It’s been a while since I last wrote about any movie on the blog, and even longer since I watched any local movie on the big screen, but last night I went to the cinema and caught Nasi Lemak 2.0, and you should too.
Nasi Lemak 2.0 is directed by Namewee, a name that should be familiar with every youtube generation that resides in Malaysia, his is (in)famous for quite a few music videos – Negaraku-ku being the more prominent one.
I’ve always thought about Namewee as a person who has a talent and definitely passionate about the country. However, he also struck me as a person who sometimes uses his talent in not a particularly great way to voice out what he has to say.
This movie changes some of that perception for me.
Firstly, the plot (pulled from wikipidia, skip if you do not want/need any potential spoilers)
A young chef, Huang Da Xia (played by Wee Meng Chee) struggles to get his restaurant business going. The reason his restaurants rarely gets customers is because he cannot adapt to the “localized” cooking his patrons are looking for. However, contradicting his unpopular cuisine, he is also well-known as “Hero Huang” in the local neighborhood where he carries out good deeds in helping the community (e.g: Filming videos and putting them on his Youtube account.) until he met Xiao K (played byKaren Kong) who asked for his help. Xiao K’s father, owner of a famous chinese restaurant, is fighting with her aunt for the ownership of the restaurant. After some complicated discussions, they decided to hold a contest to see who can cook the best chinese dish. Desperate to get his life and the restaurant business back on track, Chef Huang decided to help Xiao K. Huang seeks help from a mysterious hawker stall lady (played by Adibah Noor), who summons him to embark on an extraordinary journey of his life. During this self-enlightening experience, he will also meet many “local heroes” each lending their support to help him re-discover his roots and the real hidden message of “Nasi Lemak”.
Nasi Lemak 2.0 is a comedy on the surface, but the heart of the movie touches on lives in Malaysia that most Malaysians can relate to. This is truly a 1Malaysia movie that is undoubtedly Malaysian and sends a strong message about our identity.
There were at least half a dozen languages used in the movie, and I’m quite sure that most everyone will have to read the subtitles somewhere along the way, so don’t feel bad if you don’t speak/understand Cantonese, Tamil, or even Malay, you will still get (most of) the jokes. Knowledge of current affair and political landscape of the country helps too (like the hidden meaning of “diam lah”).
Certain direction of the movie, such as the repeated “funny” actions of certain characters could have been done without, but otherwise Nasi Lemak 2.0 hits the spot pretty good, even with it’s ultra low budget and crap quality special effects.
If you haven’t catch the show yet, go watch it! I genuinely enjoy the movie and I believe most of you will too!
In today’s world of computing, devices are definitely embracing better and better mobility. A decade ago laptop was your best portable gadget, a few years ago it was netbook, but now, it is definitely the era of tablets.
Unlike pure content consumption with a limited screen space a smart phone provides, and the still limited portability a netbook offers, tablet strikes a very good middle ground that gives us the best of both worlds, and the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a perfect specimen of this evolution.
here’s the white & black samsung galaxy tab 10.1
I was invited to a blogger’s only preview of the device that was organized with Celcom and Samsung a couple weeks before the launch, and the good people from Samsung even let us get a hold of the tab for a few days to play with it (check out the short video here).
The tab comes in either white or black (photo above has Cheesie holding the white, and myself holding the black tab… but you can’t tell can you?) colored black plate, for the benefit of the geeks, lets look at the specifications first, shall we?
specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
The graphic above illustrates the dimension of this beautiful gadget. There’s an On/Off button, a set of volume up/down buttons, front (2MP) & back cameras (3MP), a standard 3.5mm jack for headsets, and a SIM card slot. The whole thing is only 8.5mm thick, making the Galaxy Tab 10.1 the thinnest tablet yet, and at 565 grams, one of the lightest too.
The screen is also the brightest I’ve seen, with a 16:10 aspect ration (1280 x 800 pixels) spread across the 10.1″ LCD real estate when measured diagonally, yes, this is where the name comes from too. The screen is simply stunning, you gotta see it for yourself.
look at how thin this tablet is, only 8.6 mm
Under the hood there’s the 1 GHz dual-core NvidiaTegra 2 processor with 1 GB RAM and 16 GB ROM.
Of course, for a tablet, connectivity is very important:
Which basically means, almost every single wireless data technology except for the old infrared that you grandfather might still be using.
Samsung put in a 7000 mAh battery in the tab, and this is good for some 9 hours of movies or up to 72 hours of music. When I was reviewing it, 3-4 hours of playing and online activities uses close to half the juice, so the claim should be pretty accurate.
note: full specs here.
stunning youtube application, 3D google map, and … this blog on Galaxy Tab 10.1
This gadget of course, runs the latest Android honeycomb that is built specifically for tablets. This comes with, for example, the latest Google Map application that has 3D maps for certain locations (and hopefully Malaysia soon), Picasa web album synchronizations, and an updated YouTube application too.
The Picasa web album is pretty neat, after signing in with my Google account, the photos I took with my Android phone magically appears on the tab too. This would be very handy especially for blogging & digital manipulation on the tab before sharing to the public. I love this feature.
There are also now a host of new HD applications built specifically for Android Honeycomb too, and just like the phones, you can sign into Android Market place on PC or tab itself, click download on the chosen apps, and they will be downloaded to the tab wirelessly. I think I wasted over 10 hours on a HD tower defense game….
Then there’s the accessories. There are at least two types of keyboards for the tab (look at the photo above), the docked version make it act like a netbook, good for content creation, and there is also a bluetooth version that comes with a casing to hold the tab too.
Celcom broadband plan with Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
However, to me, the best accessories has got to be the SD & USB card adapters. With these you can copy photos from your camera’s SD card directly onto the tablet, by passing any computer usage altogether, and the USB adapter means that you can back up files, play movies, and basically extend the storage of the tab without limit.
Everyone has been asking for USB connectivity, and finally we have a device that can do exactly that.
Next question is fo course, how much does this cost?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (3G + wifi & 16 GB) is currently only available via Celcom broadband, RRP at RM 1,899, but with a Celcom broadband contract, you can have it as low as RM 1,468. Check out Celcom Samsung Galaxy Tab page here.
and Lainey won a Galaxy Tab at the launching event for media, grr
I went for the media launching event last Friday too, and guess what? Lainey was one of the 2 lucky winners to walk away with a Galaxy Tab 10.1. You can see I wasn’t so thrilled on the photo above, I want one too!
Now let me budget budget abit. 
Got my hands on a copy of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and here’s a brief hands on review. Check out the video yo!
The slate is set to be launched with Celcom Broadband very soon, stay tuned.
I’ve always have a special place for Proton Saga in my heart. It is in fact, the car that I learn to drive with back even before I was old enough to have a license, I remember we were in some light industrial area on a Sunday when my late dad decided to let me have a go at it, and the “wtf are you serious” face it had on my mom.
A few mati engine incidents later, I was able to manipulate the clutch and gear and drove for some 10 minutes. It was pure joy, a moment I never forget.
There was another incident where I hit a car’s side view mirror whilst riding bicycle before, and it turned out to be my dad in our Proton, I blogged about it here.
That Proton Saga was with our family for quite a number of years, a 1.3 liter manual version that was dark brown in color. When the new saga came out, we helped mom bought one too, and it has been serving her pretty well for the past 2 years or so.
Proton Saga FLX with CVT
Fast forward to today, and there is another iteration of the venerable Proton Saga – the Proton Saga FLX.
Instead of just a mere facelift to the “new” Saga FL model, the Saga FLX has so much more to offer, with the biggest selling point being CVT, or Continuous Variable Transmission. A feature usually found in cars of much higher price point.
Unlike conventional Automatic Transmission, CVT allows the vehicle to always be in optimal power band. The gearbox shifts without any shift-shock or loss of power, this allows the engine to have less wear and tear and thus improve its durability.
The other trick under CVT’s sleeve is it’s ability to simulate a 6 speed automatic gearbox when you are up for a little bit of spirited driving.
Simply press the SAT (Stepped Automatic Transmission) to engage the function. This brings the familiar feel of most automatic car to the driver, but with 6 speeds instead of the usual 4.
The Saga FLX with CVT is rated to consume 6 liter of fuel per 100 km running at 90 km/h. Theoretically you can drive from KL to Penang with only some RM 40 in fuel (at RM 1.90 per liter), that’s pretty good isn’t it?
The design of the car’s interior is improved too, and many will undoubtedly be pleased that the power windows in Proton Saga FLX comes with life time warranty, glad to see that they have addressed this issue.
There are still more features packed into this car. There’s now ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) with EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution) in the Executive models.
These are safety features that allows much better maneuverability during emergency braking, features that can save lives.
Other than that, the body shell is also built stronger and stiffer to maximize protection. Then there’s the dual airbags too (Executive models) for extra safety.
Immobiliser, central locking, keyless entry and reverse sensor are now standard features across all FLX models.
Then there’s the size and practicality that comes with having a full size sedan with a big boot space. The Saga sits 4-5 adults comfortably and still able to swallow 413 liter of baggage. That size is equivalent to the big refrigerator I use at home!
A getaway, weekend shopping with the whole family, and those occasional IKEA trips will be easier with the Saga, compared with a super compact.
There are too many features that found their ways into the Saga FLX to be listed on this site (MP3 player, USB jack, etc). To find out more, check out EpicSaga.com.my now, there’s a video there too.
If you’re looking for a car, especially a first car, make sure you give the new Proton Saga FLX a look. You definitely won’t get a car with more features and space at this price point. Best value for money if you ask me.
It’s been a while since this blog featured a movie review, with the last one being Inception some 10 months ago. I guess there just wasn’t a movie I like enough to be writing a review since then.. until I managed to catch Source Code a few days ago.
The movie currently score a pretty good 7.9/10 on IMDB, pretty good for a relatively low budget scifi. This movie sort of took Jake Gyllenhaal back to his Donnie Darko roots after the semi disaster that was Prince of Persia, Like Donnie Darko, this is another sci-fi film that has something to do with alternate history/universe theme. Something that the geek in me love seeing on big screen.
This is the second full featured film from Duncan Jone, the other being Moon, which was another sci-fi film with an even lower budget, but a must-watch if you’re a fan of hard scifi instead of space soap opera.
This review is going to have some spoilers/discussions, so for those who hasn’t watch the film, go watch it now!
the co-star is pretty cute!
Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in a train and found himself looking at a “stranger” female who clearly knows him, and when he went to the toilet, the person in the mirror wasn’t himself.
He attempt to get to know what happens, but 8 minutes later, the train to Chicago blew up, killing everyone on board…… and he woke up in a bunker strapped on a chair with a woman name Goodwin on the screen trying to explain to him what happened.
Apparently Colter Stevens was in the Source Code, a program that puts him into someone’s mind over the last 8 minutes of his life. In this case, 8 minutes in the train that got blown, his job was to find the bomber.
The plot is covered on wikipedia, so I guess I shall not repeat the story.
While started out a little slow, the pace of the movie worked out pretty well at the end. I love the premies of the story even though it was as almost as far fetched as space aliens hanging out with human breathing the same atmosphere and being able to have hybrid children.
The one part that I wish to be different is perhaps the way the film ends. I think it would carry a little bit more of an impact if the movie ended at the freezing frame where everyone was laughing on the train listening to Russel Peters with Stevens and the girl kissing.
While the ending in the movie works well on the many world interpretation quantum mechanics postulate, it left a bit too sweet a taste and a bit too Hollywood for me.
This is a must watch movie for all geeks, and while you’re at it, get a copy of Moon and watch that too!
For those of you who are following the NBA, the playoffs are finally here!
First round Eastern Conference would be Indiana vs Chicago, Philadelphia vs Miami, Atlanta vs Orlando, New York vs Boston, and Western Conference match ups are Memphis vs San Antonio, New Orleans vs Los Angeles Lakers, Portland vs Dallas, Dallas vs Oklahoma City.
I am gonna admit that I like the Miami Heat and want them to do well. I watched Lebron James live in Washington DC while he was in a high school all stars games. The second round match up could be Miami vs Boston, and that’s gonna be mighty delicious!
I think Miami or Chicago’s gonna come out from the East, and Lakers might represent the West again, though I hope OKC or San Antonio (might be too old) can spoil it.
The problem with basketball games is that often time it is only interesting at in the last half an hour or so, and that American time zone isn’t very compatible with the one we’re in either, so Astro B.yond PVR to the rescue!
I’m gonna record all the games and make sure I don’t miss the important moments!
