Ihata Fires Opening Goal to Earn Eagles Point

By Janet Chia

The first match of Round 21 saw Tanjong Pagar and Geylang International battle it out for their much awaited 3 points. The match on 28th August was held at the Jaguars’ homeground at Queenstown stadium.

5 minutes into the game, the first goalscoring opportunity came for the Eagles when a free kick was awarded after Yasir Hanapi was tackled while storming down the centre with the ball. Unfortunately the opening goal of the game had to wait as Jalal’s shot went wide of goal.

Just 2 minutes later, the Jaguars launched a counter-attack with Asraf Rashid attempting to score from a flowing movement, which saw the joint efforts of Takuma Ito and Wahyudi Wahid in tandem to deny the hosts any goals, if possible.

Despite the Jaguars’ tight defence, Eagles’ captain, Jozef Kaplan, was able to find another opportunity for his team in the 30th minute as he raced down the centre with the ball to meet with Yasir on the right flank who had broken free from the Jaguars. Yasir’s shot at goal was skilfully saved by Aurelian Herisson.

The first half concluded in a goalless draw with both teams playing in their own usual style.

The Eagles clearly upped the tempo right into the second half with more aggressive attacks while displaying their usual top notch defence.

In the 54th minute, Jaguars’ Azhar Ahmad’s attempt to bring the ball into the box was stopped prematurely by Yasir. Following which, the Eagles immediately pressed hard for their chance on the ball and the goal. Upbeat Eagles’ forward Shotaro Ihata then sent a cross to Norihiro Kawakami but his header did not find the back of net despite being from almost point blank range.

The Eagles were awarded a free kick in the  61st minute after John Wilkinson’s challenge. Jalal’s free kick posed a threat to Herisson as he stretched to tip the ball over the bar, barely saving it. Riding on a sudden boost of morale, the Eagles were by then determined to find the opening goal.

Just a minute later, the Eagles’ efforts paid off as Ihata fired in the opening goal after receiving the corner-kick from Jalal. His instinctive flicked header proved to be too fast for Herisson as the ball snuck past everyone and into the back of the net.

The Eagles looked to extend their lead in the 86th minute when Jozef met with a pass from Stefan Milojevic and sent the ball right to the back of net. Unfortunately, the linesman flagged for offside despite numerous contentions from the Eagle’s bench and players.

The Eagles held on to their lead, but not until the end. The equaliser by Kamel Ramdani came right at the 90th minute, dashing the Eagles’ hopes of bagging the three points.

As the Eagles took on an offensive stance, pressing attacks on the Jaguars up till the last minute, Ramdani, however, had other plans as he capitalised on the attacking industry of the Eagles and slotted the ball home after a loose ball remained uncleared in the Eagle’s defence from a swift Jaguars counterattack.

Coach Kanan, while disappointed by the late equaliser, he recognised that his boys needed to maintain their concentration during the last minutes of the game, especially with them conceding late goals in the past two matches. However, he also credited his boys for the excellent showing and strong adaptation to the conditions despite the rain during the first half.

With only a point earned, the Eagles will be hard pressed to get at least a 7th place finish in the league.

When I was 10 years old

A look at 13 years ago...

During my primary school days, there was a special column every tuesday in ZaoBao known as Xiao Bai Chuan 小白船 which will publish selected essays submitted by all primary school students over Singapore.

I did what many of my other higher chinese classmates did. Send my essay to ZaoBao 早报. Numerous rejections across the board and we affectionately termed the rejection process as "稿子被投篮".

I finally did it one tuesday! I vividly remember that I was in the afternoon session and had to go to school to peer tutor my junior. I brought the newspaper along to show the peer tutoring group! Hahahahaha!

Seems like my career aspiration really started young ^^

 

Favourites in Liverpool..

#1 SuperLambanana!

My favourite icon of Liverpool! It is akin to the Merlion in Singapore.

The SuperLambanana, created by a Japanese artist to forewarn the dangers of genetics engineering, is a 17 feet tall sculpture standing tall outside my university's library. Liverpool John Moore's University's Avril Robarts Learning Resource Centre. Probably an acquired liking of some sorts as I had to past by this cute yellow giant daily enroute to campus.

As part of an earlier campaign, smaller SuperLambanana sculptures were created and sponsored by different organisations and companies. These Lambananas are all around Liverpool. I'm sure you can recognise from above the LFC Lambanana located in LFC Club Store at Liverpool One.

#2 Mersey Ferry

*Cues Ferry Cross the Mersey song by Gary and the Pacemakers*

The Mersey Ferry is one of the most worth while student discount I've ever claimed in Liverpool. Frankly speaking, I didn't have time to explore Liverpool while I was there. My activities were pretty much kept within my hostel, city centre, campus + library and clubbing. Tried to perfect my academic papers. HAHAHAHA!

My friend came for a weekend visit and I finally took time off to show her around what my Liverpool had to offer. Short walk from Liverpool One brought us to Albert Docks where we boarded the Mersey Ferry. Very enjoyable ride. Most importantly, Mersey Ferry showed us almost all that we should to see!

Onboard the cruise, we saw Liverpool's UNESCO waterfront alongside Royal Liver Building etc. So pretty.. The commentary was great too! The cruise made three stops to the opposite side as well! There was the Spaceport at first stop, German U-ship at second stop and railway museum at third stop, Woodside!

#3 Bold Street

Connecting to city centre is Bold Street. There's no one style or word that seems to be able to pinpoint this street. An interesting mix of consumer goods from the likes of Home Bargains and Argos, to shops retailing vintage apparel, vinyl records, and then there's Oxfam. Foodwise there's the pizza and kebab shops, chinese steamboat, bubble tea, good old Starbucks, Costa, to finer cafes like leaf at Bold Street and Bold St Coffee. There's also supermarkets inclusive of Tesco, Sainsbury, and an international supermarket selling mostly East Asian Food. Oh and there's concert square. Our clubbing hotspot.

Anyway. if you're walking from the city centre up, then you'll meet with the now defunct St Lukes Church at the end.

#4 Albert Docks & The Beatles Story

Everyone loves yellow submarine. While the big yellow submarine sculpture which is now at Liverpool John Lennon airport, is slightly away from the city centre, and the Abbey road is in London, however, there is still somewhere for Beatles fans to pay pilgrimage to. The Beatles Story a must see. Do not miss the only Beatles themed Starbucks in the world too!

Beatles, our Liverpool boys.

#5 Liverpool FC

Visit KOP, Shankly gates, get some fan fares. You'll never walk alone.

Stadium tour offers discount on Tuesday, not sure if it's still valid, but no harm checking it out on LFC stadium tour website before heading down. KOP used to be such a distant idea for me. It was something that I always saw on tv and videos, but never imagined it to be so close to me in terms of physical distance and to my heart.

My first visit was with my friend and subsequently I made it a point to include KOP in my jogging route. Things like this really took my mind off work. It's a special feeling every time I past by KOP. I'm not exaggerating. It's like, a place where great things and people happened.

#6 Metropolitan Cathedral & Anglican Cathedral

Where contemporary meets classic. Both equally breath-taking.

I was very fortunate in a sense that both my campus are within in very close proximity to these cathedrals. Treat to the eyes, really. The Metropolitan cathedral is near where I had lectures in the morning, and the Anglican Cathedral is just right next to where I had my classes in the later part of the day.

I cannot imagine the grandeur of having my convocation in the Anglican Cathedral, however, due to time constrain, I attended the session at our Asia headquarters instead.

Liverpool may be a small city with limited offers, but it is definitely a place for short visit if time permits. Of course there are more to what I have introduced here as these are my favourites. Nice people, architectural contrasts in the city, LFC & Everton. A vibrant yet safe city. Good enough. I definitely want to be back there again to visit my Alma-mater. 

Seng Kee Kidney Mee Sua 成基腰子面线

I went to Seng Kee yesterday after work to catch up with the friend over dinner. Located just behind Kembangan MRT, it is just a short 15 minutes drive from Changi Business Park. Reached there about 6:20pm, which was still rather early. Parking was limited, thus was already full. Following online recommendations, I parked at the taoist temple right opposite Seng Kee. 福生无量天尊. Heard that the car park is opened till 11pm. 

Tried the famed pork kidney mee sua ($5/$6) along with salted egg yolk in squid paste ($11) and beancurd with chicken floss ($9).

The mee sua comes with pork slices, liver and kidney in which you can choose your combinations according to own preference. I had all three while the friend only wanted pork slices. It featured a rich herbal broth lined with pork protein strands. Very appetising just to look at it. Definitely a good and balanced combination with the flavourful soup not overpowering the other ingredients. The kidney is crispy and well washed. Good presentation with its uniformed criss cross cuts. Pork slices are good even on its own. Tender and smooth. No doubt about the mee sua. Wonderfully done to my liking. Soft but not lumpy, and the taste is well controlled, not overly salty. However the liver was slightly overcooked and too hard. 

Next up is the salted egg yolk in squid paste. Looked really appetising. Very unique dish that featured a soft inside and a contrast crispy skin. Appetite whetting. The salted egg yolk while retaining the fragrant of salted egg, had do away with the saltiness. Thumbs up. I liked this dish. Will order again next time.

Finally the beancurd with chicken floss. First bite of it was totally... Blissful! The outside is well done to a crisp. The beancurd is so smooth. The sauce added some flavour to the chicken floss and prevented the entire dish from being too dry. 

It would have won over the last dish if only there is more quality control in it. Unfortunately, down to the last two pieces, the beancurd was sour! Probably to do with the freshness of ingredient or that I'm just unlucky. We didn't ask for a replacement since we were pretty much done with it. However I did feedback to the waitress to caution the kitchen and avoid serving food of same standard to next customers. Not sure if she did feedback cause I didn't see her go into the kitchen at first opportunity. 

Bill came up to $32.50 for one big one small mee sua and the two sides. Reasonable given the quality and quantity. But the sour beancurd can do better. Either way, I enjoyed my dinner. The rest is history.

Seng Kee Black Herbal Chicken Soup

467 Changi Road

Update!

Last S-League article published: Eagles’ Solid Defence Holds Warriors Status Quo

http://voxsports.co/great-eastern-yeos-s-league-2013-warriors-fc-vs-geylang-international-fc

Thank you all for guidance and support!

Runners Complete With Splashes of Colour in Sentosa

By Janet Chia

Close to 16,000 runners in Singapore showed up in Sentosa over the weekend for the inaugural The Color Run in South East Asia. Touted as the "happiest 5k on the planet" , the highly popular 5 kilometre untimed novelty run that was fully registered within 3 hours of its launch in Singapore, originated from United States of America had made its debut in more than 100 cities since its inauguration in 2012.

The Color Run turned a new page in Singapore run history with its unprecedented  novelty. The highlight of the run is a colour "ritual" which doused runners with non-toxic, food grade coloured corn starch powder from top to toe at the four designated stations along the route. For Singapore stop, the four colours, red, blue, yellow and pink, represented the four sponsors, CIMB Bank, New Balance, Mini Cooper and W Hotel Singapore respectively. 

The catch of the event was that all runners must start the race with a pre-dominantly white top, where no inch was spared by the colour ritual eventually. With no age limit, the fun run encouraged mass participation and saw runners from all age groups and fitness levels took part in the two-day event. The safe event had kept medics at ease throughout the weekend with few reports for treatments, mainly for grazes and abrasions.

During the run, runners enjoyed the colour ritual and some were even seen rolling on the floor to get more of the coloured powder onto them. Unlike past run events in Singapore where operational roles were undertaken by organisers, The Color Run gave runners a go at dousing other runners after they finished their own run. Finishers were handed packets of coloured powder to take part in the colour throwing festival which happened at intervals at the centre stage, where the finishers were joined in the celebration by their friends and family.

The colour throwing festival was a hit with the finishers and set the pace for the 4 hours non-stop after-run party which consisted of more colour throwing festivals  and Zumba workout. The end of the party was marked by a special fireworks display by Songs of the Sea, a main attraction of Sentosa.

As part of The Color Run's tradition of giving back to the society, there was also a tie up with local sponsor, CIMB Bank, to donate $1 per registered runner on behalf to a selected charity, Project Happy Feet. The cheque was presented to Project Happy Feet at the after-run party.

"Definitely the happiest run ever, I hope there are more colours next time!", Miss Hani, 22, relived her experience in The Color Run with her long-time friends as the most memorable and fun race which she will sign up for again.

Before starting the run

En route to first (red) station

Chicken head man spotted!

I need more yellow!!

A packet of colour for you!

No no no. Not me!

Colour Throwing Festival & After-run party!

Accounting for the popularity of HORROR...!

Rave reviews for The Conjuring. Funny how this style of story-telling is so well received. Blair witch project, paranormal activity, the conjuring..

Anxious to know what drives the consumption of horror films, I jumped at the opportunity to write a paper on it while pursuing my degree in Liverpool. We were tasked to account for the popularity of any genre discussed on course, but I was being a little too difficult by insisting to write on HORROR. Horror was not exactly discussed on course, but was a mere mention in one of the lectures. However, the "British niceness" of my lecturers set in and I was allowed to expand on my curiousity.

Just a sharing for you all.. =) Paper was submitted to university on 19th July 2012 and cleared for plagiarism. References/Bibliography excluded here.

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The horror genre is characterised by its ability to generate and manipulate with man's fundamental fears of uncertain threats to existential nature (Wells, 2000). Horror films can be categorised into three main categories, which according to Tamborini et al. (1996) are, gothic horror, occult horror and psychological horror. It is noted by Conrich (2009), that horror films are highly successful and is a popular genre in cinema. Academically, the horror genre has surpassed the predominantly popular western genre in Hollywood as one of the genres most critiqued about (Langford, 2005). This speaks great volume of the elevated status and popularity of horror genre.

Thus this paper seeks to account for the popularity of horror genre through Freudian's psychoanalytic approach of audience, and their paradoxical enjoyment. The following horror texts representative of gothic horror, psychological horror and occult horror respectively, will be used. They are, Frankenstein (1931), Psycho (1960) and Paranormal Activity (2007).

According to Langford (2005), horror films are ambivalent, and the reason for consumption is contradictory. While horror films seek to tap into the innate fears of mankind, however, simultaneously, the consumption of horror films actually gives various forms of pleasure (Hanich, 2010). Moreover, the popularity of horror genre films is also driven explicitly by audience's curiousity on unexpected twist and events (Jancovich, 2002) and violates our assumption that we live in a predictable, routinized world, in which the curiousity can be attributed to repressed emotions. As such, introduces Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic approach which substantiates audience's choice to consume horror film and its paradoxical enjoyment derived, thus accounting for the popularity of horror genre.

Aligning with Freud's psychoanalytic framework, it is understood that everyone have repressed and unaddressed feelings at the heart of unconsious thoughts. Therefore, horror films served to underpin the inner self of audience through engagement of ideologies of threat, death and fear within the diegesis. Simply, since the 'monster' is all in the mind (Wells, 2000), horror films provides paradoxical pleasure and enjoyment for audience through manipulation of fear, or the 'monster' in audience's mind, as the repressed subject consequently returns to threatens a human ego which has constructed itself as secured from the uncertainties of the external world.

The paradoxical enjoyment is derived, as psychoanalysis has a built in tendency to produce interpretations which not only have little but no relation to one's actual experiences to the text, but actively contradict those experiences (Jankovich, 2002), thus addressing the repressed and unaddressed feelings of audience, which brings pleasure by resolving audience's own ideological contradictions within.

In the light of classic horror films, mainly before the 1950s, production was concentrated on gothic horror films. The storyline usually surrounds a protagonist and a monster, drawing clear boundaries between the good and evil, and concludes the struggle with good triumphs over evil, and ultimately the destruction of monster. A typical example is Frankenstein (1931), where a monster was created by a mad scientist, by assembling exhumed corpses. The monster went on to commit murder, was eventually destroyed by the villagers.

The existence of a monster in classic horror film is crucial. The monster, which acts as an agent of violence, is often seen to embody and enable the expression of repressed feelings and desires of audience (Langford, 2005). Popularity of horror genre is fuelled as audiences reap the pleasure of horror film consumption through the sense of satisfaction achieved from the destruction of the monster. It is a symbolic psychological process which sees audiences surviving against the odds, against the monster, and emerge as a victorious sole survivor from the entire viewing experience. This process also in turns gives audiences a sense of maintaining control in their lives in face of profound disruptions (Wells, 2000).

Moreover, consuming horror films is also a mean of catharsis for audience. According to Wells (2000), catharsis is the beneficial purgation of emotions which is necessary and purifying as it aptly addresses the repressed feelings of audience and relieves it. As a user gratification (Bartsch et al., 2010), being frightened, can in itself, become the main pleasure of watching horror films (Cherry, 2009). Also, horror films dramatise the eruption of violence, supernatural and irritant (Langford, 2005), and through means of cartharsis, such violent feelings are translate into normative social context. This purgation of emotions also acts as a form of escapism and relief for audience in the process of confronting their worst fears, perverse feelings and desires. The strong presence of horror film has also been often read as a reflection of a crisis in society. Horror film has been seen to peak at times of war, and during periods of economic, political, and moral exigency (Conrich, 2009). Thus more aptly so, the need for catharsis to seek relieve from societal stress and pressure, and therefore accounts for horror genre's popularity.

Horror films in the 1950s and 1960s however went through a transitional period away from the predominant gothic horror text. There were new and different registers and reflections of horror (Langford, 2005). Psycho (1960) is an epitomy of this turning point of horror films from gothic horror to psychological horror plot. Instead of a monster, real human characters were used to unfold the psychological horror plot surrounding the the main characters, Norman Bates and his mother, with the help of Bates' psychiatrist.

Moving forth, modern horror films concentrates more on occult horror, like Paranormal Activity (2007), which tells of a supernatural encounter at home of a young couple, Micah and Katie, through their own home video recording, have a marked difference from gothic horror and psychological horror films in its plot. There is no longer a clear boundary between the good and bad, no prominent monster, and the outcome of struggle is at best ambiguous, where the plot concluded with Micah killed and Katie went missing.

While elements in horror films have changed greatly, however, its popularity is still accounted for. The same pleasure is still reaped as horror genre continues to be relevant to societies as the diegesis still addresses things which threaten the maintenance of life and its defining practices (Wells, 2000). Horror films remain highly correspondent to the social and cultural upheavals to which it runs parallel (ibid). According to Langford (2005), it unmasks latent unspeakable desires of society and shows dissimulation of the culture. Therefore, audiences adopts the viewing pleasure of horror film as a reactionary stance to what they dislike about their culture. Therefore, coupled with aggressive marketing strategies, there is continued demand for horror films as the consumption is a form of relieve for audiences' repressed emotions on the society, thus contributing to horror genre's unwavering popularity.

In conclusion, this paper have accounted for the popularity of horror genre drawing examples from the three different types of horror films, and explaining audience's reason for consumption under Freudian's psychoanalytics framework, where audiences reap paradoxical enjoyment by breaking free from their repressed state of mind.

*So now we see the evolution of horror and reasons for consumption... Food for thoughts.*

-Short Break-

With S-League taking a two weeks break...

And Adidas KOTR cancelled yesterday...

The next event will likely be color run happening this weekend.

Stay tuned! ^^

Eagles' Solid Defence Holds Warriors Status Quo

By Janet Chia

(original submission to voxsports)

The game between Warriors FC and Geylang International FC kicked off at 8pm on 6^th August at Warriors' homeground, Choa Chu Kang stadium. The game of round 19 saw 9^th placed Eagles and 10^th placed Warriors which are two points apart at the start of match, put in their best effort to claim the full three points crucial for top six finish in the league.

With the return of both teams' star strikers, Eagles' Jozef Kaplan and Warriors' Mislav Karoglan after suspension, the two teams were evenly matched on both offense and defense.

Early challenge by Warriors just two minutes into the game saw Warriors' offense into the box which was promptly cleared by Norihiro Kawakami at first attempt. A quick return saw Matthew Abraham sending a close pass to Abdil Qaiyyim, however his deflection to Marin Vidosevic went high above the bar under tight pressure from Eagles' defenders.

At 14^th minute, Warriors passed from the flank to Zulfadli Zainal Abidin who then passed to Kazuyuki Toda whom connected the ball to Tatsuro Inui. However, not withstanding Eagles' defense, Inui's shot at goal went wide.

Hero of the Eagles' defence line, Nori subsequently brought the ball out to midfield and promptly cleared it off the side. The first half saw Nori's numerous stellar clearance to deny Warriors of any chance to put in the opening goal.

Eagles came close to scoring at 16^th minute when Takumi Ito collected a corner ball and passed it to Jozef, but was cleared off by Abdil. 6 minutes later, Eagles lost the opportunity to score after Stefan Milojevic skillfully brought the ball close to the goal but hesitated, thus giving Warriors time to build up their defense.

At 30^th minute, Ito displayed Eagles' superior defense again by denying Inui's freekick which was aimed at the top left corner. The full stretch dive saw the ball denied entry off Ito's gloves.

While both teams worked hard to put in the opening goal, at half time, the score remained at 0-0.

The 54^th minute saw Eagles yet another attempt at goal, however was saved by Hassan Sunny. Eagles' captain Jozef was charged with energy, and ran across the pitch several times in Eagles' serious attempt to put in the opening goal.

Three minutes later, Inui's kick from the corner almost broke Eagles' goal after Ito went low on the first save which saw the ball rebounded to Warriors right in front of the goal. It was Eagles' solid defense that shutted Warriors out again.

At full time, both teams were contended to walk away with one point each as the score stood at 0-0.

Coach Kanan creditted his boys for the draw and recognised the challenge for Eagles to go into Top 6 of the league table after not claiming the full three points. However, he affirmed that ambitious Eagles will still continue to work hard and aim for Top 6 finish.