Month: September 2007

Categories
Movie Reviews Romance

No Reservations – Zeta-Jones Oh Zeta-Jones

Dear friends. Sorry for the infrequent updates lately and infrequent visit to your sites. Life has been busy lately. Arrgghh! Good news, I have finally found time to watch “No Reservation” – quite possibly Catherine Zeta-Jones’s finest acting (not saying it is an Oscar wining performance). I have always enjoyed watching Catherine Zeta-Jones on screen. Her porcelain skin and irresistible mischievousness and her contribution to Ocean Twelve, Intolerable Cruelty, Chicago, America’s Sweethearts, and Zorro … just to name a few of my favorites. Gosh, I love her … on screen I mean.

In “No Reservation”, she plays the character of Kate Armstrong. A chef of a posh restaurant who is a control freak with frequent visits to her shrink and has total dedication to her craft. For a moment, I thought of Ratatouille like some others do. But to compare the rat Remy to the beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones is just not … nice. Com’on guys.

As the story unfolds, Kate Armstrong finds herself having to take care of her niece (Abigail Breslin) after her sister has passed away. And here comes the charming chef assistance (Aaron Eckhart) who posts a threat – in Kate’s own mind – to her chef position. Worse still, this new assistance is sort of … charming. I am sure by now you can guess where this movie is heading towards.

I enjoy Aaron Eckhart’s acting a lot in “Thank You For Smoking”. What I did not realise is that how charming he can be on screen. My only complain is that his airtime in “No Reservation” is somewhat limited. Would have been good if he was to play a bigger role.

The little girl Abigail Breslin, 11 years of age, nominated for the Academy Award for her role in “Little Miss Sunshine”, in my humble opinion, is the gem of the entire film. Her acting is awesome. She out-acted Zeta-Jones by a few miles in my book (sorry Catherine). Abigail Breslin is a natural actress. I am confidence that she will do great on screen in time to come.

I love cooking and naturally, I enjoy the behind-the-kitchen scenes. It is rare to see on screen, I know. However, the storyline is somewhat predictable in the Hollywood sense. I can almost foresee what the next stage of the script was going to be. Forgettable storyline but not so forgettable acting.

Oh well, I agreed to watch “No Reservation” because of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Catherine Zeta-Jones only. Call me shallow but hey … I am a guy. One more thing, don’t expect to see Zeta-Jones in all beauty in “No Reservation”. She plays to her part that may not require her to look gorgeous and she does a good job out of it.

Categories
Diary

FAQ – How’s Your New Job?

This blog entry is kind of overdue, I know. Quite a few friends of mine asked what is it like to leave the life of a consultant and work in the industry. Instead of spending time to type lots of words, I depict my view in the graphs above.

I guess the graphs exaggerate the situation a bit. Ha ha ha … love to poke fun at my friends who are still in this trade but I am sure they can somewhat relate to what I am trying to say. To those who are new to the consulting business, it is not usual to see a consultant who is expected to deliver a lot more in a much shorter time compares to his counterpart at the client side. After all, that is how consultants create value and charge an obscene amount of fees … of which only a tiny fraction actually goes into their pockets (hence the yellow bar). To be fair, consultants don’t just create value by putting in extra hours that they do, no doubt. Depending on the sophistication of the consulting company, some are able to draw best practices, global talents, and connection with external partners to get the job done with a snap of the fingers. For those who are inspired and have the potential of being one of the bosses who take home bulk of that absence fees, by all means, please do stay and excel and while you are at it, please don’t forget you have dear friends like me who love to be pampered with sumptuous meals and expensive gifts.

10 years kind of seems like a long time. And I wanted some new perspective in my working life. So I have decided to join the industry that I spent most time with in the past. A decision well advised by some old friends of mine long time ago (an equal number of friends if not more advised me against it). At a first glance, working in the industry may seems a bit slow and relax compares to the consulting lifestyle. That is true to a certain extend. What it means is that you can just do what you are expected of and have time to take care of other priorities of your life. Or you now have the space to do a lot more and hopefully be recognized.

I am still new to the job. Who knows what comes next. We shall see.

Categories
Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 5 – All Walks Of Life

A life worth writing is a life worth living, true or false?

Planet Earth caters for all walks of life. One evening I returned home. At the lobby there was a kid and a maid. 6 feet away there was a cat by the driveway. The kid kept chanting: cat, run over by the car and die … Why all this evilness of wishing another living creature dead? Extra earning equals to lesser time at home equals to a twisted next generation with the illusory help of a maid. Think family values.

Why are we trying so hard to be who we are not? At least some of us do. Overwhelmed by self-deception. Wake up! Be one with yourself. Feel blessed of who you are. You don’t need to be that someone else.

At a convenience store at Orchard, I queued to pay for my Snapple. A teen girl in front inquired: how much does vodka cost? In a board daylight. Barely legal. And there was a group of teen girls pulling out ten dollar notes determined to get that bottle of vodka over the counter. In a broad daylight. What has the world turned into?

At a convenience store near town, I entered to look for pain killer. I couldn’t find the drug and approached the sale assistance. If I am to tell you which store I was at, she will get fired and I will feel really guilty. You will know why. In just a bit.

I approached the counter. Asked for pain killer. The sale assistance pointed me to the right direction. I looked at the pricing and gasped! It must have been at least 20%-40% more expensive than other convenience stores. The sale assistance looked at me and said: don’t buy it if you don’t want to, it is way too expensive. And she repeated – in a kind and concern way. I am certain that she would not buy that from that shop either.

I love people around me in general. One day during lunch at a food center, I sat at a table with three strangers. After I finished my meal, before I left, I said with a smile: enjoy your lunch. The three ladies stared at me in a hostile manner as though I shouldn’t have said anything. I bought my dessert, sat somewhere else. Again … blah blah blah … I said with a smile: enjoy your lunch to the man siting opposite me. This stranger looked at me, smiled, and he said: thank you.

There are many types of people living around us.

Think. A life worth living is definitely a live worth writing. True or false?

Categories
Diary

I’ve Got A BIG One … And Switch?! What Switch?

Size is relative, I know. But in my eyes, mine is a big one, a huge one. And I am happy with what I have got … until I had lunch with RC today and learned that his beats mine by 2 inches! Arrgghh! As I dug deeper, I also learned that mine has a much better response time than his. Now, take that! Ha ha ha … I know … men, the competitive type.

KF the muscleman (not to confuse with KF the consultant) is someone you should avoid when you want to buy something. Because he will certainly tempt you to buy that something and a lot more. However, KF is also that someone you should see when you want to buy that something. Because he does know everything under the sun. And so I did seek for his opinions. I have been toying with the idea of buying a new color display unit for my computer (a.k.a. LCD monitor), for years. It has become the mother of all delayed gratification (I will tell you what is the “grandmother” in a bit).

Three years ago, I spent S$1,000 for a Samsung 17″ LCD monitor with a response time of 8ms. Since then technology has advanced in three different dimensions. The response time has lowered, the monitor size has grown bigger, and some take onto the form of a wide-screen format. Price, on the other hand, has come down progressively. I visited COMEX (very nice IT show this year in terms of space and babes) and came back with a Samsung 22″ wide-screen glossy LCD monitor (2ms response time) at a price of S$550. That is like half the price of my old monitor. The analogy is … today you spend S$50,000 to buy a Honda Jazz and three years later, a brand new Honda Accord equivalent that did not exist today would only cost you S$25,000. Madness right? That is technology for you.

I love my brand new Samsung so much that I am going to give it a name … Alice it is then. She is beautiful, expensively beautiful … and is larger than my 12 years old 21″ TV. Now, that is the grandmother of all delayed gratification. Plasma or LCD TV? KF the muscleman will tell you how frustrated he is with my indecisiveness. Move on with technology, he often says to me.

On a similar yet different topic, tell me, since when we are what we study? Not trying to console myself but look around you. A literature degree graduate doesn’t write books for a living. A mathematician doesn’t solve the mathematical puzzles of the century after he steps out of the university. A sociologist ends up doing anything but working in the field of the development of society and social behavior. And a computer engineer and scientist like me … not necessarily that technology savvy like many of you may expect of me.

Sick of having to share 4 network cables with more than 4 people in the meeting room day after day (yes, short of office space), I asked for a budget to acquire a network hub. One that is capable to support our ever expanding team size. Ask and you shall receive. Ask and you will be “arrowed” to do it. Duh! And so I made a trip to an IT mall. I marched into one of my favorite stores and had a brief conversation with this less-than-helpful shop assistance.

He: What are you looking for?
Me: I want to buy a wired router for my office (knowing that wireless router will probably breach the security code of the organisation I work for).
He: We don’t carry wired router anymore.
Me: You don’t?!
He: We don’t. That was long time ago.
Me: (facing turning red) … so what do you suggest?
He: You may want to get a switch.
Me: A switch?
He: (leading me to a sea of switches) … yes, a switch.
Me: What is a switch?
He: (looked at me and lost in words) … a switch is an intelligent hub …
Me: An intelligent hub?! (what is a dumb hub then?!) I just need a … a … a thing (hands waving in the air) so that all of us can connect to the network!

Gasp! What does a man have to do in order to get his hub?!

Anyway, I asked the people around me and everyone has his own definition on what a router and a switch is. Not to bore you all with details. After some serious investigation, I bought a switch that fortunately works for our situation. Phew … like my friend GS often said: learn something new everyday!

Categories
Hard Rock & Metal Music Reviews

Untitled – Is This The End Of Korn?

Many see Korn as the “Father of Nu-Metal”, a band that has created and popularized the nu-metal genre since 1994. What is nu-metal you may ask? Linkin Park has enjoyed a commercial success with music of this genre and I am sure many of you have heard a track or two from them occasionally on the radio. There are many reasons to love Korn. For me, I enjoy the guitar riffs that form the foundation of this “Korn sound”. I enjoy the lyrics that are abstractly dark – something I can certainly relate and in some ways, it is similar to my own lyrics writing style. Korn’s front-man Jonathan Davis has an unique voice and the bassist Fieldy adds much power and energy to the music. Korn likes to at times involve fans in designing their album art as well as giving free and unscheduled concerts to please them. I appreciate the effort of Korn reaching out to the fans.

After the departure of Head – one of the two guitarists of the band – Korn is never the same. The combo of the guitarists Head and Munky is what defines this “Korn sound”. In their last studio album, the looped in the famous production team “The Matrix” (who produced albums for Avril Lavigne, Liz Phair, Shakira, Hilary Duff, and etc … the combination of Korn and “The Matrix” is nothing but weird) to make some of their tracks more radio friendly. They did the same for this “Untitled” album.

I like to listen to an album with a context – a path of discovery. By reading the fine prints in the album sleeve (yes, please buy original!) and reading what the Internet has to say about Korn’s “Untitled”, I learned that in making this new album, they have to do without their original drummer David Silveria as he was on hiatus from the band. Instead, there were three drummers involved in recording “Untitled”. It is kind of sad for the fans. First it was Head’s departure, then David’s hiatus. From first listen, “Untitled” is nothing like the classic Korn sound. It was frustrating to me. Then on second listen, I began to appreciate the new Korn sound – the nu-metal sound with the atmospheres. Not only that, I have started to to pay attention to the different drummer’s style and influence to the music. How often do you find an album that has three distinctive drummers on different tracks?

Initially, Terry Bozzio was announced to replace David Silveria for the recording of one studio album. Terry is a good drummer no doubt (check out the last track). But to me, he has somewhat changed what Korn sounds like. After recording of 7 songs, Terry left due to disagreement of terms leaving another drummer Brooks Wackerman and the front-man Jonathan Davis to finish the job (Jonathan Davis can drum?! Wow). Personally I prefer Brooks Wackerman’s style – a more faithful continuation of what Korn supposes to sound like. My favorite tracks of the album are “Hold On”, “Bitch We Got A Problem”, and “Evolution”. Hearing Jonathan Davis sings and drums “Bitch We Got A Problem” with the hook of “Which one, which one of you is into me? Which one, which one of me is into you?” is as though hearing Jonathan talking straight to me. Strange.

Is “Untitled” the end of Korn? I surely hope not. Fans will follow Korn to the end and I am one of them.

Below is the music video of the song “Evolution”. I think it is a pretty funny video on the decline of mankind. Enjoy.

Categories
Action & Thriller Animation Foreign Movie Reviews

Ratatouille and Blood Brothers

It is one of those weeks that watching one movie is just not enough. Having read so many ravishing reviews on “Ratatouille” and since Cynthia so wanted to watch it, Ratatouille it was. An animated feature film produced by Pixar and when you hear the word “Pixar”, it just can’t go wrong. This film is not short either. A close to 2 hours entertainment with a short (bonus) film called “Lifted” at the beginning of the movie. “Ratatouille” has a simple storyline of a rat wanting to become a chef in Paris. It does have quite a “believable” plot from beginning to end (think “Happy Feet” for a hard-to-believe ending). The animation is top notch. I have been to Paris before and some of the scenes I would say are faithful replica of the real thing. No doubt Remy – our chef – is cute. But when you see the horde of rats running everywhere, Cynthia and I found it a bit … gross. Rats are rats and I don’t think people will fall in love with rats after the movie. Nevertheless, the takeaway point from this movie is not about rats per se but rather the insignificant – however usual it can be – can make a difference.

“Ratatouille” was the day before. Today (or rather yesterday), since Cynthia has a business function to attend, I wanted to take this wonderful opportunity to watch an … Indonesian horror film … alone. Cynthia being Indonesian boldly told me that she wouldn’t want to watch an Indonesian film, set aside an Indonesian horror film. That put doubts into my mind. I did some research and decided against watching that horror movie.

Since Cynthia doesn’t fancy Chinese film either, time to watch one while she was not around! Fortunate to me, my buddy KF the consultant could join me for a 6.45pm movie watching “Blood Brothers” at Vivocity. I don’t fancy Vivocity but Cathay does not have the time slot I want. As usual … *ahem* … KF got stuck in the office. I drove like a mad man from Beach Road to Vivocity in 20 minutes during rush hour. Phew … barely made it.

KF asked why I chose “Blood Brothers”. Duh … I am a big fan of Shu Qi so it is really no brainer right? Again, I read the reviews and they are mostly lukewarm. I can certainly understand why. The storyline is a typical Chinese mafia type set in the old days. I have to say I do like the backdrop of the movie, the costume, and the acting of some of the actors … including Shu Qi of course!

What’s the storyline like? Very linear (and no spoiler as always). There is this pair of friends and one elder brother and they left the village wanting to make some money in Shanghai. This trio turns out working with a mafia boss who has a pretty girlfriend (Shu Qi … duh!) … and this pretty girlfriend likes this mafia boss’s brother. Lots of drama, lots of acting opportunities … and lots of gaps. By that I mean if you are not into Chinese movies, you will certainly ponder upon all the illogical moments that appear from time to time. KF and I talked about these gaps over our dinner and without fail, we arrived at the same conclusion that the plot doesn’t have to explicitly talk about it … if you are a seasoned Chinese film viewer, you should be able to figure that out.

I wouldn’t say “Blood Brothers” is a must-watch, nor a film that is worth checking out. Definitely I think Shu Qui is more cut out for action movies like My Wife Is A Gangster 3. For me, the decision of watching “Blood Brother” is Shu Qi and Shu Qi only.