Junkgirl™

Browsing Junkgirl™ blog archives for November, 2008.

Lombard Street

Lombard Street in San Francisco is famed for its steepness and tight turns. It may not be the most crooked street in the world (Vermont Street holds this title) but it is more picturesque than the rest.

“They built a street up there called Lombard Street that goes straight down, and they’re not satisfied with you killing yourself that way—they put grooves and curves and everything in it, and they put flowers there where they’ve buried the people that have killed themselves. Lombard Street, wonderful street. – Bill Cosby”

Annual Easter racing event on Lombard Street

Skateboarding down Lombard Street

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Clean Up The World

Show a little care before it’s a little too late…

Clean up the world

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Indian TV Host slapped

The Indian TV host in the vid below was supposed to act mean and all but she went a little overboard and slapped one of the contestants. She had no right to do that and she deserved the return slap. It wasn’t as if she was assaulted by him.

Moral of the following incident:
1. If you get hit for no particular reason, hit back.
2. If you hit for no particular reason, be prepared to get hit back.

After the slapping…

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Shoya Melbourne

Dinner at Shoya on Friday night. We ordered the Chef’s ‘Omakase’ in which decisions are left entirely to the chef.

Grilled Miso marinated eel topped with crab meat, salmon roe and truffle
Lightly grilled Miso flavoured perch topped with tomato mousse,
foie gras, and roe of perch

Sashimi – presented as the Shoya signature

Beef tatake wrapped in spinach

I can’t recall what the following dish was

Tempura crab

Dessert was cheesecake and panacotta

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LOVE sculpture

LOVE is an art sculpture by Robert Indiana. This iconic sculpture is found in several locations around the world. I encountered one here in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

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The humankind

I don’t have much compassion left for the humankind. Disappointed with our kind. Sadden by our acts.
Just the amount of slaughterings we carry out to feed our kind is appalling enough. But that can still be justified to a degree. This however, is totally unneccessary.

Days without the humankind

Arrival of the humankind

Seal hunting is practiced mainly in Canada, Greenland, Namibia, Norway, and Russia. It is an annual event in Canada.

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Jerky Boys – You kicked my dog

For a laugh. No discriminatory intentions

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Returning to Niseko

Over the weekend, thought about returning to Niseko in winter. Niseko is located about 1 & 1/2 hour bus ride away from Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan.
Memories from the previous trip

Snowboarding on powder snow

Enjoying the views from above, while catching a breath

Boarding back to the hotel, the cream coloured building on the left

Stumbling all over the powder

Taking a closer look at snowflakes on my pants

The room

The other side of the room

Soaking after a long, exhausting day of boarding

and the view is simply breathtaking

The lifts at Niseko stay open till approximately 9pm. Great to have the runs all to yourself (well, almost) when others are feeding their hunger.

Biru….beer in Japanese. Kirin is missing though.

Crispy ladyfingers or okra

a close-up

Clear blue skies after the snow. Facing the runs and Mt Annupuri

Facing the other side, looking at Mt Yotei.

Nothing beats a hot dish on a freezing day

My bowl of ramen, chashu ramen. ‘Itadakimasu…’

My snowman. It is actually a packaging for an ice-cream i purchased from the convenience store. Packaging in Japan is remarkable, inspiring and beautiful.

I think i will return

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Remembering TLC

From left: T-Boz, LeftEye and Chilli

The radio played Waterfall by TLC while i was driving home from work yesterday. I enjoyed listening to their R&B songs back in the 90s. My favourite songs of theirs include Baby, Baby, Baby from their Ooooooohhh…. On the TLC Tip album, and Creep and Waterfall from their CrazySexyCool album.

TLC was initially a group called 2nd Nature and consists of Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes and Crystal Jones. Crystal was later replaced by Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas and the group, under the management of Perri ‘Pebbles’ Reid of LaFace Records, switched its name to TLC.

Left Eye died in a car crash while holidaying in Honduras in 2002, when their fourth album, 3D, was about to be released. The remaining 2 members, T-Boz and Chilli, stayed as a duo for some time before going on their own paths. Some groups like New Kids on the Block are able to have a reunion many years later but because TLC lost Left Eye, this group will not be able to have a complete reunion.

Here are vids of my favourite TLC songs:

Creep

Baby,Baby, Baby

Waterfall

Side note: TLC’s manager, Pebbles, was also singer back in the 80s. One of her most popular song is

Girlfriend

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In The Name Of God?

Religion is not about merely showing up at the church or mosque or temple. It is about being a good person and having some compassion in you, at least towards animals.

I was blog-surfing today and came across an heartbreaking incident, which occurred about a year ago but nevertheless, it still roused my anger. It is totally absurd. Totally unjustified.

I grew up in Malaysia and I know Muslims consider dogs ‘haram‘ (a word for forbidden or unclean in Islam), just like pigs. I often wonder if this is true for all Muslims or just Southeast Asian Muslims. In Dec 2006, a dog, later named Joy, was maliciously attacked by some Indonesian labourers working in Malaysia. 2 eyewitness told Sabrina Yeap. who helped the severely injured dog, that the labourers had attacked the dog claiming that the animal is ‘haram‘ (a word for forbidden or unclean in Islam). Really? So they had to attack the the defenseless being because it is unclean? If something is ‘haram‘ then stay away from it. Is it neccessary to bring it to this extent? I just cannot comprehend the need for ridiculous acts like this.

As a result of the attack, the lower jaw of the dog was seriously severed and its tongue was hanging out. Vet surgeons had to remove the lower jaw but was able to save the tongue. I am thinking, how will this dog be able to chew and eat and drink for the rest of its life? According to the news, it will have to be fed soft food for the rest of its unjust life. And imagine the agonizing moments it had to go through during the attack.

If all this was because it is what God had wanted, I am seriously doubting religion. Is it the devil’s voice dim-witted people like these are hearing. What has the dog done so badly that it has to receive this sort of punishment?

I am not sure if the ‘angels’ received any judgement for their act. They shouldn’t die or be jailed. They deserve better than that. They deserve to have their lower jaws knocked out, just like their victim. Religious groups have a responsibility to educate and guide pathetic people like these and Government needs to take action to prevent insane acts like these, not sweep it under the carpet.

I do wonder how Joy is coping with its deformed face now. More news- digging and found some articles here and here on how Joy is recovering.

Joy, post-trauma