Spy Game / That's The Way I Like It
Just started watching
Spy Game
and got a surprise to see Adrian Pang playing a minor role.
He's a pretty big celeb in Singapore, mainly as a funny guy but also done his share of drama. Probably best
know for co-hosting Yummy King (好吃王) with Michelle Chia.
But by far the best thing I've seen him do is a little-know movie called
https://amzn.to/44cLniT
That's The Way I Like It
. It's an hilarious transposition of
Saturday Night Fever
into a Singaporean context. Get it if you can (found at Library@Esplanade if you
live in Singapore). Here's a teaser:
Disco hits Singapore. Hock, an ordinary underachiever, discovers disco when his favorite kung fu movie is replaced by a low-budget "Saturday night fever."
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One Night At The Call Centre
I had the chance to participate in a focus group for the NLB, and as a
bonus got a book voucher to put to good use. Within a few minutes of walking into a bookshop, Chetan Bhagat's
One Night At The Call Center
caught my eye and was immediately locked-in as a purchase.
This is a refreshing read. In one night we meet Shyam and his call center collegues as they each face life:
from a plagiaristic, useless boss who can't hold a real conversation with out using MBA jargon .. arranged
marriages gone wrong .. manipulative mothers .. and a job that pays just well enough to suck you in and seduce
you into giving up your dreams. It would easy to be cynical like Varun (Vroom):
We get paid well, fifteen thousand a month. Fuck, that's almost twleve dollars a day. Wow, I make as much a day as a US burger boy makes in two hours. Not bad for my college degree. Not bad at all
But this is really a book about hope, and what you are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of a better life. It's a story that transcends culture.
Near the end of the book, there's a self-referential discussion of which of two versions of a critical scene should have been used [don't worry, you'll understand how that makes sense when you read the book]. My only criticism of the book is that I think the author choses the wrong version! But it works well enough to not be a major detraction.
All up, a very good read. Highly recommended! I don't think you need to be into IT, outsourcing or Indian culture to "get it"; this is a book anyone would enjoy.
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JDeveloper Filter Add-in Now on Sourceforge
I introduced the JDeveloper IDE External Filter Add-in project last
weekend. Happy to announce that the project's registration on sourceforge is complete, so full source and downloads
are now available from the sourceforge jdevfilter project
page.
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Tux gets his break with OS/2
Staying with my OS/2 reminiscence for a moment, there's a trove of old gems
up on YouTube (including the famous quote from Bill "we believe
OS/2 is the platform for the 90's").
While IBM ads in the US defied the limits of corny, in Japan
it is all so kawaii.
Of course! The correct way to market an operating system is with a TV star/model (Yamaguchi
Tomoko 山口智子), a bear and a penguin.
At least we know what Tux was up to before he got his
big break with Linux in 96...taking gigs playing "DOS" and living it up in Ropongi!
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