My thoughts on "Love Matters"

Happy Birthday to...
30th Jan- Bryan Wong, Christian Bale and Shanwei
31st Jan- Justin Timberlake and Ken Lam


Yesterday, I finally found the time to watch "Love Matters" on Thursday, at Bugis Junction that is. Henry Thia and Yann Yann share good chemistry, hilarious to the max. Yet some of the topics covering underage sex and the publicising of sex videos on Youtube may seem a tad too sensitive and disturbing (hence the NC-16 rating). The part where Benny was stripped and about to be castrated by Lai Ming and Rosalind Pho was bone-chilling yet hilarious. One scene you cannot miss out is the one where an Indian parking attendant speaks in fluent Chinese (!!!). Rating: 7.5 out of 10.


Earlier today, I went to watch "Punisher War Zone". It was sort of a last minute decision, esp since I was already at EW Suntec deciding on what to watch. It was better than the 2004 film starring Thomas Jane... unlike the first one which was rated NC-16, this Marvel-comic based film is rated M-18, and stayes true to the origins of the Punisher comic. The new guy named Ray Stevenson who plays Frank Castle kicks major mafia butt. and he shows no mercy in breaking necks and blasting away his victims' faces!! Plot is a bit thin in regards to Jigsaw's rampage and FBI agent Donatelli's widow and daughter trying to survive, but the film is still violent and action-paced at best. Not as good as Iron Man or Hulk, but it's not a major disappointment. Not recommendable to fans with weak hearts!! Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Next possible movie to watch... Inkheart. :-)

My thoughts on the Royal Rumble and other things

Happy Birthday to Rui En, Patrick Ma and Britestar

I am actually quite surprised by the outcome on the 2009 Royal Rumble... for the first time in 10 years, a heel character, namely Randall Keith Orton, has emerged the winner of this year's Royal Rumble (this does not count individuals who turn heel in the weeks following Royal Rumble or WrestleMania). Orton verified that he (kayfabe) suffers from IED (intermittent explosive disorder), a condition that the WWE is aware of, and stated that if anyone tries to stop him from going to the Main Event at WrestleMania 25, not only will he sue the company for breech of contract, he will also be taking Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr along with him... and he will make sure that the whole company is closed down should he get fired.

Thus Stephanie McMahon felt that firing him would be too easy, in spite of Orton's repeated attempts to beg her into doing so... so she decided to bring out her brother Shane to confront Orton for what he had done to their father. Ironically, the last heel individual to emerge the winenr of the Royal Rumble match was the very person who got kicked in the skull by the Legend Killer just last week... none other than the chairman of the company himself, Vince McMahon (back in 1999... the Rumble for that year was one of the worst Rumble matches in WWE history).

Not much of a surprise on some of the other matches... Cena retained the World Heavyweight Title, Jack Swagger retained the ECW Title, and Melina defeated Beth Phoenix to become new Women's Champion. But the way the WWE Title changed hands was indeed a surprise (much like Survivor Series)... Matt Hardy turning on his brother Jeff (the then-champion) and giving Edge the opportunity to win the WWE Title once more.

And on a personal note... I find it way too ironic that I could be 'let go' at a rather unceremonial rate (by phonecall, can you believe it!!), just mere weeks after a heart-to-heart talk with my employer. Then again, I was informed that the 'day of reckoning' could happen anytime, even without prior notice. I was left with rather mixed feelings about this... and licking my own wounds as well. It didn't help that my replacement was already announced beforehand. The question ringing in my mind wasn't "How come so soon?", but rather "Why no early notice??". Is that how things work in the sector? The only thing I have to do now is read the Classified Ads more often, and try my very best to persevere during these trying times of economic crisis. Nothing else I can do... it's like a total eclipse of the heart. I'm afraid I can't give any more details on what happened... guess it's rather easy to figure out :-/

If I were to suffer from IED (so far there wasn't any known case as such), God knows what I might do... I could lose control of myself and perhaps deliver a vicious punt kick to the head of that person who issued my 'end date' and for not even sparing me a few days' grace. And I know too well that my employer was not responsible for it, but someone else of a higher position than him.

To end off, I will put in the theme song of the 2009 Royal Rumble winner, back by popular demand. I dedicate this song not just to the WWE fans, but also to those whose birthday falls today. And yes, congrats to Rui En for winning "Babe of The Year" award for the 2009 The New Paper Flame Awards... ;-)

(If you want to find out more about IED, you may search for it under Wikipedia)

Voices- Rev Theory (Randy Orton's current theme)

I hear voices in my head
They council me, they understand
They talk to me...

You got your rules and your religion
All designed to keep you safe
But when rules start getting broken
You start questioning your faith
I have a voice that is my savior
Hates to love and loves to hate
I have the voice that has the knowledge
And the power to rule your fate

I hear voices crying, I see heroes dying
I taste the blood that's drying, I feel the tension rising

[Chorus]
I hear voices in my head
They council me, they understand
They talk to me, they talk to me
They tell me things that I will do
They show me things I'll do to you
They talk to me... (talk to me, talk to me)
Talk to me!!! (talk to me, talk to me)

They talk to me... (talk to me, talk to me)
Talk to me!!! (talk to me)

All the lawyers are defenseless
All the doctors are disease
And the preachers all are sinners
And the police just take the grease
All you judges you are guilty
All the bosses I will fire
All you bankers will have losses
And politicians are all liars

I see darkness falling, I hear voices calling
I feel justice crawling, I see faith has fallen
(Repeat chorus)

I hear voices crying, I see heroes dying
I taste the blood that's drying, I feel the tension rising
I hear voices in my head
They council me, they understand
They talk to me, they talk to me
They tell me things that I will do
They show me things I'll do to you
They talk to me...!!!!

Pictures taken during CNY

Pictures taken on Chinese New Year Eve...

Little Frog Prince is also looking forward to the upcoming Reunion Dinner... :-)

Steamboat buffet!!! Unfortunately, there were plenty of leftovers in the end.

Game of mahjong right after dinner.

Pictures taken on 2nd day of Chinese New Year

Hehe, adorable little squirrel perched on a tree located around Thomson Heights. This was taken soon after we left Kor-kor Teck's house and on our way to the bus stop outside.

Awesome scenery taken from Kor-kor Hong Hua's house

Lohei time

Another round of mahjong!! I still couldn't believe I, a pure novice, won 2 games.

Birthday celebration for Kor-kor Teck. Check out the different layers on the slice.

Bowls of smokey ice cubes... something like a practical test in chemistry.

"Flying cows" of various colors along the empty grass patches in front of Kor-kor Hong Hua's flat. The pic of the sunlight across the blocks of flats is something like God Almighty speaking to anyone in general.

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Happy Birthday to...
27th Jan- Fann Wong, Andrew Lam and Tan Eng Soon
28th Jan- Hady Mirza, Nick Carter and Gayle C

This was how I spent CNY this year...

Sunday (25th Jan)
Went for morning service with family, then I went to help Mother collect some duck pieces from marketplace. I reached home rather early at abt 11.30 am, had frozen pizza for lunch, and then spent the next few hrs surfing the Net. Tris' friend Aaron (who hailed from Canada) came over and the 4 of us took a taxi to Cousin Teck's house. It was there that we had reunion dinner steamboat style... and apparently us youngsters could only manage to finish half of the food on the table, while the elder generation still went rather strong. After a few games of mahjong, me and family headed back home, in time to watch the CNY Countdown on Channel 8.

Monday (26th Jan)
We bought some Big Breakfast Meals from McDonald's, and then spent nearly the whole day slacking at home. Initially I thought of going out,but was just too lazy to do so. Nevetheless, I managed to successfully download a really old VGA game titled "Quest For Glory 1: So You Want To Be A Hero", a game I had not played for abt 10 years. Yet surprisingly I can still remember the map and some of the objectives, even though I no longer have the self-made walkthrough booklet to the game. After I watched "Little Nyonya Big Reunion", me and family took a bus to Changi Airport... it was there that we had dinner at a pasta restaurant at Terminal 2... one that had very few patrons. We then took the Skytram to Terminal 1 to welcome Dad back. Lights out at 1 plus.

Tuesday (27th Jan)
Ahhh, this is where the real fun began. We left the house at 10 plus to visit A-kin first, pray for her and then take a bus to Hoon-jie's house. It was there that we (along with Kor-kor Teck and family) had lunch of spagetthi, beef steak, pizza, potato slices and the like. Then we celebrated Kor-kor Teck's birthday with a multi-flavored cake bought by Hoon-jie herself. Then after KK Teck and family left the place at 3 (and Tris off to visit friends), I had my first taste of mahjong, and with some help from Hoon-jie, I managed to win the first 2 games (I call it beginner's luck). While the others continued playing, I went to surf the Net for cheat codes to "Quest For Glory 1". Me and folks then left the place at around 6, had quick dinner at Bishan and then headed back home. Tris and Wendy came over at 8 plus and we played Taboo (which we had played before) as well as 5-Alive (a game we had not played for a long time). I tried to watch the whole of "Evan Almighty", but found myself becoming rather weary and sleepy, so I decided to go to sleep at 12 plus. Thing is myself and Tris got lesser angpow money than the last 2 years, mostly due to the economic crisis, and also partly bcos Kor-kor Teck had just retired.

Stay tuned for pictures in an upcoming post... ;-)

My thoughts on latest news for recent weeks

Happy Birthday to Vince Carlo and Jerome Neo

In regards to the 2008 milk scandal in mainland China, he Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang sentenced Sanlu employees Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping to death, Tian Wenhua to life in prison, on 22 January 2009. Zhang was convicted for producing 800 tons of contaminated powder, Geng for producing and selling toxic food. The China Daily reported Geng had knelt on the courtroom floor and begged the victim's families for forgiveness during the trial. The court also sentenced Sanlu deputy general managers Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi to fifteen years and eight years in jail respectively, former manager Wu Jusheng to five years.

I'm not exactly good with words, and I also partly fear that I may offend anyone in general... but the only thing I can say is that it's only right for Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinpeng to bear full responsibility for the deaths of many kids and get the death sentence for the distribution of contaminated powder and toxic food. Then again, who would have expected such things to happen? Life is just so unpredictable...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

I am personally horrified by the latest murder case in Virginia Tech University, the very site that saw 32 people gunned down in 2007 by Korean student Cho Seung Hui who later shot himself after the massacre. This time round, it involved a male Chinese national named Zhu Haiyang killing a fellow student named Yang Xin and (gasp!!) cutting off the poor girl's head!! In fact, the sick and demented fella who had been suffering from depression and extreme frustration following stock losses and other problems could only think about either killing someone or committing suicide. And who knew then that Yang Xin, who arrived in VT the very next day after Zhu had published that disturbing blog entry, would eventually become hie ultimate target? And she had only been in the unviersity for about 2 weeks... this Zhu HY is inuman to kill an innocent girl under such graphic cicrumstances... :-(

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,190840-1232920740,00.html?

And this piece of news is really sad... a Brazillian model named Mariana Bridi lost the fight for her life after having her hands and feet amputated as well as part of her stomach due to a deadly infection she sustained just last month. And to think that she was only 20 years old... may she rest in peace, and may God watch over her grieving family. :-(

She died on the morning of January 24, 2009, in a hospital in Espírito Santo as a result of complications of from necrotic septicemia resulting from the original infection. The cause of death according to the hospital certificate was a severe sepsis, urinary infection and abdominal bleeding which led to the failure of multiple organs. Due for its rarity and public commotion, the Mariana case also attracted a great deal of attention from international press, not just from the world. Her funeral was attended by more than 1000 people.

Go to the following link to find out more about Mariana's illness... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Bridi

Wishing everyone Xin Nian Kuai Le, Wan Shi Ru Yi

Wishing everyone a very prosperous and Happy Lunar New Year... may you get lots of ang pows in the days to come...

Do stay tuned for updates on what I did during the CNY period... as well as my thoughts on the recent happenings around the world.

Here are pictures I took on Friday night during the 10-minute walk outside the Esplanade prior to Daphne's Late Nite performance... the River Hong Bao extravaganza for this year will take place at the Marina Bay region instead of the Esplanade Park region. Enjoy... ;-)