vid: The "death grip" is not unique to #iPhone4. But, y'know, we all need something to hate.
via youtube.com
Alpha LimFor fun.Filed under: reviewsvid: The "death grip" is not unique to #iPhone4. But, y'know, we all need something to hate.via youtube.com
Zen and the Art of Eating a Plate of Puke (this post is dedicated to @elaine_chow!)
last night, I went to Izakaya Shuraku at Solaris Mont Kiara, with @gypsyque3n.
from the balcony, looking in I ordered the cold chasoba, a favourite of mine. the waitress helpfully suggested, why not try the neba neba soba? it's got ladies' fingers, fermented soybean, yam, and an onsen egg (hot-spring egg, with runny yolk). I did the arithmetics in my head and I liked the equation. the dish arrived, in due course, and it looked like what the equation sounded like: a nice mix of ingredients evenly spaced out on a bed of soba noodles. (they were buckwheat instead of green tea. perhaps that was an omen.) I poured the soba sauce on top of the visually appealing concoction and proceeded to mix the ingredients well. that's when I noticed the sliminess of the green minced ladies' fingers. the sliminess of the brown minced yam. the yolk burst and it's sunny yellow disposition disappeared into the rapidly deteriorating visual of neba neba soba. the more I mixed it, the worse it got. the five traditional colours of Japanese cuisine melded into a viscous grey mass that followed my chopsticks around the bowl as I swirled it, like a desperate lover clinging on to the knees of his departing paramour, begging her, please, to stay. I'm rather adventurous with my food, and I try not to be judgemental. so I put the puke in my mouth. forgive me for using the word, but it looked exactly like someone had puked into my plate, except for the only difference - the noodles were still intact, unchewed. everything else - the minced veggies, the runny egg, the ladies' finger mucous - looked precisely like throw-up. down to the tiny bubbles that permeated the plasma of soba. it didn't taste bad at all, considering what it looked like. a hint of okra, a bit of wasabi, egg overlaying everything... in short, it was almost bland, but not quite. I have been telling people that I draw the line at live animals. I'll eat raw, I'll eat spicy, I'll eat almost anything but live animals. after the plate of puke, that line has blurred. I feel ready for live octopus, now. as I was eating the soba plasma, I kept waiting for the moment of revelation, the epiphany that says, ah, that's what this dish is about! like when you learn that bentos are meant to be eaten outdoors, perhaps balanced on your lap as you consider the sakura blooms at spring. or when you realise that the pottery, half-glazed, half-au-naturel, are meant to convey human imperfection and inspire humility. I ate the puke, and no revelation dawned. I ate the puke, and wondered whether I was on TV, a hidden camera trained on me. I ate the puke, and imagined pranksters hiding behind the counter, sneaking peeks at me. "oh, my gord - he rearry eating it! I don't berieve it, I going to be sick!" however, @gypsyque3n's unagi was pretty decent, and the goma (black sesame) ice cream dessert was to die for. so don't let my plate of puke keep you away. PIC: I heard that the Ritz-Carlton is different. It is.
The standard set-up for a seat in a meeting room. Apple, mint box, blue glass goblet (covered for your protection), private label water. And that fancy shmancy pen is from the hotel. And you know what? The concierge-like person that I bumped into at the end of the corridor linking from Starhill Gallery actually walked me up to the meeting room, personally. Mac? Windows? Nay. iPhone.The iPhone is the computer I use the most now day in and day out. via techcrunch.com
More quotables: "If a media and web-centric computer were being designed today with no thought to what the computing norms of the past were, it would be a tablet." "The iPhone *is* a tablet computer, just smaller." Back from Melbourne, satisfying curry craving with @SpicyCorner's banana leaf mutton.
We got back from Melbourne today. I told @SpicyGuy I would, when I got back to KL. We ordered two banana leaf sets - vegetarian and mutton. When the girl from We Deliver brought the food, I thought she'd brought along a promotional poster or something. It was two sections of banana leaf rolled up in brown paper! That was a nice surprise. Also, the banana leaf sets were packed in biodegradable paper-based containers. Very admirable. The eating itself was a refreshing experience. And that's not just because I spent almost two weeks away. It was genuinely tasty Indian food - in the comfort and convenience of home delivery! It could have been hotter, but I'm not complaining, since we were sharing it with two-year old Seth ;). I would definitely recommend Spicy Corner to any spice lover. (Especially if you're feeling lazy to go out.) Now I'm going back to unpacking, preparing for work tomorrow, and later finishing up the egg thosai and Portugeuse chicken. Still sleepy. More updates to come! Inspired to Lead: Surprised by a Social Marketing Book
I was prepared for more of his uncommon insights into marketing and also to see what he had to say about social marketing, The Next Big Thing. well, I was surprised. not let down. surprised. although, I can see where the complaints will come from. this book doesn't weigh heavy on how to make money. in fact, Godin reiterates numerous times that leading a tribe is not about money. he goes so far, once, as to say that if you try to cash in on your tribe, you'll ruin it. and I can just imagine how wonderfully that's going to go down with the marketing types who'll buy this book. I was surprised. this is not another marketing book. this is a book about leadership. one of the best I've come across, and leadership is a genre I follow quite closely. (I even got Guiliani's post-9/11 tome, eh.) over and over again, Godin says that we need leaders; leaders who will do the right thing. he emphasises how each of us needs to connect--to each other, to a higher purpose. he talks about the difference between faith and religion, how faith is what we believe, and religion is what we construct to try and nurture that belief. and how religion can sometimes go awry, in that it may not promote belief but rather imprison it. and how when you then challenge those concepts of religion, people get offended because they think you're challenging their faith. an episode comes to mind, when I was preaching that the Bible does not forbid alcohol but rather intoxication. that sermon was not well received. how can we know that we believe in an eternal faith unless we're willing to put our religion to the test? Godin surprised me with this one. it's like the time I went to watch Click, expecting another trashy, brashy Adam Sandler gagfest. and found myself choking back embarrassing man-sized tears. it's like the time I signed up for a preaching course to learn how to communicate better and found out what grace meant for the first time, despite being a lifetime Christian with most of that lifetime spent in a movement named after grace. sometimes it's nice to sign up for one thing and get another. are you looking for some inspiration? Tribes the audiobook is available for free now on Audible.com. follow the promotional link from Seth's blog post announcing the release of Tribes. and if you're feeling generous, you can tip me by buying the hard copy of Tribes from my Amazon link 
This is one of the best books on leadership that I've read (actually, heard) in a long time. and it's got some good points on marketing, too. |
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