Blog A Trend: Forging Our Future Friendship
I forgot where I’ve heard this being questioned : ” Who on earth still receives mails in their mailbox from friends anyways ?”
I still do ! But that’s beside the point – it’s just so amazing to see the ‘revolution’ of friendship with the help of technology. I still remember writing letters and notes to keep in touch with friends, say 10 years back. It was a regular thing to do with my overseas friends and funny enough, I still keep most of them since I’m pretty sentimental. But with the introduction of emails, IM and mIRC in those days, writing and snail mails are long forgotten.
One thing that really allowed me to make more friends was those mIRC days in secondary school. Who can possibly forget the numerous nights you spent infront of the computer at various #, ‘fighting’ to become @op/+v randomly having people asking you “a/s/l?” Surprisingly, I’ve met several friends on mIRC and we’re still friends even though mIRC is like, dinosaur era for us.
Not forgetting social networking sites like friendster and facebook ! Many ‘old friends’ are found when everyone starts using facebook and looking up for eachother via the internet. I’m happy to have found most of my friends back in primary school and of course those who are overseas, facebook really made everything more convenient for us to keep in touch.
Having friends overseas is a huge problem back then, because it takes weeks to exchange letters ! Now we can just skype or call directly from computer-to-landlines to keep in touch. I really survive on skype with my friends on exchange although my current dinosaur laptop doesn’t have a webcam *coughs* (haha). But it’s almost like we’re at the same place when we do get to ‘see’ eachother…perhaps next time it’ll be a 3D-call ! Who knows, that might just be the new trend in years to come.
Moving on, now we have Foursquare which is a mobile app to ‘follow’ your friends when they are out. I don’t know if I want to let my friends know whether I’m a few blocks away from them or ‘stalk’ me virtually. But I see the advantages for those who are around the area and wants to meet up for a short gathering. In fact, if you’re adventurous, you can probably meet new friends if they happen to be on Foursquare too ! Mobile is like the next important thing now, I definitely think we will be relying on the mobile platform to keep in touch – and not just via calls and smses.
It’s probably a good thing that we have so many various platforms to keep in touch with our friends and technology has indeed make things alot easier. However, I think having such ‘virtual relationships’ still can’t be compared to a ‘real friendship’. Worst of all, now we have robotic friends/pets that keep the next generation company. Will our future generation forget how to interact with a real human being and just maintain such virtual/digital relationships in the future ?
It’s rather sad to see couples or friends sitting at the same table with their faces plastered to their mobiles/laptops. As much as I appreciate the technology, I truly agree with this quote I’ve found off the net,
“True friendship isn’t about being there when it’s convenient; it’s about being there when it’s not.”
So spend time with your loved ones, not because it’s ‘convenient’ but because you love them and want to be with them. Technology can only help you that much, it takes your individual effort to keep in touch afterall !
Movie Buzz : Monsters vs Aliens in 3D
I *finally* caught this movie with the boyfriend last week after talking about it for the longest time, I guess one thing we have in common is our liking for anything that’s related to monsters/aliens/zombies. We decided to catch the movie in 3D as recommended by our friends on plurk and oh boy, it sure was a visual treat !
When I first came across the title, I imagined a movie that’s similar to AVP with scary looking creatures having this “end-of-the-world” smackdown. Rather thankful for something that’s totally different with adorable characters crafted with different personalities, my personal favourite gotta be Bob and Insectosaurus !
Quite a tickling comedy that’s suitable for all ages, crude humor between those clever dialogues. Bob provides all the comical blunders that you’ll probably need in a movie. Loves how he tried to hook up with the Jello !
The 3D effects were awesome ! The depth of field and random stuff flying towards you was a great experience, but more importantly, the clarity of animation was astounding. Even though it was not the kind of 3D effects that will keep you on the edge of your seats, I had a good time and really enjoyed having those ugly 3D glasses on.
Great voice talents as well, I think one important criteria for a good animation film is having engaging voice talents who can really portray your characters in a more “lively” manner. Although this time round, the talents used are unusally high-caliber for such an animation film ? Guess they are really trying to make it a big success.
If you’re going to the theatres to check this out, do remember to watch it in 3D !
P.S : I’m collecting the MvA Happy Meal Toys in my office ! I WANT BOB ! (any kind souls want to donate the other 5 4 i’m missing? lol) [update : the boyfriend got me bob today...hur hur]
what can they do ?
left to right :
squeaks when you press the tummy
shoots out the 3 mini spaceships when u click the center button
head glows when you pull the legs
