Muse mania

muse is back with a new album Black Holes and Revelations. woohoo! time to rock baby!


Supermassive Black Hole isn't the typical Muse that we've all come to love (or hate). this has a heavy dancy-britpop influence. frontman matt bellamy said that he wanted to try some of the franz ferdinand thing. so here we have it, the result of the experiment. pretty decent too. the video looks like the scenes in an asylum inmate's head. colourful yet creepy at the same time.
<-- listen to this track on my radio!


now this is what i'm talking about! Knights of Cydonia has slightly more of the good old rockin Muse stuff. the kungfu sequences make me chuckle. that guys's quirky stick-on mustache and the fake chop-sock moves are hilarious. and the expression on his face while executing those moves! shaolin bear strike? haha! this video is one of the best i've seen this year. all the story-telling, 70s style. classic kungfu meets wild west meets futuristic robots. all the fake special effects. retro-cool!

"no one's gonna take me alive.
the time has come to make things right!
you and i must fight for our rights,
you and i must fight to survive!"

sprained-ankle-induced movie mania

i decided to perk up my period of 'confinement' at home by watching movies everyday. not on VCD, DVD or youtube. you know where i got them from. *wink*.

dame judi dench was in the running for the best lead actress oscar for her role as mrs henderson. it was a very poignant performance on her part. but this is a so-so show for me.

most critics panned this release but i'm of a different opinion. it's not so bad, really. the ratings don't do the show justice. i felt it was about the same as the original, which of course started out as a b-grade flick. nothing too impressive, but hey, if you've got the hots for sharon stone, what's holding you back?

spike lee's mainstream release packs quite a punch with a strong cast and a solid plot. jodie foster does her turn as a high-flying corporate bitch, denzel washington takes on the all-too-familiar hero-negotiator role, while clive owen plays the seemingly cold and calculating villain. but things aren't as simple as they are. you'll never see the twist coming in this one.

for me, this has gotta be one of the most terrifying films of the year. it's not a horror flick. heck, there isn't even any gore. but i won't spoil it for you. all i can say is that guys will be way more squeamish than girls while watching this. so girls, bring your boyfriends along for the ride, then you'll know why. it's so nasty and twisted (sickening at times too), it's good. no, make that great. ellen page turns from sweet teenage superheroine as kitty in X3 to angry, cunning, sadistic 'honours student' hailey. i'm positively shaken and still feeling a little squeamish as i make this post.

my healing ankle

here's a small update on my recovery, just in case all my caring friends are wondering.
today's the fifth and last day that i've given myself to sit around at home and heal that sprained left ankle. tomorrow, i'll be free to get out and play. but i don't foresee myself jogging and jumping around too much in the next week or so.

it's not so obvious in the picture, but it's still pretty sore and swollen and not too much articulation is possible. at least i can walk with a slight half-limp.

and clarence, it's nice of you to call and ask about my ankle! a true bangkok buddy you are!

fireworks!

i managed to catch bursts of fireworks on saturday night. it's one of the perks of living in my area; you get to enjoy firework displays every weekend leading up to national day.

i tried out the fireworks mode on my ixus 65 and i must say i'm pretty satified with the results. i'm no professional, so i guess this'll make do. it's a pity i didn't manage to catch the other colours. i'm gonna wait for them on national day itself.

BOOM!

this post is really just to display some of the pictures that i'm really happy with. haha.

i love taking close-ups of my collection. i get to see them in great detail. ooh, the ultra-cool electric fist!

at first i was rather disappointed that i couldn't get the best outta my ixus. but now that i've gotten the hang of adjusting the manual function, i'm starting to get impressed. yay!

quote of the day

"it's better to have no life than to have a shitty one. but if you've no life, that pretty much means that yours is a shitty one." - me

this random quote crossed my mind as i slacked my way through the previous few mundane days. it's gonna be mundane unless i make things happen. but with my ankle now in a terribly shaky condition, it looks set to remain this way. at least for the next five days. what a drag. X(

the night cycling excuse of a pigging-out night

it began with dinner at bedok and continued throughout the night. where ever we reached, we pigged out. we ate our hearts out. we conquered.














the first break was outside changi airport. we looked like terrorists on bicycles, all the bombs ticking away in our backpacks. except terrorists aren't much camera whores and definitely don't snap away with expensive digicams. they're more adept at shooting with AK-47s.

the seventh lunar month gives everybody the creeps. here's the first of a few sightings we had. notice the mysterious pair of fingers popping from behind frankie's head. gasp!

well if we really were terrorists, we didn't seem to have a plan.

next stop, changi village. or to be more precise, changi village nasi lemak.
ooh la la.

hell yeah!

the cat with the most blase attitude. she can topple mariah carey from her diva perch with ease.

a mini HCI reunion gathering ensued when some familiar HCI-affiliated faces made their entrance. god knows where they popped out of. the seventh month acting on our tired vision again?

it was all in the heat of the moment. trust me, i'm never this enthusiastic about TPJC.

the two weis putting their most shagged-out faces forward.

EXPO was never this exciting and fun. not even if they hold the sexpo there again.

a stroke of misfortune struck! my ankle, argh! new movie title a la crouching tiger, hidden dragon: fucking pothole, bloody ankle.
ouch ouch ouch. dammit!


whoever recorded this video did a great job. oh wait, who exactly did this? another strange encounter? was someone watching me all along? =O

i don't know who suggested the simpang bedok prata, but it was not bad. gosh, i've never had two suppers in my entire life!

the double ice pack came to my ankle's aid. ooh, chill.

the bridge beside the national indoor stadium is beautiful at night. and that was where our next ghostly sighting occurred.
darren and ziyang couldn't believe their eyes. was lawrence really there? or was he just another figment of our imagination? or was it actually a spiritual replica of him? yikes.

one of those act-cool pics.

weihao rolled down the steps of city hall and he escaped unscathed. humpty dumpty would be proud.

even though he was unhurt, he just lay there like a sitting duck. and like all sitting ducks, he asked for it!


the ONLY pancake ever to happen in front of city hall in its entire history.


act-cool poses aplenty.

the night sky at city hall was eerie.

back at east coast mac's, we were home and dry. and not forgetting to mention taking our morning craps.

this photo looks like one of those classic hongkong film posters.
the three feuding brothers:
- lik sin: the poor envious youngest one decked out only in his favourite worn-out singlet.
- hao xiang: the rich, contented and over-confident eldest son.
- frankie: the one in the middle who hasn't a clue about what's happening but is obviously taking it all very seriously.

the cam whores were caught in action! they were really in their own world. XD

thanks people, it was an excellent trip! although the ankle part was not so excellent. but yeah, i'd do it all over again!

all the fun here!

shopping with clarence

shopping with clarence ends up usually with him buying nothing. even i felt more tempted than him to spend. but oh well, it was nice to meet up with him since the last time we had a meal was ages ago.

i caught a white pigeon on camera! white pigeons are special. i think their shit is of a different shade of green. luminous green, maybe? you'll know when one bombs you.

it's no wonder why clarence is still very much single; if i were a girl i'd be intimidated by what hangs beneath. don't look so surprised, clare.

yeah ziyang came along for the ride as well.

clare and ziyang joined me for yet another of my pre-departure gastronomical expeditions. the ghinko nut beancurd dessert at kiliney kopitiam was fabulous! it's cooling and light at the same time. and to top that, i bought a jar of their renowned kaya. i'm sooo gonna pig out on local delights. in fact, i've more ideas for my 'hit list'. i gotta do satay bee hoon, lor mee and oyster omelette too.

eh clare, we gotta meet one more time before i fly to detroit. probably at zhenhao's bash. and you better wear that 'tadpole' topman tee.

and so the mission begins

yes i've set a personal mission for myself: to eat as much local fare as possible before i leave. i sooooo have to have everything so that my tummy won't have any gastronomical regrets when i fly off to michigan. that means you won't catch me at mcdonald's, kfc or yoshinoya. it's hawker and kopitiam for me from now onwards. SFI cookhouse not included though.

after prawn mee and char kway teow at maxwell yesterday, i had katong marvelicious laksa for lunch today.
for dinner in the evening, i went to ben hong's place. the hong kong street coffee shop is rather famous. i hadn't tried the good stuff on the menu before, so with an open mind, i stepped in.

the bee hoon with fish slices was tasty, but i didn't get the same kick outta it as compared to the holland V XO version. this one had a much weaker hua diao jiu in it instead. but i suspected benH was slightly tipsy after downing his bee hoon.

the before (foreground) and after (background) of the prawn paste fried chicken.

i hadn't played bridge in a long while. engaging in the game after dinner was a fantastic way to relax while letting the digestive juices get to work. we realised that guanming hadn't gone to the toilet the entire day, even after gulping down a carton of soya bean milk, a bowl of laksa, a cup of bubble tea, 2 glasses of barley and plenty of fish bee hoon soup. it's surprising what we term 'humanly possible'.

and so now i'm left with hokkien mee, satay bee hoon and chilli crab. it's a pretty short cravings list, but i'll think of more. suggestions are welcomed.

this is not a commercial

LAXAROL

your best friend when you have difficulty in bowel movement.

your silent lethal weapon against enemies.

LOOK HERE!

this has gotta be the simplest poster that i've created, but it drives the point home. hard. thanks to inspiration and ideas from KK the chicken freestyler himself. and of course thanks to the health promotion board for the original concept.

although my ORD was in march, the joy of freedom still hasn't rubbed off. in fact, i appreciate every single day that i'm not in an army camp.

well, feel free to send this to all your friends in army to rub it in. ORD bliss is a sweet sweet sensation to the privileged ones and a bitter taste to the poor souls in service.

definitely one for the guys

i logged on to msn a few days back and noticed this banner at the bottom of the window.

nike was obviously targeting ladies. just look at the given url. but with subjects like "maria sharapova" and "other beautiful women", i'm sure they would have received more clicks from the guys. i mean, seriously, would they expect ladies to "check out" maria and the other beauties? sounds more of a guy thing to me. honestly, my interest was piqued when i saw the banner. but i didn't click it; i had other more important things to attend to.

GhostRider

i'm marvel-movie-teaser-mad now!

this is GhostRider, starring skinny oldie nicholas cage.

and then there's eva mendes! more reason to catch the show. 15 feb 2007. date noted.

ho ho jo!

i went to catch jo at a singing competition in nanyang polytechnic. the only thing is that i didn't actually watch her sing because i was late. potong pasir is a lot farther from NYP than expected. and i had a hard time looking for the venue. i had to approach three people before i found out where block K was. damn i had bad timing today. well at least she was grateful that i made the long trip down.

McCafe at lido is quite a good place to sit and chill. it's open air, and now that the Gahmen has put up the no-smoking law, the air is much purer.

the many faces of jo. they all carry different expressions. but one thing's for sure: she can't live without her phone. to quote a mariah (her all-time fav singer) song, "can't live, when living is without you..."

being the gentleman i am, i got the drinks. mocha frappe and orange juice. no, please don't mix them.

one picture, three objects; the colourful new wallet from cambodia, the orange juice and the pink bracelet i got for her from bangkok.



jo was hungry. the orange juice was guzzled down in no time. the plastic cup wasn't spared either.

a tale of two phones: a sony-ericsson with a navigational stick that is as responsive as a drunken grandmother; a nokia that dies so frequently it's more unpredictable than a drunken grandmother.



i touched robbie! i can't believe it! oh my god! i'm gonna faint!

study hard jo, i'm behind you all the way! i hope you get into the final round of the singing competition!