Category: My Opinion

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Bodyguards And Assassins – One Shouldn’t Be Missed This Year, To Me

On the same day we were supposed to meet with our friend on his birthday to watch this film, I was reading “Superfreakonomics” in the morning.  In this new chapter, it says we often complain about how the old days are better, but more often so it is not the case.  After the film, I thought: What if web conferencing was a reality in 1905?  For the 1 hour meeting Sun Yat-sen has with the revolutionists in Hong kong, so many people are willing to put their lives on the front line to make it happens.  Apparently, I was not the only one who thinks that way after the show.

“Bodyguards and Assassins” has a few good surprises to me.  Cynthia and I were supposed to give it a miss as we were more interested in procuring the tickets for “Avatar”.  Not surprisingly, “Avatar” is full house all the way till Christmas and beyond.  Instead, TK picked “Bodyguards and Assassins”.  The storyline is epic, the costumes in the backdrop of 1905 Hong Kong are convincingly authentic, the acting quality of the huge team of Chinese stars is rock solid, and the film talks to me at the emotional level.  So thank you TK for booking this for us!

I have spent a good number of years studying Chinese history when I was in Hong Kong.  And I was holding my breath on what a Hong Kong and China production going to do with Sun Yat-sen, father of the modern China, also co-founder of Kuomintang (KMT) – a political party that eventually established itself in Taiwan after a fallout with the Communist Party of China.  Given the history and tension between China and Taiwan with a story set in a British ex-colony Hong Kong, how far would “Bodyguards and Assassins” push the political boundary?

It turns out to be one story that recounts the few days of logistic preparation prior to the meeting of Dr. Sun and the revolutionists in Hong Kong.  It is a revolution in the making against the Qing Dynasty.  The story ends on the day the meeting has ended.  And I am glad that the story manages not to displease the authorities of either straits.  It is good to be reminded – as a Chinese – how far we have endured in the last century, how much we have progressed in the last century.  A collapse of a Dynasty, the invasion of the Japanese, the colonization by the Western countries, and look where China is today.

Back to the film, as nowhere it is mentioned that the story is based on true characters, I have no basis to verify if these are historical events.  Having said that, the characters are very much alive.  Each individual is portrayed as a genuinely good person, with a future.  And that is why “Bodyguards and Assassins” is so hard to watch.  No one wants to see good people get hurt.  I think Cynthia was tearing all the way.

I get it.  Revolution is painful, very painful.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

夢枕獏《香魚師》- “Master Ayu Fisherman”, I Know Nuts About Fishing But I Enjoy Reading This

A Japanese novel in Chinese

It is only a matter of time before I revisit my childhood passion of reading Japanese novels translated in Chinese.  I read Japanese novels translated in English, such as Haruki Murakami.  Maybe there is a certain proximity between the two languages – Japanese and Chinese, I suspect that the Chinese translation is probably closer to the original flavor than English.  I do not read Japanese.  And hence, purely my speculation.

I know nuts about fishing.  I did fish once, or twice when I was young.  That was all the experience I have.  《香魚師》, which I would translate the title to “Master Ayu Fisherman” for reference here, is a fictional work that is all about fishing.  Not any kind of fishing, but a specific fish specimen – Ayu (you could read more about Ayu in Wikipedia here).  The preface has done a great job in giving an introduction on Ayu, the different kinds of fishing tackles – the fish hook that is called “hair rig” – and the environmental impact that affects the habitats of Ayu.

Each chapter of “Master Ayu Fishman” begins with a special title given for a particular “hair rig”.  The writing style consists of lots of paragraphs of short sentences and the translator or editor (茂呂美耶) has done a fantastic job in footnoting the novel at places that may cause confusion if you are  not a Japanese.  As I read the book, I suspected that it was originally published in newspapers or magazines and I was right (magazines indeed).  That are repeated references to previous chapters that initially I found it odd.  But it is not so odd if the original readers have to wait before reading the next installment.

“Master Ayu Fisherman” is about men’s obsession in fishing.  Ayu is often called “Sweetfish” for its special scent of melon and cucumber and “Year-Fish” for its one year lifespan.  Ayu’s life journey starts near the seashore and ends as they return from the sea to the seashore area and lay eggs.  There are seasonal bans in Japanese on Ayu fishing.  In the periods when the bans are lifted, enthusiasts would put aside their daily activities and fish.  There are various ways to fish Ayu, and many types of “hair rig” developed to tackle different situations.  I am not a fishing enthusiast, but I am intrigued by the passion people have on fishing.  In the story, there is this one particular rare hair rig called 黑水仙 (“Black Narcissus”), the only hair rig that can lure the abnormally huge Ayu that survives more than one year.  It is a story of two men’s obsession to go after that huge Ayu, almost like an addict.  In a strange way, I can relate (close friends of mine would know why).

According to the author, in Amazon, women incorporated their pubic hairs into the hair rig in order to fish a particular type of fish, long time ago.  That rare hair rig in the chapter, “Black Narcissus”, is created by just that.  Now, I have tried Google this bizarre concept.  There seems to be some applications of such setup but I am unable to verify the linkage to fishing in Amazon.  Nevertheless, I think Japanese does have some strange concepts and using pubic hair to create a fishing tackle may well be one of many.

Overall I enjoy reading 《香魚師》.  The Japanese author 夢枕獏 appears to be popular in Taiwan.  And he has spent four to five years in writing this book, being an avid fisherman himself during the period when this book was written.

Additional Info: Singapore library tag is YUMB, YLib official site, author official site and ISBN 978-957-32-6191-9.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Foreign Movie Reviews

The Storm Warriors – Huh? What The …

For the record, I am a huge fan of the Wuxia genre.  I am also a fan of the original Chinese comic book series “Fung Wan”.  OK, where shall I begin with this second installment?  Part one is my casual thoughts, which fans of the movie may disagree.  Part two is my deeper albeit random thoughts, which those with little background of the genre who may find interesting to read.

*     *     *     *     *

Cynthia seems to like “The Storm Warriors”.  My mind seems to have paralyzed by the movie not sure if I like it or not.  Casual thoughts as follows.

  • Those hair!  Oh my.  The hairstyle redefined the art of messiness.  I don’t recall it is that messy in the comic book.
  • I think all the characters in the movie are badly in need of a good bath.  Maybe the costumes are badly in need of a good laundry.  OK, maybe with the exception of the two girls.  Just maybe.
  • Lord Godless reminds me of the Lich King in World of Warcraft.  The evil Wind reminds me of the vampires in Twilight.  Maybe that’s why Cynthia likes the movie.
  • Wow, you call that romance?  The relationship between Cloud and Chu Chu is lifeless.  The relationship between Wind and Second Dream doesn’t even go beyond a good hug.  One may say, so what?  Well, the love relationship between, say, Cloud and Chu Chu is supposed to be epic, for those who have read the comic book series.  Epic!  So epic that makes people cry.  So epic that makes me cry watching “The Storm Warriors” for what it could have been.
  • For those who have forgotten the storyline of the previous installment (11 years ago, who would remember?), this part two does not quite help to refresh our mind.  The storyline of this installment – deviates from the original plot I reckon – leaves much to desire.  The climax, to me, would have been a joint force battle between the two main characters against an evil character.  If the story development is intended for a part 3, I would expand on the battle with Lord Godless, keep the long battle between Wind and Cloud short, and keep the ending as it is (though I still don’t like the bad romance).
  • The original language of the movie is Cantonese I believe.  In Singapore, for reasons beyond my comprehension (or my acceptance), it is dubbed in Mandarin.  Often, I can deal with it if I have to though I would love to watch it in my language (and hence, I seldom watch Hong Kong films in Singapore’s theaters).  The issue I have with dubbing is a missing in synchronization between the acting and the voice emote.  At times, the voice seems to more involved into the plot than the acting (especially so for the two girls).  Just not natural, to me that is.
  • The subtitles are laughable.  I have this urge to re-translate the dialogs just for Cynthia’s sake.  OK, without the background of Chinese and Wuxia, I admit some if not most of the concepts are hard to grasp.  As I read both the Chinese and English subtitles, some of the essence of the dialog could have been better preserved.
  • Computer generated imaginary does not make great movies.  And we know that.
  • 11 years we have waited for this 2nd installment.  Back then, in the year 1998, Ekin Cheng (Wind) was 31 and Aaron Kwok (Cloud) was 33.  Now, imagine if the 3rd installment is to come in the year 2020 with the original casting …

What I do like are the Thai-powered martial arts and the collateral damage incorporated in the storyline.  I think the movie comes alive after some innocent lives are taken.  Look.  If there is no sex and money in the plot, at least give us blood that pops our hearts.  No?

*     *     *     *     *

Wow, part one of this entry is a lot longer than I have anticipated.  Perhaps I am passionate on this genre after all.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this genre, I have a few random thoughts to share.

  • Unlike some of the Western fantasy series, Chinese fantasy series seldom have the demon and angel entities.  Seldom do we summon anything demonic from Hell, or battle the evil with the blessing of God.  In Chinese, characters are gods of good and evil.  It is the person who follow the path of good or evil, not an external divine entity.  We have celestial entities like the dragons and we have evilness in the form of greed and power and the desire of immortality that corrupts.
  • Those who choose the path of good often take years to master the martial art.  In fact, the moral compass is often incorporated into the ‘form’ of the martial art.  If you recall, after the master Nameless has inspired Cloud to create his own martial art, Nameless comments that what Cloud lacks is the ‘form’.  Unfortunately, it is lost in translation.
  • One could also master the martial art without going through the fundamental of the moral values embedded within.  I believe in real life, learning Yoga in its truest form requires practitioners to meditate.  If one is to master the martial art by taking shortcuts, one could be consumed by the chaotic power within and turns ‘evil’.  Why evil?  That goes back to the common observation that anything good be it as reputation, relationship, communal infrastructures, and etc. takes years to build.  Destruction takes seconds.  The same pair of hands spend years building a school can also detonate a bomb that destroys it all.  In the movie, Wind took a shortcut and has become ‘evil’.  So that he can be so powerful in just 3 days.  Interestingly, Cloud also gains a new martial art technique that makes him powerful in the same 3 days.  What gives?
  • Are there any shortcut then for those who choose the path of the good?  According to the famous Wuxia writer Jin Jong, yes we can.  Decade worth of power can apparently be transfered from one character to another, in rare instances.  But that is beyond the scope of this movie.  In retrospect, I suspect the filmmaker wanted to incorporate this concept in the boosting of Cloud’s power by what remains in Nameless (the 10% after some bad wounding from the previous battle).  That would have made more sense as the path to good is often a long process.  I caught that in the dialog between the two.  But somehow, it is not executed that way in the movie.
  • While characters in a Wuxia setting often wield or in perpetual search for the ultimate weapon and armor – one that destroys all and one that is invincible to any attack – even the martial art technique to shield one from all harm, there is always a weakness somewhere (otherwise the story would be incredibly boring, no?).  That is what the repeated clumsy subtitle “his weakest point is hiding behind his strongest point” tries to convey.  Since the intended audience of the English subtitles are the ones who should have some concept of the Western culture, I personally would simply use the term “Achilles’ heel” to help with the translation.

Wow, an equally long part two!  Thanks for reading.  Peace.

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Don’t Look Back (Ne Te Retourne Pas) – An Ending Worths The Wait

Poster version 1

An European film staring Sophie Marceau and Monica Bullucci?  No way I am going to miss it.  At the opening of the movie, TK and Cynthia simultaneously from my right and left asked if “Don’t Look Back” is a horror show.  Uh-oh.  One tiny detail I have not researched, prior to the booking of the tickets.  As the film got weirder and weirder, I really thought I have picked a horror show acutely aware of every small movements of the two next to me.  As though I was prepared for them to suddenly scream or jump out of their seats.  And then ban me [again] for making decision on which film to watch.

And the second version of the poster

Fortunately, “Don’t Look Back” is not a horror movie, though I could imagine that it could be quite a horrible experience for someone like the main character to have misplaced memories, knowing faces but not recognizing them.  Sophie Marceau and Monica Bullucci both played the same character Jeanne.  At some point, I thought I was watching Niki Sanders from the television series Heroes.  Or watching a ghost movie.  I wouldn’t go too much into the story here.  It is one woman’s psychological suffering and it is one woman’s desire to discover the 8 years of missing childhood memory.  It is an art house type of movie.  And the pace can be slow.  Because the surrounding environments and the faces of the same character change all the time, it could be rather strange and confusing to watch.  Characters at times switch from adult to child form and vice versa, rooms get distorted and elongated to signify the change in perspective from the eyes of an adult to a child, scenes have subtle meanings that perhaps make sense to some towards the end.  I think there are quite a few ways to interpret this movie, at least amongst the three of us.  It is a movie that certainly has re-watch value.

I thought both Sophie Marceau and Monica Bullucci have acted well in “Dont’ Look Back”.  Sophie’s psychological suffering and Monica’s invulnerability.  Pairing them up in the same movie is a nice treat for especially fans of both European actresses.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby – Been Waited 14 Years For This

A new book by Nick Hornby

I am not sure how many of you have read the book “High Fidelity (1995)”.  The timing could not have been more perfect.  As the main character Rob Fleming recounts his top five most memorable split-ups, that inspired me to secretly write my own.  I was nursing my not-so-whole-heart after a failed relationship back in 1995 and reading “High Fidelity” seemed like a comforting thing to do.  “High Fidelity” is also about top five films, top five records, top five bands, and etc.  I love music, I love films.  That book was like my personal anthem.  Since then, I have kept reading Nick Hornby’s publications but none of them gives me the same level of satisfaction.

Forward to year 2009.  When I learned that “Juliet, Naked” is out and it is a book with the promise – on paper – that it is back to the music, I quickly reserved a copy from our national library.  At the library counter, as I was collecting the book, I nearly fainted when the librarian spoke in her crisp clear voice reading the title from her computer, “So it is Juliet … that you want?”.  I nearly lost my voice, secretly thanked her for skipping the word ‘naked’, and nodded instead.  What a cheesy title Nick Hornby picks.

The story is relatively straightforward.  Duncan is a big fan of the musician Tucker Crowe who has disappeared from the scene after his last album “Juliet”, inspired by his failed relationship with, of course, Juliet.  Duncan has started a website called “Can Anybody Hear Me?” – a title of a track from Tucker’s EP – and together a few other like-minded fans (the ‘Crowologists’), they constantly examine Tucker’s work, visit the ‘historical sites’ that are of significant importance to Tucker’s music career.  Annie works in a museum and has lately started to question why she is still in a relationship with Tucker.  Out of the blue, Tucker has released an acoustic stripped down version of “Juliet” (and hence “Juliet, Naked” versus the original version “Juliet, Clothed”).  Through the only music review Annie has written in the Internet, Tucker from US has made contact with Juliet, who lives in UK.  And then the two worlds separated by an ocean overlap.

It is the same kind of Nick Hornby’s humor.  Subtle and unexpected.  Cynthia, on the other hands, does not seem to have the same level of enthusiasm as I do.  It could be due to: (a) “Juliet, Naked” is a guy-lit, (b) Nick Hornby is a UK writer, or (c) a combination of (a) and (b).

To keep “Juliet, Naked” current, Nick Hornby has incorporated writings in email style, in forum style, and believe it or not, in Wikipedia style.  While I can quite easy overlook the less than epic storyline as compares with “High Fidelity”, I think it would be a better idea for Nick Hornby to out-source Tucker’s emails and dialogs to an US writer because that would have made the book more convincing to read.  As it stands, I cannot quite tell the difference between the tones and the writing styles of the characters of Annie (in UK) and Tucker (in US).

A light and entertaining read, not quite “High Fidelity”.  But maybe, there is only one “High Fidelity”.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews Romance

The Twilight Saga: New Moon – The Non-Fans Won’t Get It

2nd Installment

The question, I think, is why “New Moon” can get away with the disjointed subplots and cheesy dialogues and yet able to make tons of girls in the theatre we visited swooning all the way from opening to the end credits – literally so.  Some guys would play along and ‘swooned’ ahead of the girls causing lots of giggles from the audience.  We love the crowd at Cineleisure.  Movie distributors seem to know that this second installment of the Twilight Saga would be a hit in this small island of ours.  Multiple theatres are playing “New Moon” simultaneously to meet the demand.  Cynthia and I  forcefully brought our buddy TK to watch “New Moon”.  He has not watched the first episode and at the end of the show, he said to us, “There won’t be a third for me”.  And we had a good laugh.

The answer, I think, is fantasy.  It is fantasy beyond the beautiful cold-blooded vampires that shimmer under bright daylight (?!) and the over-sized hot-blooded werewolves (?!) that transform from human form at will (and back with the pants on); it is a fantasy beyond the teenage flirtation of lips licking, body hugging, almost kissing, countless promises of the forever-and-ever; it is simply a fantasy of a regular girl becoming the object of great desire and a man’s desire to protect the vulnerable girl at all cost.  Who wouldn’t want to be Bella?  Who wouldn’t want to protect Bella?  And hence, the ticket sales.

To say that Cynthia adores the Twilight Saga with a capital A is an understatement.  It is almost illegal for me to raise the question on what she sees in the pale withering malnutritional vampire played by Robert Pattinson who was named as one of the “Sexiest Men Alive” in 2008 by People magazine (?!).  Equally illegal for me to ask why she has so fallen in love with the werewolf played by Taylor Lautner – like I suppose many of the fans of the saga – who mind you has a stunningly solid body at the age of 17 and a beautiful smile.  The filmmakers seem to play that to its fullest.  Every time Taylor takes off his shirt, all the girls simply melt and swoon and cry for more.

Right.

I for one am not complaining watching Kristen Stewart playing the role of Bella.  I am a big fan of her since the days of “Panic Room”.  Nor any complain with some of the vampire girls like Ashley Greene (plays the role of Alice) and the brief appearance of Dakota Fanning, which I hope I can see more in later episodes.  My only complain is the weak soundtrack compares to the first episode.  There were Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole”, Paramore’s “Decode”, and Linkin Park’s “Leave Out All The Rest”.  What does the soundtrack of “New Moon” have?  Terribly depressing, terribly boring.  I really hope that they can make a better soundtrack for the next installment.

By the way, “Twilight” the first episode will be on Star Movies tonight.  “Haven’t you watched that on TV recently?” I asked over breakfast.  “It doesn’t matter.  It’s Twilight!” Cynthia answered.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

王璞《補充記憶》- “Memory Refill” – And My Reading Habit

Another Chinese book I've read

How do you choose what to read from a library or a bookstore full of books?  When it comes to English titles, these days, I have a set of authors that I keep going back to.  As for Chinese titles, it is still this whole new experience of discovery and exploration.  Quite a few I have borrowed were returned to the bookshelf the next day.  One friend once asked, “Do you finished all the books you pick?”  For English books, it is a yes.  Because I often know what I am going into.  Book reviews are everywhere in the Internet.  There is even a great book I have – The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages – to help me decide what to read next.

In 1995, Cosmos Books in Hong Kong held a writing competition, on literature.  Not romance, thriller, short stories, or popular fiction.  But on literature.  First of its kind during that era, the book publisher had put aside a budget of US$60,000 to make it happen. 《補充記憶》(a translated title by me would be “Memory Refill”) by an author I have read recently came out as 2nd runner up.  There was no worthy winner so there were two 1st runner up winners instead.  What a strange way to round up the competition.  Nonetheless, the motivation of the competition was to rekindle the passion of  literature writing in mid-90’s Hong Kong.  That gets me thinking.  If the majority of the locals say in Singapore read materials created by the West – an inevitable reality of cultural influence (or shall I say domination?) – who will be there to support the local writing industry that would create works that represent a fragment of our society?

Back to Chinese book selection and this book “Memory Refill”, I pick this book to read because it is a award winning material – however small scale the competition might be – and it is a literature, not a popular fiction.  I would still say the author’s latter work 《嘉年華會》 – “Carnival (2008)” – has a higher literary value. Having said that, those who enjoy reading the short story 《啤酒》 (“Beer”) would enjoy reading 《補充記憶》 (“Memory Refill”).

The main character of the novel is a forty years old doctor Jung-ji 容易 (literally means “Easy”, a comical derivation – I suppose – by her promiscuity, or I would read it as 容兒…’ – a phonetically sounded female name) and her twenty-odd years old patient NO who has suffered memory lost after a car accident.  Is it a blessing in disguise that one losses his or her memory?  Jung-ji ponders.  As the doctor helps the patient to regain his memory, through unconventional means that are no lacking in humor, the doctor herself recollects her painful memory that she would want to lose.  Her failed relationships (or failing as a matter of fact) and men who simply would not stay.  The story development is not linear and it is a pleasure to read, for me that is.

“Memory Refill” is not a love story.  It is a journey of a woman seeking closure to the relationships of the past.

Additional Info: Singapore library tag is WGPU and ISBN 962-950-209-7.

Categories
For the Geeks Game Reviews

Almost 5 Years – A World Of Warcraft’s 5th Anniversary Inspired Post

A typical WoW screenshot in action

Yes, what you see here is a typical screenshot Cynthia and I see when we play an online game together, a massive one that players from different parts of the world gathered online.  Looks complicated but it is like driving.  After a while, it is second nature.

It’s been 5 years since World of Warcraft was launched.  Nov 23 was the date.  Wow!  Think about the subscription fees I have paid.  US$12.99 per month to be exact.  I have been their faithful subscriber since Feb 2005, when the game finally arrived in Singapore.

I am not disillusioned.  I know what is real, what is not.  There was a period of time when concerning family and friends tried their best to keep me in check, against game addiction.  I suppose if one spends too much time on something, not able to find time to do something else with someone else, collective wisdom would say: that’s no good.  And if one spends too much time on something that majority of people do not understand, collective wisdom would say: that’s even worse.  How about if one spends too much time on something that majority of people understand (or think they do), what would collective wisdom say?  Here are my thoughts.

  1. Most of us have a letter of employment that says we are paid from 9 to 5.  But yet some of us pour in more hours for no tangible outcome.
  2. Most of us are convinced that we build useful skills as our career progresses.  But how useful are these skills as time goes by?
  3. Most of us have our eyes on promotion, having a new title.  But what does the title really mean outside your office?
  4. Some of us claim that never mind the long hours because we have fun at work.  How much of those juicy war stories really mean anything to someone who is not of your work domain?

What I am trying to say is that, you too are in your own world.  Everybody does.  We all have our passion and obsession, in different forms.

*     *     *     *     *

That dragon, earned it with blood and tears.

In celebrating the 5th anniversary of this one great game, fans are recounting and sharing their World of Warcraft moments online.  Hence, this post.

All Levels Begin With Number 1 (Before Death Knights Ruined It All)

The very first moment logging into the game was magical.  I was an elf.  My buddy Mark was too an elf.  Every moment in the game was new, and breathtaking.  How many of us in reality can look through the routines and find something fresh, and exciting?  Like every moment is a moment of discovery?  That mysterious forest; those spiders that killed me again and again.  Ah, good old level-lowbie.

Our Town Is Attacked Again (And Then Honor System Came And Vanquished It All)

In the good old days, opposing fractions often raged war against each other’s towns.  The first time I participated one was exhilarating.  Opposing fractions would form a long line facing each other, stayed out of each other’s attack range (much like the movies of the ancient wars), waiting for the number to gather.  Reinforcement flew in as news traveled fast.  Lots of taunting and luring to start the battle.  At a critical moment, someone would rally a group and march into the enemy line.  And then, the battle began involving easily more than 50 players.

As the attack progressed, it often broke into smaller battles amongst small groups (has anyone played the ‘egg and flour’ war in say birthday parties?).  I once thought that I was safe hiding behind a tree resting.  In the next moment, I saw 5 or 10 of them in front of me out of nowhere.  Uh oh.

The side effect of these unintended episodes was that not only did players take down other players, but they also took down the guards, the pheasants inside the town, basically halted all kinds of questing for those who wished to stay out of conflict.  So, the creator of the game has decided to take the battle out and into designated areas.  I miss those large scale town raiding.  Or as a matter of fact, being raided was just as fun.

General Drakkisath (In The Good Old UBRS)

The first time tackling the dungeon in a group of 15 online players was, as I remember, nerve-wrecking.  Raid leader’s commands were streaming through the chat window in the form of text.  Everyone followed order, for every maneuver inside the dungeon.  Flawless execution like an orchestra that all musicians play a different instrument, but the same song.  The quality of leadership and the bravery of the group was inspiring.  Although in much later, I too led groups to tackle different dungeons, although as time goes by there are newer and more complicated dungeons, I still hold dear to my first memory of the dungeon UBRS.

No, we didn’t kite General Drakkisath during my first encounter.  That strategy was derived much later, I think.

It Is Level 1 To 60, Or 70 Once Again (For The Horde!)

By the time Cynthia joined me, it was 2007.  First expansion of the game was out and she was attracted to the beauty of the new race blood elf, curious about what got me so into the game (I remember we had a bet or something).  To someone who has 8 level 60 characters back then, it is all the way from the beginning again.

Interestingly, Cynthia is my antidote to game addiction.  Because of character progression, there is little point in getting ahead of each other.  We complete quests together, visit dungeons together, and play the game together till today.  If she doesn’t play, I don’t play.  Simple as that.

Self-Actualization (For Now Before Expansion #3 Arrives)

2009 is an interesting year.  The game has evolved in a way that it is now much easier to attain “self-actualization”, even for the casual players.  Cynthia and I are now able to work towards improving our characters beyond the level cap tackling dungeons in heroic mode side-by-side with the serious players (or raiders).  We are exalted in major factions riding dragons (see picture above) and collecting exotic pets, collecting in-game titles.  We have a good pile of gold coins stashed up somewhere.  In short, all that we have ever wanted – given the real life constraints we have – we have.  These days, we rarely play, maybe a couple of times a week.

And when expansion #3 arrives, it will be all the way from level 1 once again …

Oh yes, happy birthday WoW.

External Link: World of Warcraft Anniversary Site

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

The Informant! – Still Can’t Pinpoint What Is Missing

A new move by Matt Damon

“So, do you like this movie?” asked I as the credits rolled.  Cynthia nodded, “It is entertaining.  Don’t you like this move [that I pick]?”

“…”

Matt Damon’s acting is convincing, no doubt.  I did a little research on this movie that is based on a non-fiction written by journalist Kurt Eichenwald, which in turn based on true events that happened around the lysine price-fixing conspiracy.  Matt Damon plays the whistle-blower Mark Whitacre.  Fortune 500 company Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and FBI were also involved in this conspiracy.  It is white collar crime, and the director Steven Soderbergh has certainly injected a similar level of dark comedy in “The Informant!” – much like my favorite “Traffic” and the “Ocean” trilogy.

According to my little research after I returned home, bipolar disorder – a mood disorder portrayed by Matt Damon’s character – does not seem to mean that the patient turns into an uncontrollable liar, a syndrome seems to imply by the film.  The book appears to focus on the center character Mark Whitacre ‘s meltdown and bizarre behavior resulting from the pressures of working undercover for the FBI.  And subsequently suffered from depression and have attempted suicide.  That would have made a lot of sense.  A deeper linkage to the film “The Firm” as mentioned in the book would also be nice.  The end of the book examines the unfairly long nine years sentence Mark Whitacre received – disagreed by the author of the book as well as several FBI agents.  That too would have been a better resolution than rounding up the film with yet another lie.

That, of course, is just my opinion.  Something doesn’t gel, and I still can’t pinpoint what it is.  Matt Damon, though.  I have to say he is one great actor.

Categories
Documentary Movie Reviews

Michael Moore Did It Again With Capitalism: A Love Story

A new film by Michael Moore

Whenever I met this friend of mine – whose identity I wish to protect here – inevitably we (or rather he) would talk about making money from the stock market, about his portfolio, which I estimate to be close to a million dollar by now.  Or over half a million.  Either way, it is way more than what I could imagine.  Inevitably, I find myself asking the same question – like a student who just doesn’t get it – “what have you contributed specifically in order to be rewarded with so much money?”  My understanding in economy is basic.  I can see that if you spend time making bread, if there are customers buying your bread, you get paid for what you have worked for.  And the contribution of a bread maker to the society is, bread.  Following that thought, what exactly have the stock traders and investors contributed to our society to be potentially rewarded with that much money?

My friend would shrug and say, “We take part in becoming part of the ‘market sentiment’, the kind of momentum that collectively moves market.”  And I would ask, “But why do we have to create such sentiment?”  He would continue, “Well, mass public plays only a small part.  The corporations take up majority of the market share.  We are just hoping to make a fraction of what the riches are making.”

In Michael Moore’s new film “Capitalism: A Love Story”, he exposed a confidential report Citibank has made for their top clients.  The report declared the ‘United States a “plutonomy” (plutocracy), with the top one percent of the population controlling more financial wealth than the bottom 95 percent’.  It also reported that the threat to this is the one-person-one-vote policy.  In short, the way I see it, if the people gang up against the super-riches, the system will topple.  But why wouldn’t the people do that?  Why do people accept their living condition as it is today?  It is because in America, there is this American dream.  That one day, people may make it to the top 1%.  Wouldn’t toppling the system ruin this wonderful American dream that is fueled by capitalism?  I think this is the main theme of the film.

Like his other films, Michael Moore uses simple terms orchestrated by people’s emotion to expose certain facts.  I have my reservation if what he says is true in entirety.  Having said that, he does bring out some good discussion points on the regulators and the government and the financial institutions, capitalism and its not too glamorous reality.  One may find it puzzling why Michael Moore brings religion into the equation.  In my understanding, American is still very much a country that emphasises on Christian values.  To that end, it seems natural to hear what the Church has to say about capitalism.

I am not from America.  Hence, the impact to me is minimal.  It is a good documentary on one of the leading countries of the world.  I can imagine that Americans may feel the emotional impact watching “Capitalism: A Love Story”.  Perhaps disgusted by the system and the people involved.  Personally, I do not have the sudden revelation of “American is not that great after all”, like some of the other viewers.  I understand that there is no perfect country in this world.

And back to the stock investment discussion with my well-do-do friend.  I always end our conversation with, “I don’t think the stock market is for me.”