oh takes a hiatus

My little friends, Oh is going away on a city-trotting trip for the next two and a half weeks. It might get a little tiring, but well.. that's just me. I work hard even when not at work, ha!

But who knows, I might drop in for a post now and then. Most likely not though. I should concentrate on enjoying myself and leave the blogging till I'm back. Heheh.

Once again, remember to take your veggies and be kind to animals (they taste good!). I'll be back when the World Cup starts. Woohoo!

bird podcast

You've probably heard all the election podcasts from Mr Brown, but check this one (No More Bird) out. Or you can listen directly here.

I know it's a little outdated, but it's so damn funny, ha!

See original Visa commercial here.

barcelona 2, arsenal 1

Following the recently concluded Champions League Final between Arsenal and Barcelona, the Armchair Critic, that is moi, shall have his say.

Ladies and Gentlemen, footballing justice has been served. And boy, does it taste sweet. Up till the 76th minute, it had looked like even the best club in Europe was no match against some utterly incompetent refereeing. The referee had made two dodgy calls that almost cost Barca the game.

Firstly, he disallowed a perfectly legitimate Barca goal in the 18th minute by blowing for a free kick too early instead of playing the advantage. (He was right to send the keeper off though.) Then in the 37th minute, he compounded his errors by awarding Arsenal a free kick at the right edge of the penalty box when it was obvious their defender has committed a blatant dive. Arsenal scored from the resulting free kick.

What a travesty. As the commentator said, the referee wasn’t fit to grace a game of such magnitude.

From then on, the entertainment value dropped as Arsenal was content to defend and run the clock down as much as they could, as could be seen by Barca’s over 60% possession of the ball. Justice finally came in the 76th minute when Eto’o equalized. And within 5 minutes, Barca took the lead through their substitute right-back who’s never scored for the club previously, giving the commentators the chance to opine one of their favourite lines: “What a fantastic time to score your first goal for the club!”

After falling behind, Arsenal never put up a fight at all with their 10 men. And in the end, Barca rightfully triumphed for only the second time in this competition. Somewhat ironically, Arsenal are now complaining about the referee, saying the best team didn’t win. Sorry mate, valiant defending doesn’t make you the better team.

Darn, if I had successfully balloted for tickets a few months back, I’d be there celebrating with the Barca fans. Viva Barca!!

That will be all for now.

collectibles

Coming soon to a convenience store near you: new anti-smoking warnings.

Each sold separately. You'll want to collect them all!

stupidity ridiculed

Yesterday I read what I thought was a really stupid and most ridiculous letter in the ST Forum, but didn't find time to blog about it.

Today, I saw that it was mentioned in another blog Singabloodypore. I'm glad that many people agree with me how silly the letter is. Reading some of the readers' comments really made me flip, especially the following:

If Mr De Souza saw a suckling pig being thrown past his window, i wonder if he'd think it's "crystal clear" that pigs can fly.

Ha!

intriguing stuff

Check out these two articles in the IHT. The first is a damning report of our elections:

Singapore beyond Lee

The second one talks about the ongoing EnerNorth case in the Canadian courts. The case, by the way, threatens to expose Singapore's judiciary as a corrupt legal system. But of course, it's hardly mentioned in our local mainstream media.

Courts in Singapore come under scrutiny

Briefly from what I understand, this is what the case is about:

1. Canadian company goes into business deal with Singapore company.
2. Canadian company backs out.
3. Singapore company sues Canadian company in Singapore court and is awarded million dollar damages.
4. Since Canadian company has no assets in Singapore, Singapore company goes to Canadian court to enforce the judgement.
5. Normally, the Canadian court will accept Singapore court's judgement rather than repeat the trying. But Canadian company claims that the judgement in Singapore in favour of the government-linked Singapore company cannot be trusted as its legal system is corrupted.

If you're interested in the full legal arguments, check out their report (pdf). Part III-B makes for intriguing read. The expert on their side is non other than Francis Seow, former solicitor general, opposition candidate and fellow at Harvard Law School.

world cup countdown

World Cup Schedule

30 days to the World Cup. Can't wait!

election epilogue

So the elections are over and the status quo has been preserved. The media machinery is now into overdrive. Strong mandate, support from all communities across all races, struck a chord with young voters, bla bla bla.

The PAP really shot itself in the foot when Lim Boon Heng said they can win over 80% in AMK. PM Lee himself said they'll try make their opposition lose their deposits, meaning a win of over 87.5%. Analysts said a good win would be around 70-75%.

The result? Surprise, surprise. Just 66.1%. One in three voters voted against him, choosing instead the WP's bunch of young newbies. Nevertheless he still calls it "a strong mandate", and the papers say the opposition got "only" 33.9%.

Duh. Shouldn't the word "only" be used on the PAP? See what Mr Wang has to say about this.

I must say I had expected Chiam to lose rather badly. Congrats to him! The residents of Potong Pasir have also done Singaporeans proud by not biting the upgrading carrot. Well, 55.8% of them didn't anyway.

Till next time then. Meanwhile, it's back to our boring lives, ha!

double standards

When a person has already apologised, they harped on about it.

What happens when another person has offended others with what he said? He merely issues a statement through his press secretary.

What of the integrity and character they've been calling for? Why don't they drop him? Ha!

oh anyhow guesses and predicts

After days of meticulous news following and rally attending, it's time for Oh to give his predictions on some of the high profile and hotly contested wards.

Woohoo!

Oh has not covered any grounds or visited any residents, however, so this rendition of Oh Anyhow Guesses And Predicts (胡乱猜测) is based solely on absolute wild guessing, sixth sense, illogical pessimism and nothing else. They come hot and spicy, so do remember to take with a good pinch of salt!

On to the predictions:

Hougang SMC
WP to win by 60%-65%.

Potong Pasir SMC
PAP to win by 55%-60%.

Choa Chu Kang SMC
PAP to win by 53%-58%.

Aljunied GRC
This is a hard one to call. How will the "mountain out of molehill" issue affect voters? Methinks it'll be a close fight with the winning party (could be either side) getting less than 53%.

Ang Mo Kio GRC
A thrashing? Not too badly I hope! Still, PAP to win by 73%-78%.

Sembawang GRC
PAP to win by 78%-83%.

As for the rest of the wards, the results will be pretty much as expected.

In conclusion, the opposition will get either 1 seat or 6 seats, depending on the outcome in Aljunied. Sad to say, despite the better showing by the opposition this time, Oh tends to believe that the former case is likelier. He would happily eat his words if proven wrong though!

So that's that. Now let's sit back and watch how Oh gets his predictions spectacularly wrong, ha!

Irrelevant Questions Of The Day
What made Aljunied Aljunied? Did someone "aljuny" it?

form over substance

The mountain that came out of a molehill just turned the size of Everest. It is a big issue. Or so they would have us believe.

This is indeed a dirty business.

Still, I have to say that I'm totally disgusted with the local media. They've played their bit to blow this up. It is important that we don't take allegations for the sacred truth, despite the so-called "evidence", and to open our eyes and judge for ourselves.

Anyway, here are some articles (not regarding the Everest incident) from the foreign media for detoxification:

• The Star (Malaysia)
• Asia Times
• Reuters India
• Guardian Unlimited (UK)
• The Age (Australia)
  

what the media don't show you

is just how immensely huge opposition rallies can get.

Check out pictures from last night's rally at Hougang, the WP stronghold. When I saw the pictures, I was like, "OMFG!"

The author roughly estimates the crowd to be around 100,000-120,000 people. Looks almost like an open-air rock concert you see in Western cities.

More pictures here.