Movie Review: Ip Man (2008)

After a few recommendations from my VIP friends, I finally caught this movie today and I have to agree it was quite a well-made movie. It's well-measured between fight scenes and acting and although Donnie Yen still can't really have much acting chops on his facial expressions nor body language, he has competently filled the shoes of Ip Man during those fight scenes. Fortunately for the movie as well, the supporting cast did a good job with their acting to balance the gaps.

The movie showed the middle-aged life of the grandmaster of Wing Chun on his humility of his talent and skills, passion and discretion for the rest of the Chinese martial arts circle in Foshan, his responsibility as a family man and his patriotism for China during the Sino-Japan war after the Marco Polo Bridge incident.

The fight scenes were beautifully-executed and realistically-sequenced so that they did not look exaggerated and overwhelming to the viewers' senses. I thought Ip Man was one of the most realistic and sincere kung-fu movies made in the recent five years and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The movie is still available so do catch it if you have a couple of hours and a good curiosity to know the difference between fist-fights/brawls and genuine martial arts and the people behind those categories.

End of Day Post 27 Dec 2008 Saturday

0930hrs: Woke up aching all over - I had pushed myself pretty hard at the gymnasium yesterday so I am suffering the consequences before I reap the rewards of exercise. Hahaha...

1030hrs: Breakfast of one egg and one plain roti prata, one small char siew bun and one glass of orange juice.

1130hrs: Visited The Crispy Apple at her workplace at Level 2 Bugis Street. She is currently working there whilst waiting for her beautician course to start and she is still keen on performing. Glad she is still looking fine and still having to passion to sing. Now that she has finished learning to how use her falsetto, I'll be looking forward to another singing session with her.

1200hrs: Headed off to Bugis Junction and found my ideal organizer diary at the stationery shop at level 3. It's a cheep cheep $9.10 and it will be accompanying my work throughout the year 2009.

1330hrs: Ate minced pork and mushroom noodles for lunch and bought a nice chocolate cake for my mother because today is her Chinese Lunar Year birthday and I know she likes to eat cakes.

1430hrs: Happily savouring the chocolate cake with my mother. It's not too sweet and the cream was deliciously light. Yummy. Glad I made my mother happy for all it's worth.

1500hrs: Busy preparing notes for my work and took an afternoon nap because I was still aching all over.

1700hrs: Ah...much more rested and got myself ready for dinner treat. My mother wanted to eat Western Fish and Chips so my parents and I headed out straight for that. Dinner was taken really slow because it was a nice evening at that place and not too crowded for our liking.

1900hrs: Reached home and started surfing the Internet and thinking of new ways to make my blog more functional as well as better-looking.

Heh, it's been quite a while since I wrote such end-of-the-day blog posts in this relatively information-based blog. A light Saturday after all those Christmas celebrations. Hmm..New Year Day is coming again in a few days' time though.

I heard Ip Man movie is quite good so I may want to catch it during the weekdays. Let's see how things go.

Christmas Celebrations 2008 New Updates

Here's most of the food on the table at the Married Soldier's house gathering on Christmas Eve. My fingers weren't steady so the photograph was blurred but there were cheese-filled sausages, macaroni soup, mashed potato, fried vegetables, chicken fillets, spaghetti and mushroom pizza. Dessert was a chocolate log cake and drinks were Jacob's Creek red wine. A much clearer shot taken whilst the table was being set. After dinner, we played a card game called Manager Material where we were supposed to fight off corporate projects cards with excuses cards on our hands. The game was fun because we were trying to prevent 30 project points from accumulating on our hands and yet sabotage the other players' chances by stacking recognition cards so that the players could not escape from the project cards through their excuses. In the end, The Married Soldier was defeated because of the conspiracy between The Changed Man and myself. The girls were more interested in the clothes featured in variety show then though. Hahaha.

After the card game, the hosts wanted to watch Little Nonya and we obliged to finish the episode before continuing with more drinks and another movie "The Family Stone". It's been so long since we watched a TV series together and we were interjecting throughout the show on who are the villians and how Yueniang was in despair for causing Yuzhu to be raped during her attempted elopement.

I opted to stay over because it was already near midnight by the time the gathering ended. A quick shower later, The Married Soldier and myself stayed up till 2am because he wanted me to watch him play his Fallout 3 game. His style of playing was so different from mine - whilst I preferred subtler sniper tactics, he would charge into the fray with his mini-gun. We finished clearing a few maps before the game hung on the computer and that decided our online adventure was over for that night.

The next morning, I woke up with a mild hangover from too much red wine - more than 3 glasses and by 11am on Christmas Day, I bade farewell and headed home because I still had a movie appointment with the Busy Bee. We met up at Orchard Cineleisure for the movie "Australia" at around 4.20pm and we bought the evening tickets as the nearby showtimes were almost sold out so we did not want sub-par seats for a supposedly good movie.

After getting the tickets, we hung out at Starbucks to see and to be seen with iced Eary Grey tea and ice-blended Frappucino. We were lucky enough to grab the large couch to enjoy our drinks and The Busy Bee showed me her new handphone and we played some penguin games on it before heading down to Takashimaya basement to grab some finger food just before we catch the movie itself.

"Australia" was one long movie worth over 160 minutes but it was quite a movie - a comprehensive, spell-bound mix of mysterious Aboriginals, hard-talking Whites, deep racism, dark politics, shady business throat-cutting, awe-inspiring wildlife, tough outback lifestyles, rowdy bar brawls, majestic natural sceneries, heroic sacrifices, passionate romance and even brutal war scenes.

Nicole Kidman was at her finest again portraying the character Lady Ashley and Hugh Jackman was convincingly set as the hard and gruff character called "The Drover". Their chemistry sizzled and captured my imagination of how beautiful the town of Darwin and the cattle stations' outback lifestyles were. It's definitely one of the most memorable and enjoyable movies to catch before 2008 concludes. I loved one particular line from Hugh Jackman in the movie, which goes something like:

Property, money, luggage, people - all of these mean nothing because ultimately, you will lose them. What's left is probably a story.

This was taken inside Paragon and it was a very beautiful series of Christmas decorations. Ballerinas dancing in a shower of blue Christmas hanging lights looked fabulous. This was taken on our way to the Takashimaya basement - a Christmas tree made up of many, many teddy bears. This was Central Point's Christmas decorations. There wasn't much themes to speak of but the sheer number of lights gave the surreal feeling of an alternative daylight in the night. Everyone was illuminated slightly bluish as they walked below those hundreds of thousands of lights. This was taken on our way to Raffles City - we walked all the way from Orchard Cineleisure to Raffles City because the Busy Bee felt like taking a stroll instead of hustling on a crowded MRT train along the main Orchard Road. We parted company at City Hall MRT station so that we could grab our sleep from all those partying.

Simple but enjoyable story for my 2008 Christmas celebrations. ^__^

Christmas Celebrations 2008

It's Christmas Eve for the year 2008 and I am currently resting at home even though I was hoping to do some last minute Christmas shopping. There's still a cold drizzle since the night-long rain right now so I'll have to wait till the drizzle to stop first.

Maybe it's the mood of the economic recession ahead so most of my hard-partying friends seem to be toning down their year-end festive celebrations so there are fewer spectacular celebrations this year for me. I'll be heading down to the Married Soldier's house for a nice, cozy Christmas Eve dinner in the company of friends rather than squeezing with the festive crowds in the city area later on in the evening. With the amount of liquor promised at the gathering, I suppose there will be some good drinking going on, maybe carrying on throughout the night. The second celebration on Christmas Day itself will probably be a movie "Australia" and maybe a meal with the Busy Bee but it's still unconfirmed because both of us would probably be out at our respective parties way late into the night today.

I would like to wish every single blog reader here a Merry Christmas. No matter what your celebrations are, enjoy yourself and remember to share and spread the joy and care for all the people around you. Have fun and keep safe! ^__^

(Image source: http://www.lumesoft.com/images)

Movie Review: Yes Man (2008)

I finally managed to catch Yes Man today and it's a really interesting movie because the movie protagonist, Carl Allen (Jim Carrey), was quite a nay-sayer, opting out of life's many opportunities until he deeply disappointed his best friend by excusing himself out of his best friend's engagement party. Shaken by the terrible possibility of dying alone and friendless, Carl attended a motivational seminar which turned him into a Yes Man - someone who supposedly have to say "yes" to any opportunity that comes along in his life.

What follows were a series of astounding encounters where Carl drove the homeless, emptied his wallet, risked his neck on a scooter, met the girl of his dreams, got into a hopelessly drunken brawl, got sexually relieved by his elderly woman neighbour, got promoted, did a bunjee jump off a bridge, met an entire new group of friends, saved some suicidal person with a song on a guitar, flew his own plane, learned Korean, got arrested by intelligence operatives.

The second half of the movie was sadly less exciting because the movie concentrated on him trying to convince the girl of his life that he was not saying "yes" to her because of the motivational seminar but because he truly meant "yes" in his heart.

All in all, I felt that the movie was still a very amusing movie which preached a very simple message - are people saying no more often than they should? Perhaps people have been missing out on engaging life within their possible means by opting out rather than jumping in. Personally, I am influenced by the movie to some extent and I thought I should learn to say yes more often because life's possibilities are endless and life's changes may not necessarily be negative.

So here I go - Yes! Although I cannot please everyone, I will do what I can to engage life at its fullest. I may fall flat on my face but I am not flat in my spirits.

What are you waiting for? Say "Yes" and go watch the movie yourself! Hahaha!

"Wolverine" The Teaser Movie Trailer

Alright, I have watched all the previous X-men movies and I don't think I am going to miss this one. Something to look forward to for 01 May 2009.

I am such a movie addict and I enjoyed being so. Adamantium claws, anyone? =D

SandFantasy 2008 By IIana Yahav

What a beautiful story well told. Enjoy, my readers and have a good weekend! =)

Campus Superstars Season 3

Well, the top 12 of Campus Superstars Season 3 are finally out in public. As with the previous two seasons of Campus Superstars, I will be providing performance commentaries for their performances because firstly, everyone gets to learn if I can catch and comment on the important things about singing and performances. Secondly, I feel that I can contribute a little here and there by helping the genuine singing talents and enthusiasts to hone whatever they may be lacking. Thirdly, I enjoyed good renditions of songs and good performances - after all, some of them may eventually shape the future of music and entertainment.

I would expect this season's top 12 to be slightly more well-trained than the previous batches because the auditions were closed-doors and the contestants will have more time to hone their skills under the possible tutorship of some of the talented local music instructors, singers and lyricists in Singapore before taking on the official competition stage in January 2009. Their supporters seem more organized with at least nine fan clubs already set up before the official competition and the page hits are impressive. However, given the economic downturn which will kick in in 2009, I would expect to see how MediaCorp Singapore may have to come up with creative ways to encourage votes.

During the past year, I have attended as many singing auditions as I could to observe how contestants fared during their performances and I have also personally increased my own stage experience in the hope that I will be able to do a better job at the upcoming performance commentaries. Being a critic in the past two seasons was not easy because I needed to keep my commentaries as objectively as I can, amidst all the flaming, slandering and accusations. Some of my harshest online opposition just wanted me to shut up and stop exposing their Superstars' weaknesses but for the betterment of the quality of singing and performances, I pressed on and finished what I intended to. Let's hope this new season's worth of supporters can be more civilized and understanding.

(Image Source: Campus Superstars 3 Official Website by MediaCorp Singapore)

《愛的牧羊人》 by 伍思凱 Sky Wu

一个忍受寂寞的人
一条长满荆棘的路
天冷风吹的狠
我的脸上沾满了灰尘

我是一个爱的牧羊人
啊寻找一个爱我的人
就算世界笑我多愚蠢
我也不能乱了分寸
我很累我不肯睡我很虔诚
天保佑我遇见幸运的神

我以为爱是个方向
雨打风吹我可以忍
泪水酿成了酒
我的脚下一道一道伤痕

我是一个爱的牧羊人
啊寻找一个爱我的人
就算世界笑我多愚蠢
我也不能乱了分寸
我很累我不肯睡我很虔诚
天保佑我遇见幸运的神

我是一个爱的牧羊人
啊寻找一个爱我的人
就算世界笑我多愚蠢
我也不能乱了分寸
爱情对我招手
往前走吧去找幸福的人

草原上下着倾盆大雨
一望无际世界只有我
一步一步往前去
追逐爱的回忆

我是一个爱的牧羊人
啊寻找一个爱我的人
就算世界笑我多愚蠢
我也不能乱了分寸
爱情对我招手
往前走吧去找幸福的人

爱情~~

I was surfing youtube videos and came across this beautiful song so I am putting it up for the listening pleasure for all the readers of my blog. This is a very old composition by Sky Wu himself many years ago but the song is still so wondrous to my ears after so long.

I have even tried singing this song but I have to admit that I still cannot hold the song properly myself because the techniques used are incredibly difficult and the song's mood is not easy to portray. Anyway, have fun listening. Enjoy~~~ ^__^

Fallout 3 - The Long Awaited Game For Me

I think I am long overdue for a blog post because I have been recently indulging in a computer game which I have waited for nearly 10 years - Fallout 3.

The game is so interesting and involving for me because it is a sandbox type of game, which means the character gets to do anything he/she pleases, making countless decisions about how to impress the non-playing characters to release quests or to deal with tactical combat situations with serious considerations to factor in stealth, lighting, terrain, weaponry and even the character's alignment (good, neutral or evil).

To show my blog readers who have been faithfully checking my blog for updates all these while, I will try and list down the more interesting things I have done in the game to show why I love the game so much. Over the past couple of weeks, my character (who is competent in the skills of small guns, energy weapons, lock-picking, science and speech) has done the following things:

• Disarmed an atomic bomb in the middle of a small town
• Deliberately crippled my character's leg by blowing up on a mine for medical studies
• Put an animal observatory sensor device in the middle of a nest of monsters
• Infiltrated a library for the sake of continuing humanity's pursuit of knowledge
• Installed a satellite dish to extend the broadcast range of a radio station
• Fought alongside non-playing characters (NPCs) against a gigantic monster
• Saved some children from captivity against some slavers' encampment
• Negotiated a mutually beneficial deal between a small settlement and a group of vampires
• Stolen the weapon from a sniper in a tall building in the middle of a mine-strewn town
• Drowned more than five times attempting to swim underwater to an aircraft carrier
• Activated some complex mechanical device to try and help jump-start a science experiment
• Defeated a sinister enemy by discovering a secret way to escape from virtual reality world
• Lead my character to break out from a massive enemy fortress full of robots and soldiers
• Rescued a group of mercenaries besieged and trapped at the rooftop of a hotel
• Helped to contribute to the maintenance of a water processing plant by collecting parts
• Sold some drug components to a drug dealer for the much needed bottle caps (money)
• Neutralized some mutated ant nest due to a miscalculation by a biologist
• Allowed an escaped android to live his new lease of life by lying to his pursuer-cum-creator
• Battled some Super-Mutant fortresses and saved some hostages from the wasteland
• Collected pre-war books and sold them to a scholar for the much needed bottle caps
• Trying to find out the industrial formula for Nuka-cola (a drink in the wasteland)
• Trying to find out what the satellite towers in the wasteland does
• Trying to retrieve a 200-year-old violin for an old lady who broadcasts her music on the radio

Sounds fun? I have not even discovered more than twenty other locations on the wasteland map so there could be other crazy things that I might have to find my character doing. Here are some screenshots taken during the game. I will upload more of them to share with you readers in the near future.

Sometimes, while waiting for the shops to open for business so that my character can buy and sell things, my character would enjoy the beautiful sunrises in the game. This one was taken outside Craterside Supply Store in the earlier starting towns of Megaton.
This was taken in the night time at the front porch of Washington Building after my character took out a group of Enclave soldiers, an Enclave officer and a deadly beast known as a Deathclaw. The weapon my character was holding was a Plasma Rifle and the craft in front of my character was some sort of flying craft - I wished my character could pilot it but my character could not do so. Maybe next time?
This was taken in the evening time when my character was exiting from an important city called Rivet City (which was actually a half-broken-off aircraft carrier). My character was facing the ruins of Washington DC and it was a scary trip because the enemies could be around the very next piece of debris, raking my character with a rocket or machine-gun fire.
This was my character dressed in a Reinforced 101 Vault suit with a motorcycle helmet talking to a person called Tenpenny. Tenpenny is a rich man with a richly-lavished tower and my character was trying to negotiate to see if he could allow another group to live in his tower. I have not made a decision to this quest yet - should my character kill Tenpenny and the existing residents so that the new group could move in or should I just kill off the new group and collect Tenpenny's reward instead?
This was the view taken from Tenpenny's tower and yes, my character was literally walking over all those rock outcroppings, ruined buildings and sand-dunes before my character could reach the tower, carefully fighting and avoiding terrible beasts and raiders who would not hesitate to tear my character to shreds.

Well, that is most active activity I am currently engaging in right now. I will update again on this game as well as any other interesting happenings to me as soon as I can. Time for dinner - an Italian BMT sandwich from Subway. Yummy~~~ ^__^