Chasing Visions

Last post

2010-04-13T16:57:00.002+10:00

Hello all. This will be my final post ever for this blog. Goodbye blogger. Hello Tumblr! I will blog exclusively on Tumblr from now on. Please click on the link below to access my Tumblr. Aaron out.

My Tumblr

Moviewatch: The Good Guy

2010-04-10T13:19:00.006+10:00

There's a new movie I want to watch. And it's in the mold of the '500 Days of Summer' kinda movie. It's called 'The Good Guy' and it's actually already screened in theaters in America in March. Starring in this is Bryan Greenberg and Alexis Bledel AND it's set in the Big Apple. It's about Wall St traders and a love triangle. However, this isn't a cheesy chick-flick. It's bro-approved according to reviews. Enough said. Why am I posting this only now? Cos I realised that this WON'T be released in Australia anytime soon. sob. Here's the trailer:

Here are links to a couple of reviews:

New York Times Review

The Hollywood Reporter Review

IndieWire Review

LA Times Review

Huffington Post Review

2010-02-24T00:22:00.002+10:00

Do your ears a favour, and download this: Owl City - Vanilla Twilight.

Taking a Break

2009-11-10T17:18:00.003+10:00

Apologies for the temporary hiatus. I am in the midst of exam period and with one left to go. I am quite screwed for it but I do have 43 more hours at time of writing. Finished the previous two and my gut feeling was pretty good when I exited the exam rooms for both. For all those people who still have exams to sit for I wish you all the best. For those who have finished, CONGRATUFUCKINGLATIONS! Please do not impose your superiority on my space. I hate you. Anywho, here's a video of a fucking psycho bitch in women's soccer. LOL it's hilarious. I cracked up watching it.

That's the end of my break. Laters.

Blast from the Past

2009-10-26T22:20:00.001+10:00

Rewinding to 1996. Awesome song. It's totally going in my playlist for this week. =)

Lesson of the day

2009-10-25T14:42:00.002+10:00

If you can keep something to yourself, please do.

Confession of the day

2009-10-22T01:28:00.001+10:00

I secretly enjoy leaving assignments to the last minute because I get off on the thrill of whether I can pull it off or not. True story.

Coincidence. I swear.

2009-10-17T15:18:00.003+10:00

Was playing basketball yesterday and I headbutted my friend accidentally. I was doing some sick crossovers and he lowered down and I moved upwards and BAM! I stress, accidentally. Anywho, this was the outcome:

Sorry, bro.

Bro Code Article 73

2009-10-11T15:29:00.002+10:00

It pains me that this article is never practiced. I mean it couldn't hurt if bros did this once in a while. You cheap cunts.

Chick of the day: Minka Kelly

2009-10-05T16:41:00.004+10:00

Most recently seen in 500 Days of Summer. AWESOME movie.

Bliss

2009-10-02T16:51:00.001+10:00

Here, in this moment, I am happy. It's the mid-semester break and I'm just doing what I do best: chillaxing. Ignore the fact that exams are a month away. Ignore that I'm behind in 2 subjects and I could better spend my time catching up. I started playing the Sims 3 this today. Say what you want - I don't care. I'm having fun designing uber-awesome lofts.

The End's Not Near, It's Here

2009-09-25T13:22:00.005+10:00

LOL I wanted to lead in with an apocalyptic message. 2 days ago, on the way to uni, I was in the midst of one of the most severe dust storms to hit Queensland. My Physics teacher used to say "a picture's worth a thousand words", and with that statement in mind, here they are:

The iPhone does NOT come with a Sepia function and no, I did not edit these with a Sepia filter either. Completely real.

Kanye West MTV VMA '09 Parodies

2009-09-19T17:05:00.005+10:00

In light of Mr. West's recent STUPID outburst at the MTV VMA's, the web has spawned A LOT of parodies. Here are some pictures which I found to be really funny. Enjoy:

Source: DailyMail

Uni... 5x over

2009-09-17T22:37:00.004+10:00

I feel for those people who have to go to uni 5 times a week - I really do. In case you're wondering, this isn't one of those "Haha you're in uni 5 times a week" kinda rants but a genuine heartfelt sense of sympathy that reaches out from my hollow tin chest. The reason for this completely random post is because I am currently in the midst of a 5-day week and it sucks balls. I cannot wait till Tuesday cause it will finally be the end of my troubles. I have back-to-back group assignments due Monday and Tuesday. Argh...

Amidst all the gloom, there is hope yet. Another 8 more days till the mid-sem break. Yay! And now in yet another completely random statement, y'all should try this:

IT'S AWESOME!

Finally, my thoughts go out to my fellow bro, Lenno, who tore his meniscus in his left knee. Two operations are required. Man, that's terribly unfortunate. Sorry bro.

Domestic Troubles

2009-09-17T22:27:00.000+10:00

Sometimes... family sucks. Penis.

iPhone Apps

2009-09-13T18:45:00.006+10:00

This was my primary reason for getting the iPhone. And now, in a completely geeky post, I will be listing what I consider to be some of the coolest apps.

1. Camera Genius ($1.19)

Adds standard camera features (which are absent) to your iPhone's camera, such as zoom, timer, anti-shake etc.

2. Paper Toss (Free)

It's pretty self-explanatory and it's very addictive. VERY. Plus, it's FREE!

3. TweetDeck (Free)

Best Twitter app hands down. Okay if Tweetie ($3.99) were free then it would be the best twitter app, but it isn't, so TweetDeck wins.

4. Polarize (Free)

Very cool app. Allows you to shoot photos in the polaroid style and format. Awesomeness.

5. Spend ($1.19)

Totally worth it. Especially if you're just a student and want to keep track of basic weekly/monthly expenses by setting up budgets. There's a Lite version that's free to check out. Only difference is that the Lite version comes with ads and limits you to only 5 budgets.

6. Shazam (Free)

Cool app that allows you to identify what song is currently playing in your surroundings. It records it and then provides you with a result. Awesome.

7. iFitness ($2.49)

Now I'm not a gym-junkie or anything but this is great for a novice gym-er who needs background info on what sorts of exercises to do at the gym for certain muscles etc. It even has pictures to show you how and also a graph to track your fitness progress.

8. a2z Pro (Free)

This is a great unit conversion app that's absolutely free. The best one out there as it's free and does the job brilliantly. Don't ever pay for a unit conversion app. It even converts currencies!

9. Palringo Lite (Free)

For me, I find this to be a great IM app. As Microsoft did not release an app for Windows Live Messenger, this would have to do. Looks decent and does not have annoying ads in your pm or nickname. It's multi-protocol so it also connects to Yahoo! and other IM services.

10. Other photography apps

Photofx ($3.99), Photogene ($3.99), Camerabag ($2.49), Color Splash ($2.49). All of these are great and should be considered since the iPhone's camera is very basic. Great for editing photos. My personal favourite is Color Splash. Allows you to flush out all colors except for the object you really want. Awesome.

Well this is only a small list of what I have on my iPhone and apps I find to be very cool. I will continue to add more apps. I just can't be bothered typing all of them up now. =P

Marie Digby

2009-09-08T15:05:00.004+10:00

Yes, believe it. I just purchased my first Music CD in a LONG while. LOL. Story is they had this promo going on and I bought this album for like $5. That's right I do contribute to the music industry - one $5 note at a time. In this case 'a time' spans over a couple of years. Teehee. Anyway... while I don't usually listen to pop music, I had to make an exception for this one cause it's Irish/Japanese singer-songwriter-guitarist Marie Digby!!! She gained much fame from her covers for Linkin Park and Rihanna, many of which can be seen on YouTube. Yeah well this is a GREAT CD and is well worth the price I paid for it. Price would vary for everyone else I guess but to show how good it is, let's say if it was retail priced, I would still buy it then (@ retail price). She's really good. Here are some of her covers which should be convincing enough.

An interesting e-mail I received

2009-08-26T23:59:00.003+10:00

There are so many things which cross our minds but pass unspoken and mentioned. I recently received an e-mail which highlights these and I would like to share it with all you lemmings. I find that some of them heavily apply to myself lol.

1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

2. Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

3. Do you remember when you were a kid; playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in the world did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or faq's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

4. There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

5. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

6. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

7. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

8. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say"

9. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

10. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

13. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

14. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

15. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

LOL. Hope you liked that. Gotta get back to my studying. Laters.

19

2009-08-23T16:08:00.005+10:00

I celebrated my 19th birthday yesterday. I didn't do much, as I was in the midst of a hectic week. It was a rather stayed affair - just family, in fact. Went to the casino and ate a delicious buffet, followed by a gambling session of an hour on Roulette which only yielded $5. Still better than nothing though. Luck was absent that night. It constantly straddled the VERY FINE line between profit and loss. After that I went to watch Inglourious Basterds, which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Do yourselves a favour and watch that movie PLEASE. It is Quentin Tarantino at his best. It was around midnight by the time the movie ended but there was still some time so I checked out a new club my sister's friend was DeeJaying at, "The Church". Dubious name one might think but it is actually derived from the fact that it was converted from an actual church into a kickass club! Blasphemy! LOL but still... a VERY awesome venue. Well anyway... the point of this post is not to explain what I did on my 19th birthday but rather to include 19 attributes/thoughts/facts/aspirations about myself. This is me explaining my 19-year old self 19 times over:

1. Heroes: Aron Ralston, DAD, Thierry Henry, Vince Carter

2. Books: Kane & Abel, The Alchemist

3. Thinks Bittersweet Symphony is perhaps the greatest song of all time.

4. Bands: Our Lady Peace, Linkin Park, Third Eye Blind, Oasis

5. Hip-hop Artists: Notorious B.I.G., T.I., Akon, Timbaland

6. Movies: The Usual Suspects, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Inglourious Basterds, Disturbia, Underworld, Bourne series, Star Wars, LotR, 300

7. Sports: Basketball, Soccer, Badminton, Golf, NFL (watch-only)

8. Painter: Tim Okamura

9. Has a thing for: Art Nouveau, Steampunk, Graffiti, Retro & Pop Artworks, Cloudy/rainy days, smart girls with a sense of humour, whitewashed brick walls.

10. Would like to visit: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

11. I suffer from: Short attention span, anililagnia, laziness

12. Would like to live in: a sexy APARTMENT

13. TV Shows: Family Guy, Lost, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother, Dexter

14. MP3 player of choice: iPhone.

15. Favourite Days: New Year's Eve, 22-08, Christmas

16. Wants to: Work in Mergers/Acquisitions department for a MAJOR Bank

17. Sneakers-of-choice: Adidas Superstars

18. Cocktail-of-choice: Long Island Iced Tea or Manhattan

19. is highly skilled in the art of: Procrastination, wasting time, chillaxing

Top 10 Movie Comedies

2009-08-21T01:02:00.009+10:00

10. Wedding Crashers

9. Meet the Fockers

8. Tropic Thunder

7. Dodgeball

6. Road Trip

5. American Pie 1, 2, 3

4. The Hangover

3. Old School

2. Superbad

1. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Close, but no cigar:

Rat Race

And finally, some of the movies I'm eagerly awaiting...

Procrastination's Offspring

2009-08-18T22:06:00.005+10:00

Yea I haven't had the time to blog and I certainly do not have much time now. LOL. As usual, I am once again, procrastinating. I have tutorial work to catch up on for Law but hey a 15 minute blog post is a good break.

I have not yet received my iPhone due to over-demand for the much coveted gadget. Apple it seems would like me to wait a little longer and torture me. Meh. Uni's been shit as usual and I cannot believe how quickly everything seems to be moving. It's already week 5... And also, how hot is it nowadays? That really cheeses me off. I feel like I'm being robbed off another good 2 and a half weeks of Winter.

I have to say I am ecstatic that my favourite football club Arsenal FC got off to a smashing 6-1 thumping of Everton on the weekend. This places us top of the table. YES! Tonight we'll play Celtic for a place in the Champions League. Hopefully we'll win. Fingers crossed.

Lastly, music which has been encapsulated in my head and replayed like a mantra:

And lastly, for randomness' sake, I present 'enter: pumpkin slayer'

August

2009-08-04T11:59:00.002+10:00

This is gonna be a quick post. Ah, the final month of Winter. 2nd Semester has started and life is resuming. The Winter break already feels as though it happened so long ago. Sigh. Oh well. Time to get back into it. I will turn 19 soon. My final teenage year. There's an incredible sense of finality to it even though there isn't much significance to the number 19. It's something I don't really want to embrace. Speaking of which, Julian turned 19 three days ago. God, I feel old. Anyway, I have to run. Stuff to attend to. Oh, and Ron getting his iPhone has convinced me to get one too. So yes, I will be getting one. Yay.

Word of the Day: Vagina Boob

2009-07-28T20:37:00.002+10:00

I'm starting a new section where I will post the word of the day. Today, it will be 'vagina boob'. Here's why:

Ah... I love Family Guy.

Road to BOTY 09

2009-07-27T13:53:00.003+10:00

It's been a while since I had a b-boy post. Well I'm pretty excited about BOTY this year as my favourite crew Gamblerz will be competing and seeking to win the crown that they have won previously in 2004. They won BOTY Korea and will have to qualify from BOTY Asia before anything's decided but they've got to be hot favourites. Other teams which have qualified that are worth mentioning include All Area Crew from Japan (also subject to qualification from BOTY Asia) and Phase-T of France. It would be interesting to see if there would be a battle against Phase-T for Gamblerz as they did battle each other in 2005, with Gamblerz winning then. This is the finals of BOTY Korea where Gamblerz battle Maximum Crew:

Previously...

2009-07-24T18:04:00.010+10:00

Yeah I've been AWOL for a while now. I know, I know, I'm not really even bothering to keep this blog alive. It's a shame and I apologise. To those who didn't notice, I have added a Twitter app on the sidebar where I will now use to post my random little thoughts. I will of course, continue to blog here but only major stuff. Enough about that though. A little update on myself.

I spent the past weekend which was the final weekend of my semester holidays at the coast, with friends and I got absolutely smashed. It was fun, where I even elbowed someone in the face without even realising it, be hit on by a DUDE at a night club and even become Superman momentarily. The latter of which I can't remember. Some fuzzy bits here and there but nothing really coherent. Mostly just stuff my friends told me afters. Embarassing, yes but still awesome.

Sodom more like it.

Saturday night's drunken dreams...

Uni life has started once again and I'm still in holiday mode. Detrimental? Perhaps, but whatever. I can't be bothered at the moment. It's been a tough couple of weeks for me on a personal side however. I've gained much clarity now and I have to say I've been truly let down by those whom I consider my "bros". It's just some of the things that they do that really make you question WHY they're still even your friends. It really comes into perspective now on hindsight and all I have is just further doubts about them. Simple courtesy, COMMON SENSE, manners and general attitudes. It's simple things like this which seem to be non-existent. Are we all that different? This is what I really miss about my friends back home. Similar ways of being brought up probably. I never had doubts of this sort back then. Sigh. Why is this happening to me? Am I just no longer as tolerant as before? Why is it that all this is bothering me now? Has it been one time too many? And it gets worse cause all the times you have let little things slide and pass start coming back and it all adds up and contributes to the greater doubt and disappointment and resentment that you have for those people. I see all these faults in others and it's not like I'm perfect or anything. In fact, I'm the furthest thing from it and yet I would never have done half the shit that I have seen from these so-called "bros". Sure, I can be a real penis sometimes but I haven't really had a moment where I really screwed up and went too far. But I have to get over it. Sniff my resentment and disappointment up, build a bridge and get over it. Be more of a dude and less of a PMS-ey chick. Suck it up, Aaron. I'm not happy currently and what can I do about it? Blog about it and hopefully it will all go away.

Well it's a new semester and now that we're in the middle of Winter, it's time I started afresh. Never too late. Maybe even make some newer, less crappy friends. LOL. I apologise for the bitch session. But it feels good to unload like that.

In other news, while I was out at the coast, one of my friends had an item which I covet: the i-Spin. It's an iPod/mp3 player mixer where you can edit/DJ two tracks simultaneously from two completely independant sources. Coolness. I want, I want, I want.

Lastly, the trailer for 2012! Yes I do like disaster movies (Cloverfield, Day After Tomorrow). The trailer speaks for itself so I'll sign off with that. Laters.

Office 2010

2009-07-13T18:18:00.000+10:00

My apologies. Yes there hasn't been an update for so long, but here's one. I haven't really had much to blog about lately but here's something: Office 2010 trailer. Found out about this from John's Twitter. It's pretty funny and kinda dumb but still, you should check it out:

And what have I been up to recently? I've been passing my holidays watching GRΣΣK, which is a comedy/drama series about college and its various fraternities and sororities. It's pretty awesome. If anyone has time to watch it please do. Can't believe uni's starting again in a week or 2. Sigh. And lastly, an update on my injury. I can hobble and walk slightly now so I guess that's good. I should be back to normal in a couple of days (hopefully).

The week that was

2009-07-01T12:32:00.006+10:00

Ah, July. Time flies. The week which just passed was a rather mixed affair. It kicked off last Thursday with Transformers 2, which by my reckoning was the BIGGEST LETDOWN of this year for movies. WARNING: Spoilers Alert! Where do I begin with this? First off I think the 2.5 hours screentime was a little too much. I had to hold in my piss for a good 45 minutes only to be dissappointed in the end. I mean seriously - ROBOT HEAVEN??? = FAIL! Ageing robots? = FAIL! 17,000 year old bot parts being compatible with Optimus' parts? = FAIL! 17,000 year old bots can teleport but new ones can't??? FAIL! And Sam running through the sand for a good 20 minutes to get some pixie dust into Optimus? WTF Bumblebee transform and drive him there already??? Too many comic relief characters! Leo, Mrs. Witwicky, the 2 nigga-bots (stereotype much?), "Robo-Warrior"? COME ON!!! And The Fallen getting pwned so easily? They should've cut short the Sam running to Optimus part for a better fighting sequence. And these are just a few of the many stand-out gaping holes with this movie. But I gotta say, the hype which all of us had for this probably contributed to its downfall too.

All is not lost though. As much of a letdown as this movie was, it had its moments. Megan Fox on the bike? Jizz-worthy. Megan Fox running in slow-mo? Yes, please. In all seriousness, I really did not think it was a bad movie as I was watching it. Was I entertained? YES. It is only after that you start questioning the issues that this movie had. My verdict: the sequel has NOTHING on Transformers 1. Roll over and move on then.

We come to Monday. PAINTBALL SKIRMISH!!! I went for it for a friend's 19th birthday. It was pretty awesome. It stings if you get shot in the bare skin areas but it was worth it. We had great maps to shoot out on. 20 vs. 20 melees were kickass and if the paintballs weren't so expensive I reckon I would've had more fun. Capture the Flag, Deathmatch etc were all equally as awesome. Final map however, which was to drop a bomb at the enemy's base was really crappy cause it was sooooo muddy it wasn't funny. A coupla friends actually fell in the mud and STANK. Meh. I got out of dat pretty quickly. Had barely any ammo left to make any impact. I have to say, I had a good time out there. FUN. I would post some pictures if I had any. It's hardly a place for you to snap photos.

And yesterday, I went for some virtual shootout at a local cyber cafe. Did pretty well in CoD4 and Age of Empires III. After that I went for some basketball and wound up with this:

Just great. My hols are over as I know it. FUCK. And it was all going so well...

Priorities

2009-06-22T22:38:00.000+10:00

I am in need of major reflection this holiday period. My failure to prioritise what matters most has cost me dearly. Life is not what I had envisioned it to be. There is no drive to achieve my goals. Halfway into my second year and I have been paralysed with doubts - especially at such a crucial point in time. I have to lose my demons. How am I to achieve this? I have no idea. Which is why the holiday period will prove to be an excellent time to reflect on my mistakes and make sure they are not committed again. It's about time I manned up. Sure friends are great but everyone has to realise that it is ultimately you who has to deal with the ramifications of your decisions. Thus, we are all, in the end - alone. There is so much to look forward to, and yet at the rate I'm going, the future looks bleak, filled with forthcoming failures - unless I do something to change it. And I will. This I promise. After all, I owe it to myself.

Give Me Liberty

2009-06-17T11:57:00.004+10:00

Where have I been? AWOL. Just spent an entire night studying. I'm exhausted. I can't believe yesterday still isn't over! Had like a minute of complete blankness during the exam this morning. I freaked but managed to steel myself and pull through. Sleep was my enemy last night. I struggled to fight off its advances and dared not succumb to it. I succeeded. Hence the exhaustion. However, finally I have arrived at the finish line - 17th June. Strangely enough, I am not in a mood to celebrate. Probably cause this is one of my worst semesters ever. I must admit I did not put as much effort as I had promised myself to at the start of this year. Will I pay the price? I hope not. I pray not. Please Lord, heed my prayers. And now if you don't mind, I suggest you do something worthwhile with your time as I have a LONG OVERDUE appointment with the fatal temptress - sleep.

Time

2009-06-09T13:45:00.003+10:00

The clock is ticking. I watched it go from 10am to 12pm to 1.45pm. How the fuck does time move so fast??? It's never moved this quickly whenever I'm not doing anything. Within that timeframe, I was supposed to have covered several chapters. Result: FAIL. I haven't done anything. Not only have I been not studying, I'm constantly going online, reading up on random shit. Nothing seems to appeal to me anymore. Especially the academic goals that I had set up for myself previously. Sigh...

Oh wait! Sis just called - she's at the door with goodies - LUNCH. I'm saved. Yay.

Surviving Exams

2009-06-08T15:07:00.012+10:00

Ah, the plight of every scholar - surviving and passing the examination term. Sure, every second of our precious time would be channeled towards cramming for the examinations. However, in order to truly survive and succeed in this trying period, a diet of certain foods must be ingested. I therefore would like to present MY way of surviving the exams.

As you can see from the picture above, it comprises an assortment of instant foods, such as instant noodles, pasta, croissants, cereal, soft drinks and chips, as well as pies (did not make it into the pic due to spatial challenges). VERY essential to a student's well-being. Sugar in the soft drinks keep you energetic during those nights when your siblings taunt you by sleeping while you labour your ass off into the night. The fizz helps too. Sure, one could argue that coffee is just as effective, but I always find that I am dead tired just prior to the exams whenever I drink it. Well, that's just me.

Pasta and instant noodles are always a great way to go for filling meals if one does not really have the time to cook a proper meal. Add some much needed protein by adding a fried egg on the side. Cookies and chips are great for munching through drowsy moments - this has prevented me from drowsing off several times - proven. For quick dashes, especially if you're rushing, cereal's the best way to go. There are several that are great, such as Crunchy Nut Clusters or Milo's cereal (which tastes like KoKo Krunch). In the event that you are really in such a rush where you are unable to even eat cereal, I might suggest Uncle Toby's breakfast bars or Up & Go. Great stuff.

With food and water dealt with, there are other necessities. For quick bursts of entertainment to unshackle you from your study hell, try Worms Armageddon. A quick 15 minute tourney with a sibling or random friend or if no one else would play with you, the AI, will do wonders in relaxing you before you embark on yet another lengthy stretch of studying. Trick is to know when to stop cause that shit is ADDICTIVE. Some of my friends argue porn's the way to go but meh - video games should release the required endorphins just as well. Plus, you don't feel so dirty after. =P. Facebook should work as well but I like many other people find it really hard to stop.

And finally, the last and perhaps the most treasured rarity during exams period - one which we all take for granted - sleep. It is inevitable to sacrifice some of this precious commodity to cram in some more for the forthcoming exam and hopefully, acquire additional marks which can bump up your GPA. The only way to enjoy this without sacrifice is to prepare early. For slackers like me, I EPIC FAIL at this. I have gone through periods where sleep is non-existent. Trust me. It's NOT fun. My advice: prepare early. Easier said than done. Sleeping well before any exam is important however. Even if it's only for 2 hours, your brain needs it. Think of yourself as an iPod. with 10% battery life, it can still produce equivalent sounds to that of a fully charged one albeit for a shorter duration, but it should suffice for the exam.

I hope the information provided in this post has been useful in some way to all. This has only been tested and true for me though. And the results will differ across different individuals but hopefully it can help you discover your own formula for success in the exams period. Good luck to you all. And may the Force be with you. LOL. Sorry - couldn't resist.

Guy Dupuy

2009-06-07T18:10:00.003+10:00

2 words: Guy Dupuy. Well not words really. More like a name. And this is the name that any fanatic of the dunk should remember. Vince Carter is, without a doubt the best dunker in the world - next to MJ of course. Now though, there is a 6' 3" dunker who will look to claim that title. He's no pro though. Just a regular who really has the hops. And the best thing is that he will be in Dallas for the 2010 Slam Dunk Contest competing with the likes of NBA professionals. Let's hope LeBron stays true to his word and takes part...and hopefully, get taken down by this amateur. Muahahahahahaha. Here's a video that showcases Guy's amazing dunks. L33tness.

E3 Trailers

2009-06-04T16:16:00.002+10:00

And now for a couple of awesome trailers which were recently unveiled at E3. The Star Wars one made my jaw drop.

Meh. I thought the old PSP looked good enough already. I smell FAIL here.

1 Down. 4 to go.

2009-06-03T10:58:00.001+10:00

YES! I have succesfully completed the take-home exam. Had a bit of a scare during the submission online but I'm glad it's all over with now. Finance 1 to go people. Hopefully I can hang in there. And now for some awesome news to share:

E3 2009: Microsoft Unveils Motion Camera

I think it looks rather silly, but I gotta admit - it's also pretty awesome.

LOL. Sony's jumping on the motion sensing bandwagon too. Microsoft's Natal is cooler.

Prologue

2009-05-29T21:06:00.010+10:00

Welcome to the opening chapter of my exams schedule. I have a "take-home exam" for one of my Law subjects and it was released today, at 5pm. It's due at 5pm on Monday. In addition to that, I got my results for my Law assignments: 1 decent and the other dreadful. What a way to ruin my weekend. My next piece of examination will be on 6th June, Finance 1. Following that will be Torts A on the 11th, Management Accounting on the 13th and finally Computerised Accounting Systems on the 17th. This would mean fewer updates for the coming weeks. Wish me luck. I guess I'll see you all at the finish line.

Round 1: Let's hope I'm the guy in white and the exams are the black one.

p.s. = SUPER ECSTATIC that Barca won against Man Utd. Thierry Henry really deserved it after all. And I hope the Magic can oust Lebron and the Cavs soon - preferably this Sunday. And also, I started watching Chuck - probably not a good idea as exams have started for me but whatever. Yvonne Strahovski is HOT!

New Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen Trailer

2009-05-24T13:48:00.002+10:00

ZOMG Megan Fox! Enough said.

Seth Macfarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

2009-05-23T15:09:00.005+10:00

I had the opportunity to watch Seth Macfarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy the other day. It's pretty racy, but nonetheless hilarious. I didn't laugh at all of them as I didn't really get the jokes in those but the ones that I did get were awesome. Here are some of the cartoon snippets:

This one has ads just before it. Forward till 0:23 for the joke. FUNNY.

That roadrunner had it coming. And a conversation I had recently which reflects the ending of this snippet:

A.lee: ron
A.lee: have u gave thought of going back to church?
fısн: ...........................

Hope you enjoyed that! LOLOLOLOLOL.

2009-05-19T14:26:00.005+10:00

'Evil' China sex park torn down: state media

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

BEIJING, China: A sex theme park in southwest China that featured giant genitals and a sex-technique workshop has been torn down after officials said it had an "evil influence" on society, state media said Monday.

"Love Land" was due to open in Chongqing municipality ahead of China's national day on October 1, but it was ordered to close following an investigation by local authorities, the Global Times reported.

Besides displays on sex history and techniques, the park boasted a giant rotating statue of the lower portion of a nearly naked woman bent over at the waist.

The Global Times published a photo of workers in the Nan'an district of Chongqing pulling down the statue from a podium covered in flowers.

"The investigation determined the park's content was vulgar and that it was neither healthy nor educational," an official was quoted as saying.

"It had an evil influence on society and had to be torn down immediately."

He Shizhong, head of the municipal publicity department, said the company behind the park had "ignored its social responsibility and was interested only in profiting from sensationalism," the paper reported.

Images of the park's content found their way on the Internet last week and sparked widespread debate and controversy, with the majority of comment opposed to the site.

But some people expressed disappointment that the park had been torn down.

"The park was above board, so why was it pulled down? How can a country get powerful if it doesn't open its mind?" one person was quoted as saying in the newspaper.

Insight: Didn't even know they had sex parks in China. LOL. Awesome. Shame it got torn down though.

PROCRASTINATION

2009-05-17T11:59:00.004+10:00

The exams beckon and in less than 3 weeks' time, I will be sitting for my first exam. What's funny is I'm not shitting my pants yet. In fact, I'm just sitting around not doing much. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??? FOCUS MOFO!!!

My week has been once again a wasted one as I have yet to do anything truly productive. I downloaded Worms Armageddon for my netbook and that would hardly be considered a productive activity and might even be the exact opposite. How does someone study so early before the exams? There is no pressure. No... what's the word for it - DRIVE to study for the exams.

I am behind on my Law lectures, my tutorial work, and most of my Accounting subjects. I'm hardly in the right position to play Worms Armageddon, BLOG, and watch movies, and yet here I am doing exactly that. Sigh... I just wish all these things would go away. Childish thought as that may be, but that is my current state of mind. I, for one cannot wait till the end of June 17th as that will be the finish-line for my exams. I cannot believe I was actually stoked about coming back to uni and doing 5 subjects. I've been an absolute fool and a naivete.

Have you had enough yet? STOP mocking me you piece of fucking shit.

Angels and Demons

2009-05-15T17:48:00.009+10:00

Yesterday, I managed to catch Angels and Demons at the cinemas. I reckon it was an AWESOME film. Comparing it with its predecessor The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons has bested it in every way. Angels and Demons is actually a prequel to The DaVinci Code. It revolves around Harvard University symbologist, Robert Langdon's adventures in the Vatican City, unravelling the mysteries of the Illuminati, a secret society and their plot to destroy the Vatican Church with destructive antimatter. The movie's plot is brilliant, which is only natural as it came from a great book. There were plenty of twists involved. The film was sequenced very well. The movie's tempo was very well executed and definitely did not feel as rushed as The DaVinci Code. The events constantly keep you on the edge and is highly entertaining throughout the course of the 2 and a half hours.The acting was awesome by the entire cast. Ewan McGregor did an outstanding job and Tom Hanks was at his usual best. The chick, Ayelet Zurer was pretty hot too - definitely better than Audrey Tautou in terms of looks. Acting-wise, they were on par. Special effects were pretty cool, especially the effects of the antimatter. The cinematography of the locations in the Vatican were excellent which is an achievement considering the film was not permitted to film in the Vatican. I really enjoyed this movie. Might even go buy the book now. 4 out of 5 stars.

LOST

2009-05-14T23:13:00.005+10:00

Once again, another finale of LOST. I am speechless about this episode. I have only one word to describe it which everyone has heard me say before: AWESOME. Read an extensive 5000-word recap here. If you have not seen it, you owe it to yourself and anyone who owns a TV to watch it. What I am royally ticked at is that I will have to wait till February 2010 for a continuation. I guess I can fill this time by rewatching all my previous episodes of Lost. I will end this post by repeating this: LOST is awesome. Amen.

Lakers-Rockets Violence

2009-05-12T00:01:00.003+10:00

LOL. This was injustice but I'm rooting for the Lakers so all I can say is "TOO BAD ROCKETS!" Funny how Kobe looks so much smaller than Artest.

This one was awesome! Derek Fisher completely owned Luis Scola! His reaction after doing it was hilarious! He looked so innocent haha.

NBA TV Top 5: May 8th

2009-05-09T19:14:00.003+10:00

Whoa this was an awesome top 5 from the NBA Playoffs. Each play was well worth a second look, but Dwight Howard's block at number 2 is just pure ridiculousness. Kobe's buzzer beater was insane too.

Of TeeVee, Alchemists, Taboo, MVPs, Soccer and MYOB

2009-05-09T03:11:00.010+10:00

This week following my last post has been a fairly stayed affair for me. I basically re-watched Arrested Development and How I Met Your Mother on the computer, as well as even managing to squeeze some reading of 'The Alchemist' into it. I have read it before, however I've pretty much forgotten most of it. I really enjoyed the book and recently bought a copy for myself. Highly recommended to anyone who wants a good read and it will surely leave a profound impact on the reader.

In sports news, I have been tracking Arsenal's progress in the Champions League and I am dissapointed with the way they played in the 3-1 home loss to Manchester United. This should serve as a sign to Arsene Wenger that serious changes need to be made at the club if success is to be attained. I watched Barcelona go through to the Finals with immense luck. They deserved it, though admittedly, it was some dodgy refereeing in that game. That should set up a pretty interesting Champions League Finale. My money's on Barca to lift the trophy though =P. In the NBA, LeBron James was awarded the MVP of the Regular 08/09 season. Blargh. LeBron is good, no doubt - but OVERRATED. Nevertheless he has had a stellar season and I guess he's deserved it.

Oh and I rediscovered my joy in board games. I've taken to playing the game TABOO at a friend's house. GREAT FUN. Can't believe I waited this long to play it again. I was amazed at how fun it was despite all these years. Heh.

Alas the days of bumming around are over as I have an EPIC MYOB Accounting assignment due Tuesday. I am just about sick of assignments. Please, someone save me.

Slam Dunk: 10 Days After

2009-05-02T12:22:00.003+10:00

I'm a HUGE fan of the manga series, Slam Dunk. No, I do not watch anime much or even like Japanese culture much, but Slam Dunk is probably one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Almost everyone has heard of Slam Dunk. It was written from 1990-1996 and triggered the interest of basketball in youths of most Asian countries. I, only came across it when AXN started showing re-runs of the animation series at 6pm weekdays back in 2002. This served as a catalyst to my interest in basketball and catalpulted it to one of my favourite sports of all time.

Unfortunately, as all Slam Dunk fans are aware of, the manga series ended with abruptness. We were all left hanging, without an indication of who won the Inter-High Basketball Championship. Fortunately though, Takehiko Inoue (creator) produced an epilogue titled Slam Dunk: 10 Days After, which was drawn on 23 chalkboards in the former campus of the now-defunct Misaki High School located in the Kanagawa Prefecture. I only discovered this in 2006 and I have decided to make a post of this now as I was reading through a couple of the Slam Dunk novels which I have and thought I should honour the series in some way on my blog, as it did have a profound effect on my teenage years. This continuation can be read here.

Although it isn't a true conclusion to the series and still leaves us with less than what we deserve, it is great to see some modernisation to the series. The old pants were starting to look pretty bad lol. I still hope that one day, he will continue the series as I'm eager to know what happens next.

2009-04-30T21:36:00.009+10:00

Hiatus OVER! Fuck those assignments! LOL. As you can tell from my demeanor those couldn't possibly have gone all that well. That's just a feeling though. I won't know till a while and who cares now anyway. It's over. I have another assignment due next Tuesday. But I am taking time out to chillax a bit. Anyway, I know this has been out for a while but I just wanted to post it - the trailer to Assassin's Creed 2. The first game was pretty awesome, albeit repetitive. Quite a mysterious trailer. Cool stuff.

In other news, I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine today. My verdict: HORRIBLE. My friends concurred. The storyline was terrible and there was really nothing in the movie to maintain my interest. Special effects weren't as good as the prevoius X-Men movies and that's bad considering this movie was more recent. The female protagonist, Lynn Collins was a real letdown in both the looks and acting department. There were many details which were left out. The backstories of the members of Team X were not revealed so we weren't really allowed to connect with those characters. Wolverine's experience with Team X was mildly interesting though. Hugh Jackman had pretty decent acting as well so kudos mate. And just a side note - Sabretooth/Victor was NOT supposed to be Wolverine's brother. He was the nemesis in the comics. Hmm. Unless you are a true Wolverine fan, you're not missing much here.

And I might want to add that I am quite dissapointed with Arsenal's 1-0 away loss to Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals. To be honest, it was pretty bad for Arsenal. They were dominated by United for most of the game. Arsene Wenger remains positive they can overturn this deficit at home. I certainly hope so. Meanwhile, in the NBA, Dwight Howard was suspended for the sixth game of the playoff series with Philadelphia. This will be a major blow for Orlando. They only need one more game though and Dwight is their key man. Hopefully they can hang in there. And in the music department this week, this song from Flo Rida's new album 'R.O.O.T.S.' has been on my playlist. Niiiccceee.

Hiatus

2009-04-20T23:30:00.005+10:00

Alas, I must now retreat to my books as the Easter break is now over and I must finish off assignments which are due VERY soon. In fact, taking time out to post this message has potentially detrimental effects to my grades... LOL. No, not really. But you get my point. I have, at the time of writing, three assignments due in the coming week. Please forgive the absence of any new posts. In other news, the FA Cup Semi-Finals which transpired on the weekend was a bittersweet affair for me. I am still reeling from the shock of a 2-1 defeat of Arsenal at the hands of Chelsea, and equally astounded at the 4-2 penalty win of Everton over Manchester United. Well, in closing, I would like to include the following clips from Family Guy which should give you all a good laugh. Enjoy. I particularly liked the racist one but then again, they are all equally good. =P

Fast & Furious 4

2009-04-18T00:29:00.007+10:00

I had the opportunity to watch Fast & Furious 4 today and I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that this was a decent movie. It truly surpassed my expectations for it - these expectations being quite low due to the awful Tokyo Drift.

For those of you that aren't familiar with this movie, it basically is a prelude to Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift. It tells of how Han and Dom (Vin Diesel) knew each other, this relationship becoming apparent in the post-credits scene from Tokyo Drift. It also tells of what Dom has been up to since the original Fast and Furious and also what he did which eventually led to him going to Tokyo as seen in Tokyo Drift. The storyline was actually bearable, as opposed to the insufferable storyline of Tokyo Drift.

The action in this movie is the usual ZOMG over-the-top kind, which regardless of how full of BS it might be, is still highly entertaining. The beginning scene which involved the robbing of the oil tankers was very cool although it is very probable that it is undoable and basically impossible in real life. Watch this movie and you will understand what I mean. Nevertheless, as I said, it was still very entertaining. Driving scenes were awesome and it was good to see that they drift very well in the States as they do in Tokyo.

The acting in this movie was decent. I'm not a fan of Paul Walker but I have to admit I didn't find myself wanting to punch him in this movie. It's always great to have Vin Diesel in a movie so kudos to him. In addition, the supporting cast did a great job as well. Soundtrack of the movie was A-class. R&B and Latino hip-hop blended really well with the action scenes. I thought the cinematography was pretty good. Solid camerawork and special effects throughout the movie.

Overall, I'll give this a 3.5 out of 5. Good popcorn flick and is actually WORTH watching. NOT dissapointing for a Fast & Furious movie. I recommend. Plus, you get to see the sizzling Gal Gadot =P.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Villarreal (Aggregate 4-1)

2009-04-16T12:00:00.004+10:00

Source: SoccerNet

Excellent Arsenal set up all-English semi

Updated: April 15, 2009, 9:50 PM UK

Arsenal have been portrayed as a club in crisis this season but they are now in the Champions League semi-final after sweeping past Villarreal 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium.

Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie were on the scoresheet as Arsene Wenger's youngsters defied their injury worries in defence to wrap up the tie 4-1 on aggregate within an hour.

The Spaniards had Sebastian Eguren dismissed, and the hosts were then able to conserve energy for their FA Cup clash against Chelsea at the weekend.

If they win at Wembley there will be genuine hope of getting something out a season where many predicted them to slip out of the traditional top four in England.

Wenger himself admits he has been amazed by how his young players have gone 18 Barclays Premier League games without defeat - and this performance will have impressed him too.

But nothing has been easy at Arsenal this season. Earlier in the campaign William Gallas was stripped of the captaincy, now Wenger is desperately short on numbers in at the back.

Ahead of this clash, Bacary Sagna was taken ill, meaning an entire back four was missing as Arsenal protected their slender away-goals advantage.

Kolo Toure held together a defence that contained Emmanuel Eboue at right-back, Kieran Gibbs at left-back and inexperienced Lucasz Fabianski in goal.

Villarreal had problems of their own, with Marcos Senna, the cornerstone of their midfield, out injured.

They did have Robert Pires stationed on the left flank, meaning it was Arsenal's past versus the club's future, as Walcott was raiding down the right.

It was a fascinating clash, with Walcott almost putting the ball out of play early on when Pires picked up a knock, only to carry on with the ball to set up an attack.

The 20-year-old showed his ruthless side again when he netted the opener in the 10th minute.

Eboue slipped the ball forward from the right, Cesc Fabregas' flick allowed Walcott to run through on goal, with the England winger chipping home high over goalkeeper Diego Lopez.

It was reward for Arsenal's bright start after Van Persie went close with a header that cleared the crossbar and a long-range effort that Lopez gathered at the second attempt.

The hosts were inches from adding a second goal after Van Persie's powerful free-kick was saved by Lopez. Adebayor's follow-up header got deflected on target but Gonzalo Rodriguez hacked off the line.

All eyes were on the assistant referee but it would have been the tightest of calls if he had flagged for a goal.

The equation for Villarreal shifted only slightly - they still needed a goal.

Diego Godin had given Wenger's side an early scare when he got on the end of Giuseppe Rossi's free-kick and forced Fabianski into a save with his scissor-kick.

The visitors then caused some nervous moments in Arsenal's defence before the break, with Rossi getting sight of goal at the near post before the hosts scrambled clear.

Pires also had a shot blocked from the edge of the area, while Godin headed over from a corner in first-half stoppage-time.

Manuel Pellegrini's men sensed that it was their time to apply pressure on Arsenal's makeshift defence. It meant all hands on deck for Wenger's makeshift back line.

Arsenal's best option was to counter attack. Van Persie was making runs from deep to cause Villarreal problems, with Godin picking up a booking for stopping one run.

No opponent got close enough to Van Persie on the hour mark and he sent through Adebayor, who took one touch before finishing past Lopez with the outside of his boot.

The third came from Van Persie's penalty and also saw Eguran dismissed.

Godin took Walcott's legs away in the penalty area but escaped a second booking for the offence. Eguran, who got a yellow card in the first half, got another caution for dissent and then disgracefully put his hands on the referee while protesting more. Van Persie kept his nerve and fired in the spot-kick.

Wenger's goalscorers were then given a breather to rest for the battles ahead.

Insight: Yay! Semi-final against Man Utd is gonna be awesome. GO ARSENAL! Potential Champions League winners? Yes, please.

Easter Aftermath

2009-04-16T09:10:00.003+10:00

I am currently enjoying the 10-day Easter break. Although the idea of looming exams, assignments and readings have dented my otherwise stress-free holiday, I am remarkably relaxed and having a good time. Easter was a rather stayed affair. I spent the majority of it playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 and a tiny bit of it on a Management Accounting quiz. However, it is already Thursday and I think I should start doing some actual work lol. Well, so far the Mid-sesmester break has been great. Went for Klub Kandy on Monday night and it wasn't too bad. Rain nearly killed it though. Before that I was at the casino - losing money on roulette. Gah...I will get those monies back! (somehow...hopefully...) -_-". And now for something random... I've always liked Pepsi. In my opinion Pepsi > Coca-Cola. They should've won the Cola Wars, but oh wells. Here's a pic of a glass pepsi bottle.

I used this to wash down some unpleasant beverage I sampled at KK.

Apartment - Take 2

2009-04-13T16:17:00.008+10:00

This is a continuation from my previous Apartment post. Well, I visited the website Apartment Therapy and found some really interesting pictures there, which I will now post.

I really like this wallpaper. Bleeds cool.

Nothing great about this one except the painting on the wall.

When I have kids, I'm gonna make a room just like this one.

Very bachelor. I approve.

The following pics are from an apartment in Panama:

The flooring and that backwall are awesome.

Multi-colored walls = kewlness. Paintings not too shabby either.

Don't like the bedroom much though.

The exterior looks good too!

The following pics are from a different apartment.

Nice entrance.

That Moroccan thing looks pretty cool.

Painting's not too shabby either.

Cool study. Small though.

Very nice kitchen although the decor's a tad inappropriate. Painting'd be ruined by all the smoke and oil from the cooking.

Entry to toilet. Nothing much to see here...

Parquet flooring. Mmm...

Adidas Originals

2009-04-13T00:47:00.003+10:00

I recently found these photos promoting Adidas Originals on the net. Awesome.

Rainy Day Mix

2009-04-10T00:26:00.007+10:00

It's been raining an awful lot in Brisbane lately. Strange, but nevertheless, not unwelcome. I present to you a mix of songs which I have found to be soothing during my commutes to Uni amidst the rain: (Artist - Title)

1. The Weepies - Take It From Me

2. The New Monarchs - Kiss Me At The Gates

3. Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You

4. David Morales feat. Tamra Keenan - Here I Am (Kaskade Remix)

5. The Weepies - World Spins Madly On

6. The Weepies - Not Your Year

7. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Kiss Me Again

8. MGMT - Kids

9. Ferraby Lionheart - The Ballad of Gus & Sam

10. Matt Pond PA - Champagne Supernova

11. OceanLab - Sirens of the Sea

12. DJ Sammy - Beautiful Smile

13. Akon - Keep You Much Longer

14. Holly Brook - Saturdays

15. Two Hours Traffic - Jezebel

16. Engineers - How Do You Say Goodbye?

17. Rogue Traders - What You're On

18. Muse - Endlessly

19. The Strokes - The End Has No End

20. Viva Voce - Lesson No. 1

21. Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle - Nobody Knows

22. MIA - Paper Planes

23. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy

Note: I do know most of these songs are old. I have taken to relistening to older songs in my library recently. I apologise if it is inappropriate for you.

Ad Reel

2009-04-04T19:44:00.014+10:00

Allow me to begin by saying this: I love cool TV ads. Now, what exactly defines 'cool'? Well, usually these would involve great cinematography and unforgettable tunes accompanying the ad. The following videos should give you a better idea.

This was an award-winning ad. Perhaps the best commercial in a looong time. It made me laugh so hard when I first saw it. Kudos to the guys over at Carlton Draught. One of the rare milestones in TV ad history.

One of my favourite ads. The message is that it makes all that stuff which isn't usually enjoyed by people lovable with a Walkman phone. Brilliant accompanying soundtrack by Holiday for Strings, titled 'Jump on Foot'.

I loved the music in this ad. Streamline by Newton - It's such a catchy tune. Parker Posey and Jimmy Fallon unwinding with Pepsi adds to the awesomeness. Yay for Pepsi.

I saw this waaay back in 2006. Sony struck gold with this commercial for their High Definition TV series, Bravia. Dropping 25,000 multi-coloured balls down the streets of San Francisco? That's just cool. Everyone talked about it! It showcased the muscial talent of José González with his hit song, Heartbeats. Brilliant cinematography, too.

Sprite - Liquid Freedom! WHOA! This ad was AWESOME! Also saw this back in 2006. A swimming pool-esque basketball court??? LEGENDARY! Lol. Very original. Love the soundtrack too. Track is entitled Falling Away. The full song can be viewed here. Liquid Freedom - indeed.

Okay... now I am not a fan of Nokia phones and I know this is old, but this ad had great music from a French artist. Took me forever to find out about the song in this ad. It's called World of Flowers by Sayem. Great colours and shooting style for the commercial. I really liked the Art Nouveau architecture style. It also features the beauty of European model, Luca Gadjus. Nice.

You have to hand it to the folks in Victoria for releasing ads that truly encapsulate the audience and convinces them that going to Victoria will really let you have a good time. Very cute song 'Run Rabbit Run' by Flanagan and Allen.

Follows up from The Yarra Valley Tourism Victoria Ad. Loved the shooting style for this ad. Vibrant colours and the giant threadball? Sheer genius. Accompanying tunes of Joanna Newsom - Sprout and the Bean.

Now I know some of you may call this ad 'gay' or whatever. Well who cares cause I liked it. I thought it was very sweet. Song 'Heartstopper' by Emiliana Torrini.

Well those were some of the ads which I thought were very cool. Hope you liked it. I know most of them are old, but hey, they were good ads. =D

Sydney Trip

2009-03-31T14:17:00.017+10:00

I was in Sydney from the 26th of March till the 29th. It was an awesome trip. I went with friends and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there. Sydney, unlike Brisbane, is a true metropolis - bustling with activity and events. There are so many places to go, and so much to do. I was also astounded by how many asians the city seemed to hold...LOL. Anyway, here are some pictures from the trip:

Pictures from Coogee Beach:

Pictures at Opera House:

This was actually a prison in the past:

From Sydney Botanical Gardens:

From Sydney CBD:

Sydney Apple Store:

NSW Art Gallery:

St. Mary's Cathedral:

Hyde Park:

Clovelly Beach:

These are only the pictures from my phone. There are many more which I will have to grab off my friends. Will prolly upload those to facebook.

I Recommend...

2009-03-22T19:39:00.007+10:00

NEKO CASE's Middle Cyclone. This album is perhaps one of the best for 2009 (so far) - that is if you're into alternative-country music. Well while I'm not that much into country... but I do enjoy them mellow tones. Very soothing LOL. Kinda a new thing for me. Well, this album is Neko Case's fifth solo album. The themes of her songs mostly center on the need for love, trading cigarettes in prison, death by killer whale, and by tornado. While not love songs, Neko's crooning may as well make them as such. Brilliant album. I fully recommend it.

Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes off as United lose again

2009-03-22T11:30:00.004+10:00

Manchester United implode for the second time in succession whilst Liverpool scent blood in the Premiership title race

Jonathan Northcroft

SOMEBODY is cracking up in the Premier League and it is not Rafael Benitez. For the second Saturday in succession, Manchester United imploded, this time losing 2-0 at Fulham, to leave Liverpool scenting blood in the title race. Also for a successive weekend Sir Alex Ferguson’s team lost on-field discipline and finished a match without 11 men. At opposite ends of a remarkable match Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were shown red cards by Phil Dowd, the referee, with Rooney’s sending-off causing his manager to complain furiously.

Chelsea suffered a surprise defeat by Tottenham to pass up the chance to close ground on United but Liverpool will move to within a single point of the champions should they beat Aston Villa at Anfield this afternoon. United’s lead was seven points just eight days ago but yesterday’s defeat, after last Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Liverpool, has put them under pressure. It is the first time in almost four years that Ferguson’s side have suffered consecutive league defeats and arguably United’s most seismic loss of form since losing 5-1 and 6-3 in successive games against Newcastle and Southampton in 1996-97.

Scholes was ordered off for deliberately handling a header from Bobby Zamora on the goalline and Danny Murphy put Fulham ahead from the spot. Then, after Zoltan Gera made it 2-0 in the 85th minute, Rooney, already cautioned, was booked again for dissent after Dowd ordered a quickly-worked free kick to be retaken. Rooney, right, threw the ball back towards the official. After protesting against his red card furiously Rooney showed even further dissent when he punched a corner flag on his way off.

Ferguson prevented his players from surrounding Dowd at full-time but attacked the referee in his post-match interview. Of Scholes’ red card he said. “It was close to him and he could have easily got out of it but it’s Phil Dowd so what do you expect?” Regarding Rooney, Ferguson said: “The first thing I’d say is, ‘Did he throw the ball at the ref? The ball was thrown directly to where the kick was to be taken. Did it hit the ref? No. Did he throw the ball in anger? Yes, because he wanted the game hurried up.”

Ferguson did not excuse his side’s performance, admitting: “We didn’t play well enough in the first half to win.” Even if Liverpool win today, United will have a game in hand. “Fortunately we have a slender lead at the moment. We hope to go away on the international break and come back, back to our best,” Ferguson said.

Source: TimesOnline

Insight: Turning point of the season? Let's hope so. In other news, Arsenal won 3-1 at Newcastle. Will Aston Villa slip up at Liverpool tonight? If they do... it will be 2 successive weekends for me. teehee.

Lost spoofed on Family Guy

2009-03-19T23:15:00.003+10:00

Okay.....as much as I love Lost, I have to say this is an awesome spoof. Funny thing is that I didn't realise he did that even after 5 seasons of Lost. LOL.

Liverpool grabs 1st win at Man United in 5 years

2009-03-15T10:57:00.009+10:00

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Liverpool routed Premier League leader Manchester United 4-1 on Saturday, coming from behind to revive its faltering title chase with its biggest win at Old Trafford in 73 years.

Captain Steven Gerrard gave Liverpool the lead for good just before halftime after Fernando Torres tied the score following Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty kick for United.

"It was magnificent, a great team performance," Gerrard said.

The Reds' first win at United in five years — and manager Rafa Benitez's first — was put beyond doubt in the last 15 minutes, with goals by Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena as the defending champions were humiliated by their fiercest rival.

This was United's worst home defeat since a loss by the same score in 1992 against Queens Park Rangers. The club's miserable afternoon was compounded when defender Nemanja Vidic was ejected for the second time this season against Liverpool.

United is still four points ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand. Third-place Chelsea hosts Manchester City on Sunday, hoping to move within four of the leader.

Arsenal jumped into fourth place with a 4-0 victory over Blackburn, with Andrei Arshavin scoring his first goal for the club since he move from Zenit St. Petersburg. The Russian also had a second-minute shot deflect off Blackburn defender Andre Oijer for an own-goal. When his shot in the 87th was blocked by goalkeeper Paul Robinson, Emmanuel Eboue collected the ball to add the third goal.

In other games, sixth-place Everton beat Stoke 3-1; Fulham won 3-1 at Bolton; and Hull and Newcastle tied 1-1. Next-to-last Middlesbrough scored a last minute equalizer to tie Portsmouth 1-1, and Wigan won 2-1 at Sunderland.

Source: Associated Press

Insight: LOL is all I can say about Manchester United's performance. This really made my weekend. Rubbed it into every Man Utd fan I could see online at the time. While I'm not a Liverpool supporter, I do hate Manchester United. For them to get trashed AT HOME is embarassing to say the least. And to cap it all off, Arsenal won 4-0 against Blackburn. Ah....the delight. My weekend is now complete - now the cherry on top would be if Aston Villa slipped against Tottenham tonight...

Update: Tottenham beat Aston Villa 2-1. w00t.

Apartments

2009-03-14T16:08:00.015+10:00

I have a fascination with living in an apartment in the middle of a bustling metropolis. Especially in a big city like Sydney, New York, etc. I guess this is mostly due to the overdose from TV shows like Friends and How I Met Your Mother which feature a group of friends living awesome lives in apartments.

Now I still have this dream of living in one after I graduate. So in the spare time that I had, I went looking for templates for apartments on Deviantart. Thus, I have decided to post a couple of pictures of apartments which I have found to be cool: (most of these were made in 3D, i.e. CG)

Love the artwork along the walls. And also the couch. Very minimalist. I likey. Don't fancy anything else much.

I quite like this one. It's for a 2-bedroom apartment. I reckon it looks sleek.

This is a 1-bedroom variant of the previous pic. It's decent but I dont like how there's no direct connection between the bedroom and the bathroom. And also how upon entrance from the right, the first thing to be seen is the kitchen. Well that's just me though. Still a great apartment.

Now this is my ideal apartment. It is very compact and slightly claustrophobic, however if I were to ever own a 1-bedroom apartment it would look like this. =D

This one bleeds zen haha. The stones are great and I adore the painting. View looks terrific. Though this would probably be more suited as a display home or an art gallery rather than an actual apartment for living in.

This kitchen has to be one of the most awesome kitchens. Rivals the pre-made IKEA ones I saw at the IKEA warehouse. LOL. Me likey.

I love the artwork in the bedroom. The walls the artwork are leaning on is EXCELLENT. The spotlights above are a nice touch too. And that chair with footrest is just awesome. Not a fan of the bed though.

Well one apartment that has really caught my eye was Rob's apartment from the 2008 movie, Cloverfield. It was just awesome. It has been very difficult to get pictures of that apartment. But I have managed to find some. Unfortunately most of the images are focussed on the people in it more than the actual apartment itself. Shame.

Arsenal through to Quarter Finals!

2009-03-13T10:14:00.006+10:00

Arsenal has beaten AS Roma in the UEFA Champions League to progress to the Quarter Finals by beating AS Roma 7-6 on penalties. Arsenal, who went into the game with a slender 1-0 lead from a home win, but this was cancelled out in the 9th minute of the second leg from a shot by Juan of AS Roma. Arsenal started out poorly but regained composure and held out. Unfortunately they weren't able to break Roma's defence down and the match went to penalties.

The penalties was filled with drama. Eduardo took the first for Arsenal and Doni saved low to his right. Pizarro then scored to give Roma the advantage. Van Persie’s coolly converted then Almunia saved easily from Mario Vucinic’s cheeky effort to level matters at 2-2. Walcott just managed to squirm his shot through Doni’s fingers and Baptista blasted a thunderbolt into the top of the net.

Nasri’s effort was placed to the keeper’s left and Vincenzo Montella almost skipped his effort in to the corner for 3-3.

It was now effectively sudden death. Denilson rattled his penalty straight down the middle and it was left to Totti to complete the first five apiece. He did so with aplomb.

Toure took a long run up and then sidefooted home Aquilani response was impish and accurate – 5-5.

Sagna opted for a short run and stroked the ball in the corner. Riise just squeezed his left-foot drive past Almunia’s outstretched left-hand - 6-6.

Diaby scored with nonchalance and it was Tonetto who fired over the bar.

Wenger’s men had kept their nerve with an excellent set of penalties. It had been two well-matched sides in an incredibly tense tie but Arsenal were through. Yay. =D

Summer 2008/09 Playlist

2009-03-08T14:40:00.004+10:00

Now that Summer has ended, I would like to compile a playlist of sorts on the songs which I listened to throughout the course of those dog days. Here goes: (Artist Name - Song Title)

1. Boys Like Girls - Thunder

2. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around the Bend

3. Paramore - Decode

4. The Little Ones - Morning Tide

5. The Republic Tigers - Buildings and Mountains

6. Duke Spirit - Wooden Heart

7. Taylor Swift - Love Story

8. Lucy Wainwright Roche - Bridge

9. Secondhand Serenade - Your Call

10. Chairlift - Bruises

11. Neon Neon - I Lust You

12. Lisa Mitchell - Neopolitan Dreams

13. The Kills - Tape Song

14. Architecture In Helsinki - That Beep

15. The Motion Sick - 30 Lives

16. Estrella - Stay

17. Eminem - Crack A Bottle [Feat. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent]

18. Common - Universal Mind Control [Feat. Pharrell]

19. Keri Hilson - Return the Favour [Feat. Timbaland]

20. Gym Class Heroes - Cookie Jar

21. Kevin Rudolf - Let It Rock [Feat. Lil Wayne]

22. Ratatat - Seventeen Years

23. Busta Rhymes - World Go Round

24. Menusha & the Girls - You Boys (Can Boogie)

25. Tykoon Suit - These Days

Law School Musical

2009-03-05T00:03:00.004+10:00

My professor showed this video to us Law students in Uni the other day. I found it rather entertaining. This is just a filler post. I am currently drowning from the influx of work. Save me.

Recession fears as Australia's 8-year growth run ends

2009-03-04T20:26:00.001+10:00

Posted: 04 March 2009 0904 hrs

MELBOURNE: Australia stands on the brink of recession after shock figures showed the economy shrank for the first time in eight years, analysts said Wednesday.

The economy contracted 0.5 per cent in the December quarter, well below market expectations of 0.1 per cent growth, official data showed, ending a long run of expansion on the back of a China-driven resources boom.

The figures came despite government attempts to kick start the economy with two stimulus packages worth more than A$50 billion (US$32.5 billion), and sent currency and share markets plummeting.

While the economy grew 0.3 per cent for calendar 2008, economists said the slip into negative territory dashed hopes the nation once dubbed "the lucky country" could avoid the global recession.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said the figures were a "sobering reflection" of an extremely difficult global environment that was likely to get worse before it improves.

"Although the Australian economy has held up better than most other economies, the inevitable impact of the global recession is clearly evident in today's data," he said.

Swan said the contraction was not as bad as those seen in other developed countries and would have been worse without the government's stimulus measures.

But markets reacted nervously, with the Australian dollar plunging 0.65 US cents to 63.15 US cents immediately after the announcement and the benchmark SP/ASX200 share index down 1.85 per cent at noon.

"The market really wasn't expecting this," Bell Direct analyst Julia Lee told Sky News. "A fall of 0.5 per cent is quite significant ... we're seeing a severe reaction on the market."

"It's really starting to price in a recession in 2009 and probably not a recovery until maybe 2010."

Better-than-expected international trade and retail figures released Tuesday had fuelled market expectations the economy may repeat the 0.1 per cent growth recorded in the September quarter.

But Kinetic Securities chief economist Clifford Bennett said even optimists were now expecting the economy to tip into recession, usually defined as two successive quarters of negative growth.

“I was one of those people who thought we would avoid a technical recession but I do think the first quarter (of 2009) could be worse that the last quarter (of 2008)," he said.

"There's a real chance now we will get more negative growth in the first quarter."

The realisation that the economy was going backwards meant the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) was likely to implement further interest rate cuts, he said.

The central bank left rates on hold at 3.25 per cent Tuesday as it waited to see if the government stimulus packages and previous rate cuts totalling four percentage points since September would insulate Australia's economy.

RBA assistant governor of economics Malcolm Edey said shortly before Wednesday's figures were released that Australia was expected to suffer some significant short-term weakness.

"The international deterioration has been so abrupt that it won't be possible to avoid some short-term weakness here," Edey told a business forum in Sydney.

“Nonetheless, Australia came into this period with better momentum than most, and with more scope than most to take expansionary policy measures. That scope is being used."

- AFP/yb

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

Insight: Well, this isn't good news at all. So much for Australia escaping the crisis LOL. I thought it would hit sooner or later - the fact we held out this long is surprising. Although one can argue that a 0.5% contraction in comparison to other developed countries is already very good, but Aussies were projecting something better. Consumer sentiment is gonna hit new lows after this piece of news. The future looks bleak. =(

Shattered Career Dreams

2009-03-02T19:46:00.003+10:00

I took a long hard look at my life and thought about all the previous career dreams that I had aspired to pursue and compared it with my current chosen (future) profession. As you all know I am a Law undergraduate. However I didn't really have that in mind until not too long ago. Here's some of the jobs I had envisioned myself to be at different points in my life:

1994 - At age 4, I had decided to become a singer. God, I was an idiot back then.

1997 - I played Age of Empires for the first time and started reading up on History (yes I was a nerd) and decided on pursuing a career in Archeology.

1999 - My mom drove me home from school and I saw houses being built along the road. They were pretty nice houses too. I asked my dad who built them and he said an engineer did. And that was all I wanted to do - build things.

2000 - The new millenium dawned and I was much fascinated with stars, the galaxy and the universe. I decided then that becoming an astronaut would be cool, or an astronomer.

2001 - After witnessing 9/11 on CNN, I decided to become a person of substance and change the world. Hence, a job in politics would be desirable.

2003 - My dad made me watch The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron. After seeing how those stockbrokers were working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, I decided that I wanted to be one of them.

2004 - My dad started knocking some sense into me and kept nudging me to do a degree in Commerce majoring in Accountancy. Note that this wasn't my dream. I, on the other hand wanted to become a professional basketball player.

2005 - Double Degree fever. My dad started nudging me to pursue a career in Law AND Commerce. I was drawn into how awesome it all sounded. I should have known better.

2006 - I saw some breakdance videos and decided I could juggle being a professional B-boy and lawyer simultaneously.

2007 - I was amazed at how awesome clubbing seemed to be. I wasn't 18 yet so I didn't know. I thought being a DJ part time would be super awesome, all the while being a double degree student.

So all those were my career dreams. Man those were some really weird ideas.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-03-01T18:03:00.005+10:00

Okay I admit that this is a rather late time to catch a movie which has won 8 Academy Awards, but at least I watched it didn't I? Well, I will get straight to it: Slumdog Millionaire is a GREAT film. It truly deserved to win the 8 Oscars. I thought Benjamin Button was great but Slumdog Millionaire is just in a class of its own.

I must say I do have my misgivings about Bollywood films. Having grown up in Malaysia, I watched my fair share of Bollywood movies and all I can say is "If you've seen one, you've seen them all". A large majority, if not all, involved the hero meeting the woman of his dreams and they fall in love. They then enjoy a happy period which involves them singing and dancing across lush greenery. Unfortunately however, this does not last and the antagonist captures the hero's lover and attempts to kill the hero, but fails. The hero is then rescued and works solely to regain the love of his life and seek out vengeance against the antagonist. He goes on to storm the stronghold of the antagonist and punching and shooting his way to his lover and finally gets it all back, and they live happily ever after. THE END.

Luckily, Slumdog Millionaire provides us with none of that, and saddles us up with a tale of the hardships of a slumdog who ends up on the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" television programme and manages to answer the questions thrown at him through his extraordinary life experiences. The movie provides an epic blend of humour, romance, drama, and action which are all very engaging. Acting was BRILLIANT from all members of the cast and as I was able to connect with each of the characters. Cinematography was excellent and kudos to director Danny Boyle for his shooting style. He has managed to give the audience the perfect visualisation of how life in the slums of India really is. I think a special note of congratulations to the editors of the film should be added, as they sequenced the film in such an extraordinary manner that one can only describe as amazing. They managed to splice footage and reassemble them into the mainstream storyline. Although the beginning may be a little bit confusing due to the intertwining nature of the tales, the audience will gradually understand and appreciate this.

In conclusion, I must say that Slumdog Millionaire has taken me by surprise. I appreciate the film in its entirety for all its qualities. A masterpiece that truly deserves all its awards. 5 out of 5 stars.

Wellington Point Outing 28-2-2009

2009-03-01T10:59:00.004+10:00

I went to Wellington Point with my mates Danny, Jacky and Carrie. Had a good time there. Very beautiful and picturesque place. Went island-hopping haha.

LOST is awesome

2009-02-25T22:25:00.006+10:00

Allow me to just say that Lost has achieved an unparalleled level of awesomeness in television programming. Ever since last season (season 4) Lost has taken a turn for the better and never looked back. Instead of the usual start of the series after the summer, Lost returned early in the new year of 2008 and it has never been better. The storylines were brilliant and the cast seem to have elevated their acting to a higher tier. Kudos to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse as well as their talented team of writers who continue to keep me in suspense week in and out. I have to admit, Lost hit its trough through seasons 2 and 3. Season 2 was too long-winded and while Season 3 was decent, it had too many intervals between each episode and this caused its audience to lose interest. I do prefer the new air dates as at least I get a new episode each week. It is well worth the wait. This is my salute to Lost as it is one of the best TV series to hit tubes.

NBA Slam Dunk Contest 2009

2009-02-17T09:51:00.004+10:00

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest has always been one if the highlights of All-Star Weekend... or at least it used to be. I no longer feel the excitement that I once held for it a couple of years ago. I feel that the contest seems to have lost its substance. Dwight Howard's win last year bordered along the lines of comical and "mascot-esque" antics. Even Dr. J has gone on to say that he no longer is a fan of the current dunk contest. I thought the 2005 dunk contest revolutionised the dunk contest in terms of creativity. It was one of my favourite dunk contests although none can top Vince Carter's show in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest.

This year, we were saddled up with 4 dunkers - J.R. Smith, Nate Robinson, Dwight Howard and Rudy Fernandez. I thought Rudy Fernandez had pretty creative dunks that definitely should have been awarded more points. Dwight "Superman" Howard did great this year. I liked it better than last year's anyway. J.R. Smith who supposedly has a 42-inch vertical failed to impress again. His showing at the 2005 Dunk Contest was decent but this year was pretty bad IMO. Nate "Kryptonite" Robinson was crap. I get the whole "little man" thing but he just failed to impress me.

I felt the Final was anti-climatic. Nate should not have been in it. I was rooting for a Rudy Fernandez dunk off against Dwight Howard, which would have been awesome. Anyway I thought Dwight should have won it. Too bad viewers voted otherwise. He was a good sport by allowing Nate to dunk over him though.

The 2009 Dunk Contest was immensely disappointing. The only good thing was that LeBron James has declared that at that point in time (Feb. 14) he will be competing in the 2010 Slam Dunk Contest. It's about time he did. I'd like to see if he has what it takes to win it.

Merrill Lynch's bonuses made 696 millionaires, probe reveals

2009-02-13T12:05:00.002+10:00

Posted: 12 February 2009 0638 hrs

WASHINGTON: Merrill Lynch quietly paid out at least one million dollars bonus each to about 700 top executives even when the investment house was bleeding with losses last year, a probe has revealed.

They were part of 3.6 billion dollars in the firm's bonus payments in December before the announcement of its fourth quarterly losses and takeover by Bank of America, the investigation by the New York state Attorney General's office showed.

"696 individuals received bonuses of one million dollars or more," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said of the Merrill scandal in a letter to a lawmaker heading the House of Representatives financial services committee.

Cuomo said "these payments and their curious timing raise serious questions as to whether the Merrill Lynch and Bank of America boards of directors were derelict in their duties and violated their fiduciary obligations," according to a copy of the letter.

Bank of America said recently it was aware of the amounts and timing of the bonuses even though previous reports had suggested the top bank was surprised by the payout.

Cuomo said in his letter to Democratic lawmaker Barney Frank that his office was also examining whether senior officials at both companies "violated their own fiduciary obligations to shareholders.

"If they did, this raises additional serious issues with regard to the inappropriate use of taxpayer funds," he said.

"Merrill Lynch's decision to secretly and prematurely award approximately 3.6 billion dollars in bonuses, and Bank of America's apparent complicity in it, raise serious and disturbing questions," he said.

Shareholders and experts had expressed concern over Merrill's 15.3 billion fourth-quarter loss, which caused Bank of America to request a second round of government bailout on January 16.

Bank of America's shareholders voted to approve Merrill's takeover on December 5.

Former Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain, Bank of America chief administrative officer J. Steele Alphin and other top executives have been summoned to provide testimony in the probe.

"One disturbing question that must be answered is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the Merrill Lynch bonus payment was "nothing short of staggering."

While more than 39,000 Merrill employees received bonuses from the pool, the vast majority of these funds were "disproportionately distributed to a small number of individuals."

"Indeed, Merrill chose to make millionaires out of a select group of 700 employees."

-AFP/de

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

Insight: LOL. They really did it now. Incurred the wrath of the American taxpayers. Scandals. Awesome.

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans

2009-02-09T13:11:00.004+10:00

Two days ago I went to see Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans. Now it was a little late to watch it but I finally got to. I am an avid fan of the Underworld series so watching this was a must for me. Now there has been a lot of bad press surrounding this movie. First of all, all my friends have said that it was a crappy movie. And then there was (only) a 7.0 rating for it on IMDB. WTF is up with that?

Anyway, despite the bad aura surrounding the movie, I attended it regardless. And believe it or not I actually enjoyed the movie. Despite the absence of Kate Beckinsale, I think the movie really held its own. We finally get to see Lucian's side of the story, of which we caught a glimpse of in the first Underworld. I think this is the first movie to be told from the Lycan point of view. I guess it can be argued that my opinion is biased as I already am an Underworld fan. One must really watch the first two in order to enjoy this prequel.

Kudos to Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen for their stellar acting in reprising their roles of Viktor and Lucian respectively. I have my reservations on Rhona Mitra for portraying Sonja but I think she did a fair enough job for the character. Cinematography was great for the film and special effects were brilliant too. A solid effort in my opinion and a great way to cap off the Underworld trilogy. 4 out of 5 stars.

My thoughs on Arsenal F.C.

2009-02-04T09:44:00.008+10:00

Now I have never kept secret that I am a fan of the English Premier League Football Club Arsenal. They have always been my favourite team, ever since 2002, when I first started watching football. This season, Arsenal has been in trouble. They now languish in 5th place, thus making them not part of the "Big 4" which have automatic qualification to the premier continental club championship, the UEFA Champions League.

With injuries to key players, such as Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott and talismanic captain, the midfield lynchpin Francesc Fabregas, Arsenal have a depleted squad. They are replaced by untested youngsters who although have enormous potential, are inexperienced and unable to deliver results.

This has led to the tremendous need to sign someone in the Winter Transfer Window, something which Arsene Wenger is against as the prices are inflated. This was a necessity and not even an option. They HAD to buy someone in order to revitalise their season.

On February 3rd 2009, Arsenal finally completed the signing of Andrei Arshavin, who rose to prominence in Euro 2008 when he propelled Russia into the Semi-finals after a long transfer saga. Although I had reservations for Arsenal signing a Forward when I believe they need a Central Defensive Midfielder, there is no doubting Andrei Arshavin's class. He is a great player and as there were injuries to Arsenal's key players, he could just be what Arsenal needs to rejuvenate their season.

Here's the press release on Arsenal's newest signing, Andrei Arshavin:

Arshavin transfer finally gets the go ahead

And here is a video showcasing some of his best plays:

Australia slashes interest rates by one percentage point

2009-02-03T15:52:00.004+10:00

Extracted from ChannelNewsAsia

Posted: 03 February 2009 1213 hrs

SYDNEY: Australia's central bank slashed interest rates by one percentage point to a 45-year low Tuesday in the latest in a series of aggressive cuts sparked by the global financial crisis.

The move by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) at its monthly board meeting took the official cash rate to 3.25 per cent.

It was the fifth consecutive cut by the RBA, which has sliced a total of 400 basis points off the official rate since September as inflation fears gave way to concern about the impact of slower world economic growth.

The move came shortly after the government announced a 42 billion Australian dollar (26 billion US dollar) stimulus package and cut its estimate of economic growth this year by half.

Gross domestic product growth is now expected to be 1.0 per cent in 2008/09 and 0.75 per cent the following year, compared with respective forecasts of 2.0 per cent and 2.25 per cent made just three months ago.

RBA governor Glenn Stevens said the board had taken the stimulus package into account in making its decision.

"The combination of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies now in place will help to cushion the Australian economy from the contractionary forces coming from abroad," he said.

Stevens said the severe global economic downturn and substantial falls in commodity prices had led to a significant dampening of confidence in Australia.

"In these circumstances, the board judged that a further sizeable reduction in the cash rate was appropriate, to give further support to demand," he said in a statement.

- AFP/yt

Australia launches US$26b stimulus package

2009-02-03T14:49:00.003+10:00

Extracted from ChannelNewsAsia

Posted: 03 February 2009 1013 hrs

SYDNEY: The Australian government launched a 42 billion dollar (26 billion US dollar) stimulus package Tuesday as the global financial crisis dragged the economy towards recession.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the package was aimed at nation building and supporting jobs "in the face of the unfolding national and international economic emergency."

The government faced a "stark choice -- to act or fold its arms and let the free market rip," the centre-left Labor Party leader said. "The government has resolved to act and will continue to act."

The stimulus package includes spending of 28.8 billion Australian dollars on schools, housing and roads, tax breaks for small business and cash handouts of 12.7 billion dollars to low and middle-income earners, farmers and students.

"No country will escape the impacts of the global recession, which is causing falls in growth, job losses and budget deficits right across the world," Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement.

"The weight of the global recession is now bearing down on the Australian economy. Economic growth is slowing and employment will weaken."

The government slashed its economic growth forecast by half for the current financial year and upped its estimate of job losses while warning that the budget would plunge 22.5 billion dollars into deficit.

Last May the budget had been forecast to be 21.7 billion dollars in surplus.

Gross domestic product growth is now expected to be 1.0 per cent in 2008/09 and 0.75 per cent the following year, compared with respective forecasts of 2.0 per cent and 2.25 per cent made just three months ago.

The unemployment rate is expected to surge to 7.0 per cent in 2009/10 from 4.5 per cent in December, the government said, in what amounted to a mini-budget announcement ahead of the full budget due in May.

The latest move follows a stimulus package which pumped 10.4 billion dollars into the economy in December to boost consumer spending.

The International Monetary Fund predicted last week that the Australian economy would contract by 0.2 percent in 2009 if no further measures were taken.

Preparing the way for the budget deficit announcement, Rudd on Monday said the global economic crisis and China's slowdown would punch a 115 billion dollar hole in tax receipts over the next four years.

Demand in China and other Asian countries for Australian resources such as coal and iron ore had underpinned an economic boom for a decade, allowing a long series of budget surpluses.

Further stimulus for the economy was expected to come in the form of an interest rate cut later Tuesday by the central bank after its monthly board meeting.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is widely expected to slash rates by up to 100 basis points, taking rates to a 45-year low of 3.25 per cent.

- AFP/yt

Pictures from Korea Trip

2009-01-31T09:41:00.004+10:00

Here are the long awaited pics from my trip to Korea. I have uploaded them to my Facebook photo albums so they can be viewed there. Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86819&l=2dac0&id=602397993

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86829&l=050e6&id=602397993

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86832&l=c56ce&id=602397993

Happy Chinese New Year! (Belated)

2009-01-28T10:14:00.004+10:00

I'd like to wish everyone a happy, and prosperous new year. May the Year of the Ox be a successful one to all! I know this post is late (very) but I had no choice as I only returned from my trip to Korea yesterday. I'll be posting some pics up ASAP lol. Anyway I hope y'all have an awesome New Year ahead.

B-boy Baek vs. Zero Nine

2009-01-17T13:00:00.003+10:00

Amazing b-boy battle. Can't tell who won though. I thought Zero Nine had good moves but he repeatedly used them. Baek had better variation in my opinion.

Korea Trip

2009-01-16T19:15:00.005+10:00

In 5 days I ill be leaving for South Korea for holiday. Can't wait. It's currently winter there and I have asked my mom to bring some warm clothes back. Speaking of my mom, she will be back on the 19th of January. Wow that's soon lol. I'm pretty stoked bout this trip - so much so that I even bought a phrasebook at MPH lol. At least there's something to read on the plane.

Tina Fey's Golden Globes Acceptance Speech

2009-01-14T22:53:00.001+10:00

Tina Fey's acceptance speech at the 2009 Golden Globes for Best Lead Actress in a Musical/Comedy. Good on her. She deserved it and to all her haters - SUCK IT! cos Tina Fey is awesome.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2009!

2009-01-01T11:13:00.000+10:00

Hey y'all.......HAPPY NEW YEAR! What an eventful year 2008 has been. Let's hope 2009 will be a better year for all of us and just as eventful. To those of us who had a bad year let's hope for a better one and to those who had a great year let's hope it continues. Anyway HAPPY NEW YEAR and GOD BLESS YOU!

KL Trip 14/12 - 18/12

2008-12-22T19:34:00.001+10:00

I travelled to KL wif my buddy Louis from the 14th of December till the 18th. Here are some random pictures which I took.

Planet B-boy Review

2008-12-16T15:09:00.003+10:00

I watched Planet B-boy in November. It truly is an amazing work of art and i must applaud Benson Lee (the director) for putting together a documentary which has truly amazed me. I would definitely say that it has revealed and created an awareness of breakdancing culture to the audience.

Planet B-boy is a documentary which traces the origins of breakdancing from the streets of New York to its rise to fame in the early 80s and its eventual demise later in the decade. However it did not end there. As Americans shelved this culture, breakdancing was being picked up in European countries such as Germany and France, where it thrived. This culture will then continue to spread its influence worldwide, even to far eastern nations such as South Korea and Japan. Planet B-boy now traces the violent resurgence of breakdancing in urban cultures worldwide.

Much of the documentary centers around an annual breakdancing event which is called "Battle of the Year" which is often abbreviated to "BOTY". This is the "World Cup" of Breakdancing. Each year thousands flock to the German city of Braunschweig to attend this competition. There are 19 crews worldwide which participate in this competition to vie for the top breakdancing prize. In BOTY, each crew comes up with a choreography which lasts for 6 minutes. These are ranked and the top 4 crews proceed to the Battles, in which 3rd ranked crew will battle 4th for 3rd place and the top ranked crew will battle 2nd for the title of Winner of BOTY.

What really stands out in this documentary is how Benson Lee does not just pece together footage of b-boys/b-girls dancing but he follows the lives of several b-boys in their struggle to do what they have passion for amidst society's values regarding it. Whether it is the South Korean b-boys desperately seeking for familial aproval or a multi-racial team from a small Parisian suburb who try to overcome racist attitudes, planet B-boy allows the audience to get in touch with each of the featured characters.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend Planet B-boy to anyone. One does not have to be a breakdancer to appreciate this film. Kudos to Benson Lee for creating this amazing insight to breakdance culture. Here's the trailer:

Toshiba NB100

2008-12-10T18:00:00.003+10:00

So I'm in Malaysia for hols and I attended the annual PC Fair. It was the usual claustrophobic space at the multi-storey foodcourt and it was BARGAINS galore. I bought a 4GB m2 card for my phone for RM65 (equivalnt to AU$27)!!!!! But the highlight of the event was not this. My dad surprised me by buying me a Netbook lol. From Toshiba as well!

Inroducing the Toshiba NB100!

My dad purchased this for a price of RM1599 (~AU$650). In addition, they offered a free upgrade to 2GB of RAM if I forewent (dunno if this word exists) the free mouse and mousepad, which I did. It is powered by the Intel Atom processor and runs Genuine Windows XP (my only genuine windows hehe). It truly is a marvel as it is such a small machine. It measures up at 22.5x19.1x3.3 cm and weighs only 1kg!!! I am extremely happy with it and cannot wait to use it in uni hahahahaha. No longer will I have to look for an empty computer in the library. My only gripe with it however, is its incrediby tiny keys as you will see later.

I will leave you with several size comparison photos to give you an idea of how small this little bastard is:

In comparison with an Apple Macbook Pro

Note: NOT my hand

Dirty Sexy Money ----> Cancelled!

2008-11-22T10:33:00.001+10:00

Allow me to weep for what is one of the few gems on television today. Dirty Sexy Money which has provided drama parallel to the likes of past soaps such as Dallas has been cancelled. I for one am disgusted with ABC or doing this. It remains to be seen whether the remaining episodes will be aired or not but I fear the worst.

CHANGE - YES WE CAN

2008-11-05T22:55:00.000+10:00

I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Barack Obama as he will now become the 44th president of the United States of America. Although I myself subscribe to Republican ideals, Barack Obama is what America needs right now. I must say I nearly screwed my exams when I was watching the coverage of the vote counts. Alas this is all the time I have for blogging. Studies for exams call. Congrats to Barack Obama once again. Change, yes we can!

Starcraft 2 Opening Cinematic Blizzcon 08

2008-10-18T17:14:00.007+10:00

ZOMG this video is AWESOME!!!! From Blizzcon 08, a video of starcraft 2's opening cinematic. Go Zeratul muahahahahaha. PWNAGE at 1:48.

Starcraft 2 Update

2008-10-11T15:24:00.005+10:00

"StarCraft 2 Now A Trilogy, Three Campaigns to Be Split Into Separate Games"

Link: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55267

WTF? Gee thanks Blizzard. Now if I want to find out the entire storyline of Starcraft 2 (which is my main reason for following Starcraft) I have to purchase THREE games. This is brilliant. Despite the current economic climate, Blizzard is making the populace pay to enjoy their games as they attempt to milk as much cash out of the Starcraft series.

Sigh, I guess I will just have to by the first one and then download the other 2 LOL. Take that Blizzard!

Unscheduled return

2008-04-21T23:40:00.004+10:00

Hey, once again I am experiencing my random urge to blog. It's been ages since and a lot has transpired in that time. I have now been accepted at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and am currently taking an undergraduate's degree in Law and Accounting. I am writing this post on the verge of perhaps one of the worser days of the week where I will be in uni for a period starting 8am and finishing off at 6. Gawd, 8am starts really are the shits. But what can one complain about considering I only attend uni 2 days a week haha. I have finished the first 2 weeks of the mid-sems and the coming saturday will cap it off.Work at K-Mart is annoying as I work 3 days a week and I just wish there was more time for me to do all the shit I used to have time to do and bum around aimlessly...

"Macmemories" - A poem by Mrs. Avetisoff (English Teacher, Year 12 2007)

2007-11-16T23:42:00.001+10:00

I spent all last year reminding you
that Year 12 would be tough
and you thought to yourselves,
"It can't come fast enough!"

You spent all this year reminding me
that it was coming to an end
and you worshipped The Countdown Calendar
for the promise it would send.

Each day you saw crossed off,
marked a sign of your salvation,
which you praised in holy faith
as your looming liberation.

Today the taste of freedom,
now that it has finally arrived,
is a tangible sensation:
today you feel alive!

But there is a lingering sadness,
that slightly taints the sweet,
in knowing that from now on
we shall seldom meet

Our gatherings each Monday morn
are finished now, it seems,
and English last thing Friday
has become the stuff of dreams.

Each era has an end
(it's how life plays out its acts)
but there's comfort in the memories -
that's an indisputable fact

You cannot think of our class
and fail to raise a smile,'
remembering memorable moments
that we've all got on file.

When you lose your joi de vivre
and need your woes allayed,
think of a Rastko moment
and the antics he displayed.

Or remember when we hid from James
to escape his barbarous barbs,
or copied down anal homework,
or snacked illicit carbs.

Think of all the Chaser excuses
that you gave for coming late:
you had business at your "locker"
or a friend who made you wait.

Think of all the Heights you scaled
in the Summers at Gregor High,
the eulogies for Shakespeare
and the genres that you tried.

Remember how in September
you'd lost all inhibitions:
you showcased your personas
in awesome exhibitions.

We made our world, in room E2,
a place of empowerment and light;
Blind Freddy could see, my friends,
It was a multicultural delight:

the Greeks and Asians (harro Arron!)
Muslims, Ozzies and Zealandese
the Lebbos, Latinos and Euros
and our gorgeous Sudanese.

So now it's over my teenage friends,
the bottome line is here.
It's time to say goodbye
and even shed a little tear.

Go face the world with confidence
and in everything you do,
remember your Macmemories
and that I'm so proud of you.

~Love from Mrs. Avetisoff, November 2007~

Thoughts and musings

2007-09-20T19:48:00.004+10:00

Hey people. This is funny. It's been nearly 6 months since I previously posted on this dead blog. I personally find it hilarious how I continue my on-off love realtionship with blogging. But wait... There probably isn't anyone that reads this blog anyway... and if you do, you need to get a life. LOL. seriously. Anyway... I'm currently killing off the remainder of Term 3 of Year 12. Tomorrow will be my last day and guess what? I will be shipped off to church camp at precisely 5pm. What a glorious way in which to celebrate my liberation from the shackles of institutional education. Four days of endless faith bombardment to make me feel guilty about myself only to hark back to my old sinful ways again a couple of days later. In the past few weeks I have been reflecting upon the events that have transpired in the past 6 months, and I realised that life isn't turning out in the way I had imagined it would be. I remember vaguely the faded dreams of obtaining an OP3... well fuck that. I found out that my course now requires an OP6 to get into. "That shouldn't be too hard" would be the phrase that pops up in one's mind but I can assure you it fucking is! For a slacker like me anyway. I currently am assured of 3 VHA's (Very high achievement, in other words an A) for English, Accounting and Economics (very weak subjects to have an A in) and a HA for Biology and an SA (satisfactory) for Physics. I find that Science is essentially for fools and hence I declare all individuals who puruse careers in that field as idiots who cannot think of life in simpler ways. I would also like to highlight that as an ASIAN boy studying the English course in Australia AND beating them white people at what they pride themselves in as their first language is sweet. I am proud to say that I am second in my class for English. I don't fare too badly in the other subjects too, excluding Physics. Now I have QTAC (uni) applications to think about and fill in over the next couple of days. I still am set on pursuing a career in Law and Business.

In news beyond my academic life, there seems to be only one thing on my and every year 12 student''s mind: FORMAL. It's gonna be a closed formal this year which means it is exclusive to Year 12's and no other years. I can only voice my dismay as the hot girls are all in year 11. Regardless, I will attend this formal but I am quite sure I will be going dateless. My sister told me that people will start pairing up, especially random people who barely speak to each other will start dating prior to the formal. I refused to believe this as surely everyone will not be as so silly to start a relationship based on a senior prom. I could not have been more wrong. I watched with my jaw open as I witnessed people who barely speak to each other all year ask each other out on dates just prior to the formal. It seems the invitation to the formal is a pretext for "going out" with someone. WTF!!!

A couple of weeks ago, I was informed that I had been accepted for an interview with K-Mart at Garden City Shopping Mall. I went in, not with much enthusiasm as I had attended one previously and I had been unsuccessful. So you can imagine my surprise when I was later told that I had been accepted and was to commence my training on October 3rd! How awesome was that? I can finally start earning my own money! LOL. After from my disastrous spell at Dragon Lake Restaurant last year, I feel that I am once again ready to venture into the world of work.

Anyway, this is a pretty long post filled with nothing much of what has actually transpired in the past 6 months but more likely the past 6 weeks. I have also realised how much more pessimistic I have become and it makes me question myself about how much I have changed as a person. But I suppose this is all part of the pangs one suffers from being a teenager. I can't wait for Year 12 to be over. I'm so over school.

Filler Post

2007-03-22T19:12:00.002+10:00

This is a filler post. I just went through part of a grueling week. Wednesday I had a horrendous Maths Exam and today was a relatively easy Physics quiz. I think I did quite well on it. Maths was a nightmare though. But we shall not go there. I have what seems to be a very hard Biology test tomorrow but it's multiple choice so I don't think it can beTHAT hard. BTW I downloaded 300 the movie (Neptune DVD Screener Rip) and I will watch it tomorrow after the Bio exam. Well I'm to study now. Laters.

Awesome 3D-esque 2D Art

2007-03-14T15:44:00.001+10:00

This is probably old news but after I saw this I just HAD to post it.

Here's some examples of how they do it:

Random Photos

2007-03-12T16:42:00.001+10:00

Since I have a lot of time now, I have decided to post some random photos that I have taken in the city. Here's a couple:







On a crowded bus:



At Southbank:



Saw this at Aldi's Supermart the other day in the cold foods section and it cracked me up:

And finally, James and his anti-maths propoganda:

Recapping

2007-03-11T22:02:00.002+10:00

I have been in year 12 at MacGregor SHS for 6 weeks. Tomorrow will signal the start of the 7th. So far I have had one exam – Accounting, which I managed an A-. I wasn't overly pleased but I was happy enough. I am to deliver a eulogy tomorrow for English and I have a Maths Exam on the 21st, an Economics Feature Article on the 27th, another Accounting exam on the 30th. On the 2nd of April I have two exams back-to-back. I have a Physics exam first up and an English essay right after that. On the 4th I will have my Biology exam. All of this will count towards my OP which will determine my career. I am NOT feeling the pressure. What is wrong with me? Anyway.... moving on. Tim is in Brissy! I managed to meet up with him after 2 weeks of him being here lol. You can read all about his hellish 2 weeks at his blog (link on sidebar -->). He finally has internet access! Lol u really gotta pity the guy. He has an emotional attachment to the internet. I have ADSL 2+ currently with Optus and it's been all good. My rating for it: a blazing 5/5. It's f**king fast for those of you who haven't tried it....hehe. Oh and in reply to the previous post, I have bought a Sony Ericsson K610i. I am very pleased with its performance so far and it has not given me any problems. It’s an excellent phone overall. Last week, I decided to apply for the senior jersey. I am impressed by it. It is really expensive though - AU$70 but it should be worth it. I am after all only going to be Senior once. I’ll receive it in Term 2. Anyway, I will update again soon. My eulogy calls.

Breaking the Silence

2007-01-19T17:20:00.000+10:00

Posting for the first time in a loooong time - hehehehe. My hiatus from blogging was due to the sudden loss of interest in it. This post does not signify my reinvigorated interest but more of intense boredom. I ushered in 2007 with my friends at Senso. It was an awesome night and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At 16 and a half, I suddenly feel very old. I had the opportunity to revisit school(Lodge) as I am currently enjoying the remainder of my holidays in Kuching. My friends (currently in Form 5) are now the oldest students in the school. It felt strangely odd as there was no longer anyone "above" them. I see all these "young flesh" (as Julian refers to them - a shout out to him) in school that I am not familiar with at all. School seems all weird... but change is imminent and I just have to stick along to it and go with the flow. In just 8 days' time I will be returning to Brissy to continue my final year in High School. My new year's resolution is to get no less than an OP5 for my results. I am aiming to that goal and I hope I can acheive it. I will be in UNI next year!!! OMG.....I'm really old. Anyway, I have been whiling away my days with constant and frequent doses of the CBS serial "How I Met your Mother". I find that it is a stellar comedy and encourage anyone who has time and space to download it. My addiction to the tube does not stop there and another stellar series has caught my attention. "Heroes", airing on NBC and as of 31st January on Star World for Malaysian viewers is another series you have to look out for. Streamyx (Malaysian Internet Service Provider) is giving me the shitz now and I am resigned to NO torrenting. I have to thank ron for providing me with episodes of the serials mentioned above which have helped me get by the days. Anyway. busy day tomorrow for me. Heading all the way to Wisma Saberkas to buy an MP3 player for my sister, a new hard drive for myself and a new phone. I'm currently having a dilemma of design vs. functionality (motorola v3i vs. Sony Ericsson k610i). To many of you this is a no contest as many will pick the k610i but I am really just a casual user. Please post ur opinions. Thanks. That's me for today. Out.

Spring and the Jacaranda trees

2006-10-23T09:28:00.001+10:00

These pics were taken at the backyard of the house. Forgive some of the wobbles of the camera - VERY windy day in Brisbane. Jacaranda trees are beautiful! The City is full of them! In spring, they flower and it gives a purple tint to your vision which makes everything look surreal. They only flower in Spring and funny thing is they have NO leaves. They appear as dead trees in Winter. Well, here are some pics:

No wonder the plants are dying...

2006-10-23T09:17:00.001+10:00

My Aunt went travelling and I have been tasked with watering her plants in the backyard. Queensland dams have not had rain for over 370 days and that's a year! We're on level 3 water restrictions and we aren't allowed to hose the plants. Well, on one of my watering sessions, I found this:

No wonder they're all withering!

Trauma...

2006-10-10T20:56:00.002+10:00

And once again the holidays have made me a sucker. I am currently undergoing post-holiday syndrome where I cannot bring myself to believe that the holidays are over and I have to immerse myself in the energy-consuming student life. The sheer effort required to pull myself out of bed is immense! But on to school.... as expected, my teachers spared no time in moving onto new topics. My Maths teacher especially will be cramming 6 weeks' worth of lessons into 3 and a half weeks due to health reasons. Sigh........ my Physics assignment on Dreamworld is due on Friday and the Friday after that will be a Physics Prac test. I haven't started on the assignment and am pretty sure the next few nights will be sleepless. AND to make matters worse I have an English novel with a whopping 414 pages to read by next wednesday! Ah well.....I guess i better get started on that Physics assignment. Will be on hiatus for the rest of the week. Hopefully I will be able to post next week - till then catcha laters.

Personal Ranting

2006-10-05T11:49:00.001+10:00

I have worked 2 HORRIBLE shifts in the past 2 days and am currently earning a well-deserved rest, but in this time I realised that I haven't blogged in ages! Well, after that leviathan-sized post on a how-to guide I felt it was only deserving to rest my very battered mind. Now onto the problems which have manifested itself in my life during the past 2 nights: I worked FRIGGIN 4 HOURS on Tuesday and a further 3.5 on Wednesday night. I know they did not seem very long but if you had the pleasure of meeting my employers you would understand the Hades I have been thrust into. There was an apparent "lack of staff" as there were only 2 JUNIOR waiters around. As usual, I being the clumsy person I am got a good hiding for my lack of concentration and "professionality" at doing my job. I was even hinted by my boss at being "dumb" and "not very smart". But I cannot confirm this as she was conversing in Cantonese, a dialect of the chinese language I am not familiar with but I could catch certain phrases and I can make out what they mean. I could never understand her and hence was unable to carry out her orders dutifully. Although it should be pointed out that she required MY help in calculating a boy's age on his driving license (as he was about to consume an alcoholic beverage) which showed me that she was incapable of reading English as well as being ill-adept in the application of mathematics (swt). I have no idea as to how she deserved the right to call me "dumb" and "not very smart" based on this situation alone. But
she is my boss and pays my wages so I guess she has the right. Oh and last night, much to my horror, I spilled a customer's glass of "Chiraz" , a beverage served by the bar. I had told her to remove her glass earlier but she instead moved her plate. As a result, I spilled her glass. It is lucky the glass didn't break or else this week's torturous work would have all gone unaccounted for. I must admit I was in the wrong for not seeing to it that the female customer did remove her glass but as I had already told her once. But then again English is not her first language and perhaps she was lost in translation and I cannot blame her as I myself am in the same situation everytime I converse with my employers. The male employer (owner) was all fire and brimstone and condemned me for my mistake with a thunderous "YOU SPILL THE GLASS YOU PAY!!!!!!!". I can understand they own a restaurant and running one is no joke as the stress which accumulates is overwhelming but honestly he didn't have bellow his guts at me. All he could do was deduct from my salary and spared me the embarassment. If he wants me to pay fine by me you know - just deduct it from my pay. But hey, me being the powerless employee just took the hit and swallowed my pride and continued working. I am seriously considering joining those special associations which protest for worker's rights but in another 3.5 weeks I shall bid adieu to my employers so I dismissed the idea. I will be quitting my job soon and I can barely wait. This is an insight to the very traumatic life of a waiter although I'm sure there are PLENTY of NICE employers out there but I do not have the luck of working for one of them. I would quit now but I need the job for experience to list for my rather sad resume. Oh well it's just another 3.5 weeks and I can wait. But I do still have shifts on Friday and Saturday nights though those are slightly better. My holidays are now almost over and soon I will be once again drowned in endless workloads from my demanding teachers. However, the moment of inexplicable joy which manages to comfort me in my gloomiest of times is that as of now, there is only 55 days till my homecoming! But alas now I need to grab some lunch so I'll see you in the next post and hope that will be soon. Laterz.

Beginners Guide to Desktop Modding

2006-09-27T13:49:00.000+10:00

Beginners Guide to Desktop Modding

Disclaimer:
1. I'm not responsible if you mess up your registry and your computer decides to no longer work. Just so you know, do all of these at your own risk.
2. Guides are taken from other guides scattered across forums.

Warning:
Desktop modding is a VERY time-consuming job. Only do this in your free time. I took nearly 8 hours over 4 days to complete mine.

Introduction:
So you went to customize.org and deviantart.com and saw the most badass desktops ever and you wished your desktop looked like that. This tutorial will attempt to reveal to you the basic steps of desktop customization in windows and point you in the right direction as to where and how to achieve more advanced effects.

Enabling Windows XP to use 3rd party themes:

StyleXP
Download StyleXP from http://www.tgtsoft.com/download.php. However, stylexp will only work for 30 days as this will only be a free trial. Those tech-savvy people can acquire the full version illegally on Bittorrent =D.

Download visual styles from any of these site:
- Neowin.net: Completed Visual Styles
- deviantART: Visual Styles
- Customize.org: XP VisualStyles

After you have downloaded the visual styles of your choice (usually in zip format), extract it to c:\windows\resources\themes
Right click desktop > properties > appearance tab, select the visual style you just installed.

Another method is to use WindowBlinds; download here; also 30 days trial.
You can get themes for WindowBlinds from WinCustomize

Wallpaper:

As you may have guessed, your desktop background or "wallpaper" is integral to the overall look of your desktop theme.

A good rule of thumb for wallpapers is to always use one that has a solidly colored area so you can place your icons and other desktop elements without interfering with the wallpaper's focal point. This becomes a problem sometimes when you're using a wallpaper that has a lot of three dimensional work and doesn't really leave room for a blank area. This might require you to edit the wallpaper a bit to your liking and may be more trouble than it's worth.

Some excellent sources for wallpapers are:

- customize.org
- deviantart.com
- Pixelgirl
- Mac OS X wallpapers
- MobiusCo
- Mandolux
- MagnetStudio
- Vladstudio
- WallpaperStock

Dock:

Some of you might be wondering what the hell is a dock? Well here's several pictures to explain it:

It's basically a dock where you store your applications that you access àla Apple iMac.

Some of the more popular docks are:
Object Dock: http://www.objectdock.com/
Moby Dock: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2908.html
Y'z Dock : (no download link) - Illegal to list one. Read further to find out why.
RK Launcher: http://home.cogeco.ca/~raduking/

Download PNGs/icons for docks from these sites:
- Gfxed.com
- InterfaceLIFT
- Wincustomize Objectdock Library

I would recommend Y'z Dock. I'm using it and it is by far the most user-friendly. However it is illegal to use it as Apple sued the creator over some infringement issues. It has since been discontinued and banned but there are still several sites distributing it, albeit illegal. I will not disclose further information about this.

Y'z Dock Installation:
Unzip the contents of the zip file to your folder of choice. For convenience's sake, I will assume it is C:\YzDock.
Create a folder in that directory and name it "Languages". Paste the files "english.lang" and "japanese.lang" in that folder. If you want to install a background (for info on this refer to "Yz Dock Shortcuts: How-to" section.), create another folder in C:\YzDock called "Backgrounds". Paste your downloaded backgrounds into this section in their own individual folders (provided you have multiple backgrounds. The programme will only see the backgrounds this way. If not, it will not regard there being any backgrounds and hence does not allow you to select one).

Y'z Dock Shortcuts: How-to
All you need to do is drag your applications or folders to the dock! To remove, drag the shortcut out from the dock. Hover your cursor over the application of your choice and click on them to access them. They will magnify upon hovering. The glass background you see on the images displayed are self-adhesive and done separately. It does NOT come installed with Y'z Dock.

How to delete separator from Y'z Dock:
Hold down Ctrl key and then click and drag it off the dock.

Disclaimer:
Y'z Dock is illegal for distribution! You have to find and assign your own .PNG images to each application you have placed on Y'z Dock. If you do not, it will just appear to have no picture but only text to indicate what application your cursor is hovering over the dock.

Changing Icons:
The easiest/safest is to use Iconpackager: http://www.stardock.com/products/iconpackager/ (trial).
Download icon packages from: http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=2

Sample:
1. G.A.N.T 2: http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=2&SkinID=1041
2. iCandy Junior Yellow: http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=2&SkinID=1099
3. Gloss: http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=2&SkinID=1066
4. Comic Icon 02: http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=2&SkinID=1040

Hiding desk icons
Right click on desktop > arrange icons by > uncheck show desktop icons. Like me, I hid all of mine and placed all my icons on my dock. I find that it looks better this way but that's just me.

Making Desktop Text Transparent
Use D-Color XP: download link
- Change the view of your icons on your desktop, allowing you to select from the default large icons view, the small icons view, and the new tile view.

Changing Windows Explorer / Internet Explorer Toolbar Icons
From this:

To this:

- download Y'z Toolbar: Y'z Toolbar 1.3
- download themes from these sites:

Customize.org

gfxOasis (need to register)

Neowin.net

Installation:
1. Unzip to folder of choice. (Canonically assumed to be C:\YzToolbar)
2. Create "languages" folder and place "japanese.lang" and "english.lang" in it.

Put it in your "startup" folder in Start Menu --> Programs --> Startup to initialized it on startup.

Themes:
Again, follow the same principle Y'z Dock when placing the themes you wish to use. For example, you have the Longhorn theme and Apple theme. Make sure you install them into their own folders.
E.g.
"C:\YzToolbar\Themes\Longhorn" and "C:\YzToolbar\Themes\Apple".

Disclaimer:
For the following part, it is dangerous to change your Bootscreens. I myself have never attempted it and it is advised only personnel with advanced knowledge in this field attempt it. I hold myself unresponsible for any damage caused to your computer should you attempt to do so. Do at your own risk!

Change Windows Boot Screen
Use Bootskin: http://www.stardock.com/products/bootskin/
Stardock BootSkin is a program that allows users to change their Windows 2000 and Windows XP boot screens.

Unlike other programs that can change the Windows XP boot screens, BootSkin does so in a safe manner. It doesn't patch the Windows XP kernel. Nor does it require the user to download replacement Windows XP kernels to do so.

(IMG:http://www.wincustomize.com/images/news/17200483420PM1.jpg)

[Tutorial] Making your own bootskin

Change Windows XP Logon Screen
Use Logon Loader: http://logonloader.danielmilner.com/
Logon Loader makes the task of swaping logon screens easy. Simply select a new logon screen file and you're set! You can even preview your logon screens before selecting the one you want. Logon Loader also has the ability to randomly select a logon screen every time you log on.

Hiding the Recycle Bin

Easy way:
Download, install and run TweakUI for Windows XP. Navigate to Desktop and remove Recycle Bin.

Hard way:
Add Recycle Bin to Folder Options:

Copy and save the following code into notepad and save as Binopt.reg and then double-click it. After importing Binopt.reg into the registry, a new option is listed in the Folder Options dialog box that lets you configure the Recycle Bin icon.

CODE

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\RecycleBinOnDesktop]
"RegPath"="Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\HideDesktopIcons\\NewStartPanel"
"Text"="Show Recycle Bin icon on the desktop"
"Type"="checkbox"
"ValueName"="{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"
"CheckedValue"=dword:00000000
"UncheckedValue"=dword:00000001
"DefaultValue"=dword:00000001
"HKeyRoot"=dword:80000001

(IMG:http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windowsxp/images/using/setup/expert/reg_Figure1.gif)

Making a Transparents Background for Desktop Icons.

By default, Windows XP, can have a transparent background for desktop icons.

System Properties (Win+Pause) > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Visual Effects > enable Use drop shadows for icon labels on desktop

But, if you disable this you can change the text color and background. For this you need D-Color XP. Install it, click on a monitor icon in system tray and you'll get this:

(IMG:http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v285/sayadia/d-color.jpg)

Widgets:
www.widgets.yahoo.com
www.widgetgallery.com
Install Yahoo! Widget engine on your computer and download widgets to make it more flowery.
The alternative is to use Rainlender, Rainmeter and Samurize if you want organisers, calenders and clocks on your desktop. Trust me, use widgets. It's a better alternative as it is less time-consuming and easier to do. Rainmeter. Rainlender and Samurize is just waaay too much configuring. But in case there's the occassional user who wants to try Rainlender, Rainmeter or Samurize here's the guide from a forum:

Rainmeter & Rainlendar:
- simple clock and calender on your desktop

(IMG:http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy/images/Rainlendar.gif)

Download link:
Rainlendar
Rainmeter
(read the manual before asking question)

Skins:
Rainmeter: http://www.skinbase.org/section.php?sections=rainmeter
Rainlendar: http://www.skinbase.org/section.php?sections=rainlendar

Samurize:
- shows your cpu usage, memory and etc
Download link: http://www.samurize.com
Install samurize; then make sure you run the client.exe in order to have the program display on ur desktop. Run config.exe to mod the appearance and add stuffs.
To show the temps; download motherboard monitor at http://mbm.livewiredev.com; make sure you configure all the meters so that it follows your mobo's sensors.
Create shortcut for samurize client and then put it in your startup folder so that it will auto start the next time you restart/turn on your computer.

Samurize tutorial: Samurize Tutorials
To make some adjustment in the settings of the config -> right click samurize icon on your systray, then select edit config.

Conclusion:
This concludes the Beginners Guide to Desktop Modding. I hope all of you have luck and find the perfect pictures for your desktop (Trust me this part can be very hard and frustrating). So with any luck your desktop MAY look like this if you succeed: