Month: April 2009

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Horsemen – If Not for Zhang Ziyi …

Horsemen

Sorry for my previous post that is kind of depressing and thanks for all your support.  I am OK, still [trying to be] as positive as ever.  So today has been a mad day at work.  I’ve told everybody that we are moving office and yet, work requests, meeting requests, email requests aimed at my team from near and afar – non-stop.  In between the request gaps, I was packing, frantically deciding what should go into a box that someone [I hope] would carry for me to the so-called new office (it’s not new for sure), what should go into the trash bin, and what should be shredded.  At day end, I turned to my team member and shocked that he hadn’t even started!

“Erm, you could use some of my box space.  I don’t have that much stuff,” I offered.  He is a lot older more experienced than me and at times, I feel that he’s my boss instead.  He waved and said, “Nah.”  “You are not bringing anything?” I asked.  And he pointed at his laptop bag and said, “That’s all.”

Wow.  I love that mentality.  I reckon I could have done the same.  What’s inside my box anyway?!  Junks.

So, what do men do when their partners are having all-girls-night-out?  Woohoo!  I frantically took out my [mental] note of things-I-wish-to-do-when-Cynthia-is-having-a-good-time-on-her-own.  Horror movies!  Except, there are none showing and “Horsemen” is the closest movie that neither Cynthia nor our movie buddy TK would want to watch with me.

So I wrapped up with the day with “Horsemen”.  To tell you the truth, if not for Zhang Ziyi, I wouldn’t have picked it.  I love her acting and she speaks better English this time.  Even with little makeup and with no fancy clothes throughout the show, she is just gorgeous.  While I am not quite sure if it’s a good idea to mix a bunch of suicidal, depressed kids with family issues and the [mis-] interpretation of the Book of Revelation from the Bible, “Horsemen” did prompt me to think or do the followings:

  • Work is just work, don’t forget your family.
  • I nearly cried towards the end.
  • [I confess that] it’s been a long time since I opened the Bible and not only have I read a bit here and there, I read the study notes in details too.

To the curious minds, the Book of Revelation is not meant to be taken as a literal set of predictions for the current events.  It is so encrypted because it was written during the Christian prosecution.  Divine revelation no doubt but do read it with the study notes.  Chapter 6 is the center theme of “Horsemen” and in the Bible, it is the visions of cosmic conflict.  A vision of four horsemen to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of the beasts of the earth.  And then the angels appear and so on.

“Horsemen” is a pretty gruesome movie.  But then, for those who enjoy watching CSI, I don’t think you’ll have a problem with this one.  For those who dislike movies that end abruptly without a conclusion, you may not like “Horsemen”. 

I don’t hate “Horsemen”, I am just OK with it.  Nothing makes sense in the movie.  It is because by definitely, suicidal is momentary insanity.

Categories
Diary

Cold Cold Floor, Cold Cold Reality

This is the usual view from my cubicle

Good thing I have waited for a week or two before writing this.  It would have been rather depressing for me to write, even more depressing for you to read.  This proves one thing: for most of us, work is just business.  Unless you are building something that has the civilisation, interglacial level kind of long lasting impact, in a positive way, work is just business.  May 97, I was about to leave my client site in Paris.  I’ve had such a memorable time.  One friend whom we’d had lunch and coffee almost every weekday during my 9 months of stay wrote: Out of sight, out of mind?  Call it self-fulfilled prophecy, we’ve lost touch.

One fine Monday morning, I arrived at the office at the usual hour, the usual minute, and my office floor was freezing cold.  I took a picture as I looked around, hardly a soul.  Not enough body heat to consume the cool air from the air conditioning vents.  The cold cold reality as such: my previous department [that I’ve left a while back] has been dismantled.  The Friday before, everyone was saying goodbye to everybody.  Some moved on with a job elsewhere, some without.  Others have found another role within our organization, as a permanent, as a temp.  All had the same last day.  Global economy hits even those that are profitable.  Some sacrifices need to be made to meet or top that operating profit.  I get it.  Some say that the easier jobs are lost, the easier jobs can be created.  Oh is it?  So where is that spirit of mutual survival, huddle together and weather the bad storm?

Work is just business.

After attended that lunch time corporate talk that I went zzzz, I have attended another one and have thoroughly loved it.  What a contrast.  The topic was on economy outlook.  Throughout the talk, the knowledgeable presenter slipped in a few forecasts.  On the threats that may upset our economy, he highlighted the possibility of a flu like bird flu and SARS.  He couldn’t pinpoint what that could be.  That talk was held last month.  No, he didn’t say the words: Swine Flu.  I would have called him an oracle otherwise.

Next week, I will be moving to another office building as our organization is consolidating all who remain.  Looking at the space surrounding my cubicle, can you imagine that just less than 2 years ago, my floor was fully packed?  New hires like me were squeezed into a meeting room sharing one round table with 8 to 10.  Job openings could be closed within a week.  There was a huge shortage of office space in the central business district.  Looking at the recent up and downturns, it never ceases to amaze me on how much we as a collective species have progressed, and how much we have yet to learn.

Today, inside the restroom, in front of a huge mirror, I saw one colleague of mine patiently teaching another colleague of mine on how to put on a tie.  I guess in his new role, he is required to wear one.  Such a heartwarming moment.  That spirit of mutual survival, it’s hard to forget.  I wanted to chip in and help.  But I reckon too many cooks spoil the soup.

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Taken – I Squeezed Cynthia’s Hand So Hard That It’s No Joke!

taken

I am a big fan of Liam Neeson – less so for that Star War film but more so for say “Schindler’s List” and “Michael Collins”.  So naturally, I like “Taken”.  Did you know that it is scripted by Luc Besson?  “The Fifth Element” is my all time favorite.  And surprise-surprise, “Taken” is directed by Pierre Morel who has also partnered with Luc Besson in “District 13”.  All of us in the Movie Review Squad have watched “District 13” back in 2006.

While all of us love “Taken”, TK thinks that the open scenes are a bit too slow.  For me, I appreciate the character development, especially for this type of film.  To the least, you get to know where those special ‘capabilities’ of Neeson’s character – Bryan Mills – come from, his relationship with his daughter, and the situation he is now at.  Rather than a 007 or Bourne kind of intensity from beginning to end, there is a build up right to the point when Bryan’s daughter, Kim, was kidnapped in Paris, sold to a prostitution ring, and from then onwards, all hell break loose.

Maybe such circumstance has a higher urgency than ransom or even murder.  I didn’t expect the violence, I didn’t expect the excitement.  I was squeezing Cynthia’s hand throughout the show.  At the end of it, I felt some soreness on my jaws.  Gosh.  I must have been grinding my teeth hard.

TK said that “Taken” reminded him of the TV series 24.  Quite true.  The girl has a similar stage name some more.  Cynthia said that the show reminded her of “Your Name Is Justine” (a very painful movie to watch based on human trafficking) from the content point of view.  For me, “Taken” is like a series of little quests on the journey of a very desperate father trying to find his daughter in a foreign country, at times beyond comprehension how things could happen that way.  Kind of remind me of that one online role playing game’s non-stop questing (don’t think, just do).  90 minutes seemed to have passed way too quickly.  I want more.

Categories
For the Geeks

Dell Swarm – The More People Buying It, The Most Discount You Get!

Dell Swarm Website

So I was at what appears as the world first preview of Dell Swarm.  Of all the countries in the world, Dell has decided to choose Singapore as the pilot for this new and innovative way of product sales.  Maybe that says something about how we Singaporeans love … discounts?  Or more so for group discounts.  To cut a long story short, Dell Singapore is selling some of their products at a promotional price.  But there is more to it.  The more people swarmed together and buy the same product, the more discount the entire group gets.

That makes perfect sense.  I bought my Nikon dSLR camera together with my buddy Darkspore; and then we bought the white balance card together at Amazon.com.  I bought my NAS together with my buddy TK; and then we bought the digital jukebox together at Amazon.com.  So if the air travel industry has the 2-to-go or 4-to-go concept all this while, why doesn’t the e-Commerce retail business follow suit?

Apparently, that is what Dell Swarm has in mind.  The idea is so new that the Dell and Intel folks at the blogger event are as excited as me on how this will turn out.  So what exactly is Dell Swarm?  Here is a quick run down.

  • A Swarm is a group that forms to buy selected Dell laptops powered by the latest Intel® processors for less, within Singapore.
  • Every Tuesday (at 00:00:01), two swarms will be opened for two selected products eligible for group discount.
  • Any product put on swarm will have a discount from the original price as advertised in Dell.com.sg regardless on how many buyers are in the swarm.  So I guess if you already want to buy that Dell product powered by Intel®, you already have a good deal when you join the swarm.
  • And now, here is the fun part.  The more people join the swarm (in Singapore) and buy, the lower the price will drop!
  • The swarm has a lifetime of 72 hours or it will close when a limit of 15 buyers is hit.
  • So how much do you pay?  Everyone in the swarm will pay one final price – the lowest one.

Since I am given an access to their yet-to-go-live website, here are some screenshots on how it works.  I was told that all prices shown are not official so don’t get too excited if it is too … low … ha ha ha.

Dell Swarm - Demo 1

In this example (above), the Inspiron Mini 12 at the original price of S$899 is selling at a discounted price of S$854 if you are the first buyer (I tried the new netbook by the way and it looks awesome!).  So what happens when more buyers are joining the swarm?

Dell Swarm - Demo 2

With just 3 buyers, the price has dropped from S$899 to S$820.  And with 8, the illustrated price has dropped to the lowest you can get, S$809.

If you are not sure about buying, you can choose the follow option and will be informed as and when the price changes.  Maybe you have a target price in mind?

What is interesting about this innovative sales model is that it encourages word-of-mouth through both traditional means as well as the social media network.  Simply put, the more people join your swarm, the deeper discount you will get.  And which products do Dell Singapore plan to promote via Dell Swarm?  Reliable source tells me the followings: Inspiron Mini 12, Dell Studio 14, Dell Studio XPS M1340, and Dell Studio 14.

Dellswarm.com will be launched on May 5, 2009.  Keep a look out if you plan to get a Dell.  I for one am shopping for a netbook for our upcoming Spanish trip (mainly for the back-up of my digital photos just in case you think I am a workaholic or blogaholic).  I know someone in office who is buying a netbook for her business trip to UK.  And another friend is buying a laptop for his daughter.  Happy swarming guys! 

PS. This is not a sponsored post and all details are subjected to change.

Categories
Linguistic My Hobbies

Spanish Supercharged: Elementary 2 @ Las LiLas School

The only Spanish DVDs I have ...

The thought of giving up on my Spanish class has briefly come and gone.  I would miss my classmates too much, my teachers too much, and if Cynthia wants to continue, I just have to press on.  It is rather up to my linguistic limit knowing how little talent I have on that department.  Today was the first day of the 10 “Elementary 2” lessons that will lead to an examination, unlike “Elementary 1” that is exam-free.  My lovely teacher Natalia jumped when I jokingly yet rather seriously commented that the only two or three things I have learned [by heart] from the last 10 lessons were que pasa (what’s up?), pausa (have a break), and uff (an expression).  Something Natalia always says; something I can always pick up.  The rest of what she says?  It literally sounds like music to my ears.

Stress aside, I always welcome a lighthearted break.  This morning I woke up with a foggy mind and a pair of eyes that could hardly be opened.  Still not fully recovered from that mild cold over the weekend, I thought of taking a medical leave.  But I thought of all the work piled up, the face-to-face meetings and the multi-country conference call that were set up, maybe working through the day with half of my brain still working is not too bad an idea.  So I did.  And as I was rushing out of the office for the Spanish Class this evening, my wireless phone continued to ring.  OK.  One more call to answer then.  This morning, in the car, Cynthia was playing the album by James Morrison.  I nearly fell asleep.  I begged for something more upbeat and she put Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” on repeat.  Immediately I woke up.

Immediately I woke up when today’s Spanish Class started.  Today’s topic was on movies.  Thank God.  I love that topic.  You know I do.  And we learned the different genres in Spanish, how to describe everything about movies in Spanish (including popcorn), and we were given a printout of a movie schedule and asked to form sentences in Spanish.  Lovely.  When it came to my turn to speak, I said, “Me gustaría ir a (I would like to watch) … Confessions of a Shopaholic.”  The rest of the class was shocked while Cynthia was laughing (she knows me well).  And I continued, “Porque me gusta (Because I love) chick-lit.”  OK.  It took the entire class some time to explain to our teacher Natalia what chick-lit is.  And it took me quite a few moments to convince them that I do read the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.  Seriously guys.  To get into a woman’s head, chick-lit is as close as you can get.  Besides, that series is very entertaining to read.

So, how does the photo relate to this blog entry?  Well, as part of the exercise for next week, we are suppose to pen down some Spanish film titles that we know.  I dig through my foreign film DVD collection, only manage to find 3.  Two of which I have yet to open.  Maybe I shall try out learning Spanish by watching Spanish films.  Now, that’s easy.

Categories
For the Geeks

Norton Internet Security – Protection That You Won’t Feel Like You’re Having One!

Norton Insight

These days, everything seem to be on steroid.  Like the F1 on TV, that very fast very furious movie, and like the new Norton Internet Security I have been using for the past 30 days.  In the beginning of this year, I wrote an entry on the Norton Gaming Edition.  I’m still running that in one of my machines at home.  Friends of mine know how much I value the speed of my quad core monster.  Right after my Norton subscription on that machine was expired, I installed this 2009 version.

I timed it.  The installation was indeed less than a minute as advertised.  That’s pretty fast.  From the moment I’ve installed Norton Internet Security till now, everything works in the background.  That is, from live update (or now they call it pulse update as it happens every 5 to 15 minutes on its own) to quick scan to incremental full system scan.  What is really cool about the latest version of this software suite is that scanning happens whenever my computer is in idle, automatically (see screenshot below).  The moment I wake up my computer, the scanning stops.

Norton Security History

So how quick is a quick scan?  I just did one.  Less than 30 seconds.  How can that be?  That has to do with the new Norton Insight.  It is a community intelligence-driven technology that drastically cut down the need to scan common files.  As you can see from the screenshot at the top of this entry, 87% of my files are in the trusted zone.

Just how resource intensive Norton Internet Security then?  In terms of working memory usage, it’s less than 7MB.  That’s pretty light.  Norton Internet Security offers a higher level of protection than Norton Gaming Edition, for those who need it.  And if you are into actively monitoring your security, there are tons of reports on security risks and scan, firewall activities, errors, Norton community watch, and more.

Idle time scan

If you need a more comprehensive protection than just an anti-virus and if you work with the Internet a lot, Norton Internet Security is a good product to consider.  Its small memory footprint, fast scan, and hassle free security management makes it certainly one attractive product to own.  If not for the little pop-up that appears every now and then (see right), I wouldn’t even feel that Norton has been working hard for me.

Categories
J Pop Music Reviews

Mai Kuraki (倉木麻衣) – touch Me! – Odd Song Choices Aside, A Decent Effort Nonetheless

Mai Kuraki - touch Me!

Again, the Japanese pressed CDs of Mai Kuraki don’t come cheap.  Three times the price of a normal disc.  HMV Singapore charges me the price of one English CD as shipping fees.  I guess it is sort of fair.  If only I could read Japanese and order online instead.  Pondered in front of the counter for just a moment, I grabbed one copy.  The truth is, quite a few times I hesitated for too long (it could well be less than 24 hours) and the stock was gone.  And I had quite a tough time trying to hunt for them.

Onto her 8th album, “touch Me!” entered the chart at the #1 position, after three misses from her previous albums.  If you like her sensual and light R&B kind of voice, well, she sounds pretty much the same as before.  Had “touch Me!” stopped at the 10th track, that would have been much better.  I love the oldie “Top of the World”.  Just not sure if I like Mai Kuraki’s rendition.  And the 12th track is a remix of track 4 that is a bit too dreamy to my liking.

The good news is, if you ignore the last 2 tracks, “touch Me!” does have a good mix of fast and slow pace, mostly catchy.  My favorite track would be “Break the Tone” and “Catch”.  Fans would love this new album, I bet.

Categories
Diary

A Lovely Quiet Six Days of Holiday

Our friend TK's office

These days I am addicted to taking pictures of what my friends’ surrounding working environments look like.  Like my sister’s and mine.  I find it odd that I think I know that someone so much but have no clue what he or her daily life is like.  The picture you see here was taken when Cynthia and I visited our good buddy TK.  At a location far far away from where we live, from where we work.  For those who are new to Singapore, Jurong is at the west side of the island.  An industrial area that many International and local companies set up their headquarters at.  Cynthia once worked for a pharmaceutical client at Jurong, near where TK’s office is; I once worked for clients inside the military bases at Jurong.  Our little road trip to TK’s office did bring back sweet memories.

My holiday started from Good Friday till today.  Initially wanted to go for a short road trip to Malaysia.  But since the first half of the holiday has been devoted to Church and Masses (it’s a Holy period after all) and our band, and Tuesday is our Spanish class, we have decided to stay in town.  Watch a movie, discovered a peranakan restaurant near our home, and play our online game.

Play our online game?  It is probably hard for some of you to relate.  Let’s just say, it is good for couples to spend time solving non-real life puzzles together, strategizing the game tactics, laugh and cry at some bizarre moments inside the game, and for better or worse, just spend time with each other.  We love to play World of Warcraft.  And now we got our friend Darkspore back into the game too.  Ha!  Note to Darkspore: For the Horde first … and we can For the Alliance later.

All things in moderation, I wish I could say to same for my recent obsession in ripping my music collection into a lossless format.  Ever since I have bought a network attached server at the IT Show last month, I have been ripping CDs non-stop.  Day after day, night after night.  I still have much to go.  But right now, I am partially enjoying the fruit of my effort with my digital jukebox finally arrived from US.  And that was one of the reasons why we visited our friend TK at Jurong yesterday.  To collect the shipment.

A lovely quiet six days of holiday.  Back to office tomorrow for 2 days, and then the weekend.

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Fast & Furious 4 – So Vin Diesel is Back

Fast & Furious

I have no clue what the rest of the Movie Review Squad like about the Fast and the Furious franchise.  To me, it is the fast cars and the hot babes.  Again, what’s the story about?  Who cares when the car scenes are that hot?

Though time and time again I have been saying that (1) I don’t like Vivocity Mall if not for Cynthia’s facial appointments and (2) I don’t like Golden Village that forces us to watch 20 minutes of ads prior to the show, I welcome a change of the routine (ironically this periodic visit to Vivocity is a routine of some sort).  As always, in this momentary of being alone, in Vivocity, I tried to find a place to sit, and read my book.  And I chanced upon this French café.  10 bucks for a cup of drink and dessert.  Like the Parisian style, I found a table facing the sea, watching people passing by.  The sky went from sunny to cloudy to sunny to heavy downpour.  Didn’t get to read my book, I wrote a blog entry using my phone instead, the SMS style.

Except the first installment, I can hardly recall what the “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Tokyo Drift” were about.  The rest of the squad don’t like these two films.  But, it is hard not to admit that “Tokyo Drift” has popularized the drifting driving technique.  The same way that the phrase fast and furious has become a pop culture.  I love to drive.  And some of these techniques, if you were to put yourself behind the actors, are pretty darn cool.  Like the bumper-to-bumper racing scene inside the tunnel that involves crashing and burning, gosh, it is so darn hard to do in real life.  And yes, that speed booster button works just like the new KERS of F1.  I squeezed Cynthia’s hand so hard for some of those breathtaking scenes.

OK.  We are not suppose to do that in real life.  I got that.

Did you know that the eye candy (Gal Gadot) who didn’t quite get the heart of Vin Diesel’s character is a 2004 Miss Israel?  I have no clue what Vin Diesel’s character was thinking.  But like the pockets of scenes that don’t quite make sense, let’s stick with the fast cars, and the hot babes.

In “Tokyo Drift”, director Justin Lin introduces us to drifting.  This time, it is about nitromethane – a fuel that power racing cars, planes, and rockets.  Now, I want some of that in my engine!

Categories
Jamming Session

Talents Are Made Of This: Our Drummer Plays the Tiny Drum Machine Like a Video Game

Sound, or rather our music, in wave form ...

After the morning Good Friday Mass, our drummer Wieke and I were talking about the popular video game “Guitar Hero” and the Stand Alone Drums that you can buy and play it like a pro.  For our jamming session right after the Mass that Cynthia, Wieke , and I have attended, our guitarist Jason has brought along a tiny drum machine to experiment at my humble home studio.  If you are curious about how it looks like, here is one.

Both Jason and I were quite skeptical on what this tiny machine can do.  Here is our dilemma: Recording at my home studio allows us to have a much better control over the sound quality but there’s no drum kit; jamming at a rented standard studio comes with drums but the recording is lousy.  Besides, my home studio is a more conducive environment to discuss and experiment on the different song arrangements.  And here is another dilemma.  It seems hard to get a live gig that provides a drum set.  Like an upcoming performance that I’ll share more once the detail is finalized.  Jason and I have talked about the possibility of using a drum machine for years but somehow, neither of us has managed to pull it off.  I don’t have the talent.  He doesn’t have the time.

I wish I could share the video our band manager Selrol has recorded as we witnessed the magic fingers of Wieke dancing over the tiny key pads live.  While the band played our usual set, she fed us with the beats that if I were to close my eyes, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the way she plays a real drum set and this tiny drum machine (note: sound-wise, of course I can).  All of us were speechless. Not in a million years can I the songwriter be able do that.  I would love to have that talent though.  I shall start with “Guitar Hero”.  Maybe talents are made of this.  The kind of effortlessness.  My personal thought is that if we put time into nurturing what our talents are, we may be able to do something great.

So all of a sudden, recording a decent demo album at my home studio can be a reality; performing live with live drum beats without a drum set can also be a reality.  I’m excited, on what we can potentially do in a very near future.  We, or rather I, tend to be over optimistic right after our jamming sessions.  Having said that, I have a good feel on this.