The Mighty

there are some movies that can bring so much inspiration to ur life that u have to watch over and over again.. Peter Chelsom 's "The Mighty" is one of them..

warning: spoiler ahead

the movie is based on Rodman Philbrick 's novel "Freak the Mighty".. the uplifting tale is told through the eyes of 14-year-old Maxwell Kane, who is constantly teased and bullied because of his enormous size and learning disabilities..

Max's life changes forever when Kevin (Kieran Culkin), known in the movie as "Freak", moves into the neighborhood.. Kevin suffers from Morquio's Syndrome, a disease that causes the bones to stop growing while the internal organs continue to grow.. he can only walk with the help of crutches and leg braces..

Kevin opens Max's mind to the world of the imagination using the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.. what Kevin lacks in physical strength, he makes up with a brilliant mind.. Kevin and Max complement each other and become a perfect match..

Imagining themselves as a knight called "Freak the Mighty", the pair go about rescuing maidens (abused wives), slaying dragons (the local punks) and walking high above the world..

here is the music video of The Mighty..



My favourite quote from the movie:
"A Knight Proves his Worthiness by his Deeds."

=)

Bill Gates goes back to school

Here is the spoof video of Bill Gates (chairman of Microsoft and world's wealthiest man) teaming up with Napoleon Dynamite. It shows the funny side of Bill Gates and the clever alliance formation of Napoleon Dynamite. Enjoy..



=)

A More Civilized Wikipedia

Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, recently announced that he has initiated a new knowledge sharing wiki project called “Citizendium”. It will be closely mirrored to Wikipedia, except that in Citizendium, only “subject experts” will have the authority to edit the articles. The so-called subject expert community will consist of Professors, PhD holders and experts in their respective fields, etc. (the exact criteria to become a subject expert has not been revealed yet.)

The project definitely sounds ambitious, and hopefully will fill in the gap that Wikipedia is seriously lacking. But the question is: will Citizendium become as big and popular as Wikipedia, considering the fact that the contribution to the knowledge repository will be limited. We just have to wait and see.

(ironically, a new entry about Citizendium has been made in Wikipedia as soon as the news came out. you can read it here.)

Oracle of Omaha

here is a rare video of Warren Buffet (chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, famously nicknamed Oracle of Omaha and the second richest man on the planet).. you will see how humble he is in the video..




Buffet donating billions to charity..



Buffet's modest house in Omaha..



Mr Buffet.. you are my H-E-R-O..

=)

New Search Engines

Envying the success of Google Almighty, some new search engines have been sprouting up recently. Here are two of them:

1) www.snap.com
Its main difference is the preview display of websites alongside the search results. Another novelty is that the users get to rate the search results. So if a site gets high user rating, that site will get listed among the top, which is totally unlike Google's BackRub algorithm. (but the question is why a user would like to rate a search result? and if a site would like to be among the top, they would hire somebody or write a programme to rate the site positively.)

2) www.brainboost.com
It prides itself as an "Answer Engine", which uses "AnswerRank" system. It supposedly finds the search results based on how relevant the search result is to your query. I don't know how the AnswerRank algorithm works. It never mentions in its website.

Whether or not these search engines will become next Google or replace Google altogether, only time will tell.

=)

Marketing 101

this post is dedicated to one of my favourite lecturers in NBS..

(marching into the lecture theatre 19 on a sunny cheerful morning, i tried to get the attention from the seemingly oblivious chattering students..)

hi everyone.. (a deafening silence.. and the curious looks from the students..)

i'm replacing Prof Hooi today.. he is in dubai, attending an international conference on "how to get voted for the best dressed lecturer".. (Prof Hooi is the undisputed best dressed lecturer in NBS.. and without fail, he would wear his signature bow tie every day..)

(imitating Prof Hooi's joyful voice) so, to start off today's lesson.. we are going to learn Marketing 101.. and we are going to learn it in layman's terms..

so, what is marketing?

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and say,
"I am very rich. Marry me!"
That's called Direct Marketing.

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of
your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says,
"He's very rich. Marry him."
That's called Advertising.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and get her telephone number.
The next day you call and say,
"Hi, I'm very rich. Marry me."
That's called Telemarketing.

You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl.
You get up and straighten your tie; you walk up to her and pour her a
drink.
You open the door for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a
ride, and then say,
"By the way, I'm very rich "Will you marry me?"
That's called Public Relations.

You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl.
She walks up to you and says,
"You are very rich...?"
That's called Brand Recognition.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say,
"I'm rich. Marry me"
She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.
That's called Customer Feedback!

and at that exact moment, Prof Hooi just happened to step into the lecture theatre - sweating and panting, obviously being caught up in the traffic jam and being late for the lecture.. and my catch-me-if-you-can stint came to an absurd end.. =)

The End.

(missing the laughs that we got from each lecture.. thank u, Prof Hooi, for making marketing such an enjoyable subject to learn..)

=)