Mark webber used to drive for Malaysian team

This past weekend, I was perusing the formula one results.  Usually I'm not so interested, so I have no idea about the happenings of the F1 standings.  So I look it up, and to my surprise Mark Webber is there leading the pack.

KL Minardi car in 2002

Well, just one of those things with hindsight and maybe a bit more money, KL Minardi could be where Redbull is now.  Malaysia would have the glory.  They had the driver in Mark Webber, and KL Minardi was bought over by Redbull a couple of years back.  Same company except bought over by new owners, same driver. Too bad Malaysia decided to pull out.... now we have Lotus...lol,

Mark Webber

BMW 5 series F10 2010 launch in PJ/Shah Alam

The new 5 series is here.  Check out some of the photos.

Back view:

View from the back corner

View from the back

Side view:

Front view:

Interior:

Inside in the daylight.

Interior in the showroom

Overall, a pretty hot car.  The exterior is sort of a cross between the 6 series front and the 7 series back.  The bonnet has that shark like look, with the flat top and flat nose. The interior could be more luxurious.  Any plastic knocking sounds is generally not very good but compared to the previous generation, the interior is an upgrade.  I still like the interior of the E39 the best.

Whale Shark

In my opinion, the outside is original, classy, has the look of something quite interesting.  The Mercedes' arcing lines of the S class has lost a bit of its novelty ever since everyone started copying them, namely VW and Honda.  Lost in translation in the photos are the subtle curves which makes the five series bonnet similar to Jaguar's.  The front is good looking, the sides are good looking, the back is hot as well.

I think its a home-run.  It's competitor, new Mercedes E-Class, really messed up this generation. The E-Class looks like a cross between the S-Class (good) and a Toyota Camry (bad!).

So whats the price?  about RM400k right now.  Alright!  BMW is getting more affordable (Better than 450k).

Gsix (g6), @ The Gardens, Midvalley

Just checked out this club, Gsix at the gardens.  After reading a caption from TimeOUT, a KL nightlife magazine, saying it was the best club in years, I was excited.

So I went early on wed night and checked it out.  Now, let me start with the positives.  There was no cover for guys on wed night, and there was a full crowd by 10 or so.  That is a plus.  Lots of places take too long to fill up to be happening.  I much prefer to go early, leave early if the crowd gets there early.  There are also some hot ladies walking around.  Especially, coming from Penang, this is like a godsend.

Now, here is the negative, NO DANCE FLOOR.  No dance floor so where are we guys supposed to go talk to ladies ...wtf.  honestly.  Second, the crowd is a bit lala, canto crowd.   Third, the layout is horrendous, stemming from NO DANCE FLOOR, to the huge oversize donut booths which take up more space than they are worth, and the figure 8 layout which is kinda odd.  There is this kind of a band stage doubling as a dance floor, but generally it is kinda dumb with a big tv screen behind the floor.  It's way too bright.

Even a crap dance floor will do

There is a small makeshift gathering spot in front of the stage where there is a little space for people to dance and move around. But a lot of people cut through there to get to wherever they want to go, so the makeshift spot is kinda crappy with people constantly bumping into you.  Although, it is not as bad as the Phuture dance floor.  Then again, at least Phuture has a dance floor instead of a stupid stage.

Certified Pre owned ferrari? lol.....

Saw this article from the star. 

Awesome a certified pre-owned Ferrari is like a new one!...not quite.  The thing is....anyone who owns a Ferrari won't be driving it to the store.  They are gonna drive that into the ground :)  So just don't get fooled by a certified, cheaper pre-owned ferrari.  Just assume the previous owner abused the crap out of the car and be prepared for parts cost afterward.

Bought my blackberry!

I bought the curve 8520 from Celcom. 

Not bad for a thousand ringgit.  By far, this is the best money I've spent for a phone in my life.  It's one of those devices which will definitely improve your connectivity to everything. 

On the surface, email, messaging, facebook doesn't seem much compared to the iphone.  But the value is unquantifiable.  The system blackberry has put together is far above anything out there, iphone included.  It's messenger service is basically free messaging which everyone on Blackberry abuses.  Basic economics tells us a good that is free will be abused by everyone.  This is why sms is not as successful.  People get charged for the service.  Not only that, the people who use blackberry respond quite rapidly compared to other messaging services. 

The BB community is very close knit.  They are quick to include you if you have a blackberry.  Consider it a club.  This is another unquantifiable attribute that is one of the blackberry's biggest selling point.  Iphone doesn't really have a community, and most of them are techies, rather than the common people such as you and me.

The blackberry is also wickedly fast.  Sometimes the iphone gets bogged down in nonsense.

The qwerty keyboard is also much easier to write messages than a numeric keypad.  This keyboard is also really instrumental in fast messaging.

For you guys that are interested in improving ur social life especially with girls, it's a simple choice, a lot of girls use Blackberry.  My friend at maxis who sees thousands of customers verified this with me that a most of the BB owners are girls.  I can easily give up youtube and browsing on the iphone for the blackberry.

Maxis, blackberry, iphone plans in depth analysis

For this post, the purpose is not to review the tech specs between iphone and blackberry, but to compare the plans from a cost perspective. I'm a wannabe finance analyst :). I will be using maxis as an example, cuz i'm stuck with Maxis. Also I'm assuming, no matter what, that people who go for either a blackberry or iphone will always have a data plan and the costs do not decrease after time.

The blackberry and iphone plans differ in one major aspect. The web browsing. The BIS plans are confusing and on the surface 5mb for the bis lite at RM40 isn't too appealing. 1mb = 25 pages, and 125 html pages per month. That is ridiculous. If I'm at a bookstore and want to see book reviews, i will be browsing probably 10 webpages at one time easily. So already blackberry will be out of the picture where browsing is important unless u get RM120 for the unlimited data plan and only then is it worth it to get the blackberry. On the other hand, the iphone is 500mb of data for 50 a month. That is totally worth it from a web site surfing cost perspective. Forget about youtube with the blackberry.

Ivalue plan Iphone discounts

Ivalue plan specifications and monthly cost

So, we look at the iphone. Ok, we have numerous plans, some of them, when you combine two, will approximately equal another plan. Take the ivalue plan for RM100 per month. This plan combines both phone and data into one package. You get 333 minutes of talk time, 500mb of data, and 100 sms free to other maxis users, otherwise you pay 10 sen for sms to other operators. The major cons are inflexibility and for every sms to other operators, you will be paying an additional ten cents. Cost wise, the RM100 per month would be the minimum, but most likely you will be paying more than that, especially if you sms to other operators.

Idata plan monthly cost

Idata plan Iphone discounts

Next we have the value plus 50 plan and the Idata plan, both are RM50 each per month. So if you were to purchase both, you would have a plan that is similar to the ivalue plan. I think its interesting because we have some choice and flexibility. So, i'll explain the valueplus50 plan. Its call and sms rates are cheaper than the ivalue plan but only for maxis to maxis, but more for maxis to other operators. You would get RM50 worth of calls or sms at the rates in the following charts. If you spend more than that, you pay more. Most likely, the rates average out at the ivalue plan's rates of 15 sen per min talk time and 10 sen sms. So we'll just assume they are basically the same rate.

Value plus 50 plan charges

The Idata plan is RM50 a month which gets you 500mb worth of data. The data plan is identical to the Ivalue plan's data portion.

Now, this is where the situation gets interesting. For the first 12 months, the Ivalue plans lets you buy the iphone for about Rm100 less than the Idata plan. Between the money spent on extra sms from the ivalue plan and the RM100 saved on the purchase of the iphone; ends up probably around the same for the first year. You would have to sms A LOT(around 300-400 per month) to take the valueplus50/idata over the ivalue plan. So, it probably doesn't matter which one you take.

Either you could buy the value plus 50 and the idata, or just the ivalue plan. But after the first year, if you don't spend a lot on calls and SMS, it is more advantageous to get the valueplus50/idata instead of the ivalue plan. Your costs will likely be only around RM100, while the Ivalue costs would be always more than RM100 unless you don't sms at all.

The conclusion to get the valueplus50/idata plan, sounds obvious right? Yes, but Maxis actually offers a whopping additional RM400 discount to the Iphone for a 24 month period ivalue plan while compared to RM200 for the idata plan 24 month period. In this case, if you don't mind committing to a 24 month period, the BEST deal is to actually get the Iphone 24 month plan. The savings from the initial iphone discount is that good.

Of course there are cases where it might not be advantageous. Say you don't use 500mb, and could go for the 250mb idata plan which costs only RM30 a month for the second year, then we are talking RM240 in savings, but its not much different from the RM200 in additional savings, netting only RM40 in savings. Not much of a difference if you ask me.

Also, if you plan on changing your phone in the first two years, then yeah, it makes no sense to do the 24 month plan.

So, in summary:

1. valueplus50/idata50 approximately equals the Ivalue100 plan.
2. If you do light usage(less than RM50 in calls and sms, it is better to to get the Ivalue plan THEN switch after the first year.
3. If you can do the 24 month contract Ivalue plan, this is the best regardless of the usage. Then after the first two years maybe switch to the valueplus50/idata if they still have it.
4. If you consistently spend over RM50 in calls and sms, Ivalue is better as the discounts on the iphone are all that matters, for this kind of usage.

Well, after all this, i might still get the blackberry because so far i count 10 people telling me to get the blackberry. So this analysis might be for nought, but such a shame to let it go to waste, so i'll leave it for anyone who is interested :)

Malaysia Female magazine Gorgeous 50, 2009, who's hot.

Out of sheer curiosity and boredom, and not to mention the off-chance that maybe there would actually be some hotties, I visited female magazine's 50 gorgeous people. For the girls, I see one winner, Patricia (no. 32). Sorry to say every other girl there doesn't stand a chance.

Patricia

Check out her video. She portrays herself as down to earth, fun, and not to mention getting a glimpse of her bangin' body is always good :)

For the guys, I saw some that were good looking, but after seeing their videos most of them struck me as mostly douche bags. A lot of the Caucasian men looked, and presented themselves as average at best. I got to mention Jannio (no. 42). In his video, he seems the most comfortable and natural. And he does have this Edison Chen thing going. I personally know of a few girls who would literally drop their pants for Edison Chen in a heart beat.

Jannio