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
For the Geeks

Let Them Come, For Frostmourne Hungers

The new patch 3.3 from WoW

Let’s keep it real.  Who am I – a regular dude who has a full time job with little time to invest in character development and elite raider networking – to dream of defeating the Lich King?  I reckon it would be a lot easier for me to get the S$1,288 life size legendary sword Frostmourne than the one in the game.  Fulfilling the fantasy of getting up close and personal with the Lich King in his dungeon aside, the new patch 3.3 has a lot more to offer.  Top of my list: the new Dungeon Finder.  The 5 icons below from left to right indicate if the roles of the tank (i.e. damage taker), the healer, and the three damage dealers have been filled.  In the case below, the game was still finding a tank for us.

Assembling a group of 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 damage dealers now is a breeze

I think I can speak on behalf of my brothers and sisters in the World of Warcraft.  Two things suck being an Asian player in an American server (or we refer it as ‘realm’).  First, servers are down for maintenance on Tuesdays, off-peak hours in America but prime time evening hours in Asia.  8 to 10 hours, often to be.  Second, assembling a group of 5 to venture into a dungeon during Asian prime time used to be hard because most of the players are still sleeping (the Americans) or have gone to bed (the Australians).  Cynthia and I could spend 1 to 2 hours spamming the looking-for-group channel and we could end up going to bed not visiting any dungeon at all.  I reckon most players simply level their characters through questing.  But questing day in day out could drive us mad.  When we heard that the new Dungeon Finder is out, we were dying to give it a shot.

The new x-realm Dungeon Finder

Seriously, what took Blizzard so long to implement the idea of pulling players from different realms into a group for dungeons?  Especially for some of us who have such difficulty in looking for players for dungeon outings, any dungeon outing.  It turns out that to make this idea works is a pretty complicated matter not only from the technology point of view.  Here are our observations.

  • Finding a random group for a random dungeon seems fast.  At times within minutes.  That is great.  As expected, healer and tank remain as the hardest to come by.  Everyone wants to be a hero, to kill something.  No one seems to enjoy taking a beating or keeping people alive!
  • Exiting a cross-realm dungeon brings us back to the exact location of where we were prior to joining the dungeon.  Imagine being able to continue questing right after visiting a dungeon.  Also, once outside the dungeon, we can teleport back into it at any time.  That enables some of us to stock up reagents, poison, and to repair our gears.  Very nice!
  • There are rewards to be earned.  Did I mention a random rare pet Perky Pug that may drop?  There is also an extra buff that makes your random pick-up group (PUG) stronger.  But hey, if the group sucks, not even those 5% extra of this-and-that can save us.
  • Some players do suck.  Maybe Cynthia and I too suck.  Since now that we cannot ‘interview’ our team members prior to them joining our group like I used to (cross-realm conversations are normally not possible), we have to rely on luck to get the players who know at minimal how to play their class.  And more often than not, luck was not on our side.
  • OK.  That may be due to the fact that everyone are still trying to get used to the new interface that comes with the new patch (that new camera!), trying to cope with the absence of outdated mods (I miss my damage meter).
  • And / or because many players who have not had a chance to experience dungeons regularly have no idea what they should do inside a dungeon.  Now they can.  But skills are not built overnight.  I hope in time to come, players do get better.
  • Because of that, many players deserted our group and we constantly needed to go back to the queue and look for replacements.  Fortunately, the wait was not long, although I can’t say that it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.  Deserting a group should be discouraged or further penalized by the current 15 minutes ban before re-joining the queue.  What happens to patience and mentorship, friendship building and peace?

Nexus, completed via Dungeon Finder

We did complete one dungeon, after numerous change in players and dungeons.  We could have finished a higher level dungeon had the server not needed a restart (we nearly completed Azjol-Nerub in 15 minutes!).  I think more fine tuning of Dungeon Finder is certainly needed.  And I trust Blizzard on that.  Below is a trailer for this new patch 3.3.

Update: On the next day, Cynthia and I took our characters to yet another random dungeon after spending an entire morning researching on how to play better (this link is no joke).  That random dungeon was tough!  But we had a good group.  Nobody dropped out (thank God!).  It was worth the wait (about 20 minutes to assemble the group).

Ah ha! Another complete. This time is the dungeon OK.

Categories
I See I Write

Nokia Christmas Party, By The Singapore River

I have always enjoy attending a Nokia party.  Familiar faces from the traditional media, the new media.  New faces too.  And as I looked across the Singapore River, I was greeted by the enormous Integrated Resort yet to be completed stood silently against the dark evening watching over the inhabitants of the-other-side, us.  What are those floating white ball-like objects in great number gathered along the middle section of the river?  No idea.  While the purpose of their existence may be unclear, those objects made great conversational topic.

What is a Christmas party without games, lucky draws, and Santa Claus?  My blogger friend was so happy when she won the N97 Comes With Music.  Unlimited music download for one year!  She said she would download Lady Gaga’s “The Fame Monster” the very evening.  Ah, Lady Gaga, I like!  If you wonder which recently released Christmas albums I am listening to now, that would be David Archuleta, Sting, Tori Amos, and Gregorian.  And my all time favorite Christmas albums?  Mariah Carey, Jewel, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child, and LeAnn Rimes – in that order.  Download them for this festive season if you can.

I was excited by the wireless Nokia headset that has a noise cancellation function.  It feels light.  Great sound (and sound cancellation).  But I was more excited by the upcoming Nokia X6 Comes With Music (see picture below).  It is an interesting product.  Those who like to interact the touchscreen with the fingertips instead of fingernails would feel at home with X6.  Kinetic scrolling, better response (for the “fingertip” users in especially) as well as the eye-candy theme effect that some users value.  The home screen has four main horizontal sections.  The top one is for the favorite contacts, it displays thumbnails of the contacts, and it supports kinetic scrolling.  It acts as a filter for the display of SMS (and latest blog entries I think) by contact too.  Imagine with one click, Cynthia can zoom into all the conversations between me and my female friends. ¡Qué horror!  This phone is not Tiger Woods friendly for sure.  The second one is email.  At this moment, I am unsure if it has to be Nokia Messaging  or if I can pick a hotmail mailbox provided by the MSN application.  The third one is a music player and the last one is favorite shortcuts.  My interaction with X6 was brief.  I think I do like the overall design.  So is it going to be X6 or N97 Mini for Cynthia?  If N97 Mini is not going to be a Comes With Music device, the decision is pretty obvious.

Oooo ... very tempting Nokia X6!

It seems that with a blink of an eye, year 2009 has come to an end.  I still have not decided on where to celebrate Christmas.  Maybe I shall start drafting my new year resolutions this coming weekend?

Categories
Diary Mysteries

(Dear Plant) You Look Ugly But I Think I Can Live With You

Mysterious Plant

I woke up this morning and realized that nature has delivered a plant to me.

Last night, I had a great dream.  Not the type that I could remember in detail.  But one that has such great sense of freedom.  Like nothing else matters.  Cool wind on my face.  In fact, I could breath the freshness.  I could feel the freshness.  The kind of tingling feeling that made the dream as real as it could get.  A similar experience when I visited the 3D theater inside Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.  Donald Duck and the splashing of water, towards the end of the show.  Cool air blowing inside the theater.  Water sprinkled onto the audience cued perfectly with the short clip.  And in this great dream of mine, right before I woke up in the middle of the night, I felt that I was watching my dream, inside a theater, with all these props there to make my dream more realistic.  But why?

I opened my eyes.  Water dripping from my air-conditioner splashed onto my face.  A splash of water on my wireless phone next to my bed, a splash of water on my library book, on my pillow, my bolster, and my face.

This morning, I examined the air-conditioner trying to see what has gone wrong.  Is it something I can fix?  My air-conditioner looks normal.  Except, water dripping from within.

I traced the water exhaust pipe, from the blower, through the wall, to the condenser, outside my window.  I opened my curtain …

… and got a shock!  I saw a plant outside my window!  Right inside the concrete tray that keeps my condenser in place.  Feeding on the water coming from my air conditioner.

A plant!  Not a tiny one.  But a sizable one that defies all hostile conditions.  Where does it come from?  Was it there all these while?  Or it exists after I have made an observation?  Stardust.  A baby appears at my doorstep.  I thought of that movie when I saw this mysterious plant.

I do not have any plant or pet living in my home until now.  This plant that comes from nowhere looks ugly.  But I think I can live with it.

Last night before I went to bed, I was worried that I may momentarily run out of things to write.  This morning I woke up and realized that nature has delivered a story to me.

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
Diary

Working Title: Wet Shoes And The Journey To Las Lilas

My lattest drawing: Wet Shoes and the Journey to Las Lilas

Some readers shared with me that it is fun watching the slide show of the behind-the-scene footage on how I draw.  Since we have already established the fact that each object of my recent drawings is formed with rationale, I shall focus on the story behind this drawing and showcase the behind-the-scene footage instead.

Some of you may recall my rather memorable experience in trying to sun dry my sport shoes.  Three years have passed and I found myself in the same situation.  Mid November, as I was near the Spanish school Las Lilas after work waiting for Cynthia to join me, there was a sudden heavy downpour.  So heavy that it was impossible not to get totally soaking wet even with a huge golf umbrella like mine.  So heavy that I have seldom seen something quite like this, even in a tropic island of ours.  My sixth sense told me that Cynthia would not have an umbrella with her.  So I braved the rain, walked all the way to the train station intending to fetch her with my golf umbrella.

Life is full of anti-climax scenes and renewed surprises.  When Cynthia emerged from the station, the rain had subsided, obliterated what appeared as an heroic act with now only my pair of wet dark trousers that did not look that wet against the dark color and my shoes that oozed out water from the stitching on every step I take as subtle evidents of what I had endured.  Those stitching that looks great as a design but is defenseless against heavy rain.  My socks were soaking wet.  So were my shoes.  As we crossed the street and passed The Cathay – our favorite cinema – the rain gathered force and Cynthia turned to me and asked, “Shall we skip this lesson, have dinner and go home?”

Erm … no.

What I did not tell you is that in the making of the previous behind-the-scene footage, I nearly set my stack of drawing papers on fire.  Candles are fire hazard.  Also, setting up the scene takes at least an hour.  But if you enjoy viewing these footage, I am happy making it.

Recently, I am reading more into Dalí’s work.  I figure that my drawings so far lack perspectives and a frame.  And I am intrigued by Dalí’s imagination and articulation.  To create this drawing, I have made numerous practice on how to draw my shoes in different angles.  I viewed them from close to the ground.  Imagine the discomfort of drawing in that position.  I could of course  put my shoes on my dinning table and practice my drawing.  But that would drive Cynthia mad for sure.

I used to think that making a surreal interpretation of an object is easy.  But it is not.  I have to be able to draw the object in realism first before transforming it into surrealism.  As for the overall composition, I have also made quite a number of sketches in arriving to this final state.

This drawing took me three hours to complete (and many hours to compose and prepare).  Initially I thought doodling takes much lesser time than oil painting.  Maybe not.

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
Diary Photography

It’s Time Of The Moon Again

The Moon - ISO200, f/8, 1/800s

Last evening, returned home from a lovely dinner gathering with Symantec, Cynthia was already in bed.  I opened the window, cool air greeted my face.  As I extended my vision from near to far, from the golf course on the other side of the reservoir to the pitch-dark sky, I saw a bright dot.  It was the moon!  Quickly I dashed to my dry cabinet, switched to my telephoto lens, set up the tripod, and started taking photos of our only natural satellite.  The moon does rise up faster than I thought, so does the speed of rotation.  And if I line up the photos I took in sequential order, I can see how the moon rotates.

Different photographers have different preferences on subject matter.  Cynthia’s brother for instance loves to take pictures of insects found in around his Jakarta home at the macro level.  He would proudly show me images of insect eyes and hairs and what not.  I could faint looking at those.  As for me, I enjoy taking pictures of the monuments, candid pictures of the moment, and celestial beauty like the moon.

Avid readers of my site may think: Wait a minute, is this a déjà vu?  I have seen a photo just like this before.  Indeed, that was last December.  I think the photograph of the moon then was a little bit too bright.  Also, no longer do I need to hand hold the camera now that I have a tripod.  Hence a different setting that seems to make the moon looks a bit more 3D.

Last night’s moon reminds me of Italo Calvino’s “Cosmicomics (1965)”.  The short story “The Distance of the Moon” is the most beautiful piece of literature I have read that is based upon our moon.  Italo Calvino remains as one of my all-time-favorite authors.  Some of his books I have read more than once.  His work has made it to Harold Bloom’s “The Western Canon (1994)”.  Unfortunately, my zest of writing book summaries did not quite take form until 2006.  Perhaps in this upcoming 2010, I shall have a book marathon on all his works of fiction and have the book summaries posted here.

PS. No post-processing on this photo.  It is as it is, cropped of course.  Exposure setting: M mode, 1/800 second, f/8 and sensitivity: ISO 200.  Now, I wish I have that 600mm lens (that costs nearly S$20,000!).

Categories
Diary Photography

Still Wilfrid The Paparazzi, On Felicia And Nathaniel

My niece and nephew

If you recall, a year ago, I was happily sharing the exciting news of my nephew and I sharing the same birthday.  Decades apart, of course.  Looking back at that blog entry, what a bizarre piece of write-up I produced!  So much details then that I would have forgotten now.  Like I often say, keep a diary and keep writing it.  One form or another.

So I did get that dSLR camera.  Towards the end of our holiday in Indonesia, when Cynthia one day in her home in Bandung after we have visited her brother Eric’s home in Jakarta looked at my bulky camera gears, she asked, “You brought all these gears all the way from Singapore just to take pictures of Felice and Nathan?”  I nodded and replied, “Indeed.”

If the weather in Bandung was any better, I may have taken some dusk shots in around Cynthia’s house.  Unlike my trip a year ago, I now have a tripod.  But during our stay, Bandung rained and rained and rained.  Non-stop, every evening, which is OK, for I have prepared tons of things to do while relaxing at Cynthia’s home.

During this trip, instead of taking tons of photos, I have jotted down tons of writing ideas, including one possible book idea.  That book idea aside, I initially intended to start publishing the short stories inspired by my short trip to Indonesia starting today.  But then, why the rush?  Better rush the photos of my lovely nephew and niece instead, learned from experience.

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.