32

Another 365.25 days of orbiting our resident ball of fire has come to a close and I've survived! Yay me!

It's been an erm... interesting year... I broke my arm, I went to China, my car broke down on a lonely highway at night, my iPod got stolen, I watched some cool movies, tried champagne for the first time, baked a cake, joined Google+, and endured the usual drudgery of work.

32 years... a fine number! Some fun facts:

• 32 is a power of 2! My favourite type of number!
• 32 is the number of teeth on an adult human. *CHOMP*
• 32 is apparently a happy number. Beats being a sad number!
• 32 is the number of completed, numbered piano sonatas by Ludwig Van Beethoven, one of my favourite classical composers.
• 32 is the atomic number of germanium which is widely used in optics and semiconductors including transistors. This is cool.
• 32 is the freezing point of water in degrees Fahrenheit at sea level. Cool... or maybe just cold.

Happy Birthday to me! Here's hoping for an awesome year ahead.

(Number facts from Wikipedia)

Breaking Down

So it finally happened... my car broke down... on a highway... at night.

The engine made weird noises as I was driving home. I thought, "Hey, I think I can make it home. I'll deal with it in the morning." The car had other ideas though. It started making screeching noises when i braked. Then some clanking noises. Then vibrations - more than usual. When the vibrations started shaking the whole car and the clanking got more pronounced, I moved to the side of the road, just before a toll plaza. With its last heave, the old girl managed to stop nicely out of the way but would not start again after I stopped the engine.

"Well this sucks... But I am prepared!", thought I.

I fished out my Auto Rescue card that I got with my insurance. I called the 24-hour toll free hotline. And got instantly disconnected. Lovely. A gazillion repeated calls later, I was not a happy camper. Epic fail, Oriental Capital Assurance Auto Rescue, epic fail.

Plan B: I called back to a colleague at my office asking if he knew any tow truck operators. He didn't. Fortunately, someone else who had not gone home did know of one. Thank FSM for life's little miracles.

About half an hour later, the tow truck arrived. The car managed to start again, albeit with a noisy protest, which made it easier to load onto the flatbed truck. You know you're an engineer when you're in the middle of a highway at night with a broken down vehicle and you're admiring the power of the hydraulic systems on the tow truck. I chose to tow the car home as it was late, and the tow truck operator didn't know any late-night mechanics.

The next day, I got the same tow truck to send my car to a workshop recommended by the same colleague nearby my company. As we pulled into the workshop and started to unload my car, I saw a familiar face and a friendly wave as I was about to alight from the truck. Coincidentally, an old friend and ex-colleague worked just opposite the workshop. I'd not seen him in almost a year. Life is funny sometimes.

A preliminary inspection indicated a poor verdict. In the words of the mechanic: condemned. In order to confirm, he had to take apart the engine to look at it, so he told me to come back five hours later. With nothing to do, I decided to go to the office to pass the time even though I was officially on leave. My friend very kindly sent me to my office.

At the office, I endured the jibes about my predicament from my boss and colleagues who knew about it. Ironically, I had been planning to buy a new car and a colleague was just remarking yesterday that my car would break down in the middle of the highway. I blamed him for it of course. Lunch and a few hours later, I left early and walked back to the workshop, The mechanic confirmed that the engine was better off replaced as a piston had broken (hence the clanking) and some other parts of the engine were worn out, no thanks to my poor service record. No use crying over spilt milk, so I asked him to give me a quotation over the weekend.

My friend sent me to the nearest train station and I rode the rails home, carless. We had a good run, old girl.

Moral of the story: Service your old car often, and sell it before it's too late. Procrastination has a high price sometimes, and I guess I'll just have to pay it. I only hope I can sell the car for the price of the repairs at least :)

EDIT 20/08/2011: Got the car back last night and she's purring like a kitten. Nice to have a car that doesn't vibrate violently when idle.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America never did appeal much to me, since he looks kinda goofy and I'm not even American. I do however know the significance of the character and from trailers, the movie looked to be a fine entry to the Marvel series of movies.

The story of Captain America is about a little guy with a big heart. Short and scrawny Steve Rogers (amazingly still played by tall buff Chris Evans) is on a mission to join the US Army in the midst of World War II. Constantly rejected by army recruiters, he finally gets his chance when selected by Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) to take part in an experimental super-soldier program. Under the guidance of Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and British liaison Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), he eventually becomes Captain America and earns the ire of Johann Schmidt a.k.a. The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), a Nazi and old 'associate' of Dr. Erskine working for Hitler. Schmidt has his own plans however and of course, it's up to Cap to stop him.

This movie is a great example of what a superhero movie should be - not too heavy on the drama, not too over-the-top on the 'comic-bookness'. The script and pacing are handled well and takes its time to tell the story. The imagery of the 1940s comic-book world is visually compelling. There are pretty good effects and pronounced '3D-ness' - clearly not a cheap conversion. Props, set design, and effects all blend perfectly together to bring the world to life.

The acting by Evans, while not mind-blowing, is all you could want. As Steve Rogers, he is earnest, brave, and madly patriotic. As Captain America, he's well, Captain America. Weaving is menacing as Red Skull, even if a little one-dimensional. But then, sometimes villains should just be villains. Atwell shines as the love interest and Jones has fun with his small role. The small but important role played by Tucci adds pathos and a deeper meaning to the plot. Most of the movie, however stands firmly on the impossibly broad shoulders of Evans and he sells it very well.

There's a great line in the movie that says that only a weak man knows the value of strength. Captain America: The First Avenger has a strong message of perseverance, inner strength, and patriotism. With a strong script, good effects, and decent actors, who could fault that?

Seven out of 10 baby seals agree and look forward to watching The Avengers next year.


Note: There is an extra scene after the credits, so do stick around.

Hanna

The concept of a young girl being a trained assassin is an oddly compelling one, no doubt due to the strange juxtaposition of the sweet girl and the ruthless killer. Cropping up in anime and film - Gunslinger Girl and Kick Ass spring to mind - the girl assassin is given a dramatic treatment in Hanna.

Saoirse Ronan (what a name!) plays Hanna, a lass of 16 years. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, she looks like a regular girl, except when she hunts and kills a deer with her mad archery skillz on a generic snow-covered mountainside. Her father Erik (Eric Bana) seems to have raised her in isolation and instilled certain skills in her in preparation for some unknown mission. The first act concerns itself with establishing their relationship and has minimal exposition.

Once her 'mission' starts in the second act, we get plenty of fight sequences set to music. There's a distinctly 'European' feel to these sequences, which is a good thing really. Unlike Hit-Girl in Kick Ass, Hanna displays no glee in her killing, just cold efficiency. The action scenes are interspersed with scenes of Hanna partaking in 'normal' teenage girl activities. Some of these were a little too drawn out for me to be honest, but some involving another teenage girl - probably the first one Hanna has met - provide some really funny lines and comic relief.

The pacing is not too bad, although lacking a certain inertia at times. It's certainly not a non-stop crazy action movie. The acting from Ronan is inspired and believable. It totally makes up for the tepid The Lovely Bones. Bana doesn't have that much screen time, but he does his best and looks good doing it. Cate Blanchett is coldly creepy as the mean CIA agent chasing down Hanna and Erik. She's also obsessed with dental hygiene, which adds a bit of (weird) colour to the character.

The plot points are not entirely original and some revelations are a bit clichéd, but it's handled with style and good performances all around. For these reasons, I give Hanna seven out of 10 baby seals.