Notifications

The time has come, for me to write my annual blog post, haha. Somehow manage to remember to update this blog at least once a year. 2018 was very mundane, nothing much happened or achieved. All I know, 2019 is going to be different. I have already have some plans and big risks which I'm planning to take. What is life if it's going to be routine? We are here to live life, so do the things which makes you happy. This is going to be my motto moving forward.

Notifications. We receive notifications now almost instantly. Our phones keep buzzing with notifications from FB, Instagram, Whatsapp, email, etc.. I used to remember feeling good previously seeing a notification on my phone or email stating someone posted on your wall, or wrote a testimonial on Friendster, haha. Those were the days where we were not constantly connected. Fast forward few years, now everyone can fly.. I mean everyone is connected constantly to the World Wide Web, 24/7, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Technology is great, now we can be in touch with someone half the world away via video calls, instant messaging or just sending a voice note. We have made the world border-less and have helped many relationships strive, expand business and enable people to get their voice heard. With all these benefits of being constantly connected, there is also a downside which people are yet to realise. It is disrupting our attention. Even while typing this, I have lost count of how many times I've checked my phone with all the notifications coming in. We used to be able to read books hours at one time, or even watch a movie being engrossed in it, you forget time passing by. Now do you realise, while you're doing these activities, you have sneaked in peeking at your phone when the notifications beeps? This is also a reason why the videos we tend to watch on FB and Youtube are all short in length. So much information is readily available on the web that we feel the need to get the most out of our time. So long videos gets less views because it has to be short and simple. Currently the best content creators compress their messages in short videos as it will make a bigger impact as it will be easily shared across social media. I have even noticed I stopped watching F1 for the past few years, and even watching football matches because it takes up 2 hours of my time. Instead there are the highlights available few minutes/hours later where I can see the important moments in just 5 minutes.

The reason for this post is I'm starting to realise, the notification on my phone is causing me to not enjoy the surroundings and current moments of my life, instead shifting my focus on the phone and replying/reading what ever messages which comes in. I'm sure others are also going through this and in time will realise its affecting their quality of life. Work is now also on Whatapp, creating Whatsapp groups for work related matters does make it easy to communicate and get work done fast, but I feel its being overused to beyond office hours. Bosses can see you have read the messages and if you don't reply on time, you're basically screwed. I understand if its for serious or urgent issues, but just normal work related matters can wait till you're back to work. If you are working 8-5, 5 days a week, do you really think that's your working time? Whatsapp is basically on your personal number and everyone knows about your whereabouts.

I've also seen young working parents spending their weekend/family time with your young kids but is constantly on their phones. Either busy typing or on a call instead of spending that uninterrupted time with your loved ones as those precious moments wont last forever and your kids needs your attention more. Give those kids your undivided attention, give your wife/husband the love and care which they need to keep up with life's challenges, and give that date of yours your full attention while you are getting to know them.

Moving into the new year, I do plan to mute those less important groups, put those ads from apps to sleep, switch on airplane mode my phone when I'm reading a book or watching a movie. Take back control of your life and be the best person you can be. In general basically don't let technology control you, you control technology. Peace out 2018

Wonder Woman 2017 review

Finally one of the trinity in the DC universe has her own movie and it was worth the wait. Wonder Woman has only got her share of screen time in animations and the 1970s' TV series starring Linda Carter. Fans still say that Linda is the perfect cast for Wonder Woman, so it's a huge role for any new actress to play. 

DC found their Wonder Woman in Gal Gadot. She played the titular character in 2016's Batman v Superman. Although the movie split fans to either love or hate it, but the breathe of fresh air was the introduction of WW, combined with her own electrifying theme music, it was the best part of the movie.

DC made this movie an origins story of WW and also cleverly ties into the BvS. They start of by showing Diana Prince receiving an old photograph from Bruce Wayne, and she starts to reminiscence about her time as a child on the island of Themyscira. Diana is the princess of Themyscira and daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. The Queen's sister, General Antiope was a great warrior and is the one responsible to train the young Diana. The story starts in the land of only women when a British spy, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands on the island. Diana soon finds out that there is war in the outside worlds and wants to leave to help mankind to live in peace.

Once they leave the island, the movie goes a bit slow but don't get me wrong, there is no dull moment, just no fight or action scenes. There is great chemistry between the innocent Diana and Chris Pine's character where she still tried to learn about the outside world. Without giving away any spoilers or plot points which were not included in the trailer, the movie picks up in the third act. The action scenes are really well taken and has the Man of Steel feel to it, with fast moving CGI characters and explosion. It does bug me a bit when movies tend create the characters in CG for action scenes, cause somehow the movement is not so natural, but its forgiven cause the end results looks and feels fantastic. 

DC did get it right this time mainly cause there was no unnecessary complicated plots, kept some plots points away from the trailer and basically dint take itself too seriously. Since this story takes place during World War 1, it does have a bit of Captain America feel to it, and I did get a feeling that DC is slowly trying to emulate Marvel in their story telling cause this movie is way different from Man of Steel and BvS in terms of the look and feel to the movie. Full credits to the director, Patty Jenkins, the first female director of a superhero film in bringing Wonder Woman to the big screen. Its the movie all Wonder Woman fans been waiting for and I'm sure they will have some epic tears in the eyes moments. I sure did 

Ratings: 8/10

London Pass

During my recent London and UK trip I decided to get the London Pass to see the attractions around London. Got to know about this pass through the blogs online, so decided to post my experience using it so hopefully this can come in handful for others to plan their holiday.

There are 2 types of London Pass, 1 is just the pass and 1 comes with Travel card. With the travel card, you can have unlimited travel using the tube and bus around London for free during the length of the pass only. Its quite useful but i opted not to get the travel card cause I already have the Oyster card and I can have better control of the money used for travel. I bought my pass online from their site https://www.londonpass.com and got the physical card option cause wanted to keep it as a souvenir once I'm done. Collected the card at their collection center near Leicester square. Got the 3 day pass cause they were having a promotion of 20% if get 3 days compared to 2 days. 1 day pass is £59, 2 days is £79 and 3 days is £95, since had the 20% the 3 day pass is £85.50, which is £6.50 more than the 2 day pass. So it was a no-brainer to go for 3 days. Here is the breakdown of what I went for and how much it would have costs if you went without the London Pass.

Day 1
- Tower of London (£22.50). A must visit, get to see the crown jewels and Queen's Guard, lots of history in this place.
- Tower Bridge Exhibition (£9). Nothing much, only get to stand on the glass panel floor and looking down to the road and river below and see the Victorian Engine rooms.
- HMS Belfast (£16). Totally enjoyed this ship. Spent quite some time exploring and seeing how the crew used to live. Pretty sure most guys will enjoy this place, very metal smell inside and feels like living in a Hollywood war movie
- London Bridge Experience (£26.95). Horror movie fans should enjoy this as you get to feel walking around a haunted place with lots of jump scare at every turn.
- The Old Operating Theater Museum (£6.50). I simply entered here cause had time to kill and was nearby. Get to see a very old operating theater which was above a church. Medical people will appreciate this place more

Day 2
- Arsenal Stadium tour (£20). My favourite place, nuff said. Self guided tour with audio, so you can take as long as you want looking around the stadium.
- Westminster Abbey (£20). Beautiful place to visit, but kinda pricey. Heard if you go on Sunday around 5 or 5.30 pm they have some prayers or songs, so you can enter for free.
- Churchill War Rooms (£17.25). Nothing much for me as lots of WW2 history, lots of reading materials everywhere. I prefer to see old and beautiful things :P

Day 3
- Royal Observatory Greenwich (£9.50). Pretty much paying that price just to see the GMT 0 line and seeing some old clocks and astronomy stuff. This place is on a hill, so its quite a walk up, but nothing so bad, just take your time and enjoy the scenery around that place.
- Chelsea Stadium tour (£22). Guided tour at Stamford Bridge so you have to follow the tour guide, tour takes around 1 hour, so you cant spend time walking around like the Arsenal tour. Its always nice to see whats inside the stadium and where the players hang out
- Kensington Palace (£16.30). Nice to see where the Royals used to live before, pretty garden outside.

All together it would have cost me £186 for all the attractions above, but using the London Pass it was only £85.50, a savings of  about £100. If you're planning to get the London Pass, you will need to plan your journey and the attractions which you want to visit so you can maximise the time you have each day. The full list of places covered by the pass is at their website. As most places opens at 9 am and closes by 5 pm, so plan wisely. I spoke to a guy from my tour about the London Pass and he said it was a waste, cause he took the Hop on Hop off bus tour and it took up most of their time due to the jam. Since I was already walking around London on my own, I decided to skip the bus. If you look at my Day 1, all those attractions were nearby and walking distance, just be prepared to walk a lot, wear a comfortable pair of sports shoes and enjoy London :)

Reboot

These days, when things are not going as planned, reboot. We can see that happening to movies which are old and don't appeal to the current crowd/generation. This approach can also be done in life, reboot yourself. Throw or flush away the things which was part of your life which does not have any positive impact to you now and start back new, fill it up with something more current. Living in the past does not move you forward, it will always be something which will be holding you back from truly experiencing life and living it to its fullest.

As for this year,  Jurassic World and Terminator Genisys were sort of a soft reboot, where they continued the story with new cast while keeping the nostalgic part/scenes which we still remember previously. This approach does work as that is what we are familiar with and seeing those scenes again, we tend to feel nostalgic and that immediately catches our attention for the movie.

Well I was talking about reboots because I just went through all my previous posts from my past 2 blogs and wow, recalled so many things which happened before that I complete forgot about. I also could see how I was thinking back then and how spontaneous I could type a blog post. For these past 2 years, it's been hard to come up with something interesting to blog about. I blame this mainly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you get it. With the improvement in technology, I realised that we tend to think much short term and our post become very short and to the point. Many bloggers I know also have all slowed down and mainly just come up with funny/interesting things to say on Twitter and Facebook. This is how the world is evolving, and I'm writing this post not to start back blogging or anything, I just realise that its nice to leave something imprinted here in the net where future me can see and remember how I was and my thoughts were at this moment in time.

I have to admit, since father passed, my life have been very much different. The first 2 years was coping and adjusting and then its been pretty stagnant and boring. Living each day as it comes, most days have been very routine and the next thing I know, a new year is upon us.  Easily 2 years have been like this without anything new/interesting happening in my life. I see my friends moving on in their lives and career and I am somehow just stuck and not moving. I have been trying to change but somehow things just don't work out. The only thing which has been the highlight for the past few years is I managed to save some money and travel few countries in South East Asia.

Now with lots more commitment under my belt, traveling wont be easy but its not impossible. For me, it's time to remember back the things which made me happy and the things I like to do and start doing things for myself. Time to find that ability I had to write short stories/articles which would make peoples day, make them happy, even for just a little bit. Looks like its time to hit that button and embrace any new challenge/opportunities life throws at me as I feel I am ready for a change. A reboot :)

Yearly

Yes, I still managed to keep my word. This is my yearly blog post, haha. Trying to at least do this so I don't forget the nonsense I've written in the past. It's always nice to look back at how my mind was few years ago. Have I matured? I guess so.
Feels weird to write a blog post now cause seems like even blogging is now something ancient. Previously I knew a lot of people who write good articles in their blog, seems like in time, the blog is soon to be buried in the vast and growing Internet Graveyard. Just like how Friendster is now 6 feet under :P

Lately what I used to write in blogs/articles, I'm just writing it as a short and simple Facebook status or in a meme picture which summarizes what is intended to be shared out there. Its faster, simpler and easier to convey the message while on the go.

I would also like to take this opportunity to have a moment of silence to all our once favourite internet services. I will truly remember all of you as you have played a very big role in my life growing up. To laughing like bloody fools in front of the pc chatting, to seeing when your crush is online, to sending assignment homework to friends and vice versa before submitting it the next day. Many many memories.

Rest in peace
- Hotmail email, now Outlook

- MSN Messenger

- Friendster

- ICQ (117715863, damn I still remember my ICQ number)

- mIRC

Ps - Seems some old picture link which I used are not available, hence the blank picture in certain post..

Before the end

From blogging once a week, to once a month, now it has come to this, once a year. Congratulations Sarv. Well I felt its best for me to write this post before the year ends, and if at all the world ends tomorrow. I shall try to post at least once a year from now on k, if we all survive our impending doom. ahaha.

Speaking of world end, I do believe it will end someday, but just now tomorrow. And it cant end in just a day, some series of events will take place and slowly everything will slowly start to collapse and the world we once knew shall be gone.

Since my last post last year, many things have changed. New job, people coming and going in life, some good, some bad. No matter what, if and most probably 2013 will be upon us soon, I hope it will be a much better year for all. It should be, because it has to be, because I want it to be (Yes, be positive)

In the mean time, this is the last time humanity have access to the internet, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year........ just in case 21-12-2012 happens =P

Transformers 3 in 10 seconds

*CAUTION - Do not read this post if you dont wanna know the movie's plot. Dont say I didn't warn ya.. =P*

This summer's biggest blockbuster is here. Tickets for Transformers 3 has been selling like hot cake since the past week, and I made sure I buy the tickets early cause I dont wanna delay in watching this movie. Main reason  --> people are gonna be posting how awesome it was on FB when I havent watched it yet. So yeah.. oh, that and also because it FREAKIN TRANSFORMERS  =P hehe..

And I made a promise not to post anything bout the movie on FB cause many wouldn't have watched it yet, and it would only make them feeling more miserable and suicidal, but I couldn't help myself.. I just had to post something..  This time, not because it was awesome.. but pretty much the opposite of awesome.. But how can a Transformers movie be not awesome?? Better ask Michael Bay.. Here are a few reasons:
1)  My wife (Megan Fox) not in it this time.. =(  her replacement, Rosie did ok i guess, she cant do much anyway, she is just there for eye candy.. I still miss Foxy =(
2) Story was all over the place..
3) Jokes were lame..
4) Action mostly during the ending, but that was like for a good 1 hour. Nothing special, seen most of it in the previous movies..

Here is what the whole movie is about. If I made this movie with its current script, the movie will only be about 10 seconds long.. hehe

- NASA finds Transformers crashed ship on moon. Send Buzz Aldrin to investigate ( yea, right)
- Optimus pissed cause humans never inform him
- Optimus emo
- Good guys bring back Sentinel Prime, turns out he bad guy.
- Sentinel and Megatron try conquer world.
- Optimus emo again
- Rosie calls Megatron Sentinel's bitch
- Megatron emo, then attack Sentinel, then Optimus kills both of them

There you have it, it took Michael Bay 2 1/2 hours to tell this story, which I told in 10 seconds.. hehe =P

I can go on complaining how disappointed I am with this movie, but I shall leave it to all of you to decide, cause so far, many have said the movie was awesome.. So everybody is entitled to their own opinion.. But in the end, your opinion sucks.. cause this movie sucks.. hehe =P

Even he was crying watching the movie