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Money matters:
Graham Macdonald MBMG International Ltd.
More on Commodities - part 2
Last week we mentioned China and South Africa (SA)
separately. Now let’s look at them together along with Africa as a whole. The
potential of these two countries working hand in hand is staggering. Already
China has purchased one third of SA’s biggest bank - Standard Bank. It goes on
as the Chinese buy up more and more as the economic boom in China has triggered
a global search for commodities (China is opening a new power station every
17 days). In its quest to discover new commodities, China is changing the
landscape of Africa. Beijing’s long term strategy is to remove itself from the
vagaries of international commodity markets, it wants to deal with the countries
and companies directly and the Chinese see South Africa as the gateway to
Africa. Chinese trade with Africa is now at USD100 billion. However, importing
back to China is proving more of a challenge as it is having to build a massive
infrastructure in Africa - roads and ports, etc., in order to get the
commodities back to the motherland.
The Chinese are not stupid. They bring in their own people with them to do the
work. It is not one of M&A, but to take strategic stakes and to look and listen.
In their private capacity, the Chinese are buying up farms like kids at a candy
store. It must be remembered that the Chinese often say they have a 100 year
view, profits are not that important to them.
Life is not all rosy though. The Chinese presence is creating major angst in
Africa, as Africa is not high tech and China is leading to many African
manufacturers closing down. A huge employer of people in Africa is the mines and
it does not help when the Chinese try to automate a lot of these mines. There is
a perception (and probably rightly so) that Africa will get fleeced by China, as
they are removing the family silver. It is a shame that America is so unpopular
in Africa currently, as they provide a lot more aid than China do and they are
not being appreciated for it.
What all this really means is that it is interesting to note China’s attitudes
to business and how different it is from the West. This has major implications
for commodity shares, as China has the possibility to control supply and hence
cannot afford for the commodity majors to form monopolies. China’s 100 year view
on companies does change the playing field for those who want to compete with
them. Africa needs to get its house in order if it does not want to end up being
robbed blind by the Chinese.
For the very brave this could open up opportunities for investing in Africa
itself. Why? It is simply that Africa has what Asia wants and that is helping to
push up African growth rates. Asia has the stomach for Africa as it does not
care about war or famine, it just has a seemingly never ending thirst for
commodities. When growth rates start to rise above 6% (as you are seeing in
large parts of Africa), then growth moves away from being a purely commodity
story to one of banking and telecommunications - for the purposes of this
argument we will ignore Zimbabwe as it remains a basket case and it will stay
this way for some time. Mugabe will not step down as he is too greedy and
especially after what happened to Charles Taylor.
However, as for the rest of Africa, it is generally believed that the Rand will
continue to come under pressure, thanks to the Current Account Deficit which is
running at 7-9% of GDP. Also, growth in SA will slow due to the electricity
problems, but it will still grow north of 3%. This is partly a function of the
fact that African markets are driven more by domestic investors and that
foreigners play a very small part.
Africa is enjoying some very strong growth rates, with Angola in particular
being one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The media does not
focus on the positive aspects of Africa, preferring to report stories of wars
and famines. The reality is that Africa is growing very nicely and has been
since 1988. Despite the impression the media might give about Africa, corporate
governance in many countries is very impressive and in fact companies are
squeaky clean. Africa is a growth destination and the World Bank, IMF and the
African Development bank predict that it will continue. Real growth per capita
is growing, thanks to strong growth and a falling population.
There is no doubt about it. Africa is indeed a tough place to do business, due
to poor infrastructure, but this is a positive as well as a negative as it means
that, for the companies that are there, competition is not that fierce. Banks
are the early beneficiaries of growth in Africa. Retail banking is just starting
to take off - for instance the home loan market does not exist in Egypt which is
hardly surprising really when you consider that doctors and teachers have had to
go on strike to get a pay increase from USD50 per month! But elsewhere there is
real potential.
Back to commodities. Commodity funds have clearly become the flavour of the
month, with a USD100 billion of new funds bought to the market in the last
couple of months. The aluminium market is currently very tight, but could get a
lot tighter if the Chinese start electricity rationing. There is a 95%
correlation between the share prices and the commodities themselves, hence many
see prices going a lot higher.
The fundamentals for soft commodities are very good and anyone who thinks that
the supply and demand for commodities is not in their favour must be smoking
their socks. We hold commodities via MitonOptimal in the Core Diversified Fund
and feel more comfortable than ever in holding it, despite recession warnings
out of the US.
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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
Never believe what you see
 It
used to be that people would claim “photographic proof” to demonstrate
the veracity of something or other. How could you deny the existence of
anything, if you had a photograph of it? After all, look at the Loch
Ness monster. Nessie is real, there are dozens of snapshots of her,
whilst all these other pretenders such as Big Foot are myths. You’ve
never seen a photograph of Big Foot, now have you?
However, as we sauntered into the digital age, it became very obvious
that not everything you saw in a photo was necessarily ‘real’. Mr.
Photoshop soon put an end to that reality nonsense, complete with his
filters and contrast and brightness adjustments. No, it was an all-new
ball game.
But pro-shooters have been bending the truth for years. Even before Mr.
Photoshop. Let’s look at a few examples where the photographer has to
stretch the truth somewhat. Ever tried photographing champagne? There’s
never enough bubbles to make it look as if it has just been poured. What
to do? Drop some sugar into the glass. Only a few grains are enough to
give the almost still glass of champers that “just opened” fizz look to
it. You also have to bring the light in from the back of the glass, as
well as from the front. Stick the flash head in behind and a large white
reflector beside the camera and you have the ultimate shot.
While still on wines, if you try and shoot a bottle of red wine, it
comes out thick dark maroon or even black. Restaurateurs who have tried
photographing their wines will agree. So what does the pro shooter do?
Well he has a couple of courses of action. First is to dilute the red
wine by about 50 percent and secondly place a silver foil reflector on
the back of the bottle. So what happens to the half bottle of red that
was removed to dilute the wine? The photographer has it with dinner.
Silly question.
And so to food photography. This is one area where there are more
fraudulent practices than any other. Cold food can be made to look hot
by sprinkling chips of dry ice to give “steam” coming off the dish. Not
palatable, but it looks OK. Cooking oil gets brushed on slices of the
cold meat so that they look moist and succulent.
That is just for starters. In the commercial photography studio, the
dedicated food photographer would erect a “light tent” of white
polystyrene and bounce electronic flash inside. Brightness is necessary
to stop the food looking grey and dull. If you do not have bright
sparkly light then potatoes will look grey, and even the china plates
look drab and dirty.
In places such as the USA, there are very firm rules about photographing
food. Mainly the fact that you are not allowed to use substitute
materials which “look” like food, but are actually not. This covers the
old trick of using shaving cream as the “cream” on top of cappuccino
coffee for example, or polystyrene foam as “ice cream”. Personally I
think this is a load of ballyhoo, because the photograph is just to
represent what the food will look like - you don’t eat a photograph, now
do you!
Even in simple portraiture, the concept is to show the sitter in the
best possible way. For example, if the person has “bat ears” the
portrait should be taken with the head turned so that one ear disappears
from view. Not “lying” but presenting Mother Nature in a different way.
And always remember that when all else fails, it’s a quick trip to the
retouchers.
Another area of deception is real estate brochures. I have inserted an
architect’s model of a hotel, as not yet built, into the aerial shot of
a beach resort city. This required working out the height of the
helicopter relative to the height of the model and then combining the
two slides. It took two 12 hour days in the studio to photograph the
architect’s model and another day in the lab to combine the images.
Never believe anything you see!
Modern Medicine:
by Dr. Iain Corness, Consultant
Lead for your pencil - off the ‘net
Spam should not be confused with SPAM. One is a daily
internet nuisance, while the other is a sort of manufactured meat product.
According to Hormel, the meat manufacturers, SPAM was derived from the words
“SPiced hAM” and that was in the 1930’s, long before the internet and the
unwanted in-box fillers, now called “Spam”.
Every day I receive Spam, offering me the opportunity to keep a battalion of
beauties satisfied. These are the internet email offers of cut-price drugs
that will keep me in a state of perpetual priapism, a continuing (and
painful) male erection and the term was coined after the Greek god Priapus
who is shown in paintings to have a central member like a third leg.
However, this is actually a serious situation. If specific drugs are only
available through pharmacies, on the prescription of a doctor, is it safe to
just buy over the internet, without any doctor’s advice?
The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says, “Patients who buy
prescription drugs from websites operating outside the law are at increased
risk of suffering life-threatening adverse events, such as side effects from
inappropriately prescribed medications, dangerous drug interactions,
contaminated drugs, and impure or unknown ingredients found in unapproved
drugs.”
The FDA goes on to warn that “medications prescribed by a doctor have
restrictions to benefit the patient. Before the practitioner issues a
prescription for a drug the doctor must first examine the patient to
determine the appropriate treatment. Subsequently, the patient receives the
drug from a registered pharmacist working in a licensed pharmacy that meets
state practice standards.” That situation is certainly not the case when you
look at buying blue diamonds over the ‘net, is it? Are you really fit enough
to indulge in horizontal folk dancing, when the wonder wand has said
“enough!”
The incidence of internet pseudo-pharmacies is also very high. In the US,
according to the American Medical Association, there are at least 400 web
sites (and probably closer to 1,000) that both dispense and offer a
prescribing service - half of these sites are located in foreign countries.
But with no regulation, are the blue diamonds really Viagra?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been fighting drug
counterfeiting since it became a major threat in the 1980s. The problem was
first noticed by the pharmaceutical industry. They saw that their own
products were being copied, and it went on from there.
In fact, the WHO estimates that 25 percent of medications bought in street
markets in developing countries are fake. My own experience in some of the
poorer SE Asian countries has been that another 50 percent are real but out
of date, leaving around 25 percent genuine manufacturer’s stock.
Some authors say that the figures are even worse than that. An international
study published in Tropical Medicine and International Health in 2004 found
that 53 percent of Artesunate tablet packs sold in the region did not
contain Artesunate, a vital antimalarial drug. You can see the danger.
The reports come in from all over the world. The WHO cited the case of a
counterfeit iron preparation that has killed pregnant women in Argentina.
Hundreds of children in Bangladesh suffered kidney failure and many died due
to a fake paracetamol syrup diluted with diethylene glycol, according to a
study published in the BMJ in 1995.
The FDA in the US estimates that worldwide sales of fake drugs exceed USD
3.5 billion per year, according to a paper published in April 2005. The
Center for Medicines in the Public Interest in the US predicts that
counterfeit drug sales could reach USD 75 billion globally in 2010 if action
is not taken to curb the trade.
According to WHO, drugs commonly counterfeited include antibiotics,
antimalarials, hormones and steroids. Increasingly, anticancer and antiviral
drugs are also faked. And you can add to that, the ‘blue diamonds’. Never
forget the phrase “Caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware).
You have been warned. Get your medications on a doctor’s prescription from a
pharmacy you can trust. Or suffer the consequences.
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
I see you have let that Mistersingha person back into the forum, and all for a
bottle of Bacardi Breezer and a Mars bar or something. How the mighty has
fallen, Hillary old girl. I remember when it was French champagne and Belgian
chocolates or nothing. I love your column, but don’t let your standards slip.
Misterchang
Dear Misterchang,
Thank you for your concerns over my welfare and my predilections, but this has
been a time of austerity, my Petal. Everyone has to pull in their belts, the
government tells us, so little Ms. Hillary has had to reign in some of her
excesses, I am afraid. I fully realize that a Mars bar made in Malaysia is a
long way from Belgian chocolates, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, as
they used to say. The Bacardi was actually very refreshing too. By the way,
Misterchang, this column is hardly a “forum”, though I do welcome anyone who
wants to drink from the font of Hillary’s wisdom.
Dear Hillary,
Is there anywhere you recommend going to at Songkran? I’ve been here a few
years, seen all the madness, done all the water throwing and trashed the T
shirt. I don’t think I can stand another Songkran, but can’t leave Thailand at
present. Some suggestions, my Petal.
Songkran Sam
Dear Songkran Sam,
I have news for you Sam, and it’s all bad. First, I am not ‘your’ Petal and
second, everywhere you go in Thailand, they will be playing Songkran, so there’s
not much you can do without leaving the country. The neighboring countries are
no good either, as they celebrate their own Songkran as well. Since you’re tied
here, I suggest that you board up your condominium, make sure your microwave is
working, stock up on plenty of frozen TV dinners, grab a couple of cartons of
your favorite beer and watch TV for the three, four or five days of insanity. If
it were the French champagne and Belgian chocolates I could have been tempted to
keep you company. If you hear a knock on the door, I’m the one in the wellies
and umbrella.
Dear Hillary,
A few weeks ago some Russian women wrote to your newspaper wanting to get to
know Paul from your TV station. I am much better looking than him, and I know he
has a Thai girlfriend and I like large ladies, so could you let me know the
contact details for the Russians. Many thanks.
Vladimir
Dear Vladimir,
Just what do you think I am running here? This is not “Make a Match in Moscow”
or “Sleepless in St Petersburg” (it was so cold last night I was Vladimir
frozen). I really do not care whether you are better looking than television’s
Paul and like large ladies, I cannot just start throwing names and addresses out
the window to anyone who writes in. There are plenty of Russian lady tourists in
town, just say “Hello” or more formally “Zdrastvooitsa” or something
phonetically similar. With your pen name and direct approach, you can’t go
wrong, my Politburo Petal.
Dear Hillary,
You may think this request is too simple to publish, but I am sure my problem is
one suffered by many young men in this country. I am from the UK, here for a
couple of years, and am enjoying just being with such nice people (and the nice
girls). Here’s the problem, I have met a right stunner. She is super and works
in an office near mine, in the same building. I have done the homework through
the Thai staff in the office, and she’s not married or attached or anything like
that, but here’s the problem. She doesn’t speak English. I really want to get
close to this woman (she really turns me on), but I haven’t got enough Thai to
be able to chat her up or anything. What’s the next step, Hillary?
Pasa Angkrit
Dear Pasa Angkrit,
What a wonderful pseudonym you have chosen, Pasa Angkrit indeed (‘English
language’ for those who cannot speak Thai). But what a dilemma! Here you are,
hormones raging at the thought of this nice young woman who really turns you on,
even though you have never spoken to her, or even got close enough to smell her
perfume! And you don’t know how to pop the question. Or any question, for that
matter. You have just discovered a simple and inescapable fact, my Petal. The
country you are in for the next two years and the country the woman lives and
works in, is called Thailand. That’s not tongue tie-land, either. This is her
country, and the language she speaks gets her everywhere she wants to go, and
everything she wants to do. There is a lesson for you here. If you want to get
to know this Thai lady, then go and learn some basic Thai. After a few lessons,
go and try it out on her (the language, Petal, the language). If she thinks you
are a nice chap, she will even help you with the pronunciations. However, if she
doesn’t respond, then you have to accept the fact that you didn’t make her
hormones explode, the way she made yours. Best of luck with the language course.
That is “Choke dee” as you will learn in lesson 2.
Learn to Live to Learn: with Andrew Watson
When they banned the IB
A few years ago, a local school board in Upper St Clair
(Pennsylvania) banned the IB Diploma for being “un-American,
Marxist and anti-Christian” (Younge, 2006). A teacher was
suspended for caricaturing President Bush’s speech and drawing
parallels between Bush and Hitler. The Republicans referred to
the IB in their 2004 election campaign as though it were part of
an “international conspiracy,” alluding to the fact that the IB
had been “developed in a foreign country” (ibid).
Whilst this outburst could be seen as an example of pandering to
xenophobic paranoia it is important to recognise that the
outburst itself represents something of a value judgement. In an
attributed statement, a Republican board member of the school
went on to say that “[America] was founded on Judaeo-Christian
values and we have to be careful about what values our children
are taught”.
It is salient to consider that the use of the English language
across the globe is far more a historical consequence of
imperialism than a phenomenon attributable to the idealism of
“international mindedness” Grimshaw (2005). And whilst defenders
of the English faith might argue that their brand of imperialism
was more humane (less offensive perhaps) than others,
comparative levels of (literal and metaphorical) rape and
pillage may not be the best of foundations from which to labour
such a point.
In the context of the Pennsylvanian purging of IB, it might be
more prudent to consider the possibility that the school board
were in fact, right. Play the IBO at its own game, perhaps.
After all, it is they who proclaim that “other people with their
differences, can also be right”.
It can be argued that in ambiguity, the IBO has inadvertently
advocated an intellectual vacuum, which is filled with activists
like the rightwing David Horowitz, who produced a book listing
the “101 Most Dangerous Academics in America” whom he believes
are “polluting academia with left wing politics”.
Without absolute clarity, the IBO opens itself up to attack.
Crucially, as Younge (2006) points out, there is little evidence
to support Horowitz’s central argument that political persuasion
of a teacher affects their ability to be fair and balanced or
competent in the classroom. However, the IBO seem to be
suggesting through their mission statement that there is a
symbiotic intuitive link between their mission statement and
being fair and balanced or competent. Whereas the link between
being ‘caring’, demonstrating ‘intercultural understanding’ and
espousing ‘respect’ and bringing a peaceful world can be argued
to be a theoretical and unproven position.
If we accept that the IBO mission statement is a political
statement then the words of Lynne Cheney (wife of Dick) seem to
resonate, “There is no truth. Everything we think is shaped by
political interests… Since there is no truth … faculty members
are perfectly justified in using the classroom to advance
political agendas.”
By appearing to agree with Mrs Cheney, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
(2002) seems to have an unexpected bedfellow; “In heaven there
is truth; on earth there are truths.” Walker (2003) spoke of the
difficulty in composing this “can also be right” part of the IBO
mission statement, wondering whether it should also include the
phrase, “and can also be wrong”. The danger in what Cheney (as
opposed to Sacks) seems to have advocated is that she thinks it
is alright to proselytize and preclude the possibility that can
they might also be wrong. This is where education becomes
indoctrination.
Some such as Hill (2002) express awareness or the perception
whilst others are more candid about Western bias in IBO
programmes. Cambridge (2002) like Grimshaw before him,
attributes the use of English as the medium of instruction in
international education to the “global dominance of the
Anglo-American culture of capitalism”.
Tsolidis (2002) expresses concern that the IBO might be
promulgating the latest version of “hegemonic benevolence”.
Thomas, (in Hayden & Thompson, 1998) is disparaging about the
last hundred years of educational history “strewn with the
relics of well-intentioned programmes” which in his view,
attempted to introduce ‘peace studies’ into schools.”
Max Hastings (2006) is perhaps predictably unashamedly partisan,
inferring that it is at best naïve, at worst presumptuous
arrogance, to think that the pattern of history is going to
change. “The West has dominated for 500 years, so why teach
children about other societies? History is the story of
dominance.”
In a post-modern, post-colonial word, the IBO mission marks a
significant and conscious divergence from the idea, dominant
perhaps until relatively recently (perhaps still - democracy and
freedom!) that it was possible and often preferable to impose
one set of cultural values upon another. It does not mean that
the IBO is in favour of cultural relativism - this is not a wise
path for anybody to go down - it is far more to do with
generating a set of ethical absolutes, of creating value rich
communities through teaching and learning through a complex
network of national and international schools, bound by
something strong, but not rigid.
But the IBO ideology is explicit and unapologetic in seeking to
change the world “for the better” which could (and I suspect our
Pennsylvanian friends would agree) be interpreted as “to a
condition consistent with its own collective, corporate
understanding of what that means”. It can be strongly argued
that the IBO curricula represent collective conversion to their
paradigm. At this level, a pertinent question might be, is the
IBO mission statement an instrument of indoctrination and if so,
is it any different from fascism or any other extremist
ideology?
Perhaps as Halland (2007) suggests, the IBO should talk about
its “unapologetic extremism” rather than its “unapologetic
idealism”? Whereas many of the practitioners involved in
delivering IB programmes probably think of themselves as
centrists or ‘not even biased’ could it also be the case that
they always regard the ‘other’ as extreme? Provocatively, I
might suggest that the people who do not think of the IBO as
politically biased are the people who agree with it. In defence
of post-modernism, bias is at least acknowledged, accepted and
stated.
Next week: Experiences that promote intercultural
understanding.
DOC ENGLISH Teaching your kids how to learn English:
Teaching using TPR
When I first started out in language
teaching I often encountered children who had no written or spoken
English at all. I did not speak any foreign languages at this time and
so I was unable to translate words from English into my students’ native
languages. This made conversation very difficult and teaching pretty
much impossible at first. However, I soon learned more strategies for
teaching beginners and the benefits of the TPR method of teaching. TPR
quickly helped me become more confident working with beginners and
helped make my English lessons more enjoyable.
Children learn to listen to a language before they can learn to speak it
(or read or write it). The TPR method can help you improve your child’s
listening skills and make them more receptive to listening to and
learning English. You can teach your child to ‘anticipate’ and ‘predict’
words through your actions and gesture and you can encourage your
children to guess the ‘gist’ of what you are trying to say by providing
a sequence of actions or spoken commands that they can learn to
recognize and respond to. TPR is also a fun way to introduce the
language and it can be very physical, so it is good exercise too! Young
children love short doses of TPR and with a little practice, so will
you.
TPR stands for ‘Total Physical Response’ and was created by a guy called
Dr. James J Asher. It is based upon the way that children learn their
‘mother tongue’ (their first language, or ‘L1’) from birth. The theory
goes that parents have ‘language-body conversations’ with their
children, the parent instructs their child and their child physically
responds to this. The parent says, “Look at mummy” and the child
responds by looking, or the parent says “Come here” and gestures towards
the child. The child responds by moving towards their parent. These
conversations continue for many months before the child actually starts
to speak itself. Even though it can’t speak during this time, the child
is taking in all of the language; the sounds and the patterns.
Eventually when it has listened to enough language, the child reproduces
the language quite spontaneously. TPR attempts to duplicate this effect
in the language classroom.
In the classroom the teacher plays the role of parent. The teacher
starts by saying a word (‘sit’) or a phrase (‘look at me please’) and
demonstrating an action. The teacher then says the command and the
students all do the action. After repeating a few times it is possible
to extend this by asking the students to repeat the word as they do the
action. When they feel confident with the word or phrase you can then
ask the students to direct each other or the whole class.
TPR can be used to teach and practice many things:
* Vocabulary connected with actions (run, jump, stand, sit)
* Tenses past/present/future and continuous aspects, such as routines
(every morning I clean my teeth, I make my bed, I eat breakfast)
* Classroom language (pick up the pencil, close your book)
* Imperatives/instructions (stand up, sit down)
* Story-telling (children respond to different parts of the story)
When using TPR at home, remember that children need lots of visual clues
to help them memorize a word or command. If you use gesture, pictures
and movement to emphasize the word, your child will find it easier to
memorize the words. Don’t ‘over-use’ TPR, just a few minutes every day
playing ‘Simon Says’ maybe fun, but not all day, every day. Reverse the
roles sometimes and have your child give you instructions. Play a robot
game and get them to guide you around the house, crashing into stuff if
they get the command wrong. As your children get older they will tire of
TPR; however, by that time hopefully they will be fluent!
Use TPR for a few minutes a day and the results should be impressive.
You can even use songs and video and do aerobics together, responding
physically to specific words in songs, or actions on a music video.
OK, enough exercise for today, I’m off for a cup of tea and a lie down.
I’m getting too old to teach TPR these days; I’ll have to find myself
the equivalent of a teaching ‘stunt double’.
You can find more information on TPR at this TPR Web Site
<http://www.tpr source.com/> and there are some good activities on the
BBC Web Site for young learners <www.cbeebies.com> - check out the
Tweenies and ‘Copy Me Do’ for some really catchy dance moves! Check out
‘Bogglesworld’ for a ‘Spell Book’ containing lots of TPR activities for
young children <http://bogglesworldesl.com/spellbook.htm>.
That’s all for this week. As always, if you have any questions,
suggestions or lame jokes, you can mail me at: docenglishpattaya@gmail
.com. Enjoy spending time with your kids.
Let’s go to the movies:
by Mark Gernpy
Now playing in Pattaya
Street Kings: US Crime/Thriller – With Keanu Reeves. A
veteran LAPD cop is implicated in the execution of a fellow officer,
forcing him to go up against the cop culture he’s been a part of his
entire career. He questions the loyalties of everyone around him, as he
finds that in the process of attempting to keep urban city streets safe,
absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Vantage Point: US Drama/Thriller – Eight different views of an
assassination attempt. I find it amazing how they can take such a
fascinating idea and muck it up so badly – in script, acting and
direction!
The film, which starts out very nicely indeed, turns into a really
mindless car chase. At first glance, Vantage Point looks like it might
be inspired by Rashomon - different points-of-view of an incident
leading to some greater revelation about the nature of truth. Thoughts
of Rashomon disappear quickly however once the movie begins. This is a
pure action thriller with aspects of a mystery strewn throughout.
With a plot so knotty and twisted that pretzel makers should worship it,
Vantage Point promises much more than it can ever rationally deliver. It
doesn’t really push a political agenda, but nevertheless the present
policies of the Bush Administration are slammed again and again as
reporters and administrative officials lament (or extol) the “shoot
first, diplomacy a distant second” beliefs that, apparently, have led to
the reactionary retaliation depicted in the movie. There also seem to be
ties to a local insurgency and various Middle Eastern influences behind
the attack shown in the film, but the motives of the attackers remain
murky; they have something to do with nationalism and revenge, but the
specifics are never really revealed. Vantage Point stars Dennis Quaid
and Forest Whitaker. Mixed or average reviews.
Hormones / Pidtermyai Huajai Wawoon: Thai Comedy/Romance – With
English subtitles at Major Cineplex. I like it! This endearing
Teen-oriented romance is by far the most popular movie in Thailand, and
has been ever since it opened.
Hormones has four interwoven stories, and you know what you’re in for
with a teen romance movie: tiny problems and minor heartbreaks magnified
to earth-shattering proportions. There’s a girl who’s head over heels
with a Taiwanese idol she’s only seen in movies; two boys whose friendly
rivalry spins out of control when they hit on the same girl; a college
student who secretly has a major crush on his female friend; and another
college boy who faces a test of loyalty when he meets his fantasy girl
while his steady girlfriend is away. If you fondly remember teen
romance, you will enjoy this very much.
Sex is Zero 2: Korea Comedy / Romance – The Korean American Pie
returns – a very popular college sex comedy that manages the difficult
task of being raunchy, funny, sexy, and emotionally sincere all at the
same time, according to some reports.
Orahun Summer: Thai Comedy / Drama – Misadventures of boy monks.
I.C.U.: Ghost College of Fine Arts: Thai Comedy – Looks like the
usual.
Art of the Devil 3: Thai Horror – Torture porn. Stay away.
Dream Team: Thai Family/Comedy – Five-year-old boys compete in
Kindergarten tug-of-war championships.
Nak: Thai Animation/Family – With English subtitles at Major
Cineplex. In this animated adaptation of Thailand’s famous Mae Nak ghost
legend, Nak is family-friendly, instead of being a scary, vengeful
ghost. In fact, she is a very cute, pink-hued young woman, though still
a ghost.
The Water Horse: US/UK Adventure/Fantasy/Family – I‘m very fond
of this film about the mythical “water horse” of Scottish legend. Kids
might be terrified by some parts of it, and adults will find terrifying
things as well. An example of excellent British movie-making, with a lot
of heart. Generally favorable reviews.
Doomsday: UK Action/Sci-Fi – Authorities quarantine a country
when a virus strikes. I say it’s repugnant, and utter trash. As a bonus,
there are extensive scenes of disgustingly gross and graphic
cannibalism. Don’t see it. Rated R in the US for strong bloody violence,
language and some sexual content/nudity. Mixed or average reviews.
Shutter: US Horror – This is an American remake of the wildly
successful Thai film. I recently saw the original, and this Shutter is a
near replica in all respects. I enjoyed it, but I think the Thai version
is superior.
Scheduled to open Thu. Apr. 17
Horton Hears a Who!: US Animation/Family – With Jim Carrey. A
whimsical, witty, feature-length version of Dr. Seuss that’s neither
overblown nor smutty nor emotionally hollow. “A treat for the eye, an
epic event / This film is delightful, one hundred percent.” Generally
favorable reviews.
The Forbidden Kingdom: US Action/Adventure – The first
collaboration between martial arts masters Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Based
on the Chinese epic story ‘Journey to the West’, one of the four great
classic novels of Chinese literature.
The Battle of Browsers
Do you remember Netscape Navigator and how it used to look on our old
“boxed” computer screen? That same “navigator” was the first commercial
internet browser introduced in 1994. It started off very well, being the
dominant browser with up to 90% of users worldwide. The only competitor
that Netscape had to battle with at the time was Microsoft’s one and
only Internet Explorer. Referred to as the First Browser War, It was a
beginning of a ruthless competition. And eventually, the year 1998 gave
way to Netscape’s defeat with IE souring to over a 90% monopolizing
share of internet surfers. It was evident that IE enjoyed a sweet
symphony of being the leader in the browser war from then.
At that point of time, it was obvious to say that if you have browsed
the internet, then you have used Internet Explorer at least once in a
lifetime. Or if you are a Windows user, you are sure to have used it and
probably are a big fan too.
During subsequent years, there came along a lot of new names and brands
with new features and designs. But the one that we have surely heard of
and which has really shown success is Mozilla Firefox. With newcomers
becoming more and more popular, it brought us to an era of a Second
Browser War. By this time, we’ve barely heard of the name “Netscape”.
After a long struggle with its competitors, Netscape’s doubtful
existence officially died a cold death on March 1, 2008.
Let’s look at the top three warriors that are battling it out in today’s
war.
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer still leads in the browser race today. Including all
versions, IE holds an over 50% user share. Its popularity significantly
owes to the fact that Windows operating systems comes pre-installed with
IE. While over 85% of the people around the world use Microsoft Windows
operating systems, it is no doubt that majority of internet surfers are
attached to IE. However, recently, as numerous others have proven this
war to be a tough one, IE has been struggling to maintain its
superiority. Introduced with the public release of IE7 in 2006 were
features like tabbed browsing, phishing filter and search tool. It might
have proved a little success but by this time, these were no longer
exclusive features. The competitors would have emerged with the same and
even more features to offer their users. IE7, therefore, did not succeed
as expected. Nevertheless, Microsoft announced its beta release of IE8
recently, which we eagerly wait to see some great enhancements.
Firefox
The closest competition to IE today is Firefox, and to be exact,
according to W3Schools.com, the percentage of Firefox users is now above
35%, which has never stopped growing since its first release. Standing
in the second position, Firefox is an open source browser developed by
Mozilla and supports Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Firefox has certain
highlights that definitely please its users. These include features that
allow users to add extensions or change the browser’s interface by
applying downloadable skins. Moreover, being an open-source platform,
independent software developers can create extensions on their own to
tune up the browser in the way they want and share them with Firefox
fans around the world. This creates a strong community of users who will
always try to improve the browser. While the testing version is already
out, Firefox is giving finishing touches to its new 3.0 version.
Safari
Safari, an official browser by Apple, is one of the youngest entries
into this war. Having only about 2% users in hand, Safari has a long way
to go to get closer to IE and Firefox. However, its growth rate is
believed to be very interesting. The infamous iPhone and iPod Touch that
have taken the world by storm come with Safari as the default browser.
With more such gadgets being sold, the popularity of this browser is
inevitably boosted. Just recently, Apple released its latest Safari
update for Windows, the 3.1 version, claiming it to be the fastest
browser. With this, Apple does hope to widen its market on the Windows
platform.
The world has already bid farewell to one of the major warriors of this
war, while there are still stronger ones working extremely hard to
dominate this battle. As the technology devotees pursue the fate of this
war, common users enjoy the result of new and better products. The war
has a lot more coming its way for us to expect the unexpected. We shall
wait and watch.
Site of the Week
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Just for Geeks
TripIt –
www.tripit.com
This is one website travellers must not miss.
TripIt is a unique, free online tool for travellers to organize all
their travel plans in one place. To start with, all you have to do is
forward your travel itineraries to a given email address and they will
all be organized for you. The tool will put your flight, hotel and car
rental confirmations on one page which can be easily accessible anytime
on the website or even through email. You can print these itineraries
while you are travelling or even share these travel plans with your
friends. |
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 next week… Tata ;-)
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