Friday 30 December 2011

Its a trap!

Just letting you know that it's a trap!


Text received today
extra duties available:  Duty med 3 HO TPMH night duties from Friday 30 Dec for 7 nights or part thereof
call RMO Unit 3641585
thx RMO Unit.  CHCH Hospital

Night HO workload - A walk in the park

Email received yesterday
Friday 30 December   ·        
Acute Medical Registrar GM10   0800-2300 ·    
 Medical Night Reg 2        2230-0830
Saturday 31 December ·    
  Medical Reg Wards 18&19   0800-2300 ·     
Medical Night Reg 2        2230-0830
Sunday 1 January ·  
  Medical Night Reg 2        2230-0830
Monday 2 January  ·   
Medical Night Reg 2        2230-0830 (unconfirmed extra duty) ·     
  Post Acute Med  Reg GM6 
Tuesday 3 January  ·     
Medical Night Reg 2        2230-0830 (unconfirmed extra duty)
Wednesday 4 January  ·        
Medical Night Reg 2        2230-0830 (unconfirmed extra duty)
Thursday 5 January ·    
  Medical Night Reg 2        2230-0830 (unconfirmed extra duty)

Med Night reg 2 workload - Getting whipped with barbed wire


Caveat - Night HO must help out "if busy"







Another "It's a trap "  video





Sunday 25 December 2011

Starcraft - Funny Commercials

Starcraft... the national sport of Korea. I've compiled a few funny Korean Starcraft adds. They make more sense if you've actually played Starcraft though..

Nuclear Launch Detected..


From the shadoews I come..



LOL


This is my favourite..


Tuesday 20 December 2011

Rock the Dragon with Triple Roast Rice !


Hey, wanna go rock the dragon?
I said to my bro one day
What does that mean, you ask?




That was "Rock the Dragon", the song.

Anyway, by "Rock the Dragon" I was referring to one of my favourite restaurants

Dragon Garden Restaurant!!!

Dragon Garden is a chinese restaurant located at Church Corner, opposite Countdown.
The boss of Dragon Garden also owns Chinatown market located right behind it. He is a biggish chap who is rather loud and crude, but surprised me a few times with some "service" at Dragon Garden. My friends and I used to visit this place for late night supper after playing Dota at a nearby cybercafe. They also have Dim Sum in the mornings and late at night. The last I checked, they close at 3 am.

Dragon Garden offers you the true authentic chinese dining experience including -minimal decor, poor ventilation (so you have all that roast smell infused in your clothes after you eat), highly variable quality of service depending on the staff mood and not least, questionable food preparation hygiene.
Why go anywhere else for true asian cuisine? The only thing missing from the true asian dining experience is the stray cat or dog looking for scraps.
The food tastes pretty good and come in decent portions. And that's enough for me,

If you do happen to visit my favourite restaurant, I would like to recommend to you my favourite dish here..



THE TRIPLE ROAST RICE!!!三拼饭



( a picture I took of my "da bao" before I FINISHed it like a Mortal Combat ending move )



During my preFRACP exam time, I ate out for 1 month and half the time I was rocking out at the dragon.
At that time I mostly ordered roast pork rice or beef brisket ( what the heck is brisket anyway?) rice.
But since then I have discovered the " holy grail " of non-fine-dining. ( i hate fine dining) .

The TRIPLE ROAST  RICE!! 三拼饭


All good things come in threes, such as a triple coronary artery bypass graft or a 3 piece quarter pack.
Typically the triple roast consists of roast pork (crispy skin), roast duck, roast chicken or bbq pork - This is random depending on what they give u. My favourite combo is prob roast duck, roast pork and bbq pork. Cos I get my chicken fix from Colonel Sanders. This dish is best chowed down with generous serving of lau gan ma sauce, as depicted in the photo. It's serving is really huge, enough to feed half a dozen America's Next Top Model contestants. The part I like the most is the gravy from the roast meat, they usually pour some over the rice for you. Yum , yum,  nothing refined about this dish at all. Just the way I like it.
BTW it costs NZ$10.
So if you're looking for a big and cheap feed, here's my recommendation. Strictly not for those trying to lose weight!

Oh yeah, if you're wondering what Lau Gan Ma sauce is, leave a comment below and I might write a blog on it. Happy Fattening!!




Wednesday 14 December 2011

About buttock pain

Pain in the butt is a criteria for spondyloarthropathy

Iris, is she Siri's evil twin?


If Siri had an evil twin, what would she be called? Sara? 
Guess who I found? Iris!...Yes, IRIS is SIRI.. spelt backwards!
Of course I'm not talking about Siri, a real person, but Siri the Iphone4S voice assistant.
Anyway, I had a little play with Iris today, and actually it was a lot of fun!


Iris is developed by Dexetra, a mobile app development company based in Cochin, India. It is little known, but I have a feeling it won't stay that way for long. The app is called Iris (alpha) - I presume it is still under development.Well, how does Iris work? Well it basically works like Siri, you ask it a question, and it answers you. You ask it to do a task and it will oblige. 


So... how does it compare with Siri and what can it do? Well, I've had a play with both apps for an equal amount of time. It certainly has a different personality from Siri. I dunno how to describe it, the answer can be a little bit "out there". Sometimes it doesn't make sense at all. It doesn't say " I can't answer that " as much as Siri though. It's speed of reply is slower than Siri. Its voice recognition I feel is better than Siri, at least for me. It is powered by Google Voice/Vlingo. And it has New Zealand accent recognition. I don't think I have a real NZ accent but it certainly understands me better than Siri, which understand me 10% of the time. With Iris I get a 70% hit rate, which is good for me.
What about functionality? I tested a few things- asked the weather, asked it to call and message someone and it obliged. It also told me who Barack Obama was the first time I asked. (Siri never understand me even after about 10 tries). When asked about it's weight, Iris said 2 mb. 


Conclusion?
You could call Iris a few things..
A Siri copycat
A poor man's Siri
A Siri wannabe
An upgraded Vlingo
An improved Talking Tom ( I hate that app)

All I can say is, it's free and actually quite fun.





Tuesday 13 December 2011

Yogur de Savila




I saw this "Savila" drink at the shops the other day. Couldn't resist buying it. What better time to try it than tonight. Man, the weather's hot.
Whats it taste like? A bit sour and a bit honey dew like. It's actually quite bland. A bit like an unripe honey dew melon. Would I recommend it ? Not particularly... But if you wanna try it you should be able to get it from your friendly korean store, I got mine from Kosco.

Saturday 3 December 2011

Case Study: Alien Infestation as Atypical cause of Chest and Rib Pain

Date 23/11/2080

Admitted under GM 19, Dr Chang. Rejected by cardiology- unlikely to be cardiac.

Patient Name: Corporal J .Hicks
Age: 32
Male

Presenting complaint: Chest pain - 1/52

History of Presention Compaint:
Patient has had 1 week of central chest pain. Feels like "pounding" At time feels like chest about to burst.
Pain radiates to back. Pleuritic. Associated with SOB.
Chills and sweats for 2 weeks.
Haemoptysis 4 days.
Recent long haul flight from mining colony #210 on Betelguese system.
Cryostasis for 1 month.
Arrived 2 weeks ago
No calf swelling or calf pain.
Previously fit and well

Past Medical History:
Asthma

Medications:
USCMC issued Stim-packs

NKDA

Family History:
Negative for cardiac or thromboembolic disease

Social History:
Recent assignment to Colony #210 Betelguese system
Corporal in United States Colonial Marine Corps
Non smoker
Some alcohol


O/E Patient is pale and diaphoretic.
   BP 100/55mmHg   Temp 37.5
  Sats 88% RA
Pulse 110/min
JVP raise at 6 cm
Pectus carinatum?  Chest dullness to percussion bilaterally.
Very prominent ventricular heave
Chest reduced breathsounds and crackles throughout
Abdo distended, mildly tender. Epigastric tenderness.


Differentials: ? PE
                   ? LRTI
                    ? Alien infestation

Plan :
Isolation chamber
Needs armed security 24/7
Enoxaparin
IV Cefepime + Metronidazole


Date 24/11/2080

Post take:

Patient died overnight.
Chest wall exploded while in isolation chamber.
Alien facehugger unleashed from thoracic cage.
Successfully neutralised by arm guards after killing one guard.

Postmortem not planned as risk of contamination
Body for incineration
Notified Galactic Ministry of Health and US Colonial Marine Corps




THE FOLLOWING MINISTRY OF HEALTH WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED!

If you have pounding chest pain and have been in alien contact within one month, please DO NOT board any ships.




Always wear mask and gloves when dealing with contaminated patients!






The M41a Pulse Rifle is your doctor recommended management for alien induced chest pain. 
Preferably with a grenade launcher attached.



Tuesday 29 November 2011

Hero Profile- Avinesh

A tribute to a true GM Hero


Furion




Descending from a long line of medicine men, the art of healing is in his blood. While people scamper from disease and suffering, Avinesh seeks it. While some of his comrades feels he borders insanity, there's nothing more he revels in than combating sickness and disease. No matter how filthy and vile the working condition, a true medicine man never backs down from fighting affliction.




Avinesh the Sage



Strength       Agility       Intelligence

Purist Thunderwrath Strength
   Purist Thunderwrath Agility       Purist Thunderwrath Intelligence

26+3.2      23+ 2.0        28+ 2.3



Skills

  Healing touch

Level 1 - Heals 1 target for 50  hp
Level 2 - Heals 1 target for 100 hp
Level 3 - Heals 2 targets for 100 hp
Level 4 - Heals 3 targets for 150 hp


  Summon Minions

Avinesh can summon minions to assist him in time of need

Level 1 - Summons a trainee intern to help
Level 2 - Summons a house officer to help
Level 3 - Summons a registrar to help
Level 4- Summons a consultant to help

Physician's blood

Avinesh can take pain, but pain only makes him stronger. For each 10% damage taken, he gains more efficiency.

Level 1 - 5% increased movement and heal speed
Level 2 - 10% increased movement and heal speed
Level 3 - 15% increased movement and heal speed + 2hp/sec healing aura
Level 4 - 20% increased movement and heal speed + 5hp/sec healing aura


ULTIMATE


 Extra Duty Strength

Avinesh tanks the workload of the whole hospital

Level 1 - Extra duties                   +10 Strength
Level 2 - Extra heavy duty           + 20 Strength
Level 3 - Super extra heavy duty  +30 Strength

Sunday 27 November 2011

DOTA VS GENERAL MEDICINE


What did you do today?
Oh I played Dota.
What the heck is Dota u might ask? (ask Wiki)
Actually I think practicing general medicine is a bit like DOTA.
Do you know why?
Because DOTA stands for Defence Of The Ancients!
In GM I feel like I'm defending the ancients everyday.
What if GM was like DOTA, what hero would you choose?





There are 3 hero classes to choose from in Dota.

Choose your hero!

Agility
magina                                                       


Agile and  nimble, agility class heroes and can move fast between patients and wards. Able to clerk patients at high speeds. Unfortunately, a high metabolism means this agile hero needs frequent breaks and can burn out if worked too hard physically and mentally. These heros are particularly adept at attending to cardiac arrest calls at the "blink" of an eye.

Intel
   Kael                                                       

High intelligence heroes can heal the sickest and most complicated patients . However work speed is slow because of attention to detail. This maybe be a disadvantage on busy acute days. High mana regen means the intel hero doesn't suffer mental fatigue as much as other heroes but he's not immune to physical lethargy. Intel heroes that are low in agility stats are usually not favoured in ward rounds cause they tend to draw the ward round out to very late game.

Strength
                                                     

Physical strength is important on long stressful acute days . The ability to work long hours and take physical punishment is almost a requirement in medicine. Strength heroes are blessed with unnaturally large bladders and stomach so, they can work long periods without taking a break . The fast regeneration ensures that only short breaks are necessary for full recovery. These heroes are ideal if your hospital is short staffed because they can withstand an enormous amount of work before succumbing. In Dota they are called tanks.

In reality, all doctors and dota heroes have varying amount of all 3 attributes. It's important to have the right mix in a team for things to run smoothly. Teamwork is of utmost importance in both Dota and Medicine.

GLHF!


Saturday 26 November 2011

Coca-cola Christmas in the Park, Christchurch - Fireworks



Despite accusing Coca-cola of being an evil corporation, I attended the Coca-cola sponsored Christmas in the Park concert which was actually a lot of fun. Here is the fireworks display from the end of the night.

Friday 25 November 2011

Down

Heard this song the other day on christian radio via XiiaLive. Here's sharing this song, called Down by Mat Kearney. He's really good , just check out his other songs too.


Artist: Mat Kearney
Album: Young Love


It took his breath away holding the bank page
He got the letter they're gonna take their house away
I'm 'bout to have a daughter he yells it in the air
Feeling the weight of a world that just don't care

He lit a cigarette, felt it on his lip
Driving home on a long road with regret
He pulls the window down, shouts it out loud
Pushing the pedal and praying lord help us now

He's looking for a reason watching the sun coming down
Can you hear when we call
There when we fall
Standing our backs against the wall

Top of our lungs, hallelujah
Where pain and our love bleed into one
Baby when all you see is darkness, coming down now
We all need forgiveness

Coming round now
It's coming down now

It was Monday night under the street lights
She's turning seventeen in seven nights
Out on the fairgrounds walking in monotone
She kicks a bottle as empty as her soul

On the road alone in a
House that's half a home
They give her pills just to kill
When she feels alone

She's looking for a reason watching the sun coming down
Can you hear when we call
There when we fall
Standing our backs against the wall

Top of our lungs, hallelujah
Where pain and our love bleed into one
Baby when all you see is darkness, coming down now
We all need forgiveness

Take these broken streets, take these broken dreams
Hold my hand like we we're walking free
Tell me it will change I see it in your face
The hope the fear the love the faith

I'm working late again
Slaving to make the rent
I'm slanging coffee with dreams heavy as cement
They're coming one by one the face of falling love

I write a song with a prayer as I slide the cups
Can you hear when we call
There when we fall
Standing our backs against the wall

Top of our lungs hallelujah
Where pain and love bleed into one
Baby when all you see is darkness
Coming down now

We all need forgiveness
Can you hear when we call
There when we fall
Standing our backs against the wall

At the top of our lungs how far we've come
Were pain and love bleed into one
All that we need it's so bitter sweet
The pain that opens our eyes to see

Baby when all you see is darkness
Coming down now
We all need forgiveness
Coming round now

It's coming round now, it's coming down now
It's coming down now

               Acts 2:21 - And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Monday 21 November 2011

Is an iPad 2 worth more than a Kidney? A comparison.





Well..... is it?
This might be old news, but it's true, a 17 year old boy from AnHui province in China decided to sell one of his kidneys so he could buy an iPad2.
"I wanted to buy an iPad2, but I didn;t have the money"
"When I surfed the internet, I found an advert posted online by an
agent saying they were able to pay RMB 20,000 to buy a kidney"
So he went to a shoddy hospital, had his kidney removed and was 
paid RMB22,000.
1st of all, I would like to commend the honesty of the black market kidney harvesters. They could have easily left him for dead without a single cent. Instead they paid him the full agreed amount. 


Ok, lets talk about this topic now, is an iPad 2 worth more than a kidney?


1. Monetary Value


A kidney on the black market may be worth up to $50,000 USD. This boy was paid a measly $3400 USD.
1 tip for you! Check your market prices before executing a trade!
So monetary-wise, a kidney is worth more than an iPad 2, which retails for about $499 USD at the moment!


Winner - Kidney!


2. Happiness value


How much happiness can an iPad 2 give you?
I don't really know, but apparently his life was so sad it wasn't worth having 2 kidneys.
He believed that the iPad2 would complete him more than 1 kidney
The apple website says  "When you pick up iPad, it becomes an extension of you"
" it's got an all new design, just beautiful"
" when you get your hands on one, it feels totally diffferent"


Winner? It depends
Just asked these guys in the video below






3. Specs ( I took a few quotes from iPad launching speech)


" It is an all new design"
Your kidney - same design for years


"It's dramatically fast, with the A5 processor"
At 17, your glomerular filtration rate is about 90-120ml/min


"It's great, it's duo core processors"
Your kidneys comes as duo, but we are only talking about one for comparison.


Winner - iPad2 ?


4. Battery life


iPad2- 10 hours
Kidney- 70 years


Winner - Kidney


5. Funtionality


iPad2- "And it makes surfing the web, checking email, watching 
movies and reading books so natural, you'll wonder why you ever
did it any other way"


Kidney- it removes toxins from your body so you don't die. Losing one kidney won't kill you, but might make u a bit tired


Winner- Kidney


6. Bragging rights


Not everyone in your village can afford an iPad 2 , but almost everyone has 2 kidneys


Winner - iPad2 










Conclusion: I think I will have to favour the kidney slightly, at the risk of sounding uncool.


Perhaps iPad vs kidney should never have been the question but rather, what has happened to society that a person would sell a vital organ in exchange for a consumer product?


Oh well, perhaps there will be an iKidney app.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Impossible Possibilities

I wrote this when I was in high school. Just thought I'd share it


If nothing is impossible,
then everything is possible.
If everything is possible,
then nothing is impossible.
But if nothing is impossible,
and everything is possible.
Wouldn't it be possible
Than something is impossible?


If everything is impossible,
Then nothing is possible.
If nothing is possible 
than everything is impossible
But if everything is impossible
and nothing is possible,
How can it be possible
that anything is impossible?


Possible, impossible,
Impossible possibilities.

Apple Iphone4S VS Samsung Galaxy S2 Drop Test!!

ROUND 1 FIGHT!




What are the 2 best smartphones on the market right now? The Iphone 4s and the Samsung Galaxy S2. 
Of course there will be much debate on which phone is better. Today we will take a look at how much damage each phone can take. In other words , what their Hp and armor is -sorry, gamegeek!
The Samsung Galaxy S2 screen is made of Corning's Gorilla Glass and a plasticky case. My bro calls it plastic fantastic. The Iphone4 is dressed in " aluminosilicate glass and stainless steel" as Siri tells me.
Unfortunately I don't have the budget to buy an Iphone4S to drop and I don't really wanna drop my S2 intentionally ( although I have dropped it accidentally- and it' fine). Lucky for you, the boys at SquareTrade have the budget to do so. So lets take a look...


Conclusion: The Iphone4S armor may be sexier but doesn't take damage very well :(

Thursday 17 November 2011

Black Swan REVIEW



Let me start of by saying that I was really really reluctant to watch this film. Really..
In fact for most of the film I had my laptop out and was tinkering with updating my antivirus software and other inane stuff on my laptop.

Commercially this movie has done very well
With a budget of $13,000,000 , it grossed > $ 100,000,000
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for her performance.
IMDB gives it an 8.3/10 rating.

However, the premise of a ballet dancer being obssessed with ballet was not exactly my cup of tea.

Cos.. I... don't watch ballet. I can't say I dislike or hate it, it's just something I don't do or watch.

Well let me tell you now, this movie was not what I expected at all.. and in a good way .
Well actually in a freaky psychopathic kinda way.
This movie portrays the tale of a ballerina Nina (Portman)and her quest to be the perfect Swan Queen.
Apparently to be the Swan Queen you need to be able to dance the part of the White Swan and the Black Swan. The Swan Queen plays both the White and Black Swan from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
In her quest to become the perfect Black Swan, Nina pushes herself to the limit physically and mentally. Actually, she pushed the barriers of her sanity and appears to lose it during the course of the movie.
Enter her main competitor Lily whose wild and free persona is more in keeping with the evil Black Swan.
Lily is played by Mila Kunis from The 70's Show.
Other main characters in this movie, Nina's movie, a controlling ex-ballerina and Thomas Leroy, the playboy director.

You could say Black Swan is a cross between Psycho and "some ballet movie" ( I don't know any because I don't watch them)

Overall I felt it was quite a good movie, it had the right pace, suspense and insanity to keep you on your toes. (see what I did there?)

Conclusion : Recommended - but not for kids~!

For the medically inclined
Diagnosis: Schizophrenia
Differential: Obsessive compulsive disorder with psychotic manifestations

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Winstonz Quote - Marbles

If a person loses his marbles, can you fix him by giving him generic marbles or do they have to be his original ones ?

Saturday 12 November 2011

Facebook Funnies - What is "ps"?


What is "ps" ?
Nothing like a bit of misunderstanding to make things hilarious. 

 
                                               BTW , 肯定有!means " definitely has"

                                               If you don't get it, send me a message .   :p
                                           

Winstonz Quotes

The duty med job is like playing Daytona. You go round and round and just when you are about to finish you get a "time extension" and the madness continues.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Coca-cola coorporation is Evil, but it's not what you think.


The Coca-cola coorporation is EVIL!
WHY!?

Their motto.. "listen to the sound of happiness being unleashed" explicitly demonstrates the wickedness of their modus operandi.  Just imagine if you were a bubble of happiness.
 There you were, enjoying your freedom.. Frolicking in the sun . Floating in the wind .
Then comes Mr Coca-cola..
and you suddenly find yourself imprisoned in a bottle of foul black liquid and kept in freezing conditions .
 There you will be imprisoned for an unknown period of time until someone pays your ransom of $3.60.
Even then, you will only enjoy a brief period of freedom before being digested by stomach acid.

Coca-cola! Stop bottling up the world's happiness!



Saturday 5 November 2011

How About an Apple? (repost)

How about an Apple?
What does this question make you think of?
A fruit?
Some cool gimmicky tech item?
In fact, this question may have been around for longer than the past 2 decades.
Lets look back a long long time ago.., like long long time ago. All the way back to the time of Genesis.
There was this creature called the serpent, who was quite crafty. He may also have asked the same question.
Hey check out this apple! It's awesome! Man, why do u wanna eat the same boring stuff everyday. This apple will make you much happier and fulfilled.Why don't you take it? Don’t you feel your life is missing something if you dun have it? Your life could be way way better. This changes everything. C’mon, you know you want it. You can have it all, and be happy!
Sound familiar?
 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it Genesis 3 : 6
So the question is, did you take a bite?

Chomp chomp!


Quote from the late Steve Jobs

Occupy Hagley Park!



Occupy Hagley Park!
Are you sick of seeing people jogging around Hagley Park after work?
Those fit healthy people that can run the whole perimeter of Hagley Park without sweating?
Don't take it lying down ! ( just figuratively.... cos lying down is awesome )
WE ARE THE 99%!
The 99% who rather sit on their ass whole day rather than go to the gym
The 99% who enjoy Kfc and fish and chips
The 99% whose ldl is above 3.0mmol/l
 If you feel strongly about this, have nothing to do, are unemployed or simply just want to camp out, come and join us! Occupy Hagley Park !



Occupy Hagley Park is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the fitness and stamina of the 1%

Friday 4 November 2011

Giant Vampire Squid !

Saw this sign outside work.
LOL!



I decided to draw a picture of Goldman Sachs based on their description.
I used an app called Scribbles and drew it on my phone.
Please excuse the lameness.
I present you a Giant Vampire Squid called Sachs


Tuesday 1 November 2011

Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen - REVIEW (repost)

This is an old article I transferred from my old blog ( 6 ‎July ‎2009)


Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen - REVIEW



The ONE film that I had to watch this year no matter what.
Forget Terminator Salvation, forget GI JOE, this is the movie for me this year.
So when a friend asked if I wanted to go see it, the answer was pretty easy.

How was the movie?
I loved it and had a great time.
Whether you like the movie or not, depends on what your expectations are and whether you are a transformers fan.

Which category do you fit in?

1. Casual movie goer
   Good fun and action - ok

2. Movie critic
   Weak storyline, full of plot holes and parts that just dun make sense. Bummer. FAIL.

3. Romance fan
    If u must, there is a little cheesy romance in it, but hey pal, did u go to the wrong movie or what?

4 Transformers fan ( me)
   Robots fighting robots, crash, boom, bang , kaboom, transform! LUV IT

5. Die hard transformer fundamentalist
  It's not true to any transformer history that you know off. So, thumbs down

6. Boys
   Robots, Cars, Military, Megan Fox - reason enough

7. Girls
   Most girls I've talked to like it for some reason.

Well, what's the plot of this movie? Darn Decepticons are at it again. Trying to destroy earth and it's inhabitants.
Some ancient baddie called The Fallen, who tried to destroy Earth a long time ago , has returned. And he's kinda keen
to get his job done. Good work ethics I say. As always the Autobots have to stick their nose in to save the humans.
I can't remember the cheesy justification that Optimus gave, something about humans are still young and have much to learn.
Whatever.

This movie pack heaps of transformers that weren't present in the 1st movie. None of them resemble the G1 models.
The list includes Devastator, Soundwave, Ravage, Arcee, and a whole bunch of nameless bots. The old guys from the first movie are back,
Optimus, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatron ( yeah, he's back), Starscream.. the lot. Soundwave, an old favourite of mine is now a satellite. Devastator is some
kinda beast thingy. Definitely not as cool as the G1 version. Arcee is a motorcycle.
The third fighting party in this movie is the US military. Bringing out an impressive display of aircraft carriers, helicopters, tanks, fighter jets and submarines.
They're generally pretty useless. Give the decepticons a bit more fodder to bash, me thinks.

The action did not disappoint me. Autobots and Decepticons really get in there and try to pummel each other to oblivion. The US military add to the fireworks display.
The scene where Optimus Prime takes on 3 decepticons in the forest reminds me again why Optimus Prime is the autobot Numero Uno. Bumblebee also demonstrates some
cool decepticon ass-kicking. The thing that frustrates me the most is the sheer incompetence of the decepticons. They had superior numbers and intel, yet they still
mess it up. Their weapons seem to have an anti-Sam , anti-Michaela ( Fox) mechanism. Anti as in, it hits ANYTHING but the target.
BTW the Fallen guy hardly does any fighting and gets owned easily at the end. Which sucks. I was expecting more from someone who's name was in the movie title.

What about Megan Fox you say?
Megan Fox is like the icing on the cake, the cream on the bun, the cheese on the pizza, the chilli on dog - a little of it is great , but too much
of it just makes you sick and vomit. This is exactly what Mr Bay did with Megan Fox. Some scenes were just obscenely oozing Fox. In fact, I even felt a
little insulted that Mr Bay had to smother us transformers fans with Fox. We have already decided to give up our money to watch this movie, purely
because it has Transformers in the title ok? No need to turn the Fox on us alrite? Oh wait, Fox is for the non- transformers fan. Oh well, you've got a point..

In summary, it's a pretty fun film to watch is you dun take it too seriously. I, for one, am not that serious of a guy, so I liked it.

I leave you with a proper review done by a true transformer geek, my friend Oliver.

That's just prime!

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Monday 31 October 2011

Transformers 3 : Dark of The Moon - REVIEW (repost)


Transformers 3 is the 3rd Transformers movie directed the infamous Michael Bay.
I, as a transformers FAN decided to go see it when it came out at the cinemas. ( did I have a choice).
First of all, let me tell you what I dislike. I dislike people going to watch movies like Hulk and Transformers and then complaining that it's just action and no plot/story line. Why would you watch these movies for a deep plot, it beats me. I suggest going to watch Eat, Pray ,Love or Atonement instead. Ok, with that of my chest, I will admit, I didn't really have high expectations for Transformers 3. Cos being intelligent, I knew the story/plot would probably be weak and senseless.

Okay, let us get into the movie itself. First, lets start with the title,  Dark of the Moon. The dark side of the moon basically refers to the side of the moon not illuminated by the Sun, hence, it's dark. This is actually different from "the far side of the moon", which is the side not visible Earthlings as the moon's orbit and rotation just happens to keep this side permanently facing away from us. This, Michael, is your first mistake!
The story starts of with the "Arc", the autobot mothership, crashing on the far side of the moon after escaping Cybertron. This triggered of a space race that sent the first man to the moon. The first Lunar mission was apparently a secret mission to investigate this alien spacecraft. So far.... so good.

Next scene, Michael is back with shots of a super hot girl who has replaced Fox. I could look up her name but i can't be bothered. She is undeniably good looking and the director undeniably enforced a few eye candy shots that had no relevance to the movie whatsoever. The real question is, why would  a rich successful hot woman go out with the "shorter" unemployed, grumpy, insecure man that Sam Witwicky had become. Again, nonsensical.

The first half of the movie was very slow and dare I say boring. I found myself looking around the cinema and wondering when things would pick up. And when the action arrived it arrived in quantity. Senseless, disorganised, illogical but in the bucketloads.  Again, we pit the decepticons numbering 200 vs the autobots, numbering 9 and the United States military, which somehow had dwindled to a handful of soldiers .
Before I went to see the movie, I wondered which new transformers would be brought in for this instalment. Could it be the the Combaticons? Bruticus? The Aerialbots and Superion? Predaking? Devastator? Metroplex? Skylink? I was so full of hope. Unfortunately most of the new transformers were nameless and generic. The only few prominent ones were of course Sentinel Prime, Soundwave and Shockwave.
I won't go into detail the action scene. What I want to talk about is what happened to the autobots?!?! They have dropped their standards. No longer were they the heros who stand for "good", they seemed to have laxed a bit in their code of honor. {warning:spoilers}

1st of all, we see them working with the US military, fighting in the interests of the United States. Fighting wars in other countries! Funny how superior intellectual being decide to join in petty earthling squabbles but, whatever.
2nd. Sentinel Prime. THE Sentinel Prime, previous leader of the autobots betrayed the autobots. Huh?!?! That is like saying Goku betrayed the Z team. Yoda betraying the Jedi. Mr Bay, that is sacriledge! Just because they made Jim a traitor in mission impossible doesn't mean u can do what u like in Transformers.
3rd. The extent of autobot brutality was shameful. In one scene a few autobots rip an injured decepticon limb by limb after telling it " this is gonna hurt". Even the decepticons followed some kinda war code as they detained the autobots in the battlefield and did not attempt execute them until ordered to do so.
4th Optimus Prime ripped Megatron's head and spine out after Megatron saved his life. Megatron even offered to co-exist with the autobots saying "what would  you be without me". Shame on you Optimus Prime! How about when u shot your own ex-leader in the back when he was down, when all he tried to do was save the WHOLE Transformers race.

I can't go spotting every mistake in this movie but I was actually annoyed that Tomahawk missiles hit air targets. They don't , they are long range cruise missiles for bombardment not for air-interception. Also, if 9 autobots can beat 200 decepticons, why did you still lose the war?!?!
Ok, I need to wrap up before this goes on for too long. Looking at the general opinion, most critics have given this film the thumbs down. Rottentomatoes' critic rating was 20% but the user rating was 76%. Most people feel that T3 is better than T2.
To conclude, Transformers 3 disappointed me somewhat EVEN with my low expectations. Sadly I have to agree with critics who say that its plot and story suck. Even the acting is bad. I would only recommend this to Transformers or mech fans aka nerds. The other group who may like this is pure action/eyecandy fans. If u are a normal person who is not a transformers fan looking for a good movie ( or have 2X chromosomes ), you have been warned.