Stan Lee

ever notice, the creator of Marvel comics, Stan Lee made cameo appearances on all Marvel related movies?
X-men, Spiderman , Fantastic 4, Hulk, Ironman?
Stan Lee fans would notice it but will most movie goes notice it?

This is Stan Lee by the way

Check it out yourself. He's the old looking dude with white hair and wears sunglasses in most of the scenes. Something like the one above.




By the way, I just came back from watching the Hulk. Pretty short in some what interesting. Nothing beats Ironman still. What sucks is that most of what shown in the trailers...are not in the theatrical release. I hear there is an extra 70 minute of deleted scene which will only be released on a blu-ray. It kinda sucked if you dont have a PS3 when its out....if u're a Hulk fan that is.
And no, the much anticipated Ironman vs Hulk thing, is not in the movie. It may be in the 70 minutes deleted scene thou. BTW, the dude who as talking to General Ross in the end was none other than Tony Stark aka Ironman...in case u didn't notice. and the 'we' meant there is most likely the Avengers. Coincidence? guess not...haha

and for those who did not notice or watch the after credits ending of Ironman, it was about Nick Fury talking to Tony Stark about the Avengers.

Did I spoil enough for those who did not watch? haha

Some belated run down on Euro

Its been awhile since i last posted. Being rather held back lately. Late nights watching 22 or more men belting it out on a field over a single ball. Some how or rather, it kinda sounded rather wrong. haha.

Short brief run down on Euro.

GroupA
Portugal went through as expected along with Turkey ( so not expected). They totally deserved their place in the next round after coming down from 2-0 to win 2-3 against the Czechs in the same time knocking them out. Switzerland's fate was sealed in the 2nd game losing to the Turks. They saved some pride by beating a weakened Portugal 2-0. So position in groups : Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland, Czech.

Group B
Dark horses Croatia proved their credentials by topping the group; matching expectations of many after beating England home and away in the qualifying rounds. Germany went along after 3 lackluster performances; beating Poland and Austria somewhat unconvincingly and losing to Croatia. Austria's fate should be sealed in the 2nd game but a 92nd minute penalty was awarded to them against Poland, enabling them to fight for another day. From what i see, Poland and Austria seems only to make up the numbers. Their performances aren't really the most convincing. Final standings : Croatia, Germany, Poland, Austria.

Group C
Group of death. Thats what u call a group which comprises of football heavy weights Holland, world cup finalist France, world champions Italy and a not too shabby Romania. Holland set the tournament on fire with 3-0 and 4-1 wins over Italy and France before overcoming Romania 2-0 with an understrength team. Romania really should have followed them through but Buffon saving Mutu's penalty in match against Italy meant they will have to overcome the Dutch in the final game. France showed much promise but failed to deliver. Their final game against the Azzurris was a do or die but they lost 2-0; knocking them out. Final standings : Holland, Italy, Romania, Greece.

Group D
Spain matched Hollands 3-0 win with a 4-1 win over Russia. David Villa sealing the tournaments 1st hattrick since Patrick Kluivert converted 4 against then Yugoslavia in Euro2000. Followed by 2-1 wins over Sweden and defending champions Greece saw them through. The final game between Sweden and Russia was a winner takes all game. Russia with returning striker Arshavin proved they are of a different class compared to the Swedes; winning 2-0 with Arshavin scoring one goal. Greece left Euro2008 without a point and with only 1 goal to show. Final standings: Spain, Russia, Sweden, Greece.

Qfinal 1: Portugal 2 Germany 3
Schweinsteiger return from suspension and outshone Ronaldo in this game. He scored 1 and set up 2 other goals for Klose and Ballack which btw are almost identical. Freekick, cross, head, goal. Same case as their last meeting in the world cup where Schweinsteiger score 2 goals, almost identical and almost from the same patch of grass on the field.

Qfinal2: Turkey 1 Croatia 1 ( pk Turkey 3 Croatia 1)
After Klasnic headed in the goal in the last minute of extra time. Everyone thought that the Croats will go through. But Semir Senturk had other ideas as he volleyed the equaliser with seconds to go on the clock, setting up a penalty shootout. Croat star Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic missed their kicks before Rustu saved the 4th penalty from Petric. With Turkey converting all their kicks, Petric needs to score just to keep Croatia in. With his effort saved, the 5th kick is not required as the Turks jumped onto Rustu congragulating him after saving the shot.

Qfinal3: Holland - Russia ( later)

Spain 4 Russia 1; Sweden 2 Greece 0

A great night of football as far as EURO 2008 is concerned

In short, Spain putting 4 past Russia in their opening game as they ran rampant to a 4-1 win. David Villa scoring the tournament's 1st hattrick and the first one since Patrick Kluivert puts 3 past then Yugoslavia in Euro 2000. Cesc Fabregas adding the fourth goal in injury time. No complains can be made when your team has to face arguably the most potent strike partnership in the tournament.

Spains front line. David Villa - Fernando Torres.

Sweden ease past defending champions Greece with 2 goals. The 2nd was scrappy as it was a goal line scramble but take nothing away from the 1st. Great linkup play between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson, setting up Zlatan for blast the ball into the top corner.

Thats it for now.. Portugal - Czech Republic later...

Netherlands 3 - Italy 0

Result of the tournament so far...Little would have expected Holland to beat Italy, the World Champions in the matter they did. Plus Italy have not lost to Holland in the past 30 years prior to this. The last reversal was the Holland last lifted the European Championship if i recalled.

Italy without captain Cannavaro had no answer as Holland storm on to a 3 -0 lead thank to Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. !st goals was controversial as it was from an offside position but not arguments can be made on the 2nd and 3rd goals. Swift counterattack by the Dutch undone the Azzurri's defense like a hot knife through butter.

Yes this is meant to rub it in for those Italian fans who say that Italy will kick Holland back to holan..haha
Its the end of an era for Italian football. being out played in the Champions league and now the European championships.

I just noticed that Donadoni ( Italy's head coach) look very familiar to a person we know as Dr. House. Maybe its just me....well, see for yourselves.

Roberto Donadoni

Dr. House

EURO 2008

EURO 2008 kicked off yesterday. After a long 2 weeks of football-less experience ( after the UCL final), now football fanatics can enjoy a month long of football matches with this tournament underday in Switzerland and Austria. It started with host Switzerland losing to Czech. Tonight co-host Austria will most likely get same fate; losing to Croatia. But you'll never know.

This above is the official ball that will be getting the most attention during the game, either grabbed or kicked. Supposedly faster, swerves more, giving players better control and better grip for the goalies.

These are how the participating teams are grouped

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey
Group B: Austria, Germany, Poland, Croatia
Group C: Netherlands, Italy, France, Romania ( clearly the most interesting group)
Group D: Spain ,Sweden, Greece, Russia.

Only 2 teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage and that is where the games gets interesting. Extra times and penalty kicks; every team giving their all score more goals.

I personally think its Spain's year this time round. They do have the strongest team on paper and their style of play is really interesting, fast attacking football. Who would argue when u have the likes of Iker Casillas, Carlos Puyol, Sergio Ramos and Carlos Marchena manning the defence;
Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi bossing the midfield as well as Fernando Torres and David Villa up front. Not forgetting people like Xabi Alonso and Marcos Senna available.

But as we all know, they have disappointed from tournament to tournament. sigh. Same goes to Holland. Great team on paper, but can't seem to deliver on the field. IT really goes down to tactics and a huge chunk of luck.

Notable absentee in this tournament will be England. haha..
you will not be missed. Thats for not performing in qualifying and not getting the results against the teams that mattered.

Ciao

Petrol Hike..RM1.92 > RM2.70

The inevitable has happened. The much talk about reduced subsidy of petrol prices since last year, i think, has happened.

Gone are the days where we enjoy RM1.92 per liter of petrol as our beloved government decided to remove the subsidy, raising the price of petrol to RM2.70 per liter.

And there rumors that it may still go up as we approach August given the increase of crude oil prices around the world. It will not soon before long that we will need to pay market prices for petrol which is about RM3.20 per liter before tax. After taxing it, it should be touching the RM4 per liter line. Those are the stipulated 'market price' of petroleum around the world...so they say.

Obviously most of us do not take this without a pinch of salt as it greatly affects drivers especially those form the middle or lower class in terms of income. Not only its harder for us to fork out a certain amount of money just to get ourselves from one place to another, but it will greatly affect our life style.

I just calculated my own car petrol price. When it was at RM1.92 per liter, a full tank for my car will be around RM67-RM69, approximately 35litres. Now with that hike, i will be paying RM97 for a full tanks for petrol. its about at 40% increase. How can it not affect the lifestyle of people.
Prices are on a rise but our pays are not really keeping up with it, not the way we like it.

Some may argue, don't drive; take a public transport. I'd say screw that. Our public transport system are everything but efficient. Not to mention safety is neglected for commuters of public transportation. I remembered once waiting nearly 2 hours for a bus which then takes another hour plus just to get me home. 3 hours wasted for nothing? I dare say that the hike wont affect cause that much concern if and only if our public transport system is a lot more efficient. The way it is managed leads to the need of everyone owning a car of their own in order to get from place to place.

Now it seems driving here is not really the way to go. Road tax cause relatively high...for cars with higher cc, car duty is enormous, tolls are damn expensive and now a liter of petrol can almost buy u a plate of nasi lemak tambah telur dadar + ais kosong.

I kinda foresee inflation happening as an increase of petrol will definitely lead to increase of prices of stuff every where...namely food. Even the price of padi has increased by 100%. Soon long gone will be the days where we have Nasi Kandar Ayam for less than RM5 at our regular mamaks. If this goes on, it may be a lot cheaper eating fast food.

As i type this, people are now making their way into petrol stations trying to get the 'cheap' petrol that will be no more as off midnight today. Its kinda like a war field there. People trying to get into petrol kiosk queuing up to wait for their turn...its madness i tell u.
I cant imagine the situation in Taman Connaught now. The infamous night market is there today, already causing a congestion there. Now add the 2 petrol kiosk there and god knows the number of cars there...both getting to the pasar malam as well as trying to get the last drops of RM1.92 petrol.

Thanks to Earl aka. kukujiao.com for giving me the heads up at 4pm today and i filled up my tank at 5pm while the news have not reach many and petrol kiosk are still relatively empty. I can still take my time to clean my windscreen. Try doing that at 9pm. you might just get slaughtered.
haha

A short video from Earl and u know what i mean



Thats all for now..byebye RM1.92/l petrol.