Saturday, October 29, 2005: DOOMed

I dragged Sandy out to see the movie adaptation of Doom (the computer game) this evening. She puts up with a lot from me I suppose. Mind you, I have taken her to see far worse movies that this, for example either (or both) of the Matrix sequels and The Hulk. So Doom wasn’t that great but it wasn’t that bad. And I guess I am in the right demographic enough that I did laugh when I saw the BFG.

It occurred to me while watching the movie that here was a movie based on a video game that was sort of based on a movie. I think that is the problem with movies based on video games. The games are so incredibly derivative to start with by the time it gets to the movie version (in this case, ten years later) it’s a photocopy of a picture of a photocopy. At least movies based on comics sort of have their own thing to start with but the video games don’t. They pull every thing in from every direction and mix it all up to make a scenario to set all the shooting or what have you in. The story isn’t important; it’s the action that makes you play.

I must admit that I am a bit fuzzy on the “plot” of Doom the game. I never really played Doom, although I did waste many many hours playing Doom 2 and listening to Nine Inch Nails back in the day. I don’t remember much of the plot of Doom 2 either except that somebody had opened up a doorway to hell and out came Trent Reznor, Marilyn Manson and a bunch of monsters that needed a good blasting. The movie Doom seemed to borrow from the Half-Life computer game’s plot more than the whole doorway to hell thing. The monsters are genetic mutations who do all the same sort of stuff that the Aliens did in Alien and Aliens. The Space Marines do what Space Marines do best, cuss, shoot and cuss. The Rock makes a good Space Marine but I found the rest of them too gin and cliché soaked to be convincing as any sort of special ops types.

Sandy didn’t hate it as much as the Matrix movies. I guess that is a good sign. She did find the first person shooter sequence part sort of nauseating. I found it mildly amusing but mostly gimmicky. And the ending wasn’t that great. No big indestructible monsters to be had, just The Rock with some wire flying tricks.

Oh well. A bit of nostalgia for the care free days of 1996 playing Doom 2 on Zach and Janice’s 486… with the big 300 meg hard drive…

Sunday, October 23, 2005: Back From Singapore

This morning Sandy and I got up early and grabbed some breakfast before doing some last minute shopping on Orchard Road. We checked out of the Hotel at noon and took a taxi over to the Merlion down by the Fullerton Hotel and got a few dozen photos of that before wandering around that area looking at various landmarks including the Lord Raffles statue which reminds me of Adam Ant for some reason.

We found a really good Vietnamese restaurant that was connected to the Asian Heritage Museum and sat there for the rest of the afternoon before it was time to go to the airport. The food was outstanding although typical to Singapore very pricey.

The Airport was the typical endless lines and standing around and waiting and standing and waiting. We did run into a Thai tour guide we know from when Sandy worked at Asia Spices while in the Duty Free shops (again). I think Sandy was pretty happy to speak Thai to someone after two days.

The flight back was okay but once off I had to wait forever to be processed by immigration. Oddly they didn’t take my photo coming in. Maybe they just take it once and keep it on file or something. We took a taxi back to the Redoubt and then contended with unpacking our stuff and all the crap we bought.

Saturday, October 22, 2005: To Sentosa Island

Last night at 1:00 pm, while we eating and watching Harry Potter verses the Frosty Ring Wraiths on HBO the power went off. There was a notice about this posted up near the elevators but we hadn’t noticed the notice on our weary way up. After about 30 minutes and a non-explanation from the desk Sandy and I fell asleep. At exactly 4:00 am (as out-lined on the unnoticeable notice) the power came back on and with it so did the TV, all of the lights, and the air-con. I jumped up like my Dad at the Second Coming and cracked my head on the reading lamp, which because of the relocation of the Hobbit Beds was now directly above me. Amazingly Sandy slept through all this.

We got up at around 9:00 am and headed down to the restaurant for the free breakfast buffet. It was an okay feed. Very good bacon anyways. After we had eaten we headed out to Orchard Road and wandered around some of the various Malls and shops. We stopped at the big HMV for a bit then walked around that Mall. Eventually we grabbed a tea and sat outside before taking a taxi over to Chinatown. There we walked around amongst the shops and stalls and markets. Sandy wasn’t overly impressed as it was really the same as the weekend market except not as crowded and more spread out. We did find a few gifts for people there but eventually worked our way out to the main road we’d come in on. Somehow we ended up by a big Hindu temple and I got some nice photos of that. We didn’t bother going in as I wasn’t about to leave my shoes outside with all the tourist’s flip-flops and sandals.

Next we took a taxi over to the Harbor Front Centre where I got us tickets to a tour of Sentosa Island. We took the cable car across to the island. That was amazing. The view of the Singapore Harbor was unbelievable. Once across we got out and found our tour group. I have never been one to go on organized tours but since it got us into several things we wanted to see we went with it. This involved some standing around to begin with before we were herded on to buses. Our first stop was Underwater World. This was actually pretty cool. Sandy had her 35 mm camera with her and I had my little digital one as well as my video camera so we took lots of pictures. Underwater World wasn’t actually as big as I had expected but it had fish o plenty and we got to see some guy in a scuba suit feeding some big creatures of the sea that I personally would not get into a tank with unless I had a harpoon gun. The other highlight of was this moving sidewalk that takes you on and around and through is tunnel that goes underneath a large aquarium full of a variety of fishes, sharks and sea creatures. Very cool.

We got back to our bus at the designated time and were hauled off to our next stop which was the very annoying Cinemania Virtual Reality vomit inducing ride. This I could have lived with out. We lined up and waited and waited then went in and were strapped into these moving seats and subjected to some computer animated movies (circa 1998) while being bounced around by our mechanical chairs. Sandy found it nauseating, while I found it simply annoying. The first film was REALLY annoying in that it had this sound track with a “family” talking… Between that and the battering about I was glad when it was all over with.

Next we were off to Butterfly and Insect World where we saw some nice huge butterflies and bugs and so forth. They have an outdoor area that is fenced in with screen fences where you can see the huge butterflies in there natural habitat. Or we could have just gone to Sandy’s parents house and seen them there I suppose. One thing I noticed by this point was all the attractions are designed so you MUST pass through the gift shop to exit. Welcome to Singapore. At this point our official tour was over and we were on our own. The tickets we had bought gave us access to the Island until 9 pm so we headed back to Underwater World were we could catch the last (5:30 pm) Dolphin show… Or could have if everyone on the Island hadn’t decided to go see it as well. So alas, we missed it. We ended up going to the Fort Siloso Museum instead. It was a rushed visit though as it closed at 6:00 pm. It had a good history of how the British built the Fort and as well as how it was surrendered to the Japanese. Most of those POWs ended up being dragged off to build the “Death Railroad” in Thailand. The surrender of the Japanese Forces in South East Asia was also taken in the Fort by the Lady Di's Uncle Lord Mountbatten who was later blown up in his boat by the IRA.

After leaving the Fort we headed back to the Cable Cars and out off the Island. Sandy wanted to see the “Merlion” that spouts water down by the other part of the Harbor but we encountered some shifty taxi drivers who wanted to charge us some outrageous price to go there. Tired, hot and hungry we just took a taxi back to the Hotel. We got cleaned up and changed then went out to a place on Orchard Road I always go to for some food. That was nice. Nice to have a good meal OUTSIDE on a patio with excellent music playing. There was a pleasant breeze blowing which unfortunately Sandy found “cold”. After eating we walked around to a few more shops and I spend a small fortune at HMV on some CDs and DVDs. At around 10:30 we were tired enough to pack it in for the day.

We will try to get to the Merlion tomorrow after we check out and before we head to the airport

Friday, October 21, 2005: Off To Singapore

Sandy and I headed out to the Airport at around 4:30 pm. Traffic was thick due to it being Friday and a long weekend so I thought it best if we get an early start. Plus I wasn’t sure what we would be facing when we got to the Airport. Once we had arrived we went in and lined up for our boarding pass. We took Tiger Air, which is a low cost carrier out of Singapore so our first challenge was to find their ticket counter. Once we’d been given our passes and Sandy had the proper departure card for immigration we paid our airport tax and lined up to get our passports stamped. They are taking photos with these little digital cameras now as you leave, which struck me as odd. I am leaving, so why are you taking my picture? Anyways I was processed faster than Sandy who was in a different queue, so I had to wait for her on the other side.

Once Sandy immerged it was time to go to the Duty Free shops. Sandy had a shopping list and some cash from Dexa so she searched for some perfume that was sold out. I was entranced by the watches and bought a replacement for my Fossil Big Tick watch that Superdry called “Tom Hanks” (as it looked like something Tom Hanks would have worn in “Apollo 13”). Once I’d paid for that and Sandy had found some perfume she liked we headed off to the gate where we waited to board.

Because Tiger Air is a budget thing the seating is “free seating”, not to mean its “free” but to mean it is every man for him self. First come, first to butt in line, the first to be seated. Once they made the pre-boarding announcement everyone pushed and shoved to get in a sort of line and then to file past the air hostess who was processing the boarding passes. I got Sandy a window seat and waited for her to catch up. The flight was okay. Two hours until we landed and walked off. We were both starving by that point as there was nothing to eat on the budget flight and we’d foolishly not eaten before we had left.

We had everything as carry on (I don’t like waiting for luggage) so we walked straight out towards the Singapore Immigration desks and got to watch as a drunk Japanese guy vomited by a pillar before stumbling up to have his passport stamped. The whole time he was talking loudly in a rude voice on his mobile phone. Sandy got stamped through no problem and with out a question. I followed her then we got a taxi and headed to our Hotel.

Singapore is so lovely. I know that some people, especially the Lonely Planet pajama people crowd, pooh-pooh on the Singapore because they have very harsh rules about littering and chewing gum and so forth but I’m sold on the place. It’s safe and clean and beautifully landscaped and is every thing Vancouver thinks it is, sans the Rocky Mountains. But who needs Mountains when you have nice sandy beaches and a tropical climate? Sure it is expensive but no more so than Vancouver and with out the dangers of Main and Hastings.

There is some kind of big IT thing going on here this weekend, combined with the Thai holiday so Hotel accommodation wasn’t easy to get. I didn’t want to stay in some cheapo place that Chinese business men short time Kaetoys in so we ended up at the Phoenix near Orchard Road. It is okay. As in acceptable, although not worth what I am paying as far as I can tell. Each room does have a PC and high-speed though. Unfortunately they stuck us in a room with two separate Hobbit beds instead of the requested big twin bed. Since it was midnight by Singapore time changing rooms wasn’t going to happen. Instead they sent up the porter to move some furniture around and push the two Hobbit beds together to make one Hobbit bed with a dangerous crack in the middle of it. That out of the way it is time to order some food from Room Service and introduce Sandy to the food prices of the First World.

Thursday, October 20, 2005: Bad Fashion & Bad Politics

Today my BTS ride was made complete by getting to see some 20-something back-packing groovester in his pajamas, tentacle hair and sunglasses sporting none other than Che Guevara tattooed on his shoulder. I've grown used to these pasty fat first world clowns wearing his commie mug on t-shirts and such like but a tattoo? That's taking the whole revolutionary fashion trend to a whole new level. A new level of "dunderhead" as my dear ol' Dad would have said.

I don't know much about Mr. Che really. I don't care to. He was some pal of Castro's who got offed before he could re-educate what ever populace he was hoping to rescue from their poverty by imposing a bad idea on them. I don't care for his bad ideas, and I don't care how many well educated, socially aware first world folk want to tell me those ideas are good. I have had the joy of seeing Tol Sang Prison and the Killing Fields with my own eyes so I know pretty well how the whole Animal Farm thing works. The same went for the People's Republic of Laos when I had the displeasure of being there. Everyone is equal. Equally poor. Equal to be hauled off to a camp if they disagree or refuse to drop their religion. Or equally likely to be shot and thrown in the river if they stumble into the local district chief's poppy field. Oh and the Czech's really looked like the benefited from fifty years of Che's style of government.

So call me old, call me what ever, but I don't get it. The people who bitch the most about the consumer society are the ones who were born in it and live well because of it. As for Che, why not just put Pol Pot's face on your t-shirt or arm or ass because he was a Marxist revolutionary too.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005: Avalon With Teeth on Currahee

I picked up the new Nine Inch Nails CD. I hadn't intended to actually I decided I would after reading an interview with Trent Reznor in Keyboard magazine. His enthusiasm for modular analog synths makes me forgive him for many things.

The CD (With Teeth) is actually quite good. I got sort of sick of NIN at some point in the late 90s. I had enjoyed playing Doom 2 and Duke Nukem to Downward Spiral but after that Columbine High water mark I just grew weary of it. This CD is more rock and less in need of Prozac although it does still suffer from sounding like NIN, if you know what I mean. Chris will know what I mean.

It will make good a Currahee soundtrack though.

Speaking of which. Sandy was up at out at 5:30 am this morning to run at her University. This is some kind of religious thing more than a health thing but I have been encouraging her to start running or to join me at Currahee.

I also bought the self-titled CD Juliet which is... okay. I bought it on the strength of one song they've been rotating on V Asia called "Avalon". That particular track is AMAZING and trippy. The rest of the CD is sort of odd in that it sounds far too much like the electro-pop tinkerings of my former 1980s queen girlfriend Joanne. I was sort of shocked by it actually. There are few tracks that sound rather BT-ish but over all its gives me flashbacks of lipstick and her Roland Jupiter 8.

But "Avalon" will be on my Currahee mixes for some time to come, like "Super-Styling" and "Bird of Prey".

Tuesday, October 18, 2005: No Power

I seem to have caught what ever Sandy had last week. I've pilled myself up so I can fly on Friday. I've been unable to do Currahee all week thanks to this... I will try tomorrow but at this point I seem to have "NO POWER".

Weird dreams lately. Probably due to being sickly. I had one about the tree Dad and I planted in the front lawn of our house in Chilliwack back in 1970. I was looking at it "now" but as a boy. It was very big and sort of spooky looking, in a Halloween sort of way.

Sunday, October 16, 2005: Happy Ramadamage

Monk, teenagers killed in Thai Muslim south

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Suspected Muslim militants (well it certainly wasn't the Quakers) killed a Buddhist monk and two teenage boys and set fire to a temple in Thailand's restive south (there's that phrase again.. The restive south. Not the part of Thailand that a bunch of extremists want to take over and rule as part of a new Calphate), police said on Sunday, in separatist violence (again the violence is filtered as being about a political aim NOT about religious ones) that has claimed more than 900 lives. (mostly Buddhist)

The militants who attacked the Buddhist temple in the southern Pattani province late on Saturday had slit the 76-year-old monk's throat, said a police report obtained by Reuters. (Note to Reuters... Militants? Slit a MONK's throat... Not that would be TERRORISTS... Dumb ass)

The charred bodies of the two teenagers were found in the temple, said the report which did not give details.

A Buddhist farmer was beheaded on Friday, the second decapitation since the Islamic holy month of Ramadan began and 12th in 21 months of unrest in the region.

Although the government has sent 30,000 soldiers and police to the region, where 80 percent of people are Muslim, ethnic Malays, the insurgency appears to be growing. (that number is wrong... and even if there was 80 percent it's not an excuse to cut the throats of Monks)

Booby traps, decoy attacks and ambushes of army and police convoys have become daily occurrences in the densely wooded region, suggesting the anti-Bangkok guerrillas (don't you mean ANIT-BUDDHIST TERRORISTS?) are becoming more sophisticated and inventive (thanks to all that Saudi cash and JI training).

If Reuters can't report wants happening here correctly WHY should I take any thing they report from anywhere seriously? Why is all the investigative indepth reporting missing when it comes to making the connection between these bastards who kill Buddhist monks and farmers with the ones who blow up tourists in Bali. It's the same bunch. Why do all the news outlets need to keep that a big secret?

Friday, October 14, 2005: Tickets to Singapore

Today was Sandy's Birthday so... I gave her a gift. Next weekend we're going to go to Singapore. It will be her first trip there.

I brought home orchids for her tonight. How great is it to be able to buy a dozen fresh orchids on the street for about ten bucks?

Monday, October 10, 2005: Getting To Know You

I can never figure out why people forward me those "get to know you" type emails. I write an on line journal. What is the need for the email? I got one email several times from various people and since it's raining I will post my answers here instead of forwarding it on to you.

Here goes...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:00 am

2. Diamonds or pearls? "Shine on Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd or "Mother of Pearl" by Roxy Music

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Tom Yung Koong with Tony Jaa

4. What are your favourite TV shows? FTV - Midnight Hot

5. What did you have for breakfast? Tea

6. What is your middle name? "You Know My Name, Look Up My Number" by The Beatles

7. What is your favourite food? Pho Ga

8. What foods do you dislike? Liver

9. What is your favourite chip flavour? Pringles Original

10. What is your favourite CD at the moment? Tangerine Dream - Rubycon

11. What kind of car do you drive? I let Tyron drive

12. Favourite sandwich? grilled chicken on panini

13. What characteristic do you despise? self-delusion

14. Favourite item of clothing? Silk boxers

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you
go? Borocay

16. What color is your bathroom? tile colour

17. Favourite brand of clothing? NATO

18. Where would you retire to? Koh Chang

19. Favourite time of the day? Tea time

20. What was your most memorable birthday? 30th - with 20 Alpha 4

21. Where were you born? in a hospital

22. Favourite sport to watch? woman's beach volleyball

23. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Dad

24. Person you expect to send it back first? Bruce

25. What fabric detergent do you use? Ask Sandy, I'm not allowed to do that

26. Coke or Pepsi? Water

27. Are you a morning person or a night owl? "Dawn is a Feeling" by The Moody Blues

28. What is your shoe size? 10 US size

29. Do you have any pets? Fish, The Blue Radj, and Skateboard

30. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with your family &
friends? I strongly dislike never hearing from people except with these kind of dumb emails

31. What did you want to be when you were little? Paratrooper

32. Do you have any children? Not that I am aware of

33. What's your favourite holiday? Song Kran

34. What's your favourite day of the week? Payday

35. Where do you work? At my job

36. What is under your bed? Ghosts

37. Favourite quality in a friend? "Pure Morning" by Placebo

38. Hidden talents? x-ray vision

39. Hobbies that people might not guess? yes

40. Who sends you the most forwarded emails? Bruce

Sunday, October 9, 2005: Lunch with Sandy's Family

Sandy & I went over to Pet's today. Sandy's other sisters were there with her Mom and had brought the once blind Min along. We all went over to an outdoor Thai restaurant and had a big meal.

Min has a plastic protective thing over her recently operated on eye. She can now see shapes and will in time have to wear glasses. The novelty of being able to see combined with her toddler age made her rather ... over active. In order to see something she has to come up to it quite close so she would attempt to climb up on the table and so forth in order to check everything out. After the meal we all we drove back over to the house and spent the rest of the day hanging out there.

Sandy and I came back to the Redoubt at around 8:00 pm. We watched a few episodes of the 9th Season of X-Files to round out the evening. We both liked the 8th Season a lot more than we'd expected, and certainly more than the 7th or 6th season, however the 9th Season so far has been a tad bit weak.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005: More of the Same

More of the same.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Suspected Muslim militants beheaded a villager in southern Thailand on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, police said on Wednesday.

The head and torso of the man, thought to be in his 50s, were dumped in two fertiliser bags beside a road in a rubber plantation in Yala, one of the three southernmost provinces hit by the violence in which more than 900 people have died.

The article of course plays the card that the "Police presence" is fueling the trouble. NO mention is made of how those who have done this have the same idiology and designs as those who bombed Bali on the weekend.

Monday, October 3, 2005: Sandy Begins Fast

I woke up at 6:00 am today and was off to Currahee an hour or so later. The day was nice up until about 4:00 pm when the big clouds came and now it's thundering almost every 3 seconds and raining and blowing hard. I got back to the Redoubt mere minutes before it started.

Sandy has started her yearly Buddhist vegetarian fast. This is how I mark the passing of time. Her Birthday approaches as well. Now she's watching a Thai drama and I'm heating up some left over pizza.

Last night the Taiwanese Movie Channel played "Animal Farm". I wonder about the timing of it as Saturday was PR China's "National Day".

Oh the storm is getting heavier. I like to go out into the laundry zone in this weather but I have been informed that "it's not funny" as Sandy feels my Farang skull will attract lightening.

Sunday, October 2, 2005: Rainy Sunday

I tried to record last night but wasn't in the mood. I did some ebow stuff but I don't know if it would count as anything more than an expression of sorrow about Bali.

Sandy and Julian showed up at the Redoubt at about 3:00 am after an "nod on the town". Sandy insisting she was only tipsy not drunk. I beg to differ. Especially when she finally woke up at about 6:00 pm today. Then she ate all my chicken.

I spent the day playing Command & Conquer which is something I rarely do now. I still wasn't in the mood to mouse any music. I've wanted to record some vocals on the tons of stuff I've done since January but am at loss for words. Or maybe I'm afraid to write them out. So the Ebow'd guitar through the shermanator has been more of a voice for me than my own.

Anyways I will have to force myself to write over then next few weeks.

It rained so much today. The kind of day you just don't want to go outside. So you don't.

Saturday, October 1, 2005: More Bali Bombs

Bali has been bombed yet again. Of course it was bombed in 2002 killing over 200 people. So far the death toll sits at around 25 with over 100 wounded. For those who don't know Bali is off the south of Indonesia, it's population is largely Hindu and is big tourist spot for those who like unbelievable beaches.

BALI, Indonesia - At least two bombs exploded almost simultaneously Saturday in tourist areas of the Indonesian resort island of Bali, killing at least 19 people and wounding 51 others, officials said. The blasts came a month after Indonesia's president warned of possible terrorist attacks.

But it's not like there wasn't a warning...

Terror expert warns of JI attack
By Max Blenkin
28 sep 05
THE Indonesian terror group behind the Bali bombing could be planning another attack soon, an Australian terror expert said today.

I am so sick of these kooks and all their killing...

Sandy is out with her Sister and Dexa at the Hard Rock Cafe tonight which leaves me with a slight feeling of dread. I'm amazed the kooks from the South haven't tried anything here yet.