Month: November 2008

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Memorable Events Music Journal My Favorite

Our Band Photos of Music for Hope 2008 Are Out!

Our band photographer Mark Lim has just broadcast the photos taken during our band No Eye Candy’s 30 minutes live performance at Hereen last evening.  It was his first concert shot and you have got to agree with me that these are great shots capturing the essence of our gig as well as the audience.  Good job Mark!  No Eye Candy loves you!  You have secured yourself a 5 years contract with the band with payment in the form of free access to our concerts and behind-the-scene shots!  What saying you?!

For those who wish to read our journey of this Music for Hope gig, feel free to follow the link to this tag.  It is one helluva journey and who knows what 2009 will bring?  And if you like the band photos, please drop by Mark’s website and give him a pat on his shoulder.  Thank you.

Click here for the photos taken during our little celebration after the gig.

Categories
Memorable Events Music Journal

The Hereen After – A Thank You Note

Yes!  Our band finally did it at The Hereen, a 30 minutes slot playing our own original music.  I have practically put all my other plans on hold for this Nov 29 event.  Being introduced as a local Singaporean band means a lot to me, though Jason the guitarist joked that my accent is not very Singaporean.  Ha!  (Note: The PJ Harvey shirt was a gift from Jason during one of his Australia trips as he knows that PJ Harvey has been a great influence to my music and I have been waiting for an appropriate occasion to wear it!) 

Click here for the photos shot during the performance.

Time now is close to two in the morning and I have no idea how long this post will be.  My intent is to write a simple thank you note, to take you through some of the behind-the-scene thoughts, and to share with you some of the pictures taken during the ‘celebration’ party.  Life as an artist as such.  One moment I was jumping up and down at the stage as a musician; another moment I was moving around the crowd with my rather gigantic camera.  But I am not complaining.  I enjoy art more than anything in the world.

Thank You Note

In no particular order, here we go.

  • I would like to give thanks to the Lord who give us humans the ability to create something so beautiful called music, and to give us the ability to appreciate music that transcends all barriers.
  • Thank you B Well for organizing “Music for Hope”.  I hope you do meet your fund raising target.
  • A big, huge, gigantic, enormous THANK YOU to all of you who took time out and be there.  You have no idea what it means to me (and us) to see familiar faces.  And your engagement is fantastic!  You guys have kept me going especially in the rather uncertain situation (see behind-the-scene).
  • To my friends who send in text messages / blog comments / Facebook comments / emails right before our gig, thank you for your warm wishes.  Not to worry if you were unable to turn up, I am sure No Eye Candy will play again.  Another place, another gig.
  • To the new faces of the crowd, thank you for being there.  I hope to see you again.  And I would like to hear from you too!  Do write to us or catch us for a face-to-face next time we meet.
  • To Tong Kiat, our band crew, Mark Lim, our band photographer, and Jason Seet my vocal coach, thank you for helping out.  You guys are the best!
  • I would like to thank my band – Cynthia, Jason, Selrol, and Wieke – in making my dream comes true, in making our dream comes true.  Nothing is more humbling than finally hatching this 14 years of songwriting hobby into a public performance.  I love you all!
  • Finally, I thank the Lord for the music talent bestowed onto me, the music talents of those surrounding me, and the lovely friends and families I have.  What more could I have asked for … perhaps good health, long life, and more gigs?

Behind-the-Scene Thoughts

1. On New Year Resolutions

Some people believe in New Year resolutions, some don’t.  In 2007, I have set a personal scorecard aimed to do a few things and one of which was to perform live.  In retrospect, it wasn’t such a silly idea after all.  Maybe my targets were a bit too high.  One third of what I set to do, I achieved in the same year.  Some of which, I have achieved in 2008 instead.  The learning point for me is that I may not have control over the timeline of when what I set to do will come true.  But if I set my heart to it, it will happen when opportunity meets preparation.

That brings forth the second point.  In 2008, I set a theme of “Do It”.  And it works wonder.  I think year 2008 must have been the busiest year as far as I can remember.  I hate to look back ten years later and say to myself: how I wish I could have done more.

2. On Beyond Practice

We have practiced hard for this gig.  At times I wonder if my band would ever get bored playing the same set of songs over and over again week after week.  Personally, I miss playing other songs of ours, with the drums.

We didn’t have high expectation on the sound system.  First, it is a charity event.  And second, we don’t have our own amplifiers like other bands do.  So we have to rely on what was available.

Turns out that although we have given our precise requirement months ago, Jason and I have to share the same guitar amplifier and that makes our guitars sounded pretty harsh and noisy.  And there were supposed to be two monitor speakers on stage that project our music back to the performers on stage – those didn’t work.  So I have to rely on that rather echo-ish faraway sound of my voice in attempting to hold the key.  Nothing beats a supportive crowd in a situation like this.

Overall I think we did OK.  Not stellar, but OK.  And certainly we will be back on stage one day, with better sound quality and delivery.  Stay tuned!

After Gig Celebration

Ahead of the pictures taken during our performance by Mark our band photographer that I will link to later, here are some of the pictures I took after our gig.

PS. That pretty necklace Cynthia wore for the gig was from Brüttal – don’t miss an upcoming entry on our Brüttal shopping experience when we last visited PJ Malaysia!

Categories
Announcement

Music for Hope FAQ – No Eye Candy’s Upcoming Performance at The Hereen This Saturday 7pm

Note: The opinions expressed in these Frequently Asked Questions are purely mine, not necessarily represent the band’s point of view.  A thank you to my friends who have helped me in forming this entry.  And to Darkspore, only you can think of some of the questions like these …

Can I come?

Sure you can!  This is a public charity event and everyone is free to drop by and have a good time.  You are all invited to watch our band to perform on the time slot of 7pm at The Hereen this Saturday (Nov 29).  Bring your kids, your in-laws and out-laws, and grandparents too.  Our music is very PG.  It will be inside the mall right in front of HMV.  Sunny or rain, the show will go on.

Yes, we’ll be honored to have your presence.  It is OK to throw lingerie to the stage (aim at Jason please).  But please spare us with the rotten tomatoes.

Are you excited?

Are you kidding me?  Of course I am thrilled.  Though I can’t promise if our slot will start on time (the program is very tight), or if the sound quality will be stellar (we are still working out the details with the Sound Man), but we will give it our best slot when we are up there at the circular stage.

Our band has practiced really hard for this event.  We even drove up to Malaysia just for one practice session.  I am very excited.  I am also very excited by the excitement of some of you have because of this upcoming gig.

Why the band is named “No Eye Candy”?

To cut a long story short, the music you hear represents what we are, with no sugar coating.  And yes, the name was picked before Cynthia and Wieke joined the band.  If you don’t believe me, check out their lovely photos.

Click here to read more about the band.

What songs will your band play?

Original songs written by me over the years, these songs have been much evolved by my band members turned into something really cool.  We will play 5 songs in total.  The first song of the set “Something In Your Eyes” is a groovy love song, easy on the ears and a good warm up for the audience.  “My Little Swallow” (note: the bird) picks up the pace and is inspired by long distance love relationships.  Then comes the meaningful slow song “Some People Say” dedicated to those who have had to grow up without a loved one, and to those who still have the opportunity to make things right.

“Feather” is an ethereal slow song on detaching ourselves from the noise of what is surrounding us everyday.  And the last song “I Erase Your Face” is an electrifying fast song on blocking off the negativity in life, feel the breeze and feel released.  I hope they won’t cut us out because the total running time is 26 minutes.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Click here for the lyrics of selected songs of ours.

Does your band do drugs?

I don’t know about the rest but I don’t have a need to yet.  Still young.  Besides, I heard that the illegal ones sold at the back alleys are pretty dangerous.  And they don’t boost your performance as promised.

Wait, what sort of drugs are you talking about?

Have your neighbors ever complained or tried to sue you? Do you have to go for regular checkups for your hearing?

Good question.  One neighbor of ours did move out for some unknown reasons.  And no, my ears are still good.  Still young.

That’s why I always insist not to use in-ear monitoring device and rather go off key instead.

Kidding!

Have you ever smashed your guitar into pieces?

I think if our band manager Selrol manages to get us more gigs next year, we may have a budget for that.  Meanwhile, I don’t have that many guitars to smash.  But I can ask Jason.  He has like 6 or 7 high end guitars.

I may try to throw myself off the stage and into the crowd though.  Make sure you guys catch me, can?

Are you going to bare your chest on stage?

Going for waxing.  Be right back.  Ha ha ha.

Oh well, just be there, OK?  7pm The Hereen, this Saturday.  See ya!  This is going to be fun.  I can so feel it.

Categories
I See I Write

Nokia N96 Test Drive Episode 2 – GPS in the Highland

Ever since I got that lovely Nokia N96, I have not stopped playing with it.  I am a big fan of GPS.  And this post is dedicated to the computer gamers who often get to experience some forms of what the future will be like, today.  Or to experience some forms of what today is like decades ago.

As we were driving up from Singapore to Fraser Hill in Malaysia, I had my Nokia Map switched on throughout the trip.  One could argue that the screen is a bit tiny and question the necessity.  But not having to pay for an extra GPS device just to tell me where I am serves my need.  I now can see when the next highway intersection is coming up before I see the roadsigns.  That is neat as I do at times miss the opportunity to bypass the Kuala Lumpur traffic.  I can easily zoom all the way out to the country view (or to the planet view if to feel like living in the Moon makes you happy) and look at the overall progress of the trip – very much like what we see inside the plane.  Or I can zoom all the way into the street level and see where are the upcoming towns nearby.  All the landmarks are categorized into different icons.  Including … petrol stations.

Unfortunately, not for the one above.

Before I continue the story of finding a petrol station at Fraser Hill, let me go back to the topic of why I dedicate this post to the gamers.  For decades, we gamers explore the virtual world with a mini-map on the computer screen and to know exactly where we virtually are.  It adds a lot of fun to our exploration activity.  We humans love to travel because it is our innate nature to visit new places, explore new frontiers.  Next time when you travel to a new city, try what I do when you are inside a cab.  Take out your GPS phone and observe how your position moves across the map towards your destination.  I did that often with my old Nokia N95 when I was in Jakarta.  First, it gives me comfort that the cab drivers are taking me to where I want to go.  Second, I develop a strong sense of where the landmarks are relative to each other.  It adds a lot of meaning to my traveling too.  Besides, it is closer to the virtual reality I have experienced for decades – a little GPS map right next to my car’s dashboard (note: Nokia Map does work well when you are on foot).

Now, back to the mini-story of our Fraser Hill trip.  I had no idea why I did not top up my fuel tank before we climbed up the hill.  We were low in fuel and could not find a petrol station within the town.  I pulled out my Nokia N96 and did a search for the nearby petrol stations.  Horror sank in when the nearest petrol station was more than 20 km away.  20 km may not seem much but with the 8km stretch of one-way-odd-hours-up-even-hours-down road and the average speed of 20-40 kph of bends and ups and downs, it seems far.  Fortunately, we found a mini-store that sells … petrol.

I have taken 1,500 pictures with my Nikon D700 over our stay at Fraser Hill and Petaling Jaya and am eager to share some of better ones with you in the next few weeks’ time.  Stay tuned for more pictures and stories of our trip.  And stay tuned for more episodes on my Nokia N96 Test Drive journey too.

I wish to end this entry with one picture I took when we found a proper petrol station in one of the neighboring town of Fraser Hill – thanks to Nokia Map.

Related Tags: More Nokia N96 Test Drive Episodes, Our trip to Fraser Hill in the November of year 2008

Categories
Diary

First Ever Singapore vs. Malaysia Blogger Challenge by BRANDS® – I Will Be There

Out of millions of fans Singaporean blogger EastCoastLife has, exactly why she picked me as her teammate for this first ever BRANDS® blogger challenge between these two friendly countries, I have no clue.  Of course I am honored to be part of the ‘Team Singapore’ for this unique blogger event come next Wednesday (Dec 3).  Wish me luck in helping Singapore to score better in Mental Performance.

Exactly why the PR folks at Burson-Marsteller agreed to pick me, I also have no clue.  Interestingly, I do genuine love the taste of BRANDS® Chicken Essence.  Maybe I am a Cantonese who is used to take in essence of this and that; or maybe since young, my mom has been feeding me with BRANDS® Chicken Essence during my exam period; and even when I was studying in UK, I had got to stock up the same Chicken Essence only available in Chinatown; I simply love to drink the stuff from these cute little glass bottles.  In fact, I often find that one bottle is hardly enough to satisfy my craving.  I wonder if I would overdose on Chicken Essence if I take more than one a day.

As though I could afford this would-be lifestyle.

This little experiment I have signed up for reminds me of something.  Last year I agreed to be an experiment for my sister’s boss in one of the Singapore Universities to analyse my strengths.  I sat through a 3 hours long online examination (or call it survey) and was told that I did well in the IQ section.  Till today, I have yet to read the full report as promised.  Dear Lora, if you happen to read this entry …

Back to the countless bottles of green fuel that were sent to my office (and caused a small commotion), inside that cute little transparent box that I am going to reuse as a container to carry my makeup and cosmetic to the plane (kidding!) there is a briefing pack.  Inside this briefing pack there is a set of mental exercises that I will have a go once my chicken essence level in my blood stream is high enough.  And I am given a highly encrypted BRANDS® Asia Mental Performance Survey Fact Sheet too.  I really should be worried if I can’t even figure out what the report is trying to say.

It appears to me (from reading the fact sheet several times) that the participants from both Singapore and Malaysia are satisfied with their mental performance but Malaysians are the ones who are more actively seeking ways to enhance their performance.  Such as the usage of health supplements.

How I am reading this is that if Singaporeans are to be more proactive in enhancing our mental performance (like drinking BRANDS® regularly?), we shall end up way more satisfied with our mental performance than our friendly neighbor.  And how I am reading this is that since ‘Team Singapore’ has been injecting chicken essence into our blood stream, we are destined to take the grand price of S$1,500.  That would make a lot of sense.

Interestingly, according to the report, people from Hong Kong are not as satisfied with their mental performance as the Southeast Asians and they are not as actively seeking ways to improve either.

That is a strange finding beyond my comprehension.  Maybe the environment in Hong Kong is more demanding and people have a higher expectation of themselves?  For sure, from what I know, people in Hong Kong are seeking ways to enhance probably through the traditional channels.  They have 101 types of soup for 101 different purposes.  Perhaps the report has normalized all these external factors behind the scene.  I have no clue at this moment.

OK.  I must be thinking too deep.  Anyway, I am popping one bottle of BRANDS® Chicken Essence a day and now, we shall be on a leveled ground with the Malaysians!

So who will be there in the ‘Team Singapore’ besides the Singapore blogger megastar EastCoastLife?

Mr. Endoh will be there.  I met him a couple of times in a social setting.  He is a cool guy and is recently featured in our newspapers.  Aaron Ng will be there too.  I haven’t met him in real life.  From what I read in his blog so far, he seems smart.

And the popular blogger Sheylara will be there too.  I met her in person during one of the blogger events.  These days I think of X-Box, I think of Sheylara.  Her face is on the covers and posters everywhere.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Categories
Announcement Jamming Session

7pm This Saturday at The Heeren – Our Band is Ready for Plan A, Are You?

First of all, thank you for all the inquiries and warm wishes for our band No Eye Candy’s upcoming charity live performance at The Heeren, Singapore.  We shall be on stage at 7pm this Saturday (Nov 29).  Music for Hope is a full day event from 11am to 9pm organized by the non-profit organization B Well Ltd – Compassion for the Needy Sick.  No Eye Candy is honored to be part of this fund raising initiative. 

Here are some of the pictures we have taken during our band practice last weekend.  The lovely lady in pink top is Cynthia, the bassist.  The lovely lady in black top is Wieke, the unplugged guitarist.  The handsome dude is Jason, the lead guitarist.  And the dude in bumblebee top is me.  More about our bios in our mini-band website.

And we have great news to share.  Jason, our almighty lead guitarist, has just received his reservist training program and he should be able to make it on stage with us.  Hooray!  Although we have worked out the music arrangement for plan B+ (us sans Jason), his presence will certainly, most definitely add much sparkle to our performance.  I personally will measure his success by counting the number of lingerie being thrown at his feet on the day itself.

Wieke, our drummer-turned-unplugged-guitarist, should have already booked the air ticket to fly back from Malaysia this Friday.  We really wouldn’t want to go plan B- (us sans Wieke).  Because without Wieke, there will be no structure to our songs and three of us would just go crazy improvising our performance all the way taking up the rest of the slots till closing time.  Note: you wouldn’t want to know what plan C is.

The lyrics of our songs have been submitted to the authority as requested and so far, no news means no censorship means good news.  Our particulars have too been submitted to the authority.  We have been practicing hard for plan A, plan B+, plan B-, and plan C since September.  We are ready for our gig.  See you there.

Related link: Read more on our Music for Hope journey.

Categories
Reflection

Recalling My First Photography Lesson from My Dad

Two interesting observations when I am overseas: people think that I am a musician when they see me carrying my guitar in a hard case and a photographer when they see my rather gigantic camera that is hard to go unnoticed.  Fortunately, I do have a band and I do have  passion in photography.  And I must say, it is much easier to strike a friendly conversation as an artist than as what I do from 9 to 5.

One common observation my friends made these days – which by the way, I am sure it meant well – is that: So you have picked up photography as your new hobby?

OK, here is where the confusion sets in.  Am I instantly become a photographer when I own one of those state-of-art imaging products?  Or have I been a photographer so far for so passionately taking pictures wherever, whenever I can, and to share them online all these while?

My dad is a great photographer.  His black and white large prints developed with his own hands inside his tiny dark room have won awards before I was born.  Sometimes I wonder what I could be had I inherited his art talents on top of his genes.  Then here came the babies and there went the dark room because my mom was concerned over putting the dark room chemical with our baby food inside the same refrigerator.  I am telling you, babies are bad for hobbies.

Fast forward to my early teen when my dad gave me my first photography lesson.  Even at that young age, I felt a tremendous pressure to be a disciple of such a great master who turns out to be my own dad.  My dad set up his SLR camera on a tripod pointing it to a miniature model of a concert stage (yes, he has other talents too) and asked me to adjust the focus of the lens.  Back then, there was no auto-focus and you had to turn the lens manually to obtain the right focus.

How easy that lesson one would have been but I just couldn’t set the focus.  I had so many attempts that I saw my dad’s face dropped lower and lower and thinking back, what would have gone through his mind?  God gives him such a great gift but his son was a complete retard in photography?

If not for that first lesson in photography, we would not have discovered that I am quite badly short-sighted.  I think my mom must have attempted to resolve this deadlock between the photography master and his disciple by having my eyes examined.  It is good to have a rational mind in the house.  Thank you mom.

Since then, my dad and I have left things as they were.  I did not go beyond lesson one and he did not talk about photography except when he brought up his war stories of how he was chased by the villagers in Hong Kong while he was going after his award winning shots.  How I envy my dad.  To have such great talent and execution.

My first digital camera was bought in the year of 2004.  8,000 shots are made from that day.  I have bought my first dSLR camera less than 2 weeks ago.  And the shutter has clicked more than 2,000 times.  I think in a way, my passion in photography has been around for years.  Now, I have found a better tool to articulate what I wish to capture.

So, what makes me a photographer?  Is it the tool or the passion?  I have no clue.

Categories
Fragments of My Dreams

Fragments Of My Dreams Episode 11 – Radio Station News

Fragment of my dream

It has been raining heavily for days, somewhere in the future.  It has to be somewhere in the future because I don’t recognize some of the locations.  I do however recognize one location, the usual walk to the bus station that reminds me of my school days back in Hong Kong.  This time is for work.

It is an early morning but yet the overcast is so overwhelming that the rain has removed most of the colors around us, leaving scenes of black and white.  I was running to the bus stop.  But why?  I don’t know.  Since young I have been running to that bus stop almost every day.

Along comes Francis, my old friend.  And he is walking while I was running (but how?).  We exchange a smile and he asks, “Which bus are you taking?”  “23B.  You?” I reply.  The freshness of the cool air fills my lung as I speak.  “Me too,” he said.  There is something about his smile that seems to radiate in yet another rainy morning.  “But why 23B?” I ask (apparently, even in my dream I remember there are bus 23 and bus 23A too).  Before Francis can answer, one bus zooms pass us and we run (or at least I run).  The bus driver at the last moment sees us approaching the bus stop and he brakes hard.  No, it is 23A.  His look of haggardness I manage to get a glimpse of and the bus jerks forward as the driver steps onto the gas pedal.

“It is raining so I prefer a shorter ride,” Francis replies.  That’s true.  23, 23A, and 23B with a similar set of destinations all take a slight different route.

*     *     *     *     *

I work in a radio station, apparently.  By the time I arrive, my colleague has already been on air talking about the unsung heroes behind the fire inspection work within our city.  Shelves and shelves of archived materials packaged in DVD casing, you wouldn’t expect a radio station that looks like this, would you?  “Too many news on the financial world these days.  It is gloomy, just like our rain,” my colleague once said to me.  I agree with her.  How often do we report on what and who sustains our city?  On how this city works?  How few of us are there to inspect the buildings one after another, day after day, month after month?  And when we reach the end, the cycle begins again?

I am curious on when the fire inspector will next visit my home in Singapore and as I search through the entire digital database of inspection schedule, I hear my colleague continues on air, “Due to the heavy rain this morning, the bus companies are dispatching buses from the terminals in a shorter interval.  The rain however seems to have stopped.  Have a nice day.”

*     *     *     *     *

2008.10.26 – My dream ended with I fighting a flying cockroach triple its usual size with a can of insecticide much smaller than what you see on the street.  And I do not know how to link that ending to my entire dream.

Categories
Misc Music Reviews

Flight of the Conchords – Looking for A Good Laugh from Listening to Your CD?

Rarely do I come across a music album that put a smile to my face every time I put it on.  Kudo to these two New Zealanders – the comedy duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement – whom I have made an introduction here after my HBO blogger event.

In the first ten listens, you probably won’t get all the jokes from within this album of 15 songs.  Even so, you shall be love-at-first-sight with the rap song “Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenoceros” like I do.  One part, after Bret has done his part, Jemaine took over and rapped, “They call me the hiphop-potamus, my lyrics are bottomless …”  And he got stuck running out of words to say while the music goes on and on.  That is hilarious.  I really shouldn’t go into the subsequent lyrics of “My rhymes are so potent that in this small segment, I made all the lady listeners pregnant” here.  Note: their stage names are actually Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenoceros.

While many people like the back-to-the-eighties-Pet-Shop-Boys sound-alike song, “Inner City Pressure”, I find the song “Robot” very original, very entertaining.  It is a song about the future … erm year 2000 … when robots took over the world.  It never fails to make me laugh with the binary solo.  Believe me, they actually rap in zeroes and ones.  And when Jemaine bursts out the line, “Come on sucker lick my battery”, that got me laugh-out-loud every time.

Majority of the songs, they have woman as the subject and turn it into something absurdly funny.  Like the song “Ladies of the World”, they sing …

If every soldier in the world
Put down his weapon and picked up a woman
What a peaceful world this world would be

Or the song, “Think About It” …

A kiss is not a contract but it’s very nice
Just because you’ve been exploring my mouth
Doesn’t mean you get to take an expedition to the south

These sort of lyrics got me shaking my head with a smile every time I hear the songs.  Who would have dreamed up lyrics like that?! 

Musically, there are the pop, the rap, the eighties, the funk, and more.  Some songs I still don’t quite get it.  Like David Bowie’s nipple antenna.  Another song that is pretty gross is “Business Time”.  That song lasts 4 minutes while the rather un-sexy love making story within the song only lasts for … 2 minutes.  Very funny, regardless.

The HBO TV adaptation of their music acted by them contains more songs than this album.  Till today, that one line “ALBI the racist dragon” still stuck in our minds – Cynthia and I.  In that particular episode, Bret and Jemaine – two New Zealanders struggle to have gigs in America – faces a lot of racism from the people in the neighborhood.  Towards the end of the show, when the Americans realized that they are not the Australians, the Americans suddenly become very friendly to them.  We thought that is a pretty funny episode to watch.  These New Zealanders always try to poke fun at the Australians whenever they can.

Rarely is there a music album that is funny and yet with class.  “Flight of the Conchords” is one album worth checking out.  You may need to listen to it a few times to get the jokes.  But it’s worth the effort I am telling ya.

Categories
I See I Write

Intel Core i7 Launch Party at Equinox, Singapore – A History of Chips Part 2

Could it be that oh-so-confusing video blog I created a while back that earned me a ticket to the Intel Core i7 launch party at Equinox, Swissotel The Stamford?  I have no clue.  This afternoon, I met my good old friend Robert for lunch and he joked that I should write something revelation, something closer to my heart.

And indeed I should attempt to.

Computer processor, quite honestly, is the least sexiest thing on Earth.  It is so behind-the-scene that most of us simply take it for granted, or hardly take notice of its existence.  But yet, the pace of our civilization’s progress depends on not only how many brilliant scientists we have, but also how far we push the envelope of technology.  I am a computer science and engineering graduate.  And I have witnessed the evolution of computer processor since the Intel 80268 era.  Commercially viable processor architecture doesn’t change often like fashion does.  The new Intel Core i7 – or often referred as the Nehalem architecture for those of us who have kept track of its development – is one breathtaking milestone of our digital era.

I have recently upgraded my home PC to an Intel Core 2 Quad (note: try not to click onto that link as it is rather dry and boring for public consumption).  I love my Quad Core, I really do.  It is fast, trust me.  But the Extreme Edition of this new Core i7 scores 60% faster than mine (73.5 versus 117).

To be honest, I am still quite shocked that Intel releases the new Nehalem architecture especially when (1) their only competitor AMD is way behind and struggles so hard to survive and (2) their Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors have been selling well and met 99.99% of the mass public’s needs.  I really thought that Intel would take a back seat on this one.

Maybe Intel simply takes pleasure in putting a final nail to AMD’s coffin (how many of us have gone from AMD4Life to “AMD is Dead” overnight?). And mind you, Intel’s new chip with a feature size of 32nm is on its way to see the world in the year 2010.  For whatever the reason, it is clear to the world which company is out there pushing our limit on how fast we compute.  You can certainly own one of the fastest processors on the planet.  I bought my C2Q 9450 (with motherboard) at S$600 in May.  The new Intel Core i7 with the new Intel chipset X58 costs from S$900 to S$2,200.  For those who are willing to spend up to a grand for each top end graphic card, the future is within reach.  One could overclock the Extreme version up to 4GHz although the official figure given by Intel is 3.2GHz.  Now, that is sick.

Personal Notes:

  • Thank you Intel and Ogilvy for the invite.  Now I can tell my grandchildren that I was there when Core i7 was first launched.
  • It is lovely to see familiar faces at the party – my fellow Singaporean bloggers.
  • Seeing the MSI counter brought back memory.  I had MSI motherboard and graphic card once.  And thank you for those gifts!  Now I can decorate my office.