Rambo 4: Bloody Movie

After getting some art supplies in One Utama yesterday, we decided to watch a movie. Since Rambo 4 is now showing, we decided to take a look especially because the last Rambo movie were released about 20 years ago.

As a child, I’ve watched all of the Rambo movies and liked each of them. They always depict a tactical and strategical soldier who has been trained to be a deadly weapon in the jungle. As far as my brain can recall, I always remember Rambo were always involved in Asia wars or conflict (in contrary to high tech wars between all the developed countries).

Rambo 4Rambo 4… not to say that I don’t like it but I feel that the technological advancement in the film industry has actually influenced this movie a lot. All the gory details are included, as the film maker tries to enhance the dramatic effect of high powered weapons.

Human flesh are splattered everywhere, people are cut in half, blown by mines, limbs cut using machetes, heads blown by handguns (and sniper gun). The cruelty depicted is real, and is necessary to make viewers understand the real situation in Myanmar at that time. However when high powered weapons are involved (.50 caliber truck mounted guns, the sniper gun) you’ll see body parts flying around and a lot of red colors used!

When I saw what the army is doing to the people I wondered, “what’s wrong with this army????”. But when I saw Rambo shoot the driver of the truck with the .50 cal gun until he became a hamburger I can’t help it to wonder, “what’s wrong with Rambo???”. In this movie he is a mindless soldier who I guess is effected by all the battles he have been in the past.

All in all – it’s a good movie to unwind yourself, and not to have to think so much. It lacks a proper plot but the action is there. However if I am a parent, I would be extra careful not to let any copy of this movie (in form of CD/DVD/downloaded) falls into my child’s hands. It’s simply too shocking and violent!

Fender Bender in Subang

I was involved in a fender bender in Subang yesterday, caused by a motorcycle. He was crossing a road divider (to save distance WTF) and slowly cruising in front of me so I had to slow down.

A car behind me (a Proton Wira) saw this and in turn he slowed down himself. But, an old lady behind him driving a 5th Gen Honda Civic didn’t slow down and hit the back of the Wira. It was a nasty blow and it ripped off the Wira’s rear bumper. The Wira grazed my Perodua Kelisa‘s rear end, caused some paint transfer and some dent. His left side near the tire, however, was dented quite badly and even effected his front passenger door. (So was it the super effect of Proton cars absorbing the impact, or whether it’s the bad material I don’t know).

Since I was in a hurry, I went to discuss with them and asked them what they were going to do. I don’t care, as my damage is tiny. We suggested the old lady check her own insurance, and how much her NCD was. If it’s a lot and not worth claiming maybe she could use her own money and save years of NCD.

In summary however – it was a nice accident. Everyone was very cool about it, and there were no finger-pointing or blaming each other. Well, we blame the idiot on the bike who escaped unhurt and nowhere to be seen after the bang occurred. It was a healthy accident. Everyone knew that the accident already happened and there is no need to make the situation worst.

After 10 minutes I was driving to Pelita Nasi Kandar in Subang to have lunch, as we all decided not to make a report and no insurance was involved. Those two unlucky drivers went to the workshop nearby to get an estimate.

MacBook Air Is Too Expensive For Me

Hey hey hey… looks like MacBook Air’s price has been released in Malaysia. However when I took a glance at Machines Sunway Pyramid last weekend I didn’t see any hint (not even a flier) about MacBook Air.

The least expensive model is priced at RM6,299.00 (~US$1,949.25) – which is actually logical for an Apple notebook. However, analyzing the tech specs, I can get a very high-end x86 machines with that kind of money! Unless I have a never-ending flow of money, or am very rich, I don’t think I will get one of those. The most expensive model is RM10,899.00 (~US$3,372.74) which is jaw-dropping. 🙁

In the States, the prices are US$1,799.00 (~RM5,813.46) and US$3,098.00 (~RM10,011.19) respectively.

Sure, the physical design is extremely beautiful. But if I really want to use Mac OS X I guess I can try installing it on a normal x86 machine. I guess we can’t expect a good balance between physical beauty and excellent tech spec!

I guess I’ll just have to forget about self-adjusting keyboard backlight and multi-touch trackpad. Michael Dell, I’m coming your way!

Sun Acquired MySQL

For those who have been busy or simply missed the news, MySQL has been acquired by Sun Microsystems (last month). There are many speculations on the effect of this acquisition, some good and some bad.

I just hope Sun will preserve MySQL as an open source project and keeps the dual-licensing option. According to Kaj Arnö (MySQL VP of Community Relations) nothing bad will come. However Solaris users will definitely have an advantage as “Solaris has a special position in MySQL’s heart”. 😉 I never really knew that MySQL was initially developed on Solaris!

The thing I remember the most is that when David Axmark (co-founder) was in Malaysia for Fosscon 2003 he mentioned that MySQL is named after Michael “Monty” Widenius’s (co-founder/CTO) daughter My (pronounced “me”) in 1983.

MySQL certainly have a very bright future, and I am actually happy that David and Monty decided not to sell to Oracle when offered in 2006. MÃ¥rten Mickos (CEO) said, “We will be part of a larger company, but it will be called MySQL”. MySQL is here to stay.

This is the press release on MySQL acquisition.

Related:

Oracle Buys Sleepycat Software

Plant A Tree While Buying A Dell Server

Yes, I have been busy.

I just want to share you an interesting finding while “shopping” for a server at work today. While customizing a DELL 2950 III server, at the end of the customization page Dell offers and Environmental Options section.

Want to help the environment? Through Dell, you can plant a tree to help offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated to power your new system.

DELL Tree Planting Option

I think it’s cool what they are doing. I wonder if they have a planting site somewhere where each tree is labeled with the buyer’s name? 😉