If you haven’t had the honour of meeting ickle and Lardee, you have to visit My Milk Toof for a peak of their adventures. It’s the cutest thing ever! And the amount of effort put into each shot is amazing!
Farewell 2009
And yet another year comes to an end. Time flies, you might say. But looking back at all that has happened this year, time doesn’t seem to have passed that quickly after all. 2009 has been easily one of the most eventful years for me and it was one hell of a ride. This time, instead of doing the usual resolutions, thank yous, etc, I shall attempt to capture the highlights of the year in a few photos.
Last School Day!
Graduating!
Getting my MacBook! And playing with PhotoBooth...
Exploring Italy!
Meeting Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer!
And of course, starting work. Which I don’t have a picture for.
Happy MMX everyone! May the new year be a splendid one.
The Paper
Wrote this about a month or so ago. Posting it now to prevent another blog drought.
Exciting and entertaining, The Paper not only gives viewers a peek of the goings on behind the production of a newspaper, but also takes us on a roller-coaster ride as Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) races against time to ensure his story makes the headlines.
Henry Hackett, a passionate editor at the New York Sun, is forced to consider another job at a more established newspaper in order to spend more time with his pregnant wife, Martha (Marisa Tomei). However, when the chance of getting a big story for his paper arises, Henry blows his chances at the new job and stops at nothing to put the story on the front page.
This is a fast paced film with all events happening within a day. Tension is nicely built up with the help of some clever editing from sequence to sequence. The buzz and excitement of the newsroom is also well portrayed and Ron Howard successfully draws the audience into the frenzy of it all.
As the film progresses, its plot gets increasingly far fetched and exaggerated. However, the strength of this film lies in its good character development supported by a strong cast and witty dialogue. Michael Keaton and Glenn Close lead wonderfully, both portraying strong characters determined to get what they want and at the same time providing some comedic moments. Also as praiseworthy is Randy Quaid. His portrayal of the quirky McDougal was a truly stellar performance and what started off as a character that seemed to just provide comic relief ended up playing a significant role is driving the plot.
The main underlying theme of The Paper is how people struggle as they juggle between their careers and families. This is something many people go through today and can relate to. Many would be able to sympathise with Henry who finds himself torn between his quest for the ideal story for his newspaper and his pregnant wife or with Bernie (Robert Duvall) whose relationship with his daughter suffers as a result of a hectic job.
Funny and engaging, The Paper is an enjoyable film, which will keep viewers glued to their screens.
5 things I miss about unemployment
It’s been almost 2 months since I last updated. And what else happened almost 2 months ago? Yes, I started work. It does feel empowering starting on my first real job but I also have to kiss my lazy, idle days goodbye and probably revisit them 40 years later. So here’s my way of bidding these days farewell.
1. Blogging, reading, writing
I used to spend most of the day doing these if I stayed home. I managed to read some of the books I’ve been wanting to read but didn’t have the time to during my university days. I also spent hours on end on the internet blog hopping, reading commentaries and browsing through online magazines. And these provided me with things to blog about since many of my posts are about interesting things I stumble upon. I’d also write the occasional book/movie/music review. But since I don’t have that many hours to sit in front of my laptop or in my bed with a book anymore, the blogging naturally stopped. And this is something I do really miss because I do like to keep the gears in my brain well oiled. But the situation will improve, I believe. Things are kinda bad now with my working retail hours 6 days a week. Fortunately, that will all come to an end by the end of next week and I’ll go back to working office hours, 5 days a week. That will hopefully mean more time for this particular activity. So in case you’re wondering, no, this blog is not dead.
2. Cooking
I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I did spend many of my days of unemployment in the kitchen. I’ve grown to enjoy it tremendously and I’m still yearning to experiment with new recipes. I don’t think that would happen very often now though, since I can’t be home early enough to prepare dinner for the family. I would still try to squeeze in a dish or two on some weekends though.
3. Friends
Yes, I do have friends at work but I miss my university friends terribly. Sure, we’ve got phones and the almighty internet and we have been using these marvelous creations to keep in touch but it’s been ages since we met. If there’s one thing I miss about my undergrad days, it’s definitely their company. I loathed studying and assignments and projects got on my nerves all the time but having great friends go though all that crap with me was truly a blessing. Can’t wait till we next meet.
4. Having the day to myself
Waking up at 11am, having brunch with Mummy, hanging out in town without being bothered by the weekend crowd, sitting in front of the TV for hours, catching up with old friends over nice dinners, staying up late. All that. I miss it.
5. Bus concessions
Well, this is more like something I miss about being a student. But anyway, it used to cost me just $52 a month for unlimited bus rides. But I don’t get that anymore and it hurts every time I top up my ez-link card, which happens too often. And I now consider different routes to my destination, calculate the different fares (easy peasy thanks to gothere.sg), weigh cost vs. efficiency, etc. Such a pain in the ass.
All that being said, I am thankful for my job. It’s an interesting position in an industry I’ve been dying to be part of and I’m truly grateful to be given such an opportunity. It’s not my dream job per se, but close enough. Very close. And considering I’m not academically qualified in the area, I really couldn’t ask for more.
Tartufo Love
One of the many things I love about Florence is the food. I’ve blogged about Florence before but I wonder why I didn’t mention anything about the food! There were lots of great eats but what was most memorable was trying truffle for the first time. Yes, it took me 23 years and a 15 hour journey to discover it.
Hard to believe that such a simple looking fungus which somewhat resembles a potato or tapioca can be so expensive! White truffles can cost more than 3000 euros per kilo while the cheaper black ones cost about 200 to 600 euros per kilo.
My first taste came in the form of a tiny truffle sandwich which I shared with a friend. I’ve been warned that it’s an acquired taste but no, it was love at first bite for me (sounds so True Blood, haha). We then had the wonderful fungus again on a pizza at Trattoria ZaZa. Trattoria ZaZa also happens to be an excellent restaurant which I would highly recommend. Great food, great service and nice funky decor. If you happen to be visiting Florence, it’s located right next to Il Mercato Centrale. Need the address? Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 26r. Here’s what we had for dinner.
So, back to truffles. I visited Il Mercato Centrale on my last day there and got to sample various truffle products like honey and jam. I bought a little jar of truffle jam back to Singapore so now I can still enjoy it at home! I only eat it once in a while though. Can’t bear to chomp down chunks of it in one go. I dread the moment when I have to scrape the last bits of it from the bottom of the jar.
Rorschach’s Journal
“Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout ‘Save us!’… And I’ll look down, and whisper ‘No’.” Watchmen, Alan Moore
How can you stop reading after an opening like that?
Great covers
I don’t usually like covers, especially if it’s of a song I really like. One of the reasons why I don’t like talent/singing type shows like Idol. But I don’t detest all covers. On the contrary, there are some I really like at least at much as the original, maybe even more (Marco Hietala’s vocals alone already makes Nightwish’s High Hopes so much better than the original. And we aren’t even talking about the arrangements yet.). These are usually covers where the musicians give the song a whole new feel and interpretation and play it in their style. Listen to some of my favourite covers and you’ll get what I mean!
Helden/Heroes Original by David Bowie
Wonderwall Original by Oasis
High Hopes Original by Pink Floyd
Ain’t Nobody Original by Chaka Khan
Cute gone bad indeed
Can’t believe I went through every single strip. Some are so cute and funny I’ll never see said items the same way again.
