Pete's Write

Some of us like the action blockbusters but every now and then I'll take a gander and try the slow burn genre, especially when I'm in a plane, since it's harder to get that full cinematic experience with the aid of a tiny bud of a earpiece in economy class with an equally tiny screen. But some movies will bring you in, screen size and the lack of surround notwithstanding and grip you in the throe of a good yarn. That's the ilk of this movie. Now if you like to know about the mechanics of the Vatican City, take a walk over to the Dan Brown movie Angels and Demons instead, which has a certain Tom Clancy feel, in the sense that Clancy books tended to explain everything in great detail. Here, the plot is more about the twists and turns of selecting a new Pope and also the unmasking of the human personality, even in holy men. The corruption of power, pride and egos all seem to overshadow the holy roles they play but at the same time, you also see the ability of men to ove...

This has to be one of the most anticipated cars for 2025. Originally slated for a late 2024 release, it has been pushed back and details are still scant, but some pictures and photos have emerged speculating on its size and shape. All very exciting, and it is more than a scaled down Land Cruiser. It promises to bring the retro look, the capabilities and the Toyota reliability reputation to a more managable size and introduce this series to a new buyer pool. ""This suggests that the LandCruiser FJ will use the same Toyota iMV ladder-frame underpinnings as the Champ, albeit with a four-wheel-drive transfer case as opposed to the Champ’s rear-drive platform. With a wheelbase of between 2745mm and 2750mm (depending on application) the Toyota platform is longer than the new five-door Suzuki Jimny XL at 2590mm." So as we await more info on this, I've been doing a lot of viewing of the videos and whilst most are largely AI generated, some shed a tad of truth. But why so lit...

I've been reading this with some interest.. I didn't comment too much earlier but just to share.. I've been in the border area before where people go from China into Myanmar and then Thailand... a few times in fact I was in that border area between Burma and Yunnan doing social work, up to the mid 2010s, so it was before the scam and online stuff came to that place. There is a mountain range that separate the two countries and  it's a cowboy town with drugs, girls and more. The hotel we stayed in was used for 'business' too and we saw holes in the padi fields, so I asked the locals what were these holes and they said these are howitzer cannon holes from shots that overshot the border when the Burmese were persecuting their rebels or the 'little blacks' as the minority tribes are called. It was a poor area, and these were the means of survival, and the cops weren't really too keen to lay down the law. You could easily cross...

The recent news of the merger of Nissan and Honda is a landmark in the car industry. We may be looking at the sunset of two large companies and they may go where Leyland, and many Brit car companies have gone, into the cemetary of cars. Right now, the car landscape is being altered with the full fledged introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) and the Chinese know what their customers want. Yes, whilst a few customers want good track behaviour and value some road handling capabilities, the majority of users want an affordable automobile and something that is packed with features that are no longer considered optional or a bonus. The old concept where Jap makers turn to Thailand to produce cars for Asia that are a couple of generations old, devoid of modern features and look a decade out of date out of the gate is no longer acceptable to the buying public. Whether they want an EV is actually secondary. The Chinese cars give them most of what they want, features, instant torque and very e...

The MCU has been in a rather deep funk ever since endgame .. apart from Spiderman who continues to grow strength to strength, the rest of the rest productions have been a little bit boring and directionless.  Deadpool is borne entirely out of Ryan Reynolds's efforts to bring it to the screen and he has done well but can he bring the shine back to Marvel ? I'll save you the suspense and I'll say I've not felt emotionally involved in a superhero movie as much as this as the first Wonder Woman from a different franchise or Logan .. the latter was meant to be a swan song to Hugh Jackson and mark an end to Wolverine. I'm biased towards Spiderman so No Way Home was a home run too, pun intended.  Most ensemble action movies have plenty of explosions and good action but they seldom evoke any emotional response. The grenade scene from captain America one was a good one for example, the final scene in infinity war was too and the fi...

The D21 Uppper Bukit Timah area is heating up with three recent launches in the past few years. Linq was fully sold in a day, The Reserve Residences is almost fully sold and now we have the newest launch, 8@BT. There has been a lot written online already, with plenty of video reviews by the pros. I just want to add some notes, paying in particular attention to it's relationship and proximity to The Reserve Residences (TRR). - 8@BT is only 45m from the older Bukit Timah Beauty World Centre and 65m from TRR. You might be able to pick up louder conversations from their units or even peer into their homes. - 8@BT has 20 floors, so it's shorter than TRR and the older Beauty World Centre, so there is a limited view of the nature reserves, a sliver perhaps..  - on the other hand, those who bought TRR on the stacks facing Jurong Kechil will have their view of the reserve blocked unless they are higher than 8@BT, so only those above 22nd floor or so may have some view.  - the main entr...

So I'm a big movie buff, and visiting places where movies I watched were filmed is a big deal..  So when a work opportunity came to visit Lanzou in Gansu Province came, a little light bulb lit up and I thought, New Dragon Gate Inn! One of my favorite shows from the 90s was filmed in Dun Huang and I can work something in to visit it! This was one of the first HK movies to be filmed in China and what a location! Plus, I get to overload on Lanzhou La Mian (兰州拉面), another one of my favorite stuff. And the further I research, the more interesting the sites over there. Now getting over to Lanzhou is no mean feat, requiring two flights last over 10 hours with stops in between and more driving and flying to reach the remote sites. There will also be extreme heat, dry searing conditions especially I have to go during the height of summer for the work part. If you think the two week spell of rainless conditions is hot, try 40c heat standing in the desert barefoot…. Our first stop after the l...