Jacky Yong » review

Not-so-Great Day

Jacky Yong — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 03:04:19 +0000

Went to watch the much hyped Great Day, 天天好天, a movie directed by the same person who gave you Tiger WooHoo last year. This 天天好天 movie has a lot to live up to, since it features so many of the previous actors and actresses from Tiger WooHoo. There was also a lot of so-called “good reviews” in My FM (very biased, don’t you think so?).

I went to watch it in Alamanda Putrajaya with my wife and two monkees. I went through all the trouble of making sure the kids are properly fed, rested and clothed so that they are comfy inside the cinema. The cinema hall itself is small, but it was surprisingly well kept. It was clean and does not smell like most other cinemas I have been to.

And yes, it was disappointing. And I was not surprised, I wasn’t really expecting anything from this movie. Unlike Tiger WooHoo, Great Day has a lot more slapsticks and silly punter. You can make a 10-year-old laugh, but you’re gonna have to try a little harder on me. It’s story is also not as rich, and its characters felt very two-dimension. It’s as deep as a puddle of water in the middle of midday Sahara.

To its credit, the movie is filled with very picturesque landscape scenes and a great cinematography skill to fully digest it all in. And the acting by the main actors and actresses are very real, very believable. Kudos must be given to the decision not to use back too much of the previous actors (like Ah Lian). Some characters from Tiger WooHoo did make an appearance, but they do not really refer to that movie too much. A wise decision I must say. Deejays like Wan Wai Fun and Cheok Wai Kan are given more screentimes, and they do make great supporting actresses. The kid actor / actress are very convincing too.

And as usual, this being an Astro fair, a lot of precious time were spent on in-movie advertising. They are the in-your-face kind of advertising. Astro, Canon, LG are some of which I see. See if you can find more…

Trivia: Royce Tan’s scooter made at least one traffic violation: no headlights, and are motorcycles allowed inside the tunnel along Jalan Tun Razak?

Sepet makes me cry!!

Jacky Yong — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:18:43 +0000

Okay, I admit it! I’m a cry baby, maybe a little emotional. My eyes were a bit wet when I saw this last night…..

Okay okay, I cried, there, happy?

I did not know how powerful the movie can be! It was already late, I should be sleeping, but I watched a short clip and I could not stop!

There there, don't cry my baby! Seems to be talking to me :'(

I love how Yasmin takes a common everyday subject and adds dimension to it. The movie started innocently enough, a life of two seemingly unrelated individuals in their different worlds. A VCD peddler, Jason, a.k.a. Ah Loong, eeking out a living selling illegal VCD’s. In the beginning we get a glimpse into Jason’s life with his Nyonya mother. Not a very typical chinese family, especially in Ipoh. Their conversation needs some getting used to, even for someone well-versed in both Cantonese and Malay as I am. It takes a bit of an effort to switch between the two vastly different languages, but both Jason and his mother seamlessly blend these two languages together perfectly! Watch out for the display of sweet motherly love that is intimate and very expressive. It takes perfect chemistry in order to make it so believable, so kudos to both these remarkable actor and actress.

Orked, on the other hand, lives a relatively normal life as a well-mannered Malay girl. But we see some rather odd characterics of Orked, like an affection of everything chinese. Probably from her mother who loves watching Hong Kong drama series. Her parents employ a peculiarly authoritative maid, Kak Yam, brought to life by the amazingly talented Adibah Noor.

Jason and Orked’s path crosses one fine day in a busy pasar while he was manning his stall. The scenario was simple, but it was flawlessly executed. Both Orked and Jason were shocked at the sight of each other, like they have never loved anyone before. Perhaps it was the quiet longing in Jason’s eyes, or maybe it was the confusing feeling of a familiar stranger in Orked’s mind. But whatever it was, I felt chemistry right there.

Yasmin has been famous for her direct yet witty representation of a very sensitive subject. But she’s lucky, in a sense that she is a Malay. Had she’s been any other race, I doubt her film would pass through FINAS at all (think NameWee, the crazy bastard who sang Negarakuku). Yasmin explored a lot of doubtful and grey areas of racial unity in Malaysia, but does it ever so subtly, you hardly notice its presense:

1. Orked scored only 5 A’s in her SPM, Jason scored 7 A’s! But guess who goes to England on full scholarship? A painful reality of the discrimitive education system in Malaysia.

2. Orked stereotyped Chinese as hardworking but stingy people, and Malays as lazy bumps.

3. While in hospital bed, Ah Keong said that Hang Tuah and his 4 Hang friends are actually chinese. Hang Li Po is chinese, so Hang Tuah (Hang Tu Ya) must be too. And they said his “silat” is actually chinese kung fu.

4. Missing prayers among Malays are actually quite a common.

5. The trends among any race in the world to marry outside their skin colour, especially of a lighter skin coloured, thought to be of a superior race. Blacks to browns, browns to yellows, yellows to whites. Sometimes not necessary in marriage. Any form of West woshipping is also included. Brilliantly debated by Orked with her girl friend Lin, and also in the argument scene at school with Lin’s Mat-Salleh-wannabe boyfriend.

6. Whatever happened to Malay movies nowadays? Previously P Ramlee was a legend. Since his passing, Malay movies has deteriorated and has never been able to regain its former glory. This point was briefly touched by Jason.

7. Inter-racial marriages was very common a hundreds years ago. How is it possible that it is so much more complicated now, when we are supposed to be more civilised?

Did I tell you that the movie was made in Ipoh? It still has this rustic feel about it. The town fits the movie really well; the old pre-war shophouses, Greentown, St Michaels (yay, my old school! That’s the school at the background at the above picture), the roads (I recognise some of them), and Ipoh Club. Gosh, the movie feels personal to me, probably because of this reason. I felt

right at home watching this movie. I felt that I belong there.

Some would argue that the film delves unnecessarily on obviously boring inanimate objects and scenes that does not add to the story; the two stationary dolls in the pasar (who were seen dancing after Jason and Orked’s first encounter, as if esctatic at their blossoming love), the slow steady pressing of the keypads on the house phone, the blind beggar with the small keyboard sitting in the middle of the busy pasar, oblivious to the droves of people moving by, the family hair combing scene. Artistic, poetic, serene yet powerful all at once.

There was a scene of Ah Keong lying down on the floor with his broken arm, talking to Jason. A piano is shown in Ah Keong’s house just behind him, must be the same piano that he mentioned to Orked much earlier. Jason has his back facing the audience while talking to Ah Keong. Jason’s face was not visible, only the sewing machine and the backdoor of his run-down home were immediately discernable. These are all beautiful, just like how a Wong Kar Wai film looks like.

Not all performances were good though. So please allow me to give out the Worst performance award:

3rd place : Jimmy’s boys

2nd place : Jimmy

and the worst performance goes to : Jimmy’s sister!

Toy Story 3 has a lot of heart!

Jacky Yong — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:44:49 +0000

I just came back from Sunway, burnt through 5 hours of Toy Story marathon wearing a silly 3D glasses. I only went there with Yan Yan. Mei Fen initially wanted to come, but decided to stay home to take care of Hui Yan.

The marathon began at 7 pm. It was free seating so it was a good idea to come early. But I choose to go have dinner first at Starbucks with Yan Yan. I don’t want her to complain of hunger in the middle of the show.

——– WARNING : slight plot revealed ———-

By now you should have already known what Toy Story 3 is about and seen bits and pieces of it all over the internet. So I would assume that you have already know what the main plot is. Andy is now all grown up and he has to decide how to manage his toys. Toy Story 3 begins with a really great dream sequence of a play scene of Andy with his toys, a mixture from the original Toy Story and Toy Story 2, but in this one, the play scene is more lively and elaborate! Death by Monkey rocks!!

The kid-rolling fun ends roughly 30 minutes into the show and took on a slightly more adult message when the toys are transported to a day care centre. Later they found out that the place is not what it seems, and they hatched an amazing escape plan. Good ol’ Woody, you can always count on him for his resourcefulness.

Over the years Pixar has improved by leaps and bounds technically. This is evident in its generous use of vast open spaces, incredibly detailed objects (even the trash bin looks beautiful!), and of course, the almost compulsory use of 3D in films nowadays. The only complain I have is that fast moving objects seems to exhibit ghosting effects using the goggles, and that it’s dimmer. And the fact that the tickets are free-seating, I was not sitting at a nominal position to enjoy the movie.

The entire story however, I felt was not all sweet and juicy, despite all the eye-candy. It carries a very dark sinister undertone, and deals with very heavy issues, like compelling moral question about immortality, friendship, and life’s inevitable separation and heart-breaks. Also this third Toy Story brings with it the occasional sexist remarks (nice legs-warmer, nice ass-cots), and a hole lot of whizz-bang fast action sequences. Not a very suitable movie for my 4-year-old Yan Yan, I personally feel.

I don’t remember watching an animation movie, or any movie for that matter, that made me feel so intense! The last time I felt this way was when Frodo and Sam were trapped in that lava field by the hill before they were rescued by Gandalf. I really felt the hopelessness, the struggle, and in the end, the peaceful realization projected by the toys, without even a single word uttered! I don’t think any life-actors would be able to pull it off so magnificently yet so simply! Amazing piece of animation work from the PIXAR team!

And in the end, the goodbyes were not only heart-breaking, it was painfully down-to-earth, no sweet mushy-mushy happy endings. That’s all I can say. I did not shed any tears, but my heart totally sank! Andy did a great performance in this one! Again, not a single word that conveys this feeling, it was all in the animation work. Brilliant work!

There was a lot of reference to the original Toy Story 1 and 2, such as the play sequence I mentioned, and also in the lines. Lotso the pink bear kinda reminds me of the Prospector in Toy Story 2, and there is also the touching moments of a previous owner abandoning her toy. Andy also gives Woody a piggy back ride, a wink to the original movie. These kinda scenes ties back beautifully with the entire franchise of Toy Story and doesn’t look like a sore addition most other sequels feel. Instead of sticking out, Toy Story 3 just blends in!

I have mentioned Lotso, but the other character worth mentioning is the “girlie toy” Ken. Ken provides most of the light moments of the show, but in the end he helped made everything right again. Sadly none of the other new characters portray much to help the plot. They are really forgettable.

I got the tickets for free, but I personally felt it was worth going to again, just to get the feel. Again I think we’ve got another winner from PIXAR this year! ~woot!~~

What I got my wife for Christmas

Jacky Yong — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:52:01 +0000

This, a digital camera, worth almost RM1,500 a pop! In reality I owe her this since her birthday last year, so it’s well overdue actually!

This is the camera, the new Canon Powershot S90.

Canon Powershot S90

Remember when I mentioned that I wanted to buy a PnS? I wasn’t kidding!

Why did I choose this camera? Well there is a lot of reasons actually. For one thing, I must confess, that I am a huge Canon fanboy. And another thing, being a techie that I am, I know for sure that I am getting top quality pictures with this baby. On papers the camera boasts some incredible numbers:

10 megapixel sensors (and not just any sensors. It’s the sensor used in its much larger brother the G11. The size of the sensor is the biggest among point-and-shooters among its class, which should translate to lower noise)
28 mm – 105 mm equivalent IS (image stabilized) lens
Fast f2.0 – 4.9 aperture. (Faster than my EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS at 28 mm!)
RAW shooting! (Yay~!)
3.0 inch LCD screen, 461,000 pixels. Not exactly the high resolution screen found in newer DSLR’s, but good enough.

The rest of the advertised features (dual-noise removal, DIGIC IV smile detection, scene detection etc) are merely marketing gimmicks.

First impressions and ergonomics

3 inch screen, enough for most shooting conditions, except in strong sunlight

Pick the camera up and you will know that this is not just another point-and-shooter. It weights quite heftily in your hand (197 grams, the official figure, including card and battery) and for a camera this size, it sure feels solid. There is no noticeable grip for my hand when holding this camera, and it takes a conscious effort to hand-hold it securely. Fortunately you can always wrap the camera’s lanyard around your wrist to prevent it from swinging out of your grip.

Being small (no bigger than an IXUS) the grip was rather insecure. But being small is exactly what my wife wants!

In operation

This is where the camera stands out. The S90 distance itself from the competitors with a rather unique way of interacting with the camera; using a front ring system. It works similar to how you would operate an aperture or zoom ring of an old SLR camera. You turn on a ribbed ring to change settings, like exposure, zoom or aperture, depending on the mode of operation that you are in. And yes, the function of the ring is customizable.

There are the usual “up-down-left-right” buttons that doubles as the secondary ring dial behind the camera. What I do not like about the secondary ring is that it turns far too easily. I have set the secondary dial to adjust the ISO values, and I often find myself accidentally knocking the ISO value off when operating the camera.

Notice the ring around the lens

Sample pictures

Enough talk. Let’s get to some real world scenario, the camera in action. As mentioned, the reason this camera is so different is the sensor. It’s big, and the lens is bright, so taking pictures in the dark will not be an issue. And I am glad to say focusing in the dark does not pose a challenge at all for this baby! I know of some DSLR that still hunts (searches forever without getting a focus lock) in the dark.

It focuses properly in the dark, but will the picture turn out noisy? I would be lying to myself and to everyone else if I said that the picture are noise-free at high ISO. This is, after all, still not a full fledged DSLR! I’ll let you see some sample pictures:

Hui Yan and mommy, ISO 3200

How does it looked like zoomed in?

100% crop. Details are lost around the hair

Another picture taken at maximum ISO:

Care for a cuppa? ISO 3200

Here is a detailed view:

100% crop, again details are lost

Another picture …..

Jonker Street, ISO 800, perfectly use-able! Only processed in Canon DPP

Detailed view:

Some noises are there, but only if you pixel peep

Did I mention that this baby also takes pictures in exposure brackets? Yes, this means I can do HDR with this camera, albeit a bit slower. The maximum in can go between frames is about 1 second. And the maximum EV it can go for exposure bracketing is only ±1 EV, a total of 3 shots. But combining with RAW file format, it does wonders!

HDR was combined with Photoshop and Photomatix

Another thing that I noticed is that this camera tends to overexpose its shots when encountering a tricky shot. The shot below was shot using P mode, 0 EV:

Overexposed is the norm, it seems

I find that for these situations, I must always remember to dial down the EV to compensate:

Have to dial down the exposure a bit

Personally I am impressed with this baby! Its ability to still take decent pictures in the dark is one of its major selling point. If I were to complain, it would definitely be the rather dismal performance of the battery. After only about 3 hours of shooting, the battery complains of tiredness.

All in all, a very good camera. The advantage it has sometimes even outweighs a DSLR (small size, light, shoots video). Being small it is also very stealthy, I can take discreet pictures without the guard shooing us away, something that always happen to me when I use the DSLR.

See more pictures taken with this little camera at Kit Yan’s field trip.

P1 W1Max – Reviewed

Jacky Yong — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:06:54 +0000

P1 is here in Seri Kembangan!! The wait is finally over!! Now I can ditch that stupid Streamyx once and for all and switch over to a world of fast surfing! Or is there?

23rd March 2009

I had not intended to get it at first. I had wanted to go to Jusco Equine to have my mom’s glasses fixed. Then I saw the P1 roadshow going on there. Upon inquiry I found out that my home has got coverage! I couldn’t believe my ears at first, I thought the guy was just pulling my leg just to get sales. But at the same time, a young chinese couple were signing up for the service as well, and they stay in the same taman as mine! Good enough for me, I immediately signed up!

The signing up takes less than 2 minutes to fill up the form, get my I/C photocopied, and collecting my modem on the spot! It was a breeze. I understood from their website that my service will be active within 1 hour. So it means that by the time I reach home, theoratically I should be able to surf immediately!

The box comes with the Wimax modem, a normal LAN wire, the power supply for the Wimax modem (no, they do not have the USB modem yet) and the instruction. The instruction was as simple as it gets, connect the modem to the computer or router, connect the power supply, and you’re good to go. (Sorry, in the midst of excitement of setting up the P1 W1max, I forgot to take pictures)

But wait, why aren’t I getting any signals? It should start with blinking red, to denote power on. Then it should go to orange, for connection authentication, and finally to green, for connection confirmation. But I always get the red signal, no matter where I put it, even near the window, both the front and back of the house. Bummer. Perhaps they have not activated my service yet. I’ll wait for tomorrow then.

24th March 2009

A day has passed, and there are still no signal! I’m beginning to get worried. Is there anything wrong? I took the modem back to the guy in Jusco, but he kept telling me that there should be nothing wrong with my location. Perhaps I should call the P1 service, he said. Okay, I’ll do that again. But their line kept on giving me the cold shoulder. I was not able to get any answer from their customer service. This is bad!

Then I tried something different, I stick the modem right onto the window, between the grille. Wait, is that a green light that I see? Yes it is! I got the signal when I do this at the front window that is facing north, but with the modem facing west! I know this sounds weird, but a quick check at the P1 website mentioned that the modem should face west. Problem is, my house is a direct north-south orientation, there is no way that I can get a good signal, unless I move to a semi-D with a side window facing west!

In the end, I tied the modem to the grille and used the wireless modem to connect to all the computers and laptops in the house. Here’s how the setup looked like:

P1 W1Max modem. You can see my wireless router sticking from behind the box up on the shelf.

Good, now that I have a confirmed line with P1, how is the speed like? All I can say is, HEAVEN! Never have I surfed for so smoothly and so effortlessly, downloading files (ahem) and streaming movies. Here’s how a download looks like:

Mind boggling downloads!

A quick test at SpeedTest.net revealed a constant 1.0 to 1.2 Mbps! Yummy! P1 is definitely going to trump over Streamyx!

Speed is not the only thing that gets my thumbs up for P1. Another thing to note is that you can always check the amount that you have used online! Well, the amount is not exactly up-to-date (you can usually see the latest date as of 1 day ago). But it is useful to check on your quota. As part of its fair-usage policy, P1′s package include a maximum limit that you can use in a month. No, it does not stop you from using beyond the limit, nor does it charge you extra (unlike other broadband providers). It merely throttles your speed down. How much does it throttle? I have no idea, I have yet to reach the limit. Please be mindful though, uploading also counts to your limit!

Also please note that you will be assigned to a fixed IP address. This can be both a good and a bad thing, depends on how you may want to look at it. The Wimax modem is a closed box, we can’t do any tweakings, modifications or firmware updates to it, at least not yet. So for those tinkerers out there who wishes to squeeze some extra performance juice out of the P1: FAT CHANCE! Unless of course, some hacker comes along.

29th March 2009

Tomorrow I am making a definite step to terminate Streamyx! Hooray! I am finally breaking free from the clutches of monopolism by TMNet and moving to support the free and open market!

But the unexpected happened. P1′s service came crashing down! I couldn’t get a green light, no matter how many times I restarted the modem. This is bad, I can’t even call P1′s customer service, since they operate from 8 am to 11 pm everyday. It’s already midnight, and I can’t get an answer. If I proceed to terminate Streamyx, I will have to get stuck with P1 for 24 months! And pay RM99 every month for this intermittent service. Besides, I have heard of many initial users who suffers broken connections at nights, and gradually deteriorating speeds every week! I have to think fast.

30th March 2009

What began as a trip to the nearest TM Point to terminate Streamyx ended up as a trip to the P1 P@ddock in Jalan Templer to terminate P1! I know this decision sounds drastic. (Come on, just one disconnection and you’re terminating already?) But I am just taking precautionary measures, just to be safe. The broadband service here in Malaysia is in turmoil. There are a lot of new players coming into the picture lately in the pass year. And I can guarantee that the coming 12 months will see more liberation of more broadband services, and much cheaper rates by current players. Tying myself for 24 months seems too long in this fast changing world. And besides, P1 gave me only 15 days of grace period, after which you will automatically be signed up for the service. Had they given me a longer period, I would have easily dismissed their disconnection and continued to monitor its performance a few more days. Since I do not have much time before the 15-days grace period, I have decided to just let it go.

Talking about my experience returning back the modem to them, I only return the modem and the power supply unit. I have misplaced the box, along with the LAN cable inside, but guess what? They chose to charge me RM6 for that stupid LAN cable!! I gave them that look when they told me that, and I asked them again for clarification, but they were adamant about me paying RM6 for the damn cable. I mean, come on, it’s not about the bloody RM6, but why do you need to charge your customer for just a fucking LAN cable? It’s not like I wanna steal your cable, I have loads of cables at home! Fuck them. I didn’t wanna argue with them. So I’ll just defame P1′s name in my blog! *nyeh nyeh nyeh!*

So there you have it. I am back to my lousy old 512 kbps with Streamyx, chugging along at speeds only a sloth can be proud of. Yeah, Streamyx also disconnects sometimes, but at least once I restarted the modem, I can surf normally again. It may take a few restarts (like a thunderstorm) but it will be back to normal eventually. Not with the P1. When it’s down, it’s down. *sigh* now where is that Celcom, Digi, Maxis or Jaring broadband when I need them?

Edit 2 April 2009: In retrospect, I wonder if I did the right thing by returning the P1 modem. Yesterday was a very bad day for Streamyx. It keeps getting disconnected, and I had to restart the shit every 2 minutes or so! On days like these, I really miss the P1′s speed and stability (when it is connected of course). Damn you Streamyx! When the time is right, and P1 has grown more stable, I will most probably dump Streamyx again in favour of P1.