2008-03-28 超级星光大道第三季 Part. 02 我的出生年代歌曲
傅英豪's singing lacked the smoothness of the original song. Even though his volume control is good but it lacked depth necessary to bring out the intensity of the song, especially the lead-up to the chorus. His final line was abit off-key and he did not manage to stretch the last note properly to make it impressive.
2008/03/28超級星光大道第三季 Part.07 我的出生年代歌曲
What else can I say to Yvonne? Excellent emotional management of the song. I think Yvonne played safe for this song and the judges became even more impressed when she sang one key up because it brings out further quality and potential of her voice. Well done, Yvonne!
2008/03/28超級星光大道第三季 Part.08 我的出生年代歌曲
Sugi's crescendo into the chorus is not that distinctive and lost considerable strength in those portions. Fortunately, his final portion was confident and firm. The judge was right - Sugi will have to find some way to reduce the accent in his singing, which will definitely push him further on in the competition.
2008/03/28超級星光大道第三季 Part. 09 我的出生年代歌曲
黃靖倫 possesses a very unique voice and has a very good control of falsetto. However, there is a problem when it comes to selection of songs because of his vocal range. I am looking forward if he can sing the deeply emotional ballads without letting his high-pitched voice taking away the feel. If he can do it, he will be staying in the competition again.
2008-03-28 超级星光大道第三季 Part. 12 我的出生年代歌曲
2008-03-28 超级星光大道第三季 Part. 13 我的出生年代歌曲
傅英豪 finally showed his potential using a David Tao's song and clawed his way back into the competition in the final PK elimination portion of this round. I believe he can do better than that because he had so much more to offer during his rendition of his PK song. Jia you!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Random Photo Snapshots Over The Week, CHIJ St Nichola's Carnival 2008, Swimming Session With The Changed Man
Random Photo Snapshots Over The Week:
It was raining so heavily in the earlier part of the week that some of the places where I was at had a thin firm of rainwater that refused to be drained away. Seizing the opportunity to take a near-crystalline layer of water reflecting the urban block of flats, I snapped this in the middle of a rainstorm.
What is prawn noodle at one of its best? Sims Vista was the place where I tasted more than just prawns and noodles, because this stall used the traditional ingredients, with pieces of pork, lard, vegetables, bean sprouts, spring onions and fish cake. Mouth-watering delicious for me.
A nice, idyllic shot of some white herons resting under some large shady trees in an undisclosed location in Singapore. I saw something white flying at the corner of my eye and realized it was a group of herons. Although this picture is not National Geographic quality, it sort of gives me peace to know that there are still such sights of calm nature around in urbanized Singapore.
One of my student showed me the latest technological craze during their examinations - an invisible pen. I have heard of such things during my time but I have never actually used or seen one before until that day. This pen comes with an ultra-violet light to deciper the invisible handwriting and I told my student - play with this at home if you must, but never use it during examinations because he would be living a lie with his academic progress.
After one of my lessons, I found myself at AMK Hub Mos Burger for dinner. Whilst waiting for my food to arrive, I noticed the very nice mosiac design on the wall of the smoking area of the restaurant. I took my camera-phone and took a picture leaning against the wall.
A random shot of a lone clock tower in an undisclosed part of Singapore whilst I was waiting for my lesson to start. Since I arrived earlier, I decided to explore the neighbourhood abit and found this clock tower with an intriguing design against an evening sky.
CHIJ St Nichola's Carnival 2008:
I have on hand with me a number of carnival tickets to the abovementioned carnival so I asked my student, Meiqin, who is studying there to be my tour guide because it is after all still a girls' school and I would feel awkward walking around without a guide from the school. It turned out I had even more company as Meiqin introduced me to her schoolmates later on. 
This is the Greek-styled amphitheatre forum area which Meiqin had brought me to to find her group of friends whom I was supposed to join as a group to tour the carnival. Why not? I suppose a group will mean more enthusiasm and fun together and I don't mind making new friends at all. The forum looks empty but take a look at the rest of the photos and you would realize the carnival was jam-packed with people from all walks of life - students, teachers, parents, siblings, residents, students from other schools and members of the public like me.
This is taken just after I was introduced to the girls - Catherine, Beryl and Jane. I believed it was Catherine who asked Meiqin if I was a tutor from mainland China. Hahaha. Do I look so international? I have people thinking I was Japanese, Malay, Mauri and now China-Chinese? Hahaha. Anywa, all the three girls looked nice and friendly enough and we headed out as a group into another major section of the carnival - the basketball court area.
This photo shows the basketball ball court area of the school where stalls lined up selling food and games and the people sweltering in the heat, trying to decide what to buy from the huge variety of items available for sale. There were also frequent group cheers from the girls to advertise their stalls and I had to cover my ears to prevent myself from being deafened by their high-pitch shrieks after the cheerings! Jane looked rather flustered by the heat and we had to encourage her to get some water before she started dehydrating. I suppose Jane must be struggling against the burning afternoon heat and the chaotic chatter of the crowd there. =P
This was one of the many game booths at the carnival. We stopped at this booth because Catherine wanted one of those soft toys as a prize and pestered Meiqin to try her luck and throwing coins accurately to land on those paper patterns. However, the surface of those patterns were very slippery and most of the coins simply glided back, refusing to stop neatly on the patterns. We did not win anything but just before I left the carnival, I did overheard that Catherine and Beryl decided to go back to try and win that soft toy again. Haha...dedicated soft-toy collectors eh?
This was a shooting station from guns.com.sg and almost the entire group went to try our luck at shooting. The station uses a magnum-lookalike pellet handpistol and we each paid 5 dollars for a 10-pellet magazine cartridge. All of us did well, especially Beryl, who though look soft-spoken, was a fairly accurate markswoman, with shots that were grouped so closely that it tore the target sheet which we were allowed to bring back as souvenirs. I was very impressed. 
I finally got myself a drink after walking for nearly an hour under the blazing afternoon sun. It cost only a dollar and it tasted like carbonated apple juice. Whatever the flavour was, it did quenched my parched throat and with renewed energy, I joined Catherine, Beryl and Meiqin on an interesting theme ride which swirled people inside a huge circular cage-like machine. For 10 dollars, it was a worthwhile ride, experiencing the G-force and watching all the others scream their hearts out. Sadly, I could not take a photo of that ride because I had to empty my pockets lest something flew out and spin into the watching crowd. 
This is from the school canteen and my oh my, it was so crowded that our group was practically rubbing shoulders with so many peope there, jostling to buy food and grabbing the limited benches around those food stalls. I took this shot also because it emphasized both the creativity of stall names and the practicality of simple signs. 
A snapshot of the megabooth called Jumbo Sales in what I believed to be their school hall. It was enormous and there were so many interesting things to browse through. However, I had very little time left so I could only take a cursory look without really buying anything. I don't like to buy things when I am in a hurry.
I was trying to take another snapshot of the Jumbo Sales megabooth when Catherine jumped into the shot and put up a very amusing victory-handsign. Hahaha. She was a very jovial and enthusiastic girl, even cheering along during one of their stadium rally for a school cheer. Jane was the girl in red behind whilst Beryl was the girl in a grey sweater with her back facing the camera.
A second attempt to capture Catherine whilst she does her jumping victory-handsign but the jovial girl jumped really fast and I missed it again. Haha.. serves me right for using a below-average phone-camera but oh well, at least it was fun playing with the girl.
One of the very cute-looking inflatable game stations at a carpark area to entertain the very young visitors of the carnival. I had never been up on such inflatables before because during my childhood years, there weren't such things in carnivals at all. Sadly, I am too old for it now so I can only relegate the fun by imagining it through a photograph of it.
A final shot of one of the many theme park rides within the carnival before I go. This ride was favoured by the young students of the school, screaming away as their parents took photos of them. Unfortunately, I had to choose a side-angle shot because the students' skirts were flying around and it's not nice to take those "over-exposed" shots.
It was raining so heavily in the earlier part of the week that some of the places where I was at had a thin firm of rainwater that refused to be drained away. Seizing the opportunity to take a near-crystalline layer of water reflecting the urban block of flats, I snapped this in the middle of a rainstorm.
What is prawn noodle at one of its best? Sims Vista was the place where I tasted more than just prawns and noodles, because this stall used the traditional ingredients, with pieces of pork, lard, vegetables, bean sprouts, spring onions and fish cake. Mouth-watering delicious for me.
A nice, idyllic shot of some white herons resting under some large shady trees in an undisclosed location in Singapore. I saw something white flying at the corner of my eye and realized it was a group of herons. Although this picture is not National Geographic quality, it sort of gives me peace to know that there are still such sights of calm nature around in urbanized Singapore.
One of my student showed me the latest technological craze during their examinations - an invisible pen. I have heard of such things during my time but I have never actually used or seen one before until that day. This pen comes with an ultra-violet light to deciper the invisible handwriting and I told my student - play with this at home if you must, but never use it during examinations because he would be living a lie with his academic progress.
After one of my lessons, I found myself at AMK Hub Mos Burger for dinner. Whilst waiting for my food to arrive, I noticed the very nice mosiac design on the wall of the smoking area of the restaurant. I took my camera-phone and took a picture leaning against the wall.
A random shot of a lone clock tower in an undisclosed part of Singapore whilst I was waiting for my lesson to start. Since I arrived earlier, I decided to explore the neighbourhood abit and found this clock tower with an intriguing design against an evening sky.CHIJ St Nichola's Carnival 2008:
I have on hand with me a number of carnival tickets to the abovementioned carnival so I asked my student, Meiqin, who is studying there to be my tour guide because it is after all still a girls' school and I would feel awkward walking around without a guide from the school. It turned out I had even more company as Meiqin introduced me to her schoolmates later on.
Arriving at around 11am after I had just finished my morning gym routine, I was greeting by loud cheering and students hawkering their wares. I thought to myself, "Wow, this must be the largest school carnival that I have ever attended!" Meiqin later on told me there were more than one hundred stalls and I was wowed yet again.
I took as many photos as I could but it was not as many as I expected because I had to swerve to avoid incoming throngs of people and I was busy taking in the sights and sounds. In any case, I managed the following for the entertainment of my blog's readers.
I took as many photos as I could but it was not as many as I expected because I had to swerve to avoid incoming throngs of people and I was busy taking in the sights and sounds. In any case, I managed the following for the entertainment of my blog's readers.
This is the Greek-styled amphitheatre forum area which Meiqin had brought me to to find her group of friends whom I was supposed to join as a group to tour the carnival. Why not? I suppose a group will mean more enthusiasm and fun together and I don't mind making new friends at all. The forum looks empty but take a look at the rest of the photos and you would realize the carnival was jam-packed with people from all walks of life - students, teachers, parents, siblings, residents, students from other schools and members of the public like me.
This is taken just after I was introduced to the girls - Catherine, Beryl and Jane. I believed it was Catherine who asked Meiqin if I was a tutor from mainland China. Hahaha. Do I look so international? I have people thinking I was Japanese, Malay, Mauri and now China-Chinese? Hahaha. Anywa, all the three girls looked nice and friendly enough and we headed out as a group into another major section of the carnival - the basketball court area.
This photo shows the basketball ball court area of the school where stalls lined up selling food and games and the people sweltering in the heat, trying to decide what to buy from the huge variety of items available for sale. There were also frequent group cheers from the girls to advertise their stalls and I had to cover my ears to prevent myself from being deafened by their high-pitch shrieks after the cheerings! Jane looked rather flustered by the heat and we had to encourage her to get some water before she started dehydrating. I suppose Jane must be struggling against the burning afternoon heat and the chaotic chatter of the crowd there. =P
This was one of the many game booths at the carnival. We stopped at this booth because Catherine wanted one of those soft toys as a prize and pestered Meiqin to try her luck and throwing coins accurately to land on those paper patterns. However, the surface of those patterns were very slippery and most of the coins simply glided back, refusing to stop neatly on the patterns. We did not win anything but just before I left the carnival, I did overheard that Catherine and Beryl decided to go back to try and win that soft toy again. Haha...dedicated soft-toy collectors eh?
This was a shooting station from guns.com.sg and almost the entire group went to try our luck at shooting. The station uses a magnum-lookalike pellet handpistol and we each paid 5 dollars for a 10-pellet magazine cartridge. All of us did well, especially Beryl, who though look soft-spoken, was a fairly accurate markswoman, with shots that were grouped so closely that it tore the target sheet which we were allowed to bring back as souvenirs. I was very impressed. For myself, I did land all the 10 shots on the target board but had only one bulls-eye because my hand was shaking quite badly from the post-exertion from my morning gym session earlier in the day. I was half-laughing to myself when I saw the sights of my pistol could not align properly because of the shaking Hahaha. Note to self - no gym before any range or shooting anymore.
I finally got myself a drink after walking for nearly an hour under the blazing afternoon sun. It cost only a dollar and it tasted like carbonated apple juice. Whatever the flavour was, it did quenched my parched throat and with renewed energy, I joined Catherine, Beryl and Meiqin on an interesting theme ride which swirled people inside a huge circular cage-like machine. For 10 dollars, it was a worthwhile ride, experiencing the G-force and watching all the others scream their hearts out. Sadly, I could not take a photo of that ride because I had to empty my pockets lest something flew out and spin into the watching crowd. 
This is from the school canteen and my oh my, it was so crowded that our group was practically rubbing shoulders with so many peope there, jostling to buy food and grabbing the limited benches around those food stalls. I took this shot also because it emphasized both the creativity of stall names and the practicality of simple signs. 
A snapshot of the megabooth called Jumbo Sales in what I believed to be their school hall. It was enormous and there were so many interesting things to browse through. However, I had very little time left so I could only take a cursory look without really buying anything. I don't like to buy things when I am in a hurry.I was trying to take another snapshot of the Jumbo Sales megabooth when Catherine jumped into the shot and put up a very amusing victory-handsign. Hahaha. She was a very jovial and enthusiastic girl, even cheering along during one of their stadium rally for a school cheer. Jane was the girl in red behind whilst Beryl was the girl in a grey sweater with her back facing the camera.
A second attempt to capture Catherine whilst she does her jumping victory-handsign but the jovial girl jumped really fast and I missed it again. Haha.. serves me right for using a below-average phone-camera but oh well, at least it was fun playing with the girl.
One of the very cute-looking inflatable game stations at a carpark area to entertain the very young visitors of the carnival. I had never been up on such inflatables before because during my childhood years, there weren't such things in carnivals at all. Sadly, I am too old for it now so I can only relegate the fun by imagining it through a photograph of it.
A final shot of one of the many theme park rides within the carnival before I go. This ride was favoured by the young students of the school, screaming away as their parents took photos of them. Unfortunately, I had to choose a side-angle shot because the students' skirts were flying around and it's not nice to take those "over-exposed" shots.All in all, I was most impressed with CHIJ St Nicholas' Carnival 2008. A event well-organized and I thoroughly enjoyed my two-hour stay there.
Swimming Session With The Changed Man:
Erm, nope, there are no pictures of us swimming in an undisclosed swimming complex but here's what I have for dinner after a really tiring swim - sliced fish soup with rice. Yummy for the hungry stomach.
Swimming Session With The Changed Man:
Erm, nope, there are no pictures of us swimming in an undisclosed swimming complex but here's what I have for dinner after a really tiring swim - sliced fish soup with rice. Yummy for the hungry stomach.
I am exhausted from the swim now and I still have to work tomorrow so that's all folks. Have a good weekend!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
BlogThings Quizzes
Blogthings Quizzes:
I was reading Khim's blog when her blog post reminded me of a rather interesting site blogthings with many kinds of quizzes. So I decided to follow her lead and come up with three quizzes to entertain the readers here as well. Let's have some fun reading and doing quizzes then. =P
Your Power Color Is Gold |
 At Your Highest: You are engrossed in passions that mentally stimulate you. At Your Lowest: You seek thrills and neglect what's important in your life. In Love: You see dating as adventure and approach it with an open attitude. How You're Attractive: You passion for life makes others passionate about you. Your Eternal Question: "Am I Having Fun?" |
Your Brain's Pattern |
 Structured and organized, you have a knack for thinking clearly. You are very logical - and you don't let your thoughts get polluted with emotions. And while your thoughts are pretty serious, they're anything from boring. It's minds like yours that have built the great cities of the world! |
You Are Chocolate Chip Ice Cream |
 You are kind, popular, and generous. You tend to be successful at anything you try. A social butterfly, you are great at entertaining a crowd. You are most compatible with strawberry ice cream. |
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Reader's Digest Jan 2008: Jokes, SPOP Grand Finals: Performance Clips By 萧敬腾, Movie Review: Vantage Point
Reader's Digest Jan 2008: Jokes
Susan was desperate for a few days off from work. But she kewn that the boss wouldn't let her take a vacation. So she got a crazy idea. She hung upside down on the ceiling until the bigy guy noticed and asked her what she was doing. "I'm a lightbulb," she told him.
"You are clearly stressed-out," said the boss, looking concerned. "Go home and take it easy for a couple of days." Susan jumped down and headed for the door. Her co-worker Janice seized the opportunity and followed Susan.
A Secret Service Agent who is an elite bodyguard to The President. Can he solve the assassination plot in time before more people get killed?
A beautiful Spanish paramedic who rushes to the scene of the assassination and bombing with a stretcher. How does she turn the lives of the people she met there?
A highly-trained Special Forces operative becoming a very reluctant person to be dragged into the whole incident. Can he keep his head clear in the middle of the chaos?
An American tourist who loves to video-camera and befriends a young Spanish girl during the anti-terrorist convention public ceremony. How do their new-found friendship affect the course of the assassination of one of the most powerful leaders in the world?
Susan was desperate for a few days off from work. But she kewn that the boss wouldn't let her take a vacation. So she got a crazy idea. She hung upside down on the ceiling until the bigy guy noticed and asked her what she was doing. "I'm a lightbulb," she told him.
"You are clearly stressed-out," said the boss, looking concerned. "Go home and take it easy for a couple of days." Susan jumped down and headed for the door. Her co-worker Janice seized the opportunity and followed Susan.
"Where do you think you are going? the boss hollered after her.
"I am going home, too," Janice said. "I can't work in the dark."
SPOP Grand Finals: Performance Clips By 萧敬腾
One of the guest performers for the abovementioned competition gala. For those who can't get enough of his singing, below are two clips which featured him singing portions of three local song compositions in the first performance clip (I am more impressed with his third song though) and his own song composition in the second performance clip.
Movie Review: Vantage Point
I met up with one of my ex-students for a late lunch at Burger King and a movie. The poor bugger was so busy with his JC life that he wolf down two burgers, fries, drinks and an ice-cream. After lunch, we went to watch Vantage Point because both of us like movies which are thoughtfully crafted and Vantage Point turned out to be what we liked.
Movie Review: Vantage Point
I met up with one of my ex-students for a late lunch at Burger King and a movie. The poor bugger was so busy with his JC life that he wolf down two burgers, fries, drinks and an ice-cream. After lunch, we went to watch Vantage Point because both of us like movies which are thoughtfully crafted and Vantage Point turned out to be what we liked.
Revolved around an assassination plot which involved two accurate shots into the US President and two powerful explosions which caused so many casualties in some anti-terrorist convention in the city of Spain, the many seemingly-normal characters weaved together to provide the viewers on what actually happened and how everything fell into place.
I am not going to reveal any spoilers but just to tickle the curiosity of readers of my blog who have not watched the movie, here are some of the more memorable characters in the movie.
A Secret Service Agent who is an elite bodyguard to The President. Can he solve the assassination plot in time before more people get killed?
A beautiful Spanish paramedic who rushes to the scene of the assassination and bombing with a stretcher. How does she turn the lives of the people she met there?
A highly-trained Special Forces operative becoming a very reluctant person to be dragged into the whole incident. Can he keep his head clear in the middle of the chaos? 
An American tourist who loves to video-camera and befriends a young Spanish girl during the anti-terrorist convention public ceremony. How do their new-found friendship affect the course of the assassination of one of the most powerful leaders in the world?Monday, March 24, 2008
Performances by Sugi and Yvonne 2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 1
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 2
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 3
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 4 (Performance by Sugianto)
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 5 (Performance By Yvonne)
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 6
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 2
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 3
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 4 (Performance by Sugianto)
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 5 (Performance By Yvonne)
2008-03-21 超级星光大道第三季 part 6
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Stardust 2008 Singing Competition: Contestant Tay Ke Xin
I found this video clip from Kewei's blog. Apparently her sister is participating in some singing competition. As a gesture of friendship, I put it up here for the readers of my blog to listen and judge for themselves.
Although Tay Kexin may get publicity on my blog, but I hope she wins because she sings well. Ain't a bad singer herself but there is room for improvement. Hope my comments on Youtube gets through to the girl then. =)
Ke Xin, your last note of each line from line 5 onwards sounds on the thin side. Try to buff that last note a little so that the song sounds a little more lush - stretch the note a little teeny bit more. Bcos you are singing A-mei's song, most people would compare Amei's management of this song to yours so you have to make sure the song doesn't sound thin at the end of each line.
Although Tay Kexin may get publicity on my blog, but I hope she wins because she sings well. Ain't a bad singer herself but there is room for improvement. Hope my comments on Youtube gets through to the girl then. =)
Ke Xin, your last note of each line from line 5 onwards sounds on the thin side. Try to buff that last note a little so that the song sounds a little more lush - stretch the note a little teeny bit more. Bcos you are singing A-mei's song, most people would compare Amei's management of this song to yours so you have to make sure the song doesn't sound thin at the end of each line.
Visitation By Missionaries: The Discussion of Evil, Performance Commentaries: 2008-03-14 超级星光大道第三季 part 1, Dinner Outing With The Busy Bee
Visitation By Missionaries: The Discussion of Evil
My house had two uncommon visitors today - missionaries from a certain church came in to try and preach about the issue of evil. I did not receive them myself because I was busy playing Battlestations! on Facebook so I left the work to another family member because he was definitely capable of such discussions with the missionaries.
Although I was not there at the front door, I could hear the conversation, which spurred me to think and even post my thoughts of the discussion here on my blog.
Missionaries: "Have you heard about the escaped terrorist? How do you feel about it, that a person of great evil has escaped and possibly endangering your life? Do you think our government is capable of handling the issue, banishing such evil and upholding the goodness in life? I would like you to listen to us about how our relgion can help to placate your fears and lead you away from evil."
My family member spoke at length about his experiences with evil and danger with the two missionaries whilst I was mulling over the missionaries' approach to the issue of evil and how they organized their arguments that evil can be led away through religion.
I am a free-thinker, but I have no shred of disrespect to all the religions in the world (there must be some reasons why such religions exist in the first place) yet I have seen my share of evils and evil-doers in the world and my mind went into action after the missionaries positioned their line of persuasion.
1) The missionaries spoke as if the escaped terrorist has already committed great evil to mankind and must be exorcised through believing in their religion. As far as I remembered, the escaped terrorist had not killed nor injured a single person, even though he was alleged plotting to harm many people. Do people so easily classify another as evil all so quickly? He may be a dangerous person to the society, but evil? Would the thought of organizing something terrible makes one an evil person? How many people actually entertain evil thoughts but held themselves back? So do we classify all these people as evil? What is evil? The thought? The act? The belief? Or a certain combination of these? Who decides?
2) The missionaries mentioned about the government's ability to handle the issue. Although it is universally recognized that all governments are supposed to help to ensure the safety of the people under their governance, nobody will dare to say that governments have to shoulder the responsibility of banishing evil and bringing good. Governments are supposed to manage the countries, not participate in the battle of good or evil because governments consists of human beings, which are complex sentinel beings capable of both good and evil deeds, rendering governments incapable of such participation. The missionaries seem to believe governments are omni-potent, but I believe they are just like human beings.
3) The missionaries spoke of how their religion is able to placate fears and lead one away from evil. No doubt there is a relationship between fear and evil - the more one fears evil, the stronger the latter can grow. However, all religions can only teach and preach but none can claim complete effectiveness in removing evil from human beings because being sentinel beings, human beings can choose and choice itself leads to many possibilities. Fundamentally, 魔由心生，身由心控，part of the equation of whether one is good or evil lies in the nature of one's heart, beyond the reach of any scriptures or any amount of praying or worship. We can try but there is no such thing as a guaranteed safeguard.
Also, whenever choices are made, sometimes the nature of these choices is good or evil may not be obvious to the human beings choosing until very much later in time so come forth the problem whereby "The means may be evil but the ends is good" or "The means is good but the end is evil" or "The means and the end are neither good or evil or consists of both at the same time."
All these thoughts raced through my mind but I did not join in the discussion with those two missionaries because my family member had somewhat the same thoughts as I did but expressed them in other ways, using other examples. The missionaries left my house, no longer sure if they could ever persuade my family to join their religion. I hope they find peace in whatever they can find. As for the issue of good and evil, I personally think they are not ready to start a discussion on it yet since neither of them have any experience in encountering good and evil yet.
What is good? What is evil? Can we possibly have both in one? Or can we possibly have neither in one? I leave this section open for discussion and thought for all the interested readers of my blog to mull over.
2008-03-14 超级星光大道第三季 part 1
李宏武的演出很平淡乏味，没有尝试打动观众，就是张宇所说的“攻击性”。上台表演时，不只自己要入歌，也要诚恳地邀请观众入歌。很可惜李宏武没有做到这一点，而且唱得眼神，音准都有在飘，所以我不认为他很“稳”。
张棋惠没有爆发力，唱得好像很辛苦，而且跳舞的时候不够放，好像在背台步，而不是在把歌曲和舞步溶合在一起。Roger 说得蛮对的，工整可是没有味道，但张棋惠有用心尝试突破，确实值得表扬。
2008-03-14 超级星光大道第三季 part 2
Dinner Outing With The Busy Bee:
I finished my Friday early because it was a public holiday so I rang up The Busy Bee to find some dinner with her. We were supposed to meet up at Parkway at 6.30pm but she was so engrossed in her work that she forgot the time and only managed to reach at 7pm. We walked to the nearby Katong area and spotted this Western food restaurant with a long queue of awaiting dinners. It's called Aston-something but the queue was too long and I was too hungry to wait so both of us continued down the street to find some something-Bang 酿豆腐 and finally found some seats there.
The food was brought in on a huge plate and the only drink available seemed to be sour plum drink but it was deletectably light and refreshing because I had been eating quite a lot of heavy food for the past week. The dinner came up to be around $15.60 and even though The Busy Bee was late, I footed the bill because at least she brought me to a nice place for dinner.
The Busy Bee then said she wanted to head back to Parkway to collect some Singtel handphone advertisement for her brother and we took another stroll back. After grabbing the advertisement, The Busy Bee treated me to ice-cream (the one near Coffee Bean) and I ordered Chocolate Mint and Cookies and Cream there while she picked her Mango and Raspberry. Through dessert, we talked about things and odds and ends and I recounted to her on my camping experience on Pulau Ubin where we had Beggar's Chicken freshly roasted on charcoal on one of the beaches. The night was extremely windy then but the food was absolutely delicious to the campers.
When dessert was over, we headed back home around 9pm. I like simple outings with my VIP friends.
My house had two uncommon visitors today - missionaries from a certain church came in to try and preach about the issue of evil. I did not receive them myself because I was busy playing Battlestations! on Facebook so I left the work to another family member because he was definitely capable of such discussions with the missionaries.
Although I was not there at the front door, I could hear the conversation, which spurred me to think and even post my thoughts of the discussion here on my blog.
Missionaries: "Have you heard about the escaped terrorist? How do you feel about it, that a person of great evil has escaped and possibly endangering your life? Do you think our government is capable of handling the issue, banishing such evil and upholding the goodness in life? I would like you to listen to us about how our relgion can help to placate your fears and lead you away from evil."
My family member spoke at length about his experiences with evil and danger with the two missionaries whilst I was mulling over the missionaries' approach to the issue of evil and how they organized their arguments that evil can be led away through religion.
I am a free-thinker, but I have no shred of disrespect to all the religions in the world (there must be some reasons why such religions exist in the first place) yet I have seen my share of evils and evil-doers in the world and my mind went into action after the missionaries positioned their line of persuasion.
1) The missionaries spoke as if the escaped terrorist has already committed great evil to mankind and must be exorcised through believing in their religion. As far as I remembered, the escaped terrorist had not killed nor injured a single person, even though he was alleged plotting to harm many people. Do people so easily classify another as evil all so quickly? He may be a dangerous person to the society, but evil? Would the thought of organizing something terrible makes one an evil person? How many people actually entertain evil thoughts but held themselves back? So do we classify all these people as evil? What is evil? The thought? The act? The belief? Or a certain combination of these? Who decides?
2) The missionaries mentioned about the government's ability to handle the issue. Although it is universally recognized that all governments are supposed to help to ensure the safety of the people under their governance, nobody will dare to say that governments have to shoulder the responsibility of banishing evil and bringing good. Governments are supposed to manage the countries, not participate in the battle of good or evil because governments consists of human beings, which are complex sentinel beings capable of both good and evil deeds, rendering governments incapable of such participation. The missionaries seem to believe governments are omni-potent, but I believe they are just like human beings.
3) The missionaries spoke of how their religion is able to placate fears and lead one away from evil. No doubt there is a relationship between fear and evil - the more one fears evil, the stronger the latter can grow. However, all religions can only teach and preach but none can claim complete effectiveness in removing evil from human beings because being sentinel beings, human beings can choose and choice itself leads to many possibilities. Fundamentally, 魔由心生，身由心控，part of the equation of whether one is good or evil lies in the nature of one's heart, beyond the reach of any scriptures or any amount of praying or worship. We can try but there is no such thing as a guaranteed safeguard.
Also, whenever choices are made, sometimes the nature of these choices is good or evil may not be obvious to the human beings choosing until very much later in time so come forth the problem whereby "The means may be evil but the ends is good" or "The means is good but the end is evil" or "The means and the end are neither good or evil or consists of both at the same time."
All these thoughts raced through my mind but I did not join in the discussion with those two missionaries because my family member had somewhat the same thoughts as I did but expressed them in other ways, using other examples. The missionaries left my house, no longer sure if they could ever persuade my family to join their religion. I hope they find peace in whatever they can find. As for the issue of good and evil, I personally think they are not ready to start a discussion on it yet since neither of them have any experience in encountering good and evil yet.
What is good? What is evil? Can we possibly have both in one? Or can we possibly have neither in one? I leave this section open for discussion and thought for all the interested readers of my blog to mull over.
2008-03-14 超级星光大道第三季 part 1
李宏武的演出很平淡乏味，没有尝试打动观众，就是张宇所说的“攻击性”。上台表演时，不只自己要入歌，也要诚恳地邀请观众入歌。很可惜李宏武没有做到这一点，而且唱得眼神，音准都有在飘，所以我不认为他很“稳”。
张棋惠没有爆发力，唱得好像很辛苦，而且跳舞的时候不够放，好像在背台步，而不是在把歌曲和舞步溶合在一起。Roger 说得蛮对的，工整可是没有味道，但张棋惠有用心尝试突破，确实值得表扬。
2008-03-14 超级星光大道第三季 part 2
Dinner Outing With The Busy Bee:
I finished my Friday early because it was a public holiday so I rang up The Busy Bee to find some dinner with her. We were supposed to meet up at Parkway at 6.30pm but she was so engrossed in her work that she forgot the time and only managed to reach at 7pm. We walked to the nearby Katong area and spotted this Western food restaurant with a long queue of awaiting dinners. It's called Aston-something but the queue was too long and I was too hungry to wait so both of us continued down the street to find some something-Bang 酿豆腐 and finally found some seats there.
The food was brought in on a huge plate and the only drink available seemed to be sour plum drink but it was deletectably light and refreshing because I had been eating quite a lot of heavy food for the past week. The dinner came up to be around $15.60 and even though The Busy Bee was late, I footed the bill because at least she brought me to a nice place for dinner.
The Busy Bee then said she wanted to head back to Parkway to collect some Singtel handphone advertisement for her brother and we took another stroll back. After grabbing the advertisement, The Busy Bee treated me to ice-cream (the one near Coffee Bean) and I ordered Chocolate Mint and Cookies and Cream there while she picked her Mango and Raspberry. Through dessert, we talked about things and odds and ends and I recounted to her on my camping experience on Pulau Ubin where we had Beggar's Chicken freshly roasted on charcoal on one of the beaches. The night was extremely windy then but the food was absolutely delicious to the campers.
When dessert was over, we headed back home around 9pm. I like simple outings with my VIP friends.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Movie Review: Rule # 1, The Fear of Making Mistakes, Going Back To Maple Story, Song Recommendation For March 2008《外套》By 動力火車
Movie Review: Rule #1Last night, The Changed Man smsed in, wanting to watch a lame movie together with me - Meet The Spartans but we could not find a suitable movie showtime so we decided to go for Rule #1 and it turned out to be quite an entertaining movie.
The movie is about how a police officer discovered the attempted escape of a serial killer and was nearly killed by the latter before being rescued by the appearance of the murdered victim of the killer and he narrowly vanquished the serial killer in the nick of time.
However, Shawn Yue, the police officer, after recovering from his serious injuries, was henceforth transferred to a Miscellaneous Affairs Department to investigate even more paranormal cases that were not within the jurisdiction of conventional police officers.
As Shawn Yue, under the guidance of veteran department head, Ekin Cheng, became more experienced but more troubled as he went through case after case of bizzare scenes of unexplained happenings, he was slowly embroiled in a plot of sinister vengeance as the ghost of the serial killer whom he took out before his transfer was back to haunt him down.
Rule #1 was engaging because it had both Shawn and Ekin to hold the plot together with their excellent acting skills. Fiona Xie was not too bad either as the pregnant girlfriend of Shawn. The dilemma in which the Miscellaneous Affairs Department had to face in trying to uncover the truth in those bizzare cases yet cover them with white lies to keep the integrity of society together was really interesting. The revenge plot of the serial killer was heart-pounding enough but it took away the eerie scenes in the first half of the movie, which I enjoyed alot too.
All in all, the movie was well worth the ticket price and I would recommend it, provided you have the guts to stomach the eerie scenes of ghosts, the sudden blood-splattering scenes of Shawn and Ekin killing possessed humans and the sinister and dark twist at the final scenes of the movie.
The Fear of Making Mistakes:
I was having quite a difficult session with one of my students because he (whom I should just name as V) has always refused to do difficult questions whenever I leave him homework. V always chooses to leave the answers to those questions blank because he wants me to help him explain those questions. Here's how the conversation goes:
Sean: "V, why are those questions not done?"
V: "I don't know how to do."
Sean: "You are not even trying?"
V: "Last time my tutor said if I don't know how to do, I can leave them blank and she will help with them."
Sean: "That was last time, agreed? My lessons are different. I want you to try to attempt those questions first. If you get them wrong, I will explain to you how to do them properly."
V: "But I am scared if I get them wrong, I have to do corrections."
Sean: "What's wrong with doing corrections? The school is the place to make your mistakes rather than later on out of school."
V: "But it's not neat anymore..."
Sean: "What's the use of being neat if you don't understand the questions and refuse to even try? The bottomline is for you to try and challenge the difficult questions. I won't blame you for making mistakes at difficult questions but I will come after you if you surrender those questions without even trying to make the effort."
V: "It's just that I am scared of mistakes."
Sean: "We all make mistakes, especially so in schoolwork. There is nothing shameful because the school is meant for students to learn and make all the mistakes they may do so that when they come out in the society, those mistakes won't cost so much. I don't believe in a perfect, mistakeless learning but I do believe in you having the courage to try. No more blank answers, do you understand?"
V: "Yes, Mr Ho."
Going Back To Maple Story:
After a protracted break of many months, I am finally back into playing Maple Story. It's not that I am hooked by the gameplay but I was hoping to relive some of the fun with the surviving members of the guild I was in. Lo and behold, two of them were online when I first went back in, struggling to remember where my hotkeys for health and mana potions were.
There were many changes into the game - more NPCs, more quests and more cashshop items but I am still sticking to my samurai outfit, as soon as I get hold of the cashcards for the purchases.
Levelling up, a tedious and nerve-testing process, will not be easy at my character level but oh well, one step at a time. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the feel of the game back into my fingers after a couple more rounds of crashing through those maps. Heehee.
Song Recommendation For March 2008《外套》By 動力火車:
This is one of the most powerful songs in Mandarin pop industry because the vocal prowess of Power Station was fully displayed to bring out the flavour of the song even though the lyrics was relatively simple.
The most impressive part of the song is the falsetto portions where the high notes were crystal-clear and yet provides a spatial sense of release that gives the listeners that kind of comfort rarely found in songs.
I leave this blog post with my March 2008 monthly song recommendation. Even though few would ever be able to sing this song as well as Power Station, it is a fantastic reminder of how beautiful songs can sound as long as one puts one's heart into singing it.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Congratulations to 王天安 of 《发烧》and 陈明娴 of 《雨伞》, Blog Modifications, Rewarded For My Efforts
Congratulations to 王天安 of 《发烧》and 陈明娴 of 《雨伞》:
These two songs from the SPOP Hurray! Songwriting competition have successfully made their way into the S-POP HURRAY! Music Gala, a grand musical extravaganza at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 23 Mar 2008 (Sunday), where both songs will compete for the highest honours alongside with performances by some of Asia's greatest superstars.
Below are the locally-produced music videos featuring the designated singers for the forementioned two song compositions. The production is quite amateurish but I suppose there must be a start somewhere for these young and aspiring music-video producers.
Blog Modifications and Updates:
I finally have some time to update my blog's main playlist and I have added some of the songs for the listening of all those faithful readers of my blog. Some of these songs are written quite some time ago but I really enjoyed the quality of their lyrics, tune and singing so I hope to share them with the readers as well.
I believe if one is to learn how to enjoy Mandarin pop music, or even learn to sing them, one must make the effort to expose oneself to as many different types of songs and singing styles.
02. 张国荣 - 夜半歌声
04. 莫文蔚, Karen - 单人床双人房
08. 陈晓东, Daniel - 不想睡
12. 黎明, Leon - 等到天昏地暗
15. 方大同, Khalil - Love Song
16. 戴佩妮, Penny - 一念之间
20. 辛晓琪 - 味道
32. 动力火车, Power Station - 外套
37. 两个女生 - 啄木鸟
39. 张信哲, Jeff- 最想念的季节
45. 戴佩妮, Penny - 街角的祝福
Rewarded For My Efforts:
Thank you for all those readers who encouraged me when I first posted about my personal crisis a couple of weeks back. It has been confirmed - I am rewarded with a new lease of strength as the verdict turned out to be in my favour. I hope I can fully make use of this new lease to strengthen the foundations of the years of work even further so that such a dangerous crisis will not happen again. Once again, thank you for your encouragements.
These two songs from the SPOP Hurray! Songwriting competition have successfully made their way into the S-POP HURRAY! Music Gala, a grand musical extravaganza at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 23 Mar 2008 (Sunday), where both songs will compete for the highest honours alongside with performances by some of Asia's greatest superstars.
Below are the locally-produced music videos featuring the designated singers for the forementioned two song compositions. The production is quite amateurish but I suppose there must be a start somewhere for these young and aspiring music-video producers.
Blog Modifications and Updates:
I finally have some time to update my blog's main playlist and I have added some of the songs for the listening of all those faithful readers of my blog. Some of these songs are written quite some time ago but I really enjoyed the quality of their lyrics, tune and singing so I hope to share them with the readers as well.
I believe if one is to learn how to enjoy Mandarin pop music, or even learn to sing them, one must make the effort to expose oneself to as many different types of songs and singing styles.
02. 张国荣 - 夜半歌声
04. 莫文蔚, Karen - 单人床双人房
08. 陈晓东, Daniel - 不想睡
12. 黎明, Leon - 等到天昏地暗
15. 方大同, Khalil - Love Song
16. 戴佩妮, Penny - 一念之间
20. 辛晓琪 - 味道
32. 动力火车, Power Station - 外套
37. 两个女生 - 啄木鸟
39. 张信哲, Jeff- 最想念的季节
45. 戴佩妮, Penny - 街角的祝福
Rewarded For My Efforts:
Thank you for all those readers who encouraged me when I first posted about my personal crisis a couple of weeks back. It has been confirmed - I am rewarded with a new lease of strength as the verdict turned out to be in my favour. I hope I can fully make use of this new lease to strengthen the foundations of the years of work even further so that such a dangerous crisis will not happen again. Once again, thank you for your encouragements.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
End of The Week Post 03 March to 08 March 2008
Birthday Celebrations For The Changed Man:
Earlier this week was The Changed Man's birthday so together with The Married Soldier and his wife, the four of us went to Mayim Chinese Cuisine for a nice birthday dinner treat for The Changed Man. We met around at 7.30pm and started ordering food. All in all, we ordered char siew noodles, mexican fried rice, some huge fried noodle set, chinese tea, pan fried dumplings, xiao long bao, some veggie dumplings, some stir-fried pork dish and sat through one and a half hour dinner, chatting away about work, birthday resolutions and simply joking around.
The place was quite nice with fairly good service except that when The Married Soldier's wife ordered lime juice in English, the waitress could not understand a single word of English and simply stoned there. Haha - they must learn some English if the restaurant is to survive in multi-lingual Singapore. After dinner, The Changed Man reciprocated by treating the three of us to a Coffee Bean after-dinner and we ordered some drinks and cakes and sat through all the way until 10.30pm, chatting the night away.
Oh, a side-episode was that The Married Soldier noticed that seated right behind us was Vincent Ng (Wong Qin-Hai), the MediaCorp artiste with a martial arts background. Hahaha. Didn't know he like Coffee Bean's alfresco culture too. =) We wrapped up the night because most of them had to work early in the morning. I believe it was a good birthday celebration for The Changed Man. Hope he like it as well.
Facebook Game: Human Pets
I was browsing through the forementioned game when I found some really beautiful people with nice smiles and fantastic profile pictures. I even discovered a few celebrity profiles too (though I cannot confirm if they are real celebrities behind those pictures). In any case, I still like to share with you all some of those beautiful people I found on Human Pets so we can all appreciate them. Beautiful people are meant to be appreciated by all. =)
This is a good example of a brilliant smile. Even in the semi-darkness, the warmth of the smile is there. Good picture.
I like the way she uses lighting to emphasize her strengths in appearance. Good picture taken.
Haha. Familiar face to anyone? (Hint: Project Superstar)
How about this one? Recognize who she is? (Hint: Project Superstars)
I was waiting to have an early lesson in an undisclosed part of Singapore and it was cold and drizzling, so I found a table to sit down at one of those void decks. Lo and behold, there was a cat sleeping soundly on the other bench. Not wanting to disturb it's sleep, I silenced my phone and took a picture of it purring quietly away. I sat at the table for fifteen minutes as quietly as possible, flipping through my magazine. =)
Earlier this week was The Changed Man's birthday so together with The Married Soldier and his wife, the four of us went to Mayim Chinese Cuisine for a nice birthday dinner treat for The Changed Man. We met around at 7.30pm and started ordering food. All in all, we ordered char siew noodles, mexican fried rice, some huge fried noodle set, chinese tea, pan fried dumplings, xiao long bao, some veggie dumplings, some stir-fried pork dish and sat through one and a half hour dinner, chatting away about work, birthday resolutions and simply joking around.
The place was quite nice with fairly good service except that when The Married Soldier's wife ordered lime juice in English, the waitress could not understand a single word of English and simply stoned there. Haha - they must learn some English if the restaurant is to survive in multi-lingual Singapore. After dinner, The Changed Man reciprocated by treating the three of us to a Coffee Bean after-dinner and we ordered some drinks and cakes and sat through all the way until 10.30pm, chatting the night away.
Oh, a side-episode was that The Married Soldier noticed that seated right behind us was Vincent Ng (Wong Qin-Hai), the MediaCorp artiste with a martial arts background. Hahaha. Didn't know he like Coffee Bean's alfresco culture too. =) We wrapped up the night because most of them had to work early in the morning. I believe it was a good birthday celebration for The Changed Man. Hope he like it as well.
Facebook Game: Human Pets
I was browsing through the forementioned game when I found some really beautiful people with nice smiles and fantastic profile pictures. I even discovered a few celebrity profiles too (though I cannot confirm if they are real celebrities behind those pictures). In any case, I still like to share with you all some of those beautiful people I found on Human Pets so we can all appreciate them. Beautiful people are meant to be appreciated by all. =)
This is a good example of a brilliant smile. Even in the semi-darkness, the warmth of the smile is there. Good picture.
I like the way she uses lighting to emphasize her strengths in appearance. Good picture taken.
Haha. Familiar face to anyone? (Hint: Project Superstar)
How about this one? Recognize who she is? (Hint: Project Superstars)Facebook Game: Battlestations!
Am putting up the recent player-versus-player victories I had in the forementioned game for the entertainment of those interested. Just click the below battles and sign in to Facebook to display the combat processes. Have fun!
Random Picture: Sleeping Cat in the morning
I was waiting to have an early lesson in an undisclosed part of Singapore and it was cold and drizzling, so I found a table to sit down at one of those void decks. Lo and behold, there was a cat sleeping soundly on the other bench. Not wanting to disturb it's sleep, I silenced my phone and took a picture of it purring quietly away. I sat at the table for fifteen minutes as quietly as possible, flipping through my magazine. =) Monday, March 03, 2008
Performance Commentaries: 2008/02/22 超級星光大道第三季 Part 1 to Part 5
This is the third series of blog posts about the abovementioned competition's performances! Sorry to keep those following this series waiting.
林芯儀开始唱时低音有点发得不足，而且“陪”字吐劲多了些，“太”字有点走音，可是整体来说，表现得相当稳扎因为她很入歌，有诚意地唱，也懂得用镜头，是比赛的强手之一。
蔡昀蓉的音好像发得很辛苦，走音也走得很厉害，根本发挥不出《爱情抗体》原有的轻快和潇洒。很可惜，因为她的外形佳，访问时的声音也很甜，我听起来应该是病了，所以没有唱出原有的水准。
黃詩杰的声音不适合他选的歌，因为声线太重，歌曲的高音拉不起来。歌曲中幽幽，细细的情感也没发挥到，因为他看起来唱得很辛苦，应该要严谨地选歌呀！
周翰祥唱有点像歌手黄安，有点影子，声线不是很有特色，而且眼神在飘，不够入歌，可是他能够把《忘忧草》的柔细表达出来，弥补了原有的弱点。
張文琦果然有足大将之风，不退缩得把歌曲呈献出来，虽然不熟悉台湾歌曲是如何辨别优劣，可是听起来口味十足，算是蛮有水准吧。若要圈其它缺点，可能歌曲有点老气，会压住歌手，定形了就不好了。但论表演才华和舞台魅力，她肯定是比赛强手之一。
張棋惠其实蛮有实力的，技巧熟练，根基也稳，可惜舞台动作有点疆硬，没有和歌声融合在一起。虽然我同意要有自己的特色，但论掌握歌曲和声线的控制，棋惠这轮出局非常遗憾，希望她能成功翻身回来，加油！
蔡忠颖的主歌和复歌部份变得有点吃力，一些歌词中第一个字唱得太用力，不过我很喜欢他处理尾音的细腻，也感受到歌曲中的那份诚意，虽非称得上强手，不过唱得耐听，有发挥的潜力！
許晉豪的手动作过多，让观众注意力失散，是致命伤之一。其实严格来说，猛男唱舒情歌曲没有不托，只不过《一路上有你》比相像中难唱，因为要带出歌中情怀的无奈惆怅不容易，而他并没有唱到这一点，感动不到我。
张芷榕的鼻音很重，让大家没有办法注意她原有的舞台自信，导致她发挥不出歌曲中豪放和洒脱，是折翼的毛病。她的表演听起来很挤，不够舒服，我也不能随歌而真正舞动，要加油！
簡鳳君处了忘词扣分，前部歌曲演绎是眼神飘忽不定，没有入歌，而后部都关紧眼睛，好像怕再出错。虽然她的拉音雄厚有力道，可是我不认为她唱歌时的不专心，可以挤身五强之列，要加油！
Stay tuned for the upcoming performance commentaries !
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Thursday Pastamania Dinner With The Angry Giant, Saturday Sakae Sushi Lunch and Movie With The Busy Bee
Thursday Pastamania Dinner With The Angry Giant:
I happened to have some free time on last Thursday afternoon so when The Angry Giant called me wondering if I could turn up for a meal together, I readily agreed.
Initially, we were planning to eat an early dinner of Yoshinunya (spelling?) at Bugis Junction but The Angry Giant ate it for his lunch and I was like -__-
With little suitable choices left, we ended up eating Pastamania again and I ordered Carbonara again but with a difference - I choose Fuscilla (spelling?) instead of spaghetti and it tasted more chewy and I loved it too. Unfortunately, the serving at Bugis Junction branch was rather small and I did not really have my fill of weekly pasta quota met. Haha..
Anyway, The Angry Giant, was, of course, angry with how certain family issues have breached his privacy and he hated it to the core. So whilst I was munching away at my dinner, I was busy trying to counsel him to cool off. I think I managed to succeed to some extent and we just shopped around looking at the latest computer games before he left for another appointment whilst I headed off for my evening lesson.
Carbonara with Fuscilla tasted great. The creamy sauce was infused into the marcaroni and the bacon bits were nice and crispy.
Saturday Sakae Sushi Lunch and Movie "The Water Horse" With The Busy Bee:
The Busy Bee was so busy that I only managed to get hold of her after three months of trying. Today was a good day because I succeeded in getting a whole afternoon free from her busy schedule so we took the golden opportunity to do as many things as we could together.
The movie "The Water Horse: Legend of The Deep turned out better than expected. Initially, I thought it was just a kiddish movie about the Loch Ness monster legend but the characters in the movie were very memorable and the "Water Horse", which is known as a mytical and magical Scottish creature, was very cute too.
I happened to have some free time on last Thursday afternoon so when The Angry Giant called me wondering if I could turn up for a meal together, I readily agreed.
Initially, we were planning to eat an early dinner of Yoshinunya (spelling?) at Bugis Junction but The Angry Giant ate it for his lunch and I was like -__-
With little suitable choices left, we ended up eating Pastamania again and I ordered Carbonara again but with a difference - I choose Fuscilla (spelling?) instead of spaghetti and it tasted more chewy and I loved it too. Unfortunately, the serving at Bugis Junction branch was rather small and I did not really have my fill of weekly pasta quota met. Haha..
Anyway, The Angry Giant, was, of course, angry with how certain family issues have breached his privacy and he hated it to the core. So whilst I was munching away at my dinner, I was busy trying to counsel him to cool off. I think I managed to succeed to some extent and we just shopped around looking at the latest computer games before he left for another appointment whilst I headed off for my evening lesson.
Carbonara with Fuscilla tasted great. The creamy sauce was infused into the marcaroni and the bacon bits were nice and crispy.
Saturday Sakae Sushi Lunch and Movie "The Water Horse" With The Busy Bee:
The Busy Bee was so busy that I only managed to get hold of her after three months of trying. Today was a good day because I succeeded in getting a whole afternoon free from her busy schedule so we took the golden opportunity to do as many things as we could together.
We went to Sakae Sushi at Wheelock Place and after five minutes of waiting, we had a table and we had our orders taken. It has been quite some time since I stepped foot into Sakae Sushi so I was really craving for their Salmon Nabe soup but they had only Salmon fish head so I ordered The Chicken Nabe instead. The Busy Bee was more of a big eater and she ordered four plates of sashimi and one of those egg thingy. We shared the soup and ate through the food in about an hour plus before taking a stroll down to Orchard Cineleisure whilst waiting for the 4.30pm movie to commence.
Along the way outside Wisma Atrium, we saw a group of street performers doing percussion music and it was really crowded because the passers-by seemed to love the music. They were really playing hard to entertain even though the streets were draughty due to the morning rains and winds. We moved on, talking along the way about work, friends, movies, jokes, and discussed about the escaped JI terrorist as well.
We stopped by Starbucks Coffee near Partyworld KTV Orchard and ordered an Earl Grey tea and Frappucino because it began to drizzle and cooled off in that nice branch, even chatting up with a European man sitting next table with a laptop. He was also escaping from the drizzle. Over the coffeetable, The Busy Bee and I discussed with the upcoming Flim Festival and the concerts that she was interested in going for in the coming two months.
I took a picture of the wall mural inside the Starbucks Coffee whilst The Busy Bee was reading her MSN messages on her handphone. The place has nice ambience but as with most cafes, seats were hard to come by because there were plenty of students studying there with thick stacks of notes as well as a number of foreigners busying with their laptops.
The movie "The Water Horse: Legend of The Deep turned out better than expected. Initially, I thought it was just a kiddish movie about the Loch Ness monster legend but the characters in the movie were very memorable and the "Water Horse", which is known as a mytical and magical Scottish creature, was very cute too.Interwined in the movie was a little boy trying to cope with his depression that his beloved father had died in the Second War World, never to return; a disillusioned mother who refused to believe in magic and miracle because she was embittered by the loss of her husband, a war hero who wanted no fame and just a simple life away from war; a British officer who was out to prove that he was better than a protected son of an Army General; a killer-looking Army Cook who wanted to prove himself by trying to kill a monster; and of course, the "Water Horse" which seemed to understand about friendship but was completely bewildered by the violence shown against it by other human beings.
All in all, I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 rating. It's watchable, especially if you like animals and love to see how all the relationships in the movie entangle.
All in all, I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 rating. It's watchable, especially if you like animals and love to see how all the relationships in the movie entangle.
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