Twilight
After I read the book and saw the movie, two things were obvious :
- The next time Edward and his family want to move anywhere for holidaying, Sweden will welcome them with warm … err … cold, dark and gloomy hands.
- It is definitely more fun to be a vampire than be a mere mortal. Everyone should get a chance to eternal life and drinking blood feels like a fun thing to do; get some hemoglobin into the system. Chics “dig” that kind of thing these days no?
I actually liked the book probably because I was already a fan of all things “Vampire” but also because the book brought fresh concepts and new perspectives about the mystical creatures of the dark. The author nicely morphed a blood thirsty monster into an angel. This has happened in the past with Buffy and Angel (ref: TV Series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”) but Stephenie Meyer definitely took it to another level where being a vampire is better than being a human. I was always happier knowing that Angel couldn’t have sex and burned in sunlight. It gave me the opportunity to mock him =D but this Edward guy makes me go back to the drawing board to find a chunk in his armor. Hell he shines like diamonds in Sunlight!!
All in all much fun and highly recommended both the book and the movie.
Inzi complains about inexperienced captaincy … calls for senior more experienced captain
I read the news on www.cricinfo.com:
Reference: http://content-www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/374013.html
Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, believes the current team will perform better with a more experienced captain or coach at the helm. Pakistan have failed to win a Test – they have played six – under the pairing of Shoaib Malik and Geoff Lawson, and besides reaching the final of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2007, their only significant limited-overs win was in the Kitply Cup, which involved India and Bangladesh.
“You shouldn’t blame anybody for the bad result – neither the coach nor the captain,” Inzamam told DNA. “The thing is that they are both inexperienced. The board should see that if the captain is new, the coach should be an experienced one or the other way round. Shoaib Malik and Geoff Lawson are both new to the system. Lawson hasn’t coached at the bigger stage before this while Malik was made the captain without any prior experience.”
Ok, not that I do not hold Inzi as one of the best of his time in the world, but he really does not know what he is getting at. “Shoaib is a senior!!!! He has been in the cricketing scenario since forever now”. Shoaib Malik has been playing since Wasim Akram’s time for heavens sake. How long has it been for him then? He has been a captain for Pakistan for a while now and he has not produced bad results. He did manage to make a world record victory streak of 12 consequtive wins in one day internationals, and no, it does not matter who the opponents were because Shoaib Malik did not choose his opponents. A record is a record and this one goes to Shoaib Malik.
Also dear Inzi should know that after the disappointing defeat in the World Cup 2007, Pakistan won against Srilanka in Abu Dhabi. Also, just to mention, Pakistan was at that point in time, a recent looser against Ireland under the senior experienced leadership of Inzi (and late Bob Woolmer … though taking nothing away from him, I am sure he tried his best to produce the best) himself where as Srilanka were the finalists of the same world cup.
Pakistan was then the runner up in World Twenty20, loosing by 1 ball and 1 shot. Later, Pakistan won in the Kitply cup, and they just didn’t win, they won convincingly. After that Pakistan were runner ups in Asia cup, a match that was not lost without a fight either.
Very recently, Pakistan only lost in the final of Al-Baraka Cup 2008 against Srilanka after coming back from a long leave from international cricket. Again a match that Srilanka just didn’t win … the fight was until the very end.
Inzi should first consider the results of his own senior experienced leadership rather then disturbing the positive flow that Pakistan cricket has witnessed after his exit. He should concentrate on Lahore Badshahs for they just lost the first match against Royal Bengals by “8 wickets” in ICL 20-20 Indian Championship 2008/09.
Peace!
ICC Champions trophy 2008 in the midst of Karachi/Islamabad blasts
Just when we thought all was OK, multiple blasts rip Pakistani cities apart. There seems to be no end to this menace and future seems bleak for cricket in Pakistani stadiums. Pakistan being the host for ICC Champions Trophy 2008 was much debated where several countries were very vocal about not wanting to come to Pakistan due to security concerns. These concerns will now only be alleviated and I do not understand how PCB will be able to defend the notion of Pakistan being secure enough to host a tournament as big as this.
Cricket is one of the few things that almost every Pakistani, young or old holds dear. It is something that works on the mood of the whole nation. A victory means happiness all around. Every single soul is found connected and engaged with the game. It doesn’t matter if one is an illiterate milk man or a highly educated professor in a university, each has his say and have a definite understanding of the game.
No cricket in the country will increase frustrations of the common populace which is already shattered due to the hardships faced by them day in and day out. A changed venue for ICC Champions Trophy 2008 would be very hurtful to cricket lovers of Pakistan, something which would be very hard to digest and very unhealthy for the game as well.
Let’s see how things progress …
Chairman to the Rescue (Updates to the Asia Cup 2008)
I think Mr. Naseem Ashraf read my blog because he talked about all the same issues I did in my blog post “Kicking the wrong people“. It was nice to see that Shoaib Malik (the captain) and Goeff Lawson (the coach) being completely backed by the chairman. Dr. Naseem Ashraf also talked about the attitude and experience of players in the current Pakistani team and stated that the commitment of the Pakistani team cannot be doubted. Excerpts from a news article today on CricInfo read:
Reference: PCB chairman backs captain and coach by Cricinfo staff. Dated: July 5, 2008
However, on Friday, he said Pakistan were a young team that was improving. “It will take time to groom the players and we are doing our best in that,” he said. “Give me the same players who were part of the team in the 90s such as Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail and others and see the result. We don’t have the same talent that we had in the 80s and 90s and we have to accept that as a reality.”
Ashraf said he was happy with players’ attitude and their commitment. “I know personally the players are very committed. I can tell you that after we lost to Sri Lanka I went to the Pakistan dressing room and saw Shahid Afridi crying and wanting to be dropped from the team because he had not performed well. I saw Malik on a stretcher on drips and with cold packs on his body yet he went out and played in that match.
“I feel sorry when some people in such circumstances question the commitment of some players. I have told them to give 100% and even if they lose that is alright but they must give 100% effort.”
Sounds like exactly the message I wanted to pass along!
Pakistan Beat India and Bangladesh (The Asia Cup 2008).
Pakistan yet again came out of the shadows with mind boggling victories against India and Bangladesh.
Pakistan vs. India (Victors: Pakistan)
In a must win match against India, Pakistan chased down India’s total of 308 in 45.1 overs of the alloted 50. The youngsters and the debutants gave nice performances which had a lot of character to them. India’s blazing opening start was first stopped in its tracks by the young fast bowler Abdur Rauf who took 2 quick wickets and later the debutant Saeed Ajmal kept the Indians in check by giving just 47 runs off hi 10 overs with 1 wicket. Mind you, this was a flat track with nothing favoring the bowlers.
On the batting front, Nasir Jamshed and Salman Butt started aggressively and were scoring faster than their Indian opening counter parts (V. Sehvag and G. Gambhir). Salman later got run out and Nasir completed a half century but had to leave because he was cramping up. A quick loss of Muhammad Yousuf brought Younis Khan and Misbah together for a partnership that saw Pakistan through. Younis’s 125 off 117 was majestic and Misbah’s 70 was nothing short of remarkable either.
Pakistan’s performance renewed hopes of Pakistan reaching the finals of the Asia Cup. Had Srilanka beat India the next day with Pakistan beating Bangladesh later on would have seen Pakistan against Srilanka in the final. Unfortunately, India won against Srilanka. I would however like to add that India would be thankful to Srilanka for resting their spinner A. Mendis. I can without a doubt say that he would have wrecked havoc on the Indians looking at the form he was in. The possible reason I can think of is that Srilakans did not want India to play A. Mendis for if India were to reach the final, they would let him loose on India for the first time then. As tricky and hard as A. Mendis can be to handle, he can be the difference maker in the final.
Pakistan vs. Bangladesh (Victors: Pakistan)
For me this was a no contest. Pakistani bowlers ripped through the Bangladeshi batsmen and restricted them to a mere 115 in a tournament where scores above 300 were a norm. All the bowlers were simply unreal especially Abdur Rauf (8 overs, 1 maiden and 3 wickets by giving away 24 runs) and Iftekhar Anjum (10 overs, 6 madens and 2 wickets by giving away mere 20 runs).
With the bat, Bangladesh were again kept at bay with an opening stand that took Pakistan through. Half centuries for both Salman Butt (56 of 62 balls) and Nasir Jamshed (52 of 56 balls) awarded Pakistan a 10 wicket victory (Pakistan’s first in the Asia Cup) in the 20th over with 2 balls to spare.
Since India had already won against Srilanka, Pakistan’s victory did not take them to the final, but having said that Pakistan proved themselves a force to reckon with and shut off many mouths which doubted Pakistan’s capabilities as a world class team.
Kicking the wrong people
Background:
Pakistan won the Kitply cup 2008 with flying colors beating India by a big margin but that did not happen before a 140 run defeat by the same opposition earlier in the tournament.
Today:
Pakistan is now playing the Aisa Cup 2008. She beat Hong Kong but there was nothing special about this win, in fact Pakistan in the end was actually lucky that this match did not become a carbon copy of their embarrassing (probably the most embarrassing of all time) loss to minnows Ireland back in the world cup 2007. Their match against India showed how much the Pakistani team lacked with the ball when India (thanks to massive contributions from S. Raina and V. Sehvag) chased down 299 by Pakistan in merely 42 overs and 1 ball out of the alloted 50 overs. The very next match against Srilanka showed how Pakistan lacked with the bat when they were unable to take on neither the Srilankan spinners nor the fast bowlers.
The result is that Pakistan is almost out of the tournament. The blame is being spilled on the coach and the captain. The news is always filled with reports of possible ouster of both coach and captain since it is all their fault that Pakistan contineously performs bad.
However, I would really like to argue this stance that its the captain and the coach who are responsible. I mean come on lets face it, Pakistan has a depleted team and has been a depleted team for a long time now. We don’t have Shoiab Akhtars or Muhammad Asifs in the team. Instead we have Fawad Alams (He made his first 50 against Hong Kong and his bowling average is 79.25 … OK benefit of the doubt for him because he has only played 10 ODIs) and a lot of new kids who have not reached the level that players of other countries have.
Pakistan will play India today and there will be debutants in the side. Predictions are that if Pakistan fails, the axe will fall on the captain and the coach. I think thats just kicking the wrong people because a captain and coach can’t level up kids and dabutants in one match. We just simply lack enough capable players because they have not had enough exposure and all the players that have exposure are either injured (Umer Gul), stupid (Muhammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar) or simply not performing (Shahid Afridi).
Suggestions:
My suggestion to PCB … guys please try to fix the real wrongs.
Spiderman 3
I was walking down Gustav Adolfs Torg (Incase you do not know where that is, it is in Malmo, Sweden) with my friends Tommy and Ahsan one fine friday thinking about watching Spiderman 3 because the real world had lost its flavour. Somthing was pushing me into becomming part of an experience that would take me back atleast 13 years in my youth when I first found out about the venomous Venom, sandy Sandman … the hoty Mary Jane, the nerdy Peter Parker and not to mention the failed son of a mad man and peters bud, harry.
The comming traffic brought a few people on skates, uh .. faces that had already seen spiderman 3 … the girls were begging us not to make the mistake of seeing … what … SPIDERMAN!! … “take a newspaper with you, its a long and boring one” she said … well gave us a second thought but we decided to experience spiderman 3 first hand and suffer the pain she suffered.
The movie was not half as bad as she said it was. I would actually put it at the top of the list ahead of XMen, Batman, Superman, Dare Devil … the Pink Panty man … etc. etc. etc. Atleast for me, since when I go to see a spiderman movie I expect to see some issues between Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and a lot of Web Slinging … The graphics were awsome and Peter actually showed another side of him … which was fun I must say … Jonnah Jamson did his bit horribly well and Mary Jane hanging in a dangerous place is always such a turn on …
I believe people who have not had the chance to read the comics or see the first two parts of Spiderman can not really enjoy the movie since there are always connections between such movies and part of the magic is that they remind one of a perticular portion of their past (if you didnt read the comics … you dont have that past) … and what I believe most is that this movie is for the boys and that there would definitly always be more guys loving this movie and less girls.
GO SPIDEY GO!!!!!
Bob – The man and his mystery
Events that took place in the World Cup of Cricket 2007 are probably the most distressing in any World Cup ever. The death of one of the most spoken names of the game, a coach of class and a person of quality made last month a one very depressing month for cricket.
His death still alludes us as Mark Shields tries to unravel the mystery, and something tells me this mystery will for ever remain a mystery.
I personally think that Mark Shields has no clue of what he is doing. I think he is just trying to look important and busy getting his name on the front papers while he has the chance, and maybe Bob did slip and hit his neck on the sink.
Lets see how things progress …
300
OK, so I was talking to my friend this one fine morning about how sucky life is and how there was never anything to look forward to when he told me that there was … oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah … 300!!! His excitement made me interested in the movie too. After looking at a few trailers again and again (thanks to the engaging graphics), I decided that there was no way my eyes could survive the torture of not seeing this movie after it comes out.
After countless restless nights with dreams of Sparta, the cuddly black Spartan beards and the beautiful Spartan babes and not to mention a very thirsty throat (thanks to the dry atmosphere of my area), I finally landed upon the movie. There it was, in my hand, the DVD of what I dreamt, the much promise that I had been looking forward to, the work of art that was suppose to baffle my mind and the inspiration that I wanted to feel all turned into emotions of excitement.
I was so excited, I burnt my popcorn and spilled my coke as I hurriedly prepared myself for a night of engaging entertainment. I finally sat fitting the DVD in the player while my home theatre system warmed up and then it all began … with a story being told by a third person … the story of a boy, turned a man, turned a king … Ah, I should not say more about the movie because I don’t want to destroy the suspense (if there is any) and the story (if there is any) for anyone who wants to see it.
… now comming back to my feelings, with the beginning of the movie, all the promise started to fade away, the art was there and action was there but the story had no depth, infact there was no story, there was nothing apart from some whiny asses (about 300 of them) crying SPARTA. That actually became irritating and all that action and art alone did not quinch my thirst of entertainment. By the end of the movie, I heard Sparta so many times that once more would have made me bang my head in a wall somewhere. Who cares about Sparta anyway was the feeling.
I think whoever made the movie put all the stakes in the digital affects to captivate the mind of the viewers. If anything would keep this movie from being a flop, it would be the cinematics. If you ask my opinion, I would only advise you to watch it keeping in mind that the movie has no story, no depth, poor dialogues and can only be enjoyed by people who want to have a good time seeing overly exaggerated medieval fights and a lot of gore.
peace!!!
