Gold Gargoyle for the Most Entertaining Thing, Ever

No ifs or buts, no doubts at all. Samosapedia. Click and read. you won't be able to stop and it'll take all the hours in your day. And even your boss will count the time well spent.

Gold Gargoyle for Entertaining Reviews of Hindi Movies

goes to Item Number. And it's not just because she's listed my blog either.

Excerpt from review of Delhi Belly:
"My mother, may still consider taking me home and feeding me, but not before giving me the look, if during road rage I hung out of the car screaming chutiye!! at an auto-waala, but if my choice of words were to be "fuck you" in a calm non-hostile fashion and from within the confines of my car to a fellow honker, I’d probably have to park on the side and reason out with her as to where did she go wrong with her upbringing. Let’s get over it, I say."

Full review here.

Street of dreams

Yes I know – I’m going on a bit about Singapore on my blog. I’ll stop soon. Right now I feel like I’m on holiday every time I go out. I had yet another surprising-Singapore moment today (whoever thought up the slogan was a genius). Walking down Orchard Road – having been disappointed by yet another bookstore, this time in Centrepoint Mall – and passing for the hundredth time an outdoor bar in this heritage-y sort of building, called, er, Outdoor, I thought I’d check it out. I turned the corner and it turned out to be a whole heritage street, not the courtyard I’d expected!

In the foreground of the photograph (does not begin to do it justice) you can see cafe tables, but further down, they're all private homes. I didn’t want to take any direct photos of the houses; it seemed intrusive. It’s called Emerald Hill Road and it’s lined on both sides with these buildings in what I think of as the shophouse style. There must be a more formal term (I’m hoping perhaps fellow blogger Tiny Island or one of her readers will know). They’re all impeccably maintained. Many of them have three storeys and gardens with two cars parked in them. The Merc + BMW package. One house had picked a vintage Maserati over the BMW and another one had chosen a Mini – and I haven’t seen either in a better setting. It was a magical street, pretty beyond belief and absolutely quiet, though I was mere yards from Orchard Road’s raucous Sunday evening crowds.

And I redouble my participation in the Singapore Land Authority bidding process in the quest to find a shophouse, black-and-white row house, barrack-converted-to-terrace or suchlike to live in. I will not rest until it’s been exhaustively proven to me that my bids for picturesque and inconvenient state property are pathetic losers. I was so close just three weeks ago. So close.