Photographed at Haw Par Villa (Tiger Balm Gardens).

• went to Ikea for bathroom furniture (partly successful)
• had dinner at Amber Restaurant (if you want real Chinese food, don’t go there)
• went to body pump
• joined the gym
• joined the library
• upgraded WordPress
• had Chinese takeaway for dinner
• saw Meet The Spartans (disappointing)
• did the weekly shop at Asda
• had brunch at Frankie & Benny’s (steak and eggs — steak for breakfast?)
• bought three books from beleaguered bookseller The Works
• went to the gym
• made a really decent minestrone soup from fresh ingredients (excepting the tomatoes and beans, which were canned)
• watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Estelle attacks ‘blindness to black talent’:

“There is a fashion for YWFs - young white females,” said Paul McKenzie, editor of the urban music magazine Touch. “They are the ones who are given the money and the time, and most importantly, people are patient with them. Duffy, if she hadn’t had this hit, would have been given a second chance, and a third. Estelle wasn’t. The people who hold the purse strings are looking at trends rather than talent. If you’re not a young white female - in other words if you’re black - I can imagine that is incredibly depressing.”

Hmm. I don’t listen to young black men and women (or young white men and women) doing soul and R&B and hip-hop because… I don’t like soul and R&B and hip-hop. They should be thanking their lucky stars I’m not into that kind of music, since I’m such a cheapskate I only buy the S$11.90 Special Singapore Editions once a year anyway!

Besides, if what Paul MacKenzie says is true, it’s not about race, it’s about what makes money (well, knock me over with a feather). Can talented young black women musicians not create a demand for their ‘product’? Are they mad that what is considered ‘black’ music is mainstream enough for white chicks with nice voices to get in on the action? But if soul music had never gone mainstream, the record companies would be accused of being racist, wouldn’t they?

I also have a question. How many successful (commercially or critically) bands / acts that do NOT do soul, R&B, or hip-hop feature a strong black presence? There are loads of people of every colour trying to do R&B (mostly poorly), but when it comes to black people doing rock, pop rock, or indy, I can really only think of Hootie and the Blowfish and the the Dave Matthews Band.

BTW, didn’t Leona Lewis just get her first Billboard no. 1? She’s not a YWF.

I know I’ve moved further and further to the bedevilled ol’ Right when it comes to certain issues*, but when it comes to politics, I’m as Lefty as a left-handed person who works in a left-handed company**. So I say, boycott the Olympic Games!

It’s fucking wrong that more developed countries are so dependent on cheap labour and the promise of a billion-plus market to sell their goods that they are essentially giving China a free pass to do whatever they want, with a few grudging noises about the niggly little issue known as human rights***. Tut-tutting at Hu Jintao and the Chinese government doesn’t cut the mustard. They’re fucking presiding over a huge country, do you think they would have manoeuvred into that position if they’d been intimidated by a few admonitory words?

We need to hit China where it hurts — don’t show them any face.

I want people, whoever they are and whatever position they’re in, to stand up against institutional cruelty and evil simply because it’s in their own interest to do so (in recognition that people are instinctively selfish, or is that self-preserving). There should be personal consequences for supporting, say, Coca-Cola, Atos Origin, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, Lenovo, Manulife, McDonalds, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung, Visa, Volkswagen, Adidas, Air China, UPS, Haier, Budweiser, Tsingtao, BHP, TechnoGym, Staples, PWC, and Schenker Logistics, among others, so the opportunity cost of using these branded products and services is too high.

If a high-profile Olympic athlete chose to withdraw from the competition, more might follow suit, turning the competition into a complete farce — but I know that’s not going to happen, personal glory and a lifetime of lucrative product spokesperson contracts is too great a temptation to ignore.

So, fired up as I am, I know that governments of supposedly more developed countries will continue to rubber stamp China through this latest psychological milestone of terrible behaviour becoming acceptable, and our pot of water will get just that little warmer after this summer.

* Frankly, I think it’s perfectly in keeping with my believing strongly in anarchism but recognising the practical impossibility of a happy anarchistic society.
** I actually do. Strange statistical anomaly.
*** Real human rights, not complacent litigious people looking to avoid a speeding ticket.

Aside from not liking spending a load of money just on one day, I’ve always wondered how people can (relatively) happily throw away huge amounts of money on a wedding: Nearly half of marriages doomed for divorce, study finds.

(It costs approximately 100 GBP to be married at your local council office. That’s more like it!)

I’ve never been rickrolled. I would certainly be surprised to click on a link about a topic (not Rick Astley) and end up watching him in his, er, heyday, wearing that denim shirt and high-waisted jeans.

We used to call him Mr. Potatohead when his Stock, Aitken and Waterman days were just beginning. We giggled at his inability to dance, his poofy hair, but never at his voice. He has an amazing voice.

Mr. Astley, even though you’ll be touring in an 80s revival (some things should not be revisited), I still think you’re faboo.

This is currently my favourite teevee ad:

Absolutely hilarious.

Parents told to write bedtime tales. Mum wrote stories for us to read at bedtime (we weren’t so into storytelling as we got older), and although we didn’t keep ‘em (she coulda been JK Rowling before JK Rowling), I remember they were great fun.

• watched The Friday Night Project
• watched Jonathon Ross
• watched Saturday Kitchen while putting hooks into our new curtains
• had lunch at Ravellos with Stuart
• hung out with my cousin’s family (and was ‘treated’ to half-sung renditions of various songs from High School Musical 2 — oh joy)
• sat and watched Grease (second half) and Grease 2 (hahahahahaha!)
• had a long lunch and chat with Stuart, Derek, and Indira (at Mao)
• did the weekly shop at Tesco (more expensive than Asda)
• played on the laptop while Neil watched Not Another Teen Movie (classy)

Project Un-dull-ify isn’t going very well, and it’s only the end of March.

1. I’m not crafting much at all, given that almost everything is still in the other house. I’ve done a tiny bit of birthday gift crafting, but that’s about it. Grade: VERY POOR
2. I’m only getting to Body Pump sporadically, and haven’t been to the gym even once during the week, because I want to join the gym but I haven’t yet. Grade: POOR
3. The last film I saw was Be Kind Rewind, which was excellent, but I’m not watching much of anything (beyond stuff on the television). The lack of free time is a real factor. Grade: POOR
4. I haven’t seen a single comedy act. Grade: FAIL
5. I’ve been to every single Edinburgh BookCrossing meetup (except February, when I was in Singapore). Grade: GOOD
6. I haven’t got round to joining the library yet. Grade: FAIL

Think I’ve lost the enthusiasm for The (new) Famous Five now I’ve found out they’re going to be a fucking Disney fucking animated fucking series. Fuck.

The Famous Five is one of those things I hold very dear. My childhood was spent trying to invent adventures and intrigue in a not-very-exciting suburban neighbourhood. I wanted mysteries to uncover — the closest I got was discovering a fully-operational brothel across the street, and it wasn’t detective work that revealed this decidedly scandalous information, our housekeeper told us about it (the brothel owners told her to keep quiet about it and there wouldn’t be any trouble).

So I’m pretty annoyed that this classic series is being dumbed-down (given the series is for children, I’m even more concerned) for the current generation. Surely there’s some irony in a television series trying to encourage kids to go outside.

I’ve put a couple of Famous Five collections on my wishlist. I gave the kids (other kids) a Secret Seven collection not so long ago, maybe I’ll be able to find these Famous Five ones at Asda, too.

Need I say more?

I never thought I could find a book who could match my love for To Kill a Mockingbird, until I read The Changeling.

True, I work for the publisher, but this does not take away from the fact that The Changeling is one of the most amazing short novels ever. So I’m breaking my rule about not talking shop just so I can rave about this book.

I would encourage everyone to go out and buy this book, but I still have a work-personal life line I won’t cross, so get it out at your library, or request it on bookmooch, or RABCK on BookCrossing. I haven’t met a single person who’s read this book and not loved it.

The Changeling is set in 1950s Scotland, on the west coast. Glasgow teacher Charles Forbes is a slightly bumbling, overweight man who one might describe as a tree-huggin’ hippie or bleeding heart liberal in modern parlance. He called to mind, right away, the Modern Parents from Viz. He decides to invite a deprived 13-year old student named Tom Curdie on holiday to the fictional village of Towellan, a place he and his family have enjoyed year after year.

(It leads me to wonder if he’s the only one who thinks the whole family loves it.)

Spoilers below.

You know that things are going to go badly — pretty much from the beginning. Tom is a complex enigma, being kind to his brother and sister, and even a stray cat one minute, and breaking into his school and stealing money (as well as deliberately playing a prank as a fuck you to the teachers) the next.

The late Robin Jenkins, who penned this tale, was clearly a seriously talented man. I found myself as conflicted about how I felt about Tom as the Curdies did. I had no real opinion, then I thought he was bad to the core (and manipulative, too), then I felt sorry for him, and felt increasingly so, right up until the abrupt and shocking ending*.

I’m not going to say what that ending is, but you really feel for Tom as he struggles to stay ’strong’ and ’streetwise’ because he knows that after this holiday, the Forbes will go home to their nice house — consciences clear — and Tom has to return to Donaldson’s Court, the slum where his mother, her maimed lover, his brother, and half-sister live.

Boo Radley did not suffer in the same way!

The Changeling makes us think about charity, what is real charity, and what actually helps (rather than harms). On the surface, taking a poor child on vacation with you may seem like the nice thing to do, but on reflection (as everyone in the Forbes family save Charles and his young son Alistair seemed to sense before the holiday actually took place), is it the right thing? It makes us think about our prejudices and assumptions about people, because no one is ever exactly what they seem (a great example is Charles’ mother-in-law, Mrs. Storrocks, who is first exactly what she seems, then she isn’t, then she is again).

On the whole, I would say that The Changeling is one of those books that could change your life — if you’re still young enough to be impressionable, that is. It may be set (and was written) in the 1950s, but the themes of social bias and the questioning of our assumptions are just as relevant today.

* It made me reel, it gave me headspins. The ending is worth crying over.

It may look like sliced, dried crap, but it tastes fucking amazing.

Trial of Chinese activist begins:

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, when asked to comment on his case at a news conference at the close of parliament, said issues like this would be handled according to the law.

“As for critics’ view that China is trying to increase its efforts to arrest dissidents ahead the Olympic Games, I think all these accusations are unfounded,” he said.

He’s 100% abso-fucking-lutely right. The CCP always been harsh on political activists (in fact, they’ve been worse in the past), it’s only been recently that mainstream Western media have been making lots of noise about it.

On balance, their treatment of political prisoners has probably improved, most probably due to global scrutiny! And they probably hope everyone will lose interest after the Olympics.

Updated to add: I’m thinking the Olympics will go through mostly unscathed and China will be allowed to go on doing what it’s doing (with noises made by other governments but no action being taken) as long as it doesn’t start fucking with global trade.

Sigh. Catfights. Geeky catfights, at that.

I’ve pared my WP install down to very few plugins (and none of them show up on the plugin compatibility page), so perhaps my experience will be different when it gets upgraded to 2.5. I’ve never had problems upgrading since I started using WP, but never say never, I guess.

I’ll see what happens, but I’m not going to bother to switch — my sites need a bit of a re-design, anyway. If I ever find the time…

As the saying goes, You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. Neil has been exceedingly (and now, increasingly) aggrieved that he is now the only member of his family who doesn’t smoke.

His mother has been enjoying her freedom to smoke by smoking everywhere in the bloody house since we’ve moved over the road. Which is not great for things like my yarn that still lives there. I guess I’m Febreze-ing everything when we’ve finally got storage for them.

His sister also smokes heavily, and when she’s not mad at Neil she smokes only up in her room and on the porch. Most unfortunately, as non- and former smokers know, it doesn’t matter if the door’s shut — the smoke still gets everywhere. Neil was heard muttering, “What’s the point of having a shower when I’m surrounded by smoke the moment I step out of the bathroom?” this morning.

(Point to note: his sister had agreed to stop smoking once the house started being renovated. Clearly, her definition of ‘house’ does not include the kitchen or any bedroom. And, I suspect, the bathroom or either living room. Or the hall. One might feel Neil’s pain, but one should also note that Neil knows very well that his mother and sister forget things they’ve agreed to if it doesn’t suit them.)

Neil, you know you’re one of the most important people in my life and I love you to bits, but HONEY, it’s not like they’ve ever seriously contemplated quitting the habit. You may really want them to, for a less stinky house and their (and our) general health, but, as you’ve pointed out kajillions of times, if you ever try to tell them something, they do the exact opposite just to piss you off. You were absolutely determined to move into this house, with your sister who smokes. Things are going to smell like smoke.

Unless, of course, there are ways we can minimise the impact of a smoker in the house. I’ve thought of draught-proofing her room (sure to cause a fight and huffy living-room smoking) and installing an exhaust fan upstairs (sadly impractical). We’ve got one of those water-based air purifiers — maybe I can turn it on when I get up in the morning (nothing sexier than a lady who has a lit cigarette hangin’ outta her gob while she’s getting ready for work) to minimise the levels of Neil-grumbles.

I’m looking for more ideas. Ideas must be subtle enough to avoid fights with someone who behaves as though she’s pre-menstrual all year round, but effective at soaking up smoky smells. I suspect the air purifier is the only way, but I’m happy to stand corrected.

Do girls like pink because they’re supposed to like pink? Because I hated pink anything as a child and I still fucking think pink is gag-worthy.

• almost finished The Changeling
• had dinner at ichiban (ramen, sushi)
• hung out at my cousin’s house (laughed our asses off at Sacha Baron Cohen)
• went to Body Pump
• washed and dried old Fine Bone China tea sets for storage
• had a couple of drinks at the Taylors’ and the promptly fell asleep while everyone was waiting for the anti-climax known as boxing (I woke up in time to see the 4th minute of the match, which was the end of it)
• did the weekly shop at Asda
• went online and signed up for residential broadband
• almost finished The God Delusion

My own catlol on I Can Has Cheezburger — vote for me!