NEWSFLASH – there is a new Hoflich in the world, Lauren Abby Sophia Hoflich, the new daughter of Ralph and Nicole Hoflich (Ralph is my brother) living in Aukland New Zealand. Lauren was born on July 2 at about 4 AM local time, weighing a mighty 4.25 kilos. Good work everybody, and welcome Lauren. To see the teeny weeny little face of little Lauren, check out www.lauren.hoflich.com
Hey, only a day after I posted my last entry, it must be a weekend. Oh… it is. And very little work to do at home this weekend, since I was well caught up by the time I left on Friday. Good. Yesterday afternoon Zen didn’t nap, so he stayed up until 7 and then konked out. We gave him a bath, and he was watching his new train video happily, saying “mama… mama… mama……” then Naoko looked down and he was fast asleep. He slept until about 7 the next morning too, which was nice. Saturday night was a time for us to shower, unwind, and watch DVDs. I watched the most recent episode of the second season of 24, the end of the W.C. Fields, the end of Solaris, watched some Solaris interviews, watched a few parts from Les Vampires again, and watched some of that great Minor Threat concert. What a fantastic band they were.
Today we woke up early, got ready to go out, took bus 61 into town because we wanted to be at Boat Quay flea market, then walk through Fort Canning park. Unfortunately, 61 is a slow bus, so we were on it for an hour before we finally got to China town, well after 10:00. Zen even fell asleep on the bus a bit. The flea market was OK, lots of funky old stuff of course. Walked through the park, which was hot and muggy, then went into Plaza Singapura to have our lunch. Naoko went off to work, she had to be there for only an hour, then Zen and I walked around, checked out the CD shop (no Mekons, no Weezer, no Led Zeppelin DVD set – no nothing), the guitar shop (they had a few midrange lefty Yamahas!), the book store (to get updated in the Spiderman sagas), and then along Orchard to get to HMV and finally buy that Weezer CD. Cool. Went back, met Naoko, got on the bus, headed for home. Zen fell asleep in the bus around 2:15, got home just before the rain started. Naoko watched her VCD version of the Japanese TV series, and I read some Harry Potter. Our annoying downstairs neighbours are singing loud karaoke again. Oh, Zen is awake again. So… now what?
Movie Review: W.C. Fields – bizarre comedy from a guy who seemed more like a cartoon character than a real person, W.C. Fields is kind of droll, but not really that funny compared to the slapstick of Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers, not to mention Chaplin. His short films are amusing, especially the outrageous sexual contortions and moaning and groaning of his female patients in the Dentist, the shootout of the Pharmacist (“Oh, Cuthbert”), and other silliness. I am glad I have seen it, but I am not a W.C. Fields fan yet.
Wow, another week has gone by. I don’t want to talk about everyhing that went on this week, because there wasn’t too much. A very busy week, I took over responsibility for the e-newsletters that we put out, so that was a bit of a task. Monday was incredibly productive day – had a long meeting in the morning, whipped out an e-newsletter from it, whipped out a newsflash, wrote a story for the magazine, then prepared for the next day. Whew! Tuesday went to a lunch press conference, manged heavily on the dim sum that they had there, washed it down with coffee. Worked on the e-news for that day and the next. In the evening went to the library and got 3 DVDs – Les Vampires (a 10-hour French silent film series about a criminal organization called Les Vampires, and the sleuthing reporter who brings them down), six W.C. Fields short films on one DVD, and Solaris again, so I can finally see the end. Saw so many other amazing films available, my hands were shaking – Johnny Guitar, Pandora’s Box, and so many others. Will have to work my way through them… Had all of my work for the week done by Thursday noon, then I got a call from the news network – can I come on again, Friday at 11:30, to talk about the China big bank IPOs? Sure, my favorite topic. With nearly a day to prepare, I could have talked on the subject for 20 minutes, but I only was on for five. Whew! Didn’t get a video of the broadcast, so they will post me one. Met Vivian for lunch, she told me amazing stories about their 300-year-old house in Switzerland – her husband inherited it, they have paid thousands and thousands to renovate and preserve it, more than they paid to BUY an apartment here in Singapore. They will live in it for a month, enjoy Switzerland, then rent it out to pay off the loan they took out for the house’s renovation. Amazing. Started reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this week, finally, it is brilliant, of course. Today, Saturday, Zen slept in till 8:45, I woke up at 8 and read Harry Potter. We went to a garage sale at 10, a few Japanese families selling off their old stuff. Got a shoe rack, got a train video for Zen, some daipers, some baby underwear, some kids shoes, a tray, some other cool stuff. I also got a box full of old Godzilla cards for free. COOL STUFF! Went grocery shopping, got back, watched the train video. It is almost 4:00, Zen is not napping, we are sleepy and a little frustrated…
The Zen Report: Zen is getting cheeky, often demanding things, being irrational, etc. He is still a good kid, of course, but a bit of a handful. He loves riding his bike with training wheels, and it starting to understand the concept of pedalling himself (since I usually have to push him around – I guide him going downhill, and get him to walk the bike going uphill). I think I need to raise the seat, actually. His apetite is improving, meaning that he eats big meals, always finishes off his breakfast, and eats fruit with glee. This is good, of course. He is still pretty skinny. His big think now is singing songs – he always tries to sing along to his favorite songs, which are the Spiderman cartoon theme song, She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain, The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round, Happy Birthday To You, and some Japanese songs Naoko sings to him. He speaks quite a lot of Japanese no, so I find myself speaking more Japanese with him than English. He gets enough English in school, I guess, but Japanese is only at home. He has learned to say “okay” quite authoritatively. Funny kid.
Junket Pens: One of the funny things about my job is that I get to go to a lot of media events, press junkets, things like that. At most of thee, free pens are available. I have gotten some cool pens, also some not-so-great pens. But what are these pens really all about? The best pen I got was from HSBC – it is metallic, twists at the bottom, and has a regular pen plus a hard plastic “pen” for those Palm Pilots. It also has a laster pointer at the top, which is pretty cool. I have put a little purikura picture sticker of Zen and Naoko and I on it, so it is pretty much my favorite pen at the moment. I did get a cool pen from the Lehman Brothers once, it was white with a thick green rubber grip near the bottom. It was very comfortable, but as with many junket pens it didn’t have a long shelf life. The ink ran out, and I have tought about replacing it, but the rubber grip part has turned all soft and flabby, might not be as nice to use any more. I also got a great heavy metal pen from some Malasian Super Corridor association, business parks and silicon valley authorities in Malaysia, or something, that was a really cool chrome-plated pen, heavy, but writes real well. I have it with my sketch pad in my bag. One of the crappiest pens I have gotten is from Reuters, it is a plastic pen that is basically OK, but it is hard to find one that works well. When I went to the event, I had to try a bunch before I found one that clicked at all, then I realized that after you take it apart you can’t put it back together again!! The hotels pens are also OK. The Fullerton, a 6 star hotel in Singapore, gives out a nice, black, slim twist pen, and the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur has Bic pens that are put into a recycled paper body – basically, a thick paper sheath with the name of the hotel stamped on it. Unique. ]
Film Review – Les Vampires: a film noir classic from the black and white era, Les Vampires was filmed in 1915 and created a major sensation at the time. A series of ten films, each one a unique episode, the entire series runs for 7 hours. I watched it at double speed, so it was only 3 hours 30 minutes, which was good, pausing only when there was a lot to read in the dialugue bits. I watched it over three nights. The star of Les Vampires is a sleuthing reporter Philippe Guerande who is invstigating a nefarious criminal organization called Les Vampires. Headed by various sinister, aging “Grande Vampires,” the organization murders and thieves ruthlessly. While first one, then another gangleader is captured by Guerande, the beautiful, yet thoroughly evil, female sidekick Irma Vep (which is an anagram of “vampire”) eludes capture. A villain called Satanas takes over with his powerful canonon, then Venomous succedes him with his poisonous schemes. Guerande’s funny-looking sidekick Mazamette provides comic relief throughout. “Shot off-the-cuff by writer-director Louis Feuillade in the streets and interiors of 1915 Paris,” it says on the box, “Les Vampires is full of disappearances and disguises, sudden deaths and uncanny rusurrections, hidden trapdoors and secret tunnels, car chases and rooftop escapes. Banned by the Paris police for glorifying crime, it was a smash hit when finally released, and for fifty years celebrated as a masterpiece of French cinema.” A very good little film called Irma Vep was made a few years ago about a film director’s attempt to make a modern tribute film to Les Vampires, starring Maggie Cheung as the actress who plays Irma Vep. Both are must-sees.
