LEon の话: Blog

Samsung WEP200 Bluetooth Headset

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:40:43 GMT

I got hold of a Samsung WEP200 Bluetooth Headset today. It is really small in size and lightweight. Take a look at the picture below and you will know just how small.

Size and lightweight as it is, it give a clear reception. Standby talk time in manual said about 70 hours while talk time, 4 hours. No complain about the talk time course I don't talk so much. The distance of reception it was written to be 10 meter max.

I pair it to my Sony Ericsson K770i and still it work fine. :)

Serious Blogging

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:15:21 GMT

After blogging at Live Spaces for almost three years, I am considering to have my own blog where I can do some customization to my blog.

My blog objective has always been my personal interest. Some of which if you read long enough would know it's toy related. I enjoy doing review and doing up some simple comic shots and scripts to share it with others. Above that, I enjoy sharing some of my old collections and sharing my sentiment of items, events or topics that are close to my heart.

Don't get me wrong, Live Spaces has been friendly to use and my posts came out in some of the internet searches, some expected while others unexpectedly. It is encouraging to have some regular readers and comments. Thank you for your support that you find what I wrote interesting. :D

I guess I just need some place that I can be more organized or should I said more focus on some topics... like toy... I'll see how things go. Will keep you posted. :)

Pac man scratch game card

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:21:10 GMT

Pac Man was a hot arcade/video game in early 1980s but do you know they have card game too? This is the game card.

The card looked exactly like the video game maze setting. You play it by scratching the golden coating off to revile what you have encounter. It could be Cherry or a ghost! You have to scratch it in flowing sequent. You are your own Judge of the game. if you want to cheat even after you encounter a ghost, it's all up to you. I bought a pack but only keep one untouch.

The back of the card have printed rules on it. Made in Italy in 1982. From Namco Limited.

Scratching card game was a IN concept in the early 1980s. Stay tune for more Scratching cards later. Yes I do have one more entry to come about that. :)

Landmine Transformers Movie Toy

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:00:29 GMT

I got this Landmine sometime ago. Only last weekend I decided to open it up for review.

Packaging
I feel the All-Spark packaging look quite messy don't you think?

This is a Takara version and it come with a All-Spark cube.

So what is the deciding factor? Yes the S$15 offers.

This is how the card really look like without the toy and this is how the toy look like out of the cardboard.

Vehicle Mode
The price was not only factor that trigger my decision. The mold of the vehicle was what I fancy. Here is a 360 degree looks.

Transformation
Landmine transformation really simple. A few steps and you are done.

Robot Mode
This figure has no problem balancing.

It is offer flexibility for posing as well. Since it is a military Robot, let him do some exercises the military way.

Another point that it stand out from other movie series figure is the joints of the hand. Not many movie series have these features.

The Stickers are printed well.

As for the face, it look like those Hockey player's mask don't you think?

The wheels are made of rubber and not plastic. Really worth it.

Accessories
The only accessory for this figure is the machine gun which can be mounted on the top of the vehicle.

How can I end the review without a Comic Strips right? That's how I play with my toys nowadays. :P So here it is.

The more I play with this figure, the more I find it so worth it. :D Until next entry. Bye!

The First Day of Comex 2008

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:57:32 GMT

I went down the first day of Comex 2008 after work. I chose to go down on the first day as it was a weekday and the crowd will be lesser than the weekend. In my experience, weekend the crowd and the traffic over at Suntec City will be chaotic. Forget about last day prices, I prefer to have the luxury to browse around at my own sweet time with more space.

I went to different Digital camera booth to try out the camera. I came to one of the digital camera booth and wanted to try out one of them. Generally most of the sales people are courteous but some may not know their product very well which I can understand as some were part-times.

While I was trying the camera, I overheard a foreign woman asking for bargain and slowly the volume of her asking became louder and louder and I could not help but to listen. I only would say much of her bargain was Ridiculous.

Customer: "Is this the lowest price?"
Salesman: "Yes. This is the best price we are offering."
Customer: "It still very expensive. Back in my country it selling much cheaper! How come here selling so ex?"
Salesman just smile (Good salesman)
Customer demanded: "It's too expensive. Can ask your boss to give me more discount?"
Salesman: "I'm Sorry but this is the lowest price. Outside this convention, retail does not come at such a price with all of promotional items we are giving away today."
Customer: "Here, look, in your promotion you said this memory card here you thrown in is worth $30 so obviously you can give me $30 off right? Make it cheaper and I will buy? "
Salesman: "No I can't. I'm sorry"

The bargain carried on for more than 10 minutes and no special offer were given to her. Bitterly, she just went her way leaving her last word of pushing the blame to the salesman that he lost a sale because he is not willing to give the discount that she wanted to her.

I really have to hand it to the salesman for exercising his patience while I am appalled by the demand and made senseless bargain without giving proper respect not only herself but the company and the staff. How can you compare different country pricing? Totally absurd! If her own country is cheaper, just go back there to buy it! It is free economy here. If you like it and can afford it, just buy it but if you find it too pricey just walk away.

After trying the camera I wanted to try, I finally decided what to buy. As I was on the way to the counter, one young salesman (part-timer) just cut into my queue. He noticed what he had done and just said "Oops!" What is a "Oops"? Is that a new form of apologizing? I waited a while for his apologize but it didn't came as he turn his back on me. Since I was rushing for time and there was another counter available that time, I just moved on.

I chose Nets for my payment and it took them 3 times for the transaction to go through and it was not that busy at that 830pm in the convention hall. I cannot imagine how will it be on the weekend when the crowd set it. Good luck man.

Even though there are many good offers like PCs, LCD TV, Notebooks, storage device and other on sales, I didn't brother to walk the whole area. I don't mind going down to such event but the only thing that will put me off is the crowd.

Going to test my digital camera later. Maybe I will give a review as well.

Red Cliff Movie part 1 赤壁

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:01:04 GMT

It was one of the year Chinese movie that I waited for. With good story plot (tested formula) to Chow Yun-Fat turning down a role to Tony Leung turn down a role and took another role, really hyped the wait. Finally I caught the movie.

John Woo signature can be found almost everywhere in this movie. Ranging from slow motion capture of movement and the Doves. The war scene look grand but the attack formation does not look practical in warfare tactics.Those who played Koei game Dynasty Warriors on PS2/PS3 or even PSP will find it all too familiar where one general can take the own legion of army. Heroic indeed.

As for the casting, I really worry about the future of Chinese movie makers. Seems like no young talent can take on the older generation and the older actor was made to take on younger roles... The juice of the war will be shown on the next installment but the part 1 I felt still lack of characters development. I know it is hard as 3 kingdom had been so popular in games, books and some old movies to the extend that everyone seems to have different expectation of the story and the characters. It was a big challenge to John Woo to overcome but so far after watching the first installment, the anticipation for waiting for the next remains. That is good sign don't you think?

Feel free to comment if you have watched the movie. :)

A Ego person that never change

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:32:37 GMT

Just a few days ago, I met one of my ex-company supervisor at the MRT station. It has been a gap of 7 years. He came up to me and say Hi. I remember him as a person who talk a lot of his achievements. I mean there is nothing wrong about feeling proud of one achievement but if the topic is always Me knows who and who and I did what and what that is boasting. Being advance in age, I can understand but I think having a humility is always something that one learn with age No?

He was the second man and the shareholder of my ex-company, he often boast about how much he knows and things are very simple and easy but when come walking the talk, that was another story. Many of us exercise understanding and put up with him. We often take everything he said or claimed with a pitch of salt especially when he claimed that so and so was related to him somehow. He often claimed how solid his Mandarin is and he claimed to enter to China market. I have no doubt about the standard of his Mandarin as he was from the old Chinese schools but to enter the China market need to have action and proof which there were none we know back then. He just want people to give him "Face" and to boost his ego in general.

He is still the same today. We were in the second sentences of our conversation and he asked which company I working currently. I just mention the my current company and pop he goes saying the upper management was his old school mate. Right there I wanted to end the conversation. So what if you know the chairman of the company? So what if he is your schoolmate? Where is he and where are you? The conversation was not at the interest about how I am doing, he asked that question so that he can claimed some credits and have some respect. What he did not know right there and there he lost my respect.

It is not that I do not respect him in general but I just feel sad. If one life is always about Me and Me what good is there for you? One thing I respect about him was the way he watch his diet. As long as I can remember, he was very strict and discipline and after all these years, he still remain the slim.

I really wish the best for him as my ex-company had folded sometime back and I hope he is do well in what he is doing now.

Smurf, Mask and Care bears Panini Stickers

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:08:24 GMT

I have some remaining Panini stickers in my childhood collection box and here they are.

Smurf
"La-La La-La-La-La, La-La-La-La-La" (if you understand the what I just type, you are truly a Smurfette I mean Smurf fan)
I had the booklet before but I have never complete the collection. Today only 2 of these stickers remain. They should be my extras... I think I threw the uncompleted booklet away during one year of my house cleaning... Must have felt frustrated for not completing it. Then again, I shouldn't blame in on it as I don't think I had the money to complete it.
>
To my surprise, the back of the stickers are hardly in English but in Spanish and other languages (thanks for reader input)! Something that you don't know right? I also didn't notice until I took the picture... I only notice the number.

Mask
"Lifter On!"
Mask was another famous cartoon that I rush back home after school for. I had the booklet before and I remember there was a poster that need the remaining stickers to complete it... Yes it was another uncompleted collection and I think I threw it away because of the same reason. :P

I happen to find two version of Mask stickers. One is original from Panini (on the Right) while another I could not recall where I got those... In the front, both look nicely printed, only size difference.

At the back, you can tell which is from Panini and which is not. Mask stickers was in 1986....Wow! 22 years ago. Older than some of you reader ya?

Care Bears
"Care Bears, Stares!!" Okay I'm not a fan of care bears as a kid as I always find the cartoon too girly. How I get these card I couldn't remember... Maybe they were given by my friends or I may have buy a packet out of curiosity. No I do not have the Booklet for this one...

The cards condition are still good as it was away from the sunlight. Some closed up.

That's all for my Panini remaining stickers. If you still have some of them, please share. :D

I'm so glad Beijing Olympics is over

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:11:59 GMT

I'm not a sporty person by nature and neither I am a spectator of sport either. I was glad the Olympics ended. No more sport everywhere and almost every time on every TV channels.

I could not stand people feeling proud of someone achievement and when someone does not achieve, they judge. If you are that good, please go down and play it yourself. On another hand, if you are a "Professional" player but make stupid mistake too often, how can you be a professional?

How good you are really come down to your talent, hard work and most of all who is your competitors. Imagine if you are playing with kindergarten standard, of course you will be the best but if you play with world class players now that is another story.

On the closing, I saw David beckham standing as a part of the show as for London. I wonder did he play for the Olympics or he was just there because he was a famous soccer celebrities? I know many people who love to watch EPL and I wonder where are the good players in there not in Olympics? One of my friend who was a fan of EPL gave me a reason they too busy with their club training. Somehow it remind me of WWE...So what is Olympics standard?

China really put up a good show from the preparation, opening ceremony, the matches and the closing. So what is the price to put up such a show as host? They have won many gold medals and produce professional players as a career at a very young age. Some of them had even went oversea to play for other country. It's a win-win situation.

The glory however does not fall on China along. I was impressed by 2 Olympics winners. Michael Phelps from US for swimming and Usain Bolt for Jamacia for running. Man they were Fast!

I am still wondering how do they do the Olympics logo that float in the mid air during the opening? Is so 3D... Was that another camera trick?

As for the result, I was reminded on this bible quote...

"I returned and saw under the sun that—
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all." - NKJV Ecclesiastes 9:11

Classroom Flash Back

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:22:38 GMT

My friends and I was sharing about our old school days and that gave me an idea to blog this down. I came from a time where a classroom had a Blackboard (but actually is dark green) which used Chalk for writing and a Duster for erasing. Tables and chairs are essential of course and so are the basket bin, brooms and dust pan. Of course there were fan (2 from where I came from) in the classroom for air conditioning.

Blackboard

To the teachers, writing on the blackboard means lesson but when teacher is not around, that is where and when the creativity begin. Ranging from writing wording from Who-Love-Who, names of pop idols to drawing graffiti of any kind. The golden rule stands that "Don't get caught" especially if you are making fun of the teacher in writing or drawing.

I recall as a student, I find it hard sometime read what was written on the blackboard. Logically since the background is black (actually was dark green to be exact) white wording should stand out but that was not the case. Most of the time due to light reflection, the writing on the opposite side of the board were too hard to read. When it get frustrating, you will just switch off and do your own thing and worst my eye sight got worst!

Down side of blackboard was that chalk won't work on the surface when it's wet. After sometime, they(MOE) replace the blackboard to a whiteboard and since they are using markers.

Chalk

Beside using it to write on the Blackboard, chalk has many unofficial usage.

It can be used as ammunition for throwing at classmates.
Take one home so to be able to play group game called "Jump Airplane or HopScotch" 跳飞机 by drawing the lines on the floor or to keep track of the scores.
It also was used as a whitener on our white school's shoe especially after a muddy soccer game so to prevent ourselves from getting a scolding from our parent for dirtying the shoes.

Teacher beside using the chalk to write on blackboard sometime will abuse it to throw at dosing off student. Please note that came from a time where education system back then was very different from the education today. Another "urban legend" usage of the chalk by teachers in that era was an form of punishment to talkative student. Go figure.

Duster

The duster deserve it's name. It may clean the blackboard but it will dirty the user. It was such a chore that every duty student to clean the blackboard after every lesson. Everyone drag to do that duty. If happen to have good teachers, he/she will do it themselves but one can only wish for such teachers.

Since the Duster clean the blackboard, how do the duster does it cleaning? That is a good question. Manual cleaning is require such as dusting the duster on a chalk box or at open air area.

Like the Chalk, this piece of equipment can be abuse as well such as wake up calls and booby trap to make some student hair white as snow. What happen in Stephen Chow movie "Return to School" is true in some sense, sometime.

Tables & Chairs
Unlike nowadays, tables and chairs were not made of plastic but wood with metal structure for support. The table top was wood but the lower compartment for you to put your school bag was made of hard cardboard. We hardly use that compartment for our School bag as our school bag was big and hardly can fit it in. We only use it to put some books or to use it to hide some comic or story books to read during lesson.

You can know more or less what and how the student was like by looking at there "Workstation" (Tables to be exact). You can see their hobbies (what they like), their emotion (who and what they hate) and most of all their honestly and integrity (Any exam answer) just looking at their tables. This is only true if the student always sit on that table and there is no predecessor before. That was the reason why every new terms in the beginning of the year, a new paint was painted over the table.

Eventually the table top were get thicker and a good reason for some students to move on from writing or drawing graffiti to craving with 15cm metal ruler.

A funny phenomena during those time was chairs sometime became a karate chop practice board (wooden seat and back support) and sometime table were not spare either. Yes something to do with this.

Sometime chairs were made for student to stand on (Unwillingly by "request" by the teachers) and tables were made for sitting (willful action to sit and talk chit chat).

Now everything has moved on. Replace the Blackboard was the Whiteboard. Chalk with Marker and Duster with.. duster remain but it's a different type. Everything more cleaner. I wonder if there are still Duty Roster for student to do the duty to maintain the cleanliness of the classroom?

I am so tempted to say this... "Nowadays Kids are so GOOD Life!"

Moonwalker Revisit

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:31:05 GMT

Last weekend I had the mood to go thru some of my old movie collection. I decided to watch again Moonwalker by Michael Jackson since it has been ages since I watched it. I caught it on big screen when it came out in 1989 with another a good friend of mine who also happen to be a MJ fan.

They kinda make over the movie packaging in DVD now which look much more cooler and up to date.

A lot of people (like me) kind of feel that this movie do not have any plot or at least everything doesn't really tied up as a whole theme (actually it has. It is all about MJ himself). It was a milestone capture of his career and promote his latest songs all at the same time. Hits like the opening "Man in the mirror", "Bad", "Leave me alone" and the part that stand out in the movie, "Smooth Criminal". It was original and the choreography was awesome. Many will remember the 45 degree bend.

It became part of the trademark of MJ. I like the ending song that preformed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "The Moon is walking".
I find the "Speed Demon" song part which involve clay figures fan chasing MJ really childish and as nowadays kid may say "a bit lame".

There I was watching it in the weekend and my 10 years old youngest sister-in-law came and joined in. She saw MJ and start asking question (You know kids) why the cartoon people were chasing him. Before I can answer her, she was laughing and enjoying the chasing action. Then it hit me. Are the clay figures, transforming of himself to car then to robot and then to spaceship targeted to the children or is it his childlike idea of the way he want the movie to be? Nobody knows. We adults just like the songs and the dance move I guess.

Hardly any entertainer had his own Music Video, Movie and even Video games for being so popular in the late 1980s!
I remember the game was so popular that almost every game shop used it for their demo and kids and teens will take turn to play with it.There was an arcade version as well but I never completed that game. Will there be another MJ video game again? How about having it on Wii? Here something for the fans. (Fanart).

MJ is going to hit his big 50th on 29 August 2008 and his fan around the world can get to vote which of his hit songs they want for that album.

Indifferent Worker, Company and Customers

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:04:17 GMT

I really find that we are living in the age of indifference. We just don't seems to care about many things as we do not want to take things to heart. We do not want to do anything about it for we have seen many living examples of things still remaining the same after we did do something. Here is one FINE example of it.

My lunch group go to this food center near my work place for our lunch as it is near, air-conditioned and have acceptable choices of food (just 1 to 4 stalls that I find eatable among 10.). The food center mainly served the office workers and some production workers as it was in a light industrial office building. Like most food center, the owner are normally the drink stall owner (only one drink stall).

They only employ one uncle to go around table to get in the drinks order. How many tables are there? about 30 tables. Then they have 1 more uncle making the tea and finally one Auntie who claim not the boss standing at the counter to take order and collect money. Due to the lack of worker to take order, we have to go and get the drink myself if we really want to. Did anyone complain about the slow service? Yes. I will narrate for you what happen just today as I was at the drink counter and waiting in line to get my drink.

Customer 1 (Just in front of me): Auntie 1 Tea-O. You all should employ more people to take the drinks order. I have been waiting 30 mins but no one come and take order.
Auntie at the counter: The boss don't want to hire leh. Cut cost lah. You know how much is the rental now? $20K a month you know! Here you Tea-O. S$0.90!
Customer 1 shake his head and walk away.

To me what's rental have to do with hiring another worker to increase the earning? If they do their math well, they may lose more money than they tend to think they saved. They should know by getting one more worker who can work fast for lunch time crowd, they can earn more money. When it came to my turn, I gave my order.

Me: 1 Tea-O sew-tai (Local term of Tea-O with little sugar note it was a special order), 1 Tea-O, 1 coffee and one Plum juice.
Auntie: So is 2 Tea-O, 1 Sew-tai right? then 1 coffee and 1 plum juice right? (Her tone was like correcting me. Do not be rude to customer.)
Me: .... 2 Tea-O one with little sugar, 1 coffee and 1 plum juice.
Auntie: Yes it's 2 Tea-O one is sew-tai (little sugar) than 1 coffee and 1 plum juice lah.
I couldn't careless and just node my head. Then the Auntie just repeat the whole thing to to the uncle who was just beside him doing the drinks. How's that for efficiency?

The story gets better. We were having our drinks after our food and the cleaner came to collect our dishes. Without saying excuse me, she just clear the dishes. It's alright as most food court cleaner do not say "Excuse me" and we are used to that but what she was going to do really upset us. She supposed to clear our plates ( as she only clear the plates, that's her job scope) but she move our unfinished drinks into a tray on our table to make way for her to clear her plates. We were shocked as we can sense her indifference to our reaction and her frustration about the job. It does not end here. She clear the other table of plates and move their empty cups to our table even when we were still having our drinks!

I was so appalled that I made a loud statement in front of my lunch group "World class Service!!" and we laughed about it.

The cleaning lady can simply go to find another cleaning job. Why didn't she since she is not happy with what she is doing? Come on this food court do not open all day. It only do breakfast and Lunch. Why show such attitude?

We do not brother to file a complaint nor correct the cleaner on the spot. Why? Because we know the cleaner was upset and not listening and we also know how the management handle complain since someone already highlighted some problem to them before at the drinks counter. They pushed the responsibility of the earning to the customers and cut down on the services. So should we the customer pay for it? Crazy!

A good company should look into the if the worker happy about the work place. A worker is unhappy either by the workload, pay or his personal problem. If it is the workload then the company should look into it if their staff are overload or not. A easy way was to replace the worker (that is the short term solution) but if it is the workload problem, then it will surface again.

Business like this is not growing. It is Surviving and how long you think you can keep surviving? Don't know, don't care. That's indifference for you.

Lockdown Transformers Animated Toy

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:49:57 GMT

Another Decepticon added to my rank. Warning: This entry is picture intensive.

Lockdown, a bounty hunter and became a Decepticon purely because Decepticon pay him well. He is a collectors and lust for upgrades. As most of his parts are upgrades, he do not look so even.

Packaging
Decent packaging design. No accessories is visible as his weapons are part of the vehicle.

The back of the card show another signature line of his.

Vehicle Mode
Out of the packing, the Cruiser look really cool.

A low ride with intimating engine and body kit. Look at all the spikes!

As a crusier, the toy wheeled well. In the animated series, Ratchet had an encounter with Lockdown before and Lockdown had taken Ratchet's EMP generator as his upgrades.

Transformation
The transformation is pretty straight forward if you follow the instruction booklet.

Robot Mode
In robot mode, Lockdown stood tall for deluxe class. In fact, he is the same size as a voyager class. The toy balance quite well. No loose joints, no filmy parts. Black really suit him.

Weapons
Two weapons were given in this toy. A hook.

and the EMP Generator

Combine these two weapons together and you will get this

The weapons fit into his right hand gracefully.

Okay let's continue the fictional story (by me) shall we?

See how the EMP Generator fit nicely on Ratchet? Good work Hasbro! Okay continue with the story.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoy the "comic strips". Another review next time. :)

Japanese Cartoon Stickers

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:53:29 GMT

It's another entry of "Tikum Tikum" and this time I would like to share with you a few Japanese stickers that I had.
These stickers were found in my childhood "Collection box" and some I have no idea or clue what the cartoon came from. Some I guess come with snacks which likely to come in a box of candy. If anyone of you know some more information, please comment. Thank you.

First off are some weird monster stickers which I suppose can be played like some "Pokemon" card from Furuta.

Another one off sticker. Look like Godzilla related because of the Mothra. It's called the "Monster Paradise" and it is a 1984 creation of TOHO. That how old this sticker.

Finally something that I really know. Mask Rider Black!! A shiny sticker with the data of the monster (Why not Mask Rider?) behind. Card produce in 1987.

Well these are all the Japanese stickers I had from buying "Tikum Tikum". Still in good condition.
I don't really stick my stickers as they are very precious to me and thus I kept them as there were.

If any of you know have more information about the above stickers, please let me know by commenting. Looking forward to your contribution. :)

Yahoo Auction SG Retiring

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:00:38 GMT

Finally the speculation is over. Straight from the horses mouth, Yahoo!Singapore Auction announced that it is going into the shadow of history on 6 Oct 2008.

Why such a move? Why does it take so long for them to break such news since May 2008 the auction was having some hiccups? Why stated last posting of item is 1st Sept 2008 while currently it still cannot come back with empty listing in any search? I bet the users had see this coming and will not be too surprise. However, one can always hope for the return of the FREE Yahoo! Auction be properly functioning again....

The reason of the retirement can be a few. My guess would be it has non-profitable, lot of work in maintaining the free services and maybe it had to do with the eBay sued by LV over sell fake goods cases. Who knows?

We should not complain about it going to retirement. After all, Yahoo!Singapore Auction did serve the local users well for the past years (close to a decade?) for FREE. Blame them not for the content in the past if you always find unrelated stuff at your search as the sellers had deliberately put in popular unrelated keyword so that their products will be shown most of the time. Blame them not for their slow responses and of late the unresponsiveness as they may not have enough man power and may look into cost cutting.

If Yahoo! Singapore Auction is going to retire, I guess we should give it proper credit for retirement for the service. It deserve our thanks for providing local surfers a Free place to buy and sell, an popular alternative rather than eBay. The server hardly lack and hardly shutdown for maintenance (except recently in May 2008) as much as I could recall.

To Yahoo! Singapore Auction, well done and Thank you for your free service. Have a Happy Retirement and we will surely missed you.

子曰- 卜学亮

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:46:06 GMT

在我中学时期,我爸要我学习"儒家思想"的科目. 我那时我有千百个不愿意,因为没一个我的同学朋友选择这向科目. 当我上了儒家后才了解爸爸的苦心. 爸爸要学习儒家不只是一向科目, 而是了解做人,待人处事的道理.

我喜欢<<子曰>>这首歌大多的原因先半段有儒家的道. 后半段的歌词也挺有趣. 听到这首歌,我总是想到儒家的 "不齿下问"学习态度.

词:武雄阿亮

孔子的中心思想是个仁
仁的表现是
己欲立而立人
己欲达而达人
己所不欲他勿施于人

如以仁为本体表现在具体的行为上
come on everybody一起来

对父母为孝
对兄弟为悌
对朋友为信
对国家为忠
对人则有爱心

我～亮子的中心思想是个why
why的表现是
搞不懂就问人
搞得懂就答人
没有人懂还可以问神

如以why为本体
表现在具体的生活上
come on everybody一起来

要懂得推理
要心存怀疑
要充满好奇
要钜细靡遗
要打破砂锅问到底

oh! my god
我听不懂看不懂, 学不懂都不懂
究竟谁对谁错, 人生多美爱情多痛

please tell me please 生命有太多疑惑
help me help me babe
oh!不要让我自己去摸索

The Joker (The Dark Knight)

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:15:44 GMT

For those who have watched "The Dark Knight" would agree that the star that outshine every other was the villain, The Joker.

Heath Ledger played very well as the Joker. Unfortunately, he passed away prematurely due to drug overdose. The first movie of Heath I know was "The Knight Tales" and when I knew he play The Joker I was shocked. The media were giving him good credit and review for his outstanding performance but I had my doubts initially as I knew him in "The Knight Tales" as a clean and young guy.

You know from this to this? Yes, you can't be serious..

Only after catching "The Dark Knight" I understood why people said he gave his BEST performance in this movie.

I never really like the Joker, I always thought he was silly and a bit sissy with make up and funny choice of color in suit. I saw Jack Nicholson's Joker and it was well enough to be the classic Joker. But when I saw Heath's Joker, it really blew my mind. I would not know it was Heath if I have not be told it was him before the movie. This Joker was cold, insane and pure madness that trying to make sense with humor. Love chaos and enjoy playing the mind game. Even the bad guys afraid of him. When he crack a joke, it was not funny but scary. If batman would not go against his moral to use a device to track him down, he would not be able to stop the Joker. I really wish there are more of Heath as Joker but sadly all good things had to come to an end.

The plot was more to crime and psychological thrillers with some actions. Batman (Christian Bale) seems to be the supporting cast but of course Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine and the Singapore (Still Singaporean?) actor Chin Han did a good job too. Overall it does not feel like a superhero movie but the script saved that day. As mad as Joker was, the movie do talk some sense about human nature and their fear.

Side note... I dunno why but I suddenly remember Brandon Lee (The Crow) with painted faces and play a dark character..

Both talented actor in their prime doing a successful role but sadly never taste the fruit of their labor....
May they find rest in peace and we will missed them dearly for a great artist leave behind their great masterpiece. R.I.P.

Transformers Animated Jazz Autobot

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:26:57 GMT

They are a community of Jazz fans in Transformers. Jazz most of the time will take on a 2 door sport car. In animated, although he take on different car mold, they retail his G1 color theme.

Jazz is a Autobot ELITE Guard in Transformers Animated.

Much like Prowl in animated, they both have kinda of the same air in robot mode. Cool, Silence and Groovy.

Vehicle mode
Pimp my ride Homie! Check it out! This animated Jazz remain true to his G1 color tone and racing strips. The car was more to Porsche car design this time round.

A good touch on the headlight with translucent plastic. See how low ride Jazz is?

Even the back look classy and futuristic.

Robot Mode

Yes Jazz. We are checking you out. Start Rapping and grooving man!

After transformation to Robot mode, Jazz do look taller.

At the back, Jazz still look so fine.

At the side of Jazz, do he look fat to you? Of course not.

He uses Electrics Nanchakus as weapons in the series and it is the exhaust to make it a Nanchas! Yes, check out his matching pipes.

This Jazz give you a feeling that he is always grooving as the ears were like having headphone on.

Does he remind you of Bruce Lee when he uses Nanchas? Well to me is more like Abdul Jabbar actually grooving away.

Singapore 43th National Day

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:37:04 GMT

Recognize you can play a part... Let it come right from your heart...
Be prepare to give a little more... Stand up, Stand up for Singapore~~

Happy Birthday Singapore.

Splashup online Photo editor

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:42:49 GMT

My friend introduce me to a online Free web photo editor. For people who are on the GO and do not have any photo editor software with you, this may ease you a little.

Developed by Faux Labs, Splashup formerly known as Fauxto is still in Beta version with basic photo editing features but shows many future possibilities for add-on. Splashup allow importing of photo from local folder, URL and other websites such as facebook, Picasa and flickr (authication is require in order to access your account with anyone of them). They even offer capturing an image thru your webcam (I did not try this feature as I do not have a webcam with me).

The interface is clean and neat and for experience photo editor, they will feel right at home. Do remember it is in beta version and thus it would run the basic features.

You have to try and see for yourself. It is FREE anyway but you have to register an account.

http://splashup.com/

He-Man pop-up card from Vita Juices

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:50:31 GMT

He-man was one Hot cartoon in the mid 1980s. The merchandise ranging from sticker book, board game and action figure toys. So it come with no surprise to find He-man as a part of some product promotion targeting on kids in particular.

Vita Juices ride on He-man crazed by giving away a Pop-up kinda 3D card with any Six packs of their juices promotion. I had some of them still with me today. However I could not recall I buy so many packets....

Perhaps there were given by childhood my friend but I can't recall who or perhaps there were given by the auntie from my primary school canteen drink store... That auntie did gave me a IQ puzzle as a gift to me on my last day in my primary school. So nice of her...God bless her soul. Anyway I think how I got it is not so important.

I have in total only four of them. Evil-Lyn, Stratos, Hordak (Sound like Honda) and Man-at-Arms. No He-man, No Skeleton ..

See how pop-up they are? here are some closed up shots.

To date, these 4 cards are estimated 24 years old.... Old? But still in good condition tho... They are some treasures of my childhood.

A City Grasshopper

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:39:43 GMT

The other day I saw a grasshopper in the middle of a busy area (Tanjong Pagar). I initially thought it was a sweet wrapper on a stick on the concrete bench as I was walking pass but it move a little and it gave it away.

I saw similar ones in my childhood abundance at my old primary school's field which half of the time unkept. Some grasshoppers even come in more vibrant color. Some of us capture them as pet. However some of the parents were against the hobby especially during "Hungry Ghost" period. Children were discouraged to take captive any insect as some believe such insects maybe a form taken on by some spirits especially the odds looking ones.... If you are concern, this photo was taken before hungry ghost...

Anyway back to the grasshopper. It didn't make any movement and neither was I going to disturb it's solitude. Maybe it was Sun tanning. Anyway I managed to take this shot without my hand moving on that busy sunny day without closing in too much lest it become afraid and hop away.

It was a interesting to have such unexpected sighting. Since Singapore is getting more urbanize, such experiences are hard to come by especially at a busy city area.

Whenever I see a grasshopper, it always remind me of Mask rider aka Kamen Rider. Hehehe

Mamee old Collectibles - Tikam Tikam Series

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:51:36 GMT

I will do a series of documentation (of what I have) of "Tikam Tikam" which I collected through out my growing up years.

In my childhood, snacks makers really know to entices young customers (children) to be loyal to their products. So "Collectibles" such as stickers and toys were very appealing. Most of the time these collectibles were related to the latest cartoons on TV. You will never know what you get until you purchase the product and start opening it to find out what the hidden prizes were. That is where the local term "Tikam Tikam" (in Bahasa Melayu) come about. Sometime some company will list the collectible for die hard fans to collect them all and see what they are missing out.

Mamee snack back then were specialize in small stickers inside the packaging of the snacks. Normally they will put the stickers in a smaller plastic bag like the picture below to protect the stickers mixing with the food content.

The characters in the stickers were from "The Ghostbusters" (not the Real Ghostbusters) cartoons. I only collected a bit as I had my budget and it was not really that appealing to me.

Today Mamee snack is still around but no longer come with any stickers.

That all for now. Stay tune for more entries later.

Six Jars System by T. Harv Eker

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:20:58 GMT

I came upon this financial system by T. Harv Eker's Six Jars System and it make so much sense that I wanted to share with everyone. Let's face it, many of us were not taught exactly how to handle our money. Some of us don't even have a system of how to organize our finances. We are easily put off due to on coming unexpected events or things that upset your financial planning of the month. It is true and it is understandable. However if one do not have any plan to follow thru, he/she never has any idea where his/her money had gone to.

When I read about Six Jar's system, I know for the fact it would served as a good guideline for everyone.I would very quickly run through and touch on the surface so that you get the big picture and hopefully understand and apply it in whatever you want.

So here is the BIG picture.

Basically it breakdown your income into Six different accounts/parts for specific purposes. Note that the income (Take home pay) before divided to 6 parts should have taken out Taxes (Rate depend on where you come from.).

1. Necessity Account (50%)
This account is your Necessity expenses and is the hardest part to plan and to follow thru. Note the keyword here is Necessity. So asked yourself what are the necessities that you would have to spend on every month. Your household bills? basic food expenses (Not having meal in Restaurant)? Transportation? With that in mind, asked yourself if the amount which is 50% of your cash income able to be enough to cover? If not, you have two choices. Either increase your income or cutting down bare to necessity.

2. Financial Freedom Account (10%)
Another word for this would be Investment (hopefully to get so much of return that you do not need to rely on your day job income). Many people get confuse with investment and savings as the same thing but they are not. Investment need to study the market and do some homework. You can do it all by self-learning or hire some professional for a fees. Investment is not buying lottery and hope it would strike big. You can do so if you truly believe in it since it is your money.

3. Education Account (10%)
Don't missed out of this one people. This fund is put aside for you to do any upgrading in skills or knowledge. You can spend it on books (Reading is a very good way to learn), educational courses or even audio books or DVDs. One way to increase your income is to increase your better odds in life.

4. Long Term Saving for Spending Account (10%)
This saving is for anything covering from retirement (hopefully) or any future spending when one is not able to get a regular income to live on.

5. Play Account (10%)
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. So this account is purely for your enjoyment. You can eat your heart out or get anything you like. If not enough? You can compile the amount after a few months like going on holiday.

6. Give Account (10%)
In this account, you can spend the money on gift to anyone for any occasion. Your Mother gift for Mother's day, a friend's wedding and whatever and whoever you want to spend your money blessing some people. Don't overlook on this account. You never know the power of giving and receiving. It's powerful.

Basically that cover almost every area. Everything has to start somewhere and if you want to get richer, you got to put in effort in it. Better to start late than never. I hope you find it useful as I do.

The Six Jar System is from T. Harv Eker's brilliant book called, The secrets of a millionaire mind.

Oreo New Trick

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:05:01 GMT

My wife was teaching Oreo a new trick by balancing her treats on her head. After Oreo successfully earned that trick, we another step to teach Oreo to balance the treats on her nose. She surprised us at her first attempt by just snapping the treat with one simple movement once we gave the command "Go". I managed to get it on video on her third attempt.

Adam Khoo Toward Transformational Leadership

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:23:00 GMT

Last two days, I attended a company training course at Adam Khoo.

It was fruitful one as we took Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to have better self-Awareness and understanding about ourselves and how to relate to others. We then know our Strength and ~~Weakness~~ Blind spot. You may take an online MBTI test here.

During lunch time, some of the written slides were pasted on the side of the wall. It look really nice that I took some snap shot of it. Look like a art gallery doesn't it?

This side of the wall have some quotes. My favorite one is "What You Focus Upon Expands"

The course touches on Belief System. There are two types of Belief. Limiting belief and Empowering Belief.

Limiting Belief are those belief and thoughts that limit you even before you attempt anything. I am pretty sure many of us do have some. Some even stick with us for years! It just some "Negative" that ground you at where you are which sometime make you feel rather frustrating. It is not that bad as things never change and "Stable" in some ways. However we must know that the world around us is revolving and never stay the same.

Empowering belief on the other hand are those positive thoughts that enable you to take action. I guess a lot of people had problem of being able to have and deal with empower belief. One of the reason could be we do not want to "lie" or "Psyc" ourselves as we may not FEEL nor believe we can and want to go that way. Hm...Is a Feeling logical? Can you justify your feeling? What is your feeling based a upon? Does it comes from a thought?

I guess it is a fine line between talking about your dream and being modest.

But do you really have your dream? I mean really, your own dream like you know what you really want?
What really make you happy?
Do you really know what is happiness?
Is happiness something that you have then you be happy?
Okay, I think I am thinking really deep now but it is good. This is self-awareness.

Is about your Dream and only you can dream your dream. Once you have a dream, you would have to set your Goal to make your dream a reality. So what is the different between Dream and Goal?

Goal is visible measurable target of a dream. It is a plan with a certain time line that you would commit yourself to it. An action plan to that level of dream. Like you want to increase your wealth. So how much wealth you want to obtain? How can I achieve that wealth? That is a Goal.

Take Action is the next step. This is where you put your leg on the ground and start moving according with your action plan. This is the hardest step to take but the most critical point of the process to get to your dream. It is not really a one time process and you have to cultivate lot of drive to do that. There are only two possibilities outcome of your actions. Success or ~~Failure~~ Negative Learning Experiences.

~~Failure~~ Negative Learning Experiences gives you an insight to understand where it went wrong. It is important not to be over emotional about it in order to learn. Learn from it and make the changes in your action plan and take action again. Insanity is doing the SAME thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Success is never an ending point unless you make it as one. It is on the other hand Positive learning Experience that empower not only ourselves but others as well to achieve closer to our dreams.

It is a subject that one should acquire Wisdom and Understanding to discern and to believe.

"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]. "

Eve toy from Wall.E

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:11:59 GMT

Take a break from Animated Transformers series, I decided to do a review of the upcoming animation movie from Disney and PIXAR.Yes, It is Wall.E. I am not going to review on Wall.E himself as I could not make up my mind as there are too many of him in this series. Eve on the other hand has only one in the series and I am very fond of the futuristic design. It is a action figure which is just right for it's size and price. No electronic sound or light but just an simple action figure. Allow me to walk you thru the review.

Package
Colorful package and nice presentation. They did a great job to capture my attention while I was at ToyRus.

Here is the reason why I get this toy even before catching the movie.

Yes, the eye expression. It is shown at the back and side of the package. It really look cute to me.

Time to open up.

Figure
First look out of the package. Nice and Clean!

After removing the last soft plastic container...

At one glace, you can see the Plastic stand, Explosive rock, Weapon right arm, Light bulb and the plant in shoe. All these accessories are according in the movie I guess.

I was unable to capture the 6 expressions which can be change by a simple pressing on EVE's head. Reason? The picture did not turn up well as the surface is too glossy that it reflect the light and that make Eve's eyes expression hard to capture. However, it will be exactly same as the picture below.

In order to make Eve to stand up right, just simply insert one end of the plastic stand from her back.

The other button at her back is for opening the hatch in the front.

You can put the shoe in her.

As for the light bulb, you can put it on her hands. Too bad it does not light up like the movie.

Finally, we come to Eve weapon. Just switch the right arm and it will look great!

With a bit of imagination, you can set the rock exploding.

This toy is indeed value for money. I was pleased to see this toy maker really know how to put a good design in toy and did a good QC on their product. So who is the Toy maker? ThinkwayToys.

You should see the other Wall.E toys. They look very promising. With budget in mind, I do not think I will buy that much for this series. Maybe just one more Wall.E? But which one since there are so many? Headache...

Toy soldier piggy bank

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:31:39 GMT

I received this Toy Soldier piggy bank as a gift during my final year of my secondary school days. It was a gift by the secondary one cadets in St John Ambulance Brigade. I was their NCO and it was a pleasure coaching them in foot drills and first aids. I still can remember they are really interested and serious about learning to be a good first aiders. Their enthusiasm make the other senior cadets pale in comparison. They are really a self-discipline branch.

Actually I chose to take care of the secondary one cadet as they are to coach. Of course I also exercise lot of understanding and grace as they are new in everything. Because of my time and attention given to them, I became their favorite Sergent.

On the last day of my service in St John, they prepare a card and a gift to me. I was very touched by everyone of them. I am glad that I can earned their respect. Actually the pleasure was all my to have such a wonderful branch of juniors who are really sincere in learning to be a good first aiders.

Time flies. I kept this piggy bank for years as a memories of everyone of them. They would have been in their late 20s by now. I sincerely hope everyone of them are doing well in life.

Loneliness of Toy collecting

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:19:09 GMT

Just want to let something off my chest. Not too long ago a fellow toy collector called me up and informed me that he spotted a figure I wanted. He said he will get it for me as he was a retail outlet that moment. A few days later I met up with him and the quality of the toy he got for me was not good. However since he got it for me I just take it. He quoted me a retail price and I pay up for it and thank him for looking out for me.

The very next day, I happened to find out that the toy he bought was at discount for sometime at the same retail outlet he got for me. I was upset and disappointed at his dishonesty. This is not the first time I know such "fellow" collectors claimed "Friend". If it is something I got it out on a auction than I am fine but I know him in person and he did that to me.

A sense of loneliness in Toy collecting overwhelmed me. I was disgusted to see how toys are scraped and the communities were trying to earn money from other collectors. Toy community never want to talk about such topic. Why? because most of those who run that community are doing business of it anyway. Yes Toy Sellers. They do not just buy one toy from retail but they buy couples of them claiming they will open one while keep the other in original packaging. Some even claim they were buying for their friends and lo and behold you get to see them selling it on Sunday flea market or on the online auction. The same person selling the toy at a higher price and making excuses that their friend got extra and no longer like that toy. No longer like that toy? why not be honest to sell it cheap or at least at the price you get from retail?

Toy Collecting community is getting Selfish and Ugly! If it is not selfish, why would some of them be snatching and buying in bulk from retail? If everyone can get the same toy anywhere, will you still want to buy the toy that you bought and claimed to collect? No collector will want to admit or even mention the dark truth but that is the TOY community. Whatever come out, I want it first and if I can I will buy more and sell it off later. Don't you ever open your toys and play with it? Or maybe it is too precious to ever open up the toy and sell it as a investment? If investment is what you are thinking, they are other ways to invest that let you earn more profit rather than that few dollars.

Nevertheless there are still a handful of genuine friendly toy collector who sold me a toy he got extra at retail price and even delivered to my place. Perhaps all is not lost....

Ratchet Transformers Animated Toy

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:57:09 GMT

It is time for another review of Transformers Animated toy.

In animated series, Ratchet is one tough, experience and grumpy Autobot. After the great war, he became more bitter and cynical about everything. He seems to be the one and only "first-aider" around.

Packaging
With Red as the main theme, it look pretty outstanding. However only half of his accessories (2 out of 4) are only visible from the packaging.

Nice quote from Ratchet found on the back of the card.

Time to open it up!

Vehicle Mode
In vehicle Ratchet disguise as an ambulance. I really like the clear blue window. Notice that this ambulance are much more like a 4x4 vehicle or Jeep?

In vehicle mode, Ratchet got no problem rolling. The wheels are smooth. The paint however can be better.

Time to transform!

Transformation
This process is rather simple and a pleasant surprise is the head will pop up automatically in the middle of the transformation. Only tricky part is the shoulder area.

Robot Mode
In robot mode, Ratchet really good BUT it has some amount of difficulty in standing as his belly is rather big.

The face of Ratchet look great! Just like animated series.

Yes Ratchet, it is all written on your face.

Weapons & Accessories
Ratchet has 2 weapons in the animated series. His main weapons are two electromagnets that can extend from his forearms which can move and manipulate metallic objects in midair, or create magnetic shields. In the toy it can be put from the back of his hands.

Another will be an electromagnetic pulse generator which come with a Decepticon's bounty hunter, Lockdown toy. That can be mounted on Ratchet's left arm showing the picture below. I will come back to that one again in Lockdown review. :)

The toy maker is generous with accessories when it come to Ratchet. They even thought of where to put those 4 accessories when he is in robot mode. It allow the players to clip the accessories at Ratchet's back.

And here how it look when everything is mounted.

Ratchet's hand allow some movement in the thumb. This is the first animated figure I seen with such movement so far. A tiny step but good improvement.

Why would Ratchet has a hammer? Hm...

Joining with the Team
Now it is time for Deluxe Ratchet to join up with my others deluxe animated series Autobot.
With Deluxe Bumble Bee

With Deluxe Prowl

Look pretty alright in Robot mode...

but in Vehicle mode...

Overall a decent piece of toy but can be better.

Life will find a way

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:09:27 GMT

I was on the bus the other day and I was surprised to catch this amazing sight. Maybe for some may not feel it is amazing but I do. I was so impressed that I took a picture of it.

The power and wonder of Life.

These plant actually grow on the side window outside the air-condition bus. Despite rain or shine, strong wind current and shaking vibration generated by the velocity of the moving bus, this plant against all odd grow and survive. It kept me thinking about the possibility of the seed to get into the small opening of the rubber on the moving bus. For the seed to grow and given water and light. What could be the percentage of possibility of such things that happen?

I do not know how much time this plant meet the fate of uprooting by the bus cleaner but till that happen, I am certain that this plant will continue to grow and the very least survive. Of course there is limited space for it to continue to grow but hey, it actually grown!

That the power of nature and life. When conditions are just right, miracles happen. And life find it's own way.