It was JJ's Night~

Last Week...
Paiseh, last weekend never update. Well, basically, it was a weekend to wrap up the Japan trip (to people who've been asking, I'm leaving on 31/03/2009, Tuesday morning 0830am flight.) And met up with Lamerz on late-Saturday-night to discuss HK-SZ trip.

Went to attend NUS Intempo 2009 band concert at UCC with Zhiwen and Joan. Because we were following the 'flower-people' (people carrying flowers) on the bus, we actually alighted at the wrong stop! Omg, in the end we lamely concluded that the 'flower-people' were going to some flower convention to comfort ourselves for losing the way.

But it wasn't all so bad. While crossing over the expressway to walk to UCC, we actually stopped in the middle and took a picture of a beautiful double rainbow!

(Sorry, picture unavailable 'cos the cam is with my mom)

And it was really nice to have 3 generations of NJ Band members together for a group photo with our beloved Prof Ho!
~

This Week...

Probably the most notable thing I've done this weekend was going to JJ Lin's concert. My cousin had free tix, so, ya, I'd be an idiot not to go.
Here is the night in pictures:

JJ with his 'JJ babies', all designed by him.

JJ with his night's first guests - By2. They sang Farenheit and Hebe's 只对你有感觉, which was written by him. Then By2 performed their latest hit, DNA. Seriously, no comments. JJ went to change clothes. It was like toilet-break time.

JJ singing a classic 张学友 song, 她来听我的演唱会. He was smirking away as he was impersonating Jacky's actions as well. Great stuff.

Then he performed Beat It. A lot of people knew JJ is a confessed Michael Jackson fan. How did he fare? Approach me 'cause I've recorded a small clip of it =x

Yeah, I know, I read today's The Straits Times article about illegal recording in concerts and all that. But seriously, if it's for private viewing, I don't think it's a problem. I mean, as I'm speaking now, there are millions of concert clips out there on Youtube.

But still, to respect the copyright laws (and because uploading will take damn long), I'll only show you the pics =p

Suffice to say, it was cool and good.

His rabid fan club which occupied the first few rows of the stadium and were screaming away and giving him due support throughout the entire concert. Die-hard.

Does it look country to you? Well, it's just JJ doing a rock version of one of his classics 突然累了. Refreshing indeed.

*Gasp!* Who's that? It's 范范, 范玮琪! Yup, she was the second guest of the night. She came out to thunderous applause (unlike the previous special guests) and immediately launched into the famous duet (originally with Ah-Sa) 小酒窝.

I can already hear all the female fans screaming when this scene happened.
It was certainly JJ's night. JJ and Fan-fan played a game called 黑白配 (no prizes for guessing why this game was chosen) and since JJ lost, Fan-fan gets a kiss from JJ.

They were joking that they'd better not let 黑人 (her current beau) know about this. But seeing the amount of camera flash lights going off at the media's area below.. well.. it seems it can never be kept a secret. Haha.

And they sang 黑白配 as a duet (first time ever for Fan-fan), which I've also recorded on video! But same reason, I won't show it here.

Singing 范范之辈, where she changed the lyrics from '范范' to 'JJ' to the great delight of fans. She's a fantastic singer. No wonder the audience totally enjoyed every single moment (albeit brief) she was on stage.

Music director 许环良 better known as 水上飘. Everyone was thrilled to see him. He eventually led the stadium to sing a 'Happy Birthday' song for JJ (it was JJ's 28th birthday on 27Mar09).

In a particularly touching moment, three members of the Lin family (his dad on er hu, his mom on pi pa, his elder bro on piano) came out and provided the brilliant accompaniment to JJ's 醉赤壁. Who knew that music talent ran in his entire family??

With mom...

With dad... JJ actually choked on his tears, probably because he was very touched that his family could be with him up there performing. (By the way, it is only in this Singapore leg of the world tour that we can see his family performing with him).

JJ eventually let his dad sang a part - and he rose up to the occasion admirably.

In another magical moment of the night, JJ prompted the entire stadium to sing the chorus of his hit ballad 简简单单. It was certainly an extraordinary moment when 10,000 voices sang in soothing unison, accompanied by the simple yet beautiful playing of JJ on the piano..

只是简简单单的爱过
我还是我
简简单单的伤过
就不算白活
简简单单的疯过
被梦带走
当故事结束之后
心也喜欢一个人寂寞...

Simply wonderful.

One lucky audience member invited to sit beside JJ as he sang 'Baby Baby'. At one point, he even invited her to sing the chorus.

The lighting effect in this photo is damn cool =P But not the tuft of hair on the bottom right =x

~

It was a long but really fulfilling concert. All thanks to Elicia's dad!

Oh man, it's 1am and I have to work tomorrow!

Crap, and I've not finished packing.

Leaving on Tuesday morning le. Gonna be a loooong trip. Coming back on the 13th.

Anybody want anything? I'll still be contactable by email and phone! =)

Take care, peeps!

Looking Forward...

Okay, I know what you're thinking. Why do I look like someone owes me a million bucks!?

Oh well, honestly, I don't know, simply 'cause the photo was taken quite long ago. I must've been unhappy with the photographer or something.. but that's not the point. The point is.. I've officially gotten the license! Woohoo!

Now I'm looking forward to driving more and learning how to get around Singapore. That'll probably take time. Quite a long time.


And yeah, 16 more days to Japan Trip with some JC pals! That's sayonara Singapore for 14days and koninchiwa Japan! Hope I get the luck to witness such stunning scenes like the one above as the period we're going supposedly coincides with the cherry blossom period.

Anyone want to get anything from Japan? Prepare a (reasonable) list and give me. Plus $. =P

Sorry wl and by, haven't really been reading up on the brochures you all gave me. Well, I like surprises. =)

And, this is sort of confirmed too:

(By the way, I did take this photo!)

Yeah, it's Hong Kong with Lamerz! (Went there 3 times liao - and there's one thing I've concluded after going to their Disneyland twice: it's very disappointing)

Yay, Lamerz second overseas trip together as a big group. Remember the now-classic Babe and a Beachball that was filmed in Redang? Will there be a part two now that there's Perfect Cut 2 as well? We'll just have to wait and see =x

Ahhh, no money liao! Must really save. No more splurging!

Take care, peeps!

Watch Out

For fans of comic books, i'm sure you've heard of the latest superhero movie in town. But have you heard about how it's such a massive disappointment?

(Mc***** I hope that gives you a heads up as to what my review is going to turn out to be like. Just fyi, I've formed the opinion of this movie on Friday night, right after it ended.)

Anyway, yeah, it doesn't take an idiot to guess that the movie I'm talking about is the stupendously-anticipated (for most guys, including me) "mother of all superhero movies" - Watchmen. And it also doesn't take a fool to guess that I didn't really like it.

I give the movie:






Besides faulting it for being too long (even though huge chunks of the comic book were edited for film), this just brings me to the point that rings oh so true - Watchmen is unfilmable.

Those were actually the exact words that came out the mouth of the classic comic book's revered writer, Alan Moore. Some things, I feel, should be left in its original source material. And Watchmen should be one of them.

Translating a story of emotionally-distraught masked vigilantes onto live-action on screen is a trying task. Even though the competent cast does their best to portray the conflicting emotions of the characters caught in 70's America in a pending nuclear war with Russia, the gaudiness of it all being displayed in real-life is almost too much to stomach.

While the trailer did seem cool (actually, it was with the help of music), witnessing in full-length the slightly-pudgy Nite Owl land on the ground, cape flailing and all, was too cheesy to be taken seriously. And talking about Nite Owl, his rendesvouz with Silk Spectre came across as laughable, instead of steamy.

There are just too many complains that I have for this film, which in the first place, should be left in its brilliant form as a graphic novel. While last year's loose movie adaptation of another classic, Wanted, was very well-received, the film Watchmen had exactly duplicated its source material, which basically made us question, What's the point?
~

Bleah, what a let-down. Maybe it's because the original graphic novel was simply too good (and deep), any other version of it would seem like a tarnish to its highly-respected reputation.

[ Included after reading Mc*****'s review ] - for a different take on Watchmen the movie, please visit here.
~

Went to visit Syad to pay our respects at the Muslim cemetry today with some of the 2002 corneteers - namely Jiemin, Shi min, Hazuan, Yusri and Adrian. It's really heartbreaking and painfully ironic that it takes such a sad and unfortunate event like this for us to come together for a cornets gathering.

Will plan a gathering in May (since my batch most of the people are May babies).

Meanwhile, take care, peeps.

I'm Just That Into Curiousity

Curious, indeed.

Once in a while, a movie so unforgettable graces our screens that long after the credits roll, your world is still filled with thoughts and images of it..

Remember the brilliant Forrest Gump?

Now, in this decade, people will remember The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.


I give the film:






From the poster above (and I guess from the media), you would have heard of this Brad Pitt movie whereby he ages backwards. Yes, which means he is born an old man (the first poster on top) and slowly progresses in life and finally dies an infant.

Before you dismiss this as yet another weird kind of Hollywood movie, let me tell you that this story is as close you'll get as watching the entire life story of someone being played on screen.

Together with Benjamin you'll laugh, cry, and revel in whatever the world has to offer an innocent, old man as he grows into a wise, young man, however weird that sentence might sound.

And you can only hope that you'll live half the life of his.

Besides being deeply moving and beautifully nostalgic, the movie boasts great cinematography and sweeping storytelling.

At the core of this film is a love story between the growing old Cate Blanchett (looking stunning as always) and the growing young Brad Pitt (his boyish features but mature stature making him pitch-perfect for this role).


We follow the ups and downs of their love and eventually, the film's most magical moment happens, together with the film's classic line: "We're meeting in the middle... we finally caught up with each other.."

It hits you. They're at the prime of their lives, and the audience, like the characters, don't want that perfect moment to end.

But of course, as Benjamin reminds us throughout the course of the film, "Nothing lasts."

That's life for you.

But the one fine thing that endears, though, is the fact that we leave the theatre deeply touched by the life of this extraordinary individual, and we're left to ponder about the lives of our own.
~

Eh, not bad at all. I feel like that above article I've written can be featured in a newspaper! =p

But anyway, yea, you can tell I really like the movie. Even though I predicted that Slumdog Millionaire will win the Oscars (it really did!), I would think that Curious Case was the better film. It is more nuanced and defeinitely deserves to be revisited more than once. Although Slumdog is the clear audience favourite, it was Curious Case that left me in awe.

By the way, for people who didn't know, I reviewed Slumdog Millionaire two posts ago.

Moving onto the next much talked-about movie, He's Just Not That Into You.

I give the film:






Although I'm not that into this movie, I was interested 'cos of dear Jennifer Aniston! Who, I must say, is starting to look her age (40).. =x

And of course, the stellar cast which includes Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long, Jennifer Connely, Ben Affleck, and the tragically under-used Drew Barrymore (but doesn't matter, she's probably more busy as executive producer for the film).

It is definitely interesting to watch the ensemble explore the perks and quirks of modern relationships, albeit sometimes presented in a rather cliched way.

Two notes to add, though:
1) Despite having little attention throughout the movie, Drew Barrymore scored the funniest scene, which, incidentally, can be seen in the trailer.
2) Scarlett Johansson has got to stop acting the same husband-snatching, seductive, veluptuous (this one is not her fault) and aspiring-artiste role! Her character here is the exact replica of Vicky Cristina Barcelona's.

Aside from those two gribes that I have, it's a funny and sweet movie all in all =)
~

Been driving here and there when I get the chance, but still under Dad's guidance of course. *Turning must slow down.* *In the carpark must drive slower.* *When making U-turns cannot act like I'm in The Fast and the Furious.*

Sorry, was talking to myself.

Oh man, it seems like I've got myself another mini-trumpet gig. Remember my 15secs of fame on Channel 8 last year? Can go see my archive posts. This time if all goes well, you'll just hear me on TV.

Update on the status soon.

Take care, peeps!