A Sadisfied World

Who's The Woman On The Right?

2014-03-15T23:18:00.000+08:00

Who's the woman on the right side of this picture?

Can't tell, can you? A Yahoo link sent me to this picture and its accompanying article. I had to click Back just to make sure I had clicked on the right link.

Here's a clue. She once starred in a movie with this equally famous guy:

Not much help, is it? Here's a picture of the pair in much better days.

That's right, the woman on the right is Kim Basinger.

Time's a cruel mistress.

Bangkok City Hotel

2012-12-05T21:45:00.002+08:00

One of my friends is in Bangkok for a holiday. I'm freaking envious. I wish I was in Bangkok. Oh well, 2 more months to wait.

Every time someone I know goes to Thailand, the first question I ask is: which hotel are you staying at? In this case, the hotel is Bangkok City Hotel.

The rooms look decent. The prices are great and their website offers the same prices as Agoda. That said, Agoda offers 5-7% off to holders of many credit cards in Singapore, e.g. DBS.

The hotel even has family rooms, which certainly makes it easier than all those hotels where the maximum occupancy is just 2 adults. I will certainly keep it in mind for any trips involving the mother-in-law.

Free breakfast, free WiFi, free car park, it's all good. Although I'd never rent a car in the middle of Bangkok. My friend says there's plenty of food stalls nearby, it's always nice to grab a little snack just before going back to the hotel for the night.

My only gripe (and it's a major one) with this hotel is the location. The hotel's website says it's 10 minutes' walk from the nearest BTS, Ratchathewi Station. Looking at the map, I'd say that's probably closer to 15 minutes. It's a big problem for me as the location would completely stop my mid-afternoon breaks back at my hotel.

My Top Thailand Travel Tip

2012-12-02T21:35:00.000+08:00

I love Thailand. I have travelled to many different parts of Thailand and would love to stay there months at a time.

But not everybody goes to Thailand and manages to come back without having been had by scammers. Although most scams involve you getting cheated out of your money (and I'll get to those in subsequent posts), my top Thailand travel tip is what I think is the worst scam of all, one that involves intimidation and threats of physical violence.

Please keep this one in mind if you go to any of the beach destinations in Thailand. I suppose this excludes Krabi though as I read here that Krabi's doing much better at preserving their beaches.

My top Thailand travel tip is: Never rent jet skis

Jet skis might look like fun but they can seriously ruin your holiday. The jet ski rental scam occurs in beach destinations all over Thailand but cases in Phuket have probably had more exposure, most famously in UK's TV Show Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand a couple of years ago.

Despite this, I regularly read about more tourists falling prey to this scam. I often also find articles saying that the authorities are getting the situation under control but I seriously doubt this can ever be a 100% thing. Thai authorities are rather well-known for not following through.

Victims of this scam are subject to intimidation and threats of physical violence, which really makes it worse than all other scams.

The way it works is: You rent a jet ski and have your fun on it for a short while but when you return it, the owner finds some damage. He asks for a huge amount, often something like 50000 or 75000 baht (which is $2000-3000) in compensation. Naturally you argue that you didn't cause this damage. That's when the owner's pals gather around you and threaten violence if you don't pay up. Even if you somehow manage to get the police involved in this and they manage to negotiate a reduction, you will still have to pay something like 15000 or 20000 baht (still a hefty $500-800) to the jet ski owner.

It's better to be safe than sorry. Do not risk your holidays for 30 minutes of fun. That jet ski owner may look friendly before you decide to rent from him but that might change as soon as you return to the beach on his jet ski.

Doraemon Gangnam Style

2012-12-02T01:20:00.000+08:00

This video seriously cracks me up.

Doraemon is so cute trying to do some Gangnam Style moves but his arms are just too short.

Brazilian Ghost Elevator Prank

2012-11-30T21:53:00.002+08:00

Just saw this on Yahoo Singapore.

Extremely funny for us but horribly, hair-raisingly, heart-attack-inducingly scary for these poor people. All very clever though.

Google Nexus 4

2012-11-30T21:20:00.001+08:00

To buy or not to buy Google Nexus 4, that is the question. I was seriously tempted to spring for this phone yesterday morning.

I went through all the steps. And for people like me located outside the US, that includes a few annoying steps, such as connecting via VPN and updating all my addresses in Google's services to US addresses before I was even allowed to get to the Google Play page.

I went all the way to the last page and just needed to click on that last button. But I ended up not pulling the trigger.

Two reasons:
1. The price.
The phone itself is US$299.00 for the 8gb version and US$349.00 for the 16gb one. It's another US$14 for shipping within the US. So even without the price of the shipping to Singapore, that's more than the magical tax mark of S$400 and this means I'd have to add at least another S$30 in my contribution to the taxman.

2. The long wait
Yesterday morning it was 7-8 weeks for the 8gb and 2-3 weeks for the 16gb. It's now 1 more week of waiting time. 2-3 weeks for the 16gb is acceptable but this combined with the extra US$50, I just opted to keep at it on my iPhone 4 for a while longer.

The Google Nexus 4 sure looks great though. I could just lick it. If only I had been brought up to be a big spender. Or even a moderate spender.

Mangroomer

2012-11-28T19:20:00.000+08:00

Holy cow! This just proves you really do learn something everyday.

Saw a picture of this item on Amazon.com and going by the Mangroomer name, I thought maybe this is a pubic hair groomer. At least I knew those existed.

But as you can see from these pictures below, that's not what it is.

Yep, it's a back hair shaver.

That's a new one on me. I guess we don't see these so often in Asia because we just don't have hairy backs like some Westerners do.

Egh! The video further below is hilarious though, especially the guy at 6:19.

US Shipping - Borderless Buys

2012-11-23T15:59:00.000+08:00

I wanted to locate the US-shipping service provider that grants some perks to American Express cardholders. But navigating through Amex Singapore's website proved futile.

A quick search on Google and found it: www.borderlessbuys.com.sg, which basically just uses ComGateway but with some added benefits to people like me.

I have never used this service but these perks do seem rather interesting:
- Free upgrades to Express Delivery
- Automatic upgrade to Prime Membership, the highest membership tier offered by comGateway

With all this Black Friday mania going on, maybe I'll get to use them soon.

Who is Mary Kate Olsen dating?

2012-11-14T20:35:00.002+08:00

Holy cow. This is so disgusting.

Mary Kate Olsen is dating Olivier Sarkozy, half-brother of Nicolas Sarkozy!

She's 26 and he's 42. But in the picture below, he looks 60 and she looks 10. Does not help that he's holding and kissing her like this. He's no Dad giving a good night kiss to his youngest daughter.

Selena Gomez breaks it off with Justin Bieber

2012-11-12T20:01:00.001+08:00

A few days ago, Selena Gomez finally dumped Justin Bieber.

Somehow this took a lot of people by surprise, including members of the press. This really just shows how blind all these people are. Anybody with half a brain should have seen this coming.

Here's a couple of reasons why Selena dumped Bieber.

1. He's gay. Looking at this picture below, can there really be any doubt? She did a flash forward to 5 years from now when most of his female fans will be sick and tired of Bieber, so he will finally have nothing to lose (and only some last gasp attention to gain) by calling a press conference to announce he has always been gay.

2. She got tired of having to look so damn young. She looks about 13 in the picture below and it's all because she had to dress younger to match Bieber's barely-out-of-primary-school looks.

Well she's not 13. She's 20! She'd get many more movie roles if she could afford to look her age.

Fave Songs 005: Adele - Skyfall

2012-11-09T23:41:00.000+08:00

Didn't think too much of this song the first few times I listened to it but it's been stuck in my head all day. Skyfall by Adele.

Daniel Craig and The 007 Job

2012-11-08T23:28:00.005+08:00

Read this article on Yahoo yesterday about all the people who were considered for the James Bond role that went to Daniel Craig a few years ago.

Out of these actors, these 4 guys were shortlisted. Seeing this shortlist, I'm now 100% behind Daniel Craig as James Bond. Not that I really minded him as James Bond to start with - although I was a bit gutted when they decided to move away from Pierce Brosnan.

1. Sam Worthington
Can't really picture him as James Bond now. But then again, if he had got the James Bond job, then he most likely wouldn't have been in Avatar and Clash/Wrath Of The Titans. Looking at this picture below, maybe, just maybe.

But James Bond really shouldn't be an Australian.

2. Henry Cavill
Other than having heard that he'll play Superman in next year's reboot, I didn't know anything about this guy, didn't even know what he looks like. Looking at the picture below, I can certainly see it.

And he's British.

The trouble of course is that he was only 22 or 23 by the time Daniel Craig got the job. That's certainly too young for James Bond.

3. Goran Visnjic
I just can't see this one at all. A Croatian James Bond? Come on.

4. Alex O'Loughlin
Another one I just can't picture after The Back-up Plan and him stinking up my TV screen nearly every week on Hawaii Five-O.

But maybe if he had got the James Bond job, he wouldn't have needed to cuddle up to JLo.

And again, James Bond shouldn't be an Australian.

Fave Songs 004: Sacred Spirit - Yeha Noha

2012-11-07T01:12:00.000+08:00

Bumped into this on YouTube the other day: Yeha Noha by Sacred Spirit.

I used to listen to this song for ages during my University years.

Girls at Comic-Con

2012-11-05T00:17:00.001+08:00

Just some videos of Comic-Con babes.

Looks like it's not just The Big Bang Theory type of nerds who go there after all.

Singapore Straits Times - Journalism At Its Very Best, NOT!

2012-11-04T13:14:00.003+08:00

One week after it was first published in the Singapore Straits Times that Muhammad Hasnor Hashim earns $7000 a month as a cabby, a couple of stories in today's Straits Times have made a few things clear.

1. Muhammad Hasnor Hashim is an attention-seeking liar. Or maybe he just agreed to say whatever Straits Times wanted him to say to get his 15 minutes of fame.

2. Straits Times is a joke of a newspaper.

This one has been clear for a while now, this latest episode simply confirms it.

This all means last week's article was not even verified. The Straits Times journalists are simply fed the stories and completely believe whatever people tell them. No fact-checking, not even a mental "does this even make sense?" check. Almost everybody on HardwareZone forums has doubted this story ever since it first came out but apparently this didn't seem even remotely weird to anybody at Straits Times. Real journalism is alive and well in Singapore.

And this week's articles come with not even an apology or even a firing of the said "journalist" and her editors. Instead we get a pathetic article that, I guess, tries to explain how this came about. But really, it's all just a bunch of bullshit. Straits Times failed big time with this and did not even have the decency of taking responsibility and apologising. Instead they are trying to shift all the blame to Muhammad Hasnor Hashim.

Last Week

This Week

Darth Vader in Disneyland

2012-11-04T12:02:00.000+08:00

This is a great little video.

Now that Disney has purchased LucasFilm for $4.05b, Darth Vader has decided to check out this new universe and look for potential new allies

Can't really tell if he's having any fun in the process though. He's fairly hard to read.

Robert Pattinson 101

2012-11-04T01:17:00.000+08:00

Holy crap!! What's this I see on Yahoo's main page? Robert Pattinson is a serious method actor!

He's even more stupid than I thought. Not only did he go back to Kristen Stewart after she screwed an ugly old guy but now apparently it's been revealed he tries much harder than he really needs to.

Face it Robert, the only thing you have to do in Twilight is look pale and look pretty. You don't even have to take your shirt off, that's Wolf Boy's job.

Speaking of him going back to Kristen Stewart, I really hope that's just for the sake of the upcoming release of the last Twilight movie. We all know the movie's earnings would have taken a hit if these two were no longer together.

Once January rolls along, I hope to see the breakup.

Sweet Countdown

2012-11-03T00:21:00.003+08:00

Found this ultracool-looking countdown widget at www.countingdownto.com.

This is just a sample I've done for my next trip.

Fave Songs 003: Enigma - Return To Innocence

2012-11-02T00:02:00.001+08:00

Another of my favourite songs: Return To Innocence by Enigma.

Sadeness is the song that started it all for Enigma and raised so much fury among the religious folks. It's also the song from which I take my screen names. But Return To Innocence is their best song.

All that said, nearly 20 years after Sadeness, the religious folks probably can't turn on the radio without getting pissed at a song. LOL!

Jetstar Asia's 100 Million Passengers Sale

2012-10-31T11:44:00.001+08:00

Jetstar Asia's 100 Million Passengers Sale is now on until 5 November, 23:59. Link can be found here.

Travel dates are 8 to 31 Jan 2013 and 21 Feb to 26 Mar 2013. Neatly skirting the entire Chinese New Year period.

Pisses me off though, I have a flight from Bangkok to Singapore on 23 Feb. This could have saved me about $75.

Blackburn's New Manager

2012-10-30T22:03:00.002+08:00

Blackburn's search for a new Manager is quickly reaching ridiculous lengths. But one should really not be surprised given that Shebby Singh is in charge of this search.

Shebby is the bloody idiot who somehow managed to get a pundit job on TV a few years ago and still completely sucked at it. And Blackburn's owners Venky's recently gave him a job as director of football. Just this alone should be enough to prove to Blackburn fans that Venky's know nuts about football. They most likely saw Shebby on ESPN and thought that was a good enough reason to give him the job. At the time though, even my wife thought Shebby was completely full of shit.

The gossip today tells us that Diego Maradona is the latest name to be offered the job. Why not use your newly found miracle job as a way to get in touch with one of the greatest footballers of all time eh?

When I'm made Director at the Singapore Slingers, I'll be getting in touch with Michael Jordan for the coach position.

AVN Adult Entertainment Expo

2012-10-29T19:26:00.001+08:00

Well well well. A possible trip to the US looks like it might coincide with the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2013 to be held 17-19 January 2013 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Daily VIP Passes are at $85 and General Admission Passes are at $65.

I'll only be free on the 19th anyway, so if I do go, I'll most likely spring for a VIP Pass. Some details, such as the parties and stage shows, are still missing from the website. I'll wait for these to be put up before making a final decision.

Meanwhile I've been looking up some YouTube videos to get an idea of how it'll be. Embedded 4 of these below. Looks like good fun.

Machete Attack In Pattaya

2012-10-29T19:02:00.002+08:00

Wow a machete attack on Soi LK Metro last night in Pattaya. But thankfully no foreigners involved in this one, just Thais doing their thing.

Cat Hates Collar

2012-10-27T23:07:00.003+08:00

Another cute animal video.

This poor kitty just can't wait to get rid of that collar and its annoying little bell.

Fave Songs 002: Guns N' Roses - November Rain

2012-10-27T22:04:00.001+08:00

One of the best rock ballads of all time: November Rain by Guns N' Roses.

This brings back a lot of memories from my teenage years.