Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Milan Kundera’s Ignorance

I am a huge fan of Milan Kundera, a Franco-Czech novelist. His recent novels “Slowness” and “Identity” left me wanting for more. This short novel Ignorance was published in 2002 and it was only recently I have managed to read it. While “Slowness” took us for a tour of a parallel stories that happened simultaneously in the past and at present in the same physical space and “Identity” allowed us to witness a love story whereby one person started to lose her identity, “Ignorance” reminded us how unreliable memories are and two persons though shared the same experience may not have the same memory. In “Ignorance”, Milan Kundera describes “Nostalgia” in the most details fashion sharing with us what nostalgia really means through the origin of languages, through great work by writers in the past, through his personal point of view, and through the very story he told.
“Ignorance” is not an easy read. It is a book worth reading time and time again.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Requiem of Ling Sing (A Deadly Secret) by Jin Jong

I have read novels from Jin Jong since young. His great work has helped to shape my character and every time when I reread his works in various time of my life, different emotions resonance from within me. His work is complex and I have yet to find any novel in any language that can be as engaging as his work. Sad to say, he has only written 12 stories (36 books in total) and has decided to retire from writing Wuxia (translate: martial arts heroes) novels on the year when I was born (1972). Click here for Yin Yong’s fan site.

I don’t recall I have read this particular story by Jin Jong. I must have given it a pass because it is just a story with one book (usually each story comes with four volumes). Today is Good Friday and I have finished the book in one day. Throughout my reading, I was trying to pinpoint the success ingredients of Jin Jong’s work. Perhaps it is due to the fact that his work was used to be published in the newspaper daily and with limited space, you really have to make each daily dosage as engaging as possible by delivering one small plot as well as enticing the readers with another.

As I reached the end of the book, I realized that the success ingredients are more than that. The highest level of art form is when the characters inside the book have come alive. Be it as you love them to death or hate them to death, you laugh and wipe with them.

Categories
Everyday News

Outrages News on Rape

Headline news – Man Raped 5 Daughters with Help from His Wives. What is more than outrages is the defender’s lawyer’s reply.

An Islamic man with multiple wives has repeatedly raped his five teenage girls over a period of 18 months. This man even managed to convince his wives that he had ownership over his children, which included having sex with them. Two later became pregnant and had abortion.

Now, check out the laywer’s replies –

A. Mr Harold Seet denied that his client had been motivated by lust.

B. He said the patriarch, who ran his own firm, was stressed out by having to provide for his large family. To add to these worries, he learnt that the girls were behaving inappropriate with boys.

C. He concluded that having sex with his daughters to “satisfy” them, so they would be less likely to go with others, was the lesser of the two evils, said the lawyer.

Unbelievable counter-arguement … just unbelievable.

Categories
Diary

Good Friday and I am Sick

Feeling sick 2 days ago but yesterday I needed to go to work because one of the clients called for emergency meeting in the morning. This morning, I got up early to send Cynthia to the airport and immediately I went to see my doctor. Okay, nothing serious – a flu – but what a timing! I don’t even benefit from it (read: medical certificate for one day off)!

One week completely off from online gaming so far! Yay! I actually have so much free time to do so many things.

Categories
Diary

Once Again I Washed My Car

Trade in my 5 years old car with a new one. Today, I have resumed the weekend ritual of car washing. For three dollar, I could have washed my car at the petrol station nearby. No, I dislike the poor quality of work so I have decided to DIY. Today is my first wash of many and I was still filled with excitment. In time to come, I bet I would be like years ago, consoling myself that I only have the chance of washing my car 520 times (52 weeks in a year and in Singapore, I can only keep a car for 10 years).

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

District 13 – Go and Watch it!

I asked my friend TK to surprise me with a movie selection and so he did. Watched “District 13” on the newly opened Cathay Picture House. I love it. Cynthia loves it. I am sure TK loves it too. An action film by Luc Besson with a unque concept of a no man’s land (District 13) set in Paris 2010. Go watch it.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Undomestic Goddess – A Good Read

Some people call it “chick-lit” (literature for chicks) but I do find it a very good read. Something I can sort of relate to (life of a professional) and had a good laugh from page to page. After I finished reading it, Cynthia took over, finished in one of two days, then passed it to her mother. I enjoyed it so much that I visited a bookstore and grab all her Shopaholic series. Trust me, it was not easy to carry 5 chick-lits to the counter. Author’s name is Sophie Kinsella. Hope you will like it too.

Related Entries: Remember Me By Sophie Kinsella – A Calculated Risk That May Or May Not Work For Some, Can You Keep A Secret?, and On Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic & Baby

Categories
Diary

A Quiet Weekend

Cynthia has gone to Bangkok for her business trip together with her mother. It is amazing to realise that from Friday 5.30pm till now (Monday 2am), I have not spoken a single word. Sure the CD player and tuner was on all these while but this weekend was indeed a quiet one.

Till I grabbed my guitar and sang …

Categories
Diary

How We Have Changed

Came back from work, as I walked towards the lift of my Condo, I saw a school boy called for the lift while his father headed towards the mailbox. The lift arrived, he went in and pressed 4th and 13th floor. I waited inside the lift while his dad was taking his time emptying the mailbox. When his dad went into the lift, the dad asked why he pressed the 4th floor. Apparently, the school kid was waiting for yet another school kid and the kid’s maid just outside the lobby. As I waited, another lady went into the lift and pressed 5th floor. All of us waited till another school kid from 4th floor got into the lift.

Kids are just amazing.

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

Why I Hate Dining Out

Many Singaporean friends of mine prefer dining at the hawker centers to cooking a proper dinner at home. I do prefer home cook food but ever since Cynthia frequently worked overseas, there is not much point in cooking my own meal. Hence I eat out. Choices are limited – either dine around my work place or dine around my home.

Near my home, I can either order takeaway from a hawker center (I phoned them to place my order) on my way home or I can drive out a bit and dine at a neighborhood hawker center. The takeaway menu is always the same. I feel sick just to think of the food itself. The neighborhood hawker center gives me 3 choices: super oily chicken rice, super oily Indian food, or moderately expensive Japanese food.

Around my workplace, the choice is really limted. I used to dine at the Singapore Delight located at the ground floor of where we park our car. One day, after I have ordered my Wanton Mee, I have witnessed the lady who cooked the noodle didn’t wash her hands after handling the rubblish bin and the other lady who cut the pork didn’t wash her hands after unpacking can drinks from a dusty box. Oh well, too late, I have to eat my food.

Today, I ate at the Golden Shoe hawker center. Just when I was making my selection of Chinese dishes, I saw a small cockroach crawling on one of the dishes. Again, too late, I have to eat my food.

Sigh.