Author: Wilfrid

Categories
Diary

Two Israelis And A Singaporean In An Organic Tussle – Of Salt And Butter, Diamond Dust And Cucumber Gel

We human beings feed on social interaction, however much we think we prefer to live the life of a hermit.  That probably explains why today I have finally decided to stop, turn around, and greet the foreign looking salesman whom I always see in this favorite mall of mine when he shouted out loud at my direction, “Hi, can I ask you a question?”.  I was alone in the mall, yearning for human interaction.  Singapore is saturated with people on the streets, in the malls trying to sell something.  The other day, in the same mall, some salespersons eagerly asked me to sign up for a credit card.  I looked closer and realized that they represented my bank.  So I stopped and gave them a brief team talk to boost their morale.  Have you eaten?  This late you are still here, you must be the hardworking type!  Do you enjoy what you are doing?  How many customers sign up for our credit cards a day?  Where will your next roadshow be? They must have thought that I was some big shots in the bank.  No matter.  They felt happy that someone stopped and chatted, unlike 99.99% of the people they hassled.

Back to the story of today, I stopped in front of this organic beauty care store.  The friendly salesman is from Israel, has lived in Singapore for six months.  And we clicked, like long lost friends.  “How old are you?” he asked.  “Old,” I gave him the standard answer like I do to all those who are curious about my age.  “Let me guess, 40?”

FORTY?!

Wow, he was good.  My skin is that … bad?  Immediately I felt the desperate need to stock up some skin care products.  I am still far away from that four-O.  Please.  As a polite Singaporean, I did not shame our nation by losing my temper.  Instead, I smiled, “After 25, I stopped counting”.  He paused and answered, “Ah.  As for me, I am still counting!”

Great, a young handsome dude who by the way, if I was wearing skirt, I would have gotten head over heels, devouring everything that he offered.  Especially when he offered to give me his phone number much later on.

Like a magician, he took out a small white jar and showed me the content.  “What do you think this is,” he asked.  I took a peep and saw some bright green gel looking stuff.  “Erm, no idea.  It looks very green,” I replied.

“This … is cucumber,” announced him.

“Really?!  That is cucumber?” looking dumbfound I stared at the jar.  I truly could not make out the connection.  Neither did the vast difference in the shade of green helped.

“Do you know what is a cucumber?” asked him.  OK.  I really hoped that this was going somewhere.  He then asked me to show him my wrist and before I could protest, he applied some of the bright green gel onto my wrist while explaining to me why cucumber was chosen as the magic component.  After half a minute, he started to rub my wrist with his thumbs really hard.  He then asked, “What do you see?”  Quite frankly, I saw lumps of green stuffs on my wrist.

“This is the cucumber going into seven layers of your skin and mine and [it extracts] all the dirt and oil [inside],” said the Israeli salesman.

My skin and yours now in green lumps?! On my wrist?  Gross!

He then took out a piece of cotton, removed the green lumps from my wrist, and asked me to compare my right wrist with my left.  “Can you see the difference?”

“I see one wrist is greener than the other.”  No kidding.  Imagine applying that to my face.  By the way, that was a no-scrubbing-needed-exfoliatiing-facial-product.  He then applied some moisturizer cream onto both of my wrists and asked, “Can you tell the difference?”

To be honest, the wrist with the seven layers of dirt and oil exfoliated absorbed the moisturizer cream much better than the wrist without.  My skin looked fairer too.  At that moment, I was sold.  Even though at the back of my mind, I was not sure how Cynthia would react to I turning into a green Hulk once a week.  So I asked, “How much does it cost?”

“One hundred and forty dollars,” he answered.  “You see, these are organic products from Australia.  No chemical.  Do you know how much does an organic melon cost?  Forty dollars!”.

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY BUCKS for that?! And no.  I would not wish to eat a forty dollars melon.  That moisturizer costs more than a hundred bucks too.

Sensing that I might need some time to digest the three digits figure, he moved onto the next product and asked, “How often do you shower?”

How often do I shower?  What sort of question is that?!  How often do Singaporeans shower in general?

“Once a month,” I answered.

“Really?!”  It was his turn to be dumbfound.  Ha!

“How often should I shower?” I queried.

“Once a week?” he joked while showing me a much larger jar full of what appeared as salt.

“Hold you hands over the sink,” he commanded.  I hesitated for a bit but my curiosity got the better part of me.  He proceeded to spray some water onto my hands and scooped a spoonful of salt onto my hands.

“Now rub your hands like how you wash them after you use the bathroom.  You do wash your hands [after you use the bathroom], yes?”

Wow.  I began to wonder if it was due to the wrong impression he has on Singaporeans or in Israel, people don’t shower nor wash their hands often.

I rubbed my hands with salt.  Gosh, that felt really rough.  By the time he washed the salt off my hands, I was shocked by how smooth my skin felt!   Like a baby!  I really loved the product.  The Israeli salesman then applied some body butter onto my hands.  Are these really my hands?! Imagine what this salt and butter could do to the entire body.  Hundred and one sexual fantasies had immediately flooded my mind.

“When was the last time you wash your hand?” asked he.

Is that a trick question?  He then asked me to look into the sink, specifically at the pool of water gathered after he washed the salt off my hands.  Yuck! The water was gray in color.  Again, sold.  I asked for the price and he replied, “The salt is S$140 and the body butter is S$120.”  And he was willing to throw in the green gel and the moisturizer for free.

SO MUCH FOR BUTTER AND SALT?! No way.

Soon, the reinforcement arrived.  She too is from Israel – I presume – as they were locked into a foreign language that I could not decipher.  Again, she asked how often I shower.  Hmmm.  Did I smell that bad?  I tried to explain to them that in no way I could spend hundreds of dollars on some beauty products without getting Cynthia’s buy-in.  There are hundred and one ways to say no.  Delegation to a higher authority is one.  The Israeli saleswoman immediately responded.  She asked how many women I have at home.  I took a big gulp and answered: officially one?  She showed me something that looked like a rubber we use in school and asked me to hold out my fingernail.  “Do you know what this is?” asked her.  Israelis must be the intellectual bunch.  I have not been so mentally challenged by a sales pitch for a long time.

“This is [made of] diamond dust,” said she while rubbing the rubber against my index fingernail in really fast motion.  “Organic diamond dust,” added she.  Erm.  I would have thought diamond is … inorganic?

“Woah!  It is getting hot!” gasped I.

“Oops!  Is it because of me or this?” she laughed and slowed down the rubbing a bit.  When she showed me the result, I was tongue-tied.  My index fingernail was smooth and shiny.  Very shiny.  So shiny that it stood out like a sore thumb next to nine dull looking fingernails.  I needed to unshine my fingernail!  Now!

To be honest, the process was pretty complex.  She had to rub my fingernail with one side of the diamond dusted rubber, and then use another side, and then applied some cream, and then repeat.  I looked confused by the process and she said, “See the erection?”

“The what?!”

“Erection.”

“THE WHAT?!”

“Erection,” said she as she pointed at the instruction menu printed on the box.  “Oh, direction,” I said with a big relief.  Israelis have an interesting accent.

The whole idea of the fingernail polishing demonstration was that I could spend hundreds of dollars on salt and butter (for me) and have the fingernail polishing pack free as a gift to Cynthia.  I must say that it was one brilliant piece of marketing strategy.  Throughout the half an hour interaction, I tried my very best to will one of my friends to ring my wireless phone so that I could step aside to take the call and then disappear into the crowd.  That did not happen.  After a tussle that lasted for more than half and hour, I did not buy anything from them.  I was hungry and I bought some food to eat instead.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Mini Shopaholic By Sophie Kinsella – Hilarious!

I have a little confession to make.  I have read all of Sophie Kinsella‘s books.  The entire Shopaholic series and the rest of the non-Shopaholic series.  The only books of hers I have not read are her earlier works written under her real name Madeleine Wickham.  I have been doing some soul searching lately.  Does that make me a fan of chick lits?  I think I am more a fan of chick flicks than chick lits, more a fan of  Sophie Kinsella than chick lits.  In fact, I don’t recall reading other click lit writers.  Perhaps I haven’t opened my eyes wide enough.

Onto the 10 years running of the Shopaholic series and onto the 6th book in the series, the heroine of the story Becky Brandon née Bloomwood is back.  And it should come with no surprise that it is a story of Becky’s motherhood.  The development of the entire series has been predictable thus far.  For those who have finished reading the book, we can guess with certainty what the next book is about.

Back to “Mini Shopaholic”.  If you have found the character Becky irritating, you are not going to fall in love with her in this 6th installment.  If you have been accepting her misguided, unpolished, impulsive, and foolish attributes but yet warmed by her tenacity and her refusal to give in no matter how insurmountable the situation seems, you would continue loving her in this book.

I would not divulge too much of the story here.  It is as usual drama filled.  I found myself laughing out loud while reading the book – very often.  That rules out the possibility of reading the book in public or when Cynthia was sleeping.  Sophie Kinsella is gifted as a storyteller.  This book is a page turner.  The characters and down to the clearly chosen company names are memorable.  New to this book are the references to the online technology such as YouTube, Facebook, and Google.  Even down to the modern word usage of unfriend and un-anything (by the way, I find her choice of word “disinvite” strange compares to the more commonly used “uninvite”).  The main character Becky has grown up too.  The center theme is less on the drama caused by the shopping addiction like time and time in the past but on something else.  And I would say the story is more about anti-shopping, more about developing relationship with families and friends.  Sure, Becky still gets herself into unthinkable situations.  Overall, I still enjoy reading Becky’s story no less, looking forward to the next installment.

I suspect for those who take things quite seriously in life may find this book silly and ridiculous.  To me, there are books written for more serious readers.  As for “Mini Shopaholic”, let out a little bit of laughter, loosen up, and the end game is to have fun!  Now, for those who are new to the Shopaholic series, should you start with this one or to start from the beginning?  In theory, you could read “Mini Shopaholic” first because Sophie Kinsella has done a decent job in re-introducing the existing characters as well as recapping on some of the past key events.  However, coming from a fan of the series, one ought to start from the very beginning.

Categories
Diary Photography Travel Blog

On Day 6 and 7, We Have Visited Nice and Monaco

With a blink of an eye one month has passed since I have written an article for our recent trip to France.  So much have happened in the last one month.  We have visited Hong Kong.  There has been a good lineup of blogger events.  Our Spanish class has moved up one level.  My reading passion has been reignited.  And of course, away from home for a week makes me miss my video gaming hobby even more.  Catching up on the TV recording of How I Met You Mother takes up time too.

This weekend is a bizarre weekend.  I had this strange flu like the one I had in Hong Kong.  It got quite bad and I reckon it was due to my sensitive nose.  It disappeared as silently as it arrived.  Cynthia blamed it to the evening we had spent in Kazbar.  We seldom have a Friday date, just the two of us.  We often spend time with our friends or stay at home.  Since she worked late, I took the golden opportunity to sip beer in a pub, read a book while waiting.  We ordered some Mediterranean food when Cynthia arrived.  I love the candle light dinner with the belly dancer occasionally came out and danced in front of the crowd.  I admired the sensational dancer while she fixed her attention to Cynthia.  I think that is a win-win-win situation if you think deeper, logically deeper.  Saturday morning we had a breakfast date with my niece Bethany at the Botanic Gardens.  It was her 9-month birthday (I can always trust my beloved little sister to come out with all kinds of reasons for celebration).  I was so excited that I woke up an hour before the alarm rang.  The breakfast was great except I was quite concerned on the number of dogs around us.  Some were so huge!  If I was a baby, I would have freaked out.  But not little Bethany.  She wanted to hug one.

If you think that watching F1 on TV is boring, try staring at the TV for two hours waiting for the rain to stop.  It was raining in Japan and the one hour F1 qualifying session on Saturday was delayed for two hours and then canceled.  In the evening, like every other evening these days, I teamed up with my buddy to play Starcraft II.  We love the game and we are visibly getting better at it.  On the topic of video gaming, I am being selected to participate in a closed beta testing for a racing game Test Drive Unlimited 2.  Unlike the last closed beta testing I did, there is only a window of time whereby testers from all around the world can participate.  Naturally, like any global conference calls, it takes place in some wee hours.  But I am not complaining.  It has been a fun experience so far.

Back to the travel journal, we have moved onto the second leg of our journey and into the south of France we went.  There are so much to see, so many places to visit.  Interestingly, Cynthia booked us into a rented apartment in Nice.  The pros?  We had lots of space and could do our laundry.  The cons?  We had to do one round housecleaning before returning the keys.  And that, you can read more in various ways:

Categories
J Pop Music Reviews

Anna Tsuchiya – Rule – Coming Out From The Nana Personality

I was so excited about Anna Tsuchiya (土屋アンナ) so much so that when Amazon.co.jp alerted me of her 3rd album, I quickly dived in and made a purchase, when I was holidaying in Hong Kong.  Much cheaper than to buy the imported version in a local music store.  Much faster too.  It takes ages for Japanese albums to appear on the shelf here in Singapore.  I inquired.  And learned that HMV Singapore is of a retail outlet status.  Versus HMV Hong Kong, which is a distributer.  Apparently, if the disc comes with a DVD – which is very common for Japanese music – HMV Singapore has to wait until the distributor distributes.  I was used to blame the censorship board for the delay.  Now I know better.

In her first two albums – Strip Me? and Nudy Show! – Anna Tsuchiya was behind the persona of the famous Japanese anime character Nana.  A punk rocker.  Playing catchy upbeat rock songs.  “Rule” is her first album ventured outside ‘the voice of Nana’.  And it probably comes with no surprise that “Rule” is slightly different from her first two.  Her collaboration with the Japanese jazz instrumental band PE’Z has added one jazz track (“暴食系男子!!”) into her new album.  Then there is a theatrical themed song.  And one song (“Shout In The Rain”) with a sound texture that resembles the American rock bank Evanescence.  That song also reminds me of the style of other Japanese singer Oliver Lufkin (from the same anime).

It took me a little while to get used to her new personality and her expanded music direction.  I am delighted that her music has grown.  The album comes with a DVD that contains 5 music clips.  To be frank, I was hoping that my favorite tracks “Human Clay”, “Guilty”, and the slow song “Voice of Butterfly” would be featured as singles.  They are really catchy.

To showcase one of my favorite videos, here is a slow song called “Believe In Love”.

Categories
Reflection

I Blog Because …

My blogger buddy Walter has written an excellent post on why he blogs regularly.  I have been wanting to write a similar topic for ages.  So why not do it now?

I blog because … I am highly imaginative?

  1. I have this special ability to look pass the pathetic statistics and number of comments in my website and visualize millions of fans waiting eagerly for what I am going to post next.  You hear right!  I do it for the people.  In fact, I am so psyched by my vision that I manage to psych those who are around me.  Some think that I am a celebrity blogger.  Erm.
  2. I have this vision that one day in the very distant future, when our planet would be populated by another species that replace homo sapiens, in one of the dig sites, they would discover a hard disk that would date back to our present era.  Inside, they would find my website.  And I would have become legendary.  Pretty much like the dinosaur bones now displayed in the museums.  Note: This inspires my doodle above titled “Original Disk”.
  3. I love to do voluntary work.  In the old days, people were happy to pay for things that they consumed.  Nowadays, from music albums to books, from recent movie blockbusters to daily news, people want to consume things for free – legally or illegally.  Most bloggers write for free.  Because we love what we do.  In fact, I have this vision that at the pinnacle of our civilization, none of us would work for money.  Money would vaporize.  How nice?

I blog because … I am a dreamer?

  1. I have this dream.  One day I will be a writer.  Like a real writer who writes books that people read and critic.  I have no idea how to get there although I do have millions of ideas in my head.  I reckon if I keep writing, every other day, if I keep on practicing, by the power of some cosmic random events, I might have my dream comes true.  And then I can quit my day job, do my writing in some exotic locations sponsored by my publisher.  Wouldn’t life be lovely?
  2. I see my website as the incubator for my budding hobbies, my decades old hobbies.  Publishing my work online forces me to keep doing it and doing it better.  Sure, some hobbies may take a nosedive.  Like the gazillion number of fans and friends who recently ask: What happens to your band?  Do you still jam? Sure, it feels crap every time when I have to explain why our band is in hiatus.  But in the long run, this invisible support, my commitments made public, all crystallized into an invisible cane that keep me going.
  3. Oh yes.  If my writing career does not work out, may be I could be a musician?  A professional doodler?  A Spanish video blogger?  Well …

For all practical reasons and beyond …

  1. I keep a website to keep track on what I do over the years.  I would feel empty if decades pass by and I have no recollection on what I have done, what I have tried to do.  Sure, we should live in the present.  But the past is just as important.  That is why there is a degree called History.  Uh huh?
  2. The difference between an offline diary and an online diary, to me, is vast.  Because I have an online diary, I strive to live an interesting and inspiring life each and every day.  Otherwise, I would have nothing interesting and potentially inspiring to write online.  Yes?
Categories
I See I Write

Transforming Into National Art Gallery, Singapore

Early last month, I have attended a blogger event at the former Supreme Court and City Hall that soon to be transformed into the new National Art Gallery.  Now that the media embargo is lifted, I am here to share with you some photos I have taken, a fly-through video made by the National Art Gallery team, and an opportunity to sign-up for a guided tour to visit this heritage site before the transformation.  From what I envisage so far, this is monumental.  I am proud that we are adding an iconic museum in Singapore … right in front of the F1 track.  Perhaps I shall start drawing some F1 inspired paintings and get them exhibited in National Art Gallery one day.  Ha!

The event was in the late evening.  The rain lately had cast doubt on whether we could admire the sunset from the former Supreme Court.  Fortunately, the weather held up.  After a brief buffet meal by the tall glass windows sealed by the authority that overlooked Padang, we were invited into a conference room and had the opportunity to hear more about the future of National Art Gallery.

Our guided tour began with a climb to the dome of the former Supreme Court.  It was quite an adventure on its own.  The narrow steel spiral staircase looked old – I suppose it comes with the heritage of time – and after going through what appeared as the internal roofing of the building vaguely lit up by some flood lights, we emerged at the bottom of the dome (photo as above).  There were some flying animals in the dark.  We exited the dome and were greeted by the skyline of Singapore.  The business district and the nearby historical buildings.  What a beautiful sight!

OK.  By the time we came down, I thought the tour was almost over (as we had a fair bit of climbing, a fair bit of chit-chat).  But there was a lot more to come as the visit to the dome was especially prepared for the bloggers and media friends – a prelude!  We have visited the Chef Justice’s Court Room and his private chambers.  We have taken the route of the alleged offenders through the tunnels that linked the court rooms and the cells.  We have also visited the “grandest room” in Singapore where the Japanese surrendered to the Allied Forces and where our first Prime Minister and Cabinet took their Oaths of Allegiance to the State.  If you too wish to experience these rare moments in time, you may wish to sign up for the open house event.  Due to overwhelming response, National Art Gallery has added new slots for the English guided tour on 16 and 17 October 2010.  Ready your cameras and witness part of our history!  I too have taken some photos and have included the captions here for sharing.

  1. This dome shaped structure is mysteriously beautiful at night.  To be honest, I was puzzled by what the flying animals were.  I tried not to open my mouth as I looked up.  But it was hard.
  2. This is the skyline of Singapore as seen at the dome.  Below us, the preparation work for F1 had begun.  I tried to beg for a standing space during the Singapore F1 race.  But that did not work.
  3. This stone was laid on April 1937.  I was told that underneath the stone was a mysterious item to be retrieved in 3000 AD.  I wish I had pay more attention to the guided tour on what it is.  If you do visit the guided tour, drop me a comment here on what it is please?
  4. This is quite a scary walk.  We were led from the courtroom, through the tunnels, and into the prison cells.  It was the first time I saw a door not standing vertically but laying flat on the floor.
  5. OK.  Here we went.  As you can see, I was the first one being escorted into this high security area.  I gently reminded the beloved tour guide not to close the gate behind me.  I still wanted to go home and see my wife tonight, I said to her.
  6. This, my friends, is a real life prison cell.  The toilet flashing system is outside the cell, triggered by the guards I suppose.  The organizer joked that we could spend a night here.  Erm.  No thank you?
  7. Looking up at the ceiling of the courtroom, I marveled at the elegance.  However, imagine when this courtroom was in operation, the last thing people would see was the ceiling, I reckon.  Order!  Order!
  8. This is a library.  I cannot wait to see how this beautiful area will be transformed into when National Art Gallery is completed.

Curious on what the new museum will look like?  Below is an artist interpretation of the museum, courtesy of National Art Gallery.  More details can be found in here.

Categories
Diary

Titled Nightmares – A Doodle

If you are amongst the rare ones who follow my doodling career, you may realize that this picture contains quite a fair bit of detail.  Quite possibly one of the more ambition drawings I have worked on to date.  It is titled “Nightmares”.  One early morning, before the break of dawn, before the train started to operate, in our bedroom that was dark and quiet and inviting for a few extra moments of sleep before the screaming of the alarms at seven o’clock, I felt someone was frantically grabbing me.  I woke up, could not go back to sleep.  Cynthia woke up, realized that it was a nightmare, and went back to sleep.  Hence this doodle.  With me, eye wide open and her, eye wide shut.

In the morning, I asked what happened.  Cynthia rarely dreams.  But when she dreams, she always finds herself running away from something.  This time, her dream has something to do with knives and cut wounds on the arms.  Many knives, many arms.  Hence, the right side is composed as such together with the arms inside her head.  But as you can see, the arms and knives that appeared so real to her were merely illusions to me.  Hence the abstractly looking, distorted arms and knives on the left side of the composition.  I like symmetry.  Round about the same period of time, I had my share of nightmares.  About work.  About people from work.  There are four unnamed colleagues who are especially scary.  Hence the four figures inside my head.

OK.  There is a bed with a headboard too.  In case if you wonder what it is.

Categories
Linguistic

We Played Scrabble In Spanish ~ Jugamos Scrabble En Español

This is like a dream comes true.  After two years and two months of learning Spanish, we are able to play Scrabble, in a Spanish style.  On the last revision lesson before heading to the next module – Higher Intermediate 1 – our teacher Alejandra asked if the four of us wished to try out Scrabble.  And we said sure thing!  Cynthia and I have tried to play Spanish Scrabble using an English set when we were at Fraser’s Hill earlier on this year.  It did not work.  A correct alphabet set is important.  Perhaps we shall import a Spanish set and make it a habit to play Scrabble with our classmates.

In this particular game, we have formed 46 words with a combined score of 408 (lots of room for improvement!).  Needless to say, due to my not-too-fantastic linguistic ability, I got the lowest score – by a mile.  The other three were doing really well!  Nevertheless, I participated in almost all the rounds, with words that I know.  Just that the words that I know are not too … long.  For my readers who are studying Spanish and for my future reference, here is a list of words we used (some words we have repeated).

  1. Al (=a el) – To The
  2. Ama (de casa) – Housewife
  3. Baños – Bathrooms
  4. Caen (~caer) – They Fall
  5. Cerdo – Pork
  6. Cree (~creer) – He or she believes
  7. De – Of
  8. Del (=de el) – Of the
  9. Di (~dar) – I gave
  10. El – The
  11. En – In
  12. Ex – Ex
  13. Fue (~ir) – He or she went
  14. Gas – Gas
  15. Gasa – Bandage
  16. Ha (~haber) – He or she has
  17. Hice (~hacer) – I did
  18. Iba (~ir) – I or he or she had gone
  19. Ir – To go
  20. La – The
  21. Lee (~leer) – He or she reads
  22. Luna – Moon
  23. Mala – Bad
  24. Mi – My
  25. Muchos – A lot
  26. Ocho – Eight
  27. Ojo – Eye
  28. Oye (~oír) – Hey
  29. Ponga (~poner) – To put (subjective for he or she)
  30. Por – For
  31. (Mira de) Reojo – To look obliquely
  32. Rio – River
  33. Sale (~salir) – He or she left
  34. Sepa (~saber) – To know (subjective for I or he or she)
  35. Sepan (~saber) – To know (subjective for they)
  36. Serán (~ser) – They will be
  37. Si – If
  38. Sierra – Mountain range
  39. Sur – South
  40. Ti – You
  41. Tio – Uncle
  42. Van (~ir) – They go
  43. Vez – Time (as in frequency)
  44. Ya – Already
Categories
Comedy Movie Reviews

Dinner for Schmucks – Laughed Till My Face Went Numb

Again, thanks to Omy.sg, we were invited for an exclusive preview of “Dinner for Schmucks” at Iluma.  I think Omy.sg loves me, and I love Omy.sg the same.  I picked “Schmucks” because it is mid week and I reckon I need some comedy.  The movie is not perfect.  But it delivers.  Cynthia and I had a hearty fun time.

We love Steve Carell, the 40 years old virgin and the Tripplehorns.  And in “Schmucks”, he plays the role of an idiot.  Or so it seems by and large as there is a deeper debate on who are the schmucks, which I would not want to spoil your fun watching this movie.  Steve is a talented comedian.  He can play any role and be convincing.  We also love the other lead actor Paul Rudd who has acted in “I Love You, Man”.  If you enjoy watching Western comedy, putting the two together can be quite a treat.  The surprise to us is the talented New Zealander Jemaine Clement from “Flight of the Concords“.  His airtime in this movie is way too little.  I really wish that he had a more significant role to play.  The spooky yet hilarious Kristen Schaal too from “Concords” is also involved in this movie, together with a quality team of comedians too long to be listed here.

From the story writing point of view, “Schmucks” is not going to be memorable.  Rarely comedy films do.  The middle part of this 114 minutes film could be quite awkward to watch, though hilarious.  Because it can be quite … stupid (the young girl next to me were laughing and screaming “It is so stupid” at the same time, all the time – which is quite funny on its own).  The good news is that it has a quality ending and some of the jokes are original.  And if you are not in a hurry to leave the theater at the end of the show (interestingly many people here do), there is a tiny bit of extra clip after the end credits.

If I could single out one thing I wish to complement, that would be those miniaturized mouse models.  So beautifully made, so heartwarming / heart wrenching to look at.  I seriously think that the filmmakers should sell the replicas of these models as merchandise.  I would want to get some.  The choice of soundtrack is good too.  Need a good brainless laugh?  I doubt “Schmucks” would disappoint.  I laughed till my face went numb.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Nothing To Envy By Barbara Demick – A Look Inside North Korea Through 1 City, 6 Main Characters

This is indeed an outstanding work of journalism, the second of the two books I bought at the airport.  The book title “Nothing To Envy” is taken from one of the frequently used propaganda messages in North Korea.  Due to the restricted media access, much of what life is like inside North Korea is sealed off from the rest of the world.  Except perhaps Pyongyang that is staged to impress the international media.  Prior to reading this book, I only had a limited understanding of North Korea: a communist country that is poor, with her leader rather spends the resources on nuclear weapon than food and a country that is labeled as evil by the Bush administration.  But there is much more than that.

To tell the story of North Korea, the author has chosen one city – Chongjin – that is far away from Pyongyang, relatively inaccessible by the media, and was used to be a place for the exiled officials.  Chongjin is the third largest city in North Korea close to the Chinese and Russia borders and has important role to play during the Korea War.  To tell the story of the North Koreans, the author has chosen six North Koreans who came from the same city, Chongjin, and now defected.    To prepare for this book, the author has interviewed over a hundred North Koreans who have defected to either China or South Korea, made nine trips to North Korea between 2001 to 2008, and has reviewed some of the rare to obtain video footages and still photographs.  At the beginning of each chapter, a black and white photography is shown.  The one that has the most impact to me is the satellite image of Korea peninsula at night.  While the majority of South Korea is lit up at night, the entire North Korea is engulfed in darkness with a tiny dot of light at Pyongyang.  The entire country with a population of 23 million is out of electricity (out of food for that matter).  You may wish to stop for a moment and ponder upon what it means.

From the narration point of view, the author has done an excellent job in keeping the story fresh and accessible to the readers.  It is still a dry topic – the history of Korea War, the economic and social outlook from 1960s to today, the regime under Kim Il-sung, the famine of the 1990s, and the life as a North Korean today.  What the author manages to do is that through the main characters whom she interviewed and kept in touch over the years and through the stories told by the family and friends of these characters – a compelling story is weaved in telling what real lives in North Korea are like.  As an icing on the cake, there is even an element of romance in “Nothing To Envy”.  I could not help but to scream (in my head of course): There she has it, a wining story.  What it also means is that Barbara Demick has built a trusting rapport at a personal level to not only pry open what lives are like in North Korea, but also get them talking about the happiest and most painful moments of their lives.  No wonder the characters come alive with so much intimate details.

The characters chosen in the book are of a diversed background.  Some are of a relatively upper class while some are of the lower class.  Some have relatives in Japan, China, or South Korea.  In terms of people’s jobs, there is a miner, a school teacher, a young scientist, a factory worker, a doctor, and etc.  Each story thread has a moving story on why most initially vowed loyal to the Fatherland (as part of the indoctrination process that is probably hard to imagine for the outsiders), how they have to adapt and endure when the situation in North Korea has deteriorated a great deal, and how eventually they made it out of North Korea as defectors.

So what do I get out of “Nothing To Envy”?  At the macro level, I learn that against all odds, North Korea has survived the breaching of the Berlin Wall, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the market reforms in China, the death of Kim Il-sung, the famine of the 1990s, and the two terms of George W. Bush’s presidency.  At the micro level, I have a better understanding on the indoctrination process powered by the North Korean media propaganda reinforced by neighbor watch and police force, the tragic reality of famine when people have to hunt for grass and weed and tree barks to eat as the last resort (many babies died because they were unable to digest these food) and the desperate things they did for food.  There is also good insight during and after the death of god-like dictator Kim Il-sung, on how the social landscape has shifted and how the illegal free market was born out of necessity when totalitarianism collapsed.  It is a painful revelation when some of the North Koreans have come face to face with the reality that the world outside has – in contrary to what they were made to believe – progressed while North Korea simply stuck at the 1960s.  How some of the North Koreans managed to flee the country as traders or even brides only to be caught and sent to the labor camps back in North Korea and then once out of the camps, they tried fleeing again.  One of the most relevant insights – to me – is how the North Koreans who are defected to South Koreans eventually settled down and tried to come to term with a reality, having to face free choices rather than the government to dedicate all that they do and receive.  Because that could well be a reality in the future should North Korea collapse one day.  To end this brief book summary, I would like to quote the author:

While the persistence of North Korea is a curiosity for the rest of the world, it is a tragedy for North Koreans, even those who have managed to escape.