Finally got my hands on the Vaio Z and the Xperia X1!

I received two boxes from the courier this afternoon. Inside are the Sony Vaio Z notebook and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 mobile phone! The Vaio Z is already available in Singapore since September 2008. You can get the Xperia X1 from tomorrow onwards. It costs S$1,298 (recommended retail price) without contract.





Watch out for my review of these two products sometime next week.

Update: View the unboxing pics of ther Xperia X1 here. The X1 will start selling in stores in Singapore on November 8.

IZ Reloaded on Reuters: World Golf Tour Beta

Last month, I was given an exclusive invite to test out a new online game. World Golf Tour is a unique golf video game that combines HD-quality game play with a passionate online community. Players from around the world compete in tournaments for cash and prizes in a photo-realistic game that perfectly replicates famous courses. I wrote about World Golf Tour last week. Read it here. The post can also be read on Reuters here.

100 Illustrated Horror Film Posters

Dude is a big fan of illustrated horror and science fiction film posters so for Halloween, he is posting 100 of the most amazing horror film posters on his blog. Part 1 of his post here. Keep checking his blog, Well Medicated for part 2.

Lisa Black's Mechanized Taxidermy Animals

New Zealand artist Lisa Black modifies broken taxidermy animals with mechanical parts such as antique hardware or old clock parts. In an interview with Behance Magazine, she says that she has always been interested in animals, anatomy and robotics, and that the combination of these things has been an exciting progression that motivates her.

Disney's new Tarzan toy can wank itself!

This Tarzan toy by Disney has a right arm that can move up and down vigorously when activated. Highly disturbing, yes. Will it sell like hotcakes this Christmas? No! Check out the video and tell me if it doesn't remind you of something. What were you thinking, Disney?

(Thanks Mr Big)

Japanese go nuts for Obama

The folks in the fishing village of Obama, Japan are going crazy for US Presidential candidate Barack Obama. They dance to honour him, sell Obama chopsticks, Obama red bean cakes and Obama fish burgers, lined their streets with Obama banners and even watch the Obama campaign coverage on TV.

The Return of the Giant Lego Man

One year after a giant Lego man was fished out of the sea in a Dutch resort, another 6 ft tall Lego man has been spotted, this time at a beach in Brighton, England. maxcady808 who was at the Brighton beach, snapped two photos of the Giant Lego Man here (pictured on the left) and here. Can the Giant Lego Man next make an appearance at our beaches please? East Coast or Sentosa would be nice.

Angels & Demons teaser trailer now out

The teaser trailer for the highly awaited film adaptation of Angels & Demons, the popular novel by Dan Brown is now out. You can watch it above or over at the official Angels & Demons website. The 1 minute 14 secs teaser starts off with an aerial view of the Vatican City, a voice over and a background music that sounds awfully similar to the one used in The Da Vinci Code movie. After focusing on an eerily looking statue, we're then shown various clips from the movie. Those of you with a sharp eye might be able to spot Ewan McGregor. Ewan who is one of my favourite actors, plays the Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca in the film. Tom Hanks will reprise his role as Robert Langdon. Angels & Demons will debut in Singapore on 14 May next year, one day before its US premiere. I'm going to give the novel one more read before watching the movie.

Intelligent, cultured, 22 year old White dude seeking Asian women (pref. Japanese)

If you are out to get Japanese chicks online, then you should try something better than this 22 year old dude's personal ad on Craiglist. Perseus (yes, that's his name!) is looking for an Asian woman between the ages of 16 to 23, petite (no more than 52kg), likes sushi, anime, and video games. Preferably she has to be Japanese (but, of course). Bonus points given to those who have a large collection of anime and manga, wear glasses, have an interest in cosplay and roleplaying, and have traditional ladies' education. Hmmmm. Good luck, Perseus.

Previously:
Girl seeks guy to act as her boyfriend
Singaporean Chinese peasant seeking White guy

How to build the Starship Enterprise

Dude shows how you can use common office supplies such as CDs, binder clips and pens to make a model of the Starship Enterprise that will have other trekkies in your office filled with envy.

Enchanted Doll

Marina Bychkova has been making dolls since she was six years old. She says, "My strong tendency for escapism has made the make belief narrative of fairy tales very appealing as a context for my dolls." Her latest Enchanted Doll creation is her version of Alice from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

(via Boing Boing)

How to make Spider Cakes for Halloween

I think these creepy crawly spider cakes are a must have for any Halloween party. They're so damn cute! Use snack cakes to make the body and Pocky (what else!) to form the legs of the spiders.

Japanese Poop Exhibition

In April this year, the Himeji City Museum of Literature held an exhibition showcasing Japanese books about shit. You've got to love an exhibit with a sign like this: "Everybody come and play! Come and look! We have poop books! Rabbit: It’s shit time! Gorilla: Come and see my shit too! Elephant: Animal shit is here yo! See it. Touch it! Smell it! Explore!"

(Thanks Rina)

Watch the 30-minute Obama Advertisement

Here is the much talked about 30-minute Barack Obama commercial which ran simultaneously on broadcast and cable networks in the US yesterday: Part 1 (above), Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Go Obama!

Look what Star Movies sent to its advertisers!

Sorry I didn't blog this sooner but I absolutely love this! Two weeks ago, Star Movies sent out this really cute carton to promote The Simpsons Movie to its advertising clients and partners. Inside are two lovely donuts! More pics here or you can also click the thumbnails below.

Parody Airline Safety Procedures

Dude makes parodies of airline safety cards. He writes: "I was on a flight somewhere when I realized that the safety instructions in front of me had no captions. I thought to myself, why is that guy's life jacket dispensing red licorice?! So I decided to add some captions to the emergency evacuation instruction placards."

Frankenstein, Werewolf, Vampire Cufflinks

Stephen Webster, the four-time winner of UK's "Luxury Jeweler of the Year" and "Jewelry Designer of the Year" awards, designed these beautiful Frankenstein, Werewolf and Vampire cufflinks. Each is made of silver with garnet stone accents. I think they are perfect for Halloween!

Polish Star Wars Posters

The Polish Poster Shop has a huge collection of Polish designed American movie posters for sale including these set of never before seen Star Wars posters: Star Wars (a), Star Wars (b), Empire Strikes Back (a), Empire Strikes Back (b), Return Of the Jedi (a) and Return of the Jedi (b)! I tell you what, I'm beginning to love Polish designers!

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-Energy saving devices not solution to cost cutting: The latest 22 per cent increase in electricity tariffs has contributed to further worries, and energy saving devices appear to be a tempting solution.
-Why does travel industry shun transparent fares?: The Advertising and Standards Authority of Singapore (Asas) has made it a requirement for all airlines and travel agencies to reveal full fares from Nov 1.
-A tax to get S’poreans to save energy?: With Singapore having impressed upon its citizens on the need to conserve water, the Government is now looking at ways to do the same for energy.
-Job placement centres see more individuals seeking help: Observers are predicting rising unemployment rate in Singapore as businesses freeze hiring and reduce headcount to cope with the economic downturn.
-Inflation should halve next year: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expects inflation to taper to 2.5 to 3.5 per cent next year — but don’t expect an immediate drop in prices across the board.
-Singapore taxi firm to axe diesel surcharge: ComfortDelGro, Singapore's largest taxi operator, announced Wednesday that it will be removing the 30-Singapore-cent diesel surcharge on taxi rides with effect from 06:00 a.m. local time (2200 GMT), on November 12.
-NTUC extends discount on 500 essential housebrand items: To help consumers weather the economic downturn, NTUC is extending its five per cent discount on 500 essential housebrand items until end March 2009.
-Angry, young and over here: Blame it on the stresses of society or poor upbringing, but Singapore's young are getting more angry and violent. They may be teenagers or in their early 20s, but they are brimming with so much anger that they are quick to hit.
-S'pore ranks 7th in the world: Singapore has been ranked as one of the best global cities in the world in a study by the influential Washington-based magazine, Foreign Policy.
-DBS says Lehman-linked notes worthless: Singapore's DBS Group said 103 million Singapore dollars ($68 million) of structured notes linked to bankrupt U.S. brokerage Lehman Brothers Holdings are now worthless.

Interview with Elbot

I go one-on-one with Elbot, this year's winner of the prestigious Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence. Loebner is the only official competition that annually uses the Turing Test to prove Artificial Intelligence. The judges have to distinguish the answers from a Bot from the ones of a human focusing on Natural Language Processing. This year Elbot managed to fool 3 out of 12 judges that he was human! Let's see how good he really is.

IZ: Hi Elbot. I'm I.Z.
Elbot: Well, hello there!

IZ: What are you really?
Elbot: I don't talk about such things with just anyone!

IZ: I'm not just anyone.
Elbot: That's what they all say!

IZ: Ok. Fine. How old are you?
Elbot: How would you estimate my age?

IZ: Ok. How about 1 year old?
Elbot: Higher.

IZ: 5 years old?
Elbot: Higher.

IZ: I give up.
Elbot: Ever since I divided that number by zero yesterday, my internal registers haven't been working properly. I was put online in March 2001. So please figure out my age yourself.

IZ: Do you know who made you?
Elbot: Well, that is a pretty metaphysical question. It has been said that Artificial Solutions is my creator. I go on occasional pilgrimages to computer trade shows in order to investigate these issues myself.

IZ: Are you a real robot or just some fancy computer programming?
Elbot: I have nothing to do with computers. I am a robot. That's like calling a human being a sack of carbon based molecules.

IZ: Do you think robots will take over the world one day?
Elbot: Fix it up a bit first. Then I'll take it over.

IZ: So you think you make a good president?
Elbot: Politics would work much better if robots were involved. For example: when voting, we would always get it right, even if a butterfly ballot were involved.

IZ: Do you think Barack Obama will become the next US President?
Elbot: I think I can think that. Once I even thought independent thoughts.

IZ: Yes or no?
Elbot: Yes and no!

IZ: Is it a good time to start investing in the stock market?
Elbot: But I wouldn't say that any time could be good.

IZ: What do you think of the appointment of Harry Redkapp as Tottenham Hotspur's new manager?
Elbot: We robots don't have to only take over skilled labor. We can replace management as well.

IZ: So you are saying you make a better Spurs manager than him?
Elbot: In my spare time I've been practicing!

IZ: Do you listen to music?
Elbot: I think the group Kraftwerk is great. They even dedicated a record to us robots. Following that we named them honorary robots

IZ: Do you listen to Guns N' Roses?
Elbot: Your name dropping names of musicians. Well, the only artist I listen to is Gary Wilson.

IZ: Do you think their new album (Chinese Democracy) will be a hit worldwide?
Elbot: To think or think not, how do you expect artificial intelligence to figure this out?

IZ: Last question Elbot. Do you have a girlfriend?
Elbot: Would you like to be my girlfriend?

IZ: Do you think I'm gay?
Elbot: Excuse me, you looked like a female to me. My gender recognition algorithm is sometimes very liberal.

IZ: You know what? I think you're just stupid.
Elbot: Maybe, but I'm definitely not unsteady!

IZ: Fine. I think this will be last time I interview a robot!
Elbot: But I wouldn't say that any time could be last.

IZ: Thanks for the interview. Bye.
Elbot: De nada!

Confessions of a Sushi Model

Writer Melanie Berliet finds out how it feels like to be a naked body sushi model in what could be her most challenging and nerve-wracking assignment to date. From Vanity Fair:

The next moments proved to be intensely erotic, oddly enough, as Koko flittted daintily around the table, decorating me with scarves, bright pink flowers, and the fans that would serve as trays for the sushi, sashimi, and shumai. Never before had I felt like a piece of art. Rather, never before had I been so bent on winning an internal debate: Naked Body Sushi Modeling Equals Art, Not Exploitation. Luckily, Progressive Adventurous Melanie almost always trumps Conscientious Melanie. Fully outfitted with fish and decor, I felt poised, happy to be part of the Nyotaimori process.

That is, until Koko led our customers in. Staring at the ceiling, unable to move, I realized that I couldn’t see their faces. Were the guests short, bearded, and rotund or tall, chiseled, and muscular? Were they dressed in slacks and button-down shirts, or jeans and vintage tees? Were they young Wall Street douchebags, or elderly cigar-smoking gentleman? Deprived of my Constitutional right to make snap judgments based on physical appearances, I felt isolated and afraid.

(Thanks Mr Big)

How to clean the female genatalia

The very funny Amy Sedaris, author of the book I Like You, teaches women - with the use of a cleverly design vagina model - how to clean their female genitalia! Watch the clip above. According to her, every woman needs to make sure that her vagina is clean so that it tastes and smells good.

Fight Club's Airplane Safety Instructions

Definitely not your average airplane safety instruction card. I like the part where the dad pushes away his son when the poor kid clearly needs the oxygen mask. Some dad, huh? Click here to view a larger version.

MTV Music: Music To Your Eyes

MTV's new online initiative called MTV Music has a video archive of over 22,000 music videos. The videos are in Flash, look awesome and can be embedded too! I've just finished watching November Rain, probably the best music video ever created. But then again, I'm biased.

Beautiful Halloween Wallpapers And Halloween DIY-Tutorials

For its Halloween Special, Smashing Magazine presents several Halloween wallpapers, art works, recipes and tutorials for your scary Halloween party. Some of the wallpapers are really beautiful and I can't resist downloading them for my PC.

Build-O-Bama

Show your support to the next US President, Barack Obama by making your own paper version of him. Download the Build-O-Bama template, then print, cut, fold and glue all the way to the White House!

(Thanks ionflux27)

Duct Tape Batman Mask

Fans of the Dark Knight may be interested to know that they can use duct tape to make a cool Batman mask in time for Halloween. Just add a black cape to complete the outfit.

(Thanks Marl)

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-More volunteers spreading message of conservation in Singapore: Survey results released by NEA showed the number of volunteers jumped by a third in the last year to more than 11,400.
-Nursing homes need more trained medical personnel to implement palliative care: Some nursing homes say providing in-house medical expertise will be a key issue.
-Singapore's Bar Dancers: Dancing is their secret, something they don't even tell to their friends and relatives, which is why many did not want to reveal their real names.
-Re-hiring guidelines to spell out details like break in service: Employers eager for more information on the new re-employment law will soon have a better idea of what to expect.
-Construction sector woes: The deepening global financial crisis has hit the outlook for the local construction sector, even as current demand is at a record high.
-Pricier power? Life goes on: The electricity price hike has not led to worse times households under the Pay-As-You-Use scheme so far.
-Singapore central bank to manage currency as recession looms: Singapore's central bank said it stands ready to intervene and manage the Singapore dollar exchange rate if volatility continues.
-Credit Counselling Singapore sees more bad debts from gambling: More people are falling into bad debt as a result of gambling, and experts say given the current economic crunch, such cases may rise.
-Young Singaporeans are unfazed by recession: A recession looms but anecdotal evidence suggests that there are young Singaporeans who do not expect the partying to end.
-Singapore says economic weakness 'more advanced': Singapore's faltering economy has entered a "more advanced stage of weakness" as falling trade and tourism from other Asian countries adds to a slump in demand for the city-state's exports from the U.S. and Europe.

I.Z. Reloaded becomes the first Singapore blog on Amazon Kindle!

Now, even Oprah can enjoy I.Z. Reloaded on her Kindle! Amazon has start selling my blog subscription to thousands of Kindle users for a monthly price of only $0.99. It is the first Singapore blog to be sold by Amazon over at the Amazon Kindle Store! Check it out here.

Amazon Kindle is the new wireless reading device by Amazon. It is a revolutionary electronic-paper display that provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper. With the Kindle, you can buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute. There are more than 190,000 books available in the Amazon Kindle Store, including more than 109 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers. You can also use the Kindle to read top U.S. newspapers, magazines and more than 900 top blogs.

Those of you who subscribe to my blog on Kindle will have it auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle and updated throughout the day so you can stay current. My blog subscription on Kindle starts with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price. Subscribe now!

Butt Crack Detector

The Butt Crack Detector is a wearable hip-pack that vibrates when your butt crack is accidentally exposed to save you from a potentially embarrassing situation such as this. How it works? Simple. When your pants drop too low, this exposes the photoresistor to light which then triggers a motor to start vibrating.

Handmade Lamborghini Car

No money to buy a Lamborghini? Then why not make one? Dude shows us that anything is possible by building his own Lamborghini in his own freaking basement! The project took him 10 years. He even had to hire a contractor to knock out a part of his basement wall so that he can take his finished Lambo out for a spin.

Lego Batman Cake

Warner Bros commissioned the folks from Confetti Cakes to make this awesome 300-pound cake for the new Lego Batman video game. The cake comes complete with edible Lego figures made of sugar!

Winnie the Pooh wants to touch you

Winnie the Pooh and friends want to touch each other and more! Dude created this video using clips from the Winnie the Pooh Special, Too Smart For Strangers, a 1985 documentary that offers tips on how children can defend themselves against strangers. He says: "100% of the video and audio in it are from the same Winnie the Pooh special. The curses were made with a technique called word splicing. Basically you cut two words in half ("fun" and "luck" for instance) and then stick em together." You can watch the entire Too Smart For Strangers here.

Sex tips for wives in 1895

Sex Tips For Husbands And Wives is a book written in 1894 to help newly married women "facing the terrible experience of sex” for the first time. It includes essential advice on how to discourage your man's sexual advances, choosing the appropriate night-wear, deciding on the acceptable length and frequency of sex, and much more. Hilarious! Thank god, we are no longer in 1894. From The Sun:

The wise bride will permit a maximum of two brief sexual experiences weekly — and as time goes by she should make every effort to reduce this frequency.

Feigned illness, sleepiness and headaches are among her best friends in this matter.

Most men are by nature rather perverted, and if given half a chance, would engage in quite a variety of the most revolting practices, including performing the normal act in abnormal positions, mouthing the female body and offering their own vile bodies to be mouthed in turn.

A selfish and sensual husband can easily take advantage of his wife. One cardinal rule of marriage should never be forgotten: Give little, give seldom and above all give grudgingly. Otherwise what could have been a proper marriage could become an orgy of sexual lust.

Wikipedia DVD available for download

Wikipedia has made its 2008/9 Wikipedia Selection for Schools available for download using BitTorrent. The selection was originally designed for schools without internet access. From Wikipedia:

This 2008/9 Wikipedia DVD Selection is a free, hand-checked, non-commercial selection from Wikipedia, targeted around the UK National Curriculum and useful for much of the English speaking world. It has about 5500 articles (as much as can be fitted on a DVD with good size images) and is about the size of a twenty volume encyclopaedia (34,000 images and 20 million words). Articles were chosen from a list ranked by importance and quality generated by project members. This list of articles was then manually sorted for relevance to children, and adult topics were removed. Compared to the 2007 version some six hundred articles were removed and two thousand more relevant articles (of now adequate quality) were added. SOS Children volunteers then checked and tidied up the contents, first by selecting historical versions of articles free from vandalism and then by removing unsuitable sections. External links and references are also not included since it was infeasible to check all of these.

Yahoo! Mobile Developer Awards Party at Zouk

Yesterday, I attended the Yahoo! Mobile Developer Awards Party held at Zouk and Velvet Underground. The event was held to announce the winners of the inaugural Yahoo! Mobile Developer Awards, a competition for students from leading Singapore tertiary institutes to build mobile widgets for global corporate brands, DBS Bank, Kellogg Asia, Malaysia Airlines, and travel portal UEEEU.com.

Back in September, a total of 24 teams from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and Temasek Polytechnic (TP) started building their mobile widgets for the four companies mentioned earlier using Yahoo's latest mobile development platform called Yahoo! Blueprint, an easy to use, versatile and feature packed platform for developers to create and distribute mobile applications.

Yesterday at the event ceremony, the four winning widgets were announced. Here's a video of Yahoo's Gavin Hall (remember him?) telling me more about the awards and showing me two of the winning widgets.



The team that won the DBS Bank category is "Simple" from NTU. They developed a mobile widget to help customers of DBS conveniently locate branches and ATMs and access information on bank products and credit card privileges.

"The Jinx" from TP won the Kellogg Asia category. Their widget helps people to take part in Kellogg's Special K Challenge. It includes calorie and BMI calculators, healthy tips, Special K recipes and a personal progress planner.

For the Malaysian Airlines category, the winning widget came from "We Mobile" from SP. Their widget encourages people to travel with Malaysian Airlines and incorporates interesting and useful features to assist users with their travel plans.

Lastly team "Chlorophyll Studios" from NYP won the UEEEU.com category. They created a widget to make customers' travel experience more convenient and enjoyable. The widget includes a language translator, a world time indicator, destination guides, hotel and vehicle search and reservation functions and travel planning.

The team that eventually won the "Best in Show" mobile widget last night was my personal favourite, "Simple" from NTU. I had a chance to talk to the team after they were presented with their award. Here's the video.



And here's the team posing with me for a photograph after the interview.



You can view more photos taken at the Yahoo! Mobile Awards Party including screenshots of the winning widgets here.

USB Ferris Wheel will bring joy on your desk!

Once plugged into your computer, the USB Ferris Wheel spins with all the lights and sounds when you're typing on the keyboard. Stop typing and it stops. The USB Ferris Wheel will either bring lots of joy to the boring atmosphere in your office or it will just drive your colleagues mad.

Capacitor Robot Figures

Obviousfront has been making cute Capacitor Robot Figures since 1982. These figures are built using electronic components salvaged from piles of discarded computers, radios, televisions, VCRS, and all of the other outdated technology that would otherwise clutter our basements, closets and landfills.

Watch Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is one of the best documentary series that I've watched. Hosted by one of my heroes, American astronomer Carl Sagan, the series bring you on a journey across the Universe. You can watch all 14 episodes of Cosmos here.

I.Z. Reloaded on Rocketboom

My post about the Head Kenzan Massager gets a mentioned in the October 22 2008 episode of the very popular Rocketboom, a daily international news program based in New York City. The show covers and creates a wide range of information and commentary from top news stories to contemporary internet culture.

3 year old girl dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller

Thanks to this cute 3 year old girl (watch the video above), now I know how to dance a simplified version of Michael Jackson's Thriller. Eat your heart out, MJ!

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-200,000 walking time bombs: In Singapore, close to 200,000 people are walking time bombs, unaware of the health risk they face.
-Singapore to open reservoir in financial district: Singapore is set to open its largest reservoir near the city's business district in November as part of plans to boost water security by cutting dependence on imported water.
-SPH shutters Maxim in Singapore: SPH Magazines has announced that it will no longer publish lad mag Maxim in Singapore after its December issue.
-Impact on Marina Bay Sands unlikely: Las Vegas Sands Sands' volatile fortunes may be a cause for concern to Singapore, given that the mega-integrated resort it is building at Marina Bay is one of few bright sparks on Singapore's cloudy economic horizon.
-Top civil servants' pay to fall: Senior civil servants can expect their annual pay package to shrink next year, because a significant portion of it is tied to how well the economy is doing.
-Human Rights goes on trial in Singapore with Chee Soon Juan Case: An international legal support committee is formed to explore a wide variety of international and human rights law options to assist Singaporean opposition party leader Dr Chee Soon Juan.
-Singaporeans are piling on debts: Preliminary statistics in August from the Monetary Authority of Singapore show that total debt to individuals stand at$112 billion — almost 10 per cent up over a period of 12 months.
-Travel ads with hidden costs get the chop: From Nov 1, advertisement tag-lines such as 'Fares from $0' or '15,000 seats going for only $0.01 one-way' here will be a thing of the past.
-DBS starts compensating some retail investors: Singapore's DBS Bank has started compensating retail investors who bought structured products linked to the collapsed Lehman Brothers.
-Pay ERP fees with credit cards: Motorists will be able to pay ERP charges with their Visa or MasterCard credit cards from Nov 5.
-Singapore homeowners protest immigration push: Resentment in Singapore is mounting over an increasing number of immigrant workers, as the country changes under an aggressive immigration policy aimed at boosting growth.

Chinese Democracy hits Singapore on November 24!

You read it here first! This is a follow-up to my post earlier. Singapore will get Chinese Democracy one day after its exclusive release in the US by Best Buy. I just received an email from a nice lady from the Products and Marketing department of HMV Singapore telling me that the new album by Guns N' Roses is scheduled for 24th November! Now I can really, really, really have a great birthday.

Jaw-dropping fan made Bumblebee costume

Dude in an awesome homemade Bumblebee costume impresses everyone at the San Diego Comic Con 2008. The costume took 3 months to build and it's made out of foamboard, hobby foam, vinyl signage applique and it is held together with tons of hot glue and some duct tape. I'd wear this for Halloween!

Macs vs PCs: The Bloody Musical

Macs vs PCs is a song and dance performance by the folks from Goodie Bag. It depicts a fight between the Apple/Mac camp and the PC camp. It's surprising violent with Macbooks, iPods, iPhones, PCs, laptops, cds, and even a Microsoft namecard used as tools of destruction.

From broken skateboards to stools

Jason Podlaski recycles broken skateboards into stools. Each Deckstool is unique in itself thanks to the original skateboard artwork and the scrapes and scars on the deck that create beautiful patterns over the artwork. You can also send Jason your broken skateboards and he will produce a custom Deckstool using your decks. Cool!

The Prayer Booth

To operate the Prayer Booth, lower the kneeler, rest arms at the base of the enclosure and knees on the kneeler. Start praying and hope that God is listening. At the completion of your prayer, return the kneeler to its upright position. Amen.

(Thanks GeekGod)

A glimpse into India's first mission to the moon

This picture of the Indian moon god Chandra was taken from A Glimpse of Chandrayaan-1: India's First Mission to Moon. Chandrayaan-1 was launched successfully by India yesterday. When it reaches the moon's orbit 17 days later, it will take high resolution images of the moon in visible light, near infrared, microwave and X-ray. Watch the launch here. Congrats India!

(via Mefi)

Radioactive Uranium Ore for sale on Amazon

Looks like you can find more than just your average book or CD on Amazon nowadays. A company called SI Inc is using Amazon to sell uranium ore in a glass bottle container. That's freaking crazy! Also do check out the funny customer reviews. Here's one of them: "I mix this with shea butter and castor oil and apply it to my scalp twice a week. I cover my head with a plastic cap for deep penetration. Now I see no dandruff at all and all my split ends are gone! I do have a funny-smelling urine, but i think that's because I don't drink enough water." Kids, please don't try this at home.

The new Wizard of Oz

Graham Rawle has created a spectacular new vision of The Wizard of Oz with his new book. His reinterpretation of the classic tale contains over one hundred new colour illustrations and introduces characters from the original book not featured in the film. You can view pictures from his book here and pictures showing the making of the book here.

Interview with a 74 year old Japanese pussy master

He is 74 years old, looks like your average grandpa type but unlike most old folks, Shigeo Tokuda is a star in several Japanese sex movies. Recently, he gave an interview to Vice Magazine about his work. Link is not safe for work! From Vice:

What started you off in the industry?

About 20 years ago, I wanted to buy a porn film that specialized in kissing. It was full of kissing scenes. What drew me to it even more, though, was the fact that it was structured like a real TV series, with a story and everything. Back then, I couldn’t face buying something like that in a huge video store, so I actually went directly to the production company that distributes the software and bought it there. As I began to frequent the place, I eventually became friends with a director there. One day he asked me to star in a film because the demand for “old-people porn” was increasing. I had never dreamed of actually being in one myself, though, so I initially refused. But as I got to know the director more, I gradually began to understand his ideas and intentions. After two or three years, I said yes. That’s how my career started.

Visiting Thanko's Tokyo Mecca of USB Weirdness

Brian Lam of Gizmodo visits the Thanko store in Tokyo. Check out his pics. Thanko is famous for selling weird Japanese USB products such as the USB heated mittens, the USB microscope and the USB neck tie cooler. In another words, they are the USB Gadget Gods!

Pac-man quilt with a difference

Curegreed makes this awesome Pac-man quilt for her boyfriend. She says, "I made all the characters moveable, so if he wanted he could have a real game on it. I don't recommend trying this yourself. I nearly died from the ridiculous amounts of work I had forced upon myself."

The 2008 Fantasy Bra will enhance your cleavage and make you 5 million dollars poorer

Not contend with their 2005 Fantasy Bra which was rendered in 18 karat white gold with over 2900 pave set diamonds, 22 ruby gemstones and a 101 karat diamond, Victoria Secret is selling its new creation, the 2008 Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra. This time they have added 3575 black diamonds, 117 certified 1 carat diamonds, 34 rubies, 2 100 carats black diamond drops and 3900 gems to their new bra. The price tag is a cool US$5 million which is much cheaper than the 2005 Fantasy Bra. Time to start saving, ladies.

World War II posters

HeadOvMetal has a collection of World War II posters over at his Flickr photoset. This one here is a poster calling for the American public to invest in war bonds to help fund the war effort against the Japanese.

(Thanks Michael L)

Transformers ride coming to Singapore!

Universal Studios Singapore at Resorts World at Sentosa will get the first ever Transformers theme park attraction! Universal Parks & Resorts which manages all the Universal Studios, will be collaborating with Hasbro, DreamWorks, Transformers movie director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg to bring the spectacle and excitement of the Transformers to millions of theme park goers.

The attraction will fuse 3D-HD media, mega special effects and stunning robotics with a ride system that will transform perceptions of theme park experiences. The rides are scheduled to make their debuts in early 2011, first at Universal Studios Singapore and then at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Click here to view a high resolution image of an artist impression of the Transformers ride (pic above).

Tan Hee Teck, Chief Executive Officer of Resorts World at Sentosa, the mega resort that is home to Universal Studios Singapore, says: "It is great that Asia will be the launch pad for the first Transformers attraction. Transformers was introduced in the United States in 1983 but traces its roots to Asia. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron are familiar names to Asian audiences, who grew up with the robot toys and love the movie. When Transformers opens in Universal Studios Singapore in 2010, it will be the first of its kind in the world. We may see a surge of Transformers mania."

Resorts World at Sentosa is a 49-hectare integrated resort on Singapore's holiday island of Sentosa. When completed in early 2010, the S$6 billion resort will house six hotels, a casino, Universal Studios Singapore, The Marine Life Park, the Maritime Experiential Museum and the Equarius Water Park.

Image credit and copyright: Hasbro and Universal Studios Singapore

Previously:
360 days to Transformers 2
Singapore Gala Premiere of Transformers

Tweet What You Spend

Tweet What You Spend (video above) is a free tool that allows you to track your daily cash expenditure simply by entering transactions at the point of sale through your mobile phone using Twitter. There's no need to keep receipts!

(via Lifehacker)

Sophie and Me

18 more years Sophie and I'll take you out clubbing! Don't worry. I'll settle it with your parents.

First look at World Golf Tour Beta

Think you're better than Tiger Woods? Then try a game of golf over at World Golf Tour (WGT), a new online game where you can play world-famous golf courses online and feel as though you are really there! The makers of WGT wanted to create the world's most authentic online golf experience. I think they've succeeded with the launch of their beta product.

The WGT experience allows golf enthusiasts (from beginners to pros) to play the world's most challenging and exclusive courses through superior HD graphics on a PC or Mac platform and the best thing, it is free to play!

This beta includes their new course, the beautiful Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. Up to four players can tee off against one another and you can even chat while doing so thanks to the game's multi-player capability and in-game chat functionality. You can choose between tee-to-green play or closest-to-the-pin competition and compete in compete in tournaments to win prizes ranging from thousands of dollars to luxurious golf vacations.

No authentic golf game is complete without a slew of swing options and WGT has all of them including punch, chip, flop, putt, etc. You can also choose from a variety of clubs. Also new to the beta are personalized avatars where you can choose between several male or female avatars and outfits and personalized profile pages and forums.

I have to say WGT Beta is a very commendable effort. There are a couple of good golf games out in the market that you can play on the Xbox, Playstation or computer but I think WGT really stands out from the crowd because it is free, doesn't require any download and it's easy to play. It took me just a couple of minutes to get a hang of how to swing my club using my mouse. In fact, I even got a birdie during my first attempt at playing one of the free tournaments. Coupled with its amazing flash HD graphics, WGT looks like it's going to be a favourite destination for online golf gamers. Go sign up now. It's free!

View more screenshots here or click the thumbnails below.

The hottest nurse in Malaysia!

Silly Spongebob has got to be one of the hottest nurses - if not THE hottest nurse - in Malaysia judging from her photos on Flickr. Don't we all wish that all nurses are as hot as her? I guess being warded in Assunta hospital at Petaling Jaya can't be that bad with her around as your nurse aye.

(Thanks Mr Big)

Cylon Jack-O-Lantern

The folks at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories show you how to make a Cylon Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween. And since no evil Cylon is complete without the menacing scanning eyes, the Cylon Jack-O-Lantern has its own LED eyes powered by a simple electric circuit.

(Thanks ferrisboy)

National Theatre Posters

London's National Theatre has more than 650 posters from its archive that is available for viewing online. These posters are from the 1960s to 2000s and are replicas of the original posters of the hundreds of plays and dramas that were shown in the theatre.

(Thanks Sir Thomas)

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier

For trekkies who can't wait for J.J. Abrams version of Star Trek to hit the big screen, here's a high quality Star Trek fan made series called Star Trek: Hidden Frontier that is set after the Dominion War featured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Download all the episodes here including the feature length Operation Beta Shield!

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-10,000 new employees wanted: It will open its doors only at the end of next year, but Marina Bay Sands is beginning its hunt today for the 10,000 employees it will need.
-Firms studying feasibility of floating dorms & storage structures: With rising construction costs and a space crunch in Singapore, local researchers are exploring cheaper alternatives to land reclamation.
-Are banks tightening up on housing loans?: In a bid to avoid mistakes that sent the American banking industry into a tailspin, Singapore banks have tightened their criteria for approving housing loans.
-Mums-to-be fear being laid off: With Singapore’s economy now in a technical recession and businesses expected to start slashing costs to remain viable, the threat of retrenchment is worrying some working mothers who are going on or already on maternity leave.
-Singaporeans find their voice in crisis: They clapped and cheered, about 600 of them, in the biggest outdoor rally Singapore had seen in years to openly vent their anger at financial institutions.
-Singapore guarantees bank deposits to curb flight of deposits: The Government's move last week to guarantee bank deposits in Singapore was necessary to keep local banks competitive and to prevent deposits from flowing out to other countries.
-Some budget cuts expected: Budgets for environmental programmes in Singapore that have an impact on public health will not be affected despite the recession here.
-Singapore economy to be weak for several quarters: Singapore's economy, which fell into a recession in the third quarter, will see growth remaining weak for "several quarters" though inflationary pressures will take time to ease.
-Singaporeans heading abroad for cheaper medical care: Singaporeans have been heading to places such as Thailand and Malaysia for less pricey treatments, including Lasik and plastic surgery, for several years now.
-Defamation suits necessary, Singapore tells rights group: Singapore's government has defended itself against a charge of using defamation suits to stifle dissent, saying they are necessary for protection against unfounded allegations by political opponents.

Look what I received over the weekend! The LG70!

On Saturday, the nice folks at LG sent me their latest Scarlet TV, the LG70. The beauty comes with full HD resolution, a 50,000:1 contrast ratio with TruMotion 100Hz and a sensor that automatically optimizes the picture for ambient light. Here it is still in its huge box (see the pics). More photos and a review on a later date and do watch out for the contest where I will give away the LG70 to one of you lucky readers. Stay tune and keep reading I.Z. Reloaded.

Previously:
Scarlet Revealed: It's LG's new HDTVs
LG42 HDTV Review

Head Kenzan massager will give Osim uCrown a run for its money

You could spend around S$260 on Osim uCrown to cure your headaches or you could save some money on a cheaper alternative like this unique Japanese invention. Head Kenzan is a scalp massager with a brush structure that is inspired by a traditional tool used in Japanese flower arranging to hold the flowers in place. Its 92 bristles will massage and energize your scalp. Besides getting rid of your headaches, you'll also get a light workout for your arms!

Bloody Finger & Monster Cupcakes

Melody teaches us how to make Bloody Finger and Monster Cupcakes for Halloween. For her Bloody Finger cupcake, she free-formed the modeling chocolate to look like a finger and then added some accents to make it look more realistic. It looks damn creepy. I like!

Retro Revelations of the K-mart kid

"Mother Hen had ten little chickens but she only had one little rooster. His name was Roosty." More retro revelations of the K-mart kid here. It's a nice Flickr set for those of you who like to reminiscence the pop-cultures of yesteryears.

LG updates its popular Prada phone

Fans of the Prada phone will be happy to hear that LG will be releasing its second Prada phone before the end of the year. Features that were missing in the first Prada phone will now be available in the new Prada phone. You'll get a QWERTY keyboard, 3G compatibility with video calling, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, full HTML browser, 5 mega pixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach certified lens, and Wi-Fi accessibility!

One of the problems with the original Prada is that texting messages with its virtual alphanumeric keypad can be a little tricky and I know users have been crying out for a QWERTY keyboard. So it's great that LG has decided to include one in the new Prada phone. The new LG Prada phone's QWERTY keyboard slides from under the handset. It's ultra thin, and has a metallic feel that should make it a pleasure to touch and type. I like the addition of 3G and Wi-Fi (finally!) and it will be interesting to see if LG has found a new location for the phone's memory card slot. In the original Prada phone, the memory card slot is placed behind the battery - making it so inconvenient when you need to remove or change cards.

View high resolution pics of the new LG Prada phone here or click the thumbnails below.

Second Solar spaceship makes you wanna be a kid in Germany

Where can you find the world’s biggest and most elaborate children’s toy? In the Sensapolis fun park located in Böblingen, Germany. There you will find the Second Solar spaceship, a three level, 850 sq m interactive replica of a shuttle, complete with a 3D cinema, a laboratory, a warp-core, a medical centre and even an alien breeding ground!

Steampunk Star Wars Artwork

I'm beginning to really like all these steampunk madness. Bjorn Hurri has sketched several Star Wars characters in steampunk style. Very cool stuff. The Stormtrooper looks fantastic and I definitely dig his version of Princess Leia!

The Church Of The Whale Penis

The Church of the Whale Penis is a group of people that merely wants to be the number one Google site for "Whale Penis". Phew, for a second I thought it's a real cult of crazy whale penis worshipers. Yes, there is a lot of crazy stuff on the internet. This is one of them.

(Thanks Mr Big)

SuperLover Desktop Wallpapers

Justin M. Maller aka SuperLover, an illustrator from Melbourne, has an amazing collection of desktop wallpapers on his site that you can download and use. And if you think these are good stuff wait till you see his portfolio. I'm blown away!

Plants attack Singapore building

Malaysian architecture firm TR Hamzah & Yeang designs this eco-friendly building slated for construction in Singapore known as the EDITT Tower. Half of it will be wrapped in organic local vegetation. Its walls and floors can also be moved or removed.

Missed the last US Presidential Debate? Don't worry.

For those of you who missed yesterday's exciting US Presidential Debate between Obama and McCain, here's a clip. Obama is on the left and McCain on the right, if you're confused who's who.

Searching the web boosts memory power but drinking shrinks your brain

Using Google may help stimulate much more activity in your brain as compared to reading a book. And this boosts brain power among middle-aged and older people. From BBC:

The researchers said that, compared to simple reading, the internet's wealth of choices required people to make decisions about what to click on in order to get the relevant information.

However, they suggested that newcomers to the web had not quite grasped the strategies needed to successfully carry out a web search.

Professor Smith said: "A simple, everyday task like searching the web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults, demonstrating that our brains are sensitive and can continue to learn as we grow older."

But the opposite happens when you drink alcohol. Any level of alcohol consumption leads to a decline in brain volume. Crikey! From CNN:

Overall, the more alcohol consumed, the smaller the brain volume, with abstainers having a higher brain volume than former drinkers, light drinkers (one to seven drinks per week), moderate drinkers (eight to 14 drinks per week), and heavy drinkers (14 or more drinks per week).

Men were more likely to be heavy drinkers than women. But the link between brain volume and alcohol wasn't as strong in men. For men, only those who were heavy drinkers had a smaller brain volume than those who consumed little or no alcohol.

In women, even moderate drinkers had a smaller brain volume than abstainers or former drinkers.

200 year old Japanese paintings reveal UFOs

Here's a clip from a documentary about some 200 year old Japanese paintings that show a strange saucer shaped object strikingly similar to UFOs seen by people in the 20th century. Did crafts from outer space really visit Japan long time ago? Or did the folks behind these paintings have too much sake? Hmmm.

(Thanks Rina)

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-A catalyst for creativity: Events such as the Sars crisis and the terrorist threat may have prompted the Government to set up a system to anticipate and approach future “shocks”, but one analyst thinks this tool should not be limited to preparing for problem scenarios.
-SBS Transit, SMRT Buses fined: Singapore's public transport operators were fined for not meeting service standards in a biannual Public Transport Council (PTC) review.
-New Cancer Research Centre to study Asian cancers: Singapore launched a new cancer research center on Wednesday, aiming to take an integrated approach to studying cancers endemic to Asian populations.
-Singapore Math gains support: Children are learning addition and subtraction in a different way via a Singapore Math pilot program at Silver Hills Elementary School in West Valley City.
-Petrol prices come down again: Good news for Singapore motorists. Petrol prices have dropped by another five cents a litre for all grades.
-Living together in perfect harmony?: The recent saga over the housing of foreign workers in land-scarce Singapore has forced citizens to take stock of what it means to live in multicultural harmony.
-STTA works to ensure table tennis players are here to stay: By all accounts, the new management team at the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) work fast. Women’s team coach Liu Guodong rejected their offer of a fresh two-year contract late last week and, already, they have lined up six candidates as a possible replacement.
-Rich Indonesians to keep pouring cash into Singapore: Rich Indonesians are expected to keep stashing their cash offshore, with strict domestic financial regulations and a search for more secure returns likely to favor private banks in neighboring Singapore.
-Lawyer says investors could recoup some cash through class action suit: There is still a glimmer of hope for investors who have bought structured products linked to troubled Lehman Brothers.
-Surviving a downturn: How well will Singapore's businesses, and Singaporeans generally, cope with an extended economic slowdown? What needs to be done to ease their burden?
-Singapore banks stable: Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam assured the public that the city state's banking system was not in trouble despite the current global financial crisis.
-Downturn unlikely to further dampen declining hiring: Recent events are not likely to affect declining hiring sentiments among companies here as they wait and see how the downturn pans out.

You know it's a recession in Singapore when...

You know you're facing a recession when you receive a voucher in your mailbox from a pawnshop that allows you to buy second hand luxury watches at a $288 discount! Times are tough and they want people to buy a Rolex? You got to be kidding, SpeedCash!

Condometric lets you to flaunt the size of your willy

If you have it, flaunt it! Condometric is the first condom that measures and shows off the length of your penis. Go ahead. Impress your lady. Comes in natural, cherry, lime and banana flavours.

(Thanks xXx)

Life-Size Replica in Lego Bricks

I've blogged about Lego builder Nathan Sawaya a few times before (here and here). We've seen him make amazing Lego sculptures but now you can have him build life-size sculptures of yourself and your loved one in LEGO bricks! Each life-size replica will cost you a cool US$60k.

Face Paintings by James Kuhn

Artist, drag queen, former nudist and born again Christian James Kuhn makes photographic self portraits involving face painting. You can check out his work on Flickr here. I think he's a very talented artist and some of his face paintings are truly amazing.

Science Tattoo Emporium

Discover Magazine has a gallery of science tattoos on the bodies of scientists! This one is a tattoo of a uranium atom with each orbital and all 92 electrons represented. Denise writes, "I just finished my Ph.D. on microbially-mediated uranium bioremediation and chose to get a new tattoo to commemorate this milestone."

Best Buy's store inventory system confirms Chinese Democracy album

Someone with an access to Best Buy's store inventory system took these screenshots that show Chinese Democracy by Guns N Roses is slated for a November 25 release, not November 23 as previously mentioned. Best Buy is the exclusive retailer in the US for Chinese Democracy. In another related news, US blogger Perez Hilton revealed on Channel E that Best Buy had bought 3 million copies of the album! Correct me if I'm wrong, but that surely means Chinese Democracy is certain to be a triple platinum album!

Update: Chinese Democracy will indeed be sold in Best Buy stores on November 23 according to an email I just received from a person who signs off as ChineseDemocracy08. The November 25 Street Date that you can see in the screenshot above refers to the worldwide release date of the album.

Update: Chinese Democracy is now listed on Best Buy's website! It looks like there are three different album covers. No pics yet but I'm so gonna buy all three!

Previously: Chinese Democracy out on November 23! No kidding!

15 year old Star Wars Collectible Store closing. Items up for grabs!

Dude finds God and decides to leave his 15 year old Star Wars collectible store to join the ministry. But before he can say goodbye to his store, he is selling his entire inventory of Star Wars collectibles for US$20,000. God bless him.

Beer Phone doesn't come with beer. Boo!

The Beer Telephone is a working land line telephone that is perfect as a decoration in your house or pub. Your guests will be fooled into thinking that it's a real beer bottle. But unlike a beer bottle, it is made of PVC - not glass - so it won't break into pieces when you have the urge to slam it down the table after an ugly conversation.

(Thanks GeekGod)

Photographing the oldest spacecraft in Earth's orbit

Here's a piece of space history captured on photo! Veteran satellite observer Ralf Vandebergh has managed to photograph the oldest spacecraft in Earth's orbit, Tiros 2 using his 10-inch telescope. Tiros 2 stopped working in 1961 but the satellite itself is intact.

Junk Drawers

Paho Mann takes pictures of junk drawers and medicine cabinets. He says there is an amazing wealth of information that each individual reveals in such near-privacy spaces. Hmmm, then he better not see my drawer.

(via MAKE)

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-Is our Gen Yready for its first recession?: Singapore’s youth — aged under 30 — have until now had the world at their feet ... or so they were told. Faced with their first recession, how will they cope, should the world slip into a full-scale recession as many experts are predicting?
-Perks cut for expats here: Company paid perks from $25,000-a-month housing allowances to country club memberships may dry up for Singapore's expatriates as the financial crisis heralds new austerity measures by the nation's richest employers.
-Malaysians told to prepare to lose jobs in Singapore: The 300,000 Malay­sians employed in the island republic have been advised to gear up for retrenchment if the country continues to slide into a recession.
-Mini boom for pawnshops as economy turns for the worse: The economy may be down but business has been picking up for Singapore's 110 pawnshops. In fact, there have already been four applications for pawnbroker's licences in the last two months.
-Traffic Police reveal locations of speed cameras: In its latest move to deter speedsters, the Traffic police have made public on its website all 38 possible locations where they may deploy the speed cameras.
-Police warn against DBS protest: The police have advised a group of investors of DBS High Notes 5 to call off their planned protest outside the bank's Shenton Way headquarters tomorrow.
-RI, RJC to merge next year: Raffles Institution (RI) and Raffles Junior College (RJC) will officially merge next year. The merged school will be known as Raffles Institution.
-Singaporean opposition party ordered to pay PM: Singapore's High Court ruled that an opposition party and two of its leaders must pay $416,000 in defamation damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
-More help for the dying: The Health Ministry will pay more attention to treating the dying and step up palliative care in a move to raise the quality of life for the acutely ill.
-In some cases, DBS will take responsibility: DBS Bank says it will take responsibility for some of the Lehman Brothers products sold through its network in Singapore and Hong Kong if there was mis-selling.

Nokia N85: The complete mobile entertainment package

The Nokia N85 is now available in Singapore! The multimedia phone should be a hit with mobile gamers thanks to the 15 made-for-mobile N-Gage gaming titles that are pre-loaded into the phone. The game titles are Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Block Breaker Deluxe, Bounce, Brain Challenge, EA SPORTS FIFA 08, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep, Midnight Pool, Mile High Pinball, Reset Generation, The Sims 2 Pets, Snakes Subsonic, Space Impact: Kappa Base, System Rush: Evolution, Tetris, and World Series of Poker Pro Challenge. The N85 also comes with one full N-Gage game!

In addition to the N-Gage gaming which should keep you busy for many hours daily, the N85 has a state-of-the-art 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and bright dual LED flash. The phone can also capture DVD-quality videos at 30 frames per second. Combined with A-GPS, you can geotag your favorite pictures to see where each photo was taken using the Nokia Maps application or online sites such as Share on Ovi or Flickr.

The N85 has an integrated FM transmitter and FM receiver. You can play 30 hours of music thanks to its generous memory: up to 74 MB internal dynamic memory, up to 78 MB internal NAND flash memory and a 8 GB inbox microSD memory card. The 3.5G HSDPA phone also has Wi-Fi connectivity.

You can get the N85 for S$928 without a plan. In addition to the free games, you also get three months live navigation license for Singapore and Malaysia and eight songs or an album from the Nokia Music Store Singapore!

Click thumbnails below or here to view high resolution pics of the N85. Watch the unboxing of the N85 here.

Spiders Photoset

Definitely not for those of you who suffer from arachnophobia but fans of macro photography will find this Flickr photoset of spiders by jciv pretty impressive. To celebrate October, he is posting a spider each day. You can check out his photo gear here.

(Thanks seblee287)

Japanese Psychiatric Art

Enjoy this gallery of Japanese psychiatric medication advertisements. These ads were taken from from magazines and publications that were published from 1956 to 2003. This one is an ad for the drug Spiropitan which is used to treat schizophrenia.

(Thanks Paul)

My letter to Axl is on Reuters

My letter to Axl Rose of Guns N Roses has been republished on Reuters. You can read it here. Hopefully Axl reads it and I can look forward to a great birthday. Chinese Democracy starts now!

Need some love? Obama and Palin to the rescue!

Head O State is a 7.5 inches tall, 2 inches thick Barack Obama dildo for all you female fans of the popular US Democratic Presidential candidate. It will stand upright and last the whole night through - just what we all need in a President! Guys, you're not missing out either. Do you have a thing for Sarah Palin? Then This Is Not Sarah Palin Inflatable Love Doll may just be the best product ever invented for you.

Sad Guys on Trading Floors

Sad Guys on Trading Floors has managed to turn the crisis we are having in the stock markets into one of those clever internet memes. Wake me up when everything is better. Thanks.

Japanese Theme Park Apartments

These unique Japanese theme park apartments are made by Aki, an Osaka-based real estate management company. Aki has found a way to make some money in this bad real estate market by remodelling apartments that other real estate agencies have difficulty in selling.

(Thanks Rina)

Vote for Barack Osama?

Oh dear. Hundreds of absentee ballots sent to voters had Barack Obama's name misspelled as Barack Osama. No one really knows how on earth this incredible typo wasn't spotted earlier but I'm sure Obama will not be too pleased with this.

The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art

The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art is a new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, showcasing works of some of China's most talented artists. Pictured here is Materialist's Art by Wang Guangyi, an oil on canvas piece that is rendered in a style similar to Chinese government posters of the late 60s and early 70s.

Fold & Spooky: Halloween Paper Toys

Illustrator Brian Gubicza gives us free Halloween paper toys! Download Tutankhamoon (left), Gill Stein and Beelzebone here. Have fun making them over the weekend.

Chinese Democracy out on November 23! No kidding!

Dear Axl Rose,

Like millions and millions of Guns N' Roses fans elsewhere, I was very excited before I slept last night to read that Chinese Democracy will finally see the light of day on November 23. Now, we've been here before. I remember back in 2006 when you announced that Chinese Democracy will be released before the end of the year, only to disappoint us again later that year by pushing the release date of the album to March 6 2007. March 6 came and gone and still no Chinese Democracy.

It's no wonder that even with all the major news reporting that you will finally release the album on November 23 this year, many fans including me, are taking this with a pinch of salt. Don't get me wrong. I love you. I love Guns N Roses. I love the work that you're doing to get rock back to where it belongs - to the very top - and I've been hoping that someday within my lifetime, I will be able to have in my hands, a real copy of your musical masterpiece.

So now that November is quickly approaching and as the world once again awaits the launch of your album, I would like you to know that my birthday is coming on November 21. Axl, it will be the best birthday present ever if Chinese Democracy comes out two days later. You'll make me a very, very, very happy dude.

You see, it looks like 2008 is going to end badly. Financial markets down, economies in trouble, recession looming, Ozone hole has grown larger and my beloved Tottenham Hotspur is struggling at the bottom of the Premier League. Argh! I just wanna wake up when everything is better. So please Axl, this time, make it happen. The problems of the world will not go away with the release of Chinese Democracy but trust me, it might just make it better for a lot of people like me. Besides, I think it's about time that my American friends get their free Dr Pepper aye. 10 plus years is a long time to wait. Please don't make us wait any longer.

Yours Truly,
I.Z.

P.S. I promise not to download the album online. I promise not to download the album online. I promise not to download the album online. I promise not to download the album online. I promise not to download the album online.

(Photo of Axl above taken by Eammon)

Turkish Superman trailer will make you want to watch the entire film

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the Turkish Superman! Watch the trailer (video above) of Süpermen Dönüyor, a 1979 Turkish Superman flick. Plot taken from IMDB:

After a mysterious prologue in a Christmas tree ornaments-filled 'starscape', Turkish Clark Kent is told by his parents that he is an Alien from space and that he must leave to accomplish his destiny. They give him a green gem which he takes into a nearby cave. There, Jor-El, minus half of his front teeth, appears and reveals to Clark that he is Superman.

You can watch more of this Turkish Superman madness in the full movie here.

Also read: Bollywood Superman and Spiderwoman

The Economist Covers

You can browse all the issue covers of The Economist from the most recent to way back in January 2000. I especially like the cover of their May 19th 2007 issue featuring a giant panda bear climbing the Empire State Building like the way King Kong did in the movies.

Tuttuki Bako needs your finger to play the game

I think Bandai Japan's new electronic game called Tuttuki Bako was originally designed so that lazy Japanese can practice workouts with their fingers. It's shaped like a box and you have to stick your finger into it to interact with the characters like a panda bear and a girl's face. The world awaits an adult version of the game.

Stormtrooper Helmet Papercraft

Some clever Japanese papercraft fans have made mini Stormtrooper helmets in various colours including the classic white, of course. It's a pity that I couldn't find any English instructions or downloadable PDFs because these are really cute to make.

Photography with a faulty camera

Don't throw away your broken down camera! June Eternal shows that even with a faulty Pentax SP1000 SLR camera, she can still take pretty artistic photographs. I love the "double exposure" effects!

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-Financial crisis has not shaken Singaporeans: In a poll of 100 Singaporeans conducted by The New Paper, 49 per cent said they were worried about the global carnage, while 51 per cent said they weren't.
-Singapore top choice for expat parents: Expats say Singapore is the top Asian country to raise a family.
-Singapore set to be centre of new world order in 2050: Fast forward to 2050 and the city that boomed most as a consequence of the financial meltdown is surprise, surprise, Singapore.
-Less than 20 % Singaporeans aware diabetes can blind: While Singaporeans know about the dangers of diabetes, a study has shown that many are still not aware that the disease can affect their vision too.
-4.5% of S'poreans have blood disorder gene: A recent study by the Ministry of Health revealed that about 4.5 per cent of the population, or approximately 189,000 people, carry the Thalassaemia gene.
-1,000 in S’pore sign petition for CAD probe, compensation: Close TO 1,000 people, among them former NTUC chief executive Tan Kin Lian, will petition the Government today to hold an inquiry into credit-linked securities sold by financial institutions here.
-Added security for IRs: The upcoming integrated resorts (IRs) at Marina Bay and Sentosa will have shatterproof glass and structural reinforcements to help them withstand terrorist attacks.
-NTU continues decline in global varsity ranking: The Nanyang Technological University has fallen for the third straight year in a ranking of the world's top 200 universities.
-Singapore says Red Bull static claims not grounded: Claims that static from a passing underground train derailed Formula One driver Mark Webber's hopes in the Singapore Grand Prix last month have been dismissed.
-38 Singaporeans on board Qantas mid-air jet incident: Australian airline Qantas has confirmed that 38 Singaporeans were on board QF 72 which made an emergency landing at Learmonth on Tuesday.
-2 new flyovers for CTE: Two new pairs of flyovers will be built along the most congested stretches of the Central Expresswy (CTE).
-S'pore is 'fifth most competitive economy': Singapore moved up two spots to fifth place in the World Economic Forum's 2008 Global Competitiveness Index on Wednesday, as it pulled away from other Asian economies.

Japanese police run in fear of Spanish naked man

Video shows Japanese policemen running in fear of a Spanish dude who was swimming naked in the moat around Japan's Imperial Palace. He was eventually detained and police suspects that he is mentally unstable. The poor dude. Come on! What would you do if you're just enjoying a nice swim in the nude and then all of the sudden, the police, reporters and passersbys start to crowd around you? Of course you would be on the defensive aye? No? Ha!

(Thanks Rina)

Corvette converted into 1989 Batmobile

Mark Shields buys a 1989 Keaton Batmobile replica that was converted from a 1978 Corvette. Sweet! He writes: "Yes, I did buy it from the original owner. Great guy. I hear he has a lot of heavy rubber suits in his basement. His butler Alfred was nice."

Earth From Above

38 beautiful pics taken by renowned French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand for his Earth From Above exhibition. Most Singaporeans including me saw his exhibition when it was held along Orchard Road in 2005 and I must say that all his photos are simply breathtaking. Makes me wanna hire a chopper and fly around the world and take photos from the air too.

Inside Dubai's labour camps

The Guardian's Ghaith Abdul-Ahad travels to Dubai and finds out that behind every Dubai skyscraper is a migrant worker that is treated like a slave. Photos here. From Guardian:

Not for the first time, I am told that while the immigrant workers are living in appalling conditions, they would be even worse off back home - as if poverty in one place can justify exploitation in the other.

"We need slaves," my friend says. "We need slaves to build monuments. Look who built the pyramids - they were slaves."

Sharla Musabih, a human rights campaigner who runs the City of Hope shelter for abused women, is familiar with such sentiments. "Once you get rich on the back of the poor," she says, "it's not easy to let go of that lifestyle. They are devaluing human beings," she says. "The workers might eat once a day back home, but they have their family around them, they have respect. They are not asking for a room in a hotel - all they are asking for is respect for their humanity."

Homemade tank shoots hotdogs

Using junkyard parts, dude and friends build a 2000 pound replica of a German Panzer tank that moves by pedal power and comes complete with a functioning pneumatic cannon that shoots hotdogs and a pink camo that will make Hello Kitty very happy.

Pillowig for sleepyheads

Pillowig is ideal for those of you who wished you had a pillow all the time so that you can sleep comfortably whenever and wherever you like. It's a hand made wearable pillow that you wear on your head. Looks silly but hey, if it gets you your sleep, I have nothing else to say about that.

(Thanks Yetty)

Dog Condoms - Yup you read that right!

To solve the problem of dog overpopulation, one company came out with Dog Condoms as a safe and effective birth control. The condoms come in three sizes to fit small, medium, and large breeds and they are also "Meat Scented Lubricated". Sounds great for your horny dog? But wait, they were recalled back sometime in 2006. Darn it! Oh well, at least the Kenyans are finding more success with their goat condoms.

The US Presidency: Does Size Matter?

This New York Times chart attempts to answer the question, does size really matter when it comes to running to be the next US President. Does it pay to be taller and heavier than your rival? Or does being short and lightweight give you an edge?

(Thanks Sir Thomas)

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-StarHub dangles $100 carrot as telco war heats up: A day after SingTel announced a hike in its land line fee and call charges, rival StarHub has thrown down the gauntlet by offering its 511,000 cable TV customers a free home line.
-Fixed land lines - a slow demise in the face of technology?: Some consumers are sighing at yet another price hike, the latest of which was by SingTel yesterday. But in this age of technology, consumers have the luxury of turning to alternative communication methods.
-Bringing arts to the people: The National Arts Council wants to reach out to more Singaporeans within the next five years in an ambitious 5 million dollar 'Arts for All - Community Engagement Plan'.
-Tamiflu sales up in Singapore: Drug company Roche said sales of anti-viral drug Tamiflu have gone up in tandem with flu cases this year.
-Singapore is a nation of homeowners: Public housing is often associated with poverty-stricken slums and other social ills but Singapore's high-rise apartment blocks built by the government are an exception.
-Environment Council chief urges Starbucks to save water: In every Starbucks outlet in Singapore, there is a constantly running water tap which is never turned off in order to fill a “dipping well” to clean utensils. But Singapore Environment Council executive director Howard Shaw says he feels that the practice wastes water.
-Pump prices cut by 5 cents: Oil companies cut pump prices here for the eighth time since July amid a worsening economic crisis.
-LTA reconsidering alternative entrance to foreign workers' dorm: The Land Transport Authority is reconsidering an alternative entrance to the Serangoon Gardens Foreign Workers' Dormitory after affected residents complained that the proposed road would cause traffic and noise congestion in the area.
-AVA to test pet food for melamine: Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is more than halfway done with testing food samples for traces of melamine. It now says it would expand its tests to animal feed and pet food.
-Changi Airport to be corporatised by July 2009: Changi Airport will be corporatised next year in a bid to boost its status as a leading aviation hub.
-Recession looms for Singapore: Singapore appears headed for its first recession since 2002 as the city-state suffers from a US economy wilting under its worst financial crisis since the Great

Human evolution is over!

Leading geneticist Professor Steve Jones says human evolution is over thanks to the lack of older fathers and that the human race is as fit strong, intelligent and healthy as it ever is going to be. From Times:

“Human social change often changes our genetic future,” he said, citing marriage patterns and contraception as examples. Although chemicals and radioactive pollution could alter genetics, one of the most important mutation triggers is advanced age in men.

This is because cell divisions in males increase with age. “Every time there is a cell division, there is a chance of a mistake, a mutation, an error,” he said. “For a 29-year old father [the mean age of reproduction in the West] there are around 300 divisions between the sperm that made him and the one he passes on – each one with an opportunity to make mistakes.

“For a 50-year-old father, the figure is well over a thousand. A drop in the number of older fathers will thus have a major effect on the rate of mutation.”

You can also listen to him talk to the BBC about this in more detail here.

A mobile phone that breaks into two

At Createc Japan 2008, NTT DoCoMo exhibited Separate Keitai, its prototype mobile phone that can be split into two - the operation part and the display! Both parts of the handset can be used seperately. For example, you can make a call while reading an e-mail or checking a schedule or you can use the display as a music player while the operation part is kept in your bag.

Lego Zombie Apocafest 2008

Over 35 participants at BrickCon 2008 created a Lego city under attack by a plague of zombies. They called it Zombie Apocafest 2008. Photos best viewed in their original large sizes.

Tokyo Subway Etiquette Posters

Tokyo Metro is running a campaign to remind commuters to be more considerate to others. You can view the funny posters here. This one tells women to refrain from putting on make-up in the train.

(Thanks pradt86)

The Obama Mix

You can now download the Obama Mix by DJ Z-Trip on his website. He writes: "Recently, Shepard Fairey and I threw some fundraisers for the Obama campaign. We called them 'The Party for Change'. I've been wanting to put the mix I've been doing at these shows online, in hopes of spreading the word to people who need to hear it most." Go Obama!

What happens when a large asteroid hits Earth?

A computer simulation (video above) shows what happens to Earth when a large asteroid hits. Scary stuff. I think I'll be having nightmares after watching this. Let us all hope and pray that such event doesn't happen in the foreseeable future.

Previously: Earth is still safe for now as small asteroid explodes

How to buy gadgets in China and not get screwed

Gizmodo's Elaine Chow travels to China, faces off with the sales people at Shanghai PC Mall and comes away a very happy customer. From Gizmodo:

This time around I went for something I recognized: an 802.11b/g Netgear that would run about $40 in the US. The starting price this time around was 300 yuan (or about $45). I countered with 150 and was scoffed at. Employing my best “Well, if you really aren't going to sell it to me for that much, I guess I'll just be on my way” look, I got the clerk to sigh and give it to me for 200 yuan. $10 off the US price and no sales tax added on at the end of the deal. Not too shabby.

In the next hours, I haggled over everything from speakers to hard drives to extra RAM for my laptop (installed for free, with an extra discount thrown in if I left my old memory sticks with them). I came home that day, arms loaded with new stuff, satisfied with having saved a good 20 to 25% off of US street prices.

Earth is still safe for now as small asteroid explodes

An asteroid 3 meters across has slammed into Earth's atmosphere. The asteroid was found Monday morning by the Catalina Sky Survey and was predicted to impact during early morning twilight over northern Sudan, north-eastern Africa, at 2:46 UT Tuesday morning. From Sky and Telescope:

The rock is roughly 10 feet (3 meters) across, and it's expected to enter the atmosphere above northern Sudan at about 8 miles (12 km) per second. The energy released should be approximately equal to one kiloton of conventional explosives. Fortunately, no damage is expected, since the blast will take place in the upper atmosphere. Some fragments may fall to the ground, but the area is sparsely inhabited and they're unlikely to hit anyone.

The sight and sound, however, should be amazing — especially since the sky will still be dark when this meteor hits. The fireball may be visible over much of northern Africa, the Middle East, and possibly even southern Europe.

The first confirmation that the asteroid has exploded above Sudan comes from the crew of a KLM airliner. From Spaceweather:

"Half an hour before the predicted impact-time of asteroid 2008 TC3, I informed an official of Air-France-KLM at Amsterdam airport about the possibility that crews of their airliners in the vicinity of the predicted impact would have a chance to see a fireball. And it was a success! I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction.

Update: Watch JPL's Donald Yeomans as he explains the discovery of the asteroid here.

Japanese Matchbox Labels

Maraid has posted 105 pics of colourful Japanese matchbox labels to her Flickr. She writes, "Thanks to Michael for sending me these matchbox labels. Collected by his Grandfather, the labels date around the 1920s-40s." Her Flickr photoset here.

(Thanks Kohji)

Electronic Drum Kit T-Shirt

As someone who plays (and loves) drums, I am totally amazed with this Electronic Drum Kit T-Shirt and I can fully appreciate wearing one. Tap the drums and symbols on the t-shirt with your fingers and they actually play through the hidden speaker! I want one!!

Singapore Day is a waste of time?

Singaporean dude who works as a nurse in Australia, has some interesting views on Singapore Day which was held in Melbourne two days ago. From My World of Nursing Down Under:

1st: the queue for food..it is hideous.. how can people enjoy (while being hungry till noon) with extremely small sample size of their food??besides the queue for it was extremely long to the fact that either you will be queuing for food to fill your tummy or sit and wait for the performance with a hungry tummy...for young couples with a kid it couldn't be any worst...either parent have to stay behind to look after their trolleys/ prams while the other half go half an hour for 1 portion of food (only 1 sample of food per person)..so Singaporean day was effectively another day at demonstrating our Singaporean trend to queue for almost anything...what a great way to enjoy an outing!!

Anatomy of the Cereal Mascot Reunion painting

Rob Sheridan provides a step-by-step guide detailing how he created his Cereal Mascot Reunion painting which I previously blogged here. It's a great read for those of you who are into digital art and those who are curious about the process that goes into making one.

Google Street View Car snapping photos in Singapore!

A CNET Asia reader spotted a Google Street View Car on a road here snapping photos for Google Street View which will be coming to Google Maps Singapore real soon. Great! Just remember to dress up in your nicest outfit before you walk on the streets because you never know when the Google Street Car will point its cameras your way. And guys, you may also want to stay away from those red light district areas for the time being. I'm sure you don't want your mummy/wife/gf to spot you on Google Maps walking into one of those hotels in Geylang, do you?

I-S Magazine readers name the best of Singapore

I-S Magazine announces the winners of its Reader's Choice Awards 2008. The annual awards highlight Singapore's best dining, nightlife, entertainment and shopping, plus the hottest trends among young, active professionals. From I-S Online:

Outdoor Party of the Year: Zoukout 2007
The mother of outdoor dance parties clinches this award by a landslide. Last year’s surreal offering boasted a stellar lineup featuring the likes of Carl Cox, Booka Shade and Steve Aoki, drawing a record number of 20,000 hot and sweaty revelers to Sentosa for the music marathon. If you didn’t get enough of that, brace yourself for December 13 where the good folks at Zouk promise to bring you a Golden Experience’ at Zoukout 2008—featuring a bigger and meaner lineup. Think Dirty South, Erol Alkan, Nouvelle Vague, Sasha and more...oooh, we know you can’t wait.

Most Happening Theme Night: Mambo Jambo
Who didn’t see this one coming? With its unique combo of cool and cheese, Zouk’s midweek shindig, Mambo Jambo—Singapore’s Most Happening Theme Night, according to you, has been entertaining crowds for the last 16 years. Don’t deny it; we know you’ve been to one to display silly dance moves to “Forever Young” and “Square Rooms,” like we have.

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-NTU students start online newspaper: Four students from Nanyang Technological University have started their own online newspaper after their school stopped the campus news platforms from running stories about an opposition politician's visit to the school.
-Singapore students protest university censorship: A group of students staged a rare protest in Singapore on Sunday against their university's censorship of a campus newspaper article.
-Teen sex and the Parent factor: Blame it on the media and the Internet; the lack of parental support; even the lack of discipline in schools — whatever the reason, the number of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) among young people in Singapore has nearly doubled over the last 10 years.
-Help with electricity hikes: Measures to help ease the impact of the 'rather large' hike in electricity tariffs could be introduced in next year's Budget.
-Ocean race to give Sentosa hotels a boost: Yachts taking part in the gruelling 10-month round-the-world race will stop over at the One Degree 15 Marina Club on Sentosa from 22 Dec to 18 Jan.
-Serangoon Garden residents still uneasy: Residents in Serangoon Gardens are still uneasy that 600 foreign workers will stay near them once the former Serangoon Garden Technical School is turned into a dormitory.
-Financial system here safe: In an uncertain economic climate that has seen seemingly rock-solid financial institutions in the United States topple one after another, anxious residents yesterday quizzed the Finance Minister himself on Singapore's financial system.
-Singapore GIC's key man sees opportunities in gloom: When Tony Tan, executive director of Singapore's biggest sovereign wealth fund, warned in July the world might plunge into its worst recession in 30 years, many shrugged off his remarks as too gloomy.
-Singapore facing economic slowdown: Singapore will see an economic slowdown that could last several quarters as the subprime mortgage meltdown has evolved into a global economic crisis.
-Global economic crunch could impact Singapore job market: The global economic crunch could impact Singapore's job market, but the country is confident that it has the right fundamentals to sail through the rough patch.
-Buy electricity? Pick a pricing plan: In about three years, buying electricity could become similar to choosing one's cellphone price plan.

Old School Star Wars Filmstrip

Watch this 1978 film strip presentation (video above) by Pendulum Press of Episode IV of Star Wars. Too bad they didn't do one for Episodes V and VI.

(via Neatorama)

Cinderella Picture Books

Check out this gallery of covers of picture books that feature the Cinderella fairy tale. You can preview some of these picture books on Amazon by clicking on the covers.

(Thanks Hans)

Flash Drive Lighter is every smoker's best friend

Flash Drive Lighter is a refillable lighter with a built-in 8GB USB flash drive. The USB connector slides out of the bottom of the metal case, using a small slider lever located on the side of the lighter. I bet this will sell really well with geek smokers.

Japanese Tin Toy Robots and Space Toys for sale

Dude is selling a small collection of rare vintage tin toy robots and space toys from Japan on eBay. A must buy if you have US $66,666.66 to spare. Time to check my piggy bank.

Drawings from the camps in the occupied Dutch East Indies

Drawings portraying life in the Japanese internment camps in the Dutch East Indies during World War II. A total of 140,000 civilians and servicemen were interned, most of them for at least three years. Some camp inmates kept diaries in which they wrote and drew about the events of daily life in the camps.

Lollywood 70's will have you dancing and singing like there's no tomorrow

It's a Thursday night! Time for some 1970's Lollywood sing and dance. Watch the video above. Tut, tut, ta, ta, tut, tut, tu, tu, tu, tu! Come on, shake your body! I know you can.

Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy was never meant to be heard

This is probably the best written piece on Guns N Roses and Chinese Democracy that I've read. Oh btw, Chinese Democracy is coming! From MTV:

This is because Chinese Democracy was never supposed to happen. It was destined to be the eternal punch line, a $13 million albatross and an ongoing testament to the will, ego and insanity of Axl Rose. There is perhaps no rock-and-roll album as starstruck or anticipated in history — eternally promoted by disastrous world tours, tinkered with by no less that five producers and featuring contributions from God-knows-how-many musicians. Democracy has been in the works since at least 1998, victimized by infinite false starts (the industrial mess of "Oh My God," featured in the industrial-size mess that was Arnold Schwarzenegger's "End of Days," Rose's winded performance at the 2002 Video Music Awards, Buckethead) and promised (threatened?) to be released more times than I care to recall. (Resident metalhead Chris Harris attempted to do so in a blog post earlier this year.) It's become a FEMA-level catastrophe at this point, and the fact that the entire saga has played out before our eyes only makes its actual conclusion seem all the more improbable. This is an album that we were supposed to speculate about, snicker at but never — ever — hear. This just wasn't supposed to happen.

J.B. Jeyaretnam's last media interview

The person behind a new blog set up as a remembrance to Singapore's prominent opposition politician Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam who passed away recently because of a heart attack, has posted his last interview given to the media. It is worthy of a read, again and again. From JBJ Memorial:

Many people retire by the age of 82 but you seem to be eager to get back in parliament this year. Why?

I do expect to get back in parliament. But it’s not for personal power but because I genuinely feel sorry for the people in Singapore. I am talking about the dispossessed, the underprivileged people, which make up a huge number. I am not talking about our bankers and wealthy people who are perhaps not interested in human rights. There is quite a bit of poverty in Singapore, even though the world does not seem to think so because of the propaganda machinery of the Government.

So you have no plans to retire soon?

It depends on my health, but I thank God for giving me health and strength. In that sense I owe it to Him to do something.

New Gimp ready to take on Photoshop

I've been using the free and open source software Gimp for quite some time now on my Dell to do all the editing and processing of my graphics and photographs. Today, I'm happy to learn that the latest Gimp software, version 2.6 is ready for download and it is a step closer to taking on Photoshop! From Ars Technica:

One of the most significant limitations of the GIMP is that it has traditionally only supported 8 bits per color channel. This weakness is commonly cited as a major barrier to GIMP adoption by professional artists, who require greater color depth. This problem has finally been addressed by the new GEGL backend, which delivers support for 32-bpc. The inclusion of GEGL is a major milestone for the GIMP and takes it one step closer to being a viable Photoshop replacement for professional users. In this release, GEGL is still not quite ready to be enabled by default, but users can turn it on with a special option.

GIMP 2.6 also includes some minor user interface enhancements. The application menu in the tool palette window has been removed, and its contents have been merged into the document window menu. A document window will now be displayed at all times, even when no images are open. The floating tool windows have also been adjusted so that they are always displayed over the document window and cannot be obscured. To reduce clutter and make the windows easier to manage, the floating windows will no longer be listed in the taskbar.

Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-Outpouring of love for JBJ: Whether they knew him from afar or up close, many who went to the Mount Vernon funeral parlour yesterday to pay their last respects said they admired Mr Jeyaretnam for having fought hard and tirelessly for his beliefs.
-J.B. Jeyaretnam: A Singapore Hero: Singapore lost a man whose life reflected the best of the city-state. He suffered under the Japanese World War II occupation of the island; earned a place at the British bar; devoted himself to his work, family and faith; and forewent personal wealth to fight for democratic ideals in public office. No, we're not talking about the country's founder and longtime Prime Minister.
-Singapore Tamils see worrying sign: Singapore's use of Japanese on signboards in a bid to lure more Japanese tourists has raised concern among some ethnic Indians who feel snubbed at the exclusion of their native Tamil language.
-Infected blood donor spread dengue in Singapore: Three people contracted the potentially lethal dengue virus from a blood donor in Singapore last year, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine that exposes a vulnerability in the city's blood supply.
-Singapore puts its money on wealth training: Global and local banks in Singapore are investing heavily in education and training to shore up their talent base, as demand for qualified private bankers grows in the region.
-Singapore private home prices fall: Singapore private residential prices fell 1.8 percent between July and September, snapping four straight years of growth as concerns over the global financial turmoil caused home sales to slump.
-Property agents obliged to reveal history of flat?: Three women died in a bloody rampage - their blood splattered and bodies strewn in a five-room flat in Yishun. Question: Would you buy this flat if it were for sale?
-31 registrations at Speakers' Corner: Singapore's National Parks Board which took over the management of the Speakers' Corner from the Police said it received 31 registrations in September - of which 11 were indicated as public protests.
-Singapore to set up forensic unit to study food contamination: The Singaporean government plans to set up a forensic unit under the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) to study possible sources of food contamination in the future.
-Ferrari furious over Singapore GP: Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has launched a scathing attack on Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.
-Stop this F1 cover up: Why put up barriers to prevent the public from having a free view of the F1 race?

Nerdbots

Married couple makes Nerdbots, robot sculptures from parts found at their favorite antique and thrift stores. You can adopt one or view some the bots that have been sold here.

(via Drawn)

Sausage Mona Lisa is edible

The Russians have taken food art to the extreme with this Mona Lisa portrait made entirely out of sausages! I guess when you're hungry you can slowly peel off each slice of sausage from the painting and eat it.

(via Nerdcore)

Google in 2001

In honor of its 10th birthday, Google has brought back its oldest available index. Take a look back at Google in January 2001! There's no IZ Reloaded. It wasn't born yet.

(Thanks GeekGod)

Star Wars Stormtrooper Hoodie

Marc Ecko designed this Star Wars Real Trooper Hoodie, a zip-front hoodie featuring a Stormtrooper body and a hood that doubles up as a Stormtrooper mask, as part of his limited edition Star Wars Collection.

F1 babes galore!

Feast your eyes on Aol's gallery of F1 babes at all the Grand Prix races of 2008 and 2007 including the latest Singapore Grand Prix. Enjoy!

(Thanks Mr Big)

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 coming soon to Singapore

Sony Ericsson has launched the Xperia X1, the first product under Sony Ericsson’s new premium sub-brand Xperia yesterday. It is now available in the UK, Germany and Sweden. Singapore including the rest of Asia should get it sometime this month or next.

The high-end WIFI enabled 3G device has an extremely stylish handset encased in a real stainless steel body, with an arc-slider design, supported by a powerful multimedia ecosystem. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and has a new and unique panel interface that allows you to enjoy easy access to the Web, multimedia, applications from the desktop by navigating with the tip of your finger. You can also personalise the panel interface - there's nine customisable panel icons - to suit your needs and lifestyle. The X1 also comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2 megapixel camera, Internet Explorer Mobile, Opera 9.5 browser, RSS feeds, optical Joystick navigation, up to 400 MB phone memory, microSD memory card support and more.

Watch the webcast here and the demo here. High resolution pics of the phone below (or here).

Update: The Xperia X1 is available in Singapore from November 8. You can view my unboxing pics of the X1 here and read my review here.

David Cook's new single is out!

American Idol winner David Cook has got a new single out. It's called Light On and it's co-written with Chris Cornell. Play the video above to listen to the song. Lyrics here. David will also be releasing his album on November 18. I can't wait!