Twins? Not those twins!

Something silly happened when I bought my copy of the soundtrack to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, which comes with a free DVD of 70 mins worth of Star Wars scenes set to the soundtrack, MTV-styled. The sticker on the CD cover said that there will be a free pull-out poster free. So when the salesperson gave me a poster, I thought to myself, "Hey, that's pretty cool." Since I didn't expect to get the poster anyway, it also came as a surprise.

I didn't open the poster when I got it. When I was ready to open it, I saw a handwritten "TWINS" scribbled on the corner of the poster, as seen in the picture below. The picture's a bit blur, but trust me, it's the word "TWINS".


Well, knowing that the poster came with my Star Wars CD, I was thinking that maybe the "TWINS" it was referring to was the famous twins in Star Wars. Every Star Wars geek would know who the twins were... Luke and Leia, if you still can't figure it out. Hence, in my blissful ignorant state, I was thinking that I am getting a poster of Luke and Leia, something like the picture shown below.


To my surprise, and horror, when I opened the poster, it was not a picture of Luke and Leia. It was the Chinese pop duo called Twins from Taiwan (I think, as I'm no expert on Mando-pop and its variants)!


Well, you can imagine my disappointment. When I open up the CD, it seems that the free poster is on the flip side of the liner notes. Since, I'm too lazy to go back to the CD shop to complain, guess I'll just have to laugh it off as a silly thing that happened to me. Although, I'd say that the Twins on the posters are not too shabby, but they were just not what I wanted.

Anyone wants a free poster of two attractive ladies?

A Gamers' Manifesto

The Pointlesswasteoftime.com site has posted a Gamers' Manifesto detailing 20 things gamers want from the next-gen consoles. It's actually pretty insightful and funny at the same time. Some of things mentioned are things that many veteran gamers would have highlighted and wanted change for a long time, such as wanting consoles to give us better A.I. and taking away jumping puzzles in FPS games. Of course, there's the most oft complaint by gamers... crates!

The crate has long been held up as a symbol of lazy game art design, a crutch that game level decorators have been falling back on for fifteen damned years. Come to think of it, have you ever actually seen one of those wooden crates in real life? And did you smash it to see if there were bullets and medicine inside?

If the next-gen consoles actually delivered on even half of the points raised, I bet I'll be a happy gamer.

2005 Risks In Global Filmmaking Map

Planning to make a film in a foreign country? You may just want to take a look at this map provided by insurance broker Aon.

For example, if you want to shoot in Hong Kong, in terms of political risks, it is considered low, but risk drivers will include border and transit delays. Our neighbouring country Malaysia has terrorism and regulatory risk as its risk drivers. Malaysia is also considered medium risk in crime, corruption, kidnap & ransom, disease, and medical care.

Singapore? Well, it doesn't quite figure on the map, except that it is marked by a blue dot. Blue is suppose to be moderate risk. If that's not true, it could be that Singapore is risk free, or that Singapore is too insignificant as a filming location. Let's hope it's not the latter.

11-year-old girl in bikini eases anti-Jap tensions

This is hard to believe but true. Or rather, it actually happened, but don't know if she really did ease the anti-Jap sentiments. Okay, here goes... Seems like an 11-year-old F-cup beauty has done her part to ease anti-Jap tensions among the Chinese on a Chinese bulletin board. Well, the news worthy thing here is probably less that she has done her part in easing tensions, but that she is rather well-endowed at her age. Curious to see what she looks like? Follow the link... and drool.

IGN's Games we'd like to see

Gaming site IGN has posted an interesting article on games that they'd like to see. ALthough only Part I of the article is posted, there're some pretty interesting ideas there. Some of the games based on books and TV series they've mentioned included games based on Ender's Game and The A-Team. Ender's Game? Wow... if there's such a game, I'll be eagerly waiting for it. With a movie of Orson Scott Card's classic in the works, maybe we'll get to participate in Ender's Game pretty soon.

A thong for your phone

How about that? A thong for your phone! This interesting phone carrier called the "Phone Thong" is sure to raise some eyebrows. It is also marketed at ladies. Sure to attract some undergarments joke if you're brave enough to use it.

Deformed Xian Long Bao

The quality of Xiao Long Baos differs from place to place, as this picture shows. For those who don't know, Xiao Long Bao is some sort of dumpling with a bit of soup inside the flour-based skin. This Xiao Long Bao that was ordered at a Food Court defies comments. It looks like some form of mutated creature, or perhaps some sort of plastic surgery gone wrong. Also, there is an absence of soup in these Xiao Long Baos.

The lesson? Only order these things at a proper restaurant, not some food court outlet.

"Deformed Xian Long Bao" by Gremlink

Han Nee's Wedding in Botanic Gardens

My good friend Han Nee finally tied the knot yesterday with a wedding ceremony-cum-dinner at Burkhill Hall in Botanic Gardens. Here's wishing both Han Nee and Nick a wonderful future together.

The power of the deep fried

Darth Tater is a potato head inspired toy of the Dark Lord. Interestingly, a school in the US is making use of this toy for educational purpose. The teacher has asked his students to come up with Star Wars related puns for Darth Tater. They're really funny. Check out the link for more puns.

"Use the fork, Luke" by Corey

"If only you knew the power of the deep fried" by Mr. Miller

"Trust your peelings" by Emily

Link

Lightsabers for Windows users too

Previously, I highlighted Crimson FX, a software that will add lightsaber effect to your movies. But that is only for Mac users.

Now, there's also something similar for Windows users. This tool is called LSMaker. With it, you can create your own lightsaber battles on your trusty PC!

Link

Star Wars gear for the rainy day

What does a Jedi or Sith do when it rains? Use their Rain Lightsaber of course! Japanese manufacturer Happinet has come up with an umbrella with the handle crafted like a lightsaber. So when the Force is not enough in rainy weather, this device can sure come in handy.

Link

Why DRM is bad

This is why DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology may not be such a good thing. This guy has posted on his blog that his friend spent US$172 (woo!!) on an Adobe Acrobat book, and when he upgraded his Acrobat Reader, he now can't read his book. A useless file costing him US$172 now sits on his hard disk. Seems like contacting the publishers is all in vain too. Here's his conclusion:

If copyright issues regarding ebooks are so complicated that honest customers cannot access their books, I don't think ebooks will have any success among scholars or students in Norway.

Maybe it's time someone wise up to the fact that DRM may not be the best way.

Ah Beng's Revenge of the Sith

On the Mystery Tan Lines blog, there is an Ah Beng reinterpretation of Star Wars Ep 3. It's actually from the same guy who wrote the Ah Beng version of Matrix. Hmmm... I think I know who the author of this funny piece is... but I'm not telling. Anyway, here's a sample of it... and please put on your Ah Beng thinking cap when you read it.

The separatists (Chope for trivia: Last time Singapore also separatist leh) with the lobot ahmy fight against the clone war. Clone means all the army one kind one (Chope: SAF also dem one kind one). So fight lor. All mobilize. Open mob, silent mob, simi gui ya mob. Golden banana, flying shoe, all mob mob mob. Even the navy ship mob until become robot and fight on land. Who fight at water after that I also dun know.

So head on to the link for the full text.
Link

Hokkien gangsters flash movie

I received this flash movie via an email and it's low-fi in terms of the artwork, but pretty funny. It features a couple of stick figures challenging each other to some sort of fight or something. Since my Hokkien is not exactly great, I can't really understand fully what they're singing, but just listening to it is funny enough.
Link

A prequel to The Phantom Menace?

Everybody's guessing if there will be any movies after Return of the Jedi. But it seems that the man himself, i.e. George Lucas, has told a scooper for Cinescape that he actually has an idea for the prequel to The Phantom Menace.

Nope, not the adventures of young Jar Jar Binks building an underwater haven - but the tales of the Jedi regaining control of the universe from the many Dark Lords some 88 years before Anakin Skywalker's bowl cut ever graced the earth.

Yoda - who was instrumental in the effort - would apparently have a headlining role.

How about that? Of course, he has also mentioned that he won't be helming it, if it happens.

So will this be called Star Wars Episode 0?

Stupid Jedi-wannabes

This belongs to the "I can't believe how stupid they are" category. Two Star Wars fans wanted to have a lightsaber duel and made lightsabers by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol for their mock fight. Of couse, during their play, one of the devices exploded.

How stupid can these folks get? Well, for all you folks reading, don't try this at home!

Properly blogging from a Palm, finally

The search for a blogging client for the Palm may be over. I've been searching for a freeware client for me to do blogging from my Treo, and the solution seems to come in the form of this software called u*Blog. Since I'm running out of space on my Treo, I've decided not to try this until PalmOne releases the patch for the Treo that will free up some RAM for me.

Still, this freeware is promising. I can use it with Blogger, has a built-in HTML editor, and allows for basic posting and editing of posts. It also supports multiple blogs, if i decide to expand my blogging activities.

Link

Web browsers compared

Ever since Internet Explorer put Netscape out of business, the web browser scene has been a little boring. However, with the entry of Firefox that is based on the Mozilla code, the browser war is heating up once again.

Most folks using Windows will tend to be IE users. For those using the Mac, Safari is the one that comes preinstalled. Now, Firefox has entered the fray and allows its users the freedom to use extensions to make their surfing experience as bland or as powerful as they want.

With other browsers gaining ground, it's no wonder CNET is doing a comparison between IE and other browsers. It's a good read and a nice quick way to find out the similarities and differences between the browsers.

Link

Trying out another blogging tool

This time, I'm trying out ecto for my Mac. It is a blogging client and seems to have a number of interesting features. Will play with it for the next few days and maybe if it's good, it could be something I'll use. Maybe more on this later.

Add a Lightsaber to your movie

Seems like with the release of Star Wars Ep 3, I've followed suit with a number of Star Wars-related postings. Here's another one, and it's one for those who dream of having their own lightsaber and being able to swing one around. There's now this software for Mac OS X called Crimson FX that makes it easy to add the lightsaber effects to any Quicktime movies or DV streams. I don't know if the software is easy or difficult to use, but if you want to make a movie starring yourself as a Jedi Knight or Sith Lord, do check this out.

Bible Study based on Star Wars

A church in the US is actually using Star Wars as materials for their Bible Study. It is titled "Gospel According to Star Wars."

In the first session, for example, class members discussed the urgency and need to share their faith with others. The class discussed how every action R2-D2 takes in the first 30 minutes is motivated by his need to share his message from Princess Leia to Obi-Wan Kenobi, including going into the desert on his own.

Adams likens that to Matthew 28:19: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

For the spiritually-minded Star Wars fans, the article has a link to the church's website which contains a PDF of the Bible Study material.

Fans of Leia in Metal Bikini

Seems like fanboys and girls alike love the image of Leia in her bikini costume in Return of The Jedi. If you think it's only the guys who have a lusty desire of the Princess in a skimpy costume, think again. On the site, there are plenty of photos of females dressing up as Leia, and yes, in those metal bikini that Jabba the Hutt made her wear. So, if you've the fetish for this sort of thing, you can check out the link.

Is there going to be more Star Wars?

We now know that there'll be a TV series and an animated series set in the Star Wars universe. But is Revenge of the Sith the last ever SW film? The Houston Chronicle has an article examining this.

Before Lucas wrote the script for 1977's Star Wars, he put together a novel-length treatment tracing the intergalactic exploits of Skywalker and son. In the blueprint, the plot spanned beyond Luke's young-adult years to portray him as an elder Jedi.
...
According to Kurtz, the possibility of a third trilogy diminished when Lucas veered from his treatment to create Return of the Jedi. The original tale he mapped out didn't feature Ewoks or a second Death Star, and it culminated with the death of Han Solo. Princess Leia parts ways with Luke to lead those who survived her home planet's destruction.

So can we expect to see more movies on the big screen? Who knows? The Force is strong with this franchise...

The Politics of Star Wars

Someone at Blogcritics.org has done up an interesting piece on Star Wars. This one looks at the saga from a political point of view. If you're interested in the film's themes of how a Republic becomes a totalitarian state, then this is an interesting read.

The Star Wars saga ends. The first three parts of the Star Wars saga had a more complicated tale to tell- namely how a Republic becomes a totalitarian state. Telling the tale of the collapse of the Republic is a more challenging tale to convey than the more simple story of good vs. evil that permeated chapter four through six.

Yoda has a blog too!

Previously, I highlighted that the Sith lord Darth Vader takes time off his Force Choking activities to blog. Well, if the most powerful guy on the Dark Side blogs, I guess the most senior Jedi shouldn't lose out, eh? True enough, our fave little green guy Master Yoda blogs too! Here's an excerpt

Last night a call I got. Jar Jar Binks it was. Irritated I was to get his call at that time. Like being interrupted during Gilmore Girls I do not. Well aware of this he is. Locked his keys in his airspeeder again he had. The fifth time this week it was.

Is William Gibson's mention of Singapore really hip?

In The Sunday Times, 15 May 2005, there is a huge feature story on Singapore being hip called Singapore Swings. Under the heading of "Singapore in Literature", the article said

Count Zero
What: In this 1986 sci-fi novel, American cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson weaves a tale of industrial espionage.
It's hip because: Gibson foresaw Singapore as a premier biomedical hub. An hour after he gets blown up in an assassination attempt, Turner, the novel's protagonist, arrives in the island-state. He is then reassembled by Dutch doctor over three months, with missing body parts "bought on the open market".

Well, when the papers used this example as a mention that Singapore is "hip", I really wonder if they realise the irony of what they have printed.

The papers may think that Gibson's mention points to the fact that Singapore is a happening place, but did they realise that Gibson, in his piece on Singapore in Sept/Oct 1993 Issue 1.04 of Wired magazine, the sci-fi writer actually did a piece calling Singapore "Disneyland with the Death Penalty"? So linking the two ideas together, does it mean that Singapore is the "hip place with a death penalty"?

Guess the good folks in Straits Times didn't want you to know that.

Vibrating undies knocks out woman

Okay, this one is so funny that I have to mention it. A women fainted in a UK shopping mall because she was so aroused by this vibrator called Ann Summers vibrating Passion Pants, a device a female would slip in her knickers for... you know what.

According to UK tabloid the Sun, a 33-year-old Welsh housewife ended up in hospital after wearing Ann Summers vibrating Passion Pants to her local Asda supermarket in Swansea.

Unfortunately, she became "so aroused by the 2½-inch vibrating bullet inside that she fainted" then "fell against shelves and banged her head". This prompted the attendance of the paramedics who "found the black leatherette panties still buzzing".

A warning for those who even remotely has such a thought.

Protection for my Powerbook

Although I don't carry my Powerbook around that often, it's nice o know that you have a case to protect it when you do. Unlike if you buy Windows notebook, where they tend to throw in some sort of case, Apple doesn't do that, at least not for me. So, I'll have to search around for a case.

Since I don't want a typical laptop bag, and I already have a Crumpler messenger bag, I decided to go with a sleeve-type case where I can slip in the PB, and then put in in my bag. After some research and scounting around, I narrowed down to two choices. First is the Zero Shock shown here. What's so special about this case is that it is made of polyurethane and apparently will absorb shocks. When you press down on it, it will become deformed before slowly reforming back to it's original shape. It's quite a cool idea and the case also has a wireframe at the sides.

The other case I considered is the STM glove case made of neoprene. After considering the final size of the case with the PB fitted inside, I decided to go with the latter as it seems to give me the smallest form factor. So, I decided to plonk down my money for it.



The PB fits nicely into it, but you do need to pull the sides when you place the PB in such that the edges of the PB are covered by the material under the zipper.



Quite satisfied with the case, and I actually can't wait to actually try it out. To bad I don't carry my PB out that often. As for the Zero Shock case, I'm still pretty intrigued by it. Maybe I'll give it a try another time.

The Star Wars Last Supper

Giantmag.com has done a parody of the famous Last Supper painting, but
with Star Wars characters. It looks quite creepy actually.

Review of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Okay, I've seen the final film for Star Wars. As a fan, I would say that it's quite good, but not to get into the hype and looking at it critically, there are some flaws. I've done up a review at SG_Starwars site. Check out the review with the link below. Here's a snippet:

If lightsaber battles are what makes the Star Wars universe so unique, then you get plenty of it here. Obi-wan and Anakin duke it out with Count Dooku. Mace Windu crosses sabers with Darth Sidious. Obi-wan takes on General Grevious. Yoda gives Darth Sidious a lesson in how not to judge a lightsaber by its size. And of course, the life-changing battle between two friends. All these saber-waving antics may be overkill, but they are without a doubt highlights of the movie.

It's also a good opportunity to introduce the SG_Starwars website. I've been with this Yahoo! group for many years now. Some folks on the group have got together to design a website and also a forum. It is great and if you're a Star Wars fan in Singapore, I encourage you to check it out and join in the Star Wars community. Feel free to join the forums and contribute in Star Wars discourse.

Oh... if you look at the URL, it's actually starwars.sg! How cool is it to manage to get that domain name address!

Note: The picture used above is an actual shot of the screen during the screening.

Posting from Dash Blog

There are so many ways you can post to a blog. With my new Powerbook running Tiger OS, I can post from the Dashboard using this widget called Dash Blog. This is a test posting from there.

The PSP is here in Singapore

The good: The Sony PSP is finally here!
The bad: It is launched with a small library of games and most are in Japanese.



OK, so the PSP is finally here. Granted that the system is quite a wonder to behold and the graphics are great, the Singapore launch is actually a bit of a letdown.

First, there are only a small number of launch titles... Ridge Racer, Ape Escape, Tales of Eternia... where is Total World Soccer? Where is the fighting game Darkstalkers Chronicles? Where is Lumines? The launch titles are so disappointing that it is not worth getting the PSP at launch. That is unless you're willing to cough up more for imported titles.



Next is the lack of English titles. Most of us speak English but why does Sony has to release the Jap versions of the games? Ape Escape is in Jap. Hotshots Golf is in Jap. And worst of all, the RPG Tales of Eternia is in Jap (see picture above)! Come on, it's a RPG title and if it's in Jap, how do you except me to understand the story? Granted that the graphics and artwork of the game is nice, but not being able to understand the story takes the whole fun out of the game.

Let's hope more titles will be made available in the near future, and English ones, please.

Directory of local bands

If you don't know, Singapore does have a pretty active local music scene. Most of the bands are not household names, but some have done pretty well. Others are just outfits made up of friends. This website (http://localmusichere.blogspot.com/) is a directory of the sites of some local bands in Singapore. Great resource if you want to check out local music.

My new Powerbook 12" and my first Mac

I've got my new toy and it's called the Powerbook. I've plonked down some cash to replace my old Fujitsu notebook which has gone to notebook heaven. If I still can get Linux to install on it, I'll really have to sell it to the garang guni (rags n bones man).

So, this is the PB still in the box. Okay, it has been opened since I've asked the shop that I purchase it from to add some RAM giving my device a whooping 1.25GB of RAM. That, and the whole Powerbook, should serve me well for at least another 4 years.

This is the PB freshly unpacked out of the box. I've not even configured the device. In the background to the left if you can make it out is actually my old Fujitsu and its CD-ROM drive.

I'm quite impressed by the construction of the PB. The anodised aluminum case is nice to touch and the whole thing just feels solid. It is heavier and thicker than my old Fujitsu but you have to factor in that this baby has a Superdrive included. I've plans to burn a number of DVDs, if you know what I mean.

Although I've used a Mac back during Uni days, this is actually my first personal Mac, and also my first personal brand new notebook. The Fujitsu one is a second-hand I bought when I was in CNET.

Anyway, setting up this device is quite simple. Mac OS X Tiger is preinstalled and it didn't take me long before I could connect to my wireless network and start surfing the Net. I didn't expect it to be that simple! It also didn't take me long to connect to the shared folders on my WinXP desktop-cum-server.

Next up is trying to get VNC to work so that I can control the WinXP box remotely from my living room. Also have to learn other functions, and provide more photos in the near future.

SF Gate on Asian blogs

SF Gate has an article on blogs in Asia. Mentioned include the Mrbrown blog and also the famous (infamous) Xiaxue blog. Interesting read of how the ang mohs look at blogging in Asia.

In Asia, where government restrictions and cultural mores have traditionally been strict, this testing of sexual, political and cultural borders is becoming more common. But blogs level the publishing landscape; they're the new vanity press. If you want to see your writing in print, you simply publish yourself.

Music-makers, say you support filesharing

Musician and artist Halsey Burgund is asking musicians to participate in the battle for filesharing.

It is imperative that we as musicians become involved in educating the public that filesharing can be beneficial to us as well as society as a whole. Thank you for your interest in spreading this important message in a way that we, as musicians, excel: communicating through music.

All I need you to do is record yourself saying the below text and send the results to me. Please note that I do not want you to say anything you are uncomfortable saying. It is very important that everything I use in this song is genuinely felt by the speaker. Otherwise, it loses its efficacy entirely.

Hope this works well for the community.

LEGO jewellery

Jewellery designer Jacqueline Sanchez is designing a range of fashion items using, or is it inspired by, LEGO. The range is titled "Forever Young". Appropriate and nice.

Widgets can be dangerous?

If you may have noticed, I've started posting links to Mac-related stuff. This is because I'm considering buying an iBook or Powerbook. Yep, I'm planning on getting a Mac. I'm not "switching" totally of course, since my main desktop will still be a Windoze machine.

On to this post then. The Dashboard widgets on Mas's Tiger OS is a cool piece of work and can be really useful as it allows you to quickly access useful apps. However, the way it is implemented may be a cause for worry. Read the link to find out more... seems like the autoinstall system may cause things that are undesirable to be added into your Mac. Now, who says Macs are not vunerable?

Photoshop a Tiger user

Fark.com has asked their readers to apply Photoshop effects on a
picture that shows a happy Mac user who bought the new Mac Tiger OS X.
Of course, it seems like most of those who are participating are not
Mac users, and probably are Mac bashers. Lets hope that none of these
are created using a Mac.

How Lightsabers Work

Lightsabers are cool! If you've seen Star Wars, you'd want a lightsaber. This article on Howstuffworks.com will tell you how this weapon used by Jedi knights and masters work. The section on how to use the lightsaber at home states that

Although a lightsaber is typically used as a defensive weapon by Jedi knights, the availability of lightsabers on consumer sites such as eBay is growing. It is a sad fact of life, but if a Jedi knight falls on hard times, his lightsaber is one source of quick cash. He can always build another one.

The site also highlighted other uses for the lightsaber, such as "reheating coffee" and "lighting a cigarette". How about using it as a toothpick? Probably not so advisable.

How to live longer

MSNBC has an article from Forbes on 10 ways for you to extend your life. Some of them seems quite fun to do, like "Have more sex". Others are quite sensible, like "Stop smoking". These are supposedly based on research and I've reproduced them here if you decide to try them out.

1. Don't oversleep
2. Be optimistic
3. Have more sex
4. Get a pet
5. Get a VAP
6. Be rich
7. Stop smoking
8. Chill out
9. Eat your antioxidants
10. Marry well

Singapore blog locator

Want to know where the bloggers are in Singapore? Here's a map where you can add your blog to this Singapore map. At the time of publishing, it seems like the concentration of bloggers are from Bukit Timah and Serangoon area. There's also one in the sea. That fellow sure has a wet sense of humour.

Comic blog by single Asian male

This blog titled SquareBrain.Net is unusual as it is one of those that not only uses words, but also a comic strip to make a point. Actually, comic blogs are definitely easier to read than a normal blog, but not everyone has the talent to do one. This one is pretty nice.

Anime-inspired makeup

Anime is hot. In the US, even cosmetic makers are getting into this style. Check out the crazy stuff that are suppose to make you look kawaii, like the chicks on Sailor Moon.

Japanese brands like Shu Uemura, plus such trendy Americans as Stila and Goldie, are jumping aboard the sweet-seeking trend to produce Sailor Moon-ish products and accoutrements—from cleansers in adorable packaging to cosmetics with cartoon-inspired pigments to ice-cream-flavor lip gloss.

Mindef goes blogging

Everyone is getting into the blogging game. Who would have imagined that the Ministry of Defence will set up a blog on their MIW site. This site serves all military personnals in Singapore and also all those serving their National Service either as full-time or reservist. Is this just an attempt for the military service to get in with the times, to get hip? Or is it just propagenda? You decide. Anyway, it seems like these days, NS boys sure have time on their hands to blog. I remember the good ole days when time outside training is just too precious to waste.

Build your own DVR

It's not something new that DVR will change the way you watch television. However, if you are not willing to plonk down cash buy one, or if the TiVo service is not available, what are you gonna do to join the ranks who can watch TV at their own time? Well, it's really easy. Just build your own DVR! The do-it-yourself magazine has posted a guide on their site to help you build your own digital video recorder. Join the revolution, record your TV... digitally.