by | Dec 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
Seriously (yet again I try to be serious) I have a bad feeling that it’s not going to be China that’ll dictate the next global currency, but only because the Russians are quietly (and probably silently feeling amused at the current ongoing economic turmoil) planting their seeds of power.
Those who lay dormant quietly are the ones to be wary of, right?
How else could you explain the rise of online music and online movies retailers who sell these entertainment wares at dirt cheap prices, and yet hollywood or the RIAs barely lifts a finger at them?
Actually, Russian law says its legal, so its legal. Aha, silently untouchable…
Anyway, I just recently watched 2012, the movie, with Bangau and I think it’s a solid 2 and half hour of entertainment, of human emotions and reactions and how much worth the value of life can be measured at, during dire situations.
Like so what if you’re Mr President or some filthy rich Billionaires, ‘cos what good is money or status when you’re staring death in the face?
Indeed 2012 follows after his previous movies like ‘Day After Tomorrow’, ‘Godzilla’ or ‘Independance Day’ but on a grander, and much more fatalorrific (yes, that’s fatality + horrific) scale than before.
But like what Yuri faced towards the end of the movie (where he fell while trying to shove his son beyond the closing gates), it was imminently staring into a freefall abyss as the plot and cinematography became that little bit too cheesy for me, though I guess that Hollywood needed its heroic climax no matter how cheesy and predictable it can get.
However there was nothing cheesy about hurtling off the back of a crashing airplane on a yellow and voice-activated Bentley (I think), cos that’s just uber cool.
I liked it, the movie, but it didn’t impressed me as much as reading the rave reviews that it’s been receiving over the world wide web, so I give it a 7.9 out of 10, for being amply good entertainment on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
You know what else could be good entertainment on a Sunday afternoon? Zipping around the expressway in one of these:
You know if you’re going to impress anyone, THIS could do the trick.
Thanks to a Mr Pavel Zotov (W000~ Russians~), his niche idea, a luxury car rental company, has been driving sales pretty well that he’s considering to bring in more of them cars, like Lamborghinis for example.
Strangely I’m not a car fan (and not harbouring any interest in getting a car license explains it) but somehow the thought of going around in a speedy, blazingly fast machine is quite tempting.
Forget about the Lancers or the Skylines, we’re talking Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys, among a few.
If you’re a car enthusiast, there’s nothing unenthusiastic about these supercars.
Well if a car is rented for one day, which is $388 onwards, like why not? Instead of paying half a million or even millions to get one, this is wayyyyy more economical.
Of course there’s nothing economical about lavishly spending such obscene amount for a day of entertainment, and I don’t think I’m even gonna be renting one anytime soon (or ever!), but it’s just tempting.
And I get tempted easily.
by | Dec 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
The weekend certainly felt longer than it should, or maybe I wasted it all on gaming and movie watching too much, and if i’m guilty, then luckily I’ve a partner in crime (yes, that’s you Bangau, or should I say BigBird?).
Anyway I topped my lazy weekend with a gloomy dose of Liverpool’s loss, at home to Arsenal — but I’ll accept the loss this time because Arsenal deserved their victory.
Arsenal were more inventive and definitely showed plent of hunger in winning the 50-50 ball.
It was not all surprising that they reacted swiftly and efficiently to Arsene Wenger’s half time pep talk when he challenged them that they did not deserve to wear the Arsenal jersey — and what a comeback it was.
Almost 5 months since Xabi Alonso, who was at the stadium to watch the game, left the Reds and it shows how vital his playmaking skills are, and Liverpool truly misses his presence, or the lack of it.
You never know what you’re missing till it’s gone eh?
So I have a come back to attend to as well, this coming Sunday, because that is when Dad and Mama comes back from their Haji or Pilgrimage trip. Pilgrimage trip, did I mention it correctly?
My to-do lists would probably look something like:
- Wash the toilet
- Sweep/Vacuum the house
- Unmess their bedroom.
I’m going to miss the last bit most of all, as I get to sleep on a super comfy king-sized bed all to my own, nightly, as after this it’s back to my own room, where Bro shares with me. Good to note that 2 felines are in there as well.
But it’s great that they’ll be back, cos I miss them both already.
It’s more than just cliche but one really never know how much we can miss our family, until they’re away from us.
I suppose absinthe absence does make the heart grows fonder.
by Googooboyy | Dec 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
You know who Sadako is, and you truly know what she is all about and how she glamourised the crawling out of tv scene with ‘The Ring’ movie.
Apparently she has made it clear to any would be directors that any crawling-out-of-tv scenes, well she’s not going to do them anymore.
She said that she’s sick and tired of watching youtube video parodies of her signature moves, which are clearly not as good as hers.
Anyway, I wish her luck for her next feature film, but here’s a quick question:
Why won’t our lovable Sadako crawl out of TVs anymore?
..
..
..
..
..
Because she saw a 100inch LCD and really, she only has to practice her catwalk from now on.
= )
by | Dec 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
Sis’s Acer comp, one which I initially got to share with but inadvertently was taken control and overrun by the sisters (hehe) with massive Korean fanboy pics, was downed by an unexplainable power shortage, and for a week the sisters had to live without a desktop– like can you imagine that!?
No videos of prancing, singing boys, like how could they live without that right?
Well they could, thanks to the Acer’s Aspire One netbook — so life wasn’t that tough after all.
But the desktop still required its fix, so for being the overly concern and caring brother that I could be, I woke up at 8.30am for once ON A SATURDAY (I just had to bold this part didn’t I?), and fetched the unworkable Desktop to Acer’s service centre at Jurong.
I’ve heard and read of the pleasant Acer service experience, but this being my first time sending in a comp for repair, I didn’t really knew what to expect.
I certainly didn’t expect to get out of the service centre in less than 5 mins, granted the Desktop wasn’t serviced until they gave me a quote, but the speed and efficiency of it all is impressive.
There wasn’t anyone at the information counter but as I approached, a young fella greeted me and asked if I wanted to service the machine (like so obvious right?) and then gave me a form to fill up, which I quickly did.
Looking for a service counter was a breeze as all the counters were manned and unlike most outlets of different company, you will definitely see unmanned counters, while the queuing crowd builds up inevitably.
At the counter, I was asked a few questions, and before long they took in the Desktop and the session ended just as quickly.
As a form of goodbye some staffs stood up, clasped both hands and sang me a christmas Jingle as I sheepishly made my way out of the building. Wait, you think this was a christmas carol concert?
That last part about the staff jingling wasn’t true, but the impressive thing is that everything else about Acer’s impeccable customer service is, and for that I like them a lot.
I wonder, will the repair and service quote be to my liking as well?
by | Dec 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
They are even trying to impose a rule where they will not allow any foreign cars with more than 20litre of petrol in their tanks to leave the borders.
Isn’t this great that now there is a perfectly legitimate reason to tell your teacher (or your boss) that you can’t come to school (or the office) because you’re being held up in another country.
Anyway the main reason that this rule went into their heads is to curb the petrol smuggling, where petrol is heavily subsidised by the Malaysian government.
Though I find the idea of going all the way up there just to fill up my tanks as sort of a lost cause (going there and coming back takes time and uses up petrol at the same time), I wonder just what the ‘lawmakers’ there, or whoever it is that came up with this idea, were thinking of.
The Sun reveals a bit more about the petrol issue, while the Malaysian Insider gave up more inside information, like how the Malaysian Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Affairs feels that the proposed move probably won’t eradicate the root of the problem, but rather minimise it.
Though I’m not affected by the proposed ruling, I do feel compelled to mention the myopic vision of it all.
If foreign vehicles come in and PAY to fill up on petrol, isn’t that still commerce for the nation?
And lets not forget that most foreigners don’t just go there for petrol — they shop, they eat, and they get themselves entertained, like going to Redbox Karaoke to sing and eat at the same time.
I secretly wonder (but not a secret anymore if it’s revealed eh???) if there’s more to it than meets the eye, like why not remove the intensive subsidy instead — this surely WILL eradicate the problem.
“Removing subsidy will definitely solve the petrol smuggling issue, but backlash and outcry from the public will be inevitable, but we can manage by providing free meals at pump station instead.” the Minister did not actually say at all.
Heh, at least it would have solved the smuggling problem eh?
by | Dec 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
DOTA is such a beautiful game.
Anyone who’s ever played the Warcraft III mod, Defence of The Ancients, or DOTA, will attest to just how immersively challenging the game can be.
At times, and for a split second, it will suck you in as you forget that it’s all just a make believe world and you get all emotional while playing the game.
Still it is a very beautiful game, but unfortunately one that is tainted by leavers, gamers who purposely spoil the game and wreck the team balance by quitting early or halfway during the game — but mostly due to losing the early stage of the game.
The players who leave are usually those that are killed off after a couple of times, or those that sees no hope within a game.
And leavers are frowned upon with much disgust and hatred within the DOTA community, but the sad state is that it’s a prevalent action and only too common.
I am seriously disgusted by leavers, although I admit I may at have been guilty one or two times, but definitely never the first one to leave and spoil a good game, just because my team is losing.
This evening, my group of gamers bailed on me, as they left game after game, after game, much to my horror.
I mean, so what if our team is losing, cos it’s not over till it’s over — and there are ways to overcome a purple patch, like for example to play defensively when you know the opposing team has the upper hand.
There are tactics to overcome an overwhelming opposing team and sadly, my team today didn’t seem to have the guts to overcome anything.
It was sad to see them quit on me, but mainly because I know that together we make a damn good team.
In my thoughts whenever they left or quitted, I doo sense a lack of responsibility on their part.
It’s just a game, why can’t you just continue and adjust tactics instead of spoiling the game?
Granted there have been tremendously awesome games, where a team is forced to defend and defend and defend but finally clinching victory — and such is the beauty of DOTA, that is there’s always that chance and you are never out of the game.
It’s a team game, and anything can happen, and mistakes DO happen a lot.
The only surest way to lose in dota is when your team comprises of quitters who dump the team in a hurry, and as cliche as it may sound, quitters never win.
I somehow sense that the way they players react during games reflect their characters and personalities — and I secretly wonder if players who quit the game in such circumstances are likely to throw in the towel whenever things aren’t going their way.
Wait no, I’m not labeling my team as real life quitters or losers, but I like to think that there is a portion of them that secretly runs away whenever the going gets tough.
I know it’s easier to talk about it, but I’ve been through situations where one’s endurance and patience are tested to its limits, especially during my NS period, and witness first hand accounts of quiiters myself.
Needless to say, they never achieved much during their tenure and most of the time they end up complaining about their lack of luck or moan about the system.
No, I’m not the strongest or smartest person there is, and seriously I know that i’m not, but I do know my limits and I know that no matter what, it’s just a game and in games, there is always a possility of turning the tide.
And it’s damn satisfying too whenever the tide shifts, but leavers wrecks and disintegrates every meaning of fun from of it.
So instead of quitting to other’s chagrin, I would rather lose gracefully, knowing that I’ve been defeated by a better team.
And I have been beaten by many better teams plenty of times.
So yes, I’ll acknowledge whenever there is a better adversary in Dota, where it is as much a great game as it is a personality test.
DOTA, such a painfully beautiful game.
by | Dec 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
Signages are good, informative and promotes well-being and should be exposed to as many viewers as possible.
But not this one.
Found greeting male toilet go-ers at West Coast SRC’s third floor, this sign certainly received the thumbs up from Bangau (yes that is his hand, showing you just how big and obvious the sign is), who is a self-confessed voluntary smoker himself.
‘No no smoking prohibited by law’ are the words on display and that simply means if you don’t smoke (no no smoking) then you’re running afoul of the law, right?
A smoker’s haven indeed.
Btw, smoking is bad for your health and your wallets, just thought you should know. Heh.
by | Dec 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
If you have seen the new Friendster.com layout then you’ll be extremely surprise at how different it looks like, compared to just last week.
I remember filling out a survey about its ‘wallet’ feature, and telling them how I didn’t care about it, but now I’d like to tell them just how brilliantly designed the new layout is.
The colours are pleasing, the User Interface is intuitive and simple, and I think the best thing about it is that it is clutter-free!
Just take a look at the brand new login screen, which is what you get when you hit friendster.com.
Very modern, very web 2.0 indeed, and I like it a lot.
I can sense that Friendster is now targeting the younger generation, the hipper and more socially networked younger generation consisting of tweens and teenagers, and whom are largely Asians.
This has to go down as one of friendsters’ critical/major overhaul in its design after quite some time.
From a testimonial powered social networking website, and now into a ‘twitter-like’ social networking website, Friendster has definitely learned from the bigger boys like Facebook and Linkedin.
Upon logging in, you’ll find your ‘twitter’ page and this new layout should accelerate Asians’ acceptance of twitter as a networking form — though unlike twitter, the word limit here is just under 250 characters.
Rest assured the old friendster that you’ve gotten used to is still around, lurking within your ‘Profile’ page, which contains your old wall and stuffs.
Anyway as I mentioned earlier, there’s a new offering on display if you can find it, and it’s called ‘Wallet’, which is like a security feature of Friendster.
Nevertheless it’s not something that I’d use that often, as the games and apps on offer don’t really tempt me much, but the younger generation of kids should be impressed with it.
So what left me the most impression in this new wave of changes?
The Friendster logo — very friendly right? (Saw that smiley at the end?)
![New Moon: Bad, But Not Too Bad.]()
by | Dec 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
This was the general movie reviewers’ consensus for The Twilight Saga’s second installment, which may satisfy hardcore fans of the series, but outsiders are likely to be turned off by its slow pace, relentlessly downcast tone, and excessive length.
But I’ll respect a movie and honour its crafts and terribly bad acting and occasional poor dialogues plots and immerse myself within Chris Weitz rendition here, and thanks to my surrogate sisters, I got treated to a movie for once — thanks Dil n Na!
This time round, the directing feels fantasy-like, and the storytelling is much clearer (although protracted and eloquent) but brighter than the mundane first episode.
There are also plenty of questionable moments littered around the plot and its characters, and one big question that I possess after watching the movie is ‘Don’t they have responsibilities, like exams?’
Also, in continuation from Twilight, Bella’s continued lack of emotional attachment is a big turn off, like when she scoots away or left Jacob just like that, and at least in Twilight she left her dad to ‘save’ him from the whole situation.
New Moon would’ve been much more compelling had Bella learned to shed a tear or two, but as it turns out, she’s the weaklink in the Twilight Saga.
Edward and gang, this time round solid as ever, Jacob and his pack, stout and very renegade while friends and family members added occasional respite within the movie’s tight corners.
It’s not a terrible movie, but it certainly did not live up to its mega hype surrounding its launch, which largely made it into an esoteric movie with groupies that consists largely or either screaming or squealing girls.
Case in point: and quite possibly a cinema-going turn off, when the girls squeal whenever Jacob bares his body to the camera, and just too bad that Edward didn’t get any squeals whenever his shirt goes off.
I guess I know now what to classify this Twilight Saga as, and as much as I’d like to think otherwise, I suppose that it is more of a porno flick for chicks, if you look at it from an action movie loving perspective.
While I wasn’t terribly impressed by the movie, I wasn’t utterly gutted or disappointed either.
Fact is, I was entertained and to diss it totally is an unfair judgement.
I could have probably waited for the DVD, if not for the movie treat, but if I had to award some sort of points, New Moon gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
So basically, Girl likes Vampire guy, who left, and Girl rebounds with Werewolf guy, who save girl from bad Vampires.
Girl sadly ignores Wolfguy’s sacrifices and immediately leaves him when Vampire guy makes a comeback.
Then Werewof guy not very happy and threatens Vampire guy. The end.
by | Dec 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
Life goes off in a blur, comeuppance of long extended nights catches up, and when I thought that it couldn’t get any worse, an illness creeps in, burning away my weekend and disrupting every little plan that I had.
The last time I was hit by a bout of fever this bad… well I couldn’t even remember.
For almost 4-5 days, I spent time in bed fighting lucid dreams, or maybe I wasn’t dreaming, but merely lying down with eyes half closed and the mind half concious of the surroundings.
I poured ice and cool water into a bucket and applied cool patches to lessen the burning sensation and even finished an entire satchet of Panadols over 48hours. To an extent it worked but only as much as to allow myself the opportunity to drag my bum to the clinic, where thedoctor was all inquisitive about my condition.
No cough? No Flu? No Phelgm? No Stomach-pains? For goodness sake, Doctor, it’s a fever!
The consultation ended with the statement of ‘how bad I looked’ before I was given 2 days of MC, which I survived solely on delicately soft and mildly tasteful Japanese bread, a couple of 1.5 litre 100 plus bottles, instant Oats, Hari Raya kuehs and biscuits and lots of sleep.
I felt so much ache in my muscles and tension around my head that the pain turned to numbness, as my head swirled round and round, and round.
I found it difficult to stay awake, but I had to, and I couldn’t really focus on the computer screen so each time I switched it on, five minutes later it was off.
As I gradually recovered, I paced slowly around the house, just to get my mind off any feeling-sick thoughts and ended up watching MTVs.
Occasionally Dad would call in from Saudi Arabia (he’s performing his Haj) and ask how things were, but I’d tell him that everyone’s doing good and that there’s nothing to worry about.
A white lie suffices once in a while, cos I’d expect that if anyone’s calling from somewhere halfway across the world, of what good would news about a sickly feverish son that’s now marathon-ed towards 4 days be?
Honestly, I did began to wonder if it was going to turn into a serious illness or just a passing fever, but I’m glad that it’s now getting much, much better.
So no cough, no flu, no stomache-pains, just high fever and perhaps the only celebratory event that I could grow content with was that there was no work done too.
I remembered asking for a long holiday from work, heh, but this was a little bit different eh?
In any case, I feel really really fresh today, where it’s the 6th day after my first encounter of the fever bug, but still not fresh enough.
And still looking for that long holiday.
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