PETALING JAYA, June 8 — Kampachi in Plaza@Jaya33 is so new that there is still a light woody scent coming from the sugidama or sake ball made of cedar twigs hanging at the entrance.It's traditionally hung ... Read More
PETALING JAYA, June 8 — Kampachi in Plaza@Jaya33 is so new that there is still a light woody scent coming from the sugidama or sake ball made of cedar twigs hanging at the entrance.It's traditionally hung ... Read More
Williams of the US poses with her trophy and runner-up Sharapova of Russia after winning the French Open tennis tournament in Paris. — Reuters picPARIS, June 8 — World number one Serena Williams clinched her second French Open title when she beat defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-4 6-4 in the final on Saturday.
The 31-year-old American, who won her first Roland Garros title in 2002, became the oldest player since tennis turned professional in 1968 to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup after overpowering the second seed on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Williams, who now has 16 grand slam titles to her name, recovered from a slow start to take the opening set after breaking three times.
She ended the contest on her first match point with an ace after one hour 46 minutes. — Reuters
Fulham's Brede Hangeland gestures next to goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer during their English Premier League soccer match against Liverpool at Craven Cottage, London. — Reuters pic MELBOURNE, June 8 — Mark Schwarzer's release from Fulham this week may spell the end of the Australian's storied career in the English Premier League, but the 40-year-old goalkeeper would sooner regard it a speedhump on a road that ends at the World Cup finals in Brazil.
Schwarzer, who leaves Craven Cottage after five seasons to make way for 30-year-old Dutchman Maarten Stekelenberg, has no intention of leaving Australia's goalmouth nearly 20 years after his 1994 debut against Canada.
With two qualifying matches remaining to secure a third successive World Cup appearance, Schwarzer made it clear the younger generation of Australian keepers waiting in the wings would face an almighty fight to prise the gold jersey away from his vice-like grip.
"I've always said I'm living the dream. It's amazing," Schwarzer told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday in the leadup to the Socceroos' penultimate qualifier against Jordan on Tuesday.
"Sometimes you've got to pinch yourself, sometimes you've got to take a step back and think about what you're trying to accomplish.
"I've made it clear that for me Brazil is the end of the road. That's why whenever I'm asked by our manager if I want to rest, I always say 'no'.
"If the manager wants to rest me on his own merit then that's his decision and I accept that. But if I'm asked the question I'll always want to play."
Wins over Jordan at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium and Iraq in Sydney the following week will book Australia's ticket to Brazil, but Schwarzer would be unlikely to dwell on the achievement for too long.
The rangy keeper, who stamped himself as one of the EPL's top keepers in 11 seasons at Middlesbrough before crossing to Fulham, will hope to quickly nail down a starting role at another Europe-based club to keep match-fit and in favour with Australia coach Holger Osieck.
When the finals kicks off in a year's time, Schwarzer will be pushing 42 and only a few months' shy of Cameroonian striker Roger Milla's record (42 years, one month and eight days) as the oldest player to compete at a World Cup.
Trusty hands
A role at Brazil would be a fitting swansong for Schwarzer's international career, having quite literally held Australia's World Cup hopes in his trusty hands.
Schwarzer wrote himself into sporting folklore Down Under when he made two saves in a penalty shootout against Uruguay in 2005 to secure Australia's ticket to the 2006 finals in Germany, and break a 32-year drought since the team's maiden World Cup appearance in 1974.
The Sydney-born keeper, who will win his 107th cap against Jordan, remains a reassuring presence in front of goal, and against a rampaging Japan earlier this week, was denied a clean sheet only by a hand-ball decision that gifted Keisuke Honda a spot-kick in injury-time.
In contrast to the fuss-free passage to the 2010 South Africa finals, Australia's performance in the last phase of Asian qualifying has been erratic, with a series of disappointing draws that have left the team's campaign delicately poised.
Schwarzer remains convinced, however, that the Socceroos, marshalled by an ageing defence which includes 35-year-old captain Lucas Neill and 34-year-old central defender Sasa Ognenovski, can book their tickets.
"My belief is that we're going to get to Brazil. I strongly believe it. We're quietly confident but we know it's going to be a massive task ahead of us," he said.
"We're in this position because we didn't perform as well as probably should have over the course of the last 12 months in various games, but the great thing about the situation we're in is that it's in our own hands.
"One thing you can say about the Socceroos is that we never stop trying." (Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
The fragments weighing several dozen kilos each are critiques of the divided Germany or celebrate the tearing down of the wall starting in 1989.
One work by French conceptual artist Daniel Buren, "Etching and Oil on Concrete", was valued at between €60,000 and €90,000.
Another by Erik Bulatov of Russia was valued at €120,000. Other artists represented in the collection included Luciano Castelli of Switzerland, Frenchman Gerard Fromanger, French-born American Arman (who died in 2005), Eduardo Chillida of Spain (who died in 2002) and Serbian Vladimir Velickovic.
The concrete wall separating the Soviet occupation zone of Berlin from that of the Allies was built in August 1961. The two Germanys were reunified in 1990. — Afp-Relaxnews
A miniature aircraft named Aeryon Scout Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) is pictured during BP pilot testing for use of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in pipeline inspection at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in fall 2012, in this handout picture. — Reuters picPRUDHOE BAY, ALASKA, June 8 —No pilot was required when the Aeryon Scout took off into the leaden skies of Alaska to inspect a stretch of oil pipeline. The miniature aircraft was guided by an engineer on the ground, armed only with a tablet computer.
The 20-minute test flight, conducted by BP Plc last fall, was a glimpse of a future where oil and gas companies in the Arctic can rely on unmanned aircraft to detect pipeline faults, at a fraction of the cost of piloted helicopter flights.
It could become reality as soon as 2015, when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) opens up American skies for the commercial use of unmanned aircraft, popularly known as drones.
While technical shortcomings and strict regulation are likely to limit the use of drones in the near term, the rules governing public airspace will be more relaxed in the wilderness of Alaska than in the lower 48 states, industry experts say.
"We're going to take baby steps," said Gary Shane, senior project manager and chief technology officer of BP Pipelines in North America. The company plans to deploy its first drones in the Alaska North Slope within three years, he told Reuters.
Laid end to end, the more than 480,000 km of natural gas pipelines that crisscross the United States would circumnavigate the planet 12 times. There's a lot of money to be saved by reducing the number of manned flights on these routes.
A small, unmanned vehicle fitted with a heat-sensing camera costs about US$85,000 (RM262,820), while it costs about US$3,000 to send a helicopter to monitor an oil pipeline for an hour, said Dave Kroetsch, chief executive of drone manufacturer Aeryon Labs Inc.
The drone, therefore, would pay for itself within 29 hours.
BP began researching the use of unmanned aircraft in 2006. Royal Dutch Shell Plc began a year earlier. One aim, says Shell, is to track the movement of marine mammals to assess the impact of the company's operations in the seas off Alaska.
The Scout is the flagship product of Aeryon Labs, a private Canadian company based in Waterloo, Ontario - the same university town that gave rise to BlackBerry .
Under a meter in length, the Scout weighs 1.2 kg — tiny when compared with the 1,020-kg MQ-1 Predator drone used by the US military and manufactured by San Diego-based General Atomics.
Aeryon Labs calls the Scout a "flying robotic reconnaissance system". It has been used by Gaddafi-era Libyan rebels and seen action in a Central American drugs bust. ()
A camera mounted on the drone trasmits a live feed to the operator. In the case of pipeline work, sensors can pinpoint the location of a suspected leak and detect signs of decay, such as cracks or rust, said Ian McDonald, Aeryon Labs' vice-president.
With four rotors and legs allowing for vertical take-off and landing, the Scout can also hover closer to a pipeline than any helicopter could. Proponents of the technology say this will help oil companies to find defects earlier than they can now.
According to a US government report on pipeline safety, the public was quicker to report pipeline leaks than companies' in-house detection systems in a third of cases recorded between January 2010 and July 2012. ()
Short flights only
So with all these advantages, why aren't more oil companies signing up? Why do Canada's two biggest pipeline operators, Enbridge Inc and TransCanada Corp, prefer traditional methods for inspecting their US pipeline routes?
Technology, for one thing. Drones might not be new - BP also used the Aeryon Scout to help direct clean-up crews after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 — but they are yet to be proven for large-scale commercial use.
"We have looked at this in detail, but advanced drone technology is largely proprietary to the US military," said Enbridge spokesman Graham White.
"Our experience is that there is still no substitute for human eyes, knowledge and expertise when inspecting the lines."
The 20 minutes flown by the Aeryon Scout is about the most that a small drone can manage. The sophisticated sensor systems needed for inspection are too big for longer flights; "miniaturizing" these sensors will take time, said BP's Shane.
Also missing from today's fleet of drones is the collision avoidance technology that automatically instructs an aircraft to take evasive action if an obstacle appears in its path.
While doubts persist, some oil majors are on the sidelines. ConocoPhillips said it was interested, but that it did not operate its own aerial surveillance program. Exxon Mobil Corp declined to comment for this article.
David Yoel, chief executive of industry consultants Aerospace Advisors Inc, said it would be at least 10 years before unmanned aircraft are in common use along US pipelines.
Draganfly Innovations Inc, a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based manufacturer that sold several drones to deepwater oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago, said industry-wide sales had begun to flag, due largely to the regulatory environment.
"Actual sales have definitely slowed, especially in the US, because of people's issues with the FAA regulations," said Kevin Lauscher, Draganfly's industrial sales manager.
Into the wilderness
Current US federal law permits only public agencies and universities to fly drones in public airspace. BP teamed up with the University of Alaska Fairbanks when it tested the Scout.
This should change from September 2015, by which time the FAA is mandated by Congress to have drawn up rules for their commercial use.
Even public agencies today must operate drones under strict regulations, and these restrictions will not disappear overnight for commercial users, industry experts say.
Such rules — drones must fly in daylight hours only, for example, within the remote operator's line of sight and more than 8 km from any airport, big or small — are hardly conducive to monitoring a vast pipeline network.
Gretchen West, executive vice-president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), said she believed that drones would become "an important technology" for oil and gas companies. "(But) it's still going to be several years before it's not heavily regulated."
Alaska just might be the exception.
Its very remoteness could win it special dispensation that would permit drones to be operated round-the-clock and controlled from beyond the line of sight.
The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 - the existing law that stipulates the September 2015 deadline for commercial drone use — saves a separate mention for the Arctic.
"The FAA is working ... to integrate unmanned aircraft into the Arctic region, where potential uses include wildlife observation, oil and mineral exploration, sea ice studies and pipeline monitoring," FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.
The FAA estimates that about 7,500 commercial "small unmanned systems" — drones weighing up to 25 kg — will be in operation within five years of its opening up the skies.
For companies such as Aeryon Labs and Draganfly, the challenge will be to develop the technology to drive more sales.
"Manufacturers and start-ups see that there will be great potential," said West. "This is going to be a great industry." — Reuters
Making music: Bertolozzi taking a strike on the surface of the Eiffel Tower. – Reuters picPARIS, June 8 – Star of songs, sketches and the silver screen for over a hundred years, the Eiffel Tower is now taking the lead role in a musical composition that will see the landmark speak for itself.
The structure is an instrument for a piece to be entitled "Tower music" – a project conceived by US composer Joseph Bertolozzi.
With latex mallets, drumsticks and even a large log wrapped in lambs wool in his box of tricks, Bertolozzi moves all over the 324-metre tower, hitting its surfaces with varying intensity and recording the sounds produced.
The idea is to weave them together, creating chords and melodies over a percussion base.
Bertolozzi's team have collected since May 27 nearly 2,000 samples from the iron structure's railings, panels and girders.
The 54-year-old who lives in New York told Reuters yesterday that the idea came from his wife.
"My wife was mimicking the way I play my percussion with my arms flailing and everything. She was near a poster of the Eiffel Tower, took a swing at it and she went 'Bong!'," he said.
Inspired to make music with the monument, Bertolozzi had to overcome practical difficulties, notably his lack of French and the fact he had few contacts in Paris.
He first decided to start small with a composition for New York state's Mid-Hudson suspension bridge. The resulting "Bridge Music" spawned a CD that reached number 18 on the Billboard Classical Crossover Music Chart in 2009.
For the organist and choirmaster whose day job sees him perform at weddings and bar mitzvahs, the tower is an instrument just like any other.
"A guitarist knows the character of each string, one string is wound with metal, another one is maybe gut string, they're thicker, they're thinner, they know how they respond. So when I look at the tower, now more than before, I know how the thing will respond as an instrument," he said.
He says that he has a tendency to bash out rhythms on household objects, citing dinner glasses, doorknobs and dishes as regular targets.
The team have spent nearly two weeks weaving in and out of the tens of thousands of tourists who climb the Eiffel Tower every day.
Most are bemused by Bertolozzi and his entourage of sound technicians and producers, but he had some support yesterday, with one pair of visitors improvising a rap to the beat he drummed out on one of the structure's many staircases.
When the work is finished in nine months, Bertolozzi says he dreams of coming back to perform it live at the Eiffel Tower to celebrate its 125th birthday in 2014.
Organisers said the show would require over a hundred musicians with microphones installed all over the iron structure, relaying sounds to the public below.
The tower's managers are still to be convinced, citing possible security concerns. – Reuters
Henry Cavill and Amy Adams in "Man of Steel". — AFP-Relaxnews picLOS ANGELES, June 7 — A new trailer has been released for the latest Superman movie, showing action scenes and summing up Kal-El's life, from arriving on Earth as a baby to becoming Superman.
In addition to Henry Cavill as the superhero, the trailer shows Russell Crowe as his father, Michael Shannon as evil general Zod, and Amy Adams as reporter Lois Lane.
Produced by Christopher Nolan and directed by Zack Snyder, "Man of Steel" will release on June 14 in North America. — AFP-Relaxnews
LONDON, June 6 – British comic novelist Tom Sharpe, known for his "Wilt" series about a harassed and hen-pecked university lecturer, has died aged 85, his publisher said today.The London-born author, ... Read More
OLEH CLARA CHOOI PENOLONG PENGARANG BERITA June 08, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Jun — MIC mengugut untuk menolak semua jawatan kerajaan di Perak di bawah pimpinan Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir dari Umno, jika jawatan Speaker Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) tidak diberikan kepada salah seorang pemimpin mereka.
Dalam satu kenyataan kepada media, Presiden MIC Datuk Seri G. Palanivel mengatakan partinya hanya akan kekal sebagai mesra Barisan Nasional (BN) di Perak akan tetapi tidak akan menerima sebarang jawatan ahli majlis mesyuarat negeri (Exco) di negeri dipimpin Umno itu.
Parti itu juga akan menolak pelantikan jawatan pegawai khas dan penasihat kepada Menteri Besar kata ahli Parlimen Cameron Highland itu.
"Apabila pembangkang mengetuai kerajaan negeri Perak, jawatan Speaker diberikan kepada orang India," katanya (gambar) apabila dihubungi oleh The Malaysian Insider hari ini.
MUAR, 8 Jun — Tiga orang termasuk seorang pesakit jantung cedera apabila ambulans yang mereka naiki terlibat dalam satu kemalangan di Bakri di sini awal hari ini.
Dalam kejadian pada kira-kira pukul 9.45 pagi, pemandu ambulans, pembantu perubatan dan pesakit itu terpaksa dikeluarkan oleh orang ramai daripada ambulans yang terbalik itu setelah dikatakan dirempuh sebuah Toyota Camry di persimpangan lampu isyarat Jalan Pintas-Jalan Bakri.
Ambulans tersebut dalam perjalanan membawa pesakit berusia 50an itu dari Hospital Pakar Putra, Batu Pahat untuk dirujuk ke Hospital Pakar Putra, Melaka manakala kereta Toyota Camry itu dalam perjalanan dari arah bandar Muar ke Bakri.
Ketika kejadian, tayar belakang Toyota Camry itu dikatakan meletup menyebabkannya terbalik. Seorang saksi Abdullah Sariman, 76, yang tinggal berhampiran tempat kejadian menceritakan, dia terdengar dentuman kuat dan melihat sebuah ambulans terbalik dengan siren kecemasan masih berbunyi.
Dia bersama menantunya, Salihin Jaafar, 37, dan pengguna jalan raya lain segera membantu mengeluarkan mangsa dengan mengumpil pintu ambulans itu. Katanya, kesemua mangsa dibawa ke Hospital Pakar Sultanah Fatimah di sini dengan sebuah kenderaan Jabatan Pertahanan Awam. Pemangku Ketua Polis Daerah Muar, Superintendan Shahadan Jaafar ketika dihubungi mengesahkan kejadian tersebut. — Bernama
Andy West is a sports writer originally from the UK and now living in Barcelona. He has worked in professional football since 1998 and specialises in the Spanish Primera Division and the English Premier League. Follow him on Twitter at @andywest01.
JUNE 8 — The European Under 21 Championships got underway in Israel this week, with the eight qualifying teams split into two groups of four.
The hosts, Norway, Italy and England make up the first group, with Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia in the other.
I watched the opening games for Spain and England, and they offered a pretty neat encapsulation of the respective strengths and weaknesses of state of the game in the two countries.
First up were England against Italy on Wednesday. Stuart Pearce's team worked hard, showed plenty commitment and defensive discipline, but very little creativity or quality on the ball. They had hardly any chances to score but were holding on for a grim goalless draw until a free kick by Lorenzo Insigne beat goalkeeper Jack Butland to give Italy the points.
On Thursday Spain opened their campaign against Russia, and dominated possession from the opening whistle. They controlled the flow of the game and produced plenty of eye catching passing football, but generally failed to find the killer final ball to unlock Russia's defence and also suffered from imprecise shooting on the few occasions they did threaten goal.
Eventually a well-delivered free kick from Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara was converted by Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata's glancing header to secure a deserved but hard-earned victory.
There in a nutshell is English and Spanish football: the former with huff, puff and a battling spirit but little technical expertise; the latter oozing quality on the ball and dominating possession but lacking cutting edge.
The contrast in the two teams' starting line-ups was also noticeable. Spain called on a group of players boasting a considerable amount of senior top flight experience for their clubs, with midfielders Isco and Illarra playing virtually every game for their respective clubs Malaga and Real Sociedad last season, as did defender Inigo Martinez for Sociedad and midfielder Iker Muniain for Athletic Bilbao, while David De Gea is well established in goal for Manchester United.
England, by contrast, had much less experience to call upon, with very few members of Pearce's squad appearing regularly in the English Premier League and many of them belonging to clubs in the lower divisions or spending time on loan in those lower reaches.
This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that English youngsters struggle to break into Premier League starting elevens for the simple reason they are rarely good enough, while Spanish football is much better at developing and integrating young players in senior football more quickly.
But it's also because of England's time-worn failure to take under 21 football seriously. Whereas Spain (and others) have picked their best players for the current tournament, England placed more importance on meaningless senior team friendlies against Ireland and Brazil.
The senior squad for those games contained Phil Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Rodwell, all of whom could and should have been in the under 21 squad instead. Rather than playing a few minutes in a friendly knockabout, the experience of travelling to and participating in a serious, competitive tournament would have surely been a much greater benefit to the long-term development of those players.
The influence of club managers is a significant factor, with Pearce's plans jeopardised by the reluctance of Manchester United, Arsenal and so on to release their players for summer international tournaments.
Spain, meanwhile, have a far more consistent approach to youth team international football. Their current under 21 squad has been together throughout the qualifying campaign, so they now have a great deal of experience of playing together as a team, with the urge to promote some of them to the senior squad being resisted.
Isco and Martinez, in particular, would have been good bets for the forthcoming Confederations Cup if the squads were picked without age coming under consideration, but Spain's preference is to keep their teams together so all the players progress at the same rate, receive opportunities to compete in major continental competitions and have consequently developed much more familiarity when they eventually graduate into the senior squad.
The future of Spain's midfield, in particular, looks very bright. Senior team coach Vicente Del Bosque has the luxury of calling upon a remarkable array of world-class talent: Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla.
The current under 21 squad suggests the next batch will be just as masterful, with midfield trio of Illarra, Isco and Thiago potentially good enough to dominate the international football scene for the next decade.
Spain's more considered, long-term approach surely benefits the development of those players and the success of their teams, while England's lack of a wider strategic vision is one of the many reasons why international success will probably continue to elude The Three Lions for many years to come.
JUNE 8 — We've now entered the most exciting time of the year for mainstream movie fans: summer! This means we are going to be treated to some of the year's biggest blockbuster movies.
Despite my strong love for arthouse and independent films, I've never forgotten the main reason why most people go the movies in the first place, which is to have fun and be wowed by a sense of wonder and spectacle that only the biggest of movies can provide.
So I'll be just as excited as the next guy when I see the latest trailer for Man of Steel or Star Trek Into Darkness or Iron Man 3. We still have about a week to go till we get to see Man of Steel, probably THE summer blockbuster event of 2013, just like how the Dark Knight or Transformers movies were the year they were released.
With a very clever (and teasing) promotional campaign as teasers and trailers gradually reveal more and more footage from the film, I think the latest trailer has got everyone who's seen it salivating at the prospect of finally seeing the film when it finally opens soon.
Compared to last year, this year's blockbusters seem to have a "bigger" feel. In any other year, a new Iron Man movie would be the hot ticket of summer, but in addition to the behemoth that is Man Of Steel, we'll also see Guillermo Del Toro's latest movie Pacific Rim, and there's also the Brad Pitt vehicle World War Z by Marc Foster (it now seems like an eternity since Foster made his mark with the small and intimate Monsters' Ball), and we haven't even begun talking about a new Wolverine movie and my personal choice Elysium, the new film from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp.
Then there's also Kickass 2, a follow-up to 300 that's written by Zack Snyder but directed by someone else, The Lone Ranger by the always dependable craftsman Gore Verbinski (which at a reported US$250 million is the most expensive Western ever made), and not to mention the animation giants of Monsters University and Despicable Me 2, this summer's really looking good for popcorn munchers everywhere.
However, what we're getting in quantity has so far not been proven the same by the quality of the blockbusters that have opened so far this year. The fact that JJ Abrams did so brilliantly with his Star Trek reboot from a few years ago meant that Star Trek Into Darkness had a lot to live up to, and unfortunately it failed to do so. It wasn't at all a bad film, but it just didn't have that special something that made watching the Star Trek reboot over and over again such an effortless and enjoyable exercise.
The Great Gatsby is, as is usually the case with Baz Luhrmann films, dazzling to look at but not much more. Fast and Furious 6 is what you'd already expect from the Fast and Furious franchise, but at least all that slam-bang action is enjoyable. The Hangover Part III is at least better than Part II, but they shouldn't have bothered making sequels anyway. Of the summer blockbusters that have opened so far here in Malaysia, only Iron Man 3 showed a bit more spark and life, making it a film just as likeable as the first one, mainly thanks to the magnetic presence and thespian skills of Robert Downey Jr.
But lest we forget, the earlier part of the year has also seen a few blockbusters opening, and just like last year's Chronicle, the year's best blockbuster movie so far was one that opened in January/February, a time usually reserved by studios to dump products they deem a bit of a failure and not really deserving of a summer push (The Darkest Hour, anyone?). That movie was Jack Reacher, only the second movie directed by the hugely talented Christopher McQuarrie (screenwriter of The Usual Suspects and writer/director of the unsung gun-slinging classic The Way Of The Gun) and starring a lean and mean Tom Cruise who's at the top of his game and is absolutely game for anything.
Playing like an extension of the ultra cool tricks McQuarrie pulled in The Way Of The Gun, it's heartening to see the movie become a box-office smash, pulling in around US$220 million at the worldwide box-office, and possibly kickstarting a new movie franchise for Tom Cruise.
Not doing so good at the box-office was what was supposed to be Arnold Schwarzenegger's comeback movie, The Last Stand. Directed by Korean genre master Kim Jee-Woon (who made I Saw The Devil, A Tale Of Two Sisters and The Good, The Bad, The Weird) it may be a flop in terms of box office (costing US$30 million and only pulling in US$37 million) but I think that it's a bona fide artistic success, showing people how a good old action movie is done, which is to say with a healthy dose of over the top violence and a lot of humour. Perhaps in time it will be considered an action movie classic.
Maybe by next week Zack Snyder will wipe away the "less-than-impressed" smirk off my face when Man Of Steel opens. And maybe Guillermo Del Toro and Neill Blomkamp will again prove what great genre directors they are with Pacific Rim and Elysium, but at the moment I still can't quite believe that one of my favourite films of the year is one starring Tom Cruise! Bring on the summer!
The Malaysian Insider :: Food
PETALING JAYA, June 8 — Kampachi in Plaza@Jaya33 is so new that there is still a light woody scent coming from the sugidama or sake ball made of cedar twigs hanging at the entrance.It's traditionally hung ... Read More 
LONDON, June 6 – British comic novelist Tom Sharpe, known for his "Wilt" series about a harassed and hen-pecked university lecturer, has died aged 85, his publisher said today.The London-born author, ... 
KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Jun — MIC mengugut untuk menolak semua jawatan kerajaan di Perak di bawah pimpinan Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir dari Umno, jika jawatan Speaker Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) tidak diberikan kepada salah seorang pemimpin mereka.