Thursday, December 30, 2004

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.

so goes Frank Sinatra's My Way.

well, the end of streats is tomorrow. the last issue of Streats will be on Dec 31.

desk is packed and it's time to head out the door.

it's been a great ride.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

clearing up

i'm sitting at my desk at work, facing a half-empty shelf, a big cardboard box sits next to me, and it's slowly filling up with all the stuff I need to bring upstairs to my new office.

we were busy taking photographs this evening. farewell photos which hopefully will turn out good.

and yesterday, there was a farewell party at the usual central mall area. bad food, good company and plenty of fun (well there's always fun to be had with freeflow of alcohol).

as a friend said, a bittersweet party.

i dont know how it's gonna be upstairs. i hope it'll be a challenge. i'm up for a challenge. i know i've already faced this one challenge in this year's job. let's see how next year goes.

Monday, December 27, 2004

me and mr botero

Sunday, December 26, 2004

best of the best

thought i'd just write up a list of some of the best movies i've seen this year. (in no particular order and i might add more cos this is all i can remember watching at the moment)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
how could i not love a movie with such a title, and written by the brilliant Charlie Kaufman too. jim carrey and kate winslet sparkled in this absolute gem.

- The Incredibles
ok not as funny as i thought it would be but definitely entertaining especially that bit about superheroes and their capes. who can resist?

- Last Life In The Universe
this thai-japanese film startled with its quiet charm. a little dark a little obscure (and some people have complained about how slowmoving it was) but i loved it.


- Spider-Man Two

sequels usually suck this one didn't. it actually somehow managed to do better, maybe cos i cldn't stand the green goblin in the first one

- Collateral
similar to the way Road To Perdition surprised me some years ago, I went to see Collateral not expecting to like it. i just wanted to see how Tom Cruise did as a bad guy i think. but Michael Mann's beautiful tribute to Los Angeles just took my breath away. ok, maybe some of the violence also helped with that. but one of the nicest surprises for me this year movie-wise.

- Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
sequels usually suck. this isn't a sequel but the third in the series and it was simply THE BEST, thanks to the brilliant Alfonso CuarĂ³n, who's also responsible for one of my favourite movies Y Tu Mama Tambien.

- Open Water
this movie had some bite and i'm including it because it was a small indie movie with no budget that somehow popped into my head when i was swimming in the sea at Koh Samui. and that's the mark of a movie. one that you don't forget, even if it's just to think of sharks and other creatures swimming below you.

- Zatoichi
i loved this samurai film by Takashi Kitano. funny, action-packed and with a blind samurai who has a shock of blond hair. how could i not include this one?

- Ocean's Twelve
i hesitate to include this cos it wasn't as intelligent as the first one and it seemed to push too much screen time to the other actors but it was still entertaining all the same, with plenty of eye candy to go round.

wait can i include the ROTK?
i can't remember when that came out, but nevertheless, it was a good film. i finally got to see the extended version and although a little bit too long, was of course good, especially since you get to christopher lee, who got cut from the movie release.

also included in this list should be Before Sunset, but I DIDN"T SEE IT!!! don't ask why.
There were too many movies I missed out on, including Maria Full Of Grace, Mean Girls, The Return, and Kill Bill 2 (although i later fell asleep watching it on dvd)


BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

- this award goes to Alexander. i was expecting bigger and better but what i watched was a film that was deflating right from the start.
Alfie is also a disappointment. It looked promising in the beginning being very stylish and of course Alfie being a charmer (plus its a Jude Law movie!) but it got so boring towards the end, you begin wondering if there's a plot to this or is Alfie really just going to spend the entire movie going from girl to girl? I just HAVE to watch the original Michael Caine version now, to see how different it is.

MEANWHILE,
I'm waiting the opening of the following films:
Mar Adentro
Closer
We Don't Live Here Anymore
The Aviator (yes it's got leo dicaprio but he looked good in the Vanity Fair spread and hopefully this film will redeem him. he was after all quite brilliant in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? which brings me onto the next reason why I want to see....)Finding Neverland (JOHNNY DEPP!)




ALSO....

Best album in my books is Juanes' Mi Sangre. But Rilo Kiley's More Adventurous is just the next notch below. I know these albums won't make critics top 10 lists (most of them list The Streets, Animal Collective, Kanye West - whom i also love, Franz Ferdinand, Madvillain, Nick Cave and the like) but I thought these two albums showed how both Colombia's Juanes and California's Rilo Kiley have grown, developed for the better over the years. Three cheers.


2004 was a good movie year, may 2005 be even better!

Saturday, December 25, 2004

food blogs!

i'm so excited to discover these amazing foodie blogs. yes, might be abit late catching on but they're definitely worth reading every so often.

Pim
Chocolate and Zucchini
Shiokadelicious!
Domestic Goddess
101 Cookbooks
Tiny Fork
The Grub Report

Friday, December 17, 2004

island in the sun

just got back from a short holiday in koh samui. and what a place! the main area of chaweng is just full of old white men and their thai girls zooming around on motorbikes. the beaches there are decent, with waves that come crashing right near the cafes during high tide. we moved to the choeng mon area after the first two nights (we arrived mon night at 10pm so decided not to waste good money and instead spent first two nights at cheapo place not too near the beach) to stay at the fabulous Sila Evason Hideaway. Worth every cent! and more! the pool villa was just beautiful, and like all the other villas has a view you cannot believe. even the reception has such a gorgeous view, and i cant begin to describe the view from the main swimming pool. it was a decadent two days. hit the gym, swim, lunch, swim a bit more, a massage at the spa (where the treatment rooms... wait for it... also have amazing views!

unfortunately my camera battery gave up on me the day i got there - that is, i actually have to go get a whole new lithium-ion battery!
damnit!!!


Saturday, December 11, 2004

long time no bother

it's been a long time

and i've been a lucky person. i will not use that word that i hate 'blessed' - i see it used too often in quotes from newsmakers. 'i've been so blessed' tends to be the catchphrase of the year.

anyway, i've had an amazing few weeks.
i got the chance to meet Colombian artist Fernando Botero twice and listen to his dialogue with Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming as well.

Botero is a delightful, warm and charming man. and i wish i cld've spent a little more time with him but i knew he had been speaking to reporters the whole day and honestly, that the story wasn't going to require too much from him. it was after all my third Botero story! streats ended up doing 5 stories on the man and the exhibition. overkill

also, i got the chance to interview writer Chang-Rae Lee, who's written Native Speaker, A Gesture Life and Aloft. I only got the chance to read Native Speaker halfway before my i/v with the korean-american. but i am so glad i decided to rush down to the library in between assignments and pick up his book. it is a magnificent book. his writing is truly eloquent although the storyline is a little wanting at times.
when i read his words, i just want to sit and breathe it all in, slowly.

there are some books you want to race through, the storyline pushing you to read fast to find out more. soon. quick. now.

but this is one book to savour, to sit and think about and to wonder at the brilliance of such a man.

i'm always delighted when i find out that people who have found fame are just down-to-earth, easygoing characters. they're easy to talk to, to get to open up and do not seem fatigued by what must be the umpteenth interview they've had to sit through. they pay you their fullest attention, careful to understand your bumbled question and they think their answers through.

i also spent the later part of hte morning (after interviewing lee at the ritz-carlton) talking to the owners of Bunalun, an organic food store at Chip Bee. they were also a delight to talk to. not the preachy type of people as some businessmen can be but interesting and frank about their products. and no, organic food is not just about brown rice. they have chocolate mousse too! and i assure you, it is delicious. and chocolatey. and you can bet that i'm going there again.
(they have a lunch menu at $15 for a tart, two salads and a dessert) truly delightful. Tony even sat down with edwin and i to have lunch, asking us about the way the food tastes and just chitchatting about different things.

sometimes i love my job but then when i have to get into the office and write a boring-ass story, i just want to get a gin and tonic.

i left the office earlyish on friday, the story wasn't writing itself (none of the above stories though, something entirely more boring - 3d animation!) and will have to punish myself tmr by going back to the office to finish it up.

Saturday, October 02, 2004

late nights

i've been kinda pushing it the last few days...
on wed night went to not only the official opening of the very classy italian restaurant Capella, at Chjimes but also to the Heineken green room sessions at Velvet where the Thievery Corporation was playing.
It was an awesome night, ending only at 315. on a wednesday night... what was i thinking?
But too much alcohol and good music and friends also hanging around, how could i leave?

so paid for it on thursday. thank goodness i didnt have a morning assignment. so i crawled into work at 1045. i actually didnt fare that badly but my brain was so fried that i took ages to finish one story (ok it was quite a long one) and then i had to crawl to my 2pm assignment which fortunatley turned out to be a tiny story.

and then i did it again yesterday night.
it's a sunday morning, i managed to make it here again at 1045.
actually i have no idea why i took so long to get here. i did wake up at 9am.
but last night, was taken to this little dim sum place at jln besar. cheap and not too bad. we had the usual - char siew bao, the yam puff, siew mai, beancurd prawn roll, pork ribs and then finished off with some ice kachang. all for less than $12. not too bad. and plus it's open until really late. left at about 2plus and it was still quite packed.

but i think i'm getting tired of the holland v thing (we were at essential brew before going for supper) - too many people, too uninteresting. and somehow coffee club was closed, kfc was being renovated and tons happening. maybe too much happening. what happened to it being a nice laidback place? plus the crowd is getting younger and younger. or am i just getting older?

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

blog entry

ah cant be bothered to think of a right title.

but plenty has happened this past week. i'm sure everyone's heard the news of the closure so i dont want to elaborate on that.
just please dont call it a merger bt the 2 free papers. its not a merger. its more like the closure of one paper - the better one.

i dont know what's going to happen to me at this pt of time. i'm hoping for the best.

i've been thinking a lot abt life, love and relationships. (i'm reading Sex and the city afterall)
all of my conversations with friends seem to be about men. why are we all so hung up on men? i am a very guilty party as i'm always moping about the disappearance of that one man. time to get over him! plenty of fish out there... er... right...??





Sunday, September 12, 2004

some weekend

this was an amazing weekend, something unforgettable.

it all kicked off on friday night at brewerkz at riverside point, where about 15 ex-classmates from Class 6F of Henry Park Primary School gathered, along with our form teacher Mrs Ong.

I was a little amazed at how some people hadn't changed and others were unrecognisable. But it was good to see everyone and learn that everyone was doing well in their chosen lives. There were 4 classmates who were married, one pregnant, several in the medical industry, some more in the engineering field, others in the academic field, accountants, civil servants, insurance agents and more. Mrs Ong said she was proud of how we had turned out and it was good to hear that, and also to learn that she's still at the school, but now the HOD of English.

ABout 8 of us adjourned to a hotel at scotts road for a drink at the quiet lounge where we read aloud from autograph books and chatted until 2am.

And then I was up again at 7am on Saturday to pick up the girls to go wakeboarding at Punggol Marina. I think everyone had a great time, despite the aching bodies after.

I know I did and I found myself liking wakeboarding more and more. I was more relaxed and having more fun than the last time. My body didn't ache as much as the first time so that's fantastic and neither did I get sunburnt for a change! Am looking forward to doing this somewhat regularly although weekly would bust my budget so badly.

Saturday night was spent at Suntec, sitting through 3 hours of Chinese pop music/acting/hosting at the Next Big Thing finals. I got a good laugh out of a few of the contestants and especially William Hung with his majorly idiotic comments which bordered on 'i think he/she was good' 'i liked it' only offering one criticism 'he could've sung better' which brought on plenty of Sniggers. Hearing Hung say that would be like Bush teaching a primary one kid to read.

so i had to drag my ass down to the office on Sunday avro to file my story and rewrite another story and then be reminded to write a column ASAP.

i'm having problems with writing a column, and i think it sorta boils down to inexperience. I'm not talking about inexperience in writing but not having lived life to be able to comment fully on it. It's like what a film-maker I interviewed last week told me, that film courses should never be an undergraduate/diploma course because at that age you can only teach the technical aspects, that the stories, the narrative produced by those youngsters will never be of any mettle. Simply because they have not lived life yet. I know I haven't lived my life yet. I think it's only just started this year. I do not count my previous contract job as a job. Because it was going nowhere and it had the shortest learning curve imaginable, which all too quickly plateaued.

But can I not write a column? No, because this would all seem like an excuse to anyone who hears this.


Tuesday, September 07, 2004

a little lost

i was watching the trailer of Lost In Translation just now, trying to gain some inspiration for my travel story on Tokyo, which I've foolishly volunteered to write. (perhaps not foolishly, it will after all serve as a reminder, a way of preserving my visits to that metropolis).
but watching that trailer, although without sound because i just have a crappy soundcard-less PC, i realised just how i much i enjoyed the film. i caught it once in the cinemas and again on a friend's dvd as i had missed the first 20 minutes of the film.
despite having only seen it twice, i laughed at some parts of the trailer even though i couldn't hear what was going on. it put a smile on my face this afternoon. i want the dvd. i think this is one more movie i could watch over again.
i love how it was filmed, i love the relationship the two seemingly incompatible heroes have. i love how tokyo looks.i just want to go back to July, to be back in Japan. to be on holiday. and to only worry about how to maximise my time there and minimise my spending!
i need a holiday already. july seems like ages ago.
i guess Lost In Translation is a sort of symbol, a representative of my holiday in Japan. something i'm trying to cling onto, to embed deep into my memory.
i hate the way i forget things, how i can only recall some of my previous travels. i wish i could close my eyes and have all my holidays, all the good times appear in front of me. like a film reel, a home video screening in my mind.

Saturday, September 04, 2004

sunday blues

how can sorrow be sweet?

he's somewhere on his way to bangkok right now. to begin a journey that i would think is a little scary but also very exciting.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

getting together

i got the most interesting phone call the other day.
the voice, with an american accent, was unfamiliar.
the name, Kaixi, a little more familiar.

she was my primary 6 classmate.
hadnt seen her or heard from her for 13 years.
and there she was, on the phone, asking me if i'd like to be part of a reunion of sorts she's organising.
having only met a couple of my pri-sch classmates over the past few years, i said sure.
it's supposed to happen sometime next weekend. exciting.

so when i checked my email this morning, i was pleased to see that kaixi's actions have sorta spurred on another of my classmates to contact us. he sent us an email encouraging our participation.

coincidentally, a classmate from Uni also sent out an email suggesting a reunion sometime next year in january to mark the.... er... 1000th day of our graduation or something of that sort.
i guess since uni wasn't that long ago, its not as exciting. plus, in my line of work i keep meeting ex-classmates, from PR agencies, other magazines/newspapers. just the other day at one press conference (which included lunch), there were four of us from the same year sitting at the same table of ten. 'mini class reunion' we joked.
but it would indeed be good to catch up with people and find out how they're all doing. and what they're doing.

and just for old times sake




Wednesday, September 01, 2004

change your mind

yeah so i thought i might change the template of this blog to something a little cleaner, easier on the eye. but too lazy to change the actual template so just leaving this as it is courtesy of whoever it was who put it up on blogger. thanks!

might add in some more stuff to the sidebar later tho.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

movie week

i didn't realise just how many movies i saw last week until sherise kindly pointed it out.
Five.
In one week.
A new record for me i believe.
It started with Tuesday and The Bourne Supremacy (which i am giving 3 out of 5 stars)
Then Wednesday and Maqbool at the Indigo Film Festival (i had written a pre-event story for them, interviewing Indian directors Vishal Bhardwaj, who directed Maqbool, Santosh Sivan and Asif Kapadia). Maqbool is a Bollywood version of Macbeth. Very entertaining and a definite recommendation. If i had to review this I'd give it 4 stars
On Thursday, I was assigned to go review French film Les Choristes, The ChoirBoys. Very Mr Holland's Opus. Quite heartwarming, with a few gorgeous looking French boys. Am still deciding on the number of stars but should do pretty well.
On Friday, hmm... didnt see anything on this day. Instead had dinner at the singapore swimming club.
On Saturday, Fergus wants to go see Open Water. So we do. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Quite entertaining once they were in the water and after all the bits in the beginning was done with. (the first 1/2 hr or so was like watching someone's boring holiday homevideos. nothing much happens). It opens this Thursday, so I might as well just give my rating. 3 1/2 stars. It is, by the way, rated NC16 because of a bit of nudity.
On Sunday, the Tan family decides to go catch The Village. I'd been wanting to see it for a while, but my enthusiasm sorta died out when i read Newsweek's review. Mistake. I shouldn't have read any review, as is my usual policy. I hate someone's thoughts and opinions echoing in my head before I see the movie for myself. Anyway it was quite negative. Actually very negative. And the movie turned out to be better than expected. Some bits were still pretty damn silly when you think about it but it was generally ok. I think he had an interesting idea about isolation and innocence but he just wasnt able to carry it out thoroughly. I guess having made such a brilliant film in Sixth Sense, all his movies get ranked alongside that.

Unfortunately am these two weeks' night rep, so will be missing out on the previews for The Terminal and Saved! and luckily, Cinderella Story.

oh and he leaves Sunday morning. damnit.

Sunday, August 08, 2004

red and whites

i've been lazy about updating my blog. I've also been busy at work, so that's my excuse!

but its been an interesting weekend. The first weekend that Sherise is back in Singapore, nice to have her back for a while. Although that means I can no longer blast my music in the morning while I'm getting ready for work....

Anyway, I interviewed author Anchee Min on Thursday. She was in town at the invitation of the Sg Tourism Board (also known as the pp who try to work in the 'Uniquely Singapore' catchphrase into everything they say - sorry to those nice pp i do know at STB. just that at the promotion event for the Asean Tourism Forum, a certain asst ceo kept using the two phrases 'U. S' and "Truly Asia'. could he be any more blatant?)

Diversions about catchphrases aside, Ms Min was a delight to talk to. She looked real fierce when she came in but she had such thoughts and emotions, it was amazing.

I wrote something on the bus when I was leaving the Book Cafe (it was btw, part of a monthyl reading that Subtext does at the B Cafe every first Thursday of the month. I plan to add that to my meagre staple of arts events, provided I can make it there by 730 each time!)

Here goes:

She strikes you as a fierce, determined, staunch woman but when she speaks, her icy demeanour breaks into a woman filled with passion, who despite having lived a life of hardship and despair, is at ease in this world.
Her attention to the slightest of details amazes you.
The way her tanned face breaks into a smile as she talks about some ceramics that had caught her eye in a museum.
She is bowled over by that little detail that hardly anyone else would notice. And she speaks about it with such fervour and amazement that you feel you ought to go have a look for yourself.
As she speaks of your life, you are reminded that your own life has been an easy, unblemished one. And that hers was fraught with difficulties. You wonder to yourself, what have I done with my life?

Ah, dunno why i wrote that now, but that was what i was thinking as i watched the world go by frm the seat in the bus.

Friday - spent the whole day out with Sherise. shopping and eating, shopping and eating. and checked out Aaghir's fashion show at the heeren.
went to the wine network after dinner for a drink with Fergus. the owner, henceforth known as The Wheeler-Dealer, really is a wheeler-dealer. while i like the place i didnt really like talking to him lah. he was very pretentious but not in a snooty way. but rather in a very singaporean way. i dont know how else to describe it.

Saturday - made vietnamese rice paper rolls for lunch w mum. chilled out at home. and then got ready for my belated (very) birthday dinner at Whitebait & Kale. Food was decent. just dont ever get the Lavendar tiramisu. had a kitkat martini which i actually quite liked. we shared a whitebait, i had some pretty damn fatty lambchops and then shared the desserts like chocolate mousse (also a mistake) and passionfruit creme brulee (q good altho why was it cold?)
fergus, who was part of the dining party (!), took me to newsroom bar, where (gasp!) it was an NTU bash. crap, felt so old. but i got to meet a couple of his friends. and i have to say i definitely was with the best looking guys in that place! all the other guys were so beng, so sad.

Sunday - did nothing much as usual. met sujin for ice-cream (supposed to be coffee but too bloody hot for spinz at the heeren). he's starting work tomoro at life! also checked out kino's sale and got 3 books - WH Auden's poetry, Raymond Carver's Fires and Haruki Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes (which i've already read but have fallen in love with one of his stories)
after a quick dinner, went with the family to see House of Flying Daggers starring the very delicious Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau (not so cute but not too bad either). not my choice of films but some parts of it were quite beautifully shot, especially the first 1/2 hr of the film, in the peony pavilion. swordfights were decent. acting was eh. and i fell asleep a few times in the movie! second movie i've ever fallen asleep in. the first was 50 First Dates but i dont think that counts because i had had about a jug of magarita before the movie. and i dont do tequila very well! so i was either really tired (ok i was kinda tired, after two late nights in a row - i'm getting old. quarter of a century you know!) or the movie was really boring.

you'd have to pay me to watch that movie again.

meanwhile it is a monday, it is a public holiday and i'm sitting in a quiet office. supposed to be doing my anchee min story but not really in the mood. because i'm not in a good mood. i have to get my ass down to the stadium later and i am just sitting here going EXPLETIVE! EXPLETIVE! EXPLETIVE! if they are going to make me do another NDP next year, i'm afraid I"ll just have to quit (er that is provided i'm actually still here next year, since i am still on probation!)

HAPPY NATIONAL DAY to one and all. Think of me in non-red as i swelter amongst the flag-waving, can-shaking, nokia torchlight-shining sea of Singaporeans all decked out in red. i will be stifling my yawns, clutching my useless goodie bag (which i will be selling to the highest bidder) and interviewing any seemingly enthusiastic, unfortunates around me.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

sunday sunday

it's an amazing sunday morning. the sun is out yet it's not too hot as there is a gentle breeze blowing.
 
i've been having a good weekend, startin on friday where f & i went to see Spiderman 2 at midnight at marina sq (which was a construction hellhole but at least the cinemas were still good).
 
we were talking about how differently the people here dress compared to those in Japan. Singaporeans are generally unstyled, casual, and just can't be bothered. at least that's what i've been noticing this past week. in general, the japanese dress much better, even if it's just a day out shopping they make the effort to dress up. but people here just wear shorts, t-shirts and slippers to go on a date to see a midnight movie. (but let me stress, not me. i was in jeans and a nice-ish top thank you very much)
 
the movie was fantastic btw, somehow managing to surpass the first one, which i think many thought was impossible cos that was a pretty good movie too. and somehow it was written to be inspiring i guess, the idea that spiderman is just a kid who delivers pizzas, gets shit from his bosses and has to wash his suit at the laundromat.
 
then yesterday we went to catch bertolucci's The Dreamers. i saw that little snippet of a film review in sunday life and it was hilarious (and prob the first time that i'm agreeing wholeheartedly with a life reviewer) - that bertolucci's just a big pervert. while some parts of the movie was interesting, it turned out to be quite a waste of time. there were flits and bits of philosophical talk which just turned out to be fillers before the nudity and sex came in.
 
i think the best thing about the movie was the moments where the old films were shown. and the three of them play a game where they act out the scene and the others have to guess which film it's from.
 
this movie was too pretentious. too scattered. it sounded promising in the beginning with the whole french new wave cinema bits but then bertolucci lets the sex and nudity and hedonism just take over too much of the  film. and then it's all over. and you go, "i dont really know what that was about."'
 
and i didn't, i still dont really get what he was trying to do. and i dont think he managed to achieve whatever that was.
 
 

Thursday, July 22, 2004

not putting on a happy face

i just found out that i have to go to sentosa tomorrow morning at 8am. friday morning. 8 am. what kind of idiots put a media thingy at 8am? that's only reserved for the civil service nuts who force media to get there 2 hours before the VVIPs do.

whatever the hell that job is, 8am is not gonna make me write a nice piece for them. do they not have any idea what time journos begin work? all i can say is there better be coffee. and it better not be super coffeemix. 

Monday, July 19, 2004

crazy or lucky?

two trips to Tokyo in two weeks - is that insane or what?
 
quite a few pp have said that it's a crazy thing to do but i like to travel. i dont mind the 6 1/2 hr flights, the bad inflight entertainment and the same boring food on UA. (ok maybe a little bit) because i wanted to go back to japan (and yet i also wanted to fly back to Sg instead of staying for another night, but that's my story and i'm not going to tell it to the world)
 
Anyway here's how it went =
on the bus back from Mt Fuji on the 12th of July, my phone rings and it's the sub asking if i'd wanna go to japan on a junkett to promote an all-male ballet performance. she didnt know i was already in japan and started laughing when i told her.
 
the details werent too clear and i was kinda tired after the long day on the mountain so i said probably not. but then i thought it over and i was like, hey why the hell not? so i whipped out my long-forgotten Singtel worldcard and dialed the office using my singtel-rented CDMA phone which cost me a bomb to rent but was definitely worth it just to receive that phone call from work!
 
and that was the beginnning.
 
and the end was that i got back from tokyo last night after 2 nights at the Tokyo Hilton (hilton whoo!!) near Shinjuku.
 
The first day was such a hectic one. arrived at narita at 3something, got onto the narita express and made it to the hotel at 5 something. checked in, hopped onto a taxi for Omiya Sonic City where the troupe would be performing (taxi fare cost a bomb - but luckily was paid for by the PR company) and then after watching the amazing performance, went back to Kabuki-cho for dinner (altho we inadvertently ate a korean restaurant - but that was some of the best korean food i've ever had!) and finally went back to crash.
 
and crash i did. i set my alarm at about 8 (we had an interview at 10), got up and then went back to sleep telling myself 30 more min. next thing i knew it was 930. i jumped into the shower, jumped into the cafe for breakfast and then rushed down to the lobby. 5 min late.
 
after the interviews, more travelling - this time to Fuchu where the troupe would give another performance. we got to ride on the bus with them and watched their warmups and rehearsal at the theatre where i experienced the second earthquake of my lifetime. this was a slightly more violent one than the first (in LA in the 1990s) and you could hear the light fixtures rumbling. the dancers leapt off the stage whereas the watching schoolkids just sat and giggled at their flightiness.
 
after catching the first bit of hte performance which we had missed the day before, we decided to head on out and caught a cab back to the hotel and then took the train out to Harajuku where unfortunately many of the shops had already closed by the time we finished our tempura don. but it was a nice pokearound. we also took another look around shinjuku, chancing upon the red-light district where the many many love hotels looked unlike our hotel 81s and instead more like classy, tho very discreetly done-up places.
 
on the last day, after breakfast we went our separate ways. i headed down to asakusa to buy some souvenirs for forgotten people. and then to shinjuku where i checked out two dept stores and then lost myself in the underground maze. cldnt figure out where to take the hilton bus from so i had to jump into a cab and head back for the hotel. grab my luggage, meet the pr person and head off to shinjuku station again to catch the narita express back to the airport. i love trains! and honestly the subways werent as bad as warned. altho initially the whole jr/subway thing did get me confused.
 
all in all, a fantastic trip, make that trips to japan.
 
cant wait to go again.
 

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

are you big in japan?

no probably not but i'm now big on japan!

after spending about a week there (just arriving back in Sing last night at about midnight) i realised just how much i liked the country!

2 nights in yokohama, where we walked a whole lot around the Yamate, Minato Mirai 21, Sakuragi-cho, Isogo areas.
Took a side trip on the way up to Tokyo to the Shomyoji Temple at Kanazawa.

on the 10th went up to Tokyo

taking the train from Tokyo
 
and visited the Asakusa area (where there was some special religious day from the looks of the throngs of people there at the temple) and the Omotesando area (where all the rich pp shop!)

The shrine at Asakusa, where the smoke is supposed to heal ailments.

11/7 - Odaiba (where there's a HUGE toyota showroom), Shinjuku areas.

Shinjuku in the daytime
 and then to Ikebukuro for Okonomiyaki to celebrate my birthday!

12/7 - went to the Yatsuyo area to settle some necessaries and then spent the whole day at DisneySea!


13/7 - Got up bright and early (6am!) and took the subway to Shinjuku to catch the first bus up to Mt Fuji. Bus took us to the 5th station and we decided to do a little mountain climbing but without the proper gear, clothes and shoes (wearing sneakers!), we could only make it so far.

 
caught the last bus back and went over to Roppongi area for dinner. had a nice variety of dishes at an izawaya i think it's called. a more casual one than those we had passed by before.

14/7 - last day. woke p at 5!!! headed to the tsukiji fish market to check out the HUGE tunas being carted around. buzz of activity. but prob more interesting to gaijin who haven't been to a wet market before.

check out them tuna!
 
checked out the Imperial Palace and then to Ikebukuro to browse at Parco, Seibu and Tobu. before heading back to collect our bags, take a train to Narita airport and board the flight back to Singapore.

(this is merely a quick rundown of wat's happened. will add more in the future)

Saturday, July 03, 2004

quick update

thought i'd just update this thing really quick since it's a sunday afternoon altho i do have other things to do, i find myself stuck in front of the PC yet again... how terrible! it's a lovely sunday and i'm considering going swimming. but that's what i did yesterday and i got pissed off by the kids at one end of the pool as it got quite tricky to swim a proper length. so i only did 16 laps and went to lounge by the side of the pool with a book instead.

but barely 20 minutes later, the sky started getting overcast and i decided to hightail it out of there. not a moment to soon as the rain did start peltering down not long after.

but that was my exercise for yesterday. might go for a short run later.

i've been a bit stressed these few days. have a lot of stories to file before wednesday and then things have been running thru my head about this japan trip. i'm hoping all things go well on my travel companion's side since there is no way of contacting him, i can't tell.
but generally accommodation has been settled. we're having to stay in several places in tokyo cos it's incredibly difficult to get cheap places for 4 nights in a row. might be a good thing tho cos i've read someone's blog about one of the places we're going to be at - how it's in a busy (and of course noisy) location. so it's business hotel, a cheap youth hotel for two nights and then the tokyo international youth hostel for the last night.

airticket's settled (i thought it quite a good price at $760 taxes included for a direct flight with UA - altho i dont like UA much. non-direct flights by MAS and Thai cost about $640 or so without taxes so it adds up to about the same price, but with stopovers)

i've not been so involved in any of the trips this year. ok 2 of them were junkets so i didnt have to do any planning. but i honestly was hands-off canada and as for sydney, accommodation was all settled and well... altho sydney''s a city as well, it is definitely not tokyo. not so much planning needs to be involved in a trip down under.

alrighty. hopefully everything will go according to plan and i will be up bright and early on thursday morning for my 0720 flight.

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

bookbuying

kinokuniya recently had a 20% discount for booklovers, provided they cut out the tiny coupons in Saturdays' Life! of course.

Here's my haul:
Peter Carey - My Life As A Fake
Hanif Kureishi - THe Buddha of Suburbia
Jose Saramago - Blindness
Jasper Fforde - THe Well Of Lost Plots
Jeffrey Steingarten - THe Man Who Ate Everything
Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential
Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea Quartet
Thomas Friedman - The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Steven Pinker - How The Mind Works
hmmm and there's one more book that i now cannot recall!

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

runner's log

interesting to call myself a runner. but i guess i am sorta becoming one. this week i've run everyday so far, except yesterday when i decided i needed a break (plus for some reason my er... left shin? was aching - i am getting old! almost a quarter of a century now!!!)

usually i run what i think is a 2.8km route. (it's the old route that we used at jc for the 2.4 plus i add a little extra on. it feels abt another 400m).

i try to take it easy except for a little bit of a sprint at the end.

i've never been a running sort. i would always say that i hate to run. i hate it less now. i'd really rather be swimming but i like a challenge. i'd like to run a 5k and see how that goes. (yes i've still not worked myself up to that yet!)

but today, i think i ran twice the usual. i have no idea what the length is cos i've never ran that way before. but i took about twice my time at my usual jogging pace. so i felt pretty good about that! i think a decent estimate wld be abt 4 k or so?
i have no idea really.

i just wish my asics racers were prettier. !


Monday, June 21, 2004

or not

hmm... might consider taking back what i said about hmv singapore. it's really such a love-hate relationship we have!

well this morning i decided to give hmv heeren a call to find out if 50 first dates dvd is out. (not that i'm a big adam sandler fan or anything, i had to find a dvd for review for work - streats is very poor, no budget and no tie-ups.)

so i call the main number and a v grumpy girl answered with an inaudible mumbled "HMV" i asked if this was the right number to call to ask about dvds. she said, "you hold on ah" in a grumpy, couldn't care less attitude. not that i expected anything better of course.

but i was surprised when a guy from the dvd retail section answered the phone. he was polite and attentive! wow! i asked abt the dvd, he said it wouldn't be out until July. So i asked if there were any new releases. He said he wasn't sure whether these dvds were for this week or the next but he gave me a nice longish list of dvds. Willingly. not grumpily. but relatively cheerfully. i was very impressed. good on you gregory!

btw, am also q impressed with Janet from the Japanese embassy here. had been shuttled back and forth to the consulate department etc until I somehow got put through to Janet. Explained the situation (by this time had explained it several tiems already, and still was difficult to explain) she listened, told me she would see how she could help me out and clarified some details with me.

I called her again (i've learnt that a lot of times, have to be majorly pushy to get the point across) this morning and she said she had already asked some other department and they are making the relevant phone calls. it's a bit of a tricky issue i guess cos Singaporeans dont need a visa to get into japan but what if you're signing off from a commercial vessel? what happens then? no one seems to know and i dont want to call japan again and have pp say moshi moshi to me and then rattle something in japanese.

i just hope i can get this situation resolved ASAP. then i can start the wheels turning. and i have a lot of wheels to turn...

Saturday, June 19, 2004

retail therapy

i needed a serious dose of retail therapy on Friday. was feeling a bit down, which i shall not elaborate here, and thought i'd better not gripe to anyone since it was (a) friday (b) people were at work and i was off

so i headed down to city hall and got myself some nice orange sneakers (yes orange, not yella this time around). will snap a pic of them lovlies soon. unfort the discount was for a second pair of shoes (40% off!) but i decided nah... i had already bought some sandals a couple of weeks back so i just paid $89.90 for those lovely orange sneaks.

and then when i meet tien later for the starlight cinema (fiona and 5 of tien's friends made up the 8 pp there) i learnt that she had picked up a pair of shoes at j west too. but from the branch at scotts. ah.. we shld've just gone shopping together!

anyway starlight cinema was nice but it was very empty, unlike when i went with ep and mel a couple of years back for the first two LOTR flicks.

but it was good all the same. met lena and weiyong there too. they had brought along lena's new dog Tara. what a sweetie!

anyway, back to the retail therapy bit - besides buying shoes, i went over to kino last night before meeting sean for the singapore internationl documentary film festival, which of course i had free tickets to!

i bought 4 books from kino. it was the liang court branch so i couldn't find any film books worth getting hold of. will have to pay a proper visit to that heaven for booklovers at takashimaya soon. before the discount's no longer valid. i have waited too long to buy Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Quartet!

oh, btw The Other Final, the closing film at the docu film fest was brilliant. it was very well-made, very touching and also quite hilarious here and there. one of the best docus i've ever seen.

essentially it's the true story of a football match between the two lowest Fifa- ranked countries in the world, Montserrat and Bhutan.

a Dutch guy decided that the two nations should get together and play a game, in the name of football, brotherly love and world peace.

well, bhutan thrashed montserrat 4-0.

but it was all good in the end. they split the trophy, everyone signed autographs, everyone had their share of the spotlight and had fun. and then they got together to watch the real World Cup final.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

crap and less crap

i watched two kinda crappy films last week.

numero uno - Godsend. This was for work. I guess I could've just NOT gone for this but I felt the need to leave work before 7 on a thursday. So i did.

So anyway, dragged jem along to watch this damn crappy show and I believe it'll be the first show that i'm rating below the pass mark. i'm trying to decide between 1 or 1.5 stars.

yes it's really THAT BAD!!! so PLEASE don't watch Godsend. even if you're a thriller fan. because the story line is bad (it's abt a cloned child who retains memories of a past life and goes a bit loony and creepy) and the thriller tactics (the music, the dark corridors, the closeups of the kid asleep and then he opens his eyes with a start) is all just so used.

ok i have to admit that some parts made my heart beat faster but it's that kinda shock tactics that later make you think: eh? what the hell was that for??

anyway so what if it had greg kinear and the great de niro? it was just one hell of a sad sad film.

Numero dos: The Punisher
i was quite neutral about watching this one (altho life rated it 1.5 stars - Ă­ dont trust Life's review anyway!! Troy didnt deserve 5 stars...)
but didnt have much to do on saturday so went to watch that at lido. (where the popcorn lines were DAMN LONG!!) usually dont like watching movies there but lido 2 is prob one of hte better cinemas there so it wasnt too bad.

i think the best word to describe this show - CHEESY. it was just damn cheesy with all his 'superhero' poses. it was also quite meaningless - i didnt like the way he mercilessly killed all the bad guys. i mean, in the sense that he didn't show that he had any heart in that buff body of his. Tom Jane I believe his name is, was sorta touted to be the next hugh jackman, the way they both made their big screen debut as superheros. but Jane doesnt look as good as Jackman and his role as the punisher is definitely less meaty than Jackman's Wolverine. (now wolverine at least, shows that he has a heart, altho he probably would never admit to that!!)

if i had to rate this, i'd give it a 2.5. it was watchable. could've made more sense and the roles should've been fleshed out some more but was watchable.







Wednesday, June 09, 2004

the return

i watched the new season of Alias, which premiered on Monday and I wasn't too pleased.

Yeah it was good to find out a bit more of what happened since the shocker of a final episode in the last season, where she wakes up and finds that she has been missing and presumed dead for two years. and that vaughn has gone and (gasp!) gotten married!

so the first ep provided a slight bit more information about the past two years, except that no one knows anything about Sidney's whereabouts, not even Sidney herself.

But what I did not like at all, was that incredibly immediate way she got herself back into the game, went on a mission, went to find Sloan, went to kill a thug and his underlings, and got her dad out of prison.

It seemed way to easy.

(Interesting the way I am so caught up in this show though! Especially since I've not been watching regular tv for quite a while. So i guess despite it's flaws, Alias is a pretty damn good show on regular tv right now. better than those reality shows at least!)

So here's one TV viewer who will be awaiting next week's episode of Alias.

Sunday, June 06, 2004

rant

i hate it when music reviewers/critics write about up-&-coming bands with regards to other more established ones. like this excerpt of Keane's Hopes and Fears

Rolling Stone, June 10, 2004
"Keane reconfigures the high-romantic aesthetic introduced by Radiohead and mainstreamed by Coldplay as the launchpad for a serious hookfest"


One of my favourite bands, Muse, has oft been called "the poor man's Radiohead". I mean, come on... that's a bit much. So there might be hints of Radiohead and so on, but doesn't mean that they totally copied off Radiohead.
(wld write more but just realised the time!)

hot or not

i love will and grace!

this is one of the reasons...

Will's Dad (to Jack): Are you going on a hot date?

Jack: No, but the guy I'm dating is!

(well can't remember the exact lines, but something of that sort!)

Friday, June 04, 2004

and if you want me
you better speak up i won't wait
so you better, move fast

radiohead

its interesting how one can get from not owning any radiohead albums to owning several in a few months.

so being bored today i've decided to list some of my favourite radiohead songs.

In no particular order, except that Black Star does top the list.

Black Star
You and whose army?
Idioteque
(Nice Dream)
My Iron Lung
Just
Bones
Bulletproof... I wish I was
Wolf at the Door
Karma Police

but recently i've also been hooked on:
Nelly Furtado's Try
Jason Mraz's You and I Both (altho mostly cos that song sorta has a particular meaning for me)
Muse's Hysteria, Time Is Running Out, Falling Away With You
Wilco's When You Wake Up Feeling Old
Pearl Jam's version of The Who's Baba O'Reilly


Wednesday, June 02, 2004

service without a smile

in case you didnt know it already, service at Singapore's HMV is always without a smile.

Ok i have to admit only making a purchase there ONCE, when i bought a couple of VCDs that cost less than $10 each. (HMV's CDs are usually so ridiculously priced, it doesn't warrant a visit at all - i usually just go to browse the mags) it was a weekday afternoon I recall, and as a result, there weren't that many customers around.

So I placed my purchases on the counter. she scans in the prices and puts them in a bag. she doesn't tell me what the total is, doesn't utter a word and naturally doesn't give a smile (can you say "cos i work at HMV and Ă­t's just too cool a place to smile"?)
i was tempted to just say, forget it i changed my mind about the vcd. i should've. but i wanted one of the vcds cos i hadnt seen it (Mumford - starring loren dean and jason lee! and i love jason lee!)

anyway i stalked out there determined never to buy anything from HMV anymore.

but then again, i just did.

no i have not gone back on my word. i just havent bought anything from the singapore store since. i made my purchase this time in Toronto where service was definitely with a smile.

pp will definitely expect better service in places like the US and canada at restaurants etc becos of the practice of tipping. but in a store like HMV where of course tipping doesn't happen? exactly.
i was looking for the Will & Grace box set. but could only find season 2. i wanted to get hold of season 1 as well but that was all that was on the shelf.

so i approached one of the cashiers, this asian-canadian girl, and asked about it. she was like.. oh? that's odd. and she went over with me to the shelf and had a quick look around. and then she nicely asked me to stick around while she checked the stock. and apologised when she returned to say that they didnt have it in stock. but i decided to get season 2 anyway (after all, we all know it's not going to shown on local tv) and she rang it up for me, adding that if i liked, she could place an order for me and i could prob pick it up within the next few days. i explained that i was leaving town that night so it wasnt possible. but it was great that she offered to do that. i was very pleased. :)

meanwhile, back in sg, i popped over to borders (yes another service without a smile place) a couple of days ago on my off day.

i was looking for a book for a friend's bday present. wasnt sure if borders had it, altho i know amazon.com did. so i decided to check with the info counter. the guy was quite nice, checked it up on the computer (altho he took ages to find it) and said they didnt have it in store. i cld order it tho it would take about 4-6 weeks to get in. shipping would be free.

so i thanked him and did some wandering around the cd section. smsed jem to let him know that we'd need to go to plan b, watever that was. he wanted me to ask if there were any other books on running away (which would be another story for another day...)
so i headed back towards the books area. and then decided to poke around the travel section cos i knew the bday girl liked to travel n cld prob do with a guide bk or sthg like that.

and whaddya know... i found the very book i had been searching for - there was one copy right there in the travel section (which is one of the shelves near the info counter btw) so naturally i bought it. and left borders thinking wat a clueless place it was. full of pp who absolutely have no clue wat the hell they're doing.

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

i was just thinking

i received some news today that made me feel a little down but let's just see how that all goes. maybe it wont be that bad. but who am i kidding...

anyway that's the thing about blogs isnt it? how much to say. how much not to say.

i know that very very few people read this blog so i shldnt really care and shld just spew whatever crap i want. (and i think i do that sometimes when i just cant be bothered) but then i think... hmmm... what if that person actually reads this bloody thing? then i wld be screwed. definitely.

anyway the lyrics below are from Teitur - whom i just Adore. the scandinavian singer-songwriter has such beautiful songs! (and very sappy ones i might add)

this one's called Poetry & Aeroplanes, in case you havent guessed already.

and that also happens to be the name of the album as well.

other stuff i've been listening to:
Keane's Hopes & Fears (yay!)
Teenage Fanclub's 4766 Seconds (also Yay!)
The Vines' Highly Evolved (not so much a yay)
Radiohead (YAY!)
Muse's Absolution (a definite Yay!)

oh yeah and i did just get back from canada. where apparently i missed seeing the jealous sound! and my morning jacket... sigh...
and i WANT to go to Lollapalooza.
i mean, the flaming lips, broken social scene, the von bondies, wilco, and ELBOW!!!! i love ELBOW!!! damnit i should've flown to perth to see them... damnit damnit damnit

anyone want to sponsor me???
There was a party last night, last night
Cigarettes and empty bottles, empty bottles
Better open up this window, this window
Need some air to clear my head, clear my head
Alone in these strange beds
I think that I’ve traveled enough
Poetry and Aeroplanes
I am tired of waiting for love
Tend to fall asleep in the fast lane, in the fast lane
Sometimes sinking low in the high life, in the high life
No more happy songs of heartbreak, oh’ heartbreak
Or playing white knight misunderstood, misunderstood
Alone in these strange streets
I think that I’ve walked them enough
Poetry and Aeroplanes
I am tired of waiting for love
Another night I lie awake
In woken dreams of faith and fate
Hope my love don’t come too late
Hope my love don’t come too late
Alone in these strange streets
I think that I’ve walked them enough
Poetry and Aeroplanes
I am tired of waiting for love

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

life after

MAY 1 | 4:45 p.m.

I want a city apartment and a country house. A lazy bull-dog and striped pajama pants that are weathered and fabulous. I don't want a cleaning lady or a gardener to plant the flowers in the front lawn. I'd like antique typewriters with silver keys for tired fingertips, and I'll blast music in the kitchen, making omelets, swinging my hips until I decide it's time to stop. I want friends over at least once a week for wine and remembering. Books by the dozen on my nightstand. An award-winning novel with my name on the spine. Maybe two. A lover curled up against my back. Passion and romance and picnics on weekends and walks around museums and adventure. I won't care how tired I get. I'll never stop running


unfortunately i didn't write this. but i do love this. and i think i want what she wants.

who is she? she's a college senior in Boston who will be graduating this year.
for more please have a look at her story on the Boston Globe.

it'll soon be two years since i've graduated from NTU.
Am I happy? I think i'm doing alright. I like my job. I like what I"m doing although i do gripe about it occasionally (who doesn't?)
I still am longing to go back to study. I think I'd like to do a degree in either film (not film production but film or cinema studies - I want to be a professional movie critic!! and i'd have to know exactly what I"m talking about wouldn't I?) or literature/writing. (I want to better my writing. I want to write fiction, I want to write poetry. I confess to be not too hardworking in this aspect. Once in a while I jot down some lines that popped into my head but i leave them alone. I don't go back to work on them. i let well, sleeping lines lie. and lie they do. dormant.)
Yet how do i give up this job I'm in and take off for somewhere else without a salary? I don't want to rely on my parents anymore. i don't want their money. i already feel like i'm in too much debt to them since they paid for my uni education.

i want for him to not go away.

Monday, May 17, 2004

epic battles and ice ages

So I watched Troy.

so i saw brad pitt looking his age. eric bana doing a nice heroic role. orlando bloom playing the wuss. the great peter o'toole proving that age is no matter when it comes to acting, that his blue eyes can still provide as steely a gaze as ever.

but i also watched Troy and asked, THIS is Helen? this is... er wat was that? ... the face that launched a thousand ships?
i mean she is beautiful but stunning? No. a good actress? Hell no. Hector's wife (apparently an aussie actress) is ten times better an actress.

and mr pitt? well... he was quite good i guess. altho his role as Achilles was pretty one-sided. and not much about the great warrior's background was explained. (and i'm not just saying this because there were major hints of his nude body several moments in the show)

was it an epic movie? well some of the battles were good. some of the acting was good. the directing was decent. there was the feeling of a lot of CG characters running around on the battlefield. and honestly the shot of a thousand ships at sail on the sea didnt do it for me. altho the aunties sitting behind (at least i think they were aunties) kept tsk tsking throughout..
so somehow or other they were impressed (if disapproving)

as for The Day After Tomorrow, it was watchable, though i wouldnt have paid to see it. (Troy i did pay, but then again transport and dinner was free so somehow it all evened out!)

i shant explain this one (as if i explained Troy in the first place!!) except to say 'did we need another disaster movie?'

it did provide some hilarious (altho unintentionally so) moments, like where starving wolves try to attack some kids on a ship stuck in ice. actually just typing this sentence makes me want to laugh at the ludicrous-ness (such a word??) of it.

The cranky movie critic wld like to rate the shows now.
Troy gets a 4 out of 5 stars
Day After Tomorrow gets 2.5

thank you and good morning



Friday, May 14, 2004

its showtime

Last night I watched a truly amazingly, unconventional and beautiful film called Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, written by the genius called Charlie Kaufman.

Unfortunately I've not had the chance to see Adaptation which I"m sure was equally brilliant but Sunshine was an exceptional movie.

It surprised, it moved and made one think.

It wasn't a straightforward movie and in fact some might call it a bit warped.

But it is a definite must-see!!

The basic premise (SPOILER ALERT!) is that Joel meets the love of his life, Clementine. But they're total opposites. She one day, on impulse, decides to erase all memories of him from her mind. He finds out and decides to take his turn. But in his case, while the memories are being erased, he tries desperately to cling onto them. He however loses the battle and can't remember her when he wakes.

It's a story about how when two people are meant to be together, they will eventually end up together, even if they erase all memory of each other.

It was a truly excellent movie and heck I would love to watch it again, just to take it all in once more!!

Tonight will be watching Troy - not a free show this time though - but hopefully it'll be good.

forgot to mention that i managed to watch some shows i'd been meaning to see on my flights to and from perth on SIA>which has the best inflight entertainment ever!! on-demand too!!

i saw the last bit of the return of the king (i've only seen it once versus 5 times for the two towers), william h macy in the casion film The Cooler (excellent movie - A-), Robert Altman's behind-the-scenes at the Joffrey Ballet, The Company (was quite good altho bits and pieces were a bit off i think: B)
saw the first 20 min of Cold Mountain, got bored....
also caught The House Of Sand And Fog, also quite heavy going but with truly breathtaking performances by all the leads including jennifer connelly and ben kingsley. i forget the iranian woman's name tho, which is unfortunate as she was the best of all of them and should've won the oscar. (she didn't, did she?? i tell you, the thing about the Academy Awards is that no one bloody remembers who won anything soon after...)

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

jet-setting in may

once again i am back from another junkett. this time to club med cherating. it was an enjoyable 2 nights 3 days there. there was time to chill out, to make new friends, to join in the activities and partake of good food.

i cant tell what 've done to deserve these two wonderful trips but i tried to savour every single moment, by giving the different things a try, talking to people and taking pix. so here are some of my fave pix of the club med and margaret river trips.


the view from my room at Club Med Cherating - well at least from the smaller window


Brookland Valley winery


i stayed on the second floor, left hand room. gorgeous suite!


sunset at Cape Lodge


i like this one


grapes on the vine


at Manly (sydney trip)

Saturday, May 08, 2004

delighted

i'm having a good month. a really good month which involves lots of travelling.

it all started on april 20, when i flew to sydney to do some sightseeing and drinking and of course watch Radiohead in concert. I was home on the 26th of april. and just almost a week later, on May 2, i was back at the airport, this time on a flight to the other end of Australia - Perth, more specifically, the Margaret River region. MasterCard kindly sponsored the trip there, which was for the International Wine Tourism Conference. Was back in Singapore on the 5th. And that sweet boy picked me up from the airport. :)

and tomorrow morning i will be waking up before the sun again and heading to Newton to catch a bus to Cherating. Damn i hate having to go to Malaysia by bus but no choice really!

Saturday, May 01, 2004

nervous

interestingly i'm kinda nervous about this trip. i guess it's understandable?? - it is after all my first overseas work assignment. and while i wldnt say that it's a very big thing (one of my classmates works for reuters and he went to taiwan to cover their presidential election!) i am still a bit apprehensive. i dont know what to expect!

let's just hope it'll all be good. there is always hope!

Thursday, April 29, 2004

out and back in again

guess where i'm headed on sunday?

margaret river!! yes... just days after arriving in singapore (well almost a week really) i'll be headed back to Australia again. this time for my very first junket. i'll be at margaret river, attending a wine tourism conference. its a 3 day trip, arriving back in Sg on wed night.

should be all good!
:)

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

radiohead again

It might be just a little crazy to fly eight hours to see a concert. But that's what I did a few days ago.

Probably what's crazier is that I wasn't that big a Radiohead fan. I didn't own all the albums, didn't know all their songs.

And now, after staggering out of the concert in a daze (a good daze mind you, and not one out of a haze of weed - the scent of which was floating around the Sydney Entertainment Centre) I just want to experience it all again. And this time, sing every word with Thom Yorke.

If I could use only one word to describe the Radiohead concert, it would be BRILLIANT. This can easily be replaced by EXCELLENT and AWESOME and AMAZING. but of course all this would sound tons better as such: f**king brilliant, f**king excellent... you get the picture.

On the flight back, I chilled out by listening to yeah you guessed it, Radiohead. I would've listened to Muse but I only had it on CD at that time, not on my precious, so I couldn't listen to them. They are equally brilliant btw, and I would LOVE to watch them live. Unfortunately they did play at Big Day Out this year, so have no idea when they'll be headed to this part of the world again.

Another music fest I would've loved to have gone to is last year's Summer Sonic in Japan (Tokyo/Osaka). Which had Radiohead and a whole host of others. (cant'remember them now as I am thinking of the lineup for Coachella - which includes The Cure, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead, Air and plenty more)

setlist

01 2+2=5
02 myxomatosis
03 where i end and you begin
04 lucky
05 sit down. stand up
06 just
07 sail to the moon
08 i might be wrong
09 go to sleep
10 like spinning plates
11 exit music
12 talk show host
13 national anthem
14 fake plastic trees
15 paranoid android
16 idioteque
17 there there

Encore #1:
18 we suck young blood
19 nice dream
20 my iron lung
21 no surprises

Encore #2:
22 you and whose army? (actual setlist had planet telex here)
23 everything in its right place

got it from at ease

Monday, April 26, 2004

more about sydney

i have to admit that it was a fantastic trip despite having tripped, fallen and sprained my left foot (and subsequently straining my right wrist as I tried to break my fall) just after dinner (Turkish food) at Newtown.

But something good sorta came out of that actually ("Always look on the bright side of life"), I was a bit late for the check-in and as a result was allocated a seat near the back of the plane. but i did get two seats to myself! so i took the opportunity to stretch out and relax properly.

Gulf Air's really not too bad. the service from Sydney was better than to Sydney. but it was generally ok. food not too good tho!

other than that, here's a quick look at what we did in Sydney

Tuesday night - touchdown in Sydney. went to have a quick supper (for me at least) at Pancakes on the Rocks. headed to Ray's house to settle in and have some drinks.

Wednesday - after a sleepless (and cold) night, woke up late and took the train into the city for a spot of shopping. nothing much to buy though. shopping malls all about the same really. Met Ray after work and headed to Kingsford i think it's called (The UNSW area) to meet Sujin's friend Yufen (and bf) where we ate at a place called Arthur's Pizza, which we found after a lot of wrong turns....
Drinks at a nearby inn.

Thursday - woke up late (but still earlier than Wed), went to Sydney Fish Market for cheap sashimi and tiger prawns lunch, walked to Glebe. Did some treasure-hunting in some op shops. bought some second-hand books.
Sujin's chicken curry for dinner - bloody spicy but the three of us managed to polish off most of the chicken and potatoes.
headed out to town for drinks at The Establishment. nice place but very exec crowd.

Friday - did some touristy stuff today, headed to the Opera House and then had an ice-cream from Gelatissimo at Circular Quay and hopped onto the ferry to Manly. Hung out there for a couple of hours and it was then back to Chatswood. After a quick clean-up and a drink, we went to Chinatown for some Thai/Chinese food before meeting Ray's friends for drinks at Homebar (around Darling Harbour). not too happening so we also went to check out Three Wise Monkeys (where we had to first queue to get in, then queue to get to the third floor where a live band was playing - not too good though..) Arthouse, Cruise and The Establishment again.
headed back to the house for more drinks.

Saturday - after getting up late, as per usual, headed to Glebe where we met Chek for brunch at one of the cafes (i finally had my eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes and toast) and checked out the Glebe market, where i got some tops and a book for less than $20.
Then Ray dropped us off at the Sydney Entertainment Centre where we joined the queue for the mosh pit at about 430. It started getting cold though!!
Doors opened at about 720. and we sat waiting for something to happen. And it did, all of a sudden, people were on their feet and racing towards the front. Local band THe Bumblebeez came on. They sucked, as one member of the audience kept yelling out. they were really shitty and luckily it was only about a 20min set.

cos at about 815, Radiohead came on with 2+2=5. it was excellent. truly excellent.
well i'm not too sure of the setlist but these are some of the songs they played:
Myxamatosis
My Iron Lung
There There
National Anthem
(Nice Dream)
Fake Plastic Trees
Exit Music
You And Whose Army?

er that's all i can think of at the moment. but it was truly amazing.

wat did we do after?? er... drinks at home. (i think u have begun to sense a pattern here)

Sunday - my last day!!!
went to Paddy's market, Bondi beach (and sorta checked out the market)
headed to Newtown for dinner (where we got stuck in serious traffic from Bondi becos of a footy game)
Ate at a Turkish cafe, pretty damn good.
and then i fell, i curse that uneven pavement and bad street lighting.
they dropped me off at the airport and off I was back home, back to work....



Sunday, April 25, 2004

radiohead live

i just had to put these up. it was a truly excellent concert on april 24 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. opening act Aussie band Bumblebeez pretty much sucked, as one member of the mosh pit crowd (where we were standing) kept shouting.

but the radiohead gig was awesome.






here we are with our unofficial radiohead tour t-shirts ($20 for 2!) - there weren't any official ones and the best looking ones were the Hail To The Thief ones, which werent that fantastic in the first place. Behind us is the Harbour Bridge, and actually you should be able to see the Sydney Opera House, cos Ray drove us to this really nice spot ... er dunno where it was now but somewhere north of North Sydney. might be the greenwood area? dunno.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

scatterbrained

how do you know whether the right person is the right person and not just some person?

when you're single and dating, how can you tell? how can you know that he is the right one? and not just anyone who can fill the void?

i feel very superficial (altho someone has assured me that he knows many women in their 20s who do think the same way), the way i go out with people who are, well, physically attractive.
and yes, it surprised me that he's not just a... erm... body.

last night's conversation (and somewat scary incident with a quarrelling couple behind me) really hit me. about how superficial i really am.

i mean, i dunno if i can go out with a person i'm not attracted to, physically.

that really sounds terrible.

and it is.

but on another note, i'm getting very confused. i'm not sure what's going on. there's this, and then there's that. and i'm not sure which is good for me, if any is good for me at all.

this is after all, a blog, so i think that's all i'm going to reveal to the world. that i'm confused and that i seriously need to figure things out and do what's right. but what is right? and what is not?

:(

Sunday, April 11, 2004

did i mention that i like teenage fanclub?

cos i do!!

and let me just give a quick ipod (re: my new best friend) update. the relationship is still going good. just bought the ipod a new jacket to protect itself. (iskin). wanted the nice black one but that one doesnt have that neat slip it out slit to place it in the dock. so i went with that white/translucent one.

39 bucks i spent on that and more than half an hour trying to find the shop at sim lim. wandered round n round then we finally go ask the security guard who says its closed on sundays (this was last sunday btw) so we go looking for a mac shop. surely there must be one mac shop in the whole of simlim. and yes, there was ONE. uno. mac shop, perched high on the sixth floor where no one can see it.

yeah and i made another expensive purchase this week - a pair of asics racers that cost me $179!!! i tried on their other shoes but the arches were too high for my somewhat flat-footed er.. feet. so i went with the racing shoes, less cushioning but definitely more comfortable.

i've never seriously thought abt running shoes so i guess i have sean to thank for that. well after spending all that money on shoes, i better run more.

i managed a quick run this morning and will try to get up early again tomorow. i didnt run on saturday and seriously felt very tired the whole day altho i got 8 hours of sleep that day!

anyway.... it's a sunday but i was at work though it was thankfully a very quiet day. one down four more to go.

have a lot of emailed interviews pending damnit. will these pp just answer my questions already!!! i have to actually write the article, dont they know that??

better get them done soon. i've already fired off a reminder to the fella in the UK. so he better get back to me quick!!!

yeah moody. so what.

wanted to add the bands i've raving abt (besides teenage fanclub whom we already know is great)
south
snow patrol
mew
lambchop
drive-by truckers
dios
ted leo/pharmacists

and of course
the decemberists
wren
The Observatory (love Hearts And Souls! go buy this album if u havent already!)
Pete Yorn
Sloan
The Smiths
Turin Brakes
MMJ
Elbow
and plenty more

Thursday, April 08, 2004

whine whine

i'm feeling very whiny and needy right now. feel like calling someone to whine about god knows what.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

here's my week

monday - slacked at work as usual. filed story on the ride i took at the escape theme park, which sean very graciously went with me to take pictures. (so i treated him to crystal jade lunch - dim sum and la mian! - at toa payoh central) headed to cathay at 6something to watch preview of Beat Takeshi's Zatoichi with Terence. good show. funny, violent as well but all good. 2 thumbs up! (watch out for my review in the papers soon) Had late dinner at Pasta Mania after strugglin to go down from the 6th floor. (place was packed with eager churchgoers - all clamouring to watch The Passion of The Christ)
headed home after.

Tuesday - slacked at work as usual. went for a free lunch at novotel apollo, where the md (asia-pacific) of the Accor Group (which owns the whole novotel, sofitel, mercure, ibis chain of hotels). good chocolate dessert and coffee. came back, cldnt figure out a good story angle because the MD wasnt available for a one-to-one I/v as he had to fly off after lunch). went back to office. filed story on 24 hr playwriting competition. left at 730 for the substation where i wanted to check out sujin's friend's video. managed to talk to him as well as the substation fella who organised the screening. might have a story there. will chat with him next week or something.

Today - got email saying that film distributor's trying to set up interview with takeshi kitano for me! overjoyed. filing movie review of ned kelly. heading to police media night after for more free food.

Tomorow - day off. have plans to go swimming, met jem for lunch at his workplace, buy running shoes (current pair falling apart), go see the Selena Tan show and then meet pp for something after?? i have no idea.

Friday - i want to do something on friday. something that preferably involves alcohol... damnit.

Thursday, April 01, 2004

time for an update

it really is time for an update isnt it.

stuff has been happening and i wonder if i maybe shldn't have encouraged some of it

but heck let's just see how it all goes.

anyway it is april the first, april fool. and i'm not fooling but in 19days i'm off to sydney! whoo hoo!

Monday, March 29, 2004

race to the prize

yeah the observatory's flaming lips cover was of Race To The Prize which is off the Soft Bulletin album. anyone want to buy that for me?

Sunday, March 28, 2004

splurging again

yeah so here's what i did yesterday.

had to cover the streats laughing challenge thingy at millenia walk. thot it was gonna be a totally boring afternoon but terence decided to pop by (since after all he works at suntec) - altho pop by might not be the best of words to use since he's still got that leg brace on! - and we had a good laugh at the contestants on stage (some are very freakishly serious abt the whole show) and then i had to go do my thing (very reluctantly) and interview winners and shit like that.

we had coffee at bakers inn, and then i headed off to Tower, which was a big mistake becos i spotted Tori Amos' Scarlet Walk going for $16.50 so i thot heck just buy it. but the sticker also said, 2 for $30. so of course i had to wander around looking for something else with the same sticker. the only one i was remotely interested in was Starsailor but i decided to just get the Tori and head over to Gramophone to see what else they have there.

Big Mistake!

Why? becos i ended up getting 4 other cds. and jem has already laughed at me for revealing one of those to him so i'm not gonna tell.

so i did a whole lot of walking for about 3 hours and then headed back to marina (via city link of course) to meet Fergus for dinner.

We decided against City Link (yes back again) which had Akashi and somehow ended up at this family restaurant at Raffles City. Yep, surrounded by families and kids. quite amusing really.

so let's see. we walked around for a bit and then got popcorn etc and went to see My Girl, a thai film, which was a really sweet little show about a boy and his first love.

i definitely recommend it to everyone! must see! it was quite funny too. and the kids all acted great. er... doesnt sound like a good movie review i know but there u go. it's my off day.

Friday, March 26, 2004

local bands live

the observatory's time of rebirth concert was great!

first george chua played some weird ambient like music and the observatory came n played four songs like How's Life, Queen of Fate, Ask and something else i cant remember.

then it was throb's turn, introduced as Singapore's best funk band. They were good but i think they use too much effects for the vocals. and truthfully dharmĂ¡'s vocals arent that great. but i liked their stuff. They'll be playing at the heineken thingy tomorrow.

but up after them was concave scream who were excellent and in my opinion stole the show. they were excellent. really great music, lyrics and harmonies!

the observatory came back after a 15 min intermission. played a few more songs n then finished (encore i mean) with a flaming lips cover tho i dunno which song it was now.

overall it was an excellent concert. i had a fantastic time

my morning jacket live in melbourne!



it's the setlist that my friend got off the guitarist for me!!!

Thursday, March 25, 2004

and then again

it was a temporary thing. the health kick. i've had trouble waking early to go for a jog. ok not so much with the waking early. cos i've been waking earli. just that after i wake i go back to sleep

on another note, for the past few days have been spending less time online chatting and more time watching tv. and that's not good! cos i tend to eat more when i'm watching tv!!! snack a lot... that's how pp get fat really

Monday, March 22, 2004

back at work

its only monday!!!!

how am i gonna last the rest of the week!!!!!

(i am seriously looking forward to the weekend tho) the party starts friday night with the observatory concert at alliance francaise (must see!) $15 tickets available at sistic or visit www.theobservatory.com.sg for more info.

and then sat dinner after having to do some work (unfortunately) but i am looking forward to seeing how dinner goes.... might be interesting....

Sunday, March 21, 2004

health kick

well i've been going healthy recently (three cheers)

actually now that i come to think of it, not really cos i still eat the same food and drink teh-bing and teh tarik which are always loaded with sugar, still eat a lot of chocolate, still dont eat enough fruits and vegetables.

but i've been doing some exercise! like running. and u know me, i bloody hate to run so i really deserve those three cheers.

one reason is that i bought a new pair of jeans from mango and they fit just nicely (yes very vain me) and i dont want to get to a stage where i cant wear those jeans, u know?

i've got another pair of jeans which are actually one size bigger and reflects my former size before joining streats. so here's a suggestion to anyone who's wanting to lose weight - be a journo! or get a similar stressful job which has tight deadlines, eds chasing you for more facts to add into stories, lotsa walking and taking of transport and similar shit.

i have lost weight. i dont trust my cheapo ikea weighing machine but i think its obvious. when my former colleagues saw me, the first thing they said was that i had lost weight.

i'm not proud of having lost weight, dont get me wrong. and i'm not exercising to lose weight but rather to be fitter. to well put on a bit of muscle (but not the scary type of muscle) to be more toned, is wat i'm getting at.

i want to be toned! and fit! and be able to run faster and longer.
(and at the same time still gorge on a chocolate cake when temptation calls) - which it is sorta doing right now. there's a slice of choc cake from lana cake shop sitting in my fridge. its calling my name... i can hear it....

Saturday, March 20, 2004

zzzz....

it sounds terrible but i fell asleep during the Singapore Dance Theatre's performance of Cinderella last night.

It was a little slow and the music was terribly monotonous.
And I had slept at 4am the night before and had woken at 8. (I dunno why, but I had just found myself wide-awake at that time and wasn't able to get back to sleep - dont u hate when that shit happens?)

ok so i fell alseep but it was only for a few minutes.

so i guess it wasn't all that bad!

it was very long tho that performance, with 2 intervals. finished at about 1040?? longest ballet i've ever seen. I'd rather go see the Ballet Under The Stars, which i believe is in june or july. That would be fun.

Am listening to the Ben Folds Live Cd, which is always one of my favourites. Its got such great tunes and there's so much audience interaction. Makes u feel like you're really there. But I want to be really there! I want to see Ben Folds live! well i guess i'll have to move to like the US or Canada or Australia. Just to see concerts you know. And that's all.

Am trying to see if there are any good concerts in Canada when I'll be there in May but so far ticketmaster has not thrown up anything good for May. Damien Rice is gonna be there next month and a few other acts in April or early May but nothing that interests me for May. But then again I dunno whether there's actually time to go and see a concert. We seem to have a bit of a packed schedule. Only gonna be there for 10 days after all.

Friday, March 19, 2004

did it again

i made the mistake of drinking teh tarik after 10. again.
so im awake. i'm online and the person i want to talk to on icq aint online.
:(

ah well.

instead i shall listen to some good indie music and write some stuff on the blog, which seriously needs updating anyway.

I'd just been to the Asian Civilisations Museum's opening film for An Indian Odyssey, their first film fest. The film was by the great Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, called Pather Panchali, hope i got the spelling right.

the evening started with a cocktail reception. had a couple of glasses of pretty good white wine, and some Indian food. Fish tikka, Tandoori chicken, vegetable pakoras (or wat was left of it) and some other stuff.

film was kinda slow moving and didnt really seem to have much of a story! it was made in the 1950s, in black & white. revolves around a somewat poor family who lives in a village. the starting was quite bad cos i didnt see any storyline at all but towards the end it was quite ok.

after the film, had prata and mee goreng at circular road. fergus called me!! i was wondering who i was talking to (and i kept blabbing on abt wat i dun recall now) and honestly i cant really remember wat i said. i remember the gist of it but that's it. not good!

hahah... will see what happens when or shld it be if he calls me again...

anything else to update?

thurs: worked on the tekong story. finished work at 1030. dint get my byline damnit.
called the kota tinggi police, the johor police, the SAF media relations, the police media information centre (who are damn blur) and no byline. instead, for my 2 maid suspected of killing the employer story which i wrote fr a press release, i get a byline. wat kinda rubbish is that?

wed: managed to get out of doing a hotline story (phew) and instead went off early to see Untold Scandal. somehow asked sean along. dun really think it went that well! but will see how also.

tues: er cant remember wat i did on tues. was that the ballet thingy? might be.
went backstage at the esplanade theatre to interview the ballet dancer cheah mei sing who was pretty nice. edwin got some nice photos out of that. really cute fairy-costumed little girl. anyway will be watching the performance tomoro night (job perk alert!)

Friday, March 12, 2004

eh that's the singer?

went with ep to check out Fat Frog Cafe at the substation last night after we had dinner at Chjimes (restaurant called La Cave, we were tempted by its $25 3-course dinner set thing which we realised after is pretty expensive)

so we get to fat frog and hang around waiting for a couple more people to turn up. nothing happening yet except this round guy in a big yellow t-shirt fiddling with the equipment on stage

and it turns out that he was the singer han jin. apparently some guy who works in hong kong producing albums like for Edison Chen?? (dunno it true or not but it comes from someone who know someone who knows the singer so i suppose it must be somewat true)

anyway he did some pretty nice renditions of u2 songs, especially Wild Horses (which is an excellent song off the excellent achtung baby album). this caucasian guy joined him on stage and seemed to like singing Prince songs (altho i didnt think his voice was that great)

but the interesting thing was that this good voice was coming out of this round bespectacled guy in a yellow t-shirt and a black cap.

it just didnt seem to fit. i dunno why but it just didn't

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

whoo-hoo!

vivian of the observatory just called me to say they really liked my review! that it was what they were trying to convey in their music. that neverending search for meaning in life thingy!

that really made my day!

of course plus the fact that they're getting me 2 tix for the concert! hahahaha

but even if they hadn't offered i'd have bought the tickets anyway.

and really it's all thanks to jem who asked me to go to the concert several weeks ago in the first place!

Time of Rebirth

yay my first cd review is out in today's papers! i reviewed The Observatory's Time of Rebirth. The Observatory is a local band fronted by Leslie Low (Humpback Oak)
I didn't exactly know how to describe their sound so I sorta just wrote watever really.
I also got to meet Leslie and Pann (of Concave Scream) to talk about the album artwork, which is done in the style of a diary. Very cool. And unique.
The Observatory gig is on March 26 at the Alliance Francaise in case anyone's interested.
In any case, here's my review.

A worthwhile dreaminess the observatory … time of rebirth

4 out of 5 stars

THERE'S a quiet, solitary feeling about Time Of Rebirth. It makes you want to stare out the
window and do nothing.

Not that the music lulls you into a sense of ennui. Rather, it makes you want to reflect on
life as the music streams in over the headphones.

Local group The Observatory, comprising singer-songwriter Leslie Low, keyboardist-singer
Vivian Wang, guitarist Dharma, programmer Evan Tan and guitarist Victor Low, will officially
release their long-awaited debut album, Time Of Rebirth, tomorrow.

A demo album had been on sale last year but the official album comes with an additional
song, new arrangements and some unique packaging, which reflects the music's melancholic yet
subtle personality.

Time of Rebirth, which took two years, blends acoustic music with electronic programming.

It's hard to put a finger on what genre The Observatory's music fits into. Ambient?
Electronica? Perhaps.

But, perhaps music doesn't need to be squeezed into a genre. It should just be listened to
and appreciated.

And Time Of Rebirth is definitely one to appreciate.

Wang and Low share the vocals, with Wang's girlish voice contrasting and yet blending with
Low's reluctant, contemplative tone.

Low's dreamy lyrics describe that never-ending search for meaning in life, but they don't
go over the deep end and plunge the listener into confusion as some lyrics are wont to do.

The search continues.

aramaic

Feelmaa haanaa tpeelaw! Proo' lee ksef dmaa!
This film is terrible. I want my blood-money back.

Find out more here

Monday, March 08, 2004

eh really?


Green



You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.




Find out your color at Quiz Me!


Sunday, March 07, 2004

24 hrs in KL

it's crazy but i just spent 24 hrs in KL. 16 or so other hrs travelling to and from KL and getting caught in a human jam at the malaysian immigration counters....
very bad organisation there. shame on them.

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

sigh....

sigh....

Sunday, February 29, 2004

and oh yeah

went to see the NUS jazz band on friday after work. they were pretty good. tribute to nat king cole. had the vocal section performing as well altho they're standards varied a little.

felt really bad cos i did an interview with 2 of the undergrads and the vocal coach and i misspelled the girl's name!! hate when that happens. actually that hasnt happened but i hate it when pp misspell mine (like with a C) so i can imagine her disappointment. in a newspaper after all....

tsk tsk

anyway concert was pretty good. free touche beer also added to the informal atmosphere.

later went to china bar to see a different sorta band play. john molina and his band. cougar? that's what i've been told.

not too bad. altho played creed and nickelback and linkin park (yuck) but i guess he's gotta play some crappy stuff to please the audience. but then again the free bottle of beer i had earlier and also the 3 1/2 beers of erdinger i had later at china bar helped.
i dun rem how much i drank but i do know that everytime i left the table (like to go see the band or to pee) the mug (well it's not a mug but one of those long jar like things) was topped up again...

anyway whole lot of pp from sph there...

we left around... 3 i think? went for some teh tarik at adam

then i realised i shouldnt have done that. cos i cldnt sleep. think i slept around 6. was rudely awakened at 9 or so by the work going on on the roof...

Saturday, February 28, 2004

movie watching

plenty of movies i want to see:
house of sand and fog
mystic river

er.... some other titles which i cant recall at the moment.

but i seriously dont wanna see an intense film right now and those two are definitely intense....

i did like Runaway Jury and gave it 3.5 stars altho i kinda fucked up that review cos i got the bloody release date wrong. but i blame it all on that other, larger, more well-known paper that put under their review (Opening tomorrow). and being from the smaller, less well-known paper (where when i tell people i'm from that paper they go... what? huh? where?) i thought the other paper would be right.

they wern't. so now i know not to trust ANYBODY
NEVER TRUST ANYBODY...

yes i am in a strange mood. mostly cos it's sunday. i have to work tomorrow.
and i have a nice big breakfast settling in my stomach for a change.

it's kinda weird. maybe cos i haven't cooked in ages (altho i'm sure a lot of pp wouldn't call it cooking) so i decided to whip up some scrambled eggs (which i placed half on a piece of toast and cheese, so the eggs sorta melt the cheese a little.... delicious) and a couple of sausages.
i would rather have had bacon. but we dint have any and the supermarket nearby never had good bacon.
ideally i would''ve liked pancakes with maple syrup or just lemon and sugar, a roasted tomato (which technically i could've done but would've taken a tad long) some freshly squeezed orange juice and a cup of darjeeling tea.
and i would follow that up with a nice cup of.... cappucino.. or mocha.

doesn't that sound just perfect for a sunday? of course by then i would've exploded.
or felt terribly terribly full like the other day at little india where someone made me finish that damn naan... and i actually did finish it in case you're wondering.