Best of 2007

I can feel it! On my way home, I see less crowded trains, people anxious to reach their destinations, cars on the streets rushing by, shoppers doing their last minute shopping, numerous phone calls being made on people's plans for tonight. 2008 is coming and we will be saying our goodbyes to 2007 in a few hours.

I thought it would be fun to do a "Best of" list of my own for 2007. The list may not include things that came out this year, but things I really like that I discovered in 2007.

Best Travel Destination
Bali. It's called the island of the gods for good reason. No matter how many times I've been there (only three) I would always be captivated by its beauty each time and I long to go there again and again and again. I know some people who share the same sentiments, going back once a year even! If you haven't been to Bali, what are you waiting for? Call your travel agent now.

Best Fiction
Kite Runner. It's the first book that made me cry. It's just such a wonderful tale of two friends separated early in their years and how one seeks redemption for his own deeds later in life. Read it if you haven't. I am waiting for Khaled Hosseini's follow-up A Thousand Splendid Suns to come out in the paperback version.

Best Web Application
Picnik. I love Picnik for its simplicity of use and colorful graphic. You don't have to be an expert in navigating the web to use it. Now you can tweak your pictures all you want, anywhere you want, as long as you have internet access. It even lets you link to your Flickr or Facebook account for easy uploads and editing!

Best Soundtrack
Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George by Jack Johnson and friends. Jack Johnson always has that soothing quality to his music and voice, and I think kids and adults alike will enjoy this perfect little CD. I found myself listening over and over again to his beautiful lyrics, full of optimism and child-like wonders. I even bought another one for a friend of mine who turned out to love it too! Though I haven't seen the movie itself, I can bet that the songs complement the movie nicely.

Best movie
Ratatouille. This is hard, I don't really have a best of the best this year, as I couldn't recall a title that left a huge impression on me like Before Sunset or The Incredibles did. Among my other choices are The Lives of Others, Freedom Writers, Thank You For Smoking, and Bourne Ultimatum. Ratatouille stands out for its strong story line (however unbelievable, but hey! it's a fantasy), excellent directing, and powerful graphics - I still can't believe the richness of details in this movie, I am a big Brad Bird fan now. So, there you have it.

Best Webmail
Gmail. Nothing beats my good ol' favorite. Hotmail and Yahoo are making a lot of upgrades recently, offering up to 5 GB of storage and sleeker graphics, but Google is still like a dear old friend to me. In my opinion its best features are the conversation-like email grouping, nice simple colors, and the embedded Google Talk application. If you look around the web, most applications are clamoring to include Gmail as extensions for their products due to its popularity. That tells you something right?

Best Mobile Device
Blackberry. Now I'm a little biased because I haven't tried a lot of other phones that could do millions other stuff (I own a chunky Nokia with a round dialpad - beat that). Its wide design may just be its advantage as it allows us to type more comfortably with our fingers, though it may not be so when you're doing calls. Its best feature is of course its push-mail technology; I haven't seen any other devices that push mails as efficiently as the Berry. Another great feature is the Messenger, it saved me a lot of troubles when I'm overseas.

Best Internet Browser
Firefox. Can't live without it. It's the browser that introduced "Tabs" to me, and I've been using it ever since. Plus, a lot of applications on the web such as DivX player, del.icio.us extensions, work perfectly with Firefox.

Best OS Design
Leopard. Sleek, stylish, superior. I'm still getting used to it, though in the beginning I encounter a few hiccups with some of the applications. But design-wise, this is the best in the market. It applies to Apple's hardwares too.

Best Place to Have Your Afternoon Tea in Singapore
Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge. I discovered this little gem tucked in the corner of a major department store some time ago. It serves delightful desserts, great pastas, and high-quality teas in beautifully made Chinas. The ambiance lends a Danish feel to it (at least a friend who stayed there said so) and the setting is lovely. Just be careful not to drop those fragile things.

Okay, there you go. Not only because I am running out of time but if I continue, there is still a long list to go. Most of my "bests" are technology or entertainment-related, that pretty much sums up where I spent a lot of my time on...(alright, I need to pick up a new hobby soon). Hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year 2008!

father & son, morning Danba

I do a post of blog of note from time to time. Today it's Raul Gutierrez's Heading East. A brilliant photographer (check out his portfolio here and here), his pictures are rich in nuances of the subject's environment, taking captures of their lives, their homes, their streets, their emotions. He likes photographing people because they are more exciting...to do it well and to take great pictures of people, now that takes some skills. I love his pictures!

In addition, he's a talented writer, his blog at www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast tells of his family, especially his two cute sons, other photographers' works, his own experiments with time-shift pictures among many others. It's his family accounts that got me hooked, I just like how he writes stories about his sons (numero uno and numero dos), even putting rich detailed account of each son's birth. I can't help but being touched by those stories. So, enjoy. Have a great Sunday.

Thoughts about charity at the end of the year

I remembered I read a blog post a few months ago about how Bill and Melinda Gates foundation becomes the most successful philanthropy foundation in the world. He has helped more people than most of us claimed to do. Why? They ran it like a business. Exactly how Bill Gates ran his Microsoft to be the biggest software giant in the world. Funds are withdrawn if projects do not achieve the objectives they set out to do. Simple rule of business. This kind of bigger-picture management is what we need to save the world. Help sponsoring a child in Africa is a noble thing to do, yet it is not as effective as thinking how to eradicate AIDS in Africa, or stopping genocide in Darfur. Have a read of Clive Thompson's Wired article I was referring to earlier or click on my shared items. I found myself nodding my head to what it said.

I remembered this because I was present at a charity event very recently (to say involved is a discredit to the hard-working, passionate organizers - big thank you if you are reading this). It was a successful event; great food, games, and presents for all the kids. As first-timers, the organizers did a great job preparing for the event, putting in many hours and ideas into making sure the kids would enjoy it. The amount of money raised was mostly used for the event and the presents, the remainder 20% for the organization the kids are from. Whilst the presents are useful items that would definitely make any kid happy, I wonder if we overspent the money for the rest, or was it simply that we did not raise enough to donate more. What if bigger portion of money is donated to the management, for they are the people who run the place, who would know what the kids need and provide for them. I had no benchmark to measure this against, so my thoughts are probably unjustified. I would love to hear from you if you have experience in this area. However, the event was definitely a good start for future charities, I for one learned a lot as an observer. Congratulations you! I am very proud of you.

Have a wonderful weekend.

2007's acts of kindness and courage

From One Laptop Per Child project which was featured in TED to a would-be mom who trained up until her 9th month of pregnancy, these stories are inspiring and heartwarming. They tell us that with determination, we can achieve anything we set our mind to; with courage, we can overcome everything that comes in our path. From education, child soldier, global warming, to the decrease of infant death rate; they show us the world is still capable of doing a lot of good. The message is clear: the world always needs saving, as long as we're alive. My only wish is, if only this wasn't too Western-centric...It would be great to show stories from heroes around the world as well.

Check out the stories here.

December 25

It's the holiday season, and I wish you and your family all the best in life. I wish you good health and great life with each and every new day. It's so great to wake up in the morning knowing that your life is not so bad after all, you have a wonderful family, some great friends, a roof over your head, and meals three times a day. What more can an ordinary person ask for?

I look forward to 2008. I look forward to exciting new things that I'm going to do, wonderful new lives that are going to be born, great people I am going to meet, and amazing new locations I am going to be.

Whatever your wish may be, if you're reading this, I wish your wish would come true. So, enjoy, have fun, and be happy!

Let me share a little something delightful I found today. Click on My shared items to the right and watch the sweet little video on music and math.

Doing too much

Alright, that's it.

We got to stop. In a culture fueled by the drive for excellence and doing things the efficient way, all occuring the same time, we often times forget exactly why we are doing those things. In a frenzy of tasks, meetings, generating ideas, we get caught up with the busy-ness and forget to question anymore. In the excitement of living in the concrete and steel world, we forget how good it feels to be out in the nature and connect with ourselves (Lost is my inspiration!). Oh! What have I done?

Take me for example, the effect of my own doing is terrible. Things get so piled up I just want to forget they exist and start doing something else, something that would take my mind off it. It's not the first time, but each time it happens I am on the verge of losing sight of what's important. Very dangerous, I might say.

In theory, we all know the solution to our issues. In reality, you know how well it turns out sometimes...