Technology: The Gift & Curse

Technology has improved dramatically over the past few decades and has helped humans achieved development significantly.

The Gift of technology is that it relieve us of rough work and provide comfort in our lives. In my mind engineers' job is to make people lazier and more dependent on automation. It also produced high-definition games which awed many around the world. High-speed internet enables us to access information with a click of the mouse.

The Curse of technology is that when something goes wrong, we humans tend to be very impatient and often gets frustrated when things are slow as they expected everything to be instantaneous. A very good example is the problem of gaming.

Youths nowadays are too engrossed with gaming and can easily go up to 6 hours marathon. When they lose a match in the game they will curse loudly and making a mountain out of a molehill. I have a sibling like this who always curse when he loses a match in DOTA. I am irritated as i cannot concentrate on my studies.

Its a sad issue in my mind.

Misjudgement

I am sure that you folks know that Barcelona won the 2008/2009 Champions League.

I personally think they deserve to win as they put on a classic performance and had most of the possession. Well done for Barcelona.

As for my thoughts on Manchester United, Fergie made a wrong move by sitting Berbartov & Tevez on the bench & let Giggs on a loner hunt.

Both Rooney & Ronaldo was not at their best form during the later match and subsequently faded out.

Is Manchester Untied needing a nitrous injection next season?

Higher Altitude

Hello there folks.

Time really has flown by.... It is week 5 now and 2 more weeks to the mid-term holidays. But the holiday is meant for us to prepare for our MST which is going to take place right after that.

The complexity of Maths is killing me as i had to apply year 1 & 2 knowledge in order to solve the questions. Not to mention other modules....

As for my driving lesson, everything is gradually improving as i am taught the parking & slope skills. I plan to obtain my license within 6 months and wish me luck for achieving my target.

Red Devils Glory

Manchester United has won the EPL title again. That's a total of 18 league titles matching liverpool's record.

Now, all left is the Champions League vs Barcelona. I am confident that the Red Devils will retain the title and dominate Europe once again.

I have heard rumors that Fergie is retiring and the manager to take over him is Jose Mourihno. The former manager of Chelsea which won 2 consecutive league titles under his guidance. I sure hope he is the candidate to succeed Fergie(if he retires).

Long live the Red Devils.

Hip Hop Is Dead...

Here is my review:

This is one of the controversial albums in Nas' discography.

Many southern rappers took offense to the title due to critics that deemed southern rap as the source that cheapened the quality of hip hop with their club-banging songs.

The sound of the album is mixed with diverse production which included producers like Scott Storch, Dr.Dre & Kanye West.

Perhaps the most anticipated was the collaboration of 2 of the greatest MCs of all time on Black Republican which featured Jay-Z, Nas' one time rival. They sure did impress with the majestic sound that clearly was engineered to showcase the 2 rappers.

The 1st half of the album had a generally rock-influenced sound while the other half has a more soulful feel.

My favorite song is Still Dreaming produced by Kanye West.

Overall, the album was well produced. This is certainly one of Nas' best albums.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Feeling the Heat

So this is the 4th week, how fast time files.....


My workload is getting heavier by the weeks. My group in ACE are struggling in getting our PWM circuit to function. My GEMS module requires me to hand in my assignment by latest week 8(which is a holiday period).

I am going nuts with the assignments and the complexity in understanding of my modules. This is just the 4th week and i am seriously stressed up!!


What should i do?

Fading.....

I am been listening to Hip-Hop since my secondary school days. The 1st song was Cleanin' Out My Closet by Eminem.

At first, i have no idea what rap was about except for the profanities and raunchy issues mentioned. However, when i listened in depth, hip-hop is actually telling a story about a particular character.

I personally prefer 90's style of Hip-Hop as they rap about true issues happening in the hood. The sound was not radio friendly and this is the true essence of Hip-Hop in my mind.

For East Coast Hip-Hop, the rappers focused more on lyrical dexterity, creativity and the beats are sparse and rough. As for West Coast Hip-Hop, the rappers focused on real-life issues and hard life and the beats are smoother.

I generally prefer lyrical skills but beats are also important. Thus my favourite albums are more of East Coast eg. Illmatic.

But the quality of hip-hop of today is watered down drastically as it is too commercialized. The number rappers who ventured into the mainstream and remained successful is small.

Is hip-hop dying???

Top 10 Classics

Here is my list of Top 10 classic hip hop albums that i owned:

1. Illmatic-Nas
2. All Eyez On Me-2Pac
3. The Chronic-Dr.Dre
   
4. Life After Death-The Notorious B.I.G.
5. The Marshall Mathers LP-Eminem
   
6. The Slim Shady LP-Eminem
7. The Eminem Show-Eminem
8. Late Registration-Kanye West
9. Death Certificate-Ice Cube
   
10. N*****-Nas
    

The Black Album

Here is my review:

This was promoted as Jay-Z's final solo album in 2003. It was marketed as a street album with the return to his Reasonable Doubt roots.

Though it appears to be a street album, most of the songs are produced by mainstream-oriented producers like Kanye West, The Neptunes & Just Blaze etc. Besides that, the album was very well-produced.

The album had an almost all solo effort( as well as The Blueprint) except for Pharell that appeared on 2 tracks singing falsetto.

My favorite track is Moment of Clarity produced by Eminem as the ominous sound sets you up for a serious tone. Another is Dirt Off Your Shoulders produced by Timbaland with the essence of "street" sound.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Bottomless Pit

Hello there people, its been a while since i updated...

School's fine but since the outbreak of the Swine flu or H1N1 so to speak, our school has implemented measures like temperature recording on a daily basis and the mandatory wearing of issued lanyards with our admin card in order to gain easier access into the school compound.

They even sent an SMS informing us to bring our thermometers on a daily basis starting tomorrow.

The world is pretty much in disarray now( or it has been since mankind started?). The economy's screwed up & worse still there is the outbreak of Swine flu. The wound is just too big & deep.

I personally think that it will take a while to recover from the current problems we are facing now.

P.S: Its a crazy mixed-up world.