Signs that you learned something from Sir Bong’s Film Appreciation class: 1.) you notice a lot of loopholes and cinematic flaws, 2.) you stay for the credits, and 3.) you actually enjoy reading the credits. (≧∇≦)

Watched Ninja Assassin with friends today. It’s actually my second time because I already saw it with my mom and my brother. Last time I was too far away from the screen to see Joon’s name in the movie credits. This time I was stupid.（-┏）

Originally, I wanted to watch the movie because of Rain. I’m not a big fan but I love the “rivalry” between him and Stephen Colbert. I also like seeing non-Japanese-computer-geek Asians on my big screen. When I found out that MBLAQ’s Joon there too, I was even more excited. I wasn’t a big fan of Joon either (I’m not fond of guys with little to no clothing) but after watching him in Ninja Assassin and digging through Tumblr, I realized I like him more than Mir now haha~ （＾ ＾;）

There’s a part in the movie where Rain goes “Do you know who I am?” and the guy sitting behind me the first time I watched it answered, “My name is Rain.” lol. o(≧∇≦)o In a recent show, Joon talked about Ninja Assassin then for some reason he ended up doing a short skit thing where he tells the smoking dude, “You shouldn’t do that,” in the exact same tone as in the movie. Dork♥

Ninja Assassin was like Kill Bill, except it has pretty Asian boys. Gogo Yubari was cool but a girl on a killing spree is < Joon and Rain struggling with their English lines while on a killing spree.

After the movie, we went to the department store to look at random pretty things like we always do whenever we’re at malls.

I was able to do more Christmas shopping~ It’s my favorite part of the holidays, second only to the fulfilling activity of wrapping gifts. Haven’t done that in the past few years. It’s been a long while since I last gave proper presents to my friends because college gave my mom an excuse to not sponsor my gifts anymore lol.（＾ ＾;） This year I decided to be generous although I still wasn’t able to save up enough to buy Nhi something like I was planning to do so I got a bunch for my high school friends. Gotta take advantage of my last year with allowance. When I graduate, no longer will I have the right to ask for lunch money. ㅠ.ㅠ

I can’t wait to wrap these and give them out. p(*＾w＾*)q I will, of course, take pictures and shiz before wrapping although I won’t post until after I’ve given them away.

Off topic: Artwork should have smaller plastic bags or at least they should use paper bags instead. I bought a small item and they put it in a HUGE bag. All of the presents I bought from different shops fit in it.（-┏） They’re not helping the environment at all. I actually ask the bagging people not to bother putting my items in plastic bags if I can just put it in my bag.

hsp_bi_sk_y1, hsp_bi_sk_y2, hsp_bi_sk_y3, hsp_bi_sk_y4, hsp_bi_sk_y5

This was at the Kress in Hollywood where most of us saw him at the “Ninja Assassin” Party on Friday, November 20th. He was there at the club for about an hour, but was at the 2nd floor for the photo session for about a minute because it got too dangerous with the chaotic crowd who wanted to catch a glimpse of him. ~ Deb

Source: whisperla.com // Rain-USA

Am afirmat în articolul trecut că unul dintre cei mai importanți pași pe care poate să-l facă o companie pentru a-și asigura succesul pe termen lung, atât în perioade de boom economic cât și în perioade de criză, este inovația.

În perioadele de boom economic lucrurile sunt relativ simple. Cash flow-ul este asigurat, clienții bat la ușă și vor livrări acum două zile deși ei fac comanda astăzi, plățile se fac relativ la timp, astfel încât se merită o investiție destul de importantă într-un instrument IT care să ne ajute să creștem. De cele mai multe ori acest instrument poarta numele de ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Este vândut ca și produsul de business suprem, gestionează orice, aprovizionare, stocuri, depozitare, producție, distribuție, vânzări, contabilitate, resurse umane, poate chiar include și controlul fluxurilor de documente și instrumente colaborative. Când managerul unei companii în expansiune, cu cifră de afaceri în creștere, aude așa ceva, începe să se gândească la viitorul firmei, la câte puncte de lucru o să deschidă și cât de folositor ar fi produsul prezentat (de cele mai multe ori in PowerPoint). Se interesează de produs, dacă e unul renumit îl aleg instant, bineînțeles după o negociere la sânge în ceea ce privește prețul.

Este adevărat, este instrumentul ideal pentru a avea date complete și la zi despre afacerea sa. Este adevărat că datele se introduc o singură dată și apoi sunt doar preluate în fluxul de documente. Este adevărat că poate vizualiza rapoarte pe anul, luna, ziua în curs. Poate de aceea și merită investiția a sute de mii până la milioane de euro, pentru a controla mai bine afacerea și pentru a lua deciziile mai bune (informate).

Și totuși… Ceea ce mulți manageri nu înțeleg este faptul că un produs IT  pentru afaceri este 20% licențe și 80% consultanță. De multe ori renunță la analize și consultanță, sau investesc foarte puțin în acest lucru, preferând DVD-urile cu softul în cauză. De cele mai multe ori, acesta este prea specializat sau prea general pentru a se potrivi ca o mănușă afacerii sale. În cazul fericit al unui produs de calitate, managerul are posibilitatea de a adapta procedurile interne la specificul unei industrii (încă nu am văzut așa ceva decât în multinaționale), specific pe care este construit ERP-ul. Dar, de cele mai multe ori, managerii cer personalizarea produsului. Nu cred că în România a estimat corect vreun manager costurile cu dezvoltările necesare după darea în productiv.

Dacă softul este foarte scump, ești prins ca într-o plasă. Poți realiza încă din faza de implementare cât de complexă și costisitoare va fi utilizarea softului respectiv, dar deja s-a făcut o investiție (în DVD-uri, căutare furnizori, negociere) şi nu se mai dă inapoi, nu se reanalizează situaţia. Puțini au auzit de managementul schimbării în organizație, de audit al proiectelor de implementare, de consultanță și analiză înainte de semnarea unui contract de implementare. Ghiciți care este gradul de satisfacție al clienților care au implementat ERP? Și când spunem clienți, mă refer atât la managerul care (rar) intră și rulează un raport (prea complicat),  dar în special la utilizatorul programului, cel care nu a fost întrebat dacă i se eficientizează munca și nici nu a fost pregătit suficient pentru schimbare, cel care introduce datele.

Ceea ce este paradoxal este faptul că, deși ”automatizeză” mare parte din sarcini, un ERP aduce cu el și cheltuieli legate de personal. Un ERP poate gestiona toate operaţiunile şi procesele dintr-o organizaţie, dar datele trebuie introduse în el. De obicei sunt mai multe date de introdus, mai mulți pași. Prin urmare mai mult timp. Mai este nevoie de oameni pregătiți, care știu să lucreze cu un PC. Să nu mai spunem de costurile legate de IT. Cel mai simplu ar fi externalizarea serviciilor, dar managerii din România au un simț al proprietății înțeles greșit. Cred că serverele ținute într-o baracă din curtea companiei sunt mai sigure decât un Data Center… Și totuși avem un ERP…

Ce se întâmplă atunci când vrem să folosim datele din acesta mai mult decât un raport zilnic de stocuri? Ce se întâmplă când se negociază cu un furnizor, şi, deși este implementat un ERP, s-a hotărât să nu se stochezeze datele legate de contracte și oferte primite. Probabil managerul de produs are niște fișiere Excel cu niște date, dar cum să le folosească ca să ia o decizie? Cum să lege vânzările și aprovizionarea din sistemul ERP cu urmărirea contractelor din Excel?

Ce se întâmplă atunci când se dorește identificarea produselor cu vânzările cele mai mici și cu profitul cel mai mic, sau chiar cu cea mică rotație a stocurilor? Sau cum se pot urmări furnizorii ale căror produse au cele mai multe defecte și întârzieri la livrare când portofoliul are zeci de mii de produse?

Simplu, se cere un raport departamentului de IT. Aici fie că durează câteva minute, fie câteva zile, depinde de cantitatea datelor cerute și de competența personalului IT. Un lucru des ignorat este faptul că un ERP este un sistem tranzacțional, care înregistrează multe operațiuni foarte repede, și nu unul de analiză, în care se interoghează o cantitate foarte mare de date foarte repede (scrie repede câte 1 foaie pe secundă, în loc să citească o bibliotecă în câteva secunde).

Dar e boom economic, veniturile sunt destul de consistente cât să acopere aceste neplăceri. Sunt limitări de timp necesar pentru raportare, dar nu trebuie luate decizii importante, pentru că afacerea crește de la sine. Se mai alocă fonduri pentru hardware și problema este parțial rezolvată…

Dar ce se întâmplă pe timp de criză? Nu sunt bani pentru implementarea unui ERP.  Este nevoie de previziuni și analize ad-hoc pentru a lua decizii importante, de la prețul maxim acceptat de la un furnizor pentru a păstra prețul de vânzare, până la discountul maxim acordat unui client pentru a păstra un grad minim de profitabilitate. Trebuie urmărită cu atenție relația cu furnizorul, pentru că cea mai mică problemă de furnizare a materiilor prime poate duce la faliment. În același timp trebuie acordată atenție stocurilor din cauza costurilor mari de depozitare.

Ei bine, există și soluții inovatoare care pot ajuta. Dacă un ERP este prea scump, sau o soluție SCM nu se găsește pe piață (căutați pe Google în România SCM) există alte soluții care să nu necesite o schimbare radicală a modului de lucru, care să strângă date din orice sursă structurată (de la fișiere text la baze de date din spatele ERP) și care să ofere posibilitatea managerilor să acționeze și să ia decizii în cunoștință de cauză. Sunt soluțiile BI sau Business Intelligence. Soluțiile de top sunt versatile, rapide și nu necesită efortul financiar generat de implementarea unui ERP.  Beneficiile sunt însă cheia unui management de succes, indiferent că vorbim de supply chain management, managementul riscurilor, financiar, operațional, optimizarea proceselor, previziuni și tendințe economice pe baza datelor istorice.

Tablourile de bord, urmărirea indicatorilor cheie de performanță, alertarea situațiilor critice, analizele multianuale și multidimensionale sunt doar câteva din caracteristicile unui instrument Business Intelligence. Cele de top oferă viteză de lucru incredibilă, pentru că informația devine irelevantă dacă nu este disponibilă la timp. Totodată, vă puteți bucura de un mod de lucru grafic, interactiv și posibilitatea de analiză ad-hoc, pe orice dimensiune dorește utilizatorul, fără intervenția IT-ului necesară în cazul pre-agregării datelor.

Știți care este instrumentul BI inovator cu cea mai mare creștere în ultimii ani?

As promised…my thoughts on the movie. I agree with Rain himself. The movie kicks some major ass!! the graphics and fighting scenes were amazing!! It was beautifully choreographed. I would gladly watch this movie again. Rain did a great job and as his fan, I’m so proud of him. All the hard work pays off. It currently ranked 6th at box office. Kudos!!! Rain is undeniably a world star. Warning though…it is rated R. Lots of blood and detaching of body parts but thats what made it a great action movie. =) I personally give it a 8.5 out of 10.
Lastly…go watch!!

Oleh : Agus Suman
Setelah dihajar bencana hukum bertubi-tubi, pemerintah kembali menerima kabar yang tidak mengenakkan dari sektor perbankan. Pertumbuhan kredit perbankan layu, bahkan posisi saat ini merupakan titik terendah sejak Juli 2006.
Bahkan, hingga awal November, pertumbuhan tahunan (year on year) kredit hanya 7,3 persen. Dan, tentu target pertumbuhan kredit yang dicanangkan BI untuk tahun ini sebesar 11 persen tertatih-tatih. Meski sebenarnya target kredit perbankan itu telah dipangkas pada triwulan II/2009. Semula pertumbuhan kredit yang ingin dicapai pada akhir tahun ini tumbuh 15 persen dari posisi di akhir 2008.

Dalam tinjauan kebijakan moneter edisi November 2009, BI menjelaskan bahwa salah satu faktor yang menjadi rintangan membiaknya kredit perbankan adalah koreksi tajam untuk jenis kredit modal kerja. Penurunan terbesar terjadi di sektor industri dan pertambangan.

Penurunan kredit dua sektor tersebut sangat berpengaruh mengingat penyaluran kredit dua sektor itu tercatat sebagai yang terbesar dalam beberapa tahun terakhir. Sedangkan, kredit konsumsi masih mencatatkan pertumbuhan yang tinggi.

Selain itu, menurut data BI, pelemahan terjadi karena kredit valuta asing anjlok. Data BI per akhir September mencatat, kredit valas year to date turun hingga Rp 53,1 triliun atau minus 20,9 persen. Sedangkan, kredit rupiah sebenarnya tetap naik hingga Rp 111,5 triliun atau 10,6 persen.

Dengan kondisi kredit perbankan seperti saat ini, tentu sulit mencegah hadirnya kecemasan karena laju pertumbuhan kredit perbankan tahun depan harus dipacu cukup tinggi, yakni 17-22 persen. Hal itu bertujuan untuk mengejar target pertumbuhan ekonomi pada 2010.

Peran Kredit

Mengapa harapan terhadap kredit perbankan begitu penting bagi pertumbuhan ekonomi tahun mendatang? Pertama, mendorong kinerja konsumsi rumah tangga yang pada gilirannya berpengaruh terhadap daya beli. Dan, stabilnya tingkat inflasi menjadi salah satu indikasi bahwa daya beli rumah tangga sangat terbuka lebar.

Pertumbuhan kredit saat ini pun cukup ditolong dengan topangan dari pertumbuhan kredit konsumsi yang hampir mencapai 52 persen. Dengan demikian, pertumbuhan ekonomi yang ditopang dengan konsumsi masih bisa diharapkan. Memang pertumbuhan ekonomi yang dikerek oleh konsumsi masih kurang berkualitas. Tetapi untuk saat ini, kekuatan itu menjadi salah satu sandaran harapan kita akan pertumbuhan ekonomi, khususnya pada tahun depan.

Kedua, mendorong kinerja investasi. Meski share kredit investasi dari total alokasi kredit perbankan masih di bawah kredit konsumsi dan modal kerja, hal itu tidak berarti alokasi kredit investasi tahun ini tetap atau sama dengan tahun sebelumnya. Pertumbuhan yang tipis tentu masih mempunyai dampak ekspansi pada sektor riil. Hal itu tentu juga turut meningkatkan pertumbuhan.

Ketiga, gerak perlambatan untuk industri yang berorientasi ekspor ataupun yang terkait dengan kandungan impor yang begitu terasa pada tahun ini mulai melaju kembali. Kredit untuk sektor itu akan menjadi energi usaha-usaha tersebut. Sehingga, tahun depan secara perlahan ekspor kembali menjadi mata air pertumbuhan.

BI Rate

Tingginya bunga kredit juga patut menjadi perhatian. Meski BI telah menurunkan suku bunga acuannya (BI rate) sebanyak tujuh kali, yakni dari November 2008 (9,50 persen) hingga Juli 2009 (6,5 persen), tampaknya, dunia perbankan nasional belum merespons dalam bentuk penurunan suku bunga kredit.

Idealnya, dengan turunnya BI rate, bank-bank besar yang memiliki cukup likuiditas seharusnya memberikan contoh bagi bank-bank papan menengah ke bawah dalam menurunkan suku bunga deposito dan kemudian bunga kredit. Kenyataannya memang anjlok dari harapan. Penurunan BI rate memang telah direspons secara langsung dengan penurunan suku bunga tabungan dan deposito. Tetapi, untuk suku bunga kredit, perbankan berdalih bahwa dibutuhkan waktu yang lebih lama untuk menyesuaikannya.

Salah satu upaya yang dilakukan BI untuk memaksa perbankan menurunkan suku bunga kredit adalah melalui kesepa­katan dengan 14 bank yang menguasai 80 persen total aset perbankan nasional. Yakni, memangkas suku bunga dananya hingga maksimal BI rate plus 150 basis poin (bps) atau saat ini 8 persen.

Bahkan, sejak 1 September 2009, BI mengharapkan suku bunga simpanan perbankan berada pada tingkat 50 basis poin di atas BI rate atau maksimal 7 persen. Sehingga, ada efek positif penurunan bunga kredit.

Selain itu, pengawasan yang dilakukan BI terhadap kepastian penurunan suku bunga. Yakni, dengan mengawasi secara ketat net interest margin (NIM), yang merupakan selisih antara biaya dana dan bunga kredit yang diberikan kepada nasabah, dari setiap bank yang telah menurunkan suku bunga simpanan nasabahnya.

Tentu kita berharap, dalam jangka pendek pengawas BI tersebut cukup efektif. Meski fakta mengabarkan sebaliknya. Hasil survei yang dilakukan BI menunjukkan bahwa pada kuartal ketiga, rata-rata suku bunga kredit masih bertengger pada level 15,13 persen atau hampir dua setengah kali lipat lebih tinggi daripada BI rate. Memang ada penurunan bila dibandingkan dengan kuartal sebelumnya yang mencapai 15,83. Tetapi, penurunan yang sangat tipis itu tentu tidak mempunyai efek yang diharapkan.

Sekali lagi, kita berharap pada perbankan nasional agar melakukan langkah besar bagi terciptanya kondisi ekonomi yang lebih cerah tahun depan. Sehingga, keran kredit yang dialirkan dapat bermanfaat bagi masyarakat dan pembangunan. (*)

*) Agus Suman, guru besar ilmu ekonomi Universitas Brawijaya, Malang

nuff said

MOAR

Pheeew! I need to make a huge apology for not responding to peoples comments for weeks. Ah! It’s definitely not that I don’t read them. In fact, I find them all extremely comforting and typically read them the same day they are posted. However, I usually write posts when I am going through a particularly hard time and then would rather leave it for awhile before having to…’relive’(?) it. I dunno, it doesn’t make sense but replying to comments forces me to acknowledge the (typically) pain again and so then I simply don’t. Horrible! I know. I’m going to work on that.

Annnnd, with that I want to make it known that these posts certainly don’t reflect a major part of my personality. I’m not always this sad! In fact, i’m usually the opposite so hopefully I’ll find some way to mix that into the site. Like I mentioned though, this site represents a place for me to come vent my pain and then when I’m happy the last thing I want to do is stop by here because it does represent that pain to me. Now i’m totally rambling so I’ll shush. First though, thank you all! Like I said in one of the comments, I know that I am perfect the way I am. I know that I am not alone. Unfortunately, the constant interaction with my parents makes it difficult to remember that and everytime I receive a comment it snaps me back to reality and knowing that (as conceited as this will sound) i’m brilliant!

*speaking of positive posts, I had a good talk with the social worker at school, one of the assistant principles, and my english teacher on Tuesday which really helped me get through Thanksgiving break without losing it. I would post about it now buuuut I should be studying for my Mandarin quiz. Zai Jian!

We’ll update this as we go along, so stay tuned!!! ~ Deb

Ok folks.  I saw the film opening day, and I was kind of disapointed that the theater I went to pushed it to a tiny side theater.  Oh’s well’s.  Here goes.

When you see a Wachowski brothers movie you have to expect the unexpected.  They pull out all the stops visually and sometimes things don’t make the most sense the first time around.  Unless you’re REALLY paying attention – and believe when Rain’s on screen, I’m paying attention!  First of all, this film did not let Rain stretch his acting muscles – just his physical ones. (Which, as a squeeling fan-girl I appreciated very much.)  His English is much improved over older clips and songs, I know he’s working hard and that over time his abilities will increase 10 fold.  That said, what did I think of the movie?  Man, what a bloody, bloody splash fest of a film THAT was!  Dear me.  I was prepared slightly by the local newspaper reviewer.  (“Ninja Assassin sets a new standard for film gore.”) So, I knew it was going to be bad, but not bad enough to make this non-squeemish girl cringe and try VERY hard not to look away.  I will say this, if you can make it through the opening scene, things get better and if I may say so – a bit more stylized and less, um, blech-y.  Naomie Harris was very good in her role and I liked her.  She was a good strong character who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, but knew better than to just jump into the middle of a fight thinking she could help (most of the time.)  I was disapointed by how little dialogue that Rain had.  Did the directors think he couldn’t handle it, or was it part of his ninja character that he had to stay mysteriously quiet?  I’m not entirely sure.  I do know that I probably got a few dirty/quizical looks or questioning thoughts during one scene where a random henchman-like character says:  **SPOILER ALER** “He doesn’t look like a killing machine to me, He looks like he belongs in a boy band.”  OH MAN.  That almost had me on the floor rolling with laughter.  I had to cover my mouth and take deep breaths to calm down.  In the heavier fight scenes Rain wowed and proved that his 8am-5pm everyday for 9 months training paid off – in a big way.  I only spotted a few scenes that were obviously  his stunt double.  Other wise the man whooshed his way through the choreography.  I remember thinking 3/4 of the way through the movie “Poor Rick Yune!” Poor man has only one scene in which you can actual see his face, not very good for an actor that already has very few apperances in films.   I find it funny that for most of the articles about this film he was billed before Rain.  Kind of ironic if you ask me.  In all, this film really was all about the action, and it’s nearly non-stop.  I think critics are generally full of crap and they get movies wrong.  Most of them are looking for films to be artsy, realistic and have deep meanings.  In general, the public like movies that are entertaining and show them something they don’t see in daily life or have never seen before and in this sense, Ninja Assassin delivers.  I want to warn anyone who is slighly squeemish or can’t handle violence against seeing this movie.  Wait for the DVD and fast forward through the tough stuff and you’ll get to at least see Rain for a few minutes!  My final rating:  6.5/7 out of 10.

Rain worked very hard for Ninja Assassin!

If you like action/kung-fu/martial arts movies or Rain – check out Ninja Assassin!

China fan at concert say that rain’s hairstyle is red, a bit curly.
At the end of the concert, he got pour water all over his body.

Also a fan say that at cloudchina website, she saw at the last song “friends” segment, all the audience held Rainhk fanmade hand banner which wrote”We will wait for you”.

Source: baidu

Credit: Edited by scorpiola//scorpiola@Youtube

Summit Entertainment’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” finally met its match on Thanksgiving.

The vampires-romance sequel gobbled up $9.2 million in Turkey Day boxoffice to bring its cumulative boxoffice to $188.4 million through seven days in domestic release.

But the high-grossing phenom was blind-sided by an even bigger tally posted by Warner Bros.’ “The Blind Side” as the Sandra Bullock starrer — which finished second to “New Moon” last weekend — topped daily rankings with $9.5 million in Thursday coin.

That brought cume for the college-football drama to $60.1 million through its first full week in theaters.

A couple of newer titles figured lower in the rankings on their second day of wide release.

Warners’ martial-arts actioner “Ninja Assassin” was the best of this week’s new pics, with $4.6 million in third place and a $7.9 million cume since unspooling Wednesday.

Disney’s PG-rated “Old Dogs” fetched $4.2 million in fourth place. Starring John Travolta, Robin Williams, Seth Green and Kelly Preston. “Dogs” carries a two-day tally of $7.3 million

Sony’s sci-fi actioner “2012″ was fifth, with $4.1 million shaping a $120.9 million cume at the cusp of its third weekend in the marketplace.

Wes Anderson’s animated feature “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which Fox broadened into wide release Wednesday after a couple weeks of bicoastal exclusives, ranked eighth among the daily grossers with $1.3 million from 2,027 playdates. “Fox” totes a $2.5 million cume.

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i09f748f4cc1576f1a2aaf5e238c0c02b

Being a ninja has never been scarier or bloodier.

I had high hopes for Ninja Assassin. The trailer seemed filled with action and Asian choreography — what’s not to love? I’ve been seeing pictures of Rain’s transformation and was excited to see him in action.

The very beginning of the film showed promise. Sung Kang, whom I recognized from Tokyo Drift, plays some kind of mob boss who is getting tattooed while his lackeys hang out. On the big screen, it’s rare to see a room full of Asians who are fluent in English, but the enjoyment stopped there. The lines uttered between Sung Kang and his wizened tattoo artists are full of overacting, and the lousy script didn’t help.

Soon afterward, we were treated to a display of violence so gratuitous that I had to shield my eyes from the sheer brutality. In every fight scene, blood sprayed like water coming out of a whale’s blowhole. Is it really possible for ninja blades really able to cut cleanly through a human’s torso?! This was the resounding question in my mind for the whole movie. I know that our belief is supposed to be suspended, but perhaps director James McTeigue could’ve tried to exercise just a bit more restraint in this area.

Rain is the headlining star in this movie [which might partly account for the relatively low budget]. This is good because it means we get to see him a lot, but disadvantageous because he’s still a comparatively amateur actor whose English is imperfect — carrying a film is a big burden. Also, his hairstyle in this movie is awful.

Much like the seventh Harry Potter book, the first half of Ninja Assassin has no plot. It consists of three vaguely connected subplots: a Europol agent trying to uncover the ninja clan with no apparent motive, Rain working out in his apartment, and Rain’s flashbacks of training to be a ninja. The film’s problems begin here.

Although most of the movie is set in Berlin, everybody inexplicably speaks English. I understand that many American movies do this out of convenience, but there isn’t even an attempt at pretending these people are German. Actress Naomi Harris speaks with an American accent the entire time, as do all the other Europol agents except for her co-worker, who has a British accent. In fact, the setting of Berlin is such a trivial detail that they might as well have been FBI agents. Unfortunately, her scenes are so boring that I spent most of them typing notes of complaint into my phone to remember later when I wrote this review.

Joon doing what he does best

The more important issue with language comes from the fact that this film heavily features Asian [and Asian American] actors. I would firstly like to ask why Ninja Assassin chose two Korean singers to play the lead character. If I were Japanese, I’d be offended that they didn’t bother to find an authentic representative. [Still, Lee Joon is not bad at his role as teenage Rain, and his English is pretty good as well.] To pile on the confusion, EVERYBODY in this movie speaks English, including the Japanese ninja master and his entire clan. The film would have been much better if the supposedly Japanese people actually spoke Japanese — the oversimplification makes the cheesy lines sound even stupider.

I don’t know very much about ninjas other than the stereotypes, and the ninjas in this movie are much less subtle than I’m used to. They whisper creepy threats when emerging from the shadows and run through the streets [and get hit by cars] in pursuit of prey. What? Aren’t they supposed to be stealthy and discreet? Instead, they leave blood spatter everywhere. As powerful as he is, even Rain is not very smooth when jumping from platform to platform, and there are many cringe-worthy scenes of him acting like a crazy, murderous fiend. It adds a human element, I suppose, but it all somehow falls to the wayside during the very last fight scene.

My final complaint is the total lack of character development. We never get to see what’s going on inside of the main character’s mind. Nobody really has a motive to do anything, and the end of the film is dissatisfying because of the total lack of direction. Rain stares off into the Japanese landscape with a slight smile, but what does it mean? Did he learn anything in the course of the 109 minutes? I certainly didn’t.

There are a few redeemable qualities to Ninja Assassin, but not enough for this review to be favorable. For one, every scene featuring Rain’s torso is incredibly hot, even when he’s covered in blood and battle scars. The choreography is entertaining [though not beautiful or inspiring], as is the cinematography. Also, Rain’s weapon [two blades swinging on a long chain] was really cool. Props to him for doing most of his own stunts.

In the end, I don’t regret seeing this movie. I’m happy to support Asian artists trying to break into the American entertainment industry, and I just hope that the next films will be better.

“‘Hello, Cinderella, I am your fairy godperson, or individual deity proxy, if you prefer. So, you want to go to the ball, eh? And bind yourself into the male concept of beauty? Squeeze into some tight-fitting dress that will cut off your circulation? Jam your feet into high-heeled shoes that will ruin your bone structure? Paint your face with chemicals and make-up that have been tested on nonhuman animals?’

“‘Oh yes, definitely,’ she said in an instant…”

from “Politically Correct Bedtime Stories”
by James Finn Garner

I know. I have no life because I keep on writing about Lima Bean. But some of the things that he lets slip is just too funny to keep to myself.

Tonight we watched “Ninja Assassin”. His choice. But it didn’t stop me from enjoying the hotness that is Rain on the silver screen. He’s my new crush du jour (or maybe pour toujours?). Dear Santa, I want him for Christmas. But I digress. Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Lima Bean on the way home:

ME: Rain is sooo dreamy. So dreamy! He’s so hot. I heard he only ate chicken breasts for, like, six months or something for this movie.
HIM: Why?
ME: To build up his body, I think. Something like that. Maybe you should eat chicken breasts for six months. Hahaha!
HIM: Nah. I’ll be a different kind of warrior.
ME: What?
HIM: Sumo wrestler.

I may be the Queen of Unreasonable Demands, but it sure doesn’t take much to make me laugh.

Wereldwijd de grootste BI Survey van Nigel Pendse is weer afgerond en beschikbaar. Een van de opvallende uitkomsten is toch wel de als tamelijk slecht gewaardeerde ervaringen van klanten met de grote BI spelers zoals Microsoft, Oracle, IBM Cognos en SAP BO.

Afgelopen week werd ik door mijn compagnon Jeroen Blankendaal gewezen op een interessant artikel naar aanleiding van de BI Survey, waarbij nader wordt ingegaan op de ervaringen van klanten met de grote en kleine BI spelers. De uitkomsten zijn toch wel shocking.

Business Objects, Cognos en Hyperion zijn de afgelopen jaren opgeslokt door partijen als SAP, IBM en Oracle. De verwachting was dat de consolidatieslag zijn effecten zou hebben op de kleine BI spelers en dat die vanzelf het veld zouden ruimen, door al het ontwikkel en marketing budget. Niets is minder waar!

De BI Survey, uitgevoerd onder duizenden gebruikers en consultants, geeft toch een heel ander beeld. De grote vendors scoren over het gehele beeld slechter. Gebruikers zijn minder tevreden. Bijvoorbeeld  query performance, onbetrouwbaarheid (bugs, etc), product features scoorden bij de grote spelers 2x zo slecht als de kleine BI spelers.

Hetzelfde beeld is te zien rondom product support. Nog belangrijker: de ervaringen rondom business benefits zijn bij de kleine speler ook nog eens hoger.

Hoe kan dat nou? Gaat de aandacht uit naar integratie ipv innovatie ? Een interessante gedachte, een mooie discussie rondom ‘best of breed’ versus ‘BI-suite’ kan weer gestart worden…

Natuurlijk is de integratie tussen business planning, business intelligence en data belangrijk. Het technisch proberen op te lossen is naar mijn idee dan ook ondergeschikt aan het feit dat het een bedrijfsmatig vraagstuk is.

Het begint er mee dat organisaties de visie adopteren van een integraal informatie beleid. Gestoeld op lange termijn visie en korte termijn doelstellingen. Veel organisaties worstelen met die vraag en mogen van zowel de software leveranciers alsmede de implementatiepartners verwachten hierbij hulp te ontvangen.

Hello, this is Cloud master.

 Here is the information about Rain’s flight to Jakarta in Indonesia.

 November 30th.

C1679. *(think they meant CX, i.e. Cathay Pacific since he’s flying from HK)

16:25 (departure)~20:15 (arrival)

 Thank you..

 http://www.rain-jihoon.com/notice/board_view.php?db=board1&number=228&mode=view&pn=1&RLurl=%2Fnotice%2Fnotice.html&Com=&MenuS=&MenuS2=&Ptmp=&Ptmp2=&Cate=&Cate2=&field=&word=

Brief translation by rain bird. (Thanks Zarifah for the info!)

Yes, after all that scheduling and cancelling and getting sued, Rain is still very much interested into breaking in the US Music industry.

He will be holding a special event concert at the Ceaser’s Palace in Las Vegas this on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The concert, nicely dubbed as “Legend of Rainism” will be promoted by Far East Marketing and tickets are now being sold through Ticketmaster. com.

To all those that can go, let us know how the event went! ^^

absolutemblaq3@youtube
re-up by pearl@abm

a quick translation:
I think he did very well considering it is his first time. I think he has a bright future as an actor because his facial expression acting is very good. I’m not saying this because he’s my family but I honestly didn’t think he’d do that well. I thought he’d do to a certain level because he’s a child actor but he did so well.
by leira

We will also continue to update this as we get more stuff coming in from HK fans!! Enjoy!! ~ Deb

Magic Stick

Fresh Woman

Ending…Disco Dancing With Rain

Special Thanks to Youtube User: Kit110ty

Sexy Dance