I found this nice quote or line from the sex and the city this morning. I typed it and sms to both of you.
Especially dedicated to both of you.
"Carrie: Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous."
Monday, June 9, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
The leap years
Genre: Romance/DramaDirector: Jean Yeo Lay KuanCast: Wong Li Lin, Ananda Everingham, Joan Chen, Qi Yu Wu, Tracy Tan, Sylvester Loo, Vernetta Lopez, Nadya Hutagalung, Paula Malai Ali, Allan Wu, Jason Chan Keng-KwinRuntime: 1 hr 30 minsReleased By: GV/Mediacorp Raintree PicturesRating: PGOfficial Website: http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/TLY/
Opening Day: 29 February 2008
Synopsis: Some years ago, while conducting an English language workshop on a hot, dreary afternoon for a large group of students in Singapore, I suddenly felt sorry for them, and decided to tell them a story. It was a romantic love story calculated to make any sixteen-year-old sit up and listen with full attention. I told them about a young Singaporean girl who unexpectedly meets her dream man on a special day - 29 February 1988 - when a quaint old Leap Year custom allows women to make the first move in a romantic encounter. Our heroine does precisely that. Hereafter she and the dream man, both exceptionally attractive and brimming with life's hopes and dreams, are caught in a dizzying spin of events that Fate seems to like visiting upon young lovers. "You will come together at last. But not yet, not yet," says Fate mischievously.
The lovers meet every 29 February over 12 years, in breathless negotiations of the many pitfalls along the path of true love which has never run smooth anyway, before their hopes are finally fulfilled in a spectacular millennial culmination worthy of love's loftiest dreams.Movie Review: Beyond the flowery language in love letters as appropriated by Catherine Lim in her short story, The Leap of Love serves as a cautionary fable against the lack of communication in a relationship, a stark show-up against the more romantic notion of a je ne sais quoi emotive connection between two strangers. Romantics would moon over the long tortuous wait shared by the lovebirds while pragmatists would pen it down as 12 years lost in prime marriage years.
Production on The Leap Years actually started on this project in 2005, but it would be a shame not to open a movie about leap years on a leap year. Holding back the movie did not weaken the movie significantly: Wong Li-lin is going to always look this good, and Qi Yuwu was not emoting better here than in 881. I have no idea why Ananda was chosen for his role, and I bet he still doesn't as well. More importantly, Joan Chen is criminally wasted in this movie. Coming off a Golden Horse award this year, the lady must be wondering why she accepted her role in this movie in the first place.
The audience would also wonder why Li-lin was so hard-up on Ananda in the first place, and if the script had managed to work in more of the motivations/connection between Li-lin and Ananda in loving each other at first sight, this would be a truly special date movie.
That said, The Leap Years is one of the very few Singaporean movies that deals with the banal and not local ah beng culture, traditional customs or Jack Neo slapstick. It is a sign of maturation in local cinema when easy themes at hand are exhausted and somebody finally reached out for something global. I hope the writers credited are Singaporeans with English surnames. Hey, the story originated from Singapore's very own Catherine Lim!
The Leap Years was evenly-shot with unobtrusive editing, although I do not understand why the hospital scenes are uniformly over-exposed and grainy. The movie also boosted of a capable supporting cast, though I wish I have two Eurasian friends like Wong Li-lin in the movie. Jason Chen, of Power Rangers DinoThunder fame, turned in a credible performance as Raymond, i-lin's almost-husband. Kudos too, to Vernetta Lopez's minor stony lesbian character: finally gay themes are broached, albeit superficially, without resorting to in-your-face nude men wrangling and screaming.
Opening Day: 29 February 2008
Synopsis: Some years ago, while conducting an English language workshop on a hot, dreary afternoon for a large group of students in Singapore, I suddenly felt sorry for them, and decided to tell them a story. It was a romantic love story calculated to make any sixteen-year-old sit up and listen with full attention. I told them about a young Singaporean girl who unexpectedly meets her dream man on a special day - 29 February 1988 - when a quaint old Leap Year custom allows women to make the first move in a romantic encounter. Our heroine does precisely that. Hereafter she and the dream man, both exceptionally attractive and brimming with life's hopes and dreams, are caught in a dizzying spin of events that Fate seems to like visiting upon young lovers. "You will come together at last. But not yet, not yet," says Fate mischievously.
The lovers meet every 29 February over 12 years, in breathless negotiations of the many pitfalls along the path of true love which has never run smooth anyway, before their hopes are finally fulfilled in a spectacular millennial culmination worthy of love's loftiest dreams.Movie Review: Beyond the flowery language in love letters as appropriated by Catherine Lim in her short story, The Leap of Love serves as a cautionary fable against the lack of communication in a relationship, a stark show-up against the more romantic notion of a je ne sais quoi emotive connection between two strangers. Romantics would moon over the long tortuous wait shared by the lovebirds while pragmatists would pen it down as 12 years lost in prime marriage years.
Production on The Leap Years actually started on this project in 2005, but it would be a shame not to open a movie about leap years on a leap year. Holding back the movie did not weaken the movie significantly: Wong Li-lin is going to always look this good, and Qi Yuwu was not emoting better here than in 881. I have no idea why Ananda was chosen for his role, and I bet he still doesn't as well. More importantly, Joan Chen is criminally wasted in this movie. Coming off a Golden Horse award this year, the lady must be wondering why she accepted her role in this movie in the first place.
The audience would also wonder why Li-lin was so hard-up on Ananda in the first place, and if the script had managed to work in more of the motivations/connection between Li-lin and Ananda in loving each other at first sight, this would be a truly special date movie.
That said, The Leap Years is one of the very few Singaporean movies that deals with the banal and not local ah beng culture, traditional customs or Jack Neo slapstick. It is a sign of maturation in local cinema when easy themes at hand are exhausted and somebody finally reached out for something global. I hope the writers credited are Singaporeans with English surnames. Hey, the story originated from Singapore's very own Catherine Lim!
The Leap Years was evenly-shot with unobtrusive editing, although I do not understand why the hospital scenes are uniformly over-exposed and grainy. The movie also boosted of a capable supporting cast, though I wish I have two Eurasian friends like Wong Li-lin in the movie. Jason Chen, of Power Rangers DinoThunder fame, turned in a credible performance as Raymond, i-lin's almost-husband. Kudos too, to Vernetta Lopez's minor stony lesbian character: finally gay themes are broached, albeit superficially, without resorting to in-your-face nude men wrangling and screaming.
Toss to JF's 8th Marathoon
1st of June is a remarkable day.
Toss to our JF's 8th Marathoon. And here are the dinner photos which we had at Nagoya Ma Maison restaurant at Bugis on 1st June 08.
I will post the food's photos upon receipt from Bastian,
Toss to our JF's 8th Marathoon. And here are the dinner photos which we had at Nagoya Ma Maison restaurant at Bugis on 1st June 08.
I will post the food's photos upon receipt from Bastian,
Happiness
Their smiles are more indicative of the growth of their friendship than the circumstance of their lives. They might be poor but happy and this photograph which I took during SAPA trip in April this year exemplifies it.
Happiness is to be content with what you have in life. Life will be always beautiful if you expect less.........
Happiness is to be content with what you have in life. Life will be always beautiful if you expect less.........
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
San Katong Laksa Steamboat with the 35-year old bday boy
I don't think I will go to eat the laksa steamboat again.I still like the Satey celup in Melaka better then Laksa Steamboat.
San Katong Laksa Steamboat Restaurant
San Katong Laksa Steamboat Restaurant
Tue May 20 2008
Tue May 20 2008
By Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times
Marrying two very Singaporean food passions was an auspicious beginning for the first laksa steamboat restaurant here.
Singaporeans love laksa. And they love steamboat.Yet no one thought of marrying the two until Mr Sean Lim opened his first laksa steamboat restaurant in Telok Blangah Road in January this year.The brainwave came to him when he looked around and saw that there was no steamboat stock that could be said to be Singaporean. As he pointed out, the popular tom yam steamboat was Thai and mala steamboat was from China.Even the boring chicken stock steamboat was not a Singapore creation. But laksa, he thought, you can't get more Singaporean than that.It helped, too, that he knew that dish well. He runs the popular San Katong laksa and nasi lemak outlets in Holland Village.The stock he uses in his steamboat, however, is not the rich Katong laksa gravy. It is more diluted and contains a lot less coconut milk.Yet the fragrance of laksa is unmistakable as you enter the air-conditioned restaurant.The stock is not very spicy either, but a tub of chilli sauce is placed on the table for those who want it spicier. And there is a saucer of sliced laksa leaves as well for you to sprinkle into the stock.For those who still want chicken stock, that is available as well - either on its own or as a combination with the laksa stock.You order the food to go into the stock from an a la carte menu with prices ranging from $1.50 to $10 for each order. And here is where the restaurant could be a lot more creative.What it serves right now is everything you would expect at a steamboat restaurant.Yes there are cockles ($3) and tau pok ($1.50), which are laksa staples.But the rest is the usual selection of meats such as pork ($3), beef ($5) and chicken ($3), which are sliced paper-thin. And seafood such as prawns ($8), scallops ($8) and sea cucumber ($8) as well as balls made from fish ($3), squid ($3) or lobster ($3).Then, there are vegetables such as cabbage ($1.50), kangkong ($1.50) and different varieties of mushrooms ($2.50).The quality is so-so and the yong tau foo ($3), for example, is of supermarket quality. But to be fair, this is not a fine-dining restaurant and its prices are not exorbitant.Also, the mark of a good steamboat is not just based on the freshness of the ingredients but on the strength of the stock as well.While many Singaporeans are used to the idea of starting with a tasteless stock and having the ingredients add flavour to it as they cook, I prefer the opposite. I'd rather have the stock give flavour to the food.And that is what this laksa steamboat does.It's a brilliant idea that I'm sure will become very popular soon. And one can easily come up with a better version, too, that marries a good stock with top quality ingredients.But in the meantime, Mr Lim is not sitting idle while waiting for copycat competitors to enter the market.He is trying to corner it by opening branches as fast as he can. There are already plans to open one each next month in Holland Village and Bedok. And more are coming soon.
Marrying two very Singaporean food passions was an auspicious beginning for the first laksa steamboat restaurant here.
Singaporeans love laksa. And they love steamboat.Yet no one thought of marrying the two until Mr Sean Lim opened his first laksa steamboat restaurant in Telok Blangah Road in January this year.The brainwave came to him when he looked around and saw that there was no steamboat stock that could be said to be Singaporean. As he pointed out, the popular tom yam steamboat was Thai and mala steamboat was from China.Even the boring chicken stock steamboat was not a Singapore creation. But laksa, he thought, you can't get more Singaporean than that.It helped, too, that he knew that dish well. He runs the popular San Katong laksa and nasi lemak outlets in Holland Village.The stock he uses in his steamboat, however, is not the rich Katong laksa gravy. It is more diluted and contains a lot less coconut milk.Yet the fragrance of laksa is unmistakable as you enter the air-conditioned restaurant.The stock is not very spicy either, but a tub of chilli sauce is placed on the table for those who want it spicier. And there is a saucer of sliced laksa leaves as well for you to sprinkle into the stock.For those who still want chicken stock, that is available as well - either on its own or as a combination with the laksa stock.You order the food to go into the stock from an a la carte menu with prices ranging from $1.50 to $10 for each order. And here is where the restaurant could be a lot more creative.What it serves right now is everything you would expect at a steamboat restaurant.Yes there are cockles ($3) and tau pok ($1.50), which are laksa staples.But the rest is the usual selection of meats such as pork ($3), beef ($5) and chicken ($3), which are sliced paper-thin. And seafood such as prawns ($8), scallops ($8) and sea cucumber ($8) as well as balls made from fish ($3), squid ($3) or lobster ($3).Then, there are vegetables such as cabbage ($1.50), kangkong ($1.50) and different varieties of mushrooms ($2.50).The quality is so-so and the yong tau foo ($3), for example, is of supermarket quality. But to be fair, this is not a fine-dining restaurant and its prices are not exorbitant.Also, the mark of a good steamboat is not just based on the freshness of the ingredients but on the strength of the stock as well.While many Singaporeans are used to the idea of starting with a tasteless stock and having the ingredients add flavour to it as they cook, I prefer the opposite. I'd rather have the stock give flavour to the food.And that is what this laksa steamboat does.It's a brilliant idea that I'm sure will become very popular soon. And one can easily come up with a better version, too, that marries a good stock with top quality ingredients.But in the meantime, Mr Lim is not sitting idle while waiting for copycat competitors to enter the market.He is trying to corner it by opening branches as fast as he can. There are already plans to open one each next month in Holland Village and Bedok. And more are coming soon.
San Katong Laksa Steamboat Restaurant
404 Telok Blangah RoadTel: 6275-7069Open: 11am to midnight dailyFood: ***Service: ** 1/2Ambience:
***Price: Budget from $20 per person. Cash only
This article was first published in The Sunday Times on May 18,
This article was first published in The Sunday Times on May 18,
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