Has anyone seen that spot on TVMobile where all 12 finalists of Singapore Idol are put in this rather eye-catching yet rather silly morph sequence?

Am I the only one who thinks that Maia (who’s much publicised motherhood actually makes her name all that much more appropriate) with her distinctive tattoo and determined look, is the only breath of fresh air in a group of sickeningly saccharine-sweet finalists?

Oh, and that Sylvester looks more feminine than Maia or Candice (a feat I thought was impossible to accomplish)?

Well, I know who I’ll be rooting for at the finals this evening — won’t vote for them, of course; I can’t afford to — but it sickens me to know that what’s more likely to happen is that looks will triumph over talent. Ironically, though, I’m backing Maia — who has won me over with her character more than her ability. I guess, as with all things, time will tell, but I won’t be too hard up about the results.

Maia is already MY Singapore Idol as far as I’m concerned.

It’s frightening. It’s scary. But there’s another one who bit the dust.

RIP, Ray Traylor.

You played one of my favourite childhood wrestling characters and you will be sorely missed.

As a birthday outing, I went out with the guys to catch a couple of guy movies. Funny though, as I thought about it on hindsight, there are just about as many guy movies as “chick flicks”, yet the general understanding is that the latter is dominating the industry.

But I digress.

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle is a pretty much brainless comedy about two friends who go out on a road trip to get some food from fast food joint White Castle. Much hijinks ensue when they discover that the nearest branch is actually some distance away. Despite being simple, mindless fun, the movie also conveys an idealistic theme about being yourself, grabbing life by the horns and achieving your dreams.

Speaking of grabbing horns…

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is just that - a true underdog story. Bunch of losers - a pedantic nerd, a skinny dunce, a short (possibly gay) brutha, a college dork and a pirate - meet regularly at the gym, until a financial situation pushes them to earn enough money to save the place from being bought over by fitness conglomerate Globo Gym. I think Ben Stiller’s character puts it best.

‘Well, that’s it. Good guy wins. Bad guy loses. Big freagin’ surprise. That’s the problem with the American cinema: Can’t handle any complexity. “Whoa! Don’t make me think!”‘

First things first, thank you all who took the time to SMS me yesterday. I never stop being so overwhelmed when I consider the friendships that I am privileged to be a part of. The official celebrations (I consider my night out with En a unique birthday treat in itself) more or less began on Saturday night, when the Youth Council of my parish surprised me at dinner with a home-made brownie cake.

It was a double celebration, as we had another friend who will turn 19 next Saturday. Then on Sunday morning I walked into church and was rather amused by the number of people who didn’t realise it was my birthday. But of course, there was those who did, and soon it became hard to avoid (not that I wanted to) the hugs and handshakes I got from those around. We were also selling brownies that morning, to raise funds for our annual youth camp at the end of this year, so it was a good chance to meet as many people as I could.

My family then went out for a buffet lunch - which has become tradition for birthday celebrations. This time around we went to the nearby Paramount Hotel to try Peranakan-style cooking. The food was above average and the prices were relatively low, so we had fun. The family then went automobile window-shopping. It was very ironic that they did this on my birthday because I don’t intend to pick up driving anytime soon. But it was fun to view the different Toyota, Nissan, MB, Mitsubishi and Kia models.

The rest of the day I spent at the home of some newer friends, Bernard and Ying Thio. It was the second follow-up meeting of the August CHOICE weekend particpants, and their camaraderie and enthusiasm never fails to inspire me. These are young adults who have mostly not met each other before the end of last month and yet they’re gelling as a group, as a community so well. It’s very reassuring, especially when you realise that they are not simply superficial friends, but forged together by common experiences.

It was weird celebrating with people I’d known no more than a year (some no more than a month), but who’s complaining?

57.142857142857146% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?

As it seems to be a common trend in the past couple of years, En and I met up to celebrate our birthdays together - at least, only because she made me decide what I wanted for my 22nd, and I figured, why not a date? Of course, actually implying any romantic interest would most likely have killed off the friendship, so the word “date” was never ever used in conversation.

We met at Marina Square to watch the Terminal, which is the latest Tom Hanks-Steven Spielberg collaboration. While much has been said about the movie by critics, I found the movie to be relatively bland. Sure, there were funny parts and Tom Hanks is undoubtedly the best A-list actor in recent memory, but the whole movie just came off unfulfilling. I gave it a 7 out of 10 on imdb.com, which puts it in the company of other romantic comedies like Coyote Ugly and For Richer or Poorer as well as The Gospel of John and Passion of the Christ. Essentially, it was a movie that failed to instill anything into me - probably because the plot was drawn and quartered a little too much (Come on, a story about a man stuck in a transit lounge takes 129 minutes? Geez!)

Anyway, after the movie ended, I walked En from Marina Square all the way to the Fullerton Hotel, where they have the Chocolate Buffet in the Courtyard every Friday and Saturday night. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting, but it was an interesting discovery to see so many chocolate confections. As I tend to do at buffets, I couldn’t remember a single thing I ate, nor can I recommend any particular dish by name. All I do know is, there’s enough of a variety to suit everyone’s taste, be it sweet or savoury.

Spending almost 5 hours with En seemed like a rare occasion, because most of our previous meetups have been shorter affairs (pun not intended). But it was nice to have decent conversation - something I’ve been desperately lacking in ages (ICQ conversations with Gwen notwithstanding) - and it was much nicer to know that there will always be people I can have those conversations with.

All in all, a great way to end my 21st year.

So here I was at Parkway Parade, a childhood haunt of mine that has since been renovated and looks a whole lot different from the Parkway of my early years, and who do I happen to meet, but Selena Tan herself. Not being a particularly great fan of hers (I wanted to watch Dim Sum Dollies but for Pamela Oei instead) I simply walked her by, but she was in my field of vision long enough for me to realise a couple of things:

1. She’s REALLY short.
2. She looks like she’s put on weight since the time she was in Under One Roof.

Funny thing, though, I can’t imagine her slim. It’s almost as if she’s banking on this image to sell her stand-up comedies et al.

And in a totally unrelated incident, I believe I just walked past the deadspeaker as well on my way out.

It’s funny how many people you come across when you’re actually out for a change.