Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

Is Starbucks Really That Great?

May 10, 2009 Bradley Farless2 Comments

I used to be a pretty big fan of Starbucks. I would stop by one when I had time, or when I happened to be near close-by, to get a cup of “fancy” coffee. I didn’t go often, because of the price, and because there usually wasn’t one that close to where I lived.

What did I like most about Starbucks? Well, the coffee was decent, but it wasn’t really that great. The atmosphere in the store is nice, but I never really hung around. Most of the time I would go through the drive through, or, if I were in a mall, I would get my coffee and get out. So… what was it? After spending some time thinking about it, I realized that the only reason I really went to Starbucks is because of effective marketing. It wasn’t for the cheesy atmosphere and it definitely wasn’t for the so-so coffee. It was because of how I viewed myself when I was standing there holding a cup with the Starbucks logo emblazoned on it. Starbucks managed to effectively market itself as a prestigious, premium coffee seller, and because of that, I felt as though I were treating myself to something nice when I purchased their product. It’s not really bad. I can’t call them evil for it. It just means that they did their business the right way and used effective marketing plans.

Having realized that, and having realized that there are far better coffees available than what they offer, I’m no longer as interested in going there anymore. That’s right! I’ve found a coffee that is far superior to what Starbucks offers, at a fraction of the cost. It’s called Kopi O, and it can be found at any hawker center in Singapore. You won’t be served by a fancy “barrista,” you probably won’t have air conditioning, and I doubt you’d find free wifi (though most wifi in the US locations isn’t free anyways), but you’ll get a damn good cup of coffee that will certainly hit the spot after a meal, or along with your breakfast.

I’m sure those of you in other countries are wondering how that helps you, but use it as an example. The best coffee, or really the best of anything doesn’t always come with the highest price tag. So, get out there and take a few chances and explore smaller shops to see if they have a better version of what you’re interested in.

As for myself, I’d take Kopi O over Starbucks any day, which is why I’m glad I found this fantastic little store in the Downtown East mall:

It sells the same stuff as the hawker stalls that sell Kopi O, but it’s located inside the mall. The prices are a bit higher, but only by about 30 to 50 cents, which is ok, considering its location. When my wife and I visit the mall to see a movie, we can buy our tickets, have dinner, and then hang out at this little coffee shop while we wait for the show to start. Oddly enough, this Kopi Alley store is located right next to The Coffee Bean ( a Starbucks clone for those of you not familiar with it), but that doesn’t seem to be hurting its business any.

Downtown East Mall, Pasir Ris

May 10, 2009 Bradley Farless1 Comment

[Edit: I found out later that the part of the mall that these photos is from is actually called E-Hub. Though I think it is part of Downtown East, there is half again as much mall as this that I completely missed. When I make an updated post I’ll leave a link here to it.]

My wife and decided to stop by the Downtown East mall on our walk around Pasir Ris. It was sort of on the way, and we hadn’t been there yet, so, why not?

It looks like a great place. As we came through the door we noticed a girl handing out free samples for premium yogurt. I didn’t catch the name of the place, but the yogurt was nice. It had toppings added onto it too that went along with the flavor. It looked a bit pricey, but one of these days when I have money to burn I’ll probably get a cup to share with my wife.

The mall as a whole seems to be tailored to young kids and teenagers. I guess you could say it has a theme, including the types of stores in the mall. It’s really not that big a place, as far as how many stores are inside it, but it does have quite a few restaurants and drink shops, plus an arcade, a type of paid playground for kids, an indoor Ferris wheel, some anime shops, and a movie theater.

I suppose the best part of it all is that the mall is only a 15 minute walk from where we live.

Bizarre Ritual With Snake and Incense

May 10, 2009 Bradley Farless2 Comments

My wife and I were walking down the street in Pasir Ris, intent on exploring the area. We spent most of last weekend moving our stuff, so there wasn’t much time to do anything special.

As we walked by these two guys, I heard a snapping sound, so I stopped to take a look at what was going on. One of the guys was holding what looked to be a preserved cobra that had been turned into some sort of whip, with the head and hood and skin intact. He would hold the snake over his head, as seen in the top picture, and then he would snap it out, to make the crack noise. I also noticed that there was incense burning.

I imagine this is some sort of religious or remembrance ceremony, but it’s definitely one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen during my stay in Singapore. Perhaps someone can shed some light on exactly what’s going on here? I didn’t want to disturb them, as it might have been improper and rude.

Exercise Equipment For The Elderly

May 7, 2009 Bradley Farless1 Comment

This is just something odd I saw while at the shopping center near my new place. I was leaning against a rail while my wife was using the ATM, and I noticed this sign behind me. I thought it was amusing so I snapped some photos.

Apparently, the children are supposed to hang out on the adjoining playground while the old people get their workout:

These workout areas and playgrounds are common in Singapore, but this is the first time I’d seen one that claimed to be specifically for old people.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

May 1, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

It had been a long time since my wife and I had gone to see a movie at the theater, but we’re both action movie and X-Men fans, so we decided that going to see Wolverine was something we just had to do! Lucky for us, we went on a night when the theater had multiple screens showing the movie, so there were good seats, and the prices were even discounted. Typically a ticket in Singapore costs 10 to 11 bucks, but our tickets were only 8.50. We booked our tickets 21 hours in advance of the showing, which was a smart move because they were selling out fast.

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this movie. The third X-Men movie was sort of a let down. It didn’t seem to follow along with the story in the comic at all. Also, I’d scanned over a few articles about the movie and I saw a lot of negative comments.

Luckily, we decided to find out for ourselves. Wolverine is definitely worth seeing on the big screen! It was packed with action and gave a lot of background history to one of my favorite characters. I say I’m an X-Men fan, but I stopped reading comics over a decade ago. Still, I remember being excited any time Wolverine was involved in a story. I always wondered where he came from, and when I watched the other X-Men movies it renewed my interest in where he was from and why he did the things he did.

The first few minutes of the movie give a brief overview of Wolverine’s first hundred or so odd years. I remember reading someone’s complaint that they felt it was unnecessary, but I think the movie would’ve been a bit confusing without it. You’ll get a rough idea of how old Wolverine is, how his powers first developed, why he has such an aggressive personality, and what his relationship with Sabertooth really is.

The rest of the movie played out nicely and filled in a lot of the gaps about the years just prior to his meeting Rogue. The only part that confused me a bit is why Professor X didn’t recognize Wolverine when he met him later (in the first X-Men movies). He was present at the island and was in mental contact with Scott Summers, which means he should have been able to detect Wolverine’s presence as well. On top of that, why didn’t any of the people present there every mention Wolverine to Professor X? Why did no one ever make the connection?

Despite that, the movie is still fantastic. You get backstory, action, some new characters (like Gambit) and it leaves you excited to see what they’ll come up with next.

This is a bit off-topic, but I just wanted to use this opportunity to point out that taking infants or 3 year olds into a movie theater isn’t the brightest thing to do. Some little punk was kicking my seat, hanging off it, hanging off my shoulder, and making noise right behind my head during the majority of the movie. I kept having to turn around in my seat and stare down his parents before they would grab the kid and sit him back down. Then, they would apparently get caught up in the movie and there he would be, hanging off my chair or shoulder again. If you’re going to take your kids into a theater, try to make sure the only one they’re bothering is you, or someone (not as nice as me) may lose their temper and club them like a baby seal. I mention infants because at the start of the movie I heard a baby crying. Wolverine isn’t a kid’s movie.

Cosplay and Dance Routine Mascots at Tampines 1

April 26, 2009September 4, 2021 Bradley Farless4 Comments

We were walking out of the Tampines 1 mall to take a shortcut down to the lower level and heard loud music playing and saw a crowd gathering. I ran over to see what was going on and immediately got my camera out. This is kinda weird, and not something I’d ever expected to see going on as a mall promotion. I’m not entirely sure it was the mall they were promoting, though. I saw a Tampines 1 logo on one of their suits, but the wading pool in front of them had a message about renewing energy, so it could have been a mall sponsored energy conservation promotion.

[Update: I found out that the mall has a blog and that these guys are promoting the Amore Living store on the 5th floor, which has an outdoor pool on the roof, as part of their fitness complex.]This second group surely had something to do with a toy store. I quickly took a few pictures. Then a woman asked if I wanted my photo taken with them. She looked like she was wearing a jacket with a business logo on it so I was scared she was going to ask for money. I politely said no and then quickly retreated!

Manpuku Restaurant, Tampines 1 Mall

April 26, 2009 Bradley Farless3 Comments

A few weeks ago I was checking around the new mall in Tampines (Tampines 1) and I saw the entrance to a restaurant called Manpuku. The entrance area was jam packed with people in line to get in and people ogling the items on display in the window:

I met up with my wife there during her lunch break and while we were walking around together we even got to see the mascot. At the time we didn’t know what restaurant or store the mascot represented but it was fun anyways.

We both love to go out and eat, and we particularly love Japanese food, so we were excited about going to check this place out. We finally made a visit to Manpuku today and it was great!

It wasn’t quite what I expected, in a good and interesting way. As you get to the head of the line a greeter will ask you how many people are in your party and will then pass you a corresponding number of cards that look and act like credit cards. The waiter will explain that as you walk around inside the restaurant, you pick different foods from the various stalls and the price of the item is charged to your assigned card. At the end of your meal, you bring the card to the cashier by the exit and settle your bill.

That’s when I realized that Manpuku isn’t simply one restaurant. It’s a collection of restaurants acting under one name, serving Japanese style food. In fact, the place reminded me of a big, themed food court, though a very well appointed one.

Here are some photos we took inside Manpuku:

As you can see from the pictures, the interior of Manpuku is pretty big. It sits at one end of the mall on the 3rd floor and stretches from front to back. There are at least half a dozen different mini-restaurants inside, offering everything from skillet plates to sushi.

The prices have a wide range from a bit on the high side (a four piece sushi plate at 38 bucks) to the affordable (my pork okas was 9.90). I saw quite a few dishes I want to try, and I’m looking forward to going back again. For this trip, we wound up having a sushi set, a dish called pork okas, and a soup that my wife devoured and said was delicious. I forgot to ask her what it was and she’s asleep now! Just thinking about it is making me hungry again!

The above picture is the pork okas. It has strips of pork along with cabbage, onions, and maybe a few other things cooked into an egg omelette. It’s topped with four different sauces while it’s still on the grill, giving it a nice design that adds a visually pleasing aspect to the tasty dish.

Like I said, the place is great! We’re looking forward to our next trip.

One special consideration for anyone planning to go there is that the place is busy. Expect to wait for up to 15 to 20 minutes for your dish to be prepared, and, unless you’re lucky, another 5 to 10 minutes to get a drink. A good workaround for this is having one person hold the table for you and designating someone else to order and pick-up their food for them. That way you can leave your food at the table while making trips to get drinks, or other goodies, without having to worry about someone else helping themselves to what you’re going to pay for.

TAN’s Tu Tu Coconut Cake

April 18, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Looking for something sweet to nibble on while you’re walking around Vivocity mall? Want a snack to enjoy while you’re sitting outside, enjoying the breeze and the wading pools? I really have to recommend that anyone who visits Vivocity stops by this stand and picks up some of these coconut cakes. They’re about the size of your palm and about half an inch thick. They’re made fresh as you wait, and they’re best when eaten warm. The outside is some sort of chewy dough and the inside is sweetened coconut shavings. It looks like it’s mixed with brown sugar, but it still maintains a mellow, even taste. I know, I know, I should’ve taken a photo of them, but we gobbled them down too fast!

If my recommendation isn’t enough, you can see in the picture above that her stall was featured in The Straits Times, which is the major newspaper for Singapore.

The last time we were at Vivocity, which I think was in September, we tried these coconut cakes on a whim. I mean, why not? You get four for only 2 SGD. They were incredible, and since then I’ve talked about them frequently, reminding my wife that the next time we’re there we should get more. Sure enough, almost right after arriving at the mall we made our way to this cart and snagged a little bag of four of them. We then found a cozy spot outside with a view of the water, got comfortable and enjoyed them.

The shop lady making our coconut cakes.

A cruise ship docked in front of the mall, and you can also see the Sentosa cable cars that go between Sentosa and the main island of Singapore.

National Geographic Store in Singapore

April 18, 2009 Bradley Farless1 Comment

Last night my wife and I were at Vivocity mall at Harbourfront and we noticed that there was a new store, a National Geographic Store. In Singapore, there seems to be a specialty store for everything. I guess National Geographic is no exception.

We went ahead and went inside to check it out and we wound up having a lot of fun! Looking through the store was like looking through a museum where everything is for sale. I took photos of a few of the more interesting attractions/products:

This thing greets you as you first come into the store. It’s pretty visible and is actually what caught our eye in the first place. When I saw it, the first thing that went through my head is stuff about pale horses and death. It’s a horse made of pieces of some type of old wood. I didn’t check the details on it but my wife said it’s selling for the low low price of only 9k SGD. I think I could build one myself for cheaper than that, but maybe it has some historical value?

Next up was this bookcase that was apparently made in Sweden in the 1880s. I thought it was particularly interesting because one of the blogs I follow is written by a Swedish girl in China, Jonna Wibelius. Besides, I love books, and it would be nice to have a fancy bookcase to put them on. I don’t think I’d go this far though. The bookcase is selling for about 25k SGD.

Next I saw this really neat jewelry case. It’s 7k SGD. How’s that for a high end Valentine’s gift?

Though not the most expensive, this one was probably the oldest. It was the oldest one I saw anyways. The tag says it was made in the 900s in England, and it was selling for 21k SGD.

What I want to know is how anyone can afford to buy any of these things, especially with the current financial troubles. Maybe these items are just there for show, and are meant to amuse and attract customers more than anything. The store also carried framed prints and a large selection of wearable clothing (as opposed to costume type clothing as pictured below) and bags as well. Plus, there were some interesting notepads. I should’ve checked the price tags on the clothes and bags, but I’m sure it was all very expensive. I did look at the price of a little 3×5 inch “Expedition Notebook” and was disappointed to see it was 17.50 SGD. I would’ve bought it if it had been 6 to 7 dollars, but I can’t see paying more for an empty notepad than I would pay for an actual novel.

Also, the store of course had issues of National Geographic set up on displays everywhere. I used to have a huge collection of those magazines. They were old ones that my dad had in storage. I don’t even remember what happened to them now. I should’ve kept a closer eye on them. They might have been worth money some day.

Besides old furniture and clothes the store also featured two other unusual and interesting attractions. One was so interesting that I don’t even remember what was on the stands around it. An area of the floor was lit up by a projected image of sand. It had some sort of motion sensing technology built in that would display footprints when you walked across it. Also, seeminly at random, scorpions would pop up out of the sand, or out of your footprints, and skitter around. My wife and I weren’t the only ones that found it incredibly amusing. There was a little girl, maybe 6 or 7, that was going nuts trying to squash the scorpions. I recorded some of it. Sadly, I turned off the camera just before the little girl screamed, “Nasty! Nasty! These things are so nasty! GRRRRR!” It was hilarious!

The other attraction is a “cold chamber.” It wasn’t open when we went into the store, but for 1 SGD you can stand inside the chamber and experience -25 C (about -13 F) temperatures. The chamber has glass windows so everyone can watch, and, if you want to pay 5 SGD and submit a valid e-mail address, you can have your picture taken and sent to you as well. For some people in Singapore this might be a thrill because they’ve never experienced temperatures anywhere near that cold before. This is a tropical climate after all. For me, it would be a welcome relief to finally feel some real cold air. Even in the malls here the temperature is average, rather than the cool I’m used to. -13 F is a little extreme, but it would still be great!

So, even though we didn’t buy anything, we still got to have a lot of fun just browsing the store. Even if you don’t have 25k extra to spend on old furniture, I still recommend you at least poke your head in to look around.

Gu Gu The Cat

April 18, 2009September 4, 2021 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

My wife is a cat lover, and I’m fond of them myself. So, when my wife said that she’d heard about a movie called Gu Gu The Cat, I knew right away that we were going to see it. This was one of those times when I had to give in. Besides, it looked funny, so I figured it couldn’t be that bad.

Going to the movies here in Singapore is a very expensive outing, and will usually wind up costing about 35 bucks, including transit and a few light movie goodies, so she wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to make it. We’re getting ready for a move and our finances are tight. As sort of an answer to her prayers, her coworker won free tickets to the sneak peak showing for last night and wasn’t going to be able to attend. So, she asked my wife if she’d like the tickets and of course my wife jumped on the opportunity.

Last night we rushed out of the house at about 6pm, not sure if we were going to make it on time. The directions on the e-mail announcing the free tickets was a bit vague. It just said “GV Plaza 4.” So, she contacted a friend and asked where that was, and was told it was at Vivocity at Harbourfront. So, off we went! We managed to make fairly good time and were a bit anxious as we waited for the train to reach Harbourfront. We literally ran through the tunnel and dashed up the escalators to make it to the theater on time and sure enough, we got to the theater right at 7pm. Unfortunately… we were at the wrong theater. The sneak peak showing was at Plaza Singapura, and we were already out of time.

My wife was crushed. She really wanted to see the film. Like I said, she really loves cats! So, I consoled her by telling her that we’d set aside money and definitely catch Gu Gu at the regular opening on the 23rd. To cheer ourselves up we wandered around the mall and wound up having a pretty good time (more about that later).

Last night when we got home she started searching the internet to see if she could find a copy to watch. The film isn’t new, it just hadn’t been shown in Singapore yet. That’s nothing new. There’s a movie called Traitor that’s starting here in Singapore soon, but we saw a DVD copy from the US months ago. She found a copy on YouTube, but by then it was pretty late and she had to work today so I downloaded the files and set it up to watch tonight.

So, she was very excited and got home from work early. After we ate we got comfortable and started up the movie. For the first 15 minutes or so, it was interesting, to me at least, but after that it was painfully slow. The movie is more of a drama about life in general than about cats, and it seemed to focus more on the people in the story than on Gu Gu. Gu Gu was more there for comedic relief than anything.

Don’t get me wrong. The movie has its high points, and there’s something to be learned from it, but if you go into it thinking it’s going to be a comedy, or very cute, or happy, you’ll be let down. The movie deals with a lot of heavy themes about love, relationships and missed opportunities. It even touches on the pain and loss of death.

So, I can’t say it was a bad movie, really. It just wasn’t what I expected.

Here are a few screenshots of the movie, courtesy of AsianFanatics.net, as well as the first segment of the movie (video was removed due to terms of use violation) movie trailer that’s hosted on YouTube: