Learning from Fiction - Millennium Trilogy - A brilliant Charity Store Find

The trilogy, written by the late Stieg Larsson, revolves around the fictional operations of a Swedish Publications house named (unsurprisingly) “Millennium”. For the sake of those who have not embarked on this reading journey, I will write only about the details I admire in the characters so that you may enjoy the storyline in your own time.

Of course, Millennium serves as the crucial vehicle for the interactions between the various characters. In many ways, Millennium serves as the backdrop to allow a work/personal relationship interaction between the characters Carl Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth Salander and Erika Berger. Throughout the trilogy, new characters enter at different stages to contribute their drama to the overarching story line.

In retrospective, I find Salander’s character very inspirational. Should you be fortunate enough to read the book without taking a sneak peak at the movie trailer, I would hope that you find her behaviour and characteristics to be worthy of noting down and applying to yourself. Of course, there are many elements of her character which I probably shouldn’t aspire to become, but general traits like her attentive and sharp mind is one which everyone should adopt.

Despite being written at the (disputably) dawn of this computer age, the novels feel surprisingly in touch with modern times. There are continual references to the dominance of Apple computing (albeit older specs) and a general aura that technology is being used appropriately to tackle many elements of life. Therefore, I am positively surprised at the timelessness of the writing. But what I wished to comment, was the awe inspiring methods in which Salander approaches computers. Her ability to hack is something I envy, because it seems she can accomplish so much by just installing “Asphexia” into all her enemy’s computers. In all honesty, the trilogy has made me aspire to become a better user of technology in order to leverage its’ power against greater forces beyond my control.

I found reading the Millennium Trilogy immensely satisfying. It’s a storyline which isn’t too far fetched to the point of “ridiculous”, whilst not being too mundane that I fall asleep. There were spikes which kept me alert and kept my eyes glued to the page. At times, it felt like the words naturally translated into movie action scenes in my mind, so in that sense, the trilogy is a highly entertaining book.

The trilogy sits into the “good entertainment” category perfectly. If you want to take your mind off serious books but not wanting to ditch reading altogether for a while, then The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked Over the Hornet’s Nest are next up on your list.  

+ I found all three books across various Charity stores in London. Each sequel appeared at exactly the time when I finished the preceding one. It seems books have a certain compass in them which makes them steer towards you!

Chuathink's New Insights through Sam Walton's Made in America

    
    It’s been a personal habit to read books on successful people. Humans, as I see it, are creatures who can learn through the osmosis of ideas. We can become something through continued exposure to certain elements. Sam Walton, arguably the most successful entrepreneur of the 20^th century, is an idol worth holding in everyone’s minds. At the time of his death in 1992, he had a net worth of $65 billion which, even by today’s standards, is a sum way over all of our heads. I find that inspirational, particularly since he sits in a paradigm level far beyond the horizon I can see. Despite passing away the year before I was born, his thoughts and history can be transmitted through his paper time machine – Sam Walton – Made in America – to me, the young buck fighting his fears in life.

    It is a great story which I urge people to read. It describes a man who has been innovative, aggressive yet simultaneously humble throughout his life. It is surprising to learn that the first Wal-mart was not open until Walton was 27 – an age in modern times which seems old for an average future billionaire young buck. Yet, it shows that age is not a limiting factor in producing a great business. Rather, it’s the necessity of driving your ambitions to better serve the needs of people. Walton decided earlier on that he wanted to help the customer save money, which in turn would help his business prosper. That was it. The simplest of thoughts paved the way for Wal-mart’s incredible success. Yet the story didn’t start with complex models of store growth and expansion into new markets, rather, it was simply to buy in bulk and sell sell sell. Simplicity is the beauty of it all. Of course, complexity was inevitably added once the empire rolled into its’ growth stage but, by that time, Walton was more than capable of leveraging his business expertise to gain growth.

    In our noisy, information-filled metropolis world, books like this remind us of the importance of simplistic core values. More importantly, everyone must look at their core values and view them as the foundations for future growth. Much like building construction, if the foundations are shaky, then our future plans are going to be in jeopardy. For those who want to build something better, start by reading the book by a man who built a global empire.

Louis Litt in "Leveraged"

Season 4 has brought some fantastic tension to of the world’s most popular corporate show. In the latest episode, “Leveraged”, we see the relationship between Mike and his former peers stretch to breaking point.

More importantly, we’ve seen the softest side to Louis Litt since his debut in the pilot episode a few years back. “This is so unfair. I’m emotional, you’re cold. You’re loved, I’m hated” were the words which touched my heart as he confessed to Harvey about his grave mistake in accidently giving Mike an idea to attack Harvey.

Louis, played by Rick Hoffman, is the character I sympathise most with. I know he is a man with extraordinary talents yet he lacks the right packaging for him to succeed well amongst his equally capable peers. He exerts dominance over the associates as a way of establishing his persona authority in the firm to replace his inadequacy of controlling the higher echelons of Pearson Specter. Although he is fantastic, it’s a shame how his emotions are continually manipulated by Jessica so he is used as tool. To date, we know Louis is the most insecure character on set, yet this quality is exactly why we enjoy his presence on screen. With constant blabbering about the art of ballet, movie line quoting and the flashing of his shimmering teeth, it is no wonder why he is a side character who grabs screen attention time and again.

Through the series, I’ve grown to love Louis more and more and with each passing scene, I wait excitingly for his next involvement in the storyline. I’m also waiting for this tense storyline to pass over so Louis can revert back to his joking self and say the phrase “You’ve been Litt up” with a more mischievous tone in his voice. 

Moving on, Player

It would be nice if people’s name had a past tense. Whenever we talk about an ex, it seems perfectly logical to give them a term which crystallizes their personality traits at the time you knew them. Wouldn't that be nice? It would make conversation easier because we wouldn't have to worry about giving the impression we still think about them.

It’s disappointing to know that things didn't work out and we had to part ways. Yet, the heaviness of being tied down is replaced with the lightness of starting anew – the rebirth of oneself. I have more freedom to tackle the world with the mixed energy of hatred, love and passion driving me forward. Whatever it is you feel, I encourage you to channel that feeling into productive action. It’s time to build yourself into a stronger version of yourself with your experiences of the past. In this way, it is obvious to see why the past is heavily linked to the future. Move on, Player. 

BIGBANG - MONSTER

YG Entertainment and BIGBANG never fail to impress me, probably because it's the unique style they portray that incorporates the outrageous themes of the Eastern music world, combined with music that can be related to Western culture and it's music too. Upon knowing the release date of title track "MONSTER" I was eager to find out what kind of music would go with this cheesy, cliche word.

Listening to it with the music video is always the best way to edge oneself into a new song, because knowing it's from the Korean Pop world, the high budget videos are almost certainly the ideal complimentary eye candy to the music. BIGBANG did not disappoint, because there were crazy themes that, I'm sure, has raised the bars of the Korean music scene. Long gone is the image of bubble-pop, and with good riddance! But the 5 man band have replaced that image with cool, edgy and dare I use the word, 'modern'.

University or life?

Sometimes I get stuck in that momentary phase of ponder. I ask myself whether my decision to attend university was an act of self interest in education, or an indirect forced decision influenced by my school ethos and unknowing parents who believe in the industrial education system.

Looking at my interests, I know that my passion lies within the arts; most notably painting, sculpture making and spending vast amounts of time imitating singers with my piano. So my decision to undertake a management degree at London School of Economics seems quite daft, and so it is.

I remember asking people from my workplace about their thoughts on the future; more specifically about whether they were going to attend university. Their abrupt answer of 'no' startled me, because I come from an academic institution where education is all and end all. But now I feel like it definitely is a viable option, seeing as the greatest members of our society, Steve Jobs, Jay Chou, Bill Gates, are all either college drop-outs or didn't attend university at all. Maybe in life there's just a need to remain focused and feed your passion, I guess that is the most important way to guarantee success and fulfilment in everyone's future.

We often get trapped within a cycle of life that we took no part in deciding. Rushing our applications for university because that's what everyone else did, and selecting the best course that supposedly suited us, expecting to pick up the interest once there. But this is probably the worst decision of all, because we don't listen to our wants but rather obey the wants of others. I don't know where this rant is going, or if anyone will read it with great interest, nor will anyone reply with their opinions, but I hope at least someone will get a grasp on this subject of desperation to achieve something beyond the status quo.

Human Evolution

According to the theory of evolution only the fittest will survive, a conclusion drawn with reference to the centuries of animal evolution as well as man's growth itself.

But as a majority of the world's population draw nearer to the bright city lights, the more we follow the mediocre path of school and "careers", the more we lose the ability to truly survive if catastrophe occurs. The capitalist mindset we all share today will be the final doom for our race. Our desire for money and materialistic items drives us to succeed in specific areas of expertise, but the truth of the matter is we all work towards attaining higher wealth. When looking at this system, one can see human individuals (particularly those in cities) as only living money-making specimens. Do many of the young know how to cook? And even if we do, are we at all educated on producing the ingredients used in order to make our dishes?

But why bother if the supermarkets provide all this in cheap and convenient packages? It makes sense, because this exchange of money will only help us to save time on irrelevant duties like cooking, in order to make space for more money generating ideas and actions. What if one day, perhaps soon in the future, when the collapse of the oil trade leads to an exponential growth of food prices, are we as a human race going to cope? Will the knowledge of calculus or trigonometry help us in our survival, or are these tools which only render useful in our current luxurious lifestyles?

Life and Music

The grand piano is probably one of the best inventions by man.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to play piano well enough, and know enough expressive pieces that can elevate your performance instrument to the grand piano, you should feel very content.

As far as I know, nothing cures stress, anxiety, sadness, depression, worrying (to name a few) better than sitting down for a few hours and submersing one-self into musical heaven. Add a microphone only if neighbours are not around to really reach those emotional notes. If they are around, don't, because it sounds gay and needy.

But I do wish more people didn't quit their instruments when the going got hard. For young readers especially, perhaps it's best to stick through with it until everyone else drops and fails, then that makes you the succeeder. That's my logic of the situation and so far it has worked quite well.

Jay Chou "Broken Strings"

Sometimes in life you just want to sit down, chill out and play some music to soothe yourself. For me, there's no one better than Jay Chou when it comes to that, and one of my favourite slow jam songs has to be Broken Strings. Released on 11th November 2003, this old track brings back some of the originality of Jay's composing that got him famous. With his signature unclear pronunciation of words, the track belongs to no other singer other than himself. It's this originality that makes me greatly admire him and continue to support his new ventures.
The music video is simple in story and the filmography, but I think that greatly accentuates the attitude of people back in the early noughties. It was a carefree lifestyle, very un-materialistic and makes me wish I could have grown up in that era.

BIGBANG BLUE

After all the controversy, after all the wait, the boys are back - and what a comeback it is. A totally new image for all of them including new hairstyles, dress style and changed looks. The most surprising is Daesung who currently rocks G-Dragon's famous full blonde locks. Taeyang has an updated haircut which stands even higher than before, perhaps this is an indication of his age in the industry. But the most important bit is that BIGBANG is back, and the unfortunate events with Daesung and G-Dragon have been for the better. The group explained earlier on in an interview that these events have strengthened the group, making them go back to what they love, re-evaluating their passion to remain a boy band. This shows in the music video, particularly because it reminds of us scenes from "Haru Haru" and "Lies" where the boys drive around cars, lots of running scenes and unconventional to the industry standard of bright lights and dance moves.

But enough of the background check, the song BLUE is a chilled piece including guitar and a synthetic piano and beats. Overall it is an easy listen, reminding me of some American soft rock tune. It's chilled, I'll give you that. What's most surprisingly is T.O.P, who actually sings more and does quite a good job of it with his rusky voice. Hats off to the boys, expecting more things when their album officially drops on March 2nd.

Astiere Apparel Launch

Astiere Apparel is soon launching their first tee and it's something I'm definitely looking forward to! Firstly it's because it is something I took part in, but also that the design is amazingly great! Below is the teaser for the launch, so please stay tune as the site drops on 29th February 2012.

Jay Chou Merchandise

It seems everyone cannot get enough of Jay Chou. Although this may be slightly old news but his laptop cover designs and overall composition of every sound the computer makes (from turning on, beeps, to turning off) this is another masterpiece by Jay Chou. I love his incorporation of traditional Chinese patterns, mixed with a western musical style to have a fusion between the East and West.

If you have an iPad I am envious of you also, because he has released an application which includes piano scores for his music as well as countless other Jay Chou goodies. Link is provided below:

http://itunes.apple.com/om/app/jay-chou-score-sheets/id451920457?mt=8

B.A.P. Review

With recent debut of boy and girl groups from the Kpop industry, I think the best has to be B.A.P (Best, Absolute, Perfect). Firstly isn't the name just awesome? I mean, what ego-driven entertainment company decided to name their new group such a pretentious name, but it seems they were right in naming them exactly that, because their first music video has been FIERCE.

No lie about that, I love the heavy boy band image, especially with the funky light up bunny which is adorable. Everyone in the group has blonde hair, which symbolises their unity and relates to the title of the song: "Warrior". It's some fresh content, with a mix of club-like beats, mixed with glorious rap and glazed with repetitive motifs...digidigidum. What I most love is Zelo's LTE rap in the middle, the speed at which he descends down those notes is astonishing. This rookie band is sure to rocket to stardom very soon, if they have not already.

Big Bang 2012 Comeback

Their last release was "Love Song" and "Stupid Liar" on April 15th 2011. Ever since then the group has been forced to reside to other projects, due to a series of complications such as Daesung's car crash incident and G-Dragon's marijuana case. But their leave of absence is coming to a close, spreading a sigh of relief to all dedicated VIPs - such as myself.

There is no exact date, but their comeback is scheduled to be sometime in February, and that month is approaching rather quickly. But what is in store for VIPs? Perhaps they are going to pick up where they left off last time? Or are they releasing new content produced specially for 2012 after all the downs the group has gone through? Either way I'm still excited over the thought my favourite K-pop group are returning to the spotlight. YG Entertainment are probably going to tease us with countless videos, which I always hate.


Big Bang performing a Japanese version of "Tonight" - I like the overload of English rap at the beginning

Jay Chou "Rice Dumpling"

Another music video, this time for "Rice Dumpling", which is a strange, heart-warming track that seems to work despite not being to hear any of the lyrics. This is his style no doubt, and something I respect because I have grown to love his work because of this, it truly defines him as being one of a kind in the Chinese music scene. I love the fact he is producing a music video for almost all the songs for the new album, because personally I find it more enjoyable if there is a storyline behind every song, expressed through the video. 

Although the song may not be strong or powerful in any way it weaves into the emotions of the viewer by it's innocent theme. The video follows suit, with Jay Chou planning a story involving a cute girl and himself having a fantasy date. He really knows how to pluck the emotional strings of fundamentally C-pop fans like me. I love the simple backdrops, scenes and overall plot. It really brings out that innocent romance that many Asian people have, because I guess we are naturally shy individuals. 

I am also amazed by the youthfulness of Jay, it's like he never ages! Although he may have hit his 32nd already but his musical career and indeed uprising acting career continues to thrive, my idol is still much loved by his audience and that makes me happy.

Take Care Of Us, Captain

Apologies for the soft porn but what a find! Straight from the new drama "Take Care of Us, Captain" the actress Clara dons this revealing and gorgeous attire. Looking like an absolute goddess and snatching the attention of many male film-makers on set no doubt, I certainly wouldn't be able to resist looking. In many ways images like this make me work out harder to achieve a better body, ready for goddesses like these when they arrive.

So there's a tip guys, stimulate yourself to work out harder at the gym with pictures of fit girls.

PROJECT ASTIERE

This is the little project I'm working on, an upcoming brand that will certainly rise to the top. Latest sneak peek.

COMING LATE FEBRUARY 2011

Oh dear for London

Please excuse me if you think otherwise but the London 2012 Uniforms are horrendous. Supposedly inspired by the historic Grenadier Guards this uniform encompasses nothing of the rich, bold, historic values that the Guards hold. And I know what you may be thinking, it's only a tracksuit, but what's worse still is trying to make that tracksuit represent such an important historic element of British history. It's simply a tragic formula.


I assumed this image was a joke, but unfortunately not. Embarrassing rubbish - is this really the best we could come up with? Still, I guess at least this will give the rest of the world a good laugh even if it is at our expense.

 I'm still confused by the photo. How does a disabled man, Indian middle aged woman, African and two unattractive females represent this beautiful country we live in. Surely there are more willing young individuals out there who could replace this 'claimed off the street' rubbish.

China obviously got the right formula, combining elements of their rich traditions with a modern twist. It gave us a feeling of excitement and made me look forward to the games. Who cared about the controversy in the building of the Bird's Nest, the games began fantastically and ended likewise.

What designers dared venture to the board meetings with these designs? And who were the morons who accepted this shamble of alien mutants. Nobody loves them, making London 2012 less welcoming.

When these mascots are unveiled at our national opening ceremony I will close my eyes and weep as the whole world laughs at us.

周杰倫 "公主病"

A new video, it seems Jay Chou is rolling out a MV for every track on his album. Everything seems professionally made, and one can sense his latest attention to detail. No longer are they simple videos to accompany the track at the karaoke, this change in genre marks his evolution into the new super materialistic age - in a good way.

林俊傑-學不會 review

Where he lacks in looks he makes up with amazing composition that vibrate his ability to convey pure emotion. This is the sole reason why I am a strong supporter of his talent and songs. After two years, with changes in contracts and throat injury what not, JJ Lin is back with an all new album. His hit track "學不會 [Never Learn]" shocked me as I unwarily opened the link posted on his Facebook fanpage. The song was so beautifully written, well sung and overall hauntingly beautiful - nothing I have ever heard before in C-pop. His voice has somewhat matured and strengthened over the years,  as a result one can truly appreciate the high notes he reaches towards the climatic ending. The addition of sighing as part of the song is fantastic also, such a playful twist to conventional rhythm that took my breath away the first time I heard it. How has someone not done this before?? It seems only true talented musicians with singing and composing ability can execute these. This is true mastery of composition, in an asian era dominated by synthesised pop considered as the only popular and "cool" music, this form of ballad production done properly with piano, violin and drum is an art form in itself.

There seems to be nothing out there at present which competes against this level of composition, and I admire the full radio track over the official MV. Once again, I truly recommend people to listen to the song without watching the official Music Video first, it is the only way where one can truly appreciated the melody, harmony and rhythm without being distracted by moving pictures. If you haven't already seen it though, please view the provided link below, because the scenes in which the MV is shot is within Europe, most notably Prague, Switzerland and many other countries where the scenery is spectacular.