Hope you don’t mind me a bandwagon Saints fan for today


Posted in Sports on 02/08/2010 02:11 pm by BLingster

Who dat Superbowl XLIV champs?

Ok. So I’m a diehard Ravens fan, but there are just some games where I just feel as passionate rooting for another team. Cases in point: NY Giants beating the NE Patriots couple of years back. Really wanted the Cardinals to beat the Steelers last year and got slightly… only slightly, depressed when they didn’t in a pretty heartbreaking fashion. And today, when the Saints finally achieved their storybook ending. I think this is the storybook endings to end all sports storybook endings. The kind of story that people make movies out of them. Seriously, if it needs any more reiteration… New Orleans, post Katrina. The tragedy. The team who has never reached the Superbowl and who has ever only won 2 games in the postseason. (this season, they won 3, more than they ever had combined in their entire history!) People thinking that the city won’t bounce back. Few years later, hosting the Superbowl. 9 days away from Mardi Gras. Playing against an almost invincible quarterback in Peyton Manning, the best athlete to play the game. Coming back from 10 points down to win it in the end. Jeezus.

Come to think of it, the past 3 superbowls have been priceless. Giants and Steelers winning it at the final moment and now, this. It’s like having 3 Liverpool comebacks against Milan in a row in the Champions League.

Congrats to the Saints. Can’t wait for the movie to come out in a few years. (Luke Wilson to play Drew Brees?)

 

Back up and running again!


Posted in Slightly Serious on 02/01/2010 03:02 am by BLingster

Well, I’ve been away… okay… discouraged… for a while to post my stuff on the site here. It just seemed that Facebook gave me more exposure it seems for friends to hear my rants. But you know what? Sometimes I don’t only need to hear from my friends. Sometimes, I need to hear from Tony Farley from the Beautiful Places in HD… or Larry Brown (are you the coach of the Charlotte Bobcats???) to post a comment or two to make me realize that wow, my stuff do actually go out there to people halfway around the world. You know what? I’m starting again. I don’t know what I’m gonna write about, usual randomness again, and to heck with it if nobody reads it… feck it! Eventually, perhaps…, it gets out there somehow with Google search’s help… (just keep plugging down those tags), and being active in message boards perhaps, and maybe… just maybe… I could reach the pantheon of internet niche celebrity stardom! Or maybe not.

For starters, I’ve posted my comic strip, the Stupid Zone (aka the Loony Bin, but I find the Stupid Zone sounds more adorable dontchathink?), which I started for a while with the Malay Mail. Well, you get a sense of my humor there… a little bit of Far Side, a little bit of Bizarro. Dang. It seems like the days of Comic Strips have come to an end with the apparent “death” of newspapers. I guess I could start an online comic strip. Hmmmm…

Pirate vision

Along with that, I’ve finally upped my portfolio section, starting with a few of my older stuff. I’ve got to upload the more recent works I did for Nestle and Magnolia. Probably will take me a day or two. Well, hope to get my name out there, perhaps give me a little bit more drive to pursue more of my illustrative career which I’ve put somewhat on the backburner with my full time job at Linear Creative. Well, that’s it for now. Back soon for more awesome randomness.

PS: Let me end the day with a few thoughts:
1. Loved Conan’s final show speech. Almost choked up myself when he started choking up. You know what? The mention about cynicism was brilliant, and I think that got me thinking about being active on my site again.

2. 500 Days of Summer. I hate being one of the many who say, “Whoa, I so relate to the movie”… but I do. I do a lot. I’m giving it some time to simmer for a while before I call it one of my emotionally favourite movies of all time along with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and A.I. … but not yet. Affection needs to simmer and grow slowly, just like in relationships.

3. What can you tell about a person by the Halloween costumes he/she wears in the the past? Mine? WWII French La Resistance Commando, Clark Kent, Dick in the Box, Samuel Jackson, Soviet Officer are those I remember. Not much, I guess, except that Clark Kent seemed to stick out for being the most normal.

4. The Annapurna Circuit. I haven’t been thinking about it the past few weeks, but slowly, it’s sinking in that I’m going back there again. I’m almost worried that I might not be in good physical shape enough for the trek since my stamina is shite at the mo.  I’m hoping the fact that trekking means walking and not jogging and crazy climbing, that my body can take it. Yet, I need to start sleeping right, eating right, and do my jogs at Kiara Hill more often.

5. Sometimes, I wish I could be a NATURAL indie band hipster. They’re real cool emo and get the cool Tina Fey and Zoey Deschanel types whom I find so attractive and feel so unworthy of them. The Jason Schwartzman types, Death Cab for Cutie members, those dudes from Infomania on Current TV. But I find I’m more D&D geek or shallow sports jock than that. I think I gotta be me and just embrace my “me”. Is there such a thing as Movie Soundtrack Hipster?

6. Hilarious quote I found at Bash.org: http://bash.org/?908184

 

A monster in Taman Tun


Posted in Utter Nonsense on 10/05/2009 04:29 pm by BLingster

 

Holy sheet. This woke me up after 3 hours only, wide awake… A Dream… Freewriting…


Posted in Utter Nonsense on 08/06/2009 09:27 am by BLingster

Battle of good and evil…
Impending evil cannot be stopped like the devil. Keep coming how to beat it? No one can. It comes, keeps coming… epic battle… the good keeps thinking of ways, thought it’ll work but no. It works for a while and the evil comes back and kills them. On an astronomy tower, defending, like last stand, then the heroics of the defenders helped to almost defeat the enemy.  So close. All was safe in the end, but someone betrayed from within and evil came and destroyed people one by one.  (sorry, am loose for details at this point as it’s the early part of the dream)

Another episode. Optimus Prime was killed. Ironhide there to protect him but failed.

And so it goes, world to world. Different episodes, where the end is always similar. Different powers, like guns, machines, fight against evil. Then angels(?) the next, try divine faith powers. Even try knowledge, research and brains to find weakness and way to defeat it. But the evil wins.

Then evil comes finally to where the ultimate good is. Where the dream thinks it’s the only thing that can defeat the evil. A young tennagerish girl. People try to sacrifice themselves to protect her and keep her away from the evil. But evil senses her presence and goes for her. One by one killing off people who stands in its way. Evil guy… now called Lucifer is like a fat country accent man, like that dude from Lost that looks like Stacey Keach. Hold his hands as Lucifer strikes down. But ‘I’ held it, as hard as I can. Lucifer’s face has a worried expression. What’s going on? Then with the girl’s help, he’s defeated for good.

There’s a grotto where Optimus lives again…

In the end everyobody lives again, the good guys, the people that died from the previous episodes, they came back and leave earth on a spaceship. The final bastion.
Fly away with the survivors and look back at the dying Earth which burns in a greenish blaze. Come to an island. Heaven? Utopia?
On that hilly island. Blue and multispectrum waters all around and horizon. Where everyone lives again. Divide their new home, choose their spot, sat at the corner, ppl delegated spots, some kid made a joke about hey, sleep here, laugh but they get knocked on the head. Then I keep thinking how Ron Howard (the director) is so talented, then as people are dividing their real estate of the new place, I think of how my spot in Paradise should look over the hill and ocean…. then Ron shows a trick of how he jumps with someone on his shoulder and suddenly lifts back up coz of hot air? Cool stunt. Then I do that to Ron and jump over the water, but water has no hot air so we plunge in the water. The end.

 

Ben’s May Edition Movie Review Brief


Posted in Movies on 05/08/2009 09:48 pm by BLingster

So, Star Trek did manage to help me forget the agony of that ManU Arsenal game. Well… maybe not exactly. It was seeing the way Chelsea got knocked out by Barcelona that made me feel not so bad about my team. For Chelsea fans… OK. Now, THAT’S really painful.

On that note, on to the reviews… have been bingeing on movies lately, so here they are:

1. Role Models – My friend Kitt asked me to watch this coz one of the characters reminded him of me, and that’s the Dungeons n’ Dragons geek kid. (yeah, right! May Stromgar’s Hammer strike him for spreading these lies!) Overall, it was a really fun movie and I was actually pretty surprised how much airplay the roleplaying aspect got throughout the whole movie. Good juvie fun. 7 out of 10.

2. Yes Man – pretty well done comedy, but pretty darn similar I think to Role Models, in that Carrey & Rudd play really down and depressive blokes with girlfriends that left them because they’re so negative. Also has a little bit of that geeky roleplay element in the movie with the Harry Potter lovin’ Aussie boss. Love the chemistry between him and Zoey Deschanel. They make one of the cutest on screen couples I can think of. Also a solid 7 out of 10 for me.

3. Star Trek – has the best ever opening sequence of any movie I can remember. Never have I cried in the 1st 10 minutes of any movie, and I did! Whatdaheck????? I’m talking about the scene where James T Kirk’s dad sacrificed himself to save his family and crew from the Romulan bad guys. Overall, I thought this was a great movie, not as great as what Dark Knight did to the Batman franchise great, but still classic nonetheless. Felt like it started really awesome and started to plateau somewhat after that. Wasn’t too keen on the characters playing Chekhov, Sulu and Scotty (Simon Pegg’s comedy relief is a little too deliberate, that overdone Russian accent from Yelchin… Yeeelllch! and Cho’s a little awkward in his fight scenes) I really did like what they did to Kirk, Spock and Uhura though.Sorta lukewarm with Karl Urban’s Dr. McCoy though. Felt he was trying to push the comedy button one too many times. But for me, the worst was Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack. Too clangy clash of cymbals jarring, not a hint of a recognizable theme in it until the original score hit the end credits, and then when there was the soft moments, I had LOST flashback literally. The main theme also seemed overly dramatic. Sigh. I would’ve preferred someone like John Powell or maybe George Fenton if they can’t get John Williams. OK, after all that, my score? 8.5 out of 10. Still like it a lot!

4. Gran Torino – Loved this one from Clint Eastwood. Such a modest and underwhelming movie, I mean, an ageing racist Korean Vet, a Hmong community, no big special effects, not much action whatsoever, but the thing is that is the charm of Eastwood’s movies. He can point the lens at anything and anyone who no one cares about, and makes audiences cry over them. 8 out of 10 for me.

And that’s 4 for now… wanted to make it a rounded 5, next one up I think I’m gonna catch is JCVD. But gotta catch up on my work. Well, I’m off. Gotta draw some stuff for Men’s Health Magazine.

 

The Saddest Day as an Arsenal Fan


Posted in Sports on 05/07/2009 07:17 am by BLingster

Feeling really down lately since Arsenal’s loss to Man Utd… to the point of being numb and sort of going through the motions of the day in a rather dazed mood. Yeah, I expected them to lose, I’d say. Even before the match I didn’t really have a good feeling, I’d say. If we lose, Star Trek is coming up on Thursday, yeah, and my sorrows would be washed away by great escapist space battles and visual effects spectacularrr… I’d say. Well, who am I kidding? I said all those things to convince myself that hey, it’s okay Arsenal lost. Well, it’s NOT okay! I’m sad, I’m angry, but I don’t blame anybody for that. I’m just disappointed that they didn’t put up much of a fight and wipe that arrogant grin off that &#*(!^@ Ronaldo’s face, anything… so that I can say I’m proud of my team that day.

To rub more salt into our wounds, Nicklas Bendtner was literally caught with his pants down at a nightclub after drinking his sorrows away at a nightclub after the loss. Disgraceful. More gloat ammo for Man U fans.

And if that didn’t get any worse, Suleiman Alphonso Omondi, a 29 year-old Gooner in Kenya, hanged himself after the game. He died wearing an Arsenal jersey. Even as I believe whole heartedly that life is too beautiful for one to take, even his own, I’m not gonna wag my finger and say he was stupid man to have done that to himself. I’m not gonna preach my opinion about how we all shouldn’t take this too seriously, this is just a game, yada yada. All I’m gonna say is that it just bloody breaks my heart to hear this.

That’s it for now. I poured my sorrow out and I’m gonna go back to being numb again. It’s a coping mechanism.

Ben out.

 

Coming Soon


Posted in Movies, Utter Nonsense on 05/02/2009 12:24 am by BLingster

Went to check out GSC’s website to see if I can do a prebooking for Star Trek. Couldn’t find it. So I went to check out what’s coming soon.

screenhunter_01-may-02-0007

Then I got really frustrated. Why aren’t they showing their upcoming movies? I mean, Terminator Salvation, Star Trek, all that… where they be? Then I looked closely…

screenhunter_02-may-02-00071

Apparently, there’s a Thai movie called “Coming Soon” directed by a Mr. Sopon Sukdapisit. Confirmed it on IMDB. But I mean, whadahelllll? Coming Soon? Why not call it “Coming Attractions” while you’re at it. Or “Reservations”… way to go for confusing people. I wonder if the movies are more successful because people like me are checking out upcoming movies and accidentally coming across this movie… or less so because people are always skipping the Coming Soon, thinking that it’s still coming soon… Coming Soon coming soon to a theatre near you. Heh.

 

Starting to get into podcasts now…


Posted in Podcasts on 04/28/2009 11:06 am by BLingster

Wow, what a wide new world I’ve discovered. (took me a while tho) Podcasts! These must have singlehandedly cut down the hours I listen to music which is one of my most primal loves. Just on Monday morning while doing my extremely early jog/walk about the town, I was listening to Stephen Fry’s Podgrams & NPR’s Culturetopia & Fresh Air podcasts (and even Mugglecast, a Harry Potter themed podcast just at random and just for kicks) and heck, I didn’t even tune into a single track of my music on my Ipod. Amazing!

Anyway, I’m still into it, morning at work, no one in the office yet with Ricky Gervais playing through the speakers. Well, I haven’t felt this obsessed over some new application since bittorrents. Nice. Anyway, some quick thoughts/reviews on the podcasts I’ve listened to:

1. Stephen Fry’s Podgrams: Can come off as hoity toity, snooty and smartypants, but actually, I quite like him even though I don’t follow his obsession of Oscar Wilde, his loathing for dancing and penchant for poetry and wine. But the thing is, he’s pretty open minded enough to not hold that against you.

2. Ricky Gervais: Man, he has a really shrilly laugh. He and Stephen Merchant really go well together with their ridiculous banter. Ironically, even though considered more of an “everyman” and somewhat more accessible than Stephen Fry for example, his podcasts are a little too brief, since basically, they’re considered free samples from his audiobooks. (Half the time filled up with that shrilly laugh)

3. NPR: It’s like a window to different worlds. I’ve always been a fan of NPR since listening to them on radio in the US, and now I can get them here! Wonderful!

4. Stuff You Should Know: Pretty educational podcast, with Josh & Chuck talking about things that you don’t really learn in the classroom but we talk or hear about in everyday life, stuff like whether the world will end in 2012, how face transplants work, how long can you live without food or water, things like that. Really interesting…

5. This American Life: It’s kinda like Reader’s Digest in audio form, with anecdotes and spectacular stories from everyday people. Not as academically educational as it is philosophically insightful and spiritually uplifting.

6. Wizards of the Coast Penny Arcade & PVP: Quite interesting delve into the world of Dungeons and Dragons with a 3 hour recording of one of their role-play gaming sessions, which sadly, even as a self-confessed geek, I’ve never had the chance to do. This one’s “stars” Wil Wheaton from Star Trek fame! Some parts are quite hilarious, really, makes me realise that there are some parts to roleplaying that you can’t replace with computer roleplaying.

7. World Soccer Daily Podcast: A couple of British guys on American soil talking about EPL-centric soccer. Moments on this show can get pretty crass, as with quite a lot of podcasts actually. They can get pretty obnoxious and  opinionated, so I suspect that these guys either get a lot of fans or a lot of hate mail.

8. The Official LOST Podcast: Was a bit afraid to listen to this since I like my viewing experience of LOST to be untarnished by spoilers or obsessed fans’ rumours and speculations about episodes I’ve not seen yet. But in the end, actually quite insightful with retrospective analyses and observations of things you may have not noticed about the show.

9. MTGCast: another geek podcast listen for me. This one’s for the game Magic: The Gathering card game which I admit, I dabble in once in a while. (OK! I HAVE AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF CARDS, OK?) Not really interested in talk about tournaments and more competitive aspects to the game, but more towards informal stuff like rumours of new upcoming cards, fun interesting ideas of gameplay, etc.

10. The GeekBox: yet another geekcast, but a little more mainstream, with topics ranging from Watchmen, Streetfighter, computer games, BSG, Lost… rather eclectic mix and I think the most interesting of all the geekcasts.

11. Best of Youtube: Great fun! Basically picks the most interesting uploads on Youtube and highlights them through this podcast channel. Better than sifting through Youtube, checking on the popularity count and clicking on download.

12. Mugglecast: Aforementioned Harry Potter podcast. I thought this was rather blase, or maybe it’s because of the episode I listened to, with rather tepid talk on Harry Potter’s new movie poster release and a dull interview with Patrick Doyle, the composer of the most recent and the upcoming Potter movie.

13. Beautiful Places in HD: Video podcast of beautiful places to visit. So far, it’s still very America centric with vid captures of Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Mt Rainier (which I really love and profess that it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to so far in my middle-aged life) etc… Still, a very relaxing view and one of my faves.

That’s about it for now… There’s a few more podcasts for me to check out. Tons out there, really. Anyway, back to the grind. I’ve got to start getting my sleep pattern in order! Ben, out.

 

Talk about making the most out of a really bad situation…


Posted in Utter Nonsense on 04/21/2009 11:02 am by BLingster

Driving to work today, got caught in a pretty bad crawl on the Sprint Highway. Turns out there’s a pretty bad accident involving a Chakri Palace catering truck. Now, this would’ve been a pretty regular accident, but just realised how rather bizarre this particular accident seemed to be. Take a look at the photo:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

The thing that struck me was how odd, and rather “convenient” the whole situation looked. Truck flips over (hope driver is okay), but conveniently flips over at a certain angle, proudly displaying ad for Chakri Palace Catering Service, with phone number and all to rubbernecking motorists curious what happened.

What a novel way to advertise your product this way!

What I’m amazed is that someone actually took the effort of printing an ad or message at the TOP of a van where only folks on helicopters and the 2nd – 5th floor of buildings can make out the message.

This seems like a conspiracy I tellz ya! Hmmm… I could probably cater the food from there for my birthday Murder Mystery party… What’s that number again?

 

Post Mt. Kinabalu Thoughts


Posted in Slightly Serious, Travel on 04/20/2009 06:03 am by BLingster

Okay, so I’m back from my Kinabalu Trek. A few things that maybe made this journey harder than I thought.

Firstly, lack of training: Haven’t been hitting the gym in the whole month prior to the climb. Very bad idea!

Secondly, didn’t pack right: Ended up carrying almost twice the weight as I did in Nepal, thinking about 4-5kgs. Pretty much had to carry everything with me in this 3 day trek. The only time I was able to leave my stuff behind was the climb from Laban Rata, to the peak, then back to Laban Rata again.

Thirdly, should have gotten a walking stick: The trek seems more intense. Lots of climbing up steep stairs and rocks, then coming down, your knees take an extra pounding. I should have gotten one of those walking sticks which I sorta got away not using in Nepal.

Fourthly, they really rush your schedule: Get this, you’re walking from 9am to 5pm from Mesilau to Laban Rata. This is maybe around 8km. Then you barely get enough sleep before you wake up again at 2 in the morn the next day, reach the peak at about 5-6am. Then come back down again at about 10am. You barely get enough rest before you go and walk again at 11am because you want to reach the HQ by 5 so you can have lunch and get your certificate. This is a solid15 hour walk in the last day! Jeeezus Christ!

Anyway, the climb was well worth it. Surely, one of the most beautiful and unique experiences I’ve ever had, and right in my own country! Awesom-O! The climb was terrifying, especially if you’ve issues with heights (just like I have). Many cases I felt a sense of vertigo. Some areas, all that’s preventing you from a certain plunge to your death is you grabbing onto a rope. Not even harnessed… you’re just grabbing on rope and hoping you don’t slip. Then when you’re at the peak, it’s such a small area, and a pretty steep drop off everywhere else, that I could barely stand. Basically freezing and hugging rock. Anyway, in the end, I’m glad I did it. I think if I knew how freaky this “World’s Highest Via Ferrata” trek would be, I wouldn’t have done it, but I think now, I felt I’ve conquered my fears and don’t mind doing it again. This time, with more preparation, and maybe I can actually appreciate the view this time instead of hugging rock.

So anyway, some random thoughts:

Read the rest of this entry »

 
Older Entries