Of mice and removal men

It's D-Day -1 for the big office move. The soon to be ex-office is a shambles. A zillion boxes clutter what used to be a relatively comfortable and neat working area. The kitchen has been completely dismantled; hence no coffee. And I am informed that my desk has been sold and must move my computer temporarily to another one. I duly take my computer apart and pick my way through the maze. A empty table appears as I crest the rise of a stable pile of boxes. Quickly I make my way forward, fearing that other displaced workers are also beating a path for this same table. As I begin to set up shop I'm informed that this table has also been sold (I knew a clean table was too good to be true). So "how?" as we say here.

The office manager helps me by moving a cutting mat, scanner and 17 rolls of masking tape and thereby clearing enough space or my computer, screen, waterbottle, layout pad and stickers which will later be used to label my compter and single box of worldy goods.

Bonus, the computer that used to occupy this desk has an optical mouse. Seeing as the person who used to work at this particlular workstation has long since resigned, the mouse is now mine. Groovy. Score one for Stuart.

Malaysian F1 GP

Damn, the sound is something else. I had forgotten just how ferociously loud these fire breathing super-souped, V10, 3,5 litre, 1100bhp engines actually were. Luckily I never go racing without earplugs.

As I walked into the circuit from the car park, I could hear, but not see, the cars. Gordon bennet, it was groovy. HAd goose pimples for 5 minutes.

Then, to my delight I found that I had a seat opposite the pits, so at least I got to see some action, instead of the usual thing of very fast one-way tennis.

The acceleration as the cars come out of the pits is unbelievable (for the uninitiated, there is a speed limit in the pits - to make sure that the drivers' grandmothers don't get knocked over while crossing the road).

From my point of view the interesting thing about the 2005 season is the fact that Ralf Shumacher is now with Toyota. I predicted last year that a Schumie Brother would be behind the wheel of a Toyota within the next 4 or 5 season; I just expected it to be Michael.

Of course, the fact that Toyota is picking up points in only its 3rd season out is also interesting, but not unexpected.

Renault's dominance early on is a welcome change from recent seasons- but again, not completely strange. One will recall in the good old days that Renault was a force to be reckoned with during the 80s, being driven by Alain "The Professor" Prost.

Speaking of Renaults, I have to throw in a piece of useless info:

Jody Scheckter, 1979 world champ (in a Ferrari) worked as an apprentice mechanic at his father's Renault delaership in East London (SA) before becoming a racer.
Anyway. A fun day was had by all.

Sometimes the comments are better than the posts

Read the comment on the fire post.

Fire

Yesterday evening, as I was attempting to get a taxi, a car caught fire. Amazing. White smoke began to pour from the car, followed by the driver and his passenger. Very soon, the white smoke had become black smoke, and flames could be seen. Next thing there was a wooshing sound and fire emitted from under the car in long streaks.

It was at this juncture that I decided to move away from the car lest it explode. It didn't, of course (bummer).

The plastic mouldings on the side of the car started to drip onto the road, and of course, a little river of petrol (or something) had begun to run downhill under the car.

One feels a horrible fascination with these things; I didn't want to get blown up, and yet I couldn't move away either. And then a taxi pulled up. Oh well. Pity I didn't have my camera.

More on Million Dollar Baby

What's it really about?

Critics slated the film, saying that it misrepresented itself (being not about boxing, but rather about the right to life). In the build up to the Oscars, the puritanical establishment that passes for public opinion in the US whinged on and on about whether the film's content was suitable for public consumption.

Watching Million Dollar Baby, one is struck by how skillful Clint Eastwood is at giving a healthy dose of pathos without descending into sentimentality. Perhaps that's why there was such an outcry from pressure groups (read: idiots)within America regarding the film's treatment of the euthanasia issue.

The film does contain food for thought, and if you want to make a meal of the assisted suicide thing then that's up to you. What the whigers miss is a whole host of other stuff that makes Million Dollar Baby great. Sucj as cinematographic techniques, filmatic timing, great editing, realistic interaction between the characters...I could go on and on.

I think that my point is this: The aforementioned whingers are not used to having to make up their own minds about issues (they are used to the media making it up for them). So when a picture like this comes along and simply presents a storyline without suggesting how you feel about it they (the whingers) get confused.

Pity we cannot pull the plug on them and put them out of OUR misery.

Go ahead Oscar, make my day

I began to think about what I would say about Clint Eastwood a few days before the Oscars. This was primarily due to the amount of airtime the Awards were getting. Programmes, documentaries, interviews, predictions, trailers, looks behind the scenes, publicity stunts and philosophical debates rages on into the night. One was spoilt for choice.

Anyway, as the whole world knew and has probably already forgotten - as they move on to more important TV viewing - the race for this year's ultimate prize was between Leo's (and Scorsese's) The Aviator and Clint's Million Dollar Baby.

The pundits, ever politically correct, predicted pacification of the billion dollar egos involved in the form of an equitable doling out of Oscar; Best Director to Clint and Best Film to Scorsese (or the other way around).

Whatever.

Clint's movie won 4 Oscars (Best Supporting for Morgan Freeman - about time actually, Best Actress - for Hillary swank, Best Film and Best Director). Now I've always been a fan of Clint's measured style of direction. His pacing and timing are superb in my opinion. He's not as much and auteur as, say Wim Wenders, but he has a sense of style that probably comes from 60 years of exposure to the industry. His move A Perfect World, starring himself and Kevin Costner is on of the best pieces ever, in my opinion.

And so, it was about time that he got the recognition he was due. In fact I seem to recall somewhere in the archived sections of my brain that he was given a lifetime achievement award at some stage.

Viva Clint.

Man eating shark

Haflway between Barstow and the desert

Hunter S Thompson apparently killed himself some time today or yesterday. You can read the official report by clicking on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4282865.stm

I always wanted to write like HST. The idea that the journalist, or writer of the news could be more important than the very news he was reporting on struck me as a groovy thing. Of course, the case of Hunter S Thompson's case he invariably WAS the news. His antics usually eclipsed the event he was writing about, and the articles became sort of surreal autobiographical review of what was going on at the time. One almost got the impression that the events wouldn't actually even have been newsworthy were it not for his participation in them.

This is the essence of the so-called Gonzo Journalism - a term I think Tom Wolfe coined; alhtough I satnd to be corrected.

My favourite was always, and I suppoose will always be, Fear and Loathing in Las vegas (although I have read others). Who can restis a book that starts, "We were halway between Barstow and the desert when the drugs took hold."

So long Hunter. See you there...

Finally, here's one from ralph Steadman.

I eat sharks

Had shark fin soup again for lunch today. I know, I know. But the fuckers eat us at the slightest opportunity, don't they. Greenpeace, if you're reading this, it was like that when I got there - promise.

Anyway, I thought I'd do some research in the mysteries of this culinary delight - you never know what shit you'll dig on the web (this blog for example).

So here's a recipe taken from a website called Utopian Online: http://www.yutopian.com/cooking/soup/CSF.html for those curious souls who would like to view the pictures.


Stuff:

300g Shark’s fin (lucky number 888, heh heh)
50 g mushroom - soaked in hot water
20 g dried scallop (Ithink this is becasue shark fins are very expensive and one fills it out with otehr stuff - I've even heard of crab meat being used)
300 g chicken breast
20 diced ham
1500g chicken broth (don't know what that is in ml)

30g ginger
30g green onions (failing which, throw in your old Booker T and the MGs records)
salt
MSG [AAAAAAAAARGH!]
cooking wine (personally I recommend an expensive bottle, but that's just me)
ginger wine (mince ginger and soak in wine)
white pepper
oil

Now light a fire under it:

1. Put dried scallop, ham, one slice of ginger, one green onion in a container with 250 grams of water. Steam contents for one hour. Drain fluid in a bowl.

2. Cook shark’s fin in water until soft and drain. Cook shark’s fin in 1000 grams of broth and ginger wine. Drain broth.

3. Cut chicken breast into pieces and broil in boiling water. Drain water and wash chicken breast under cold water.

4. Heat up wok and add about three tablespoonful of oil. Add chicken breast, ginger, green onion, ginger wine and stir-fry. Add broth from 2) and cook until chicken breast is done. Drain.

5. Arrange chicken, ham, scallop, mushroom and shark’s fin in a container. Add fluid from 1), cooking wine, ginger, green onion, and pepper powder. Cover container with a lid and steam for 2 hours and serve.

McStuff McLinks

For more on the McLibel case follow these links (I don't know how long they will be valid, but they are part of BBC's news archive, so, maybe forever):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4266209.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4266741.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4269913.stm

McStuff

I seem to have a lot on my mind today; thereare a few things that I feel need mentioning:

The first thing is the McLibal suit which has been languishing in English and Eurpoean courts for the past 10 years. I remember Mikki once saying to me that she thought McDonalds food should come with a health warniung. I wasn't so sure then, and I'm not so sure now. However, the anti-McD s sentiment does seem to have some merit. Just take at a gander at the doccie entitled "Supesize me," in which a brave (stupid) guy eats only McFood for a month. Apperantly his liver and other organs began to shut down, his skin broke out and his doctor told him he only had 17 lunchtimes left to live.

(more on this when I can find the detail)

Second, the syrian occupation of Lebanon feels to me much like the South African Government's occupation of places like SWA (Namibia) and Angola back in the day. It had and has nothing to do with the internal stability of the occupied country. The real point is that all evil governments need a springboard from which to launch their nafarious deeds. And so much the betetr if it is outsie the normal politico-geographical area of the occupier.



We all had them...

Sentosa Island

Sentosa is an Island the size of a small car, about 3 minutes south of Singapore. It is essentially a tourist resort with white beaches (imported from Thailand), Corona (imported from Mexico) and plam trees (imported from fuck knows where).

Check it out :: Sentosa
[Achtung! image is 83k]

Interestingly, I didn't see any monkey harrassing the touristicos. Must be because the Singapore government has shot them all and sold them to restrateurs in Chinatown. Or possibly because they have not issued the monkeys with the papers needed to appear in public.

$$$$ingapore Slingshot

Let it be said that I liked Singapore. Perhaps it has something to do with my own control-freak nature, but I see something beautiful in a police state where even the plants are fined if they grow outside the lines.

It is as clean as you hear about in the stories. But everything works. The subway, for example comes and goes as smoothely a very smooth coming and going thing. And the poeple seem to be far more orderly than in Malayasia (if less friendly). There are rules for the escalators, for exmaple (like in London); standing on the left, walking on the right. The lines on the road are things that serve agreater purpose than simply looking pretty and making groovy patterns as you weave in and out of them (like in Malaysia).

The only thing that I didn't like was the expense. It is roughly 4 times as expensive as KL - doing the math as follows: Sing dollar = 2 Ringgit. Then on top of that stuff is roughly twice the price in nominal terms.

Also, there is a sort of subversive "friendly" propoganda engine being held at full throttle by the SingGov. For example, everytime there are road works, the thank you for playing nice message is accompanied by a smiley face. That's just weird, man.

Anyway, here are a few of the things that you would expect to see on a tube train.



Lastly, I have found that this blog interface doesn't like tables much. So I have had to create one image for the above picture instead of putting them separately into three table cells. Go figure.