Puzzle: 100 Famous People in One Picture

This is really cool.

In the picture below there are 100 famous people through history, done in a beautiful caricature style. How many can you name? I got until about 50 then i gave up. Click on the picture or the link below the full size image (its VERY big)…

Click here to see the full size image.

I don’t know who the talented original artist is (I got this mail from Boone), if anyone knows please let me know so that i can credit him/her for it. I’ll post the answers in a few days if anyone needs it

Malim Nawar

There’s a small town somewhere in Perak called Malim Nawar, I’ve no idea where it is nor have I ever been there. But that i’ll always remember the name of that town because there’s where my pal Looi came from. I say ‘came’ in the past tense because 17 years ago at the young age of 20 he passed away.

He was my classmate and friend during my first year in university. He was actually roommates with my good friend Ray, so the three of us became pretty tight. He was a simple guy, from a humble background, a typical Perak guy of Cantonese descent. He was frank and funny, i remember one of the earliest memories was in a Sociology Class when the lecturer asked him what his Chinese name meant, he replied ‘fertile’ and ‘sufficient’ coz his parents didn’t really want another child so they named him that so that he would be self-sufficient.

The three of us used to go to the city to watch movies in the weekend, he always wore the unmistakeable oversized jeans with weird green stitchings.

Anyway during the first year holidays, he went on a team building retreat with the faculty to Teluk Batik. Something happened one night while he went out swimming, and he drowned. His body was washed ashored the next morning. I got the call at night when the search was on, and later the second call confirmed the worst. the next day i saw the report in the newspapers.

Everything happened quickly after that. Some of our friends who stayed back on campus during the holidays packed up his things and motorbike and sent it back to his mother in Malim Nawar. He has 2 brothers, one mentally challenged and another, a useless good for nothing (in his own words).

Coming back for our second year, all of us hardly talked about after the first few days. But of course, we all remember, as i do until today.

Yep, Malim Nawar. What a strange name.

‘What It Takes’ By Aerosmith

Aerosmtih fans generally tend to fall into 3 broad categories. There are the new ones from the Armageddon era who think ‘I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing‘ is the greatest ballad on earth, although i find it creepy how Steve Tyler is singing about his daughter, Liv Tyler.

Then there are the slightly older fans from the MTV era of 1987 to the 1992, during the span of albums like Permanent Vacation, Pump and Get A Grip. Then of course there are the oldest fans from earliest days of Toys in The Attic, circa 1971. Yeah those purists that always maintain that the band had sold out since, etc.

But anyway, I’m definitely fall into the secondary category, the last album i bought was Pink. But it was during the early 90′s when i was in college that i really got into Aerosmith, along with bands like Metallica and Bon Jovi.

So what’s my favourite Aerosmith song, then? It sure isn’t ‘I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing‘ – i couldn’t stand it when i first heard it, still can’t stand it now. It’s a little known (to non fans) song called ‘What It Takes’, released in their ‘Pump’ album back in 1990. Most fans regard it as one of their best ballads, John Kalodner described it as a “a (expletive) masterpiece”.

What’s the song about? The usual story of a broken love affair, but you just gotta love Steve Tyler’s take on it…

There goes my old girlfriend, there’s another diamond ring
And, uh, all those late night promises I guess they don’t mean a thing…

***

There are 2 versions of the video, both of which i can’t find on youtube. The one i remember watching back was really low-budget, featuring the band recording the song in the studio. I guess you guys will have to do with this…

Technorati Tags: aerosmith

Wasting Time on the Net With StumbleUpon

With the Internet there has always been new and innovative ways to pass (read: “waste”) time on while you’re bored at work or bored at home. Many years ago there was ICQ and forums and Instant Messaging (good thing i didn’t really get into them that much) and then lately we’ve had Facebook, Digg and Twitter and their numerous clones.

As of a few weeks ago I have just found new way to pass my precious time unproductively – StumbleUpon. It’s not new, some people have been using it for years. So what does it do? It recommends you interesting websites as recommended by people with similar interests as you. StumbleUpon will ask you what kind of websites you’re interested in, and further refines it as you use it.

It sounds like a familiar concept with other sites, but I find it works surprisingly well (for me at least). Instead of going to a website to see pings or recommendations, all you need is to download a toolbar then you’re good to go. There are many buttons, but you’ll probably need only 3 – ‘Stumble’ which will bring you to a new page, the thumbs up button for ‘I like it!’ and the thumbs down button.

Everytime you’re bored, just press the Stumble button to find something exciting. If you found a site that is good and want to recommend it to others, press the ‘I like it!’ button. Simple.

So if you notice my blogs not being updated for awhile, you know what I’m doing these days.

And Battlestar Galactica Has Come to an End

And yeah, so, about two weeks ago, i watched the series finale of the Greatest Television Show Ever ™, Battlestar Galactica, bringing an end to four seasons. I realize the majority of Malaysians have not heard of the new BSG series, let alone follow it (although it comes on 8TV).

I had it better than most people, taking less than a year to finish all 4 seasons of it, the original schedule took about 6 years to complete due to the writer’s strike in the US and a protracted break halfway through season 4.

For the uninitiated, BSG is a reimagined series loosely based on the old 1970′s series, but this time, it takes a dark survivalist tone. The humans’ 12 colonies were destroyed by the Cylons, and and only about 50 thousand survivors of the human race are left wandering space. They are led aging battleship Galactica, and and searching for the fabled lost 13th colony called Earth.

But they are heavily pursued by the Cylons, a breed of intelligent robots that were created by humans but rebelled against the masters. The Cylons have the technology to replicate human form, and infiltrate the surviving humans.

I’ve never been really a big fan of scifi TV shows, aside from TNG, but BSG is more than a scifi show, its bloody good TV. The shocks and plot twists keep coming, and they faithfully avoid any TV cliches.

And so, i feel kinda sad its come to an end. Meantime I’m still watching True Blood and Robot Chicken to fill the void.