10 more days. 10 more days till I am done with 6 hour long entrance exams.
27 more days. 27 more days till I bid farewell to night classes and end of term exams.
33 more days. 33 more days to Chiang Mai, spending time with my brother and doing jack all.
But meanwhile, focus! Darn it, focus!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
We are not particularly good small talkers
Sigur Ros's 2006 interview with Nick Duerden
...A few years to when Sigur Ros, Iceland's biggest band, played the 18,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl. Cruise wasn't the only A-lister there. Brad Pitt was also in attendance, as was Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee. The X-Files's Gillian Anderson, meanwhile, who has since made it known that she never does yoga to anything but their exquisitely floaty music, went backstage to meet them. And not for the first time, either.
"No, it was the third, maybe fourth time," Sveinsson says, rolling an impossibly anorexic cigarette in the corner of a deserted Reykjavik bar on a freezing Monday night. "She was nice, but we are not particularly good small talkers, and we didn't know what to say. She stopped coming after that. What are you supposed to say to these people?"
...A few years to when Sigur Ros, Iceland's biggest band, played the 18,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl. Cruise wasn't the only A-lister there. Brad Pitt was also in attendance, as was Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee. The X-Files's Gillian Anderson, meanwhile, who has since made it known that she never does yoga to anything but their exquisitely floaty music, went backstage to meet them. And not for the first time, either.
"No, it was the third, maybe fourth time," Sveinsson says, rolling an impossibly anorexic cigarette in the corner of a deserted Reykjavik bar on a freezing Monday night. "She was nice, but we are not particularly good small talkers, and we didn't know what to say. She stopped coming after that. What are you supposed to say to these people?"
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The Healing of Silent Memories
Mothers who have had abortions, experienced miscarriages and still births are often not given room to grieve. The Clinical Pastoral Education unit in Mount Alvernia Hospital is holding an informal memorial service in rememberance of the brief life that graced these women, and a short mass for them and their families/friends. If you know of anyone or have personally been through this lonely journey, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you and ask you to join us. It is going to be a very private, personal and beautiful memorial. I hope to see you & your loved ones there. (To confirm your attendence and for us to put your name down on the list, please contact Geraldine)
Click on the picture to see details large
Click on the picture to see details large
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Kitchenaid Round 5
aka Hip Unfriendly Morsels
In my mother's household, anyone who bakes using butter and sugar should be banished to a land full of organic vegetables, made to wear a furry rabbit suit with inward pointing spikes, starved, whipped into shape with celery sticks, with promises to renounce sugar. it is under these circumstances that I do not get to bake very often, and have to do a ninja and bake under the cover of night or when Lucy has left the building.
Anyway, the process of baking is what fascinates me, not so much the end product. I think it is a residual effect of childhood playdoh joy, effects of which I am trying to regain again for some odd reason. For kitchenaid round 5, I wanted to make some cookies, because there is nothing more comforting than the knowledge that you have a towering cookie jar full of cookies somewhere in your cupboard. I used the recipe named a very promising: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Heaven.
Butter and dark muscovado sugar, turns from this, to...
...this, under the 'Planetary Mixing Action' (according to KitchenAid's manual) of the twisty beater. Then upon addition of peanut butter,
creamy swirls of fudge-like peanut butter batter presents.
The addition of all purpose flour and Ghirardelli chocolate chips changes fudge to a brown specked landscape
Then it is clockwork from here on. Roll, press, bake, roll press, bake, roll, press, bake.
Serve on plate for some fancy afternoon tea action or
as comfort food in your mother's 30 year old cookie jar.
These turned out pleasant and its rich buttery flavour will fix any rabid peanut butter craving. I realised that in order to appreciate the true flavour of a biscuit, it is imperative to let it cool completely before eating, rather than tasting them in less then their full glory and scalding your tongue in the process. All in all, they were fun to make and the standing mixer really makes the process of beating and mixing effortless. Thank you pistachio!
In my mother's household, anyone who bakes using butter and sugar should be banished to a land full of organic vegetables, made to wear a furry rabbit suit with inward pointing spikes, starved, whipped into shape with celery sticks, with promises to renounce sugar. it is under these circumstances that I do not get to bake very often, and have to do a ninja and bake under the cover of night or when Lucy has left the building.
Anyway, the process of baking is what fascinates me, not so much the end product. I think it is a residual effect of childhood playdoh joy, effects of which I am trying to regain again for some odd reason. For kitchenaid round 5, I wanted to make some cookies, because there is nothing more comforting than the knowledge that you have a towering cookie jar full of cookies somewhere in your cupboard. I used the recipe named a very promising: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Heaven.
Butter and dark muscovado sugar, turns from this, to...
...this, under the 'Planetary Mixing Action' (according to KitchenAid's manual) of the twisty beater. Then upon addition of peanut butter,
creamy swirls of fudge-like peanut butter batter presents.
The addition of all purpose flour and Ghirardelli chocolate chips changes fudge to a brown specked landscape
Then it is clockwork from here on. Roll, press, bake, roll press, bake, roll, press, bake.
Serve on plate for some fancy afternoon tea action or
as comfort food in your mother's 30 year old cookie jar.These turned out pleasant and its rich buttery flavour will fix any rabid peanut butter craving. I realised that in order to appreciate the true flavour of a biscuit, it is imperative to let it cool completely before eating, rather than tasting them in less then their full glory and scalding your tongue in the process. All in all, they were fun to make and the standing mixer really makes the process of beating and mixing effortless. Thank you pistachio!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Useless Nugget
According to a 'Animals have Sex!' book in Kinokuniya:
Giraffes have penises that are 5 metres is length, Elephants have 4 metre long ones, but elephants have larger girths.
I think elephants win.
Giraffes have penises that are 5 metres is length, Elephants have 4 metre long ones, but elephants have larger girths.
I think elephants win.
Theatrics
Manson's Site has been given a complete overhaul eversince the demise of his much anticipated film Phantasmagoria. I like, very much, for obvious reasons. It is very nice.
The official music video for his new track 'Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)' can be watched HERE. Please be warned that it is NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Yes I do not want to be responsible for superiors peering over your shoulder accusing you of watching porn -Sorry hendri!) and frankly his canoodling with 19 year old Evan Rachel Wood makes me sick. Poor Dita. I can almost feel their dirty lust permeating across my screen. Rancid. The entire sequence with the mock blood is a tad trite Track is alright, music's good, though you could take the lyrics and use it together with some trashy pop track and I think it will work too. His earlier videos are still my favourites. Pure genius.
The official music video for his new track 'Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)' can be watched HERE. Please be warned that it is NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Yes I do not want to be responsible for superiors peering over your shoulder accusing you of watching porn -Sorry hendri!) and frankly his canoodling with 19 year old Evan Rachel Wood makes me sick. Poor Dita. I can almost feel their dirty lust permeating across my screen. Rancid. The entire sequence with the mock blood is a tad trite Track is alright, music's good, though you could take the lyrics and use it together with some trashy pop track and I think it will work too. His earlier videos are still my favourites. Pure genius.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Public Service Announcement
Christine just alerted me that the comment function on Sideshowjo only allows people with google accounts to comment, resulting in her being unable to do so. I've ammended the comment function to allow everyone to comment now. Thank you
Evolution
There was a group discussion about evolution recently and that night, I went home feeling unsettled and bothered. Having been in the science stream for half my life and having taken up tertiary units on genetics and biochemistry did little prod me to question about creation and evolution. I read of scientists who have become fierce atheists in the course of their research and work, case in point would be Richard Dawkins and others who manage to marry the concept of christianity and science. What is my stand? Well I've always believed that there is a God. There exists loopholes in science regarding evolution and the creation of earth/the universe, it still cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt that God and the concept of christianity is a fallacy. I believe that certain roman catholic traditions have been fabricated by men and that through history, christianity was politicized by leaders in order to gain control and power over their people. I've been force fed Roman Catholic dogma since I was a child (not that I paid any attention, really) and have not questioned my faith much, and like the majority of most born catholics, do not know the bible well. I've been on a journey of discovery trying to understand my faith and take a stand on what I truly believe in. I'm not sure if I'm ready to read any of Dawkin's or Darwin's books but I am very tempted. Perhaps it is imperative to really hunker down and read and understand the bible first and foremost before I even touch on things that try and debunk it.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Zeng Fanzhi
It has been a long while since I have seen artwork that takes my breath away. I do not proclaim to be a connoisseur in fine art or pretend to know every nuance and technique, but I do however appreciate good art (good is also subjective) and artists that challenge convention with their own God given style and talent. I look forward to the day when I will earn enough to own all the pieces I've lusted after for so long. Sonny Liew, who I have the privilege to call friend is an artist who's talent and work amazes me along with Mark Ryden and Manson's watercolours.
Over the weekend we made it down to see Zeng Fanzhi's exhibition because I'd read a bit about it in the newspaper and how he drew inspiration from the hospital down the street from where he lived and from MEAT. Good enough for me! We went in not knowing what to expect but were so completely floored by this man's talent and self developed technique, coupled with the odd political commentary here and there. His seemingly random, but I'm sure calculated and deliberate crazy paint streaks forces you to look at portraiture a different way, and gives it a somewhat contemporary twist. One wonders how he could bring himself to smudge and seemingly deconstruct a piece that obviously took painstaking weeks or months even to complete but an end result that is beyond your imagination.
I particularly loved the 'Mask' as well as the 'Meat' series, though attempts to find some samples online proved futile as there isn't very much of his artwork that has been uploaded. So if you are wondering what to do one of these lazy weekends, Zeng Fanzhi's exhibition is on at the Singapore Art Museum until the 3rd of June, I think you'll enjoy it, we throughly did.
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