Another teacher and I performed the Blues Brothers rendition of "Soul Man" at a lipsync competition. I didn't bother to pull it from the camera until today. I'm not really much of a dancer, but I go to great lengths to entertain my middle school students.
Now, compare us to the real thing!
I guess there are good reasons why I was never asked to be on SNL.
I had an incredible Chinese New Year in Malacca, Malaysia with Nadnut, Precious Living, and the Highway Blogger. I managed to eat all of the traditional Chinese New Year goodies, roam streets lined with traditional colonial shop houses, talk to their eccentric dwellers, try my hand at a few carnival games, and sleep in a quaint budget hostile in the heart of the historic district. I'll be posting more about these adventures as I get the chance, but right now I wanted to share some of my pictures of the recent eclipse.
Both of these pictures were taken with my Nikon D60 through my 50mm lens. In order to filter the light, I was able to use an x-ray slide that one of Precious Living's relatives brought to the party. The top picture has been cropped, but I have not altered the colors. On the bottom picture I used GIMP to set a custom curve to increase the contrast.
Live from Twitter:
Mad magazine's Dick Debartolo just twittered that his magazine will be going quarterly after its 500th issue. 
I obsessed over Mad magazine between sixth and tenth grade so this is a little personal for me. However, it doesn't surprise me. For a decade Mad magazine has been deviating from the vision of its founder William M. Gaines. Some time back and inspired by the (short term) success its TV show of the same name, the magazine did a "relaunch" where they included a color section, accepted advertisements, and decided to include more explicit humor. It was also about this time that I stopped subscribing. Somewhere along the line, they also gave up their independence, sold themselves to a larger publishing house, and moved from their Madison Avenue office.
Mad's original combination of witty and subversive (but not raunchy) comics on "cheap" newsprint was a timeless formula. It doesn't surprise me that they've jacked with the formula and, consequently, are on the brink of failure. Portzebie... Ecch...
Less than a week in office, and Obama is authorizing American taxpayer funding to destroy overseas fetuses. He's not keeping his promise to compromise or looking for a way to "decrease the abortion rate." No one should be surprised at this; Bill Clinton implemented the same measure. The AP reports:
President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortions, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
Link
I'm throwing this out to see if anyone can help.
An aquaintance of mine invited me to a Chinese New Year party in Melaka, Malaysia. I went down to the bus terminal across from the Victoria street wholesale market and purchased a ticket. The man wouldn't sell me a round trip ticket. "You get the return ticket on the other side," he said.
The problem is my friend in Melaka can't seem to locate a Tuesday night return ticket for me. All of the buses are booked. If any readers of this blog can tell me a safe way to get from Melaka to Singapore on Tuesday night, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!
An Australian friend of mine sent me a link to an article by Janet Albrechtsen titled "Seduced by the Saint." While the whole world has their eyes on Obama and is partying like crazy over his victory, Albrechtsen takes a hard look at some of the cultural and ideological forces that produced such a mania. She contends that Obama's victory is a decisive moment in civil rights history, but for him to be given a fair shake as President he must be scrutinized as closely as the former-President Bush.
President Obama entered the history books our children will read. His presidency bookends an era that began with segregation between blacks and whites and ended when he became the 44th American president and the first black man in the White House. No one can take that away from him. Nor can anyone doubt his charisma or political skills.
However, the inauguration is just a moment in history. While Obama’s toastmaster skills are exceptional, his performance as President is an entirely different and more uncertain matter. Yet if the liberal media’s performance to date is any guide, predetermined judgments in favour of Obama will infect coverage of his presidency.
I bought a swanky new 50mm AF-S lens for my D60 and I decided to go down to the Victoria Street Wholesale Market to test it out. I took a few interesting shots, but the contents of this photo I just can't identify. Any thoughts or guesses? Please post your responses in the comments section.
Japan from Eric Testroete on Vimeo.
Eric Testrete, a guy I've never met, went to Japan and took over 3,000 pictures. He stitched most of them together and made a music video documenting his travels. The cool thing for me is that I have been to about half of the places that he visited.
In Singapore, American celebrities often endorse products they would never dream of endorsing in America. There are two hundred fifty million Americans and only four million Singaporeans. If four million people think less of you for a quick buck, it's okay; but two hundred fifty million naysayers just won't work. Jessica Alba endorsed beer, Richard Gere endorsed Visa, and Eva Longoria endorsed ice cream.
There was a giant ice cream freezer at the newstand near my flat that pictured Eva licking a Magnum ice cream bar. For almost a year, I intended to take a picture of the ad and write a pithy blog post about it. Well, now that freezer is gone. Yesterday they replaced that freezer with one that doesn't feature any celebrities or Desperate Housewives. It's too bad you'll never get to read my witty observations about the irony of a supermodel-perfect gal hawking a 300 calorie ice cream bar.
I was inspired by these people to go visit Kampong Buangkok, one of the last surviving villages in Singapore. On my journey, I discovered that there just wasn't much there.
I got off at Buangkok MRT about seven o'clock. The area surrounding the kampong is one of the greenest and most manicured areas. There is a state-of-the-art public transportation building and shiny ney HDB flats. I eventually found the road to get to the little river that runs down to the village. When I finally arrived, dogs began barking at me, cats began meowing and I discovered that I was about to turn into someone's private property. At twilight, in one of the poorest parts of Singapore, I decided that this wasn't a good idea.
Eventually I came to a slightly more public area that was marked by a few piles of junk and a handpainted sign that said Lorong Kampong Buangkok. It was getting dark, but I still decided to walk up and down the dirt road. There were a few really new houses and a few houses that were put together with scrap metal.
It was nice to find an actual neighborhood in Singapore. It's too bad that I didn't meet anyone. I couldn't even find a place in the kampong to buy dinner or coffee. I walked out of the kampong and took a more traveled street than the one that I initially walked. I noticed construction vehicles surrounding the place like a pack of wolves. I read in the New Paper this morning that the owner may get 33 million dollars from the government for selling it.
I wouldn't need to make this post, if I hadn't been so negative in the past. However, I must say that might roundtrip flight between Springfield, Missouri, and Singapore was pleasant. Actually, except for the fact that I had to haggle for a hotel stay, my entire journey was great.
In previous years I've bashed the TSA for destroying my luggage and acting arrogant, but this time nothing was unreasonable. When I arrived in the country, the Department of Homeland Security representative wished me a Merry Christmas and, as I was leaving the country, the lady at security politely reminded me to renew my passport. Nobody hassled me about that dangerous full-size stick of deodorant that I carried through the gate.
Moreover, the Northwest staff seemed really on the ball. One of the flight attendants brought me NWA cards after he saw that I was using Thai airways cards to play solitaire. Nobody looked put off when I asked for water (which you aren't allowed to bring on a twelve hour flight). A friend of mine (but not me) was even bumped up to World Business Class. Some of the staff even seemed to be trying extra hard to be friendly. Perhaps the Northwest/Delta merger will have a positive impact on everyone.
Taken out of context, I know this post sounds a little snobbish, like I expect to be served on an airline. In a way, I do have this feeling; over ten percent of my income is spent on airline tickets. Also Since I've written so many negative things in the past, I thought that I might write about the positive.
They've got to figure out a less confusing way to display their signs.
Photo taken with a Treo 680.
If you're a regular reader of this blog, make sure to check out my sidebar. I've retooled the blogroll, and created a separate list for missionaries, and added a Flickr badge.
As for the blogroll, I added some prominent Singapore bloggers to the blogroll along along with some blogs that I read on a regular basis. There are lots of other great blogs out there, but I know that my students read this blog. So if you have excessive profanity, inappropriate content, or material that I wouldn't want to discuss with a twelve year old, you didn't make the cut.
If you scroll down, there is also a place for you to follow me. Your avatar and a link to your profile will be proudly displayed.
Hurry up and get one before they're gone! Make sure to look at the month of July.
Link
Toad Suck, Missouri, is the colloquial name of the community of Iconium, Missouri. I swear it is a real place, and I have quite a few family members that live in the area.
Link
Move over Monopoly; there's a new strategy game in town- Ninja Burger. Designed by Steve Jackson, this game requires you to take on the role of a fast food delivering ninja. Rolling dice helps you deliver fast food to frat houses, intergalactic locations, and the house next door. Completing missions awards you honor points. The person to collect the most honor points by the time the game ends will be the winner.
Read all about it at the official website
Link
