Tuesday, February 17, 2004
It has arrived.
The move from Blogspot to Subtlethought.com is complete.
Please update your links as I don't know how to forward it myself.
The move from Blogspot to Subtlethought.com is complete.
Please update your links as I don't know how to forward it myself.
Monday, February 16, 2004
Valentine's Day come and gone
So well, technically my Valentine's Day wasn't too lonely. Pre-Valentine, I went down to Holland V to celebrate my friend's birthday, just four lonely guys (his girlfriend is overseas so we made it a guy's night out). That is, until he decided to call two female acquaintances, one of whom promptly stole the show by refusing to keep quiet (I feel bad when I say this because she's really a nice person, I guess). We celebrated at sPizza, a cosy little pizza restaurant that brings back memories of the Pizza Tycoon craze back in 1996.
Anyway, went over to the roti prata place to meet Sarah and pass her the cash for my ACJC Fun-O-Rama tickets. (See you there, guys!) She was there with a bunch of our church friends who almost never invite me out *grumble grumble*. But no matter. It was fun to see them.
And then! Horror of horrors (okay, so it wasn't so much horrific rather than surprising) I get stopped by Johann Yao and family. Johann is one of the more "famous" Catholics in Singapore because he's the man to go to for event security business. Anyway, they were with someone whom I did have a thing for years ago and, as I found out later, the feeling's still mutual. We had a good night, I guess. =)
Saturday arrives and I'm in school in the morning, and I receive my first gift from a fellow Exco member of the NTUCSA. She was my "angel" last semester in our mini angel/mortal game and it was really nice to see her. Spent almost two hours travelling down to church later, and meeting the teens whom I would be spending the next 3.5 years journeying with. Teaching cathechism is HARD. Interacting with 13-year-olds is HARDER! It's not something that comes naturally to me, I guess.
I spent my Valentine's evening growing fat on cheese and macaroni. And chocolate-covered cherries. And watching Grease. And playing Sets, a pretty cool card game of quick-thinking. Nothing beats Car Wars, Nuclear Proliferation and Family Business however. Thanks to Des for opening up her place for the Youth Council's singles. =P
On Sunday, I spent 12 hours with my favourite female, Mira Toral, aka my PC from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. direcow thinks I'm addicted. Maybe I am. =)
Back to school. I'm late for my lecture already!
Afterthought
If you notice the link above, the group formerly known as Three-Thirteen is now located at subtlethought.com. Which means that finally, this blog is going to get a much needed layout update!
So well, technically my Valentine's Day wasn't too lonely. Pre-Valentine, I went down to Holland V to celebrate my friend's birthday, just four lonely guys (his girlfriend is overseas so we made it a guy's night out). That is, until he decided to call two female acquaintances, one of whom promptly stole the show by refusing to keep quiet (I feel bad when I say this because she's really a nice person, I guess). We celebrated at sPizza, a cosy little pizza restaurant that brings back memories of the Pizza Tycoon craze back in 1996.
Anyway, went over to the roti prata place to meet Sarah and pass her the cash for my ACJC Fun-O-Rama tickets. (See you there, guys!) She was there with a bunch of our church friends who almost never invite me out *grumble grumble*. But no matter. It was fun to see them.
And then! Horror of horrors (okay, so it wasn't so much horrific rather than surprising) I get stopped by Johann Yao and family. Johann is one of the more "famous" Catholics in Singapore because he's the man to go to for event security business. Anyway, they were with someone whom I did have a thing for years ago and, as I found out later, the feeling's still mutual. We had a good night, I guess. =)
Saturday arrives and I'm in school in the morning, and I receive my first gift from a fellow Exco member of the NTUCSA. She was my "angel" last semester in our mini angel/mortal game and it was really nice to see her. Spent almost two hours travelling down to church later, and meeting the teens whom I would be spending the next 3.5 years journeying with. Teaching cathechism is HARD. Interacting with 13-year-olds is HARDER! It's not something that comes naturally to me, I guess.
I spent my Valentine's evening growing fat on cheese and macaroni. And chocolate-covered cherries. And watching Grease. And playing Sets, a pretty cool card game of quick-thinking. Nothing beats Car Wars, Nuclear Proliferation and Family Business however. Thanks to Des for opening up her place for the Youth Council's singles. =P
On Sunday, I spent 12 hours with my favourite female, Mira Toral, aka my PC from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. direcow thinks I'm addicted. Maybe I am. =)
Back to school. I'm late for my lecture already!
Afterthought
If you notice the link above, the group formerly known as Three-Thirteen is now located at subtlethought.com. Which means that finally, this blog is going to get a much needed layout update!
Friday, February 13, 2004
Wow.
I forgot each semifinal round of American Idol selects the top three winners. I totally forgot about the Wild Card clause. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to see my top two picks, Metzger and Fantasia, along with my personal favourite, Diana Degarmo up on the stools! You can therefore imagine my joy when Diana gets picked over Metzger to get a ticket into the finals!
I'm going to root for Diana just like I rooted for Carmen last season. Fortunately for me, Diana's a whole lot better than Lil' Miss Rasmussen.
In other news, apparently the hard disk crash was due to one bad sector, so after repairing using an XP CD my brother palmed off his camp's SAs, I've got my hard disk back. Ironically enough, I've enjoyed my time off my KOTOR addiction so much that, while I do want to get back to the game, I've discovered it doesn't rank highly on my must-do list.
Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone.
I forgot each semifinal round of American Idol selects the top three winners. I totally forgot about the Wild Card clause. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to see my top two picks, Metzger and Fantasia, along with my personal favourite, Diana Degarmo up on the stools! You can therefore imagine my joy when Diana gets picked over Metzger to get a ticket into the finals!
I'm going to root for Diana just like I rooted for Carmen last season. Fortunately for me, Diana's a whole lot better than Lil' Miss Rasmussen.
In other news, apparently the hard disk crash was due to one bad sector, so after repairing using an XP CD my brother palmed off his camp's SAs, I've got my hard disk back. Ironically enough, I've enjoyed my time off my KOTOR addiction so much that, while I do want to get back to the game, I've discovered it doesn't rank highly on my must-do list.
Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Idol-Mania
This season of American Idol promises to be the most watched because of the sheer amount of vocal ability from each semi-finalist. There's just so much talent in the first round alone that it's almost painful to see only two of the eight graduate to the finals. From Round One, my two picks are:
Matthew Metzger - Despite not being very photogenic, this guy is definitely a presence on stage. He's got this uncanny ability to mask his relatively weak singing voice (compared to the other seven) with sheer style and grace. As much as I hate to admit it, American Idol is as much a popularity contest as it is a singing competition. Metzger has the look and the voice of a pop star. He's got my vote.
Fantasia Barrino - Without a doubt, they saved the best for last. This woman is just going to breeze through the competition and end up at least in the top four. With a confidence that simply amazes, she was able to own the stage and have her audience lapping up her every note. The only thing I see going against her is that fact that she's a mother and children (even one!) are usually not a good thing for a rising star.
It really saddens my heart to see the rest go, however. Before Fantasia's performance, I was rooting for 16-year-old Diana Degarmo, then afro-queen Jennifer Hudson and finally Celine Dion/Britney Spears lovechild Katie Webber. I simply loved the way they stood their ground and belted out their songs. It was pure and genuine, without a hint of arrogance. They just expressed themselves as aggresively as possible through their songs and I thought they were great.
I can't wait to see what the upcoming weeks promise.
This season of American Idol promises to be the most watched because of the sheer amount of vocal ability from each semi-finalist. There's just so much talent in the first round alone that it's almost painful to see only two of the eight graduate to the finals. From Round One, my two picks are:
Matthew Metzger - Despite not being very photogenic, this guy is definitely a presence on stage. He's got this uncanny ability to mask his relatively weak singing voice (compared to the other seven) with sheer style and grace. As much as I hate to admit it, American Idol is as much a popularity contest as it is a singing competition. Metzger has the look and the voice of a pop star. He's got my vote.
Fantasia Barrino - Without a doubt, they saved the best for last. This woman is just going to breeze through the competition and end up at least in the top four. With a confidence that simply amazes, she was able to own the stage and have her audience lapping up her every note. The only thing I see going against her is that fact that she's a mother and children (even one!) are usually not a good thing for a rising star.
It really saddens my heart to see the rest go, however. Before Fantasia's performance, I was rooting for 16-year-old Diana Degarmo, then afro-queen Jennifer Hudson and finally Celine Dion/Britney Spears lovechild Katie Webber. I simply loved the way they stood their ground and belted out their songs. It was pure and genuine, without a hint of arrogance. They just expressed themselves as aggresively as possible through their songs and I thought they were great.
I can't wait to see what the upcoming weeks promise.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Bouts of creativity
I'm a sucker for well-written short fiction by people I've met at least once before. It inspires me when I witness the outpour of emotionally-charged writing from mind to happy media. delenn, in her latest offering, does a wonderful job of describing a tense, yet subtle moment in time. Sometimes when I read work like this, I fall into a strange pit of depression, as I con myself into believing that I can never quite express myself in similar terms.
Not through visual art, writing or music. Not through Flash or blog layouts. It pains me to realise that I refuse to indulge my creativity simply because others can do it so much better. I think it's beginning to frustrate me, resulting in unparallelled irritation and rashness. I need an outlet, or I will just explode from both the desire to express and the fear of mediocrity.
The irony, as always, is not lost on me.
The Movie Meme
From starchild's blog.
You've all seen it before. Take the list, bold every one you've seen, then add five more to the list.
1. X-Men
2. The Craft
3. X2
4. Swimfan
5. Fellowship of the Ring
6. Finding Nemo
7. Peter Pan (the cartoon)
8. Home Alone
9. Aladdin
10. The Ring (either one)
11. 10 Things I Hate About You
12. Not Another Teen Movie
13. Spiceworld
14. 8 Mile
15. Bambi
16. Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl
17. Edward Scissorhands
18. Stepmom
19. My Best Friends Wedding
20. 101 Dalmations (the cartoon)
21. Scream
22. Scream 2
23. Scream 3
24. Big Daddy
25. Billy Madison
26. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
27. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
28. Heartbreakers
29. Dumb & Dumber
30. Two Weeks Notice
31. Scary Movie
32. Look Who's Talking
33. Blade
34. Blade II
35. O
36. Titanic
37. Carrie
38. Carrie 2: The Rage
39. Daddy Day Care
40. Legally Blonde
41. Austin Powers
42. Storm of the Century
43. Oliver and Company
44. The Two Towers
45. Return of the King
46. Mighty Ducks
47. Fast and the Furious
48. 2Fast, 2 Furious
49. A Walk To Remember
50. XXX
51. Beauty and the Beast
52. I Know What You Did Last Summer
53. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
54. Sound of Music
55. Mary Poppins
56. Tuck Everlasting
57. The Patriot
58. The Wizard of Oz
59. Killing Ms. Tingle
60. Crossroads
61. Now and Then
62. Pearl Harbor
63. Just Married
64. Cast Away
65. Radio Flyer
66. Final Destination
67. Lady and the Tramp
68. Dancer In The Dark
69. 40 Days and 40 Nights
70. Bring It On
71. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
72. The Outsiders
73. The Matrix
74. Perfect Storm
75. Cruel Intentions
76. Never Been Kissed
77. Clueless
78. Bruce Almighty
79. Remember the Titans
81. Girl, Interrupted
82. SWAT
83. Sixth Sense
84. Phone Booth
85. The Lion King
86. Urban Legends
87. Nightflier
88. Lion King 2
89. Little Mermaid
90. American Pie
91. The Challengers
92. Scooby Doo
93. Bedazzled
94. Mrs. Doubtfire
95. Save the Last Dance
96. My Girl
97. American Beauty
98. Romeo & Juliet
99. Jurassic Park: The Lost World
100. Housesitter
101. Miss Congeniality
102. The Rock
103. Face/Off
104. Moulin Rouge
105. Sleeping Beauty
106. Alien
107. Tombstone
108. Lake Placid
109. The Recruit
110. The Shining
111. Pocahontas
112. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
113. Koyaanisqatsi
114. Princess Mononoke
115. Braveheart
116. Gone with the Wind
117. She's All that
118. Heavy Metal
119. Remo Williams
120. Fried Green Tomatoes
121. Steel Magnolias
122. Fight Club
123. Star Wars: A New Hope
124. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
125. Toy Soldiers
126. Clerks
127. Magnolia
128. Wild Things
129. The Nightmare Before Christmas
130. What Dreams May Come
131. Heavenly Creatures
132. Frequency
133. The Others
134. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
135. Along Came A Spider
136. Annie
137. Eyes Wide Shut
138. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
139. Practical Magic
140. Down With Love
141. The Fifth Element
142. Donnie Darko
143. Kiki's Delivery Service
144. Big Fish
145. Chasing Amy
146. Unbearable Lightness of Being
147. Parent Trap
148. Great Expectations
149. Bridges of Madison County
150. I am Sam
151. Life as a house
152. Prince of Tides
153. Kill Bill Vol. 1
154. Bowling For Columbine
155. Elf
156. spun
157. Weekend at Bernie's
158. The House of Mirth
159. The Rose
160. Chocolat
161. Requiem for a Dream
162. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
163. The Mask
164. Gia
165. The Secretary
166. The Big Lebowski
167. Rushmore
168. Return to Me
169. Muppets Take Manhattan
170. The X-Files: Fight The Future
171. Moonstruck
172. Happy Gilmore
173. Mona Lisa Smile
174. Bad Boys
175. Bad Boys 2
176. The Delta Force
177. A League of Their Own
178. Murder by Death
179. The Hot Chick
180. Shrek
181. Groundhog Day
182. Liar Liar
183. The Silence of the Lambs
184. Run Lola Run
185. Devil's Advocate
186. se7en
187. Zoolander
188. The Life of David Gale
189. Swing Kids
190. One True Thing
191. Mommie Dearest
192. Chicago
193. Guenevere
194. The Worst Witch
195. Gas Food Lodging
196. Go
197. Return To Oz
198. Saturday Night Fever
199. Xanadu
200. Grease
201. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
202. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
203. Star Trek: The Search for Spock
204. Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country
205. Star Trek: The Voyage Home
206. Snatch
207. Murder By Numbers
208. Thirteen Ghosts
209. Grease 2
210. Scarface
211. American Splendor
212. Lost in Translation
213. Reservoir Dogs
214. Penn & Teller Get Killed
215. Man on the Moon
216. Gattaca
217. A.I.
218. eXistenZ
219. Tron
220. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
221. The Thirteenth Floor
222. Cube
223. Cube 2
224. Dune
225. Matrix: Reloaded
226. Star Trek: The Final Frontier
227. Avalon (aka Mamoru Oshii's Gate to Avalon)
228. Courage Under Fire
229. Gangs of New York
230. Glory
Brings back lots of good memories, this meme does. *grin*
I'm a sucker for well-written short fiction by people I've met at least once before. It inspires me when I witness the outpour of emotionally-charged writing from mind to happy media. delenn, in her latest offering, does a wonderful job of describing a tense, yet subtle moment in time. Sometimes when I read work like this, I fall into a strange pit of depression, as I con myself into believing that I can never quite express myself in similar terms.
Not through visual art, writing or music. Not through Flash or blog layouts. It pains me to realise that I refuse to indulge my creativity simply because others can do it so much better. I think it's beginning to frustrate me, resulting in unparallelled irritation and rashness. I need an outlet, or I will just explode from both the desire to express and the fear of mediocrity.
The irony, as always, is not lost on me.
The Movie Meme
From starchild's blog.
You've all seen it before. Take the list, bold every one you've seen, then add five more to the list.
1. X-Men
2. The Craft
3. X2
4. Swimfan
5. Fellowship of the Ring
6. Finding Nemo
7. Peter Pan (the cartoon)
8. Home Alone
9. Aladdin
10. The Ring (either one)
11. 10 Things I Hate About You
12. Not Another Teen Movie
13. Spiceworld
14. 8 Mile
15. Bambi
16. Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl
17. Edward Scissorhands
18. Stepmom
19. My Best Friends Wedding
20. 101 Dalmations (the cartoon)
21. Scream
22. Scream 2
23. Scream 3
24. Big Daddy
25. Billy Madison
26. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
27. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
28. Heartbreakers
29. Dumb & Dumber
30. Two Weeks Notice
31. Scary Movie
32. Look Who's Talking
33. Blade
34. Blade II
35. O
36. Titanic
37. Carrie
38. Carrie 2: The Rage
39. Daddy Day Care
40. Legally Blonde
41. Austin Powers
42. Storm of the Century
43. Oliver and Company
44. The Two Towers
45. Return of the King
46. Mighty Ducks
47. Fast and the Furious
48. 2Fast, 2 Furious
49. A Walk To Remember
50. XXX
51. Beauty and the Beast
52. I Know What You Did Last Summer
53. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
54. Sound of Music
55. Mary Poppins
56. Tuck Everlasting
57. The Patriot
58. The Wizard of Oz
59. Killing Ms. Tingle
60. Crossroads
61. Now and Then
62. Pearl Harbor
63. Just Married
64. Cast Away
65. Radio Flyer
66. Final Destination
67. Lady and the Tramp
68. Dancer In The Dark
69. 40 Days and 40 Nights
70. Bring It On
71. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
72. The Outsiders
73. The Matrix
74. Perfect Storm
75. Cruel Intentions
76. Never Been Kissed
77. Clueless
78. Bruce Almighty
79. Remember the Titans
81. Girl, Interrupted
82. SWAT
83. Sixth Sense
84. Phone Booth
85. The Lion King
86. Urban Legends
87. Nightflier
88. Lion King 2
89. Little Mermaid
90. American Pie
91. The Challengers
92. Scooby Doo
93. Bedazzled
94. Mrs. Doubtfire
95. Save the Last Dance
96. My Girl
97. American Beauty
98. Romeo & Juliet
99. Jurassic Park: The Lost World
100. Housesitter
101. Miss Congeniality
102. The Rock
103. Face/Off
104. Moulin Rouge
105. Sleeping Beauty
106. Alien
107. Tombstone
108. Lake Placid
109. The Recruit
110. The Shining
111. Pocahontas
112. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
113. Koyaanisqatsi
114. Princess Mononoke
115. Braveheart
116. Gone with the Wind
117. She's All that
118. Heavy Metal
119. Remo Williams
120. Fried Green Tomatoes
121. Steel Magnolias
122. Fight Club
123. Star Wars: A New Hope
124. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
125. Toy Soldiers
126. Clerks
127. Magnolia
128. Wild Things
129. The Nightmare Before Christmas
130. What Dreams May Come
131. Heavenly Creatures
132. Frequency
133. The Others
134. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
135. Along Came A Spider
136. Annie
137. Eyes Wide Shut
138. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
139. Practical Magic
140. Down With Love
141. The Fifth Element
142. Donnie Darko
143. Kiki's Delivery Service
144. Big Fish
145. Chasing Amy
146. Unbearable Lightness of Being
147. Parent Trap
148. Great Expectations
149. Bridges of Madison County
150. I am Sam
151. Life as a house
152. Prince of Tides
153. Kill Bill Vol. 1
154. Bowling For Columbine
155. Elf
156. spun
157. Weekend at Bernie's
158. The House of Mirth
159. The Rose
160. Chocolat
161. Requiem for a Dream
162. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
163. The Mask
164. Gia
165. The Secretary
166. The Big Lebowski
167. Rushmore
168. Return to Me
169. Muppets Take Manhattan
170. The X-Files: Fight The Future
171. Moonstruck
172. Happy Gilmore
173. Mona Lisa Smile
174. Bad Boys
175. Bad Boys 2
176. The Delta Force
177. A League of Their Own
178. Murder by Death
179. The Hot Chick
180. Shrek
181. Groundhog Day
182. Liar Liar
183. The Silence of the Lambs
184. Run Lola Run
185. Devil's Advocate
186. se7en
187. Zoolander
188. The Life of David Gale
189. Swing Kids
190. One True Thing
191. Mommie Dearest
192. Chicago
193. Guenevere
194. The Worst Witch
195. Gas Food Lodging
196. Go
197. Return To Oz
198. Saturday Night Fever
199. Xanadu
200. Grease
201. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
202. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
203. Star Trek: The Search for Spock
204. Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country
205. Star Trek: The Voyage Home
206. Snatch
207. Murder By Numbers
208. Thirteen Ghosts
209. Grease 2
210. Scarface
211. American Splendor
212. Lost in Translation
213. Reservoir Dogs
214. Penn & Teller Get Killed
215. Man on the Moon
216. Gattaca
217. A.I.
218. eXistenZ
219. Tron
220. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
221. The Thirteenth Floor
222. Cube
223. Cube 2
224. Dune
225. Matrix: Reloaded
226. Star Trek: The Final Frontier
227. Avalon (aka Mamoru Oshii's Gate to Avalon)
228. Courage Under Fire
229. Gangs of New York
230. Glory
Brings back lots of good memories, this meme does. *grin*
Monday, February 09, 2004
As of Sunday, 8th February 2004, 1800hrs...
I, Peter Lin, have officially sworn off use of my home PC. Having caused the second harddisk crash in the span of two months, I believe I'm no longer deserving of using the computer. Therefore all future blogging, work and other necessary stuff will be limited to the University library PC.
At least this way, I won't be rushing home every night for the wrong reasons. At least this way, I can finally watch television without feeling like I'm missing something out. At least this way, I won't be responsible for the loss of my siblings' MSN logs.
A pity it had to happen at this time, though. I was enjoying my "duty" as a GenoHadaran aka "top-secret assasin guild" in SW: KOTOR. Now I'll probably never play KOTOR for at least another decade.
I, Peter Lin, have officially sworn off use of my home PC. Having caused the second harddisk crash in the span of two months, I believe I'm no longer deserving of using the computer. Therefore all future blogging, work and other necessary stuff will be limited to the University library PC.
At least this way, I won't be rushing home every night for the wrong reasons. At least this way, I can finally watch television without feeling like I'm missing something out. At least this way, I won't be responsible for the loss of my siblings' MSN logs.
A pity it had to happen at this time, though. I was enjoying my "duty" as a GenoHadaran aka "top-secret assasin guild" in SW: KOTOR. Now I'll probably never play KOTOR for at least another decade.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Why Didn't I Discover This Earlier?
Every year, I am led to a Web paradise of cool stuff and unique experiences. Previous winners have been Everything2 and Sluggy Freelance.
This year, the winner of the "Better Late Than Never" Award goes to...
Liquid Generation!
I'm especially fond of the movie posters game. The anime one is tres cool.
Every year, I am led to a Web paradise of cool stuff and unique experiences. Previous winners have been Everything2 and Sluggy Freelance.
This year, the winner of the "Better Late Than Never" Award goes to...
Liquid Generation!
I'm especially fond of the movie posters game. The anime one is tres cool.
