Saturday, July 29, 2006

You'd most probably not equate modern and bustling cities like Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore as romantic, but I think they are. Here's why in my list of 10 things I like about them.

#1 Gacha gacha in Singapore

I've been waiting for ages to get my hands on one of those toy dispensing machines. Whoopee! I wasn't disappointed when I accidentally saw them at SunTec City in Singapore. Rows upon rows of 'one-armed bandits' of great Japanese ingenuity! Eyes gleaming, hands itching, I spot a few gacha machines with Nightmare merchandise. For SGD2-4 per gacha, I'm easily pleased. You put SGD1 coins into the slot and turn the dial twice and hope to get what you want. They all come sealed in plastic bobble size.



And then you need to assemble them.



And the best part about Gashapon collectibles is that they are affordable, there is the attention to details down to the tiniest bit and they are screaming cute! And so I 'gambled' nine times over the spread of two days in hopes of getting a complete set, instead I got doubles. I'm keeping the extras to trade with other enthusiasts though.


The assembled Lock, Shock and Barrel in the walking bath tub


Jack embracing Sally with Zero at the foot of the curly hill


Sally - you could see every thread of her

to be cont...

5:00 PM 0 comments hmm?

Feature Film: July 29, 2006 / 110 minutes
Director: Goro Miyazaki

When will it reach our shores? When ...

1:10 PM 1 comments hmm?

Saturday, July 22, 2006

it has been a good two years. goodbyes are inevitable. we have to bid ours now. goodbye greenie.



here's your last shower ... after many many months covered in grime and dirt. i'm sorry, i guess i just never got around to clean you. after all, you were only temporary hehe ...

6:54 PM 0 comments hmm?

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

How would you describe a 19-year-old, who is fashionably chic and thin, puffs on Picayune cigarettes, drowns herself in martinis, a head filled with odd ideas about herself and the world, a party-mad society celebrity? – an innocent Paris Hilton of the 1940s era; that’s Holly Golightly for you. Like her name, she fleets through her life light as a butterfly, never a moment of worry, well, perhaps just one worry – to find a comfortable place like Tiffany’s to call home.

I like Holly. I like unpredictable, complicated, mysterious individuals. They are like Pandora boxes, waiting for the curious to unlock them. It is like delving into the unknown black hole of the mind, untangling the webs of confusion and finally reaching out to unravel the yarns that separate reality from imaginary. I like doing that. I feel triumphant if I managed to break down the wall of mystery. Because understanding other people helps me understand myself.

I am not like Holly. I occasionally imagine tragic thoughts about myself and others and become emotionally affected by it. I become the patient/psychiatrist. I cry and console myself at the same time to snap out of it. Call me a drama queen, if you want. I like that. Sometimes, all these make-believe thoughts do cross over to the boundaries of reality. How unavoidably tragic.

Maybe I am a little like Holly. I like Tiffany’s. I like the idea of perfectionism and diamonds are just that; always checked for quality, precisely cut and weighed for its carats before being put on display. Diamonds don’t rust. Diamonds are pretty. Diamonds are blindingly sparkly. But the best diamonds I like are not sold in Tiffany’s. Just bring out the mat on a cool night, away from the city lights and look up. Did someone just breathe a sigh of relief?

I like Capote’s writing style – simple. This is my first time reading his works. I have to admit that I didn’t know it was him who wrote this classic until the 2005 movie release, Capote that caught my eye. I would like to explore his other works sometime soon. This book contains three other short stories that are equally engaging and witty. I rate this book 5 out 5 stars.

10:37 PM 2 comments hmm?

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

there was once a platypus
who is friends with an octopus
whose skin is ridden with acne pus
and they both live up in the eucalyptus.

11:27 AM 0 comments hmm?

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

adopt your own virtual pet!

This is Marcel, my pet. Your pet mouse may play with him. Marcel is a dying breed, I mean how often do you see a magenta monkey anyway? His scientific name is magentalis monyetilis. Please remind your mouse to be gentle with him. (:

1:39 AM 0 comments hmm?

Yay! Italy won the World Cup! Bring out the beer... bring out the cheer... bring out the uhm... oh well, what matters is I won the bet this time! Okay, so I'm not a football fan and I doubt I'll ever will be. So far I've only watched a match or two during this World Cup season and I did learn a thing or two - football is like Desperate Housewives. There's the money-minded Gabrielle Solis as the team coach, three-foot Susan Mayer the fumbler who misses the goal too often, drama queen Edit Britt who strutts, screams, kick ass and grimaces for the cameras, shouting queen (explicits and gesture showing) Lynette Scavo, and the holier than thou Bree Van De Kamp who pauses to give thanks to God when a goal is scored. All the kicking in the groin, crying and then rolling on the grass ala a Bollywood movie - for one ball. And men label us women as bitchy? Hmmm...

p/s I have nothing against football, I just couldn't help being satirical about it hehehe...

12:52 AM 0 comments hmm?

Sunday, July 09, 2006

I can't believe I lost three bets in a row! Especially to Boon!! I lost both bets on the semifinals and third placing match. Tonight, or rather tomorrow morning, the tables will be turned, the stars will realign in my favour and I will win the final battle and Boon will be the sore loser muahahaha ...



Go Italy!!!

5:15 PM 3 comments hmm?

Saturday, July 08, 2006

First, a very Happy Birthday to Japanese gal who've just turned ... erm ... as old as me! Don't contemplate too much or else you'll end up like me, a contemplator! (:

Second, congratulations to Kelly who've moved into her own cosy, lavender-ly home. A simple and homely decorated place. I liked it a lot!

And third, I can't believe I embarassed myself so much tonite on the way home. Irene dropped me and Yen off at Sri Petaling lrt station and I proceeded to the ticketing counter to get one. I said to the man, 'One ticket to KJ please'. He said, 'Oh, you meant PJ, right?' 'No, KJ please'. The guy smirkingly obliges and as I looked at the ticket fare of RM1.60, I said again, 'Uhm, I said one ticket to KJ, Kelana Jaya not PJ'. This time he says, 'There isn't any train going direct to PJ gal! You've got to switch trains to get to KJ'. By now, I'm having this blank stare. Yen interrupts, 'Yeah, you need to get a ticket to Masjid Jamek interchange station, have you forgotten how to take the trains?' Wait a sec! Aw man, I thought I was on the Putra line! Smiling sheepishly, I took the ticket, fumbled with it at the turnstile, feeling a blush rushing to my cheeks and thanked my lucky stars there wasn't anyone around to see my blunder. Okay, so it's been awhile since I took public transport blegh...

11:59 PM 2 comments hmm?

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

I finally finished reading this book yesterday at 1.30am after hanging on to it in between the past few months. There were only a couple of chapters left and I felt overwhelmingly compelled to read it till the end. After being swooned by the title initially and how I ‘fought’ my way to obtain one of the last copies that were on sale, I had to finish this book!

The story is told in flashbacks by the protagonist, Kathy H. reflecting back to the times when she was a student at Hailsham, a boarding school for unique students right up to the time when she became a carer for organ donors. The plot unfolds rather slowly and the reader is kept guessing all the time. The author sure knows how to tantalise the reader with a dangling carrot. I feel so emotionally manipulated. :P It’s actually quite tiring at times because you know and you don’t quite know what’s happening at the same time. The flashbacks can be quite a tedious read. I kept having these questions running around in my head: Why does these students only have an initial for a surname? Who are these donors and carers they are discussing among themselves all the time? Why are the students encouraged to be artistic? Why are they continuously reminded that they are special? Why are their guardians exceptionally weirder than their charges? All these are revealed along the way and the central plot is only made known almost towards the end of the book.

The only issue that caught my attention was the delicate collision between science and humanity. We, the intellectual higher beings feel it is ok to pursue our personal selfish exploitations at the expense of another person’s loss. That it is ok to violate the laws of nature in the name of love and perfection.

When I watched you dancing that day, I saw something else. I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her a breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go. – Madame

Poignant read if you have time to kill. I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

10:54 PM 0 comments hmm?

Monday, July 03, 2006

The paperback edition has finally been released at RM39.90 after months of waiting! Although bookshops have been selling the hardcover edition at the paperback price recently, we decided to wait for the paperback so it would match our other paperback editions of Rowlings' works. And yes, it has to be a Bloomsbury edition children's version, mind you.

On my 'to buy list'!

10:56 AM 1 comments hmm?