Pixels Movie Review

Synopsis:
As kids in the 1980s, Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), Will Cooper (Kevin James), Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad), and Eddie “The Fire Blaster” Plant (Peter Dinklage) saved the world thousands of times – at 25 cents a game in the video arcades. Now, they’re going to have to do it for real. In Pixels, when intergalactic aliens discover video feeds of classic arcade games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth, using the video games as the models for their assaults -- and now-U.S. President Cooper must call on his old-school arcade friends to save the world from being destroyed by PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede, and Space Invaders. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pixels is an interesting movie.

It really feels like any other Adam Sandler movie, and in this movie, he saves the world. This is a very hard movie to review because it is rather forgettable. However, I did have fun watching it.

Adam Sandler plays a blue collar worker who could not get over his loss when he competed in the world arcade championship and lost to Peter Dinklage. The character build up is not very strong however, and you do not really feel for the characters.

I would say this movie may appeal more to kids. It is a disaster movie that does not take itself seriously. Kevin James is an unpopular president and does try hard to create some funny moments. The special effects is pretty solid, but the whole story and comedy is mediocre at best.

The arcaders -- the team assembled to defeat the alien assault -- seems to eventually not require much else to defeat the aliens. There are many plot holes to overlook but it is a pretty fun movie to watch.


I would say wait for the cable release to watch this on TV instead of catching this in the movies. I'm sure there are many better movies to catch.

Overall: 4/10
Catch this on Cable.


-- Robin Low

1 Day Pokhara Itinerary (Nepal)

Pokhara is a great place to visit, but as the travel industry is not very matured, sometimes it is very inefficient use of your time to visit Pokhara as it may take you 3 days.

I've met several locals and got a good itinerary and here is one

Basically, the ""Tourist Bus" leaves early every morning at around 6 - 7am and it takes 6 - 8 hours to get to Pokhara for US$12 - US$15. Or flying to Pokhara cost around US$70 - US$100 and takes less than 1 hour.

So say you take the bus, and arrive at 2pm, you should look at this itinerary.

After checking into your hotel. Visit these sites.

1) Mahendra Cave (Kaski district)

Mahendra Cave is a cave located near Pokhara, Kaski district, close to the Seti River. It is a rare example of a cave system in Nepal containing stalagmites and stalactites. The cave attracts thousands of tourists every year. A statue of Hindu lord Shiva can be found inside the cave.

2) Bat Cave.

Batman may not be in, but you can surely visit this cave beside Mahendra Cave.

3) Seti River Gorge

This is rather close by and right beside the Gurkha Museum. The gorge is rather deep and there is an interesting canal that powers a Hydroelectric power plant.

4) Gurkha Museum

Full of interesting information on Gurkha, their origins and their deeds.

 

5) Devi's Falls

This is in a slightly different area, and you can take a taxi there.

Its a rather pathetic waterfall, in terms of size, but you need to visit this to appreciate the Gupteshwor cave more.

6) Gupteshwor cave

Across the road from Devi’s Falls, this venerated cave contains a huge stalagmite worshipped as a Shiva lingam. The ticket allows you to clamber through a tunnel behind the shrine, emerging in a damp cavern adjacent to the thundering waters of Devi’s Falls.

7) International Mountain Museum

Hey, you are in Nepal, the Himalayans is all around and you can mountain out here, learning all you need to know about the tallest peaks in the world.

8) Phewa Lake (Fewa Lake)

Yup, this is very pretty, and you should do this before sunset. Nice place to chill and get dinner after too.

9) World Peace Pagoda (Pokhara Shanti Stupa)

Pokhara Shanti Stupa is a Buddhist pagoda-style monument on a hilltop in Ananda hill of Pumdi Bhumdi Village Development Committee, in the district of Kaski, Nepal. Shanti Stupa in Pokhara was built by Nipponzan-Myōhōji monk Morioka Sonin with local supporters under the guidance of Nichidatsu Fujii, a Buddhist monk and the founder of Nipponzan-Myōhōji. Shanti is a Sanskrit word meaning peace, also widely used in Nepali and Hindi language, and Shanti Stupa means Peace Pagoda. Shanti Stupa is the shrine build as symbol of peace. The spot situated at the height of 1100 meters on the Ananda Hill was chosen by Nichidatsu Fujii and he laid the foundation stone as well with the relics of Buddha on the hilltop on 12 September 1973. Nepal has two of the eighty peace pagodas in the world: Shanti Stupa in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and Shanti Stupa in Pokhara. Shanti Stupa in Pokhara has also become a tourist attraction. It provides a panoramic view of the Annapurna range, Pokhara city and the Fewa Lake.

The view from up there is great, and you need to take a boat across the river. Great place to watch the sunset.

10) Dinner near Phewa Lake

Lots of interesting place for food and to chill.

11) Sarangkot

Sarangkot is a village and famous tourist destination of Nepal located inside Sarangkot Development Committee in Kaski District Gandaki Zone. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a total population of 5,060 with 1,010 individual households.

This is a fantastic place to watch the sunrise and see Annapurna. Just go up, you won't regret. Its a long way up, so make sure you arrive much earlier than the sunrise. I left hotel at 4am and arrived at 5:30am and watch the sky change colors.

12) Bindabasini Temple

Bindabasini temple or Bindhyabasini Mandir is of great religious importance to Hindus living in the Pokhara region. It is a vital hub of religious fervor. The temple itself is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Durga, who is Pokhara's chosen guardian deity. Durga, also known as Shakti or Kali has numerous manifestations and at the Bindabasini temple she is seen as Bhagwati, a blood-thirsty aspect of the goddess. Durga appears in the form of a Saligram. A Saligram, according to Hindu mythology is an propitious stone. It is said that the temple was created after the goddess ordered king Khadag Bum Malla to set up a her statue here. The Bindabasini temple was then founded in BS 1845. Since its establishment, Bhagwati has been an object of worship here on a daily basis. Animal sacrifices are typically presented at the temple on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

There you go, you can visit more than 10 sites in 1 day when you go to Pokhara. Schedule is rather tight, but it can be done.

Nepal Needs You...
Support Nepal
Visit Nepal

-- Robin Low

Bello! From Shanghai.

I am in Shanghai and it never cease to amaze me how this city keeps building new and taller buildings everyday.

The Skyline of Shanghai at the Bund is very pretty and on the other side of the shore at Pudong, you get a treat of the old and the new Shanghai that is being built.

Walking down Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, you get to see miles of malls on both sides. The streets are packed with people and even Shinjuku in Tokyo cannot compare with the crush of humans during rush hour. Its almost like every evening is like the countdown on Times Square during New Years.

Police are there to do traffic control or people will die from the crush of human. (People Mountain People Sea, 人山人海 ) will be an apt description.

Everything here is just done in such a large scale. Talking to businesses and startups, they raise Billions of dollars in RMB for this companies to expand. Every simple idea is very scalable with just local market.

Chinese Taxi App is easily more than US$6B after the merger and clearly size matters in China as they are backed up by TenCent and Alibaba. However, such large scale businesses have a lot of power to transform the transportation system to make transportation more efficient as carpooling services and other related services start to appear.

A lot of innovation and great ideas can be seen in China and there is also much funding to back them up. Even with the bad news of the financial crash weeks ago, investor's confidence is not down and consumers are still on the streets shopping.

Obviously, there are many things done right in China. How it transformed itself from a developing Nation just 20 years ago till today is certainly fascinating. There are a lot of lessons to learn from China in that perspective and of course nothing is perfect.

I was at the 2010 World Expo Site to find out what happened 5 years after, and the China Pavilion had been transformed into a Museum and the others -- ALL DESTROYED. If you have been to the site, this area is massive and to see how much resources is put in and used to build such construction and destroyed in such a short period of time is certainly heartbreaking.

Many of the nice new buildings are large and majestic, many of them can be considered marvels in the architecture world, but upon closer inspection, the workman ship of these billion dollar construction is far from acceptable. The floors are not even and flat, wood badly cut and pieced together, screws visible and sticking out of the walls and ground... (Near Mercedes Benz Arena in Pudong)

I guess it is easy to have money, but certainly, many people do not have the right mindset. People spit on the streets, litter and pee on walls even though the toilet is less than a minute away. Visitors to historic sites allow their children to climb on monuments and take photos. I've witnessed a Ferrari owner stopping beside a restaurant and peeing on their wall outside. (The restaurant was open and the toilets are clean)

Many students like the idea of volunteering and sustainability, however, when asked to volunteer, they will claim to have no time. It is always other people's responsibility.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really like the progress of China and Shanghai seemed like a place full of opportunities, There are so many positive things and all the global brands are attracted to Shanghai and you can get everything you want here.

It seemed like a nice place, however, the cost is pretty high if you don't want to live like local Chinese. To get access to Google, Facebook, Youtube and more, you need to pay $$$ for VPN and it is slow.

In the pretty malls, everything is expensive, and relatively unaffordable to the locals. It is weird to see that in most malls, the retail stores are only those of foreign brands. Products which I can get in any country which has a mall.

In the other smaller malls where you can actually find Chinese products, like the copy products you hear about overseas, you get shady merchants who touts their products and over charge you for everything, even though you can clearly find the price online and they will charge you easily double the price online.

It is also weird that the cost of food and products is highly elastic as well. Having a steak from a nice restaurant can cost anywhere between US$8 - $100 in the same mall. The worst part is that the pricing does not really depend on location as the city where you expect high rents can be much cheaper than the suburban areas.

Having drinks and chilling in pubs have much varying costs as well. Beer can cost anywhere from US$2 to US$15. So looking at the menu and pricing becomes very important and you cannot judge a place on how it looks or the location.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do feel strongly that China is still a work in progress. Many things can be improved and the mindsets of the locals have to change. From the pedestrians blocking your way when they stand at doorways or below escalators talking on their phones, to the impatient people who are constantly pushing even when there is no more space to move.

Like Singapore, the "me first" mentality is prevalent, and sadly, the "others failing make my success look better" mentality is common here too.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the same reasons I dislike about Singapore, I can see them in Shanghai as well, however, I do feel that in terms of scale, Shanghai easily beats Singapore.

Nonetheless, I did meet a lot of people in Shanghai who are change makers that believe China can change for the better. And these inspiring people will probably take the lead in social innovation to make things better a step at a time.

-- Robin Low

Nepal - Still open for business?

I recently visited Nepal to do disaster recovery, and realized that although Nepal suffered 2 earthquakes, the popular tourist locations are already cleaned up for visiting.

After talking to several business owners, they informed me that their businesses is badly affected even though they have rebuilt from the earthquake. There is simply a lack of tourist. 

The big question remains, "Is this Nepal great to visit?"

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

• Bhaktapur Durbar Square
• Boudhanath

• Changu Narayan
• Chitwan National Park

• Durbar Square

• Kathmandu Durbar Square
• Kathmandu Valley

• Lumbini

• Maru, Kathmandu

• Pashupatinath Temple
• Patan Durbar Square

• Sagarmatha National Park
• Swayambhunath

Most of the UNESCO sites are not damaged by the earthquake, so it is still a great place to visit.

Budget wise, hotels are relatively cheap in Kathmandu.

Guest houses range from US$8 and up (Whole room to yourself)

Hyatt costs about US$135 and Shangri-La costs under US$100 a night.



Meals costs about US$1 per meal (Dumplings), Beer in restaurants cost about US$3.


Transportation is rather cheap as well. Taxis start at US$0.25, and usually cost about US$1.50 - US$2.50 within Kathmandu. However, at night or when it rains, the Taxis will all have faulty meters, and the fares are usually US$5.


Even in the most touristy parts of the city, the gifts are relatively cheap and affordable.


The buildings are rather quirky and the roads small are rather bad. However, the temples and Stupa are unique to the region. It both combines South Asia and North Asia with Hindu temples and Tibetan Prayer wheels.

With the Himalayas just a stone throw away, you can also easily get to places to catch a view of the tallest peaks in the world.

Airfares are relatively cheap from Asia as well. A return Malindo Air Flight from Kuala Lumpur costs US$210...

With the disaster in mind, a good way to support Nepal is to Visit Nepal... Showing solidarity through tourism is a win-win situation: you get a cheap holiday in a beautiful country; Nepal gets a much-needed injection of cash for economic recovery.

-- Robin Low

Parasyte: Part 2 - Movie review

This is the live action movie for one of my favorite anime Parasyte "Kiseiju" This movie is the sequel.

This review is for those who have seen the Anime, because there will be spoilers.

In the first part of this 2 part movie adaptation of the anime, they showed the invasion of the body snatching parasites, the death of Shinichi's mother till the part where Hideo Shimada was killed after the massacre in the school.

In the second part of the movie, the baby is born and Shinichi continues his killing of the parasytes. This movie follows quite closely to the anime. Some of the editing of the story is done pretty well to fit it within 2 hours. Much of the story which was not really important was left out.

I did not like the part where the police engages Goto. I feel that Goto's power can be clearly shown there, but it was abbreviated.

The whole theme "devour the entire human species" showing the Parasytes as a threat and some of the justification of what Reiko Tamura did in her experiments.

Overall, I did not enjoy this part 2 as much as part 1. In part 1, there was the building up of character, and you do feel much when Shinichi's mother died. In part 2, I feel that the whole movie was much rushed.

Still, the movie as a whole which tries to stay close to the anime feels pretty ok when you watch both parts together.

I hope that there is an extended version as I do want to see some more in an extended version, hopefully found in the DVD.

-- Robin Low

Furious 7 Movie Review

After hearing lots of good things about the movie, I decided to watch this movie. I've seen the trailer many times and I do like the Fast and the Furious Franchise, and I've met Paul Walker before and he's a great man who had done great work in Haiti, and watching his last movie, it would be special, it had to be.

This movie is directed by James Wan, a Malaysian who had done great movies like the Conjuring, Saw and Insidious. I like his movies and decided to see if he will do Furious 7 justice.

Watching the movie, you get to see all the characters that are in the Fast and the Furious Franchise, including Lucas Black from Tokyo Drift, which I felt was a side story from Fast and the Furious. There was an elaborate way to tie up the series and it did work in a certain way to build continuity in the series.

The show starts off with Jason Statham visiting his brother in the hospital (Fast and the Furious 6) and swearing vengeance. In this movie, you get to see Tony Jaa and Kurt Russel as well, making this movie full of action stars.

From the trailer, this movie seemed over the top with superhuman feats performed by the characters, however in the movie, all the action, comedy seemed to fall in place, with the pacing of the action done well so you do not feel overwhelmed with information.

While watching the movie, knowing that Paul Walker died in a car accident before filming the whole movie, I was anticipating some form of death for Brian O'Conner. And at the end of the movie, I was actually moved by the ending, to a point where I nearly had tears coming out as Brian (Paul Walker's Character) is retired with a happy family, with a short tribute of all the different moments of Brian in the Fast and the Furious Movies in a solemn send off which I'm sure will leave the audience tearing.

Overall: 9/10

Go watch it in cinemas.

-- Robin Low

Polariod Cube Action Cam Review

I have owned the Polariod cube for a few months now, and is is pretty nifty. The size of this cube is 1.4 inches all round and it could shoot 720p or 1080p videos at 30fps or 6MP photos. It has a 124 degree wide angle lens which is rather standard nowadays.

Costing just under USD$100, this action camera is a simple no-frills alternative, but it is definitely not like any Sony or Go-Pro.

Firstly, it does not have any mounts other than the Polaroid Cube Mount, however, the bottom on this camera is a strong magnet. It is strong enough for me to mount on my Helmet with a double sided mounted steel plate, going at 160km/h.

It is available in 3 colors and it does not come with any memory card, but you can insert up to 32GB micro-SD card into it.

Like many action cams, this little unit is splash proof, and works fine after running into some rain. (I did not try dunking it into water) There are various mounts available (helmet mount, tripod mount, strap mount, etc.) for extra $$$.

Here are some videos shot with this camera. (Day and night)



I could say that used as a recording device for Motorcyclist, this is a pretty good option. It record videos in 5 minute intervals and the size is about 290MB. (1080p @ 30fps)

The night recording however does fall a little short as I could not make up the license plates of vehicles when the motorcycle is traveling on the highway.

I got about 75 minutes of battery life recording at 1080p

Pros:

Small form factor
Inexpensive
Easy to use
Nifty magnetic mount
Relatively ok battery life


Cons:

Not very good at night to be used as a recording device for Motorcyclists
Video Quality not very good
No Conventional Mounts.
Cannot change battery
No image stabilization


I would say, those who just want a fun camera, this would be it. Its small, cheap and fun.

For those expecting more, please spend more and the a real action cam.

Overall: 7/10

Robin Low