I hear, I see, I post: March 2013

The Doctor is back





A ridiculously yet uncanny storyline revolving about WiFi and how an evil, sinister women is introducing lifestreams sucking and downloading the human soul in London (read the ugliest addition to the skyline- The Shard) to feed the Great Intelligence. At the end of the episode, he had been fed enough and it’s time for the evil sinister women (Miss Kizlet) to reduce. 

We have seen the story of Amy and Rory Pond as the first companions of the eleventh doctor, with their great on screen chemistry (although between Rory and Amy, it’s a tad awkward) but with Clara, I do admit I prefer the previous companions. Critics of Amy and Rory can be smug about Clara, who seemed relaxed in her role as the Doctor’s new companion. 

Doctor Who - Series 7B

The plot reveals about the Great Intelligence manipulating ordinary humans or as I call it, people of the streets into this ugly looking building as a HQ for downloading human soul for him. What is cool about this group of evil people is the tablet device which is capable of adjusting IQ, Paranoid and Confidence level of her workers.

A pun on the show, Doctor Who? Also provides comic relief to the show, although the question is better left for the 50th anniversary.

In all, as the plot thickens, I’m not expecting what I think I wish to see, since I have much more expectation for Steven Moffat works. But this episode is enough for Whovians, for now till next week. The plot can actually play out well, if not for the rush and slipshod editing (leaving much to be desired and the choice of background music?) I do love the concept though. I just can't wait to know how she becomes a Dalek and her story- of being a time lord. 


Realisation

I used to ask myself if the actions I ever took (take or taken, have or have yet to take) is always the correct decision. But since I cannot always please myself (because, half of me decided it's correct, and another half thinks it's wrong), so SCREW IT

Being a Mayor on SimCity

The new SimCity is out, with horrific experience for me, with the servers down and all. Maxis (EA more likely) decided to grant all players affected with a new EA digital download game (hopefully I can have a free Sims 3 University)! But that is not enough, why launch a new game when you do not have the capabilities for it? And the game is not as fun as the previous franchise.

So a mayor, do be careful of being bankrupt! Here are a few shots of my city...come join me if you're playing. Origin: Surfinder




I think having circus for arterial roads serve a huge purpose in town/urban planning. Whoever says circus in road planning is due to urban planners leaving a round coffee-stain on blueprints (thanks to their mugs)??? Ok, lame joke.

Crowd Source Videos- The future?




In the first quarter of 2013, usher in a new phenomenon- Crowd Source Videos. The popularity of an old soundtrack- Harlem Shake shows us all. In an office, a funky person enters the busy office in a motorbike helmet (where’s the courtesy to remove it when entering a formal location?!?!) for the first 10s. Then, drop in the bass and everyone starts to be involve in some form of random and totally repetitive action for 30s. This is the future of entertainment. FYI, this video had been seen over 10 million times just on Youtube.

Harlem shake is not exactly a new song, and the popularity rises recently just because of a youtube video (the original single does not even have a MV). Through shares and likes, Harlem Shake soon became a sensation. Curators hate to love it, lovers love to hate it.    Even some units of BBC had started riding on Harlem Shake, with Holby City and Eastenders (and also more, but I’m just not really keen to mention them). 




What constitutes to the popularity of such videos? First came Gangnam Style, now Harlem Shake. This should lies on the concept of Crowd Source Videos. Same as crowd-sourcing, whereby an online community pool together resources, crowd-sourcing involves viewers of a particular video to upload their own version online. Usually such video have an easy concept, and is also easy to duplicate. This explains the numerous parodies of Gangnam Style videos. The catchy tune and weird looking horse-riding dance movement strides a chord with the online community and the person having the last laugh (as well as shaking to the bank) will be Psy.

Now with a high smartphone penetration rate in developed nations, and all smartphone have a video capturing function with easy uploading to Youtube, helps increase the platform and infrastructure of such Crowd Source Videos. You upload it to share with your friends and in turn, your friends will share the video and might also upload their own version at the same time. Thus far, Crowd Source Videos had been limited to just personal entertainment, but soon, some brands will adopt it.

Just like your daily exposure of advertisements, if one is exposed to a lot of such videos, viewers might become frustrated and deemed It as a nuisance. For Harlem Shake and Gangnam style, many had already passed it off as a fade and hated the videos (and so for similar video, will also express scant interest). As a PR stunt many brands had start to adopt this, but ultimately, will it continue to hurt their brand image?

Crowd source videos had been around for a long time, but just 3 years ago, are not as popular as before. This might be due to people still not being open and also not having appropriate means to be involve. Other crowd source videos in the past includes Cinnamon challenge (which proves to be highly controversial), Brad Pitt ad, Gangnam Style, Harlem Shake and Where the hell is Matt ad. Now, what will be the next crazy ass fade on Youtube?