I Spy…

See this cinnamon bun?  Saw the likeness of Mother Teresa? 

Our late pope, too, makes an unconventional appearance – a fiery one, no less…

Read about these and other pictures at The Telegraph.

 

Brad, Angie and their sarongs

Things are really different when you are celebrities.

Brad and Angelina ordered expensive Hushamoks for their twins to sleep in.  And these come at USD 429 a piece.  They probably also caused some copycat parents to make a mad rush to the stores in order to own the same thing.

Over here in Singapore, we call this the sarong or 摇篮.

(Pic from eBay)

Most of us must have slept in these when we were babies.  And they certainly don’t cost that much here.

Those designers sure know how to use a cheap idea and make tonnes of money from it.

 

Blue Screen of Death strikes at the Beijing Olympics!

The much dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) struck, as Li Ning was making the much talked-about run to light the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony.

Read more about it at Gizmodo.  Amusing!

 

The Dark Knight – a superficial review

I finally went to watch The Dark Knight today after waiting for, like, eternity, for Big Guy to take time off from his busy work schedule.

I suppose, by now, millions of you must have watched this movie already and perhaps thousands of you have reviewed it in your blogs or read reviews about it elsewhere.  So I’m not going to do the kind of serious reviews that people have done, but a very superficial and frivolous one (for a laugh or two, maybe?).

First up – the make-up.  What’s up with the make-up artist(s)?

When the movie began and Christian Bale made his first appearance as Bruce Wayne, I went, like, urgh… I can see his thick make-up.  Looks like The Joker is not the only one with too much face paint!

Looking very plasticky, is Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman).  Everything - his hair, his glasses and moustache (and yes, the thick make-up) made him difficult to look at (at least for me).  The way he speaks is so restrained and it’s hard to imagine a lieutenant, an old-hand, being characterized the way he is in the movie.  Oh, I have digressed!  Like I was saying (about make-up), of all the characters in the movie, he looks the worse – he might as well be wearing one of those rubber masks (like those they have of Saddam Hussein and George Bush and other famous personalities).  Somehow, I don’t seem to be able to see him and his character through all that make-up and fake hair (hate the so-fake moustache!).

And then there is the very beautiful Maggie Gyllenhaal – erm… I’m sorry, but I won’t classify her as very beautiful, as many a reviewer had done.  Like, which part of her is beautiful?  When she first appeared in the movie, I was, like, huh?, eyebags?, so many lines under her eyes?  Yes, the Rachel Dawes character doesn’t have to be strikingly beautiful but I think the make-up artist could have spent more time on her rather than on Bale and Oldman?  One more thing about Gyllenhaal – my opinion is that her class of beauty is the same as that of Kirsten Dunst (MJ in Spiderman) – they both look pleasant, but I can’t quite connect them with beautiful.

Those aside, Two-Face’s special-effect make-up was great, but not scary at all.

Ok, enough about the aesthetics.  Now, about the casting.

I think Christian Bale should feel quite seriously threatened by Aaron Eckhart.  Look at Eckhart’s chin – it would look very good with the mask.  You know, the chin is an important factor in Batman – it’s the most prominent facial feature, since the mask covers much of the face.  I also found Bale too scrawny for the role.  Bruce Wayne definitely needs more charisma than what Bale carried.  And in the toilet cubicle reviews (reviews you hear in the toilet after a movie), all the girls were talking about Eckhart and not Bale!

And Michael Caine as Alfred?  I don’t know what is it about Caine – but I felt like smiling, each time he appeared in the movie.  It does not help either that he reminds me of a priest in the church that I attend.  What happened to the Alfred that I’m so used to when watching the Batman cartoons?  Tall and slim with a balding pate and moustache and all that haughtiness?  Caine’s not haughty enough!

Our very own Ng Chin Han as Lau – I like the way he speaks but… hmm… he’s not imposing enough to be some big shot Chinese baddie?  Lacks charisma!  But I’m proud that one of our own has made it to a blockbuster movie.

Oh dear, this so-called superficial review is getting a tad too long to be superficial?  Better end it now…

But before I end, I would like to say that the movie’s ok, but it would be better if it was a little more edgy, and with some real good electric guitar sounds to boot?

And, just a thought, perhaps for the next Batman movie, they could cast a black actor (my favourite, Will Smith??) or an Asian one (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Hrithik Roshan, etc) as Bruce Wayne?  Ok, ok, don’t gag!

 

The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll versus The King of Pop

Now the tussle is about who has been around longer.

Elvis, who was found to have been around some 1,800 years ago?

 
Or Michael Jackson, who probably got some beauty tips from Cleopatra?

Perhaps the Kings have the ability to time-travel?

 

McMosquito

I was at the McCafe at West Coast Park on Sunday when this happened.

This was a cup of water that I had just sipped from.  Good thing I noticed the kamikaze mosquito before I took a second sip.  I did not notice when it made the dive.

What was it doing there?  Maybe its waterbag broke and the eggs were coming out??

Did NEA do such a good job that mosquitoes now have to invade drinking water to breed?

And no, I checked, it’s not an Aedes mosquito.

 

Free! Sex! Money! Sale!

Today is Auntie Day again.  That meant a trip down to Orchard Road and some shopping around again.  This was a rather ‘fruitful’ trip as Mango was having an ‘up to 50% off Sale’.  Now those words really excited me!  I went to not one, but two Mango stores and let’s just say, I bought quite a number of mangoes.  One excuse that I gave myself was – hey, Spain won Euro 2008, so why not get some Spanish fashion to celebrate with them?

Then I had a thought - if those few words 50% off, Sale hadn’t caught my eye, I wouldn’t have stepped into the store in the first place, Euro 2008 champion or not.  Am I a cheapskate?  Maybe, but retailers are smart people, they know how to attract consumers like me.

It also got me thinking about which words excite what kind of people.  I would think the number one word that gets most adult (and teenager) attention is the word SEX.   Just look at the covers of men’s and women’s magazines and see how many of them have the word Sex on their covers.  Does sex really sell?  I suppose so; else you wouldn’t see the word so often on the covers of these magazines.

I suppose men and women are excited by different words or phrases.  And some words, like SEX and MONEY, probably have universal appeal.

As far as I know, Big Guy for one, gets excited when anyone mentions Liverpool (FC), England (in the context of football), F1 racing and other sports that he does not do; but keep tabs on like the police would keep tabs on a suspect. 

And men being men, will probably get excited at words like naked, nude and other words that connote the same meaning.

Little Guy, who is still learning how to read, gets excited when he sees Toys ‘R’ Us in print.  He probably recognizes it as a picture or a graphic, if you know what I mean.

One word that always gets people’s antennae up is FREE!  I know that, as I’ve given away things before by listing them as FREE! .  The e-mails come in within minutes for such free items, compared to one or two, or sometimes none (for days), for items that I put on sale.  I’ve also read about frenzied people queuing or fighting over free stuff.

So can you imagine what FREE SEX! could cause?

 

Fancy a shot of beer?

A huge shot, that is.  Check out the BIERSTICK!

And here’s how to crazy use it:

Step 1:  Remove mouthpiece and fill bierstick with beer, or other beverage.

Step 2:  Put mouthpiece back on and push air out of tube.

Step 3:  While holding mouthpiece firmly with one hand, place end-cap against wall or other stationary surface and press to drink when ready.

  

See how the Biergirls do it.

Hic! 

And oh!  Remember, Drink, Don’t Drive!

 

One Hot Mama!

Check this out!  Look at this auntie go!

It’s hilarious!  And just look at Simon…

 

Britain’s Got Talent

Still on YouTube, I found these videos from Britain’s Got Talent (the audition episodes).  This show is currently airing.  Simon Cowell’s in it too.

I picked these 2 out as I have a soft (motherly) spot for little guys.  These 2 impressed everyone there.

Charlie Green – 10 years old, very handsome lad.  Watch and listen to him sing!

And 13-year-old Andrew Johnston:

And Simon gets ’sabo-ed’ (watch this to the end):

What’ll Simon be in for?  Find out on YouTube.