Due to my last minute colleague request, I found myself thrust into the realm of treasure hunting (you know who you are, thanks for forcing me to go). And found it to be most addictive. For those who never been on one, there is 2 things that you must know when going for one of this mind boggling quest: Tulips and Anagrams.
I'm not sure how the whole "Tulip" thing is derived. Who's the joker who came up with that name for it has nothing, absolutely NOTHING to do with the flower. Apparently "Tulips" are just another term for maps. Instead of using maps, these are more like symbols with landmarks that points out the way and the distance to your next land mark.
Our team consists of only 3 people. The driver, the navigator and the headache at the back. A typical conversation during a treasure hunt:
Driver: Where to now ol' chap? We are moving further and further away from civilization, see no Smart Tag booth!! *Gasp*
Navigator: Heavens no! I do hope they have tea. I really need my evening tea sessions! ...A little bit more in front, turn right.. Ah now TRIP! TRIP! TRIIIPPP!!!!
Headache: I say, you are right about that. We must be in some.... Oh look! That could be IT!!! On that shop over THERE!!!... Or there... or could be that one..... (and so on and so forth)
Obviously it's not as easy as it looks, thanks to the questions being in riddles and ANAGRAMS!!
Anagrams, are impossible. Somehow you're suppose to find some indication in the question that "supposedly" are clues for anagrams. Random words that you're suppose to scramble while forever hoping that the answer will pop in front of your by then tear filled, red, squinted eyed. Who the heck are the nutcases who created these things anyway??? The task is short of a feat unless you're a seasoned Terrorist (refer to the Reigning Treasure Hunting Champion of MISC).
Anyway, it was loads of fun. And after all is said and done, our team the "Illuminati" (yeah right! The not so illuminated more like it) ended up being in the top 20, 19th ranking to be exact. We were damn well pleased with ourselves, since for the most of us it was our first time. Good show everyone!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
On Angels & Demons
Admittingly, I only recently read Dan Browns Angels & Demons (henceforth A&D). The book itself was published in 2000 and I remotely remembered my cousin telling me about 2 years back that I should read it. At the time I was reading Da Vinci's Code (henceforth referred to as DVC). I was quite adamant about it, and only wanted to read DVC's Special Illustrated Edition, that comes with the hardcover and all of the relevant work of arts neatly printed and arranged in the pages of the book for easy reference. Certainly beats googling every few pages that you turned.
But anyway, the point is, one of the reason I read A&D was because the movie was out. And it is a great personal boon for me that I should watch any movie based on a work of literature without actually reading the book first. And so here I am, feeling a bit more enriched, fresh after A&D... What took me so long?? Well, I've always known it would be one of the books that I'd read so what's the hurry. Well the movie was the hurry apparently.
I liked it. It was a really good book with an unexpectedly sad twist in the end. But out of all the works of arts, more specificaly, Bernini's work of art that piqued my curiosity and I though worth googling (because I do not have the special illustrated edition nor do I know if they did publish one), I was especially curious about the Ecstasy of St. Teresa.
I mean come on, a 3.5m marble sculpture of a nun, supposedly having a spiritually divine experience OR ... an orgasm??? SCANDALOUS! I just had to look it up. How can one not?? And this gigantic structure, parked in a church? How could they get away with this? How could someone disguise a sculpture of a nun having an orgasm and still manage to display it in a church??? This is why I love history, still full of surprises after all these years. So I googled it and for the benefit of whoever will read my blog, here is The Ecstasy of St Teresa:
But anyway, the point is, one of the reason I read A&D was because the movie was out. And it is a great personal boon for me that I should watch any movie based on a work of literature without actually reading the book first. And so here I am, feeling a bit more enriched, fresh after A&D... What took me so long?? Well, I've always known it would be one of the books that I'd read so what's the hurry. Well the movie was the hurry apparently.
I liked it. It was a really good book with an unexpectedly sad twist in the end. But out of all the works of arts, more specificaly, Bernini's work of art that piqued my curiosity and I though worth googling (because I do not have the special illustrated edition nor do I know if they did publish one), I was especially curious about the Ecstasy of St. Teresa.
I mean come on, a 3.5m marble sculpture of a nun, supposedly having a spiritually divine experience OR ... an orgasm??? SCANDALOUS! I just had to look it up. How can one not?? And this gigantic structure, parked in a church? How could they get away with this? How could someone disguise a sculpture of a nun having an orgasm and still manage to display it in a church??? This is why I love history, still full of surprises after all these years. So I googled it and for the benefit of whoever will read my blog, here is The Ecstasy of St Teresa:
The Ecstasy of St. Teresa
Personally, I'd prefer if she had shown a bit more skin... but I guess that wouldn't be Baroque-ish.
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