Gerry goes to Day Camp again - part one

After all the fun that we had the last time that Gerry went to a day camp, we decided to enroll for another one. This time, Disney World of English took us to Tai Tong Lychee Valley which is out in the middle of Yuen Long. The place is much bigger than the Lavender Garden that we went to last time and has a lot more activities that you can take part in.

To start off, we had some group games where all of the kids (and there were a lot of them!) got involved in a game of running around and picking things up. Not quite sure why but I guess that's not the point...


Here you can see Gerry just after he has started. In case its not obvious, he was in the red team. To be honest, the game wasn't that well organised and chaos soon reigned as kids started to run off and do their own thing. Funny to watch though. :)


After the games, we split up and were allowed to do our own thing for a while. Here you can see Gerry feeding a goat. Despite looking really happy, he didn't actually feed the goat properly. What you were supposed to do is put the carrot on the palm of your hand and then let the goat eat out of your hand. Alas, Gerry was afraid that the goat would eat his hand instead which resulted in a lot of carrots strewn around the ground.


Gerry also got a chance to feed some rabbits. Being the cute cuddly animal that it is, Gerry wasn't afraid and got in really close. Brave kid.


This is us on a bull and cart just before we got underway. The bull itself is highly impressive. The driver of the cart speaks to the bull in cantonese (go left, go right, speed up, slow down etc) and the bull has been trained to respond. Wish I could get Gerry to do that...


We also got a chance to go fishing for goldfish which was fun as this was something I'd never done before. Although we managed to catch several goldfish, we threw them all back as we really didn't want to take them home with us. Gerry had lots of fun though which is the key thing anyway.

Gerry and the new bike

You may recall that, way back in October 2007, we bought Gerry a new trike. Well, after 2 and a bit years, Gerry has now grown big enough for a real bike!

Or rather, a real bike but with training wheels aka trike.

It actually took him a while to get used to the fact that he could no longer backpedal to go in reverse.
:)


His new bike is too big to ride in the house so naturally, we took him downstairs to the clubhouse for him to ride around.


Look at that action shot! Just like those pictures of racing cars! If only I had gotten my fat lazy ass lower...

And now for something completely different.


Gordon! I've been neglecting him on this blog lately so here are a couple of pictures to tide you over.

Ever since Gordon has started walking, he has lost a lot of his baby fat. Of course, regular exercise also helps!

Gerry and the cookie monster

Its been ages since I uploaded any pics of Gerry so I guess its time for another photo binge.

Back in April, when the weather in HK was still relatively cold, we decided that it would be fun to do a bit of home baking. Gerry loves to eat cookies (and often has to buy one if he passes by a Mrs. Fields!) so we thought it would be fun to bake some choc chip cookies at home. Particularly as cookies are the kind of thing which even kids can help make!


Here is a picture of Gerry mixing during the initial stages of making the cookie dough. At this point, we hadn't added the egg yet so the mixture was very stiff and Gerry had difficulty mixing.

After we added the egg though, things got a lot easier as you can see from this video.



Part of the reason that we chose to make cookies was because we found this little store in Tsuen Wan which sells lots of baking goods. While we were there browsing, we noticed that they had a really cute set of Disney themed cookie cutters.


Here you can see the results of the cookie cutters (but before we actually started baking).


And here you can see the finished product! Looks a little burnt round the edges but I'm sure it will taste okay...


Either way, Gerry seems pleased with his handiwork...


... as well as the taste!

Shutter Island

Wow - two movie reviews in a row! Before you know it, I'll be a regular Ebert! Or not.

Anyway, this is spoiler free so even if you haven't seen it, you can feel free to read on.

Anyway, I was over in Singapore to visit family recently and on the way back, one of the movies on the plane was Shutter Island. Shutter Island is a psychological thriller by legendary director Martin Scorsese with an interesting twist at the end. Thinking back, the twist isn't really that surprising so if you are expecting a twist ending then you could probably guess what it is. Luckily, I didn't know anything about this film before I saw it so the twist caught me by surprise.

In brief, the plot of the movie involves a US Marshall (played really well by Leonardo Dicaprio - I have a new found respect for his acting talent after this movie) travelling to a mental institute housing criminally insane patients on an island in the middle of nowhere. The US Marshall is there because one of the inmates has mysteriously vanished from her cell. However, the US Marshall himself seems to suffer from flashbacks (to when he was a soldier in WWII) and delusions (constantly seeing images of dead people). Before long, events take a sinister turn and the US Marshall has to race to uncover the conspiracy on the Island before he gets locked away as an inmate.

Granted - not exactly an original plotline. However, what really makes this film stand out though is the brilliant way in which Scorsese slowly builds up the suspense and drama. The cinematography in this film is brilliant and even simple actions are done with panache and style. In particular, the switches of viewpoint from the real world to Dicaprio's delusional world are made with no warning and handled brilliantly. At times, you can tell immediately that Dicaprio is in his delusional world. At other times, Scorsese hides the switch so well that you just aren't sure what you are watching.

Watching films like this, you really understand why Scorsese is considered a legend in his field. If you haven't seen this movie, you really owe it to yourself to check it out.

Iron Man 2

Round about this time two years ago, I went and saw Iron Man with the missus on a whim and really liked it. At the time, I said that I couldn't wait for the sequel. Given that, will you be surprised to learn that I watched Iron Man 2 over the weekend?

Having watched Iron Man 2, I have to say that although I enjoyed the movie, I felt that the first movie was better. In fact, both the missus and I preferred the first Iron Man enough that we went out and bought it on DVD so that we could immediately rewatch it for comparison!

One of the "issues" I had with the first film was that I felt there wasn't enough Iron Man time in the movie. This was a result of the first film being an origin movie so they clearly had to spend a fair amount of time showing how the Iron Man armor is built. Unfortunately, even with the second movie, there isn't a whole lot of time spent in the suit.

Or rather, there isn't a whole lot of time spent fighting in the suit. There are loads of scenes where Stark is wearing the suit with the helmet up (during which time he may or may not be boozing!). Which is a shame as I would have loved to have seen some more of the Iron Man armor in action. Having said that, I have to admit that Robert Downey Jr does a really good job as Tony Stark and his performance really saves the film from being a drag.

Overall, if you enjoyed the first movie, then I think you will enjoy this one as well.

The Sex Squad

A quick post today as I'm too busy laughing at this entry in boingboing to formulate any coherent thoughts. Basically, there is a sex education game available on some government website. The game itself takes the form of a Q&A where you "lose" if you get the answers wrong.

First off, the usual caveats. I haven't actually gone into the site itself and my comments here are based only on the article in boingboing. Having said that, there was enough content in the article itself to put me into fits of laughter. Without going into how effective such a juvenile seeming approach is going to be in targeting teens, I can't believe the design for the members of the squad.

First off, you have Captain Condom. From the graphic, it looks like the Captain is wearing a condom on his head. I guess that makes him a ....

Sorry, I couldn't complete the joke. It was just too obvious and such a cheap shot - even for me.

The second member of the squad is a buxom blonde called Wonder Vag. Despite the name, Wonder Vag is a virgin while Power Pap is the girl who is sexually active.

One last thing before I breakdown completely. If you get the answers wrong, you get treated to bukkake as the Sperminator (the bad guy with penises for arms!) hits the player with sperm who then comments "Argh, right in the face".