:: JR's Blog ::

happy birthday Herge!

2007-05-24T00:38:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday to Tintin's 'daddy'! Herge, the cartoonist who created THE thing i grew up on would've just turned 100 if he were alive, and let's celebrate this wonderful cartoonist's greatest achievement!

First seen in a French newspaper in 1929, the Belgian cartoonist's reporter hero and his wonderful companion Snowy brought humour into more sensitive political topics like the Soviet situation back then and through some imagination tranformed them into wonderful adventure stories suitable for children and adults alike. 23 comic books were released in total and yes, I've read them over and over and over again. By the way I've got the 75th Anniversary DVDs for the whole series! WOO HOO!!

Anyway, plans for making Tintin into a movie has finally gone underway and at least 3 Tintin adventures will be brought to the big screen by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. According to reports real people will actually not be used in the film to stay true to the Tintin characters' appearances. However it will still be made to be as realistic as possible. Can't wait to see that!Also, to commemorate 100 years since Herge's birth, a Herge museum will be built in Brussels Belgium, which is his birth place. Happy birthday Herge!

botak!

2007-05-01T08:30:00.000+08:00

For your information the following few entries should still all be backdated ones because I haven't updated this site for a long time...

Anyway! I finally got to see what the big deal Botak Jones was about. Turns out it wasn't that great a deal. Was at the Clementi outlet like a month ago for dinner, and boy the whole coffeeshop's business practically belong to them.

I forgot to take a picture of the ordering queue which was just outside the coffeeshop, but what I can tell you is that there are people perpetually queueing for the whole hour odd I was there. It takes roughly 10 mins to get your order in.

So the food arrives in another 20 mins and abit, and our Fish & Chips, which was supposed to be their 'signature' and the Double Botak Burger, which was in essence 2 pieces of bread, some veggie and 2 huge chunks of beef patties, were up.

First up for scrutiny, the Fish & Chips. Actually not fantastic, but as far as frozen dory goes it's fresh enough, as in the flesh is still white compared to some frozen fish where it starts to grey. All in all it was just an above average dish, but I love the tartar sauce!

Probably had some pepper or something inside, I thought it tasted really good with the fries, which I liked too. $6

Next up, Double Botak Burger! With 2 150 grams of beef patties, I thought I could've conquered this without breaking a sweat, but I was wrong.

It might be due to the fact that the meat wasn't soft enough or it got cold or I was just abit picky, but I don't think it was the last reason. Somehow it was difficult to finish all the meat. It got pretty dry as the dish cooled down, which wasn't exactly piping hot when it arrived. The beef feels like eating 2 chunks out of a meat loaf, which is supposed to be almost a meal in itself. But the first half of it was satisfying, so you could probably go for the single patty version. $9.50 for burger with fries, $1 extra for cheese.

year 1 ends

2007-04-26T22:27:00.000+08:00

So year 1 sort of ends for me while I walked out of the exam hall today afternoon. Why sort of? Because I freaking fell sick! And missed Physics 2. Which effectively means i da bao-ed it Again. Damn it.

Ok to hell with that, what I need to say is I realized what good friends there are around me. Thank you for putting up with my whining and half dead face and everything else. So thank you CK, GR, Darren, Huiyun, Britney! Whoever said that friends in uni were only on the surface? :)

Anyway to everyone whose exams have ended or ending soon by now, remember to say your prayers so you miraculously get a 5.0GPA and have yourselves a smashing time working and having fun for the 3 coming months! WOO HOO!!

it's gadget time!

2007-03-08T10:03:00.000+08:00

The IT show is back at Suntec City from today till Sunday, noon to 9pm!

I haven't been to the show yet of course because it's an hour before it actually starts, but let's look what good deals and nice stuff some companies have released to the press so far!

Notebooks
Lenovo N100 $1469
Great value entry level Vista notebook, with Core Duo processor, 80GB HDD and 1GB RAM.

Packard Bell BU45 $1998
Touted as the most affordable 12.1" laptop in the market, it's hardly the most eye catching. But if you don't need much style or the tablet form factor, this one gives you similar power to the HP tx1000 with $300 savings.

Asus A8Jr $2098
Headline specs include Core 2 Duo processor, new ATI Radeon X2300 graphics, 1.5GB RAM after free upgrade and freebies that include a tv tuner and Altec Lansing speakers. Effectively makes all their other models look ridiculously overpriced.

HP Pavilion tx1000 series $2298
Specs wise it's like a Pavilion dv2000 but in a tablet form and a 12.1" screen. Processing power comes from AMD Turion 64x2 instead of Intel's Core 2 Duo though. Comes with Vista Home Premium and a free 6 cell battery pack.

LCD Monitors & LCD TVs
Samsung 940NW $299
Viewsonic VA1912wb $299
BenQ FP92W $299
Hanns.G HW191 $299
19" widescreens, all but the Samsung model supports DVI input.

Akira 32" LCD TV $899
It's HD ready and based in Singapore!

Printers
Dell 926 AIO $99
HP F380 $99
Epson Stylus CX2900 $98
Brother DCP115C $88
Print, scan, copy. All for under $100. Dell should work out to be the most expensive overall because of the lack of third party compatible ink.

Samsung ML1610 $99
The cheapest mono laser printer out there, and yours truly bought one at the last show too. No duplex printing mind you, and printing on both sides is a pain in the ass. But it is so affordable, well built and quick.

Digital Cameras
Ricoh Caplio R5 $599
If I'm not wrong, the cheapest 7x optical zoom compact camera currently on sale.

Casio Exilim Z70 $399 (trade in any old digicam)
Save $100, and bag a rather stylish 7.2 megapixel slim shooter with 3x zoom. Casio's anti shake is rather useless, but it does feature in this model.

Fujifilm Finepix A610 $199 (student offer)
6.3 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, fully auto point and shoot. Accepts both xD and SD cards! Seriously anyone who uses xD cards on this camera is plain stupid or has too much money to spare.

Pentax Optio M20 $199
7 megapixels, 3x zoom, 2.5" screen. But I think the Finepix is a better choice as a digicam despite looking a tad hideous.

Portable media players
Creative Zen Vision M (3oGB) $399
Creative Zen Vision W (30GB) $499
Creative Zen V Plus (8GB) $299
Local, competitive with the best products in its class (Vision models) and well priced!

Archos 404 (30GB) $399
Wider and longer but slimmer than a Zen Vision M, its 3.5" screen makes it more a full media player competitor for the Vision W but without the widescreen display. Definitely worth checking out.

Others
Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade / Office 2007 Home & Student Edition
$99
Limited copies!

Anyway look out for the Sony PS3 local launch ($799), Sony Cybershot T100 (the first in the series to have 5x optical zoom), Sony Vaio L Series laptop-desktop hybrid, Panasonic's 103" mammoth TV and Canon IXUS 70/75 that now comes in 2 colour options.

I seriously hope iriver and Cowon are there too. Desperate to play with their new players. Have fun at the show!

the day the skies opened

2007-03-04T16:44:00.000+08:00

Ok, the title is not totally true, because just 2 of the 3 pictures were taken on a rainy day, and they were taken on different rainy days. Get what I'm saying? Anyway, let's move on.

The heavens seriously wept and wailed on my last day at Al Dente, but unfortunately it was before operations so there was no 'ooh where on earth can we put our customers?' frantic show. The flood was worse than what the picture shows cos you could've covered your whole shoe in the water.

Lai ang ah! Yesterday saw a huge sea of red in the auditorium building as we were packing goodie bags for the openhouse coming Saturday. What you see here is probably 60-70% of the bags we packed (my camera couldn't fit everything in its frame). So thousands of people, you better come, cos packing these bags for you was a sucky job.

Finally as I always say, go to the expression board at the canteens to get your daily laughs. Winner of this issue's pick of the board: 7-9! A good jab at the 7-11 here that opens till 9pm on weekdays and closes during weekends, you win for yourself exposure in my blog! So congratulations to whoever you are.

红包拿来！

2007-02-21T12:21:00.000+08:00

各位好久不见了 ! 最近比较懒惰，所以没有在网站上增添新的内容。情人节本来打了一小段东西，可是因为没有上载照片在电脑里所以也没发表了。既然情人节也过了整整一个星期，那则应该可以删除了吧。

好，废话不多说，赶快进入正题! 大家因该在想，我这次怎么用华语啊？当然是因为现在是农历新年咯！先祝大家新年快乐吧！接着祝身体健康，学业进步，风调雨顺，国泰民安，年年有余，心想事成，万事如意，恭喜发财，风和日丽！哈哈哈！（请找出不恰当的贺词。哈哈！）

今年是猪年，就在这里也祝肖猪者的运气可以特别好！考试拿满分，买马票中头奖，下雨走路不要跌倒！哈哈哈！

到头来还是说了一大堆废话。咳！没关系，总之猪年大家旺旺旺！！

guess my favourite colour!

2007-02-10T12:12:00.000+08:00

In case you haven't noticed, I like to walk through carparks A and B when getting to tutorial rooms or lecture theatres and stop at the expression boards when going to canteen A or B because there's always something interesting (meaning funny, ridiculous or plain odd) to see.

This week's find is this white Mercedes C Class. Look a little closer and you'll find that it's not just the body of the car that's white, the rims are white (instead of metallic shade of silver) the seats are covered in white slip-ons (instead of the original fabric or leather) and there's a pair of white Dior shades sitting atop the dashboard. Talk about favourite colours. I don't think there's anyone who so clearly has a favourite colour.

Overly in love with white the owner may be, but think how easy it'd be to get him/her a birthday present! Just any crap that's white in colour will do.

Oh and another point, making a car That monochromatic clearly shows the difference between taste and money. HA!

what's the hype?

2007-02-04T20:53:00.000+08:00

Wow what's the newest queuing sensation in town, you say? You want to check out what everyone is queuing for too?

Wow what's the newest queuing sensation in town, you say? You want to check out what everyone is queuing for too? It's Donut Factory! People have had to queue upwards of an hour to get a donut so don't be surprised if the line takes double that time to reach you when the fad is in full blast. I mean, who buys just 1 donut when they've waited for more than an hour right? Anyway according to a relatively accurate source, it ain't worth that much of your time. Or maybe you'd like to check it out for yourself at Raffles City B1. Odd sounding flavours include wasabi cheese and kaya white chocolate. Of course there're some absolutely yummy sounding ones like apple cinammon, double chocolate and peanut butter glazed too. $10-$11 for a box of 12.

I'm sure by now alot of people already know the existence of St. James PowerStation at Habourfront by now. The old literal power station has been turned into a multi-themed nightspot which has been attracting attention from lots of party-goers. The launch of The Cannery at Clarke Quay did not seem to have bothered St James much, well probably because people have had enough of going to Clarke Quay every weekend night. Maybe the cool stone facade of the PowerStation has some draws too.

Whatever it is, like the Cannery, you pay one fee and gain entry to all its 9 bars, so there's no chance of not finding the type of music you want for a great night out.

i pierced my ear!

2007-02-01T21:43:00.000+08:00

As title says, I pierced my ear! And I just realized how much of a wuss I am coz I'm afraid of infections and everything! Haha.. WOO!!

nothing fascinating

2007-02-01T00:15:00.000+08:00

Nothing major has been happening so there hasn't been interesting posts, maybe I'll just do an update.

So GR came over to my house last weekend saying he wanted to do something special this birthday. Instead of him being treated nicely, he wanted to do something nice for his friends instead. Hence this white chocolate-almond cookie! Ok it's not super duper nice but it's pretty good for a first timer. Er GR, I still have a feeling you're reminding us your birthday is coming. HAHA!

Then I had some problem with my contact lenses and had to survive through the weekend with my NS glasses. Darn they were hideous! I walk into the store room of my workplace, my colleague walks in and exclaims 'Hey Harry Potter!' That was like.. Ok never mind. Anyhow I got over a day with sucky gel and sucky specs at work. Oh, and I walked around Orchard the next day dressed like that too. Luckily I didn't bump into anyone.

My weird sleeping habits (disorder?) is back again. I sleep at 1am+, wake up at 730, and feel like sleeping the next few hours during lectures. I come back to hall at 230pm, slack for awhile, and nap till 6. Gosh. Maybe I shall sign up for Guinness Records for the most number of hours slept in one sitting.

welcome to my $500000 mousehole

2007-01-25T02:04:00.000+08:00

Gotten off Yahoo's website.

This stunningly expensive apartment shows how reasonably priced properties in Singapore are. Welcome to London's Knightsbridge neighbourhood, where this 77sq ft former storage room (or roughly 1/15 of my 3 room flat) goes on sale for the equivalent of over S$510000! Yes, this mousehole which is narrow enough to have a person stretch his arms to his sides and touch the walls was sold for over half a million bucks.

Why so expensive? Because the apartment (or space, or hole) is within walking distance of Harrods and Hyde Park. So the psf price of S$6700 of this space without electricity is good value compared to recent sales in the area which hit $9000 psf. That's 10 times the price of a luxurious district 10,11 condominium in Singapore! And yes, London is home to the most expensive properties in the world.

la moda espanola

2007-01-24T17:01:00.000+08:00

I'm most probably going for a semester of Spanish lessons once I'm cleared for electives again, so let me start the Spanish culture learning going with their fashion brands! Believe it or not, there're more big Spanish fashion brands sold in Singapore than you thought.

Zara, Camper shoes, Massimo Dutti formal wear, Springfield, Pull And Bear casual wear, Mango MNG ladies' fave, women'secret lingerie, designer label Balenciaga and Punto Blanco men's innerwear are all from Spain! A little surprised? Now you know not all apparel brands come from the US, France or Italy.

week in pictures

2007-01-21T23:25:00.000+08:00

We spotted this cute little convertible in the North Spine carpark! Nope it doesn't belong to Darren.

So we all try to think of new fund-raising events, but SMRT's idea is pushing it a little. Pay $5 (if you're a student) or $10 (for organisations) each and you get to squeeze with numerous other people in a train, bus or cab for a transport sardine record! Good if you're squeezing with Christy Chung or Brad Pitt lookalikes but less so if the one right next to you is a sweaty middle-aged uncle!

Laundry disaster! Some may already know I caught a flu, so before throwing my berms into the wash I removed the piece of tissue paper in my right pocket. What I very unfortunately forgotten was there were 3 full packets of them in the left pocket. Results as shown. Advice? Always always ALWAYS check the pockets before throwing your clothes into the laundry.

picture time

2007-01-15T18:17:00.000+08:00

Create mini fireworks of your own! Ingredients: charcoal, fire starter, barbeque pit, and a strong hand fanning the growing fire. Cool eh?

I love pun! And if you haven't realized, they were trying to nick Nike's tagline. This photo was taken last week so if you look at the promo period it's high time they took it down too!

My aunt bought this cute little cup of "snack noodles" from Hong Kong! There's a Hello Kitty sticker inside (which i already threw away) and the dried fish cakes are shaped like little Kitty heads!

That's all for now. I shall consider whether to post a picture of Huiyun eating with no image in the next post. HAHA!!

do you care?

2007-01-11T22:35:00.000+08:00

Many a times one feels that your boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend doesn't do enough. They never seem to call you enough, never seem to ask you about your day as much as you'd have liked them to, doesn't ask you out as often as you want to see them and never appear to be springing any surprises. We therefore conclude that actually they don't really care that much after all. But is that true? Do they not give a damn or are they just poorer at expressing themselves?

Some people only take action when bigger cracks begin to show. Or when some other events take place that causes separation. Like a break-up threat. Like a long term overseas posting or education. Like when your other half stop bugging and expecting some stuff to come from you. Then when the orange light lights up or just a second before the red one lights up, they suddenly show that they might still care. The common conclusion is therefore this person only treasures something when it is on the verge of being lost. Or maybe not. Maybe these people just have too much pride, or simply have no idea what to do before. So just before D-day, they'll try triply hard to say how much they really care.

Sadly sometimes it becomes a case of too little, too late. But at least if you've chosen to let go, you at least understood and know you've always been loved, except it was not always shown.

welcome, 2007

2007-01-09T15:48:00.000+08:00

The first week of 2007 has already passed, which means a brand new year has started for everyone. Dreams of white Christmases and hordes of people pushing and shoving you to get a better view of the New Year's Eve fireworks have just ended. So of course it's a time for everyone to have brand new hopes and resolutions for the 365 days ahead.

I would like to:
be healthier,
get fitter,
dramatically improve this semester's lackluster GPA,
make some friends in hall,
learn Spanish,
be happy everyday,
and hope the same for everyone else.
*Beams* Ain't I a nice person?

I would not like to:
see Britney Spears without panties again when she's looking her current state,
fail physics again,
squash a snail unknowingly,
spoil my Puma bag or any of my gadgets,
be unable to buy everything I want during the HK trip cos I don't have enough cash,
listen to another Jessica Simpson song,
and hope the same for everyone else.
Again, ain't I nice?

Speaking of being a nice person, I just remembered what GR said today. He's nothing but a nice person. I think I am too. No special talents or whatever. But hey at least we're nice! So we rock!

Ok, end of my side tracking, if 2006 was sucky for you, let's hope '07 will be better! Good luck!

more than 5 senses?

2006-12-29T11:16:00.000+08:00

This 6th sense talk has been going on forever and I'm inclined to believe humans may have a sort of 6th sense. One that I call 'consciousness in sleep'. Have you ever woke up like a few minutes before the alarm clock is supposed to go off? Or have you fell asleep in the bus then suddenly woke up to realize you're pulling into your stop? Because I have. And it's strange because you're not supposed to be able to see the time or where the bus is going when you're asleep. But I have to say it's not Always accurate because I do have times when I wake up a stop after mine. Or a couple of times way past my stop. Whatever the case, I'd like to think we do indeed have some sort of a 6th sense. A consciousness of our surroundings.

tech style awards 2006

2006-12-25T17:43:00.000+08:00

It's time to honour the best and best designs in the gadget world!

Mobilephone of the Year
Sony Ericsson K800i

All bow to the phone of the year! It looks pretty good, has everything you'd ever need in a mobile unless you're a power-exec, and it doesn't even cost much now! $198 with 2 year contract at M1. The only downside is its ubiquity and thickness. However as with the K750i, the masses got it right. 3 megapixels, 3G, Bluetooth, M2 card expansion slot, 262k colours 240x320 pixels display.

MP3 Player of the Year
iriver Clix

Applause for MP3 player of the year! The Clix is actually a pumped up U10 launched last year. Check out the phyiscally buttonless interface (you press the sides to control it), the design, the display to device size ratio and sound quality and be blown away! 2 downs: the price is still a tad steep and the max memory size is 2GB for now.

Digicam of the Year
Canon Ixus 850 IS

Sorry Fujifilm, great as the F30 and F31d are, they look too plain. Like there can be a better compact point and shoot. This time it comes with 7 megapixels, 4x zoom, and optical image stabilizer. If only they could squeeze all it's internals into the tiny perfectly angular (and gorgeous) Ixus 60 body. Not very cheap at over $700 though.

Notebook of the Year
Apple Macbook

Mac fans will rejoice at this choice for notebook of the year, but now with Boot Camp, PC users get to enjoy it too! It's thin, looks great, is good value for the specs and Windows compatible! Apple design is no longer mutually exclusive with 'cheap' and 'compatibility'. Don't bother getting the black version, cos it's a $200 paint job even after you spec up the white one.

Significant Others
Samsung Ultra Edition 6.9 (X820)

This product has been featured here before, and makes this year end list simply because it's the slimmest phone in the world. It's a little longer and wider than a regular candybar, but packs enough features for a midrange phone. Another 1.5mm thickness gets you the Z370, a 3G-fied and microSD slot-ted version of the X820.

Motorola KRZR K1

Ok, I know I wasn't particularly impressed with the KRZR except the tv ad when it just came out. I eat my words. It's officially the most attractive clamshell phone of 2006. Packing whatever the V3i has with a better camera, it's girth goes down from size 6 to size 0. Still a fingerprint magnet and quite overpriced though.

LG Chocolate (KG800)

Gorgeous phones can be rubbish to use, and here's proof. Ok, it's not that bad, it's just that the touch sensitive controls are not the best solution on a mobile phone. Other than that it satisfy users who want something stylish and low-ish specced. Was way overpriced at launch, the asking price is more sane now.

Nokia 8800 Sirocco

My biasness towards Nokia didn't stop me from gawking at the 8800 Sirocco. I don't exactly know why people want platinum and diamonds in their phone cos this is pretty damn luxurious enough. At $1300 it's not cheap, but then you can't expect it to be when it's crafted out of stainless steel and scratch proof glass for the display. Now comes with a 2 megapixel camera.

Sony Ericsson M600i

No way another smartphone could be the award winner for style this year, heck, did you even realize it doesnt have conventional navigation buttons? The jog dial is back! Although it'll be much easier to navigate if the usual buttons were included too. All it lacks is wifi and a version with the K750i's camera. Include those and I'll buy one tomorrow.

Motorola W220

Nobody should sacrifice every ounce of street cred he had come enlistment and Motorola knows just that. Here's a bare bones phone that looks great. FM radio is a good extra feature, and it costs around $150 without a contract. Sweet! Also available in silver/black combination.

Sony NW-S203F

It's here for introducing an innovative form factor: the light saber. It's expensive and only has a one line display, but it's unique. Sound quality is expected to be above average, as is battery life, without a power sapping colour display.

Samsung Yepp Z5F

iPod nano is beaten! This thing looks cool with all it's sharp edges, sounds good, is about the same size, has a bigger screen, asks for similar amount of dollars, and at least sounds as good. Throw in FM and line-in recording too, and it'll surely make you think twice about getting the default nano.

iPod 6th Gen

Fending off iriver e10 (with its too low capacity) and the locally unavailable Toshiba Gigabeat S, the iPod reigns again in the hard disk memory media player category. Thinner than ever before and now costing just $428 for 30GB and $598 for 80GB, the case for getting iPod has hardly been stronger since it's introduction.

Creative Zen Vision: W

Best PMP, beating Archos 604 on price and Maxian T600 on aftersales support. Check out that display and you'll know what I'm saying. Supports a truckload of formats, easy to operate, and well priced against the competition too. It even looks classy! Not something Creative does everyday, mind you.

Samsung NV7 OPS

As you know I love retro-ish designs ala Leica, so it's no surprise this one makes the list. The NV7 also brings a new user interface for digicams with controls lined up against the display. Also comes with 7x optical zoom, full manual mode and optical image stabilization. Some encouragement for the first line of Samsung digicams with passable picture quality!

Kodak Easyshare V610

Sorry Panasonic, you're beaten as far as the slimmest 10x optical zoom digicam is concerned. This is done through a unique dual lens system, which provides ultra wide angle zoom. It looks good (rare for a Kodak) and doesn't cost that much to boot. Nice achievement from the totally forgotten Kodak.

Sony Vaio SZ Series

Thin, light, feature packed and looking darn sleek, one can't ask for much more from a single product. It's got the Fujitsu S Series well and truly beaten, so will 8Flags please sell this instead of the Fujitsu in school please! If you have $2999 to $3999, get this machine. All models feature dedicated graphics. Close to perfect if not for the price.

Sony Vaio TX Series

Fujitsu's Q2010 may be the lightest notebook if you discount the UMPCs, but again Sony trounces the Fujitsu rival. For the road warrior, the ULV processor gives a long battery life, has a built in DVD-RW drive and external media controls which the Fujitsu doesn't have. Oh, did I mention it turns heads too? At $3500, only deep pockets need apply.

Compaq Presario V3000 Series

I felt inclined to include the V3000 in this list. Because like Jolin Tsai, it's the most successful transformation in it's market. Look at one to know what I'm talking about. The downside is its thicker than usual chassis. Available in many configurations, from AMD to Intel processors.

Nintendo Wii

The underdog wins console of the year! Why so? The Xbox and especially the PS3 are simply too advanced for their own good. This thing looks fantastic, costs the right money and does its primary job just fine. Throw in standard DVD movies playback and HDMI support and it'd be the ideal gaming console.

ASUS PW201 LCD

Yes, a LCD made it here. Look at it and drool first. Done? Ok, it's a 20-inch widescreen, has a built in webcam, adjusts positions in more ways than Madonna after yoga, has various inputs on the LCD itself to connect direct to your game console for example and has touch sensitive controls. You may now drool again.

watch me grow!

2006-12-24T02:03:00.000+08:00

Hi! I'm 21! YAY!

interesting news

2006-12-23T11:27:00.000+08:00

The Asian Games ended a week ago, but it's sure not over. Controversy surrounds practically any major sporting event, and Doha contributes by having a he-she medal winner! Woot! He-she's news definitely trounced the couple of dead athletes at the Games.

does indeed look like a man, doesn't 'she'?
What's the deal then? Santhi Soundarajan won a silver medal in the women's 800m race, but after the Games ended Indian Olympics Association chief announced that 'she' was actually a 'he'. After tests were conducted, he-she was stripped of the silver medal. So the heroine becomes a laughing stock. Double embarrassment, because as a 'he', Santhi still didn't manage to clinch the gold medal. Hmm.

Anyway gender tests, unlike drug tests, are not compulsory for competitors, and the last time a competitor's gender was in question was like 20 years ago. So there.

the best on tv

2006-12-21T23:39:00.000+08:00

I'm guessing most people will not disagree with me when I say Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy are among the best shows on TV today. If you don't agree, watching these 2 episodes may change your mind. And also, if you didn't sniff up a teeny bit at all after watching these 2 episodes, you might wanna check if you're dead inside.

Desperate Housewives Season 3, Episode 7: Bang
A hopping mad wife holds shoppers hostage in the supermarket because her husband cheated on her. One of the Housewives was inside.

Grey's Anatomy Season 2, Episode 6: Into You Like A Train
Painful decisions to be made as the hospital goes through a long night saving casualties from a major train accident in the city.

Watch them! I guarantee you wouldn't waste that hour and a half.

listen to these!

2006-12-20T00:39:00.000+08:00

2006 is ending! Let's do a review! Starting with music!

I couldn't get enough of these 20 songs this year!

1. Ciara feat. Chamillionaire - Get Up
2. Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
3. Jamelia - Beware Of The Dog
4. KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
5. Keyshia Cole - Love
6. Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
7. Beyonce - Irreplaceable
8. Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around Comes Around
9. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
10. Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
11. Mary J Blige - Be Without You
12. 范逸臣 - Love Story
13. 范逸臣 - 醉青楼
14. 梁静茹 - 亲亲
15. 周杰伦 - 退后
16. SHE - 触电
17. 曹格 - Superwoman
18. FIR - 天天夜夜
19. 王力宏 - Kiss Goodbye
20. 范玮琪 - 一个像夏天一个像秋天

Listen to them if you haven't! WOOT!

the blog ain't dead

2006-12-17T00:21:00.000+08:00

Visit this small shop that sells fantastic muffins and chicken pie at Sunshine Plaza (near Paradiz Centre)! Can't remember the name of the shop but it's on level 1 beside Parklane Fried Wanton Mee shop! Try the banana walnut muffin and chicken pie! Everything is made on the day itself and each batch isn't very big so it's always fresh!

People in NTU do not only post classified ads on our notice boards and imall, they also paste it on the back windown of their car. Hyundai Santa Fe anyone?

Children look away now, I present to you the ugliest face of the year, the front of this Ssangyong i-dunno-what-name! The equally ugly Rodius from the same company and designed by former head of the automotive design course at the Royal College of Art in London, can be seen bashing on our roads as the largest taxis.

Lastly for lovers of the traditional motorcycle ice cream, come to Bugis! Er, it's near the Kwan In temple/ OG building and all the motorcycle ice cream is at 50cents for the cone or cup and 80 for the biscuit or bread! Rocks!!

Oh by the way, I didn't know but freaking Samsung didn't give me the USB cable for the laser printer. A look at the manual says the USB cable may not be available in packages of some countries. Since when did people stop packaging essential accessories with things that they sell?

i duno how to title this

2006-11-16T18:25:00.000+08:00

If there were people who actually came here regularly to check if I update my blog, my apologies for not having updated it for like 2 weeks.
But if you thought I didn't update it 'cos I was busy mugging, you're wrong. Yes, I met friends to study sometimes. But I waste 90% of the time away. Staring at my laptop for no good reason, staring blankly at my notes, chit chatting away, or just plain daydreaming.

I DON'T WANT TO STUDY.
but i don't know what to do then

I DON'T WANT TO STUDY ENGINEERING.
my a levels sucked so much that i don't exactly have an option

I DON'T WANT TO STUDY ENGINEERING COS THERE'S MATH AND PHYSICS AND COMPUTING.
probably im just plain lazy to practise or just plain stupid

It's awfully disappointing. To just stare at some math questions and be completely clueless on how to solve it. Same for physics and computing.
This is bloody frustrating. I don't feel like I can pull off my last minute thing any further.

I HATE TO STUDY.

I HATE TO STUDY ENGINEERING.

I HATE TO STUDY ENGINEERING COS I SCREWED UP THE 'A's MYSELF AND ENDED UP WITH NO OPTION.

I want to give up.
But I can't.

Fuck.

best mp3 players in the world

2006-11-01T12:48:00.000+08:00

(I think)

Anyway, check these two players out if you're sick of the defacto iPod which doesn't actually perform fantastically and the Zen Vision:M which performs great but is just too bulky to be cool.

Toshiba Gigabeat S Available in 30GB (white) or 60GB (black)

The main thing about the Gigabeat S is that it runs on an interface much like Microsoft XP Media Center Edition, because it Is designed by Microsoft. Beautifully crafted, 2.4" 240x320 pixels colour screen supporting 65k colours, more playable video formats, FM radio, and even freaking smaller than the iPod (bar depth)!! All reviews have incidentally commented that it sounds great too. Battery life ain't too good though, it's rated similar to iPod levels.
I want this thing! But I'll need (1)a US friend who'll help me buy it from Amazon.com or HiDefLifestyle.com then send it over to me to save shipping charges and (2)pray hard that it doesn't screw up till I decide to change a player. It's bloody not officially available in Singapore. But check out the price! If you're not tempted by a US$250 (S$450) 60GB player that's smaller and better than the iPod, I don't know what will.

iRiver Clix Available in 2GB only

This gorgeous thing swots the nano right out of the ballcourt! Cool interface if you've checked out the recent (also fantastic) e10, and it includes FM, video playback on a 2.2" 240x320 pixels screen and of course sounds great. Which means it's everything the nano is unable to offer. Navigation is done by pressing the edges of the player (as in the frame). 20 hour audio playback battery life! Unfortunately though small it's not exactly wafer-thin.
Have I mentioned this thing is uber cool yet? Looks like ailing iRiver is producing the best small-capacity players on the market now, so keep it alive! This is available in Singapore, although I'm not sure of the price. Don't expect it to cost less than a nano though, iRivers aren't the cheapest players around.
the black unit is a 4GB version of the Clix is already announced by iRiver, but release details are as yet unknown

One more contender reaching soon.. Microsoft Zune! 3 inch colour display. Woo. Looks great. Double Woo. But somehow I think we shouldn't hold our breaths too much for it, 'cos there might be a big minus somewhere. Nobody creates a perfect gadget anyway.