FEARLESS

Kudos to Jet Li for restoring glory and dignity to Chinese martial arts in the above actioner, and also a special mention to Jay Chou for his paean to Li in his music video Huo Yuan Jia, which I must've streamed on my computer a gazillion times now.
God, I love this movie - and even more so the song!

369

The true files of the 369 Gang (classified!):
No. of members - currently 4 (used to be 40)

Age range - between 17 and 23 (but act like 32)

Dressing - chow ah beng style (what do you expect?)

Fav. hangout - anywhere with no police (aberthen!)

Fav. activities - bio-ing chio bus and wolf-whistling / getting into fights with rival gangs (tsk tsk)

Distinct feature/characteristic - walk like they own the road (see pic)

$ Ang Pao $

The ang pao (red packet) mom gave me on the 1st day of CNY. Or was it the eve? I can't remember. Haa! Anyway, I haven't opened it. Bo chup. Hee! So how much ang pao money did you guys receive this year?

P/S: I usually use mine to buy cat food for JHM. Am I the best pet owner in the world or what? (*Self-applaud*) LOL.

Oblivion

Is this Jerry? Nope. Hogan? Nah. Or Mandy? Not a chance! This is a stray sleeping under a playground slide behind my block. I crept up on the 'comatose' cat and trained my camera on it, but guess what? The creature was dead as a log and didn't move a whisker! (I presume sacking out on the synthetic surface provided plenteous comfort and insulation.)

Serenity

There's too much stress in our lives. It's no good for our health. We should take a break from work and take a walk in the park. Stop by one of these pavilions4 and rest on the bench. Admire the scenery around and appreciate nature the way it should be appreciated. Then - and only then - will we appreciate what living is all about. Shall we start today? :-)

Ready to Rumble!

30 superstars - 15 from RAW and 15 from SMACKDOWN! - in the same ring, all vying for a shot at their respective championship.

The rules are simple: 2 superstars, who drew #1 & #2, will enter the ring first and try to eliminate each other (by hurling his opponent over the top rope, both feet touching the floor).

Every 90 seconds, a new participant will enter the ring until all 30 participants have made their entrances.

The remaining superstar after the other 29 have been eliminated will be crowned the ROYAL RUMBLE winner and is guaranteed a shot at the WWE Title (if he's from Raw) or the World Heavyweight Title (if he's from Smackdown!) at WrestleMania.

It's every man for himself. Let the Rumble begin!

Roast Duck

Had roast duck rice for lunchies yesterday afternoon when most of the other food stalls were closed for business (due to CNY Eve). Waited patiently in line for nearly twenty minutes before it was my turn to order. Couldn't help but notice the excessive deposit of oil and fats along the bottom of the tray. (*Self-induced vomit*)

X-change Or-leng

Today's the first day of Cheena New Year. Eh, gong xi gong xi! Here are some Mandarin oranges (botanically known as tangerine) for 'da ji da li' (read: good luck). Oh, this is Ah Boy, ah? So big oledi, ah? Now primary what? Got girlfriend bo?

"Impudence"

In Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, Chow Yun-Fat's Master Li Mu Bai teaches his brazen protégé Jiao Long (Zhang Ziyi) a lesson in life as well as the finer points of wushu: "Real sharpness comes without effort; it is a state of mind." Noted, Mr. Miyagi.

The Shaw Story

The Shaw Organisation was founded in 1924 when the late Tan Sri Runme Shaw (1901-1985) arrived in Singapore from Ningbo, Shanghai. He was the third of seven children of a Shanghai textile merchant, Shaw Yuh Hsuen (1867-1920). (Source: Internet) Cut to 82 years later, the cinema operator is still a major player in the local film industry. The late Shaws should be smiling in their graves.

The Corridor

A most familiar sight for me every morning before I step out of the house to go to work. We don't have very friendly neighbors - that is, if my sometimes off-target intuition serves me right - so I never really try to socialize with them. In the evenings, though, mudder will let JHM (not short for 'just had menses', okay??) out to the corridor for their supervised jalan session - or what we used to call 'door door' :-P

Weilun & Yixuan

With the sole exception of METEOR GARDEN, I've never bothered to acquaint myself with inane Taiwanese 'idol dramas' (hereafter referred to as "TID"). I feel they're an utter waste of time?
Okay, now that I've got that outta ma system, it's time to unveil two of my favorite TID stars...

5Xu2 Wei3 Lun2. Once an item with WeWe's Li Wei. That's about all I know. And that she's a regular guest on, um, GUESS.
6Ady An1 Yi3 Xuan1. My preferred TID actress. Always loved her long flowing locks and slender frame :-P (Oops! I should be more decent. Heh!)

Happy Together

In this day and age, are we open and liberal enough to accept couples of the same gender? I am because I can. As a matter-of-fact, lesbianism has been a motif (i.e. recurring theme) in several of my stories, including blue dolphins and santa fe. Photographed above are ex-KAPian amelia (right) and her stead (dunno her name).

Hamper Surprise!

Last evening while Mom was getting her nightly telly fix and while I was frolicking with JHM, a delivery man arrived at our doorstep with this CNY hamper courtesy of our renovation contractor Xiuli. Needless to say, it was a most pleasant surprise! Amongst the items packed inside were the usual chocolates, mushrooms and preserved plums. Well, it's the thought that counts, right? :-)

Old Time Chess

When I retire in future, should I still be staying in Bukit Ho Swee, I hope to spend my late afternoons (before dinner time) sashaying around the pastoral neighborhood - only stopping by this weathered marble table to play a game (or two) of Chinese chess with an old-timer of my age. Haha. (Of course, I'll need to brush up my skills first!)

Polly, Put the Kettle on

Since we've never once sparked our kitchen stove (for fear of oil and grease), here are the most direct applications of our handy household kettle:
(1) To make coffee in the morning (for mom) and evening (for mom & meself).
(2) To cook cup or bowl noodles for dinner or supper.
(3) To cook half-boiled eggs (usually three at one go) on an ad hoc basis.
(4) To be used as a (curved) mirror - for Mandy Cat!
(5) For plain decoration (since there can only be so many uses of a kettle). Duh.

Creepers

In a span of six months, I've effectively transformed my barren balcony into a mini tropical rainforest. Okay, that sounds somewhat exaggerated. How 'bout 'botanical garden'? See all these 3creepers? They're growing a lil' outta hand and partially obstructing my otherwise pleasant view of the field outside. (Their roots, FYI, are already halfway down the parapet.) I'm so in need of a gardener!

LEON

1994: Natalie Portman, then only 13, made her feature film debut in Luc Besson's explosive crime thriller LEON (AKA THE PROFESSIONAL). In the movie, Portman's character Mathilda witnesses the cold-blooded execution of her entire family and vows vengeance.

Empathic hitman Leon (played by French actor Jean Reno) takes the poor orphan under his wing and teaches her how to 'clean'. In exchange, "I'll clean your place, I'll do the shopping, I'll even wash your clothes." Sounds like a fair trade to me.

Sniper 101: "The rifle is the first weapon you learn how to use, because it lets you keep your distance from the client. The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you can get to the client." Only rule: No women, no children.

Crooked DEA agent Stansfield (Gary Oldman) has some of the best - and most bizarre - lines in the movie: "It's when you start to become really afraid of death that you learn to appreciate life... I take no pleasure in taking life if it's from a person who doesn't care about it."

Catatonic Cat

9-year-old (that's 63 in kitty years) Jerry-san had too much to eat this morning. I believe Mom fed him a can of Friskies Mackerel & Sardine and some Purina Cat Chow. Lucky old fellow gets to snack & sleep all day long; if only my life's as good...

Pledge for Charity

A donation box displayed at the check-out counter of a Guardian pharmacy. Herein lies the question: Are you often aware of which beneficiary you're actually helping? Or are you merely doing it out of blind faith? For me, I'm afraid I belong to the second category :-X

The Red Doors

Does the above title qualify as one for a (straight-to-DVD South Korean) horror flick? I know the doors in this photo don't exactly look reddish, but never mind. Hehe. What we're interested to know is who are - rather, were - the rarely seen + secretive occupants of this now vacant unit on the same storey as our office. CIA? FBI?? KGB???

There's Something About Cheryl

I've never been an aficionado of beauty pageants. To me, they're as forgettable as this blog entry itself. Should you quiz me on who won Miss What in which year, chances are I'll be completely stumped. Having said that, I have a thing for Cheryl Tay. She's, of course, Miss Singapore Universe 2005 who recently landed a hosting gig on Channel 5's GOTCHA! (alongside EYE FOR A GUY dumpee Howard Lo). I can't put my finger on it... maybe it's her camaraderie with the TV audience... maybe it's her kindness toward animals (the 25-year-old used to be a veterinarian)... or maybe it's the way she reminds me of my colleague Caroline, whom I shamelessly profess to be my 'PTGF'. Tee hee!

Bret Hart

The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be. The Excellence of Execution Bret 'Hitman' Hart is the most skilful technical wrestler to ever compete in the squared circle - past or present. Be it the infamous 'Montreal Screwjob' in 1997 (where Hart was unceremoniously stripped of his gold by unscrupulous WWE boss Vince McMahon) or his stroke episode in 2002 (which he had fully recovered from), the inventor/innovator of the Sharpshooter submission move has shown more heart, guts and resilience than most of his peers.

P/S: And it doesn't hurt that his (new) wife's a real hottie, too!

United We Stand!

Another wall painting at the concourse of Raffles Place MRT Station. This one depicts the four major races of Singapore - Chinese, Malay, Indian and, er, Hong Kong Chinese? (Doesn't the androgynous bandleader on the right look like a young Andy Lau?)

Dong Dong Qiang

Caroline (or Jingwei), bubbly as a glass of champagne, is all sunshiny smiles here standing atop the Garden Bridge in Chinatown. Come January 28, which is the eve of the Lunar New Year, this whole place will be flooded with eleventh-hour shoppers converging from all over the Singapore islet. There'll be plenty of pushing and shoving and bargaining...oh, you know the drill.

Only for Show

(Pardon the poor illumination; one of the light tubes in my bedroom is out of order.) Some titles found on my book shelf: Leonard Maltin's 2004 Movie & Video Guide - the absolute must-have and only one true indispensable Bible for all cinephiles (although I've yet to get the latest edition.)
PULP FICTION / FROM DUSK TILL DAWN by Quentin Tarantino - screenplays I swear by.
HOW TO WRITE AND SPEAK BETTER from Reader's Digest - a scripture, perhaps, to serve my current job??

The Sultan

All shall bow before His Excellency the Sultan of Muruningu (pronounced "mu-ru-nin-gu"). Show your respect for one of the greatest rulers of the 21st century. As you might surmise, a man of his stature is sick of being chauffeured around in a swanky Mercedes-Benz and, from time to time, actually prefers to commute via the MRT.

Almost Heaven

cottons of cumulus clouds gilding the cerulean sky on a sunny day. if heaven was a place on earth, would it look like this?

See? She Doesn't Have Blue Eyes

5In Rob Marshall's MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, the character Chiyo is said to have "eyes of the sea"...
6But in real life, the actress who plays Chiyo, 12-year-old Kanagawa native Suzuka Ohgo, doesn't have "too much water" in her eyes and looks just like a regular Japanese kid. We're relieved.

Free Coke 4 All!

Cans of Coca-Cola with Lime sitting on the top shelf of our refrigerator, waiting to be consumed. God only knows how long that'll take, since I don't particularly fancy this new flavor. (Mom bought them by mistake.) So, for anyone out here who wants your taste buds 'tingled', be my guest! Limited to one can per person.

Cover 2 Cover

You're looking at the future Catherine Lim. After all, reading goes hand in hand with writing. Love of literature and good reading habits should be cultivated from young. Encourage your child, if you have one, to carry a book - any book - wherever she goes :-)

P/S: Why is it that when it comes to reading material for young girls, the only series I can think of is Sweet Valley High? Hmm...

Wh?

'Wh' can be used to phrase questions beginning with 'what', 'where', 'who' and 'why'. For instance, what is 'Wh'? I mean, what does it stand for? Where is it located? There's one at Great World City. There should be others. Who do they cater for? Only women and children. Why only women and children? Ask the manager, lor.

Skin Art

Be it henna or tattoo, skin art is glorious. Girls look in vogue sporting it and guys macho. The above is an ad by the world's local bank HSBC (though I'm not quite sure what these images have to do with banking and finance).

THE SIXTH SENSE

Not every gift is a blessing.

5Seeing the light: Bruce Willis and his young charge Haley Joel Osmont finally grasp that perception is not always reality.

M. Night Shyamalan's THE SIXTH SENSE successfully takes one of our deepest psychological fears and plays it to the fullest. In the movie, nine-year-old Cole Sear (Academy Award nominee Haley Joel Osmont) is endowed with the ability to "see dead people". His psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) tries his level best to help the boy cope with his unusual 'gift', not realizing that he is the one who really needs help.
How do you perceive THE SIXTH SENSE? As a horror movie? If so, then you may be missing the point. The movie, believe it or not, was meant to be a domestic drama - horror, in this case, is not a theme, but an undertone - exploring relationships between husband and wife as well as between mother and son.
The aforementioned psychological fear, by the way, is the fear of abandonment.

Come See Jenny Sing

She came. She sang. They watched. She left. They left. Stage still there. I walked past. Stage still there. I walked past again. Stage still there. I walked past one more time. Stage finally gone. Moral of the story: regular walking improves your health.

The Breadwinner

"Life is hard. Finding an ideal job these days is a fantasy. My friends ask me why, after graduating from poly, I'm working as a baker. I tell them it's just a job and I need the dough to support my family. I'm not gonna go into my sob story, but, yeah, it's a job."

ROAR!

This photo wasn't taken at Haw Par Villa (the local tourist spot formely known as Tiger Balm Gardens and Dragon World). Speaking of that, I haven't been to the place for donkey's years. (I wonder if it's still open to the public?) This cheetah/jaguar/leopard, however, looks pissed probably because (1) he just hit his head on the ceiling, or (2) he notices you've been staring at his 3private part for longer than necessary. Heh!

CNY Goodies

Chinese New Year's only a little over a fortnight away. Have you started shopping for festive foodstuffs and goodies? :-)

(Above left): Waxed duck and sausages! (*Drool*) Looking forward to mom cooking lup up fun with these lup cheung on top. (It's an acquired taste worth acquiring!)

(Above right): The Chinese call this 'ba bao he', which literally translates to 'box of eight treasures'. Sounds imperial, but strangely doesn't whet my appetite.

An Egyptian Legend

Why spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars traveling to Egypt to visit the Great Sphinx of Giza and the Pyramid of Khafre - yes, I've done my research (*grins*) - when you have, well, just about everything right under one roof...in a lavatory?! Now, tell me the first thing you notice about this Pharaoh statue. It only has one arm? That's obvious. It looks like Dicky Cheung? Hmm, he does! Or the three naked concubines circling its legs? Ah, now we're talking :-P

MARIA MADNESS!

Maria Sharapova - what would I do without her? Just when I thought I had gotten over this wunderkind, pictures of her Australian Open appearance surfaced on the Web.

If you read the ensuing entry, I mentioned getting "a lil' sick of Sharapova". Well, it appears I have to take back my words and eat 'em.

Not only am I not sick of her, I'm so head-over-heels for this amazing young woman!

5PowerShot: After double-faulting the last four times, Sharapova's making damn sure she doesn't miss the mark again this time (and she's got the balls to prove it!).

5Pulling her weight: A superstar in her own country (of Russia, in case you've been living under a rock), Sharapova's earnings in 2005 was US$18.2 million. She was ranked #57 in Forbes' Top 100 Celebrities list.

5Bronze Beauty: Tanned, toned and below ten percent in body fat. Guaranteed.


Having a ball of time: "Do soccer players have a longer shelf life than tennis players?" This is a question Sharapova's been asking herself a lot lately.

5Match Point: Sharapova one serve away from winning the championship - and my heart.