YOU BETRAYED ME.
AND INVOLVED MY FRIENDS ALSO.
IT WAS UST A RANDOM QUESTION ABT A PHOTO.
AND YOU CAUSED ALL THE TROUBLE.

Kim Drops Sex Tape Lawsuit, Gets a Big Load of Cash

Report has learned that Kim Kardashian has dropped her lawsuit against Vivid Entertainment over the release of her sex tape with former BF, R&B artist Ray J ... who has now moved on to Whitney Houston.

The tape, which Vivid paid a million dollars for, is now a bestseller in adult video stores and online markets. Vivid's co-chairman tells Report, "We are pleased that Kim has dropped her legal action against us, we met with her several times and finally reached a financial arrangement that we both feel is fair." Sounds like they're bosom buddies now.

According to UsMagazine.com Kardashian will receive close to $5 million in the settlement.

But this is a limited time offer folks, as sources tell us Vivid will permanently cease distribution of the tape at the end of May.

syndromes and half a century

We had planned to watch these films at the 20th Film Fest but caught only Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century Friday night. That morning we had gone to the Bright Hill Temple where Ma J was cremated to collect her ashes, place the bones (laid out on a metal trolley covered with a plastic sheet) into a bright yellow and rectangular urn, and to carry that urn to stacks and tight rows of the same - a library of completed lives.

For J and I, we are, as J puts it, sad but relieved for Ma J. You could say Ma J dying did not take anyone by surprise. When she was hospitalised last Saturday for a heart attack, the doc had warned that should her heart would fail, he would not be able to resuscitate it. So for the next 24 hours, relatives all had a chance to visit with an unusually lucid Ma J.

Death has no syndrome. If not, these would be its most likely signs - or so others who recounted similar stories of their ailing and aged (grand)parents dying had said. Just a few days before her heart attack, Ma J had appeared angry, refusing to eat, sweeping plates off the table, yet strangely agreed to a haircut and perm at the hairdresser's. She had also supposedly told her brother she was not going too live long. But she told no one else. With hindsight, these appear to be "signs" - the seeming foreknowledge, what can only be fear and what then appears to be a stoic acceptance.

But for Pa J, nothing could have prepared him for Ma J's passing. Not even if she forewarned him herself. Not even all 15months of her lonely suffering since the stroke.

Pa J has been recounting, and no doubt would continue to do so for a long time yet, his last conversation with Ma J at the hospital. Have you loved me the last 50 years? They had asked each other early Sunday morning. It seemed right that for half a century of life and love, there was no more than a one word answer, reciprocated. And it was important still to affirm, even if only just to leave the other with a bit of story still to re-tell, remember, or just to have.

despite this short segue into badgers nostalgia, my first and eternal loyalty will always be to the iowa hawkeyes

A University of Wisconsin football player was taken third overall in the NFL draft today. While many of the top picks actually went to New York to attend the draft in person, the Wisconsin player did not, opting instead to go fishing. An aunt of his, however, drove all the way from Germantown, Wisconsin--which, come to think of it, is the most Wisconsin-y town name in the entire state--did:



I forgot to mention this, but when I was in New York City the last time, I joined a former Madison colleague (now at NYU) and went to this bar that apparently pulls out all the stops whenever the Wisconsin Badgers are on television*, including putting a big inflatable Bucky Badger out front:



I had heard you can find everything in Manhattan, but I wasn't expecting a bar devoted to University of Wisconsin sports. I don't know how many Big 10 schools are represented by comparable venues in NYC.

* Yes, this was the only full evening I had in New York on the trip, and I spent it watching University of Wisconsin basketball on television.

Cameron Diaz flees paparazzi

Cameron Diaz ran screaming from paparazzi after they caught her off guard while shopping.

The Holiday' star was enjoying some retail therapy in New York fashion and lifestyle emporium Lounge when a group of photographers snuck in the rear entrance and surrounded her.

A source told the New York Post newspaper: "She was enjoying a peaceful day of shopping for some new summer dresses, jewellery and shoes when they surrounded her.

"Cameron totally freaked out, screamed and dropped the items she was going to buy and was chased through the store. She was running full speed."

The 34-year-old actress has always had a troubled relationship with the paparazzi.

She and ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake reached an out of court settlement with photographer Saul Lazo after he claimed they had harassed him. Cameron allegedly beat and threatened him and took his camera when he tried to take photographs of them.

The 'Shrek 3' star was also blackmailed by a professional photographer who took topless pictures of her when she was just 19 and threatened to make them public if she did not pay him over $3 million.

John Rutter was convicted by a Los Angeles court of attempting to blackmail Cameron and sentenced to over three years in jail.

there is no i in wii

Okay, I just set up my Wii and played a game of tennis. This thing is hilarious. I have got to get a second controller and invite you over.

My elbow is a little sore, though, and I just played one game (which is literally one tennis game--not like a set or a match).

Note: Apart from half a semester of graduate school lost to Tomb Raider II, and another half of a semester lost to Ultima VI as an undergraduate, and being astonishingly good at Gorf on my Commodore 64 in seventh grade, I am not a video game player.

Update: Given that my Standard Shorter Loop running takes me within six blocks of the Cambridgeside Galleria, I took a little detour and bought a second controller. So now we can play doubles tennis. They didn't have an extra Nunchuck controller in stock, though, so we still can't box. Anyway, stop by. Let me know if you need any frequent flyer miles.

Joey and shuen on the swing

JOEY!

adeline

we were like so wet!

adeline at my hse

look at my creation.

an accomplishment(:

elaine's hair!

helloo.

im going to blog events frm wed onwards.

WEDNESDAY
chinese teacher came late.
so a few of us left alr.
and so it was considered as "cancelled".
haha.
went heartland with adeline and shuen.
met Joey there .
then had a undecent meal at yoshinoya.
lol.
after tt,
walked to the playground.
which was supposed to be "nearby"
played for a while.
and started raining HEAVILY!
ran all the way back to joey's hse.
we were like so wet!
drenched frm head to toe.
and my shoes were filled with water.
even a fish could survive in my shoe.


stayed at her hse till 7 plus, then left.




THURSDAY
ate with sheevonne and adeline at the school behind there.
then went to the kiddy playground.
played the spinning spinning thing.
so fun!
hahaha.
then adeline came my hse till 6 plus.




FRIDAY
didnt have lit test.
yay!
lol.
elaine came my hse to braid her hair.
i helped her braid.
so proud o myself!(:
haha.
hairdresser!
while walking to the bus stop where elaine was ,
i slipped on the drain cover.
and fell.
and it was super embarassing!
went for cell at night with joanne.
cell at nathaniel's hse.
which is so far away.
and had to climb up this hill.
lol.
i had to do this
spiderman doing banana dance action.
which was so stupid!
lucky there was a picture of a banana.
or not how to do banana dance!
haha
cell ended at 10 plus.
and had to walk down that hill agn.
RAHRAHRAH.
took bus to dhoby ghaut.
and reached home arnd 12.10am +++
and the condo was so dark.
they switched off the lights la.
RAH.





SAT:kaleidoscope with kevin today.

Paris vs. Lindsay: Celebs Take Sides

As the one-year anniversary of the Battle of Firecrotch nears, Us Weekly's Hot Hollywood Party was the scene of the latest Lindsay Lohan/Paris Hilton encounter -- and camps are divided by strict party lines! School's in session, kiddies!

Paris arrived first to the championship bout at new Hollywood hotspot Sugar. She mingled with the likes of Jack Osbourne and Kimberly Stewart and then retreated to the club's backroom, where P spent the night texting. Other celebs spotted in the Hilton-friendly ring were Ryan Seacrest, "Sopranos" star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and former NSYNC boy blanders Lance Bass, JC Chasez and Joey Fatone.

Lindsay's grand entrance came with much more fanfare as photographers and party groupies swarmed the 20-year-old rehabbed former redhead and her entourage. Lohan, with claws retracted, didn't go anywhere near Hilton's corner and set up shop in a booth off the dance floor. Members of Team Lindsay, at least for last night, included ex-Lohan enemy and lipSYNCer Ashlee "I Didn't Steal Your Boyfriend" Simpson, petite Pete Wentz, and most interestingly, Paris' former BFF Kim Kardashian!

La Lohan and crew were the first to throw in the towel and quickly exited the club, while Hilton continued to text as a group of non-famous buds kept the heiress company. It can get so lonely at the top!

With no blood (or underwear) shed, there was no clear winner in this latest paparazzi princess showdown. Can you say "rematch after school at Winston's?"

the technology giveth, the technology taketh away

The other night I marveled at the miracles of this world as I rode in a subway car that contained ads for both laser hair removal and laser hair restoration.

Unrelated: I made some small changes to my Blogger template. But I can't figure out how to modify the "Labels" part of the post to make it small like the byline. Does anyone know how to do this without having to upgrade one's template to the new Blogger layouts?

The Nashville Teens –Ella James

The Nashville Teens –Ella James/Same (Promo)–UA 50880 (1971 US)

This is an absolute killer version of The Move Song. If anything it rocks harder than the original and features some blistering lead guitar breaks and a wild pounding piano. The single was issued in the UK on Parlophone with Tennessee Woman on the B side. I assume that this was the same version as issued under the Arizona Swamp Company moniker (see review March 28th). Any other great late Nashville Teens tracks out there?

Click below for soundclip

Tyra Busts on Rosie

Tyra Banks got a feel for what it's like to be on "The View' -- and what it's like to feel a "View" hostess.

Banks got couple handfuls of the soon-to-be-former "View" ringmistress during her visit with the "View"-isatas, copping a feel -- a rather long and grope-a-licious feel, we might add. This is one clip that Donald Trump will no doubt be keeping in his personal stash.

Of course, Ro isn't Banks' first bosom buddy: When the amply-breasted Katharine McPhee appeared on "The Tyra Banks Show," Tyra got a pretty good handle on the McJuggs to prove their naturalness.

Meawhile, Tyra also told Ro & Co. that it was multi-multi-millionaire rap mogul Russell Simmons -- and not her -- that skipped out on a check at the Brooklyn Diner in New York, as Gatecrasher had reported yesterday. Banks explained that she offered to pay, that Russell waved her off, and then -- next thing she knew -- she was being accused of dining-and-dashing. Never fear- Miss Tyra stopped by the Diner after her "View" taping and paid the bill... and left a $100 tip. She ain't cheap!

a couple days ago i posted a good opening paragraph from an article; today, a good opening sentence

"In comparison with research on other psychological problems, research on the nature of procrastination began relatively late, in the 1980s." -- "Procrastination in Academic Settings: General Introduction", Henri C. Schouwenburg, 2004

how to promote your book of short stories online

At least here is one interesting idea, by Miranda July.

mobius trip

I've posted before about my tendency go through brief but intense phases where I listen to the same song over and over and over again. I'm currently doing this with Amy Winehouse's "Rehab." I think I find there to be something recursively pleasing about addictively listening to a song about addiction.

BTW, as a shout of to fans of replicators everywhere, it's National DNA Day today. (And, for our antipodal friends, it's also ANZAC day.) Cambridge is having this science festival for which they advertised a special 2-mile genome walk, but as far as I can tell it's just these red and blue gene-ly banners with chromosome numbers hanging from lightposts at intervals between Kendall and Harvard square.

the only way we can turn this company around is to make a product sufficiently addictive as to undermine career aspirations and family life

From CNN.com story on the Wii:

Nintendo's turnaround began five years ago, when the company's top strategists, including CEO Satoru Iwata and legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, zeroed in on two troubling trends: As young consumers started careers and families, they gradually cut back on game time. And as consoles became more powerful, making games for them got more expensive.

Prime Minister Calls for Akon Investigation

The Prime Minister of Trinidad has called for an investigation into the "dirty dancing" controversy involving Akon and a 14-year-old girl. The investigators are starting with the club who some blame for allowing the young girl to party. Deena Alleyne, whose father is a pastor recently told the local press:

"This whole hip hop thing is a guise and I don't want any part of it, I don't want to be any part of it""I thought it was going to be normal," Alleyne said. "I got carried away, I started to dance as well but I never thought it was going to be like that. I was shocked, my head was hitting the floor.

All I want to know is can Akon hook up Pastor Alleyne with a new suit, tie, and some Sport-N-Waves? A new line-up wouldn't hurt either. Paster Alleyne needs to step his "offering game" up. If you haven't seen Akon freak the 14 year-old girl.

havent been blogging for 1234567890987654321 years.
so anyway,
there isnt much to blog abt.


lol


i've just restricted friendster profile to friends only(:
yep.


so, like MYE starts next week.
plus,i'll be going overseas in june.
RAHHH.







don't think i'll be updating that frequently.
ya.
and BAN!DO THE BLOG TEMPLATE,
DO UNTIL GO WHERE ALR HUH!?!
lol.

wiinner!

Other than some additions to my Magic 8-ball collection, I've never been able to buy anything on eBay because of my fear of the winner's curse--the idea that the person who "wins" an auction is the person who most ridiculously overvalues the thing being auctioned off. But, I cast all that aside and bought the very first Wii I bid on, with the very first bid I made. I am not going to share the price, so I can remain ignorant as to the degree to which I overpaid. I didn't seem inconsistent with my brief inspection of prevailing rates, and was definitely efficient.

one way of getting me to read the rest of an article is to have the first paragraph be a capsule summary of a large swath of my life

"In this lecture I shall focus on situations involving repeated decisions with time-inconsistent behavior. Although each choice may be close to maximizing and therefore result in only small losses, the cumulative effect of a series of repeated errors may be quite large. Thus, in my examples, decision makers are quite close to the intelligent, well-informed individuals usually assumed in economic analysis, but cumulatively they make seriously wrong decisions that do not occure in standard textbook economics." -- George A. Akerlof, "Procrastination and Obedience," American Economic Review, 1991.

Bloom –Don’t Break This Heart

Bloom –Don’t Break This Heart/Can I Get You For The Night –Philips 6012 704 (1976 NL)

Don’t Break This Heart is a classic traditional Power Pop tune very much in a similar vein to The Poppees or Smyle. The cover also wears its classicism on its …sleeve and recalls The Scruffs’ LP. A couple of members of Bloom later reappeared as part of Bloem after merging with another Hilversum band Teenager. The main guy in Bloom/Bloem was Joost Timp, son of TV celebrity Mies Bouwman.

Click on title for full version of Don’t Break This Heart

coincidence, or causality?

From CNN.com:

ASHBURN, Georgia (CNN) -- Students of Turner County High School started what they hope will become a new tradition: Black and white students attended the prom together for the first time on Saturday.

In previous years, parents had organized private, segregated dances for students of the school in rural Ashburn, Georgia, 160 miles south of Atlanta.

[...]Mindy Bryan, attended a segregated prom in 2001.

"There was not anybody that I can remember that was black," she said. "The white people have theirs, and the black people have theirs. It's nothing racial at all."

I hope one of the songs is Prince singing about how "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1969."

Jennifer's Big Payday

Jennifer was taking the metallic trend a little too far and she stepped out of the Mandarin Hotel this weekend with Marc.

Their new film El Cantante just released a fairly impressive trailer. Along with good early reactions, J Lo must be on cloud 9. She evidently also just scored a $1.2 million dollar paycheck to perform a 40 minute set for the joint birthday of a Russian billionaire and his wife on Saturday night.

The lucky couple, Andrei Meinichenko and Aleksandra Nikolic also forked out another $800,000 to fly J Lo, Marc and their entourage to his estate in England and put them up at the Mandarin. Still, Jennifer didn't go out and blow all that cash. She and Marc spent an hour on Saturday afternoon at Topshop! Maybe she was given an early preview of Kate Moss's new line.

Arctic Monkeys - 2007 - Favourite Worst Nightmare (Japan Retail) Free Download

Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare [2007]
Genre..: Indie rock / Alternative / British
Quality..: 256 kbps
Size..: 83 MB
Release-Date..: Apr-13-2007
Free download from filefactory
Tracklist:
01 brainstorm 02:50
02 teddy picker 02:43
03 d is for dangerous 02:16
04 balaclava 02:49
05 flourescent adolescent 02:58
06 only ones who knows 03:03
07 do me a favour 03:27
08 this house is a circus 03:10
09 if you were there, beware 04:34
10 the bad thing 02:23
11 old yellow bricks 03:11
12 sos 04:14

Download Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare



Arctic Monkeys is an English indie rock/post-punk revival group originating from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. Formed in 2002, the band currently consists of Alex Turner on lead guitar and vocals, Jamie Cook on guitar, Matt Helders on drums and backing vocals and Nick O'Malley on bass guitar, a position formerly held by Andy Nicholson. "Arctic Monkeys" achieved chart success with their first two songs, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", reaching number one in the United Kingdom Singles Chart.
Their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history and received critical acclaim, winning the 2006 Mercury Prize.
The band's second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, is to be released in 2007, April 23, and will be preceded by the single "Brianstorm".

Panther – One Man Band

Panther –One Man Band/Evelyne –Polydor 2050 362 –(1975 NL)

After one unforgettable first single (see review January 15th), and a so so follow up, Frank Klunhaar AKA Pantherman seemed to have developed a serious personality disorder. He may be trying to look tough on the cover, but it’s obvious that he had lost his nerve –the mask is gone and his claws are clipped. These lyrics say it all…

Shall I be a rainbow rider or a diver in the sea, or a lover or a fighter…

No Frank! We want you to show us your claws and bite us! One Man Band is OK and it perks up at the end with some neat backward guitar and a strange street musician interlude, but we are a long way off from the genius that was Pantherman for just one perfect single.

Click on title for soundclip of One Man Band

Fur Flying After Celebrity Pet Eats It

The bodaciously-bosomed Barbi twins claim their beloved kitty was killed in the contaminated pet food mess -- and now they're busting out in front of a class action lawsuit against some of the world's biggest pet food manufacturers. Meow!

The Playboy Playmates turned animal rights activists, Shane and Sia, along with Shane's actor husband Ken Wahl, allege in a suit filed this week in Los Angeles County Court, that Menu Foods, Purina, Nutro and Del Monte foods are responsible for the death of their cat, Dearest, and thousands of other cats and dogs nationwide. Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans and pouches of pet food in March, after discovering a chemical in their food was found to have caused kidney damage in cats and dogs.

The Barbi twins are asking for unspecified damages to cover veterinary bills, attorneys' fees and other costs ... and "burial and disposal costs.

postscript

"That post where somebody said, 'What else are you doing besides not listening to me?'--that was me, right?"
"What? No? I don't remember you ever saying this to me."
"I say this to you all the time."
"You've never--"
"All the time."
"Well, apparently you've been right each time that I wasn't listening to you."

For trading purposes...

Hi

I have the following singles available for trading, you can contact me via email (purepop1uk@yahoo.co.uk) with titles you would like to trade. Apart from the Spiv single (Pye) and Bubbles (Decca), there are still over 70 singles I am looking for (that I know of!).

I may be putting some of these up on ebay in a couple of weeks.

All the best

Robin

(sleeves rated first)
Abacus -Indian Dancer (DEMO) York UK EX
American Jam Band-American Jam (DEMO) Parlaphone UK EX
Captain Captain Groovy & His Bubblegum Army -Captain Groovy.../Dark Part of My Mind (Pic sleeve) Ariola Ger EX/EX
Firebird -Two Wheels Bell UK EX
Galahad -Rocket Summer (Pic sleeve) Bell Ger EX/EX
Hector -Wired Up (DEMO) DJM UK EX
Kristine Sparkle -Hokey Cokey/ Baby I Love You Decca UK VG+
Light Fantastic -Take Me, Shake Me Blue Jean UK EX
Living Force -Ride Ride Ride/Some People Chapter 1 UK EX
Mustard -Good Time Coming EMI UK VG (slight warp)
Ning -Machine (Pic Sleeve) Decca Ger VG+/VG+
Peter D. Kelly -Rock To The Juke Box (DEMO) DJM UK EX
Rats -Turtle Dove (DEMO) Good Ear UK EX
Rubber Duckie (10CC) -A Teenager In Love (DEMO) EMI UK EX
Sensation -Black Eyed Woman/Baby (Pic Sleeve) Sirocco Fra EX/EX
Shelby -Dance With The Guitar Man (Pic Sleeve) Ariola Ger VG+/VG
Solent -My World Fell Down Decca UK EX
Yellow Bird -Attack Attack (Pic Sleeve) Ariola Ger VG/EX

imitation goods

"one day, the great wall"


On our way to brunch -

J: Hey look [pointing at a rain tree across the road], that tree looks like a bonsai!
Y: Er, there's something wrong with what you just said...
J: What? Don't you think it looks like a bonsai?
Y: That's a - [pauses to count] 8-storey tall rain tree -
J: So?
Y: So? A bonsai is made to look like a giant tree, you're not supposed to say a tree looks like a bonsai!
J: ...

But I guess trees in Singapore are so regularly pruned, their lower branches sawed off and their crowns shaped, such that they are - like bonsais - bearing the marks of man's imitative art.

I will always remember my sister, then aged 5, asking "cheche, what is rice made of? flour?" And in my head, the picture of a factory line of women, their mouths under a mask and hands in gloves, dutifully shaping the tiny white grains we know as rice from mountains of dough.

Victoria’s Secret Decides Who Is Sexy

Surely you want to know what is sexy to Victoria’s Secret, don’t you? Have no fear, the people behind the company are eager to share.

Victoria’s Secret is all about being sexy and so it was natural that the company shared its views on sensuality with the world. It announced Thursday what its team of executives, designers and supermodel spokeswomen had voted on as sexiest ever.

“SexyBack” singer Justin Timberlake was voted sexiest male musician, while Jessica Alba, who played in “Sin City” was named sexiest actress.

Their counterparts were “American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood as sexiest female musician and Eric Dane as sexiest actor. Other celebrities honored for their sexiness were David Beckham, declared sexiest dad (though Victoria was not named sexiest mom) and Kate Hudson (who, unlike Posh Spice, was voted sexiest mom).

Monica Mitro, a spokeswoman for the intimate apparel company, stated that being sexy is not based on looks but rather on “how you are as a person.”

Victoria's Secret says the celebrity body parts that rank as the sexiest in their book include the smile of Josh Duhamel, the lips of Jennifer Hudson, the legs of Cameron Diaz and the eyes of Adrian Grenier.

Matthew McConaughey received appreciation for his beach body, while Sienna Miller was appreciated for her trendsetting style.

Other sexy celebs: speed racer Danica Patrick (female athlete), Yankee Derek Jeter (male athlete), and Jay-Z and Beyonce (couple).

The ABC medical drama “Grey's Anatomy” has the sexiest cast.

semicircumgooglequest denied!

People are passing around news of this feature on Google Maps where you can get driving directions from the US to Europe, so long as you are willing to swim across the Atlantic Ocean (see Chris). I tried to see if I could get it to stretch halfway across the globe (12,450 miles). Given actual work to do, I had to abandon the expedition only 120 miles from my goal. So close!

by comparison, last year 700 americans were killed by poisonous gases

Via Kristina via Eszter. I wanted to look at the comparable graphs for economics and anthropology, but couldn't figure out how to get the NSF web software to produce it.

Update: Tom B sent me a link to the numbers for economics. (Thanks also to Nan and Kim for sending these numbers to me as well.)

Sex Tape Shelved -- MTV Star Is "Severely Disappointing"

Celeb Spot has learned a porn company has put the brakes on an alleged sex tape featuring "The Hills" star Lauren Conrad and "Laguna Beach's" Jason Wahler -- because of the bad boy's "severely disappointing" behavior. And apparently, according to our source, the tape is severely disappointing as well.

A Celeb Spot source said the alleged tape, news of which first broke on Perez Hilton, is "very vanilla" with "no hard core sex." The source adds that LC and Jason are basically "messing around." But SugarDVD tells Celeb Spot they are retracting their previous offer of $500,000 for the tape, because of Wahler's recent arrest in Seattle. "We refuse to support any person who feels that it is in any way acceptable to rattle off racial slurs and slanderous language about African-American people, homosexual people and the police department." Porn with integrity, people!

Not only is Sugar pulling the offer, but they are reaching out to their network to discourage anyone from participating in a deal for this alleged tape.

among the more seemingly futile questions

"So, what else are you doing besides not listening to me?"

six floors under

Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin is divided into three areas: archeology, biological anthropology, and cultural anthropology. The image on their homepage is divided into three parts, with pictures standing in for each of the three areas. Am I the only one who thinks it is strange that, for archeology, the selected picture is a grave with "ARCHEOLOGIST" written on it? I don't know anything about archeology at UW, and I don't know if that choice of image is intended to convey anything or not.

Loopy Lindsay Back to Her Bizarro Ways

Fresh off her quick trip to Japan, Lindsay was back on the club scene hitting up recent favorite LA hotspot Winstons this week. Not only did that recent stint in rehab not curtail her partying ways, but she's back to giving her special brand of totally strange interviews. In the most recent one with Allure, she talks rehab, partying and her desires to lay low. We'll believe that last part when we see it. Here's highlights:

On feeling protective of her loved ones:
"When my friends and family are around me I feel like they're safe . . . When my friends have left me - I've just seen everything collapse. They're not safe without me."

On partying post-rehab:
"That's my life!" She also compared herself to Marilyn Monroe and claimed to be shocked she ended up needing treatment: "It's so weird that I went to rehab. I always said I would die before I went to rehab."

On her public life:
"Everybody's tired of hearing things about me and them . . . I think it's just better for me to lie low and get better."

Clearly even Lindsay isn't sure exactly what she wants from herself -- partying every night or laying low? Maybe she should get herself one of these t-shirts? As for protecting her friends, we really have no idea what that even means! Either way it sounds like LL is definitely back to her old self.

Tiger - Crazy

Tiger –Crazy/Bloody Blue Monday –BASF 0515573-5 (1974 DK)

Not to be confused with the Tiger of I Am An Animal infamy (see entry February 16th '07) this lot were an off shoot band formed by The Walkers drummer Poul Denhart. Tiger seem to have also released an album, as the back of the Pic sleeve says -Har du Tigers nye LP? (Well I don’t, but on the basis of this single I definitely need one!). Crazy is a superb meeting of T. Rex and Chicory Tip –You may dig the naff synth, but you will certainly swoon to the perfect Marc Bolan impersonation and shudder to the loud HEYs. It has a strange and heavily flanged production with a charm of its own, although it plays havoc with the stereo panning. The B side is also fine, a slower 50s number again very much in T. Rex mode.

Hear a full version of Crazy

what predicts how much coverage a tragedy gets?

So, the New York Times is currently running stories on its front page about 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech being murdered and 160 citizens of Iraq being murdered. Enormous tragedies, all, obviously. Yet, the VT shootings will presumably get at least 10x--and perhaps more like 100x--the total column inches of coverage in the NYT than these Iraq bombings will get (indeed, a telling part of the coverage of Iraq bombings is how commonly and easily they are lumped together).

I'm not making any judgment on the wrongness or rightness of this as a journalistic practice, but: I've always thought it would be interesting to do a study of the relationship between the number of deaths in a tragic event and the number of column inches a story gets, and then what are the other factors that lead events to get more or less coverage.

Even just for the deaths of individual soldiers, I think it would be an interesting graph to see how (I presume) coverage of individual soldier deaths has declined as the war has gone on, despite the rate of soldier deaths being, if anything, remarkable for their relative consistency over time.

I'm presuming there is research on this and it's more that I'm not aware of it. If anyone is and has pointers to finding it, let me know.

left behind

I just took a break here in the office by reading the whole of Anthropology: 101 True Love Stories by Dan Rhodes. The stories are all around 100-150 words, and while some of them turn a too much on a cutely warped last sentence, the book on the whole is a fun bag of prose popcorn that is well worth the forty-five minutes it takes to devour it. Anyway, as I don't have any great ideas for posts and the continued rain in Cambridge brings out a melancholic turn, I'll instead here promote the book by reproducing three of the stories about being dumped:

Xanthe left me. I found out her new address and returned the kettle she had left behind. The next day I took her a book she had lent me. I found a box of hairgrips, and delivered one each day. If she wasn't home I would post it with a long letter explaining how I had found it on the floor. When I had returned them all, I took her, on the tip of my finger, a tiny ball of dust. "I remember seeing it fall from your dress one afternoon," I said, "The pretty one, with the flowers on it."

After Firefly left me I presented her with a video recording I had made of myself, so if she ever felt down she could be reminded that there was somebody out there who loved her more than anything in the world. I met her in the street, and asked her if she ever watched it. She said she did, and that it always cheered her up. She told me she particularly liked the part where I kissed and caressed the tiny black skirt she had left behind, and cried like a new-born baby. She said that always made her smile.

Treasure left me. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I understand how awful you must feel." Choking, I told her she couldn't begin to understand. She insisted that she could. "You know you'll never find anyone as pretty as me," she explained, "or as nice, and your every moment will be clouded by nagging recollections of times we spent together; times when you wrongly believed we had some kind of future. Believe me, I understand." she said, gently." A part of you has died, the part capable of loving and trusting, and you know you'll never get it back. Stuff like that."

BTW, for the trip to Madison, I was going to bring my jacket, but then because the forecast called for several inches of snow I decided to bring my big winter coat instead. While the snowstorm did strand me in Detroit for several hours, I never wore the coat during my visit. Several times I wished I had my jacket, but chose being cold to cavorting around in the cumbersome coat. Last night, as my flight from Detroit to Boston was taking off, I realized I had left my coat in the in the overhead bin of the plane going from Madison to Detroit. Story of my life.

Salma's Ready For Motherhood

Salma Hayek has a lot of big changes headed her way - she's engaged to be married and pregnant with her first child. While we were initially shocked to get all of this news at once, Salma has obviously been planning for a family for quite awhile. In the May issue of Marie Claire, Salma talks about the challenges she faces as a woman and as a Latina.

On Being Pressured into Motherhood: "I think it's terrible women are put in that position. Motherhood is not for everyone--it is for me, but there's no reason women should feel rushed to have a child. I don't know if you've noticed, but society thinks if you don't have children, you've failed as a woman, even if you are CEO of a company. You've got to be beautiful, smart, skinny, tall, rich, successful at your job, married to the right guy--and have genius children."

On Coming to Hollywood as a Latina Woman: "I thought I was coming to this amazing place, where projects would just fall out of trees. I was quite shocked to read the scripts being made. I started out in Hollywood at the same time as Jennifer Lopez. Before us, Latinas only had roles that were part of the backdrop, as the maid or the prostitute. We changed that. Of course, you're always looking for those Meryl Streep parts, but I am grateful for the things I did."

Salma is such a strong and independent woman with a good head on her shoulders. We bet she will be a great mom and role model to that lucky little baby who will also be fashionably dressed thanks to her Daddy. Salma also has a new movie in theaters now called Lonely Hearts with co-stars, James Gandolfini, John Travolta and Jared Leto. It is an interesting group and the trailer is actually surprisingly entertaining.

Nick and Vanessa Reunited at LAX

Nick is such a gentleman carrying Vanessa's bags and going inside to pick up his lady upon her return to LAX. We figured that she wasn't going to be gone for long when Nick dropped her off at the airport last week and all she brought was that small duffel bag. We're sure these two are glad to be back together, even though Nick seemed to entertain himself quite alright on his own while she was away! As for her big smiles and smirks, perhaps it has to do with the news that the couple are getting even more serious.

IT'S getting serious between Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey. The former MTV veejay is becoming bicoastal and moving into Lachey's house in Beverly Hills. We hear she's trying to become an actress and focus on gigs in L.A. - which could endanger her job as New York correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight." Her rep didn't return calls. But Minnillo should be warned: Maria Menounous, now on "Access Hollywood," was cut from "ET" after she neglected her duties to play roles in the sitcom "One Tree Hill" and the movie "The Fantastic Four."

My Version Is Better Than Yours Part 5: Rock ‘N’ Roll Is Back Again –Little Sammy Gaha vs Harley Quinne

Little Sammy Gaha- Rock ‘N’ Roll Is Back Again/Come ’N’ On Strong –Pink Elephant 22.701-H (1973 Dutch issue)

(Little) Sammy Gaha was a wild hairy Australian who cut several singles and also did soundtrack work mostly in France. The song is a classic with a cool arrangement highlighted by driving cellos & strings very much in the style of Roy Wood and ELO.

Harley Quinne –Rock And Roll Is Back Again/My Lady –Bell 1282 (1973 UK)

Harley Quinne chose the song as a follow up to their hit version of New Orleans, but it sadly didn’t repeat its predecessor’s success. It’s a good rockin’ version very much following the same arrangement but with a more polished yet gritty production by Cook/Greenaway.

So here you have it two versions of this great song and I for one am not sure of the winner…

Click below for an edit of Little Sammy Gaha and Harley Quinne

wiijected

The big plan hatched on Wednesday night was to have a Nintendo Wii boxing tournament while I was back in Madison. We sent out invitations Thursday for a Sunday party--to a mixed group of people ranging from a couple who have been here thirty years to someone who's only been here three weeks--and we received 20 RSVP yeses. Only on Saturday, though, did I get around to the matter of actually trying to purchase the Wii. I had just been presumed that, where there's a will, there's a Wii, especially around here, since you can't spell "Wisconsin" without "Wii." Instead, a massive wiisearch campaign resulted in our learning there is not a single Wii for sale within 100 mile circle around Madison. Efforts to rent or borrow a Wii also proved fruitless, or at least not until after we sent out the announcement to postpone the party.

We're hoping to reschedule for Memorial Day weekend, when I'll be in Madison for the Mad City (Half) Marathon and the spring 2007 edition of the World's Largest Brat Fest.

The spring 2004 WLBF, btw, was what broke me of five years of pescatarianism (a pescatarian is someone who would be a vegetarian except they eat seafood). Many lapsed vegetarians/pescatarians have some story about being tempted by being in a group of people at a party or a picnic or someone occasion where it would be really awkward to turn down meat. Me, it was that I had to drive by the WLBF on my way to and fro work, and the afternoon of its last day I just pulled into the parking lot and had two bratwurst with mustard all by myself. Even aside from various concerns about the content of bratwurst, it's a weird food to have crush one's pescatarian will, because vegetarian faux bratwurst is a very close substitute for the real thing. (Indeed, according to the WLBF website, this year for the first time they will be serving vegetarian brats for the first time. If only they had done this three years earlier, who knows how many animals lives would have been spared the unhappy fate of being shoved down my postpescatarian gullet.)

a tale of 2 cities (Part II)

You could say Singapore bears many resemblances to Penang.

Both islands were important pieces of the British empire's economy and both cities today wear their colonial past without any complicated postcolonial unease. In the case of Penang, many of the colonial structures remain government offices. This used to be also the case in Singapore, but we have succumbed to their more lucrative use as hotels, restaurants and - or the simplistic re-use of monuments as museums. Theirs line their esplanade. Many of ours, too, used to line our esplanade - but not since our esplanade has been redrawn post reclamation.

In a region where the Chinese and Indian are not native, both cities' population are represented disproportionately by these 2 ethnicities. The "fusion" shophouse architecture of both cities bears the complicity of this migrant population with the colonisers. But of course, being migrants, both populations also found the need to stake out their respective enclaves. The Chinese heritage in Penang is visible in the number of kong sis - clan complexes anchored usually by a temple/ancestral hall and surrounded by self-contained courtyards with homes and a school.

J, Ma Y and I spent Day 1 walking from our hotel by the Esplanade (we stayed at the E&O, sister of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Both were built by the Armenian Sarkies brothers and the second home for those British colonial types in the tropics. Hey, the E&O is even located on Farquhar St, named after the 1st British resident of Singapore) and through the more historic bits of Penang, cutting through the little lanes of Chinatown (including 1 Love Lane, ooh) and Little India.

We stopped at a Hainan Temple (well, in honour of Pa Y whom we have excluded from this little getaway, and whose ancestors are from that southern Chinese island). Our intended destination was the Khoo Kongsi, probably one of the most elaborate and well-preserved of such clan complexes (photo right).

On our way back, we walked through Lebuh Chulia (there is also a Chulia St in Singapore), passed by an Odeon cinema (The Rex, Odeon and Cathay were names of nicklelodeon cinemas in Penang and Singapore), countless Taoist and Hindu temples and Catholic/Anglican/Methodist churches which sit next to each other, and shops specialising in engine parts, tools, framemaking, gold jewellery... The temples and churches may still stand side by side in Singapore, protected and kept alive by their respective congregations, but over the last 30-40 years, these trades and cinemas have given way to fancier offices and mulitiplexes.

Last but not least, food! No 2 populations love their food as much as Singaporeans and Penangnites, especially street or hawker food. And as a testimony of how much J, Ma Y and I enjoyed our food and the manner and environment in which the food was consumed, here are the only 2 photos we have of the food...because we did not have the time, space or interest to bring out the camera!


In the 2 lunches and 2 dinners we ate in Penang, we had a grand total of:
4 bowls of fishball/kway teow soup
2 bowls of curry mee
2 bowls of penang laksa
2 plates of fried kway teow
1 plate of penang fried carrot cake (with bean sprouts)
2 plates of oyster omelette
1 bowl of mee suah gor
2 plates of fried hor fun & yee mee
1 plate of Indian Rojak (or "cuncur udang?")
4 popiah
2 portions of penang otak
1 plate of sotong kangkong
1 plate of penang chee chong fun
1 plate of penang rojak
10 sticks of chicken satay
2 BBQ chicken wings (but our favourite Toa Payoh wings are still the best in the world!)
5 ikan panggang covered in sambal
5 bowls of dessert, including the lovely penang chendol

But of course, where we meet each other, there we mark our departures.

I wonder why when Sun Yat Sen came to the Nanyang to raise funds from his Chinese compatriots, he resided in this house in Singapore and another in Penang, but chose to make the latter his base. Rumour has it he fell out with the Chinese businessmen in Singapore.

I wonder why the "Rockerfeller of the East" then, Mr Cheong Fatt Sze would build a house in Singapore (supposedly at Philip St, but I don't know whether it still remains) and a mansion in Penang, but chose to make the latter the home of his favourite mistress and the most elaborate of all his mansions. Could he have knowm that in the former his mansion would not have survived, but in the latter city, a group of conservationists, independent of the government, would lovingly restore its indigo walls?

How did one city convince the children of its hawker chefs to inherit the delicious art and smoky business of a fried kway teow push cart - while the other city failed to even convince the hawker chefs themselves to pass anything on?

How did one city (sans lane markings on its road) avoid the angry impatient horn blasts from cars despite its carefree scooters and amusement-park driving style - while the other with its wide roads and elaborate traffic systems flame only road rages?

How did one city amass so much wealth and the other so many semi-ruins. Of course, both have their fair share of MNC factories and outposts. Both have their disenchanted youths and old-money families, differing only in shades and mathematics.

Was it all because one remained an island and was made a reluctant state; and the other an island with its abundant hinterland?

A friend's mother met us in Penang and so kindly brought us round the island 2 nights in a row in her dark blue proton. The first night she drove us across Penang bridge to Butterworth (where we ate the most amazine oyster omelette at Jalan Rajah Odah) because "how can you come to Penang and don't see Penang bridge - it's the third longest in Asia!" When J asked if she liked living in Penang, she replied: "well, how can I don't like - it's home. Home is always the best, right?"

=======
>> Of another city, Part I

Angelina Makes Us Sweat

No surprise here: A new poll says Angelina Jolie "makes men sweat" more than any other woman in America.

The Right Guard Good Sport Index polled more than 1,000 sweat-ers who ranked Jolie (27%) far above Jessica Alba (17%), Beyonce (16%), Scarlett Johansson (8%) and Charlize Theron (7%).

At the other end of the spectrum, Ozzy Osborne was voted "Sweatiest Rock Star" and George Clooney was ranked the number one cool guy who "Never Gets Caught Off Guard" (get it?).

A Little Shopping Trip Part 4 (Return from Utrecht...)

I picked up over 40 singles during the 2 days at the fair in Utrecht… It was fun but pretty heavy going walking up and down the aisles for over 7 hours each day, It is really HUGE. Utrecht is a nice town and it was the first time that I had time to go beyond the station and convention centre.

This is some of the stuff I found, I’ll review a few of them over the next few weeks once they’ve been more or less digested:

Panther-One Man Band(the 3rd Pantherman single), 2 Kin Ping Meh singles, Balls –Fight For My Country (French Pic Sleeve), A great French Pic sleeve of Trevor White’s Crazy Kids, Hush EP, Old 88 (French Pic Sleeve)

Some nice German sleeves: Abacus-Indian Dancer, Captain Groovy And His Bubblegum Army, Ning –Machine, Yellow Bird –Attack Attack, Tiger –Crazy, Shelby, Smoke, Crash Brothers, Galahad –Rocket Summer etc…

More Dutch stuff including Peter And The Rockets (including Angeline sung in French, Heart, Left Side, The Ball, Blue Planet, Cardinal Point (the fab Grand Pretender!!!), Lemming, Melody –Stepping Stone, Cherrie Vangelder-Smith, Smyle, Catapult, Little Sammy Gaha (Thanks Jos), Bloom (great Power Pop from ’76) and more…

my beautiful chain


the place where we celebrated your bday at.





that box was damn heavy and was so huge and in the way.
imagine carrying it arnd for 123456789098765432 miles(:
but i, or we, still did it(:(:(:(:


Hellooo.


Friday:
Had 2.4 km run.
frankie koh didnt come.
went home after the run.
and mrs ong sent me all the way out to the crossing.
then i took cab.
reached home at 9.40am
stayed at home after tt.


Saturday:
waited for kevin ban for 1 hr and 20 minutes.
ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES.
like an idiot at dhoby ghaut.
like wth la.
then took bus to indoor stadium.
couldnt get in.
and we walked in the rain.
so, in the end.
went with him to his hse.
waited outside for him to finish his stuff.
and bathe.
went to tiong bahru after tt.
and went home.
**(cut-short)



TODAY:
left my hse at 11.
went with elaine ee to suntec.
walked arnd trying to look for the BIG BIRD!
apparently, i went to 5 places in total.
and DONT HAVE!
elaine ee kept nagging.
nag abt walking, being late, donuts and taxi.
wahhhhhhhhhhh.
EH, ELAINE! I JUST REALISED MY EAR NO MORE ECHO!
WHEN DID IT STOP? LOL
and so we bought her present.
after 1234567890234567890 miles of walking.
AND DID NOT MANAGE TO GET BIG BIRD,
COS SINGAPORE DOESNT HAVE IT.
lol.


so we took train to angmokio,
and cabbed to grace's hse.
things happened.
and i went to the playground.
Thunder and lightning.
and went back to grace's hse to collect my things.
after tt, we all left.
yep.
tt's abt all.