Confused

For the first time in a long while, I feel like a kid again but not in a good way. I feel like a kid in the sense that I'm in situations I have no idea about and have no previous experience to call upon for a solution or reference. I can only hope that I don't piss off too many people while I try to figure out what it is I'm suppose to be doing.

Penang Hokkien

Penang Hokkien is a unique dialect of Hokkien unique to the north of Peninsular Malaysia, especially the island of Penang. It is the Hokkien I speak with my mom and sometimes, living in Australia, I miss listening to people speak this language. I've found this podcast of people all over world who speak Penang Hokkien. Check it out.

http://penanghokkien.com/

Enjoy listening to it.

WOW!!!

Today I drove the best car I've ever driven in my life. It was quick, agile and totally chuckable and had dual climate control and funky rear seats that folded every which way but it drove like nothing I've ever driven before. No wonder the Stig rates it the best hot hatch.

Now to win Gold Lotto to be able to afford the car.

Quote of the Day

"The bumblebee, according to our engineers' calculations, cannot fly at all, but the bumblebee does not know this and flies" -- Igor Sikorsky, father of the modern day helicpoter.

Best Man

I've never been a best man before in my entire life and suddenly, within the course of a single year, I am the best man for 2 separate weddings, one for the brother of the friend........apparently I'm one of the few single people left they know and the second, for a good friend from Uni.

I have to give a speech for both and neither can be insulting or I will be killed by the respective wifes to be. I'm not even allowed to get one of the grooms off his face (warning from wife-to-be).

Anyway, here's hoping I figure out how to be a good best man. Either that, or I'll just growl my way through it.

A Bear Lost in the Arts

Next month, I will be watching either my 7th or 8th musical. I've lost count. It is going to be Miss Saigon and I'm looking forward to it. Ask me whether I like the arts and 11 years ago, I would have said no. Ask me that again now and I would say yes.

My journey to the arts started off in the Art Gallery of South Australia. It was there that I first saw the sculptures of Rodin. Little did I know the story behind them at that point but I found it fascinating. I would later go to a Rodin exhibition in the Art Gallery of Singapore, where after spending half a day there, I learned more about Rodin and the fact that "The Thinker" (which I always thought was a sculpture of its own) was part of a much larger piece. A piece that was never completed.

My introduction to the world of musicals occurred much later, not in the last century but this one. It started with a cheap ticket (front row) to watch a local production of "Rent". Little did I realise how much I would like this musical that over the course of the past 6 years, I have seen it 3 times, in 2 different countries. Watching it in New York was certainly a highlight.

Other musicals I have watched since then include "The Producers", "The Lion King", "Cats" and "Stomp". Calling "Stomp" a musical is probably a little incorrect but I'm not sure what else to call it.

Recently, I tried something different yet again. I have now watched my first opera, Puccini's "Madama Butterfly". Admittedly, it was a little tough to get into at first, what with it being sung in Italian and all but by the end of the opera (once I managed to convince myself to stay at intermission or half-time as I call it), I actually kinda enjoyed it.

So that's a short history of me and the arts. After Miss Saigon next month, I wonder what will be next. I figure I'll try a play next or maybe even the ballet.

BTW, the Crows beat the Roos by a massive margin tonight. Go the Crows!!!

A Bear's Guide to the Movies

Over the past 2 months, I have watched 3 movies. 2 hits and a really big miss. What's funny about the hits and the miss is that I would not have normally watched the hits and I was actually looking forward to the miss.

First the hits. The first hit is a movie that I only found out after watching that it had won the Oscar for best foreign film. Yup, it's not even in English. It is called "The Lives of Other". A German movie with a really great story and acting.

The second hit is a British film, "The History Boys". Again, another excellent movie. Good story, great acting. It balances both the sad and melancholic story with the sharp witty, somewhat understated humour that the British are excellent at. Both these movies had minimal stunts and no special effect, CGI effects and the like.

Now the miss and this miss was really disappointing given how good its predecessors were. I'm writing about "Spiderman 3". If there was a crappier movie released this year, I haven't seen it yet. I have a feeling that "Transformers" might challenge Spiderman 3 for crapness but until I see it I can't say. What a pointless movie Spiderman 3 was. The story was horrible, esspecially for a Spiderman movie which always had better stories compared to other comic book turned movie stories. At the end of Spiderman 3, you didn't feel for Peter Parker. In fact, you think he was the world's biggest jerk and should just have been killed.

In conclusion, if you are going to watch just one movie this year, let it not be Spiderman 3.