Review: Train to Busan

Zombie movies are aplenty but our appetites for mindless violence can never be satisfied. The last memorable zombie movies that I can recall are the Resident Evil series (I’ve not watched the last instalment) and the standalone I Am Legend. Today, I had the chance of watching another. One that I’ve heard received rave reviews from my peers. It was released in 2016 and was a surprised blockbuster.

There were little to differentiate this film with the others. The usual: There was an epidemic and it went out of control. Whoever that got bitten will become a zombie. On the plus side, the film did not skimp on the thrills and emotions. There were the expected sacrifices and there were selfish people, too. There were scenes where the protagonists had only moments before the zombies were upon them. So don’t worry for any lack of those.


I can’t really say if the effects were good or not because the pace of the film was fast enough that I did not have the time to look for flaws. What I can say is the CGI did its job well enough.

Overall, this zombie film was nothing revolutionary but it had the ingredients to engage the audience albeit being predictable. Besides that, I was rather pleased that it was mostly done in the day. I’ve had enough of dark, and I mean lack of light kind of dark, undead movies. It’s really refreshing to watch one mostly in the light and still able to thrill. Recommended!

If you like this movie, you would be happy to know that a sequel is in the works. It’s due for a 2020 release. ;)

Review: Voice Lessons for Parents

Some might grow up in a happy family while some may not. Some might not even have one. Despite learning from all these growing up processes, we should never assume that we are ready to be parents. I would strongly advise that you read books and watch programs that provide some guidance. Any literature or shows on the subject will provide a good starting point.

One such book is Voice Lessons for Parents - What to Say, How to Say It, and When to Listen by Dr. Wendy Mogel. If this is the first parenting book you read, then you will be surprised and enlightened by the topics covered.

The topics cover parenthood that starts from the newborn child up to the teenage years. Published in 2018, the book is current with stern warnings to parents on the negative effects of exposing the toddler to mobile devices too early.

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When reading a parenting book for the first time, there’s generally little experience in what to expect so the chapters after the first will be unexpected guidance and advice: Be amazed by how toddlers can quickly learn the trades by merely observing. The book points out how different young boys and girls can be, and then how much they change as they approach adolescence. These are important because as parents it’s crucial to know the child’s traits before connecting.

The book also prepares parents when the time comes to talk about difficult topics. I was surprised that the tough one is not just about the birds and the bees. There are death and money, too.

Besides topics that are directly related to parenting, there are a couple of chapters dedicated to dealing with separated parents, grandparents, nannies, teachers and other important figures that hold certain significance in the children’s life. Take for example how the teachers of the present are more cautious compared to teachers in the past. The book gives some general guidance on how to earn the teachers’ trust and entrust them to do their job.

I wouldn’t say this is the ultimate know all, tell all book but if you’re looking for your first read about parenting, I would recommend this as one of your first choices. As with any guides, this will serve only as a theoretical approach. You will still need to live out the experience yourself. Good luck!

Review: David and Goliath - Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

I’ve just finished my second Malcolm Gladwell book (my first was The Tipping Point) and I’ve become a fan. My next book by this profound author would most likely be Blink but that is another story for another time.

David and Goliath defies the obvious just as how David killed Goliath. For the uninitiated, the story of the titular characters go way back. You can read more about it here but the gist of it is about an apparently weak shepherd called David (compared to the warrior he was going to defeat) that won the fight with a gigantic Goliath. In the process he saved a civilisation. 

The book serves as a reminder that the obvious life we live is in fact, not what it seems. For example, without thinking, most of us would agree that the smaller a class, the better the learning for the children but is it? After reading this book, I’m more cautious about highly reputable academic institutions that market their small classes this way.

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The book is about how, in the face of seemingly impossible obstacles, some individuals will rise above all and triumph.

It explores the world where the undesirable can be turned to an advantage and how a disadvantage becomes the inspiration to the winning formula. You won’t know what I’m talking about until you read the book.

Every chapter is filled with a real life example so that the reader can relate to it. David and Goliath contains more twists and surprises than even the best thrillers! It’s books like this that slowly converts me from a fiction fan to a non-fiction bookworm so if you’ve not read this, do yourself a favour and get a copy!

Review: How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do (Science for Gardeners)

Despite its namesake, How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do (Science for Gardeners) is more like a beginner’s guide to the botanic world. It starts off describing the microscopic details of plant cells and eventually goes all the way to the big trees. The book is easy to understand and doesn’t burden the reader with complex terms. However, I do occasionally wish there are some footnotes to explain some terms that are unique to this field.

Some fun facts from the book that you can look forward to: We all know plants appear differently during each season. They look especially beautiful during autumn and spring but the how’s and why’s they act this way were never more than an afterthought. This book will blow your mind away as it describes in reasonable details why plants act this way.

Besides that, the book clarifies and/or dispels certain myths and techniques that are nothing more than just marketing gimmicks. Some should even be avoided because they do more harm than good to the plants.

By the end of the book, you will consider plants as more than just mere vegetation. They will become your buddies and companions in this world! Well, I may exaggerate a bit there but really, you will look at plants differently by the time you finish reading this book. There is a list of recommended books for further reading in the last few pages. I would choose The Pruning Book one of these days and create my own bonsai friends!

Review: Batman Ninja

This review of Batman Ninja seems timely as we celebrate eighty years of Batman. The Caped Crusader first appeared on 30 March 1939. Recently, I streamed the animated feature on Netflix.

After a time machine mishap, Batman ends up in feudal Japan with Gotham’s most dangerous criminals - there’s no way the story guys would miss out arch nemesis Joker and Penguin in something like this. We will find out later, Batman’s faithful butler Alfred, Catwoman, Robin and gang are also transported to this timeline. Sounds just like another good versus evil Batman movie-length cartoon doesn’t it? That is, until the surprises start to trickle in.

The bad guys arrived earlier in time than Batman and managed to become warlords and establish their own clans. It is only for sure that the already chaotic era becomes a bigger mess with this bunch’s meddling. Thus, begins the quest for Batman’s gang to right what was wrong whilst finding their way back to their own time. Naturally, there will be setbacks and betrayals along the way as the movie progresses.

The Batman Ninja version that I watched was in Japanese. The feature has all the characteristics and exaggeration unique to Japanese anime. The creative team even threw in some over the top giant robots that can combine to become an even bigger one. One can look forward to the climactic fight scenes. Coupled with some good storytelling, Batman Ninja is an experiment that just works.

As media consumption becomes readily accessible, quirky ideas like Batman Ninja are a welcome addition to the mundane styles that are common every where.

#LongLiveTheBat

Review: Enchantment - The Art or Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

I bought this book many years back at the annual Big Bad Wolf book sale. I had no idea what enchantment (the action of positively changing people’s perception towards the reader and his/her product/business) was when I got it (see why I decided to get it anyway below). I’ve only read it recently as I start to clear my backlog of unread books (I love reading but abandoned the hobby until slightly more than a year ago when I restarted).

I love the book from the very beginning (I guess you can say I was enchanted right from the start) because:

1. It was written in simple, easy to understand English so that I did not need to keep searching the dictionary.
2. The sub-sections are short but straight to the point and concise. I don’t feel burdened or bored by a long chapter.
3. Because of the above points, it’s easy to put down and resume afterwards.
4. There are various examples of real life success stories at the end of each chapter.

Seasoned readers of business books may find the contents too simple. However, for a beginner like me, I find this to be a really good introduction to the art of enchantment. This book is also very relevant to our day to day lives. We could make good friends and have happy bosses if we keep the points in mind.

While at it, the author emphasised the importance of being genuine and do good. Never do unto others what you don’t want done unto you.

Overall, after finishing the book, I would say it serves as a great starting point whilst still very readable for the seasoned practitioners. It will work well as a quick reference guide, too, should you need to go back and look for some pointers.

* Guy, if you ever come across this obscure blog post, I bought this book because:

1. Someone suggested to follow your tweets but I can’t remember who did the recommendation, sorry.
2. The cover looks really nice.
3. The cover states the books is a  “New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestseller..”
4. The book was on sale.

Year of the Dog: My First Short Story Now on Kindle

Good news, folks! If you enjoy short stories, please give it a go with my first one titled Year of the Dog. It's now on Kindle and it goes like this:

A short story about a stray dog’s unfortunate encounters with humans that did not turn out well. In trying to escape from captivity, he soon becomes lost in the city. As the year of the dog draws to a close, will he be fortunate enough to find a decent master and becomes man’s best friend?

To buy or read for free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription, click below:

I must apologise to my fellow Malaysians because it's not available here. I've written to Amazon and below is the unfortunate reply:

Hello, 

I understand that you are unable to buy your book in Malaysia. 

Kindles and Kindle content that is published through KDP are currently unavailable in Malaysia. 

We value our international customers and hope to make Kindles and related content available in more locations in the future. 

Thanks for your interest.

Bumblebee (2018 Film) Review

Before we start, I’d like to state that I’m a huge fan of the original first generation Transformers cartoon (people seem to use the word “cartoon” less and less these days, preferring to call them animation). All the subsequent ones never quite found a place in my heart.

Looking at the big picture, Bumblebee pretty much recycles the same plot materials from the Michael Bay Transformers movie series, especially the first one - ugly, complicated robots in disguise, Decepticons aiming to destroy earth, foolish and gullible humans, humourous clumsy robots, mindless slugfest, etc.

Thankfully all these had been toned down and refined. There is also a much better actress than the Sam Witwicky-plus-hot chic combo. Surprisingly, these actually made the movie work for me.

The whole movie is much more watchable this time around with much, much lesser Michael Bay’s Transformers. In fact, the focus is on just three robots (Bumblebee and two Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick - never heard of these two until now) most of the time. It’s unfortunate Michael Bay’s ugly, overly complicated versions of robots still plague this movie but this is somewhat saved by the simpler Bumblebee and some added colours to the other two Decepticons.


Some scenes in the movie paid homage to the first generation cartoons. These gave me hope that the originals could return someday and helped me forget the current version of Optimus Prime that philosophise too much of the obvious while sounding like a too-good-to-be-true leader. I couldn’t quite remember why I used to love Optimus Prime. I most certainly don’t now because he’s really a boring hero. I suppose this movie worked because he’s not the focus.

I was disappointed that this movie is a very relevant prequel to the first 2007 Michael Bay movie. I had hoped for a complete reboot. I wait with hope and anticipation for what’s next. A message to the filmmakers - as proven in this movie, less is more, simple is better so please do away with the confusing fight scenes and it’s really not necessary to have a very attractive chic running around much ado about nothing.

Beginner’s Coffee - Types of Beans

Embed from Getty Images

I was not a regular coffee drinker, not until earlier this year when the consumption became daily and a single cup became two and, horrors of horrors, even three cups on certain days. I couldn’t even say I’m an amateur coffee drinker because I’m not! I only ask for black coffee wherever I go, regardless of whether it’s a hawker or a more atmospheric cafe.

After a few months into becoming a regular coffee drinker, I began to realise (I know, it’s embarrassing to have taken so long) that the Malaysian hawker or coffee shop coffee tastes different from the cafe ones (Starbucks, McCafe, Coffee Bean, just to name a few). The first thing that came to mind was probably different grades of beans but alas, I should never place judgement based on the condition of the place.

Further online research (oh, how convenient life has become that the walk to a nearby bookshop or library is seldom necessary) revealed that local Malaysian coffee is generally made from Robusta coffee beans. After Arabica, Robusta is the second most popular coffee bean in the world. It’s generally cheaper to produce because of its hardier plants. Hardier in the sense that the plants have higher resistance to diseases and tolerance to warmer climates.

Imagine how confused I’d got when I first heard of Robusta. Prior to this, I had always thought that there is just one type of coffee!

In general, Arabica beans are known to have a fruity taste while Robusta is more earthy and bitter. Taste is difficult to describe unless it’s just simple sweet, sour or bitter. It varies according to individual preferences. According to my taste buds, the Robusta ones, more often than not, tasted a bit like traditional Chinese liniment (dit da jao 跌打酒) for sprains and bruises. It’s an acquired taste. I’ve eventually come to accept it. On the other hand, coffee made from Arabica beans is more pleasant and easier to take in. Besides that, Arabica beans have higher acidity levels than Robusta.

Why are we even discussing about coffee here? It’s because coffee is a an amazingly healthy beverage with high antioxidant contents. The caffeine keeps writers and readers awake! These are the most common conceptions but I personally found another advantage to drinking coffee. Being a diuretic, it makes me stand up and go to the toilet often. I read that sitting for prolonged periods is a slow killer so it’s important to move about as often as possible.

Please be mindful when drinking coffee because of the caffeine. Although it doesn’t seem to have any affect on me, it may cause you sleepless nights if you drink it in the later part of the day. Besides that, caffeine “washes” away vitamins so if you take supplements, don’t drink coffee immediately. At least wait an hour or two.

Lastly, it’s really important to note that drinking coffee black is way, way healthier than with sugar and cream/milk.

Reading Einstein - Conclusion

The later chapters focused on Einstein’s involvement in politics and religion. As anti-Semitic sentiments grew and Hitler’s rule imminent, Einstein had little choice but to renounce his German citizenship (once more) and resign from his post. Fortunately, with his celebrity status, offers started to pour in. After some deliberation he would eventually settle down in the United States and took permanent residency in Princeton.

Einstein’s stand towards religion was put into perspective - he believed in a God but not the all seeing, all knowing one that most of us come to respect and more often than not, fear. Einstein believed in “god” beings that are superior to humans but only just that because this helped to explain the as yet unexplainable science. In so doing he stressed that he was no atheist.

In the midst of all these, tragedy struck Einstein’s personal life with the unfortunate passing of his wife Elsa and his youngest son got admitted to an asylum. On the bright side, he got united with his beloved sister Maja and his eldest son Hans Albert.

It wouldn’t be Einstein if the biography did not chronicle his obsession on creating the general theory of relativity AND his efforts to rebut quantum theory and unify field theory. The former was already described in detail earlier while the latter two became his life long quest.

It might be common knowledge but I never knew that Einstein played a small but important role to turn the tide in giving the US the upper hand during World War II. Einstein and fellow Jewish physicists had managed to warn (in the nick of time) President Roosevelt the danger in newly discovered nuclear technology but inadvertently presented the idea of creating the nuclear bomb.

Following the devastation of Japan that subsequently helped win the war, Einstein was mistakenly blamed for his role in the creation of the bomb. He felt a certain guilt to his actions. Following that he reiterated his advocacy in forming a world government that regulates external policies (particularly arms control) while at the same time have no jurisdiction within each nations’ internal governance.

With little contributions to science in his later life, he was thrusted into the public eye due to his political views on individual freedom. Naturally against any oppression, Einstein stood by people wrongly misinterpreted, often causing public outcry.

With the death of his first wife Maric and later his sister Maja, Einstein’s health, too, started to deteriorate. In addition to his stomach ailments and anaemia that plagued him for much of his life, he was diagnosed with aneurysm on his abdominal aorta. This would prove to be the main contributor to his death but he lived on until 1955. Out of wisdom he had refused surgery because he did not want to prolong life but instead to embrace a natural death. He left this world in spirit but to this day his legacy of science and political freedom lived on.

Conclusion

Much like in starting out a new life, I started reading Einstein’s biography without thinking about the end. Starting off as a struggling arrogant, stubborn genius but with a big heart, Einstein passed on at age of 76 due to internal haemorrhaging. It is possible that relative of time, Einstein could live on eternally in the minds of many generations.

I’m truly amazed with the author of this biography, Walter Isaacson on the amount of research he had done. Just look at the references he used at the end of the book - it took almost 90 pages to credit them all.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Einstein and a physics enthusiast, I would not hesitate to recommend this but you do need to be mindful that you have lots of time because it is a very thick book. It took me more than two months!

Previously, I talked about the first few chapters and the middle chapters. Do check them out at the links below:

1. Reading Einstein - The First Few Chapters
2. Reading Einstein - The Next Few Chapters

Reading Einstein - The Next Few Chapters

As I delved deeper into the biography, it began to surface that despite being a genius, Einstein did make mistakes. He was human after all. While he struggled to to correct his mistakes he was also faced with family problems where he was kept away from his sons. World War I did not make things easier. It was revealed that the true genius in Einstein was to be able to solve his scientific problems while burdened by emotional distractions and at about the same time, competition in the form of a David Hilbert who was racing Einstein to solve the equations of general relativity.

These further chapters also illustrate Einstein as being a rather objective person. He would praise his estranged wife on her good parenting of their two sons. On a more professional take on things, Einstein would even make peace with his rival Hilbert when things cooled down.

Einstein was also a person that would retreat into his work when his personal problems became too overwhelming. This reminded me of the book I’ve recently read - Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus where men would seek solace and retreat into their caves. Very true indeed.

After all he had been through, he finally found success and recognition when his theory of relativity was proven true. He became a worldwide celebrity! It was rather unusual that the science community at the time do not encourage publicity. Einstein’s friends actually discouraged him.

As fame brought Einstein to America, England and France, anti-semitism sentiments worsened in his home country. Being a Jew, his popularity made him an enemy of the Nazis. His name appeared on the Nazi’s target lists. At one point Einstein pondered to seclude himself and become an engineer but of course that didn’t happen.

You can read about the first few chapters here.

Onwards to the next chapters!