Star Wars is everywhere

Star Wars under Disney's marketing power has become ubiquitous. I just got the above from my daughter. Both of them have Star Wars themes on their PCs, phones etc., Both prefer Star Trek and still do but just observing them you would have thought Star Wars is their first love.

An old classmate publicly declared that Star Wars is stupid in our Whatsapp group. Guess what? He also went to see the move. He didn't realize the Force is irresistible.

Yep, we are catching Star Wars again on Christmas Eve. I booked the tickets almost immediately after returning from the movie yesterday.

The Force is really strong. I am not as sold as when I was a kid. Nevertheless at those critical moments during the movie I did try to lend the actors some of my Force. I had anticipated every moment correctly. It is easy to read JJ Abrams.

Update: 11:10 am

The other daughter just whatsapp me she came across light saber chopsticks. Many people's mind is just preoccupied with Star Wars.

Chopsticks inspired by your favorite Jedi or Sith character. I imagine they would suggest that you collect them all right?

Caught the Star Wars movie

Took the family to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens this afternoon at the new Eng Wah Cinema. I booked the tickets almost a month ago!

Plenty of seats available even half an hour before the movie began. I think the rebranded Eng Wah as WE Cinemas is did not get their act right. The problem is structural and cultural. The screen is too small and the place lacks the buzz because they failed to decorate it right.

Westlake Eating House etc.,

Had lunch at Westlake eating house this afternoon. It must have been more than ten years since I was here. The food is still good and I guess we will be back for more. Try something different next time, especially their popular braised pork sandwich.

So they are still teaching folks how to ride a bicycle! One of my daughters learned to ride from him. Very effective! She learned to ride in just one session. That was so many years ago. The shop wasn't air conditioned then.

Malaysia: Everywhere is a crime zone

Her father is not only the DPM but also Home Affairs minister. Well this is Malaysia. In many countries there are crime zones which you can stay safe by avoiding but Malaysia has become one giant crime zone. Unfortunately her father and his colleagues are so used to these things they would hardly be embarrassed. So the merry crimes continue.

COP21: We have a desperate Climate Agreement

The picture that I wanted to use is the one with a beaming V. Balakrishnan at COP21 but at that time I decided against blogging about this. But those talks and agreement kept bugging me and I think the way to be rid of them is to dump them here.

Why did every nation suddenly become so cooperative? I thought Modi put it best when he alluded to the deluge at Chennai. It was a horrific spectacle, it was India's Katrina. Everyone blamed that on global warming.

Then those who would be among the first to see their countries disappear, I am referring to the tiny island states in the Pacific were jumping up and down over their impending fate, with nothing to lose can we expect any less noise from them?

Many countries have their own stories to share how climate change is affecting them. Meanwhile the US Republican party is still in denial about climate change and looking increasingly stupid. How much respect are they prepared to lose before they wake up?

So how could they not come together and struck an agreement?

I will be impressed if they agree to shoot for 2.7 Celsius instead of 2 Celsius. When they feel even more pain and see the monster threaten to engulf them they will try harder. We ain't see nothing yet. Good luck to OPEC and the oil producers but I am also worrying about the changing geopolitics arising from this.

We are living dangerously alright but no more dangerously then when we faced mutual assured destruction from a nuclear war.

We had always lived dangerously. Perhaps this is the deeper reason why I couldn't get this out of my mind.

I thought the BBC sums it up quite well.

Update: 2:10 pm

This is page 8 from the comics published in the venerable science journal Nature to educate as many people as possible on global warming.

While not stated in anywhere that I have come across, I am sure the combined natural disasters in the last couple of years must filled the minds of national leaders and the delegates who were present at the Paris talks. Without that I doubt we would have a deal. Not a good deal but a start which is in the right direction.

China and India, they have plenty to do. Forest fires in Indonesia were also featured in the publication, shame of  them! That was bio-terrorism!

Bought Ah Seng Durians

Wanted to buy maoshan wang this evening at Ah Seng but the better fruit was D24 and he persuaded us to settle for that at $10/kg. Bought two fruits. We appreciate his shrink wrapped boxes which allow us to confidently store them in the fridge for tomorrow.

Ah Seng told me this shorter durian season will only last till January. I think we should have durians every week then.

Cold Storage: Smoked salmon in maki!

The last time there were no salmon sushi and the daughter was wondering if she will be disappointed again. Yep, no salmon sushi again and there was a display notice on the counter stating that their sashimi is safe to consume. I remarked this is a fallout from GSB infection from eating raw Toman and Snakehead fresh water fishes.

No salmon sushi, she settled for maki instead but when she brought it home it was smoked salmon in the maki! Awful idea. If they are not confident, they shouldn't be selling salmon maki at all.

Perhaps we should check out Sakuraya this weekend and see how are things there. Have people become so fearful of eating raw fish?