Sunday, October 29, 2006
What's In A Movie Soundtrack ?
Okay, I'll admit it - I really like "The Devil Wears Prada".
L and I watched it in a movie theatre when it was released in HK in September. And during each of the four flights (between HK and Singapore) that I took during the past month, I would watch it after I had watched a full-length movie.
Fortunately, the SQ planes that I was on all had the Wiseman system that allows you to rewind, fast forward and pause a movie. I would watch the opening credits showing the different women getting dressed for work, the "Gird your loins !" mad scramble, the job interview, and then fast forward to the scene showing a made-over Andrea getting to work, her chic outfits changing to the sound of Madonna's "Vogue".
Anyway, I've just found out that the catchy song in the opening credits, "Suddenly I See", is not included in the official movie soundtrack.
How the producer can omit the best song - and the one that really set the pace for the movie - from the soundtrack, I have no idea.
If you want the song, you'll find it in the album "Eye To The Telescope" by KT Tunstall.
L and I watched it in a movie theatre when it was released in HK in September. And during each of the four flights (between HK and Singapore) that I took during the past month, I would watch it after I had watched a full-length movie.
Fortunately, the SQ planes that I was on all had the Wiseman system that allows you to rewind, fast forward and pause a movie. I would watch the opening credits showing the different women getting dressed for work, the "Gird your loins !" mad scramble, the job interview, and then fast forward to the scene showing a made-over Andrea getting to work, her chic outfits changing to the sound of Madonna's "Vogue".
Anyway, I've just found out that the catchy song in the opening credits, "Suddenly I See", is not included in the official movie soundtrack.
How the producer can omit the best song - and the one that really set the pace for the movie - from the soundtrack, I have no idea.
If you want the song, you'll find it in the album "Eye To The Telescope" by KT Tunstall.
刁媽
L likes this brand of tea. She said she seldom sees it at supermarkets in Hong Kong.
Anyway, the brand name sounds like "Fuck Mother" in Cantonese.
Imagine hearing these in a neighbourhood Park N Shop:
"Hey, there's my favourite kind of Fuck Mother"
"Price check - how much for Fuck Mother ?"
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Good Start
The new day has gotten off to a good start.
I got 2,000 shares in the white-hot IPO of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (I had applied for 10,000)
I got 2,000 shares in the white-hot IPO of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (I had applied for 10,000)
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
FUCK MY LUCK
The home was not to be.
The signing of the lease agreement had been held up for a week as we wanted the landlord to replace certain items in the apartment, but she was quite adamant about renting out the place as it is.
To further complicate matters, she wanted to hire a lawyer - her own - to review the standard lease agreement that the property agency uses. Apparently, the template that is used by hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong flat tenants and landlords is not good enough for her. On top of that, she wanted us to bear half of the legal review fee, which worked out to be almost HK$2,000 (S$400).
Those hurdles were eventually crossed through a combination of compromise and playing hardball (we told the agent to take care of the legal fee). But what brought the whole process to a complete halt today was a telephone call that L received from her friend.
Apparently, a young man had jumped off the building to his death. This happened recently.
That freaked L out instantly.
I tried to calm her by saying that the jumper could not have been living in our unit, because the place is empty and the cupboards, kitchen cabinets and refrigerator smelled like they had not been opened for a long while.
But there was no way she could live in a place knowing that there had been an unnatural and violent death in the immediate vicinity.
So, it's back to square one for us. L was extremely upset, because she had spent the past three weeks tirelessly viewing flats and liaising with the agent. And we both liked the apartment the first time we saw it. But towards the later part of the process, we had felt frustrated by the landlord's stance and unreasonable demands. So we took comfort in the fact that perhaps this outcome was better for us - we could have rented the apartment and have to deal with an uncaring and irresponsible landlord.
We also convinced ourselves that it would have been bad luck to rent the apartment. Because the agent, a young, fit fellow, told us two days ago that a tumour had been detected in his leg and he has to take medical leave for some time.
++++++++++++++
I have had a bad day. I had spent the morning at a large client meeting before heading to the airport to board a flight to Singapore.
- when I left my HK apartment this morning, I ran the wheel of my suitcase over the foot of a man who was trying to enter the building (it was his fault, the impatient old fuck)
- at the meeting, a client asked me a question relating to a graph on my Powerpoint slide. I gave an answer that was obviously wrong (there was NO fucking way the grey section on the column chart represented 25%) but I was completely oblivious to it. My colleague had to correct me five minutes later (it was 12%)
- on my way to the airport, L called and told me about calling off the apartment rental process
- upon arrival at Singapore Changi, I had to wait 20 minutes for my suitcase to come out on the conveyor belt. It was the longest time that I have ever had to wait for luggage at Changi.
- and what's my hotel room number ? 1413. (In Cantonese, that sounds like "one dead, one alive")
L would have asked for another room. But I'm going to ride out this spate of bad luck.
Tomorrow's gotta be a better day.
The signing of the lease agreement had been held up for a week as we wanted the landlord to replace certain items in the apartment, but she was quite adamant about renting out the place as it is.
To further complicate matters, she wanted to hire a lawyer - her own - to review the standard lease agreement that the property agency uses. Apparently, the template that is used by hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong flat tenants and landlords is not good enough for her. On top of that, she wanted us to bear half of the legal review fee, which worked out to be almost HK$2,000 (S$400).
Those hurdles were eventually crossed through a combination of compromise and playing hardball (we told the agent to take care of the legal fee). But what brought the whole process to a complete halt today was a telephone call that L received from her friend.
Apparently, a young man had jumped off the building to his death. This happened recently.
That freaked L out instantly.
I tried to calm her by saying that the jumper could not have been living in our unit, because the place is empty and the cupboards, kitchen cabinets and refrigerator smelled like they had not been opened for a long while.
But there was no way she could live in a place knowing that there had been an unnatural and violent death in the immediate vicinity.
So, it's back to square one for us. L was extremely upset, because she had spent the past three weeks tirelessly viewing flats and liaising with the agent. And we both liked the apartment the first time we saw it. But towards the later part of the process, we had felt frustrated by the landlord's stance and unreasonable demands. So we took comfort in the fact that perhaps this outcome was better for us - we could have rented the apartment and have to deal with an uncaring and irresponsible landlord.
We also convinced ourselves that it would have been bad luck to rent the apartment. Because the agent, a young, fit fellow, told us two days ago that a tumour had been detected in his leg and he has to take medical leave for some time.
++++++++++++++
I have had a bad day. I had spent the morning at a large client meeting before heading to the airport to board a flight to Singapore.
- when I left my HK apartment this morning, I ran the wheel of my suitcase over the foot of a man who was trying to enter the building (it was his fault, the impatient old fuck)
- at the meeting, a client asked me a question relating to a graph on my Powerpoint slide. I gave an answer that was obviously wrong (there was NO fucking way the grey section on the column chart represented 25%) but I was completely oblivious to it. My colleague had to correct me five minutes later (it was 12%)
- on my way to the airport, L called and told me about calling off the apartment rental process
- upon arrival at Singapore Changi, I had to wait 20 minutes for my suitcase to come out on the conveyor belt. It was the longest time that I have ever had to wait for luggage at Changi.
- and what's my hotel room number ? 1413. (In Cantonese, that sounds like "one dead, one alive")
L would have asked for another room. But I'm going to ride out this spate of bad luck.
Tomorrow's gotta be a better day.
Monday, October 23, 2006
New Home To Be
Several members of L's family and our property agent checking out the view from our soon-to-be new home. Once the landlord finishes cleaning up the place, I'll be moving in first this time next month when the lease on my current home ends.
L will be moving her stuff over gradually but won't move in until she officially becomes Mrs Noodles next February.
As you can see, the flat comes empty so we can (no, make that have to) furnish it however we want.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
