Ip Man 2

Ip Man 2 is sequel of the hugely successful movie Ip Man.  As usual, the sequel is not as good as the first movie, and Ip Man 2 is, unfortunately, of no exception.  Still starring Donnie Yen as Ip Man, he is still so skillful in both fighting and acting, and still a man of manners, but this time the weak point is in the story.  The story is on the plain side and cliche.  Nonetheless, it is still a good movie, especially when you look beyond the surface.

Ip Man, as a Chinese kungfu master, has fought Japanese in episode 1, now fought a British in episode 2.  How much fact in the movie does not really matter, but Ip Man is actually the embodiment of China, China including both sides of the Taiwan Strait.  China had fought Japanese invasion, China had fought the British and won back Hong Kong, although a bit late, in 1997.  And now China is fighting with the descendants of the British - the Americans.  Ip Man's fight in the movie is a direct reflection of present day China's struggle to become strong and to stand equal to the super-powers, economic and military wise with the Japanese, British, & American.

detective dee and the mystery of the phantom flame

Detective Dee is another one of the star-studded, big production movies.  The stars are good, including Andy Lau, Liu Jia-ling, Liang Jia Hui and some others.  Their acting skills are not bad.  Then the director added in quite a bit of western style of dreamy fairy kind of computer graphics to make the movie more like happening in a fantacy land, rather than on planet earth. 

However, the story is not that great.  It is ok, but too lengthy, and they don't have much suspense.  I couldn't tell who the bad guy is until towards the end of the movie, but then somehow there is very little ups & downs and the movie simply doesn't attract your attention. 

You can watch this movie in a low cost way when you free and have nothing better to do :)

随笔（3）- 快乐

常常听人说我们要去寻找快乐，快乐是可以寻找的么？ 快乐是什么？ 它看得见，摸得着，有定价钱么？ 好像都没有， 那要到哪里去找呀？ 说实在的，也没什么好找的， 快乐就是一种心理状态，你说你快乐，你就快乐；你觉得你快乐，你就快乐。 快乐也是一种选择，你选择快乐， 你就快乐， 别人想抢，想偷，抢不到，也偷不了你的快乐。

赤贫的小孩生活很苦，但是他们也有快乐的时光。  抛下心中的忧愁，他们一样欢快玩耍。 富裕的孩子，拥有赤贫孩子没有的物资，无后顾之忧，他们也可以很快乐。 赤贫的小孩， 富裕的孩子都可以快乐，只要他们选择了快乐。 

多少人总是说他如果有了什么什么，他就会很快乐； 如果他达到了什么目标， 他就会很快乐， 但结果呢？ 到头来他还是很不快乐。 快乐很简单，如果你选择快乐，你就会快乐，这一刻就选择快乐吧！

25% Cash Machine

Title: 25% Cash Machine
Author: Bryan Perry
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2007

In this environment of super low yield, investors are constantly looking for high yield and safe investments, in place of the traditional safe but low yield investment products.

The book was published back in 2007, a year before the arrival of the great recession in the states, as a result, some of the investments do really look very favourable, high yield although they are, their prices have come down by more than half.  However, this book is still quite an eye opener, opening your door to a new world of high yield investment.   Some of the investment principles are still valid in this post crisis world.

It is a book worth reading.

随笔（2）- 木头人之歌

近来有机会与一木头人接触。 既是木头，面目本来没有什么表情，造物主就将一个微笑的面具挂在了他的面上， 让他永远看起来都是笑呵呵的，永远重复的都是一样的笑容，哀，怒，乐，都是木头人不能表达的感情。 爱，那是不能说的秘密，那是一种只能永远藏在木头人心中的情感。

木头人渴望别人的关心，渴望别人的注意，渴望别人的爱，而木头人却总是与自己的意愿背道而驰，说伤人的话，做伤人的事。  为什么呢？ 他要维护他的面具，他的尊严，无谓的所谓的尊严。 所谓的尊严的背后，是一颗怕受伤的心， 脆弱的心。

木头人啊，  木头人， 敞开你的心扉吧。 你可能会遇到冷嘲热讽，不过更多的会是关怀与关爱, 枯木也会逢春。

随笔（1）

岁月无声，悄悄地光阴就晃过去了三十多年。 当年也就因为懵懂少年怕冬天里没有热水洗澡，而那个时代的中国大学都没有热水这么简单的原因，懵懂少年就下南洋，到了永远都不用担心没热水的天堂。 可能这就是所谓的心想事成吧？



学生时代常读古人的教训，孔夫子的逝者如斯夫，岳武穆的白了少年头，空悲切，天天提醒自己要珍惜时间，但偏偏一个又一个的十年从眼前晃过去。 十年前事几番新，周围的人有的已回归自然的怀抱，更多的已成社会的中流砥柱，人中豪杰，用自己的双手谱写未来的历史。懵懂少年却只知道刘德华的一首《笨小孩》，人将近中年，却保持着一颗童心，用好奇的眼光看这个他看不懂的世界。



学生时代喜爱语文课，它带你去领略中华五千年的灿烂文化，很有一种站在巨人肩膀上的感觉；教人真理的政治课也不错，人类历史斗争吵吵闹闹好不精彩；英文课让人在那能讲几句洋文就似乎高人一等的年代可以自以为是一下。 数，理，化，生，真的是好闷好闷，公式背得然人的脑袋发晕。懵懂了一番之后，却发现所谓真理其实在那无聊的 数，理，化，生之中，精彩的，轰轰烈烈的，反而多了许多的修饰，许多的美化，太虚无，太飘渺，如佛经所说，如梦幻泡影，如露亦如电。

Sinma Live Seafood Restaurant@Geylang

Sinma Live Seafood Restaurant is a popular seafood haunt for the locals, tucked in a small corner in Geylang Lorong 3.

It is called a 'restaurant', but actually is more of a coffee shop Chi Char type of food haunt.  The business seems to have grown over the years, now it occupies two corner shops on both sides of the road on ground floor, plus a air-con dining area on the 2nd floor.  Looking around, you find most of the patrons are local Singaporeans, or people who live nearby.  They come here for the restaurant's famous dishes, including crab & their frog-leg porridge.

We ordered quite a number of dishes, including of course their signature dishes chilli crab, frog-leg porridge plus deep-fried Soon Hock fish, plus some vegies.

Here is the Soon Hock fish.  The guys started eating before I managed a photo, so that's the minus side of eating with all guys :(   The fish is quite fresh, and although it is deep fried, the meat remains flesh and tender.  It is not dry, but the out shell is very crispy.  The down-side is the fish is not very big in size, so it is finished in a much shorter time than I had expected.

Their vegies dishes are quite standard, cooked with lots of oil, so if you are health conscious, you may not like it too much, however, in terms of taste, their vegie dishes can get at least a pass.

The chilli crab came as a surprise to us.  Two giant crabs came to our table.  They use Sri Lanka crabs, so the shell is thick and hard.  But, their chilli crab is not really spicy, more toward the sweet side, rather than spicy hot side.  Freshness of the crabs are ok, at least better standard than No Sign Board Seafood.

The disappointment is actually the frog-leg porridge.  For non-Singaporeans, when someone mentions frog-leg porridge, they may think the frog leg and the porridge is together, but it is not, not in Singapore.  The frog legs and the porridge are cooked separately, and you only mix them together in your own bowl.

Now, let's talk about the porridge first.  The porridge has not much taste, and it is not the well-done type of porridge, how do I know?  I just know it, or my taste buds just know it.  Then the frog legs are too spicy.  The chilli crab is not spicy, but the frog-leg is.  The dry chilli they use is so strong that I choked a couple of times.  After finish eating the frog legs, my lips were still hot!  The frog legs somehow lacks in tenderness and sweetness.

In terms of service, it is a coffee shop, manned by mostly mainland Chinese workers, so don't expect outstanding services.  They didn't give up the cracking tool for eating crabs, and it took them a long time for them to bring one when asked.  They will only change your plates upon request, so if you are choosy about service standards, then don't go there, it is not that kind of place.

My rating: 3.5/5 (by coffee shop standard)

Mastering Trading Stress - Strategies for Maximizing Performance

Title: Mastering Trading Stress - Strategies for Maximizing Performance
Author: Ari Kiev
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

It is a book on the psychology size of trading.  The author examines the different aspects of trading stress, the common mistakes traders make.

Although it is a rare book on trading psychology, the author spends too big a portion of the book on case studies, and the case studies are mostly conversations between the author and the trader in question.

In the last two chapters of the book, the author introduces some practical tips that you can apply to manage your stress.