Dance like no one's watching

I think Cheryl Yang’s such a great actress so I’m on a bid to watch as many dramas with her inside as possible – as long as she has a reasonable amount of screen time, since 败犬女王 was her first starring role.  The first drama of hers I’m going to catch is Love Queen aka 恋爱女王。 The similarity in titles is but a coincidence!  Haha!  Shown in 2006, I read pretty good reviews of Love Queen online.  The forums also mentioned that Love Queen was a very low key drama and indeed it must have been!  I visited Poh Kim, Laser Flair (or Fair – can’t remember), TS, MJunction and a couple of other DVD/VCD shops and none of the store assistants heard of Love Queen before!  Disappointing. 

Booze Queen (yesh, another queen, albeit unrelated) recommended The Hospital aka 白色巨塔 and I was hoping to find the DVD too, especially since the male lead is Jerry Yan (such eye candy) but none of the above mentioned shops sell it anymore; “Too old” I was told.  Very old meh?  3-4 years only what.  Chey!  Good things not scared old ok!

Anyway, here’s the tudou link to Love Queen in case anyone else is interested.  http://www.tudou.com/playlist/id/555494/ 🙂

I was so damn freaking pissed off yesterday.  I was mad enough for my pulse to quicken, furious enough to wish for bolts of lightning to strike the stupid chao angmoh who tried to push the blame for something he did wrongly to me.  Lightning aside, I would’ve settled for him being ran over by a double decker bus or falling into a manhole.  Yeap.  You get the idea.  I was really really furious – then I read Our Daily Bread.  Here’s what it says:

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“Not fair!” Whether you’ve said it or at least thought it, you’ve got to admit, it’s hard to see someone get away with something and not get what they deserve. We learn this early in life. Just ask the parent of any teenager. Kids hate to see their siblings get off scot-free for the things they got spanked for. Which is why they so readily tattle on each other. But then, we never really grow out of this. To our way of thinking, fairness means sinners deserve God’s wrath and we, the good people, deserve His applause.

But if God were into being “fair,” we would all be consumed by His judgment! We can be thankful for this: “[God] has not dealt with us according to our sins” (Ps. 103:10). We should be glad, not grumpy, that God chooses mercy over fairness and that He is willing to extend grace even to those who are undeserving and hopelessly lost. And while we are thinking about it, when was the last time we let mercy trump fairness with someone who offended us?

It’s not God’s fairness but His mercy that drives Him to pursue us so that heaven can have a party when we are found (Luke 15:7). Personally, I’m thankful that God has not been “fair” with me! Aren’t you?

Source: http://odb.org/2010/06/09/it’s-not-fair/

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How apt it is eh?  So I prayed this morning, not for the stupid chao angmoh to fall into a manhole or get tyre marks on his face, but for God to deal with him.  To get him off my back.  I’m not in a position to tell God what to do, but I trust everything will work out.

Bought this latest hp case for my Nokia X6 from eBay (seller was called easytradingco).  Very happy.. this must be the fastest an item has reached me (took about 8 days to get to Singapore from HK).  Love the hp… the bling is stuck over a clear plastic back case.. really hope it doesn’t crack ‘cos the last clear plastic case I bought cracked very easily.  Happy x 100.  What a great way to start a Thurs!!

Decided to chop off my locks.  Unfortunately, my stylist didn’t totally failed to deliver.  The style I wanted is the one in the top row below:

Don’t ask me how it ended up like this:

So I’m obviously not very happy; but like I’ve always said, hair grows.  Just gotta wait for it to get longer and see if I can find another stylist to get me what I want.  I think this is very nice too.

Will update in abt a month’s time.  Hehe.

Surprise surprise!  It’s cooler in Singapore than Taiwan today!  Love the weather today! 😀

I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the trial users of the N900.  I had long read about the multi-tasking prowess and strong technical specifications of the N900.  Regardless of the technical specifications, I feel that a phone should be judged on its usability and functions.  After all, what good is a mighty processor and RAM if the phone offered few features that require heavy processing?

Apps Enhancement and Customisation

Setting up the phone was easy.  As with all Nokia phones, the N900 is highly customisable.  Users have up to 4 different desktops on which they can add shortcuts, bookmarks and widgets to.   Desktop themes, phone profiles, ringtones, etc, are also easily personalised. 

Opening up the Application Manager, users have a plethora of apps they can choose to download.  The apps are neatly categorised in the following groups: Network, Desktop, Development, Education, Games, Graphics, Location & Navigation, Multimedia and Office.  This is in addition to apps and games available from the Nokia Ovi Store.

Glancing through the available apps, I downloaded Mauku (a micro blogging app), aMSN (what would life be without MSN!), Zoutube (for watching Youtube videos), Mozilla Firefox browser, Documents To Go, ForecaWeather and Witter (a highly recommended Twitter app for the N900).  I also set up my Gmail and Facebook accounts on the phone to ensure that I would never miss another update from my friends.

Powerful Multi-Tasking

That was when the N900 amazed me.  There I was running aMSN, Zoutube, Witter, ForecaWeather, checking my Gmail (and reading a Word attachment via Documents To Go) and the phone did not have any issues with all the multi-tasking.  I decided to challenge it further so I opened up the Ovi Maps, Blocks (more commonly known as Tetris), the File Manager and PDF reader, and the N900 did not have any problem coping!

Tapping the box icon at the top left corner of the screen displayed the thumbnails of all the apps that were opened and I could switch between apps by selecting the relevant thumbnail.  In addition, if I were surfing the Internet and a new e-mail or tweet came in, the N900 would prompt me accordingly.  This was great for getting immediate updates of e-mail and tweets.

Enhanced Internet Experience

I tested both the Mozilla browser and the N900’s default browser and guess what?  Despite being the force behind the highly popular Firefox browser, the Mozilla browser was no match for the N900’s Web browser.  The Web browser worked as good as any computer browser!  Even a flash intensive site like tudou.com loaded quickly.  The videos also displayed well and the 3.5” screen was big enough for me to watch videos comfortably.  The Mozilla browser, strangely, was unable to play the videos at tudou.com – it kept prompting me to install Flash.  After this test, I decided to stick to the default Web browser for all my surfing needs.

The Web browser definitely served me well.  I liked how I could zoom in by moving my finger clockwise on the screen, and zoom out by doing the reverse.  I also used it to book tickets from the GV website to watch Prince of Persia.  The GV website loaded fast (no perceivable difference from loading it on a PC) and because the N900 supports Java, I had no problems doing a credit card purchase of the tickets.  The latest firmware of the N900 includes an upgrade to the browser, and users can choose to surf in either the default landscape mode, or in portrait.  This is very practical if you have only one free hand to hold and navigate the phone. 

I’ve tested many phones before – Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC, iPhone – and many mobile browsers (such as Opera and Skyfire) but this is my all time favourite browser!

Multimedia Powerhouse

The speakers on the N900 are great.  The speakers of most handphones tend to be lacking in bass, thus producing a sound that is a little sharp and whiny.  The speakers of the N900, however, had a good balance and it was a joy to listen to songs via the loudspeaker.  I was a little disappointed however, that the MP3s I amassed over the years could not be played.  I thought it was strange because these MP3s do not have any Digital Rights Management restrictions. 

Conclusion

Other plus points of the N900 are its 5MP camera with wide screen capture, double LED flash, very decent battery life (I ran it all day in the office with my 3G connection on and it lasted till I got home at night).  I also love how the e-mail interfaces very well with Gmail.  This was the first time I actually enjoyed checking my e-mails on my handphone.  The biggest bug bear (apart from it not being able to play my MP3s), was that it does not support Chinese input.  I sure hope Nokia introduces Chinese input and T9 input soon!  Typing with the tiny QWERTY keyboard is a little slow for my liking.

Sigh.  My boss saw my blog just now.  Actually there’s no big deal – just that I generally don’t let colleagues know about this blog because I want to draw a clear line between my private life and my work life.  Guess I can soon go public all together ‘cos doing the review of the N900 for SPH may blow my cover anyway.

Sigh.

Celebrated my birthday at 7atenine with Iceman, Booze Queen & Azure last week.  We went to 7atenine at the Esplanade.  The ambience was nice and booze was very reasonably priced.  Food… not that great but I guess the environment made up for it.  The service staff were also polite and very pleasant.  Here’re some pics.

Nothing like a good Hoegaarden on tap to start the night. 

Great company.

Iceman & me

Starters:

Left: Cod fish balls (hardly any cod fish!!) & calamari rings.  Lovely presentation but I could do with more substance…

Right: Sauteed mushrooms – this was yummy.

I forgot the name of this Indian dish but it was pretty good – apart from the “lao hong” papadum.

Left: Aglio Olio – taste is pretty unusual ‘cos the spiciness came from the chilli sauce rather than chopped chilli padi, which is what I’m used to.

Right: Udon Cabonara – i thought this was so-so only.  Tasted a bit flat.

We adjourned to Max Brenner for dessert.  This was good… but it was soooo rich I felt like dying…

My milk choclate suckao – mix the chocolate chip & milk in the little container/bowl that is heated with a candle, stir, and use the metal spoon cum straw to slurp it up.  Cocoa high…

Booze Queen’s hot chocolate.

Churros (with cinnamon sugar ) fondue!!

I think we ate enough calories to last the month!

Started watching 败犬女王 aka Queen of No Marriage aka My Queen for the 3rd time last night.  I’ve never been a great fan of Taiwanese dramas so I didn’t have very high expectations when Ch U first started showing the series.  After watching the first few episodes, however, I found it soooo funny that I went to buy the DVD!

“败犬” (translated literally as “defeated dog”) is a derogatory term referring to women who are unable to find a guy – doesn’t matter how successful, beautiful, talented they may be. 

What caught my attention when I first started watching was the fantastic comedic timing of the cast.  This drama has also made me a huge fan of Cheryl Yang, the female lead.  In the show, there’re many scenes where Cheryl Yang’s character (called Shan Wushuang) doesn’t speak and her thoughts are being narrated.  What impressed me is that Cheryl Yang’s facial expressions are damn good.  She’s never exaggerated and is able to give very nuanced expressions / body language to express the narrated thoughts.  Simply captivating!

The storyline is simple enough – older single woman meets younger guy (called Lucas & played by Ethan Ruan) but before their relationship even starts, the woman’s ex-boyfriend (called Leslie Sung & played by James Wen) reappears and she finds out that it wasn’t his fault that he “walked out” on her just before their wedding 6 years ago.  She then has to choose between the ex and the younger guy.

It may sound run of the mill but I think it’s the way the scriptwriters handled the story.  The woman’s pain over her ex is given a very realistic airing and viewers also get to see how her relationship between the younger guy and her is developed.

I don’t want to go into the twists and turns in case there’re any Chinese drama fan who hasn’t watched it yet – though that’s highly unlikely since it’s the most popular Taiwanese drama export in recent years.  I read online that there were 2 camps of viewers – one that supported Cheryl Yang returning to be with her ex, and the other wanting her to choose the younger guy.  This was one drama that made me laugh (really loudly too) and cry. 

Love love love love love it!

(Note 1: To the folks who have watched it.. did you realise that in the scene where Lucas finds Leslie’s medical report, the name on the medical report was James Wen, i.e. the actor’s real name?  Hehe.)

(Note 2: I got the pics above off Google.  If they belong to you and you want me to remove them, I’ll be happy to do so).

Sorry for not updating this blog – I stopped after I uninstalled Windows Live Writer from my office laptop.  Don’t really like to use the web interface to blog so I kept telling myself I’ll post updates when I get home.. but I’ve been reallllllly obsessed with this Taiwanese drama, 败犬女王, that all I’ve been doing the past 2 weeks is watch the DVD at night!  Heehee.. yeap!  I just finished watching it for the 2nd time earlier tonight.  Such a lovely show.

Guess I’m going to take some time to update all the stuff that’s been happening in May.  For starters, HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY TO ME!  Didn’t have any major celebrations – just dinner (separately) with my parents, cellgroup and jiemeis.

I was going to post my reviews on the dinner places we went to… but it’s 12:59am so I think I better go zzz.  Heh.  Goodnight everyone… if you want to know what’s really going on in my life… follow my tweets!!