serene’s posterous

Ah Flicks.  I haven't been to Flicks for years.  Now it is free, but the sound and projection quality seems to have deteriorated significantly.  No more cartoons at the start, and since there was only one 8pm showing, there was no heckling or the throwing of paper.  Maybe that doesn't happen anymore even at the 10pm showings?

Quantum of Solace was entertaining, but very forgettable.  I didn't like how the action scenes were edited because you can barely tell who's who and what's happening.  Why blow the huge budget on action scenes that can't be easily followed?

There has been recent rash of reuniting boy bands.  New Kids on the Block, or the now preferred NKOTB (I guess you can't call yourself a kid when you are pushing 40), was probably the first boy band to blaze the trail for the other singing/dancing pop all-male groups.  They all have similar characteristics - young, mostly cute, sing passably, dance well and appeal to teen and pre-teen girls.

I was listening to that stuff back when I was a lot younger.  But I only own one CD that could be considered from a boy band, and that was only because my roommate got it for me years ago.  I had the strange urge to listen to it again yesterday. 

Boyzone never made it big in the US, probably because they can't dance, and their songs were mostly on the cheesy side.  They were supposed to be Ireland's answer to Take That (which coincidentally, also didn't make it big in the US).  Colin Farrell auditioned but failed to make it to the band!  Their first TV appearance back in 1993 was a big debacle.  They essentially pranced around the studio to some dance music, and faced with a hilariously patronizing host, Gay Byrne:



They got better over the years - as long as they don't dance...



And this is first single from their comeback.  They still dance terribly.

Three of us played Ticket to Ride last night, just before watching bsg.  Eu-Jin and I are not big board game fans, but I really like this game when 3 to 4 players play it.  The game is essentially collecting various type of train cars (cards) to claim railway routes.  The game I think becomes less interesting with only 2 players - it depends more on what kind of destination cards you get initially.  The author of the game, Alan R. Moon, puts it best: "The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor."

I won last night, mainly because the 2 guys were being cutthroat and sabotaging each other initially.  Perhaps that's the advantage of being female!  There was also the key (and extremely cutthroat) move I made late in the game for the sole reason of preventing one of them from completing a destination, and therefore gaining a bunch of points in the process.

Eu-Jin forwarded me this article from WSJ (photo is from the article) today.  Chinese New Year is coming up on Monday.  This will be my sixth new year in a row away from Singapore.  Yet another year of missing out on the meeting up with relatives, feasting on tasty pastries (including versions of pineapple tarts mentioned in the article) and other goodies, the make-your-own popiah at my aunt's home, and the meals cooked by my mom and her siblings.  As much as I miss the food, I doubt I would actually go bake those pineapple tarts.  Too much effort!

I thought I would be bored on my third trip to the park but I haven't
been here in the fall. The yellow leaves were pretty and we managed
to do a hike we haven't done before. Great views on the canyon
overlook hike, which is at one end of the tunnel.

Came across this NYTimes article.
 
One quote:
"Buy it when you need it. Portion control studies have shown that when
we buy more, we use more."
 
Also, it is hard to do cost-benefit analysis of our needs and wants.
For instance, how do you quantify the extra comfort of say 3-ply
toilet paper over regular toilet paper? (We chose regular!) Does the
convenience of buying everything from one store trump over getting
better prices by buying groceries from several places?

For quite a while, I thought yoga was one of those new-agey things
that people did because it was fashionable and celebrities were
promoting it. Now that I have taken a few weeks of a yoga-pilates
fusion class, I have been almost eager to go for my twice weekly
class. All that stretching, balancing and engaging all the various
muscles must be doing some good. My posture's better, and my left
shoulder doesn't get knotted up as often. I guess this means I am now
a fan, and would be taking more of these classes.

I was walking around an appliance store today, and on display was a
red refrigerator with encrusted Swarovski crystals on the handle
(shiny!) and floral patterns on the door.

The floral patterns were pretty, but the crystals put it over the edge of
good taste

Presenting LG Swarovski Crystal Flower Refrigerator. Photo from
http://sg.lge.com/

It seems like in the past year there has been at least two prolonged
power outages and various power glitches. Every time we get one of
those, I realize how reliant I am on electricity. I could not make
lunch because the stove and microwave were not working. I had to use
corded phone, because my cell was out of juice. I could not finish my
work or get it off my desktop because the power was out. At least
this was during the day, so I did not need to search for a flash
light. Hmmm...maybe it is time to get one of those disaster
preparation bags set up.

http://www.72hours.org/