Category: My Opinion

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

The Duchess – Every Decision Has Its Consequence

The Duchess

When I saw the DVD of “The Duchess” selling in HMV Hong Kong, I was wondering how I could possibly miss a movie by Keira Knightley on a big screen in Singapore.  We thought we did.  So, Cynthia and I watched it on our way back from Hong Kong, inside the cabin of our favorite airline, SIA.  Then we realized that “The Duchess” is now showing here exclusively in GV.

Some titles do take long to arrive.

I seldom read reviews by others – no disrespect to other reviewers – because I wish to form my own view.  I do however check the aggregated score from time to time.  And I welcome controversy views.  Hence, I do pay attention to movies that are both loved and hated by many.

Since “The Duchess” is based on true (or historical) events, I think it is rather pointless to comment too much on the storyline.  Or how the story could have ended in a better way.  It is what it is: a series of scandals that involved the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Charles Grey (2nd Earl Grey) the would-be Prime Minister of UK, and more.  I wish to say that “The Duchess” is about one lady’s strength amidst the harsh reality of needing to produce a male heir, a non-existence love relationship, trapped within her own home, and more.  But true story being as such, there is – in my opinion – no satisfactory triumph.

So I gave it some thoughts and to me, the take home message is that Every Decision has its Consequence.  And working within this theme, I think “The Duchess” really shine in portraying how Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (played by Knightley) lived through the decisions made in such a male dominating environment more than 200 hundred years ago.

How civilization has advanced since then.  It was procreation in the most contractual form.  A man’s lifelong quest to foster male heirs and a woman’s lifelong commitment to care for her children.  And in the mist of all these chaotic lust filled desire from the both sexes, how less complicated it would be if they had the various means of contraception in our today’s world.

The choice of Keira Knightley is good and she works well in a costume drama setting.  What lovely accent she has.  In “The Duchess”, she plays an innocent young girl, a mother, a wife to a man doesn’t know love, a lover, a friend betrayed, and more.  If you stop and think, it is a pretty wide spectrum of emotion.  She has done well, in my book.  In contrary, Ralph Fiennes’s acting as the Duke is mostly being the same sternness and loveless towards his wife – as demanded by the plot.  However, his performance is equally as good to watch.

“The Duchess” reminds me of “The Other Boleyn Girl” at times.  Perhaps this one track desire to have a male heir.  I am rather happy to live in 2009 in this part of the world where having a child – be it as a boy or a girl – is a blessing from the above.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha by Jeff Matthews – A Highly Readable, Well Balanced Travelogue That Will Get You Thinking

Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha

As someone who has close to zero prior knowledge on the phenomenon of Warren Buffett, hedge fund manager and financial blogger Jeff Matthews has done a marvelous job in painting a holistic picture of a world according to Warren Buffett.  Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha is highly assessable.  Supported by close to 90 quotations from various sources, it touches onto a brief history of Berkshire Hathaway, the partnership of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and their collective views on numerous topics, Warren Buffett’s personal life and personality, and what’s next for Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett.

After attended the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in the year of 2007 through an invite from his friend, Jeff Matthews has started a travelogue within his blog.  Year 2008, he has bought the B shares just to gain a pass to the annual meeting.  Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha documents what happened during these two meetings.

For those who are new to the unique Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, each year, shareholders from around the world gather at Omaha to hear two old men – Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger – answering questions of all kinds asked by the crowd.  In year 2008, 31,000 were gathered to listen to what the oracle has to say.

Jeff Matthews has the gift of keeping even the driest and most complicated subject engaging and easy to understand.  Seamlessly, he explains the background – be it as a person’s or a company’s history or the meaning behind a particular financial instrument – mixes it with his observation and his research, and in some moments, interjects with his own thoughts.  I in particularly enjoy reading what Jeff Matthews’s views are.  I wish there were more.

Besides the questions that are directly relevant to Berkshire Hathaway’s business such as growth and profitability, sustainability issues such as dams and climate change were raised by the audience.  Some shareholders wished to hear Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s views on abortion and Jesus Christ.  One 17-year-old asked what he should do to become a great investor.  And my favorite question from a 10-year-old (too bad, the answer was less than inspirational): What would a 10-year-old do to make money?

Being able to create 62 billion dollar of wealth from $100 invested in 1956, I think there is only one Warren Buffett.  Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha is a terrific read in gaining a balanced, well researched insight to the human side of a financial genius.  And how exactly does Warren Buffett do it so well over the years?  It could well be as simple as the basic principles that Buffett has hold onto as clearly layout in this book.  And why can’t anyone else do it?  Some myths do remain.

External Link: Jeff Matthews’s Financial Blog

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews Romance

We Celebrated Christmas Eve the Twilight Way

Twilight

Wow.  How Kristen Stewart has grown up from the 12 years old Panic Room diabetes into one fine young actress who is in love with … a vampire.  Twilight watched like a mix of my favorite TV series Buffy and Felicity.  Add that with the cool rock numbers by Linkin Park, Muse, Paramore, and more – OK, this concoction is rather appetizing.

Cynthia and I are both big fans of vampire stories (for different reasons of course).  Watching Twilight to me is like watching a chick flick.  A film adaptation of a young adults book, I am not surprise on how far the film wouldn’t go.  So we have vegetarian vampires, vampires that shimmer in light of diamond under the sun (?!), and a lust so strong that … turns into a series of friendly, cosy conversations on the bed.  Now, if I was the filmmaker, I would have created a Twilight Reload and chopped it with a R(A) rating.

There are moments of awkwardness – at least to me – like the attempt-to-be Romeo & Juliet style of courtship at the woods, or those Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon kind of flying and flirting scenes.  But there are also moments of tenderness and fresh ideas such as vampires playing baseball games (I know) that is really cool to watch.

Pairing the talented Kristen Stewart with the rather stiff looking one dimensional vamp Robert Pattinson to me is like pairing Natalie Portman with the dude who plays Anakin Skywalker.  Hey, I am a guy.  Maybe girls do love Robert Pattinson for his cool factor.  Who knows?

I think Kristen Stewart has potential.  I am keen to follow her acting career.

By the way, Merry Christmas to y’all and watch out for our Movie Review Squad’s nomination for the Year 2008 Movie Awards.  It will be fun, I promise.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

The Day the Earth Stood Still Was the Day We Returned from Our Bandung Trip

This morning, minutes before we checked out of the hotel from Jakarta and to catch a plane back to Singapore, two of our Movie Review Squad members were busy booking our movie tickets via the free wi-fi network provided at the hotel lobby while the third one was on the 10th floor busy catching up with a last minute dosage of Indonesian info-tainment on TV.  Cynthia is in love with Keanu Reeves; I am not sure what TK is in love with; and I am simply a fan of sci-fi stories.

TK and Cynthia appear to have enjoyed “The Day The Earth Stood Still”.  Given the fact that we have not watched a single movie for more than a month, anything that moves on the big screen excites me.  Maybe I entered the theatre with the benchmarks of “The Matrix” and “The Fifth Element” in my head – both have the theme of saving the earth.  Even in my state of movie deprivation, I think “The Day The Earth Stood Still” is far off from my benchmarks.  Nevertheless, an entertaining movie that has to be watched on a digital 4K projection.  The image is so crisp clear.  If I am to pick one or two things I like about this film, that would be the cinematography and the special effects.

The main challenge in liking this film does not lie entirely in the storyline.  It is rather the inconvenience truth that we are facing.  Yes, we humans are the destructive bunch.  A few years ago when Cynthia and I attended the Christmas Mass at a Cathedral in Hong Kong, one message from the sermon left a deep impression onto me: In this year (can’t remember the exact year), two third of our nations are in conflict.  And yes, we humans not only destroy each other, but also the planet too.  I can bet with you that 100 years later when our future generations look back to today, they would laugh at our perpetual denial to link our selfish actions to global warming.  They would laugh at our perpetual denial to link smoking to cancer and to our perpetual resistance in stop making cigarettes too (why do we make and consume things that kill us?!), amongst many others.

And perhaps, yes, Mother Earth needs a reset.  If we look at a larger scheme of work and to acknowledge that Earth is a very rare and unique environment that sustains life form (I once read a report from the used-to-be famous magazine Scientific America on how probable, or rather improbable, there is another planet like ours out there in the Milky Way), maybe human beings are not the best thing that happen to Mother Earth.

The stage set in “The Day The Earth Stood Still” is ambitious.  And personally I don’t think the filmmaker has a satisfying conclusion to why we humans deserve a second chance.  Yes, we may change when we are at the brink of extinction.  But wouldn’t that be a bit … too late?

PS. Brands that I observed being advertised in “The Day The Earth Stood Still” are: Honda, McDonald’s, Windows Vista, LG, and Citizen.

Categories
Hard Rock & Metal Music Reviews

Axl Rose, You Are My Hero! (I Know I Have Said it Before and I’m Saying it Again)

So called 17 years in the making, 15 years I have waited for another Guns N’ Roses fix, hell yes I have enormous expectation on “Chinese Democracy”.  And the good news is, I am so delighted that this most expensive album never made has finally see the daylight.  To the naysayers who toss a few stars lesser than what “Chinese Democracy” deserves, do you even love Rose’s music in the first place?

Axl Rose is my hero, my inspiration.  Sure, he heck cares about his fans and if not for the lyrics of the last song “Prostitute”, I wouldn’t even have a glimpse on what the heck Axl Rose has been fighting for, for 15 or 17 years (depending if you are counting from his band’s last studio album or cover album).  If his music has been in your head for the last 2 decades, you should have no problem relating to the music and the lyrics of “Chinese Democracy”.

First, let me clear the air here for those who say G N’ R is no longer G N’ R.  I own both albums by Velvet Revolver (formed mostly by the ex-band members of Guns ‘N Roses).  Guns N’ Roses without Axl Rose (read: Velvet Revolver) sounds nothing like Guns N’ Roses.  Even with one original member left, “Chinese Democracy” still sounds very much like a G N’ R production.

I think most exceptional artists are kind of eccentric.  Axl Rose is no exception.  What Guns N’ Roses has done with “Use Your Illusion I & II” is exceptional, unheard of.  A simultaneous release of two mega rock albums?  In recent years, Red Hot Chili Peppers released a double album “Stadium Arcadium”.  That is the only production that remotely reminds me of “Use Your Illusion (1991)”.  Still, songs like “November Rain”, “Don’t Cry”, “Civil War”, and “14 Years” have such a deep impression that till today, I still listen to.  Rewind to “Appetite for Destruction (1987)”, which electric guitarist wouldn’t be tempted to learn playing “Sweet Child o’ Mine”?  I have.  At least the beginning bit.

In fact, one of the first few songs I learned after I picked up guitar as my new hobby in my UK days was “Patience” from the “G N’ R Lies (1988)” album.  Lovely acoustic piece.  And strange to say, I do like the cover album “The Spaghetti Incident? (1993)” a lot.  Not their commercial success, I suppose.  But it is a rare gem.  Being able to execute so flawlessly in one cohesive album, only G N’ R can do it.

14 songs in “Chinese Democracy” total up to over 70 minutes of solid music.  The reassembled G N’ R has been touring for decades, without an album.  Hence, there is no surprise that the songs from this album sound so tight.  Pay attention to how the pieces of instruments weave together, pay attention to how well each piece balances with one another, no band these days make albums like this anymore – both from the music and recording perspectives.  To demonstrate my point on sound engineering, pick up an old rock CD (like one or two decades old) and play on your audio system.  Now, pick a recent rock CD and play.  Don’t you think that music these days are loud and in-your-face?  From the sound engineering’s standpoint, “Chinese Democracy” sounds just like a good old rock album.  Very well balanced.  Good stuff.

From the music standpoint, “Chinese Democracy” certainly contains more variety probably due to the countless number of band members coming and going and returning over such a long period in time.  One number starts with a Spanish guitar; all the songs come with solid memorable guitar solos; some I enjoy listening to the keyboard and piano tracks a lot.  The slower measures such as “If The World”, “There Was A Time”, and “Madagascar” are great tracks.  When Axl Rose sings the lines “It was a long time for you, it was a long time for me”, I can’t help but to smile at this subtle sad irony though the song appears to refer to something else.  And in the song “Sorry”, listening to the lines of “I’m sorry for you, not sorry for me.  You don’t know who in the hell to or not to believe”, I can’t help but to imagine this subtle message from him to his ex-band members.

When I first read the song title “Prostitute” (last song), I took the song at face value.  So it did seem that the song is about a prostitute.  Then the following line hits me: Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself to live with fortune and shame.  That just occurs to me why Axl Rose may have been fighting with his record company or the system for so many years.

No doubt Axl Rose’s recorded vocal track sounds better than all that I have previously heard of.  The signature high notes are everywhere, overloaded with the signature pitch bending.  There is a nice tender side that shines, and the harshness that adds texture to his vocal track.  I can feel the emotion when he sings, as though he means everything he sings.  Awesome.

Today I am a happy man.  15 years of waiting is over.  Isn’t life simply awesome?

External Link: G N’ R Official Site

Categories
J Pop Music Reviews

YUI – My Short Stories – Did You Know This is a B-Side Compilation?

No I didn’t.  Nor the Oricon chart cares.  21 years old Japanese singer songwriter and one-time actress releases a b-side album and it charted at #1.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her 4th album “My Short Stories” at HMV.  Wasn’t it this April when she released her last studio album?  I am still regularly listening to “I Loved Yesterday”.  By April 27, I have listened to that one song “LOVE & TRUTH” no less than 400 times.  By June 13, I estimated the played time of the same song to be 5,000.  Today, you connect the dots and tell me how many times “LOVE & TRUTH” has killed me softly again, and again.

I couldn’t contain my excitement when I first listened to YUI’s “My Short Stories”.  But something was missing, something didn’t seem right.  I was desperately looking for the rock identity (“Rolling Star” anyone?) that YUI has evolved from her shy, simple, pleasant debut but I found none; I was desperately looking for the new symphonic sound (like my beloved “LOVE & TRUTH”) and I found none neither.  YUI seems to have returned to her root in the first few tracks (kind of too early for a budding 21 years old artist don’t you think?).  Onto the fifth song “Jam”, the rock identity seems to surface.  And I am falling more in love with the album as the track number increases.  “I Wanna Be”, “Cloudy”, and “Crossroad” are some of my favorite tracks.  The last song, a nice slow one – “Why Me” – wraps up the compilation nicely.

There is still no “LOVE & TRUTH” that I so long for.  But as an album disregarding that it is a b-side compilation, I wouldn’t be able to distinguish it from the rest of her studio albums in terms of production quality.  I am indeed delighted to learn that this is a b-side compilation because now I get to better appreciate another side of YUI, to relive her growth once again.  PS. The below nicely done video, “I’ll Be”, is the only new song from the compilation.

Accompanying her CD is a DVD collection of three video clips and a set of live recording.  OK, I am not going to defend her vocals in a band setting because it is simply not her strength.  Simply put, YUI sounds much better with just YUI and her guitar and I suspect she composes her songs with just that (on that note, I think I can personally relate).  In some of the live clips, a few cameras were following her wandering the streets of Sapporo, Sendai, and Hiroshima with her guitar.  In one classic act like she used to do before she becomes famous, she sat down in a quiet corner, took out her guitar and started singing.  Gosh, she is my inspiration.  Need not to say, it didn’t take long for the crowd to build up during those live recording sessions on the street.

Some artists are just worth the effort to follow their music careers with, to quietly and patiently observe how they grow.  If you are new to YUI, start with her movie “Midnight Sun”.  It won’t go wrong.

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Categories
Misc Music Reviews

Flight of the Conchords – Looking for A Good Laugh from Listening to Your CD?

Rarely do I come across a music album that put a smile to my face every time I put it on.  Kudo to these two New Zealanders – the comedy duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement – whom I have made an introduction here after my HBO blogger event.

In the first ten listens, you probably won’t get all the jokes from within this album of 15 songs.  Even so, you shall be love-at-first-sight with the rap song “Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenoceros” like I do.  One part, after Bret has done his part, Jemaine took over and rapped, “They call me the hiphop-potamus, my lyrics are bottomless …”  And he got stuck running out of words to say while the music goes on and on.  That is hilarious.  I really shouldn’t go into the subsequent lyrics of “My rhymes are so potent that in this small segment, I made all the lady listeners pregnant” here.  Note: their stage names are actually Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenoceros.

While many people like the back-to-the-eighties-Pet-Shop-Boys sound-alike song, “Inner City Pressure”, I find the song “Robot” very original, very entertaining.  It is a song about the future … erm year 2000 … when robots took over the world.  It never fails to make me laugh with the binary solo.  Believe me, they actually rap in zeroes and ones.  And when Jemaine bursts out the line, “Come on sucker lick my battery”, that got me laugh-out-loud every time.

Majority of the songs, they have woman as the subject and turn it into something absurdly funny.  Like the song “Ladies of the World”, they sing …

If every soldier in the world
Put down his weapon and picked up a woman
What a peaceful world this world would be

Or the song, “Think About It” …

A kiss is not a contract but it’s very nice
Just because you’ve been exploring my mouth
Doesn’t mean you get to take an expedition to the south

These sort of lyrics got me shaking my head with a smile every time I hear the songs.  Who would have dreamed up lyrics like that?! 

Musically, there are the pop, the rap, the eighties, the funk, and more.  Some songs I still don’t quite get it.  Like David Bowie’s nipple antenna.  Another song that is pretty gross is “Business Time”.  That song lasts 4 minutes while the rather un-sexy love making story within the song only lasts for … 2 minutes.  Very funny, regardless.

The HBO TV adaptation of their music acted by them contains more songs than this album.  Till today, that one line “ALBI the racist dragon” still stuck in our minds – Cynthia and I.  In that particular episode, Bret and Jemaine – two New Zealanders struggle to have gigs in America – faces a lot of racism from the people in the neighborhood.  Towards the end of the show, when the Americans realized that they are not the Australians, the Americans suddenly become very friendly to them.  We thought that is a pretty funny episode to watch.  These New Zealanders always try to poke fun at the Australians whenever they can.

Rarely is there a music album that is funny and yet with class.  “Flight of the Conchords” is one album worth checking out.  You may need to listen to it a few times to get the jokes.  But it’s worth the effort I am telling ya.

Categories
J Pop Music Reviews

Ayumi Hamasaki Complete Singles – Is This for You?

Hardcore Ayu fans will get this, regardless.  For just over S$30, even if most of us – the fans – have already had most of her albums (I have close to 300 songs of hers that amount to 23 hours of continuous enjoyment), this box-set is a very nice to have.  It has:

  • A beautifully printed booklet that contains a selected set of single covers of hers
  • A rare DVD that contains a live recording of her 2003 tour in Tokyo as well as the a-nation recording from 2002-7 (Ayumi releases 2 live DVDs per year – the countdown tour at year end and the arena tour in the summer – but not the a-nation, which is an Avex organized tour for the artists from the same record label)
  • A 3-CD set that contains all the singles released from “A Song for XX (1999)” to “Guilty (2008)” including the new single “Mirrorcle World” and a Chinese version of the song “Who”
  • The hidden track “Kanariya” from the “Loveppears (199)” album – the first hidden track ever to make it to a single release
  • Lyrics, with Chinese translation

I don’t have her first official album so I am happy for these 5 songs that are “new” to me.  If you have already got the “A Best (2001)” as well as the “A Best 2 -Black- (2007)” and the “A Best 2 -White- (2007)” like I do, do you still need yet another compilation album?  Here are some of the analysis for you.

  • 11 out of 44 songs from “Complete Singles” exist in “A Best (2001)”
  • 16 out of 44 songs from “Complete Singles” exist in “A Best 2 (2007)”
  • 26 out of 44 songs from “Complete Singles” exist in “A Best (2001)” and “A Best 2 (2007)”
Categories
Action & Thriller Diary Movie Reviews

Prefer Casino Royale to Quantum of Solace – My Quantum of Mad Rush from 1450 to 1658

I think I had my fair share of action packed excitement prior to the five o’clock movie “Quantum of Solace”.  At 1450 (timestamp from one of my messages to M), I stepped into my Aston Martin (OK, more like a … whatever) with one hand on my Nokia phone doing last minute checking on my GPS ordinates (I did turn on my Nokia Map because I couldn’t afford to make any error and you will see why) …

OK.  If you are here for the movie review, please skip to the next section.  

Now, back to my quantum of mad rush … I am usually quite good at working backward and estimating what time we shall leave our doorsteps.  Today, so much needed to be done and … I gave up planning.  1450 was terribly late, that much I knew.  Tailgated the first car I saw on the quiet road of our neighborhood, I overtook it over a hump.  My car’s engine went vroom vroom vroom and … oops, the car belongs to the Colonel whom I just greeted at the lobby, whom was my client back in my consulting life, whom must have thought who this mad man on the road was.  He must have been shocked that I was that mad man on the road.

Sir, sorry Sir!  It was mad rush time!

I am terrible in road direction and I relied on my Nokia Map in times like this.  Spun the car to YCK Road, drove up the Lornie Road, turned right into Holland Road, exited into Holland Avenue, and as I negotiated a sharp right turn into the car park, I was greeted by the sign …

Car park full.

Uh-huh.  Parachuted Cynthia out of the car with an encrypted message “6 Dim Sum Dishes, Crystal Jade”, I patiently waited at the entrance with a path that slopped upwards.  My phone rang just when that dude from the Mercedes-Benz CLS in front of me let go his brake and gravity pulled this huge German machine towards my car.  NO!  I furiously slammed my honk while Cynthia was on the phone asking me which of the two Crystal Jade restaurants we were supposed to meet.

Handbrake Sir … please!  How would the insurance agencies know who hits who in situation like this?!

As I was waiting for our dishes to arrive, I was so happy to see the ATM machine right opposite the road.  In such a high tech city like Singapore, you would have thought that cashless payment is the way to go.  Apparently not for where I was going to visit, Sim Lim Square (amongst many places here).  One time, I literally withdrew S$1,000 notes over-the-counter so that I don’t need to bring a briefcase of S$50 notes to buy electronic gadgets.  Paid by Credit Cards I will need to add 3%.  Paid by NETS I will still need to add 2%.  You know what?  Our supermarkets should follow suit.  Imagine a 2% discount on grocery bills if we pay by cash.  Why not?  I would.  Especially now that we are in recession.  Any saving counts.

I had a vague memory on where M’s client site is at, theoretically a 5 minutes drive from Holland Vee.  I did get lost and I managed to get back on track thanks to Cynthia and Nokia Map.  M must have forgotten how impressive my driving skill is and as I was waiting and waiting for M to appear, I calculated the route to my next destination, Sim Lim Square.

If all go according to plan, mid next week, M and I would be two very happy men on Earth with our two new cameras.  So today, we went for an accessory shopping trip.  To help some of you to relate, imagine you have ordered a beautiful pair of earrings together with a matching necklace from Tiffany & Co.  While waiting for these lovely items to arrive, what would you do?  Yes, go shopping for some new dresses to go along, correct?

We entered into Singapore River area and have to pay S$2 ERP road charges (on a Saturday?!).  We turned into Rocher Road and paid another S$2 ERP road charges.  Good gracious me!  No wonder I love to stay at home during weekends.  And when we reached Sim Lim Square, we saw the sign …

Car park full.

Uh-huh.  Parachuted M out of the car to kick start the purchase process and when we reached the basement, I parachuted myself out of the car and handed Cynthia the car key.  Time was 1620 and it was running out.  Ran up to Alan Photo and M was happily holding his new lens.  I asked for the UV filter, no stock.  Battery, no stock.  Dry cabinet, no stock but I could place an order that comes with free home delivery.  OK, at least I got myself a rather expensive memory card.

Jumped back into the car at 1640, I paid another S$1 ERP for entering the Orchard area.  By the time we arrived at the 6th floor of Cineleisure, it was 1658.  TK greeted us with the popcorn set that Cynthia has been talking about for the whole day and … time for “Quantum of Solace”!

Quantum of Solace     

To the character James Bond, “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” are separated by merely an hour.  To some of the audience who have caught the previous installment, that is a 2 years wait.  If I was to watch “Casino Royale” right before “Quantum of Solace”, I think I may be more sympathetic over Bond’s grievance towards the quite possibly love of his life Vesper’s betrayal and death.  This chapter of James Bond starring Daniel Craig seems like part of a trilogy.  I made such a guess because there are some loose ends and in the end credits, it says something like “James Bond will be back again soon”.  If so, that may explain this mid episode syndrome when the majority of the plot is to provide answers to the lingering questions from “Casino Royale” but yet, the climax has to come from the next episode.

I prefer “Casino Royale” because I like the storyline better, because the Bond girl is more intelligent, has more air time, and because I get to see James Bond having fun, falling in love, rather than feeling so heartbroken.  Besides, I think the villain of “Casino Royale” is a lot cooler.

If you like Daniel Craig role in the Bond franchise (like me), you would enjoy “Quantum of Solace”.  There are some breathtaking action sequences and certainly, refresh your mind with “Casino Royale” prior to watching this one will help to understand James Bond’s state of mind better.

PS. I like Olga Kurylenko better in Hitman.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The Digital Photography Book (Vol 2) by Scott Kelby – A Good Companion to the First Volume

If you are a beginner in dSLR, the first volume is a must-have.  After I published the review for that book, I have got a couple of questions coming in asking which one to get and is volume 2 an update to the previous one.  A quick answer is: the overlap between the two is minimal and you really should read the previous volume before this one.

After Scott Kelby released “The Digital Photography Book”, questions started to flow in on areas that he did not cover in details.  Hence, he wrote this book to address to those questions he received.  If you have read the first book, chances are, you will be asking a similar set of questions.

If there is one theme to this volume, that would be light.  Much like oil painting, getting the right balance between light and shadow is essential to your work.  In fact, that was the second topic I learned after I got acquainted with the basic skill of oil painting.  How many of you are frustrated with the evening pictures you take when you have to use the flash?  I get frustrated with the results most of the time.  The light is often too harsh to my liking.  But if you invest in a dSLR, you really should get a detachable lighting system and if you do have such a unit, you really would want to tap onto the full potential on what you can do with it.  A large portion of this book explains how to shoot great photos under various lighting conditions.  In fact, it probably has gone a bit too deep that unless you have the resource to turn your home into a photo studio with all the extra gears (including a strong fan that makes the long hair flies!), some of these good advice are more for future reference.  Nevertheless, you should be equipped to do a better job shooting portraits in different scenarios including weddings.

There are other shorter topics including shooting macro and what to shoot when you travel.  As before, there are tons of great photos in color on each page of the book and it is such a good read.  The first volume will give you 80% of what you need to get started.  This volume is for the extra 20% that is usually harder to master.  If you only have the time and resource to read one, read the first volume.  If you wish to go that extra mile, “The Digital Photography Book (Vol 2)” is indeed a good companion to the first volume.

Related link: The Digital Photography Book (Vol 1) by Scott Kelby – A Must Have for DSLR Beginners (Like Me)