mindless "sex and philosophy"

i just came back from the movies.

do NOT watch "sex and philosophy" by mohsen makhmalbaf.


sex & philosophy

here's the synopsis on this film made in tajikistan:

"a 40 year old man who has celebrated his birthday alone by himself invites his four lovers to a dance class that he teaches in order to search for the roots of his own loneliness and by reminiscing the memories of how each of his love affairs were evolved and diminished, he realizes that the more the contemporary world has become sexually oriented the farther it has moved away from love..."

we (unfortunately) decided not to read the above in order to "surprise ourselves"...but hey, even if we had read it, i don't think we would have been prepared anyway.

let's just put it this way...even if you're the most artsy fartsy shmartsy person in the i-love-bad-films club, you'd still be scratching your head after this one...either that, or come out laughing your ass off like we did. this film is so mindless that it'd give george bush a run for his money...and with spare change at that. there's a difference between being poetic and cheesy...and it's not even a fine line. shit man.


corny


cheesy


corny & cheesy

basically mr. makhmalbaf tried too hard. it's like watching weeds grow...really slow and mundane, not really picturesque, and as boring as hell. add in a vanessa mae soundtrack that doesn't match anything on screen, and you've got a winner at the "tica film mediale international film festival, italy - 2005".

this torture lasted for the entire 102-minute duration of the film...which was really too much for all 9.5 of us (one guy actually got up and left half way) in the cinema. good thing it's only showing in the picturehouse at the cathay. if not, a lot of young and impressionable teenagers would be wasting their hard earned allowances at other theatres too on this pg-rated film...and yeah, there's no sex.

0.5 / 5 (half a point for the part where the chic offers her well-worn shoe to the guy for a sniff...yes, it was THAT mindless)

adventuresky thailand - chiang mai

and so i'm back. =)

here're the part 1 highlights of my thailand trip...chiang mai:



somehow the trip ended too soon...11 days is not enough...i want more!!! call me greedy, but i think i'm addicted to travelling...or maybe i've just had too much sun at the beach in phuket. haha.

cheers. =)

don't fret

dear all,

don't worry...we're fine. thanks to all those people who called / smsed to ask about us. hatyai is not on our agenda, and well frankly...i guess it's nothing new there lah. anyway, don't fret. =)

cheers,

moby in bangkok internet cafe

thailandsky - the day before

ok...so here's the plan:

12/09: singapore ~ chiang mai (tiger airway)
14/09 (night) - 15/09 (morning): chiang mai ~ bangkok (train)
18/09: bangkok ~ phuket (air asia)
22/09 (morning): phuket ~ krabi (ferry)
22/09 (evening): krabi ~ singapore (tiger airway)

cool? cool...

i've decided not to bring my laptop against my better judgement (despite the fact that i just KNOW that i will run out of memory on my nikon coolpix)...but since there are bound to be backup in thailand (according to pei hwan), i'm guessing that i can survive a few days / weeks without internet connection or technology in general...no offense of course to the high-techies in the land of only a thousand smiles...compared to the supposed four million here in singapore. =))) har, har.

whatever. anyway, i think that i'll still have time to check my gmail account (hsutienchi@gmail.com) and the happenings in singapore...so please drop me a message if you want anything from thailand...i'll see what i can do to ease your strenuous hardship and whatnots while i'm having fun holidaying for the next two weeks. haha.

cheers. =)

zoe and her imedeen

i have always been a zoe tay fan...i prefer her to fann wong any day. she exerts a certain air of class...the feeling of which somehow just doesn't strike me when i look at fann.

recently there was some big hoo-ha over zoe's imedeen ad, announcing to everyone that she swallows...and while i admit i thought it was funny, and also the fact that it kinda got me excited initially (what with her in a spaghetti strapped top laying on a bed)...but i finally came to the conclusion that the queen of caldecott hill shouldn't be the one doing the ad...i think that she has too much class for these kind of endorsements...maybe someone like ericia lee or another former fhm cover girl would have been more suitable.

(or another train of thought is that the "i swallow" slogan would be better off if used for this brand of edible toothpaste.)

i saw a brochure in watson's today which kinda reaffirmed my conclusion that imedeen was going a bit too far:


imedeen 1


imedeen 2

here's the good part:


imedeen 3


imedeen 4

i'd really have thought that taking imedeen would drastically improve my sex life if i didn't read the rest of the otherwise boring brochure.

anyway, i've got a long day tomorrow...i'm going to brush my teeth already. and don't worry, i always spit. haha. cheers. =)

mobysky hair salons

i'm usually pretty forgiving when i get my hair cut...in the sense that i always make it a point to go back to the same hairdresser at least twice. i haven't had any major disasters so far (touch wood), so i believe in giving the person a second chance...in case it was an "accident" the first time round.

here's my track record for the past few years:


sometime in '00 ~ feb '05 - the scene, wisma atria (level 3), jack:

i actually started off with this hairdresser named may lee (as in 美丽), but she left after my first cut, so the second time i went back, i was introduced to jack...

a malaysian (sarawak) who came to singapore to learn the trade, jack was definitely effeminate (at best), pretty talented...though not david-gan-malaysian-turned-singaporean kinda skills (i blame him for not making me look like christopher lee after ANY cut he did)...but i found him a likeable guy...and so i stayed loyal to him and to the scene. imagine staying with one hairdresser for 5 years...so far, i haven't even managed to stay with a girl for that long...hmmm...maybe i'm...nah, i like girls too much. haha. i only changed hairdressers cuz i wanted a different everything after adeline broke up with me that february.

silly...i know. har har.


mar '05 ~ sept '05 - le salon, takashimaya, level 1, stanley:

i went to le salon one month to the day after the happenings in february. i needed a haircut, and i needed a change. i happened to be in taka, so i decided to splurge on something nice and soothing for myself (btw, i hate the word "pamper"...it just sounds so gay...). anyway, i walked past le salon, took a second look at the hairdressers, who appeared pretty busy (which was a good sign), and sauntered in. i was astonished at the level of service that i was met with...the receptionist ushered me inside, whipped out a robe, helped me put it on, and politely directed me to my station. wow.

i could go on and on...from the green tea, to the lovely shampoo massage, and the friendly shampoo girl...everything was just lovely (another taboo word that i would noramlly hesitate to use...except when in reference to hairdressing salons).

stanley was a young chap...he looked a bit gayish at first, with his silky, smooth and fair complexion, complete with floppy-curly-boy-band hair...but he was probably straight...i think...you can't be TOO sure when talking about designers of any sort...hair-works or otherwise...haha. anyway, he's malaysian (jb) too...we'd always talk about girls, computer games, movies and shit like that...he even asked me about blinkymummy (there was once when she acommopanied me to get my hair done)...he's one of the good guys.

the only thing i didn't like about le salon was the price...$43 (AFTER 15% discount) for wash and cut...which was (and still is) pretty steep for a guy to get his hair cut.


oct '05 ~ nov '05 - supercuts, far east plaza, level 4 (?), some-butch-who's-name-i-can't-be-bothered-to-remember (?):

i was in search of a cheaper alternative to le salon...and someone recommended supercuts in parkway parade...so i figured that the far east square model couldn't be too much different from the one over on the other side.

but hmmm...let's just say that this was the place that i was referring to when i said that i'd give someone a second chance if they didn't do a good job the first time round. do i really need to explain why i only went twice??? haha.


dec '05 ~ june '06 - shunji mitsuo, isetan orchard (wisma), level 1, kenji, some-guy, some-auntie, & caley:

i think i only remember the first guy's name cuz it sounded so poserish...kenji...you'd expect some japanese punk-ass-killing (in more ways than one, given the stereotype of male hairdressers) scissor magician...but alas, his giveaway was the constant peppering of "lahs" and "lohs"...and the fact that he didn't do the neat thing with snippers...you know the trick where the pro-hairdressers flip the scissors back into their palms with relative ease (aiyah, you know what i mean)...and he wasn't gay. but anyway, the cut wasn't too bad...and since kenji wasn't around the second nor third time i went back (don't say that i never tried to give him a second chance hor...i just always happened to go cut hair on wednesdays...which coincided with his off days), i ended up with no-name-guy and no-name-auntie.

call it fourth time lucky or whatever you will, but i ended up with this cute chic named caley. she has this spunky jap girl look, though she was very quiet and conservative, portraying the image of the salon she worked for...bottomline: i had high hopes...but in the end, her cut and style was just as "normal" as the rest of the other aforementioned-no-names from shunji matsuo...but i continued with her for 3 months just for the heck of it. haha.

anyway, to make a long story even longer...


today - reds hairdressing, takashimaya, basement 2, rita ho:

1815hrs
*moby steps up to reception counter to ask for haircut...receptionist leads him to station*

1825hrs
hairdresser, rita ho (rh): so how you wanna cut your hair ah?
moby: i want a new style...i'm in sales, so i want something modern and professional...but not too messy. i need to take a lot of the sides, and a bit off the top. can?
rh: ok loh, if you insist...
moby: huh?
*rh walks away to chat with another customer*

1835hrs
*pregnant shampoo girl (psg) comes to wash moby's hair...psg has no strength to massage moby's head. moby sian already.*
psg: please wait a while for rh...
*moby gets extremely bored, and waves to psg*
moby: can i have a magazine to read please?
psg: ok... *hands moby "female" and "her world"*
moby: ...
*rh turns to chat with the receptionist*

1845hrs
*rh comes back*
rh: so how you wanna cut ah?
moby: basically, just cut the sides short and a bit off the top.
rh: you want your sides sloped?
moby: err...i just want the sides short...
rh: short can have slope what!
moby: i leave it to you loh...i'll let you decide...
rh: you say one ah?
moby deep inside: knn...you're the hairdresser what.
*rh proceeds to snip in silence, while moby tries to read articles about wives complaining about husbands fucking hookers during their honeymoons*

1850hrs
rh: ok. wait for the girl to rinse hor. *prances off to yet another conversation with some other person*
moby: so fast?
inexperienced-looking shampoo girl (isg): come, i wash for you.
*moby gets rinse and goes back to seat*
isg: you want gel?
moby: err...normally i use wax.
isg: ok... *gets wax, comes back, slabs on a few gobs of the crap, and commences to try and style moby's hair.*
moby: what???
isg: why? you want it messy?
moby: sigh. yeah. ok. *resigns to the fact his haridresser doesn't give a shit, and that he just basically had his first really fucked up haircut experience*
isg: ok! *happily pulls at moby's hair with apparent delight and nonchalance*
moby: sigh.

1900hrs
*rh magically reappears*
rh: how?
moby: can i see the back?
*rh glares at moby, grabs a mirror, shows moby the back for exactly 3.29 seconds before returning the mirror to the rack*
moby: err...ok loh.
*rh shows moby to the payment counter, tells the receptionist the amount owed, and struts away without even looking back or saying thanks and goodbye*

fucked up. this was the worst experience i've ever had in a hair salon.

rita ho, you suck. i'm never going back to your place...in fact, i'm never going to ANY reds hairdressing ever again. i am willing to break my rule of forgiveness for you and you alone.

and please don't give me that crap about "oh, think about how the hairdresser feels"...fuck you! she's in the service industry...if she can't be polite, then at least be civil. i don't need to go there again.

anyway, thus ends my long long story...

so i guess it's back to good ole jack...if he's still at the scene of course. haha. unless of course you have some other better suggestions...cheers. =)

in memory of steve irwin

in case you haven't heard...steve irwin (aka "the crocodile hunter") passed away today at the tender age of 44. he was apparently stabbed near the heart by a normally harmless and non-fatal barb-slash from a stingray.

if you've ever watched his shows...they're hugely entertaining (to me at least)...and compounded by the loss of one of the world's best-loved nature conservationalists...in such a tragic manner also...surely makes this a day of mourning...


the crocodile hunter

to steve irwin...i can't claim to know you or have met you...but you will be missed.

and to steve irwin's family...my sorrow is indeed sincere.

photographsky - singapore botanical gardens (reflections)

once in a while, you get a little lost and confused...

so what better remedy than to go for a walk at the singapore botanical gardens with your parents and your trusty ole nikon coolpix camera? time for some reflection...


reflections


skyward


saga


saga seeds of love


beautiful 1


beautiful 2


garden


empty


eagle in the sky


parents


the road of life


enlighten me


and there is light...

i feel better already. the best therapy is always there, if you know where to look. cheers. =)

a cat's life

here's a little video to warm your hearts...just a bit.



awww...i wish i had a cat's life...meow. ;)

chris rocks

i was surfing through some good stuff on youtube...funny stuff to take my mind, and your mind, off of things...btw, you'd better have 180 mins to spare for this stuff...haha.







"anyone that makes up their mind before they hit an issue is a fucking fool...be a fucking person....listen! let it swirl around in your head...then, form your opinion...no normal decent person is one thing, ok? i got some shit i'm conservative about, i got shit that i'm liberal about..."









"we have a need for sense"...haha. well said. i love episode 7. hilarious.



funny stuff...but back to real life now people...cheers.