Shopping rocks

After PJ's performance, Baoyue and I were on our way to Clarke Quey when we chanced upon Home Club's flea market. I got myself:
- BLOW dvd at $2
- Terminator 2 dvd at $2
- Faye Wong's album at $5
- Pedro loafers at $20

The two dvds were damn worth it. Both are original code 1 dvds, and BLOW is banned in Singapore. WOOTS! And I've been trying to collect Faye's cds, one for listening one for keeping, and the album that I bought was a second copy of an album I didn't have. When I tried the loafers, it fitted me perfectly. For a while, I felt like Cinderella and these shoes and I were meant to be. ok, a moment there. But shopping makes me happy, got me into a vintage mood, and hooked on flea markets! I saw two briefcases, uber retro and vintage it's cool, but they cost $50 and $20. boo hoo.

Fleas shall be my new hideout.

PJ's show was great. catching up with her after that, together with Baoyue at CP, was even better.
"What will you be like tomorrow?"

And then there's was peanut fight at No. 5 Emerald Hill. Hilarious.

A good saturday. =) looking forward to a fantastic August.

守时

靜夜的單簧管

林憶蓮


王菲, circa 1995 or about.


王菲, circa 2003.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the movie an audacious A-.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20291190,00.html


Lisa Schwarzbaum has officially lost my respect. Owen Gleiberman, you're EW's saviour critic now, the one I can trust.
The most incredible thing she wrote? "Half-Blood Prince encompasses important plot developments involving both love and death. But the story is, still and all, only a pause, deferring an intensely anticipated conclusion. And it's in that exquisite place of action and waiting that this elegantly balanced production emerges as a model adaptation."

David Yates, you suck.
Bruno Delbonnel, you're an artist with impeccable taste.

David Yates is of course second time HP director (bring back Alfonso!). The movie was unevenly paced, patchy at parts, and anti-climatic. In spite of the title, there was no clear references to the origins, nor the significance of the role of the "half-blood prince". It existed just to fill in the sub-plot of allowing Harry to make brilliant potions, which serve to create another sub-plot of Ron getting poisoned by the love potion, which again is pretty much an excuse for them to quench the growing teen audience's raging teen hormones. And all that drama about Harry and Ginny's kiss/romance? Absolute rubbish. There was no build-up. That scene at the room where they shared the kiss was slightly romantic, but insipid and cliche. One moment they're trying to get rid of the book, after finding out the secret vanishing door thing (which they didnt know!), the next they're making out. WTH!

and of course, (spoiler alert) a certain death was not elegantly executed. There was no tension, no drama, just lots of running and bad editing, no dialogue nothing. Cmon, we're talking about the death of the greatest wizard, and all he got was a fall off the cliff without any drama?!?!!? I did not feel it.

But my biggest criticism was the whole movie's irrelevance to the title. Its a disgrace. The Half-Blood Prince title is a hoax. They should call it Harry Potter and the Love Potion.

Bruno Delbonnel. Cinematographer for Amelie and Across The Universe, and now HPATHBP. I LOVE THE CINEMATOGRAPHY. The colour palette, though grim and dark, befitting of the increasing gloom of the plot, was limited, yet it was so beautifully done. The scenes were picturesque and breath-taking. For a while, I bought in to the whole magical aspect of the movie. That scene where Harry and Dumbledore stood at the edge of a cliff, amidst crashing waves, was beautiful.

Each year as I watch the Potter movies, I have the urge to pick up the book and sink into the magical realms. I believe that Rowling has wrote something timeless, and breath-taking. This movie did make me want to pick up the book, but only because the imminent death-match is getting closer and closer. Who does not like a battle to the pits? And watching the films, after 6 times now, does make one feel for the character, and that's why I want to read it. Not because this film was particularly good.

Seriously, get rid of Yates. Now.

Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter were absolutely delicious. I just wish I had seen more of them. HBC is fantastic I must say, I am delighted everytime Bellatrix appears. and LUNA LOVEGOOD (Evanna Lynch)- brilliant, quirky, and oh so charming! Daniel Radcliffe was ok, Emma Watson was beautiful, Rupert Grint funny, but who REALLY stole the show for me was the young boy who played the teenage Lord Voldermott. I googled him and his name is Frank Dillane. He had that menacing look that reminded me of Ralph Fiennes' dangerously good looks. RF has a sense of vengence in him, whereas FD played the inner-demon-brewing role perfectly with that stare and the way he spoke. Very promising.

Such a great cast. There's Maggie Smith, HBC, Michael Gambon (which reminded me of Sir Ian McKellen), Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters (Ron's mum, who was also the mum in Billy Elliott), all of which were terribly underused. I wish there's more of them in the upcoming two closing chapters.


The movie's disappointing, but the company was terrific la. I love how everytime we go out, it's a laughfest. Cheers to Friends Forever. =)


On a good note, (500) Days Of Summer is out in the States! It's coming! Soon! Yay!

Dearest Quin,

I know I've said some blunt, insensitive words today. FORGIVE ME! =( I admit I wasn't thinking when I said it, but I thought it might make it easier for Shu to remember because she might have seen them together before. SORRYYYY. You know I love you still.

xoxo
Loo






As we grow older, life's dangers grow more imminent. We're no longer sheltered by our parents, protected by cots and playgrounds, fed by home-cooked healthy food, fetched by maids and chauffeured by parents. We're no longer in school, where life revolves around the afternoon nap, followed by homework and meals and tv, where the people we know are the characters that were either heroes or villains. It's a safe routine where little can go wrong, except maybe not doing your homework, or mixing with bad company.
We now see life in the face. We confront dangers, right on, sometimes without us knowing, helplessly, some fearlessly. Death comes in many forms, accidents with many identities. We get our hearts broken, we fix it back up, only for it to get trampled again. We face the realities of the race, the mundane and the routines, the backlash of the mistakes, the responsibilities. We face life, head on and without life buoy.

Face it - strongly, and with dignity.

Joni mitchell - Court and Spark

Love came to my door
With a sleeping roll
And a madman's soul
He thought for sure I'd seen him
Dancing up a river in the dark
Looking for a woman
To court and spark

He was playing on the sidewalk
For passing change
When something strange happened
Glory train passed through him
So he buried the coins he made
In People's Park
And went looking for a woman
To court and spark

It seemed like he read my mind
He saw me mistrusting him
And still acting kind
He saw how I worried sometimes
I worry sometimes

"All the guilty people," he said
They've all seen the stain-
On their daily bread
On their christian names
I cleared myself
I sacrificed my blues
And you could complete me
I'd complete you

His eyes were the color of the sand
And the sea
And the more he talked to me
The more he reached me
But I couldn't let go of L.A.
City of the fallen angels

Cat Power - The Greatest

Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or waterfall could stall me
And then came the rush of the flood
The stars at night turned deep to dust

Melt me down
into big black armour
Leave no trace
Of grace
Just in your honor
Lower me down
To culprit south
Make 'em wash a space in town
For the lead
And the dregs of my bed
I've been sleeping
Lower me down
Pin me in
Secure the grounds
For the later parade

Once I wanted to be the greatest
Two fists of solid rock
With brains that could explain
Any feeling
Lower me down
Pin me in
Secure the grounds
For the lead
And the dregs of my bed
I've been sleeping
For the later parade

Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or water fall could stall me
And then came the rush of the flood
The stars at night turned deep to dust



Who doesn't want life to be perfect. Everyone wants to be rich. Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone wants life to be a bed of roses.

How many of us can ever get everything we've ever wanted?
"you win some, you lose some."

(500) Days of Summer

I simply adore the new poster. It reminds me of a friend's very cool shirt, with lyrics to Keane's "Everybody's Changing" printed on it.
I'm going to find a song and print its lyrics on a shirt. Maybe a chinese song. or tamil? That should be cool =)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Zooey Deschanel. Cant wait.

Whatever happened to good animated movies?!

DO NOT bring your kids/nieces/nephews/babies to see Ice Age 3 because:

- They wrongfully portrayed dinosaurs as being 3 times (or more) bigger than mammoths. A freaking ankylosaurus (correct spelling? the one with the spiky club at the end of its tail) is 3 times bigger than the mammoths. Rudy's footsteps was SO MUCH bigger than the t-rex mama, but she was SO easily pushed off the cliff by t-rex mama.
- Dinosaurs did not live under the ice. Where did they get all the sunlight from anyway?!
- What does "Dawn of the Dinosaurs" mean?! They didnt even take over the ice-age land above, and there wasnt even a beginning, so to speak. They were already there, evolved and all grown up. "Dawn" does not mean "discovery" the last I checked, unless you're talking about "dawn on", which means "to understand". "Dawn of" means "the beginning of".
- They totally, and unfairly, ripped off The Land Before Time. In both movies, the big meanie dinosaur was pushed off the edge of a cliff, they chanced upon a land of greener pasture full of life. I'd rather you watch the latter because it had more heart than soul than all the 3 Ice Age movies combined. And more. MORE.
- The Scrat-chasing-acorn has always been a distraction that disrupted the pace of the movie.


Granted that some of the jokes were truely funny (like the "roger" part. And was I the only one who caught the gay reference when they met this huge colourful butterfly? Again, another wrongful play on proportions. All the dinosaurs looked like they're on steroid overdose, or part of some Honey-I-shrunk-the-mammoth joke), the whole movie felt like it was a planned trip to milk the franchise once more. The inclusion of the dinosaurs was a limp and lazy idea, which proves that they're running out of plot. It was insipid and unnecessary, and I'd rather they take 10 years for a third movie, than create one that had no plot at all. There was fun, but there was no heart. At the end, I did not come out feeling like I loved the characters, or had a connection with anyone of them.

With this, I shall pronounce all movie studios inapt and incompetent when it comes to producing a good animated movie, with the exceptance of Pixar and Disney. Disney's heydays are long gone, but even so, any Chicken Little or Cinderella sequel or Tinkerbell sequel would be better and have more heart than a acorn-chasing squirrel and its kakis.


Once again, make UP the must-see movie of the year, right up there with Harry and Trekkie and Bruno etc.

Cat Power - The Covers Record

One of the beauties of listening to an album is the timely appreciation of it. You may not fall in love with some albums instantaneously, but upon future spins, you begin to see their beauty and their relevance. An album may be timely for nursing that heartbreak, giving you some ear-peace from all the applomb of commercial music, or just to soothe a long day's work. In those times of need, music comes in various forms to surprise and embrace you.

I was in the mood for some unintrusive music. I needed a comforting voice, some slow songs with little strain in vocals, and as little technical touch-ups and as organic a sound as possible. While searching high and low for the usual comforts of k.d lang's "Hymns of the 49th Parallel" (which is a great great covers album i must say. one of my all-time fav albums), I chanced upon Cat Power's "The Covers Record". It was what I needed, and more. From then on, I fell for the album, months after its purchase.

Chan marshall, better known as Cat Power, sings like a creature of the night. A seductress lulling you into a lair of intoxication. Most of the tracks are slow, and I mean, REAL slow. It's even slower than jazz. Which is part of what makes it all the more mesmerising: there's a end-of-world quality to these songs. It recalls those Western movies, when they play the images in slo-mo. The songs here can easily fit into those moments with its sense of emergency, as if something is brewing. Even so, there's no rush at all. Cat's delivery is a slow, almost menacing, growl, that sounds very hazy and smoky. Most of the tracks were set to sporadic piano playing. This simple arrangement gives great precedence to the lyrics and the delivery, which cant be said for what you hear on radio nowadays with rap and hip-hop and over-produced songs raging all over.

That said, this album is not for everyone. I suggest youtubing first.

The album plays against a backdrop of crowd coming and going as I listen to it on my way to work. Slow down, and take a sight. You'll find that there's much to be appreciated.

Today, news of a dear friend's mother's death shocked me; it was an accident in Malacca. I hope she stays strong and pulls through.

Lost

You go to my head.

张学友 梅艳芳 - 相爱很难‏

最好　有生一日都爱下去
但谁人　能将恋爱当做终生兴趣
生活　其实旨在找到个伴侣
面对现实　热恋很快变长流细水

可惜我　不智或侥幸
对火花天生敏感
不过　两只手拉得太紧
爱到过了界那对爱人
同时亦最易变成一对敌人

也许相爱很难
就难在其实双方各有各寄望 怎么办
要单恋都难
受太大的礼会内疚却也无力归还
也许不爱不难
但如未成佛升仙也会怕
爱情前途黯淡
爱不爱都难
未快乐先有责任给予对方面露欢颜

得到浪漫　又要有空间
得到定局　却怕去到终站
然后付出多得到少不介意豁达
又担心　有人看不过眼

无论热恋中失恋中
都永远记住第一戒　别要张开双眼

菲靡靡之音

王菲.
怕爱时, 喜欢听 <迷魂记>, <暧昧>
哀伤时, 喜欢听 <红豆>
失恋时, 喜欢听 <天空>, <约定>
放纵时, 喜欢听 <讨好自己>, <无常>
绝望时, 喜欢听 <人间>

"No Faye, No Live"
I say No Faye, No Life






I wrote the above at the Fresh Music website. http://www.wretch.cc/blog/freshmusic

芳华绝代

I learnt a new word today: "花生骚" means "fashion show" in cantonese. It's also the title for a duet between 王菲 and 梅艳芳.

Perhaps it was MJ's departure, that got me in the mood for reminiscing. 3 days after he left, I picked up a 梅艳芳 cd for the second/third time, and I fell for her. The low timbre in her voice, I realise, was unlike anything I've heard before, and for the first time, I'm a fan. The duets album I was listening to, "With", featured a song with Leslie Cheung. After youtubing the live concert video, I smiled, and then sighed. The chemistry and the friendship was evident and electrifying. The lack of such artistry, such boldness, class, stage presence, and such beauty in today's music industry is truely a pity.

While some legends were born, some need time to materialise. 20 years from now, whose death will ignite the same post-death frenzy, be it the tribute or tabloid-worthy kind, that MJ has?

I'm guessing Madonna will live to a ripe old age, and we probably will reminisce and mourn, but probably not obsess over. We peobably wont be curious over the will, nor who custody of the children go to.

I guess in the hearts of true fans, they never truely die. They live on in memory. May Leslie, Anita, and MJ live on forever.