While accidentally searching for “Twitter” the other day, I saw a human rights advertisement (it won’t always come up, you may have to reload the page a few times to see it) on Google at the top. This might not seem like a big deal, just an ad for a Twitter account, but this is Vietnam, where talking about this stuff is very sensitive. For example, it would not be a good idea for me to start a blog site to talk about human rights.

When you advertise with Google, you can target your ads by location, so it’s guaranteed Witnessorg wanted this advertisement seen by Vietnamese (You can tell I’m on google.com.vn by the way) or expats here. If you look at their Twitter site (image below), their bio says: “WITNESS (www.witness.org) uses video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations.” This is basically an ad to tell people in Vietnam to document violations on video and share.

Yikes. Like I said, sensitive stuff.

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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I’m a big Twitter user- not that I have a ton of followers or anything, but I like to post. A big thing about using it in Vietnam is that it was hard to use it via mobile- there are all sorts of stupid things I want to say when I’m in a taxi or just out and about, random things I want to take pictures of and have them posted immediately online (it’s not the same to post them hours or day later, it’s all about the moment). I’d love to do a better job of sharing my life in Vietnam with friends and family over in the US.

Like I said, Twitter is not really so practical via mobile here (think of the costs to send a SMS internationally), and thus I’ve been hoping for a solution to this for a while, and it didn’t necessarily have to be free. There was a free Twitter/SMS option I saw sometime last year, but they would always embed their tag in your post, which I didn’t like so much.

I then started using Mimo. Mimo is Twitter. For Vietnamese (the site is hosted in VN, and the default language is Vietnamese). And when I say it’s Twitter, it really, really, looks like Twitter. And while that might scream “knock-off” or “clone”, I think it’s actually pretty good. I’d actually call it more of a Twitter Plus.

Mimo = Twitter Plus

Mimo has a ton of features that a lot of people wish were already in Twitter, while at the same not making the UI overly messy nor removing anything that people love about Twitter. To me, it’s obvious the Mimo team has used Twitter or at least researched how people use it.

• SMS Support: this is the big one for me. It’s 500 VND (about the same price as a normal SMS, I believe. 500 VND is 2.7 cents in USD) to send an SMS, but free to receive SMS from Mimo. So you can follow a ton of people and get their posts on your phone at no extra cost even if you never post. You can do a ton of things via SMS, like follow, private message, block users, even register. It’s a bit much for me, but I think you could basically use Mimo without going to the website at all if you wanted. The only bad thing I’ve found is that MMS is not supported, so you won’t be seeing silly pictures from me. Yet.
• Sync with Facebook and Twitter: since I’m on both Facebook and Twitter, this is pretty important to me as well. Now I can send a SMS update to Mimo for less than 3 cents, and my sister in the US sees it on her Facebook instantly. The sync works both ways, I’ve confirmed- if you post on Twitter or Facebook, it’ll come back into your Mimo.
• Language Support: Mimo supports both English and Vietnamese, and the English has been done really well! No signs of broken Google-translated English anywhere.
• Attachment functionality: up to 20 MB per post, supporting basically any file format you want. It’ll show images and play music files inline as well. Thumbnails next to the post text make it obvious when there’s an attachment. You can’t watch videos on the site yet, though, there will just be a download prompt.
• Webcam: support for avatars and uploads. Too bad you can’t record videos yet though.
• Apps: Mimo has a seriously ridiculous amount of apps ready for it. I use TwitterFox for Twitter, and Mimo has a version of it out already. They’ve also got apps for Adobe Air and Windows .Net, and you can use Yahoo Messenger (it’s the number 1 IM client here) with it. Now they just need an iPhone app, and they can go claim themselves king.

In terms of the UI, and not messing anything up, let me give you an example:

Mimo UI Basics:

• Top Center: Pick your Language. UK flag for English, Vietnamese Flag for Vietnamese.
• Upper Right: If you like to type with diacritics (accents), click that.
• Left of Avatar: Webcam uploads, Attachments, and Character Count.
• Upper Left: (below Mimo logo) autocomplete username on replies – it’s like Facebook when you search! When you start typing @ and the beginning of someone’s username, Mimo will suggest people based on whom you’re following for the autocomplete.
• Individual Posts: Favorite / Reply / Copy. Copy is basically Retweet- they do it the old school Twitter style, adding RT and copying the text of the post into the text entry box.
• Right Navigation Menu: If you have a new reply or Private (Direct) Message, it will let you know in an obvious manner (like Gmail). I always thought the total Direct Messages count you see in Twitter was useless- I could never tell if I had something new because I don’t remember what the count used to be.

Here’s an example of what a post with an attachment (photo thumbnail on the right) looks like:

Now, here’s Twitter’s UI:

Super familiar right? But that’s what I mean by Twitter Plus. If you already like Twitter, getting into Mimo is easy, and it has some nice small enhancements that make the experience a good deal nicer. I’m going to be using both Mimo and Twitter- Mimo to post updates and interact with my Vietnamese friends, and Twitter to monitor what my American friends are up to in the US.

Some negatives:

• I am not sure Hot Topics is working right. I like the Twitter one, where you can see all the new trending and hot topics. I hope they can fix this, as getting real time insights into what Vietnamese people are thinking and doing would be pretty awesome. Imagine stuff like when VN has a big football (soccer) match, and everyone’s getting ready to go out in the streets, or everyone is excited to see Avatar 3D at Megastar, but can’t get tickets.
• No Free SMS – ok, so I’m being picky. That’s not really a negative, that’s just me being greedy. Maybe they can have an ad-supported version in which you can send SMS posts for free. You could opt in to receive 2-3 SMS ads per day, and then you would be able to post to Mimo for free.
• Already mentioned: MMS not supported yet, no direct video playback, no video through webcam, no iPhone or Mobile app (so what if I don’t have an iPhone), but there is a WAP site, m.mimo.vn. GPRS in Vietnam can be super slow though, I’d rather stick with SMS.
• It took me 3 hrs to update my Twitter badge on the upper right (below the header) with a Mimo one. Why is this a negative? Because I am lazy and like to complain.

Some people to follow:

• SaoNoiTieng: trash talking gossip.
• QuaCauMaThuat is like Magic 8 Ball. I tried it (alright, I was a little drunk) with a friend via mobile, answering it random questions, and it would give me those random answers like back when we were kids. It does support English, it just depends on what language you have selected in the Mimo UI.
• Eduard Kazanov and Tommy Tran: Eduard and Tommy are listed as two of the Suggested Users when you register for an account. They’re celebrities/VIPs as models/actors, and they’re actually very nice. I happen to know them and for whatever reason, they got me a pass into the Hard Rock Cafe grand opening. So that’s a plug for them!

Of course, feel free to follow me on either Mimo or Twitter:

• www.mimo.vn/genericdude
• www.twitter.com/genericdude

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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• Pickup Basketball in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) (2)
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Hi there! Looking for a basketball / streetball game in Saigon? Not sure if you always want to play with locals? There’s nothing wrong with that as locals can be quite good, but the style of play is often quite…different.

I play with a group of expats, and while we’re not good, we do like to play and stay in shape and pretend that we’re not old. We can’t cover up that we’re short though (I’m 5’6).

We play in District 10, over at Phu Tho Stadium, the Luu Gia Street Gate. If you’re going by taxi or xe om and don’t know much Vietnamese, type this in to your phone and show the driver:

“San thi dau Phu Tho, duong Ly Thuong Kiet, Q10, cong Lu Gia”

We reserve half or full court (full whenever we can) on Thursday nights and a weekend night (based on availability), and all pitch in for drinks (water, sports drinks) and court rental (Very affordable: a little over $5 USD per hour for the full court. That’s not per person, that’s total.). As far as I know, Phu Tho is considered the best place for basketball in the city. It is far for most people though, but it’s worth it if you really want to play basketball.

We’ll play each other (we’re mostly Americans but also play with Taiwanese friends), and sometimes pickup people to join us.

So, whether If you’re in town for a visit or living here, and would like to play, we’d love for you to join us, just leave me a comment below or contact me over at the About Me page. It’s also a good opportunity to network (hint, hint).

By the way, the picture above is at Phan Dinh Phung (PDP) Sports Complex in District 1 on Pasteur. They have a pretty nice court there, but like most good courts in Vietnam, very hard (virtually impossible) to reserve- they’re usually set aside for public (school) leagues or teams and can’t be used for pickup. If you want to do pickup there, you’ll have to do so at what are their almost quarter-like courts. You’ll understand if you go by there.

I’m also always happy to post more information on good pickup games to share if I get it. We’re always looking for more court options for games, but we want to be able to reserve a court, because true pickup (get in line and hope to get on) is too hard when you’re working and have a tight schedule.

I personally would pay $100 a month for a court/gym I could play at and practice by myself for couple hours a few times a week.

(EDIT: March 6, 2010)

I opened a Mimo account (think of Twitter for Vietnam) to list out when we play. As soon as I receive confirmation of a time, I’ll post it to Mimo. To get the latest news, you can either check our page, or if you register for your own Mimo account, you can follow us, and get the updates delivered to your mobile through SMS for free.

We’re @BasketballSaigon.

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Image by laffy4k via Flickr

I’ve referred to these links through various posts, but I figured I might as well compile them and make a post with an SEO friendly title (yes, I want to see if this results in more PV for the site)

(I know there are private torrent sites that specialize in sports, but I always have issues with them. I always share enough, but I have difficulty getting tracked properly. The sites below all are public/don’t need any special work to access)

Let’s go!

• bt.davka.info is the best site I know of for basketball torrents. I probably need to step and donate one of these days.
  • Davka also has a forum where you can find useful links to other sites for direct downloads: http://bt.davka.info/forum/viewforum.php?id=5
• For direct downloads, ballers.ru is fanastic. I notice people in Vietnam like direct download sites more than torrents (you can buy rapishare accounts here as well)
  • Ballers.ru  (HD Basketball Games – Huge Files)
  • Ballers.ru (Normal Sized Files)
• You can also find some games through the Large Clips Section at Mixmakers.net: http://www.mixmakers.net/forums/large-clips/
• Lastly, I just found this user who has uploaded some Cal Bears NCAA Mens Basketball torrents.
• Alright, I’ll throw in one more, but this is for football (soccer), more specifically, Manchester United matches: http://unitedzone.info/forum/current-campaign-full-matches/

Btw, if you need help with torrents, see My Torrent Guide.

Enjoy and let me know of your own favorite sources!

Edit: Feb 21, found a great resource on Mixmakers, “NBA Game Data Base – Version 1.0 Release“- it’s a list of games available coupled with download link.s

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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“I just want to play this forever” – Mike (paraphrased)

My favorite game of all-time for the past decade has been Halo for the original Xbox. I’ve even written a good deal about Halo-related stuff (see Halo (PC), Halo: The Graphic Novel, Halo 2 (XBox), Why (Again) Halo is the Best Game Ever), though I really only love the first game. In fact, I play through Halo on Heroic difficulty at least once a year.

Finally, there’s something new to replace this tradition: Bioware’s Mass Effect 2.

I played Mass Effect (ME) for the first time and then Mass Effect 2 (ME2) back to back over a 3 week period and 70+ hrs of gameplay, finishing earlier this week, so I’m acutely aware of the differences between the games.

Mass Effect was a pretty damn good game. It reminded me a lot of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) for the Xbox, which was also made by Bioware. ME has great dialogue, characters, non-linear storyline, humor, graphics, and lots of stuff to do and explore (without being too open, in the sense that there’s no specific sense of direction).

That said, Mass Effect 2 blows the original away. After I finished ME2 this week, I thought to myself, I don’t want to go through ME1 again. It just doesn’t seem fun in comparison. Knowing that I have to (I want to make different choices in the first game’s storyline to see how they pan out) is depressing. The relative difference in games is like having to re-play a Japanese RPG with silly and frequent random battles and level grinding- yeah, play it once, sure, that’s fine. But twice, ah f*** no, too tedious. Secret of Mana for the SNES was my favorite RPG for a long time (I played it 15 years ago), and I still have never played through it again.

After playing ME1, I had a list of gripes that I didn’t necessarily expect to be fixed for the sequel. And I was okay with that. But ME2 fixes everything. EVERYTHING. Even things you didn’t think were broken were fixed, and while you may dislike some changes at first, when you think about them more, you’ll realize they make sense and Mass Effect 2 is better because of them.

Here’s another thought. Kyle didn’t like ME1 at all, didn’t really play it. Loves ME2.

When has a sequel been so much better than its original, that you can’t stand to play the first game anymore (but would love to replay the sequel)? I don’t mean like generational sequels, like Metal Gear for the NES and then Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation, these two Mass Effect games are two years apart on the same console. I can’t say this for any game. Definitely not the Halo series. I loved Halo 1, hated Halo 2, am okay with Halo 3 and Halo: ODST. Metal Gear? I own MGS 1, 2, and 3, and never got into 2 or 3.

Here are some notes on what Mass Effect 2 brings:

• Autosaves: Fixed. Autosaves are frequent- you rarely need to save by yourself. Plus, saves are quick and don’t pause or disrupt gameplay.
• Shooting Gameplay: Much, much improved. Feels much more fluid. You can consider it Gears of Wars-lite with RPG elements.
• Ethical Questions: While ME2 still makes most decisions obvious in terms of good/evil, nice guy/dick, there are some situations that seriously challenge your inner beliefs as a person, that aren’t about right and wrong, they’re just about what you think is best. (If you have played ME2, remember the Krogan). I liked this a lot, I sat for 10 minutes thinking during one of the decisions.
• Inventory: You don’t have to equip individual armor and weapons for everyone anymore, it’s much more simplified without losing that “I want to upgrade!” feel.
• “Great dialogue, characters, non-linear storyline, humor, graphics, and lots of stuff to do and explore”: All still here in the sequel. Phenomenal visuals, technically, but also artistically along with a much more consistent framerate.

The only complaint I have is something that exists in most Bioware games (Mike says Dragon Age doesn’t have this problem): The Mass Effect games have a meter to monitor your decisions. If you do nice things, your Paragon meter goes up. If not so nice, then Renegade. But it’s always obvious how to pick the decision for either effect, and that’s what makes it too game-like for me. In KOTOR, your character would physically match your attitude. Be a dark son of a bitch, and you’d look evil.

I want a game that doesn’t explicitly tell you that what you’re doing is right/wrong/good/bad. I just want to make decisions naturally the way I might do if the game were real life, and I want the game to react naturally and not give me a meter to show me. The story and characters would just flow with you, and maybe in the end, there could be a summary about what kind of person you really are.

Black and White and then Fable supposedly promised that they would do something similar, but they didn’t- there was no subtlety in how you were affecting the game world. In life, most of us are clueless about how we actually are to the people around us, and how our decisions affect others around us. Let’s see that in a game! If I am a real dick in life, I want the game to pull that out of me. That’s true role playing.

Anyway, as I recommended to Jimmy, steal someone’s Xbox 360 and play Mass Effect 2. Who cares about Mass Effect 1. Don’t bother with reading reviews or whatever, just go into it fresh, play, and be amazed.

Mass Effect 2 is now the standard by which we’ll measure single player experiences, not just RPGs but story-centric shooters as well.

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Image via Wikipedia

This blog has never been afraid to discuss piracy openly. (Notice I mention “this blog”. I, however, do not condone piracy in any way or fashion. “This blog” made me do it! I am innocent!)

Some examples: How to be a Digital Pirate in Vietnam, My Torrent Guide for You, The Escapist : Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

Today, I want to share about the world of network media tanks, getting HD-quality movies on the cheap, and how to make this all happen. I won’t talk too much about the situation of piracy, having discussed those in detail in other articles. I also won’t get too technical about the discussion, just what 99% of the people reading this need to know to get things done.

The lowdown: getting HD movies in Vietnam can be quite affordable. Will these movies be the exact same quality as buying a Blu-Ray disc in the US? No. But pretty close for most concerning eyes (if you’re reading this article here of all places, you probably cannot tell the difference. I don’t even know if I can, for that matter, and I have a HD Player and Movies for my Xbox 360)

Getting movies basically gets down to getting a player for them (media tank), the movies (movie copy service), and of course, the TV.

Buying Movies:

3 Steps:

1. Buy a Media Tank
2. Buy a Hard Drive to Attach to Media Tank
3. Buy Movies

Step 1, Buy a Media Tank:

A media tank is like a DVD Player or VCR. You connect it to your TV and it has the ability to play media. I have a WD TV hooked up to a Seagate 1.5 TB Drive. If you want to know more scroll to the bottom of post.

For a full list of Media Tanks available at Halo Shop in Saigon, see here: Media Tank List, Halo Shop. I generally recommend them for any purchases. They can speak English and they’re not so full of BS so you can take their advice for an easier process.

If you’re from Hanoi, sorry, I don’t know of any places in Hanoi, though I’m sure they exist- ask a local Home Theater shop, and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

A few more notes: Don’t bother getting HD movies unless you have an HDTV. There will be no benefit. Also, use an HDMI cable to connect the Media Tank to the HD TV. HDMI Cables should cost less than $10 USD- don’t be tricked into paying more. Lastly, if you’re not going to hook up a 5.1 (or 7.1/8.1/etc.) sound system to your TV, you should make sure the audio will be ok if you connect the Media Tank to your TV. Just ask “Can I use this Media Tank with my TV speakers?” With the WD TV, this isn’t a problem unless you are playing DTS movies, but scroll to the end of this post for more on that.

Step 2, Buy a Hard Drive to Attach to Media Tank:

You can buy these anywhere. I would suggest getting a package deal when you get your Media Tank, minimum 1TB Hard Drive, get 2TB if you can afford it. Remember, movies are 5-10 GB each, so a 1TB Hard Drive will store only 200 movies. Tank + Hard Drive may cost $400 to $500 depending on what you buy. Sounds expensive, but the movies themselves are extremely cheap.

Step 3, Buy Movies:

There are basically 3 types of content: 480P (DVD quality), 720P (Hi Def), and 1080P (Bad ass Hi Def). You, for practical purposes, want 720P content. If you really think you need 1080P, read the section about buying a TV below. I do have a 32” 1080P TV, but I also sit less than 3 feet away from it.

One other thing to consider is that not that many movies are available in 1080P here, so not necessarily worth the extra cash.

There are two places that I consider:

1. ChepPhim.Net: 199/19 Duong (Street) 3/2 F11 District 10, TPHCM. Movie List, ChepPhim.Net
2. Halo Shop: 82 Pasteur, District 1, TPHCM. Movie List, Halo Shop

ChepPhim.net is cheap, fast, and has much more content available compared to Halo Shop. You can get 1TB copied for about $10 USD in less than two days. They update their movie list about twice a month and even have TV sets like Lost and Prison Break.

Buying a TV and Home Audio:

TV:

I’ll make this simple- get a 720P TV. If you really think you may want a 1080P, read this article first: 1080p Does Matter – Here’s When (Screen Size vs. Viewing Distance vs. Resolution). If you have a family or plan to share the TV with someone else, unless you are just rich, get a 720P. A bonus about having a 1080P TV, though, is that you can use it as a 1920 x 1080 PC monitor.

For the record, I have a 32” 1080P from LG, and like I said before, I have to sit less than 3 feet away from it to take full advantage of 1080p movies, of which there are few. Most video games also max out at 720P.

Retailers:

• DIEN MAY CHO LON .VN (Saigon)
• Thien Hoa (Saigon)
• Vatgia.com (Price Engine)
• Aha.vn (Price Engine)

Home Audio:

This one’s a bit tougher. I can’t really help here in terms of where to buy in Vietnam or what to buy. Try HD Vietnam if you can read Vietnamese. Otherwise, stick with the stereo TV speakers.

———————————————————–

About the Western Digital WD TV: [Quick Review and Tips]

I have the WD TV, the original version.

Some notes on it:

• It’s cheap. I expect the original can be had for about $100 USD now in Vietnam. I don’t think the WD TV is sold at Halo Shop anymore.
• Supports most video formats, but surprisingly, not .FLV or .WMV. I don’t use it for audio or pictures.
• Overall, it’s okay. Not great. But a solid value for $100. The HDMI connection on mine is a bit loose, so sometimes there’s no signal, and the remote can be frustratingly spotty. Sometimes, for whatever reason, the machine won’t turn on or off, even when the remove is right next to the sensor. Once the machine starts recognizing the remote that particular day, everything is great.
• Getting the new version (Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player) or the original (WD TV Live) is fine for most purposes. The 2 main additions in the WD TV Live are 1) DTS support and 2) Networking support. Networking support means you can hook it up to another computer and stream stuff rather than have to connect a Hard Drive to it. The DTS support, for me, is a bit more important, because many movies that I’ve purchased here are DTS-only and therefore result in no audio when using the original WD TV. There is a fix – you’ll need this to convert those movies with the PopCorn MKV AudioConverter (along with Tutorial for converting audio tracks with HeartWare MKV Audio Converter).
• There’s an issue with some 1080P movies on the WD TV with movies that have too many Reference (Ref) frames. This is where we get a bit technical. If you run into this issue, you’ll have to re-encode the entire movie, which is a two day process. If you get a 1080P movie that seems to stutter, try to find a 720P version. Or get a different media tank. If you really need help with this, you can find the solution on forums online. My hint: I used a combination of MediaInfo and RipBot264 to fix The Dark Knight. I haven’t fixed any other movies yet.

Links:

• Official Firmware: WD TV Product Update – you can probably ask whomever you buy this from to install it for you if you are non-technical, but it also isn’t so difficult.
• Unofficial Firmware: B-RAD (Don’t worry about using this unless you want to spend a lot of time on techie stuff. A note about the unofficial firmware is that I still can’t it to work right with all the extra functionality people have developed for it)
• More talk about Firmware and Stuff: WDTV Forum Homebrew / Custom Firmware

———————————————————–

Sorry if this post got a bit crazy, but hopefully it’s useful to someone out there. If you have any questions or want to send in your own recommendations and tips, please leave a comment!

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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With Monta Ellis putting up the business in terms of statistics (26 pts on 45.7% shooting, 5.5 assists, 2.2 steals), there’s an argument over how good he really is, and if he helps the team win. See RealGM’s Context In Statistics (Monta Ellis Edition) and Kawakami’s Will the Warriors finally start splitting Ellis and Curry? for some thoughts.

Here’s what I said about both a month ago:

• Stephen Curry is legit. You can see he can play. In the Celtics game, he got destroyed by Rondo early (that’s when they were down big), and he got replaced by CJ Watson and never came back in. I think Curry will be be more aggressive on offense as the year goes by, and that’s when he’ll come into his own. He can already pass and shoot, he just needs to make a more consistent impact on the game. This will also allow Monta to cut down on turnovers as Curry becomes more assertive and runs a true point. On defense, Curry will be ok in the long haul. He can get some steals already, and he’s not lazy, he just doesn’t have the experience or outstanding quickness. On the positive, he’s not short (I think he may be taller than Monta), and he rebounds (nearly 4 a game). He is the key to this team, in the sense that Monta is a star, but Curry is the key to get this team to reach that next step and be something real.
• Monta Ellis is amazing. In a way, he might seem like a ball hog, but they need to him shoot that much. When he’s not on the floor (and that’s rare), you can see that the Warriors cannot score. It’s like the 76’ers and Allen Iverson. This is where Curry has to become more of a floor leader. If he can control the offense, the Warriors will be fine.

Since I wrote that, Curry won the NBA Rookie of the Month award for January. I can’t disagree with Tim Kawakami, though. I’ve noticed it myself.

What should the Warriors do?

• As good as Monta is, Curry is definitely more valuable. Monta is an undersized shooting guard, while Curry is a reasonably tall point guard (6’2) with a short wingspan. I think Curry will put together 20 pts, 7 assists, 2 steals per game on 45% FG / 40% 3PT / 90% FT, maybe as soon as next year. As a rookie, even with the indecisiveness from playing with Monta, he’s averaging 15 pts, 5 assists, 2 steals on 46% FG / 43% 3PT / 86% FT. I dare you to tell me Curry isn’t going to be insane. (Note: Monta and Curry are different as passers. Monta is a drive and dish guy, he drives, and then if he’s in trouble he may find you. Curry is a true point in the sense he is looking for you from the beginning)
• Monta is not Allen Iverson. Therefore, you can’t build a team specifically to his talents alone and hope that will create a contender.
• As far as I’ve read and heard, the Warriors like each other a lot. And don’t underestimate how important that is. See Bill Simmons discussion about “The Secret” in The Book of Basketball. The moped incident is in the past, it’s like it never happened. If Monta and Curry have personal friction between each other, okay, that’s a problem. But if it’s just figuring out how to play with each other, then that’s time. They both want to win, they both play hard, they are both improving.
• Why give up on Curry and Ellis? Like I just said, if it’s not personal, they can learn. Remember, Monta played with Baron and won the Most Improved Player award, it’s not like Monta has always been ball-dominant. Back then, Monta got a lot of mid-range jumpers from Baron’s passing. When Curry becomes the half court manager and Monta lets Curry help him, this will work. Seriously, it’s been half a year.
• If you’re going to trade Monta, alright, for who? I don’t think you should trade or give up on people. Development and maturity are a huge part of NBA players, just like you and me in life. One idea I came up with is Monta for Andre Iguodala, an athletic, exciting swingman who can defend. I even asked (ESPN Basketball Columnist) Ric Bucher. Ric said no. (Ric is really cool btw, he actually answers people on Twitter. I’ve been reading him since he worked for the San Jose Mercury News when I was growing up)

As a Warriors fan, it’s not fun seeing your favorite player getting traded and let go- Latrell, then Antawn, then J-Rich, then Baron. Monta is not making obscene money, he’s not a problem in the locker room. He’s still young and extremely talented. To trade him is just like a big F-U to to fans. What the Warriors really need, however is a perimeter defender and improving interior defense (I don’t know what’s wrong with Andris this year). Hopefully, they’ll resign Raja Bell, but letting Maggette be the 6th man (Corey is doing great this year, but with Curry and Ellis in the backcourt, they need a strong defender at SF to have a chance), getting a great defender at SF and then helping Monta and Curry play with each other would create the turnaround we need.

I would even suggest, an Anthony Randolph + lottery protected 1st rounder + expiring contracts for Iguodala. Or Biedrins + Randolph for Iguodala.

Remember, the Warriors should have a top 3 draft pick next year if they keep sucking, so there’s some flexibility in what they can do. Even if they trade Biedrins and Randolph, they’ll be able to pick up a good big guy like Derrick Favors or Ed Davis. Brandan Wright will be back too- I still believe he will show something, but I guess that’s the Warriors optimist in me.

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Ah, so that wasn’t me, that was the very pretty (and tall) model Ha Anh. What, you don’t like looking at pretty girls?

Alright, here’s me at the last Friday’s grand opening of Hard Rock Cafe in Saigon, the first in Vietnam (there have been fakes before):

Thanks to well-connected friends Tommy and Eduard and Jin, I somehow cheated my way into this invite-only party. Main event: DMC from Run DMC! (Yes, this is picky, but a bit disappointing to have just 1 of the 3 people in the group, and yes, I do know that Jay is dead)

Although the event started at 6 PM officially, everyone came much later- we got there closer to 7. DMC was scheduled to go on at 8, but as I expected, it was well after 9 before he got on. Got home at 11ish.

The key points of the night:

- Free booze! Solid mojitos, sponsorship by Coors Light, they even had the cold-activated bottles! (I learned about these on my last trip back to the US) The odd thing is, I don’t think I was aware that Coors Light was sold in Vietnam. Budweiser just came in about a year ago. First drinking of 2010!

- The venue is pretty nice. I expect it to be pretty damn expensive to eat/drink there, which removes me as a regular customer, but if they become a good booker for international acts, I could definitely see myself heading there pretty often- I might have to ask for a raise though. I heard a rumor that they’re going to try to bring in Billy Joe from Green Day, maybe on an acoustic session. How they can possibly make the finances work out on that, I do not know, but Vietnamese do make decisions on ego (see Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s sponsorship of Arsenal at Emirates Stadium for an example).

- A lot of stars and celebs as you would expect. After all, stars got me in the event in the first place!

- I didn’t think the audio configuration was too good. I had a great spot in the middle of the room, but I couldn’t make out what DMC was saying, even when he was just talking.

- In food, I’ve heard some really good things (Kevin and others) about their chicken wings and nachos. Unfortunately, while there was some solid food throughout the night, neither flagship product came out. Weak!

- No, I do not know why the Hard Rock Cafe has a grand opening with a rap act. Run DMC is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, however. Also, there is no way most people there knew of Run DMC. Even I don’t really know their music that well.

Some more pictures from the event below, see the Gallery on Smugmug for all:

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Somehow, I got lucky enough to sneak my way in (ie Jenny) to the Clash (Bay Rong) Red Carpet Premiere last month. In the picture, I am neither the suave Vinh (left) or hilariously dapper Jimmy (right), but as usual the center of attention alongside Ngo Thanh Van. (btw, despite being very tired from the night, Van was very nice)

After hearing some stories of how not-so-red carpet the red carpet premiere of Johnny Tri Nguyen’s last movie, Nu Ho Than Chet was, I wasn’t expecting a ton, but this was a great event. (Yikes, what a sentence) Not that I would know, being a nobody, but I would be happy to cheat my way in to other events like this in the future.

There was an actual red carpet in front of the Paragon in Q7, people waiting outside (not USA levels, but respectable), pictures at the entrance, gift bags for the VIP attendees (not much inside, though), stars (models, singers, rich people) and wannabees (me), and free Johnny Walker (advertised as Blue Label, given out as Gold) for all with a special (again, thanks to Jenny) invite-only after party at Khai Silk’s Cham Charm (known for the $40 weekend buffet).

The movie itself? Good! It’s action heavy, plot-light, but that’s what you would want and hope for. The movie has good pacing and doesn’t try to do too much, ending when it should. A good mark for Vietnamese cinema, for sure. I gave it a 7/10 on IMDB.

Other pictures from the night: (gallery on Smugmug)

Ah, and trailer for Clash:

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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The Escapist : News : Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

This reminds me of Sony trying to sell legit DVDs and Blu-Rays in Vietnam. Sony is trying to sell Blu-Rays for the normal full price in the US (Over $30 USD per movie) in a country where you can have 2TB of HD-quality Movies (average movie is 5GB, so that’s 400 movies!) transferred to a hard drive for less than $20 USD.

So, unsurprisingly, it’s already cheaper to buy imported Sony game consoles than waiting for the “officially authorized” machines.

Ho Chi Minh City (TPHCM/Saigon), Halo Shop:

• Playstation 3: 6,750,000 VND ($360 USD compared to $532.57 from Sony)
• Playstation 2: 3,200,000 VND (longer, full coverage warranty from shop) / 2,700,000 VND ($172 or $145 compared to $239.37 from Sony)
• Playstation Portable: 5,000,000 VND (longer, full coverage warranty from shop) / 4,600,000 VND ($270 or $194 compared to $319.33 from Sony))

Hanoi, XGame:

• Playstation 3: 6.499.000 VND ($350 USD compared to $532.57 from Sony)
• Playstation 2: 2.499.000 VND ($134 USD compared to $239.37 from Sony)
• Playstation Portable: 3.899.000 VND – 4.099.000 VND (colors) ($210 – $216 compared to $319.33 from Sony)

A friend made the point that people will pay more for officially authorized products, for support and warranty reasons. This is possible, however:

• You’re looking at 50-80% premiums from buying something new (gray market imported from another country) for the same thing, also new, just officially authorized.
• You cannot pirate games for the PS3, so you would be buying real games and therefore, a warranty claim is legit. However, if you have a PSP or PS2, there is no one here, absolutely no one, who is buying legitimate software for those consoles. So if you’re hacking your console, you will have invalidated your warranty anyway. Even rich people (I know of some) will just pirate- and why wouldn’t you?
• The most popular, trustworthy shops who are selling these modded systems and pirated software also do repairs themselves, and are quite experienced at it.
• Sony sells authorized DVDs and Blu-Rays, but they’re extremely difficult to find, either in terms of information online, and in shops. I only know of one place that sells them here, and I just saw them by chance. Sony obviously won’t let a Halo Shop or XGame sell authorized consoles next to imported ones and pirated game discs, so where are you going to find these systems?
• If they’re selling games, they’re going to sell non-localized games? Most Vietnamese do not read or understand spoken English that well (couldn’t handle a Final Fantasy game, for example), so non-localized games makes the value of buying legit even lower.

The reason why XBox’s and Wii’s are not officially sold here is because you can easily pirates games for those two systems. Microsoft (maybe not at this point in the product cycle, I guess) takes a loss on each system sold, trying to make it back through software, so if all software is pirated, not such a big reason to sell it officially here. I don’t even know of any places to buy legitimate 360 software. The Wii is profitable on the hardware, but overall, Vietnam is not such a big market for video games (consoles) as it is for PC games, in which companies make money off online games in which they can restrict piracy.

PC games are much more accessible to the normal Vietnamese youngster because the cost to play is so much lower. Players can rent a seat at an Internet cafe and play free games, paying only for microtransactions while a console + accessories investment is well over an average Vietnamese monthly income, perhaps even double the monthly income.

Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

Greg Tito posted on 20 January 2010 1:09 am

Sony announced that it is now selling its PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 and 3 consoles in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

As of January 16th, 2010, citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam will be able to purchase Sony videogame consoles in their country. Vietnam is now the eighth Asian nation in which Sony sells its videogame hardware. PlayStation Portable is 5,990,000 Vietnamese Dong or US $319.33. The PlayStation 2 will retail for 4,490,000 Vietnamese Dong (US $239.37), while the PlayStation 3 is being sold for 9,990,000 Dong ($532.57). Any way you cut it, that’s a lot of Dong.

The PlayStation 3 model being sold in Vietnam is the “slim” model with a 120gb hard drive which was released last year. “While inheriting the sleek curved body design of the original model,” Sony said. “The form factor of the new PS3 system features a new meticulous design with textured surface finish, giving an all new impression and a casual look.”

Previously, if you wanted a PlayStation in Vietnam, you were forced to import it yourself. There is no mention as to why Sony did not sell its consoles in the country before, or why the sales are now allowed in the Socialist nation.

The Escapist : News : Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Microsoft has offered many products in recent years to help people get started with programming on the Windows platform. For instance, Small Basic makes it easy for beginners (including young kids) to write basic programs for Windows without having to learn any complex concepts while free development tools like Visual Studio Express are aimed at advanced programmers.

Last summer, Microsoft Research released a community game cum programming environment for the Xbox 360 called Kodu. Unlike most other video games,  Kodu would let players create their own video games for the Xbox without any prior knowledge of programming.

Design Games on your Windows PC

The initial version of Kodu required the Xbox 360 console but now Kodu is available as a free download for your Windows PC as well. This means you no longer need an Xbox to design games with Kodu and you can play them on just about any computer using a keyboard and mouse (or an Xbox game controller, if you have one).

The entire Kodu program is more like a video game than a programming environment. It includes several tutorials to help you quickly figure out how to create new games, or you can look at the sample games bundled with the program for new ideas.

You can easily edit any game by pressing escape, make the changes and then jump back into playing the game with your changes. Although you cannot edit every little thing inside the game, it still gives you a nice launch pad for creating simple games.

You can download Kodu for PC from fuse.microsoft.com/kodu. Additionally, the graphics settings can be turned down to allow it to run on a computer with lower resources. Kodu requires .NET 3.5 and the XNA framework 3.1 to run — if you don’t have them, the Kodu installer will automatically download and install them for you.

In this CES video, a 12-year old girl is making a computer game with Kodu live on-stage — she’s using Xbox but you can use a Windows PC as well with Kodu.

Scratch from the MIT Media Labs is another popular tool that you may use to create interactive games and animated stories on your Mac OS X and Windows machine.

Create Video Games for Windows PC and Xbox 360 with Microsoft Kodu

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Image by miss_rogue via Flickr

I’m back in Vietnam, and it’s time for my follow-up to my article, Hacks to Avoid Jetlag (Vietnam to the USA)

This was my sixth time doing this, and I’ve always felt that going from the US to Vietnam is much easier than coming back to the US.

I always take the Vietnam Airlines flight which lands in Vietnam between 9 and 11:30 AM (depends if you are landing in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City), so the key here is staying up all day until you can sleep at normal hours.

To stay up, you have to stay active. If you just sit around or watch a movie, you are toast. But if you can get to work (outside of home), talk to people, you can keep yourself up. It also helps to be outside because the sunlight can help your body rethink trying to sleep.

Day 1: I got into HCM this time around 10:30 AM, or 7:30 PST in California. If I could stay up to 9 PM, it would be 6AM in California. Tough. But got home, unpacked my stuff, went to office in the early afternoon, had dinner out, got back home, and it was 9:30/10 before I finally went to bed. Woke up at 5:30 AM. Not bad for my first day.

From here, it was just a question of maintaining:

Day 2: Slept around 8:30, woke up at 2:30 AM. This wasn’t so good, not because I woke up so early, but because I didn’t get 8 hrs of sleep. I tried to sleep again around 6 or so, but it didn’t happen, so I knew I was in for a tough day. Somehow, I ended up being ok the entire day, and slept at 8:30 again.

Day 3: After sleeping at 8:30, I woke up at 3:30. Took a nap from 9 to 12 AM, and was good for the rest of the day.

Day 4: Slept at 10 this time after coming home from basketball. Woke up at 6:30.

Day 5: Slept at 10 again, woke up at 4:30. Don’t think this is due to jet lag, I seem to have crazy dreams every night. Decided to stay up and do some stuff.

It doesn’t matter so much to me when I wake up, as long as I can stay up and sleep on time, stay in good patterns. In fact, I hope I can stick to sleeping at 10 AM each night.

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Vietnam Needs Stable Economy, Better Dong Sentiment, IMF Says

January 11, 2010, 10:24 PM EST

By Jason Folkmanis

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) — Vietnam needs to improve its balance of payments and increase confidence in the dong to strengthen economic growth to at least 6 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund said.

The economy grew at a decade-low pace of 5.3 percent last year. The country recorded a trade deficit of $12.25 billion in 2009 after posting a surplus in the first quarter, and was forced to devalue the dong as Vietnamese increased buying of dollars and gold.

Growth this year will be partly determined by Vietnam’s balance of payments, Benedict Bingham, the IMF’s Hanoi-based senior resident representative in Vietnam, said in an interview today.

“If they re-establish stable macroeconomic conditions, and generate more positive sentiment towards the dong, then I think they can certainly achieve 6 percent growth,” he said.

A government stimulus package hurt Vietnam’s balance of payments last year, threatening the country’s economic stability, the Washington-based IMF said last month.

“What was causing pressure on the balance of payments was a combination of a widening trade deficit and weak sentiment towards the dong, especially by Vietnamese investors,” Bingham said.

The dong traded at 18,474 against the dollar as of 10 a.m. in Hanoi, compared with about 19,280 in the black market. The government only allows the dong to fluctuate 3 percent on either side of the official reference rate that it sets daily.

Dong, Exports

The central bank devalued the dong in November after the gap between official and black-market rates increased ten-fold to more than 11 percent.

Vietnam’s exports should strengthen this year, in part because of a more competitive exchange rate, Johanna Chua, head of Asia economic research at Citigroup Inc., said in a note to investors this month.

Overseas shipments rose 12 percent in December to $5.25 billion from $4.69 billion in November. Garment exports gained 12 percent to $820 million, while shipments of shoes jumped 22 percent to $420 million.

Exports performed “reasonably well” in December, and imports were lower than anticipated, helping to improve the trade gap, the IMF’s Bingham said. December’s shortfall narrowed 38 percent from November to $1.3 billion, according to preliminary figures from the government statistics office.

Deficit Moderates

Last month’s export gains were “due in part to rice and coffee, but encouragingly non-commodity exports also seem to be recovering,” Bingham said. “We will have to see whether this moderation in the trade deficit will be sustained.”

Inflation in Vietnam accelerated to 6.52 percent in December, from 4.35 percent the prior month, as economic growth quickened to 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter, from 6.04 percent in the previous three months.

“The authorities need to keep a close eye on inflation, especially if commodity prices continue to firm this year,” Bingham said. “Although much of the recent increase in the consumer price index is due to rice and fuel prices, the seasonally adjusted three-month rate of inflation is currently running at an annual rate of over 10 percent, which is high.”

Vietnam Needs Stable Economy, Better Dong Sentiment, IMF Says – BusinessWeek

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Image by i-live.gr Greek News magazine via Flickr

Yeah, this info is basically boring to everyone but me: (I’m always surprised on how people find this blog, and what they read) I also have some (not much) pride in saying I finished the year in the top 800,000 in Alexa’s website traffic ranking.

The picture on the right has nothing to do with this post, but I found it with my Zemanta Windows Live Write plugin searching for “2009”.

ISpitHotFire.com’s Top Posts of 2009:

Post/Page Views:

1. Sex Scandal Snares Young Vietnamese Star – New York Times
   3,113
   
2. Metal Gear Solid (PC) with EPSXE 1.7
   2,061
   
3. Wordpress Optimizations – YSlow, PHP Speedy, DB Cache, Hyper Cache, and CSS Sprites
   1,117
   
4. Commenting on Comments (Maria Ozawa’s bikini goes off)
   784
   
5. Hot Girls of Hanoi Strike Back!
   697
   
6. Hoang Thuy Linh’s Career Is Back!
   537
   
7. Johnny Tri Nguyen as Johnny [REVIEW]
   487
   
8. Is that a Penis in Your Mouth, or are You….
   439
   
9. About Me
   366
   
10. Stanford GSB Application, Essay A
    347
    
11. (No Homo) Ryan Reynolds – The Nines [Review]
    274
    
12. Customer Service FAIL, SRS Labs with SRS Audio Sandbox
    271
    
13. How to be a Digital Pirate in Vietnam
    257
    
14. The ME8 Martin Luther King Tribute (Monta Ellis’ New AND1 Shoe)
    228
    
15. My LG Viewty [Review]
    226
    
16. How to Avoid the Facebook Block/Ban in Vietnam
    208
    
17. My Top Five Movies of 2008
    180
    
18. Rush Hour 3
    178
    
19. My Torrent Guide for You
    178
    
20. Rollerblading SheMale: Baron Davis – One Shot
    174
    
21. Attending The Star Trek Premiere at Megastar Hung Vuong
    169
    
22. Ball Is Life The Project Volume 1 (DVD) [Review]
    163
    
23. My Boyfriend, the Sex Tourist
    158
    
24. Shorty’s Guitar Hero 2 Custom Disc – ALL SONGS ARE CUSTOM
    151
    
25. X-Men Origins: Wolverine [REVIEW - Spoiler Free]
    150
    
26. I Heart Biore Pore Pack
    145
    
27. Final Fantasy VII/7 (PC) [Review]
    133
    
28. Half-Life (PC) [Review] + Opposing Force + Blue Shift
    129
    
29. Stanford GSB Application, Essay B
    125
    
30. Lenovo Thinkpad T61p 14? [Review]
    124
    
31. Habitat Hostel (Singapore) [Review]
    116
    
32. The Top 8 Warriors of the Last 15 Terrible Years, 1994-2009 [Absolute FAIL]
    113
    
33. Learning How to Play Basketball Better in Vietnam
    111
    
34. My New Theme!
    101
    
35. 8 Minute Abs [Review]
    101
    
36. Tourist Guide: Nha Trang, the Rain, Fun, and Vinpearl
    100

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I really like the UFC, but I’m a fairly new fan to it. I got into it starting December 2008 when Stephen invited me over to see it at his house. Over 2009, I slowly learned more and more, and then when the latest season of the Ultimate Fighter came out, it really kicked in for me at a new gear. Then, I learned about Spike TV’s show reviewing the best 100 fights in UFC history, and then the DVD set with all those fights got released.

Money –> Amazon = Done.

Description:

For 16 years, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been the gold standard in combat sports. Now you can re-live the 100 greatest fights in UFC history with this once-in-a-lifetime collection. Featuring all the greats of the Octagon, from Royce Gracie and Chuck Liddell to Matt Hughes and Randy Couture, this set contains the most dramatic, explosive and memorable battles of the UFC in their entirety from 100 down to the greatest UFC fight of all time.

Since I’m not a UFC expert, I can’t comment on its value to someone who’s been a long time hardcore UFC fan. Also, in the US, I think you can just watch most of the UFC fights via cable, ppv or something, so maybe it’s not that big of a deal to have it compiled in a set.

For me though, since I’m mainly in Vietnam, and internet is a lot slower here, it’s a great starter set. I’m not sure if all the fights are really that great, but I can see that certain fights are in the set because of their importance as landmarks in UFC (for example, the Royce Gracie fights are boring to me, maybe due to presentation, but it’s good to see them there) history. I’ve seen other reviews state that fighters the UFC no longer likes get discriminated against in the set, such as Frank Shamrock. Nonetheless, I am happy with the set, and would recommend it to anyone who’s like me, not a long time UFC fan, but really interested in the subject material.

Other notes:

• I like Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg as the announcers. I think they have good voices and do a good job of educating the audience (which is lacking in most sports announcing today). At the same time, when you start hearing them a lot, especially in succession as on the set, you can pick up certain things, like Goldberg and Rogan often using definitives and agreeing with each other, almost blindly. “Absolutely, Joe”.
• Video quality and audio quality are quite good. No issues for me here.
• Many more of that fights are from the last 4 years versus the previous 10 years. One reason is that there’s more frequent UFC events now than when the UFC first started. For the most part, I don’t like many of the older fights that are featured, anyway- I don’t know if I’m wrong, but I assume the skill level has gone up more and more, so I assume the competition level of more recent fights is tighter.
• I wish there were more extras to the fights. For most fights, you just get the actual fights- a lot of footage before, between rounds, and after the event is cut. It’s hard to learn more about the fighters like you do during the actual UFC events.
• 8 DVDs, over 16 hours of fights. It’s long. This is good, as it’s a a set that retails for $99.97.
• The DVDs have no extra, just fights.
• I’m not sure the 100 –> 1 countdown is the best way to organize the fights, especially when you have to consider that a lot of fights are a part of a series of battles, so you’ll watch them all out of order and learn who won previous fights inadvertently.
• Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/UFC-Ultimate-100-Greatest-Fights/dp/B002GU65M4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262537962&sr=8-3

©2010 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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