El Sheikh at Pahang Street I should have done this before the one on Amirah’s Grill after I went there with some very wonderful people: nadnut, jean, rinaz, dk, chillycraps, malique and his wifey and musxzart on 26th July. However, I also didn’t take any photos then to make a proper post. I must first thank rinaz for introducing us to this wonderful place, situated in the Kampong Glam area, right next to Amirah’s Grill along Pahang Street. To reach the place you can either take a bus to Beach road and drop off opposite The Concourse, or take the MRT’s East-West line to either Lavender or Bugis MRT station and take a short walk over. I quote from Rinaz blog: The cafe already looks charming from the outside with the rustic two story shophouse where it was housed. Inside, it looked very cosy and rather condusive with its homely arabic styled decor all around. The above is true. But as to the service, I think it is a little lacking. I recalled that when I was there for the first time I had to call them to bring the cutlery for late-comers, and on the second occasion when I was there I wasn’t even attended to after a few minutes (but that might be because the staff were having their dinner.) The food is great. Adding to the fact that I am damned hungry, I swallowed my own order pretty as quickly as possible. Even so, I could taste it’s nice and I really want to go and try out the food again. Since I am not very good at describing how good the food is, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. You can check out some of the pictures taken by Rinaz when she was there some time ago before our outing. All in all, I think the food is value for money and the portion is generous. Do visit when you can, and I believe most people will enjoy the wonderful food they offer. The first few photos were given to me by dk, and the rest I took on my own when I revisited the place again on 21st Aug with xinyun mei. Movie: Star Wars - The Clone Wars Personally speaking, it would be more aptly named ‘Star Wars: Clone Wars Chronicles - the Outer Rim War’ or something like that. After all, this is just a small part of the Clone Wars in the Star Wars Universe. My opinion is that if the animation has been named in this way then it paves the way for more to be made in the future, if this one is successful. In short, the Clone Wars animation series could have been the ‘expansion pack’ in the Star Wars movie franchise. Anyway, I didn’t read the reviews about it though some of the other bloggers who have seen it left their comments on Plurk, and some are not too flattering. So, by the time I get to watch it on Tuesday (free tickets - courtesy of xinyun mei), I had already lowered my expectations and because of that it was some what within expectations. I even found it quite funny - especially the baby Hutt, Anakin’s Padawan Ashoka, and some of the droids in the Confederation’s droid army. Storyline wise, I would say it’s actually quite weak. Usually I would consider a story to be good when you have wheels within wheels. Take for e.g. Vantage Point. In the case of this animation, there was only one main plot in the storyline and that is to deny the other side an alliance with the Hutts. I won’t dwell much on how either side seeks to attain their goals, but suffice to say it was pretty straight forward. There were no surprises nor shocks to be expected. I wouldn’t say you should give this a miss, since I am personally a Star Wars ‘fanboi’ , but I think it is no loss if you just watch it on a VCD or DVD when it gets released. [Game] 古惑仔 Kuwakchai.com Introduced recently to yet another addictive text-based browser MMORPG called 古惑仔 (古惑仔 or kuwakchai is the Cantonese equivalent of samseng [三牲仔], gangster or mafia). I find it even more addictive than Tribal Wars and it reminds me of MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). The game is based in the towns of Malaysia so you will see many Bahasa Melayu terms like Merempit, Pudu Jail, Jahat, Lu Punya Kerja, Skolah and Pasar Malam in the game, along with some Cantonese terms like Mahchai [马仔, meaning: Henchmen]. This can be a good game for students, or those who are working. The reason being that it will take time for certain stats like Energy, Will, and Brave to regenerate, and it usually can take up to an hour while in at most 5 minutes, your commands would exhausted much of your stats. This simply means for the rest of the hour you will be waiting for your stats to regenerate. For e.g. Your energy level regenerates at about 8% every 5 minutes so you can return to work while you leave the browser idling at a corner. However, since the each of the stats has a different regeneration rate, it means you can come back in every few minutes to try and do those things utilising a different stat, provided another player hasn’t come around to give you a beating to land you in the hospital. And thus this is what makes the game addictive so please remember not to let it impact your performance at work or divert your attention from your studies! So, what is the game all about? Basically you do as what the mafia would do. You start small, doing the Jahat (naughty) stuff like bully kids, sell pirated DVD and stuff, to the big time stuff like killing a model and such. You can also do some ‘Biaomei’ * (prostitutes) trafficking to gain crime experience and dexterity as well, or go around beating or mugging the other players - provided your attributes are better than theirs - or join a gang or even form your own. And of course you must train yourself to have better attributes (strength, agility, guard, labor and IQ) using your points, which is hard to come by, or your energy level. Do remember these attributes are a factor in calculating whether you succeed in a particular task so do not neglect any one attribute too much, but concentrate on strength and guard, which both puts other players in hospital or prevent yourself from ending up in it. If this sounds too confusing for you, do not worry, the admins of the game are friendly so you can email them. If not, you can always click on the section called ‘Announcements’ to look up what each attribute / stat does for you in the game and how to go about obtaining them. Currently, 5 - 6 of my blogger friends have joined me in the fun. However, I must remind you that I am in no way responsible if you are lacking in discipline. You and you alone are responsible for your own performance at work or your grades in study. So, if you know you succumb to addiction easily or if you don’t have any discipline, my personal advice is not to play the game. I am reminded that I have heard of how some under-graduates destroyed themselves for their over-indulgence in MUD. For the rest who would venture to try, I’ll leave you to experience and enjoy the game on your own. For those who are interested in joining please put this under your referrer code: http://kuwakchai.com?REF=2654. Biaomei: 表妹 (cousin) in Mandarin. Because the word 表 and 婊 (prostitute) is pronounced similarly, it generally means an illegal immigrant you tried to pass off as your cousin while you pimp them. Movies Watched Recently… The Dark Knight The sequel to Batman Begins with Christian Bale reprising his role as Batman. There’s no Katie Holmes this time round to play Rachel Dawes but that’s pretty irrelevant. While some say this is better than the prequel, and most of the praises were given to the now deceased Heath Ledger who plays the Joker in this movie, I still liked the prequel better. Without a doubt, Heath Ledger did very well in his role, and he was very much different from the other joker. This is one Joker I find way too sinister and evil. He isn’t funny at all and frankly, I can’t even say if he’s even joking at all. If you ask me what is the gist of the story, then it would be Joker’s ‘bet’ with Batman that good or morality is an easy thing to say and do when one’s life or loved one is not threatened. i.e. it is not difficult to even turn a good man, even the best among us, to become a bad one if the ‘right switch is flicked’. In a way Joker’s view is right. I can’t explain that in detail here, as that would become spoilers even though I believe most people have already watched it. But still, it’s best for you to watch it on your own to get your own feel and understanding of this movie. Personally speaking, I preferred the prequel with the dark and Gothic look to Gotham City. The Gotham in this movie no longer have that feel. Above which, the movie was really too long and almost 3/4 way through I could feel the level rising in the bladder. Even so, this is the best movie I have watched for the month of July / August. And if there’s one movie you shouldn’t miss, this has to be it. Addendum 25.08.08: I was clearing my hard disk today and I suddenly come across a screen shot of something a while back when someone said “It is impossible to understand the minds of certain people because that would be like trying to understand the mind of the Joker in Batman.” It would have been true on the surface, but on deeper thoughts, the above statement shows just how shallow the mind of such a person. There was only one thing in the mind of the Joker, and that is to prove that everyone can break their own principles. i.e. even the best among the good can be turned to do evil. This was at the end of the movie in the conversation between Batman and the Police Commissioner. Apparently someone has left in brains in the freezer when he was watching the movie. The Mummy III My personal opinion after watching this movie? Make this the last. The joke one of my friend made about it was, in the next Mummy movie they will be fighting mummies of the legendary Wind [聂风] and Cloud [步惊云] from the HK Kungfu comics. And there are a few things I didn’t like. First, Rachel Weisz is no longer reprising her role as Evelyn O’Connell. Second, Brendan Fraser looks are still too youthful to play the role of a father. And third, I think Michelle Yeoh’s Mandarin still sucks as bad as it was in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. To round it up, to imagine Qin Shihuang - the first Emperor of China - as a mummy is really pushing the limit of my tolerance. But in the book, it was some other fictional character known as Er shihuangdi, though I am quite sure Qin Shihuang and his unification of China inspired this character. The story begins with how the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) turned into a Mummy after being cursed by the sorceress Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh). It then fast forward 2000 odd years to show Alex O’Connell - son of Richard O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) - discovering the resting place and how General Yang (Anthony Wong) and his cronies ‘resurrected’ the Emperor or free him from the curse. Then of course, it goes on to the usual attempts to kill / destroy the Mummy. I won’t dwell too much on the storyline. But suffice to say this movie is completely uninspiring, especially the part where you see an army fighting with iron age weapons with mid-20th Century soldiers. Simply put, I completely regretted watching it. I should have saved that $7.50 and convert it into another HK$35 to buy food for my stomach in Hong Kong. Journey to the Centre of the Earth The movie was a little too short for my taste and appears to be rushing through the parts. As to what the story is about is summarized by these few words - a simple investigation turning into a major adventure. Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) is head of the Center of Volcanic Activity in a university. His brother Max went missing 10 years ago leaving behind a widow and his nephew Sean. Max’ widow decided to leave Sean with Trevor for 10 days as she leaves for Canada to prepare for their eventual migration and Sean made Trevor take him along to Iceland to investigate seismic sensor readings that matches those during Max’ disappearance. When they arrived in Iceland they hired guide Hannah (Anita Briem) to take them up the volcano where the sensor is. The rest is ‘history’. Though another Brendan Fraser movie, at the very least this one was much more interesting than Mummy 3, though at one point of time I was wondering if I wasn’t watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The eye candy, Anita Briem, was better than Mummy 3 of course. There’s also quite a bit of computer animation put into this movie in the form of dinosaurs, prehistoric piranhas, relatives of the Loch Ness monster etc, and not just mummies, and more mummies. However, you are not missing much if you don’t watch it but if you absolutely ‘heart’ Brendan Fraser than I would suggest getting the cheap VCD version when it is released. Movie: 钱不够用 2 & 十二莲花 钱不够用 2 这是一部写实电影。梁智强以一贯的手法，轻描淡写的将新加坡人的一些不满和牢骚 - 如人民对 ERP、物价不断上涨和建赌场的看法 - 都给表达出来。但我要问，梁导演反映出来后除了得到了我们会心一笑，又对我们新加坡人又有些什么好处呢？政策从来就没有因为我们反映了而改变，通常还不是新加坡人自己咬紧牙关挨过去？ 不过可以肯定的是，电影里描绘的杨家三兄弟所遭遇的，却也是典型新加坡人面对的一些问题 - 如对年迈家长和孩子在物质上给予的肯定不会少，但是在关怀与爱护方面却肯定做的不够。我不禁要问，电影的主题是表达新加坡人对金钱和物质生活追求的荒谬呢，还是要给新加坡人理解一下 ‘树欲静而风不止，子欲养而亲不在’ 的真正意义，让我们更加明白孝道的定义？又或许要我们除了物质生活外，要更注重家庭和亲属？就是说，不管一个人在金钱上如何贫穷，总不会比一个事业和家庭都失去的人更孤独、更可悲。 不管如何，这是一部把普通的人的喜、怒、哀、乐完全都表现出来的电影。我不想讲太多电影里的情节，但这些情节虽然没让我悲从中来，但却令我热泪盈眶。因为实在是我们生活中可以感受的到的。它娱乐和教育性两方面都很高的，但结尾却有点不切实际。为何如此说呢？因为戏里杨家的三兄弟的不屈不挠虽然值得我们学习，但是实际上能像他们跌得那么惨却又能从新再来的人又有几个？ 总的来说，我个人虽然不是很喜欢梁导演，但仍然觉得这是部值得一看的电影。有空就去看吧，不过如果不太懂福建话的人就比较难理解里面的对白了。 十二莲花 我看电影通常都不会以艺术的角度来观赏，因为我缺乏艺术细胞。所以如果你问我， ‘十二莲花’ 和 ‘881′ 比较，我会比较喜欢哪一部，那么我比较喜欢 ‘881′ 多一点。原因很简单，虽然两部电影都以歌台为背景，但是 ‘881′ 就比较没有那么抽象和脱离现实。简单的说，虽然两部电影拍摄的手法都非常的 ‘波里活’ (Bollywood)，但是 ‘881′ 的娱乐性却是比较高的。 戏里主人翁 - 刘莲花 - 的悲哀命运让人心酸，可能甚至于掉泪。这也令我想起 ‘881′ 的结尾也是令人伤心的。我必须要问，是否导演陈子谦的人生中，个人遭遇了很多天意弄人的事？如果还有下一部以歌台为背景的电影，结局可否可以快乐一点？要不然王欣这个演员可能就会永久被定型，只能演那些楚楚可怜，命运坎坷的女子了。这样会否限制了一个演员的发挥空间呢？ 而且，没有多少部电影能让我不断的看手表和盼望它的结束。因为有些情节我真的觉得和现实完全脱节，令我觉得我必须调整，不以看现实剧的的心态、沉住气的继续看下去。 弹的说完，说些赞的。这部电影并不是完全一无是处。刘玲玲演技是不错的，在这部电影里可以说是发挥的淋漓精致。而且戚玉武演的两个角色都演得不错。他是演什么就不必多说了，免得破坏还没看的人的兴致。 我个人的建议是，没必要在电影院看。最好是等 VCD / DVD 上市了才买回家看吧。和 ‘钱不够用 2′ 一样，不太懂福建话的人就比较难理解里面的对白了。 Bashing Foreign Talents The in-thing these days, seems to be the bashing of foreign talents. From Amit Nagpal’s letter to the forum on getting a flat direct from the HDB to Li Jiawei dragging the Singapore flag on the ground in the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Are you ‘in’? Frankly, I might have an opinion about foreign talents in this nation, and I have probably blogged a few times about them too - mostly on whether some of them are really talented or my disbelief that those jobs cannot be filled by Singaporeans. Otherwise, my unhappiness is with foreigners whose CVs look impressive but can’t work for nuts, or those who thinks they should be treated like kings as if we owed them a living. I am quite sure some of you would agree with me here as you have run into them at work, or read about foreign athletes quitting on us after we spent a lot of money nurturing them. And these are the black sheep - the fallen talents - which have given them all a bad name. Over time, I have tried to look this objectively. Foreigners take up many jobs in our economy. For e.g. the hard labor workforce, i.e. the people who are doing jobs that most Singaporeans wouldn’t do (or possibly can’t do at all) even if that means they have to beg on the streets. These are the people who have the lowest chance of even getting a PR. Consider the ‘environmental engineers’ (road sweepers and cleaners by another name), the China or Bangladeshi worker you see digging the holes at road works and building our new flats / condominiums, the China person at your local coffee shops taking your order or making yor fishball noodles etc. When some of these people go, just which of us - except maybe some of our old folks who are above retirement age - would even consider filling some of these jobs? Some wouldn’t consider these people as real talents, but from a different perspective, their hard skills is actually a talent. Some of us probably don’t know how to mix cement for nuts, or dig a hole better than some of them. Simply put, I would say we should at least appreciate their contribution to the comfort we enjoy, though we might not like their presence because we dislike their behavior and manners. But remember, it is not entirely their fault for not being better mannered or more educated. They didn’t really have a choice when it comes to their land of birth. As to Li Jiawei’s ‘dragging of the flag’ during the ceremony, I have looked at the video on Youtube. Yes, a part of the flag was on the ground and a lot of us think of the fact that the flag should not touch the ground because of our National Service background. But does she know these things? Was she even told of it when we screamed about how she dragged our flag on the ground of China - the land of her birth? Now, consider this: in a few more years, Jiawei would have been lived in Singapore longer than she has been in China. Now, some of us may have ancestors who has lived in China longer than they are in Singapore. I am a 2nd or 3rd Generation Singaporean, depending on maternal or paternal lineage.My maternal grandfather came from Guangzhou to Singapore before the Japanese invasion. My paternal great-grandfather came from Hong Kong probably in the early 1900s. What difference are they from Li Jiawei? Li Jiawei, as a child, left her home to come here. She has persevered unlike some of those who gave up and really went home. So give her a break already! I admit I am no lover of Foreign Talents. However, I disliked some of them because some of them did not live up to what they claimed they are. Some of us have definitely worked with those who clearly have no clue what they are doing in spite of what they claimed they know. I am also unhappy with the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme or whatever because I felt the money rewarded to them for their performance can be better used for other social needs. I might not be right about some of these things, but at least I don’t just dislike all of them for no better reasons. Anyway, I also disliked some of them because they think Singapore owed them as if they are doing us a favor while our country gave them the opportunity which maybe available in their home country, but probably with fewer perks. Granted they can take their skills elsewhere with a better offer, but that’s nothing to boast about since even the ‘environmental engineer’ cleaning my rubbish bin everyday would probably work for another contractor or in another country if he is capable of leaving here to go there. Just like I would say to Singaporeans who always complain about Singapore - leave! I would say the same to these FTs unless you really have an exceptional talent that no one else could replace. In other words, if Stephen Hawkins comes to Singapore and lecture at NUS or NTU, and then he chose to leave, then this country has indeed lose a rare talent. But if you are just say… a currency trader, then come on… where you came from there’s probably someone else who is even better for a lesser price tag. Simply put, my fellow Singaporeans, let us be clear what we are unhappy with, and not just go all out and whack FTs with even the lamest excuses we can think of. It brings shame upon all of us and make us no better than xenophobic skinheads we read about in other countries. Hong Kong Vacation - After Thoughts These are some of the observations I have when I was in Hong Kong. Housing Hong Kong island [香港岛], parts of the Kowloon Peninsula [九龙半岛] and the Tung Chung [东涌] area of Lantau Island [大屿山] looks quite mountainous, and you can see that in most of the photos I have taken. I am given the impression that on while on paper Hong Kong may have a large surface area, but a lot of it is mountainous which makes it very expensive for construction. In fact, even Lan Kwai Fong [兰桂坊] itself is built on a slope as I remember making my way up after coming out of the Central [中环] MTT station. After a few days in HK, I have become quite reluctant to make my way down slope for fear of going the wrong way and then having to make my way back up again. The only place that reminds me of this is probably that stretch of road behind Lido. Perhaps that’s the reason why the land and housing in Hong Kong is very expensive and yet very small. My colleague joked that had Lao Lee been Chief Executive of Hong Kong he would have emptied out those mountains and use the soil for land reclamation. Transportation - MTR and Bus I like the fact that I was able to get to most of the places I have visited by the main mode of public transport - bus and MTR (the equivalent of our MRT). Being able to read both Chinese and English, and understanding the Cantonese announcements over the PA system is a real plus in Hong Kong. Of course, the announcements are also repeated in Mandarin and English for the benefit of the Chinese mainlanders and foreigners there.. By the way, I didn’t really use the buses there, and never once the cab, since I managed to find my way to where I wanted to go by MTR using… well… Google. While using the MTR, I also observed that while some of the stations always appear to be crowded, the trains come often enough to clear much of the crowd. Other than in some of the farther out areas like Tung Chung, I rarely have to wait more than 2mins for a train in the city area even during off-peak hours. That’s very very unlike the experience I have when traveling with our MRT. Is it a wonder why I keep whining about Singapore’s MRT? Anyway, it may be true that going by the key performance indicators, Singapore’s MRT is really nothing to complain about but I doubt it would have passed at all if they take a commuter satisfaction survey not by sampling, but at places like Boon Lay, Pasir Ris, or Yishun MRT. One of the key reason is the long standing periods one has to suffer unlike the Hong Kong MTR where there is a large turnover every few stations to make seats available. There is really not much we can do about that, since the satellite town design of our city makes this an inherent problem with all modes of our transports - be it bus, taxi, MRT or even by car. Before I forget, I must also point out also that the HK MTR website recommends to you the best path of travel to minimise travel time and get to your destination when you are changing between lines. I rarely spend more than 30mins moving from one point to another using the MTR and the trains are almost always synchronised at the interchanges - i.e. by the time you moved across, the other train would have just arrived. If you think I am making this up you really need to go to Hong Kong and see it for yourself. Transportation - Ferry and Tram Curiously, there are also other modes of transports like the Star Ferry [天星渡轮] which transits between Tsim Sha Tsui [尖沙咀] in the Kowloon Peninsula and Central or Wan Chai [湾仔] of Hong Kong Island. I am not sure if they are still useful as the MTR also links these 3 places together conveniently. I took it once just for the fun of it though and I think it was like just 10 - 15 minutes from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui. On Hong Kong Island there’s also an electric tram [电车] system running more or less from Central to Causeway Bay [铜锣湾]. I am not sure why this is kept there as the MTR is more convenient and way more efficient. But it’s really cheap… just HK$2 and you can use it for sight-seeing Hong Kong at leisure just by hopping on one that would transit the whole length of the route. Customer Service This is exceptional and I have to give them a very, very high mark. Once I asked one of the shopkeepers at the night market why the other shop was selling stuff at HK$140 for 3 pieces and he was selling me 2 for HK$158. The guy actually told me his shop also has stuff going at that price but the reason is that the ones I bought are 2-sided while the 3-for-HK$140 ones are only single sided. I thought he was bullshitting me and after walking some way down I actually asked another shop if the 2-sided ones are same price and the guy told me the exact same thing. And here we are arguing on our newspaper forum about service. * sigh * Either way, I must have been really lucky because the sales people in Hong Kong are generally polite and courteous. In one of the them, they greet me as I entered the shop, approached me to offer assistance without being asked and stood by respectfully without hindering even when I waved them away. They may not be fluent but they generally try to reply in English or Mandarin when I use those languages, and they become even friendlier when I speak Cantonese. When I leave - even when I didn’t buy anything - they say thank you and good bye without giving you a dirty look and always with a smile on their faces. (I don’t care if they say bad things after I am gone.) I am not saying all Hong Kongers are polite people, as I have also run into some rude and grouchy ones, but generally the service people do make an effort to offer assistance and genuinely tried to help you complete a purchase when you are in the shop. That appears to be quite lacking in Singapore, as you can at times stand around looking as stupid / lost as you can and no one would give you a flying damn. Food There is much variety of food and I didn’t have time to try them all out. Either way I won’t go into the details. I did try out some of the eateries though, and in Hong Kong you can forget about finding a table all to yourself or your friends. The people generally just check that there are no items on the seats, sit down and then go on to order what they want to eat since eateries are generally crowded during the meal hours. As for tastiness, the food I ate is pretty alright and there’s definitely more variety than in Singapore. Service is quite fast most of the time and you only need pay after eating at the counter. I also tried the McDonald’s once, and I think that they have some burgers we don’t have here. And maybe it’s just me, the one I tried seems different and was way better than what I ate here in Singapore. In short, I think I like Hong Kong as the sales & service people (even those at the restaurants) attempt to make me feel welcomed. I may go back to Hong Kong again in the future because it’s really easy for me to move around and I have not visited some of the tourist attractions yet. Hong Kong: Ocean Park 11.08.08 It was a rainy day on Monday 11.08.08 in Hong Kong, and the rain here is really ‘long winded’… it basically went on and on for the whole day. I was sort of kicking myself for choosing the day to visit, and I can’t not go because I will be flying off on the 12.08.08. Despite that, there was surprisingly a lot of people in Ocean Park - many of them Chinese nationals and I must say Chinese tourists must have brought in a lot of foreign income for Hong Kong. Personally speaking, I don’t see that many people neither in the Singapore Zoological nor the Jurong Bird Park when I was there. In fact, when I visited the Bird Park some time ago, it was also raining and there wasn’t a lot of people. And what do I think of it? With hotels mostly concentrated in the CBD area, where the shopping centres are located, getting to these locations is a pain. No one would really make their way to these places except for those on package tours, considering that it takes more than an hour to get to any of these places by MRT or bus. For me to go to Ocean Park from my hotel in Mongkok took me about 1 hour, that’s including fumbling my way to the wrong MTR station, wasting time to find out where is the bus stop and what bus to take, and missing my stop which required me to walk an extra 10 minutes in the rain. Ocean Park seems part zoo, part theme park to me. There are roller coasters, hot air balloon, a cable car ride and a lot of carnival like stuff. Then there are pandas on display, Chinese Sturgeons in a really miniature version of Sentosa’s underwater world, a large 3 level aquarium with many sharks, sting rays and deep sea fishes, and a special room dedicated to all sort of jelly fishes all rolled into one. I think if not for the proximity of Macau, the HK SAR government gahmen should just put up a casino in it too just like what ours did with Sentosa. My personal suggestion is… don’t go on a rainy day, because it drives everyone in doors and you can’t stand long holding up a camera to take photos without someone bumping into you and spoiling your shot, and don’t go alone, because you need someone to hold your stuff when you go try the roller coasters and stuff. I reached there around 1pm and I was only 50% done with the place when I had to leave at 6:15pm to rush back to Central Hong Kong to meet a friend for dinner. I would say it’s a place worth going if you are going in a group for a day of fun in the sun. Hong Kong Island Proper - 10.08.08 The thing about a free and easy trip is that you sometimes end up wasting a lot of time sleeping in the hotel room. Today I woke around 10am because a fire has broken out some where nearby. I can’t see it, but I could hear the sirens going on and off and past my room Apparently, it’s a fire so bad that several firemen were killed.. Anyway, the view outside my room is actually quite hideous, if you can even call that a view. You can see from the first photo and it looked exactly like the kind of place show in the movie 老港正传… and it shows a city in decay. Anyway, after lazing in the room and analyzing where I wanted to go, I finally decided to go to Wan Chai and to the Peak. This trip was made based on the recommendation of my best friend’s dear wife, who is a Hong Konger herself, but I made some modifications myself. Took the MTR down to Wan Chai MRT and walked to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre first instead of taking the MTR down to Tsim Sha Tsui and take the ferry across. After taking some photos at the place, I made my way back to Johnston Road and took the Tram to the Legislative Council and take a short walk up the Tram Terminus (to the Peak) past St. John Cathedral. It was a great trip as it was quite cooling up at the Peak, and the view is… well, you have to see on your own. It’s definitely a place you should not miss when you visit Hong Kong, provided you have not visited it before. My personal recommendation is to reach the Terminus around 6pm as there might be a long queue at the Terminus so by the time you reach the top the sun is about to set. After which, pick up a good position and wait to darkness to fall. Then you can start snapping away. I am quite sure you can’t find any such great vantage point anywhere else in Hong Kong, and by the way, is there any place in Singapore we can take photos like these? Ngong Ping 360 - LanTau Island On the recommendation of my Hong Kong office colleague, Sam, I took the MTR to Tung Chung [东涌] to visit Ngong Ping 360 [昂坪 360] - a cable car ride that will give us sort of a bird’s eye view of much of Lantan Island [大屿山] on the way up to the largest outdoor Bronze Buddha Statue in the world. I’ll not waste my time writing too much about the trip, and will let the pictures do the talking. Let me just say I am so unfit that being stubborn and trying to walk all the way up 268 steps to the Buddha Statue without stopping almost killed me and I ‘fainted’ at the foot of the Buddha Statue when I made it up there. By the time I got back I met Lyna, who is currently on Business trip to our Hong Kong office for a month, for dinner and some drinks at Lan Kwai Fong [兰桂坊]. I am sorry I didn’t take too much pictures of the place as I was having quite a bad headache then. But being the ‘jiu gui’ [酒鬼 - Alcoholic], I felt a lot better after a few drinks. Hong Kong 08.08.08 Arrived at Hong Kong International Airport at around 2:10pm today. The walk from the terminal back to the arrival hall is quite long - in fact I even had to take a short train ride to get there. This is my first time to Hong Kong and I messed up when I make my way to the hotel in the Kowloon area. I should have listened to chillycraps by taking the MTR to Tsingyi [青衣] but I ‘geh kiang’ [假厉害 - act smart] took the train to Kowloon [九龙] instead. End up I have to take a roundabout route back to Lai King [荔景] so I can make my way to the MTR station nearest to my hotel - Prince Edward [太子]. I have to say Hong Kong’s MTR appears more efficient and convenient than Singapore’s, but that’s maybe because Hong Kong has a subway system longer than we do. The trains are quite new and clean too and they definitely come more often during peak hours. Since it’s a free and easy trip, I basically just wandered around town with the camera to take pictures and did not really go to the tourist attractions. But definitely I’ll look into visiting some of the tourist attractions in the next few days. Here are some of the pictures I have taken after having dinner with my Sam, my colleague in the HK office. I wandered for about 3 hours around both Causeway Bay [铜锣湾] and a small part of Mongkok [旺角]… and surprisingly, even though I was wondering aimlessly after getting off the Mongkok MTR station, I end up wandering right back to my hotel when I thought I was lost. I must say I did make an effort not to make 4 right turns and headed off in a particular direction. So I guess my sense of direction isn’t so bad after all, and having the road names in Chinese is great help. Some thoughts… A 47-million dollars church building I once raved about a local mega-church spending $47 million into building a titanium-clad church building and a friend - a non believer - pointed out that he felt there’s really nothing wrong with it because like the 5.5-ton gold Buddha in Thailand, the intention was probably to inspire - i.e. to let the believers see just how they have been collective blessed - or rewarded, depending on your point of view - for their faith. I do not deny that a $47 millionchurch building may have left believers in awe and inspired by the goodness of God. But unlike the 5.5-ton gold Buddha, which will probably outlast our species even if the human species go extinct, the $47 million church building was, from what I have gathered, built on 30-year leased land. In other words, after 30 years they will have to tear that building down and return the plot of land as it is to the state. That will be approximately the equivalent of paying $1.6 million a year for the lease, and I am not even sure if that $47 million even include land cost. Simply put, the 5.5-ton gold Buddha would have continue to inspire the Thai people and impress tourists for many generations to come, but in one generation the $47 million church building will only live on in photos or the memories of those who still lived. It begs the question, would God have look less favorable upon a ‘lesser’ church building in lands with strong persecution and the believers built with their own bare hands and material obtained from nature? It makes one wonder, how those who are charged as stewards of His blessings actually account to Him that this is a prudent use of money. In fact, I wonder how they actually justified that as being part of God’s Will. Anyway, here’s something out of point: Did you know in the Forbidden Palace in Beijing there’s a almost 300-year-old art piece carved out of a piece of jade weighing almost 5.4 tons? Took them years to mine it from some mountain in Xinjiang and - if I am not wrong - 3 years to ship to Beijing, and then another 6 years to send it to Yangzhou to carve it into the art piece it is today and back. Photos of the Jade Piece: [1] (zoom out - showing full jade) [2] (zoom in - showing part of the art work) Reality and Ideals I did not think Cao Cao [曹操] has in his mind all along the plan to seize and hold the Han Emperor hostage as a mean to dominate the other warlords. Indeed, before he even participated in the any military action, be it against the Yellow Turban rebels [黄巾军], or before he participate in the coalition of forces against the warlord Dong Zhuo [董卓], he was nothing more than a security official - sort of the equivalent of the Deputy Commissioner of the Police Department - in the northern part of Imperial capital. Do note that at times, the younger Cao Cao even seek advice on how to attain certain near term objectives: e.g. stabilizing the areas he rule, how to restore order to the Empire etc. His stature and power only increased over a long period of time - from general to Prince of Wei - over a period of 36 years [184AD to 220AD]. What I am trying is this: be realistic and not idealistic. Many people who achieve greatness or their objectives in the end normally do not let his opponents or any other people determine how it should be done or what the rules of the game is. They look at the reality at that time to make the best of it, or redefine what the rules should be and work towards their ideals one step at a time. In short, to ask for certain plans to be revealed before the person is given a task is an absurd proposition which only the Tali-PAP Men-In-White can devise to fxxk up the opposition. I don’t even know what to think about the people who would accept that! The Singapore National Anthem This is my response to some guy who called 93.8FM and asked for the National Anthem to be changed. I don’t know what your reasons are but if it’s “dont understand” or “cannot remember” , then I hope this will help you, and all new immigrants who have recently gotten their citizenship. It is my considered opinion that our National Anthem is a showcase of our racial harmony. It is also appropriate because of our geographical location. Just take a look at the map if you don’t understand. We are right smacked in the Malay Archipelago. [map] MAJULAH SINGAPURA! (Malay - Only this is sung) Mari kita rakyat Singapura Sama-sama menuju bahagia Cita-cita kita yang mulia Berjaya Singapura Marilah kita bersatu Dengan semangat yang baru Semua kita berseru Majulah Singapura Majulah Singapura ONWARD SINGAPORE! (English Translation) Come, fellow Singaporeans Let us progress towards happiness together May our noble aspiration bring Singapore success Come, let us unite In a new spirit Let our voices soar as one Onward Singapore! Onward Singapore! 前进吧，新加坡！ (中文翻译) 来吧，新加坡人民， 让我们共同向幸福迈进； 我们崇高的理想， 要使新加坡成功。 来吧，让我们以新的精神， 团结在一起； 我们齐声欢呼； 前进吧，新加坡！ 前进吧，新加坡！ Originals are found here. Attached also is a screen shot of the anthem’s translation in Tamil, since I don’t know how to type in Tamil: 12 Hates When Taking A Dump Do not read further than this if you just had your meals!!! . . . You are really sure you wanna read this? I am not responsible if you lost your meals because of this!! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!! 12 things I hate when I am taking a dump… the previous user has failed to flush and left his handiwork behind in its ‘full glory’ ; discovered that there is no plastic seat (it has been removed) or that it is dirty because the last ‘fireman’ was ‘testing his hose’ ; discovered unobstructed holes in the cubicle walls; discovered that the door cannot be secured and someone kicked the door open while you are in the midst of crap ‘extrusion’ ; over sensitive sensor flush - it flushes periodically and the blast of water is so strong that the ‘mist’ wet your ass cheeks; the clown in the next cubicle smokes because he can’t stand the ‘fragrance’ of his own ‘product’; the guy entering / leaving the next cubicle slams the door; the guy in the next cubicle is blasting music out of his speaker phone - for e.g. Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker - as if it is conducive to bowel movements; you can listen in to the next guy’s lively phone conversation - for e.g. “kio li mai ka hor wa leow bel hiao tia si boh? Wa jit zoon na pang sai lah!! KNN…”; you finished your business and found there’s no more toilet paper; the cleaner keeps testing your door as if he can’t believe you are still inside; [The most ultimate] discovered that your own mobile number is on the cubicle walls and it says Dial 9xxxxxxx for free sex Amirah’s Grills Meet up with an old friend today. He has not been well on and off over the past few weeks and since he’s feeling better today we decided to meet up at Marina Square for a chat. After a long chat, we had a hard time deciding where we should have dinner. We wanted to do it at Black Angus at One Full Of Shit Fullerton but we noticed some boards have been put up blocking the sea view so I proposed we might as well go down to Pahang Street and dine at El Sheikh instead as I sort of missed the delicious mixed kebab I had last week. My friend then suggested that I should also try out Amirah’s Grill. So, we walked over to the bus stop outside Fullerton Hotel and took bus 196 to the bus stop in front of the Concourse along Nicoll Highway and walked over because both buses 100 and 107 refused to show up. (They did show up, after we boarded onto 196. Bleah!). Surprising, both El Sheikh and Amirah’s were quite ‘deserted’ today. But even the entire SunTec - Marina - Raffles City hall area was empty today anyway, probably because many people were either down at the Natas Fair over at the Expo or have left the country on vacation to avoid the National Day week vacation rush. So, my friend and I was all alone in Amirah’s. Great environment and interesting music - I was told they are in Arab - which I had no clue what was being sung. The decoration is probably Islamic and Middle Eastern, if I am not mistaken. There are also paintings depicting ancient Egyptians and the Pharaohs. Unfortunately, I took only one picture of a part of the restaurant with my Nokia 7390 camera phone because I suck at taking photos. The quality isn’t so good because I didn’t use the flash as I didn’t ask any permission to take photos Again, I ordered the Mixed Kebab - the Turkish one. My idea is that the mixed dish always have all the meat in the same dish so you can sample them all, and if you liked one of the meat very much, the next round you come by you can always order just the kebab with that meat alone. Similarly, if one of the meat is not good, then you can always give it a miss. And if all three is good - as in this case - then you don’t end up missing something good. While all three of the meat from the dish is good, the beef was fantastic. It’s been a long time since I have eaten beef so tender. The last round I had beef that good was back in Shanghai having Kobe beef there. But unlike El Sheikh (just next door) where the sauce comes separately, Amirah had them poured onto all the meat already. In both cases, the sauce goes well with all the meat. The portion is smaller compared to El Sheikh, and I actually liked it because I could no longer eat as much as I used to when I was younger. I strongly recommend this dish to you. Inside Amirah’s The Turkish Mixed Kebab Moroccan Mint Tea (Cold) For drinks, I ordered a cold Moroccan Mint Tea. It was quite soothing and refreshing and certainly value for money because every single sip I take, the mint flavor is present. I was presently surprised that the mint leaves put there aren’t just for show, unlike a lot of our so-called iced lemon tea with a slice of lemon and you had to use your straw to poke the slice to squeeze every last drop of lemon juice out it to even taste something. Total damage, $51.10, and that include another plate of roasted potato because we finished our carbohydrates faster than we liked. I would say it’s certainly value for money as I believe it would have cost us 20 - 25% more - and probably not as satisfying - if we had taken our dinner at Black Angus. (Do not be mistaken, it is not that Black Angus isn’t good on its own!) Do give Amirah’s Grill a visit when you have time. In fact, we are going to check out some of the eateries at Haji Lane in the near future. Transportation and ERP… I love my country, even though at times I may feel I don’t belong, even when I find some of the things the Tali-PAP do to be quite repulsive… I have definitely always make noise about what I found repulsive, and some of my friends have definitely heard or read some of my more radical and insane comments. But whatever those insane and dumb comments were, there’s always what can realistically be achieve, and what cannot. And having that realization is what separates me from the insane and the stupid. Thus, I wrote a post to arguing that the opposition parties are in no position now to take over and it is my considered opinion they should avoid making a fool of themselves by doing that. From the way I looked at it, a people - government gahmen relationship is not that of a girlfriend - boyfriend relationship, but one more akin to an employer - employee relationship. For e.g. when we got our asses kicked out from the Federation of Malaysia, the Tali-PAP’s situation was more like that of a junior staff discovering himself being thrust into the position of a senior and it rose up to the challenge. Was the Tali-PAP ready for that? I doubt so when I remember MM Lee shedding his tears on national TV realizing just what a mess he has gotten himself into, for fighting for a Malaysia for all Malaysians. But in the case of our opposition parties now, it is more like that of a fresh graduate looking for a job and with nothing much to show except for his FYP (Final Year Projects) or internships. For one to argue that the opposition has nothing to show and thus shouldn’t be allowed into parliament would be equal to the argument that no fresh graduate should ever be given a job for his lack of experience, or having no clue on how he should be doing his job! The fact that both Potong Pasir and Hougang have taken that step to vote in Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang respectively, would say a lot about what they think a people - gahmen relationship should be. Anyway, let me categorically say: the current system put in place by the Tali-PAP still works, or at least has worked for the past 43 years since our nation’s forced independence from Malaysia. There is nothing seriously wrong yet with the current system for Singaporeans to demand for a change in leadership. But there are kinks in the system that should be addressed, and it is my opinion that feedback over some of the kinks are not seriously address as mentioned in my earlier post here. But do note, unlike some of the unrealistic whiners out there, I am not saying everything I talked about in that post - from town council sinking funds to GIC investments - must be addressed, but rather the gahmen should look into what can realistically be addressed and do so without any serious compromise to our nation’s financial security. Next, other than the kinks in the system, the gahmen should start treating us with a little more respect. And I am not talking about respect as in the gahmen should cower and fear us, but rather it should understand that most Singaporeans are a reasonable and understanding lot. Treat us as a partner in nation building, since we are clearly educated enough to be rational and logical. For starters, make some serious efforts in telling us why they are doing certain things. Once these things are explained nicely, most of us - with the exception of the unreasonable, irrational and illogical whiners - will really just accept it and find our own ways to work around them. Let me take for example here the ERP (Electronic Road Pricing). Singaporeans find it really hard to accept ERP because they are sick and tired of the gahmen telling us that the ERP is a traffic congestion measure. Just quit trying to justify ERP’s existence by telling us which other countries have also adopted it. To us, all of that is really total bullshit. While congestion control might be one aspect of ERP, it is not much talked about ERP being a fairer method at taxing all road users for usage. We may have heard some mini$ter$ talk about how road tax has been cut to make ERP as cost neutral as possible to car owners, but it is difficult for someone who takes a cab regularly, or a company with a fleet of vans to see it as cost neutral to their activities. Is our gahmen not aware the cut in road tax has done nothing to alleviate the suffering of a person taking the cab, and a delivery company which has several vehicles passing under the ERP several times daily will hardly find that bearable? Thus, it would have been just far more acceptable to tell us that ERP will gradually replace road tax as an attrition tax for the maintenance of our roads, and that all road users - not only car owners - are expected to do their part. It gives every road user no excuse from paying ERP and in a way they would be far less unhappy looking at ERP gantries popping out everywhere - even HDB estates - in the future. On top of that, the people may not like to hear it, but make it clear it also served the purpose of driving those people who didn’t like to pay it to use public transports. In short, it would be clearly obvious to a lot of us that ERP as part of a multi-pronged plan in dealing with the transportation matter as a whole. And to address the complaints of those who are driven to use public transports that the system itself is inefficient, it must also be shown to them that there are plans in place, for e.g. to put in more MRT lines in the next 5 - 10 years. On top of which, it is also hope that the ERP will ensure there will be a steady ridership in the new systems as otherwise, there will be not enough users to justify their construction. Simply put, the gahmen needs to seriously brush up on its public relation skills. On the top, the big picture maybe clear to the bigwigs, but Singaporeans may not necessarily understand all of them tie in together as they look at ERP as nothing more than a daily nightmare. Having the mini$ter respond to a question here and there once in awhile, or having the news comes out in disjointed parts doesn’t really help us Singaporeans to see the big picture. Just how many of us reads the White Paper or whatever shit anyway? Too many words and it bores us since we are also busy people trying to earn a living. The gahmen should make full use of SPH, and use one issue of Sunday Times or Nanyang Zaobao, to put all these things in simple graphical form to link them altogether to make it easily understandable - just like those pictures in letters informing us why we are getting GST rebates. I am not asking for the gahmen to please us, but from what I gather from my friends and colleagues whenever we discuss some of these issues, giving us a proper, detailed explanation is what they expected. Do not just presume we can’t grasp something on a bigger scale. That shouldn’t be too hard for the gahmen to do, right? An Open Letter to Mr Amit Nagpal I haven’t been reading the Stooge Times Forum since Aug 15 last year, if I am not wrong, because the quality of letters is really disappointing. But the following forum letter was brought to my attention recently: Home and Singapore, from a PR’s viewpoint July 25, 2008 I REFER to the lively Forum discussion about home ownership in Singapore. As a new Singapore permanent resident (PR) from India, let me respond this way. First, Singapore is the only country with such a high percentage of home owners. Trust me, your home will never be repossessed because of a sub-prime-like crisis. In New Delhi, where I came from, government housing is a luxury. Once in two years, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) releases land and builds basic, two- and three-bedroom homes. A lottery decides who gets to own the flats. Snaking queues, with hundreds of required documents, no salary or income cap and no cap on the number of flats applied for are a few of the scheme’s characteristics. The balloting is fraught with irregularities. Most successful applicants sell the flats almost immediately in the open market for a huge premium. My parents in India still live in a rented apartment because they have not been successful in getting a DDA flat and cannot afford expensive private housing. These things happen in India because it does not have a system like the Housing and Development Board’s. Second, I am 33 years old and live here with my wife and two children. I consider myself well educated, worldly wise and useful to my employers. What am I doing in Singapore, leaving my parents, family, friends and comfort zone back home? Why did I strive to become a Singapore PR, and perhaps a citizen in future? I did it because Singapore is safe, dynamic, modern and conducive to a decent livelihood. Most important, the Government promotes harmonious living and equality for all. Many Singaporeans take these virtues for granted. I don’t blame them because they probably don’t know what it is like elsewhere, including a country like India which may have the world’s fastest growing economy, but is fraught with corruption and an unsafe environment and does not have what Singapore has. So it pains me when I read letters which say that PRs like me should not be treated well enough. I know we cannot be given the same rights as citizens, but why demand no rights at all? Now, this is my country too. There is no turning back. So why can’t I buy a flat directly from the HDB? And although I came as a permanent settler, why treat me like an enemy? Amit Nagpal Apparently this letter has upset a lot of my fellow citizens on the Hardwarezone (HWZ) forum and it has created quite a storm. Here’s my reply: My only question to Mr Amit Nagpal is this: What is stopping you from taking up a Singapore Citizenship? As a foreign talent, do you not make a healthy amount to qualify? If it was a matter of insufficient income, I apologise for the mercenary nature of our government gahmen. Even some Singaporeans at times felt they are somewhat neglected and ignored if they are not making enough money. If not, would you mind share with us what’s stopping you? A lack of sense of belonging, perhaps? You should voice up so our gahmen can look into setting up campaigns - they are damned good at that - to mobilise all of us citizens to assist PRs (Permanent Residents) in integrating into our society and also to explain to you the importance of some policies which might deter you: e.g. National Service for your kids, giving up your original citizenship, and why you can’t withdraw your CPF anymore until a certain age once you become a citizen. Whatever the case is, I encourage you to renounce your current nationality so you can enjoy the same perks * cough * as the rest of us. In fact, I would be greatly impressed if you would insist in doing 2 years of National Service too even at your age. I am quite sure the Home Team or the SAF can find some use of your talent which our country so sorely lacks. Anyway, buying a HDB flat is really not a right, but a privilege. If I remembered correctly, if you and your spouse earns a combined income of more than SGD 8000, you also cannot buy anything smaller than an E-Flat. This is part of the policy by our gahmen to ensure affordable housing * cough * is always first made available to the serfs Singaporeans who otherwise do not earn enough money to purchase private housing. Surely, by now you can already understand why some of my fellow Singaporeans are indignant and hostile to the idea of giving PRs the same privilege as far as HDB flats are concerned? I am quite sure that you, being well educated, worldly wise and useful to your employers would understand that by the simple economic principle of supply and demand, we do fear that even at a discount ’subsidised’, prices will rise even further if PRs are accorded the same privileges. Above which, the simple concept of citizens first wouldn’t be difficult to grasp for a person of your calibre, right? While these reasons certainly cannot justify some of the less than dignified and repulsive remarks some of my fellow citizens have made, and I most certainly regret them, I hope by now the source and nature of their anger towards this apparently simple and innocent question is clear to you. And please do also read another reply to you, as I am not quite as articulate in bringing some of the points forward as my fellow citizen has. One step at a time [一步一步来] A discussion on Plurk about this news article took a turn when this comment was made - ‘No use talking about it. You want to fix things then come out with a concrete plan to fix it’ This is the most commonly used comment to stifle criticisms of idiotic policies and I personally loathe this comment. First of all, I am giving my feedback for free when at times it needs to be obtained by spending money to conduct surveys. Next, if we have a bunch of people who calls themselves the top brains of this country and earning $3 million a month, why should anyone even be contributing ideas at all? Will a substantial amount of that pay is given to the person who came up with a better idea? In fact, I recalled Mr. Low Thia Khiang once said something similar to this: ‘You wanna know my concrete plan how to fix it? Just quit and let me show you.’ Then this comment was made: ‘If Tali-PAP ever gets voted out, we will truly really die.’ I tell you the truth. I would buy that if God said so. Otherwise, give me back my choice, and I’ll bear whatever consequences that might come. In fact, let me choose the manner I will die, will ya, and not let the Tali-PAP kill me silently, slowly and steadily. Don’t even think about scaring me with insane extrapolations - like how the economy will shoot itself to hell simply because the opposition takes over because it’s as good as saying I should never leave home as a flower pot will drop on my head and kill me! At the mean time, I am supposed to lock myself in, while there’s a fire outside that cause me to slowly suffocate to death. And that’s not the best part yet… I am even asked to come out with a plan to put out the fire, if I don’t like this insane solution. Come on!! Enough of my rants… and let me put aside my vehement hatred of the Tali-PAP and look at this situation realistically. None of the opposition parties are in any position to take over. In other words, stop asking the baby to come up with a plan to fly like Superman, when the baby isn’t even given the chance to walk. And by that I mean, if you don’t even vote - or trust - the opposition parties in to let them manage your own constituency and town council, why the hell are you even asking them for a plan when they are in no condition to, anyway? Is trust not built bit by bit? Would it not be more realistic that during elections, ask the opposition candidates what plan they have to make your constituency better or to run the town? Come on, even the Tali-PAP has downgraded the national election to a town / constituency level by repeatedly blackmailing the electorate with nothing more but estate and lift upgrading on a constituency level, and you expect the oppposition parties to do better? In fact, I do not recall that the Tali-PAP ever revealed any concrete national level plans during elections - like raising GST to help the needy, implementing more ERP to ease traffic conditions etc. So why should the opposition even come up with one?! Most Singaporeans would prefer more accountability - not a change in government gahmen. Accountability in the operations of GIC and Temasek Holdings, our CPF funds, and our reserves. In fact, to start with, can the Tali-PAP account for why their well run town councils have millions in sinking funds whereby some of that is used for gambling investments? When did our town councils become profitable entities which derive profits from money we pay to maintain our towns at yet at times the town councils still raise our conservancy charges? Then, can you explain to us why you need to raise GST by a hefty 40% (from 5% to 7%), claiming that there will be a deficit and then making a windfall? And when you are done with that, then tell us what drives and who makes the decisions behind the investments made by GIC and Temasek Holdings. How is it that our CPF is paying that meagre amount of interest, and during last year, not even good enough to cover inflation? How much is our national reserves? And in what form are they held? U.S. Treasury bonds? Assets? In short, cut that bullshit about the opposition being not credible and them having no plans to take over. Who are you to define for me - if not the people - what the opposition’s role should be? I am merely asking a watchdog with more bite. After all, the MAS requires that banks be audited by an external auditor regularly, even conduct audits on their own to ensure that the banks don’t fxxk up again like SocGen and Barings and also be accountable to the public… then who is there to conduct these audits of the GIC and Temasek Holdings, which manage the fortune of our nation and make sure that this gahmen is accountable? Let’s not even start talking about having an opposition that could seize power yet, until we can agree on this! One step at a time alright? Let me dedicate this Mandarin Xinyao [新谣] - 一步一步来 (One step at a time) - to my fellow Singaporeans. Let us take things one step at a time, and ignore that usual bullshit of demanding the opposition come up with a plan to ‘take over’ when they obviously can’t. Nostalgia: Old Singapore Photos (II) Fitzpatrick’s - No more in Singapore! Cold Storage… somewhere! Queen Elizabeth Walk Haw Par Villa Jurong Drive In Theatre Clifford Pier NDP - 1968 NCO Club - Beach Road Nicoll Highway Botanic Gardens? Old National Library - Stamford Road Female Cop - no clue where this is. Capitol - along North Bridge Road An Uneventful Week (20th - 26th July) The past week has been pretty uneventful except maybe for a corny attempt at joking by one blogger which has caused some unhappiness and distress to two other bloggers. Other than that, the furor over a particular blog aggregator has basically died down just like the Chinese Civil War - no truce, no peace, no nothing. Basically, there is really nothing more to talk about and no more flesh left on a dead horse to flog until yet another is killed to provide more entertainment, much like the Romans have their usual gladiator battles in the Colosseum to entertain themselves. However, before the week was out a very small matter occurred which requires me to make certain things clear. It is generally agreed among my friends and associates that facts are distorted, then the matter should be set straight, unless the person is a moral coward, imagines he is the Almighty God, or the allegations are so true he can’t refute them. So firstly, there has been rumors that I have a ‘plan’ to attack the blog aggregator by ‘getting people out of the community’ . This is one of the most ludicrous remark I have heard in a long time. The reason being it has been my stand that there is no community because a community means interaction between its constituents and participation. If there are 3000 people in a place but more than 96% of the constituents do not even actively interact or participate in its activities, then all these talk about a community is nothing but a figment of imagination of a delusional mind. That’s not mentioning - get the people out to where? Just who the hell will come out to… nowhere? Next, I have on several occasions chat with certain acquaintances and friends about the strength and weakness of the blog aggregator in question, and even spoke about possible ‘vector of attacks’ to exploit certain weaknesses, but no concrete plans have ever come about from these chats. I have never insisted anyone act on them, nor do I harbour any delusions that anyone would act upon them. Above which, the participants in these chats are professionals and matured adults and it makes me wonder if it is because the person making the allegations is weak-minded on her own to even imagine that there are people out there who would be as easily swayed. Anyway, this isn’t going to be yet another post about some blog aggregator’s so-called ‘community’ or any particular person (those have been done on 21st July and 19th July respectively, and I have already closed the chapter even when someone was still sore and talking about it on Plurk last Friday as if I am still at it). This is more about my personal experience of the true meaning of a particular individual’s vaunted ‘neutrality’ , which translates as - I am neutral as long as you accept what I suggest you should do about this matter. Or else… And this person has made the above allegations without a single nuance of evidence, much like how dk99 was slandered once over coffee after dinner at a coffee shop near Kallang MRT. A testimony that birds of the same feather do indeed flock together. Let me just say, I can respect a person giving suggestions to resolve the matter in question. I can even accept having a different decision - just ask paced what my stand is over her choice with regard to the furor. However, don’t expect me to accept any suggestions which have no merits at all. Much less after I have pointed that out again and again. In fact, don’t even suggest that anyone has ‘failed to accept criticism’ when you yourself failed to accept the criticisms to your own suggestions. In short, pardon me for feeling rather ironical when you make that accusation. To end, let me say it is one thing to be ungracious, but another to be despicable. There is nothing wrong with who you want to consort with, but it is morally wrong to profess neutrality on one hand and then take sides in another setting. The ethnic Hokkien have a very specific term for your kind - 狗母蛇 (gau bu zua aka Bitch Snake), and it is definitely quite apt as far as you are concerned. Now that I have gotten this off my chest, and just in case anyone thinks my blood pressure has shot through the roof, let me share with everybody a hilarious video that Endoh has spent quite a bit of time on. In Or Out from Endoh on Vimeo. Movie - Hellboy II (The Golden Army) / Dragon Wars I had planned to watch Hellboy II: The Golden Army for quite a while. Unfortunately, my usual movies kakis have either fallen sick, too busy, or not interested in ‘demonic’ movies at all. That I actually watched the original Hellboy on my computer first (I failed to watch the first one when it was shown) before this, showed how much I wanted to watch it. It was rather disappointing that I failed to catch it over the last 2 weekends and I had finally decided to just go catch it on my own. on a weekday. Here’s brief introduction for those who didn’t watch Hellboy: In World War II, a team of U.S. soldiers were sent along with Professor Broom to ruins on an island off the coast of Scotland to stop Nazi scientists led by Rasputin and his mistress, IIsa from opening a portal to another dimension and awaken forces known as “The Seven Gods of Chaos.” The Americans successfully foiled the attempt to keep the gate opened, but as the gate was opened long enough, a creature got through. Professor Broom lured it with a candy bar and subsequently adopted it as his own child. They called it Hellboy and he subsequently grew up to become a part of the the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) which includes pyrokinetic Liz Sherman and an aqua empath known as Abe Sapien. The story revolves around the BPRD efforts to stop Rasputin and his minion Kroenen from completing what they failed to do near the end of World War II. Hellboy II’s story begin when an ancient truce between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken. Prince Nuada decided that the truce with the humans should be terminated and return from exile to unleash the invincible and indestructible Golden Army to exterminate mankind. Of course, Hellboy and BPRD stands in the way of the Elf Prince. A new character, protoplasmic mystic Johann Krauss was introduced in this movie and together they travel to the unseen magical world where creatures of fantasy become corporeal to stop the Prince. I think, I liked the first Hellboy better than the second even though the computer graphics in the second one is much better along with the humor factor. But somehow I think movies with a ‘Save the World’ storyline is getting a little stale and boring these days. On a scale of 1 - 5, I’ll give 4 for entertainment, 3 for story and 2.5 for ending. I sincerely think the Princess (sister to Prince Nuada) do not have to take that step to stop her brother. By the way, during the almost 3-week long cinema drought, I decided to watch some of the movies either friends lent to me, or VCDs I have bought in the past for reasons unknown. One of this movie is D-War (or Dragon Wars), which apparently was based on a Korean legend or story. The storyline is about how one mythical giant serpent, called the Imoogi, will turn into the Dragon every 500 years when the bearer (always a female) of the Yeouijoo fulfills her role and give it up to the good Imoogi. However, the Dark Imoogi, Buraki covets to the Yeouijoo for itself and had seek to capture the bearer and kill her so it can get the Yeouijoo for itself. 500 years ago, the bearer of the Yeouijoo and her lover and protector committed suicide instead of fulfilling their duties to bring the Yeouijoo to the Good Imoogi (that’s quite a mouthful to say)… and so the Good Imoogi has waited another 500 years for it the next bearer to be born. The story revolves around the minions of Buraki trying to capture the present incarnation of the bearer and her protector, which culminates in a huge battle between modern weaponry - M1 Abram Tanks and Apache attack choppers - against Buraki, flying drakes, lumbering creatures with 2x 3pod rocket pods complete with unlimited ammo, and medieval looking dino-raptor riders in the streets of L.A. My personal opinion is that you aren’t missing much if you didn’t watch this, and perhaps that’s the reason why I don’t recall seeing it here on the big screen. But if you love to see state of the art helicopters ‘getting their asses kicked’ by drakes and modern armour vehicles getting trashed, then this is definitely the movie for you. Of course, to get there you will have to sit through at least an hour of boring storyline, and if you happened to have a VCD without subtitles, about 5 minutes or so of ‘Korean medieval drama’ . On a scale of 1 - 5, I’ll give 2.5 for entertainment, 2 for story and 2 for ending. Verily, you aren’t missing anything if you decided to give this a miss completely. iPhone 2.0 Courtesy of dk99 of Blog2U, I was invited to a sneak preview of the iPhone 2.0 at iShop21 over at Cineleisure on Friday (25th July) night. These sets are not brought in for sale, but for the Bak2U to test their PhoneBAK mobile phone anti-theft software written for the iPhone. (Read more about PhoneBAK and which other types of phones it supports here.) For those who read my blog frequently, they would know I am no fan of Apple. However I still had to see the phone for myself and see what so great about this thing every one is talking about. And now, this is not a review, just a write up on the parts I have tested. Firstly, let me say I am not very familiar with the interface and Malique had to guide me on it. And for a first time user like me, it really isn’t too difficult to use at all once you get the hang of it. Anyway, I am not too interested in all the features of the iPhone except the Safari browser since many of the other features - music player, phone, GPS etc - are already available in other phone. I did play around a little with the Wifi though once I discovered it’s connected, I decided not to make a fool of myself and left it alone. After all, the password for the connection has already been entered. I think I saw both Malique and Chillycraps took some pictures with the camera and they appeared to be pretty alright on screen. Back to the browser. I must say I am damned impressed with it. The rendering is so much better than Opera Mini on the Blackberry 8820 and the touchscreen interface which allows me to expand a selected portion of the screen is wonderful. It is very fast and very responsive. (I guess all the Apple Fanbois didn’t need to be told this, but it’s for the benefit of those who never heard about it.) Picture courtesy of Michael Cheng However, I also discover that Flash media doesn’t work on it, and java applet support seems to be absent. I wanted to try out the Internet Banking sites to see if I can get as far as the login screen but to no avail because the applet didn’t load. I must say I am a little disappointed by that. Anyway, since I don’t know if there are settings in Safari which I am unaware of (or whether it is possible for some add-ins tbe be installed), don’t start flaming me already, alright? Also, dk99 told me that Youtube videos plays natively on it and if that is true, then it’s browser is way better than the Blackberry. Still, that’s no way compare as the iPhone 2.0 I get to touch has a 8GB Flash Drive while most other mobiles usually comes with a pathetic amount of Flash memory installed. Next, the physical aspect of the device. Sleek, light (I suspect it was even lighter than the older generation) and very elegant. It fits nicely into the hand. Unfortunately, everyone of us has a difficulty typing URLs into the browser and indeed like Xiaxue Xiasuay says, you can’t use your nails on the touchscreen to do it. I think Blackberry users will have no problem using it though, since it appeared to me - and confirmed by Paddy - that if you use both your thumbs to type, it is actually quite ok. It is slow only when you start using your finger to ‘poke’ at the on-screen letters one by one as if it is as stylus. On top of that, Malique pointed out that the difficulty to typing might not be the ‘fault’ of the interface itself but could possibly be the protective film applied over the screen to protect it. I agree with that view so should you get one, you might want to be careful about the screen protection you are going to use on the device. Now, let’s move on to what I didn’t like. Just one thing: the battery. It is still built in which means you can’t buy a spare to go with the phone. While it maybe argued that the battery may last pretty long on its own, I still like the flexibility of using one battery and leaving one to charge. Beyond that, I have nothing more to talk about, since I can’t hold on to the phone for long while other people are trying, but you can read up Wishbone’s write up here. July 25th - System Administrator Appreciation Day It is System Adminstrator Appreciation Day today. Let me re-dedicate this song from deadtroll.com to all the System Administrators out there doing a thankless and unappreciated job everyday. Download and view it in full sizeRight click and select Play to start Movies: Hancock & Wanted As I was on leave today, I went to watch “Hancock” at GV Marina. I would have watched it at GV Jurong Point, but the first show clash with my meet up with my friend (who is also my insurance agent), and the second one is at 10pm. As we already know from watching the trailers, Hancock (Will Smith) is this drunkard, bad ass hero that goes around Los Angeles dealing with the crime and the problems. Unfortunately, when getting the job done, Hancock’s methods usually caused the city a large amount of money in damage. As a result, the people of LA are very upset with his vigilantism even though Hancock participation has kept the crime rate in check. The story revolves around how PR Executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), in gratitude of being saved from certain death by Hancock, take it upon himself to help Hancock remake his image. To do so, Ray set up for Hancock a series of steps to take in order regain the trust and appreciation of the very people he is saving and protecting, and as a result also led Hancock to re-discover something about his true self. How do I like the movie? Well, just like any movie where you get Morgan Freeman, most Will Smith movies can never be too bad. While I did enjoy the early part of the movie very much as it was quite funny looking, especially that part where the criminals Hancock put in jail confronted him when he went to prison. However, I felt it to be a little dry at the middle part when he became our usual prim and proper hero and I definitely didn’t quite like the ending. On a scale of 1 - 5, I’ll give 4 for entertainment, 3.5 for story and 3 for ending. And yes, there’s a short “after credits”… if it can be called that as it is shown before the names of the cast. And by the way, even though in the end Ray did achieve his objective into remaking Hancock, I doubt a real life Ray would have any luck in remaking the image of certain Community Managers Manglers. But what can be learn from the movie is Hancock’s moral courage - his willingness to listen to criticisms even when he didn’t like to hear them - and bravely do what is necessary to change for the better. I watched “Wanted” two or three weeks ago, also at GV Marina with an old friend who didn’t have much time to meet up with friends ever since he has gotten married. The story revolves around Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), the rare mega-loser you probably won’t find among your acquaintance or in your office. Wesley’s life begin to change when he met Fox (Angelina Jolie), who inducted him into a Fraternity of assassins with special powers run by Sloan (Morgan Freeman). Wesley was told of his real ‘identity’ and was subjected to a series of devilish training to succeed the position of and to avenge his father he never knew. As you have seen in the trailers, Wesley would ultimately learn the special skill - curve the bullet (sort of like Obi-Wan and Yoda training Luke Skywalker in the Force kinda stuff). He would then go on to meet his destiny - getting the mission to kill his father’s killer - Cross (Thomas Kretschmann), a former member of the Fraternity. What do I think of the movie? Well, grossly over-hyped and too much blasted computer graphics! The only redeeming quality of the show, as I jokingly told chaosdingo some time back, is the view of Angelina Jolie’s back and butt crack as she comes out the bath (though I think the freaking tattoo sucks but I am not Brad Pitt so what the heck.). Anyway, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie more than make up in acting what is lacking in substance and it is not too often I see Morgan Freeman in the kind of role he plays in this movie. On a scale of 1 - 5, I’ll give 3.5 for entertainment, 3.5 for storyline and 3 for ending. While there is an unexpected twist almost near the end of the movie, it wasn’t so much of a shock or a novelty. If you won’t consider it spoilers, I would like to say I considered it a tribute to Star Wars. On thinking back, if there is anything to learn from this movie, it would be not to be too trusting to what is apparent or circumstantial and unverifiable. You won’t know when you might end up getting stabbed in the back or being used to further another person’s agenda. Anyway, when one considers that tragic ending (watch it to find out!), it is certainly wiser for one to leave and to stand on one’s own principles, even if that means facing and fighting the very Fraternity he once believed in and is a part of. Ban of Brothers I saw this funny banner on dk’s blog today, and found it to be quite funny. I’ll repost it to share some ‘joy’. 圆满结束… 真的吗？ 圆满结束… 真的吗？(A successful event… is it real?) 就让您的鼠标滑过照片，您自己看吧。旧的面孔似乎没多少… 我看就算是执政的行动党换新血都没那么快。(Just mouseover the photo and see for yourself. There are not many old faces and I personally thinks not even the ruling Tali-PAP has a turnover that fast.) [ping.sg] Will nocturne be banned? I was out drinking last night at Brewerks when I received an sms telling me that nocturne has written several posts criticizing Daphne. It was even more amusing that when I accidentally clicked on the favorite (since removed) in my browser, I saw that these posts have gotten into Top 10: Apparently, nocturne has re-posted his old post on Daphne, and posted an “apology” as well. In either case, nocturne spoke the things about Daphne that probably many people - with the exception of bloggers xueyu82 and a_x - wanted to say but didn’t have the moral courage to do so. Now the question is, will nocturne enter ping.sg’s Hall of Dishonor - otherwise known as the ‘Ban of Brothers’ for daring to ’swat the fly on the head of the tiger’ [老虎头上拍苍蝇]? Whatever the end result is, it no longer matters. If nocturne is banned, it simply reinforces what some of us already believed / known as a fact - that the management of ping.sg tolerates no criticisms. If nocturne is not banned, then well, what’s so different in nocturne’s case from that of dk? It begs the question why this is treated as yet another private dispute among bloggers even when certain comments appears to be even more divisive and harmful than dk’s post. I quote: Let me remind you of the difference between DK and me – I don’t give a shit about your precious ‘community’. Now, if anyone would allow me, the main justification for dk’s banishment from the Garden of “Pingden” was that he committed the ‘cardinal sin’ of saying he has given up on the community after he had simply pointed out that the thoughtless comments Daphne made can be viewed as divisive. If the well being of the community is of paramount importance, then is ‘not giving a shit about the community’ not a even more ‘heinous crime’? Why the disparity in treatment for both cases? Why the double standards? It begs the question why dk was made an example of, simply for speaking up at the clearly obvious divisive actions - intentional or not - of Daphne? Is nocturne going to be spared just because he only blogged and ping his posts and never comment on the forum? Or that he is not really known in real life to most users on ping.sg? Really, when dk was banned, I had actually found it ridiculous that dk gets a denial of service simply because he has ‘given up on the community’ . Frankly, when was ‘community participation’ and ‘concern for the community’ ever a requirement for using ping.sg’s services? Perhaps Uzyn should just ban the rest of the non-active members which just ping their posts for traffic and never participate at all in the community because they did with action what nocturne did with words - I don’t give a shit about your precious ‘community’. And that’s not mentioning all those members without a blog listed in or have their blogs removed from their registered accounts. Anyway, I will be watching closely the fate of nocturne in this episode because just several days ago, nocturne made history by being the first to have 7 posts (at least when I made the screen capture below) in the Top 10. And that truly amuses me is because 2 days before that happened, I had a discussion with another blogger about the ‘dk-effect’ (i.e. that posts from dk will always be ponged into the Top 10), and that Uzyn (whom we assumed to be this extraordinary evil genius) has made use of this opportunity to remove dk from ping.sg so some sanity will return to the Top 10. Apparently, we didn’t consider that other bloggers will move to fill that position and the ‘dk-effect’ will always be permanent feature in ping.sg until the Top 10 is completely removed. We are simply too naive and we have definitely over-estimated in some parts when we had our discussion. 独特新加坡之 “阿明” [Uniquely Singapore: Ah Beng] 什么是 “阿明” (Ah Beng)？ “阿明” 是本地不良少年和流氓的俚称。在某种程度上已经取代过去所谓的 “三牲仔” (samseng)。 但是 “阿明” 和 “三牲仔” 本义不同。 “三牲仔” 未必只指青少年，而且是可以是正式的帮会 (也称 “黑社会” 或 “社团”) 的一员。也就是说有砍鸡头，拜过关二哥的那种。反看 “阿明” 却很多都是虚有其表，装腔作势的乌合之众。很多时候可能都也只是真正帮会的马前卒罢了。 就像那翻版影碟和软件店的收银员之类的，警方扫荡之时第一个背黑锅的那些人。 但是，不管是 “阿明” 或者是 “三牲仔”，我们都没有看不起他们的理由。很多这类的人，虽然读书不行，但是头脑还是很精明的。诸君别以为这些人全部都是下三滥或者人渣，其实他们读书不能出人头地，问题不在于他们的智商，而是本地教育制度的失败。 但是，为什么有时候又被叫 “臭阿明” (Chow Ah Beng) 呢？ 虽然这类人也有声名狼藉，甚至恶名昭彰的，但有些事情却很可能与他们本人的行为无关。被冠上一个臭字，称作 “臭阿明” ， 其实是很多时候被那些 “半明” (half-bengs) 所害。那什么是 “半明” 呢？有两种解释。其一，一知半解　（明白一半的意思） 。其二，是行为上很 “阿明”，但是又以为自己很成熟的那类。很多时候没把状况弄清，就充义气和强出头的那种。不管是哪一个解释，基本的缺点就是对事一知半解但又要 “假厉害″ (福建话称 “geh kiang” - 译: 自作聪明)。 说到臭阿明，最近某某人的部落格上一篇指桑骂槐，但又子虚乌有和狗屁不通的文章就是最好的例子。事情都还没搞清楚就大放厥词，难怪后来有人在另外的一个部落格上的留言版批评他为 “臭阿明” 了。(他自己看了之后还沾沾自喜，借题发挥为自己写了一篇文章了。结果又让另一人开刀，轻描淡写的痛宰了一番。） 不过之前那 “假厉害″ 的文章也只不过是整事件里的插曲罢了。后来这 “臭阿明” 看了一些人在 Twitter 里闲聊的对白，作贼心虚的他认为是在映射他，竟然在 Twitter 里放话了： 看来你们二人看我不爽。你们有什么要求，如果能让你们二人成熟一点我愿意做。就现在，在某某聊天室里！ 嘿嘿嘿，口气可真不小喔！有板有眼，可真有点整个 “黑社会一哥” 的模样。 但成何体统？!　这些人是你部下啊，呼来喝去的？就算是黑社会谈判，你选时间，我选地点或者反之，不是基本礼貌吗？ “臭阿明” 啊， “臭阿明” ，你很坏是吗？连这么一丁点基本礼貌都不懂还高谈阔论什么让人成熟一点啊？闪到一边凉快去或者滚回你娘处喝奶去吧… 乳臭未干的臭小子。 结果如何呢？不用说，事情是根本未解决。到最后还让另外一个对手在聊天室里像猢狲一样给耍了。也真的有点好笑的。 唉，不说了。想到真正的 “阿明” 又因为这样的孬种又无端端和无辜的被 “臭”，他们做人也可真辛苦啊！ [ping.sg] A Tribute to the Banned Blogs My tribute to the ‘Ban of Brothers’… Thou shall not be forgotten… Movie - 赤壁 [Red Cliff] 今晚我和一个旧同事和他的好友去看了赤壁这部电影，看了之后觉得有点是在看喜剧片的感觉。有些对白真的可以说的上是低俗和不知所谓。真的我还真怀疑我是否是在看星爷以前拍的电影。如果你问我电影里的情节哪里最印象深刻，我只记得 “还匹马有责呢!” 和 “你们现在读书，将来就有饭吃。” 这两句莫名其妙的对白。虽然如此，但是如果你工作上有压力，我看这些好笑的对白可能有松懈身心的益处吧！ 感官上一看上去就知道这是出自吴宇森的电影，因为里头充满了《英雄本色》的影子。甚至连演赵子龙的胡军都有点像《喋血双雄》里的李修贤。但是叙述历史的电影不是英雄片，太过的注重夸大一些人物的勇猛或者过分的渲染英雄主义却成了这部电影最大的败笔。这部电影的血腥和排场肯定是可以媲美《投名状》，只不过《投名状》比较严肃一些。 电影的情节往往和历史是有些差别的。就如电影里的周瑜和诸葛亮一见面就犹如惺惺相惜，连话都不用说就明白对方心里在想什么为例子，就是其中的一些差别。况且，江东的东吴和荆州的刘家宗室是有杀父夺将之仇的，孙权哪有那么容易就被诸葛亮的三言两语所动摇，和刚战败的刘备结盟? 不过电影归电影，历史归历史。当你观赏这部电影的时候就用娱乐的眼光去评价它好了。如果你把它当成历史记录来看，那你肯定会大失所望。最后要提起的是，这只是他妈的上集而已。看了实在有点不过瘾，还有一点被骗的感觉。 我个人建议就是不要在周末票价比较贵的时候看。反正都是上下两部的，周末看还会觉得有点不值。