Month: May 2005

General

Tana or Kendra? That is the question.

After 15 episodes of The Apprentice, it’s down to the final two, Tana and Kendra.  While my enthusiasm for Tana has abated a bit after last week’s bedazzler fiasco, I still find Tana fitting the role of Trump’s VP better than Kendra.  Tana has more polished and professional language than Kendra, who tends to use ambiguous words like “stuff”.  Tana, however, seems a bit lacking in the creative department lately.

In the last assignment, I couldn’t fathom why Kendra wasn’t at the meeting with Best Buy executives, leaving Danny the unfocused goofball in charge.  To her credit, she recovered gracefully.  Her biggest issue right now is the PS2 ballroom, err… I mean basement, so things don’t look rosey.  On Tana’s side, I cringed when she gave executive power to each of the Three Stooges for acting on her behalf.  That’s silly.  Sure, they can make decisions, but the Project Manager needs to oversee these decisions.  Judging from the preview, we should expect a fire drill as Brian takes his newfound anarchy too far and becomes out of control.

Tana’s stock has been dropping while Kendra’s has been rising, but neither candidate has it all.  If we combine the best of Tana, the professionalism, and the best of Kendra, the smarts, only then can we end up with the perfect apprentice…

… Kenna!

General

Finally, American Idol Justice Served.

Scott’s departure this week from American Idol actually came as a total surprise to me.  Earlier this week I discovered the votefortheworst.com web site (which is currently down), and with the kind of publicity it gets, I assumed many people would vote for him just to throw the show a curveball.  I was at the verge of casting my 1500 for Scott, and it would have made good controversial blog material.  In the end, though, I weighted the emotions of the contestants, their family, their friends, their pets, etc. and just couldn’t pull the trigger.  Playing a practical joke on the producers at the expense of the dreams of these contestants made my moral compass go haywire.

Next elimination? Anthony.

Speaking of American Idol, that brings us to the primetime story on Corey Clark.  How convenient that after three years and shortly before releasing his CD that this story would surface?  During the interview, his parents seemed nonchalant at the whole situation.  Corey tried to play the innocent card, but if you observe the order of events carefully, it was Corey who first hugged and flirted with Paula.  Corey is an opportunistic wanton.  He first manipulates Paula during his competition, then gets booted for lying to the producers, and finally fabricates a story to promote his new CD.

If you even consider buying his CD, you might as well as buy all your music CDs in Hong Kong for 99 cents per burnt CD with poorly photocopied inserts.  Either way, you’re positively reinforcing deception.

Just say no.

General

Are You In For Freebies?

Some say that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.  They’re wrong.  With the saturation of internet use and everyone rushing online to digest their daily share of random writing (like this one), the paradigm has shifted for the publishing industry.  Advertising revenues are declining for publications such as newspaper and magazines, and they need more subscribers.  By now you’re probably thinking, “That mumbo jumbo’s cool, James, but what do I care?”

Well, this is where you and I come in.  I, for one, am more than happy to aid these poor publication companies in securing their advertisers by subscribing to their magazines–for free.  Skeptical of this? Check out this anonymous quote from… uh… someone… “I’ve had so many free magazines sent to my door in the past year that I’m contemplating about cancelling some just to free up some real estate in my mailbox!”

If you’ve never received anything for free in life except junk mail, it’s time to break that cycle!  Check out techbargains.com’s free magazine section now! Most offers are for obscure magazines that need publicity, though, so patience may be a virtue here.

Family and Friends

Little Kam–Made In USA

If you haven’t heard by now, congratulations to Justine for producing the next baby in the Kam line organically–100% natural!  My first impression in seeing the baby was that it looks just like a cacoon, wrapped up in a tiny, bitsy little space.

Despite my efforts to have her named Handy (Handy Kam), they went against my wisdom and named her Madeline instead.  Allen, being the spiderman zealot, really wanted to call his daughter MJ (Mary Jane), hence the name Madeline Joy Kam.  From this point forth, she shall be referred to as MJ.

And here’s my futile attempt at pacifying MJ, shortly before she began wailing.  It’s still difficult to make out whether she is predominantly Justine or Allen.  I must say, though, she is one cute baby…  I guess I answered my own question.  She’s gotta be closer to Justine.  😀

Home

AQ’s “Specially Flavored” Ramen

Carol my sister-in-law, who had just returned from a business trip to Vancouver, excitedly handed me two bowls of ramen.  “Oh you got to try this!  It’s very delicious!”  Promptly Karen and I altered our lunch plans from dining at Canlis to eating these bowls of ramen at home. We anxiously boiled some water, and with the whistle of the kettle, deluged the styrofoam bowls with steaming water and sealed the bowl.  After waiting what seemed like an eternity, we lifted the lid.  If you’re expecting mouth-watering, delicious fragrance, think again.

It stunk.  Like the gutter.

A closer inspection of the packaging revealed the words, “AQ Stinky Stinky Pot”.  In which part of the world do companies intentionally use the word “stink” to describe its own product as an advertisement?  And where do people line up to indulge in fermented, foul tofu flavored with Chinatown dark alley aroma?

Only in Taiwan.

Now personally I enjoy the Stinky Tofu, but this Stinky Ramen didn’t meet the bar.  To be frank, it just didn’t stink enough, as the weak smell seemed more like an afterthought.  A word of advise to AQ: Next time you advertise something, take it all the way.  Don’t wimp out and give us some half-baked aroma thinking that the consumers wouldn’t notice the difference. That nasty stench needs to permeate through our mouth, nose, and pores with each bite to attain the highest level of satisfaction.

Only then can this stinky culinary product be complete.