Human beings are like currents…

Sat, 4 Sep 2010
2 min read
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…we follow the path of least resistance.


An e-mail reply from MSIG.


An e-mail reply from AXA.


What is presented to me when I log on to the Income website.

My scooter insurance’s up for renewal; I’m with NTUC Income but I thought I’d scout around to see if I could get a better offer from another company.

Out of all the agencies I e-mailed, only two got back to me, and in no uncertain terms, informed me that they weren’t hard up for my money so I could very kindly f*** off and leave them alone.

Or it could have just been bad customer service.

To MSIG’s credit (or discredit?), the e-mail was copied to two reps, one of whom actually forwarded my message to Commercial Agency Pte Ltd, and an agent quoted me a premium of $350.96 on the same terms that NTUC Income offered.

Except, of course:

  • Income’s premium is lower,
  • it’s giving me a 5% loyalty discount which reduces the premium even more AND
  • I have complete ease of renewal – one click, enter my credit card details and I’m done.

Moral of the story: make it easy for your customers to get what they want, and you’ll keep them, even if it’s just to make $300 off of them for another year.

Toy Story 3: “easily the best film of 2010”.

Sun, 20 Jun 2010
2 min read
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Toy Story 3: The Toys Are Back In Town!

Well, the title says it all.

I got the quote off a post off Huffington Post and the picture from this site which has a pretty cute review.

First things first, or, how you know the movie’s really good – I’m writing a sort of review on it, something I rarely do unless I am immensely moved or immensely pissed off by something.

However, I’m not providing any specific examples from the film so that I don’t spoil the film for you.

Why I like Toy Story 3 so much is because it’s packed with so much goodness in it that it has something valuable for everyone.

For example,

  • Entertaining and humorous storyline for the kids: Check.
  • Tearjerker/romance/comedy/action elements for the various segments of the adult population: Check.
  • Concepts like existentialism for the literary geeks: Ch – WTF?

Yes, I’m serious. You can even see some Freudian psychology (yeah I know it’s passe but still) at work in terms of the life drive/Eros/self-preservation instinct that some characters portray.

Some other literary aspects of the film that appeal to me:

  • The plot has been crafted very well and fits together very tightly, such that there is adequate closure to each conflict that arises, which allow the round characters to progress in a convincing fashion,
  • The conflicts are both plausible and palpable – what each character goes through is at no times trite or contrived, and last but not least,
  • What really had me in awe was the film’s employment of a literal deus ex machina that leverages on a series of motifs from the fim/within the Toy Story trilogy. It’s cheesy and a tad predictable if you’ve been following the clues in the film – but it’s done very well.

So please go and watch Toy Story 3 if you can. Even if you can’t appreciate the literary aspects of it, I think you’ll appreciate the truths about life that the film depicts.

P.S. No, I haven’t been paid to plug the film, but I wouldn’t mind a free t-shirt if anyone could get me one of these babies.

Romano Ristorante.

Sun, 11 Apr 2010
1 min read
2 Comments

Went there for lunch yesterday without reading any reviews; we wanted to try something different so we headed to the Jalan Leban area and browsed the restaurants before settling on Romano’s.

(via)

It was a good choice. I liked the:

  • Calzone with Mushrooms,
  • Bellini (some Italian soda concoction),
  • Marscapone Tiramisu.

For your info, the food was 3.5/5 quality. Having said that, the prices match the quality of the food so don’t go there expecting to be blown away.

What impressed me most (hence a blog post dedicated to it) was the service (obviously) – the staff members were friendly without being familiar; respectful without being obsequious; helpful without being intrusive.

Go there, now.