Do you want to live in a fine city?

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From today’s Observer: US-style uniforms for yobs in new disorder crackdown.

The new minister for anti-social behaviour is quoted as wanting a “quick connection to community punishment” to be seen by the public as justice being done. The prospect of offenders wearing distinctive uniforms while doing community service sounds familiar. It’s a form of humiliation used previously by more authoritarian regimes, like old communist China. It also sounds a lot like the “Corrective Work Order” system for punishing Singaporean litterbugs. It’s debatable whether such a scheme has worked in keeping Singapore’s already obedient population from further offenses.

Am I the only one fed up with hearing politicians moralising, preaching and yapping about “family values”? If I remember correctly, the last government that tried to take us “back to basics” was itself brought down by too many scandals.

On Father’s Day

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The Doctor opens the door to the Tardis to reveal… A police box!

Good build up in this episode. From the moment we see the Dcotor and Rose watching the previous Doctor and Rose, we start to feel uneasy, and suspect Rose’s emotional involvement will cause nothing but trouble. And as the car loops repeatedly, we start to see a possible but unhappy solution to the invasion by the Reapers (which, incidentally, look just a little bit like an unholy cross between fell beasts and gargoyles). I’ve got a couple of small nit-picks regarding the Reapers’ appetites. Why is Mickey the only one to survive the massacre in the playground? (Just screams plot device…) And according to the Doctor, the older a person/object, the stronger it is. So why does the Reaper poised to attack the pregnant Sarah Clark veer off at the last minute to devour the vicar instead? Have I misunderstood the Doctor’s meaning and are older people tastier?

We tried to watch for the obligatory Bad Wolf reference, but got too caught up in the story. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to tape it, and we were able to watch it again more objectively. Shortly after Rose and the Doctor arrive in 1987, the camera pans across a wall with some SWP posters (No Third Term for Thatcher). Bad wolf appears as graffiti on one of the two “Energize (smiley face) 20.11.87” posters. We’ll probably feel a bit stupid if it doesn’t turn out to be anything significant. But then again, it’s like spotting the references to THX-1138 in George Lucas’s works, or counting the number times someone says “I’ve a bad feeling about this”. It’s just something for the fan-boys/girls to get excited about.

15 May ’05 edit: Scott’s Place is keeping a running update on the Bad Wolf references. Also, the BBC’s Doctor Who main page has changed, but I saved a screen capture from the week after The Long Game with the Bad Wolf reference.

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‘Dan-tart’ on HIGNFY

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On last night’s episode of Have I Got News For You (HIGNFY), a reference to the closure of “Fat Pang’s” favourite bakery, also covered by Chubby Hubby‘s blog. And here’s a photo of Patten tucking into one.

蛋 撻 (egg custard tart) used to be my favourite dim sum when I was a kid. I used to look forward to spending school holidays with my aunt, who often took us out for dim sum in a shopping mall (Thomson Shopping Centre, for those familiar with the area). There was something very satisfying about being allowed to eat the sweet with the savoury, and I continue to view mixing sweet & savoury as a real treat, like bacon rashers with maple syrup and pancakes for breakfast (hint for you, P).

Singlish

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Singabloodypore discusses my mother tongue: Singlish Under Attack Again, and makes the observation that “Sometimes I think certain leaders have some sort of inferiority complex or are they ashamed of their own people?”. To quote from a quote from the post:

Singapore’s prime minister launched the country’s latest behaviour modification campaign on Friday, urging teachers to use hip-hop and rap music to teach proper English and warning that continued use of the mutated local form of the language could make Singaporeans unintelligible.

More from cnews: Singapore turns to rap and hip-hop

It’s kinda amusing. I think the whole point of hip-hop and rap is the development and use of street language by people who reject the English spoken by their parents’ generation. It is probably impossible to rap within grammatic rules. Another case of the out-of-touch trying to “get down with it”. (As you can tell, I’m out of touch too…)

Besides, I think Singlish is a perfectly acceptable local dialect, rich in it’s use of phrases from several ethnic groups. It is a perfect example of a multicultural language, and should be encouraged! I continue to use it when speaking to fellow South-East Asians (m’sians have a similar local form of English), but am also capable of murdering the Queen’s English without any prompting. And to refute the govt’s claim that Singaporeans are unintelligible to foreign ears, my partner has absolutely no problems understanding Singlish when eavesdropping on my phone calls home.

For a taste of Singlish, check out the Coxford Singlish Dictionary. And I look forward to the day when Google adds Singlish to their list of interface languages. After all, Klingon and Bork-bork speakers are catered for. It’s about time a language spoken by over four million worldwide is recognised.

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Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight

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Red sky at night
Originally uploaded by framboise.

Sometimes the gods have no taste at all. They allow sunrises and sunsets in ridiculous pink and blue hues that any professional artist would dismiss as the work of some enthusiastic amateur who’d never looked at a real sunset.

—Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time (Doubleday p.180)

Pterry puts it beautifully when describing the pretty tasteless colours that make up the most beautiful on sunrises and sunsets. While they look stunning in real life, you wouldn’t really want to hang it on your living room wall, would you?

We’ve had pretty good weather all week in Edinburgh. It’s that old phenomenon where we get all of our good warm(-ish) weather in May, culminating in the usually hot and sunny holiday weekend. Then June, July and August merge as a wet and muggy season. The longer daylight hours also herald the sudden influx of tourists who think summer is a good time to visit. Little do they know… May is the best month, followed very closely by September and the early part of October. They’re also the best months for visiting the city, ‘cos the Festival visitors have left by then…

Photo taken at Yellowcraig Beach, between Gullane and North Berwick. Highly recommend all three beaches, along with Dunbar’s massive beach. All good for summer evening walks and flying kites, but still too cold to dip (unless you’re a masochist or die-hard surfer with an extra-thick wetsuit). Came across the strangest driftwood this evening.

Order! Order!

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Switched on BBC Parliament to watch the new Parliament being sworn in, and the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons. According to parliament.uk, the Speaker does not campaign on party issues when seeking re-election at the GE, a point that Alex Salmond drew attention to when referring to Michael Martin’s overwhelming majority in Glasgow North (ex-Springburn). I wonder why a constituency would re-elect their MP if he/she is Speaker, as it seems that the Speaker does not vote on motions (no data on theyworkforyou.com), and has to resign from his party when elected as Speaker.

It seems a lonely job, as the Speaker has to “keep apart from old party colleagues or any one group or interest and does not, for instance, frequent the Commons dining rooms or bars”. It’s not a job without dangers either, as Geoff Hoon pointed out. According to the factsheet, nine Speakers have died a violent death in office since 1399 (1 murdered, 1 killed in battle, and 7 beheaded). There’s an in-depth wiki entry, chock full of interesting trivia, like the following:

Taken from the Wikipedia entry for Speaker of the British House of Commons
In General Elections, it is customary for the Speaker to stand without party affiliation. Since parties began being listed on ballot papers, the Speaker’s affiliation is shown as “Speaker seeking re-election.” In the past few decades, the Conservatives have not stood against Speakers seeking re-election, regardless of their previous political affiliation. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have stood against ex-Conservative Speakers, but not against ex-Labour ones. Most recently, in 2001 and 2005, the only major party to oppose the ex-Labour Speaker Michael Martin was the Scottish National Party.

My cookbooks

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My cookbooks

Originally uploaded by framboise.

I was reading a post about potato soup on delicious days, and getting pretty hungry just reading the recipe, when I came across a meme going around about cookbooks. Being new to this blogging business (previous websites have always just been online CVs), I thought I should at least participate in one meme in my blogging life. Plus, it would keep me occupied and stop me from drooling any further on the keyboard.

The meme was initiated by spiceblog, and I may be breaking blogging protocol here by not having been invited to join in (if so, leave a comment and I’ll go quietly… aww… these food bloggers are so nice…).

  1. Rationale behind what we’re seeing?
    This nook in my very small kitchen is super handy, apart from the fact that I’m short and can’t reach the middle and top shelves. So all the most-used cookbooks are conveniently stored on the bottom shelf. Top of the dog-ears are two paperbacks by Nigel Slater: Real Fast Food and Real Fast Pudding. Plus the two New Covent Garden Soup Co.’s books, from which I’ve posted quite a few recipes on this blog. Most of the “trendy” books on the middle shelf were gifts from friends and relatives; only 2-3 recipes tried from each as it’s a real faff to get ingredients together for them. Prue Leith’s bible is only on the less-used middle shelf ‘cos she won’t fit on the bottom. The oldest of the collection dates from 1976: Mrs Lee’s Cookbook, first owned by my Mom.
  2. Most recommended?
    Without a doubt, Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food, followed very closely by Real Fast Pudding. The recipes are sensible. The ingredients are often in our store cupboard or fridge, and if not, alternative ideas are often provided. The pudding book is arranged by season, which suits us to a T as we get our fruit in a box scheme. And most importantly, most of the dishes can be prepared within 30 min with minimum fuss (risotto is an exception, as we all know).
  3. Cookbook that made you what you were?
    Delia’s Winter Collection. First book I bought while at Uni, and I’ve tried almost half the recipes now. Her precision chimes with my need to cook like I’m still in the lab. (Although Nigel Slater makes me a freer cook.)
  4. Porniest cookbook?
    While the obvious choice would normally be Nigella Bites, the one that gives me the shakes is Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes. I often succumb, and make something from it.
  5. Sophie’s Choice cookbook?
    Mrs Lee’s Cookbook. You can’t escape your heritage.
  6. If you were a cookbook, which cookbook would you be?
    That’s a toughie. It pretty much boils down to whether I am ‘exciting and exotic’, ‘interesting and innovative’, ‘prim and precise’, or ‘tasteful and trendy’. Since I’m some, yet none, of the above, I might as well confess to being Nigel Slater’s Appetite. Food pr0n is all well and good, but all we really want is to know that the lamb will be roasted just long enough to be safe to eat yet still be pink.
  7. If your cookbook we’re extrememly valuable, so valuable you might hide it with other valuables, where would that place be?
    In plain sight.

Hey, this meme stuff is quite fun. It’s helped me to gather my thoughts of which books mean the most to me. And instead of fretting that I have to leave most of them in storage, I can go away knowing that I will rediscover them on my return. (Having by then exhausted the ones I’m taking with me…) Thank you, anthony!

Bottom shelf Middle shelf Top shelf
Bottom Middle Top

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Fit the twentieh

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Beeblebrox
Originally uploaded by framboise.

In which Arthur finds a crystal bowl, meets a conscious Fenchurch, chats her up, is harrassed by a lady flogging raffle tickets, wins said raffle, promptly loses Fenchurch’s telephone number, and gets colossally bored.

I love the theme tune. It reminds me of happy weekends, listening to the tapes in the car. I loved my HHGTTG tapes. They were my first tapes, and were covered in shiny metallic paper in different cool colours (the purple one really stood out, don’t know why). I lent them to a friend back home, and forgot to ask for them back. Have since bought a new set, but will be investing in the complete collection on CD at some point. Maybe when the Quintessential Phase has been released (which I’ll miss, although I could listen to it online). I also can’t help seeing that photo of the walrus when I think of the Quandary phase, which is based on the fourth book in the trilogy, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. That’s another of my books I’ve not seen in over ten years. I didn’t enjoy SLATFATF the first time I read it. I had just finished reading the trilogy, and picked up my dad’s copy of SLATFATF. I think some of the humour was a bit beyond me at that age, and tried again a few years later. Lots of laughter ensued, but I haven’t revisited it since. I’m looking forward to rediscovering it as a radio play.

Link to Fit the Twentieh, Quandary Phase repeats. (On Radio 4’s site until the 17th of May.) Fleshed-out episode synopses.

Dig that hoopy frood. Tuesdays are like having a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, or a cuppa tea if you’re so inclined. The Quandary phase on Radio 4 at 6.30pm, and if you stay up late (or have a VCR), the TV series on BBC 2 at 11.20pm. Even as a kid I thought Zaphod’s second head was a bit pathetic, even if it was state of the art. DNA: such a visionary that technology struggled to keep up with him (and still does). And while Movie-Marvin may look swish, Marvin will always be a clapped-out clunky robot stereotype to me.

Do say: “Well, Zaphod’s just zis guy, you know…”

Don’t say: “Wait a minute, what’s this switch? … No, I was only fooling. We are going to die after all.”

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May the Farm be with you

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Store Wars poster

Store Wars.

Another Star Wars parody.

This time, one with a message.

Keep the Organic Rebellion alive…

The choice of character names is hilarious (Obi-wan Cannoli!), and the voices are pretty much spot on. Love the stormtroopers, “more chemical than vegetable”, “reach out with your peelings”. And wait till you see their version of R2-D2. I nearly fell off my chair laughing.

It may yet be better than the prequels. (Reserving judgement until I’ve seen the final installment.)

First saw it on the Treehugger site.

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