What do you think of this industry?

I have long learned to disregard anything the Straits Times movie reviewer Ong Sor Fern says about movies. In fact, I have a theory. Whenever she says a movie is ok or so-so and then continues to say it could have been better if the director, actor, or writer had explored and expounded on story themes, character study and whatever nonsense only a literature student will love, and then gives the movie 3.5 stars because it does not live up to her idea that every movie has to be like a prize winning novel studied by literature students, I know the movie has to be good if not great.

And no, the movie wasn’t too long. What needed to be said was said with good pacing.

Anyway, the movie is the best because this was probably the first movie adaptation of a comic book superhero that my gf got and liked and also one that me a comic book lover loved. You can’t argue with a movie that stays true to the best of it comic inspiration as well as be accessible to mainstream audiences like my gf.

I like this movie because it really covered a lot of the themes found in the best writing done for Batman.

In the recent major story arcs for the DC universe, two questions were basically asked:

1. Why don’t the superheroes just kill off all the villains who can’t be reasoned with or reformed?

One time, do it once, do it good and no more worries. Strangely, I find parallels with the above question and that which I always asked my cell group leader - why doesn’t God just right everything now instead of promising a better afterlife.

2. Are superheroes actually a good thing? Are they consequence of evil or the bringer of greater evil?

No easy answers to those questions. Just like there isn’t an easy answer to why the people like the Joker exist in the multiverse or for that matter, ours.

Humans like to see things as cause and effect. We enjoy simple explanations too much. It is just too comforting.

Ok. Anyway, I like how the movie captured the dynamics of the relationship between Batman and the Joker. In a story arc where Joker had cosmic power, he still couldn’t kill Batman because their identities are so intricately linked.

I also loved how the movie ended. It captures what sets Batman apart from a lot of the pantheon of popular superheroes - he walks alone.

He chose to walk alone.

Update: I thought it might be worth noting that the Joker isn’t just some archenemy. The Joker is a clown and a fool which are useful literary devices.

The Fool plays an integral role in the manipulation of the audience’s evolution of feeling. Lear walks through a world of deceit; the Fool walks with him like a halo of truth.

Clowns spread in cultures of any time and place, because they meet some deeply rooted needs in humanity: violation of taboos, the mockery of sacred and profane authorities and symbols, reversal of language and action, and a ubiquitous obscenity.

The performance is symbolic of liminality - being outside the rules of regular society the clown is able to subvert the normal order, and this basic premise is contemporarily used by many activists to point out social absurdity.

nocturne.noctalis.com

Go read.

Update: I realized it was close to almost pointless to say these were my new favourite bloggers and then not explain why. When I read their posts, I am humbled by their intelligence and wit. Their posts are evidence of the kind of intellect that many of us have pretensions to, but will never ever be able to possess. They write the kind of stuff that make you smile, laugh and think. They write with style.

I know one of them likes Manchester United - that’s one of the marks of impeccable taste.

The other I know likes Batman, or at least recognizes Batman as a worthier hero than Superman - that’s another mark of impeccable taste.

Both of them seem to like women - definitely can’t argue with that.

Go read.

1. Terminate the policy and get as much money out as possible.

2. Take a loan from the insurance company at 8% interest.

Now, the amount of money you take out is equal to the amount you have initially put in. I don’t get why I am paying interest to use my own money. Ok. I think I get the marketing spill - I’m still covered. The policy isn’t prematurely terminated so I still have the chance that when it matures, I make ‘obscene’ amount of gains.

But I don’t buy the argument that this is the same thing when you take a loan from the bank.

It isn’t.

Usually when you take a loan from the bank, the amount is significantly greater than the amount you have deposited with the bank. You are taking a loan for an amount of money you don’t have yet.

With taking the loan from the insurance company, what is happening is you are taking out the same amount of money you have already put into the policy in the hope for large amounts of money in the future. The future is never a guarantee.

I understand and appreciate the need for insurance. However, if you have more than 1 insurance policy, I think it might make sense to close one of them and take a one time penalty instead of a yearly recurring penalty in the form of interest.

Sometimes I wonder about the advice FAs dispense.

Widgeo.us and Chatterous seems to be trying to solve the same problem.

I’m not sure how much Widgeo.us is getting but I wonder if Ridz will ever say a similar thing to me:

Cofounder Kenshi Arasaki just emailed me to confirm that the startup has raised an angel round of “less than $1 million.”

Really begs the question - how to compete?

I took Economics for my A Levels. I did well enough in the first year when the subject material was covering microeconomics related stuff like marginal utility to be offered a S Paper in Economics. I thought Economics was something I had interest in until I started studying macroeconomics and attending S Paper Econs lectures.

I won’t say I lost interest. Rather, I tried to run away and hide from the system we were living in. I wanted to go under a rock and not try to understand what I felt was a totally screwed up system. I didn’t want to face the facts about the system we were in. It was scary stuff.

A lot of things just didn’t make sense to me then. I could understand what the textbooks were saying. I could understand what the S Paper lecturers were trying to highlight. But what really got to me was how in the end, the individual was powerless to change a system that is so messed up that it has led to excesses and suffering. I couldn’t fathom how we even allowed ourselves to be led down a road that was powered by the greed and fear of humans, a system that pandered to the worse in humans.

It was only when I started working, and even then slightly apprehensively, that I began to regain interest in such stuff.

I can’t run away from this system. I am tangled in this web. I probably can’t change it. I jolly well better learn as much I can about this system and understand it, if not to profit from it, at least not to be made a patsy.

Doing nothing is a position taken.

And so, yesterday, I got myself a CDP account. I don’t intend to trade, speculate or invest. Yet.

But to me, getting the account is like getting a driver’s license. You get it even if you don’t expect to use it because you never know when it might come in handy.

I got it as an acknowledgment that whether I like it or not, this is a game (i.e. financial machinations of this world) I have to play, either as an active participant or a defensive one.

Anyway, something worried me when I was opening the account. Half of the people at the customer service counters or waiting for their turn were elderly folks around the age of my grandma. I’m obviously using guesstimation here.

I’m not sure why they were there. They could be there for a myriad of reasons but it just worries me that the elderly is involved in anything related to the stock market. It just doesn’t seem like the wise thing to do considering they have a shorter time horizon.

What was also interesting was how some of these elderly folks were accompanied by younger looking individuals. I would guess that these individuals were around my age. I have my own conclusions about these individuals and none of it is good.

Anyway, yeah. Yesterday was one more step.

Image above created using the very cool tool Ambigram.Matic.

Just be the MOST creative/innovative/productive/interesting answer (and the fastest too!) to the following question: “What will your life be like with HP TouchSmart?”

I had read about the competition sometime ago but didn’t have any ideas to write. Until last night in the toilet.

I wanted to add some pictures to the comment but apparently you can’t leave pictures in comments. I wanted to get my nephew to be the star of the photos but realized I didn’t have time to go to his dad’s house to get those photos.

So, the trusty Flickr was called to the rescue.

Before the HP TouchSmart:

Picture attributed to mnScouser.

Picture attributed to mknowles.

Picture attributed to ctoverdrive.

With the HP TouchSmart:

Picture attributed to chesh2000pro. Picture is actually of Microsoft surface but same thing lah.

Anyway, this is my comment.

Hands with different colors,
Painting pictures.

Trees, rainbows, home,
Of father, mother and me.
Until it is time to rest …
Carefully, lovingly, mom
Hangs those pictures on the wall.

Smiling now, with my own gift from God,
Memories like those I will always cherish.
And with this new computer,
Resting comfortably on the table top,
Touching it, we laugh, creating new memories, forever to cherish.