Throughout the film, I wished I had a wooden stake so that I can stab it through my heart to ease the pain of watching it.

Potential spoilers here but here are some things I didn’t like about the movie.

• vampires bling in their true form? Like glow with fairy gold dust bling!?
• vampires with no fangs - teeth marks, not fang marks on Bella when she was bitten by James?
• vampires make up - spare the lip stick please!
• Robert Pattinson reminded me of Hayden Christensen in Star Wars - stiff acting and lasted the whole show with one look.
• too much eyes gazing - I was looking for contact lens lines after a while
• too much fast-forwarding in portraying how vampires “run”

But after reading through some goof pointers in the IMDb guide, some of those dislikes are due to the story’s portrayal of vampires which differ from traditional vampiric legends - like no fangs for these vampires.

Lastly, when Edward first met Bella in the Biology class, that look reminded me of this short MTV from The Lonely Island - Jizz in my Pants.

Just realised this is the second second entry which I posted this video.

It is not surprised that someone captured that screen and mash it up with the song.

If you prefer classic vampire stories, go watch Interview with a Vampire or the new HBO series True Blood - these have more grit, violence and terror, usually associated with vampires. The vampires in Twilight are too - gentle.

Not worth watching on the weekends. Grab the DVD when it comes out.

Sometimes, you get a gem of managerial incompetency that comes from desperation, immaturity and inexperience. Unfortunately, I happened to be the recipient of one of these rarity.

Dear team

I am disturbed to learn of the liberties that some of you are taking with regards leave and off days.

In the first place, off days are only to be taken on their own and not combined with other off days, and most certainly not to be combined with annual leave. I know that this was not communicated to you clearly and so it will come into effect next year.
Also, off days must be claimed within one month of accrual, and also, half days can only be taken in the mornings.

I very generously decided to give you 2 days off over Christmas, only to find that some of you have taken unfair advantage and combined that with annual leave. If I had known that some of you were intending to take time off I would not have given you those days off.

I also am surprised that so many from one department are on leave at the same time. This is never practiced in case an urgent job comes up (as with MYCS). The first person to apply should have the first right. This must be observed in future.

There was also an email sent out some weeks ago informing all staff of a Christmas party, attendance of which is COMPULSORY. As I understand it, all but one of our team are attending, and even those on leave are coming, so I must insist that everyone is there.

On a more urgent note, next year looks dire with everyone slashing budgets. We need every job we can get and we are lucky to have been invited by 3 companies separately to participate. We need to do our utmost to secure this job, therefore I am canceling all leave next week so that everyone can work on this.

The only way I can reverse my decision, is if all of you can discuss how this can be done to our best abilities and submitted to the PR company by the evening of the 23rd. If even one of us must come back to complete the job on the 24th or 26th, then all of us come back. I don’t think the PR team are going on leave next week, do you?

Let’s work to do a great presentation next week and we will postpone the day off to Jan 2nd.

I hope I can have your understanding and support on this, and we will meet tomorrow morning at 1030 to discuss this. I will need xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx and xxx at this meeting, but if more people are required to work on this, the project leader should ask them to attend.

Cheers
D*ck

For once, I totally understand why one would call himself that. And yes, the video has nothing to do with it. It is up there merely by coincidence.

Just for the heck of it. Here’s Jizz in my Pants.

After all this wait, Starhub has finally come out and say what I dreaded to hear.

Straits Times Nov 5, 2008 - StarHub delays iPhone sale - It will not bring it in this year

STARHUB, which had earlier said that it will have the Apple iPhone 3G in stores by end of the year, will not be bringing it in after all. In a results briefing on Wednesday, StarHub chief executive Terry Clontz said that Singapore’s second largest mobile operator will not be able to bring the gadget in this year.

But the telco is continuing ‘dialogue with Apple’, he said adding, ‘At this particular point in time we cannot be specific when we will have it in our stores… they (Apple) have their priorities signing on distributors.’ This leaves SingTel as the sole iPhone distributor here for now. MobileOne had previously said it was in discussions with Apple, but did not commit to a date.

The iPhone, said Mr Clontz, has created ’some consternation’ for StarHub. SingTel sold over 20,000 iPhones since its Aug launch, although some estimates put the number at over 60,000. The ‘pent up demand’ for it is not unexpected, said Mr Clontz, although ‘things seemed to return to normal after three to four weeks.’ But StarHub ‘resisted coming to the market with big offers because we believed it (iPhone) would run its course - and it did.’

The company intends to adopt the same defensive strategy this quarter, in light of the economic uncertainties. Mobiles operators usually sweeten their offers during the festive period. While Mr Clontz expects that ‘there will be some promotional activities in Q4, I believe that all operators, not being able to predict how deep the recession will be, will put the brakes on a bit.’

So Mr Clontz, are you experiencing substantial cross-over from StarHub to SingTel because of the iPhone? Is that why there is some consternation? By having not securing the deal with Apple, you WILL definitely feel more when StarHub users who are on the fence will finally not wait and go over to SingTel, especially during this festive period.

Geez, you had a good opportunity to 1) get more NEW customers because of your much better mobile broadband infrastructure 2) get more existing customers to sign new contracts, and yet, decided not to get the iPhone for the exclusive launch and now not delivering what you had said about bringing the phone here by end of this year, to say that I am feeling disappointment is an absolute understatement.

Sparky - go pee and bite your owner’s leg now.

That's what the screen on my iMac on US Election Day

Barrack Obama will be the 44^th President of the United States of America. I hope that he will really make the changes that will bring improvements to the USA and the rest of the world.

The portion of the speech that was inspring:

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Read transcript of Obama’s acceptance speech

I got the iPod Touch couple of days back and started grabbing apps from Singapore’s iTunes AppStore, the same one that I switched over from the US account. The main reason why I switched over to the SG account is so I can use my credit card to purchase instead of the round-about way of getting iTunes Gift Cards. Another reason is that with the SG AppStore, we assumed that the pricing will be Singapore Dollars and thus we won’t be affected by any changes in the exchange rate.

Boy did I assume wrongly.

Here’s an example of an app listed on the SG AppStore

Note the pricing. At no part of the store page were there any mention of pricing or currency, not even on the Store Terms and Conditions Page.

Likewise the receipt that one received from Apple

So when I checked my credit card bill today, I found that I was charged US$2.99 instead of SG$, incurring the final cost of S$4.50.

Though the price is not high, Apple should be more forthright in how the pricing is displayed on the AppStore and also on the receipts that they sent out. They need to know that their customers are NOT just from the USA!

A quick look around various stores in different countries around the region are all like SG, just have the $ in front of the price, whereas in UK and France, they are using UK Pounds and Euros respectively.

I am actually quite surprised no one actually made any noise about it. Imagine the shock when someone’s parent look at their CC bill to find tons of US$ billings for apps bought by their kids!

Called Apple earlier and all they can say is that they are in US$ and will be switched to the SG$ in the future. And that was after a few minutes of discussion with his colleagues. For surprising was that in HWZ, a user there posted an email he received from a Apple rep that stated that:

Each country as its own currency. Only the US Store is in US currency. Your Singapore Store with be in Singapore currency.

So is Apple pulling a fast one on their customers around the world with this pricing display?

A Halloween classic - Thriller by Michael Jackson, but done…unplugged and done in a superb Web2.0 way.

Happy Halloween!

A few days back, I blogged about 2007 TED Prize winner James Nachtwey and his wish to work with TED to tell a story that the world needs to know. Today, the story is revealed at xdrtb.org.

As the title of this entry says, XDRTB is a mutated form of Tuberculosis that is extremely drug-resistant and difficult to detect.

Similar in creation to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) but more extreme in its manifestation, it arises when common tuberculosis goes untreated or standard TB drugs are
misused…

Many people think of TB as a disease of the past, but in 2007 alone, TB killed 1.7 million people. That’s 4,660 deaths a day, or one death from TB every 20 seconds. TB is the leading killer of people with HIV: Individuals are able to live with HIV but are dying from TB. Without proper treatment, 90% of those living with HIV die within months of contracting TB.

TED and James Nachtwey worked together through James’ photographs to raise awareness of XDRTB.

Take a look at his photos that represent these varying strains. Learn more about TB, MDR-TB and XDR-TB, and learn how you can take action to stop this deadly disease.

SingTel Singapore GP - Fernando Alonso, Renault by macbiff, on Flickr

The photos are finally done. After sieving through couple of hundreds of shots taken at the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, I finally managed to bring it down to a manageable 98 photos that covered three days of the race.

See it all here at Flickr

Here’s a few to whet your appetite.

SingTel Singapore GP - Kimi Räikkönen, Ferarri by macbiff, on Flickr

SingTel Singapore GP - Samba Girl by macbiff, on Flickr

SingTel Singapore GP - Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren by macbiff, on Flickr

SingTel Singapore GP - Track side by macbiff, on Flickr

SingTel Singapore GP - Happy Ushers by macbiff, on Flickr

SingTel Singapore GP - Up close & personal by macbiff, on Flickr

Funny how life is. One month ago, we had our almost perfectly planned wedding washed out by passing rain which, decided to play havoc with us and stayed for exactly one and a half hour before moving on.

Till this day, as we strolled along East Coast Park under a very brightly lit full moon, we could almost taste the irony of it.

We joked about whether we should have held the wedding in October 14 instead. We wondered out loud how our perfect wedding would have been if the rain didn’t fall on that evening. We asked whether when we’ll stop joking about how exciting that night was.

Honestly, I think we won’t. One month has past and many many full moons in the future, we will still look back on September 14 2008 with great memories, of how much fun we had waiting for each of us in our own house in the morning, how we kissed un-glam-ly as I raised her veil, how we waved to another couple as they look at us in the cute topless Copen (thanks Steve!) while they sat in their cough*boring*cough wedding car sedan, how we went about getting ang paos as we serve tea, how we go about preparing for the lawn, how I try to keep the secret of the band from Yannie, how we worried as we heard the news about the rain, how worried we became as we waited for the missing tables to be done up, how we lovingly took our vows, how we happily walked down the aisle, how happy Yannie looks when she saw the surprise performance I kept from her, how happy we were when we watched the video made by our dear friends, how happy our parents were when we fumbled as we thanked them, and lastly, how happy we were as we looked at each other on our wedding day.

I think all the good and bad made our wedding something more special in our mind. A wedding we will never forget, as we count our blessings and look forward to more happy memories as husband and wife.

More photos will be uploaded as I find time…reservist training is tiring…especially the travelling.

• Some photos here and some here and they are all taken by Eadwine from Plush Photography

Many of us use SingPass for most government-related web services, like filing taxes or logging into ns.sg to apply for Remedial Training. So far, on the Mac, I haven’t had much problems. This is more prevalent especially after OS X been around for almost 8 years. Even banks solved the issue of Mac-compatibility since 3 to 4 years back.

So to my surprised last week when I try to access LTA’s e-services via One Motoring on my Mac. I got a blank page. I tried it on Safari and Firefox and still got a blank page.

Needless to say, while starting up VMWare to try the site on Windows, I went to the One Motoring feedback and informed them of the problem.

This was the reply I received:

Dear Mr Jimmy Liew

LTA e-Services via SingPass
FEEDBACK NUMBER: 7xxxxx

We refer to your feedback on 05/10/2008.

e-Services@ONE.MOTORING is currently only compatible with Internet Explorer (IE) and Netscape on Windows Operating System (OS) Windows 2000 and above.

This is a deliberate design decision as compatibility between IE and Netscape on Windows OS, which is the most commonly used combination, would enable a majority of users to access e-Services@ONE.MOTORING.

Based on the current adoption rate of other non-IE and Netscape web browsers and non-Windows OS, we feel that it is still not cost-effective to make e-Services@ONE.MOTORING compatible with such browsers and OS.

Nevertheless, we are monitoring the adoption rate of alternative web browsers such as Safari, Mozilla, FireFox etc, and alternative OS such as Macintosh etc, and would consider making our e-Services@ONE.MOTORING accessible via these browsers and OS when there is sufficient demand.

We thank you for writing in.

Yours sincerely

(SIGNED IN LOTUS NOTES)

XXX XXX XXX

ASSISTANT MANAGER, VRL SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
VRL SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
VEHICLE SERVICES

(emphasis was mine)

I am quite disappointed to read such replies from companies who still hold the belief that Mac users are far and few between and shouldn’t be provided the services that Windows users received. That is just bullshit.

This is a deliberate design decision as compatibility between IE and Netscape on Windows OS, which is the most commonly used combination, would enable a majority of users to access e-Services@ONE.MOTORING.

Anyone and everyone who uses the internet will know that Netscape is DEAD! Yes IE is still dominant with Firefox second. Next is Safari at about 7% (according to wiki).

Based on the current adoption rate of other non-IE and Netscape web browsers and non-Windows OS, we feel that it is still not cost-effective to make e-Services@ONE.MOTORING compatible with such browsers and OS.

I wonder how archaic their planning and programming for them not to even consider cross-platform compatibility as one of their priorities. Yes the numbers of Mac users definitely are not comparable to Windows users but that doesn’t mean we should be deprived from accessing a government service.

If we were in the early 2000s when OS X was still in its infant stage, I can acknowledge their reasonings since Mac developers and cross-platform web programming were not as advanced as now. But after 8 years, almost all banks in Singapore have made it a point to provide cross-platform compatibility on their e-banking services. And so did many of the government services.

So I absolutely don’t agree on their lame-ass excuse to say that it is not cost-effective. Yes One Motoring is no longer managed by LTA and handled by Green Dot Internet Services (which is a subsidiary of Singapore Computer Systems), being a portal for government services, they should make it a priority to provide access to ALL users, regardless of the users’ operating system.

Nevertheless, we are monitoring the adoption rate of alternative web browsers such as Safari, Mozilla, FireFox etc, and alternative OS such as Macintosh etc, and would consider making our e-Services@ONE.MOTORING accessible via these browsers and OS when there is sufficient demand.

Look. Mac ownership in Singapore will never reach the volume that will be deemed sufficient by most commercial entities decision makers. But this is a government service. What happened to IDA’s iGov2010 policy “that delights customers and connects citizens through the use of infocomm technology”? Do I really need to wait till 2010 before I can access LTA’s e-services on my Mac?

Someone should knock some senses on these old-foggies that still think Windows is the only platform everyone wants to be using.