Witches and Wizards and Magical Beasts

A Very Potter Musical, where have you been my whole life?

Parody musicals are one thing. Highly-polished parody musicals with original music performed by actors who can actually sing? They're another thing. Which you should be watching.

AVPM is a musical based on the Harry Potter series. It's not based on any particular book, but rather takes elements from various books and ties them together with original touches and comedic elements, into a colourful, entertaining story with memorable characters - and memorable villains.

And the music. Did I mention the music?

Watch it. It's the missing piece in your life.

(There's also a sequel, which you should also watch. After finishing the first one. Lucius Malfoy is amazing. And Draco Malfoy. And Dolores Umbridge. And - just watch it.)

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Update XXVII: For Science

So. We haven't spoken in a while.

I've finally experienced a researcher's worst nightmare - finding out that someone else is doing the same thing you're doing, only better. Also, they are based in Hawaii. Hawaii.

It's not too bad. Science is ultimately an altruistic pastime, and if you go into it hoping for fame and wealth you are going to be severely disappointed. Your contribution as an individual means nothing compared to the contribution to the overall picture - and it doesn't particularly matter who makes that contribution.

It is a noble, harsh thing, to be a scientist.

But Hawaii, goshdarnit.

The "Dance Your PhD" competition has recently come to my attention. It has to be the single most bizarre method to be recognised by the Science magazine. (For those who have not been exposed to the cut-throat world of publications, getting published in Nature or Science is akin to an article about you being printed on the front page of your national newspaper, complete with full-colour photographs.) It probably would be quite challanging to express a PhD topic by dance.

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I want to do it.

What does everyone think of Google Instant? While potentially annoying to slower typists looking up obscure topics, I can see how it would be intuitive to the impatient among us. I actually didn't notice anything different for the first thirty minutes or so, until - "Hey, why is the page loading before I can hit the Enter key?"

I like how they put up an actual graph to prove that Google Instant is faster. A graph with no axes.

Look! Jurassic Park the Musical!

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I Just Had a Friendship Aneurysm

[shudder]











No wait, I have more to say.

It's...it's just like those children's shows. Those shows for extremely yourng children. Those extremely saccharine cartoons dripping with sugar and treacle and sing-along-songs and pure undiluted sweetness.

[shudder]

Cake Mania!

I've been making cake. Lots and lots of cake. Expect a few more recipes up here soon.

This morning I even asked for a cake recipe from my supervisor. How nuts is that? (In my defence, it was a delicious sticky-treacle-coconut thing. Sticky-treacle-coconut! How could I possibly resist?)

Cake is yum. We need more cake. Yum.

AYDS Will Change Your Life

Yes. Yes it will.

Suffice to say no diet pill will ever have that name today.

On the other hand, Unilever hasn't stopped assuring us that it's hard to have a Gaytime on your own, so I could be wrong.

A Very Special 1-Up

I want you to imagine someone you know, someone who's about forty-five years old. Sorta past their prime, maybe with a few grey hairs, but perhaps still energetic?

Singapore turned 45 today. If it was a person, it would look something like the one you just imagined.

Sorta puts into perspective how new this country is, doesn't it? It's younger than my father, even.

The apartments where I live decided to put on a dine-in to celebrate "Singapore Day," which was pretty nice. I have to say though, my fellow Singaporeans are fairly jaded. I was the only one to stand up to recite the pledge, and then to sing the national anthem. Some of them have apparently even forgotten the words which they must have repeated hundreds of times in the school assembly ground, every morning.

Is it really so strange to have loyalty to one's own country? Is there something wrong with wanting to feel a single moment of unity, singing a single song with millions of others, all at once? Is it now the cool thing to make a running commentary of snide remarks on the parade which is arguably Singapore's single most important annual event, to belittle the efforts of all the people who plan and practice for months for this one day?

I would think not, judging from all the happy, cheering people gathered at the Padang and various other locations, both across the island and overseas.

Majulah, Singapura.
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Creepy Watson

In a subversion of the previous post, I about busted my guts laughing while watching this video.