Now, this is looking like the height of terrorism paranoia:

JI turns to business to help fund activities
It is believed to be selling magazines, VCDs, fertiliser, bread and coffee
By Leslie Lopez, South-east Asia Correspondent

JAKARTA - REGIONAL terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) appears to have gone into business to help fund its activities.

Suspected JI-linked groups have been selling magazines, VCDs, industrial items such as fertiliser and even everyday goods such as bread and coffee, an investigation by The Straits Times showed.

These businesses operate mostly in Indonesia. (ST, July 9, 2007)

'Ey, brudder, come inside lah. Don’t shy. Going shopping for the wife, ah? You come to the right place, man! What? Ya, ya, we just open shop. Everything also we got.

Groceries? Ya, we got bread. White bread, no problem… it’s my pleasure to take out my knife and slice the head off for you first, wait ah… Oh, you want the long one, izzit? Ah, that one very good for roti bomb, I mean, roti John, right? Can, can.

And coffee? Don’t worry, I got the best kind! It’s so strong, it can keep you awake long enough for you to drive your car through an infidel checkpoint just to see some fireworks! A once-in-a-lifetime experience, guaranteed!

You want to see some of my special stocks? Behind that shelf are our more… ahem!… restricted magazines and VCDs. Everything you want to know about the art of stripping weapons and laying bare the secrets of how to be the bomb at parties, I got!

I also got the latest Playjihadist™ where the centerfold model is fully spread out in little bits and pieces all over a public road. She's so hot, she's still smokin' -- show you everything she’s got under her ski-mask, and more!

Oh, fertilizer for your garden, ah? I tell you what, this one I specially import from that kuching kurap little red dot neighbour in the north. Ya, they call it the Straits Times™ but you and I know it’s really compost, correct or not?

Wah, your shopping basket is quite full already. Come, let me total up for you… Hmm? Oh, haha, this is a picture of my uncle, Osama. Ya, he’s my favourite uncle because his bins are always laden with good things. In fact, I get most of my supplies from him! I'm doing my best to support him in his old age, lah.

Brudder, if you don’t mind me saying, ah, why you let your wife make you go shopping for her? You should be more of a man, man! Eh, I know a place where you can get all the virgins you want, who exist just to give you pleasure. Come, follow me into the Men’s Department. There’s this extinguished, I mean distinguished, vest I’d like you to try. Ya, of course! You can’t make a big impression unless you’re dressed to kill…'

We're at Sun Plaza for the Canberra Family Day Cold Dish Cookout

June and M-i-L get busy dicing fruit

A short break to say something nice about the sponsor's products.

Phew! All done!

Ta-dah! It's our ever-popular Waldorf Salad!

But, whoa. Check out what the competition have produced.

We had to leave before we knew the results, but M-i-L hasn't called, so I'm guessing we didn't win this time 'round!

This friendly fellow welcomes diners to Beaulieu House, the little eatery in Sembawang Park. I was feeling bo liao myself, so to take some refuge from the remnants of mid-year exam marking that's currently frying my brain, I thought I'd have a little lunch here.

Odd that this place isn't that far from where I live, relatively speaking, but this is the first time I've ever attempted to eat here. Then again, when I'm here I'm usually with Q-tip who isn't allowed inside most eating places. Today, I was flying solo.

There's a warm, rustic charm to the interior. A little country, and a little history, after all, this quaint little Colonial house is supposed to have been the residence of some European Admiral at some point in the past.

On the menu is the option to go Chinese or Western. I was in the mood for a Western set lunch.

Despite the atas name and setting, the food is neither posh nor pretentious. The starter was a simple pile of fresh tossed salad covered over with French dressing. The main course, a chunk of boneless roast chicken, smothered in a little mountain of fried onions and garlic; chips; and more salad and French. Dessert was a serving of chilled sliced pineapple, watermelon and papaya.

The cuisine here turned out to be more of the home-cooked comfort food variety. There's quantity, and there's the feeling that someone you know, maybe Mom or Grandma, cooked this meal for you. That, and the iced tea, hit the spot this afternoon. Mmm...

The JC1 kids are off honing their leadership skills over at the MOE Labrador Adventure Camp, so I went over to snap a few shots for NYconneX. Can't have an award-winning mag if it isn't constantly kept up-to-date, right?

This batch of kids got to play on the high-elements while the other batch went topo-ing around outside base camp. All the climbing and descending from great heights looked like so much fun, I felt like joining in. Perhaps next time there's a training for instructors...?

But today I had an appointment with JY and Jo in the East. I promised to help Jo with 'blading, and for a beginner she seems to have learned the basics quite quickly. She's already able to walk forward quite confidently without support, so all she really needs is to work on her aesthetic. One thing at a time.

Both JY and I are so exercise-deprived we jumped at this opportunity to de-mothball our 'blades and get moving once again. JY's elated that after only one session, Jo is already tempted to go shopping for her own gear. Definitely some female bonding is imminent.

We, sans Jo, met Mel, B-lo and Haze for dinner at NYDC, Wheelock. Company's a bit different from the usual crowd, but no less engaging and noisy. NYDC offers a reasonable baked pasta/rice dish. I tried the "Three Amigos" variety, the "Three" referring to a meatball, Itie sausage, ham combo. Coated thickly with mozza, plus my own liberal sprinkling of Parmesan, it was quite a substantial meal for only $10.90.

Took M2 back to Mazda. They're recalling all M2s in batches to replace the front coil spring. I believe that's something to do with the shock absorbers, though what the problem actually is, I'm not clear about. Still, it's a free service and they gave M2 a long overdue wash and vacuum too. Job done in less than 3 hours. Didn't feel any different driving home, but will keep monitoring...

I found this little surprise in a UPS package on my desk this morning. Looks like NYconneX has finally got some recognition, at least from this organization that looks at the effectiveness of corporate communications publications and gives out this yearly award.

This award didn't exactly come out of the blue, though. I sent our favourite college newsletter webby in as a entry a few months ago, but considering we were going up against professional corp comms departments, all I could hope for was some constructive advice from the judges about how we could do better next year.

But to receive a Grand Award plaque was totally unexpected. Considering what our fellow awardees produced -- Flash animation, slick layouts, big attractive pix, layouts optimizing use of space, easy navigation -- for the moment I'm still wondering what we did right to impress the judges. The judges' comments will appear on the Awards website "in the days ahead", so I'll keep checking in until they say something about us.

This award belongs to Loga and the journo batch of '06-07, for with their faithful updating of content, with Christine's web design, with the variety of articles ranging from the thinking to the bimbotic, we are really getting a behind-the-scenes view of the college from the students' perspective, and perhaps that "inside" information about our college organization was what got the judges' attention. Just speculating for now.

Coincidentally, today was the inaugural meeting of the '07-08 journos headed by Clara. I just had to wave the plaque at them during the meeting to spur their ambitions a bit more. Hope I didn't overdo it with my gushing... heh.

I intake wine in very small quantities, very infrequently. Especially now that I drive, I've seen even less of the stuff than previously. A little vino looks good at the right occasion on the table, but generally, I'll pass on it if offered. My past experience with alcohol isn't a happy one: just a tiny amount of beer makes me puke my guts out, vino knocks me right out.

With this past history in mind, I signed up for the Wine Appreciation session Linc organized for the staff this afternoon. He promised cheese and crackers in between sips of a few different wines, plus I believed I would be in good, jovial company, so I couldn't resist paying $40 for the experience.

I honestly didn't expect to be impressed with the wine selection. Don't all wines taste the same? No they don't, as it turned out. For every bottle opened, I accepted enough to wet the bottom of my glass, but also enough to savour the different aromas and tastes of the New World wines the supplier brought.

Guess as an inexperienced drinker, I liked the lighter wines better: the sauvignon blanc and the merlot; while I poured away most of the shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. Taste-wise the latter were too tart for my mouth to enjoy. The surprise was the last bottle, an expensive, award-winning Old World Italian wine. In an instant, I learned that expensive wines taste expensive, and I understood why people would pay money for a good bottle. This one would have been a waste to pour away, so what I couldn't drink, B-lo cheerfully finished off for me.

The cheese that Linc bought also kept us good company. The cheddar was standard, but the spiced cheese, brie and camembert went well with the Carrs (both regular and peppered) as always. Fun as it was to crunch cheese and crackers between refills of wine, I'm glad we paced ourselves so that our supplies lasted the entire afternoon.

Oddly enough, all that vino didn't affect me like it usually does. I didn't drink much, but combining the 6 bottles we sampled, I must have consumed more than half a glass, the amount of which usually puts me right out. Guess it must be due to the pace we were going at: swirl, sniff, sip, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, sample cheese, sample cracker, sample cheese and cracker, sip some more, repeat a couple more rounds, then we're ready for the next bottle.

Our $40 fee also bought us a bottle of merlot and a bottle of shiraz to take home. Think they'll make nice Christmas gifts for the right people.

Not a day after the release of the iPhone, we are already getting reports that some people's motivation to fork out US$500-$600 for this shiny new piece of gadgetry is to smash it up just to see what's inside. Then they show off what they've learned by publishing their research on the 'net, like the folks at Wired mag did. Granted, 'Wired' probably used a corporate account to finance the operation, but other regular joes paid out-of-pocket too.

Would we S'poreans ever do such a thing? For a few weeks, I even kept the protective plastic layer on my Samsung's glass panel, just to keep pristine (*blush). And I paid a comparative fraction of what a new iPhone would have cost me for it.

See, the difference is that we S'poreans are ultimately end-users. We pay retail for a gadget, we max out its functionality, occasionally we personalize its aesthetic to suit our tastes, and when it gets obsolete we dump it and get the next-gen model. We don't care what goes on inside, we don't care what makes it tick. We don't work on it, we want it to work for us. We get maximum benefit, wring it dry, love it and leave it. There's a word for this kind of behaviour: superficiality.

We do the same thing with people too. Our maids, foreign workers, employer-employee, vendor-customer (both ways). We don't bother with what's going on inside them, what they're thinking about or what motivates them. As long as they work to our specifications, there's no trouble, but as soon as there's friction we're already thinking of a replacement.

For them Americans, they're willing to pay good money to settle their curiosity. They think about how it works, while we're busy wondering, "why doesn't it work?" They're busy tinkering, innovating, and making lots more money when they come up with a new device. We're just happy to buy new stuff. I ask you, between the California blonde and the SPG, who's the real bimbo?

If innovation is to be our future, how do we stop being a nation of sarong-clad bim-bots? It starts with what we teach our kids (ya, ya, I know, groans all-round). Each of our subjects have a certain amount of content, but we've got to deliver the content in such a way that the kids can engage it with curiosity. They gotta want to question the content, take it apart, and see how it works for themselves. We gotta stop emphasizing that simply repeating content back to us is evidence that they know their stuff.

We can start by getting rid of our biggest crutch: the "ten-year series", which gives the faulty impression that the questions will always be the same, hence the answers will always be the same. We should get rid of our reliance on 'model answers' -- t'ain't no such animal. We need to teach the kids to respect every question on its own merit, and help them develop the skills to systematically work out their answers, rather than spew out everything they can remember on the topic, which only shows how well they memorized their stuff but says nothing about their ability to deal with the problem.

We gotta teach them how to relate to people better too, too see people as people and not just another appliance to be used for convenience sake, or whatever. Of course, all easier said than done.

And, no, I'm not gonna start by smashing up my Samsung. Nice try.

ST asks if S'poreans are bad drivers. It's a valid question, after all the number of traffic fatalities is still high, incidents of road rage are on the increase, and we all could list a number of poor driving habits we encounter by our fellow drivers on our roads.

Generally, I encounter the impatient sort, the tailgater, the no-signal lane-changer, the idiot who speeds up to close the gap when I dutifully signal I want to change lanes. The morons who think my minimum safety distance is sufficient space to cut into my lane. Each incident raises driver alertness, but it also causes an emotional response as well -- anger, which often triggers a desire for vengeance or at least competition. All very dangerous impediments to safe driving.

There'd be a lot more of us still alive if we were a little more patient with each other, a little less in a hurry ourselves. Good luck with that in modern, busy S'pore, you say. Perhaps the problem isn't that the roads aren't safe enough, but rather, that our roads are too safe. According to the theory of 'risk compensation', animals and people tend to take greater risks the safer they feel in their environments.

Perhaps we need to remove our numerous traffic lights, our speed limits and warning signs. Get rid of our lane markings and do whatever else we can to raise the threat level on the road. Then perhaps our drivers will start taking more personal responsibility over the way they drive. Roads don't have to be safe. Drivers do.

Think I got this idea because I'm crazy? It's an idea that seems to work. Check out this article by Anne Casselman in Discover mag. Click.

Our popularity waxes and wanes like the phases of the moon. When nobody wants us, crickets chirp blissfully in the background. When we're needed, well... today for instance:

We finished mashing our egg-salad last night and took a 3-hour time out to sleep before buttering 17 loaves of bread this morning. Each slice thinly spread with an even coat of butter just so, in order to complement the flavour of the egg filling without overpowering it. We quarter each sandwich, so our target was to make 600 quarters before noon. Mission accomplished... just barely!

Showered and dressed, delivered the sandwiches to Bro in Geylang, then on to Queenstown to attend the wedding of Josh and Jan (pix left). In a compact little service involving lots of singing, they finally tied the knot in front of us (they had already tied the knot in front of Jan's folks in Bangkok a year or so ago). I always thought Josh reminded me of Bert, but as he sang to Jan, his easy-listening vocals reminded me then of Kermit's. Random thought.

Couldn't stay long, though the reception was quite yummy. We had a pot luck at Jen's place and we still had to go pick up dessert. Jen does a beautifully light pie-tee that we put together ourselves. She also cooked her Peranakan specialties while Adrian improvised an exotic chicken dish though he only returned from HK past midnight last night. Our dessert: Ritz apple strudel, hastily bought from Parkway Parade. We were late, and we'd just run out of imagination. Fortunately, Jen had a couple of tubs of Tiger Sorbet and Chendol ice-cream from Island Creameries to make our contribution a little more exciting. She's a great hostess!

Busy, busy day.

Not often Lucy requests us to join her for lunch, but when she does, she picks a great place to eat. Botak Jones, Toa Payoh branch, where they've also opened Brewski Jones (as advertised on the radio). Same heap of fat, juicy burger, fries and coleslaw for a measly $6, and a bit more for additional toppings like bacon, cheese, sauteed 'shrooms. It's such good value that a bunch of sec school kids seated at the next table looked so at home, like it was their school canteen or something.

The Botak Burger's a great big mess to eat with your bare hands, but there's no better way to enjoy its in-your-faceness, literally. The fries and slaw are the steady, take your time to nibble as you talk excuse to remain seated and stretch lunchtime as long as possible.

Lucy and B-lo ordered the hand-made margaritas from Brewski, while Amy and Wayne split a Stella Wayne had a Stella. The rest of us, HP, Josh, NBS and I made do with pop and fruit juice. Dunno what Amy had to drink. But all too soon, it's back to work and to our ever slow to dwindle pile of exam marking. Guess what we'll be doing all weekend long?

Well, maybe not me. I'm currently waiting to be activated to work in the kitchen. I have 120 hard-boiled eggs to mash into egg-salad filling for 17 loaves of bread. Bro needs a delivery of our special sandwich 'cos he's catering a buffet tea tomorrow afternoon at his restaurant. That, plus a few other items on our agenda for the weekend is going to keep June and me really busy for a while...

"Transformers" has to be THE summer blockbuster to watch this year. The scale of adventure and excitement goes over the top in comparison with everything else I've watched so far. For the portrayal of sheer destructive power and the readiness to use it; for the variety of ordnance and fighting styles in combat sequences; for the disproportion of the odds stacked against us pathetic humans in the face of an interstellar invasion and our willingness to fight on anyway, this movie simply took my breath away.

The plot is surprisingly tight, considering the number of threads holding the story together. There's ancient history, recent history, government conspiracy, different levels of warfare, and the human element all interwoven at a pace that just doesn't let up. What helps the story move is the clarity everyone has in their own purpose. Good is good, evil is evil, and the conflict boils down to survive or die. No further complications. You want anything more complicated, go read a book.

Left to our own devices, our terrestrial human weapons are already devastating. The sequence depicting an air-to-ground assault by US combined forces shows off the might of an A-10/AC-130 gunship strike. Our current conventional weapons can level a village in seconds, but that's what it takes to neutralize a single Decepticon invader which still can make a getaway sans a number of body parts.

As with Bay's "Armageddon", our species deserves to continue surviving because we will fight tooth and nail for the right to. While the Autobots arrive to protect our species from the Decepticon threat, we aren't simply cowering behind our defenders, but we're fighting there alongside with everything we've got. Many times I could almost hear Churchill's inspirational "We shall fight..." speech while the battle raged onscreen. And I could just sit in my seat awestruck.

For me, of all the movies of this year, only "Transformers" has so far provided the biggest emotional rush I expect from a truly memorable movie. From the crazy but entirely-human human characters to the awkwardness of the Autobots attempting to blend in with their surroundings upon their first arrival -- you'll believe a machine can have feelings -- to the technophobia-inducing Decepticons who represent all those times when our machines have turned bad on us, the conflict pitting defenders and protectors against the invaders is so epic in scale, some scenes I was laughing out loud, others I was going, "oh no, oh no...", and in yet others I had tears in my eyes was weeping openly.

To sum up, I'll just quote Mel, my seatmate: "Whoa. Yeah! Cooool!" And to think I was never a fan of the animated TV series. Thank you, Michael Bay, for preventing this year's summer releases from being a total waste!

Hmm... for some strange reason, I wanna buy me a Chevy now...

Am marking the essay, "Greed is good." Comment. A nice, open-ended question. The instruction to "comment" leaves the essayist a lot of room to explore the concept of Greed, and its effects on us as a people, and its impact on the world. But because the discussion could literally go anywhere, it's of vital importance that the essayist nails down a clear definition of Greed and use that definition as a standard of comparison in order to determine just how good greed is.

For a more interesting discussion, we might want to define greed as an extreme form of human behaviour. We are looking for a clash of ideas, else an argument wouldn't be an argument otherwise.

If greed is extreme, then greed goes beyond the desire for more, and for better -- which, unfortunately, most of the essays I'm marking tend to stop at. Everyone wants more, everyone wants better, so what makes the greedy stand out? Greed pushes the limits of what is normally acceptable, tolerable and reasonable, in terms of quantity desired, and in terms of the methods by which such desires are satisfied, usually at the expense of other people.

So to answer the question, the essay must provide yardsticks (e.g., moral or religious) by which to determine the difference between normal, acceptable desire and that which goes beyond the pale, i.e., greed.

The essay should explain why people generally take a dim view of greed, but more importantly, show that there is a direct relationship between this extreme behaviour and the harm it brings as a consequence. There needs to be sufficient supporting evidence illustrating this cause-effect so that we can draw specific principles about greed from the examples cited.

But according to the question, greed is good, so how can this be? "Good" suggests that there is some benefit to be derived from greed despite its negative consequences. Again, the discussion needs to show a causual link between greed and specific (though perhaps unintended) benefits accruing to the individual or to larger society. Again, with the use of supporting evidence to back up the claim.

Now we have a clash of the negative and positive effects of greed, but to leave the discussion like this is neither instructional nor helpful to our understanding of greed. It's balanced, but boring.

A little insight would help spice things up a bit. Perhaps we could say that although greed generally leads us to some very negative consequences, greed is still an essential trait in people because it shows us that there is more to achieve in life, to push beyond our current limitations and makes us innovate and stretch ourselves to reach that which was once unreachable. Such has been the process of human progress. It is how we have thrived as a species and have come to dominate life on this planet... But at our current level of progress, can our planet sustain any more of our greed, or do we need to find a new way to progress before our greed kills us all? (Haha, how drama)!

Something like that.

In response to Taily's comment, no, I'm not bored -- not with blogging, anyway. I'm just bored. Period. I'm looking back at my recent entries and I see little else but moans and whines. It's like I've become a different me. And eventually, I got quite fed up with moaning and whining, and then there was little else to say. I needed a break, and I took one.

This past hols, I found more than ample opportunities to be by myself. People took separate vacations out of town, and there were days I literally didn't need to vocalize anything beyond a couple of perfunctory sentences to order food or whatever. As much as I appreciate the solitude as ol' Bill Wordsworth did once, I didn't find the experience particularly inspirational enough to write about. So I didn't.

I'm no people person, but I do need a few people with whom I can sharpen myself on and maintain my edge. My sense of humour depends on people to bounce off, but as you can probably tell of late, my entries have been losing their enthusiasm. Even my media reviews have become quite colourless. Boring.

Which is why I'm actually grateful the term has started. I grateful for having regular lunch company again, and I'm grateful for tonight's dinner in HP's honour, and the opportunity for light, easy, irreverent, silly chat tossed around the table once again. It doesn't happen as often these days, but I'll take what I can get.

I am becoming a regular feature at my local Silver Cross medical outpost. I've always avoided doctors 'cos once you start seeing them, once is never enough. It's true.

This time, I need medication for conjunctivitis, a.k.a pink eye (US) or sore eyes. Bloodshot, crud encrusted eyes, itchy and generally uncomfortable. It's usually spread by contact, so how I contracted it is a mystery. After all, I've not had contact with anyone for the last couple of weeks or so. Well, except for June, but she's healthy as far as I know.

But I have been subjecting my eyes to a bit of strain lately. My efforts to help Haunted Woods in their Altador Cup campaign this year has turned into an obsession. I've spent too much time scoring points for last year's champs, though at this stage of competition it's starting to look like a lost cause. Doubt we'll even reach the semi-final rounds now. So much for our hopes for a double. BTW, SingTel is finally offering the NeoPets Lutari Island download for most 3G mobile phone models now... except mine (boo hoo).

I've spent the rest of the time squinting at the tiny screen of my GBA, hacking and slashing my way through the most excellent Final Fantasy VI Advance. It boasts quite a pantheon of playable characters, most with unique abilities, so careful character selection is an advantage when performing particular tasks. Many characters upgrade their abilities in unique ways too, and there is a multitude of optional but fun side-quests to get involved in as well.

But playing FF6 on an LCD screen little bigger than the one on a mobile phone is hell on the eyes. Particularly when there are lots of indistinguishable details that the brain works overtime to decipher. Oh well, at least the ol' brain's been getting a little exercise.

Maybe that's it. Reverting to geek-boy, staying out of the sun (it's summer, for heaven's sake!), turning pale and growing mushrooms on my back and shoulders isn't the most healthy way to spend the June hols. No wonder I'm sick.

Tonight's dinner was a date June and I have been consciously ignoring since the beginning of the year hoping it would go away, but it finally arrived anyway. In honour of Fathers' Day, a distant cousin of mine invited my whole extended paternal clan down for dinner at the Ritz-Carlton. It was to be a gathering of everyone whose common ancestor went back up to 6 generations -- my great-grandfather. People I've never seen before in my life were going to be introduced to me as some relative or other, by blood or marriage. Well, you know how much I look forward to first contact situations.

I expected a much bigger turnout, but several families were unrepresented, so there weren't that many people there that I didn't already know. Well, there was mom's old colleague who turned out to be my aunt, a cousin from Edinburgh, and by some quirk along the generational line (and not because I'm that old) there was this little girl who was my grand-niece.

The evening turned out less painful than we anticipated. There was a little handshaking and a couple of exchanged pleasantries, but nothing uncomfortable or awkward. The programme promised table games, but thankfully the organizer conveniently ignored that item. As it was, there was so much on offer at the buffet tables, and it was a bit sad that there weren't more of us to help finish off the amount we left over.

After dinner, we had a bit of a sing-along worship session, followed by some preaching of good family values, particularly that of the Man's role as husband and father in the family. It was Father's Day, after all. It was a biblically patriarchal message, but it was my dad that set the example for us in a practical way -- he paid for dinner on behalf of the side of the family he represented. Thanks, dad! and Happy Dad's Day!

At the end of Week 3 of the June hols, with everyone I know out of town, I've let myself go wild and am now looking at my most unglam. Unkempt even. And there I was with June having supper at the Teochew porridge place at the corner of Upp Serangoon and Jln Rengkam. I'm all sweaty from the spiciness of the otah, and I'm all slobbery with sauces and gravies from the other side dishes. Then, wouldn't you know it, along walks by Faith and her parentals partaking of their evening constitutional. It's a wonder she recognized me at all. We have a brief flurry of hand waving and then, I suppose, as they continue walking she is probably explaining that the old scruffbag she greeted actually has a respectable profession, yadda, yadda.

Haha! Hi Faith! *waves

The best sequels are the ones where you go in with no expectations whatsoever. Spidey 3 and Pirates: World's End were so hyped, they fizzled in their actual delivery. But Rise of the Silver Surfer was such a fun thrill ride in comparison. Considering I don't much like the Surfer to begin with -- too powerful, too naive, too um... retro -- RotSS may just be the summer sequel I enjoyed the most.

What I didn't like were the CGI effects, particularly of Mr Fantastic, that were just too cartoony. Him using his stretchy powers at his bachelor party was unbelievable and ridiculous but, ok, he does have a ridiculous power to begin with. And Julian McMahon's Doom was once again more comparable to the sophomoric Human Torch than the much-feared iron-fisted ruler of a small Eastern European country that he is supposed to be. Doom has the potential to be a memorable screen villain, but this incarnation will never make it.

But RotSS never does take itself seriously. It doesn't get dark, it doesn't get draggy and long-drawn, and it doesn't try to outdo itself in effects or twisted sub-plots. It's a straightforward save-the-world story while arranging an impossibly difficult wedding in the meantime. So while the calamity is of a cosmic nature, the more difficult crisis is the human one: will the Invisible Woman ever become Mrs Fantastic? And that's what keeps the movie's legs firmly planted on the ground.

Also, the relationship between the Thing and the Torch is well-balanced. While Johnny has the looks and the enviable power of flame, flight, freedom and floozy attraction, Ben is horribly disfigured, solidly earth-bound, but has the love of a single good woman who is good enough for him. While Ben is secure in his relationship with the blind Alicia Masters, it's ironic that Johnny is the lonely one underneath it all.

Like the Fantasticar action sequence, the movie's pace just keeps pushing forward. Never a slow, dull moment, the movie accelerates until the final, climactic confrontation between the Surfer and the Devourer of Worlds. I'm glad we never get to see what Galactus looks like beyond the vague shadow he(?) casts on Saturn. There's more credibility to Galactus as a malevolent cosmic thundercloud than the Jack Kirby designed personification in the comic books.

And that's what the movies are good for. Focus on believable characters, focus on a tight plot, and especially important for blockbuster sequels: keep it fun, keep it fast, and don't try to make the audience think too much. Of the movies released so far this summer, RotSS made me happy.

Just when I was thinking how uninteresting my life has become, I just had to go lose my wallet. It's amazing how important that small strip of cowhide is. In it is my identity, my affiliations, my privileges, and access to my finances. Losing it is almost like becoming persona non grata in my own society. For a brief moment, I learned whet it felt like to have no money, and no way to get my hands on any since I couldn't prove who I was to my bank. THAT was scary.

I suspect my wallet had slipped out of my pocket somewhere between J8 (breakfast) and MacRitchie Reservoir (newly discovered marking and aborted lunch place). It must still have been with me at J8 'cos I was able to pay for breakfast, but by the time I wanted to pay for lunch, it had vanished. I doubt I got pickpocketed 'cos I don't remember anyone coming within arm's reach of me, but if it had fallen someplace someone must have found it, and if they were honest they would have somehow contacted me about it by now. But so far, no word.

Spent the rest of the afternoon retracing my steps, but nothing. So I lodged a lost report with J8, and with the Bishan NPP. The friendly police sergeant patiently explained that the report was just a record of loss, and if anyone turned in my wallet as a found item at any NPP it would simply be easier to trace. This means I still have to go to ICA and Traffic Police in Ubi to get my ID and driving license replaced.

Had to cancel all my credit cards -- the respective issuers informed me that no purchases were made on them today, phew -- and got my ATM card replaced. And slowly, I'm piecing my life back together, though it'll still be a few days before I'm whole again. How exciting.

When will I learn that movies based on hit video games almost always invariably turn out to be a total waste of time? Among the most recent were the disappointing Silent Hill, the egregious Doom, and to add to the list of stinkers is Alone in the Dark. Yes, I saw this one on the DVD rack at Gramophone and jumped at it without hesitation. The fact that the movie never made the big screen here should have told me something.

AITD was a brilliantly atmospheric chiller of a game -- quite possibly the grandaddy of today's survival-horror genre. Although rendered mostly on wireframe, it blended sound and music effects with disturbing, claustrophobic environments, and limited the effectiveness of weapons and the availability of ammo, so every shot, every whack had to count.

Somebody forgot to tell the movie version that running around with a squad of marines, guns ablaze, doesn't actually qualify as being Alone in the Dark. So, squad of paranormal investigating marines go chasing after some evil creatures released from millenia of slumber by a bunch of greedy, careless deep sea salvagers. The creatures are from another dimension, and the scientist studying them inexplicably wants to open the portal to their dimension. It's not clear if he just wants to live with them, or let them all loose on earth. Do mad scientists need a reason?

On the other side are the do-gooder marines, a.k.a. Bureau 713. They shoot everything that moves, but one-by-one the squad gets decimated anyway. It sucks being on the losing side. What do we expect? After all, their enemy can become as insubstantial as smoke when they're being shot at, but can solidify at will to slice and dice their victims with enormous claws and teeth.

Despite lots of rockin' and rollin' with either fists or semi-automatic weapons there were places at which I fell asleep watching. So possibly some of the plot gaps I'm missing is a result of that. But, really, if this was supposed to be an action thriller, it didn't work for me.

Et tu, AITD? Bleh.

The last couple of days have been seriously unproductive, yet costly. Been spending most of the time at home waiting for various tradesmen to service my poor flat that's falling apart at the seams. After 7 years of hard living, the wear and tear really shows.

We've got leaks in our plumbing, our bed is loosening at the joints -- I'm nervous about sleeping in it in case it collapses under my weight -- and our air-conditioning got flushed out with a chemical wash and had a part or 2 replaced.

Meantime, Q-tip was looking scruffy again. Pix on the right is the 'after' shot from her haircut by Dom.

At left is a test shot using my just-delivered Samsung Ultra Series 13.8 in camera mode. In fact, both shots were test shots. Need more practice and a steadier hand -- these pix still show some motion blur.

I finally took advantage of my handset upgrade offer and got this model for (relatively) cheap. This one came with an additional 512Mb micro-SD card for free, so there's lots of room for all kinds of multimedia junk if I ever wanted it. Yay!

Went biking with HP and NBS along ECP. A nice, easy pedal along the beach front, breathing the fresh sea air and being grateful for it. We moved mostly at a slow, even pace though we picked it up closer to the end of our 2 hours in order to 1) beat the thundercloud menacing us overhead, and 2) to grab some lunch before the afternoon movie screening at Eng Wah Suntec.

Introduced NBS to Carl's Jr at Marina Square. Though the burgers are impressive in size, I was even more impressed with the 2 girls who demolished their burgers and left no remains. It's great to be in company that doesn't pick at their food.

HP and I joined Amy who was swamped with organizing the movie screening at Eng Wah. The college kids arrived in droves to watch Shrek 3 that Amy had arranged a corporate screening for. In between trying to get some marking done, we lent a hand in distributing the tix, collecting cash from stragglers, and whatever else it took to keep Amy sane through it all.

Apart from the movie, the EW staff took us to view the projection room and showed us how the analog and digital projectors worked, plus the inner workings of the industrial-strength popcorn machine they keep behind the snack counter. They use a lot of sugar. A. Lot.

And how was Shrek 3? Still clever, this time involving characters from legend, apart from the usual fairy tale crowd. As with the rest of this year's 3-quels, it's slightly dark, but at least it doesn't go overboard trying to outdo itself. The least disappointing 3-quel I've seen this year so far.

Still having respiratory trouble. Friday night was the worst yet. Had to sit up to make the breathing easier, and sleep was almost impossible. Reading about that 20-year-old kid who died after a bout of breathlessness in Friday's ST didn't help much. Still, I did make it through the night and the symptoms mostly go away in the morning.

Went shopping yesterday with June. She used her remaining $50 Taka voucher to pay for a bottle of frankincense essential oil and a box of organic tea candles for me. Frankincense apparently helps ease breathing difficulties, and it certainly did make for an easier night last night. Also took no chances and rubbed myself down with Vicks before sleeping. So either one or the other, or the combination of both worked just fine.

Went back to the clinic this morning anyway. Doc Doreen heard me wheezing away and prescribed a turn on the nebulizer. Also prescribed asthma medication, though she said I wasn't so far gone yet that I needed an inhaler. She's still holding out that I'm only going through a passing phase. I hope so too.

On Aggie's recommendation, I went to try Sticky Rice in Gardens along with Amy, HP and Wayne. Ordered the green curry set that came in a pretty generous serving of rice and chicken green curry, a mango salad and Thai fish cake with a hot dipping sauce. For $10.50+++ the set was quite substantial. And tasty... well, I haven't actually met a green curry I didn't like yet. I'm not so much into Thai food, but green curry's one of their better creations. Yes.

In fact, Aggie's recommendation was so strong that I completely forgot that today was Friday, and though we could afford a little longer lunch, the opportunity to get a cheap salmon sashimi set on Friday special at Tomoko completely slipped my mind. So I made up for that little oversight by taking June and my folks there for dinner.

What? Apart from today's KI mock exam (we promised to mock everybody's answers thoroughly), I can't think of any other highlights of my day.

Just as well no one picked up on my invite to go car rallying today. I was supposed to go in Jen's car, but I'm still feeling too much under the weather to go traipsing around the island solving puzzles and getting all physical at this or that checkpoint of national and/or historical significance.

No problem for Jen, who got her cousin to replace me. I stayed home doing their research on the 'net in case they needed to find some obscure location or retrieve some esoteric information or whatever.

Turned out most of the checkpoints were in places I already knew of even without a Yahoo! search. Ann Siang Hill (which gave me the most trouble 'cos Adrian didn't spell the clue right for me), Kranji War Memorial, the Jap War Cemetery Garden, Beaulieu House.

Unfortunately, though Jen's car arrived 3rd at the last checkpoint, our team got pipped by the 4th car who scored a bonus point off a side-quest. So close to sharing the 3rd prize of $100 cash among the 5 of us. Oh well.

BTW, Ben's blog entry about our flawed political system got picked up and published in littlespeck. Look under the heading of "Leadership". The NST reporter who lives in Gardens sure loves all this subversive stuff! Link's in my sidebar.

Our good host, 'tilda, raises a glass and declares the evening's festivities open!

Co-host, Nige, raises many an eyebrow with this makeover

It's always happiest at the buffet table.

Our 3 drama beauties, and drama queens all.

The serious business of face stuffing.

Outgoing Pres, Van, addresses her minions one last time.

Over a glass o' red, Gerald and Tina find themselves good company.

Yes 'tilda, you've been a great host so far. You can let your hair down now.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is the official Othello Post-production Party. We're at the Gardens' Country Club and carrying on like tomorrow's a public holiday or something. Gotta hand it to the Drama Club, it certainly was an entertaining evening, what with our hosts in drag, a slideshow of candid production shots, silly improv games, thank-you speeches, oh, and I finally got to see the end of Othello -- on video anyway.

Also got to bowl as well, with the drama kids! No competition, no pressure. Just throw ball, laugh, cheer, whatever. And duck every time Johnny chucks his ball down the lane.

Thanks for a great time, Mel and NYeDC!

Ok, who left this pawprint on my nice carpet?

Was it you, Kaiser? You may look imperious, but I'm wise to your tricks.

Or you, Momo? Is that a guilty look on your face?

Dunno what's wrong with me. My bug hasn't left me yet though it's been about 3 weeks already. Today I was just feeling feverish with a throbbing headache, though for a short time, having lunch with Amy and HP helped me forget the pain. I feel a bit better now, after taking 2 cold-relief tablets. The headache's gone, though I suspect the beef I had at lunch is causing me some indigestion. Great. I've become quite the hypochondriac.

Still, I'm quite pleased that the chatbox in NYconneXions has been buzzing with activity lately. It's inevitable that people are going to put some nasty comments about our articles, but it's heartening that some of our readers are commenting back in support of our reporters. If only the debate was more constructive, though. Chatboxes don't provide enough space for well-developed arguments. Hope our readers will start using our "comment" function soon, or better yet, email us. But at least, people are starting to care.

The interior of Dragonfly, St James' Power Station. The college organized a tea party for the various CCAs that brought us honours in sports and cultural events this year, so we're all here enjoying an alcohol-free, smoke-free, dance-your-brains-out afternoon.

Well, for about half the time we were there, anyway. Apparently, the hosts of this shindig was a grassroots-type organization, so for the first hour we had something of a less-than-stimulating chat session over whatever socio-political issues the kids sort of made up on the spot. Perhaps we should have emphasized the sagely advice session a little more earlier, rather than bill the whole thing as a Party, then perhaps the kids might have been a bit more prepared for it.

Beyond the rather uncomfortable dialogue, we also had to endure about 45 minutes of MC time during which the MC attempted to liven up the proceedings by getting the kids to "sabo" each other and their tutors, pulling them up onto the stage to make them sing or dance or otherwise embarrass themselves. It was painful to sit through 'cos the sabo'ed were neither cooperative nor entertaining, and kept refusing all offers. A good MC needs to know when to quit and just get the music started. Honestly, we know how to entertain ourselves.

When they finally put the music on, most of the staff felt they had had enough. So a bunch of us took off for some proper tea at Vivo. We found the White Dog Cafe which has a decent set tea: choice of cake slice with tea or coffee at $6.

June joined us later for dinner, as did a delegation of other staff led by JY. White Dog does an ok prawn aglo olio and thin-crust pizza. A bit small, the portions, though satisfying enough without feeling bloaty.

And, inevitably, shopping to follow...

Pirates: At World's End is a convoluted mess of shifting allegiances in the form of private hidden agenda and quick-fix marriages of convenience. With an international consortium of "Brethren", the crew of the Black Pearl face off against the assembled might of the East India Company, a.k.a., the British Navy, and The Flying Dutchman that has been pressed into the service of the Brits.

Of course, the Black Pearl must rescue its Captain, Jack Sparrow, from eternal punishment first, then convince the other 7 pirate lords of the Brethren Court that a naval battle against the odds will bring a more favourable outcome than lasting out a siege at Shipwreck Cove. Considering that every pirate is his or her own master, it takes some deft politicking to get a consensus.

So apart from the number of thrilling fight sequences in which the action takes place so quickly and furiously it's hard to keep track of who's where and who's fighting whom at the moment, the negotiations and shared plots, schemes and secrets are equally disorientating. As always, double-cross and betrayal is the name of the game -- though nothing personal, it's just "good business." While such intrigue makes great fun to watch, perhaps a pen and notepad beside me would help me keep the score.

For all the interwoven treachery and skulduggery that goes on in the pirates' machinations, about the question of whether our heroes get what they want at the end, let's just say that what they want comes with a heavy price tag, with the chance for further quests ahead.

Oh, and the mention of Singapore occurs only in passing, nothing to be made a big deal of. It's set in a time of steam-and-bamboo powered technology, security-conscious to the point of paranoia, operated on the backs of slave-labour, and generally exploited by foreigners. Oh, wait, nothing new then.

Pirates is a long movie, well over 2 hours, and in places it does feel a bit draggy. But if you can be bothered, there's a tiny reward for those who sit through the end credits. The worth of the reward is inversely proportional to the fullness of your bladder, but it's your call.

And this little scruffbag is Girlfriend, who lives among the bushes in the square behind our block. She's about kitten size, but she's a grandmother already. Her family life has been quite tragic. For one thing, Flirt was her daughter from her last litter. There were 3 kittens in her first litter whom we named Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane, and today only Nabiki remains as her only known descendant, although they aren't quite on speaking terms with one another.

June decided to bring Girlfriend home today for a scrub 'cos Girlfriend is filthy with mud and other debris which she's picked up from roughing it outside. Notice that even after her bath, Girlfriend still looks brown around the edges. Think only bleach is gonna get her whites whiter than white again.

When she's dry again, we'll release her back to her natural habitat. She is a wildcat, after all.

Meet the people who are in D. NY EL. That's what our department T-shirts say today as we facilitate our Big Event of the year: our multi-disciplinary college seminar on the theme of "Crime & Punishment".

Apart from inviting external speakers from the legal, enforcement and rehab agencies around town, our other departments volunteered staff speakers to make presentations on crime & punishment from the point-of-view of their own subjects.

For example, biology discussed genetics and criminal behaviour; physics went behind-the-scenes on forensics; art showed us the value of graffiti; history exposed war crimes, and so on.

Now, that's a fun, short way to end our 2nd term. Good luck on your GP & K&I papers tomorrow, kids! Sleep early!

June arrived home from Japan at about 0200 this morning and found me asleep on the living room carpet. I'm not in trouble, though. She'll be claiming her cab fare from her company.

She bought me a bento box (left) for a past-midnight snack. Not bad, authentic Japanese cuisine, air-flown and hand-delivered straight to my dining table. Though cold, the mackerel and prawn were still good, as were the sections of tamago and tofu. But I discovered that I perhaps I'm not really a big fan of Japanese pickles after all.

The cats were very curious about the fishy smell and had to investigate. Kaiser proudly displays the 2 bite marks on the top of his head, a loving present from Momo.

Spent another day on sick leave. Woke up to a schnozz clogged up with liquid snot, causing lots of heavy breathing, not of the good sort. Meds ran out over the weekend and the nasal passages were letting me know that fact, no mistake.

Doc seems to think if I've had no history of asthma, I shouldn't be getting it now. I didn't know it was a strictly childhood condition. He sent me for an x-ray, just to be safe. Thankfully, the results only confirmed that I have bigger lungs than than the radiologist had set the machine for. Needed a second shoot to get all my lungs in the frame. Heh. People tend to underestimate my size, me too sometimes. I'm not a big guy, but I'm bigger than I look. Larger-than-life.

Had time to look at the papers today. Looks like Dubai's moving in a big way towards a knowledge-based economy with a humongous $15b private donation to education, while China's drawing in Ivy-league eggheads to develop its creative innovation sector. I must be taking on the right subject, then. KI seems to be where the future is headed -- if only people would stop treating it like it was still an old-school study-memorize-regurgitate type deal. The old, traditional ways still command too much respect. New wine, old wineskin. What to do?

The trees are having a field day assasinating our fellow countrymen and women. They've finally had enough of us cutting them down to make way for new infrastructure and they're hitting back with suicide attacks. The victims suffer through no fault of their own, though. Wrong place, wrong time. Beware, folks, the trees are on the rampage!

Funny that Malaysian politicians are debating our involvement in the IDR. I would think their position on the situation would be quite clear to them: our adik will put their money into our project, we say "terimah kasih," they balik kampong to their little red dot, everybody happy. What's so difficult about that?

Outward Bound Singapore is 40 years old. I remember being drafted by my venerable old institution to go on a 5-day 'adventure' course with them. Was it fun? Yes, I learned to sail a dinghy, fly on the flying fox, and abseil down a rocky cliff. All the time I wanted to go, "again! again!" But there were so many other of my fellow adventurers with me there was only time for 1 ride each. The hardest part of the camp: waiting in line to go once on a ride. Pretty much like staying in a coaster theme park for 5 days in summer. Every queue starts at the "45 minutes from this point" marker.

Man, I sound old and cranky. Must be the meds talkin'.

Our GOH for today's college day event was amazingly down-to-earth and clear of thought. She not only noticed how creative and expressive our art students are from the paintings we display all over campus, but also how angry, repressed and suppressed their subject matter was.

While she was sympathetic, her advice was practical and sound. Sure, students understandably feel constrained by the rules they live under, by the expectations people have of them, by having to do whatever they're told or face some arbitrary consequence, particularly if they are still in a school system. In contrast, the world promises freedom, everyone being able to do, dress, say what they like; and the difference just makes it harder to live in the suffocating environment of teenage student life.

But the school is pretty much the only place in which our young can learn that there have to be rules, lines drawn that set their standards and values for life. Without having to live under rules, being thrown into a world with no rules is more frightening than it sounds. As she put it, rules provide "points of reference" from which we can deal with the strange and the unknown.

Students feel they can't be creative or learn creativity under the pressure of their restraints. But it's in having to manouvre within our constraints that's where creativity can bloom. There's nothing creative about running off to live a hermit's life -- there's no audience for what a hermit does -- but it's in learning to live with others and to relate to them that's when we need to be creative, and that's also when other people can appreciate our creativity as well.

Our GOH is wheelchair-bound. She may be disabled, but she's so genuinely positive. I give her credit because she doesn't speak in platitudes, just from good sense. Hence, unlike other happy disabled people (or even happy abled people), she doesn't give me the creeps. Perhaps her disability gives her an added dimension of being able to enjoy life to the fullest, while the rest of us simply take life for granted. It's a timely wake-up call.

2 days' of sick leave and I feel so behind on my schedules. I wonder if codine really works for coughs or if it's real purpose is to knock people out so they won't have to endure cold symptoms until the cold decides to go away by itself?

Anyway, been back at work for 2 days already since my MC ran out, and these have been days of many long hours, trying to catch up on the 2 days I lost. Maybe that's why people don't go on MC when they need to. Just because we're sick doesn't mean the work will go away.

Currently in a semi-happy, drug-induced torpor. Got tired of having asthma-like symptoms at night for the past few nights, so I sought medical attention this morning. Got 2 days' medical leave and some pretty powerful medicine that makes my knees all wobbly, jelly-like. Seems to be working as I've been breathing quite normally this evening. Doc says it's probably some viral infection and that the antibiotics should take care of it.

June's just gone off to Japan, blissfully unaware of my state. Didn't tell her 'cos I don't want her to worry unnecessarily. She's a bit miffed 'cos her team came in second in the big staff race her company organizes annually. This year the company's racing dragonboats, and since I've had some experience in the area, June got me to give her team some 'secret' instruction with a paddle I borrowed from college last night.

With her strategizing and me instructing, she felt she was doing everything she could to get the advantage in the race. But today, her Boss's boat outpowered her boat to win the race. I dunno, I say if the Boss is happy, that isn't bad news.

I always have a good time working with Drama. The kids work with so much purpose and when they take on roles of responsibility, they carry them out so competently and with such confidence that these learning experiences are what they really remember from their college experience.

There's so much learning and growing that's taken place in the last few weeks as the Drama Club has been putting Othello together. So much innovation, so much creativity in the publicity machine (lovely posters and T-shirts!), in the props and set design, in the interpretation of characters; and so much hard work and dedication, just for 3 shows that are over almost before we know it. It was a wonderful journey getting there!

But I am quite upset when I hear that their subject tutors won't give them a break, but instead show displeasure or even punish the kids for the odd missed assignment or a tutorial. A person's energy is a finite resource, and when that person is giving his or her all for a cause, it's difficult to be 100% everytime.

We tutors tend to overstate the importance of our subjects without looking at the holistic development of the student. Just because they aren't scratching out answers on worksheets or scribbling essays doesn't mean they aren't learning anything. For example, there's so much historical knowledge to gain from immersing the students in Venice at the time of the Ottoman empire. And such background info will also help prepare them to play out their roles with better understanding as well.

It's the context that learning takes place in, and if we can make the kids feel that it's learning they can use, they learn faster and more willingly. Because it makes sense to them.

I'm sorry that our system makes learning so compartmentalized, so rigidly inflexible. I'm sorry our personalities and egos interpret students' lapses as signs of disrespect or negligience or laziness. I'm sorry we feel compelled to "regain control" of the situation by compelling attention from our students one way or another.

Sometimes, I wonder if we could arrange the subjects that the students take by CCA instead of an arbitrary subject combination by 'tikam' method. Classes will support the CCA by teaching background theory that the kids need to have, the CCA will put their learning into application and practice. That way curriculum and co-curriculum would be more symbiotic, as will the subject combination, and the kids won't have to feel so torn and divided dealing with everything.

Ok, enough rant. Wanna see a couple of pix from Othello?

Chief bigwigs of Venice, the Duke and 2 Senators.

The cast and crew of Othello 2007

We're in the middle of the matinee show of Othello. My scene's over so I'm just hangin' around waiting for the interval so I can buy drinks and ice-cream.

Shakespeare's stuff is a challenge for a school to perform. The language is different from what we're used to, and it's worse for the audience if the actors don't pronounce their words properly. There's no doubt that our actors know their lines and their motivations, but the delivery of those lines requires a speech therapist to perfect. Or, perhaps more time to practice, which we don't have. I hear the audience would like subtitles, but perhaps it's also an opportunity to practice their listening skills too, eh?

It was fun performing to friends in the audience last night, but this afternoon and evening it'll be a more scrutinized show. Our audience will be mainly students who are taking Othello as exam text, and I hear a couple of actors who are involved in their own Shakespearean productions will be in the crowd tonight as well.

1 more show to go!

Last night we ran Othello straight through in full-dress rehearsal mode. The set designers did a great job with our tiny LT2 space, draping militant-looking banners strategically around the venue. With the atmosphere realized and everyone in costume, all cast and crew could see the whole thing in a complete package, and Madames Directeur, Tina et Mel, liked what they saw, despite their anxiety from a week ago.

It helped that we were performing to a 'live' audience as well, comprising fellow students from the JC1 lit bunch. There's something about performing to a crowd that raises the energy of our output. I think we're peaking at just about the right time.

While I say we had a great run, please don't come in with expectation that we are the RSC or something. It's that we've reached our level of expectation for our standard, with the potential of exceeding it somewhat in the next couple of days. That's quite something already, seeing how much work and commitment the kids have put in to get us this far.

Looking forward to opening night...

Inter-house lunchtime debates took place at the library. We decided on some copyright issue to let the Drags and Griffs argue over. There was a lot of passion on the Griff side as they argued their case, while the Drags were quicker with raising and responding to POIs.

We had the library transformed into a small arena. I thought at first that setting up so many seats would mean lots of empty seats, but we did manage to get most of the seats filled in after all.

Thanks to Linc and Wayne for being co-adjucators.

Debaters still have a long way to go in terms of clashing on the issues, they're right now just at the stage of coming up with enough material to cover 8 minutes' worth of speech. Still, I must applaud their courage to continue their training. They will get good, given time and exposure.

It must be great to be as sociable as Amy is. She knows of excellent eating spots where she has friends working at, and because they're friends we know our service is in good hands. Amy introduced us to Ragazzi: Italian food, kopitiam prices. The ingredients come in fresh daily from Tekka Market, hand-picked by the chef himself.

My penne pascatore (mussels and prawns in tomato sauce) went down easily with teh peng (iced-tea), in just the right quantity -- not enough to bloat but enough to satisfy. The tomato soup was thick and creamy, almost the consistency of paste, and freshened up with chopped basil leaf. The mushroom soup looked really tempting too, but I resisted 'cos I wanted to keep something to look forward to next time I'm in the neighbourhood.

NBS shared a rather large tiramisu with HP and me. It was rich, though unusually watery where the cake pastry should be. Dunno if it was meant to be like that but it tasted just fine.

10 of us in 3 cars went for lunch, and then on to our seminar at which we heard from a couple of local bigwigs from ASEAN, yes our regional political, security and trading bloc. I notice that S'poreans tend to be, the bigger the title, the stronger the self-deprecating humour. Our 2 speakers were very candid as they expounded on the 40 years of the bloc's history, the necessity of the organization, and the realities of it's members' associations with each other.

In the evening, I rejoined the Drama Club to rehearse a full run before showtime this Friday/Saturday. Busy, busy...

So much controversy in today's ST forum pages, both print and online, about kids and education. There are concerns that kids don't speak good enough Mandarin, kids don't speak good enough English, and kids don't get to speak enough, period. The examinations are biased towards those who write well, so smart kids who can't write suffer because they are penalized for the one ability they haven't mastered. Kids are unhealthy because they spend too much time cooped up indoors doing an assembly line of homework, thus sacrificing the playtime in the sunshine that they need for a balanced, wholesome upbringing.

Who'd wanna be a kid in these times when everything has gone so wrong for everyone at schooling age? It's crazy! Sure, it seems like everyone blames the 'system' but kids are only hearing that in the end, it's them that's not good enough. They have nothing to say and no language ability to express themselves fully anyway. They are pale and pudgy, and though they are running non-stop like little cogs in a relentless machine they're still gonna lose out to the Chinese eventually. And conversely, in the words of good Brabantio, "Who'd be a father?"

Adults, I tell you what, if there's anything that's killing our kids, it's your endless worry and your inability to let go and let your kids grow up. All this hand-holding that you're doing, you may think it's for your kids' good, but you can't hand-hold them forever. The biggest liability your kids will have as they walk into the future is having to drag your corpse along with them by the hand. :(

Maybe if we can all stop our incessant teaching and preaching for a while, our kids might just find the space to poke their heads from under their shells and start learning for a change. So parents, teachers, adults, find the value in taking the advice you so love to repeat to your kids: shut up, please. And stop masterminding the future for them -- it's theirs to shape, not yours.

What's a well-dressed Duke wearing these days? Mel said my working black trousers were too casual, and that I would have to get a pair of "dress blacks" instead. Since my wedding suit was cut for a much smaller man, I had to go shopping. Picked up a pair from Centrepoint. Dress pants are much lighter and made of a thinner material than I am accustomed to. They flow a little better, and they do look more formal. Wonder what other occasion I can wear them on?

Then I had to get a pair of Doc Marten's to replace the formal shoes I keep under my office desk for special occasions. Like for example, last Friday's formal ceremony, immediately after which the right sole ripped off, hence requiring replacement.

So with pants and shoes, I can't wait to see what Mel picked up from the costume shop for the Duke's top. Actually, since my scene is supposed to be taking place late at night, perhaps the Duke should be wearing a nightgown and bedroom slippers, clutching a teddy-bear while discussing state affairs with his senators. That would make sense to me 'cos the Duke would need his beauty sleep ASAP. After all, the war begins tomorrow!

First time in a long while that I'm wearing my CLs again. Hope my infection has finally cleared up. What happened earlier was that before I had realized that I had an eye infection, I thought that the discomfort I was feeling would be solved by replacing my old lenses with a new pair. When I started wearing my new pair, my left eye was still infected , and it damaged my new left lens so badly it went blurry on me. No choice in the matter, I had to buy yet another lens to replace the new damaged lens. Fortunately, Leow charged me only half-price for the replacement.

It's great to be rid of my clunky old glasses again, but I'm gonna have to be more careful with my lenses. Clean and disinfect them as directed, and not wear them any longer than is healthy. Guess that's the moral of the day.

The day of our planned for long, leisurely lunch began with a little anxiety about where to eat. The weekday high tea is almost non-existent already, and because we could only leave at 1400, many set lunch type places would be closing their kitchens within the next half-hour.

It was Josh that brilliantly suggested the little tea shop within Eclectic Attic in PS. Eclectic Attic stocks an array of antique furniture and knick knacks in such variety that made Josh's head spin. As it was, at our table, Amy, HP and Belinda shared an ornate bench carved with an ivy motif that cost nearly $4k; while Josh and I shared another $1k bench cushioned and covered over with black & white Holstein cow hide. Bizarre.

The set up is like an English tea house -- dainty yet not stuffy. The service is attentive and good humoured, they have to be to put up with us. They respond to the little porcelain hand bell placed at our table, and they come round often with hot water to top up our tea.

The a la carte lunch menu looks appetizing, though they feature foi gras which I try to avoid, but Josh gamely tried it as a side to his hamburger steak. My own steak, though juicy and tasty, was unfortunately quite stringy, held together by muscle fibre that took quite some work chewing. But then I think the place is better known for their tea menu.

I was quite impressed with the scones Amy ordered. They came hot and very fragrant served with butter and Devonshire cream and a choice of honey or jam. There are other cake pastries for the sweeter of tooth, as well as gelati. Their earl grey tea is quite remarkable in that it maintained it's pleasant flavour over a couple of top-ups and because the tea never grew too strong with prolonged soaking, there was no need to remove the tea bag at all. Dunno what brand of tea that was, but I'd like to find out.

In the evening, I had another steak. Met up with June and introduced NBS and Vince to Pepper Lunch. June chalked up enough stamps on her incentive card to get a free soft ice-cream. Macha flavoured, sprinkled over with a layer of green tea powder which I though was quite ok for $1.70, though June thought it was quite ordinary.

Another memorable Thursday spent in good company.

Never seen Sun Plaza so crowded before. Must be because today is the opening day for Spider-Man 3, and it's the Labour Day holiday to boot! A blockbuster tends to bring in good business for the mall too.

How was Spidey 3? Well, it was slick with a bunch of amazing CGI effects. Venom came off quite believably, though he didn't have as much screen time as I'd hoped. The Sandman, well, we've seen before, not all that much different visually from the sandstorm in The Mummy Returns, and I think they tested some of that sand-cloud effect in Ghost Rider from a couple of months earlier.

Compared to the previous 2 movies, #3 had a rather patchy storyline. Too many story threads being woven into too short a time frame to tell it all in. There was also a lack of a strong villain character holding the plot together, the way the Goblin in #1 and Doc Ock in #2 brought focus to the earlier 2. The Sandman, I suppose, came closest, but while he had pathos, his psychosis was not really from within himself, but rather as a result of being in wrong place at the wrong time. With Venom and the New Goblin, there are too many villain types sharing the spotlight. That may be a great opportunity for lots of action sequences, but dilutes the characterizations of each.

Speaking of character dilution, poor Gwen Stacey got the short end of the stick. She got an exciting sequence in the movie, but what Peter did to her was unforgivable, black costume notwithstanding. I know allowances have to be made for the film genre, but Gwen was Peter's first love and her character should never have been treated so shabbily. I'll always consider Loeb and Sale's 'Blue' as THE definitive Gwen Stacey story. So there.

Nevertheless, Spidey 3 still manages to play with our emotions (though not up to the intensity of 2). Not often a blockbuster movie ends with grown men shedding tears for each other, and perhaps some of the audience along with them. And JJJ and the Maitre 'd played by Bruce Campbell prove that the funniest scenes belong to those characters that take themselves the most seriously.

The Spidey franchise still thrills visually and charms emotionally, but it is getting a little tired and needs a nice long rest after this episode. In showbiz you always have to leave the audience begging for more.

Campus got transformed into something of a mini-carny today. Apart from these air puppets which never fail to make me feel inexplicably euphoric, there were other inflatable devices to bounce on too. The occasion, of course, was to celebrate the College's 30th birthday.

'deep took me on at the jousting station -- Othello vs the Duke. Whoever stays on his pedestal is the winner, though in our game I think the results were rather inconclusive. One thing I discovered was that our pedestals were intentionally unstable, so while we're trying to push each other off with our padded quarter-staffs, our legs and knees were wobbling all over the place at the same time. It didn't take long for a grown man to fall.

The celebrations were both formal and informal. The task of making loud music to keep the carny side awake fell to me and my trusty little crew of DJs. Actually, "DJ" doesn't accurately describe them, they were running their playlists off my laptop, so I guess that makes them mp3Js.

These are them who've been keeping me busy for most of the past couple of weeks working out a balance of scripted and unscripted on-air chatter to go with the noisy music they selected to play. On the one hand, they were supposed to keep the carny lively and happenin' while making various announcements as required every quarter hour or so, but on the other, they also had to announce for the formal part of the programme too: basically informing the people stuck on the carny side what the movements of the GOH were, and where various sets of people should be at what time. AND deal with a wildly successful (free) song dedication service as well. Most of them are either debaters or journos, which is how they volunteered (no quotation marks) to take on this duty. Great kids, these, and I'm so grateful to them for the job they did today.

And a couple of old friends dropped by to say "hi!" B'lina and Cara met us for a caffeine fix in Gardens after the celebrations were finally over. That was, after NBS (on my behalf) confiscated the laptop powering our little makeshift radio station, and that was all there was to the evening's entertainment. Everybody just had to go home then.

Nice to catch up with Cara before she leaves for post-grad and possibly work in Holland. Yeah. Who knows when she'll swing by around here again? Anyway, happy birthday to the college, and happy trails, Cara!