Singapore/Malaysia Day 4: Chinese Food and Orchard Road

November 24, 2010
Singapore Day 4: Chinese Food and Orchard Road

The jetlag woke me up again early, but this time only at 6:30 which was pretty sweet. I went down for breakfast and caught up on my journal. Across the road is a 24-hr bakery called Hanis Cafe and Bakery, but from the dining room at the hotel it looks like it says "Hanks". Upstairs at the building which houses Hanis Bakery is a Kaplan Learning Center, but from the view across the road I could sware they have a large-sized rectangular Toy Story 3 Colourscript on the wall. :) So Matt and I started joking that Pixar's (well, non-existent) Singapore office was across the road and we started calling the bakery "Tom Hanks" (get it, he's in Toy Story) instead of "Hanis." Yes, this is how a jet-lagged computer scientist's brain works. Don't ask me, I just work here. :)

And off to work! We are teaching a lot of classes here and the classes started today, which was awesome. After the morning of discussions/emails/work, we met up with Nigel and Chris and took off to Chiangi Airport for some amazing Chinese food. We got "Drunken" chicken, eggs in different styles, a fish & tofu with chili (which was AMAZING!!) and a Beef and Mushrooms dish (SO GOOD!!!!!!!) This was really great food and it's so funny it was at the airport! Not like SFO - where you might find a Starbucks if you're lucky and you will definitely find a $12 sandwich with brown lettuce and gross bread. :) So that was totally amazing!

We got back to work and found a Wall's Ice Cream guy outside of the office! Yes!! I was going to have my chance to try the Durian Ice Cream "Sandwich" that Matt had talked about! Instead of putting your ice cream in a cup or a cone, you can choose wafers (boring) or a sort of food colouring-infused Neopolitan Bread, which they fold in half and put your Ice Cream in between! The guy sliced a huge rectangle of Ice Cream and laughed at me when I excitedly ordered the Durian flavour. They had some "normal" kinds too like Coffee, Mint Chocolate, and... uh... Yam (?!) but I wanted to get Durian for sure. The first half was good, it was awesome to have Ice Cream on a hot day, and it was so weird that it was on a slice of white bread. So weird! But about halfway through, the Durian flavour started to get the upper-hand, and it started taking on a distinct flavour of Thanksgiving dinner, and Onions. Gross, and awesome!!

We got back inside to work and Charissa told us she was planning a dinner for us for tomorrow night. Matt is obsessed with the Xiao Long Bao soup dumplings (or "XLB" for short), so Charissa gave us a great recommendation for dinner. She recommended "Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao" in Ngee Ann City/Takashimaya Mall at Orchard Road.

After a great first day of teaching, we headed to Orchard Road after work. This is an INSANE shopping area, with lots of beautiful lights. But... it's a lot like Union Square in some ways - Tiffany's, Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci, etc. Our first impression was that there was a LOT of High End stuff only. We saw like 1,000 Coach and Louis Vuitton stores. There are only so many high-fashion handbags that we needed to purchase (haha) so we took off from the really fancy area and wandered around a bit. Eventually we found a Marks and Spencer and got some British candy. Then in the sea of pricey stuff... Uni Qlo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Uni Qlo!!!!!!! This was the so-called "Asian Gap" that I loved in Japan last year and was trying to find at the Narita Airport. So awesome!! I was really excited to see it. We took a quick look but we were tired and they were closing up at about 10pm so we decided to head back to Dhoby Ghaut. The weather was a little cooler today, maybe even a bit less humid. (Still 26 C though!)

On the way home, I got a few juices for the hotel room (they had Ribena! So British!) We got back to the hotel rooms early and I called Mom for her Birthday with my iPod Touch, external microphone and Skype. Fancy!

After a long day of excitement and humidity and food, it was time for a good sleep. This time, to bed by 12! Good stuff.

Out for Chinese Food at Chiangi Airport, Terminal 3!

"Drunken Chicken" - it was good

Ice Cream "Sandwich" cart guy!! This was amazing. You could get an Ice Cream (literal) "Sandwich" - see the stack of food colouring-infused bread on top of the plastic bin? They cut a rectangular block of Ice Cream and then fold it up in the bread! Amazing.

Matt, Me, and a foggy lens

Re-touched to remove some of the fogginess. This is me eating a Durian Ice Cream "Sandwich" - literally a rectangular block of Durian-flavoured Ice Cream inside of a folded piece of bread. Oh, Singapore.

At this point through the Durian Ice Cream Sandwich, I was still happy to be eating Ice Cream on a warm, humid day. A moment later, the Durian turned on me and it started tasting less like Ice Cream and more like a Thanksgiving Turkey dinner with Onions. Gross. But I still ate it all. It rocked.

We took Charissa's recommendation and went to a Chinese Food restaurant specializing in Xiao Long Bao (Chinese Pork Soupy Dumplings) since Matt loved them.

I couldn't try the Xiao Long Bao (or "XLB" for short), but there was some amazing beef, veggie dumplings, and lots of other great stuff.

Wandering around Orchard Road

Matt liked the Christmas lights

More Christmas lights

"Live in harmony with one another"

Singapore/Malaysia Day 3: First day of work and Merlion Park

November 23, 2010
Singapore Day 3: First day of work and Merlion Park

We had some more great food on the plane last night and a super smooth arrival into Chiangi Airport in Singapore at around 12:30am (on Nov 23rd). Once we got on the plane in Tokyo, it was 1:30 or 2:00am SF time so I was pretty tired. I actually managed to get quite a lot of sleep - maybe 4 or 5 hrs! I was starting to get a headache but after the sleep I felt pretty great.

Chiangi Airport was super smooth and was surprisingly busy for 12:30am! We went to an ATM, got our baggage and it was quick quick. There was even a bowl of candy at Passport Control!! They were "Fox Mints" and they were really good :) The taxi stand was very organized and reminded me a bit of Japan. Our cab driver was very nice, and explained lots of details about Singapore. Also: it's HOT!!!!!!!! It was about 28 Celcius at 12:30am?!! Insane. It is pretty humid too - my hair is gonna be crazy.

We got into the hotel in about 20 min. It's funny - the cars here are right-side drive but the road signs are in km/h. Like Australia, I guess?! The highway was very clean, and there were lots of neatly trimmed trees along the highway. We drove by Marina Bay Sands, the crazy 3-tower casino/hotel with a ship on top of it. That's the one with the crazy infinity pool that I really want to take a photo of. We also drove past the Singapore Eye (a big ferris wheel). There were some nice-looking apartments with ocean views that the driver told us cost 2-5Million each. Crazy! There were LOTS of boats in the Harbour as we flew in, and we saw them from the taxi too. The driver told us that most of them are parked, and waiting for permits to come into the docks, or something like that. Interesting.

We arrived at the hotel and checked in. As we walked in the door, they said, "You must be Mr. Jutan and Mr. Parrott!" Haha, awesome. We got our stuff upstairs and checked into our rooms. In my room the lights were already on, the air conditioning was blasting, and there was some light classical music playing on the radio! Amazing. That was a very comfortable welcome after a suuuuuuper long amount of travel. I was very tired and gross, but had a nice shower and was asleep by 2am (Singapore time) - which was 10am body time. What day? Who knows!

I woke up at 5:30am, and was wide awake. I tried to sleep a little more but just got up and sent some emails at 6, and got up at 6:30. I unpacked all of my stuff, made a coffee, and found the hairdryer that I was trying to find the night before (well, 4 hours before) :) The apartment/hotel is a great setup with a fridge, kitchen equipment, a tea pot, cups, kettle, etc. Awesome!

The jet lag had me totally awake and ready for breakfast, but I didn't want to call Matt's room too early. So instead I unpacked all my clothes and bag completely, found a laundry hamper, and listened to the same Classical Music station from last night! Really fun. I looked at some emails and the MRT (Subway) Map, and figured out our route to work. Then I prepped the gifts we'd brought for the training people and folks who had helped plan our trip to Singapore. Then I headed down to meet Matt for breakfast.

The breakfast was fantastic. There were eggs, turkey sausages, little curry puffs, pastries, guava juice, and great coffee. I chatted with a girl who worked at the hotel while I was getting a coffee. "How is the jet lag? You just got here last night?" she said, surprised at how awake I looked. "You look very excited" she said, "I don't think you need coffee!" I laughed and said, "Haha, that's what they tell me at home." :)

After the breakfast with Matt, I headed back up to my room and got the gifts and notes ready, complete with Canadian flag pins. hehe. Then we were off to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. Apparently the Little India station is a little closer, but we have one less transfer to make if we go to Dhoby Ghaut. It is HOT outside. We walked there and we were sweating like crazy.

We found the MRT station pretty quickly and bought a Translink-like fast card for the subway. It was pretty sweet and also seems to give you 50% off all the trips or so, which is a sweet deal. We then went from Dhoby Ghaut->City Hall->Tanah Marah station. The MRT was really organized and clean and doesn't smell horrible like the BART. To remember the station names, we gave them silly names like Tanah Marah = "Tuna Melt". We tried that "joke" on someone later in the day and they had absolutely no idea what we were talking about. We then took the final transfer station to Expo and found the office. We got in and people helped us find our desks. Our logins worked, there were dual-boot machines already set up for us, and our USA phone extensions were even re-routed already to Singapore! Very cool!! We got a tour around the studio and gave gifts to the people who had helped us out on the trip.

Then it was lunchtime so we took off for a nice lunch with Tommy. That was super fun and we learned about the buildings around the studio. We got some sandwiches and I got a salad with Turkey Bacon (that's a new one! Must be less pork here because of a large Muslim community - that's helpful for me too!) I also got an Apple Cinnamon Lassi which was super amazingly freakin' amazing.

We got back to work and took care of some emails and chatting with lots of people. There was a screening of Harry Potter 7 planned so we picked up tickets which was super great. We got hooked up with some info for our Kuala Lumpur trip (which is coming up this weekend). Then we took off to Bugis area to go to a movie theatre. There was a cool Art Deco building outside. We checked out the food court the basement of the Bugis mall and ended up getting a turkey hot dog upstairs. The movie was great - but the jetlag was starting to set in!

After the movie we headed back to the basement and looked for more food options. We ended up getting a few yaki tori chicken skewers and then headed to the City Hall area to take photos. As we were wandering, we noticed how many people were out late, walking around the subway station.

We got out at City Hall and there were tons of HUGE buildings. My lens was fogging up a lot from the change in temperature between the subway and the outside humidity. We walked across a bridge to Merlion Park and took a photo of the Singapore Mascot, the half-lion/half-fish Merlion. I thought his body looked like a Shrimp! It was super funny and awesome. A group of tourists wanted me to take their photo a few times, and I took lots of photos of my own too. The Marina Bay Sands casino/hotel looks INSANE! I love it. We gotta figure out how we can get a chance to swim in their infinity pool. :)

The Durian building was there too (nicknamed that because it looks like a Durian), and the Fullerton Hotel looked amazing. We then headed back to the mall but it was 10:30ish so things were starting to close. We got a couple pastries, and headed back to Dhoby Ghaut. We didn't really have dinner so we wandered by the only thing open on our way back (McDonald's) and I tried a McSpicy, with cold Milo as a drink! That was fun and I always like trying McDonald's in foreign countries - it's always so interesting to see how it's different. But McSpicy was about as weird as the Singapore menu got - it wasn't super unusual like that next-to-unpronounceable "Juicy Chicken Agatougarashi" in Japan last year. We headed back to the hotel. I put down my stuff and a moment later went to sleep.

Before these crowded streets photo of Matt

I really like this one of Matt with the Singapore skyline!

Darn! Had my white balance on the wrong value... looks too orangey. But I think it still works.

Fullerton Hotel, this place looked amazing

Merlion Park from afar

The glorious, amazing, wondrous, insanely absurd Marina Bay Sands casino and hotel

The "Durian Building"

This place looked gorgeous

Merlion Park

Monks and the city skyline

Marina Bay Sands, soooo awesome

Merlion from one side

Then I realized my white balance was off, and fixed it. Much better!

Another pic of our buddy the Merlion

Singapore/Malaysia Day 2: Videos: 45 Degree Beer Machine at Narita Airport Lounge, Tokyo

The coolest robot bartender I'VE ever seen...

Singapore/Malaysia Day 2: Awesome Flight, Part 2

November 22, 2010
Singapore Day 2: Awesome Flight, Part 2

We left the plane in Narita and headed into the terminal. It was now about midnight SF time, but we were so excited for the whole trip and from the first plane ride that we were still energetic enough to run around the airport looking for cool stuff. I thought it would be the same terminal area where I was last year in Japan but it was definitely a different area. I was hoping to find a Uni Qlo (sometimes referred to as the "Asian Gap" store) because I loved their clothes in Japan last year. I was also keeping an eye out for the Totoro Mug I really wanted to get last year but couldn't carry around while backpacking for a month!

We didn't find those 2 things but we did find a pack of Soy Bean Kit Kats and a pack of Wasabi Kit Kats!! Very strange, and I'm sure the folks back in San Francisco will love these weird Kit Kat flavours. I found a can of Pocari Sweat (like Tokyo Gatorade, sortof), and Matt got a cool Totoro plush toy. Then I saw a huge pack of Sakura-Matcha (Green Tea-Cherry Blossom) Kit Kats in the distance and ran over to buy those too. Hooray!! We're not even one day in and I already have gifts for everyone back home in San Francisco. :)

After the quick shopping excursion, we only had about 30 min left so we headed right for the lounge. It was really cool. The key item to photograph/video was a 45 degree Beer pourer, I'd researched the lounge in advance and heard about the legend of the 45 degree Beer pouring machine, so we were excited to see it. It was hilarious. See the next post for a video of it!

The lounge had some great snacks, Kiri cheeses, some Chicken & Mayonnaise sushi, Chocolates, Mini Sandwiches, and more Pocari Sweat (good times!) I sent a few quick emails and then we headed off to the gate. The 2nd plane was a Boeing 767 which was similar, but had different seats so Matt fit in much more comfortably which was great. Then we started to get really tired, as it was about 1 or 1:30 SF time. The plane was nice and relaxing... and before we could think about it... here comes dinner #3!

Matt in the Narita Lounge

Funny Chicken & Mayonnaise sushi

Looking tired after the first leg of the trip, but still super excited

Onto plane #2! Time to do some reading.

Quite a different layout on this plane than the previous one. Matt also fit better on this flight!

This choice was quite weird. I got the "Kun's Specialty Plate" which was all smoked dressings, smoked butter, smoked vinegar, smoked flavour in the potatoes - it was really intense!! I think they would have smoked the cutlery if they could have!

Oooooh super good ice cream and Sleepy Time tea which was fantastic and did a great job getting me to sleep!

Singapore/Malaysia Day 1: Videos: Bed Mode on the ANA flight seats

Careful, "Bed Mode" fits my North American sized frame almost as well as the ANA cardigans :)

Singapore/Malaysia Day 1: Off we go!

Note to the reader: I am retroactively blogging these posts after my trip to Singapore has already finished. I'll try to keep the past/present tense in line :) I hope you enjoy the photos and videos from my trip to Singapore and Malaysia!

November 21, 2010
Singapore Day 1: Off we go!

And... away we go! My sister Norma was visiting me here in San Francisco for about 10 days and we managed to organize our flight out to Singapore to be on the same day that my sister would be heading back to Canada, so everything worked out amazingly well! Norm and I got up early, put away dishes, I deflated her inflatable bed and we then zoomed downstairs with our luggage, ready for pickup. The pickup service I chose was called Q-S Limousine, based on some reviews on Yelp... and apparently the "QS" stands for "Quality Service"?! I called the night before and got it all booked and confirmed, but for some reason I just had a bad feeling about it. I am in general a pretty worked-up traveler - I like to make sure all the plans are in place and I've set about 5 alarms to make sure I don't miss my flight. Anyhow, pickup was supposed to be at 7:30 but at about 7:32 I started to worry - since I figured they'd show up early, definitely not late. I had chosen this service specifically because I was nervous that a cab was not reliable enough. Oy gevault.

Anyway, as usual, a swift moving back-up plan is always a good idea. After calling them at 7:35, having them not pick up (?!!!) and leaving a message, I called a cab. Thank goodness the cab was super quick and off we went to the airport. I texted the Limo service from the cab asking where they were, and they responded with a simple "Sorry, the driver had car troubles." That seems a little shoddy since quite literally their only job is to pick you up and drive you to the airport safely, and on time. I couldn't believe they didn't answer their phone. Oy!!! Traveling is always a bit crazy, and you end up with several stories like this, so I figured it would be a good one for the blog. :)

The cab showed up in 2 minutes which was amazing, and zoomed us off to the airport. I said bye to Norm and went to meet Matt at the ANA checkin. Business Class checkin was super fast and amazingly efficient - this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime flight experience that we'd never forget! We then headed off to the... lounge!! We were super psyched to try it out, so excited in fact that we joked with each other that the staff at the lounge were going to question if we were actually allowed in the lounge due to our total and utter over-excitement. Once we got there, there was yoghurt, guava juice, coffee... great stuff. They had free internet too which was super helpful. We hung out there for a bit and then wandered to get some walking in before the long flight.

Matt had a hilarious neck pillow with a panda bear face on the one side and showed me the place where he bought it in the SFO terminal. I bought a similar one with a bear on it, a different face than Matt's pillow. We decided it would be hilarious to wear them around the terminal and especially back to the Business Lounge. We wandered by the Bar there and asked what was free - "Budweiser is free", the lady said, staring at our ridiculous animal-themed neck pillows with amazement. Matt wanted a different beer that cost $6 but didn't have cash on him, so, figuring we were pretty light-hearted folks (due to the pillows, I'm sure), she teased me super hard for not covering Matt's beer. Haha. "He has cash", she said as she pointed at me, "Hey, why don't you buy your friend a beer!" Haha, then she totally made fun of my brown bear neck pillow and said Matt's panda bear was a better choice. Wow, it was amazing and so funny and randomly weird at the same time. I love traveling.

Then, it was boarding time! We headed to the plane and once we got on, it was truly amazing. The seats were amazing. There were free ANA slippers, an ANA-supplied cardigan (which only went halfway down my arms - Matt didn't even bother to ask for one), and multiple awesome buttons to play with on the chairs. There was an "Upright", "Rest" and "Bed" mode. We (of course) instantly started playing with everything and it was hilarious and awesome. The bed mode seemed to sortof drop you down and almost dump you directly off the chair, and the angle was pretty intense. Matt totally didn't fit in bed mode at all (it was definitely made for more Japanese-sized people, I expect) and we laughed until we were teary-eyed about it. So fun.

And on came the amazing food. (Don't worry, this trip blog won't ALL be about food, but most of this particular entry will be). We started with a choice between a glass of champagne and a glass of cold green tea. Then we had some sweet sake, red pepper and artichoke to start. They loved our enthusiasm for the sweet sake and kept coming back to refill our glasses. "Would you like some more sweet sake?", they asked at one point, "No, we're OK for now, thanks!" we said. They responded with, "Well, we have another kind, a dry sake!". We knew it was no use trying to deny more food and drinks so we said, "Sure, why not!" :) They were incredibly hospitable and the food and drink quality was just amazing. What an experience to remember.

Soon it was lunch time and Matt and I both chose the Japanese Set option. I had some great fish and sauce with mushrooms in it, and they also served excellent Miso soup - which I was able not to pour all over my pants like I did at the fancy hotel back in Tokyo last year, haha. They (of course) brought us some more sweet sake, so we were pleased to get some real food in us too. Then we had some great Ice Cream for dessert. After that came coffee and this AMAZING Green Tea Fudge. We LOVED it.

I then made the tragic mistake of telling them that we really enjoyed it, "The Green Tea Fudge was great!" They IMMEDIATELY asked us if we'd like some more, and brought the box out to show us that it was from New York and was a "modern twist" on a traditional Japanese dessert. We acted a little nervous (with all the attention and food) and they brought us two more pieces. We then made the mistake of eating them right away and so out came 4 more pieces!! Uh oh. We figured we'd better leave one or two sitting there to look like we were totally stuffed or saving them for later to try to calm down the food delivery :) It was so fun. They loved us and our enthusiasm for the flight so much that they brought us out a huge survey to answer anonymously for the airline. We gave them perfect scores, and I think they knew we were having a great time :)

We then tried to get a bit of sleep and "Bed Mode" was hilarious. I kept pretending I was about to press "Bed Mode" on Matt's chair while he was watching a movie because it basically pours you onto the floor. haha. We found that a combo of "Rest Mode" and moving the leg rest up was the most successful option.

While chilling out I noticed they'd left out a table of snacks near us, including a Suntory Boss Coffee in a can! I remembered those really well from Japan and was super excited to try it again. I also noticed they left the entire remainder of the Green Tea Fudge out on the table in the center console, presumably for "lots of people" to share, but it was right near us for a good reason, I think :) They already knew us very well!

I watched the movie "Insomnia" which was pretty cool and had a few snacks. Later on we woke up and I just had something light since we'd been eating so much earlier in the flight. It was dinnertime in SF, but it was breakfast time in Tokyo so we had breakfast. :) We had just a few snacks, some cheese and Matt got noodles. As Dad would say, we were a bunch of "bladdy fressers!"

What a totally insanely awesome experience and we finished up on the first leg of the journey, arriving in Narita airport with about 1.5 hrs to stretch our legs, look for an Uni Qlo store, buy some Green Tea Kit Kats for the folks back home in San Francisco, and check out the Narita lounge.

Matt looking very snappy after an early start!

Juice and other tasty stuff at SFO

I look even more excited than that kid behind me

Here I am literally losing it, I am so excited I can hardly contain myself

The wealth of seat choice options. This was confusing and hilarious.

Reading material for the plane

I don't even have this much legroom in my apartment. Truly an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Sweet, sandals to keep. They didn't fit Matt. (Sorry Matt!)

Here we go!

Appetizers

More tasty snacks

Fantastic fish, mushrooms and rice

Ice Cream!!

Coffee, and the Green Tea Fudge that we went to town on

Matt got the Japanese option for lunch, note the lotus root!

I figured it was a good time to start rockin' some Curry

A cheese plate?! Wow the food was insanely great.

Adidas Star Wars SUPERSTAR 2.0 LTO Rebels

I know y'all must be tired of the Shoe-related blog posts by now, but I just scored an absurd deal on these Rebel Alliance shoes from the Adidas Star Wars collection. Yes, they do say "May the force be with you" on the back, and yes, you can start being jealous anytime. :)

A couple new trailers

A couple great new trailers came out today, showing off some of the amazing stuff happening at work!

Both include Johnny Depp, though in pretty different forms :)

Rango


Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Our 826Valencia workshop has been posted!!

Matt and I are getting REALLLLLLLY excited about our first 826Valencia workshop, and I just noticed that they've posted our class info on the website!

http://www.826valencia.org/workshops/2011_01

Digital Storytelling

Telling new stories through film
Taught by Matthew Parrot and Mike Jutan
Open to 12 students, ages 14-18
A twelve-week workshop

Have you always wanted to tell your story on the silver screen? Do you dream of combining story-telling, visual art, and technology to inspire others? During this class, we'll explore film-making concepts such as script-writing, non-linear editing, camera work, and composition. We'll use accessible technologies to bring your masterpiece to life and share it with the world. The class will take place in the brand new 826 computer lab.

Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon Trailer - Official (HD)

My comment to Katie, the Star Wars girl

The story about Katie was so moving that I decided to write a comment on her Mom's blog. For anyone who's interested, here's what I posted:

-----------

Hi Katie (and family)!

My name is Mike, I'm Jewish too and I live in San Francisco and I work at the company that creates Star Wars!

I saw your article today on CNN and came to visit your Mom's site. Your Mom is so proud of you and it made me very teary-eyed to read her story. You have a great family. :)

I came from a little town in Canada, but now I live in the big and awesome city of San Francisco and I get to make movies and tv shows for a living that excite and inspire little girls and boys all around the world (like you!) This is a dream come true for me, but it was never easy to be different for me, either. What I've learned is, the people who are different are the ones who really make a difference in this world.

I grew up in a small town called London, but not the one in England - my town is also called London but it is in Ontario, Canada, near Toronto. I knew I loved Computers from when I was even younger than you! I was totally fascinated with them. I even helped other kids in my Kindergarten class learn how to use the Commodore 64 computer in our classroom. That computer was very old compared to what computer you have in your house now - it didn't even have the Internet or a CD or DVD drive!

My parents immigrated to Canada and they always encouraged me to be different. To this day I still have a poster that my Dad hung in our Computer room when I was growing up that says "Dare to be different." It has a whole lot of green apples on it, and only one red one. Guess who is the red one? Me. My family. And You! Being the "red apple" can be very, very hard sometimes, as you've seen.

It's very tough when you believe in something or are enthusiastic about something you like and other people are mean to you about it. When I was your age, my parents kept encouraging me to be myself, and to ignore other kids who said mean things to me. My parents explained that the other kids maybe were just embarrassed that they didn't like things as much as me, and they weren't as motivated or as hard-working as me. Those good characteristics about me made the teachers really like me, but had the opposite effect on many of the kids in my class. This was always hard and I wanted to be popular and cool and I wanted to fit in. But even more than that, I wanted to be myself. I knew what I wanted to do with my life and I was going to achieve it, and some silly kids making some silly comments wasn't going to change how I felt about myself. I learned to shrug off mean comments, and I learned to follow my own heart and dreams - to "march to the beat of my own drum", like you are discovering. This is an incredible skill but you need to be very proactive to maintain it. You should always continue to improve this skill - your personal sense of your own self-worth - all your life.

The great Rabbi Zusya of the 18th Century said, “The Almighty will not ask me why I was not as bold as our forefather Abraham; He will not ask me why I was not a leader like Moses. He will turn to me and say: ‘Zusha, why were you not more like Zusha?’” What I think he means is that you should not spend your life trying to attain the dreams and successes of others - rather, you should be yourself with all your energy. You should be aware of yourself. You should be confident in your own decisions - like deciding to ignore the bullies and take your favourite Star Wars lunch bottle back to school. Good for you!

Keep up the awesome work :) Remember to always be proud of who you are - a red apple!

Mike Jutan :)
http://jutanclan.blogspot.com

Go Katie!

Just heard about this incredibly sweet girl named Katie and her mother's noble quest to end the bullying that Katie was receiving at school about her Star Wars water bottle.

The interviews are just so sweet, and there is little-to-no chance you'll be able to read her Mom's blog without tearing up.

What a great story and an outpouring of good will and support for Katie and all other kids who face this problem at school. Amazing.

Article here:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/portrait_of_an_adoption/2010/11/anti-bullying-starts-in-first-grade.html

From CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/12/09/katie.starwars.geek/index.html?hpt=C2

 

Home from Singapore

Home safely in SF. It's 12C and raining here, and I haven't been so excited to feel cold air in, well, I can't even imagine how long! The nights in Singapore were even 26-28C, and the humidity during the days was pretty nuts! There were even some days over 32C I think, which was crazy!

Anyhow, home safely and actually already unpacked. I'm keen to look at my photos but I'll leave that for another night. I am pretty tired but still kinda jet laggy so we'll see about when I can get to sleep, but I'll probably try to unwind now.

Excited to see all of these photos, there are gonna be some good ones in the bunch!

I'll start by Facebooking the photo albums and Youtubing the videos. From there I'll write up the blog over the December break and start posting the daily entries retroactively.

Singapore and Kuala Lumpur: Blog coming soon...

Hi folks!

Quick update on this super awesome trip to Singapore. It's been an absolutely fantastic trip so far. I've taken a crazy amount of photos (but maybe not as many as Japan/South Korea last year) :) It's going really well here and we're having an amazing time.

I've been taking notes day-by-day and I'll be compiling and processing my photos after the trip and then writing up the blog retroactively, same as I did with the Japan trip. But for the eager beavers in the crowd, here's a quick highlight list:

• Getting stuck in the Rainforest in Kuala Lumpur in a Monsoon and with no idea how to leave the Malay Tea House we'd wandered to because they wouldn't call us a cab
• Speaking to the Python User's Group of Singapore
• Finding my coveted New Balance Rainbow Running shoes here - this time in glow-in-the-dark Orange and city-light colour
• Making up silly names to remember each subway station
• Hanging out with Matt, Jess, Leila and all our friends here
• Fish Head Curry (it was scary)
• Chinatown Market St at Night
• Chillin' out with some Mint Tea and Mezes in Bugis
• The Merlion
• Amazing architecture

And plenty more to come, I'm sure :)

iMenorah: the new iPhone menorah app - now on the iTunes App Store!

For anyone who hasn't seen our old video :)

iMenorah article on CNet Crave!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHH AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20024349-1.html

Thanks Greg for the heads up. Sooo cool.
Happy Chanukah to all, and our very best wishes.

Mike and Matt

Some recent iMenorah Buzz!!

It's almost Chanukah again and you know what that means... time for lots more exciting buzz and articles in awesome newspapers about iMenorah!! It's so exciting to see all this buzz about our hard work, and we're hoping to make an even bigger donation this year after the sales come in. Hooray!

Here is some of the recent buzz. VERY exciting!!

• New York Daily News (print): Fri. Nov 19th, "Your Home" section, page 8
  
• NYTimes Blog: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/the-lights-fantastic/
• JewishiPhoneCommunity.org: http://www.jewishiphonecommunity.org/apps/imenorah
• Appolicious: http://www.appolicious.com/shine/articles/941-ancient-holiday-traditions-go-mobile-with-the-imenorah-iphone-app
  

Cowboys & Aliens Teaser Trailer

Looks pretty sweet eh!

Movie Review: Half Nelson

Ryan Gosling was incredible in this role but I found myself wanting to know more about his character's motivations. I thought I was going to LOVE this movie, and I finished it just sortof liking it. Ryan Gosling really carried the role amazingly well and his acting really improved the character (who I think would have benefited from some further dialog explaining his conflicts and perhaps his true feelings about his addiction and intentions to solve it). The ending is hopeful but really open-ended. After that much build-up I think it would have been more satisfying to see a real change in his character's mentality.

I was expecting a lot more growth from his character - the really sharp moment when Drey finds him in the hotel room was really rock-bottom for him - I was really hoping for his character to vocalize his embarrassment and shame, and to make a clear swing towards improvement. It kinda felt like Drey was doing all the work for him, and we get to the last scene where he shaves his scruffy beard and they tell a joke on the couch - I expected at least an apology from him or *something*. For so much hopeful build-up, I would have really expected his character to take a more concerted effort so as to not lose face in the eyes of his student. Rather, he still kept his complacent attitude all the way to the end of the film and it ended on a note that seemed hopeful, but didn't prove it to you.

Definitely an amazing acting job and some brilliant ideas in this movie, I just think Ryan Gosling really made the role, and the character could have been given a bit more intention and change in behaviour by the end of the film. If the intention is to show the benefit of the student-teaching-teacher relationship, I was wishing that the teacher showed that he truly learned something by the end of the film, and wasn't going to instantly fall into old habits in the next situation.

Kinect for Xbox 360 - Kinectimals

Don't think I posted this already. How hilarious and brilliant. Kinect looks completely badass. A friend who's tried it out says pose recognition is pretty darn good. This is absurd that it's this awesome and they're selling Kinect for only like $150... insane. If the games hold up, this could be as revolutionary as the Wii...

Maru the cat

Just came across this HILARIOUS cat from Japan named Maru, he is awesome.
His owner writes this really funny blog about him: http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/ Soooooooooooo awesome!!

Movie Review: Ghost World

Wow, this was great. Really found the "whateevver" Clueless-style 90's attitude both hilarious and tiring (as was the director's intention, I bet!).

What an interesting story on the need for friendship and support. I was surprised that they ...made the main character Jewish, but (given her reactions to a jock who hassles her about it several times throughout the movie), her religion is just another thing about her that makes her different and continue to feel further separated from the crowd. "Always somewhat of an outsider looking in on American culture", as Harry Shearer discussed in a stage show I saw of his at the JCCSF last year. Thought that was an interesting thread.

Interesting as well that she spoke out against Racism when everyone around her wanted to ignore it or pretend it wasn't there. This further separated her from her peers but it seems to be one of the only decisions that she is truly happy about, given that most of her other actions are morally questionable.

Conan O'Brien Presents: SHOW ZERO!

Can't wait to see Conan's new show!!!!!!!!!

It's 11:30, and I just turned off Leno on my TV and headed to my computer to watch this instead...

Let the new wave of late night triumphantly begin...