yup… at 2am… u lose 1 hr.. dont forget.
1 hr less to study (as if i will be)
Archive for October, 2006
hail rain
2006
10.28
10.28
its hail rain outside now… amazing.. havent seen it for at least a couple of years in the city……
(and dont even ask what am i doing this early)
and so it ends
2006
10.28
10.28
last thursday was the last official class i had to attend in a 8-year journey of being a smarter person. there is no special significance attached to it apart from the unusual no-applause scenario which broke a social consensus at end-of-semester lecture. i could only blame the lecturer for he did not end it properly. he could have said a simple thank-you-and-gd-luck-for-your-papers formality. what ensued was his usual i-will-be-here-for-questions speech.
i guess that sense of accomplishment will not be felt until the last paper is subdued.
a group meeting at 9am which is exactly 6 hours from now doesnt help either!
tofu + melbourne
2006
10.26
10.26
in an overture to the eventual self-ejection of melbourne’s life, i forced an executive decision over jelita to join me in enriching our own culinary experience in this great city (or lack thereof for my part).
our source of inspiration was the good food guide. but that didnt bring us anywhere. either the going rate is beyond what my savings can tolerate or we were looking something not too close yet not too far.
my initial pick was The Grand Tofu but as we were cruising, jelita preferred to remember a place where her doubt on vegetarian food (tofu in particular) was completely shattered – this is in addition to her self-admission to liking TWW after cursing the series everytime i mentioned about it in the past 3 years or so.
we settled on The Tofu Place on Bridge Road which is simply the BEST tofu/vege place in town!
this is one joint i will definitely miss from melbourne.
Happy Birthday iPod
2006
10.22
10.22
tedsta.com would like to extend its best wishes to one of the most important invention in gadget history – iPod who is turning five today!
will it still be THE device in 10 years? only time will tell!
dead while alive
2006
10.22
10.22
there were times when you just go blogscrolling and kept up to date with what everyone is up to.
i found a not-so-surprising result
3/4 dead while 1/4 still alive. they dont blog anymore which only allow for me to conclude that most of them are hiding something 
so come clean!
Barack Obama – the raindrop in the dry blue land
2006
10.19
10.19
Barack Obama, the US senator from Illinois, has been under my radar for several months. He is the only African American currently serving the US Senate. Recently, his popularity shoot up. Thanks to his much publicised upcoming book release – ‘The Audacity of Hope’ in October. He is currently on the cover of Time.
I have never been so energised about a Democrat since Wesley Clarke. This guy is beyond me. He is a man of character and when you see him speak, (i dont know about you), he blows my mind. He has an unbelievable savoir-faire that transcends party lines, racial tones, the rich and the poor.
He was the State Senator when he delivered the now infamous Democratic National Convention speech in 2004 (i like every bit except when he started to praise the flip-flopper). I have attached at the bottom, for your convenience, two parts of the full speech!
Finally… there is a real alternative from the Blue Land for the 2008 Presidential Election (Clinton-lovers, please do persuade the Lucifer from ‘occupying’ the White House again!).
I hope he runs. Because it will be an interesting match that i really want to see. Him vs McCain/Giuliani/Rice.
This might be premature as I have barely scratched the tip of the iceberg of his various political stands and policies, but what the hell…….Barack Obama for 2008!
habibie
2006
10.14
10.14
Former Indonesian president, Prof. Habibie recently released his controversial book titled “Detik detik yang menentukan” (translation: decisive seconds). the flashpoint within his book is the alleged coup de tat attempt on his young presidency by then Special Forces Commander (Kopassus) Prabowo who is also former president Suharto’s son-in-law.
The book is already in its second print due to its enormous popularity. I asked my aunt to get hold of it and if possible, get the former president to sign it for me.
yesterday, i was told that it was done along with other book by former Armed Forces commander General Wiranto and Prabowo’s old book.
my aunt also sent this picture (cute! i wish i was there):
the perfect wedding song
2006
10.10
10.10
i have always wanted Pachabel’s Canon as the rendition in my wedding. i have heard many versions of it and the beautiful composition has never failed to struck me.
but only recently (thanks to my naive-ity towards YouTube) i came across a South Korean self-taught guitarist who came up with Canon Rock version of JerryC’s arrangement. The result is simply amazing and jaw-dropping.
A quick google found me a Wikipedia’s description of him:
Jeong-Hyun Lim is a 23-year-old South Korean guitarist. He appeared in an online video playing an electric guitar version of Pachabel’s Canon. At this point he was calling himself “funtwo” and no one knew his real name. His face was not visible. Eventually a New York Times reporter discovered his identity.
Jeong-Hyun Lim attends Auckland University in New Zealand.
He began playing the guitar in 2000 and is self-taught.
In 2005 he saw JerryC playing Canon Rock on the web and decided to try it out himself. He downloaded the backing track and the tabs and learned the song. He then, like so many others, uploaded a video of himself playing Canon Rock on the Korean music community Mule. A fan calling himself simply guitar90 then took the video and uploaded it to YouTube.
The clip is at the moment number five on the most viewed list on YouTube and is second most discussed one. Many regard Lim’s version of Canon Rock to be even better than JerryC’s original arrangement. This has been followed by mention on such media outlets such as CNN, and the New York Times, and National Public Radio.
Don’t believe me? See this!
Google gobbled up YouTube
2006
10.10
10.10
so the big news of the day is the recent price tag of US$1.5b that Google paid in acquiring YouTube. There has been rumours for the past month or so that this was imminent. On one side, YouTube is strapped of cash but with 50% market share of online video while Google has enormous resources and lagging behind YouTube.
So, it all makes sense? Doesn’t it? With about US$10b of lazy-idle-cash sitting in its warchest, what better way for Google to spend it?
See below for what the cofounders have to say about this recent development: