Train Man
25/12/2006
So apparently this really happened in Japan – some hardcore gamer geek dude, meek as a mouse and the quintessential loser meets the perfect girl in the train, but is unable to make eye contact even. So along comes a drunk who harrasses her and he finds the balls to stand up against the man.
The gamer geek dude, who haunts a chat type IRC channel for single men in Japan, gets online and shares his experience. So when the perfect girl sends him a thank-you gift in the form of a pair of Hermes cups and saucers his channel friends finally give him the courage to pick up the phone and call her up for a date.
And thus the story of Train Man and his Miss Hermes is born. A few years later, it’s made into a movie and a tv series, and it’s the tv series I’ve been watching for the last couple of days. It’s not as entertaining as the Korean dramas, and it’s slightly confusing because of the weird subtitling, but otherwise it’s not bad entertainment.
It’s amazing, and it’s amazing that it was based off a real event. Now what I really want to know is if Train Man and Ms Hermes eventually got married or something. Banzai for internet themed romances!
This is prison, yo!
30/11/2006
If you had any doubts Wentworth Miller could be funny in character, watch this. I love that scene.
And if you’ve noticed, I moved the comment box up in each post. Why? Cos this time, it actually works! It’s a neat little js call that enables the commenting, and the comments are hosted elsewhere. Pretty neat. Pretty ajax. Pretty damn cool.
I lopped my hair off. Took me something like 3 years to grow out, but I lopped it off.
I’d like to say something philosophical about it – like how it’s just hair, and it’s an exercise in not getting attached to things, because after all that’s life. You build and build, and then something comes crashing down and you’ve to start all over again. And so you need to train yourself to be resilient to change. To embrace it. To detach yourself from the material world. It’s just hair. I should feel confidently secure in the way I look. Long or short haired.
I wish it were that way.
I just cut it because I grew sick of keeping it long. I kept it long because I was too cheap to get it cut. And when I started to spend more money as it got longer than I would’ve keeping it short, it was time to get it lopped.
Of course I spent a whole lot of moola toying with it before finally snipping it off. But then again, I’m not exactly the disciplined investor.
But it was a good spiel, eh?
Soy What?
28/10/2006
Before I start on Survivor Cook Islands, I gotta tell you about making your own beancurd – tau huay, not tau hoo.
I bought a carton of Sobe Unsweetened Pasturised Soy Milk the other day, and curiously, there was a small package attached to it. I only found out that it was two packs of coagulant to make tau huay.
Excited, I tried it out. Measure out 250ml of soy milk, add one packet of coagulant, stuff in the microwave on low-medium for 6 minutes, leave to stand for 1 minute, and there you go. Well not quite idiotproof, mine came out lumpy as heck!
Fortunately for the wonders of Yahoo! Answers, I found this site, and someone asked about making (drum roll) beancurd, and I found this neat article about making beancurd dessert.
Is that cool or what?
Back to Survivor, Cook Islands. I loved the first episode. I hate that I’m rooting mostly based on racial lines, but I guess it’s pretty much instinct. I wonder if the other races look at the Asian tribe and think the young ones all look the same. It’s a pity there were 2 Koreans, 2 Filipinos, a Vietnamese but no Chinese representation. But I guess the Chinese person would have to top Shii-Ann to be memorable, and that’s tough.
Kin Chan Nae Yoh
30/09/2006
I thought I could overcome my addiction, but I was wrong. It’s slowly eating back at me. Slowly.
And surely.
This time, it’s All In. It’s definitely soapy, but what I found pretty amazing was that it was based on a true story. That means some guy led a pretty exciting life! Of course he probably doesn’t look as good as Lee Byung Hun. He’s pretty hot!
Add to that his sweetheart is Song Hye Gyo. That’s a good enough formula to keep anyone glued to the telly.
The drama is set partially in Jeju, so there are some particularly beautiful scenes. Now I’m really looking forward to vacationing there.
Apparently the Koreans have kinda weird habits, I haven’t really paid much attention to it though. I have noticed that they will wait for their elders to sit first before they do.
Anyway. Going back to my drama. It’s getting way exciting.
What makes Qoo a happy camper?
17/09/2006
Gyp-parody: Obsure cartoon characters for $500
They said:
If at first you don’t succeed,
Blame your parents.
Answer:
What is The Animaniacs?
Yay! Yay! Yay!
Korean Serial: My Girl
15/08/2006
5-7-5: Summary in a haiku
Pretty boy pays chick
To pose as long lost cousin
Ending in romance
Drama level
More laughs than sobs.
Eye candy
- Lee Dong Wook (as Seol Gong Chan)
- Lee Jung Gi (as Seo Jung Woong)
- Lee Da Hae (as Joo Yoo Rin)
- Park Si Yeon (as Kim Seo Hyun)
Love shape
Square (two guys in love with the same girl, another girl in love with one of the guys)
The variables
Rich hotel scion, tour guide, scheming tennis pro, playboy who looks like he just walked out of a manga, winter scenes, patriach with a guilt-ridden conscience.
The hiccups
Crazed tennis pro ex-girlfriend who stops at nothing to win the ace back.
Guilt ridden granddad gets pissed that he’s been lied to.
Deadbeat dad.
Missing cousin.
The quirks
Manga boy! He looked like God assigned His plastic used the extra fine scalpel and just made two quick slits and carved out a really fine nose while he was at it. He got a little antsy and gave the poor boy really large satellite ears, which Manga boy now has to hide behind elfin hair.
Lots of snow, and really pretty winter clothes.
Bad names. The heroine’s name, Joo Yoo Rin, just doesn’t lend itself well for intimate scenes. Yoo Rin ah…
The plot
Rich Hotel Scion boy (Seol Gong Chan) is sent by his ailing grandfather to find his long lost cousin, who lost her parents (ailing grandfather’s estranged daughter and husband) in an earthquake 15 years before. He is unsuccessful, but hires Joo Yoo Rin to pose as his cousin since she’s such an eloquent liar. She agrees, since she’s up to her ears in debt her father got into.
Predictably, they fall in love, but things are complicated by his ex-girlfriend, the psycho tennis pro who practices with hoops the size of golfballs (who does that??). Manga boy also predictably falls head over heels in love with Yoo Rin and makes a heroic bid for her affections.
They also threw in the obligatory liability father, and stoic status conscious family, and that’s a wrap.
For a change though, there is no crazy tragedy ending.
Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Watch it. It’s funny, winter scenes are spectacular, and lead actors are scumptuous.
Quo Vadimus
19/06/2006
Is the Aaron Sorkin TV series
That came before The West Wing, which everyone seems to remember or know. And that’s a shame, because Sports Night was so much better. So, so much.
So it’s about the lives of a crew behind a second rate Sports variety show, a competitor to ESPN or something. It features a couple of desperate housewives – Felicity Huffman, and the ethereal Brenda Strong. A few other West Wing regulars also showed up – like Jenna Maloney and Joshua Molina.
A pre-Meet the Parents Teri Polo showed up midseason as a love interest. Not a very likeable one, but different. William H Macy also showed up in a guest role, and perhaps that’s how he met Felicity Huffman, or maybe, just maybe, he got the gig because of her.
But of course, the most delectable of the cast has to be Peter Krause. He was in We Don’t Live Here Anymore, and Six Feet Under after the run here. His character was supposed to be based loosely on Craig Kilborn, and if Craig Kilborn were that cute, I’d watch ESPN.
Then there’s Josh Charles, Mr Dead Poet’s Society himself. He looks a little too much like a bird to count.
Sabrina Lloyd is a very cute Associate Producer to Felicity Huffman, although it’s weird she’s not really on TV anymore. She’s cute in every sense of the word, and she gets the most surprising sports-stuff – mostly surprising because you can’t imagine sports ever figuring in the vocabulary of someone who looks that cute.
Robert Guillaume – star of the 80′s Benson – stars as the managing editor of Sports Night, and he was good. They wrote in the stroke he suffered during filming into his character, and I was kinda relieved he eventually came back (with cane and all). He is in a class of his own, and it shows, but it was nice to see the chemistry between him and the rest of the cast nonetheless.
It only ran for two seasons or so, but Sports Night managed to steer away from being preachy, soapy or lamey the way other shows tend to end up. At least it ended on a high – no pun intended to Mr Sorkin – with Aaron Sorkin ditching this for the West Wing. After all there’s only so much you can do in the half hour slot for Sports Night, but there’s a whole lot of preaching you can do with Martin Sheen and a whole hour slot.
In any case, if there’s one TV series to catch, it should be Sports Night. It’s a seriously intelligent series. You don’t have to be a sports fan. You just have to be quick, or be able to read subtitles quick. The DVD box set has all episodes, so you don’t have to worry about getting season 1 and season 2. It’s a 2-for-1.
Karma Chameleon
30/03/2006
Did you catch My Name is Earl?
The half hour comedy with a very ugly Jason Lee playing some loser called Earl trying to reverse his karma deficit. Nice premise, we’ll see how the rest of the season works out.
KF has taken ill, and I feel a little flu coming on. It’s starting with my throat, it’s now a little sore, and I’m a little sleepy and tired, but I should be able to get through this.
I realise people only say “payback’s a bitch” when they’re 1. on a reality show and 2. on the losing end. Otherwise, someone else is the bitch.
Stuck in the middle with you
09/03/2006
This is going to be tricky – I’ve just one thought in my head – and I’m trying to upload another bunch of old pics onto Flickr. Ahhh… times gone by. Good times, though. I’m a happy camper.
Ever the telly-loser, I’m watching A Light Affair right now and I have to admit, this is tottering along the edges of my threshold for uncomfortable nails-on-a-chalkboard moments. It’s way worse than Curb Your Enthusiasm. Really. And the competition at the end is just the biggest anti-climax, ever.
But this is the interesting bit – do foreign men have an edge over their Singaporean counterparts?
I’d fear an angwee mob waiting for me if I answer that, but then again, my buddies who read this blog are happily adjusted, mature, dignified men. Hee.
Lemme just put it this way: my Singaporean born and bred male university classmates were probably shortchanged when they handed out sparks in the personality department. And this was fine and dandy, the norm.
Until I got a job in an MNC – and then I realised that the guys on tv with personality did actually exist! WAHHH!!!
Anyway, here are a few handy tips for a lost Singaporean boy:
- Get a sense of humour. Not the Stephen Chow toilet humour kind, please. Think The Office, The Tick, Arrested Development, Scrubs – ok. If that’s too hard, start with Friends, but don’t dwell on it.
- In fact, watch The Tick, Arrested Development, Scrubs and Friends. And for live examples of what to do or not do to impress a chick, watch The Bachelorette. Give A Light Affair a miss.
- The world does not revolve around NS. No one really wants to hear any more about your bunk mate, or RT, or what unit you were from or posted to, or whether you saw a hantu while training.
- The world also does not revolve around you. Don’t presume to be smarter or more sophisticated than some chick you’re going after, and don’t load up on the wine and cheese and expensive car and house trivia. Don’t insist on winning a conversation just to be right.
Instead, be attentive, and listen in on someone else’s opinion for a change. Just cos it’s a woman doesn’t mean she doesn’t have an opinion. And if you wanted company without an opinion, you should get a chia pet.
- Be interested in the world outside cars, football, golf and yourself. Read something other than Tom Clancy, John Grisham or Dan Brown. I’d recommend for Roddy Doyle, Salman Rushdie and my all time favourite Neil Gaiman.
I consider that my contribution to nation building.
Live long and prosper.
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
08/02/2006
I know they’re trying
But Mediacorp should just stop. Stop trying with crap like Tab TV – Evelyn Tan can barely string a coherent sentence, let alone engage in some sort of intelligent conversation. Stop trying to get more participants for Singapore Idol with the Singapore Idol 101s from the Three Bears. And I really can’t give 2 hoots what Mommy Bear thought of Daddy Bear – gothic rocker? hardeee har har. I like Baby Bear best, but I have no clue what he’s saying. Is he even speaking English?
Despite my better judgement I’m going to catch A Light Affair cos it’s before ANTM – another completely flakey but completely entertaining series simply because it makes really good foos conversation.
Infocomm is so diverse now!
That ad is full of CRAP. CRAP CRAP CRAP. Discover your potential by being in infocomm? WTF – do they even know what infocomm means? And if that chick is the Security Specialist who protects my safety online, I’ll stop using the internet altogether. Puh-leze! They should at least have had the decency to use credible people. This is so IDA. They’re like Markus on The Apprentice. Lots of big buzzwords in a floppy excuse of a sentence – but completely devoid of any meaningful application. In the ad they advertise to learn more about getting a job in infocomm at ida.gov.sg.
- That url doesn’t work without the www in front. Geez. How 1999 is that?
- When you eventually try www.ida.gov.sg, all you’ll see is a lame ass press release about how the IDA launched a $120m Infocomm Manpower Development Roadmap. That’s well and good, except I have no f-ing clue what I’ll benefit from it if I really were interested in being in infocomm.
It’s a hollow advertiser, an equally hollow ad.
I know I know. I can just stop watching tv. Ok. I’ll give you that. So here I am surfing instead. Yay. The internet rocks.
