"Slappin da bass, man!"

Woohoo! What a rolicking two weeks after my job contract ended :X

Watched 3 movies. All were average, or above-average. Shall start-off with Pearlyn's KTV birthday celebration. (Photos courtesy of Pearlyn's HP)

Us singing 听妈妈的话 by Jay Chou.

Happy birthday, Pearlyn! My jacket is not your present! Lol.

Cheryl's contribution. Would you care to clarify what on earth is this!? HAHA.
~

Okay, the first movie review for this post. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
I give the movie:





Although the above poster rocks, the movie didn't really rock as much as I expected.

Not really a continuation of the first movie, T2 did bring back Megatron, though, but he's more of a sub-character to give way for the bigger, meaner, The Fallen. The titular villain is trying to eradicate the last of the Primes (you know, Optimus Prime) so that he can activate this gigantic machine hidden somewhere on Earth to destroy our Sun to harness some energy power source for the survival of their Decepticons race.

Of course, without our Sun, you know what will happen, and it is up to our hero, Sam (Shia Lebeouf) and his hot girlfriend (Megan Fox, who appears solely to add sex appeal to the picture) to locate the said machine before The Fallen does.

Amidst all these plots, there's the usual cheesy robot humour and metallic action to appease fanboys. Clocking in at two and a half hour (one hour too-long for me), the effects displayed in this movie are what's worth watching. The animators must have a hard-time morphing the robots from sleek cars to lean-mean fighting machines, and for the price of your ticket, the fighting scenes and some of the set pieces are well-worth.

FINAL SAY: Enough robotic action to please the fans, but letdown by bad pacing and plot. But, that's the whole point of some blockbusters anyway.
~


Everybody's 21st! (GYPS)

Yep, I forgot whose idea was it, but it sure is fun having a Primary School get-together to celebrate everybody's 21st birthday!

Kick-started it at SMU's Settlers' Cafe with Liangwei, wenj, val and van, with Shawn 客船-ing for awhile.
(Photos courtesy of Liang Wei and Vanessa)

Me explaining the rules of the 'Hanging Monkey' game.

Careful! Don't let the monkeys fall down!

Vanessa attempting an unglam shot of me again...

...and succeeded.

And our damn-powerful Jenga playing skills... let the pictures speak for themselves...
Relax, girl, it's only the start of the game!

The crazy tower is beginning to show...

I don't think praying helps much...

*Stunned*

"Are you kidding me??"

Attempting the final stunt..

Nearly...

...there.

Playing this iPhone game on wenj's phone. He had to put his hands below in case his precious phone drops :X

Then it was off to my house for steamboat!

Looks absolutely delicioussss...

Don't worry, I washed my hands!

开动了!

Then it was time for Guitar Heroes World Tour!

"Slappin' da bass, man!" You'll know why I keep saying this later.

You can imagine how disastrous it was for some first-timers..

"Ah si wa wu jit ba ban..."

Then it was cake-cutting time. Bringin' out the delicious durian cake from Jalan Kayu!!
I can almost smell the durian now..

Happy birthday to US! =)
~

And here's the next movie review, for I Love You, Man.
I give the movie:





As far as good comedies go, there's actually a new sub-genre for this category, and it's called a bro-mance flick. This movie twicks one of Hollywood's most bankable romantic formulas and I'm glad to say, it absolutely worked.

Peter (the fantastic Paul Rudd) has just proposed to his girlfriend. And during wedding preparations, his fiancee discovers that Peter doesn't have a good man-buddy to accompany him at the aisle. You see, Peter is more of a 'girlfriends' kinda guy - he is perfectly straight - but has failed to secure strong male friendships in the past. After a series of disastrous man-dates (awkward but stupendously hilarious), in comes Sydney (Jason Segel is a hoot), the complete character-opposite of Peter, who shows potential of becoming Peter's best-bud for his wedding task.

I Love You, Man works well with this weird but amusing setting of the anxiety of trying to find a male-buddy even though Peter is decidedly approaching middle-aged. And witnessing the bonding of the awkward and confused Peter with the brash and loud attitude of Sydney through rock jamming sessions is so endearingly funny, these two characters' electrifying chemistry alone carry the show.

Of course, kudos to a bevy of funny supporting casts. And here's presenting to you one of the funniest scenes from the movie, where Peter is trying to get his fiancee to be interested in a rock song he digs. Peter mutters the already-classic line of "Slappin' da bass, man!" with absolute hilarity:



FINAL SAY: Filled with laugh-out-loud situations and side-splitting one-liners, this is where Hollywood comedies should be heading to. Seeing that I watched it with a female friend and she totally enjoyed it, this movie is evidently for both genders.
~


And the final movie review is probably apt, since the world is still reeling from the shock of MJ's passing.

But firstly, take a look at this MJ report by AP and try to spot Yee Wen with her Singaporean friends being interviewed outside the Mann's Chinese Theatre in LA. Cool stuff!! :D (at time: 1:00 onwards in the background)



Here's the review of Departures.
I give the movie:





There you go, my second 5-star review of the year besides The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. If you realise by now, I kinda give high ratings to those movies that talk about life and in this instance, death, in particular.

Departures (winner of this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Film) is about a failed cellist who moves back to his hometown with his wife in rural Japan, and taking up a job as an encoffinment (aka nokan) in a company that specialises in cleansing, donning-on make-up and dressing-up the deceased for their final 'journey'.

As morbid and sometimes frightening as it might sound, this profession is part of Japan's rich cultural heritage. Seeing the character painstakingly go through each and every minute detail in dressing up the corpse, and the care and respect taken to dress-up each deceased beautifully is painful but at the same time, heartbreakingly poetic to watch.

Each family has its own story to tell. And the film portrays each funeral in its most honest happiness, or for some, misery, leaving the audience in laughter and simultaneously in tears. When the story finally comes to a wrap with a heart-aching plot surrounding the main character, the audience is already swept up by the meticulously-crafted and moving storyline, only to be touched once again by this masterpiece of a film.

FINAL SAY: Funny and a profoundly moving film at the same time - this tale is an ode to family life, and how each of us copes with the inevitable situation of death. Laugh and cry along with it. Then, contemplate. Highly-recommended.
~

Communication Studies Orientation Camp next week. So fast!

Take care, peeps!

Life Back in Singapore

Okay, so my Japan post is not ready yet. There are so many hundred photos!!

I just went to develop them - all 463 - at a neighbourhood photo kiosk. Each is worth 25cents. You do the math.

You can take a look at a fraction of them on Facebook, actually. But if you want a more concise, chronological one, wait patiently (very patiently) for my post =)

So life back in Singapore is great. Except for two things. Work and the weather. =P

Ok lah, work is always the same, new challenges everyday; all the different types of customers I hear everyday. But the weather... is it just me or is Singapore turning into a gigantic oven? The other day I was shopping at Bugis Street and the wind was actually hot air. We're being baked alive, people. We need help.

Anyway, rubbish aside, done a lot of things since I'm back.

Met up with the Japan Trip people to exchange photos and indugle in one of my fave hobbies: Mahjong. Hehe. After I completed my two HUGE albums worth of photos, let's meet again to view them =))

Went to attend my bro's NPCC Annual Parade at Home Team Academy. Extremely warm day. Everyone around me was practically drenched in perspiration.

Here are some photos:

Nice clouds..

The march-in.. Yup my bro is part of the guard-of-honour.

My bro, circled in red; my cousin, Justin, circled in green.

People started falling out. At first they thought he don't need the stretcher.... but then...

...they were wrong. Poor guy couldn't even move. No one in the crowd couldn't care less about the long-winded prize presentation. They were all counting the number of people who were falling out in the parade... including....

...my brother! The guy in front of him had fallen out. I guess he must've been affected by it. But he's fine. After 5mins he insisted on going back to the parade; however, his instructor didn't allow it.

Group photo...
~

Celebrated two birthdays..

First, my bro's 14 year old at Shokudo:

That's my cousin, aka god-sister, Carolyn.
~

Then there was my colleague's Weilun's birthday at Fish & Co.:

He (the one in green beside me) is totally caught off guard when the cake appeared. Haha, Operation Wei Lun's birthday is officially successful!
~

It was still sizzling hot when it was delivered to us. Although we waited like 10mins for this, but it was worth it!

It's at Empire State restaurant at iLuma, the new (quite ugly-looking) building at Bugis, which I went on Saturday afternoon. Anything with hot, melted chocolate tastes heavenly! Two people finishing it is just nice..

Caught 17 Again at the iLuma's cinema, Filmgarde, after that.

I give the film:





One thing's for sure: Zac Efron is officially a bonafide Hollywood star. Moving on from prancing about in musical numbers in High School Musical, this is Efron's first foray into leading man territory, and although he still plays a basketball jock, the body-switching storyline allows him to show off his acting chops, and he does deliver.

FINAL SAY: If you look pass the cliche, you'll find this an enjoyable, sometimes hilarious and heartwarming movie about cherishing your loved ones. Girls will enjoy it 100%.
~

Caught two much talked-about movies on the flight back from Japan to Singapore. One is Revolutionary Road and the other is Suspect X.

Firstly, the hotly-anticipated reunion of Jack and Rose, aka Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

I give the movie:





The two of them never looked better. Directed by Winslet's husband, Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road is about a 1960's sub-urban American couple's downward spiral into marital Hell and unbliss. If there is one kind of movie I hate, it is depressing movies, and Road is certainly not a smooth-sailing one. But the costume and set-design is pitch-perfect; the supporting cast is great; however, it's the electrifying performances of the leads that are so captivating.

FINAL SAY: When the film climaxes and you hear them utter "I hate you" to each other, you can literally feel the whole room ready to explode into a ball of flame. It is that intense, and it requires a hell lot of chemistry to carry that off. However, if you're feeling emo, don't watch this. Officially one of the most depressing movies ever.
~

Next, Suspect X, based on the hit Japanese detective TV series, Galileo.

I give the film:





What you get from Japanese is originality - something which Hollywood so blatantly chucks aside. With Suspect X, it is a murder mystery that is both compelling and heartbreaking, I don't see how anyone should give this brilliant movie a miss.

From a nail-biting early sequence in the movie, you already learn who is the killer. However, it is the process that makes this movie interesting, and somehow, the filmmakers managed to keep the suspense (and the audience's interest) all the way until the credits roll.

Those who already watch the equally brilliant Galileo series on TV, you'll know how this works. But this case didn't really deal with Physics, like in the series; instead, it is a psychological warfare between the lead and the killer - much like a life-action deathnote but minus the exaggerating supernatural element.

FINAL SAY: Great acting and moving storyline - recommended. FYI, news have it that CSI is being turned into a movie soon. Hopefully, they get adapt their TV series as good as the Japanese people do theirs.
~

Can't wait to collect the 463 photos from Fujifilm this wednesday. Wow, can't believe I took that much photos.

Will be watching Star Awards 2009 tonight, aka The Little Nonya Prize Presentation Ceremony =P Let's just see how many awards that show can sweep. I'm just hoping 一切完美 (Perfect Cut) gets recognised!

Take care, peeps!