Finished JPod today. First time I read a Douglas Copland book is Microserfs. That was when Microsoft was the big thing. I usually finish off a book pretty quickly, but for some reason, I still haven't finished Microserfs. After reading JPod, I now remember why. Douglas Coupland tries too hard to be an uber-cool techno-geek, I'm a bit turned off by his writing style. Sure, he knows his techie stuff and the geek culture, but does he have to flaunt it? My other complaint about JPod is that it is utterly devoid of any plot. You have this bunch of autistic antisocial geeks coding some game for some company, and that's about the main plot. Filling up the rest of the 450 pages are just faithful accounts of what food and beverages they consume, the childish pranks and inane games they play in their cubicles, the mandatory office politics and office romance, etc. To make the book thicker, the thing is peppered with pages of pi to the hundred thousand digits, a list of 58,894 random numbers, letters to Ronald McDonald, a list of 974 three-letter words officially allowed in Scrabble, some pages off an English-Chinese phrasebook, random text in gigantic fonts, etc. I mean, what do I care if the main character's mom has a grow-up in the basement and his Dad is an aspiring extra and a ballroom dancing fanatic on the side? Do I need to know that his boss has a crush on his hottie mom, and was later dispatched to a fake Nike sweatshop in Shanghai by their Chinese gangsta friend? So what if his colleague John Doe's real name is crow (small c) and his dyke mom is called freedom (small f), who tries to seduce the main character's hottie mom, but was later convinced to become a bimbo by the Chinese gangster? If you want to be confused some more, read the book.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Book 2007.02.28 - JPod
Finished JPod today. First time I read a Douglas Copland book is Microserfs. That was when Microsoft was the big thing. I usually finish off a book pretty quickly, but for some reason, I still haven't finished Microserfs. After reading JPod, I now remember why. Douglas Coupland tries too hard to be an uber-cool techno-geek, I'm a bit turned off by his writing style. Sure, he knows his techie stuff and the geek culture, but does he have to flaunt it? My other complaint about JPod is that it is utterly devoid of any plot. You have this bunch of autistic antisocial geeks coding some game for some company, and that's about the main plot. Filling up the rest of the 450 pages are just faithful accounts of what food and beverages they consume, the childish pranks and inane games they play in their cubicles, the mandatory office politics and office romance, etc. To make the book thicker, the thing is peppered with pages of pi to the hundred thousand digits, a list of 58,894 random numbers, letters to Ronald McDonald, a list of 974 three-letter words officially allowed in Scrabble, some pages off an English-Chinese phrasebook, random text in gigantic fonts, etc. I mean, what do I care if the main character's mom has a grow-up in the basement and his Dad is an aspiring extra and a ballroom dancing fanatic on the side? Do I need to know that his boss has a crush on his hottie mom, and was later dispatched to a fake Nike sweatshop in Shanghai by their Chinese gangsta friend? So what if his colleague John Doe's real name is crow (small c) and his dyke mom is called freedom (small f), who tries to seduce the main character's hottie mom, but was later convinced to become a bimbo by the Chinese gangster? If you want to be confused some more, read the book.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Almost Six Months Delayed
My blog, that is. What's the point of keeping a blog if you can't keep it updated? Normal days are ok, but when I come back from an overseas trip, it takes me months before I can put in a week's worth of travel blog entries. It gets worse if I do frequent travelling. I just don't know how the other bloggers do it. They must be employing ghost writers or something. Updating a blog is easy, but making it interesting and relevant and full of nice pictures is not.
Anyway, my second-to-the-last entry is still stuck at my US vacation last September 2006, and since then I've been to Jakarta, read a few books and watched tens of movies. So today, I've decided to start fresh. To h3ll with continuity. It's not like hundreds of people will flame me for the time warp. Heck, not even all my sibling read my blog. I'll just have to work my way backwards until the gap is filled (whenever that might be).
Anyway, my second-to-the-last entry is still stuck at my US vacation last September 2006, and since then I've been to Jakarta, read a few books and watched tens of movies. So today, I've decided to start fresh. To h3ll with continuity. It's not like hundreds of people will flame me for the time warp. Heck, not even all my sibling read my blog. I'll just have to work my way backwards until the gap is filled (whenever that might be).
Top Gear and Left Bank 2
Through the years, Monday nights have always been SBS nights for me. Gone are Pizza, Mythbusters, John Safran, etc., but in their stead we have Top Gear, South Park, and Drawn Together.
Talking about Top Gear, today's Supercars episode has the Bugatti Veyron with a mated dual v8 engine (making it a W16 engine), 4 turbochargers, 10 radiators and 1000 brake horsepower competing with a Cessna 182 to deliver truffles from Italy to London. Guess who won. Anyway, one of the background music played during the segment is a melodic, chirpy, happy tune, which struck me as immediately familiar, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I heard that music. 
Closed captioning tells me that the title is Left Bank 2. My brain is associating it with a movie I've seen, and since it gave me a happy positive feeling, I'm sure it's a good movie. Twenty-four hours later I'm still racking my brains for a clue. Then it hit me - it was the introductory music played by the theater at the Art Gallery of NSW. At the start of every film screening, that music would come on, and the screen would show messages like, "Please turn off mobile phones and pagers", "Please do not ruffle your belongings", "Please do not talk during performances", etc. Ah, another one of life's little mysteries solved.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Movie 2007.02.25 - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
From February 23 to April 29, the Art Gallery of NSW is holding an exhibit called Tezuka: the Marvel of Manga, as a tribute to Tezuka Osamu, best known for his Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, among his other anime/manga works. As part of the exhibit, the museum is holding film screenings of animated films from Studio Ghibli, such as Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, etc.
As with most Studio Ghibli films, this is not simply a kiddie movie, despite the simple dialogue and cute characters. The movie carries a strong message of environmentalism and respect for Mother Nature, but it is not preachy. The movie was actually presented by the World Wide Fund for Nature when it first came out in 1984. The story is set 1,000 years after the "Seven Days of Fire" where warring countries and Giant Warriors destroyed most of the Earth's ecosystem. All that's left are a few human settlements trying to survive the spreading "Sea of Decay", a jungle of toxic fungus inhabited by swarms of giant insects. Nausicaa and her people in the Valley of the Wind have always lived peacefully. Still they got caught in the crossfire when the Pejite and the Tolmekia go into battle over an unearthed Giant Warrior. Just like nuclear technology, some want to use it for war, some want to use it for peace (so they say). Things are not as simple as they seem, for the Sea of Decay though poisonous has some role to play in restoring a balance in the Earth's new ecosystem. And it is up to Nausicaa to play peacemaker among the Pejite, the Tolmekia, the Ohmus, and everyone else.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Chorizo Recipe
A few weeks ago, jolly ol' Jamie Oliver was on TV cooking up some lovely chorizo dish. I watched him, and I go, "I can do that." Easier said than done for a guy whose kitchen repertoire consists of fried eggs and mashed potatoes, maybe some French fries. How hard can it be? A quick check with Google, and this is the (modified) recipe I came up with:- one big potato, boiled, peeled, and cut into chunks
- half an onion, cut into strips
- green bell pepper, cut into strips
- one stick of chorizo, cut into thick slices
Put pepper, onion, and chorizo into skillet and cook until vegetables have softened. Season with salt and pepper. Add a little white wine. (I can't find any open bottle of white wine, so I put in some Chinese rice wine. Hey, wine's wine, right?) Add vegetable/chorizo mixture to potatoes, and toss well.
Beautiful!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Lunchtime Fishing at Gordon's Bay
Right about lunchtime, a colleague who's crazy about fishing wanted to check out this new fishing spot he discovered during the weekend, and if we wanted to come along. Sure thing, man. Any excuse to get out of the office. Gordon's Bay is in the Randwick area, which is not too far, so it shouldn't take us long. He was saying that he was there snorkelling last Sunday, and he saw this Japanese catch four black fish in under 15 minutes. Considering he's been getting only one or two after hours of fishing, he reckons today is our lucky day.
Fifteen minutes to get there, 15 minutes to prepare his gear, 15 minutes of fishing, 15 minutes back to the office. One hour of lunch break should be enough. Yeah, right. After an hour, he's only managed to catch one black fish. Lots of bites (and getting wet), but no fish. My other colleague was unwilling to leave unless he catches his own fish. By 3pm, we all gave up and went back to the office. By 5pm, we were playing table tennis. Ah, that's the life!
Fifteen minutes to get there, 15 minutes to prepare his gear, 15 minutes of fishing, 15 minutes back to the office. One hour of lunch break should be enough. Yeah, right. After an hour, he's only managed to catch one black fish. Lots of bites (and getting wet), but no fish. My other colleague was unwilling to leave unless he catches his own fish. By 3pm, we all gave up and went back to the office. By 5pm, we were playing table tennis. Ah, that's the life!
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