Review: LG Optimus 3D - Aesthetics & Features

For my final review on the LG Optimus 3D, I’m going to focus on the usable 3D elements and the look & feel of the phone itself. As mentioned earlier, the LG Optimus 3D comes with a 3D Hot Key in the same location where traditionally you would find a dedicated Camera button on other smartphones The hot key allows users to switch from 2D to 3D on the fly and switch back. Hold it for a couple of seconds and it takes you into the 3D Guide, which is your portal to all the 3D stuff in the phone; Games, Apps, YouTube 3D, the 3D gallery and the 3D camera.

Review: Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC)

Here's my review of Crysis 2, that was originally featured on LochalArchade.com. You can find the original post here.

___________

How do you top a game that has since become a benchmark for performance? How many times has the quote, “Yeah, my new rig can run Crysis on full steam, no problem,” been used to gain brownie points in the gaming community? When you create a game that becomes the label by which a computer’s performance is quantified against, making a sequel to a game like that, is not something easily accomplished. I mean, ask the guys at 3D Realms how their sequel to Duke Nukem came along.

Hot Hatches

When I first got my license, my first car was a '93 Honda Civic coupe. Suffice to say it's a nice car to rough up your elbows in. Eventually, I spent a lot of time in a Peugeout 206 which I still have parked outside the house even today. In this time, I managed to get my hands on both an older Peugeot 205 GTi and the newer 206 RC.

Suffice to say, this made me fall in love with hot hatches. There's nothing quite like driving a car with almost no bonnet. Have a look at how Best Motoring does it:

Gotta love hatches..

M

Review: Killzone3 (PS3)

Killzone 3 starts off somewhere which would probable leave you pretty confused; inside the visor of a Helghast. Eventually though, things get back to normal and once again you’re good ol’ Sgt. Sevchenko fighting the good fight against the Helghans.

Initially rumoured to, ‘break the PS3,’ it turns out to be true. Simple things, that aren’t so simple to create, make all the difference. While every strand of grass glints of the mist gathered and with some of the best fire effects I’ve seen, this is the best looking Killzone yet. Unfortunately, this is also one of its drawbacks.

While playing I noticed amateur mistakes. Things going wrong that you wouldn’t expect in a title of Killzone’s caliber. Gun sprites freezing when you reload, confusing the hell outta the player. There were also repeated times where the cutscenes would have the speech all mistimed and messed up. Subtitles were repeatedly incorrect, so while it read something, Sev was really saying something else.

There was a continuity issue that bothered me too. [Warning: Here be spoilers] When Sev destroys Stahl’s cruiser with the nuke, the resulting outbreak, kills everyone in space, around Stahl. How did Sev and Rico survive?

All in all, Killzone 3 delivers quite well, except for a few bugs.

Visual: 8.5/10

Audio: 8.5/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Story: 7.5/10

M

Brand Bowl & a midget Darth Vader

As is the tradition, every time the Super Bowl comes around you have a huge bunch of corporates running around creating various TVCs that they want to air during that time, seeing as almost the entire North American populace is watching the telly. Not including Canada of course. Or Alaska.

Brands usually spend the around the same as the GDP of an African nation to secure a spot during the Super Bowl. Suffice to say, getting a spot is quite the pinch to the wallet, so much so that even the Super Bowl organizers do their own bit to track overall sentiment and who basically wins the Brand Bowl. Many iconic TVCs have been conceived, produced, aired and made popular by the Super Bowl. In fact, PepsiCo has been notorious for creating some of their most popular ads for the Super Bowl spots, including the celebrity gladiator match with Beyonce, Pink, Britney Spears or the Pepsi Stuff ad with Justin Timberlake.

Come Super Bowl 2011, companies release their ads to the hungry eyes of the world to see. At the time however, young Mali was asleep. The following morning finds young Mali sitting at his terminal at work, clicking and typing away furiously, social media guru that he is. (Yes, Mali occasionally refers to himself in third person). His good friend Arun linked him to something. He said it was a Super Bowl ad. He said I'd like it.

One minute and two seconds later, total productivity = zilch. Amazement = +infinity. Star Wars fanboy = +500 Force.

What I liked about this ad, besides a bite sized Darth Vader, was that the parent played along and boosted the child's imagination. It also represented VW in a more relaxed fashion, playing along consumer passion points. T'was refreshing!

My bid goes to VW for this year's superbowl. Have you guys seen their Beetle ad yet?

Oh dear, I've fallen into it again..

Well it's true, after spending a lot of time contemplating my return to the blogosphere, I did give in and will resume blogging, effective immediately! My initial concern was that I will not have enough to blog about or any specific things I may want to write about. However, what I did discover is I do have things I want to talk and blog about.

I will hereby turn this blog right around and you can expect to see me blog about the following topics:

1. Motorsports. I've recently joined my company's racing team. This adds to my previous track experience, so I guess it's about time I start talking cars as much as I love driving them.
   
   
2. Paintball. Cuz it's awesome. And now that I have all my gear, it's time to terrorize the office.
   
   
3. Video Games. I play a lot of them. It's time to take it a bit seriously.
   
   
4. Campus Radio ME. Along with Ritesh, I started this almost a year ago. Here, I will talk about recent news, updates etc.
   
   
5. Movies. I spend a lot of nights burning through DVDs. Why not share my views? :)

By any means, this list is not exhaustive. But possibly a teaser of things to come.

See you guys around!

M

Hee Hee EEEEEEE

Hehe hehe hehe HAHAHAH STOPTEHTICKELS!!!

M


_

Last one tonight I swear. Halo Trailer (Fan Made)

The following video is a fan made trailer about the upcoming Halo movie. By far one of the best fan made videos I've seen ever, with weapons, live action scenes, cinematic sequences. Brilliant!



Another movie I'm waiting to watch...


M


_

So like our EP's out man...

My band is called Tree-Graded Space. We began in Jeff's garage about 2 and a half years ago. It took us a while to find our roots but we settled in for post punk, pseudo rebellious, carefree music. Bart Simpson is the cartoon manifestation of what we play.

Our first album'll be hitting stores next month, and it's called, 'Keeping Up With Yesterday.' It's all about procrastination and it's perks.

This album cover was selected from Flickr, and it shows how the plastic nature of today's foliage. And the odd child here and there.



Thanks T!

Cheers!


M



PS.

Play the game:

1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

_

100 things everyone ought to do..

tole this off T who, well, stole this off another blogger. Hmm. I really should stop ripping him off...

Or not.

100 things that everyone should do.

Those in bold = done
Those in italics = really really wanna do

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a preying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child [LNZA =) ]
16. Had food poisoning (could you imagine it if THIS was in italics..)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (yes. it's true. I DO want it)
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (How about ONLY killed?)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

So that was my version of the same. Hope you liked it!


M


_

Twice friendly?

Ok, so I did the Spiderman thing before, but I couldn't help but put this one up as well....





xD




M




_

I always wondered if Spiderman was anatomically correct...

It's been awhile since I started reading webcomics, thanks to her, and well I've come across some novel examples of awesome humour. This strip for example:





Hahahaha lolwtf..



M




_

Well thank you, Becca..

July's here. Half the year is over. That would mean just about 5 more months till winter, December and other festivities of great joy. Btw T-Mac this whole, "Challenge" business is a good way to keep me on my toes. I still want my laptop back from the service guys though. Blogging on the family desktop is not very comforting.

I've just learned that I've been invited to the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference. GYLC certainly has it's upsides and if Obama does win then I believe this will certainly be a historic moment. Ever since GYLC I've ignored the other conferences due to lack of funds and/or clashes with my exam schedule but I really DO want to go for this 4 day conference. I think this is pretty big and I wouldn't want to miss it.

And so the sponsor hunt begins! Now, I'll need money for the following things:

1. Flight tickets, to and from
2. The conference fee.
3. Food & other expenses.

Now while this list isn't big, the first 2 slots are really large chunks. The conference fee will probably be the biggest amount that I'd have to pay and come this weekend, I will actively begin a sponsor hunt.

The world NEEDS me to be there when Obama wins (InshAllah).

(Ok, that's not true at all, and my presence there would be insignificant to the world and Obama, but THINK of all the possibilities and the experience. It's my ego that needs me to be there more than anything else.)

SO, off the top of my head, what kind of firms can I approach and get them to part with their hard earned money.

1. Media-related firms. Maybe I could offer insider information or document the whole journey. I know that I'll be given a LOT of documents when I'm there and according to the invitation plan I meet a lot of people, INCLUDING a (and I quote), "Major Presidential Candidate." So it could just be their marketing guys or who knows.
   
2. Banks and Construction firms. They have a lot of cash.
3. Airlines. If I want to get free tickets I'm gonna have to start looking for the tickets NOW because most airlines decide their sponsor budgets a year in advance.

So that's my detailed list and let's see what I can get done.


Moving on, that was my post on life and now a little round of 20 questions.


1. What is your favorite food?
Noodles & Sausages

2. What was your happiest moment when you were a child?
No defining moment, but I did have a decently happy childhood.

3. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Boston. Turkey. And New York City again.

4. Which part of you do you hate the most?
The overthinker/second guesser part.

5. When you encounter a sad moment, what do you do?
Ignore it for the most bit and then get all weird and angryquiet.

6. What are you afraid to lose the most?
Other people's respect.

7. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Secure my and my family's (immediate and soon-to-be's) future and then divide the rest amongst charities. I'd probably invest a little too.

8. What do you love the most about last year (2007)?
Not much. Last year was weird. Ramadan last year was great though :)

9. Which actor/actress would you like to play you in a movie?
Edward Norton.

10. How do you cope with boredom?
I agree with the T. Internet

11. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?
Not trying hard enough to keep in touch with friends.

12. What type of person do you hate the most?
Impatient, arrogant, narrow-minded.. And nice-to-your-face people..

13. What is your ambition?
To live my life healty, successfull and with a great family to top it off.

14. If you had one wish, what would you wish for?
I'd wish for Telekinesis.

15. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
A dolphin. For multiple reasons ( ;) )

16. What has been the craziest thing Well... now...

17. What do you look forward to in the remainder of 2008?
Earning more. Working harder. Getting better.

18. If your life is a song, what title best fits it?
Oasis - Wonderwall. It's been my soundtrack for a while now.

19. If you were to change one event in your life, what would it be?
My metabolism.

20. Who are you going to tag?
T-Mac, the Junkie and my property.


Anywhoo. That's that for today. See y'all later.

xx


M

And we're back online folks!

So it's been awhile since I blogged. 'Bout 2 months anyway.

Been busy and all that, but I assure you, after THIS entertaining filler, I WILL give you guys a proper post and tell you what's what in Mali's World.

Either way check this out. This cracked me up.


RULES:
1. Put Your itunes, windows media player etc on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS


So I saw this on Facebook in the morning of my Marketing Paper.. Here are my replies:


IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
M.I.A - Avenged Sevenfold

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Save The Population - Red Hot Chili Peppers (Yes. With my raging sperm count)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Freak On A Leash (NIN Remix) - Korn (HAHAHAHA OMG!!! <3 )

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Mobile - Avril Lavigne

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Illegal I Song - Velvet Revolver

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Ceiling Unlimited - Rush (Apparently I'd do well in Real Estate)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Kiss From A Rose - Seal (Hmm. Not too bad)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
Weak & Powerless - A Perfect Circle (OMG ITUNES HAS A SICK SENSE OF HUMOUR. If only it met my parents. We'd see who's Weak and Powerless THEN puny apple inc. software)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Numb - Linkin Park (heh.. right)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Thorn Within - Metallica (Yea I eat pain for breakfast)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
For You - Coldplay (Aww)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Come Clarity - In Flames (WICKED! Wow, I almost believe that I'm setting this up, but no it really IS iTunes)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Empty Apartment - Yellowcard (See. Real Estate. Again. Wtf.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
It's Only Us - Robbie Williams (W.T.F.)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
American Life - Madonna (Appropriate.. My parents keep telling me that anyway)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Judgement Strikes (Unbreakable) - Hatebreed (That would be awkward. Considering all the religious folk there. I don't think they'd appreciate the headbanging)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Hanging By A Moment - Lifehouse (But.. But.. I'm ALREADY dead..)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Drown Me Slowly - Audioslave (Yeah.. iTunes really enjoys itself)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Room 21 - Hinder (oooooh aaaaah random room fear. MOVIE!)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Heaven - Lost Lonely Boys (?)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Slide (Acoustic) - Goo Goo Dolls


__________


Some of it was kinda interesting. Others, not so much.


Either way, more updates VERY soon!


Cheers!


M

>.<

Well no excuses this time, it HAS been awhile since I bothered to keep my little website up-to-date. Either way, with more updates on my life, here we go!!!

MAHE is getting better. It is NOT growing on to me, rather I'd like to believe that I'm having that calming, normalizing influence on MAHE. I've even got some people who've told me to correct their pronunciations whenever I catch them off guard. So there! Progress!

MAWF has restarted activities and I'm scheduled to give a presentation at the DAA come Sunday (I believe). Run of the mill thing and a part that I enjoy carrying out. Apparently I've got quite the convincing tone. Also, have a wish kid to work with now. Some boy in Abu Dhabi who wants a playstation. Not much of a wish really, but hey, something to work on.

I AM a bit miffed at Khadija (Current Director) for "demoting" me of sorts. But let's see, I plan on making headway once again!


A video I found. Hilarious!

THIS...IS...SPARTAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!



Well, football season started and we have a tournament coming up next week. Let's pray that I'm playing. Let's pray that we win.

Grr. I put on weight again!


That's all for now!


Cheers!

xx




M

MSN bummers..

Don't you just LOVE MSN chatter...

*paste*

...reverend... - | To Endless Times.. (L) [ In Other News: Mmm.. Pie... Pie GOOD.. says (10:26 PM):
HI HI HI HI HI!!!!

Exstacy <3 {ChocoLate Star} says (10:27 PM): HIE HIE HIE HIE HIE HIE HIE !!!

...reverend... - | To Endless Times.. (L) [ In Other News: Mmm.. Pie... Pie GOOD.. says (10:27 PM):
HOW ARE YOU!!!

...reverend... - | To Endless Times.. (L) [ In Other News: Mmm.. Pie... Pie GOOD.. says (10:27 PM):
*SQUEE*

Exstacy <3 {ChocoLate Star} says (10:27 PM):
GREAT !!!

Exstacy <3 {ChocoLate Star} says (10:27 PM):
AND YOU !!?!

...reverend... - | To Endless Times.. (L) [ In Other News: Mmm.. Pie... Pie GOOD.. says (10:28 PM):
AWESOME!!! MY CAPS BUTTON IS STUCK... I DONT KNOW HOW To.... oh.. there we go.. never mind...


*end paste*


xD


M

Mmmm...pixel goodness.

I've had this saved in my drafts folder for about two months now, and it's high time I post it...

"Inspired by the research of Pawan Sinha, who had found that people can recognize faces using just 12 14 pixels' worth of information, we wondered if people can distinguish between faces and non-faces with even less information. So, last Friday, we asked CogDaily readers to try to identify faces as small as one-quarter the size of those used in Sinha's study: just 6 by 7 pixels."

via Cognitive Daily.



Hokay, so let's introduce a little fun to the blog. Okay?
Okay!


Let's go.
Below is a picture of a famous personality, pixelated and edited. Lets see who gets it first.









Aaannnd go!

Introducing...

Hello readers.

If you're wonderful enough to be loyal readers of my blog you would have noticed that my last post was in fact not mine at all. It was my newly appointed co-author and contributor to this blog, Uzma Atcha.

Now I finally have a squeaky, shrilly, opinionated, emotional, high-pitched voice on my blog. Things are definitely being shaped up. But less like shaken-up more like tall-glass-in-front-of-an-opera-diva scenario. Uzma has a wonderful style of writing and can be seen in her very own personal blog right here. I was planning on doing lovely Uzma's introduction to the blogosphere much earlier, but due to the onset of my examinations, and a particularly randy mountain goat called Core Mathematics 4, I was delayed.

Uzma is short, cute and looks a lot like the character Faye from the webcomic Questionable Content. She is also the one who got me hooked onto that webcomic and I owe her for that. This young lady has an awesome command over English, and is very fussy about it's misuse. You oughta catch a glimpse of her face when she hears modern rap music. Worth a million. Quite the connoisseur of Indie rock, Uzma listens to bands that most mainstream idol worshippers would not recognize even when drunk and hallucinating the green giant wearing striped socks and belting out some tunes from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Well, I could go on about this wonderful person for hours, but for a quick summary go here.

Either way she is both an awesome writer and a very important person in my life, and I truly will enjoy her company here. Thanks for joining me, and welcome aboard!

xx

M

Anything? You sure about that?

Hey guys!

Mali said he'd like to shake things up a bit on his blog, and what better way than to add a female's opinion, especially since he'd always ask me to proof read his posts and correct the many grammatical errors, anyway.

So here comes Uzma, adding the grotesque, overly emotional posts that this blog lacks (not that it was a bad thing).

Here goes my first post:

--


Picture this.

*cue fog machine and old school music here*

You're at the local grocery store, waiting in line at the checkout with an obscenely large trolley overflowing with junk. You're crossing things off the two page long list with that imaginary pen of yours, checking if you've picked up everything everyone in your family had wanted. Pickles? Mmhmm. Fabric Softener? Yep. Batteries? Got it. Toilet paper, fresh milk, cheetos for the movie? Check check check. Finally, the woman's credit card a customer in front of you works and you're next in line. You carefully maneuver the cart two inches ahead, avoiding the portly man's behind.

The phone rings.

"Hello?"
"Hey, you done at the supermarket?"
"Just checking out. Why, do you need something?"
"Erhm...yeah"
"What? Hurry up because this guy here in front of me is already paying."
"I just wanted something to drink."
"Like what? Tell me quick and I'll pick it up for you."
"Oh, I don't know. Something fizzy-like."
"Like what?"
"Anything, really."
"Like what?"
"Anything."
"Hurry up and make up your mind, Godddamnit.:
"Seriously, anything."

Mind you, I was just asking if they wanted me to pick up something out of courtesy.


To settle this problem that faces hundreds of thousand of indecisive people the world over, in Singapore, they've come up with crazy-ass drinks called "Anything" and "Whatever". Pretty cool, eh?
"Anything" could be Cola, Cola With Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up, Cloudy Lemon, or Root Beer.
"Whatever" consists of a range of iced teas.





To visit the site, click here!
To see the second ad click here!

All I can say is, you guys asked for it.


--Lhjunkie
Xx

Introducing, "The Dubai Funnies."

I was on MSN with a friend of mine just a few moments ago, and she suggested another blog to me. Upon her recommendation I visited it and laughed out loud at what I read almost immediately. So, to share the funnies, I'd like you all to visit,

The Dubai Funnies


The author who calls himself, The Plastic Poet, has quite a sense of humor.

Happy reading!

xx

M