The Gospel according to Josie

So part 2 of my adventure at PA continues!

This time around, I was invited down to a 3-1-2 Meridian class at the Botanical Gardens hosted by Geylang West CC.

This is what Geylang West CC looks like. Good ol' Google Maps!

Short of sounding like a math class, the Meridian theory is actually the core concept of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). If you’re wondering what meridians are, they’re pressure points on your body which control different functionalities – kinda like how Jet Li takes out an armed man in his Kungfu movies with a drop kick to the neck.

As a Chinese, I am glad to be genetically predisposed at being awesome at martial arts & table tennis

The 3-1-2 exercise is therefore a meridian based fitness program and as quoted by a Hungarian practitioner, Doctor Ajandok Eory, benefit poor people the most because western medicine is growing more and more expensive. Yeah, I’m not going to be responsible for touching the poverty bomb with a 20-foot pole nor holistic healing. If you’re seriously sick, see a doctor. This episode of South Park shows you why.

I was drawn to the class largely because I’ve always been intrigued of the benefits of TCM & meridian points. The Kiwi swears by acupuncture but the thought of needles sticking into my skin terrifies me, although oddly enough this has never stopped me from tattoos or piercings. Also, whenever I see myself bleeding, I automatically think I’m going to die. Hurray for contradicting drama queens. So anyway, meridian exercises seemed like a good mid-way point to enter the strange world of chinese juju.

The beautiful sunrise on Sunday - a sight rarely seen unless I'm stumbling home from a night of too much fun.

Because the class was scheduled in for 7.30am on a Sunday, I was effectively still mildly inebriated from the evening before at an ex-colleague’s 90s hiphop themed birthday party. But nevertheless, I trudged along to the class, proudly decked in my ‘exercise-wear’ of tights, gym shorts, and an oversized t-shirt with a sweatband. I never pass up any opportunity to look like a member of FAME.

Kinda like this. But less legwarmers and pink. JAZZ HANDS!!!!

I got a little lost on the way to class but managed to find my way. The walk to the Eco-lake from the Visitors Centre at the Botanical Gardens (about 15 minutes away) was a great warm up. And there were a surprising amount of people already out and about. Surprising mainly because my weekends consist of sleeping in till noon and rolling out of bed for brunch. Getting up before the sun rises is generally unheard of in our apartment.

The Botanical Gardens in Singapore. 5 minutes after taking this photo, a bee tried to sting me. Nature 1 - Josie 0.

The mid-size class of about 15 participants was mostly made out of nice little old ladies (and a nice old man) because the Merdian class is geared towards the elderly. The instructor, Ernest and his assistant were both excellently bilingual which pleased this white-washed asian, and patient in demonstrating and explaining the correct methods of exercise. That was a relief because I’d joined this class mid-way (their first session was a week ago) and I really did not want to get ‘served‘ by a more flexible and physically fit 60 year old lady. Also, as far as possible, I wanted to avoid accidentally giving myself renal failure by jabbing my ankle incorrectly.

More stealth shots because I didn't want to be mobbed by taichi taitais finding out I was secretly snapping at them all sweaty

Conducted in the style of any regular fitness class, Ernest and his assistant stood in front to lead. The exercise was broken up into a couple of parts: standing to stretch and massage points on the back and elbows, lying down for breathing exercises and the legs (you gotta bring a yoga mat for this), face exercises, and more squats than I care to enjoy. Not exactly exerting but enough to work up a sweat for someone with a sedentary lifestyle in front of the PC. There are too many specifics of this exercise to explain so check out this Facebook group for videos if you’re keen.

Convinced these ladies could kick my ass in a marathon because being long time practitioners of 312 Meridien exercise, they're mucho fit.

Did I mention that there was also a boom box which played a recording of the 1.5hr long exercise which featured a man counting the beats in Mandarin to a backdrop of soothing oriental music? It reminded me of the time I had a back massage and the chinese owned parlor only seemed to have the Best Hits of Kenny G’s smooth jazz in MIDI.

My gross feet on a yoga mat. At this point I'd run out of subjects to take photos of discreetly.

In case you’re wondering what I did post-workout, I showered, and had a hearty scrambled egg, sausage, bacon meal for breakfast – promptly putting back whatever 0.2g of (water)weight I’d lost, all back on.

Although I have yet to master the art of paralyzing people with my hands, I have to say that it was an extremely enriching experience. I can’t say this enough but the PA really does have a great variety of courses to attend. I wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to learn what could be a forgotten art (okay maybe not entirely forgotten with the 1.3Billion people in China potentially practicing it) and I certainly wouldn’t have known where to start. For more details on cool classes to attend, head over to Our Community for the full list.

I was recently selected to participate in a Blogging Challenge by People’s Association where I was invited to take advantage of the workshops held at the local community clubs in exchange for blogging about them (No, I did not get any cash for this. If only I could pay my electricity bills with social currency).

For the uninformed, the People’s Association in Singapore is a government initiative, with the interest of bringing the community together be it for grassroots or enrichment purposes. For this reason, community centers (CC) are built around suburban housing estates. Here’s a fun fact: Back in the 1960′s, people who lived in the neighborhood would gather at these clubs to watch communal television because not everyone could afford a 42″ flat screen plasma TV. While it sounds like a relatively painful time for the chronic channel surfer, remote hogger that I am, I am sure hurling abuse at the on-screen villain with your neighbors makes for a very bonding experience.

“GODDAMNIT GUYS!
WHO SWITCHED THE CHANNEL TO 2 & A HALF MEN AGAIN?”

Thankfully, the CCs offerings have widened since. From wine appreciation classes, language courses, salsa dancing, hatha yoga to make up tutorials by former beauty queens and my nanny’s favorite taichi & line dancing, the list of courses and activities offered is extensive. Government subsidies also make prices affordable.For the full list, head over to their handy mobile-friendly website here.

For this challenge, I’ve selected a cooking class, a meridian points workshop and…don’t laugh… a hiphop dance class and I’ll be blogging about them over the course of the next few weeks. I’m real excited because I’m usually such a nerd about trying about new things.

And so my new life as a ‘well known‘ self-important blogger begins…*flicks hair back overdramatically*

Gourmet Cooking with Chef Eric Low at Buona Vista Community Center

Being a foodie and Iron Chef wannabe, it was only natural for me to select a cooking class. Chef Eric Low might not be Anthony Bourdain but he sure is a cool cat. Highlights of his culinary career include cooking for Roger Moore, Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone and even his royal highness, Sir Elton John.

Back to the cooking class.

Located on Holland Drive, around the corner from Holland Village.

Because I picked an early morning slot: 10.30am – 1pm, my classmates were mostly sweet middle aged to elderly ladies with files & note books, personalized with inspirational cooking quotes, which they used to keep recipes and take down notes. It was pretty cute to see how enthusiastic they were about it. Most brought fancy cameras to snap photos of the chef in action – bringing my dinky Nikon to shame again.

As part of PA’s Global Flavors cooking theme, the focus of the class was on Taiwanese Street Snacks: of which we learned Crispy XXL Chicken, Taiwanese Prata & Lu Rou Fan which is braised minced pork with rice. I’ll pretty much let the pictures do the talking from here on and pepper it with irrelevant commentary.

That's Chef Eric Low. He blogs at http://cookwithpassion.blogspot.com - what a gangster!

This is Pansy. She's the chef aid + brand ambassador for Maggi, brand sponsors of the class - pretty much the Vanna White of culinary workshops. Fun fact: Maggi isn't a Singapore, Malaysia or even Asian brand. It's Swiss.

Ingredients for Taiwanese Prata. It's basically a pita wrap with an asian pancake skin & local vegetable & meat stuffing. The brown powder on the left is pork floss. Something about powdered meat gives me the heebie jeebies but this is coming from the girl who loves her Teochew jellied meat.

....I might have taken a bite out of it and smushed the filling before snapping a picture. The curse of being a greedy kid.

Dry marinade for the XXL Chicken. Ugh. I love this so hard. It's deep fried battered chicken strips.

Dusting the chicken in a flour mix. You only use egg batter if you're frying it with breadcrumbs apparently.

DEEP FRIED GOODNESS. Chef Eric told us about an urban legend in Thailand where street hawkers would throw bits of plastic into the vat of oil so the food cooked would turn crispier. NIGHTMARES.

Yes, this tasted as good as it looked. The Kiwi is going to be a very happy man when I try this out in the kitchen.

Chili powder dusting immediately after the chicken is fried. The culinary equivalent of crack.

Braised pork with soya sauce & shitake mushrooms. The clear liquid you see floating isn't water - it's FATS. Obviously this diet isn't Weight Watchers approved. Dust, however is. Dust has no calories so you can have as much dust as you want.

The finished product of Lu Rou Fan. DIVINE. My camera however, decided the floor was more important, and auto-focused there. If this isn't a cry for a camera sponsor, I don't know what is.

Other fun things I learned in the class:

1. How to bake rice if your rice cooker keels on you. (oven at 180deg for 30 minutes)

2. Double frying only works if your fryer is hot enough. Fry your stuff one at a time so the temperature in the pan doesn’t dip too much.

3. MSG doesn’t make you lose your hair & thirsty. Sodium does. The Guardian wrote a pretty interesting article about it which you can read here.

While I would have loved a hands-on approach to this class, we wouldn’t have been able to cram 3 different snacks into a session if we did. I smelt like a hawker center after the lesson but it was well worth it. If you’re keen on classes, be sure to check out http://www.ourcommunity.sg – I’m all psyched up for the hiphop class which happens next (I think) and I am sure it will be as hilarious and embarrassing as I’d imagine it to be especially since I am a non-committal dancer who enjoys pretending to look bored in clubs and sidestepping to Indie music.

I’m off to practice my booty shaking moves but in the mean time be sure to leave silly comments because somewhere down the line, I’m also going to stand a chance at winning an iPad 2 and lord knows, being a BlackBerry user I need to get integrated with apple apps.

Singapore Blog Awards 2011. Campaign poster designed by my Kiwi.

I’m turning 23 today and it would be pretty stupid not to use this opportunity to blackmail my friends and colleagues into voting for me at the Singapore Blog Awards 2011 which I am a finalist for. That’s right. It’s my birthday and if Josie says, you do it!

Here is a simple visual aid which will guide you along the voting process because we don’t want a repeat of this.

STEP ONE

Head to http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/2011/category/?cat=wth to get started. My blog, The Gospel According to Josie has been shortlisted under the WTH (What The Hell) category. Sometimes I have that effect on people.

Pretty tough trying to get attention seeing as to how you have to scroll a bajillion times over to get to me below.

It also doesn’t help that I am not wearing a bikini and look like a rapist serial killer wearing a recently skinned Mark Zuckerberg’s face.

STEP TWO

Because some internet browsers will say NO! You might need to enable your pop-up blocker at some point here too.

STEP THREE

If you’ve already register, sign right in. If you haven’t, you’ve got to fill in a form. Yay for bureaucracy.

I'd like to think I'm worth 5 minutes of your time. Also, fill in a legit email because you've got to verify it.

STEP FOUR

After register / signing in, head back to the main voting page that you were at earlier because you’ve got to re-vote for me. And ta-dah! You’re done. It only took you the same amount of time it would take you to drown.

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT IF I’M NOT WORTHY OF YOUR FORM-FILLING TIME
There are 2 ways you can declare your love for me to your e-friends on the interwebs by using the tools provided on the main voting page.

1. ‘Like’ my nomination.
2. Tweet about it – my username is @omgitsjosie

Just note that ‘likes’ & tweets do not equate to votes so if you only do this, I will love you less.

And remember, a vote for The Gospel According to Josie is a vote for literacy!

This is an overdue post on our vacation to Mumbai & Goa mainly because it has been about a month since we’ve been back and you know how the internet works – anything later than 24 hours is so last summer.

In summary, Goa was mind-blowing. Far from what it’s commonly portrayed as a haven for psychedelic trance,  the state is also  an idyllic coastal town. Beach shacks cooking up delicious goan curries to thumping electronic beats, the only-too-familiar scent of Mary Jane & her friends wafting through the air, the salty sea breeze in your face as you stare into the dark Arabian sea.

Time really does come to a stand still in places like these.

The Banyan Soul

10 minutes from party central, Anjuna Beach, The Banyan Soul was our hiding hole for the duration of our trip. Run by our friend Sumit Yardi, this boutique hotel offered us a comfortable retreat from concrete jungle & steel city skies of Mumbai. The rooms are clean, affordable and Sumit makes a delightful host.

Like the Kiwi and I, Sumit was a former Ad Man in his previous life.  He now spends his days minding his hotel, chillin’ like a villian and entertaining guests. Needless to say, we were both insanely jealous.

Check out the Banyan Soul’s website here.

The Banyan Soul by day!

The Banyan Soul by night - ignore the laundry, we're classy folks.

The Infamous Curlies Bar

An awesome beach bar on Anjuna Beach, Curlies is right by the sea and is open all year round while most spots close during Goa’s dead of summer/monsoon season, from about March – October. The food was unreal – they served Nutella naans, spicy briyanis and dirt cheap beers at USD$1.50 a pop. Keep your eyes peeled in the evening for goan trance parties because when Curlies flick the UV lights on, the place transforms from a dingy drift wood shack to Alice in Wonderland on acid.

UV paintings on the wall: Yeah, I don't really get the mermaid theme either.

Ground control to Major Tom. The 2nd floor of Curlies

For the foodies: Egg briyani...and my fat thumb. Delicious.

Outside of Curlies, less romantic during the day.

If you’re lucky enough to catch them during a rave, be sure to check out the little makeshift booths along the beach selling pretty much everything from snacks to coffee & cigarettes. I must’ve eaten about 8 of those delicious cheese omelet sandwiches made on top of a ghetto ass paraffin stove (not pictured). As a health note, I’d steer away from the unwashed vegetables they try to chuck in your bun. You really don’t want to spend your vacation curled up in bed because of some nasty parasite that is trying to eat you from within.

Sorta clean....sorta.

Old Goa

Don’t leave Goa without making a trip down to Old Goa, also known as the historical part of the city. It served as the capital of Portuguese India until its abandonment in the 18th century due to the Plague. The same one which killed 75 millions Europeans in the 14 century. While Goa is clean (not quite as a whistle), just keep an eye out for rat fleas, swollen nodes & bleeding out of your ears…because you have approximately 4 days to get help or a 75% chance of dying a horrible, horrible death.

And this is why we can't have nice things.

Did I also mention that there are heaps of catholic churches in Goa? Yeah, nothing like jolting memories of Sunday School horrors for me. The HBIC in Goa is Saint Francis Xavier – broseph was like a hardout missionary in Asia, who unfortunately kinda initiated the Goan Inquisition & destroyed heaps of Hindu temples. When he died, the local government exhumed his body a couple of times…probably to make sure he was really dead.

Because I’m pretty much the laziest blogger ever, check out more photos from my Goa trip on Facebook (you’ve gotsa add me as a friend), made better with epic captions. I leave you with one last travel tip: people will try & convince you that taking the train to Goa from Mumbai is a good idea. & maybe it is…if you don’t mind being stuck in travellers’ hell aka every Indian railway station and sleeping in a fire hazardous roach motel on tracks. Unless you get the first class carriages which are usually booked out early, stick with taking a domestic plane like Indigo. They’re usually not much more expensive and you shave off more than 10 hours of traveling time.

That’s all for now, Boa noite!

P.s. If you enjoyed this post, vote for me at the Singapore Blog Awards 2011 here – this also means having to register or sign it which I apologise, requires you to lose 5 minutes of your life because of the complexities of email verification and other nitty gritty shit. Did I mention you have to vote daily? Yep, I’m not going to win.

So you must have heard by now (through obnoxious emails/twitter updates) that my blog has been shortlisted for the Singapore Blog Awards 2011! I am mucho honored & surprised because my self deprecating humor is very much a thorn among the bikini-wearing, linguistically flawed vapid roses.

Hunter S. Thompson did not get nominated for the Singapore Blog Awards but he did kill himself.

I’m a finalist in the SBA2011 WTH category and because I have to grovel for votes (30% of my score is linked to the number of votes I receive), here are the top 10 reasons why you should vote for me – David Letterman style.

10. I am your friend and therefore you are bounded by social obligations to show your support

9. I am not your friend but you follow me on twitter, occasionally read my blog & hope that I do vaguely well in life. Winning the Blog Awards is a start.

8. You are my colleague and if I find out that you’ve yet to pledge your allegiance to my website, fat luck getting any social media strategies from me.

7. As a voter, you’ll stand to win prizes too. Free stuff, yay!

6. A vote for me is a vote for literacy.

5. Every time you procrastinate on registering your vote, god hurts an animal that looks like this

Boo the dog & Maru the cat - FUCKING ADORABLE ANIMAL BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!

4. JEDI MIND TRICKS.

3. I never win anything, I have the worst luck, and some days I’m actually thankful I haven’t been hit by a truck.

2. I really, really, really don’t want to lose to some of the other finalists.

and lastly…

1. I will buy everyone curry puffs if I win. EVERYONE LOVES OLD CHANG KEE.

You will be need to REGISTER and then mouse-over my Zuckerberg image to vote. Head to website here to send some love , voting ends July 3rd.

I’ve always harbored aspirations of writing but never pursued it seriously – fluff pieces for frivolous lifestyle magazines don’t count. The conventionally low salary aside, writing for me has always been done on pseudo-artistic whim, in other words, I don’t care much for stringing sentences across for the sake of meeting a 5 pm deadline.

Not to mention, I’ve never thought of myself as having anything of staggering importance to say. Nothing groundbreaking enough to be worthy of print at least.

Which is why I suppose blogging came so naturally; piece-meal entries inspired by brain farts, with no due-date in sight. George Orwell said that all writers are vain, selfish and lazy – and they all are, mainly just unwilling to admit it.

George Orwell & Sean Penn, separated at birth. Also known at Big Brother's Father.

1. Sheer egoism

I blog for an audience. Don’t we all? I want you to read my thoughts and think I’m a clever unique snowflake. Pretty much it. No bullshit. If I wanted to be popular, I’d have pranced around half naked in front of a camera. If I wanted to be famous, I’d have made a sex tape. Either way, I would be showing a lot more skin than Mark Zuckerberg’s less than attractive face.

It's funny because it's true. Bet you didn't know taking glassy eyed photos of yourself is almost as effective as cutting.

2. Purging

Writing is cheaper than paying for therapy. And lord knows how much more therapy I would have need through the ages of 13-20 if I didn’t have a livejournal account to wallow in self-pity. Besides, I need something to threaten people with when they incur my wrath, “Imma blog about this!” along with angry shakes of the fist (see: Nandos Racist Campaign)

3. Beer money

Thanks to Nuffnang, I’ve managed to earn SGD 1.00 for all the 6 month long display advertising efforts on my blog. Yeah, I think I’m gonna hafta keep my day job.

If you’ve yet to read my “VOTE FOR ME AT THIS YEAR’S SINGAPORE BLOG AWARDS” grovelling blog post, you best be doing so. I’ve got till the end of July 3 to garner support which accounts for 30% of  my score. You can vote daily so you know what that means!…I’m probably going to lose ):

Basically what the title of this post says…in that he actually sounds like a bawling brat. Weirdly real. Really weird.

Why do I feel the urge to smother him with a pillow?

And while we’re on the subject of children, have you met the ‘Adult Baby’? Yeah, just an average guy who enjoys being fed, burped, sleeping in the reinforced cot he built and taking a crap in adult diapers.

This evening I made my way to Palate Sensations Cooking School for a cooking class hosted by blogger & technopreneur Jon Yongfook Cockle, held in conjunction with Cookpad, Japan’s #1 Recipe website’s launch in Singapore.

The lovely Palate Sensations Cooking School (visited by Anthony Bourdain!! They have pictures to prove it!) is nestled in the somewhat unfortunate armpit of Singapore’s tech-industrial park and is a pain in the behind to locate despite being a stone throw away from Bueno Vista train station. I got there alive no thanks to the severely arthritic taxi driver who in all honesty should not be on the road at all because his crippled paws couldn’t even manage the steering wheel.

Any excuse to post up photos of my favorite kinda chef

I digress.

So I get there, and Jon kicks off the class, pairs a bunch of us up randomly and then proceeds to tell us that we have an hour to make hamburgers with caramelized onions because he’ll be testing them after for the contest – wait, what? The Rachel Ray Show just went straight into Top Chef.

Your regular recipe for burgers

Ok, it was nothing our team of 4 couldn’t handle. Daniel chopped the onions and cooked them, Sarah and Michelle worked on our secret ingredient X (avocados for guacamole) and I sliced the tomatoes and dug into the frosty minced beef after. To everyone who ate our burgers, if they tasted delicious, you’d be glad to know it’s probably because I thawed them with human heat…from my hands. Feel free to conclude this paragraph with ominous laughter of your choice.

Oh yeah this is what my team mates look like. & that's Jon in the center.

Fast forward to the end, we didn’t win the contest but our burger sure were delicious! Sara Ann K‘s team won with their fried aubergine chips and they got to take home Cookpad.jp aprons that made everyone feel heaps jelly. Check out their recipe on Cookpad here!

Three Amigos - Caramelized beef patties on a guacamole spread

That’s ours. Frankly I prefer my burgers with chopped onions and a little chili padi (also I prefer faking out on the buns and using focaccia bread) but that’ll do pig. All in all an extremely enjoyable evening spent and mucho gracias to Jon and my fabulous team mates with their avocados, lemon and mad onion slicing skills. If you’re keen as cakes on signing up for these classes, request for an invite at http://somethingscookinginsingapore.com – they’re simple and fun, even if you’re a cooking deadweight.

This is Jon, I tried getting him to say Crème Fraiche while taking this picture.

If you’re already a Julia Child incarnate or even a casual kitchen potter like me, definitely check out http://i.cookpad.com. It’s a lightweight website that’s great for sharing recipes and recording your own. I heard the site will soon be mobile friendly, but I’m guessing in the non-BlackBerry mobile friendly sort of way. My cellphone will be the death of me.

Anyway, that’s all for me today, I’ve an overdue post about my vacation to Goa so hold on to your hats for that!

In case you’re not following me on Twitter or don’t care enough about my life to read my Facebook statuses, Kiwi and I are currently immersed in the sights, sounds, smell and sweat of India because his Indian colleague is getting married in Mumbai. Cue, celebratory bollywood dancing around palm trees and 3 costume changes.

We’re currently on Day 3 of our vacation and Day 2 of the gorgeous wedding and I will quickly summarize what I’ve learnt in India thus far.

1. Do not get your Visa On Arrival to India at the Airport.

So Kiwi & I found out that we were able to get Visas on Arrival so we skipped out on getting them done at Mustafa Centre. I figured that it would be a similar process to Indonesia – get off the plane, get to the desk, fill out the form, pay the money and voila (On that note, you go Sukarno-Hatta Airport coco!). WRONG. We spent 2 and a half hours held up at Immigrations, being herded from counter to counter getting, stamped, signed and scowled at in a wayang display of asian bureaucracy. Short of having a cavity search, the ‘special inspector’ at the airport was nonchalant and grumpy and made the situation extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant for us. Pfft, mall cops.

Inflated sense of self-importance? Check.

2. Indians do not find NBC’s Outsourced hilarious but they love their 2 and a Half Men!

I
No surprises here that racist TV shows with cultural stereotypes don’t fly in India. I guess Manmeet and Gupta will have to find fame in another country. On that note, I am surprised the show isn’t a hit in “It’s funny, cause it’s true” Singapore. Just kidding about the 2 and a half men – only Americans love that rubbish. But really, that was all Jet Airways was screening on In flight Entertainment on the way here. I died.

Cultural Medallion for Arts.

3. Traffic in Mumbai is a magical,fluid, honking mess.

I’m a huge advocate of the car horn. I reckon it’s a great way to let off steam.

Indian version of bumper stickers. Credit: The Morningside Post

4. There are no cows on the streets, only mangy mongrels who are not puppies.

Am waiting to be proven wrong on the former and am rather sad about the latter.

5. Indian weddings involve a lot of dancing.

While I can’t say the same for some other guests, we spent about 4 hours on the dance floor, breaking it down to Banghra beats. Wear comfortable shoes. I’ve got videos and pictures coming up in my next post so hang on to your hats.

6. Kulfi is an amazing, delicious, dessert sin.

Probably the most unappetizing picture in the world. Dirty plate because I went for seconds.

If there was a dessert I’d want to make sweet love to (insert fat child joke), this would be it. Kulfi is a dessert with sweetened milk that has been boiled down to syrupy goodness and made into popsicles. It’s like someone made ice cream from a can of evaporated milk – a mind blowing mixture of creamy, almost caramel-esque, cold slush. Hot damn, this dessert is not just a party in your mouth, it’s an explosive 3 day Indian wedding on your taste buds. Sorry Fro-yo, Gelato and other average ice cream brands, you’ve got (soft) served.

Okay, that’s all for now – my next update will probably be post-wedding / religious ceremony.  Later amigos!!

If you’re a fan of films with fast cars and testosterone fueled street racing, Fast Five is right up your alley. Thanks to the kind folks at omy.sg, Kiwi and I were invited down to a preview screening of the movie on Wednesday.

The fifth installment of The Fast & the Furious series, the film is set in Rio de Janerio, Brazil – hosts to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and notorious setting of City of God, proving that if racing fast cars down tiny one-way dirt roads won’t kill you, the Brazilian gangs will.

Fast Five also reunites the cast from the Fast & Furious series which might excite film loyalist but does nothing for me because I’ve only seen 2Fast2Furious aka Paul Walker at the height of his hotness. The plot revolves around an attempt to pull of one last bajillion dollar heist for freedom, risking the wrath of a corrupt Brazilian businessman who funds the city with his blood money, building amenities for the citizens so that they would be forever in debt to him. Sounds familiar anyone?

In the mean time, FBI special agents (enter Oscar Winner Dwayne Johnson/The Rock) are also hot on their trail for busting Vin Diesel out of jail and killing DEA officers (drug pigs).

Check out the trailer below:

Even if you’re a judge-y movie snob (I am in your mind, reading your thoughts), Fast Five is an awesome movie for what it is: an entertaining summer flick with hot men, hot women and even hotter cars. Like all heist movies  (see: Ocean’s 11/12/13, The Italian Job), you’ve probably figured out how this ends but catch it in cinemas anyway just for the adrenaline-rushing car chase scenes and fierce soundtrack.

Check out the film’s website here (warning, the entire site is in flash) or see it in a theater near you now!