Transformers

Didn't sleep well last night. Not sure if it was the banquet late dinner, rochor tau huay, autobots, decepticons, megan fox or the shower .... that caused it. Was awake for quite a while during the sleep, woke up early for work as it was my sat duty.

Anyway, the top 10 reasons that you must watch "Transformers" at all cost with maximum sacrifice !!!!

10 You are a fan of 80s action cartoons like "Mask", "He-Man", "ThunderCats", etc
9 You love to see objects change from robot to object, vice versa in split seconds but does not make sense logically or mechanically
8 You have a fetish of hearing "Autobots ... Rollout"
7 You believes in US hiding dark secrets which even the defence secretary do not know
6 Cleavage, Cleavage, Cleavage and Cleavage
5 You are a sucker for awesome visual effects spectacle
4 You like total annihilation
3 Yes, Cleavage again. How not on purpose can that be ?!?!??!

2 You urge to see autobots "self-lubricate"

And the top reason on why you must watch "Transformers" ...

I believe it does not fully follow the story behind the cartoon series, didn't know there was this cube all spark thingie. And with this cubie power, anyone can use it to make any object transform into anything. This explains why bumblebee can emulate the appearance of any objects he see.

Though it did not explicitly gives clues that there will be a sequel but the ending do see hopes that there might be one. For a 143 mins show, was good that it was almost action all the way. With some scenes trying to string pieces together, just some time for you to catch your breadth.

The movie is not only about transformers, it involves quite abit on the US military power as well. As the transformers are not total indestructible, they still succumbs under heavy artillery and aummunition power.

Though some scenes are really too fast for you to catch it, it was just like total destruction involving 2 gigantic pieces of machinery in rapid motion and explosion.

Not sure if those that did not follow or like Transformers, how will they find the movie ? Hmmmm ... 8.5/10.

Bastard Employer !

Maybe bastard is too light a word ! This Ma*nt Kl**n company let its foreign workers stay in a not-in-used toilet ! A cleaning company by trade, was fined by $7,500 by MOM. Though they are not expatriates but ..... but ......

They are here to do jobs that most Singaporeans are not willing to do, though by law employer need to provide proper and reasonable lodging. Well somehow still got people try to save costs here and there I believe ...

These are the requirements :

Proper land use by the URA, HDB or JTC;
Building structural safety standards by the BCA;
Fire and safety standards by the SCDF;
Environmental health requirements by the NEA; and
Drainage and sanitary/sewerage system requirements by the PUB.

Must punish the boss by not fining him, 7.5K should be chicken feed to him. Let him stay in that toilet for a few months ... if he think he feels comfy and alright ... then by all means ... the workers will jolly well stay too !!!

Above 35 ? No free drinks !!!

It was in yesterday's papers and this morning Class 95's topic. Ladies above 35 are not given free drinks on ladies night at SJ PS. Why would SJ PS incur wrath of such a age group of people ? Unless they are telling us that most of the female that came on ladies nights are above 35 ... which is not their targeted campaign group and this causes others which are "young and trendy" to be not able to come into the club ...

Or most probably just some pubilicity stunts ...

At some clubs, free drinks coupons are given based on how well dress and how good looking you are. This is nothing one can argue about, must admit that if you are good looking, you do get an edge in whatever you are doing. Or probably above average looking but with a X factor or some aura looming above you.

The tactic of ladies night is to attract guys to come and spend. And of course, the ladies who throng in for free drinks attracts guys to follow suit. So therotically, if ladies above 35 are in, and logically, those that are interested in them will be men in mid-30s to late 40s, and by now should have a considerable amount of spending power.

Maybe is an image issue of not giving them free drinks which deter them from coming or maybe some other hidden agenda or marketing gimmick.

六月二十四号, 奇热无比偶阵雨

A part of sundays has become wash car day, just like a religion or maybe not that strict ... can lazy on some sundays but has been strict so far :) It was brightly lit and hot before I decided to go down and sweat it out. Almost 90% done, still hot .... it was clean ... Yes, clean after the wash. Then some dark clouds hover above .... then droplets starts ...

Sigh ... just finished washing ... then it rains :(

Watching 连环局 as I am writing, a police drama by 刘若英 and 林嘉欣. About kidnapping, still waiting for some twists to happen ...

This is really good ice cream ... Haagen Daaz's Tiramisu

Death Proof

I have seen crap movies, but this one is climbing up the list. Only god knows why quentin made such a movie, is like a cross-breed of gore, slapstick, 70s-80s, mindless, c-grade stuff. It was suppose to be shown as a double-bill in the U.S. as GrindHouse - Death Proof and Planet Terror.


Kurt Russell as StuntMan Mike who terrorize women with his so called "Death Proof" car. The action and gore last only about 20 mins in the 110 mins movie. The rest are plain TCSS dialogue among the girls before they got killed or terrorize by Mike.


It gets draggy, no logic, pointless as it goes on. You prayed that Mike will just come out and ramped on these girls to pieces and death !!! The best scene was at night, when Mike after killing Pam, by "Bonging" her to death in his passenger seat, which somehow was boxed up. He then caught up with Jungle Julia and gang, droved in front of them .... Off his headlights, and against their direction, came in at high speed. The girls, high, on drugs, loud music, *Jungle Julia just have to put her legs out of the window, an earlier scene shown her lying down in the back seats with both her legs out of the window*.


Then it came, it crashed .... the scene was repeated 3 times in slow motion, each showing how each individual was killed. Of course, Julia's leg was teared off and flew onto the roadside.


Mike got off with minor injuries, somehow .....


Then so called "14 months later" .... another scene, another group of girls, another dreadful dialogue of TCSS till Zoe say she wanted to try out a 1970 Dodge. So along came out stuntman Mike ...


But this time round, he wasn't that lucky, somehow overpowered by this group of girls. The predator became the prey, he ended up being punched and kicked to death by the girls. 5/10

Thursday Lunch@Big Ben's Place

Tucked away in the siglap neighbourhood, right in the middle of all the rows of private housing, at the start of the siglap connector. Discovered by another colleague, apparently was there for quite while.

Quoted they sells authentic british pies, fish and chips ...

Hard to verify as we won't know what are the characteristic of authentic british pies and more important the taste. Never mind that ...

Came the pies ... The smell is good. The crust was alright, not too thin or thick, crisp when you bite into it. My filling was beef and cheese, the beef is minced so you can't really taste like beef chunks. The gravy was good, the cheese was melted in the middle.

The overall taste was not bad ....

The seafood platter was a bit disappointing though, not really a platter, more for a single person. Fries, a prawn, 2 calamari, a piece of cod fish, a scallop and some coleslaw. Nothing fantastic.

The pies are good, definitely can come for more servings in the future ....

http://www.bigbensplace.com.sg/

New Blog Layout

Was fiddling with my blogger ... found out that I have not change to their new layout format. Basically, it so called gives you more ease in changing your layout after you migrated to the new one. Think it has been there for a while, just that I didn't really take a look at it.

Browse ... Select ... Edit ... Play around with it. More or less this should be the one if you are looking at it !!!

Also, trying to figure out the best way to include some music streamings codes behind the html ....

Heroes - Season 1

Just watched the final episode of volume one, as the series called it ... Yes, Volume one. A highly recommended series by a friend.

I believe it also received some good reviews.

A stories about ordinary people who knew they have extra-ordinary powers or just started to discover they have extra-ordinary powers.

Save the cheerleader ... Save the world

What powers do you want if you are allow to wish for one ? Think hard

Sylar - Telekinesis, Edietic Memory, Molecular Manipulation, Enhanced Hearing, Precognition, Radiation Manipulation

Peter - Power mimicry and Retention

Nathan - Flight ability

Claire - Spontaneous Regeneration

D.L - Phase through solid objects

Issac - See the future in his mind and paints them

Micah - Technopathy

Nikki - Superhuman strength

Hiro - Ability to bend space and time

Claude - Invisibility

Hana - Cyberpathy

Haitian - Removal of one's memory and power negation

Linderman - Heals Other

Eden - Persuasion

Ted - Radiation Manipulation

Candice - Illusion Casting

Charlie - Edietic Memory

Meredith - Pyrokinetic

But they are ordinary people who just want to lead a simple life except for some. Gabriel who wanted to be someone found out about these people with powers, went on a hunting spree by cutting their heads off and taking their DNA, thus gaining their powers.

He called himself Sylar, is so called the main "bad guy" in volume one.

Much still remains a mystery ... Linderman was killed by D.L. but is he really dead ? How is Linderman group involve in all this ?

Suresh's father who started this project of locating these people with powers, how was this link as well ?

Primatech Papers. whose boss seems like Linderman but now since he is dead, what will happen ? And also seems like Hiro's father was involved as well. Bennett worked here but turn against them when he found out Claire will not be let off.

A few episodes moved the series in the future ... after the so called NY explosion which was suppose to be caused by radiation explosion, from Ted's powers. But epi 23, ended with Nathan flying off with Peter who could not controlled Ted's powers.

Sylar was pierced through by Hiro's sword who teleport from Japan .... but then he somehow crawled into a sewage, thus escaping ! Awaits volume 2 to unravel the mysteries ....

Nice .....

Yam/Coconut Ice cream with chunks and chunks of durian flesh !!!

Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer

Straight the point, brainless, a 90 min action packed movie. Abit better than Spidey 3, probably because it was too draggy.

Susan didn't looked as "big" as in the last movie thoough ... Hmmmm

This time round, a very powerful herald, the Silver Surfer came along. It draws great power from its surf board thus making him almost in destructible.

Torch initial encounter with him left him powerless on and off. In addition, powers will be swapped if he touches any of this teammates. Dr Doom knew of this power and wanted to control it but was rejected by SS as basically SS was not bad.

And not sure how Dr Doom came back or got resurrected ...

So Doom convinced the goondu general that he was here "As he is helping F4" to capture SS, he succeeded. F4 captures SS and Doom killed the general and got the board. But F4 knew SS has his reasons of wanting to destroy earth.

SS was under some "Planet Eating" "Energy Hungry" monstrous power's order to do so. But after attempts by F4 to save him and get his board back, he did finally realize that he do have a choice and "Die Die Together" with it.

Some funny moments here and there ... makes it quite entertaining. 7/10.

Friday Night Dinner@Seah Street Deli

Has been here in a damn long while, though usually is around the area. So thought of coming here with some friends for dinner, the place still gives a familiarity feel but not sure if the menu did change physically or in content ....

Browsing through the menu only left one wondering why did they charge $7 for a can of soft drink and $10 for a shake while the main course ranges between $15 to $25 .... "Kill People Put Fire" ? Anyway, they do serve ice water.

I got the cheese crusted dory fillet. Fish dominated, the rest got the pacific dory, salmon steak and a beef pot roast. And we shared the new york cobb salad.

The salad was huge, that explained the $16 price tag. Lettuce, diced chicken, bacon, hard-boiled egg, avocaodo, potatoes, blue cheese. The solid state blue cheese really power, just a tiny piece gives you pungent and fermented taste.

My dory fillet was quite good though can't really taste the cheese in the crust. Fries was good, crispy and tasty. We were really full towards the end, till we saw the tallest chocolate cake we ever saw !!! It looked really nice ... Yes looked ... No choice we have to order one !!!

It came, It's picture taken, It was diced and sliced, It was tasted, IT WAS REALLY GOOD !!! The cake has several layer. The top layer was a chocolate fudge which was really thick, Oommm .... good !!

Then the cake layer which was just nice in texture and next layer has some raspberry kind of thingie in it, this part is abit too sweet.

Then the next is like some kind of mousse layer, every spoonful of it was really delectable. One of the best cake I had ....

Quite a good experience returning to Seah Street Deli.

六月十六号, 星期六, 细雨纷飞

Yesterday was a rainy rainy day, so nice to take nappy. And I took one in the afternoon .... so satisfying. It has been a while since I took one, it was still drizzling when I went out about 8+.

Down to pj for usual game of pool but played with a "DAMN EXPENSIVE CUE", predator 314 shaft, friends bought it for $780. As the website say, it can aid you from accurate to terrifingly accurate but of course your basic techniques must be good and constant.

We left around 12+ for durian in Geylang and was looking for 猫山王 but apparently not it's season yet, so we tried 苏丹王, those that are $5 for one and those that goes by kg. Though I like durians but usually don't eat that much in a go, we share 4 durians then went for supper.

Walked past "Wan Tou Sek", usually seen packed with alot people during wee hours so decided to try it out. The dim sum was average, maybe can considered quite alright since it was wee hours already.

On our way back, each of us 打包 $20 of durians .... It will be nicer when it is cold.

六月十号, 星期日, 奇热无比

Past few days has been damn hot and humid. Was like when you are driving, you can see a layer of radiation in front of you, the heat is really something.

Went to Funan to collect my free NEC 412i hp, part of my maxonline re-contract package. The number was 1112, mine was 1135. So walked around before I go back ....

1131 ... 1132 ... then I sat down and wait. 2 guys was beside me, late 30s from their looks. One was saying ... was talking about gf, marriage ... etc.

Then one asked
A "So you are married ?"
B "Nope. but I have a serious gf"
B "I though of getting another one to fulfil those cannot be achieved from the serious gf."

He compared this to like one won't put all eggs in a basket, example investment. Then about whether expenses wise will be practical and doable, like getting another property for this fling or mistress to stay in, etc .....

WHO IN THE RIGHT MIND WILL EVEN THINK OF DOING THAT ? I am not a saint, but a thought of planning to execute something like that, is like waiting to commit a crime.

If they are too free, sentenced them to 20 more years NS, stay in everyday !!!

Ocean 13

Another sequel in 2007 summer blockbuster period, ocean 11 was really good as not much of such kind of movie. The plan and the execution makes it soothing to watch, then came ocean 12, a bit draggy for me and abit of too much twists towards the end.

Ocean 13 was just about 2 hours, the pacing was just nice and the story was straight forward. When willie bank double crossed reuben and left him in some kind of shocked state, hospitalized, down and out.

This gave the ocean's 10, a very strong common motive to work towards to. They will crushed willie's new hotel/casino by cashing out on it and most importantly, made it lose the Royal review board's 5 diamonds awards.

All the minds came together, with another almost perfect plan.

On the very night when it will be open, the major tables will be losing near in total to 5,000,000,000 millions and that in 3 1/2 mins when the so called "Super Computer" will be down.

Somehow, everybody understands yen and he understands everybody ... Hmmmm.

Almost perfect plan got some problem, they need to buy a 36 million dollar drill and not enough money. So benedict was brought into their plan, but the condition was they have to steal all the diamonds that willie won. Something even which the ocean's 10 said was impossible, but they have no choice.

One of the task required was to get equipment that will help them to win at the tables. Dices that flipped around with a flick of a light. These were made at some sweatshop in mexico, where 200+ workers worked cow worked horse. In the end, there was a strike, they demand a pay rise, $36,000. The ocean calculated that will amount to about 7 million, they pondered ... but then found out, total was $36,000, not for each worker.

In the end, they did get the diamonds, the money and also the bank failed to get the award. As the fake 5 diamonds judge, played by Saul, successfully fitted into the plan. The real judge became ocean's 10 target and the stay was simply nightmarish.

And alls well ends well, they got even with willie. His opening night will be one he want to forget.
A very entertaining movie. 8/10

Damn good chocolate ice cream !

溏心风暴

Just finished this 40 epi TVB series, about a family run abalone business. And of course all the "elements" of what you would expect in a TVB drama is in it. Just that story line is quite within expectation, no twists at all. Either overdosed TVB drama or the script writers is losing power.

Anyway, heard this oldies which kept playing throughout the series, "Vincent" by Don McLean ( 1971 ), wasn't even born yet. Like the tune very much .....

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey

Another oldies that was played throughout was "My love will get you home" by Christine Glass, very nice too.

If you wonder off too far, my love will get you home
If you follow the wrong star, my love will get you home
.
.
If the bright lights blinds your eyes, my love will get you home
If your troubles break your stride, my love will get you home

Bluetooth ? Handsfree ?

Who needs bluetooth 2.1 with EDR ?

Tattoo

Was driving to work. Class 95 was the chosen station today. Tattoo was the topic today and how it can affect one's venture into society and work life. And there was this sms ... which says

"Plan was to tattoo 18 koi fish, but the pain was so unbearable that he stopped at 1. And nowadays, everytime he went swimming, people will laugh at him why he did tattoo a small guppy on himself"

Not sure how true though ....

六月五号, 星期二, 晴

Out after dinner to get my neostrata neoceutical acne gel, worked quite well for me. One downside was it is quite expensive, about $29. Introduced to me by a doc, so just went over to the clinic to get it, then found out over the counter have to pay $2 more !!! Bo bian .....

Actually found out, it only cost about USD $10 at Shop@USA vpost, but then though Sing Post make it cheaper the shipping from US to Singapore, still not cheap enough for such a item. Shipping is around SGD $13 + SGD $X ( depending on the weight and volumetric weight )

Went to IKEA, Courts and Giant ....

Giant having problem getting enough cashier, or maybe they do but somehow wanted to see lots of people queuing with trolleys of full of items.

Wanted to get some stuff but after seeing the queue, it detered me.

They came, they piled, they queued, they pay, they go

校园 Superstar

2nd season starts ... didn't really follow the first season. Not planning to do so for this season too.
The singing was so so to me ... Yes since they came so far, to a certain extent they most probably can sing. Hot favourties for now are ... 许政宁, 徐彬, 桌轩正

But no one really surprises ...

My dessert, not really that nice, this magnolia dark chocolate gelato

My car was dirty again !!! Evidently shown on the top of the car, Hai, only washed it yesterday evening. Bought a cheapo portable vaccum for $15.90, damn cheap consider that cheapest black & decker ones is around $49.90.

Tried it out just now, looked decent enough. But not sure if it can have more sucking power !!

Sunday, 3rd June 07

Sunday,10:45 am
Car wash day. But it was like freaking hot, probably lose KGs of liquid if I washed it now. Anyway, I wanted to go back the place where you could wipe out at least 40% of the SG population. Need a micro SD card for the new toy and see if I could get a pouch/case.

Expected, whole SG was there. Food Republic at Suntec was packed, lucky found some seats. Met some other friends there too ! Waited, talked, ate, drank ... then off we go.

Got my micro SD at $32.50 and a leather casing at $34.90.

There is this line on the casing
"This stylish leather casing is designed for Nolkia E61 CAPDASE". You didn't see wrongly and I didn't type wrongly. Yes ... it is Nolkia.

This site has really good looking casing ... http://www.vajacases.com/home/home_en.html !!

Back at about 4+, drove through Caltex, there was about 4 cars waiting to be bath. Sian, thought of taking the easy way out. Hai ... but luckily the Sun was almost out, so finally can bath my car, and I sweated it out too.

I CAN'T GET THE PC SUITE TO DETECT MY NOKIA E61i !!!! SIAN !!!!

Going to try on my laptop in office tomorrow !

Saturday, 2nd June 07, Zodiac

My turn to work ....

As usual, a non-event day ... off to Plaza Sg to get my nokia e61i . Yes ... decided to be "conned" by starhub by re-contracting my maxonline for 2 yrs and getting a new mobile line, thus becoming a hubber.

It went well, but then ....... sigh

When I tested the phone, somehow, yes somehow, the way/angle that I hold the phone when taking a call affects the volume I am hearing. Seems like because the area where the sound comes out is a horizontal line which is quite long, so when I placed it near my ear, it is not getting the optimal positioning ....

Anyway, got the phone, other than that, no complaints so far, the qwerty keyboard is nice to use, damn big screen which I liked, wi-fi, symbian, etc.

Went to SLS, wanted to get a pouch/case and a screen protector. TO MY SURPRISE, WAS JUST CHECKING FOR FUN, MY N70 CAN SELL FOR $270 !!! Starhub only take it in for $200. So I boot up my N70, deleted all contacts/smses/formated the mcard and sold it off. The shop beside the summerhouse donut house.

Zodiac
Which was given a 4 1/2 stars in Life. Movie is long, about 2 hr 40 mins. Quite disappointing, maybe it is based on true life events and

1) The killer is not really psycho, didn't torture his victims,
2) Stretches over 20+ yrs before a survivor testify the actual killer, abit KT
3) 1 or 2 mysteries was left unanswered
4) Letters and cipher codes a many or maybe too many which did not really leads to clues or solving the case, was interesting in the beginning, as it goes on, as I see the Year/Mth/Day that appear as a caption on and off gets further and further away from the first killing. 6/10

Ju Ju Hokkaido steamboat
A steamboat which you have your own pot ( if you dine in-doors ), for outdoors it is shared, but outdoors you can listen to the "Live" music.

Basically, you have a appetizer, the main ingredients ( beef, pork, seafood, fish, etc ), rice/vermicelli/soba, desserts. It is not buffet, so quantity that comes is not a lot, though how the raw food was presented, was like huge, royal, grand ....

The appetizer was a 70% hard boiled egg, you need to break it into 1/2 and drenched it with the special soya sauce, the taste was quite good I must say.

Ingredients were fresh, the beef was good, sauces are quite nice too. 2 stocks to choose from, the clear one or the spicy one. It was a split, so we have both. The soup really was good as the ingredients fills in.

Dessert is a mango sago with a coconut concoction served in a cute cup. Came up to about $28 pax.

Though feels abit tired but still feels like doing something else, so went to KTV, after hours of belting out ... we split about 2+.

Finally slept at about 4 ....

Fri, 1st June 07

PC show weekend, the time comes yet again where every Singaporean needs to buy something from the event. Organizers are confident records will broken again though some big names are missing from the show.


Friday seems quiet, is like only 2% of whole Singapore is working, most are on a long weekend due to Vesak Day. Left early to run some errands and then headed to the PC show, wanted to check out the plantronics bluetooth earpiece and a 8 GB thumbdrive.


Expected, Shaw Tower CP is full, attempting Suntec is like MI4, so naturally, it has to be at Bugis Junction, so some walking.


The cheapest model at $109 doesn't give me a comfortable and steady fit, the rest are too expensive. Like the sales preaching to one L, is like buying a Lexus ... blah blah blah.


The imation 8GB at one booth was $130, at one other was $107.50, wonder why, not attractive enough for me to buy.


Dinner was at Tonchiki, a Jap restaurant at Suntec basement, which has good breaded deep fried cutlet, loin, fillet, tempura, etc. Had the tonkatsu set, comes with appetizer, chawamuxu, miso soup and fruits. Can't finsh the rice, overall too much.


The 5 or 6 piece of deep fried pork fillet was really thick, it fills you up .....


Time for lesson !!! Hmmmm, think I already wrote something in a Saturday entry.

Went for dessert after that then drop a friend off for her KTV *but she kena put pigeon in the end* and send another friend home.

Working on saturday ... so went home after that.

Replugged Lessons - Last 3rd

Last 3rd lessons not because we are "graduating", but our course mates are leaving for oversea studies ... so we stopped as well.

Heaven knows was the latest song we are playing ... playing while someone is singing is hard. Lightning co-ordination and on-the-spot-split second reflex changes is required !!!! Sang about 5 times ... abit hate the song oredi !

Anyway, timing has always been my weakness, it just get either slower or faster throughout ... Hai ... maybe need some 少林高僧 to 打通 my 任督二脉 !!!

New song is 童话, in harmony play. This one even worse, though I can play the melody easily but with harmony play and left hand bass + timing with the crotchet, quaver, mimum, etc ... up the difficulty level !!!

We ll see how it goes ......

Shrek 3

Not many movies can go to the 3rd instalment, this green huge orge did. With a simple tale of king and kingdom, villian and fairy tale characters, it arrives at Shrek 3, most probably the last. Some of the laughs are repeated from previous, like when donkey swapped characters with puss in boots but retaining their physical form, donkey gave that "puss in boots" look, which was classic in the previous instalments.

I like the sleeping beauty which always was shown her dozing off during most scenes ... heee :) And now, donkey have kids now, which can fly ! Because the mother is that purple dragon, can't remember when did they hit it off.

The scene where King harold ( in frog form ) was dying on his bed, also quite funny, few rounds of fake death with maximum grasping of breath there and there. And always missing critical information to be reveal during these rounds of fake death.

Prince Charming was back to reclaim his throne with the help of all the "evil" fairy tale characters, thus capturing Shrek. It was up to Fiona and her band of sisters who rescue him. And apparently her mother knew 少林铁头功, using her head to bang off 2 layers of prison walls !!!

A good light hearted movie in between spidey 3, pirates and coming ocean 13, zodiac, transformer and F4. 7/10.