Not The Festive Season I Had Expected

22nd December 2009, Tuesday

This the season to be jolly...well not exactly.

Just as I closed in on my final day of work with a long break in view, I got the unfortunate piece of shocking news from my Secondary School chum, HC about the passing of a fellow mate of ours, HT.
I had not been keeping up with almost all my Secondary School chums and had last seen HT years ago, I believed still in the university.
His passing really shook me, especially at our tender age when life barely started.

The following day I hitch a ride in HC's Mazda down to Rivervale Link where the wake was held.
I refrained from having a peek of HT's cold corpse after offering my farewell at the alter and the revelation of suicide really raised a lot of eyebrows though I thought it was not appropriate to probe further as his grieving mother might not be in the right state of mind to tear open that grievous scar again.

The wake did offer a rare opportunity for me to catch up with HC and Zan who was globetrotting as a SIA pilot these days.
The former claimed that I would only get to meet them for occasions like weddings and funerals which I could not refute.
Both were speaking about stocks and living the high lives these days but the same level of caramaderie existed between us; if only HT could thought things over and not resort to ending his fragile life.
The news report stated no cause of the trouble that led to his planned death as the police as they usually would, suspected foul play.

Despite seeing the last of a good friend from the yesteryears, I was still upbeat of a jolly festive season until Vincent called on Friday night that EK and Reedy s' old man who had been en route to recovery after his car accident months ago, suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest and passed on.

Unlike HT's situation, the signs were foretelling for a while, still it drew alot of sadness from the entire La Tendo clique.
There would be no yuletide partying as scheduled which was not totally a bad thing considering the element for laughter, Mr and Mrs Lim, could not make it in the first place.

The pair worked their magic when we gathered at at the wake, the second in 3 days for me, on a very soggy Sunday.
With the exception of Chan who was preoccupied with his booth at China Square on that day, the whole crew made up for the lost time we would have for the X'mas eve despite the fact that we ought to mourn for the senior Tay, perhaps he would like to see us doing our usual banter.
Vinny was constantly soliciting our mutual acquiantances from Iwate, Fure and Kumiko, to Karen and Reedy respectively and slowly drew the other swinging bachelors and bachelorettes into the equation as the topic then osmosized into homosexuals.

The weekend started pretty bright and early on Saturday as we headed to town as scheduled to beat the ERP gantry before 11.
It was going to be whirlwind time shopping the Orchard Road belt although at the end of it, I had the biggest haul and even contemplated on capping my burgeoning budget which spilled that of the intended amount with a pair of cool looking jeans which cost an even cooler price of $600 at "Bread & Butter".
Fortunately there had been some sensible restrain for us as the missus nearly succumbed to temptation at the Burberry's boutique as well.

The movie of 2009 or at least the latter half of the year surely was James Cameron's 13 years in the making extravaganza "Avatar"
It was my first foray into watching 3D film and was overall impressed with the technology despite GV being overly protective of their hefty 3D glasses which tend to slip of the bridge of the nose.
The film which banked on a whole new emotion capture technology and what not had a good storyline and smooth flow to it.
Its strong characterism tends to grip its audience who were captivated by their emotions near the end that one tends to forgo the high definition shit at that juncture.
The storyline had alot of rib on the American military policy and their constant invading of other people's lands and culture at the same time Cameron took a leaf out of Miyazaki's "Princess Monoke" with all the in-sync with the nature theme.

During the dinner after the movie, Bryan gave Chan the early X'mas present as he had chosen him with the Japanese edition of "Final Fantasy XIII" which came with his FF13 edition Playstation 3.
This was followed by my gift to Vincent and Karen's to Miyano the following day as it would be scattered for this time period due to the many little reasons about everyone's whereabouts this period.

While we are planning to meet up for X'mas eve since that day was vacated just for the party, my own family X'mas dinner was a blast as Mom and Sis cooked up a storm and we certainly had our fill for this time of the year...

Well still need to instill some jolliness despite a sullen end of 2009...

Japanese word of the day:かなり(Jolly)Sure hope 2010 will be a much more jolly year to be in

Pure Adrenaline Rush

30th November 2009, Monday

A really thrilling long weekend for me at least, maybe even a bit imprudent with the expenditure.

Everything started on Friday with Hari Raya Haji being a much welcomed break after a tumultuous week dealing with Shitty Green and his insolent demands for his project.
I had made plans with CS as mentioned previously weeks before as he tried to sell me "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves".
Before embarking on my journey to his place at Serangoon North Ave 1, I had got a setback with regards to the official bluetooth headset which is the most crucial tool for online gaming via Playstation 3.
A mutual gamer friend, BH had fell short in snaring that item just days prior and it seems like the chance of me getting that on Friday looked bleak.
However a quick stop by at Funz Center after buying the movie tickets at Cathay Cineplex, I was delighted to see a restock had taken place and I wasted no time to snag one off the shelf.
In fact I should have bought a couple more as later we realized.

Before having my hands on to the Naughty Dog produced game, it was the usual series of trailers for upcoming games which CS had scoured from 3 PS network.
EA's "Dragon Age Origin" had tingle the heart strings but it was "Final Fantasy XIII" had indicated why it was a game worth waiting for.

"Uncharted 2" definitely was engaging and really work on the treasure hunting factor which made it so appealing.
The graphics were stunning, gameplay accessible, storyline solid, characters likeable and dialogues quirly.
No wonder it received all the accolades since its release.
Before I knew it I was 1/3 through the game as CS had a quick nap along the way.
He did demonstrated the online multiplayer mode which was seamless and relishing the prospect of endless hours of fun especially when now we can communicate using our bluetooth earpiece.

We caught Roland Emmerich's spanking new disaster movie, and the mother of them all, "2012".
It was a movie that made my poor wife wept uncontrollably as she pondered on the prospect of that same scenario happening in the reality, knowing there was no where we could run and hide.
The movie packed with non-stop roller coaster ride as Emmerich and his crew just banged on fast paced action to keep audience on the edge of their seats while laughing wryly on how on earth could the main protagonist, the author reprise by John Cusack could dodge so many near deaths.
It sort of made us overlook how porous the storyline actually was but overwhelmed by the CG-made spectacle.
It definite was one of Emmerich's better films of late and I rated it better than "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra" combined.

Saturday was spent solely at SITEX, the final of the 4 big IT conventions our tiny island hosts in a single year.
The objective to venture east to the Singapore Expo for it was to net a reasonably-priced portable hard disk drive.
There were definitely plenty on show with the likes of Seagate, Toshiba, Western Digital, Samsung etc hogging the limelight.
But with a real sage in the form of CS by our side to state that Western Digital should be more trustworthy because of the country of its origin and we were thrilled to net a 2.5" WD Passport with 750GB space which should last me a while.

We were joined shortly by TW. It was the first time since his wedding that the three of us got to meet up and sparks flew there and then.
TW had been captivated by "Dragon Age Origin" and had been harping over it meanwhile we had a rib on CS when he came clueless on how to undergo his marriage proposal.
The missus was urging on the discussion of the likely destination for a much anticipated 2010 Japan trip, a tenth anniversary commemoration for "Tokyo Wreckers".
However it was not the right place and the right time.

We headed back into the claustrophobic-ward off Exhibition 5 & 6 as TW wanted to have a look at the laptop available, he would like to get for his wife.
Instead it was us who made a purchase with a Belkin Tunebase FM with Hands Free, a great tool for the iPhone or even iPods when cruising in the car.
The gadget meant to plug in the cigarette lighter allows the driver to charge his iPhone while listening to the songs stored in it using an unused frequency to amplify on the car audio system, while also enable incoming call to be received hands free.
It was an ideal gift for the missus for an early X'mas as she had been scouring high and low for such a device and at a reasonable price we just grabbed it.

This was after taking into consideration of the location of the cigarette lighter which was less accessible on the usual.
We put CS in the stress chamber when it looked unlikely for a while that the connection could be properly made.
The wager would be if it failed he would be left stranded in the Expo car park in the pouring rain, of course it was going to work in the end.

Our next stop was the Ikea Megastore at Tampines.
I had never been to this outlet since its opening a couple of years back despite being a great supporter of the affordable Swedish furniture manufacturer.
The main objective for us would be looking for a new workstation chair as the situation looked more chronic when my fat ass managed to break a foldable chair the other day, itself a replacement for the actual throne early this year.
In the end we had the eyes on one with an extended back rest by the model name of Markus and at $399 looked a steal as similar models would cost much more elsewhere.
However I would not want to jump the gun and give leeway for more searching for a longer shortlist.
The missus was also mindful of what the plan to convert Sis' room into her personal workspace once she moved out to her own place.
A nice white bookshelf with classy glass door seemed perfect but there was always going to be space constraint.

En route to drop my close buddies off to their respective residence, TW suddenly prompted an interest to get online for our "Uncharted 2" party which basically jolt CS into life.
My wife even obliged to turn to Ang Mo Kio where TW could pick up the game and the bluetooth headset from Funz Center.
Suddenly a ray of hopeful glare shone on CS' nonchalant face as he was jittery that it might not work out as we inched closer and closer to AMK Hub.
My wretched mouth spewed the possibility of the headset would be sold out and by sheer ill fate that was the situation when we got to Funz Center which was back to starting comment that I should had stocked up on in when a friend might in need of one.
It turned out to be a fruitless hunt for the AMK region as I even contemplated in borrowing from Chan who was stranded at La Tendo at that juncture.
As we trudged disappointing back to the shopping mall, TW made a last resort as he made his way to the Sony shop in Bishan Junction 8 to look for one while we sent CS home.

Along the way both of us got the missed call from TW who brought us the heartwarming news that he had successfully snared a piece from the shop and our plan for a late night online rendezvous looked palpable especially with Peiling not in the household at the Fus.

We began the online frenzy at the stipulated time of midnight as CS had to lower his volume considerably with his other half getting some well earned sleep after a week of hard work.
We did had many sleepovers dabbling with console games while sports genre is the one that usually allowed us to play side by side but for real multi-playability with such an eye for details only wi-fi or lan connection is able to support.

TW has a penchant for Monster Hunter Portable which allowed him and his mates to meet up to go hunting together but soon it would be likely to be addicted to hook online to the PS3 and with games like "Uncharted" and in near future "Lost Planet 2" allowing seamless game play online.
Our shenanigans of killing computer generated military drones carried on till the wee hours of Sunday before we felt enough was enough.

The next day a text message from CS revealed that he surely had the hunger for more, so expect yours truly to reacquainted with my decades-old buddies on the virtual realms soon.
It was also bodes well that the missus had fun watching us fooling ourselves in the game while helping me solve treasure hunting problems in the game too.

Japanese word of the day: オンラインゲーム(Online Game) We sure had picked it up a bit too late

South Park- The Unchartered Territories

7th September 2009, Monday

Spent another weekend confined at home.
While it was great way of damage control to the wallet, I really had nothing in view that would pry me away from the comfort of my room the entire weekend.
In truth, I was conserving myself for the hotel stay at Conrad this coming weekend with the buffet dinner with my buddies and their partners certainly the reason that got be through the days for the past fortnight.

So back to fixating myself to the LCD monitor, trying to work my brain cells to write in my most eloquent command of English for my prime passion of late, story-writing for my game of Football Manager.
It really works as a form of therapy, for what exactly it was left to be seen.

It also enabled me to go through the fast burgeoning playlist of my K Lite Media Player which always bring me all sorts of entertainment, be it from Hollywood, Japan or the more ecletic world cinema.

Of course I needed my weekly dosage of laughter and I decided to keep some true Frat Pack classics as last resot for rainy days, I turned to one which had been sitting around for a while, Trey Parker & Matt Stone s' "Team America: World Police".

Similar to South Park, the duo would satirise on the folly of the Big Brother of the World, the United States of America on how they always thought they did the right things but in the end brought about more distraught and created more chaos with their interventions.
The movie made with an entire marionette cast definitely was a breath of fresh air back in 2004 and even perhaps now when CG animation rules the scene.
It left no stone untouched in poking fun of some of the world's most notable personality, surprising no previous President of USA, the joke known as W.

It of course reminded me a lot of "Thunderbirds" which I had only caught one TV special of the British series when I was really young and was blown away by it (back in those days I was blown away by almost anything); however when you have the duo of Parker & Stone, the focus of the film would be more on the madcap jokes and insults.
It was low brow but I am loving it like the double layer McSpicy.

The show definitely was stolen by Kim Jong-Il (with no effort to parody the name as of all the characters based on real people like the actors in Film Actors Guild (F.A.G)).
Voiced by Trey Parker, there was a strong remnants of foul mouthed Eric Cartman from "South Park:" with the stereotypical aspect of Asian conversion of "l" to "r" though I thought that should purely be owed to the Japanese.
Kim was a badass with a hefty ambition with a emotional side..heehee
But the "North Korean medley" which he put up for the world leaders during the supposed "World Peace Summit" was the one that really pushed me off the cluff into controllable fit which my missus though I might had been possessed or something.

After the movie, i was yearning for more foul mouth low brow joke from the duo and led me to get myself acquainted to the entire series of "South Park" which i had been abstained for a while since everyone back in my college days were very much into it.
There was all 13 seasons (season 13 is on a sabbatical of late) to catch up but I wonder would I get tired of the vulgarities hurled by those kids in the fictitious red neck town in America and whether I might just felt unsympathetic over the deaths of Kenny McCormick.

Another surprisingly good show I caught was "Smiley Face", a stoned out indies movie which might made people who do not understand the marihuana culture of North America turned off as the lead portrayed by Anna Faris was in constant state of stoning, forcing her to just drifting around and at some part very unlikeable.

While she was backed by a great supporting cast of Danny Masterson (Steven of the 70's Show), John Krasinski (Jim of The Office), John Cho (Harold & Kumar) & Jane Lynch), it was definitely a break out show for Anna.
Then again she had always been typcasted as dimwit simpleton like her guest role as the woman that gave Monica and Chandler her baby in Friends, the mother in "Scary Movie 4" and in the "House Bunny".
But Anna is still very charming and like actresses like Amy Adams, Emma Stone, Elisha Cuthbert who I have been following of late, is very pleasing to the eyes.
Will look out for more movies from Anna for sure.

Japanese word of the day: 下品 (Vulgarities) One thing that truly turned my missus off...I can empathize with her though

Michael Bay oughta be Shot (by his own explosives)

29th June 2009, Monday

Before we begin, would like to show my appreciation for YH to treat everyone to watch "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" after she had successfully sold the car she won from the lucky draw for shopping at Suntec City which was by coincidence the venue we caught the film. It was down to pure generosity and the joy of sharing from her but sadly the flow of a pretty lousy film spoiled the night for me....

The association with Michael Bay's explosive, adrenaline filled action films began with "Bad Boys" which I caught on a video tape at TW's place.

My first theatrical experience of his film was "Armageddon". It was the apex of all disaster films of that era and really put "Deep Impact" into smithereens in terms of box office taking.
I remembered I thoroughly enjoyed the film and was at the verge of crying when the surviving Freedom crew made their truimphant return to earth after really did blew the meteorite into smithereens and Chick (Will Patton) were embraced by the son he had never saw till now.
Of course the movie went sour when Channel 5 showed it like 4000 million of times together other Michael Bay features like "The Rock" and the "Bad Boys" series.
It was also we can see that Bruce Willis couldn't act for nuts and Liv Tyler just always pout her thick lips to earn her bucks like she would as Arwen in LOTR.
Not forgeting "I don't wanna miss a thing" had been banned from my iPid playlist as "My Heart will goes on" and "Heaven's Knows".

"Pearl Harbour" was one of the first few date movies with my wife back in those days. I did had a thing for war epics and in an age where the more explosives the better without the need of any storyline to back it up.
The movie was terribly long and for the first time in my life I had to leave in the middle of the show to pay a visit to the Gents.
It was not totally awful especially Cuba Gooding Jr had a reasonably good performance and for once viewers got to see how hot Kate Beckinsale is.

Then came the much hyped collaboration with Steven Spielberg and his Dreamworks production for a 1980s cartoon which got many fanboys wet their pants and cried till no tomorrow when Optimus Prime, dying from the clash with Megatron and passed the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus in "Transformers: The Movie".
Expectations were heightened as the movie drew closer before premiering in 2007.but when news leaked out that the design of Optimus Prime had a mouthpiece, many fanboys just went crazy.

Personally I was not a big Transformer fans and readily accepted the irradical ideas Bay and his crew had for their live action version of the Robots in Disguise.
But what I couldn't stand was the fact that he put so much focus on the US army and all the scenes showcasing the army weaponry prowess.
In the end the pace of the story worked out fine with Shia LeBeouf's performance's adequate, Megan Fox sizzled up the screen, Bumblebee delighting many fans with his interlude of radio broadcasts as speech and of course Jon Voight was in it. The movie was watchable and had it's entertainment value.

With a smashing box office return, it was of no wonder that the money milking Bay, Spielberg and co. began the production of the sequel almost instantaneously.

The bastard child from the rush job and a result of the ultimate milking scheme came this sequel which everything bad about a Michael Bay's film was brought to live.

It was action pack almost from the beginning to the end and explosives and other techno effects all set to blow the audience's minds away... I don't mean to sound indifferent or pompous but I think I had outgrew that, so that already didn't appeal to me.
There was a greater number of Autobots and Decepticons including the Fallen and Jetfire which will really beef up their toyline to suck collectors' blood.
While the concept of Soundwave as a satellite was cool, Devastator looked totally awful.

Megan Fox pouted and juggled her bosoms twice as much to make up for her lack of acting ability while Shia was getting on my nerve and they even introduce a secondary irritatable characterin Leo Spitz (Ramon Rodriguez).

There was a serious overdosage of the American military shit this time and for me the point of US soldier engaging in battle with Decepticons always will burn my brain cells.
Not forgetting the over dramatic scenes Michael Bay love to incorporate with all the slow motion and dramatic chase or over the hill conversation between Sam and his father at the near end.
Not forgetting Bay's depiction of Shanghai and Egypt is laughable...One major issue would be when a local police helicopter landed, you could see the Chinese characters for "Police" but it was in Traditional Chinese but in China, they used Simplified Chinese...Go do your home work, Bay!

The build up to the climax was actually decent like a wild ride of sort and John Turturro reprising the Reggie Simmons role was entertaining but with a limit. Of course Rainn Wilson as the college professor is a point of salvage (with any cast of The Office is good by me).
The latter half hour was a torture for me as you can see it was heading into the direction of Michael Bay's ultimate wet dream coming through...
Even the final scene with Sam and Optimus standing at the bow of a aircraft carrier

I sensed a second sequel once Megatron and Starscream survived and escaped and was verified that it was due for July 4th, 2012...

Woohoo!

I was slurring words of discontentment in the theater near the end to the dismay of my missus who supposedly enjoyed it more than myself.
It seems like I won't be catching anymore Michael Bay's film any sooner, not after I finished going through the "Bad Boys-The Rock-Armageddon-Pearl Harbour-Bad Boys 2-The Island-Transformer" marathorn...woo the humanity!

Watch Out! The Frat Pack is here to stay!

9th June 2009, Tuesday

In Hollywood, it is well known that certain directors love to engage the services of their pet actors or staff like how Peter Jackson love Andy Serkis, Steven Spielberg had pedophilia towards Shia LeBeouf, Guillermo del Toro trusted Doug Jones while J J Abrams always had a role for confidant in Greg Grunberg in his project.

We also know how that in the entertainment scene a certain clique of friends would always work together like Kevin Smith and his clique (Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Lee etc) as well as Adam Sandller and co. (Rob Schneider, David Spade, Chris Rock, Kevin James etc).

But one force in the Hollywood cannot be disregard... The Frat Pack.

The crew of comedian friends with the core of Ben Stiller, the Wilson brothers (Owen & Luke), Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell had been under the media spotlight for their multiple collaborations for most of the 21st century so far and a derivation of "Rat Pack" & "Brat Pack" was slapped for their clique.

I have always had a thing for Ben Stiller's movies since "There's Something About Mary" & "Meet the Parents".
I just digged his style of comedy in which he played the frantic guy caught up in the most outrageous situation he needed to bail out of.

In many of those films, you'll see Owen Wilson, the big nosed blonde guy who slowly carved a name on his own usually an aloof arch rivals of sort.
Jack Black first caught my eye in "Shallow Hal" and looked like the irritating fat guy type but grew to be really lovable with movies like "School of Rock", "Nacho Libre', "The Holiday", "Kung Fu Panda" etc.
Vince Vaughn looked like a haughty no-good-do-er in shows like "Starsky & Hutch" & "Be Cool", was never really good in my book while Will Farrell's ancension to fame was a bit mind stifling unless you went to catch his underdog sportsman style of comedy like "Anchorman", "Talladega Nights", "Blades of Glory", "Semi Pro" etc.

Of course Steve Carrell had been a favorite of mine since "40 year old Virgin" and then as Michael Scott in "The Office".

I had been beekping tab of the movies by these bunch of guys predominantly Stiller, Black and Carrell but don't really mind Ferrell.
However their influence in the scene had spread so immensely outwards with their connections that the associated members of the pack had made a significant impact in the Hollywood scene since the past year or so.

Once close ally of the Pack is director/writer/producer Judd Apatow who himself is like the rising star in 2007/2008 and maybe stretch for the next few years since the breakthrough of "40 year old Virgin", "Knocked Up" and "Superbad".
He led a band of close associates and friends such as Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse etc who looked like big players in the comedy scene in the future.

The influence of the Pack might even spread to television since many had roots in Saturday Night Live, the successful factory to generate talented comedians at will.
Therefore the likes "The Office", "30 Rock", "How I Meet Your Mother", "Arrested Development" etc had traces of the Pack despite they were not working on it.

Despite the comedy might be a bit low-brow and uncouth for the masses (and very well-liked by the American viewers), I had a kick out of most.
"Tropic Thunder" is a great example of how Stiller and gang would do a great satrical feature on the good old Vietnam War craze back in those days.
Whenever possible I will try to keep an eye of any upcoming featured films of the Pack or of Apatow and associates.

It was by no mere coincidence that my weekend was filled with films which the Pack left their mark.

I caught "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of Smithsonian" which of course starring Stiller and Owen Wilson but the supporting cast and cameos were littered with friends within their circle of trust. Hank Azaria was the antagonist, the evil Pharaoh Kahmunrah, Bill Hader as the narcissitic General Custer, Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart, Jonah Hill as Brendon the Security Guard and a string of The Office crew like Ed Helms, Mindy Kaling and Craig Robinson.
Channel 5 was showing the prequel "Night at the Museum" on Sunday night of course.

As mentioned I rented some DVDs which included Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited".
Wes Anderson was a college buddy of Owen Wilson and therefore by no surprise Owen was in many of his films including Darjeeling.
It made 3 doses of Owen Wilson for me in one weekend.

Another movie I rented was "Role Models" starring Paul Rudd and Sean Scott William. Paul of course was a dominant figure in the Pack and the movie also starred Christopher Mintz-Plasse as the geeky Augie who enjoyed cosplaying as fictional fantasy character.

I wouldn't say I am a connoiseur for comedy but I love to have a regular dosage of laughs and the Pack, Apatow and even Sandler and co. are right up my alley and will be continuing to support them...

Japanese word of the day: 派閥 (Clique) Well it's always great to build a chemistry with your friend, especially in the creative field

Star Trekking & Love Shuffling

11th May 2009, Monday

The Vesak-Mother's Day weekend combo went pass nonchalantly as I didn't feel at shred of festivity in my blood.
Didn't bother to jump on the propaganda bandwagon like many of my foolish countrymen to hit the restaurants and what not to shower their love to their mothers.
I would bring my folks out another day when places are less congested (like there would be any).

It was a "boys out" from the La Tendo clique on Saturday except Miyano of course as we hit AMK Hub to catch the new rendition of "Star Trek" by J.J. Abrams and fellow Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof.

A thorough fanboy machine when Abrams worked on the alternate reality option with the time-space continum shit when the story focused on James Tiberus Kirk and Spock in their youth and sprawling to carve a niche in the Federation and their progress were hastily rushed when a renegade Romulun troop from the future came back into the past and caused a lot of chaos.

It was hell of a ride with alot of action and several take on the classic series to appease the most avid Trekkies out there.
Thought Chris Pine did a decent job as the character that shot William Shatner into fame. That blue-eyed American hero was a stereotype nonetheless.
Zachary Quinto or Sylar from "Heroes" got on the Spock persona well though I found him less stoic that Leonard Nimoy who made an appearance to dispel all the claim that he was dead from many years back.
Karl Urban (Eomer from LOTR), John Cho (Harold from Harold & Kumar) & Zoe Saldana all did good with their reprisal, though my words aren't justifiable for I had never caught the classic Star Trek series.
The one that steal the show for a while has to be Anton Yelchin who was the Russian navigator, Chekov who's instruction on the PA in his strong Russian accent put everyone in the theater into fit.

We caught the show in the digital theater though I couldn't really differentiate that to a normal version.
Nonetheless "Star Trek" looks to be the Dark Knight of 2009, easily will garner the movie of the year in my book; others in the coming weeks and months have a big shoe to fill.

On Sunday, just laze around with the missus as we went on a Japanese dorama marathon.

The show in focus this week was a TBS series from the 2009 winter season, "Love Shuffle".
The series talked about 4 executive-style neighbors who got acquainted only when trapped in a lift breakdown during a blackout decided to play a "love shuffling" game after all showing signs of jadedness in their relationships.
So in a talk over dinner while enticing their respective partners, the 4 couples agreed on playing the Labu-Sha (short form) game which on weekly basis, everyone rotate their partner to gauge how they would feel with someone new while allow the others to analyze the partner.
The story itself made use of a lot of Japanese pun to create some jokes between the cast which will be bewildering for non-Japanese speakers.
Hiroshi Tamaki, the main lead nicknamed Usagi was in his usual frantic best as a paranoid boyfriend who always thought he was 2nd best for his wealthy fiancee, Mei.
His frantic nature resembles alot of his previous roles including Chiaki from "Nodame Cantabile" and even as Sakamoto Ryoma in "Atsuhime"; but his boy-next-door nature plus a young chap with alot of dreams made him lovable in this dorama series, cemented his "prince-like" status further.

The cast had been pretty decent for the ladies viewers as joining Hiroshi is Matsuda Shota who played a really cool photographer who showed a passionate heart despite his aloof hide.
Daigo, the lead singer of Breakerz as well as a talent with ascending popularity in Japanese TV played the wealthy yet eagerly seeking for true friends, Yuki and the dashing Tanihara Sosuke (from "Handsome Suit") played the gentlement psychiatrist, Kikuta.
The show reunited Hiroshi, Matsuda and Tanihara from "Top Caster".

As for the male viewers, actress-model Karina will always be an eye candy assumes the only female neighbor, translator Aiai (nickname) while a seemingly fresh face on the rise, Yoshitaka Yuriko (now can also be seen in "Shiroi Haru") as the suicidal poor artist, Kairi.
Usagi's girlfriend was a relative unknown, so was the sexy vixen wife of a poltician, Reiko.

The concept of Labu-sha was interesting but can be detrimental when you have developed an interest for the other party's partner.
The story also came with a twist in the middle which really perks things up but the chummy happiness among the group had been enveloped with the suicidal tendency of Kairi, a character who spoke more than 1 sentences each time.
The show which featured some high end executive lifestyles in Tokyo surely is not the best thing to be seen in current economic climate; one would even felt the whole game was something rich, self-centered young Japanese would play out of boredom.
However it did got a bit more real when Usagi quit from his job after a fight with some gangsters and found it hard to survive with his lack of actual qualification.
His pursuit of a career which could give him dream and aspiration led him to be a politician which also delved into some pain the sprawling youth of Japan is facing now.
However that supposed to take a backseat for the love comedy which is the main theme here.

Nevertheless the script by famous trendy dorama innovator, Nojima Shinji was rather entertaining and I found myself liking almost all the characters, including the creepy Kikuta.

Japanese word of the day: 混合(Shuffle) I wouldn't mind weekly shuffling of partner with the likes of Karina and other Japanese actresses of my liking

My Favorite Directors

16th March 2009, Monday

Caught "The Watchmen" with my buddies yesterday despite many complained of the film being an exact replica of Alan Moore/ Dave Gibbon s' comic book series for DC Comic back in the late 1980s, taking leaf directly from the pages from the 1st graphic novel which left me in awe when I borrowed it from a community library a good 15 years back.

While director Zack Snyder might be lauded for paying tribute to the award winning mini series, many like Foo who had read the series umpteen times found it a grueling 2 hour and 40 minutes with storyline they were already well versed with.
Alan Moore, the whimsical yet talented comic book writer had always distanced himself from the film adaptations of his work but he should be slightly proud of what former TV ad director Snyder had done with the Watchmen.
I thought Snyder had created the right mood for the entire story with an eye for details including the selection of the cast including Patrick Wilson as Daniel/Night Owl and Jack Earle Haley as Walter/Rorschach.
The beginning sequence to highlight the golden age superheroes was quite brilliant and though it might be too graphic with the violence, it was what the story leeched upon and wasn't done distastefully.

With his adaptation of Frank Miller's "300" right up my alley as well, Snyder has slowly joined the ranks of a few directors I took a liking on.

Got an opportunity to catch Danny Boyle's Academy Award winning film, "Slumdog Millionaire" on Sunday as well.
The story was so tight and well narrated and truly deserve it's accolades.
Director Boyle has no intention for it to be a Bollywood film and it wasn't yet it did not deviate too far to relate the difference in class and statures in present day India and the problems and prejudice the poor people in the slums still face these days.

It did reminded me of an earlier Boyle's film I had caught back in my Naval days as one of the fellow ship crew brought a "friendly" VCD version onboard once during sailing, "Trainspotting" which gave a vivid insight to the drug abuse problem in England and helped launched the career of Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle...There were still a few scenes that would vivid in my mind including a shit infested bowl which you better avoid during meal time.

"Slumdog Millionaire" 's main competitor in the 81st Academy Awards was "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" by another of my favorite director, David Fincher.
A renowned music video director, David had several big screen success including 2 of my all time favorite movies "Seven" and "Fight Club" which together with "Curious" is the Brad Pitt trilogy with Fincher.
His fiims tend to be a bit quirky but the background story is always solid and captivating.

Finally my heart will always go out to Peter Jackson for "The Lord of the Rings" of course but his lesser horror-comedy "The Frighteners" with Michael J. Fox is another worth a look.
Tim Burton with his staunch gothic style is a favorite for many since the days of "Batman", "Beetlejuice", "Edward Sicssorshand" and "Nightmare before X'mas" as for his more recent ventures I can't say they were as good but nevertheless he is still the king in his genre

Japanese word of the day: 監督 ~kan-to-ku~(Director) Wouldn't expect me to include Takashi Miike as omy favoriet Japanese director

Galileo vs Krauser

2nd March 2009, Monday

My wife had a big crush on Fukuyama Masaharu, the evergreen and ageless Japanese yuu-sei (actor) cum singer-songwriter cum thousands of other things he is good at...
Surely someone the guys love to loathe (due to envy) and women just couldn't stop swooning... Of course at the grand old age of 40 (still like like 20) and labeled as the most eligible bachelor in the Japanese entertainment scene (consistently winning title of "the male artist women desire"), Fukuyama had carefully chosen his career path without letting paparazzi or other side news ruined his career so far....

Anyway this post ain't about adoring Fukuyama as an Adonis or anything but over the weekend, the missus dragged me to catch a Japanese movie based on the popular Fuji TV dorama, "Galileo", starring of course Fukuyama and Shibasaki Kou.
The chemistry between the two (alleged romance as well) bind well with the intricate detective storyline brilliant concocted by famous mystery writer Higashino Keigo.
The fact that he added scientific theories to unraveled some cases is a breath of fresh air albeit can be a bit dry during the explaination.
However everyone enjoys the sight of Fukuyama as the stoic Physics professor, Yukawa, scribbling on floor when he had an epiphany or came out with the solution.


The movie version, "Yougisha no Kenshin" pit Yukawa against a Mathematician genius, his old college friend, Ishigami (reprised by the brilliant Tsutsumi Shinichi) who helped a neighbor he had a crush on (played by Matsuyuki Yasuko in her most bijin (beauty) form).
The usually stingy movie critic from the local free-to-distribute paper awarded this movie with 4/5 popcorns and mentioned one would feel the heartache after a intriguing crime-solving process which really surely describe my feeling after watching it.
The story was well pace and the actors displayed to their potential; even people who didn't catch the TV series and special should go watch this movie...

In the midst of the long, gruelling process of waiting for the movie to begin (it's GV cineplex afterall), the trailer for "Detroit Metal City" was shown.
By sheer coincidence I managed to get hold of a copy of the movie over the weekend, and since I was thoroughly entertained (more like "floored") by the anime series done by Madhouse Studio; I was really looking forward to the live action version starring Matsuyama Kenichi.
I know of 2 other persons who are crazy about watching this movie, my buddy TW who too was well captivated by the anime series, the other is Karen who grew into a Kenichi fan of sort.


The afterthought of the movie is that truly it would entertaining if you have no idea of what the story is all about.
It would be good to have prior knowledge of Japanese visual kei death metal music and oshiare (fashionable) kei style of music like Swedish bubblegum pop.
Thought Matsuyama did a brilliant reprisal of the anatagonist Negishi/ Johannes Krauser II (including that distinct running stance)and once again Matsuyuki Yasuko had her presence felt as the rather insane president of Death Records.
Perhaps watching the anime prior spoiled it for me as a few scenes I felt was funnier in the animated version plus a few interesting characters like the poor ojichan landlord who was converted into a disciple to DMC music unwillingly or the Capitalist Pig guy were sorely miss in the movie.
Perhaps the producers felt those scenes are not suitable for the general public...
Then some jokes were transpired badly in real life as well but the scene about Krauser disciplining Negishi's wayward brother at his home's field as well as the talking in the toilet of the amusement park between Krauser and Negishi's college junior who always had took him as an aspiration were still funny.

The ending was wry and Gene Simmons, the demonic bassist of KISS which had a lot of influence to DMC of course cameo as the legendary death metal king, Jack Ill Black didn't really constitute much of my interest. Though there was one scene about how he wanted to show everyone his actual passion in music floored me again.

All in all, 2 Japanese movies filled a weekend which I just wanna coop at home under the soggy weather...

Japanese words of the day: 甘い恋人 ~A-ma-i-Ko-i-bi-to~ (Sweet Lover) How cheesy Negishi can get with his lyrics...

Sengoku VS Sangokushi

13th January 2009, Tuesday

Men are bestiary creatures and the yearn to engage in wars had been testament of that point for thousand of years....
Lately the Israeli army had been displaying new tricks against the tacky Hamas militants at the Gaza strip which the entire world seek a ceasefire real soon.
Personally I am thoroughly anti-military, and if there are no wars, there might be no need of self defense thus no army..Yoohoo...but you and are know it'll never happen.

However I do like to watch military movies...not really for the large scaling killings or genocides but during such turbulent times, we tend to see extraordinary people risen to prominence, some even as martyr...

Over the weekend, I managed to whet my appetite for some romantic (not in terms of actual romance but more like spicing things up) take of some ancient history of both Japan and China.

First up, the new taiga dorama "Tenchijin" from NHK...
2008's "Atsuhime" was a huge success and saw the meteoric rise of main actress, Miyazaki Aoi. The tale which told the main patriarch who oversaw the bakumatsu and the end of the Tokugawa shogunate reign ended rather bleakly after the 50 episodes run with many main characters passing away at such tender ages...
Tenchijin brings us back to the Sengoku jidai closely associated to 2007's "Furinkazan". chronicalizing the story behind Naoe Kanetsugu, a loyal retainer serving 2 generations of the Uesugu damiyo, most notably Uesugu Kagekutsu who he was made to grow up with.
The opening scene was set at the familiar Osaka Castle (which we had been of course) when one of the great damiyo, Toyotomi Hideyoshi tried to woo Naoe who he had great admiration for to join his camp only to be rejected boldly as he pledged his allegiance to his donno, Kagekutsu despite the lure of wealth and even the threat of death.
Episode 1 mainly started with his youth as in the regular fashion of previous taiga doramas when he was forced at the age of 5 to assist Kanetsugu, himself only a few years older in grooming to become a competant sucessor to Uesugu Kenshin.
The 5 year old boy had a great performance and one surely felt for him to made to leave his parents at such tender age. but we all know this is the making of another great man.

Once again NHK managed to gather an ensemble cast to make this series a must watch. Great actors of various generations were selected to build a chemistry on screen perhaps for once in a lifetime opportunity.
Tsumabumi Satoshi, the other half (or ex) of Shibasaki Kou, who renowed for his acting ability since "Water Boys" and stepped into the lead role of Naoe comfortably.
The 2 Uesugi damiyos he served are heavyweights themselves. Abe Hiroshi was truly convincing as Kenshin while Kitamura Kazuki (of Akihabara@Deep and Yaoh) fame was a solemn Kanetsugu, the latter would be a crucial cast for most part of the series for sure.

Even within the first episodes you'll see many familiar faces from the doramas you had watched ut just can't link the name to, for example Naoe (or when he was young was known as Yoroku)'s borth mother was reprised by Tanaka Misako, who was a great actress as a mother in shows like "2nd Chance" and "Brother Beat".
Many top tier young idols were roped in for his series including Oguri Shun (no intro needed), Shirota Yu (Tezuka in Prince of Tennis, Rookies), Koizumi Kotaro (former PM son, Gokusen 3) and Tamayama Tetsuji (Brother Beat).
Surely such masculine series need some gentle feminine touch how about the likes of Tokiwa Takako (20th Century Boy, Beautiful Life), Fukuda Kyoko (To Heart, Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake), Aibu Saki (Zettai Kareshi, Triangle), Nagasawa Masami (Proposal Daisakusen, Last Friend) and Kimura Yoshino (Over Time, Perfect Love).

Such eye candies make a history lesson less sleep inducing for sure and of course very eager to see how these characters get out of the predicaments during war and rise into prominence...

IN the 1st episode, there was a mention of Zhuge Liang is the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper to Liu Bei's Big Dipper.
It truly was a surprised that they drew a referance to the Three Kingdom history of China which is coincidental that on Sunday I caught the 2nd part of the epic film "Red Cliff" (has it been half a year already?!).
It carries on where the story ended the last time with Cao Cao's troop managed to build in strength at the base across the red cliff with his naval forces looking decent despite they hailed from the inland North.
The weaker alliance between Sun Quan's army and Liu Bei's feeble force had to plot whatever means to fend off the arrogant Northerners who claimed to be carrying out the Court's orders.

For a good hour or so, there were more tactical on the paper with Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang working their wits which is perhaps the best part of this 2nd half.
The part with Sun Shang Xiang infiltrating the Cao's camp and report everything via doves to the allies was a bit far fetched; she even made friend with this blockhead who was promoted as a commander because he can kick soccer well (and he looks uncannily like that blockhead hubby of Faye Wong).
Of course, my most hated involvement of Lin Zhiling as Xiao Qiao was pretty okay in the end as she played to the main outcome of the war as John Woo had wanted it.

Overall the actual breakout of the battle was what people anticipated and with the help of CG, it didn't fared too badly at all.
I like the part when John Woo put the light that Cao Cao was a motivator to his army and he showed compassionate side when talking about his youngest offspring.
I also fancy the intensity the Sun Quan's army felt when their commander asked them about their will and not to fear death
The aftermath of the battle with the field covered with perished soldiers and Zhao Yun mentioned, "There was no winner, everyone lost" was quite relevant to the context of why there shouldn't be war but those with powers just don't give a hoot.

Think John Woo did the best he could with an endearing piece of literature based on an important part of Chinese history.
He jazzed things up which might led to some frowns from avid fans of the story...
Kudos to the cinematic exposure with the CG, the massive battle ensemble and the details of the costume, backdrop and weaponry, but I really don't think this is a classic...

Anyway still good to catch up abit on how people of great importance of the past rose to the occasion when situation requires them....

Japanese word of the day: 戦士 ~sen-shi~(Warrior) Who is your favorite actor to be a notable warrior of the past? I would think Abe Hiroshi more than Tony Leung

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

7th January 2009, Wednesday

Over the course of the last week as the year draws to an end, you can see plenty of award show or year-end or countdown gig in Japan.
The line-up of artists generally remained the same...from the usual A list to those with a good performance or breakthrough act for the year.
In 2008, there was an 8 year old girl Ohashi Nozomi and 2 60 something uncles Fujioka Fujimaki who broke into the scene circa July 2008..the song "Gake no Ue no Ponyo", the theme song of the latest Studio Ghibli theatrical production of the same name.

Since conceptualized in 2006, grand master Miyazaki Hayao and his lads from Studio Ghibli had been back to the drawing board for yet another comeback after his son's failed project "Gedo Senki (Tales of the Earthsea)".
A story which Miyazaki sensei came out with when staying with a friend at Tomonomura and took him 170,000 hand-drawndrawings to make.
It was perhaps the movie with the biggest box office netting in Japan but then no Studio Ghibli productions fare too badly (yes even Gedo); everyone knows the excellent track records for sure.

Here in Singapore, there are a bunch of rabid Studio Ghibli fans perhaps me, my wife and my La Tendo chums could be part of that demographic group.
On Saturday, much appreciation from Bryan and Yanhui who gave us a movie treat for the birthday gifts we bought them; the timing however was near midnight when we took like one of the last train to town which was really an experience.

Despite the show time, the theater was all packed with many local fans alike to discover the magic of the sea creature known as Ponyo.
101 minutes later many of us were bought by the simplicity Studio Ghibli had delivered with Miyazaki's beautiful visual extravaganza.
The story which resembles Little Mermaid's wish to be a human was very well written without any beating round the bush.
The typical environmental message was strongly heard when the seabed at the opening scenes were polluted by human activities while the former human father of Ponyo, Fujimoto plotting a revenge on the human race.
Ponyo is an infectious little sea pixie who resembles Mei from "Tonari no Totoro" and watching her all drained and exhausted from using her powers, one just can't stop giggling and for the missus, the eyelids getting as heavy as hers.
The tsunami thread mill for Ponyo as well as when she expands Sousuke's toy boat are just scenes to behold.
The old world seas creatures which appear after the flood also revealed the amount of research done and surely up the alley of those aqua-enthusiasts.
The couple beside us were having a great time chatting about the storyline but ourselves as well as Vincent and Miyano at the other side too enjoyed so much we couldn't stop chatting about it.

The nice flow of the storyline was well complimented by the enchanting music by Miyazaki's old chum, Joe Hisaishi who also written the theme song of the movie as mentioned and seen below:

Personally I prefer this over "Howl's Moving Castle" but "Laputa- Castle in the Sky" is still my all time favorite Ghibli movie... I know Miyazaki-san is nearing seventy but I do hope for more quality stuff from him in the future

Japanese word of the day: 崖 ~ga-ke~ (Cliff) There's a scene of flashing signaling between Sousuke and his father at sea which reminds me of my navy days

Kenji-kun, Asobimassho?

21st October 2008, Tuesday

Being a well-professed fan of akihabara@deep dorama, I had always kept tabs of the various characters Daruma had cosplayed.
Most are pretty recognizable including Maetel and Tetsuro from "Galaxy Express 999", Cobra from the "Space Adventure Cobra" and even Nobita from "Doraemon" (though we needed a strong hint from the man himself).
One character stood up with him in a grey suit with his head covered with a T-shirt with a logo of a hand within an eye.
Everyone was puzzled by the exact identity of that specific character, and perhaps you need to be a walking manga encyclopedia to know.
However all was unveiled when I was surfing for upcoming movies for the year 2008.... and "20th Century Boys" stood out.

Based on the manga series by Urasawa Naoki, who did the highly-rated "Monster" together with this series; it tells a tale which span a good 60 years or so, starting from 1969 or the booming Showa era where the protaganist of the story Kenji formed a clique with his buddies from school, creating their own grassy hut base, reading soft porn publications, and burying their own time capsule.
The group headed by the typical hot-headed shounen, Kenji and was assisted by the imaginative Otcho. They created their own book of prophecy which foretold what would happen to Japan and the world in the future. Otcho even created their eye-catching emblem (which Daruma proudly displayed) and that logo would haunt you throughout the tale for sure.
Like many kids who grew out their age, they buried their memories in their playground and fast forward 2 decades later, we saw Kenji a reformed rocker who had to shoulder the burden as the breadwinner of the family after inherited a liqour retailing shop which he converted into a konbini (convenience shop...naturally) and had to look after his niece, left to her tenure mysteriously one day by his elder sister.
What was to be unraveled was a deadly viral plague which hit various locations of the earth.... More and more people joining a cult headed by a masked dubious leader, Friend... and seemingly it all linked to that book of prophecy they wrote when they were young...which also led to the death of a childhood friend Donkey, bombing of Haneda airport and a giant robot romping the street of Tokyo with dealy viral spray on the final day of the 20th century.
Kenji who suffered alot of personal setbacks because of the cult was tagged a notorious terrorist in Japan since 1997 when the Friend cult infiltrated into the politics world; decided to enlist help from his childhood friends to undo those innocent prophecies he had coined as well as unveiling the true identity of Friend...

The director of the film was Tsutsumi Yukihiko who gave us the Trick series as well as other dorama I have watched like I.W.G.P. and Stand Up!
He tried to stick very closely to how Urasawa had envisioned in his manga.
I especially love the showa scenes which I believe older audience, even though not living in Japan, should have a good nostalgic tiime.
Various important events during that time like Armstrong landed on the moon and Expo 70 in Osaka were highlighted.
However a general viewer might find the constant switching of era to be a be overbearing..started with 2015 with the imprisoned mangaka to 1997 with the present Kenji with some flashes of the past then forward to 2000 where armaggeddon awaits.
There was a strong overtone of heroism which I felt was a bit cheesy and I highly doubt anyone really associate with Kenji as the leader of the pack.
In the end there were only 7 of them which seems like the magic number in Japanese heroic legends (i.e. Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai").
There was pretty little characterization of the rest of the gang and Otcho who was first suspected to be Friend only appeared suddenly halfway through the movie, fighting drug cartels in Thailand.
Others like Fukebe and Mon-chan whom we saw in the early part of the movie at the school reunion, were supposedly aloof to Kenji but agreed to join his heroic quest too easily.
I do like the mystery shrouding Friend and his brain-washing cult with the eerie screeching BGM worked perfectly everytime the cult were in the scene.

This movie was supposed to be part of a trilogy with the 2nd part coming early next year and part 3 late next year.
It boasts an ensemble cast of 300 actors, unrivaled in other productions seen before.
If you are an avid viewer of Japanese dorama and had a think for colorful background characters, you shouldn't had problem identifying most of the cast.
The clas reunion scene was really very much who's who in the Japan acting world... especially when ex-Checkers leader Fuji Fumiya was a charismatic student, Ikekami who was well received by the ladies in the reunion.
Versatile actor Karasawa Toshiaki did a great reprise of the unwilling hero Kenji, though his hard rocking days need a bit more of convincing.
It's been a while since we saw Tokiwa Takako, and like Karasawa oozes her years of experience as the no-nonsense narcotics polic inspector, Yujiki.
The other male lead Otcho was portrayed by Toyokawa Etsusuhi, a smileless hardman perhaps should be more well-known as Nakayama Miho's lover in "Love Letter".
Of the star-studded co-cast, those that really perked my interest due to their former stellar performances elsewhere were either dead or so transient....
Namese Katsuhisa, the toupee-wearing inspector in Trick was the tragic character Donkey, and somehow Tsutsumi managed to unearth a kid who looked exactly like him.
Takenaka Naoto aka the most flair uncle in the J entertainment scene or simply the eccentric maestro Franz von Stresemann in "Nodame Cantabile" was up to his antics for almost 10 seconds as a rival spiritual leader to Friend before assasinated by one of Friend's disciple.
Flamboyant singer/actor, Oikawa Mitsuhiro (or more affectionately known to us as Michi) was the lead vocal of a rock band in a cult concert with popular visual kei band, Nightmare as his backup; before Kenji came to hold them hostage with a prototype laser beam gun.
One of my favorite comedian, Fujii Takashi appeared for like 3 seconds as the emcee of a show promoting the political group linked with the cult with usual partner in crime, Yamada Hanako.
Last but not least ageless beauty (with Takarazuka broadway in her CV), Kuroki Hitomi was Kenji's elder sister who holds the key to unravel the true identity of Friend.
The actor that plays Friend is unknown constantly hiding under his masked disguise or under a mask of Ninja Hattori-kun, with doctored voice and famous line include "Kenji-kun, assobimassho? (Shall we play, Kenji?)".

The ending has a link to the next part of the trilogy...although the poster seen here in several MRT stations months before the movie was shown billed it as the next biggest manga-based film after "Death Note", I think this film didn't received that much affection compared to the popular Shounen Jump series.
When I watched with EK and Tay-chan at 12 pm showing at Bishan Junction 8, there were merely 20 odd audience on show...but I did heard near full house from others who had watched it.
Despite not in the same wavelength of a trilogy as "Lord of the Rings" or "Matrix", I think I am still hype enough for the 2nd part come next year...

Japanese word of the day: 洗脳 (Brain wash) Well people tend to be brain wash or merely jumping on the bandwagon..especially us naive Singaporean

The Night is Dark Before Dawn...

21st July 2008, Monday

At this juncture, Foo had caught perhaps the best movie of 2008 twice and clearly lobbied the idea that Christopher Nolan is his favorite director..period...

Though it might seems like words spluttered out of impulse with the new Batman featured film, "The Dark Knight", the sequel to 2005, "Batman Begins" surely drew superlatives and praises from all over from critics to hardcore Batman fanboys to casual movie-goers.

The huge blockbuster (already oust "Spider'McGuire Can't Dance'man 3"'s record for opening weekend for a superhero flick and recuperated much of the $180 million budget for Warner Brothers) began their viral advertisement for a year or so with Foo religiously feeding me with the updates over the course.
Batman fans who were impressed with a previously-unknown director of cult classic, Memento, Chris Nolan's take of the cape crusader 3 years back had be anticipating its sequel as some awaits the next Superman film.
Of course Heath Ledger's premature passing after completion of his part for this film drew alot of attentions as people are already drawing accolades for the 28 year old's protrayal of Batman's greatest foe, The Joker.
Edison Chen, who had a good 15 seconds of speaking role as "LSI VP" might had fueled more unwanted publicity for this film with his sex scandal.

As the name implied "The Dark Knight" tells the story of how Batman, a much maligned vigilante crimefighter of Gotham was a dark knight who citizens are willing to blame when things go wrong as compared to Gotham's true white knight, assistant district attorney, Harvey Dent.
"Dark" is also the theme of this film which makes "Batman Begins" look like "Enchanted"....

While Harvey went on a personal agenda to bring down the mafia rings of Gotham, enlisting the help of Lt. James Gordan and Batman's help along the way, the mafia got their own "messiah" in a freak they called The Joker.
The Joker promised to take down the mafia's number one pain in the neck, Batman and ensured the mafia leaders like Sal Maroni would not be pinned down by Dent's jurisdiction.
The reward half of the mafia's "black money" but eventually we knew it was his true interest is to cross sword with the Dark Knight as he mentioned "complete him".
So The Joker truly gave the city the villain they had craved for, creating mayhem and fear throughout Gotham, killing the polic commissioner, the chief justice and attempt to even silence the mayor as well as making the police unit an uncertain place as Jim couldn't trust anyone who had the possibility to be corrupted.

It supposed to be a superhero affair and Nolan did gave us Batman with his long line of cool gadgets like the sonar-detection mobile phones, a Bat suit which is more nifty and a cool Batpod ejected from the Rumbler.
However Nolan also played with mind games and true detective stuff as Bob Kane had always projected Batman to be.
It was such tracing accounts which led Batman, Dent, Gordon and co. huffing and puffing all about that really set the mood for the film, keeping us to our toes, cannot anticipate what would happen next.
Some people drew parallel of Ledger's Joker to Hannibal Lector and indeed both are scarily brilliant to visualize their way to kill people or to attain their motives, totally void of humanity.
But the Joker is much more scarier with the fact that he truly utilizes the mafia's power and resources to a greater extent, doing more damage and creating more mayhem.

Kudos for the great script and overall mood Nolan had created and was aptly aided by Hans Zimmer's haunting soundtrack.

In the end behind a great script, wonderful cinematography, intricate backdrop and costume and riveting background music, if there wasn't a great cast to realize Nolan's vision it would be deemed to nothing and surely I must say none of this ensemble disappoint even the corrupted Sgt. Ramirez, news anchorman Mike Engel and Gordon's young son....

Batman took a backseat this time round I felt for his nemesis as well as his rival in love, Harvey Dent but Christian Bale once again let his presence felt on the set in front or behind the mask.

Aaron Eckhart might not be in the mold for a super villain but he surely did it good as a tragic "white knight of justice" drew to the edge of sanity by a madman.

Mrs Cruise felt she is too big for the set so in came Jake Gyllenhal's younger sister, I last seen in "The Secretary".
Maggie surely didn't fare as well for looks but she is much less a "damsel in distress" persona and we empathize with why Bruce Wayne is still so smitten by her and in such grief over her tragic death.

Gary Oldman, Michael Caine & Morgan Freeman returned as the 3 wise old men in Batman's life as Lt./ Commissioner James Gordon, butler Aflred Pennyworth and CEO of Wayne Corporation & inventor Lucius Fox respectively. While Oldman totally immersed into the heroic policeman, the wise words and classy acting by the latter 2 surely up the production value of this film itself.

Supporting cast member including Eric Roberts as mafia leader, Sal Maroni, & Singapore actor Ng Chin Han as Hong Kong businessman Lau who launder the mafia's money from Gotham didn't fare badly from their more well-known counterparts.
Fans of "Lost", "Prison Break" and old World Wrestling Federation might find some familiar faces hidden in the mdst as well.

But the star of it all, the late Heath Ledger.
Alright not because we are now waxing lyrical because of his unfortunate passing nor it took on the most daunting role last portrayed by the great Jack Nicholson and voted one of the greatest super villain ever.
In fact I felt Heath just done his part as the psychotic madman as if he was born into the role.
He executed it with such ease and didn't seem to hold it back or over exaggerate himself with devious laughters or what not.
Many claimed his death was due to the fact that months of researching and sinking deep in The Joker persona had proved too macabre for him.
But he surely left it on the high and truly deserve all the accolades being bestowed.

All in all it was a great 153 minutes to savor (for Foo might be the 3rd time soon) and for me surely the best movie since the Lord of the Ring Trilogy...
Will Nolan, Bale and gang come back for a 3rd installment, well we sure will salivate over such possbility...wouldn't we?

Japanese word of the day: 暗い (Dark) Thank god we ditch Joel Schumacher and his outrageous colorful rendition of a great superhero franchise

War & Brotherhood

14th July 2008, Monday

War...who wants it...maybe beside certain American President...
It shouldn't even be used as the last resort to resolve any issues, political or not...
But the innate bestial nature of men often resulted in war and unnecessary killing of fellow mankind...
Personally I am against war as a resolution of problem. per se.
I even hate the fact that military exist at all... if we could all live in peace, I wouldn't have to loath on annual basis of going back for reservist...ok that's a big self-centered again

Over the weekend, had a fair share of watching war been waged in the theater as well as at home...

In "Red Cliff", we were taken to 208 AD to witness an important battle in warring history of China when the ruling Premier of the north, Cao Cao was determined to oust his main preposition to rule the entire China mainland, Sun Quan of Dong Wu and Liu Bei.
I am no "Romance of 3 Kingdom" buff unlike the likes of Chan, but did read up abit before watching this John Woo's flick as well as using my recollection of what I had derived from other mediums like games and TV series to gather information of some of the more famous persona.
The 1st part of the movie (2nd part releasing early next year) built up the intensity of how Cao Cao led him troops southwards to thwart Sun's army and intentions to capture his territories, exterminating Liu Bei at the same time; so when the latter 2 decided to forged an alliance he felt it was God's will going his way.
The actors reprising the role didn't did exceptionally well, Kaneshiro Takeshi received quite a bit of flake when he took on the wise Zhuge Liang but think he did quite well.
Tony Leung was just old in the show while Taiwanese premier supermodel surely is a "vase" which take up precious air time.
The battle scene was nicely choreographed with all the formations and all and I was not surprised if 70% were real extras since China is so populated. But there was surely overdose of how valiant and formidable the celebrated generals were.
There are the Joh Woo signatures stamped all over it such as the white doves and the exaggerated action sequences as well as the emphasis of brotherhood...

On Sunday I witnessed a war of another kind altogether.
In "Band of Brothers", once again the Americans might have over-glorified their role in the 2nd World War as their infantry marched towards Germany to force Hitler and his Nazi regime to end their ploy for world domination.
Well that aside it was a touching tale of how the famous Easy Company of the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division braved it all into Hitler's lair.
In the 10 part HBO mini series, producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg reunited with the crew behind another WWII flick "Saving Private Ryan" to tell this detailed tale of the close brotherhood the men fostered admist adversities.
I was perhaps a good 7 years late to watch the series I borrowed from Chan, it was still a good way to spend the Sunday afternoon though I was quite sick of all the bombing and shell bursting as night falls.

In both instances, it showed that war surely is the bane of mankind and how innocent soldiers had to serve as pawns for the warring parties...
The other epiphany to draw from war is that in a state where you face imminent death, you will truly show your real self to whoever beside you. You have to put full trust in that guy and likewise him to you. A true kinship is forged which we rarely find in our everyday life of luxury and capitalism.

One cold front of it all surely has to be the workplace.
It is undeniable that one can find true friendship at work but at the end of it, it might just be a masquerade for a more sinister purpose... afterall everyone at work might be after the elusive promotion or bonus...
Well it might be just fabricated but there certainly is some truth in it.
My company did try to come up with events to bolster relationships among colleagues such as a friendly bowling competition on Saturday for the 2nd year running.
Forming a team with 3 of my closest colleagues including the new chap, we just hoped we don't end up the last team among the 13 around for that day despite naming ourselves "The Gutters"
In the end HB's virtusoso performance and CH (the new guy at work)'s exemplary 2nd game run plus me trying to make up for all the gutters in the 1st 2 round, see us clocking a decent 984 points after 3 round, still a significant distant from the top team which clinched 1400+ points.
But it was good fun for us to interact for once outside the domain of work.

The real brotherhood for me now would be back to the La Tendo clique.
After a good 2 weeks of preparation and slight anticipation, the entire crew headed down to Fernvale Grove in Sengkang where Ferris & Lisa's little pad is situated on Friday evening.
Beside the main motive of house-warming, we also took the opportunity to celebrate birthdays for the boys of July, Ferris and Bro, EK.
The neighborhood is well desolated in terms of the lack of human activity as it is still a town in infancy stage.
Even in their block, most of the apartments are yet to be occupied.
Miyano was marveled by the sight of a dark field overseeing from their window with no block of flats or other buildings, a sight surely rare in our island so scarce in land.
The 4 room flat despite the shape of the living room is actually quite roomy and easily able to accommodate all 12 of us (especially with me, Chan and Vincent with slightly more mass) and Ferris always had an eye for aestheticism (though not always noteworthy) ensured his place was well furnished to what his financial state could support.
Lisa and Ferris were competent hosts with looking after our gastronomical and entertainment need respectively.
But it was all good-nature fun especially when the couple of Vincent and Miyano were at their squabbling best again (this time on marriage tussles like the decision of placing their TV set at home) while we ribbed Ferris on his weird sense of expenditures like buying a pack of Tarot cards just for the nice art and constant procrastination to work on his endless amount of resin kit with one Tay-chan had solicited from him to do for like 3 years now high on the stack.
Finally the cake-cutting ceremony see EK dripping wax all over the 2 nice Bakerz Inn fruit cakes Karen had bought on our behalf.
So after a good few hours of good food, laughters, admiring their new house, taking wacky pictures and overall jolly-making, we called it a night or morning as it was close to 2 am in the morning by then when we closed yet another chapter in our own version of "band of brothers/sisters".

My Band of Brothers/Sisters

Japanese word of the day: 大戦~da-i-se-n~(Battle) The only battle I enjoy is Super Robot Taisen

Identity Crisis

7th July 2008, Monday

Stayed home-bound for the whole of the weekend...simply just catch some dorama, rented DVDs and became immersed and obsessive in my PS3 adventures, ingesting unhealthy snacks along the way

However there seems to be a common theme with the media I came across the whole weekend... the characters seemed to be embedded in a case of identity crisis....

Zettai Kareshi (絶対彼氏): Based on a shoujo-manga of the same name, this Fuji Terebi doramas told a tale we all identify with all along. The fantasy of owning a perfect lover, in this case a robot/cyborg. Dashing Hayami Mokomichi (who's last dorama, "Tokyo Tower" got me all teared up) was 01 model from the Nightly Series from a cybernetic company, Kronos Heaven which was design and made for an unsuspecting customer, a inspiring patissier, Izawa Riiko.
Hayami's stiff acting is just perfect for the role of the robot lover but eventually as the tale came to a climax, he became a sad being yearning for a normal humane life as his "owner" Riiko came to accept him.
But like all movies of such genre (with robotic or supernatural being lover), there will be no happy ending as 01's main IC went busted when he exerted himself too much to generate spontaneous self-programming which baffled his creator and company.
It was pretty touching near the end but the characters have to get out from that surreal state that they would last happy together. There were stances of identity crisis for 01 or Night for his name at the beginning while Riiko hit hers at the end when she thought she could do without real human companionship for a piece of appliance which might most probably outlive her.

Persepolis: One of the movies I rented was this French animated feature based on the graphical autobiography of Marjiane Satrapi, an Iranian exile who tells a tale about the chaotic times in her homeland over the course of Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. The protagonist, Marjiane who dreamt tp be a prophet was exposed to poltical ideals like communisim since young and grew jaded of the stagnant repressive state of her nation. She was a rebel with her own cause... a rebel repressed in a conservative post-war Iran. When she thought she was liberated with her studies in Vienna, there she hit an identity crisis and knew that the demise in her country didn't reflected well in the European scene.
She yearned for a return back home after countless days on the streets of Austria but found it was back to square one as she found it had to adjust with how rigid the government remains in their status quo.
She migrated to France eventually as the tale came to an end...
In the style of black & white graphic novel, the essence of the story was well captured and despite no beautiful CG or delightful artwork, it was the story that really bought me and gave me a great insight with the turmoil the Iran people had to face back in those days when they could actually become a developed nation with their commodity and all.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: After Niko Bellic duly disposed of his great adversaries in Liberty City, he passed the Playstion baton to the renowned mercenary from the mastermind of Kojima Hideo and his Konami team, Solid Snake, now in much aged in 2014, thus known as Old Snake.
Despite not following the MGS storyline unlike most of my friends who had played the prequels back in the Famicom/Playstation days, I knew that Solid Snake is a character shrouded with identity crisis, himself a cloned product of a war hero, now known as Big Boss and constantly had to unraveled the mystery about his background against his "brothers" Liquid and Solidus.
My first venture in MGS was very much like my first venture to Gran Theft Auto, disregarding much of the history and just play the game as it is.
However it was always better to know abit more of the famous game series in which stealth is the best way to win the game...something I am still getting the hang of especially it totally contrast the ideology of GTA in which everyday is a grand massacre involving plenty of car stealing, chases and simply blowing things up.
In MGS we just had to keep cool headed and preferably not to be detected by the enemy, something which would reap rewards in the end. There was even a stress level which certainly reflect Snake's and my own stree throughout the mission. Fortunately, there was the presence of m,y favorite gadget, the iPod to give us some musical relief, alleviating the tension when we need it.
Act 1 is set iin the backdrop of the warring Middle East and the mood of the environment surely set itself to it, although I was expecting the rebel militias to speak Arabic to me rather than American-accented English.
CS was immensely addicted to the game and I could see why... Foo is another advocating the good of it and should jump on the PS3 bandwagon just for it pretty soon.
Then there was Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki as Foo described it.. "is da man!" I have to nod in agreement, as you know I am sucker for such characters....

The Prestige: Another movie I rented was a great buffer to set me forward for The Dark Knight opening next week.
Directed by the same director, Chris Nolan and featured Batman (Christian Bale) and Alfred (Michael Caine) with the same cinematographer and production designer as "Batman Begins", it surely have the same tone of the Batman sequel.
Set in the Victorian era of England where the age of industrialization was at its prime, this film told the tale of 2 rival magicians, bidding to outdo each other and even constant notion of revenge when one aspiring magician Borden( Bale) accidentally killed the wife of Angier (Hugh Jackman), a fellow budding disciple of the dark art in an act.
While the tale showed us some insight of the truth behind several well-known illusions of that time, the crux of it all was the intense rivalry between the 2.
First look at it superhero fans would rejoice of the prospect of seeing Batman vs Wolverine, but seriously beneath the masks, these 2 actors surely are great actors as I was intrigued by how one tried to outdo the other.
The cast was well rounded by Scarlett Johansson (who surely looks good in the bust-enhancing Victorian fashion), Caine (smooth as great wine), Andy Serkis (Gollum of LOTR fame) and a pretty beef up David Bowie who did a competent role as Nikola Tesla, who found the basis alternation current electric power.
At the climax of the story where both were trying to uncover each's secret of the "Tranport Man" act, both were fooled by the identity of the other at the end which surely led to a real twist of the tale.

Glad I have no real crisis with my own identity but this current one is starting to perturb the missus as well as the rest of the household that I might be too immersed to become a confined-in freako...

Japanese word of the day: 危機 (crisis) The only crisis I have now is to increase more "me-alone" time but highly unlikely

Rain in Spain...Comes with a Gain after Pain

1st July 2008, Tuesday

One of the more fulfilling weekend, perhaps due to the fact that I took leave on Friday as well...
The intention was to catch a supposedly-thrilling semi-final duel between Spain and Oranje-slayer, Russia on Friday morning.
However I deciphered how my body worked all wrongly.... I thought I could survive till the wee hours after the semi ended at around 5 in the morning rather than clocking a couple of hours of nap time before the match start.
So I continued my adventure of Niko Bellic in Liberty City, even watching an episode of "Planet Earth" (dozing along with the soothing narration of Sir Richard Attenborough) and barely kept my eye-lids open as the match began by 2.45am.
I did remember the 0-0 halftime score and when Guiza scored Spain's 2nd goal in the 73rd minute, otherwise I was all knocked out till 9 Friday morning... The missus had to be the one to switch off the TV once again.

The weekend filled with Chan's birthday celebration at La Tendo, 2 movies, a live soccer match at Tampines, an inaugural Singapore Toy and Comic Convention and sashaying my way to the finale of Grand Theft Auto 4...

Chan's Birthday celebration: As eccentric or erratic as he can be, Chan is always a treasured member of the clique...well all of us would be but Chan seems omnipresent for most events unless he decided to fade to black as usual. There was no cake blowing or costly karaoke sessions as of our last celebration but it was all fun especially as for a long while everyone (except for some foreign-bound members) were present. Despite being constrained by the narrow alleyway of the cashier counter of the shop as well as had limited beverage, we had a hearty chat till 1 in the morning as Miyano gave us an insight of how insane it could get bringing school children to Japan for cultural exchange activities.
Also realized that Karen had made a U-Turn on her decision to resign from a teaching post after her director made some compromises.
Next up would be Ferris' birthday cum housewarming two weeks later...

Double Movie Treats: I had accumulated quite a sum of Citibank points for making expenditure on my Platinum card over the course of the last 2 years or so... I always thought I might use it to waive off my annual fee except it always didn't seems enough plus we all knew the waiving off is just one phone-call away.
So I took on a offer that had recently with a discount on the points needed to claim a pair of movie tickets from Golden Village..I claimed a few pairs, hoping to catch shows I had wanted to catch but reluctant to spend that money.
On Friday while the rest of Singapore is either at work or in school, I got a couple of the clique (i.e. Karen and Chan as well as Chiaki who was off from her work and was shopping with Karen on that day) to join me and the missus to catch "Shaolin Shoujo".
The movie received scathing reviews for a lack of plot and intense exaggeration truly was a waste of time (luckily minimal money was involved).
The tempo of the movie was slow and the plot was nano-thin and cheesy mostly especially the ending.. It collectively wasted good acting ability of the likes of Shibasaki Kou, Eguchi Yosuke and Nakamura Tooru. We now knew why Stephan Chow wanted to be uncredited as the producer of the movie....

The 2nd movie I caught over the weekend was "Get Smart", the Steve Carrell's renewal of the 1960s Mel Brooks' comedy series about bumbling international spy in the mold of James Bond but drew parallel to Rowan Atkinson's "Johnny English".
I love Steve Carrell's and his deadpan comedy act which I felt might be exhausted after this movie...But he did put up a great performances and laughter was guaranteed throughout with some nice action sequence.
The supporting cast was fantastic though I think Anne Hathaway was slightly too young to pair with 40 something Carrell. The Rock or now known as Dwayne Johnson is good as Agent 23.
Cameo from Masi Oka (Hero), David Koechner (regular in Carrell's shows like 40 year old Virgin and The Office), Terry Crews (the Vanessa Carlton loving footballer), Patrick Warburton (David Puddy in Seinfeld), Ken Davitian (Borat's producer) and the Great Khali from WWE make the show even more interesting... Even Bill Murray was trapped in a tree...

Sengkang versus Tampines: Our 3rd live Sengkang match as the hopeless bottom-dwellers took on Tampines in their home ground which always look to be a lost cause.
An early goal from a mistake by custodian Joey Sim gave the Stags the lead within 2 minutes and then to compound our misery Joey got himself sent off and the meaty Adi Salleh had to deputize and the first thing he did was picking the ball out of the net when Sutee scored from a direct freekick. He then were beaten a few times by the pint-sized Aliff Shaffein (twice from headers!) but luckily were ruled offside. In the end it didn't turn out to be a mauling and we had a couple of rare chances to score but current Singapore keeper, Hassan Sunny who seemingly nearly doze off from the lack of activity before his goalmouth refused to concede a goal from the woeful Dolphin attack.

STCC: The first of its kind in Singapore which gather almost all the big boys in the toy, comic, anime and gaming (only Nintendo) under one roof as the otaku-dom as well as fanboys from all genres showed up in strength for the 2 days event making it a real success.
The crowd was pretty insane on Saturday afternoon when we were there but it was really down to the confined space more than anything else.
It was held within one single convention hall but perhaps the lack of participating patrons really didn't warrant a space bigger than this.
La Tendo rejected the offer to be part of it and think they missed much...
The event which showcased quite a bit of local manga talents as well as gather an impressive roll call of popular artists like Pete Fowler and Devilrobots but I am not a wee bit interested in designer vinyl toys...left after mere 30 minutes maneuvering in the sea of curious crowd, curbing my claustrophobia at the same time.

EK and Chan had intended to dropby on Sunday to have some fun on the Playstation 3 but in the end it didn't materialize, so I took the opportunity to clear several missions in GTA4...The finale was pretty heart-wrenching...waiting to watch the end credits...Then it would be Solid Snake...

Managed to catch the final of Euro 2008 live as Spain reigned superiority with their positive football over the Germans.
It is not that Germany played bad football throughout the tournament but it was just that the Iberian nation deserved to win their first accolade in 44 years.
A 33rd minute goal from Liverpool marksman, Fernando Torres settled the game but seriously it would be much different if Klose had scored early on.
Glad the final produced another new champions and marked the end of a really entertaining tournament which my beloved Netherlands once again promised much but in the end meekly departed...

Not the best start of the week for me and the missus...
Minor issue with my possessions as the lithium battery of my iPod seems to have reach its life span. After fully charged, now it could last less than 2 days of usage (the most 3 hours of intermittent play) and I didn't even played video files on it...Contemplating whether to change a new battery which could be pretty costly.
The arcylic protective cover for my NDS lite which I purchased from my 1st Kao-hsiung ICT had snapped into 2 but still holding the console... well I am not the most meticulous person when handling my properties...
However the worst occured to my spouse as a moment of absentmindedness resulted in her leaving her newly-acquired Nokia handphone in the lavatory of her workplace... It was gone in less than 60 seconds for sure...Now only pray some kind soul will return it back to her...most unlikely for sure...

Spainish word of the day: Ganador (Winner) Spain is the worthy winner but I feel I shouldn't lose so much in real life

On a field of clovers and nauseous audiences

22nd January 2008, Tuesday

Before I start, this post might contains some spoilers for the film, so if you are wanting to catch it (which I highly recommend to anyone who want something much contrast to your usual blockbuster movies), please refrain from reading this post.

After 85 minutes of bracing oneself to endure the shaky condition of a digital viewcam, it was a wretched ending that got the bunch of teens behind us to hurl vulgarities for a $9.50 waste...
I am not surprised with their hostile reception over "Cloverfield" because it surely isn't a movie the average Singaporean who had always had taste for big blockbuster with major explosions (i.e. Michael Bay) or senseless comedies or horror flicks.
On the surface, "Cloverfield" seems to be a perfect monster/disaster movie which the papers labeled as "Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project (because of the video camera similarity)" which incurred the interest of many unsuspecting viewers.
However this movie is far from what we perceived it to be.

It began as a trailer before Transformers when we caught a scene we thought might be some New York yuppie story with a bunch of friends sending another off for his overseas work stint before an earthquake hit the East Coast of the States, only to be realized that it is something more ominous than the seismological phenomenon.
The scene ended with the the prominent head of the Statue of Liberty been dismembered and hurled towards where the protagonist stayed.
There was no title or who's responsible for this altogether, just a mere flash of "January 2008".

This on itself got many buzzing about this movie till later on we knew it was a creation J.J. Abrams, the director of "Mission Impossible III" and the next Star Trek movie as well as producer of hit tv series like "Felicity", "Alias" and of course his recent success in "Lost" (which I am still a fan of despite been leaving many faithful audiences "lost" with the myriad of storylines which kept growing).
Abrams got the idea of creating a monster that terrorizes the States just like the cult figure of Godzilla.

While some fanboys in the States had been trying to scavenge on whatever clue there is on the film before it's official release.
The producers didn't embark on any major publicity campaign for the film like almost all major blockbusters these days and there were just a few viral websites which really didn't give us much clue about the movie and most important the creature that was terrorizing Manhattan.
It got the netizens discussing fervently on how the creature would look like weeks before the official release of the film and some even tried their best to doctor the short trailer to highlight that Cloverfield (the creature name given by the government in the film) bears a tail.

Over in Singapore, only true film buffs like my buddy Foo was kept in tab of the development and in turn perk my interest in the movie while the rest of the island remained in the dark of the movie except for the occasional TV trailers and advertisement on the papers of a decapitated Statue of Liberty.

The 2 of us tried to rope in the rest of the Wrecking gang with our partners (my wife was sold easily since she loves the Godzilla franchise), but in the end only TW could make it, a decision he live to regret later.

On the Sunday afternoon at AMK Hub Cathay, there was no sellout crowd but still 3/4 full as we raised some eyebrows when a pair of parents brought their toddlers into the cinema.

The movie began narrating how Rob, the lead had developed a relationship with the beautiful Beth and how she seemingly rejected his interest by bringing a guy-friend to his send-off party, organized by Rib's brother, Jason.
The video camera was first held by Rob when he was at Beth's apartment, then Jason en route to get the food for the party and finally Hud, Rob's buddy who remains the only cameraman for the entire misadventure.
In reality, it is to be noted that T.J. Miller, the actor portraying Hud is indeed the cinematographer for the movie as well.
Talk about keeping the budget down... as well as employing an entire cast of unknowns and without any soundtrack to add realism that it was a home-made video.
The movie sells on the realism part with regards to how normal citizens of New York react to the alien (it seem to be) invasion rather than how the President and military dealt with it in all other movies of this genre.

So we have Hud and the gang running around for safety as Clovie created immense havoc in New York and but mid point, it can be rather gut-wrenching as people who suffer from subtle motion-sickness might not be able to take it.
I had warned the gang that it might resemble remotely to our self-made travel video "Tokyo Wreckers" in terms of the whole shakiness.
TW was one of the victim of this alternative film shooting and he admitted he was badly affected halfway through the movie.

As for the monster itself, after the 1st half hour or so was seen with the tail wrecking the Brooklyn Bridge, killing Jason.
Later on we have a better glimpse of the amphibian-like creature in news clips before the characters encountered in the crossfire between Clovie and the army.
It has a roar which resembled a banshee screech and that of Godzilla, it seems like it possessed several limbs and a face as butt ugly as the Predator's mother.
Then it has an army of parasites that resided on its skin and began to disassociate from their host and starting to terrorize the citizens of New York, mice & men alike.

There were several technical problems or issues that I dislike (I actually didn't mind the puke-incurring moments)
As like many movies there had to be product placement..In this case it's Nokia... Rob was using a Nokia mobile and seemingly it can get the regular transmission despite the chaos and most probably destruction of the signal stations. Then there was the big ad in the train station as well as if it didn't sell the brand loud enough.
Beth, who Rob vowed to save despite the adversities was actually a wonder woman.
She had a steel rod pierced through her chest ribcage, perhaps just missing the heart, but seems to be able to prance like a pony after the gang managed to pull her out off the sticky situation.
She then survived a really serious helicopter crash (well the rest survived as well) and most probably survive the bomb blast in the end.
The handheld camera seems to be indestructible as well after Hud had dropped it time and again; the lens didn't even crack after the heli accident.
I don't even want to talk about the lifespan of the battery which is way unbelievable.

In conclusion, "Cloverfield" is a movie either you love it or hate it, and no in-between I suspect.
It added reality bites in such out-of-the-world calamity and left fans crazy about the background of Clovie and what happened after the tape.
Seemingly there is a 4 part manga serialization on Shounen Ace in Japan, which is a splendid way to entice the Japan market, which is a prequel to the event, giving us an insight of how the monster came about.
Director Matt Reeves also suggested a sequel...more nauseating adventure in store?

Japanese word of the day: 吐き気~ha-ki-ke~(Nauseous) Perhaps my days in the Navy help me with the motion sickness but I still can't read on the bus for sure