Hitman: Agent 47 in Comfort Taxi Traffic Jam

Source

Anyone who's seen the Hitman: Agent 47 movie trailer must be pretty stoked right now. The first scene opening in the trailer is a rifle pointing at your face, you the viewer, sharing the same predicament with Agent 47. The man speaks coolly and calmly then WHAM BAM! Mr. Badass shoots himself out of freedom and disguises himself as he walks out smoothly.

What follows up is a short introduction to what Agents are and how badass they are. Next, you'll see a car chase and various hand-to-hand combat in Singapore's iconic spots. While you're into it, do you notice that blue tone that shrouds the whole trailer? I don't mean the blue tint that whoever decided would fit in the trailer screen.

I mean these little pieces of sh-, er hem, I mean Comfort DelGro Taxis.

THREE freaking rows of taxis

And it pisses me off so much, my excitement dropped while watching the trailer. It's not because how the taxis looks so derpy. It's because of how many times it's shown in this short piece of a trailer! For the record, the trailer is just 2:25 minutes.

Here's the Comfort DelGro Taxi counter within the short 2 and a half minutes:

1:04 - right after you see the iconic Esplanade, you're shown a shot of a red car being intercepted with rows of Singapore's signature blue taxis on the CBD. Cool! Not often that you'll see Singapore in Hollywood movies

1:10 - another shot where you see one taxi after the traffic light, another coming in from the right and possibly a couple more waiting behind the intersection. You simply can't ignore them

1:14 - "Look, I know this is going to sound strange, because it is" Yep, it's strange because it's the third time I'm seeing a Comfort Delgro Taxi on the street. Is that whole segment the only highlight of the movie?

1.24 - Agents are stronger, faster and more intelligent than normal people. Also, they fight in this imaginary CBD with rows of Comfort DelGro taxis on the street. Let the movie remind you: three rows of taxis

1.57 - Hey, it's the theme song! The trailer's ending with a huge ba- OH HELL NO, ANOTHER COMFORT DELGRO TAXI SHOT?!

Finally, the trailer ends with a chopper crashing into an office building and chopping everything in it's path. At least it's not a Comfort DelGro Helicopter.

If one day, there's Comfort Chopper, it'll definitely be blue

Fox Century, if this is your way of hyping up Singapore, you're doing it wrong. I ain't watching no movie with rows of Comfort DelGro Taxis stuck in traffic because badass Agent 47 is busy fighting off a (seemingly) SWAT team.

Do you know how painful is it to watch that scene when I've been waiting for a cab for the last 20 minutes?!

Are all of the taxis STUCK IN THE CBD WATCHING A STREET FIGHT?!

This is just the first International trailer and I'm sure that if one is watching it from the perspective of a non-Singaporean, you'd find the setting, the pace and the atmosphere in the essence of the Hitman series.

But I swear to you, if the next international trailer has more than 2 shots of Comfort DelGro Taxi, I swear to you I will (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

Now here's a description of how I play stealth games just to abruptly end this post awkwardly.

Found this pic via Google Search though

Anti Western Cosplayers?! Preposterous! [Rant]

Today, I came across a depressing blog. It calls itself the 'Anti Western Cosplayers' blog.
I'm an Asian and I can't identify myself with this blog! I must be broken. The blog explains, in a very heated manner, why westerners should not cosplay anime or asian characters.

'No! Dokuro-chan, I swear it is a misunderstandi-'

Yep, apparently, Anime fans hate western cosplayers. I'm pretty sure I was left out of the loop when they started the hate club, because I didn't receive any invitation.

What surprised me was the long posts of why westerners shouldn't cosplay anime or asian characters:

1. Because you are a westerner and thus have no 'asian features'
2. Because you, as a westerner, is (suddenly) racist
3. Because western cosplayers hurt fans when they cosplay (Not sure where it hurts though. The toe nail?)
4. Because if a westerner cosplays anime or asian characters, it is a sign of racism, insult.

The blog is probably one line away from saying 'For every western cosplayer, one Asian otaku drops dead.'

I might as well do it.

I've tried my hand on cosplay and I find it a very arduous journey. It requires time, effort, money and a lot of courage to walk out in a weird costume that probably most of your friends and family don't understand. Essentially, people cosplay to express their adoration for a character. They want to be like the character's personality, to feel close to the character. You walk like the character, you talk like the character and you pick up your weapon/staff/accessory like the character.

Some love the creative process; they enjoy the sense of achievement when they complete their handmade costume or accessories.

There are people who loves the attention. They love being known for a cosplayer. They love walking with their friends and fans of anime who are cosplaying the other anime characters in the anime. Boy, getting a good picture of the full cast from your favorite anime is one of the best moments that you can get!

This picture is simply full of Joy. 

Cosplay is a hobby; an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. It's like reading, writing, gaming, eating, shopping, drinking, smoking, you get the point. You don't see people saying 'Hey! You can't read that asian book because you're a westerner!' or 'Hey! Only Asians play Final Fantasy XIV!' or 'You can't eat sushi because you're racist and you can't think of any other way of eating it other than on a woman's body!' I'm not trying to deny that there aren't any terrible western cosplayers. Some pictures make you cringe when you see the gap between reality and anime. But that does not limit to Westerners! In Singapore (mind ya, Asian country), we have cases like this:

Sexy T zone when you spread your wig apart.

However, westerners can be as good as Asian cosplays as how Asians can be as good at western cosplays. Tech-Tsuko here supports human equality. If you're a human, you deserve as many rights as any other human. With this, I shall end this rant with a wonderful photoshoot and a video of westerners cosplaying the Legend of Zelda (reminder: an Asian game made by Nintendo Japan):

(I refuse to share the link to the Anti Western Cosplayers blog because it is monetizing with Google Ads, but for your convenience, you can check them out through this Google search. Just don't tell me or I'll go crazy.)

Why Don't You Go ___ Yourself? [Rant]

"Why don't you go design a phone yourself?"
"Why don't you go make a movie yourself?"
"Why don't you go sing on stage yourself?"
"Why don't you go ___ yourself?"

First things first, do not insert vulgarities into the blank, because it is definitely not intended to be so... maybe.

When writing reviews/criticisms/comments on any topic, it is inevitable to invite such comments from defensive fans who learned this "argument technique" from somewhere thinking they will win any argument with sentences like these.

By using such sentences, you are assuming that we:

• Have amazing capabilities surpassing humankind
• Have powers to revolutionise the whole world
• Are just being humble and not wanting to spoil the market with our superhuman powers

I thank you for such flattery, but sorry to disappoint you, but such sentences totally miss the point of the existence of reviewers, critics or any general commenter.


We are writing from a consumer's point of view, for consumers.

We are not writing from the viewpoints of a professional, because if we are, we would not have time to do so.

We are writing what one particular consumer wants to see from the big hats, just one little opinion.

We do not assume we know everything, which is the reason we continue checking out what we are interested in.


We criticise, because we want to see changes and improvements.

Why else would we bring up flaws and points worth improving on?

Did you really think we are just like a school bully who wants to crush everybody's ego? Seriously?


We do not demean the efforts put into any work.

In fact, by using such sentences, you will be the ones who put down other people's efforts without any sense of consideration nor respect.


It is terribly condescending and non-constructive.

What else do you think you can achieve from a sentence that is practically asking someone to shut the ___ up?

By shutting differing opinions up without a proper review presented by yourself, you will be the one hindering progress and improvements.


I do not represent all journalists obviously, but I believe this is a point worth bringing up because such sentences seem to trend and appear whenever a fan gets too defensive and tries to win an argument without discussing it with a level head, and decides to go on the offensive at a personal level.

Disagree? Seriously, GO WRITE ARTICLES YOURSELF.

[did that feel good? =)]

I know why it's so great [Humor]

Says Jake in the Original, Jake and Amir, by CollegeHumor. I was reminded of this randomly when I was reading regular troll posts by Apple fans. Enjoy!

Big fan of CH, I am. Peace out.

Some People Just Expect Apple To Buy EVERYTHING [FAIL]

Source: Technologizer

This article is so bad that Apple fans have something to say about it.

It all started with another fresh rumor of Apple's many: Buying Barnes & Noble.

The article then spun off into a disappointed direction lamenting the fact that Apple did not buy things that it could afford. Things like: Universal Music, Pixar, TiVo, Palm, Disney, Nintendo (thank goodness they did not), Sun, AMD, Adobe, Sony, Yahoo, EA, Twitter and Hulu.

Or the fact that Apple didn't go on a shopping spree to buy EA, Sony, Netflix, Facebook, or Disney. Simultaneously.

Apple is definitely rich enough to buy them. It looks to me that the article is directed at what Apple can buy, not what Apple would buy. Apple doesn't need to own music, movies, PDAs, boobs-jumping-out-of-screen games, social networks or mice that speak creepily in a childish way.

All Apple needs now is this.

You are so right, TiPb.

Now, children, Mergers and Acquisitions doesn't seem as fun as shopping for your Christmas present. With power comes responsibilities, says Ben Parker. You need good foresight to look into the future. With the wrong timing and luck, you could risk spending millions, or even billions of dollars on an unwanted and/or outdated technology that contribute to the long list of liabilities in the company.

It's just like buying that limited edition pair of pants thinking "Hey, I can show this off during the New Year" and realising that you've grown fatter and you can't fit in on the important day.

Merger and acquisitions is a form of investment and we all know you don't recklessly invest billions into something unless you're very sure you don't outgrow it in the future.

Contemplating present diet from the Biased Blog. Peace out.

EDITORIAL: Look what you've done, Apple.

Mayora Gori: I felt really a lot after reading GetJar's blog post in response to Apple's bullying. Here's a random post for that.
Sorry, I know I'm destroying the quality of this blog, but just let me have some fun in this post using the word 'EDITORIAL' as a bad excuse. Inspired by a random comment by Explodreamer anyway.

Sing to the tune of Jet's "Look What You've Done"

Here's a video for assistance:


Take my app off your store
If it won't sell just for you
'Cause all that's exclusive has gone away
And there's nothing there for you to own

Oh, look what you've done
You've made a fool of everyone
Oh well, it seems likes such fun
Until you lose what you had won

Give me back my freedom to choose
'Cause I can't just sell for you
I can hardly hear you say
What should I do, well you choose

Oh, look what you've done
You've made a fool of everyone
Oh well, it seems likes such fun
Until you lose what you had won

Oh, look what you've done
You've made a fool of everyone
A fool of everyone
A fool of everyone

Take my app of your store
If it won't just sell for you
'Cause all that's exclusive has gone away
And there's nothing there for you to own

Oh, look what you've done
You've made a fool of everyone
Oh well, it seems likes such fun
Until you lose what you had won

Oh, look what you've done
You've made a fool of everyone
A fool of everyone
A fool of everyone






...Sorry Jet.

Google+ Is Everything Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, RIM, Skype Wanted To Be, World Domination Intended [Social Networks]

Source: Gizmodo, Google+

Google announced a new social-oriented service earlier today, Google+. Currently it's only available to invited users, and the Android App isn't available in all countries yet. It's an ambitious project, aiming to murder the existence of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr (or any photo-sharing website), RIM, Skype, iMessage (which is the least of worries).



Let's take a look at what features it provides, in the most biased manner.

Circles

Attempts to kill: Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Buzz (yeah) and ALL Social Networking websites.

Why?
Circles, in short, is like Facebook's Groups, Twitter's Lists, but not exactly. It is a personal grouping of friends, in the way you want to share private information, interesting links, embarrassing photos, and anything you don't want to share with the entire world.

For example, you won't want to share a video of your best friend throwing up while dancing on a toilet bowl with your students if you're a teacher. You wouldn't want to share photos of your secret hobby with people outside of the highly-secretive group a bunch of think-alikes have formed.

Sparks

Attempts to kill: Twitter mainly, in some cases Facebook Pages.

Why?
Sparks is like a list of trending topics, except it is not limited to merely words. It is always there, always ready for you to search for interest groups, and easily add to your list in the left column. It shows the currently popular activities and trending search words, so you're bound to be able to find the latest discussion on the next presidential election, or the opinions on the latest Lady Gaga fashion disaster, or the Nexus 3.

Couple that with +1, it will be easy to find what your friends like and recommend.

Facebook Pages is a disaster and a total mess, although there is the ability to arrange items in the left column, it's cluttered with stuff you never want there. Together with Notes, Photos etc.

Hangout

Attempts to kill: Skype, FaceTime (and iDevices), and all video-chat services.

Why?
Multi-way video chatting. Sure it's not new, the iPad 2 has it. And many other technologies. But often than not, the quality isn't very good. Even on Wi-Fi.

During Google I/O, Google has announced that they have optimised the quality of video-chatting on Google Talk. There is no reason to doubt that similar technologies have been applied in Hangout.

Hangout, on top of that, has two features:
-Focus on the current speaker, so you know who's the main speaker at any time. Ask anybody who tried video-chatting with a few people, it's a common frustration, in nearly every call, when your friends don't cooperate and speak at the same time. What Hangout does, is to identify the most prominent speaker at any point of time and let people focus on him/her.

-The reason why it's called "Hangout". It differs from other services in that it allows people to only activate video chat and be in a 'standby' mode when needed, and only show to specified Circles. Within that Circle, anybody in a similar mood can drop in and out of the Hangout at any time. Instead of a purpose-oriented video chat, Hangout is more passive, and encourages people who are similarly bored to, well, Hangout.

Huddle
Attempts to kill: Blackberry Messenger, all internet-messaging apps, iMessage.

Why?
So far it might not be a killer of those services, being only available on Android phones. (I'm not sure if it works on the web app)

However given Google Talk's high-quality chatting with no message loss and seamless transition from phone to PC and back, we can expect a similar service to be available on Huddle as time goes by.

There have been rumours of Google working on an instant messaging app, and there is no reason to doubt it is indeed Huddle.

This is pure speculation, but given the name "Huddle", it might indicate more sharing options than just pure text messaging. You huddle with friends to share photos, videos, music and files. I strongly believe Huddle is far from being complete as of now. Mark my words.

Instant Uploads
Attempts to kill: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (and all similar services), iDevices.

Why?
Transferring photos from a phone to a computer is a pain. Even though sharing on a phone has been made really easy on Android, and less so on iOS, nothing beats a hassle-free sharing service.

Instant Upload transfers all your photos (if you allow it to) you take with your camera to Google+, where it remains private until you choose to share them with the Circles of your choice.

Sure it down-sizes your photos to enable quicker transferring, but only photos above 2048x2048.

It provides:

-Unlimited photo uploads. Photos larger than 2,048 by 2,048 pixels will automatically be resized when uploading.
-Unlimited video uploads (up to 15 minutes per video, up to 1080p)

Yes, 5GB is not enough for us.

Notifications
Attempts to kill: All social networking websites.

Why?
Ask yourself how often you use Google Search.

Google is basically creating an ecosystem that rides on top of its search engine. Which means as long as Google Search (and actually ANY Google services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Documents) is being used, notifications will appear (in red), and tempt one to click on it.

No specific websites to visit, no extensions to add into the browser. Just Google.

However, I must admit that it is possible that the Facebook notification spam syndrome might occur similarly in Google+, depending on how one uses the service. Not many people are interested in clicking a notification button that has a 3-digit number. We'll see about this.

Conclusion:
Google is definitely aiming for World Net Domination with Google+, extending their reach even further. So far I'm liking what I see, and I can't wait for the floodgates to re-open for the invites to start flowing out again. I'm putting big stakes in Google+ that it will be a big thing, whether diehard Facebook fans like it or not.

On top of that, Google Games are incoming. Gmail and Google Calendar has also got a major facelift to fit in with Google+ design philosophy more.

Take that, internetz.

IGN: "Handhelds Should Not Have Good 3D Games!" [3DS]

Source: IGN

("Get me back on the 100" TV or I'll blow your brains off!")

SHAME ON YOU, IGN.

Ok, not all editors write in that adolescent manner over at a (mostly) respectable gaming coverage site, but this particular guy:

SAMUEL CLAIBORN

... deserves an article on our blog! Because he wrote:

Handheld systems compromise certain types of gameplay by design -- they controls are cramped, oddly placed and there just isn't the same amount of real estate on the screen for big, 3D action. Though Resident Evil Revelations currently features the best character models and graphics out of any 3DS title on the floor at E3, it's still kind of a downer to play it on a system ill-equipped to simulate big console titles.

Seriously?

Controls are cramped? Just how big are your hands? Why do I not feel a difference between handhelds and console controllers? Aren't they all designed for human hands? Oddly placed? You play with the Circle Pad, not the D-pad, have you even tried it?

And now, who in the world said that "epic" games must be played on a big screen? Yes I do agree that games look more like movies when played on a huge screen, but does that mean people who watch movies on-the-go on their mp4 players should be shot in the head?

My message to IGN editors: READ what your reporters are writing, they're not all that smart, they NEED you to drill sense into their articles. Or some silver bullets. This guy obviously did not try the 3DS and is probably a Sony fanboy or something. Has he even played a single handheld game in the first place?

Apple Vs Orange (PS Vita) and... Nintendo wins

What? A smart phone vs portable gaming device? Are you nuts? Well, apparently Electronista.com thinks that Apple should be worried about competition 'to a slight degree'. But is it a valid argument to start with?

If we look back 3 years ago, some dude mentioned that iPhone is a gaming console. In 2011, Apple rewarded these games with the 2011 Apple Design Award. Then we look at some features of PS Vita shown here (Disclaimer: I didn't watch it because I wasn't interested in Sony). Now compare these two with 3DS and Wii U.

Now, I've mentioned Wii U, even though it wasn't a portable gaming device, because of this article. To clarify, Miyamoto of Nintendo has explained that Wii U is not a tablet. There's no need to zoom in and out of the 6.2" screen because you play with a real TV screen. So if you're bent on zooming, you should consider mobile gaming instead.

That brings back to my point. Is the argument valid? Well, it is if you consider the demographics of people who plays mobile games, console games and portable games are EXACTLY the same.

We all love to play Mario, Pokemon, Silent Hill, Portal, Call of Duty, Angry Birds and Love Plus. All of them.

Then in this case, both Sony and Apple should start worrying about Nintendo then. Not sure why? Well then, here's some videos showing:

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater which was on PS2 and will be available on 3DS, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Legend of Zelda tech demo at E3 2011 featuring Wii U's 1080P HD capabilities:

More The Legend of Zelda U Videos

And because I'm a hardcore fan of Legend of Zelda, here's the newest trailer for the series newest installment, Skyward Sword:

Waiting impatiently for the release of Skyward Sword from the Biased blog. Peace out.

Apple Give In; Finally Copies Android. Cheers To All iOS Users! [Apple]

Oh yes. Of course we would stalk WWDC. It's where Apple attempts to awe the world with their magical innovation. Again.

Androidandme.com has written a simple article that summarizes the magic that Apple has gotten from the world of Android-wonderland. It's stuff that Android users have been using for years and iOS users will be able to finally use it after 4 years since the 1st generation of iPhone. Here are the 5 features highlighted that would awe the iOS users:

- Notification center (That doesn't order you to decide what to do immediately.)

- Lock screen that allows you to launch apps from it (Like, Duh.)

- Twitter integration (It's elementary, Watson.)

- Tabbed-browser (Oh wow.)

- PC-freedom (Now your cat and your data will never be at risk. Probably.)

Of course, iOS5 has its perks and advantages as according to this futile argument. Really, Music beta is not the core of Android. It's just another service as with every thing else such as Google docs. While on the other hand, iCloud is like the new iTunes. Whatever you listen to, play with and watch revolves around this core figure. You cannot do without it. And that's definitely not good news for both geeks and casual user. What everyone needs is one less accessory needed to make the damn device work properly.

But still, I'm looking forward to the day where hoards of people rush to buy iPhone4S at an extortion price, flash my Nexus 3 at them and command them to bow, saying "Oh my ancestral big daddy!"

You may rise. *Sniggers*

Imagining my next wonderland from the Biased blog. Peace out.