I don’t know if it’s just me but I’m seeing a lot of break-ups lately. Lots of couples I know who have been around for the longest time are all ending their relationships one by one. Then comes along this video about relationships. I found it from somebody who posted it on Facebook or Twitter.

It’s about the many phases of a relationship. The first minute or so of watching this video I was like… “uhh..” not sure what to think. Then as I watched more and more it got a bit more addictive because it’s so true and I think anyone who has been in a relationship before can relate to it.

So since it’s the weekend and we all have a little time on our hands. Here’s something to watch 🙂

Hey Guys,

Thought I’d announce the winners for the God of Carnage tickets. Once again I wish I had more than just two pairs to give away because you guys gave so many good answers.

Take for example this long one.

or this short one.

Picking the winners was the hardest thing I had to do especially since it’s really very subjective.

A winner eventually had to be picked though, and these two winners are the ones who left these comments.

and

I just also learned from PJLA that they had a bit of a misunderstand of the dates. Instead of the earlier dates that they gave, these tickets they’re giving out are for the sho won the 25th of April (Monday). That kinda sucks for me because I’m going to be away on that date so I won’t be able to watch the show with you guys. Hope Jehan and Ang Khian can make it on that date too.

Jehan and Ang Khian. Check your emails!

Either ways, for everyone else who left comments for the tickets… thanks again for taking part. Hope I’ll have more stuff to give away in future!

Just a few days ago I was talking to a friend about marriage. Now now don’t panic. It’s not that Shorty and I are going to get married any time soon. We’re both not ready for that yet. The subject came up because a lot of my other friends lately are getting married and every year I’m attending more and more weddings.

So the topic of the engagement ring came up. So I asked him how much he would spend on an engagement ring for his wife.
His answer:

RM200,000

I was like… WTF?!?!?!

Granted that my friend was from a fairly wealthy family but his logic was… “If I can spend more than RM200,000 on a car… which depreciates, why can’t I spend that amount on an engagement ring that appreciates in value”.

My reply to him was…

“Well because you get to use a car… how do you use a ring?”

So I tweeted it and I got all sorts of replies. Some replied “Who’s your friend!? I wanna marry him”… and some others replied their own formulas for calculating how much an engagement ring would cost. Some say 3 months of the guy’s pay… some say 6 months. The ones who said 3 months but heard 6 months started saying 6 months was a better formula.

Then Shaolintiger showed us this little “engagement ring calculator” here.

And it asks you all sorts of questions beyond just your income. Whether she’s pregnant or if she’s ever cheated on you… or whether you have ever got caught cheating on her…. or even how attractive she is. Haha.

So what do you guys and girls think? How much should an engagement ring cost? If it’s the thought and the symbolism that matters then is it okay for a billionaire to buy one that costs RM2,000?

PS (ad): On an ending note guys, if you guys are really into Facebook check out this initiative that’s looking to make Malaysia the Facebook capital of the world.

Hey Guys,

The PJ Laugh Fest is back again this year with a string of comedy shows from the 28th April – 5th June 2011. One of the shows that’s going on is called God of Carnage.

It stars Megat Sharizal, Maya Tan Abdullah, Lina Teoh and Will Quah.

Tickets go at RM60 but if you’re a student or senior citizen you can get it for RM30. If you’d like to know more about the show or about its show times, check out their site here.

Now as my title suggests, PJ Live Arts is nice enough to give me 3 pairs of tickets to give away to you guys. The ticket is for the Thursday show on the 28th of April 2011 at 8.30PM. So I’m going to run a little contest. Leave a comment and tell me why you really need a good laugh right now and I’ll give the 2 pairs of tickets away to the best 2 answers ok?

Don’t forget to leave your e-mail address so that I can e-mail you if you win 🙂

Deadline for this is at 12.00AM, Wednesday 20th April 2011.

This week has been crazy busy for me! It’s insane. For one, I’ve had the ChurpChurp team from Singapore down all week having meetings with us here in Malaysia to work out how to make ChurpChurp.com better.

New Office

I’ve also been really occupied with the renovations of our new office. Our current office ran out of space, so we took over the next door unit, broke down the wall and joined it with our old one. That gives us just a little bit more space for a casual meeting room of sort and more workstations. For the ID and the layout of the office, I decided to let some of the Nuffies decide how they wanted it to be like.

This is Raessa in our new office that’s still being renovated.

Along with some of the other Nuffies, she’s been responsible for choosing everything from the furniture to the colour of the pillows of the room.

The Tesco of Table Tennis Equipment

Last weekend I decided to pay a visit to this table tennis store somewhere in a part of KL I had never been to before in my life. I was going there to buy a new bat for Gin for his birthday. It was amazing! Maybe because I only have the shops in Penang to compare it to but it was the largest table tennis equipment shop I had ever seen. So many different kinds of rubber, wood, balls etc etc. Oh the reason behind the rubber and the wood is that in table tennis, a lot of players don’t buy ready-made bats. They buy the wood and the rubber separate and then have them put together to customize their own bat.

I was taking a look at this piece of rubber that was supposed to be really expensive. Almost RM200 or something… didn’t buy it though. When I got home though I realized that they had accidentally put it in the plastic bag that I used to keep the bat I bought for Gin.

So I called them up and promised that I would go back and return that RM200 piece of rubber that I didn’t pay for. Didn’t manage to do it all week because I’ve been so busy so okay I guess I’ll do it this weekend.

My Recorded Shows

Another thing I’m going to try to do this weekend is catch up with all the shows I recorded on my Astro B.yond PVR. I went crazy the other day recording all the documentaries I could find and they’re all saved in the Hard Disk now. Just have to find the time to watch them. It’s actually really great and something I really use. So much that I kinda regret having it installed on the other side of my apartment where my brother and sister are. Should have had it installed right in my bedroom. Heh…. maybe I’ll get another one.

So it’s going to be a busy weekend for me.

So just right after Mark Zuckerberg won a court case against the Winklevoss twins, another vulture comes into play again. If you didn’t watch The Social Network, let me bring you up to speed in a nutshell. The story behind the Winklevoss twins is that they came up with the idea of a sort-of “Facebook” for Harvard. They wanted to call it “HarvardConnection” and they got Mark Zuckerberg to build the site for them. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t do it in the end and instead started Facebook. The Winklevoss twins then claimed that Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea of Facebook from them. They took legal action against Mark Zuckerberg and Mark gave them a settlement of $65 million in cash and Facebook shares. All just for the claim that Facebook was their idea!

Then if that wasn’t enough, they went to court again later on demanding for more money. Saying that Mark Zuckerberg hid from them the true value of Facebook and that they deserved more (some 4 times more or so). This time though the court threw the case out. Basically told them that they had gotten enough of a settlement.

Right after that, another guy by the name of Paul Ceglia claims that he signed a contract with Mark Zuckerberg that shows he should be entitled to some 50% of Facebook. You can find the whole story here, here and here.

Now I don’t know the legal part of this equation or whether the case even holds any water. For that, if there are some lawyers among my readers maybe you can give us some guidance.

What I can’t stand to see though is all these “opportunists”. Sure Mark Zuckerberg is successful beyond belief. He is the youngest billionaire in the world worth $13.5 billion at age 27. That’s insane! But he didn’t get there just from having the IDEA of Facebook. Ideas ARE FREE!!! Execution is the one that’s key. In order to build a business or a company like Facebook, it doesn’t just take an idea. It doesn’t even just take right leadership for one or two months. It takes years or making the right decisions, persevering and hard work in order to get where he is. Any entrepreneur who worked hard to build his business can relate to that. All these people who now claim a share of his success did not sweat or bleed like Mark Zuckerberg did.

Sure… Eduardo Saverin put up the initial startup capital for Facebook so he deserves a good share of the company. Maybe even more than what he has now. But what did the Winklevoss twins or Paul Ceglia do? Is whatever they did worth the millions or even billions that they’re asking for today?

I’m sure the Winklevoss twins, having been to Harvard are smart enough to know that ideas are free and execution is key.

They’re just seem like they’re trying to exploit whatever they can out of whatever ties they had with Mark Zuckerberg. It disgusts me to know that there are people like that out there in this world. People who can bring themselves to leech off the success attained from the hard sweat of the people who really did all the work. Can you imagine? It’s like you work hard on a job and end up with lots of savings by the time you retire. Then someone comes along and tries to take away the money you worked hard for and saved. I know it’s not an exact comparison but it probably feels just as bad.

I hope Mark Zuckerberg fights on. Not for the money but for the principle of it!

I love it when I discover funny videos on YouTube and this is one of them. Haha!

It’s actually filmed in Taiwan where they were launching the new Sony Ericsson Android phone. They got this guy in an Android suit to dance around and BOY DID HE DO A GOOD JOB!

I mean CHECK out the way he was moving! At no point did he look like he was tired… except for the part where he lay down on the stage for a while. YouTube as always have the best comments sometimes.

Whatever they’re paying this guy… it’s not enough! HAHA!

So today some of the Nuffies and I decided to head to Lot 10’s food court for lunch. I was feeling a little “heaty” so I decided to have porridge. Halfway through my porridge, somebody tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around to see Kenny Sia.

I haven’t seen Kenny in a long long time. He was down in KL only for a night and he just so happened to be in Lot 10 right there and then. He didn’t yet have any dinner plans so I asked him to join Shorty and another friend tonight. I brought him to what is my favourite restaurant in KL: Nerotecca.

I love it because… well I have a thing for very small and quaint restaurants. You know, the kind of places you find in places like London, New York or even Melbourne. Small, old and quaint little restaurants that you know have been around for a long time and yet only have a few tables.

Nerotecca is one such restaurant (though it doesn’t look old or anything) and the food is amazing. I love the cold cuts.

And they have what is in my opinion, the best pasta in all of Klang Valley.

What I also really like about Nerotecca is the ambience. Just the kind of place you can go and relax with friends.

Service is great and the best part is that it’s really affordable. One bowl of pasta is like … RM28 or something. And you can tell them to customize your own pasta for you. Shorty and I love going there and we normally order stuff that aren’t on the menu.

The other thing that’s new with me lately is that I finally got myself a tablet. That’s right! I totally missed the tablet phase. While everyone was having their iPads and all… I didn’t have anything but my Kindle. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what I would use the tablet for.

Then I read more and more about how tablets are changing the world and I finally decided that since I’m in the digital industry, I gotta keep up with times. At one point I really wanted to get the Motorola Xoom and other alternative tablets like the Blackberry Playbook but got tired of waiting for them to come out in spite of all the hype they were creating.

So I recently got an iPad 2. I googled around and got it from one of those suppliers who bought it from an Apple store overseas and brought it back to sell in Malaysia for a bit of a premium.

I know it’s coming out in Singapore this month but if memory served me right last year, it was pretty much sold out everywhere for the first few months. So I thought okay, pay a little extra but just get it. I paid RM2,500 for a 32GB Wi-Fi which is pretty much the most I could ever get myself to pay for a tablet. It was the same price I paid for the first iPad I bought my mum a year ago (before it hit Malaysian shores).

The iPad 2 is supposed to be faster, has a front camera and is supposedly 33% thinner than the first iPad. Everything else though is pretty much the same to be honest. So if you have the first generation iPad, I don’t think the change in technology for the iPad 2 is a big enough leap for you to change it. It’s supposedly lighter but it’s still too heavy to hold it up and read like you do the Kindle.

What I use my iPad for so far is really reading lots of news online.

Plus I now carry it around with me instead of my laptop which makes me feel better. For the past year I’ve always gotten paranoid about carrying my laptop around or keeping it in the car trunk for fear of people breaking it open and stealing it. On the iPad though I can just carry it around like a file.

With the iPad though I think in future I might just change from my iPhone to an Android phone in future. I also do have a Blackberry for work. Got a Torch recently when my Bold 2 died. It gave me a bit of problems at first but now that I’ve fixed them, I love it!

Hope I end up loving my iPad too.

You guys should check this out. While we all know about the vast and rapid development of China, here are some parts of that development that we don’t really hear about.

They’ve built cities for millions of people but they’re empty just like ghost cities.

Remember when I blogged about Astro B.yond some time back?

Well recently, Astro decided to let me try it out for myself. So they helped me get it installed in my place just a few weeks ago. Getting it installed was a bit of an adventure.

You see I stay by myself in one side of the apartment and my brother and sister stay on another side. The Astro is actually on my brother’s and sister’s side of the apartment hooked up to an old box TV we have.
I have a HD LCD TV on my side but it’s not plugged into anything except for my DVD Player and XBOX. So when I was going to get Astro B.yond installed on my side of the apartment I met with some protests. My brother and sister wanted to have it on their side instead so in the end because it was 2vs1 I let it happen. So that means I won’t be able to watch programs on HD but I guess I can live with that.

So since I’ve been away for a week I just finally got down to using it today. I played around with all the features. I noticed that my maid who watches the Astro in my apartment far more than the rest of us has already figured out to record a program and recorded one of hers.

Some Bollywood dancing program.

The core feature and the most user-friendly feature of Astro B.yond is the ability to record any programs you want and watch it any time you want. To me it was really cool but always felt like a “nice to have” rather than a “must have”. Just like iPad.

That’s when I was wrong.

Sure movies and all you can just buy DVDs or well go for the less legal option of downloading them. But there’s so much on TV that’s worth watching but I miss just because of the timing. Like I scrolled through HBO, Star Movies and Cinemax only to choose to record “The Postman”.

Then I browsed through Discovery Channel and Discovery Science and I came across all the programs that I’d definitely watch and wouldn’t easily be able to find. I ended up filling up my recording queue very quickly. Extreme Machines, Modern Marvels, Mega Machines… all the kind of stuff that I’d always watch when I catch it on Discovery (upon writing this Shorty just called me a geek for liking these shows).

Then there were a lot of other stuff. Like I’m really into Modern History especially about World War 2, so I scrolled through the History Channel and looked for programs I would watch. If that wasn’t enough I went to CNBC then because on weekends they have features where they interview billionaires or give you a look in the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Then I thought of the other stuff I loved watching… like E!’s True Hollywood Stories.. and it went on and on!

I went crazy! ALL THE TV I ALWAYS WANTED TO WATCH BUT NEVER FOUND THE TIME TO WATCH…. JUST LAID ITSELF BEFORE MY EYES! ALL… accessible from this one controller.

So I went to the Astro website and started looking at what programs they have coming up on the channels and what I’d like to watch. It suddenly became addictive!

Now I can’t wait for the night to end so I can watch all these recorded programs this weekend. Oh man.. I never thought that Astro B.yond would be so cool! I’ll blog again after a few weeks of using it to see if I still love it!