Author: Wilfrid

Categories
For the Geeks

Banshee, And A Look Into Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Versus World Of Warcraft Dungeon Crawling

The resounding wailing of a banshee is enough to send a chill down my spine.  First, the bone chilling scream.  Then, the sighting of a banshee from afar.  Shortly after, she performs a series of biotic jumps that closes the distance in a frightening, lightning speed.  Blast!  There is a big bolt of biotic energy radiates outwards that hurts.  If she is close enough, she would carry you up in the air by your waist and with another hand, she caresses your head.  Time seems to stop.  Before you know it, your spine is snapped, you body is discarded.  It is an instant death that not even your teammates could revive.  The banshee screams, looks around, and onto the next target she goes.  This weekend is Operation Silencer.  Mass Effect 3 players at a global level are tasked to take down 3 million banshees in multiplayer mode.  I have played my part, with blood and fear.

“Into thy embrace I surrender my body, once again.”

Like the picture above?  I have more in my Google+ album.

I wrote about my first impression of the highly anticipated video game Mass Effect 3 in March.  I went on dissecting the controversial ending in April.  To wrap things up, before I dive into Diablo III next Tuesday like millions will do, it is fitting for me to write a short entry on Mass Effect 3 multiplayer mode.

Initially, I found it odd to read critics’ comments.  They said, the multiplayer mode works much better than they thought.  Now that I have sunk in a fair bit of hours into the multiplayer mode, clocked in enough rating to attain a ranking of #39 at a national level (as of this morning), I can understand the critics’ sentiment.  It is good.  So good that it overshadows the single player story mode, which is a shame.  Because traditionally, the Mass Effect franchise is about an individual compelling story, with players’ decision inputs that steer the events in game.  What makes Mass Effect 3 multiplayer mode such a success?  Is there something the aging online game World of Warcraft can learn from it in the design of PvE contents (player-versus-environment)?  I think so.

  1. Fast Pace, Fast Assembly, Fast Reward – Getting a team of four online in Mass Effect 3 is fast.  Almost instant.  Once a team is assembled, you get to pick another class to compliment the team.  Each game takes 15 to 25 minutes to complete.  At the end of the game, credits are rewarded depending on performance and difficulties.  Credits can be used to purchase items.  In World of Warcraft, it may take up to half an hour for a group to be formed.  You are stuck with the character you queue for.  Each game takes up to an hour to complete.  You may end up with no loot after the game.  And some tokens that take a long time to accumulate.  Up to weeks.
  2. Skill Matters, More than Gears – To do well in Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, skill matters.  Because the score is published at the end of each game, you feel motivated to do well.  I do not know why till today, World of Warcraft still does not have an official scoring system for PvE contents.
  3. The Same Gear Dropped?  No Problem! – To keep the long term attention of the gamers, developers introduce random rewards.  In World of Warcraft, you grind the same dungeon many times in the hope of a gear drop.  When it drops and is won, you care less about that encounter anymore though you still may have to do it for different reasons.  What if every time you win the same gear (which would have been a waste now), you get a slight upgrade to your existing one?  In Mass Effect 3 multiplayer mode, a gear can be upgraded 10 times.  When it reaches the highest level, that gear will no longer drop.  This makes so much sense.
  4. Gear Tiers Decoupled from Challenge Level – In Mass Effect 3, casual online players (or players with a low level character) can join a bronze challenge – an accessible content for most with 33% to 50% of success rate.  Or they can up the challenge for silver or gold.  Higher level of challenge rewards more credits.  Credits can be used to randomly unlock items of different tiers.  High tier items, of course, cost a lot more credit.  If you have a bunch of reliable friends to do gold challenge, that is great.  You get to unlock highest tier items at the fastest rate.  What if you don’t?  Not a problem.  You gain credits in a slower rate through bronze and silver challenges.  But you still have access to the highest tier items.  I wish Blizzard could incorporate this to their massively popular online game.
  5. My Loot Is Mine – I know Blizzard is changing how loot works in the upcoming expansion, for some of the encounters.  However, it is still worthwhile to mention that without having to roll against each other like in Mass Effect 3, it wipes away any negative feeling on who should get what.  Suddenly, there is fun, and peace.
Back to the banshees, I am going to meet a few more before the weekend expires.  Don’t forget to check out more pictures here.  I am out.  Wish me luck.

“Oh banshee, I do love to see you go up in flame.”

Categories
Diary

Dead Ants Swimming

“Death is everywhere.  There are ants in my cereal, for a start.  Reminding us, we may have a stomachache tonight.

Death is everywhere.  There are ants in my bottle, already drown.  And I can sense the water finished, by tonight.”

– An unknown artist’s adaptation of a well known song.

I don’t get it.  My water is as plain as it should be.  Yet, there are ants drowning inside my sealed water jar.  At home.  Everyday.  I no longer use drinking mugs that are not white in color.  Because I need to see what I am drinking.  In case if I need to fish the bodies out from the water.  Those floating on top that is.  I suppose I could ignore the extra protein content and drink up.  But ants annoy me.  I love the house lizards and I hate the ants.

I am 1.72m tall.  Let’s say, if I am to be represented as a disc in a two-dimension model, I have an effective area of 2.32m² (assuming that I am walking on all four for reasons that will become obvious later).  Singapore has a land size of 704km².  In effect, Singapore is 300 million times bigger than me.

Using the same model, by my calculation, my home is 100 million times bigger than a typical ant that shares the same address as I do.  Yet, if I drop a piece of chocolate on my keyboard right here right now, I bet within minutes, the ants will find it, and munch onto it.  This is mind blowing.  If someone was to unload a truck full of ice cream at Orchard right now, I doubt I would even know about it.  Do ants tweet to each other or what?

Not long ago, I have an ant invasion problem with my breakfast.  Cynthia would prepare cereal for us.  I often stare at the computer screen while having my first meal of the day.  Halfway through my breakfast, I would spot black dots floating on top of the milk.  At first I thought those were pieces of wheat.  In close examination, those were ant bodies.  I would pick them up one after another and dump their bodies onto the kitchen sink.  A dozen, or more.

Cynthia and I have brainstormed on our situation.  And we have come up with the following possibilities.

  1. The ants got into the cereal at the factory and become part of cereal.
  2. The ants got into the cereal during transportation.  Possibly inside a container on a ship.  Because ants swim.
  3. The ants got into the cereal at the supermarket.  In that case, we have some complaint letters to write.
  4. The ants got into the cereal at my home.  We have since locked our beloved cereal inside an airtight container stored in the fridge.  It did not seem to work.
  5. The ants find a way into our fridge, and somehow survive a near zero temperature.  This is evolution.  Ice age ants.
  6. The ants got into the cereal while Cynthia was preparing breakfast.  Cynthia protested that this is preposterous.  Because how can a dozen of ant commandos get into a bowl full of cereals while she fetches milk and makes coffee?  Two minutes top, she said.
  7. The ants were already swimming inside the milk carton!
  8. Edit: Upon reading this post, Cynthia asked, “How about ants that were already hiding in our cereal bowls before breakfast was prepared?”  I guess since this is brainstorming, there are no right or wrong answers.  Could ants be that smart?

Just like that, our mysterious cereal problem has mysteriously disappeared.  Now leaving us to deal with a new problem: Ants inside our sealed water jar.  Were they inside the kettle and died a horrible death?  Or they were merely drown inside the jar?

I have no clue.

“Death is everywhere.  The more I look, the ants I see.  The more I feel a sense of mystery, tonight.”

– An unknown artist’s attempt to finish the song.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The End Of Cheap China By Shaun Rein – An Insightful Look Into China From The Inside

Before End of Cheap China is released to the Asia market, it is already banned in China.  Why would a subject on economic and cultural trends that may disrupt the world received such treatment?  My contact at Wiley is intrigued.  And she is keen to hear my view.  I too am intrigued.  The author Rein is a mixed heritage of Chinese and Jewish.  He married the granddaughter of 50 most important Chinese Communist party members in history.  Because of his business background, he gets to converse with China’s leading entrepreneurs on a regular basis.  The author practically lives and breathes in China.  End of Cheap China is largely a collection of Rein’s social, economical, and political opinions of China written in a journal style.  Because this is a still business book, at the end of each chapter, there is a short appendix catered for the business readers.  While I may not have a definite answer to why China deems the book unsuitable for her people, let’s take a look at what this book offers.

1998, Rein was in Changchun, a city at the northeast China.  Back in those days, everything in China was cheap.  For US$20, according to his observation during that trip, you could have some ‘fun’ with a girl in your hotel room.  A girl with a physical outlook that could qualify to be on the cover of Teen Vogue magazine.  Such scene is now unseen of in China.  Why so?  Here is his view on this matter.

China’s economy and job market have seen dramatic changes in the past decade and a half.  As more attractive, better-paying job opportunities increased, pretty young girls took advantage of better options, and the pool of prostitutes got uglier as a result.  The uglification of China prostitutes is part of a boarder trend that is the subject of this book, The End of Cheap China.

It is hard to understand China without an appreciation of Chinese modern history.  Through his personal interaction with his mother-in-law, the author recounts the events and impact of Cultural Revolution (66-76).  Many in China still remember the pain and suffering.  Yes, to the Chinese people, free speech is great but not if it threatens stability.  According to Rein, Chinese people support the central government.  What they often protest against are the local officials who are given the flexibility to implement the policies set by the central government.  In this complex political landscape, the author examines the root of corruption that is often found at the local level.  Local officials in China are poorly paid, not allowed to travel or retire to the private sector once they have reached a certain rank.  This leads to local officials being more susceptible to accepting bribes.

Officially, prostitution is illegal in mainland China.  But why is it practiced openly?  Again, this points to the political makeup of the country.

For ordinary Chinese people, vices like drugs and violence are intolerable due to the immediate impact on their every lives, but often they will tolerate prostitution as long as it is kept behind closed doors and distant.  Here we see the divide in thinking between levels of government: Local officials and people confront prostitution pragmatically, whereas the central government upholds a more morality-based approach.

To examine the economic trends, Rein visited Laura furniture factory in Shanghai.  There are 10,000 workers on the working floor and the environment appears decent.  Because of the high demand in Chinese skilled workers, the factory (and many others) is facing the challenge of keeping the workers.  This drives up workers’ salary and in turn drives up business cost.  The factory could pass the cost back to American consumers and Laura may have to consider moving the factory to countries such as Vietnam or Indonesia in order to cut cost.  However, this is not desirable because the skill of Chinese workers and infrastructure of China cannot be met by these countries today.  What should Laura do?  Rein’s advice to the factory’s manager is that instead of exporting all the furniture to America, create a market share in China.  Leverage on China’s domestic market to sustain or even grow the business.  In fact, that is what the current trend is: Market the products back to China consumers.  Branding then becomes the next challenge because these foreign brands are going to compete with the local household brands.

You may have heard that because of China’s one-child policy and Chinese’s desire to have sons, this leads to an imbalance to the gender ratio.  In the past, for practical reasons, when many were farmers, sons were preferred.  In the past decade and a half, the role of Chinese women has changed.  Take Laura furniture factory as an example, women are paid more because of the skill involved in, say, sewing the sofas.  Men are paid lesser comparatively because labor type of work is less valued.  Moving away from the factory and into the cities, the same pattern is observed.  Women are flavored in the service industry, especially on the consumer sales.  More often than not, wives earn much more than husbands.  This has an implication to the social trend within China.

The empowerment of women is one of the great developments of modern Chinese society.  Women are becoming the key drivers of spending; they are beacons of optimism in the country, and a major force behind China’s transition towards becoming one of the biggest markets in the world.

When it comes to food, foreign brands seem to do well in China due to local food-supply problem.  The recent baby formula episode is a good example of why Chinese people are especially careful on food consumption.  Kentucky Fried Chicken is considered as ‘healthy’ because many Chinese trust that the food from these foreign brands is safe to eat.  While on the topic of food, the author observes that China import over $15b in food products from America in 2011, up from $6.7b in 2006.  This trend will continue to go up.  What is the implication to the world?

I suppose for those who are outside China, we often wonder: Is China really doing well?  The author examines the topic of real estate from various angles – the policy flaw in terms of favoring the commercial zone as it is easier to obtain construction loans compare to residential and Chinese’s preference to hold tangible asset rather than stocks.  The author also examines GDP in China and he argues that unlike Japan, China’s infrastructure spending is more efficient and it helps to jump start the economy growth in the cities.  On the education front, Shaun highlights the classroom overcrowding issue (imagine a class size of 1,500) as well as the fact that the Chinese education system is not producing enough creative thinkers.

The topic interests me most is on China’s foreign policy.  Because of the need for natural resources, China has been actively expanding the influence to countries like Africa and Pakistan.  Different cultures adopt different policies when investing overseas.  When Chinese companies financially takes over a foreign company, the existing management team is often left intact.  Yet, not all countries trust China’s non-interference approach.  Some countries do not welcome China’s money.  Some struggle to accept China’s financial help.  Now I know why as a Chinese, I bond well with Pakistanis here in Singapore.  They seem to have a good impression of Chinese people, thanks to China’s friendly investment in Pakistan.

End of Cheap China is a good read, for those who wish to learn more about China from the inside.  The journal writing style makes it easy to follow.  Because the content of this book is filled with the author’s criticisms and opinions, it could get a bit disoriented.  This book at times appears to be written for the Western businessmen who are investing in China.  In other chapters, the author seems to address to the US government, to the Chinese government, to other governments, or to the Chinese people in China, on what they should or should not do.  Each target audience – I would presume – has different agenda and potentially conflicting interests.  It is unclear if Rein’s goal is to advocate a win-win situation.  Personally I would prefer a straightforward journalistic approach such as Nothing to Envy (a book on North Korea).  Having said that, End of Cheap China is also a business book and it is packed with action items for those who are doing business in China.

I do not know how a book get banned in China.  I admire the author’s boldness in analyzing China at the ground level, talking to commoners in China as well as to the Chinese billionaires.  To be fair, some of his criticisms go beyond China and are directed towards America.  Maybe it is the book title.  Or the prologue when he was approached by a young prostitute in 1998.  Maybe it is his account of Cultural Revolution.  My question to the writer would be: If he was to know the ban, which bits would he rewrite or censor, if at all?

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 27, 2012)
ISBN-10: 111817206X
ISBN-13: 978-1118172063

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

House Of Pleasures (Or House of Tolerance) – A Fine Balance Between Art And What Could Have Been Otherwise

Speechless I was at the end of this French movie.  What could I possibly write in order to share my experience with my readers here.  The entire entry could well be summed up in two words: C’est tragique.  Too much to process after the show, my mind just went blank.  House of Pleasures does not glorify prostitution, which is good.  With a group of actresses who are naked or semi-naked most of the time, strange to say, there is nothing erotic about this movie either.  Is it seductive?  Yes.  The costume is beautiful and some scenes are tantalizing.  But there is also enough grotesque and fear that darkens the overall mood.  In this tragic setting, the camaraderie within the group of prostitutes under the same roof is what holding the story together.  Sex is transformed into a pure monetary transaction.  The preparation and after the act routines add much realism to the profession.  And because of that, fantasy and eroticism is diminished leaving behind what it is seen through the eyes of the prostitutes on a day-to-day basis.  House of Pleasures is a movie told from the prostitutes’ perspective.  To them, there is no pleasure about the business.  It is what they do in order to make a living.

The year is 1899.  At the turn of the century, what future does it lie for the brothels that are specially catered for the French aristocracy and the high society?  In this particular brothel run by Marie-France – a single mother with two kids – the courtesans are hygienically cleaned and seductively dressed.  Every evening, inside a luxurious living room, wealthy clients mangle with the girls.  This scene almost viewed like a high society party with free flow of champagnes and cigarettes.  Someone is playing the piano.  Girls entertaining the guys.  There is laughter and small talk.  Some clients like what they see and the business is concluded in the bedrooms upstairs.  Some stay in the house till eight in the morning when the ‘commerce’ hours are long over.  There is this illusion of love.   Most girls dream to have their debt paid fully one day and be free.  The prospect of marriage at the end of their career is non-existence, and the girls know it.  The threat of deadly diseases is real, and it persists throughout the movie.  Each client has his fetish.  Some are deadlier than others.  This bets the questions of: If sex can be paid by money, what else can money buy?  One girl is brutally disfigured by a client she grew to trust.  The landlord’s decision to increase rent threatens the very survival of this brothel.  What can Marie-France do?  Close down the business and sell the girls’ debt to other brothels?  What is going to happen to the prostitutes we as an audience have made a connection with in this two hours long movie?

House of Pleasures has an open ending.  While the backdrop of the movie is set in 1899 and 1900, there is a short clip showing modern day street prostitution.  Perhaps, that is the answer.  The world’s oldest profession never ends.

I have my respect to the director Bertrand Bonello.  This movie could have been watched like a porn movie and it is not.  Because the rest of the film is so much more engaging than the sterile sex scenes within.  The continuous shooting and split screen methods blend the different themes and concepts into one, resulting in a holistic story of: This is prostitution.

Categories
Announcement

Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at Singapore Esplanade Theatre (May 25 & 26, 2012) – See You There!

This is a leap of faith that has a dollar sign implication to my pocket.  A theater adaptation of Murakami’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.  Would that work?  We have seen the film adaptation of his Norwegian Wood.  While the content by and large appears to be faithful to the book, some essence in my opinion is lost.  As for this upcoming play, fortunately, I have some help in making the decision of to watch, or not to watch.  If you are tantalized by the news that The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is going to be performed at Singapore Esplanade Theatre, look no further.  There is expert advice for sharing, and there are some personal thoughts I have for you.  Let’s start with the expert views.

Expert Views

Last weekend, I was invited for a panel discussion at Ngee Ann City’s Kinokuniya bookstore.  The topic was The Art of Adaptation: Moving Beyond the Pages.  The discussion was facilitated by Kenneth Kwok, Deputy Director from the National Arts Council.  The two speakers were Margaret Chan, theater actress and academic, and Adeline Chia, arts correspondent with Straits Times.  I did not know what to expect or what was expected of me, because I have not attended a panel discussion in public before.  The last time I spoke through a pair of loudspeakers in Orchard was when my band performed for a charity.  This time, it did feel odd speaking in public voicing my personal opinions with shoppers passing by.  Just a little bit.

I don’t think Margaret Chan has read this book, or any of Murakami’s novel.  Her discussion contribution was largely based on her experience as a theater actress.  She quoted that authors are dead.  It is the readers who keep the books alive, or audience who ‘make’ the movie.  I suppose what it means is that forget about how much is being adapted, what do you get out of it?  How do you interpret the story?  She also highlighted that in a theater setting, it is often rich in visual imagery.  Live acting also adds a unique flavor to the presentation of the art.  Something we may wish to take note of when we watch The Wind-up Bird Chronicle as a play.

Adeline Chia, on the other hand, has read many of Murakami’s works.  She is such a fan that she does not want to watch the film adaptation of Norwegian Wood knowing well that the movie may not live up to the expectation.  Fair enough.  Does she think that a film can be as good as, if not better than a book?  It is possible, she said.  And she cited a few examples such as No Country For Old Man, Paprika, and The Shining.  As for me, I am finding it hard to make comparison between different medias of adaptation (including video games).  It boils down to one thing: How do you like the experience?  There are instances whereby watching a movie like Troy could well be a better experience for most mortals today than reading that book (I am looking at you, Homer).  Mel Gibson has done a great job in directing The Passion, an adaption of one of the Bible stories.  Paulo Coelho has also done a fantastic book adaption of the story of Elijah from the Hebrew Bible.  His book is called The Fifth Mountain.  A Game of Thrones TV adaptation seems to have done well, something I would like to judge it myself once I get hold of the discs.

There are many examples that adaptation can be successful.  I wish Margaret and Adeline could tell us more about the ingredients of success.  Their advice is: Forget about the book and enjoy the play as it is.  As someone who has read the book and is a big fan of Murakami, I would need something more to make that decision of to watch, or not to watch.

My Thoughts

I am not sure if the 68-page photo booklet titled Making of Wind-up Bird Chronicle by the director Stephen Earnhart would be on sales in the evenings of the performance.  If you are a fan of the play, do grab a copy.  It is filled with beautiful photographs – on set and beyond – as well as a brief documentation of his creative process.  Before creating this play, Earnhart has lived in the Far East for almost a year.  He talked to the locals, even met up with Murakami without knowing the author’ superstar status.  To visually present the interrelation of realism and surrealism, Earnhart relies on light and technology and props such as a puppet.   I do not know what the outcome of the play is to be.  As someone who has read the book, the photographs taken from the set seem convincing.  Hence, the leap of faith.

I will not walk into the theater pretending that I have not read the book.  Specifically, I would like to see how the director and his crew tackle the theme of free will versus fate.  I also want to see how the abstract concept of something can be visually presented.  Because the book puts much emphasis on each of us having that something within that defines who we are.  I want to see how the unseen world is interpreted by the director.  In additional, I am also interested to see how metaphors are incorporated into the play.  I am looking forward to hearing some Jazz music and seeing some kitchen scenes – signatures of some of Murakumi’s stories.  Last but not the least, I want to experience the loneliness at the bottom of a well through the actor.  If you are interested, a deeper discussion can be found in my book review.

Where to Get the Tickets?

There are three time slots in total – May 25, 2012 (Fri) 8pm, May 26 (Sat) 3pm & 8pm.  Cynthia and I are going to watch the last session.  Thinking of joining us?  Head to Sistic.com.sg today!

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews Romance

Delicacy (Audrey Tautou) – Love Not At First Sight

In the opening scene, you see the back of a French actress walking down the street of Paris.  The camera stays with her and you wonder, where is she going?  Since you can’t see her face, you further wonder, who is she?  The way she walks seems familiar to you.  You may even recognize her back, her short hair, the back of her ears, and perhaps her rather petite outlook.  Suddenly you gasp, she must be Audrey Tautou!  Seldom have we seen actresses who exude such aura that is instantly recognizable.  Our friend TK recognized the actress before the camera revealed her identity.  He had no idea what movie we have chosen for him.

Delicacy has a slow moving plot.  The overall story is not what I would call entertaining.  It is about coping with losses and starting anew.  Because there is so much realism within, you ought to be someone who appreciates acting in order to enjoy this movie.  If you do, Delicacy is delicious.  Tautou is a talented actress.  We have seen her taking on different types of roles throughout her career.  This time, as a widower, she buries herself in work shutting away from most social interactions.  Can she fall in love again?  As audience, we get to witness how love not at first sight works.  Her counterpart played by François Damiens is worth a mention.  Damiens looks utterly ordinary, awkward in every little move.  He is even balding. And his character Markus has a huge crash on Nathalie played by Tautou.  The way he looks at her, the way he behaves when she is nearby, and the way he spaces out when she is not around – all these moments accentuate how awkward the relationship development is.  But the beauty is that it feels so natural looking at how the two interact and drown in this intolerable awkwardness.  It feels so real.

The soundtrack performed by Emilie Simon is also worth a mention.  The music is dreamy and moody.  It suits the plot well.  Emilie is a French singer who plays electronic music.  If you have a chance to check out her music, I would recommend you to do so.  Her music can be found in SingTel AMPed, arguably the world’s worst designed Android app.  Alternatively, you may check out her official YouTube channel.

Delicacy does not have a thought provoking open ending like many European movies do.  However, it does have a flavor to it.  Perhaps, what the filmmakers want to tell us is that to help someone in overcoming the pain of losses hidden inside, one must relive her past, understand it, only then there is hope to moving on.  On a side note, I think the title is appropriate in every way to describe the movie, especially Tautou’s character.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Boundless Potential By Mark S. Walton – Midlife Onwards Is Going To Get Better!

This book I received from the publisher McGraw-Hill surprised and inspired me at the same time.  Boundless Potential is a perfect book for those who are crossing or have long crossed midlife.  Even for the younger crowd, it is always good to read ahead and have an end in mind.  Before I go into the specifics, here are some questions for you.

  1. Do you feel unchallenged at work?  As in, work no longer taps onto your full potential.  You feel as though there is so much more you could do, although you are finding it hard to pinpoint what that is.
  2. Would you like to retire early so that you do not need to work but rather enjoy doing things that you like instead?
  3.  BIG question here: Do you believe that our brain, like other human organs, is fated to wear out over time?  That is, to lose its resilience and the ability to function as we get old, really old?

If your answers are yes, you and I are on the same boat.  In contrary to common beliefs, our brain works in a different way once we pass our midlife.  In fact, a better way.  The key is to reinvent ourselves in order to recognize and unlock our potential.  What is shocking to me is that I have this wonderful picture of what retirement is.  No more work.  No need to get up for work, and I can indulge in any hobbies – old or new.  Even travel around the world sounds like a good plan.  Have you dreamed about what your retirement is?

Now, what if I am to tell you that you should continue to work for as long as you can, be it as seventies, eighties, nineties, and beyond? And that retirement to pleasure alone could possibly kill you faster (curiously, my mother once told me about her concern over my dad’s retirement)?  Boundless Potential is packed with tons of real life stories on how people reinvent themselves towards the second half of their lives.  How they found a sustainable mean to pursue their dreams, and be happy ever after.  In fact, it appears to me that because these people are happy with their work and the positive contribution to the society and those around them, they live longer.  And they live a much fulfilled life possibly than those who sip beer over sunset at a farm populated by sheep (that is my dream retirement before reading this book).

Some of you may be skeptic.  How to reinvent?  What is my hidden talent?  After all, while there are pages and pages of success stories, majority of us may well have an unproductive or unfulfilled retirement.  To answer that question, the author presents a three-step approach.

First, you have to discover your fascination, your dream so as to speak.  It is not an easy task.  For some, this discovery journey may take place in a much later part of life, if at all.  A fascination is a direction that pulls you forward, regardless of the obstacles ahead of you.  It is something that both your heard and mind want.  No one can tell you what that is.  It may be something you chance upon if you open your eyes wide enough.  I am the optimistic one.  To me, finding your fascination is like finding your soul mate.  Those who are singles are often worried that they would never find that someone to spend the rest of their lives with.  But yet, many people are getting married or are living together.  Do some soul searching along the way: Where is my fascination?  I don’t know what yours is.  I am quite sure I haven’t found mine yet.  It is unlikely that I know the answer today.  But I shall keep this at the back of my head, just in case I stumble upon my answer.

Second, once you found your fascination, it is time to find your flow.  What is a flow?  It is the highest level of human happiness that is generated when fascination is translated into action.  The paragraph below best illustrates the concept.

Contrary to what we usually believe […] the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times.  The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limit in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile.  Optimal experience is thus something we make happen.

With this specification, I can probably look back on my life thus far and identify a few flow moments.  When I was a consultant before my major career switch five years ago, I used to give training workshops and facilitate focused group discussions for the senior officers of my clients’ organizations.  It can be extremely stressful because while what I preached was derived from a defined framework, no two audience groups are the same.  Different corporate or team culture may require different means to unlock their enthusiasm so that they are more receptive to the training materials.  It is an art.  I have to observe on the spot and talk to people during breaks in order to understand how best to engage them.  For those highly intelligent groups, challenging questions that are new to me may come my way.  Teasing out ideas may not be easy.  Looking back, those were my happy moments.  And I reckon I did quite well because our team constantly received praises and recognition from our clients.  Could I reverse engineer my fascination knowing what my flows are?  Maybe I am fascinated by training and learning with people?  What about those moments when I played music with my band at Orchard for charity?  Could music be my calling instead?

Back to the reinvention framework the author has proposed, the third and final step to this process is to envision your structure.  A structure that is created by you for success in midlife and beyond.  Is it going to be a project, a role, a career, a business, or a nonprofit? Whatever the structure is, it is certainly required in order to sustain and grow your fascination.  It is probably something so new and different that you have to sell the idea to those around you and to establish one yourself.

Boundless Potential is written in a highly readable form.  It is not possible to summarize all the inspiring case studies in one blog entry.  Since I love reading this book (and for my future reference), here are some of my favorites.

An interview with Marion Rosen who was nearly 95 when the author conducted the session.

When we are at the height of our knowledge and the height of our lives, why should we give that up?  Why should we not use what we have gotten in 60, 70, 80, 90 years?  And hand it on to where it is wanted?  It seems ridiculous to me.

If you don’t use your potential, it hits back at you.  It strikes back, because it works on you, it wants to come out.  And in order not to come out, you have to hold it back. And that is very bad for your health, very bad for your personality, very bad for your relationships. It doesn’t work!

The second quote would take a while to explain (that can be found in the book of course).  It has something to do with our wisdom deriving from our maturity, experience, and the changes to the brain.  It does sound convincing.  I don’t need to see further but looking at my dad to know that this much is true.  My father has recently reinvented himself into someone who produces beautiful Chinese Calligraphy (previously he was giving Tai Chi lesson to the folks in Hong Kong and making training videos).

State-of-the art neuroscience has determined that the human brain was never designed for decline or retirement but for continual reinvention and success.  In fact, extraordinary powers become available to us in the second half of life that were not available in the first  […]  The mature brain, when properly maintained, has the potential to be continually transformed – to draw upon and synthesize its vast storage banks of knowledge and experience in ways that can be downright startling.

Another big question for you: What is the secret of living happily ever after?  The answer could be as simple as play hard, so that you can work hard (not the other way round!), and pay it forward.

Unlike “simpler” animals, [the Athenians] reasoned, we humans are “composite creatures” who want more than to eat and sleep our lives away.

Thus, attaining genuine happiness – eugeria – requires a full-out lifelong pursuit of worthy goals through the three components of our humanity: body, mind, and soul.

This ongoing quest, they believed, was “the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

Hardcover: 262 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 16, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0071787852
ISBN-13: 978-0071787857

External Link: McGraw-Hill Asia

Categories
Diary Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 35 – Keep Talking

Love Those Pictures

Unless you are really attractive, I have this tendency to talk to you even if I hardly know you.  That is, despite the fact I am believe it or not, a rather shy person.  I seldom work at the office in town.  But I am there long enough to know that the pantry cleaner’s wife is also a pantry cleaner who works in the same pantry, taking the morning shift.  Or that estate management staff, I presume, from China finds our Sentosa resort charming.  One day, she was happily showing me the evening photographs she took on her iPhone.  I didn’t like her phone.  But I found her affection towards one of our top tourist spots engaging.  When I first started living in Singapore, I was not agreeable with the warm weather.  My sensitive nose sneezed for more than a month.  Long enough to make me wondered if this flu was going to disappear.  My first impression of Singapore was certainly different from hers, it seems.

Who is Going to Pay the S$100 Petrol Bill?

If you are from overseas, you may wonder why Singapore petrol stations need petrol attendants to pump petrol for us.  I always politely decline their service.  Instead, we chat while I work with the pump.

Did you know that as a petrol attendant in Singapore, besides helping customers to pump petrol, it is also your job to clean the outdoor area, including the toilets?  Do you know what happen if someone drives away without paying the bill?

One fine afternoon, an attendant pulled out a white receipt from his wallet, showed me the amount, and told me that someone got away this morning.  And his colleague and him would need to pay back S$100 to the petrol station’s owner because of their negligence.  I was shocked.  S$50 must have meant a lot to him.

My first reaction was: Why didn’t the petrol station owner install a surveillance camera and send the footage to the police?  He said there is no such camera and the owner would not go into such a trouble.  I wanted to ask why but I think I know the answer.  Why go through such hassle when you could get your money back from your staff?

Oh No, Please Don’t Go!

Cynthia and I have lived in our condo for more than twelve years.  We love our current cleaner who has worked here for two years.  During the daytime, he is always being seen working.  Either mopping the floor or cleaning the lift.  He greets us every working morning with a warm smile.  He greets us every time he sees us.  I cannot imagine how life is like mopping 14 floors and the lobby as well as cleaning the three lifts and the windows at the corridor every day.

Yesterday morning, Cynthia and I met him inside the lift, cleaning.  His usual zest seemed diminished.  He told us that his last day will be the end of this month.  How come, we asked.  It appears that our condo committee has complained that the lifts are not cleaned to satisfactory.  There are fingerprints all over the mirror.  So he is not happy and he quits.  I was speechless.  I mean, people do stupid things inside the lift.  I have seen liters like empty bottles.  I have seen scratch marks made by sharp objects against the lift’s interior.  I have seen spits inside the lift.  Or puddle of water on the floor because people don’t bother to dry themselves after leaving the swimming pool.  Our lifts can never be cleaned to satisfactory because people are stupid and inconsiderate.  The lifts are as clean as they can be, taking into consideration of the unforeseeable yet not entirely unexpected circumstances.

I am going to write to our Management Office and sort this out.  That is the least I can do for our friend.

What a Stone Can Do

Recently, a car behind me hit the back of our car during a traffic jam.  That is an old story.  Merely two weeks after we got our car back from the workshop, I found myself return to the workshop.  I was so familiar with the procedure that at the reception area, I even knew the claim officer by his name.  Except, he was no longer with Honda.

I had no idea.  OK, looking back, my previous claim officer told me that he has worked in Honda for five long years.  He seemed knowledgeable, no doubt.  But I could see a lack of sparkle in his eyes.  Change of environment could do him good.  Secretly, I was happy for him.

Was it a stone?  Cynthia and I would not have known.  We were on our way to work when a small object hit the windscreen at 90km/h.  To be more factual, the actual relative speed of the stone was faster than this because it must be flying towards us when we hit it at 90km/h.  In this age of speed reading, people may think that I was speeding if I am totally scientific on this.

The first reaction when we saw the crack was, Oh no.  At that moment, I vaguely remember that the windscreen is insured so I was not too concerned.  It was the hassle that got me a bit down.  My second reaction was that I began to see mathematical formula flying inside my mind.  If force is mass times acceleration and I remember impact has something to do with force and area of contact.  Say if I could find out how much impact a windscreen can withstand before it cracks and I know the speed of the stone, I could work out the object’s mass, correct?  And potentially work out its size?

Curious mind knows no bound.

What About Retirement?

Recently, I am reviewing a book called Boundless Potential sent to me by the publisher McGraw-Hill.  Maybe because of its content, I keep thinking about retirement these days.  I start to doubt if our home today is retirement friendly.  It is going to be noisy because of the upcoming highway.  And it is in the middle of nowhere.  A car is highly useful.  But looking at the trend of the car prices, I am unsure if I can afford one when I am older.  Perhaps, Cynthia’s idea of moving to town is not that crazy at all.

When our government revised the retirement age upward, I remember some were not happy with the policy.  The first reaction would be: What, we have to postpone our retirement plan and work longer years?

Boundless Potential is an inspiring read (which I will share my view later once I finish with it).  It says we shouldn’t stop working just because we are old.  We shall continue to be active and to contribute.  Be happy, and stay alive.  Now that I think on it, a higher retirement age cap could in fact work for us.  We could still retire early if we wish to.  And if we wish to continue working – for whatever reason – we  can.

Keep Talking

Fans may prefer Pink Floyd‘s older pieces.  Professor Stephen Hawking’s audio samples found in the song Keep Talking haunts me till today.

For millions of years mankind lived just like animals.  Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk.

I was in UK when what would have been Pink Floyd‘s last album The Division Bell was released.  It was a euphoric moment in the history of popular music.  Magazine articles ran pages over pages analyzing the music.  Bands don’t make this sort of quality music no more.  Not even comparable to what was left of a legendary band.  During the Division Bell era, the sole driving force behind the band was David Gilmour.  Pink Floyd in the nineties was like a fearless samurai who was blinded in one of his previous battles, left with one arm, but still stood tall against all those wannabes.

As Gilmour’s epic guitar lick contorted into a muffled human voice struggling to form words and talk, Hawking wraps the song up with two sentences.

It doesn’t have to be like this.  All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.

Categories
For the Geeks

The Much Talked About “Mass Effect 3 Ending” As It Is Today

Here is a spoiler free bit.  Some of you have asked “Everyone says that the ending is bad, what do you think?  Shall I still buy the game?  Which installment shall I start first?  One, two, or three?”  I would say, don’t let what you read or hear dampen your journey.  True, some are outraged by the ending.  But there are also some who like it.  You can form your opinion when the time comes.  The beauty of an open ending is that you write your story.  You complete the ending.  It is back to the very root of role playing, the media of good old pen-and-paper.

You may jump directly into the third installment without playing the previous games.  Provided that you have the patience to read the in-game codex, you may still get a decent understanding of the lore.  Since you do not have a chance to form decisions in the last two installments, the game will decide for you.  The first play through is likely to take you 20 to 60 hours to complete, with an option to have a second play through for a better experience and outcome.  You won’t get to experience a full story this way.  But if you have limited time and resource, getting a taste of the game is better than having none.

Some would suggest new players to start with the second installment (first-person-shoot lovers I reckon).  Would you watch The Matrix starting from the second episode?  If you have 80 to 200 hours to burn, I strongly recommend to start from the beginning.

I hope this answer some of your questions.  Now, let’s talk about the controversial Mass Effect 3 ending, an ending that results in the game developer to expand this summer due to online feedback.  There will be spoilers from this point onward.  Be warned!

“I am Commander Shepard.  5 years I have traveled across the milky way in the name of humanity.  Is this really the end?”

SPOILER WARNING

The Year is 2186

It is hard to imagine that in less than 200 years, humans would travel across the milky way, encountering alien races, and realizing that we are a rather primitive race.  There are far more advanced races in the outer space that pay little attention to our humanity.  That is until a dark force launches a galactic level attack to all organic life.

The Reaper

Initially, no one believes Reaper exists.  It turns out to be a highly advanced machine race of synthetic-and-organic spaceships.  The entire sentinel race lies dormant within the dark space for thousands of years.  When it wakes up, the Reaper lays destruction to the entire galaxy by indoctrinating key organic leaders and collecting the organic life one-by-one for processing.  The suitable ones are dissolved and incorporated into Reaper’s gestalt consciousness.  Most are used as raw materials in building the Reaper troops.  During this cycle of extinction, none will survive except a very few.  After Reaper has done its job, it goes back to hibernation in dark space and waits patiently for the next cycle.  The few that are left behind will yet again populate the galaxy.  The cycle repeats.

Its Purpose?

The Reaper believes that in every cycle, there is a natural tendency to chaos.  Organic life will create synthetic life and once synthetic life reaches a certain level of intelligence, they will rebel against their creators.  Reaper’s job is to maintain this fragile balance by harvesting all the organic life at the end of each cycle leaving only a few for a reset.  Does this sound like Zion in The Matrix?  It sure does.

What creates the first Reaper?  When the galaxy is left alone, will organic and synthetic life form become one?  Is the Reaper trying to halt the evolution so that they will continue to be the most superior race in the galaxy?  The lore does not explain this bit.  I could only imagine.

Take Earth Back

Back to current year of 2186, the Reaper invades Earth.  With 400 processing centers killing 1.86 million human beings a day, it will take a decade for the Reaper to complete the extinction protocol.  The human resistance led by Anderson is not going to hold the Reaper for long.  Commander Shepard, that is you, needs to rally the races from across the galaxy to save Earth.  The problem is, why would other advanced races lend their support when their homelands are invaded by the Reaper?  What makes Earth so special?

The Crucible

Because human has discovered the blueprint passed down by previous cycles to build the ultimate weapon of mass destruction – the Crucible.  And we are building it.  The construction of this weapon of mass destruction has soaked up all the knowledge and expertise, as well as resources contributed from all races (or from most depending on how well you play your political game).  The Crucible has become the only hope galaxy has against the Reaper.  All is well but there is a missing component – the Catalyst.  Without it, the Crucible will not work.  No one knows what the Catalyst is.  It seems that all attempts in building the Crucible by the races from the previous cycles have failed.

The Human Politics

While Commander Shepard goes about getting other races on board, humanity is breaking up from within.  The organization Cerberus led by Illusive Man believes that human have found a way to control Reaper.  With Reaper by our side, humanity can rule the galaxy.  Hence, instead of human working together, internally, we are fighting against each other.  You may think that it sounds stupid.  But our human history says otherwise.

Shepard does not think that controlling Reaper is a good idea.  Because it is a power we do not understand.

The Citadel

The Citadel is a space station that has multiple functions.  It is where the Council and the ambassadors resides.  It is where a lone Reaper vanguard signals the invasion at the beginning of each cycle.  And, it is also the Catalyst as discovered by Illusive Man.  Needless to say, Citadel is an important asset to all life in the galaxy as well as to the Reaper.  When Reaper learns that human has discovered the secret to complete the Crucible, they transport the entire Citadel to Earth for protection.  Why Earth?  I suppose it is where their majority of forces are at.  And they have the knowledge that Earth will be where the final showdown takes place.

The Final Assault

After the Reaper knows the coalition’s intend to counter attack, the war is escalated.  All the war assets Commander Shepard gathered throughout the milky way have made good with their promise and they launch an attack to the Reaper on Earth.  Meanwhile, Admiral Hackett together with his feet is bringing the Crucible to be joined with the Citadel.  The only problem is that Citadel’s defense system has made it closed up from within.  In order for the Crucible to work against the Reaper, the best guess is that Citadel has to be functional.  Someone needs to get into the Citadel to open it up.

Since Reaper has opened up a conduit (or a vertical beam of light shooting from Earth’s ground up to Citadel in the sky) to facilitate the transport of human specimen for processing, the coalition’s plan is to launch a ground attack so that Shepard and the coalition forces can get to the conduit and hence reach the Citadel.  As expected, the conduit is heavily guarded by the Reaper.

The Little Boy

In the beginning of this installment, Shepard has found a little boy hiding in one of the buildings on Earth destroyed by the Reaper.  For some strange reasons, Anderson who is with Shepard does not see the boy.  Only Shepard can.  The little boy refuses to go with Shepard and evades the building by himself.

Just before Shepard leaves Earth to rally the alien forces, Shepard sees the little boy getting into one of the transport ships.  The ship does not make it and the little boy is killed in action.

Throughout this third installment, the little boy appears in Shepard’s dreams.  At times, the dream ends with the little boy engulfed in fire.  One time, the dream ends with both the little boy and Shepard engulfed in fire.

The Crash Landing

Back to the final assault, Shepard and the coalition have made a significant impact on the ground against the Reaper.  It is just a matter of getting the coalition transported to the conduit when Shepard’s ship unfortunately crash landed near the beam of light.  All of a sudden, the environment seems dreamy with Shepard and the coalition running to the conduit on foot, dodging fire power shooting from above.

After Shepard makes it to the conduit, Shepard is beamed into the heart of the Citadel.  There are piles and piles of dead human bodies awaiting to be processed.  The scene is unfamiliar and as Shepard enters the gigantic control room overlooking Earth, Anderson is already there.

And so is Illusive Man, who appears to have been indoctrinated by the Reaper.

Under the influence of the Reaper, Commander Shepard shoots Anderson, and then manages to convince Illusive Man that all that he has done is not for humanity, but for the Reaper.  After such realization, Illusive Man shoots himself.  Shepard reaches for the control panel and opens the Citadel up.

Is this the end?

Meet the Catalyst

Apparently not.  Even when the Citadel is operational, nothing happens.  Crucible, the weapon of mass destruction, is not doing what it is supposed to.  What is missing?

As Shepard suffering from multiple combat wounds collapses onto the floor, Shepard is ascended to the top of the Citadel and a ghostly figure that resembles the little boy Shepard has met at the beginning of the installment appears.  It turns out that this ghostly figure is the Catalyst.  He designs a solution for the Reaper to carry out what needs to be done in each cycle: bring order to chaos.  In the past millions of year, Shepard is the only organic life that makes it this far.  So, according to this ghostly little boy, this warrants a new solution.  Shepard has a decision to make.

Why then a human being gets to decide the fate of the galaxy?  Why doesn’t the Catalyst stick to the plan of ascending the older races (i.e. killing) and hence allowing the newer races to flourish in the next cycle?  Does the Catalyst believe that organic life has reached a stage whereby a final peace can be attained?  Or does the Catalyst believe that it is possible to build another Reaper race if need to?

What is the Catalyst?  Like the architect in The Matrix?  What does the Catalyst get out of this?

A New Solution #1 – Destroy the Reaper

Shepard is given three options.  One is to destroy the Reaper.  It appears to be something Anderson would do.  By choosing this option, not only the bad Reaper is destroyed, but also all other good synthetic life as well as major technology currently exists in the galaxy.  The ghostly little boy a.k.a the Catalyst thinks that by choosing this option, chaos will return.  Wouldn’t this go against all that the Catalyst has planned for?

Interestingly, whatever decision Shepard makes will lead to a destruction of all the Mass Relays in the milky way.  Intergalactic travel will no longer be possible.  I suppose from the Catalyst’s perspective, the sole purpose of the Mass Relays is to facilitate Reaper invasion.  Perhaps, this also hints that the Catalyst has decided to put the old solution to rest for good?

Not only that, no matter what, Joker – the pilot of Shepard’s spaceship – will leave Shepard behind and evacuate Earth together with Shepard’s squad mates.  A curious decision Joker has made.  I suppose it is an unspoken piece of story that Shepard must have signaled Joker for the escape.

Imagine for a moment that you are Commander Shepard.  You have no foresight what will happen, though you are presented with scenarios promised by an entity you did not know until now.  Would you order your spaceship to evacuate, along with the coalition forces that are fighting the Reaper in space?  There is no certainty that Earth will be saved (in fact, for some players, Earth will be destroyed).  Why take unnecessary casualty?  Evacuation, in this context, seems to make sense.

A New Solution #2 – Control the Reaper

This second solution seems like something Illusive Man would do.  Shepard could choose to control the Reaper.  But Shepard will die.  My interpretation is that before Shepard perishes, Shepard can issue one final order to the Reaper.  It could a retreat.  Or it could be anything else.  The ending never says.  It is up to your imagination.

A New Solution #3 – Synthesis

Neither of the first two solutions seem ideal.  A part of me believes (or made believe) that when the dust is settled, chaos will return. Reaper may in fact have a role to play in order to ensure the continuation of organic life.  A third option is to synthesize the two by combining the DNA of the Reaper and the organic life.  This becomes the pinnacle of evolution when we are part organic, part synthetic.

This is an attractive option because – again my interpretation – this could be the final test that says our universe is ready for synthesis.  Through Shepard’s action, organic life has stopped fighting against each other.  First time in the galactic history, all alien races stand united.  This could well be the reason why the Catalyst is giving Shepard a free will to decide the fate of the universe.  Reaper could be destroyed, but in doing so, chaos returns and a new Reaper will rise to bring order to the galaxy.  Reaper could be controlled, but the cycle may return.  Synthesis appears to stop the cycle and bring forth the ultimate peace.

There is a small price to pay.  Shepard has to pour his or her energy into the conduit in order to initiate the process.  In doing so, Shepard will cease to exist.

Decision, Decision

Option one appears to be the only option that Shepard may survive.  But many have sacrifice their lives to get to this far.  If this is it, wouldn’t it be selfish for Shepard to think of self perseverance at this final stage?  Wouldn’t self sacrifice be a beautiful ending to such a long saga?  An ultimate sacrifice as decided by the individual player and not by the game developer?

You get to choose to live or die.  You get to decide on the fate of the universe.  Before the final assault, while Commander Shepard is having a final word to the squad members, one has already hinted that the battle ahead will be both physical and mental.  Even Shepard has prophesied that he or she may not join them for a retirement but rather seeing them from Heaven (OK, Mass Effect has no religion so it s not explicitly written as Heaven).

On the record, I chose option three.

Indoctrination Theory

I felt good after choosing option three.  BioWare has mentioned that the journey of Commander Shepard ends in Mass Effect 3.  It is the pinnacle of evolution and it is an option that has to be earned through the three games.  Depending on your war assets, you may not have option three.  You may not even have option two.

After a few hours savoring the victory that is five years in the waiting, suddenly, something hit me.  Was I not supposed to kill the Reaper?  That was my mission, was it not?  To destroy the Reaper at all cost?  What was I thinking?  I did some research on the Internet and I have found this wondering video that explains a totally different interpretation: Indoctrination Theory.

Under this theory, it is said that since Commander Shepard has proven to be a force to reckon with, it is of Reaper’s priority to indoctrinate Shepard in doing its will.  However, since Shepard’s will is exceptionally strong, this indoctrination process takes time.  This explains the dreams and vision Shepard has experienced (codex on Reaper indoctrination can be found in here), as well as all the discrepancies in the ending sequence.

What if, from the moment Shepard crash landed near to the conduit to the final moment Shepard finalizes a decision, nothing is real?  As in, it all happens inside Shepard’s head in this final stage of indoctrination?  Are you as an individual player being deceived to do Reaper’s will?

If so, this could be a monumental milestone in our video gaming history.  Millions of gamers are manipulated by the game developer to potentially choose an option to do Reaper’s will.  Some of us have forgotten our mission and our identity dies in the process.  This explains why option one is the only option whereby Shepard may potentially survive.  This is evident by the final clip when we see Shepard gasps and wakes up inside a pile of debris.  My interpretation is that after Shepard has fought off Reaper indoctrination will he or she wake up from the crash landing.  The war still goes on.  But it is likely that some may have already been beamed up into the Citadel and fired off the Crucible.  It could well be Shepard who does the honor of firing.  Either way, it does not matter.  The battle is won when the last Reaper defense to the conduit is broken, be it as Shepard being indoctrinated or not.

The Legend Continues

Like some of the European movies, Mass Effect 3 has an open ending that is up to our interpretation.  Regardless of the option chosen, there is a small video clip showing a grandfather telling the Shepard story to a little boy.  Whether or not you buy the indoctrination theory, humanity continues for at least a couple of generations.

In my opinion, while the story of Shepard ends here, the Mass Effect universe may continue.  We are introduced to some of the troops who broad the same transport ship and fight alongside with Shepard towards the end of this game.  The war may not be over.  For all we know, BioWare may create a new Mass Effect game from another character’s perspective.  Or they may make Mass Effect a massively multiplayer online game in the future.

Even when the franchise ends right here right now, it is still one of the best sci-fi themed video games we have seen in recent times.

“Who is going to inherit this helmet?”

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin: Gruesome, with No Black and White

I did not choose to read this book.  Not exactly.  During my holiday in Bandung, I have finished the books I have intended to read.  I suppose I could start reading yet another Warcraft story.  Having read four in a roll, I need something more, shall I say, hardcore.  A Game of Thrones lies in Cynthia’s library.  I said to myself, why not?  HBO adapted the saga as a TV series.  It cannot be that bad.  So I dived into this mightily thick book of fantasy, without knowing what I was getting myself into.

I think, or rather I would advocate that in front of every book cover, there should be an advisory sticker like a film rating for movies or ESRB rating for video games.  This book, in my opinion, is unsuitable for the young adults.  It is bloody violent.  Children wield swords to kill (and then I watched The Hunger Games on a big screen wondering where this world is heading).  There are orgies, rapes, and prostitution.  Underage girls having sex.  Sibling having sex.  The most amazing thing is, there is no moral compass or whatsoever in A Game of Thrones.  There are no heroes, no villains.  Seldom characters are rewarded by doing the right things in life, nor they are punished to do the otherwise.  In fact, most of the time, it is the other way round.  Each chapter is filled with drama.  You could almost smell something bad, I mean really bad is going to happen.  Initially, there were surprises.  Then came the predictability.  Soon, I was numb.  I read somewhere that blood, sex, and money always sell on TV.  This book has them all.

Now, if I may accept a story that is so uniquely set up, in a fantasy world that has no black and white, a realm whereby treachery and brutality is the mean to survival, A Game of Thrones is a masterpiece.  So much details being poured into creating a world filled with a massive number of interlinked living and breathing characters.  Each character comes from a unique background.  Not only that, a history is crafted alongside with the main story.  On top of that, this first book of A Song of Ice and Fire saga to me read like a very long prologue.  In this Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, a major conflict is brewing.  This realm is slowly pushed into war from within, a war fueled by vengeance, jealousy, and ambition.  At the same time, there is subtle politics in place that shapes the events.  And, there is something strange happening beyond the realm’s wall in the north.  Creatures unfamiliar to this realm are emerging.  Myths of the dragons start to appear.  Something is brewing.  Something big.  Something mysterious.  But you won’t find the answers in this book.  Because this book is the first of a long saga that is still work in progress.  You have to keep reading to find out more.

Unique to this book, the story is told from a set of characters’ viewpoints.  Each viewpoint corresponds to one chapter.  There are three major Houses in conflict.  House Baratheon, where King Robert belongs.  House Stark, where the king’s right hand man Eddard leads.  And House Lannister, descendants of the blood of Andal adventurers.  The viewpoints are presented by Lord Eddard and his wife Lady Catelyn.  Their daughters Sansa and Arya.  Their son Bran.  Eddard’s bastard son Jon.  Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf who is the brother of the queen (who is nothing like a dwarf).  Finally, Princess Daenerys Targaryen who is the daughter of the previous king and is now in exile.  The initial chapters were a torture to me.  Because I was not used to the shear number of characters and the strange tone used that is specially tailored to suit the lore of the realm.  After I got over the hurdle, I was not able to put the book down.  Switching from viewpoint to viewpoint makes the narrative refreshing, keeps the plot in suspense.  It is a slow and satisfying buildup to the final ecstasy.  The endings are shocking.  They open up more questions than providing the readers with answers.  I am eager to take on the next volume in this series to see more blood, more violence, more sex, and more shame and glory.

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.

The above quote is in essence what this book is about.  After reading A Game of Thrones, I can understand its popularity.  I must admit, I have not read something quite like this before.