coffeeshoptalk

"if you shop in macau or hong kong and ask for discount, please use english instead of mandarin. that's because the macau citizens simply dislike the chinese. for example, if you ask how much? in mandarin, you will get $450. now ask in english and you will get $250."

that was the advice given by jh who recently went on holiday in macau.

are the chinese (prc) so detestable?

not so long ago, there was a report about the readiness of the beijing citizens in hosting the olympic. being ready means they have to provide, among other things, a world-standard infrastructure in transport, building and environment. that also means the locals have to be able to converse in the international language (english) too.

anyway, the reporter tried to ask for direction (in english) to the forbidden city on the streets of beijing. unsurprisingly, nine out of ten being asked were unable to either speak english, understand or speak proper english. i thought she would never be able to get to anywhere by asking for direction. then the reporter tried to get off a bus. all the other passengers did not give way but stood at their spot like the statue of michael jordan in front of united center. she had to muscle her way down the bus. it took her 10 minutes. the reporter also observed people cutting queues and forcing their way up the buses, and almost resulting in fights.

what she reported is a way of life of the beijing citizens. over here, i have seen a fair share of what most of us would reckon as an ugly sight demonstrated by the chinese prc.

just a few days ago, while having lunch with a colleague at a food centre, two chinese prc naturally sat on the unoccupied seats of our table! they didn't even ask whether or not the seats had been taken by somebody else. they were simply rude! i was infuriated. "if they were in shirt and pants, their action were simply rude. but they look uneducated, so just ignore them. furthermore, they weren't irritating us", said soo. soo had a point. still, i felt a person should have basic, no-brainer courtesy.

i detest the behaviour of the chinese prc. so many times i have seen them behaving rudely and so many times i got upset over what i had seen.

i think i have answered the question myself.

jay chou concert

i have joined the dark side. i am the critic for now. i am going to give my honest opinion about jay's concert which ended at about 2230h.

overall, i feel it was a disappointing performance. well, it was alright at the beginning. but towards the middle, jay's performance somehow started to show some cracks and then came the ending which sealed my thought that his concert was not meant for someone who truly appreciates (his) music.

i agree that jay is a very talented artiste. there is no doubt making music is his inborn skill. i like his music and buy his cd albums. however, this concert of his just made him an ordinary 'commonfolk' singer. anyone who frequent the ktv and only sings his song can one day sings like him. he made several mistakes which i feel a singer shouldn't make. i'm not into music so can't speak the music jargons. i just feel, as an audience, i wasn't entertained. all the whistle and applauses come from fans. my applauses go to his performance too, except for his vocal.

a concert, i feel, is simply a visual enhancement to listening music on a cd player. hence, i see no reasons for a singer to alter the songs' rhythm, meaning and lyrics. take a-mei's recent concert for example. i have high praise for that. it was damn good. i hear the songs in their originality and also there were some added instruments to 'restyle' the songs. that made the songs special (heard in concert only). however, the vocal is still as strong and powerful to convey the meaning of the songs.

ok, stab me with that question "can you even sing?". honestly, i can't. "can jay do php?" he can't. say i'm old fashion or even shoot me with a pistol. i say jay still has a long way to go with his stage performance, in terms of vocal.

a short story

i heard about a short story over the radio (958FM). i couldn't quite remember it all but here's it:

***

john and steven are good friends. john never keeps his job. he is determined to get the job that would give him the highest salary he could ask for. steven believes otherwise. one day, while on the street, the gentlemen saw a coin on the ground. almost instantaneously, steven picked up the coin. he thought [referring to john]: 'a person who does not reap what he sows will never make it big'. john thought: 'a person who picks up coin will never make it big. it is so shameless. i wouldn't care about a few coins'. a few years later, steven had a stable career because he stayed with his job. john, on the other hand, had no stable career and was still switching jobs.

***

i guess the moral of the story is clear. jobs are plenty, but it's your career goals that determine what you will achieve. right?

just to share.

coffeeshoptalk

画中有话

ambiguity at work.

for those who don't get it (because of language barrier), it literally means 'go die'.

for the are-you-referring-to-me, it means nothing.

interesting, i find. haha.

coffeeshoptalk

another year, another statistical report. i'm talking about the makes of car singaporeans purchase the past year. here is the top 10 car sales list for 2007:


source: the straits times

let me give you a run down of the result.

first off, the top seller, toyota. the management over at borneo motors are smiling away. this is the fifth consecutive year that toyota has kept the crown. in my opinion, the success of borneo motors is attributed to singapore's aging population. the more uncles there are, the more sales for borneo motors. why? because toyota is a uncle-only car!

onto the second spot. honda. i am disappointed once again. honda is still at number 2. however, their sales have been steady over the years. i guess that could be due to fact that more young punks are buying honda. just look at the number of fit/jazz on the roads. also, let's not forget about their civic hybrid. demand for it (uncles included) has seen kah motors taking in a 160% increased in sales! *clap* anyway, my favourite is still the honda civic type r (jdm). i personally feel honda is more technologically advanced than toyota so i hope to see them do pretty well this year. my first car could very well be a honda. *wink*

third is the old boring nissan. i reckon it's 'the' other uncle's car. it got this spot simply because many uncles are buying their froggy-looking latio (please, it's not 'la-ti-o' but 'la-xio'). tan chong is generous at giving freebies for its latio. so i guess that has helped it clinch the third spot. enough said, i never like nissan.

fourth is mitsubishi. this is one of c&c's bread-and-butter make, especially with the lancer. the latest generation (ex) is, in my opinion, not visually appealing. it is derived from the concept x which i think it looks absolutely stunning. however, the production model is a let down. its predecessor is a good car though, except for its poorly implemented cvt. i guess most of its sales come from the sixth generation lancer which c&c sells at a heavily discounted price. other models include the i, evolution (ix & x) and colt also helped push its sales.

hyundai comes in at number 5. i guess the only money-making model is the avante. komocco motors should be satisfied with the result after considering that their rival, kia, isn't on the list. consipracy, maybe? since its avante shares the same engine as the kia cerato variant 2? 'let the consumers decide, we just split the earnings. it's a win-win situation, doesn't it?'

mazda earned the sixth spot. from my observation, mazda's marketing strategy is simple. ads and more ads. you'll see ads (mostly on mazda 3 sp) on buses, newspapers, magazines etc. i guess it has paid off. with so many mazda 3 on the roads, it is fast becoming a contender to toyota corolla as the 'uncle favourite'.

suzuki comes in next at number seven. if you look closely at the rankings, mazda only outsell 20 cars more than suzuki. maybe those 20 cars are mazda 2? anyway, suzuki is an expert with compact cars. swift is their best selling model worldwide. same here. seems like champions motors will have to bring in other models of suzuki. maybe the lapin (PI)? *haha* really, the swift lacks the boot space. so i guess majority of buyers are from the fairer sex or male bachelors who buy the sport to enhance their appeal. *haha*

mercedes takes the eighth spot. not surprising as demand for a benz has dropped due to the fact that no new models are out (the new c-class has just been introduced). oh, not forgetting there are merc cabs around. enough said.

bmw, mercedes's arch rival, is number nine. same fate as mercedes but no bmw cabs yet. maybe in another year or two? *shrugged*

lastly, subaru. i guess there are still inspired boy-racers around. lots of my surrounding friends are driving a subaru impreza or the rexes (sti included). since becoming a child of tan chong, subaru has been enjoying healthy sales. the subaru challenge gets everyone talking and not forgetting the radio ads on the s204, which i feel is superbly choreographed. now subaru is under the charge of toyota, i am sure there will be more buyers.

that's it. till another edition of coffeeshoptalk, so long!

o'ring

i knew i lost you the moment i didn't feel you
i knew i feel terrible the moment i realized you are no longer around
i felt frustrated, regretted and sad
i'll remember this day, the eighth
i'm sorry
i'm sorry
i'm sorry

a new year!

happy 2008! i wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year!