Ugh

It's Day 5 of the flu, and my voice still hasn't returned. Went back to work on Day 4, with catastrophic results -- my slightly better larynx deteriorated towards the end of my shift, and now I'm back to square one. Also, my nose is starting to give problems. What kind of bug IS THIS?!?!

Anyhow, re-minisce, I made the changes you asked for. Not too sure about their significance, but hope it worked. :)


Post from The Ten Tenors' Managing Director

... can be seen under the comments box for my last entry ( May 18 2004 ). I dropped them an email, which is how they know about my blog. Very nice of Matthew to post something. Thank you!

Btw, the August entry he mentioned is in the archives, under August 16 2003. That was the first time I saw the guys in concert. Ahh, good memories. :)

Matthew Hickey's Message on The Ten Tenors' Website


Nip/Tuck

Website here

It's finally here -- one of the edgiest medical dramas around is now being screened on local television, despite its controversial content.

If the pilot episode is anything to go by, this series promises to deliver more eyebrow-raising, stomach-churning moments in the months to come. In the 90-minute premiere, we're already treated to scenes of liposuction ( crude and messy, we all know, but one wrong move by an uptight patient's relative and everything literally gets hurled in all directions -- yuck! ), jetsetting / sexually promiscuous plastic surgeon lifestyles, a scene that borders adultery ( though ultimately not consummated ), and a torture chamber sequence using Botox as a weapon.

Too extreme for you? Then you'd better not watch it. This is one of those shows that you either love or hate. Or even both. I love it for being, well, different. It can be a little too much at times, but at the end of the day, it gets me thinking, and that's what's important. But then, I also hate it because it depicts surgeons in such a blood-curdling manner -- they're in it for the wealth and the women, they'll even take drug money because it's just so easy. Hardly something docs everywhere would be happy with, even if some of this stuff is true ( speaking as someone "in the know", part of it is DEFINITELY real, even in the local context ).

The next question is: which character do you gravitate towards? Is it guy-with-a-conscience Sean McNamara ( Dylan Walsh ), or bad-boy-to-the-core Christian Troy ( Julian McMahon )? Traditionally at least, the good guys are often bland, so yeah, I prefer Christian, imperfections and all. McMahon possesses the dark looks and sex appeal to pull this role off, with an ability to be menacing and cold with a client, yet soft and kind with an ex-flame.

The 2nd episode ( and the rest of the first season ) airs every Friday at 11pm starting tonight, after The Bachelor 4, which boasts Bob Guiney, the boyish funnyman from The Bachelorette, in the hot seat. A treat for the ladies. :D


The movie quotes return

[ Taken from "Snatch", written and directed by Maddona's hubby, Guy Ritchie, and starring Brad Pitt, Benicio Tel Tor, et al. ]


Brick Top ( dispensing-advice mode ): You're always gonna have problems lifting a body in one piece. Apparently the best thing to do is cut up a corpse into six pieces and pile it all together.

Sol ( has a body he doesn't really know how to get rid of ): Would someone mind telling me, who are you?

Brick Top: And when you got your six pieces, you gotta get rid of them, because it's no good leaving it in the deep freeze for your mum to discover, now is it? Then I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pisshead. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies' digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don't want to go sievin' through pig shit, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig."

This one had me laughing from start to finish. Can't believe I actually caught the jokes despite the heavy accents and multiple slang expressions. I have new-found respect for Ritchie, and rank this among indie greats "Raising Arizona" ( starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter in their younger days, written and directed by the unbeatable Coen brothers ) and "Shallow Grave" ( one of Ewan McGregor's earlier films ). Hmm, better add "Ravenous" to that list as well -- super-gory movie set in the wilderness, but sharing a common "dark humour" theme. Right up my alley. :)

Will be on night shift again this evening. Not looking forward to it, considering how my throat acts up at the most unexpected -- and inconvenient -- times, causing me to go into major coughing fits. Ah yes, the hard life of a junior doc never ceases to hit new lows.
Shall use my nap time for napping -- for a change. Next blog entry: who knows when really?

Adieu.