gUnZ reFleCtiOnS: 11/01/2008

Cape No. 7

>> Sunday, November 30, 2008

Met up with my jc friends in the evening and we watched Cape No. 7.

The movie is about Aga, a band singer, who returns to Hengchun after a failed music career. Tomoko is a Japanese model assigned to organise a local warm-up band for the Japanese superstar's beach concert. Together with five other ordinary Hengchun residents who never expected to be anybody in life, they formed an impossible band. Extracted from SG Movies.

The storyline of the movie is actually quite simple and straightforward, telling audiences of an unexpected love story between the singer and the concert organiser and the seemingly insurmountable concert to be held soon. Concurrently, a love story between a Japanese teacher and a local girl in Hengchun unfolds when Aga reads the box of love letters mailed 60 years later.

The cast does a good job of portraying the many diverse roles in the movie, from the uncle who is the Town Council Representative, to uncle Mao who is hilarious as an old band member who barely knows how to play the bass guitar, and to Tomoko who is commendable in her performance as the frustrated organiser falling in love. The movie is sincere and intent on telling us the simple story set in a picturesque laidback seaside town with romantic undertones. The movie is humourous and its musical aspect livened up the show as well.

I think that the show stays true to its roots and does not rely on much theatrics to exaggerate the story. However, I feel that the pace of the story moves on a tad too slow and luckily the humour infused in the dialogue kept my attention span from drifting. The love story set in the 1940s didn't really work for me perhaps as it is only from the guy's point of view and there wasn't much visuals to accompany the narration of the love letters.

Nonetheless, it is a better than average film for sentimental people and i guess i am one of the few cynics to be rather unaffected by the melodrama at the end.

***

Marina Barrage (Part 2)

We then waited for sunset and thankfully there were not a lot of clouds to block the setting sun.

Sun behind the trees

Skyline with sunset

Skyline with sunset plus flying kite

Singapore Flyer and sunset

I love this view of the Singapore Flyer

People by the fountain

and me

Burst of colours

Sloping trees

Marina Barrage

Kids playing in the fountain

Lovely lights

I think Marina Barrage is a tastefully done water conservation and architectural project. The free admission to the state of the art visitor centre adds points to the new tourist attraction as well. This visit will surely not be the first and the last for me.

Marina Barrage (Part 1)

I went for a ktv session in the morning with Ks and headed to Marina Barrage next in the afternoon.

The Marina Barrage is a dam in Singapore built across the Marina Channel between the reclaimed lands of Marina East and Marina South. It was officially opened on 1 November 2008.

The S$226 million project turns Marina Bay and Kallang Basin into a new downtown freshwater Marina Reservoir. It provides water supply, flood control and a new lifestyle attraction. This structure will provide flood control by changing the tide flow into the barrage.

The building of the Marina Barrage required the relocation of Clifford Pier from Collyer Quay to Marina South. I was like a tourist in Singapore, snapping numerous photos of the latest tourist attraction.

The view upon entering the marina barrage vicinity

The bridge on top of the dam

I think the font is nice

View from the bridge

Singapore Flyer

Bridge view from the other side

We went into the visitor centre next. The admission is free.

Vivocity sculpture look-alike inside the visitor centre

Design

Old newspapers

Plastic bottles

Another view of the thousands of plastic bottles

Water droplets

The curvature of the slopes are well done

Sustainable Singapore

Clean

Reservoir in the City

A sustainable living environment

Singapore Flyer picture

The grass patch on top of the visitor centre

View of the Marina Barrage from the green roof

Skyline

Green Roof

Water fountains

Blue sky

The view of the complex

B&W photo of pump house

Curvilinear slope

To be continued...

JB

>> Saturday, November 29, 2008

Went out with some of my coursemates to JB City Square to sing ktv and celebrate after the exams. We took some time to get used to the remote control for the ktv but the price is definitely more reasonable compared to Singapore. The temperature of the room can be changed as well.

Singing

Some of us wanted to get haircuts and we went to Reds Salon for Wash & Cut for 33 RM. Since i haven't been to a salon/barber/hairdresser for years (coz i cut my hair myself), i figure there is no harm cutting it once outside. I wasn't really satisfied with the end result though. The hairdresser seems quite quick to cut and probably she just wanted to finish the job fast without really making sure that the job was done well. Or perhaps i am just a pitpicker. Ha...

In the salon

After the haircuts and some shopping, we proceeded to a back alley street full of street hawkers and tried the local laksa (different from Singapore version), popiah (without crunchy bits), bbq wings (same) and char quey tiao (less sweet sauce). Didn't know the food street existed until now. It was nice to try the same dish but different flavours of food.

Outings and Movie

>> Thursday, November 27, 2008

Went out with Fuli and David to town for a get together session after the exams and played some pool at Park Lane.

Met up with my coursemates next who had just completed all their exam papers and watched Body Of Lies at The Cathay.

Body of Lies is about a CIA agent in Middle East, doing local field work extracting valuable information to tackle the increasing threat of terrorism. Leo DiCaprio puts up a good performance as the CIA agent who forms good ties with the Jordanian General Intelligence Department. He puts himself at risk while meeting informants and his passion for defeating terrorism wanes thin when more and more of his compatriots get killed. His supervisor in command, Russell Crowe, doesn't help matters as he goes on with his life with his family in America while barking commands that are inhumane and tough to implement.

Buildings are blown up, innocent lives are lost and the threat of terrorism never seems to fade. The documentary style movie offers little new insight to the present situation of terrorism except for one of its innovative ways to track down the terrorists. The message presented is well-intentioned, but it doesn't make audiences feel very urgent or strongly against the rise of the militants. The pace is steady and it focuses on telling audiences the message that many of us already know.

The good performances help to elevate the show with the good character development. The story is no doubt rather engaging but the emotional aspect of the movie can definitely be improved. If it were more cinematic, climatic and more focused (as i feel that there are too many heavy-handed themes in the movie that bog down the movie, namely the political inter-country relations, the terrorism, and the tactics and conspiracies involved in trying to catch the terrorists), it would pack more punches.

***

My heart goes out to the victims of the recent Mumbai bombings.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Watched The Good, The Bad, The Weird today with Stephen.

The movie set in the 1930s Manchuria, is about a secret treasure stash which the Qing Dynasty buried prior to its downfall. The treasure map is highly sought after and bandits, gangs, thieves, and even the Japanese army are interested in finding the map. The map lands in the hands of a petty thief, Yoon Tae-goo, and everyone goes on a wild chase to capture him.

The Western thriller is action-packed from start to the end and i enjoyed the movie thoroughly, except maybe the unrealistic storyline. The movie starts off with a train hijack by the bandits whose leader is the widely feared, Park Chang-i, and it introduced the show with a big bang. The cinematography is great, the pacing is fast, the action is unstoppable, and the soundtrack is fabulous. The roles in the movie are clearly defined and each character has his own individual style and charisma, even for the cold blooded murderer acted by Lee Byung-hun. The acting is impeccable with the affable Song Kang-ho with his laugh-out-loud and brazen antics, the incredibly stylish but evil Lee Byung-hun, and the charming and righteous Jung Woo-sung.

Director Kim Ji-woon has done a fantastic job in recreating the ancient shanty towns and local inns, the costumes, the fighting equipment, and the setting of the movie in the Manchurian wilderness with deserts and mountains in the backdrop is gorgeous. The storytelling is fluid and it constantly engages the audiences with its well choreographed theatrics and humour infused with the action. Highly entertaining, humourous, well-acted and directed, this Western thriller inspired by The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is only separated from being a great epic by being a tad too unrealistic for the ending.

****

Trailer for The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Quantum of Solace

>> Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Went out with my aero friends today and i finally get to watch the movie that i had been keen to watch since i knew its existence. Casino Royale had brought out the new, raw and grittier Bond loaded with stunning action sequences and i was hooked, keen on the 2nd episode.

Sad to say though, Quantum of Solace definitely was not on par with my expectations. I was expecting the Casino Royale follow-up to be closer to its predecessor's levels but it never came close to that. It could partly be due to the story itself which involves globe-trotting action from Siena to London to Haiti to Bregenz to La Paz, but the purpose of pursuit never seemed to come out strongly. The action sequences in QOS should still be given their due compliments as they are quite gripping with the numerous car chases, run chases, and even aerial pursuits. The action sequences and the production quality are first rate but the drama in between all the action falls flat and feels cold.

Talking about Bond and new Bond Girl, Olga Kurylenko, there is a slight hint of chemistry between the leads but it doesn't go anything deeper than that. Vengeance, which is the main theme of the whole story, was not fully connected with the audiences. The origin of vengeance was not given its due appearance to explain for the onset of vengeance (as the crime occurred in Casino Royale which is a bit of a distant memory for most of us). As a result, vengeance became more nuanced and unapparent.

Talking about villians, Dominic Greene is the new villian in this latest installment of Bond. There are different categories for villians from rather tame to pure evil; Mean, Bad, Vile, Viscous, Evil. I would rate the latest villian in the 'Bad' category. Perhaps he should learn a bit more from the top of all top villians; the Joker in The Dark Knight. Director Marc Forster should probably consider sticking to what he does best instead.

***

Exams over

>> Monday, November 24, 2008

Exams are over! The electrical paper was rather manageable but i definitely could have done better. I put in an average amount of effort and i guess i'll be getting an average grade as well.

Anyway, it has been 1.5 years ago since i last took exams in NTU back in Year 2 Sem 2. I feel that my motivation and perseverance have been dropping and dropping every semester. I guess that this semester, my grades would be a wake-up call for me to buck up.

Hopefully, i will get some things done with my FYP during the December holidays. I'll be heading to Vietnam for a short 5 day getaway from 8 Dec to 12 Dec in 2 weeks time as well.