Manila

As I type this, watching the live updates on ANC (Manila tv channel) an APC is smashing through the front door of the Peninsular Hotel.

(NEWS)

I'm staying at the Renaissance hotel, direct view of the Peninsula hotel from my room on the 16th floor.

About an hour ago, I was evacuated from Greenbelt, and was adviced to stay indoors.

Well, room service for dinner tonight.

Movie : Enchanted

(24th November 2007)
3.5 stars
1 star for the absolutely cute. Especially the charades.
1/2 star each for McDreamy, Princess Giselle and Prince Edward.
1 star for breaking into song at the drop of a hat.

Movie : Beowulf

(23 Nov 2007)
3.5 stars.
1 star for Ray Winstone as Beowulf, whose superior genes spawned a golden dragon and for being his own best bard.
1 star for Robin Wright Penn, the Princess Bride, herself. Hail.
1 star for Neil Gaiman's screenplay. He's so hot right now. (The dialogue sucked, but hey, its Neil Gaiman, he can do no wrong.)
1/2 star for learning this important point : When fighting nude; candles, support beams, and other peoples' arms will conveniently shield your genitals.

Movie : Stardust

(19th Nov 2007)
4.5 Star(dust)s
3/4 star for Michelle Pfeiffer, Lamia the deliciously evil witch.
1/4 star for the witches and auguries with cute furry aminals.
3/4 star for Robert De Niro's version of Capt Sparrow; Capt Shakespeare and his pirates. Arr.
1/4 star for Ricky Gervais; Ferdy the Fence as smarmy as ever.
1 star for Charlie Cox; Tristan and Claire Danes; Yvaine.
1 star for Neil Gaiman; he who loves the spoken word.
1/2 star for the unfortunate royal siblings : Septimus, Primus, Tertius, Secundus, Sextus, Quartus and Quintus

Flat Tire. Groan.

A man on a bike pulled up next to my car at a traffic light and tapped my window.

Steve, who was riding shotgun, turned to me and ominously said, "That can only mean something bad."

Sighing, I wound my window down as the biker gestured frantically towards the back of the car.

Yegawds, did I not shut my car trunk?

Or did I leave the cover off the fuel tank? (Again...)

"You have a flat tire," the biker yelled over traffic noise, "better change it before its too late."

Wha..?

After half an hour of me sobbing into my steering wheel, and Steve calling his friends for help, he finally managed to get directions to the nearest car workshop.

Sleazy workshop man hard-sold me a new tire even though I had an extra tire in my trunk.

Oh well, 10 minutes and S$75 later, I pulled out of the workshop, and drove off into the setting sun with Steve.

DVD : Clear and Present Danger

(11th Nov 2007)
4 stars.
1 star for the breath-holding alley shoot out scene.
1 star for William Dafoe as John Clark.
1.5 stars for Harrison Ford. 'nuff said.
1/2 star for Raymond Cruz as Domingo Chavez, sneaky bastard.

Cable : Zathura

(9th Nov 2007 - Last half hour)
2 stars.
1 star for the "Walter IS the Astronaut" twist.
1 star for the unnatural relationship between elder sister Lisa and Walter.

*nod* *nod*

Lisa + Walter.

Hope Diamond

...the exact history of the Hope Diamond can be definitively fixed. This diamond was generally believed to have been cut from the French Blue, a fact which was finally verified in 2005[1]. It is often pointed out that the Hope Diamond came into recorded history almost exactly 20 years after the theft of the French Blue, just as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired...

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...In 1791, after an attempt by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to flee France, the jewels of the French Royal Treasury were turned over to the government. During a week-long looting of the crown jewels in September of 1792, the French Blue diamond was stolen.

In 1812 a deep blue diamond described by John Francillion as weighing 177 grains (4 grains = 1 carat) was documented as being in the possession of London diamond merchant, Daniel Eliason....
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...legend is said to begin with a theft. Several centuries ago, a man named Tavernier made a trip to India. While there, he stole a large blue diamond from the forehead (or eye) of a statue of the Hindu goddess Sita...
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...Cartier wanted a lot of money," says Washington Post Columnist Sarah Booth Conroy, "and Evalyn was hesitant. So Cartier added, 'Well, we've fixed it up now with a wonderful setting and you'll like it.
Why don't you keep it for a few days?' And so she put it on her dresser and she looked at it and she looked at it..." "For hours that jewel stared at me," remembers Evalyn in her autobiography, "and at some time during the night I began to really want the thing. Then I put the chain around my neck and hooked my life to its destiny for good or evil."...

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Bintan - Sun and Fun

7th Oct 2007 to 10th Oct 2007










Random shots of 4 days of fun and essentials of fun in Bintan.

Approx S$400 (room and ferry) + S$200 (lots of food) for 3 nights / 4 days.

Cable : Inside Man

(8th Nov 2007)
4 stars.
1 star Steve, Stevie, Steve-O.
1 star for Clive Owen as Dalton Russel and the Cartier diamond ring.
1 star for Jodie Foster as Madeleine White, the slimy 'attorney' and fixer.
1 star for Denzel Washington as Detective Keith Frazier, as long as he keeps the diamond that was left in his pocket.

Baby Pandas - SO FUCKING CUTE

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