Harry Potter Fans Beware! Criminal wizard commited $141k jewellery theft right under the noses of Muggle salesmen!

By Nova Lou


Muggle shopkeepers have seen a man walking away from the Raffles Jeweller in the Fullerton Hotel with a haul that included two diamond rings and a half-dozen other jewels after convincing the muggle staff he had paid for the baubles.
But the muggle "Pleasemen" (pronounced "Po-lise-men") said he had not actually parted with a cent.


The wizarding community has immediately classified this case as a serious offense under the Muggle-relation Act and as a case of using magic in the presence of Muggles. "Obviously, a confundus and a memory charm had been used on the poor Muggle shop manager and the shop keepers", says the Head of Muggle Relations in Singapore. In the correct sequence of events, the "Pleasemen" said a man walked into the jewellery store on Saturday, looked around, and left without making a purchase.

He returned the next day and spoke to the muggle shop's manager. The thief asked to buy four rings - including two encrusted with diamonds - two bracelets, two necklaces and two pairs of earrings totalling $141,300.
Claiming he had to get muggle money, the thief, accompanied by the muggle shop manager, went to the lobby of the hotel. The thief then used a confundus charm on the muggle shop keeper and apparated back to the shop, whereby using a memory charm, managed to convince the muggle shop keepers that he had paid for the jewels. Employees handed them over, and he walked out the front door.
It was only later the muggle manager and staffers realised the jewels had not been paid for.
Pleasemen said the thief remains at large. He was wearing muggle attire complete with blue suit and pants, was about 1.7m tall, and had a fair complexion.

Has anyone from the larger wizarding community seen this thief ? (Captured on Muggle cameras)






















The Straits Prophet

Celebrity Look-A-Like

Ok.....I'm getting the goosebumps. I look like Leonardo di Caprio by a freaking 52%. That's half my face ! I mean which part of my face looks like di Caprio ?? It's like telling a girl, that good looking guy is really into you, but he's actually your long lost brother.

Thank God, it's a face analyzer. If it was a crotch analyzer.....I'm spending my life savings on vaginal reconstruction.


















Oh shit, there's more ...what's worse...it's my best headshot.
And here's the result: I look like Rupert Grint.
Forget about the vaginal reconstruction....maybe I do need facial reconstruction.

The day will come that I have to wear childrens' sizes

Here's a revelation....
I went shopping today for branded sweaters and there was a winter sale in one of the largest European citites in the world. I tried on a few sweaters and they were much too big (There's a downpart to shopping in Europe when you're Asian.....you can never find your size !!)
I went to the Ralph Lauren section and the summer collection was simply smart and elegant but they costs over € 200. Too bad I thought, I would just have to wait for the summer sales.

As I crossed over to the ground floor I thought I saw the same sweater and a similar Ralph Lauren counter as the first floor...until I picked it up and saw it was a baby sweater. How cute. And then the same sweater again, for 12 - 14 year olds ! Sadly the choice of branded wear in the childrens's section was limited to either Ralph Lauren or Hilfiger. But still it was half the price of the adult sweaters. Laughing in my head, I thought why not try on a sweater for 12 year olds....and you know what even the L was too large....and I had to put on a medium. Baby pink. I couldn't believe my luck! Hey quality for a good price.

I was cheering myself for my ingenuity when I thought, holy shit....this is the year of the Rat! (OK, following a chinese superstition, the year of the RAT is supposed to bring opposed luck for those born under the Horse year, I've memorised the chinese horoscope from the time I could walk). And what's that famous Ralph Lauren label again ? A polo horse......
Although I'm not a Horse sign, but I didn't want to push my luck after I've just found it !!

So although I would never believe that walking under a ladder would bring bad luck, similarly I thought, I didn't wanna wear anything with a horse insignia and thought I'll pick a Tommy Hilfiger instead......
But then the thought of wearing a sweater with my father's first name on it seemed "uncool"....
So I dropped both sweaters.

I think I'm going to have convince Louis Vuitton to have a segment for kids :)

Nova's Top Ten....

How do you know if you're affected by the subprime crisis ?

You can't find your house keys after you've bumped into your loan officer
You're watching your loan officer drive away with your car
You're the loan officer and you've just received the pink slip
You're working for Bear Stearns and you're the only one at work, and you're the security guard.

The thin line between the pink shirt and homosexuality

By Nova Lou


Is pink the official color of choice among gay circles or does wearing pink makes you officially gay? Not an issue that most women would have to worry about, given that pink is the color associated with feminity, but definitely a question worth pondering among men who own a pink shirt or two, hidden behind those dark recesses of his closet.

Pink, that vibrant bright-reddish color, so ever associated with playfulness and fun, has made its long fashion debut to the more formal business circles, mostly in the form of the classical shirt, but also frequently seen in fashion accessories such as ties and cufflinks for men. No doubt, against an ominous black suit, a pink shirt definitely adds a softer hue to the overall persona. It's definitely a refreshing change to the all white shirt black suit, Mr. Penguin look.
But wait. How many other colors in the palette can offer that sort of elegant, pleasant contrast to the black-grey suit combination ? Maybe yellow, a light blue or occasionally a pastel pea green. Definitely majority of men have shyed away from the Valentino stark orange and purple colors, and only the color blind would dare don a red shirt.

So unless you're a fan of the Blues Brothers, saving the necessity of wearing a white shirt to work everyday will inevitably lead to the purchase of one or two pastel pink shirts amidst the limited color range. So what's the likelihood that your director, senior manager and CEO would arrive at work, all wearing the same shade of pink in a week ? About 25%. Mine have even donned a pink striped tie each together with the shirts on 3 occasions. (We vaguely wondered, if they usually call themselves before work to synchronize their wardrobe).

Just because your CEO, director and manager share the same passion for the worrying color, does it also imply that they share the same bed? ''What does it matter to me ?'', you ask, '' as long as they keep paying me''. True. But what about you ? Have you ever thought why you're more popular with the ladies on those days you wear a pink shirt ? Now, before you start a spending spree on pink shirts, you should be enlightened of the fact that (most) women feel more comfortable with……homosexuals.

If there's a time for the alarm to go off, it would be now. But it's not the purpose of this article to question whether women prefer the company of homosexual men (which is another story), but to examine the stigma attached to the color pink.

Where did I come up with the idea ? It's natural that pink, a long known feminine color, when mixed with masculinity would amount to breaking taboos. Men just don't wear skirts (unless you're Scottish, but you've never seen a Scottish man wear a pink skirt, have you ?) and men don't wear bonnets and ribbons on their heads. And if they do…….then they're cross-dressers.

But if a man wears something trivial as a cotton shirt with a feminine color, is he trying to express his feminine side ? ''Never!!'', you say. '' I just like the way the color reflects off the complexion of my skin ''. Fair enough. Men are allowed a degree of vanity. But vanity is not homosexuality.

In modern day English usage, the word ''pink'' has been exploited in connotation with anything sexual. Hey, forget English, even in modern day Japanese language. And as homosexuality is just another kind of sexuality, the usually innocent color has been seized by the gay community and crowned the color of all colors. Funnily enough, pink is not one of the 13 colors of the rainbow flag, which is the official flag representing gay pride. But from time to time, you (might just so happen) to hear of terms like the Pink Triangle, used to connote those male prisoners sent to concentration camps for their homosexuality or you might even come across some gay symbols below:


Now before you start setting all your pink apparel on fire, there really is no cause for panic. In fact, I doubt that this debate will ever be resolved, let alone within the next 2 pages of the article. As yet, there is no known explicit rule in business ethics which penalizes somebody who dares to wear bold colors. There might be occasional dress codes to comply with but you definitely will not lose your job over a forbidden color.

In contrast, if you just happen to be working in an environment dominated by women or even if the majority of your clients are female, then you might even feel the need to add a few more pink shades to your wardrobe (that is speaking from a totally professional point of view. If your personal satisfactions are however truly work-performance unrelated, then I might advise the contrary).

But if you ever feel a need to reassert your masculine self while you wear a pink shirt, let the following images help you decide where your masculinity lies.

By थे way Larry King supports pink.

What's in a name ?

by Nova Lou

There is nothing in the world I fear most than the dreaded question '' What's your name ? ''. However, it's the unavoidable question that hits you at the beginning of any social conversation.

'' Nice to meet you, I'm Nova''.

Upon choking on his drink, my conversational partner invariably remarks, '' Sorry, is that your name ?'

Which is probably akin to asking if you have just jumped off the plane from Spain and are therefore unaccustomed to the English language and having thereby to resort to using Latin amongst English vocabulary. In short, I would have just introduced myself as '' Oh hello, I'm new''. (Nova in Latin means 'new'). But given my not so Spanish looks, I could only guess that was not what he implied by the question. He was probably just polite to suggest that he has never come across such an unusual name.

Pretty far fetched. But that's not the only one in many humorous responses that I have received over many first-time introductory encounters.

I've met one fellow who after introducing himself jumped straight to the question, '' Where are you from anyway? ''.

'' Oh, from not so far away Mordor '' (Home to the evil Golum and the Orks for those of you not accustomed to the famous movie Lord of the Rings) came my reply.

There was an awkward pause and an embarrassing laugh and then he remembers, '' Sorry, I didn't get your name''.

'' That's ok. My name's Nova.''.

This time a longer awkward pause as he struggles to decide whether I was still pulling his leg or whether it was fact.

'' You don't really come from Mordor ? ''

Not a very good start to a conversation but spared for the majority of you with more conventional backgrounds. However given my not so common first name (thanks to my father), made more complicated by my hard to place ethnic looks and well traveled background (even as a kid) I must say that it has been hard to initiate any serious conversations without invoking any pre-conceived ideas or God forbid, prejudicial feelings.

In fact I wish many people would skip the '' What's your name'' and '' Where are you from'' parts from the first 5 minutes of any conversation, just until they get to know me a little better, for instance, ask me '' What I do for a living '' (not a lot to shout about there too, I'm just an M&A consultant really).

Just so you get the idea, here are just a few awkward moments I have experienced upon introducing myself during business related and formal gatherings. Then ask yourself, if you were me, how would you proceed henceforth ?

1) '' Hi, I'm Nova….and I…''

'' Hey Supernova ! ''

2) '' I used to read X-People. There was this character called Nova. She wears these red-leather leotards and wears a black mask. Don't suppose you read X-People ?.. ''

(….no actually I have never heard of X People. I assume it's a comic book right ?)

3) ''Is your name patented ?''

4) '' Well, that's an interesting name. By the way, did you know that No-Va means No-Go in Spanish and they had launched this car once in Spain (no names mentioned) but it didn't sell too well because it was called Nova …hahaha ''

5) '' Is that a common name from where you are or was there really a Supernova explosion during the night you were born ? ''

(Neither….and I was born in the afternoon)

6) ''Is that Latin or a Chinese language word ? ''

(Latin….duh)

7) '' That's a cool name. Why did you call yourself Nova ? ''

(I hardly had the choice at birth. The name was sacredly pledged to me by my all too creative father. But thanks for the compliment.)

'' And your father is ….. ? ''

(a nuclear scientist genius cum electrical engineer who is also crazed about astronomy)

8) '' Nice name. You wanna be a star someday ? ''

(Are you offering me an acting job ?)

9) '' No really…how did your parents come up with such a name ? !! ''

(Because I was born in Novemb...forget it…because on the night I was born there was a Supernova explosion and my parents had a sudden inspiration)

You get the idea. I can't deny that there have been unexpected advantages in having such an unusual name. For instance, your clients remember you better. (It really matters to me, if a pair of Egyptian guys managed to spell your name correctly after they have mispronounced and misspelled my manager's name, also commonly known as ''Darren'', twice in a row). Also I can't deny the fact that there have been innumerous possibilities for potential humorous exploits. (Not a good idea if you wanted to be taken more seriously especially if you're managing a € 100m banking takeover deal). But more importantly, it's short and easy to pronounce (if you leave out my 2 middle Chinese names that is).

So what's in a name? Honestly, there's nothing more I like than to have a common girl's name like Catherine or Joanne. At least if you're looking for a personalized mug or a key chain with your name on it, it would be easier to locate. The nearest I've ever gotten to a personalized gift item was a coffee cup with ''Nora'' on it (someone was either short sighted or hard of hearing).

But there's definitely no denying I feel rather unique. And as unusual as Nova is, at least it wasn't derived from a famous person, or a famous city (Nova Scotia doesn't count!). So there you have it. At least I'm already a would-be famous identity in my own right at the moment of my birth. (sob, was that an Academy moment ? )