Putrajaya

I took a trip to Putrajaya over the weekend for some official business. It was tiring, but I got some pretty neat photos.

Talk Accepted At FOSS.my 2009

I just got an email notifying me that I've been accepted to speak at FOSS.my again this year.

My talk is going to be about System Z. Now I just have to write it...

Oriental Magpie Robin At Lake Gardens

Today we went to Kuala Lumpur Lake Gardens, where I found this very friendly magpie robin. These are my best magpie robin pictures I've taken up to now.

Malaysian National Zoo

I'm in Kuala Lumpur on vacation, and today I took a trip to the national zoo. However, it rained shortly after I arrived, and I ended up taking pictures of wet, grumpy animals. Here are some of the photos.

30

I turn 30 this year. I look back and I realise I need to get more publications out!

I had some good pizza for dinner today :).

Star Trek

I wrote this on my Flickr page when the movie came out, and I've copied it nearly verbatim here (my blog was getting neglected thanks to my photo projects).

Today I saw the new Star Trek movie which was done by J.J. Abrams. When I first heard they were recasting Captain Kirk and his crew, I thought I was going to hate it. Throughout the production of the movie, I heard of the changes they made and like a good fanboy, I fumed online about the little details and how J.J. Abrams is going to "ruin everything". When the first trailers came out with a young Jim Kirk driving a car off a cliff I was furious. How could they do this? This didn't look like Star Trek! I was ready to hate the film.

Then the second trailer appeared. I saw glimpses of Captain Pike, and the new starship, and the awesome space battles; I was intrigued, and the sight of the Enterprise gave me goosebumps.

Today I went in the theatre excited and nervous, and I spent the next two hours thrilled. Initially, I was unsure about the casting of James Kirk, but Chris Pine did a rather good job portraying a young, cocky version of the famous captain without doing any Shatner impersonations. Simon Pegg as Scotty was pure casting win, and Karl Urban isn't too bad as Bones McCoy. A lot of people liked Zachary Quinto's Spock, but it still felt a little jarring for me to see Sylar as a Vulcan. However, we still got to see the classic Spock as Leonard Nimoy returned to reprise his famous role again on screen after all these years.

As for the story, I have to hand it to J.J. Abrams for having the guts to do what he did. For a long time Star Trek has been languishing in a stagnant pool. lacking imagination and innovation (I blame Berman and Braga for this). Abrams took Star Trek and made it his own, rebooting the franchise in a manner that's plausible within continuity.

With this reboot, everything that we know about the Star Trek universe has been reset. There are events that change the course of history of the future irrevocably, and at one critical point in the movie something cataclysmic happens (you'll know when you see it) and my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what had happened. The shockwaves from this movie will be reverberating throughout the discussion boards of Star Trek fans for many months to come.

The movie isn't without flaws. The product placement is glaringly out of place in a future where money is no longer used (and yet communicators are Nokia brand!) and some plot points are glossed over and inadequately explained (such as Spock's story of what happened in the future).

I don't think any other summer flick that follows can top this one for thrills. It was a fun movie, and it's well worth the price of admission.

Adventure Van

I spotted this on the road as I went to the tax office in downtown Penang to send my forms. It looks like a big adventure van, with "Austria" written near the bumper. These people were definitely from out of town (left-hand drive). From the look of their vehicle, they are probably globetrotting adventurers, going round the world in their van.

Penang Hill

It's been years since I last went up Penang hill. Today I went with my mom, and took a lot of pictures.

The train is working again after months of being under repair.

Another train passes by ours.

The view of Penang is breathtaking.

An older train car is on display on top of the hill.

The tall building is KOMTAR, Penang's administrative complex.

Huge spiders are everywhere on the hill.

A monkey sits and watches the tourists.

A Brahminy Kite Flies Overhead

I got a pretty close shot of this brahminy kite as I was wandering around campus. This was near the football fields. I think there is a nest close by.

A Few More Bird Sightings

I have a huge backlog of bird photos to upload!

Here are a few:

A yellow-vented bulbul sits in a tree in my garden.

Morning meal search time for this white-breasted waterhen.

This kingfisher shows us which way we should drive.

This olive-backed sunbird was chattering away at a university cafeteria.

I saw a little heron walking in a stream.

Here's a new one for this blog! A little egret!

When I first got a picture of a dollarbird I thought it was fantastic and rare. Now I find out they aren't all that rare after all. I see these birds on the hill at my university every morning.