The movie was slow but the big take away from the film, are the following lines


Matt: "Why did you stay with me all those years when you knew that we're doomed?"

Abby: "I didn't wanna hurt you"

Matt then commented on his relationship: We almost spent entire, the rest of our lives together, because we didn't wanna make the other person mad.




Verdict: No focus, too much shadow of LoTR made this unnecessarily long movie far from being the greatest movie of the year 

It's been 9 years after we started following the great LoTR trilogy. It really is one of the greatest epic films that were made this century, yet.

So no wonder Peter Jackson et al were ambitious to make another trilogy: The Hobbit

I have to be frank: the film productions' screenplay and film editing departments need to be fired from attempting the next installment. In this film, the first 45 minutes should have been replaced by a few minutes summary that tells how Bilbo met the thirteen dwarfs and started the unexpected journey.

For the rest of the film, I felt that they over explained a lot of other things, too many cliché (of LoTR), nice scenes a la LoTR, no climax and in the end, no significant death to mark the end of first episode: the head of orcs was still there, the dragon was just awaken.

As a matter of fact, there's nothing much to tell in this film, which should have been 90 minutes instead of 180 minutes. As a person who appreciates LoTR, I'll definitely watch this and the next two episodes.

Even Snow White & Seven Dwarfs did better by having character development with each and every dwarf - but this Hobbit's 13 dwarfs - I can't remember any of them having special ability or any of them being unique.

They really need to re-look at their film editing: a film is supposed to be entertaining, instead of making the audience questioning why did they make it unnecessarily long.

Rating: 6/10







Verdict: For a film that's meant for kid, it is suitable for adults too, as it demonstrated beautiful imagination.

This animated film talks about Jack Frost, and how he became the children's guardian to save the world from darkness, along with Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and (sweet) dream maker.

Perhaps the weakest point of this film was that it started slowly.

Quite sluggish to be honest.

The graphic was nice but not at the awesome level. Perhaps kids won't realise and they don't care. For a moment I even though their facial expressions were too stiffled, and their conversation is lack of passion (i know this is like pin-pointing the smallest details that didn't quite matter, but here am relating to the standard nowadays)

But from the middle till the end of movie, all the fairies showed off their magic and charm - this is where the imagination portion kicked in. Quite well done I must say.

The takeaway from the film is simple yet practical: As long as you still believe in something, you can turn the impossible into possible.

Rating:7.5/10



Personally I think religion shouldn't be part of the country policy, especially in the world nowadays, where pluralism is a norm.

First, many laws from the religion were created many many years ago - some of the elements might not be relevant to the society nowadays

Second, it's a nature that human will compare - if you apply law to a certain group, that others get different treatment, that's when the frictions started

What made the above two points worse is that, information flows easily nowadays, it's easy to compare with other people, other countries or even other religions

Just think of religion as a music genre: Would it make sense to play techno music in a classical music concert, and ask audience to accept it as it is?

No. The audience will leave, the audience will protest.

Therefore, in this country, it cannot be a wishy-washy hope that it is a secular state, as well as Islamic state.

Just my two cents - someone really need to make it clear.


Verdict: Quite a creative combination of supernatural and missing person thriller.

The movie started slow, and some draggy here and there thru out the movie.

But the story telling is clear - that such a movie won't really kill your brain cell.

Perhaps some scary moment might make your heart stopped.

It tells about the sister arrived at her late mum's house, searching for her missing sister, just to realize something seriously went wrong with the house.

To be frank, I feel that such a combo (supernatural + missing person) quite make sense.

Rating: 7/10


Verdict: A film full of randomness, I don't quite get the actual goal of this movie. But I guess it is trying to describe a little drama happened during that time.

The movie started in random fashion, ended in random fashion.

The randomness give you some inspiration on new way to film or describe something - which in a way, is good.

The story tells how a young male, in the 13-15, randomly fell for a girl around that age. They planned for running away from their parents, then they were randomly married. A storm randomly came, it randomly created drama on the church and they wanted to suicide but were eventually saved.

The colour, the casting, the production are top notch - but it lacks of intense drama like "Argo". For that, it loses some points.

It is still a film worth watching - who said a film must be filmed in orthodox way?

Rating: 8.5/10



Verdict: Think of "Cast Away" and earth version of "Avatar" with a story telling a la "Big Fish". This movie is full of metaphor that tells about life choices.

Film adaption is never easy. We've seen failed example like "Da Vinci Code".

Life of Pi talks about how a young man survived on the sea for almost a year, with a tiger.

Thanks to technology nowadays. I don't have to read the book to reimagine the scenes: the movie has done homework on visualization.

It is almost on par with Avatar's awesome level.

About life and choices, I thought the floating island is a metaphor on life & choices: he can choose to survive on island, while risking himself eaten by the algae, or risk himself to go back to the civilization.

I watched the 2D version. Visually stunning and I appreciate the cinematography.

My sis and tc will watch 3D version: I guess it's gonna be nice too.

Movie of the year? Maybe. But I thought "Argo" did a fantastic job as well. So it's hard to choose.

There's definitely no doubt that Ang Lee has got this film adaption well done.

Anyway, in the end, I thought what really happened during his survival was: he ate human flesh to survive.

Rating: 9/10 



Back to the ship, they travelled back to where they came.from: they had no intention to discover that island anymore after the eerie discovery.

"So how am I supposed to travel back to where I came from? My ship is screwed." Timothy whined.

"Well, this ship has spare parts, I hope they can be any helpful." Just as Benjamin finishes his words, he deployed a tiny robot that starts transporting the parts from a room, to his ship and started repairing.

While repairing was in progress, they went on to explore the world as of 2.3Ma.

"Come to think about it, the Atlantis must have still exist during this time, and I'm sure they are still decreasing the oxygen level in the air. What can be the real reason?" Benjamin curiously asked.

"I don't know but, imagine everything is big, this world would have been out of food ages ago, before we were born" Timothy said

"Well that seems legit. Look at that barbarian, he looks so much different from our look." Benjamin responded.

When Timothy's time machine was fixed, Benjamin mentioned that he needs to go first.

Just before they waved goodbye, Timothy noticed the wording "Frank Enterprise" at the door.

"Hey is Frank your surname? Cos It's mine, too!" Timothy shouted out of surprise, as the door closes.

"You are right grandpa. It's nice to see you in person. Keep up your good work so that we will meet again in the future!" Benjamin gave his last word in 2.3Ma, then the ship ascended and disappeared.


"Look at the labels" Benjamin pointed at the labels on each and every glass tube "though I don't understand their language, but I believe it means the percentage of oxygen in the air, and its effects on human. Look at the last one, that human looks exactly like us"

"Can I boldly suggest that, because they are still fine tuning the oxygen level, this indirectly caused the extinctions of dinosaur on earth, and subsequently, the evolution of the animal?" Timothy seemed enlightened.

"Well, you may never know. This lab is creeping me out, man. Let's move on and discover other areas"

The rest of the area are filled with different kind of experiments: dinosaur that dying on the floor (that seems to be caused by lack of oxygen), two dog-sized squirrels that were fighting for foods, and lastly a human-sized rooster that was flying.

"Quite sickening isn't it this lab. Let's get out of here man."

Both of them found their way out, and headed back to their time machine.


It was midnight.

More 100 containers arrived at the port. The workers helped to unload the containers from the ship - they are all guarded by a team of armed forces

Lastly, the armed forces escorted the containers to a storage house nearby.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a true story that just happened. It was not drug smuggling that you see in the movie.

It was definitely not human trafficking.

It was just police forces helping to escort the rare earth ore to the Lynas plant.

If you want to read the full story, you can go here

Let's try to flashback a bit - in my experience, I didn't see police escorting the cash delivery/collection at the ATM machine.

I didn't see police forces guarding Poh Kong jewelers shops

I don't think police forces would guard raw material for gold from the port to the plants.

Safely to say, I don't think police forces would have ever escorted the raw material for the Nestle Milo that you and I drink everyday.

So why the double standard?

What about street crime and robbery that happens at ordinary citizen's house. which is their official duty?

Look, this happened while anti-Lynas coalition Himpunan Hijau is holding a 300km march from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur.

This rare earth ore is definitely something that Malaysian citizens do not want.

In short, we are double-screwed:

1) The police forces were helping to escort some raw material containers, instead of protecting citizen's safety (which is already at disturbing state)
2) Our delegate (i.e. the government) spent our hard-earned tax money to deploy police forces for such unwanted escort, because we had mentioned many times to this very delegate that we DO NOT WANT RARE EARTH PLANT.

Or put it this way, we had just spent our (tax) money to screw ourselves.

It will definitely happen again, in another form.


While breathing hard in the cave, both of them saw something that overturned Benjamin's theory: the dinosaur was actually a pet of the giant. It was actually the dinosaur that was chasing the giant.

When the giant couldn't run anymore, they saw the giant hugging the dinosaur, while it kept licking his face.

"Ew... Just like a dog!" Timothy and Benjamin said simultaneously.

Just when they think whether they should take a rest, a big grooling sound came from their back: the wall of the cave moved!

Next another giant came out, apparently shouting at the other one outside: probably asking them to shut up

"I'm glad someone asked them to stop. Things just got gigantically disgusting when they are big" Benjamin had enough of the scene, apparently

"Why don't we enter this cave? I wanna know what's inside!" Timothy looked curiously at the light coming out from the "door"

"And we need to move now before the door closes"

As they entered the cave, they were shocked at the sight: giants of different sizes are in big glass tubes separately. Still breathing.

"This island is a camouflaged lab!" whispered Timothy. "Look at just what we have seen!"


"Just so you know, at this point of time the 45% of the air contains oxygen. That's more than double of what we have in present time. That's why you feel energetic now.

I suspected that's the reason why everything on earth now is big. Be it human, and the animals that we later brand them as dinosaurs."

Benjamin mentioned the mindblowing theory as the ship slowly landed on huge crater.

"FYI this island is actually a big spaceship. That's why it is floating. Over the years it accumulated soils etc, hence the trees and etc."

Benjamin added as they walked out of the time machine.

"But why floating?" Timothy was puzzled.

"I guess this is easier for them to leave with no trace on earth as they left. They left around 355B.C. but of course I don't know the reason. But this explains why scientist were unable to locate Atlantis, but Plato had seen it before around 360B.C." Benjamin further explained his theory.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking. Not far from them a huge object was running towards them, with another huge object chasing at the back.

"Shit. They are doing dino hunting again! Run! To that cave!"  Benjamin pulled Timothy's hand and started running to a cave nearby.

"What dino hunting?!!" Timothy was apparently totally unprepared for.

"The giant human loves to hunt dinosaur. Just like how we love to hunt deer!" Benjamin answered when they arrived at the cave.



 Verdict: As a film that seems talking about ordinary and mundane life, its not the case when you know the background of each and every characters 

This is a Canadian film (in French) about an Algerian refugee faking as a replacement for a teacher, after the latter was found hung in the classroom. (i.e. suicide)

30 minutes into the film, I felt many things were explained - but I was shocked that I was able to absorb that much without a sign of tiredness.

Mr. Lazhar's intention to fake as teaher still remains a mystery for me (he previously ran a restaurant) but from the film it seems he likes children, and perhaps, after he lost all his family in Algeria, this acts as his solace.

But from not having a clue to teach, till he has closer interaction with the students: this is where the film delivers the essence - how he can help the students to forget about the past (for they are still having classes in the very same classroom where the previous teacher hang herself) and how, at the same time, Mr Lazhar needs to forget his past too, and, at the same time, fighting for his refugee status.

It does seem like an ordinary film but the last scene touched me: he smartly gave his farewell using a short story, and only one student smart enough to know that this was his goodbye.

Rating: 8/10


After having a hot shower with delicious dinner, Timothy chatted with Benjamin.
"What did you mean by I'm on the wrong timeline? Isn't this timeline when human starts to evolve?"

"Well, you really have to hold your breath till tomorrow to know more. What I can tell you is that, we will time travel to 7 millions years ago." Benjamin replied.

"And rest assured, this ship has flying function so you can choose to land on a sea or mountain." Benjamin added with sarcasm.

The next day when Timothy woke up, the ship was already moving.

Asked where were they, Benjamin said "We had already arrived at 7 million years ago. But we are flying to Atlantis."

"Atlantis? I thought it's a myth? And what has it gotta do with human evolution?" Timothy was curious.

"It all started from there. Not Africa. All the humans, or I should say: giants are from there." Benjamin was apparently speaking like its just another normal day.

Benjamin added "The truth is human was from outer space. At least I witness them shipping these giants to here about 100 years earlier from this timeline. It was such a risky discovery as I was chased by their mothership, almost captured by them."

Suddenly a huge floating island appeared in front of them.

"Here we are. Welcome to Atlantis"


"I came here for scientific research on the change of sea level, how about you?" Said Benjamin. "I've been following you since you and your, time machine fell from the sky. So my guess was: you need food and a ride"

"I came here out of random and curiosity. I thought I can witness the evolution of human. But it seems I screwed the whole plan and I'm gonna stay here forever" whined Timothy.

"Hahaha! Witnessing the evolution of human? You are on the wrong timeline! I'll tell you more later. For now, let's go to my ship to get some food." Benjamin responded.

While walking to Benjamin's ship, Timothy asked "So since you came from the future of my time, tell me how is it like?"

"We experienced third world war in year 2099 because of the water. That changes everything: after that war, rain, river and sea water are no longer safe to consume. All the drinking water need to go thru distillation process. All the food and meat are grown in the lab."

"Growing meat in the lab?" Asked Timothy.

"Yes, with cloning technology, you don't need farm. Kobe beef can be grown in less than 30minutes", answered Benjamin

So they have arrived at where the ship was parked: a floating-on-the-air ship that is as large as half a football field.



Eventually Timothy chose to travel to 2.3 millions years ago. He wanted to understand what enlightened the human ancestor to start using stone tool.

Just when he worried as the time machine started (that he chose the virgin trip to such a distance) what he saw in front was: he was in the middle of the sky, freefalling unto a forest.

"oh shit, my housing area was a lowland 2.3 millions years ago!"

The time machine fell thru the trees, dropped onto a river.

Luckily enough, the river was not that deep. Eventually the machine "landed" at the riverside.

Timothy examined the damage, "damn, it seemed I'm gonna stuck here forever!" However as the sky turned darker, he decided to look for food while discovering the area nearby.

That was quite a savage land, he heard big yelling from the field nearby: there he saw a "man" chasing a big sized deer with his hammer-like tool, made from stone.

Just as he wanted to avoid that cruel sight, a voice from the back gave him a great shock.

"what are you doing here? There's nothing to see and nothing to eat!"

Timothy turned to his back: a slim-sized man in tight costume stared at him curiously.

"Who are you?" asked Timothy

"I'm Benjamin, from year 2153 A.D." said the slim guy




After more than a year since Tim Cook works as a CEO, the critics are mixed.

But I have only one question: in the past one year, does he look like, or did Apple make him a cult followers' figure?

Not really.

Now that is worrying - cos this was what Steve extremely successful at. He made Apple products seem magical.

Looking at the products lately, iPad mini can be replaced with Nexus 7 with similar battery performance, Nexus 4 is like iPhone 5 at half price.

It is true, Google has been catching up lately. The user experience has been consistently good and reviews showed that Nexus 4 has pretty good battery life: which has always been my buying point for a smartphone, I.e. to have good battery life to enjoy its features.

Further more, iPad mini and iPhone 5 come with the Apple Maps: the map that has been pain in the ass for Apple and its users

As of just now, it is still showing the lake nearby my house as a lake supposedly 30km away from my house.

If iPhone 6 or iPad 5 is not something that is truly revolutionary, that's the best time for you to sell their shares. If you have any.


Timothy was on the train, thinking about the event that will take place tomorrow: his girl friend Natalia, will use the time machine that he made to undo an accident that left a scar on her face

A lady standing next to him giggled, Timothy had a peek and saw that she was amused by the text sent to her phone.

"Must be the boyfriend whom she just knew. How sweet and I wonder if I get the chance to amuse Natalia again" Timothy thought.

After the "giggled" trip, the poker-faced Timothy reached home feeling restless.
Just before he wanted to take a nap, the saw the Bible at his bedside.

He thought about one of the chapters: Genesis.

"What if I go back to the past, to witness the origin of human and other stuffs?" Timothy jumped out from his bed, took out his encyclopaedia to read how far he needs to travel.



It's been a while since Kimura Kaela has a catchy yet interesting song/video. Here it is - suit the rainy days lately. I like the idea of the 'live-making' of the music video effect.



That was perhaps the worst legacy left by the British before they left. (besides that, we are rather fortunate because they left a rather good parliament, judiciary system, as well as education system to start with)

Now the issue is, the jus soli method left by the British, which was used to divide and conquer different ethnicities back then, was used in even worse manner by the current government.

The result? A very sensitive nation.

After half a century, we are still practising divide and conquer method. We still brand ourselves as Chinese, Malay or indian

People will object or argue when they feel the Malay or Chinese or Indian rights were compromised.

The application forms are racist as well: there's no Malaysian option to select.

We have a privilege system for the majority "race", not minority.

We are a secular country that claims Islam as the official religion, with politicians claiming others for doing great harm on Muslim way of life, while they sit on the wealth from unknown source.

This is a confused nation, but with potential. At least it had great potential.

My summary? Voting for a different party to manage the country, for just 5 years, is worth the try.

By then, you will suddenly realise, you don't need the racial based parties: UMNO, MCA and MIC (in short:racist parties) to unite and run the nation.

They will suddenly become irrelevant.


This is what I have observed, when I revisit Earth again after 20 years.

Now I see more human wearing something stuck into thier ears. They call it 'earphone'. Technology has advanced it seems, with them able to make phone call using that headphone.

The device has also become smaller.

That device (20 years ago human called it walkman, but now: smartphone) is something they concentrate on whenever they are free.

They look at the screen, reading news and they have this thing called 'facebook' - which they use to find out what others are doing, any interesting photos. If they find it interesting, they can press the 'like' button or share it. No 'dislike' button, though.

It seems human forgot about self-improvement.

Even the couples or family members are doing that: in the train, in the car, in the park, in the shopping complex, during reunion dinner

In short, more than 80% of them stop talking to each other, using mouth. (they prefer to use sms or whatsapp)

(by the way, I tried to use a smartphone called Samsung Galaxy S3 but failed. Designed for human, they said.)

With this smartphone, human nowadays take photo before they eat. Not the photo of themselves but the food.

My conclusion is as such: in less than 3 years, we can take over the Earth. First thing to do is to hack into Facebook, start spreading propaganda to make human believe that we are friendly.

Most importantly, we will encourage them to stop talking to each other using mouth.

Then before we wipe out human, we disable the sharing function of facebook.

In this way, human can only like our action. (no 'dislike' button, in case you forgot) And since they can't talk, they can only type (on whatsapp etc). The 'send' button will be hacked as well:  when they press 'send', they will trigger the human self destruction function.

We will have a clean Earth before we arrive.
Not so clean, cos animal don't use facebook or 'send' button

P/S: I've done a simulation on how the human will react on facebook, on the day we wish to take over. (I love how they could only 'Like' our arrival)





Verdict: Remove your expectation on gadgets, this film completes the reboot trilogy of Bond movies, with more to expect in next episode.

So finally, Bond movie series has evolved into a different Bond started by Sean Connery. Daniel Craig's version is more cold blooded, however prone to emotional breakdown (evident in Casino Royale and this installment) - and hence more realistic as a human (or failed as a spy?)

The trademark Bond-movie-opening was interesting enough to keep me going for the next 2 hours.

Towards the end, to be frank, I found it quite ridiculous that Bond & M drove all the way to Scotland to wait for the villain - which they could easily solve all the disasters in London.

Perhaps, it is a subliminal message of how much English dislike Scottish (very evident when Bond set off liquid gas bombs, while claiming "I've never liked this place!")

If you ignore those little flaws (impossible to find flawless action movies nowadays!) there are still several wow-factor in this film.

Not to forget, this film is filled with British humours that can give you some laughs in this long movie.

It is good to see the full lineup of all the essential team member in original Bond movies (M, Q & Moneypenny), now it is up to the production team on how to deliver the next episode of Bond, equipped with gadgets.

Rating: 7.5/10



I've lost track of movies I had watched recently - to clear those off my head.. here they are:

Title: Taken 2
Verdict: If Taken 1 made you "interested to find out how it will end", Taken 2 will make you "interested to know if the movie ends now"


Rating: 3.5/10


Title: The Expendables 2
Verdict: Action-packed. If you ignore the logic 'how can this happen?' this movie is a total joy, comically, to watch.

Rating: 7.5/10

Title: The Darkest Hour
Verdict: The movie is flawed, but still ok to kill time

Rating: 5.5/10


Title: The Raid: Redemption

Verdict: Much gorier than Dredd 3D (FYI, Dredd's script appeared years before this movie, but somehow, this movie was released before Dredd, and hence a lot of people thought Dredd 3D copied from this film, which is actually the other way round)

But the pace, the action etc - is easily the best South East Asia film this year.

Rating: 8/10

Title: RED
Verdict: Another action movie that doesn't quite kill your brain cells. But witty lines and smooth story telling made it fun to watch

Rating: 7.5/10

Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Verdict: (finally had a chance to watch this film) Interesting story with some silly moments that can cheer you up.

Rating: 7/10


So that's how the society is, nowadays.

Every year or every 6 months, you will get new (gadget) product release that sometimes confuses the consumers on what to buy (with introduction of Windows Phone 8 series, this statement will be even more valid)

With refreshing Facebook page as the hourly routine task, sometimes I wonder if that is necessary.

It's good to keep in touch with the people - knowing what they are up to, what's the new thing happening in town.

Also, an example of information overload, is that whenever a major event happens (be it disaster, civil war, president campaign, Euro crisis), you will see or hear many analysts giving their opinions non stop on CNN or other news channel.

They all look interesting at first, but after a several cycle, you will see that they are quite repetitive, and most importantly, their opinions won't really change the situation..

Come to think about it, I realized I had neglected self-improvement, that really matters.

All is not lost though - the FB+Gadget generation is the active user/participants of crowdsourcing. It's powerful & effective - recent example being PSY's Gangnam Style: FB & YouTube were the effective tool in crowdsourcing, the MV gained so much attention and generated many parodies, that even the singer PSY himself didn't expect all these for.

So,
(Information + Gadget) x (filtered for 'just enough' usage) = Powerful Knowledge
(Information + Gadget) x cool factor = Powerful Advertising



Verdict: Paying homage to Frankenstein, this stop-animation is a bit dark but fun to watch

So really, it paid homage to Frankenstein the film, hence it is in black and white. But really, I don't feel that I missed anything - in fact I thought black and white works quite well for this film.

This movie tells about a dog was revived using 'scientific' way, but that 'scientific' way was copied by the dog owner's schoolmates, and subsequently created some disastrous moments.

First half of the film was OK, but towards the end, when the experiments went haywire, that's when all the fun parts begin.

I really like the part which Tim Burton (this film's director, just FYI) threw sarcasm on Japanese monsters, which was WTF-ly racist but funny to me :P

Two quotes that I find interesting from the film, roughly as follows:

"Science is not just about using the brain to make things better, it needs the heart. There's no bad things or good things created using science - it is how you use it that makes it good or bad"

"Sometimes, adults don't know what they've said"

It is a refreshing animation to watch, and I'm glad that Tim Burton finally has a good film after so many years & films.

Rating: 8/10


Verdict: Felt like visited Silent Hill once again, straight forward story line that didn't kill my brain cell.

So 5 years after I watched the first installment, this gave me similar but somewhat duller experience.

Characters were almost the same, except for that spider that kinda impressed me (with the concept)

Cheap scares were there, of course.

This movie somehow made me felt like - we were following Sharon's "hallucination", probably caused by drugs.

What benefited the most, could have been my heart - which pumped at a higher rate at some scary scenes, and also the cheap scare scenes.

Rating: 4.5/10


Verdict: Given that this is an impossible character in real life, this movie still played with the bear naturally, and managed to make some senses.

I guess most of us had childhood toy. Well to be frank, I don't quite have any childhood toy that I was extremely obsessed with. And strangely, I have a "manhood toy" that has been with me for 12 years - Francesco. (a reader of this blog once said Francesco is the reason that reduced my manhood-ness, which I had to both agree and disagree)

So this is how the story started - the boy wished that the teddy bear will be brought to life, and the wish was realized.

The reason why I said it is an impossible character in real life is because - this bear swears, take drugs, drinks beer, is a supervisor in a supermarket, has a girlfriend, and it can have sex with girlfriend (with the aid of dildo etc)

Somehow, this movie reminds the inner kiddie side of mine - yes sometimes there are times that we wish we could stay innocent or didn't grow, but we just can't.

While I'm not happy with censorship board on censoring some scenes, this movie still made me happy.

It's fun to watch, anyway.

Rating: 7/10



I talked to a friend earlier. My friend didn't believe that our votes can change the future of this country.

That's sad.

My friend added that either opposition or current regime would do the same.

However, my friend admitted that the story is different for Penang.

So I shared the story about Penang - I told the summary of my relatives' awe & shock in Penang, after the last election:

"They didn't like the previous state government (under Gerakan, a BN alliance), so they just vote for opposition - which they didn't plan out together, it was an individual's will. In the end, they were all surprised that they made the change, and Penang is a better state now"

It is the same for Selangor, which, along with Penang, are among the richest states in Malaysia, albeit lack of natural resources compared to poorest states such as Sabah & Sarawak.

So really, the reason we have election, is to vote for change - if you do not have confidence with the current government. It happens every 5 years, you get the chance to choose the better candidate to run the country, if the current screws up - examples shown in many countries around the world, 5 years can't be screwed that bad, if really screwed.

It's the same as you changing the phone - If one day iPhone has become sucks, you have other options such as Android or Windows Phone.

Phone nowadays has yearly (or shorter) update, though ;)


Verdict: Though occasion cheap scare, the movie still delivers some fresh scary moments.

I hate cheap scare. But apart from some (un)predictable loud bangs that scare you (who wouldn't), this movie, which started slowly, still delivers.

This movie talks about a crime novelist, moved into a house with his family, but it was a house which a family was mysteriously murdered few months ago.

What made this movie a bit different from other super natural movies is that, it at least gave some explanation on the theories - especially on the noises in the house.

I thought the ending is somewhat similar like Looper - simple and original.

Unfortunately, the movie trailer had revealed 50% of the scary moments. (so, don't watch the trailer!)

I look at this movie with different view - the movie is actually a horror story book that the novelist managed to finish.

Rating: 7.5/10





So today there are two things I came across about space:

First was there's a planet, called PH1, 5000 light years away from Earth, is orbiting on a twin sun, which have a pair of sun revolving that twin suns.

Four freaking suns for that planet.



Then there is this Space time-lapse from ISS (because time-lapse on earth is too mainstream)



The ISS "Stacks" from Christoph Malin on Vimeo.



There were naysayers about his jump, claiming that the money spent didn't produce breakthrough results such as fighting cancer or AIDS etc.

But those people forgot that - it is the spirit of trying the impossible that gave us aeroplane, car or even handphone - that none of us thought possible few hundred years ago.

For a man who had done more than 2500 jumps and this time:

Jumping off at 128,100 feet, 'flying' down at speed of 1,342.8 km/h or 834.4 mph(Mach 1.24) -- that is definitely not something those naysayers can do in just few years




It's been a while since I last wrote something. Finally, I've finalised the lyrics, after 3 years.

Hoping to get the demo done soon, but just too many things to explore now!

Music: 2009-2012
Lyrics: 2009-2012

Lyrics:
I was on setting sun,
What had I done last night?

Another kind of crime,
My soul is purified.
--------------------------------------
I opened a door inside,
I was locked from outside.

The sun will shine in blind,
That’s when the moon will rise.

I'm all alone,
I'm feeling high.

I'm all alone,
I'm feeling high.




To be frank I felt disappointed with Quantum of Solace, I just read again my review earlier, and my memory still feel the same as I wrote.

Now what attracted me on the next installment, was Adele's Bond theme song - emotional, grand and cool, reflected James Bond's state of mind in Casino Royale & Quantum of Solace - and the movie trailer.

Of course, this time I hope to see more destinations & gadgets - which is the very reason why I particularly love the James Bond series from 60's, which I saw innovative gadgets that I still feel awesome today.

So let the Skyfall. And it will fall before Mayan predicted it :P





Since he had apologized and suggested for alternative - OK, that's quite a brave move, it needs hell a lot of courage to admit a mistake for a big corporation.

But how to move forward? Just a quick background, Apple Maps uses GPS data from TomTom. Based on those data, it does its own mapping.

At the same time, TomTom sells GPS app too, on App Store. If you would like to purchase, it cost at least 60USD PER REGION.

Further research on Google, you will find that TomTom is a company that is on par with Garmin, which both make good GPS gadget.

The situation that most users wanted: Apple to put the Google Maps back on the iOS.

But by doing so, users will lose confidence on Apple Maps totally - even though it gets perfected next time.

Again, how Apple Maps will get perfected, is by users' input (crowd-sourcing).

Now Apple is stuck to get to that point, because users simply will try other alternatives.

One of the options, is to buy TomTom, the company.

Yes. To own TomTom.

Then, make those TomTom GPS apps -> Apple Maps.

They will instantly get the experts in making GPS + app.

If Apple wants to be kind to users who purchased TomTom GPS apps - well, Apple can refund by giving the iTunes/App Store credit, which users can spend again on other stuff.

Apple has more cash reserves than government of USA.

This shouldn't be hard to quickly gain the confidence, again.



Verdict: Take this as a superior version of "The Jacket" with a hint of "Source Code", and most importantly, it is easier to understand than "Inception"

It is always interesting to learn new idea of time-traveling, paranormal activities & sci-fi. This is because it is something unknown or unfamiliar to human.

Curiosity plays a big influence here.

In this film, the director gave new idea on time-traveling: as a 'human disposal' from the future.

Set in year 2044, what happens in the film is that the loopers are the 'terminators' for those 'human disposal' from the future (year 2074, the year time machine was invented), because in the future, it is too hard for mafia to kill someone, cos it's too easy to track the corpse (something like that).

To summarise:
Year 2074: (Mafia send) people to be killed ---time traveling---> Year 2044: loopers kill those people from the future

There are a lot more theories in the movie, which kept the movie busy in that almost 2 hours.

Towards the end, I believe the film pays tribute to the kid in "The Omen", too.

Perhaps I was tired (I caught a midnite show), I felt information overloaded towards the middle of the film.

But nevermind, towards the end, everything is crystal clear - and really, it is easier to understand than Inception.

Another slight disappointment, was that in year 2044, many things still look pretty much the same: but perhaps, the whole point of the movie is not the set up, but the characters and the story.

With a combination of time-traveling, sci-fi and a bit of 'paranormal activities',  this movie delivers and most importantly, I thought it had a good ending.

Rating: 8.5/10
P/S: In case you wonder, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's 'botox face' in the movie is due to the make up, in order to look like Bruce Willis :)



March 28, 1999 - I found a chemical reaction of 5 elements can make an object disappear and reappear in 2 weeks. Adjusting the order of the elements & using different voltages can control the time and size of object to be transported to (see the full theory & diagram in the notebook)

August 5, 2002 - I met Natalia on the way to the train station. She was talking on the phone when she dropped her wallet. I picked it up and returned to her. That's how we started to know each other.

December 25, 2012 - I completed 50 testing on the time machine - some example: I time transported a piece of bread with butter, to two weeks back - when the time transportation is completed: what I saw was the bread was at the same place, but full of fungus.

I then time transported a can of Coke to three weeks in a future - the object disappeared. But three weeks later, the Coke reappeared with the drink still fizzing.

January 13, 2013 - It is our 10 years anniversary. Natalia made a birthday wish to go back to 13 August 2001, to stop a car accident that caused a scar on her face.

Knowing that action might change the timeline, I time-traveled to:
October 12, 2000 - to sign up the safekeeping service that was valid for 1 year, with 1 month notice for collection before expiry. That was when I posted these letters & notebook to you both

After reading these chronologies, if my theories earlier were correct, that means you are already in different timeline now.

Just my thought, sometimes, when a history is done for, there is no point to reverse. Just live with it, and find ways to move forward.

It seems my only legacy is these letters.

For I exist in a timeline that no longer exists.





The second page of the letter reads

"In year 2013, Natalia and I have been together for 10 years.

On the anniversary, she wanted a gift, that is to use the time machine to time travel, to avoid a car accident that caused a scar on her face.

I predicted that will change the timeline from there onwards. In case you both only know each other by now, that means history for my timeline had changed.

Predicting that might happened, I wrote these two letters, signed up with a safekeeping services so that it will send the collection reminder to both of you, with two purposes:

1) to safeguard my invention: time machine
2) to inform you that Natalia is the greatest person to be with.

Apart from that, I can also get to confirm two theories (I guess you will be the one confirming that, if the timeline has changed):

1) Changing a past event can affect the timeline from that point of time onwards.

2) if that is the case, whoever makes the changes will disappear from the timeline, because that person is no longer relevant.

Sounds complicated? I'll write a chronology of the timeline that happened during my time, to let you understand better"



13 Sep 2001

It's almost evening.

Natalia followed the address to the house. She arrived at a house that has a huge garage beside it.

She knocked the door for a while, having no one answering the door.

Instead, someone came out from the garage to answer the visitor.

As the person approached Natalia, she realized that he is the guy whom she saw in the shopping mall last month, and who has been appearing in her memory randomly.

She was shocked and starting running away.

The guy chased after her, while asking out loud "Are you Natalia? I am Timothy!"

"But I didn't write those letter!"

Natalia slowed down, she asked "What did you just say?"

Timothy replied "Well, I retrieved a letter from a safety box, sent by a guy named Timothy, he asked me to anticipate a girl named Natalia to visit you."

Taking out a letter from his jacket, he continued: "Listen, if you can just read the letter that I had received, I believe that we can solve the puzzle - in the past one month, I had a strange memory of a lady appearing  in my mind, and yes, that lady does look like you."

Natalia started reading the letter

"Dear Timothy,

What you are gonna read is something that will blow you mind.

Yes, it was me writing to you from the future.

In year 2013, I had successfully built a time machine. I was able to do time traveling and had fun!

Something happened in the future, just right after I built the time machine - which I will further explain in the next page.


Now, right after you retrieved this letter, expect a lady who's gonna visit you - her name is Natalia.

Show her this letter, and next, show her the time machine you were building - before she can really trust what you are saying"

"So, do you wanna see the beast that I'm building? I've started it like 3 years ago, but myself from future had sent the working blueprint that will really help me to complete this thing!" Timothy said.

"Wait! I'm still very confused - how did that Timothy send us all these letter, and what time machine are you talking about?"

"Perhaps you need to read the next page of the letter" Timothy said.



With the latest iPhone 5 'scuff-gate' cases surfacing, there is even one video suggesting to get the iPhone 5 batch to be produced in October instead.

So the quick conclusion here is, get a casing if you don't want the scratches on the premium product.

One good news, though, is that iPhone 5 has better built quality in an extreme test vs Galaxy S3.
In this video:
It finally broke during the 7th drop test while Galaxy S3 screwed on the 2nd drop test itself.

So, those hot news aside, I personally think it is an opportunity for Windows Phone 8 - you can say hardware spec wise, it matches with Android devices (some has even better hardware spec)

Further more, if you Google it, the battery life of those phones have mostly been iPhone > Windows Phone > Android

So for now, we understand from an amateur test that iPhone 5's battery is > Galaxy S3

Why do I keep talking about battery life? I personally think that battery plays an important part for a smartphone - without good battery, those great features can only be enjoyed in limited time.

So back to Windows Phone 8, it's kinda interesting how it will turn out to be.

What triggered me to think more is that, yesterday I bought a phone for my father to replace his old one.

He doesn't need those 'smartphone' features as he can use the iPad.

So end up, we bought a dual-SIM colour LCD phone, with 2GB storage, keypad & camera with 10.1 hours talk time.. all for RM150.

Come to think about it, he only needs the phone for communication purpose.

Whereby, for daily smartphone users like us, I believe the most needed features are:

1) Whatsapp
2) Facebook
3) Facebook Messenger
4) Youtube
5) Map
6) Some web surfing
7) Music

All these can be done on Windows Phone 8, too.

So, assuming the battery life of the devices will still be iPhone 5 > Windows Phone 8 > Android Jelly Bean

 
And plus, its interface which is simple and much more informative than Android or iOS at a glance..

I would say Windows Phone 8 really has the potential