FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina vs Mexico

Tonight the Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa hosted its last FIFA U-20 game between Argentina and Mexico. I arrived at the stadium an hour early to avoid traffic and lineup at the door. Outside the stadium, fan base for both countries were belting out their slogan, contending to be louder than the other side. The game started right on the dot. In the first half, both sides had good ball possession. Argentina had three shots and were beautifully saved by the Mexican goalie. On the other side, Mexico had a few close shots, but none of them made to a goal. One of the Mexican shots was a amazingly cut across the net, taking the goalie by complete surprise. Unluckily it hit the post and flew out. Until the 44th minute, the score was still nil:nil. At the 45th minute, Argentina finally saw an opportunity and cut cross the Mexican defense. Goal! The scoreboard finally flipped for Argentina.
In the second half, Mexico tried hard to break through Argentine defense. But with Argentine No.4, 5, 7, 8 forming a solid defense, it was just impossible. In vain, Mexico could not tie the game, bringing victory to Argentina 1:0.

Ottawa Bluesfest

Ottawa's Bluesfest is one of its kind. Coming from Montreal, I couldn't imagine its scale to be comparable to Montreal's Jazz Festival. For one reason, Ottawa's Bluesfest is not free admission. Secondly, Ottawa is more than twice smaller than Montreal. Last night, Dennis, his friend Rob, Matt, and I went to see what Ottawa's Bluesfest is all about. Getting off the bus, we were immediately submerged into the flock of people rushing towards the festival. All of a sudden, the atmosphere of festivities surrounded me. We fastened our steps to the door, got our tickets ($42) and our green ribbon (as our pass), and went straight towards Rogers Stage. The crowd is so thick that we couldn't even get close to the stage. Nonetheless, the heavy strumming of electric guitars from DJ Champion and his G-strings were enough to get us rocking. The entire band was composed of guitarists and singers and yet the sampling of various guitars was able to provide a mixture of sounds. It was just amazing. After this show, we headed to the Riverside Stage to see the Blackies and the Rodeo Kings. Again, their guitar performance was just incredible. Before the end of the day, we were lucky enough to see Kanye's West. We finished the day in the sound of hip hop.

With all the buzz going on aroundTransformers, I was so eager to see it. Despite my enthusiasm, I didn't have a very high expectation, except for the fact that there will be a lot of computerized robotic animations. On the contrary, I was quickly immersed into the movie. Right off the start. There was lots of humors and jokes that were far from being cheesy. The beginning of the movie set the stage for Transformers, including the autobots and the decepticons. Of course both types of alien robots were in search of the all star cube that could destroy Earth and control the universe. A young teenage boy Sam Witwicky held the map (his great-grand fathers's glasses) to the cube. Ultimately he heroically destroyed the cube and saved the world. Any story has to have a morale, Transformers tries to send out the message "No sacrifice, no victory".

Montreal Jazz Festival

Last Saturday, my mom and I went to the Montreal jazz festival, before it closed on Sunday. I have never seriously listened to Jazz in my entire life. Even though I've been to the Montreal Jazz Fest many times in the past, I've never sat down for more than 30 minutes in front of one stage. To my surprise, we sat down for two full-length shows and I listened to the music with my heart and soul. The first hour-long show was performed by a Dutch group of six people called "Room Eleven", with a mixture of comtemporary Jazz and pop. The second show was jointly performed by singer Lulu Hughs and Montreal's Old City Big Band. In her Jazz, Blues, and R&Bs, Lulu Hughes projected a voice that was both sweet and strong, accompanied by the band's powerful and mature music. Both performances were quite different but were both amazing in its own right. I will go back to the Montreal Jazz Festival again next year for sure.

FIFA U20 World Cup

I never thought that FIFA U20 World Cup would be big in Canada. I was proven wrong. Last Saturday, I went to the First Round game between the host team Canada and Chile. Because of my frugality, I didn't purchase the ticket ahead of time (to avoid the $6 convenience charge). My friends also encouraged me to get the tickets at the door for reason that soccer was not a big thing in Canada. When I arrived at the National Soccer Stadium, I was stunned by the degree of vivacity in and outside of the stadium. People have filled the 45,000 capacity stadium in red (color for Canada). Others hold Chilean flags, chant and dance as they walk.

Of course, there were no more tickets, not even a single sign of sculpers. The result: I joined 20 other soccer ethusiasts to hop up the stairs of a building outside the stadium, in order to catch a glimpse of the game. Towards the end of the game, I was finally able to sneak into the stadium to enjoy a brief moment of excitement. In the end, Canada lost to Chile 0:3.

On last Tuesday, I was able to get ticket to see another game of Argentina vs Panama. The game was held at the Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa. Before the game, many entertainment events were set up in the south Quad of the stadium, accompanied by percussion from a group of Brazilian drummers.

This is my first time watching soccer live. I have to say that the field looks much smaller than it appears on TV. Argentine players did not score any goals in the Saturday's game, but they were on fire on yesterday's game, scoring four goals in the first half, and another two in the second half. What could've been more entertaining than watching 6 goals in one game! On the other hand, Panama did not grasp their chances of scoring, nor did they fence up their defense to counter the fierce offense of Argentina. In the end, Panama lost to Argentina 0:6.