washing and drying
30/03/2007
Went to Friven yesterday cos Sharks said they had 70% discounts on bedlinen (sale on now till 1 April). There were plenty of great deals – I managed to find a queen sized 350 threadcount fitted sheet set + quilt cover (with 2 pillows) + bolster case for under $40.
So I got a nice matching queen set for my sister-in-law, two sets of king sheets for mom, and a slightly mismatched queen set (sans quilt) for myself, and spent about $160. That was neat! Despite having KF around, it was definitely a lot of stuff to lug around. Can only imagine how Lil’momma managed.
My sister-in-law seems pleased with the purchase, she called to say thanks just now. Can’t wait to get home this weekend to hear what my mom thinks of the bright green background, giant bumblebee and red flower foreground patterned sheets I got her, haha.
Diphthong
27/03/2007
Word of the day: Diphthong
The set up
What it sounds like:
- swimming gear. Very skimpy kind
- someone who’s not very bright (in Vietnamese)
How I’d use it in a sentence:
- Make sure you wear your dipthong before going for a swim, they don’t allow skinny dipping at the pool.
- Ding ding dong dong you’re a silly diphthong.
Debunked
What diphthong really means.
A vowel in which there is a change in auditory quality during a single syllable, as in my, how. The term is also used for a sequence of two written vowels within the same syllable, eg fear, weight.
Source: Reference.com
Verdict:
I really think it’s a cute way to describe clothes. It even sounds skimpy! And using it to swear at someone, is like saying, “You wet skimpy swimsuit that goes up the a$$ you!”.
Just had to say it. 
in pursuit of perfection
24/03/2007
Earlier today I was reading a few articles on physical appearances and it’s dating relationships. According to the article, Gender Partner Preferences and the Type of Heterosexual Dataing Relationships, females tend to select mates based on cues that might indicate that the male is a good provider, like wealth, status, education and height (a believed health indicator). Men tend to select mates more based on physical attributes, although they are more picky about the physical appearance of long term mates than they are of casual flings.
And that being the case, perhaps we can go a little easier on Lee Hom here -
since in the long run, I’m sure his nose should be less of a concern than his ability to provide or his sense of humour.
Still, it shouldn’t stop us from lusting for perfection -
Clockwise from top left: Daniel Henney, Shawn Yue, Chun Jung Myung, Chang Chen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Lee Dong Wook. You can search ‘em up yourselves.
=P~
bilingual!
23/03/2007
Maddy and I ended up in a corner shop at Chinatown today looking at jade. I tried to converse with the ladies at the store in my impeccable Mandarin, that gave way to heavily accented Cantonese. Maddy says I sound so proficient. Anyhoo, I figure I should get in touch with my mother tongue. Seriously.
So today’s video hunt started with a slew (ok one or two) Cantonese songs, but finally I caved in and decided that someone who’s as effectively bilingual as me will do fine. He’s bilingual, but mostly sings in Mandarin.
Ready?
Triviameter: Hard (If you guess it from this first paragraph, congratulations, you’re a bona fide fan, woo hoo!)
Our protagonist today is a pretty handsome fella (by most accounts though I do think something can be done with the nose). He was on track to be a doctor – the perfect SAT scores and all – until he decided music was his calling instead. So he bailed, probably to the chagrin of the family, which still has another couple of genius sons, so no worries there. He seems to like Stevie Wonder, which kinda explains a few of the videos on YouTube of him performing I Just Called To Say I Love You. Personally I prefer vintage Stevie. That song just reminds me of Gene Wilder.
Triviameter: Medium (If you guess it from this second paragraph, you’re doing good. Music buff, you!)
Ok, the dude doesn’t just sing, he composes and produces his own music. In fact, he’s one of his record label’s more important singer/songwriter/producers. He likes baseball, and can often be seen sporting baseball caps. But then again, most Taiwanese boy band brats generally do. When he does speak English, which he does very well, he sports a very East Coast accent. Yes, there is a difference. He does not sound like KF! Thing is, you can’t really expect people to switch languages on and off. I don’t know if it’s simply because we’re not “native English speakers” by definition, but on some of the vids, after speaking in Mandarin, he performs songs in English weirdly, like the Ee’s get too short (feel becomes fil). Oddly enough, he’s not released an English album yet.
Triviameter: Easy Peasy (If you can’t guess it now – dude! Gotta start watching Taiwanese variety shows, yo!)
He was born 17 May, 1976 (International Genius Year!), in Rochester, New York, and he shares the same first name as my cousin who makes me call him Big Al. He picked up Mandarin pretty late in life, but grew up playing the violin. He also plays the piano, and can be seen banging on drums in some videos. (Some fansite lists “percussions” under his “able to play” field. Dude. Anyone can percush!) Arguably his biggest contribution to Chinese pop is incorporating minority Chinese music into mainstream tunes, a style he calls “chinked out”.
Ok. That’s about as much as I know about him.
Gentlemen, start your engines….
What’s in a name?
22/03/2007
In the news today, there was a report about Taiwanese students forming a Nazi association, advocating national unity and curbing immigration.
Their founder, 24 year-old Lahn Chao – I’m so not making this up, really – says “”My main goal is to develop Taiwan’s strength and to foster national unity,” and “I think we have to work hard to restore traditional Chinese values like Confucianism.”
Poor dude. Maybe his folks didn’t like him too much. That might explain why he’s acting out now. Just because it’s so funny, here’s his name again. First bullet point.
So what’s in a name?
Everything, evidently.
herman’s, not the crab
22/03/2007
I grew up listening to Herman’s Hermits. My dad liked their cheesy brand of sixties Anglo-pop, I guess. He especially liked the song about the king who beheads his wives.
So quiz 2 is easy peasy, if you’re into sixties cheesy Anglo-pop. Ready?
Triviameter: Hard (If you guess it from this first paragraph, congratulations, you’re a bona fide fan, woo hoo!)
This song was Herman’s Hermits’s only #1 UK hit. It was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King (yup, the American singer and songwriter who performed the song that was used in the Gilmore Girls theme). It’s an upbeat, campy little tune, and like many other songs of the time, sounds like the Hermits sang it after ingesting a couple of happy mushrooms.
Triviameter: Medium (If you guess it from this second paragraph, you’re doing good. Movie buff, you!)
In 1988, it was used in The Naked Gun – specifically the Leslie Nielson and Priscilla Presley music video scene. Peter Doone then re-recorded the song on his own and it hit the adult contemporary charts. Not too bad for a former child actor who joined the band at 15! The week before this song hit #1 on the UK charts, The Kinks‘s You Really Got Me was #1.
Triviameter: Easy Peasy (If you can’t guess it now – dude! Gotta start watching American Idol!)
Ok. Tonight on American Idol, Sanjaya was aching between this song and the aforementioned You Really Got Me. He finally went for You Really Got Me, and he completely lost me. I’m convinced he would’ve done so much better with this one. That said, because he went so far out from his comfort zone (the drippy-sappy-sacchariney-everything-is-fine area), something tells me he’s going to last another week. Help!!
Ok, done. You ready with your guess?
keep up with the force
19/03/2007
Still on my music video rampage, though I’ll have to put it in the extended entry section so this page doesn’t overload. Get it? Over-load? Anyway. Here’s a quiz instead.
Triviameter: Hard (If you guess it from this first paragraph, you’re a bona fide fan, woo hoo!)
Anyway. This next song was the first hit single from this performer’s first solo effort. Written and composed by the performer, it’s part disco, part falsetto, totally campy. It hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of 13 October 1979, so I guess my folks must have had the radio on almost all the time because I distinctly remember this song. The dude won a Grammy for this song in 1980.
Triviameter: Medium (If you guess it from this second paragraph, you’re doing ok. Music buff, you!)
I’ve never seen the video, and looking at it now it’s totally cheesy. But it was apparently very advanced for its time. This is the first song in which he squeals a whole bunch throughout the vocals, something he does to this very day. In fact, he uses the exact same moves in almost all his videos, though admittedly the groin twitch is getting less and less appropriate on him.
Triviameter: Too Damn Easy (If you can’t guess it now – dude! Get out from under that rock!)
The chorus contains one of the most misheard lyrics ever. At this point if you can’t guess it, here’s the dead giveaway. It’s often misheard to say – “keep on with the fun stuff, don’t stop till you get it up!”
Ready?
in the days before itunes
18/03/2007
I had to resort to getting a dumb soap opera soundtrack for one song. And according to the people who commented on the YouTube board, I’m not the only one.
Further proof that 8 September is International Genius Day – Aimee Mann celebrates her birthday then too.
song truisms
15/03/2007
All for freedom and for pleasure,
Nothing ever lasts forever.
Everybody wants to rule the world.
I love this song. I even make my phone ring to it.
It was Tears for Fears‘s first US #1 single. Growing up I never knew what the song meant, so now that I actually understand some English, I’m obsessed with it. Lovesit!
Conjugate
13/03/2007
Word of the day: Conjugate
The set up
What it sounds like:
- a little cheeky
- a new age mish-mash of words
What the sound implies:
- to mash, to get together, to put together, to clot.
How I’d use it in a sentence:
- After applying pressure to the wound for ten minutes, the blood conjugated and I felt better at having minimised blood loss.
- After a quick ceremony held in a chapel by the resident priest, the prisoner and his new wife were allowed some private time in a separate cell to conjugate their marriage.
Debunked
What conjugate really means:
