Lakeside Hotel In China

I wanna go there!! apparently a design concept for a (literally) lakeside hotel in the Songjian region, near Shanghai, set for completion in 2009. It built into a cliffside and man made lake, and offers all types of water based activities, as well as a giant acquarium 10 metres deep.

It will have 400 rooms of five star quality, and a number of restaurants as well. I love how development in China is going, they really really THINK BIG. If you've ever been there you'd marvel at the size of the infrastructure available from as simple roads and highways to bridges and buildings. I think they're preparing for the inevitable rise of the country's economy, and is making the necessary infrastructure that will be able to cope with that high level of economic activity.

Infrastructure has been the biggest problem for India (China's main rival), and its seems the country's roads/ports/highways just can't seem to cope with increasing industrial acitivity. Plus, they're saying that the Indian government has been slow in implementing improvements and new initiatives in the infrastructure deparment. If they're not carefull, they're going to be left behind by China.

The T-600

Check out the pics for the T-600 robots that will appear in the new Terminator Salvation movie! Aint It Cool News has coverage of the Comic Convention right now. Lots of pics and coverage there for your perusal. Kinda looking forward to this one actually, its co-written by Jonathan Nolan of The Dark Knight, so it should be solid judging by their track record.

Bwahahahaha

Nice shorts Cristiano!

Akira Bike

"The Magic Tricycle is a unique concept in the way that it drives on all three wheels for normal highway use, but can rotate around a longitudinal axis running from the front to the rear right wheel with the left wheel elevated into the air so the vehicle can be ridden as a motorcycle in more congested areas. To facilitate this, the seats rotate to keep the occupants sitting upright and the airborne wheel opens up blades which work like a helicopter tail propeller to aid stability.

Check out Car Design for more pics.

Joker Bearbrick

POW

Check out the website Picturesonwalls.com (POW), a website that supports new up-comming artists, see some of their stuff below. The art is also available for purchase through the website.

Nike ?uestlove Air Force 1

A limited edition Nike Air Force 1 ?uestlove, courtesy of Hypebeast check out their website for more pics. For those that don't know, ?uestlove (real name Ahmir Thompson) is a famous drummer/producer of the hiphop band The Roots. Amazing guy, he did some work for D'angelo and Erykah Badu, musically right up my alley. He is also famously known for his huge afro hehehe

Its a shame that real artists can't be appreciated nowadays, the Souljaboys get more attention and money that those that actually forward the art form. When i mention money, i know people are gonna say that real artists don't need financial success to survive, but i always believed that they should be financially rewarded for their effort to make better music. It's not easy making good music, and that quality is getting worse everyday if you listen to the radio.

Anyway, that is a major detour for talking about sneakers. Fuggedddaboutit!

Carbon Fiber Cars?

Wow, could carbon fiber cars be hitting the streets soon???

The use of carbon fiber in formula 1 cars is well know, the material is much superior in comparison to traditional iron. Despite the current high price of the material (which is why only F1 cars use them), the rumour is that Japanese carmakers might consider using it for the mass market.

"It’s easy to see the attraction of the carbon fiber. It’s stronger than iron and only a quarter of the weight. What’s more, by using carbon fiber instead of steel, cars could be 40% lighter and improve fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30%, reports Japan’s Nihon Keizai paper. (Showing off its green credentials, Toyota showed off a partially finished carbon fiber body at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show called the 1/X.)" - Business Week

That is an interesting development if its true, the article lays out the argument for and against as well as why we might not see it in the near future. Hey, i'm all for better mileage out of cars man, gas prices is killing me man!

Here's a pic of the Toyota concept car mentioned in the article.

Aw Geez

If that didn't look staged, i don't know what is hahahha. I'm sick of these two, they should just go to Timbuktu or somewhere for a while hehehe

Dragonball

lotsa movie posters today for some reason, check out the Dragonball movie website for more info and pics. Loved the manga as a kid, i used to read that stuff every week and was really really mad at my mom for giving it away when i was at boarding school. Someday i'm gonna collect the manga again, Akira Toriyama is just amazing, the way he weaves the characters and storylines into one giant big adventure that actually made sense (and continuity too) through something like 50+ issues is just amazing. Not dissing american comics, but sometimes they struggle to produce 30 page comics on a monthly basis, and the switch penciller/writers on the books so there's no continuity.

Amazing piece of work. I don't have high hopes for the movie though, but i'll give it a chance.

Another Cool Poster

From the upcoming The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Boldly Going Where No Man Has Gone Before

Excellent sneak peeks at the new Star Trek movie posters are at Entertainment Weekly!

Waiting For The Dark Knight

We're eagerly waiting in the cinema to watch The Dark Knight woo hoooo!!!! Unfortunately we couldn't see it at Blitz, dammit, they only had it in one screen, didn't wanna risk it.



Will holla back once we've seen the movie, can't wait!!!

Sent from my BlackBerry®

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Imma So Get Me One Of These

Grand Indonesia

Was walking around the Grand Indonesia complex during the weekend, and decided to check out the 6-7th floor of the place to see if the construction work has been completed yet. The floor is supposed to be an entertainment complex with a combination of restaurants, arcades, karaokes and more.

It also has different sections using different design themes like Roman (see below), Japanese (amazing btw), Turkish (which houses the kids entertainment section), and others. Worth exploring, popular restaurants and cafes like Y&Y, Duck King, Crystal Jade, etc have even set up shop there.

I think there was a superhero theme during the week/month, cause there were all these stalls selling superhero merchandises from the Batman and Iron Man movies. They also had these impressive life size statues on display.

Go check out Grand Indonesia!

More Celebrities & Their BBs

Jake G

Jeremy Piven (Entourage)

Reese Witherspoon

Check out Blackberry Sightings for more pics!

Idiota!

The New York Times has an interesting article about how the media, and in particular late night tv hosts like Jay Leno-David Letterman-and others, are finding it difficult to make fun of Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.

"Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the ABC late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” said of Mr. Obama, “There’s a weird reverse racism going on. You can’t joke about him because he’s half-white. It’s silly. I think it’s more a problem because he’s so polished, he doesn’t seem to have any flaws.”

That is an excellent analysis of why Obama has been bulletproof so far. There isn't much that we can latch him on to.

For example, lets be crass here yeah: when someone say Bill Clinton you think of womanizing, say George Bush you think unintelligent, McCain you think of old, etc. These associations are ripe for comedy, and so far Obama has managed to sidestep comedy landmines and actually seem intelligent and composed. He can even dance!:



When someone tries to make fun of his islamic sounding name or supposed connection (see the New Yorker magazine cover), it just seems...inappropriate. I agree with the article, it might be because of his race or the fact that lots of people want to see him in the White House, some comedians are pulling back from making fun of him and ruining his chances.

That being said, i loved the last line of the article:

"Mr. Sweeney said, “We’re hoping he picks an idiot as vice president.”

hehehehe

Murakami Louis Vuitton

Was walking around Pacific Place on Saturday and saw the newly opened Louis Vuitton store, ground level. Looked at the window display and saw some Murakami designed stuff that used his camouflage pattern, recently unveiled at his controversial New York exhibition.

The Good Trattoria

Had lunch with some people at the Trattoria in Menara Karya, Kuningan, last friday. I went to the other Trattoria restaurant in Pondok Indah sometime ago, and vowed to never come back again. It wasnt the food, it was decent enough, it was the heat. The place had an open design (Translation: no air conditioning) which makes it very humid, this is Jakarta people, not Bali!

The Kuningan Trattoria is nothing like that one though, to my great surprise. I ordered a pizza, forgot what topping it had, but it was decent with its thin crust. I do have one complaint though, the menu is in italian....yup....everyone had problems ordering.

Just Go

The transfer saga of Cristiano Ronaldo is heating up, and even FIFA president Sepp Blatter and living legend Pele have thrown in their two cents into the mix. Some are saying that players should honour their contracts, clubs and fans by playing with full commitment, while others are saying that you should let a player go when they have their heart set on a move.

I think players are becoming mercenaries these days even though they already earn astronomical salaries. This is a problem that is becoming increasingly commonplace for clubs nowadays, i think something should be done before start throwing tantrums to try and get out of their contracts.

But in Ronaldo's case, they should just let him go. He's been stating that he wants to leave ManU ever since the last World Cup, and he could be a negative influence on the team if he stays. Loosing a world caliber player like him is a huge blow for ManU, i mean, how do you even go about replacing him??? he scored 40 goals for them last season.

Clear Shot At iPhone

The battle between Blackberry and iPhone keep getting hotter and hotter every day. Crackberry has got the scoop on the iPhone challenger, Thunder, set to feature BB's first touchscreen phone.

Just like Apple's groundbreaking product, Thunder will feature a full qwerty keypad in touchscreen form. But the leaked pics reveal their cutting edge. Unlike iPhone, the phone adjusts its keypad to the orientation of the screen (portrait or landscape) so users get the best of both worlds. The horizontal keypad is reminiscent of the BB Pearls phones, with two letters sharing a keypad.

Clearly RIM has been listening and analyzing the criticism that iPhone has been getting off its keypad, which is:

1. Its hard to type on the unresposive keypad, its like tapping on glass, theres no feel to it
2. Unlike the photo display, it doesnt switch between orientation of screen
   

You know, i love the fact that competition brings out the best in people, it makes them strive to improve their products.

Ay yay yay...did it just get slightly warmer in here???

Damn They're Ugly

Funny article someone forwarded to me the other day about the sweaters that Bill Cosby wore on The Cosby Show being auctioned on Ebay. As you can see from the picture they're of the best design quality (coughsarcasmmodeoncough), and bidding started at US$5000. Wonder why no one has bid on them yet hehehe

Check out the story at NY Mag.

Tetris Ice Cubes

I Had One Of Those!

I use to have the He-Man Master Of The Universe toys back in the day, and i remember buying these (see pics) from Toys R Us in Singapore when we had our family trip. My dad said we could buy only the toys we can carry ourselves (excellent strategy there, limiting our puchase by our capacity of storage, touche!).

We use to have ours of fun with these, having epic battles with monsters and heroes and villains for hours. The girls would be playing barbies, but He-Man and GIJoe rules!

Theres more pics of old toy sets in Retrojunk, Check out Retrojunk for the complete list!

Wanted

Saw Wanted last night at Blitz Megaplex, Pacific Place mall. Never read the graphic novels, so i came in pretty fresh and without the burden of expectations that the movie has to live up to.

So, as a sci-fi/action movie how does it rate?

...ummm...it was ok i guess. It didn't blow me away that for sure, and there were a few elements i liked (the bullet bending and assasin school was good), but there wasn't anything really spectacular in the movie. James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie was good (her Fox character was smolderingly hot, but when is Angeliena not hot?), Morgan Freeman and the rest of the supporting cast was also ok, but again nothing really jumped out of the screen for me.

There was also too many fake looking CG effects in the movie, i can hear some people in the audience groaning in disbelief (especially when that Dodge Viper flips over on the side of the bus, then manages to drive off from the police).

But then again, hey, its based on a comic book and its supposed to be about super assasins, so what do you want?? in this reality people are supposed to be able to bend bullets and kill 100 guys without getting shot. If you lower your expectations then you're gonna spend an hour and a half reasonably entertained.

that sound like a half assed review for you? so is the movie.

Noodle Cafe

We could not decide where to have lunch yesterday, it was one of those "anywhere" moments where no one could decide a place to eat so it was really frustrating. Finally decided on Noodle Cafe in Blok M, horrible place, regreted eating there.

Hurry up and order or imma smack ya!

Who The Hell Is Gonna Use This???

Oooooook hehehe, i guess its good for....i give up.

Tech Stuff

Check out this blog called I Did This For A Living by a friend of mine, Stephen Warouw. Excellent tech rant from computer software to mobile phones, and done in an accessible way too, so gaptek (or technically challenged, the politically correct term hehehe) people like me can understand what he's saying. Roll over there and read some intriguing stuff, worth a read or two.

Klatu Barada Nikto!

Check out this concept design for the Gort humanoid character for the upcoming remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still movie starring Keanu Reeves, which can be found at the designers website here.

Someone commented that it looks similar to the Battlestar Galactica robots, i agree with that statement, the old design was clunky i guess but at least its different. Why do Hollywood keep remaking old movies?? are they running out of original ideas??? probably.

Ritz Bar

We went out to check out this place called the Ritz Bar, on the 6th floor of the Ritz Carlton Pacific Place apartment complex above the mall. Pretty cool place. Shame i forgot to take pictures of the view (excellent), and the food and drinks are good too. Check out the place if you've got time to spare, recommended for business meetings as well, excellent service and ambience.

Whoa

You guys probably think this posting is about the Blackberry Christina Aguilera is holding. Nope, i think we all can tell what the subject is instead. Holy crap, whatever happened to the Christina Aguilera that used to jump around my tv screen?? the one thats was in the Dirty and Beautifull video?? she was the size of a beansprout. I guess pregnancy really agress with her, more power to Christina!

XL Office

I went in to accompany my dad hook up his Blackberry phone, and boy was i impressed. I'm so used to the bland and depressing offices of Indosat and Telkomsel, that i find XL's office so refreshing. I'm not saying its good, cause its gaudy as hell, but it colorful and filled with friendly staff members. Finally, a telephone company that actually cares about giving good customer service! i might even switch over to them.

Why So Serious?

MTV News got a great article about why some people are saying that Heath Ledger should get an oscar nomination at least for his portrayal in the soon to be release "The Dark Knight".

"A lot of people talk about awards all the time, and it's early days," said Christian Bale, who stars as Batman. "But if anybody deserves it, of course, it is Heath in this."

"He hit it in the entire performance," marveled Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose brother, Jake, was Ledger's "Brokeback" co-star. "It's so difficult to do that in a huge movie like this and much easier to do in the tiny movies. That's why those are always the people who win Academy Awards."

The positive buzz for the movie just keeps building up in anticipation of its release, i havent heard anything negative about it actually, so the filmmakers might have a hit on their hand.

The intensity of Heath's performance has been much talked about, and you can see glimpses of it in the many trailers that can be found all over the net. This is my number one most anticipated movie of the summer, and i believe that this is the turning point for Heath Ledger the actor, from a promising young actor to one that delivers his promise of huge talent and charisma.

I've always had an affinity for Heath's work ever since i saw him in the teen flick "10 Things I Hate About You" with Julia Stiles (whatever happened to her??), and have closely followed his career ever since. I thought he was good in The Patriot with Mel Gibson, his short-but-sweet turn as the depressed son in Monster's Ball, and of course, Brokeback Mountain which he should have won an oscar for.

It seemed to me that he was someone who was willing to take chances and never compromise for his art, and Brokeback was his tipping point, where he got his sea legs and was about to grace us with many more movies for years to come.

Sadly, as you all now, Heath died tragically at the age of 28 from an undetermined cause of death. Alone and naked in his apartment in New York.

I don't know why i liked Heath, I don't even know the guy personally, but his death really saddened me and still does. He's 28 years old (my age) and trying to find his footing in the world, to see his potential abruptly lost...gone forever...just saddens me...

I'll be there opening night to see a Joker that no one has seen before, a Joker that no one else could have done except Heath Ledger.

Blackberry Thunder

You guys probably know by now that i'm a Blackberry (BB) freak, and i'm always looking for new software/themes/wallpapers/ringtones or phones that BB comes up with to get excited about.

So here comes the first pics of the Thunder, the first BB touch screen phone ever. As you can tell it doesn't have a Qwerty pad, so it's gonna be interesting to see how people are gonna type their emails efficiently with the Thunder.

Check it out here for more details.




Don't know exactly when it's scheduled to launch, since its not on the BB Roadmap that i found online a couple of days ago (see below), but its a reason to be excited nonetheless! The Bold looks excellent, and though i don't like flip phones, the Kickstart also looks good. RIM's BB expansion looks set to take over the world in different shapes and forms.

Excellent Concept Bike

It's got a 6 cylinder engine in it to push its apparently heavy weight, and like the Bat Pod cycle for the movie The Dark Knight, it can stand on its own due to its large diameter wheels. I would love to zoom down Sudirman road in this hehehe

Adidas Beijing Office

Check out more at Hypebeast!

Crystal Jade

Had a birtday celebration for my cousin at Crystal Jade in Pacific Place, the bi 3-0! hehehe. The food wa excellent, there was a variety of offerings there from prawns, chicken, duck noodles and my favorite the salted fish fried rice.

Wedding + Afterparty

Went out to a friends wedding on last Saturday night, which turned out to be a really good one actually. It was held at the Financial Club, Niaga Tower, and had four different theme rooms - Japanese, Chinese, Middle Eastern and Western. The rooms had different music and food, so you can get different ambience wherever you go, brilliant.

The happy couple was walking around, mingling with people and taking pictures with them, it was unlike any other wedding i've been to. Someone said the atmosphere was like a party in Manhattan, i actually agreed with that statement. Most wedding people shuffle in, shake hands, then quickly make a beeline to the exit. Nobody wanted to leave this wedding hehehe congrats Kemal & Karin!!

Afterwards we went to Loewy, which apparently had their grand opening party. It was allright, the music was ok but nothing special, though Loewy can't seem to do anything wrong at the moment and is probably the 'in' place at the moment.

My bro and sis.

Blackberry Sightings

Megan Fox
John Mayer

Check out Celebrity Blackberry Sightings for more pics!