Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Finally, after 19 years Indiana Jones is back. This time round he became a father. The adventure took him to Nazca, Peru and it involved the Mayan civilisation and aliens.

I think the story is inspired by the book Charoits of the Gods by Enrich von Daniken. The book hypothesysed that many ancient civilisations' technologies and religions were given to them by space travelers who were welcomed as gods. I read the book before during my NS days. However, I didn't finish reading it.

Out of the four Indiana movies, the one I liked best is still the 3rd one - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It had Sean Connery as the Senior Jones and the late River Phoenix as the young Indiana Jones. Ch 5 did a rerun of the show recently and it was really good to be able to watch it again. The show was really entertaining- funny, yet exciting. It was this show that introduced me to the magnificent Treasury building in Petra, Jordan. The facade of the building was carved into the sandstone cliff. Hmmm... when will I have the chance to go there?

I like archaeology. However, in my own opinion, to be an archaeologist in Singapore you will starve to death. That's why I didn't go into it. I can only sit back and read the research done by others. In other words "Let others do the dirty job for me". Hee.... just joking.

Nevertheless, this latest Indiana Jones movie is still quite entertaining. Welcome back Indiana.

Life In Cold Blood

This is the title of David Attenborough's latest and last production of his "Life" series. This will also be his final work... sob sob... because at 82 years old, he had decided to retire. He said that he no longer had the urge to start the day climbing trees. There was a short article in today's The Straits Times about him and the series. That's when I knew that he is retiring. This latest series features the amphibians and reptiles... cold-blooded creatures hence the title. I managed to get hold of the DVD which I ordered all the way from UK. Even though it is in English pounds, I reckon that it will still be cheaper than the ones selling at HMV. However, after they failed to deliver what I ordered twice in a row, I now have doubts buying DVD from them. Thankfully, I got replacements from them for free. I still have one DVD order with them - Wild China. Hope I could receive it the first time round this time.

I grew up watching his documentary. Through his documentaries I learnt about the natural world and animal behaviour. In a sense he could say to be my teacher. I have DVD of almost all the series that he hosted. As long as it is a series hosted by him, it is "chopped, stamped, confirmed" to be a good series. Even if he is only a narrator for the series like Blue Planet and Planet Earth. His series are really educational; I just know that the difference between a frog and a toad is that a toad's skin is drier than a frog. That's why some are called frogs and others toad. Not only being educational, his series also sheds new light on animal behaviour and bringing audiences to places that people seldom go. I really admire him being able to go to all these places and seeing all these animals in the wild. Just imagine being able to see the birds of paradise in their natural habitat....hmmm.... that will be a dream come true for me.

Oh yes... for your info, he has an equally famous elder brother... the director Lord Richard Attenborough. I had a feeling they are related long time ago. It was confirmed after reading the article in the Straits Times.

I got the DVD a few days ago and had since watched 2 episodes. It is really super. Life in Cold Blood will be shown in Arts Central in late November. Hope that those who see the show will have a new appreciation of the cold-blooded animals that shared our planet.

My greatest wish will be to have a picture taken with him...hee

Here's what I had photographed. I have yet to encounter snakes. Hence, no photos of them in my collection.

Willie and Wei Ping's R.O.M

Yup... Wei Ping and Willie got legally married today. This is a special day for them, that's why they chose this date. Coincidentally it was also Hwee Lee's birthday. I was there to be their photographer also.
After the ceremony, we had buffet dinner at Merchant Court Hotel at Clarke Quay.
So, here's a toast to both of them, wishing them a happy and blissful marriage.
Congratulations!

Mother's Day Make-up Dinner....

Hee... thought that Mother's Day was this coming Sunday... that's why didn't bring her out yesterday or earlier. Usually, I'd bring her out earlier as Sunday would be quite crowded. She ever mentioned that she wanted to try Wah! Noogeez a-la carte buffet dinner. So that's where I brought her to for dinner. Their buffet menu had about 40 dishes I think... mainly hawker fair like wanton noodle, fried rice, lemon chicken etc... The noodle was really nice... Q Q and easily bitten off. I had tried similar noodle from a stall near my house. It was like biting wire... really needed some strength to bite off the noodle. That stall had since close down or shifted... anyway. The other dishes that we ordered were nice except for the pig's trotters which was mostly meatless, mainly fats and skin. The serving size of the dishes were ok except for some. I ordered one serving for prawns and chicken wings. When the dishes were served, the one serving was equivalent to 2 pieces of each. I looked at my mother and both of us laughed. The prawn was really pathetic. After peeling away the shell, it was really small. Nonetheless, both of us had a very filling dinner.

Happy Mother's Day

Sigh... I actually forgot that today is Mother's Day. Thought that it will be next Sunday. So sorry to her. Will bring her out for dinner tomorrow to make up for it. Very funny... why do we need to have a Mother's Day to remind that we should love our mother? Shouldn't we show our love her everyday of the year?

陈美光

已经好久没在电视上看见她了。虽然八频道有时还有重播她演过的戏，但是那些都是好几年前的了。直到去年尾在新视欢庆25周年的庆典上看到她。她变得好瘦了，行动也不很方便。虽然如此，但是她的单腆还是很有力。。。短短的四个字“一朵小花”证明了这一点。没想到今晚会在太和观的慈善表演上看到她。她在那晚演唱了一首《王昭君》。已经75岁的她，虽然还得用一个道具来帮助她站立，但是她还能把整首歌一字不露的唱出来。。。 甚至在歌传快的那部分也没忘词哦。。。 如果是我，舌头已经打结咯。真是佩服她。希望她那一方努力能够筹到很多钱。看到她真是一种鼓励。

Shot of the Day

20/4: Sparring Spotted Doves

I was at the Botanic Gardens, walking along the path outside the frangipani garden when I heard the spotted doves cooing. I wasn't that keen to photograph them but nevertheless I went to check it out. I saw 2 of them, not sure whether a male and female of both males. They were on this frangipani tree. Sometimes they seemed to be at peace with each other, sometimes they fought. From the tree, they fought to the ground. I guessed they were to engrossed with fighting each other that they never noticed this human standing near them. Their fighting stopped when one flew up to another frangipani tree and the other went the opposite direction. Aren't doves suppose to be symbol of peace? Well, if the symbol of peace are fighting each other how do you expect humans to live peacefully with other.

19/04: Flying Lizard

Actually I was after a changeable lizard which was had something in its mouth. I must have frightened it to release the object. It ran away. When I went back to see what that object was, I saw this lizard lying on the ground with it's "wings" opened. It's the first time I saw a flying lizard in the flesh. This one was very co-operative. It never ran away no matter how close I got to it. Maybe it was stunned by what it went through just now. When observed closely, it looked like the dragons seen in movies. Maybe that's where they got inspiration from.

Moments later I saw this colourful bird at the same stretch of field where I found the flying lizard. I slowly crept up so as not to frighten it away to see what it was. It turned out to be a red jungle fowl, the ancestor of the domestic checken. Never expect to see it in the gardens. This is the male. The female is duller in colour. My legs were badly bitten by mosquitoes while photographing it, but it's worth it.