Hey, it’s been a while since I wrote, so in the past few weeks I’ve done quite a bit. Don’t remember too much about the end of the week before last (i.e. Wednesday , Thursday , and Friday ), but I think I saw a few DVDs, I went to a pool nite at a PR firm (free beer, good company, OK music, and pool!) Saturday we started our big adventure, that we’d been planning for a while – a train trip to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and back, with a gorgeous overnight stay at the Shangri-La KL. Yay! Unfortunately, on the morning we left we made a series of bad decisions… Train tickets bought in Singapore are paid in Singapore dollars, those bought in Malaysia are paid in Malaysian dollars, which ammounts to half the cost. This is a ripoff, so I bought online. Wondering whether to book out of Singapore downtown or from Johore Bahru (JB), I decide on JB. So Saturday morning, with two hours to go, we left for JB by bus. Normally, this 20 km journey is fairly slow, but we thought two hours would suffice. I guess it could have, but we waited patiently in a terrible traffic jam, then didn’t get out on our first opportunity to get to the border crossing, then the bus took 45 minutes to swing around and get to the border station, and we rushed through and over. By the time we got to JB station, we had missed the train by 20 minutes. D’oh!!! Zen was terribly upset, and couldn’t understand why we were at the train station but couldn’t take the train. We were frustrated that we’d needed over two hours to travel 20 kilometers. Got a bus ticket to KL, the bus was leaving 20 minutes later, so rushed to the station… Got on the bus, but it still took 45 minutes to actually get on the highway and leave town. This is the frustration of travelling in Malaysia. The bus stopped once at a groovy highway spot, we took this funky picture of a big ugly statue.
Kept going on the highway, then got off at another highway stop, waited a while, then we got on the REAL bus that was going to KL. This one seemed to have better suspension at least… Got to KL, took the train to KLCC (part of the Petronas Towers complex, also known as the KL Twin Towers, for a time the tallest building in Asia, etc.). The overhead train took us one stop, then we went into the Bombardier subway. Some time later we were at the KLCC, then took a cab to the hotel. It was waking distance, but we didn’t know in what direction, and we were tires, so we took the cab. The cabbie didn’t use the meter, so we complained, then he said M$5, and I complained, then he said “OK, no charge, no charge, you don’t pay!!” But we gave him M$5 anyway. Suckers… The hotel check-in was OK, and the room was great – Zen loved it and was saying “yay yay yay” and jumping on the bed. We asked for an extra bed for him – he could have slept in the bed with us, there was enough room, but he rolls around a lot and it would have been hell for us. Housekeeping said that the couldn’t bring us a bed, there was not enough space in the room for an extra cot. Well, the room was pretty big, it seemed that there SHOULD be plenty of room, but they relented, and suggested a baby cot. I thought this was pretty stupid – when we reserved the room, we mentioned a four-year-old, why would they give us their smallest type of room (although it was pretty big)? The cot came, and Zen loved it – he wanted to take it back to Singapore!
We went down to the pool and swam around a bit. The pool was nice, but the water seemed a bit salty! Later went downstairs, got a cab, went to “Chinatown,” wandered the stalls. Someone wanted to sell Naoko an Adidas jacket for M$60, we walked away and she yelled out “50…40… 30… 20… 10!!!” Amazing that she stopped at 10. Ate crappy food there, the bill was small, took a cab to the KLCC so that we could see it at night time, took a bunch of pictures. The moon was up.
We walked through the shopping mall for a while. Zen found a Thomas carousel and somebody else put money in and Zen got a free ride. Lucky Zen!
Lots of bank towers: Petronas, AMBank, HSBC, Deutsche, Citi. Great scenery. Walked back home, past the nice pubs, got to the hotel, wandered around the lobby, saw the Philipina performers dancing and singing on the roof of some bar thing. Looked cheezy, but they were cute as buttons, oh well. Nice long sleep in the airconditioned room. Woke up at 8:00, went down for the buffet, had a leisurely two-hour munch on great yummy Indnian, Chinese, and western breakfast stuff. Great goat cheeses too!!
At 10:30 or so we went to the pool to hang out and swim. Some 55-year-old-looking guy was there with a sexy little local 25-year old, weird. Checked out around 12:00, then to the KLCC again to do a bit of shopping and looking around.
Took the subway to the train station early, hung out at the train station buying stuff to much on the long ride. No beer to be found anywhere, bummer! Big disappointment. Got on at 2:30, drove on and on and on. Zen was fascinated by the scenery at first, then he drifted off to sleep for a while. I tried to read, but it was too bumpy and bumpy… Nice scenery – hills, palm trees, banana plantations, kamphongs (Malay-style villages), kids on scooters driving around, farm fields, rivers, monkeys, rhinos, lions tigers and bears… Nice little towns with teeny train stations, other places had trainyards with rotting equiptment. Very interesting. Got to JB, bought our onward ticket to Singapore, spent about one hour at the customs, bypassing all of the people in the terrible queues on their way back to Singapore, then back on the train to go to Singapore. The train stopped at the Bukit Timah Station because another train needed to pass by, so when that train was gone we jumped off and went home by the 77 bus. What a long journey!! Jeez, eight hours from departure in KL until we got to our home. The way up was longer, nine hours, even though the JB to KL bus was actually pretty fast – it took us nearly five hours to travel our first 50 kilometers, then only four hours to go the rest of the way. By the way, Singapore and KL are only 313 km. apart and are connected by direct highway and train lines. A bullet train in Japan could do 313 kilometers in just over an hour.
Monday was yer regular day, I worked a bit late and took a cab home – feeling sickish, but not sure if I’m going to be sick. The cab got stuck in a traffic jam, my first on the highway home. Some accident, but when we passed it the wreckage had already been cleared. Ended up being quite expensive. Tuesday was a busy day – went to a data centre opening in the morning, then off to a conference held in town by an international investment bank that was held at the Oriental Hotel, just opposite the Esplanade. Wow – what a cool hotel!! The inner courtyard rises up to the top floor of the hotel itself, and you can see all of the levels of the hotel going up from there, kind of like open hallways for apartments like we had in Japan, but all interior space. Very swish. Nice Japanese bento lunch, very yummy. Went to a speech and Q and A from a former CEO of a foreign-owned Japanese bank, then to his press conference, then back to the office to do more work. Bought the new Madonna CD on the way home, its first day of release in Singaore. Feeling sick now, so I went home and had a quiet night. Wednesday, Naoko had the day off and was going to do all sorts of housecleaning, but I still had to run around like a moron all morning getting her and Zen up and running. Got out, there was my neighbour getting in a cab and asking if I wanted a ride. It was on my way to the Oriental, for day two of the conference, so I went along. We split the ride, but with all of the surcharges it’s just about my most expensive ride into town so far. Got there early to interview the CEO of a bank, then kill a bit of time before the next thing – Japanese bento lunch again and a presentation from a senior economist. In the meantime I went to the library with my colleague and got out some movies – two DVDs of Star Trek Episodes (“The Menagerie” and “Day of the Dove”) and two Truffault films (“Jules et Jim,” and “Au Bout De Souffle”). After the presentation, a press conference by the economist, then a press conference with a senior China expert, then a one-on-one interview with the same guy. Had a lot to chat about – he’s fluent in Chinese and getting by in Japanese, so somehow has the same experience as I do. Very sharp guy. When it was all over, just went home direct. Suffered a bit on the bus – air con is so heavy! I had frozen like a popsicle during the eight hours on the train from KL to Singapore, then the Oriental Hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday was Arctic, and the buses and taxis were all deep-freezes. Got home, lay down and was lazy, felt sick and coughing, went to sleep at 9:30 or so, slept until nearl 7:00. Nice. But if I’m sick like this, I don’t know how I’m going to do any training for my half-marathon that’s only two weeks away! Thursday was a regular day, tried to get a lot done. Got home not too late, watched Star Trek episodes. Friday had a 7:30 meeting at the Intercontinental, what a nice little art deco hotel. Pretty good breakfast buffet. With all of this good food, regular Singapore hawker centre food sure is starting to taste like mud! I’m starting to doubt Singapore’s repuation as a good place to get yummy food cheap – I’ve eaten a lot of crappy food recently. Got to the office early, got a lot of work done, had a meeting or two, ate a yucky lunch, went home at 7:30, bought Sonic Youth’s Goo Deluxe edition double CD on the way home. Been listening to a lot of Sonic Youth on the MD walkman recently, as well as plenty of good Hong Kong and Taiwanese rock and pop from the ’90s like Wu Bai, Liu Zhen, Ke Siyin, Lin Chang, and others. Watched some Star Trek episodes at night. Saturday and we have to think of something to do. What can we do? I know – we can go to the Singapore Science Centre again.
In the 66 bus on the way to the Science Centre. Zen pushed the button on this one all by himself.
We’ve only been there ten times in the last three months, since we now have a membership and get free admission, but isn’t today the first day of the Star Wars Exhibition? Yeah! Zen and I got in the 66 bus, went off to the Science Centre, and found it abuzz. The last visit was a bit crappy, because there didn’t seem to be a lot happening, but now they’re playing the new Harry Potter movie, they’ve opened up the new water sports park up front, they’ve got some science show on, plus the Star Wars exhibit. Zen was very keen to play in the water park, but I had already bought the tickets to the Star Wars, so I told him we’d see the robots and monsters first, then go to the water. He didn’t enjoy the exhibition too much, although he did watch some of the George Lucas “making of” documentaries, where latex mask specialists (i.e. geeks) gush nostalgic about how cool it was to design Darth Vader’s mask for Episode III. Nice models of the ships, cool full-size depictions of TIE-fighter pilots, storm troopers, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Boba Fett, blasters, light sabers, and others. Kind of like the things you’d find in a hobby shop. But, whatever. Zen liked the monster models a bit, but was mostly whining about going to the water park. Left the paid area and got out into the lobby again, now all of a suden there were a lot of short people in masks walking around, certainly Singaporean geeks. Imperial guards in red and black, TIE fighter pilots, and two kinds of stormtroopers. There was also an Asian Han Solo, an Asian Luke Skywalker, and an Asian Jedi and an Asian Padme in full make-up. Lots of Star Wars t-shirts. Zen shook hands with a TIE fighter pilot and a storm trooper, but was too shy to go too near them by himself. It was a lot of fun, and a carnival atmosphere.
For the first day opening, it wasn’t too full, but I suppose it will get darn crazy soon enough. After a while, I heard deep breathing, and saw that Darth Vader himself had come out too. They were selling cool light sabers that were fairly realistic-looking. Zen wanted one desperately, so I got him out of there and to the water park and he soon forgot about it. We stayed there for a while and Zen ran around playing in all sorts of water things in the noonday sun, his favourite being a big fountain that you throw light plastic balls in, and it swooshes them around and they go down whirpools and along rails and back down to ground level. Fairly clever, but the balls are too light and get jammed, but still tons of fun for Zen. Got out of there and went to Bukit Batok for cafeteria food. I wanted to have a salted duck egg, but when the lady cut it open she found that it had gone bad. Yuck! The food was pretty disgusting and I couldn’t even finish it. Discovered that I had forgotten my treasured Hanshin Tigers hat at the Science Centre, so back we went to fetch it. Zen got to enjoy the carnival a bit more, and there were now tons of people there. Seems that the Science Centre really is one of the happening family spots on this side of the island, wow. Took a cab back, and Zen went to sleep by himself, but he’s already awake two hours later. Mitchan and Manae are coming today, and it looks like they were already here, left the car and a little backpack of stuff at the doorway. Now we’re going to wait for them to come back so that we can all eat hamburgers together or something…
DVD Review – Kind Hearts and Coronets: The tale of a peniless nobleman who is eighth heir to the title of duke. He has a plan to quickly become duke in order to impress the snob he’s loved since childhood, but his undoing comes about when, in the process of murdering the eight who stand in his way, he falls for another woman. A very clever tale, that is not nearly as black or as fast-paced as it could have been (but, mind you, this was 1949). Alec Guiness is a standout playing all eight of the murdered nobles. “I regretted our acquaintance would be so short.”
- “He wants to improve his mind.”
- “He has room to do so.”
- “He’s the most boring man in London.”
- “In England.”
- “In Europe!”
DVD review – the Duellists: Ridley Scott’s gorgeous first feature film, based on a Joseph Conrad short story (!?!) about two men with an unfathomable, unexplainable, undying hatred for each other (well, it’s one-way at least) and over thirty years of the Napoleonic era they on occasion come together and duel. Great suffering ensues, and plenty of fight-to-the death. A great study on a them that has fascinated Borges, natural enemies, and a topic I also wrote a little short story about. Fantastic scene in 1812 in Russia as they are about to go at it with pistols, despite being close to death and in enemy territory on retreat from Moscow as winter advances over the wind-blasted Russian steppes. Bad dialogue: “I’ve literally picked through his brains.” “Send a tomcat to get a tomcat,” echoing “the Dancer Upstairs.” As usual, the film is more style than substance, but what style!! Great scene of Keith Carradine, his chest bandaged after being slashed viciously, trying to prevent a sneeze. Keitel and Carradine, by the way, look really cool with waxed moustaches and braided hair. The DVD comes with a nice 25 minute short film, apparently Ridley Scott’s first student film, called “Boy and Bicycle” which is just that – shots of the boy, Ridley’s brother Tony Scott (the director of Top Gun, Vampire’s Kiss, and True Confessions) riding along the roads and down to the beach. Yawwwwwnnnnn…
DVD review – Star Trek: A series of episodes, many of them about illusions tricking the crew of the Enterprise, among them “The Menagerie,” “Day of the Dove,” “the Man Trap,” “the Naked Time.” The first and last of these are about “alien beings -the last of their race.” The first is about big brains who use illusions to build up a menagerie. It very cleverly incorporates footage from the original pilot of the series (which was in black and white, involves a certain Captain Christopher Pike, and only has Spock as a character carrying over from that pilot into the actual series) and builds on the story, which ended on a bleak note, but this somehow becomes a very poetic, apt, wry, win-win feelgood well-rounded happy ending, normally rare for a Star Trek story. “The Man Trap” is the story of the illusion-building deceptive shape-shifter who craves salt. Very clever, and once again we see “the two Kirks.” “I’m the real Kirk.” “No, I am.” “The Naked Time” is a crappy story about a smart virus that enters the ship and drives people insane as they suffer under delusions (similar to illusions, I guess) of grandeur, spendour, or whatever. Bad dialogue like “”I don’t like mysteries, they give me a bellyache, and I’ve got one right no!” “Unknown to us, a mystserious disease hhas entered the ship.” If it was unknown to them, how did HE know? Funny image of McCoy using a butter knife to defend himself. “The Day of the Dove” is one of those classic Star Trek episodes, also about illusions, where the crew of the Enterprise and the crew of a Klingon vessel fall under the spell of an ethereal alien being (i.e. a ghost) that floats shimmering, protoplasmic, around, feeding off of hostility, aggression, and hatred. Nice fake swordfights. Kirk seems pretty buff under his polyester uniform, but somehow it also looks like cotton padding. Chekhov has great lines, like “the Klingons butchered my brother Igor.” Of course, the earthlings, vulcans, and klingons all have to have a hearty laugh to make it fly off in disgust. Weird. But wonderful. “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky,” the longest and most pretentious title of any original Star Trek episode. It’s a cheezy story about space Mormons in Buck Rogers suits, but it’s kind of like how they’re living in a Truman Show-kind of place. Ha ha ha… Not the greatest Star Trek episode.
Captain Christopher Pike pictured here – preceded James Kirk as captain of the Enterprise and also was Spock’s commanding officer for 13 years…
Video Review – Ren and Stimpy, Ren’s Brain: Five stories, all of them disgusting nearly beyond belief. “Ren’s Pecs” carries over from “the Cat That Ate The Golden Hairball,” where Ren is selling Stimpy’s hairballs to raise enough money to afford his pectoral implants. In this one, after he’s insulted on the beach (see Charles Atlas’ infamous “the insult that made a man out of Mac“), he goes for those pecs after all… with a little help from Stimpy, who this time ends up being the spurned one. “Ren’s Retirement” is one of those nasty things where Ren is victimized into thinking he’s old – “it’s all in the head, man!” “Ren’s Brain” sees Ren being separated from his brain by Stimpy, part-time experimental brain surgeon, with Stimpy falling in in love with Ren’s physical side (a vegetable) rather than his emotional/intellectual side (a walking brain). The ending is truly… frightening. “Insomniac Ren” is about Ren being kept up late at night, standard stuff. “The Last Temptation of Ren” is a spooky episode, involving extra-lumpy oatmeal, a dead Ren going up to heaven and meeting… God’s gardener? Ren, of course, becomes a aesthetic, and gives his millions to Stimpy, who takes them, then proceeds to ignore him (again, standard stuff). Yes, Ren and Stimpy, more than even the most generic of cartoons, does follow certain distinct patterns.
Video Review – Ren and Stimpy, the Stinkiest Stories: Three episodes that I’ve seen many, many times. “Ren’s Toothache” is about just that, and it introduces the Tooth Beaver, and the Nerve Ending Fairy. And, of course, Ren’s stinking gum-holes. Best scenes are Stimpy’s excessive oral hygiene, and the accompanying sound-effects – classic TV. “Nurse Stimpy” again has Stimpy’s excessive hygiene, and a sick sick sick Ren. Very disgusting indeed. The famous “The Cat That Laid The Golden Hairball” rounds out the stories, with tales of Stimpy’s hairballs, which have more value than gold, and Ren’s plan to start a factory to make himself rich enough to afford those pectoral implants that he’s always wanted. Naturally, Stimpy needs to munch up all the hair he can find… and not just cat hair! Unfortunately, his hairball gland begins to malfunction and… what then? The tape also contains two great “Powdered Toast Man” (“It tastes just like SAWDUST!!!!” one little girl exclaims with glee) episodes. “Powdered Toast may have Vitamin F, but it sure doesn’t make kids any smarter!”
Video Review – Ren and Stimpy, More Stinky Stories: “Mad Dog Hoek” tells the tale of Ren “Mad Dog” Hoek and Stimson “Killer Kadoogan” Cat. Naturally they are tortured and twisted into strange shapes before… the end. “A Yard Too Far” is a sad tale of our starving heroes hungering for some “hog jowls” (the full sack of skin from a slaughtered pig), but are kept away from by a bilious baboon pet protecting the yard of the house. I.e., instead of an apple pie in the window, waiting for – I don’t know, the Little Rascals? the Three Stooges? – to steal, it’s hog jowls and Ren and Stimpy. Okay, naturally plenty of skin-separated-from-flesh jokes here. “Big Baby Scam” shows Ren and Stimpy kicking out two nasty babies as they take their place for pampering. Naturlly, it’s not about babies but about TOTAL DEMENTIA!!!