On Monday my dear wife is going for an interview at HSA. Anyone who knows her well enough would know that a post at HSA is like her dream job.She had applied a number of times previously but was not accepted. But I have a feeling that this time the outcome will be a bit different. Hope she gets the job then I will have a 'super duplex happy' wife. No hubby ever wants to have to face a 'superly duplexly unhappy' wife.

Got the awaited quotation from Mona. Seems all good, but we will probably still go look around for other interior designers.

Yesterday we headed down to Orchard for some shopping (for Agnes's interview on Monday). We shopped around a bit at Taka before going over to Iora at Wisma. There my dear bought 3 items, 2 tops and a skirt, coming up to over $100. Money well spent if she uses the clothes she bought in future when she starts to work. But I dun really know what HSA's dresscode policy is like.

Gonna check out the different rates and plans available for broadband, phone and cable tv by Singtel,Starhub,M1 and PacNet. Find one that fits our budget and needs. Be cool to have a wireless network at home so we can do our work. As far as TV goes Agnes is fine with free-to-air, but I lean more towards cable for my sports fix. And in all probability we will get a phone line fixed, although I do know of some people who manage to get by with just their mobile phones....

Movies I wanna watch:

RATTOUILLE (in cinema's now)
about a lovable rat - Remy - who constantly risks his life in an expensive French restaurant because of his love for good food, as well as a burning desire to become a gourmet chef. Obviously, this is rather far-fetched for a rat but opportunity knocks when a young boy, who desperately needs to keep his job at the restaurant despite not being able to cook to save his life, makes Remy a partner. The two of them learn to avoid the insane head chef, bring the rest of Remy's family up to his culinary standards, win the boy a girlfriend, and of course, produce the finest ratatouille in all of France!
should be a visual feast, and the smart humour does not hurt.

Hairspray (out now)
Set in Baltimore during the 1960s dance TV craze, a zaftig high school hair hopper, Tracy Turnblad, graduates from outsider to celebrity trendsetter and along the way she stars on "The Corny Collins Show," wins the heart of resident hunk Link Larkin and kicks down the barriers for black and white integration on local television.
A fun and positive movie based on the stage show which was based on the movie. Should be a fun one to catch. But John Travolta in a fat suit and in drag? Save us please...

Evan Almighty (out now)
Newly-elected to Congress, Evan leaves the city of Buffalo and herds his family to suburban northern Virginia. Once there, his life turns upside-down when God appears and commands him to build an ark. However, his befuddled family just cannot decide whether Evan is having an extraordinary mid-life crisis or is truly onto something of Biblical proportions.
Bruce Almighty this is not. But with animals and Morgan Freeman in it, it should be survivable.

Arctic Tale (opens 13th Sep)
National Geographic Films brings us a tale that unfolds in the North Pole. This documentary is a story about life, love, survival and all the natural action that happens in the Great North. The key animals are Nanu, a polar bear, and Seela, a walrus. Watch their mothers teach and protect them, and witness how they grow into strong adults, adapting to the vast changes that are happening to their environment
From the same people who brought us The March of the Penguin, so it should look great. Narrated by..eeks.. Queen Latifah, so you kind of know who this movie is gonna appeal to. Nowhere in the league of Penguins in terms of documentary value, but sure gonna be more fuzzy and cutesey moments to follow.

Think I may have ruffled a few feathers with my revelations in my post about Ant. I struggled abit with what to put in and what to leave out. To be sure Noel seemed none too pleased. The worst part about all of this is, as usual, the person responsible has put up a different face in front of me and in front of the lovey-dovey couple. Sometimes I wonder what she thinks of me and Agnes honestly, when I see how she goes about two-facing about the other 2 couples in the family. I do not respect people who say one thing in front of you and then do something different when you are not looking. And that is all I have to say about it for now...

Gonna have to clear the cages of the rabbits and hamsters. The rabbits one has been long overdue. I been unable to do so for various reasons and circumstances the last week or so. Hope to get down to it by tomorrow. And since I live in close quarters with the hammies, you kinda scent..I mean..sense...when they need their change.

Oh...lest I forget, Agnes and I are gonna have to go scout for lamps and fans for the home. So that when the contractors move in, they can do the needful. Although there is no real urgency to do it, we should at least look around and get some kind of consensus sooner rather than later.

Chinese Garden is having their annual Mid-Autumn lantern Festival again. Not sure if we will have the time to go, but will try.
Chinese Garden will once again spring to life with the annual Lantern Festival celebration. This year's theme is Lantern Fun-tasy 2004 where East meets West. It is centered on "Magical Disney Stories" and the "Legend of Journey to the West".
3rd September to 3rd October 2004
NON-PEAK Adult S$9.00
PEAK (Fridays to Sundays) Adult S$13.00


Luciano Pavarotti passed away at age 71 after a yearlong battle with cancer.
Amongst the luminaries in attendance were Italian Premier Romano Prodi, U2 lead singer Bono, U2 guitarist The Edge, movie director Franco Zeffirelli and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.A testament to the broad appeal of the man and his music.
A celebrated Italian tenor and one of the most popular vocal performers in the world of opera and across multiple musical genres. Known for his televised concerts, media appearances, and as one of The Three Tenors, Pavarotti was also noted for his award-winning charity work, raising money on behalf of refugees, the Red Cross and other worthy causes.He sang opera in obscurity throughout Europe, but broke out after a performance with soprano Joan Sutherland.

The first of the famed The Three Tenors concerts was held on the eve of the final match of the tournament in which Pavarotti performed together with fellow star tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. Through these performances, Pavarotti brought hits previously confined to the opera world to a much wider audience; Pavarotti further spread his influence with appearances in advertisements and concerts with pop stars. Unlike many crossover artists, Pavarotti always maintained his identity as an opera star.

Pavarotti annually hosted the "Pavarotti and Friends" charity concerts in his home town of Modena in Italy, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry to raise money for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq. After the war in Bosnia, he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006.[18]

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.[19]

He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. They raised money for the elimination of land mines worldwide. He was invited to sing at her funeral service, but declined, as he felt he could not sing well "with his grief in his throat". He nonetheless attended the service.

In 1998, he was appointed the United Nation's Messenger of Peace, using his fame to raise awareness of UN issues, including the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.[20]

In 2001, Pavarotti received the Nansen Medal from the UN High Commission for Refugees for his efforts raising money on behalf of refugees worldwide. Through benefit concerts and volunteer work, he has raised more than US$1.5 million, more than any other individual.[21]

Other awards he received for charity work include the Freedom of London Award and The Red Cross Award for Services to Humanity, for his work in raising money for that organization, and the 1998 MusiCares Person Of The Year, given to humanitarian heroes by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.[22][23]

all star tribute:


The rendition of Nessun Dorma which shot him to mainstream fame:


The Three Tenors:


Miss Sarajevo:

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Oh dear, Odex

Been wanting to blog about this entire Odex saga for a while now. It started out as just another run-of-the-mill copyright case. But as things look now, things have gotten from bad to worse for ODEX. It has been a PR nightmare to say the least.

Let's re-cap from the beginning...(with help from the ever helpful Wikipedia,news and blogsites)...

Anime fans complained about the poor quality of the releases.

Odex has run into plenty of criticism over the past few years. Many fans have criticised the sub-standard quality of the anime, claiming that they were pixelated and low in resolution, hence believing that Odex was profiteering by riding on the success of the anime fanbase in Singapore. Odex refuted this claim by stating that quality issues were due to the limitations of the VCD medium, and that their DVD releases have similar quality as other DVD Region Code releases. Members of online anime discussion forums, however, states that the video quality is worse than what Odex claims

And then there was the issue of inferior and wrongly translated subtitles...

Odex's subtitle translations often come under fire. Allegations are that the english subtitles are translated off inaccurate Chinese subtitles in releases from Hong Kong, resulting in inaccurate translations."They get a Chinese translation script from Taiwan or Hong Kong, and have their people translate from that into English, introducing a large number of translation errors in the process."

Then there was even talk of their releases being pirated copies themselves,and even copies of fansubs(subtitled by fans)!!

There was a furore about ODEX pursuing and threatening anime fans, as young as 9 years of age, with threats of being charged in court unless they paid up 3 to 5k in 'settlement'. Understandably even non-anime fans were up in arms about the high-handedness of it all. To be sure anime fans (or Otaku's as they like to call themselves) are a close knit group. So in effect, at this point of the saga Odex was seen to be alienating the very people who make up their clientele. If anime fans are not buying your vcd's, then who will?

In time, the local internet community caught on to what was going between ODEX and the 'young criminal minds'. The local internet community, although not as close knit as the anime fanatics, proved to be the beginning of the end of ODEX. At forums and chat rooms across our little red dot ODEX found themselves the topic of the week. Then it surfaced that Stephen Sing was bragging in online forums about how ODEX was taking all these young fans to the cleaners...

Another issue that came to light was that Stephen Sing, under his alias of xysing, bragged about sueing anime downloaders. This was admitted by him, but he rejected its relevance, claiming it was taken out of context and was posted 2 months ago, before the controversy reached the news. His claim was easily revealed to be false, as the date of the post showed it was less than a month old.

It was then then this whole story hit the ceiling and hit the pages of the mainstream media. Stephen Sing had egg all over his face denying the charges brought before him despite the facts and came across as an arrogant twit.

wanted dead or alive. most prefer the latter it seems

Then there was the issue of how ODEX got the information on the anime fans who were responsible for the illegal downloads...
As it turned out two of the major ISPs, SingNet and Starhub had divulged the information. The only ISP who stood firm and contested having to divulge subscriber information was Pacific Internet. That 'ODEX vs PacNet' went to court and PacNet got a ruling in their favour raised a few questions. Firstly, how the other 2 ISPs so readily divulged subscriber information without even a whimper. So much for privacy and consumer confidentiality in violation of a duty of confidentiality under the Telecommunications Competition Code. Then, Judge Earnest Lau dismissed ODEX's application on the grounds that ODEX was not the copyright owner to the anime titles in dispute.

Odex had "no right of civil action" against illegal downloaders because it was just a sub-licensee — not the copyright owner or exclusive licensee — for most of the anime titles sold here

By association, SingNet and to a lesser extent Starhub, found themselves in the middle of a PR nightmare. Starhub has contested but relented in the end, unlike SingNet which did not even contest or have representatives in court. Both these ISPs have a lot to answer for. The facts brought to bear in court in the Pacnet court hearing were no different from what could have been expected had Singtel or Starhub decided to seek recourse and put their foot down.

But neither did.

A sad case of affairs and a public relations boo-boo to say the least. How could SingNet and Starhub cave in so easily to legal pressure and in the process betray the trust their substantial subscribership had placed in them? two words:damage control.

Of course, as in all epic battles, there were yet to be more twists and turns in the saga. ODEX said they were gonna appeal the court ruling and came back this time with the support of actual japanese copyright owners. They even held a media conference to state their case and do a little PR after the siege.

take a look at the sheer number of papers there are on that table containing the details of ISP subscribers

What of the 3k to 5k settlement? Isn't it rather excessive? Especially considering many of the offenders are kids still in school. Considering that there were approx. three thousand users named (3000 x $4000(between $3000 to $5000 mah)= $12,000,000!!!

ODEX's response:

"This exercise was never meant to be just an enforcement. It's not a profiteering mission to get as much money from everybody. It was conceptualized with a very big picture (in mind).

"Illegal downloaders can download animes for all they want... five years, ten years, there will be nothing left to download. This is the fear that most strikes us. We want to address that situation," - Stephen Sing

They even stated in interviews that the amount recouped 'barely covers the legal cost of pursuing'. They must sure be over paying their legal team, who seem to be unable to plug the leaks in all their court cases until this point. A watertight case it has not been thus far.

a face only a mother could love.The ODEX poster boy....

Another interesting fact that turned up was how Odex director Peter Go himself was at the centre of a copyright infringement crackdown during 1999:

A ONE-TIME firm started by the men behind Odex, the company at the centre of a crackdown on illegal downloading of anime, was itself raided by police for copyright infringement. The firm - Games Mart - was set up by Odex director Peter Go in 1994 to sell video game consoles, games and accessories. An Odex spokeman said it was raided in 1999 by the police for peddling counterfeit game controllers and other accessories. The spokesman said that Games Mart was shut down in 2004.

The proverbial pot calling the kettle black.

To rebutt accusations regarding their purported 'inferior subtitles', ODEX had this to say:

Odex blames the censorship laws in Singapore for inaccurate subbing. Odex says that they had to tweak subtitles in some of its anime to conform to the Board of Film Censors' (BFC) requirements.

right... as everyone knows Singapore has the most outdated and draconian censorship laws in human history...

But the BFC replied just today:

"The BFC has never asked for subtitles to be tweaked. We require that subtitles accurately reflect the content of a film or video so that we can classify the content accurately. Inaccurate subtitles also do no service to the community or to the young who may be misled into thinking that an anime is suitable for them when it could be meant for a higher age group."- Senior Asst. Director of Board of Film Censors

Hmm.. someone seems to be lying here....

So until someone eats some humble pie, this ODEX saga is far from over. Even with the law purportedly on their side, ODEX's reputation has suffered irreparable damage and public ridicule. Its a long road back for the embattled anime distributor.

I do not think I have even covered all the bases yet on this story. There are others more apt to discuss the legal implications and complexities pertaining to this case. And then there are those in the local anime community who can give first-hand accounts of what is really going on in the minds of the ones being affected by all these criminal settlements.

Meanwhile, despite Singapore's tough laws on public demonstrations and unlawful assembly's, this unruly mob was seen making their feeling's known at Youth Park outside Cineleisure...
They are perfectly harmless, honest...


some stood out a little more than others


We're disorganised, but we are cool!


...bringing up the rear.


even the well-endowed lent their..umm...voices.. to the cause.

Tune in for more...

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