Owl post

The title has nothing to do with Harry Potter!

O I must be crazy thinking about HP all the time. HP can be uh.... Hewlett Packard? Lemme tell you my bloody encounter today. I was so nervous I had to check whether their customer service number I called was indeed toll free or else I'll be the hangman.

It's nicely and very considerately offered on their official sites that call services come in English and French. We all know a large percent of Canadian population are EF bilinguals. Guess you wouldn't want to hire an English monolingual and a French monolingual to waste your budget. I was directed to a bilingual who's obviously a French native, who sounded a heavy accent (as expected of French, almost a trademark if not prejudice), who dotted our not so smooth conversation with intermission words such as 'Alors, Alors', and more 'Alors'. She put me on hold for 45min while checking through the catalogue to come with an optimal advice which turned out to be a laughable joke between us. Supposedly we were looking at the same model with the same serial number, she said '150+ dollars'. I scrolled up and down to make sure I got the serial number right and my eyes were not dilated, but it was 240+ dollars I saw. After confirming back n forth, as if hit with a sudden realization she tentatively asked 'Are you calling from US?' 'No, I'm calling from Canada.'I said. 'O, that's why!! Sorry I have to go back to canada page. They're supposed to tell me whether the call's from US or Canada. No one told me that!!' It's now my turn to be hit with a sudden realization. 'Wait, you mean... O_O !!! Such a big difference in pricing!!' Is it actually cheaper to order from US and ask them to ship over?

Anyway in the end she gave me a number which starts with 3 sth sth. She said 'Trois.. three bla bla' Just can't keep back her French momentum eh? I almost couldn't suppress my giggles. So much for BILINGUAL!

That's my joke of the day.

After reading Daniel Thomas McInnes' (webmaster of conversations on Ghibli) review on Paprika, I'm brought to attention of the whole framework. The story/catch is, if you think of it, secondary to visuals. It's almost non existent no matter which way you label it, suspense, thriller, action etc. The movie takes advantage of the chaos it creates to mask this weakness. I'm not picky coz there're no extra nerve receptors for me to straighten out the storyline and evaluate its logic. It's probably in retrospect that anyone would cast a suspicious eye on it. If the focus is on 'dream' and 'psychology', the movie is fully fleshed in the subconscious although I'm a little disappointed that they only stretch 'dreams' so far. Dolls, parades, circus. Sure there's more magic you can make! Still it's a very clever movie worth watching =D

Nerdy quotes of the day

"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."
Thomas Mann

"On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down."
Woody Allen

"Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative."
Kurt Vonnegut

"I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph."
Shirley Temple

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."
Alfred Adler

"No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous."
Henry Adams

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw

"The secret of being a bore is to tell everything."
Voltaire

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
Oscar Wilde

Why does the last quote sound SO SO SO Oscar Wilde?? Oscar you're so blooody gay! (no offense, i'm simply amused)