Another day passes and I continue to feel older as the death roll on this blog keeps rising. By now, I'm pretty sure you will have heard that Leslie Nielson passed away over the weekend and read numerous testimonials on his life.
So you may as well read one more!
Believe it or not, I only know Leslie Nielson through his comedy movies and only realised he started his career as a serious drama actor upon reading the recent testimonials to his film career. In some ways, considering that I was born in 1975, its not a surprise that my only exposure to him was as a comedian.
Of course, all that justification flies out the window when you realise that, despite being a sci-fi fan, I had no idea that he was the lead in Forbidden Planet...
Ultimately though, films like Airplane! and The Naked Gun series are hilariously funny and remain so even to this day. Obviously, some of that success is due to the writers ability to create such quotable dialog. However, a large part is also due to Nielson's ability for deadpan acting and comedic timing.
In many ways, it was a shame that he was never able to replicate the critical and commercial success which he enjoyed with those early films. Having said that, having seen some of the later "flops", I have to admit that his antics still managed to raise a chuckle from me and the particular brand of comedy which he created, and specialised in, is the lesser for his passing.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
UK plans to legalise racial profiling
Alas, the UK seems hellbent on proving that they have gone mad and are determined to ruin the country. The latest news coming out of Blighty is that London intends to legalise racial profiling.
Wow. Just wow.
For those of you who couldn't be bothered clicking the link, it basically says that police in the UK have stop-and-search powers even when there is no reasonable suspicion. Currently, under those rules, black people are 26 times more likely to be stopped than white people (that isn't a typo - the number 26 pops up several times in the article). Just think about that for a moment - 26 times more likely to be stopped.
And under an environment where this happens, the Home Office intends to allow race to be considered by police in deciding whether to stop someone for a search or not.
Yeah, I have NO idea whatsoever how that could end badly...
Wow. Just wow.
For those of you who couldn't be bothered clicking the link, it basically says that police in the UK have stop-and-search powers even when there is no reasonable suspicion. Currently, under those rules, black people are 26 times more likely to be stopped than white people (that isn't a typo - the number 26 pops up several times in the article). Just think about that for a moment - 26 times more likely to be stopped.
And under an environment where this happens, the Home Office intends to allow race to be considered by police in deciding whether to stop someone for a search or not.
Yeah, I have NO idea whatsoever how that could end badly...
Monday, November 15, 2010
Christmas shopping
The missus and I had taken a day off work today and while we had some spare time, we headed out to Toys "R" Us to do some Christmas and birthday shopping. An all-round good idea primarily as we avoid the Xmas shopping crowd this way and also due to the early bird discounts available for purchases in November.
One of the things which the missus noticed while occasionally visiting Gordon at the pre-nursery he goes to is that he really likes to play with the kitchen set during the free time period. Interestingly enough, Gerry also loves playing as a chef which resulted in the missus commenting that it was funny how gender roles have been reversed in HK as it seems that guys are generally the ones who like to cook.
We do have a kitchen set at home but its pretty beat up as we purchased it several years ago when we were in the UK. As a result, when we saw a pretty big kitchen set on sale (big enough to allow two kids to play with it at the same time!), we jumped at the chance to add it to our shopping cart. We figured that this would make a great birthday present for Gordon come January.
We knew that the kids would kick up a big fuss if they saw this huge kitchen set so as soon as we got home, we tried to hide the box away. Its funny, you don't really get an appreciation for how big a box is until you try to find somewhere to hide it. In the end, we stuck it away in a corner away from where the kids normally hang out.
Gerry has a great eye for detail which is normally a good thing. Unfortunately, it worked against us today as our hiding place couldn't escape his eagle eyes. Within minutes of coming home, he had spotted the kitchen set and threw a sulk when he realised that a) it wasn't his; and b) it wasn't going to be opened today.
Ultimately, he got his way. After dinner, we opened up the kitchen set and built it up. After wishing Gordon a quick happy birthday, he set about to playing as a chef with Gerry - who ended up playing with it much more than Gordon did as he kept grabbing pots and pans out of Gordon's hands (before ruefully handing them back after a quick scolding from me!).
Happy Birthday Gordon - hope you enjoyed your present...
One of the things which the missus noticed while occasionally visiting Gordon at the pre-nursery he goes to is that he really likes to play with the kitchen set during the free time period. Interestingly enough, Gerry also loves playing as a chef which resulted in the missus commenting that it was funny how gender roles have been reversed in HK as it seems that guys are generally the ones who like to cook.
We do have a kitchen set at home but its pretty beat up as we purchased it several years ago when we were in the UK. As a result, when we saw a pretty big kitchen set on sale (big enough to allow two kids to play with it at the same time!), we jumped at the chance to add it to our shopping cart. We figured that this would make a great birthday present for Gordon come January.
We knew that the kids would kick up a big fuss if they saw this huge kitchen set so as soon as we got home, we tried to hide the box away. Its funny, you don't really get an appreciation for how big a box is until you try to find somewhere to hide it. In the end, we stuck it away in a corner away from where the kids normally hang out.
Gerry has a great eye for detail which is normally a good thing. Unfortunately, it worked against us today as our hiding place couldn't escape his eagle eyes. Within minutes of coming home, he had spotted the kitchen set and threw a sulk when he realised that a) it wasn't his; and b) it wasn't going to be opened today.
Ultimately, he got his way. After dinner, we opened up the kitchen set and built it up. After wishing Gordon a quick happy birthday, he set about to playing as a chef with Gerry - who ended up playing with it much more than Gordon did as he kept grabbing pots and pans out of Gordon's hands (before ruefully handing them back after a quick scolding from me!).
Happy Birthday Gordon - hope you enjoyed your present...
Friday, November 12, 2010
Stonegrill
Looking back over my blog, I find it hard to believe that I've never talked about Stonegrill before.
If you have never been to a Stonegrill (or a steakhouse of similar style), then you are really missing out on a fairly unique way of eating steak. When you order a steak from Stonegrill, it comes to the table in raw form on top of a superheated stone which you use to grill the steak at the table. In practice, you tend to cut off small pieces of meat as those small pieces cook relatively quickly allowing you to slowly eat up the steak piece by piece.
As an early birthday celebration for the missus, we went to a Stonegrill last night and ordered the deluxe dinner set. This basically consisted of a range of 4 different types of steak with Angus steak at the "low" end before moving up to shortrib and two types of wagyu beef at the high end. Which was pretty good as it gave us the opportunity to compare and contrast the textures and flavours of the different types of beef.
The Angus Steak was probably what you would normally think of as steak - relatively lean with a full body flavour. The shortrib had a very distinct flavour and texture. I'm not sure how you would describe the flavour but if you have had it before, you would definitely recognise it. What makes the shortrib stick out though is the slightly chewy texture which you get from the tendon. Last of all is the wagyu beef which is highly marbled with fat and as a result, almost melts in your mouth. Even across the two types of wagyu beef that we had (which were classed as M6 and M9), there was a clear difference in both texture and look as the M9 clearly had more fat content.
In some ways though, the ordinary Angus Steak was my favourite. Although the wagyu beef tasted nice, the flavour goes very quickly and doesn't last as long. The Angus Steak on the other hand, has more lean meat in it which means that you spend more time chewing the meat which ultimately results in the flavours of the steak remaining in your mouth much longer. And as you should know, all your taste buds are in your mouth, which means that the full body flavour of the Angus Steak is able to come out stronger after chewing it for a while.
Naturally your mileage may vary and its always good to mix things up, but the classic New York Strip remains my favourite cut of meat.
If you have never been to a Stonegrill (or a steakhouse of similar style), then you are really missing out on a fairly unique way of eating steak. When you order a steak from Stonegrill, it comes to the table in raw form on top of a superheated stone which you use to grill the steak at the table. In practice, you tend to cut off small pieces of meat as those small pieces cook relatively quickly allowing you to slowly eat up the steak piece by piece.
As an early birthday celebration for the missus, we went to a Stonegrill last night and ordered the deluxe dinner set. This basically consisted of a range of 4 different types of steak with Angus steak at the "low" end before moving up to shortrib and two types of wagyu beef at the high end. Which was pretty good as it gave us the opportunity to compare and contrast the textures and flavours of the different types of beef.
The Angus Steak was probably what you would normally think of as steak - relatively lean with a full body flavour. The shortrib had a very distinct flavour and texture. I'm not sure how you would describe the flavour but if you have had it before, you would definitely recognise it. What makes the shortrib stick out though is the slightly chewy texture which you get from the tendon. Last of all is the wagyu beef which is highly marbled with fat and as a result, almost melts in your mouth. Even across the two types of wagyu beef that we had (which were classed as M6 and M9), there was a clear difference in both texture and look as the M9 clearly had more fat content.
In some ways though, the ordinary Angus Steak was my favourite. Although the wagyu beef tasted nice, the flavour goes very quickly and doesn't last as long. The Angus Steak on the other hand, has more lean meat in it which means that you spend more time chewing the meat which ultimately results in the flavours of the steak remaining in your mouth much longer. And as you should know, all your taste buds are in your mouth, which means that the full body flavour of the Angus Steak is able to come out stronger after chewing it for a while.
Naturally your mileage may vary and its always good to mix things up, but the classic New York Strip remains my favourite cut of meat.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Gerry at school
A rare treat today as we look at some pictures of Gerry at school. One of the good things about the Kindergarten he currently goes to is that the teachers take quite a lot of pictures during the class so you can get an idea of what they get up to during class.
This picture was taken during a school outing to the dentist. Those giant teeth are used to show kids how to brush their teeth properly.
A chance for Gerry to show off his balancing skills. I love the fact that there is a beanbag on his head!
Not quite sure what is happening here - he looks happy enough though!
This picture was taken during the mid-autumn festival celebrations at school.
Another picture from the mid-autumn festival celebration. I think the taekwondo lessons he has been taking are finally paying dividends in this shot!
This picture was taken during a school outing to the dentist. Those giant teeth are used to show kids how to brush their teeth properly.
A chance for Gerry to show off his balancing skills. I love the fact that there is a beanbag on his head!
Not quite sure what is happening here - he looks happy enough though!
This picture was taken during the mid-autumn festival celebrations at school.
Another picture from the mid-autumn festival celebration. I think the taekwondo lessons he has been taking are finally paying dividends in this shot!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Gordon goes to Disneyland
Now that Gordon is a bit older, we have reinstated the Jokemeister family weekend tradition - going to Disneyland! This was a rare occasion when we took Gordon out and left Gerry at home (can't remember why though!).
On the way into Disneyland, Gordon looks a little apprehensive - probably as he has never been to anywhere s fake before!
He cheers up considerably once he gets to drive (although he doesn't look it here, he was laughing just a second before!).
Gordon is starting to take an interest in the camera - won't be long until we get extreme close-ups!
Just like Gerry, Gordon loves to run around chasing the birds.
Buzz Lightyear striking the pose for little Gordon. I can't help but wonder what Gordon is thinking right now - probably wondering why so many people are lined up!
On the way into Disneyland, Gordon looks a little apprehensive - probably as he has never been to anywhere s fake before!
He cheers up considerably once he gets to drive (although he doesn't look it here, he was laughing just a second before!).
Gordon is starting to take an interest in the camera - won't be long until we get extreme close-ups!
Just like Gerry, Gordon loves to run around chasing the birds.
Buzz Lightyear striking the pose for little Gordon. I can't help but wonder what Gordon is thinking right now - probably wondering why so many people are lined up!
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