Saint 3.0


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Never Say Never cover by Brandon Lee
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layout designer and image: eloquent and modified by Saint3



Envy



free counters

EVEREST of course!!
Sunday, May 31 | 2:27 PM

A friend just texted me,

Will it be possible ur van tmr night?  Need to help pick up my everest friends duffle bags fr the airport tmr night...

SINGAPORE’S first women Everest team reached the peak of the world’s tallest mountain in Nepal early on Wednesday morning, said a spokesman for SingTel, sponsor of the climbers’ satellite phones. Ms Lee Li Hui, 27, Ms Esther Tan, 26, and Ms Jane Lee, 25 arrived at 3.45am, 3.54am and 4.43am on Wednesday Nepal time respectively, making them the first Singaporean women to conquer Everest.  20 May 2009

Of course!  It would be my honour to help out these heroines!  I told her to get an autographed picture for me.  Haha!

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2 comments



hit the books
Saturday, May 30 | 6:33 AM

This what I sometimes get when I tell my kids to hit the books.  Well, that's why I still teach even though I've left full time teaching in schools.  

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17 comments



the haunting strain
Thursday, May 28 | 10:19 PM

Latika's Theme
Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack

the calling returns
with a haunting strain
sweet innocence 
swirling a myraid of smiles and laughter 
now lost
its refrain to persist
until the heart returns?

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2 comments



shiny glitzy baby!
Wednesday, May 27 | 8:25 PM


This is part of the decoration in this cafe at Grand Hyatt.

While enjoying a surreal buffet on the Mother's Day in Guangzhou, my dining experience was definitely enhanced by the numerous glass displays that surround each table.

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6 comments



WAIT!!!!
Tuesday, May 26 | 10:15 AM

Sir!!! Want to take my picture at least sound me out first la!

Okay, here's my less nerdy look.  

Temperature taking in schools due to the swine flu scare.

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7 comments



the world
Monday, May 25 | 11:05 PM

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3 comments



Asians just aren't cool enough???
Sunday, May 24 | 7:28 AM

I suscribe to Kevin Jumba's YouTube videos.  When a recent update popped up in my email, I came across this video that spoke volumes.

Perhaps I will bring up these examples to illustrate Kevin's thesis :

* A local actor got his break recently playing the father of Chun Li in a recent movie made from a fighting video game whose name I cannot recall now.   The actor, Edmund Chen, popped this question to the host of the talkshow, Asia Uncut : why are Asians always portrayed as evil characters in Hollywood movies?  With the Petrona Twin Towers as part of the backdrop of the set decorated with many chinese elements, I assume that Asia Uncut is made in Malaysia.  The host, incidentally, is a caucasian.  
* At Decathlon, an adventure and sports place in Guangzhou where I'd visited recently, all local brands feature caucasians as their models in their advertisement videos and posters.  

I leave you to watch the video below to decide for yourself if Asians are cool enough for the media.


Incidentally, on the same day I chanced upon the above, I also stumbled upon a local band, The Great Spy Experiment, featuring some musicans who are teachers!!!  They have an album out which I hope to pick up in the stores later.  On top of that, they are doing gigs in American and around Asia too!  AWESOME!!!  

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2 comments



meltdown
Saturday, May 23 | 9:03 AM



Melted plastics after a recent inferno.

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24 comments



Gucci
Friday, May 22 | 10:43 AM

"Sir, why are you driving that when you can afford a much nicer car?"

"Where do you think the money for purchasing your tidbits, balloons, treats etc. come from?"

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3 comments



Womaniser (parody version)
| 6:29 AM

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2 comments



stop the screaming!
Thursday, May 21 | 8:24 PM

stop being a door mat!

Watching a recorded telecast of the American Idol Finale.  Round 1 Kris rules!  This very talented individual should dominate screaming screeching (it was nice at the start but now it's getting on my nerves!) Adam.  

What sweet relief this brings to having to endure crappy clients...

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0 comments



endearing
Wednesday, May 20 | 6:54 AM

I had a great time with the endearing kids of my childhood buddies while in Guangzhou recently.


Ethan - Singapore's famous drummer boy.

Noah

Katlyn

I had to volunteer my handphone because they got bored of dad's. The 2 boys tried to outbeat each other with their high scores on the bubble game application which I have never played.

Noah coming up with 10 funny faces to keep little sister entertained while on the road.

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12 comments



everyday
Tuesday, May 19 | 1:14 PM

For those of you who have been asking, yes, I was overseas for awhile since 6 May.

While in Guangzhou, I'd stayed with my childhood buddies who wake up to fresh roses, cut from their garden, every morning.



I just thought it'd be really nice that one can wake up to these buds and say, "It's springtime!" But it's spring every day of the year here. :)

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13 comments



hardcore
Monday, May 18 | 7:04 AM

When you see Bruce Lee, you think hardcore endurance and repetitive drills. You conclude that that's a banner for some martial arts centre or at least a gym.

No, those big banners are advertisements for a eatery in a mall in Guangzhou.

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1 comments



pinkdot
Sunday, May 17 | 1:45 PM

While snooping around Facebook, I came across the Pinkdot event held yesterday at Hong Lim Park.



I have gay friends. I am glad these people spoke up in their own way yesterday.  Interestingly, I am now watching Snow Falling On Cedars that features discrimination.   

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1 comments



Painted Faces
Saturday, May 16 | 1:09 PM

Electrico

Just showing my support to the local band, Electrico. By the way, they sound like a lot like Coldplay on this song!

The army face-paint and makeup used in this very moody song reminds me of the final scene in Dangerous Liaisons when Glen Close's character removes her makeup as she faces the consequences of her scheming ways.

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15 comments



packing
Friday, May 15 | 1:14 AM

In a few hours' time, I will have to lug 2 luggages, 1 laptop bag, 1 camera bag, 1 tennis racket and 1 trolley on board the plane to head home from Guangzhou.

In the meantime, I shall try to catch as many DVDs as possible before the flight.

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5 comments



mirror
Thursday, May 14 | 7:52 AM

Life is just a mirror,
and what you see out there,
you must first see inside of you.
(Wally 'Famous' Amos)

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1 comments



Tag
Wednesday, May 13 | 5:59 AM

"As part of my gratitude for curing me of my fear of dogs, I present to you a name tag I've made for Sprite."

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1 comments



Wii is MINE!
Tuesday, May 12 | 7:49 AM

The above was taken at the previous IT Fair in Singapore.  I got my Wii for RM$850 last weekend.  Then, I came across another place selling it for RM$750!!! 

It is EVEN CHEAPER HERE in Guangzhou!!! Accessories and games included.  Just head down to President Hotel - the level where the Ramen restaurant is.    

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13 comments



it's out destiny
Monday, May 11 | 10:46 AM

It's our destiny.  This sounds so cliche.  It's almost like saying, our fate is written in the stars.

But Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire was indeed destined to sweep this year's Oscars and the movie certainly lived up to the hype.

I'm a late bloomer.  I catch my movies real real late.  Having watched the action-packed Journey To The Centre Of The Earth yesterday at my friends' swell movie room, I decided to go for something a little from sombre from Mumbai.
 

Slumdog reminds me of Anita Desai's A Village By The Sea and this other movie about a boy and his very worn-out school shoes (I cannot recall the title), which also won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film a few years back with its rag-to-riches set plot.  

It wasn't overly sentimental, thankfully.  Don't you just hate those dramatic tear jerkers that do nothing more than pound (not tug, mind you!) at your heartstrings and they just bring out more of the cynic in me.  Operating on flashbacks intermingled with the protagonist, Jamal, on the hotseat of the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the movie threads through the slums of India, the harsh reality of homeless child beggars and syndicates and everything we read in the news or watch on television but remain calloused to.  Now it reminds me of the other award movie set in some part of South America (Brazil?) about young street gang members.  There are no pretenses.  No condescending camera tricks that discriminates the impoverished or condemns the thugs.  Every scene and nuance will facinate your senses .     
   
So life is shitty like young Jamal above taking a pot while discovering the arrival of a famous Bollywood star nearby.  The humour which weaves alongside the revelations of Mumbai through the boy is what keeps the movie from drowning in a pool of sentimental muck.  

And of course, the love element that holds it all together.  Jumal searches for his long lost Latika and gets reunited with her in the end (I assume most of us have seen this movie!).  I was glad that the movie closed with their lips meeting and not some 20 seconds liplock gymnastics like in most Hollywood movies.   Although I did squirm at the two lines uttered by Jumal and Latika when they meet in Gone With The Wind style - man sweeps lover off his feet upon reunification;  I avoided watching the latter like a plague, mind you.  I would prefer just a long loving gaze, some tears and a bear hug and a kiss; surely that would suffice.  But this is Hollywood afterall.  You do need to end with a climax, a bang to celebrate the underdogs.  A big cheer to the possibility that dreams do come true.  Sometimes.

I have like a stack of movies to catch up on while I am overseas.  The reason why I chose Slumdog over others is that I wanted to see and breathe the harsh realities of life, apart from the slums of Manila, out there before I embark on a shopping mania past noon in GZ.  I hope that would stop me from impulsive purchases.  I hope I would return to Singapore with more focus in life.  I hope I can recapture the zeal and passion I had years ago - idealistic it may be, but it was the zest that brought true inner happiness.  

Slumdog Millionaire truly delivers.      

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2 comments



second life
| 8:21 AM

The "horror" bloomed and given a second life.  

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my little shop of horrors
Sunday, May 10 | 8:05 AM

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5 comments



3 kids, 2 pals and 1 hellaAWESOME villa
Saturday, May 9 | 12:59 PM

I've arrived at my childhood friends' villa in Guangzhou and am glad that they've found a way to get past the authorities to allow me to access blogspot.  

It's like a meeting of old friends - but we ARE old friends.  What am I saying?  It must be the lack of proper sleep back in Singapore.  And I am missing Sprite already.  She's in the good hands of my parents who have agreed to dogsit her while I travel.  :P

This place may be far away from the city - thus civilisation.  But it is HUGE!  Not exactly palatial huge but being 5 (or is it 4?) levels in height, and a nice decor to die for, I could just retire here forever.  I'll take tons of pictures just to prove my point.  

Now my friends' kids are terrorising me on the keyboard!!!! Gotta go!

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1 comments



In Memory
| 4:44 AM

January 
19 July 2007
17 great years 
3 comments



beam me up
Friday, May 8 | 3:22 PM

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5 comments



thinking...
Thursday, May 7 | 9:00 AM

To all the young ones struggling to stay up with their notes and index cards during the Mid-Year Examination and the wonderful Ministry which formulates the tools of agony - 

thanks for allowing me to take off 
- swine or no swine flu - 
REAL SOON!

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4 comments



power of suggestion
Wednesday, May 6 | 7:09 AM


Don't read too much into the above. I am not confessing a mistake I made nor is this a Freudian slip of sorts. They are but random pictures taken on the weekend trip put together to tell an incident that never took place.

That's what I termed as THE POWER OF SUGGESTION.

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8 comments



go live
| 6:52 AM

We treat them with respect.  
We let them go out there and 
make their own mistakes and 
let them know that 
we'll be there for them 
when they need us.

parents of Kyle
"Kyle XY"

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0 comments



Road Trip Labore Makan Mayhem
Tuesday, May 5 | 10:25 AM

I took a road trip up to Malaysia over the weekend.

I had like 19 meals in one day - thanks to Joe, our KL friend who drove us around on a savoury tour.







The brown lasted a fun 24 hours before I had to give it up for a darker chocolate colour for work reasons.

The complete mayhem is found here.

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12 comments



Love Is Stronger Than Pride
Monday, May 4 | 11:45 PM

Sade



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