i just found out this morning that i got shot in the back in front of my team lead, by someone i considered a friend.
it all started last wk when, during my last 1x1, my team lead told me that someone complained about me not handling some cases properly. of course, i asked for some kinda reference so that i can check. i've been doing things by the book all along, so i was suprised when this came up.
finally, i got an email with the references this morning, n i checked them out. turned out it was this fella whom, for the past year, i've helped both professionally n personally. the cases were going sour, with possible escalations. i handled them exactly as i should when they passed thru my hands, it was quite obvious that he put the blame on me to protect himself from possible hot water that might be pouring right at him later.
this got me really pissed off. a very unexpected betrayal, n it further proves that even if u think u're friends with ppl at work, u'd better think again. anyone can just suddenly turn around n step on u, or empty a few rounds behind ur back.
i dunno how i'm gonna handle this with that fella yet. whether i should talk to him directly, or just bide my time n push him down a spiked pit when one comes along. i think i'm gonna spend the night to cool myself down before i make a decision on that.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
"eye-scorching screen candy"
Glenn Gaslin described the movie as an "eye-scorching screen candy, agorgeous effects driven fantasy flick" in E! online. the movie in questions is Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's Mirrormask. he is absolutely right.
i've been waiting to get my hands on the DVD since i knew of the movie going into production. since it's one of those small company, low budget films without any famous stars, i was sure that it will never reach malaysian cinemas, and i was right.
well, not even that, none of the DVD shops that i asked at, since september last year, even heard about the film. so when i bumped into this in a DVD shop earlier in the evening, i just bought it and hurry home. :)
so. it really is eye candy right from the DVD menu to the ending credits.
as what i've mentioned in a previous post here, the movie is really filled with tons and tons of weirdly creative and brilliant ideas, both in the storyline and the audio visual presentation of it. if i'd not known beforehand that this movie was done on a very limited budget, i wouldn't have believed that this film actually only had a budget of four million dollars. just as a comparison, the first lord of the rings movie had a budget of 137 million. the acclaimed fantasy film labyrinth, from the same company as mirrormask, had 40 million.
seeing dave mckean's designs brought to live is a shocking experience. i'm talking about designs with similar color schemes and psychotic feeling as those from sandman comic covers. cats with human faces, fishes that swims through the air, orbiting giants... mixing that, with all the crazily original ideas from neil gaiman - flying books, a dumb sphinx, monkey-birds with beaks that keep falling off, shadows that turn into eyeballs with spidery legs... this is fantasy film at a whole new level. (which also kinda make me wonder what kind of movies will the sandman series make)
it's too bad that this film did not reach cinemas here.
mirrormask@sony pictures
traliers@apple
more pictures, which doesn't really reflect how marvellous things actually look in the movie:
Saturday, February 18, 2006
what a way to start the year
a friend of mine killed himself the friday before valentine's.
it came as quite a shock when another friend informed me about this over the phone. i have never thought that any of my friends would really do something as drastic as taking one's own life. (killing another, maybe. ) all i could react to when i got the news over the phone was to agree with pooling together money for the family.
i'm not very close with this friend, so this is not some kinda orbituary or memorial post. just me, not understanding why people would wanna take their own lives.
i still remember him being a very active student back in high school. the fella's always somewhere among the top 20% of the class, did very well in public speaking and singing contests, ok in sports. he was in the school band, and was even the head prefect in school.
he didn't really get far after high school, from what i heard. family didn't do great and he couldn't get a good enough scholarship to get through college, since he was never anywhere near the top 5% in class.
the last time i heard from him was mid last year at another friend's wedding. a few of us car-pooled to KL for the banquet. he came across as a lil depressed, lacked confidence and pretty much tried to hide most of his feelings.
then came the phone call about him jumping off the top floor of the place he was living in.
come to think of it, i didn't do much better than he did, even in high school. even though i was a nerd and basically ended up in the top 3 in class every year, i was never very active in school activities. well, that's mostly because i hate the school's discipline. deliberately failed the prefect exam twice cos the diciplinary master's a bitch. after high school, i never really pour myself into studies anymore until i got back from the states. most of the time, i'm just enjoying myself by indulging in whatever fancies me at the time.
i probably wouldn't be suffering where i am now, if i'd lived paying more attention to my future. compared with most of my friends back from high school, i have really done much for a career.
so, i'm at a point in life where i should already be somewhere, but i'm still way behind on schedule. but i haven't lost hope yet. i still think i can hurry up and get back on schedule if i work hard enough.
one thing about playing games, especially RPGs, a lot is that it really made me realize that real life is not that kinda game -- you can't die and reload from a previously saved game; nor do you have extra lives to play with.
life's just a complicated one-way maze with more branches at every turn. you don't have a map, you can't go back and you're not sure whether you're headed to the correct exit (or if there really is an exit instead of all dead ends). kinda sucks if you think of it that way but i still think that there's always an exit, even if you came to a dead end, you might find a hidden door. :)
i guess that's what's interesting, not knowing where the path will really lead. that, and the other thing i learnt from games -- the bull-headed, stubborn insistence to make it all the way to the end.
it came as quite a shock when another friend informed me about this over the phone. i have never thought that any of my friends would really do something as drastic as taking one's own life. (killing another, maybe. ) all i could react to when i got the news over the phone was to agree with pooling together money for the family.
i'm not very close with this friend, so this is not some kinda orbituary or memorial post. just me, not understanding why people would wanna take their own lives.
i still remember him being a very active student back in high school. the fella's always somewhere among the top 20% of the class, did very well in public speaking and singing contests, ok in sports. he was in the school band, and was even the head prefect in school.
he didn't really get far after high school, from what i heard. family didn't do great and he couldn't get a good enough scholarship to get through college, since he was never anywhere near the top 5% in class.
the last time i heard from him was mid last year at another friend's wedding. a few of us car-pooled to KL for the banquet. he came across as a lil depressed, lacked confidence and pretty much tried to hide most of his feelings.
then came the phone call about him jumping off the top floor of the place he was living in.
come to think of it, i didn't do much better than he did, even in high school. even though i was a nerd and basically ended up in the top 3 in class every year, i was never very active in school activities. well, that's mostly because i hate the school's discipline. deliberately failed the prefect exam twice cos the diciplinary master's a bitch. after high school, i never really pour myself into studies anymore until i got back from the states. most of the time, i'm just enjoying myself by indulging in whatever fancies me at the time.
i probably wouldn't be suffering where i am now, if i'd lived paying more attention to my future. compared with most of my friends back from high school, i have really done much for a career.
so, i'm at a point in life where i should already be somewhere, but i'm still way behind on schedule. but i haven't lost hope yet. i still think i can hurry up and get back on schedule if i work hard enough.
one thing about playing games, especially RPGs, a lot is that it really made me realize that real life is not that kinda game -- you can't die and reload from a previously saved game; nor do you have extra lives to play with.
life's just a complicated one-way maze with more branches at every turn. you don't have a map, you can't go back and you're not sure whether you're headed to the correct exit (or if there really is an exit instead of all dead ends). kinda sucks if you think of it that way but i still think that there's always an exit, even if you came to a dead end, you might find a hidden door. :)
i guess that's what's interesting, not knowing where the path will really lead. that, and the other thing i learnt from games -- the bull-headed, stubborn insistence to make it all the way to the end.
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
content protection gone too far
less than an hour after i posted this, then this came up: Sony got sued for their rootkit-DRM.
===
i've always been of the opinion that if i buy a CD, i would at least have total freedom on what i can do with the CD. of course, that does not involve actually pirating the stuff on it and distributing it. what i really expect to do, is to actually be able to make a copy so that i wouldn't have to damage the original while in use, maybe rip the music to my mp3 player, or just simply use my own CHOICE of audio player to play the CD on my PC.
seems like we're not allowed to do all that if you buy a copy protected CD from Sony:
Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far
Mark's Sysinternals Blog
i've my own experience with audio CDs like this. you insert your perfectly legal, original CD into you PC CDROM drive, and it autorun and launches it's own proprietary player that's basically inadequate, poorly programmed and hogs your system resources, to play the songs from the CD. what you get is some cheesy-colored interface, tons of system resources occupied, and inferior sound quality.
if you tried to launch your favourite player (winamp, for instance), it won't play. if you had more than one of such CDs, opening them up one by one will actually create more CDROM drives for you. at least, that's what Windows Explorer shows.
i'm pretty OK with ppl protecting their intellectual property, but when they install things into my PC without letting me know about it, and by the things they installed, governs how i SHOULD enjoy what i BOUGHT with MY money, they're going a little too far. and now, Sony is actually creating security risks by using a rootkit to do what should be done by much better written code, that's just plain stupid.
Sony still keeps arguing that the rootkit-DRM doesn't introduce any security risks here. well, less than a day after the issue was brought up by sysinternals, WoW players already found a way to use it to cheat. it wouldn't belong before someone actually think of some malicious way to use Sony's rootkit-DRM.
More from Sony:
"6. I have heard that the protection software is really malware/spyware. Could this be true?
Of course not. The protection software simply acts to prevent unlimited copying and ripping from discs featuring this protection solution. It is otherwise inactive. The software does not collect any personal information nor is it designed to be intrusive to your computer system. Also, the protection components are never installed without the consumer first accepting the End User License Agreement.
If at some point you wish to remove the software from your machine simply contact customer service through this link. You will, though, be unable to use the disc on your computer once you uninstall the components.
Our technology vendors are constantly looking to improve the product as well as respond to any critical software issues found. Please check here for upgrades to address any known issues."
contacting Sony to remove the rootkit requires the user to fill out a form, using IE and install an ActiveX program. after that form, they'll send you an email telling you there's an upgrade for the DRM software, but if you still wanna proceed to uninstall it, then you'll have to follow another link and fill in another form.
they're still more or less unwilling to provide help for users to uninstall the rootkit, and somehow, by some incomprehensible logic, they actually think that we will still trust them enough after the whole rootkit fiasco to actually run IE and install ActiveX from their site. :)
i think the worse thing here is that if you DO remove the rootkit, you won't be able to listen to the CD on your PC again. basically, you're screwed.
good news is, the CD protection is so badly written, all you need to do is press the shift key while inserting the CD to stop it from autorunning, don't double-click on the CD, or maybe use a Mac or Linux box.
Sony just pissed people off without managing to properly protect their CDs.
===
i've always been of the opinion that if i buy a CD, i would at least have total freedom on what i can do with the CD. of course, that does not involve actually pirating the stuff on it and distributing it. what i really expect to do, is to actually be able to make a copy so that i wouldn't have to damage the original while in use, maybe rip the music to my mp3 player, or just simply use my own CHOICE of audio player to play the CD on my PC.
seems like we're not allowed to do all that if you buy a copy protected CD from Sony:
Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far
Mark's Sysinternals Blog
i've my own experience with audio CDs like this. you insert your perfectly legal, original CD into you PC CDROM drive, and it autorun and launches it's own proprietary player that's basically inadequate, poorly programmed and hogs your system resources, to play the songs from the CD. what you get is some cheesy-colored interface, tons of system resources occupied, and inferior sound quality.
if you tried to launch your favourite player (winamp, for instance), it won't play. if you had more than one of such CDs, opening them up one by one will actually create more CDROM drives for you. at least, that's what Windows Explorer shows.
i'm pretty OK with ppl protecting their intellectual property, but when they install things into my PC without letting me know about it, and by the things they installed, governs how i SHOULD enjoy what i BOUGHT with MY money, they're going a little too far. and now, Sony is actually creating security risks by using a rootkit to do what should be done by much better written code, that's just plain stupid.
Sony still keeps arguing that the rootkit-DRM doesn't introduce any security risks here. well, less than a day after the issue was brought up by sysinternals, WoW players already found a way to use it to cheat. it wouldn't belong before someone actually think of some malicious way to use Sony's rootkit-DRM.
More from Sony:
"6. I have heard that the protection software is really malware/spyware. Could this be true?
Of course not. The protection software simply acts to prevent unlimited copying and ripping from discs featuring this protection solution. It is otherwise inactive. The software does not collect any personal information nor is it designed to be intrusive to your computer system. Also, the protection components are never installed without the consumer first accepting the End User License Agreement.
If at some point you wish to remove the software from your machine simply contact customer service through this link. You will, though, be unable to use the disc on your computer once you uninstall the components.
Our technology vendors are constantly looking to improve the product as well as respond to any critical software issues found. Please check here for upgrades to address any known issues."
contacting Sony to remove the rootkit requires the user to fill out a form, using IE and install an ActiveX program. after that form, they'll send you an email telling you there's an upgrade for the DRM software, but if you still wanna proceed to uninstall it, then you'll have to follow another link and fill in another form.
they're still more or less unwilling to provide help for users to uninstall the rootkit, and somehow, by some incomprehensible logic, they actually think that we will still trust them enough after the whole rootkit fiasco to actually run IE and install ActiveX from their site. :)
i think the worse thing here is that if you DO remove the rootkit, you won't be able to listen to the CD on your PC again. basically, you're screwed.
good news is, the CD protection is so badly written, all you need to do is press the shift key while inserting the CD to stop it from autorunning, don't double-click on the CD, or maybe use a Mac or Linux box.
Sony just pissed people off without managing to properly protect their CDs.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
lazy or busy?
i've beeen more or less working my ass off for the past month. well, that was during my day shift week. night shift is slightly better, except for the times when i get shitty cases from even shittier customers.
outside of work, i've got quite a few books to spend my time with. really appreciate sheryl's help in getting me the books from borders in kl. they're much cheaper than i expected too, since borders was having a discount.
finished reading neil gaiman's the wolves in the walls already. well, anyone could've finished the book in 15-20mins. that's not the point tho. the books really good. great illustrations from dave mckean (as usual), extremely great ideas by neil gaiman (as usual too). i kinda wanted to post a couple of pages up, but i don't have a scanner. pics taken from my camera can't do it justice.
sandman: endless nights is also very good. new stories of the endless told, giving more depth to the characters, who, in the sandman library series, already are given a great depth, making them very believable. the colaboration of comic artists that drawn each of the seven chapters actually gave more live to the characters by using varying and suprisingly effective drawing styles, tailored to each of the characters nature. i think i'm gonna be rereading this book soon.
just started off with anansi boys. as usually, very distinctive neil gaiman writing style. so far, the story is quite engaging. i've only gone through 3 chapters.
playing a ps2 game called atelier iris. very very old school playing style, with a few new ideas. even the graphics are reminiscence of the ff6 era. susi saw it and asked if i were playing a girl's game. well, it does look kinda girlie.
almost done with the game. it's rare but it's the first time that i played an rpg but don't feel like going through all the trouble to finished all the side quests and find all the hidden items. i think that pretty much says the game is not that good.
my old nokia 7650 died last saturday.
i wished it could've at least lasted another month, since my bro's gonna be back from uk with some phones. as it is, i had to shell out some moolah to get myself a new phone first.
ended up with this:panasonic A200 (the black one, of course)
RM280. basic color phone, no extra functions. cheap and small, just what i wanted. i was trying to get the white one, but could only find the black one. the white one's cool, color is very ipod-ish. couldn't wait for new stock, since i needed to get a phone that night itself. it's about 2/3 the length of a nokia 8210. after using 7650 for so long, holding this phone makes me feel like i can drop it anytime.
well, let's hope my bro brings something good back.
outside of work, i've got quite a few books to spend my time with. really appreciate sheryl's help in getting me the books from borders in kl. they're much cheaper than i expected too, since borders was having a discount.
finished reading neil gaiman's the wolves in the walls already. well, anyone could've finished the book in 15-20mins. that's not the point tho. the books really good. great illustrations from dave mckean (as usual), extremely great ideas by neil gaiman (as usual too). i kinda wanted to post a couple of pages up, but i don't have a scanner. pics taken from my camera can't do it justice.
sandman: endless nights is also very good. new stories of the endless told, giving more depth to the characters, who, in the sandman library series, already are given a great depth, making them very believable. the colaboration of comic artists that drawn each of the seven chapters actually gave more live to the characters by using varying and suprisingly effective drawing styles, tailored to each of the characters nature. i think i'm gonna be rereading this book soon.
just started off with anansi boys. as usually, very distinctive neil gaiman writing style. so far, the story is quite engaging. i've only gone through 3 chapters.
playing a ps2 game called atelier iris. very very old school playing style, with a few new ideas. even the graphics are reminiscence of the ff6 era. susi saw it and asked if i were playing a girl's game. well, it does look kinda girlie.
almost done with the game. it's rare but it's the first time that i played an rpg but don't feel like going through all the trouble to finished all the side quests and find all the hidden items. i think that pretty much says the game is not that good.
my old nokia 7650 died last saturday.
i wished it could've at least lasted another month, since my bro's gonna be back from uk with some phones. as it is, i had to shell out some moolah to get myself a new phone first.
ended up with this:panasonic A200 (the black one, of course)
RM280. basic color phone, no extra functions. cheap and small, just what i wanted. i was trying to get the white one, but could only find the black one. the white one's cool, color is very ipod-ish. couldn't wait for new stock, since i needed to get a phone that night itself. it's about 2/3 the length of a nokia 8210. after using 7650 for so long, holding this phone makes me feel like i can drop it anytime.
well, let's hope my bro brings something good back.
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