Month: September 2008

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I See I Write My YouTube

The Unofficial Coverage of Singapore Motorshow 2008 with Pictures and Video Clips

The first thing after I have clocked 848 km driving to PJ Malaysia and back for a band practice was to head directly to the Singapore Motorshow.  Check out the montage below and guess which one is my favorite model?

I have created a video using the clips I have recorded during the stunt performance.  The performance is really awesome and if you have some time to spare, do click onto the link below.

Related Entries: Motor Show Singapore 2008, Motor Show Singapore 2006, Super Import Nights – Worth The S$10 For The Cars And Babes? You Decide!

Categories
Music Journal Whacky Thoughts

Yet Another Road Trip, Yet Another Small Step Towards Our Goal

By the time you read this, Cynthia and I may have reached PJ Malaysia to meet up with Wieke for a band practice.  Nothing is going to slow us down for our November performance at the Heeren, Singapore.  Not even the temporary relocation of Wieke.

I have a theory I concocted decades ago and it has been recently supported by a research publication (look out for my upcoming book review).  It is not a complicated theory really.  More like an observation; a theory that I keep on verifying all these years.  In general, we need 12 years to master a skill by practicing it regularly and be good at it.  Depending on whether you are the half-filled or half-empty type of person, you either envy that someone who is what he or she is today and you are not.  Or if you pick up that skill today, at this very moment, 12 years later, you will get to somewhere you want to be now.  Because 12 years is usually what it takes from novice to adept.  And if you have the talent, the right guidance, and the right opportunity, you may become the innovator, define your own genre or domain of knowledge, and inspire the next generation leaving a legacy behind.

Why 12 years (the research result suggests a 10 years duration instead, which is close enough)?  I love to play music since young.  Having to put aside my (self-taught) passion with the piano due to my moving to UK for study, I picked up the guitar as my new hobby.  One day in UK, my good Malay friend played the lead guitar solo of “Sweet Child ”˜O Mine” from beginning to end.  I was thoroughly impressed.  I asked how long he has been playing the electric guitar and he said 12 years.  At that very moment, I knew that if I was to start back then, I would be some sort of guitar hero 12 years later.  OK, I did try but didn’t quite get there.  I discovered my passion as a songwriter composing music via my guitar instead with close to 160 songs written today.  Since that day of “Sweet Child ‘O Mine”, 12 years of acquiring, refining, and mastering any given skillset sticks in my mind.

Some say life is a journey, not a destination.  But then, to me, there is not much of a journey other than aimless wandering if we don’t have a destination in some forms and shapes, is there?  I wish to continuously share the music that I create, music that I create with others.  That is my end game.  And this journey has its ups and its downs.  Perhaps all of us in the band are consultants by day, we have tons of healthy debates, high level brainstorming and visioning, and our never ending gap analysis.  No, we can’t do that.  That is beyond us.  Yes, we can try that next time.  That will sound good.  And in the mist of all these progress tracking, ad-hoc practicing, we go around doing our own things, busy with our other hobbies and commitments.  At times I would ask myself: Where are we heading?

I think the answer oscillates from online broadcast to live performance to just having a good time.  And for now, we have lined up three practice sessions for a weekend visit to Malaysia.  It should be fun.  As a bonus, I am meeting one of my long lost best friends whom I met in UK.  Gosh, he and I have been through so much.  He was there when my heart was shattered into million of pieces time after time.  I was there tried taking care of him whenever I can, even if I have to experience my first time being inside an ambulance on siren.  Thank you Facebook.

Unlike many things in life, you always have 24 hours in a day.  And baring any unforeseeable divine intervention, 12 years will lapse and one day you will look back and say: Had I started 12 years ago …

Categories
J Pop Music Reviews

Rimi Natsukawa 夏川りみ – Self Selection – My Comfort Album

There is comfort food.  And there is comfort music too, I reckon.  You know how it is like when every time you listen to a particular song or album and that triggers a particular memory of yours?  Maybe “Last Christmas” was played when you gave your first kiss away, maybe “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” is your theme song with that special someone, or maybe you were listening to “Woman In Chains” when you first discover what romance is.

So I was on a plane to Chennai, India – which by the way, if you haven’t got the chance to check out the complete 2-set photo albums, I invite you to take a look (montage below).  For lack of entertainment choices on the SIA flights, I put Rimi Natsukawa’s new album on repeat – on my way to Chennai, and back.  I did sample “Self Selection” (あいのうた ～セルフセレクション・ベスト～) in several occasions at HMV Orchard but somehow, the album didn’t talk to me.  My first (and second and third) impression was that the sound is kind of old fashioned, kind of different from the rest of the J-pop I am so used to.  Needless to say, after the trip, I bought her album.

In fact, the kind of music is called Ryukyuan and Rimi Natsukawa is a folk singer.  Is it an universal truth that folk genre produces better singers than pop and rock?  And when did the Japanese start to have songs in English titles and lyrics with English words?  Either way, Rimi Natsukawa is a great singer and all the songs she selected is 100% Japanese.  Inside the album jacket, she wrote a small passage for each song explaining why she chose it, when she played it, and what the song means to her (note: I read the Chinese translation).

Is “Self Reflection” for you?  Hard to say.  Are you open for traditional Japanese music?  Maybe you wish to check out this old video of hers and see for yourself.  涙そうそう (“Sparkling Tears”) is my favorite track of the album.  Sure it doesn’t have the dynamic of a typical pop song.  It does however invoke emotion, a peaceful type of emotion.  And to me, it works.  This album works.

Categories
Linguistic My Hobbies

I Survived 10 Spanish Lessons at Las LiLas School, Adiós!

How time flies when it seems like yesterday Cynthia and I first joined the Spanish lesson.  I may only get a fraction of what she got from our teacher Anna, I do learn a lot from Anna’s unorthodox way of teaching – letting the learners subtly define our learning objectives, allowing us to grow beyond the syllabus, and making each lesson fun.  Learning should be fun and it shouldn’t be restrictive.

Take today as an example.  Two guys from our class will be visiting Mexico for three months as exchange students for real.  So Anna started the lesson (our last in this course) with the scenario of these two arriving at the airport making friends with the locals.  So they meet this girl and …

At that moment, we were all tongue-tied.  Quickly we rewound to lesson one and asked me llamo XYZ, y tu (my name is so-and-so, and you)?  Next of course is where are you from, de dónde eres?  And then?

We all went blank.

Imagine, two guys and a Mexican lady, how about a beer?  ¿Quieres una cerveza?  How about asking her if she’d like to eat something?  ¿Quieres comer algo?  How to ask if you like me?  ¿Te gusta?  And if she does?  Me gustas mucho.

I love you is te quiero.

What else will our two friends need to know?  At the airport?  Where are the taxis, I suppose.  ¿Dónte están los taxis?  And the taxi driver would probably ask dónde van ustedes (where are you guys going)?  Hotel Hilton, we are going.  Vamos al hotel Hilton.  At the hotel, we may wish to ask where a decent restaurant is.  ¿Dónde hay un buen restaurante?  What time does it open?  ¿A qué hora abre el restaurante?

It is no fun with these two dudes dining on their own, is it?  We can always count on the friendly (and beautiful) Mexican ladies.  Would you like to dine with us?  ¿Quieres cenar con nosotros?  If the response is si, claro.  That is a yes of course.  Quizás is a maybe.

Over the dinning table, the girl may ask cuanto tienpo en mexico (how long are you staying in Mexico)?  And there and then in the class, we learned how to say the years (años), months (meses), weeks (semanas), and days (diás).

One of us asked how to ask the girl for a dance.  Anna told us that in Mexico, you have to ask the permission from her brother as seldom girls come out alone for dates.  Erm, OK.  ¿Puedo bailar con tu hermana?

May I kiss you?!  ¿Puedo besar la?

OK.  Maybe something should be left unsaid.  The dinner is lovely and when the bill comes, why let the girl pays?  Yo invito.  Literally means “I invite (hence I pay)”.  And when will we see each other again?  ¿A qué hora (nosotros) nos encontramos?  Or if the night is still young, why not catch a movie?  ¿Quieres ir al cine?

Our class went on and on creating fun scenarios, departing from our textbooks.  Our teacher Anna really enjoys our sense of curiosity and in her words of encouragement, we have gone far ahead of what beginner 1 class offers.  So here we are, 5 girls and 1 guy (me) heading to beginner 2 class next month.  Oh God, wish me luck.  These girls are smart, very smart.

Categories
I See I Write

So You Really Don’t Want That 60″ Full HD Plasma TV For Free?

Did you know that the higher the resolution of your flat panel TV is, the shorter the optimal viewing distance?  OK.  Your eyeballs or your brain may get fried staring at those life-size-like … erm … eye candies.  Watching that beautiful Korean actress Kim Ah-joong at Singapore blogger EastCoastLife’s home on that 60” TV almost made my nose bled.  What was the gathering about?  I can’t recall a thing.  I want that TV (and that “200 Pounds Beauty” DVD too)!

Fortunately I did take some pictures last Sunday (see above).  Those lovely popiah she made.  Delicious.  Though I am literally (and proudly) a Singaporean and have lived here since 95, rarely do I get to taste home cooked Singaporean food.  Especially when I don’t live with a born-and-bred Singaporean.  Come to think of it, rarely do I get to taste home cooked Indonesian food either.  Something must be wrong in this picture.

Back to that contest I was blogging about, your humble Mr. All-good-things-must-share has made a site visit and confirmed that this 1.5 meter wide 60” beast does exist, in good shape.  I am not sure why Singaporeans are so shy.  If this contest was to host in Hong Kong, people would have dreamed of a hundred-and-one ways to up their chances.  Perhaps even getting your baby to pop out a bit earlier to enter the draw.  Seriously, all you need to do is to read her blog, answer 10 questions from now till October, drop her a snail mail (it is her contest, her rule, so please don’t be lazy!) and viola.  And if you don’t want the 60” TV for whatever the reason, for the love of Kim Ah-joong, please pass that to me.  Thank you.  I promise to cook you a very nice Cantonese meal while we watch “200 Pounds Beauty”, at my living room.  You can have my bottles of wine too since I don’t drink anymore.

On a more serious note, you may wonder why I so passionately wanting to spread the news.  New media is here to change the social landscape and I am glad to be a tiny part of it.  Do I wish to see some positive impacts to people’s life via the blogosphere as a new channel?  Certainly.  Bloggers are getting involved into areas that are dominated by traditional channels, doing impactful things that have never been done before.  To my best knowledge, LG did not ask blogger EastCoastLife to give the TV away.  I wonder what I would do had Nikon given me a D700 DSLR equipped with some of the top lenses and accessories.  Gosh, it is hard to give away an item that comes with a 5-figure price tag.

On a less serious note, forget about bribing EastCoastLife with breakfast and feet massages like many are doing right now.  Now that I know where she lives, I am going to infiltrate her home and invalidate the rest of the application forms except mine when the time comes!  Kekeke!

Related Website: Win a LG 60″ Full HD Plasma TV from ECL

PS. The optimal viewing distance for a 42” plasma TV is 99 inches for a HD-ready quality (720p) and 66 inches for a full HD quality (1080p).  As for a 60” flat panel full HD TV, it is 94 inches (versus 141 inches for a HD-ready one).  Time to reconfigure my living room for a 2.4-meter of viewing distance!

Categories
Comedy Movie Reviews Romance

Forgetting Sarah Marshall – So Real That I Almost Cried Watching

OK.  Almost.  I may not able to 100% relate to “Sex and the City”, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is as close to big-boys-do-cry as it can get.  At least in my book.  I mean, there is nothing macho about getting hurt, is there?  And yes, men do the stupidest things when that someone we love walked away.  So many scenes within the film I can personally relate to.  Gosh.  I am hopeless.  Fortunately, the film is so hilarious that got the entire Movie Review Squad laughing all the way.  At the end of the show, everyone claimed credit for choosing the show.  Uh-huh.  I swear it was my idea, my pick.

It feels so real probably because the lead actor Jason Segel is also the writer of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”.  And he was the guest star of CSI for three episodes.  That probably explains the hilarious cut scenes of a CSI-look-alike TV series within the movie.  Jason Segel has also brought in some of his real life relationship episodes into the show.  No wonder.

Ukrainian born actress Mila Kunis is so totally hot.  And so is my breath-of-fresh-air Heroes actress Kristen Bell.  Cynthia asked which one I like better.  Huh?  Can I have both?  I don’t really know Russell Brand but if you were to ask me who is the true comedian of the show?  Russell’s off-beat-over-the-top-least-sexy-acting got me laughing all the time.  That guy is so funny.  Gosh.  Love his British accent too.

For the record, I picked the show.  I say so because I get to write this blog.  Ha!

Categories
I See I Write

Jazz Up Your Life with Ovi by Nokia

And the good news is, you don’t have to own a Nokia phone to benefit from some of these cool services.  Check out the ticker below.  Avid readers of my site know my passion in organizing event photos in mosaic style for sharing.  Now, I can share my photos easily in ticker, slideshow, and mosaic styles.  How cool is that?

Share Photos Anytime, Anywhere

And if you do have a Nokia phone, you can upload your photos anytime, anywhere (note: all the features described here, I have experienced them personally over the weekend).  You can even create a live feed channel to have multiple friends of yours contributing on the contents.  What if your friends don’t have a Nokia phone?  Not a problem.  Each public channel comes with an unique email address.  Your friends can email the pictures to this address and they will appear at your channel, live.  Not comfortable to share your media to the public?  Create a private invitation only channel instead.  Truly connecting people as what Nokia inspires to do.

So I was invited for an interactive demo of the new Ovi services at Geek Terminal presented by Raj Sambwani (director) and his team.  Apparently, Ovi means door in Finnish.  And you don’t need to own a Nokia phone to sign up at Ovi.com.  Besides Ovi Share for photos sharing, it features music download too. 

Making Use of My Nokia Music Voucher

After I have bought Shakira’s recent album during initial launch, she released a deluxe edition later that features a new song “Hips Don’t Lie”.  Boo!  I ain’t going to buy another CD because of that one song.  To my limited knowledge, I don’t think we can buy music online via the iTune Store or Amazon.com here in Singapore.  So, the first track I wanted to download from Nokia Music Store was obviously my beloved “Hips Don’t Lie”.

The music download process is relatively painless.  I was required to install a component to my browser and the downloaded song is in Windows media audio file format with a bit rate of 192kbps.  Pretty decent quality and it is comparable to the rest of the online stores.  The good thing is that you can download the same song multiple times and you can play it in any device that support this format.  For some reason, I can’t get it recognized by iTune, which is a bummer because my entire music collection resides in iTune.  Also, first time authentication is required to play the song.  Each song costs S$2 (or for album, S$16).  If you are willing to spend S$176 upfront, you can get it down to S$1.66 per song.  Personally, I think the price is a bit steep compares to iTune Store or Amazon.com.  If Nokia could get it down to S$1.49 per song before discount, that would be really compelling.  Perhaps my music taste at times may not lean towards the pop culture, I do have a bit of challenging time finding what I want.

Other Cool Features from Ovi by Nokia

For the Nokia phone users, Ovi offers maps, games, files, and sync.  In the event, one friendly Nokia personnel helped me to set up my Ovi account and within seconds, all my phone contacts, notes, to-do list, and calendar items are uploaded to Ovi.com via the Wi-fi connection at Geek Terminal.  That is some really powerful tool.  Imagine this, for whatever the reason you don’t have your phone with you, you can still look up your contacts and other personal information from the Internet via the Ovi site.  All the important information from within the phone can be backed up over the air.

Another really neat feature is to the ability to send an attachment that resides in either your PC (that is switched on) or from Ovi.com via your Nokia phone.  You can even preview the contents before sending it off.  For those who are always on the go, I personally think that it is an useful feature to have.  Imagine you are having a nice holiday overseas and you bosses or your clients wants you to send that document to them right now.  And you don’t have the document with you.  Fear not, all you need is to take out your phone, browse for the right document from Ovi.com that you have uploaded earlier on, and send out the link .  You can even set the time of expiry for that link.  The real benefit behind this feature is that you don’t need to pay a hefty fees for the air time.  Effectively, you are simply sending a download link out, not the actual attachment that could be large in size. Subscription fee applies though.

Conclusion

Ovi by Nokia is still in beta.  Though I do encounter some difficulties over the weekend such as multiple files upload and different service offerings within Ovi requires individual registration and sign on, it does have offerings that are ready to face the world.  But how will Ovi flair?  It is easy to say only time will tell.  Personally, I think the success of Ovi will still very much link to the success of the Nokia phones in the short term. What Ovi may have an advantage over others is the seamless extension to our hand-held device – a mobile phone.

PS. A big thanks to the lovely Communications team of Nokia for patiently answering all my questions and helping out this rather low tech user!

Related Website: Ovi by Nokia

Categories
I See I Write

Eyewitness: Upcoming N-Gage Hits ONE and Spore Origins at GCA 2008!

So I was invited to attend the Games Convention Asia and get to N-Gage with the inspiring people behind the gaming industry.  OK.  I will let the professional journalists to cover the media buzz and future road-maps.  What I wish to share with you here is a more personal coverage of their passion and my hands-on experience with the upcoming Nokia N-Gage games ONE and Spore.

Last week, I did a coverage of the PC version of Spore.  It is a great game, no doubt.  And I heard that this smash hit may be ported to other gaming platforms.  Here I am, this very evening, playing Spore Origins with a Nokia phone.  Too bad, I failed to distract the Nokia girl (more like the other way round) and my evil plan of sneaking out with one of their phones didn’t turn out as planned.  Nevertheless, I tried out the game briefly and it was cute, simple, yet fun.  Very much like the 1st phase of the PC version.  N-Gage has retained the customization features too (middle picture above).  The only thing missing is that in the PC version, you perform a “mating call” in order to level up.  I almost wanted to turn to this lovely Nokia girl besides me and asked how do I …

So I was introduced to Ralph Lämmche, the Senior Games Producer from Helsinki.  Ralph is such a fun guy, full of passion, and when he was demonstrating ONE (an upcoming fighting game), he was so much animated.  Ralph showed us the special 3D moves created using the motion capture technique, the customization available, how the world ranking works, and the technical challenges of implementing a game using a phone – all from the perspective of a game developer.  I asked how long it typically takes to develop a game and he said 18 months; I asked how long it took to capture the motion and he said a week; I asked what the budget was to develop ONE and he said … OK, I am not sure if that is a public information so …

I met Dan Scott too.  Dan is best known as the producer and creative director for Snakes, an updated version of the classic Nokia game and he overseas a portfolio of the N-Gage games.  Dan flew in from Canada and he does have this look of immense intelligence.  I asked how he creates games (because I did too as a hobby when I was young) and he took me on a journey of how ideas can strike us from anywhere, how he always have the audience in mind, the iterations of development and he may end up with something completely different from what was being conceptualized – for good reasons.

I asked if it is now easier or tougher for the new generation of game designers and developers (due to the leap of technology).  He said in a way it is easier because of the training available.  But in a way harder as in the old days, people from different disciplines could enter the industry, so long as you are good.  Truly inspiring.  I asked what are his all time favorite games.  He took a moment and replied Dungeon & Dragon games (old school, me too!) as well as the classic first person shooters such as Half Life and Doom (OK, I suck at those).  Which game does he look forward to the most?  Starcraft II.  Me too!

Check this out.  Dan always finishes a computer game (and he studied Robotics).  Gosh!

A lovely evening, certainly an eye opener for an avid gamer of decades years.  I hope you enjoy reading this and if you have a chance, do check out these upcoming N-Gage titles.

Categories
Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 15 – I Wonder Why

I am literally the last man standing in my Spanish class.  All the girls proceed to the next level.  The guys have other plans.  It appears that the girls are doing much better in languages.  I wonder why.  Must be in our DNA.

Following AIG episode, I texted my Prudential insurance agent this morning.  Do I want to know Prudential’s exposure to AIG, Lehman, and Merrill Lynch stocks?  Certainly.  Where is the promised market update?  I have no clue.  Chances are they are scrambling to measure the exact losses like the rest of the financial institutions right now, as in now.

You would have thought with the Basel II Accord’s three pillars concept implemented in some forms or another across the financial industry, the risks are well managed, the system is more resilience to shocks.  Yet, right before our eyes, we see the collapse of the giants like dominoes.  Do practitioners have what it takes to deal with the complexity of the exotic products and the financial structures?  Do they have the agility to deal with shocks – scenarios that should have been tested regularly?  Are risks thoroughly understood and monitored from the front to the back office or are the front line people too absorbed in carrying on with their daily jobs and making money?  I often have my doubt.  Time for Basel III.

Besides being a coffee boy and a note taker, nowadays I have a list to administrate.  My new neighbor constantly on a conference call, and so are some others around me.  In this office with so much surround sound, with so many people making a living by talking, I feel as though I work in a call center.  Thank God I have my Nokia phone and my MP3 collection.

No doubt this list must have a certain level of importance since I need to deal with some rather senior people from different geographies, I literally doze off for a couple of seconds every time I scroll up and down this list.  I certainly haven’t heard of countries like Kazakhstan or Qatar until now.  But look, a list is a list and it still makes me fall asleep.  My vision would go blur (much like the picture above), I would doze off for a few seconds (no kidding), wake up, do the thing I need to do, and doze off again while scrolling up or down.

People in my industry are in panic mode (the closer you are to the trading portfolios, the more intense the panic is I suppose) worrying that jobs may be lost.  I have seen the up and down cycles and I have switched in and out of different jobs and industries throughout these cycles.  The only constant is change.  Wrong!  The only constant is that whatever we are holding onto, whatever we think we own, are not permanent.  All can be taken away in a snap.

A job is a job and I am concerned about my savings more.  Time to take out my cash, buy some gold bars, and hide them underneath my bed.

Categories
Announcement

Blogger EastCoastLife Is Giving Away A 60″ Plasma TV – Good Luck In Winning One!

I can only imagine how it would be like to watch the new season of Desperate House Flies on a 60″ plasma TV.  Meanwhile, I will have to settle for my 21″ color TV.

Good things must share, that is the theme of my website.  So fear not if you are stuck with a tiny entertainment unit like mine.  All you have to do is to follow the link provided below and stand a very good chance to win a 60″ plasma TV.  From what I read, it is not even in the market yet!  I’ve met Singapore blogger EastCoastLife in person and I can ensure you that this is no gimmick.  Her words are good, and so is her intention.  In fact, I admire her a lot – her passion to share, get connected with the Singapore blogosphere, and her drive and success.  So, what are you waiting for?