Cloud Atlas

Every cloud has a silver lining even atlassian ones, I thought when I was right in the middle of it. Surely the 6 disparate stories, separated by time, must come together in momentous finale, all the pieces fit together for an ‘Ahhhhh’ instance. Arrghh that moment never came.

If you don’t know, this movie was based on a book that has six stories set in six different eras ranging from 1850 to the 24th century. The six stories are supposedly interwoven somehow. I urge you to google the movie’s synopsis if you are interested.

Watching the movie, I was unconscionably confused as the movie flips through all six time zones building each story in tandem. That is a pretty migraine inducing exercise. I did some research, and found that the book instead has a very unusual approach to telling these six stories. The stories are nested, all except the sixth story is told in two parts. The first story is the earliest while the sixth is in some fictitious future. The stories that have two parts break at some critical point in their lives. It follows the pattern 12345654321, the story ends where it began.

In the book, the connection between six stories is that the protagonists in each story (second to sixth) were reading or watching some legacy that was created by the earlier protagonist e.g. a book, journal, music, video broadcast and motion picture. Also all protagonist bear a comet shaped birthmark. Critics mostly agree that the author insinuated that all six protagonists are reincarnations of the same soul. However this writer believes that the six stories are poorly stitched together, they lack meaningful connection and most stories by themselves aren’t very good. Hence I was duly disappointed by the lack of a grand finish.

The Wachowski’s movie on the other hand also borrows the reincarnation theme. However, their reincarnation does not follow the comet birth marked protagonists in each story. Instead the siblings chose a few actors to replay certain characters in each time zone. So the soul of Tom Hanks for instance has a story arc of its own, reincarnated from story one to six. He played the protagonist once, but in the other stories he played supporting characters as well as short cameos. Some characters were evil, some good.

This all may sound interesting but meticulously following seven characters through six stories is an exercise in futility. I’ve found a gaffe too, one character cannot be reincarnated because he has to exist twice within the same time. I’m referring to Hugh Grant’s characters in the 1970’s and the present.

The fifth story is set in Korea, with all Korean characters. Since they decided to recast the same actors in all 6 stories, they resorted to using facial prosthetics which are at times laughable, just to make Caucasians look Asian. Exhibit A, Hugo Weaving aka Mr. Smith in yellow face.




I waited till the end. It was neither meaningful nor rewarding. The connections between the six stories are flimsy. The Korean makeup was annoying. I rate this only as a 3/10, don’t waste your time, and take a rain check.

Right Time for Benedict’s Exit

Pope Benedict XVI has announced his resignation, the first resignation in 600 years, as is often said. However the papal office is unlike monarchies, it is a position, and not reign. He is a working bishop, the Bishop of Rome. The past few hundred years of history have indicated otherwise, where an ailing pope is no longer able to perform his duties lingered on the throne as his duties were taken over by others. Perhaps the best legacy this pope may leave is the practice of abdicating.

Admittedly I am not a fan of Benedict XVI. During his tenure, he promoted Gregorian chants during mass. It was to create a more solemn atmosphere but also boring compared to the uplifting evangelical churches. Unfortunately he encouraged more Latin in music, which most of the congregation find it hard to follow (they were used to English hymns).

He rewrote the entire missal for non-Latin languages, which is the instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass. His intention is to bring all the vernacular language masses closer to the original Latin literation. He likes to think he’s making things holier for Catholics. In Europe he tried to fight the growing faithlessness, where atheism is a growing trend. I reckon those atheists will run further away from the church with the changes he has made, even if he is more twitter friendly.

On the more secular front, Benedict appears to me as a zealous conservative as opposed to his passive conservative predecessor. He is anti-science (opposed to embryonic stem cell research), he is a poor PR manager (the sex/rape scandals remain unresolved as many more cases get uncovered), opposed to contraception (a tool to prevent the spread of disease made out as a weapon against Christianity), cannot accept female priests etc.

Quite simply Pope Benedict is too conservative and antiquated for our times. And unfortunately since his successor will be picked out of a group of like-minded people, would likely be no different.

Cashback Credit Cards

Credit cards are the Achilles' heel of many. Like loan sharks, banks lure in prey with easy credit and enticing offers. I roll my eyes whenever I see platinum cards being approved to people earning a lot less than RM5000. Foolish young ones rack up debt which banks delighfully charge the exorbitant interest rates on.

The banks are putting ideas in heads that having credit is the same as having cash. It is not. But consider the alternative; debit cards, they have hardly the same benefits as normal credit cards and are not acceptable everywhere. Credit cards still hold the edge.

I’ve had it with banks and their credit card traps. I wish I could exploit them instead. So it heartens me that in recent years a new category of credit cards has emerged: the Cashback credit card.

Follow my lead ONLY if you can:

1. Control yourself and your spending with purse strings tighter than a monkey's nuts.
2. Calculate your expenses on a daily basis (or before and after every time you make a purchase)  
3. Pay all your bills in full and still save money month after month, for a rainy day of course

There are quite a number of cashback credit cards in the market, many trying to outcompete each other. But all, sadly, trying to make you spend more than you should and hoping you don’t pay your bills on time.

So, generally the best cashback credit cards are ones that:

1.  Don’t have many conditions e.g. minimum spent before cashback kicks in
2. Are the least complicated and sneaky which deliberately makes you spend more
3. Offer continuous cash back unconditionally, avoid those short promotional term ones
4. Cover a broad range of products and not just petrol or groceries
5.  Should have easy waiving of annual fee (and also govt. tax)

New cash back credit cards get issued every now and then. This is a good guide to get started.

For myself, I have chosen not one but three cashback credit cards each with its own scope of use. Sounds a bit much? I assure you that I have done the math (including yearly govt. tax of RM50) and factoring my current credit card usage (I’m not a heavy roller) it is sustainable.

Maybankard 2 Gold Card

• Annual fee: Lifetime fee waiver
• Minimum annual income:RM30,000
• The benefits of two cards, Maybankard 2 American Express® Card and Maybankard 2 MasterCard, in one sign up, one service tax, and one statement.
• 5x TreatsPoints for all spend on your Maybankard 2 American Express Card in Malaysia or anywhere else in the world except Government Bodies, Education Institutions and Insurance Provider.
• 2x TreatsPoints for every RM1 spend on your Maybankard 2 American Express Card at Government Bodies, Education Institutions and Insurance Providers. 1x TreatsPoints for all spend on your Maybankard 2 MasterCard/Visa Card.
• 5% Weekend cash back when spend on Maybankard 2 American Express Card.
• A cap of RM50 per customer (Principal Cardmember) per month

Comment:

The American Express card is the one with all the benefits although you get an extra credit card. As long as it is accepted, at 5x points, you get 10000 points for every RM2000. Based on Maybank’s redeemable vouchers, 10000 points can get you approximately RM50. The RM50 govt. tax can be waived with 10000 points as well. Best of all Maybank’s treatspoints never expire. That is approximate additional 2.5% cash back with a total of 7.5%. Drawbacks: Weekend Amex use only.

OCBC Titanium

• 5% Rebate on Dining
• 1% Rebate on everything else
• 5% Rebate on Groceries
• Zero Annual Fee with 12x swipes
• 5% Rebate on Petrol
• 33% Cash Back on Interest Paid
• 5% Rebate on Utility Bills
• Annual Usage Bonus – Govt. Tax offset with RM10k annual usage

Comment:

Best all-around card best used as a primary card unless they accept AMEX. Also best to be used for all bills that include Astro, telecoms and electricity bills. So if you’re paying bills like most of us, switch to this credit card instead. Only 12 swipes a year regardless of amount to offset annual fee.

RHB Evo

• 20% Cash Back* on selected Amusement & Entertainment MCC categories (ie. cinemas, ticketing agencies, bowling alleys, commercial sports, tourist attractions, amusement parks, karaoke centers and much more)
• 2x Reward Points for all E-commerce transaction and RHB Now bill payment
• Card annual fee waived with minimum of 12 swipes per annum
• Maximum cash back is RM50 per month, per customer. No RHB Reward Points awarded for transactions entitled for Cash Back.

Comment:

No kidding, it really is 20% for any establishment that matches their merchant code category. It works for me as I watch quite a lot of movies and go for the occasional karaoke. For that rebate to be maximized fully, your expenditure can’t exceed RM250 a month.

I know what you may be thinking. Three cards, so many, when to use what. It’s not easy, I won’t lie. But saving money isn’t easy. So I've made a flowchart to help decide which card to use and when. I’m gracious enough to share it with you so thank me.

  

Chinese New Year and Not Lunar New Year

In Malaysia, the Spring Festival (春节) is known as Chinese New Year. This is correct. However there is a growing number of Malaysians calling the Chinese New Year solely as the Lunar New Year. I will soon explain why this is incorrect culturally and terminologically.

First all varieties of calendars can be categorised as solar, lunar and lunisolar calendars.

Solar calendars are calendars that annotate with dates pertaining to the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. They have months that only approximate the moon’s cycle which means the moon does not factor in at all. Examples: Gregorian calendar (the one everyone is using)

Pure Lunar calendars on the other hand based its months precisely on the moon’s cycle. An actual year in a pure lunar calendar is eleven days short of an Earth Year. The famous example is the Islamic calendar where they don’t even bother to sync with the solar year.

Most calendars are in fact Lunisolar. Months reflect the lunar cycle but a leap month is added to synchronise with the solar year. Since the moon cycle really only affects the tides and werewolves, people have less need to know about the moon cycle than say the solar cycle which marks when the seasons like joyous spring and dreadful winter will arrive. The Chinese Lunar calendar is one of many examples, but today it is used more to calculate holidays, festivals and fengshui.

In the Malaysian context, there are other lunar calendars like the Islamic calendar and Tamil (and other Indian subcontinent) calendars. It would be unfair to refer to the Chinese New Year as the Lunar New Year because it may cause ambiguity as to which calendar you are actually referring to. Unless you’re speaking in Chinese which would then make sense. Otherwise just stick to Chinese New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year.