Comments for The Singaporean Gamer http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog Things that wow and irk me Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:52:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 Comment on So I’m A Sucker by Mart http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/24/so-im-a-sucker/comment-page-1/#comment-600 Mart Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:52:32 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1260#comment-600 @Ameen Th. Mann: Well, it's just a movie, and I believe the point of this movie is to showcase the technology behind it. The only impact it will make is that now, Hollywood believes that "3D is the wave of the future!!". And every movie, whether it deserves it or not, will have the big question mark beside it: "Will it be in 3D?" The story has more holes than Swiss cheese and there's no point in delving deep into it. The underlying message has been done to death many, many times before. For a movie 10 years in the making, somehow, the narrative seemed to have been developed in the last 10 days. A few of my friends held the opinion that this is just a tech demo. Thus Mr James Cameron chose a "safe" story, one that can be easily accepted, so that the tech behind it shines through. Avatar isn't a bad movie, but neither is it a good one. It's just one more among many. I watched it once, in 3D, and it was cool, but that's about it. It's not worth taking a second look. @Ameen Th. Mann:

Well, it’s just a movie, and I believe the point of this movie is to showcase the technology behind it. The only impact it will make is that now, Hollywood believes that “3D is the wave of the future!!”. And every movie, whether it deserves it or not, will have the big question mark beside it: “Will it be in 3D?”

The story has more holes than Swiss cheese and there’s no point in delving deep into it. The underlying message has been done to death many, many times before. For a movie 10 years in the making, somehow, the narrative seemed to have been developed in the last 10 days. A few of my friends held the opinion that this is just a tech demo. Thus Mr James Cameron chose a “safe” story, one that can be easily accepted, so that the tech behind it shines through.

Avatar isn’t a bad movie, but neither is it a good one. It’s just one more among many. I watched it once, in 3D, and it was cool, but that’s about it. It’s not worth taking a second look.

]]> Comment on So I’m A Sucker by Ameen Th. Mann http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/24/so-im-a-sucker/comment-page-1/#comment-599 Ameen Th. Mann Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:22:06 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1260#comment-599 To many of your questions may later have answers occurred. The sign given by Eywa might not in any way have to be diminished by the choice to send nature into combat as well, because the sign was the assurance of Jake's safety in first place. It protected him from being killed, and then from being outcast before he could grow into the person that he became. The sign was thus preemptive to anything bad happening to Jake. Then, at the Tree of Souls, Jake made a prayer, and anyone who is a believer into God will easier comprehend that a prayer can be answered. Nature's untypical interference into clashes was a decision following upon a prayer. Then there is the scientist mentioned who saw Jake reporting to the colonel. We did not see the scientist reporting, but we saw the consequence from the report. They moved up to that sector 26 - please forgive if I misstate the location - where they were out of reach of A) military physical influence (because we learn later that they don't fly up there, as instruments and sight are hindered) and B) Jake feeling the urge to get easily over to them as he did prior to the outpost station. There is so much more. The story is maybe a bit weak, but it is like with Rubens. His on highest level expressed art was not to paint minutiously every stroke on canvas with sharply defined lines, but to accentuate what our eye and brains fill up with our inner self and the information we can project on it. Rubens was one of the worlds most revered artist and also humanist. He painted for the Medici and many royals across Europe. But a closer look on his paintings will tell you, that his pictures have true sharpness when stepping back and looking at it. Then we understand the saying: BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. The detail is important, true, but not in this sphere of life. There are people who are trained to connect the dots when they "zoom out". Microscopic view can be misleading at times - not always I admit. Nevertheless we share positive feelings for this movie, which could have some social impact if it settles down. All the best, ATM To many of your questions may later have answers occurred.
The sign given by Eywa might not in any way have to be diminished by the choice to send nature into combat as well, because the sign was the assurance of Jake’s safety in first place.
It protected him from being killed, and then from being outcast before he could grow into the person that he became. The sign was thus preemptive to anything bad happening to Jake.
Then, at the Tree of Souls, Jake made a prayer, and anyone who is a believer into God will easier comprehend that a prayer can be answered. Nature’s untypical interference into clashes was a decision following upon a prayer.
Then there is the scientist mentioned who saw Jake reporting to the colonel.
We did not see the scientist reporting, but we saw the consequence from the report.
They moved up to that sector 26 – please forgive if I misstate the location – where they were out of reach of A) military physical influence (because we learn later that they don’t fly up there, as instruments and sight are hindered) and B) Jake feeling the urge to get easily over to them as he did prior to the outpost station.
There is so much more.
The story is maybe a bit weak, but it is like with Rubens. His on highest level expressed art was not to paint minutiously every stroke on canvas with sharply defined lines, but to accentuate what our eye and brains fill up with our inner self and the information we can project on it.
Rubens was one of the worlds most revered artist and also humanist.
He painted for the Medici and many royals across Europe.
But a closer look on his paintings will tell you, that his pictures have true sharpness when stepping back and looking at it.
Then we understand the saying: BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER.
The detail is important, true, but not in this sphere of life. There are people who are trained to connect the dots when they “zoom out”. Microscopic view can be misleading at times – not always I admit.
Nevertheless we share positive feelings for this movie, which could have some social impact if it settles down.
All the best, ATM

]]> Comment on MacBook Impressions by Mart http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/28/macbook-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-576 Mart Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:50:21 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1275#comment-576 @ Luke : THe only other slot loading drives I have are my PS3 and Wii. The receiving mechanism in both of them would take over if the disc was pushed half way in. Yeah, the SuperDrive is the noisiest component of the MacBook. Sometimes, i'm not sure if it's reading the disc, or shredding it to pieces. @ Nori: Fixed the strikethrough for you! @ Luke : THe only other slot loading drives I have are my PS3 and Wii. The receiving mechanism in both of them would take over if the disc was pushed half way in.

Yeah, the SuperDrive is the noisiest component of the MacBook. Sometimes, i’m not sure if it’s reading the disc, or shredding it to pieces.

@ Nori: Fixed the strikethrough for you!

]]> Comment on MacBook Impressions by Luke Maciak http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/28/macbook-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-575 Luke Maciak Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:37:22 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1275#comment-575 Btw, most of the slot-loading CD drives I used work this way. I worked with several Dell laptops that had them, and they also wanted you to push the disc all the way in. Then they would horrible clickety noise as if something inside was breaking - but that was just how they operated. Still, I would cringe every time I loaded CD into them. :P Btw, most of the slot-loading CD drives I used work this way. I worked with several Dell laptops that had them, and they also wanted you to push the disc all the way in. Then they would horrible clickety noise as if something inside was breaking – but that was just how they operated. Still, I would cringe every time I loaded CD into them. :P

]]> Comment on MacBook Impressions by nori http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/28/macbook-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-574 nori Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:02:58 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1275#comment-574 eh.. cannot read html ah? aku strikethrough the word "devil's".. or did i write wrongly.. eh.. cannot read html ah? aku strikethrough the word “devil’s”.. or did i write wrongly..

]]> Comment on MacBook Impressions by nori http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/28/macbook-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-573 nori Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:01:33 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1275#comment-573 mat, you're like the <del datetime="2010-01-02T02:48:54+00:00">devil's</del> apple's advocate.. *raises forefinger* "one mac pro, please!* mat, you’re like the devil’s apple’s advocate..

*raises forefinger* “one mac pro, please!*

]]> Comment on MacBook Impressions by Mart http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/28/macbook-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-572 Mart Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:53:38 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1275#comment-572 You don't really need VM Fusion. Save your money and use Virtualbox. It's every bit as good and stable as VMware and Parallels. And the best part is it's free! :D And you don't need HyperSnap or any other software for screen capture either. It's already built into OSX! Cmd+Shift+3 = captures whole desktop and immediately save as PNG on desktop. Cmd+Shift+Ctrl+3 = captures whole desktop onto clipboard Cmd + Shift + 4 = cursor turns into crosshair for user to drag a portion of the screen and immediately save as PNG on desktop Cmd + Shift + Ctrl + 4 = cursor turns into crosshair for user to drag a portion of the screen and capture to clipboard There is also a utility called Grab that you can use for screenshot-ing. It's pretty cool too. Check it out in your Utiities folder. You don’t really need VM Fusion. Save your money and use Virtualbox. It’s every bit as good and stable as VMware and Parallels. And the best part is it’s free! :D

And you don’t need HyperSnap or any other software for screen capture either. It’s already built into OSX!

Cmd+Shift+3 = captures whole desktop and immediately save as PNG on desktop.
Cmd+Shift+Ctrl+3 = captures whole desktop onto clipboard
Cmd + Shift + 4 = cursor turns into crosshair for user to drag a portion of the screen and immediately save as PNG on desktop
Cmd + Shift + Ctrl + 4 = cursor turns into crosshair for user to drag a portion of the screen and capture to clipboard

There is also a utility called Grab that you can use for screenshot-ing. It’s pretty cool too. Check it out in your Utiities folder.

]]> Comment on MacBook Impressions by chinesealbumart http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/28/macbook-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-570 chinesealbumart Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:30:45 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1275#comment-570 I agreed. I love my Macbook Pro (also basic configuration, not even an upgrade of RAM and hard disk.. something I might do in the far future) since I got it on Xmas day. You have described the advantages and disadvantages well. I do have a weird feeling that the first USB port (the one nearest to you) work faster than the 2nd one (I know.. I am mad ;p). The big thing for me now is to try to spend my time finding and getting use to software that I used to use in Windows. For example, I used HyperSnap a lot but cannot find a good equivalent (free) one in OSX. In the end, I used Pixelmator and is still struggling with it. I will install VM Fusion + Windows 7 in the end too as I need to use some trading software that absolutely has no Mac version + also I need to use Microsoft Money :) End of day, I love my Mac :) I agreed. I love my Macbook Pro (also basic configuration, not even an upgrade of RAM and hard disk.. something I might do in the far future) since I got it on Xmas day. You have described the advantages and disadvantages well. I do have a weird feeling that the first USB port (the one nearest to you) work faster than the 2nd one (I know.. I am mad ;p).

The big thing for me now is to try to spend my time finding and getting use to software that I used to use in Windows. For example, I used HyperSnap a lot but cannot find a good equivalent (free) one in OSX. In the end, I used Pixelmator and is still struggling with it.

I will install VM Fusion + Windows 7 in the end too as I need to use some trading software that absolutely has no Mac version + also I need to use Microsoft Money :)

End of day, I love my Mac :)

]]> Comment on My Long Awaited MacBook by Mart http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/27/my-long-awaited-macbook/comment-page-1/#comment-567 Mart Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:25:04 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1251#comment-567 @ Luke: Buy buy buy! :D It's US$999 with free shipping from the Apple online store, or about five hundred cups of coffee only! Or you can probably wait a while for the MacBook Pro refresh with Core i7 mobile CPUs. @ Luke: Buy buy buy! :D It’s US$999 with free shipping from the Apple online store, or about five hundred cups of coffee only! Or you can probably wait a while for the MacBook Pro refresh with Core i7 mobile CPUs.

]]> Comment on My Long Awaited MacBook by Luke Maciak http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/2009/12/27/my-long-awaited-macbook/comment-page-1/#comment-566 Luke Maciak Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:46:46 +0000 http://thesingaporeangamer.com/blog/?p=1251#comment-566 Awesome! Congratulations. I'm jealous now - I want one too! :) Awesome! Congratulations. I’m jealous now – I want one too! :)

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