Transformers Movie Review – Rated Five Cubes
by lokety on Jul.13, 2007, under Posts
One of my major childhood fantasies, among cars and firearms, were robots. After watching countless Japanese robot serials and plans to buy those plastic kits from Bandai, I formed an imaginary 10-metre tall robot in my mind. He would always be around me, keeping me safe from harm, bullies and sometimes school.
When the first movie trailer came out last year for Transformers, I was excited like an electro-mechanical arm on an over-charged actuator. I could not imagine how cool and realistic director Michael Bay would bring my childhood robot heroes to life and among realistic scenes. Would it be completely computer animated? Luckily, that was not so…
Sacrificing my wife’s precious spa time (thank you baby!), I caught what is definitely one of my top five movies on 11 July 2007. It rocked and I was blown away!
The movie introduced a young man called Sam Witwicky who became involved in a war between alien robots from a distant planet Cybertron. He meets up with Bumblebee, disguised as a 1977 Chevrolet Camaro, who introduces him to the rest of his crew, the Autobots, including their leader Optimus Prime, a Peterbilt truck. Meanwhile, the evil Decepticons managed to track Sam, who is wanted by both sides as he holds the coordinates to the Allspark cube, an object of immense power that could change the fate of planet Earth. Sam later gets help from his crush, Mikaela Banes, US Army Special Ops soldiers, Department of Defense people, and several computer hackers to keep the Allspark from landing into the wrong robotic hands.
The computer graphics, meticulously rendered by Industrial Light and Magic, were very high quality and natural. One scene had Bumblebee at an industrial site moving and changing into the Camaro very realistically. I liked the natural movements of the Autobots when they were at Sam’s house, very likely done using live motion capture.
Try to get cinema seats at the back though, because most of the animation were at close shots, making it difficult to watch if you sit too close. The energy cannons and slow motion / kung fu styled shots are very cool and realistic. Excellent to keep a special edition DVD in the near future. ;)
Bumblebee developed a likeable character similar to the original cartoon series where he was very close to humans, but they decided to make his voice disabled for most of the movie. Optimus Prime was grand and realistic in his usual way, making him a very accessible hero that adults and kids will idolize. I was disappointed that Megatron did not morph into the Walther P38 pistol but an alien jet, but I guess it would make the Decepticons’ interaction in the movie restrictive. As a child, I loved to watch Decepticon Soundwave for his metallic monotonous voice, but he was not included in this movie.
Not to worry, as it has been confirmed that at least one sequel is planned in the future, which will definitely break movie records that this one has already set. Although it has become a very successful release for Dreamworks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, it is still a guy movie and for fans of the cartoon series. There are enough explosions, guns, vehicles, and military stuff than executive producer Steven Spielberg had ever been involved in. As such, I wouldn’t recommend kids below the age of 3 to watch, as they may get overly excited and violent after watching.
Of course, after watching the robot movie, I couldn’t miss checking out the merchandise like the toy collections from Hasbro and the video game. Check out the link below for lots of very impressive computer animation from “Transformers: The Game”. My possible target is the detailed and beautifully sculpted Bumblebee Unleashed figure, unless Sideshow Toys decides to take on the Transformers series with metal sculptures of the robots (hint!!!).
This movie deserves five Allspark cubes for a good balance of action, humour and drama, almost perfect and very realistic computer animation, impressive sound effects, and an enjoyable soundtrack. Even my boy adores the robots – he’s got Jazz and Barricade!
Links:
Internet Movie Database – Transformers
<URL:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/>
Wikipedia – The Transformers
<URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformers>
Gametrailers.com – Transformers: The Game
<URL:http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=4769>
Technorati Tags: review, movie, movie review, transformers, autobots, decepticons, optimus prime, megatron, cybertron, allspark, bumblebee, robots, alien, hasbro
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Over-Generous Taxpayers or Defective Calculators?
by lokety on Jun.15, 2007, under Posts
The Income Revenue Board (IRB) in Malaysia has announced that they have in excess of RM4 billion of tax revenue that shall be returned to 380,000 taxpayers this year.
The way the tax system works here for wage earners is that IRB automatically takes an estimated cut of their salaries every payday until the end of the financial year. After some serious number crunching and nipping a little interest from the coffers, IRB calculates the actual difference. Depending on the calculations, a taxpayer may have to give the difference to the authority or receive a refund around this time of the year.
Now, applying the classic principle of 90/10, this is how much an average taxpayer is getting back this year:
(0.1 * RM4,000,000,000) / (0.9 * 380,000) = RM1169.59
What do you know… I’m getting even less than the average!
Something must be wrong with their calculations. Perhaps they need the extra revenue for more accurate floating point calculators? ;)
Check out these links for some good reading, especially the Wikipedia one which has more links.
Links:
Too Much – A First-Ever Look at Wealth in the World
<URL:http://www.cipa-apex.org/toomuch/articlenew2006/Dec7a.html>
Wikipedia – Income disparity
<URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_disparity>
Technorati Tags: income tax, taxpayer, malaysia tax, salary, income disparity, wealth distribution, income revenue board
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Saving Energy Reduces Greenhouse Gas Output
by lokety on May.29, 2007, under Posts
Global warming has been proven to be caused by human production of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. Coal-powered power generators are widely used, which contribute to these gases. If we were to reduce our reliance on such power supplies, we can change the amount of greenhouse gases that are spewed into the atmosphere.
Changing incandescent light bulbs to more energy efficient alternatives help considerably. Incandescent light bulbs convert 90% of its electricity consumption to heat and last less than 1000 hours. Compact fluorescent (otherwise known as energy saving) light bulbs (CFL) uses chemical reaction of phosphor powder and mercury to produce light. CFLs are 90% energy efficient and last years. A 15 watt CFL luminance output is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent light bulb, which translates to energy savings of US$30 over the lifetime of the bulb. Light emitting diodes (LED) lighting can last 10 years, are very durable and does not contain poisonous mercury. However, they are still quite expensive and are more suitable for focused lighting as opposed to diffused lighting.
It has been estimated that if there is a worldwide effort to move away from incandescent bulbs, 270 500-megawatt coal power plants can be shut down. The Natural Resources Defense Council of USA estimates that changing to CFLs would reduce greenhouse gases by 1 trillion pounds.
Philips Lighting CEO quoted reports that estimate that if more of Europe use energy efficient lighting, the annual running cost savings would be around 4.3 billion euros or 28 million tons of carbon dioxide reduced per year. This equates to 50 million barrels of oil per year. Using better lighting solutions would lead to less taxes payable for energy use, drive down the use of hazardous chemicals such as mercury.
Several countries and US states are proposing bans on incandescent light bulbs to make way for more energy efficient lighting.
If you are unsure if you are using and buying energy efficient light bulbs (and other electrical and electronic products), look out for the ENERGY STAR logo and label. Products that bear this label have been qualified by the Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Links:
TreeHugger – Ban the Bulb
<URL:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/ban_the_bulb.php>
CNET.com – FAQ Guide to indoor lighting
<URL:http://news.com.com/FAQ+Guide+to+indoor+lighting/2100-11392_3-6186790.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news>
GE Consumer and Industrial Lighting – GE Lighting ENERGY STAR Program
<URL:http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/products/energy_star.htm>
Philips Sustainability
<URL:http://www.philips.com/about/sustainability/Index.html>
ENERGY STAR
<URL:http://www.energystar.gov/>
Technorati Tags: global warming, do no evil, energy saving, energy efficient, carbon emissions, fluorescent light, incandescent light, cfl, greenhouse gases, save energy, efficient lighting, energy star
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