dsng.net - the daryl sng blog

T he last film I watched aboard the plane before I landed at JFK was 25th Hour , essentially Spike Lee's paean to New York City. And it was a nice lead-in to returning to NYC - it is very good to be back in the city. Had a meal at Goodburger (the natural instinct to find top-notch food for carnivores in whatever city I land in still remains intact, I'm glad to say), and then watched the Columbia University Film Festival , since my friend Soman's film was being screened. Very impressive, polished stuff from all the films. Ah, the glories of a rest day. Now that my body is adequately adjusted to New York time, it's on to proper work.

And of course, RIP David Halberstam . The Best and the Brightest is a great historical work, one I keep recommending to people (although seemingly not that easy to find here in Singapore, at least a few years back when I was trying to buy a copy - I suppose Vietnam War histories don't exactly fly off the shelves). And the Summer of '49 a great baseball book.

All congratulations to Simon Fuller for importing the telethon concept to America (and even importing in Richard Curtis, aka "Four Weddings and a Funeral" screenwriter and Red Nose Day creator). I only wish the singing had been better. Melinda was great, as always - she has this ability to take a song I don't know and make me want to hear it. The only thing hindering her I think is the tyranny of high expectations. As for the rest - I thought Jordin's "You'll Never Walk Alone" was lovely, but I admit I always find that song very moving (and I'm an Everton fan!). Has to do with memories of watching the Hillsborough semifinal live as a kid, and witnessing that awful tragedy. Chris - needs sinus surgery. And fast. How come Lakisha seems to have forgotten how to sing big without pitching problems? And Blake made a bad choice, I thought. How does one not compare it (unfavourably) to Lennon's original "Imagine"? That said, I do dislike the o

Rest in peace, Alan Ball .

It is just wearying, the world these days. What more is there to say about the shootings that hasn't been said before? Or, as one is well aware, what is there to say about other horrific events in the very same week? 19/20 April always seems such a dicey period - anniversaries of Waco, Columbine; Hitler's birthday... a horrible, horrible event, and one grieves for all those whose lives were cut short. Classy thing the Washington Nationals did, wearing the Virginia Tech caps in the first game after the shooting.

W ent to MAAD at the Red Dot Museum for the first time last Saturday. 'Twas a lot of fun roaming around the small stalls - the Macbook skins from ShuffleArt were pretty tempting and I really liked the "I've Lost an Ocean" art exhibit by Xin. ( MAAD photos for the curious.) Perfect for a lazy rainy Saturday.

Okay, I watch American Idol . And I learnt last night that every female Latin pop song was sung by Gloria Estefan... Am watching Phil, Haley, and Chris in the bottom 3 today. And for once they really were the 3 worst performances. That said, I like that the premise of Salon.com's article asking prominent rock critics (Robert Christgau, Greil Marcus etc.) whether voting for Sanjaya was "subversive" got the proper dismissive / derisive response, though. (Chuck Klosterman: "As things currently stand, I would classify purposefully voting for a television personality you don't like as 'astonishingly idiotic.'") Subversive? This is more like joke-voting for the ugliest kid as Prom King.

I have to say, I admit I like Alanis Morissette, but "Ironic" was a crime for any right-minded snob about English, since none of it was really ironic was it? But black flies in Chardonnays be damned - as Laura Barton wrote , everything is forgiven, thanks to her cover version of My Humps - sung in classic Alanis style, but with a video that spoofs the music atrocity... As the song goes... Check it out!