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God bless it!

The Cinema Effect

Photo by myrtepeert

I keep going to the movies and forgetting I’m in Asia. We went to see “Changeling” last night and just now got home from “The Reader”. Both were fantastic. Both take place in the West. Both created the same bizarre sense of disorientation when the lights came on and we walked out to find ourselves here. It was a good feeling. Sometimes Singapore feels a bit too familiar.  Promised a friend an article on freshness for her magazine which is a reminder that my life could use a dose of that right about now.

Learn To Love Yourself England

publicenergy

An article in the New York Times recently pointed out the existence of the following towns and streets in the UK:

Ugley, Essex
Titty Ho, Northamptonshire
Wetwang, East Yorkshire
Slutshole Lane, Norfolk
Shitterton, Dorset
The list goes on and on…

Now, I admit that I come from the country that assigned the names “Whiskey Dick Mountain, Washington”, “Hookersville, West Virginia”, “Hell, Michigan”, and “Disappointment, Kentucky”. But if you consider the geographic size of the UK, it seems disproportionately represented on a list of the 22 worst named towns in the world. Learn to love yourselves people.

An Interesting Question

In their quest to make abortion illegal in the US, pro-life activists typically reach for one of two weapons:
1. “Abortion is murder”
2. “God condemns it
Now, imagine they won. Imagine if abortion WAS illegal. #1 would stipulate that women who had illegal abortions would have to be charged and punished like murderers. Meanwhile, I’m not sure #2 (on its own at least) is really grounds for new legislation. The little film asks an interesting question and suggests that maybe this whole pro-life argument could use a bit more thought.

Dear Postman

Just wanted to say “thank you” to whoever sent us this lovely book. Apparently, the space for putting things into the mailbox is more generous than the one for taking things out of the mailbox.   And given my past experience resolving problems like this, the book could be stuck in there for years as the rules for crisis management out here involve a number of steps before ever addressing the actual problem. The process is as follows:
1. Try to deflect blame onto problem owner
2. Seek bureaucratic loophole to avoid accountability
3. Assign blame to somebody who’s not around
4. Promise action to get problem owner to go away
5. If accountability can be avoided, take no action
6. Wait for problem to go away
7. Take action (as if steps 1-6 had never happened)
I’m going to stay optimistic about this one, but consider this an explanation for why the “thank you” note might be a little late.

Bad Blogger

I’ve been bad lately. Very bad. I know.   Lots going on but little to speak of which makes blogging a bit difficult.  That said, I have been taking pictures if that’s any consolation. More words soon.

Great moments from the past week or so…

1. Prince Harry pretends to call his grandma the Queen on camera and ends the conversation with “Granny, I’ve got to go. Send my love to the corgis. And grandpa… Bye. God save you. Yeah,that’s great. See you. Bye.”

2. US porn industry asks Congress for stimulus package*

3. Burger King offers people free burgers to drop friends on Facebook

4. C books long weekend for us in Myanmar

5. My dream job is posted online.  C and I both plan our applications.

6. I find two more spooky places to take photos

7. Discovery of new favorite bar in Singapore just around the corner from our place

8. Slumdog Millionaire sweeps the Golden Globes

9. I nearly fall through the ceiling of an old building (yes, just like in the movies)

10. My father turns 39 for the 45th time and doesn’t look a day over 25

Putting the “i” in incident & the “ook” in Spooky

C just broke two glasses in the span of four minutes. A third has mysteriously shattered and we’ve assigned blame to the maid (as you do). I then narrowly recovered from a stumble which would have flung a full cup of coffee upon C’s camera. I recovered, took a deep breath, and then spilled coffee all over the table next to my computer. I surveyed the damage, grabbed my cup, and managed to spill it yet again. Treacherous times out here. These shots are form a trip back to the Mitre Hotel. Not a great result actually but going back next weekend with a tripod and the right lens. Partner in crime back tonight and looking forward to getting back to project stealth.

Bruised, Battered & Beautiful

Photo by DanielKHC

Made a spooky trip down to this derelict hotel tonight after reading tales of an elderly couple who live there and apparently are willing to sell beer and have a chat with anyone up for slipping them some cash and coming inside. Yes please. Unfortunately, all we saw was a backing dog at the end of a chain and lots of darkness. Either the couple have been given the boot or we’ll find them when I give this another try. The real news here is that there are places like this in Singapore. Gorgeous, textured, beaten up, story-saturated, imperfect gems. And that makes me very very happy for reasons that are surprisingly difficult to explain.  But in short, it has photo project written all over it.

Everything Around Me Is Breaking

In the span of just a few days, my fifth (that’s right 5th) iPod has broken, the battery in my Macbook has died, my favorite goggles have snapped, my electric piano has had a hopefully repairable incident with foreign electricity and the cabinets in my kitchen have fallen off. I’m starting to think this week might be best experienced while wearing a helmet.