a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

there was the jedi starfighter:

(20th birthday present. )

and then there was the b-wing:

(21st birthday present.)

now you know what the students on exchange in copenhagen do to destress when mugging for exams. they build lego sets. enjoy closeup pictures of two and half hours of work!

i should get back to studying again.

i hate this existence!

hate mugging.
hate being cooped up at home.
hate early darkening hours.

this existence is depressing me! im blogging alot more frequently now to increase the variety of ThingsIDoAtHome. anyway, i did promise more cafe reviews, so here we go:

DEN FRANKSE BOGCAFE and PALUDAN BOGER@fiolstraede.

le chic coq ;)

paludan's exterior.

one of the best things about having a uni thats concealed into copenhagen's shopping district, is that your library faces two splendid cafes! paludan and den franske. both of them are bookcafes, hence you dont only smell the whiff of piping hot coffee, you can literally smell the literature (pun not intended). ambience of both cafes are starkly different. paludan is bigger, doubles up as an antivariat (ie second hand book store) and has a very oldy, antique-y feel to it. and it has valrhona hot chocolate. dongchangggg! on the other hand, den franske is a very small and tidy bookshop, a minimalistically cosy and has good strong cafe latte. it is so initimate you feel obligated to speak in whispers. and coffee at both places are relatively cheaper than normal.

anyway, like i said the days get dark at 4pm. i never had any concept of early dark hours until it comes upon you. but i can almost forgive the sun for rotating so quickly because it gives me goregous sunsets (at 3.30pm) like these:

taken at norreport station. never thought that this place could look so beautiful.

the spires of rosenborg castle.

at the junction of gothergade.

at the entrance of the apartment.

i should get back to studying like now. :(

still enamoured after 3hrs. (scroll down for film review)

ok, i take it back, i think i do like chris cornell's 'you know my name', title theme of Casino Royale. its lodged permanently in my head.

for your viewing pleasure:


while you're at it, sing along:

If you take a life do you know what you'll give?
Odds are, you won't like what it is
When the storm arrives, would you be seen with me?
By the merciless eyes of deceit?

I've seen angels fall from blinding heights
But you yourself are nothing so divine
Just next in line

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can't deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you willing to die?

The coldest blood runs through my veins
You know my name

If you come inside things will not be the same
When you return to the night
And if you think you've won
You never saw me change
The game that we all been playing

I've seen diamonds cut through harder men
Than you yourself
But if you must pretend
You may meet your end

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can't deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you willing to die?

The coldest blood runs through my veins

Try to hide your hand
Forget how to feel
Forget how to feel

Life is gone with just a spin of the wheel
Spin of the wheel

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can't deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you ready to die?

The coldest blood runs through my veins
You know my name (x7)

why not even watch the film's opening sequence? i recommend.


geeks, go here:
Wikipedia: You Know My Name
Wikipedia: Casino Royale

the dynamic duo of wikipedia and youtube. how am i supposed to study like that!

speechless.

hi there!

right now, if you are doing absolutely nothing and just twiddling your fingers, surfing the net, reading people's blogs, taking a break, EVEN if you are really doing something important, like studying perhaps, as long as is its nothing short of a major emergency in your life, or there's a fire at your place or exams are a few days away...

I'M telling YOU to. get. your. ass. off. your. chair. and please do yourself a big favour by catching the 24th Bond film, Casino Royale.
it is truly magnificent, excellent, absolutely worthy of the bond franchaise. in fact, i believe it marks a milestone in the Bond series for being so different, non-formulaic and atypical. ian fleming and albert brocoli would be so proud.

why is it so deserving of the lavish praise im shamelessly giving it? ive been a bond fan all my life, parent's influence. ive seen so many bond flicks over the years, i can tell when what will happen, because bond follows a formula. its always very straight forward with the world's best but not-so-secret secret agent. he enters, he shoots, he kills, he gets the babe, he kicks the bad guys ass, he gets another babe, they sail around the mediterranean, maybe she dies, he blows up another few more buildings, he crashes his bmw/aston martin, he gets the real bad guy this time, and then in time for the next vodka martini, shaken not stirred.

but not this one. oh no. this film is an anomaly in the franchaise.

this film draws out bond. it tells you he's just like any other man, he bleeds, he cries, he gets hurt, he doesnt smile all the time, he really falls in love and he can die. casting daniel craig as the 6th james bond, is in my humble opinion, the absolute right choice. brosnan would not have been able to pull off james bond in the craig sort of fashion. while other past bonds have become bond, and thats the only contribution they make to the film industry, bond becomes craig.

he redefines bond.

ok, granted that the scriptwriters have done a whole lot of work developing the new bond, craig breathes life into bond. he is makes him real, raw and edgy. next to him, brosnan looks like an advertisement for colgate or darlie. not that im trying to slam brosnan here, i mean i love the guy, but move over dude! craig's the new bond. craig doesnt smile too much, isnt very clean and tidy with the bloodstains or killing people and cant really jump for nuts (compared to the yamakasi dude), but you're silently rooting for him because you know he needs your support. the other bonds just make you sit back and relax because you know at the end of the day they will come out in a clean tux with nary the crease and with a babe on their arms.

besides the man, the movie itself is vastly different from its predecessors. warning: spoiler alert! thumbs up for the opening black and white sequence, its your first clue that this aint no usual bond film. and its the first thing that draws you to craig's gorgeous eyes. ok. gushing right now. and then the opening music sequence with the poker card theme. old school bond, more colourful and a lot of focus on craig. didnt really like the new theme though, because its a tad poppy. where's my shirley bassey? but i must say that the original theme has been reinvented a little, and i like!

clocking in at 2hr45mins, the movie is long, but you dont feel it. and the directors have played around with usual bond elements and putting them at different places. example, the long romance scenes with bond girl appear right at the back rather than in the early to middle part of the show. its obviously a foreshadowing of something, but placing right behind makes the end alot more poignant. i shant say too much.

bond girl, ahem, bond woman played by eva green is yet another piece of fantastic casting. calling her a bond girl seems to be an insult because when one says bond girl, you get the idea of buxom tanned bikini babes, brainless, always in trouble, helpless, i must say michelle yeoh set the trend for kickass babes, but when halle berry followed up, the kickass-sidekick bondgirl thing sort of got very cliched for me. in contrast, green dresses very elegantly (a lovesick samuel can attest to that), speaks with the quintessential clipped english accent, does not have a stupid name (cf dr christmas jones in the 'world is not enough'), she is called vesper lynd here (rather elegant dont you think?), is bond's match on verbal sparring (the conversation on the train is to die for) and she is not altogether ms goody two shoes. and they actually show her slow death (im sorry, i had to say that). usual bond films dont do such a thing. i mean they have shown bond girls dying thats for sure, but this one shows you a very, very, slow death and bond watches her die so slowly. i seriously almost cried. it was heartbreaking i tell you, heartbreaking.

evil guy, le chiffre, played by mads mikkelsen (danish!!!) is amazingly adept at being psycho-deranged, im actually creeped out by him. and he's a bad guy who gets his ass-whipped by other bad guys, how's that for a change? so he's not so straightforwardly i-want-to-take-over-the-world bad. plus, the tear-bleeding and the constant inhaling are nice touches to the eccentric baddie that every bond movie is famous for.

dame judi dench does not disappoint again, as m, for mother of mi6, and this movie humanises her (geez, they actually showed her in bed with random husband!) and explores her relationship a little more in depth with bond. very motherly. there is no q, no moneypenny and no gadgets. like i said, the aim of the show is to build up bond. no distractions. although the advertising for sony was pretty darn exaggerated. and its the first time i hear 'omega' being said in the show too! and i like the way he couldnt care less about his vodka martini. heck with the shaken and stirred, thats old.

finally, the defining bond phrase 'bond. james bond.' appears right at the very end of the film, just before they hit the theme song. then i realised he's never introduced himself as such at at other point in the film. it was always 'james bond'.

see the irony? he's telling the world that the new bond has arrived.
and i welcome it.

cafes in copenhagen make me want to own not one, but many.

i believe its high time i blogged about some of the cafes that contribute to the thriving, and most excellent cafe culture in copenhagen. ive made it my mission on this exchange to try as many coffee joints as i possibly can, because there are just too many of them! and they fall into so many categories: you have the minimalist, wood and metal, chi-chi kinds, the cosy-warm-snuggly kinds, the typical bogcafe (ie book cafe) kinds, the bo-ho kinds, the jazz cafe kinds... you get the idea. and dont get me started on the types of sandwich bars here.

anyway, here's a nice place that sam and i always go back to when we need a shot of smorrebrod (the quinessential danish open sandwich), introducing DANISH LUNCH (located at the end of stroget opening into kongens nytorv). its a beautifully chic place, thats tastefully decorated entirely in red and white because? its danish colours! for a moment, did anyone think i was going to say singapore? and the quality is excellent, the danish come here themselves. they feature smoked salmon, fish fillet, roast beef, meatballs and ham and cheese smorrebrod, together with a selection of wienerbrod (danish pastries). plus they've got kickass chocolate muffins! you know, the kind thats not too sweet, not too heavy, moist but not too moist? that's the one. we brought karen and val to the cafe the other day and so here's some pictures of us enjoying life:
and here's another cafe along stroget, located at kronprincessegade, CAFE SOMMERSKO (translated to cafe summershoes). i dont know whats so summery about the place, rather, and my vocabulary fails me now in describing the interior. its kinda frenchy? i mean red leather sofas and random classic french posters, chandeliers? anyway, the atmosphere is great too. depending on the time you get there, it can be bustling with the lunch crowd, or initimate in the late afternoon. although i wouldnt say that the coffees are anything to die for, its a pretty nice place to hang out. and btw, its apparently featured in most danish movies. why? i have no idea.

fujitsu be damned!

&*%&$$@#1@!~@!~ &^%^#!@~$##!

argh! I HATE MY FUJITSU!
the stupid laptop that im typing on gave me a second heart attack like some 5minutes ago. it managed to singlehandly almost remove 18gigs worth of my music from my ipod in like POOF.

and it did it not once but twice.

im not going to plug my ipod into this lousy piece of machine EVER. until ipod meets macbook in december. i will survive with 18gigs worth of recycled music on my ipod as long as nothing happens to it. you could hear my heart falling into the pits of my stomach when my ipod revealed ZERO music and the 'do not disconnect' sign refusing to go off and my computer hanging all at the same time.

even after i went through pages of apple online support and downloaded itunes 7 which incorporates the ipod updater, this has to happen. i was that close to calling apple denmark. THAT CLOSE.

stupid stupid fujitsu! everyone owning a fujitsu shld just go and ask for a replacement. like now.

my poor poor ipod. -hammers angrily away at keyboard-

move over, thai express

because we've got jean and pook from svanevej!

thai food rocks, especially if its loving cooked and prepared over two days by 2 thai girls. i got to know jean and pook over the hellish russian trip, and they are seriously nice. i mean, they cooked for 15 hungry singaporeans! if that isnt nice, i dont know what is. and this big gathering of us was a little nostalgic in a sense that for most of my friends, will be ending their exchange in december, and not coming bk to copenhagen. for kam, eddie and wendy who live in california, hk and australia respectively, not seeing them around will be much harder. :( we were already discussing when to have our last supper together! how very tragic!

its probably the night, or rather, early morning, thats causing me to get a little weepy, but i really thank God for the truly wonderful friends ive made on this exchange. its very easy to make friends, but to make friends you can be honest with and trust, is wholly another matter. and this includes friends from lawschool too, who ive grown much closer to, via millions of msning and cross-country visiting (including crashing!). so even though travelling forms a big part of my exchange, its the bonds built here that really mark my exchange days (at least for this semester).

oh the adorable jean! zhiyong with val and extremely delish chocolate cake. who knew fotex made good cake! eddie's thigh is always on on someone else's. nick taking photos of himself AGAIN- the photowhore. me with pook and jean. super stylo junne with un-stylo me :(

eddie and kam! you can't tell they arent singaporean, i swear.

anyway, i'll be staying put in cph for the next 4 wks till the 17th of dec, which is the LONGEST, i'm ever going to be staying in copenhagen, willingly. not so willing, actually, but i actually do have exams here. albeit 15minute oral exams, but it still demands some form of studying to be done. and with daylight hours and temperature decreasing rapidly, telling you that winter is HERE, there's nothing much to do in cph except nuah at home with tea and biscuits (and study). and maybe hit the ice-skating rinks and christmas markets when they open for the season.

and finally, before i knock out and have to go to school at 10am later, happy birthday, my 23yr old housemate!

sam, chocolate cake goes into the mouth, not onto the face. wasted. and opps, my bad, your beautiful face kerna blocked.

zucchini=courgette=aubergine

three names for one vegetable. squash isnt counted because its the generic name.

just so you know, one differentiates the zucchini from the cucumber by looking at the colour, the zucchini is spotty white and feeling the texture, the zucchini is smooth as compared to the bumps on the cucumber, and when you try frying the cucumber, you know you got the wrong vegetable. which was what happened when i thought i bought a zucchini way back in the early days of exchange.

you can tell im really bored when i start to blog about vegetables, cant you?

and im suffering from a writer's block! got a paper (they call it a synopsis here) due on wednesday and i have no idea how to articulate my thoughts. its been so long that i havent written that i cant even remember simple footnoting! its horribly depressing. and i got even more depressed when i tried a new pasta dish for dinner and the cheese smelt kinda weird. it was too cheesy! and its not supposed to expire until next year! usually when i cook, im happy because i feel ultra-productive. but when the dish turns out wrong, cf to the miso chicken dish a few months back, i feel terribly stupid. boo me! i just hope i dont kerna a stomachache tmr. stupid cheese! &^%^&$@@!!@!~

i apologise for the angsty post.

ps: thank you sheryl! i saw your post for my birthday! -hugs-

when im twenty-one (edited with pictures!)

(blogger lost my earlier post, so i'll just cut to the chase. )

2hr and 27mins since i hit 21. im still stunned by the overwhelming love that the singaporeans and one honourary singaporean here showered on me, sam, nick, dor, shane, tristan, jj, junjie, cuili, velly, karenbaren, kam, zhiyong, junne, eddie tonight. even though we are all still 'shagged like shit' from russia, you guys still made this night really special!


thank you also:
-sheryl: for your popup card all the way from clearwater bay!
-manda and nair: for that copious amt of wangwang, yamyam, hellopanda all the way from sg!
-tmc church office (esp aunty paklin): who tracked me down all the way to copenhagen...
-wendeee: for your lovely zipper-earrings!
-pearl and max: for the hot pink bday card! (pearl, i told u i was telling the truth about my address.)

and to my dear dear family, who love me so much, i cant begin to say how much.

thumbs up for danish cupcakes! its back to cooking huge spreads at holger dankse vej. :) the first time we cooked together like this was also in hdv.
the usual hurry-scrurry to cook.

mucking about in moscow

4th pitstop: if the people were nicer, friendlier, smiled more, more hospitable and not look like the dead, i might have liked moscow a little better.

all of us POWs heading for moscow and eating our instant mee// doreen and eddie in front of st basil's church at the red square// sites around the red square// the lenin mausoleum// karen and i freezing

check out the blanket of snow!// jean and me walking along the road// random architecture// me at the krelim// val and eddie in the train cabin// me being silly// successfully navigated to the old town in tallinn!

stunning st. petersburg

3rd pitstop: st petersburg, which i personally love (together with tallinn). beautiful place, but i cant say the same for the russians.

making a lunch stop at mac's (where else, is good, hot and cheap?)// the antiquated train to st petersburg//looking happy at the beginning before they gave us forms to fill in which were in russian (*^&*$@!@!@~~)//views from the train windows// the asian malady- photo whoring// doreen and junne mugging onboard the train// karen, angie and doreen// junne, val, me, venus

sam and me infront of the winter palace// the night scenes in st petersburg// my first time at a ballet and its a russian one to boot!// watching la slyphide// the church of the split blood// me and junne at the gardens next door

another all-female shot in front of st peter and paul's fortress// a beautiful day! (mind you russia only has an average of 60 days of sunshine)// st isaac's church// me and vellywan// a cliched happy-im-at-peace-with-the-world-shot// karen, val, junne, me at a random river//me and zhiyong infront of the church// me and doreen at another river

hamming it up in helsinki, finland

2nd pitstop: helsinki!

junne's new job: finnish tourist promotion officer// me and my roomie!//a picture of central station//everyone stunned-thioed//vellywan and me in front of the helsinki dom church// snowfight!// me and angie//having a (snow)ball of a time// my big footprint// val and junne// eddie at the top of the church// climbing up those slippery steps// awesome skyline// snow snow and more of it

a snow clearing machine// me and my hsemate// vandalised!// view of the church// helsinki harbour// a church whose name i forgot// an important building whose name i also forgot// helsinki drain cover//sam, val and junne// me and junne pigeon watching// a pair of snowmen got left behind// happy like bird// making snow angels// me and angie// sam doing a throw// another important building

swinging in stockholm, sweden

first pitstop of the trip was stockholm, home to friends jo and agirlnamedshuwen :)

pictures taken in skansen, the world's first open air museum and a ghost town if you ask me. it was freezing cold, i mean freezing, and the animals were no where to be found.
a view from the top overlooking stockholm// climbing into a sami camp tent (ie reindeer herders tent)// the chimmey within the tent// nomadic tents//moosie the elk// in case you cant find those animals// a brown bear peeing// another brown bear doing a trapeze// crazy wolverines (i dont think hugh jackman looks like that at all.)

the red horse symbolic of sweden// sam, pook and jean chomping on freshly grilled herring// nick enjoying his last herring// bear alert!// the long and winding road// stone formations// got milk?// im cold// another view from the top

trying to catch a picture of the falling snow// museum island// a misty foggy harbour// the same harbour// the lovely ladies// peedodo, karenbaren and vellywan in jensen's bofhus// the stockholm metro// doreen, shuz and nick having a snack// me and shuz

alfred nobel's bust// eddie, jean, pook, me, nick at the harbour (slussen)// more photo-whoring shots// inside the metro// having a superb lunch of cream prawn fettucine (shuz, owe you big time for the recommendation at hotorgshallen)

a view from shuz's room// me, shuz, lian and sam waiting for the bus// the street leading to gamla stan// at the front of gamla stan// in gamla stan// taking pictures at gamla stan// protests against communists in china

no, i wasnt chao mugging the last ten days.

i was, inter alia:
- freezing my butt in the cold of stockholm
-taking a ferry to helsinki
-having my first ever snowball fight
-taking a train to russia and having to fill out immigration and customs forms in russian
-watching authentic russian ballet in st petersburg
-getting hopelessly lost and frozen in moscow
-walking in the winter wonderland of pretty tallinn

of course there were lots more in between. but i just got back home like 1.5hrs ago, with a huge pile of laundry that needs to be done and some catching up on sleep to do. and a chockfull of photos that needs to be uploaded. and remember that i have schoolwork to catch up on. but just check this out:
the view from the hotel room in moscow. its like a just like a city in a snowglobe, only its actually REAL.// trudging into tallinn central station.

freezing my ass in the red square of moscow// st basil's church located on the red square

an imposing st isaac's church in st petersburg// the church of the split blood also in st petersburg

the winter palace and hermitage in st petersburg.

these are all REAL pictures taken by yours truly. REAL. more pictures to come. if you're wondering why its only of russia, when i was at stockholm, tallin and helsinki, its coz my camera started to die of low batt in russia AND i didnt bring my charger. so smart hor??

mtv europe awards! it rocked my socks!

it was an absolutely unforgettable night out in copenhagen.

I WENT FOR THE 2006 MTV EUROPE AWARDS!

i saw: (in the flesh)
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE (AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! -hyperventilates-)
NELLY FURTADO (AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!)
MUSE (AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!)
LORDI (AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!)
PHARRELL (AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!)
RIHANA (AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!)
MOBY (AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!)
ADRIAN BRODY (AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!)
DANIEL CRAIG (AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!)
SUGARBABES (AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!)
GNARLS BARKLEY (AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!)

since the awards was split between radhuspladsen and bella centre (where i was and where the award ceremony took place) i unfortunately (and VERY MUCH SO) didnt manage to catch the killers OR keane OR jet live. &^##!@#~@!~ but it was still superb in bella centre jumping away in the mosh pit. i have to admit that mtv runs a pretty good logistics set up as well. security was tight, we waited 2hrs for the bag checks, and ID checks, placing our coats in the coat room and they even gave us food and drink to survive the waiting. i guess its in their interest that people dont faint from hunger or die of thirst during the awards ceremony, but it was thoughtful that they had water, a mars bar, 2 pretty tasty sandwiches and an apple in the food pack. plus, after the event, we had adequate water supplies AND free buffet with WARM food that actually tasted good. so its ok that we didnt see the killers, keane or jet live. we were warm (sweating hot actually) and we were fed. HAH! and thats simply because my housemate was at radhuspladsen.

anyway, here's photographic evidence that i was present at the MTV awards live:

(you have to forgive the 2mpixel and shaky quality. one cant really jump and take pictures at the same time)
pharrell with gnarls barkley// i love the interior lights!!//a little bit of lordi

my asian mates (hide and doreen)

more pictures of us enjoying it!

LORDI!! i actually like them! fire! sparks! pyrotechnics! smoke!

a fake madonna// a very hot nelly!// justin's 1st award of the night

MUSE!!!!! with green lasers!!!

the MAN himself. justin timberlake!

more random pictures

and more random pictures!

it was tiring and hot, but it was great. copenhagen is definitely where you shld go for a stupendous exchange of your lifetime.