dsng.net - the daryl sng blog

The iPhone is digital crack. Picked up my iPhone last Sunday when I received a surprise SMS from Singtel saying that I could pick it up earlier than my reservation... I actually had a reservation for Friday at 12 midnight, and went down, but decided that discretion, or at least sleep, was the better part of valour and went off at 2am, resigning myself to a late pickup and another long queue, but the Sunday-night (3rd day) queue was surprisingly short. And yes, it's addictive. And very useful, I have to say, to be able to check restaurant numbers on the go. And the keypad, despite its lack of tactile feedback, is surprisingly good at guessing what you really mean (e.g. I can type "girsd" and it comes out as "guess"). Seems like this would be useful for regular word-processing software... My only real gripe is that the earphones they give you have the standard Apple buds, which are totally not snug in the ear and keep letting sound in. So am attempting to buy nice...

Usain Bolt - what an athlete. Just sheer dominance - I think the distance between Bolt and Thompson was greater than the distance between Thompson and the last finalist. And such fun - the tap on his chest, the dancing, the posing... I can't wait for the Jamaica 4x100 team. Seeing as there're no Singapore reps there, might as well support the country of my relatives. Although in terms of Singapore teams, I was on crazy tenterhooks following the Olympic table-tennis semis. Two words: Woo. Hoo.

Considering how long ago I joined Twitter , I've been really tardy about updating my blog to link in my status messages. But voila, up there, my current status. What I really need is not just microblogging, but a true way to integrate my stream of consciousness into Twitter when I want to. That's one way to clear the mind out of all the detritus that accumulates therein.

M anaged to finagle a solitary Death Cab for Cutie concert ticket, but I'm quite happy to go to concerts solo - a legacy, perhaps, of days where I reviewed concerts for the school paper . And it was worth it. To be honest, I was always a bigger Postal Service fan than a Death Cab one, if we're looking at the Ben Gibbard oeuvre. But Death Cab are a surprisingly muscular band live than they sound on their albums (or it could be that, as Adrianna was telling me, Narrow Stairs , which I've not had a chance to listen to enough of, is a much different sounding album). There were solid performances of "I Will Possess Your Heart" and "Styrofoam Plates", in all its bitter glory, and I noticed "Photobooth" and "Title and Registration" received raucous receptions, but as you might expect, " I Will Follow You Into the Dark " was the singalong favourite. Gibbard prefaced that with "Do you like love songs? Here's a love song...

Once is a small, perfectly formed film about some very big themes. Most obviously, it is about the power of music to connect - after all, it is a film about an Irish busker meeting a Czech immigrant in Dublin, and them making (very beautiful) music together. But it is also about the possibility of a brief, intense connection reverberating throughout one's life, something that is probably true for many people, but rarely depicted well in films - perhaps only the Before Sunrise / Before Sunset diptych do it properly. Musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova play the unnamed Guy and the Girl respectively, and their relationship, shot through a long lens, feels appropriately real rather than the stuff of film: lots of faltering words, awkward pauses, and missteps. There's no meet cute . No fireworks. Just the natural progression of two people coming together, trying to figure out the boundaries of their relationship, falling slowly . And natural is the right word. Once is pro...

One of my favourite entries from last week's Singapore Garden Festival. Does seem very Irish. (The free shoulder massage at the Clarins booth alone made the entry fee totally worthwhile.)