monoceros blogs
King Aragorn and the re-forged Narsil, now known as Anduril. December 17. Still a long way away, but here's good ol' Strider to keep us company till the day arrives.
Go here to read more about the sword Anduril and Aragorn's fate.
In two and a half weeks' time, I shall have to say goodbye to my colleagues. July 11 is my last day in the office but I said my first farewell today to a good friend, Barney Pelter. Today was the final day of being in the office together. He flies off to Japan and will only return on the 14th of July (and will take over my desk!).
Barney's been a good friend and colleague - rallying me on when I was at my worst and buying me snacks when I was too lazy to go out. (I know you're reading this, Barney, so I'm saying all the nice stuff!)
When Barney first joined the company, a few of us were big on Counterstrike. Barney was invited to play and fought on our boss's side. Somehow I always played on the marketing team's side, maybe in a bid to kill my boss as many times as I wished - it's a great way to relieve the tension and absolute frustration that builds up daily. Well, I made it a point to kill Barney off quickly and consistently so that he would realize who's the real boss around the office.
Our desks are opposite each other, divided by a board that gives him the opportunity to pop his head up every now and then to ask me a question about Microsoft Outlook or Excel, or about how to compose emails of a sensitive nature. Lately, we've reached the stage where we just yell over the divider.
I'll miss that. Thank you to a friend who's promised to fill me in on office gossip, who introduced me to Hayao Miyazaki's amazing animated films, who never fails to tell me that I talk too much and am too bossy, and for always telling me I should write in my weblog because there are people out there who want to read what I write.
Goodbye, Barney the colleague, but it's not goodbye, Barney the friend.
The special edition! Comes with an exclusive statue of Gollum and his famous fish! Bring it on - I'm all ready for November. More extra scenes woven into this film than there were for The Fellowship Of The Ring.
Take a peek here.
This is a quirky little movie with an unfortunate opening date of May 16th in the US, the very same weekend of the opening of The Matrix Reloaded. Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, both alumni of the reincarnated genre of movie musicals, star in Down With Love, which will open in Singapore on August 21st.
The movie pays tribute to the 1960s movies that starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson. These were filmed with eye-popping, brightly-colored sets and painstakingly-painted backdrops. The director of Down With Love wanted to create a movie that looked as if it were filmed in 1962, so backdrops were painted to achieve the same effect and everything is decked in color and that inimitable 60s style.
I've seen the trailer and both leads look passable for Doris and Rock. David Hyde Pierce, my favorite actor from Frasier, plays the boss of Catcher Block, Ewan's character. Pierce received good reviews for this role and a few critics thought Ewan should be in the supporting role and David in the lead. The tale is about Barbara Novack, a feminist writer, whose book ruins the lives of many men as wives rebel and finally begin making decisions that benefit themselves and not their husbands. Catcher is the fellow in the movie who must suppress and defeat Barbara. He's egged on by his boss to write a story on the lady who swears she's ousted love (but not sex) from her life and encourages women around the world to do the same. Apparently, there's supposed to be a unique twist at the end and that's enough to persuade me to go see the movie. Or at least rent it.
Ewan McGregor should certainly please female movie-goers and if Renee isn't your type, there's Jeri Ryan who plays Catcher's Swedish ex-girlfriend. I understand that she's got a significant part to play in the praised (but I shall judge for myself) twist.
If the movie bores you, well there's always the soundtrack, which features swinging music by Sinatra, Astrud Gilberto, who does a cover of Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words), and a newcomer called Michael Buble. Buble is a 25 year-old Canadian and the latest gem being touted by David Foster. Foster will make Buble big, the way he's made Josh Groban big, in the platinum sense. Michael Buble has a strong Sinatra quality, his voice is resonant and very, very seductive. (He also looks as good as he sounds.) He's jazzed up George Michael's Kissing A Fool and made it his own. Put the soundtrack into your PC and gain access to the music video of Kissing A Fool, it's a nice little animated video of Catcher wooing Barbara, with Michael appearing as a crooner in a bar.
Visit the movie's website here, and go listen to Michael Buble at his site here.
Good things come in threes, so this is a collection of three pictures that Lin Kiat scanned for me after I returned from the New England Literature Program in the summer of 1999.
...Harry Potter day! Around the world, the fifth novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is on sale. I glanced through the UK version of the book at Kinokuniya at Bugis this afternoon. It is a very big book, indeed. Will children be able to lift it themselves? Will they weep when they learn who perishes? Will the paper be absorbent enough to handle their tears? Well, there should be enough pages to take it all in.
Right, I'm just writing nonsense as I wait for my brother to bring home our copy of the US version of the book (to match the US hardbacks in my series). Thank goodness for Borders! It came to the rescue of the book geek in me.
Yes, Lady Croft is back as the Angel of Darkness. The new game hits the stores this weekend, at least in the US. Games like these re-assure me that Lin Kiat and I made the right decision to buy a PlayStation 2. Unfortunately, I will have no time to follow Lara on her new adventures until December perhaps, after I've settled into my new roles as wife and graduate student.
Of course, there will be the new Lara Croft movie, which opens in Singapore on July 26. That will suffice.
Barney introduced this fun little game to me. It's a cute Japanese online game that I've gotten hooked on since Friday morning. To win each level, you have to find and click on the little - really minute - men in the scene within the given time. If your cursor happens to move over one of them, he'll jump up and down and shout out a few Japanese phrases which I don't understand. He sounds really cute though. I managed to complete all five levels (the last two require pure speed) and was rewarded with a few wallpapers.
It turns out that the game is actually part of a bigger game called Roommania #203, a Japanese Sega Dreamcast game (soon to be available on PS2). It's a simulation game, but not the usual kind. You toy with this guy's life - touching his things, reading his diary, playing with his computer (even locking him out of his own room!) - and get to watch him freak out when he comes home to a changed room. There are storylines in the game but you'll need to have a high level of Japanese language to understand what's going on in Neji Taihei's life.
Oh, I hope they release an English version of the game!
Go here to try out the game!
Lin Kiat and I went to Fairy's Inc today to pick up the rings. The engraving looked right, but not as deep into the band as I'd hoped it would be. No matter, when we send them for polishing a year from now, we'll have the engraving deepend. 1st anniversary ritual?
But they looked lovely. And we were happy.
A red sarong kebaya with peacock and leaf motifs, generous helpings of yellow and green, and a fitted waist. This is the traditional Peranakan outfit that I will wear for the wedding tea ceremony at Lin Kiat's house. This worked out fine at the fitting. The sarong was rather long though. Either Francis - the designer and dress-maker - believes me to be taller than I really am or he thinks I'm capable of wearing three and a half inch heels without putting my ankles in grave danger.
I tried on my white dress again. Yes, it fits much better now. Everything looks normal. Nice buttons on the back, a nipped-in waist and a natural-looking bodice. Still too long, I think. I should have my ankles insured if I end up having to wear heels that are too high for me.
Blue evening dress - this time, I felt like Arwen Evenstar when I put the dress on. I didn't even need to be tall or pointy-eared. This dress wins top prize for making the wearer look like she's wandered off the set of a movie.
While my mother spoke to Francis about her outfit, I entertained myself by trying on some of the wedding dresses hanging on display. I didn't believe any would fit tiny me, but I found one that looked small enough and headed for the fitting room. Two minutes later, I'm in a strapless ballgown that looked as if it were made just for me! A perfect fit. Even the length was just nice (after I put on a pair of three inch heels and tottered around a bit). I never thought I could pull off a strapless dress, but there I was, decked in chiffon and embroidery and a bodice that made breathing just a wee bit difficult.
I was a little sad that this dress wasn't on display and on clearance months ago when I first visited the shop. I might have bought it and not have one custom-made. Buying it now when it's on clearance would be of no help either - no bride should have two white wedding dresses; that's just not right, even if she walks down two aisles - one at church and one at the wedding banquet. At least it seems that way to me. For the amount of money that Lin Kiat is already paying for my dress, I should wear that one dress and make it last as I walk down the aisle in church and say my vows. I should have only one dress to remember July 19th by.
It's almost midnight and I've just completed my applications for a US student visa. After 9-11, the process is a little more complicated - one can't just stroll into the Embassy to obtain forms or ask questions. You either get the forms on-line, or go to USEIC, an information center for US education that is located in Bestway Building off Shenton Way.
Once all the documents are complete and in order, you'll have to mail everything - including a stamped, seld-address envelope - to the Embassy, or approach a travel agency to do it for you. Our travel agent, Daisy, has kindly offered to help me out.
Something else that's different - I have to provide the names of two contacts who can verify, if necessay, information about me. I've nominated my boss, Andrew, since he is a big-shot Commissioning Editor in a big-shot publishing company. Plus, maybe a Caucasian last name might reassure an immigration officer that I'm not a fundamental who abhors contact with Westerners. I've also put down my pal, Vanessa Tan, on the list. She can easily state that I exist, I do not write fan letters to any famous terrorists, I do not know how to use a gun and have never taken a chemistry or physics class at university (unless you count the six quantum physics lectures that I sat in and took notes for my dear Lin Kiat).
Of course, Vanessa can just as easily tell on me and reveal that I am capable of inflicting bodily harm to any who dare provoke me, that I am a certifiable threat to staplers and license plates of cars parked behind my own vehicle, and that I have a fiery and occasional moody demeanor, which any self-respecting, aspiring writer would possess.
Well, I shall still trust my old friend to deliver the goods, or information in this case, if the Embassy calls for it. Now, it's off to bed and a prayer that a good, long sleep awaits me. Making a note that it is past midnight now, I shall presume that a long sleep may not be applicable, but I'll hope for a good, restful one anyway.
To all you who sleep tonight, I bid you good night! And to the immigration officer who will be working on my case, I'm really a nice, harmless girl, please let me go study books and writing in wintry Michigan this year!
Lin Kiat and I finally caught Finding Nemo last Friday evening. Quality animated films are a real delight and Finding Nemo is one of the best. Pixar has produced Toy Story, a Toy Story sequel, A Bug's Life and Monsters' Inc, but the latest creation is just fabulous.
The sense of place and mystery about the ocean is very present in the film. I've always been in awe of how much is unknown about the watery world that stretches beyond our continents. That's why I've been particularly excited about the recent discovery of colossal squids (imagine that! Bigger than giant squids!). I like the possibility of mermaids, the presence of an abyss, the graveyard of ships, large whales bellowing poetic echoes in the water and the tiniset of fishes hiding in the shadow of corals.
The themes are well-known and have been used often, but used in this setting, they are apt and made new for children and those who are willing to put aside a cynical, aged state of mind. The film is about travelling to new distances and going out there with nothing but faith and a promise. Marlin, the daddy, has to learn how to let his son go - metaphorically - and love him at the same time. He's got a lot more to let go, like his fear and neurotic behaviour (I'm one to talk). Nemo is plain adorable (I want to hug him, but would probably kill him in the process), especially in the scene when he deliberately hits the base of the boat with his fin and puckers his little orange face into a scowl, outrightly disobeying his father who watches in comic horror.
Journeys - physical and emotional. Marlin and Nemo (and crazy Dory, the blue, short-term-memory fish friend that Marlin picks up) experience these through the course of the film, many of these involuntary. Journeys are always special. And the audience does journey with these creatures of the sea, and when the travelling has ended, you kind of wish it had gone on a little longer. There's still a whole lotta ocean out there.
I'm back by popular demand! Okay, so the demand really came from the old faithfuls - Lin Kiat, Van Tan and Barney. All in the space of two days! Van Tan left a comment, Lin Kiat sent an email saying that I haven't written a thing in 10 days, and Barney was very upfront about how every visit to my weblog was too much of a letdown, nothing new, nothing changed.
I'd like to extend a sincere apology to all my readers (if there're any left!). My only excuses are fatigue and stress from wedding preparations (which are progressing at an embarrassing rate) and the folks at U of Michigan, who have been very incompetent in sending me my I20, a form that will allow me to obtain a student visa. Then there's the other issue called work, something I do at Cambridge University Press. Although they've brought in my replacement (actually, they brought in two!), I am still responsible for my present projects and responsible for training my replacement, and this seems to require double of my usual time taken for certain tasks. And I do worry about my books, my babies.
Nevertheless, I will leave such cares behind (as far as possible) and carry on with this sad little weblog, which should have considerably more posts once I skip town and begin my new married and graduate student life. Please, dear readers, don't give up on me yet!
I spent most of my weekend choosing classes to take in my first semester of grad school at Michigan.
Possible classes in the English department:
1. Fiction Workshop (of course)
2. Creative Non-Fiction workshop, focusing on the up and coming fourth genre,
the first three being, fiction, poetry and drama.
3. Teaching Writing, which makes sense because I have to teach two writing
classes in my second year.
4. Literature For Children And Young Adults - students will study Harry Potter
and Peter Rabbit!
5. American Sentiments in the 19th Century - sentimentalism, really.
6. Topics in the Romantic Period - I chose this only because I'd taken a class by
the same professor, and she's really nice. Gave me an A+ in my final
semester at Ann Arbor.
Classes in other departments:
1. Italian
2. Asian American History - why do Asian Americans think the way they do, feel
the way they feel? One question I always have is why do a number of them
look down on Asians and call them FOBs (Fresh Off Boats)? I guess they
won't answer that one in the classroom.
3. History of Opera - could be useful material for a story.
It's always hard to get what one wants, especially when it's a newbie applying, and all the second years registered for their classes last month.
My friend Desiree asked me to set up a wishlist for the wedding. It's hard because Lin Kiat and I aren't planning to get our own place yet. I have a very long wishlist on Amazon.com (4 pages, last I checked!) but I'm not sure if books and CDs are what Desiree had in mind.
In any case, as and when I come up with something, I'll put it as an entry.
The first I've thought of is a pair of Fortuny lamps. The first time I heard of them was during a tour of Italy in the summer of 1998. A lady from Boston in our group said she would be hunting for them once we reached Venice, which is the city from which the lamp originates. She didn't purchase one in the end, though I never asked her why. Last year, my parents and I found a shop in Venice that sold the beautiful lamps (the same shop from which I bought a dark blue silk bag for my mother during my stay in Italy) and we were close to buying one, but didn't because we were backpacking and hopping on and off trains, which was not ideal for transporting a fragile Fortuny. Does anyone ever succeed in buying one from the Most Serene City?
Last week, I was at Indochine with a few friends (on a Thursday evening! On a weekday!), and directly opposite from our table, across the road, was a window lit with the glow from six Fortuny lamps hanging from a dark copper rod. I was delighted by the sight and ran over to gaze at the lamps. The shop is a new one - Vanilla Home - and I have no idea if their lamps are really from Venice or local reproductions. If anyone's keen to admire them, the address is 48 Club Street.
