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Money matters:
Graham Macdonald MBMG International Ltd.
The Writing is on the Wall (St) part 1
Just for a moment try and imagine that your investment
portfolio is US$100 million.
Then remember that within a traditional long-only equity fund the return is
entirely dictated by:
- The direction of the equity markets
- The extent to which stock selection outperforms/underperforms the equity
markets after paying the fund’s fees
- The manager’s discretion to choose how fully to be invested. Most equity funds
range between being 95-100% invested and this tends to have more to do with
inflows and outflows from the fund itself than with a strategy to adjust
exposure.
So, if your US$100 million portfolio invests long only into the equity markets,
it’s a hostage to the fates of the markets plus/minus any added value from
picking stocks that outperform the broad market that they are part of, less any
fees.
Looking at it like this helps to explain our preference for active, adaptive
investment management that tries to reduce the reliance of the portfolio’s
returns on the performance of just a single asset class at any given time. You
might think therefore that we would welcome the latest investment trend from the
United States - 130/30 funds.
Managing your US$100 million as a 130/30 fund, the fund manager has the ability
to hold US$30 million in short positions, by borrowing stocks and selling them
short. The short sales generate cash that is invested on the long side -
combining the US$100 million initial investment with a further US$30 million of
additional long positions, creating the eponymous 130.
The idea is that the short positions the manager is taking are balanced out by
the leveraged long positions. So the net result is a portfolio that is still
only 100% invested, but you get two portfolios for your money - a 130% exposure
to upside and a 30% short exposure on weak stocks. Long/Short (L/S) investing of
this nature is something that we are very keen on.
This was the technique behind what is generally recognised as the first hedge
fund by Alfred Winslow Jones. This was done, extremely successfully, in 1949 and
remains an extremely valid investment strategy today. In practice good L/S funds
derive their alpha in a number of ways. Mainly, these are:
- Good L/S managers tend to be active stock pickers and not closet benchmarkers;
their stock selection sets them apart from the dross that is the majority of
unimaginative long only equity managers
- Additional exposure on the long side generates additional gains
In practice we tend to find that there is little contribution from shorts during
positive periods in the market - the effect of these during the good times tends
to be neutral at best and in many cases a slight drag on returns, but these come
into their own during downturns generating a disproportional profit to
substantially offset losses on the long book.
We regularly review how well our preferred L/S managers manage to capture the
upside in booming equity markets and protect against the downside in falling
ones. We remain convinced that well run L/S equity funds provide a better return
over the complete business cycle with the added re-assurance of much less
volatility and far less risk as any falls during downturn are either contained
or totally mitigated.
So why are we not rushing to embrace 130/30? Well, there are a couple of
reasons. One valuable feature of L/S is the ability to vary the exposure during
market cycles. The most flexible funds are able to vary between almost
exclusively long and completely market neutral (i.e. as short as they are long),
even in some extreme cases taking a short bias. This provides the most flexible
showcase for the L/S equity manager’s talents and tends to achieve better
results than some arbitrary fixed allocation between the long and short ratio.
In good times a fixed 30% short may generate negative returns hurting the
portfolio’s overall return whereas during bad times, it may be less than the
manager might choose to short if he had absolute discretion. L/S is an approach
to equity investing that would benefit almost all investors but the benefit
becomes diluted with the imposition of artificial restrictions such as 130/30.
The second reason we are not enamoured with 130/30 is that just about every US,
European and UK investment firm has announced they are ready to launch a 130/30
fund. They have almost been tripping over themselves with announcements recently
from the likes of Threadneedle, Resolution AM, UBS, Investec, Blackrock, Aegon
that they are either moving into this space or at least considering doing so.
If all of these organisations had high quality stock-pickers to start with then
you would not mind and you’d expect them to make a real success of 130/30. But
with so many benchmark-huggers rushing to become active managers overnight then
there is a real risk that, without the stock-picking expertise or the knowledge
of long/short portfolio creation (a very specific science), these new managers’
short and long bets could fail to perform simultaneously - not exactly something
we want to promote.
To be continued…
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The above data and research was compiled from sources
believed to be reliable. However, neither MBMG International Ltd nor its
officers can accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the above
article nor bear any responsibility for any losses achieved as a result of any
actions taken or not taken as a consequence of reading the above article. For
more information please contact Graham Macdonald on
[email protected]@mbmg-international.com.com
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Snap Shots: by Harry Flashman
The lens makes all the difference - Part 2
 A
couple of moths ago I wrote on What Lens? In the article, I commenced by
stating, “Would you pay 2,000 baht for a camera, and 10,000 baht for the
lens? Sounds stupid, I know, but I would. When you boil everything down
to basics, the lens is the arbiter of the final image, not the camera.”
Through the article I strived to suggest what lens you might consider
using in different photographic situations. When going for blue skies, I
suggested that the lens to use to increase the blue color of the sky is
the widest angle lens you have in the bag. To photograph your newly
commissioned “genuine” Sunflowers by Van Gogh use the telephoto long
lens and stand back. I finished by stating when photographing rampaging
tigers I would use the longest lens in the world. A close up lens to
photograph its dental work would not be my idea of fun! So it gave some
rough guides as to what lens to use under different circumstances.
However, that is not the complete story.
You can select the correct lens for the job in hand, but unfortunately,
that does not mean your finished photograph will have all the sparkle
and sharpness you might want. There is another factor to be taken into
account when selecting the lenses for your bag - and that is quality.
I was reminded of this when I read a letter from an amateur photographer
to a reputable newspaper (there are some others as well as this
newspaper!). It went, “Love your sample photos, particularly the
sharpness of the detail. I have the Canon 400D twin lens kit and do not
seem to be able to get this clarity. Is it me or the lens?”
The photography columnist wrote back, “Here’s the sad truth of the
matter. Canon’s retail price for the 400D body with two lenses - an
18-55 mm and a 75-300 mm zoom - is $1350. It is a bargain. You are
getting a camera with lenses of film-equivalent focal lengths of 29-480
mm. That is amazing, until you consider that the Canon 100 mm f2.8 macro
lens that we have been trying for the past two months costs $1000 on its
own. And the 60mm lens we have also been using sells for $750. So two
lenses for $300 starts to look a little improbable.”
In actual fact, photo lenses are excellent examples of the old dictum -
you get what you pay for (or in Thailand ‘som nam na’)! For example, I
picked up the kit lens that came with a Nikon D50 the other day. It was
so light it almost floated away in my hand! I then compared it with any
of the Nikon prime lenses in my bag, and there was the world of
difference. There was also a world of difference in the end results.
It was not the camera body, it was purely the lens. The light plastic
lenses in the locally made kit lens are not as good as the heavy optical
glass lenses in the expensive prime lenses from the same manufacturer.
To be able to produce a kit lens at the price, something has to be
sacrificed. Optics are just acceptable and resolution, autofocus
accuracy, colour fidelity and contrast are all just good enough. They
take acceptable photographs, and that is it. “Acceptable”, but not
brilliant.
The photography columnist mentioned in his reply to the photographer
with the twin lens kit that he had just been testing the new Olympus
Zuiko 150mm f2 lens (300mm film equivalent). It was a compact 160mm in
length and was heavy because it contained a lot of glass and
mechanicals. He had never seen a zoom lens of comparable focal length
that was as good. Sadly, it would only fit an Olympus or a
Panasonic/Leica. And it costs $3470!
Just as you can’t buy a Mercedes with Toyota money, you won’t buy the
best lens in a bargain basement body and kit lens special. Sad, but
true.
Modern Medicine:
by Dr. Iain Corness, Consultant
Mobile phones and young children
My latest research has shown that mobile phones are a hazard
to all children under the age of two. When swallowed, there can be serious
effects, even requiring surgery, and the battery is decidedly toxic. Public
health authorities are pushing for legislation to make mobile phone
manufacturers label their phones with a health hazard warning.
If that was not chilling enough, Australian scientists are investigating if
children are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of radiation from
mobile phones.
Apparently, a study of 110 adults at the Australian Centre for
Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research, partly funded by the Federal Government,
confirmed mobile phones cause a change in brain function by altering
brainwaves known as alpha waves.
The centre, at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology, is now
investigating the effect on 40 children aged 12 to 13, and 20 people aged 55
to 75 years.
Associate Professor Rodney Croft, from the centre, said while studies had
been conducted on adults, the effect on children had, until now, remained
untested.
“Although there’s a tiny effect on healthy young adults, there is a
possibility that it could be much stronger in children or the elderly,” said
the worthy professor. However, there was no indication from the adult tests
if the effect on health was positive or negative.
Mobile phones are hardly new technology, although the latest 3G variety
seems to be able to do everything from cleaning the house, watering the
garden and washing the dog, as well as making and receiving telephone calls.
There have been claims that using mobile phones produces brain cancer
because people with brain cancer have used mobiles, and that is about as
stupid as claiming that shoes are the greatest killer in the western society
because 99 percent of people who died last year wore shoes.
Now the article I read admitted that scientists worldwide agreed there is no
evidence linking electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile phones to
adverse health effects, but claims still persist that frequent use can cause
headaches, nausea, problems with concentration, cancer and brain tumours.
The new Australian study comes as France’s health ministry warned parents to
prevent children using mobiles when reception is poor or during high-speed
travel. Authorities in France advised limiting the use of mobiles overall.
This is almost as sensible as the (now rescinded) order in the UK that
mobiles had to be turned off in hospitals because they interrupted cardiac
pacemakers. I am yet to see a pacemaker which comes with the warning “Do not
use mobile phones with this device. Communicate by semaphore flags only.”
However, there’s no smoke without fire, as it says in my local fire station
and last month the National Research Council of US called for more studies
into the possible health hazards of wireless devices and base stations on
children, unborn babies and pregnant women.
Researchers fear children may be more vulnerable because the exposure dose
received by a child’s brain is higher than an adult’s and their nervous
system is still developing.
With one in four Australians aged six to 13 now having a mobile phone,
children will also be exposed to radiation for longer than their parents.
A British study noted many cancers take 10 to 15 years to appear, and most
testing had included few participants who had used mobile phones for longer
than a decade.
Professor Croft admitted Australian studies using unborn or newborn mice had
failed to find significant changes in growth rate, brain function and
behavioural development. However, I also believe we should keep mobile
phones away from mice as they can play havoc gnawing on the cases.
The professor of public health at the University of Sydney, Bruce Armstrong,
said the French decision against excessive use by children was prudent. “We
don’t know that use of mobile phones causes harm to children but we don’t
know with certainty that it is safe in all circumstances,” he said.
And that, gentle reader, is what it is all about. We don’t know if anything
is “safe” in all circumstances, but there is a burgeoning industry out there
calling for funds to “prove” that shoes actually don’t kill people. Give
generously.
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
I see a lot of girls in my local shopping center, and many are quite nice. I see
them resting on the seats. I know you say we older farangs should stay away from
the bars, but will I find Miss Right in the shopping center? Or do I have to lie
about my age (I’m a pensioner) and go back to university? What should I do? I’m
getting tired of being lonely.
Lonely Larry
Dear Lonely Larry,
What shower did you come down in, my lonely Petal? Must have been the last one.
Will you find Miss Right waiting on the bench for you at the supermarket? No
Larry, you will only find Miss Take there. Mistake if you talk to her and Miss
Take all your money by the time you reach the checkout counter. These are
freelance girls who can disappear very easily and you will never find where she
went or came from (other than Aisle B next to the hot dog counter). They are
more dangerous than the girls from the bars. At least Hello Sexy Man bar will
still be there tomorrow, and the mamasan knows the ID of her girls. As far as
lying about your age, that’s not such a bad idea. I heard of one 70 year old
chap, when seen walking down the street with a cute 17 year old, told his
friends it was easy. “I lied about my age. I told her I was 95!” If you are
getting really desperate, talk to the girls in the optical stores. They are all
well dressed and university graduates. You must be needing glasses at your age,
so you’ve got a good excuse for being there. They also do eye checks for free,
and that’s a free offer without a hoop of balloons outside either. Don’t
despair, Larry. Just be nice to everyone you meet. Very soon someone will snap
you up for whom you are, and not just to get their hands on your pension.
Dear Hillary,
One of the girls at my office has been very friendly to me recently. Holds my
hand when talking to me in the corridor, and always goes out of her way to talk
to me and smiles a lot in my direction. Her English seems pretty good, but I
don’t know if she is married or not. She did ask me what I was going to give her
for Xmas and this knocked me over a bit, so I did get her some chocolates. Where
do I go from here?
Confused
Dear Confused,
From the sketchy details you have given me, Petal, it is very hard to know
exactly what is in the lady’s mind. However, she obviously does enjoy her chats
in the corridor. You say you don’t know if she is married or not, so how is
Hillary going to know! But it is easy to find out. Next time you are having a
chat in the corridor, why don’t you just ask her? “Are you married?” is not
difficult to say, is it? If that momentous step is too daunting, just ask one of
the other girls in the office if she is married. Thais are very inquisitive and
all the office girls will know each other’s marital status (and ‘martial’ status
too). Loosen up a little, or maybe you’d like to join Lonely Larry in the
supermarket. The price check lady in the vegetable section is fairly unattached,
I believe!
Dear Hillary,
My letter is a little bit different from all the usual no-hopers who write in to
you. I’m a happy, single man, well off, get my pick of the ladies, so why am I
writing to you? My only problem is that after a couple of nights, the ladies all
want to move in with me. Some of them bring over not just a change of clothes,
but a whole wardrobe full. I have no intention of settling down - and why should
I? Like I say, I get my pick, so why spoil it. You must have heard the saying
‘why buy a book when you can join a library?’
Pete
Dear Pete,
How lucky are you? You get to wake up with the most adorable man in the world,
in your opinion - yourself. Time to change your name to Narcissus, though I
would suggest you take all the mirrors down in your bathroom, or you might find
yourself falling in love just like the long departed Narcissus. Poor Narcissus
saw his reflection and fell in love with it, and could not be away from it, and
pined to death looking into the pool. Meanwhile the nymph Echo who fell in love
with Narcissus also pined away, just like your ‘lucky’ ladies who try and leave
their clothes in your wardrobe. It is not often I can indulge myself in
mythology and poetry, but Pete, read this little poem penned many years ago by
William Cowper (AD 1731-1800) and entitled:
“On an ugly fellow”
“Beware, my friend, of crystal brook
Or fountain, lest that hideous hook.
Thy nose, thou chance to see;
Narcissus’ fate would then be thine,
And self-detested thou would’st pine,
As self-enamored he.”
You may think you are God’s gift to women, but you’re just another meal ticket,
Petal.
Learn to Live to Learn: with Andrew Watson
The greatest party of the century
The reason we had made the instinctive trek to
Berlin in the first place was to share in a little bit of
history; to be a part of it all. We were gate-crashing the
greatest party of the century. We wanted to know what it felt
like when something monumental happened – something monumentally
good. Growing up under Thatcher had, despite our relatively
privileged background, engendered very little in the way of
inspiration. It was as if the people en masse, were
subliminally and increasingly crassly and obviously, actively
encouraged to think, feel and vote with the wallet. Everyone was
out for themselves, ignorance was king and there wasn’t a
one-eyed man in sight in Thatcher’s land of the blind to
overthrow it.
It was with a shared sense of dissatisfied irony that we looked
beyond our green and pleasant land for respite from oppression.
It was a long way to go for a party, but a short distance to go
for an event of such historical magnitude. Perhaps the great
egalitarian free spirit which was overflowing in Berlin might
spread like warm sunshine across the continent? You could feel
the warmth in people’s smiles; it was contagious, and excitement
spread like sun replacing shadow across the city. It was like
being in love. We hardly slept, every waking hour filled with
flirtatious notions of what the coming hours might hold. We were
intoxicated with anticipation.
It wasn’t the first time that as individuals we had found
ourselves in times and places of some significance, but it was
the first time that as a group we had gone in search of it. The
privilege of attendance at some of these previous events had
been at best, questionable, and in many ways I think we felt
that Berlin was a chance to redress the balance a bit. One of
our number, his face rendered small by an outlandish and
improbably large proboscis, had been in Minsk as an exchange
student at the time of the Chernobyl meltdown. He described two
“unusually warm days” before being evacuated. I had been
romantically engaged in northern Israel during the summer of
1982, when my reverie was most vulgarly interrupted by the
military machinations of Ariel Sharon. Whilst the bunker could
be positively utilised as a “place of active diversion” some of
the crashes felt uncomfortably close. Another of our number had
found himself in Caracas during a military coup and studiously
avoided bullets by rigorously observing the curfew. It had been
a particularly unstable period in Venezuela. Frankly, we
thought, he had been “Caracas” to go there in the first place.
Kreuzberg was the place of choice for partying in Berlin in ‘89,
the “Latin quarter” if you will, an area where our Bohemian,
hedonistic tendencies could be given free rein. Every city has
one, of course, but I wilfully misuse the term, unrepentantly
plagiarised from Paris. Kreuzberg could much more fairly be
described as “little Turkey” and was a place of colour and
sound, where all the glorious indulgence of life’s youthful
incarnation emanated from bars, cafes and restaurants and
spilled onto the streets into a veritable riot of the possible.
It was above all, a time of great hope.
Geographically, in 1989, Kreuzberg was in an isolated position,
with its Eastern parts almost entirely surrounded by the wall.
Checkpoint Charlie was in the West of the district, as was the
site of the horrific murder of Peter Fechter in 1962, a defining
moment which perhaps more than any other crystallized how the
wall’s appearance allowed for the abdication of humanity.
Escaping East Berlin across the “death strip” with his friend,
Helmut Kulbeik, both reached the wall, as East German guards
fired on them. Although Kulbeik succeeded in crossing the wall,
Fechter, still on the wall, was shot in the pelvis in plain view
of hundreds of witnesses. He fell back into the death-strip on
the Eastern side, where he remained in view of Western
onlookers, including journalists. Despite his screams, he
received no medical assistance from either East or West and he
bled to death. Hundreds in West Berlin formed a spontaneous
demonstration, shouting “Murderers!” at the border guards.
In the moments leading up to New Year, for all the electricity,
excitement and energy generated by a million people heaving
around the Brandenburg gate, it was necessary to remember that
this party, this celebration, was also a requiem for Peter
Fechter and the countless other victims of the Cold War. The war
had ended and the victory was won by the power of the people.
The small voice of hope in a Pandora’s Box of human horrors had,
against all the odds, overcome forces of overwhelming,
impenetrable evil.
And so it came to pass that we surged through the close, cramped
crowds to the foot of the wall at the Brandenburg gate, where it
was at its thickest, rising ten feet high above us. Somehow,
madmen in their fervour had scaled the heights of the
Brandenburg gate herself, to which they clung precariously
waving the flags of Germany, Britain, of France, the United
States and many more besides. It was the victory the Germans
never had. Moreover, it felt like a victory for
internationalism.
With helping hands grabbing from above and pulling us up one by
one, we clambered up onto the wall, exalted. Even hours before,
this would have been a dangerously stupid thing to do. It was
about two metres thick, packed with a throbbing mass of happy,
swaying humanity, singing the songs of the champions of freedom,
from Dylan to Lennon, chanting, shouting slogans of the
revolution. We stood on the precipice and looked out across no
man’s land to the East, waving to the guards, who waved back,
smiling, laughing. No guns now.
Then, as the clock struck twelve, the masses swarmed over the
wall, left and right as far as the eye could see, and charged
across to the East. No borders now. It was a remarkable sight.
In the middle of no man’s land, we five cracked open a bottle of
champagne atop Hitler’s bunker and equally ceremoniously did
what comes naturally to his memory. Then we raced around like
mad fools, criss-crossing from East to West and back again,
until the sun rose on a new world. We thought the party would
never end.
Next week: The morning after the night before
DOC ENGLISH Teaching your kids how to learn English:
Humanistic Language Teaching
Hello! I hope that your children are
progressing well and studying hard. I had the chance to check out the
Nintendo Wii game console recently and I must say that homework faces
some stiff competition these days. I did not buy one because I think I’d
never do any work with it lying around. When I was a kid there were no
home computers and nothing on telly, so I did my homework out of sheer
boredom.
This week we look at Humanistic Language Teaching (HLT). Essentially,
this is a teaching approach that allows children to feel more valued,
more involved in the teaching process and more in control of their own
learning.
Like many teachers, I often feel that my lessons are in danger of
becoming too teacher-centered, because I plan lessons, deliver them and
then decide what is right and wrong in my own classroom. I am under
pressure to deliver a curriculum, deliver facts and to get lessons
started and finished on time. There is often little time for chat and
for developing new ideas. Sometimes teacher-centred lessons can be
really BORING for students. If you have ever sat in an adult class, or
listened to a lecture, you must have found it really boring to sit there
for ages without being allowed to interrupt or contribute to the
discussion. It’s like being at a dinner party where you are not allowed
to speak, your opinions are not valued and you have to listen to some
windbag go on for ages about the price of butter in Foodland.
The HLT approach emphasizes a need to listen to students, encourage
them, foster new ideas and share tasks. There is a focus on spoken
communication, rather on just reading and writing tasks. The teacher is
seen as a facilitator and equal to the student, there to guide the
student rather than control.
So, how to begin as a Humanistic teacher at home? First, provide plenty
of time for warm ups. Before rushing into homework tasks, ask your child
about their day. Ask them what they liked and disliked. Take time to
discover what they are learning at school and how it relates to their
homework task.
Next, choose a subject to talk about and listen to your child. Let them
practice talking without interruption. Value what they are saying, not
how they say it. Perhaps you could discuss an event at school, what
happened and why. Encourage and reward their efforts with praise, don’t
criticize. The expression of feelings is very important in HLT. Let your
child know how you feel about the event.
Check that your child’s homework is neither too hard nor too easy. If it
is too hard and the child is unable to complete it on their own, send it
back to the teacher with a note that a slightly easier task is required.
If it is too easy, again let the teacher know. Generally teachers would
not be offended by such an action. The child should be able to complete
the homework on their own and it should also relate to what they are
doing in class. Homework should be aimed at a level of ability slightly
higher than your child’s current level of ability. For example, when
reading, books should have a just a few new words and structures.
It does not matter if your child makes a few mistakes, as long as they
try their best. Don’t correct any errors as the teacher will want to see
these. Teachers use errors to gain a picture of a child’s development.
If you correct them all, the teacher will get an incorrect picture of
their current ability. Correct using hints and tips, never put the child
down or make them feel inadequate.
When reading, ask your children to express opinions on the story and how
they would feel in a similar situation. You can do this also when you
watch TV together. Ask your children to make predictions on what will
happen. They will have to imagine themselves in a different role to do
this and think about other people’s feelings.
Finally, if your child is simply not in the mood to study, don’t force
them. If you are able to coax them to the table, make sure they walk
away from each homework session with a sense of accomplishment. Remind
them what they have learnt and what they have achieved. Never give a
back-handed compliment such as, “You did well, considering…” Always make
them feel good about themselves. The point is not for your child to
finish the work, or even to get it all right. The achievement is in the
process of learning, not the product or result. If my students have
tried their hardest and feel good about what they have achieved on any
given day, then that’s good enough for me. If we don’t finish or even if
they have learnt something different to what I intended because they
chose the path of the lesson, than that’s fine.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about HLT. If you want to find out more you
can check out: http://www.hltmag .co.uk and if you want some humanistic
language exercises you can carry out with your children you can visit
these child-centered sites for younger kids: http://pbskids. org and
http://www.sesame workshop.com/sesamestreet. For older children, you
might like to visit the BBC site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ and
click on links to ‘PSHE’ and ‘Citizenship’.
That’s all for now ladies and gentlemen. Remember you can mail queries,
complaints and suggestions to [email protected]. This week I
would be particularly interested to hear your opinions and suggestions
on Pattaya schools and on education in general, in the ‘Land of Smiles’.
Let’s go to the movies:
by Mark Gernpy
Now playing in Pattaya
Charlie Wilson’s War: US Drama (97 mins) – Directed by
Mike Nichols. Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts. A smart, sophisticated
entertainment for grownups – snappy, amusing, and ruefully ironic. Rated
R in the US for strong language, nudity/sexual content. Generally
favorable reviews.
27 Dresses: US Comedy/Romance (107 mins) – Frothy, funny, and
formulaic; a pleasantly predictable romantic comedy. Mixed or average
reviews.
Valentine: Thai Romance/Comedy – A couple discover their sexes
have been swapped.
Ghost-in-Law: Thai Comedy/Horror – Father gives newlyweds a huge
mansion as a gift, but bride’s mother schemes to wrest ownership for
herself. The bride suddenly dies, and comes back to haunt her
mother-in-law and those that killed her.
Chocolate: Thai Action – Superior Thai film about an autistic
girl who is a genius at martial arts. The movie was written for its star
“Jeeja” and she is indeed quite a discovery. She has been training for
this film for four years, and has no stunt double - she’s playing every
scene herself. Be sure to stay through the closing credits, which show
shots of stuntmen being injured during the shooting. If you’re going to
see any Thai martial arts film this year, make it this one – it’s got
everything. Within the conventions of a martial arts movie, it’s really
quite inventive.
CJ7: Hong Kong Comedy – Delightful! Stephen Chow finds a toy for
his young son which is actually a sort of Chinese E.T. It’s dubbed in
Thai, with English subtitles. I thought it odd and quirky, perhaps with
some strange ideas of parenting, and with an unbelievable little bully
at the kid’s school who I wanted to kill! It tickled my funny bone, and
I found myself laughing out loud at times. A lot of fun for kids and
adults.
L: Change the World: Japan Thriller – This prequel to the
previous two very popular Death Note films focuses on the character “L”
who looks like a manga drawing come to life and for whom eye liner was
invented, as well as the words “lanky,” “slouch,” and “androgynous.”
Thai dubbed version only.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: US Thriller/Drama
– A truly gruesome work of art, with Johnny Depp outstanding in this
brilliant Stephen Sondheim musical/opera. I loved it. “What you will see
is as dark as the grave. What you will hear is some of the finest stage
music of the past 40 years.” Rated R in the US for graphic bloody
violence. All the throat slashings have been censored in Thailand (with
“pixilation”). Even so, I warn you, it is not for the faint of heart,
not for the squeamish, not for dislikers of Sondheim. But I think you
should give it a chance to work its wonders on you. Reviews: Universal
acclaim.
American Gangster: US Crime/Drama – With Denzel Washington and
Russell Crowe giving performances I found mesmerizing. Their ultimate
confrontation in a talk across a table is truly fine. A far-from-true
story, as it turns out, from our own backyard up in Chiang Mai, as an
American gangster negotiates drug-running contracts with Golden Triangle
drug lords. Generally favorable reviews.
First Flight: Thai Drama – A well-meaning enterprise beset with
technical difficulties, this film certainly has its heart in the right
place, as it attempts to create pride in the early years of Thai
aviation and the formation of the Thai air force, with a grafted-on love
story. Impressive flying sequences in those rickety early airplanes.
Siyama: Village of Warriors: Thai Action – Three Thai students of
ancient Thai warfare are miraculously transported back to the time of an
Ayuthaya battle, arriving just as a battle is about to begin between the
Thais and a ruthless enemy, causing great confusion. Some very good
battle sequences.
Enchanted: US Animated/Comedy – I was delighted by this film!
It’s a smart re-imagining of your basic Disney fairy tales, featuring
witty dialogue, sharp animation, and a star turn by Amy Adams. Generally
favorable reviews.
Scheduled to open Thu. Feb. 21
Jumper: US Adventure/Sci-Fi – With Samuel L. Jackson. A
genetic anomaly allows a young man to teleport himself anywhere. He
discovers his “jumping” ability when he is a child. He discovers that
this gift has existed for centuries, and finds himself in the midst of a
war that has been raging for thousands of years between “Jumpers” and
those who have sworn to kill them, the “Palidens.”
Kod (Handle Me With Care): Thai Romance/Drama – A three-armed man
from Lampang worries he might be considered a freak, decides to remove
one of his two left arms, but his girlfriend likes him the way he is.
(I’m not making this up!)
Kung Fu Dunk: Hong Kong/Taiwan Sport/Comedy – The film stars
superstar Jay Chou as an orphan turned Shaolin martial artist who
somehow ends up playing basketball using his Shaolin skills. Rumored to
be one of the most expensive films to come out of Taiwan.
Protect your important files - Move your My Documents away
Most, if not all, of us store our documents, pictures,
music and video files in the most common place in the world - “My
Documents”. Windows XP gives you the freedom to keep your My Documents
folder in any location you wish.
 Now you may ask, “Why should I move My Documents somewhere else?”
Remember the day when the guy at your favorite computer store said,
“Sorry Sir. Your Windows crashed, your files are lost and we cannot do
anything about it but to format your computer.”
Let’s not let that day come back to us. Moving your My Documents away
from C Drive or “System Drive” can save your files when your computer
accidentally crashes or needs to be formatted for any reason. Plus, My
Documents tends to be a very large folder as we have music and videos in
there as well. By moving it to another drive, it frees up a lot of space
in your C drive.
 To do this, you must have a second drive, like D drive, in your
computer.
Here’s a simple and safe way to relocate your My Documents folder in
Windows XP:
1) First, you will have to create a “My Documents” folder in a new
location. I recommend that you create one in D drive. The path should
then be “D:\My Documents\”
2) On the original My Documents icon, which is usually on the Desktop,
right-click mouse on the icon and select properties and you will get the
“My Documents Properties” box.
3) Under “Target folder location”, click “Move”.
4) When asked to “Select a Destination”, choose the location of the new
My Documents folder you have created earlier, which is, the My Documents
folder under the D drive. Then, click OK.
5) Click OK again on the My Documents Properties box. You will then be
asked to confirm if you want to move the files from the old location to
the new location; verify and click Yes. The files in your old My
Documents will then be automatically moved to the new one in your D
drive.
Your My Documents is now officially moved to a new and safer location!
For more computer tips, log on to
www.mrtechsavvy.com.
Does the word computer seem like “100110110” to you?
Ask Mr. Tech Savvy for help. Or if you’d like to impress the ladies with
your computer skills, suggest a tip and find it featured here next week!
Go ahead, send them to
[email protected]
Till then… Tata ;-)
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