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Singapore Toy & Comic Convention 2008

2008-06-29T13:48:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I managed to go to the inaugural STCC held at SICEC to take a look. When the news first started spreading around (I read it from spaceactionhero's blog), I think everyone expected it to be a huge event. For one I think alot of money has gone into the marketing, and it was done quite well I'd say. Nobody expected it to be on the same insane scale as US comicons (or whoever did can dream on for about 10 years), but the way they made it to be I thought it would be a pretty crazy event.

When I got there I realised that it was only ONE exhibition hall. Gee, I thought it would have at least covered an entire floor. Registration was up there, not downstairs. And for some funny reason, I guess they were sick of it or what, when I walked to the pre-registered queue the lady just gave me my stuff without even checking any of my details at all. So sticking the passband on, I walked in.

Let's just skip the boring parts shall we? I expected more Japanese stuff. More current figurines, more merchandise, instead of 'safe' products like shelves and shelves of Power Rangers and Gundams and FF7 figurines. You really that kiasu or what? And there was alot of emphasis on western and modern toy figurines. I can't exactly term it since I'm not really into that field, but it's a Stikfas type of thing. Loads and loads of it. Which I'm not really interested in.

Still, there were a couple of interesting things to be seen.

One-piece-only yo-yos.

Well this isn't anything new, but I still find the Yoda-Dooku figure uber cool.

And this. This is a movie chair that Animax was exhibiting. You know like those simulator rides where they shake you around for abit? Except this is for the home, I'm guessing. Not very hard shakes (or maybe you can program it). Limited to rumbles, mild crash shocks, lifts falls and horizontal tilts. They were playing FF7:AC (what else right) and I watched the hair-raising motorcycle chase scene, if you remember. I didn't feel very absorbed, but I'll give it to them because it was bloody noisy there and there was no way even the best 7.1 Surround system could completely engulf you into the movie. But I think it is a fantastic experience enhancement. Especially if you have a movie room. Because if you do, you probably have enough money to buy like 16 of these chairs. And just for trying it, they give you a cool Animax gridded sketchpad! Here's the video I took of the next pair who went after me.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Catches.

I think I was so desperate to get something out of there that I didn't think much when I walked past a booth randomly offering Ninja Gaiden II for $74.90. Considering I usually pay $69.90 at Best Denki for most games, it's an alright price, even if it's marked up abit. I'll talk more about it when I've played it for abit more.

Anyway back to my catch. My second one was one that I'd eyed a couple of years ago. Yes it's an old product but I don't care because when you get a 15cm tall Sephiroth figurine with his Masamune sword as tall as him...

You don't care.

Like the pose I made him do? LIKE THE SWORD? OH MY GOD I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT.

Ok. That's it for my catches. Just two. I wanted to get one of the yo-yos since I'm a collector of sorts, but the seller said it would only go on sale today, since "it just came in yesterday and we have to calculate the prices".

Sure.

Bu he estimated it to be anywhere from $20-50. And this is the good thing about being prevented from buying something you like, you get a chance to think about it.

And I think meh. Forget it.

Conclusion. For it's hype, the convention was disappointing. Too small, and quite a limited range of exhibitors. Were they hoping for too much when they put toys and comics together? Sure they are highly interweaved and interrelated, but they can stand very well on their own, and by putting these two together when you have next to no experience holding such conventions here, perhaps you're trying to mash a bit too many things together for a starter. But nevertheless I still applaud it. I think it's a great effort at least and I hope that the organizers will barrel through with future conventions.

This could be the start of something good.

How did NS change you?

2008-06-22T13:57:00.000+08:00

It was my first book out two days ago, and already I'm preparing to return to camp later this evening. I thought I was suitably adjusted to military life after a week, and wondered whether in typical Singaporean kiasu fashion they just wanted to keep us in a whole other week just to be sure. Turns out I learnt much more during the second week, and gears started running even smoother.

This is of course talking about life in the military, barring all the lessons (close combat training, rifle stripping/cleaning, etc.). Those are things you learn to become an operational soldier, and should be distinguished from everyday life and military culture.

And so with an intensive two weeks dipped in army life, one is bound to have lost some of your civilian habits and picked some up from the army. The most obvious ones are biological and physical changes, especially sleeping and waking up early. Also, I seem to be sweating at the slightest instance of heat or stillness in the air. Which doesn't actually bother me, but it seems to disturb everyone around me. I hope it's not the smell, I don't think I sweat that much, but I seem to have perpetual water blobs crowning my head, and I seem to radiate heat like a recently shut-off engine or something.

And then there are also habits that you find are good and hope to take back with you, but you don't. One of mine for example is the water parade. Water parades alone can make up half or more of a day's total intake of water. One would think that it would inculcate an awareness of adequate hydration, with or without physical activities, and make you drink more water, but no leh! I keep forgetting to drink water, and then the next moment I notice the color of my pee and I freak out and gulp down two cups of water.

One habit I hope not to bring back is swearing. I don't think much explanation is needed when I say swearing in the army is more for humor and laughter than for anger. You just keep throwing things out everyday, every minute, and that makes you so apprehensive to open your mouth when you're at home, just in case you slip and go "G'd mornin', fuckface."

A habit I hope not to lose is what you're reading now - decent command and execution of the English language. I probably can count the number of people on one hand that I speak to with my atas English in the Army, the other 96.3% I speak to in Singlish, crude Hokkien crude Malay crude Cantonese Mandarin Yugoslavian Croatian... and so I'll want to keep it because I'll need it more than ever when I ORD and go into the workforce.

Now, what did you learn and/or lose while in NS?

Off to the Dusty Island

2008-06-05T07:18:00.000+08:00

In an hour I will be leaving for Tekong, where my reluctant affair with the Singapore Armed Forces will begin.

Having acquired myself a 3.5G Nokia E51 (no camera version, thanks Daniel!), I will try to update whatever I feel is safe to update on my Twitter account. If you aren't already signed up to Twitter, you can just mark the page or subscribe to its RSS feed. If you are, be sure to follow me.

Now all that's left is for you to keep me in your prayers, so that I don't tear anything more than underwear, and my E51 or ZEN doesn't get stolen.

Recruit Wong, out.

Gaki no Tsukai

2008-06-01T22:36:00.000+08:00

I am a person who is rather easily tickled. Very often in fact, I laugh for no seeming reason, to the slight concern of my friends. Imagine then when I watch a show where the greatest of Japan's comedians gang up on three or four unfortunate comedians as punishment for having lost an earlier challenge. The rules are simple. Do not laugh under any circumstances, or suffer. Sounds familiar? You've probably seen this clip before, that's why.

Downtown is Japan's top variety show at present, and so is the comedic duo of the same name. Their various punishment games have made it into the online world for their extreme mirth and torture. It is already funny enough when someone like me watched an unsubtitled episode of it, but when some kind soul does the subbing, the show improves by 5 times.

For your enjoyment are two episodes broken into multiple parts and subbed. You will find the rest of the clips of the episode in the after-play menu.

Warning: If you are going to watch the episodes below, be warned that they air as specials and range from over an hour to over two hours long in total. Bookmark this page or return to my blog another day if you have to - I'm not going to be responsible for your loss of time.

Punishment Game in High School:

Punishment Game at the Hot Spring Inn:

Punishment Game - 24h Tag:

What the Future Entails

2008-05-30T16:39:00.002+08:00

As I stand at the bridge waiting to cross over into Singapore's two year ceremony of manhood, many things start racing through my mind. That and perhaps Magical Midnight, where your mind starts going seriously cranky.

Everyone who has learnt about my imminent conscription has inquired in some form or another whether I think I'm ready for it or not. And to all who have asked I have given the same answer - that I am more worried about how my present commitments will fare without me than what they might possibly do to me in Tekong. And yet in my solitude I wonder, can I really take all their nonsense? I've long since come to terms with myself that I am a highly emotion-controlled person. If I want to laugh, few can stop me; if I want to cry, I can hardly stop myself. I believe I am prepared for it, but it honestly doesn't take much to corner me and make me lash out before I can restrain myself. I'm not an animal. Just an emo kid. Haha.

I was just thinking about how my friend who flew to the States to study at Buffalo for one semester was so blessed to be able to travel back in the comfort of SIA Business Class. It wasn't a lucky upgrade or anything - his dad could afford to pay for it. And I thought to myself, as I have so many times in the past, "I want to be able to provide effortlessly for my kids like that." But how much does it take to even be capable of drawing such money? Nothing that a job under someone else can provide, probably. How long will it take to bring myself above that level? No idea. How far up can I go? No idea. Will I even have kids to care for and nurture for?

No idea.

Girlfriend? Fiance? Marriage? Wife?

No idea.

Even if I never reach those levels, will I at least be able to see that my parents' every need is swiftly taken care of? Will they live happily and contently till they pass on?

It is a curious sensation when you realize the weight of the world before you, a sensation my kids will possibly never experience, if the above questions are given a "Yes to All". A wondrous mix of feelings rising up in your chest, bubbling and simmering. The first sensation among it all that you would recognize is fear. Fear for your safety, fear for your survival, fear for your happiness. And if you wait on it, you recognize that overshadowed bit of excitement, of anticipation, of curiosity, even of mild amusement.

And perhaps, for those with a God or Supreme Being to look up to, if you let that all vent itself away, if you patiently search hard enough and wait long enough, perhaps you will find that lightly but distinctly glowing nugget of hope, hope and assurance, that everything is going to be ok, that Someone has His hand over you always, that stones rocks and pillars will be flicked shifted and torn out of your way, just so that you will be able to walk straight through the path you have always wanted to walk and will always want to walk. For your God, it may be the reward for your staunch devotion to Him or Her. For my God, it is only because He loves me so very much, so specially, so uniquely, and that if only I seek first His kingdom, all these things shall be added to me.

The secret to a free and fulfilled life may well reside in this nugget that is ours to use to our advantage. All those other boiling feelings will slowly eat away at it, and when finally not a single shred of hope is left, you end your meaningless life by committing suicide, or sink yourself into superficially entertaining activities to hoodwink yourself into being happy. Or you could let those feelings leave as swiftly as they come, and blow, fan and nurture that little seed of hope and assurance to expand and fill your heart, leaving no room for anxiety or worry to hurt you.

It's all about choice then, isn't it?

/rant

PS - If this gets to Ping top 10, all your hooha about deep posts not being sufficiently ponged has just been utterly mooted. Hahaha, ich bin fucker.

Red Man Green Man

2008-05-27T23:38:00.000+08:00

Interesting experience on the cab ride back. I was accessing Twitter Mobile, at the back seat with my leg crossed, when the cab driver suddenly went 'WHOA' and braked rather hard. I looked up to see the Celica in front of us doing the same, forcing my cab driver to braked even harder a second time. Both cars honked at the guilty cab right at the front.

At first the cabbie went into usual Singaporean spiel... 'What the hell is he doing, suddenly stop like that, middle lane somemore... nanananananana~'. I offered suggestions probably the passenger gave last-minute directions leading the cab driver to a slight panic, or that another vehicle turned out of... turn and cut across its path, both of which my cabbie denied. Finally he offered that the cabbie mistook the green light for a red.

I was rather incredulous and expressed my sentiments, saying 'I should think the green and red is distinguishable enough'. And the cab driver said, 'No, he mistook the red man for a red stop light. Nowadays the man very big, very bright.'

Valid point. Which naturally leads to the question, are the new LED lights that are meant to make traffic lights clearer for drivers and pedestrians to see confusing them instead? Cabbie do drive long shifts and the mental and visual fatigue is more than understandable. It's a good thing that the Celica and my cabbie was paying attention to the road. The mistake, if it was even so, would just as easily have ended up in a horrific pile-up.

As a driver, have you ever been confused by the pedestrian lights? Do you think what the cabbie says holds truth? And what can the LTA do to improve the situation?

Speed Racer - SFX Whore's Die-Die-Must-Watch

2008-05-18T12:46:00.002+08:00

When Jerrick called me along to watch Speed Racer with Sham, I went knowing nothing of it except that it used to be some uber popular TV series. Because of our borderline morbid need of movie munchies, we were 5min late for showtime, which I guess is 1-2min movie time. Nothing important missed.

Speed Racer puts you in a futuristic world, where a loudly colored panther-sleek car sits in front of just about any house. Think of it as Telladega Nights set in the future, where race tracks can make even the biggest rollercoaster buffs blanch and the greatest park ride engineers gape. And then think of that combined with Step Up 2, where our hero takes to underground racing, complete with dirty tricks and crazy car mods, to curb the profit making plans of an underhanded businessman. The combination provides for teeth gritting action and nerve wracking stunts.

I heard that many people detest Speed Racer and advise other people not to watch it. The only reason I can think of for that is the same reason why I love it to bits - the movie is quite basically a green screen orgy. I'd say 85-90% of the film was shot in front of a green screen, and I guess people interpret that as convenient film making. Just film, remove, paste fancy background. To me, and you can call me biased because I'm a helpless sucker for crazy ass effects, I think Speed Racer can get away with that, given its sci-fi/fantasy/cartoon-y nature. If you were to shoot like Money No Enough in front of a green screen, that would be a wtf. But Speed Racer probably won't be Speed Racer without CGI on crack. And sometimes it even seems that they deliberately leave it a little untouched, so that its an obvious green screen scene, to remind you of its fantastical nature.

Alot of the movie's excellence was explained when I finally realised during the credits that the Wachowski brothers directed it. It explains the sequencing style of the film (flashback galore), its beautiful pacing, and pin sharp cinematography. I also think that the burning bright colors of Speed Racer are the Wachowski brothers' way of making it up to themselves and their fans because they just couldn't be as brilliant in the darker worlds of The Matrix and V for Vendetta.

You should be warned though not to expect too much out of the plot. The plot in Speed Racer is kind of a secondary thing, just there to lend support to the film, and prevent it from being a total testosterone/geek flick. So go watch it to be dazzled by the kickass races, ingenious stunts, and countless "How the mother did they do that?!" moments, not for a touching story of love romance and sacrifice.

I Live Opposite Fong Seng Now roflcopter lolz

2008-05-18T07:55:00.000+08:00

I'm enamored with my new room. Totally enamored.

The last time I shifted house was a good 13 and a half years ago, at the end of 1994, settling down just in time to start my primary school life in Tampines. The only memory I have of shifting was when we arrived at our then shiny-new apartment in Tampines, still huge by HDB standards (executive flat... in other words 5.5 room flat.) There were few things to be shifted over - the most obvious moved item was the ancient fridge. Most of the Tampines apartment's furnishing had been bought, not brought. And since we were kids barely discerning of our surroundings, our parents let us play with our construction toy track set in the extended hall area. You remember those - the one where it was a large track, with stations all round, and this little cart would take on different top bodies at different locations of the track to assume a variety of roles - crane, delivery truck, tractor, etc. We'd just set it up, flick the cart's switch on, set it on the track, and gaze at it for an hour or two.

What my parents might or might not have realized, not really interested to find out, was that staying at such a huge place for over a decade would mean filling such a huge place to the brim with items - things we loved, things we kept just in case, things we couldn't bear to throw, things we couldn't be bothered to throw. And when it was finally time to move, to an inevitably smaller apartment (it's futureproofing, not a housing upgrade), it created many days of nagging and downright bad moods. When crunch time came, I went into such a mode of remorseless disposal that I never thought I was capable of. Except for a couple of exceptionally sentimental items, like the 2004 Victoria School yearbook (grad year), items more than one year old were thrown without much thought. I had to make around 4 trips to the disposal chute for the waste I dug out of my wall cupboards alone. I was sorely wrong when I thought I could fit everything I wanted nicely into a single box. Turned out to be two boxes of belongings, another box and a bag full of clothes. And I arrived at my new condominium, Varsity Park, smack opposite NUS Arts (as well as Fong Seng hohoho) to find the various bags and boxes of items that my father had brought in earlier.

Now my room was really filled.

All in all it took about 4 hours to unpack everything, including masterfully sashimi-slicing through ten layers of shrink wrap to get to my table, desktop computer, and speaker system.

Oh my God speaking of speaker system. Being the kind of idiot needy for music to keep me company (yes I'm lonely fock off.), my 2.1 Creative speaker system was the first appliance to be powered. After bickering hard with my mother and coming to a compromise, I finally got to put my subwoofer on the floor where it belonged. Well, near the floor - a stool was the compromise. My mother did not want any unsweepable/unmoppable areas. Previously, it sat at the edge of my table. Result? I have to turn the bass to 8 (max level 10) for decent bass, only to walk out of the room and hear the subwoofer thumping my house down. Here on the floor, level 6 bass depending on the music can get uncomfortable. NTT would know how much bass I need to make me uncomfortable. :)

If you want to hear the difference it makes, you're welcome into my room, by appointment only, and I'll play Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture for you. The one with cannon blasts at the end. I kid you not, the bass shakes my bed.

Having a clean table to start over with also gave me a valuable opportunity to position things from scratch, and this time, I gave optimal priority to placing my speakers far enough apart so that I can have a decent stereo effect to speak of. The moment I set my computer up, I had a bright idea of rewatching Advent Children, what with the newfound effectiveness of my speaker system. So I duly lowered my Roman blinds, finetuned Windows Media Player's TruBass and WOW effects, cranked the volume up, and hit play.

It was so loud it hurt, but Ave Maria it hurt so good.

In a somewhat impulse buy, except without buyers' remorse (unless you count remorse over losing like 16k), my family spent quite a sum on Simmons beds. The bed with the level of firmness I liked best had only Queen size, and I made my parents buy that by some magic of pouting and a huge show of exasperation. But I'm really really thankful and grateful that they bought it. After months of fleeting doubts, I finally see for myself that losing a bedside table in favor of a larger bed was quite the right thing to do. The bed played quite a significant part in loosening my jaw when I walked into my room the morning I moved in.

The only thing left that kept me from unpacking completely was that my father had yet to drill holes in the walls for my bookshelf and shelf. The shelf for obvious reasons - it's suspended, and the bookshelf because it would otherwise be frightfully wobbly, and might just keel over and krush me like a cockroach when I reach up to grab a book.

Quite a few things haven't arrived - the dining table, my dad and brother's computer/study tables, and the sofa set. Again, I made a big fuss when my mother initially wanted to stick to the fengshui master's recommended orientation of my bed facing the window, so that when I slept I could gaze far away into the sky. I quite nearly went into a complete freak out when I saw that she was perfectly ready to get me a new table instead of shift my old one in. Luckily with my dad's coaxing I got my way. Saved them quite some money too.

As for the TV, jeez, Standard Definition looks atrocious on HDTVs exactly as advertised in electronics stores. And I say this with a Samsung HDTV, which apparently has one of the world's leading upscaling firmware.

I however, opened my big spoilt mouth, and my parents bought a HDMI cable for my XBOX 360 (yes I've finally opened it). After having to gaze at Standard Definition all day while tuning the TV channels (parents didn't want cable), I felt my techie heart sigh with ease when I finally saw blessed 1080p resolution. Halo 3? Sweetness.

Oh right! Now that I've shifted, I finally get to pull my silver carousel musical box out that I bought from Hokkaido. It's lovely, I'm looking at it as I type. It was relatively budget though, so it doesn't have that convenient stop lever at the side, and once you wind it it plays through until it runs out of energy. Would have been good if the LED lights went off after awhile too. If I ever fell asleep while watching it I would probably wake up to a melted carousel.

Enamored with my new room. Enamored with my new home. Enamored enamored enamored.

UPDATE
Hokay so the intended Internet network is up now. Thank God for the thoughtful integration of a telephone/data switchbox. In other words, my router sits in my store room, and is technically able to connect via 100mbps Ethernet to every single computer in the three rooms and my Xbox in the living room through the wall socket, without wires crossing the house and threatening to kill you when you trip while holding a... um glass bottle of vinegar. Surprisingly though, when made to do it, the Mio Box-branded 2wire router can send out a pretty strong wireless signal from a simple option on its configuration page. I'm getting a stable 76% strength with my router in the store room with door closed.

Also, after abit of bickering, I reluctantly agreed to change my table's orientation to face the wall, instead of my bed. Reason being my parents feel that it poses a great hazard when the window is left open, and rain pours in, straight down the back of my desktop monitor. Even I have abit of a hard time reaching in to close the window. They will have a harder time, plus they want to do periodic cleaning too. I was pissed that I can't sit on my bed to watch videos now, and that my sound system is facing a whole 90degrees away from me (audiophile horror), but I guess my room was so small, it didn't turn out to be too bad.

Also, of course, my shelf has since been secured, and I've arranged my display items, mini-one-shelf-favorable-titles-only-library of books, and... miscellaneous stuff over six shelves in total.

Anyway. Enamored.

Singnet Makes It Inexplicably Hard to Access Tech65.org

2008-04-21T09:50:00.000+08:00

For about two weeks, starting on the Saturday when we recorded our live show for the 65th episode of 65bits, Tech65.org has been inaccessible through Singnet broadband and wireless@sg. The only way we are aware of so far to get through this problem is to create a proxy at proxy.singnet.com.sg, port 8080.

I think we're pretty sure it isn't a block by Singnet, because 5% of the time it is accessible - a block wouldn't let that happen. It is clearly some sort of connection problem, something that unfortunately after many many attempted solutions, have not lead to improved connections, and our confidence in the services provided by Singtel has completely failed at this juncture. Particularly because of the lack of support from Singtel themselves, something that has infuriated us very much.

This problem has affected our listenership very negatively, especially in recent episodes, even though many of our listeners subscribe to our show through iTunes and our RSS feeds, everything still has to go through our site, and not being able to connect to Tech65 has impeded our ability to continue providing service as many of our editors are on Singtel.

My dear readers and listeners, please blog about this as well on your respective spaces. Let the blogosphere know in your own way about this bizarre problem, and be sure to let us know if you are encountering the same problem with your site. We hope to resolve this soon and get our shows back on the smooth track.

Thank you for your support!

*Thanks to Jerrick for cleaning up my muddly draft*

Rockin' Insanity at Xbox 360's 2nd Birthday Bash @ The Screening Room

2008-04-07T19:54:00.002+08:00

Foreword: All the pictures you see are courtesy of MS releasing them. I don't really like to use others' photographs, released or not, and that's why I emptied my wallet buying myself a camera, but there's no point when there isn't a different point of view explored in my limited photographs to show off.

It started off for fellow podcaster Jerrick and I by being a bitch to find. It's a great location with a really exclusive feel to it, but abit too tucked away, and under that day's irritatingly wet conditions, it wasn't exactly fun treasure hunting for it. By the time we got to the door we looked like two tortured wet dogs, but dried off in no time.

Once we got there, we realized just how exclusive an event we managed to get into. There were sooo few people there! And for that we have to thank Geek Goddess Estee. Being a small community in such a small country, quite a few fellow guests were familiar faces. Sheylara, Sabrina, Uzyn, Arzhou and Nic A. Khoo were there. DarkMirage, probably Singapore's most famous anime blogger, was also there, to his own surprise apparently. The story was that someone from GameAxis, he even didn't know who, recommended him, and then there he was.

Sigh, it's nice to be famous.

The night warmed up as we got high on both alcohol and games. Seriously, I can hold my own with digital drum kits and singing, but when it comes to follow-the-combo for Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars, I suck ass to the ends of the earth. Which according to Hans makes me a real guitar player, because we're used to strings and at least 16 frets, not five bloody buttons.

Yay?

There was the mini games competition, with Bomberman, Guitar Hero 3, and Project Gotham Racing respectively, interspersed by the most awesome game previews ever.

Alone in the Dark

Dead Space

Dragonball Z Burst Limit

Star Wars: Force Unleashed (WHOOO!)

Grand Theft Auto IV

Ninja Gaiden II (just because they sent an insane amount of screenshots)

UEFA Euro '08

I'm still high over the fact that I got to be part of the select crowd that got to see live gameplay previews for Ninja Gaiden II (fuckin bloody, fuckin cool) and Star Wars: Force Unleashed (zomg please just buy it when it comes out it pwnx0rz).

By some error of probability that would have stunned Pythagoras into a heart attack, my team, Ninja, won the games competition, when we finished second in Bomberman I think and third in GH3. Not sure how we did for Gotham. Our prize was an uber sweet exclusive GTA4 t-shirt. Problem was that it was far too small, so they offered to change it, but then the only larger size was crazy huge. See pic lower in the post.

After that was the birthday cake segment, where all of us were given unbearably cute cupcakes with the Xbox logo printed onto a white chocolate cover on top of the cake (see second pic at top of post).

I was surprised how easily we bit into the beautiful logo. But we all learn every day.

The finale was the lucky draw for a brand new Xbox 360, Halo 3 Limited Edition. Alan Chou, who in his words "takes care of Xbox in Asia", drew a number out of a container, and our host for the evening, Oli Pettigrew, referred to the guest list for the corresponding name...

And hesitantly said, "Ren...ho?"

It was then that I did possibly the second most embarrassing thing in my life (the first being my attempt to hold the hand of someone whom I had mistaken as my aunt. I was a little kid ok?? I was short!). Apart of my own volition I let off this crazy Red Indian Woooo0~!! that I have a feeling the girls we're silently impressed with. Good pitch and strength in it, you know? And so much soul.

My l00t. This pic is from my camera, taken by Jerrick.

Alan Chou showing how ridiculously huge XXL is.

Host Oli Pettigrew, Arzhou, and Jerrick

Photowhoring began, and our goodie bags were distributed as well. The highlight, an ultimate sexay black 360 controller. When I setup my 360 over at the new place, that's gonna be my personal controller. The rest of my normal mortal friends can use the normal white ones.

Also included in the bag were GTA4 coasters and stickers, which I might just give out... And a simply lovely Xbox 360 tennis shirt. The problem was that my goodie bag was apparently the S-size set.

I'm gonna get it changed.

And before I forget, hurray and congrats to me for winning, but fucking hell the 360 was a mamafornicating doggiegirl to drag from Tanjong Pagar home to Tampines.

Whether or not I had won the 360 though, I can safely declare that this was the best night of my life in a long long while. Congrats for Xbox for successfully reaching out to the new media community. As for the 360, now that I've effortlessly won one, my attitude to the gaming platform will probably be biased. But in the spirit of ethical journalism, I promise to endeavor to be objective as possible about it.

As for the games I'm gonna review, don't even bet that I'm gonna sugar coat anything. :)

The Classmate PC

2008-04-06T20:33:00.001+08:00

So I've been holding the Classmate for about a week and a half now, and I've said it and I'll say it again. I am going to sorely miss this lil' baby when I return it, anytime now.

What I adore about the Classmate PC its it's size. Many girls, and the more petite ones mind you, have stared in awe, as I rattle away on the Classmate's keyboard. Just like any miniaturized gadget nowadays, it is perfectly possible to adapt to its new interfaces, whether physical ones like the keyboard, or software-based interfaces. The external snap-on case also makes it so uber convenient - in two seconds I can jump from fervently rushing my work to snapping the PC close, gathering my things, and walking out of the train without having a thousand peripherals trailing behind me, or worse, falling away one by one.

The other major plus point for a self-professed buffalo like me is it's monstrous durability, and this as a personal choice makes it a very clear winner over the decidedly more sexy EEE PC. I've had such immense fun shocking the watery shit out of my friends by casually tossing the Classmate behind my back. For once, the combination of the crashing sound and the strangled cries as they feel unneeded pain for the Classmate is just hilarious music to my ears.

My dad was so impressed by its features that he's asking me to get one. I do hope to get it. Then it would save me from having to drag my big boulder of a Macbook Pro around by default.

Love ya baby. See ya soon...

The Intel-powered Classmate PC has just released its second generation. Read all about it at the official website.

Startup@Singapore Web 2.0 Talk - Failure to Winner

2008-04-06T20:33:00.000+08:00

So I was at S@S's last installment of its Emerging Industries series of talks, talking about Web 2.0, with NTT. I have to admit that I was largely attracted to this talk because Kevin Lim was speaking (not that I'm attracted to him la shit but I always love to hear what he has to say). And the other two speakers, Vanessa Tan (Van Tan) and Stuart Tan, were also familiar names to me, so I thought it would be pretty fun.

It was quite a large audience. Interestingly a whole group of students who didn't seem any older than JC took up two centre rows of seats.

S@S, however, did a dismal job of webcasting Kevin over. They were doing it through Skype, which I would concede as the optimal consumer solution, but projected onto the wall, Haysoos Christ Kevin looked worse than a eboy picture. Nevertheless I was impressed with his casting setup - him with two PiPs - one with a side view of him and another with his theorycast logo. And that's not all - he had a scrolling ticker tape at the bottom which he could dynamically change on the fly. You'll see how he used it later on in this post.

But back to the S@S people's setup. How motheringly bad can your set up be? There are plenty of technically adept people to consult even if you don't know how to create smooth webcasting. Kevin had the view of only one cam, the laptop's webcam, and it was facing not the audience but the speakers on stage. Could have done a PiP like he did. They were using the laptop's built-in mic for Kevin's audio. Could have routed the audio out of the mixer in to the laptop. But noo! Built-in mic. For tech's sake you people you aren't small fry. Get yourself some bloody help la. Freaking give a student a $50 angbao to help you with the setup.

Having said that, I still think S@S should be duly credited for even trying such new and somewhat unpredictable technology. Other companies or organizations would have given up a first-choice speaker because he's halfway round the world; S@S went ahead and failed spectacularly at it, but I do hope they learn from it, because when pulled off, its just amazing and maybe, just maybe, awe-inspiring.

And then there was the moderator, who introduced himself as a first-year communications student, and who looked as though he was frantically called at 5 in the morning because the original moderator came down with a 41-degree fever. Then again, there's a chance that that happened.

First-year? Panel moderator? Seriously? Is it that hard to find a final-year? Or a toastmaster even???

Urghlbarneygoo.

He failed to intercept when a member of the audience booed VanTan (not that we were entirely pissed at the booer, who turned out to be Bill Claxton aka itr8, but still he wasn't doing his job), he seemed to be always caught unaware when the panelists finished answering, and was just generally not quite up to it. But, I like to see good in people, and at the very least, he was well-spoken and articulated.

Because of the earlier described setup, Kevin had a horrible time hearing questions - he mostly heard painfully loud white noise and static, as evidenced by the short recording he posted after the conference. Only the moderator walked down to the laptop to repeat the questions, and it was quite amusing when it was Q&A and he went. "If anyone has questions for Kevin, please come down to the laptop."

Enter NTT, itr8, micamonkey, and me! While the other three started Twittering Kevin the proceedings of the panel (some with opinions, some plain reports... micamonkey relied solely on her Nokia 3100 to Twitter. Talk about fastest fingers first.), I with my usual rational mind decided to turn myself into a speech-to-text machine, transcripting what was said to Kevin via Windows Live Messenger. For awhile, I struggled to type coherent sentences on the 9" Classmate PC, but then thankfully NTT swapped his Macbook, so I had the relative luxury of a 15+" keyboard to type on. It felt surreal and somewhat accomplishing, 1) pushing a part of myself to the limit (make what you will of it, but I just don't type that fast), and 2) seeing the concepts Kevin taught me come to life before my geeky bespectacled eyes, notably crowdsourcing and the gift economy.

I think I had to Twitter something, and koped the Classmate back for awhile. NTT found this so amusing that he took my camera to snap this priceless picture. I guess multi-tasking and four desktop spaces just isn't enough for my social whoring needs.

Meanwhile, Kevin was being a riot on screen with his ticker tape. Just look at his crazy statements!

He said later on Twitter that he felt he had to stop all his crazy tickertape statements because he felt he was ruining the whole discussion with his mean one-liners. Well I agreed with half of it. Which half? Go figure. :)

Kevin's since told the Tech65 team that his secret is this downright awesome Mac application called CamTwist. For free, this gem allows you to create PiPs, display pictures, logos, watermarks, RSS feeds ticker tape, and plenty of other plain cool effects. So Mackies, be sure to check it out, and Windowers, if you beg and plead enough I guess they'll make a Win version.

I can't emphasize enough how unprofessional I felt S@S was, but I'm not blacklisting them just yet, and hey, you shouldn't too. I think it's only fair to give them more chances, and we all learn some time or the other. Just for this event however, Kevin's madness and our indirect participation in the panel really made the event do a sharp about turn, from a doomed failure, to a priceless winner.

Just for us, at least.

How far should working-world simulations go in academic situations?

2008-03-19T07:21:00.000+08:00

Yesterday marked a sour end to an otherwise enjoyable and engaging lecture. As usual, the lord of all this chaos was our COM443 lecturer, Principles and Techniques in Advertising. We had just received an individual and a group assignment, and were already conducting the typically Singaporean preliminary discussions as to how to approach it. That was when Fat Man and Little Boy were dropped.

Simultaneously.

"Due to the recent financial crisis affecting the United States," he started in an amusing old-man voice, "the BeBoP Corporation (that's what he calls it) is facing numerous problems and therefore are retrenching."

Cue: collective gasp and buzz.

"Please choose a member of your team to be fired," he continued in his usual voice, "the fired members will then come together to form a new ad agency (what he calls our groups)."

Everyone was staring at each other speechless. There was initial talk at insisting that all was well within the company and no retrenchment was necessary, but we knew well by now that he would never let that pass. Comical reenactments of the Survivor voting scene became reality for some groups. Joking suggestions of doing open numbers came to pass for other groups. (For those who don't know, open numbers is a system of selection by chance where at the intonation of ohhh-pen numm-bers! group members display a number with their fingers. The sum total is calculated, and the calculator starts counting in a circle until he reaches that number. Depending on the situation, the identified person is either first in a game, or the one who gets booted.) For a couple of groups like mine, we went by random selection.

No yeah, I took this picture after class was concluded.

Personally I feel that we picked the best method of handling such an unfavorable situation. However clear it is that we have been pushed into a corner into doing this, there is that key element of choice in voting. You made a choice to boot someone, and that someone was me. If the outed person knows he or she hasn't been contributing to the group, this only serves to lower that person's morale and confidence about his or her true capabilities. If he or she is oblivious to group members' sentiments of him/her not doing his due share of work, or if he/she was just the best candidate to pick out of all the others, he/she will start questioning himself/herself about where he/she had gone wrong. Was I an asshole? Didn't I do enough work? Should I have helped out more in X or Y?

Obviously there's still disappointment and upset in a random choice, but the unlucky person is at least comforted by the fact that there was no element of selection in this result. There can be little space for any sort of blame, unless everyone fold quarters you crush into a circle la. Then you asking for it right you try and be different?

My question today is: how far can a lecturer reasonably swing us through the mud of real life? How far down can he dip is in it without drowning us?

One has every right to argue that, wake up your ideas you young brat, that's what happens in the real world, don't argue against what you know nothing of. Now that's true. But flip the coin and look at this academically. For those booted out, their academic stability, at least in their minds, are churning 6 times over. They have to face the uncertainty of unfamiliarity all over again, and in such cases where there are known cock members (and where the member may indeed be one), it is in direct interference with their grades. There goes their A. Fuck, there goes their B! Is that morally right for a lecturer to do? Jeopardize students' grades with a possibly over-the-top simulation of the corporate world?

If one wishes to expose undergrad students to real world scenarios - dressing up for interviews, suiting up for presentations, working in randomly selected groups - I respect that. Better than us finding the world not as sparkly white as the walls of our lecture theatre. But I am of the opinion that lecturers should not carry the game so far as to affect the excellence of our grades.

What do you think?

LG KS20 Bloggers and Forumers Launch

2008-03-17T21:07:00.000+08:00

So since I've talked about it over at 65bits, I thought I'd provide a more personal point of view of the event here. As Rinaz rightly pointed out, I was very glad to have not one, two, but a whole table of pingsters with me (as well as more in our immediate surroundings). It would have been cold and lonely to attend the event without anyone familiar. For that I suppose we'll have to thank fellow pingster Princessa Sabrina for inviting. Her friend was prudent to get her to help - she has great links through ping.sg and even out of it.

This was the main table I sat with.

The people who brightened my evening... Left to Right: DK, Sheylara, Claudia, Rinaz.

Other pingsters who attended the event (yeah everyone I knew there were pingsters you got a problem?) were Geekonomics's Nicholas Aaron Khoo, Iz from I.Z. Reloaded, 9eek 9oddess Estee, nadnut and jayden. Those that I recognized anyway. I think there were a couple others.

I love the food provided at Corduroy Cafe, where the event was held. The ambience there is welcoming and cosy, and the food is mostly delicious. It's quite obvious that LG didn't hold back on their costs.

The event, I would say, was a great success. Again, Fleishman and LG have Sabrina to thank, because we bloggers really made each other's night better. Proof?

DK invents Endorsement 2.0

The IXUSes

The LUMIXes (FX1 and FX12 how cool is that? Front still looks the same after all these years)
Courtesy Rinaz

Goofing off with camera flash competition (and I cheated :P)
Courtesy Rinaz

Trying to work my way around the phone (and Windows Mobile 6)
Courtesy Nicholas

My first impressions of the product, however, were terrible. Perhaps it was due to the inherently messy interface of Windows Mobile 6. But I don't want to pass final judgment on a product after a nett playtime of 5 minutes. I'm gonna want to use it for as long as possible before coming up with a detailed review.

But as far as first impressions go, I interviewed Nicholas, DK and Rinaz. I'll probably post that over at Channel65, so watch out for that. And Rinaz interviewed me in return. It was actually quite embarrassing for my ego as a tech podcaster and reviewer, because that was like the worst interview I ever did in my life.

Overall, I quite enjoyed myself. Companies should take a leaf from LG's book when it comes to PR events. As for products, LG may have well have to take a leaf from other books.

"I mean, what do you think when you think of LG?"
Simultaneously: "Washing machines"
"EXACTLY!"

Other bloggers who wrote about the event... Check em' out!
Sabrina
DK
Sheylara
Claudia
Nicholas
IZ

Furniture Revamp at Geek Terminal!

2008-03-16T22:04:00.002+08:00

So, before the LG bloggers' launch event, I had alot of time to kill, and alot of energy to recoup, so I went to Geek Terminal to chill my afternoon away. It's a good thing I didn't fall asleep in the comfy couch/lounge thingy, although I took some liberties in stretching myself out. I cleared like 6 7 videos. It's actually more exhausting than relaxing.

It must have been in between videos when I was resting my senses when I noticed Danny beckoning Chris over. I saw Danny sit triumphantly into what looked like quite the ordinary black chair, as if he'd just been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Unable to resist my curiousity I walked over and took a good luck at the new chair. My opinion didn't change from when I was a distance away - it looked plain. The cushion looked thin. When I sat in it however, at the kind invitation of the two bosses, it felt surprisingly comfortable, and supportive. And you know for someone of my size, it feels particularly gratifying to know that not only the chair but the cushion can support your weight well. Here's what it looked like.

The armrest

Backrest

Cushion

The cushion from the side

Geek Terminal is apparently doing a huge ass revamp. In fact I wanted to blog about the garage sale that happened yesterday and today, but... well time just passed too fast. There were loads of old product stocks going for sale, and even the old "classic" GT furniture. Hope they stretch it beyond this week. Meanwhile, the next time you go to GT, don't be surprised to see a whole new look!

By the way, before I left, Chris dumped a dubious looking half finished espresso on my table.

"Try it. Nice!"

Oh my God the first sip nearly physically knocked me over.

Turns out Chris gave me a cup of moscato espresso. Moscato is the semi-sweet Italian wine, although the taste makes it feel like semi-sweet Italian hardass liquor.

Not bad. Watch out for it. Get drunk and high. Oh yeah~

The Net is Torn

2008-03-14T22:30:00.002+08:00

Okay okay okay. Okay.

Okay.

I HAVE alot of material to post up (no excluding the ones that I said I would follow up with but never did, sorry about those).

Tonight, the murderfishing Internet connection is faulty, and no video can be streamed, no video can be uploaded, no PHOTOS can be uploaded.

You wait. I'll show you. Got a load to shove down your throat.

Don't be sick la please.

Mah nu bebe! Part I: Getting it

2008-03-10T00:00:00.001+08:00

SO.

I popped by the IT Show '08 for the second time yesterday. Today's the fricking third time, but that's for another post. The first time was on Thursday, to recce (or racky, or raq-key. However the hell you spell it. Short for reconnaissance, ok?) I collected Fujifilm, Nikon, Sony, Exilim, and maybe a couple others. My budget was $250, $300 maxed out. And for that price (those brands that had an option around that area anyway), no brand could beat Sony. In itself the camera(s) already have such wonderful specs, and to top it off with fireworks (or cream-shrouded cherries) they were offering freebies galore.

One thing I noticed. Maybe I wasn't paying too close attention at previous shows, but many major camera brands were SPAMMING memory cards like they were all mini-timebombs. Olympus offered 3 2GB xD cards. 6GB of memory? Are they that disposable nowadays that you can offer people too much memory just to buy your camera? Even if you were one for card-switching, and I honestly can think of no reason why you wish to make your life such a misery, you don't frigging need that much memory.

Seriously!

Ok carrying on...

After dashing around yesterday, Jerrick and I had narrowed it to either Sony or Panasonic. For Panasonic the Mega O.I.S. was the star attraction. For Sony, its lenses, image sensor, and clarity were unmatched. Samsung pranced into the picture for awhile, with good physical looks, good snapshots, and a good screen to display them, but when we realized that they were trying to market it as an all-in-one PMP-camera, it immediately fell out of the league because we didn't wish to pay for something we weren't looking for, more so since we both already have dedicated PMPs.

In the end, Panasonic as an overall image capture brand triumphed in these two consumers' minds. The Mega OIS totally won us over. I had quite a tight budget of 250. While Jerrick had abit more liberty, he wasn't about to go crazy with the 7-800 dollar options anyway. So I took out a loan of a hundred from him and decided on the FX12 selling at $299, while he with a hundred more went for the FS3 at $399. I'll just gloss over the FS3 first.

The main attraction of this camera would be the Intelligent Auto system, known in short as iA. In a nutshell, iA assesses the photography conditions and assumes the appropriate mode, totally eliminating the need for the mode dial, as well as plenty of flustered users. Very good for 1) tech idiots, and 2) lazy geeks. For example if you wanted to snap a hi-res picture (8.1MP) of someone's festering pimple for further examination in the comfort of your room, and you brought the camera really close to the guy's face, iA kicks in and switches to Macro mode. Quite snappy, as far as my limited experience with it goes, but I dunno just how intelligent the program gets. Jerrick?

Read about the FS3 at its official product page.

Mah cam.

The FX12 keeps in line with earlier generations of Lumix cameras. The quintessential mode dial is there, as are the buttons and round-the-shutter zoom lever, but subtle improvements have been made to smoothen the user's experience. Modes on the dial have been shifted around in terms of usage, new modes have been added. A major add-on is the Intelligent ISO mode, which is supposed to assess the best ISO to suit the lighting conditions. Alot of scene settings have been added in as well, including a much-welcome aerial photo scene mode. More detailed specs:

7.2 megapixels
3x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom (total 12x)
f=5.8-17.4mm (35mm equivalent: 35-105mm) (whatever the frick that means)
Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Lens
ISO: Auto / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1250 (High Sensitivity Mode: 3200)
Scene modes:

Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Sports, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Self-Portrait, Food, Party, Candle Light, Fireworks, Starry Sky, Beach, Aerial Photo, Snow, High Sensitivity, Baby 1&2, Underwater, Sunset, Pet

Motion picture: up to 640x480 30fps / 848x480 30fps

Yummity! The camera is packaged with a wrist strap, a battery and its case, and a charger. AND, to top it off, they showered the following freebies on me:

4GB SDHC
SD(HC)/MMC Card Reader
Official Lumix Camera Leather Case
Screen Protector
Lens Cleaning Kit
Mini-Tripod
Mobile Phone Charger
Extra battery with case!!!

Read more at the official product page.

For Jerrick's FS3, they gave memory cards instead of the extra battery, making me all the more happy with my purchase. 4 + 2 + 2GB... for what you tell me. -.-" The card reader's just another China-made one, complete with horrid English, but that's one product I don't need a brand for. The camera case is just sexeh, the usual magnetic snap-close leather case. The screen protector, I'm impressed with its transparency and applicability. You have to be very careful about it, but when you do it right, it glues on like a magnet, with no bubbles. Fantastic. That mobile phone charger is that thing where you slot an AA battery into an aluminium tube and plug it to something or the other and it can charge on the go... perfect for flat phones and devices. The ones old leering uncles try to sell you for anywhere between $16-$22.

I got it free. Bite that you mothercheaters.

Panasonic must have snatched alot of customers with that extra battery there, only thrown in as additional enticement on the third day. While we were off deliberating, we zipped past the Lumix booth again and Jerrick noted that the FX10, the 6MP brother of the FX12, had already been sold out. That one was running for either 249 or 259. Today, the last day, I brought my aunt's good friend in to get another FS3, and pink was already gone. By the time she filled the order form, black was only collectible two days later. Finding it a bother, she picked the silver and brought it home immediately. If I can remember correctly, the FX55 was also totally sold out as well.

Roaring business I tell you. Congratulations to you Panasonic. The result of good, revolutionary R&D.

Schoolhouse Rockz - Is Kids Central finally going somewhere?

2008-03-03T17:51:00.001+08:00

So I recalled my friend verbally rolling her eyes at what seems to be Kids Central's weak attempt at a Singaporean High School Musical - Schoolhouse Rockz. Complete with the kawaiix/cool dudz zZz at the end to replace the now boring S.

As expected of Mediacorp, a search for "kids central" "schoolhouse rock" (yeah I searched without the Z at first) turned up fack all, and I had to go through Kids Central, where they prominently located a banner ad linked to a microsite.

I went to the toilet and came back to find, with mixed surprise, a video streaming on the site. And it turns out to be the music video to the theme song for SHR.

After awhile, my expression morphed into something you might see me make if I saw a rotting dead body chopped into parts with the skin stripped off.

But then I recognised everyone's favorite cute Campus Superstar Shawn Tok's face, and ever a sucker for cute things (in the kawaiix way not the I.wanna.eat.you.rawr kinda way), I let the video run to the end.

And it auto-looped right back to the beginning.

Well that did save me some clicking, but would the site's audience appreciate that? Most likely only the techier kids who'll leave the window open and let the song run all they while they complete their English Maths Science Chinese and Moral Education homework.

So having had enough of the cheesy lyrics (and coming from me who freaks out in joy every time I see quattro formaggi on the menu, that's something. Seriously.) I turned my attention to... well everything else. And actually, it doesn't look all that bad. Cute SFX (magical comet trails all), sharp video sequence editing, and very very well practiced slick moves. All that's left is the content, and I'm really interested to see the casts' skills and the script content (plz plz plz no more cheese plzkthx). This is a welcome change because from being a fatass giant glued to the sofa every Saturday morning cheering on Tweety Granny and Sylvester as they alternated between chasing each other and criminals around, to cringing everytime Dora the Explorer smiles and me and waits patiently for my answer. I serve in Children's Church and I absolutely refuse to believe that today's kids are so deprived of an intelligent education that they have to learn that yellow + cat = yellow cat before being able to appreciate the complex multiple plots of Teen Titans.

Watch the video by clicking on the link to the homepage at the top of the post. Lemme know what you think. This could be a positive sign that Kids Central, if not Mediacorp, is taking a step in the right direction.

About content though. Seriously, spend some money and get quality script writers. Foreign writers != loss of local flavor. Get a local storyboard supervisor la, aiyoh.

A few things

2008-03-03T15:18:00.000+08:00

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

What the fuck! Seriously! I cannot believe I lost ALL my pictures from interesThink! Stupid computer... I must have tried to move the file from Desktop to My Pictures and the computer denied it. The next day I forgot that the computer denied the transfer and cleared the copy from my desktop.

Oh ok. I found it. Under my Happy Tree Friends folder. Accidentally shifted it in there.

What! If I hadn't blogged about it I wouldn't have thought about looking through the folders again.

Effies coverage coming up soon. I've been damn tired with the endless revisions and work. I probably say or think this every semester but I really just want to curl up in my bed, hugging my bolster, with my blanket over me, and let the sound of the pouring rain wash me to sleep.

I'll wake up, eat, do my Netichores while waiting for the food to digest, and get right back to the rain-wash-sleep gig.

Without getting fatter.

I wish.

Oh God, let me rest, please....................