Liquid Chalk Marker & Blackboard

Price Point : S$2 for Board + Stand, and S$2 for one liquid chalk marker (available in white, green, yellow, orange and pink)

Context : Daiso, Plaza Singapura

Before : Like everything else in the shop, it shouted "Kawaii-Das!!" An eco-friendly alternative to jot down "to do" tasks in the office, rather than finding scraps of paper. And who ever knew there was such thing as liquid chalk markers that can write on blackboard surfaces!?

First Impression : A simple product which promised to be simple and no frills

During : Following the broken English translation if how to use the pen, the ink finally flowed out after pressing the nib down... not much different to paint markers. But it didn't live up to its promise of rubbing off with wet cloth/tissue... instead I had to use nail polish remover, which also removed some of the black paint off the board

After : Have to admit I'm disappointed with the fact it doesn't rub off easily...

Score : 10/10 for innovation and price, 5/10 for functionality

Last Words : Buy a chalk board and chalk instead

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Gin and Titonic - Ice Cube Tray

Price point: I paid $17AUD, but the internet tells me you can get it for as low as $12.

Context: Available at Borders, shops that sell up-market doohickeys and any website that also happens to sell novelty alarm clocks and shot-glasses that look like a 12 gauge shotgun shell.

Before: I've had a weakness for novelty ice cube trays ever since I filled my 1990 plastic happy meal car with water and stuck in a freezer. There's nothing more satisfying than taking a sip from a glass filled with penguins, love hearts, and somebody's half melted attempt to spell juice.

First impressions: The package is suitably well designed, giving off the distinct 'wacky shack for the suffering aesthete' vibe.

During: The ship is pleasingly ship like, although it looks more like something from a game of battleship than the titanic, and the iceberg looks like the kind of sugary lump that rich girls feed to horses.

After: Serve these in a big glass and it ends up looking like the titanic blasted off into space in order to compete in an asteroids tournament. Still, it's a step up from your normal cube, and a conversation starter if nothing else.

Total Score: 7/10

Last words: Perfect if the only drink you ever plan to serve to your friends is half a glass of water.

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Index: Gin & Titonic

Nesfrappe Latte in Classic and Mocha

Price Point : S$3.70

Context : 7/11, Convenience Stores, Supermarkets

Before : Hot, bothered, thirsty, sleepy and thus in need of a pick-me-up before going back to the office. My colleague and I stopped by a 7-11, and I notice the sleek and attractive bottle* of Nescafe's new product strategically place at my eye level.

*side note: I have a weakness for unique and nice product packaging

First Impressions : Compared to alternatives, it's slightly more expensive than the Nescafe cans, but it can be capped and drank later for convenience. And it's less expensive than the Starbucks in a bottle. And I always felt the Pokka brand coffees diluted.

During : Ever experienced a feeling whereby when you drink something, you can feel it running though all the veins and muscles, and you feel so alive and oh-so-good? That happens with me with Gloria Jeans' Caramelattes, and it happened again with this sweet drink (at a more affordable price I may add).

The coffee is strong and aromatic, true to Nescafe's promise. And it's not overly-sweet, so you can actually taste the Arabica coffee instead of the milky creamer and sugar.

After : I wished the experience lasted longer, and there really wasn't any use for the cap, because it was bottoms-up in one shot. But it did it's job about lifting up my spirit and mood.

Total Score : 9/10

Last Words : Bigger bottles would be appreciated, more bang for the buck.

But perhaps I will let Nescafe's brand manager, Chrissie Richardson, say a bit more about this product:

If you’re looking for a little something to help you stay at the top of your game throughout the day, why not take a moment to enjoy Nesfrappé, a new range of ready-to-drink chilled lattes arriving in store fridges this Spring. Available in two refreshing variants, Classic Chilled Latte and Mocha Chilled Latte, each one is made with a delicious blend of fresh semi-skimmed milk and 100% quality arabica coffee beans from Nescafé.

They are both low in fat and have absolutely no artificial colours or flavours to get in the way of the delicious fresh taste, making Nesfrappé the perfect little pick up for those on the go.

We’re hugely excited about the launch of Nesfrappé, it’s a delicious and refreshing drink that’s perfect for keeping people with busy and active lives refreshed, clear and focused at anytime of the day, we know people are going to love it!

And girl, I do!

If you like this, you may also like : Kopi-bing, bottled Starbucks, Milo

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P2K - The Decade in Music (top 500 singles)

Price point: Free (brought to you by Haagen-Dazs, because 'selling out' is not a term that belongs to this decade)

Context: Oh pitchfork, how you've changed. How I miss the days when you'd play around with your shoddy html templates, changing the colour scheme every six months or so. It was a simpler time, when a band like 12 rods could lay claim to the holy grail of music criticism, a 10.0 review (A review which has, along with the original 'top 100 albums of the 90s, mysteriously disappeared from the pitchfork website, because nothing says indie! like a Stalinist purge). Now Pitchfork is arguably the most influential musical publication in the world, with their own TV channel and music festival. A range of scented candles is but weeks away.

Before: A year end (or in this case, decade encompassing) feature from Pitchfork is essentially the michelin guide for music. Something to get worked up about in between repeats of CSI and CSI:Miami

First impressions: In keeping with their post 2004 'We like pop music! really!' aesthetic, there are bound to be a few choices that 'shock' (perhaps akin to licking a not yet dead batter). Also, there's always the chance that Kanye West will rent a fleet of airships to express his disappointment if he doesn't capture spots 1 through 499.

During: Sadly, I quickly realize that my generation !Y! ADD addled brain doesn't really care about tracks 500-101. A mix of well loved singles and staff favourite album tracks, you're sure to ignore them all equally as you scroll down as quickly as possible to get to the top 100.

After: The top 20 reads like a poster for your city's ubiquitous 'indie' night, coming soon to a dank but not too seedy bar near you: ARCADE FIRE | YYY's | OUTKAST | RADIOHEAD | LCD SOUNDSYSTEM | DAFT PUNK. Will the fat DJ ignore your repeated not ironic because you're drunk requests to play 'You're the best'? Almost definitely!

Total Score: 5.5/10

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Index: Pitchfork's all singing all dancing review of music from the previous 10 years or so

Cat sleeping on your hand while you type

Price point: A trip to Tiong Bahru

Context: Old apartment cat

Before: The prospect of feeling heavy breathing while working. A step up from listening to it.

First impressions: A bit of a drag. But as we all know from Sir Paul, those are famous last words.

During: As you grow used to the idea of weighty yet windy fingers, your writing takes on never before character and a certain gravitas. your choice of words becomes efficient and style minimalistic, lending to your writing punch like you've never seen before

After: Cat drool on your fingers. Subjective. I have a certain fondness for most bodily fluids so it works for me.

Total Score: 7.5/10

Last words: If you've been facing writer's block lately, this could be the boost your flagging career needs. The cat drool is definitely worth a shot if you haven't tried it before. It doesnt discriminate against any. Has a preference for females

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Daiso Iceball Maker

Price point: $2.00

Context: Daiso - the $2 Japanese department store

Before: About a week ago, I'd inherited a small fridge form a tenant and decided to clean it up and stock it. I was intent on trying to pimp my fridge to a hip-bachelor-pad standard, filling it with 6 brands imported beers, small cartons of sake, sparkling water and individually packed sachets of Ribena. All that was missing was ice. I'd seen quite alot of cool ice trays on Notcot and novelty shops in my time and was bent on finding something a little different for my 'bachelor-pad fridge'. So needless to say when I stumbled across this rather gangster looking iceball tray at Daiso for a mere 2 bucks I bought two.

First impressions: The theory behind the iceball maker is simple enough, fill the lower (larger) tray with water and then push the top moulding tray squarely down to displace the water, insert into cold place and then get excited!

Practically, it's a bit harder, I found myself displacing most of the water each time an never knowing if the ice ball shape had been filled completely, so I ended up taking the slightly over eager approach of just filling the entire device with water and then spilling a whole lot of water on the floor as I jelly-walked my way back to the fridge.

During: So, I was a little excited and couldn't keep myself from poking my head into the freezer every 3 hours to check if my gangster ice was ready for some gangstyle whiskey lay-backs. Sadly though, It hadn't frozen in the first 36 hours and I was beginning to worry.

Cranking the fridge power to 11 seemed to help though, and within another 12 hours I had 6 perfectly solid frozen ice balls. Not to mention they take several hours to melt and thus don't really require any refills.

After: I'd compare the effort of purchasing, freezing, then getting the balls out of the mould roughly to the amount of effort required to assemble a rudimentary ikea cabinet - it's a cheap method, that with a little patience and a lot of slamming gets you very satisfactory results. You may even feel a sense of pride after doing so. but I do question the necessity of such lengths to go to for a good looking glass of whiskey.

Mind you, I have seen the rather cumbersome, and expensive looking alternative, and I guess it's kind of worth it for what you pay.

Total Score: 5.5/10

Last words: Good for the bimonthly poker night, and the occasional bachelor moment but may land you in a domestic disaster.

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Japanese Gangster movies, fancy Whiskey, FHM

Nairn's Rough Oatmeal Oatcakes

Price point: $5.50

Context: Cold Storage, Parkway Parade

Before: I'm part Scottish (the spending money part, mostly), so Oatcakes are definitely part of my range of “comfort” foods. I've eaten Oatcakes for just about as long as I can remember, so the discovery of a packet on a Singaporean supermarket shelf is always cause for celebration.

First impressions: Here's a handy little detail, and one which I wish more biscuit makers would adopt; the Oatcakes come wrapped in individual batches of 7, which makes each one much handier as a snack pack or to put on a cheese platter (Oatcakes go brilliantly well with most cheeses).

During: Plenty of texture, and with a nice, nutty flavour. According to the manufacturer, they also make an organic version, as well as a “smooth” version. But I've always liked my Oatcakes the same way I like my women - rough.

After: There really isn't anything quite like an Oatcake. They go with just about anything, are low GI (if that's important to you), high in fibre and full of Scottishy goodness. And these Nairn's ones are a particularly good example of the genre.

Total Score: 8.5/10

Last words: So fundamentally Scottish, a few of these and you'll be slurping single malts and wielding a claymore with the best of them.

Adams No-Stir Peanut Butter (Crunchy)

Price range: About $6.75

Context: Cold Storage, Parkway Parade

Before: The quest for the ‘perfect’ peanut butter has taken on almost grail-like importance for me over the years, so I’m always happy to see a new one on the shelves - and this one promised lower sugars than the Planters and Skippies of this world, so I was keen to give it a try.

First impression: I've bought two jars of this peanut butter. The first one had a rather disconcerting layer of oil on the top of it when I first opened it, so despite being a “No Stir” PB, the first thing I had to do was stir it! However, the second one was perfect, and had a fantastic consistency.

During: Adams has a pleasant texture with relatively uniform ‘chunks’ and spreads well – important if you don't want to destroy your bread (which kind of ruins the whole sandwich-making experience). It also has a lovely, nutty flavour – and certainly isn't too sweet. A quick taste of your ‘old’ Skippy in comparison to this will tell you just how much sugar there is in some of those other Peanut Butters.

After: While not as tasty when added to shakes (there is a benefit to sweeter PBs sometimes), Adams No-Stir is well worth a try. I'll certainly be buying it again.

Total Score: 7.5/10