Some observations from the field.

Firstly, one wonders what to make of this...

• Luving Lionel exemplifies Singaporeans who want to strive for their career without having to sacrifice their time for leisure. Appearing confident and suave, he attracted Sassy Sonia, who then became his girlfriend.
  Every weekend, Luving Lionel gathers Sassy Sonia and his good friends, Critic Crabbie and Macho Meng to splash the 'Merlion' way in Sentosa. Luving Lionel also enjoys globe-trotting and envisages taking Sassy Sonia around the world with him.

• Sassy Sonia is refined, sophisticated and an epitome of luxury. Her fashion statements are derived from the finest quality of merchandises and Sassy Sonia often sees herself as a fashion stylist. During her free time, she enjoys whipping up local delights such as nasi lemak and chicken rice and, she also scours every corner of Singapore to sniff out the best local delights with her food guru, Critic Crabbie.

• Critic Crabbie: A food critic who loves to talk and get involved with Singaporeans’ loves and lives. This idealistic and expressive crab hopes to write a book on Singaporeans' issues but before that, her latest mission is to understand Singaporeans’ love for food (and particularly, chilli crabs).

• Macho Meng is an animal activist and he works as an ambassador of our Singapore Zoological Gardens. He has a vision to protect as many near-extinction animals as he can. Whenever Macho Meng has the time, he would work out at the gym so as to look good for photography sessions with visitors in the Zoo.

If one is wondering why the descriptions above are a little confusing, all this was taken off the website luvinglionel.com which is slightly different from the version that was pasted on the side of the toy display at Toys 'R' Us at Forum Galleria. In it, it has a slightly more sinister (read: Propagandist) version that they're hoping that little children will read. Then again, when you have a character who "strive[s] [in his] career without having to sacrifice [his] time for leisure" I wonder how many kids are actually listening...

Secondly, 24 hour rain may be bad for the flower business (as well as low lying areas) but it sure makes Singapore a whole lot more tolerable. Lower temperatures = Good. And didn't the gahmen actually solve the flooding problem some time ago...? No? Then perhaps we should reconsider the increase in minister salaries?

Thirdly, this is tres cool and it's all mine! Yes. I have finally gone ahead and replaced my dead Zen Muvo TX (512 MBs) with a Zen Vision M (60GB) and it rocks. Aside from the awesome video (a lifesaver on flights), I have recently discovered (a little late, I know...) the joys of podcasts. I spent some time with the Extremetech editors talking about tech stuff (geek heaven) and I'm presently downloading vodcasts off Crankygeeks.com. Oh, the joys of a 60GB player...

Finally, I think the picture speaks for itself.


I was thinking of the caption, more than a handful is a waste... :)

Nifty.

I took over Ondine's 6280 (after mucho deliberation and deciding that I really didn't want to spend money on getting any of the phones out on the market at the moment...) and I've decided that if I really took care of this one, I'll finally have a tool (again) for taking spur of the moment photos again. (2 megapixels baby!) So here're a couple of shots taken over the weekend.



This is in tribute to fw!. Beng PC to the max. What you might want to take a look at is the HUGE@$$ cooling fan glowing blue on top of the CPU. But that has nothing on this:



Notice that big tank beside the nice boys trying to do to a processor what was never meant to be done? LIQUID NITROGEN.



Note that the valve connecting the nitro to the tube has frozen over. And also that the bit that's actually on the CPU itself has done the same.

In other news, Confucius say, man who wear Pooh boxers should not wear pants that reveal all in Sushi restaurant.



Calvin Klein, I'd understand. But Pooh?!

The next is a real jerk that makes me sick:



Whoever was driving this car spent a better part of 10 minutes opening his door and spitting out the side. Filthy habit. Someone should spit in his car. How nice that the camera caught his license plate so nicely.

And saving the best for last, my niece. She was crawling toward the camera/phone to try to grab it. It's orange and she liked the colour....either that or she just liked throwing it on the floor. Either way, ain't she cute? :)

Lyrics.

Has anyone actually, really, really listened to the lyrics of the rather catchy party theme Gimme Hope Jo'anna that they seem to play rather liberally on all Singapore radio stations? Let's read a little into it shall we?

Well Jo'anna she runs a country
She runs in Durban and the Transvaal
She makes a few of her people happy, oh
She don't care about the rest at all
She's got a system they call apartheid
It keeps a brother in a subjection
But maybe pressure will make Jo'anna see
How everybody could a live as one

(Chorus:)
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come

I hear she makes all the golden money
To buy new weapons, any shape of guns
While every mother in black Soweto fears
The killing of another son
Sneakin' across all the neighbours' borders
Now and again having little fun
She doesn't care if the fun and games she play
Is dang'rous to ev'ryone

(Chorus:)
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come

She got supporters in high up places
Who turn their heads to the city sun
Jo'anna give them the fancy money
Oh to tempt anyone who'd come
She even knows how to swing opinion
In every magazine and the journals
For every bad move that this Jo'anna makes
They got a good explanation

(Chorus:)
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come

Even the preacher who works for Jesus
The Archbishop who's a peaceful man
Together say that the freedom fighters
Will overcome the very strong
I wanna know if you're blind Jo'anna
If you wanna hear the sound of drum
Can't you see that the tide is turning
Oh don't make me wait till the morning come

(Chorus:)
Do give hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come

Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna

I like the lyrics for this one simply because of the rather interesting subversive meanings when applied to a certain context. (Taken out of the context of South Africa and Apartheid) [BTW, PAP lapdogs Ministers' pay packets are going to go up despite the poor in Singapore actually remaining poverty stricken...I wonder why I thought of that...] It does seem like a rallying cry against injustice. Nice anthem for the revolution I think.

Something to think about the next time you rock to this song at Zouk or something.