Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday grandma!

Visitors

Having lived in Bukit Batok for almost 2 years, we have seen plenty of weird bugs. Living near a nature reserve does have its perks!

There are green looking insects that love hanging around the kitchen windows, there are a lot of moths and little golden beetles - those are really common. We do have the occasional lady bug dropping by, but they are pretty rare. There was once this grasshopper that was singing so loudly in the bathroom, the husband got so irritated, drowned the poor bug(ger), since then, there are no more singing grasshoppers.

One of the more interesting ones was this 20cm long stick insect. I have a picture of it somewhere, dunno where the photo went. Just two mornings ago, I saw this HUGE beetle on my window ledge. I have never seen one so big that isn't in some enclosure!

We also get a lot of bugs flying in in the evening, only to discover a lot of them dead the next morning. I see them dead bodies on the floor all the time. At least once a week. I used to have ants doing the undertaking, but somehow, the ants are gone.

Happiness

is getting a favourable exchange rate.

Some of My Favourite Movies

Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
The Graduate
In the Mood for Love
Chungking Express
The Godfather
Lord of the Rings
Paris Je t' aime
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Donnie Darko
Goodbye Lenin!
Little Miss Sunshine
Memento
Singing in the Rain
Yamakasi
Moulin Rouge
The Shawshank Redemption
Mystic River
The Matrix
The Hours
AI
Out of Africa
Mars Attack
Fargo
No Country for Old Men
The Host
Love Actually
American Beauty
Blade Runner
28 Days Later
City of God
Before Sunrise
Before Sunset
Portrait of a Lady
Boogie Nights
Kill Bill
The Usual Suspects
The Elephant Man
The Crucible
In the Name of the Father
Dangerous Liasions
Dog Day Afternoon
Juno
4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The Sea Inside
The Lives of Others
3 Colours
Half Nelson

Singapore Biennale - City Hall

Hypocrisy

There was this certain episode of the F Word that showed Gordon Ramsey eating a fresh, raw puffin's heart. He caught the bird himself too, risking his life and almost falling off the cliff when sky fishing. The gross part of the whole thing was breaking the bird's neck, and then going on to tearing the gut out of the dead bird. It is pretty graphic and that episode had outraged so many viewers. Some reckon that the killing was too cruel, some think that eating a raw heart was offensive.

Does that smells like hypocrisy to you? It certainly does to me.

The puffin eating was done in Iceland, where it is pretty popular. I look at as a cultural difference. I certainly will not eat a puffin, not because it is cruel, but because it is said to taste a little gamey. The birds died a quick death, pretty painless. Why are we react so strongly to stuff like that? Is breaking the neck of a puffin more cruel than leading a cow into the slaughter house and then killing it by nailing it with a metal bolt into its brain? Yes, that thing that Javier Bardem used in No Country for Old Men! I have seen the video in school, it is as disturbing as breaking the neck of the puffin. Which to me, isn't that much of a big deal.

And what's up with protesting against dog eating? It is JUST ANOTHER MEAT! Goodness, just because you love dogs and have them as pets doesn't mean others do. If I own a pig like George Clooney, does that mean it will offend me that people around me are eating it? There are so many fish keepers out there? So we stop eating fish? I am a tree hugger, then I cannot eat fruits and vegetables lah?

You can eat whatever the hell you fancy, as long as the animal that you are eating is didn't suffer too much or at the brink of extinction. I certainly do not want the whales to go the way of the Dodo (no more Moby Dick) nor do I want to see sharks with their fins cut off and thrown back to the ocean. Anyway, I wonder what is the big deal about sharks' fins. They are pretty tasteless things with not much nutritional value. Oh and there is foie gras. Poor geese being force fed to get grossly fat. Those poor things, but I love foie gras! I know, it is bad, and I am so ashamed of myself for enjoying something like that. I don't eat it often, maybe once a year? Clogged arteries anyone?

Most of us buy our meat in clean sterile supermarkets or the not too clean wet markets. We usually do not see the whole carcass, just chunks of meat that do not resemble anything like the animal anymore. That said, I used to walk past a dead pig every morning when I was going to school. The whole hog. Some mornings I will see the butcher using the blow torch to remove the hair on the pig, and that certainly didn't smell very pleasant. Do you know the plight of battery hens? They are crammed together with hardly any space to move. All they do is eat and sleep in the same spot, sometimes (or most times in their own poop). Seriously, it is hard to buy free range all the time, it cost a bomb!

Just because we do not kill does not make us any less sinful or guilty than the ones that do. I do admit, I am a hypocrite, I do not think I am able to raise my own pigs and hens and then killing them myself. Now, can you imagine stick a knife into a cow??? I can't!

Walkabout

I walk around a little yesterday on my way to City Hall to peek at the Biennale's exhibits. This year's Biennale seem more organised, having most of the stuff situated in the same area. Two years ago, all the exhibits were scattered all over the place, a little piece here, and a little piece there. Pure madness, trying to view them all, I gave up after 2 weekends, and I didn't see like half the stuff. That said, it was pretty interesting too, going to all the little spots all over the island. I need to take another photo of St Andrew's. I took just one, didn't really review it too much (I can't see the screen too well anyway, being blinded by the sun), since I was almost having a headache, standing under the hot sun. Next time, I will take sure the roof is not covered.

I was in City Hall for more than 2 hours, the South Beach Development will have to wait. I was tired from all the viewing and also, it was a bleeding hot day. Hot days have the knack of zapping all the energy out of me. And I was carrying so many things! Try carring a camera, and a haversack, and also the audio kit that I borrowed from the Biennale people. On top of that, I had the guide and map of the exhibits in my hand. Good thing I had my cargos on. I retreated to the comfort of an air conditioned mall which is Raffles City. How Singaporean. I was glad that I went on a weekday. Not too many people - I think I saw 20 different faces. So, if you are interested, go on a weekday. Unemployment rules!