Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Lately i havent had the time to catch up on blogging coz i was really quite busy going around places and visiting relatives. It has been quite a hectic week and i've decided here to post about the most recent movie that i've watched before i zoomed off to other activities which i will be doing. (actually, its mainly also coz of the slow com). 

Rite now on to the movie. I believe its the most anticipated movie of the year after the tremendous success it enjoyed in the first episode. I dunno about you, but i grew up in the era where Optimus Prime was my hero and Bumblebee was still a Volkswagen Beetle. So when the first movie came about i couldnt wait to watch it. Actually i couldnt wait to watch the second as well, so i watch it on the first day of release HAHA. 

It really doesnt have much of a meaning actually, (well other than some very curious questions like how come the robots spawned is always a decepticon and how a decepticon can be 'trained' to become a good boy lol) but nobody watches transformers to think about these kinda things. It's about the action. 

And the action is awesome. AWESOME. i think Michael Bay is ingenious in his ways to capture specific moments and slowing them down to dramatize the whole scene. The fight scenes are gracefully choreographed (my favourite scene being Bumblebee vs some dragon-like Decepticon) with superb fluidity. Not to mention Mr Optimus Prime donning the armor not unlike those of the GN arms. Even though the plot is a bit lame but with the action and some bits of humor here and there, this movie really made my day =) 

Alrite i shall not reveal anymore details about the movie just in case you havent watch it. And do yourself a favor, watch it in the cinema. 

PS i will try to upload some pictures that i took here, hopefully by the next post. 

Cold

I havent been to winter for so long i've forgotten the chill that rings in your ears when you step out of the airport.

ok peeps, arrived safely at the HINI (pronounced Hee-Nee) capital yesterday, with a temperature that chills to your bone. But i guess it's not that bad actually, since i managed to sleep soundly.

When morning came, the first person i saw is a construction dude working on my relative's kitchen and he told me that MJ is dead. Well, i wasnt much of an MJ fan but actually who involve in music at this age isnt? so the day finally came.

anyways, tomorrow we'll be taking another flight to Sydney (HINI second largest capital) and i'm so cold my feet is freezing when i'm typing this. lol!

The Opposite of A.I.

Everything seems rather fast when you don't pay much attention to them - especially time. It's been a whole six months since i first started working at a company called BD and yesterday, it all came to and end.

Many of my course mates also ended their industrial attachment (IA) yesterday, though i know of some whom they call themselves the 'unfortunate few', who has been forced, willingly or unwillingly to extend their IA over another period of time. IA, as it is, has traditionally been regarded by students from NUS (not NTU coz it is compulsory for them to take IA) as some sort of 'boost' to their resume when they come out to work. At least you have some working experience to show your future employer and if you are attached to a huge company or some prestigious company, you might get a chance to be offered a job with them.

Coupled with the economic crisis right now, it's even more important for undergraduates to show some initiatives or have some recommendations from their previous working place to perhaps, secure a job when we come out from our institutions. It is also ironical, due to the economic crisis that companies hires IA students - cheap, willing to be SK warrior, work OT without OT pay. I had a friend who worked in a construction company previously as an intern, and after he left, the construction workers REFUSED to do his job even though the pay is higher. It is THAT bad.

Which led me to a lot of thanksgiving to do. My company has been very nice to me - most evidently in my hospitalization of the chicken pox disease. Not to mention being a huge company, the fringe benefits were quite good - buses to all over the island once your work is over, buses to pick you up when u come to work, company outings and free food during meetings. And of course, there is the project assign - which leads me to lesser SK and more time spent on solving the problem given to me. And the people there, whom i find myself bonded to quite closely after 6 months of joking around and having fun together.


In many ways, i believe that only God will know what is best for you. this wasn't the first company that comes into my mind when i apply - salary is low, Tuas is so far away, medical company sounds boring and irrelevant etc etc. So it ended up being one of my lower choices of companies which I've prioritized to apply, but through His guidance, and more so His grace, i ended up there nonetheless. I can honestly say that throughout the 6 months, i enjoyed it more than i could imagine.


What i want to say at the end of the day is, it was a great 6 months spent - having fun, found myself again, learn new things, make new friends, have chicken pox etc. Now holidays are finally dawning on me and i'm looking forward to it!

Slumdog Millionaire

Much has been said about this film before i watch it. Not a typical Indian show which features loads of dances and songs almost equivalent to some sort of musical, this is one show that you really shouldn't miss. Initially I've heard it from a friend about this show which features some Indian dude winning 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' because he knew all the answers and because he experienced all the questions in it.

What a strange but interesting plot. So i've decided to give it a go and it really didnt disappoint - living up to my 'expectation factor' actually. Here's a brief summary - a boy named Jamal Malik went on to 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire', won 10 million rupees in one night, got arrested, and explained to a police officer how he got all his questions answered. What i find the movie attractive is that: initially i tend to want to know what kind of questions that were asked, but i gradually find myself gravitating towards the beautiful life of this honest, sincere chaiwalla's life. And my favourite scene came at the last part of the movie, where Jamal finally found the most important thing in his life, and never let go.

Though this 'love-honest-destiny-blessed' themed show carries a very Forrest Gumpish taste, it still appears to be slightly fictitious to me, whereas Forrest Gump actually can be imagined to be a real true story of a person. Btw, Forrest Gump is arguably my favourite movie of all time and space. Unlike Forrest Gump, which is largely Christian based, Slumdog exhibits religion in a more subtle manner, ascribing it mainly to desiny.

What struck me the most when i finished the film is that - he and his brother both chose a separate path, one leeching after the riches of this world, while the other clings on to what is true to him. And it only dawned on me after the show that even though both of them were always together, the brother was the guy who always resort to petty crimes and thefts to earn money whereas he always work his way up.

Which led me to ponder about what Paul has said, "when gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them." (Romans 2:14-15) The conscience which eventually made his brother realised the reality of desitny.

It really is a nice film, and i really think u'd miss out if u miss this =)

Monsters Vs Aliens

The movie was rated a 5 stars here in Singapore and there were some friends who said that this film was better than Terminator Salvation. Which piqued my curiosity and hence when the opportunity arises last weekend with the boys at church, we watched the film, in 3D.

Sad to say, it failed to meet my 'expectation factor'. This is by no means to say that it's not a nice film - just that it didnt meet my expectation factor. The plot is simple, almost familiar - meteor hit the earth, some mutation took place, locked up in area 51, some other alien lifeforms try to takeover universe, save the earth. if you take these parts out, and reshuffle them or substitute them with stuff like genetic mutation or experimentation failure, you can end up with 2141235 permutations and still come out with a reasonably sound movie plot.

However, the movie does a good job at bringing laughter to ppl (which really, is what a cartoon should do) with various scenes and exaggerations which really is something that it should be credited with. The video below is simply the best scene that i love the most because it is just pure lame. It's about when the President of the US trying to negotiate a peace treaty with the alien lifeform - without using a single word.

The 'moral' of the whole story is not an unfamiliar one either. Embrace diversity, learn to accept differences, learn to know who really loves and cares about you when your differences are exposed. It's not strange either, since we're now at the imminent arrival of globalisation, and diversity is one thing which globalisation brings along - working with people of different races and cultural backgrounds. and to a Christian - sharing our lives with people who are different from us, and not loving them for any ulterior motives but the one motive that inspires us to love - the Love of God.

Overall, it is a film with an expected plot and familiar storyline, but still worth a laugh or two and if you're really looking to be entertained, it's still quite a funny show =)

Humidity is the brother of North Korea

I really have to thank God that i'm in CEA these days during work. Btw, CEA stands for 'Controlled Environment Area', where i'm constantly exposed to a 22 - 23 degrees temperature and a relative humidity (RH) of about 40-50%. Initially that didnt seem very significant but lately, it really is.

With Singapore's temperature reaching a high of about 33.6 degrees (think is last month) and a RH of about 75%, you can imagine how glad i was to be in the CEA. It's not so much of the direct heat actually, but the humidity. Humidity is the reason why at night, even after bathing for half and hour, and lying down on the bed with the fan blasted up to high, you can still feel sticky.

The Chinese always says: 心静自然凉, but in a place where humidity rises up to 75% with a temperature of 30 and above, and if you try your very best to 心静 - which is to sit there and dont do anything, well melting is another option they didnt consider.

arh but enough of ranting. Grace has just taken off to australia which is struggling to keep up with a 14 degree temperature. i just have to wait for another 2 more weeks. But i'm not too sure if going off from a very hot place into a very cold place is actually a good idea. rapid expanding and contraction causes unnecessary stress which may cause ppl to.. you know.. crack.

North Korea.

Terminator Salvation

To be honest, i didnt want to watch this film that much. After a *very* disappointing terminator 3 (when Arnie wasnt the governor of california yet!), I've sort of came to a conclusion that the terminator series will just end at that and full stop. Well, i was pleasantly surprised when i watched this one last week though. I think most of the time, it's the 'expectation factor', which i guess, worries the director of the upcoming transformers film.  

Enough chatter - and to the film. I suppose the story really does a good job adhering to the terminator theme: what distinguishes us from a robot? At the end of the day, that is the message a terminator film always brings home - that we are different because we are human. i shall reveal no more spoiler about how the movie goes about doing that, but i do find some nitty gritty amusing details: like how Skynet has a lot of human interface panels - for what?! initially i thought they have humanoids to operate them but the only humanoids i see in the film are those who wields chain guns and have horrid skull faces, not to mention a familiar someone (just when you thought that this is the terminator film without Arnie!).

But to think deeper (which i've been trying to do lately), the whole idea of apocalyptic self aware AI computer robots takeover has been in our minds for numerous times already - Matrix, Terminator, iRobot etc. The question i would like you dear readers to ponder is - can the creature (like robots and computers) really overtake the creator (in this case, us)? or even just be on par with the creator? If it's no, then why no? If it's yes, then why yes? These fictions seem to suggests that with the technological advancement it's just a matter of time before we all will chant the 'what-distinguishes-us-from-a-robot' mantra and fight for our 'human rights'.

So what do you think?

H1N1 is a type of biscuit.

Lotsa things happened last weekend. so let's just start with certain bits which are still fresh in my mind. 

We had a bible quiz during our youth group last weekend. Quite a fun one actually, mostly because i'm the one organinsing it *oops*. Ok enough bhb but i thought it was quite interesting coz everyone can learn something from it, including me. i guess sometimes the organiser of the bible quiz will be the one learning the most out of it coz he has to know all the answers. lol.

but after that me and another church mate of mine who just came back from Taiwan impromptuly went to watch a film, which i will post about on another blog post soon. So that's about it for Saturday, spent thinking about the film that i watched. 

On sunday its a totally different matter. Woke up to church, and after church went off to do something i never thought i would do. Shopping for clothes. Yes, indeed, i havent intentionally go shopping for clothes in almost 2 years. Not even during CNY. Pathetic young man. So since most of my clothes are around 2 years old or older, it's getting really 'lak tak' liao. After some consideration i really think i need to update my wardrobe and give away some clothes which really, really is out of shape already. And just thankfully, GSS is around, so i buzz off to shop after church.

And that is also when the biscuit caught me. my nose was running marathon i have a hard time trying to catch it in the departmental store. I sneeze and sneeze and sneeze... and sneeze during the afternoon and later that at nite, which led me to an MC and a full day rest in my comfortable little bed. 

hopefully things will get better tomorrow and i can go back to work.

The God Delusion?

Ok. It all started when i bought another book. Ironically, it's titled "The Dawkins' Delusion?" by Alister McGrath, a theologian whom i've heard him speak over some seminar which i had the chance to attend.

Curious, i bought that book (since it was quite cheap) but afterwards realized that i got it all wrong. Well, let's just put it this way: how can i read the answer to a question that i don't even know? So, resisting the urge to read it, i went to Borders instead to buy myself the above book, and since it was such a bestseller i naturally have a certain respect for the author who would really go all out to prove that God doesn't exist.

After reading it, i think new atheism just dug their own grave. At least those who read Dawkins and agreed with him did. I have to trudge through certain parts painfully because he is being so condescending and at the same time, doesn't make any scientific sense, which he should really trying to be. In putting his (biased) reasoning above all else, he just blatantly discredited everything else in a demeaning manner, belittling them and demonising them in his warped mind.

To put it short, he is trying all he can to measure the weight of the ball (without spending any effort to understand what does 'weight' means) - with a ruler. When Dawkins says that the book of Hebrews in written by Paul, you know how bad things are.

My quest has ended, much to my disappointment. i had hoped to read something which might convince a laymen of scientific reasoning, so as to understand them better when i meet with them and share with them of what lies greater behind science. In fact, Dawkins just made a joke out of himself, to the point that even other atheists are rejecting him o.O

It is indeed true, that of making books, there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Hence to all who *still* reads the blog, please choose your books wisely. Your time is precious, your brain has limited capacity, read read read good books while you still can =)

Busyness is my Week

Alrite, i have been wanting to post on the blog for the past few days (honest). but i havent had the time to do that. i'm really serious about it, and this is one exception of posting cause i'm waiting to do something else at work.

For the past 4 days, i have been working 745 - 445, then on Tuesday and Wednesday went to Leadership Preparatory Camp (LPC) for Hall CF at Trinity Theological College straight after work, and returning only at like 11 plus 12? time to sleep so no time to blog.

Thursday have practice at nite for coming Blueblood on Saturday until 12 sth also. Tonite going off to have dinner and have practice after that. WOOHOO!

And i just got news from my supervisor that i have to do something very tedious today. its so tedious i felt tedious when i want to type out what to do. so i shall just take my leave.