$2 Lunch

Finding food felicity in S'pore's as easy as ABC, but doing it for two dollars? Now, that's a toughie. Sorry, but Ananas doesn't count 'cos I've tried and regretted it. This bowl of dried fishball mee pok from a coffee shop along SBR, on the other hand, costs only $2.00, making it a rare commodity in a prime locality like Boat Quay.

THE PYRAMID GAME

Pardon me for not being able to find a better (and more relevant) graphic for Channel 5's once popular game show. Gone were the days when original host-turned-player Darryl David dazzled us with his impeccable clue giving/puzzle solving skills, or when announcer-turned-player William Xavier (Mr. X) wowed us with his engaging woofer voice (and wrist bands), or when new host-turned-playboy (just kidding!) Benedict Goh bewitched us with his, er, cute girly dimples?

Kallang Seafood

Even if you're attracted by alfresco tables and an outdoor (read: rooftop) dining area, it still ain't wise to fool around with a thing like seafood allergy - that is, unless you wish to get hives all over your face. (Psst...we've been told the service and atmosphere there5are also pretty subpar.)

No Monkey Business

Never send a chimp to do an orangutan's job. Promoting tourism in Singapore is serious business. After all, the late Ah Meng had been doing it for monkey years.

Mongolian Death Worm

Why is it that the farther away from civilization, the more fantastical the cryptids? The Mongolian Death Worm (known locally as allghoi, or 'blood-filled intestine worm'), which can measure up to 5 feet, is alleged to spew sulfuric acid and discharge electric currents. Pray that you don't get ambushed by one of these Gobi Desert invertebrates while embarking on the Silk Road.

It Moves!

1. Enlarge image 2. Concentrate on focal point (i.e. light source) 3. Embrace Araneae

I Don't Give a Flying Crab...

...about being an 'un-commissioned conman', but inefficiency and disorganization don't cut it.

Jack of All Trades

>> Now serving as Marketing / Leasing Executive for Jack Investment, an entertainment-cum-event management company which owns and operates Leisure Park Kallang and the avant-garde Iluma at Bugis, the FB-bonking Jimmy Chia is no longer the same nonchalant playboy as before – or is he still?

Astro Boy Is Dead

Can we send him back to Doctor Tenma at the Ministry of Science for repairs?

High Hatters

Someone urgently needs to set up a policing unit to apprehend all these walking fashion disasters. How many times do we have to echo and emphasize before the message gets drilled into their thick heads? 'High caps' are NOT COOL! They're FREAKING UGLY!

Leftover?

We can't believe Scrat the spunky squirrel-cat, whose obsession with acorns has been reinforced in each ICE AGE entry, would leave behind scraps of his favorite food.

Mind Control

Wouldn't it be warped and totally wicked if one could actually control the mind of another? I know psychologists will laugh at my ignorance, but isn't this all about getting straight 'A's for your exams or quarterly promotions/increments at work?

Club Cabanna

Carlito's not here, chicos. He's gone back to kindergarten 'cos he can't spell the word 'Cabana' correctly. Pity. That young man's got a lot of potential. He even opened a club, as you can see.

ION Orchard

Months of hullabaloo from Hougang to Tiong Bahru (it's not intended to mean anything) didn't materialize into much hoopla or balooza when CapitaLand's multi-billion ION Orchard officially opened its doors to the public late yesterday morning. Last heard, there are some parking problems to boot in spite of 650 lots. Unbelievable, huh?

Ed: Managed to take a sneak peek inside the 'coffin' and, boy, was I bowled over big time! Reckon it'll take a casual shopper half a day (or more) to completely cover this megamall.

Marina Barrage Series

Ever since catching Marina Barrage on the Channel U infotainment program AMUSE U! (hosted by Mark Lee and Vivian Lai) some time back, I've been desiring to come to this place. It's outdoors, for one, plus there should be plenty of photo ops. I wasn't wrong.

Fact file: The $226 million urban project, constructed on reclaimed land across the Marina Channel, was conferred the Superior Achievement Award in May this year by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.

Shall we have a look around?

5This is a water fountain (albeit 'algaed'), not wishing well; don't start flipping coins into it.

5And don't be a menace to the marine ecosystem while drinking your juice in the hood.

5Dam! This simulator thingy really reminds me of some GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA movie.

5Not commemorating the lunar landing, but cautioning the continual degeneration of Gaia.

5What can we get you to soothe those frazzled nerves?

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Total Eclipse

For thrill seekers who've always wanted to make out in the middle of Tiananmen Square, well, here's your chance. Two days from now the moon will 'eat' the sun and planet earth will enter a few minutes of pitch blackness, so be sure to get your roll-up straw mats ready!

Ajisen, neh!

a brimming bowl of ramen can give you knee-bending gratification...

In the Sun

This is the only time Uncle J and his 'sibs' get to soak up some sun - when we open the door to our access corridor outside in the evenings and on weekends. Funny how 'domesticats' loathe H2O and love Vitamin D (despite their thick coats of fur). Does heatwave help to kill fleas? Would they like some Coppertone® to go with it?

Michigan Dogman

I've probably said this a hundred times before, but yours truly's not a particu-larly huge adherent of werewolves simply because these anthro-pomorphic shapeshifters are closer to mythology than cryptozoology. But with the emergence of the Gable film (search YouTube for it) I may become a believer, after all.

HK's Famous King of Style & Fashion

All hail Leonard Gilfroy Sum Cheung Wah. Talk to his hair.

Growing Paints

"I am who I am", NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, when asked about his outburst of temper. "I am going to be judged by what I do", he added. Give the man kudos for being so upfront about himself.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

5Drag him to hell: Justin Long learns of things that're far more dreadful than vengeful Lamia witches.

Victor Salva's return-to-basics horror film JEEPERS CREEPERS (taken from the same-title song by Louis Armstrong) is an effective-enough suspenser carried by an elusive Creeper that drives a rusty 1948 Chevrolet COE van and gets to feed (on human body parts) every 23rd spring for 23 days. Can't fault the feller for having such a voracious appetite, then. Too bad the sequel sort of sucked.

'Liberty' Gets Busy

Who needs undergarments when they've got well-waxed underarms?

Schindler's Legacy

Decades succeeding the genocidal Holocaust, great German industrialist Oskar Schindler spent his declining years giving back to humanity by develop-ing...the escalator? :-S

RTM

I can't sing many praises of Malaysia's free-to-air RTM channels (of which one is receivable in Singapore). Not only are they still stuck in the infancy of television production and programming, mefeels they also have some serious punctuality issues to iron out.

Koala Kare

Introducing our new tree-mounted, Eucalyptus-scented baby changing stations to meet all your diapering needs!

Marinah Marzuki

She was my immediate higher-up during my incumbancy with Pearson Education Asia (yeah, I was a PEA-brain). Managing Editor then, who knows what appointment the Meticulous One might be holding these days. Co-publisher with stakes/stock options, per-wraps?

We Are Family

Singstat has given us a helpful breakdown of our population into different racial groups, but what it failed to specify is that 25% of the inhabitants here are actually 'residents' (from China, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, etc.) as opposed to 'citizens'. Any comments?

Table Ice Hockey

a hasty game of carrom for hyperactive bipedals?

Eubangsa

No point splitting hairs over spilt milk...

Russell Lee

Spotted Flame of the Forest linchpin Russell Lee (which, frankly, wasn't such a hard thing to do) signing posters of himself and shaking hands with fans of his 19-book True Singapore Ghost Stories anthology. Say, could it be Mark Van Cuylenberg (AKA The Flying Dutchman) behind that mask?

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Don't Copycat

We know how cool the climactic shoot-out with Eliot Ness and George Stone at Union Station in Brian De Palma's THE UNTOUCHTABLES looks, but these are not prams and stairs we're talking about. Don't anyhow pray pray, hor.

iPhone 3GS

The Apple iPhone just got better (read above) with 3GS. Featuring video recording (in portrait or landscape), voice control (with name and music recognition) and up to 32GB of storage space, techies will want to stay ahead of the curve by getting one of these babies with their next paycheck.

Me, I'm perfectly happy not succumbing to 'slavery'.

Oscar the Grouch

"Alright, you knuckleheads! Show's over! Go home and MYOB!"

Jaguar Bed

Ford's Jaguar Racing may have fizzled on the Formula One tracks, but we heard their bed sets are selling like hot cakes. May we, then, make a pitch for promotional tie-ins with local hoteliers during the forthcoming Grand Prix season?

Losing Neverland

Curtains have fallen on the MJ memorial service. With toxicology results still several weeks away and the late KoP's full med records subpoenaed by the court, we won't know yet what killed the Moonwalker. Neither do we know what'll happen to his 2,676-acre Neverland Ranch. Maybe Macaulay Culkin should repossess it – that is, if he can afford it.

Melancholic Manny

"Am I stuck here for the rest of my life? When can I fulfill my dream of becoming a crash test dummy for Chrysler?"

Departures

What with Grassland coaches drifting and skidding all over the Genting slopes, might a better mode of travel to the Batu Caves be Sri Maju deckers? Oh, don't tell me you prefer to cab all the way from Serangoon to Selangor?? I can only say 你 是 rich 的, lor.

养 小 鬼

Ever heard of some Chinese occultists who keep stillborn fetuses in jars of formaldehyde as a form of devil worshipping? It's been said that these 'pets', which are far from dead, can bring forth love, beauty and untold fortune to their owners as long as fresh human blood is fed to them every day. Did I get the myth correct?

Up 2 No Good

"By hook, by crook, or by the book, Operation Murukku must NOT fail."

Think Twice!

Is being imprisoned in a maximum security penitentiary with perverted inmates (think shower & soap) really worth it for shoplifting a 2-dollar bangle from Daiso?

J C Sum & 'Magic Babe' Ning

Hailed by FHM as 'Singapore's Most Fabulous Magic Duo', the equal partnership of illusionist J C Sum (32) and entrepreneur 'Magic Babe' Ning Cai (26) has sparked fervid interest across Asia and put our otherwise Copperfield-less country on the world map.
He's accomplished The Impossible Teleportation while she's escaped from The Impalement Cage. Together, they'll rock Guinness with The Impossible Record.

Mori no Ikameshi

There's this Hokkaido (Food) Fair/Festival taking place at Tampines Mall's Isetan (Atrium Level) until Sunday. One of the many provisions on show is Mori no Ikameshi ($6.80 for 2's/box) from Morimachi Town. For the uninitiated, these are squids braised in special sweet soy sauce and stuffed with steamed glutinous rice. The aroma may put some off, but the taste's ordinarily acceptable.

The Youths Are There

At the SIS, sweating it out (and braving airborne bacteria) at the AYG, so that they can qualify for the YOG; elseways, those SOBs will LOL at them, and that's FOS. Hang in there, kids! It's almost over!