Wrigley's Doublemint Mint

Wrigley's Doublemint

I bought this mint from an old store.
Becoz of its brand.

Source- frm the net

Wrigley's Doublemint Mint!

I like chewing gum Doublemint,
but as Singapore banned
chewing gum for yrs liao,
this might just be the substitute.

The taste?
No chewy aftermath.
But wait...

I can't expect it to mimic the taste of their chewing gum,
since chewing gum tastes just peppermint,
without any extraordinary taste to call their own.

I'm silly to assume this can be a substitute for the gum,
since the joy of eating chewing gum IS the ability to chew.
And keeps chewing.
Just ask Alex Ferguson.

This is just a mint from the gum company Wrigley.
Not bad as mint- taste is quite strong & refreshing.

nostalgic bird toy

Gliding bird?!

Look wat I've got.
At this toy shop selling numerous toys,
including some old stuff.

This one near cashier caught my eyes.

Gosh, this one last tme my fav.
It was so commonly found in Mama shop.

 wide variety

Used to cost only few cents,
I got quite a few of them last tme,
all seems so attractive to the old me.

It brings back fond memories,
I can still reme some of those birds,
can reme those days when I happily opened the pack,
joined the parts,
and started flying them in hse/downstairs.

I kw this yellow bird was my fav,
thankfully as I searched through the packets,
I found the last piece.

My 2nd fav- Great Eagle.
Tat's out of stock.
Don't think I'll get it  anyway.

the parts...

Compared to kids nowadays
who have iphone, ipad, remote toys.
This was wat we played with.
This was our toy.
Manual somemore.

Talkin abt remote cars-
My 1st one took yrs to save up,
and tonnes of saliva to persuade my mum.

 completed! ready to fly

Alright!
Completed, test flight, ready to fly.
I'll show it and play
with my nephew when he is here.

Harry Porter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2

It all ends

The much awaited finale is here.
Although not a Harry's fan,
I find no reason to miss this final,
since I've watched most of the sequel (I missed at least two),
and this being the classic tat have caught the world.

How I feel:

The show rolls on with a previous ending scene frm Part 1,
of elated Lord Voldemort with his newly found wand.

As the epic battle between good and evil forces
of the wizard world gets ever imminent,
the tense+fearful vibe gets amplified every min.

The good joining their wizard powers to form a shield,
the tonnes of evil forces congregating
and vehemently attacking towards the school, etc etc...
all points to a grand finale showdown.

Then of course the main villain,
Lord Voldemort.
I'll like to pay a little tribute to him.

With a pale face,
few green veins on his bald head,
and an unfanciful cloak,
his overall outlook certainly a poor exemplary of great evil.

Yet, this guy (laud Ralph Fiennes's acting)
is able to strike fear.

The way he glides himself ard,
vanishing and appearing frm thin air...
U kw he is just a poor guy with a missing nose,
yet his mystic seems to spell more darkness and venom.
Perhaps the ans is the cloak,
u'll never kw what's in his sleeves.

There is this scene when Lord Voldemort
"broadcast" his message over the air,
promising to spare the rest if they hand over Harry Porter.

Altho I can't recall the whole paragraph,
I like his string of words.
Succinct, at the same time, driving his message.

His words show his fearfully inimitable side,
enough to make the weak despair.

Ah Long should learn frm him.

Yes, he is bald but at least have substance.
Good PR skills indeed.

Those who have not watch & plans to,
pay attention to his language.

Also cheers to Harry Porter for confronting death in such a brave way.
He knows he have to die to end it all, to save his friends,
and he gamely shows up in front of the devil.

Wat a kid!
Something we shld take from him to our real life.

Despite all the positive,
when it all matters, it blown out.
Heavy thunder with few raindrops.

They talked abt the most powerful wand in the world,
yet the best of it I've seen is the bright green lights.

Battle between Harry and Voldemort
is mere catfight of pulling faces+heads while rolling in swirling wind,
and pointing of wands at each other.
Such school boy fight...I desire more magic at least.

Furthermore, the way Lord Voldemort die, damn weak.
After his death, it draws up the curtain and confirm my suspicion-
he's just a lonely guy without a nose.

My Review:

TWO OUT OF FIVE

It's Harry Porter and the best of wizard tale,
thus I expect more for its ending.

Sadly, it does not quench my thirst
for a majestic magical showdown.

Sadly, a true classic tale of wizards ends so softly.

Anyway, it will still be a hit,
irregardless of watever ending the author choose-
She can conclude tat
Lord Voldemort dies frm food poisoning due to his long fingernails,
and yet people will still flock to the cinemas.

Perhaps, perhaps...just like wat someone said in the show:

It is the wand choosing the wizard.

Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout

Espresso Stout

We went pub for Hitachino's beer.

Went for White Ale,
wif Denan giving the thumbs up,
& me affirming my loyalty to it.

We went for the next kill,
Sweet Stout,
but were disappointed by words frm waiter tat
due to popularity it was sold out.

Wif nothing interesting on the menu,
we decided on Espresso Stout,
not available in supermarket.

Espresso Stout appears a dark brown colour with aromas
and flavours dominated by rich roasted dark coffee beans,
bittersweet chocolate, mocha, cocoa and caramel.

Gosh wat a heavy mix,
again quite similar to sweet stout
as mentioned in my earlier post,
chocolate+coffee mix.

This one differs in the promise
of roasted dark coffee beans instead of just coffee.
Espresso indeed.

We'r both not stout fans,
thus were taken aback by its strong taste,
with immediate bitterness dominating our palate

The roasted coffee beans was strong.

To us, this is Kopi Gao, without sugar.
Sweet Stout is kind of Kopi O (sugar added Kopi).

Again, chocolate, mocha, cocoa and caramel
were difficult to identify.

Nevertheless, it's a smooth stout,
something stout drinkers shld find extraordinary.

Molting

The shell

Saw the crayfish laying there,
wif its head twisted.

I tot it's dead.
Another dead body,
this tme not in reservoirs but in my tank.

Then took another look,
The crayfish was right behind.

Molting!
Part of a growing up process.
First tme came across this.

I did a close examination on the shell (exoskeleton).

On the appearance, it's a full crayfish, without the eyes.
Just like a photocopied image.

The legs, the cheliped ("pincers" in layman's term)
and amazingly the two antennas are fully intact.
How they managed
to have double pair of antenna in a nite?

Also, there's no signs of cracks.

Left me wondering hw it shed it's clothes.
Great escapee I supposed.

shell, next to the "naked" crayfish

The new shell looks reddish.
Frm wat I've got frm googling,
the shell is extremely thin & vunerable.
Two days later the shell will harden
to become its next armored exterior.

Transformers- Dark of the Moon

I'll do a terse one on this movie.

Transformers Dark of the Moon
has quite a handful of bad reviews tagged to it,
despite being the 3rd sequal riding on the famous robots.
Wat's wrong with the show?

I went to the cinema on Sunday.
Middle way into the show boredom inched in,
was quickly dispersed by the fighting scene,
esp the part when Decepticons
ripped the building for few running humans.

How I feel:

Hmm... It was okie.
Normal. Acceptable.
Not much "Wohoo"
Still the usual Transformers style.

Bad guy clashes wit the good,
heavy metals clashing heavy metals.
Good prevails as always.

It left me with this thought:
Will I still go to the cinema for the fourth sequal?

I thought hard why this nostalgic hero characters lost its charm on me.

1) No longer original
They'r robots, not alien.
The alien-looks got worse as each sequal goes.
I am beginning not able to distinguish
if I'm watching Aliens vs Predator or robots.

In the original cartoon play,
all robots transformed frm some objects.

The strange long-legged robots looks confusing.
Wat's tat actually?
Seems like they've joined
every spare metal parts frm hardware shop for this.

2) The intriguing transform

1st sequal I hit the cinema with lots of anticipation.
My eyes widely opened with each transform.
Making me nervous whether if the next robot
would be transformed from the toilet bowl.

Now, even the weird bird
transformed frm the photocopy machine
did not even tingle me.

Perhaps I've seen it too early
frm the photocopier ads.
They've lost their element of surprise.

3) The story

Same banal story.
Recovers some old robots (tat's similar to the 2nd),
then Decepticons tried to expel Autobots frm earth.

Why must they always bring out old robots?
To make things more laughable,
they even include beards, glasses on the old ones.

I was worried the next sequal will be on

two old robots playing chess, 

talking abt colour fading on parrot,

whistling at girl,

then going for a cancer screening together.

However put yrself in the script-writer's view.
Wat else can u write on Transformers?
They'r unlike X-men where u can follow a script.
Or avatar with a new script,
bogged by some family issues.

They can only revolve ard earth, human, robots.

Unless they decided to turn the heat
by concocting an avatar to fall in love with a robot.

My Review:

TWO OUT OF FIVE

Give credits for them on the destruction effects,
the falling buildings.
Let's hope for surprises for the next one.

Will I go to the cinema?
Ans: It all depends on the preview.

Hitachino Nest Beer

Hitachino Nest Beers-The Red Owl?

Straits Times 15May2011

It appeared on Straits Times 15May2011,
recommended by one of their ST food journalist.
Being titled "Best Beer"
together with her strong recommendation,
how can we miss this?

I'm going to taste three of their four available beers,
and see how good they r.

Background:

Kiuchi Brewery started making sake in Japan since 1823.
They started brewing Hitachino Nest beer in 1996,
the highly lauded Japanese Classic Ale.
The rice is milled and polished,
similar to sake,
& fermentation requires both sake & ale yeasts,
thus yielding a beer unique in taste & craft.

Red Rice Ale

With their red owl (plus a shade of pink background)
sitting in the middle of the bottle,
quite tantalizing to pick up a bottle.

The top recommendation was this Red Rice Ale.
A complex sake like flavours with malt sweet notes.
Hints of strawberries (tat explains the pink)
in the nose and palate,
this is an intriguing mix of sake,
malt & bitter notes in the finish.

Strawberry in a beer?
Let's investigate.

 Pink monster?

When I poured the beer into my glass,
there was a slight pinkish tint.

1st sipped got a surprise.
There was this sweet aroma,
followed by bitter taste on my palate,
just wat they promised- a bitter finish.

This is more of a girl+guy combo.
Girlish side- the aroma.

I can't really recognized the taste of strawberries,
but the lurking aroma will be a boon to ladies.

Becoz it's just a hint of strawberry taste,
If u go on continuous sips,
rest assured there will only be bitterness.
However if u drink slow enough,
there will be periods when u can enjoy the scent.

Let me touch on the guy part.
Although the aroma,
there was this bitter taste with it.
Macro man shld like this.

Overall

An interesting mix.
I would prefer a stronger aroma.

 White Ale

Hitachino Nest White Ale.

A refreshing mildly hopped Belgian styled beer

with a complex flavour of coriander, 

orange peel & nutmeg.

 Yellowish tint

This was a refreshing beer.
The sweet orange taste was quite palpable,
tasted like wheat beer with a sweet touch.

Overall

Thumbs Up for this one.
For those who do not like bitterness,
I would recommend this.

Sweet Stout

 Just the name alone heighten my interest.
 Stout that is sweet?

 Then the concoctation-
 mixture of coffee, chocolate?

 normal stout colour

Didn't expect any surprising colour other than black.
There was the normal stout taste,
however, the drink was more smooth.

At times reminiscent of Kopi O.
Just as wat they promised, they delivered.
Coffee in the stout.

Wat's missing is the chocolate taste.
I had expected there would be no choco hint,
since they would anyway
be overshadowed by coffee or stout even if any.

Overall

Stout lovers,
this is better than normal stout in the market.
Strong stout taste with Kopi O somemore.

I wonder hw u get drunk when stout knock u off
and coffee awakes the mind.
Perhaps this is the 'I want to but I cannot'.


The bitterness at times,
seems to bring out the "out of love" feelings.
Majiam 喝闷酒.

All being said, I recommend to try this,
since when can u find coffee easily in a stout?

All in all, these range's a nice concoction,
with element of surprise in each bottle.
My fav pick is the white ale,
altho I might, again grab the rest too.

With annual production limited to ard 2,000 cases a yr,
it makes enjoying one even more satisfying.

Hand it to the Japanese!I'm going to grab few more of this.

Where u can find the owls:

Liang Court, Meidi-Ya Supermarket

Footnote:

Pour them out & drink frm yr glass instead.

I find the taste more pungent 

rather than drinking straight frm the bottle

He's relaxing

Upon googling,
then I realized crayfish is a nocturnal creature.
Hidding in the day (despite his size),
active once it's dark.

No wonder during daytime I seldom see him.
Tot he already jumped off and M.I.A.

Yesterday nite, I saw it on top of my plant on few occasions,
afraid it might really jump out of the tank,
I placed a safety net to cover the tank.

Just now, I purposely off the lights,
switched on the bluey night light to observe
wat tat guy's doing in the dark.

Guess wat,
he climbed up the highest point of my plant,
just beneath the water surface,
he tilted its body to one side
and rested there.

出 pattern!

Few times he dropped down,
again climbed up and rested @the same spot,
wif tilted body.

He did this several times.

Wat a cute guy.
I'm beginning to like him.

Relaxing

Suntanning?

Snow White Crayfish

My new member- Snow White Crayfish.

This pearl white crayfish is frm the rivers & streams of North East Australia.
Quite rare.























  


Also included another sucker.
Sucker fish.
I need someone to clear the shit.

I'm not going for the normal black ones.
Their job already shitty liao,
black one makes the scene worse.
Also, they reminds me of dark lizards.

I saw one species having zebra stripes.
A breed frm Brazil.
U can google the pix.
One of the nice ones ard.

Look closer @the price,
it got nicer.

$200 plus for one.
Siao.
Wat an expensive sucker.
For those who use gold to make toilet bowl.

After careful selection,
got him, Mr Spotty.
At least some pattern to beautify the habitat.