mercredi, mai 31, 2006 "Da Vinci Code" steals from ‘Star Wars’
["Da Vinci Code" steals from ‘Star Wars’] |
lundi, mai 29, 2006 Jesus: "Look, I've got a lot on my mind right now, and you're really starting to stress me out here!" Terminator: "Pontius Pilate at ten o'clock!" (Jesus and other disciples turn to look, and T3 shoots resurrected Judas for the second time.) Jesus: "STOP KILLING JUDAS!" Terminator: "He's going to betray you!" Jesus: "I KNOW!" [Terminator and Jesus] |
vendredi, mai 26, 2006 L’amour est aveugle; l’amitié ferme les yeux.So we muddle our way through it all... [Language] |
jeudi, mai 25, 2006 “Is there any girl in this school you haven’t kissed?” he said, trying his best to sound appalled.“Yes. Heather Roonan, for starters.” “Tell me that’s not the only reason you’re going out with her.” Deafening silence. “You’re unbelievable.” “I know,” Paddy said, his voice lilting with amusement. [Humongous Bighead] |
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Year-end performance evaluations Got this in an email sometime back. I've italicised the ones I really love. You'll notice that I love the military ones best - wonder why?These quotes were reportedly taken from actual year end performance evaluations: "He certainly takes a long time to make his pointless." "I would like to go hunting with him something." "He has been working with glue too much." "He would argue with a signpost." "He has a knack of making strangers immediately." "He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves a room." "He and the CEO have something in common. They've both gone as far as they can in this company." "When his I.Q. reaches 50, he should sell." Actual quotes from Federal employees performance evaluations: "Since my last report, he has reached rock bottom and has started to dig." "His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity." "I would not allow this employee to breed." "This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a definite won't be." "Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap." "When she opens her mouth, it seems that this is only to change whichever foot was previously in there." "He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle." "This young lady has delusions of adequacy." "She sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them..." "This employee should go far-and the sooner he starts, the better." "This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot." These lines are out of the OER (Officer Efficiency Report - performance appraisal for the military): Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Got into the gene pool while the lifeguard wasn't watching. A room temperature IQ. Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together. A gross ignoramus -- 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus. A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on. A prime candidate for natural deselection. Bright as Alaska in December. One-celled organisms outscore him in IQ tests. Donated his brain to science before he was done using it. Fell out of the family tree. Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming. Has two brains; one is lost and the other is out looking for it. He's so dense light bends around him. If brains were taxed, he'd get a rebate. If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week. If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change. If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean. It's hard to believe that he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm. One neuron short of a synapse. Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled. Takes him 1 1/2 hours to watch 60 minutes. Was left on the Tilt-A-Whirl a bit too long as a baby. Wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead. I'm heading to Malaysia diving this weekend; then almost immediately after, I have a church camp. I'll see you guys in a couple of days' time. [Year-end performance evaluations] |
mercredi, mai 24, 2006 Okay, I've got backlogged emails in all my mailboxes, and I'm hopelessly sleepy already. I'm only interning, for crying out loud! I'm enjoying myself immensely, but work is really eating up the 24 hours that I have each day! I've got a total of about 4 or 5 draft blog posts which I don't have the energy to work on right now.So quick one: I joined this community called FreeCycle - international network of people who GIVE and RECEIVE things between each other. This is NOT an exchange of any kind; this is not barter, this is not an auction. You post either "WANT: XXX" or "OFFER: YYY". The first to reply gets whatever it is that was offered etc. It's really interesting, and everyone should try to check it out and participate. It looks quite fun. [Freecycle Singapore] |
lundi, mai 22, 2006  Boring.There is some magic in the book that did not translate into the movie. All the prayers of the Christians and Catholics in the world did some good, perhaps? I shan't go too far into that debate - we may pray, and God will answer - yes/no/wait - but results are only positive if they're in His will. The movie still sucked, though. What a mountain from a molehill! There were very awkward cut-offs in the music while I was watching the movie. I'm not sure if this is a problem with the cinema (I went to my favourite Eng Wah cinema), or whether we got a really, really censored version of the DVC. Did the church get censored too? I think all the scenes of the cabal and the actual conspirators added up to less than five minutes of screen time. The movie wasn't gripping enough - perhaps because the movie was based on a whodunit mystery novel, and I had already read the book, so I know what is going on? I'm not too sure. Poor Audrey Tautou - she spent the whole movie in very painful heels, RUNNING occasionally. But her hair was gorgeous to the very end. I would love hair like that. Wildly inappropriate thoughts kept running through my mind as I watched the movie. I half expected Tom Hanks to talk about boxes of chocolate, or ask 'Where's Wilson', or pull Meg Ryan into a dipping kiss somewhere. I expected Jean Reno to pull out a huge duffel bag full of guns and waste the entire incompetent French police force. I expected Leigh Teabing to suddenly stretch out his arms, and have some poor sod with metal embedded in his skeleton to rise in the air and scream with pain. In short, the movie was completely boring. Read the book. It's infinitely better. [eta: I didn't know this at the time when I posted this, but there's actually a website called So Dark The Con Of Dan.] [So Dark The Con of Dan] |
dimanche, mai 21, 2006 24 Things You Don't Need To Know About Me I got tagged by Aang.I can't do it! Everybody needs to know everything about me - there's nothing you don't really need to know (besides my ATM passwords and such, of course.) I've actually tried doing this on my own for fun, when it was just "10 things you didn't know about me". and I realised that finding ten things is hard, much less 24! *raises hand up* 'cher! Too hard lah! Cannot do the question! [ETA]In lieu of that, I give you the 147-skinny on me: 147 - On Your Way To Heaven? [01] I have read a lot of books.[02] I have been on some sort of varsity team. [] I have run more than 2 miles without stopping. [] I have been to Canada. [03] I have been to Europe. [04] I have watched cartoons for hours. [05] I have tripped UP the stairs. [06] I have fallen down an entire flight of stairs. [] I have been snowboarding/skiing. [07] I have played ping pong. [08] I swam in the ocean. [] I have been on a whale watch. [09] I have seen fireworks. [10] I have seen a shooting star. [] I have seen a meteor shower. [11] I have almost drowned. [12] I have been so embarrassed I wanted to disappear. [13] I have listened to one CD over and over and over again. [] I have had stitches. [] I have had frostbite. [] have licked a frozen pole and got stuck there. [14] I have stayed up til 2 doing homework/projects. [] I currently have a job. [15] I have been ice skating. [16] I have been rollerblading. [] I have fallen flat on my face. [17] I have tripped over my own two feet. [] I have been in a fist fight. [] I have played videogames for more than 3 hours straight. [18] I have watched the power rangers. [19] I attend Church regularly. [20] I have played truth or dare. [21] I have already had my 16th birthday. [22] I have already had my 17th birthday. [23] I've called someone stupid. [24] I've been in a verbal argument. [25] I've cried in school. [] I've played basketball on a team. [] I've played baseball on a team. [] I've played football on a team. [26] I've played soccer on a team. [27] I've done cheerleading on a team. [] I've played softball on a team. [] I've played volleyball on a team. [] I've played tennis on a team. [] I've been on a track or cross country team. [28] I've been swimming more than 20 times in my life. [] I've bungee jumped. [29] I've climbed a rock wall. [] I've lost more than $20. [30] I've called myself an idiot. [31] I've called someone else an idiot. [32] I've cried myself to sleep. [33] I've had (or have) pets. [] I've owned a spice girls CD. [] I've owned a britney spears CD. [] I've owned an N*Sync CD. [34] I've owned a backstreet boys CD. [] I've mooned someone. [35] I have sworn at someone of authority before. [36] I've been in the newspaper. [37] I've been on TV. [] I've been to Hawaii. [38] I've eaten sushi. [] I've been on the other side of a waterfall. [39] I've watched all of the Lord of the Rings movies. [40] I've watched all the Harry Potter movies. [] I've watched all of the Rocky movies. [] I've watched the 3 stooges. [] I've watched "Newlyweds" Nick & Jessica. [41] I've watched Looney Tunes. [] I've been stuffed into a locker/I have stuffed others into lockers. [42] I've been called a geek. (and proud of it!) [43] I've studied hard for a test and got a bad grade. [44] I've not studied at all for a test and aced it. [] I've hugged my mom within the past 24 hrs. [] I've hugged my dad within the past 24 hours. [45] I've met a celebrity/music artist. [46] I've written poetry. (bad, but still poetry.) [] I've been arrested. [] I've been attracted to someone much older than me. [47] I've been tickled till I've cried. [48] I've tickled someone else until they cried. [49] I've had/have siblings. [] I've been to a rock concert. [50] I've listened to classical music and enjoyed it. [51] I've been in a play. [52] I've cried in front of my friends. (Geez, I'm such a sop) [53] I've read a book longer than 1,000 pages. [] I've played Halo 2. [54] I've freaked out over a sports game. [] I've been to Alaska. [55] I've been to China. [] I've been to Spain. [56] I've been to Japan. [] I've had a fight with someone on AIM/ICQ/MSN. [] I've had a fight with someone face-to-face. [57] I've had serious conversations on any IM. [] I've forgiven someone who has done something wrong to me. (I'm not very forgiving I think...) [] I've been forgiven. (U don't really know.) [] I've screamed at a scary movie. [58] I've cried at a chick flick. (The movie of honour: City of Angels, with damnable Meg Ryan/Nicholas Cage.) [59] I've watched a lot of action movies. [60] I've screamed at the top of my lungs. [] I've been to a rap concert. [] I've been to a hip hop concert. [] I've lived in more than 2 houses. [61] I've driven on the highway/been on the highway. [62] I've driven more than 40 miles in a day/been in a car that went more than 40 miles in a day. [63] I've been in a car accident. [] I've done drugs. (does panadol count?) :) [64] I've been homesick. [65] I've thrown up. [] I've puked on someone. [66] I've been horseback riding. [67] I've spoken my mind in public. [68] I've proved someone wrong. [69] I've been proven wrong by someone. [] I've broken a leg. [] I've broken an arm. [70] I've fallen off a swing. [] I've swung on a swing for more than 30 minutes straight [] I've watched Winnie the Pooh movies. (thank God.) [71] I've forgotten my backpack when I've gone to school. (in primary school.) [72] I've lost my backpack. (but found it again...) [73] I've come close to dying. (child. swimming pool. no goggles. near drowning. me.) [] I've seen someone die. [74] I've known someone who has died. [75] I've wanted to be an actor/actress at some point. [] I've done modeling. (does CLAY MODELLING count?) [] I've forgotten to brush my teeth some mornings. (ew!) [76] I've taken something/someone for granted. [77] I've realized how good my life is. [78] I've counted my blessings. [79] I've made fun of a classmate. [80] I've been asked out by someone and I said no. (insane drunks.) [] I've slapped someone in the face. [] I've been skateboarding. [] I've been backstabbed by someone I thought was a friend. [81] I've lied to someone to their face. [82] I've told a little white lie. [] I've taken a day off from school just so I don't go insane. [] I've fainted. [] I've had an argument with someone about whether cheerleading is a sport or not. [83] I've pushed someone into a pool. [] I've been pushed into a pool. [] I've been/am in love. (I don't think so.) 83 out of 147. Just barely over 50%. I still have a lot of living to do. [24 Things You Don't Need To Know About Me] |
samedi, mai 20, 2006 Schindler's List has NOTHING on this list. After going through a lot of mad phonecalls and SMSes andemails, we finally got Shan out of the hellhole that is the MAD (heh heh) place that she works in. I thought a nice night out at Manhattan Fish Market would be nice.My class had other ideas. Again, don't get me wrong, the fish was good, the prawns lovely, the mussels brilliant. It was only AFTER we moved over to a quiet (really. honest.) place along Mohd Sultan that the party hats were put on. It was like... scary. Extreme makeover, except without the extreme. A half-hour roll of "I love that!" "I use that too!" "No, we should use Brand X instead of Y because Y SUCKS!" And this is their list of recommended beauty products... maybe we should register a copyright and patent on it or something.
And the picture below features a very resigned me showing the list - written on a napkin, no less. With references and footnotes and stars.  All I wanted was a quiet night out with friends. Scratch that - all I wanted was some advice on lip gloss. The one I have should run out quite fast as it's a small bottle, and I just wanted to know if I should be trying new brands for different colours. That's all. *curls up in ball in one corner, hands over ears, rocking and humming tunelessly, staring unseeing at an invisible speck on the ceiling* [Schindler's List has NOTHING on this list.] |
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mardi, mai 16, 2006 Why can't life be neatly shrink-wrapped, packed, chilled and available at your nearest supermarket?[Two for a dollar] |
dimanche, mai 14, 2006 I'm working on a paper on fanfiction, specifically in the Harry Potter fandom. (I'm also considering the Star Wars fandom as well.) It'll probably be some form of survey, which I'll email out to everyone to do, but I'm still working out what I want to ask. Research questions are always a bitch.There's been very little academic research on fanfiction actually - but what's out there is really fascinating. I've just read a three-page article in The Gay and Lesbian Review (Jan-Feb 2006) by Marianne MacDonald, titled Harry Potter and the Fan Fiction Phenom. It's not particularly in-depth: featuring an online questionnaire sample of only 10 slash writers (too small to be of any academic use), she mainly explains fanfiction terminology that most fanfic writers would already be familiar with (slash, chan, mff, mm, femmeslash etc). However, she does explore Remus' role in Rowling's text, which fanfic writers feel are "ambiguous". Apparently, it leaves many holes in the timeline, tells the story only through Harry's perspective, and leaves many questions with regards to characters' sexuality. She also explains the different pairings that are most popular in HP fanfiction - according to her, "by far the two most common pairings" are: Harry and Draco, and Harry and Snape. However, she seems slightly disappointed to report that no slash fanfic writers have made their fics political - nobody expresses angst and anger over their sexuality, and there's no penalty, only acceptace, of their homosexuality. Cool, or what? [trots back to agonise over research question. Help, anyone?] [Acad paper on FF] |
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. I've never watched the original theatre version, so the director's cut is all I have. It's a little dated now (even though it's set in 2019!) but it's still a very thought-provoking film. A little too still for my taste, and Harrison Ford has ONE expression throughout the whole movie (constipated), but it's a cult classic for technogeeks, and sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. (ETA: Bladerunner.) [Director's cut, baby.] |
vendredi, mai 12, 2006 [rant] Why do people bother shortening everything into SMS language? I understand if you're actually spelling it in a short form when you're using SMS, but when you actually have the space for it, why bother? It's so much trouble - first, the writer has to shift from full-text gear to short-form gear in order to encode the message, and then the reader has to do the decoding. And not everyone encodes the messages in the same way, and there are different conventions for different short-forms, so it's all very confusing and WHY CAN'T PEOPLE JUST WRITE PLAIN ENGLISH ANYWAY?!?It's not like everyone has a good grasp of the English language in our country - can you imagine shortening Singlish into SMS language? Nobody else in the world would be able to crack the codes - perhaps the MFA and MINDEF should look into using this as a baseline for future military encryption. "Fire locket ah. Mk sure aim ploply." You know who the worst culprits are? The people who mix SMS-language with uPpEr n LoWeR CaSe SpElLing aNd tHoSe wHo addz a "z" toz eVeRyThInGz tAtz tHeYz wRiTez. Why, oh why bother at all? It's like your left hand suddenly suffered from uncontrollable spasms and went on a sudden press-the-shift-key rampage which you could not control. If you're not suffering from epilepsy (which is not a funny illness, and I'm not making fun of it), you should not be wRiTiNgzz lyKez dIsZ. It's not like I don't admire these people who write SMS-language - if you're able to switch from one text to another, bully for you. But the abuse of the language is killing me. I occasionally read blog posts, and my skin crawls. I'm not asking for Shakespeare, I'm not asking for Milton, I'm not even asking for John Grisham or Dan Brown. Just write full, proper sentences. Completely spelled out properly. With punctuation. And capitalisation. And - in for a penny, in for a pound - familiarise yourselves with the concept of the PARAGRAPH, if you're writing something long. [/rant] I appeal to you. Please. [Lament for the language] |
“What were you reading?” she asked, nodding towards the book.Wierd things amuse me. This little passage made me laugh insanely for a full minute. I think it's because this is exactly what I've done to a number of people - and trust me, it's as amusing as it reads. I've gotten hit on the arm for it though, so this joke is NOT one for the pain-intolerant. Speaking of jokes, Peng has very original ones, and I'm trying persuade him to put a column on his blog, cataloging them. Like this one, which he told me today: Q: What do you call someone who spills cornflakes all over the floor and stomps on them?Completely original, mind you! This sort of joke will, of course, earn you slaps on the arm as well. [Jane Eyre is about robots.] |
jeudi, mai 11, 2006 In a perfect blend of Star Wars and Harry Potter, I present to you an icon from LJ: I died laughing when I saw this. Libellés : harry potter [Harry Wars] |
dimanche, mai 07, 2006  On the recommendation of many online friends, I bought and watched The Constant Gardener. I had no idea what it was, I just watched.And it was brilliant. The story is insanely convoluted, and yet it unwinds so poetically. The treatment of the subject matter (pharmaceutical companies testing drugs in Africa, killing people, and then covering it up) is presented, but not overblown. Shy junior English diplomat meets passionate political activist, they get married, move to Kenya. She gets killed, he suspects she's having and affair with her partner (he turns out to be gay), follows her paper trail, which leads him back to the English government. Sounds like spy-espionage-Alias? It's not. At its heart, it is a love story - and get this - it won't make you cry. (It'll just make your heart bleed.) [next part will not make sense unless you've watched the movie.] I also loved the fact that he didn't really understand his wife - not really. I think a lot of movie romances gloss over that rather impt fact: we're all not mind-readers, we just make do. After she died, it was so clear that he just never really *got* her, not really, you know?. And then when he was on the plane, with that little girl, I was just... blown away by how far his character had travelled, both metaphorically and literally. Later when he went to the badlands to wait for his death... it was just beautiful, him talking to her as if she were there. The whole idea of her feeling "safe" with him, and him feeling "home" with her... it makes me want to cry buckets and scream that it's not fair! But life rarely is, and so we ... we just make do and muddle about the best that we can. Ralph Fiennes is amazing, and my next trip to the video shop is to get The English Patient. I cannot understand why he didn't win anything for this movie; his performance in this movie is simply phenomenal. Maybe I should just watch all of his shows. No, warning me against The Avengers is too late - I've already seared my corneas on it. [The Constant Gardener] |
samedi, mai 06, 2006  Taylor's new shape for 2006 - these guys are amazing. Always innovating, and always improving on the perfection that is the Taylor.My dreadnought's sound is lovely. It's not singing as well as I would like, but that could be my fault since I play hard, and I play rough. It's just a pity that it isn't as large as I had remembered it; perhaps I'm too used to Pastor's Aria, which is a much larger Aria. Perhaps in another ten years' time, I'll get a jumbo if I outgrow the Big Baby. I still haven't named it yet. Any ideas? [Six Sexy Strings] |
jeudi, mai 04, 2006  Mirrormask (with Angeline) was... awesome. Think Alice Through The Looking Glass, except that the Looking Glass is one of those funhouse mirrors all distorted.The acting was amazing - only four principal actors (Helena, male love interest, Mom and Dad), but they carried the story completely. The plot itself was marred only by the pacing (you would imagine someone trying to save a world wearing bunny slippers would have a slightly higher sense of urgency than meandering around anti-town slowly.) What makes this stand out is the amazing, amazing surreal landscape that McKean develops. It's literally like seeing one of his art pieces come to life and moving about. Not completely Dali-ish (although there is a rather creepy scene in which Helena gets dressed by mechanical robot-things which sing "Close To You" in a discordant minor key in a room full of clocks!), and yet there is something familiar about his work. Perhaps I've been staring too much at my Sandman covers. The art, the art, the art! Watch it because it is beautifully created and shot. Watch it to see what postcards by Dave McKean would look like if he merchandised. Watch it to see how far one amazing actor can carry a movie on her back, and not break it. I am in love with the art, the art, the art, and... am shaking in my seat because it is crazy-fantastically-wonderful. I wish the movie allowed us to take pictures or sketch things from its scenery because it was simply... wow. Not for everyone because it's really very, very sureal, but I loved it. Completely. I haven't even mentioned the soundtrack yet, which is something out of a mad genius' mind. Accordians, zylophones, circus tunes gone crazy in a minor key, they're all there... all there. I wish all of you could go and see it. It's simply ... ETA: I forgot to mention that I won these tickets on YOUTH.SG. Yes, YOUTH.SG. Have you not heard of YOUTH.SG? It's a portal for all the YOUTH of SG. Run by the people working near the flower gardens and horses, it's really YOUTHful for finding info on... random stuff pertaining to (what else?) YOUTH IN SG. (Towelboy: Enough plugging and links or not? I think your Google pagerank just skyrocketed. Heh. Yes, my blog is that influential.) [Mirrormask] |
mardi, mai 02, 2006 From a guy whom I very recently got to know, a question over lunch:"So, did you like, hate guys when you were in school or what?" [Awkward questions] |
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