August 2009 – sleepy's blog

Strange Circus

Through my classmate’s recommendation, a few of us gathered at National Museum to watch a Japanese horror film, Strange Circus. This is part of the Japanese Film Festival 2009 which lasted for a week. This year, the organiser handpicked several horror, mystery and supernatural Janapnese movies for this festival. Altogether 12 movies are screened throughout the week and the one i caught is the last movie of this festival.

Some of you may have heard of Sion Sono’s Suicide Circle. Strange Circus is also directed by the same director. The plot goes like this: School principal Ozawa Gozo rapes his daughter, Mitsuko, after she sees her parents having sex. Her mother Sayuri witnesses the rape. Gozo now rapes both of them as he pleases, while his family is undermined by incest, suicide, and murder… such is the erotic novel wheel-bound novelist Taeko sets on to write. She is assisted by Yuji, a young man who is actually on a mission to uncover the reality of this story, of Taeko’s past, and of the locked room in her apartment. But the reality and truth beneath the Grand Guignol nightmares Taeko creates might be too much to bear.

The movie is not gore nor mind torturing. But there is a lot of poetic representations in narrating the inner thoughts and reality. It is confusing I admit. Even when the truth is revealed at the end, I don’t quite know which to believe in. As usual, sex scenes are a must in Japanese films, so does this film. The only thing that continue to stay in my mind is the circus music. Very poetic, very nice.

I think we can visit National Museum every now and then. They really have something unique in plan all year. The next one i want to go is a Glass Percussion.

First Korean Quiz

To prepare for my first Korean quiz on Wednesday, I practise damn hard like a kid. I memorise, write and rewrite, try pronouncing them over and over again. I give myself spelling test and even download the pronunciation into my mp3 player.

From a lot of mistakes

To almost perfect

It’s seems easy after the test. There are 3 sections to the paper. First section, given the pictures, you need to match the helping words respectively. Second section, cross the odd one out. Imagine you are give 4 words describing something (apple, pear, farmer, grapes), you have to cross the odd one out from the listing. Last section comprises 2 parts: dictation and knowing the translation. For the first few questions, my teacher will read it out, you just need to write them down. Next few questions are given the English translation, you will need to write the Korean equivalent.

I shall post my result next week.

My First FYP Presentation

Being the final year, I thought i should be documenting as much as i can about my school life.

My first presentation to pitch my idea for the FYP project. I think i’ve said something wrongly, that cause some of the confusion. I should have make my more straightforward. But anyway, we had some fun out there in the audience area.

P1010057 My Turn To Present

Lam, Alvin, Me & Lincoln’s Fingers

Alvin & Ponyo Ponyo

My Hand

Shu Hui’s Hand

Karen’s Hand

Shu Hui In DS

Karen In DS

Me In DS

Prince Charming Dog Collar

As usual, I was doing my online shopping late at night. I happen to come across this Beary’s Woof Boutique on Etsy.

Etsy sells mainly handcrafted stuff. At Beary’s Woof Boutique, you can customize a dog collar for your lovely dog. There are 4 different strap thickness and length to choose from. You can take a measuring tape wrap around your dog’s neck loosely for measurement. If you need advisement, you can always contact Swee Ling, the owner, at beary-s@hotmail.com.

Swee Ling recently set up a blogshop, Beary’s En Vogue, believe she keeps this more updated. For Singaporeans who are keen in the dog collars, Beary’s En Vogue has prices kept at Singapore Dollars (SGD) for easier transaction.

By the way, Pi Pi’s birthday is on 31st August. So this is his birthday present. And now is picture time… More pictures can be found on my facebook.

Dog Collar Comes In Zip Lock Bag

All Items

Dog Collar Length

Dog Collar Closeup

Dog Collar Details

Dog Collar Buckle

Pi Pi With Ribbon In Front

Pi Pi With Ribbon At The Side

Pi Pi With Ribbon At The Back

My First Korean Lesson

Ah-neo-ha-say-yo! Cho-neng Lay Hiang im-ni-da.
Man-na-soh Pan-kat-su-mi-da.

Sho Teppan

Sho Teppan is located on basement 3 of Orchard ION is a self-service Teppanyaki restaurant. It serves both Teppanyaki and Sukiyaki (soup base). They used to have Shabu Shabu on their menu. According to one of the waiters, some Singaporeans responded that the soup is too bland. Therefore, they scrap that off their course. For people who don’t know, Shabu Shabu soups are usually bland or even not meant for drinking. It is only for you to cook your thinnly sliced meat or vegetables. It’s the sauce you dip later is important. Duh~

Anyway, most people will ushered to the counter seats. Only when you comes in pair, you are more likely to sit in the private. The electrical stove is very easy to operate. One stove only cooks one pot. Regardless of Teppanyaki or Sukiyaki you are eating, your ingredients will be prepared in a black pot. The waitress will assist you with the on-ing of the stove then you are leave alone to do your own cooking. I ordered Seafood Sukiyaki, Laily ordered Black Angus Teppanyaki and Lester ordered Beef Tenderloin Teppanyaki. Each set is serve with salad, rice, egg (for Sukiyaki set) and miso soup (for Teppanyaki set).

Sukiyaki soup tastes normal, nothing very impressive. And if you want to refill the soup, they only do it with plain water and not stock. Laily has a big problem with her Black Angus. She don’t like onions and her set is full of them. Sho Teppan is considered cheap but of course of no match with the traditional Teppanyaki. If you think back what you’ve eaten, you actually don’t get much meat. We went 2nd round at Xin Wang Cafe after that. So I assume it is not very satisfying. It’s also a place you won’t sit there for chit chat because of all the smokes.

Entrance

Teppanyaki Menu

Sukiyaki Menu

Counter Seats

2 Persons Private Seats

Electric Stove

Seafood Sukiyaki

Seafood Sukiyaki Uncooked Ingredients

Seafood Sukiyaki Set

Black Angus & Beef Tenderloin Teppanyaki Looks The Same

Beef Tenderloin Teppanyaki Set

HP’s City of Dreams

A long due post. Since Lester has blogged about most of the aspects, my points shall just add on.

HP has an exhibition, City of Dreams, at Orchard ION Basement 4 last week. ‘City of Dreams’ is a special HP Initiative supported by ION Orchard and Siggraph. It starts on 7th August with a blogger event at night and lasted through the week till 13th August. We are very glad to be invited. HP has also made a special selection to the attending bloggers. They are mainly people who are interested in Technology, Design and Art. This is probably why I enjoyed my conversations with them and not lost in geeky’s 101010.

The exhibition showcases 4 new workstations with customizable specifications and on another side HP’s DesignJet Z3200 Photo Printer. I remembered doing a research back in my Polytechnic days about HP. HP has a long and established history about printing. Therefore, their R&Ds have led to high quality prints and brilliant colors. A little insight, the HP floor decal is also printed by HP z3200 Photo Printer. Cool right?

The blogger event starts with a prize giving ceremony to HP Lightropolis competition winners. Entries are displayed at Lightropolis, the LED walls at Orchard MRT exit to ION. I kinda like this space whenever I take the escalator up. You need not have advertising posters all the time. Light display is a great medium to transform spaces too.

The respective bloggers are then split into 3 groups for a mini competition, aim is to experience the use of the HP workstations by constructing a wallpaper of our ideal City of Dreams. We have this uber big monitor to work on and the latest Adobe CS4. I’ve not try CS4 yet. For those who may not know, CS4 opens documents in tab format. I can’t remember what I’ve actually done in the 20 to 30 minutes, but I have fun. Indeed, launching new IT products is all about testing and using them. Below is my team’s final product and us at work. Hahaha~

We ended the session with photograph taking with Ben 10 mascot. Feel like a child again.

More images on Lester’s facebook and HP’s Flickr album.

Pi Pi’s Vet Visit

Today we went to James Tan Veterinary Centre located at Whitley Road. Pipi’s eyes get redder than usual. The eye tears and it has this dark yellow discharge. We thought it’s the haze but it isn’t. Apparently, he might have rubbed his eyes on the floor when we are not looking.

I asked the doctor if his condition has worsen. He told me he can’t tell. But the worst scenario is that the naughty boy can rub till he damages his eye cornea and bacteria get in. By then, he would be blind and have to remove the eye ball and stitch up the eye socket. Both me and my sister got so frightened that we decided to make him wear the collar whenever he goes to sleep.

We also enquire about his skin. The doctor shares his experience with us. He says the 3 major food causing dog skin irritations are: dried and canned food, treats and chicken. He told me that dried and canned food has preservatives and unknown substances which the dog’s body maybe allergic to. Also prevent chicken and eggs. So dog lovers, please take note.

Anyway, my silly Pipi is really afraid of going to clinic. He feels down when he is in the car. He ran off from the poach area when we reach, and chase after my dad’s car while he is trying to park. Then, he backs up again at the clinic door. Literally backup and escape between my sister’s legs. I went chasing him in the clinic. 笨死了。

宅

宅 means home. I believe it is now known as staying at home.

I actually enjoy staying at home online shopping. Yet sad to say most of my money goes to shipping from oversea which I find it really wasteful. I hardly shop from Singapore because they really really sucks. On the other hand, I rather envy’s Taiwan’s way of online shopping. You can collect your stuff at your nearby “7-11” alike store. And you can shop from apparels to food. Can you believe it?

I feel the attitude of blog owners in Taiwan is also very different from those in Singapore. Blog owners in Taiwan can make this their full-time profession while it is only a part-time quick money channel for a Singaporean. “Quick” maybe not so too. Since they can only invest part-time in their blogs, they definitely cannot provide the best or at least the most unique stuff for you. So what are their unique selling point(s)? Design? They are selling an exact duplicate of what others are and in a lesser range some more. Cheap? Definitely no. They just want to earn money.

Like what I’ve remembered from today’s class: Singaporeans are only concern if they can earn more money or gain social status. The rest are not very important to them. Compare to what I’ve always heard in Jackie Wu’s interviews with Taiwan entrepreneurs “我是用心来做的。一天花 XX小时在生意上。”, at least i feel more 爽 and interested in shopping with them than leisure click and browse.