Musings From the Lion City

With Friends Like...

2012-01-31T11:27:00.001+08:00

One of the biggest successes America can tout in its war against terrorism is the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Last year, U.S. Navy SEAL took the life of Osama after a secret spy operation helped by a Pakistani doctor by the name of Dr. Shakeel Afridi.

Pakistan quite naturally is very unhappy that one of its citizens is helping a foreign government conduct an assassination on its territory and intends to put the doctor on trial for the charge of treason. It’s something any government in the world worth its salt would do. The U.S. has been trying to get the doctor out of Pakistan and into America for his help.

However they really need to go about it in another way. Just days ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta publicly confirmed that Dr. Shakeel played a key role in the Bin Laden mission. It was a clear bid to put public pressure on the Pakistani government.

Sorry but how is that suppose to help Dr. Shakeel? I mean not only did the man help a foreign government conduct an assassination in his country but you just confirm to the world he played a vital part in the operation. I mean what do you think the Pakistani government will release the doctor after that?

Of course not! If they do that, the Pakistani government will be saying to the rest of the world (and their own citizens) that’s it is perfectly okay to conduct assassinations in their country! Now which government in the world is going to allow that? If the U.S. government wants Pakistan to release their agent, they need to come up with something other than public pressure because to say it is counter-productive is an understatement.

Less Wheat From Now On

2012-01-30T16:14:00.000+08:00

It is an accepted fact that the world is growing warmer. However, a lot of people are choosing to ignore the problem as they feel the effects of global warming would only be felt in the future. They feel that global warming does not affect the here and now; AKA, it’s not their problem.

A U.S. led study however is making a serious dent in that assumption. With the change in temperature, the world’s weather pattern has changed as well. And with the change in weather pattern, it comes as no surprise that our food supplies are going to be affected.

In the study, wheat (one of the world’s main food sources for humans) is beginning to show effects of global warming. Scientists from Stanford University released data showing that wheat crops are now aging faster and producing less. Climate scientists say that higher world temperature is to blame for this and warned that as episodes of extreme heat are becoming more frequent across the globe. As the temperature increase, there will be huge challenges for farmers growing the crop.

This is not in the future but in the here and now. Farmers will need to adapt to the changing environment now as the weather is changing as we speak. So for those people who are choosing to ignore global warming as they feel the problem will not affect them; you are so, so wrong.

Still Waiting

2012-01-28T10:11:00.002+08:00

Like most Singaporeans, I heard of the CPIM (Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau) arrest of the chiefs of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) earlier this week. However I had stopped myself from commenting on it as there had been very little information on the arrest.

I’m still waiting.

All we know so far is that CNB director Ng Boon Gay was arrested last month and SCDF chief Peter Lim Sin Pang was arrested on 4 Jan this year. Both were arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act and both are now out on bail. Oh wait; we also know that the duo had been suspended for “serious personal misconduct”.

That’s it! That’s all we know which means we don’t know anything because no information about what they had (allegally) done has been released yet! While both men had been suspended from their duties following “serious personal misconduct”, the nature of their actual offence is a total mystery.

A mystery I think the Singapore government needs to clear ASAP. Did the men take money? Was it sex for favours? Why it took the government so long before even admitting the 2 men were under investigation?

Despite what some Singaporeans are saying, I do not think this case is like the corruption case involving SLA (Singapore Land Authority) last year. That was a case of two senior employees at the SLA cheating the agency of some $11.8 million; this is a case involving the CBB and SCDF. The Singapore government need to understand that there is a lot of difference between the SLA, CNB and SCDF. Most Singaporeans ignored the SLA, some people don’t even know what the SLA is for, but the CNB and SCDF are different matters altogether!

The CNB and SCDF are security agencies. Singaporeans are very interested in what sort of “corruption” had been uncovered at these 2 agencies. The sooner the information is released, the better it will be for everyone including the Singapore government.

Comics this week

2012-01-27T15:01:00.001+08:00

Justice League #5- In the early 90s, a group of superstar artists decided to create Image Comics. Of the lot, Todd McFarlane was widely considered the pick of the bunch. However I had always believed that Jim Lee was slightly better than McFarlane. For the past few years, Jim Lee had made a mockery of my belief by disappearing from the comic world. If there’s one thing we can be grateful for in the New 52, it is the resurrection of Jim Lee. He seems to be having fun in the New 52 and the last page of this issue shows it. I won’t spoil it by saying what it shows but it is great. It’s worth it to pick up this issue just for that one page alone. It’s that good!

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #5- Now that the set-up of the team is over, it’s time for the New Guardians to investigate how rings from their respective corps were stolen in the first place. What came about is a fun mystery tour of the massive structure that has appeared in the universe. Writer Tony Bedard does a good job of hinting at the contrasting personalities of the New Guardians and artist Tyler Kirkham match him with some solid pages. The New Guardians still hasn’t catch fire but the potential of the series is undeniable.

I, Vampire #5- Batman don’t know there are vampires in the DCU? Really? The man fights beside an Amazon Princess, knows magic exist in the DCU, is the world’s greatest detective, but he has no idea vampires exist. Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov needs to stop with all these guest-stars that are hurting more than helping the series. I thought Constantine's appearance last issue was unnecessary but at least he was still in character. This Batman is not. The only good thing in this issue is Andrea Sorrentino's work which suits Batman and Gotham to a T. Too bad about the story.

Star Wars Uncut: Director’s Cut

2012-01-26T20:59:00.000+08:00

I’m not a fan of fan-made movies. The reason is simple; almost all of them are crap!

This latest fan-made movie, Star Wars Uncut: Director’s Cut, however is ridiculously funny. It’s still crap but the director ragingpugh (who I think we can all agree has too much time on his hand) celebrate the crappiness of fan-made movie.

Just watch it and find out what I mean!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ezeYJUz-84

Not What They Need

2012-01-25T13:02:00.001+08:00

For all the talk about how Singapore need an alternate voice to the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), there are a lot of Singaporeans who believed that none of the opposition parties and its members has the quality to match the PAP. The latest troubles at the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) will not helping matters.

Even through the SPP is one of the minor political parties in Singapore, it has been able to punch above its weight due to presence of its veteran leader Mr. Chiam See Tong. However differences within the party became public the SPP’s first assistant secretary-general Mr. Wilfred Leung informed the SPP central executive committee (CEC) that he does not intend to run for a position in the committee. This is major news within the SPP as Mr. Leung was expected to succeed Mr. Chiam See Tong as the party’s next secretary-general.

The problem seems to be discontent with Mr. Chiam and his wife, Mrs. Lina Chiam. Key members of the party had said to have lock with Mrs Lina Chiam, who had taken over her husband’s position within the SPP. Sadly, I kind of expected this.

Despite (or because) his status as the longest serving opposition in Singapore, Mr. Chiam has a long history of falling out with senior member of the political party he was in. It happened in the Singapore Democratic Party, with the Singapore Democratic Alliance and now with the SPP. I see a trend here.

However I do hope that the Chiams and the members of the SPP can come up with some sort of agreement or comprise. The SPP is already a minor party within the opposition, the last thing they (and the opposition) need right now is a spilt within the party.

Chinese New Year

2012-01-22T13:42:00.001+08:00

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. Here wishing all readers a "Happy and Prosperous Year of the Dragon"!

Review of Margin Call

2012-01-21T02:38:00.001+08:00

I have never heard of J.C. Chandor but after seeing “Margin Call” I can safely say the director is gong to have a long career in front of him. “Margin Call” is a movie on the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the reactions of a group of people in charge of a large investment bank on the outset of the crisis.

“Margin Call” starts with a bloodbath on the trading floor as the investment bank in question was conducting massive layoffs. One of the employees fired, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), was a manager in the risk management division. Before he leaves, he hands over a project he was working on to Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), a junior risk analyst.

That night, Peter finished Eric’s project and discovered that the company’s trading strategy has put the company in great risk of collapse. Sullivan informed his friend Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley) as well as his boss Will Emerson (Paul Bettany). Once he discovered how serious the problems are, Will immediately tried to contact Eric Dale but discover that Eric has not went home and his HP no. has been cancelled by the company. He then contacted Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey), the company’s head of sales.

Throughout the night, the employees engaged in a series of high-level meetings with senior executives like the company’s head of securities Jared Cohen (Simon Baker), the company’s head of risk Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and the company’s CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons). Tuld revealed his plan to sell off all of the toxic assets of the company before the market catch wind of their worthlessness, thus enabling the firm to continue. Rogers strongly object to this plan as it will destroy the firm's relationships throughout the financial sector as they would be selling worthless paper.

From then on, the movie became a tense affair as Tuld and Rogers engaged in a test of wills on whether to go ahead with the plan. Needless to say, the plan went through and the aftermath was not pretty.

Let me put it simply; “Margin Call” is a wonderful film. With a peerless ensemble cast and a smart director, it is intriguing by the very fact of what it tried to do. It creates sympathy for the bad guys of the current financial crisis.

A lot of the credit has to go to the cast, especially Spacey and Irons. Spacey is brilliant as the immoral Rogers who is surprised and none too pleased to discover that he still has some principals. Irons matched Spacey’s performance as the desperate Tuld who makes no apologies for doing whatever he could to enable the survival of his firm.

Let’s admit it, the tropic of financial swaps and debt sales is rather dry, and it is to the cast’s credit that the film works! Even actors I never care for like Demi Moore and Simon Baker put in some stellar work here.

However director J.C. Chandor also came out of this film smelling like roses. In any other film, all the characters in the film would be considered the bad guys. They were the ones who created a crisis that affected millions of people, who sold worthless assets to save themselves and who got rich while doing so! However under Chandor’s deft hands, everyone got to display a glimmer of humanity as zero hour approaches.

Chandor treaded the needle in this movie. He refused to give us any villains but did show the reason why the crisis started in the first place. The people in this film might not be villains but they are no heroes either. Near the end of the film, it was revealed that senior executives of the firm were aware of the risks in the weeks leading up to the crisis but they chose to ignore it due to the money they were making. Even the counterparties of the firm, who were buying worthless paper, were not spared. As the day goes on, the firm’s counterparties knew that something was wrong but despite being increasingly suspicious, they still bought the assets from the firm because the firm was selling it so cheaply.

Chandor made sure to emphasis the fact that greed was the all powerful factor in the financial crisis and everyone was to blame for it.

Yet despite the heavy and dry tropic, this was not a humorless film. There were a few running jokes in the film. One of the running jokes in the film was that the structure of the asset was so complex no one but engineers and rocket scientists could figure out exactly how it worked. Almost every executive in the film told Sullivan to explain the matter to them as simply as possible. Another was the search for Eric Dale. After getting fired, Dale got his phone number cancelled; which made it impossible for the firm to contact him once they found they needed him back. In the end, they had to pay him a truckload of money just to come back to the firm to sit down in the office doing nothing for a day.

Of course if you wish to nitpick, there were some parts of the film that could have done some work. The structure of the assets the firm was selling was never fully explained and it would have been nice to know what happened between Robertson, Cohen, and Tuld during the weeks leading to the crisis.

Still, those were minor instances in the film which could have being better. On the whole, “Margin Call” was a wonderful film. I know it’s still January but I’m pretty sure this will be one of the best film I’ll watch this year. Watch it and see why!

Since When?

2012-01-19T07:32:00.001+08:00

Speaking in Parliament about the recommended pay cuts announced by the Ministerial Salary Review Committee last week, Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said that Singaporeans should not compare Singapore’s ministerial salaries with those of other countries.

The reaction of Singaporeans to the DPM’s statement has been one of outright laughter! I admit I laughed too when I heard his statement.

Come on, since when did Singapore has a problem with comparing ourselves with the rest of the world? We have one of the busiest port in the world; the world’s best airport; the no. 1 destination for rich Indonesian fugitives! However when it comes to comparing salaries of our ministers, we can’t compare ourselves to the rest of the world?

Right, that’s makes a lot of sense. I’m sure Singaporeans will follow his advice and we will never hear any word about ministerial salaries ever again!

The Real Reason

2012-01-18T22:32:00.000+08:00

The Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and you know what that means! A series of visiting relatives you rather avoid, smiling at bad jokes and a hearty reunion dinner. Only in Singapore, more and more people are now opting to have the reunion dinner at restaurants rather than the traditional home-cooked reunion dinner.

Now if you ask Singaporeans why this is the case, most Singaporeans will say this is due to convenience, modern living etc. I say their reasons are total nonsense. The reason why more Singapore families are opting to eat their reunion dinner at restaurants is because…well, there’s no one to cook for the whole family (the maid don’t count)!

Traditionally the reunion dinner is cook by the women of the house but as most young Singaporean woman nowadays don’t cook, the traditional home-cooked reunion dinner is no longer an option. Even women who do know how to cook, they don’t do it often so they have no confidence of cooking for the whole family.

Now I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I don’t care about it either way, but my follow Singaporeans; let’s call a spade a spade.

100,000!

2012-01-17T11:59:00.001+08:00

This blog reached a milestone today. There had been 100,000 views on this blog. 100,000 readers!

I will admit when I first started this blog years ago, it was a pure ego trip. Frankly, I never thought anyone would be interested in what I write. Certainly I never thought I would ever get 100,000 views on this blog.

However I had reached this milestone and I wish to take this time to thank all my readers for their support. I’ll probably continue with the blog even if no one but me read it but it is great to know you guys are out there. THANK YOU ALL!

I Disagree With Catherine Lim

2012-01-16T15:58:00.002+08:00

One of Singapore's best-known authors Catherine Lim, who is a frequent critic of the government, sparked controversy over the weekend when she said that she do not believe the ruling party People's Action Party (PAP) is capable of reinventing itself.

Speaking at socio-political blog The Online Citizen's (TOC) Awards Night, Ms. Lim was responding to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's speech at a PAP convention in November where he said that the PAP will reinvent itself to "build a new PAP for a new era". On the Singapore blogshere, most people seem to agree with Ms. Lim’s assessment.

I don’t.

In last year’s General Elections (GE), the PAP only got around 60% of the total votes and in the Presidential Election in August, Tony Tan (the PAP preferred candidate) won by only 2% of the votes. Everyone including the PAP knows that the PAP can’t do business as usual or their results will be even worse in the next GE.

I think the PAP will try to reinvent itself for one simple reason; it needs to! If it doesn’t, then they are fools and even the anti-PAP blogger in Singapore will admit that the PAP may be a lot of things but they are not stupid.

Of course the PAP may fail to reform but even if that’s the case, it won’t be due to lack of effort. Especially not when the directive comes from the PM himself! The reform will take time and it won’t be easy. However since the next GE is about 6 years away, there is more than enough time for the PM to put his mark on the party.

Time is on their side. With time and the acceptance of necessity, I would put money on the PAP managing to reinvent itself in time for the next GE. After all, history has shown that betting against the PAP is a losing proposition.

The Iranian-American Spy Case

2012-01-13T14:18:00.000+08:00

An Iranian-born American, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, has been sentenced to death by the Iranian government on the charge of spying. The American government and Hekmati's family said that the charges are false. If you seen CNN or BBC, you will find many analysts saying that Iran had no reason to detain Mr. Amir.

I’m sorry but I don't understand how anyone can say that. Now I have no idea if Mr. Amir is a CIA spy but without question, his background would give the Iranian pause. Mr. Amir is a former US Marine who had served in Iraq, who is currently employed by a small video company that makes war games that recreate real-life conflicts in the Middle East, and who (in this time of high tension between America and Iran) decided to go to Iran to visit his grandmother for the first time in his life!

These are all facts! There are also the rumors of how his parents were exiles from Iran, how Amir worked in military intelligence in Iraq, and how the company he works for is partially funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Sorry but these are all red flags. I mean if an American-born Iranian went to America with Amir Mirzaei Hekmati’s background, I’m sure American intelligence would be very “interested” in the guy. If they don’t, then they’re not doing their job.

Again, I have to say I have no idea if Mr. Amir really is a CIA spy but a man with his background is going to arouse suspicions. Saying that Iran has no reason to detain him is sketching it.

Comics this week

2012-01-12T10:09:00.001+08:00

Green Lantern #5- The first Green Lantern arc concludes with Hal Jordon and Sinestro saving Korugar from the Sinestro Corps. As the start of a new series, I would have to say this arc wasn’t the best GL story in existence but I believe I finally understood what writer Geoff Johns and artist Doug Mahnke were looking to do. They were looking to craft a story to get new readers; to keep new readers who pick up GL #1 due to the New 52 revamp. So gone were the space opera and in came the buddy cop story of Hal and Sinestro. It’s not the greatest but the starting arc was a good starting point for new readers. Having said that, I’m glad it’s over. Let’s get back to the space opera!

Demon Knights #5- Writer Paul Cornell again delved into his cast, however unlike the last issue which focused on the Shining Knight, he decided this time to reveal the motivations of each and every knight. Now as I had said before, Cornell and artist Diogenes Neves had been doing some great work in Demon Knights but Demon Knights is a series on warriors and mages! In a series like this, we need…well sword fights and magic. Going into the back-story of the knights is great but we are still only at #5 so it’s more important to get and keep readers. Let’s admit it; there’s no way all the New 52 titles would last through the year and according to the sales chart, Demon Knights is currently being criminally overlooked by readers. The last page of this issue however gives me hope. The upcoming battle looked epic!

The Malaysian Cup returned!

2012-01-11T12:04:00.001+08:00

Yesterday night for the first time in 17 years, a Singapore team was playing in the Malaysian League. Tried as they might, the FAS (Football Association of Singapore) had been unable to recreate the magic of the Malaysian Cup in the local S-League and yesterday show what the S-League lacked.

The moment I on the television last night, I could see what the local football scene was missing. A capacity crowd, an electrifying atmosphere, and a passion for the sport that reignite my memories of the last time Singapore was in the Malaysian Cup. It had been too long.

However with Singapore’s return to the Malaysian Cup, there is also a return of something which I do NOT miss. Our whining! Singaporeans has a tendency to whine and this trait is increased ten-fold when it comes to football.

Yesterday, Singapore lost 2-1 to Kelantan. The winning goal came via a penalty which Singapore complained should not have been given. Singapore’s vice-captain Hariss Harun even said that a draw would have been a fairer result.

No, it wouldn’t. Last night, Kelantan was just better. They had more possession, more shots, and more control of the game than Singapore. Singapore played hard but Kelantan deserved to win. Yes, the penalty might be soft but I had seen them given before. There was contact between Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud and Kelantan striker Muhammed Gaddar.

It was NOT the wrong decision. So Singaporeans need to stop their whining about unfair referees and miscarriage of justice. We are back in the Malaysia Cup! Let’s just enjoy the trip!

Innocent!

2012-01-10T16:53:00.000+08:00

After a two-year trial, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was found not guilty yesterday by a Malaysian court on the charge of sodomising his one-time aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. The verdict came as a surprise as many (including me) had suspected that the Malaysian government would do all it could to ensure a guilty verdict.

Anwar had said from the outset that his trial was a conspiracy by the Malaysian government to prevent him from contesting the coming General Elections in Malaysia. With this verdict, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed wasted no time in proclaiming that the innocent verdict proves that there was no government conspiracy against Anwar.

Unfortunately for the 2 men, no one will believe them. Now I don’t know for sure if the trial was a government conspiracy against Anwar but sometimes perception triumphs the truth and the perception that there is a government conspiracy against Anwar is so heavy I have no idea how the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) would change that.

Frankly, the Malaysian government can only blame themselves for this situation. The case against Anwar was so weak it should have never gone to trial in the first place. The idea that a 60+ man in poor health like Anwar would be able to force a 20+ young man like Mohd Saiful to have sex is so ridiculous the case should have been thrown out a long time ago. The fact that the trial actually lasted 2 years is a joke!

What’s worse for the Malaysian government is that after the verdict, a rally by Anwar supporters was cut short by 2 small explosions. The preliminary police investigation found that the two explosive devices were placed under police cones in the carpark outside of the courthouse. Under police cones! You can’t get any more obvious than that can you?

So if PM Najib believes that the BN would get a boost from the innocent verdict, he is sorely mistaken. If anything, Anwar's acquittal would probably give his supporters a lift and allows Anwar to attack BN with the charge that his trial was politically motivated.

In short, PM Najib and the Malaysian government may have hurt Anwar with the trial but they came out of the whole saga a lot, lot worse! Advantage: Anwar!

Wrong Decision Made

2012-01-09T11:19:00.001+08:00

It was always coming. After train disruptions in December, SMRT chief executive officer Saw Phaik Hwa has withstood calls from Singaporeans to step down from her post. As of Friday, Ms. Saw had stepped down from her post as SMRT CEO.

Frankly, it was a long time coming as the continued train disruptions had made her position untenable. The problem I have is not her resignation but the fact that the problems with the train system are still NOT fixed!

When Ms. Saw's took the decision to stay on as CEO, she said that she was staying on to set things right. It has been a month yet Singaporeans are still plagued with slowdowns and breakdowns of the train system. Just yesterday, the news reported of yet another slowdown on the Circle Line!

So despite her wish to take responsibility for the disruptions and her pledge to set things right, Ms. Saw had failed to fix the problems of the SMRT. In the end, her decision to stay on as SMRT CEO in December was the wrong one.

DC Universe Online

2012-01-07T15:32:00.001+08:00

DC Universe Online (DCUO) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the DC Universe. Released by Sony Online Entertainment in January 2011, it was supposed to be the MMO that will rule the superhero MMO market.

That has not been the case as players had abandon the game and Sony had to convert the game to F2P (Free-to-Play) on November 1 to continue the game. In fact, it’s fair to say DCUO is now no. 3 in the superhero MMO Markey, behind Champions Online and City of Heroes. So…what went wrong?

I shall start off with what went right for the game.

DC fully supported the game with Geoff Johns being the principal writer of the story and Jim Lee being the game's Executive Creative Director. The story (which is about an alien invasion by the supervillain Brainiac) is interesting and the character designs are good.

DCUO is a good-looking game. The game itself is beautiful and you can clearly see that a lot of work had been put into the cities of Metropolis and Gotham City. I also got a kick out of fighting alongside the various heroes and villains of the DCU. I know some people complained that they are sidekicks to the main heroes like Superman or Batman but I don’t see why that’s a problem. I mean why are you are in a MMO called DC Universe Online if not to fight alongside Batman?

Leveling was also a breeze and I got a character to the max level of 30 in about 3 weeks (which was very quick for me). However when I went on to my secondary character, I found that the experience wasn’t that enjoyable. I have put some thought on why that is the case and think I have the answer.

The characters builds are just too similar. When players play the game, they have a choice of going into a damage mode or an alternate mode (healing/control/tank etc). On paper this sounds cool but in practice, it is far less so. This is because allowing everyone to go dps means you can have a team all doing the same thing! Basically, everyone goes damage and tried to knock down the boss before getting killed. It takes tactics out of the equation and many times, teams just pile on the boss.

More importantly, it means there isn’t much of a difference in the character builds! As everyone can go dps, outside the flashy animation, all the characters played the same. I believe it is why my alts couldn’t maintain my interest in the game. I just couldn’t see that much difference between my alt (which is an ice tank/dps) and my main (nature healer/dps)! It doesn’t help that there wasn’t that many powers to choose from in the first place.

When players first start the game, they have to create a character and the problem begins immediately. When the game was first launched, DCUO only have 6 power sets for players to choose from. Since the launch, two more power sets (Lighting, Light) have been introduced to make a grand total of…8!

That is just pathetic. Especially when you consider that City of Heroes give you close to 16 different powers to choose from at the start! Another problem is in the PS3 design of the game interface. DCUO is designed to be played both by the PC and PS3 and the console-focused interface of the game was very troublesome for me. I only had 8 slots for my powers and since 2 of them are taken by my potions, that means I only have 6 powers to choose from.

That is just sad and I believe is the main reason why DCUO went F2P within a year of launch. I have played all 3 superhero MMOs on the market and I have to rank DCUO behind Champions Online and City of Heroes. It’s not a bad game but the other 2 are just better.

Comics this week

2012-01-06T14:22:00.002+08:00

Artifacts #13- With the universe destroyed in #12, this issue is an epilogue showing off the new universe which Top Cow will now be set on. However the issue isn’t a straightforward revamp as writer Ron Marz decided to show the difference between Sara and Jackie and what they are (and are not) willing to do for the greater good. It was a rollercoaster with an open ending that leave a lot of room for other writers to fill in the blanks. Marz did such a great job I want to pick up Witchblade to see if Sara still remember that Hope is her daughter. The only problem I had with the issue was how little we know about what happened to the rest of the artifacts bearers. Does Dani still have the Angelus? Is Finnegan dead? Guess I have to pick #14 to find up.

Villains For Hire #2- After a so-so debut, #2 of “Villains For Hire” was much better. The issue kicks off with Purple Man's crew again coming up against Misty Knight's team of villains. The fights between the C-list villains still leave a lot to be desired but the brains behind the operations takes centre stage with the Purple Man, Misty Knight and Headhunter weaving plot and counterplots against each other. Let me put out a shameless suggestion to writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; make Misty Knight a bad guy! Like the Purple Man, I don’t buy the plot twist in this issue. I think it is a cover for Misty Knight to break Villains For Hire from the inside, so surprise me! Turn her to a bad guy; that will be fun!

Lose-Lose

2012-01-05T11:08:00.003+08:00

Top 10 Political Leader's Salary by Country (2010):
1. Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore): $2,183,516
2. Donald Tsang (Hong Kong): $513,245
3. Raila Odinga (Kenya): $427,886
4. Barack Obama (United States): $400,000
5. Nicolas Sarkozy (France): $302,435
6. Stephen Harper (Canada): $296,400
7. Mary McAleese (Ireland): $287,900
8. Julia Gillard (Australia): $286,752
9. Angela Merkel (Germany): $283,608
10. Yoshihiko Noda (Japan): $273,676

After their less-tan-stellar performance in the General Election last year, the Singapore government put together a committee to review minister’s pay, a particular bugbear for the Singapore public. After half a year, the committee has finally come up with their “recommendations”.

With Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong having said that the government will accept the recommendations made by the Ministerial Salary Committee, Singapore ministers will now have to suffer a “severe” pay cut. PM Lee’s salary will be reduced by 36% to S$2.2 million.

So what? Just look at the list above on the highest paid political leader in 2010. PM Lee’s salary is about 4 times above the second place guy! A cut of 36% will make him…STILL the highest paid political leader in the world.

Seriously, this is why I have always said that the Singapore government should never make a big deal out of their pay. They are the highest paid ministers in the world and a cut of 36% isn’t going to change that. They should do any cuts on their salary quietly because the more they put out their salary to the public, the worse it is for the government.

It has been less than a day since the publication of the recommendation and already the Singapore public’s reactions has been mostly about how “this is a good start”. When it come to their high salary, it’s a lose-lose situation for the Singapore government. The less they talk about it, the better it is for them.

The Ever-Changing Story

2012-01-04T12:29:00.002+08:00

On 23 December, there was heavy rain in Singapore and Singapore’s shopping belt, Orchard Road, was again flooded. However it is the ensuing finger-pointing for this latest embarrassment that had raise eyebrows.

It all started when the PUB first made an official statement saying that there was no flood on Orchard Road rather it was a “ponding” of water. However several photos on the internet showed the flooding in buildings such as Liat Towers and Lucky Plaza (both on Orchard Road) quickly made a mockery of that.

Then the management of Liat Tower (probably in an effort to protect themselves) claimed that the cause of the flood in their building was due to the Stamford Canal being full. PUB immediately denied this saying the Stamford Canal was not full and that the flooding within Liat Tower has nothing to do with the canal. Then on 30 December, PUB issued a press release stating "The sustained heavy downpour resulted in the flooding of several roads including the Thomson/Cambridge areas as well as the basements of Liat Towers and Lucky Plaza." Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan then came out to “urge” Singaporeans to be patient because “alternatives to the Stamford Canal” are being studied to help resolve flooding along Orchard Road.

You heard of the never-ending story? For the flood on Orchard Road, it’s the ever-changing story! Suddenly, there is flooding on Orchard Road. Suddenly the Stamford Canal was full. Suddenly, not only did they know the Stamford Canal was full, they are also “methodically and carefully” studying “alternatives”.

Frankly, I don’t see why they can’t just say that in the first place.

All the finger-pointing beforehand is senseless. Most Singaporeans don’t care why there is a flood on Orchard Road, they just want the problem fixed! The PUB should stop worrying about covering their ass (because it’s no longer possible) and just concentrate on fixing the flood problem on Orchard Road.

No Hero

2012-01-03T16:48:00.001+08:00

Recently, the internet has been filled with stories of gender discrimination in Israel. The story has been on the treatment of women by hareidi (Jewish) religious men who had enforced rules on gender separation within their neighborhoods.

This is evidently something that has been happening for a few years already in certain parts of Israel and one of the rules imposed was the separation of seats on buses. On buses piling certain routes within some neighborhoods, there are separate seating place for men and women. Men seat in front while women seat at the back of the bus. The internet has been buzzing because an Israeli woman, Tania Rosenblit, refused to follow the rules and insisted on sitting behind the driver at the front of the bus. She got into an argument with a man and the police were even called in.

In most posts on the internet, Ms. Rosenblit has been likened to an “Israeli Rosa Parks,” for standing up to gender segregation. Now Ms. Rosenblit insists she wasn't looking to be a role model when she refused demands to move to the back of the bus. She’s right; she wasn’t looking to be a hero, she was looking for trouble!

Most people on the internet seem to have forgotten one important thing about Ms. Rosenblit. Ms. Rosenblit is a media producer who got on the bus with a camera. She then proceeded to capture the whole “incident” on camera. The whole thing was as manufactured as you can get but Ms. Rosenblit is now a “hero”?

Please people; heroes are people who stand up for what they believe in like the original Rosa Parks. Now maybe Ms. Rosenblit truly believe in the cause (fighting gender discrimination) but from all the reports I read, it seem clear to me that she went on the bus looking to create an incident. She got what she was looking for.

Maybe the whole thing is for the best as it put a spotlight on gender discrimination in Israel but we should NOT put Ms. Rosenblit on the same level as Rosa Parks. Ms. Rosenblit is no hero. She was just doing her job; to produce “news”.

Comics this week

2011-12-30T09:20:00.002+08:00

I, Vampire #4- The surprise hit of the New 52 hit a road bump this issue. Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov continues the tale of master vampire Andrew and while the story was fine, it also felt a little forced. John Constantine guest-star in this issue and it was totally unnecessary. Also having the dead vampire being the long-lost father of Tig was…well, kind of tacky in my view. It’s only been 4 issues but between his story and Andrea Sorrentino’s art, things seems fine to me. There’s no need for Fialkov to use stunts and surprise guest-stars for the series.

FF #13- At the end of this issue, writer Jonathan Hickman gave Dr. Doom a great line. “I am Doom, Destroyer of Worlds.” It was a massive line which deserved better. The line got all life sucked out of it because of the terrible artwork. Marvel is having some serious problem on its hands due to the success of DC’s New 52 and having an artist like Juan Bobilo is not going to help them. I’m a fan who is more interested in reading the stories than the artwork but even to me, the artwork in this series is terrible. The children looked the same to me which is saying something when some of them are not even humans! That’s how bad the art is here.

DC Universe Online: Legends #20- The cover of this issue had the tagline, “Batman vs The Dark Knight”. Seem like a winner right? Totally wrong! The problem of the artwork and story not jelling came back again. At the end of the issue when Batman took out the Society; I have no idea what happened. Did the ground explode below them? Was a grenade thrown? How did a single explosion took out everyone, including Black Adam? This series has been terrible for the past 3 issues and that is truly disappointing when the series had such a bright start.

High-Rollers vs MBS

2011-12-29T16:13:00.001+08:00

When I read that Singapore casino operator Marina Bay Sands (MBS) was suing five of its high-rollers for a grand total of S$7.5 million, I thought that this was an open-and-shut case. I mean; you own money, you pay money right?

However upon further reading, it seen that one of the cases might not be so open-and-shut. One of the high-rollers is Takami Shinichi, a Japanese based in Singapore. MBS is claiming $1,999,324 from him. MBS alleged to have started Mr. Shinichi with a $200,000 credit line in June 2010. This was later increased to $1 million in February 2011 and then increased $2 million in April.

The problem for MBS in this case is that they should have never gave Shinichi a credit line in the first place!

Under the Singapore’s Casino Control Act, casinos are only allowed to extend credit to premium players. Premium players are players who have deposit at least $100,000 with the casino, in the form of cash, cheques or chips. Mr. Shinichi’s lawyer alleged that his client never had placed this much with the casino.

This might be a technical issue but it is an important technical issue. If Mr. Shinichi’s lawyer is correct, then Mr. Shinichi should have never been given a credit line in the first place so any increase of his credit line later on would (and should) be null and void.

MBS has refused to comment publicly on the case but if Mr. Shinichi’s lawyer gets his way (and there’s no reason to believe he won’t since MBS records would show how much Mr. Shinichi deposit with the casino), then this case may change the way the casinos in Singapore do business. This is one case everyone would be looking at carefully.

Teach It

2011-12-28T08:54:00.001+08:00

To be honest, I couldn’t care less about sex education. To me, schools are not the place to teach children about sex. Schools are place of learning, for kids to learn about maths, science, geography, history etc. Sex education is not something schools should be in charge of.

However, Singapore schools do offer sex education but if you are going to teach it, then teach it! The Ministry of Education (MOE) recently revised their Sexuality Education Program (SEP) to focus more abstinence over contraception. In short, the program will now teach students to avoid sex instead of what to do to prevent pregnancy etc. The revision came after parents of students in Catholic schools in Singapore made complains about the program not catering to Catholic teachings.

Sorry to disappoint those parents but are your children so idiotic that they do not know they are NOT supposed to have sex? No? So how is telling children to abstain from sex suppose to help them when all it will do is to tell them what they already know? Kids know they are not supposed to have sex but guess what; they are going to do it anyway!

That should be the main focus of sex education; to prevent “accidents” from happening, not to tell kids what they already know. Seriously like I said earlier, with the society we have in Singapore, is there any doubt that children don’t know they are NOT supposed to have sex?

Schools are there for children to learn things, not telling them what they already know. Telling kids to abstain from sex is not really going to help them because…well, they already know that.

Innocent Untill Proven Guilty

2011-12-27T08:14:00.000+08:00

Earlier this year, 2-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contado tested positive for the anabolic agent clenbuterol which is a banned substance. The Spanish cyclist blamed the positive test on a steak he had eaten and experts believed him as the traces found in his system was about 400 times below what is needed for him to get an advantage from the clenbuterol.

Unfortunately for Contador, the doping rules state that no drugs must be found within his body. Luckily for this case, common sense prevailed. Contador appealed and got his ban overturned. However the strain on his reputation remains.

Now in a tacit admission that there is a problem with the food, the United Kingdom Anti-Doping Association has warned their athletes to avoid eating liver as it “may” cause a positive on a drug test for clenbuterol. Liver is just one of a list of food to avoid for athletes.

With the London Olympics approaching, I can understand why the United Kingdom Anti-Doping Association went for a better safe-than-sorry stance but for me, the warning by them is another admission of the overzealous approach people have towards doping.

I’m all for the "anti-doping" crusade but people need to have some common sense. The main problem is that athletes are getting ban just for eating the wrong food and taking the wrong prescription. They are getting ban despite there being no proof of them using drugs for personal benefit. For example; the case against Contador should have never got as big as it did because there is no proof he ever used drugs to enhance his performance. The traces of clenbuterol found in him were 400 times BELOW what he need to have but he was still going to get ban for it!

That is just ridiculous. Just traces of banned substance should not be reason to ban someone. There must be definitive proof of guilt. As they say, a man is innocent till proven guilty. Unfortunately for athletes, that no longer seems to be the case.

Comics this week

2011-12-23T08:29:00.000+08:00

Justice League #4- As one of the main man at DC, writer Geoff Johns seems to have drips on which character to show off. As the writer of Aquaman, I guess it’s only natural that Aquaman is getting his time to show off. My problem with that (and this issue) is that nothing worthwhile happened. The issue is full of action sequence and the heavy focus on it means that the story doesn’t really move forward. Outside the last 3 pages, the rest of the issue is filled with Jim Lee’s beautiful art…and nothing else. For a pretty slow moving story already, this issue is a dead stop.

Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes! #1- Grant Morrison’s Batman Inc. was one of the most intriguing out there but because of delays and the New 52 relaunch, he never managed to finish the story. Probably not wanting to waste a good thing, DC is now publishing his work first with this one-shot prelude and with a mini-series next year. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier. I’m not a fan of the Batman titles post New 52 and “Leviathan Strikes” showed why. Morrison cram everything he can into the pages for an intense read and makes you wonder (again) why the hell DC revamped the Batman titles. Of course this issue isn’t prefect. For one thing it is set in the old DC world before the New 52 revamp, so Stephanie Brown is still Batgirl. Fans of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl (the 10 or so of you) can weep. Also you probably need to read the Batman Inc. to fully understand the issue. Although the issue tried to get readers up to speed with a 8-page recap, it’s not really enough as characters are thrown left, right and centre at the readers. However for readers who had read Batman Inc. like me, this is one hell of an issue.

It's Not A Race

2011-12-22T08:42:00.001+08:00

It's out! After years in production, Star Wars: The Old Republic has officially launched. At the cost of US$150 million, the game is the biggest MMORPG to be launched in years. Some even expect it to be the one that finally put a dent in World of Warcraft.

Now the stories from the launch in the U.S are the usual. Long waiting time to enter the game, certain servers being overload and fill to capacity; these are the usual stories from a MMORPG at launch. However one story caught my eye.

Star Wars: The Old Republic maximum level is 50. That means no one can currently go beyond level 50 in the game. Within 12 hours of launch, it seems 2 players have already reached the max.

Now, I know everyone have their own play-style but reaching level 50 is under 12 hours? I won’t ask “how” because I can imagine it happening but I’m interested in “why”? I had played many MMOs before and this is something I could never understand. Why would anyone do that? The quickest I ever reached the maximum level was in DC Online when I reached it in about 3 weeks and the max was only 30 in that game. I mean a MMORPG is an open world where one can explore in, read the background stories of the characters, and generally enjoy themselves in.

Why this race to reach the cap? How much of the world can you explore in under 12hours? To me, this race to the top play-style is one developers should actively discourage.

Dead But No Joy

2011-12-20T22:04:00.001+08:00

When former U.S. President George W. Bush famously denounced North Korea as a member of his "axis of evil", he made sure to make special mention of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Yet despite having enemies on all sides, the man managed to keep an iron grip on his country.

That man is now dead. North Korean TV reported that the mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died of heart failure on Dec 17 at that age of 69.

Despite his death, there is no rejoicing in Seoul, Tokyo or Washington. South Korea's stock market, the Kospi, dived nearly 5% on the news. The reason is that although Kim has often been ridiculed in the media, he was also a man who had made North Korea into a country that worries the rest of the world. North Korea has the world’s 5th biggest army and managed to get their hands on nuclear weapons.

No one talk about regime change for North Korea.

The bottom-line is this; if he is mad, then there is a method to his madness. Kim Jong Il may be enigmatic and ruthless but he was also highly intelligent and the iron man of a nuclear country. Considering how young (and weak) his successor, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, is…there may come a time in the future when we wish Kim Jong Il was still at the helm of North Korea.

Needs vs Wants

2011-12-19T10:54:00.001+08:00

With a rising China come increasing territorial disputes between Beijing and its Asian neighbors. Most of these disputes are just a sign of China showing its muscle as its claims to most of them are “historical”; in the longest sense of the word.

This is a problem for the United States as it now has to face an increasing assertive China while its economy is in the doldrums. With the problem of a tighter budget, US Navy now expects to station several combat ships in Singapore.

Now while I like the idea of the United States been increasingly vocal about defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, I’m not in favor of the stationing of combat ships in Singapore. The main reason is that this is not our fight.

Yes, I know it sounds a little contradictory but the main thing is that Singapore has no territorial disputes (yet) with China. In fact, China is one of our biggest trading partners. So I don’t see how hosting combat ships from the US Navy benefit Singapore. Also, the United States has some 70,000 troops stationed in Japan and South Korea and a military presence in the Philippines and Thailand.

You can say that the United States don’t really “need” to station ships in Singapore. And you can also say Singapore don’t really “need” to have US combat ships in Singapore. Both parties may want to but there’s no real need for the ships to be in Singapore. So…why should Singapore host them?

Heads Should Wait

2011-12-18T13:58:00.001+08:00

Just 2 days ago, I blogged about the breakdown along the North-South Line (NSL) and how SMRT should have informed passengers immediately of the fault in their system. That was a problem in communication but now the problems at SMRT seem to be far deeper than that.

Just yesterday, there is another breakdown in the services. This time it is along the North-South MRT line and according to the SMRT, the problems lies in damage to the third rail of the tracks at certain locations. I find the reasoning very strange as I do not understand why there is suddenly this spate of damage rails all happening at the same time.

However, I understand that whatever the (real) reason is, the SMRT will need some time to fix the issue. This is why I do not agree with the calls for SMRT chief executive Saw Phaik Hwa to resign. There had also been calls by some Singaporeans for the head of Mr Lui Tuck Yew, the Singapore Transport Minister, and while I can understand why Singaporeans are unhappy with the duo, the timing of the calls is wrong.

Frankly, I’m more interested in why there are so many faults all of the sudden. Like I said earlier, I find the reasons given by the SMRT to be very strange and I believe I’m not the only one. I believe Singaporeans should wait. Yes, heads should roll but we need to find out why the trains stopped in the first place and then put in procedures to prevent it from happening again.

Once those are done, then heads should roll. This mess happened on the watch of Saw Phaik Hwa and Lui Tuck Yew, so it’s only right that they be the ones who fix the problems. After that…

Tell People First!

2011-12-16T17:01:00.001+08:00

At 6:56pm last night, trains on the North-South Line (NSL) came to a stop as for the second time in 2 days, there is a fault along the MRT lines. The stoppage affected train service in both directions from Bishan to Marina Bay and normal service was only resumed at 11:40pm.

I’m not too bothered with the stoppages. In any country, things like this happened all the time. What I do mind however is the way SMRT went about informing people about the stoppages. To be more exact, how they DIDN’T inform people about the stoppages!

You would think that when the trains stopped, the train company would inform passengers on other lines that their trains are down and not go wait for the trains right? Not in Singapore! Passengers on the Circle Line (CCL) reported that they were not informed of the problems on the NSL and some had changed from the CCL to the NSL only to discover that the NSL was down after waiting a long time for trains that never came.

If that’s not bad enough, it seems that people from the media were not allowed to inform their viewers of the problem on the MRT as well!

The day before, on the 14th Dec, there was a minor breakdown on the CCL. A local radio DJ informed his listeners on the breakdown and he is now censured for the announcement. His crime? It seem that the DJ, Hossan Leong, got his information from callers who call in to the radio station to report the matter and he was censured because he announced the disruption on the CCL before the SMRT released an official statement on the matter!

What total nonsense!

This is a prefect example of the “cover your own backside” mentality that has infected the Singapore government. Who cares about the official statement? Just tell people there is a breakdown first, and worry about the official statement later! Telling your customers about a fault in your system should be your first priority. No one cares about the official statement when they are struck in the MRT station without knowledge of whether the trains are coming or not. And then to add spice to the dish, you censured someone who did something you ought to be doing in the first place!

Brilliant! Wonderful! No wonder so many Singaporeans are piss off at the SMRT!

Comics this week

2011-12-15T10:29:00.002+08:00

DC Universe Online: Legends #19- After a bright start, DC Universe Online has been having a hard time of it of late. Last issue was a massive disappointment, so it’s no surprise that #19 was better. However, it’s still not great. The problem I have is that while everything was going on well for the first 4/5 of the issue, at the end we suddenly discovered that the whole issue (as well as last issue) had been a flashback by the future Batman. Uh? There's had been not even a hint of that by writer Marv Wolfman beforehand and suddenly it’s a flashback? I think you can call this issue the one where DC Universe Online finally jumped the shark.

S.H.I.E.L.D #4- I had always felt that stories involving timelines are difficult to pull off. It looked great if you can pull it off but the stories themselves need to make sense as well as be different from each other. This issue shows the difficulties in pulling it off. Jonathan Hickman gave it his best shot but it just didn’t quite pay off for me. Another thing bothering me was the introduction of the 3 brothers. Frankly with the big cast S.H.I.E.L.D has already, I don’t see the need to introduce 3 more characters into the mix. This just adds to the confusion which is something the series do not need. In a way, the series has been too ambitious for its own good and could do with some streamlining.

Green Lantern #4- Ok, I’ll come out and say it. The main attraction of this new GL series is not Hal Jordon but Sinestro. Sinestro is a far more interesting character than Hal. Unbearably arrogant, he is also as good as he thinks he is. The scene where he creates over 20 rings through sheer willpower is worth the price of the issue. The only thing I dislike about this issue is the final page. It is a red herring as Sinestro had created a failsafe in his constructs. A series as good as GL do not need cheap tricks like that.

Stranger Than Fiction

2011-12-14T09:27:00.002+08:00

So America flew a spy drone over Iran. So Iran bought the spy drone down. Now America…asked the Iranians to return the spy drone that was used to spy on them?

I thought this was a joke when I first read it but evidentially it’s true. President Obama himself said that the United States had asked Iran to give the downed American reconnaissance plane back.

Fact is truly stranger than fiction. The Iranians has rejected the request with its state media poking fun at the American’s expense. I agree with them.

What is God’s name made the American believed for a second the Iranians (and the rest of the world) won’t laugh their guts out upon hearing the request? Hell, I am.

The Man For The Job?

2011-12-13T08:22:00.000+08:00

As I had said before, when the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) lost the Aljunied GRC (Group Representation Constituency) in the general election (GE), it was a tidal wave result as the GRC system was designed to safeguard seats for the PAP. It seems that the PAP felt that way also.

Even though the next GE is 4 years away, the PAP has tasked former cabinet minister Lim Boon Heng to form a team to retake the GRC. This shows how important the PAP believe the Aljunied GRC is to the long-term well-being of the PAP. However I have to wonder why Lim Boon Heng was the one picked for the task.

Although a party veteran, Lim Boon Heng had retired from politics before the GE so I find it especially strange that with some many members to choose from, the PAP picked a “retired” party veteran for this task. Now I’m not saying he’s not up to the job of winning the constituency back from the opposition Workers’ Party (WP), but why would the PAP picked a retired man for the job?

Even if George Yeo is not available, it would make much more sense if the PAP picked someone who is still currently active in the PAP for the job. It could be a promising up-and-coming member of the PAP or even a current MP or minister, but it’s strange to pick a man who is supposed to be retired to spearhead the task.

The only reason I could come up with is that the PAP is having a hard time finding people to be its figurehead in Aljunied. If that is the case, then the choice of Lim Boon Heng would make sense. As he is retired, his standing would not be hurt if PAP failed to win back the GRC in the next GE and he is of a high enough standing that he could get things done.

Guess in the next GE, we’ll all find out if he is the right choice.

The Counting Game

2011-12-12T08:00:00.001+08:00

On December 4, the Russian people went to the polls and as widely expected, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling party won the elections. Soon after, there were protests against Putin as he was accused of vote-fixing.

Putin then accused the West of interfering in Russian political affairs and of encouraging the protests. Unfortunately, it seems that there is some true in what he says.

The problem I have is the way the Western media is reporting the protests in Russia. To be more exact, it’s the way they are numbering the protestors.

In the Russian capital of Moscow, the Western media announced that 50,000 people came out to protest against Putin. How the hell did they came up with that number?

When the protest first started, the organizers of the protests announced that 15,000 to 20,000 people had come out. That number was disputed by the Russian police who said that the number of protesters was much lower than that.

Next thing we know, Western media citing “people on the ground” said that 50,000 people were protesting against Putin. Yes, Western media gave that number even before the protest organizers! In fact, they ignored the numbers given by the protest organizers! Seeing 50,000 in the media, protest organizers then started to say there were 100,000 protesters! It’s a comedy where no one knows how to count!

No wonder Putin is accusing the West of interfering in Russian internal affairs! It sure seems that way when the Western press is more interested in making news than in reporting it.

The Case of Mr. Lu

2011-12-11T16:02:00.001+08:00

One of the main problems Singaporeans have been harping on is the high housing prices in Singapore. Most Singaporeans are either unable to afford a flat or have to take on loans up to 20-25 years to buy a flat in Singapore.

After a long time, the Singapore government had finally began to take action. A new stamp duty of up to 10% will now be imposed on foreign buyers of Singapore properties. It is hoped that this would cool foreigner demand and lower property prices for Singaporeans.

Personally, I have doubts on how effective this would be as property prices are already so high. It’s like closing the door of the barn after the horses had bolted but it’s a good beginning.

Of course, foreigners in Singapore are unhappy with the move with one foreigner named Norman Lu been quoted on Channelnewsaisa that he was very disappointed with the move and he has options which includes leaving Singapore "because I can easily find another job opportunity in another country”.

If Mr. Lu was trying to gain sympathy for the position of foreign buyers of property; man, did he mess up or what! Singaporeans have reacted badly to Mr. Lu comment about foreigners having the option of leaving Singapore. I assure Mr. Lu on this; we know that!

Frankly, Singaporeans do not expect any loyalty from foreigners working in Singapore. We know fully well that the vast overwhelming majority of foreigners here are economic migrants who came to Singapore in search of better jobs. Once the better economic opportunities in Singapore disappear, they would go too. Foreigners in Singapore have no real commitment to Singapore outside this being a place to make money.

Singaporeans accept this. However to have a foreigner working in Singapore complain about a stamp duty, which almost every other country in the world has, and say that he will leave because of it grated on the nerves. Simply put; foreigners have it good in Singapore. Some might argue they have it better than Singaporeans in our own country! So if Mr. Lu has an option of leaving Singapore due to a better opportunity elsewhere; please go!

I don’t this out of anger but simple acceptance. Singaporean don’t expect any loyalty from you to stick it out during bad times, so if you believe you have better opportunities elsewhere, we will not stop you. Please go…and don’t come back.

Achilles Heel?

2011-12-09T17:01:00.001+08:00

Since last week, Iran had proudly announced that they had bought down a U.S. spy drone over Iran and the claims were quickly rebutted by the Americans who said that drone in question crashed over Afghanistan due to a malfunction.

In a move that’s sure to cause red faces in the Pentagon, the Iranians broadcasted a video of the U.S. spy drone…that looked intact! So much to the idea of it crashing!

However, I would be more worried over the Iranian claims of HOW they bought down the drone. The Iranians claim that they electronically hijacked the drone and bought it down in a controlled descent. If that is true, and there’s no reason to think otherwise as the drone is intact, then American officials may have to redraw their entire strategy for combat surveillance.

If unmanned U.S. reconnaissance plane can be hijacked in the middle of a mission, then they can’t be used. It’s that simple and that would changed any plans the U.S. has for an attack on Iran. It would seem that the massive technological advantage the American military has might becomes its Achilles heel.

Comics this week

2011-12-08T10:28:00.001+08:00

Villains For Hire #1- The #0 of “Villains For Hire” was great and I was looking forward to this miniseries. However before the issue came out, Marvel announced that the series would be cut from 5 issues to 4. Maybe that’s why #1 seemed a little rushed to me. The idea behind Purple Man putting together a “Villains For Hire” group is sound and writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have fun with the C-list villains that made up the team. However readers were thrown into the action without any background. Even when the background was given, it was rushed and felt false as the normally cool Purple Man explode in anger and started ranting for no reason. Artist Renato Arlem's work is also mixed. His background work is great as the scenes look good but his action sequence could do with some work. The fight between Scourge and Crossfire looked ridiculous and Tiger Shark looked like a giant in some of them. Still the premise of the series looked promising so I’m hoping for better to come.

R.I.P

2011-12-07T09:33:00.000+08:00

If there’re any doubts that the Kyoto Protocol belongs to the dustbin of history, the latest fiasco of Canada should end it. Canada has announced that it will not renew its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, no matter what.

For years, various Canadian governments had ignored their commitment to Kyoto claiming that it is useless to follow it as the top polluters in the world (China) had refused to cut their greenhouse gases emissions. However this year, China has indicated that Beijing would be willing to sign if everyone, the European Union & the developed nations, signed on as well.

Canada is the first country to say “No” to China. It’s highly likely that China offered the deal with the full knowledge that other countries would baulked at it. If this is true, they were right!

Kyoto is DEAD!

Price Increase Non-Event

2011-12-06T14:45:00.000+08:00

Singapore's largest taxi operator ComfortDelGro has raised taxi fares and, as is usually the case in Singapore, this means other taxi operators will soon follow suit. This means it will cost more for commuters to take taxis from now on.

Price rises are never a good thing but to me…I don’t see why Singaporeans are so unhappy about it. Personally, I always thought taxis are something you take once in a blue moon as the public transport system in Singapore (buses, MRT) can get you practically in Singapore.

The price increase is for taxis, not buses. If Singaporeans are truly that unhappy about it…take the bus!

The No Slut "SlutWalk"

2011-12-05T11:39:00.002+08:00

Over the weekend here in Singapore, a few hundred people gathered at the Speakers' Corner as part of the global "SlutWalk" movement. To those who do not know, the "SlutWalk" movement started in Canada when a law enforcement officer was quote as saying that women should not dressed provocatively to avoid being victims of sexual assault.

Personally, I thought it was sound, common-sense advice. However some women took offence to the statement as they say regardless of what they're wearing, women should not be blamed. I don’t think for a moment that was what the Canadian officer meant but the global "SlutWalk" movement was born.

Now I have no problem with having a "SlutWalk" in Singapore but the "SlutWalk" over the weekend isn’t really a "SlutWalk". From the picture I saw in the papers, women arrived at the "SlutWalk" in long-sleeve T-shirts and jeans. Yes, I know the organizers said that the idea was not to be provocative or “vamp it up” but to protest against violence against women. If that’s the case, then they shouldn’t use the name "SlutWalk".

If you are going to have a "SlutWalk", then you need to, you know, dress like a slut. The first “SlutWalks” in the U.S. and Canada had participants marching in lingerie with the word "slut" painted on their bodies. Now I’m not saying we need the same thing here but being provocative is the very idea behind the "SlutWalk".

Even the name "SlutWalk" itself is provocative, and it’s deliberately so! If you don’t intend to be provocative, then you shouldn’t use the name.

EU Debt Crisis

2011-12-03T16:48:00.000+08:00

Europe's debt crisis has been an ongoing saga for over a year and still shows no signs of ending. Things are so bad that even signs of action by European leaders are a cause for celebration among investors.

The latest signs by European leaders hoping to end Europe's debt crisis was a call from German Chancellor Angela Merkel who wish to push for stronger rules against overspending by European countries. In theory, this is good. Overspending by European countries like Greece, Ireland etc was what caused the debt crisis so new, stronger rules against overspending is sound.

However, it is also not what Europe needs.

Europe don’t really need new rules on overspending, it already has them. What Europe needs are rules to punish countries who break the rules! Currently Europe don’t have these rules and this is what Europe need at the moment. More importantly, the EU needs an agency to enforce these rules and punish countries who break them.

Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy all overspend and…nothing! Germany has to bail them out and by then, it’s too late. The damage had already been done. As it stands right now, there is nothing to stop EU countries from committing the same mistakes in 10-15 years time.

So forget new rules against overspending; what the EU needs is an agency to enforce these rules!

Review of Warrior

2011-12-02T16:45:00.001+08:00

Directed by Gavin O'Connor and starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte, Warrior is a surprising solid movie about a family involved in the sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).

The film starts slowly with Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte), a former alcoholic going home from his church. When he arrived home, he see his son Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy) waiting for him.

It was not a happy homecoming as Tommy still held resentment due to his father's former abusive behavior. A few days later, Tommy enters a gym where he knocks a professional MMA fighter named Pete "Mad Dog" Grimes (Erik Apple) unconscious in a brutal sparring bout. The fight was filmed by a spectator who uploaded it to the Internet where it went viral.

Meanwhile, Paddy’s other son Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton), is struggling financially and his home is facing foreclosure. Brendan is a high school physics teacher as well as a bouncer but even with his wife Tess (Jennifer Morrison) working as well, they are still unable to pay off their loan with the bank. Faced with little choice, Brendan takes part in an amateur MMA tournament for the prize money. A former professional fighter with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), he easily wins the tournament and convinces his wife this is the best and only way to get the money they need. Brendan then hook up with his former trainer, Frank Campana (Frank Grillo), to get in shape and begins to win a series of MMA fights.

As the gods have it (aka the scriptwriters), there is a US$5 million winner-takes-all MMA tournament called Sparta that has attracted massive media attention. Unknown to the two brothers, both Brendan and Tommy entered the tournament for the prize.

First off let me get this off; you really need to see this movie!

In many ways, Warrior is this year’s “The Fighter”. It is a gripping movie about the different paths 2 brother took in their life and how despite their differences and flaws, they are still in the end, a family.

However in many ways, it is also superior to “The Fighter”. Warrior takes an unapologetic look at the effects and emotional aftermath of alcoholism. Even when the alcoholic father had cleaned up his act, forgiveness from his sons isn’t a given. In fact unlike “The Fighter”, even at the end of this movie, it is still an open question whether the Conlon’s estrangement has been resolved.

I especially loved the way the actors threw their all into their roles. Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton truly looked like professional fighters and the fight scenes were very well-staged. In the cinema where I saw the movie, there were a couple of times when guys pumped their fists up in the air during the fights and there was even a cheer for one of the characters.

It was that intense.

However the cream of the actors is Nick Nolte. The veteran actor had the meatiness role as the recovered alcoholic father who was unable to make amends with his sons, and he proved up to the challenge. His Paddy Conlon was a man haunted by his past and who knows he has no right to ask for forgiveness. I heard that Nick Nolte may be up for “Best Supporting Actor” for this performance and if he is, it is something he richly deserved.

Of course, there are some flaws in this movie. In many ways, Warrior is a clichéd sports movie. As well made as it is, there is nothing here that you won’t find in other movies like Rocky, The Fighter etc. Originality isn’t the movie’s strong point.

Also director Gavin O'Connor kept viewers at a certain distance from the movie. In what I believe was a deliberate move, O’Conner tried to keep viewers from being too focus on any one character by keeping a distance from them. There were very few close ups and this created some problems in the movie. Certain scenes did not have the impact they should (Paddy’s visit to Brendan’s house/Tommy and Brendan’s confrontation on the beach) due to this.

However, these flaws are minor as on the whole, this movie is excellent. It’s a story of redemption, reconciliation and the difficult path to them. It also didn’t take the easy way out as it was an open question at the end on whether the characters did manage to reconcile. Watch this movie; IT’S GREAT!

Comics this week

2011-12-01T17:10:00.000+08:00

DC Universe Online: Legends #18- After a few issues where the focus were on Brainiac, the Green Lanterns and the Sinestro Corp, writers Marv Wolfman and Tony Bedard moved the story back to Earth. In Brainiac’s absence from Earth, Lex Luthor and the Justice League are scouring the wreckage of his ships for clues on his location. Now it is good to see action back on Earth again but this issue was terrible. Individually, the story and artwork are okay but together, they just do not jell. For example, there was a scene when a character commented on the gigantic army Brainiac assembled, and I had no idea what he was talking about. The army in question was never shown! This is not a one-off incident, it happened several times in this issue.

FF #12- This issue starts with the top 3 floors of the Baxter Building translocated to Latveria along with the children of the Future Foundation. Personally I have no problem with writer Jonathan Hickman’s idea to spilt FF with the Fantastic Four. The children are interesting enough to hold their own but Marvel need to get another artist. I don’t know if artist Juan Bobilo is a stand-in or if he is going to be the regular artist, but his work in this issue was terrible. The facial expression of his characters made the children all looked the same and his Richard Reed looked old and wrinkling. His Nathanial Reed looked younger than his Richard Reed! Change the artist, and Marvel might have an unexpected hit on its hand.

Insanity

2011-11-30T10:46:00.001+08:00

On 22 July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik became one of the world’s most hated man when he staged twin attacks in Norway that killed 77 people and injured 151. Since Norway doesn’t have the death penalty, Breivik was expected to serve a lengthy jail term.

Now he may not even receive that. Psychiatrists have concluded that Breivik that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was in a psychotic state during the attacks. According to Norwegian law experts, this means Breivik will almost certainly be detained into psychiatric care rather than receiving a lengthy jail term.

This also mean there is a good chance of him getting out if and when psychiatrists pronounce him cured. I say…So what if Breivik is insane?

This man killed 77 people and there is a chance he could walk? I thought the Norwegians were crazy not to execute him but even the chance that he might actually be freed one day is ludicrous.

So what if the man is insane? That doesn’t change the fact 77 people are dead because of him! Seriously, men like him are why we need the death penalty. If the Norwegians execute/kill/murder (whatever you want to call it) him, the family and friends of the victims have a chance of closure but now? They are faced with a chance that Breivik might one day be freed.

Now that is insane!

A New Era?

2011-11-29T17:50:00.002+08:00

In the General Election (GE) in May, the PAP got 60% of the total votes which was its lowest share of votes in some decades. Not only that, they lost a GRC (Group Representation Constituency) to an opposition party for the first time. It was tidal wave result as the GRC was designed to safeguard seats for the ruling party.

Worse was to come on August 27th, when the PAP backed candidate, Tony Tan, managed to scrap only 35.2% of the total votes to pull off a win in the Presidential Election. With these results on his mind, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong publicly pledged a “new PAP for a new era” in his speech during the PAP party convention. He promised that the PAP will adept to the new political environment and be more interactive with the Singapore population.

Most Singaporeans I know treat his promise with a yawn.

The problem is that these promises had been made before. Countless PAP ministers and members of parliament had promised to listen more to the ground even before the GE in May. These include issues that affect Singaporeans like high housing prices and the presence of foreigners in Singapore.

However housing prices are still high and the amount of foreigners in Singapore is still vast. To many Singaporeans, like me, the PAP has been saying the right things without doing anything. Take the housing prices for example. For months, a string of “experts” from the government has come out to insist the housing prices will come down next year but thus far, there has been no data supporting this assessment. All Singaporeans seen so far is a series of half-hearted "cooling measures" that had cooled nothing. Housing prices has NOT come down and Singaporeans are basically tired of hearing the PAP trying to talk down the market without nothing anything.

No one want to just hear the right things from the PAP, they are now waiting for the right actions. As they say; talk is cheap! The PAP need to come out with new policies to convince Singaporean they are serious about listening to the people.

The Search For Life

2011-11-28T08:28:00.000+08:00

In the search for alien life, I guess it’s only fitting that our closest planetary neighbor, Mars, is the recipient of the world’s most ambitious mission to physically find life in outer space.

NASA had launched a 900kg robot named Curiosity, to the Red Planet to study if it is suitable for life. Supposed to land in August next year, the giant rover is equip with 10 sophisticated instruments to study the rocks, soils and atmosphere on the planet over a 2 year period.

Personally, I find the idea of such missions great. Even though most scientists believe that Mars do not have the capacity to support life, you never know how life could adept to their environment. Here’s hoping a safe landing for Curiosity!

Comics this week

2011-11-25T10:57:00.000+08:00

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #3- After 2 lackluster issues, this series finally kicked into gear. Picking up where #2 left off, it is the Guardians versus the 7-ring Kyle Rayner. It was a blast. I still say the series focused too much on Kyle but at least in this issue, we get to see the other Lanterns working together. The potential of this series is great and for the first time, we are seeing glimmers of it. Here’s hoping for more to come.

I, Vampire #3- Thus far, I, Vampire has been the surprise hit of the New 52 and rightfully so. Keeping up with the different POV style of the series, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov tells the story through the eyes of Professor Troughton, one of the 2 new characters introduced in this issue. He also added some backstory to Andrew and confirmed that this series happens within the DCU. The only question I have is the artwork of Andrea Sorrentino. Her style seems like a good fit for this series but her style also makes it difficult to get into the fight scenes. In the fight this issue, her Andrew just posed too much for my liking. Still, overall I would say this issue is a good read.

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time #17- In many ways, the early books of “The Wheel of Time” were adventure books. The early books showed Rand, Mat and Perrin traveling around the world and showed off the deep history and mystery of the world they lived in. This issue shows the difference between books and comics. Showing off the world in a book is something of a delight as your imagination can run wild while reading the description of the world. Reading about the history and mystery of the world in a comic book is something else as there are pictures showing you the world; your imagination can’t run wild as when you are reading a book and this is why this issue (which is a travel issue) just doesn’t cut it for me. It’s not badly done, but it doesn’t have the magic the book has. It’s the medium and the difference between books and comics that is at fault here.

The 'Cinderella Law'

2011-11-24T10:11:00.001+08:00

It’s called the 'Cinderella Law'. Faced with a growing problem of its youth being addicted to playing online games, South Korea puts into effect a 'Cinderella Law' that requires all online games to block players under age 16 from playing between midnight and 6 a.m.

As expected, the law has its opponents which include several South Korean gaming companies like Nexon and NCsoft. It should be noted that part of their problems with the law is on how the companies could possibly compile with it. It’s not unusual for players to lie about their age when they signed up for a game (I know I did) and how they could stop players from circumventing the ban by connecting to overseas servers, which have no such restriction.

These are all valid questions. It does seem that the South Korean government passed the law without fully thinking it through but on the whole, I am in support of it. Frankly, there is no reason for kids to be playing online game between midnight and 6 a.m. There had been times when I did it but I’m a working adult. Some kids below 16 (and some above that age) do not have the self-control to tear themselves from the computer and a law like this is great.

It’s true that there are some questions about the implantation of it but on the whole, the spirit of the 'Cinderella Law' is good. A law like this is something I believe Singapore should look into as well.

Acceptance Of The Inevitable

2011-11-23T10:33:00.001+08:00

So Israel believes that Iran is less than a year away from being unstoppable in its goal of producing a nuclear weapon and the United States has introduced new sanctions on Iran. I doubt the timing is a coincidence. However I believe there is only one thing Israel and the world can do in such a situation; accept a nuclear-powered Iran.

Now I know the governments of the United States and Israel have stated that they would not accept a nuclear-powered Iran and have not ruled out a military strike to Iran to stop or delay Iran’s nuclear ambitions but the simple fact of the matter is this; you can’t stop Iran! Every military leader from the United States and Israel have stated that air strikes on Iran's suspected nuclear sites would not be effective as there are too many of them and they are too spread out.

Yet the leaders of the United States and Israel have not ruled out possible air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites!

I do not understand why would you want to do something like that when even your own military leaders say will not work? Despite what the leaders of Israel says, I don’t believe the sky would fall if Iran got their hands on a nuclear bomb. The reason is that North Korea got their hands on nuclear bombs years back and no war has erupted on the Korean Peninsular yet.

Also, it is highly unlikely that Iran would do anything even if they got their hands on nuclear weapons. After all, Israel has hundreds of them, the United States has thousands of them and Iran can’t have…1, 2, 3?

That makes no sense. The United States and Israel can’t stop Iran so they must accept them. The alternative is an attack on Iran that would not work and a conflict that would engulf the whole of the Middle East. Compare to the alterative, accepting a nuclear-powered Iran would be the wise thing to do.

OH NO!

2011-11-22T16:28:00.001+08:00

I’m not a fan of movie remakes. Especially Hollywood remakes. Especially Hollywood remakes of classics! Especially Hollywood remakes of anime classics! (Dragonball: Evolution, I’m looking at you!)

So when I heard that Warner Bros.' is doing a live-action movie remake of Akira, I was like, “NO!” Then when I read that Kristen Stewart is to play Kei, the female lead in Akira, I was like, “Oh, NO!” Now I read that Stewart’s character is now called Ky Reed and she's part of an underground movement to expose the government for turning orphans into living weapons.

My reaction to this; this movie is going to be crap!

Bridge?

2011-11-21T09:22:00.001+08:00

At the current South-East Asian Games (SEA Games), Singapore’s athletes has been going quite well. That includes our bridge players who won a surprise gold and silver in Palembang.

Bridge?

Yes, bridge as in the card game! Now I’m not one of those guys who thinks only Olympic sports should be in a regional competition like the SEA Games, but a card game like bridge has no place in a sporting competition.

Now, I’m not saying there is no skill involved in playing bridge but if bridge is allowed in a sporting game, then why not poker, mahjong or even Magic: The Gathering? These are all games which require some level of skill; does it mean all these games should be in the SEA Games?

Of course not! They are not athletic sports and neither is bridge. No offense to the bridge players currently at the SEA Games but they should not be there.

Comics this week

2011-11-18T12:35:00.002+08:00

Justice League #3- You know when I heard that the first story arc of the Justice League would be set on the founding of the team and that the New 52 would showcased younger versions of Superman & company, I was ready to accept some changes. Boy, I wasn’t ready enough. Writer Geoff Johns ready took the “younger version” theme to the extreme with Wonder Woman. In this version of Wonder Woman, Diana is a woman who is a naive superhero…and I mean NAÏVE. This issue wasn’t a bad read and I can foresee a lot of Wonder Woman fans being very unhappy with this version of Diana. On the plus points, Jim Lee's Justice League is one that showed him back at his best. His attention to details is still a little lacking but the battle scenes are great. If you like superheroes getting down and dirty with villains, this is the issue for you.

DC Universe Online: Legends #17- The release of this series has been all over the place due to the New 52, and frankly this series deserved better. The issue starts off with Hal Jordan and Sinestro on the devastated world of Korugar. After a short side-trip by Sinestro to explain the battle between his Corps and Brainiac’s forces, the battle continued with the Sinestro Corps taking the fight to Brainiac. They failed as expected but the joy was in the journey. Writer Tom Taylor managed to convey the doom desperation of the battle and the massive mistake of the Green Lantern Corp not to help in the battle against Brainiac. Like I said earlier, this series deserved better because it is by far one of the better series on the stands right now. Forgot some of the new 52 titles (which are crap), this is the series DC should be concentrating on.

Beside The Point

2011-11-17T15:20:00.000+08:00

Currently on Yahoo Singapore news, the most read article right now is on who was the one responsible for opening the floodgates for immigrants in Singapore. Most Singaporeans believed that long-time Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew is the one responsible for the policy but the writer of the article, Chua Suntong, believed that current Emeritus Senior Minister (don’t ask me what that means) Goh Chok Tong is the one most responsible.

I say; who cares?

I think an argument about who is most responsible for the policy is slightly beside the point. The problem of too many immigrants in Singapore is one that we still have because Singapore is still accepting immigrants even though 1 in 3 people in Singapore are foreigners.

Having an argument about who is responsible is pointing the finger without solving the problem. I’m not interested if Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong or Lee Hsien Loong is responsible for the policy; I’m concern about how they will fix it!

The Strange NBA

2011-11-16T16:05:00.001+08:00

The last NBA season was widely considered to be a successful one. The Miami Heat managed to get 3 star players, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, on the same team and this move increased publicity for the league.

Somehow though, most of the teams (22 out of 30) in the NBA still managed to lose money. Accordingly to reports I read, the losses amount to about US$300 million. The owners of the teams blame this on the division of basketball-related income between them and the players. In the last labor agreement, NBA players got 57% of the income. This year, there would be a new labor agreement between the owners and the players, and this time the owners want a 50-50 division of basketball-related income.

The players are offering a 52.5%-47.5% spilt which they say would cover the owner’s loss of US$300 million. The owners do not dispute that but has insisted on a 50-50 spilt to guarantee profit for them. This is the part where I got lost.

Now I only have a passing interest in the NBA nowadays but I do not understand how the owners could get away if the call is for “guarantee profits”! I mean as a businessman, it’s my job to make my business a successful, my job to make my business a profitable one.

Here the owners have a union who is willing to cover all their losses, and they are still not happy? The NBA players are offering them a deal where there is almost no way they could make a loss and they are not taking it? A deal where they can’t lose is not good enough for the owners?

What kind of businessmen are they? If someone offered me a deal where there is no downside and plenty of upside, I would race you to the pen! No wonder the idiots are going to the courts!

Libya’s Troubles Not Over Yet

2011-11-15T11:53:00.001+08:00

A month after the death of Moammar Gadhafi and already, the various rebel factions in Libya are now fighting over the spoils of war. Rival factions have clashed for 4 straight days on the outskirts of Tripoli. 2 things are obvious from these clashes.

One; the National Transitional Council (NTC) is unable to control their own forces. Libya's interim leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said the NTC had brought together elders from the feuding areas to discuss the dispute, but the fighting is still ongoing. Two; the Western powers that bought the NTC to power have washed their hands off Libya. No word has come out of London, Paris or Washington on the fighting. It seems that after Gadhafi, they have no interest in who rule Libya or peace in Libya as long as the oil flows.

You know, fighting between the rebels force was always on the cards but boy; that sure didn’t take long. I guess it was too early to say the Libya civil war is over.

The Real Time

2011-11-14T15:58:00.001+08:00

I read about the survey that '1 in 5 employees in Singapore work 11 hours daily' and thought, “That doesn't sound right.” The survey also says 31% of Singapore employees worked for nine to eleven hours daily, and almost half of them took work home more than three times a week.

However like most surveys, it’s not totally accurate. I have to say those numbers are underestimating the problem.

The main thing is that although these are the “official” work time of Singaporeans, these are just a drop in the bucket compare to the real time Singaporeans put in at work. I will give you an example; ME!

I’m supposed to work 8 to 8 and a half hours daily depending on my shift. Do I work just these hours? No, because I have overtime at least once a week. Do I claim overtime for these extra hours? No, because the extra hours are not officially overtime but considered “time-off” which I can claim later. Can I claim these “time-off”? No, because the office is short of people and they require people to do extra work. If they need people to do extra work, quite naturally you cannot claim your “time-off”.

These “time-off” are not record officially as overtime and they are also not part of my working time. They are, like I said earlier, just unofficial time at the office where I put in extra work. I have over 17 hours of time-off on my record right not. I have no idea when I can claim these hours, and I’m not alone. Almost all of my colleagues are in the same boat.

So I can easily say the survey showing '1 in 5 employees in Singapore work 11 hours daily' is wrong. The real hours are a lot higher than that!

Comics this week

2011-11-12T10:30:00.002+08:00

Artifacts #11- Writer Ron Marz is the go-to guy for Top Cow right now and thus far the veteran writer has delivered. It says a lot about his work when even as the universe hangs in the balance, Marz still manages to deliver a story that’s shows the more intimate side of the characters. He also did the smart thing this issue by moving the focus away from Sara (Witchblade) and Jackie (Darkness). I especially like the tough guy talk between Ian Nottingham (Blood Sword) and Michael Finnegan (Glacier Stone). I’m not impressed with artist Jeremy Haun’s work this issue but overall the series has been a nice surprise. Top Cow feels the same way. Artifacts is now an on-going series.

Demon Knights #3- Artist Diogenes Neves has been doing some great work thus far in Demon Knights. His pencils have been fantastic, his characters have been spot-on and his layouts are perfectly in tune with writer Paul Cornell’s scripts. I put everything in the present tense because #3 is just as good, if not better than the previous 2 issues. The shocking last page of this issue shows perfectly the great work Neves has been doing thus far. If you have not pick up this series yet, then let me tell you this; you are an idiot!

Green Lantern #3- This issue picks up exactly from where the last issue ended with Sinestro and Hal still on Earth agreeing to the terms of their alliance. The back and forth ego talk between the two was pretty entertaining and in many ways that sum up this new series so far. It’s not earth-shattering and groundbreaking like the previous GL series but it is still a fun read. Writer Geoff Johns has a good grasp of Sinestro and Hal and artist Doug Mahnke’s dynamic style is perfect for cosmic characters. The only problem I have is that Johns seems a little unsure which character is the main guy in the series. Even as he sort that out, Green Lantern is still a good fun read.

The London Cabs

2011-11-11T10:04:00.001+08:00

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that they have agreed to extend the operation of London cabs for another year. Originally, SMRT Taxis had announced that they are phasing out its fleet of London cabs when their license expires next year.

However complains from the Singapore public, mostly from handicapped people, has put pressure on LTA to allow the London cabs to continue operations. Wheelchair-bound people who rely on London cabs to commute are cheering the latest decision from LTA.

Personally, I’m all for the decision. Although I have never taken a London cab before, having them around is an option which is good for the public, especially handicapped people. However, it was stated that the extension for the London cabs is only for 1 year.

That is too short. I think LTA need to extend the license for longer than a year because when the extension period ends in 2013, handicapped people will again face the same problem as they do now. A longer extension would be in the interest of everyone.

Queue No. 3031

2011-11-10T12:56:00.001+08:00

For the past month, I had been playing DC Online. A MMO set in the DC universe where you fight alongside Superman, Batman, The Joker among others, I found this to be a pretty good game.

The game is more of an action RPG than most MMOs but that’s not a problem for me. I always like games who take risk so it was okay for me. I was enjoying the game when the game went free-to-play (F2P) or more accurately a hybrid payment scheme. I admit; news of the game going F2P was one of the reasons I pick up the game in the first place. I have no problem with the game going F2P.

What I have a problem with is the way Sony screw up the transition. I still have days left on my subscription but when I login, it says, “You are queue no. 3031.” Now I can understand the influx of new players once the game goes F2P but surely under a hybrid payment scheme, you give priority to current subscripters right?

Not for Sony! I do not understand why but Sony does not have such a program. Sorry Sony but why in the world would I continue with my subscription with the game (which I was thinking of doing) if I am no. 3031 in queue along with all the F2P players who are queuing without paying a cent in subscription?

Giving priority to current paying customers ought to be a given. I have play F2P games and always understood that paying gamers have priority over me. Sony should have got this right from the moment the game went F2P but for some reason, this is not the case. For me, that is a terrible screw-up.

Posting Their Life

2011-11-09T17:45:00.001+08:00

In recent days, Singaporeans were shocked when a teenage girl boasted on Facebook that she had slapped her mother and called her several names. Ho and beholden the questions of how young Singaporeans are losing morals!

To these people I say, “Don’t sweat it. Nothing has change.” Seriously, children and parents having disagreements is something that has always happened and parents and children getting “physical” with one another is also not new. Personally, I don’t think this incident show any decline of “morals” but the stupidity of teenagers nowadays who post their whole life on social media for the world to see.

That is something I'm worried about! In the past when such incident happened, kids are smart enough to keep their mouth shut about the matter. No one talk about it, even with close friends. Nowadays kids post the incident on Facebook!

That girl is a moron!

The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas

2011-11-08T18:36:00.001+08:00

In the fantasy genre, dragons are a staple. In almost all fantasy novels, you will see a few dragons in the books fighting it out. So it’s is rare to see a book with an original twist to the dragon mythos. To his credit, Stephen Deas gave it his best shot.

In the world of The Adamantine Palace, dragons are highly-prized domesticated mounts for knights and an example for military might in the empire. The Adamantine Palace lies at the centre of the empire and is home to the Speaker, the ruling head of the Dragon Kings. Elected by the various kings and queens of the empire, the current Speaker will have to step down soon and the various princes, queens and kings are all plotting to install their candidates in the position.

Murder and betray are par for course but while the humans argued and plot, a new danger arise when a dragon slipped out from the leash of the humans. A white dragon named Snow with his handler, Kailin, became lost during an ambush and time passes, Snow began to regain his mind. To me, this is where the book got interesting.

We discovered that the dragons were not truly domesticated but drugged by the humans. The problem for the humans is that without the care of the alchemists and their drugs, the dragons will revert back to their true nature. And their natural state is that of a highly intelligent, dangerous, powerful and telepathic creature who view humans as nothing but food. Not only that, Snow now knows and understand how humans have been drugging dragons for hundreds of years, so you can add rage to that mix.

Feeling highly violated, Snow now has a dream of freeing other dragons and destroying humanity and their civilization. This while the humans are still playing their political games in the Adamantine Palace.

First off, I have to say Deas has an interesting plot for his series. The Adamantine Palace is the first of a trilogy and the overriding plot of the series is very good. The fact that dragons are a force of nature is something other books have done before but Deas emphasis the fact that in his world, dragons are a brutal force of nature who are at the top of the food chain. The part where Snow simply ate Kailin because he was hungry shows the brutal fact of the food chain.

There is also a very good idea about how humans keep the dragons in check. The drugging of the dragons and the institution that was created to maintain the drugging of the dragons are very well done. It is an institution that required a lot of people to maintain and you can understand why Snow blames the whole of the human race for the act.

I also enjoyed the fact that although the dragons are setup to be the villains of the series, you can understand why they intend to destroy all humans in the empire. Villains whose actions are understandable always work better. It’s almost fitting the consequences the humans are going to face when the dragons slip their leashes.

Of course, there are some poor sections of the book. This is Stephen Deas’ first novel and it some ways, it shows. Although this is a book about dragons, the book is spilt in two halves. One showing the adventures of Snow, and the other showing the various plots and schemes of the princes, queens and kings all aiming for the Speaker. Basically, I think he tried to do too much.

The dragon parts of the book works well and are the highlights of the book. The political sections of the book work less well. One of the reasons is that the book is told through various points-of-view. POV books allow the writer to cover a lot of ground but it can also lead to some uneven characterization. Queen Sheriza is one that comes to mind. Her relationships with her 3 daughters were never flesh out and she was like a well with no water. She seems like a deep character but there is nothing in the book that we can drink from.

Personally I would prefer it if the writer dumped the whole political section of the book and concentrated solely on Snow. I would have liked to read more about her dreams and her memories of how the land was like before the drugging of the dragons.

Also some of the chapters are very, very short. So short that sometimes I wondered why Deas bothered. Worse is the fact that the book is told through various POV so some characters has only 1-2 chapters before they are gone.

However, I must still say this was an enjoyable book for me. The book has a strong plot and the some very interesting characters. The Adamantine Palace isn’t perfect but if you long for a book showing strong, brute dragons, this is the book for you.

Running Out

2011-11-07T15:18:00.000+08:00

The never-ending stream of new MMORPG games looks to have run its course as various gaming companies have announced either the closure or delayed of games. Several MMO companies are canceling titles, laying off staff and halting development of new MMO title.

Most people, even gamers, would not have noticed anything as currently this trend is only affecting the smaller companies and lesser known games. LEGO Universe and Troy Online (which lasted all of 3 months) announced their closure while several companies have also announced layoffs.

Not to sound insensitive to people who had lost their jobs but it’s about time! To me, there are just too many MMO games on the market. The amount of new titles (mostly poor) on the market obscured the market as older titles see a lost of player population due to player migrating to new titles to check them out. I admit I’m also guilty of this.

So to me, it’s not actually a bad thing that the poorer titles are going the way of the dodo. Sad that people are going to lose their jobs but the better titles will survive. In the end, that’s for the better of the MMO gaming industry.

Greece Needs To Go

2011-11-04T11:32:00.000+08:00

With the Greek referendum now off the table, it looked like Greece will continue to be in the eurozone for awhile. I believe it would be better for Europe, Greece and the rest of the world if the Greek get out of the Euro now!

Now I understand why European leaders have been trying hard to keep Greece in the eurozone. If Greece goes, it would be chaos on the global economy. Greece would have to default on its debts and European banks who lend Greece their money would be unable to get their money back. That was the main reason why banks agreed to accept a 50% loss on Greek bonds in the latest bailout package. Also countries who had funded the earlier bailouts, the ECB (European Central Bank) and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) can all forget about getting back the money they lent Greece.

Guess what? Even if Greece enforce all the austerity measures they agreed to; even if China and Japan suddenly decide to help bailout the eurozone (not bloody likely in my view); even if there is no more financial crisis of any sort in the world for the next 10 years; Greece could still default!

Frankly the bottom-line is this; Greece is bankrupt. That’s just the long and short of it. Greece is bankrupt and it is hurting the rest of the Euro nations with its presence in the group. Just the fears of a Greek default caused Italy's borrowing rates have jumped to record levels, and that is a big problem because Italy’s debt is much greater than Greece. This is also the reason why I think it would be better for Greece itself if it get out of the eurozone. There is a real chance that Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain would default sooner or later. If just one of these countries default, Greece would be affected as well if it was still in the eurozone.

For the rest of the world…I don’t think I need to go into how it would help the rest of the world if Greece goes right?

Comics this week

2011-11-03T09:37:00.001+08:00

Uncanny X-Men #1- There are a few rules you have to follow when it’s the first issue of a new series. You need to introduced the characters, you need to show what the series is about, you need to show why the characters are doing what they are doing, and you need to do all these in an entertaining manner. It's hard and unfortunately I do not believe writer Kieron Gillen managed to do it in Uncanny X-Men #1. Gillen tried to cram all the information in the first half of the issue and then have a fight against Sinister in the second half. However by trying to do too much, he succeed in neither. The main problem for me is the fact that Cyclops' plan to be both superheroes as well as weapons of mass destruction was given short shift in this issue. I mean if he is going to call a meeting of all the big guns of the mutant race, the least he should do is to tell them what actions they are allowed to do to act as deterrent right? I mean there are guys like Magneto and Namor at the table, people who think nothing of killing a couple of hundred people to get their message across. You are going to tell them to be weapons of mass destruction but not tell them what they can’t do? I would much rather Gillen skip the fight in the latter half of the book and concentrated on how the team would function. Lucky for us, artist Carlos Pacheco did a great job to (almost) save the issue. Pacheco captures the characters well and make the action sequences exciting. It’s just too bad Gillen's script trying to do too much.

Villains for Hire #0.1- Writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning had a short, forgettable and unsuccessful run at Heroes for Hire earlier this year. Now they are back but with a tweak in the series. Instead of heroes for hires, it is now villains for hire. I dig this. The concept of villains being up for hire works perfectly (much better than the concept of heroes for hire) and having a villain like The Purple Man as the main man pulling the strings is a great idea. Abnett & Lanning picked the correct villain for the job and this prologue fill me with excitement; something Heroes for Hire never did. This is one reader looking forward to the series.

Can't See How This Can Fail

2011-11-02T20:58:00.001+08:00

It took a disappointing General Election for them to realize it, but it seems the Singapore government has finally decided to act on a long-standing complaint from normal Singaporeans. That is the number of foreigners working in Singapore.

Or at least it looked that way on the surface. Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin announced that the government will have new guidelines preventing discriminatory practices against Singaporeans. These guidelines will include things such as job advertisements indicating that foreigners are preferred, the preferential hiring of foreigners over suitable Singaporeans and preventing companies having an over-reliance on foreigners.

However I say it only looks that way on the surface because the government has refused to put the matter into law! Mr. Tan say that employers’ mindsets must be changed to tackle the problem, so this is something that must be done through “moral persuasion”.

“Moral Persuasion” in Singapore? Right, that is an excellent idea which will work. There’s no way such an idea will fail. In fact, let’s take away all the traffic fines in Singapore and “morally persuade” drivers in Singapore to follow all the traffic rules in the country.

Yes! I can’t see how that can fail.

Stupid Law At Work

2011-11-01T14:03:00.002+08:00

As widely expected, Palestine scored a diplomatic victory yesterday when UNESCO granted Palestine full membership into its body. In a vote of 107 for and 14 against, the victory was marred however by the United States saying that it will stop its funding for UNESCO.

Now some Americans may feel that the United States do not really need UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, but your country is going to face a big problem down the road. The cutting off of the funding comes due to a U.S. law that prohibits U.S. funding to any U.N. organization that grants full membership to any group that does not have "internationally recognized attributes" of statehood from the United States.

Basically that means the United States cannot fund any U.N. agency that recognizes Palestine as a full member. This will be a huge problem down the road as Palestinian officials have indicated that they intend to apply for full membership with as many U.N. agencies as possible! With the wide margin they got with the UNESCO vote, the Palestinians will win a lot (if not all) of them. That means the United States will have to cut off funding to all these U.N. agencies which will mean a massive loss of influence for the U.S.

For all the funding on the line, you can be sure countries like China, India, Russia, Brazil etc are more than happy to take up the tab to gain influence at the U.N. at the expense of the United States. The bottom-line is simple; if the United States does not engage the U.N., they have no influence at the U.N.

That is why I strongly hope, for their sake, the United States do not cut off funding to UNESCO. The simple fact is that the stupid law in question is insane. No matter how strong an ally Israel is, they are not worth the United States destroying its own influence at the United Nations. Israel is one country, the U.N. is a world body through which the United States can exert influence throughout the world. Simple logic would tell you which is more important.

Comics this week

2011-10-29T08:49:00.000+08:00

FF #11- Writer Jonathan Hickman is one of those writers that is either hit-or-miss. He set-up these layered plotlines that not only tell the story but also setup further stories down the road. If the stories he lay down works, it’s beautiful. If it does not, it’s a waste of space. This issue is a setup issue with Reed gathering all his contacts for battle against the Inhumans. Annihilus and his Cult of the Negative Zone, Ronan and the Kree are also all in the mix. How would all this pan out? Frankly I have no idea but currently it’s not very exciting.

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #2- When this series was announced, I dug the idea of a group with members of all 7 Corps together. So I am currently not that impressed with this series thus far because the focus has been too much on Kyle Rayner. Yes, I know the main plot of the series is on how a wayward ring from each of the colored corps has somehow chosen him as their bearer but what about the rest of the cast? Enough about Kyle already! I want more Murk, Saint Walker and Arkillo. And could DC please get their artists in line on how to draw the Guardians. They look like comedians in this issue.

I, Vampire #2- Now this is a surprise! After the debut issue where the action and focus was on the goody, goody vampire Andrew, this issue the focus is on Mary, the Queen of Blood. And I mean this issue was told from the POV of Mary. That is both surprising and bloody great! Personally I find it ironic that for a revamp that was meant for its main superhero lines, the best series coming out of the 52 are series like Demon Knights and I, Vampire which you can’t see a superhero anywhere on the pages.

Not So Fast

2011-10-28T09:07:00.001+08:00

As news spread of European leaders sealing a deal to fix its debt crisis, stocks throughout the world rose. Europe has put together a deal that would shored up its bailout fund, pledged new funds for Greece and persuaded/forced banks to take a 50% loss on Greece's debt. As expected, stock markets rose on the back of this grand deal.

The stock markets are counting their chickens before they hatched.

I am not convinced that this “grand deal” will fix Europe’s debt crisis because the deal is missing one key ingredient of solving the crisis. It didn’t say how they Europe intend to deal with the problems facing Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain.

Greece might be the biggest problem facing Europe currently but they are not the only one in trouble. In fact, if things come to a head, the debt crisis of Italy and Spain will dwarf Greece by a hefty margin. How does Europe intend to deal with the potential debt crisis of Italy and Spain?

Keep in mind that under this current deal, they are already forcing banks to take a 50% loss on Greece. I doubt they would be able to get the banks to take any more pain for Italy and Spain. Even if the banks want to, the size of Italy and Spain might make that impossible!

So…what’s the strategy to deal with Italy and Spain? Until they answer those questions, don’t expect the European debt crisis to go away anytime soon.

Alibaba & Yahoo

2011-10-27T10:32:00.000+08:00

For years Yahoo has been overshadowed by Google and, to a lesser extent, Facebook. For when I heard that China’s internet giant Alibaba Group is trying to buy over Yahoo, I wasn’t that surprised. However Yahoo! Inc. co- founder Jerry Yang quietly came out to say his company isn’t necessarily up for sale but is “merely” looking at all options.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter. To me, the big news is how a well-known American internet company is being looked at as a takeover target by a Chinese internet company. Both are well known internet giants but it says a lot for China economic growth (and potential) that the Alibaba Group is a potential buyer of Yahoo Inc., not the other way around.

So in more ways than one, whether it happens or not, the potential takeover of Alibaba of Yahoo is a watershed event. Not just for the internet, but for the whole of the business world as well.

Thailand Floods

2011-10-25T15:55:00.002+08:00

Since the flood in Thailand started 2 months ago, it had killed 356 people in the country and caused about $6 billion worth of damage to the country. But sometimes words can only say so such, while pictures can say everything. Here are some pictures of the devastation;

So He Was Killed...So What?

2011-10-24T19:46:00.000+08:00

Days after Muammar Gaddafi's death, the international community (aka NATO) still claims that there is a lack of an account about how he died. Now I haven’t been paying that much attention to NATO’s war on Gaddafi, but even I know how he died.

We have all seem the video which a wounded but still alive Muammar Gaddafi was captured by rebels forces. Next thing we know, he was dead. It ought to be obvious what happened! He was killed by the Libyan rebels who captured him! Same thing happened to his son Mo'tassim Gaddafi.

I fail to understand why the international community are refusing to admit this pretty obvious scenario. Muammar Gaddafi was killed by the Libyan rebels. It was always going to happen because civil wars are nasty zero-sum game. So what? Admit it and move on. What’s so difficult about that?

Canadians, Canadians, Canadians...

2011-10-22T22:15:00.000+08:00

You know I read on Yahoo news that the majority of Canadians believe that their Prime Minster, Stephen Harper, is vastly overpaid. As a Singaporean, I can’t help but think; “Are you Canadians insane?”

For those people who do not understand why I feel this way, maybe this list can help you.

Top 10 Political Leader's Salary by Country (2010):
1. Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore): $2,183,516
2. Donald Tsang (Hong Kong): $513,245
3. Raila Odinga (Kenya): $427,886
4. Barack Obama (United States): $400,000
5. Nicolas Sarkozy (France): $302,435
6. Stephen Harper (Canada): $296,400
7. Mary McAleese (Ireland): $287,900
8. Julia Gillard (Australia): $286,752
9. Angela Merkel (Germany): $283,608
10. Yoshihiko Noda (Japan): $273,676

That’s right! In the list of Top 10 leader’s salary, Canada ranked just 6th on the list. Now for people who think that is still very high, remember I am from SINGAPORE! My Prime Minister is paid 7 times more than the Prime Minister of Canada. Hell my Prime Minister is so far ahead of everyone, I won’t be surprised if Barack Obama or Angela Merkel got red eyes just reading this list!

So for Canadians who believe their Prime Minster is overpaid, remember this; At least you are not a Singaporean!

Australian woman survives attack by large kangaroo!

2011-10-20T15:32:00.001+08:00

Let's see if you can understand this? A woman in Australia was walking her dogs when they came upon a big kangaroo.

One of her dogs (who was not leashed) chased after the kangaroo who fought back with its claws. Seeing the dog in trouble, the woman used a stick to attack the kangaroo to save her pet. The kangaroo naturally defends itself against the dog owner, leaving the woman with cuts to her neck, ears and back before hopping off.

The headlines in Australia; Australian woman survives attack by large kangaroo!

Yes, in this whole incident the fault lies not with the woman or her stupid dog but the kangaroo for “attacking” the woman. Not defending itself but “attacking” the woman!

Thanks goodness something like this does not happen in Singapore (cough…monkeys in Telok Blangah…cough).

Occupy Raffles Place?

2011-10-19T11:35:00.001+08:00

I can understand what the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in America is about. Big banks got huge corporate bailouts, their CEOs got massive bonuses, but it has failed to get the economy going and now the corporate bigwings refused to pay higher taxes despite getting the bailouts. So I do understand the movement.

And I also understand that the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in America has shown surprising strength. However, anyone who believes there is even a remote chance of it happening here in Singapore needs his head checked.

I don’t know what was funnier; the call by some people to “Occupy Raffles Place” or the police reaction to it. The police quickly issued a statement stating that any gathering at Raffles Place is unlawful and they will be label as anarchists by the mainstream media.

Why bother? I ask that because the majority of Singaporeans are not interested in social causes. We are a money-making, money-grabbing, money-everything capitalist society. We are infamous for this; our people are ranked right up there with people from Hong Kong for god sake and you think Singaporeans will “Occupy Raffles Place” like in America?

Dream on people! I have a better chance of hitting Toto than that happening. This is Singapore!

Review of Real Steel

2011-10-18T09:29:00.001+08:00

When I read the premise of “Real Steel”, I wasn’t really that impressed. A film about boxing robots sounds like a second-rate Transformers movie to me. And I wasn’t really a fan of the Transformers movies.

After seeing the movie, I’m not actually wrong. In some ways, “Real Steel” is a little like the Transformers movies where robots go out and destroy each other. However, in many other ways, it is not.

This is because “Real Steel” actually has a story in it.

Directed by Shawn Levy, “Real Steel” is the story of Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) a former boxer who now fights with boxing robots because boxing is the only thing he knows how to do. However Charlie isn’t a very successful robot boxer and owns various people a lot of money due to his own failures.

However things begin to look up when Charlie is informed that his ex-girlfriend has died, leaving behind his son Max (Dakota Goyo). Max's aunt Debra (Hope Davis) and uncle Marvin (James Rebhorn) want full custody, and Charlie offered a deal to Marvin to give them full custody in exchange for $100,000. Marvin added a condition that Charlie would need to take care of Max for three months while he and Debra went on a vacation. Both men shook hands on the deal.

You can probably guess the story from there. Father and son hates each other at first before bonding as they rebuild a robot called Atom that brings them to the big leagues. Well, actually Max built the robot while Charlie fights it but you get the idea.

In many ways, “Real Steel” is Rocky meets Transformers. To the credit of director Shawn Levy, this is a movie that works despite the clichés. Silly premises aside, this movie has a heart as the story is focused on the father-son dynamic of Max and Charlie. The movie is also anchored by solid performances from its actors. Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo were good but I think special mention need to be given to Hope Davies and Evangeline Lilly who both made the most out of their limited appearances.

I especially enjoyed the robots in the movie. Each was distinct and you can see that the designers put some effort in making different from one another. Unlike the Transformers movies, when the robots in “Real Steel” fight, you can easily tell them apart. That makes the fight scenes much more exciting.

Of course there were some sore points for me. It was hinted several times in the movie that Atom was more than just a normal boxing robot, that there might be some intelligence and soul behind him. However this was never expanded on and it was a plotline that was left dangling at the end of the movie.

Also the 2 main villains of the movie were well…kind of weak. I know Tak Mashido (Karl Yune) is supposed to be a genius and Farra Lemcova (Olga Fonda) is supposed to be rich, but they both did nothing in the movie. Almost every single time you see them in the movie, they were being interviewed. It’s hard to be fearful of villains when that’s the only thing you see them doing! We never got to see how much of a genius Mashido is or how rich and powerful Lemcova truly is. They were more like arrogant sport-stars than villains and even then we never got to see just how good they are at the sport of robot boxing.

“Real Steel” is one of those movies that did nothing great, but everything well. There is robot fighting, a love story, a father-son relationship, and redemption; all in the movie. Overall, I have to say “Real Steel” is a surprising good and enjoyable movie.

Listening

2011-10-17T13:49:00.000+08:00

In the recent Presidential Election, former People’s Action Party (PAP) backbencher Dr Tan Cheng Bock caused a stir by coming within a percentage point of defeating the preferred PAP candidate Dr Tony Tan. As Singapore's 12th Parliament kicks, the former PAP MP (Member of Parliament) is not going into the shadows as he urged current PAP backbenchers to “stand up for their beliefs”.

The former presidential candidate has said during the Presidential Election that many of his former backbenchers have refused to help him with his campaign as they do not wish to cross the party. This is something Dr Tan obviously does not agree with as he was known as a backbencher who has no bones about publicly disagreeing with the government. When he was a PAP MP, he spoke out against certain policies like foreign talent intake and the Nominated MP scheme. He is now urging others to take up his place.

Now I’m sure the party elites of the PAP are not happy about his call, but I do feel that there’s a good reason for them to allow the backbenchers some leeway. The PAP backbenchers need to do this to appease the grassroots. For many years now, the PAP had parachuted candidates into safe seats and let them win on the backs of their grassroots movement. That can no longer be counted on.

Basically the grassroots are no longer convinced that it is worth having PAP backbenchers who do not listen to them. Dr Tan’s presidential campaign was a grassroots movement and as the results showed, they are an important and big part of the PAP machinery. The PAP needs the grassroots on their side if they intend to win the next election and that means the PAP backbenchers need to listen to their grassroots more. More importantly, they need to publicly go against the PAP elites on behalf of their grassroots if push comes to shove.

Frankly you can’t argue with numbers. Like I said earlier, I’m sure the party elites of the PAP are not happy about Dr Tan’s call but for the good of the PAP, PAP backbenchers need to listen to him. As the results of Dr Tan’s presidential campaign showed, he is on to something.

Be Very Sure

2011-10-14T10:21:00.002+08:00

When I read that the United States say that they had stop an assassination plot by Iranian agents to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States, my reaction was, “So what?” Intelligence agents killing people is hardly unusually, so this is hardly new.

However the United States seems determined to make a big issue out of this and go to the United Nations Security Council on this. I will tell them this; better make sure you got good evidence to back you up!

The reason is simple; everyone (and I mean everyone) still remembers then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech in February 2003 to the Security Council where he present U.S. “intelligence” on Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. I don’t think I need to say what happened after that.

So if the United States wants to go to the U.N., they better make doubly sure everything is on the up and up. This is because the accusation are…well, kind of preposterous. I mean if the Iranians want to kill someone, why get Mexican drug cartels to do it? I’m sure they can do it themselves without the help of drug-dealers. Also why the Saudi ambassador? If the reason is to cause trouble for Saudi Arabia and Washington, why go for a figure like an ambassador? Surely there are better targets.

These are questions that people will be asking so if the United States wants to go to the U.N., you better have good answers to them. You can get away with shouting about the “plot” to reporters without evidence but not at the U.N. and not to people of the world. The United States say they got strong evidence against the Iranians, for their sake, I hope so.

Comics this week

2011-10-13T10:08:00.003+08:00

S.H.I.E.L.D #3- S.H.I.E.L.D thus far has been a wordy confusing series with plots within secrets within plots within secrets etc, etc, etc. If you are confused by that, don’t feel too bad because that has been the series so far. Most of this issue however was packed with action as S.H.I.E.L.D threw everything including the kitchen sink at the Star Child and…nothing works. We also get to see just how powerful Da Vinci and Leonid are and how they pale in comparsion to the Star Child. Yes, the Star Child is just a baby but it is a Celestial baby so that is still something. This issue is a surprise as it has very little dialogue and it is also the best issue thus far in this new “volume”. If this issue is any guide, we need less of Jonathan Hickman’s writings and more of Dustin Weaver's art. Maybe that way, this series can still be saved.

Green Lantern #2- When Hal Jordan lost his position as Green Lantern, everyone knew it was just a matter of time before he got his ring back. I’ll give this to writer Geoff Johns; this is a strange, surprising way to give Jordan his ring back. The backdoor deal Sinestro offered Jordan is in line with his character and not for the first time, I do wonder if it would be better if Sinestro held on to the green ring for awhile longer. Let’s admit it; everyone knows it’s just a matter of time before he loses it. Still the way Sinestro dealt with his return to the GL Corps shows that he is a different GL from everyone else in the Corps and why he was once considered the best GL in it. His return as a GL might/will be more interesting than Jordan’s eventual return so why not run with it?

Demon Knights #2- I always had a hard time getting into the character of Vandal Savage. I mean this is an immortal guy who has been alive since the caveman era and usually he walks around in a business suit. That just doesn’t gel for me. Writer Paul Cornell thinks so too because his Vandal Savage, in the Dark Ages, is perfect! The way Savage tore into the dragons, actually dinosaurs, with gusto was marvelous. I have to give special mention to artist Diogenes Neves as well on the excellent art in this issue. The kinetic action was never confusing as Neves spaced his work beautifully. This is a tag-team that is made for this book and I would go as far to say Demon Knights is the most entertaining books of all the New 52.

2 Years and Counting!

2011-10-12T08:45:00.001+08:00

One of the things I truly dislike about cinemas nowadays is how fast they pull movies from the theatre. Films will have 1 week, maybe 2 weeks to prove their worth after which they will be pull from the screens unless they are smash hits.

So it is gratifying (and slightly embarrassing) to hear that a local Singapore film "Money No Enough 2" has been showing at a 70-seater cinema in Taiwan for the past 2 and a half years! A small cinema in the city of Taichung has shown the local movie since May 2009 and the cinema owner, Huang Ping-his, told reporters that he will continue showing it as people are still seeing it and because he loves it!

In Singapore where almost all the cinemas are owned by chains, you will never see this. Oh, the joys of a private cinema owned by a movie-lover!

The Internet Election

2011-10-11T11:37:00.001+08:00

The General Election (GE) earlier this year was touted as an "Internet election" as parties used it to released information and raised their profile. Online blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube; you can easily find info of the parties during the GE.

However a study by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) found that new media may not have as much an influence as many believed. The most telling of the findings is that the two least active parties online, the People's Action Party (PAP) and Workers' Party (WP), emerged with the most votes at the polls whereas the most active party online, National Solidarity Party (NSP), had a poor outing at the polls.

My view on the study is mixed.

Although I agree that the internet was not a decisive factor at the polls, I do believe that it can still be called an "Internet election". The main reason I say this due to the massive advantage the PAP has over the mainstream media. News coverage during election time via television or newspaper had extensive coverage of the PAP but had much less on the opposition. Without the internet, opposition parties would have almost no chance of delivering their message to the Singapore public.

However I do feel that studies like this are important to the political parties of Singapore. Parties should look at the study by the IPS to see what kind of online service is most suitable in reaching Singaporeans. Personally I feel that some internet activities like Twitter are useless in elections. I mean you are not going to convince anyone to vote for you in 160 characters or less so there’s no need to have so much updates on Twitter.

Studies like the one by IPS are useful as they can be used to help parties see what works and what didn’t in the last GE. With information like this, I fully expect the internet to play an even bigger part in the next GE. The internet might not be a decisive factor this round, but this is just the first time the internet played any factor in a GE. As such, I do believe you can still call the recent GE an “Internet election”.

Peace?

2011-10-10T15:27:00.000+08:00

Considering that the Nobel Committee once awarded its annual Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama just 3 months into his presidency for doing…well, nothing, I guess the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to 3 women for promoting women’s rights is to be expected. However that still doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

Now I have nothing against Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee or Tawakul Karman, but there is a huge difference between women’s rights and promoting world peace! By their own definition, the Nobel Committee admitted that the 3 women are promoting women’s rights. So how in the world can they justified awarding them the Noble PEACE Prize?

That makes no sense! Women's rights is women's rights; there is a lot of difference between promoting that and promoting world peace. A hell lot of difference!

Monkeys and Humans

2011-10-08T08:46:00.001+08:00

One of the joys of the joys of walking at the Forest Walk in Telok Blangah is that at times you can see a band of macaque monkeys walking along the trail. I must have walk along that trail over 50 times and I’m always on the lookout for the monkeys.

To me, it’s a joy to see them. Unfortunately, that does not seem the case for some Singaporeans. National Parks Board (NParks) officers say that they are looking for a monkey who is attacking people along the park. To me, they should be looking out for the humans along the trail, not the monkeys.

I must have jogged past those monkeys 2 dozen times by now and not once did I ever have any problems with the monkeys. The problem lies not with the monkeys but with the idiot humans on the trail. Basically Singaporeans are city people and most of us are extremely uncomfortable with wild animals. I have seem people screaming their lungs the moment they see the monkeys. FOR NO APPARENT REASON!

The monkey will just be sitting there on the metal railings of the skywalk, the humans are the ones walking past and the moment the monkey look at them, they will start screaming. I even once saw a girl going close to take a photo of a monkey but the moment the monkey turned its head and looked at her, she backpedaled screaming. And she was the one who got close to the monkey!

To me, Nparks are looking at the wrong species. To me, the monkeys are okay because even if they follow you, after awhile they would tail off. The main problems on the trail are humans who visit a 9km chain of green open spaces and, for some reason, are afraid of seeing monkeys! To me, the problems between monkeys and humans on the trail are more due to humans than monkeys.

The “New 52"

2011-10-07T13:39:00.002+08:00

It has been a month since DC launched their titles under the “New 52” logo. As a marketing tool, the “New 52” is a clear success but are the titles worth the hype? It’s still early days but read on and find out my views on the “New 52”. (Now there’s no way I am going to write 52 reviews on all the #1 so I am splitting the titles under the different lines they are under.)

Justice League- DC has openly said that Justice League will be the new flagship of the DCU. Geoff Johns and Jim Lee say they have a plan for JL but it may be a standalone plan because thus far there has been little to connect the various JL titles. I know it’s just #1 but I really can’t see any connection whatsoever between Justice League, Justice League International and Justice League Dark. All 3 titles seem more interested in showing how the different teams came together which I think is a waste. DC should get its gears in order and show why all 3 teams have the Justice League name on them.

Batman- Last I checked, Bruce Wayne was globetrotting around the world putting his Batman Inc. together but under the “New 52”, he is back as Batman and struck in Gotham. Frankly I prefer him going around the world, leaving Gotham to Dick Grayson. Of all the lines, I find the Bat titles having suffered the most under the revamp. Before the revamp, the various titles have ongoing stories that were both intense and interesting. Although not much have changed under the revamp, the writers are going to have to waste a few issues to state the new status quo instead of pushing on with the stories.

Superman- Unlike the Bat titles which underwent minor changes, the Superman titles underwent massive changes in an effort to spruce things up. Sadly I found that most of the changes missed the mark. Splitting the titles to show Clark Kent as a young Superboy and as Superman is in my view a bad move. The revamp is supposed to make things easier for readers and having 2 titles showing Clark Kent in 2 different ages is just confusing. Worse, there is a separate Superboy title showing Conner Kent! Good luck trying to keep the timeline in order as the titles goes on!

Green Lantern- Unlike the changes that the rest of the DCU have undergone, the GL titles have came through the revamp untouched. It is a smart move by DC as there’s no reason to fix something that’s not broken. I’m a little worried about the new “The Red Lanterns” series as the first 2 issues have not been impressive but I feel good for the overall health of the various GL titles. No need to change a good thing.

History- Yes, I know there’s no such thing as the “History Line” in DC but there should be! I have always enjoyed history and I love the fact that DC is trying to fresh out the history of the “New 52”. Between I,Vampire, All-Star Western, Stormwatch & Demon Knights, DC is showing that although superheroes are new to the public of the DCU, there always had been beings with superpowers throughout its history. This is something DC should continue with because the potential is incredible. They could have series set in the 1930s (Justice Society), Victorian England (Batman by Gaslight) or anytime in the past and it would make perfect sense. The writers are also having a blast as they are having fun filling in the background of the new DCU. I,Vampire & Demon Knights are 2 of the better series in the revamp and we need more!

Verdict
The “New 52” had been sold out but overall I feel that they were more due to a marketing success than a creative one. Creatively there has been some success on certain titles but if the reason for the revamp was to streamline the DCU to make it more accessible to new readers, I don’t think I can call the revamp a success. Personally, I don’t think new readers will find the “New 52” any more accessible than the old DCU. I mean the “Huntress” series isn’t even set in the “New 52” DCU.
However what the “New 52” did managed to do was to get readers to pick up the books due to all the hype. On that front, on the commercial and marketing side of the business, the “New 52” can be called, yes, a success.

Comics this week

2011-10-06T13:03:00.000+08:00

DC Universe Online: Legends #15- After a hiatus due to the New 52, the surprise hit of the old DCU continues. #15 picks up where the last issue left off with Lois Lane dead at the hands of Superman. Wrecked with guilt, Superman went off looking for Brainiac and managed to find him. He killed a robot clone of Brainiac and then flew off. Reading this issue, I get the feeling that everything is coming to a head but I also feel that writers Marv Wolfman and Tony Bedard are writing themselves into a corner. DC Universe Online: Legends is based on the online game which start with Lex Luthor and the heroes of the DCU is a fight to the death. At the end of this issue, it seems that Lex and the JLA are going to be allies! However, as this is by far one of the better series on the stands right now, I have confidence that the writers would make things right by the end.

X-Men: Schism #5- The finale of Schism is here and I find myself mixed on the results. Issue #5 doesn't hold any surprises as it show mainly the brawl between Cyclops and Wolverine and the defeat of the super-Sentinel. Writer Jason Aaron did a competent job lying down the groundwork for the spilt between Cyclops and Wolverine but I find it very hard to align their positions to their personalities. Mainly I have problem with the way Wolverine was portrayed in this series. Logan has always been the most world-weary of the X-Men and the one the X-Men look to if there is something off-the-book they need to do. For him to be the one who refused to send youngsters to war, when the mutant race was on the brink of extinction, seems totally out of character. I would have a much easier time if Scott was the one who refused to send kids to the frontline but Logan…? However the spilt isn’t really what this finale is about. Schism is mostly about introducing new reader to X-Men: Regenesis and the 10+ X-titles that will flood the market after this series. On that front, as an introduction to the X-Men, I feel the series mostly succeed. If nothing else, Schism would streamline the X-titles into titles new readers could get into and that is a good thing.

Once Bitten, Never Again

2011-10-05T13:05:00.001+08:00

The air strikes in Libya continue to have wide ramifications far beyond the fighting in Libya. Amid a crackdown in Syria by the ruling Assad regime on protestors, Western countries tabled a UN Security Council resolution threatening action against Syria.

As expected, Russia and China vetoed the resolution.

The resolution on Libya calls only for a no-fly zone but NATO used “the protection of civilians” small-print and launched air-strikes against Libyan forces. It was an incredible overstep of the Libyan resolution which changed the course of a civil war that is still ongoing.

Worse for countries like Russia, China, India and Brazil, all the oil deals they signed with the previous government are now up in the air as no one is actually sure who is in charge in Libya right now. As they say; once bitten, twice shy. No way is any resolution on Syria is going to pass the Security Council.

An Expected Fall

2011-10-04T13:36:00.001+08:00

World stocks fell to a 15-month low and the Euro fell off a cliff as reports came that Greece would, once again, miss its deficit target of 7.6% this year. This increase worries that a Greek default is inevitable.

Of course it is!

Although I am no longer in the finance sector, from the outside looking in, I am not surprise that Greece missed its target. This is not the first target Greece has missed and surely it comes as no surprise that Greece continues to have problems paying its debts. A Greek default was always on the cards because try as they might, European policymakers have been unable to find a solution to the Greek crisis.

Personally I have to say this is a piece of news that everyone should already had expected. The admission by the Greek should not come as any surprise and the only surprise I have is that the market has not factor in the default already.

In my view, a Greek default should have been factor in already by the markets as the Euro's downside risk easily outstripped the potential upside. However market players seem to have hope that the politicians can pull a rabbit out of the hat and prevent a default.

However as they say; hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. So if you were by this latest downturn of the market; I’m sorry but you really should have known better.

Allergic To The Truth

2011-10-03T13:28:00.000+08:00

A report I read a few weeks ago complain that Americans are about the only people in the world who refused to accept the fact that the world is warming. The report said that Americans were “allergic to the concept of global warming”.

Americans should just take a look north of them into Canada as global warming as done a number on the ice shelves there. This summer 2 ice shelves that existed for thousands of years has diminished significantly with one almost disappearing altogether. Canadian scientists using satellite imagery said that the ice shelves has been steadily disappearing for years but this is the first time in thousands of years that one has almost disappear completely.

The loss of the ice shelves isn’t just a problem for scientists. Floating icebergs that have broken free of the ice shelves are posing a danger to offshore oil facilities and the shipping lanes in the area. In the long run, the disappearing ice shelves will also change the look of the Canadian coastline.

To anyone who still thinks that there’s no such thing as global warming, I don’t think you are “allergic to the concept of global warming”; I think you are “allergic to the truth”.

Comics this week

2011-09-29T10:53:00.001+08:00

FF #9- After last issue, things seem to be building up to a massive battle between the Reeds, the FF, and the Inhumans. Unfortunately, the build-up was better than the execution as the battle this issue was horribly one-side. The Inhumans basically took out the Reeds without trouble and FF was a non-issue in the battle. It was anti-climatic as hell. Writer Jonathan Hickman seem more interested in introducing new plot-lines than showing off a good battle. Usually I have no problem with that but when the most interesting new plot on show was a conversation between 2 kids (Bentley & Val are going to be 2 great villains when they grow up), this means the rest of the new plots aren’t that interesting. However Hickman has shown on previous occasions he can pull a rabbit out of the hat so I can still be hopeful. I just hope my hope is not misplaced.

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time #13- In my review of the last issue of WoT, I state that writer Chuck Dixon has been faithfully adapting the novels by Robert Jordan. I had been happy with his work so far but sometime we can have too much of a good thing and we reached that point this issue. #13 is just too faithful to the book to make a issue. The narrative may be necessary to help readers focused on the battle as it is written in the book but it also pull the reader out of the battle. It’s hard to feel the excitement of the battle when you are reading a narrative overview of the battle. Not a bad issue, just not a very exciting one.

The Winner!

2011-09-28T13:26:00.000+08:00

How to be a winner? Act like Charlie Sheen!

Charlie Sheen, former star of the over-rated TV show Two and a Half Men went through a very public dispute with show creator Chuck Lorre and was fired from the show. I’m not going to go into the reason(s) as we all saw it, we all heard of it, and we all read it.

However Charlie is going to have the last laugh because he filed a lawsuit against Lorre and Warner Bros. and he is going to get a big settlement for it. Big as in $25 million BIG!

Wow! Talk about a golden handshake and that’s just the initial sum. Charlie is going to get even more once the show syndication run throughout the world. And all he need to do is to keep his mouth shut about the show!

Okay the last part might be a little hard for him but reading this, you can’t help but say this; Charlie Sheen: THE WINNER!

Find A Common Goal First

2011-09-27T12:54:00.000+08:00

As the saying goes, you must walk before you can run. I think this is something former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say need to understand before he embark on his plan of forming a coalition of opposition parties.

The basic idea is sound and others like Chiam See Tong had tried it before but simply put; I think his plan is doom to failure.

The reason for my thinking is very simple; the various opposition parties in Singapore have nothing in common. For there to be a working coalition, there must be several political parties working together for a common goal. Currently the only thing the opposition has in common is that they have a common enemy in the ruling party, the People’s Action Party (PAP).

Outside that, they have nothing in common and having a common enemy is just not enough for the coalition to last. They need to have a common political goal or at least a policy that they can all agree on and build off. Until they find this common policy goal, the coalition plan will not work.

Cooking Is Sexist

2011-09-26T17:15:00.000+08:00

One of the things about young Singapore women is that they do not cook. It’s pretty obvious. Out of 10 young Singaporean women out there, you would be lucky to find 1 do can actually cook (putting chicken nuggets in the microwave and cooking instant noodles or rice do not count).

Some foreigners I know find this very strange as in their countries, most women do cook. I now understand why Singapore women do not cook. In Singapore, cooking is sexist! Yes that’s right; cooking is sexist so if a woman cook, she is promoting sexism.

That’s the feeling I get when I read that Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) intend to give its first tongue-in-cheek sexism award to "honour" Mr. Desmond Choo as the person who has done the greatest disservice to gender equality this year. His offence?

In his election speech (Choo is a candidate from the People's Action Party in the recent General Elections), he said that a resident told him that choosing an MP is like choosing a wife and if your wife is unable to cook, there's no point. Choo was criticised for being sexist though he said the statement was taken out of context.

Personally I don’t really care if it was taken out of context because well…I don’t really see what’s wrong with it? The resident told Choo one must choose a wife who is able to cook things for you. Is that so bad? Is wanting a wife who can cook a sexist remark?

According to Aware, it obviously is. For so people who wonder why young Singaporean women don’t cook, this is the reason. Cooking is a sexist activity so no women should cook!

A Rant About Education

2011-09-25T23:14:00.000+08:00

Now we all know that Singapore is the land of the kaisu Singaporean. Singaporeans are “scared to lose” so they will do anything possible to avoid losing. Top of the pile of kaisu Singaporeans are kaisu Singapore parents. You know the type; the parents who will enroll their kids in every tuition class, music class, art class etc they can find.

Now you can argue these parents just want the best for their kids but there is a thing as taking things too far and I think I just read about it. Parents are taking classes, especially maths classes, so that they can help their kids in their studies! Some even “asked” their kid’s schools to provide them with classes so that they can “help” their kids with their homework. I’m amazed there are schools who say yes!

The reason is that these parents aren’t studying for knowledge, to improve themselves, because of their interest etc; they are studying for one reason only, to help their kids with their homework. I find that incredulous, and I don’t mean the fact that the schools are helping the student to cheat on their homework?

There is just something fundamentally wrong with our education system if schools have to provide lessons to parents so that the parents can help their kids with their homework! Now I’m not stupid enough to argue something like the “joy of studying” or “education is more than exams” (this is Singapore), but parents asking classes for the sole sake of “helping” their kids with homework? Tell me there is nothing wrong with that?

Comics this week

2011-09-22T13:19:00.001+08:00

Green Lantern #1- DC marketing department worked their magic as Green Lantern is now back to #1. Of course since nothing storywise or artwise changed, the #1 here is nothing but a number seeking to get readers to spend their hard-earned money. Okay, rant over! Green Lantern #1 pick up directly where War of The Green Lanterns left off with Sinestro holding a green power ring and Hal Jordan out of the Corps. No one, not Sinestro, Hal or the Guardians of Oa are happy with the situation but they all try to deal with it the best they can. Touches of comedy throughout the issue, something rarely seen in a GL book, make this a light touch compared to the war, Blackest Night etc. In many ways, this issue is a welcome change of pace by writer Geoff Johns and artist Doug Mahnke from the all-out action of the previous few arcs. Glad to see even with a new #1, Green Lantern is still one of the better ongoing series out there.

Demon Knights #1- A series focused on a magic-based group full of B-list, C-list, no-list characters in the distant past of the DCU? That sound like a disaster in the making but writer Paul Cornell and artist Diogenes Neves made it work by…well, having fun with the concept. Set in the Dark Ages, Cornell quickly introduced the main characters which would be Vandal Savage, Etrigan and Madame Xanadu and from that point on, characters are thrown at the readers at a kinetic pace with action and intrigue thrown in for good measure. After reading the issue, I remember a similar series I read before. That series is Secret Six, another series filled with B-list, C-list, no-list characters. That series was great and hopefully Demon Knights will be the Secret Six of the new DCU.

X-Men: Schism #4- This is it? This is the dispute that brings a spilt to the X-Men? Sorry but I just don’t buy it. Wolverine has always been the guy within the X-Men most willing to do what need to be done to get things done but he is the one who got a problem with sending Hope and gang to fight for the survival of the mutant species? Sorry but I just don’t buy it. Also I feel writer Jason Aaron jumped the shark this issue. Cyclops and Wolverine engaged in a fight while a gigantic Sentinel is slowly edging to the shores of Utopia looking to wipe everyone out? Sorry but I just don’t buy it!

Ban On Camera Phones

2011-09-21T09:55:00.000+08:00

One of the long-standing rules of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is that you cannot bring in a camera into an army camp. The ban on cameras also means that soldiers cannot bring in camera phones into the camp.

As any National Serviceman or reservists knows; this ban on camera phones is routinely ignored. People bring in camera phones all the time. During my reservist, I know of a guy who brings in a blackberry even. Frankly, there is just no effective way for the SAF to enforce the ban as handphones are so small nowadays.

So in the face of this, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has now announced that it is “exploring ways” to allow soldiers to use the camera-equipped smartphones. It looks like the ban on camera phones are going the way of the dodo and my feelings on this are mixed.

I can understand why the SAF is reviewing the rules but if they are going to allow camera phones, then they should also allow cameras in as well. The reason why camera phones are not allowed in base is due to the cameras inside the phones so if cameras phones are allowed; why not cameras?

It makes no sense right? If Mindef reverse the ban on cameras phones, then they should reverse the ban on cameras as well. If they don’t intend to reverse the ban on cameras, then they not reverse the ban on camera phones! It’s that simple.

An Excuse For Failure

2011-09-20T17:01:00.000+08:00

DC Universe Online was supposed to be the MMO that will conquer the niche superhero MMO market. The odds were in its favor. Of the 3 superhero MMO on the market (City of Heroes & Champions Online being the other 2), it was the latest one to come out; it was based on the popular DCU; and it is produced and marketed by Sony Online Entertainment.

The reality was different as gamers abandoned the game after a promising start. Now Sony is going to move DC Online to a freemium model next month in an effort to increase the player base of the game. For those of you who are wondering, a freemium
is an online game which is free 2 play but with restrictions. If you pay for a monthly fee, these restrictions will be lifted.

However I doubt this move is going to help DC Online in a great way. More players may join but unless there are massive improvements, the game will continue to be a disappointment. If Sony wants DC online to be successful, they need to concentrate more on improving gameplay than on changing the payment model.

As someone who has played both City of Heroes & Champions Online, I have to say the biggest problem DC Online has is the lack of variety you have. DC Online only allow you to have 7 power sets which is tiny when you consider that when you created a character in City of Heroes, you have a choice of around 12 power sets to choose from. And that’s just in 1 class! DC Online has 7 power sets for the WHOLE GAME!

That is the problem with the game, not the payment model. I feel a lot of game companies are using the subscription/F2P argument as an excuse for why their games failed. To me the subscription/F2P argument is a non-starter because if it is a good game, players will be more than willing to pay a subscription to play the game. Anyone who believes otherwise can just look at the top MMO in the market right now. Last I check, World of Warcraft is still a subscription MMO.

The Reason Why

2011-09-19T15:23:00.002+08:00

What a busy week this will be for the diplomats of America and Israel! Later this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will present to the United Nations (U.N.) a formal request to admit Palestine as a new nation under the United Nations.

Israel is trying desperately to head that off because if the U.N. accepts Palestine as a member, this will mean the world recognized Palestine as a nation and that will grant Palestine protection under the U.N. charter. As Israel’s loyal lap…ally, America has already said they will veto Palestine’s membership into the U.N.

Of course the United States faced a few problems with this stance.

1) Over 120 countries have said they will support the Palestinians’ bid so America will be in the vast minority of nations against the bid.
2) Muslim countries (population and governments) in the Middle East all support the bid so America will be going against the people of an important region.
3) In fact, globally more people support UN recognition of Palestine as an independent state than oppose it. A poll by the BBC across 19 countries showed that 49% of the people polled backed the proposal while 21% said their government should oppose it. The rest were undecided but this still means people who back a Palestine state outnumbered people who oppose it 2 to 1. Perhaps most surprisingly is that according to the poll, more Americans (45%) support the bid than oppose it (36%).

It all begs the question; why is the United States vetoing the Palestinians bid? In simple terms; domestic politics! Outside that, there's really no other reason for their objection.

Should Not Be Allowed!

2011-09-17T18:59:00.001+08:00

Everyone and their uncle know that the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been desperately trying to lure overseas companies to list in Singapore. In their desperation for foreign money, there have been some strange listings in recent years.

Now one only need to remember the many scandals of Chinese companies in recent years to know that listing rules on the SGX are somewhat lax but I found the coming listing of Manchester United on the SGX the strangest listing of all. Manchester United is a world famous football club in the UK and yet their planned US$1 billion ($1.24 billion) IPO (initial public offering) is in Singapore?

That’s strange no matter how you look at it.

According to media reports, the listing will be sometime next month but you can only buy non-voting preference shares and the share structure will be set-up in a way that will ensure the Glazer family retains control of the club. No doubt there will be some Manchester United fans who will buy the shares for sentimental value but I have to ask why the SGX is allowing this? To me, the listing is a bad idea.

Manchester United may be famous but it is a club 460 million pounds in debt and its ability to pay off that debt depend a lot on its success in the competitive English Premier League (EPL) and Champions League. Yet the SGX is allowing such a club to be listed on the local bourse? Would the SGX allow any company over 400 million pound in debt to be listed? The answer is a clear “No” so why should this case be any different?

A closer look at the IPO however and you can guess why the club is listing in Singapore. No wonder Singapore beat Hong Kong in getting the club to list here. It is probably listing here because no other bourse wants them!

Malaysia Say Bye-bye to ISA

2011-09-16T13:14:00.001+08:00

The surprise news yesterday was that Malaysia is going to abolish the deeply unpopular Internal Security Act (ISA). The security law was a remnant of colonial times that allow the government to detent people without trial and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak announced that Malaysia will be repelling the law and replacing it 2 new anti-terrorism laws.

Less than a day after the news broke and there are already people in the Singapore blogshere who are saying that Singapore should follow Malaysia’s example and get rid of our own ISA. Frankly, I am for getting rid of the ISA but I also think a lot of people are jumping the gun here.

First off, let’s get this straight. PM Najib is not getting rid of the ISA out of the goodness of his heart, his commitment to freedom or his opposition to the ISA; he is getting rid of the law because he need the votes! Try as they might, PM Najib's National Front coalition has been unable to regain support they lost in the 2008 general polls when the government lost more than one-third of Parliament's seats to the opposition. A series of missteps since then (the crazy sodomy trial of opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim, the arrest of more than 1,600 demonstrators during the march on July 9 etc) has made the political landscape even more difficult for the ruling coalition.

Second and most importantly; we do not know anything about the 2 new anti-terrorism laws that will be replacing the ISA. Currently all we know is that they will NOT be called the ISA but outside that it is a big blank. For all we know, the new laws could be worse than the ISA.

In Singapore, the ISA is also very unpopular but till we get more information of what Malaysia is doing, let’s just wait before we call for our government to follow the Malaysian example. Let see if the Malaysian example is one that’s worth following first.