Life's Little Pleasures

Playtime
posted on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 12:43 PM | 0 cmnt/s

I just listened to Bond's latest album, after taking a break for a couple of years, entitled 'Play.'

Brilliant album. It's the same awesome and catchy strings that Bond are somehow able to make so modern. The difference between this album and previous albums is that they cover modern songs such as Jai ho (Pussycat Dolls), Pump it (Black Eyed Peas) and also features a Lady Gaga medley (song: Lgg Medley). The covers of modern songs follow in the steps of other string groups, most notable the Vitamin String Quartet, and do not disappointing those who love to listen to classical covers of pop and rock songs.

However, classics such as Vivaldi's Summer (L'estate) and Winter (L'inverno) also harp back to the traditional roots of the string quartet.

If you only have time to listen to a couple of songs from the album, I would absolutely recommend that you listen to:

1. Diablo (alternatively track 13 which is also Diablo except is Bond vs Young Offenders)
2. Jai ho
3. Elysium
4. Lgg Medley
5. Last time (AKA Bittersweet)


This album is just so awesome, so I'd greatly recommend taking a listen :)

Public Service Announcement
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 9:37 PM | 0 cmnt/s

Hear ye, hear ye!

Just a bit of random info just in case you were interested...

I arrived in glorious Singapore this afternoon and checked into the Shangri-La Hotel.

And you know how I was saying that my mattress and bed back at home were like heaven and you just sink into them...

...Well... this bed is equally amazing.

King size which is just AWESOME!

And the pillows are AWESOME!

And you just sink into them and it's just really cool and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the best night sleep ever tonight :D *thumbs up*

So, if you're ever in Singapore and have a spare $500 to spend on accommodation, I would absolutely recommend the Shangri-La Hotel. It is pretty swish here and comes complete with doormen in funny uniforms (picture to hopefully follow!). And as my brother pointed out the other day, it seems that the nicer and more expensive the hotel, the weirder the doorman's uniform generally is, so if you're the judge a hotel by it's cover-man, then this hotel certainly is tops!

BTWs, it is also the hotel chain that my FAVOURITE ad of ALL times is from. And in case you don't know what my FAVOURITE ad of ALL times is (or I claim that a lot of ads are my FAVOURITE ad of ALL times and you've just lost track), here is a link to it :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4jZ1UFR_Wc

AND, for you hardcore Shangri-La commercial fans out there (because, let's be honest, there are quite a few!) there is even... a MAKING OF THE COMMERCIAL!!!!!!!! YAY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mQK1gNYDyQ&feature=related

I'll sleep on top
posted on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 9:18 PM | 0 cmnt/s

Mattresses.

They are so undervalued.

You don't appreciate the value of a good mattress until you're presented with a bad one.

It's a serious matter.

Take, for example, my mattress at home. It's served me well over the years and, like most mattresses, has moulded to fit my shape. What a good mattress. It dips perfectly in the middle and give me a wonderful night sleep.

But it wasn't until I arrived in Bangkok that I began to appreciate just how good my mattress back home, all those miles away (!!), actually was.

The mattress here, in contrast, lacked a certain comfort, a certain sink that a familiar mattress holds.

I didn't sleep well on that first night, purely because of the mattress.

Upon consultation, I came to the conclusion that as a general rule, mattresses in Asia are typically hard. This conclusion was based upon personal experience and discussions with others whom had had similar experiences.

So to unravel the reasoning behind this conclusion, I did what any good Gen-Y kid would do and I googled it.

My research directed me to one explanation which seemed perfectly plausible:

On the Fodor's travel website, on a thread asking "Why are the beds (mattresses) so hard in Asia?", one posted under the name of Jaya comments that in India there is a "long, deeply rooted belied that sleeping on anything soft will deform and curve the spine and cause problems with the spine later in life."

Perhaps this same thought can be extrapolated across Asia?



On a slightly related comment, maybe there is something to that Indian belief.

I own a soft mattress. I have a deformed and curved spine that has caused me problems.

Conclusion: my soft, familiar mattress is the cause of my back problems.
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