Anyone catch the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday?
Everyone's still buzzing about the incredible jackass move by Kanye West for dissing poor Taylor Swift on stage at the VMAs.
Here's a video if you haven't seen it.
How fantastically huge is Kanye's ego? What a douchebag! Poor Taylor's only 19, yet she was very mature and held her own very well up there on the stage, after being majorly embarrassed by Kanye West.
And Beyonce! My god, she looked so mortified. I would be too.
But kudos to Beyonce for her big heart! When she went on stage to receive her award for Best Video of the Year, she called Taylor back on stage to properly have her moment without some dinkus interrupting her acceptance speech.
Here's the video.
What a great, classy lady Beyonce is!
On a lighter note...
ANYONE SEEN THE NEW TWILIGHT NEW MOON EXTENDED TRAILER?!?!
HOLY SHIT, CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MOVIE TO BE OUT IN THEATRES!
IT LOOKS FREAKIN' AWESOME!
Ok I know it must be really irritating to read everything in caps, so imma stop now.
But seriously, I need to get my hands on the Twilight books! LOVE Edward Cullen (aka Robert Pattinson)!
Here's the trailer:
AWESOME, RIGHT?!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sportsmanship
Less than a week left in Singapore!
Thrilled to be going back soon, but will miss home dearly...
Had not-so-wild shopping spree on Saturday. Weird, weird day. Sigh...
Anyways... Anyone watched the US Open women's semi-final matches yesterday? Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to see the ultimate meltdown of Serena Williams. But I did catch her incredible display of a lack of sportsmanship on the evening news.
It was hilarious (and infuriating, because her racquet would easily cost a couple hundred dollars!) watching her smash her tennis racquet after the first set, where her opponent Kim Clijsters won the last point.
Later on in the game, Serena was called for a foot fault by the line judge. She reacted violently by waving her racquet at the woman and used foul language, threatening to "kill her".
This coming from the reigning champion of tennis?!
I don't really like Serena Williams, so I felt little to no sympathy for her. I say bravo to the judges for kicking Serena out of the semi-finals. A sportsman like her doesn't deserve to win.
Is she only going to be happy if she wins? In sports, you win some, you lose some. You can't win 'em all. And if she doesn't want to lose, then she jolly well practice like crap and play her best during the match. How can a well-known champion like her lose her temper like this, at an important match such as the US Open?
Tennis strikes me as being more posh than games like basketball or baseball, so it seems to me that dignity and poise is all the more needed, especially at widely broadcasted matches like Wimbledon and the US Open. These important tournaments always felt rather high-class and held a hint of exclusivity to me.
Well, in the first place, the Williams sisters never struck me as being having any class whatsoever.
Ok, who am I to judge, right? What age is this, that I talk about class, right? Even 'lower class' people can be talented and hardworking and beat 'higher class' people, right?
Not denying those facts. But what I mean by class is a certain air of dignified sportsmanship. At least don't bash your racquet up in front of a live audience, not to mention the rest of the world watching the match on the telly! DO IT IN PRIVATE!
I'm no sports athelete, but even I understand how to be a good sport and even if I lose, just grit my teeth and smile, and maybe beat my pillow to shreds in my room later. Why do it in public and embarrass herself and her sister, and probably her family? Pointless!
Plus, her screaming at the judge didn't do her any favours either. I mean, come on, the judge has all the power! How dumb is Serena?! She has to know that one word from the judge, and she would be out of the tournament! God, seriously, did she think that just because she was reigning champion, she would be given preferential treatment? Maybe the judges got sick of her always winning, and were frankly just irritated with her Neanderthal-like grunting on the court? I know I am!
I say good for Kim Clijsters for winning. In my opinion, she's a far better sportsman than the Williams sisters put together. Who cares if you had to work hard for getting to where you are when you rest on your laurels and expect to always win? Someone's gonna come along who will beat you at the end of the day if you get all big-headed and conceited.
Thrilled to be going back soon, but will miss home dearly...
Had not-so-wild shopping spree on Saturday. Weird, weird day. Sigh...
Anyways... Anyone watched the US Open women's semi-final matches yesterday? Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to see the ultimate meltdown of Serena Williams. But I did catch her incredible display of a lack of sportsmanship on the evening news.
It was hilarious (and infuriating, because her racquet would easily cost a couple hundred dollars!) watching her smash her tennis racquet after the first set, where her opponent Kim Clijsters won the last point.
Later on in the game, Serena was called for a foot fault by the line judge. She reacted violently by waving her racquet at the woman and used foul language, threatening to "kill her".
This coming from the reigning champion of tennis?!
I don't really like Serena Williams, so I felt little to no sympathy for her. I say bravo to the judges for kicking Serena out of the semi-finals. A sportsman like her doesn't deserve to win.
Is she only going to be happy if she wins? In sports, you win some, you lose some. You can't win 'em all. And if she doesn't want to lose, then she jolly well practice like crap and play her best during the match. How can a well-known champion like her lose her temper like this, at an important match such as the US Open?
Tennis strikes me as being more posh than games like basketball or baseball, so it seems to me that dignity and poise is all the more needed, especially at widely broadcasted matches like Wimbledon and the US Open. These important tournaments always felt rather high-class and held a hint of exclusivity to me.
Well, in the first place, the Williams sisters never struck me as being having any class whatsoever.
Ok, who am I to judge, right? What age is this, that I talk about class, right? Even 'lower class' people can be talented and hardworking and beat 'higher class' people, right?
Not denying those facts. But what I mean by class is a certain air of dignified sportsmanship. At least don't bash your racquet up in front of a live audience, not to mention the rest of the world watching the match on the telly! DO IT IN PRIVATE!
I'm no sports athelete, but even I understand how to be a good sport and even if I lose, just grit my teeth and smile, and maybe beat my pillow to shreds in my room later. Why do it in public and embarrass herself and her sister, and probably her family? Pointless!
Plus, her screaming at the judge didn't do her any favours either. I mean, come on, the judge has all the power! How dumb is Serena?! She has to know that one word from the judge, and she would be out of the tournament! God, seriously, did she think that just because she was reigning champion, she would be given preferential treatment? Maybe the judges got sick of her always winning, and were frankly just irritated with her Neanderthal-like grunting on the court? I know I am!
I say good for Kim Clijsters for winning. In my opinion, she's a far better sportsman than the Williams sisters put together. Who cares if you had to work hard for getting to where you are when you rest on your laurels and expect to always win? Someone's gonna come along who will beat you at the end of the day if you get all big-headed and conceited.
So sucks to you, Serena Williams.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
HORRIBLE SERVICE
Just yesterday, I saw on the news about how Singapore wanted to increase service quality. Something about the GEMS awards that Singapore has.
Just today, proof of LOUSY and DOWNRIGHT CRAP service in Singapore.
Went to a restaurant called Hot Stones along Clarke Quay today for lunch.
Food was mediocre and a little on the expensive side. Service was BAAAAAD.
What rubbish kind of food AND service was there? I went there with my parents and they had some sort of promotion on. $15 nett set lunch, with a starter (Sweet corn broth with asparagus or salad), a choice of 2 meats for the main (choice of beef, pork, salmon, tuna, king fish, tiger prawns), dessert (panna cotta or fresh fruit platter), and choice of tea or coffee.
Sounds good right? Wait for it...
We all ordered the set lunch each. The bad service started almost immediately. After taking our orders, the seemingly polite waiter (maybe manager since he was wearing a business shirt) tried to get us to order their expensive rice ($2 for normal steamed rice, $6 (!!!) for garlic rice).
We said no thanks at once. Already off to a great start... not!
So we eagerly awaited our food, especially since enticing smells were wafting over from neighbouring tables.
So our soups came. It looked like something someone had already swallowed and then regurgitated. The sweet corn taste was overpowering, and the asparagus looked mighty sad, small little sticks of green swimming half-heartedly in the broth, as if they didn't even want to be in there.
We said, never mind, it's the main course that matters most.
The meats came, along with the hot grills to cook them on. The meat was good, albeit being quite a minute portion. My goodness! I've had the same sort of meal, in a similar-style restaurant that was previously located along Katong, but there was probably double the amount of meat for the same price, and theirs wasn't a promotion.
Anyways, the grill was so poorly designed that when we put the meats on to cook, the oil on the meats (apparently they were pre-marinated with olive oil) immediately started spluttering all over, causing a huge greasy mess on the table, and onto our hands, as we had to turn the meats to cook them properly. So we had to endure being spluttered and scalded by hot burning oil.
My mom liked the beef she and my dad had ordered with the set, and so according to the promotion set lunch menu the restaurant had propped in a plastic holder thing, additional meat could be ordered at $5 extra. So my mom decided "Let's get another portion of beef for $5!"
So my dad calls over the waitress and asks for the $5 extra meat.
Here's where it gets preposterous.
The waitress says "Sorry you can't get the meat for $5 extra. You have to order that at the beginning of the meal. If you want that extra meat, you have to order another set."
WHAT THE FUCK?!
So my dad, being all nice and such, said no thank you, forget it.
But me, being, well, me, had to have a word with the manager (another guy this time, I supposed he was more senior since he looked less dumb than the other guy).
So I asked again for the meat for $5, and once more, I was met with the same ridiculous reply that I had to order the extra meat at the beginning when I placed my original order.
So I said "This is the first time I have come to this restaurant. I don't know the size of the portions you provide, so how do you expect me to know if I want extra meat?"
Again the well-rehearsed and probably often repeated line about how their restaurant policy is that way, that their little promotion menu also mentions that, and that the waiter who took our order also tells us this.
So I said "But the guy who took our order didn't tell us. And your menu doesn't say it either."
The menu REALLY doesn't.
Here's a picture I found from the Clarke Quay website to prove it:
See? WHERE GOT?! Don't have, right?!
The weedy reply that came was "Oh. But this is our restaurant policy."
That did it.
So I had a go at him.
"Don't you think it's a rather silly (I wanted to say 'fucking stupid' but was holding myself back. On hindsight, I should have.) policy to have?! How are people supposed to know that they want to eat more than the portion given BEFORE they have even started eating?!"
He didn't even have the decency to apologize for his restaurant's unreasonable and nonsensical so-called policy. Instead, he just kept on repeating his little memorised speech, going on and on like a broken record.
So I said "I'm just saying it's a really silly policy. And you should let whoever is in charge know." and just left him at that without so much as a 'thank you'. Why waste my thanks on such insipid stupidity?
WHAT THE FUCKING HELL KIND OF SERVICE WAS THAT?!
Is that the kind of 'service quality' Singapore wishes to promote?
Or maybe 'service quality' Singapore wishes to have are only for tourists to experience? Sometimes, I imagine there's a manager in a store saying to their employees "No need to be nice to Singaporeans or non-Caucasians. See angmoh then be nice la."
WHAT THE F?!
It's outlandish. I've seen proof of that. Nothing against them, but tourists, especially Caucasian ones, sometimes DO get better service. Sometimes I think Singaporean customer service personnel have some sort of, I don't know, superiority complex? Do they think Caucasians are better than Singaporeans? Then that means they think they're better than even themselves. It's so stupid.
Everytime I meet someone overseas, and they hear I'm from Singapore, they go "Oh, such a clean city! And such friendly people and good service!".
And I think incredulously to myself, "REALLY?!?!"
Just today, proof of LOUSY and DOWNRIGHT CRAP service in Singapore.
Went to a restaurant called Hot Stones along Clarke Quay today for lunch.
Food was mediocre and a little on the expensive side. Service was BAAAAAD.
What rubbish kind of food AND service was there? I went there with my parents and they had some sort of promotion on. $15 nett set lunch, with a starter (Sweet corn broth with asparagus or salad), a choice of 2 meats for the main (choice of beef, pork, salmon, tuna, king fish, tiger prawns), dessert (panna cotta or fresh fruit platter), and choice of tea or coffee.
Sounds good right? Wait for it...
We all ordered the set lunch each. The bad service started almost immediately. After taking our orders, the seemingly polite waiter (maybe manager since he was wearing a business shirt) tried to get us to order their expensive rice ($2 for normal steamed rice, $6 (!!!) for garlic rice).
We said no thanks at once. Already off to a great start... not!
So we eagerly awaited our food, especially since enticing smells were wafting over from neighbouring tables.
So our soups came. It looked like something someone had already swallowed and then regurgitated. The sweet corn taste was overpowering, and the asparagus looked mighty sad, small little sticks of green swimming half-heartedly in the broth, as if they didn't even want to be in there.
We said, never mind, it's the main course that matters most.
The meats came, along with the hot grills to cook them on. The meat was good, albeit being quite a minute portion. My goodness! I've had the same sort of meal, in a similar-style restaurant that was previously located along Katong, but there was probably double the amount of meat for the same price, and theirs wasn't a promotion.
Anyways, the grill was so poorly designed that when we put the meats on to cook, the oil on the meats (apparently they were pre-marinated with olive oil) immediately started spluttering all over, causing a huge greasy mess on the table, and onto our hands, as we had to turn the meats to cook them properly. So we had to endure being spluttered and scalded by hot burning oil.
My mom liked the beef she and my dad had ordered with the set, and so according to the promotion set lunch menu the restaurant had propped in a plastic holder thing, additional meat could be ordered at $5 extra. So my mom decided "Let's get another portion of beef for $5!"
So my dad calls over the waitress and asks for the $5 extra meat.
Here's where it gets preposterous.
The waitress says "Sorry you can't get the meat for $5 extra. You have to order that at the beginning of the meal. If you want that extra meat, you have to order another set."
WHAT THE FUCK?!
So my dad, being all nice and such, said no thank you, forget it.
But me, being, well, me, had to have a word with the manager (another guy this time, I supposed he was more senior since he looked less dumb than the other guy).
So I asked again for the meat for $5, and once more, I was met with the same ridiculous reply that I had to order the extra meat at the beginning when I placed my original order.
So I said "This is the first time I have come to this restaurant. I don't know the size of the portions you provide, so how do you expect me to know if I want extra meat?"
Again the well-rehearsed and probably often repeated line about how their restaurant policy is that way, that their little promotion menu also mentions that, and that the waiter who took our order also tells us this.
So I said "But the guy who took our order didn't tell us. And your menu doesn't say it either."
The menu REALLY doesn't.
Here's a picture I found from the Clarke Quay website to prove it:
See? WHERE GOT?! Don't have, right?!
The weedy reply that came was "Oh. But this is our restaurant policy."
That did it.
So I had a go at him.
"Don't you think it's a rather silly (I wanted to say 'fucking stupid' but was holding myself back. On hindsight, I should have.) policy to have?! How are people supposed to know that they want to eat more than the portion given BEFORE they have even started eating?!"
He didn't even have the decency to apologize for his restaurant's unreasonable and nonsensical so-called policy. Instead, he just kept on repeating his little memorised speech, going on and on like a broken record.
So I said "I'm just saying it's a really silly policy. And you should let whoever is in charge know." and just left him at that without so much as a 'thank you'. Why waste my thanks on such insipid stupidity?
WHAT THE FUCKING HELL KIND OF SERVICE WAS THAT?!
Is that the kind of 'service quality' Singapore wishes to promote?
Or maybe 'service quality' Singapore wishes to have are only for tourists to experience? Sometimes, I imagine there's a manager in a store saying to their employees "No need to be nice to Singaporeans or non-Caucasians. See angmoh then be nice la."
WHAT THE F?!
It's outlandish. I've seen proof of that. Nothing against them, but tourists, especially Caucasian ones, sometimes DO get better service. Sometimes I think Singaporean customer service personnel have some sort of, I don't know, superiority complex? Do they think Caucasians are better than Singaporeans? Then that means they think they're better than even themselves. It's so stupid.
Everytime I meet someone overseas, and they hear I'm from Singapore, they go "Oh, such a clean city! And such friendly people and good service!".
And I think incredulously to myself, "REALLY?!?!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)