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Along with the opening of Singapore’s first casino at Resorts World Sentosa, Universal Studios Singapore – Southeast Asia’s first Universal Studios theme park – also welcomed its first visitors on Sunday for its 8-day sneak preview of the theme park. The official opening of the theme park is expected to be in first quarter of 2010.

Lucky me was fortunate to score an invite to the theme park and although no rides will be opened during the sneak-peak period, the roller coaster junkie in me was raring to go! I’ve been to Warner Bros. Movie World in Gold Coast, Australia and Disneyland in Hong Kong, but this was the first time I was going to a Universal Studios theme park, so naturally I was very excited about the trip.

Let us “walk through” the various themed zones of the park as seen from my camera lens.

Hollywood

Upon entering the park, visitors will experience the famous Walk of Fame through Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood zone.

Madagascar

Inspired by the hit DreamWorks Animation franchise, Madagascar, this zone featured a river ride and a crazy carousel with King Julien.

Far Far Away

This zone is inspired inspired by DreamWorks Animation’s hit Shrek franchise. The highlight of the zone is the Far Far Away Castle which is a world’s first, it hosts attractions such as Shrek 4D Adventure.

The Lost World

This zone contains two themed areas: Jurassic Park and WaterWorld. Unfortunately, I kinda got “lost” in dinoland and did not venture into WaterWorld.

Ancient Egypt

The land of the Mummy featured gigantic warrior mummies standing guard at the Pharaoh’s tombs. The star attraction of this zone is The Revenge of the Mummy indoor roller coaster, which is an extremely popular attraction at other Universal Studios around the world. It is based on the popular film franchise, The Mummy.

Sci-Fi City

This futuristic zone is based on the popular television series, Battlestar Galactica, and features the world’s tallest Dueling roller coaster. The red rail is for the ‘human race’ and its seats are mounted in traditional roller coaster fashion. The blue rail is for ‘Cylons,’ with the seats suspended below the rail, leaving legs to dangle freely.

New York

The New York zone featured the trademark New York city skyline, neon lights, façades and sidewalks as well as the romantic atmosphere of the Big Apple.

That concluds the sneak-peek of the 7 themed zones of Universal Studios Singapore, all based on Universal movie hits and franchises. And if you are feeling hungry after all the walking, screaming and being thrown about in those wild rides, there are plenty of F&B outlets and restaurants in the park to recover and replenish your energy.

History was made when Singapore ’s first casino threw open its door on February 14, the first day of Chinese New Year at the auspicious time of 12.18pm at Resorts World Sentosa.

Resorts World Sentosa, built by Malaysia ’s Genting Bhd for 6.6 billion Singapore dollars (US$ 5 billion), is opening in phases, starting with 1,340 rooms in four hotels, including a Hard Rock hotel and a property designed by architect Michael Graves.

Genting Group chairman Lim Kok Thay cut the ribbon at 11.18 am and the casino welcomed its first bettors at 12.18 p.m. — both considered symbolically lucky hours for ethnic Chinese.

Betshopboy.net wishes its Chinese readers a Happy Lunar New Year filled with rich blessings of peace, prosperity, abundance and good health. May you have roaring good times in the year of the Tiger!

GONG XI FA CAI

The Super Bowl has always been the most-watched American television broadcast and the recently concluded Super Bowl 2010 XLIV was no different. This annual NFL Championship playoff has always been remembered as much for its on-field actions as the commercials. With an average US audience of 106.5 million viewers, you can be sure the advertisers will pull out all the stops in their 30-60 seconds commercials.

Many of the commercials in Super Bowl 2010 were of very high quality and here I’ve listed a few notable ones which I find attention-grabbing.

Coke: Sleep Walker

This commercial does not have any human dialog but apparently, action speaks louder than words.

Audi Green Police

Audi played on the current hot-potato issue of global warming and the virtues of being environmentally responsible citizen. Very clever!

CareerBuilders.com: Casual Fridays

The CareerBuilders.com commercials never fail to amaze me and this edition did not disappoint either.

Budlight: Stranded

Budlight is back again and this commercial – a parody on the TV series LOST – cracked me up! In true Homer Simpson style: Beer truly is the cause of — and solution to — all of life’s problems!

Budweiser: Bridge Out

This Budweiser commercial also scored high points with me and will endeared itself to many beer lovers.

E*Trade: Baby Girlfriend

The E*Trade baby series continue with another winner.

Google: Parisan Love

This Google commercial looks the simplest to execute as it was basically a screencast of Google searches of a traveler in Paris. For the uninitiated, it may seem like a commercial promoting Paris.

And last but not least, the NFL pays tribute to the fans with this commercial.

NFL: Best Fans on the Planet

So which is/are your favorite Super Bowl Commercial(s) for 2010?

By now many of you would have known that the Saints are Super Bowl champions. The New Orleans Saints, carrying the hopes of an entire city, where 85 percent of the city was under water from (Hurricane) Katrina some 4 years ago, rallied to upset the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday night in one of pro football’s most thrilling title games.

For those of you who missed one hell of a game like yours truly (the live telecast was at 7am on Monday in this part of the world, and I was on my way to work), here’s the video of the Super Bowl 2010 XLIV Highlights. Don’t miss Tracy Porter’s amazing 74-yard interception return touchdown on a pass from Manning at 5.13 of the video.