1431 : A Good Hijrah Year...

It was a year I wish to remember for a long time. So many things happened. I will probably talk about this again when 2010 ends in a few more weeks but a Hijrah year just gives it more meaning. And with Hijrah and Anno Domini interlocks each other for the past 3 to 4 years, we can count all our blessings in one swoop.

The barakah and the rezeki all comes from our Maker and it shows that as long as you live, blessings can still come in many form.

Let me say that I have made so many new friends through social media and had done (and I hope contribute) to so many causes, I just have to say, social media is a new passion which will not go away that easy. Going to connect more and give back more as much as I can

Whatever it is, just wanna wish, for now :

SALAM MAAL HIJRAH 1432

Don't forget to say our doa' before Maghrib to close the 1431 year and to say our doa' to welcome the 1432 year tonight.

Breast Cancer Awareness Months

As my legal firm had contributed a bit to National Cancer Society of Malaysia ("NCSM") when they were having their Relay for Life this year, we are getting updates from them in their effort in educating and fighting the good fight against cancer. Although none of my family or close friends or our employees ever had any close brush with cancer yet, may Allah protect us from it, as you know, due to the nature of cancer being your own cell being 'bad'.

When we were promoting the Relay for Life event in Bangsar

As breast cancer is a common occurrence, October is designated by NCSM as a breast awareness month and they are having a series of talks to help people understand more and take precautions, as much as one can, against it.

Do visit the talks as they are educational and are good platforms to start understanding this killer disease :

1.    9 October 2010, MPH The Curve, 2.00pm – 4.00pm

‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ – Talk by Dr Dalilah Kamarudin, Head of Women’s Detection Centre, NCSM. Free seating. Call Meem at 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

2.    23 October 2010, NCSM (*), 10.00am – 12.00pm

‘Sex After Cancer’ – Talk by Dr Shamala Dorai, Hospital KL. Free limited seating. Call 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

3.    30 October 2010, MPH Megastore One Utama, 2.00pm – 4,00pm

‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ – Talk by Dr Dalilah Kamarudin, Head of Women’s Detection Centre, NCSM. Free seating. Call Meem at 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

(*)National Cancer Society Malaysia, 66 Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 KL – 03 2698 7300.

Suhaila Saad got her LL.M while I still struggle with my CIFP

My partner, Suhaila Saad, finally got her LL.M or Master in Law 2 weeks ago from Universiti Malaya after studying for nearly one and a half years. She toiled and nearly gave up saying she just couldn't study while juggling work and then picked herself up again and finally graduating. When she studied, her room will be off-limit and she would seem too tensed even to strike up a conversation, at sometimes. She did look like she was studying while she was taking her Masters.

As for me, who enrolled in 2006 in a course called Chartered Islamic Finance Professional or better known as CIFP from a new university (then) called International Center for Education in Islamic Finance which was set-up by Bank Negara Malaysia, I am still at it. This university which is already 4 years old had only just one convocation before the next one in end of October 2010.

I am finishing up my Exemption Paper which is called Professional Practice Paper (PPP) to highlight the relevance of my profession (law) to Islamic finance. Actually they are so different from one another unless you are those few lawyers in town who help bankers to put together products and defend the banks which use Islamic finance products in court. This is actually is the basis of my PPP which simply highlight the contribution of lawyers in development of Islamic finance.

The difference between my partner and me is that when I study, except for some shout of frustration (when I can't understand an Islamic finance concept) or some frantic search for a specific words among the other lawyer in my firm, I basically does not look like I was studying. Some of my friends are actually surprised when I told them I am taking another degree. Maybe that is the difference between studying in a real classroom environment (her) and a mostly online course, except for the exams (me). 

Am really hoping I can join her before the 2010 ends...

You can view the pictures of us having lunch after her graduation here.

When you set a goal for yourself

I am currently on holiday in Thailand in a small island called Phi Phi Island. We have been to here before and we know what we want to see or do.

There is a Viewpoint on the hill of the island and the climb can turn your legs to jelly if you don't have the determination.

Yesterday, I left my wife with the intention of going to another part of the island. I got sidetracked when I see one road leading to a viewpoint which I thought was difference from the one that I know of.

So, I climbed.

It was steep and I nearly gave up.

Then a girl, of Eurasian origin cut me off. Walking very fast. Without breaking a sweat.

Being a man with the normal ego that a man is supplied with, I gave chase.

The reward?

We actually enjoyed the view together as she also asked me to take a picture of her.

If I’m a NINJA ASSASSIN

I have always wanted to be a Ninja since I read Eric Van Lustbader's Ninja Cycle. Some of the books like The Ninja and White Ninja couldn't be more apparent but some of the sequal like The Miko and Floating City had displaced the hero by the name of Nicholas Linnear somewhere else.

Ever since Lustbader became the alter ego of the estate of Robert Ludlum, I have dropped Eric Lustbader as my author of choice.

And then, a few ninja movies about Ninja have surfaced. One of it is Ninja Assassin with the Korean superstar Rain as the Ninja. I wonder whether he will be more than what he could be in Speed Racer.

If I am a Ninja, you will find me looking like this and very, very inefficient as I wear spectacles. As I hate to poke my eyes, wearing contact lenses is out of the question :

Eid Mubarak Tweetup

Tweetups seem to be the order of the day these days. I have been to a few meetups due to invites on Twitter. Some were specific to me and some were where I asked to be invited. I met quite a lot of new friends through Twitter and as much as they are shy, they tend to speak up after some prodding from me. Hey, I am a lawyer and marketeer. Making people talk and feel at ease is second nature.

Last Sunday, the zestful @icednyior, one of the Twitter buddy I got to know through another gathering became the ringleader for a #rayatweetup. When people put a hashtag (#) at the start of a word in Twitter, it means there is a special space for it in Twitter itself. You can go to Twitter, type that word up and get all the other tweets relating to it. And to invite or RSVP to an event (just like in Facebook), you can use Twitvite to do it.

So easy right. Click on all those words up there and join in the conversation (but not for this #rayatweetup as it has passed). Tweetups happen almost every day here and strangers actually become friends (or enemies but that is an entirely different thing).

The #rayatweetup happened in KLCC and it went on for nearly 4 hours. We just meet, talk, gossip, get to know each other, talk geek and eat. I was the oldest there but wasn't feeling left out.

The camaraderie

 

The place

 

Someone brought a Lomo camera and there was a poken meetup too

 

 The girls

Is life really about the journey and not the destination?

If you look up there at the title of this blog, after the word Legal Cat-asthrophe, I put down some words from one of the a Rock gods, called Aerosmith. Not sure whether it was Tyler or any other member who came up with the lyrics or whether it is original or not, but I get to know this maxim from them. I love the idea they tried to propose when I get to know them more intimately, which was not when the album Pump came out but was when I bought one of their many compilation.

Is life really about the journey? As I grow older, I believe this to be less and less. I now believe the destination is as important as the journey. Not just that, the destination is the one thing that set the tone of the journey. If you don't believe in the ending, you might not stay for the whole movie. You might let go while you should be holding on.

After a while, I thinking both is as important. You need to keep your eye on the goal while you need to ensure your journey is worthwhile. The people you meet along the way. The life you affected as you tread through the world. The simple thing and the complicated matter entrusted to you.

You are just here for a while, maybe sometimes you need to look around to see the big picture.

A prayer for Yasmin Ahmad

As my title say, I just want to stop the clock and just say a prayer for Malaysia national icon who were more appreciated in some country than Malaysia itself. She deserved more than what she ever got here. Which may not even change even though she is no more. 

As too many postings have been done on her accomplishments, I just linked them here, if you are interested to know who is this giant among us :-

1) My earlier post, 3 days ago -

How Yasmin Ahmad became the top Trending Topic on Twitter;

2) By a news reporter - Nuraina A Samad 

- An update - An Update at 7pm on Saturday

- The death  - A confirmation in early Sunday morning (12:29am) 

3) By a blogger reporter - Kickdefella 

- Updates - First one (Thursday) and Second one (Saturday)

- Her death - A tribute after midnight Saturday 

4) By another blogger reporter - Niki Cheong - Personal experience with her 

5) By a blogger turn politician - Jeff Ooi - Although not a Muslim, he says it best 

6) By a financial reporter blogger - Salvatore Dali - Elevating her to a new status

7) By a prolific Malay blogger - Kujie - In Malay it is still poignant

8) By A Malaysian Abroad

9) By Kue

10) by My Adha

11) 2 post by my Chinese friend
- Rants of Orang Terbang 1
- Rants of Orang Terbang 2 

Most of the headlines are given by me and these are just blogs that I follow. Just imagine how she had affected our life here in Malaysia. Her blog is left with a note on an unfinish movie she is making commissioned by another country. The link to her blog The Storyteller, Part 2 where the last post is a song she wished to use in that latest movie.

For me, I am praying for her since the day she collapsed. As a Muslims, there is a belief that when you die on a Friday (the evening she collapsed it was Thursday but for Muslims, our day starts at 7pm, so it was already Friday then) you get a fastrack ticket to heaven. 

Al-fatihah.

How Yasmin Ahmad became the top Trending Topic in Twitter

I have to start with apologies first. 

One is for it being on one's misfortune to suffer a stroke before it happened. 

The second is that I was one of the people participating in the exercise and may have (but I checked, I didn't) retweet the news about something far worse than a stroke attack.

And lastly, for not having a screen shot of it.

Here how I watch a bit of Malaysia history on the web, unfolded. I was actually going to switch off my PC at 5pm this afternoon when I look at what is on Twitter at that moment. I saw one of those whom I followed saying something like "Please tell me it is not true about Yasmin Ahmad". Then I found one tweet saying she was dead. That was what kept me in my seat. I tweeted a few others asking whether it was true (the news about Rick Astley and others being dead did helped in asking first before retweeting) and then the news came like a torrent.

Before we go further, let me introduced those who is not in the know who is this lady all Malaysian should know. Yasmin Ahmad is a national icon. Consider her as the uber indie film director who bridged the great divide that Malaysia harbour under our toleration of our fellow Malaysian. Her breakthrough film was about a Malay girl falling for a Chinese guy. Simple and poignant. Then she came out with a few other movies in which there was those which was not shown in cinema here. Consider her as our Malaysian Zhang Yimou in his earlier years when he was not allowed to show some of his movies in China, then. She also has her muse, like Yimou's GongLi,  in Sharifah Amani, an unassuming girl who is now a star in her own right.

Anyway, you can read more of her in this blog A Malaysian Abroad by a blogger friend, among others. As for Yasmin herself, her blog can be found here. I met her a few times these last months and even talked to her. I really hope she will recover. Her is a picture of her I managed to take at TedxKL :

Back to the Twitter. Her news came quick and fast. I think within 10 minutes she became the 4th or 5th Trending Topics. Then in half an hour she was the top Trending Topics. That was when I saw a few people asking who is she? I think someone posted her YouTube link and her blog. I retweet that post. I think it last just a few minutes (or maybe hours) but I wouldn't know as I was in some free movie screening.

However, I think it was great to see people from Malaysia (mostly) came together to send positive vibes to her. I also think that the timing of the tweet played a part too as the people who are most on Twitter (the Americas) were mostly going to sleep then. When they do, "Goodnight" always becomes a TT.

I was going to do a piece on Twitter but decided to delay it and now I consider this an opening post for my Twitter post. I will be doing a proper one later. And if you still have not a Twitter account (like those news agencies in Malaysia which do not realised how people can spread unclarified news fast, especially when the event or tragedy was at your premises) then follow me (or not) at Twitter.com/kruel74.

And please pray for Yasmin Ahmad. She is still needed here and hope she will recover soon...

Hints for those who haven't seen Transformers 2

 

A diorama of Transforners at the cinema

 
So that I honour the request of a few of my friends who don't want me to reveal anything and knew I have watched Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen on 24.6.09, two days after it's premiere in Malaysia, this is my hint review of the movie. I am going to relate it to other movies which have ever graced the screen and you can understand it when you see the movie. 

And one more things, those who wants to see deep movie or things that most who love this movie and the first one, should understand something. This is a movie about ROBOT ALIENS and was inspired by a line of toys. The second name which came after SKG in the movie was Hasbro, the forgotten toymaker. They made millions from this franchise. So, please understand the IQ you need to appreciate this movie. It is supposed to be for kids or the kid in you. Or that man who still awaiting puberty when you see Megan Fox. Period! Do not go deeper than that. And those who thinks that Michael Bay is racist due to what he did to a few characters in it, I think is thinking WAAAAYYYY to much...

Go watch DEPARTURES which you can find the review here, if you want deep.

Here is the review in hints (not in chronological order) :

1) Indiana Jones : The Last Crusade;

2) The Matrix;

3) Baywatch;

4) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;

5) Star Trek;

6) Night at the Museum 2;

7) 10,000 B.C. or Year One (depending on which you like)

8) Donald Duck nephews

That is it. If you cannot place the movie I mentioned and a scene you can ask me about it. I may answer your comment a bit late as not to spoil those who still haven't seen it. Or I may miss certain nods to other movies. Do tell...

And I am gonna watch it again, and this time on IMAX. (do not scroll down if you don't wanna read spoliers)

 

Bumblebee ask you to watch this movie

My only complain is that when Devastator came on, he only said :

"DEVASTATOR!!!"

He is supposed to say :

"DEVASTATOR IS BACK!!!" 
That was how I remembered it when I watched it back then. That is my favourite part...

The celebrity blogger at PJ Challenge Bloggers 'K'arnival

This posting and a few other will be a proper dissection of all the presenters at the Bloggers gathering which happened on the 20th of June 2009 called PJ Challenge or Bloggers 'K'arnival. For the postings on the happening of the whole event itself, you can check it here. As this is my first dissection, I am not sure how many part will this posting be. I have a few other events to post and if I dissect all the events according to speakers, as I attended or attending  many event which has to do with business or blogging, I am not sure how many posts I will do, yet. Just keep on checking this blog as the 411 class on blogging at the PJ Challenge was a very good event.

The Blogging 411 was started off by the well known Malaysian celebrity blogger, Kenny Sia, who owns and operates Kenny Sia.com and was delayed by his flight for nearly 2 hours as he transitted in Singapore before coming to the event. It was great for him to come from his hometown, Kuching, Sarawak, which was another island altogether from West Malaysia. I think he had done a few of this blogging talk but the audience that day was one serious crowd. We wanted to know what is his take on blogging and he did not dissapoints (unless those who were there wants to say otherwise)

The problem with blogging and real life, people tend to think that what you write is you. Sometimes, they saw something you write 2 or 3 years ago and think that you are just some punk who knows how to write and is popular among the girls. This was what happened to him.

He started off by putting up a slide of the lifecycle of a blogger, which I can't remember (they should have provided a printout or posted it one the web). He did say that when he started blogging, he hid the fact from his family. Due to this, we he was 'discovered' he had a few conflicts with them who couldn't understand what blogging was all about. I bet nowadays with cases like Raja Petra and a few others, bloggers will all be label as deviant and threat to society as even in Parliament they are discussing about bloggers.

Anyway, Kenny did show the audience a few dark side of blogging like the issue of Comment Flame when he was arguing in one of his post about an accident which he was one of the first person to arrive and the person was badly injured. There was also the issue of bloggers fighting in cyberspace and he used 2 bloggers from our neighbouring country as an example in which one accuse the other of plastic surgery which started off the war. There was a term for it, which again, I forgot.

He was informative and what I like is the fact he presented his talk like a class. I mean, I never though blogging as something you can teach but seeing that presentation and reading a lot of blogs, it actually can be a course in itself.

That was the start of the class and the others were actually paired together. It was a great start...

Heard of Panerai watches before?

 

This is not a Panerai but an Ulysse Nardin, which cost millions

I had a few experience in going to events showcasing expensive watches and I had the chance to see even a wristwatch worth nearly the price of a house. Costing nearly a cool million USD, that watch is more of any investment than a watch you where to work or play. You can see that posts here about a RM3.7 Million (USD$1 Million) wristwatch.Of course, that watch by Ulysse Nardin do comes full of diamonds and all.

However, for quality wristwatch, you cannot go wrong with Panerai. That is the most quality known watch which does not rely on precious stones or in some cases, the casing which it comes in. Some watches are put into Faberge egg just so they can sell it higher. For Panerai, it is all about movement and you can bet that the complication of these watches will be the best in the market. For afficiandos, owning a Panerai is the ultimate dream. It does not cost you an arm and a leg but it can set you back into the region of RM50,000-00 and above (or USD$10,000-00 up), but the quality you get, it may be the best investment of a luxury item you will ever make.

Although, as most seasoned bloggers would have guest, this is a paid post, I have a dream of owning a luxury watch as one of my investment. I have set my first investment to be between RM5,000-00 to RM10,000-00 (USD$1,400-00 to USD$3,000-00) and I am hoping to buy it within this year as I reach the middle of my 30s. Hey, a guy can always dream right....

This coming month also see me going for an unveiling of another collection which I never heard of and I am hoping to learn more about luxury watches. Or I might just buy it here at watchuwant.com.

Even electronic company have a blog nowadays (a.k.a. the LG Blog launch party)

Thanks to one of the local internet advertising company Nuffnang

I was again invited for an exclusive event.

This time it was the LG Blog Launch Party which is a launch of the blog, The LG Blog,  by an electronic company, LG.

It was really about launching the blog and not really about their products (except for the prizes). There were biilboards and product placement around the place, Metropol Gourmet bar, which I had to ask around ask it was located at a building which had changed its name a year ago.

The Nuffnanger were there in full force. And of course, most of them knew each other. As for me, I did recognised a few of them but the age difference did make a different. My date backed out at the last minute due to some scheduling conflict so I was doing more people watching than really trying to enjoy the party, which had too many interval in between. The highlights were the blog launch at around 9pm :

Then the best dressed angel and devil which gets to take away an LCD television, each.

This is the devil winner and yes, the devil is in the detail that she was so in character, she did not smile the whole time and I just couldn't imagine if she did not win. Either the judge would have gotten speared or his husband as she is known as the Red Mummy in the blogging world.

The angel winner is another lady but I think she was just a passable angel as she is really angelic as angel can be.



I think that night, most men wear themselves as angels and the ladies seem to be the devil. Hmmm...

Other things to see were :

The bloggers :

 

The food and most importantly the open bar :

The celebrities :

By 11.30pm I was already at another club closing a few deals. All in all, it was entertaining to say the least and informative to know that blog is not just for normal people but even established company.

Power nap

I wrote once about how important is rest to making sure you are fully recharge everyday. This view is thanks to the master assassin Jason Bourne from Bourne Identity trilogy (the book, not the movie). He believe that sleep is important for him to function effectively as a killer. Not that I am training to be a killer or anything (though if not counting any religious belief, that would have been cool), I really know what he meant when he said "Rest is a Weapon".

However, this is more about power nap. Just a short nap at the office or anywhere you know you won't be disturbed to ensure that you can gain a bit of the freshness that you feel in the morning. I know quite a lot of my friends and clients who does it. They did it not because they did not have enough sleep or they are the type who parties all day and all night, but they do it just to make them ready to face the othjer half of the working day especially if they are planning for an all night session to catch up on a specific project.

They sleep just about anywhere. The bosses has their day bed to act as a place for them to nap. Some in Malaysia use the place where they pray as the place where they nap as prayer time is usually just a bit after 1pm. They can then straight away do their midday prayer before having something to eat and then came in into the office refresh. Some of those who doesn't really have a place to take a nap had even used their table to sleep. Either putting their head on their arm and sleep or some who are small enough did it under their table (you know who you are)

Do you do this? Just taking a nap to help you recharge?

I Can Relate to Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

This statement is so true as I was dating 8 girls when I met my wife. Ask her, it is not a secret. I even know my wife through one of my then girlfriend. How I wish I am as good looking in the rugged kind of way that Matthew McConaughey was in that film (or any other place he seems to pop up) but I was actually not even close to the word handsome, ever. Maybe it was just my confidence.

Among that 8 girls, there was a student, an accident adjuster, a lady of the night (kind of), a lawyer, and there was even the girl whom I finally married. I met her, dined her, exchange book with her but I did not exactly fell head over heel with her. It took time. It will not be like the scene in the movie trailer where McConaughey had to past through all the girls he had slept or gone out with as I was never a 'player' but you get the drift.

If I am given a choice, I actually would love to meet the girl of my dream early. It was just that I was never that popular in college and I had the chance to see the world when I work. In retrorespect, I think it was for the better. At least I got to know the world a but more before I settled down.

p/s - In case you guys are wondering why I posted a post not at my usual time or usual topic, it is for me to get tickets for my wife to see the movie below but what I told you up there are mostly true :

What an eventful week

It all started 3 months ago when I got to know when my exams for my Masters were scheduled. It was to be within a whole week with the final one being on a Thursday after two exams being consecutive on Monday then Tuesday. It was supposed to be a week full of studies and staying awake until 3am to cram for the finals of finals. Yes, if I manage to pass this 3 subjects, I will only need to do an articleship for 6 months and then if all goes well, I will obtain my Masters.

That was the plan but what happened was I got distracted. Big time...

Last Saturday, I was invited for the meet-up with an advertiser which wanted us to comment on their website and I grabbed the opportunity to see their cool headquarters. That started the ball rolling. Read my take on them here and here. It was fruitful in a way as I now know where to do a garage sale virtually.

 

Then I managed to get two tickets for the Wolverine film thanks to some shopping. It was the 11th hour of picking the tickets which I shouldn't have got but luck was on my side. I watched Wolverine 2 days before the worldwide premiere. Hey, unless you are a movie reviewer or the owner of Ain't It Cool.com, two days is a big deal for me. Here is my take on it - X-Men Origins : Wolverine.

This two event happened while I was taking my exams on Monday and Tuesday. The only real free day for me was Sunday.

Then on Wednesday, I was told I am invited to another event. The advance screening of Star Trek. I was ecstatic. And this was one day before my killer paper. The paper was on Risk Management of banks which was very tough for non-bankers like me. I crammed for it the whole day and night and an event on Friday just after I finished my exams is just a good way to celebrate. Read my take on the event here.

So, it was a perfect week with events, with movies and some exams in between. Just hoping that I answered correctly the papers. If I did manage to have that, then that would be the icing on the cake....

The sound of summer in Malaysia : Wolverine : The Origins

 The free tickets

As Malaysia only has one season which is humid and hot (unless you count rainy season as a season, which is not as we get rain every month of the year) summer is known to us when the summer movies take to our shore like a duck taken to water. It was never like this before until piracy (of the movie kind, not the Somalian or the Carribean kind) is acknowledge to have always started in Asia way before it reaches the American audience. 

Malaysia was once one of Hollywood studios greatest enemy in movie piracy when we can watched movie far earlier than when it reaches our shore. We would have seen nearly 20 of the 30 release that year before we even know they are on our screen. And mind you, these are not just mainstream movies but include Sundance or Cannes festival type of movies. See how affluent we are when it comes to movies.

That is until Hollywood wisen up. They realised to get us on their side, we must be shown first the movie even way before those in United States themselves. We have been having premieres for the past 3 to 4 years of popular movies that would have made all the Hollywood stars coming in droves. Here, you don't need that. We are so advanced in our taste of pop culture that you just need to put a label saying 2 days earlier than worldwide release. I have been to a few of those and this summer, mine started with Wolverine : The Origin. Thanks to a credit card from a bank.

It was supposed to start with the Fast and Furious movie but I didn't win the blogging contest I entered and I watched it like any other normal man on the street. However, this time, I went outside the system (of blogging) and win the tickets by shopping at a shopping complex which allow me to redeem the tickets at the branch of the bank issuing the credit card. I redeemed it at the last minute on the last day it was allowed as I was too busy spring cleaning.

My hope (written before seeing the movie):

It is a bad-ass whoop them up without mercy and no one cried except one instance showing Wolverine turning from a child abused and needing love to what he is. The simple word I would be looking for : NO MERCY. I loved Gambit when I first laid eyes on him with his stick and his overcoat. X-Men wouldn't have won in the Phoenix Saga if not for Remy (Gambit real name) hadn't found the Achilles heel in the bubble that Phoenix built around herself. Gambit power is finding the most vulnerable spot in one's power. The issue about leaked footage and the geekdom lamenting the White Queen is not as powerful as she should be, I couldn't care less as I am more interested in that Wolverine vs. Victor Creed's fight.

So, I have high hope for it though I bet Transformer will still be the highlight of this summer.

My review (written after seeing the movie) :

Ok, just got back from the movie. For real comic fans, it is not really what you have read when you read Wolverine : The Origin. As always, Hollywood took liberty. A lot of it. For movie lovers and those who understand how films work, here is the low-down. What were explained are why Wolverine hates Sabretooth so much, what is the relation between Colonel William Stryker and him (X-Men 2), how he lost his memory, why his name is Wolverine, why Canada and him can never be separated, why the cover of the comic has him looking like a lumberjack and lastly for the ladies, Hugh Jackman was naked for 3 to 4 minutes but of course the kind of nakedness for a kid to understand. There was romance but there was no sex. Just innuendo of it.

My verdict? It is passable as a summer movie but it won't be the greatest one out there with Star Trek, Transformers 2, Terminator 4, Harry Potter (is it 6 or 7?) and John Langdon 2 (better known as Angels & Demons) coming in the next two months. As last year went, Wolverine will be the Hulk as people will be torn whether to like it or not but it did make decent money.

Now for this coming Friday, I was told through an email I will get to see Star Trek earlier than anyone else thanks to a blog directory website. Woohooo.....!!!!!!!!

Marketeers nowadays really love clients feedback

As I had posted in earlier, I went for a gathering of customers of a local online advertisement portal which  called a few of us for a meet-up. The website name is mySimplifieds.com. I got to know them when I used their service to post a few advertisements as a local blog advertisement agency was promoting their contest which would have given the winner an F1 tickets. As they really wanted to know their users and being relevant to the youth market, they used Nuffnang which is a supposedly hip blog advertising company to reach out. So, they sent email to a few of us and asked us whether we want to meet them for a meet-up.

As I was interested in knowing who they were and what they had to offer, I replied their email and they invited me to come and as they said to bring something to sell, I scoured my house and found a few old  magazines to sell. I really thought they were going to give each of us a table and we could open stalls and such. How wrong was I...

There were only a bunch of us, I think the most was 30 people and most of them were corporate people who had something to offer. Some work with other advertising website such as one was from a jobseekers website and another was from a travel agency. They started by introducing themselves after treating us to breakfast. They told us of their connection to one of the telecommunication company in Malaysia (in which they were a side project but became a subsidiary when they were successful). The things that we brought were only for a game of a sale pitch which was won by a guy trying to sell a very light and practical walking stick. My magazines had no buyer and I didn't win that nifty wristwatch. Hmm...I am not a good salesman after all.

What I am impressed of was their sponge-like attitude on what we suggested and their willingness to really take our view into account. We were given some sneak previews of some part which are not up yet and we were invited to become one of their beta tester. We were then brought to see their parent's company impressive headquarters which you can access my report on it here. I sometimes wish the legal fraternity in Malaysia is not so close up as it is now as we couldn't really utilise advertisement website such as this. And leave to me to ask them if they would charge any fee in the long run as now ad postings on their site is still free. Sheepishly they answered, yep, they are a profit making company after all.

 

Here are some pictures from the event.....

 

 The event organiser

  

 The team

  

A bit of history 

  

A Facebook-like function

 

New features not launched yet (kind of a preview)

 

A Steve Job like presentation

Even in blogosphere you need friends...

I am always one of those people who think I can live alone without any help and when I started blogging, I extended this belief to it too. I rarely asked around about how to do anything and this past few weeks I was surprised by a few friendly gestures, either made known to me about who was being kind to me or an anonymous tip on something I did. Here is my story of the kindness of strangers :- 

1) A blogger who introduced herself a few times before I really followed her offered to make me a new 125 x 125 widget. Her name is Daisy and she has a few excellent blog. She posted on her blog when my new widget is finished and you can read yourself her announcement of my new widget here. I actually am so IT-blind that I don't know how to do this widget which I have seen around the blogosphere and there was even a tutorial posted once on using GIMP on how to do it. Thanks Daisy!!!

2) Then an anonymous friend saw my posting in my other blog about perfume in which the picture had me in it, with just my .... let just say it was not a flattering picture of me reflected in a mirror albeit it was dark and all, like a horror film (if you managed to see it). That post can be read here but the picture was changed to a better one with two naked girls... Thanks anonymous friend, whoever you are;

3) A blogger by the name of Sandy about an annoying pop-up ads which made her unable to drop entrecard on me (entrecard is a bloggers business card which you can find on my right hand side of this blog). It was a new blog aggregator called YouthMedia for Malaysian blog which I am trying out and please tell me if it is still a bother. Thanks Sandy. She has an excellent blog by the name of The Travelling Suitcase. Read it and travel in the safety of your home...

Anyway, I am thankful for friends that I meet here in this place called the blogosphere and I hope anyone of you, if there is any will always be willing to tell me if I ever make any mistake. As shown, even in a faceless place like this (I only see your picture, not face), the maxim of A friend in Need is A friend INDEED is still alive and true...

So, this is what a product tester feels like...

A week ago, I was given a chance to test a new product called WIGGY when I was invited with a few other fellow bloggers on how it works. Read about the product launch here. Actually Wiggy is a product which is a step up from the company's original products that was like a speaker. That speaker was intended for household use and was to give an area the size of a house enough wifi coverage. That old modem and wiggy is supposed to be of higher speed than wifi or even landline broadband. 

 

The highway I tested the car on

This is not the first time I tested a product. Some 7 to 8 years ago, when I was friendly with this one editor who runs a weekend magazine on cars for a local newspaper, I got to test drive with him two cars. One was a Korean car and one was a Japanese car. In both cases we travelled the length of Peninsular Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur to the northern tip. As we need to see how good were the cars handling and all the gadgets both of them and to offer such as the cruise control and the cornering, I, as the driver drove the car like a race car driver and in one instance even got a summons to prove it. The editor foot the bill for the summons.

As the wiggy is actually very new and the targetted market for the older boxy version of P1 Wimax were for certain area, I had trouble to logged in at a few areas. I went around town at my favourite places and just couldn't. However, as new products goes, the company did have the courtesy to check with us on how good was the coverage of their broadband. They even readied a test link on their website for us to go and check the upload, download and the latency (which according to wikipedia is the delay between the time something is initiated to the moment the thing become detectable). I have given their point person the places I have done the test and I emphasised on the places where there was supposed to be coverage according to their map but I just couldn't connect.

 

Not every place I get a blue LED like this

I believe they have one of the best products in the market as I actually have a few friends who are just waiting for them to extend coverage to their areas. I have also a few sceptical friends who is even more well-versed in IT than me but for me, as long as I am entrusted with a product to be tested, I will just do it for the sake of keeping to my promise. What they do with my data is their problem. Just like that car, I helped my friend wrote a review and after some times, the car manufacturer did manage to rectify the problems that we found. If a company really believe it has a good product, I just hope they are willing to hear criticism, especially constructive one and do something to rectify it...