Where you are
A number of years ago, prior to Napoleon Hill’s death, Earl Nightingale condensed and narrated Think and Grow Rich onto a long playing record. At the end of the record Mr. Hill comes on to close the record. He said, “And now as I stretch out the hand of friendship through time and space, let me remind you, not to go searching for opportunity in the distance, but reach out and embrace it right where you are.”
Download the book here.
pg. 113
The world is mediocre. About that there is no mistake.
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And by the same token, I have high regard for Dostoyevsky. Nonetheless, I do not hold with Marxism. It is far too mediocre.
pg. 172
We returned to the hotel and had intercourse. I like that word intercourse. It poses only a limited range of possibilities.
cliche
i find it disturbing when i read or hear people encouraging others to “think out of the box”.
it is such a cliche that people who ask others to think out of the box should really do so themselves and find a better alternative.
cinnamon akasaka
If you go to Google or ask.com and search for cinnamon akasaka, an extremely enigmatic creation of Haruki Murakami, you will find me on top of the page.
My modest contribution to literature and I cannot be prouder.
Haruki Murakami wins
Murakami wins the worlds’ richest short story prize
Richard Lea
Monday September 25, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Haruki Murakami has won the second Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award for Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, his third collection of short stories to be published in English.
The €35,000 (£23,000) prize, which is awarded to new collections published in English during the last 12 months, is the world’s richest short story prize. The prize will be shared between Murakami and his translators, Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin.
At the Millennium Hall in Cork last night, Rubin paid tribute to the city’s most famous short story writer as he accepted the prize.
“If you have read Frank O’Connor’s Guests of the Nation you’ll be familiar with his theme that people need to recognise each other’s common humanity,” he said. “Haruki’s stories are similarly powerful. As a translator, I am overwhelmed and honoured and I am sure Haruki will be too.”
The jury, chaired by Tom McCarthy, was made up of Irish writer Claire Keegan, English author Toby Litt, German poet Silke Scheuermann, and American literature scholar Dr Maurice A Lee. They hailed the winning entry as a “truly wonderful collection” from a “master of prose fiction”.
“Murakami writes with great integrity,” they said in a statement, “unafraid of dealing with tough and difficult situations between people who constantly misunderstand each other.”
They praised the “terrific sense of magic” of his “truly accomplished voice”, his “contemporary ability to create extended monologues of fear” and the way his stories push “deeper and deeper through layers of meaning”. “Long after reading his stories, the images and situations he constructs remain unforgettable … His writing reminds us, ultimately, that the reader comes to published work in search of magic.”
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman topped a shortlist which spanned three continents. First collections from Irish writer Philip Ó Ceallaigh and American author Rachel Sherman were nominated alongside entries from English writer Rose Tremain, Nepal-born Samrat Upadhyay and Peter Stamm, a Swiss author who writes in German.
Poor Milou
My McDog had his McTesticles removed today.
For the next 10 days, he’s got a collar around him to stop him from licking his McBalls.
He looks like Little Red Riding Hood.
Not yet a man and his balls are gone.
Grey’s Anatomy S3E1
He has sex with you and he’s standing there all McGuilty and he has to say is, ‘What does this mean?’
Poh Piah
ST 24 Sep 2006
Popiah, a common street food, is, however, not easy to master. Here are the best rolls in Singapore
1. Kway Guan Huat
97 Joo Chiat Road
Open: 11am to 8.30pm, closed on Mondays
Price: $2 each
All hail this undisputed champion for serving the best popiah by far. It has a heavenly balance of all the sweet, savoury, crispy and mushy flavours expected of a good popiah.
But the biggest highlight here is that the turnip and carrot strips are infused with an unbeatable seafood taste. Its thin, soft yet chewy skin is home-made in the shophouse next door, which also supplies to other popiah stalls.
Founded in 1938 by the Quek family, this restaurant uses a traditional Nonya recipe. You can order individual rolls or a roll-it-yourself claypot of vegetable filling ($12 per pot) which comes with a free flow of condiments. Utterly delicious.
2. Qi Ji
Seven outlets: 160 Rochor Road, #01-09 Changi General Hospital, #01-36B Century Square, #04-101 Marina Square, #01-01 Shaw Tower, #02-11 Tiong Bahru Plaza, #01-06 Raffles Link
Open: 10am to 9pm daily
Price: $1.60 eachThis is quite possibly the neatest, most tightly wrapped popiah you can find. And it tastes divine, too.
Watch the stallholder spread sweet black sauce over almost the entire skin, then slap on generous dollops of ingredients. Then, each roll is carefully rolled into a firm, yummy pillow.
Run by the Lau family, this popular chain started out in 1984 as Hock Heng Food Stall in Funan Centre’s foodcourt. It then moved to Shaw Tower.
Today, under the new name Qi Ji, every ingredient – including the soft yet resilient dough skin – is hand-made in its central kitchen in Kampong Ampat.
3. My Cosy Corner
#02-02 Coronation Shopping Plaza
587 Bukit Timah Road
Open: 10am to 6.30pm daily
Price: $2 eachTucked in an obscure corner is this gem of a snack bar. It sells excellent Nonya-style laksa, mee siam, mee rebus and a fabulous popiah. It comes in a big, fat roll, cut into four pieces, and contains a huge batch of crispy bits – made of rice that’s sun-dried and then deep-fried.
Owner Leong Swee Meng, 59, uses a recipe from his famous aunt – the late cookbook author Leong Yee Soo. The skins are lovely and soft, carefully kept in a special air-tight container so they don’t lose their moisture. What a find. Note: Popiah is not served on Sundays.
4. Good Chance Popiah Eating HouseBlock 149 Silat Avenue, #01-58 (Off Jalan Bukit Merah)
Open: 11am to 2.30pm, 6 to 9.30pm; closed on Mondays
Price: From $12 for six skins
Started in 1977, this family business made its name for roll-it-yourself popiah in Neil Road, and later in Far East Square. It moved to its current location last October.
Theirs is the Hokkien version that is served in most Hokkien households, says co-owner Patty Hor, 56.
The popiah skin is from Kway Guan Huat, but the filling is prepared in the kitchen and is very consistent in quality.
There’s nothing better than biting into a whole uncut roll and having the juices drip down your fingers.
5. Bee Heng
#01-12 Newton Food Centre
Open: 1pm to midnight; closed on Thursdays
Price: $1.80 eachSay what you will about the lousy food at Newton Food Centre. But this stall gives it a good name.
Set up in 1977 by the Tan family, it offers skin that is always soft and chewy, while the filling is a lovely combination of sweet, salty, spicy and crunchy sensations. Too bad each roll is quite small and costs a rather expensive $1.80 each.
6. Glory
139 East Coast Road
Open: 8.30am to 8.30pm, Tuesdays to Fridays; 7.30am to 8.30pm on weekends; closed on Mondays
Price: $2 eachFat, thick and packed with loads of ingredients, one roll is almost a meal in itself.
The turnip and bamboo shoot strips are moist, and there is a strong tang of chilli paste and coriander leaves. The only quibble is that it could be sweeter and more flavourful.
Established about 40 years ago, this Nonya kueh chain has three outlets, but only this one serves popiah.
7. Old Long House Popiah
Block 22 Toa Payoh Lorong 7, #01-03Open: 6am to 5pm, closed on Mondays
Price: $1 each
This stall has been around since 1930.
The skin, bought from a supplier, is a little dry and papery. But the filling is very moist and bursts with a strong taste of chilli and coriander leaves. At $1 a roll, it’s a quick and satisfying snack that’s affordable to all.
8. Popia Mania
Stall 16 Chomp Chomp Food Centre
Open: 5pm to 1am daily
Price: $1.50 to $2 eachPopiah with pork floss or tom yam prawns? Purists will protest, but it’s actually not that bad.
Opened just five months ago, this foodstall also offers popiah with chicken floss, fish floss and sambal hae bee (dried shrimp).
The original version tasted a little too bland. But the pork floss one was delicious, as the furry meat bits added a wonderful sweetness that the turnip strips needed.
The tom yam version – which came with some tom yam paste – was too salty and tasted a little odd.
design questions
i wanted to write a series of questions that begins with “how do i design….”
and then i realised what i wanted to say was not really about design but the results of it.
like how can life be more fun, challenging, fulfilling, filled with women, etc.
again i realised it’s not about being more. the reason why I want life to be more fun is because life has stopped being fun, not because there’s isn’t enough.
anyway, how is a great question. much much better than why.
Sven Nykvist, 1922 – 2006
It has taken me 30 years to come to simplicity. Earlier, I made a lot of what I thought were beautiful shots with much backlighting and many effects, absolutely none of which were motivated by anything in the film at all. As soon as we had a painting on the wall, we thought it should have a glow around it. It was terrible and I can hardly stand to see my own films on television anymore. I look for two minutes and then I thank God that there is a word called simplicity.
Satan speaks
recycling a favourite post.
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Satan speaks.
Not only that, he blogs too. And since he is the only one who answered my cry for topics (see comments on previous post), I will entertain this Faithless Reader.
I asked for 1 topic and in typical Singaporean fashion, he gave me 7, and asked me to choose 1. So I thought I will please this Foul Fiend and include ALL the topics in 1 fictitious blog:
1) Write a story beginning with the words, “Never would I imagine that he could say such a preposterous thing.”
2) Write a story ending with the words, “The train sped away, taking my heart with it.”
3) Write an entry about anything as long as it contains the sentence, “Wah, damm jia lat you know. Confirm.”
4) Describe 2 or 3 strange people which you have encountered in your life.
5) If you were given one million dollars, what would you do with it?
6) Imagine that the CEO of Media Corp is your brother-in-law. He has just given you a call the other day to inform you that he is interested in starting a radical newspaper to compete with Streats and Today. He wants to hire you to pioneer this, and would pump in any amount of money you require to get this going. Describe what this paper would be like.
7) Write about the complexity of simplicity. Richard Foster wrote about this before, no kidding. Don’t know how he pulled this one off.
Hee hee.How’s that sir? Hee 
Mr S Tan
—————————————————————————–
Never would I imagine that he could say such a preposterous thing.
Ni hao (literally “You’re good!”).
The Chinese tourist said it with such gusto that I’ll make sure he’ll burn in hell when he gets there.
How dare you greet me with goodness? I am Satan. Tremble and Fear, from Toa Payoh to Tanah Merah. I am the absence of goodness, the abundance of badness. I am…
Comrade, where is St. Andrew’s Cathedral?
Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?
I regained my composure in time to point this Confused Chinese Communist Psycho (CCCP) to Chijmes instead, charming him with tales of sweet convent girls and religious devotion. Formerly a religious institution, this is the place where people go to get high, get laid and get broke.
My kind of place.
I rarely leave Hell but once in a while, I’ll have a break and I’ll make it a point to come to this country to visit the Old Man.
Even I need a mentor.
So here I was, at City Hall MRT, waiting for the train. And the train was late.
Now apparently, the MRT has been the fashionable way for many Singaporeans to jump queue (a revered local custom, I was told) to see me. True enough, I overheard a MRT staff mumbling into his walkie, “Confirm train delay is it? Another jumper at Bishan. Confirm dead already is it? Wah, damm jia lat (terrible) you know. Confirm.”
I used to celebrate wildly when things like that happen. Now, it takes the special and strange people for me to sit up and notice.
When Billy Ray first came to Hell, he was very upset. He kept saying, “I’ve been a good man all my life. I went to church every Sunday. I was a perfect gentlemen. I raised my kids well. I took good care of my horses. Why is this happening to me?”
And I kept telling him the same thing.
“You invented line-dancing”.
Billy Ray’s settled in now and leads the monthly mass dancing, just to take the edge off.
I made sure I was around when Woody Porty first arrived.
“Thanks for creating Teletubbies. I am a big fan.”
To this day, she stills mutters “Damm” four times in a row.
——————————————————————–
Time flies when you’re having fun. Before I knew it, I was at the Old Man’s place.
He welcomed me with a cheque for one million dollars.
“Take it. Thanks for helping me with the successful handover.”
I told him to take half and dedicate it to Feminist Research. The other half should go to the Republican party.
We talked about old times. He wanted advice from me and that took me by surprise.
Maybe he’s getting senile.
He asked:
Imagine that the CEO of Media Corp is your brother-in-law. He has just given you a call the other day to inform you that he is interested in starting a radical newspaper to compete with Streats and Today. He wants to hire you to pioneer this, and would pump in any amount of money you require to get this going. Describe what this paper would be like.
I told him:
“Let’s have an award-winning newspaper that should only win the sexy awards like design and graphics. Let’s have a newspaper that meddles in the affairs of our neighbors but not meddle in our own affairs. Then, give control of the newspaper over to yes-men and security folks.”
Apparently, I was told, such a newspaper already exists.
I told him I would look into it.
“What’s the matter? You losing your touch?”
“Just a bit tired. It’s not easy running Hell.”
“Yes and no. The simple part is the fear. Manage the fear and all will be well. How to get the fear going is the complex part. For me, I have my yes-men, my woody-men, my security folks and my large extended family to thank.”
He paused and smiled. I knew what was going on.
He was about to make a deal with the Devil.
“Why don’t we switch places, for a while, who knows, it might do you some good?”
Epilogue
From the nether world to the first world. The procedure took less than a minute; a simple spell to switch our hearts.
I did not feel any different. It was almost like my old heart.
The absence of goodness. The abundance of badness. The…
“See you in 2 months.”
He wished me luck and bade me goodbye.
I stood at the Platform of Purgatory and waved hesitantly.
The train sped away, taking my heart with it.
Bindi Irwin
BINDI Irwin’s speech at her father Steve Irwin’s memorial service today at Australia Zoo.
“My Daddy was my hero – he was always there for me when I needed him.
“He listened to me and taught me so many things but most of all he was fun.
“I know that daddy had an important job. He was working to change the world so everyone would love wildlife like he did.
“He built a hospital to help animals and he bought lots of land to give animals a safe place to live.
“He took me and my brother and my mum with him all the time. We filmed together, caught crocodiles together and loved being in the bush together.
“I don’t want daddy’s passion to ever end.
“I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did.
“I have the best daddy in the whole world and I will miss him every day.
“When I see a crocodile I will always think of him and I know that daddy made this zoo so everyone could come and learn to love all the animals.
“Daddy made this place his whole life and now it’s our turn to help daddy.”
animal talk
Watching Planet’s Funniest Animals on TVMobile with Mr. Tan on the bus,
Me: Sir, I think you should get a dog. When you’re lonely, you can train your dog to do things.
Mr. Tan: For me? On me?
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I’m so calling the SPCA on Mr. Tan.
Marcus Aurelius
The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
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