Odd business names
There's a Nightmare Debt Collection Agency. How appropiate...

It's time
Think I'll go register a company. Have an idea. Will it work? I don't know. But if it fails, it fails. At least right now I know I won't use up too much money on it. But even if it DOES fail, it's going to be a lotta fun.

Fast Food Nationed
Finished the book. Makes me not want to step in a McDonald's or fast food joint ever again. There's some alarmist views in the book, but I think it's well balanced. There's no doubt that fast food has changed the dietary habits of the world, and it's frightening the cultural enroachment of McDonald's. After the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by the US, protestors in China trashed Macs, BK and other fast food restaurants, but left Pizza Hut alone. "Maybe they think we're Italian or something," said a Pizza Hut spokesman.

"Kathy, I'm lost" I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike
They've all gone to look for America
All gone to look for America, All gone to look for America
  - Simon And Garfunkel, 'America'

Long day
Worked this morning, came back for a film fest gathering (too much good; cute baby took centerstage as they always do), another friend's bday thing and now back home. Had a little misadventure catching a cab. Managed to step into a drain. Duh. Spilled some blood but nothing that'll kill me. Will have to walk gingerly for a few days.

Rise and Fall
Rise and Fall of Games Online, another Sg dotcom.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and all we can talk about is soccer?
Yeah.

Ok I couldn't watch it but left it on. Glad that Senegal won. Former colony of France too. Cliched thought: Wouldn't it be good if India and Pakistan could settle it on a soccer field? But then soccer has its own share of violent problems, yah? Even funnier timing is that The Sum of All Fears has just been released in the US, which includes certain scenes of nuclear blowups. Is it time to live in an age of atomic fear again?

Victims?
Are suicides victims? Of themselves?

Pakistan and India move closer to war
It doesn't look good...

Dog day evening
Came back to clean up the house and had to get the mop and bucket from J's room. The dogs are still around. Guess she had no luck selling them away. There's two long lumps of dog shit on the floor, and when I walked out of her bathroom realised my feet were all covered with dog urine. I really don't know how she lives like that. I'm not Mr Hygiene myself, but I know when or what not to do.

Think I might also talk to Ram. Since he didn't pay any rent to me and I'm the guy subletting the place, I have totally no obligation to rent the place to him. Heck sometimes I think I should lock his stinking 'I'm-too-good-for-this-place' attitude out of this apartment. He says he wants to stay an additional month until July, but I'll give him an ultimatum. Rent for the month or move out. If he wants his money he can go talk to shit-faced Liam and get it back.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Next book reserved at the library... I'm on a non-fiction mood these days.

Managed to avoid going to Brewerkz for lunch and shelling out $10+. Sorry but that breaks my budget, especially when lunchtime conversation is about football and WORK WORK WORK. Skip it.

Perfection is a myth.

The Creative Class
I don't even want to consider where Singapore stands in the creativity index...

Should Cinema tell the truth?
Interesting discussion.

Viewed from the outside, the film world seems permanently enslaved to fashion. One minute, it's all romantic comedies in the multiplexes, then westerns come back, then science-fiction. But the style of movies follows technical trends too. In the 1980s, editing speeded up. In the 1990s, widescreen and shallow focus were all the rage. Today, a survey of the movie map shows that cinematic realism is in vogue.

In Cannes this year, more movies than ever were documentaries. The best-reviewed film of recent months was Time Out, an understated French realist masterpiece about a man pretending that he has a job. Mexican cinema bounced back to acclaim and box office success with the semi-improvised sex and sociology film Y tu mamá también. Paul Greengrass's documentary-style Bloody Sunday was hailed by many. The intimate character films of Eric Rohmer formed the big recent retrospective at the National Film Theatre. There is an international consensus that the most interesting place for a movie to be at the moment is close to the contours of the real world.

Thirstday
Work. Boredom. Dinner at bro's tonight.

Attack of the Fast Food Nation Clones
Had to pay my library fine (unlike Vaya, who NEVER gets library fines and think they'll throw you in jail if you accumulate five dollars worth of late fees) to get my hands on Fast Food Nation but worth it. It's about how Fast Food restaurants have changed the whole economic and social structure of America. An estimated 1 in 8 Americans have worked for a fast food restaurant at some point in their lifetime, and 1 in 4 meals would be fast food. Looking forward to reading the rest of it.

Also saw Attack of the Clones which was terribly blah, as numerous people (WW, Fel etc) have warned. Lucas, people don't watch Star Wars for the love story. I also disliked all the CGI in the movie. Yoda seemed more real when he was a sock puppet. The whole look was far too 'clean'.

(And no, I have no desire to own the DVD. Or watch it again. Especially Anakin.)

Don't have Kids
112 reasons not to.

Had a good time at a poetry/blues thing down near Club Street. The Universal Blues Band, composed of locals, are excellent. Maybe some people will say that's not REAL blues, but sounds good enough to me. More power to them.

Stained Glass
I'd love to do a project like this one day. Maybe when I'm old and grey.

Forbidden
Oh such a story. It's by Edna O'Brien, and one of my favourite stories.

In the dream, there is a kidney-shaped enamel spittoon, milk white, and a gleaming metal razor such as old-fashioned barbers use. My mother's hand is on the razor, and then her face comes into view, swimming, as it were, toward me, pale, pear-shaped, about to mete out her punishment, to cut my throat. Then, with a glidingness, it is over, and I wake shaking, having escaped death not for the first time. In dream, my mother and I are enemies, whereas in life we were so attached we could almost be called lovers. I believed that the universe resided in her being. She was the hub of the house; the rooms took on a life when she was in them and a dearth when she was absent.

My latest fix. Red Eyes and Tears is fab. And of course, they're from San Francisco. They sound like Echo and the Bunnymen, especially during Love Burns, but what do I care? I'm so out of it and grabbed their songs on a whim. Ab fab.

Red Eyes and tears no more for you I fear...

Journeys
Whenever someone mentions to me they're going somewhere, I just wish I could join them. Poland, Spain, Cambodia; wherever. Anywhere but here.

Decided to put my foot down and stay home two days a week and every Sunday to write. A very tight deadline at end of June to meet for a 'secret' project. Do or die, something I need to accomplish. Probably will take a few days off as well to make sure I complete it.

Wolf Brigade
Just saw Jin-Roh and I'm pretty impressed. It's set in a 'near-future' kind of setting, I presume, though you see a lot of VW Beetles. Quite a well-done animation even though the story is kind of dark. They use the original story of Little Red Riding Hood in the movie, and it ends pretty darkly.

Listening to: Love Burns - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Net to blame for girl's death
An all-too-familiar story...