Categories
Announcement

See You Whenever We See Next

So my site got hacked again. One of my friends texted me and asked, “End of your blogging career?” I am tired of this daily battle against the unknown hackers and the way things are going, I am not sure when I will start focusing on writing something fun rather than worrying that my site is passing virus to the loyal readers. I am frustrated that I have to hassle my friend for help in a daily basis. Thank you for your visit and your comments over the years. I know at least one of you has been putting up with my nonsense since 1996. If there is a way to continue, I will let you know. See you whenever we see next.

PS. We are shutting down the blog engine till we find a safe way ahead

Categories
Other People's Lives

A Ridiculous S$1,000 Claim Against My Friend By Her Ex-Landlady

Previously I wrote about my friend filing a police report against her ex-landlady for harassment. On the same day, her ex-landlady filed a S$1,000 small claim against my friend for something totally ridiculously trivial. Upon receiving the Notice of Consultation from the Small Claims Tribunal, my friend contacted me if I know of anyone in the law business (having friends to think that I am a walking Yellow Pages is a compliment but yet the reason behind is beyond me). In case if you can’t read the words from the picture above (click to enlarge), here are the exact claim from my friend’s ex-landlady.

Outstanding electricity & water & gas bill for the sum of $123.30 inclusive of purchasing of pipe divider and dirty walls & flooring plus light scratches, moving of items without permission. Claiming for S$1,000 (ALL-IN).

Lawyers will probably cost more than S$1,000 just to consult and inside the Small Claims Tribunal in Singapore, there are no lawyers involved. Just the parties in dispute and the mediator behind close doors. If the matter cannot be resolved in the Small Claims Tribunal, the parties may choose to sue each other in a proper way – full frontal assault with blood and gore.

I am a banker wannabe by day and a lawyer wannabe by night. So I offered my free service to my friend only if she wanted it. I believe in the justice system that has evolved all the way back since the days of the Roman empire; I believe that the truth will find the way to reach us; and I believe that people like her ex-landlady who are wasting our taxpayer’s money should be punished. But before we get to that, I must make sure that my friend is not going to lose the case later this week. Then we shall sue her ex-landlady for anything ranging from emotional distress to reputational damage.

I reviewed the documents she has including tenant agreement, letter of termination, police report, and etc. It is not difficult to reconstruct the events in a chronological manner. The agreed monthly rental was S$1,200 for the entire HDB apartment. At first, her ex-landlady didn’t even want to inform HDB for the approval but my friend insisted. Within a month of stay, her ex-landlady raised the rent (possibly because there is another tenant who offered higher). Not comfortable with how the whole thing was handled, my friend terminated the contract giving one month notice. Her ex-landlady subsequently asked her to move out within 2 weeks claiming that since it is her apartment, she can do whatever she wants. My friend wanted to avoid conflict so she agreed to move out within two weeks.

On the day of the returning of keys, the landlady inspected the apartment and returned the full deposit minus S$100 for the anticipated PUB bills (i.e. utility bills) because her ex-landlady had no idea how much it would be. My friend did not object and they parted way.

A month or so ago, the landlady started to call her (and her company) incessantly asking for outstanding PUB balance to be transferred to the landlady’s account. My friend wanted to see the actual bill and have the payment acknowledgement properly signed but the landlady refused to meet or fax her the bills for verification. My friend suggested three time-slots to meet at her workplace (morning, lunch, and evening) but her ex-landlady claimed that she was not able to. Now how can her ex-landlady find time to attend the Small Claims Tribunal at 11am is beyond me.

As suggested by the police and the court, if my friend feels that she is being harassed, she has the right not to meet her ex-landlady alone. Now, to recap from the lawyer wannabe point of view …

  1. The fact that the landlady has returned the deposit upon inspecting the apartment indicates that the landlady is satisfied with the condition of the apartment. According to the contract, there should be a deduction of S$100 per item that is not working or in a not satisfactory condition.
  2. My friend is not obliged to pay the outstanding without seeing the actual bills. Period. In fact, there should be a refund if the S$100 deduction is more than cover the 2 months PUB bills (note that some flats or estates are heavily subsidised by the government).
  3. The claim should be dismissed after my friend verifies the bills and makes necessary payment (if applicable). S$1,000 is ridiculous.

I am planning to accompany my friend to the Tribunal. Stay tuned for the outcome.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

The Golden Compass – A Promising Beginning Of A Potential Trilogy

When Nicole Kidman first made an appearance in the movie, the dinning hall scene struck a certain sense of familiarity. I whispered to Cynthia, “That dinning hall reminds me of my University days.” Turns out that some scenes were filmed in Oxford, UK (not sure if that particular scene was). As far as I can remember, the dinning halls of the colleges in Oxford look somewhat the same (note: I admit I have not been to all 39 colleges) as I did receive invites from friends of different collages for dinner once in a blue moon. Two long rows of tables along the longer side of the rectangular hall with the “high table” at the short end furthest away from the entrance. Usually the guests of honour and the college fellows take up the high table while the rest of the students dine at the long tables.

But familiarity is certainly not enough for me to like the movie. I admit that I chose “The Golden Compass” because I am impressed by the trailer and I am a big fan of Nicole Kidman. Her airtime in “The Golden Compass” is much less than Michelle Pfeiffer in “Stardust”. Naturally, I would be disappointed. Even Daniel Craig (the latest James Bond) and the Bond girl Eva Green don’t get too much airtime either. The main star of the movie turns out to be a teenage actress from UK – Dakota Blue Richards. She has beaten 10,000 others for the role.

Dakota Blue Richards can easily be one of my favorite child actresses (my favorite being Dakota Fanning). It is hard not to feel her emotions as she journeys from the collage she resides in, and into the land of the ice bears, flying witches with arrows and bows, and different factions of humans that wield guns.

“The Golden Compass” is based on the children novel “Northern Lights” (1995) written by Philip Pullman. That book has won the Carnegie Medal for children’s fiction and yet, has generated a share of controversy with claims that the book attempts to sell atheism to kids. The world of the religious skeptic Philip Pullman is dark and individualistic and religion is evil. Fans of the book are disappointed with “The Golden Compass” as the religion aspect is being washed down in order to perhaps gain a wider audience. For example, the evil organization that dominates the world is renamed to “Magisterium” while in the book, it is referred to as “the church”.

To me, it doesn’t matter. “The Golden Compass” may as well be the extreme opposite end of “The Chronicles of Narnia” and I would say, it is perhaps closer to a scaled down version of the “Lord of the Ring”. I am certainly looking forward to what the next two installments will bring, that is if the filmmaker has decided to carry on producing them.

Categories
Songwriting

Pins Inside My Head

Four months and I have no inspiration or whatsoever to write songs. It is frustrating not to write anything. So tonight, I put aside all the potential social obligations, all the nonsense that I would have done in a routine basis. I sat down and tried to write something. Just anything. And then something came into my mind. I started with some pretty funky chord progression and in the end, discarded them into thin air. I am in dire need to produce some fast paced materials (because in live performance, people fall asleep with slow ones sad to say). Out of my comfort zone, I penned down some lyrics and had such a hard time finding the melody to go with it. Oh well, I tried …

PINS INSIDE MY HEAD

It’s not here neither is there
Feeling like fish out of the sea
Intoxicated, without a cause
Falling like peddles onto the tiles

It is not black neither is white
The question within, the query inside
Lost in words struggling inside
Falling into an empty glass

When I am with you I feel the pins inside my head
When I am with you I feel like spinning round and round and I …
I cannot see where we are heading, no matter how I try
I cannot see where I was heading before this night

This path of no return
The air is sweet, it is dark outside
I want to breath but it’s smoky inside
I want to take you somewhere far …

Away from this chaos devouring this passion we may have
Sinking deep into this paradox of what we cannot have
Surfacing from this boundary of our rational minds
Falling deep into this sweetness …

When I am with you I feel the pins inside my head
When I am with you I feel like spinning round and round and I …
I cannot see where we are heading, no matter how I try
I cannot see where I was heading before this night
I cannot see where we are heading, no matter how I try
I cannot see where I was heading before this night

Copyright ©2007 by Wilfrid K. F. Wong. All Rights Reserved.

Categories
Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

Duran Duran’s Red Carpet Massacre – An 80’s Band With A Modern Sound

These days, I always get a bit apprehensive when dinosaur band out of nowhere comes out with a new album. Countless disappointment and I was about to give Duran Duran’s “Red Carpet Massacre” a miss. But still, I sampled the album and right from the first track, I was gripped by the new modern sound. Yes, I recognise the remarkably sexy voice of Simon Le Bon. Yes, I also recognise the unique melody. But the overall sound of the new album? That is from a different world of Duran Duran.

I can see why some Duran Duran hardcore fans raise their fists in anger. To make it clear to you all, I am not a true fan of Duran Duran. The only one album I love – and not many true fans do – is their second self-titled album a.k.a. “The Wedding Album” (1993). Remember “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone”? Back then, they made a breakthrough from their 80’s image and have that contemporary kind of sound. Today, Duran Duran does just that with the help of Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. Hardcore fans are displeased with that association. But to be fair, this duo only has a hand in 3 out of 12 songs. The influence is there. But to say that “Red Carpet Massacre” betrays the Duran Duran’s original sound by the Timbaland and Timberlake duo is grossly misleading.

Right from the strong opening track of “The Valley” (where is the chorus by the way?! … yet it is so cool!) to the 5th track of the rather slow and memorable ballad of “Box Full O’ Honey”, and my favorite instrument track “Tricked Out” to the ending tracks of “She’s Too Much” and “Last Man Standing”, Duran Duran’s new album never fails to charm with such a diversity, memorable tunes, and depth. I found myself keep repeating certain tracks, keep repeating the entire album. I have a hard time to decide if I like “The Wedding Album” better or this one.

Granted that it is disappointing to the true fans that the guitarist Andy Taylor has once again left the band. Coincidentally, he was not in “The Wedding Album” either so that doesn’t matter to me much. “Red Carpet Massacre” is filled with electric and synthetic sound. I personally don’t miss the guitar sound at all simply because of the setting of the modern pop music background. To me, the sparsely layered guitar sound is just nice.

You may find their new video “Falling Down” in YouTube. I have no idea why the video is so long. Must be the trend of MTV nowadays to make music video like a mini film. Fast forward 2 minutes and 40 seconds if you wish.

Categories
Diary

A Thumb-Up To Samsung’s After Sales Service?

Avid readers of my site may recall my acquisition of a Samsung 22″ wide-screen LCD monitor 3 months ago. One month ago, I saw one vertical line full of dead pixels. I called the Samsung customer service the next morning and I must say, I did find the operator very friendly (unlike the horrible experience I had with SingTel). I described the problem and asked her how the green line could be turned off. She put me on hold for a while and then told me that they have to send a technician on site to fix my problem. I am actually used to their SOP (standard operating procedure). My previous Samsung 17″ LCD monitor has broken down twice. She asked if the technician could visit my home the next day and I suggested the coming weekend instead. It was not a life and death situation. Just one vertical green line of dead pixels.

Then another green line appeared right next to the first one, and another one appeared. Not only that, one line turned red and another one to blue. Pretty funky I must say.

As the technician appeared at my doorstep, we were like … long time no see! He was the same technician who visited my home to fix my previous Samsung LCD monitor twice changing its motherboard because it refused to display anything. I showed him the lines, he verified the problem, and he told me that he needed to order the panel for me. He would have to dissect my two months old monitor and replace the panel. Ouch! I asked if this is a problematic model. He told me that mine was (still is) the first one in Singapore to go wrong. I must buy 4D. In fact, the product quality has gone up so much so that he may be out of job soon, he said.

Two weeks later, the lines were still there and they were getting annoying. So I called up the service line again to explain my situation and suggested a one-to-one exchange. After all, it was pretty new and I reckoned it would be faster to replace the entire monitor than to wait for the parts to arrive. In the afternoon, someone from Samsung called me. I guess she must be pretty senior because of her English proficiency. She verified the problem and I had to wait for their response. In the evening, another person called me and told me that they could not commit to a date when my monitor would be repaired. The most they could do was to loan me a set – not the exact model but something standard. I said, “Look I do have another Samsung LCD monitor at home and all I need is to have my rather new monitor fixed.” He said a one-to-one exchange is not possible because it is more than a week old. I said I wanted to talk to someone who could make decision and he insisted that he got the directive from his manager. “Fine,” I said, “I will write in then.”

I have done some corporate governance projects before and for the sound corporates, letters of complaint usually get routed to an independent entity within the organization that reports directly to the MD or CEO. Moreover, some may have that as a measurement for KPI (key performance indicator). So that was all I did – a very nice professional and mature letter of complaint.

The next day, Samsung called me to arrange a one-to-one exchange and proposed to have the monitor delivered to my doorsteps within 12 hours. Now I am staring at my yet again brand new Samsung LCD monitor. Thumb up to Samsung’s after sales service? I think so. Some friends of mine are curious about what I wrote in that letter of complaint. Here it is just because you ask for it and not anything else.

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Hitman – You May Actually Like It

This is how the Movie Review Squad works: one of us fill in an application form 118(A) to propose a movie title and if none of us veto or veto the veto, we will go ahead with the booking – with exceptions of course. Somehow my fetish for horror flicks is always vetoed by TK and Cynthia, and so is my fetish for Asian movies. But that is another story.

On Saturday morning, I passed TK’s 118(A) form to Cynthia and she OK’d it. So I asked TK to go ahead with the booking. I knew “Hitman” is a video game adaptation so as a gaming geek, I certainly have no issue with it. TK picked it and God knows why he picked it. Cynthia thought the leading actor was someone else. So what was the outcome?

One dude behind us was saying stuffs like, “Man, should have watched Enchanted instead”. Another dude replied, “That is a one-star movie, that’s why!” We certainly had no idea that it is a one-star movie. Otherwise I would have vetoed it. Surprisingly, all three of us seemed entertained by “Hitman”. It is a brainless show, I am warning you. Read on if you have an open mind.

The casting is pretty international: Americans, Scottish, Danish, and Ukrainian. I thought the Ukrainian actress, Olga Kurylenko, is pretty hot for her role but Cynthia did not think so. Vin Diesel, who is the executive producer, was supposed to play the role of the lead actor Agent 47. I wonder why he stepped down and here comes the Hawaiian origin Timothy Olyphant to take on the role. I also enjoy the Scottish actor Dougray Scott’s performance whom some of you may have recognised him from the TV series Desperate Housewives. The acting is acceptably decent – judging from the computer gaming perspective. The storyline is simple, nothing fancy. It started off like the TV series Dark Angel whereby orphans are being taken in and trained as assassins.

The question is: both Agent 47 (Mike Whittier) and Mike Whittier from the Interpol (Dougray Scott) have killed people in the course of their work, what makes the good guy has the right to take life? That was the beginning of the movie and then the storyline rewound all the way to couple of months ago. The story is not that deep, trust me. But it is enjoyable. “Hitman”, I think, has faithfully followed the gaming culture. For example, at one point, all the hitmen dropped their guns and have decided to fight with their swords. Cynthia was screaming like, “How can?!” But in a computer gaming environment, it is very common to switch weapons. I told her that she is fortunate not to see a chainsaw … ha ha ha (yep, it is a legitimate weapon commonly used). And there is one particular scene I love. Agent 47 was lying on the bed and the sexy Nika Boronina (Olga Kurylenko) was on top of him with a red dress falling off her shoulders and no panties. There was no sex (close enough). It was classic. In a gaming culture, there may be lots of blood violence with pieces of corpse flying everywhere, it is never meant to be pornographic (except for a few). I love it. Not to forget to mention the music effect. It is so computer gaming, if you know what I mean. The music always intensifies when something is going to happen.

If you are in for some brainless entertainment or if you are a gaming enthusiast, “Hitman” may be for you. I personally don’t think “Hitman” deserves such a poor rating. I know there are quite a few netizens who agree with me.

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

This Is How Love Is Measured

Everything in life can be measured, that is what I believe – either directly, via proxy measurement, or indirectly. One friend of mine asked: how do we measure love?

We don’t have something like a love-meter, nor any consistent correlation that can scientifically measure love. How love is measured (after months and years of pondering), I think, is simply how much time you spend thinking of that someone or something positively during the day. Time is finite and it is a good unit of measure because everybody has the same number of hours a day. If you are thinking of that LV bag the entire day, yes, you are in love with that LV bag. If you are craving for sushi the entire day, yes, you would love to have sushi for dinner. If you think of work even after office hours, in as much as you hate to admit, you love your work more than your own family, or your cat, or your dog.

It is kind of simplistically elegant. If you are unsure whether you love A or B more, ask yourself one question: do you think of A or B more often? No more dilemma, no more so called follow your heart. If you love someone, you think of that someone often.

Not too surprisingly, if you hate that something or someone, you also think of that person or that thing often. Love and hate belongs to the same category – intense feeling towards something or someone (the opposite of love is indifference).

So, what does falling out of love mean? Perhaps that is when you think lesser of that someone each passing day. Perhaps having the pictures of your family at your workplace does make sense. You see, you think, therefore you love. Perhaps having a picture of your dog as your wallpaper does reinforce how much you love your little companion.

So, do you love me more than I love you? Tell me how often you think of me and I may tell you what you want to know.

Love can be measured, I believe.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

2 Days In Paris – The Magic Of Julie Delpy Continues

A well reviewed film written, acted, directed, edited, co-produced, and scored by Julie Delpy – I had no idea when I booked the seats for the Movie Review Squad. Being such a huge fan of Julie Delpy, I really don’t need any other reason to watch “2 Days In Paris”. It was a nice surprise that this film is very much like “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset”. The characteristic lively dialogues are still there. The only difference is that the individual scenes are relatively shorter in “2 Days In Paris” rather than a series of long takes.

In “2 Days In Paris”, French photographer Marion (Julie Delpy) traveled with her American boyfriend Jack (Adam Goldberg) to Paris and took the opportunity to introduce him to her family. During this brief stay, Jack was overwhelmed with the country of a different language, different culture, and perhaps meeting too many of Marion’s ex-boyfriends may not be such a good idea after all.

One thing you should agree with me after watching the movie would be: the chemistry between the actors and actresses is amazing. Then I realized that Marion’s parents in the movie are Julie Delpy’s real life parents. The cat in the movie also belongs to her. And most amazing of all, her boyfriend in the movie is her ex-boyfriend in real life.

There are lots of quality scripting in “2 Days In Paris”. Julie Delpy is such a talent and unfortunately she prefers to release her work as independent films. The critics love her works but somehow that doesn’t translate to box office results. You really can’t miss this one if you enjoy watching “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” or you enjoy watching the genre of romantic drama. The following trailer may not do the film justice but you’ll get an idea what the film is about.

Categories
Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 8 – A Story

At night, I drive. Clueless about direction. Clueless about my destination. A listless body. Heavy in breathing. Clueless about where I am heading. Clueless about what I am doing. I drive, at night.

Porcelain, unblemished whiteness. Below which a story less common. And to life, we toast. And this moment, we live. Above which a being least ordinary. Fragile darkness, pain.

The spirit is high. In red and white. Under the starry night. We smile and weep. We stumble and humbled. Until the darkness falls. In black and grey. The road is wide.

I hardly know you. At night, I drive. Familiar places. Unfamiliar road signs. Sometimes, I wish. An angel comes by.