Review: Transformers

Not bad lah. Quite entertaining if you don't cross-reference the old Transformer cartoons.

But hor, if you do, quite pek-chek one.

How they get their vehicle form practically came from the Beast Wars. Scan scan her and there can liao.

The transforming is just too stylo-mylo until it is confusing and is dunno for what lor.

And donch have that "yee-yee-or-or" transforming sound.

Then hor, other than Bumblebee and Optimus Prime hor, all the other transformers cannot recognize one! Only hear their name, then you "huh" to yourself lor.

The old cartoon hor, they fight in the barren lands. In the movie, the Transformers is FIBUA (Fighting In Built Up Area) trained one.

Starscream is not red colour one! Pui! Liddat how to recognize? Then he only got one line. Then fight here, fight there already, stand on top of some roof see dunno what show. Isn't he supposed to try and usurp Megatron's position as leader of the Decepticons?

Frenzy hor last time was a cassette tape that will jump out of Shockwave who is the radio and cassette player robot. Now hor, he become some stupid ninja robot, can throw shurikens one! And hor, he now upgrade from cassette tape to cd player lor. Then after that can even upgrade to a mobile phone. Then what about Shockwave? Obsolete liao have to sell to karang guni is it?

Talk about Megatron hor, I think they confuse with Galvatron, lor. Megatron where can transform into aeroplane one? And he donch have his sibeh twa-kee cannon on his hand. See? How to recognize is Megatron?

Bumblebee since when become some stupid American car? American car sales cannot make it say so. What? Scared Volkswagen business too good is it? Then halfway can upgrade his car model some more.

Then the Transformers shio-parh always kena jump cut to some other scene one.

If lucky it jump cut to Megan Fox, if not lucky jump cut to dunno some bo liao human scene. Then suddenly jump cut again and the Autobot transformer win the fight liao. I thought should be like wrestling, got finishing move one mah?

Huh? What? No budget to animate the fighting scene footage?

Then hor, then hor, this worst part hor. They do the Transformers until so detail hor, but then hor, cannot see one! Megatron transform to his sibeh twa-kee cannon cannot see, Starscream cannot properly, Everyone also cannot see properly.

At least they got show Megan Fox properly.

But really, if you put aside all these things above, good movie lah.

Tom's Palette

Tucked in a quiet corner of Shaw Leisure Gallery is a little surprise called Tom's Palette which sells home-made ice cream.

When curious me entered their premises for the first time, I was greeted by sincere counter staff who are really proud of their little ice cream parlour and their flavours. That pretty much scared me away, plus I had no intention for ice cream that day.

So a few hours ago, I decided to go for it. I stepped in to the ice cream parlour, got greeted by the rather sweet lady boss (I think), tasted the Oreo Cheesecake flavour, which was good, but settled for their Pisang Honey Walnut and Horlicks flavours in a small cup. You get to taste 2 flavours in a small cup at no extra charge and each cup is $2.80, which is considerably cheaper than other ice cream places. I thought it is a good tactic, to create a sense of value that the customer can taste 2 flavours for the price of one. It definitely helps those who can't decide between flavour 1 and flavour 2.

Their ice cream is definitely one of the better ones I've tasted. Rich in flavour and really smooth texture, slightly creamier than the Japanese ice creams. I really enjoyed their Horlicks flavour which I believe had extra amounts of the ingredient to pack the extra punch. The Pisang Honey Walnut though only managed to leave a mild impression with a weak banana flavour. But at least they were generous with the walnuts. The Cherry Almond was a refreshing mix which I really enjoyed. The Apple Pie lived up to its name with real chunks of apple, pie crust and a rich undertone of cinnamon. And if you love cheesecakes, their Blueberry Cheesecake and Oreo Cheesecake are to die for.

Anyway, overheard a conversation between the staff and a customer, there was apparently a batch of cockles flavoured ice cream... see-hum ice cream? Ice cream mai hum? mai hum, mai hum, hai hum...

Address: 100 Beach Road, #01-25 Shaw Leisure Gallery Singapore 189702

Blackhead Bread

Earlier in the day, some friends and I had gone to visit Lionel at his resting place. Thereafter, a bunch of us left for their destinations while Zengrong and I went to visit Wei Jeah's new place around Kim Keat for an informal house warming. On our way back to the main road, we came across an old bakery run by some middle-aged to old men. I was thoroughly fascinated by their products. With the camera in hand, these are some of the snapshots of what I saw.

I seem to be always attracted to the old, disused, forgotten things around us. I think these things give a certain life, character and identity to the place they are found. I probably caught on this fascination when Zengrong brought me to the old ST James Power Station before it was refurbished into what you will see today. Above all, it is literally a refreshing sight from the usual Orchard Road.

As for the bread from this traditional bakery, what attracted me first were the loaves of "blackhead bread" stacked on the racks to cool down. Not to mention I love the colours too.

Of course, we also wanted to have a taste of the freshly baked "blackhead bread", so we shared to buy a loaf, which was only $2.20.

Then, I gave it a try... And it was the most wonderful plain bread I had tasted! The bread was moist, soft but firm on the bite. It didn't dissolve into a mess in the mouth and you can savour every bite you take slowly. It is no wonder the bakery still stands today.

Anyway, besides the "blackhead bread", the colourful trays which they use also caught my eye.

Vibrant colours.

Really glad we made the trip to Wei Jeah's place, otherwise I would have missed out such a lovely place in the equally lovely area.

Ministry Of Food Finally Got It Right!

If you do remember, I had ravaged MOF for their lousy food and lack of variety in an earlier review. Somehow and for some reason, somebody did give a damn (I am assuming this) about that bad review, or maybe the management was really not proud of what they had to offer at the Marina Square branch. And since they couldn't "re-brand" their stupidest name in the world, they probably thought it would be the best move to concentrate on selling their good stuff. Which is probably the only best thing that came out of MOF, by the way.

Simply said, the Girlfriend and I loved that just-you-and-me moment with the Macha Sundae (seen in picture). For S$6, you get soft-serve ice-cream with a scoop of their very good green tea red bean ice-cream and a whole lot of other toppings like green tea sauce, cereal, jelly, azuki red bean, peaches, waffle, watermelon wedges and cherry. We thought it was a very good deal if compared to places like Ben & Jerry's or Häagen-Dazs. On another occasion, I tried the item with their green tea ice-cream, rice dumplings and red bean paste (which they claim to use red beans imported from Japan). The rich flavour from the green tea ice-cream was really pleasant and the rice dumplings were chewy with just the right texture. The red bean paste was unfortunately still a little too sweet to my liking. But overall, it was an enjoyable takeaway dessert. The menu has also been bumped up, which only means more choices and that's a good thing. Do give the items recommended in the menu a try, you may just be pleasantly surprised too.

(Arguably) The coolest office

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo

The (arguably) coolest office dudes who did this video are now also hiring!

If you've got what it takes to be part of that team... http://connectedventures.com/jobs.shtml

Warning to all mobile phone users! (Which means EVERYONE)

I just received my phone bill and was shocked to find out that some f**ked up SMS company called Blinck billed me 33 bucks for 11 messages I did not want. Their customer care claimed they have the unsubscribe messaging all over. But that is not the case!

The worst part is that they bill some many months later after a good amount of damage has been done. I had to call the companies. Yes, PLURAL. I had to call my mobile phone company to get the number for the f**ked up subscription company charging me to stop the subscription, then I was referred to another f**ked up ang moh company that provided the content that will get my money.

I hope that volcanic island off Africa erupts soon, because it will cause a mega-tsunami to hit the east coast of America, and I hope that f**ked up company is there in the east coast. When that happens, which means it will, serves them right for ignoring global warming, making Bush president, making stupid fuel guzzling cars, going to war, overall being an ultimate a*****e.

And all this cursing and swearing for an extra $36 on my phone bill, there is no hope for the human race lor.

Another design flaw

I was on the Northeast Line (NEL) on my way to a friend's place when attention was drawn to the screen in the cabin. The first thing I noticed was that it was blocked. I decided that I would take a shot of the screen seated and standing so that it not biased.

The following is taken seated.

Then this is taken standing.

While it isn't as stupid and thoughtless as the auto flush somewhere in a 600-million-dollar-building, I think it is something the designers should beat themselves over, well, at least for a day. Imagine an advertisement which uses that top part of the screen for messaging, almost everyone would not see it.

BTC 2007 Investiture

Click on the picture to go to the full album.

Kena "re-branded"

Esplanade is getting "rebranded" for Baybeats...

Esplandade! Haha!

I is luvin' Got Talent

I've been hooked on snippets of Got Talent available on Youtube recently. Mainly because there have been really "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Talent" kind of people in the show, their real kungfu cannot see, ok!

And so power was Paul here that he made it to the finals.

I think no need to fight already...

Anyway, the more important question is: So, Singapore Got Talent or not?

What's after Chilli Crabs?

So what do you do after you get bored of chilli crabs?

Well, lucky for you, some places have come up with Salted Egg Crab. I was impressed by the thick and fragrant gravy which contains curry leaves and bits of salted egg yolk. It goes very well with the sweet and juicy flesh of the crab.

Anyway, I feel the need to plug for this place which serves very good crab dishes in my neighbourhood (Choa Chu Kang). It is situated at Sunshine Place, on the outside of the food court. It has got a lightbox which says "Crab Specialist" along the road.

Personally, I think the quality of the crab is the best I've come across. I have never been disappointed by the quality of the crabs served, all of which have been solid and meaty. If I remember correctly, the place even guarantees your crab will be solid and full of meat.

So if you come by Choa Chu Kang, do give this place a shot.

Explanation for "Dude, where the photos?"

Hi all,

Some of you may have noticed that quite a number of photos on my multiply were not accessible in the last few days. This is because of the technical issues faced by Zooomr, the hostng service that I am using. Long story cut short, Zooomr attempted to launch their new Mark III service, but their systems went down because it couldn't take the surge of load at the launch. Some hardware was permanently burnt out. But with the help of really passionate people and technology evangelists, they just got things running again. Photos are available again and things are looking really good for Zooomr.

Also, if you take lots of good photos, give Zooomr a thought as it allows photographers to sell their photos and keep 90% of the price, which is determined by the photographer himself.

Zooomr is currently in the process of upgrading to Mark III. But it should roll out by within this coming week, if all goes well, that is. So keep your fingers crossed that this 2-man company makes it!

Review: Botak Jones

Location:
Kopitiam
Blk 325, Clementi Ave 5
#01-129
Singapore 120325
Tel/Fax: 6774 1225
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 10pm (Closed on Mondays)

Cajun Chicken by Botak Jones

The girlfriend and I finally managed to try out Botak Jones at Clementi and we were quite pleasantly surprised by the quality of food. The cajun chicken we ordered was a surprisingly tasty piece of chicken breast. It was well-marinated and not dry. Every bite was bursting with flavor. The best part was it wasn't oily as it was grilled. It is has how good food should be.

Another look of the cajun chicken

On a separate occasion, I ordered their Botak Burger. I was served with a generous beef patty that is well-marinated and juicy. Personally, I thought the beef may have been too finely ground. I would have liked chunks of beef within the patty for a more interesting texture.

I would also like to make special mention for their fries, which is crispy and well-flavored with their spicy seasoning. It is a welcome change from the usual salt. I wiped the mountain of fries when I had the cajun chicken, but was unable to do the same at the sitting for the Botak Burger, but that's because I didn't have them with a drink.

So far, I have to say that the food I've gotten at the Clementi outlet has been good. The fries do well to make one full while their mains left a good impression on me.

Service-wise, I appreciate their efforts to ask customers for feedback, though I think that was probably the stakeholder. Waiting time still needs to be improved. The wait during peak and off-peak hours is still around 30 minutes. I suspect this is due to the processes in the kitchen.

Then there are other areas I hope they could improve. For one thing, they brought in a restaurant system which does not really work for a kopitiam setting. It basically gets customers to see the flaws of their process because people have to queue up before the system to order. The menu contains too much text of the same size and too much narratives. I had a bit of a problem identifying the items. Yes, it is visually irritating.

So if you do go down to Botak Jones, be mentally prepared for the wait. I guess I was ok, thanks to the "training" I had been through at The Donut Factory. After you've been through that kind of a queue, this is just a walk in the park.

The queue when you come in the evening.