Dec 27, 2008

I’m Afraid

Jon Lim Afraid, Fears, Haunted, Old Finch Life 0 Comment

I’m afraid of loss. I’m afraid of losing the good in my life.
I’m afraid of pain. I’m afraid of avoidable pain.
I’m afraid of the unexpected. I’m afraid of not being in control.
I’m afraid of the unexplained. I’m afraid of not knowing enough.

I’m afraid of failure. I’m afraid of not learning from failure.

After getting back from a rabble-rousing trip down a haunted road here in Scarborough, and it got me thinking. No, not about a possible ghost that would be summoned by wonderful rendition of happy birthday. Instead, I was thinking about how it feels to be afraid to take the plunge, into the unexpected, into possible failure.

A little background: someone inside the car was freaking out about driving down this “haunted” road. All I could think was – “Why don’t they want to do something fun, like proving to yourself that this road is not haunted?” Were they really afraid of a ghost, or was it just the fact that you can never know what to expect on these kind of late night drives?

But… would any of us be where we are today, if we knew exactly what was around every corner of our lives? If we could control every variable? If consequences could be selected? If every aspect were revealed? If you were afraid of not knowing the outcome of everything, would you not act too cautious for every single decision in your life?

To keep it short and simple, sometimes, you have to shake things up and take the plunge. Drop your fears, take what you are given, and enjoy every minute of it.

You only have one life to live.

Dec 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Jon Lim Awareness Test, Christmas Media 0 Comment

Hello all, t-minus 22 minutes until December 25th, and I’d just like to take this time to say Merry Christmas to all, and I hope everyone is having a happy holidays!

Just for kicks, here’s a video on YouTube that had me laughing for quite a while – the Awareness Test:

Dec 24, 2008

9

Jon Lim 9, Nine, Shane Acker, short film, Tim Burton Film 0 Comment

An oddly vague title, but through Digg, I’ve recently found a movie being made by Tim Burton called ’9′. Here is the link to the trailer.

And here is the short film the movie is based on, hosted on DailyMotion:

9 Nine Shane Acker Short Animation
Uploaded by FrFKmeron

Very cool stuff. Enjoy!

Dec 22, 2008

Massify – Collaborative Film Making

Jon Lim collaboration, film, Massify, Perkins 14, ReadWriteWeb Film, Video 0 Comment

Well, I guess I can file this one under “Ideas I’ve Had” that was successfully executed. Meet Massify – a collaborative website that brings together writers, actors, producers, and directors into one central site for the creation of movies.

As stated in the ReadWriteWeb article, they are set to release their first feature length film – Perkins 14. It actually looks like a decent horror film (Which is hard to say nowadays) and it was fully created by this fantastic online community. Hopefully, this kick-starts a trend of films created with great content, and not just adaptations of popular literature and pop-culture icons with massive special effects budgets.

I am a little jealous that I didn’t create the idea first, but that is how the world works. So to the Massify team – kudos and good luck, I fully support your venture! To everyone else – check out Massify, you might see me on there in the future!

Dec 19, 2008

Featured Album Fridays / Howling Bells – Radio Wars (2009)

Jon Lim Featured Album Fridays, Howling Bells, indie, Radio Wars Featured Album Fridays, Music 0 Comment

This week on Featured Album Fridays, I’m taking a look at Howling Bells’ new album, Radio Wars. I’ve received an advanced copy of the album as I understand it’s due to come out next year. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this album, and hope you guys give it a listen!

Howling Bells - Radio Wars

Here is the description of Howling Bells straight from Wikipedia:

Howling Bells are an Indie rock band formed in Sydney, Australia late 2004. Shortly after forming the band left for England. The band released their debut self-titled album in 2006 on Bella Union ^[1] and produced by Ken Nelson. It received much critical acclaim including a 9/10 in NME and 7.8/10 from Pitchfork. They spent much of the next 2 years touring Europe, Australia and parts of the US. Howling Bells played at the 2007 NME Awards show. They also performed at numerous festivals over the 2006 English summer including Reading/Leeds. They have supported US band The Killers and Placebo around Europe, as well as Snow Patrol on their Australian tour. Their song Low Happening is featured on the soundtrack to EA Sports Rugby 08. They recently completed their 2nd album, Radio Wars, with Dan Grech-Marguerat, who has engineered records alongside producer Nigel Godrich, including Radiohead, Air and Paul McCartney.

As per usual, I’ve allowed the streaming of this album, it’s got a lot of great sounding music! Hope you guys enjoy, please leave any comments you may have!

Dec 17, 2008

Electric is Doomed

Jon Lim Alternative Fuels, Electric, Fuel Cell, Gasoline, Honda FCX Clarity, Hydrogen Technology 0 Comment

In my eyes, electric vehicles had always been the front runner in the race for alternative fuels to gasoline. It had an established distribution system, it was easy to understand, and the advancement of lithium ion batteries were making it very possible to drive longer without stopping to refill.

And here we are, Tesla is releasing their Roadster (0 to 60 in 3.1 seconds) and the Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid, is one of the most popular green-minded vehicles out there.

But electric cars are doomed, as the title suggests. Why?

Three words: Honda FCX Clarity

It seems that Honda’s been busy in their R&D labs with creating a viable alternative to gasoline that is not limited by distance or power outages. How it works is this: an electric engine that is powered by compressed hydrogen, allowing it to get 270 miles per fillup. Well, I’m terrible at explaining, so I’ll let James May from Top Gear do it for me:

Pretty nifty, eh? I’d love to see how supporters of ethanol and electric-powered cars are going to react to this. But hey, as long as we find a viable and renewable alternative to gasoline, then more power to everyone!

Dec 15, 2008

To my brand new best friend: Nokia E71

Jon Lim Cell Phones, E71, Jack, Mobile Phones, Nokia, Samsung Mobile, Technology 7 Comments

Here’s my official review (More like comparison!) of the Nokia E71 that came in for me today. Summary for the lazy: I am absolutely in love, and it’s an amazing phone!

You can read about tech specs and whatever features it has elsewhere, so I’m going to compare it to the Samsung Jack as well as the transition process I had gone through.

Samsung Jack versus Nokia E71

Thickness: Nokia E71 on the Left, Samsung Jack on the right

Backplates: Nokia E71 on the left, Samsung Jack on the right

As you can see, the Nokia E71 already looks quite a bit smaller and has a more “smooth” look to it compared to the pointed edges (Those corners really hurt) of the Samsung Jack. The screens are very close in size, but the Nokia definitely has a crisper display.

Sorry for the blur, I have shaky hands.

With aesthetics out of the way, here is a direct comparison of features I used on the Jack.

Text Messaging – The biggest difference between Windows Mobile 6.1 and Symbian S60 is the lack of threaded messages, which kind of sucks, but Conversation does alleviate that problem. The text input on the WinMo also generally lagged, whereas the Symbian inputs are speedy and lag-free, and it manages to keep up with my extra fast typing! Definite plus!

GPS – I used to use Google Maps on my Samsung Jack and it worked perfectly well except for one thing – it took about 5 minutes for the GPS satellites to be found. The E71 was preloaded with several mapping and GPS programs, that were quick to catch GPS satellites. I will install Google Maps on it later, or perhaps just install a standalone navigational based GPS to replace Telenav. UPDATE: Just installed Google Maps and it found 3 satellites in less than 30 seconds, in the basement. MUCH improved over the Jack’s GPS!

Picture / Video – The camera on the Jack is 2MP and the E71 has a 3.2MP so I was expecting quite a difference in image quality. Here’s how it looks:

Samsung Jack's Camera

Nokia E71's Camera

Not a huge difference but keep in mind: I completely forgot to take off the protective film on the camera for the E71. Not that it’s going to change a lot of things, but just keep that in mind. Also, the E71 has a built in flash, which might make low light situations much easier for taking pictures!

Calls – Simple enough, the Nokia E71 has crystal clear reception and I can’t even compare to the Jack properly, because they both sounded great!

All these features clearly put the E71 above the Jack for just those features, but here are several more features that I have began to use BECAUSE of the E71!

Fring – Not exactly a built in feature, but Fring works flawlessly on the Symbian OS, where I loaded my Skype account and called my friend with crystal clear reception. I have to attempt this on the 3G network, and I assume it’s not going to be as clear as my Wifi, but hey, it works great and I can use MSN on it!

Wifi – The Jack had no option for Wifi (Despite Rogers telling me there was.) The E71′s wifi option was quick and easy to set up, without any difficulty connecting to my wireless at home! Quick and easy, gotta love it.

Radio – The E71 has built in FM radio that has great reception from my room (The basement!) and you can save preset frequencies with easy. I now have Flow 935, Virgin Radio 99.9, CHUM FM 104.5, and CHFI 98.1 all saved on my phone!

Qik – Qik is a fantastic program that lets me create a streaming video from my phone that would be viewable on my Qik site (http://qik.com/JonLim) and anyone can view any past streams! You can see the stream I was testing out with @verneho earlier, and it worked fantastically!

I couldn’t have asked for a better phone. What was even better was the transition! I had feared that there was no syncing with Microsoft Outlook, but the Nokia PC suite did it quick and easy, without any hassles. Not only that, but it syncs the SMS/MMS messages that you receive on the phone as well, which is another added benefit over the WinMo phones!

So to you, my new best friend, thank you for making my life much easier.

Dec 5, 2008

Featured Album Fridays / Annuals – Such Fun (2008)

Jon Lim Annuals, Featured Album Fridays, indie, Such Fun Featured Album Fridays, Music 0 Comment

I’m doing this a little earlier compared to last week – I actually got it in during a Friday! Great album this week, it is Annuals’ Such Fun album released in 2008.

Here is the description of Annuals, straight from their Wikipedia:

Annuals is a six-piece indie-pop outfit from Raleigh and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band was started by Adam Baker in 2003 as a side project of the still active sister band Sunfold, formerly known as Sedona and headed up by lead guitarist Kenny Florence.

Ace Fu Records signed Annuals in the fall of 2005 and then released their debut LP Be He Me on October 17, 2006. The members of Annuals are also all deeply involved in their own music-business venture,Terpsikhore Records, which is owned by benefactor J.K. Horne. Terpsikhore released Annuals’ first demo, titled “Lay Down Dry”, in the summer of 2005, as well as the Git’ Got EP in the summer of 2006.

Annuals appeared as the #25 entry in Pitchfork Media’s “Infinite Mixtape” series with their song “Brother”, and have also made appearances on Spin.com, AOLMusicIndie.com, Stereogum, I Guess I’m Floating, the Underrated, Brooklyn Vegan, and EarFarm (among others) – earning them a newfound reputation for being a “blog band.” They are frequently compared to the Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, and Broken Social Scene and are known for their intense live shows.

They made their national television debut on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and recently came back in October of 2008 for a second show, playing the title track from Such Fun, “Confessor.”

The January 24, 2007 episode of Veronica Mars (“Show Me the Monkey”) used a large portion of the song “Fair”.

Annuals’ sophomore album, Such Fun, was released on October 7, 2008.

Here’s the streaming album, take a listen and leave a comment if you enjoy it!