Colin Charles Agenda

I took a great vacation from computers. It was actually fabulous, not opening up my laptop, or being chained to it, for nearly two weeks now. During that time, I had:

• a Christmas party - photos will be up soon enough
• visited Hanoi, Halong Bay, and a few other sites
• spent some time in Maison, and Sunshine, on Jln. Doraisamy (aka, Asian Heritage Row). This is a new change, considering we previously only liked to hang out at Thai Club
• watched quite a bit of TV
• didn’t read as much as I’d have liked

I have taken a tonne of photos. I’d upload it all soon, but first, I’ve got to cook up an RPM (the software I use is well, unusable on Fedora).

Work? It was a good break from it, I must say. Deluge of email of course upon returning, with a tonne of action items. And I’ll be off travelling again in a couple of weeks. There just isn’t enough time, these days it seems.

Got a bit of a cough. Sigh. I’m trying to rest and get it cured, but its just not happening for some reason. Maybe I have to visit a doctor and get it fixed?

Movies, recently (crap largely thanks to cable TV):

• Mercenary for justice
• I am legend - caught this in the cinema with Eileen. It was pretty good
• Out of sight
• Dragon boys - the inner workings of triads in Canada? Yum
• American Pie - Beta House - lots of comedy, the shows seem to be getting a lot more vivid
• The Interpreter
• Little Manhattan - nice, childhood love story. Feel good alright
• The Omen - ooer, Damien is scary
• The Darwin Awards - the lady (winona ryder?) made the movie!
• Lucky Number Slevin - Lucy Liu is a really good/interesting actress
• Pride & Prejudice
• John Tucker Must Die - teeny bopper, funny-ish movie, however largely a waste of time
• The Engagement Ring - could’ve been done in under 0.5hr, yet it was a prime time movie?
• Snakes on a plane - when everyone was talking about it, it made me want to watch it. It was well, okay at best.

Well, Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas. Still got a few more days left, if you’re into the 12 days of Christmas.

I realise I was really angry, on Sunday. I mean, I spent a little over a weekend, being a prisoner in my own homeland (thanks to all the police roadblocks, targeting people of the wrong skin colour). I’ve yet to feel this way in Melbourne, where I spend most of my time nowadays.

I am Malaysian. A Malaysian Malaysian. A country that still profiles via race, is doomed, and this thinking will disappear as the young, grow up. A Malaysia where the Gen-Y controls the country, will be a lot better and more open. Besides, with mixed-marriages, and all the normal inter-racial fun, I don’t see why Malaysia, can’t be Truly Asia. Welcome back, the idea of Bangsa Malaysia.

I applaud the protesters that go to the BERSIH or Hindraf rallies. They’re truly Malaysian. Khairil says it best :) I’m really happy that there are people I know of, ordinary folk, whom go to these rallies - read some accounts from Su Ann, and a couple from my junior at school Shazeea.

As a Malaysian, predominantly living overseas and spending copious amounts of time away from my country of birth, there is no point in I getting emotional over things. I’m probably from the upper-medium-class of families, and life is pretty cushy. Heck, by virtue of just not living in Malaysia, makes me not feel the day-to-day pains (like 20% fuel price hikes, toll hikes, etc.), felt by fellow Malaysians. That doesn’t mean I can’t get angry and request change.

So, in my spare time, while I’m in KL, I’m not going to spend it wailing away enjoying cheap drinks and the amazing night-life. I’ve decided that there are only several things I can do, that can really make an impact:

• help the poor, by educating them. I remember back in 1998, there was a NetDay project, where we got old i386 machines, loaded PicoBSD onto them, and made them useful again. I plan on sourcing machines, to be re-purposed in community centres. If a community centre doesn’t exist, maybe the “village leader’s” home can be used. I’ve thought about this quite a bit, and realise that connectivity matters, and so on and I’m hoping that I get “help” and “assistance” to make this flow. I only have aims of ensuring people use FLOSS applications, and hopefully have online connectivity, because that’s clearly where the future is at. I can provide training, setup PCs, and probably do so much more. If you’re in shackles, its because of lacking education - breaking free, is my aim.
• document the poor. One of my hobbies is photography, and I’m not half bad at that. I plan on taking photos of the less fortunate, their living conditions, and tell their stories. I’ll license it under the Creative Commons, so folk can also make use of it, if they see fit. This isn’t going to be easy, because its time consuming, and I’d probably need to get around in a car, but let’s see how far I get. Maybe it’ll inspire others to continue

The poor are everywhere. They’re not only ethnic Indian. There are ethnic Chinese and Malays that are poor too. The last couple of sentences can truly be summed up as - the poor are everywhere, in Malaysia. They’re Malaysian.

Enough ranting, its now time to work on the doing.

Malaysian Airlines, seems to have mildly improved their services. They’re not as horrendous as they used to be, it would seem.

• First up, on Friday, I gave them a call to see what time my flight would land in Kuala Lumpur. Very polite person on the phone decided not only to tell me the time, she decided to reconfirm the booking, and get me into a seat. She noted that the system stated that I preferred window seats, and I agreed - its good for sleeping, or working undisturbed. She also ensured I’d be placed as in-front as possible. Great. And my frequent flyer details were already recorded.
• Then, at the airport during check-in. I get a really nice Aussie bloke who is highly friendly. This is odd of MAS. My bag weighs a heavy 32.5KG (you’d be surprised at the amount of chai latte, vegimite, tim tams, chocolates, and cherries fit in a suitcase). 32.5KG is actually 0.5KG heavier than what the IATA recommend for baggage handler safety. He basically tells me I’m 0.5kg overweight, but its okay - he’ll just under-declare my weight, and let me through. No asking on my behalf, no fuss, zilch, nada - my bag goes through without question. Its so, unlike, MAS to do this.
• On the plane, the stewards and stewardesses are very much more attentive. They’re now serving Coke, rather than that horrid Pepsi that they used to serve. That in itself butters me up the right way. Food-wise, they served seafood laksa, which was actually pretty darn amazing for plane food. I was truly shocked, taken aback even - it was edible, and tasty.

So, that’s been my MAS experience. The not so good? I’m in a Boeing 777, where the seat capacity is 2-5-2. Sitting in coach in the 2-seater, and when the passenger in-front of me decides he needs to recline his seat, my laptop can’t sit on the tray and be opened. Its currently actually sitting on my lap, burning up my baby making sacks.

The safety video was something I thought I had to watch. Maybe I’m biased to the old ads (since a relative is in it :) ), but the new ads kind of suck. They demonstrate using a life jacket, and they show a family with 2 kids using it as well. And the family is, smiling. I don’t think you’d be smiling when you’re putting on a life jacket, right?

Anyway, MAS don’t seem as bad as they used to be. Or maybe flying Qantas in September opened my eyes to what really bad service is meant to be like?

Update: My flight was delayed by 40 minutes, and they decided not to update such information, so my poor mother had to wait a while for my arrival. Turns out, calling MAS, and they said it was on time. Evil.

Well, Notting Hill/Clayton North isn’t exactly the sticks, but I’m leaving it soon (after five years of living on the same street, moving once, across the road, basically). Next January, I’ll be having a fresh start, in a fresh neighbourhood. I’ll be living on Chapel St., South Yarra. I have a 2-bedroom apartment, a gym and pool on-site, and will be living by myself.

No more house mates. No more WiFi access in the garage while my car is still parked (my car will have to be in a parking lot). I guess its kind of starting a new era.

Its both an exciting and tumultuous time. I’ve got a mental list of what I need to buy: fridge, microwave, dryer, washing machine, huge honking LCD TV, futon. Then, the moving the stuff I currently own - figure a removalist is what I really want.

Which brings me to packing. Boxing up my life now, because I have much travel to do from now till then, is so weird. I own way too many books. And clearing out the trash, asking myself if I’ve used something in the last n-months, and getting rid of it. Realise I probably have heaps to dish out on eBay at some stage in the future.

Connecting my own electricity. Gas. Paying monthly maintenance fees (which is basically similar to the rent I’m paying now, but includes free water). The irony? Settlement date is in late December, and I’ll only pick up the keys in late January.

Lesson learnt: I need to start living a minimalist life.

Didn’t catch as much as I’d have liked to catch these months, but I have a great excuse. September was a month spent travelling, and the only planes that were remotely useful in showing me TV, was Singapore Airlines. Pity, because I went to sleep in the night flight. Qantas sucks, and their system crashes/reboots frequently. Lufthansa is stuck in the 20th century, so you don’t even get a personal TV (like United).

• License to Wed - saw this on the dreaded Qantas flight (MEL->NRT), after numerous failed attempts. They rebooted the entire system, and I got to watch one show, before the system crashed again. Frustrating. Movie wise, it was interesting, I liked it because of Mandy Moore (okay, and Robin Williams was funny too). Not something I’d have paid to watch in the cinema (as agreed with most of the #photogeeks), but was good for funnies on a plane.
• The Bourne Ultimatum - great show, I’m kinda unhappy the series looks like it ended. But great show, a must-watch, and the action in the cinema big-screen makes it all so worthwhile. Highly recommended, best movie in October.
• Rush Hour 3 - as always, the combination of actors makes this a comedy worth watching. Highly recommended.

I’ve also seen an end to Season 1 of Californication. Followed it closely, even during my travels. Truly a series I enjoy watching (and no, its not because of the sex) - its the plot. It just hooks you. Can’t wait for the DVD, Season 2, and maybe even the soundtrack (no, I will not buy it from the iTunes music store).

So, I’ve left Tokyo, and we had an amazing last dinner there at a sushi place, and I think both Kaj and my new favourite dish is crab bowels. Stewart, a friend of his, and I decided we needed to see some bits of Tokyo, so we went out for a few drinks. You haven’t been to a city till you’ve been propositioned, and I guess you can say, we’ve been to Tokyo. Half-price beers at a bar somewhere, were what we settled for. Quick, albeit short sleep, and I was up for my 7am departure from the hotel.

Arrived in Beijing, almost after a whole day of flying, because I had to make a stop over at Shanghai. Was amazed that China Eastern Airlines isn’t as bad as they’re touted to be (wait for my next update about the airline industry, which I typed up on my E61i, in offline mode). Upon landing, they had a banner looking for folk that came from Tokyo. There were like 9 folk, all of whom got a nice un-crowded bus. The rest were put into another bus that was packed full, and they hadn’t even arrived to collect their bags when I’d left the airport!

Beijing hasn’t changed, too much. Memories just started flowing back, the moment I hit the car park in the airport. Traffic is just as bad, drivers probably have gotten worse, there’s way more honking now, and crossing the road is always a death-wish. Arrived at my hotel, which was amazing - I can heartily recommend the JianGuo Hotel to anyone needing a hotel in Beijing. Fairly cheap, very fast Internet access, but of course, filtered. I just noticed that Flickr was disabled as well, which annoyed me. But uploads worked - 300-400KB/s!!!

On Thursday, I caught up with Ken and Michael, for a quick Peking Duck dinner, nearby to the hotel. Ken and I continued on the night with some drinks, at a place opposite my hotel, and we had lots of Chivas, and a late night :P Short sleep later, I was up, awake, and ready for presenting all day. Which I did with no problem, and to good crowds.

Party people, its Friday night. First up, dinner with Grace. Good food, and she even gave me a tiny gift with regards to the Beijing Olympics. Of course, this made me a little worried, and I felt weird, as I had no gift handy. So I promised to send her a print of herself, since I was walking around with my 30/1.4 and SLR then. George, is now officially my new go-to guy for being an excellent party animal. Short stay in the hotel later, and a quick shower, and I was out to Propaganda. This is apparently the new Vics (which has lost its popularity, after apparently the bouncers beating up some foreigners a little after I left Beijing the last time).

Propaganda is amazing. Probably also because I met someone amazing (pre-Propaganda). Haha. Its a watering hole upstairs, and downstairs, is a really crowded and packed dance floor. R&B music, along with some oldies (like Michael Jackson) is what the crowd basically dances to. It got too hot, too quickly, so I had to move back upstairs pretty quickly.

The Chinese don’t understand what a “Chivas and water” is, so I just enjoyed gin tonics. Weird drink, last I remember there were rumours that it made men impotent, but who cares. It was my “China drink”…

Left early, because I was to speak at SFD the next day, crashed at about 3.30am, up again not long after, as I had morning meetings at 9am. Grace came by again, and then with the company driver, we took a quick tour of the upcoming Olympic village, and then headed off to Tsinghua University. Hung out with the cool folk there, bringing me back memories of my BLUG attendance. Lalo was there, and I’ve now scored a small-ish SFD t-shirt, in pink. I’ll wear this soon, and promise to post a photo up I’m sure :)

Spoke, to a large-ish audience. Ensured that I got them to stand up and poke each other first, because while sitting down, I noticed some folk dozing off in the previous talk. I was the only one whom spoke in English, and there was a translator available, so I think they stayed awake, mostly. Plus I had the occasional joke thrown it (I find it amusing that when you mention the joke, some folk laugh first, because they get it, and then the vast majority laughs later, because of the translation :P).

Dinner was very nice, for all the SFD speakers, event organisers and so forth. 15 courses or something, I found it hard to read. Jade, someone we all just met, who works at Via, has offered to do some form of language exchange with me, which she assures me can be done via MSN, so I gladly obliged. Since she was so nice, I gave her a Moo card as well :)

Back to the hotel, and within 15 minutes, I’m out again with George. He’s already picked up Jia Jia, and a friend, and we head to a place near Suzie Wong’s, a sports bar. I play darts with her, something I’ve not done in years. Surprisingly, probably by some stroke of luck, I win several times. The night quickly turns into one of drinking games being played amongst all (Claude joins us too), and all I can say is we have a lot of fun. We then decide that supper is due, and for some reason things like ducks tongue, and random other recycled parts of animals are ordered. They’re all spicy as well. Fair enough, I just drink the egg & tomato soup…

Another late night, that ends at 4.30am or something, and I’m up again to have breakfast, pack quickly, and head off to the airport at 10am. Reminder to self: when leaving Beijing, you clear customs first, then only go and get your boarding pass. Long flight ahead to Munich, cramped up in coach on Lufthansa. I attempt to sleep, eat food, and get work done (consequently, bombarding people later with lots of email). Arrive in Munich and find my connecting to Frankfurt has been cancelled.

Easily fixed, I get a new, albeit delayed flight, and arrive so quickly, they could hardly serve most passengers drinks. Attempt to get a train and actually succeed. There was a persistent beggar in the train station whom only spoke English. I felt bad for him, but at that stage, I could only offer him Yen or Kuai/RMB.

Reached Heidelberg, got a taxi, and the hotel was about to close up the reception. So this was a in the nick of time sort of thing. Apparently I wasn’t booked in till the next day, so I’m glad they just sold me the room outright anyways. Internet is 5 Euros/24hrs here. The room is typically European, something I’d have expected to get in Tokyo (but didn’t).

Looking for food at 11.30pm is hard, but I did find a bar, and hopped in for some local beer on tap. Bunch of Spanish students were watching the basketball match against Russia. Russia won, however, they still danced on the streets later, saying “banana” and “ok”. They got me to stand in the middle and do a dance with them too. I’ve got some form of crappy video from the N73, so I’ll YouTube it soon enough.

Theme of the trip: 4 in the morning by Gwen Stefani, and Cool as well. Oh, I bought headphones at the airport, because I wanted to watch Californication in the plane…

I’ve got boils on my toes, thanks to the heat/sweating in Japan/China. Voltaren cream, and band-aids to the rescue. More to come soon, as I’m about to have dinner (or at least look for some dinner).

See where in the world I am, via my Dopplr profile. Or Facebook’s Dopplr interface.

Technorati Tags: travel germany heidelberg munich frankfurt tokyo japan beijing china

Surprisingly, I caught nothing last month, I’ll probably have to cite being busy, etc. I did however, attend the Australian Malaysian Film Festival, at the ACMI.

Opening night was fancy, we had wine, with roti canai and chicken curry :) We rushed in for the movie, The Red Kebaya, and without knowing, we sat right in front of Ramli Hassan (the main actor in the movie). Malaysians are usually highly critical of anything “Made in Malaysia” and are usually never proud of local fare, but I can say that I enjoyed the storyline and the plot of The Red Kebaya, very much. Its finally a movie of international class and quality. Oh, did I mention that it was nearly all in English? More interestingly though is that they only took about 35 days to film the entire show! Check out the official Red Kebaya site, and if you find it on DVD, do give it a watch (I hope to buy it at some stage).

Ramli himself, is very down to earth. Kudos, no air around him as an actor. The next day, they showed us a movie titled Chermin. This one was fully in Malay (with English subtitles), and was supposed to be a horror flick, that had to do with a mirror. I found this to be as logical as say, the average Chinese movie with flying kung fu stunts or hopping ghosts.

After a quick dinner, it was time to see Puteri Gunung Ledang. This was pretty good, but I don’t think it bore any resemblance to the actual history surrounding Hang Tuah. It had a good cast, though I wonder how it relates to the old movie released in 1961? Note that this movie is very lengthy, something along the lines of 2.5 hours.

Of all the movies shown at the film festival, I’d vote The Red Kebaya as a strong winner, followed by Puteri Gunung Ledang. Give Chermin a miss.

Technorati Tags: movies redkebaya chermin puteri gunung ledang red kebaya australian malaysian film festival filmfestival melbourne acmi

Not having played a game since Prince of Persia (and we’re talking the original game, with block-like graphics, on some ancient hardware, back in 1990), I decided to try out Second Life today. Surprisingly, the getdeb folk have this for Ubuntu, even in its 64-bit variety. Installation was simple:

• sudo dpkg -i secondlife-install_1.18.1.2-1~getdeb1_amd64.deb
• Realise that I’m missing a dependency, so install lib32asound2
• Attempt to start secondlife

And fail, of course. I got a Window Creation Error. Not content with this, I started it up from a terminal, and looked at the error messages pass by. Finally found the rather telling line: WARNING: createContext: window creation failure. SDL: Couldn’t find matching GLX visual. It seems that its all got to do with the bit-depth of colour, so a quick replace of the DefaultDepth in xorg.conf was in lieu (it originally was DefaultDepth 16 but its now DefaultDepth 24).

Restart X, and I launched Second Life with success! Now signing up was a bit of a chore as I had to find a new name and so on. A lot of ideal names are taken up, so I settled with Colin Pichot. One of the things I quickly changed was how much bandwidth SL was allowed to use - quick reduction to 50kbps from its usual default (of like 700kbps+). I joined the Linux Australia group, I’ve not developed anything in SL, and I haven’t given them my credit card details (yet). It seems to create a group, you need to fork out $100 Linden Dollars.

I’ll play with this after midnight I guess, when we’ve got more “off-peak” quota to utilise, but initial impressions are its a pretty impressive environment in 800×600. I’ve not met anyone, I’ve added a friend (I think), can’t for the life of me figure out how to put a photo in my profile, and here’s hoping that eventually, I understand what all the fuss about SL is.

Technorati Tags: second life, secondlife, sl, ubuntu, window creation error, glx visual, colin pichot, alter ego