Website experimentation

You may be wondering what is all the odd and disjointed components on this website are all about. Certainly it is not intentional the way it currently looks right now. I am experimenting with some techniques on improving the navigation on this website.

One of the techniques is javascript + CSS pulldown menus that you see on the left hand side NavMenu bar. I am taking a few tips from suckerfish and a from css.maxdesign. I’m also visiting the CSS creator forums for discussions and tips. I would like to create a menu which opens up as you hover over selected items. I hope this will improve the usability of the site.

For now, the CSS is all screwed up. So bear with me. I would also suggest that you use Firefox for the best & standards compliant experience.

Finished watching some great sci-fi’s

bladerunner

I recently finished watching the whole Battlestar Galactica (new series) 1st season. First thing to say is I can’t wait to catch the 2nd season. As mentioned in my last blog on what I am watching these days… Galactica is looking good.

The whole premise of the human race on the run from relentless and in some cases human-like cylons as a backdrop creates the tension that is not felt in any of the Trek series. Sorry the comparison is unfair as Trek tends to be more wholesome and optimistic. Galactica is a little more pessimistic in nature, but its allusions to the mythical “earth” is intriguing. You see, mankind has been colonising space many millenia from now. It would appear that Earth would be inhabitable forcing humankind to venture forth into space. The memories of earth are then confined into the realm of mythology.

In addition to these undercurrents, we also get an almost Asimovian philosophical debate about what makes humans human… can robots acquire human traits? Some of these questions are similar to those asked in Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep… or in its’ silver screen version Blade Runner.

The series is very much character driven, with many interesting characters.

This also brings me to another sci-fi flick Serenity which is a follow up to the now defunct TV series, Firefly.

my-KART championship – what a tough year!

Fazz wins the 2005 K2 Championship

Saturday 10th December 2005 was a culmination of a tough year in the my-kart K2 championship. The competition is truly getting tougher and tougher each year. But one solitary win and 5 podium finishes was enough for me to retain the K2 championship for the second year and maintain my 3rd my-kart overall championship.

To top this off, my team -Tail Happy Racing- also won the 2005 my-kart Mega Enduro Series.

2005 was also a very busy year in addition to racing. my-kart held three Foundation Conferences to start working on plans for my-kart to build the foundation for stimulating growth in the Malaysian motorsport industry (foundations #1, #2 & #3). Various initiatives were launched and alliances were made with established figures in the local motorsport industry.

Tail Happy Racing wins the 2005 my-kart Mega Enduro Series

In addition to this, my-kart held its first annual function on Saturday the 10th Dec which was attended by over 60 drivers and their better halves. The event was also graced by Aminuddin Omar -President of the Porsche Club of Malaysia, and also the 2005 Malaysian Super Series Champion. Present too were members of the local car magazines such as Faizal of Torque, Al Bakri and Yogen of Carma.

Read my full round 10/2005 event report at my-kart.org:

I am very happy the way 2005 turned out for my-kart. To this end, I’d like to thank my co-founder Azlan, members of the club protem committee, Naza & Wei Li for setting up the organisation structures, all the volunteers who had helped out during the year full of events and of course all the members and participants in our races.

2006 will be a more eventful year for my-kart with 10 more K2 and K3 races, 6 mega enduros and a few more Foundation Conferences. The full calendar can be found here.

Come join me in this journey towards building racing talent for the country by laying down the foundations for popularising grassroots motorsport in Malaysia.

Forza my-KART!

Catching movies… The Goblet of Fire, King Kong, Aeon Flux etc

Harry Potter - The Goblet of Fire - Poster

 

I brought my kids to watch Harry Potter’s 4th adventure -The Goblet of Fire- last night. Ok… not too bad, a little dark and scary though… more for kids of teens and above I thought… but my daughter was already analysing things after the film.

Overall, I thought it was an above average adventure type tale, with a number of thrills. The characters could have been done better though.

Before the film we watched the trailers of the Chronicles of Narnia film and King Kong. Now King Kong is something I’d like to see. More to see how Peter Jackson’s version of the classic is done. From the initial clips, it does look pretty good.

Narnia is another kids movie which has some promise. The imaging technologies in films these days are just impressive. The battle scenes and characters look good.

As usual, any discussion of films would take me to Rotten Tomatoes, and there I found a sci-fi flick called Aeon Flux. As far as Tomatoes is concerned, the film sucks. But being a sci-fi buff, suck or no, I’d probably watch it (perhaps on the small screen), for the concept itself.

Another sci-fi flick that would perhaps be good is The Far Side of The Moon which indications seem to be very good.

Now what else? I guess there is Zathura coming which is fairly interesting.

Jacques Villeneuve stays with BMW Sauber F1

Jacques Villeneuve & Sauber - 2005 pic 1

 

A few days ago I read with great happiness that BMW Sauber F1 has confirmed 1997 World F1 Champion, Jacques Villeneuve as their driver alongside Nick Heidfeld.

The thing about Jacques is that his is a career that promised so much so early on, yet failed to deliver due to bad career choices at BAR which in my mind basically drained him of the hunger that so propelled him to second in his rookie year and world champ in the following year.

The Villeneuve name is to me one name that evokes alot of passion for racing. Jacques’ dad, Gilles was perhaps the most loved Ferrari hero since Tazio Nuvolari. Enzo Ferrari loved him like a son, but sadly Gilles never won any world championship and instead lost his life in the Ferrari.

So, the news of Jacques continuing the Villeneuve presence in formula one is most welcome. I just hope that he makes a strong account of himself in 2006.