I SO LOVE THE INTERNET!  Thanks to people who are willing to share and Youtube, I’ve managed to watched the entire Hero Special from this Jdrama blog site!  With Chinese subtitles no less.

It is such a fantastic sequel! Funny and awesome all at once. Even though the drama is just under 2 hours, the whole production is very cohesive and seemed like a seamless continuation from its predecessor.

The case involving a man committing murder isn’t very complicated but has a lot of emotional undercurrents. The story also brings across the importance for public procecutors to always stay neutral and investigate the truth rather than become obscured by emotions. I like the ending very much because it puts the original Hero story back to one complete circle. Brilliant!

Takuya as Kuryu Kohei is again very inspiring with his usual strong sense of justice and idealism. My only complaint is his hair which is too long and unkempt. The old cast are in, but only for a short while at the end. The new faces are Tsutsumi Shinichi, whom I like very much too and Ayase Haruka, who is definitely prettier and cuter than Matsu Takako.

Those who loved Hero will definitely like this and I’m quite sure even those who haven’t watched the previous will enjoy this too.

You can watch the first 10 minutes here and then go to portina23’s profile at Youtube and subscribe to her account before you can watch the rest at her Jdrama blog site. There are altogether 13 clips and each clip is about 10 minutes so you can watch in installments if you like.

ENJOY!

This picture got something wrong or not?  I took a while to realise that this is a hair salon.  I thought it was some retail shop selling ten dollar stuff leh.

Aiyoh.  What has dot com got anything to do with hair you tell me?   Got computer to design my hair izzit? Or computer cut my hair huh?  Wau lau.  Dot com so passe can?

And then hor, they have to go put another sign about 6.90 haircut.  Maybe it’s the promo lah but it’s damn confusing lor.

Dounch worry.  I won’t cut my hair here one.  You think I siao izzit?  I just post this here for fun to kaypoh cos this morning I woke up read the papers and some goondus gurus said bloggers always blog about own self no good for society wor.  Maciam society so good before I started blogging started.  So here I am blogging about other things lor.  I also take this chance to practice my Singlish but hor, I think my Singlish still not powderful enuf lah.

* Singlish = Singapore Colloquial English

Recently, a girl expressed surprised when I talked about my son.  She thought I’m a blardy old spinster because I’m known to her as a Ms which she mistook for a Miss.  Apparently, all the married women she came across used the saluation Mrs. 

So I explained to her that Ms is a salutation for women that does not include a reference to marital status, as Miss and Mrs do.  Just like Mr for men. 

In fact, I’m so used to being a Miss or Ms S all my life, it takes me a while to realise when some people, like Gavin’s teachers for example, are addressing me when they call me Mrs T.  Okay, I’m not trying to be secretive about my marital status.  I just prefer to use my birth name.  It’s so strange to adopt another name just because I got married.  I don’t quite see the significance.  Afterall, I’m still the same person, so why do I need to be called by another name after marriage?   My ability at work won’t change just because I adopt another surname will it?  And perhaps a part of me is being feminist as well.  Why is it that women have to take their husband’s last name and not vice versa?

But I do respect that this is a matter of personal preference.  It really depends on the woman in question.  Some use their spouse’s name because they wish to honour their husband.  Some use it for the simple reason that they like to be known as a Mrs because they associate that saluation with more respect.  Of course, there are many women who want the best of both world and prepend their husband’s surname to their maiden surname, making it rather difficult to address them sometimes.  

Anyway, it’s only during work that this issue crops up.  Usually, I’m just Sesame so that’s neat.  And please, never in any circumstances call me a Mdm.  That’ll make me feel extremely old.

* Update: My butterfly fingers accidentally deleted the entire post and hence, the comments are all gone too.   I only managed to retrieve this from Bloglines.   My apologies to those who have commented.

Heheh.  I’ve been snacking again!  

This time it is the Tanjong Rhu mini char siew buns at Blk 7, Jalan Batu off Kampong Arang.  Because they’re half the size of the usual buns, I could almost pop one entire bun into my mouth.   But I didn’t.  I wanted to take my time to savour the soft, fluffy buns with the succulent char siew bites.  Hmmm…YUMMY!

While enjoying my buns, I also got to watch the “pau men” in action, busily kneading dough for the buns and filling it up with ingredients.   These men do have amazing nimble fingers!

Those interested to try these may like to know that apart from the mini char siew buns, the stall also sells mini buns in red bean paste and lotus bean paste versions, all going at 50 cents each.   Their normal-sized buns are also pretty delicious.

I skipped lunch today and instead ate two bowls of beancurd at these two shops at Rochor.  It wasn’t just a simple snacking session.  I was eating with a mission in mind.  And it was to refute the verdict concluded in our local newspaper.

The Sunday Times had recently run two stories on the Rochor beancurd war saga over two separate Sundays.  The focal point was about the bitter rivalry between the famous Rochor Original Beancurd owned by William, and the new Beancurd City set up by his younger brother David.  Both brothers used to work together at Rochor Original but had splitted up in 2002 over disagreements.  David initially set up his stall at Jalan Besar but moved right next to Rochor Original at Short Street last month.

In the article, Beancurd City’s beancurd was rated better as the texture was smoother.  I wasn’t very convinced with that judgement and was very curious as to how much smoother Beancurd City’s beancurd could get compared to Rochor Original’s.  I felt that the writer was being sympathetic to David and hence, the verdict.   Rochor Original’s beancurd are already very smooth.  How much better can another get?  Will it melt in my mouth?   I decided to give it a try and draw my own conclusions instead. 

And my assessment?

There was no noticeable difference in the quality of the beancurd.  Both were as smooth to me but I felt Rochor Original’s was firmer in texture.  The difference was in the amount of syrup used and the customer service.  Beancurd City’s was sweeter with more syrup and their staff were more service-oriented.   

Of course it came as no surprise that after the story was ran, the business at Beancurd City picked up tremendously at the expense of Rochor Original.   But I wonder if the writer realises that the conflict between the brothers is now being aggravated as a result of what she reported.   As a food correspondent, she did more than rated the beancurd.  She had crushed some of them in the process.  Because of how the first story was written, some customers even went to Rochor Original to berate William and his wife.  That was why there was a second story to give their side of the story because his wife, who is suffering from an advanced stage of lung cancer, felt a need to clear her reputation which was tarnished in the first story.

I have no doubt that the pen here is definitely mightier than a sword.  But I have no respect for the pen here.   There are many ways to make a piece of news interesting.  Riding on family conflicts and adding salt to wound really isn’t the way. 

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* Edit: I found the links to the original two articles.

1. Spilling the beans
2. Beancurd war hots up