When i was near to starting up a new blog earlier this year, my friend who had started her own blog, considered having two separate blogs. She asked me, will i be able to cope with managing two blogs? how will i differentiate the blogs? will it be the same or anything? will i even have the time to update it?
sadly, the last question i have to admit is no, i don't have time to update it. As for having two blogs, so far i'm managing quite okay.
So FYI, if u are new to my blog, pls do head over to my first ever post and read about my 'introduction'...pls play by my rules, and i'll play by yours. i'm that simple. for those who have been visiting my posts for a while, well, hello again, and thanks for droppping by, but i have sumting to add...
this is how i'll differentiate my blogspot and xanga. for the blogspot one, i shall post matters more that have a more 'serious' tone to it...like uhmm..stuff that's kinda deep. Lol. Meanwhile for the Xanga page, i'll post stuff that has more humour, or more towards giving out facts and trivia kind of stuff. so to summarise, blogspot is more serious, and xanga more...fluffy. LOL.
Also i will post same stuff on both sites, but that really depends on the subject matter. Overall, generally speaking, a post may be available on my blogspot, but wont be available on my xanga, and vice versa. Some will be exclusive to one site only, while at times some posts will be available in both sites.
I think that's abt it..click on the 'Linkin with Ducca' if u want to head on to my Xanga page...u are ver welcome there...
peace out~~
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Merdeka
Today, is my nation's independence day. having spent almost my entire life in a foreign land, i never get to really absorb the independence spirit in my own homeland.
This year, though, is a teeny bit different. Last night at midnight there were fireworks to celebrate independence day. The fireworks aren't spectacular at all, quite common, they even lose to the fireworks my neighbours put up during CNY!!! But the atmosphere was lively. hundreds of ppl standing streetside, waiting near their cars, under trees, in coffeeshops, in their vehicles, just everwhere, all stood or sat there waiting for the fireworks to start.
And when the fireworks stopped, there was a huge traffic jam as everyone started their cars or motors and prepare to leave. Even there are a lot of ppl on bicycles, carrying the flag of our nation, speeding us buy. That's when all the vulgarities began.
'Aahhh!! STUPIID!!!!' people shouted everywhere. Angry curses are flown everywhere as cars tried to reverse and go out. another person screaming stupid again as a motor nearly collided with a bike. chaos is everwhere. I was in the care thinking, 'is this really the true independence spirit we all are supposed to have during this time of national celebaration? is shouting angrily at other people seem like how independence day is portrayed on tv and newspapers? have we lost our patience, understanding and forgiveness in these hard times? where exactly is the unity spirit?'
Then came a soft voice saying, 'Merdeka.'
I turned around to see who said that. A car that was crawling past us had a few guys in it. The driver, seeing me turning to look in his direction, repeated 'Merdeka' again, and smiled to me. I smiled back acknowledging him while his friends at the back looked at me. We eventually passed each other, but i can still hear him saying 'Merdeka' to the car behind us as he drove on.
Soon...some cyclist and people on motor greeted each other with the word 'Merdeka' again. I caught some more angry retorts from some other people, but still the word 'Merdeka' warms the heart more than anything. A simple greeting, a greeting which unites the nation, a greeting that will be returned with the same acknowledgement, is the only important thing at that moment. Despite the bad moods of most of the people stuck in traffic, there are still some who revel in the Merdeka spirit...perhaps caused by the fireworks, or the simple fact that our nation is celebrating its b'day again. Perhaps, after all, not all is lost, and i went home with a smile, extremely proud of my country, and extremely proud of being its child.
Happy Independence Day to my fellow rakyat. Merdeka.
This year, though, is a teeny bit different. Last night at midnight there were fireworks to celebrate independence day. The fireworks aren't spectacular at all, quite common, they even lose to the fireworks my neighbours put up during CNY!!! But the atmosphere was lively. hundreds of ppl standing streetside, waiting near their cars, under trees, in coffeeshops, in their vehicles, just everwhere, all stood or sat there waiting for the fireworks to start.
And when the fireworks stopped, there was a huge traffic jam as everyone started their cars or motors and prepare to leave. Even there are a lot of ppl on bicycles, carrying the flag of our nation, speeding us buy. That's when all the vulgarities began.
'Aahhh!! STUPIID!!!!' people shouted everywhere. Angry curses are flown everywhere as cars tried to reverse and go out. another person screaming stupid again as a motor nearly collided with a bike. chaos is everwhere. I was in the care thinking, 'is this really the true independence spirit we all are supposed to have during this time of national celebaration? is shouting angrily at other people seem like how independence day is portrayed on tv and newspapers? have we lost our patience, understanding and forgiveness in these hard times? where exactly is the unity spirit?'
Then came a soft voice saying, 'Merdeka.'
I turned around to see who said that. A car that was crawling past us had a few guys in it. The driver, seeing me turning to look in his direction, repeated 'Merdeka' again, and smiled to me. I smiled back acknowledging him while his friends at the back looked at me. We eventually passed each other, but i can still hear him saying 'Merdeka' to the car behind us as he drove on.
Soon...some cyclist and people on motor greeted each other with the word 'Merdeka' again. I caught some more angry retorts from some other people, but still the word 'Merdeka' warms the heart more than anything. A simple greeting, a greeting which unites the nation, a greeting that will be returned with the same acknowledgement, is the only important thing at that moment. Despite the bad moods of most of the people stuck in traffic, there are still some who revel in the Merdeka spirit...perhaps caused by the fireworks, or the simple fact that our nation is celebrating its b'day again. Perhaps, after all, not all is lost, and i went home with a smile, extremely proud of my country, and extremely proud of being its child.
Happy Independence Day to my fellow rakyat. Merdeka.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Falling in love never seemed so cute before.....
Ahhh….not that I’m in love or anything, but really, falling in love had never been shown any cuter. Love at first sight, the process of courting that special one, doing everything to protect your special one, pain of losing your special one….all the things experienced when in love, had never seemed so innocent and cuter. Hmmm…it’s not the Valentine’s(not yet, anyway), and I’m not in love, so u are wondering, WHY THE HECK AM I WRITING ABOUT LOVE?
Hahahah…ever since beginning of this year, unless you had been living under a rock all these time, you should have seen a tiny robot with binocular-eyes everywhere in commercials, walls of buildings and shops, magazines and everywhere. Now do u finally know what the heck I’ve been trying to say?
Yes…the little and cute robot everyone got to know as WALL-E(short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter-E Class) began appearing everywhere, thanks to the clever ideas of the promoters of the film. Yesterday I went to catch Wall-E. and I only have one word for it: CUTE.
And I’m not only talking about the character himself. Everything in the film, the manner of Wall-E(who, after 700 years of cleaning up human’s mess on Earth, had developed human-like feelings and emotions), the interaction between Wall-E and his lady love, EVE(short for…I forgot :s), the robot in the giant spaceship Axiom, the travel through the space, the acknowledgement of mutual love, the re-understanding of Earth…and lots more. For a movie which doesn’t have much dialogue, it carries itself pretty well.
A short synopsis of Wall-E: Humans no longer inhabit Earth, thanks to the ever mounting amount of rubbish generated by humans themselves. Earth’s mess is thus left to robots to clean up, while the humans upped and went to live in the outer space. 700 years since the humans left Earth, only one robot managed to persist and survive till this day, that is, Wall-E. Wall-E is contented to live each day working to collect, compact and put away the cubes of waste until as long as it manage to last. His life changed one day when another robot arrives in Earth from outer space, and what happens when a robot falls in love?
The main theme of the film is just that, a love story. Can Wall-E ever win the affections of the emotionless Eve? When I first saw a poster for ‘Wall-E’ I thought ‘cool’. Space and beautiful stars? Cool, I like. A cute robot? Cool. But the poster didn’t say much about the plot of the movie. When I finally read about it a few months later(hey, they only reveal stuff later) I finally got it. ‘So it’s gonna be a movie where a robot who had developed emotions falling in love with another emotionless robot. It’s not gonna be a movie about another adventure in space or anything. Plus, the film won’t have much dialogue at all!’ I thought. Do I want to see a movie where human conversation is almost non-existent? Never mind the lack of human voice. The thing is, do I even want to WATCH a movie where the robots make robotic sounds 85% of the time?
The answer is, yes, it’s worth a watch. Let me justify it, well, at least from my POV.
First, the concept of a love story between robots is relatively new. It is, after all, interesting to see HOW Wall-E will strive to change his relationship status. Second, how does Earth look like when it was full of litter and is considered unsuitable to live in? Third, how do humans in the future look like? And finally, why does Eve only come now, after 700 years? And how will the movie writers do justice to the promising storyline concept?
I confess I’m a sucker for stuff space-related. I always liked to stare into the beautiful night sky filled with bright stars. I like to stare at the moon. I loved reading about facts and trivias about the planets, the stars, the supernovas, galaxy all that. The scope of the Universe and its endless possibilities intrigue me. Hell, I’m even a Star Wars fan. So, another movie with space as its background, why not I give it a try?
And I’m so glad I gave the film a try. The film, despite little human presence, was top notch. I loved the film. I never liked watching romantic movies or love stories in general, because there are just too many cheesy romance films with little substance, characters that don’t have any chemistry, and unnecessary kissing and sex scenes. But this, a love story between, of all things, robots, caught my attention all the time. Yes the film is very funny, had a lot of feel good time, but it is full of bittersweetness and aches too. One scene nearly got tears to flow out of my eyes(thankfully, to my credit, I did not, cos I had this *dumb* rule to not ever cry in movies), it was just so sweet and painful at the same time. Another scene managed to make me laugh and on the verge of tears at the same time. I know the girl beside me cried a bit after the film finished though, she was so touched by the film, just like me, tho I hid it better, haha.
The film is not only about a love story. It also explores the idea that one day, just may be, Earth will be so full of wastes it outnumbered us, the humans. What will we have we done to make that happen? Overpopulation? Too little space? We being wasteful? And where shall we live then, shall that happens? Space, just like in the film? I don’t think so.
It also stresses the importance of plants. Trees. Anything green. Because, after all, we do depend on the oxygen-producing plants to survive. If they were to be destroyed into oblivion, how can we live? Why did we, and more precisely how, do we let plants to disappear from the face of Earth? In the film, we literally killed Earth! It may sound ridiculous now, but it is really happening now, even as I am writing this, and even when you are reading this. Trees are felled every moment. A forest the size of a country might be gone the next day when you wake up for school or work. It is a bleak future indeed for the children of the next generation.
Another is of course, the on-going debate about the possibility of robots developing human emotions. New inventions are cropping up everywhere. A robot that can differentiate one human from another. A robot that cleans your house. A robot that will interact with you. Even robots that are made specifically to look like human is under development! Will these robots become us in the future? And how much do we really depend on robots? How much will we depend on them in the future? And will the robot have a mind on its own and start to rebel against us, the humans, its creators, should they come to understand us in the future?
While the film does not delve too deep into the subject matter, it nevertheless succeeded in getting the audience to reflect on the possibilities by spreading it throughout the film evenly.
Okay, enough with all the theories behind the movie. Now I want to talk about the characters. Don’t worry, you won’t get 1hr 45mins of robots beeping electronic sounds here and there! The humans do make an appearance!
First is of course, our lovely little hero, Wall-E. VERRRYYYY cute. Jusr watch him go ‘Waaaallllyyy’. And his mispronunciation of Eve’s name is sooo cute, the way he calls out Eve is just so adorable. Wall-E also demonstrated basic human interaction that sadly, in our own current society, is absent. How many of you are willing to spread out your hand and help out a stranger kindly and introduce yourself and all that, without worrying that the person you are helping could be there to cheat you? And Wall-E’s devotion to his girl…ahh…if only the men would be like him….
Next, is of course, Eve, our heroine! You know what, while watching Eve, I can’t help but think of Angelina Jolie when Eve appears. Seriously! I don’t know why. Eve reminds me of Ms. Jolie very much. At first I didn’t think much about the design of Eve, but later in the film, when Eve finally lets out a laugh, wow, that robot is so well done!! Every emotion, every movement, the animation is great!
All through the movie, the characters convey their emotions through their ‘eyes’ and ‘voices’. Really, a movie that depends so much heavily on the body language and facial expression of the robots will be nothing if the sound effects are not good. If you can’t produce a good enough sound to express a non-talking robot’s expression successfully, then the movie will be a disaster. Fortunately, the sound and body language of all the characters combine wonderfully to produce such an amazing and warm movie. Kudos to Ben Burtt, the guy behind the sound effects, who is also the man responsible for the ‘sounds’ of Star Wars!
Of course there are many more characters but I don’t want to spoil too much.
Overall, this movie can succeed because of its expression, physical and vocally, of its characters. I had no problem at all with the lack of dialogue. It is the lack of dialogue that amplifies the robotic body language and expressions. The animation is so real and convincing. It is a well-done movie indeed!
Hahahah…ever since beginning of this year, unless you had been living under a rock all these time, you should have seen a tiny robot with binocular-eyes everywhere in commercials, walls of buildings and shops, magazines and everywhere. Now do u finally know what the heck I’ve been trying to say?
Yes…the little and cute robot everyone got to know as WALL-E(short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter-E Class) began appearing everywhere, thanks to the clever ideas of the promoters of the film. Yesterday I went to catch Wall-E. and I only have one word for it: CUTE.
And I’m not only talking about the character himself. Everything in the film, the manner of Wall-E(who, after 700 years of cleaning up human’s mess on Earth, had developed human-like feelings and emotions), the interaction between Wall-E and his lady love, EVE(short for…I forgot :s), the robot in the giant spaceship Axiom, the travel through the space, the acknowledgement of mutual love, the re-understanding of Earth…and lots more. For a movie which doesn’t have much dialogue, it carries itself pretty well.
A short synopsis of Wall-E: Humans no longer inhabit Earth, thanks to the ever mounting amount of rubbish generated by humans themselves. Earth’s mess is thus left to robots to clean up, while the humans upped and went to live in the outer space. 700 years since the humans left Earth, only one robot managed to persist and survive till this day, that is, Wall-E. Wall-E is contented to live each day working to collect, compact and put away the cubes of waste until as long as it manage to last. His life changed one day when another robot arrives in Earth from outer space, and what happens when a robot falls in love?
The main theme of the film is just that, a love story. Can Wall-E ever win the affections of the emotionless Eve? When I first saw a poster for ‘Wall-E’ I thought ‘cool’. Space and beautiful stars? Cool, I like. A cute robot? Cool. But the poster didn’t say much about the plot of the movie. When I finally read about it a few months later(hey, they only reveal stuff later) I finally got it. ‘So it’s gonna be a movie where a robot who had developed emotions falling in love with another emotionless robot. It’s not gonna be a movie about another adventure in space or anything. Plus, the film won’t have much dialogue at all!’ I thought. Do I want to see a movie where human conversation is almost non-existent? Never mind the lack of human voice. The thing is, do I even want to WATCH a movie where the robots make robotic sounds 85% of the time?
The answer is, yes, it’s worth a watch. Let me justify it, well, at least from my POV.
First, the concept of a love story between robots is relatively new. It is, after all, interesting to see HOW Wall-E will strive to change his relationship status. Second, how does Earth look like when it was full of litter and is considered unsuitable to live in? Third, how do humans in the future look like? And finally, why does Eve only come now, after 700 years? And how will the movie writers do justice to the promising storyline concept?
I confess I’m a sucker for stuff space-related. I always liked to stare into the beautiful night sky filled with bright stars. I like to stare at the moon. I loved reading about facts and trivias about the planets, the stars, the supernovas, galaxy all that. The scope of the Universe and its endless possibilities intrigue me. Hell, I’m even a Star Wars fan. So, another movie with space as its background, why not I give it a try?
And I’m so glad I gave the film a try. The film, despite little human presence, was top notch. I loved the film. I never liked watching romantic movies or love stories in general, because there are just too many cheesy romance films with little substance, characters that don’t have any chemistry, and unnecessary kissing and sex scenes. But this, a love story between, of all things, robots, caught my attention all the time. Yes the film is very funny, had a lot of feel good time, but it is full of bittersweetness and aches too. One scene nearly got tears to flow out of my eyes(thankfully, to my credit, I did not, cos I had this *dumb* rule to not ever cry in movies), it was just so sweet and painful at the same time. Another scene managed to make me laugh and on the verge of tears at the same time. I know the girl beside me cried a bit after the film finished though, she was so touched by the film, just like me, tho I hid it better, haha.
The film is not only about a love story. It also explores the idea that one day, just may be, Earth will be so full of wastes it outnumbered us, the humans. What will we have we done to make that happen? Overpopulation? Too little space? We being wasteful? And where shall we live then, shall that happens? Space, just like in the film? I don’t think so.
It also stresses the importance of plants. Trees. Anything green. Because, after all, we do depend on the oxygen-producing plants to survive. If they were to be destroyed into oblivion, how can we live? Why did we, and more precisely how, do we let plants to disappear from the face of Earth? In the film, we literally killed Earth! It may sound ridiculous now, but it is really happening now, even as I am writing this, and even when you are reading this. Trees are felled every moment. A forest the size of a country might be gone the next day when you wake up for school or work. It is a bleak future indeed for the children of the next generation.
Another is of course, the on-going debate about the possibility of robots developing human emotions. New inventions are cropping up everywhere. A robot that can differentiate one human from another. A robot that cleans your house. A robot that will interact with you. Even robots that are made specifically to look like human is under development! Will these robots become us in the future? And how much do we really depend on robots? How much will we depend on them in the future? And will the robot have a mind on its own and start to rebel against us, the humans, its creators, should they come to understand us in the future?
While the film does not delve too deep into the subject matter, it nevertheless succeeded in getting the audience to reflect on the possibilities by spreading it throughout the film evenly.
Okay, enough with all the theories behind the movie. Now I want to talk about the characters. Don’t worry, you won’t get 1hr 45mins of robots beeping electronic sounds here and there! The humans do make an appearance!
First is of course, our lovely little hero, Wall-E. VERRRYYYY cute. Jusr watch him go ‘Waaaallllyyy’. And his mispronunciation of Eve’s name is sooo cute, the way he calls out Eve is just so adorable. Wall-E also demonstrated basic human interaction that sadly, in our own current society, is absent. How many of you are willing to spread out your hand and help out a stranger kindly and introduce yourself and all that, without worrying that the person you are helping could be there to cheat you? And Wall-E’s devotion to his girl…ahh…if only the men would be like him….
Next, is of course, Eve, our heroine! You know what, while watching Eve, I can’t help but think of Angelina Jolie when Eve appears. Seriously! I don’t know why. Eve reminds me of Ms. Jolie very much. At first I didn’t think much about the design of Eve, but later in the film, when Eve finally lets out a laugh, wow, that robot is so well done!! Every emotion, every movement, the animation is great!
All through the movie, the characters convey their emotions through their ‘eyes’ and ‘voices’. Really, a movie that depends so much heavily on the body language and facial expression of the robots will be nothing if the sound effects are not good. If you can’t produce a good enough sound to express a non-talking robot’s expression successfully, then the movie will be a disaster. Fortunately, the sound and body language of all the characters combine wonderfully to produce such an amazing and warm movie. Kudos to Ben Burtt, the guy behind the sound effects, who is also the man responsible for the ‘sounds’ of Star Wars!
Of course there are many more characters but I don’t want to spoil too much.
Overall, this movie can succeed because of its expression, physical and vocally, of its characters. I had no problem at all with the lack of dialogue. It is the lack of dialogue that amplifies the robotic body language and expressions. The animation is so real and convincing. It is a well-done movie indeed!
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