As the haze cover Singapore in its smokey embrace, ministers in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are playing political football with each other. Each country is trying deflect blame for
the choking haze that has surrounded the region as they talk, I shall say what everyone knows; in the end, nothing will be done.
The haze is not something new. Every year when it's time for the farmers and land-owners in Indonesia to clear land for the upcoming planting season, the haze will come. It's just a matter of how serious it will be. This year, the haze is bad and that's why we have ministers in 3 countries going at it. No one want to be blamed for it but it's not a new thing. The haze has happened before, and it will come again because too much money is involved.
Indonesian farmer and giant palm oil companies use the “slash and
burn” method of clearing land as its the cheapest way to do so. In their goal for maximum profits, does anyone truly believe they will stop doing it next year or the year after? No, it's just not going to happen.
Musings From the Lion City
Writing about anything and everything
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Review of Man of Steel
The much anticipated "Man of Steel" is the reboot
of Superman. After the slightly disappointing "Superman Returns" in
2006 with Brandon Routh as Superman, I cannot fault Warner Bros. for rebooting
the franchise. Whether "Man of Steel" works or not however is another
question.
"Man of Steel" is directed by Zack Snyder (director
of 300), produced by Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight Trilogy),
and written by David S.Goyer. It stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as
Lois Lane, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Diane
Lane as Martha Kent, Laurence Fishurne as Perry White, and Russell Crowe as
Jor-El. That's a laundry list of some of the best acting, directing and writing
talent in Hollywood with Oscars, Emmys and everything in between everywhere.
So it no surprise that for most of the film, the talent shows.
The film starts on
the planet Krypton where General Zod and Jor-El both tried in their own ways to
save the planet. Both failed and they became enemies in the process. As the
planet faced imminent destruction, Jor-El
and his wife Lara (played by Ayelet
Zurer) sent their newborn so Kal-El to safety on a spacecraft to Earth. After
Zod killed Jor-El, he and his followers were captured by Kryptonian soldiers
and banished to the Phamtom Zone
Kal-El was raised
as the adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent, who named him Clark Kent.
Clark's Kryptonian heritage gave him superhuman abilities and after the death
of Jonathan, he wandered around the world. He eventually discovered that an alien
object was found buried in the ice of the Arctic and after infiltrating a military
science project, he found that the alien object was a Kryptonian spaceship.
Clark enters the alien ship and communicates with the consciousness of Jor-El
via an alien chip left to him by his parents. Lois Lane, a journalist from the
Daily Planet sneaked into the ship while following Clark but had to be rescued
by him when she triggered and was injured by the ship's automated defenses system.
After rescuing
Lois, Clarke piloted the ship away further into the Arctic, away from human
eyes. He learned from Jor-El the history
of Krypton and why he was sent away to Earth. Following Jor-El's tutorage, he gradually
learned how to harness his powers to its full potential. Meanwhile Lois's editor Perry White rejected Lois'
story of the alien ship, forcing her to start tracking Clark. She managed to trace
him back to Kansas where Clarke confronted her with his story. After hearing it,
she decided not to reveal his secret.
Soon after, Earth
got paid a visit by General Zod who had been freed from the Phantom Zone when
Krypton exploded. With their world and all their people dead, Zod and his men
seek to terraform Earth into a new Krypton. The process however would eradicated the human population, and Clark (now
known as Superman) battled Zod to stop him.
Now despite my
misgivings stated earlier, I found "Man of Steel" to be a good film.
The action scenes within the film were great and CGI guys were working overtime
on this film. The film was also packed with strong performances from the cast. Henry
Cavill and Amy Adams are very competent professionals and despite the less than
convincing tacked-on love-story, their abilities shone in this film. Even actors
in supporting roles like Russell Crowe, Diane Lane and Christopher Meloni (as Colonel Hardy) were
extremely good.
However special praise need to be given to Michael Shannon. His
General Zod was easily the best Zod I had ever seen on screen. A warrior who was
trying to save the last slim hope of his people, his desperation was such that
you can't help but sympathized with him. It says a lot of his performance when some
people do realized that from the Kryptonian
point-of-view, Superman is a traitor to his people!
Despite the
strong performance of the cast however, the film never went from good to great.
There were parts of the story that never set well for me. Remember what I said
about the love story between Superman and Lois? To me, their kiss just did not
make sense. Okay, they just had a life-or-death situation and survived it but
where did their love and that kiss came from? I mean this is going to be a
franchise right? What? Can't Hollywood wait for the sequel before getting them
to kiss?
Also I hate the
ending. Not because of what Superman did, but because after destroying at least
half of Metropolis, with skyscrapers dropping like tin cans left, right and
centre, suddenly Superman felt conflicted when a family was in danger from Zod?
That was just so stupid it almost ruined the whole film for me!
Luckily, it
didn't. The film on the whole did a competent job of rebooting the Superman
franchise and with the box-office on fire, a sequel is already in the works. "Man of Steel" is a good film and while
I'm disappointed it never became great despite its promise, it is good enough
that I'll be there for the sequel. Ultimately, for fans and Hollywood, that's
good enough.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Expected Anger
Just last month, I blogged about several Singapore government ministers publicly commenting that have an university degree is no necessary for a good life in Singapore. I also commented how Singaporean parents will ignore the comments and still make their kids strive for that (still) all-important degree.
Several people commented on my post on 26/5 (totally-ignored) on how angry Singaporeans are about the comments by the ministers. Now I may agree with the notion that there’s no need of that many Singaporeans degrees holders (due to the influx of foreigners with degrees coming into Singapore), I do understand why so many Singaporeans are angry.
Anyone who don’t just need to look at the latest Ministry of Education/Singapore Airlines Youth Scholarship for Indian Students. A Singapore government ministry and a Singapore linked-company are offering a scholarship for Indian-born youths to study in Singapore. Just to sweeten the pie, the scholarship offers an annual allowance of S$2,400 with hostel accommodation, a one-off "settling-in allowance" of S$500, coverage of school fees, coverage of GCE ‘A’ Level examination fees, and even a return economy class air ticket!
Oh, and in an expensive healthcare country like Singapore, the scholarship also offers subsidized medical benefits and even accident insurance cover! All these on a scholarship offered to foriegners when, at the same time, Singaporean ministers are trying to discourage Singaporean students from ITE and Polytechnics from local universities.
If the government had tried to do one of these two things, then maybe there could be some leeway for them. However they did both of them together and when you do that, needless to say, the anger of Singaporeans is something that should be expected.
If the government had tried to do one of these two things, then maybe there could be some leeway for them. However they did both of them together and when you do that, needless to say, the anger of Singaporeans is something that should be expected.
Friday, June 14, 2013
For Real?
Crime is actually a funny thing. What is considered legal in one
country might not be considered so in another. What is considered taboo in one
country might be totally allowed in another.
Case in point: Sweden
It would seem that next year, Sweden will introduce a total
ban on bestiality. Bestiality means a sexual act between a human and an animal
and it would seem in Sweden, right nor it is legal unless cruelty to the animal could be
proven!
Seriously? Bestiality is only an offence if it can be proven
that it is cruel to the animal? For real? Man, that’s hilarious. I would thought that the every act of bestiality would be enough proof of cruelty to the poor animal but evidently, it's not enough for the Swedes! I wonder if
any people in Sweden ever got off on that technicality.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Comics this week
Demon Knights #21- Oh, another one of my series is been
cancelled! Ever since Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves were taken off the
series, I had feared this and although writer Robert Venditti and artist
Bernard Chang did their best, the difference between the two team’s works was
too great. However with a few more issues to go and the Holy Grail storyline
coming to a close, hopefully Venditti will wrap things up nicely. Demon Knights
is a series that deserved that at least.
Threshold #6- Oh, another one of my series is been cancelled! I know; it’s a trend this week. However unlike Demon Knights which was given a good run, Threshold was never given a chance. The news that Threshold was been cancelled came from DC a week after #5 came out. This meant the decision to cancel the series came within 4 issues of the debut. A new series starting mainly new characters and writer Keith Griffen was given just 4 issues? That is why I say this series was never given a chance. If it had, this series had the potential to be great.
Constantine #4- After having Constantine running around the world chasing magical artifacts, writers Jeff Lemire & Ray Fawkes slowed things down by showing John Constantine on his day off. Of course a typical day in the life of John Constantine consists of getting beaten by thugs, warning an angry ex that her childhood friend is now a murderer, and allying himself with the meanest, bloodiest, most brutal magical player in New York in order to fight an even greater threat. Yes, this is the typical day of John Constantine and this is why this was a bloody good issue.
Threshold #6- Oh, another one of my series is been cancelled! I know; it’s a trend this week. However unlike Demon Knights which was given a good run, Threshold was never given a chance. The news that Threshold was been cancelled came from DC a week after #5 came out. This meant the decision to cancel the series came within 4 issues of the debut. A new series starting mainly new characters and writer Keith Griffen was given just 4 issues? That is why I say this series was never given a chance. If it had, this series had the potential to be great.
Constantine #4- After having Constantine running around the world chasing magical artifacts, writers Jeff Lemire & Ray Fawkes slowed things down by showing John Constantine on his day off. Of course a typical day in the life of John Constantine consists of getting beaten by thugs, warning an angry ex that her childhood friend is now a murderer, and allying himself with the meanest, bloodiest, most brutal magical player in New York in order to fight an even greater threat. Yes, this is the typical day of John Constantine and this is why this was a bloody good issue.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Where's the Starhub's EPL Program?
Ever since SingTel’s mio TV struck an exclusive deal with the
Football Association Premier League (FAPL) for the screening of the Barclays
Premier League (BPL), I have been without English football. So when the Media Development Authority (MDA) ruled that
SingNet will have to share its BPL content with rival StarHub over the next
three seasons, starting from August 2013, I was delighted.
This ruling by MDA
was recently affirmed by the courts when they ruled against SingTel’s “exclusive
negotiation period” with FAPL that would have locked out Starhub for months. So
with all the hurdles (except the appeal) been cleared, I was awaiting Starhub’s
package for the new EPL season.
I’m still waiting.
I must say I’m kind of surprised by the lack of movement
from Starhub. Ever since SingNet got the deal for the EPL, the expectation was
that Starhub would try to get program back. Now they got it…and nothing
happened! There hasn't been a word about how they would show the EPL in the coming season! What channel would it be on? How much do we have to pay? All these questions are currently unanswered.
I know it’s still mid-June so Starhub has about 2 months to
get their plans ready but considering how hard they fought against Singtel to
get the EPL rights, you would think they would have had some sort of plan in place already. That
doesn’t seem to be the case, and I find that both strange and worrying.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
AoC & Steam
Recently, I got advertisement/mail from Funcom on the
anniversary of Age of Conan (AoC). With a bagful of goodies, the mail was to
get former players back into AoC. Frankly, it worked because the goodies on
offer were very good.
However I faced a problem in that I just got a new PC
earlier this year and AoC is not installed. I still have the original disc but
here in Singapore, the full update of the game could take days (AoC has a lot
of patches) and frankly I wasn’t interested in waiting that long.
Now since last year, I had known that AoC is among Steam's
free-to-play offerings. Since the update on Steam is usually quicker, I was
willing to try it out. So I went into Steam’s free-to-play section and…there’s
no AoC!
Am I missing something? The forums clearly state AoC is on
Steam but on Steam, the game isn’t there. I even tried searching for it via
Steam's search function and still can’t find it. So…is AoC on Steam?
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