Avalon

Intermission

Friday, August 08, 2008

Instead of uploading the next few entries on my latest trip, (which will round up this block period of fun before school officially starts) I shall take a break and write about some other random stuff, as it has been quite a while since there was any in this space.

First, on travelling. 很喜欢陈启贞《旅行的意义》里劈头一句“你看过了许多美景，你看过了许多美女”。美景就不说了，想必已有图为证，胜过千言万语，但美女则不然。其实若同样想来个图文并茂也不是不可能，只不过得承担偷拍狂之类的恶名，所以一起踏上旅途的同伴应该会同意，美景可以图，美女就最好不要有企图，眼看手不动（不要乱按快门），来个简简单单，不带一丝歹意的赏心悦目即可，这也是一种变相的“只在乎曾经拥有”。毕竟有些东西看了就忘是比较好的。既然谈到这个话题，就难免不以个人经验略抒己见。只知江山如此多娇，不晓谁家嫣红开遍。昔日东瀛时至今日，宝马雕车香满路，倩影随处；“蛾儿雪柳黄金缕，笑语盈盈暗香去。”只道芳踪顿消花柳丛，蓦然回首，面面皆相同。

安南女子温柔婉约，一笑百媚生，被俘虏者为之魂牵梦萦，不在话下，有者何人，心照不宣。然民情淳厚，质朴尚存，可择时徙居，亦可他日再访。

Second, my two cents worth on the few movies I have watched recently. I caught a couple on the plane, and I would like to recommend "21" to all who have not watched it. It's about this MIT student who wants to get into Harvard Medicine School but is held back by financial difficulties. He is coaxed into joining a group of brilliant teenagers like him, where they learn to apply simple Mathematics to the Blackjack casino tables in Vegas to secure their winnings. The plot is commendable and the fresh-faced cast are joined by seasoned players like Lawrence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey, who each excelled in their roles.

"The Dark Knight" lived up to my expectations and convinced me that it was a worthy wait. Christopher Nolan's films are fantastic, I love the genre, the darkness and the realism, and all those quotes. The show does have its moments singing political undertones. I read a ST column and a writer said that Batman, who was ready to go to any means, even infringing on human privacy and basic rights, and resorting to violence and coercion, just to pin down a criminal despite protesting voices because deep down, he has a firm and unwavering belief that what he is doing is right, really resembles George Bush. And his arch nemesis both in the comic and the movie, the Joker, a hard-core criminal who only wants to "watch the world burn", reminds us of the Talibun mastermind, Osama bin laden. I like the psychological battles between Batman and the Joker, something that was never really featured in the cartoons or the comics. It gives the Joker credit for being the most infamous villain in the Batman series, by making him a compatible enemy in terms of intelligence and brutality. Nolan has worked his magic again, and his works are just epic.

"Red Cliff" was impactful, and I liked how director John Woo filmed the heroes during the Three Kingdom era, how Zhao Yun's loyalty, Zhang Fei's undaunting presence and Guan Yu's domineering courage were displayed, all to set the stage right before the grand entrance of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, the main leads in the battle of Red Cliff. I thought the movie was entertaining, very spectacular but not as intriguing, probably because the story is not new to me.
"Money no enough 2" was... a miscalculation. I mean it figuratively, in the sense that I feel it is more worthy of a weekday ticket instead of a weekend ticket. (luckily I had discounts but it was still grossly overpriced in my opinion) Don't get me wrong, I do support local films. Whole-heartedly too, and I do feel proud for our homegrown talents when the films are well-made, be it a reflection of box office sales or the critics. But I don't really see eye to eye when the same recipe consisting of corny jokes, explicit use of Hokkien and a melodramatic climax is recycled over and over again. It's true that some things are dear to the Singaporean heart and highlighting them does create better resonance among the people, but dwelling on just a few issues like ERP, hospital fees and en-bloc windfalls just give the impression of stirring a storm in a teacup at times. I think Jack Neo deserves good mentioning for being able to relate to the common folk but his films are becoming repetitive and audience like me are getting immune to his brand of humour. That said, I am looking forward to 十二莲花.

"Definitely, Maybe" is yet another film recommendation I want to make. I only watched half of it on the plane because the other half was cut off due to plane landings, which propelled me to rent the dvd which was the first thing I did when I had the time. The show talks about finding true love, after making one big round. I like the tempo of the show, and the light-heartiness of it all. The child actress Abigail Breslin, who starred in "Little Miss Sunshine", is the daughter of William Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) who is facing an impending divorce. The little girl tries to help his father find true love again as she listens to him recounting his three past relationships.

Thirdly, on to dramas. Truth be told, I have only been watching a few Jap dramas recently, and here I will recommend "私たちの教科書" (Our textbook). To prevent spoiling the drama, I shall not do any unnecessary sypnosis but all I will say is I haven't watched a drama with so many unexpected twists and such a different take to a scene that has been reused so many times in other drama plots for quite some time.

I am also watching Code Blue, a drama about a few interns working at this emergency ward which requires them to undertake the job of "flight doctor" during realtime crisis. It does give you insights to operations, even though it is made to be slightly more dramatic. The cast are good eye-candies, both male and female. There's 山下智久 (whom I think is really quite handsome) for girls to oogle, and of course 户田惠黎香 (from Death Note) and 新垣结衣 (from Sky Of Love) are the female leads. Which brings me to introduce:

新垣结衣 Yui Aragaki. Yes her looks captured my attention at first like what most first impressions do but I found out she had a really good voice too.

I don't know if this picture is flattering but she does look very pretty in the show. Still pondering over whether I should get her CD... Haiz.. Life's full of choices.

Envoy of the Stars @ 10:26 PM
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