The Benedict Issue

I can't, I can't...!

2009-04-22T01:05:00.003+10:00

No this isn't a bitch fit shouting I can't do this and that. But I just can't wait till October when the movie adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are premieres.

As noted previously in my blog, last year I couldn't wait for Watchmen as well. It proved not disappointing at all, but I reckoned the conclusion of the story actually felt more epic reading than watching it.

On another note, as had once been mentioned in this blog about the same series, I thought some outstanding stuff has been happening in Britain's Got Talent. Props.

They Make Their Hearts Small

2009-01-24T23:03:00.003+11:00

Just an anal update before the Chinese New Year.

Back to the gym today (some Fitness First in KL), one difference that struck me was the dumbbells' weight unit. It's finally in metrics. I mean c'mon, we were once a British colony, not American's.

Now those people can't say they're lifting 60 (lbs.) anymore 'coz it's only 27.5 (kg) now. But it reminds me of times back in uni.

Pretty anal, wasn't it?

Happy Chinese New Year!

Sticky Up There, Uncle

2008-11-22T04:38:00.003+11:00

Back more than one year ago, any new post written right about this hour on a weekend was possibly a not-so-sobre one. I'm domesticated not because I'm affected by the economy, but by my own age.

My topic this time relates to a phenomenon that I had (unfortunate enough) to witness, however.

In July, oil price peaked at $147. Technically speaking (you can skip this) that of course refers to price per barrel for futures with delivery the next month from that date quoted.

At time of writing, oil price has retraced almost two thirds of that level, now standing at less than $50 per barrel. Now those are just statistics. But not merely statistics. They created hoo-hahs everywhere. First with the government cutting its subsidies on oil, then a flurry of cost and price issues hurting us, the consumers, hard. Here is my experience.

I once frequented this uncle's stall for lunch almost every weekday. He had the stuff I wanted and his prices were reasonable. My diet was still strict (relatively) then, which made me not only sticking to a regime, but to a provider that consistently had what I needed.

On one occasion, prior to announcing the price he was gonna charge me for my lunchbox, he said, hey look, it's gonna be expensive this time around. I said alright. He charged me 8 bucks, but returned 3 bucks as change when I handed him 10.

Subsequent lunches were fine. Reasonably fine.

Then came this second time that he disclaimed the hike in price again prior to accepting my note. I smiled and accepted that, for I should at least try to emphatise his position a little. But why should I? This time around, he thought he had to justify the hike. He told me the story of prices of poultry rising. Fine. But when I heard him saying that he would cut back his prices when prices of poultry come down, that put me straight into doubt. That kinda doubt resembling that beep in the radar when you detect bullshit.

After raising prices, who would really cut them?

Well my point is, prices are sticky downward. Or sticky up there. Bus operators now even demand a raise in fare despite the worsening oil position.

My solution? I just hope I'd be one of those successful speculators that would earn more than enough to survive should there be another rally/plunge of any sort in the market. Be it commodities, forex, etc. Because speculation is what it was all about. Fuck the China-India fundamental explanations. Look what the naivety has brought upon us.

Birthday Gift

2008-11-20T02:16:00.006+11:00

Watchmen is probably, well, one of the only 2 and a half graphic novels that I've read. Still can't help but to say the trailer looks epic (with a Smashing Pumpkins soundtrack). You'll probably appreciate more if you read the graphic novel though:

The Dark Bailout

2008-10-05T15:31:00.001+11:00

For those of you who followed the $700bn bailout plan and watched The Dark Knight.

Religion and Personal Agenda

2008-08-31T14:07:00.002+10:00

I grew up going to the church almost every Sunday. Enough for anyone to quote the Bible or religion when trying to influence my decisions. Against or for, but usually the former.

The problem, though, is the selective quoting from such a source. Completely neglecting "the word of God" when they are happy doing what they are. But only quoting from such a source when they have personal agendas. Reminding you that the countless hours you spent in church every God-blessed (or damned) Sunday mornings taught you that and people there would agree the same.

Enough with this bull. I've been good enough a fellow church-goer to thank God when good things happen, and not to blame Him when bad things do. But I now find life much easier without religion. I have seen enough to spot hypocrites.

If I need examples, I will find through secular means. If such a person happens to be from a certain religion, I will respect that.

But in the meantime, I don't see a point of "abstaining" and all just to preserve myself a seat (room, suite, etc.) in this place called Heaven, when the existence of such a place is not merely subjective, it cannot be proved and most importantly too restraining to the point that there is not much purpose of life on earth if I were to believe and submit.

A pair of the world's biggest religions were established at almost the same period in world history. Religion then suited the citizen's everyday life as a divine guidance of sorts. In fact, humanity and stability could hardly been imagined to exist at all without this divine teaching.

Life and the world has progressed enough and we're fortunate enough to be born at this small dot in the world history timeline, that I (at least) should focus and appreciate more worldly things and live my own liberal life. Free from people quoting from "divine" scriptures when they themselves cannot prove the existence of God and Heaven but only able to prove themselves to be the worst examples even among the so-called Atheists.

Camper

2008-08-29T02:52:00.002+10:00

Done with my 2nd rotation (after a short 3-month stint).

My right earphone just died on me after about 2 faithful years.

Doubling my weekend by taking a day's leave, to be followed by a public holiday on Monday.

2 minutes since I paused and thought about what else to write. Guess this ends here then.

The Dictator

2008-08-15T14:02:00.002+10:00

In the last post I mentioned two quotes from songs that I find quite impactful.

"The death of one is a tragedy, but the death of millions is just a statistic"
was quoted in Marilyn Manson's Fight Song, but it was first uttered by Joseph Stalin.

Olding

2008-06-22T14:10:00.004+10:00

3 weeks since I've started my 2nd rotation, after 2 wholesome months of classroom training.

Now, nothing beats Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III.

I don't know if it's even morbid, but these two lines (off songs) that made a deep impression in me have a word in common: tragedy.

from Tie My Hands - Lil Wayne ft Robin Thicke:
"yeah, Some say tragedy is hard to get over
But some time that tragedy means its over, soulja"

from Fight Song - Marilyn Manson:
"The death of one is a tragedy
But the death of millions is just a statistic"

Our Slow Transition

2008-04-20T13:52:00.002+10:00

In the last update, I was only 2 weeks into my current job. It's been 2 months since I started working now and, having finished our first rotation, we're in our classroom session.

Ironically but fortunately, we're not acting our age: we really behave more like a bunch of high school adolescents. It's contrary to what I've said in the last post, but I'm glad it is.

Came back from a camp yesterday only to realize all the cash in my wallet was stolen in the resort. But life went on of course, with Saturday drinking, this time with my fellow colleagues. It reminds me of how I lost my bike in Melbourne but still went on to do some shopping, not bothering to file a police report first. It was a little therapeutic.

What's making me uncomfortable, though, is the fact that this post looks more like a journal entry than something random like previous ones, slowly shifting this whole thing into your stereotype of juvenile journals rather than a readable one.

By the way, fuck that shit.

Hello Uncle

2008-03-17T02:25:00.003+11:00

My fourth week into working adulthood now and I am feeling really old already, notwithstanding having much older people around me. Perhaps these are the signs (well, maybe symptoms):

- inability to sleep for more than 9 hours: only able to get that max after a night of good drinking
- taste for music reverts back to pop: Leona Lewis rocks
- feeling the urge to throw up despite of being 56 reps behind Men's Health Bodyweight 350: even the link is taken from the "No More Fat Dad" blog
- immaculate punctuation in emails: 1 month ago, I don't remember doing that
- whiskey+water, rather: because, afterall, it's more uncle

You There

2008-02-14T15:20:00.003+11:00

The following clip you are about to watch is an irony in itself. A French singing in English about an island in Spain.

The point this video is up here though, is, she's NOT the most beautiful woman in the world. But her movements make her so much closer to that.

Props to this French, Alizee:

Irony x2

2008-01-26T05:59:00.000+11:00

1. Finally, I've got a job. Its pay is pretty decent, one which I'm more than happy to start my career with. But I know that day when the good news come, I will have to make an appointment with the dentist for a lower wisdom tooth extraction.

2. I was watching a Bausch & Lomb advert on TV the other day. Its theme was Live Life Comfortably, if I'm not mistaken. It featured scenes with 'firsts' in them, e.g. first date, first etc etc. And yes, I saw "first wisdom tooth" as well. I laughed out loud (oh yeah... LOL literally) when I saw that. Then the camera changed its focus to the dentist in the advert. It was my dad.

Ties That Do Not Bind?

2008-01-23T04:53:00.000+11:00

The reason why I actually bothered looking at this article was its title. I read the whole text with a smirk. Only to realize that it was actually written by DiGi.Com's CEO, Morten Lundal.

Read it here.

To give you an idea without reading it though, it started off with:
"I THINK the day will come when a boy will see a picture from our days and point to the tie and ask his daddy (or mommy), “What is that?”

The parent will answer something like this: “It’s a clothing habit that was prevalent for 200 years or so, especially for men in politics and business. "

And developed into:
""Why spend time on the role of the tie?” you might now understandably ask. Well, to me a tie symbolises two things. First, it symbolises an artificial distance we create between individuals and also between people’s home and work-lives.

We take on a certain persona when we leave for work. Not only do we dress differently for rather hard-to-understand reasons, but we also talk differently, behave differently, and think differently than we do as “private people.”

A tie suggests formalism and a reliance on hierarchy that I don’t think is good for either the business or for the individual.

It also symbolises a thoughtlessness - a failure to challenge the most basic current assumptions. We simply take on (literally around our necks, in this case) something previously defined as “normal”, never taking the time to re-think its relevance to us (or to our customers, our employees, our societies?) today. "

So what came to my mind when I finished reading this? Maybe he had nothing better to write about. Maybe should he write about more serious things like his business, he'd risk letting out some information better kept private. So he wrote under the header 'Managing Mindset'.

Now, how ridiculous is that? Can you imagine Wall Street bankers without the tie? And why attack the tie alone? Honestly, does wearing heels/loafers or even pants with a belt feels that good? I think not. So why not attack the whole 'formal' uniform altogether?

If it's so artificial, it doesn't start with the tie. Tie was invented to compliment the shirt and trousers. If everything has to be so comfortable and 'thoughtful', why not just wear pajamas to work? Why not wear pajamas to talk a deal?

Precisely because people who invented it in the first place wanted this 'artificial' separation of our private lives from the 'commercial'! Do you think people should really socialize and talk deals the way they talk to our family? Well perhaps the answer is yes, depending on what industry that you are looking at.

If you think DiGi people shouldn't be wearing ties, at least not now but 200 years down the road, that's totally fine. Fashion trends tend to be fads, but the fashion industry itself has just revived ties, so much so people put them on in their 'casual' attire. Why? Fashion is about self-expression. And far from 'artificiality', ties add another dimension of self-expression to our formal attire.

Would our kids really be asking their parents, 200 years from now, what are ties? I think then they'd still be wearing them to school. Because it helps in reminding them of that touch of 'formality' that we will nonetheless sustain, for the better.

Damn Well

2008-01-08T17:57:00.000+11:00

When I was applying for a job in a developed country, they stressed equal opportunity for everyone. It was totally within your choice to fill in fields like Gender, Ethnic, and even Disabilities. Asking for people's religious view was unheard of.

But guess what? Here in Malaysia, you can hardly pass a form without filling in your Religion and Ethnic. And guess what? One is even required to fill in those fields when applying for a broadband connection! And what the fuck do my religious view and ethnicity have to do with... internet connection?

But then again, a picture of mine and my profile are just there at the upper right corner of this page. I'd better shut up soon before they find me.

Daft Punk - Alive 2007

2007-12-28T01:00:00.000+11:00

Steal, download, or buy this CD. Don't quote me for whichever means you choose. You get the idea: everyone should own a copy of this masterpiece, where all the best Daft Punk tracks are combined into one single explosive live CD. You'll never regret it.

Yet Again...

2007-12-24T01:04:00.000+11:00

Another complain post. Weather is really fucking me up. Even mere t-shirt and shorts make me sweat like a pig. I told myself it'll take getting used to but looks like it's taking ages.

On the brighter side, I've just visited Pavilion and Gardens, two new and much talked about shopping complexes. I have to say the former makes one of the very few good reasons to stay in KL. I've already heard Mooks is available locally, but was rather surprised to find Industrie, Swear, Aldo, etc. It was also good to see a standalone XDYE shop.

Well, enough of vain shit. It's only about 26 hours to X'mas now. To my few but treasured readers, have a fantastic Christmas! Hope it'll be one of your best. Please party hard!

I need...

2007-12-21T03:54:00.000+11:00

... a job. Because graduation means straight down to unemployment for me.

... more meat. I'm back to rice and sugar land.

... a car. Public transport systems are too isolated. For a discussion, see the first post of this blog!

... more cash. Who wouldn't.

... better weather. Impossible.

Today...

2007-12-08T03:33:00.000+11:00

... I confirmed my graduation. Results weren't anything to celebrate about (in fact the worst ever), but at least I passed everything.

... I brought my parents around the city. They discovered Reject Shop. They went berserk.

... I discovered resistance tubes. I almost went berserk too.

... I chomped pancakes in Pancake Parlour. Had a talk with the manager and he offered some tips for cooking good pancakes "when your mates come over". Conversation ended with a "good luck".

... is my last day working at Platform One. Nothing too exciting or sentimental.

Now The Beauty

2007-12-02T03:49:00.000+11:00

Looks like China isn't just growing economically. Miss China won Miss World, too.

Birthdays

2007-11-29T16:11:00.001+11:00

As far as I could remember, the only celebrity who shares the same birthday as I is Shaquille O'Neal (day and month only of course, not year).

Got a little bored today and I found out that Alan Greenspan (economist and former chairman of Federal Reserve) and Michelangelo (Renaissance artist) were also born on 6th of March.

On the same date in 1899, Aspirin was registered as a trademark by Bayer. Every year, Ghana celebrates its independence on the same date.

Click here for more or to find out about yours.

Thank Apple

2007-11-28T04:23:00.000+11:00

Without Mac's compelling graphical interface, I suppose today's Windows wouldn't look as good (but of course, I have to add, never as good the Macs).

Quoting from Wall Street Journal's article,
"Verizon Wireless said it will allow consumers to use any compatible cellphone on its network and allow open access to the Web and third-party applications, reversing its longstanding policy."

The reason why Steve Jobs let AT&T become the sole service provider for iPhone was because the latter gave Apple all the freedom to innovate, whereas other service providers usually impose heaps of restrictions on mobile phone manufacturers. That's probably why rarely someone is totally happy about their mobile's functionalities.

With the iPhone now open to third party developments, other operators now follow suit to allow for third party innovations too. It's a spillover effect. Thanks to Apple for its iPhone, we can expect to see better phones (not only iPhone) to become better in the near future.

Once (and continually) we thank Apple for those sweet looking stuff, now we ought to thank them for these functionality spillover.

Daft

2007-11-28T02:37:00.000+11:00

From Daft Punk hands to Daft Punk bodies: (although not as original as the former, props to the virtually blindfolded sync)

He Who Doesn't Like It Stable

2007-11-21T01:30:00.000+11:00

It's as if every night I find something disagreeable in some news section or blog. Today, I found an author who thinks it's no big deal and that "it just wouldn't matter all that much" that Iran (and other countries, oil-producing or not) were to price oil relative to a basket of currencies rather than just USD.

According to Justin Fox, the author, this may only result in smoothing (of volatility) of oil prices. And that it won't drastically change the world nor affect the damn USD.

Follow the link below to read my comment (the 2nd one):
http://time-blog.com/curious_capitalist/2007/11/what_if_they_stopped_pricing_o_1.html
It concerns how he thinks if a certain product/commodity were to be priced relative to a basket of things would confuse consumers due to complex conversion issues. What? Do inflation (an index) confuse you guys? Can't retailers simply multiply the index by the base figure to publish prices in local currencies?

With such columnists around, I wouldn't be surprised when finally comes the day you realize how unsustainable the country's deficit is and eventually the dollar go tumbling again. Well, who knows then Iran will say it won't matter much. Chances are they will because they have already taken the precautions, like the current idea.

Shut Up Already

2007-11-20T02:48:00.001+11:00

Quoting from an article in WSJ regarding Beijing authority's decision to freeze bank lending till end of the year (at least):

"Instead of trying to target lending levels, economists say China could try to damp credit expansion by pushing up interest rates and letting the yuan appreciate against the U.S. dollar, since both adjustments would make borrowers and lenders think twice before committing to projects. U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, regularly deliver such a message, saying a more market-oriented financial system is in Beijing's own interests."

I think, why not leave China alone? Hasn't China already upped interest rates and still see haphazard growth in the markets that could be potentially unsustainable?

Haven't we seen that by letting you free capitalist give out loans to anybody and everybody finally take its toll in your recent and ONGOING crash of the mortgage lending market?

Do you want them to up interest rates so high as to have the same effect and let the yuan appreciate? Do you even know what are the consequences? The long-term lost in market share in exporting industries? Did you know that sucks?

Chinese do things differently for fuck sake. Please THINK before giving your usual free-market-and-monetary-policy-are-the-shit commentary. It's too predictable, amateurish and textbook-ish. But most dangerously, it can be misleading.