Quality journalism?

It's a sad day in journalism (even for tabloids) when news like "Gosselin changes her hair" makes the front page.

Is there nothing else happening in the world worth writing about more than a moron changing her hair?

What's next? "Kim Kardashian...umm...breaths??"

Transformers RTS?

After watching a trailer about a new Mechwarrior game in the making, I got my hands on MechCommander 2 (Which is free for download and legal, btw) to re-live the exhilaration of commanding those hulking mechs into battle.

While I was busy blowing shit up in the game, I thought about another robot-related franchise: Transformers. Then I thought: wouldn't it be awesome if somebody made a Transformers real-time strategy / tactical game.

Due to the limited numbers of characters in the franchise, I would imagine the gameplay to be similiar to MechCommander or even Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War, for example:

• Instead of mining resources, the player capture resources points to call in more allies or equipment.

• No base-building. Installations, if any, shall be in the form of transformed robots that is mobile and capable of combat.

• Limited number of units per mission. Like a squad-based strategy or tactical game.
  

• Featuring battlefields in Cybertron as well as Earth, with differing priorities in the diverse environment for opposing forces.

• Active units can salvage parts from destroyed units.

• Diverse range of unit expertise, eg. Optimus Prime is excellent in melee fights, where as Ironhide is a long range expert etc. Skill points can be earned and distributed for each unit.

• Functional combat roles for the units alternate modes. In fact, some objectives can't be achieved without using their alternate mode.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I hope some big shot game developer would stumble upon this post and decided that he would go ahead and make it. I wouldn't mind if he decides to share some profit with me too :P

Cameron Highlands Trip - Part II

They second day on Cameron Highlands started with an extended stay in the hotel toilet as I attempted to purge my stomach.

The first stop was at the same Jungle trekking site from the previous day, known as Parit Falls. For reason that I could not fathom, Phoebe was determined to venture deeper into the jungle, hoping to find the highest spot on the mountain that was said to overlook the whole of the Highlands. Of course, we turned back when the trail became dark, which was a perfect excuse because my stomach started acting up again. After leaving the site, we ventured into Brinchang and "accidentally" arrived at the "Big Strawberry Farm" (Yes, thats the actual name)

Despite what the name says, the place also feature a hydroponic farm.

You can actually go in and pluck the strawberries yourself, but it will cost you more than twice the price of the pre-packed strawberries which were just as freshly plucked on the same day.

More random flower shots.

Tomatoes (top) and Grapes (bottom)


Cacti. This place almost have everything except, sadly, durian.

We returned briefly to the hotel to stash the Strawberries we bought in the hotel fridge, and went down to Tanah Rata Town to have Chichen rice.

We went further up towards Tringkap and visited the Boh Tea Plantation. The road there was even more winding and narrow, with a hill on one side and a tea plant-filled slope on the other. Most of the time the road was just wide enough for one vehicle, yet it is a two way road. Unfortunately, after negotiating the treacherous trip to the entrance of the plantation, we were denied entry, so we had to go back where we came from and snapped pictures on the way. Nonetheless the view was pretty breathtaking, with tea plants spanning several mountains; You have to see it for yourself because photographs alone don't do it justice.

We also stopped by a fruit market and where the Malay fruit vendors speak cantonese, mandarin, Malay and English with equal fluency.

We called it a day and returned to the hotel, spending dinner time in the room eating cup noodles and peanuts.

The next day, we started our journey back early and visited the Sam Poh Temple which we thought went out their way NOT to be found. After a brief stopover which almost led me into a monk's room when I was looking for the washroom, we bid Cameron Highlands goodbye and swore that I shall never drive here again.

Cameron Highlands Trip - Part I

Last Sunday Phoebe and I embarked on a long overdue vacation trip to Cameron Highlands. It was to be a 3 days 2 nights trip and we picked Cameron Highlands because Phoebe has never been there and I have been wanting to enjoy a hot steamboat meal there in the cold climate.

My dad was raised in Cameron Highlands, but when I did visit the place when I was a child, I spent most of the time around my Grandpa's place in Tringkap, which was nice and all but in retrospect it was probably boring as hell , I just didn't know it then.

Anyway, we started our trip from KL, drove all the way to Simpang Pulai, had a quick breakfast and continued our grueling trip up the mountainous roads to our hotel in Tanah Rata via Kampung Raja.

We passed by Tringkap, so I though I'd visit my Grandpa's house, which has been vacant since both my grandparents passed away.


Random flower shots on the way from Tringkap.



We arrived at the hotel around 11am, but we could only check in at 2pm. To pass the time, we travelled by foot through a broken trail from the hotel to a jungle trekking site. We didn't go in far, but just deep enough to get a shot of a small waterfall.


Another random shot along the trail.

After that we took our lunch in Tanah Rata town and returned to the hotel to check in.

We stayed at Century Pines hotel. The building looks like a cheap flat from the outside but the interior was a different story.


The room we stayed in was pretty spacious, almost too big for a two person room.

View from the balcony.


Of course, I won't be a CG geek without sampling some textures whenever I can.

Unfortunately, I spent the better half of the day bedridden with stomachache. I'm not sure whether it was the food I ate or simply because my body couldn't get used to the climate. Nonetheless I was adamant that we have steamboat for dinner, so after a couple of quick fixes (courtesy of ENO), we finally managed to achieve one of the main goals of coming here.

The steamboat was nothing special. But enjoying a steaming hot bowl of food in the chilly climate was really something.

After the meal we returned to the hotel and I concluded the day with another round of staomachache throughout the night.

More pictures in the next post.

OPTIMUS!!

I bought this Optimus Prime toy look-alike-piece-of-plastic from Petronas, which costs a whopping RM 15.90 on top of a supposedly pre-requisite minimum gas purchase of RM 30.

Optimus Prime robot mode


Optimus Prime truck mode

Apart from the usual robot and vehicle mode, I discovered a few more intermediate modes.

Optimus Prime wheelchair mode


Optimus Prime wheelchair mode in a tunnel


Optimus Prime crossover mode in another film about sentient vehicles.

Warning - not a multi-tasker

It seems that I have a very developed sense of awareness, which is unfortunate as I lack the proportionate attention span nor the short term memory. When I'm on a project, I often get distracted by something shiny and hops off after it like a horny rabbit. When I come back to it, I'll forget what I was doing and wastes more time trying to figure it out before getting it wrong anyway.

This explains my mountainous amount of unfinished personal projects. I have learned to leave notes and take screenshots of any work-in-progress for my future self's reference, nonetheless I would be defeated by my other flaws called Lazy-ass(tm) and Procrastination(tm).

In fact, I'm blogging right now when I should be working.

Poor Phoebe, who has to put on headphones when watching The Gem of Life so that I wouldn't be drawn to the mesmerizing sound of Hong Kong dramas playing from a laptop.

That did not stop me from reading the subtitles, though.

Augmented reality in Flash

New word of the day - Glyph Tracking.

Point you browser here to experience some pretty awesome technology at work, and it's all in Flash! You'll need a webcam, preferable a mic and of course, the latest version of Flash player. Just follow the instructions on the website.

If you are one of those unfortunate bunch who doesn't have a webcam, you'll just have to settle with the demo video below:



The application is basically a very interesting way to use glyph tracking technology (If you haven't realize, the square symbol is the glyph). You don't even have to print out the symbol; I simply took a picture of the glyph on my phone's camera and displayed it to the webcam.

How can I help you today?

Farhee's post on teleconferencing reminded me of my call center days at an international card company. I was a authorization analyst, which means most of the time I was in charge of authorizing card charges for the merchants internationally.

_______________


Me: Good Evening Mr...(double checks his name)..Deadman.

Aussies have the darnest names.

___________

Customer: Finally, a human being!

A customer who was held on automated voice response for a tad too long

____________

Customer: Is this Bombay?
Me: No ma'am this is Malaysia.
Customer: Oh My god!

Sometimes I sound like an Indian.

____________

Call comes in, I greet in Cantonese. No answer. Greets again. No answer. Check the phone display: the call was from Australia.

And yes, I was dozing off when that call came in.

____________

Colleague: Ma'am, can you verify the person in front of you is Sir Elton John.

Would it be embarassing if he was asked for his ID?


____________

Customer: Why was my charge declined?
Colleague: This are our policy rules, sir (followed by a short explanation of the rules).
Customer: No, no, this business model won't work.

He then launches into a half hour lecture on why he thinks so.

____________

Customer: I'm going to buy a house with my card.
Colleague: I'm sorry sir you can't do that (again, follows up with an explanation.)
Customer: Whats your name?
Colleague offers his name.
Customer: OK, you'll be expecting my legal letter.
Colleague: Thank you sir.

In this line of work, legal threats was a daily affair. One should accept with gratitude.

_____________


The priceless one

Platinum Card customer: Why did you decline my charge?
Colleague: Ask yourself (hangs up).

The disgruntled colleague proceeded to decline the charge using his team leader's ID, and quit the same day.

V for Valentine

This year's Valentines we decided to visit the Look Out Point aka Little Genting for a piece of the alleged breathtaking mountain view of KL.

The only resemblance to the actual Genting Highlands was the steep, winding road. But the view was as splendid as advertised, something the highland resort couldn't hope to emulate.

We had a light dinner at the Gasoline restaurant, one of the three restaurants there, and was lucky to get a relatively strategic table with a view. The service, however, was awful. If you intend to dine at any one the restaurants there, make sure you call to reserve a table.

EDIT: I have been duly told that Little Genting is NOT Look Out Point, regardless of what google maps told me. Damn you, Internet!

Colin's bear

This got me laughing for days.



According to the youtube page, this reel was created by certain Colin Sanders who recently graduated from UOIT's (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) game development programme, and was apparently pretty pissed due to the ineptness of his professor(s) who failed to teach him anything useful.

This video has since made it's round in the CG community, making Mr Sanders here famous of all the wrong reasons, if he is in fact looking for a career in this industry.

That's why I always tell my students: don't depend on me.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....

Merry Christmas everyone!

Although Phoebe and I agreed that we would not buy gifts for each other this year, I secretly bought her a huge stuffed monkey a few days ago to surprise her on Christmas midnight. Judging from her immediate affection for the now christened "Dai tou bok" (translate: big head...something) monkey, it was worth every penny and trouble that I went through to buy it.

Not to be outdone, Phoebe also conspired to pay me back - in double, literally:

She knew I have been eyeing these Star Wars - The Clone Wars figurines for some time now but haven't got the heart to shell out the cash for it, so she thought this would be a great way to exact "vengeance" on me :P

So, it has been a very Merry Christmas for the both of us. Have I ever mentioned I adore her to bits?

Somebody is coming to town

Here's an early greeting for my readers (however few, that is..)

If there are any doubts: yes, the snowflake was painstakingly modeled in 3D. Geez, you geeks.

One of those days

I just had a serious mind-lapse, which I've been having alot lately.

Just 2 minutes ago, I found that I couldn't remember my age!

OK, more like I was confused about it, so much so that I had to subtract my birth year (Thank god I still remember that) from the current year to make sure I got it right.

I need a new brain.

Sausage omelette

Phoebe's latest tea time endeavour, the sausage omelette sandwich.

So stop asking me why am I gaining weight :P.

Signs of overworked

I had a dream last night.

I was in a snow covered mountain, wielding my l33t Kung Fu skills against Polar bears (!) and Pandas (!!).

Then I glanced towards the top of the mountain, and realize that I forgot to paint the proper transparency mattes for the Fir trees in the distance.

sigh.

Do you know a psycopath

We read and hear about it, we knew it was a derogative way to call some one. Chances are you'd probably have a very different intepretation of what a psychopath is. This is an interesting article about what they really are, a clinically classified behavioural disorder.

"...The concept of the psychopath is only the latest and most refined in a long string of attempts to account for a certain pattern of conduct. In the 19th century, psychiatric clinicians began to notice patients in their care who fit no known diagnosis, but who nevertheless displayed strange and disturbing behaviors. They were impulsive and self-destructive. They had no regard for the feelings and welfare of others. They lied pathologically, and when caught, they shrugged it off with a smirk and moved on to the next lie..."

Scary?

"...The psychopath does not merely repress feelings of anxiety and guilt or fail to experience them appropriately; instead, he or she lacks a fundamental understanding of what these things are...."

Remember, the article has based on actual research and not just any casual observation.

"...roughly one man in every 100 is born a clinical psychopath, as well as one woman in every 300. They are so common that every person reading this sentence almost certainly knows one personally; indeed, a significant number of readers are likely psychopaths themselves..."

Now that explains some of the clients we encounter.

New laptop

Got it last weekend, yay!

Lesson learnt: Avoid buying FreeDOS laptops (Laptops that come with the FreeDOS operating system than the usual bundled OS eg. Windows).

I didn't want to install Windows Vista either, so I opted to install XP myself. Sounds straightforward enough: pop in installer, format HDD and run installation. Except for the fact that even fresh off-the-shelf XP installers does not come with a SATA driver and hence failed to recognize the HDD. Vista installers wouldn't have this problem, but like I said, I didn't want Vista.

After a bit of research, I disabled the native SATA mode in the BIOS settings so that the HDD will run as an IDE. Windows installed, no problem. Then I read in a few forums that Compaq / HP computers were notorious for their lack of XP support. They have a full collection of hardware drivers for Vista on their website, but most were missing for XP.

What's more perplexing is that the XP drivers were available elsewhere on the net. After a fair bit (4-5 hours) of scouring, Phoebe and I manage to get all the neccesary drivers from various websites. What's that about, HP?

Anyway, after much trial and error, I have finally managed to install all the drivers and got all the hardware to work properly. There were a few nail-biting moments especially when I was attempting to install the controllers for the SATA HDD and reboot in with SATA mode enabled.

At the end, I finally got a fully working laptop in 6-7 hours, with no less than 4-5 re-installations. Needless to say, I do not want to do that again...

See-Saw - Anna Ni Issho Datta No Ni

Here I am working alone overnight, when I decided to drop by youtube and look up some songs to break the silence.

This is one of my all-time favourite anime theme; I still remember having goosebumps whenever the opening of the song plays at the end of each episode of Gundam Seed. What I didn't know was that the band See-Saw is actually two ladies well into their 30's - 40's, which I just found out.

The music video is a bit wierd: it's like watching two aunties, dancing like aunties, while singing my favorite J-pop song. hmmm...

Anyway, if you still don't know, the name of the song means "We were so close together..." (lyrics and translation here.)

TM does port blocking

Old news, but still news to those who are not yet affected.

Effective since December 2007, TM has blocked all outbound SMTP traffic or port 25 traffic from dynamic IP addresses in their effort to curb spamming activities. They are implementing it in phases, starting from the brickfields area and gradually to the whole of Klang Valley and the rest of the country. The only way to send out emails would be through streamyx or TM's email service.

You can read about it here.

I came to know about it when a couple of days ago I realize my outbound emails were not going anywhere, so I fired a complain to my web host and they pointed me to this bit of information. Fortunately, they have open another port for outgoing emails from their users.

To be honest I have no idea about the technicalities of such an action, as long as I can send my emails I'm giddy. My beef is that neither TM nor my webhost has taken the initiative to release a notice to inform their users.

On the other hand, apparently, TM's action has drawn some flak from their users. You can read about some of their responses here.

So if you are using streamyx or TMnet and suddenly discover that you can't send any emails, contact your mail service provider (eg. your webhost) who should already have a solution for this.

Why I adore her?

As things at work becomes increasingly hectic lately, healthy meals is starting to go down our list of priorities. This evening Phoebe decided to cook up a nice meal for the both of us, which is a much welcomed break from mamaks, instant noodles and microwaved food...from restaurants.

It's no gourmet, but it's more than enough to brighten up my long, tiring day (and week!). Now, if we can get a place with a big enough kitchen so that she can cook more often :P