New DS Lite

I've finally purchased the Nintendo DS Lite. Gamescore at Funan was selling it at a pretty decent price. It's still not the local edition, it's actually from the US, which is totally fine (and better!) for me.

Anyway, here are some pics of the bee-yoo-tee-ful DS Lite as compared to the original DS. For the uninitiated, the DS is the big clunker on the right while the DS Lite is the smaller one on the left. If you look at the second pic, you can see that the screen on the DS Lite is also much more vibrant and bright. Very nice.



Actually, to be frank, Nintendo is quite irritating. It's barely 1.5 years since they release the DS and they are releasing the DS Lite which is pretty much the same machine except for the brighter screen. Only hardcore gamers like me will buy the DS Lite despite having the DS already. Sigh. Yeah, yeah.. quite the sucker.... But hey, it is pretty, is it not?

Level 51. :-D

I spent the whole evening building my Lego Ferrari F1 Formula 1 Racer. Really like the whole thing. I think the Lego designers really do excellent jobs of designing models of objects (both real-lfe and imaginary!). Took me almost 4 hours to build the whole thing. Now I'm quite tempted to go back Raffles City to see if I can pick up any other Lego bargains...

Here are some pics I took.



And here's the whole product! Very pleased with myself!

One week of the June Holz have passed. So fast. That's one quarter of the whole thing man..

The week was kept busy with the first two leadership challenge workshops for the sec 3s. Think they went on quite ok. Personally, I enjoy doing such stuff. Maybe should consider doing them on a long term basis. heh.

The next two weeks shouldn't be too busy. Have to work on some events but other than that, should be quite easy-going. Looking forward to much more wow-ing. Right now, I'm at a reasonably respectable lvl 49. Heh... Maybe can hit Lvl 55+ by end of holz. But I must admit that sometimes, WoW is starting to be a bit of a chore. Trying to level up at 45+ is quite draggy. Ok lar, still quite an interesting game so should be hooked for a while more.

Die lar, everywhere having sale. Kino also having their month-long 20% sale. Today, I found out that Gramaphone (DVD place) also having like storewide 15% off DVDs... Everything just clamouring for money! Must try to practice a little more self control.. just a little..

Still thinking if I want to go away for a short trip. Was thinking of either Hong Kong or Siem Reap. Hong Kong airfares not bad, but the hotels.. omg.. the hotel prices are scary. That's the result of having a Disneyland lor. Hotel rooms are in high demand, prices go sky high. Sianz.

ok, enough blogging. Precious time taken away from WoW. Hmm.. tomorrow should find time to go watch Da Vinci code. Yeah.. kinda sad rite? So long still haven watch. Sigh.

Went to Raffles City today coz I heard they were having a Lego. They were having two displays, a pirate one and the other was about the World Cup (everything seems to be about World Cup.. Yawn..). But I must say that this Lego World Cup stadium is really quite cool. Quite happy I went coz they were having a 20% sale on almost all Lego products there. Bought myself a Star Wars B-Wing bomber. Damn happy! Wanted to buy one for quite a while but dun have offer. Now just nice!


Here are pics of the cool B-wing which I built earlier tonight. It's fantastic how they make it so similar to the actual.


The B-wing can even dock with the bay in a standing position! And the wings & cockpit can open... cool lar!


Also bought a Lego Ferrari. Though I'm not into cars, this was (1) really quite cool and (2) down to $75 from an original of $139!! Maybe I'll start on the Ferrari tomorrow...

X3 ending - Warning Spoiler!

This is for 'dar' who asked about the ending. I've typed it below in white so those who dun want to noe before watching the movie can skip it. The rest can highlight the text to read it.

Basically, if those who watched the show remember, there was a scene earlier in the movie (seemingly small and meaningless) about the power of mutants. In that scene, Professor Xavier basically explained that some mutants can even transfer their consciousness from one human to the other, and they showed a scene of a person who was brain dead. In the final scene after the credits, the same brain-dead person was shown. But suddenly, he is speaking with Prof Xavier's voice... hence, the fact is, Prof Xavier wasn't killed by Phoenix (sob sob), he was able to transfer his consciousness to that brain-dead guy before Phoenix tore him apart.

If you paid attention, in that earlier scene, Prof Xavier did refer to the doctor next to the brain dead guy as Dr. Moira. She's a character in the X-men universe. Here's a snippet of some info I found on her in the net:

"Charles Xavier earned his bachelor degree in biology at Bards College and was accepted into Oxford University, where over the next few years he successful earned degrees in genetics and biophysics at the same time. While there Xavier met and fell in love with Moira MacTaggert, a fellow geneticist. The two became engaged and planned to marry upon the annulment of Moira's marriage to her first husband, Joseph MacTaggert."

I'm in trouble.

I've been engaging in retail therapy intensively for the last two weeks. Sigh.

Feeling very frivolous. Sigh.

X Men 3

This is of course the finale to the X Men trilogy.

The good thing is, this really ends the trilogy with a big bang. There are plenty of effects (the ending scene is really quite gorgeous) and lotsa fighting & mutant powers. There are also some heart-wrenching moments, I won't say more so as not to spoil the movie for the rest of you.

The bad thing is, the script is kinda weak. Some of the lines are so lame. And many of the characters seem to be there just to show off a power of two. You can feel the difference between Bryan Singer's direction (in X Men 1 & 2) and Brett Ratner's. The former is more character based while the latter is basically all bangs and whistles. Some of the scenes have the potential to be real tear jerkers, but somehow, the director just doesn't develop the characters enough for you to really feel for them.

On the whole, this is still a very watchable and enjoyable movie. Anyway, if you've watched X Men 1 & 2, there's no way you're gonna miss X Men 3.

And just so you know, there is a scene right at the end of the credits, so do stay till the very end.

Over the Hedge Review

I watched Over the Hedge last weekend. Together with Shrek 1 & 2, this new animation shows that Dreamworks can easily complete with Disney/Pixar.

The characters are totally lovable. The script is intelligent so that older teens/adults can also enjoy the humour. And the animation is also top notch.

The hedgehogs, possums, turtle, squirrel and raccoon really make an excellent group. I'm so tempted to go out and buy the toys!

And the ending, oh the ending... HILARIOUS!

I can't say this enough. If you want some good laughs, don't miss this movie!

Local comedies are so dead. I decided to give the new ABC DJ a try, pilot episode, and within the first 5 minutes, I have already decided to change channels.

It's really really pathetic.

Their characterization of an American-Born Chinese (hence ABC) is so far out and totally stereotypical. I think everyone should be offended to see such an act.

Their local family is also totally sad. I mean, how do you have a teenage boy who is apparently, totally nerdy, does chinese poetry and happens to fry good bee hoon??!!! I mean, how on earth do they come up with such a character!

And of course, the boy LOVES the ABC and all his antics.

It's so sad.

These are some new hooks on sale. Saw them in Carrefour. I really don't mean to be sick... but I think the design is just so wrong...

This was taken during the Green Earth Week in school. Remember the booth which was exchanging used normal batteries for new ones? Heh, I thought it was kinda funny that they used a trash bin and labelled it 'EXCHANGE PROGRAMME'.. lolz... so funny in so many different ways...

I took this on the way to the polling station on Voting day. I really don't know how the owner could drive this purple coloured car. I don't think I'm a conservative kind of guy, but this purple car is really too far off the normal-o-meter.

okok... i admit, I've not been blogging regularly. It's not as if I had nothing to blog about. I've been pretty busy with Open House & Malaysian Montage preparations. And before that, when I wasn't so busy, I must admit that i've kept myself busy with WoW.

Well, I've taken a few pics over the last 2-3 weeks which I thought were kinda funny. So I'll share them in the next few posts.

A very nice day

Today was a very nice day. Quite a few things just went my way and it made it very very very pleasant.

1. A kind soul
Woke up and played some WoW. Things were going as normal.. trying hard to find people to help me with some quests and running around gather stuff. Suddenly, someone sent a message that he wanted to give away 100 gold! Now, for the non-wow players, 100 gold to a lvl 39 character is really quite a windfall. Furthermore, I was looking to buy a horse when i reached lvl 40 but that would cost about 90 gold and i had only about 40 gold. At first, I (together with the people in the same area) didn't believe it. We thought it could be a trap, it could be someone playing us for a fool or someone out to waste our time. But I thought, what the heck.. I was nearby and the worst that could happen was I got killed and wasted some time. Guess what. The fella was legit. He was apparently giving up on playing WoW and wanted to get rid of whatever he had left. He asked the few of us who were there to roll for it (kinda like throwing a dice in WoW) and out of a possible 100... I rolled 99!! The fella gave me stuff worth 100 gold and that was it! I was 100 gold richer! That really made my day.

2. Quick Delivery
After that, I decided to go get my miniSD card replaced. I had bought a 1Gb card on Saturday which didn't work so I had to go down to get a replacement. Yesterday, over the phone, the tech guy told me they had no replacement stock and asked me to leave my card with them. The stock would come a week or two later. I was quite bummed when I heard that. Anyway, I decided to go hand in my card and wait for the replacement. When my turn came, guess what.. .they replaced my card on the spot! And the card works! :-) That was happy incident number 2.

3. Great concert
I then went to Suntec coz I wanted to catch the preview of Poseidon (will talk abt the movie at another post). After the movie, I walked around a little and was going to go Carrefour before going home. Then I noticed that The Rock auditorium had a banner for a Steven Curtis Chapman concert, for that night! SCC is one of my favourite singers. I've loved his songs for many years (since JC time?) and I've always hoped to go for his concert, but he never came to Singapore. Now there was a concert! But... I didn't have any tickets. And boy was I underdressed - my bochap T-shirt and shorts... After wandering a little, I gave up and went Carrefour. Then I decided, no harm asking if I could be admitted. Worse come to worse, the fella would laugh at me and say no. So, I went back up and guess what, they had started a queue for people without tickets! And in less than 5mins, I was in the concert... .and BOY WHAT A GREAT CONCERT IT WAS!

So all in. A very very very nice day. :-D

Totally Cool!

I just had my first experience in watching a webcast from US... shiok!

Basically, it's the presentation by Nintendo just before E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo in the US. And gamespot.com has a live webcast. I always thought webcasts were laggy, had poor resolution and were basically unwatchable. Wow, this one changed my mind. There was zero lag. The whole webcast was smooth without and skips or waiting times. The image, though not very big was clear and watchable.

I've always wanted to go E3. I think watching a live webcast from E3 is certainly a decent substitute.

As for the webcast itself, it was interesting. We had Nintendo showing the new Wii console and they were demonstrating how the new controller works. Plenty of demos and trailers. The new Zelda game looks awesome. So does the new Mario game for the Wii and Nintendo DS. And it's all gonna be released around Oct/Nov... very close to PS3 launch date too!

Talking about PS3, the launch price is fixed... alittle on the expensive side, US499 for the 20Gb system and US599 for the 60Gb version. But hey, it does come with a Blu-ray drive and the system is looking good. I was a little disappointed at the BIG revelation fo the new controller, which is basically the same design as the old controller, except that it had motion sensing built in and vibration taken out.

The coming months is gonna be interesting for console games and painful on the wallet! heh.

Hmm.. gamespot is having a life webcast of Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference in about an hour. It's already 2am... shall I stay up and watch? Dunno whether can tahan!

Mission Impossible 3

MI3 marks the beginning of the summer blockbuster season. After MI3 comes the other big movies of the year, X-Men, Da Vinci Code, Superman... And I think it's quite a good start.

The story is a little convoluted. As were the previous two movies. They try to be smart, but think they often end up just being confusing. Double cross here, secret agent there, no big surprises here.

But the action. Oh my goodness, the action... I think it all comes together in a very nice package. Although they were set-pieces with soppy interludes here and there, the action sequences were exciting. And they came fast and furious. The rescue sequence, the vatican sequence, the escort sequence, etc, etc. Super cool.

If you are looking for intellectual stimilultion, forget it. Give this show a miss. If you want wham-bang action.... this show is just the thing for you!

Who's in the driver's seat?

Something that's been on my mind these two weeks.

We know passion drives us forward. It's the thing that sustains us even when the odds are against us.

I'm not being political, but one obvious case is someone like Chee Soon Juan. Frankly, I can't support him because I think he chooses to make a fool of himself. But you cannot deny the passion (misguided as it may be) that has fueled his opposition to the current government. Despite everything (but the proverbial kitchen sink) being thrown at him, he continues to plough on, step by step. That's passion.

Many of us give up when the going gets tough. We are discouraged when things seem to work against us. We complain when the people we work with disappoint us or discourage us. I must admit I feel these frequently. But at a recent talk, I was reminded with a simple question... What drives you? If you have a passion to do something, then things that come along your way would simply be challenges for us to overcome.

So, what drives you?

Here's another pic of my character in World of Warcraft. Yeah, I know it's no big deal, but hey, I'm kinda proud that it's finally a lvl 37!

Reviews

Wow, didn't even realize it's been a week since I last updated my blog. Must admit that I've been spending most of my weekends and evenings on WoW. Oh wells.

Last Sunday, caught The Sentinel. Dunno really why I went to watch it. It was probably the movie at the most convenient time. Anyway, it's a pretty by-the-book kinda detective-thriller movie. It's about this the secret service who works around the clock to protect the US president and how they suddenly discover that someone among them is a mole. Of course, there's the usual 'innocent-man-get-framed' story. It's watchable. But no big deal. Of some interest would be that Eva Longoria (of Desperate Housewives fame) is in this movie. Sadly, she really is there just for the pretty-vase effect. Within less than 1 minute of screen time, we have a close-up shot of her posterior... aka buttocks. She tries lar, but it's hard to forget her bimbo role in DW. I don't think her movie career is gonna go anywhere.



Next up, I caught The Wild yesterday with some old friends. Yes, everyone is comparing this movie to Madagascar and who can blame them. The similarities are uncanny. However, although I don't really think Madagascar was that great, I think that overall, it's a better movie than The Wild. [Characters] The characters in the wild just aren't very memorable. In fact, quite forgettable. The one I remember most, is probably the Koala. They even have penguins in The Wild. But the commando penguins in Madagascar can easily put a shot through the heads of The Wild's penguin. There's also this scary pigeon dance routine. [Bad Guys/Herd] Madagascar had the cute watchamacallits. The Wild had these Wilderbeests who were really painful to watch. Their dance was sooooooo bad. Quite a turn-off. [Song] Who can forget the 'move it, move it' dance from Madagascar. The Wild tries to duplicate it with their own song.. but I have no idea what is the song and frankly, I have no desire to find out.

Overall, The Wild ain't too bad. There are some good jokes (but mostly related to sh***ing or f**ting). On the whole, Disney better be glad they still have Pixar on their side. With Chicken Little and The Wild, Disney is showing that they are pretty much losing their touch.



And finally, today, I caught Ice Age 2. The movie was ok. But in my opinion, they should simply do an hour-long story with Scat (the prehistoric squirrel). All the parts in between were ok, but no big deal. The parts with Scat were pretty funny. I guess most of you have already watched this one. OK lar. Worth watching. But I think the sequel should simply be Ice Age 3: Scat's story.

extravagance.

I feel guilty. Quite guilty. But this guilt also feels real good. Very good.

Today, I went with my fren to get some upgrades for my computer. This comp is about 1.5 yrs old, and I thot it would be nice to add some new stuff to it. So the changes are:

RAM: 512MB DDR2 to 2GB DDR2
MOUSE: Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse to Razer Laser Gaming Mouse
GRAPHICS CARD: ATI X300, 128MB card to NVIDIA PCX7600GT, 256MB card

I can now play games at HIGHEST graphics settings! Shiok. So shiok.

I tried a little but of WoW just now and the graphics & ram upgrade was... nothing short of wonderful.

Firstly (and most importabtly), very little/no lag in graphics! Now, when I go to places like Ironforge, there is practically no lag! I always thought it might have been the network, but now, it's obvious that my old graphics card was the reason.

Secondly, there is a definite difference in the effects like shading and the sharpness of the graphics. I can actually see the individual patches/blades of grass! So sweet!

As for the mouse, well, I don't really know the real impact. But together with the Rantopad mousepad, it's really quite a joy to use. And the Razer is really very sensitive.

Oh well... all this to have a better WoW experience.... heh...

Sucky Service

I was in quite a normal happy mood today until I met with three incidents of really lousy service in the evening. Kinda put me in a bit of a crappy mood.

First incident: I was at J8 BEST DENKI and decided to ask about the price of LCD TVs. The salesguy was quite nice about it and told me I should consider plasma instead coz I was thinking about 40 inch TV. So we brought me to a few models, demoed them, explained their features, and I was quite pleased. But I wasn't gonna buy yet so I thanked him and told him I will think about it. Then I said I needed an alarm clock. The fella then simply said,"Oh we don't have. Only radio alarm." and walked away. I walked to the radio alarm clocks barely 15 metres away and the fella didn't bother serving me. It was quite a put off. Big ticket item, shows me interest. Buy alarm clock, not interested.

Second incident: I then went to the SONY store at J8 to get the alarm clock. They also had a whole range of their BRAVIA LCD TVs on display. So I purchased the alarm clock and then asked the salesguy what was the difference between the V and S series. The fella looked at me and simply said, "V is better than S". And that was it. I mean... come on lar. It wouldn't kill you to explain seriously to me right? And worse still, this is suppose to be an official Sony store lah. Buay Tahan!

Third incident: The icing on the cake. I then went to Kim San Leng Food centre (the one near the old bishan NTUC) to buy chicken rice home for dinner. I've bought rice from there frequently coz I think it's not bad. Usually buy for family and students as well. And I usually ask for a packet of their black sauce coz I dun like chili and their black sauce is the 'good' kind (the thick, gooey, not too salty kind). So, this time, after they packed my rice, I asked for a packet of black sauce. The shop guy looked at me with this disgusted look and said (in dialect),"one packet only, no black sauce. must buy at least two packets." WAH LAU EH. I mean, this is a packet of sauce lar. I mean, you can't even give some black sauce! Some more give me attitude. I mean, you can even say, 10 cents one packet, and I would have gladly paid for it lar (after all, sushi shops sell the miniscule packet of light soy sauce for 5 cents!). I think this is a real stupid decision by the stall. I've pretty much decided not to eat there anymore.

So there we have it, three incidents of lousy service in one night.

Singapore sure has a long way to go if they want shops to give good service.

Inside Man

I watched Inside Man on Friday late morning.

Thought it would be a pretty good show since it had powerhouse actors like Jodie Foster and Denzel Washington. I really like Jodie Foster. She's an excellent actress.

The show was ok lar. Nothing very fantastic but I liked how they planned the entire bank robbery.

But I HATED one thing. For some reason, the censors decided to silence off all the coarse language in the film! It was really really irritating. They even censored words like 'b***h' and 'a**h***'.

I'm not saying those words are fine. But frankly, there are much more provacative scenes in many other PG movies. I don't even see the point of just silencing those words.

OK lar, at least the cinema was honest enough to display a sign at the ticket counter to warn customers that the words have been silenced. In future, I don't think I'm gonna waste money on such censored films.

This last two days have been totally spent on World of Warcraft. I've been quite sick of staying in the lvl 20s region and decided it was time to push for at least a lvl 30. So, with the long weekend, I made up my mind that I will work at it. At first, I was thinking of getting twinked by a friend who was at lvl 60. But in the end, I am pleased to say that I managed to go from lvl 28 to 31 in two days. LOLZ! I am quite proud of myself. It wasn't easy. I think all in, I played for about 24 hours in total. 24 hours of WoW out of 48. heh. Sinful.

This will most certainly not be the norm. Don't think I can take such intense gaming too often.

Now for lvl 40!

Home

It's nice to be home. Bed just feels..better.

Last night I had two dreams. I got up at about 6am with one dream... went back to sleep and woke again with a different dream. But both dreams were similar. To keep a long story short, both dreams had me running away from something. I just kept running and running away, trying to escape but in both dreams, I kinda end up in the same place where I first started running.

The implications might be obvious, but I really dunno. Maybe it's just a dream.

Vietnam Day 14 - Ho Chi Minh & Homeward Bound

It's about 2pm on Saturday afternoon here in Ho Chi Minh City(HCMC). The last few days haven't been too bad. I think it's coz there was some time in the evenings to do some walking and shopping and the day for our flight home was getting closer and closer.

Don't get me wrong. I do like Vietnam. It's just that I would very much prefer it for fun rather than work. In fact, I'm seriously planning a return trip to visit some of the more exotic places like Halong Bay and Phang Na caves.

Shopping has been not too bad in HCMC. Managed to buy a few interesting things, like a DIY paper model of Himeji castle and some interesting tealight cups. Will post some pics when I get back to Singapore.

Three more hours to my flight back to Singapore. My next post will probably be back home.

Vietnam Day 10 - Ho Chi Minh

Finally got to post my Day 9 thoughts. Had problems connecting to blogger from the hotel in Hue. Well, I'm into Day 10 of my trip. It's Tuesday night and I'm finally due back on Saturday night. That means 4 more days and nights. It's not that i don't like Vietnam but two weeks away from home due to work is kinda sad.

I've been to Ho Chi Minh about 7 or 8 years ago so I'm not really new to the place. We have many candidates here so it's gonna be quite a bit of marking and interviewing over the next few days.

The hotel's not bad. Only thing is internet is only available at the lobby. Sigh. Can't surf in the comfort of my room.

Vietnam Day 9 - Hue

Second last day in Hue.

We managed to finish work a little faster and so I finally had an afternoon off! My first real off-time since coming to Vietnam. So, I took the opportunity to visit two emperor tombs and the citadel, kinda like Vietnam's version of China's Forbidden City.

The first one I visited was Emperor Khai Dinh's tomb. Not very big site. Just a few buildings. But the tomb was quite grand, had cermaic and glass tiles all over the main burial building. However, Khai Dinh was supposed to be a little 'off' in that he tried to mix western and vietnamese culture together. So the tomb is supposed to be a bit of a joke... not pure.

Next was Emperor Tu Duc's tomb. This place is much larger, also contained his first wife's and one of his foster son's tomb. According to my guide, Tu Duc was a good man, but a poor leader. Under him, he apparently gave away 6 provinces to the French. He also didn't have any sons (despite having over 100 wives!) so his foster children took over after his death.

After the two tombs, I visited the Citadel. Huge place but sadly left to ruin. The government is trying to restore it, but it's a huge task which I don't think they will be able to accomplish (not in my lifetime at least). Some really beautiful buildings inside. Of worthy mention is the temple where they placed pictures and tablets of the nine emperors of the 'Mui' dynasty. Really awesome. There were these nine huge urns, one for each of the emperors.

Pictures can be seen in my album. Please click on the left for the link if you are interested.

We'll be flying off to Ho Chi Minh tomorrow evening for the last leg of the trip. Looking forward to home sweet home!

OMG... just saw this advertised in a website. What a fantastic idea!

Had dinner with some parents in Hue. Dinner was ok but the thing which I want to blog about is this fruit which we had for dessert. It's a really sweet fruit, with quite alot of milky sap. Guess what's the name of this fruit? 'Breast Milk' fruit! heh. According to the locals, if you look at how the fruit looks in the pic... it kinda looks like the front view of the breast of a woman... porno rite! haha...

After dinner, the others wanted to go for vietnamese coffee but I decided to walk around a little. I chanced upon a roadside shop which had 4 bottles of medicinal wines displayed. Here are two bottles... with the cobra, crow, and dunno how many different snakes! I was really grossed out.. those in Singapore usually have maybe one or two snakes. These were packed with all kinds of snakes.


Here are the other two bottles with a cobra artistically placed in each of them. I have no idea how anyone can drink these...

After checking in, we went for dinner by the Huong River. Spanning the river is the Truong Tien bridge which changes colours every few seconds.. simple but really beautiful. Here's a shot.

I'm staying at the Hotel Saigon Morin. Wow.. nice hotel. Not very expensive, but the room is very nice and BIG. Here's a pic of my room.

Vietnam Day 7 - Hue

Done with Hanoi so we made our way to Hue. Hue is supposed to be like a historical place coz it's the place where the Vietnamese emperors were buried. While I would really like to visit the tombs, I know I probably won't get a chance. Anyway, we were greeted with our first gloomy, rainy, overcast day in Vietnam when we arrived at Hue.


Can't believe that I've already been in Vietnam for a week.

Tomorrow's Sunday.. still must work. Sianz.

Back from dinner. Went to this quaint restaurant in the middle of nowhere.. heh..not really lar, it was next to some famous lake, but it was really like in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, food was ok. The real sell was the interesting building. Dunno lar, but I heard it was some authentic old chinese building. Here's a nice night shot. Tomorrow I'll be off to Hue, hope the hotel is good and has decent internet too.

Vietnam Day 6 - Hanoi

Have some time before dinner.

Today's been ok. But feeling a little moody. Maybe coz missing my mummy... :-P
(heh.. more like missing cable vision & xbox360....)

Saw this on Youtube.

Dunno if it's new or not, but it's my kind of humour!

If you like a good fart joke.. watch it!

This was one of the coolest finds in the Vietnamese traditional arts village.. GUCCI slippers! Wow.. I didn't know Gucci was manufactured by the traditional vietnamese......

Vietnam Day 5 - Still in Hanoi

Day's work just ended. Been travelling around visiting schools today. Then in the evening, had to do admin stuff.

I'm happy that the hotel's internet is so good... can blog easily.

No pics today coz nothing exciting to see. Hanoi is of course very different from Danang. It's certainly a bustling city. Main similarity... motorcycles everywhere.

One thing which I keep thinking about is doing a CIP trip to Vietnam. I did one many years ago and it was a very good experience for both me and the students. Maybe I should consider planning one this year.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will have some time to see some of Hanoi tomorrow. Then again, this is a working trip, so I don't really expect much. Can always visit Hanoi again another time, budget airfares to Vietnam are really cheap!

Oh yah, pics from the sightseeing yesterday have been uploaded. Click on my album on the right to take a look.

Vietnam Day 4 - Hanoi

It's Day 4 in vietnam. Haven't been able to blog the last two days coz the internet in the hotel at Danang was really bad. Always kena disconnected after a couple of minutes. Then after that, have lots of trouble trying to connect again. I've moved on to Hanoi now and the hotel is much better. Other than the nicer room & many more TV channels, the Internet is stable! heh.

Day 2 & 3 were pretty much taken up by work. That's kinda boring so I won't blog much about it. This morning was also work but after that, we had a couple of hours before our flight from Danang to Hanoi so our hosts brought us on a short sightseeing trip.

First we went to a beach in Danang. The beaches are supposed to be famous here. Well, I must admit it's not bad, but it's not really the best I've seen. Anyway, I don't think I'd come all the way to Danang in Vietnam for the beach. After that, we travelled all the way to this place called Quang Nam I think. They had a place there which basically showcased traditional Vietnamese lifestyle. It was fairly interesting. I liked the way they had these machines to help in daily tasks and they had people there demonstrating them.

Here's a pic of four ladies who were using this simple contraption to scoop water from the lake. It really looks easier than it really is. Takes quite some practice and coordination before you can get it to work smoothly.



Here's a pic of a bullock powered sugar cane crushing machine. Basically the bulls go round and round and rotate the gears which cursh the sugar cane. I thought that was pretty cool!



The last part of the visit was a food tasting. We were served dishes after dishes of traditional vietnamese food. Here's one of the tastier ones, it's some rice skin with a bit of meat inside and some fired shallots for garnishing. It tastes quite similar to our 'har kow'.


After the sightseeing, we made our way to the airport for our 55min flight to Hanoi. So here I am now, in Hanoi. Tomorrow is the start of the second cycle. It's my first time in Hanoi so I hope to finish the work a little faster so that I can hopefully see a little of the city before moving on.

Sigh... honestly, I'm missing Singapore...

Vietnam Day 1 - Danang

Howdy! I'm blogging today from Danang in Vietnam. Yeah, I'm on another recruitment trip and this time it's to Vietnam. This trip is gonna be quite demanding. Will be travelling to 4 cities in 14 days. Quite a whirlwind trip.

It's my second time to Vietnam. I visited Vietnam 7 to 8 years ago. That time, I only visited Ho Chi Minh City. It was a really good trip. I had brought students there on a CIP trip. Quite an eye opener as we were helping the orphans there who had been affected by Agent Orange.

This time round, I'll be going to Danang, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Hue. Don't really know much about the other places but frankly, I know I'll generally be cooped up in the room or school marking or conducting interviews, so I don't think I'll get to see much of the cities anyway.

Quite tired coz it was a long trip today. Started off at 10am with the 3hr flight to Hanoi. Sad thing was, we had to wait almost 5 hours for our connecting flight to Danang. So in the end, it was almost 10 hours of travelling today. We arrive in Danang after Sunset so nothing much to see. Managed to snap this picture from my hotel room window. Oh yah... thankfully the room is quite decent and there is wireless internet! Heh, I know it's sad that being connected on the internet can bring so much joy.

Here's the night view from my hotel room window. Nice eh? That's the Han River you see in the background.



Dinner was not bad. Went to a local chinese restaurant and had really good vietnamese salad and steamboat. I do have fond memories of vietnamese food from my last trip. Looking forward to digging into a bowl of authentic Vietnamese Chicken Pho!

And this is Zekelor, my Night Elf Warrior on Frostmourne server. Best part of the warrior is as the name suggests, you simply fight. More action compared to the warlock coz warlock always takes time to cast the spells. Can't believe I'm still hooked. Right now, I think my warrior is about two levels higher than my warlock.

I think it's time to introduce my characters in WoW. This is Zekedar! My Warlock on Arthas server. I like the Warlock simply coz of the demons it can summon. Love the Voidwalker more than the succubus.

V for Vendetta

Caught the movie last weekend. I thought it was an very good movie. For one thing, it was a change from all the drama-type movies I'd been watching like Brokeback Mountain and Walk the Line.

I think the main idea of the movie is really clever. Especially given the current world context.

Basically, you have a society that is totally controlled by the government. A utopia of sorts. It's about how people have to give up their freedom of speech & thought to live in a society of supposed peace and security. It reminds me of a letter I read in the forum recently from an opposition party member who asks if we are willing to give up some of our civil liberties, then where do we draw the line?

Anyway, without giving anything much away, the movie is about this guy, codenamed 'V', who is a lone 'hero' trying to awaken the people by planting bombs and killing key people in the government.

It really messes up the mind. I mean, you are supposed to root for V coz he's fighting against the government. But you can't help but think how V's actions are so similar to the terrorists who have disrupted many countries around the world. And the terrorists do believe that they are fighting for the freedom of their people too.

Before you think otherwise, I am not a chim philosophical type. I don't purposely go all out to find hidden meanings/messaged in movies. The fact is, this similarity is really glaring in the movie.

Oh yah, the other thing is I hate how the censors have snipped the movie. There was one part where they were telling the story of two lesbians when suddenly, there was this obvious cut. Dunno for what. I think the adverts for movies in the newspapers should state clearly 'MOVIE HAS BEEN EDITED/CENSORED'. Then at least I can decide if I want to pay for a damaged product.

Oh well, on the whole, a very watchable movie. It's NC16 for the remaining violence. Catch it if you can.

My sad story with setting-up the xbox360 continued this morning. It's a really stupid story. But it's so dumb, I think it deserves telling.

I woke up this morning and decided to try registering for xbox live coz I wanted to access the marketplace to download demos and other stuff. As the last post stated, I had finally been able to access internet using my bridge. So I thought everything would be smooth sailing. I was so so wrong.

I tried registering for my Gamertag and after entering it, I had to enter my registered email address and password. But after entering my email & pw, it said 'xbox live cannot accept new registration right now.' So I tried a few times and everytime, the same message appeared after I entered my email & pw. So, I decided to call the helpline to see if the xbox live server was down.

I called the helpline and it was connected pretty fast. The Technical Officer (TO) brought me throught the instructions step-by-step and tried to help me troubleshoot the problem. We created new accounts... checked setup... re-registered gamertags... changed settings... checked hardware... etc...etc...etc... I was on the phone for almost one hour. I was again resigned to the fact that MAYBE my wireless bridge was the problem. Or maybe I was just fated not to play online.

Then I noticed something. You see, whenever I entered my email using the on-screen keyboard (the kind where you move the cursor to the letter using your xbox controller one-by-one), I found that the '.' always seemed a little high... but I thought it was simply the font. Furthermore, it wasn't very clear on the TV screen. Well, after one hour on the phone, I discovered that instead of typing '.' in the email address, I had been typing '-'.

sigh.

Without telling the TO, I entered the email correctly this time. And everything worked out fine.

When the TO asked me, I said, dunno why.. it just worked this time. There was NO WAY I was going to tell him that I had wasted 1 hour of his time due to a typo.

So finally, I'm connected to xbox live. And finally, I can download demos, trailers and games.

So there you have it. My fun experience with hooking up to xbox live.

The last four hours have probably been one of the most harrowing in recent months. It has also been most educational as far as learning more about networks.

And as usual, sometimes, the solution is always the simplest.

So here's the long story...

In my last post, I talked about getting the wireless network adaptor for the xbox360. Well, after speaking to a friend, I kinda decided to buy a wireless bridge instead. For those who don't know much about networks (like me), the xbox network adaptor connects to xbox via the USB port and I won't be able to use it anywhere else. A wireless bride is like a wireless box which I can connect directly into the network port behind the xbox360 and I will be able to use it with the PS3 in future. So, it kinda makes sense to get the bridge instead, right?

So, off I went to Funan and bought a wireless bridge for $135. Considering that the xbox360 wireless adaptor costs $129, I thought the price was very reasonable. After that, I went for a colleagues BBQ before returning at about 10pm to try out my bridge and see if I could connect to xbox Live. That was when the horror started.

I had to connect the bridge to my PC to be configured. So I disconnect my PC's internet and connected the bridge. I ran the setup software and it could not detect the bridge. So I tinkered around with system settings and enable a network adaptor which had a dreaded red cross next to it. After doing that, the bridge was recognised and I proceeded to configure it. Sounds simple? That was where the nightmare started. Once I disconnect the bridge, I shut down the PC coz I wanted to reconnect the internet. When I restarted the PC, the PC's fan started whirring faster and faster and faster!!! It got louder and louder and I thought the PC would burst into flames! So I powered down the PC, waited a while, then turned it on again. This time, it whirred faster, but then started slowing down, then the PC started loading windows. The logo came out... then it hung. The whole darn computer just hung. So I restarted PC again. This time windows loaded... and I accessed the web as usual. But after about 5 to 10 mins, the web browser hung. Then the whole PC hung. So I rebooted and this time, the whirring started again!!!! I freaked out lor. I tell you, it's the most horrible sound which I've heard coming from my PC. So to cut a long story a little shorter, I pretty much screwed up my PC. So, I thougt, nevermind... let's connect the xbox360 to internet. At least got some good come out of this. So... guess what, the xbox360 COULD NOT CONNECT using the bridge! So now I had two problems, PC screwed up and Wireless bridge can't work! So I decided to call Meow, a computer expert (many more times than me) for help.

For the next 4 hours (until 2.30pm) I pretty much went through solving all the problems with him. Firstly was my PC. Apparently, some driver somewhere was screwed up. Possibly by the stupid programme which I had run earlier to configure the bridge. So, Meow told me to uninstall the network adaptor and also reset my system bios. After going through step by step with him, my PC stopped doing weird stuff. It;s been 2 hours since the PC problem was solved, so right now, I think things are back to normal for the PC. PHEW! (x10000000 times). Frankly, I hate PC problems. It was 'fun' debugging it when I was much much younger but no more for me. I simply want a PC that works. Nothing else.

So onto the Wireless bridge. Over the 2 odd hours, Meow brought me through various configurations. I was moving the bridge from the xbox to the router, editing settings on the xbox, editing settings on the bridge, checking the ip setup, pinging the bridge, testing the xbox live connections and it went on and on and on and on. Nothing seemed to work. Things got a little better here and there but it always ended up with the xbox360 not being able to connect to the network. First it was invalid IP address. Then it was invalid DNS. Sigh. Nothing seemed to work. After 2 hours of struggling, (and 2 hours of HANDPHONE CHARGE!) we gave up. It pretty much seemed as if the bridge was damaged. So after many apologies to Meow (who had to go to work in less than 6 hours!) I disconnected the call and sat facing the bridge and xbox360 with resignation. Perhaps it just wasn;t meant to be.

Well, I thought, it really can't be so impossible. So I decided to tinker a little more. Tried doing some stuff which Meow had brought me through earlier. Things still didn't get better. Then I went into the xbox website and searched through some help files and found that the bridge I bought WAS in the compatible list. So that was fine. Then, I noticed that the list stated clearly that the Firmware should be version 1.10. Now, Meow had told me much earlier on to check the firmware of the bridge. But I couldn't find it listed anywhere, so I told Meow that the bridge would probably work fine even without the latest firmware upgrade. So we left it at that. Well, in my desperatin, I decided, why not. So I went to the website, downloaded the firmware, upgraded it... and as fate would have it.... it finally worked. Yes. It FINALLY worked. Sigh. To think that all that time was wasted simply coz I didn't do the simplest of things... upgrade the firmware. AARRGGGHHHHH!

Like I said at the beginning of this post, sometimes, the solution is simply the simplest one. If only I had tried that earlier.

So that's that. 4 hours of horror. Actually, the bridge thing was just tedious. It was the PC thing which really killed me. Dear readers, please heed this warning. Don't mess with your PC unless you absolutely have to or unless you are a masochist who loves to listen to your PC suffer.

It shall be a long time before I do anything scary to my PC again.

So that is the sad tale of what happened. I was so looking forward to trying out some xbox360 games tonite. Guess that'll have to wait till tomorrow. Good nite. And I certainly hope for sweet dreams.

And here is my final set-up (with the PGR3 faceplate on the xbox360). I've basically connected it to my TV and my projector. My TV is not high-def but my projector is. So I guess it all depends on what I want to play and WHEN I want to play it (projector works best at night). I'm a little irritated with the shop. I wanted to buy the wireless adaptor so that I can connect to my Maxonline, but the stupid xbox salesguy told me, "Premium Pack no need... the box say can connect to xbox live already." I mean, of course lar, it can connect using the cable lar. But to do it wirelessly, I need the adaptor what. Funny thing is, this fella is supposed to be the xbox sales guy lor, wearing official t-shirt and all that. Aiya, decided not to argue with him. Anyway, go buy from my usual game shop got discount. Stupid guy.

Here's everything that's in the box. I liked the fact that they've even provided energizer batteries for the wireless controller. Not some cheapo brandless batteries. It's little things like this that count. The huge chunk you see on the left is the infamous 'power brick'. It's no wonder the xbox360 is smaller than the original xbox, they took out the whole brick! If you included the brick in the whole package, it's probably same weight and almost same size to the original xbox.

Here's what you get when you open the really heavy (but compact) box. A really neat package.

So here it is.. finally... The entire xbox360 VIP set. Comes with xbox Premium Set, additional wireless controller, 2 games (PGR3 and DOA4), PGR3 face plate & DOA posters.

It's already 1am on 15 March.. I've not received any email abt the 'secret' location for the XBOX360 launch. Looks like I'll have to collect my xbox360 on 16 March at the shop.

So sad...

Holidays are a nice time to catch up on the movies. Managed to catch two movies yesterday and today.

First up was The Shaggy Dog on Monday. Don't ask me why I decided to watch it. It's pretty much typical Disney fare. Feel good movie with stupid characters. It's basically about how some unethical corporation captures this 300 yr old dog and tries the use genetics to find out the secret to its long life. Of course, Tim Allen starts off as this corporate stooge and then, after he is bitten, he is changed miraculously into a dog. As usual, he learns more about his family through the dog's eyes then through his own eyes.

Predictable storyline. Not very interesting characters. But Tim Allen does bring in some laughs here and there. So to me, this is a CAN WATCH IF YOU REALLY NEED SOMETHING TO WATCH. If not, just give it a miss.



Went to Plaza Singapore today. I was hoping to watch eithe Munich or Transamerica but either the timings were wrong (too late) or not showing at all. So I ended up watching Nanny McPhee.

Compared to Shaggy Dog, this This movie is certainly much better and more watchable. Again, this is supposed to be based on a series of children books so please dun expect deep, engaging storylines. The story is straight-forward enough. Kids lose mother-father ignores kids-kids become uncontrollable-father can't find nanny-nanny macphee shows up out of nowhere-transforms the kids-helps father express feelings-happily ever after. Yep, that's the story in a nutshell. The movie has its funny moments. Top of my list is the scene with the dancing donkey. Yes, you heard me right, a dancing donkey. It's not exactly a special effects extravaganza but the effects are passable. One thing which irritated me at the end was they never explained who/what is Nanny McPhee. This is definitely a CAN WATCH. If you are looking for something lighthearted and not deep, then this movie is for you.



Yeah, so that's that. I'm still hoping to catch Munich or Transamerica (if there is a suitable show time.) These two serious-er movies should be a good balance to the two movies above....

Some of you may have heard that there was this drive by some major supermarkets to get Singaporeans to buy reusable bags and use them in place of plastic bags.

Well, I was at Cold Storage today and I saw the reusable bags on sale. So, in a moment of environmental friendliness, I decided to buy one. The bag was a foldable one, no large than a cough mixture bottle.

So i picked up the little package and went to the cashier to make my purchase. Imagine my surprise when the cashier looked at me and said, "Would you like a bag for that?". Talk about contradictions....

Xbox360 Preorder

Went down to pay for my xbox360 pre-order today. Here's what I got in return for paying up earlier... a cardboard sleeve with the words 'JUMP IN' on one side a cyptic 'You'll receive an invitation to the launch on 15 March at a SECRET location' on the other. Heh.. so exciting... just another 4 days to the release!
front (or back if you think that front is the back and the back is the front)

back (or front if you prefer the back to be the front and the front to be the back)

Went to the IT show today. The newspapers had reported that the organizers had increased the corridor widths this year and I'm glad to say there certainly is an improvement from previous years. I arrived at about 1pm and surprisingly, the crowd wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be. But by the time I left at about 5pm, some areas, especially at the back of the halls on the 6th floor were really packed.

Plenty of LCD monitors were on sale. Prices were pretty good. I must say that at some point in time, I was quite tempted to get myself a new 20 inch LCD monitor. Thankfully, I did not give in to my yearnings... partly due to the fact that I have to pay for my xbox 360 arriving pretty soon.

Instead, I bought plenty of little stuff:

- a 1 Gb Memory stick pro duo for my PSP/Handphone. At $86, it's really quite cheap. Glad that the prices of memory stick pro duo have been dropping.
- a MS Pro Duo card reader. I had thought of buying a new 1 Gb imation thumbdrive for $92, but decided that getting a MS Pro Duo card together with a reader would be more practical since I could use the card together with my PSP/HP.
- an XD card to compactflash convertor. I've been looking for this for a while coz my mom uses a camera which uses XD card. Without the convertor, she can't print photos using my photo printer. It's been quite hard to find, so I'm pretty glad to find it at the show.
- Speedball. This $10 buy was an impulse buy. It's two half-spheres which attach to the bottom of the laptop so that it lifts the back of the laptop up from the table top. Supposed to help the laptop remain cooler and also allows easy sliding of the laptop on table tops.
- a $9.90 Philips earphone. Lost my earphone for my DS. Needed a cheap one to replace it.

yeah, that's about it. ok lar, didn't spend so much. But quite please with my buys.

Tonight, I watched Fearless (starring Jet Li) on DVD. Quite a good movie. Missed it in the cinemas. The fighting is certainly up to Jet Li's standard and I thought the story is pretty ok. Not fantastic lar, in fact, kinda cliched. But come on, you don't watch a Jet Li movie expecting some deep thoughtful storyline lar.

Quite a few movies to watch. Hope to catch some this march holz.

I just had one of the weirdest and most disturbing dreams ever.

Basically, the whole dream was about me accusing my mother of how she had ruined my life! Oh wow... it's really strange. Maybe I've watched too many of those movies with scenes of deranged criminals being psycho-analysed...

The dream is fading, but what i remember was that I was looking for new courses to attend. I was checking out schools which offer post-graduate programmes. I was looking at this school with some sort of recruitment centre in a row of shop houses and as I peered into the school, no one seemed interested in serving me. All had deadpan faces, staring at their computers & files. (btw, for some strange reason, in my dream, there was distinctly a lego shop just a few steps away from this recruitment centre. Maybe a sign for me to go get some lego?)

I decided to give the place a miss and walked away. As I turned the corner, I noticed the back door open, so I entered to see if I could find out more info about the courses. I realised that I had entered into some living quarters, and it turns out to be like a senior professor. He asks me to take a seat and after a short chat, I realise that he knows me! Then he tells me that he is in some prayer group where my mom has asked them to pray for me. And that's when I started letting it all out.

I was angry that my mother had broken up my relationship with a non-chinese girl when I was young... I was angry that despite the fact that we were innocent, my mom had confronted the girl... then I let out that I had tried taking drugs coz I was fed up with the way she had handled things in my life... and, oh wow... it was a huge sob fest! Before any of you start raising your eyebrows, these things NEVER happened in real life.

Some time as I was like losing totally control, I (as in all dreams) woke up.

It was seriously weird.

It even takes beats the dreams when I dreamt I was Ultraman. (those dreams were much more pleasant).

Wonder if there is any significance to the dream.... maybe some subconscious frustrations? hmmmmm

Sec 1 GEP Camp's over.

Rest.

IT show has started but I didn't go today coz Camp just ended and I can't go tmr coz of track n field. So, that only leaves Saturday and Sunday... KILLER days for going to an IT show. Sigh.

Oh yah, I finally pre-ordered my XBOX360. It's gonna be released next Thursday, so I'm really looking forward to it. Actually, it's not that I'm excited about the XBOX360.. I think it's more the fact that it's a new console. So far, the games on the 360 dun look so hot. In fact, I can't really think of any game I'm really looking forward to playing. So... it's pretty obvious I'm getting it simply coz it's the newest thing... yeah.. extravagant...

I'm looking forward more the the DS Lite. It's looking good. Dunno when it'll be released in Singapore.

Well, wateva it is, it's the March holz. Phew. One quarter of the year gone, another three quarters to go!

Underworld: Evolution (M18)

Went to watch Underworld: Evolution today.



Frankly, I thought the movie was not bad. It's certainly not an award-winning show, but as far as action/fantasy/vampire/werewolf movies go, I thought it was quite ok.

The storyline is a little convoluted. Takes a while to understand who betray who, who killed who, why they killed who, etc, etc. But if you don't try too hard to understand it, it should be ok.

The action is similar to the first movie. Fairly coolish fighting. But this time round, the M18 goes partly to the really violent killings. Plenty of slicing off half the head, hands bursting through chest, tearing of jaws, etc, etc. Maybe I'm desensitized, or maybe the whole movie's a bit fantasy... I didn't find it very disturbing.

The other half of the M18 went into some... intimate scenes. Well, if you ask me, they weren't very necessary. I guess sex sells, but sometimes, it's like, if you don't need to show the whole nekkid thing... then dun lor.

Effects were ok. Plenty of human to werewolf transformations.

Unfortunately, I think most of you won't be able to watch it at the cinemas. So no point recommending it.. but on the whole, I thought it was quite enjoyable (which contradicts most reviews which only give it like 2 stars out of 5. Guess I simply look at movies differently.)

Term 1 is almost over, but things aren't easing up. The week ahead's gonna be a real busy one.

Tue to Thu: Sec 1 GE Camp
This is my third Sec 1 GE Camp in three years... Heh... Sec 1 teacher for three years in a row. Have mixed feelings. Camp is fun and there are interesting things planned. But... it is my third camp... a bit jaded...

Tue: Presentation to some MOE people
There's also a presentation that I have to help prepare to give to some MOE people on Tuesday afternoon. Means I have to miss part of the GE Camp. Lots to prepare... little done... coz most of the time taken up with GE camp prep so far.

Fri: Track & Field
OK lar, this one doesn't really involve me since I'm not in charge or anything. But it is gonna be a long day... Will probably end around 6-plus. What a long day to end the term! This is the first year we're having it in RJC. Would be interesting to see how things turn out.

Looking forward to some RnR (Rest 'n Relaxation) after that.

Sigh, gonna miss 3 days of WoW. Dun think there is any wireless reception at Sembawang (heh!) so no point bringing my laptop.

Here's to surviving the week!

Here's a pic of my dear form class. Looks like a really lively and energetic bunch eh? I cannot believe the singing and noise that went on in the bus on the way there! But honestly, I do like the high energy level.. just hope they use it to keep the class lively and know when to really keep it in control.

So here's to a hopefully an exciting year with 1M... ;-)


(PS. 1M-ers... if u want to see a few more pics, or download a high-res version of the pic, click on my album on the right.)

omg... just saw the new k790i on Engadget... omg omg omg... it's a bee-yoo-ti-ful phone! Firstly, it's got the Cybershot logo...coz it's supposed to have much better photo qualities. The camera is 3.2 mega-pixels, has autofocus and even has image stabilization!! shiokz. Now I am torn... Sony Ericsson k790i or Nokia E70....

And since I'm on the topic of spending money, here's another money spender..... the new Nintendo DS Lite. Nintendo is really good at making people spend money on the SAME THING by simply redesigning it and making small improvements here and there. It's quite irritating. It's like they didn't release the complete product the last time so they are improving on it now. Well, the new DS is gonna be released in Japan in 2 days' time for about S$250.

Sigh, with the xbox360 and the DS lite, looks like March is gonna be an expensive month for me...

Wow... here is a pic of an ultra-cool mouse. To think this is such an obvious idea and yet it took so long for someone to come up with such a design! Wonder if it'll ever come to Singapore. Would love to get one!

It's the post-busy-period feeling again.

The last few days have been quite a mad rush, as is the norm for the few days before any event.

Have been back really late, meaning no time to WoW....

Well, gonna take a day or two off before starting on next project.

Fun never stops!

Movie Updates

OK, I must admit these last two movies I've watched aren't the most exciting, but I was pretty much swayed by all the Oscar buzz.. so I decided to catch them before the Awards ceremony.

Watched WALK THE LINE last Sunday. The reviews have been gushing about how great the two leads were. I think the movie was not bad. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I knew more about Johnny Cash. I've heard about him, but that's about it. I can imagine that his fans (esp. those in the US) would have found this film very good. To me, it was a decent love story with some gory songs.

Here's an excerpt from Folsom Prison Blues, one his most famous songs:
When I was just a baby, my mama told me, "Son
Always be a good boy; don't ever play with guns."
But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
When I hear that whistle blowin' I hang my head and cry.

Basically, if I took away the reference to Johnny Cash, it's a movie about two people who love each other but are married to different people and how in the end, they give in to the love. Yeah.. soppy.



Today, I caught the other hot Oscar film, Brokeback Mountain... the 'gay cowboy' movie. It's funny, but now that I think about it, Brokeback Mountain is also like Walk the Line, but with two guys! haha... Basically, it's about two guys who loved each other but are married to others (women, lar). But Brokeback has a sad ending, coz in the end, this love kinda tears everything apart. In Walk the Line, the love conquers everything, and everyone lives happily ever after.



Yeah, so I think enough of the soppy movies... still want to watch Fearless and I think Munich is opening soon. I'm also trying to catch Constant Gardener before it ends. Haven't watched I Not Stupid Too either..

Yeah, seems that I'm not blogging as much as usual.

It's not for lack of things happening. Actually, alot of things have been happening. And it's also not because I don't have time to blog.

So why no updates?

Well, I guess it's coz the things on my mind aren't really pleasant for posting on this blog. Some of these have to do with school stuff, and I've always tried to keep this blog free of school things. Can be quite depressing to experience the probs in school and then come back to see more about it on the blog. Of course, this being a personal blog, I don't think it's appropriate to rant about school and students... heh....

Ok, ok... I admit that another reason why I've not blogged is because of a little game called WoW. It has been taking up SOME of my time. Actually, I think I've been fairly disciplined, i think... On weekdays, I've limited myself to no more than 2hrs of WoW... On weekends... a bit more relaxed.. heh.

WoW is really a time-sapper. If I'm still a student and I can afford it... I think I will sure die lor. It literally just sucks the time away. As you run here, run there, kill here, kill there, deliver here, deliver there, talk here, talk there.... the time just passes and before you know it, hours have passed. I used to hate RPGs. And I think I generally still do. But WoW just blurs the line between and RPG and an action game sufficiently for me to be hooked. Right now I've got three characters on-line, a Dwarf Paladin, a Night Elf Warrior and a Human Warlock. Of the three, I like playing the Night Elf and the Human. Getting a bit sianz of the Dwarf, might delete him soon. The Night Elf is at level 16 I think, and the Human is at level 10. I quite like the Warlock coz of all the spells. Quite evil. But quite shiok. But I'm still ultra-noob lar. Always kena thrashed when other players challenge me to a duel.

Watch two movies over these last two weekends. Will try to write about that in another post.

Busy, busy, busy

Things are revving up again. Tonight is the start of many late nights until next Thursday.

Can see many people putting in much effort and time. Good job.

That's all for now. Late.. tired...nite...

Uh-Oh...

Just woke up. Had a dream where I was basically levelling myself up the whole time just like in World of Warcraft. Die. Obviously playing too much WoW....

Fever appears to have gone down today, but can't say for sure coz it's fluctuating up and down. Hope it stays down. On the whole, feeling kinda better today.

Watching Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life on Cinemax right now. Not a fantastic show, but it's fantastic that there are all these movies I can watch on HBO, Cinemax & Star Movies. Cable is really shiok. Really wish Singapore could have Sci-Fi channel like the US. But I guess there really isn't a big-enough market here.

A few things I'm looking forward to... XBOX 360 launch is a couple of weeks... the new DS Lite... X-Men 3... Superman Returns... Playstation 3... Nokia E70... Song M600i... getting back to work...

Had my operation yesterday. Had to remove a kidney stone. It's almost become an annual/biennual event. Hate it. But what to do, guess it's just this thorn in my flesh I have to live with.

Reported at 7.30am at Tan Tock Seng Hospital Day Surgery Centre. Everytime I report, there are always feelings of uncertainty. Of course, it's a low risk operation, but what the heck, there's always a chance you don't wake up. The thought is always quite scary. Having said that, goingunder GA (General Anaesthetic) is really a wonderful experience. Honestly. You don't even know you are going to fall asleep! The anaesthetist simply injects the drug into your body, and in less than 5 seconds, your out cold. When I woke up, it was all over.

Now comes the healing process. Have been having slight pains and fever since the the operation. Only can tackle it using panadol. Doctor gave me a horrible liquid to drink, Potassium Citrate. OMG. It's really awful. I'm not one who's afraid of taking medicine. But there's no escaping the horrible taste of the liquid. It's not a pill that I can just swallow. Everytime I put the spoon into my mouth, I feel like puking. It's really bad. And I think the doctor gave me enough to last a month. OMG OMG OMG.

Well, I'm on MC for a couple of days. Hope the fever clears up soon so I can start WoWing. heh.

Campus Superstar Results

Yep.. just heard... Yin Wei's out. It's kinda sad.

There's still the revival round. He still might have a chance.

Campus Superstar Updates

Only managed to catch the males for tonite's competition.

I think Yin Wei did ok tonite, but i totally agree with the judges, he hasn't really shown much improvement in since the first time he performed. If he makes it through tonite, he really needs to try and work on the judges comments. His song choice tonite was a little different... in a nice way. He really does have a nice voice. But like a friend said, a nice voice isn't nearly enough. Needs the whole package.

M2 wasn;t very good today. I cringed when he sang the first half of the song. He really isn't as good as far as singing is concerned, but he has the superstar looks.

M3 was a surprise tonite. Very good. As far as judges is concerned, I think their score for M3 and Yin Wei tonite was pretty correct.

So there it is. 25 mins to the results show (though I noe the results are out already, but I haven't found out what it is ). Let's see how he fare tonite.

Played my first Party quest today. Teamed up with another 4 characters to go into this cave to collect some relics. It's sooooooo much easier playing in a team! I guess that's the whole point of the game isn't it?

Irritating thing is, just as we completed collecting the stuff, the server went down. And now, both servers which I play on are down... suffering from withdrawal... OH NO! Does this mean I'm hooked?

WoWed..

Hmm, I dunno if I'm officially hooked, but I did spend the last 4 hours playing WoW... my longest stretch I think.

I'm really quite awed by this online world which Blizzard has created. The environments, quests, characters are all really well done. There is an occasional lag, but 90% of the time, things are pretty smooth-going.

I'm currently at Level 9. Yeah, that;s pathetic I noe. But hey, it's a start.

So far the tasks have been fairly mundane. Kill 5 trolls, kill 10 spiders & collect their web-things, kill 7 boars, deliver this letter, collect this plant.... yeah, not very exciting I noe. My friend is trying real hard to get me to persevere. Apparently, it really starts slow, but the fun starts only at higher levels.

I've not had a chance to team-up with anyone yet. Maybe that's why I'm like dying most of the time. heh.

One thing I hate so far, the money is really slow in coming. Kills give me like 3 to 15 copper coins. Hardly enough to do anything. To upgrade your skills... it's all money money money. Sigh.

One interesting thing? I liked that they actually celebrated some Lunar Festival thing, in conjunction with the Chinese Lunar New Year. Not bad lar, spent about 3 silver coins to get 4950 XP. Enough to at least jump one level.

I've actually created two characters, one on Khaz Modan realm and another on Frostmorne realm. So if any one sees a character with a 'Zeke' in it's name, dun be a stranger and say hi! (And plz dun kill me....)

Weekend's here... might mean more WoWing...

Just got back from watching the 'traditonal' CNY movie. Thought I might pass this new year break without catching one, but managed to get out of the house to catch it. At first, the plans were to watch I Not Stupid Too. But, unfortunately, the movie was sold out. So, settled for My Kung Fu Sweetheart. Heh. Yeah, I know, you're probably wondering, 'WTH!?!'. Well, I decided, it's better to watch that than nothing. Anywaez, I decided the best thing to do would be to chuck my brain at the door and just try to enjoy the show. Well, I'm pleased to say that the movie wasn;t too bad. It definitely isn't 'award' material. But it does have a few laughs. The usual chinese-movie types lar. There's the two guys being mistaken for being gay joke... the grab the guy's shirt and tear off the areas around the nipples joke... the huge man-in-suit acting condor... the over-melodramatic i love you but u can't remember you love me story... etc etc.

All in all, if you ever intend to watch this movie, just do like me and chuck your brains at the door. Dun try to hard, and you'll probably enjoy it.


(By the way, none of the above scenes happen in the movie. heh.)

Back to school tomorrow. Yay?