Goodbye Jack?

Will we see Jack (Sparrow, not the monkey) again?

At World’s End did turn out to be the better sequel to Spider-Man 3. I was slightly disappointed that there is no big naval battle between the pirates and the Royal Navy. PFFT! Otherwise, I’d say that it was a reasonably awesome movie, with plenty of small details thrown for anyone who watched the previous movies with any degree of detail, like that much wrote-about ‘story’ about Norrington’s sword.

I read that Keith Richard, making the much-anticipated appearance as Sparrow senior, got to keep his costume (and chair), which would make an über-cool Halloween costume.

Let's do this again! (Walt Disney Pictures/Yahoo! Movies photo)

So, shall we be looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Fountain of Youth?

Classified

Anyone here qualified and interested to teach undergraduate economics?

I just have to ask. The department is rather acutely short of teaching staff for the coming semester and new academic year in July. With seven staff members currently on or about to go for study leave overseas, one quitting the university at the end of last semester, and one going off for sabbatical, the department head is having a massive headache trying to fill up the teaching roster.

The number of students opting to join the economics department has been increasing quite steadily in recent years. We were previously – for the longest time – the smallest of the three departments in the kulliyyah after accounting and business administration, but now we have overtaken the business people upstairs. On top of that, Introduction to Economics is now a required course for students majoring in engineering, human sciences and Islamic revealed knowledge.

It’s not easy recruiting new staff. We need people with good degrees and good command of English. The civil-service salary doesn’t help especially for attracting foreign talents, and the Islamic label shrinks the pool of applicants even further.

At the same time, I believe that we are also just beginning to feel the long-term impacts of the government’s bias towards science (or should I say against non-science?) with regard to the education system. In schools, the better students are often encouraged by both parents and teachers to take up science, particularly the physics-chemistry-biology triumvirate. These students are later not allowed to apply for non-science degree programs in public universities; depriving the less-important arts, and to a lesser degree social sciences, departments of them.

“So, how do you end up with an Economics degree?” asked Josffa recently.

A series of unfortunate events?

Day Off [edit]

TAKING THE

DAY OFF

WHEEEEEEEE!

So I went out and:

1. Watched a French movie, Hors de Prix, shown as part of the French Film Festival at GSC. I had actually wanted to watch another comedy – Mon Meilleur Ami – but the screening time was inconvenient. The only name I recognized from the movie was Audrey Tautou, but it was thoroughly funny and delightful nevertheless.
   
   
   
2. Bought Linkin Park's latest, Minutes to Midnight, the special edition CD/MVI DVD version. As usual, downloaded it totally illegally on BT at first, loved it, so bought it. Here's to P2P!
   

Foreign Exchange

Somebody knocked on my door. Though I am not teaching and so not expecting anyone to be knocking on my door, I simply cannot be ignoring knocks on my door since the university made me student advisor.

It was someone soliciting donation for some (independent) religious school or something. I didn’t really catch what he was saying, or rather mumbling in the beginning while flipping through some posters, thinking to myself that I should have ignored the knock. Towards the end I caught something about “accepting any amount but the posters are RM5 each”.

What I hate about people soliciting donations directly door-to-door or on the street is that they put you in a spot; so between figuring out what it is you’re about to donate money to – hopefully not some cult or terrorist organization – and how much you actually have in your wallet, you don’t know whether you are giving because you sincerely want to help or just because you want them to disappear. I suppose to some money is money, but I wouldn't be comfortable accepting or collecting donations from people who gave because they were cornered. That would be little different from demanding people to hand over their cash at knife-point.

I gave the guy RM3 – so no poster for me. There were also US$107 in my wallet, but I don’t think he accepts foreign currency. I was glad that he was gone, which suggests that I wasn't really sincere about giving away the money. What a waste.

Perhaps a kind and charitable person wouldn’t even hesitate for a second before giving to such a noble cause, which makes me really mean and selfish. MUAHAHA!

PFFT!

Astro Turd

Firstly, I really hate debates because [1] I suck at them because my natural tendency towards any conflicts, issues and problems is to rationalize and de-conflict; [2] most of the time in the end I think everybody just goes away with whatever it is they thought or believed in the first place; and [3] most thinks are really non-issues.

Here, I really don’t see why there is (or should be) so much fuss about Astro increasing its subscription fees:

1. Honestly, RM5 or RM15 in 2007 is peanuts; though only God knows why people driving expensive cars would still park them illegally and haphazardly by the roadside just to save the RM1 indoor parking fee. Don’t talk about poor people, as poor people shouldn’t have Astro. I have nothing against being poor, but you are simply not poor if you are willing and able to pay for satellite TV.
   
   
2. If you don’t like the price hike (who does?), and find it too expensive, then quit your subscription. Satellite TV is not a necessity – you certainly can survive without it.
   
   Alternatively, there are many other ways to spend time than staring at the idiot box like going out, going online (and download TV shows like I do), or picking up a good book. Use your imagination. I remember reading about a jump in the number of babies conceived in some country following frequent blackouts. But if you think that you can’t live without television, install the antenna back up and enjoy the still very free terrestrial TV broadcasts. Don’t complain about the image and sound quality. If digital-clear image and sound is important enough for you, the price hike wouldn't be an issue.
   
   BTW, the government (RTM) has already undertaken to convert to digital broadcasting, perhaps even in HD, by the next decade.
   
   
3. Asking for the government to intervene is so typically Malaysian to turn to the government for every petty little thing. We Malaysians have serious dependency issues. Since none of our politicians and ministers really dare to take any responsibility for their actions, everything will end up brought to the Cabinet for decision. Then we complain that the government is authoritarian, intrusive, paternalistic, undemocratic etc. Pretty soon we may even ask the Cabinet to issue some guideline on how to pee.
   
   
4. Astro is a business, so of course it wants to suck every sen your ringgit.
   
   
5. The question of whether Astro is a monopoly depends on how you see television. If you cannot live without Akademi Fantasia and live euro-football matches then perhaps it is. A second or third satellite TV provider may help with the price issue by providing competition, but Astro may still have exclusive rights to EPL matches for example, and the providers can still all charge high prices.
   

Bottom line, Astro is not providing an essential your-life-depend-on-it service, so if you think that the price is too high then don't buy. It's as simple as that.
__________
PS: What happens to MiTV?
PPS: Remember Mega TV?

The Piece

You want some, punk?
My new ‘piece’ – a Black and Decker cordless drill

I LOVE school holidays because the roads are less congested both in the morning and in the evening; particularly important when I have to pass at least one primary school driving to and from work.

I HATE school holidays because the shopping malls – everywhere – and most importantly the cinemas will be packed with people, especially school-aged children and teens. The worst are secondary schoolers; typically going around in packs thinking and acting like they are so cool or tough with no regard to other people, and walk slower than a 100-year old grandma.

In the meantime, the latest Pirates looks set to do really well at the box office, judging by the fact that all the screenings beginning this Wednesday are already sold out! I only managed to buy tickets for next week. We’ll see how this second sequel turns out. With all the digital technology we have today, I am hoping that somebody will make big-budget full-action movies of famous naval battles like the Spanish Armada of 1588 and Nelson’s Trafalgar of 1805. Instead of a one-to-one duel as in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, we can have sea battles of LOTR-like epic scale; minus the hobbits and monsters and wizards.

That would be awesome!

Wallpaper

It’s sooo quiet at work at the moment, and I bet it will stay so until the new academic year begins in early July. Some of us do have classes, but since the ‘third semester’ is optional, many don’t. I don’t. So most of us just stay in our own little offices all day, such that apart from the occasional administrative work or meetings that would require you to go to the department or kulliyyah office every now and then, nobody would have noticed if you even come to work or not.

Widescreen Winter Redhead WP by Lostprincessofoz at deviantART

I've had the above redhead as my wallpaper on the laptop for a while now. There is something serenely beautiful I find in the redhead sitting in the snow that I like it so much.

BTW, my laptop is showing some worrying signs of age. Yesterday it wouldn't start when I pressed the power ON/OFF button(!).

At home I have this stunning red Honda NSX GT gracing my desktop. Don't ask me what's so special about the car; I wouldn't even know the car model if it wasn't for the file name. Again, I just like the picture, particularly the colors. Unlike the first wallpaper, which was created from this stock photo, this one is an actual photograph of a car. I just think that it is funny that a few years ago we'd look at an image and be amazed to find out that it was a drawing and not a photograph, but now we're more likely see an image and be amazed that it is. Anyway, if you're interested, the car was photographed by Easton Chang. You can also get more car wallpapers at WallpaperGarage.com, though it seems nowadays most people would rather use pictures of their loved ones as desktop wallpapers.

My Sister's Wedding

My sister’s wedding over the weekend went about as well as can be expected. If I don’t sound particularly enthusiastic about it, it is because I still ‘don’t particularly like’ weddings in general, not that I have anything about her getting married at all.

My super-duper-mega-important roles during the reception were to [1] welcome the guests and [2] take care of the gift money. It was the first wedding in the family so the turnout was very good, judging by the so many unfamiliar faces – mostly my parents’ old friends, very distant (relatively speaking) relatives, and orang kampung in general. Having to wear the baju melayu for the whole day didn’t turn out half as bad as I dreaded it to be, though I did cheat by not wearing the songkok.

Everything from the catering and entertainment to the weather went well throughout the day, so I suppose it was through and through a successful day; and I had absolutely nothing to contribute towards the planning and preparation of the wedding except for taking my sister for some last minute shopping and doing some lifting.

Not a picture from the wedding, but could have been if we had a gazillion dollars – photo taken on New Year's Eve 2004/2005 at Disney's Magic Kingdom, FL. Holding my breath to keep the camera still to capture the fireworks without a tripod was a bitch, but the result was excellent.

__________
PS: Lame mandatory question throughout the day: “So, when is the big brother's turn?”

Roadblock

I haven’t been reading for a while and it’s making me feel dumber by the day. Since The Lost Fleet: Fearless some time in February, I have been stuck half-way through The World is Flat and maybe one-fifth through Learning the World, a rather weird SF.

Now that the final Harry Potter book is coming out, I am faced with a question – now, will I read it?

One of the things I don’t want to do is read a book (or do something) because everybody else does as then I will not know for certain whether I read, and then most probably like the book, because of the hype or because I actually find it interesting myself. It’s petty, I know. When the first Harry Potter came out years ago and everybody went gaga over it, I told a friend that I’ll only pick it up when the series is complete. Now that the series is complete, or will, soon, I’m thinking whether I should wait a while longer, maybe a year or two. Perhaps by then the books will cheaper too, huh?

In the meantime, I’m awaiting delivery of two more John Scalzi SF from Amazon – The Last Colony and The Sagan Diary.

Dirty Windows

The window

After twenty years, my parents finally decided to renovate the house, motivated in part by my sister’s upcoming wedding this weekend. The project started off simply to repaint the exterior walls and living and dining areas, which should have taken at most one week.

Of course, it didn't stop there.

[1] The car shed was re-roofed. The old concrete roof was torn down because it was collecting rain water and was starting to droop. Somebody commented to my father that the roof might collapse, which basically freaked him out. In place of the concrete we now have metal sheets on a wooden frame, concealed at the bottom by a plaster ceiling. Inside the house, [2] the living and dining areas also receive new plaster ceilings, at my mother’s request, and my father had all of us contribute to [3] install a 3-hp air conditioner in the living area.

Those were only PHASE ONE. Oh, my parents also spent one week painting the kitchen while were out working during the day in PHASE ONE-AND-A-HALF.

The hand

In PHASE TWO, my sister’s bedroom gets installed air conditioning as well. All the bedrooms in the house save one face west, so they get terribly hot in the afternoons. Along the way I thought, “what the heck”, and have my room redone too with new walls, new lightings, a new floor, a new ceiling fan and air conditioning, all financed by a semester of extra load of teaching.

For PHASE THREE, which would most probably come after the wedding, my father is talking about having the retaining walls around the property reinforced and replacing the perimeter fencing.

In the meantime, I am seriously thinking about buying a power drill.

Monkeys and Spiders

It was a beautiful morning when I drove to work earlier. The sunlight was filtered by a layer of clouds so it wasn’t too bright; just the way I like it.

At the cinema yesterday, a gang of punks, or should I say beruk, sat in the row behind me. One problem of catching big blockbusters early is you get all sorts of characters. This pack of monkeys were disruptive all through the movie talking and taunting one another, making comments, and perhaps the worst, but unfortunately all too common, offence one can do in a cinema nowadays, talking on the phone not once but twice.

Rude people come in all types. The ones yesterday were college students – anak-anak harapan bangsa; at least one skipped class to come to the cinema and one ended up skipping work because the movie was longer than he expected. They might think that they were cool and tough to not care about others, but in actual fact all their antics and conversations only served to show the not-so-cool-and-not-so-tough rest of us that they were really a bunch of ignorant idiots.

Black flying skater dude (Columbia Pictures/Yahoo! Movies photo)

At two hours and twenty minutes, this latest Spider-Man is the longest of the franchise, and quite a stretch. Others may think that we can do away with some of the scenes, like when the I’m-bad-but-I-feel-good Peter Parker did the young John Travolta Staying Alive thing, but I’m fine with it. Besides, we get a whole bunch of characters this time – good Spider-Man, bad Spider-Man, Goblin junior, Sandman, Venom, and a new hottie (Bryce Dallas Howard) thrown in. With all the characters, I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie goes LOTR-extended-version-like long!

Spider-Man 3 is about Peter Parker getting over his head over his (or rather Spider-Man's) newfound fame and having a taste of the dark side. Then of course, in the end he is still a regular nerd, albeit with some awesome super powers.