2008/04/25超級星光大道第三季 Unplugged 指定賽
蔡嘉航--True love (Eliminated from round)
潘嗣敬--Pupus(毀)
黃靖倫--如果你還愛我
Song Recommendation For April 2008: 擦肩而过 By 李圣杰
Currently, this is the song that I am trying to learn to perform in KTV and onstage. It's not easy because Sam's lungs are powerful (whilst mine took quite a beating from my flu last month) and he inserts quite some variations and hard to remember pauses in some parts of the song but always a challenge and an accomplishment if I successfully learn each song of his.
我爱着谁 爱到我有点醉
告诉我你是谁 能够把我让我变不对
你不会累 但我却爱你爱到好累
从没有为了谁 不顾安危付出一切
站在这平衡点 我还是觉得有点危险
或许是看不见 只能够靠感觉
他不会是个好男人 也不会是个好情人
你对我说我们只是擦肩而过
好的男人有那么多 少了他的日子也能过
我不会再让你寂寞 也不会让你更难过
你听我说要好好学着去生活 就算未来有多少错
至少还有我的问候我的温柔陪你度过
你听我说 你不要这么做
你不要看着我 说你已经知道怎么做
你很难受 我愿意陪你一起承受
只要你不怕痛 再多坎坷我都陪你走
站在这平衡点 我还是觉得有点危险
或许是看不见 只能够靠感觉
他不会是个好男人 也不会是个好情人
你对我说我们只是擦肩而过
好的男人有那么多 少了他的日子也能过
我不会再让你寂寞 也不会让你更难过
你听我说要好好学着去生活 就算未来有多少错
至少还有我的问候我的温柔陪你度过
他不会是个好男人 也不会是个好情人
你对我说我们只是擦肩而过
好的男人有那么多 少了他的日子也能过
我不会再让你寂寞 也不会让你更难过
你听我说要好好学着去生活 就算未来有多少错
至少还有我的问候我的温柔陪你度过
就算未来有多少错
至少还有我的问候我的温柔陪你 度过
嘿呜~~~~
Monday, April 28, 2008
Games: Replaying Fallout Tactics, Starting Imperial Ages, Movie Review: Forbidden Kingdom Spagghetti Dinner at The Married Soldier's Place
Games: Replaying Fallout Tactics, Starting Imperial Ages:
I was a little bored playing Facebook on last Friday night so I went to surf some of my own games websites and lo and behold, I found the revived link to a Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel editor and I was so happy. Why? Because the editor will allow me to reinstall the excellent squad-based tactical game and replay the game as many times as I wanted to. I did and within hours, I had my squad inside the final mission - The Calculator inside Vault 0.
What you see above is my Fallout Tactics team standing at attention. From the left onwards, Sean (team designation: Commander), Farsight (team designation: Ranger), Torn (team designation: Sniper), Brian (team designation: Gunner), Jo (team designation: Engineer) and finally Stitch (team designation: Medic). This Special Operations team pushed through the various missions of the game and with their carefully chosen skills, made it through to the final mission. Hmm...perhaps I will write a blog post about this team and what made them so successful to keep me entertained throughout the game sometime in the future. =)
Besides gaming, I have also found a interesting book in the National Library about cultures and civilizations of the Middle East and have been spending the past week reading through the complex but very interesting tidbits about Assyrians, Summerians, Romans, Parthians and many others. It looks like the Middle East has one of the riches mix of cultures and histories in the whole world, interlocking one another with trade, war and construction of strange monuments and cities of various functions. I like reading about different cultures.
During the movie-cum-dinner gathering at Great World City, the four of us walked into this art gallery because The Married Soldier's wife wanted to buy some paintings for their house.
It turns out that the art gallery has quite a good collection of paintings, notably using 3-dimensional techniques to bring out the textures of certain things, such as the above painting where the orange leaves of those trees came to life. Unfortunately, the prices of these paintings also came to life - a stunning $950 which is way off her budget for paintings. Still, it would nice to hang some of these in the house. Perhaps they will come back with a bigger budget for it.
Movie Review: Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
The Changed Man, The Married Soldier and his wife and I went to GV Grand at Great World City to watch this movie by the very familiar Jackie Chan and Jet Li on last Saturday. The Changed Man said he did not like the movie but I find it very interesting and entertaining because the fighting scenes were nicely done (especially the one between Jackie Chan and Jet Li in an abandoned temple) and even the newcomer was humourous and fits into the character of the reluctant savior of The Monkey King in Chinese mythology.
I was a little bored playing Facebook on last Friday night so I went to surf some of my own games websites and lo and behold, I found the revived link to a Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel editor and I was so happy. Why? Because the editor will allow me to reinstall the excellent squad-based tactical game and replay the game as many times as I wanted to. I did and within hours, I had my squad inside the final mission - The Calculator inside Vault 0.What you see above is my Fallout Tactics team standing at attention. From the left onwards, Sean (team designation: Commander), Farsight (team designation: Ranger), Torn (team designation: Sniper), Brian (team designation: Gunner), Jo (team designation: Engineer) and finally Stitch (team designation: Medic). This Special Operations team pushed through the various missions of the game and with their carefully chosen skills, made it through to the final mission. Hmm...perhaps I will write a blog post about this team and what made them so successful to keep me entertained throughout the game sometime in the future. =)
The above screenshot is taken from a new game which I am also currently entertaining myself with whenever I am at home not tutoring. It's called Imperial Ages and it is a browser-based game which requires only a free account and Internet connection. On the surface, it lacked the graphics and intense plotline of many strategic city-building games and one cannot really personally commandeer the battles should his/her village is under direct raids or attacks.
However, the game has its own merits to keep me playing - it has no blood and gory scenes and it requires a considerable level of skill in management and foresight because one will have to balance limited resources of wood, stone, iron and gold against priorities of building and developing the village, defense and recruiment of troops, as well as trade and diplomacy with other Imperial Ages players from all over the world. I will write more about my young village in a later post once I figured out more about the gameplay itself.
Besides gaming, I have also found a interesting book in the National Library about cultures and civilizations of the Middle East and have been spending the past week reading through the complex but very interesting tidbits about Assyrians, Summerians, Romans, Parthians and many others. It looks like the Middle East has one of the riches mix of cultures and histories in the whole world, interlocking one another with trade, war and construction of strange monuments and cities of various functions. I like reading about different cultures.
During the movie-cum-dinner gathering at Great World City, the four of us walked into this art gallery because The Married Soldier's wife wanted to buy some paintings for their house.
It turns out that the art gallery has quite a good collection of paintings, notably using 3-dimensional techniques to bring out the textures of certain things, such as the above painting where the orange leaves of those trees came to life. Unfortunately, the prices of these paintings also came to life - a stunning $950 which is way off her budget for paintings. Still, it would nice to hang some of these in the house. Perhaps they will come back with a bigger budget for it. Movie Review: Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
The Changed Man, The Married Soldier and his wife and I went to GV Grand at Great World City to watch this movie by the very familiar Jackie Chan and Jet Li on last Saturday. The Changed Man said he did not like the movie but I find it very interesting and entertaining because the fighting scenes were nicely done (especially the one between Jackie Chan and Jet Li in an abandoned temple) and even the newcomer was humourous and fits into the character of the reluctant savior of The Monkey King in Chinese mythology.I also liked the part where they explained some of the interesting and even educational concepts about kungfu too - the part where they said something like "...it flows around like water, which is so gentle and yet can cut through rocks...learn the path but find your own path" So zen...I like.
The final scene where the showdown between The Monkey God and The Jade Warlord, as well as all the other adventurers against the Jade Army at the Five Elements Mountain (where the Monkey God was tricked and imprisoned by The Jade Warlord) was quite well-flimed too. There was also a part where the female adventurer The Golden Sparrow, was so adamant about revenge for her family that she was eventually defeated and killed by the obviously more powerful Jade Warlord and there was no way to bring her back to life because as what The Jade Emperor (The boss of The Jade Warlord who was in some retreat for 500 years) said "Her destiny was chosen by her own path".
I would give this movie a 3.5 out of 5 for entertainment value and even a 4.0 for its carefully placed explanations of Chinese martial arts concepts and even philosophical values. Go watch it if you like fighting flicks with a dash of humour and sometimes pain (well-exemplified by the young protagonist).
Spagghetti Dinner at The Married Soldier's Place:
After the movie, we went grocery shopping at Great World City and beef spagghetti and salad was on the menu. The Married Soldier's wife cooked up the abovementioned whilst the three guys slacked in front of the television, watching Hildago until dinner was ready at 8.30pm. The Changed Man and I did the dishes after movie and all of us spend some time watching one another's Facebook profiles and friends until we call it a day.
Well, that is all over the last weekend. I will blog more if I can find more time in the afternoon today. Breakfast calls. Tata~~ =D
Monday, April 21, 2008
The brutality of fur trade - Findings of animal cruelty investigations in China by Peta.org
The following video is a shocking reminder of how terrible and cruel fur trade can be if people continue to buy fur products.
Warning: For all readers of my blog who are minors (below 21 years old) and anyone who may not be able to stomach blood and brutal scenes of animals being skinned alive (yes, alive), the following video will not be suitable for you. I am absolutely serious about this warning.
If you insist on watching it, please have your parent(s) or a suitable adult for viewing guidance before viewing or it may leave overwhelmingly disturbing images in your mind.
As I have commented on the comments section of the Youtube video, I think it's not about which animal or which country is doing this. Fur trade can only thrive because of demand and supply. To curb such senseless killings, we have stop buying fur, any fur from any country or animal.
No demand, no supply, no killing - this is what I believe.
Warning: For all readers of my blog who are minors (below 21 years old) and anyone who may not be able to stomach blood and brutal scenes of animals being skinned alive (yes, alive), the following video will not be suitable for you. I am absolutely serious about this warning.
If you insist on watching it, please have your parent(s) or a suitable adult for viewing guidance before viewing or it may leave overwhelmingly disturbing images in your mind.
As I have commented on the comments section of the Youtube video, I think it's not about which animal or which country is doing this. Fur trade can only thrive because of demand and supply. To curb such senseless killings, we have stop buying fur, any fur from any country or animal.
No demand, no supply, no killing - this is what I believe.
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 合唱指定賽
合唱歌曲最重要的是歌手能够相辅相承，把音色，情感，和互动带出一种合谐无缝的感觉给观众。
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.02 合唱指定賽
嘉航和博承排练得不够好因为舞台的互动太过平淡，没有达到比赛预期的认真度。
虽然嘉航有尽力发挥声线来带动歌曲，可是博承好像表现得很紧，入歌不对，还忘词。两人并没有把握机会设计一下表演，若其它组合花多点心思，就肯定被比下去。
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.03 合唱指定賽
嗣敬和雨萱其实有唱出比原曲不一样的味道，有另一番的歌曲的享受。虽然声线有别，可是天下没有完美的爱情，所以我也能接受不完美的组合搭配。
雨萱有入歌，因为从她的神情真的看得出来，而嗣敬现得有点紧张，身子一直在摇晃，眼睛一直定不下来，眼神和雨萱也接触得不够深，所以我不同意小玲老师的称赞 - 我倒认为嗣敬唱的诚恳度不够好，要多多练合唱歌曲，学着如何和对方有更好的互动默契。
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.04 合唱指定賽
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.06 合唱指定賽
靖伦和凤君的搭配有很尴尬，因为没有来电，连互动都现得很勉强。如果不肯合作，再甜美的歌曲都是乏味没感动的。
我虽然喜欢凤君一直以来的表现，可是这次她太过在乎个人的表现荣辱，而根本没有入组合的互动，没有一心相连，就唱不出歌曲的美妙了。
背对背的姿势，我想应该是凤君忍不住自己会笑，所以才选择出这难度高又不讨好的姿势，更是把互动拖得更差。
靖伦也是该责备的，因为听得出他的肺活量还是练得不足，得靠喉音发音飚高。靖伦也和凤君各自唱各自的，没有配合，让互动的诚恳度问题扩大。
I still believe 他们合唱歌曲的技巧还有很多空间有待进步的。加油！
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.07 合唱指定賽
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.11 合唱指定賽
杨博承的基本唱功还是局限于KTV式，并没有进步到歌舞式。我也认为这次他准备功夫做得也不是很足够。相对其它参赛者来说，他的淘汰是为了勉励有比博承付出更多心血的参赛者。博承外形好，加以努力，还是有机会当歌手的，加油！
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.02 合唱指定賽
嘉航和博承排练得不够好因为舞台的互动太过平淡，没有达到比赛预期的认真度。
虽然嘉航有尽力发挥声线来带动歌曲，可是博承好像表现得很紧，入歌不对，还忘词。两人并没有把握机会设计一下表演，若其它组合花多点心思，就肯定被比下去。
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.03 合唱指定賽
嗣敬和雨萱其实有唱出比原曲不一样的味道，有另一番的歌曲的享受。虽然声线有别，可是天下没有完美的爱情，所以我也能接受不完美的组合搭配。
雨萱有入歌，因为从她的神情真的看得出来，而嗣敬现得有点紧张，身子一直在摇晃，眼睛一直定不下来，眼神和雨萱也接触得不够深，所以我不同意小玲老师的称赞 - 我倒认为嗣敬唱的诚恳度不够好，要多多练合唱歌曲，学着如何和对方有更好的互动默契。
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.04 合唱指定賽
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.06 合唱指定賽
靖伦和凤君的搭配有很尴尬，因为没有来电，连互动都现得很勉强。如果不肯合作，再甜美的歌曲都是乏味没感动的。
我虽然喜欢凤君一直以来的表现，可是这次她太过在乎个人的表现荣辱，而根本没有入组合的互动，没有一心相连，就唱不出歌曲的美妙了。
背对背的姿势，我想应该是凤君忍不住自己会笑，所以才选择出这难度高又不讨好的姿势，更是把互动拖得更差。
靖伦也是该责备的，因为听得出他的肺活量还是练得不足，得靠喉音发音飚高。靖伦也和凤君各自唱各自的，没有配合，让互动的诚恳度问题扩大。
I still believe 他们合唱歌曲的技巧还有很多空间有待进步的。加油！
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.07 合唱指定賽
2008/04/18超級星光大道第三季 Part.11 合唱指定賽
杨博承的基本唱功还是局限于KTV式，并没有进步到歌舞式。我也认为这次他准备功夫做得也不是很足够。相对其它参赛者来说，他的淘汰是为了勉励有比博承付出更多心血的参赛者。博承外形好，加以努力，还是有机会当歌手的，加油！
Sunday, April 20, 2008
DVD Marathon and Dinner at The Married Soldier's: Meet The Spartans, Lust, Caution and Rambo 4
DVD Marathon and Dinner at The Married Soldier's:
The Changed Man smsed me saying that he bought three DVDs and was hoping to watch it together at The Married Soldier's place so we booked his house a few days in advance and The Married Soldier's wife prepared a nice home-cooked dinner for all the four of us.
The Saturday night home-cooked dinner consisted of ABC soup (which had carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and cabbages), beancurd with pork floss, fried scrambled eggs with vegetables, asparagus with minced pork and Ribena drinks. It tasted absolutely delicious after a hard week's worth of work even though The Married Soldier's wife kept wanting us to stop eating the asparagus as she thought it was too salty (we finished it hungrily anyway).
After dinner, The Changed Man and I washed the dishes in reciprocation and the four of us gathered together to watch the three DVDs for our DVD marathon at the living room. It was fun as there were intermittent laughter at some of the jokes in the movie (we took some silly crack at the dumber parts of the DVDs and conjured stupid jokes to kept ourselves going). We were also not hesitant to jeer when the storyline was somehow lost in translation and when the subtitling went totally crazy.
It was a good evening's worth of food and fun and we stayed at the Married Soldier's place from 5.30pm all the way until 12 midnight, munching at potato chips dipped in some strange green salsa sauce. I hitched a ride back home on The Changed Man's car and he headed off to another gathering of late night social drinking after dropping me off.
Here are the DVDs that we watched, laughed and jeered at throughout last Saturday night:
DVD Review: Meet The Spartans
How dumb and lame is the movie? To the power of infinity. Besides the expectation and the spoof of a baby Shrek vomitting on an old Spartan as well as Xerxes stapling his nipple chain back using a staple gun, there isn't any brains in the movie.
All you see are totally warped characters playing parodies of celebrities and doing some dance competition at the Gates of Fire. The ultimate scene ends with Xerxes transforming into a huge robot and then came crashing down onto the Spartans (who skips around) and crushed them flat on the cold hard mattress (yes, not cold dusty ground).
How bad can a movie go? Watch this to find out. Hahahaha.
DVD Review: Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution is about a Chinese female spy who deliberately becomes a secret mistress of a top Japanese agent in order to gather intelligence for the anti-Japanese resistance and eventually finds a chance to kill the Japanese agent. However, the female spy became increasingly physically and psychologically involved in the male agent that she had second thoughts about assassinating the latter and eventually paid the ultimate price.
The DVD movie is peppered with Chinese dialect and barely intelligible English, making it really difficult to understand the subtle conversations but the physical love-making scenes between the male and the female leads were pretty well-directed and were the highlights of the otherwise dull and colourless movie. I also liked the carefully-controlled facial expressions of the two lead actor and actresses who were able to convey the very fine emotions involved in sizing each other up again and again and trying to conquer each other with their wits as well as their bodies.
As the movie was set in an era beyond my years, I could not understand how the whole intelligence and counter-intelligence plotline works and thus lost most of my attention even though I heard many good things about the movie. Perhaps I am not that artistic to understand the nuances in the movie. Shrugs. Hahaha...
DVD Review: Rambo 4
This movie, like all Rambo movies, are about a lot of bullets and blood. The story is about John Rambo, a highly-trained killing machine who decided to live out the quiet life of a boatman at the border of Thailand and Burma after three blood-soaked military adventures and campaigns (as depicted in the previous three Rambo movies). However, his peaceful life was disturbed by the successful request of a group of Christian missionaries who insisted on travelling upriver to Burma to deliver medicine.
When this group of missionaries were captured after Rambo finished his boat trip, the pastor hired a group of mercenaries and requested Rambo to go and rescue the missionaries from the hands of a group of sadistic Burmese soldiers deep in the forest. After some serious show of prowess with his bow and arrows against a small group of the soldiers, Rambo won over the group of cynical mercenaries and began a daring rescue.
The plot is very linear and there were plenty of blood-spilling in the movie, especially in the final showdown where Rambo took over a heavy machine gun atop of a vehicle and started firing away at the hillslope full of Burmese soldiers who were about to capture the mercenaries escaping with the missionaries.
It was still good fun to watch as Rambo does what he does best - not talking but shooting but don't go out looking for any serious depth in the movie.
The Changed Man smsed me saying that he bought three DVDs and was hoping to watch it together at The Married Soldier's place so we booked his house a few days in advance and The Married Soldier's wife prepared a nice home-cooked dinner for all the four of us.
The Saturday night home-cooked dinner consisted of ABC soup (which had carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and cabbages), beancurd with pork floss, fried scrambled eggs with vegetables, asparagus with minced pork and Ribena drinks. It tasted absolutely delicious after a hard week's worth of work even though The Married Soldier's wife kept wanting us to stop eating the asparagus as she thought it was too salty (we finished it hungrily anyway).
After dinner, The Changed Man and I washed the dishes in reciprocation and the four of us gathered together to watch the three DVDs for our DVD marathon at the living room. It was fun as there were intermittent laughter at some of the jokes in the movie (we took some silly crack at the dumber parts of the DVDs and conjured stupid jokes to kept ourselves going). We were also not hesitant to jeer when the storyline was somehow lost in translation and when the subtitling went totally crazy.
It was a good evening's worth of food and fun and we stayed at the Married Soldier's place from 5.30pm all the way until 12 midnight, munching at potato chips dipped in some strange green salsa sauce. I hitched a ride back home on The Changed Man's car and he headed off to another gathering of late night social drinking after dropping me off.
Here are the DVDs that we watched, laughed and jeered at throughout last Saturday night:
DVD Review: Meet The Spartans
How dumb and lame is the movie? To the power of infinity. Besides the expectation and the spoof of a baby Shrek vomitting on an old Spartan as well as Xerxes stapling his nipple chain back using a staple gun, there isn't any brains in the movie.All you see are totally warped characters playing parodies of celebrities and doing some dance competition at the Gates of Fire. The ultimate scene ends with Xerxes transforming into a huge robot and then came crashing down onto the Spartans (who skips around) and crushed them flat on the cold hard mattress (yes, not cold dusty ground).
How bad can a movie go? Watch this to find out. Hahahaha.
DVD Review: Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution is about a Chinese female spy who deliberately becomes a secret mistress of a top Japanese agent in order to gather intelligence for the anti-Japanese resistance and eventually finds a chance to kill the Japanese agent. However, the female spy became increasingly physically and psychologically involved in the male agent that she had second thoughts about assassinating the latter and eventually paid the ultimate price.The DVD movie is peppered with Chinese dialect and barely intelligible English, making it really difficult to understand the subtle conversations but the physical love-making scenes between the male and the female leads were pretty well-directed and were the highlights of the otherwise dull and colourless movie. I also liked the carefully-controlled facial expressions of the two lead actor and actresses who were able to convey the very fine emotions involved in sizing each other up again and again and trying to conquer each other with their wits as well as their bodies.
As the movie was set in an era beyond my years, I could not understand how the whole intelligence and counter-intelligence plotline works and thus lost most of my attention even though I heard many good things about the movie. Perhaps I am not that artistic to understand the nuances in the movie. Shrugs. Hahaha...
DVD Review: Rambo 4
This movie, like all Rambo movies, are about a lot of bullets and blood. The story is about John Rambo, a highly-trained killing machine who decided to live out the quiet life of a boatman at the border of Thailand and Burma after three blood-soaked military adventures and campaigns (as depicted in the previous three Rambo movies). However, his peaceful life was disturbed by the successful request of a group of Christian missionaries who insisted on travelling upriver to Burma to deliver medicine.When this group of missionaries were captured after Rambo finished his boat trip, the pastor hired a group of mercenaries and requested Rambo to go and rescue the missionaries from the hands of a group of sadistic Burmese soldiers deep in the forest. After some serious show of prowess with his bow and arrows against a small group of the soldiers, Rambo won over the group of cynical mercenaries and began a daring rescue.
The plot is very linear and there were plenty of blood-spilling in the movie, especially in the final showdown where Rambo took over a heavy machine gun atop of a vehicle and started firing away at the hillslope full of Burmese soldiers who were about to capture the mercenaries escaping with the missionaries.
It was still good fun to watch as Rambo does what he does best - not talking but shooting but don't go out looking for any serious depth in the movie.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Cup Stacking: The New Competition Item In The West
I don't think I have the dexterity and patience for such things but seeing them moving so fast shows how much human beings can accomplish if they practise really hard.
I wonder if this thing is going to start a trend in Singapore and the Asia region? Hmm...haha. Why don't you folks try it?
I wonder if this thing is going to start a trend in Singapore and the Asia region? Hmm...haha. Why don't you folks try it?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Movie Review: Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon (2008)
I must say that the movie was a great disappointment because I was expecting the movie to follow more closely with the storyline of the original Three Kingdoms but it seems that the director was overly-adventurous with his imagination, turning one of the most memorable characters in the tale into more of a flower vase for the ever-shaking camera.
Besides the seriously warped storyline, most of the action on the battlefield were a blur, with more images of galloping horses and people falling off them, rather than accurate and exciting action choreography of moves. I am more impressed with the individual fights (especially the one between Zhao Zilong and Zhang Fei and the one between Zhao Zilong and Cao Ying) but there could have been more slow-motion moves as most of the action are still too fast to be captured even for me.
Andy Lau looked charismatic enough but he was rendered little use in the movie because it did not cover the major exploits properly. The Changban Po battle was not exciting as the original plotline and the ending of the movie was way off too - overly-heroic in the wrong perspective. Accordingly to the story, Zhao Zilong was far more intelligent than wiser.
Cao Ying, acted by Maggie Q, took me by surprise though. It is because although her looks were more Caucasian than Chinese, it brought a breath of fresh air with her cold and yet shrewd looks. She worked hard during the fight scenes and actually had the charisma of a commander general if you look beyond her previous character castings in other movies.
Overall, I would give only a pathetic 1.5 stars out of 5 for the whole movie because my expectations of it were much higher than what the director had demonstrated - and a terrible waste of a good stellar cast of actors and actresses. I would prefer Andy's Lau's "A Battle of Wits" and "The Warlords" much more than this movie.
Another Romance of The Three Kingdoms movie is upcoming "Battle of The Red Cliffs". Hope that one would be much better than this.
Besides the seriously warped storyline, most of the action on the battlefield were a blur, with more images of galloping horses and people falling off them, rather than accurate and exciting action choreography of moves. I am more impressed with the individual fights (especially the one between Zhao Zilong and Zhang Fei and the one between Zhao Zilong and Cao Ying) but there could have been more slow-motion moves as most of the action are still too fast to be captured even for me.
Andy Lau looked charismatic enough but he was rendered little use in the movie because it did not cover the major exploits properly. The Changban Po battle was not exciting as the original plotline and the ending of the movie was way off too - overly-heroic in the wrong perspective. Accordingly to the story, Zhao Zilong was far more intelligent than wiser.
Cao Ying, acted by Maggie Q, took me by surprise though. It is because although her looks were more Caucasian than Chinese, it brought a breath of fresh air with her cold and yet shrewd looks. She worked hard during the fight scenes and actually had the charisma of a commander general if you look beyond her previous character castings in other movies.
Overall, I would give only a pathetic 1.5 stars out of 5 for the whole movie because my expectations of it were much higher than what the director had demonstrated - and a terrible waste of a good stellar cast of actors and actresses. I would prefer Andy's Lau's "A Battle of Wits" and "The Warlords" much more than this movie.
Another Romance of The Three Kingdoms movie is upcoming "Battle of The Red Cliffs". Hope that one would be much better than this.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 Part 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 13
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 2
我虽然苟同张宇老师所说的低音部分嘉航撑不住，可是我更喜欢嘉航这次唱得轻松自在。我有听出潇洒的感觉，确实带动了歌曲。我倒认为这是嘉航比赛中最好的一次演出。
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 3
听得出潘嗣敬的紧张，音准有在飘，信心不在，情感也就乱了，我认为唱得不好，没有带出《双栖动物》的情绪。可惜。
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 4
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 6
靖伦的歌曲非常难驾驭，可以听出他已经尽力压住阴柔的原音，尝试用摇滚发音来飚这首歌了。虽然听起来还是有点怪怪的，可是既已尽力勇敢尝试，无论待会儿分数如何，以博得我的掌声了。
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 7
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 13 (end)
虽然新加坡的三位代表都入围下一圈，希望他们都能把握学习的机会，尝试改掉还没改掉的缺点，努力求进。
尽管我希望能看到他们下一轮更好的表现，我也希望嗣敬，嘉航，和靖伦不要因比赛压力，而忘了享受带给大家音乐的快乐和喜悦，不要因分数而唱，应该已分享音乐的爱好而唱。这份感动和诚意是听得出来的，加油！
我虽然苟同张宇老师所说的低音部分嘉航撑不住，可是我更喜欢嘉航这次唱得轻松自在。我有听出潇洒的感觉，确实带动了歌曲。我倒认为这是嘉航比赛中最好的一次演出。
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 3
听得出潘嗣敬的紧张，音准有在飘，信心不在，情感也就乱了，我认为唱得不好，没有带出《双栖动物》的情绪。可惜。
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 4
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 6
靖伦的歌曲非常难驾驭，可以听出他已经尽力压住阴柔的原音，尝试用摇滚发音来飚这首歌了。虽然听起来还是有点怪怪的，可是既已尽力勇敢尝试，无论待会儿分数如何，以博得我的掌声了。
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 7
2008-04-11 超级星光大道第三季 part 13 (end)
虽然新加坡的三位代表都入围下一圈，希望他们都能把握学习的机会，尝试改掉还没改掉的缺点，努力求进。
尽管我希望能看到他们下一轮更好的表现，我也希望嗣敬，嘉航，和靖伦不要因比赛压力，而忘了享受带给大家音乐的快乐和喜悦，不要因分数而唱，应该已分享音乐的爱好而唱。这份感动和诚意是听得出来的，加油！
Dinner at Lao Beijing With The Busy Bee, Facebook: Battlestations! Memorable Battles in April
Dinner at Lao Beijing With The Busy Bee:
The Busy Bee and I went to Lao Beijing at Plaza Singapura yesterday night to have dinner. It's the fourth time I was there and the place was as busy as usual. We ordered a serving of Xiao Long Tang Pao, Dan Dan noodles, Beijing fried noodles, Bean and Scallops soup, stirred-fried Mushroom vegetables and Two Ba-Bao Teas. The ambience was pretty good with nice lighting and well-behaved crowd but I don't like the seats because it's woodenly-hard for my butt. Haha.
The bill came up to around 50 bucks but the food was not bad so it was value for money. As both of us were still slightly coughing, we did not order the restaurant's famous roast Peking duck. Oh well...another time ba. The Busy Bee loved the tea so we finished the entire pot before we left.
We stayed there from 8pm to 9pm, eating away and talking about movies and actors before making a stroll around Plaza Singapura to work off the food. After that, we tried to go to the Marketplace at Centrepoint but The Busy Bee noticed that the place seemed to be closing for the day so both of us walked all the way back to Orchard MRT station before making our way home.
The Busy Bee and I went to Lao Beijing at Plaza Singapura yesterday night to have dinner. It's the fourth time I was there and the place was as busy as usual. We ordered a serving of Xiao Long Tang Pao, Dan Dan noodles, Beijing fried noodles, Bean and Scallops soup, stirred-fried Mushroom vegetables and Two Ba-Bao Teas. The ambience was pretty good with nice lighting and well-behaved crowd but I don't like the seats because it's woodenly-hard for my butt. Haha.The bill came up to around 50 bucks but the food was not bad so it was value for money. As both of us were still slightly coughing, we did not order the restaurant's famous roast Peking duck. Oh well...another time ba. The Busy Bee loved the tea so we finished the entire pot before we left.
We stayed there from 8pm to 9pm, eating away and talking about movies and actors before making a stroll around Plaza Singapura to work off the food. After that, we tried to go to the Marketplace at Centrepoint but The Busy Bee noticed that the place seemed to be closing for the day so both of us walked all the way back to Orchard MRT station before making our way home.
Facebook: Battlestations! Memorable Battles in April
Some entertainment for my blog readers - videos of some of the memorable battles fought on one of the Facebook applications Battlestations! The game seems to originate from Singapore so I supported the application and after months, it remains playable and entertaining enough for me. Check out the cool and improved graphics now. I love the background skies.
A narrow escape. It sucks because I don't arm my ship with missiles (I am a cannon guy) but oh well, one escape is better than no escape. I will buy myself some missiles once I have enough resources (gold, wood, ore and plasma rocks). Hahaha.
This metallic-looking dragon is actually from an event Dragons! inside the game. Obviously, I was no match for it but at least I was strong enough to survive the first salvo of attack. Haha.
This is a close one. The other guy's weaponry are superior than mine but thankfully my ship's speed seems just a notch faster than his so I managed to outrun him. Woohoo...
Some entertainment for my blog readers - videos of some of the memorable battles fought on one of the Facebook applications Battlestations! The game seems to originate from Singapore so I supported the application and after months, it remains playable and entertaining enough for me. Check out the cool and improved graphics now. I love the background skies.
A narrow escape. It sucks because I don't arm my ship with missiles (I am a cannon guy) but oh well, one escape is better than no escape. I will buy myself some missiles once I have enough resources (gold, wood, ore and plasma rocks). Hahaha.
This metallic-looking dragon is actually from an event Dragons! inside the game. Obviously, I was no match for it but at least I was strong enough to survive the first salvo of attack. Haha.
This is a close one. The other guy's weaponry are superior than mine but thankfully my ship's speed seems just a notch faster than his so I managed to outrun him. Woohoo...
This guy's ship hitpoints are much lower than mine but I admire his courage to attempt anyway. However, his statistics in gunnery (which determines how much damage one's weapons can do) seems to be lower than mine so I think he got a little bit of shock when I hit back really hard so I downed him instead.
Am going to breakfast after this blog post. Then heading off to gym to work out abit. Am going to watch 三国：见龙卸甲 by Andy Lau in the afternoon with another bunch of VIP friends.
Hope the movie will be a good one. Meanwhile, you can do the poll about rice on the sidebar if you are interested. See you folks around!
Monday, April 07, 2008
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 4,6,12 and 13
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 4
傅英豪虽然脸部表情和舞台，姿体都有下功夫，可是过于疏忽声音的发挥，有些音发不出来。他在一些部分好像喊多过于唱，所以听起来不是很舒服。
潘嗣敬在唱时，我在想，“他脑里的画面是王力宏，还是他自己？” 潘嗣敬一定要找到自己在歌唱里的声音和信心，并勇敢地诠释出属于他自己的歌，给人一份不一样的感动。
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 6
蔡嘉航低音的尾部有点短，高音拉得不够亮，而且复歌回主歌的音掉得过多，有点拉得太低的感觉。嘉航的转音也有点辛苦，整体表现 - 不稳。嘉航一定要听老师的话，克服紧张，发挥应有的水准。
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 12
黃靖倫不能只是靠选高音歌曲来表现，因为正如张宇老师所言，没有让人有新鲜感，或其它特色的表演，就会吃亏了。若要普级，一定要拿出多点本领，让人期待你的突破。
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 13 (end)
傅英豪虽然脸部表情和舞台，姿体都有下功夫，可是过于疏忽声音的发挥，有些音发不出来。他在一些部分好像喊多过于唱，所以听起来不是很舒服。
潘嗣敬在唱时，我在想，“他脑里的画面是王力宏，还是他自己？” 潘嗣敬一定要找到自己在歌唱里的声音和信心，并勇敢地诠释出属于他自己的歌，给人一份不一样的感动。
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 6
蔡嘉航低音的尾部有点短，高音拉得不够亮，而且复歌回主歌的音掉得过多，有点拉得太低的感觉。嘉航的转音也有点辛苦，整体表现 - 不稳。嘉航一定要听老师的话，克服紧张，发挥应有的水准。
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 12
黃靖倫不能只是靠选高音歌曲来表现，因为正如张宇老师所言，没有让人有新鲜感，或其它特色的表演，就会吃亏了。若要普级，一定要拿出多点本领，让人期待你的突破。
2008-04-04 超级星光大道第三季 part 13 (end)
Thursday, April 03, 2008
As Sick As A Chicken
This is a packet of saline solution with medicine inside. Why am I showing you this?
Because this is where the liquid goes into - my poor arm. I was down with blood poisoning last Sunday and am now nursing a sore throat and a runny nose. The doc said I got it through swimming where it was believed to have gotten into my eyes somehow. No more swimming in that swimming complex because the water was dirty enough to make me sick.At the end of the day, I was 95 bucks poorer because I had two drips of those saline solution, an injection on my hip (my poor hip) and medicine to bring home. I want to get well soon and get my life back in order again.
I don't like being sick. Sniff. Sniff.
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