Archive | November, 2006

Astro A1 GP – Sepang, Malaysia – World Cup of Motorsports

A1 Grand Prix is the first opportunity in any area of motorsport for nations to compete on a level playing field. It is a series where technology and innovation are deliberately equalised and performance is determined by human bravery, skill and excellence. Team and driver combine to create their advantage and the winning nation raises its flag in celebration.

I went to the the 14th race of the A1 GP series yesterday, the weather was pretty much atrocious and I couldn’t get close enough as I didn’t have track access so I was limited to wide shots.

The crowd was pretty good and the heavy rain and flooded track certainly added to the drama, there was quite a few spins.

It was quite a long wait for the rain to stop.

Rain

The wait was boring…so I took pictures of random stuff.

Symmetry

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Movie Review – Casino Royale – RAWKS!!

Casino Royale

Casino Royale introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to ’00’ status. Bond’s first 007 mission takes him to Madagascar where he is to spy on a terrorist, Mollaka.

Ah Bond is indeed back, and he’s back in a big way.

There were many detractors for Daniel Craig, myself included I must admit I didn’t think he was gonna fill the boots just right, but damn I was wrong and I’m glad so.

To get this out of the way, Casino Royale is a fantastic movie and it’s right up there with the classics of the Bond franchise. Daniel Craig really nails it as the raw recruit promoted to ’00’ status.

Daniel Craig

You can see him develop through-out the movie, get more refined, cold hearted and more like the Bond we have come to know and love as potrayed by Roger Moore and Sean Connery.

It was classic bond with an Aston Martin (although short-lived), hot chicks, fights, action and really beautiful cinematopgraphy.

The chicks were gooooddd.

Greek Chick

And the bad guy was bad ass, so bad ass he wept blood!

Bad Dude

The first action scene was great in the Bahamas, there was some weird cutting with the Malaysians censorship though…I’m sure the film skipped a couple of minutes at one point as it went from one scene to another without any transition.

But then we are used to that already right?

The film was exciting through-out with a really good emotional range showed by the characters, the last few Bond movies left me luke-warm, but this one, this is real Bond.

Bond is back and he’s bad ass.

Watch it now, I give it a very good 9/10 (No I won’t give it 007/10)

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Sorry…

Got a bit distracted by pork and beer, will update soon!

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Reviewing Reviewme

Well everyone else is blogging about it, I thought I might just join in and see what the fuss was about.

Reviewme is basically a service for bloggers where you sign up and get paid to review stuff, the first review is this one, the review of the site/system iteself.

It seems ok for a few minutes to sign up to get a possible $100 for a review, sadly my site is not worth so much though.

It’s by the same people as Text Link Ads which I also use as it’s non intrusive, I don’t really like loud, flashing or graphical adverts.

So TLA suites me well, I can put the links anywhere and they aren’t in your face, it doesn’t make a lot but it pays for the hosting.

I’m hoping for the same kinda deal with Reviewme, I can choose what I have to review so I don’t have to whore myself out.

It’s a neat concept (Apart from them keeping half, which I think is a little harsh..it should be more like 70/30% as we are doing the hard work!).

Basically the problem occured that people are getting ad-blind, they aren’t seeing adverts so people will cool new exciting products still want to be seen but the traditional adverts were no longer working..

In step blogs and the global market place, as you’ve seen I’ve already reviewed quite a few things, those weren’t paid, I just did it as barter trade for free stuff..so this is one step further as they are virtual services or software, everything is done online and I get paid to review as there is no free stuff..

It seems neat and I’ll be waiting to see what kinds of reviews I get offered (if any at all..) and see if it’s worth paying attention to or not.

But I should get paid for this post, so that’s a start.

I can’t really give a proper objective review of the service as it’s only just started so let’s give it some time, I think their initial strategy is just to create a buzz and get the name out there, get bloggers talking about the service and get people interested in having stuff reviewed.

I do like the fact that the reviews don’t have to be positive, advertisers are told up front that reviews may be negative and most likely will contain constructive criticism. For me this is a positive thing as in the fact I’ve found people are very willing to hear the constructive criticism and make changes to improve their service or product.

This review of Reviewme is of course sponsored!

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Welcome to my Life – Pictures of Saudi Arabia

Well seen as though some people asked, and well I was personally interested to see if I could convey my boredom here..

Here is a series of pictures intended to show the loneliness and boredom I feel here.

Can you feel it?

Here’s my cubicle and my lifeline to the rest of the world, just to show cubicles do look the same all over the world..

Cubicle

Here’s the appartment I stay in, my prison.

Prison

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Continue Reading · 33 Comments · Photography, Saudi Arabia, Trips & Travel

Movie Review – Syriana – Yawn!

Syriana

Syriana is a thriller of corruption and power related to the oil industry that tells four parallel stories: the CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) with great experience in Middle East that falls in disgrace after an unsuccessful mission dealing missiles in Lebanese Republic; the investigation of the attorney Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) related to the merge of two American oil companies, Connex and Killen; the traumatic association of the energy analyst Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) with the son of a powerful emir of Iran; and the social drama of the Pakistani immigrant worker Wasim Khan (Mazhar Munir) that is fired by the oil company.

Well it’s a long time since I’ve done a movie review, so here you are! It’s been quite a long time since I watched any movies, so there you go..

I’ve got a LOT of movies to catch up, so I’ll bore you with some of the reviews.

Syriana was one of those big hyped movies from 2005, Oscar nominations, these awards, those awards etc etc. I was expecting a lot from it.

It got a solid 7.2 on IMDB, if not for the boring part it’d easily be a high 8.

Frankly the first 20 mins was a complete yawn-fest, I almost turned it off, I know someone that did fall asleep and someone else that did actually turn if off half way through.

It’s a shame as it does get very much better after that.

It’s an intricately woven tale showing the picture from the ground level with Pakistani workers being laid off in the oil fields, the political level, and the level of normal people like you and I with George Clooney and Matt Damon getting involved for vastly different reasons.

It’s a deeply political film and very nicely linked together but slow in parts, it’s definately thinkers film and is closely related to many of the things that have happened in recent times..

I believe it was banned in Malaysia due to some of the sensitive issues it addressed.

The acting was top notch, it’s good to see Clooney taking a meaty role and once again Matt Damon showing his versatility.

Matt Damon

It’s an interesting enough movie, just don’t expect any action, chicks, explosions or humour.

Serious and tense it is, light-hearted it is not.

You have to give it some time and get into the plot, the twists, the power struggles and the back-stabbing. It was based on a book which was apparently based on a real conflict, I have yet to look up who the prince was..but it’s certainly interesting.

I’d give it a worth watching 6.5/10.

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Board… Bored…Bore …Boredom

OMG I’m so bored.

The food is boring, the people are boring, the project is boring, the place is boring, the buildings are boring.

At least it’s not so hot here now, winter is coming and it’s a very pleasant 20 degrees most of the time.

I can even walk back to the skanky service appartment wearing a jacket and not feel hot.

People here just eat flatbread and homous, or well 5 dishes or cream coloured stuff that all looks and tastes pretty much like homous..

And some grilled bbq shit like kebabs, which don’t taste of anything really.

At least there’s a croissant shop downstairs which does good chocolate croissants.

Even the indomee here tastes lousy..I had some at the appt last night whilst watching Ronin.

I went through all 213 channels on the cable TV, there is only 5 in English.

This place is ghetto, seriously.

At least I’ve managed to catch up with some decent movies…I finally got to see Gangs of New York, I bought the DVD about 4 years ago, but never watched it because it was a screener.

Good flick actually.

I’m not even motivated to take pictures of anything because it’s such an oppressive place and it’s so boring and brown and sandy.

I might take some pictures of the appt just to show how shit it is.

Every car here is beat-up, they drive like nutcases and have some kind of mental issues where they HAVE to make their tyres squeal round every corner.

And they beep immediately when the traffic lights turn green..just in case the person at the front didn’t notice.

Plus the restaurants here have two sections, the family section and the single section, which is kinda weird at first.

It took me about 3 days to realise I hadn’t actually seen a woman since I’d been here, there is non in the office (which is very strange for me as my office is full of ’em).

Then there’s this annoying guy I have to work with who can’t shut up, he’s the one that has to crack jokes and put puns into every conversation…even though non of the jokes are funny and the puns aren’t witty.

Everyone entertained him for a couple of days, but now his lame quips fall on silence, which is kinda akward. I wish he’d get the message and dose himself up a good portion of STFU.

The weekend is totally whacked here too, now is Sunday, but it’s Tuesday…I’m in the office and was yesterday aswell, because Thursday was Saturday and Friday was Sunday, so really Saturday is Monday..

Got it?

(sarcasm) Yes I’m really enjoying travelling and soaking up new and interesting cultures. (/sarcasm)

Oh dear…I really wish there were something positive about this, other than the fact it’ll be over soon, WHICH IT BETTER BE.

The end.

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Continue Reading · 15 Comments · Ranting, Saudi Arabia, Trips & Travel

The Salesman

A young Indian guy moves to Montreal and goes to a big department store looking for a job. The manager asks, “Do you have any sales experience?”

The kid, “Yeah, I was a salesman back home”. Well, the manager liked the young man, so he gave him the job. “You start tomorrow. I’ll come down after we close and see how you did, but let me give you a bit of advice. If a customer comes looking, say, for toothpaste, you might suggest for him a toothbrush, or shaving cream etc. you get the idea?” “Of course,” the young man said.

His first day on the job was rough but he got through it. After the store was locked up, the manager came down. “How many sales did you make today?

The kid says, “One”

The manager groans, “Just one? Our sales people average 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the sale for?”

The kid says, “$101, 237.64.”

The manager exclaims, “What? $ 101,237.64? What did you sell him?”

The kid, “First I sold him a small fish hook. Then I soldhim a medium fishhook. Then I sold him a larger fishhook. Then I sold him a new fishing rod. Then I asked him where he was going fishing, and he said down at the coast, so I told him he was going to need a boat, so we went down to the boat department, and I sold him that twin engine Chris Craft. Then he said he didn’t think his Honda Civic would pull it, so I Took him down to the automotive department and sold him
that 4X4 Pajero.”

The manager says “You mean a guy came in here to buy a fish hook and you sold him a boat and truck?!”

The kid, “No, no, no, he came in here to buy a box of Kotex for his wife and I said, “Well, since your weekend’s already screwed up,you might as well go fishing.”

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Movie Review – Dragon Tiger Gate (Loong Fu Moon) – Just Missed

Dragon Tiger Gate

Dragon Tiger Gate is a martial arts academy established by three youngsters, Tiger Huang , Little Dragon Huang and Black Dragon Shi. Adopted as children by kung fu master Huang Jianglong, they aspire to impart the spirit of Chinese martial arts to the world. The final showdown between good and evil is a spectacular battle that makes the walls of Dragon Tiger Gate quake.

Yeah I’ve managed to catch up with quite a lot of movies lately!

This is a typical hong-kong style action kung-fu movie starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yu.

The action was also directed by Donnie Yen himself, which shows as he is now experienced and mature in his style, the action elements and choreography was very good through-out the film with some pretty unique and exciting displays of fighting and interesting use of weapons.

Honestly speaking though, he still has a long way to go to catch Yuen Wo Ping.

Apart from that, I love any movie that has nunchukas in it!

The movie itself was adapted from some very famous Hong Kong manga (comic books) so the story and plot is already laid out, even though you don’t really need a phd to understand it, it’s the same old basic good vs evil thing with very little deviation.

As you can probably guess, the story itself is nothing special…the romantic elements are actually quite pukeworthy and the rest you can guess as it goes along.

Basically I only suggest you watch this movie if you really enjoy good well crafted fight scenes, as I do, so I did enjoy this movie.

Donnie Yen once again manages to appear eternally youthful and carries out his role very well, not that any of the three leads have tough jobs as apart from Shawn Yue they both play fairly silent reflective types.

I found Nicholas Tse was a little soft and girly for the role he was supposed to be playing, I would have preferred someone else.

Shawn Yue was adequate as the more bubbly and confident Turbo.

Dragon Tiger Gate

You don’t really feel for the characters and the flashbacks are a bit annoying with upright ‘moral’ overtones.

The final villain is a bit of a joke too, the fight scene is quite good though.

Overall the movie is a nice piece of comic book escapism which could really use a good producer/director.

I’d say watch it for the fight scenes (especially the first big one) and give it a fairly mediocre head kick of 4.5/10.

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Scary Saudi

Travelling again, in Saudi now after a 26 hour journey..for a job I don’t have, yeah I’m jobless remember 😛

15 hour transit in Dubai, erg….at least they gave me a hotel so I could pass out for a few hours, they didn’t feed me though…which is bad! Well some people might say it’s good *looks at his waistline*

At first there was no hotel as promised, then finally found someone who knew what they were talking about and managed to get a room.

Then finally got on a flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia..that’s where I am now.

I already had a pre-approved business visa in my passport when I arrived, so I thought all would be smooth…

But no, a bunch of us ended up in a dingy smokey little office wondering what the hell was happening, apparently there was a problem with the ‘system’.

It was like something from a movie, the guy at the desk was throwing passports around, scowling and banging the desk.

I thought…that was not a good place to be.

Nice airport, but horrible immigration, it took forever, there was no order in the queues and the immigration officers made the Malaysian bunch seem polite.

Eventually got through, then there was no hotel pick-up as promised. I paid myself for an over-priced taxi to some 2 star dump near the partners office.

No Internet, No Iron available to guests..

Not sure what’s happening in Saudi now but every hotel is fully booked, I should be shifting to a half decent place tonight.

Sick like a dog too, sore throat, glands up…for once I can safely say, life sucks!

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