Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Rest of World
Two sites that are making me really happy right now:
1. The Good Mood Food Blog; and
2. World Foodie Guide — no longer updated but still an amazing read.
… and this image from WFG makes my heart beat just a little faster.
As an aside, I’ll probably learn to cook a little more this summer.
Scandi-style things
We’ve been hanging out too much at the new Food for Thought along Queen Street, which is a really awesome place. It used to be a 10-minute walk away but now it takes just 2 minutes! I wish I had a photograph for you here, but we’re just a little selfish like that.
Something from Entre Temps by Thomas Dozol. I saw this a couple of months ago somewhere, but didn’t quite manage to get a good look at it.
In other news, dee is back on the f-word!
If you’ve ever asked yourself why you’re feeling sad.
In looking at my life today, I found instructive Bentham’s discussion on calculating happiness. It probably takes an incredibly cynical person to come up with this. He probably wasn’t a very happy man, was he?
Anyway, a short introduction to The Calculus of Felicity:
1. Intensity – How intense is the happiness?
2. Duration – How long will the happiness last?
3. Certainty – How sure is the individual that the action will make them happy?
4. Propinquity – How soon will the individual be happy?
5. Fecundity – Will the action produce even more pleasure?
6. Purity – How free from pain is the happiness?
7. Extent – How many people are affected by this action?
This might explain why teenage boys spend a lot of time cooped up in their rooms.
BKK – SIN
So, I’m back in Singapore, again. Updates in a bit.
On Recent Hippenings
This was my favourite article in the news today: Noodle Seller Sues Nephew
If you didn’t know already, bak chor mee is serious business in Singapore. Interestingly enough, a quick search of “best bak chor mee in singapore” on Google throws up the Crawford Lane stall here.
Just when I thought we were getting a little older…
My friends, this made the 10pm English news tonight:
Chinese girl getting cosmetic surgery to look like Jessica Alba to win her boyfriend back
Now I think about it, the only thing I can think of is how good he was to me; I don’t remember anything that he was not good to me. Actually he was steady, he took care of me very well, but the only thing was he had an obsession. Any places within his eye sight, if possible, to put up pictures of Jessica Alba, he would.
The reason we broke up is when we went out to see friends. He put on a wig for me and directly asked me to go out. People on the street saw me, all pointed at me and laughed, but he didn’t care.
I suppose if I had to do it, I’d choose to look like Maggie Cheung, and that’s only because I think she’s beautiful, not because some guy does. I am, perhaps, superficial and insecure enough to understand why she might want to do this, but am also rational enough to understand that she should not.
I wonder if doctors are supposed to evaluate their clients’ motivations, and engage in psychologically transformative dialogues with them before reaching for the surgical knife. Then again, convincing a patient that she might not actually want your services might not be good for business, might it? The surgeons have been frank about it, though, “We are doing this to show how plastic surgery in China is comparable to that in South Korea.”
Friends, I wish we were watching all this together.
In other news, I find 160g magazine altogether rather inspiring. Here’s my favourite photo (by Billy Kid) in the February 2010 issue.
Body Language
Research in embodied cognition has shows that our bodies also display physical responses alongside our mental ones, and in very odd (and perhaps illogical) ways.
Abstract Thoughts Prompt Literal Physical Responses
As they thought about years gone by, participants leaned slightly backward, while in fantasizing about the future, they listed to the fore. The deviations were not exactly Tower of Pisa leanings, amounting to some two or three millimeters’ shift one way or the other. Nevertheless, the directionality was clear and consistent.
…
When students were told that a particular book was vital to the curriculum, they judged the book to be physically heavier than those told the book was ancillary to their studies.
No wonder the law books are always so heavy.
Blue People
CA says I laugh at many things in life, which is true. You should, too. —
China’s Zeal for ‘Avatar’ Crowds Out ‘Confucius’
In Shanghai, an official with the biggest local cinema chain told fans not to worry that they would miss “Avatar” because of state-imposed restrictions. Wu Hehu, a senior manager for the chain, Shanghai United Circuit, told a Shanghai daily newspaper that its theaters would continue to show “Avatar” on both 3-D and 2-D screens.
This was in response to an earlier report about China pulling “Avatar” to out of its theatres.
China Curtails Run of ‘Avatar’ as It Fills Theaters
BEIJING — “Avatar,” the Hollywood blockbuster that has proved wildly popular with Chinese moviegoers, will be pulled in the next few days from the majority of Chinese theaters where it is showing….
Between LVMH and Google Lawsuits
From Berlin-based young fashion label Don’t Shoot the Messengers —
I’d like to explore Berlin!
Epic News
As any good broad-based educator would have it, I spend most of my mornings in class reading the news. Here are some very interesting ones from the past few days:
Woman Collides With a Picasso
On Friday afternoon a woman taking an adult education class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art accidentally lost her balance and fell into “The Actor,” right, a rare Rose Period Picasso, tearing the canvas about six inches along its lower right-hand corner.
British Woman Told to Stop Loud Sex or Face Jail
Cartwright was served with a civil order over marathon romps with husband Steve, described in court as unnatural and “like they are both in considerable pain.”
Woman Crushes, Kills Boyfriend By Sitting On Him
Says sorry for squishing father of her children