Category: My Opinion

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Book Reviews Fiction

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott – An Irish Catholic Story in the Early 20th Century America

The Ninth Hour tells the story of a man who committed suicide leaving behind his wife and his unborn daughter. The Catholic nuns took in the widow and her daughter was raised by the Catholic clan. The story is narrated by the children of the daughter.

What I really like about this book is the amount of detail that goes into the day-to-day work of a nun and the life of the main characters. It is so vivid as though I was living through the early 20th century of America. As a Catholic, I can immediately grasp the concept of sin and penance amongst other topics such as the political dynamic between priests, nuns, and the Church.

I found this book very enjoyable to read.

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Book Reviews Fiction

Severance by Ling Ma – One of the Best I have Read Of Late

I have picked up Severance randomly from a local library. Initially attracted to the concept of a story of an apocalypse at the backdrop of office life, the millennials, modern society, and Chinese immigrants, this book turns out to be something special. Something I really enjoy reading. I took my time and had to read the ending twice as I was not entirely sure if it is what it is.

Time does not flow linearly in this story. There are lots of flashbacks and side stories. Effortlessly though, the narration is smooth without causing any confusion. That is just art. One of the central themes is routine. How we day in and day out going through our routines in the office and at home (similar to the zombies or the “fevered” in the apocalypse world). Another theme is nostalgia and the Internet is a giant collection of our past (and how much time we spent with it).

That ending though still haunts me. It is so open-ended. The readers are the ones who are going to complete the journey. I won’t be surprised if we have different interpretations.

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Book Reviews Fiction

The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon

Amy Harmon is becoming one of my favorite authors in recent times. The First Girl is a story loosely based on Norse mythology. In the fictional kingdom called Saylok spins a story of salvation and love. It is a fresh take on a completely unique legend whereby the clans are the descendants of eagle, bear, wolf, horse, boar, and lion. Each clan takes turn to be the next King of Saylok. A curse has fallen onto the people of Saylok. No girl child shall be born. Yet one girl is born. Will she become the salvation of Saylok? Will Saylok survive the conflict within and beyond?

I would strongly recommend The First Girl Child. It is a magical journey, an easy read, and a page-turner.

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Animation Movie Reviews

Weathering With You – A Must-Watch Japanese Anime

This weekend, I took my wife to a cinema and watched Weathering With Me. To be honest, I did not know how this would turn out. I am a big fan of Japanese anime. The Japanese have a wild imagination. Out of the world kind of wild imagination. It is a story about a runaway boy, looking for a job and earned a living by writing stories in a magazine. Soon he came across a girl who can control the weather. A special bond was developed.

I must confess that the beginning of the movie was a bit slow (the rain didn’t help) and I was trying very hard not to fall asleep (my wife did initially). As the story developed, it got more and more interesting. Exciting too. The artwork is beautiful. The story is very well written. A strong recommendation from me. My wife loves the movie a lot, which is a bonus.

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Book Reviews Fiction

Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper – A Murder Story by Donald Henderson

This is one very unusual book. Originally written in the 1940s, this book has gone out of print for more than 60 years. It took me a while to get used to the old English. The really good thing about this book is that I could never guess what would happen next. To me, this book isn’t a pageturner but it isn’t a bad thing. There are quite a number of characters introduced and each has an associated story. At one point, I wasn’t reading a novel but was seeing characters coming alive! I agreed with Raymond Chandler (an American-British novelist and screenwriter who had been actively promoting this book as his favorite). Reading this book once is not enough. Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper deserves to be read multiple times. I can’t possibly understand Mr. Bowling right from the beginning. Now that I have finished reading the book, I understand where he comes from. The loneliness. The lack of love. Not necessarily depressive (as he found the act of suicide lacked the humor). Just another guy in the world who has to go through hell in order to find the meaning of life. Or rather, the reason to live.

PS. This is not really a typic detective novel. This is simply a murder story.

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Book Reviews Fiction

Sophie Kinsella’s I Owe You One – Her Best of Late

After my return from the UK, I have picked up Sophie Kinsella’s new standalone novel I Owe You One from a local library in Singapore. The book is almost perfect. Except for the color of the book – um pink? – which even with my metrosexually thickskin personality, I do find it a little bit uncomfortable reading a pink covered supersized book in public. I read it in public nonetheless.

Sophie Kinsella is famous for the Shopaholic series, which kind of lost me lately. She is also very good at standalone novels like this one. She wrote under the pen name of Madeleine Wickham in the past as well. Yes, I am a fan. I don’t particularly think I dig the chick-lit genre per se. But I have read almost all her books.

Most of her books start with a flawed female character. And through character development, readers get to fall in love and relate to the main character. Her books come with tons of humor. I Owe You One is funny. Yet, I don’t think the main character Fixie is flawed, which is refreshing. She just loves to fix things. Compulsively so.

A pageturner. There are bits that moved me deeply and there are bits that make me laugh. A high recommendation from me.

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Book Reviews Fiction

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmons – A Brief Book Review

As a sci-fi fan, I love anything to do with time travel. There are not many authors that tackle the topic of time travel. And for those who do, not many tackle it well. The paradox of time travel makes it a difficult topic. It is so easy to screw it up badly as readers are smart to spot any loopholes. Amy Harmons’s What the Wind Knows is a joyful read despite areas that I wish could have been better.

The location is Ireland. The story may well serve as a historical novel. A modern Irish woman who lives in America returned to Ireland upon the death of her grandfather found herself time traveled back in time when she becomes the mother of her grandfather. There are lots of tight references in the present date and in the old date that makes the plot believable.

Has history been altered? Perhaps just a little bit. I wish the main character could have made more impact and to have more of that heroic moments as someone who is gifted to have seen the future. That perhaps is my own feedback on the story, which otherwise is a very good time travel novel.

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Book Reviews Fiction

Murakami’s Killing Commendatore – A Brief Book Review

I am a huge fan of Haruki Murakami . When I spotted his latest book in our local book store BooksActually – actually it was my wife who first spotted it – I bought it in a heartbeat. I don’t collect books these days as my wife prefers a ‘minimalist’ home. But when it comes to Murakami, my wife knows that it is a sacred space of mine that needs to be left alone. For as long as Murakami keeps on writing, I shall keep on buying. At times, I collect both the English translated version as well as the Chinese translated version.

If you are new to Murakami, I would imagine how daunting it may be to pick a book to start. His classic books tend to have that rawness that can have more impact in terms of plot twists and emotion but the journey could be more irregular. That is to say, some parts could drag on and the plot could become pretty bizarre. His recent books tend to be more refined, more believable, and with a more predictable pace. Killing Commendatore belongs to the latter category.

It is a story of a male artist whose marriage is falling apart and he paints portraits to pay the bills but it is not necessarily something he is passionate about doing. Killing Commendatore is a journey of this artist rediscovering his passion and in the midst of it, rediscovers himself. Through this journey, this artist encounters different characters – real and surreal – including one that spawns from a painting. There are different threads of stories running in parallel interacting with one and other – which is typical of Murakami’s writing style.

Killing Commendatore is a fascinating read. I would recommend this book to readers who are new to Murakami as well as to those who are familiar with him.

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Blu-ray / DVD Review Diary

Season of Gfriend – What a Treat for Fans

Confession. I am a huge fan of the Korean girl band Gfriend. It took me a while to tell the girls apart, remember their names and roles, and to recognize their voices. But after many nights of watching Gfriend on YouTube, I am there. I love their story. They came from a small recording company. I don’t think they have done that well during their debut. There had been setbacks. Online comments, some were rather mean. But they kept going. Three years later, they are one of the top girl bands in Korea with a good number of hits, won a good number of awards. Hardworking does pay off, for some. And for Gfriend, I love their choreography the most.

I have been wanting to watch them in concert. Sadly there isn’t one from where I live. The next best thing would be a Bluray recording.

There ain’t many stores in Singapore that sell Bluray discs anymore. Those that do don’t carry Season of Gfriend. In my desperation, I searched online and came across Kpopmart.com. My friend Yudha from Google+ is a fan of Korean music. I wasn’t too sure about the legitimacy of Kpopmart.com – after all, plenty of online scams these days – but he reassured me that the site is legit.

Season of Gfriend (Bluray) cost me US$53.50. There are several shipment options. I went for the ‘cheapest’ express one that cost US18. The cheapest normal shipping would be $9.20 but that would take more than two months.

Two months?!

Total damage was more than S$100. The package arrived at my condo’s concierge in less than a week. It was worth it. I am so glad that my friend Yudha has nudged me into buying it. He is right. This product is selling out fast. For the fans, this is a real treat, a must-have. It is a recording of day 2 of Gfriend‘s very first concert back in January early this year. Both concerts were sold out in minutes.

Now, onto why this recording is a must-have for fans:

  • It has a good selection of their hits.
  • The recording is divided into sections or themes, each is introduced with a short video clip.
  • Great dancing. Great costumes.
  • There is a section on solo performance! I love all six of them. All of them awe me in a different way. I am much impressed by a side of them that I have not seen.
  • Some songs have a different rendition.
  • They do tease each other in prerecorded video clips – which I find entertaining.
  • English subtitles! There is a fair bit of talking. Plenty of emotion tears towards the end. I am so glad that I can understand what they say.
  • The entire concert + video clips + talking on stage lasted more than three hours!
  • The package does come with photocard and postcard too.

I wish that my favorite track Time for Moon Light was in the song selection list. But that wouldn’t be possible because the song was released in April after their first concert. I am looking forward to their second concert recording for sure. By then, they better add that into the list!

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier – A Must-Read for Passionate Gamers

As an avid video gamer, this book has been an incredible read from start to finish. It is a collection of stories behind how videos games are made. The author – also the news editor at Kotaku.com where I visit on a daily basis – has interviewed hundreds of people. Some officially. Others unofficially. Some games are triumphant. Others not.

While each video games are created under very different circumstances, there are common themes within. It is art meets science where the scope, timeline, and cost is just as fluid. How much detail should be put into a video game? How large and how many maps should that be? How many times the storyline has to be rewritten? Is the game fun? Can the game afford another delay knowing that the extra time would help with the bug fixing but the company would miss the fiscal year financial target? And etc. Above all, I can feel the passion of the game developers within each game title. The various challenges they face.

This book features 10 games. Some are big-budget titles. One is very much a one-man show. Each has its own distinct ending. It is true blood, sweat, and pixels.

  1. Pillars of Eternity – I have recently discovered that I have a copy in my Steam account!
  2. Unchartered 4 – Heard about it. But I don’t have a next-gen console.
  3. Stardew Valley – Never heard of before reading this game. I have added this to my Steam wishlist.
  4. Diablo III – One of my favorite games of all time. I am still playing it. I have read this chapter twice.
  5. Halo Wars – Heard about it. But I don’t have a XBox.
  6. Dragon Age: Inquisition – I have played Dragon Age: Origin. Love it. But I read that Dragon Age 2 is a disappointment. So I have avoided Inquisition. Or BioWare in general.
  7. Shovel Knight – I have seen it featured in Steam often. Still not really into its concept.
  8. Destiny – Very interesting read. Mainly because I have planned to pre-purchase Destiny 2 (PC).
  9. The Witcher 3 – Also a very interesting read. I have purchased the first two installments but still yet to find the time to play. Who knows? One day I may play The Witcher 3.
  10. Star Wars 1313 – Never heard of. Because it was meant for consoles.