Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Dim Sum Dollies
Tonight was a very splendid night, we went for a sumptuous dinner at Via Mar restaurant and wine Bar @ the Esplanade, courtesy of dad. It was a Spanish restaurant, the sautéed calamaris were great! But the sirloins were merely satisfactory, required mixes of sauces and mashed potato before I could get the taste right; the South African house wine wasn't too bad too.It was okay, the bill was a little stunning, but now that is life! A nice dinner followed by the theatre, after that we went to watch "Dim Sum Dollies", a hugely popular local play satirizing the lifestyle and history of Singapore. And apparently because of the popular demand, they have come back for another re-run.
Dad got the most expensive tickets at $110 apiece, and it was worth every cent. The show was absolutely hilarious, and the actors were extremely talented beyond words. The leads were Selena Tan (I Not Stupid 2002), Pam Oei (Titoudao 2007), Emma (Cabaret 2006), Hossan Leong (Donny Lee show).
The Dim Sum Dollies are well-remembered for boldly addressing contemporary Singaporean phenomena in a light-hearted manner. The 2004 installment of Revenge of the Dim Sum Dollies had the Dollies dressed up as Filipino maids in a fog-filled heaven (all of them apparently died after falling off ledges while cleaning their employers' windows).
Other memorable scenes in the history of Singapore was the scene how Singapore was founded by Sang Nila Utama (they used an ERA agent to persuade Nila to get the small island), how small the island of Singapore was, the growing years of rickshaws and they made a big joke out of it by relating it to the Formula One race fiesta; and Samsui women complaining. Plus the Japanese kamakazi, the “integrated resort” in the 80's consisting of Opium dens, Brothels and gambling dens all coming together as one.
Then they had kampong talk comparing to an en bloc sale today, and satirizing our Minister Mentor, with puns with every sentence like FabulousLEE, AmazingLEE, HappiLEE.. Just plain hilarious!
The actors were totally talented in mimicking the accents of other races, Emma Yong's impersonation of a upper-class British expatriate having cantonese maids was excellent! As with Pam Oei acting as the maid. Plus Hossan Leong acting as Mahatmir Ghandi (an Indian), and Selena Tan acting as Mao Zhi Dong. Excellent talent!
In real life, the Dollies are three of Singapore's best-known theatre practitioners who have participated in several other plays and productions through the years, such as the show that Pam Oei acted in “Titoudao”, and Hossan Leong in a number of plays and hosting the “Donny Lee Show”
The 2 hour show was completely hilarious and worthy of two thumbs up!
Posted by MK at 9:35 AM
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Videos
Just a few really funny videos I thought was hilarious for your viewing pleasure.Apple iPod Fiest 1234 spoof
Halo 3 Master Chief Comes To Dinner
Posted by MK at 9:16 AM
Saturday, February 23, 2008
L-change the world & P.S I love you
Despite my schedule, I am able to catch 2 recent movies.First being, "L – Change the world".
Synopsis: L is the greatest crime-fighting genius the world has ever known. He proved without a doubt, that fellow genius Yagami Light is KIRA, but at a terrible price. Now with only 23 days to live, and without his trusty partner Watari, L must solve the new case before he runs out of time.
Basically, the events unfolding in the L spin-off movie have little or nothing to do with the original DeathNote series. And it shows a completely different side of L. L basically outwitted Light by sealing his own fate, so that he wouldn't die prematurely, by giving himself the maximum time limit of the deathnote, 23 days. As seen in the 2nd movie of DeathNote, Light tried to kill L, but without avail.
So Light died in the 2nd movie and now L has lost Watari, misa has lost her memory and only has 1/4 left of her life to live. L now faces an enemy within his own ranks, K. K is also another brilliant individual which I can only assume was an orphan from the organization as well. For details you have to watch the movie yourself.
But somehow along the way, L found himself babysitting two children, a influza-ebola hybrid virus infected 12-year old girl and a small maths-prodigy boy who escaped the viral epidemic in a rural village. Somehow these two children would be connected and the boy turns out to be the cure for the virus because of his high-MK proteins. (MidKine).
Actually when L wrote the two letters "MK" on the board, my heart skipped a beat. Very interesting! Talk about coincidence.
So eventually, L's own haven has compromised, he was on the run with the 2 children, finding the friend of the murdered virus-expert in order to develop a cure for the terrible virus-weapon. So in the end, the girl was cured, the plane was saved, the bad guys were caught, and the boy returned back to the orphanage, and L went away quietly to pass away.
Still it has been an interesting show, attempting to show L's weaknesses, because even under the most incredible armor, there is always a crack or a weak spot. But I found the movie a tad long, with several scenes definitely redundant and pointless. The story could have been shortened, made more concise and more riveting. And of course, L's performance in this movie was dismayal on the brainy side, but the director attempted to add more humor into the character.
Disappointing. The book is far better. I give this movie a disappointing 3/5. The disappointing this is the movie starkly deviates from the original story. This time the movie was very predictable and L doesn't seem to use his brain very much. The scenes and plots flowed from one into another without any intrigue or surprising twists in the plot. Deathnote 1 was the best, showing L's wit and intelligence in it's full glory. DN 2 was terrible, giving the original manga story a bad name from the way events unfolded. Now in this movie, L mainly displayed knowledge, but not the legendary L-quick wit and intelligence.
The next show is "P.S – I love you", based on the award-winning novel by Cecelia Ahern.
Synopsis: Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) is beautiful, smart, and married to the love of her life, a passionate, funny and impetuous Irishman named Gerry (Gerard Butler). So when Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it takes the life out of Holly. The only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there. Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry. So its a good thing he planned ahead - by leaving her a list of tasks revealed in 10 monthly messages that are intended to ease her out of grief and transition her to a new life.
It was an interesting concept, the probability of attempting what transpired in the movie seemed achievable and somewhat practical no matter how incredulous it may seem. I spent the whole movie thinking about possible ways that messages could be carried out posthumously. You gotta have lots of spatial intelligence and wit in order to imagine and simulate what things would be like when you weren't there. Of course it will only be possible if you knew the people inside out.
It was a very heart-warming story that almost borders on a tear-jerker.
I am hard-pressed to decide whether to give this movie a 4/5 or a 3.5/5. The plot is relatively simple, but Hillary Swank's performance in this movie is outstanding. Probably an Academy award nominee caliber. The lines are heart-warming but the scenes had some sort of friction, it didn't really flow and seemed quite superficial at times.
So I guess it's a 3.5/5 from me.
Recommended if you are going to watch this with your heterosexual partner. Not recommended for watching in large all-male groups, (e.g NS guys meeting up).
Posted by MK at 10:36 PM
Friday, February 22, 2008
Singapore Airshow 2008
Today after my meeting in the morning, I zoomed over to the EXPO in record time, parked and took the most expensive bus ride of my life of $5 to the Changi Aerospace exhibition Centre. Security was pretty tight, but I went there in uniform since the weekdays are for military personnel and trade partners/exhibitors. This is one airshow not to be missed!It's a rare opportunity to get to attend such a large event, one compared with mega-airshows around the world like Farnborough and Dubai. I reached there before 3pm, and the crowd was immense. I was pleasantly greeted by my colleagues , who had been waiting there for me since 10am!
We went through all the exhibits, all the latest vehicles, weapons and aircraft in both the military and civilian sectors. Of course, the main attractions like the F-15, F-16D+ Blk 52, F-35 (!), the B-1 Lancer bomber!, the hummingbird UAV, GlobalHawk UAV, a whole assortment and myriad of EC-Eurocopters and Gulfstream, Learjet private aircraft, and of course, the crown jewel. The Airbus A380 in all its full glory. Unfortunately due to time constraints and the security hassle, we didn't board the A380, neither could we enter the fighter aircraft, as they were all cordoned off even to military personnel.
We took tons of pictures, then visiting all the big boys exhibits in the exhibition hall. The picture quality sucked, (I don't have a DSLR), but that's all that we have. Boeing, Honeywell, Thale, ST Engineering, EADS, MBDA, Pratt & Whitney, GE etc etc.
There was another exhibition hall displaying small arms and ammunition, and even armored vehicles and lots of jet engine cut-aways and scale-models. A truly exciting day indeed, very productive and fruitful.
The mega Airshow space.
Our own LSV with Spike Missiles
Our pride of self-propelled artillery, the Primus Howitzer.
Our brand new Leopard 2 MBT.
Longbow-Radar equipped Apache AH-64
This is the JSF or F-36 Lighning II, the next-gen aircraft with VTOL capability that is slated to replace our F-5 tigers.
The Boeing/Rockwell B-1 Lance supersonic bomber
F-15 Eagle
The F-16D+ Blk 52 fighter with conformal fuel tanks and ECM pods.
USAF's F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Ahhh... The A380 herself.
SIA's 2008 pride and joy, the A380 super jumbo powered by R&R Trent Engines.
The A380 in all her full glory.
Testing out ST Kinetic's modifications to the SAR-21, there were other exhibits like the 40mm grenade launcher, the modified SAW Ultimax-100 and the Personal Defence weapon.
Lurveee the Trent engine!
Simulated Jet exhaust.
P&W turbofan models.
There are too many pictures to show, if you do want to see them for yourself, do go down to the Airshow this weekend! Weekdays are for military personnel, and the Airshow is open to the public
23 - 24 February 2008, 9.30 am - 5.00 pm (This weekend) Tickets for adults are $20.
You cannot drive there unless you have a special pass, otherwise, drive/take the Mrt to the EXPO, then take a $5 shuttle bus ride over to the CEC.
For more information, visit http://www.singaporeairshow.com.sg/
Posted by MK at 6:35 PM
Monday, February 18, 2008
THE MK2008
This is my current rig that I am running apart from my other computers. The MK2008.You may view the worklog, I've posted almost-step-by-step photos on how I worked on my new computer. And feel free to comment! Idea's generated could go into my next project. =)
VRzone Forums
You can either view it at that forum above (Currently 10-pages long). Or download the pdf file here:
MOD2008 Worklog
Special thanks to YKL for helping me host the file.
Specs of the MK2008
-[ Components ]-
- Intel E6550 @ 3.6Ghz watercooled
- Asus P5KR Motherboard
- Nvidia 8800GT 512Mb overclocked (750Mhz :: 1020Mhz :: 1800Mhz)
- 2 x 1Gb Crucial BallistiX PC-8500 Rams
- 2 x 500Gb Seagate HDDs :: 1 x 160Gb Seagate HDD
- 2 x 19" WXGA Widescreen monitors
- Skythe Kamameter Fan controller
- LG 20x DVD-RW
- Razer ProClick 1.6v Mouse :: Microsoft Reclusa Keyboard
- Coolermaster Centurion 534 Casing
- Coolermaster 650W Extreme PSU
- Maxtor OneTouch Pro4 1TB
-[ Cooling ]-
( Pump > CPU > GPU > Radiator > Reservoir ) Loop
- Thermaltake Bigwater 750i Pump
- Thermaltake CPU Hi-flow waterblock w/ Acrylic top
- Thermaltake 1x 120mm radiator
- DangerDen Maze4 GPU waterblock
- UV-reactive 3/8" tubing and barbs
- Pick&Lock Tupperware custom reservoir
- OCZ XTC ram cooler
- 3 x Coolermaster 120mm LED fans
- 4 x Coleman Blue-Ice substitutes
- Armaflex & Insuflex Neoprene insulation
The overall system setup, dual 19" WXGA widescreens LCDs plus a Maxtor OneTouch4 Pro external HDD.
Posted by MK at 8:54 PM
Sunday, February 17, 2008
neoprene tubing insulation has arrived
Hooray, my neoprene tubing insulation has arrived.
Now I can get about doing my lower-than-ambient temperature computer cooling system. Bought about 5m each worth of 3/8" internal dia and 1/2" internal dia tubing insulation, setting me back about $20.
I had this idea when thinking about my water cooling system, first I thought about adding re-frozen ice-bottles to the water reservoir of my water-cooling system, then the idea progressed to the Coleman blue-ice substitute, then I had the idea of a peltier cooling, using a mini peltier bar fridge as the base. Because of that my initial water cooling idea has now progressed to chilled water cooling! So because of low-than-ambient temperatures, there will be condensation, and I purchased air-con insulating tubing.
So from an air-cooled over-clock, I have gone to water-cooling and now chilled water cooling! One level higher than an ordinary water-cooling setup, will I go to the next level of phase-change? Hard to think of that for now. So I was thinking of a complete chilled water cooling setup and then I had the idea about the lab water-chiller used for the chemglas vacuum tube and the RotaVac distillers back when I was with A*STAR.
So I checked the net for lab-grade water-chillers for RotaVacs and vacuum tubes and saw that simple 250-BTU coolers cost nearly $1,500. So getting one is out of the question, and they can only cool to about 4-deg Celsius, so then the dedicated water chiller idea came about! Since lab chillers are too expensive, so I'll be making a peltier water cooler of my own design. =) I've come out with a basic design, and it cost about $200 to build with the materials that I already have, if I didn't have the fridge to begin with, I'd expect costs to rise till $300 or so. I'll be going back to test it out!
Soon though, right now time is a luxury I don't have.
Of course, I have other commitments and priorities to attend to such as my Uni applications. I really pray that I can get into cmu, and get that scholarship, until then I'll be living in anxiety till the results come out.
But of course, I have another week to contend back in camp first before I have the weekend to work on my computer cooler. Then we'll see what kind of preliminary results I get.
More results and pictures to come soon!
Posted by MK at 11:05 PM
Friday, February 15, 2008
New Challenges in Aerospace Technology & Maintenance Conference 08
Today I went for the NCATMC seminar, (New Challenges in Aerospace Technology and Maintenance Conference 2008). Jointly organized by the Singapore Institute of Aerospace Engineers (SIAE), the Air Logistics Department, HQ Republic of Singapore Air Force (ALD, RSAF) and the Association of Aerospace Industries Singapore (AAIS).
I must say it was a very enriching and interesting session that I’ve learnt a lot from. I was a delegate representing my unit and the lowest ranking in the entire theatre, and forbid, I was the only one not wearing the special SAF No.5T uniform, (The special long-sleeved with tie reserved only for important meetings and sessions with foreign delegates). But I was in my best No.3, still feeling underdressed for the occasion, at least I got that swanky "delegate" pass.
Nevertheless, many foreign dignitaries and VIPs came to present many issues regarding the Aerospace industry in a whole variety of topics, technologically, challenges, logistics, management, outlook, problems, etc etc.
There were many ideas presented by really important people such as the Vice-president of EADS (European Aerospace and Defense), EU’s version of NASA and DARPHA. The big guns of the industry Boeing, Airbus, Eurocopter, GE, Pratt & Whitney, Pilatus, NUS, NTU, and many other speakers from around the world presented rather interesting subjects that gave me many ideas as well.
Not to mention the expensive refreshments, abundance of reading material and a provided conference laptop bag with stationary, files and folders, portfolios and reports. All in all, a very fulfilling opening seminar in conjunction with the Singapore Airshow, held next week from 19th Feb to 24th Feb at the new Changi Exhibition Centre (CEC).
Visit here for details:
http://www.ncatmc.org/
http://www.singaporeairshow.com.sg/
Posted by MK at 7:16 PM
Kenneth Cole Reaction watch
A splendid Kenneth Cole Reaction watch with date function. Brand New condition with instruction booklet. Still in box, not worn at all, in pristine condition.Bid in Singapore only.
Posted by MK at 9:19 AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
start of a new week
Alright, it's the start of a new week and I am back at work. Already missing home, but this is going to be a busy week. What am I doing for the week?Lets have a look, I'm conducting simulator on Wednesday, duties on Thursday and Sunday, got a Seminar to attend on Friday, and got tons of paper work to clear for the week not to mention all the assorted miscellaneous than will turn up along the way. Then the day proceeded with a whole host of forums and meetings that I had to attend.
Busy Week. Don't think I'll be posting much.
Posted by MK at 8:17 PM
Sunday, February 10, 2008
I am Back!
Hello everyone! After a long hiatus, I am finally back to posting, welcome to my new blog layout!As you have seen over my last few skins or designs, I am trying to make it more and more complicated, and have been tempted to incorporate flash or to make more advanced hotlinks.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time, and that explains for my lack of frequent updates or posts. So during this Chinese New Year period, I had several hours to kill..
I sat down, meddled a little bit with my flash, with my photoshop and with my illustrator, and gave up ideas and concepts for simplicity. Since my old V8 has lasted nearly 3 years, it's time for a change anyways which has been long overdue. Flash seemed to take up too much time and so after doing a little bit of vectoring here and there, I present the simple, change of blog themes by MK.
My new blog v9 design, aptly named, "Alternative".
Posted by MK at 7:22 PM
1Gb Crucial BallistiX PC-6400 DDR Ram
1Gb Crucial BallistiX PC-6400 DDR Ram, barely used for 3 mths old ram, almost brand new for sale.
