I must thank Pail who drove us to a place which I always wanted to try and the CrazyGang had a gathering at the most inaccessible restaurant in Singapore! I was asking is it possible to go there without a car, and during the drive I confirmed it is IMPOSSIBLE~


Sunset Grill and Pub is located near Seletar Air Base, and one has to experience a series of mad driving around the maze. Worst of all, you will arrive at a stretch of road without lamp post and what is at the front is nothing but darkness. However one will feel relief when you get to see the light beyond which indicated that that there is a spot within the deserted area is densely filled with people.





Despite the far-flung location, Sunset Grill and Pub is packed with people and they do not accept reservation and we need to wait for seats!!!!

And one main spoiler is the drizzle which left the al-fresco corners empty... however the interior decor is pretty nice.
I must say the ambience is the very reason why people are willing to come all the way here~ you can imagine yourself as a pilot who just landed and settle at a corner of a bar for a chill~ or a pilot who is hungry after the flight and wanted a hearty meal~


like many other American-themed restaurant, the spiciness of Buffalo Wings range from ‘mind’ at level 1 to ‘Suicidal’ at level 10. We did not challenge our tolerance and had the level 1…


This place by far serves the tastiest Buffalo wings I ever tried~ at least it gave me deeper impression than those at Jerry’s and Buckaroo.

Deep-fried mushroom!
Sink your teeth slowly and be careful of the piping hot juice which oozed out~~ yummy!



As the portion may cater for really hungry Super-Size Americans, for Suki and Pail, they shared a Combo Set, whereas for June and Jeff had their fish set~ and last but not least, me, Yan and Yun shared two plates of steaks… it is pretty pleasant.



Overall, the experience is exceptional… if I ever come again, I will choose a summer evening where I can sit at the alfresco, drink a beer and enjoy the sunset view behind the silhouette of the airplanes.

these animation openings had brought so much fond memories to me...

the more popular ones are shown on Saturday afternoon
i remembered some of them were broadcasted at 1am every Monday, and i stayed up late just to catch every episode...




Every secondary school boys of the 90s played basketball due to the influence of Slam Dunk~ However i do not really like the animation but its theme song is definitely catchy




Ahh~ i don't know how i fell in love with this animation Menchi Muyo even though it is not as popular, this is the one which is shown every 1am on Monday,and i MUST watch it despite the need to wake as early as 6am in the next morning




the girlish animation which capture everyone heart




I was once obsessed with Ranma 1/2, and i must record every episode with video tapes~! Those were the days without youtube and P2P streaming




Evagelion, considered the coolest cult anime, the animation which influence me alot, in term of thinking and perception, philosophies.





I heard alot of positive review about Lain, and hence i bought the VCD. Under the influence of Evagelion, therefore i started to watch many animation which involved in-depth philosophies and computer history...
Mind you, Lain was made before The Matrix~~~

And do listen to its opening theme, it will remind you of Dido even though was sung by BOA

Applause to Ronald Emmerich~~
From Alien Invasion to Ice Age to now Neutrino Emission from Solar Flare, he never fails to visualize the destruction of Earth realistically~
perhaps he can start to write a book “1001 Ways of How Earth Can Be Destroyed” and another book, “1001 Ways of How the White House Can Be Destroyed through the Means of Nature/or Aliens.”

Although a cliche, i always love to see the Earth being destroyed~~ Ronald Emmerich by far is able to fulfil my feast on the eyes with his spectacular visual.
He always looks at destruction in the big picture~ and 2012 is by far his most ambitious work, duration of almost 3 hours, filled with special effects, and you are seeing the entire world collapsing, I do mean every part of the world, no one can survive. To a certain extent, it is horrific. Human has no way to run, no way to hide.

And again as expected, he definitely talk about humanity. Be united during crisis~

But for 2012 i see difference
it has portrayed the few most realistic sides of the world. It protrayed selfishness. I always believe human is all about self. It is an instinct for a living thing wanting to live. Yet morality has the power to shape the human most primitive mind that is why we are different from living thing; that is why we have humanity. But in time of apocalypse, human may reveal their true deepest self, Humanity start their own natural selection and the need for survival blinded every moral belief.
However to romanticize the plot, there are people who stayed true to moral belief; at least I did see sacrifice from noble world leader. For the commoners, it is made only if there is the need to protect the loved one… but so what? it is still noble~

Those who done good deed may die and those who have done bad deeds may live...
Money is the root of evil as well as the mean of survival. Natural Selection is determined by wealth? You are seeing the rich manipulating their ways to survive during the apocalypse. Whereas the commoners, it made no difference if one disappears on the face of Earth….


It is quite disturbing to see the director portray religious faith as trash.
Christ the Redeemer crumpled like biscuit crumbs, St. Peter Basilica cracked, and the Tibetan Lama who could only watched helplessly at the tidal wave coming towards him….

One particular scene which gave me an impact
the ceiling of Sistine Chapel cracked, and the fault stretched across Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, lies between the finger of Adam and the finger of God~
Whats the message behind? I interpret as “God has abandoned us~~we are On Our Own!”

but to a certain extent, i have to agree that we are responsible for our own survival~ it is up to us to make miracles..........

2012 is drawing near and lets hope the prophecy behind the Mayan Calendar is untrue
The End is Yet to Come!

Ok, whats next for Mr Emmerich, Universe Explosion?

I had not watch movie for quite some time,

I wanted to grab a ticket or two for 2012--- sold out

How about Amelia? Selling Fast and no food seats

Informant looks good too but everyone think it looks good too, hence Sold out

Whats left?



Luckily A Christmas Carol is available… so why no one like to watch A Christmas Carol? Maybe we all are tired of seeing another classic remake, or people never like the story.

I do not like it, i cursed, “Bah! Humbug!”
It looked dark and scared me, imposing the horror side of Christmas… Christmas sounded like another Hungry Ghost Festival….
Why ghost in Christmas??? Why no Santa Claus??? as a child, I did not understand.

Then now I started to see A Christmas Carol with different perception. It is never meant to be a children book at all, but a novel written for adult. Charles Dickens must have believed that using spirits is able to give adults a certain impact to be aware of their slefishness and hoped they would wipe away the dark side of the heart, and most importantly offered a little kindness and help the poor to have a fair share of merriment during Christmas.

This remake enables you to experience a miser’s life journey thrillingly. I actually regret not opting to watch the 3D Format. However the 2D version is enough to make me awe~~
Technology has made animation as the few best mean to tell a story… With click on the mouse, punch on the button, people seemed to have full control of the setting, they are able to construct every detail of the scene, such as facial expression, exquisite features on the face and expansive view of the city.

The vibrant visual will give you the impact and remind you the festive season is drawing near… and yes, be charitable and drop a note or two into the Salvation Army donation can~

OK, i am off to watch 2012 now!

I have trouble allowing automatic tap to detect my hands~~ and it is frustrating to keep on trying positioning my hands in various ways; near the sensor, away from the sensor, beside the sensor, near the tap, away from the tap…..
It only work if I switch the tap
It is today when in a toilet, I tried all the taps and no water flow out of any of those taps~~

Whats wrong with my body temperature or is it me who still did not figure out the correct way to place my hand????

I can appreciate the auto-flushing system and because of this technology, we won’t get fine for not flushing the toilet anymore~ soon there are many many automatic stuffs popping out… its like everyone wants everything automatic so as to lessen our burden and doing things in an effortless way.

The movie Wall-E allowed me to visualize a future civilization where people relied greatly on automatic system. And it is pretty scary to see these people got fat due to lack of movement, automatic system help them in everything, and communication took place in the virtual place, making them unaware of the physical world.

The message is that manual setting still has its place in the world. Some things can be more delightful if we are able to do it with our hands. On the contrary, over-reliance on automatic system disconnected us from physical world sometimes and we may begin to fail to notice that the fact that using hands can solve a simple problem, there is unless the designer remembers the basic of design.

I do not condemn automatic system. But I just hope there is a balance between automatic and manual function. An integration of both can be the solution~

An automatic tap cannot operate as a tap if it cannot detect a dirty hand; installing an additional traditional valve will do the job~ hope that the designers will not neglect the purpose of design, and that is functionality.

P/S: Oh yes, very long time ago, a glass auto-door failed to work, and i actually knocked onto it with a loud bang~ And strangely after the knock, it opened by itself.

Being the newest shopping mall in Singapore, Ion Orchard boosts many new eateries and restaurants, which tempt me to give them a try. However many experiences are disappointment, followed by disappointment and more disappointments~~

haizzz....
ION ORCHARD = I YAWN ORCHARD

Recently, I ventured around the maze of food stalls at Basement 4 and passed by a not-so-prominent corner… oh, Hokkaido Ramen. Me and Yan decided to give it a try because it is the only stall without a queue~



Yan and I were starving~ therefore we made our choice of ramen, and had extra egg and extra corn…. and, erm, not enough? How about kimchi…. gosh, glutton!!!!
You know what, when we are starving, we cannot control in ordering food…

The food served, both of us ordered Hokkaido Kaiko Ramen… There are 3 main soup bases, Red miso, White miso and Soy Sauce~ I ordered Soy Sauce and Yan chose Red Miso…



                                     
I must say that my soy sauce is not impressive, then I tried Yan’s red miso
Alas No more disappointment!!!!

The Red miso soup base was the one which left me deep impression, flavorsome yet not so salty, and it managed to get me addicted. There was certain oomph which was somewhat similar to the Noodle House Ken but consist an explainable different in taste…

The noodle was the typical Hokkaido chewy curly strands~ which what Yan fond of.

If you like the soup and the noodle, you know that this ramen cannot go wrong in any sense~ that is why I think there is no point pointing out the char siew…. It does not matter how it taste (even though it is pretty normal)

Guess what, I actually love the chilled kimchi; that sour and spicy red crunchy cabbage served as my perfect side dish!
I was contented that at least in this supposed place of glamour, I could still find a decent ramen; at least this ramen had a distinct characteristic. However I guess i can never order overpriced ramen like Pork Ramen ($16.80) and King Crab Ramen ($29.80)~~

The most basic Kaiko Ramen ($12) is enough to satisfy me whenever i was in the shopping mall. Ion Orchard isn't so yawning afterall
 
however Noodle House Ken is still rank 1st ramen in my heart!!!! Hmm... will i take the trouble to walk to Orchard Plaza?

I dreamt of the most astonishing sight of our country… Since it is a dream, do not use your logic to interpret my description.

I was sauntering along the street, every breath from my mouth turned out to be smoky. The sky appeared gloomy and what pour down was not rain, but fluffy snowflakes. I walked past the Esplanade, topped with snow between the ‘thorns’, followed by the Merlion, which had stopped sprouting water from its mouth, but icicles could be noticed on its chin.

In front of me is the light blanket of snowfall. Beneath the freeze, no one wore flip-flop but boots, no more singlet and t-shirt but trench-coat and jackets with scarf around the necks…

There was no leaf noted on any trees but supporting thick layers of pure white snow as well as icicles which appeared crystal clear in front of my eyes. Then i reached Boat Quay, gazing at the skyline of Singapore. Singapore River is never as beautiful, people of all ages ice-skating happily on the frozen Singapore River… life seemed to be fun and enjoyment~~

Winter in Singapore~
Ignoring the reason why Singapore got to be in such a state, feeling no sense of horror, I in fact regard it as a pleasant dream. At least the image itself is pleasant, the Singapore with a twist of chilling experience.
Subconsciously I must have wish Singapore to be an air-conditioned, if not a place with four seasons. The unbearable heat somehow did irritate me and affect my productivity at work. (I do not work in air-conditioned place)
Anyway there is no point bothering winter happening in Singapore because it is impossible in reality. Global warming can only flood our island but will never give us snow falling from the sky~

When I woke up from the sleep, I was disappointed to return to reality. Knowing that a dream will be forgotten as soon as I wake up, I immediately record this on a blank paper before these images were deleted in my mind. As the images still remain as fresh, hereby I decide to pen it down here and while typing it…

Ok, I need to sleep now, hope that I can immerse in that alternate world again.

For the past years, I had expressed my thoughts on a Word Document or blog~ but now I start to realize that expression can be effective in the most basic form.

And recently I started to get fascinated with journals. Not Livejournal, but the one which you can touch and feel… yes, the books with blank pages for you to express your thoughts, ideas and whatever you want…
One may question the need of a physical journal, and ask why the need to journal when laptops are getting smaller and you can simply type~

But recently I become conscious of the worth of the journal. The most valuable form of expressions is not the organized outline of the words… but the draft which contain messy brainstorm and annotations… handwritten using your pen or pencil~ Blank pages are then made personal based on what you scrabble on it. It truly portrays ones uniqueness and characteristics.
I am not abandoning my Livejournal but people had lived in the state of ‘Matrix’ life and somehow forgotten the existence of the physical components.

It had been so long since I start to do some serious sketching and drawing, as well as notes which only I can understand. It feels like a schoolboy again to re-appreciate the usage of a Journal again, to record ideas and thoughts… and that journal will be always by my side, the true account of journey…

Finally i blog about this~!!!
This one is extremely backdated and i sort of forget how i found that area, but i can still remember the taste~~~

4 months ago...

Yan had being pestering me…..
"I want to go there I want to go there I want to go there I want to go there I want to go there I want to go there I want to go there~~ "

Not another country, but a stall which of course sells good food~~

We heard alot from this stall, thanks to TV, forum, websites, blogs and etc.... and we could not wait to unfold an open secret ourselves, hence we set off for the quest to find the legend, whom they claim to be the God of Prawn Noodle, made our virgin visit to the sleeping neighbourhood heartland… Pek Kio.

It is not hard to find the blue bright signboard...
Wah Kee Prawn Noodle located at Cambridge Road Hawker Centre~






Here it is, the large prawns! At the price of $10 compared to the $5, it is worthwhile compared to the BBQ ones in Newton Circus~
Just compare the size of their large prawn and the normal ones!!!



ok, so you need a closer look????




Large prawn, very fresh and succulent and very satisfied…
And Yan feels like eating a lobster!!!!!!!



However what Yan rave about it’s the soup-- oily, reddish with bit of yellowish, and rich with goodness! I really mean RICH! It feels like having a mouthful of prawn condensed within the sip

from the habit of eating and sucking prawn head, I can kind of guess the essence sweetness of the broth comes from the stuff which people always ignore, the crustaceans’ heads~~
and from the habit of indulging in pork lard, I can kind of guess that the oiliness comes from flavorsome pork lard~~! Moreover one can get to munch shirimps which seemed to have been deep-fried~~ Yummy!


This is a serious Double Thumbs-Up!
Yan ranked this instantly the number one Prawn Noodle in Singapore, and instantly forget about the Adam Road one~! 
In my opinion,  this is something which Singaporeans must try before they die!