Remember that scene in the movie “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs“, where it is snowing ice-cream? Kids are eating chocolate and vanilla ice-cream, and one lone kid shouts “my favorite!” and crashes in the strawberry ice-cream.
It was Ice-Cream Day at the office, and we had a choice of 3 flavors – chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. I see a resemblance! (I picked vanilla.) This is what was left after a few hours:
…on Sunday the 11th of October 2009. My computer already misses me – it went into a blue screen of death and upon restarting, I found my Kingston 1GB DDR400 wouldn’t work in any of the slots, my motherboard beeping away. So now I have one third the memory, and hopefully this is only temporary!
I don’t know what good deeds I have done of late but I’ve had good karma recently.
I was at Midvalley, craving a bite, and I walked in the direction of Krispy Kreme. I was thinking of just buying one glazed donut, but sometimes when you queue they give free glazed donuts so I might end up with 2 glazed donuts (which is overkill for me, and ironic because I just want one glazed donut.)
So as I approached, I saw people slowing down in front of Krispy Kreme. They were giving out free glazed donuts! I slowed down, put on a glazed-eye look, and pretended like I didn’t see the free donut giveaway until 5 steps away (and that I did not just command them to give free donuts by the awesome power of my mind) and I took that free glazed donut.
It was not too warm, which was a pity, but still, very nice. I know when you give out free stuff you just want to finish giving out free stuff as soon as possible. The dude probably couldn’t wait to go back in and sit and chat with colleagues.
This is not the first time this month I have had a random occurence of free food – last Saturday I was at Midvalley when I bumped into a colleague, who led me to a free buka puasa at San Francisco Steakhouse!
And now, for a random musical link:
Tragedy! Bee Gees turns metal. Kick ass!
I was sitting with 2 non-Malaysians waiting for a gig to start.
Mac: Hmmm I hope the show starts on time.
Me: Well the thing says 9:30pm but it would probably start at 10pm. The crowd hasn’t arrived yet.
Mac: Ah. What’s up with Malaysian timing? How do you know what time something really starts?
(slight pause before a revelation came to me)
Me: The earlier the event, the longer the delay. For example, if a gig is supposed to start at 12 noon, it might only start at 3pm. However, a gig that’s supposed to start at 9:30pm will start at 10pm.
There are, of course, exceptions, notably in the performing arts, where they are punctual and deny you entry if you are late. My respect goes to those who can uphold such principles!
This morning, I had a revelation.
Some mornings, I miss the company bus, and I head on down to my favorite Chinese kopitiam for some char siew pau (roasted pork bun) and teh susu panas (hot tea with condensed milk at the base.) I usually say “teh” to order. However, the waiter asked what I wanted to drink again, and for some reason, I said teh tarik (pulled hot tea with condensed milk.)
The teh tarik came in a bigger, transparent plastic mug. Teh susu panas however usually comes in a cup with saucer and a little plastic spoon to scoop the condensed milk from the base (heaven!) or to stir it. *
So, I took a sip of the teh tarik… and it tasted the same, and yet felt different. I then realized why – the thickness of the cup made a difference! I definitely paid more attention to the flavor from the cup due to its thinner lip. The spoon’s lip was much thinner and I could taste it. I would scoop some condensed milk from the base, and go “mmm condensed milk… and then some warm tea.”
With the teh tarik mug however, it was just “mmm warm tea warm tea warms my throat and my tummy.”
I felt like a sommelier (wine expert). Now I understood why wines come in different cups! Perhaps now I shall go on a search for a thin-lipped metal cup for my fix of free office coffee.
* This is why I hate Old Town Kopitiam; their teh susu panas does not come with the conventional condensed milk. Blasphemy!
I hold doors open.
What else can you do when any regularly-touched door handle is a possible vector for viruses and bacteria? A well-planted foot secures the door in place, and ensures good exercise and healthy stretching.
I walk.
Another way to keep fit while being purposeful, is to walk to your destination. I don’t wait for the bus from my office to the LRT station anymore – instead, I take a leisurely downhill walk through the park. It’s a rather photogenic park, too!
I can’t remember the third one which would’ve made this post have a proper point but as you can tell this is text-y filler. I’ve got a load of pictures to give to paying people so bear with my hiatus for a bit!
And now for a random link – proof that Michael Jackson had a skin disease, lupus, that screwed with his pigmentation! (Thanks Greg for hte heads up.)
http://floacist.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/vitiligo-photos-michael-jackson/
How about some more Transformer links?
5 Reasons Megatron Should Have Fired Starscream Years Ago
The Greatest Megan Fox Pic of Our Times (boy gives Megan Fox a flower, she looks annoyed)
And…
Finally, one for the road:
I do.
…and I liked it!
It really is not a movie for everybody, and that’s a bad thing, not a bad thing for the movie, but a bad thing that people don’t get it.
I liked The Spirit as well; it was understandable once you got past the part of Samuel L. Jackson with a toiletbowl and his little foot soldiers (geddit?) Or maybe I have a soft spot for such a badass. That’s kinda why I didn’t flip channels when Snakes On A Plane was on.
The plot was easy to follow as well – I didn’t feel lost. Dr. Manhattan’s and Rorschach’s mini-stories were fun to watch, too.
I enjoyed the period music (and that I recognized the artistes!) Earlier before watching the movie I heard a colleague playing Bob Dylan; I was surprised!
Me: Wow, you listen to Bob Dylan?
Rames: Yeah, this is from the Watchmen soundtrack!
(Later, Jimi Hendrix was playing.)
Me: Ooo, All Along The Watchtower! This was originally done by Bob Dylan. Lemme send it to you.
Little did I know that the Jimi Hendrix version was far more relevant to the movie – the song complete with electric guitar solo was the soundtrack to a kicking ass scene. (“two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl” could not be more appropriate!)
I also really enjoyed their little montage through time, showing JFK’s bloody assasination (and The Comedian as the assasin!) It was no holds barred. The movie did not sugar-coat, or protect anything from little children. It was realistic – the bad guys acted realistically and the superheroes were realistic in knowing what they needed to do.
“But how can they show superheroes as bad people?”
Well, that’s real life. Who do you know is really good and noble and is good all the time? Eventually they become disheartened with their approach and give up being 100% good. You can be a good cop and catch a murderer, then just say “don’t do that again, life is precious!” and forgive the murderer and let him loose again. Is that going to work?
Also, are you 100% good only because you are paid to be?
How about politicians? Some of them do genuinely good things, but have little things like sex scandals. Some know better how to silence their secrets.
“Why are they having sex all the time? How are they going to save the world?”
Well, if I saw the Silk Spectre II in tight leather all the time (and perhaps nipple studs, but that’s left for Ozymandias) and saw her kicking ass, I too would jump her.
That leads to one basic law of attraction – people you watch become sexy to you.
A rock star standing by himself/herself is not sexy. A rock star rocking out, shouting and shredding on guitar is sexy.
A photographer standing by himself/herself is not sexy. A photographer directing and looking skillful (and not looking retarded squinting) is sexy.
A thespian standing by himself/herself is not sexy (and maybe might look a little odd.) A thespian acting in a play is going to get a lot of attention!
A girl I saw once was the frontwoman of a band; she would’ve looked normal otherwise, but when I saw her light up the stage, I knew I wanted to know her name, number and cook for her momma. Given that the only mishaps I make are in the kitchen I guess her momma would cook for me instead.
(Yes, that’s KFC Mashed Potatoes fresh from the microwave.)
It is also scientifically known that working out increases your sex drive. So let those superheroes bonk!
Then there’s another question – was Adrian Veidt actually a bad guy, even though you left the cinema thinking he was a good guy? I thought he could be bad, since it seemed like such a coverline that he’d wield the remote in time to save his bullet-dodging ass.
I thought it was noble that Rorschach realized Veidt was right, but he would not admit it – instead he left his fate to Dr. Manhattan.
Janey Slater: Why are you leaving me? Is it because I’m getting old?
Dr. Manhattan: But it’s true.
I could strongly relate to Dr. Manhattan, in the way I view the world in an outer, external way, with lessened concern for the people and their little concerns.
Near the end of the movie, when Seymour is asked by the newspaper editor to write an interesting story, the cinema ushers opened the doors… and people started flowing out. Did they all want to pee? I thought to myself, man you guys just didn’t get it.
Before the movie, a bunch of people in front of me were speaking Chinese. I thought then, if this was anything like The Spirit, you guys are not going to get it!
Also overheard – “Is this a cartoon? I think it is.” A pity then that the posters look like Batman & Robin hence the false impression.
I like these reviews found online:
The problem watchmen had was that it was made for geeks and intellectuals, but advertised as the next big blockbuster. Watchmen is not going to have the same mass appeal as Xmen or or Spiderman, because the story goes deeper than they do into morality, philosophy, and human nature. That being said, the people who walked out of watchmen are, sadly, probably the people who could learn the most from a movie like it.
Posted by: T | Mar 12, 2009 4:41:28 PM
– Conrad, age 41 (USA)
Oh, and finally, a star for Zack Snyder for keeping mostly to one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all time. Not that I’ve read it, but you can compare Wikipedia’s synopsis for the movie and graphic novel to see that they are pretty much the same!
Ah, the wonders of Dictionary.com!
She: You’ve got to be realistic.
Me: Why do you keep pronouncing “realistic” that way? You know, ree-al-is-tik? Isn’t it ree-uh-lis-tik?
She shot me an email later with reference to Uncle D.
REALISTIC
re�al�is�tic [ree-uh-lis-tik]
REALITY
re�al�i�ty [ree-al-i-tee]
REAL
re�al, real [ree-uhl, reel]
REALLY
re�al�ly
[ree-uh-lee, ree-lee]
Even in English, we can’t decide which way to pronounce derivatives of the word REAL. Her “re-alistic” follows “re-ality” but my “real-istic” follows “real“. Of course, REAL can be either one or two syllables and also depends on what you want it to rhyme with.
I always pronounce REALLY as rail-ee but I guess that’s not valid although everybody sings it that way, REALLY.
Go check out The Beatles – You Really Got A Hold On Me; John Lennon varies the pronounciation (as do the background vocals.) If this song is obscure, it’s time to brag about your Anthology disc collection!
So this site might be down for a bit and then it will be up again, just like how life is.
Me: Hey I’m here already! Where you at?
She: Hi! I’m at Spade!
Me: What?
She: Spade!
Me: Er, where is that?
She: Oh, it’s opposite PrimaVera…
Me: Er…
She: Near Skin Food?
Me: What floor is it on?
She: Oh, first floor!
It would help greatly if landmarks were not boutiques – I am, after all, an unfashionable straight man and we unfashionable straight men are completely oblivious to such shops.