Categories
Action & Thriller Foreign Movie Reviews

A Better Tomorrow – Emotional, And Gripping!

TK, our partner-in-crime in Movie Review Squad texted Cynthia when we were waiting to board our plane, on New Year’s day, back to Singapore.  I was still on a Zen mode, cut off from any Internet access for more than a week.  And so, after numerous text exchanges between TK and Cynthia discussing the logistics of our first movie outing of 2011, I could not contain my bursting desire and said to Cynthia, “Just ask TK to book anything, and we will be there”.  When I learned that TK has booked us a Korean movie, I was very excited.  I pictured a typical Korean drama, with lots and lots of pretty Korean actresses.  Ah, I was so hyped up for some solid visual simulation that when TK met us in Orchard, when he texted us that he was really excited about our first outing of the year, I wanted to reply, “You have no idea”.  I didn’t, because I was driving.

“A Better Tomorrow” is – later as I found out – a remake of a Hong Kong classic movie of the same name.   I have not watched that classic, so I may not be as traumatized as those who are in love with the old film.  Personally, I am finding it quite unfair to compare Korean actors with Chow Yun Fat and Leslie Cheung whom some of us are so familiar with.  Looking at the quality of acting in this Korean remake, I was touched.  The emotion is convincing and one of the gangsters (the Chow Yun Fat clone) does look cool enough to get Cynthia all excited.  No wonder she loves this Korean remake more than the two of us for there are no actresses in this movie, at all.  Zero.

I see where the “problem” is.  Korean men (at least those on screen) are usually, how shall I say, so “pretty”.  Or handsome in a feminine way.  It does look strange to see two men crying to each other trying very hard to defy the urge to say, “I forgive you”, or “Let’s forget the past”.  And they have to act persistently stubborn over the duration of the film with one says, “You are not my brother, I do not want to see you anymore”, and another says, “You are the only brother I have, and let’s not get separated again.”  Mind you, this is a Korean film, with subtitles.  Hence I am not sure how much is lost in translation.  Maybe the original lines are not so cheesy.  By and large, I am drawn into the emotion of the acting.  I like most of the actors, except perhaps the little brother who appears to overact.  But hey, looking at the plot, I suppose  he has the reason to hold his grudges, for all these years.  So, what is the plot like?

Here is a highlight, no spoiler of course.  It is shown right in the beginning of the show.  A pair of brothers together with their mother tried to make an escape from North Korea into South Korea.  Somehow (I think), during the chase by the guards, the little brother fell down and the elder brother scared of being discovered, deserted his little brother and his mother.  The two got caught and the mother was executed.  Since then, the two brothers have been separated, until later in the story, when one becomes a criminal and another, a cop.

There is a good sense of heroism in the movie.  The drama bit made some of the audiences cried.  The gunfight bit was exciting to watch (except perhaps for those who know the ending, since this is a remake).  If I was the scriptwriter, I would replace the little brother with a childhood sweetheart of the elder brother.  And I would make the first desertion perceived as one, but it is not.  Now, that would make a more heart wrenching movie, true to Korean standard.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Luka And The Fire Of Life By Salman Rushdie – Now, This Is Fantasy!

OK.  Let’s kick start the new year with a writeup on Salman Rushdie’s latest novel.  One of the seven books I have read when I was on holiday.

Born in the video gaming era, Salman Rushdie’s new novel “Luka and the Fire of Life” talks to me.  As the main character Luka transverses through the World of Magic, on a quest to save his storytelling father (the Shah of Blah) who has fallen into a deep sleep, Luka needs to face magical creatures not too far off from those found in the World of Warcraft, and gods and titans that remind me of the game God of War.  Even down to the details of leveling and ”˜ding’ (commonly known among the gamers as getting to the next level), save points, number of lives, and the concept of game-over (or in the book, it is termed as ”˜permination’ – Permanent Termination).

On the surface, “Luka and the Fire of Life” draws from the same source of inspiration similar to many of the video game titles today – fantasy.  Where does fantasy come from?  Legend, tradition, mythology, religion, and science – Rushdie’s new novel has done a marvelous job in meshing up a vast repertoire of fantasy from all over the world and presents them in a concise manner.  A 216-page novel, as compares to the last Rushdie novel I have read, is indeed concise.  This book is an easy and entertaining read.  How the story develops reminds me of the sci-fi writer Piers Anthony’s Mode series.  In that series, a little girl is able to step into an alternative reality and has to take on endless quests in order to complete a certain goal.  In “Luka and the Fire of Life”, a ten year old boy together with a dog named bear and a bear named dog step into the World of Magic.  From there, Luke gathers new fiends, faces new enemies, and together, they have to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in order to attain an impossible goal – to steal the Fire of Life.

In a deeper examination, the author subtly slips in an at times humorous and at times inspirational message where possible.  Why “Big Bang” when there is no medium bang or an even bigger bang?  Do we live in a fated world whereby our future has already been written?  Or we are truly free to write our history?  What if there is no heaven?  And death merely means meeting one’s counterparty – like particles and anti-particles – and when the two meet, in contrast to be as in coming into being, the person simply un-be and vanish?

For those who enjoy reading fantasy stories, folklores, and mythologies, “Luka and the Fire of Life” guarantees to leave you breathless.  There are dragons and flying carpet, beauty contest amongst the goddesses such as Venus and Aphrodite, the Egyptian sun god – Ra – who speaks in Hieroglyph (it is hilarious!), there are heroes and villains too long to be listed, and there are memorable locations such as the Lake of Wisdom, the River of Time, the Mountain of Knowledge, and the Inescapable Whirlpool and above it, El Tiempo (like El Niño).

From the writing style point of view, this book is lively and modern.  The author has even created terms such as P2C2E (Processes Too Complicated To Explain) and made subtle reference to modern technology (“We [the magical creatures] aren’t needed anymore … with your High Definitions and low expectations”).  There are songs and poems.  And there is a character that partly speaks in Spanish.  I have observed a degree of dualism in the book to link real life characters (within the book of course) and the corresponding characters in the magical world.  I have also observed that when possible, the author augments a commonly associated concept to its opposite pole in order to keep ideas fresh (such as fire of life instead of fountain of life).  From the narration point of view, Salman Rushdie is without a doubt a master storyteller.  He draws you close into Luka and his companions.  Each character is distinct and they are intelligent.  The environment is magical.  Above all, Salman Rushdie has done something probably few have done – a good fantasy story does not have to be lengthy.  And it can be modern too.

Categories
Diary Travel Blog

Bandung Chronicle – Part 1 Of 6

This is a journal of my year end trip to Bandung, Indonesia.  Observations more or less arranged in a chronological order, chopped into 500 words per piece.

1. Chicken in Bandung

Some see only dirt in Bandung, some see charm in every corner.  Some see the chicken meat in Bandung too tiny to be served as a dish on a dinning table.  I happen to love the chewiness, the leanness that reminds me of how vigorous the chickens had once exercised.  My vision of a bunch of chickens in joy, running around under a hot Bandung sun chasing each other and playing games, that essence of happiness permeates into the meat grilled to perfection, now served with sweet chili source, slices of cucumbers, and a few pieces of green lettuce.  I feel happier eating that than those caged chickens force fed with feed of questionable origins, supersized by means of hormones and chemicals.  There is little happiness eating chickens of that sort, even if they are meatier.

2. Airport Security

Round about the same period when – finally – a highway is built linking Jakarta, the capital, and Bandung, the second biggest city in Indonesia, AirAsia flies direct between Singapore and Bandung.  I suppose Bandung airport seldom sees International flights.  After the plane touched down – the only plane I saw in the entire airport – we have the opportunity to walk from the airstrip to the terminal.  There is no baggage convey belts either.   Instead, bags are transported and piled up at a common area ready for collection.

At the immigration counter, one of the two officers signaled me to place my four right fingers onto a metal box fitted with a glass top.  A flash of light followed by my four left fingers, another flash of light followed by my two big thumbs.  I was excited by the new experience.  After recording my fingerprints, the officer said to me, “Open you glasses”, which I suppose meant, “Take off your glasses”.  He pointed to a small camera in front of me that looked like a webcam.  Many movies flashed in front of my mind – “Mission Impossible”, “James Bond”, just to name a few.  With one hand holding my glasses, I moved really close to the tiny camera ready for a retinal scan.  That appeared to have caused a little commotion.  The queue behind me gasped – including Cynthia – and the officers frantically signaled me to stand back.  Then I realized.  They simply wanted to take my mugshot.  I stood back, forced a little smile, and after seeing the officer’s nod of approval, I left the counter thinking: how cool if it was a retinal scan instead.

3. Warcraft Withdrawal Syndrome

I often look forward to my trip to Bandung, treating it as a detox program staying away from the Internet for a change.  Once I worked in Paris.  One client of mine blindfolded himself for the entire weekend.  For what, I asked.  Many things, he answered.  The absence of advertisements and how blessed he …

Categories
Announcement Diary Reflection

Merry Christmas, And A Brief Summary Of 2010

What a year 2010 has been!  By the time you read this, I am very much on my way leaving town, looking forward to meeting Cynthia’s family and enjoying the serenity of an Internet blackout.  Back to basic, somewhere in Indonesia.  I can imagine how I would hear the ringing in my ears at night, be greeted by the rather cool air in the morning, the prayers from a mosque nearby before the break of dawn.  I would have so much time to exercise, to read, to revise my Spanish, to take a walk in the neighborhood, and to taste the local food.

The official announcement was out yesterday.  My entry of “Sea Turtle” has won over the judges from the HP team, against some of the stiffest competitions.  I have read some of entries written by fellow bloggers showcased at the HP Singapore Facebook page, and they are good.  I am thrilled, very thrilled that the judges were won over by – quoting from the email – my creativity, relevance to the topic, and the originality of my story.  And I dedicate this little achievement of mine to you, my readers.  Especially those who think that I should take up writing more seriously, and the encouragement I receive when I venture outside my comfort zone – in terms of writing.  Also, thanks to Amelia from Waggener Edstrom who has been encouraging and reminding me to complete the entry.  Your positive energy is a blessing to those around you.  You should be my agent, should my writing career takes off.

I enjoy writing “Sea Turtle” a lot.  Because it took me a few good weeks to research on the subject matters down to how sea turtles hear and what sea turtles do.  And it took some good thinking in order to put together a folklore, as inspired by Italo Calvino and his lecture notes “Six Memos for the Next Millennium”.  I am not literature trained.  I wish I was.  Having said that, I would probably hate writing if it was so.

*     *     *     *     *

This doodle of mine (on top of this post) is titled tentatively as “Rain of Heaven and Fire of Chaos”.  It started as a ginger bread man – Cynthia can vouch for it.  But I tossed the idea away and started afresh, with something more complex.  Because that ginger bread man and Christmas tree composition was going nowhere.  I am not sure if anyone would get what this drawing is trying to say.  It is a rather private piece of composition.  Hence the zipper.

*     *     *      *      *

Instead of spending time to write a batch of posts to be released while I am away like I used to – which I suppose most readers would be busy celebrating the festive season and new year with family and friends – I dedicate my time going through all my year 2010 posts.  OK.  Retract a little.  Before I went through my posts this year, I tried to recall what I did in 2010.  Nothing significant came up.  The other day, I had lunch with my good friend Shauna.  We concluded that time flies, year 2010 has disappeared as quickly as it arrived.  Cynthia and I had dinner with our good friend Tong Kiat two evenings ago for his birthday celebration at Dempsey Road.  We also concluded the same.  Now, when I did take time to look through what I have done, here are some of my favorite entries that you may or may not have read.  Some, I have even forgotten that they were written.  Back to the first practical reason of why I blog.  Time does fly.  But not without leaving behind some of the fondest memories.

In no particular order, there is a brief summary of my year 2010.

  1. My niece Bethany was born in January!  When I look at my little sister, who is so full of heavenly joy, it is hard to believe that she now has a little daughter.  My photo is seldom featured here.  The one taken on Bethany’s 100th day birthday still melts my heart whenever I look at it.
  2. I do many silly things in life.  Regardless, these would have been my talking points if we are to meet face-to-face.  Like that toilet bowl incident.  Like that little operation I had on my toe and my buddy still thinks that it was not a piece of hair.  I should have kept the specimen, as what my doctor has suggested.  And like that hard sales incident that till today, whenever I am inside Thomson Plaza, I try to avoid that counter.  Cynthia would say: Don’t worry, you are with me and no one will touch you! Yep.  I feel so much protected with Cynthia around.
  3. If I have to pick one post I enjoy writing the most this year, besides that sea turtle post, that would be the koala post.  Or the one on Indonesian forest fire.  The style is similar.  It takes effort and tons of luck to chain up the stories.  What if I fail to chain them up?
  4. Well, the materials would turn into the “Snippet of My Life” series, which has been running for more than three years.  Snippet without a doubt holds a special place in my heart.  Of all that I have written this year, episode 27 is my favorite.
  5. Our band has performed live gigs in Bali Culture, which unfortunately the land that the restaurant sat on has been repossessed by our government.  Our band has not been doing much lately, due to a missing drummer, and subsequently, lost in momentum and motivation.  Sometimes in life, there are something that I wish.  And there are something that are out of reach.
  6. Writing travel journals takes so much time and sustained concentration.  However, I am glad that I do.  My favorite albums would be Gorges du Verdon in France and Lamma Island in Hong Kong.
  7. Counting how much time and money I have spent on learning Spanish is, scary.  From time to time, I use what I have learned from my Spanish class as an inspiration for my posts.  When I was 18 is one good example.
  8. What else?  Of course, for many years to come, Cynthia and I would still be laughing about how we spent our 10th wedding anniversary.

*     *     *     *     *

Yesterday I was on leave.  Ever since I have been relocated to the east, hardly do I have the opportunity to meet my sister for business lunch.  Because she works at the west.  So I was thinking: Why not gang up with Bethany – my niece – (together with Benny of course) and  have a Surprise!! lunch with my sister?  The logistic turned out to be more tedious than I thought.  So instead of a Surprise!!, we have a “surprise”.  Lora was fully aware of our visit.  Still, it was a fun day.

Below is a photo taken with my niece Bethany possibly mouthing and gesturing “I am number one” or “My mama is the best” or “My papa is the coolest” or “Hey, pass me that camera of yours, would you?”  In the middle is my sister Lora, and by her sides, Benny and Bethany.  Now that I look closer at the photo, I am very much convinced that Bethany was mouthing MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Categories
For the Geeks

Hands-on With Garmin-Asus A10, An Android Phone

The world seems like going Android, or so it seems looking at the recent phones that arrive at my review desk (this time from omy.sg).   Android platform does have its charm.  It is fast evolving.   Quite a number of manufacturers are designing phones based on Android platform.  The beauty of it is that Android phones are not homogeneous across different manufacturers.   Each offers a set of unique functionality.   Yet, when you switch from one Android phone to another, there is still this strong sense of familiarity.  With Google Sync, all your contacts and calendar appointments can be easily transfer from one Android phone to another – even if they are of the different brands.

I am aware of the Asus brand, because I assemble my computers and have used their PC components.   However, Garmin-Asus is new to me, as a wireless phone brand.  In this article, I am going to review on the A10 model.   A10 is elegantly designed, beautiful inside out.   It is certainly one phone I would love to be seen with (and I don’t say this often).   The strength of the A10 is the professional navigation system, both for vehicle and for pedestrian.  I have used the navigation services from various wireless phones while driving.   What A10 offers, as you will see later, is a world apart.  Its accuracy down to the speed limit of each section of the road, the listing of upcoming highway exits, and the reliable and responsive GPS system – I would have expected these functions from a profession GPS device, but not a phone.  To read more, click onto the link below.

  • Click here to continue reading the review.
Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Great House By Nicole Krauss – Beautiful Prose Albeit Being Dry And Confusing

It was a promising beginning, for the opening chapter “All Rise”.  The narrator addresses to Your Honor confessing a break-up with her boyfriend, R, in the winter of 1972.  Initially, I thought Nicole Krauss’s new novel was a collection of short stories, which in my opinion would have worked out much better.  Comes the second chapter “True Kindness” when the narration switches from first person to second.  That is unusual.  Because there are only a few novels that tell a story involving you – the reader – throughout the plot.  It is refreshing, even though this second chapter seems depressing.  It is a story told from a father’s perspective.  You are his first son and you have a brother.  There is a funeral for his wife.  And your father recounts the memory of your upbringing, how different you are from your brother, and how you and your father never get along (it does read a bit odd being referred as you, doesn’t it?)  At that point, I still thought that “Great House” was a collection of short stories, a genre I adore reading lately.

Then we have “Swimming Holes”.  A story told by an old husband in the first person perspective, on his soon to be dead wife, and a secret kept by his wife soon to be revealed – she has a son whom she was given away at birth.  And there and then, a connection back to the first chapter “All Rise” with a Chilean poet.  Or is it?  Fourth chapter “Lies Told by Children” is a story – again in first person – about a girl having a brief relationship with a boy who has a sister.  The focus of the story appears to be the siblings’ father, who is an antique collector.  Linking these four stories is an old desk (it could be one, it could be different ones – I cannot tell).  There is where it gets confusing.

These four stories confuse me because they do appear to be independent.  The linkage could well be symbolic.  It is also hard to remember the narrator’s names (or even some characters who are not frequently mentioned but plays a role to the story).  If “Great House” was a collection of short stories, one could get immersed into one story, expect it to have an abstract ending, without the need to memorize the characters, and move onto the next one.  It is like admiring a beautiful garden instead of navigating through a jungle.  To read “Great House” as a novel requires a fair bit of thinking.  If I was to read it again (less likely to be so), I would start to write notes as I progress.  On the characters, the relationships, the objects, the events, the locations, and the timelines.

First four chapters of the book contribute to part one.  In part two, the chapter titles almost resemble the previous part: True Kindness, All Rise, Swimming Holes, and Weisz.  To add onto the reading complexity, one has to link the two parts as well.  Nicole Krauss is a witty writer.  No doubt about it.  Her prose is beautiful, although some of the airy scripts that devote to emotions and feelings may at times lose me.  Because I prefer to see a good balance of actions and internal thoughts.  Also, the entire book has no conversational dialogs.  There are dialogs in the form of thoughts.  And the difference between the two is interactiveness.  Reading how one thinks is different from seeing how two converse.  Hence in summary, I feel the novel is a bit dry for me to read.

To demonstrate the author’s style of writing, here is an excerpt taken from the “True Kindness” that I like best.  Your name is Dov.  A girl you are in love with has spent a night in your room (details not known).  And the narrator is your father who mets this girl in the morning over breakfast while you – I presume – are still asleep.  And you are writing, or attempt to write, a novel about a shark inside a tank.

I sat across from her and watched her eat.  Such a small girl and such a large appetite.  She was sure of her beauty; it was evident in her smallest gestures.  She flung her arms and legs around with unstudied carelessness, but they always landed with grace.  There was an inner logic that organized her thoroughly.  Tell me something, I said.  She looked at me, still chewing.  A musky odor clung to her.  What? she asked.  I sat there, hair growing out of my ears.  Never mind, I said, and let the giant shark swim off away from me.  She finished eating in silence and got up to clean her plate.  At the door she paused.  The answer to your question is no, she said.  What question? I said.  The one you didn’t ask, she said.  Oh?  Which one is that?  About Dov, she said.  I waited for her to go on, but she didn’t.  There was much in that instant I failed to grasp.  I heard the front door close behind her.

Death is everywhere in the book.  I suppose if you are in the right state of mind, this level of melancholy is beautiful.  Some parts of the story can be heart wrenching, emotions described in such realism.  There is also a linkage to the Jews and their heritage.  To link up the stories, Nicole Krauss uses objects such as a desk, a symbolic stone, Israel, and writers, mingled with some of her characters.  Above all, she uses the concept of a house, a Great House (hence the title).  What is a Jew without Jerusalem? she asks.  Bend a people round the shape of what they lost, and let everything mirror its absent form, she adds.  Quote from Books of Kings by the author: He burned the house of God, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.

“Great House” is one of the books in which I struggle midway wanting to give up but am happy with the poetic ending.  I have read “The History Of Love” too.  But this one is a bit too sad, and dry.

Categories
Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 29 – Pigs And Sheep Estate, With A Marketplace

This is a story of Dooku, of which the prequel you may have already read.  Dooku was a farmer, a chef, but not any more.  At least for now.   While the story may be inspired by the people at work, all the characters are works of fiction.  If you feel that I am writing a story about you, you should buy me a drink.  Because you are about to get famous.

Kidding.

*     *     *     *     *

One day, Dooku has entered a city.  Not the biggest city on earth.   But one that is sophisticated enough to have people working on a desk that comes with a chair.  An office, as the city dwellers may call it.   Dooku chuckles whenever he hears the word “office”.   An office or a farm – in Dooku’s simplistic mind – mean the same.   In a farm, you wake up early, plow the soil, add some cow dung if need to, do more plowing, and when the time comes, you harvest your produce; the cycle continues.   In an office – as Dooku observes – people wake up early, push some paperwork around, create more work for others if need to, push more work to each other, and when the time comes, collect their paychecks; the cycle continues.

In this new office, Dooku loves to ask people what their roles are.  That seems to piss people off.   Because most people prefer to keep their roles as fuzzy and vague as possible.  But in Dooku’s defense, he asks because he wants to know what he needs to do.   Back in his farming days, if Dooku knows that no one is going to clean up the excess cow dung left in the farm after the fertilization process, Dooku would clean up the cow dung himself.   All farmers do that.  Why?  Because too much cow dung piled up under the sun attracts flies.  And it especially intrudes Dooku’s olfactory senses.   Dooku is a simple man.  A helpful simple man, who is often misunderstood at work.

One day, an unfinished piece of work is handed over to Dooku.  No matter.  Work is work, unfinished or not.   There is an architectural model large enough to fill up a boardroom that needs some touchups.   Dooku takes a closer look.  First at the signage.  It says: An estate for rapid evolution with the goal of galactic domination! He then stares at the proposed housing units for the pigs, and at the proposed housing units for the sheep.  The marketplace for the pigs, and the marketplace for the sheep to trade their produces with the outside world.  Where are the weapons of mass destruction?   How do the pigs and the sheep envisage the means to dominate the galaxy?   Dooku then takes the liberty to rename the signage to: An estate for the pigs and the sheep with an efficient and hygienic marketplace for trading purposes. Satisfied with what he does, Dooku goes on touching up the aesthetic aspect of the model.  The look-and-feel.  Correcting some obvious design flaws like sheep do not need handrails, unlike the pigs that at times, walk on two feet.   Just like how it is documented in the “Animal Farm”.

Next, Dooku takes another look at the model.   As it is, the estate looks like a DMZ between the pigs and the sheep.  Such obvious demarcation between the two races.  What gives?  The pigs and the sheep suppose to co-exist in one allocated area.  Are they not talking to each other?   (Dooku, a simple man as he is, may not aware that pigs and sheep do not normally talk to each other.)   Again, Dooku takes the liberty to slightly rearrange the housing estate, making it more like pigs and sheep living in harmony.   He then combines the two marketplaces into one by knocking down some walls, clearly labels the “Vegetarian” section for the sheep to sell their vegetables.   And the “Meat Lover” section for the pigs to sell pork chops.   As an icing on the cake, Dooku even illustrates how the outsiders should be led into the marketplace, how money can be exchanged, details that were not available in the previous model.

The peace loving sheep look at the polished model, love it, with no further question.   The war raging pigs look at the same model, hate it, and spit on it.  Because it looks superficially different from what they have seen before.  But surely this is a more polished design, Dooku asks.  Besides, what lie inside the houses and the marketplace remain unchanged.   Unfortunately, the pigs cannot be reasoned with and insist that something major, other that cosmetic, has been modified.   Flabbergasted, Dooku is asked to organize a town hall meeting that involves a large team of people and pigs and sheep to iron out the differences.   In the meeting, Chief Porky goes on and on about not able to verify the interior design of the houses and of the marketplace for the mere fact that the model looks different.  And he has no time or found it too tedious to reconcile the two, unlike his sheep counterpart.  More and more time is poured into this pointless discussion whereby in the good old day, Dooku would have seen his maize grow beautifully, day by day, taking in the sunlight from the sky and the water mixed with the cow dung from the ground, turning into something so yummy in salad and in soup.   As this pointless discussion carries on, in this farm now called office, Dooku wonders what does time and effort turn into.  The pigs talk louder, more and more.   Chief Porky bangs onto table going into all four (instead of the usual civilized standing posture).  Dooku cannot help but daydream.  In his dream, he sees a parallel universe.  In this dream, he is a bird.  An angry bird.  Together with his fellow birdies, they have launched an angry attack against the pigs.  Because enough is enough.   One flying angry bird threatens to pulverize the home of the pigs.  Two flying angry birds threaten to penetrate the pigs’ last defense.  As more and more angry birds rain down from the heaven, the pigs are squashed into oblivion.   Mashed together with the cow dung, this enhanced pig-cow dung serves as a rich fertilizer to the maize nearby.  What was so irritatingly useless in pig form becomes so useful mixed with dung.   Maize grows and grows, getting taller and taller almost touching the heaven and bum!

Dooku wakes up.  It is dinner time.  And he orders a pork chop served with corns feeling a whole lot better already.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Book 3 Of Midnight’s Children – Wrapping Up Week 4 Read-Along

One month has passed since I have joined my blogger friend and her friends and her extended friends to read Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”.  I can be a slow reader when the topic gets heavy and indeed, I am happy to have completed my reading in time for the closing of this read-along activity.  When did I finish reading it?  The time is important too.  I could have crossed the finishing line on Saturday evening.  But I was too tired.  A fine book like this does not deserved to be rushed through.  So one fine Sunday morning, to the best of my recollection, the moment has arrived.  Hooray!

Instead of reading Author’s note upfront, I saved it to the end, after I have devoured 647 pages worth of literature.  I wanted to read the book with a rather clean slate of mind, and then I look upon his note for validation.  I don’t find “Midnight’s Children” an easy read at all.  I suspect quite a few friends of mine would have said the same.  When I read the author’s note, this bit struck me.

In the West people tended to read Midnight’s Children as a fantasy, while in India people thought of it as pretty realistic, almost a history book.

I am not from the West.  Neither am I from India.  I don’t see it as a fantasy book because I live in Southeast Asia.  Nor do I possess sufficient tradition and background to understand the Indian history.  Had I read it purely from the fantasy perspective, it would have been quite a fascinating read.  Unfortunately, I was unable to suppress my inquisitive mind.  There is so much I wish to learn and understand – the history of India and the rhythms and thought patterns of Indian language.  I could tell you in plain English that in “Midnight’s Children”, the author attempts to tell the history of a nation and the population of hundreds and millions through one character and leaving the readers to imagine the rest.  That was my expectation before I started reading the book.  But nothing beats actually experiencing it and to really understand what it means by that.  In that sense, this book is a masterpiece.  While “Midnight’s Children” appears to lack in entertainment value (the character or characters are hardly lovable, no offence to India as a nation) – most likely due to the fact that I am neither from the West nor from India and I am neither reading it as a fantasy nor a history book – the construct of the plots and the characters and the carefully researched materials that span a few nations, a few decades; putting this concept in writing that is of a high literature value is respectable.

In book three, Saleem Sinai has moved to Bangladesh.  The story is dark, bloody, and gloomy.  Have a brief and closer look into Bangladesh’s modern history, you can see why this part of the book is written as such.  Book three is also the section whereby the historical figure Indira Gandhi is introduced.  Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, a total of fifteen years (taken from Wikipedia).  Now that I have read the brief note on Indira Gandhi and the related historical events, this entire book makes so much sense.  If the main character Saleem Sinai born on August 15, 1947 denotes the metaphor of the birth of a nation, his son born on June 25, 1975 signifies the Emergency – one of the most controversial times in the history of independent India when a state of emergency was declared.  Now you can see why Indians would read this like a history book while the Westerners may read it as a fantasy.  In my personal life, I have enough Indian friends and colleagues that make me wanting to know more about the Indian culture.  Hence the steep learning curve I am willing to endure.

Back to the author’s note, it is evident that some of the characters in “Midnight’s Children” are inspired by Salman Rushdie’s family and friends.  Is this an autobiography?  Although the author was born pretty close to the birth of India (57 days earlier), I still think that Saleem Sinai is India, more than Salman Rushdie.  What do you think?

External Link: Biblojunkie’s Week 3 Wrap-Up

Categories
Everyday News

Dear SMRT – This Fine Idea Is Not Too Fine Eh?

What a crazily busy week at work, and hence the lack of frequent updates.  I wish I was sipping lemon juice by a swimming pool full of gorgeous looking babes holidaying somewhere at the Mediterranean sea and hey, THAT was the reason I have not been writing lately.  OK.  I have to start separating what is in my head from what is real.  This morning, I saw a car stopped on the side of the road with a punctured tire.  Then I saw another one.  And another one.  What would I do?  What would you do?  I took out my phone and updated my status in Facebook, like what the millions of Singaporeans who suffer from ‘mobile phone syndrome’ would do.  As I drove inside a neighborhood, I got lost, entered into some paint ball or pain ball parks, stumbled onto an outdoor media event full of anticipating photographers and event organizers busy shooing me out of the way.  Then I bumped onto my friend and her husband.  She told me excitingly that she saw one of my cousins, who is now pregnant, somewhere in the crowd.  I was so excited because I have not seen my cousins for donkey number of years, since my sister’s wedding night.  So I pushed through the crowd, eager to meet my cousin.  All of a sudden, I have this urge to pee.  Huge urge.  Mother nature has recalled me back to where I really am.  And I woke up.

That Facebook update still looks very real to me.  I checked my Facebook this morning.  It is not there.  It would have been freaky if otherwise.

You know the drill.  Another dear so-and-so entry.  Have a good weekend!

*     *     *     *     *

Dear SMRT,

I can totally see where you are coming from.  Not all of us are professionally trained to perform the displays of affection in public (a.k.a. PDA), like the Hollywood stars.  Even in movies, not all kissing scenes are created equal.  I struggle to decide who kisses the best on silver screen.  If Robert Pattinson was to look healthier in that vampire saga, I would vote for him and his kissing partner Kristen Stewart.  So, to be fair, Homer and Marge – who recently featured in Playboy – get the golden kiss award from me.  Speaking from the years of kissing experience, I think passionate kissing technique takes time to fruition.  Some couples may have taken a bit to far when practicing on the train.  Should they be fined S$500 if they fail to please the crowd and cause ‘nuisance’?  I think learning how to kiss is like learning how to cycle.  You can cycle all you like inside a HDB void deck.  But nothing beats practicing on the road.  The other day (which is a day many years ago), I was in UK.  It was quite an eye-opener to see a couple passionately kissing in front of my university’s library.  What a lucky dude!  The girl was gyrating all over him.  Now that, is passion.  We need more of such in Singapore.  Personally, I think S$500 is a bit heavy for couples who do a lousy job.  Perhaps lower it to, say, S$5?  To make up for the lost revenue, I would propose a new fine for those who may have caused a nuisance in the train.  Untreated body odor.  How much should this new fine be then?  The current fine for carrying inflammable items is S$5,000.  OK, that is a bit heavy for B.O.  Smoking is S$1,000 while food and drink is S$500.  I would say B.O. is of the similar category of food and drink.  Both are, in a sense, nasal harassment.  If we don’t like what we see, we can always close our eyes or look elsewhere.  I can’t say the same for odor.  What do you think?

When I read the news, it looks as though this new fine of yours is in response to someone posting a video of a couple passionately kissing on the train to STOMP – a citizen-journalism website.  Now, why do we take this website so seriously?  I do not know (lack of better things to talk about in Singapore?)  Let’s not forget that it is the same website that led us to a wild bear hunt.  12 employees from the Singapore Zoo, four policemen, and three members from a nature group spent hours searching the forest to look for a bear.  Did we find the bear?  Had there been one and had it been not as smart as Mas Selamat, I am sure we could have found it, eventually.  No.  The ‘bear’ was merely some PR stuns, which looking at the poor quality video, it looks hauntingly real, like the King Kong in the 1933 film, like my Facebook update in my dream.  According the report in STOMP, the PR company should be fined S$1,000.  I think STOMP should be fined S$1,000 instead.

I adore the now-defunct “Train is coming, train is coming, train is COMING!” jingle.  Alas, what a bunch of whiners we have in Singapore.  And now, the jingle is gone.  For a moment, I thought we were truly unique.  Where in the world would a jingle be played when a train is approaching the platform?  It always put a smile to my face making me eager to board the train and live the day.  So on the record, I love the trainiscoming jingle.  That is original, that is dare to change.  Back to the S$500 fine for PDA, I wanted to propose dedicating a section of the train for the open-minded passengers who are OK with couples practice kissing on the train – same sex, different sexes.  Now, that is bold, and original.  Singapore Tourism Board would love it.  But looking at how the jingle is being shot down by the public, this too looks like a no-go.

I don’t envy your job.

Categories
For the Geeks

4,606 Hours 46 Minutes Of Played Time In The Span Of 6 Years

Say on average, a movie lasts around two hours.  I could have watched more than 2,000 movies over six years, in addition to the many I have already watched.  Or say if I spend eight to twelve hours reading a page-turner, I could have read around 450 extra books.  Instead, I have poured my 4,606 hours into a massively online game (11 million subscribers), paid around US$1,000 over a period of six years, got lost into the void of fantasy, and then back to the real world, with some good memories to cheer about, some broken memories to cry onto.

In less than 24 hours, something cataclysmic will happen to the world that has devoured a fair bit of my time, a little bit of Cynthia’s time (relatively speaking).  The old world will be destroyed.  A new dawn is upon us.  This online game may have well been inspired by the recent movies featured with the theme of Armageddon, I do not know.  Global warming, perhaps.  Looking at the trailer, I am excited; Cynthia is excited; my buddy Mark is also excited.  My enthusiasm hits them like the rising ocean that hits the shore in this video I share, the raging sea that destroys cities (the image above is taken at Menethil Harbor a week ago, which is now flooded as cataclysm draws close).

A heavy heart, indeed I have one.  My intimate knowledge, my fond memory of the so-called old world, will all be gone shortly.  Looking back, so much has changed over the years – the social dynamic, the game mechanic, the countless improvements, and the relentless expansion of game contents – what is left in the old world may well be a form, an empty shell that is screaming for a renewal.  To that extend, I prefer the game expansion to be named “Cataclysm” instead of “World of Warcraft 2.0”.

Of the ten characters I have, the one I play the most  is the one that I have clocked in 1,515 played hours.  In the World of Warcraft, It is never too late to do something in that infinite long list of to-do’s.  So tonight, to commemorate the eve of cataclysm, I have weaved a flying carpet for my most senior character (see image below).  What is taking me so long?  Never get round to, I guess.  Too many other better things to do, for sure.