sangsara.net

  • ➟ Iron Man 2 Deleted Scenes

    I’ve been wondering what happened to the scenes from the trailer that weren’t in the final movie. Stuff like Pepper tossing his helmet out of a plane, with the “you complete me” line, and Scarlett Johansson’s Natalie shooting off a repulsor cannon shot at the birthday party. Finally, i09 has a post detailing all the missing stuff that will be on the DVD.
    Favreau claims they took that helmet tossing scene out because it messed with the flow of the intro. That is total BS, because the intro had no flow to begin with, starting in mother Russia with a Russian version of “Khaaaaannnnn” and vodka spilling all over the place, and then furious blueprint unfurling + metalwork. Ugh.

    Link (via HijiNKS ENSUE webcomic)

  • Google Search Trends for Singapore, 14 May 2010, 2AM

    Google publishes statistics on popular web searches the same way Twitter has its trending topics. Some of this stuff stays up on the charts for days, while other vague, ungrokkable keyword combinations burn brightly and then mysteriously slip away. Let’s have a look at what’s hot now:

    Far as I can tell, Habib Ali is the name of a 96-year-old “shaman” who lives in Batu Pahat, Malaysia. Why his name is trending, I haven’t a clue. Either he did something awesome or he bought it. The top result is a site that tries to explain why he’s a shaman, but it’s just stuff like not turning his back on guests, to the point of shuffling backwards out of a room. To me, that just says he’s a respectful host or he’s had some valuables stolen in the past.
    A local online shopping site that lets you set up a virtual store of your own, or subscribe to a list of your favorite merchants. The company calls it building your own virtual “mall”, but I refuse to acknowledge that kind of marketing BS until someone actually pays me rent. It does have some cool social features though, like showing your friends the stuff you want to buy and asking them repeatedly if you should get them. Should I, huh? But, if only, then again, maybe, how?! It’s just like shopping with me in the real world. The ever-sunny, floral-scented Sheylara has a blog post on it.
    The MediaCorp Radio DJ has done something newsworthy, but I can’t figure out what that might be. A Twitter search didn’t turn up anything either, but did you know she was at Provence in Holland Village two nights ago and has really nice legs?? Alright, I’ll stop now. I feel like the AsiaOne home page.
    This has something to do with a video of a male student from Siglap Secondary School repeatedly slapping a female student across the face. Some links suggest the male student has an association with a gay dance group I’d never heard of before, called Voguelicious. What a name! It conjures up images of Glee, Madonna, Beyonce, Women’s wear floors in major department stores, shoulder pads, patent leather, and that giant Sephora store in Paris! So gay.
    The name of a hot Chinese girl, what else? I think she’s a forehead model.
    —–
    Okay, that’s all! Tune in next time for more insight into what Singaporeans use this internet thing for.
    Update: I posted this last night, and now I have a Jibapan ad appearing on my site. So, uh, go get started on those virtual malls!

  • Children’s Season at SAM (look for the giant rabbit)

    According to this press release, it’s part of SAM’s inaugural Children’s Season – being a cute, enormous animal/balloon sculpture named Walter, I can see how that might work. Created by Dawn Ng, it’s been around Singapore a bit, although I hadn’t seen or heard of it before yesterday. Children’s Season will have a mix of interactive pieces and installations from local and international artists, some of them built with rather interesting technology (such as the reactive “Funky Forest” virtual space by Theo Watson and Emily Gobeille). I only managed photos of Walter, but the whole thing kicks off tomorrow (14th May 2010) and runs till mid-July. If you have a young family or little nephews and nieces to keep busy, it sounds like a great deal of fun.

    Update: A photo of the Funky Forest exhibit from my recent visit.

    Funky Forest

  • ➟ Steam for Mac, Portal for Free

    No doubt you’ve already heard: Valve Software’s Steam software is now out for the Mac, and the company has also released its own award-winning game, Portal, for free until May 24th.
    PC users have had Steam for ages, and now the Mac is that much more viable a platform for “serious gaming”. Steam is sort of an iTunes for games, a distribution and marketing channel through which users can browse offerings from many different developers, both indies and majors. It’s a software storefront, and it has been very, very successful. Expect many more companies to consider producing Mac versions of their games now that there’s a trusted, centralized way to put said products in front of buyers.

    Link

  • ➟ Near-Final Screenshots of Windows Phone 7

    When it’s all laid out over three pages like this, the Windows Phone 7 UI looks consistently unattractive to me. The large truncated words leading off the screen, the plainness of the text entry boxes, the use of all-lowercase captions, the occasionally strange leading, and that boldtype software keyboard.
    I get that it’s meant to be flat and text-driven, but it just doesn’t work for me. Too much negative space and a complete lack of pictorial cues is not something I want to be navigating on a small mobile device.

    Link (Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows)

  • Domohawk

    In a fit of madness moment of genius, I noticed that holding a Domokun under my face appears to give it a mohawk. A Domohawk, if you will.

  • ➟ Dan Wineman receives quote request for Flash removal

    The request specified “Removal of Flash programming to allow for web site readability on Apple devices.”
    The full post isn’t much longer than this, but he concludes with “It has begun.”

    Link

  • ➟ WolframTones

    WolframTones: A remarkable new project from Wolfram Research Labs (makers of Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha) that intelligently generates semi-random music – I believe the term is procedural generation. It makes musically-sound structures, not just random notes, that fit very well into a range of genres selectable by the user.
    Bonus points for using retro 8-bit instrument sounds and letting you export the music as files you can use for ringtones or just about anything else. I’m listening to some surprisingly good jazz bits right now.

    Link