anthroblogia

WW is drooling at the idea of watching wondering whether Robert Downey Jr. will pull off the English accent as Sherlock Holmes in the new movie out soon.

And, as usual, Nuffnang is offering the chance for some lucky bloggers to see the premiere, for free, before all the other plebs non-bloggers out there

Go to the Nuffnang blog to find out more!

And here is the hidden picture, from "Keep Yakking Digital Commerce" (clue? can you work it out? )



Elementary dear Holmes!

What is the purpose of a potato chip? What is its function? What defines a potato chip?

For the answer, we can turn to the wisdom of ancient Greek philosophers, and Aristotle in particular:

He argued that everything has a goal, which is its reason to exist. Many things and animals have something in common – but what defines them is what they have which is intrinsic and unique to themselves. For example: both birds and fish eat food, but a fish cannot fly and nor can a bird swim. Therefore, the function unique to a bird is to fly – so, a happy bird is one that can fly (so don't go putting birds in tiny cages )

So, what about a potato chip? Well, it's clear, the purpose of a potato chip is to be a tasty snack.

First, it has to be somewhat filling (but not too much, it's a snack, remember): as an Irishman, I will of course need my occasional does of potatoes, so potato chips do the job well

What is the other function of a potato chip? It is to delight your five senses: touch, sight, sound, smell and taste:

Touch: a potato chip should be light, with a delicate dusting of salt and flavourful goodness that adheres slightly to the fingers, providing extra delight when you lick it off (or let your dog lick it off, **after** you've done eating)


Sight: a potato chip should gently recall the frying process, with crispy edges and an appetising colour.

Sound: an undervalued aspect of a potato chip is its crunchiness – as you eat, you ears should be filled with crunching. If there's no noise, then it's gone soft and gross...

Smell: as you open the packet, and bring a potato chip to your mouth, your taste buds should get an enticing foretaste of what is about to enter your mouth


And, last but not at all least...

Taste! You can choose from many types of tastes, and each person has their preference


the taste of the potato chip is the ultimate reward to the Aristotelian seeking the good life. Applying reason to the case in hand, he (or she) will recognise the telos, the ultimate goal and justification of the potato chip as being in the taste. Is it a simple Salt and Pepper, or a complex and profound Curry Cha Cha?


Whatever it is, don't compromise on the quality of a potato chip!

Don't every compromise on the quality of anything – because by always understanding the essence of things, and aiming for the highest goals, we are able to bring philosophy to our daily life, and walk with the ancients



(This blog post was composed for a contest organised by Nuffnang and Mister Potato - check out the links for more information.)

Doing research as a blog anthropologist, I get sick of people saying, "But what's happening in 'real life'?"...

I mean, what's NOT real about talking, sharing and ranting with friends and acquaintances? Humans have been doing that since the first barbecue outside of a cave in Africa - is it more real because it's happening in a bar, at work or at school; then when it's happening while you're on the move and keeping in contact with friends around town, overseas, or at home? Does anyone ever say letters aren't 'real'?!

The point is - you can do BOTH of these! You can have a life online AND offline - each one complements the other, and that's the way the future's going to be. Get on the train (or more likely the maglev), and get with the future!

In the future, everyone is going to have presence online as well as offline. They'll even be provided by the government, and kids in playschools will be taught how to play online, just like they're taught how to cross the road safely. The technology will be portable nanocomputers, inserted under the skin and with controls directly from the brain (for example).

OK - we're not there yet

But to get a feel of it you are going to need one thing - that's a smartphone, like a BlackBerry. So you can surf the net, update your social media, call your family, write emails, play games (important that one) - basically, have your own communications centre wherever you go...

OK - any blogger, tweeter or Facebooker wants to be able to chat with friends, do some IM'ing or check Facebook while they're out and about, but... you're going to be worried about the cost, right? I mean, if each tweet, IM message or Facebook update costs money, the bill is gonna be stiff right?

Well - I have to say that Xpax have a good solution here - RM1 per day for prepaid UNLIMITED ACCESS! So - load up with RM 30 at the beginning of the month and you're safe for thirty days.
Check out the details on the Xpax site. The RM1/day deal is for social networking sites - for unlimited internet surfing, etc, it's RM2.50 a day.

"No hidden clauses, no upfront payment" - sounds good enough to me

So - the other problem with switching phones is changing your telephone number, right...? No - wrong! With Mobile Number Portability now available in Malaysia, you don't have to change your number anymore.

At the Xberry party the BlackBerry Curve smartphone 8520 was going at RM888, but if you hurry you can still get a special deal by going to any Blue Cube outlet: get a reload for RM50 and you'll be able to get the Blackberry for RM998, one week free access, and an imported skin.

Wait too long (after November 15) and the price will go back to RM1188.

I'm too skint at the moment even to get it at RM888, but at the Xpax Blackberry party, if I had been able to check Twitter I would have known that the prize draw was going on! And maybe won a free Blackberry!


OK you're gonna say - just pay more attention! But I was!

I was paying attention to an amazing beatboxer Shawn Lee and spotting celebrity bloggers such as Cheesie and and upcoming superblogger/journalist/allround party animal jessie


and Flizzow couldn't be avoided...


nor could Arabyrd


(not to forget the trips to the VVIP section for free flow, food and dancing...)
(and meeting kruel74, dustyhawk, YapThomas, aprilyim, bernard and others who I forgot...)

So all I can say is thanks Xpax and Nuffnang for the party!

Get a a Blackberry Curve to lead your life from in front - it's your life, your number, and your future

District 9 is a new movie coming out soon that seems right up my alley - it's about aliens and with an interesting storyline: the aliens seem to have arrived on earth like refugees or something, and are living in different areas - such as 'District 9'. I saw the trailer in Brisbane recently, and at first it looked like a documentary about refugees in a big shanty town or something. But then you see the huge spaceship and alien beings.


They have a pretty cool website - it's that new kind of marketing, called cross-media marketing, I think. The principle is that you generate interest in the content of one medium (e.g. a movie) in another medium (e.g. websites). The first time I remember noticing this was in relation to 'Heroes' - if you type 'Primatech' into Google, you came to an actual site of a company doing what Primatech was meant to be doing, and there's even some “Information Concerning Noah Bennet”, who has left the company, apparently

Anyway, the District 9 website is set up with 'user contributed' videos, links to services from Multinational United (MNU), which I guess is the big evil corporation in the film, games, and even a blog - MNU SPREADS LIES


that has (amongst other things) a YouTube video of an anti-MNU protest


So, check it out! I'm going to go, with any luck with a ticket to a Nuffnang screening, but anyway it seems like the kind of film I can't miss.

Last night was the Nuffnang Dragonball Premiere screening - I was pleased to get a ticket as I had not been to one for a while, and wanted to catch up with some bloggers. And coincidentally my online survey – myBlogS 2009 – was just completed so I took the opportunity to tell people about that too.

After discussing blogs at Dave's Pizza Pasta Vino (confirmed good pasta) with Jan-E and Rachel (who turned out to be an ex-student of mine from HELP ), I arrived at the GSC where, for some reason, RELA has been drafted to help out with the crowd control and anti-piracy measures (i.e. checking people for recording equipment).

As usual, Nuffnang were well organised - with friendly people to greet us, hand out tickets and so on. But lots of people who had got the tickets didn't turn up – there was a whole stack of tickets left as the show started. Honestly that sucks - if you don't want to go, there are many others who do >:[ (thinking of me who missed 'The Punisher' screening which looked fun) – just email Nuffnang and they'll pass on the tickets to someone else. Anyway, apparently people who do no-shows get blacklisted - and after two no-shows, I think they will no longer get any invites and so on. Nah!

As I got my ticket, I met Marcus – whom I met at previous Nuffnang meets, and we took a photo with some others whose name I can't remember (sorry…)


What’s that above my head you're asking? Maybe you can see it better with me and Huai Bin?


It was an idea by WW – to attract attention and tell people about the survey. It's a thought bubble with ‘wtf?’ on one side and ‘Have Your Say’ on the other, with 'Malaysian Blog Survey 2009' underneath; the thought bubble is because I want to know what you think about blogs and blogging. It also helped to meet up with Bernard to give him his ticket – I texted him 'I'm the guy with a sign above his head' lol

You can see it better in this photo, with Zoe and Sue Me (hmpf, my camwhoring skills leave much to be desired...)
Continue reading "Dragonball Evolution Premiere and my Thought Bubble :)"

One of the nice things about having friends to visit is that you are forced to go out and do something, and you usually end up learning more about where you live.

WW had hearf about 'Nasi Lemak Cikgu' many times, and our guest said he wanted to try some Malay food - so we checked it out for breakfast today


It was full, with many families and people enjoying the food, and it took a little while to get a nice table.


The choice of food is simple - nasi lemak biasa, with fried egg, chicken, or sotong. We ordered a selection, along with some drinks (teh-o-limau, etc.)


Verdict? Nice, though it didn't seem amazing to me. But the chicken was tasty (fried with curry leaf), the sambal tart (but it could have been a bit hotter), and the sotong tender However, there were hardly any ikan bilis, which was a pity.

It cost RM20 for three plates of nasi lemak, chicken, two portions of sotong, and the drinks, which is reasonable.

The address is Jalan SS5B/2, easily accesible from the LDP if you turn off at the Western Digital junction.