Movie Marathon

Met up with Derrick and Edwin for movie at The Cathay. We had our dinner at Sushi Don before watching The Italian, a Russian film about a young child pending to be adopted by an Italian couple.

Vanya is the young boy picked by the Italian couple at an orphanage. He gets to know a friend's mother who came to the orphanage to look for the child she abandoned years ago. Unfortunately, his friend had already been adopted by another couple. Too late and full of regrets, the mother commits suicide. As a result, Vanya begins to ponder about the whereabouts of his real parents. He escapes the orphanage to flee from the pending adoption so that he can find his biological parents.

The show is sympathetic towards the plight of the young orphans in Russia. It is a touching story of a child wanting to find his parents and the sacrifices that he made to try to achieve his goal. The show paints a bleak picture of suburban Russia where people mind their own business and hooligans roam the dark alleys. It is a treacherous world for the unprotected and we hold our breath when the pint-sized Vanya is exposed to the dark side of humanity.

The story is convincing and the score is haunting with its slow icy piano score. The bleak realism and the stark cinematography that the movie portrays is captivating yet sombre in tone. Gritty and well-acted, this movie is powerful in its message to discourage child abandonment.

We enjoyed the show thoroughly and decided to catch another show. We decided on Death at A Funeral, a British comedy about a funeral gone wrong. Firstly, the boyfriend of a relative accidentally consumes some drugs and acts insanely. Secondly, an extremely irritating and impatient old uncle is present and chides anyone in his way. Thirdly, a shortie shows up and claims to be the dead man's lover. There are many other insanely funny things that happen and the British cast executes and dispatches the wit, jokes and farce with efficiency and effectiveness.

I had a rolling good time in the theatre laughing from start to end of the show. The storyline is outrageous but the show is really hilarious. Kudos to the impeccably talented British ensemble for making the show a totally entertaining and comedic experience. The funniest show i watched this year.

Read more...

Balls of Fury

Went to town to catch a movie with Stephen after work on Friday and we watched Balls of Fury. This movie is a totally nonsensical film but it is rather hilarious. I shall briefly describe the story as it isn't worth a lot of my time to write about it. Randy Daytona is a table tennis child prodigy who retires from the sport after a humiliating defeat. After many years, he gets recruited by CIA to infiltrate an evil triad who organises a ping pong tournament every year. Randy is then forced to undergo a strict training programme that whips him up into shape.

James Hong is incredibly funny as the blind ping pong master who sprouts words of wisdom and immediately revocates them by his silly actions. Dan Fogler as Randy Daytona is amicable enough although I believe Jack Black would make a better entertainer in the movie. Maggie Q contributes star presence to the movie although the chemistry between Randy and her is a tad too unbelievable. Christopher Walken is kooky and weird, suitable for his role as the evil triad chief.

Balls of Fury is an entertaining stupid comedy although i wish it was more bombastic, more crazy and more flamboyant. I would choose Dodgeball: An Underdog Story anytime over Balls of Fury though.

Read more...

Kelong Trip Day 1 (Part 1)

29/09/07

Met up with my colleagues on Sat afternoon at Changi Point ferry terminal to take the bumboat to the kelong near Pengerang.

On the bumboat

Extremely long metal walls that prevent trespassers from going near Malaysian/Singapore shores

Glasses amidst shades

After about 1 and a half hours of boat ride, we finally reached the kelong.

Almost here

Chia Soon Kelong

Upon reaching the kelong, we unloaded our baggages and i went around the kelong taking photos as i had never gone to a kelong before.

Fine weather

Clear Sky

Sticks

Red rooftop

We headed to the fish nets area to see the fishermen catch some seafood for our dinner.

Nets

Dogs

Crabs!

B & W Kelong

To be continued...

End of Part 1 (1.45 pm to 4.15 pm)

Read more...

Outings last week

Went Claire's house on tue for mid-autumn festival gathering with some of my course people. The nintendo wii is quite fun! It is much more interactive than a normal joystick or controller. Thanks to Claire for preparing the food and delicious cakes for us.

Met up with Stephen on thursday night for dinner at Billy Bombers. It turned out to be a bit of a fiasco as they give me the wrong order and charged us a more expensive price than what we should pay. My acute money sense prevented them from charging us at the expensive rate though. Ha...

Met up with Fuli, Weiming and David on friday evening for dinner. We had dinner at Ps and chatted until 10 pm before heading back home.

Read more...

Kelong Trip

I'll be away for a kelong trip to Malaysia with my colleagues. Back tomorrow afternoon.

Read more...

Wisdom extracted

Had 2 of my wisdom teeth extracted last week and it was bleeding quite badly on several days. Woke up with my pillow stained with blood on 2 consecutive nights and went to a doctor to stop the bleeding.

The doctor said that the stitching was not done properly and caused the continuous bleeding. When i went back to remove the stitches, i complained to the dentist that i lost a lot of blood and he said that i'm being too dramatic. What a totally ego guy!

Bloody wisdom teeth

I'm allowed to keep my 2 wisdom teeth after the operation. They should have washed away the blood before packing them into the airtight seal.

Read more...

Dinner and Movies (Part 2)

After watching Underdog, we headed to Chijmes for dinner at Cosafe Maid Cafe. Due to the higher price of the food there, we decided to have some starters and drinks instead.

The cosy setting at the Cosplay Cafe

We headed to Raffles City and Marina Square to walk around next and Derrick decided to join us for dinner. He suggested an Indian restaurant along Race Course Rd and drove us there.

We ordered a lot of dishes and everyone's stomach were filled to the brim.

Flaming mixed grill set

It's yummy and tender!

Garlic naans

The rest headed back after the satisfying dinner and Derrick and I watched a midnight show at Ps next. We watched Savage Grace, a true life story of the Barbara Daly Baekeland and her family.

Extracted from Wikipedia. "Barbara Daly Baekeland was a wealthy socialite who was murdered by her son, Antony Baekeland on November 11, 1972. She was the wife of Brooks Baekeland, grandson of Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite plastic.

Before meeting Brooks Baekeland, Barbara was a model and would-be Hollywood starlet. During their marriage she was known for her unstable personality, rude outbursts and bouts of severe depression. She led a decadent lifestyle of drinking and risqué sexual encounters. In time her husband Brooks left her for a younger woman, which was followed by divorce. This led to severe depression and a suicide attempt.

She had a bizarre relationship with her homosexual son Antony. There were no distinct lines of privacy– they shared everything and every experience, developing an intense dependence on each other, resulting even in an incestuous sexual relationship."

The show stayed true to the controversial storyline and I didn't know it is a true story until the end of the show. I even had thought that the show was too dramatic and exaggerated towards the end of show when the tragedies began to unfold.

The show started off great with its interesting characters and storyline, and good acting from Julianne Moore as Barbara Daly Baekeland. She was unpredictable and hot-tempered, which gradually takes its toil in her family. The characterizations are good and the story engaging with the themes of decadence, dysfunction and incest. The movie is unsettling and tragic, a cautionary film that examines the causes and results of the series of unfortunate events.

Read more...

Dinner and Movies (Part 1)

Met up with a bunch of aerospace people on friday night for dinner after work as it was the start of their 1 week break. Went to Vil'age at Heeren and NYDC next for dessert. Nice to see them as I haven't seen some of them for at least a few months.

Saturday, met up with Dz, Qy, Ys and Aaron for movies as Dz's cousin had the cheaper tickets for sale. We watched Underdog, a show about a dog which is accidentally genetically altered to possess superhuman strength and agility. It is taken care of by a kind-hearted security guard and a strong friendship develops between Underdog and the security guard's son. The mad scientist who altered the dog wants to find Underdog and lots of drama happen.

I did not like the show at all but i didn't hate it as much as i hated Rogue Assassin. The show has a bit of humour and light-heartedness which is definitely not enough to save the show but at least it didn't make me hate it. But the story is too ridiculous and i feel that the show should be restricted to children who are 10 years of age and below.

I dozed off for more than 5 times during the entire length of the show and i couldn't help my slight contempt towards the movie. Kids movies can be enjoyable and entertaining like Stuart Little, but this kid movie is dimwitted, paltry on action, and full of unoriginal and uninspiring scenes.

Read more...