Culturally Preconditioned

I hadn’t plan on starting the earlier post at 3 am in the morning, and it unintentionally dragged on for quite a bit. I’m so sorry. Anyway, here the continuation of my 2006 in review… well kinda (Part 2).. the remaining six of the Top Ten Highlights of 2006.

Food Blogs & Books

Again, a brilliant year for local food blogs. Blogs like Masak Masak have become my daily staples, while so many others are quickly becoming part of my diet too (they’re all listed at Boo’s blog for easy reference). What I love about these blogs are it gives you ideas on what to eat and where to eat. There are just too many options! And these people go to a lot of places. A lot. They’re all doing fre community service for the rest of us. The reviews (and especially the pictures) would usually help me decide if a place would be worth visiting or not. So kudos to all of our local food bloggers. *applause* (But where do they find the time and money to go to all these places, are beyond me. I’m not complaining though).

And, I have successfully managed to increase the total number of cook books that I have to 400% this year. Soon, my cook books alone will occupy 30% of my total books that shall adorn my ambitiously berangan wall to wall bookcase. Thanks to the many many warehouse sale that we’ve been getting this year. I must’ve gone to at least 4 different ones this year (MPH, Times, Pay Lesss Books and MPH again) and surprisingly enough there are good cookbooks at bargain prices. I have recently discovered MPH is selling quite a number of new attractive cookbooks at RM9.90 and 19.90 which is a steal, and Borders is currently displaying a number of wonderfully thick ones at its bargain corner for RM19.90 and RM29.90. Sure it’s not Nigella or Oliver, but you don’t get books full with recipes and chokeful of pictures at that prices, man, not new ones at least. So tonnes of cookbooks, but the total of recipes that I’ve tried from all those? Three. Yep. Not that it matters to me though. Cookbooks are there to give me ideas, and they are just fun to flick through. I love cookbooks, but don’t go buying me one for my birthday without cross referencing with me first, cause I’ll just end up with two copies of the same book. *glare* (you know who you are).

Survivor

Exile Island and Cook Islands (which they should really rename as Candice Island) were fun to watch. But seriously, that fucking hidden immunity idol must go. Sure it makes the game more interesting. At first. Not any more. It didn’t serve it’s purpose for Terry, but it did for Yul. They both got into the Final Three, but neither hidden immunity idols were being put into play. Either way, I’m not a fan of that thing. But oh no, they had to use it again for the next Survivor : Fiji. And we’re getting not one, but TWO fucking hidden immunity idols this time around. With a twist of course *eyeroll*. If I had to venture a guess, I’m gonna say the hidden immunity idol will only be valid for the first person that uses it. Oh who cares.

Hightlights.. well it was nice getting a two minute shout out on the Armchair Survivor podcast about my Opening Credits speculation. Jonathan DID get totally singed by the other survivors, and Candice DID jump ship, but I got the winner all wrong (I thought it was going to be Ozzy - thank God I was wrong). Other than that, oooh the Survivor : Melanesia game. Started out with 32 players, and I ended up in the Final Two. Yes. Me. Yeah that fucker was too lazy to finish up the episodes, but I did end up in the Final Two, believe it or not. Unfortunately though, I lost on a 5-4 vote. It was mainly because I didn’t actually attend the night of the Final Tribal Council. LOL. But hey, even then I got 4 votes. I would’ve totally won the game in a landslide, but the juries were all bitchy nd pissy about ‘not respecting the game’. Hello? I had a severity One problem to attend to at the time. But the game was sweet. My game really got into gear at the Final 8, when my trusted ally got voted out. I played my cards right, and totally turned the table at Final 5. After winning the Final 4 immunity challenge (the one and only immunity challenge that I actually won), I knew I was going to win the game - cause they would’ve all picked me to go to the Final Two. Who knew I was going to have a Severity One problem on the exact day and time the Final Tribal Council was going to be? Anyway, I’m not complaining for not winning the game. It was an awesome awesome experience.

Oooh, and another Survivor highlight this year, thanks to Exile Island and Cook Islands, my buffs collection has grown to over 30 this year

TV Shows

I am so over Lost because of it’s fucked up schedule and it’s storyline that’s sending the viewers going on and on around in circles, and the never ending love triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Get a fucking room already! Season 3 has started, but went on hiatus after Episode 6. It will resume in February, I might change my mind then (like I did after the Hostage Incident episode of Desperate Housewives - man that was an extremely powerful episode) but for now, yeah I’m not that a big fan of Lost. Not exactly sure when the show lost me, but I guess they’re adding more and more mysteries without actually resolving anything or telling us what we don’t already know.Screw you JJ Abrams. Working with that psycho asswipe Tom Cruse must’ve rubbed something off on you too.

Goodbye Lost, and welcome Heroes! Yes, the show is as good as it’s hyped up to be. If you need a short summary of what the show is about.. well, think X-Men without the cartoonish effects and the outlandish costumes. The characters in the drama aren’t exactly parading with their superpowers (yet) but still struggling to find out what the hell is going on with their superhuman abilities. Half the fun of watching the show is finding out what special powers that the ‘heroes’ possess, so I will not spoil it for you guys here. The good news for us Malaysian viewers is that Star World will finally be showing the show over here. Yay!

Other than those.. other highlights…. *cricket sounds* nothing worth mentioning. One In A Million was a total meh-fest. American Idol - I personally think the wrong person won. The Amazing Races - yet another mactor win. I’ve started to watch the reality show Top Chef and I’m still currently enjoying it, so there might still be hope. And the Amazing Race Asia, of course, which turns out a whole lot better than I expected. Oh and for my rants on the reality show, I received my very first blog award ever, thanks to suanie! Thanks, girl!

As for scripted drama, Supernatural is getting pretty good in it’s second season, especially after what happened in the first episode. I had faith in Jericho at first, that it might be one of those post-apocalyptic shows like The Stand, but the show’s started to lose out on me after it’s many many weak loose ends (not just talking about technologically, but just the social aspects between the town’s residents). I’m starting to lose interest, but I think I might still give it a go. Drawn Together still makes me laugh like no other shows can. I still wish Susan Myers dead everytime I see her character on Desperate Housewives. And that’s pretty much it, really.

OH! And how could I forget. I know the finale was shown in the States in 2005, but HBO Asia just showed the Six Feet Under season finale. And that was the most impressive season finale of a drama series that I have ever watched. So powerful. So poignant. It actually made me cry. It did! Watching the clip for the first time, I was sobbing away like nobody’s business, I’m so glad I watched it on my own. A brillant ending to a great series. Are we ever going to be blessed with a top quality show like this? One can only hope. Here’s the clip (ignore the first 20 seconds of the clip.. that was kinda cheesy)

Relationships

I am NOT a relationship-oriented person. Anyone that truly knows me can tell you that. But someone came along and have almost restored my faith that being in one may not be the worst thing in the world. I’m not about to get all sappy and goo goo ga ga over it, I mean, I still need my own space, bitch, but it’s nice to know that the door is not permanently shut on this avenue that I used to had. And that is all I’m going to say for now. I am still a cold hearted stoned asshole, so watch out.

The Condo

A supah secret EZ Board society that totally restored my faith (okay, I need to find a new phrase) in posting again in the Splinterverse. I was accepted into the Condo midway through the year, and it totally restored my posting mojo again. Not much can be elaborated here, cause you know.. everything is hush hush there and you know.. they’ll kill me if I spill anything to the public. My real condo though will be my highlight of this year, I’m sure.

Turning Thirty

This was supposed to be a big deal. But I’m just not feeling it. So I’ve turned thirty last year. So what? Some people feels the need to do something drastic with their lives, like.. you know get a second wife or some lame shit that will supposedly justify your absurd actions. But I honestly don’t sense or feel anything different about my life. Should I? I dunno. Age is just a number, well to me at least. Anyway, I have actually planned myself a treat for turning thirty but that’s not gonna be till March this year. A two-week vacation in Australia. Too much? This has actually been long overdue, so now’s a good time as any.

So what next? I’ll probably make myself a list of new years resolution (download less porn will never ever be one of them) which I most probably will not keep. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone. Hope you had a brilliant 2006 and a more exceptional year ahead of you.