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I've recently been informed by the Kazakhstani diplomat to Singapore that a movie about their greatest television personality has been made. Yes friends, you will soon get to see Borat himself in the cinema. Like much of his other work, this film sees Borat travel to exotic America, the greatest country in the world. There, he gets to experience first hand what its like in the US where the concepts of sexual equality amongst other taboo subjects pique Borat's curiousity.

I'm told the cultural value of this film is unlike any other. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan is set to open soon at a cinema near you.

My girlfriend's birthday turned out to be a brilliant excuse to go to a nice place for dinner. Its been 8 months since PS Cafe first opened its Dempsey Road branch and perhaps no longer the it place it was back in January. Back then it was probably the most talked about place because of the brilliant premises which housed the cafe. Its a lovely old building that has been restored superbly. With two facades dominated by top to bottom glass windows, its a lovely sight, whether in the day or at night.

Seating is separated into the smaller lounge/bar area, the indoor dining area and the outdoors. The furniture is certainly of the moment, a touch of retro flair in terms of upholstery, mixed with more modern forms. They aren't all the same chairs either. Each chair was different and the variety seems to allow each customer some individuality. Overall, the decor has a certain level of sophistication but an intrinsically informal atmosphere. Indeed, you really do feel like you're in some friend's super posh pad and not some stuffy place. Heck, even the waiter sat next to me and took my order.

Onto the food! I had a mushroom, beef and bacon ragout and iced longan tea whilst my girlfriend had a mint lime soda and the grilled catch, which happened to be trout (above). I found one mushroom in my ragout and couldn't really feel much bacon but it was decent without being overly spectacular. The trout was super tender and just fell away. Instead of dessert, we had an order of fries which I found interesting. Chopped roughly and served with two dipping sauces, it was a nice take on a simple classic.

Verdict? Well, its a really lovely place. The house is set in the midst of a tropical landscape. You wonder why it took so long for someone to think up this concept. Food wise, I think I can easily find better for the price you're paying. It was OK but nothing much to shout about. Its really all about the ambience. A lot of blogs I'd read said the service was choppy or even terrible. I think when you go someplace new (which it was when most blogs kao pei-ed about it) you have to expect a certain level of unprepared-ness. Now, 8 months plus later, it seems to have settled and I found the service to be just fine, friendly and pretty informal. I'd recommend this as a nice place to come with friends and have a drink. I probably would skip dinner here unless they do something more but drinks are a very good idea. Just soak in the modern tropical feel of it. Get a table indoors though. I had a spider in my hair and ants on my arm.

PS Cafe 28B Harding Road, Tel: 6479-3343

Neatorama introduces Douglas Fisher, who has taken photos for a variety of corporate clients from NEC and VW to The Arse just to mention a few. His work incorporates a lot of digital manipulation after the original photos are taken and you can see how he does this step by step, recreating an old photo of the 1913 Arsenal side with a more current crop of players. The way his photos look, you feel like they were almost photo-rendered, ultra slick and hyper realistic. The stark lighting always highlights plenty of gritty details to each photo and if there is a style that's perfect for magazines and ads, this is it.

Above is a shot of a Citroen for Top Gear Magazine.

Saw this on MoCo Loco some time back. Anya Kivarkis makes some pretty lovely jewelry that takes on the forms of the traditional but the result is something entirely new anfits perfectly with current trends.

My brother had some school project which involved cooking up some healthy dish. So he got this recipe for baked mushrooms by Jamie Oliver. My dad helped him out obviously but regardless the end result was superb. We substituted the Taleggio with some Kraft we had in the fridge but it was still great. Fries were extra. And we did have em on ciabatta like suggested.

Here's the recipe almost word for word from Jamie's website:

 

serves 4
• 8 large flat mushrooms
• a bunch of spring onions, trimmed and sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 250g Taleggio cheese, thinly sliced
• 2 thick slices of bread, made into breadcrumbs
• a small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 4 handfuls of rocket, washed and dried
• juice of 1 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.

Lay the mushrooms on a large baking tray and sprinkle with the onions, garlic and thyme.

Top the mushrooms with the slices of cheese. Toss together the breadcrumbs and the parsley and sprinkle over the mushrooms.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven until breadcrumbs are brown and the mushrooms are cooked through.

Meanwhile, dress the rocket with the lemon juice and some olive oil. Serve the mushrooms with the dressed rocket.

Serve on top of toasted ciabatta. 

 

The next latest bit of colloration goodness comes from Hulger and Monorex. Also check out Hulger's new phone bases which make those vintage phones look even more like objets d'art. Via Josh Spear.

Looking to add a little vintage posh? Check out this whiskey decanter by Vellum available at Vivre. They also have a taller wine decanter. Via productdose.com

This article from Vanity Fair highlights the fallout between Paul Frank the man himself and Paul Frank the company. Having recently visited the Paul Frank store in Bangkok's Siam Center, I can say I do very much love their stuff. I wore out this pair of beach sandals that had Julius' face for each toe. I also saw this really cute and funny camera bag, which was like a plus sized leather camera. The lens actually stuck out as well. What makes Paul Frank stuff so good is the absolute quirkiness of it and if there is going to be a fallout, it would surely be very sad indeed. R.I.P Julius? Via Drawn!

I settled for a Sony Ericsson K610i when I recently upgraded my old phone, which was dying, sometimes taking two days to charge up. Anyway, in my consideration for getting a new phone, I acutally wanted a sexy clamshell but since I never found one, I went for the gorgeous red hue of the K610i plus its 2 megapixel camera/3G capability at the price of S$178. I did find a clamshell which piqued my interest. But when I looked further, I realised I really didn't want a clamshell that was glossy black plastic. If it were matte, I would be sold. But in any case, here's the Z610. Cool OLED screen with a finish reminiscent of their newish DAPs.

Check out Belkin's new CushTop, a prop for your laptop so your lap doesn't get burned. Finally, a relatively stylish and somewhat portable product that addresses the ergonomic issues behind using your laptop on your lap. The CushTop can also store the laptop and all the accessories you might have as well. Via Gizmodo.