I finally did it.

When my phone died on me today, I was damn "du lan" and on a rash impulse, decided to head over to IMM after my distributor warehouse sale to get that Nokia 6700 classic that I had been eyeing. I was expecting to pay at least $200 as my contract ends on May 2010. Instead, when I requested the sales trainee to see if the renewal fee could be waived, my wish came true. Whoots! In all I only paid $98 after trading in the damnable LG Viewty.

So far, I am liking it. I have to hop over to IMM again though because I hadn't brought the phone accessories along, but no matter, I am still feeling the joy.

On another note, I went to a distributor warehouse sale today at some Jurong East industrial area... Man, I've never seen so many books at one place, not the same title in multiples at least. And it was 50% off! XD

In the end, despite there being so many potential books that I liked, I only listed four books. One for my niece, one for my sister and two for myself. Turns out that one of the two was already out of stock so I only had one book for myself... Sigh. Perhaps in the future, it will be prudent to list down the books I want before the sale? At least then I won't have to wander for five hours in a dusty warehouse.

I thought I would be bored today, but I got busy instead. Muahahaha.

The Singapore Toys Games and Comic Convention 2009 was interesting and yet a cause of some pain (in terms of work). I was fortunate to be able to go on the opening night via invitation, however, the follow up is quite a pain in the ass. There were more toys related stalls this year, and less comics and games.

Nevertheless, for  those who didn't go to the TGCC, here are some photos for you to see. Not that there's much of anything... Unless you're a merchandise junkie, the convention was rather dull.



( Photos of TGCC 2009 )

In case you haven't heard, The Strain is a collaboration between Chuck Hogan, known for writing thrillers and Guillermo del Toro. And if you haven't heard of GDT, you ought to shoot yourself. He is like the god of horror in the movie industry. For the benefit of those who don't know why they should know him, I shall list some of the movies that I think you should watch. My personal recommendation list, you can say:

• Mimic
• The Devil's Backbone
• Blade II
• Hellboy
• Pan's Labyrinth
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Upcoming films: The Hobbit (2011) and The Hobbit 2 (2012). GDT does more producing than directing though and The Orphanage is just one of them.

Back to the topic, The Strain was an idea that was conceived by GDT. It was actually meant to be shot into a television series and there's still a chance of that happening. GDT sent a few pages of what he had written to Chuck Hogan who immediately latched onto the project.

So why am I introducing this book? Although I admit I am somewhat bias, GDT is one of my favorite directors/ producers around, The Strain is one of the few books that has me actually gripping the edges of my seat while reading it. Metaphorically speaking, of course. I don't think I've been so entrapped since Bram Stoker's Dracula and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Personally, I have given up hope for this genre, due to the faux pas that is Twilight and all the other embarrassing vampire novels that grew in popularity because of it. The Strain is nothing like that. Instead the vampire evolution seems to take a u-turn. No more lovey dovey Robert Pattinson vampires!


The story starts out with a plane landing at the airport, with the entire interior in darkness. Suspecting a terrorist attack, the cops came in to determine the situation. They soon realize that all the passengers in the plane were dead and believed that it was due to some virus. At first, the bodies and three survivors were quarantined but due to politics and hysteria, the survivors were allowed to go home. It was that night when the bodies start to reanimate and turn into zombie like vampires. The vampires had parasitic worms that feed on blood in their bodies and infect the others through feeding with their stingers.

Veering away from the traditional fangs, GDT's vampires had stingers. During the infection, the bodies increase their metabolism rate and start changing their anatomy to adapt to the parasitic worms. Instead of having a digestive tract, the vampires' anatomy is more like that of an insect. The stingers are formed during this period where the jaw can become unhinged much like how a snake can unhinge its jaw. In addition, the new fledglings were zombie like dumb, but after seven days should they survive, they will gain intelligence and learn and adapt, becoming thinking creatures with the ability to make decisions. Sounds interesting, no?


I suppose if you're like me and prefer your vampires to be really blood thirsty, The Strain will be a great book for your reading list. This is however, just the first book in a trilogy. The sequel will be out next June and the last book in the series will be out in June 2011. 

Ugh. I'm entirely too knackered to make a proper post. But angelic_mel  wants to know more about this book I was telling her about. So.

This new book is called Act Like A Woman, Think Like A Man by Steve Harvey. Strangely, this guy is a black dude but you know, guys are guys and universally they're all the same (more or less if you want to talk about the "basics"). One of the things he said most that makes the most sense is that women are still having relationship problems because they are asking the wrong source for advice. Ask your girl friends for advice, you get... the female point of view, no? Makes absolute sense now? So, after He's Just Not That Into You, this is the next writer that gives you the brutal truth. It's not as funny as the first, but it's pretty cool to read the other side of the story.

The book is available now and if you're still unsure about buying it, try reading a sample of the chapters. This link gives a couple of pages per chapter just to give you a taste of what is written. As I said, it's pretty neat.

The writer is rumored to be appearing on Oprah soon too. So home slackers, go catch Oprah or something.

I was reading this book called Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson - the same guy who wrote the bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese?. So yes, he published a new book that will be out in stores in March. I thought Who Moved My Cheese? was one of the better books I've read. A great idea, put into a very simple easy-to-read analogy. 

Peaks and Valleys works the same way, in which a "moral" is fitted into a story for easy understanding. It isn't as good as the former but it does reiterate something useful that we all should already know (that is, those of us who have common sense).
P/S: I'm on Twitter. So if anyone of you has an account please add me at my gmail email address!

I've known about Casual Poet for some time now, mainly through blogs and recommendations. So today I decided to find the place and sate my curiosity once and for all. I have to admit that the place took me some time to find... even though it was situated in a prime area. When I finally got to Causal Poet, I was more than a little disappointed.





First of all, the place was TOO small! I was expecting it to be more spacious because that's how it looked like on their blog. The shop was narrow and long and not the sort of place that I will turn into a bookshop due to the layout. Products-wise is okay. They have stuff brought in from Hong Kong and Taiwan and even some local prints which is a good thing but I feel that there won't be that many people wanting to buy the books as they're more coffee table books than actual reading materials. This is especially so when their target audience is supposed to be a young crowd - not independent people with lots of disposable income who will buy pretty picture books. Their photography and design books are interesting though. Chances are that people will be more likely to buy their other products like tote bags and vintage journals.

Part bookshop, part cafe. I ordered an iced coffee and it turned out more milk than coffee which sucks totally. alerione seemed to like his iced forest fruit tea however, so it may be that coffee isn't a speciality. Still, $5.50 per cup is a little on the expensive side, Starbucks would have been a great alternative for coffee hangout.

Right, so I have beaten Casual Poet's reputation down like nobody's business but there are good sides to it. I adore the furniture. The tables, and benches and even the nifty red painted windows panes added to a real nice cozy feel. You can feel that the owners do put in a lot of thought and details in the shop because you can spot little messages like this one that was stuck on our table.



Yes, I do realize that there are typo errors. But that's the nicest part of it! ^^ It makes me feel like taking out my mum's old typewriter and doing things like that too.



I thought this was a really good idea for a reusable, cheap coaster. Don't you think so?

In case you're curious about the place, here's how it looks like.





I didn't manage to get shots of the windows because the window seat tables were occupied.

Well, it was nice but I don't think I'll be going back to Casual Poet anytime soon, unless they bring in some new stuff that I REALLY want to get my hands on.

After coffee/ tea, we headed out and I saw this!



OMFG. These RA films are still showing in Singapore?! How rare is that?! I've never watched one of these RA films in a cinema before and I really feel like going to one just to get an experience. But... I is afraid to go alone! LOL Maybe I shall ask my R21 movie buddy along. LOL Somehow I don't think my buddy will want to watch any of these.

I'm rather glad I brought my camera. Because I got something unexpected. And oh, don't you just dig these hand painted posters? I wish we did more of these nowadays!

There's nothing better than making yourself a cup of earl gray lavender tea, a few snacks to munch while you read a book that has been long due on your reading list.

This reminds me. My earl gray lavender tea is awesome... and finishing soon. Need to go back to The Cookie Museum to buy more tea! O_O



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Inkheart isn't as good as I thought it would be and half the time I was checking how many chapters to go till the end. Some of the characters are just plain aggravating. On the other hand, my main motivation to read it is because the movie will be out soon and the trailer does look promising. Hopefully, Inkheart will make a better movie than a book. That goes to say that I won't be reading the other two books in the trilogy.

Breakfast today was good as well. I heardly ever get to eat wholesome breakfasts nowadays when I'd starting working again. I miss breakfasts! I miss the lazy mornings when I can take my time to be awake and prepare myself some nice aesthetic looking meals to kick start the day.



( +3 )
Croissant with ham and tomatoes, Crabtree and Evelyn white chocolate and raspberry cookies, hazelnut-flavored coffee and Neil Gaimen's Coraline (a belated Christmas present from my sister).

I knew there was a reason why I adore the Harry Potter series, even long after the seventh book was out. J.K. Rowling is just simply a great and imaginative writer.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard contains five short stories, including The Tale of Three Brothers that is mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After every short story would be a short chapter of "Dumbledore's commentary and notes". I thought she did a really good job of integrating the tales with connections to the Harry Potter series itself. Not to mention, the illustrations of the book cover and inside the pages of the book are pretty.


If you're interested in buying the book, may I suggest you to get the UK version (blue cover)? Afterall, some of the proceeds go to charity for every UK version purchased. There's only going to be a limited number of these floating around the market, so grab your copies soon. Unless... you are already intending to buy the deluxe edition.

Reading this, makes me wish that the Harry Potter series never ended. Le sigh.

WTF!! Bruce Wayne is dead!?

To the comic fans, you guys may already know this but if you don't, you may want to head down to the Book Launch Liquid City Comic Anthology at Orchard Kinokuniya this Saturday. Local comic artists will be there to make some speeches about their works and other stuff, like the difficulties of selling their work in Singapore and regionally.

Book Launch Liquid City Comic Anthology
Date: 29 November, Saturday
Time: 2p.m. to 4p.m.

Demonstration on Manga-styled Caricature Drawing by L'escalier
Date: 29 November, Saturday
Time: 4.30p.m. to 5.30p.m.

I've seen some of the art work and it's pretty neat. So if you support the local comic scene make sure you go!

Aspiring writers and illustrators take note! It's meant more for children's books but ah well... since I know some of you who aspire to write "professionally", thought I should let you guys know.

*Closing date is 27 February 2009.* For more information, check out http://www.bookcouncil.sg  

It has been a while since I last browsed through a copy of URBAN (The Straits Times) so when I picked up today's newspaper, I noticed a number of changes.

Firstly, under the HEY GOODLOOKING section where they post up street photography, there is a remarkable difference in type of people featured. When they used to have ordinary people in street casual (whom don't look like they deserve to be on the page), they now feature more mature and formally dressed characters. I really believe this is due to Vogueite's critical comments on what they did before. LOL Even with the marked improvement, I still think they don't get it. I feel that people with an interesting individualistic sense of style is better than expensive, follower of trends style. But ah well, that's just my opinion. 

The sections on Spring/Summer 09 trends (pages 10 to 15) seems like a severe rip off from popular local fashion bloggers like Vogueite and Fashion Nation which makes me think that maybe bloggers can do a better job than these bloody journalists. I'm not eating sour grapes, I swear.

However, I thought the write up Pretty In Pose and the interview with Nina Garcia was good. Why can't we have more of those?

Oh yeah, I need someone's Kinokuniya card because I want to buy Garcia's new book The One Hundred.