Saturday, September 18, 2010

Reverse Cycle Portable Air Condition on Mobile eBay

With summer coming fast, I'm onto eBay to look for a portable air conditioner. A no-frills portable airconditioner will set you back at least $150. If you opt for the reverse-cycle one, that's usually around $250 or more.

So I find a portable a/c for sale. A closer look at the description says it's a Dimplex DAC-12004RC, which tells me it's actually reverse-cycle. No wonder there's relatively little interest from the bidding public. The item location being in Horseley also helps.

minutes to go before the auction ends, we're still in Westfield. I took out my E75 and went to the mobile eBay site. No HSDPA, only 3G. Started putting in higher and higher bids until I got the winning bid. To prevent a last-minute upset, I upped my max bid some more. Must've put in the wrong number because I ended up bidding $13,500. With only a few seconds to go, it's panic time! It's a good thing 3G is quite slow, so I was able to stop the transaction. Ended up winning the RC portable aircon at $113. Add in a $5 Paypal voucher for not using my 99c free listings last weekend, and I'm a happy camper.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Movie 2010.09.10 - The Men Who Stare at Goats

The trailer makes the movie look funnier and more interesting that it really is. Unless you're a die-hard Ewan McGregor or George Clooney (or Kevin Spacey) fan, you may want to skip this movie.

Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) goes to the Middle East, hoping to jumpstart his flagging career as a journalist, after his wife left him for his one-armed editor. There, he meets Lynn Cassady (George Clooney), who used to be a prominent member of the disbanded New Age Army, a group of looneys doing research on psychic warfare. Bob becomes a believer and publishes a story on the group, but nobody believed him.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Movie 2010.09.08 - Date Night

Trailer looks good. Movie is not. Instead of comedy/action, they should've stuck with comedy/drama.

I quite liked the first part of the movie, where Claire (Tina Fey) and Phil Foster (Steve Carell) were going through the routine of their lives, and wondering how they'll cope with the rest of it. After taking the restaurant reservation of another party, they were mistaken for someone else, and were hunted down by some bad cops.

The sudden switch to action genre is a bit awkward. The only good part is the car chase scenes where the taxi and the Audi were stuck together. There's really not much action. Basically, just running around town avoiding the cops and the goons and getting help from wherever possible. In the end, we have the corrupt DA Frank Crenshaw and the bad cops on one side, and mob boss Joe Miletto and his goons on the other side in a Mexican standoff. Claire got sick and tired of everything and demands everyone to put down their guns after she counts to three. After three, the good cops arrive and arrests all the bad guys.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Movie 2010.09.07 - Book of Eli

Christian propaganda movie disguised as an action movie starring Denzel Washington as the believer (Eli) apostle and Gary Oldman as the opportunistic Carnegie.

In a post-apocalyptic world, Eli heads west to share the last remaining King James Bible. On the other hand, Carnegie wants the book for himself to brainwash the townsfolk using the power of the Word. After giving Eli lots of hard time, he gets his hands on the Bible, but turns out it's in Braille. Bummer. Eli treks all the way to Alcatraz and dictates the Book of Eli verbatim to the curator. The end.

Oh, and the pretty young thing Solara takes up Eli's sword, and heads back home. I'd like to see how she survives in the wild for five minutes.