Wenjie’s Ramblings

Other sneak peak pictures here.

In order to regain some sanity in my life, I decided to catch the movie 14 Blades in the cinema.

It is a story about the Jin Yi Wei (Brocaded Robe Guards), a group of soldiers similiar to the modern equivalent of the Special Forces. They are highly trained, takes on covert missions for the Emperor. Donnie Yen is the head of this elite force and he gets to have this box of 14 weapons, hence the title.

The storyline includes evil Prince and Eunuch trying to overthrow the Emperor, betrayal and brotherhood within the Jin Yi Wei, romance between the male and female leads, bandits who dress like Pirates of the Carribean, a highly skilled woman who shrieks like a banshee.

The worst part of the movie is the storyline. The plot is filled with illogical holes, where if you gave it a little thought, you will be asking a lot of questions.

The average parts of the movie are the fighting scenes and the editing. Coming from Donnie Yen, I would expect much more, instead, the fighting scenes here are not the hard hitting ones like those in Ip Man. The movie has people flying around, blades whirling like a boomerang, hidden darts, crossbows, and even ancient bazzokas are all featured. Also I find the connection between each scene seems to be jerky, without a clean flow between them.

Now the good parts of the movie are definitely the scenery, and Zhao Wei. Scenes featuring the vast emptiness of the desert, the green lush forests, and even the busy city within the desert were excellent. Also, Zhao Wei’s acting was really good, and her romance between her and Donnie was believable mainly due to her excellent acting.

Out of a possible 5 stars, I am giving this 3 stars.

One last thing, we also get to see this. Hoping not to risk sounding gay, what a body.

See what is the fuss about this youtube video here.

Perhaps trying to grab back the headlines from the Nook, Amazon has killed off the US Kindle, and cuts the price of the International Kindle.

Amazon Kills U.S. Kindle, Cuts International Price

The Kindle 2 starts to ship internationally today. Here is Wired’s rundown of Kindle International :

International Kindle Now Shipping : The Good, The Bad And The Downright Ugly

Here is a fantastic site on Kindle – A Kindle World Blog

Here is another wonderful site on Kindle, eBooks etc – Blogkindle

It seems like Amazon not shipping the Kindle 2 to Singapore might be a blessing after all.

International Kindle User To Pay More

Amazon Kindle’s International Launch Is A Mess

Singapore actress Joanne Peh manages to get her hands on a Kindle too.

Even the Wall Street Journal has reported that Singapore is a significant market for the Kindle 2:

But the new “U.S. and international” Kindle won’t work in Canada. It also won’t work in a handful of other significant markets, including China, South Korea and Singapore.

Thanks to Jeffrey Yen who left a comment in my post yesterday, I came across his post on how to get a Kindle 2 in Singapore. For those not willing to wait, you might want to get one using his guide.

I was so disappointed with the fact that even though Kindle 2 was shipping worldwide, Singapore was not on the list. I mean, Kindle 2 is shipping to places like Rwanda, why not Singapore? I am sure there are plenty more people in Singapore wanting to buy it than in Rwanda. So I wrote to Amazon:

Just read that Kindle is available for international customers. However, Singapore is not on the list. Will there be any plans to sell Kindle to customers in Singapore?

And Amazon replied quite promptly:

Hello,

The addition of Kindle (U.S. & International Wireless) to the Kindle family allows us to offer Kindle to many customers outside the United States. Currently, Kindle World Edition and related content cannot be purchased by residents of Singapore.

You can visit the Kindle (U.S. & International Wireless) detail page and select a country from the pull-down list to see if Kindle (U.S. & International Wireless) is available for sale and if there’s also Whispernet wireless service:

http://client0.cellmaps.com/tabs.html

We value our international customers and hope to make content available in more locations in the future.

Thanks for your interest in Amazon Kindle.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

So with countries like Canada also not on the list, I guess perhaps there is still hope that they will ship it to Singapore in the near future.

Or I can just wait for the rumoured Apple tablet to be out instead.

I have always wanted a Kindle and I have always wondered when Kindle will be shipping to Singapore.

Then I saw this :

Kindle Worldwide

Imagine my joy! Finally, I can get my hands on a Kindle! I had my credit card in front of me, when I decided to make sure Singapore is one of those 100+ countries they are shipping to, which is when I saw this:

WTF?

Google patents its home page.

It is a design patent, more information is found here.