Archive for August, 2007

Posted on August 30, 2007 - by Abner

Need another free email account?

Wait a minute. This is not your run-of-the-mill email service. Think Mission Impossible. Whenever Ethan Hunt got his message it will self destruct in 5 seconds. This is what Big String does.

Quote :
“BigString allows a user to easily send, recall, erase, self-destruct and modify an email after it has been sent.”

How cool is that. It’s like being “buruk siku” with your emails. With this you can always take your words back literally. Or erase them permanently. Kaboom…
Besides that, they even have video email features. This I have never tried.

Oh and they are having a section for users to win USD$100 by spilling beans on their own embarrassing emails. Topics to choose range from Break up emails to Gossip Emails that ended up in the wrong hands. Any takers?

See : Big String – No More Sender Regret

Posted on August 30, 2007 - by Abner

Time for Picnik

No no no. It’s not the time for going outdoors and having sandwiches and finger foods with family and friends. Although one can see floating kites, picking blackberries, buttering sandwiches, stealing picnic baskets, fluffing clouds while waiting for Picnik to load.Those of you who blogs in the office without a photo editing software will definitely need to bookmark this. Seriously. Because Picnik will save you a lot of hassles and headache. And you could do it anywhere… it’s an online photo editor.

Quote from their site:
“With Picnik you can quickly edit all your online photos from one place. It’s the easiest way on the Web to fix underexposed photos, remove red-eye, or apply effects to your photos.”

I have tried their online demo and it works great. Upload your photo and tweak all you want. Choose from a horde of effects. And they are still in Beta Version. So expect loads to come. They could perhaps add a text button too.

See : Picnik – edit photos the easy way, online in your browser

Posted on August 30, 2007 - by Abner

When you care enough to hit send

I was never a big fan of ecards. Most looked boring and quite pointless to me. Seem to me they all are shouting look at me, click me to go to my site or something. Bah… such insincerity huh. And the text are lame. Or not lame enough.

Alas, I stumbled upon an pure ecard site called someecards. The card designs are illustrated with victorian figures, japanese, english bla bla bla plastered witty taglines. Smart, funny, provoking with hints of sarcasm too. The have a whole list of categories for you to choose from too, from apology to flirting to wedding and sympathy. Go and have some fun…

Oh and Happy 50th Birthday Malaysia! Would have send you an ecard if I knew where to address it to.

See : Someecards – when you care enough to hit send

Posted on August 24, 2007 - by Abner

Is Mr. Pea Brain your buddy?

This happened last Friday. Though its been over a week I am still feeling pissed by the idiot’s attitude. Stupid fellow, Mr. Pea Brain, can’t do a good side park and he practically bump his car into my gf. The space was big enough for his Proton Wira and still he successfully knock my gf. He even had the nerve to motion us to move the table. The previous car had no problem parking there and mind you it was a more luxurious sedan. Mr. Pea Brain did not fare as well. If he got down the car in crutches or had prosthetic limbs or drooling all over his clothes or blind at least we could understand his plight… his folly. If he was the latter why was he driving. His friend in Estonia was on the news though, Blind driver and he had 3 friends giving instructions while he drove…duh…

Back to the subject.
The fucker got down and just walked away without saying sorry. What goes around comes around. Meanwhile be on a lookout ya. Think he stays in PJ area.

Thank god my gf is fine. Sorry dear.

Posted on August 22, 2007 - by Abner

AniBOOM

Found this after reading a write up by Paul R. La Monica (editor of CNNMoney.com) in his article titled “Searching for the next South Park.”

Went over to their site, aniBOOM.com. Their tagline was The Home of Animation. No prize for guessing what’s in store. At aniBoom you could use their free online softwares to create your own animation shorts with either shapeshifter – uses basic geometric shapes to draw or micro-smotion – uses the webcam to animate. Apart from that you could watch loads of animation uploaded by public. They have their own in-house animated series and other cool sections too.

In aniBoom’s FAQ section about themselves :

aniBOOM.com is designed to be the world’s leading animation portal. Interactive and user generated – the ultimate site for animation based Internet entertainment. Geared for everyone in the animation industry. From top professionals to semi-professionals, amateur animators and of course all animation fans everywhere – for where would we be without an adoring audience?

aniBOOM.com will be the community site for the entire animation society, enabling instant online connection with one another. The major functions of the portal include providing a gigantic SHOWCASE for animation talents, supplying ONLINE creative animation tools, and tracking your statistics.

aniBOOM.com will keep you updated on all animation related Media events. And last but absolutely not least… aniBOOM.com will be jam-packed with exciting competitions offering generous PRIZES. As soon as one finishes, the next one will begin.
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Sounds interesting? I might have a go at the shapeshifter thing when I am free simply because I don’t own a webcam. Boohoo…

Posted on August 21, 2007 - by Abner

Violence of the Lambs

Had just walked out of the cinema after watching Ratatouille and yes, its good. The animation, the storyline and the feel good factor. Yummy. Should go and watch it. Food-4-thot had watched it too and she said it was good. Good animation plus good food… sure was fun huh?

Anyway as I was walking out of the cineplex, I saw this huge standee with a blood thirsty sheep. It looked kinda funny with blood and possessed eyes. It’s a New Zealand show and the CG effects are done by the people at WETA Workshops – responsible for Lord of The Rings. It’s called Black Sheep, a horror comedy flick. Quote from a reviewer – “Just don’t expect it to be s***-your-pants scary.”

Well, the movie seems to be a no brainer but what the heck. I might not be rushing for this one. If any of you watched it, let me know if its worth while.

The only NZ movie I remember watching and enjoyed was The Whale Rider. Oh yeah and lai@evil was the one who got it for me. Hehe… thanks again ya.

Posted on August 20, 2007 - by Abner

Do not treat teachers like criminals

This post title is related to teachers moonlighting as tutors published in The Stars.

Nowadays the trend for Malaysian students to go for extra classes are catching up too. When I was still in school, I was already going for tuitions. That was like 10 years ago… *cough* Having being chaffeured by my dad or my friend’s parents up and down. Most of the tutors are full time teachers… er… I think all of them are full time teachers. There wasn’t any big fuss about it then but lately those who-help-mould-tomorrow’s-leaders are being tossed in the pan every now and then.

Anyway, if compared to the Hong Kong’s Tutor Gods… I guess we still have a long way. If school teachers who gives tuition are able to afford Paris shopping trips or drives Ferrari then I think they would have resigned a long long time ago. And I would be driving a hand-me-down Porche. Bah…

Posted on August 20, 2007 - by Abner

Higher Class – Flashy Test Tutors Gain Icon Status in Hong Kong

Well, that’s the title that had my attention when I picked up a copy of Wall Street Journal last week. I wondered what was so phenomenal that garnered this amount of attention. I took some paragraph directly from Jonathan Cheng’s article in the Dispatch. And so it began…

When Richard Eng isn’t teaching English grammar to high school students, he might be cruising around Hong Kong in his Lamborghini Murciélago. Or in Paris, on one of his seasonal shopping sprees. Or relaxing in his private, custom installed karaoke room festooned with giant Louis Vuitton logos.

Mr. Eng, 43 years old, is one of Hong Kong’s best-known celebrity “tutor gods.”

Hong Kong parents are often desperate to help their children succeed in this city’s pressure cooker public examination system, which determines student’s college worthiness. That explains why many are willing to pay handsomely for extra curicullar help. They use flashy, aggresive market tactics that have transformed them into scholastic pop stars, or tutor gods, as they are known in Cantonese.

Private tutoring is big business around the world. Programs that help people prepare for standard tests have become a multibillion dollar industry. Tutoring agencies are also booming in places like mainland China and Japan. Several years ago, Hong Kong’s government estimated that the city’s family spent nearly half a billion U.S. dollars a year on tutoring.

Hong Kong stands out though, for instructors who boldly tout their success rate – and their own images. They pay to have their faces plastered throughout city on 12-meter-high billboards and the sides of double decker buses. They are also known for buying ads that take up the entire front page of newspapers – space more commonly filled by banks and property developers. One local television station is even preparing to launch a fictional drama series based on the lives of the tutor gods.

The tutors won’t say exactly how much they make. But typically, a popular tutor might teach 100 students in a single lesson, each paying as much as US$12.50 to be there. So a tutor working 40 hours could gross US$50,000 in a week. “It’s big business,” says Ken Ng, a well-known tutor god. “That’s why I’m driving my second Ferrari.”

Years ago, Mr. Eng remembers, tutors were looked down in Hong Kong as second-rate teachers. Now, he adds, people ask for his help and “they say, ‘I want to be a tutor god.’ ”

* There are parents who do not approve of the way things work but …

Rosa Wong, 46, says she is put off by the “deification” of the tutors. “In my heart, I don’t agree with the preactises,” she says. But that didn’t stop her from enrolling her 16 year-old daughter Sarah in classes with four different tutor gods. She decided on the best ones after watching sample lesson videos on YouTube.

“When everyone elses takes their classes, and your children don’t,” says Ms. Wong, “you’re afraid they won’t be as competitive.’ Besides she says, these teachers are great at “tipping” or predicting questions – an important edgethat could determine her daughter’s future.

Sometimes, the tipping seems to be a little too accurate. A few tutors have been known to guess questions that appeared in nearly identical form on the actual tests. This spring, a legislator here called for a formal investigation into any possible ties between tutors and testing officials.

For full article, click here : The Wall Street Journal Online

Other Related Links:

Taipei Times : HK cram schools attract students with style

Tutor God K. Oten : Rap video

Tutor God Richard Eng videos : 1

Posted on August 17, 2007 - by Abner

The Bad Comics Challenge by Nedroid

If you are free… head over to 200 Bad Comics by Anthony “Nedroid” Clark. Seems like he was challenged and he being the gentleman and scholar that he is, gracefully accepted and what results it has. Really inspiring. Some are so lame that its funny. Erm… what am I talking. Anyway he can really draw… wonder how long it took him to get it done.

See : Bad Comics Challenge

Posted on August 16, 2007 - by Abner

Peter Piper Left Some Alive

Am going for the latest animated film this week, Ratatouille by Pixar. Watched their trailer months before and friends who had watched the premiere have been praising it.

The previous movie from Pixar, Cars was a little disappointing to me. I have watched every single Pixar movie to date and I particularly loved Monster Inc., Nemo and Toy Story 1 and 2. Can’t wait.

Oh and I could not resist. Hehe…

Are the letterings too small for you? Or is it fine? Or whatever…

Related Links:
See how its done / The Art of Ratatouille