what's in a name?

In the news today is famous plastic surgeon from Singapore, Woffles Wu Tze Liang, being fined S$1,000 for getting an elderly employee to take the rap for him for two speeding offences.

Woffles?



Seriously? No offence, but that sounds like something a five year old would name her teddy bear. Mr Woffles.

I really don't know what it is with Asians and strange English first names. There's this once quite popular singer/songwriter based in Taiwan (?) who goes by the name of Panda Xiong. Well, we all know what a panda is, but his surname, Xiong, actually means bear in chinese. Like you know, brown bear, Pooh bear, that kind of bear. So... I guess he's panda bear? It seemed too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence so maybe it's intentional? I'm a little perplexed by that thought too.



However, when it comes to creative English names, nothing beats them good people from Hong Kong: Fruit Chan, Kingdom Yuen, Tats Lau, Sonija Kwok, Yummy Wong, Evergreen Mak, Yoyo Mung, Myolie Wu. These are very real people, mind you, and famous too. I'm just wondering whether they actually use those English names on a daily basis, coz the Hong Kong tabloids/paparazzi calls them by their Chinese name more often than not. I'm also wondering whether Chan Kuo will know it's him when beckoned "Wei, ah Fruit ar". Imagine the endless fun I'll have if my friend calls him or herself Fruit...

But what's the motivation for these unusual sounding monikers? To stand out from the general masses? Unfortunate birth certificate filling accident?

sunny days, sweepin the clouds away

I'm simply loving Google Doodle for the week! It's a bunch of Sesame Street inspired doodle because it's their 40th anniversary this year!

1. It started with the Cookie Monster devouring the "oo" on the 4th



2. Then Bert and Ernie on the 6th



Ernie's my favourite! I love Ernie and his rubber duckie! They're good friends but so different. Even appearance wise, Ernie's chubby and round like an orange while Bert is tall and thin like a banana. For the longest time I thought they were brothers coz they sleep in the same room, haha

3. Oscar the Grouch on 7th



4. Elmo on 8th



5. And Count von Count, or simply The Count, on the 9th



Another of my favourite character. He's the greatest dracula ever, haha. The Count, like his namesake, loves to count. Notice how "Google" look like numbers instead. So cute.

These doodles appear on other countries Google webpage:

6. Big Bird



7. Ieniemienie (Belgium, Netherlands)



8. Boombah & Chamki (India)



9. Abigail (Israel)



10. Kami (South Africa)



11. Aberlardo Montoya (Mexico)



You know, during my days, there's no Ieniemienie or Boombah or Aberlardo. I really don't know who they are. Mine's old-skool, hehe.

Wonder if there'll be any new ones today...

My boyfren don't get why I love Sesame Street so much. He branded them as scary and he thinks talking puppets are a little freaky. Well, I practically grew up with them and I give them partial credit for my non-broken Engrish ;) I still watch them sometimes and some of their sketches are damn funny!

One day, while he was sleeping, I took the liberty of saving some Sesame Street clips into his mobile phone, mostly so I could watch them when I feel like it. Nothing substantially educational, just some silly songs like the ones below. He wasn't too pleased, initially, but for a period of time after that, he couldn't stop singing "Lime in the Coconut" and laughs like it's the funniest thing in the world when Kermit shouts "Doctor!". I converted him into a fan, hehe

So, for your entertainment...











*Update*

Google Doodle for the 10th!



Looks like it may be the last one though, coz the whole family's here! :)

it's the wind blowing free, it's the end of the slope, it's a beam, it's a void, it's a hunch, it's a hope

Waters of March (Águas de Março), a Brazilian song.

I didn't know it was covered by so many famous singers, from Basia to Al Jarreau to Sergio Mendes (OK, I understand he's technically a musician). This one here is performed by Elis Regina accompanied on the piano by the composer himself, Antonio Carlos Jobim.



A very nice English/Portuguese version by a Filipino artiste named Sofia, not the one I heard this afternoon but quite close. Listen to the English lyrics. Quite whimsical and cute.



Original lyrics and translation by Jobim:
http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/waters.html

i *heart* Legos

Found some Lego keyrings from Brickboy Brothers @ Tropicana City Mall.

Happiness! :O)

guess what i found on YouTube?

More Japanese Tetris!!

japanese tetris

This is soooooo funny!! Crazy Japanese... they're the coolest!

one art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

~ Elisabeth Bishop


Isn't this the saddest poem you've ever heard?

The concept of loss is universal. We have all lost something. Most times we lose small mundane things like keys or glasses or documents. Sometimes, not so very often, we lose something that means so much more - a human relationship, a someone.

Losing things is inevitable, and dare I say, a norm of life. But when you really think about it, nothing truly belongs to us at the end of the day. We came into this world alone, and we leave alone.

So when you lose something, go ahead cry a little, then you stand up again. Learn to let go. Life's too short to be living in their shadow.

bak gu dunno english

HAHAHAHA damn funny buey tahan!!

gender un-biased

It was meant to be a routine nothing-exciting-ever-happen day. It still is actually but as I was minding my own business filling up an e-form, I stumbled upon something not often seen, and will probably never be seen in my dear old conservative country. Everything's pretty standard; first name, last name, mailing address, etc. Pretty boring, until I got to this column:


Turns out I have an additional choice. This is so darn fascinating.

Only in America.

memoirs of another geisha

Brought to you by the geniuses that are MADtv:



These guys are brilliant I tell you! Too farnee la.... kakakakakah. Can't stop watching... stomach ache liao...

women are like apples on trees

The best ones are at the top of the tree.

Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy.

So the apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

i carry your heart with me

A little something I "found" while watching Tru Calling last nite. And they say soaking up all this pop TV would turn your brains to mush. Bah.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

~ e. e. cummings


Simply beautiful isn't it?