With so many beauties she took the town by storm

If there is a theme for today, and I strive mightily to find them, it's contests for halfhearted audiences. Outside HMV (which has the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3, which based on the box is about Bugs, Daffy, and Porky in dresses; the first half season He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, the original corny one; a Buster Keaton movie set; and the ultra super duper The Wizard of Oz, including a restoration of the 1925 version with Oliver Hardy -- and, try to contain yourselves, ten Kodachrome color stills; so for once I'm ready with a Christmas list for my family) a policeman -- with a local video system -- was trying to get Singaporeans to on stage and guess the song title for some prize. The song as I watched people steadfastly refuse to get up was the theme to Batman, the TV show, which you'd think would be easy to guess, what with the ``na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Batman!'' and all.

In the basement of the Ngee Ann City mall/office complex, SPH Magazines held the finale of the Women's Fair `05. The raffle prize was a new car, and the winner was ... number 6950! ... is number 6950 here? ... 6950? 6950? Eventually they gave up and tried ... number 6951? 6951? 6951? Bueller? ... It may seem like I'm rushing, but they really did give whoever had the ticket a fair chance, calling the number enough times the crowd got bored. It kept dragging on, and I watched with fascination to see if they'd find anybody to give a car. They finally got someone, with number 6957. They played synthesizer fanfare and talked about how the winner (whom I couldn't see from my vantage point) looked ready to drive off, what with her sunglasses and all. I have to think number 6956 feels really bad.

As I left for Kinokuniya -- which had a 20 percent-off sale, on the comical theory that I need inducement to buy books past ``here are books for sale'' -- the emcee announced, ``If you love fashion and you love rocks, stick around.'' I'm curious how clothing and geology intersect, granted, as who wouldn't be? But it was getting late in the day, and I guessed it was probably just jewelry.

Trivia: Vibration tests for the space shuttle used acoustically powered shakers of 150 and 1,000 pounds force. Source: Development of the Shuttle, 1972-1981, T A Heppenheimer.

Currently Reading: Castlereagh, C J Bartlett.