Hola,

Who you think I'm talking about? Moi of course. I should be studyin my ass off but I'm bored already. Macam mana nak pass ni haa?? TOLONG!!! But anyways...I have some things that I want to talk about.

Firstly, is the NAP (National Automotive Policy). Some people say that it's the government's effort to try and please the rakyat when the oil went up and away. Well, I say maybe but I also say no. I think the NAP is a good move. Some car prices are lower, much much lower than before and others. Some remain the same and some even increased? Pelik...Now maybe my dad can finally buy his dream car or would it still be up to me to do so? :p I guess this is also due to the AP being illegal to the WTO, which will do what to Malaysia I also don't know so someone please explain that to me, and the fact that we still haven't seen the full effects of AFTA thanks to the loads of tax crap that the people up there put up to cover the supposed losses.

I seriously think cars in Malaysia can still be lower. Heck, the UK car prices are the same if not lower even after you put in the currency rate factor (but yet people will say the insurance is much higher which is true :( ). paultan.org put in that a Toyota Yaris which base cost is RM41k will jump to RM83k when you factor in everything. CBU or not, sakit nyer...I for one wish for my first car to be Japanese if possible. Not with the Milo tins we have as national cars. I honestly thought Proton was better than Perodua when I was younger. That was until I saw my dad's old Proton develop rust bubbles on the roof which can never go despite treatment and it's bumper flew away when an Iswara taxi bumped it from the side. The Gen2 I thought looked great until I drove it a couple times. Engine is very very slow to pick up in the low RPM ranges and the interior felt very plasticky. The steering wheel edges felt sharp! Let's hope in the next few years with the SRM coming out too that Proton will improve because Perodua is certainly on par, if not better, and will say bye-bye if they would one day decide to move away from building just superminis or compact cars.

Toyota Yaris/Vitz
Well, that's my 2 cents worth on that matter. Will be expecting a whole lot of barraging soon from other people later if not now. Next is the subject of photos. Not in the taking sense but just in the interest of it. I must say I am a guy who has a lot of interests, as some of my friends may discover. However, be it good or bad for me I can never really develop an interest in photos as in taking it at a nice angle, distance, having the right lighting, shutter speed, editing it after etc. For me it's just point-shoot-keep. I think it's good la for me, one less thing for me to delve my brains into and I would just take in the pleasure of admiring other peoples work and saying wow. However, I do need a camera since I haven't had one for the past year. Anybody want to recommend me a good compact one? I do have an inclination to Sony's Cyber-shot series. A good sized one with good interior, low-light shots with a fantastic flash will suffice. Have been keeping an eye on the DSC-P200 so let me know what you guys think.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200
Lastly, is one thing that I can never get out of my mind. The Archos AV500. It's a PVP (Portable Video Player) that I think will serve me well in the future during my bus/train rides to wherever in the UK. I have done some thinking and comparisons against others namely the Cowon iAudio A2 and the Creative Zen Vision. Some new ones are coming out by the likes of Samsung, Maxian and Viliv but I think the AV500 30GB version is the best. Reasons why? Ask me la :p And if you're thinking why not a higher capacity one since I think it also has 40, 60 and 100GB models? That's because I plan to buy another external hard drive for my storage needs. A laptop-sized 120GB which will be covered by the extra costs of buying the higher capacity Archos'. So Sid, if you baca, nak yang ni ok? Less than £200 if possible and maybe check the camera there also while you're at it, haha.

Archos AV500
That's it la for now. Sudah banyak sangat cakap so I bid adieu.


Your friend,
DarkL|ghT