dragonfly

Went to Dragonfly at St James Power Station last Friday. This nightspot seems to be the hottest hangout in town now. In fact, the Star Awards was held there yesterday.

The great thing is that with the cover charge of about $17, you get a chop that allows you into all the different theme clubs there (Latin, jazz, lounge, techno, Chinese/Canto etc).

Dragonfly is probably the most popular one there. Clubbing purists may find it crass because it seems like the place would stoop to anything to attract the crowds. It resembles very much like a club you'll find in KL or China. There are live performances of mainly Chinese/Canto music while the deejay spins popular mambo hits when the band's taking a break. Add to that TV screens showing football and a karaoke lounge with private rooms above.

A warning about the place though. It's not the largest club around so it gets packed really quickly. By ten plus, the member queue was already snaking outside the club. There's even a queue for re-entry (and plenty of disbelieving faces)! So if you're not a member, you can forget about going in after ten unless you know someone who is. And if you do get in, don't come out!

The performances absolutely rock. That's what everyone is here for. To call it a live band would be the greatest understatement because there were six different singers that night and numerous scantily-clad dancers, both male and female, to gyrate along to the music. Each singer has a different style. There's William Scorpion for those who's heard of him; this seemingly popular and well-known gal called Celeste who sings almost Peking opera style; a Gothic guitarist lad with heavy boots and heavier eyeshadow than Billie Armstrong of Green Day; a good looking young man; and a young lady who fronted the earlier performance.

Last but not least, and I really wasn't expecting this, was this young rocker we're all familiar with:


If you dig Chinese/Canto music and mambo, this place is a must-visit.

kopi jargon

I was at a foodcourt one day queuing up to buy drinks when someone ahead of me ordered "kopi-si gosong gao".

That rather amused me. Sometimes I wonder how the kopi uncles and aunties are able to operate like clockwork and dish out your coffee in 5 seconds flat. Don't they have to pause for a moment to think about which concoction it is every time a customer mutters a mouthful like that? Or maybe they would be really nice to acknowledge your order but still make your coffee the same way as the hundred other cups they've done that day?

I mean, do these uncles and aunties at your neighbourhood kopitiam really give a freaking toss how precise you want your 90-cent gourmet coffee done?

If it were me doing your coffee on a busy day, you'll be lucky if I don't give you tea when you order coffee. In fact, I'll operate like a binary switch. There will be no such thing as siu dao. No such thing as more sugar, or less, or anything in between. It's either got sugar, or no sugar. OK?

Next time, maybe we should try something like "kopi-o gao siu dai, teh-si gosong peng, yuan yang". I bet that'll make the kopi auntie stop in her tracks.

Ha!

apples to apples

The GST announcement really came as quite a shocker, non? These days, I read our papers with a double dose of skepticism and after going through four full pages on the issue, I couldn't find a single speck of disagreement on the policy anywhere. Surely everything has its good and bad?

It drew plenty of ire from the online comments I've read so far though. But I'm not going to repeat all these "robbing the poor to feed the poor" rhetoric because I'm sure the government must have already considered most of the obvious factors. Or maybe they simply know too well that Singaporeans will complain even more if income tax is raised instead.

I also notice from reading the reports that they like to say things like, "Oh, we shouldn't compare with other countries because we are different/unique" when rejecting suggestions for social welfare, old-age pension, minimum wage, etc. The same has been said for non-economic issues like democracy and freedom of expression. Which is fine, really.

Except that in the same breath they continue to utter things like, "Look, their VAT is more than 20% while our GST is just 7%", or "Our income tax is amongst the lowest in the world!" to justify or support the policy changes they are pushing for.

What's with that? If you say don't compare, then don't compare anything at all. Don't conveniently compare the aspects in your favour and write off those against you as "can't be compared", heh!

hazy investor confidence

I've always believed that the biggest problem with this country and its government is its obsession with economic progress and staying competitive.

This is exemplified by our PM's letter to the Indonesian President on the haze that's affecting the region. Below's the press release on the letter sent:

MFA Press Statement: Haze Situation In Singapore

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has written to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to express his disappointment over the recurring haze problem, which has been particularly serious this year. In his letter, Mr Lee had stated that Indonesia needed to deal with the problem in a timely and effective manner, so that investor confidence in Indonesia, Indonesia's international standing and ASEAN's credibility would not be affected. Mr Lee had also noted that while it may be too late this year to prevent the fires that cause the haze, it was critical to take action now in order to prevent future forest fires. To this end, Prime Minister Lee informed President Susilo that a meeting of Environment Ministers from the ASEAN countries affected by the haze will be held in Singapore on 13 October 2006. Its objective is to muster ASEAN's resources to help Indonesia cope with the present haze problem. Mr Lee also suggested that the meeting of 13 October 2006 could help in preparing for an international meeting which Indonesia could convene, to marshal the expertise and resources needed to help Indonesia and ASEAN tackle the haze problem effectively.

MFA had also conveyed these concerns on the haze issue in a Third Person Note which was handed to the Charge d'Affaires of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore on 9 October 2006.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
11 OCTOBER 2006

Note that there's no mention of environmental issues or health problems caused. Instead, the concern is on "investor confidence in Indonesia, Indonesia's international standing and ASEAN's credibility".

success vs popularity

In the penultimate race of the F1 season today, Michael Schumacher shockingly blew his engine while leading comfortably with less than 20 laps to go. The commentator said that it's the first time since 2001 a Ferrari car retired due to engine failure (McClaren should take note). This allowed Fernando Alonso to take over and win the race with ease.

With just one more race to go, Alonso leads Schumacher by 10 points, so it'll take nothing less than a miracle (Schumacher to win the race and Alonso to finish pointless) for any chance of Alonso not winning his second driver's championship.

We also witnessed today the contrast between the former and current champions. After his less than satisfactory performance in the last race, Alonso was shooting off his mouth and accusing his own team of sabotaging him. In contrast, after his retirement today Schumacher made sure he went around to hug every single member of his pit crew and the rest of the Ferrari team. Despite the gloominess around and how lousy he must be feeling inside, he managed a smile all the while.

That may explain why Alonso is trailing so badly in the popularity charts. In sports where success and popularity often have a direct causal effect, his fourth placing performance seems rather absymal.

I guess he still has a lot to learn before he is acknowledged as a true champion.

troubleshooting 101

Three simple steps to solve all computer-related problems before approaching for help.

1. RTFM (Reboot The F**king Machine) – Rebooting your machine can solve up to 80% of all computer-related problems.
2. RTFM (Read The F**king Manual) – Consult the manual or documentation before asking obvious questions.
3. FGI (F**king Google It) – Usually, a simple search on Google can answer all the questions and problems you may have.

If everybody follows these instructions, your friendly helpdesk folks will have more time on coffee, cyber-research and Warcraft, ha!

(More info)

must see

As some of you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of most things Korean. Not the place, not the people, and definitely not the popular culture. The only exception is kimchi, which I love. But after reading so many excellent reviews of The Host, I just have to catch it.

And they're right. What a show!

Here's what you can expect:

1. End to end action and plenty of grandoise scenes for all you drama mamas.
2. Lots of deadpan and wacky humour when you least expect it.
   
3. Wonderful special effects of the mutant creature. And you don't even have to wait more than 15 minutes to see it in full glory.
4. Victory of common folks over monster and hardhearted government authority, powered by their desperation to save their loved one.
5. Political barbs at the US.
   

What more can you ask for? Besides, any show with scenes of a monster chasing and gobbling up people in broad daylight is always going to win extra brownie points from me. Not that I'm sadistic, but I don't really like scary movies that are pitch dark 90% of the time.

I was going to say that this is the best Korean show ever, but that's not saying much, non? Ok, it's the MOVIE OF THE YEAR.

Go catch it!

uncle agony

This is sooo farni. Hur hur hur.

[link]

classic clip

Below is a clip of the famous Mighty Mouse performance by Andy Kaufman on Saturday Night Live back in the 70s.

Kaufman was an eccentric American entertainer in the 70s and 80s. He was portrayed in the movie Man On The Moon by Jim Carrey, and also referenced in the song by REM which gave the movie the name.

A classic example of doing more with less.

not helping the cause

Just a few days ago, the Sunday Times had a review of a new book about queers in Singapore. Being observant as ever (and nosey), Oh noticed that the name of one of the contributors of the book looked suspiciously like someone from his college. The article even quoted him:

"The media has made gay life out to be full of debauchery - you sleep around, you go out, you drink," he said. But he and his partner "are not like that... We're a very sedate couple."

I totally agree that there is a very strong misconception that gays are very loose people who go around picking up one another for sex and all. And it does not help that our trashy tabloids like to associate them with drugs and crime just for the sake of sensationalism.

On further digging, I found this person's blog. He is indeed the guy from college! Kudos to him for coming out and being open about it. It takes plenty of courage indeed in a "conservative Asian" (whatever that means) nation like ours.

Then I read a post on his blog mentioning how he went walking around town looking to get "cruised". Not entirely sure what that means, I decided to check it up.

cruise (verb)
Slang.

1. To look in (a public area) for a sexual partner.
2. To seek out and make a sexual overture to.

And all his credibility gets thrown out of the window.

creepy!

Oh and his sidekick went fishing again yesterday. For only the second time, they caught something. But it wasn't exactly something they expected.

It looked like some creepy and slimy eel you see in Fear Factor! As the line was reeled in, the eel was struggling so violently it managed to tie itself up in knots. After a long struggle of over ten minutes, it finally went dead (even though a Malay guy insisted it was still alive).

Oh and his sidekick were so freaked out they didn't know what to do with it. Oh didn't even want to touch it with a ten-foot pole! Upon advice from some passers-by, they finally cut away the line and throw the thing onto the beach beneath. They were so traumatised by the incident they decided to pack up and go for dinner.