Scrambled eggs and mashed bananas blog

Sh*t Asian in-laws say

2012-01-26T02:11:00.001Z

So there's a craze on YouTube at the minute of people posting funny spoof videos called "sh*t _____ say", such as "sh*t girls say", or "sh*t photographers say". One clip all my friends have been posting on Facebook is the "sh*t Asian Mums say" video, and when I watched it, I have to admit it didn't really remind me of my own mum... but it DID remind me of my in-laws! Which got me thinking about all the things they say to me! I'm no youtuber, so I figured I'd blog about it instead.

My in-laws live in Hong Kong. They're kind and very generous, but also VERY Asian! Some of the things in the YouTube clip had me chucking as I can totally relate to them.

Maybe it's a Chinese thing that people just have no social dos and donts when it comes to what is and isn't polite to say. For example, the first trip over to Hong Kong when I met my mother-in-law, she told me our kids were going to have big noses. Apparently because I have a big nose. The big nose comment is used frequently to this day. Thank god I have good self esteem or I'd have a complex and would be looking up rhinoplasty by now. I don't even think I HAVE a big nose? Do I? DO I??!

Or the time I got off the plane at Hong Kong to be met by my father-in-law who greeted me with "I think you got fatter" very matter of factly. Er, hi! Missed you too! He didn't mean any offence by it. He was just stating what he thought was a fact. Just by western standards it was bloody rude! Imagine saying that to an English person! Haha!

Asian mother-in-laws also love drama. Wailing "You such a bad son, you don't love me, you never think about mum" whilst welling up, usually in a suitably public place to cause maximum embarrassment, complete with copious amounts of pouting. Unfortunately wifey is also good at the pouting and uses charm to get her way. Ha!

Then there's the Asian mum-fussing. Omg. SO my mother-in-law! "wear more", "it's cold outside, put a scarf on", "don't wear those shoes, they too high and your feet will hurt", "eat more, eat more" (whilst piling your bowl, even though they just told you that you got fatter). Yes I have never been immune to the mum nagging, even when I was the newbie girlfriend. My first trip to Hong Kong she made me wear a granny silk scarf round my neck all day, even though it wasn't cold. If it had been my own mum I'd have just rolled my eyes and taken it off but I had to oblige because I'd just met her and had to be polite. I looked like a total prat but still managed to say "thank you auntie". Ha!

But even with all that said, they still have their loveable charm, as crazy as they may drive any son or daughter-in-law. You got to love the in-law Asian craziness.... just remind me of that fact when I come to having kids and get a barrage of "advice" on what I should and shouldn't do! Haha!

If you'd like to watch the "sh*t Asian mums say" clip you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HP2escR3qQ&sns=em

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tiger Mums - do Chinese mums have it right?

2012-01-06T12:28:00.002Z

Last night I watched with interest, the BBC documentary on "Tiger mums", strict British Chinese mums who raise their children with a schedule of revision, extra curricular hobbies and study and little time to play. This was not the first time I'd heard the term tiger mum. Last year, a friend tweeted an article about now famous tiger mum, Amy Chua, an American born Chinese woman who had written about how she brought up her children the Chinese way. Her daughters were not allowed play dates, watch TV, play computer games or choose their hobbies and were expected to get nothing less than an A grade in every subject at school. Her methods for ensuring her girls achieved these high expectations resulted in her receiving death threats and being accused of being cruel and extreme. But their approach gets results. Chinese children achieve the highest grades out of all ethnic groups in the UK, and Amy Chua's daughter has just been accepted into Harvard and Yale.

BBC 2 last night showed a documentary on British Chinese tiger mums, and their methods and reasoning for pushing their children so hard academically, expecting nothing but 1st place. The show's synopsis states:

In terms of academic achievement, British Chinese children are the most successful ethnic group in this country, and behind each success story you will usually find a formidable Tiger Mother. Play by her rule book, and you get hours of homework and music practice, strict discipline, and not too much time for play. But you are also more likely to get A grades.

Is this the way forward? What is life like in such households? In Hannah Berryman's film, we meet three British-based Chinese mothers doing their best to make sure their children do not pick up the slack habits of their Western counterparts. Do these children lose out in other ways, or are the Tiger Mothers right in simply expecting more from their To quote Sally, mother of six-year-old Matthew: 'He only does about three hours homework a night - plenty of time to play!'

So exactly how pushy were these so called tiger mums? Each mother sent their children to Mandarin Chinese classes at weekends, expected their children to learn an instrument, made their children take out of hours additional tuition in subjects such as maths, and stuck to a rigid schedule of homework, revision, practice, with time for play and fun given little priority. They explained that they thought that the UK was going downhill and with UK league tables declining, their children needed to be able to complete globally. This, mixed with the expectation of academic excellence that comes with being Chinese, results in what could be perceived as an extreme pushiness at the expense of their children's' childhood.

It was interesting that each parent recalled how their parents pushed them heavily to achieve at school, that they had no happy childhood and perhaps lacked social skills and confidence growing up, but when asked if they feared they were doing the same to their children, they were confident that their children were perfectly happy and the timetabled slots for play and fun were sufficient.

It all sounds very extreme, but really... is it? Ok, I admit perhaps these parents go to the extreme, forcing their children to practice an hour of maths a day on holiday and even quizzing one son whether he got all his maths homework correct whilst sat in a restaurant at his birthday dinner... but I also think that the basic concept is maybe not far off right. Yes, I do think that children need time to be children, and these parents are too strict. It's important to allow time for your children to play, visit friends and have fun... but I think children in the UK possibly spend far too much time stuck in front of a TV or playing computer games. Tiger mums are one extreme, UK parents perhaps the opposite end. Perhaps somewhere in between is where I'll aim for when I have kids.

When I was growing up, my mum made me learn the obligatory musical instruments. I took piano lessons and violin lessons. My sister took clarinet lessons. We went to tap and ballet lessons... kung fu classes, we even attended a couple of Chinese classes... but neither of us stuck to any of it... ending up a kind of jack of all trades, master of none. Now, I don't blame my mum for not forcing us to stick to these hobbies. It would have been a battle to force me to do anything as a child, I was so argumentative, but now that I am older I am definitely under the impression that when I have kids, they won't be given a choice. They WILL attend and stick to the activities I choose for them. Because a child can't know the value of these activities and giving up because something is hard results in laziness. I coasted through school (luckily getting all A's and 1 A* in my GCSEs without revising) and college (which was harder and my laziness cost me the grades I know I was capable of). Even at university I didn't apply myself as well as I could have... and that was lazy. Maybe if my parents had been stricter, and pushed me harder, I would have tried harder and achieved more. That's not to say I haven't done well! I have a good job, a home, a husband and a good life BUT I know if I had really tried, and been pushed, perhaps I'd be in a much higher earning profession and wouldn't have spent the past 10 years saving every penny I earnt.

The other interesting thing was watching the documentary with my husband. I expected to be a little incensed by the extremes the tiger mums went to push their children. On the flip side, I knew that my husband would probably agree with every sentiment. Growing up in Hong Kong, my husband had a typical Chinese upbringing. His parents were of the opinion that if you praise your children too much, they'll stop trying to strive to be the best, resulting in him growing up with a feeling of failure. Nothing he achieves can be good enough. But he also felt that his mum wasn't strict enough, allowing him to quit if things were too difficult.

Watching the BBC show, hubby kept on looking at me and nodding with a *humph*, as if to say, that's how we're bringing up our kids! Personally, I think we'll settle for a happy medium. Plenty of study and extra curricular activities, definitely attending Mandarin lessons (and sticking to them!), but also plenty of praise, hugs, affection and FUN!

You can watch the documentary on iPlayer until 12th January and you can read Amy Chua's article "Why Chinese mothers are superior" here.

2 weeks in... looking good!

2011-12-16T18:25:00.001Z

So it's almost been two weeks since my bunion operation. Today I FINALLY got to leave the house (yes I haven't been outside these 4 walls since 6th December!) if only to go back to Guy's hospital to get my dressings changed! After having my feet bound up for so long, I was a bit nervous seeing what my poor bruised tootsies looked like under all the wadding, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! And my toes are definitely a lot straighter than they were! If you're squeamish, I'd say look away now... but it'd be too late HA!

Before...

(very very wonky toes...)

After (so far!!)

(still swollen and very very bruised... owwww)

I'm so glad the bandages are off! Shame I still can't walk unaided though... and the pain is still keeping me awake at night so I'm tired all day! Gah! I guess my bones are still not completely healed. I have to go back again in 4 weeks to get an X-ray and fingers crossed I can get rid of the weird reverse heel shoes and crutches!

The other annoying thing is that my doctors surgery seems to be totally unorganised! I called up the day after my op to get a doctors note, and was told to self certify and call back in a week. So I waited a week, called up again on Monday and was told to write a note requesting a note. Right. Ok. So I did this (as well as supplying a copy of my discharge notes from the hospital and they didn't seem to have those either!) and Dad went in on Wednesday to collect the letter. Only, they didn't have it. NO record on the system but they were very sorry, they would chase the doctor, find out where it was and to come back later on in the week. Tried again today and FAIL... no note and nothing on the system... "we'll check and call you this afternoon". No call, so I called THEM. And what did they say? "Sorry there's nothing on the system at all. Can you call back on Monday and get the duty doctor to write it for you?". WTF?! Incompetent, disorganised *£@#! GRRRR. I've been off work 2 weeks now with no doctors note! So annoying! 0_o

Is emotional abuse as bad as physical?

2011-12-15T14:51:00.000Z

The news reports today that Theresa May has launched a consultation on broadening the definition of domestic abuse to include ‘coercive control’. This isn't to be confused with a row, but where a partner repeatedly verbally and mentally abuses and controls their partner. This has caused mixed reactions in the media and public, with some people saying that it's an insult to physical abuse victims to class verbal abuse in the same boat as physical.

As someone who has experienced verbal abuse (and have never really blogged about it before owing to the fact that it's deeply personal and has taken me almost a decade to get over. Even now I worry about the repercussions of posting this online in case it causes unwanted attention or contact, but feel strongly enough to ensure that people recognise the warning signs that I'm still going to post this), the prospect of coercive control being recognised as a form of abuse is welcome. It could be argued that verbal abuse and control is the precursor to physical abuse (although not always) and recognising that it's NOT ok and it IS a form of abuse may save may women (and men) from staying in relationships that are extremely unhealthy.

So what is 'coercive control'? I can only give examples from my own experience, which I believe to be true demonstrations of an unhealthy and controlling relationship, with all of the warning signs of what could have developed into a physically abusive relationship. My first real relationship started off well. He was attentive, protective and affectionate. But what began as something good turned into something dark. At first, I loved the fact he would always drive me everywhere. If I visited friends, he would take me there and pick me up. But that turned into a way of controlling who I saw and when. He began to bad mouth my friends, saying they weren't real or deserving, and that I shouldn't see them. He would refuse to spend time with me when I saw them. The same happened with my family. He would refuse to come with me when I saw them, saying that they didn't make him welcome (which they didn't as they saw what he was doing to me), so I would go alone to family parties and gatherings. Then came the comments on my appearance. "Why are you wearing that, it makes you look fat", "why do you have so much makeup on. You look stupid". One day I spent hours getting ready for a party and when he saw me, he simply laughed and said I looked like a (his words not mine) "paki" because of the dress I was wearing. I was crushed. Even his brother and his girlfriend were shocked at how mean he was being. He began to even complain about m spending time with his brother and cousin's girlfriends, saying every time I did, they poisoned my mind and filled my head with stupid thoughts (mainly because they made me question just now nice he really was to me). Slowly, my confidence got chipped away. I wore baggy jumpers and jeans. He would constantly pick on my belly, saying I was fat. I would instantly grab cushions and hold them against my stomach when I sat down to hide my middle. It became an obsession with me and something about my body I hated, something which took me years to get over.

Then the comments got less underhanded and more blatant as my confidence sank. "You're so ugly and so annoying, if you leave me no one else would put up with you" was a favourite of his. I began to believe everything he said about me. Even though I was miserable, hated my self and and my relationship with him, I truly believed that there was nothing better out there for me and I clung to him even harder. I completely lost my sense of self. I stopped seeing my friends because it was easier not to see them and avoid the resulting rows. I saw my family even less for the same reason. If anyone asked me how things were going with him, I would never say well, for fear I would jinx the the few days that may have passed without a row. One time, he locked me in his room with him whilst we were rowing so I couldn't escape, and shouted non stop at me bashing away at my self confidence. Don't get me wrong, I didn't stand there trembling. Our rows were violent and I'd give as good as I got, to the point where we would throw things at each other. I would do everything I could think of to make him happy and avoid confrontation. The smallest mistake would result in a barrage of insults and slights on my intelligence and ability.

He was also extremely untrusting, always wanting to go through my phone and read all my text messages. If I had a pass code on my phone, he'd accuse me of hiding things from him and insist I show him my phone and it's contents. Yet he would never leave his phone in the room with me, and when he was on the PC he would lock the door to prevent me coming in. If I brought him up a cup of tea, I'd be accused of doing it to snoop on him and check what he was up to.

My 21st birthday was a disaster and I think the real warning of what was to come had we stayed together. We had a huge argument and he pinned me up to the wall by my throat. He went to punch me in the face and last minute changed his mind, punching the wall next to my head instead. He broke his hand. That was then my fault and I spent hours apologising for making him so angry. At my huge family birthday party, I lied to everyone who asked what happened to his plaster-cast hand, saying he'd called down the stairs.

The only reason I got out of this potentially dangerous relationship, after 5 years of verbal abuse, was when I discovered he was being unfaithful. Even then, when I found out (I came home at lunch time when he said he was out, to find him standing in the hallway just about to leave the house. I asked him when he was doing at home, closed the front door, and found another woman hiding behind it), I was so emotionally brainwashed, I believed him when he told me he wasn't and I was being paranoid. It took someone close to him to thankfully sit me down and tell me the truth because they thought I really needed to know and deserved better. When it finally sank in, I packed my bags, drove to my parents and moved back home. My mum didn't even say a word as I walked up the path as she tended the flower beds. I suspect she was just relieved I'd finally left.

Saying that verbal abuse isn't a form of domestic abuse is wrong. My 5 years of such an unhealthy relationship took me almost a decade to get over. For another 5 years afterwards, I was a mess. I was overly sensitive to any comment made on my appearance. I hated myself and my body. I became obsessed with my weight. I had no self confidence and craved companionship. I went from one relationship to another, unable to cope without a boyfriend as I felt I needed to be in a relationship to be happy, needing to rely on someone else. I truly believe it was only when I broke up with my last ex, that I actually felt GOOD. I broke up with him and thought "wow. You know what? I actually WANT to be single. I don't NEED someone. I'm strong enough to cope on my own". And as soon as I realised that, I met my husband!

So, I'm definitely seated in the yes camp, glad that verbal abuse (genuine, long-term, mentally controlling and damaging verbal abuse) is finally being recognised as a form of domestic abuse, and I hope that anyone who is experiencing it and may read this post, recognises it for what it is. He's not telling you you can't do better because he loves you. He's not telling you you're friends are rubbish and don't deserve you so you should cut them off because he loves you. He's not telling you to stop wearing high heels, skirts and makeup because you look beautiful without all that crap because he loves you. He's saying it to control you. Don't stand for it. Leave. Before it escalates to physical abuse.

For more information on verbal and mental abuse, how to recognise it and how to get support, visit www.womensaid.org.uk

EDIT: Mum and Dad, if you read this post (and I'm sure you knew most of this already even though I've never really discussed it with you), don't worry, I'm 100% happy and fine now! Without such bad experiences, you don't appreciate what is good. I'd maybe never have met and appreciated my wonderful husband without going through what I did, so every cloud has a silver lining!

All I want for Christmas...

2011-12-07T11:08:00.001Z

...aside from two feet that work (as sitting on my butt all day is getting old already and it's only been 1 day), are some of these amazing photography goodies... I've got so much time on my hands now which inevitably results in me window shopping online. What starts as me looking for presents for other people keeps on ending up with a long list of items that I want for myself! Doh! I've recently discovered the PhotoJoJo store, and it's become my new fave place for random and wonderful photography accessories for SLRs and iPhones! My two favourite things!

So, here's what's on my wish list (not that I'm hinting as I'm quite happy to buy these things for myself!).

First up, this AMAZING ring flash adapter! It's only $40! I hate my flash unit most of the time as it produces ugly harsh shadows, even with something to bounce the flash off of. This ring flash adapter would be a brilliant addition to my photography kit!

Buy the The Ring Flash Adapter at the Photojojo Store!

Or how about a bounce for the standard camera pop up flash? No more nasty shadows! At $30 this is a steal too! Click the link to see more before and after shots!

Buy the The Pop-up Flash Bounce at the Photojojo Store!

Moving on to iPhoneography gadgets... this macro lens band for iPhone is BRILLIANT! Look at the photos you can get with the lens attached! Out of everything in the shop, I think this has got to be my favourite. It's only $15 and I could play all day taking photos of anything and everything on my phone!

Buy the Macro Cell Lens Band at the Photojojo Store!

Or this crazy but very cool iPhone lens dial, which has 3 different lenses for wide angle, telephoto and fisheye shots! Looks a bit absurd and at $249 it's blaming expensive (plus the novelty would wear off pretty quick I imagine) but it's still quite funky!

Buy the The iPhone Lens Dial at the Photojojo Store!

I could easily spend all day browsing the photojojo store! They have so many quirky gifts for photo fanatics! Love it!

buh bye bunions!

2011-12-06T08:33:00.001Z

Well, it's the day after my op and my bunions are now a thing of the past! yay! The pain however is BAAAAAAAAD....

Mum, Dad and hubby went to Guy's hospital with me yesterday morning at 6am. After lots and lots of waiting around, tests and the like, I finally went under around midday. I was supposed to have local anaesthetic but the surgeons thought it was a bad idea so they put me under general. Walking into the anaesthetic room was scary I have to admit, and the anaesthetist dug around in the back of my hand for what seemed like ages trying to find a vein until she gave up and knocked me out via a vein in my arm. 2pm I woke up again with big bandaged feet. They've given me some weird shoes which look a lot like geisha sandals, which are supposed to enable me to walk on the balls of my feet (not that I'm doing much walking as it's so painful!).

The post op recovery room was pretty awful, mainly because of the company. The nurses were lovely (they made me THE best cup of tea I have ever had, and gave me a sandwich which was SO good as I hadn't eaten all day) but the other women recovering were the most moony bunch of old bags I have ever met. They moaned about having to wait so long. They moaned about how sore it was having the needles taken out of their hands. One REALLY insensitive woman actually sat there and complained to the woman next to her that she'd had a bunion op like the poor girl over there (pointing at me but not actually speaking TO me) and that it was the worst thing she'd ever done as they messed it up and her feet have never been the same and she can't wear shoes anymore blah blah blah. JUST what you want to hear when you've just had the same operation on BOTH of your feet.

Anyway, I'm now at my parents house being looked after while hubby is at work. Yesterday I was all "wow it's no where near as painful as everyone says it is". Then the local anaesthetic wore off. I managed to get 4 hours sleep before I woke up... then lay there wondering if I should call the house phone and wake up my Mum to give me some pain killers. Another 2 hours later, I figured 6am wasn't so early to wake the house up and gave in. The pain was unbearable. Pathetic but I had a little cry when Mum came downstairs as my feet are SO sore. Even after codeine and ibuprofen they're still ridiculously painful. I have no idea how I'm going to sleep.

But, fingers crossed this will be worth it. I sneaked a peek at X-rays taken while I was under and it looks like the bones are all lovely and straight now! I'm going to be laid up for 6 weeks in all by the sounds of it... so expect LOTS of blogging from me in my boredom!

Good Deed Feed #grateful365

2011-11-30T13:22:00.001Z

Anyone who reads my tweets will know that my mornings are usually filled with angry commuter hate (just like every other Londoner sat on a squished National Rail train or stuffy London Underground tube). My rants usually include complaints about people inflicting their rubbish music on the rest of the carriage because they don't seem to have any other volume option on their ipods other than very very annoyingly loud, despair at men who think their balls are so big that their knees need to be as far apart as humanly possible (and therefore taking up half my seat) and amazement at women who insist on using the 8:20 train to Bedford as their personal bathroom to apply ten layers of slap and mascara. You get the gist!

So, I heartily thank whoever at the Metro who decided to start publishing the Good Deed Feed. A daily section which encourages people to text in with messages of thanks to others. It's a sure fire way of reminding me to be grateful, and think of the positives! I'll have to start tweeting photos of the daily feeds as part of my #grateful365 project (which incidentially I started and other people have started using in their tweets too! Yay!).

My change from negativity to a PMA

2011-11-16T12:53:00.001Z

So I downloaded The Secret app on my iPhone. For those of you who haven't heard of The Secret, it's a book which has gained thousands of followers since it was published. This book basically teaches you to think positively, and that what you think, you get. It's full of positive reinforcement, tips on how to combat negative thoughts, and teaches you that you attract what you focus on. So, this new app, based on the book, gives me a daily piece of wisdom... and it got me thinking...is it all about how you perceive things, or is there actually some mysterious force that is giving you what you ask for?

People may be sceptical about the law of attraction. Some think it's all a load of mystical rubbish, others think it's just wealthy people boasting about how they "thought" themselves to millions. But, if you really think about it, regardless of whether you believe "the universe is listening to what you want", positive thinking can definitely have an impact on your life.

Consider this. People who are having a tough time tend to complain about it. We all know one of those people, maybe at work or maybe a friend, who will moan about how their lives are so difficult and how they're so miserable. If you know someone like this, chances are that although they complain, they never look to the positives or seriously consider change. They'll endlessly bend your ear about how they're under-valued at work and under paid, but they won't consider the fact that they're lucky to have a job in such difficult times, or focus on what they could pro-actively do to change the situation. Someone in the same situation, who has a positive mental attitude (PMA) will still hate their job and have no money, but instead of spending their energy on moaning about it and thinking about how miserable they are (and therefore arguably sending negative vibes out which will only attract more of the same, as well as irritating the people around them), will constantly think about how to improve the situation. They'll think about how grateful they are that things aren't worse, and will have the drive and passion to make things better. The vibes they emit will be heavily weighted to "I'm going to get a new job with more money and things are going to get better", and so that's what they attract.

The same theory applies to your physical being. When people are stressed, fed up and angry, they get sick. I genuinely believe that if you focus your entire being on being resentful, jealous, angry and upset, these negative thoughts will manifest themselves in your physical being. The Secret teaches you to not only think positive thoughts about yourself and your health, but to also think positive thoughts about other people when they are ill. This is a whole other can of worms I could blog about though, going into spiritual healing, energies and so on, so I'll stop there!

Anyway, some of you reading this post are probably thinking "what a load of crap! Why have you got suckered into this rubbish?". Well, I guess it's from first hand experience. You could argue that I have just gotten wiser as I've gotten older, and that my angsty teens are behind me, and there'd probably be some truth in that, but I don't think that's all of it. My early twenties was spent being an extremely negative, angry, hurt and upset person. Every time something bad happened to me, I'd complain "why is it always me". I had to move home several times, went through numerous (*ahem* not THAT many) boyfriends, was constantly ill, once seriously, never had any money and lost friends along the way. What I hadn't realised was that the laundry list of bad things happening to me were from my own doing. Friends distanced themselves from me, I suspect, because all I did was complain. Who wants to live with someone who cries all the time and is emotionally draining? Each time something bad happened (or something I perceived to be bad) I focussed on it too much, going on and on about it to others, dwelling on it and therefore making my entire being solely about that negative situation... which then drew more of the same in to my life. When a landlord decided to sell their flat, and I had to move, I didn't see it as an opportunity to possibly move somewhere cheaper, or nicer, or a chance to meet new friends to live with. Instead I'd go into a pit of despair, complaining that I'd have to spend so much time looking for a new place, stressing myself out and making myself miserable. I complained about work, but never seriously considered either approaching my manager about it or looking for a new job, and didn't realise that perhaps my negative attitude was preventing me from getting ahead.

So what changed? Well, an ex-boyfriend took me to a property development seminar and the speaker spoke more about the law of attraction than how to invest. He talked about how these property millionaires have all always known they will become rich, and because they believed it, they received it. And it got me thinking. It made me reflect on how I thought about my life, how I reacted to situations and what kind of energy I radiated. And so I changed. And quite shortly after I adjusted how I viewed my life and how I thought about things, I've had several promotions, I met the love of my life, I've gotten married, I bought a house, my health has improved.... and I'm a LOT happier. Happier than I have ever been. I try to think of one thing to be grateful about a day. I treat each potentially negative situation as a challenge and something to put a positive spin on, and I LIVE by the line "every cloud has a silver lining". Because genuinely, every cloud does. It just depends if you allow yourself to see it or not.

Great new RSS app: SlideReader

2011-11-15T08:20:00.001Z

I'm always on the hunt for the perfect RSS reader for my iPhone. I subscribe to several blogs and the number of unread posts can quickly run in to thousands, so a clean yet interesting user interface is something essential yet hard to find. There are hundreds of RSS apps in the app store, but the majority are either too basic or not user friendly. The best app I'd found so far was Pulse, but I wanted to see if I could find something more akin to Flipboard for iPad. Then I found SlideReader.

SlideReader allows you to import your Google Reader RSS feeds by signing in to your google account once. You can then view which feeds have new posts and opt to view them one by one, or in a "broadsheet" newspaper daily digest (like Flipboard). This daily digest format is great! It's like browsing a magazine with content only you are interested in! Tap the article you wish to read more of, and it takes you to the full post. You can then mark the post as read or unread, share it via Twitter or Facebook, or mark it to read later (you need a readitlaterlist.com account... not sure what that is and a tad annoying you need to sign up to another site!). You can also star/favourite posts.

The great thing about this app is that it's FREE! With so many paid apps out there not doing the job, this one is definitely worth a download! I think I'll keep this and pulse on my phone, to use depending on my mood!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Count your blessings

2011-11-01T20:10:00.001Z

Well, I've been slack on the blogging front since the wedding... and I'm not really up to writing a lengthy blog post yet. Sufficed to say that since the wedding, married life has been tough with lots of bad news in the family. The positive is that these things make you re-evaluate life, brings you closer and makes you count your blessings.... which brings me to my #grateful365 twitter project I started and forgot about. I think we all need to count out blessings and remind ourselves to be grateful for the good things in our lives... so I'm going to make a conscious effort to pick up my daily tweets again. In the mean time I thought I'd post a few photos of things that symbolise things friends have done recently which put a smile on my face. Doing something small for someone else may not seem a big thing, but sometimes it means a lot to that person when they're going through a hard time... even if you don't realise it.. so thank you to you. You know who you are.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm MARRIED!

2011-10-19T11:39:00.000+01:00

Yes, I am now officially a married woman! Mrs Fung. How weird is that?! Anyway, I plan to write a longer post on the run up to the wedding, dos and don'ts, highs and lows and everything in between, but until my new in-laws have flown back to Hong Kong (end of October) I shall be spending my time cooking, entertaining, baking and generally being a good wife and daughter-in-law! So here's a sneak peek of a few photos of our wedding, courtesy of John Miles wedding photography!

B-day date set... dum dum DUM!

2011-09-26T14:07:00.000+01:00

Yes, the hospital has given me the date for my pending BUNION OPERATION! Eek! Those of you who thought that bunions was an affliction only associated with grannies, you are mistaken! It also affects rather youthful 30 year olds with bent feet. Needless to say I am not looking forward to being bed ridden for 2-3 weeks and then forced to wear plastic moon boots for a further month!

Guys hospital called me today and have booked me in for 5th December. No work Christmas party for me then!

Right! Need to get started on a nice long playlist I can play whilst they chisel away at my feet. I opted (in hindsight possibly stupidly) for local anaesthetic, so will be WIDE AWAKE as they hack at my knobbly toes!! Kind of regretting that now... roll on 2012 I say! eep!

Happy 75th birthday Jim Henson!

2011-09-24T20:17:00.000+01:00

I am a HUGE fan of the Muppets. I blame a childhood of Sesame Street with Bert and Ernie, Grover, Big Big, the Count, Elmo... I have every single Muppet movie on DVD and videotape, episodes of Fraggle Rock, the Dark Crystal, the Labyrinth... I have Muppet corgi car toys, original 70's Fraggles... yes I am a huge Muppet memorabilia addict! Jim Henson is a huge part of my childhood. So I was really pleased to see todays Google Doodle displaying a tribute to the best puppet master in the world to commemorate what would have been his 75th birthday!

I thought I'd create my own tribute Jim, so here's a selection of my favourite Muppet moments...

Fashion fails

2011-09-23T23:31:00.000+01:00

I got the idea for this blog post this morning as I was walking to work and a lady, in a very short mini skirt, cycled past me. Obviously, if you're cycling, your legs are unavoidably spread apart... unless you're able to cycle one-legged, which would be an amazing feat. Needless to say, this lovely lady was not gifted with that particular talent, and so zoomed past me straddling her bicycle, happily peddling along, and flashed her knickers at all and sundry that happened to be looking her way. How can someone not equate mini skirt + bicycle = embarrassing underwear exposure?! And it got me thinking of all the other fashion fails I see on the way to work.

I don't know if I'm the only (rather weird) person who happens to have a running internal commentary in their head... I suspect not, judging by JD in Scrubs (if you haven't watched it, where have you been?!)... but anyway, every morning I rather guiltily have a continuous internal monologue rattling through my brain. It can be rather scathing when my eyes wander across someone dressed like a total idiot. Thank god I don't have torretts. I'd not survive a day without getting lamped! Now that's not to say that I think I am particularly the best dressed person in the world, far from it, but I like to think that I would never walk out of the house and generate stares because I looked like a total clown!

So, this woman who was merrily peddling along the south bank, unawares that she was flashing her skimpy whites to a whole host of Friday morning commuters, got me thinking of all the other ridiculous outfits and hideous sights I've seen on the way to work. Such as the other woman who huffed past me a few months back, who was laboriously cycling uphill on her Boris bike, kitted out with cycling gear, helmet, t-shirt... and cycling shorts that were evidently two sizes too small and therefore not large enough to cover her rather ample bottom... resulting in a copious amount of bum crack and a rather nasty looking thong on display. *shudder*

Then there was the very chunky lady who was walking in front of me along the platform at Blackfriars, who had a HELL of a lot of junk in her trunk and was wearing what was a totally reasonable length black skirt from the front. The only issue was that her behind was so large, that it took up several extra inches of fabric to cover it up, meaning that whilst the front of her skirt was below the knee, the back of her skirt barely covered her ass cheeks. I can tell you it was NOT pleasant walking behind her, getting unavoidable glimpses of very very VERY upper thigh and bum cheek every time she took a step. *cringe*

And it's not just clothes. Hairstyles set me off with an internal rant too! Like the complete FOOL who walks past me frequently over Blackfriars bridge. I'm sure he thinks having dreadlocks are very very cool... but someone really should tell him that one single, very thick chunky dread the size of a cumberland sausage (literally one... the rest of his hair is cut very short!), situated bang smack in the middle of his head so that it constantly falls right across his face and into his eyes, meaning he has to flick it out of the way every 2 seconds to see where he is walking, is not only dangerous, but also looks completely and utterly STUPID!

It makes me wonder do NONE of these people own mirrors? Do their partners have no conscience at all? I pray that it I'm about to step out of the house with my skirt tucked into my knickers, that hubby to be would tell me that I look a complete state! Fashion police! Southbank NEEDS YOU!

£10K PRIZE? Yes please! Vote for my photo!

2011-09-20T13:39:00.000+01:00

£10,000 to spend at the new Westfield Stratford shopping centre? Umm... YES PLEASE! Please vote for my photo of this lovely stylish and rather retro lady selling cupcakes at Shoreditch market! I could win a great prize!

VOTE FOR MY PHOTO HERE!

6 weeks til I'm Fung tai tai! Eek!

2011-09-13T09:32:00.000+01:00

Ok, so strictly speaking it's actually less... it was six weeks on Saturday just gone. That makes our upcoming wedding very very REAL. I can count down in weeks, not months. Crazy. To make it all the more real, this week we had our wedding rehearsal. Never having been married before, I wasn't too sure what a wedding rehearsal consisted of, and was expecting a step by step "you stand there, he says this, you do that" kind of thing. As it turned out, it was much more exciting and enjoyable! Our lovely vicar had informed us that not everyone needed come as they may get bored, but our hing dais (groomsmen) have taken their roles very seriously and so all insisted on coming along with the best man. I suspect it was something of a reconnaissance exercise so they could scope out the church and plan where to stand on the day hehe!

Our vicar was wonderful, explaining the meaning behind each line in the service, providing anecdotes and tidbits of historical interest... for example, the wedding vows have always been "I will", not the "I do" you hear in the movies. Hollywood changed the vows in the first film with sound which featured a wedding, because back then, actors frequently doubled up as ministers, conducting Vegas weddings in their spare time. Producers were worried that if the actor conducting the film wedding was actually a real minister, the acting couple may actually end up married (of course they wouldn't as they wouldn't have been using their real names) so lawyers advised them to change the words and it wouldn't be legally binding... hence "I do" instead of "I will".

Other really interesting historical marriage facts he passed on, was that it is a legal requirement that a bride must remove her veil from her face for the ceremony, and that marriages must take place between dawn or 6am and dusk or 8pm (whichever is earliest). This was to prevent unscrupulous fathers from passing off his eldest daughter as the bride if she was unmarried. It was known to happen, and the father would place a heavy veil over the eldest daughters face whilst locking up the true bride, duping the groom into marrying the wrong sister! So, marriages must take place during daylight hours and the groom must be able to see the brides face! Haha!

He also explained what marriage means, the sacrifices and commitment you make to each other, and gave us lots of advice about making sure we talk to each other about everything, money, children etc etc as much as possible before we get married so there's no surprises afterwards. It was a bit like a mini marriage counselling/lesson but with all our friends and family there. Good thing they're close as I cringed a little when he mentioned being honest about what you like and don't like "in every room of the house"! Think my face went a little pink at that point! Eek! He also talked to us a lot about kids, how it may take a while to conceive and that stress won't help, and to discuss now how far we'd go to have kids and what we'd do if we couldn't naturally.

We did also do a brief walk through of the vows... I think were both going to require tissues at that point. Hubby2b teared up saying his and so did I, so I can guarantee we'll both cry on the day (soppy pair that we are!).

All in all it was a rehearsal for the day and a preparatory session for our marriage. I'm so glad that Roger our vicar is marrying us as I couldn't think of anyone more approachable, down to earth and kind as he is.

So with the rehearsal out the way, all that's left is the stag and hen parties (future hubby is off to Amsterdam this weekend.... scary thought!!! I've got a surprise party planned by my sister this Saturday) and a hair trial and that's it! Eek!!

I really hope I get used to being called Mrs Fung. It sounds so old to my ears right now! Haha!

Another reason why I love HK! Replacement iPhone screens!

2011-09-04T18:02:00.001+01:00

Something I've been dreading finally happened... after dropping my iPhone several times, I finally dropped it and SMASHED the screen! I didn't just crack it either, I totally and utterly obliterated it! Anyone who knows me knows how I am constantly attached to my iPhone, so I think my lack of reaction when I saw the shattered screen was due to shock rather than complacency. I think if I'd been in London I may have been inconsolable, but being in Hong Kong I guess I knew that a quick trip to a phone shopping centre in Mongkok would replace the screen. 1 hour later, I not only had a new original iPhone screen (a bit more expensive but worth it) but a new aluminium case and screen protector! I have no idea how much it would cost to replace an iPhone screen in the UK, but in HK it cost £65. Painful still, but serves me right... butter fingers! Im now VERY paranoid about dropping the damn thing! Might need to velcro it to my hand! hehe!

Why I LOVE HK!

2011-09-03T13:04:00.000+01:00

My recent trip to Hong Kong has just reconfirmed how much I love it for SHOPPING!! Everything is SO cheap! Apple products included!! I have finally invested in my first Apple MacBook Pro. I planned to buy a 13" MacBook Pro with 500gb hard drive and 8gb ram and i7 Intel core, along with a 1tb LaCie rugged hard drive. In the UK online Apple store, everything all together would have cost me £1638.95. I bought a 4gb ram version MacBook Pro, got the extra 4gb ram from a separate store, and the hard drive from another shopping centre and ended up saving £600!! I got everything for £1000! CRAZY! I am now in the process of beautifying my new baby with PINK accessories... much to my future hubby's despair (I think he was planning on borrowing my new MacBook but now can't thanks to the fuchsia pink keys heh heh...).

Other bargainous purchases included my veil which we got for a crazy £20 instead of the UK price of £150, and our wedding rings! We also bought a humungous rice cooker in preparation for hubby-to-be's parents visit, which was an amazing £15!!

Food is also ridiculously cheap... hubby-to-be eats like a horse and in HK you can get a sirloin steak chips, chicken soup (the thing under the puff pastry) and a drink for around $45 (about £3.50) at Cafe de Coral. Yum. I opted for a smaller portion of noodle soup, chicken wing and french toast with maple syrup. mmmmm..... I swear if I lived in Hong Kong I would be the size of a house!

*sigh* I wish everything was as cheap in London! I think his parents are in for a nasty shock when they come to visit us! Definitely NOT taking them to China Town for duck and rice. It's about triple the HK price in London and they'll have a heart attack! hehe.

Photovine appeals to my photography OCD

2011-08-18T09:30:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I stumbled across a tweet by @petapixel announcing Google's rival to Instagram. Ever the early adopter, I downloaded it straight away! Why Google released on iOS first and not Android is beyond me but I'm not complaining as I get to use it on my iPhone! So here's my review...

Photovine is a photography app that allows you to take a photo and add it to a "vine". Photos in the vine all have a common theme, such as "my favourite thing" or "black cats". You can add photos to existing vines, start your own vines and invite friends to contribute to vines. You can also "watch" vines so you stay up to date on new photos.

Things I love (so far):

The refresh monkey! When you refresh the page, a cute little monkey pops up at the top of the screen! Eek! Cute!
The ability to categorise my photos. I'm a little obsessed with categorising things (um. Yeah. Did you see my review on my Awesome Note app?!). I'd just that night before created a collage of hand photos I'd taken, for that very purpose. So being able to categorise my photos within an app is brilliant!
It's fun. Browsing vines is quite entertaining! A few of my favourites so far are:

Things I don't like (so far):

Unless I've missed it, I don't see any photo filters. To me that's a big FAIL. if Photovine wants to compete with instagram, they need to add the ability to edit and add retro filters and effects to photos on upload.
No privacy settings on vines. Ok I get that it's a social sharing app, but it might be cool if you could create vines which are only viewable to friends. Or at least add a filter to a vine so you can just see photos added by friends. At the moment Photovine doesn't have millions of users, but as that changes, the refresh rate on new photos being added will increase and finding photos taken by people you know will be quite difficult in the current set up!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

RIOTS to Random Acts of Kindness

2011-08-12T08:40:00.002+01:00

This week has been all about the London riots... self-acclaimed disadvantaged kids, blackberry smart phones in hand (on which they organised which cities and towns to loot and trash next) smashing, looting and burning down both big chain and small family run independent shops alike. Reasons for their animalistic and selfish behaviour spouted were regurgitations of lines they'd read in the newspaper or heard someone else band around in conversation... "we're taking back what the government owes us", "it's all the Tory's fault". No thought of the innocent people who they're robbing from, or flats and homes above shops which they burnt to the ground then.... in reality I bet the large majority of the little skidmarks that decided to burn down the 200 year old family run furniture shop in Croydon have no interest or knowledge of government or politics, and probably have never visited a polling station in their lives. What may have started as a protest against a man shot (rightly or wrongly) by police, ended up as an excuse for thugs to run rampage across London (and the rest of the UK) and get a new flat screen TV or a new pair of trainers. Rant over. *deep breath*...

So with so much hate and violence in London right now, I thought we all needed a little reminder of how not ALL Londoners are savage heartless criminals... I introduce the Transport for London Acts of Kindness website! A collection of stories of random acts of kindness on the London Underground! A few of my favourites which brightened my morning so far...

A Japanese man was sitting opposite me on the Central Line making something in paper - I was totally transfixed - forget all manners and was just staring at what he was creating in front of me. It was a unicorn, we had a brief chat and then he gave me it. I still have it and keep it in a cabinet

While on my second maternity leave, I was travelling from Dollis Hill to Crouch End to visit a friend for lunch. After 2 changes and 3 tubes I got to Finsbury Park only to find me, the toddler and the baby in the pram at the bottom of 3 flights of stairs. My heart sank. As it was lunchtime, the station was quiet and I wasn't too happy to see 2 hooded young men loping down the stairs but as they got to bottom they asked if they could help by taking the pram leaving me to carry the toddler. They carried it up the 3 flights safely and even missed their train to do so! I always think of them when people use the term 'hoodie' as a generic term for violent youth because their kindness made my day and challenged my lazy assumptions.

My daughter Rebecca was on the underground, it was her 21st Birthday. Her friend Jessica was travelling with her. The train stopped. Suddenly Jess said in a big loud voice, 'It's my friends birthday can we sing for her.' The people started singing and smiling.

It had been a long day and the commute home was crowded, but a big smile spread across everyone's faces when the Tube driver pretended we were on a plane. Each time we reached a new station he would tell the people getting off to have a great day, and welcome those getting on. He would also inform us of our altitude and temperature at our destination. It relaxed everybody!

My partner and I were wandering late on a Saturday night through Liverpool St Station when we saw a little old lady, with luggage, looking slightly lost. We hesitated. I thought she looked vulnerable amidst the drunken crowds. And she'd missed the last Overground train. So we accompanied her to an outlying Tube stop and waved her off from there on a small-hours bus home.Going out of our way turned out to be joyously rewarding because she was wonderful: not vulnerable at all; spry; bright, fascinating; a dealer in antique botanical books just back from a fair, aged about 80! Wish I had her email and could be friends forever.

(I was so engrossed in reading these stories that I just very nearly missed my train stop! Oops!!)

One morning on the Jubilee Line a woman lent over and removed a small amount of shaving foam I'd somehow left on my ear. On an over-crowded train to Canary Wharf, it made me and the person next to me smile. Literally, a touching act of kindness (or mercy?)

(this one literally made me laugh out loud... brave woman.. that could have been the scene from the film There's Something About Mary.... ick!! Haha!!)

I cried on the Victoria line, last Friday. Boy trouble. When I got off at Stockwell a girl of about 22 came running up to me to see if I was OK. She gave me a hug and looked right into my tear soaked eyes and said 'sometimes you just need a hug from a random stranger on the tube.' As she walked off in the opposite direction I realised she was right. She'll never know how much her kindness meant to me.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finally a perfect wedding planning app!

2011-08-04T17:08:00.001+01:00

Ever since I got engaged I have been searching the app store, trying to find the perfect app to plan my wedding. Don't get me wrong, it's not like there's a lack of wedding apps available. In fact, since the royal wedding, there's an abundance.... but they're all either over priced, or frankly, crap.

After trying and deleting several apps, none of which could challenge the (rather extensive) google docs spreadsheets I'd set up myself, I finally came across the best app EVER! AWESOME NOTE! What an apt app name, because, yes, it IS AWESOME!

Ok ok getting a little carried away with the whole loving the organisational, allocate everything into neat little folders and tag them, thing... but this seriously IS my dream app. I was up til 1am organising my life last night!

So what is awesome note? Well it's basically a to-do list and note app in one. I use the pre-installed note app on my iPhone heavily for shopping lists, wedding ideas and general note taking. This app takes things one step further! You can set up folders (and customise the folder colours and icons... *squee with excitement!*) and then add various different notes in each. For example, my wedding folder has a mixture of to-do items, which I can tick off once done, and notes complete with images (kind of like a scrap book).

There's also an excellent view for notes and photos which I've decided to use for my Project 365 and travel diary! It posts each note as a little polaroid or post-it! That's definitely going to get filled up when I next go to Hong Kong!

I can't believe I didn't download this app sooner! I think my colleagues were a little dismayed at how excited I was when I told them about it... haha! You can also sync and back up all your notes with google docs and iTunes... a lesson I learnt the hard way when my phone crashed and I lost all my contacts!

Seriously, if you're a list-writer, this app is a total must for your iPhone and worth the £2.49! And don't make the mistake I made, which was download the free app, enter loads of stuff, realise I had more than 20 to do items, pay to upgrade and then realise it doesn't transfer your notes over...! Awesome note, TAKE NOTE! that was really really frigging annoying! I had to re-enter everything in to the paid version... not good when you'd just spent an hour adding your life to the free app!! Grrr...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

THE worst dan dan mein EVER!!

2011-07-13T12:38:00.003+01:00

There's one thing I hate to hear more than anything else its the words "let's go eat at Culture". I avoid the Chinese restaurant near work like the plague... the worst Chinese food ever.... yet everyone in the area LOVES going there!! It baffles me! It makes me want to go round my Por Por's, tupperware up her cooking and serve it to the masses, shouting "THIS is proper Chinese food!! Not this crappy slop!!". I could even forgive the gloopy rubbish they serve if the restaurant wasn't owned and run by Chinese people, but their constant chattering in Cantonese just verifies that they should know better! Aren't they embarrassed to be serving up food so unauthentic?! Or is it a running joke to them that English people pay through the nose by nasty thick wallpaper-paste like sauces slopped over dry nasty cheap pork and defrosted chicken?!

Ok I sound over dramatic... but last night just reconfirmed that I should never ever eat there again... one of my favourite dishes when I'm in Hong Kong is dan dan mein. It's a noodle dish served in a slightly spicy peanut butter or sesame paste sauce. The noodles are usually wheat noodles and the dish is usually quite soupy. When I saw it on the menu, I thought "hooray! I'll order that!", as my previous selections of roast duck and rice or char siu roast pork were disastrous attempts of dry over cooked old meat swimming in thick cornflour thickened soy wallpaper paste sauce with rice...

Ok, so I wasn't expecting the standard of dish I get at Shanghai Por Por in Hong Kong... but....

Ummm... That obviously is NOT dan dan mein!!! Rubbery udon noodles lurked under the obligatory nasty gloop which swam with bits of nasty cheap chicken... yuck.

This is what dan dan mein SHOULD look like....

I'd be embarrassed to serve that to anyone, never mind a fellow Chinese person who knew what GOOD Chinese food should even look like, never mind taste like! Yuck. Shame on them! The next colleague that suggests we go there I'm going to have to re-educate... gross gross gross...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My saviour face cream!

2011-07-11T10:46:00.004+01:00

I never used to use face cream. My skin has always been greasy and face creams just seemed to make it worse, bringing me out in pimples. But a combination of turning 30 and seeing some of my friends begin to get a little crepey around the eyes prompted me to start thinking about looking after my skin... after all, I'm no spring chicken anymore!

First I tried Boots No7 day cream. Nice consistency, nice smell and although it did leave my skin feeling a bit greasy it sank in quite quickly. Great! Perhaps I'd found my perfect face cream first go!

Once my pot had finished I thought I'd try Olay 7 signs... sucked in by marketing I figured it was an excellent all rounder. The pump dispenser was good as I could keep track and measure how much I was using, but the cream didn't absorb as quickly as No7 and left my skin feeling slightly greasy. Definitely not a No7 beater!

Months and months later (the Olay cream seemed to last forever!) I tried Nivea Q10. The packaging was deceptive, a large box with a tiny pot of cream inside! The consistency was nice and thick, but when I used it, my face was so sticky and greasy afterwards that my makeup seemed to slide around my face. Definitely the worst of the bunch so far!

I hadn't even used a quarter of my pot when I saw my Mum had an offer on the Neals Yard Organics products she sells. I love anything Rose scented, and she had a daily moisturiser, so I thought I'd give it a go. The smell was fantastic and when I squeezed it out the tube it had a rather liquid consistency. As soon as I applied it to my face it started to absorb... so much so that I had to use more than I would of my other creams! It sank in like magic! It also left my skin perfectly matt... no greasy residue whatsoever! It was the perfect base for my makeup and my foundation glided on perfectly! I've definitely found my perfect skin cream! As an added bonus, after reading an article stating anything under factor 30 was useless to protect your skin, this wonder cream was factor 30! It's actually quite hard to find creams with a UVA and UVB protection that high!

So as you can tell, I'm loving my new face cream!! If you'd like to try Neals Yard products you can order them here.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A little bit of culture... my first trip to the opera

2011-07-10T23:01:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was my first experience of opera... ok so I'd watched Madame Butterfly before on TV (and loved it) but I'd never physically gone and sat in a theatre to watch an opera before. Usually I'm more of a musical kinda gal, but when Mum sent me a link to a deal for £60 upper circle seats for £10, I figured at that price why not get my feet wet and try something a bit more cultured. Plus hubby to be really wanted to go. So, I got 2 tickets for £20 to see Simone Boccenegra at the London Coliseum.

We were both quite excited about going to the opera... hubby-to-be stressed about what people wear to the opera, and even went so far as to google it (which was really cute!!). The theatre itself looked pretty impressive too. The boxes to the left and right of the stage were huge (and there were some lucky rich people sipping wine pre-curtain up in their box) and the view from our dead centre upper circle seats were pretty good.

I'm not sure what I was expecting... perhaps after watching Madame Butterfly on the TV I was expecting more colourful vibrant sets, but this version of Boccenegra went down the modernistic route, with the cast wearing black, white and shades of grey. The opening act's set was interesting enough, a smoky bar full of men in beige raincoats and hats, with a street outside complete with car, but from act two it was all grey walls and black plastic seats. From act three to the end, the entire opera was set in what looked to be some kind of meeting/conference room (again a modernistic take on what should have been a throne room of sorts where the Doge saw his subjects). The set was drab, although clever in terms of perspective. Every time the curtain went down and you heard the shuffling and bumping as they moved the set around, I hoped for something new and interesting, only to be disappointed that it was just the same set yet again but with a couple chairs upended to give the impression of an uprising had taken place. Poor effort!

With regards to the story, I'm not sure if this was an abridged version of the opera, but even with the intermittent curtain down and projected narrative explaining the progress of the story between acts, there seemed to be too many gaps and plot lines unexplained. I think perhaps in general it was a bad choice for a first trip to the opera. The story didn't evoke any kind of emotion from me (and I'm pretty hormonal at the minute... I've even cried today watching Supernanny on TV!), and seemed quite disjointed yet predictable. The singing was good although again somewhat flat... and the acting seemed really hammy! I don't know if it was supposed to be funny but a few people kept on laughing at one of the character's attempts at frustrated tantrums!

So as you can tell, I wasn't over enamoured with Boccenegra! It hasn't put me off opera by any means but perhaps I'll stick to a more well known and mainstream opera next time! Thank goodness I paid £20 and not £120 for my tickets!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Asian people are not cheap. We just don't want to pay for sh*t we made...!

2011-07-04T13:20:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed from past blog posts that I love watching YouTube videos. Not just any video mind... but there are a few peeps I subscribe to and always watch their new clips. One of those people is David So. He's a Korean dude from the States who posts up hilarious videos taking the mickey out of other youtubers (like this racist idiot, whom I previously blogged about here) or himself. The most recent clip was more of the latter and had me laughing in bed (yeah I tend to watch YouTube clips, on my iPhone, in bed, before I go to sleep... so?!). The video is about Asian stereotypes...

"Asian people are not cheap. We don't want to pay for sh*t we made...!"

HAHA... cracked me up... David So, you are hilarious!

So true... so true...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone