Poor Advertising

Today's deal at Groupon had the following offer - $22 for four or $45 for eight 45 min music lessons at Asia Music School in 2 locations (worth up to $620).

I have nothing against the deal. But what irked me was their advertising pictures. 

A perfect example of how NOT to place your hands when playing the piano.

This hand position is wrong. The fingers are supposed to be more firm and curved. And why is the thumb slouching below the piano key level?

Her violin position is almost painful to look at.

This is even more laughable. While I am not a violinist, I do play the cello and I have played in an orchestra many times, so I do have a certain degree of familiarity with string instruments. Firstly, she is holding the bow wrongly. Her fingers look as if she is about to cut a piece of steak with a knife. Secondly, what is the bow doing at around 45 degrees across the violin? The bow should be almost perpendicular to the violin. And thirdly, what's with that chicken-wing-like thrust-up elbow?

Dear Asia Music School, with this kind of advertising, I would never recommend anyone to sign up with your school. I doubt your teaching capabilities if you don't even know that these positions are wrong. Or could it be due to ignorance from your marketing department? Either way, you fail. 

Dawn of Magic

Dawn of Magic, on iPhone. Don't let this picture deceive you - the actual game graphics are pretty horrible.
Source: www.iphone-screenshots.com

I have been a fan of RPG (role playing games) since young, so naturally, I do look out quite a bit for RPGs on the iPhone. A few months ago, a colleague recommended Dawn of Magic to me. It was free, so I downloaded it and started playing it without much thought.

After a while, I started to wonder why I was even playing this game. The plot is mediocre, the graphics are poor. The translations need a lot of improvement, the controls are clumsy, and the game mechanics suck. They have an experience cap on enemies, so if you fight enemies that are too low level, you get only 1 experience point... and no gold. If you run out of gold and your main characters reach the level cap (which is pretty low), too bad - there's no way you can earn money. Except by paying real cash for it. And the experience you get depends on the lowest level character you have in your party, which makes it pretty unbalanced. All these show a lack of effort in designing the game mechanics.

But I haven't mentioned the worst yet - it's the music. They obviously didn't pay much attention and resources to music, because it was of low quality (sounded like some 16-bit midi music. Hey, this is 2011, not the 1980s!) and poorly composed. After a while, I switched off the music because it was definitely doing more harm than good to the enjoyment of the game.

The best word of advice for RPG fans - stay clear away from Dawn of Magic. There are definitely much better alternatives out there.

Batam (Dec 2011)

Had my first trip to Batam last week with my gf. It was a 3D2N trip, which, according to my friends, is already a tad long for Batam. I found it all right though, because I have been feeling rather burnt out from work prior to the trip, so it was a good chance just to relax and do nothing. 

We purchased our trip via Groupon, so it was just $130 for 3D2N, inclusive of ferry, hotel, daily buffet breakfast, one seafood lunch, one massage, city & shopping tour, and the relevant fees (passenger departure fee, fuel surcharge, Batam terminal fee). Including the amount we spent there for shopping for food, the total bill came up to only $230 per pax.

Day 1

We had chosen the 740am ferry, and only realised that we had to collect our boarding pass 90 minutes prior to the trip, which means 610am. Since 90 minutes is probably a conservative buffer, we decided to reach Harbourfront Ferry Terminal by around 630am instead. After we collected the boarding pass, we had a quick breakfast at McDonald's before boarding the ferry.

When we reached there and got onto the bus, we were ferried to Polo Ralph Lauren shop. They were not really cheap (in absolute terms), in the general range of 450,000 to 650,000 rupiah (S$64.01 to S$92.46), so the whole tour group left in just five minutes. The next stop was to Diana Layer Cakes, a shop rather well known for their handmade kueh lapis. It was freshly made to order, so the tour guide helped to consolidate the orders, which would then be delivered to our hotel later. We weren't that interested in kueh lapis, so we didn't order any.

Diana Layer Cakes, well known for their handmade kueh lapis

Our group of mostly Singaporeans trying out samples of kueh lapis

The next stop was at Batam 1st Factory Outlet, which sells a decent variety of clothing like Armani Exchange, Hard Rock Cafe, Esprit, etc. We were given vouchers of 50,000 rupiah (S$7.11) which was only valid with a minimum spending of 200,000 rupiah (S$28.45). The clothes there were cheap, around 140,000 rupiah each (S$19.91), but they were not cheap to the extent that we would buy a lot. So we ended up buying just two t-shirts, which cost us around 115,000 rupiah (S$16.36) each after using the voucher.

Our package also included a 60-minute massage, so the guide brought us to Sawadika Refleksi Massage. We were given the option to upgrade our massage, but we didn't take it. The place was dimly lit, the floor was oily (from massage oils) and the thin mattress didn't look too clean. I hope it just looks old...

After the massage, we were brought to a local produce shop, which was selling lots of Indonesian prawn and fish crackers, and other snacks. We bought quite a lot of snacks to bring back to Singapore, and some of them, especially the fish crackers, were really good.

Lunch was at Golden Prawn 933 Restaurant, which was part of our package. I was initially quite skeptical of the "sumptuous 7-course fresh seafood lunch" that was written in our itinerary, but it turned out better than expected, albeit not fantastic. The lunch consisted of deep fried squid, sweet and sour fish, fried prawns, tofu vegetable soup, chilli crab, steamed sea snails, and vegetables. But what intrigued me more was the size of the restaurant - it was really huge. I think it can seat more than 1,000 people comfortably!

The restaurant stretches as far as the eye can see... well, almost.

We were looking forward to checking into the hotel after lunch, but apparently there were still some other events on the itinerary. There was a cultural dance, but thankfully no one was interested so the guide skipped it. There was also a visit to the Golden Go-Kart Centre and the Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple, but by that time we were so hot and tired (only managed to get 4+ hours of sleep the night before) that we just remained in the bus.

The final stop before the hotel was Batam City Square, a big, relatively new and fully air-conditioned shopping mall. Had a bite at KFC, did a bit of shopping, then proceeded to the hotel, Mercure Batam Hotel.

When we checked in, we were quite surprised by how big the room was.

Our room at Mercure Batam Hotel

As seen from the picture, it was extremely spacious. The design, however, was rather old fashioned. The room was also a bit too dimly lit for my liking.

The bathroom. The shower head was a bit too low for my liking,
since I had to lower my head slightly while using it

It's a pity there was no wifi connection in the hotel room; wifi was only available at the lobby and restaurant. 

Day 2

Since we had the whole day to ourselves, we decided to take it easy. Had a late buffet breakfast at the hotel, before taking a cab to Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall. It's advisable to ask the hotel receptionist for a rough estimate of the fare so that you don't get ripped off by the taxi drivers. The hotel told us that it should cost around 30,000 rupiah (S$4.27). We were quoted 35,000 rupiah (S$4.98) which wasn't a big difference, so we took it.

Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall

They have A&W, which is already extinct in Singapore, so we had our lunch there. Love their curly fries and root beer float!

There was a cinema on the top floor, and it was showing just four movies - Trespass, Machine Gun Preacher, one local movie, and I can't remember the last one. Each ticket costs only 25,000 rupiah (S$3.56) so we bought two tickets for Trespass, since it was the only movie with recognisable actors (Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman). There was still around 1.5 hours to the movie, so we went to the several massage parlours just outside the shopping mall for a quick massage. Unfortunately, they were all full so we went to Godiva Coffee for coffee and wifi.

At first I was a bit worried about the cinema seats - this was Indonesia, not Singapore, so I thought the seats would be old and filthy. To our surprise, the seats were new, comfortable, and were high enough to provide a good headrest. I find the seats even better than Golden Village's in Singapore!

Trespass sucked, by the way. I am glad we only paid around S$7 for two tickets.

Had dinner at Grand Duck Restaurant, which serves Chinese food. Their specialty roast duck didn't look enticing at all but actually tasted pretty good.

Day 3

We departed for Batam Centre Ferry Terminal shortly after breakfast. Mega Mall, a big shopping mall, was conveniently located just opposite the ferry terminal (connected via an overhead bridge), so we went there for a quick lunch at Grand Canyon Coffee. I was feeling a little apprehensive though, because during our last trip to Bali, we also had lunch at Grand Canyon Coffee just before our flight back to Singapore. And I had a horrible bout of diarrhea immediately after I reached Singapore.

There was also a Baskin Robbins nearby and it was having a 1-for-1 offer, so we bought two double scoops of ice cream at 52,000 rupiah (S$7.40). Their strawberry ice cream was fantastic; it had big chunks of strawberries inside!

Reached Singapore at around 430pm, this time thankfully without the diarrhea.

To sum up, I wouldn't mind going to Batam again. But if I do so, it will at most be a 2D1N trip. In fact, a day trip would also suffice since Batam Centre is right beside the ferry terminal; we could just travel there in the morning, eat (A&W!), shop, get a massage, watch a movie (if there are shows worth watching), and return to Singapore in the evening.

Pork pozole

Pork pozole (serves 3)

Pozole is actually a kind of Mexican stew.

Pork pozole

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 whole white onion

4 garlic cloves, chopped into small pieces

400g of lean pork, chopped into cubes

6 brown mushrooms, chopped into pieces

0.5 cup of canned corn

1 green capsicum, chopped into pieces

3 teaspoons of cumin seeds

3 teaspoons of chilli powder

1 litre of chicken stock

1.5 teaspoon of coriander powder

Salt

Black pepper

Parsley

Instructions:

1) Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a skillet, then add garlic and white onions and fry until the garlic is slightly brown.

2) Add the pork cubes and stir fry continuously for around 8 minutes. If the mixture starts to dry up, feel free to add more olive oil.

3) Add the canned corn, mushrooms, cumin seeds, chilli powder, chicken stock, and coriander powder. Season with black pepper and just a bit of salt.

4) Cover the skillet and let the mixture simmer at low heat for around 45 minutes. 

5) Sprinkle some parsley on top, and serve with either rice or bread.

Note: Feel free to substitute the cumin seeds with cumin powder, or the green capsicum with red or yellow capsicum. Remember to take it easy on the salt, because after simmering, a significant portion of the stock would have evaporated, so the remaining stock would be much more concentrated.

Train delay galore, Episode 03

I can't believe it. SMRT broke down again this morning, making it the third train delay in four days. What is wrong with them?

I heard the news from 938 Live, and the delay seemed like a contagious illness which affected Marina Bay to Newton MRT stations first. It then started spreading to the other stations followed by several 'false recoveries'. Here's the condition of the 'patient', from SMRT website (yes, they finally bothered to update it in a more timely manner):

755am: No train services between Marina Bay and Newton

818am: No train services between Marina Bay and Toa Payoh (condition worsened)

825am: Northbound train services from Raffles Place to Jurong East have been restored, but still no northbound train from Marina Bay to Raffles Place (moderate recovery)

850am: Northbound train services from Raffles Place to Ang Mo Kio are down again, and southbound train services from Ang Mo Kio to Marina Bay are now unavailable (condition deteriorated sharply)

900am: Northbound train services from Raffles Place to Jurong East are available again (moderate recovery)
1000am: Southbound train services from Ang Mo Kio to Toa Payoh have been restored
1055am: Southbound train services from Toa Payoh to Newton have been restored
118pm: Southbound train services from Toa Payoh to Raffles Place have been restored
148pm: All services have been fully restored, but expect delays. (fully recovered but relapses are expected)

I hope there isn't an episode 04 to this.

Signs of getting old

I just reached 30 this month. I am getting old, and the signs are plentiful.

1) I used to insist on drinking iced water. Now I ask for warm water more often.
2) One mahjong or drinking session makes me tired for the next 2 days.
3) I try to go to bed earlier, preferably before 1130pm. In the past I would only start using my computer at 1130pm and sleep at 2am.
4) Even during weekends, I wake up at around 8am because I don't want to waste the morning sleeping.
5) I used to eat and drink without worrying about my health. Now... I eat and drink as usual but with a lot of worry and guilt.
6) My appetite is only half of what it used to be.
7) Reading newspapers is now a must. If I were to go overseas and miss out on several days of news, I would catch up on every day once I am back.
8) When I read newspapers, I used to read only the Life section. Now I read every section other than Life.
9) Vegetables are now a necessity in every meal.
10) I am actually aware of who our ministers are.
11) I used to be able to survive on 5 hours of sleep daily. Now I can barely survive with 7.
12) Dinner at home is (usually) much more desirable than dinner with friends outside.
13) Staying at home is a luxury.
14) I used to scoff at supplements. Now I take them daily.
15) In the past, friends > family. Now, family > friends.
16) 3 days without exercising makes me feel uncomfortable. 1 week without exercise is unbearable.
17) Coffee (with less or no sugar) has replaced soft drinks entirely.
18) I used to think that people who need to drink coffee after lunch are very 'uncle'. Now I do the same.
19) I need to think aloud in order to remember what I am thinking.

This list is definitely not exhaustive, so I think I will be adding on to it regularly.

Train delays galore

Dear SMRT, what is your problem recently? After the Circle Line train delay yesterday during the morning peak hours, you pull another train delay on the North South Line today during the evening peak hours?

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will probably investigate these incidences and fine SMRT. But how much will it be? Considering that SMRT made a net profit (before tax) of S$191.7m in FY2010, how much should the fine be in order to be significant? For the recent security lapse at Bishan MRT depot in August, they were fined S$200,000. In absolute terms, S$200,000 may seem like a lot. But this is just 0.02% of their gross revenue, or 0.10% of their net profit. As further evidence, with regards to this event, their CEO Saw Phaik Hwa said in a seemingly flippant manner, "If LTA fines us, so be it." 

Maybe I should buy  some SMRT shares to make myself feel better whenever I get stuck in a train delay or when I feel irritated that they were fined just a nominal amount.

Now, I wonder what would Saw Phaik Hwa say this time? Last month she still had the audacity to comment that "I don't see anything significant" in the number of train disruptions and delays.

Additionally, according to the Straits Times, SMRT claimed to have issued travel advisories on signs at stations to inform passengers of the reduced frequencies. Well, I took the train yesterday morning from Lorong Chuan and there were absolutely no such signs. If there were, I could have walked just 3 minutes to the nearby bus stop to take a bus to Toa Payoh MRT, instead of being stuck at the train station for 20 minutes.

For the train delay just now, I went to their website for more information during the delay. There was nothing. For such a major train delay, SMRT did not even bother to update their website or Facebook page.

Update as of 928pm:

SMRT finally bothered to post something on their website at 835pm and 856pm. Hello, the delay started before 7pm! What took you so long?

Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee @ Hong Lim Food Centre

By now, it should be obvious that Hong Lim Food Centre is one of my favourite food haunts. That place alone has many choices for good and cheap food, like curry chicken noodles, prawn noodles, crayfish hor fun, laksa yong tau fu, bak kut teh, and braised pig trotters. 

Fried kway teow, $4 for a large plate

The noodles were moist and extremely tasty, and came with just enough hum. Today's portion, however, came with an over-generous serving of crispy pork lard which tasted so delicious that I ate several pieces in the first few mouthfuls. After that, guilt took over and I started to extract the pork lard from the noodles and put them aside.

They used to deliver your order to your table, but this year they changed it to self-service (sigh). Gone were the days where I could wait for my char kway teow at the comfort of my table instead of queueing.

As I mentioned before, Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee is my favourite char kway teow, and is a must-try if you do visit Hong Lim Food Centre. I still haven't tried Bedok South's Hillstreet Char Kway Teow though, which ieat gave the highest score so far for his char kway teow reviews.

Old Stall Famous Hokkien St Prawn Noodles @ Hong Lim Food Centre

Finally found a place selling decent prawn noodles that is of a reasonable distance from my office! Before this, if I had a craving for prawn noodles, I only had two choices - 大路虾面 from China Square Central, and another one from Circular Road (I forgot its exact name). The former tasted horrible, while the latter was still arguably acceptable but comes with atrocious service (they spilled soup on me and did not even bother to apologise). Unsurprisingly, I boycotted both. So it was a pleasant surprise that I found out about Old Stall Famous Hokkien St Prawn Noodles from Hong Lim Food Centre.

Prawn soup (without noodles) with prawns and pork ribs, $5

It's easy to rate this bowl of soup based on three things - simply, the soup, pork ribs, and prawns. Let's start from the soup first. 

The soup was not bad, but definitely nowhere as good as Hoe Nam Prawn Noodles or Penang Road Cafe, which I have blogged about previously here. However, what gave the soup a big boost was its chilli powder. The stall owner kept on asking me to be generous with the chilli powder, which I did gladly. And yes, it really made a difference. I wouldn't say that the soup tasted fantastic after that, but it was good enough to satisfy my prawn mee craving. 

The pork ribs were surprisingly good. The meat was tender and fresh, which was a big difference over Penang Road Cafe's. The prawns were shelled, to my relief; I detest eating shelled big prawns with just chopsticks and a spoon. They tasted decent; nothing really special about them.

If you happen to work near Raffles Place, this is arguably the best place you can go for prawn noodles. The stall is on the 2nd floor of Hong Lim Food Centre, and if you do order from here, remember to add more chilli powder into the soup. And order it with pork ribs!

The Liszt Legacy (2 Dec 2011)

Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall

Conductor: Alexandar Shelley

Pianist: Stephen Hough

Programme:

Franz Liszt - Prometheus

Richard Strauss - Don Juan, Op. 20

Franz Liszt - Hamlet

Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op. 30

I bought tickets to this concert especially for Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto, so I shall just comment on it. 

One word to describe it - disappointing. 

It was obvious that Hough was totally not serious about this piece at all. After the simple opening (which I already found to be a little too fast), he suddenly decided to leave the orchestra and conductor behind by sprinting forward in a mad rush and clash of notes. The orchestra, caught offguard, was around one beat off until they scrambled to catch up. This happened practically everytime there was a cadenza by Hough. It is all right to be fast, but rushing is a different thing entirely. There was no time to bring out each note; they were simply glossed over, as if they were insignificant individually.

After five minutes into the first movement, I was starting to feel very sorry for Shelley, who was struggling just to keep in line with Hough.

There were also many wrong notes played. This was actually understandable and forgivable, because this piano concerto is an extremely difficult piece. But rushing off on your own and ignoring the conductor and orchestra consistently shows a very disrespectful and selfish attitude. 

This torture lasted throughout all three movements. For the third movement, Alla breve, as the piece approached its climax, I thought this was a chance for Hough to at least end this concerto on a good note. But no, he didn't take it. The supposedly impassioned and dazzling climax was, unsurprisingly, rushed over again (with several wrong notes). 

I am not going to give him any applause, I told myself. He doesn't deserve any. But when the concerto ended, there was thunderous applause from the audience. What? Why are you all rewarding this crappy performance? 

I looked around at the audience more closely, and realised that there was a disproportionately large number of ang mohs tonight. And those that were giving him a standing ovation were all ang mohs. 

Hmm. Interesting. I wonder what this says about their tastes in music.

Update as of 3rd Dec, 2011:
The Straits Times gave the performance a good review, to my absolute disgust. The reviewer, Marc Rochester, depicted Hough's performance as "brilliant, exciting and super-charged", and even claimed that the SSO "relished every moment" (which they obviously didn't).


Marc, my respect for you just went down several levels. Don't worry, you are not on the same level as Hough yet.

The 13th Month Bonus is a Right?

Many people have been sharing this blog post on 'The Coveted 13th Month 'Bonus' in Singapore'. It seems that many agree with him, considering the number of shares on Facebook. His arguments are interesting, I must admit. I have never thought about our wages in this way. But then again, I don't think that is the intent of employers - to shortchange employees by one month. 

The employer can always justify the monthly pay by determining how much you should be paid annually, then divide it by 12. For example, they may offer you an annual salary of $36,000. To make it simple, they pay you $3,000 a month. This smoothens out the irregularities in monthly pay due to the number of days in that particular month. To put it in perspective, this is similar to offering you $692.31 a week. 

So in his case, he will complain about being paid $3,000 a month and argue that he should be paid an extra $3,000 a year (let's ignore the extra one day for simplicity). This makes his annual pay $39,000. But as I just mentioned, maybe his employers only intended to pay him $36,000 a year. So if he makes noise about being paid monthly, they can just pay him $692.31 a week to shut him up.

Probability calculations for Words with Friends

In Words with Friends, sometimes it is helpful to know the probability of your opponent having a certain letter in his hand. While this may sound like a daunting task, it is actually quite simple and can be modelled with a hypergeometric distribution, which is most commonly used for sampling without replacements. The formula is given as:

where N refers to the population size, n the number of draws, m the number of 'successes' in the whole population, and k the number of successes that you want to calculate. The brackets relate to a binomial coefficient such that:

Let's use a simple example to test first. What is the probability that your opponent has a 'X' in the first round, assuming that you don't have one in your hand?

In this case:

n = 7, because each player starts with 7 tiles.

N = 97, because each player starts with 7 tiles and I don't have a 'X'. 

m = 1, because there is only one 'X' in the whole game.

N - m = 96, which refers to all the non 'X' tiles in the game.

k = 1, because you want to find the probability that your opponent has one 'X' in his hand.

P(X = 1) = [ 1! / ( 1! x 0! ) ]    x    [ 96! / ( 6! x 90! ) ]    /    [ 97! / ( 7! x 90! ) ]

= 7 / 97 

= 7.22%

Let's check this with just logic and simple probability instead of the formula. Your opponent has 7 tiles in his hand, so this is equivalent to 7 draws.

Probability that he draws a 'X' in his first attempt = 1 / 97

Probability that he draws a 'X' in his second attempt = 96 / 97  x  1 / 96  = 1 / 97

Probability that he draws a 'X' in his third attempt = 96 / 97  x  95 / 96  x  1 / 95 = 1 / 97

...and so on until the seventh attempt. Now, it is obvious that the probability is 1 / 97 for each attempt, so in total, the answer is 7 / 97, which is 7.22%. 

Of course, the hypergeometric distribution can be used to calculate more complicated scenarios, like for example, what is the probability that your opponent has 2 'S' in his first round, assuming you have none in your hand?

This time, m = 5 (there are 5 'S' in the game), and k = 2. The other variables remain the same.

P(X = 2) = [ 5! / ( 2! x 3!) ]   x   [ 92! / ( 5! x 87! ) ]   /   [ 97! / ( 7! x 90! ) ]

= 3.83%

However, it would be more apt to calculate the probability that your opponent has at least 2 'S' in his first round. This means we want to find P(X ≥ 2), which means P(X = 2) + P(X = 3) + P(X = 4) + P(X = 5). Doing the calculations would give you an answer of 4.05%.

This distribution can be easily replicated on Microsoft Excel with the function FACT() for factorial (for the Binomial coefficient).

It should be noted that this method may not be 100% accurate due to the fact that you can use less than 7 tiles at one go. So it is likely that your opponent will hoard the better tiles like 'S' or blank and wait for an opportunity. Thus the calculations above can be thought of as 'the minimum probability' that your opponent has a particular letter.

Orchard Cafe @ Orchard Hotel

I went for breakfast with my mother at Orchard Cafe this morning, because we had a $50 voucher from à la carte. The breakfast dishes were not cheap - for example, a Japanese breakfast set, which consists of a bowl of rice, baked salmon, and miso soup, costs $28, while a plate of nasi lemak costs $15. The Orchard Cafe Breakfast comes with a choice of either two eggs or an omelette with various ingredients, bacon, chicken sausage, and a choice of juices and coffee or tea.

I checked with a waitress to see if we could use the voucher for the buffet, and was told that we couldn't - we could only select items from the menu. Since we also had the à la carte membership card, I suggested using it for the buffet instead (50% for 2 pax) and use the voucher another time. The waitress apologised and said that the card was not valid for the buffet too. Oh well.

In the end, we decided on the Orchard Cafe Breakfast ($32) and an Eggs Benedict ($15), and asked the same waitress over.

Me: Can we have one Orchard Cafe Breakfast and one Eggs Benedict?

Waitress: Oh, the Orchard Cafe Breakfast is actually the buffet, so you will have to take it yourself.

Me: Huh? So can we use the voucher for this then?

Waitress: Uhh... yes.

Me: What the hell?

Okay I didn't say the last part aloud, but that was what went through my mind. Firstly, the way the Orchard Cafe Breakfast was described in their menu made it seem like an à la carte order, because you had to choose between two eggs done in any style or an omelette. Secondly, the voucher isn't valid for the buffet because it can only be used for the menu items - but the buffet is on the menu so it's okay? Sounds like a circular reference error on Microsoft Excel!

Food-wise, nothing really stood out from the buffet. The fried eggs, chicken sausages, ham slices, and nasi lemak were decent, the lamb sausages and 油条 were not good, while the chawanmushi was downright horrible - easily the worst chawanmushi I have ever eaten in my life. It was too hard, had no taste, and the crab stick and mushrooms inside were hard, stale, and tasteless. Thumbs-down for the buffet. Not going to come here for breakfast anymore.

Immortals

I caught Immortals today, being someone who loves Greek mythology and has read such stories since I was young. (NOTE: Spoilers below.)

Here is the synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

The brutal and bloodthirsty King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his murderous Heraklion army are rampaging across Greece in search of the long lost Bow of Epirus. With the invincible Bow, the king will be able to overthrow the Gods of Olympus and become the undisputed master of his world. With ruthless efficiency, Hyperion and his legions destroy everything in their wake, and it seems nothing will stop the evil king's mission. As village after village is obliterated, a stonemason named Theseus (Henry Cavill) vows to avenge the death of his mother in one of Hyperion's raids. When Theseus meets the Sybelline Oracle, Phaedra (Freida Pinto), her disturbing visions of the young man's future convince her that he is the key to stopping the destruction. With her help, Theseus assembles a small band of followers and embraces his destiny in a final desperate battle for the future of humanity. 

The show was a total let down. Other than the whole plot not staying true to the original Greek mythology at all (really, not at all!), it was also filled with holes and gaps that are so big that it couldn't even hold rocks.

The movie seemed to revolve around the Bow of Epirus, which is supposedly so powerful that its wielder can conquer the world and defeat Gods. In the end, King Hyperion only used it once - to destroy the gates of a fortress. After the gates fell, he had the chance to send several more arrows in (yes, ammo is unlimited) to wreak more destruction. But he didn't. Hmm. Other usages of this legendary bow were minor and hardly worth mentioning.

When the fortress was breached, the soldiers panicked and tried to flee. Theseus managed to hold them together with a speech in a lacklustre tone that was barely audible. In just a few seconds, all of them had such a huge morale boost that they were banging their shields and pumping their spears in the air. Nice. Obama could learn a thing from two from Theseus, man.

Also, this is a Greek movie, dammit. Why is the oracle so obviously Indian? She looked so out of place, and as one movie reviewer said, she has to be "the loosest virgin in the Peloponnese". Her reason for sleeping with Theseus? "I want to see the world with my own eyes." (if she loses her virginity, her oracle powers would be lost as well) Oh my god. I didn't need extra cheese to go with this.

I thought Titans are supposed to be big. Huge. Enormous. Gigantic. The movie's Titans were human sized, and the way they were imprisoned in a cage with long bars across their mouths made them perfect for table soccer.

The caged Titans, from Immortals. Table soccer, anyone? Source: Latinoreview.com

I should have checked Rotten Tomatoes first before watching (they gave it a score of 38%). When King Hyperion said, "His pain has just began", I think he was referring to some of the audience.

Heng Kee @ Hong Lim Food Centre

I was a 'late learner' when it comes to curry chicken noodles, because since young, I have been eating curry chicken only with rice. So the notion of eating it with noodles seemed rather foreign to me. However, the first curry chicken noodles I tried at Heng Kee in 2006 converted me totally.

Heng Kee curry chicken noodles, $6.50

Their curry tastes very unique, with a very slight tinge of sweetness. As someone who doesn't really have a liking for sweet stuff, I should emphasise that this sweetness is really very slight, in case some people get turned off by a sweet curry. The tao pok and potatoes have been immersed in the curry for a long time, so what you get is very soft tao pok and a potato that crumbles easily. Strangely, the chicken is not stewed together with the curry; it is just normal steamed chicken that is added into your bowl after you order it. But it still tastes perfect when combined together, and you won't feel that the chicken is a separate part of the dish. 

When the noodles are ready, the uncle would actually add scoop some oil from his curry pot and drizzle it into the bowl. After painstakingly removing the oil several times, I finally remembered to ask the uncle not to add any oil. 

When I first tried it in 2006, their curry chicken noodles came in three prices - $3 / $4 / $5. It then became $4 / $5 / $6, and not long after, $4 / $5 / $6.50. $4 gives you a small bowl with no choice of chicken parts. $5 gives you a bigger bowl with a choice of chicken parts, but no chicken drumstick or thigh. $6.50 obviously offers the biggest bowl with chicken drumstick and thigh. Unsurprisingly, there is always a long queue and each bowl takes quite some time to prepare, so to make my time more worth it, I will always order the $6.50 bowl. Their chilli is actually more salty than spicy, and also with a slight tinge of sweetness. It is a must-have with the chicken!

Till now, it is still the best curry chicken noodles I have ever tried. There is another outlet directly above, but Heng Kee wins it easily. Recently, after Hong Lim Food Centre was renovated, a third outlet opened upstairs too, but I didn't bother to try. Some of my friends said that the curry chicken noodles at May Hua Food Court (near Golden Shoe Car Park) is good, but one sip of the curry proved otherwise.

One thing to note - remember to bring tissue paper. The bowl is served with the spoon inside, and very often, the spoon is 90% immersed in the curry (look carefully at the spoon in the picture), so you would need to clean the spoon first before eating.

'Cheapskate' motorists? No, dumb writer

In today's Straits Times Forum:

"THE public carpark behind Far East Shopping Centre is popular because it provides cheaper parking for the Orchard Road area. Unfortunately, there are motorists who exploit this by waiting for their friends or family members in their cars, without displaying carpark coupons.

I had an unpleasant experience there on Monday about 11.30am while trying to find a parking space. The driver of a Mercedes-Benz was reading newspapers at the wheel, without coupons being displayed on the dashboard.

I approached her to check if she intended to park her car. She said she was waiting for her daughter but did not intend to use a parking coupon.

That driver was not alone. Other motorists were also occupying parking spaces without paying for them.

The carpark was full and there were many motorists queuing for parking spaces.

How does the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) deal with such motorists who prevent others from legitimate use of parking spaces?"

Jeyarani Anita Henry (Ms)

Is there anything wrong with someone parking their car in a parking slot while sitting inside the car at the same time? So what does the writer want?

1) To ban people from remaining in their cars when they park their car in a public car park?

2) Force them to put coupons even though they are sitting inside?

Does it mean that if the driver waits inside the car but also displays a parking coupon, the writer will be satisfied?  The driver wastes one parking coupon, the writer still does not get a slot. So who wins? The government, of course. The revenue of one parking coupon is earned for nothing. 

Why I don't want kids

Among my friends and family, I am rather well known for detesting kids. So a natural by-product of this is that I don't want any kids, even after I get married. I see parents at NTUC Fairprice with screaming and running kids, and it certainly helps to reaffirm my views (while trying to suppress the urge to knee one in the face).

Reasons? Plentiful.

1) They are expensive. I don't need to elaborate on how expensive living in Singapore is. Having a kid on top of that? Diapers, milk powder, clothes, textbooks, school fees, toys, repairing the furniture, unclogging the toilet bowl? I would rather spend the money on figurines or vacations.

2) They are troublesome. You need to spend an obscene amount of time on them and yet still suffer a lot of headaches. And when they become teenagers, multiply the headaches by ten.

3) Because they require so much time and money, you can't do what you want. You can't just go out for a dinner and movie without ensuring that someone can take care of them. While having a maid is an option, I don't trust maids (my family has had more than eight maids) and most of them are either dishonest, lazy, or take you for granted when you treat them well.

4) To me, the most irritating sound in the world is a kid's wailing or screaming. If only someone can invent some sound-proof mask for kids... 

5) Being a parent is a thankless job (just like being the government). They do not know how much you have sacrificed for them. And even if they do, they may not appreciate it. 

6) You can't control what kind of person your kid will turn out to be. While good parental guidance can help, it may not overcome traits which the child is born with. Even if you treat them well and bring them up well, they may not be filial. Two people especially stand out in my mind. Let's call them A and B.

A's parents are not well-to-do, but in order to send A to the US for his university education, they scrimped and saved. But when A was at the US, he told his friends (with no remorse) that he doesn't care what his parents have done for him. In fact, he even used his parents' hard-earned money to buy an expensive car, and thinks that there is nothing wrong with it. 

B is someone who has no qualms about leeching off his parents, despite his parents not being especially wealthy too. He thinks that spending other people's money (including his parents) is an especially wonderful feeling, and if he had his parents' credit card, he will "swipe-swipe-swipe" and buy a house, a car, everything. When I remarked that that seems to be a life of a parasite, he responded defiantly "And what's wrong with that?"

I don't know A personally. He was just someone my friend knew, and my friend was so upset with him that she stopped talking to him ever. But I know B personally, and from what I know, his parents have not done anything to betray him or insist that he send money home to Malaysia. (Then again, I do know that he doesn't send any money home) So what led to him developing such a character?

So in choosing not to have a kid, I am actually following the best risk management approach - risk avoidance. I think there are other better things I can do with my life. However, I acknowledge that this is only how I feel currently, and that it may change with time. 

The common arguments people give me when they hear that I don't want kids. 

1) What about when you grow old? Aren't you afraid of ending up being old and lonely?

Come on, there is no guarantee that your kids will visit you after they grow up and start their own families. Also, like what I mentioned earlier, even if you bring them up the proper manner, they may not grow up to be filial. 

People without children also spend their lives differently, and this may include forging more social ties with friends, colleagues, pets, and so on. 

2) But kids are so cute!

"Cute" is subjective. You may think that a kid is the cutest thing ever in the whole world, but in my eyes he is just a rascal that sucks your time, money and energy away and uses them to produce noise, tears, and shit.

Q3: Wait till you grow older. You may change your mind by then.

This is the only argument that I acknowledge and agree with. But I do know for certain that for now - and in the near future - no kids for me. 

Seng Kee Minced Pork Noodles @ Changi

I don't usually travel to the eastern part of Singapore, but Seng Kee Minced Pork Noodles is a place which is definitely worth my time (and petrol). Located at 316 Changi Road, it stands out because the whole place belongs to them, unlike the usual standalone stall in a hawker centre. 

I arrived here at 520pm on a Saturday, and was greeted (pleasantly) with an almost-empty restaurant. 

Braised pork ribs, $5

The pork ribs were obviously braised for quite some time, because even the soft bones can be eaten easily. The flavouring had also seeped into the meat totally, so what you get is a plate of very delicious and soft pork ribs.

Bak chor mee, $4.50

This is their standard bak chor mee. On its own, it was already very good, until I tried their special version with egg and mushroom sauce...

滑蛋肉挫面 - Bak chor mee with mushroom and egg sauce, $6

This is definitely one of the best bak chor mee I have ever eaten. Of course, with its thick sauce, it is rather different from the traditional bak chor mee, so a comparison may not be fair. The sauce was so rich, thick and delicious that every mouthful was (almost) greeted with a contented sigh. In fact, thinking about it when I am writing this makes me feel hungry again!

Fish maw soup with pork tendons, $12

A huge bowl of soup which is practically saturated with ingredients - fish maw, minced pork, mushrooms, pig liver, sliced pork, black fungus, and pork tendons. Unsurprisingly, this soup was extremely sweet and tasty. However, I think the pork tendons were quite unnecessary, so the standard fish maw soup ($8) should suffice.

After I finished my dinner here, I was already making plans to bring my whole family here soon. I am actually very surprised that there is no long queue at a restaurant that serves such fantastic food! Since the restaurant opens from 8am to 10pm, I figured that the crowds would come more often on weekdays for dinner and weekends for breakfast or late dinner.

Deceptive Advertising #2

While having breakfast at Serangoon Garden this morning, someone gave me a brochure for an upcoming condominium near my place - Cardiff Residence, which is located along Lorong Chuan. Since I was very familiar with this area, I looked at the condo location more carefully and was rather appalled by how misleading the brochure is.

This is a picture of the brochure.

Stamford American International School and Australian International School are actually located further down Lorong Chuan road, but this was still acceptable. What I couldn't accept is where they placed Serangoon MRT station and NEX Shopping Mall. Google Maps shall be our judge for reality in this post.

Google Maps. Green circle = original location of Serangoon MRT and NEX. Red circle = developer/agent's location of Serangoon MRT and NEX

So according to the brochure, Serangoon MRT station and NEX have been transported around 1km away from their original location at Upper Serangoon Road to along Serangoon Avenue 2 and Boundary Road. While they did include a disclaimer - "This artist's impression is preliminary only and should not be considered as representation of facts" - this is just too blatantly wrong and false. 

Uncle, take it easy lah

I used to see this irritating uncle in the morning when I take the Circle Line MRT to work. He is perpetually in a rush, and when the train arrives at Lorong Chuan, he would get off the cabin and move to the head of the train - so that he is closest to the escalator at the next stop, Bishan. And he would time himself such that he goes into the cabin last. Why? So that he can be the first to get off. 

After not seeing him for several months, I met him again this morning. This time, he was already at the train head, standing right in front of the train doors. When the train doors opened, he grudgingly moved aside slightly to let people in. I happened to be the last, so I (purposely) took his original spot. I could tell that he was a bit flustered and irritated as he kept on throwing quick glances at me. A few seconds later, he even tried to inch towards me in an attempt to position himself better to be the first one out. But I stood my ground and even put my paper-bag strategically beside me to fend him off. All this while I had my eyes fixed on my PSP.

So when the train reached Bishan, I was the one first out. Unsurprisingly, he quickly overtook me and half-ran up the escalator to catch the North-South train. I looked at the sign - 'Train Arriving' (which actually means Train Arrived) - and from the number of people who were walking in my opposite direction, I figured that the train would be leaving soon and I wouldn't make it. So I took it easy. 

Uncle didn't, however. When I reached the North-South train, the train had just left and he was nowhere in sight. Evidently, he had managed to catch the train. Damn it.

The 30s syndrome

Today, I had lunch with an old friend I have known since JC. So this makes 2011 the 14th year I have known him.

He said that he is feeling old, now that he is 30 years old. He used to go clubbing almost every weekend, drink till 3 to 4am and go home roaring drunk, and spend hundreds of dollars in the process without batting an eyelid. But now, he prefers to stay at home or to spend more time with his girlfriend. He used to drink iced water whenever possible; now he drinks warm water. It's the thirties-syndrome, he claims. 

If this is the case, it seems that I have reached 30 years old at least 4 to 5 years ago. If I get requests to go clubbing on a Friday or Saturday night, I would decline them 90% of the time. To me, such activities are a waste of time and money, and I would need to spend the whole weekend recuperating. I would rather do what I do every weekend - having breakfast with my mother and my dog, swimming, practising the piano or cello, going out with my girlfriend, and clearing some work so that I don't have to work too late on weekdays. 

Such activities give me a strong sense of self-satisfaction and fulfillment, and I would feel that my weekend has been utilised fully and not wasted on sleeping.

On the issue of drinking warm water, I used to drink cold water all the time too, including early in the morning. If there was no cold water available, I would even add ice (an ex-colleague looked aghast when she saw me do that at 830 in the morning). Now, it's room temperature water for me most of the time.

iPhone 4S?

When the iPhone 4S was announced several weeks ago, I greeted the news with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. There weren't any truly exciting features. Well, maybe Siri. But I doubt if many of us will use Siri on a very regular basis - after the novelty wears off, Siri will probably be kept in the closet most of the time. Besides, my contract wasn't up yet, so getting a new phone was not really a viable option. 

However, recently I am getting really tempted to buy the iPhone 4S.

Firstly, my iPhone 4 now lags like hell - coincidentally after I installed iOS5. Words with Friends lags so much that sometimes I need to wait for more than a minute for the game to load. It may be because Zynga hasn't released an update for it yet, so I am crossing my fingers. But other apps are also more laggy now - for example, Safari. And when unlocking my phone, the phone now seems to be a bit less responsive, so when I key in my 4-digit passcode, it tends to miss out one digit quite often. 

Of course, my home button is another issue. It is extremely unresponsive, and I would need to press it very hard for it to work. Assistive touches do help to get around this, but it does have its own fair share of problems - coupled with laggy apps, assistive touches only make things worse.

Even if I decide not to get it, can my current iPhone 4 last me for one more year till the iPhone 5 comes out? I am not so hopeful about that.

No Name Hainanese Curry Rice @ Beo Crescent

Before I came here, I was actually trying out Meng Kee Char Kway Teow (refer to my previous post), because it was just a three-minute walk away from here (Blk 40 Beo Crescent). But this stall was much tougher to find, which makes its name especially apt. I actually walked past this stall twice without realising it.

No Name Hainanese Curry Rice, with fried pork, chup chye, and minced pork. $3.70

The queuing was tortuous to me. Not because the queue was long - there were only eight to ten people in front of me, and the queue was clearing quite quickly. Rather, it was due to the stuffiness of the coffee shop. Ventilation was very poor, and coupled with the sweltering mid noon heat, I could feel the beads of sweat trickling down my back as I queued. This had better be worth it, I told myself. 

Well, it turned out to be pretty good, fortunately. The fried pork was excellent! It was crispy, succulent, and yet not oily. A quick look around confirmed that seriously everyone ordered the fried pork. Another look at how much fried pork the stall has further affirmed its popularity.

The rice, curry gravy (which is totally not spicy) and chup chye form the basic core of Hainanese curry rice, and theirs was delicious. The minced pork was also pretty good.

This is really cheap and good! Now, I find this much more worth travelling from home (I stay near Bishan) for instead of Meng Kee Char Kway Teow.

Meng Kee Char Kway Teow @ Havelock

Another place recommended by ieatishootipost, located at 22 Havelock Road. I went there at around 1130am yesterday (it was a Saturday) and there was no queue at all, to my surprise.

Meng Kee char kway teow, $3

ieat gave it 4.5/5, which is one of the highest scores for char kway teow (his top score of 4.75 is for Hillstreet Char Kway Teow, at Bedok South Road) so I had rather high expectations. It was fried in a different way, with lots of sweet sauce added, so the plate turned out to be sweeter than your usual char kway teow. It was also quite moist (which I like) and smooth, and came with bits of pork lard and hum. 

On its own, the dish was a bit too sweet for my liking, but it was still not bad. I very much prefer Hong Lim's char kway teow (Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee). Till now, it is still the best I have ever eaten. I wouldn't mind eating here again, but I wouldn't make a trip down specifically for this.

Charly T @ The Cathay

Charly T is a small diner situated at The Cathay. It's specialty is its roast chicken, and in a way it is very much like Kenny Rogers Roasters. 

I baulked when I first heard how much their whole chickens cost - $42? True, it comes with four sides, but still... I can buy a whole chicken from NTUC for less than $7 and roast it myself! 

So the real reason why I came here was because I had two BigDeal vouchers ($15 for $30 each). 

Deep fried calamari rings, $9

A decent dish you can do with or without. I don't know what the sauce is, but it was slightly sour, which I felt wasn't really suitable for the calamari.

Charly T half chicken - $24, with 3 sides

The chicken was not bad, but for this price, it was definitely not worth it. At least it wasn't too dry, especially the breast. I do recall Kenny Rogers Roasters' chicken breast being so dry that I would need to eat it with some of their macoroni cheese.

The chicken also comes with 3 sauces, which was also one of their so-called selling points. While the sauces tasted quite special and good, I didn't think they were really necessary.

Macoroni and cheese, coleslaw, butter garlic rice

The macoroni cheese was quite poor; it tasted bland and a bit artificial. Kenny Rogers Roasters' macoroni cheese is still my favourite. The coleslaw was average, but the butter garlic rice was not bad.

Moroccan beef sticks with roasted potatoes, $16

The beef was nicely medium, so it was still quite juicy. This helped to cover up the slight lack of beef flavour. I guess they use New Zealand beef, which is cheaper but not as flavourful as Australian beef.

CT Fries, $8

I found the fries to be the best of all. Deliciously hot and slightly crispy, I had to refrain from finishing the whole bowl, if not I wouldn't have enough space in my stomach for the chicken and beef. 

So would I come here again if I didn't have any vouchers? Well, I would consider it only on Mondays, when they have their whole chicken promotion - $30 for one whole chicken with 4 sides (normal price is $42). Other than that, I wouldn't even step one foot in.