wootsome

(image from the new york times)

Guess what, I was at the movies tonight. It's my first time in a chinese cinema I have to admit. Review coming up in a bit.

I must admit I only started noticing stella mccartney from her adidas collection. These two are my favorites from her fall 2006 ready-to-wear collection. Check out the rest here.

I didn't plan on heading out on friday night at first, but I guess I have to now. I first heard of Super VC when XJ sent me a few of their mp3s over msn sometime back and while they aren't anything to go gaga over in terms of music experimentation/ styles i.e. brit pop resembling coldplay, some of their songs are kinda cool although I wouldn't recommend their entire album (I think it was the most recent one released a few years ago) because it does sound mediocre after a while. Similar-sounding songs is one thing if they are all good, like death cab for cutie but this is something else altogether. So well, I'm looking forward to their live act on friday, let's hope they won't turn out disappointing like how that album did.

p/s Yes this also means I'll be back for good in shanghai come friday night (I can't believe the day'd come finally) but first, a short christmas getaway to macau then hopefully settling back into life all set for a better year ahead in 2007.

I hate how this ad hoc stint is taking a toil on my mental well-being (look how could anyone around me miss it - I've been mostly frustrated and depressed the whole of last quarter 2005). I didn't want to appear as one spoilt brat of a foreigner by voicing out my doubts when I was informed of it especially as the other two co-workers accepted the assignment without complaints, and I guess on hindsight maybe I should have. 

I hate it that I'm ending the year on such a lousy note. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it just did and my christmas getaway is now on the line.

I hate the fact that yesterday was exactly one year since I'd joined the firm. A quick review of my time here so far falls quite below expectations. Have I made the wrong decision to take the plunge (oh yes how apt and literal now) because as much as I'm prepared to be open to new things, the firm isn't quite in the position to develop and groom bold fresh out-of-school foreigners?

p/s Thanks W and KY, I was almost on the verge of tears talking/ typing to you guys but I managed to stop short. It's ridiculous how work can get to me this much, it is not supposed to and god, how trivial this actually is compared to the problems most other people are dealing with.

Nokia is taking marketing to a whole new level by recognizing the influence of bloggers. Some time ago nokia gave out sets of its N73 to a select group of bloggers and it now features their photos/reviews in a dedicated website. Conventional advertising tactics have morphed into a kind of subtle advertising where the trusty word-of-mouth marketing is amplified many times over with the aid of the internet. The potential is bigger than it seems, since most people follow blogs on a near-daily basis building up a form of trust/ interaction with the blogger. Not to be confused with product endorsements, bloggers are not paid to use the cellphones and they are free to assess the phone as they like be it positive or negative. I guess the common person on the street would be more inclined to believe the empowered person-on-the-street i.e. blogger than say, a cash-loaded celebrity with endorsement deals at his/ her feet. While I don't follow the said blogs everyday I must say I do check them often enough to feel familiar with the persona behind the blogs. And that's good enough for me to judge that... hey I also want a nokia N73 too. This says alot for someone who has concluded that she wouldn't use anything other than motorola's razr series because other phones are simply too bulky for her liking. Well, marketing isn't so tough as long as one pushes the right buttons, just like how nokia did it.

• I've been thinking of making soup when I get back to shanghai. Look what I glimpsed upon today in my runner's world mailer, exactly what I had in mind! A piping hot bowl of chicken soup is definitely winter's guiltless pleasure.

In china it is common for men to offer one another cigarettes as a sign of friendship/respect and this practice is solely between men only. Last night I was at my usual streetside kebab stall with two male co-workers when the seller guy offered me a cigarette (and not to my co-workers). I declined but boy, I'm pleasantly surprised! So am I his friend now or am I accepted into male circles or what? Hrrmph! I am refusing to accept my co-worker's theory - that the kebab stall seller has yet to recognize I am a girl all while.

• Alan fletcher: 50 years of graphic work (and play): A must-go if you are in london, and no excuse about a tight schedule cos it will be on till february 18, 2007. (via cityofsound)