Iron Soldiers

I have just found my soul-mate, in Iron Man. I know many of you know it was Leonidas from 300... but Iron Man is just so irresistible! Boy, he's got the wits, the genius, the humor, the charm, the attitude, the cool gadgets... what's not to like about him? Most importantly, he's a one man killing machine, he's got Iron.

Anyways, I'm getting carried away here. I hope most people enjoyed the movie as much as I did - he's officially become one of my fav heroes. But I have to confess, it was not his flamboyance, or his plight in the Middle East, or his armour, or his flight excusions, that caught my heart... it was actually the scene, with the baddy uncle and the Arab terrorist, that really intrigued me.

It's where both the baddies meet and the Arab tries to negotiate the price for the remains of the Iron suit ... "repay me with a gift of Iron Soldiers"... and to his oblivion he gets double-crossed and paralysed by a tiny gadget in Mr Stane's hand.

And the parting words are, "Technology. It's always been your Achilles' Heel in this part of the world"

Whether you love the Americans, or hate them... they are afterall, Iron Soldiers.

Oily War

Everybody's talkin about oil these days... touching almost $140 with analysts turning ever bullish. Excerpts of a conversation that I had:

Rups: Wow did ya see the oil prices?

Mr Ian R: Yeah! It doesnt make sense to me. Actually I'm quite worried about the stability in the Middle East, esp if oil keeps goin up like this...

Rups: ...I thought the high oil prices wld bring more stability to the region instead of instability...

Mr Ian R: ...when prices are high enough, US or China's gonna say... hang on... why do they, the Arabs, only get to benefit from this... and they'll go in... u just see... I aint sayin it's happenin soon... maybe 10, 15 yrs... it's far-fetched... but u just see...

Rups: I was thinkin... after the property boom... the Arabs wld start building Military Power... US has got it... China's got it... Russia too... so bein so cash rich it'll be them!! I dont see them pumpin more oil... they are comin up with one excuse after another... oh it's speculation blah blah blah... so if the prices aint comin down and them bein aggressive by nature... military buildup makes sense...

Mr Ian R: ...but who's gonna fight? They dont have enough population...

Rups: They'll bring in the Africans

Mr Ian R: ...Maybe...

Rups: ... everybody's power hungry these days... nobody wants to backoff... everybody wants to be a superpower... and they wont be pushed around...

Mr Ian R: ...there'll be another Cold War...

Rups: ...ultimately... it'll still be the Americans benefiting... I shld be working for a Weapons Co...

Cyber Show

I like Obama.

Dont ask me why, but I really like Obama! Hillary's too bitchy and John's too old. Obama's just right... the right shade... the right attitude... the right foreign policy!

Recently he's been under alot of fire... due to his "bitter" remarks and bitter remarks by his pastor. I'm biased... I think that neither should matter.

But unfortunately, You Tube is not so forgiving. At it's best, it has the ability to make you famous, and at it's worst, it's your ultimate nightmare. It has definately changed, not only the way presidential candidates campaign, but also how everyday "candidates" campaign for popularity.

Nowadays, people are more worried about the "hits" they get on cyberspace than in real. Social site addicts, are addicted to the number of friends they have - sometimes that makes me wonder what exactly is the definition of a "friend". What's really phenomenal, is the fact that, we contribute voluntarily "content" that we believe will make us more appealing to our fellow cyber citizens.

Most times, the information that we put up is quite personal - in the form of photographs, videos, journals... ... but occasionally stuff that we consider funny or amusing is also shared, and it is not always about us.

In the age of media convergence, every gadget is connected. Typical example being mobile phones connected to PCs. Thus we tend to record alot of stuff onto our phones to have it end up on the internet. Stuff, means ANY stuff, from anywhere. Ever imagined becoming the protagonist of someone else's production - without being aware. Thinking Truman Show? Hmmm it's not that impossible in the cyber world.