We're Famous!

Imagine my surprise when I saw this on TV.

five old japanese men collectively known as SMAP (one of the biggest boybands in japan) having a good time at our very own MBS.

smap shot a series of commercials (four in total i think) in singapore for softbank, one of japan's fastest growing cellular phone companies thanks to their monopoly over the sale of iphones in japan, cheap subscription plans and ads featuring a white dog as the father of a very dysfunctional family.

watch for the end of the commercial...the merlion gets turned into mr. white dog!



here's another one:



and here's one of the white dog and his off-kilter family:

PAP Economics

The fever swirling around GE has begun to die down, but here I am getting all riled up.

the following equation is from a man who graduated with a first-class honours degree in economics (incidently, he also possesses an M.A. in development economics):

Unhappiness + Others who are happier = Net Happiness

a formula coined by sm goh chok tong in response to concerns raised by singaporeans with regards to the (over)heated property market and the policies of hdb.

in sm goh's words:

"for those who missed out, who can't buy this, can't upgrade and so on, they are really feeling the unhappiness. question is, was the policy good? unhappiness plus those who are happier, in total there's net happiness. there's no such thing called total happiness. i mean, don't believe in it. it's whether we can create net happiness in all of this."

for the old man's sake i really hope what he meant to say was that the government cant please everyone with their policies.

but to the untrained ear, it really sounded as if our ex-PM was telling us to build our happiness on the misfortunes of our fellow citizens, to wise up and not expect to have everything that we want. that we can only be marginally happy at best.

sm goh's remarks naturally resonated with many singaporeans, some of whom were so inspired that they proceeded to make a song out of his words:




funny but i never learnt about the economics of net happiness in school before leh.

Fit For Royalty

The Dress has been revealed.

not to brag, but i had a feeling that sarah burton would be designing it (okay, there have been reports of leaked information from alexander mcqueen that kate middleton was very keen on having burton design her wedding gown after she saw the dress burton designed for tom parker bowles' bride in 2005), since it would have been the best way to pay homage to one of britain's most shining beacons of fashion.

perhaps the duchess of cambridge's choice was cemented by burton's first womenswear collection for alexander mcqueen last fall, which i thought brought some much-needed reprive and sensibility to mcqueen's satorial antics.

two thumbs up for burton, who succeeded in not only inheriting the best elements of the fashion industry's enfant terrible, but also designing a beautiful, timeless gown that is truly fit for a queen.

the duchess's choice may have been a tad conservative, but i liked that she didnt overdo any of the dress details or go with a ridiculous 10m long train. and the veil was simply elegant.

kind of reminds me of grace kelly's gown though, which to me is still the best wedding dress ever.





however, what really caught my attention was the long column sheath worn by pippa middleton, which was also designed by burton. simple, form-fitting, understated - now that's what i call a dress!

Of Cubs and Hindi Movies

Of late, the mood has been sombre.

cherry blossoms are close to blooming but this year, people are worried about celebrating in the face of misery and suffering.

to lift spirits (and also perhaps in line with media guidelines in times of crisis), there's been a bumper crop of light-hearted variety programmes showing evergreen song specials and funny video clips.

here are two that really made me laugh out loud:

this little cub, abandoned at birth by his mother, is terribly shy and doesn't quite mix well with others. watch what happens when zookeepers place him with other animals in a bid to help overcome his fear.



always wondered what will happen if you match a hindi movie dance sequence to a traditional japanese marching band song? here's a video to satisfy that curiosity of yours:

Ode to Single Ladies

This is probably very passe, but I chanced upon these videos and i simply HAD to make sure that more people get to see them!

beyonce is smoking hot in this performance. when i was watching it i could only think one thing: her legs. her. LEGS.



check this one out too. i think i'm having a happy overdose of single ladies.



i am so gonna be jay-z when i grow up.

Dreams

Last night I dreamed of someone I havent met in the longest time.

we were almost best friends in secondary school. by "almost" i mean i wasnt meant to be her BFF because she was already promised to another. the realization that we were never going to be exclusive best friends upset me and made me jealous of the other girl, who was naturally, as do most stories go, bright, talented and popular.

but we were close. and she shared with me the details of her every crush, the one where she fell in love with the back view of a boy she happened to be on a tour bus with while she was holidaying in indonesia with her family being the most memorable of all.

i was always at her house, an apartment in geylang with its very own elevator landing that opened up into the living room. she had a poodle named alpha, and while i was never a big fan of poodles i cried along with her when alpha died.

she loved keanu reeves and boyzone, so we watched every movie that keanu reeves starred in and i listened while she raved about the latest boyzone single.

then when we left secondary school, she started a relationship with a boy she met every morning in the train on her way to junior college and i met my first boyfriend in school. we were young and didnt know anything about juggling priorities in love, school and friendship, so we drifted apart.

for the next six or seven years our contact was reduced to the random phone call, the rare text message. she quit JC and switched to polytechnic while i entered university. from there, our paths forked.

a year before i was to come to okinawa, she asked me out to dinner. it turned out that her relationship with her divorced boss crumbled when he fell for the new secretary, and she was looking to rebuild her friendships, which she said she had neglected over the past years. but for some reason, dinner didnt blossom into a resurrected friendship and until today, i still dont know why we never became more than almost-best friends.

ten years on and we've moved on to new friendships and new lives. last night's dream reminded me of how straightforward everything used to be. perhaps it's because i've forgotten what it's like to think simple. or maybe it's because some friendships dont last past a certain expiry date.

in any case, i do hope she is doing fine.