The Dubai metro opening is almost upon us - only 2 days to go.
Some interesting articles and pictures from Gulf News.
http://www.gulfnews.com/indepth/dubaimetro/
http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/dubaimetro/sub_story/10346889.html
VGA
Monday, September 07, 2009
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
General: 2009 Half-way Through
I can't believe it's halfway through 2009, it's been a long time since my last post. I've been very busy over the past six months, mostly travelling for work - I've been to Florence, Italy five times, France three times, HK once, and the UK once! (However, I think my work trips are over for time being and time to get back to some normality).
My last trip was to Florence and Paris for 2 weeks in June. The weather was fantastic - it was sunny but not too hot and it doesn't get dark until 10pm. My wife came with me this time, and we were able to enjoy some find food and drink, see things like grass and trees, mingle around the streets, enjoy gelati, and take a walk in park.
So much has happened over the past six months, just to name a few:
- the inauguration of the new US president - Barack Obama.
- the terrible bush fire tragedy in Victoria, Australia.
- the fall out of the global financial crisis; banks failing, countries collapsing, car companies going broke, and investors getting caught out in a bunch of investment scams.
- job losses and falling property prices in Dubai.
- Israel / Gaza conflict.
- Conflict in Sri Lanka.
- Big earthquake in Italy.
- British MP expense scandals.
- some unfortunate plane crashes and one lucky ditching.
- and finally, the death of Michael Jackson.
It's hard to believe that 20 years ago we saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and 40 years the first man on the moon.
My last trip was to Florence and Paris for 2 weeks in June. The weather was fantastic - it was sunny but not too hot and it doesn't get dark until 10pm. My wife came with me this time, and we were able to enjoy some find food and drink, see things like grass and trees, mingle around the streets, enjoy gelati, and take a walk in park.
So much has happened over the past six months, just to name a few:
- the inauguration of the new US president - Barack Obama.
- the terrible bush fire tragedy in Victoria, Australia.
- the fall out of the global financial crisis; banks failing, countries collapsing, car companies going broke, and investors getting caught out in a bunch of investment scams.
- job losses and falling property prices in Dubai.
- Israel / Gaza conflict.
- Conflict in Sri Lanka.
- Big earthquake in Italy.
- British MP expense scandals.
- some unfortunate plane crashes and one lucky ditching.
- and finally, the death of Michael Jackson.
It's hard to believe that 20 years ago we saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and 40 years the first man on the moon.
Well, for me at the moment, it's all 9-9-9!
VGA
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Travel: Dubai - Living the Dream
Some interesting articles about the current economic situation in Dubai.
Many have lived the dream but for some the dream appears to be over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/13/dubai-boom-halt
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=acm_t21JxzeU&refer=home
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html?_r=1&hp
Perhaps critics have been too quick to put the boot in. There are people still living here, still have jobs, still driving around, still shopping, still going to restaurants, still going to school, and still raising their families like in any other country. For some are still living the dream.
VGA
Many have lived the dream but for some the dream appears to be over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/13/dubai-boom-halt
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=acm_t21JxzeU&refer=home
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html?_r=1&hp
Perhaps critics have been too quick to put the boot in. There are people still living here, still have jobs, still driving around, still shopping, still going to restaurants, still going to school, and still raising their families like in any other country. For some are still living the dream.
VGA
Monday, November 10, 2008
Travel: Dubai - Dubai Mall
Last Friday 07 Nov 08, Chi-Lu and I visited the newly opened Dubai Mall. The mall was suppose to open on 30 Oct 08 but was delayed to the 04 Nov 08. It is still not completely finished and was a typical Dubai "soft opening".
The Dubai Mall is one of the world's largest malls (definitely the Middle East's largest), it has an internal floor area of 542,000 sq. metres (approx. 350,000 sq. metres of leasable space). This is about 3 times larger than Westfield Parramatta. (Incidentally the largest shopping mall in the world was the South China Mall in Dongguan China which is twice as large as Dubai Mall, however the South China Mall was purportedly run down, had a lack of visitors and a lack of shops with a 99% vacancy rate and was closed down recently in 2008, this makes the Golden Resources Mall in Beijing the world's largest mall with a gross letting area of 560,000 sq. metres).
Overall, the Dubai Mall is pretty good. The layout is like a large quadrangle shape with a kind of souk (a mall within a mall) in the middle. It features an ice rink and a very large aquarium with many unhappy looking fish (Yep, this is what the world needs right now - ecologically and environmentally sound technologies that reduce green house emissions!). It was fun watching the kids whizzing around the ice on their skates in their dishdashas, and the fish just hanging out swimming from one end of the tank to the other like fish do!
As mentioned, the mall is not completely finished. The build quality and finish at this stage was not up to the standard of the Mall of Emirates, in fact it looked cheaply built. There are many shops to open including Galleries Lafayette and many smaller speciality shops, and thus as more shops open the mall's appeal will increase further. The mall is divided into different areas for fashion, electronics, luxury goods (many watch shops), etc. The electronics section looks promising as it appears many single branded shops will open up in this area. There was already a Canon and an Olympus shop which were opened allowing one to explore each manufacturer's gadetry in detail. The mall has a huge food court and a lot of restaurants opening up. The food court was packed though, with long lines - it took some time to get something to eat.
The mall also has a Waitrose supermarket (the first in Dubai). However, an inspection of the supermarket kind of revealed a bigger version of Dubai's venerable Spinneys supermarket. (I'd say that people who run Spinney's in Dubai must also run Waitrose as well). Nevertheless, Waitrose have some great products, especially their own labelled products, so it was good to see.
One confusing thing is the car parking. I had trouble finding my car on the way out. We arrived at the mall around lunch-time and didn't leave until about 6:00 pm at night. This was a good decision considering the traffic rolling in but it took over 1 hr to find my car. I did remember where I came into the mall and the escalators that came up from the car park level to the mall ground level, however, there was no equivalent escaltors to go down next to the up-escalator. The down-escalator was some distance away and thus going down to the car park level was somewhat disorientating and confusing. Sweeping the car park row-by-row, I eventually found where I parked. Chi-Lu wasn't too happy with me for losing the car. She thought I was stupid (but she often thinks this). Incidentally, on the radio the next day, the radio announcer, Cat-boy on 92FM, also complained about losing his car in the quagmire carpark and it took him several hours to find it, so it made me feel a lot better that I was not the only one.
I'm glad we left when we did, the back up of cars trying to get into the mall was about 5 kms long. It was reported that it took many 2 to 3 hs to get into the mall. Some words of advice, if you are going to the shopping malls in Dubai it's best to go in the mornings and be back home for dinner to avoid the crowds.
Does Dubai need another shopping mall? It's pretty hard to stay. In some sense, probably not, but in another sense, yes - a mall with shops that are different to the other malls. Whilst Dubai has many malls, they are mostly filled with chain stores and thus end up being a bit monotonous. The Dubai Mall has the potential to be filled by different and other interesting shops and also not all luxury shops.
In conclusion, I can see Dubai Mall becoming another major tourist attraction, and probably with continued development overtaking the Mall of the Emirates as Dubai's premier mall.
I grew up near shopping malls and was a big part of my childhood and so I don't mind visiting them. I will continue to visit the Dubai Mall from time-to-time to see how it develops and see what latest gadgets are on offer!
VGA
The Dubai Mall is one of the world's largest malls (definitely the Middle East's largest), it has an internal floor area of 542,000 sq. metres (approx. 350,000 sq. metres of leasable space). This is about 3 times larger than Westfield Parramatta. (Incidentally the largest shopping mall in the world was the South China Mall in Dongguan China which is twice as large as Dubai Mall, however the South China Mall was purportedly run down, had a lack of visitors and a lack of shops with a 99% vacancy rate and was closed down recently in 2008, this makes the Golden Resources Mall in Beijing the world's largest mall with a gross letting area of 560,000 sq. metres).
Overall, the Dubai Mall is pretty good. The layout is like a large quadrangle shape with a kind of souk (a mall within a mall) in the middle. It features an ice rink and a very large aquarium with many unhappy looking fish (Yep, this is what the world needs right now - ecologically and environmentally sound technologies that reduce green house emissions!). It was fun watching the kids whizzing around the ice on their skates in their dishdashas, and the fish just hanging out swimming from one end of the tank to the other like fish do!
As mentioned, the mall is not completely finished. The build quality and finish at this stage was not up to the standard of the Mall of Emirates, in fact it looked cheaply built. There are many shops to open including Galleries Lafayette and many smaller speciality shops, and thus as more shops open the mall's appeal will increase further. The mall is divided into different areas for fashion, electronics, luxury goods (many watch shops), etc. The electronics section looks promising as it appears many single branded shops will open up in this area. There was already a Canon and an Olympus shop which were opened allowing one to explore each manufacturer's gadetry in detail. The mall has a huge food court and a lot of restaurants opening up. The food court was packed though, with long lines - it took some time to get something to eat.
The mall also has a Waitrose supermarket (the first in Dubai). However, an inspection of the supermarket kind of revealed a bigger version of Dubai's venerable Spinneys supermarket. (I'd say that people who run Spinney's in Dubai must also run Waitrose as well). Nevertheless, Waitrose have some great products, especially their own labelled products, so it was good to see.
One confusing thing is the car parking. I had trouble finding my car on the way out. We arrived at the mall around lunch-time and didn't leave until about 6:00 pm at night. This was a good decision considering the traffic rolling in but it took over 1 hr to find my car. I did remember where I came into the mall and the escalators that came up from the car park level to the mall ground level, however, there was no equivalent escaltors to go down next to the up-escalator. The down-escalator was some distance away and thus going down to the car park level was somewhat disorientating and confusing. Sweeping the car park row-by-row, I eventually found where I parked. Chi-Lu wasn't too happy with me for losing the car. She thought I was stupid (but she often thinks this). Incidentally, on the radio the next day, the radio announcer, Cat-boy on 92FM, also complained about losing his car in the quagmire carpark and it took him several hours to find it, so it made me feel a lot better that I was not the only one.
I'm glad we left when we did, the back up of cars trying to get into the mall was about 5 kms long. It was reported that it took many 2 to 3 hs to get into the mall. Some words of advice, if you are going to the shopping malls in Dubai it's best to go in the mornings and be back home for dinner to avoid the crowds.
Does Dubai need another shopping mall? It's pretty hard to stay. In some sense, probably not, but in another sense, yes - a mall with shops that are different to the other malls. Whilst Dubai has many malls, they are mostly filled with chain stores and thus end up being a bit monotonous. The Dubai Mall has the potential to be filled by different and other interesting shops and also not all luxury shops.
In conclusion, I can see Dubai Mall becoming another major tourist attraction, and probably with continued development overtaking the Mall of the Emirates as Dubai's premier mall.
I grew up near shopping malls and was a big part of my childhood and so I don't mind visiting them. I will continue to visit the Dubai Mall from time-to-time to see how it develops and see what latest gadgets are on offer!
VGA
Monday, September 29, 2008
Culture (Music): GQ's Top 50 Most Influential Australian Albums
The Australian version of GQ magazine has announced its Top 50 most influential Australian albums of all time. Overall, the panel / judges / voters have done a reasonable job of picking these albums. Some albums may be considered more on their "sales figures" perhaps more so than "musical quality" but that is a very subjective debate. I guess high selling albums do have an influence.
It's not unexpected that AC/DC's Back in Black is number 1. I read else where that it is soon to overtake Michael Jackson's Thriller as the best selling album of all time. I remember when I was younger when I had set-up a couple of speakers in our garage and I had built an amplifier and to test it out, I rigged up a cassette player to the amp which had a line-out, cranked up the volume (ala Back to the Future) and the first chimes of "hells bells" rang out over the neighbourhood, it really got going when "Back in Black" came on. My parents came out to turn off "that bloody horrible noise".
In general, I've never been a huge fan of AC/DC apart from the Back in Black album, I was more into alternative rock than mainstream rock - bands like "The Church", "Celibate Rifles", "Died Pretty", "Radio Birdman", "The Saints", etc were my favourites.
I'm glad The Church with Starfish and Died Pretty with Dougboy Hollow made the list. Truly, Died Pretty are one of Australia's most under-rated band and I believe Australia's most musical band. On all their albums - there is not one dud song compared that to INXS who are Australia's most over-rated band!
Are there some albums missing?
* One would think Skyhooks "Living in the 70s" should have made it, afterall "You just like cos I'm good in bed" kicked off JJ!
* Australian Crawl's "The Boys Light Up" is an all time classic with memorable songs and everybody trying to be as cool as James Reyne.
* What about Albums from The Angels, Dragon, Sunnyboys, The Sports, Riptides/Gangajang - perhaps no individual album was that strong but a bunch of good songs from several albums.
* Johnny Farnham - "Your the Voice"??
* Split Enz - "I Got You" - well I guess they are NZ!
* No LRB, Sherbet, Air Supply or JPY - am I showing my age?
* What about The Stems - "At first sight" - perhaps one of most classic standalone albums ever.
Anyhow they're just a few ideas.
For more information see the link below.
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,24419444-7484,00.html
5. Easybeats - Absolute Anthology
6. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
7. Cold Chisel - East
8. Scientists - Blood Red River
9. Crowded House - Crowded House
10. Silverchair - Young Modern
11. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
12. Kylie - Kylie
13. Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust
14. INXS - Kick
15. Radio Birdman - Radios Appear
16. Reels - Quasimodo's Dream
17. Yothu Yindi - Tribal Voice
18. YOU AM I - Hourly Daily
19. Go Betweens - Liberty Bell and the Black Diamond Express
20. Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls - Gossip
21. The Church - Starfish
22. Dead Can Dance - Dead Can Dance
23. Hummingbirds - Love Buzz
24. Split Enz - True Colours
25. The Loved Ones - Magic Box
26. Triffids - Calenture
27. Richard Clapton - Girls on the Avenue
28. The Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon Is Over
29. Renee Geyer - It's a Man's Man's World
30. Died Pretty - Doughboy Hollow
31. Dirty Three - Sad and Dangerous
32. Divinyls - Divinyls
33. Augie March - Sunset Studies
34. Flash and the Pan - Flash and the Pan
35. Goanna - Spirit of the Place
36. Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes - The Night of the Wolverine
37. Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars
38. Hunters and Collectors - Human Family
39. Icehouse - Primitive Man
40. The Johnny's - Highlights of a Dangerous Life
41. Spiderbait - Grand Slam
42. Models - The Pleasure of your Company
43. Men at Work - Business as Usual
44. Regurgitator - Unit
45. Savage Garden - Savage Garden
46. Rick Springfield - Working Class Dog
47. Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs - Aztecs Live! At Sunbury
48. Underground Lovers - Leaves Me Blind
49. Various Artists - Countdown Silver Jubilee
50. Various Artists - Cannot Buy My Soul (A Kev Carmody Tribute)
VGA
It's not unexpected that AC/DC's Back in Black is number 1. I read else where that it is soon to overtake Michael Jackson's Thriller as the best selling album of all time. I remember when I was younger when I had set-up a couple of speakers in our garage and I had built an amplifier and to test it out, I rigged up a cassette player to the amp which had a line-out, cranked up the volume (ala Back to the Future) and the first chimes of "hells bells" rang out over the neighbourhood, it really got going when "Back in Black" came on. My parents came out to turn off "that bloody horrible noise".
In general, I've never been a huge fan of AC/DC apart from the Back in Black album, I was more into alternative rock than mainstream rock - bands like "The Church", "Celibate Rifles", "Died Pretty", "Radio Birdman", "The Saints", etc were my favourites.
I'm glad The Church with Starfish and Died Pretty with Dougboy Hollow made the list. Truly, Died Pretty are one of Australia's most under-rated band and I believe Australia's most musical band. On all their albums - there is not one dud song compared that to INXS who are Australia's most over-rated band!
Are there some albums missing?
* One would think Skyhooks "Living in the 70s" should have made it, afterall "You just like cos I'm good in bed" kicked off JJ!
* Australian Crawl's "The Boys Light Up" is an all time classic with memorable songs and everybody trying to be as cool as James Reyne.
* What about Albums from The Angels, Dragon, Sunnyboys, The Sports, Riptides/Gangajang - perhaps no individual album was that strong but a bunch of good songs from several albums.
* Johnny Farnham - "Your the Voice"??
* Split Enz - "I Got You" - well I guess they are NZ!
* No LRB, Sherbet, Air Supply or JPY - am I showing my age?
* What about The Stems - "At first sight" - perhaps one of most classic standalone albums ever.
Anyhow they're just a few ideas.
For more information see the link below.
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,24419444-7484,00.html
The full list of GQ's 50 most influential Australian albums of all time are:
1. ACDC - Back in Black
2. The Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever
3. Saints - I'm Stranded
5. Easybeats - Absolute Anthology
6. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
7. Cold Chisel - East
8. Scientists - Blood Red River
9. Crowded House - Crowded House
10. Silverchair - Young Modern
11. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
12. Kylie - Kylie
13. Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust
14. INXS - Kick
15. Radio Birdman - Radios Appear
16. Reels - Quasimodo's Dream
17. Yothu Yindi - Tribal Voice
18. YOU AM I - Hourly Daily
19. Go Betweens - Liberty Bell and the Black Diamond Express
20. Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls - Gossip
21. The Church - Starfish
22. Dead Can Dance - Dead Can Dance
23. Hummingbirds - Love Buzz
24. Split Enz - True Colours
25. The Loved Ones - Magic Box
26. Triffids - Calenture
27. Richard Clapton - Girls on the Avenue
28. The Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon Is Over
29. Renee Geyer - It's a Man's Man's World
30. Died Pretty - Doughboy Hollow
31. Dirty Three - Sad and Dangerous
32. Divinyls - Divinyls
33. Augie March - Sunset Studies
34. Flash and the Pan - Flash and the Pan
35. Goanna - Spirit of the Place
36. Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes - The Night of the Wolverine
37. Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars
38. Hunters and Collectors - Human Family
39. Icehouse - Primitive Man
40. The Johnny's - Highlights of a Dangerous Life
41. Spiderbait - Grand Slam
42. Models - The Pleasure of your Company
43. Men at Work - Business as Usual
44. Regurgitator - Unit
45. Savage Garden - Savage Garden
46. Rick Springfield - Working Class Dog
47. Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs - Aztecs Live! At Sunbury
48. Underground Lovers - Leaves Me Blind
49. Various Artists - Countdown Silver Jubilee
50. Various Artists - Cannot Buy My Soul (A Kev Carmody Tribute)
VGA
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Culture (Music): Under The Milky Way is No. 1
It's great to see that The Church's "Under The Milky Way" was voted the best Australian song over the past twenty years according to the The Australian Newspaper "The Weekend Australian Magazine". Refer details in the link below:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24365642-5017898,00.html
The Church are one of Australia's (and the world's for that matter) most enigmatic bands, after 30 years, they are still going strong releasing material. That would put them into one of Australia's currently together longest surviving bands up there with AC/DC.
Good on you Steve, Marty and the rest of band.
VGA
PS. I still reckon The Church's "The Unguarded Moment" is the best Australian song of all time!
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24365642-5017898,00.html
The Church are one of Australia's (and the world's for that matter) most enigmatic bands, after 30 years, they are still going strong releasing material. That would put them into one of Australia's currently together longest surviving bands up there with AC/DC.
Good on you Steve, Marty and the rest of band.
VGA
PS. I still reckon The Church's "The Unguarded Moment" is the best Australian song of all time!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
General: MediaStorm 10 years on
It's August 2008 which means that it is basically ten years when Ben T, Trent H and myself first met on a film-making course in Brisbane, 1998 where we met Judd T soon after to make our first short film "Fifty/Fify" and then met Ben C shortly after that where we formed MediaStorm Productions. They were a crazy few years where we had a production office at QPIX and made a whole bunch of short films "Cardboard Scott", "Version of Events", "Whaleboat", "Crack", "Car Keys", "White Nightie", "Brace Yourself", "Dadcops", "Hot Crusty Death II" and worked on a bunch of other people's projects. How time flies - However, I'm still living in the past and not currently active in filmmaking at the moment.
Although, I'm very proud to say that the other members have prospered and continue to carve out a prolific and successful career in the film and TV industry.
* Ben T - is active filmmaker / director based in London - www.bentreston.com
* Trent H - has become a successful TV producer and editor and is currently making further shoes for the BBC after a string of hits in reality TV.
* Judd T - has just finished his first major feature as a Producer and has successfully produced / directed many funded short film, TVC and music video clips. It appears that his new film will be a sleeper hit, www.sleeper-film.com
* Ben T - is a successful executive with Austar communications.
Let's hope within the next 10 years these guys are big names in Hollywood!
For the time being, I'm still playing with trains!
VGA
Although, I'm very proud to say that the other members have prospered and continue to carve out a prolific and successful career in the film and TV industry.
* Ben T - is active filmmaker / director based in London - www.bentreston.com
* Trent H - has become a successful TV producer and editor and is currently making further shoes for the BBC after a string of hits in reality TV.
* Judd T - has just finished his first major feature as a Producer and has successfully produced / directed many funded short film, TVC and music video clips. It appears that his new film will be a sleeper hit, www.sleeper-film.com
* Ben T - is a successful executive with Austar communications.
Let's hope within the next 10 years these guys are big names in Hollywood!
For the time being, I'm still playing with trains!
VGA
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