Top Priority

As someone says, for me, Batman supercedes everything in this blog. Dang, I do agree with that :D

Anyway, I have to interrupt my recollection of my Middle East trip with my Dark Knight ramblings! Hahaha.. I just have to write my thoughts out on this movie. I do really feel like a geek when seeing the first sequence of the show. I was like "Oh my gawd, this could just be a dream! I'm here watching a Batman sequel! How can it beeee?" Well about a month ago I dreamt I was watching "The Dark Knight" and it totally sucked! Hahaha. Okay, the first sequence of the show didn't really appear like a Batman movie, and has a film noir feeling to it, which now I thought was really appropriate considering how Christopher Nolan would be taking us through the complexities of the world of Gothan City for the next 150 mins.

Joker appeared at about 5 mins into the show, and Batman at about 10 mins. Yes, I am a huge fan of Christian Bale, but I got to say that the Joker really steals the show. Oh man, his mannerism is so freaky and psycho, with non-stop mad giggling which either you'll find it frightening or sadistically amusing (which happened to me a few times). Heath Ledger's performance was truly a masterpiece. I do agree that, like what the cast said, that this movie is really a celebration of Heath's talent.

Considering how much spoilers I had seen for this movie (from the paparazzi and official behind-the-scene shots and the viral publicity campaign), I am really surprised at how Christopher Nolan still managed to keep everyone guessing on how the movie would progress. Based on the spoilers, some of my guess on the plot were right, but most of them were wrong! I was already amazed by the stuntwork while watching the official behind-the-scene shots (IMAX featurette for the Joker-Harvey chase scene), but now when I was watching that scene in the show, it made more sense, and I was left even more amazement. The best stunt work was arguably the flipping truck. Yes I had watched that scene a couple of times in the trailer, but seeing that on the full cinema screen, I just went "Whoa!"

Maybe you are surprised by why I haven't talked much about Christian Bale. Well, he looked consistently good in the show! :D So there wasn't really an "A-HA" moment where I thought "Oh mann he looks soo goooood!" (unlike the airplane scene in the Batman Begins.. or the memorable push-up scene hehehe).

I'm giving this movie a 5 stars out of 5. Which is the first time I have ever given to a movie. I am hoping to catch the movie again, so that I can digest the story more properly.. and feast my eyes more on Christian Bale :D Hopefully, after the 2nd watching, the 5 stars rating will remain! :) I really do hope that Chris Nolan will do at least one more Batman film!

P.S. Judging from what I read in Empire, Watchmen is likely to turn out as bloody as 300. Hmm, can't wait ;) *desire to read the graphic novel increases*

Movie Reviews

Time to catch up with movie reviews!

1. Sin City
2. Dreamgirls
3. The Lives of Others

Sin City (6.5 out of 10 stars)
Prior to watching this movie, I read a number of good reviews about it. I heard it was really loyal to the original comic book as well. So, as you would have guessed, I thought I would have liked the movie a lot. Well, the opposite is more true after I've watched the movie. Some parts of the movie is really boring, and kind of silly in some sense haha. I dozed off in the middle of "A Dame To Kill For", the part which has Clive Owen in it. You see, even Clive Owen can sustain my interest in some parts of the movie! Haha (though his red sneakers caught my fancy). Haha, anyway at least I learn some things about cinematography. The way they shot it kinda gives me some inspiration for photography. However, those photography ideas I'll only be able to carry out if I've managed to scrap enough money to buy professional lighting haha. In conclusion, this movie is not everyone's cup of tea. I guess the Sin City comic lovers would love it. That somewhat reminds me of something I read about 300.......


Dreamgirls (6.8 out of 10 stars)
First of all, do I think that this movie is overhyped? Well kind of, though not to the extent of Pan's Labyrinth in my honest opinion. Anyway, I still enjoy this movie! I thought the casting was perfect! You see after watching the movie, I thought Jennifer Hudson is a much much better singer than Beyonce Knowles. But.. come to think of it, Beyonce has more star power than Jennifer (well, at least at the moment). The costumes are nice too! I must salute the Dreamgirls for learning so much dance steps and songs O_O There are some parts of the show where I just wonder how on earth do they remember so many dance steps haha. However, there are some parts which I found quite boring, though at least I managed to get by it haha. Of course I thought of Jake Gyllenhaal when the song he sang in Saturday Night Live was sung (properly) by Jennifer Hudson (I've attached the Jake video below). At the end of the show, you'll realise that there are neither bad guys or good guys in the show actually haha.

The Lives of Others (7.5 out of 10 stars)

I never expected this movie to be really really good. I guess it really deserves the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Anyway, this is a German movie about a guy from the East Germany secret police who are tapping a couple consisting of a theatre actress and a playwriter. As the story progresses, he becomes more and more obsessed with their lives. Hence, the title of this movie. I love how the intricacy of the movie and how the different moods are conveyed in the movie. The story was kinda delicate, and though I found the ending was kinda draggy at first, the last scene of the movie kinda ties up the whole movie. Beware though you may have some questions left in you after the show. But the questions aren't that important, and are better left as mysteries in my opinion. Go and see this show if you like art films! (or even if you don't like art films, give it a shot! haha)


I'm going to watch 300 tomorrow... yippee!

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Last week was a really rollercoaster ride for me. There are things that I moan about, while there are also things that I cheer about. So today, the video for ACJC Science Research Symposium was finally presented.. and the response thankfully was good. Okay, beside having to make the video, a last minute thing popped up. Ahah. I have to talk more about it on the school stage during the assembly. In front of 1,500s pairs of eyes. Heh. It was quite an interesting moment. Well, let me tell you frankly. I sometimes thought that I have not ever gone up the ACJC stage to receive any prize... and kinda accepted the fact that I will not have to do it haha. Because I seldom join competitions heh. Drama... there are no real competitions. Academic-wise.. ehh... ya. I can't compete with the smart scienc-y, maths whiz kids haha. So yeah that kinda left me with practically zero chance of going up the stage. Hence the acceptance over the fact. So... today provides an interesting event for me. Now I understand when some people spoke of when they realised that a life changing event may occur soon. I got that feeling. Well speaking in front two thousands eyes doesn't really change your life. I was more afraid that mistakes I made on stage would remembered by many. So I guess if my life changed, it'll be for the worse haha. Thankfully I managed to brush aside that thought, and once I was on stage, the nerve kinda calms down. I just hate the build-up nervousness part. Well, mission accomplished :)

Last Saturday, I watched the Fountain. Which is superb and exceed my expectation. Ahh. Even if you're the kind who are really sick of lovey-dovey kind of film, well I guess at least you'll appreciate the visual experience this movie presents. The Fountain is about 3 parallel love stories between two characters played by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. In all of the stories, Hugh Jackman is trying to rescue Rachel Weisz from dying. The movie is presented in non-orderly manner, and I guess that helps to make the movie more interesting and less direct. I can't believe with all those visual stunner the movie only cost $40 million to make O_O Anyway, if you're an emotional kind of person, be prepared to feel depressed watching this movie. I cried watching this movie :'( Another fact that amazes me is how on earth Darren Aronofsky could link stories from Book of Genesis (Bible) and the Mayan belief to this story. Both really make good representations of one of the recurring theme in the movie, which is life versus death. Obviously the other theme is love. This movie to me is more of an unconventional love story. Oh ya for your information, Darren Aronofsky is Rachel Weisz's fiancee. I wonder what he thought when filming the bath tub scene haha. Hmm on the last note, let me warn you the ending is kinda weird and strange. But I guess it brings the movie to a full circle :) 7.0 stars out of 10. (Hope Aronofsky's next project won't took so much time to come out..).

After watching movies, my friends and I had dinner. And then some of us (3 to be exact) went bonkers after the dinner. Since the road between Orchard Road to Youth Park is closed, we decided to do some random stuff on the road. First, the move is quite a tame one. Just stretching your arms and smiling. Then it goes to sitting down and posing the zen position haha. I guess we're too inspired by Hugh Jackman's zen position in The Fountain. As we posed several times, we also have to be aware of cars coming out of Meritus Mandarin parking lot haha. Well in the end, 2 of my friends got freaked out and don't dare to do anything silly on the road :( Oh our attempt to recreate the Beatles crossing the road picture failed miserably haha.

Pictures are in order of being taken.. (i'm the photographer for most of them :P)

At first the idea isn't that crazy or dangerous..

Nas and Vithya scream all their might (no they didn't scream =])

Me.. trying to act like a tai tai with lots of bags haha.

Then the screamers become 3...

Trying to be Beatles... but the oncoming car doesn't want us to be Beatles..

Meditating in Orchard.. such a Unique experience.
(pun intended)

We have found peace in Orchard Road haha. (well not exactly, cause a group of people took picture of us doing this.. while after this other people began to copy our ideas haha)

10th February

So the weekend has finally arrived. Some interesting things happened this week. On Monday, I had to go to the Habitat for Humanities office to book the Batam slot. Their office is in Tanjong Pagar.. which led me to wonder if it's near Maxwell Food Centre. You see, there is this shop which sold nice Pisang Goreng in Somerset, but then it closed and moved to Maxwell Food Centre. So, I was really excited to go and buy the pisang goreng. On Monday morning, I was still not sure if I was that desperate to go and buy the pisang goreng. I really didn't know how far it'd be. In the end, my desperation got over me, and so I took 15 mintues walk from the office to the Food Centre. Ahh, once I bit the pisang goreng I thought it was all worth it... until I saw the address of another branch in the paper bag. "Tangs Orchard Basement 1". Hahahahahahaha.

Tuesday was reallllyyy interesting. I've been seeing this ACJC girls in the bus stop for the past few Tuesdays. I've only seen her this year. Then... this Tuesday because we missed 106, so we decided to take a Taxi together. We began to chat...

Girl: "Where do you stay?"
Me: "Leonie Hill Road"
Girl: "Ahhh me too. Which building?"
Me: "Grangeford"
Girl: "What? Me too.."

Hmm the coincidence doesn't end there. We chatted again after we got off the taxi..

Me: "Eh, which unit do you live in?"
Girl: "21-##.."
Me: "What the heck.. you live in Grangeford right?"
Girl: "Yaaa.."
Me: "I live in 21-#%..."

Hahahahahahah... Same building.. same level... and we never met the whole of last year. However, I found out yesterday from one of my friends, whom is also her friend, that she actually moved into the building only in the last half of last year. Hearing that, I feel somewhat less guilty haha.

I realised that now I got soooo many projects :s Let me list down..
1. Geog blog project
2. Econs project
3. National Weather Studies project
4. Science Research Syposium publicity project

I attended a briefing on this project called "Art Kicks Ass" organised by *scape and Singapore Arts Museum yesterday. The briefing was okay, very few people attended it (well, 4 to be exact including me). At first I really don't know what to do for the project.. because you're supposed to do a proposal on your project, and then the organisations will help to facilitate your project. Well, today while having dinner alone I somewhat got some ideas. Haha, I think I'll have to go Singapore Arts Museum first to see what they have there... and if I'm really serious with doing this, I'll have to begin pulling people in. I guess I'll think more of this project once Geog, Econs and Science Research project are over (they'll all be done by week 9, which is like 3 weeks away). By then I'll have more room to think.

I watched Half Nelson yesterday and Little Children today. Two very different kind of movies. Well, let me start with Half Nelson. The movie is very enjoyable. To me, the movie is rather unconventional, in the way it is shoot as well as the circumstances of the story. I guess the handheld shooting method gives a more intimate feel between the movie and audience. It gives the movie a documentary kind of mood and hence adding sense of reality in it. This movie succeeds in weaving different subjects together (eg. social issues, drug issue, friendship). The score and music somewhat adds mood to the movie. Ryan Gosling really brings humanity and vulnerability to the character. His character is somewhat someone whom some of us would have encountered in real life. Overall, a great original movie to watch. 7.0 out of 10.

Little Children in contrast deals with relationship affairs and pariahs of the society. There are two storylines in the movie. One is about a suburban housewife having an affair with a stay-home married man (Kate Winslet plays the housewife). The other one is about a former sex offender being ostracised by the community he moves into. I was absorbed by the movie for 3/4 of the movie. The last part of the movie was somewhat draggy, and at least the ending was okay, except for the ending given to the married man. That ending was rather disappointing. Other than that, I learnt some technical stuff through this movie. I would want to watch it again to write the technical details down. 7.0 out of 10.

That's all for now :)

The Curse Has Been Lifted...

Oh my, thank goodness the curse on Mondays have been lifted. I've been experienceing bad luck for the past 3 Mondays. I was so scared of what may happen today that I prayed to St. Jude and harder than usual. Phew. Hopefully there won't be any more trouble on Mondays.

Anyway, my weekend went well, considering I spent it all alone by myself haha (mom went back to Indo). So yeah, on Friday night I watched Pulp Fiction, which is dammmmnn good haha. I never expected of me liking it so much. Now that I thought of some of the scenes, I found them absolutely hilarious (though some are hilarious in crude manner haha). I don't really understand the R21 rating for Singapore. Well besides all the swearing (with thousands of f, mother and n words), and a bit of violence, I thought it doesn't deserve R21. I thought M18 would be more appropriate haha. Anyway, I think I learnt some points on filmmaking from this movie. I wouldn't mind watching it again. If I ever start keeping a logbook on learning points of movies, I've got this movie to thank for. Anyway, I'll give this movie 8.5 out of 10 stars :) (oh there's this one scene on a restaurant. I found the restaurant very cuteeeee. How I wish that restaurant exists in real life :( )

Gah, I'm excited about the Batam Trip. I'm still waiting some more forms from the person-in-charge. Sigh. Can't wait to complete the booking of slot thing and start looking for ways to raise funds.

Hmm, yesterday I was quite excited by the news that either Jamie Foxx or Edward Norton may be starring as one of the future villain in the Batman sequel. Ahh.. if Edward Norton stars in it, I shall rejoice like crazy. Bale + Norton *shrieks* Anyway, Katie Holmes will not be reprising her role.

Yesterday I learnt something interesting. Sometimes you tell a person of an outcome of a situation. But you only realise much later that that may not actually be the final outcome and the situation continues to develop. However, though the situation develops, its outcome remains the same as the first outcome (even though inside you wish that another outcome should have been produced). So even though you want to tell the person the progress of the situation, you see no point of telling it. Because whether you tell the person or not, the outcome would be the same. Haha. (hopefully you get my point haha).

Cheers.

9 Days Later...

9 Days later and I still can't forget you.

Well, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not in love with anyone! It's just the Muse concert and its impact. I never expected its impact to remain this strong until now. This is the first concert where such thing happen. I still smile when I thought of it. That night is amazing. And I've never been so motivated to practice piano so much.

Oh well, let me not bore you with my ramblings about Muse haha. Much exciting things have been going on for the past week. Well, exciting in a good and bad way. After going for an official detention for latecoming two weeks ago (yes, late for school and you go for DC straight away in the evening), my Geog teacher sent me for his own DC haha for not completing the Geog homework. I seriously didn't know his expectation. I wrote very little, and instead just did some bracketing on the notes (to point out where I can find the answer). And he was unhappy with that. Sighhhh. At least now I know his expectation haha.

On a good note, a group of friends and I have decided to organise a CIP outing to Batam for the organisation of Habitat for Humanities. I was thrilled to have the proposal for it appoved today yay! Now I have to think of ways to get sponsorships and fund raising haha. We need to raise at least $3500 for 3 nights 2 days trip. The sooner we can raise the fund, the better it would be.

I'm also planning to apply to be mentors for Peer Tutoring programme! I'm planning to tutor Maths. Ahhh so exciting :D I can't wait to begin (hmm, this may sound a bit odd of me to say it haha).

Today, I watched The Painted Veil. (Review starts here)Ahhh... it's so nice :D And Edward Norton is HOT, HOT and HOT. Okay, I do admit he looks kinda awful in the first half of the show with his extremely gelled hair. But the last half of the show.. let me just say I couldn't stop smiling and sighing haha. Anyway, not speaking of Edward, The Painted Veil is a beautiful movie. It was shot at the beautiful backdrop of Chinese countryside, and I guess the backdrop makes the plot more unique and complex. I like how the story progresses, and its pace was just right. This movie truly doesn't disappoint :D I'll give it 8.0 out of 10.

Speaking of movie, I watched Midnight movie for the first time in my life during the weekend. Since my mother got a free voucher for hotel, we stayed in the hotel over the weekend. I invited one of my friends to stay for one of the nights. And then we decided to watch Babel haha. Well, it's not as straightforward as it seems. At first, we watched Red Eye on HBO and enjoyed it. We thought that after Red Eyes, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho would be shown. Turns out it was another Psycho (with Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn haha). So we decided to try and watch 11 pm show for Babel. But it turns out that only the front row is left. So we picked the 1.40 am slot instead haha. I was damn happy that the ticket people didn't check ID haha. So happyyy (though I'm only about 1 month away from my bday hoho). Surprisingly, the theatre was full house. I really never expected that haha.

So how was Babel? (Review starts here) It is good, though I think it could be better in some ways. As some of you might have known, the story involves 4 countries. I found the Japanese section the most touching part. I like how it uses actions to describe the feelings of frailness and loneliness. The other sections are nice as well, though I found some parts extremely draggy, because you can kinda predict what will happen next. The cinematography is amazing as well. Rich, vivid, contrasting colours against dim settings to convey the different emotions. I had just realised today that I guess the theme for this movie shouldn't be language barrier, as marketed or as the title suggests. The movie doesn't really potray this issue I guess. Desperation would be one theme which think all the sections can relate to. 7.0 stars out of 10.

Yesterday when I was going home I finally had an idea of what I could write if ever I want to write a movie script next time. I really didn't know that the GP Mass Media reading package would have such an impact on me :P The story would involve several main characters and their lives in some sense. I feel that the issue would not be covered enough with just one character. I wouldn't say the specific issue of the script (though I'm quite surprised why there hasn't been any movies so far on the topic... maybe in the future considering one ongoing saga about it. Well, that's a major clue for you =)

I'll stop here. More next time :)

Hello World

Hello. Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I’ve been lazing around in Jakarta. I've just changed to the new Blogger. So far so good. I haven't really explored it in depth.

Here are some key words of what I’ve been doing for the past 13 days:
-Katamari Damaichi (this Japanese rolling game in PS2)
-The Right Word (the ultimate GP vocab book! *note the sarcasm*)
-Differential Equation (oh I don’t mind doing Maths for homework)
-GP essay outlines (somebody must be sick of this word *winks*)
-Final Fantasy XII (I just found out 2 days ago that one of my eyecandies is playing this game too O_O how interesting)
-Buying pirated DVDs (well, I counted and it’s about 8-9 DVDs)

I hate to admit it that I’ve not been watching many movies lately. Well, it’s one movie in 13 days O_O Such a shame thing to say for a movie aficionado. I need to watch more movies! At least I watched that movie yesterday. It was Brick! I’ve been wanting to watch this movie for ages *shrieks* Well, it lives up t

o my expectation, I’m glad to say that (you don’t know how disgusted I was with Happy Feet after being totally let down by it). The ending is sweet but kinda astonishing.

(The movie is reviewed below)

I've been playing Final Fantasy XII like crazy. Yesterday I played 7 hours O_O Today I played 5 hours. I'm trying to curb my time with PS2. I want to watch more movies and do more maths! I hope I can finish with Maths by Friday. Then I can do GP comprehension haha.

By the way, the next thing I'm gonna tell you might surprise you. I'm.. going.. Hong Kong again! Hahahaha. I know, the last time I visited it was last month. But, this time I may be going to China via Hong Kong. So I may be spending only 2-3 days in Hong Kong, while the rest of the trip in China. I think I'll mos

t probably be back by 28 December. This is because I need to do some Internet homework. Ughh.. it sucks when I can't really do it in Jakarta. The Econs Breeze wouldn't just work. Might be because of Zonealarm (it's a firewall programme). But, my bro's com doesn't have Norton. So I can't turn it off. Gah.

Let me leave you with some nice movie pictures. Such pictures do inspire me of studying Cinematography (which is kind of like Photography in the form of film) after my masters hopefully.

From Manhattan, directed by Woody Allen

Brick by Rian Johnson

I still can't find Casino Royale's gunbarrel shot (clear version). I just loveee that picture.

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Movie Review
Brick (8.0 stars out of 10)
There’s a lot of hype for this movie from magazines and movie websites. I guess it really deserves it. This movie feels fresh for me, maybe it’s because I never thought that the mystery detective genre can be set in high school. If you’re wondering what Brick is, well it refers to a brick of drugs (marijuana some sort?). The ending leaves me very surprised. There’s one scene towards the end that makes me go “Oh.. my.. gawd..” because of how fast it happened. Ehm, if you’re wondering whether this movie is too serious for you, well I don’t think it’s too serious to be watched by teenagers. I enjoyed this show thoroughly.