I can’t see Earth, can you.

Last night Earth Day felt like halloween came early. My sister & mum had been very enthusiastic about this whole energy conserrvation scheme, yet it was I who was alone when 8.30 struck and I reluctantly switched off the lights at home. Mother was at compasspoint buying groceries, in well lit supermarkets and hustle bustle of a crowd. My sister must have went to town to enjoy the view of fullerton shrouded in darkness while street lamps and traffic lights glowed ever so brightly.

No not me. The miserable candle mum gave me before she left the house couldn’t hold its own, breathing its last in not more than 10 minutes into its lifespan. I lit another candle I found atop the fridge. I ate myy dinner in silence. It’s not even romantic. I just ate blindly. Who cares if its chicken or not. So long my chopsticks grab something it’s going to reach my mouth.

About 20 minutes later, flame flickers got me chilling. No wind, no big movements. I got a little scared and was highly tempted to switch on all the lights in my house in public defiance but eventually got round to turning the tv on instead.

Amazing how tv behaves like a companion. Brings to mind a line from Stars “Heart”: Sometimes the tv is like a lover, singing softly as you go to sleep. You wake up in the morning and it’s still there. Adding up the things you’ll never be.

I watched some very boring mtvs of korean dramas. Nothing else seemed any more intriguing. Then I started thinking. Life goes fast because we’re so busy time is never enough. But in this 8.30 to 9.30hr period it felt like the longest hour ever endured.

And while tv gave me solace I also had time to marvel at the masterminds behind The Ring.(which I still think it’s one of the best breakthrough horror films to date) I watched the documentary about horror films and the maker was explaining about The Ring which I didn’t understand then. But I do now. Because the very thing that keeps you in company is also the one who turns against you. It’s like that Austrian Fritzl Monster. Who deserved a much much more heavier sentence than simply lifetime imprisonment. He doesn’t even look like he has many years left either.

Mother came home sometime after 9. Company at last. I was afraid I was going to hear some disembodied voices real soon. We watched this real ancient movie called the lotus trilogy because it was during my mum’s era. There were Lian Hua, He Ye and Ou Hong which supposedly symbolised flower, leaf and root.

Huh?

Brimming with excitement I am when I start to get the creative processes going, churning ideas and tossing them around. Yearbook. To some it might sound lame but it’s one of the few stabs I’ve have to doing some real designing. I can pretend that I’m really a mag editor doing cover spreads and columns.

We returned our instruments today. The irony that my mum incessant nagging never got me to doing any form of household chores and leaving my room in a desolated sad sad state yet I report to school at 8am this morning to do some serious cleaning. And some preformed toxin in my breakfast detracted me for quite abit on my way to school.

I’ve been making up for my past life as a bookworm by devouring book after another right after the closure of semester 2. The reader was exceptionally touching and I was impressed by how close the movie stayed true to the actual story. Q & A however was vastly different from Slumdog Millionaire, though each have their respective charms and alluring aspects. I’m now reading carrie because Justine loaned it from the library and it sounded intriguing from the get-go.

roots

A spot of chinese history for us today as we made our way to a grand feast of utterly impressing artifacts at the Asian Civilisation Museum today for the Kang Xi Emperor Exhibition.

NUS students get to go for free. Finally, something to trump other schools.

Right smack at the entrance we were greeted with 3 huge paintings of Kang Xi, Empress Dowager Xiao Zhuang and Shun Zi Emperor, each mightily imposing and awe inspiring. The later painting of grandson Qian Long demonstrated the evolution of painting in China back then with the westernisation of certain techniques to better create perspective, tonal values and realism.

Then there was this amazing device of a calculator, which ironically looked way out more complex then the one we all used to get through school math. Kang Xi, as they put it was a patron of science. He learnt various subjects through his jesuit priest mentors such as cartography, geometry and math.

bodhi sappy weekend

Happy alright.

On saturday we went to catch Watchmen. Silk Spectre is sexy even though she’s a doppelgagnger for XENA THE WARRIOR PRINCESS. While the trailer looked extremely promising, it certainly didn’t leave much of an indelible impression as much as other graphic novel adaptations such as Dark Knight and V for Vendetta.

Wen hui treated me to Hana bi. The maguro zuke and yellow tail and oddly, the beansprouts were to die for. The waitresses at Odeon towers were mostly rude. During our dinner this particular girl suddenly said “Nabe” very loudly and it is definitely not hotpot she’s calling. She went on to proclaimed something along the lines of “die liao die liao” as she walked across the the dining area. How pleasant.

Sunday was spent in celebrating Liane & Hui En’s belated party at decoder’s cafe. It was a chill affair. The cakes were extraordinary. One was a light and fluffy yum yum of a lychee martini from pines garden. The other was a christmas tree come early with fancy cream puff balls clambering to the top in a massive cone shape pyramid.

Met up with xiao yan and eeleng afterwards. We laughed alot and I don’t know why. Xy gave me a running demo of some cool features in cs2. I seriously need all the help i can get. I’m the last person for independent learning.

Departures was very lovely. Boo to 8days critic for saying that this film is undeserving of its Oscar for best foreign film. I should have known you have always been biased against japanese films.

It’s one thing to cry when the character so well developed during the entire length of the movie and then to die in the most tragic manner. It’s a whole different perspective on crying when you watched Departures.

It is not the bawling why-does-she-have-to-die but rather, the affection, respect and precision as to how the enbalmer conducts his ritual that is so moving. Add on Joe Hisaishi’s scores and we were all reduced to tears el pronto. Ryoko Hirosue was cute. And the part when they film the casketing video was plain hilarious.

Whim

Caramel.

Qian li thought we were going to a place to have carrot cake and voila, he’s got one seventh correct. The peanut butter cream cupcakes and the tiramisu were exceptionally lovely. We sat in dainty chairs with gorgoeous uphostery and nibble with cutlery you find at Geylang Surai. Them metallic sheen with intricate carvings to match with the ultra retro granny’s plates.

Pity. The place was unfortunately too small/too crowded for all eleven of us to stake our claim in those one of a kind chairs. And funnily how there’s no music, or none that I could hear. I can hear Psapp’s signature clink clank toytronica sounds fitting like home here. 

I particularly love this shot. Makes you feel like we’re doing 90210 with the informal sitting on couch/leaning on railings chillax positions. Behind that’s hairloom.

We couldn’t even pull it off. Have you seen anyone converse in such artificial manner as we do, ha ha.

Finally there was a swan sitting beside me. I thought of The Geese at Beverly Road. What’s the difference between a swan and a geese by the way.

mah lee and me

I am in no mood to know how liver cirrhosis should look like in morphological or histological terms. The air around is tingly and there is a hovering excitement shared among all the brimming anticipation and emanicapation. Why am i thinking about Mariah Carey.

Who can focus on lousy specks of purple and pink abstract art when we can think about more gluorius (is this how Tarantino spells it.) possiblities on how to whittle away the next 3 weeks in stagnancy, induglency and bliss.

Hopefully tomorrow caramel doesn’t disappoint. I have my eyes set on the green chair.

Feel so unaccomplished and partially ashamed for having whittled these 2 weeks with nary a solid preparation and time wasted on half productivity and I can barely write in proper sentences.

Spend much time playing with georgina and smug with pride now that she recognises me more than my oft-absent sister who is bogged down with school and after activities. She’s all screechy and it only gets interesting when she starts her monologue entitled babbles.

Close to a week to finish I’ll be darn glad. So desensitised now I can only rely on charmed reruns and 30rock to lighten up my dreary day.

X

Suspect X deviates from the original style of the hit drama Galileo in more ways than one. Of course, there’s the whodunnit shown right from the start, the crux of the puzzle lying within the MO itself. Actually, maybe not the MO this time. Rather, it is a “battle of wits between the physicist and genious mathematician.”

This entire case has almost nothing to do with physics nor mathematics. Also Kou Shibasaki has no substantial role in Utsumi with police officer Kusanagi hankling for same spot. No brilliant Eureka moment of Yukawa scribbling on sidewalk with equations and incomprehensible laws of physics.

The love story however, was great. The whole time you’re just feel with dread. Because on one hand you’re rooting for Yukawa to solve the mystery as he always do, the other part of you just hope Ishigami & Yasuko Hanaoka don’t get caught. Ohh & I totally love Yatsuko Matsuyuki. Irony that she should have the same name as the role she plays. I liked her better in Hula Girls, well, since her role that is more full-bodied that the beautiful Hanaoka.

I felt that the movie was great. Lovely & tragic story coupled with ingenious MO.

& you gotta admit, Fukuyama Masaharu looked scarily young. He aged reversibly.

Bruno & Schmuel

Loves spontaneity.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas follows Bruno, an active and curious 8 year old as his family moved to the countryside from Berlin due to his Nazi Officer of a father’s new posting. There’s nothing to do at the new house. No friends to play with. No school to go to. Bruno soon find his fascination of the farm across the field get the better of him and made several attempts to leave the house under the prying watch of the stationed patrol Nazi officer.

So literally, the boy in the striped pyjamas made his appearance as Bruno’s new friend who lived across the fence in the “farm.” Schmuel & Bruno displayed this gnawing sense of innocence and naivety even as they try to figure what is happening to the world around them.

I must say, I am pretty disappointed with the movie since we normally have very high expectations of holocaust-themed films. For its title schmuel sure didn’t have many screen appearances, which is a pity considering the friendship between the 2 boys could have been developed greater in depth. Also, there were many what i considered superfluous scenes which did not really give audience the chance to understand the many characters beyond the most obvious. Yes, it is an adaptation of the novel. But somehow i felt that the entire storyline (which really sounds promising and engaging) was let down by the lacklustre direction, under-developed characters and non-action.

But what really stole my heart, (apart from the children’s innocence so movingly portayed) is the abrupt end that delivered the punch that the entire movie sorely needs. I left the theatre with such a heavy heart, as in someone close to me has really departed. And the whole idea of unsettledness and shock was simply so compelling. Bruno & Schmuel, caught in the most unforgiving situation, too innocent to question or fight, really calls for the most heart-wrenching moment.

7.7

So on the first monday of our study break, which felt just like any ordinary school day instead: Radio test was amusing with Ms Yuan struggling to clear doubts on the unrecognizable white/grey/black areas of radiographs without giving us the actual answers.

There was this question that went:

q. What do you call an overall lightness of the film?

a. Radioopaque

b. very dense

c. high density

d. radiolucent

Correct me if i’m wrong but I only see 3 options.

hyuk hyuk

Prof Chew’s lecture was pretty alarming yet inspiring. Goodness we have been compromising the quality of our essays with lack of structure and context it kind of put all the hours of mugging to shame. To think with all the over-exertion and mad writing speed we subject our delicate hands to it’s not going to score us brownie points. Yeah, but nonetheless, very inspired all the same.

Subsequent lecture left me utterly outraged. But felt top of the world in spite of not knowing how to do the test because for the entire day I have been surprisingly honest, responsible and i daresay, daring.

Totally obnoxious.

I really really want to box you.

now i know liane and jac would be in full agreement.