Thai elections

 

Congratulations to Yingluck Shinawatra for being granted eligible to be Thailand's first female Prime Minister.

The Election Commission has give the Puea Thai Party leader the approval stamp today after her party emerged victorious in the general elections more than two weeks ago.

At the same time, the commission also cleared and cleaned up outgoing premier Abhisit Vejjajiva of flouting any election rules which included buying of votes.

This means that the leader of the losing Democrat Party can still earn a parliamentary seat. However, that's not important, because Thaksin will be back soon.

Airport Fashion

A number of K-pop stars left their country for Tokyo, Japan through Gimpo Airport on July 12. They were scheduled to perform at the KBS Music Bank K-Pop Festival – Music Bank in Tokyo.

Well, here my two (or you can say one) cents' worth about some airport fashion. So much so for being someone who has never been to an airport to take an aeroplane in his life before.

6-member boyband, B2ST impressed me with their contemporary styles which look practical. The guy on the right, I don't know his name, stood out of the crowd with his colourful vest. He also ditched the ubiquitous blue jeans for a daring pair of pink pants which hardly made him look ah gua.

Goo Hara of Kara also scored good marks for her overall appearance with a healthy balance of elegance and toughness from top to toe. She should change that orange bag to something else to prevent others for mistaking her for a trip to the supermarket.

Unexpectedly, one of the worst-dressed turns out to be the face of K-pop's leading girl group, SNSD. Yoona, on the right, looked a different class from her well-dressed members. Plus her trademark alligator laugh, I can only say what a pity.

So I guess that's what airport fashion is about.

Enthusiastic Indian fans with Martin Kelly and Dirk Kuyt (Taken from Liverpool FC Facebook)

Yeah! Liverpool FC, the best football club in the world, has arrived in Singapore, the best country in the world! I heard that they will be training at the tiny little Bishan Stadium. Too bad the Reds are unable to play an exhibition match because there is no decent stadium large enough to accomodate the bulk of fans here.

mama lemon

This is definitely a worthy contender for the title of "Worst TV Commercial of 2011". How lame can advertising firms go? And how low can Pornsak go to take up an offer for such rubbish advertisement?

transport fares increase

We all saw it coming and it has finally arrived. The two (and only) public transport operators in Singapore, SBS Transit and SMRT, have submitted applications seeking bus and train fare adjustments to the Public Transport Council (PTC), appointed by none other than the unpopular PAP.

SMRT stated that "escalating energy and manpower costs" as the reason to seek for a maximum fare adjustment of 2.8%. This is indeed ironic as public transport operators are not allowed to pass on to customers their direct costs according to the Transport Ministry.

Having concluded the general elections with another win (an embarrassing one though), it is highly likely that PAP will approve the applications and continue to rule Singapore without genuinely listening to the concerns of the people.

An increase in prices should mean an increase in terms of service and comfort level. However, do remember that the "S" in SBS and SMRT stands for Singapore. Making empty promises has become the norm especially in the public transport industry.

Since the two public transport operators have "chut pattern liao", it is all down to the PTC to review the fare adjustment formula. In fact, the meaning of "review" here is not whether to approve, reject or even decrease the fares but increasing them by how much without enhancing the service level.

Dog wedding

I think this event is totally stupid.

Not too long ago, the capital of Peru, Lima had a massive dogs' wedding. Multiple doggy couples came dressed for the occasion to officially tie the knot.

The canine couples would be legally married upon stamping their inked paws on the matrimonial documents. Well, of course with the help of their owners.

The organizer of this stupid event, Ingrid Chavarri said "I did it to be representative and to also let the pet participate in the family and also for me to explain what it is to be a responsible pet owner."

Responsible pet owner? The money and resources used to hold this event could have been better utilized. There are still so many people in this world who have problems having three meals a day, let alone getting married.

It is a definitely an insult to human beings, the smartest living thing in the world, that dogs have such unthinkable privileges like having a marriage ceremony.

At every part of this world, there is a group of people urging others to save the earth. However, there will always be another group who do the opposite for silly reasons.

Like the organizers of this event, throwing flower petals on the ground for dogs to walk on and wasting paper to produce matrimonial documents for the animals to put their paw prints on when they don't even know what the hell is it.

Oh, and do the dogs even enjoy wearing wedding dresses?

World's most expensive car

All of a sudden, I was curious to know which is the most expensive road car in the world so I did some research on the Internet and all sources point to the same answer.

The undisputed Bugatti Veyron

 

I am not really a fan this car brand so I thought I will just post a couple of pictures of cars that I like to make this post look pleasant to me.

Lamborghini Reventon and Koenigsegg CCX!

Oh yeah, Scottish midfielder Charlie Adam looks set to join Liverpool after passing a medical. He will be the second person to join the playing staff at Anfield after Jordan Henderson was bought from Sunderland. With two new central midfielders becoming Liverpool players, those like Christian Poulsen and Alberto Aquilani are expected to leave to make way for the newbies.

There are rumours that Raul Meireles, who was voted PFA Fan's Player of the Year last season, will be sold in attempt by the Reds to cash in on his increased valuation after a successful debut season. Honestly, I would prefer Meireles to be the one to go and Aquilani to stay.

Liverpool can easily sell Meireles for at least 20 million euros compared to the 13 million which they paid to purchased him a year ago. Aquilani will retain his No. 4 shirt once again and definitely still has the spark to make it big at Anfield.

Personally, I think Liverpool should take advantage of Korean striker Park Chu-yong's situation and made him another signing of theirs during this transfer window. Park's current club AS Monaco has just been relegated to the second divison of French football and the player has made no secret of his desire to look for another employer.

He has publicly claimed that he would welcome a move to the Reds and the latter's director of football, Damien Comolli, is thought to be interested in landing the South Korean captain. Manchester United and park Ji-sung are the perfect reasons why Liverpool should not hesitate in signing an Asian player.

Manchester United have not only knocked Liverpool off domestically but have since overtaken their rivals in terms of popularity in the East. Countries in the East are more nationalistic where if a Thai player were to play in the Premier League, chances are 90% of the citizens will be watching that match.

So I say, Liverpool should be bold for once and venture out further. If the Park Chu-yong deal cannot be concluded, there is always a guy full of potential from Singapore by the name of Raymond. Well, he likes to sprout nonsense on his blog but do no underestimate him.

Collar Pin

Earlier in the day, I had been surfing websites of companies which manufacture corporate gifts. Do not be mistaken, I am not making a bulk order T-shirts or umbrellas. I am searching for sources where I can place orders for customized collar pins without any minimum order quantity.

Yes, without minimum order quantity which can mean only one item for one customized design. Ok, I admit I am planning to buy for myself, not for some committee or organization. The choices of collar pins I possess at home are quite limited which explains why I am looking for more.

I called quite a few companies but only a couple of them do not have the minimum order quantity policy. One of them gave a quotation of one hundred dollars for a single custom-made badge. My reaction was to immediately say thank you before ending the call.

I guess I shall just have to buy it at pasar malam, cheap, wide variety and most importantly can purchase any amount I like. But there is no pasar malam near my house at the moment!

Thailand elections

 Taken from straitstimes.com

Ok, it's quite obvious as to who will emerge victorious in the 2011 Thailand general elections. Puea Thai Party, whose leader Yingluck Shinawatra is the sister of the country's ousted former premier Thaksin, have secured 249 out of the 500 seats up for grabs.

Thaksin had earlier mentioned that his party will not seek to have a one-party-rules-it-all system. Instead, the Pheu Thai Party will invite other political parties to join and form a coalition if it wins enough seats to form the government.

This would indeed be a very magnanimous move by the Pro-Thaksin party and further signifies that it is keen to uphold democracy and restore peace within the country.

I hope all parties in Thailand can work together to serve the people and make the country the land of a thousand smiles once again.

S R Nathan to retire

If you have yet to hear about it, news has it that Sellapan Ramanathan aka the man whose potrait photo and his wife's are hung in school halls for the past decade or so has decided to retire as president of Singapore.

It has been quite clear that S R Nathan will not seek re-election again as there is bound to be competition in the upcoming presidential elections. With Dr. Tony Tan, who has indirectly been given the approval stamp by the PAP, being the hot favourite to win at the polls, it is inevitable that S R Nathan needs to "give way".

However, unlike the late Ong Teng Cheong whom Mr Nathan succeeded in 1999, the latter will not be missed by many citizens of Singapore. Judging from the responses I got from people that I chatted with, it seems that this second Indian president of the nation will be remembered in history books as "the sixth and just another president of Singapore".

So what is my take on the supposedly three-cornered fight between the tiTANs? Well, I have no comment on it at the moment but do expect to see me mentioning about it when polling day is around the corner.

As for now, let's move up north to Thailand where the land of a thousand smiles (and red shirt protesters) will hold its general elections this Sunday. Yingluck Shinawatra and Pheu Thai Party go go go! Abhisit Vejjajiva out out out! Thailand hardly changed under your governance.