Action Movie*, Best Art Direction*, Best Cinematography*, Best Directing, Best Editing*, Best Picture, Best Makeup, Best Sound* and Best Visual Effects*).
- 4 nominations for Golden Globe Awards, out of which they won 2 (Best Director*, Best Film – Drama*, Best Original Score and Best Original Song).
Click here for the full list of accolades received by Avatar.
The words are there will be 2 sequels to this movie as confirmed by James Cameron due to the success of Avatar. Unfortunately, they will not be around anytime soon, probably another 2 years or so, but let’s hope that it won’t be the case.
Can’t wait for Avatar 2.. or whatever the name will be.
Verdict for Avatar: 
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- Tags: Avatar
Delayed a couple of times (the tournament is usually held in July), this was the last netball event for men and women before the fasting month this year. Organised by the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ), the tournament offered RM 2,000 cash prize for the champion, RM 1,000 for the first runner-up and RM 400 each for the teams who reached the semifinals.
10 teams participated in the men’s category, including 1 new team, and 16 in the women’s. The venue this year was changed from the usual indoor court in Kelana Jaya near the MAS building to another indoor court in Petaling Jaya near Jalan 222.
Not that I have any issue with that. As long as it’s indoor, I’m perfectly okay!
Here are the results for the preliminary rounds for the men’s category:
It was a bit of a misfortune that my team, Legend Deluxe, lost to Cobra A by 1 point even though we led by 2 points (twice!) during the game. Otherwise, we would’ve made it to the semi. Ah well.. better luck next time.
In the semi-finals, team Royale (the defending champion) met team KL Tower Y and Legend Premium (the defending 1st runner-up 
) met Cobra A.
And for the 3rd year in a row, team Royale met team Legend in the final.
And for the 3rd year in a row also, team Royale beat team Legend in the final.
For the women’s game, as expected, the teams who made it to the final were team UMW (the favourite) and the host, team MBPJ. And as expected, team UMW won the game comfortably.
Congratulations to the winners. For the other teams, better luck next time. Keep practicing.
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- Tags: bola jaring, MBPJ Open, Netball
US Open 2009: An excellent showcase of new talents
10 Sep 2009 Author: Awangku Yusli In: Sports 780 views
I really really like this year’s US Open, especially in the women’s singles. There were so many upsets that ranking became irrelevant. Out of the 32 seeded players, only 2 reached the semi-finals: Serena Williams, ranked 2nd, and Caroline Wozniacki, ranked 9th. Their opponents were both unseeded Belgians: Serena Williams against the come-back sensation, Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki against WTA 50th ranked Yanina Wickmayer.
Williams against Clijsters would be an interesting game to watch and personally, I’d rather see them in the final. It was unfortunate that they have to meet in the semis. I was expecting the American Melanie Oudin to reach the final but her tame lost to Wozniacki, 6-2 6-2, was really disappointing.
Here’s the list of the women’s singles seeded players and their journey in the US Open 2009:
Source: usopen.org
As you can see, the majority of the top 32 were defeated by non-seeded players. The more outstanding ones were the 17-year-old Melanie Oudin, 19-year-old Petra Kvitova and of course, the 2005 US Open champion, Kim Clijsters.
So, unlike the men’s, it’s clear that women’s singles are anybody’s game. And it’s more fun to watch too.
___________________________________
Updates (13/09/2009)
Kim Clijsters beat Serena Williams in the first semi-final. Apparently Serena was penalised because of her rather unprofessional outburst at the linesman. Or was it lineswoman? I’m guessing she will meet Caroline Wozniacki in the final. Go Clijsters!!
- 2 Comments
- Tags: tennis, US Open 2009
This year marked the 19th edition of the netball tournament organised anually by the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Pulau Pinang. This year also saw less number of teams participating, especially from the country which previously never failed to send teams every year – Sri Lanka.
So only 105 teams registered under 9 categories:
- Girls Under 12 (10 teams)
- Girls Under 15 (15 teams)
- Girls Under 18 (12 teams)
- USM Men (6 teams)
- USM Women (13 teams)
- Men’s Institutions of Higher Learning (4 teams)
- Women’s Institutions of Higher Learning (8 teams)
- Men’s Open (15 teams)
- Women’s Open (22 teams)
Men’s Open
The men’s teams were divided into 5 groups, which, I think, was rather odd. 4 groups would be more logical since it solves the problem of selecting teams to the quarter finals. But, since the organiser wanted it that way…
Group round matches were fought in the sun and rain. Here are the results for the preliminary rounds:
The top 2 teams from each group advanced to the next round. Group champions qualified automatically to the quarter finals. Second placings, except for one lucky team, had to fight another round for a place with the group champions in the quarter.
Cobra Bravo and Legend Premier went through to the quarter finals. The weather was alternately sunny and cloudy throughout the day. It didn’t rain, fortunately.
Here are the results for the quarter finals.
In the semis, it was sibling rivalries where Cobra met Cobra and Legend met Legend.
And Legend met Cobra in the final.
For the past 3 years, USM Open Men’s category was won by team Royale. They did not participate this year, thus giving chances to other teams to win. And so there was a new winner this year.
Congratulations to Cobra Charlie.
My only comment is on the quality of the referee. After 17 years, it seems like the organisers have never learned from whatever happened in the previous years. With regards to men’s netball, I would like to point out that we are NOT there for fun only. We want to win. We know the rules. We are a lot better than most of the women’s teams. So we expect the referees to be good. It was really disheartening to have to scold the referees over the simplest mistakes.
Referees and organisers, please learn and improve!
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- Tags: bola jaring, Netball, USM Open 2009
7th Asian Netball Championship 2009, Kuala Lumpur
1 Jul 2009 Author: Awangku Yusli In: Netball, Sports 1,437 views
Sunday, 28/06/2009, marked the final day of the 7th Asian Netball Championship 2009 with the final match between Singapore and Sri Lanka at the Stadium Juara, Bukit Kiara. It proved to be a rather lopsided match, with Sri Lanka holding the obvious advantage with their over 6 foot GS, Tharjani Sivalingam. The result was Sri Lanka 77 and Singapore 48. This is Sri Lanka’s 4th title after winning the championship in 1990, 1997 and 2001.
To be realistic, though, I don’t think Sri Lanka would’ve won the game so easily without Tharjani (who contributed 74 out of Sri Lanka’s 77 goals). Singapore is one tough team to crack and they’ve played extremely well during the whole tournament.
Malaysia vs Sri Lanka (semi-final)
Photo thanks to jet_4orce flickr
There were only 3 teams out of the 9 participated who had the best chance of winning the tournament, namely Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Singapore (not in any particular order 
). Without the tall GS, though, I would say Sri Lanka’s chances of winning would not be so good.
But watching them played was really really inspiring. I wonder when would men’s netball in Malaysia be recognised by the Persatuan Bola Jaring Malaysia (Malaysia Netball Association) so that there would be similar tournaments for men.
Anyway, here are the results for the whole championship:
Losers’ pool semi-final:
Semi-final:
Top 8:
The finalists of this tournament qualified for the 2011 World Cup in Singapore. As the host, however, Singapore automatically qualified. So even though Malaysia got 3rd place, we managed to get a place in the then tournament. Well done, girls!
Upcoming Netball Tournaments
» KL Open
· 6-7 March 2010
· Contact: Kak Yatimah 019-286.2838
