The Golden Compass

Recently i saw the preview of the movie "The Golden Compass"

This is its description:-

In an epic trilogy that transcends genre, author Philip Pullman invents a world parallel to ours, but with fantastic dimensions all its own. Pulse-pounding action is paired with gorgeous imagery to create a touching story in a world where demons and winged creatures live among ordinary humans, and an elusive entity called Dust has the power to unite the universes. The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass are magical tools used in the battle of good against evil in an imaginative yet utterly original reworking the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man. (source from golden village)

The most wonderful and cunning "effect" in THE GOLDEN COMPASS is Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards). A 12-year-old girl surrounded by digitized creatures, spires, and sailing ships, Richards' Lyra is a singular delight, at once curious and stubborn, thoughtful and impetuous. Though she faces a series of daunting challenges that take her far from home, she remains brave, moral-minded, and smart -- a little girl much like the little girls who might be watching her on screen. That likeness in itself makes Lyra special.
The fact that Lyra lives in a world that's like ours but also different makes her situations both strange and familiar. Based on the first book in Philip Pullman's "HisDark Materials" trilogy, the movie opens in this alternate world's version of Oxford, where Lyra lives at Jordan College with her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig). In Lyra's world, everyone has a "daemon," an animal embodiment of his or her personality and soul. While adult daemons are "settled" (Asriel's is a very dignified leopard), children's are in flux. Lyra's daemon, Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore), shifts from ferret to bird to mouse, depending on mood or need. As children mature, their daemons become fixed -- just as their futures begin to seem set.
The initial trouble for Lyra is that her friends are disappearing before they can mature, apparently kidnapped by dark thuggish sorts called "Gobblers." She and her uncle worry about this phenomenon, which is enhanced by the threat posed by the Magisterium, a forbidding institution populated by men in black who believe in order and obedience rather than self-determination. "There will always be free thinkers and heretics," warns the Magisterial Emissary (Derek Jacobi) -- and he doesn't think that's a good thing.
He and other members of the Council see Lyra as a particular threat, believing she is the girl foretold in a prophecy about the Golden Compass, a complex device that can answer any question truthfully -- but can only be read instinctively by one person. And, indeed, when Lyra gets the Compass, she can read it, which puts her at risk from the Council's primary agent, Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman). Though Mrs. Coulter briefly distracts Lyra by taking her on a trip to the cold North, the child soon intuits her would-be mentor's sinister intent and escapes.
From here the film launches into multiple subplots -- not surprising, given that it's the first installment of a proposed trilogy. As Lyra seeks her missing best friend Roger (Ben Walker), as well as Asriel -- who has journeyed to the North in search of evidence of "other words" -- she assembles her own sort of "fellowship," including a band of Gyptians (led by Tom Courtenay), adventurous Texan Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliot), and flying witch Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green). But surely her most magnificent new friend is armored polar bear Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), a onetime king now reduced to performing tricks at a dingy pub.
With the others at their backs, Lyra and Iorek head out into the snowy wilderness, determined to recover Lyra's friends and restore Iorek to his royal birthright -- a feat that eventually leads to battle with the current bear king (source http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/Golden-Compass.html )

I personally think its a good movie not to be missed and look forward to a sequel. How little lyra outwits her enemies and how the story unfolds.

Wowtv in sg

Singapore’s latest broadband entertainment services provider, WOWtv, announced the official launch of its service, which offers viewers a personalized, unique media experience through a wide range of broadband streaming channels that can be accessed via 4 different platforms: web, set-top box, portable media player and 3G. WOWtv is “on-demand entertainment” powered by a secure and efficient broadband platform that enables a premium interactive entertainment experience anytime, anywhere. Viewers get an all access pass to a host of movies and entertainment programs which they can watch whenever they want and as many times as they want. This innovation allows all WOWtv users the convenience of sharing their viewing experience with their family and friends, without the limitations of preprogrammed schedules. Viewers will also be able to view advertisements that are targeted specifically to their needs. "This marks the start of an exciting era for WOWtv and Singapore – WOWtv is more than just a provider of entertainment; it serves as a lifestyle companion to all our viewers. With WOWtv, viewers are given the choice and flexibility to bring entertainment out of the living room to wherever they go," said Michael Toh, Chief Operating Officer of WOWtv. WOWtv features over 50 channels of programming across all genres, including: movie blockbusters, Asian dramas and variety shows, travel, lifestyle, fashion, edutainment, sports and more. Aside from programming, online games and e-commerce services are also available. All subscribers to WOWtv have instant access to over 25 channels of entertainment across genres on the FREE tier. Premium programming is also available to subscribers in 2 different membership tiers: the BASIC tier, which allows members to access an additional 16 channels at S$40 a year and VALUE tier, which consists of a host of a la carte channels and current premium pay-per-view movies. These premium pay-per-view movies are competitively priced at S$1 to S$2 per movie. Added Mr Toh: “Today’s consumer is spoilt for choice in the world of multi-platform entertainment. With this in mind, we have taken great care in choosing content that will cater to a wide range of audiences from different age groups, providing them with a variety of programs spanning across multiple genres that can be viewed across our 4 different platforms.” WOWtv has established licensed content agreements with major content providers, including Sony Pictures Television International, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and Videofashion Network. It is also set to achieve a milestone in broadband entertainment by unveiling Singapore’s first-ever Web Jockey, who will introduce viewers to the latest movies and series shown on WOWtv. The service can be accessed via web, set-top box, portable media player and 3G with any broadband Internet connection, offering quality streaming content to viewers. To date, WOWtv has more than 20,000 registered subscribers, achieved over an 8-week soft launch period. From now till 31 January 2008, all new members to WOWtv’s BASIC tier qualify for a lucky draw where they will stand a chance to win a host of attractive prizes, including the grand prize of a Peugeot 107. More information can be found on WOWtv’s website at www.wowtv.com.

Source : http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?cid=5&id=9017

Personally, i do not think too well of this newcomer into the current market. Time shall tell. In the current market, there's Starhub cable tv and Singtel's Mio tv, both are big players and relatively well known for their other services such as being handphone service provider. Singapore is after all this big and population is limited. One does wonder how much of the market is WOWtv gonna have a share of. Subscribers are indeed spoilt for choices, it used to be a monopoly field whereby only starhub is providing the service of cable tv but from what i had heard and find out from nearby friends, so far no one i knew had Mio tv, but most have subscribed to starhub cable tv.
I shall wait to see who shall have a bigger slice of the cake, is it Starhub, Singtel or is it WOWtv.

Free Wi-Fi for Nokia N-series phones

While free Wi-Fi in Australia's largest cities remains pretty much a hit-and-miss affair, anyone with a WFi-equipped Nokia N-series phone can grab free wireless access through any handy Azure hotspot for the next few months।


Running from now until the end of January next year, the "Sit, Sip and Surf" promotion arranged by Nokia and Azure Wireless opens up the doors of any Azure hotspot to N-series devices such as the N80, N91, N93 and N95 (the models which Nokia calls ‘multimedia computers' rather than plain old mobile phones).
Saunter up to any Azure hotspot (they're most prominent in shopping centres and cafes), run the WLAN setup wizard on your N-series device, select the Azure access point and you're online, says Nokia।


Sign of the times: or at least summertime, if you've got an N-series phone and want a free Wi-Fi fix from one of over 200 Azure hotspotsHow does the hotspot know you're using an N-series and not anything else from an iPhone to a notebook? Azure seemed cagey on this point and didn't return our calls, but a Nokia spokesperson said the hotspot is "configured to allow free access to devices that identify themselves as Nokia N-series"।


We're presuming the means of this ‘identification' is how the microbrowser on the phone - err, sorry, multimedia computer - presents itself to the hotspot when you hit the hotspot's login page। Rock up with a browser which screams "I'm Internet Explorer!" or "I'm Mozilla!" and you won't get past go. But we're happy for readers to poke around at their nearest Azure hotspot and report back here...

source "http://apcmag.com/7389/free_wi_fi_for_nokia_n_series_phones"

Claymore

Claymore had ended not too long ago. It is a superb animation but according to others, it varies much from the manga version. Action had been cut down in the anime series but overall it is an anime worth watching.

The sysnosis :

It is the world where the man-eating demon hangs out. To fight against the demon, the human beings create female soldiers that are half demons and half human. They have silver eyes and large swords. They are named Claymore after their swords. When Claire was a child, she met Theresa, the strongest Claymore. To save Claire, Theresa broke their iron rule to kill a human. Because of breaking the rules, she was wanted by punitive group. Pricilla, a member of the punitive group, couldn't control the power of the magical sword, and turned into an "Awakened". Then, Theresa was beaten by the large power of Pricilla. To avenge Theresa, Claire decided to inherit Theresa's flesh to become Claymore.

Throughout the anime, clare hunts for pricilla and to prevent spoilers i shall not disclose anymore than this.

Another anime i watched recently is Bleach the movie "Memories of Nobody", this movie is not link to the anime series Bleach, This movie has some emotional scenes and the storyline is that "Blanks" appeared in the real world and a new shinigami "Senna" came along. She has no memories of her past, all she remembers is her name. The plot slowly unravels and it is one movie worth watching.

The cons are that the music is the same as bleach anime and the fighting part is not that interesting especially when Ichigo goes against "???" (shall not disclose info).

More anime review shall be written in the future

sysnosis source "http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,3917,rxjrkz,claymore.html"

Granado Espada

Recently i have been introduced to play GE by a gaming friend of mine. I did not try out it's beta testing when it was released as i was previously occupied with rappelz and maplestory which got bored after a while.

Upon starting GE, the system interface blew me off. It is very unique and so far i have not come across any MMOs that comes close to it. Player can have 3 chars in a team and there are quite a number of classes/jobs to choose from. Be it from scout which specialise in healing or Fighter who specialise in combat. One can customize own's preferences. Carrying sabers, swords or even rifles depending on the stance one chooses and which direction the player decides to train their chars.

Graphics is a + point of the game but the chars facial expression is not really that great compared to other MMOs. Not all chars looks nice though. GE takes on a strategy as in that all new signed up users gets to play GE for free for 5 days and after that one can decide whether to continue to play by paying , P2P for short or to discontinue.

I am impressed with GE's system of letting the players AFK simply by pressing spacebar and your chars will hit any nearby mobs once they're in range. The only down point is that they will not be able to pick items up and if AFK for too long, might miss out on good items if any.

I'm definitely gonna continue playing GE. To those curious parties who have seen this blog entry, do give it a try. Its free for 5days. Play it and you might be addicted.