Another trip to Ki No Mé

I have been to Ki No Mé a few times, but it looks like I've posted about it only once. Maybe because the dishes are not so photogenic in general?

This time I ordered the beef yakiniku rice set. I think it cost RM16 or RM18.

The beef was very tender, however the taste was just good enough, nothing too special. I preferred the grilled salmon head that we had last time... (and which I don't seem to have a photo of!)

Ahead of a junction

Does "ahead of a junction" mean before or after you reach the junction? We had a slight debate the other day when a friend said he would be waiting for us ahead of a junction that leads to his place. We were picking him up and he walked out to the main road so that we didn't have to turn in.

Once I heard the phrase, I immediately assumed that it meant he would be waiting for us before we reached the junction. However, my friend who was in the car disagreed. In the end, it turned out that the other friend was waiting for us after we had passed the junction.

Since I had such a strong first impression that it was before the junction, I decided to look it up later. After some forgetfulness (never thinking of it when I was in front of my computer) and some "I have something better to do right now", I finally did my research. Surprisingly, I didn't find that expression on any word forums, but I did find these examples of usage:

As it is, I think I'll stick to my definition of "before reaching the junction".

Motorola super soi

"Soi", as in "unlucky".

This year the Penang companies' badminton tournament has an individual event in addition to the team event. Each company is allowed to send up to two pairs for each category (men's doubles, women's doubles, or mixed doubles), and the players need to come from their team event participants (with the exception of mixed doubles, where if the company did not send a women's team, someone from their men's team can join with another female employee). However there is a fee to pay for each pair to participate, which is why not every company decided to join the individual event.

The draw just came out, and every pair from Motorola has drawn the longest route to the finals. (the ones marked in yellow are Motorolan)

Men's doubles: 4 out of 10 pairs need to play an extra match, and one of them is the Motorolan pair.

Women's doubles: There are only 3 pairs, of which Motorola sent 2. And guess what? The one and only pair who gets a bye is not Motorolan. (there is an additional bone to pick with the organizers for not separating the two Motorolan pairs into two sides of the table...but that's another story)

Mixed doubles: 2 out of 6 pairs get a bye, and guess what? The Motorolan pair is not one of them.

Software reviews: Why rework needs to be reviewed and extra rework requested if necessary

Some years back, when I started reviewing code, sometimes a colleague would write a rather ambiguous comment in their code, and I would request that they update it to a clearer one. However, sometimes the comment remained just as unclear after they had reworked it. I would give up and just let them go ahead and integrate their code, feeling embarrassed about being seen as nitpicky if I asked them to rewrite the comment.

However, as time went by, I realized that this was an inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour. Let's take a look at why.

When you comment on a colleague's code and ask them to change something, it should be because the code would be improved after the change. So if you accept a rework, it should be because the code is acceptable after the rework. If the code is still unacceptable after the rework, what would be your reasons for accepting it? Is it because (a) the person has spent time on it? Is it because (b) the person has already done something upon your request? Is it because (c) the person has already done multiple reworks?

If your reason were (a), it would imply that you commented on your colleague's code just so they would spend more time on their task. If your reason were (b), it would imply that you just wanted to make sure they did something extra upon your request (way to show power!). If your reason were (c), it would imply that you just wanted to make your colleague do a certain number of reworks. In all these cases, if your initial purpose for commenting was to improve the code, your purpose would not have been fulfilled and you might as well have not asked for any rework in the first place.

Therefore, if you feel that a colleague's work needs improvement and you tell them so, the right thing to do would be to actually make sure that their rework actually does improve the code. Otherwise you would be making them do extra work just for the sake of doing extra work. After that extra work, they would not have improved their code, nor would they have learned something new (since they had not understood the improvement that you had requested). In the terms of Radical Candor (just Google to find out what it means), your behaviour would fall under the category of "ruinous empathy" (or "obnoxious aggression" if your initial purpose of commenting was to give your colleague extra work...but let's assume that is not the case!).

Duck at...London?

The previous post being about lamb at Dandy, I couldn't resist using a similar title for this one.

But the "London" in question is actually London Duck at Gurney Plaza. They have a set lunch at RM16.90. Both my mother and I had the roasted duck set, since the place is itself called "duck". Each set comes with soup, a side dish, a drink, and a dessert.

We had forgotten about the side dish, and were surprised when we received the small bowls of steamed egg. They even gave us a small bowl of sauce (the one used for the duck) to share, with its own serving spoon.

close-up of the duck rice!

There were two drinks to choose from: lo han kuo and sugar-cane (more like bamboo cane?) We initially wanted to wait for the dessert to arrive so that we could take a photo of the drink and dessert together, but we couldn't wait any more...

 

dessert

We actually wanted to take a photo of the whole set together, but the items arrived one by one. The place was almost full, so probably they had difficulty keeping up with the orders. The server would come out with a whole tray of steamed egg, or a whole tray of desserts, and distribute it to all the waiting tables. Some tables already had their desserts even when they were only halfway through their meal, and we saw another table being served their steamed egg when they had almost finished their meal. Luckily our dishes arrived in a more appropriate order. We had to wait the longest for the dessert; we had finished our food and were slowly sipping our drinks while waiting for it.

Lamb at Dandy

Some time ago, we went to Dandy Modern Food at Queensbay Mall for a farewell lunch. There's another branch at Arena that we had been to before, when the company booked the whole place for a lunch buffet. The lunch buffet was not that good, so most of us had a bad impression of Dandy. I wasn't even interested to go to the one in Queensbay Mall when it opened after that!

However, this time round I was pleasantly surprised by the Dandy lamb. ("Dandy lamb" is the name of the dish.)

On the far left corner is taboulleh salad. The rice was very fragrant; the others who took a side dish of spiced rice (can't remember what it was called exactly) also tried it and we all agreed that this rice seemed to be cooked with the lamb and had some meaty taste, which the rice side dish did not. As for the lamb, it was very soft and easy to eat! The spicy sauce on top, on the other hand, was not bad but the dish would have been just as good without it.

The others were also satisfied with their respective dishes, including other kinds of meat with rice, or roasted chicken with side dishes. Those who took roasted chicken also said that the chicken tasted better without the sauce that accompanied it (their sauce came in a small bowl on the side).

So I guess either our previous buffet lunch was a cheap one, or the Queensbay branch is better. I don't think I will bother finding out which one is true :P

However, taste aside, this Dandy lamb dish cost RM25, so it is rather pricey. The lamb briyani at Halab cost RM30, and it was better than this. Both are expensive, but the price does match their quality...

Crime movie spree

I've watched a number of movies recently, because of my premium subscription to Viu. Let's jot down a few thoughts on them...

1. Golden Slumber - Pretty good. The all-round nice guy, normal deliveryman suddenly finds himself accused of an assassination. I liked that he didn't turn into a superhero overnight, but relied on a mixture of luck and other people's help, due to him being a nice guy. Kinda shows that being a nice guy really does pay off sometimes... :P

2. Phantom Detective - This is about Hong Gil Dong, and I was looking forward to seeing what this legendary character was about. But I was pretty disappointed...the plot is unbelievable and the so-called detective isn't even that good. Pretty much a waste of time, this one...

3. White Night - This one is really good! It doesn't surprise me that it is based off a Japanese novel. The Japanese really know how to spin a good crime story. The movie itself also unfolded very well; we are kept guessing as to the actual motives of the main characters, but at the same time they do reveal enough information, bit by bit, to keep us interested.

4. My Annoying Brother - This one was just for a down-time after the previous awesome movie. I chose something funny just to pass time. Pretty entertaining.

5. Dark Figure of Crime - This one was good... a psychological confrontation between a detective and a murderer. Maybe not enough details were disclosed, but since it is based off true events, I guess it's hard to have all the answers.

6. The Thieves - (note: not available on Viu; I watched it on Unifi TV) This one was interesting...about ten thieves working together for a big heist, but where everyone does not trust the others and has their own agenda. The storyline has good twists and turns, but when we put it all together, some parts just don't make sense... *Spoiler alert* The main character supposedly still cares for his former lover and even saves her life, but he was prepared to run off with the diamond and let her be caught? He supposedly wants revenge for his father's death, but we don't even see how he was planning to get that revenge. In the end things just work out conveniently for him. *Spoiler ends * I realized that Kim Soo Hyun and Jun Ji Hyun actually worked together in this movie before starring in that ultra-famous My Love From The Star together. And this movie stars some Hong Kong actors too, and even the Malaysian Lee Sinje.

7. Fabricated City - This is a bit like The Thieves...good twists and turns in the storyline, but some dumb parts. The hacker is so good at gathering information and stuff, but when they find proof of the bad guy's wrongdoings, for some reason they don't publish it immediately, instead they still work on their own (who knows for what), getting themselves into danger (that's why they couldn't publish the proof, otherwise it would be the end of the story), and only at the end do they publish the proof that they found.

I guess I'm on a crime movie spree...will post more next time?

The witty fishmonger

This morning I saw a friend at the market's fish stall. This market is really small and is usually frequented only by those who live in the area, so I was surprised and asked her, "How come you are here?" The fish stall owner heard us and said, "The fish here is cheap and fresh, that's why."

Note: This is not from today, but from 15 June. I had initially only posted it on Facebook. But I found that I kept recalling the incident, and it's really a good joke. :D

Voice: The aftermath

When you get stuck on stories as badly as I do, you tend to rush through them as quickly as possible, so that you can find out the ending and release yourself from the grip that the story has onto you.

After two weeks, I have resurfaced from my addiction to Voice.

I wrote about the first season after watching it last month, saying that it was a good story but didn't take care of the details very well. Some time after that I started watching Voice 2. The synopsis didn't say much, but after watching the first season, I just wanted to watch it. Plus it stars Lee Jin Wook from Nine and Goodbye Mr. Black! I also saw that there was a third season which was still airing in Korea, but I thought I would just watch the second season and stop there.

Well, I thought wrong. I got tricked: The second season ends on a cliffhanger!

I finished watching the second season on the day that the third season aired its final episode in Korea. I was using Viu to watch it, and they were also getting the third season's episodes as it aired. But the third season being new, it was premium content... so I ended up paying ten ringgit to watch it. (RM10 gets you access to premium content for a month...so that means I can watch any other premium content for a while. Plus it removes ads.)

And why was I willing to pay for this? Because Voice 2 was seriously good. It was better than the first season. For one it seemed to have less loopholes, and also it was more thrilling because of the underlying suspicion that the main character was a murderer. Lee Jin Wook's character is a psychopath who is trying to fight against his violent tendencies. But he has some holes in his memory, and we are left guessing whether he really did kill someone...

After seeing Lee Jin Wook in these dramas, I really feel that he's suitable to play these long-suffering characters... he manages to get this awfully intense look that just defines the characters so well.

So I was seriously upset when the last episode of Voice 2 left us hanging. They didn't tell us what really happened in the main character's past even though there were a lot of minor hints about it, and didn't even answer basic questions like whether the culprit got caught or died! I would probably have been extra-furious if I had to wait eight months for the sequel, like those who caught it on Korean television. (by the way, eight months also passed in the story)

And so, about the sequel... Voice 3 is just as thrilling as Voice 2. It is a lot darker because somehow the psychopathic guy has his illness getting worse and is really wanting to kill people more often. So there are a lot more violent scenes of him hitting criminals, which is one of the things I said I didn't like about the other guy in the first season (although this one can be explained by his illness).

(Psst...at first I thought that the story would be wrapped up in the second season and he would go and get himself cured...then come back as a proper policeman in the third season. Well, I thought wrong.)

This major suspension of disbelief is needed where you have to accept that even though he doesn't want to kill people, he still refuses to go around with a partner. Every time he almost kills someone, a colleague needs to be around to shake him out of it. So why does this supposedly-intelligent guy still runs around alone instead of working with a partner? He wants to catch the criminal so badly, but he tells his colleague (who sees him almost kill someone) to just shoot him if it happens again. If he shoots you, you don't get to catch the criminal. So why don't you just work with a partner till you catch the criminal? (see...we're back to the same question)

All in all, it was still a thrilling ride, and I enjoyed the story very much. Another "complaint", if you will, about the story is that they actually drop so much information that it is hard to keep track. One scene reveals something, and they switch so quickly to another scene where something else is happening, that sometimes I even lost track of what had just been revealed in the previous scene. But it does make sense for the story to move that fast, because they are racing against time to catch the criminal, and they don't really have time to sit around processing the information.

The ending wasn't what I had hoped for, but I can find nothing to disagree with it. There is also a hint of a next season... but I guess it'll be for next year at the earliest. I'm just glad they didn't end it on another cliffhanger...I would have been livid!