3 BIG Items

In China, there are certain items that are symbol of status, and usually 3 items will be typial of the times.

In the 1970s, the 3 items were watch, bike, & sewing machine;
in the 1980s, they were fridge, color TV set, & washing machine;
in the 1990s, they were VCR, air-conditioner, & computer;
in the 2000s, they are car, house & cash!

Well, looking at those items of status, I am quite a low status person :) I never owe a VCR, from its birth to death. VCRs were so popular during the 1990s that the video tape rental business was thriving. Then came the Laser Disc (LD), then VCD, then DVD, then now Blue Ray. The capacity is getting bigger and bigger, image & sound quality are better and better. And then you see VCRs, LD, VCD and even DVD are coming to the end of their useful life. The advancement of technology!

I only got my very 1st air-conditioner last year, after I got my own flat. Air-conditioner has always been low on my purchase list, as it is not 'green'. Its hunger for electricity, and the consequence cost of it turns me down. The only reason I decided to have it installed is to give myself a shelter during the months when Singapore is covered in heavy smog!

For the 2000s 3 items, I still need to work on them, work harder! Or I will get left behind further and further :P

JUMP: A Korean Kungfu Comedy

JUMP is another Korean Kungfu Comedy from the same producer of BREAKOUT. BREAKOUT focuses more on break-dancing, while JUMP focuses more on the Kungfu aspect.

In terms of entertainment, BREAKOUT is more humourous and funny, JUMP is funny too, but the flow of the whole performance is sometimes less smooth, and some actions or scenes are not very clear. Audience can't understand the essence of some 'jokes'.

If you have watched BREAKOUT before, and you watch JUMP, the novelty may not be there anymore. It is fun to watch such Kungfu comedies for the first time, but after a few times, you might find it a cliche.

After watching JUMP, The NANTA Show, and BREAKOUT, I have completed the set of 3 most popular Korean Kungfu comedies. Time for me to move on to other forms of art. Maybe I should explore the Japanese art scene now? :)

My rating: 3.8/5

Pink Dolphin Show

Singapore prides itself for having the special pink dolphins in its Sentosa Underwater World. Some years ago, I went with my friend to the Dolphin Lagoon to watch the dolphin show. Not the best in the world, but pretty entertaining. You could see the dolphins doing cute stunts. And then you got to see the pink dolphins, a very special species of dolphin.

Two days ago, I went there again with my family. Somehow they changed the name from 'the dolphin show' to 'Meet the dolphins' session. The name change should have implied something, which I didn't realised until the end of the 'show'.

The 'show' now is DISAPPOINTING! They just let some tourists touched the dolphins, do a VERY limited number of stunts which are totally uninteresting.

I don't know the cause for such a change. For years, some animal activists have been lobbying to remove the pink dolphins from the lagoon and release them back into the nature. Their argument is that dolphins are wild animals, they should not be used to entertain tourists, it is against animal nature.

I strongly disagree with them. I myself had seen wild dolphins in Tasmania. They happily did stunts such as synchronized jumping to entertain themselves as well as the occasional tourists. I still remembered very clearly there was one naughty dolphin, who purposely came near our boat, did a stunt, jumping out of water, and then fell back into water with a BIG splash, getting most of us on the boat wet! Humans and animals are not exclusive of each other. What we need is to learn to live with each other harmoniously.

Again, I am deeply disappointed with Sentosa's decision to change the content of a not too bad show to totally uninteresting boring routine.

Miscommunciation/Being Misunderstood

There is an old divoiced couple. Although they have divoiced, the man still loves the woman, deeply. He sends her a bunch of red roses every year on their anniversary; a birthday cake on her birthday. When they meet for dinner together with their children, he will always get a drumstick for her.

She actually still loves him too, but she always throws away his gifts, and refuses to eat that drumstick. Year after year, he does the same routine to try to win her heart back, but she gets more and more angry every year.

One day, her friend asks the woman, don't you think your ex-husband is very nice and sweet? He sends you flowers every year, birthday cake every year, and always gets a drumstick for you.

That's precisely the reason I am angry with him. He sends me red roses because he likes red roses, so I must like red roses too. The fact is I don't like roses at all. He always sends me a cheese cake as my birthday cake, because he likes to eat cheese cake. I am allegic to cheese! He himself likes to eat drumstick, so he thinks I like drumstick too. He never bothers about what I like, he acts based on HIS own opinions, but he never tries to find out what I like, or what I don't like. That's the reason why I am so angry with him.

Up in Price, Down in Quality

Ordered a NuoMiJi from Fortune Restaurant at Vivo City's Food Republic food court today. The price has gone up. They charge you 7% GST, on top of the listed price. Previously, the listed price always includes GST.

Never mind, 7% GST on top of the listed price. The disappointment comes when I opened my NuoMiJi. There used to be one whole salty egg yoke, chicken, and other stuff. Now, only the 'other stuff' were there, my egg yoke, chicken both vanished!

Ok, the good one I got was from Food Republich @ Wisma Atrium, not Vivo City, maybe they have a different chef. However, I am really disappointed with them. I don't think I am going to patron them anymore, at least not the Vivo City branch.

My 1st Contribution to the US Bailout Fund

I received my first payout from ShutterStock, after they imposed the 30% tax withholding rule. This is my very first contribution to the Great American Bailout Fund. The amount of tax being withheld is small, only a couple of dollars.

At this moment, I am not 100% sure that the withholding tax is only a few dollars, still need to continue to observe, but at least it gives me some incentive to continue to work with ShutterStock. I stopped my contribution to them since two months ago.

Now, at least there is some 'hope'!

The Last Templar

The Last Templar, when you hear this name, what would you expect the movie to be like? Indiana Jones? Tomb Raider? Action-packed? Full of mysteries? Love?

Whatever your expectation is, you are going to be disappointed! It is 4 hours of crap! The movie is unusually long-winded, spending lots of time on scenes that are organically not essential to the story. There is a lack of action in a supposed to be action-packed movie. Even if there is some action, the actions are uninteresting, lackluster, dull, & boring.

There is totally no sense of mystery either. Story is told straightforward. The director may also think the audiences are idiots, as he put together some totally illogical scenes to fool the ignorant.

The story is simple, no twist or turns, not even a little bit of suspense. The only good point maybe is that the actress is beautiful. That's the only selling point of the whole movie.

My rating: 2/5 => crap!

Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer

This is an anime movie of one of favourite cartoon characters - Doraemon. It is a re-make of the 1981 anime movie The Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer. I have never seen the 1981 version, so can't comment on the difference.

Doraemon cartoons are in general humorous, lots of imagination (even though sometimes appears to be stupid), full of school children fantasies. This movie is of no exception. It opens up the world of imagination to the audiences, children or adults alike. In other super hero movies, the superhero is always an alien and he/she will save planet earth. This time, finally we earth humans can become heroes to save a foreign planet. It is a nice movie for the whole family to enjoy. It is a pity that this movie is only released in Japan, Malaysia and China, but not Singapore.

Now the bad points. There are many illogical scens in the movie. For example, animals in the other planet look very similar to what we have on our planet earth. They just add wings to elephants, make giraffe's neck retractable, and mix toad with fish :P

My rating: 3.5/5