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If you are expecting any serious stuff from this movie, then you shouldn’t watch it. It’s an Adam Sandler movie and pure comedy. The story is about Zohan, an Israeli super-commando who can kick through walls to knock out terrorists hiding behind them, strips a terrorist’s weapon faster than he can pull the trigger, catches bullets with his noise, and kicks any terrorists ass many ways. Yet all he wanted to do was to get away from all the fighting, and be a hair stylist. Failing to get the understanding from his parents, Zohan fakes his death in a mission to capture the terrorist known as ‘The Phantom’, and then stow away on a plane to America to seek his dreams. After failing to be employed by several hair stylists, he ends up in a neighbourhood where the Arabs and the Israelis live side by side along a common street. This is where he met Dalia, an Arab girl, and was given a job in the her hair salon and he subsequently fell in love with her after a while. In the background were subplots on how Halim, whose goat was taken by Zohan back when they were still in Israel, trying to take revenge for that deed, and how an evil developer tried to create tension and hatred among the Israeli and Arab expatriate communities so they will move out to allow him to build a mall. |
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Of course in the end the man gets the girl, and the bad guy gets his just deserts. Behind all these is probably this one big ‘lecture’ on how there isn’t really much separating everyone except for the politics, while the politics also linked them together, and how everyone can put aside the hatred and live happily together. You know, that usual bs about America is the melting pot of all cultures and the land where everyone goes to live out their dreams. [I believe the Russian word for that would be Strana Mechty – Country of Dreams.] I wondered beyond that, whether the underlying theme behind this movie is trying to tell us that Israeli super-commandos are horny and immoral to the point they don’t care who they are humping. Or is it trying to hint that the Americans – symbolised by the the white real estate developer Walbridge – is the mastermind behind all the flare ups in the Middle East. Of course, I agree entirely that it is meaningless to capture the terrorists only to exchange them after some talks. My personal opinion is just enjoy the movie and laugh about it without looking for too much meaning. We all need some mindless humor and relaxtion once in awhile and this movie would definitely provide it if you would keep yourself from being too critical or trying to hard to be an artsy fartsy dimwit. |
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Month: June 2008
Netherlands 1 – 3 Russia (aet)
Yes! Russia!
A deserving loss for the Netherlands for not letting Romania through so the blasted Shitalians can go back to do some Alfresco dining eating Spaghetti and coffee drinking!
Are we looking at the possibility of a Turkey vs Russia finals?
(If you need to sing the Russian Anthem patriotically… watch the following Youtube video and karaoke on your own. It might have been the ‘Hymn of the Soviet Union’ but then I don’t know better…)
无耻之徒
别人公开了自己被非礼，或者被诽谤了就让法庭用正当的法律途径来解决。非亲非故之鼠辈，又何必妄下评论？
我已经习惯了互联网上一些本地用者 (并不完全指以下的博客们) – 也可以说是多数本地用者 – 的狭隘，缺乏逻辑和不负责任。他们不遗余力的向世界证明新加坡无知之人比比皆是，但是拥有智慧认识自己无知的却少之又少。与此同时不知自己无知的他们还喋喋不休的说个不停。不单如此，有些还自鸣正义和恬不知耻的来肯定自己拥有那无耻的权力。这一类卑鄙下流之辈非但不是举世无双，而且还大有人在。本座以为，只要再加努力，有朝一日他们的无耻肯定能达到登峰造极的境界。
[Translation]: When someone publicised her ordeal of being molested, or when someone claims to have been defamaed, what should be done would be to let the courts settle the matter rightfully and legally. Is there a need for the unrelated and the unacquainted to offer their unsolicited comments?
I am used to the narrow-mindedness, lack of logic and irresponsibility of some local netizens (and I don’t really mean the bloggers in the screen capture below) – in fact many local netizens. They tirelessly prove to the world repeatedly that ignorant people are common in Singapore, and those with the wisdom to know they are ignorant are rare. Yet, these ignorant people who are unwary of this fact continue to chatter endlessly and meaninglessly. On top of that, some of these even justify their right to being shameless self-righteously and without any evidence of shame. Unfortunately, these despicable and low-class individuals are not a rarity, but common. It is our considered opinion that with some diligence, there will be one day they would achieve the pinnacle of shamelessness.
A ruckus about a $8.15 cab fare
The above is a screen capture from Google Earth showing the general area of Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, Circular Road and the Golden Shoe area. For the map showing the direction of travel of the roads in the above photo, please refer to (the copyrighted maps at) SLA Map Service.
The purpose of this post is for everyone to better understand the road conditions in that area, and to see for ourselves if a $8.15 cab fare during peak hours in the CBD is reasonable, or whether the cabbie has indeed taken his passengers for a joy ride to cheat his passengers earn a few more dollars. Do note that boarding a cab during evening peak hours in the CBD would carry a $3 CBD surcharge (until 12 midnight), plus a 35% surcharge on the metered fare (until 9:30pm). That means, upon flag down it would already cost the passenger at least $6.80 [$2.80 flag down, 35% on $2.80 = $1 & $3 CBD surcharge], and it might cost more than that if you flag down the wrong kind of cab – e.g. a Mercedes Cab or even a Sonata.
From the drawings indicating the roundabout route the cabbie took, my guess is that the two ladies boarded at Central, and the cab then turn left and went down River Valley Road. It then make a U-turn either at Clemenceau Avenue, or somewhere near Liang Court, come back to junction where the MITA building is, make a right turn and then took a left down Upper Circular Road. The distance I measure in Google Map was about 1.28km, which means the cab had some stoppage time – either waiting to make the u-turn or at the traffic lights.
Frankly, this is really one of the two shortest route possible. I personally can’t think of a better one which would cost less because anyone who works in the CBD would have known taking a cab and have it move to the opposite side of the road is not such a straight forward task. It’s not everywhere one can make a u-turn, and some of the roads at the next junction allows left turn only because the traffic of the intersecting road heads only in that direction. (Worst yet, in some places the LTA has forbidden right turns – e.g. the junction of Victoria Street & Bras Brasah Road.)
In other words, a $8.15 cab fare is about just right, and it could have been worse if the cabbie act like a complete bastard and go all the way down to Middle Road near Bugis and make his u-turn, or go past River Valley, turn left at Clemenceau Avenue, then left again down Havelock Road, pass Church Street and around Collyer Quay into Battery Road and drop the ladies at OCBC Building.
In short, it is my considered opinion that the cab driver did not deliberately take a roundabout route to ‘cheat his passengers’ . However, he could at least have shown his passengers some courtesy by telling them that their destination was just across the road, and only take them when they insist on the ride.
Anyway, I personally won’t begrudge the cabbie for the money he has made out of this trip. In fact, the real people to blame is the LTA. Consider this, after you take out the $3 CBD surcharge and the 35% peak hour surcharge, the trip would have cost just $3+ or $4+. The purpose of all these surcharges was never to help the cabbie make more money, but just a means to make it so expensive, it ‘prices some of the demand out of the market’ .
The Idiot’s Stock Pick (II)
The prices of the previous two stock pick remained pretty depressed due to the turmoil in the stock market as a result of the oil prices (Don’t say I didn’t warn you!). SMRT definitely did better than Comfort Delgro, maybe due to the fact that it is proposing a one time dividend of 6 cts per share in the coming AGM on 11 July.
Anyway, if you are looking at some good companies for a longer term investment, then these two new picks do look quite good on the charts. But as the title says, it’s the Idiot’s pick, so don’t blame me if you lose money or if it went the same way as the previous two.
Entry level: < = $0.94, Idiot's Target: $1.10.
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Golden Agri – registered double profit as a result of high palm oil price. It is currently trading at relatively low PE, and industry outlook remain positive as demand in palm oil remains strong.
Entry level: < = 0.21, Target: $0.24
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RH Energy – orders are currently picking up. With the current high oil prices, it is expected to see more oil exploration activity and the business potential is good.