Legalised Scamming

I don't know if any of you have been victims of this thing called legalised scamming. What do I mean? Well, I'm sure you've all heard of Reader's Digest Magazine? Yes, that's the one with the small booklet with interesting materials to read that you can cram into your bag or pocket and read on the bus or train. Little did we all know that behind this set of interesting books, there was a scam going around. It is not exclusive to Reader's Digest, but they are the most well-known.

They first approach you through snail mail, telling you that you were 1 of the many, many people selected in their sweepstakes, luring you with hopes and promises, that you will win a large sum of money, say $125,000. Then at the same time, they say that you're very important to them, they send you a fake car key to say that it will open the car of your dreams, IF you win. Then they bombard you week after week with ridiculous mail, with legitimate signatures of authenticity, appealing to your vanity, and undermining your intelligence by asking you to paste this here, stick this sticker there. Then send your mail back within 7 days, to receive... yet another one of these ridiculous mails telling you to stick this here and paste this there. The cycle is repeated a few times, each time, they assure you that you're getting closer to getting exclusively picked for the final contestant to winning the sweepstakes, with literally no end in sight.

It seemed harmless at first, until more interesting things are thrown into the mix. Once they're sure you're hooked, they start asking you to subscribe to their magazine. Well, I haven't done so, so I decided to give it a go. I do love reading and Reader's Digest, despite their ability to scam you with their sweepstakes, do print the latest interesting news and information. Soon, they decide that, whoa, this customer is hooked, we're going to reel him in. They start sending you more mail, imprinting it as very important, you're important etc etc etc, blah, blah, blah. A lot of gibberish, mixed with some little footnotes that you might accidentally miss out and fail to read. For those who are not exactly educated, it's even worse, they will miss it out completely.

The "promise" of sending you gifts start, wow you say, that looks nice, send it to me. AHA, the mistake starts there. Little do you know (if you don't read all those words carefully) that these "gifts" are actually carrots, dangling there, for you to grab. In a few weeks you receive the stick behind the carrot, the bill, asking you to pay up for the carrots, which cost quite a lot.

Once they started with the subscription, I was very hesitant with the sweepstakes, but once they started with the "gifts", I stopped playing with them completely. I cut the hook and swam away, or so the proverbial hook, line and sinker story goes.

Although this entire exercise of getting you to subscribe to their magazine is legal, it is still a professional scam with their sweepstakes. All the photos of the winners could be their own employees who were asked to take photos with whatever winning cheque or car, is a scam. Always remember that a photo is a snapshot of the moment, what happened leading up to that moment or what happens after that photo is taken, we don't know. So don't assume that they won the sweepstakes unless you're there to witness it for yourself.

Call me skeptical, but sometimes, taking added precautions is a necessity. In this developing country, there are bound to be professional scammers around, wanting to take away your money, always promising you with reaping rewards, but you end up with nothing in the end. And if you try to sue them, they will say that they gave you a choice and you decided to enter the contest, everything was written and spelt out, you just didn't read it carefully enough. So, they are protected against anything you try to get them with, but you yourself are NOT protected.

Nowadays, there are phonecalls with Chinese Nationals calling you up and telling you that you've won something, and to come down to get your prize. How they get your mobile number is completely beyond me. Someone is selling our numbers to them, those contests that we enter. To make it more legit, they throw in an authorisation code. Little do you know that if you go down, they will ask you to sit for hours to listen to something they're trying to sell, or to part with some of your money.

I kept all their letters safely, to remind myself that I will not be duped a 2nd time into this legalised scamming. Now, hopefully, people who read this blog will wise-up and learn from my mistakes. When you see something that says Reader Digest Sweepstakes, if it does not say you're the winner, take the mail, tear it into millions of pieces and throw it out together with the garbage it belongs to.

If Reader Digest reads this blog, shame on you for trying to scam us into your sweepstakes. I had held you in the highest esteem since reading your magazine that held lots of varieties and interesting stories. But now, I find that you're just like any other con-artist, trying to cheat us all of our money. As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!

Why So Serious?

The latest posters to the next Batman movie - The Dark Knight.

Before & After

BEFORE MARRIAGE

He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to wait.
She: Do you want me to leave?
He: NO! Don't even think about it.
She: Do you love me?
He: Of course! Over and over!
She: Have you ever cheated on me?
He: NO! Why are you even asking?
She: Will you kiss me?
He: Every chance I get!
She: Will you hit me?
He: Are you crazy! I'm not that kind of person!
She: Can I trust you?
He: Yes.
She: Darling!

AFTER MARRIAGE:
Read from the bottom going up

Is 3G Really Necessary?

Lately there has been a lot of hype about 2G and 3G handphones (mobile phones to some people). What the hype is, I really don't know. Suffice to say, other than you being able to use the phone as a phone, the added feature for 3G will be that you have a small little camera, usually located on the top right hand corner of your phone, and you can actually chat with your friend face to face, so to speak. He/she can see you, you can see him/her and vice versa.

Who have you actually seen using a 3G phone, chatting with their friends face to face? I don't think it's feasible and necessary. At the same time, I'm sure that there will be some kind of cost incurred to beam your mugshot all the way to your friend's phone, not forgetting that the connection is 2 way, I imagine it to be pretty costly! At the same time, with the network and infrastructure not completely in place yet, what is the connection speed like? Will there be some kind of lag time when viewing the party you're chatting with. They could be staying hello, and the next thing you see is them waving goodbye, with all the conversation in between lagged and cut off!

Is 3G really necessary? How important is it to look at someone when you're talking to them? I'm sure that Alexander Graham Bell didn't invent the telephone so that we could see who we are talking to! He invented the phone so that he could connect with people all over the world, without leaving the comfort of your location/position.

This generation is taking things 1 step further by allowing you to use 3G to see your friend. Perhaps in 10 years time, we will all be walking around with a holographic projector, so that it's projecting your friend(s) when you're chatting with them, either 1 to 1 or in a conference call, like you're in the same room/location with them.

When selecting a new handphone to buy, how important is it to have a 3G function? I've also noticed that reviewers tend to give a slightly more negative review or scoring if the phone doesn't have a 3G function, it's actually listed as a con and not a pro. Isn't it better not to have 3G function as compared to having 3G function?

I think that this 3G function in your phone is a marketing scam. It's an added feature, so you'll have to pay more for your phone, but you can't use it yet, so it's just this little white elephant feature on your phone that works on the same principle as a condom: I'd rather have one and not need it than need one and not have it.

Have these handphone making companies also factor in that more and more students are using handphones? Cost incurred will be higher than normal. Perhaps they're going to streamline 3G functions in a few years, so that it works the same way now as emailing. 10 years ago, nobody had emails, now, we use emails to communicated every minute of the day.

Of course, those who are not willing to change with history will be swept aside by it. But if you really think about it, practicality comes into play. I still do not see how a 3G phone will improve my life, as compared to a normal phone now, I will admit that the camera on the handphone has it's moments, but the 3G function, it's just a huge marketing scam to jack up their phone prices, or to show off that you have something that your friends does not have.

Paperless

Is a paperless system truly paperless? Everyone is slowly switching from a paper system to a paperless system. Which means all the conversion of data from paper into the computer system. Most of the time, it's for easy access and filing.

We all hate the idea of writing up forms, bills and other documents and then after completing them, file them away in some godforsaken cabinet you hope would disappear down a black hole and magically snap your fingers and reappear the moment you need the documents the most.

A few years down the road, this cabinet grows and spawns a few more cabinets of the same type, containing endless amounts of documents. Then someone will decide that you need a system to file all those documents, let's say alphabetically by year. After a sense of normalcy and order, a few more years down the road and these cabinets take up an entire room, and keep filling up the room with no end in sight. Then you decide that 1 room isn't enough and renovate your office to have a bigger space for filing documents. Eventually, enough's enough. You've completely run out of space, and the documents are still occupying a room or 2 or 3. Then the computer age sets in and everything seems to brighten up - light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Wrong!

With technology advancing so quickly nowadays, you can get a cheap external or internal harddisk for a relatively cheap price. At the same time, the ability of these harddisk to hold data seems to grow exponentially. Soon, we'll advance to the point of using crystals for holding information like Kryptonians do (thanks Superman!). The latest, at time of writing, is 1 TB (no, not tuberculosis, terabyte). 1 TB is 1000 GB (gigabyte). It's almost like a bottomless pit for data. So, the entire harddisk that fits into the palm of your hand will store documents, data and information from those numerous filing cabinets occupying rooms. Look at that, it's been compacted! Everything is small now, like a microfilm dot.

However, when a paperless system was introduced, it was hallelujah for everyone. Wow, let the computer handle the filing, cataloging and archiving, as long as I don't have to do it. Now, there's a great need for security protocols, standardisation, fault-finding, trouble-shooting and much more. An introduction to audit trails, training on the correct way to sign a document, time stamps, removing mistakes.

It looks like we're replacing 1 system for another, AND adding on much, much more irrelevant things to do. Now, computer printouts have to have signatures, auto-generated reports have to have time and date stamps on top of signatures of operators and people who review them to ensure quality and accuracy before adding their signature to the mix. So, eventually 1 document will have at least 3 signatures (which is a sin!). More effort than it's worth to print out.

Everything mechanical still needs the human touch. Retrieval of information is fast, I said fast, not accurate, if you have all the search parameters wrong, you still won't be able to find what you're looking for. Then we have to worry about power failures, no power, no computer, no work. What else? Viruses, worms, harddisk crashing, backups. The list is endless!

I can almost imagine that all the information will be held on the Internet virtually perhaps 10 years down the road. You don't even need those pesky harddisks that also take up space and run on electricity. Holding information virtually means that even if there's a power failure and you can't access it, the information is still there somehow, lost in cyberspace, but retrievable. We tend to enjoy keeping tons of stuff (aka junk) lying around and pretending it's not there.

Eventually it all boils down to the pros and cons of it all. Is a paperless system more advantageous than a paper one? Human factor plays the most important part in this. Computers haven't been given decision-making abilities to the point that they can make competent and correct ones. This still needs the human touch.

So if proper and logical protocols and methodologies are incorporated into a paperless system, it does become an enjoyable system to work with. Unfortunately, I have yet to see any company or office that has been able to balance these delicate properties, in order to ensure that the majority of all their employees work comfortably and happily - something they ought to work hard on getting right to ensure maximum efficiency!

South Africa Wins Rugby World Cup 2007

PARIS, 20 October - South Africa defeated England 15-6 in the world cup final at Stade de France on Saturday to add a second Webb Ellis Cup to the one they won as hosts in 1995.

Reigning champions England came into the match on the back of four impressive victories after a poor start to the tournament but were unable to find a way through a disciplined Springboks outfit who were miserly in defence, dominated the line-outs and kicked five penalties.

England fly half Jonny Wilkinson, the hero of their 2003 triumph in Sydney, was unable to turn on the magic this time, missing two drop goal attempts and given little chance to impose himself on the match.

South Africa led England 9-3 at the break after an even first half marked by tactical high kicking and little open play.

Both sides sought to flex their muscle and apply pressure with a series of up-and-unders, though to little avail.

Percy Montgomery opened the scoring with a three-pointer on seven minutes after centre Mathew Tait had slipped and become isolated in the ruck and England were penalised for failing to release.

Wilkinson squared the ledger on 13 minutes after South Africa wing Bryan Habana was called for lying on the tackled player, counterpart Paul Sackey.

Repelled on line

But Montgomery regained the advantage for South Africa three minutes later after team-mate Butch James was adjudged to have been impeded on a kick and chase.

Wilkinson tried a quick riposte but pushed his drop goal attempt wide.

South Africa twice attacked late in the half but were repelled on the line on both occasions.

However, they were awarded a penalty for the second drive and Montgomery kicked truly to push the margin out to six points.

England began the second half in sensational style as Tait cut a swathe through the middle of the South Africa defence with a series of steps and swerves to set Mark Cueto up for a try. But after a long deliberation by the TV match official, the wing was ruled to have been in touch when he crossed over in the corner.

A Wilkinson penalty kick for an infringement earlier in the movement was some consolation, though.

England's hopes were hit on 48 minutes when full back Jason Robinson, playing his last match before retirement, left the field with a shoulder injury.

Montogmery squeezed home his fourth penalty from as many kicks on 51 minutes to restore his side's six-point lead (12-6) after England conceded for handling in a ruck.

Francois Steyn took over the kicking duties on 62 minutes when England were penalised for obstruction and the impressive young centre didn't let his side down, piercing the uprights from 46 metres.

Taken from www.rugbyworldcup.com

CONGRATULATIONS SPRINGBOKS!!!

There was no doubt that the Springboks would win this competition after the upset in the earlier rounds, where the New Zealand and Australia teams were knocked out of the competition.

Forgive my comments, but this is one that's been said to be going around my office at present time, and I tend to agree that there's some truth in it:

The French rugby team should just stick to their underwear modelling after their complete and utter failure to defeat the Argentinian rugby team! hehehe...

Prediction Vs Actual Score

It's the Rugby World Cup's semi-finals this weekend, with England vs France and South Africa Vs Argentina.

Here're my predictions, optimistic scores at best!

England 32 - 28 France

South Africa 48 - 32 Argentina

Well, I'll wake up to good news or bad tomorrow, but let's hope it won't be an upset. Sorry to all the French, but I don't want them to win. I want the Spring Boks to win, and they're the contenders for this year's world cup, unless there's a huge upset.

We shall see, more updates tomorrow morning...

Update 1

FRANCE IS OUT!!! HOORAY!! England beat France 14 - 9, with Jonny Wilkinson delivering a goal-kick on 75 minutes and a drop goal on 78 minutes to clinch the victory! Congratulations England! Now, we have to get rid of Argentina.

Update 2

Argentina is out, as predicted. The Springboks beat them 37 - 13. Far from my expected predictions. My friends tell me this isn't like basketball where the scores are so varied. Rugby depends on the kicks and the drop goals earned, thus the strange scoring system.

Anyhow, the stage is set for the Rugby World Cup Finals between England and South Africa!

I want South Africa to win!

Resident Evil: Extinction

It's been quite awhile, no, correction, a bloody long time since I watched a damn good movie. Of course, it goes without saying that I've watched several horrible ones. However, some of the horrible ones were horrible because the plot was lame and the acting was, well, horrible!

I've been so busy at work, either an action thriller, or a comedy to laugh my heart out would have done wonders to my morale. So, I chose action thriller and what better action thriller than watching Milla Jovovich kill zombies, shoot up bad guys and maybe blow up a few things along the way, in other words, kick @$$!!!

Yes, Milla, she's the newest action-babe on the block. Forget Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, and (God forbid me to go back so far) Charleton Heston! The 2000 era has ushered in female action heroes. It all started with computer gaming character Lara Croft, the scantily clad archaeologist with C cups, in search of the most mystified treasures on Earth.

>>Warning Some Spoilers Below<<

Anyhow, I won't say that Resident Evil: Extinction was good or bad. I had my own reasons to watch it, more of a de-stress movie for me. I loved the way Milla kicked @$$ and still look pretty! Yes, can you believe it, in all that dry, desert air, fighting zombies and killing black zombie crows and all that shit, her complexion was still beautiful, skin was so supple and moisturised, with lipstick! Wow, if only everyone could look that good in real-life. Perhaps it's her L'Oreal or Mabeline make-up doing the trick - She's [definitely] worth it!

The plot centred around Alice, it wasn't explained what she was doing riding around the desert in her bike saving lives. There was a small convoy of humans who were uninfected by the T-virus trying to find a safe haven free from zombies. Somewhere in the middle, Alice finds them being attacked by zombie crows and uses her new psychic powers to safe them, thus reuniting with Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) from the second movie. They then journey to Las Vegas, which has been reclaimed by the desert for the past 5 years. Of course, Dr Isaacs (Iain Glen) lays a trap for everyone, to get a sample of Alice's blood, which has bonded with the T-virus and can cure the world of all T-virus mutations. Dr Isaacs get bitten one of his mutant zombies and gets infected, turning into the Tyrant, another new breed of zombies, but gets killed in the end with the help from an Alice clone. The movie ends with room for what will happen next when all the Alice clones awaken, and the original Alice's warning to go after The Umbrella Corporation in Japan.

There you have it, an average hacker, slasher, action-thriller sequel with a little bit of plot. I won't recommend it for hardcore movie-goers who go for all that serious drama. But once in awhile, you need to watch these movies to just entertain oneself from work and boredom.

6.5 out of 10 stars (mostly for all the jumps, suspense, action and zombies!)

A Map Of Humanity

I saw this somewhere and thought, what an interesting idea if the world were rearranged this way!
(You might have to click to enlarge to see the big picture.)

Spear Britney & The Death Of MTV

I really don't know about you all, but I think that MTV has had brain cancer for quite some time now. It's been going on for years actually, and every so often it goes through some sort of chemotherapy and other kinds of hopeless ways to try and save itself and prolong the agonising death-throes. Strangely enough, the annual Video Music Awards have always seemed to help boost the terminally ill channel somewhat, but it's plain to see that there's just no cure for this type of cancer.

The entire Britney Spears comeback on VMA was a total, complete and utter joke. Britney isn't Britney anymore, you can see it in her eyes, the drive and focus is gone, the youth and sweetness (if there ever was) is gone. She seemed to be out of place, confused even, on stage. She couldn't even lip-sync correctly, her hair looked like a hurricane-hit mess. Her overall performance was completely and sadly lame and worse of all, she's fat (at least too fat for her outfit). On top of that, it seems like its a whole bunch of college interns running MTV let alone the VMA's.

Five minutes into the show and they had technical difficulties. Sarah Silverman isn't funny and it was clear the audience didn't like her, she's a dingbat and a complete moron! And the whole Vegas party idea for the show is plain dumb. It's suppose to be an Awards show - not a hotel-room party. You can't advertise "performances by so and so" and only show clips of the performances because they're taking place in some hotel suite upstairs, and not in the main show hall.

They cut to commercials in the middle of a Maroon 5 performance like it was some Tonight Show Band, I was really pissed over that! MTV really shouldn't be on the air anymore. The only MTV series I actually loved was Celebrity Death-match. Those plasticine models were simply hilarious, throw in a murderous celebrity, a cat-fight, and the death match really takes off! I wish they would get those out on DVD soon, I would love to buy those for keepsake.

MTV hasn't been branching out, they've been concentrating a lot (and I mean a lot) to promote hip-hop artistes. Hip-hop isn't the only music in the world, or perhaps that's the way MTV wants to picture themselves. No wonder they're stuck in a cesspool.

Yes, people are allowed to make mistakes, but when you're already sick beyond help or hope, you really can't afford to do anything to help them. It's time for MTV to turn over and die. Perhaps they would consider euthanasia as a more discreet method of killing off.

Somewhere, Kevin Federline is rolling on the floor and laughing his @$$ off...

Dengue Cases Dropping...Why?

Just a few moments ago, my friend and I finally deduced why dengue cases dropped, or rather, she deduced it, I merely told her I'll write it on my blog.

OK, let's backtrack a little bit. For this entire year, the number of dengue cases have been on the rise. I can't remember the last time I walked by a wet area and someone will whisper the word "dengue", almost like they saw a ghost, when pointing to some pond or body of water.

At the same time, today is the last day of the Hungry Ghost Festival and you know what? Before all those ancestors of ours decide to rush back through the gates of hell before they close, us mortals decided to increase the rate and number of times we need to burn joss paper aka hell notes aka money for the dead! A bunch of superstitious people, we think that the more we burn, the luckier we will get, the more money we will strike through some lottery and make us all rich.

The only good that came out of all this is the amount of smoke that is generated in every estate. Smoke, as you all know, drives out insects and most important of all, mosquitoes! So the more we burn joss paper and incense, the less number of mozzies flying around biting us and spreading dengue.

What a simple and efficient solution! Of course, for those of us who hate smoke, be smoke generated by burning something, or cigarette smoke, it becomes smoke inhalation. So, in the other words, whether there's smoke or mozzies, or either, or neither, it's a lose-lose situation for us! If not, then perhaps global warming will get us.

We're doomed!

iPod Touch

With the release of the iPhone in June, this new iPod was bound to come out sooner or later, it was just a matter or when! This is the iPod that everyone has been waiting with baited breath for. A touchscreen music player, that can play movies and surf the Internet. Everything you ever wanted in a touchscreen product, without the phone.

I think whenever Apple comes out with portable products, it's very important to look at the handiness and battery life. This latest iPod Touch boasts a battery life of 22 hours for regular music playback and 5 hours for video playback. It also has Wi-Fi support for you to download your music and surf the Internet. What more could you ask for?

If only Apple will trade in my older iPod model for this new one. I don't even mind topping up the extra cost. Then again, my present iPod cost more than the starting price of this little baby!

Release date 28 Sep 2007

Blogger Picture Element Problem - Need Help!

If you readers of this blog haven't already noticed, some of the picture elements added to the right hand side of this blog are distorted. Distorted not because it was originally distorted, but because there seems to be a bug in the picture element widget.

There was never a problem before, but only recently, these few months, have there been this stretching effect to accommodate the pictures I put up from regular A4 portrait sizes to square CD format sizes.

I've personally written to the blogger support team about 1 month ago, but the problem doesn't seem to have been fixed or solved yet. I'm not sure if it's exclusive to my blog only, so everyone else has to give it a try and give me some comments and feedback below.

I've tried many things, including, completely removing the picture elements and re-adding them to the blog again. Short of deleting this entire blog and starting from scratch, I'm going to try opening another blog to see if the same problem occurs in the new one.

Any help or suggestions from anyone will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

The Prayer

This entry has been a long time coming, but I've been listening to this recording for ages now. It deserves it's rightful place as one of the best recordings I've ever heard of the original duet by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. However, there have been many others who have sung this song, like Josh Groban and Charlotte Church (the worst ever duet recording I've heard, probably due to Charlotte's irritating vocals!) and well, some others who I don't care to name.

Originally this song was written by David Foster for the movie Quest For Camelot, it's an animated movie in 1998. Celine Dion sang the original solo version in the OST (Original Sound Track) for the movie, with slightly different lyrics. Then it was re-written both lyrically and musically for Celine Dion's and Andrea Bocelli's duet at the Grammy Awards a few years back to great success. Although I did also enjoy the live version at a concert of Celine Dion singing it with her original duet partner Josh Groban, who was brought in to replace Andrea Bocelli during the Grammy rehearsals because he was ill.

After which, it became the bread and butter song of all duets to come. Everywhere you go, famous duets wanted to sing it, most were hideous and paled in comparison to Celine Dion's and Andrea Bocelli's amazing vocal performances, until this solo version by Anthony Callea of Australian Idol fame came along. This version amazed me to the fullest, the vocals were incredible and although a shorter version musically, it sang volumes to my heart and gives me goosebumps every single time I listen to it.

On top of that, it was a hit when the single was released in December 2004. This version debut at number 1 and was number 1 on the charts for 5 consecutive weeks. Within 7 weeks it was the highest selling Australian single of all time. It was certified 4 times platinum, selling in excess of 280,000 copies.

I've included the Youtube.com Australian Idol version of it below, complete with lyrics, enjoy!

I pray you'll be our eyes, and watch us where we go.
And help us to be wise in times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer, when we lose our way
Lead us to the place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe

La luce che tu dai nel cuore resterà
A ricordarci che eterna stella sei
Nella mia preghiera quanta fede c’è
Lead us to a place guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe

Sogniamo un mondo senza più violenza
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino
Simbolo di pace, di fraternità

La forza che ci dà
We ask that life be kind
And watch us from above
And hope each soul will find another soul to love
Let this be our prayer, just like every child

E la fede che
Hai acceso in noi,
Sento che ci salverà

Amazon Dot Fucking Com

I've to apologise first for the strong title, but it says it all. I like to review stuff, especially things that I've bought. This always helps others decide whether or not to buy the same item I've bought and appreciate it, or not to buy it because someone else has warned them not to because of defects or that it's bad in other ways. Even if they're not things purchased through Amazon.com, when reviewing it, it all comes down to the same thing isn't it? People write reviews, because they feel strongly about something they've read or seen or done.

Like watching a movie for example, after that, you'll definitely have your own opinions about whether or not the movie was fantastic or it was fucked up or it isn't worth watching. Some people like me, review it on a blog, others who don't have blogs write an online review on mega-online websites like Amazon.com or Barnes & Nobles etc. Some don't even bother at all, but that's not the issue here.

I recently finished with Sandworms of Dune in a previously review written below and gave it 1 out of 10 stars on my blog. It was a horrible and hideous novel, written by incompetents idiot authors who don't know what they're dabbling in, on the hidden pretext that Frank Herbert left notes in a secret safe deposit box saying that he left an outline for the rest of his epic saga.

Well, here's the thing, I tried to write an online review, already omitting several strong paragraphs before sending it off to Amazon.com to publish it. After 2 days, Amazon.com didn't publish it. There have been problems before with writing reviews online and not getting my reviews publish has been a previous problem. Perhaps they blacklisted my account. So, after not hearing from them, I write another online review, again omitting even more strong words and here's their reply:

"Your review of Sandworms of Dune was removed because your comments in large part focused on your personal opinions of the subject matter, rather than reviewing this item."

I really thought that a review is suppose to be about personal opinions. At the same time, I tried not revealing too many spoilers along the way. There's no point in spoiling the plot for people who haven't read it. However, the people at Amazon.com, who seem to have time to read reviews and edit/omit them from being posted (I wonder why they even bother with this?) seem to have another different opinion of how reviews should be posted. Perhaps they've had too many complaints from customers with people who write too many online reviews with their personal opinions of the subject matter.

Occasionally, I do get emails from Amazon.com asking me to review the stuff I've purchased from them. In doing that, I guess they're trying to give me a choice to review it online. Well, it looks like there's absolutely no point in doing so anymore. And don't think that this is a small matter. I'll be emailing all my friends to boycott reviewing stuff on the website. In any business, I always believe that word of mouth is the best kind of publicity, or in this case negative publicity. And word of mouth, no matter how accurately or twisted it gets when it's passed out, will spread like wild-fire, and somehow, strangely enough, people believe it like gospel.

Amazon.com's standard has dropped through the years. Previously, after I've sent them an email, I'll get some kind of auto-acknowledgment email to tell me that they've received it and will get back to me in a few working days, now there's no such email anymore. Well, if they're not interested to post or publish my reviews, to hell with them. I'll just post it on this blog.

Addicted

78%How Addicted to Blogging Are Yoffsadf
Gee, and to think that me blogging away like that was already on the tame side! HA!

A Vision Completely Twisted: Dune Read This Book!

At least 1 of my predictions came true when trying to foretell how Sandworms of Dune was going to end. Which prediction was that? The one where the Thinking Machines, with the help of the Oracle of Time, was exiled into the starless universe where the Ithaca started out at the end of Chapterhouse: Dune.

I was completely, totally and utterly disappointed with how the story ended. At least the Harry Potter series ended better than this. I can now say for certain that Frank Herbert's outline was the most basic, in which his son, Brian Herbert and that absolute moron Kevin J Anderson, decided to twist beyond recognition.

I have personally read and confirmed the contents of Frank's final notes for Dune's finale from his secret safe deposit box, which goes:

From: Frank Herbert (aka dad)
To: Brian Herbert (aka son)
Subject: My Most Secret Outline For Dune's Finale...

(1) The mysterious enemies are Thinking Machines.
This probably spawned the prequels and pre-prequels that were written to explain humans hatred of machines.

(2) Honoured Matres are Tleilaxu females aka axolotl tanks.
For the idiots to connect the dots if they haven't seen it already.

(3) Gholas will [illegible scribbles and doodles, unintelligent drawings of spirals]
This probably spawned all those stupid little ghola cast of the original Dune characters.

(4) Use your imagination for the rest, my son...

Love,
Signed,
Frank Herbert (aka dad)

When I first read that Frank Herbert left notes for his Dune novel finale, I was jumping for joy that Dune will finally be completed in the way that he wanted it to be. How wrong I was then. Perhaps, it was foolish to hope that it would have ended the way I wanted it to end.

There is no such thing as ultraspice, Frank Herbert would have had a heart attack or a brain aneurysm if he even learned such an appalling sacrilege. Genetically modified sandtrout (the larvae stage of sandworms), created to live in the oceans of Buzzell as waterworms by a semi-retarded Tleilaxu? Lead character gholas from all of Frank's original 6 books with, strangely enough, the Bene Gesserit sisters who were most important, missing?

I don't even know where to begin to poke holes in the story or to tear the story apart. Even with 2 people writing, they still couldn't capture the essence of the Dune novels that Frank wrote. Granted, they got the sand, the worms and the gholas right, but that's about it. The rest was just pure fantasy added to a rich and amazingly well-woven universe, riddled with unnecessary pretext that convey superior positions of power.

I've always believed that all the Dune novels were, to us who read them, a complete history of the planet Dune. In trying to fumble through writing the prequels and pre-prequels, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson lost sight and became blind to this very fact, thus losing sight of where Frank's Golden Path was leading them, if they were even following it in the first place. I'm surprised that Dune fans haven't taken up arms, gone to the their homes and murdered these 2 authors. Conversely, I'm also surprised that these 2 authors haven't committed suicide yet to escape death at the hands of their fans on the streets.

I've made the mistake of reading several of Kevin J Anderson's novels and was appalled by the complete lack of substance in his books. He destroyed the X-Files, the Star Wars novels and now Dune. On top of that, he's written some horrid sci-fi novels of his own. Brian Herbert, I can't say for sure, but I dare not try to even read his novels.

The real person I pity is Frank Herbert, who started something so beautifully written with such magnificent scope and potential, only to have it torn down by his son and collaborator, out to write utter crap to sell for their personal gain. Sure, I was the fool to have read and followed the Dune series, to see how it ended - I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. But if I didn't, I wouldn't have known how shit read like.

If you read my earlier review of Hunters of Dune, I did end it by saying that I burnt that book, and to wait for Sandworms of Dune with a flamethrower. Where's that flamethrower? I think I'll reinvent the recipe for greek fire, or black napalm in order to ensure that these hideous books burn its way out of our universe forever!

I also propose that Dune fans unite, gather all copies of this novel and launch it into our sun. And then ensure that Frank's 6 original Dune novels remain forever the ONLY canon to the Dune universe!

1 out of 10 stars

Simpson-ized!

I've managed to immortalize myself as a Simpson character!

If you want to one too, go to the following website
and follow the instructions there. It's fun!
http://simpsonizeme.com

Supplemental:
Chris, I gave up on the eyes, I couldn't find eyes that look like mine!
I added sunglasses while I was at it, it's a Ray Ban!

Everything

One of my favourite songs of all time from my favourite band Lifehouse, is the song Everything. Here are the lyrics of this incredible song:

Find me here
Speak to me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place where I find peace again.

You are the strength,
that keeps me walking.
You are the hope,
that keeps me trusting.
You are the light
to my soul.
You are my purpose...
you're everything.

And how can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be
any better than this?

You calm the storms,
and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands,
you won't let me fall.
You steal my heart,
and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in?
Take me deeper now?

And how can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be
any better than this?

And how can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be
any better than this?

Cause you're all I want,
You're all I need
You're everything, everything
You're all I want
you're all I need
You're everything, everything.
You're all I want
you're all I need.
You're everything, everything
You're all I want
you're all I need,
you're everything, everything.

And how can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be
any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be
any better, any better than this?

And how can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be
any better than this?

Would you tell me how could it be
any better than this?

Happily Ever After

The long wait was finally over, as of 0701H this morning (21 Jul 07), the 7th and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released to the entire world, through much fanfare. Some minor spoilers scattered below, so read at your own risk.

JK Rowling is amazing at storytelling and for building up suspense to the readers to read and find out what happens in the end. With just 7 novels, she's made millions and become richer than the Queen of England, not forgetting royalties from the Harry Potter movies also.

However, she tends not to make the death of her major characters clear-cut. For example, Sirius Black falling into the veil, that was ambiguous, it kept fans guessing if he's still alive or there might be some kind of hope that he will return. She never explained the veil portal, or where it leads. At least if she did, it would have been more obvious that the character had indeed died, and there wouldn't have been this huge debate of whether or not he was truly dead. This truly obsessed fans to research and scrutinise every single detail of all the books for clues.

Many questions were answered in this book, but there were many other that were left open-ended without a conclusion. What happened to the giants? What happened to Hagrid's brother Grawp? What about Hermione's campaign to free to house-elves? Her epilogue could have been longer and more detailed, for all time's sake.

Lord Voldemort was indeed truly evil and ambitious. While pursuing to return to a human body, he did find some other projects to do. Kill his enemies, search for the items pertaining to the deathly hallows, try to kill Harry Potter. Let's put it this way, he was bent on magical world domination, like some James Bond villain. He was hellbent on destroying his nemesis Harry Potter in order to "rule" unequalled. But perhaps he could have stopped while he was at it and still "rule" the world. An experienced and powerful dark wizard, time and time again having his plans thwarted by a young teenage boy, must have put him to such shame.

In the end, enemies became friends, and even some family was found again. I don't think they really explained what happened to other characters like Cho Chang. Rowling never again touched on the other wizard schools. I expected a international battle against Voldemort, not a one man show. It's all about balance in the magical world. And the cycle continues again with the next generation of wizards, free from the world of Lord Voldemort.

I would have preferred a much darker ending than the goodie-goodie ending, where perhaps one of his close friends like Ron or Hermione was murdered and Harry never found love ever again. He would be an auror like he always wanted to be, hunting down every last death-eater and anyone else evil there was. It was happily ever after like some fairy tale. Perhaps that would have angered fans all around the world, but hey, a twist does make things a tad more interesting and unforgettable sometimes.

But what have I learnt from the entire series? Magic is wondrous and helps expand our imagination beyond limits; true friendship, love, courage, cowardice, hope, despair, betrayal, jealousy, good, evil, wickedness, revenge, obsession; good always prevails no matter what, but many people have to die in order for that to happen.

A crying shame that the series has ended. Let's hope that JK Rowling will be able to dazzle us with another series of beautifully crafted novels to read in the future, someday. I, for one, am hoping that she writes murder mysteries, she's excellent at keeping the readers in suspense for the longest time!

8.5 out of 10 stars

Kingsand

This post is for Amanda. I must confess that I fell in love with this quaint little village by the sea. It is so beautiful and relaxing, and the people are friendly and lovely. If I ever have the time, I will definitely want to return for another visit. Last visit was in August 2003. If you look closely Amanda, you can see Trenance!

Iron Man 2008

I have to admit, I was never really a fan of Iron Man in Marvel.

He kept changing his armour, and he was another millionaire
playboy with a moustache in an armoured suit. Yawn.
What's more, when I found out that Robert Downey Jr
was playing Iron Man, it was double yawn and yucks!
I preferred Iron Man's nemesis, The Mandarin, with his power rings!
But the poster is nice though, perhaps the movie might
change my perception of the character.
Or not...

7 New Wonders?

The latest results for the 7 new wonders of the world have been released. I've added my comments as to why they should or should not have been chosen below:

1. Chichen Itza, Mexico
Created by man, almost resembling the great pyramids of Egypt. Yes, I believe it's a wonder.

2. Christ Redeemer, Brazil
What the hell is this doing as a wonder? How can a statue of a religious person be a wonder? It is completely bias. In that case, they should have brought up all the Shiva statues or huge Buddha statues around the world. Perhaps they're trying to compare it to the Colossus at Rhodes, one of the ancient wonders? I call for a revote for this.

3. The Great Wall, China
A definite yes. This great wall has withstood the test of time and can be seen from space.

4. Machu Picchu, Peru
This shouldn't even be here, the location is in ruins, how will this stand the test of time in the future?

5. Petra, Jordan
I'm half-hearted with this decision. Granted it was built into the cliff face, but so was Mount Rushmore sculpted into the face of the mountain, why isn't that also chosen as a wonder?

6. The Roman Colosseum, Italy
Yes, this should be in, it's still standing since before Jesus was born. The only ancient architecture that seems to have lasted for 1/2 the time of the pyramids.

7. The Taj Mahal, India
I'm half-hearted with this one also. It's a tomb, it's beautiful, it's made of marble. It's more a structure than a wonder. If they chose this, then they should have chosen structures like the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House.

Although these are finalists, I believe that they are more eligible to be wonders than some of the confirmed ones.

1. The Acropolis, Greece
A marvel of human design and engineering and has withstood the test of time.

2. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
The most eligible of all, this has been standing for more than 7000 years! How they didn't chose it as a wonder is really beyond me. A feat of engineering that is the only surviving structure that predates all the ancient wonders AND, like the Great Wall, they can been seen from space.

The website www.new7wonders.com states that the criteria for a wonder to be a wonder: Nominations must be for a clearly defined natural site or natural monument that was NOT created or significantly altered by humans.

It seems it's a matter of how many online or SMS votes that members can put into this. Come on, this is ridiculous, should there be some kind of committee that makes a final decision on this? This sounds like some kind of American Idol voting system, where you vote the most popular instead of the most eligible.

Perhaps the 2 I listed above that I wanted as a wonder has significant upgrading or restoration work done to it as a present to long term project. In that case, would that make it significantly altered by humans? Yes, the 7 new wonders haven't been significantly altered by humans, but I think the argument here is whether or not it's a popularity contest.

Having just 7 doesn't cut it, perhaps they should have more, but if they do, then every other country would want their monuments as a wonder or built a monument that will one day become a wonder. Or does 7 mean that each wonder should appear on every continent? These 7 wonders chosen will have to last till our next generation changes them just like the 7 Ancient Wonders have all vanished.

Sadly, these are very bad choices made. Hopefully, somebody will see it as criminal and set up a committee to correct the mistakes!

Death Finger

I'm taking this post in a different direction. I'm not going to talk about books, movies, music, or posters or anything else pertaining to entertainment. I'm going to try something really different, just for the fun of it. I'm going to talk about gardening!

I have never had much luck with plants. Most of the time, I'm a person who adds water to something green and watch it grow, hoping that they grow. At the beginning of the year, I bought a sunflower (not the usual variety) and a Phaelaenopsis orchid. I've listed down their survival rate below.

The sunflower wasn't the usual variety because, it wasn't very big, I've seen sunflowers with a huge flower the size of my face, but this one was smaller than a saucer for a teacup. It was sadly pathetic. Sunflowers love the sunlight, so I watered it and put it in the sun. It was a potted plant. It died in 2 weeks. Perhaps I don't understand, but it was in the sun, it's a sunflower, and well, it had water. As far as I know, it didn't need fertiliser on the first week. Then again, I could be wrong.

The Phaelaenopsis orchid is still alive, but probably in its death throes. I was so happy with it that I over-watered it on the first week. The white moth-like orchid flowers all dropped off within the first week because there was too much water. I tried my best but oh well, too much water. Then I was busy and forgot to water it, and it started to wither. The branch that held the orchids started to dry out and well, turn into a stick.

If anyone out there can help me revive my Phaelaenopsis and perhaps, help me get it to flower again, I will be eternally grateful. However, if all else fails and I don't see help or comments, then if the plant dies, it dies, no matter how hard I'm going to try to help it grow back.

No amount of praying is going to help this plant. I suppose I'll just have to buy a new one and start all over again! ARGH! Maybe a sunflower or orchid is too difficult for me, I think I should try a cactus, just water and forget all about it for a few months!

And then, imagine if I owned a cat or dog or some other pet...

The Six Sacred Stones

The cover of my favourite Australian author Matthew Reilly's latest novel, coming out in hardcover in October 2007: The Six Sacred Stones.

Waiting for his new novel is like waiting for J.K. Rowling's final Harry Potter book to be released!

If you haven't given Matthew Reilly a try, here is a list of all his action-packed novels, start at the beginning and work your way to the latest out in the market right now.

My favourite novels of his are highlighted in bold:

Contest (1996)
Ice Station (1998)
Temple (1999)
Area 7 (2001)
Scarecrow (2003)
Hover Car Racer (2004)
Seven Ancient Wonders (2005)

If you ever read this blog Matthew, please send me an advance copy of The Six Sacred Stones, so that your biggest fan can be your greatest reviewer who gets first dibs at all your latest novels, now and in the future!

Moderately Fantastic

I just got back from an evening of watching Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer. As things have it, the movies are not exactly the way the comics have them. Characters have slightly different origins, and they look different. I heard so many negatively mixed reactions from friends and family alike that I had to watch it myself. I know that the first movie wasn't too fantastic, but like the X-men, they had to establish the characters, their origins and powers before developing them, and that will take at least a trilogy to accomplish.

Caution: Some Spoilers Below! Read At Your Own Risk!

When you deal with 4 characters, plus supporting casts, you have to develop them all, so that the movie is balanced. Although this movie concentrated more on the pair of Susan Storm and Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), their wedding and their expectations on family values, they could have concentrated on all of them. I can understand having to develop movies for the younger generation, I felt that the movie was catering to the younger kids than to the developed, advance comic readers in general.

The movie did stress on the importance of teamwork and how, if one of the team members don't plan according to the plan or rules, it does affect the other members of the team and break them up. Everyone in the team is interconnected.

Susan Storm's (Jessica Alba) blond hair was just wrong, they could have let it look more brown than bleached blond. I particularly laughed at Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) breaking out the Fantastic Four blue suits complete with all the endorsement company logos attached, almost like one of those F1 racing suits that Kimi Raikkonen wears when racing. The subplot about the Human Torch touching everyone and exchanging powers with them was a little ridiculous, but worked well into the main plot of the movie.

Technology using visual and special effects was top-notched again as per all sci-fi action flick. I never really knew that the Silver Surfer's powers came from his board or that Galactus, who was a giant in the comics and now appears as a swirling cloud of mist, needed craters in the Earth for his misty powers to enter to the Earth's core to consume the planet.

They never really explained how Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon) was reawakened, was it from the Silver Surfer flying over Latveria, his home town that re-empowered the cosmic power within him? All his metallic blemishes vanished from his hands and face instantly, it went unexplained. However, they did deal with the fact from the comics that Victor von Doom has always been trying to steal the Silver Surfer's cosmic power for personal gain - a good link to the comics, for those who read Fantastic Four. The actor did look a little more plastic than he's used to.

One more thing that I noticed in this movie that is commonly introduced in the comics, is that when a character loses his/her powers, they become skinnier, or they lose some kind of colour. This is mainly to show that the power(s) was a part of their body and that it made them what they are and gave them a figure or shape. In this movie, when the Silver Surfer lost his board, he lost his metallic sheen and became a duller shade of grey. So the writers did actually adhere to some of the Marvel comic book rules when writing this movie, or it was just a complete coincidence.

Overall, I was rather entertained for the entire movie, I didn't once yawn or try to feel like the movie was going nowhere, so that should explain quite a lot. Do not go and watch this movie expecting it to be exactly like what you've been reading in all the comics ever published on Fantastic Four, if you do, you'll be sorely disappointed. The creators and screenplay have been developed as closely as they can to the comics, but not completely similar.

7 out of 10 stars

Remember Everything, Forgive Nothing

The final installment to the Bourne Trilogy,
The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.

I hope it's good because the novels and the movies are very different.
On top of that, this year's movies which are all the final installments of
trilogies haven't been any good, well, except for Ocean's 13.

Death Penalty Deters Crime?

Has it taken them so long to figure it out? That only when you give the death penalty to someone for their crimes, is there a deterrent from performing the crime itself, or at least make them think twice before they perform it. It needed a study as proof to show that the statistics drop once you implement the death penalty. This century is big on these things now - studies and statistics.

I know that all around the world, all European countries (except Belarus), Australia, New Zealand, Timor Leste and Canada have abolished the death penalty (aka capital punishment to some). Also in Latin America, most states have completely abolished the death penalty, while some countries like Brazil still allow for it only in exceptional situations like treason committed during wartime.

Does this violate some form of human right (what utter rubbish!)? Perhaps in these areas, especially in Europe people tend to be more docile, where there's more open space, more family, more entertainment. They're not so stressed and high-strung as say in Asia.

In Asia, the population density can be much higher than usual because of growing urban societies and a competition to have a job and stay out of the unemployment sector. Stressed, homeless and unemployed, people will turn to crime to survive, it's genetic and built into us to survive no matter what. But does having a death penalty in that country really deter the criminals from performing the crime? Is the crime rate higher or comparable in Europe than in Asia?

Not having a death penalty in itself is a crime. Remember the good old days of public executions? Guillotines, hanging, flogging (not capital punishment but it helped and some died from it!) and beheading? Well, there are some countries in the Middle East that still practice the latter, but perhaps for a completely different reason altogether.

Countries without the death penalty have their justice system twisted (NOT the same as corrupted) to suit reform, but can one really reform? They always believe that this criminal can be redeemed, that he saw the light and saw God and will repent from his sinful ways. Perhaps to a certain extent, but the seeds for crime have already been planted, the experience and rush of the crime is already there and it is addictive! Without the death penalty, once criminals serve out their sentence and are released from prison (or a correctional facility), they would want to experience this rush all over again, even if it means them landing in prison again with a harsher punishment and longer prison time. Without the death penalty, it doesn't end there, it just becomes a vicious cycle and when they're released, it starts all over again.

Which brings me to the subject of temptation. Temptation is always a flashy nice sports car, a new computer, an expensive watch, jewellery, an iPod or something that people want but cannot have. Dangling the carrot always leave us with a certain temptation to want but unable to have, therein lies the seeds of crime.

There were several conclusions to the study (they just love statistics!):

• Each execution deters an average of 18 murders, according to a 2003 nationwide study by professors at Emory University. (Other studies have estimated the deterred murders pe execution at 3, 5, and 14).
• The Illinois moratorium on executions in 2000 led to 150 additional homicides over 4 years following, according to a 2006 study by professors at the University of Houston.
• Speeding up executions would strengthen the deterrent effect. For every 2.75 years cut from time spent on death row, 1 murder would be prevented, according to a 2004 study by an Emory University professor.

These professors, all theory and number but nothing really practical, I really wonder if these findings are even remotely accurate. So far, I've known of nothing accurate when it comes to predicting the human condition.

Will these findings really push governments around the world to rethink their stand on the death penalty?

Only time will tell.