And so a new week begins...

Man oh man last week was so busy. There wasn't a single day I got to stay home and just bum, I was constantly on the move. Serious! I was tired and came to a realisation that going out and meeting with friends and celebrating things doesn't equate to having that much more of a life. Caught 2 movies in the past week, Das Experiment and the sneak preview of White Oleander. Das Experiment is well done and the issues of the film were thought-provoking and the dynamics of character interaction did move me but I still prefer the film I caught at the German Film Fest last year(Das Experiment was screened then also), Nowhere In Africa. White Oleander is amazing. I'm not sure if the adaptation was faithful cuz I didn't manage to read the novel when a friend lent it to me some years back but the film on itself was a job well done. It is about the life and trials of Astrid, a young teenager who moves from one foster family to another when her mother, Ingrid was jailed for murdering an ex-lover who dumped her unceremoniously. The difficult relationship between Astrid(Alison Lohman) and her artistic, wild and often dangerous mother Ingrid(Michelle Pfeiffer) was painful to watch. There was so much character depth, not just in the protagonist and the antagonist but the other note-worthy characters as well. Renee Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn were beyond convincing. And I fully relate to the fact that a mother can be a force of reckoning even if she is not present. An entity that watches and affects you simply for the fact that she's part of you. But my mummy's a sweetie pie of course and nowhere near dangerous. =p

Last Saturday I went to the national library board book fair where all english language books were going for 2 bucks a pop. I went with Ady who's in love with books also. We arrived about 25 mins before the sale began and already there was a long snaking line. 3 rows of pple before us and we were in the fast-forming 4th. As the time neared to the opening, hordes of folk joined in and we realised to our astonishment that we were actually one of the first few even though there were loads of pple in front. Channel News Asia arrived to film the crowd. Many people turned up with trolleys, y'know the kind where aunties go to the wet market to put their produce in. And baby prams too which were suspiciously empty. I think the toddlers were made to walk and the prams were for books. The sale began and many ugly singaporeans emerged. There was a bit of running for, a number of shoving as crowds thicken and many mishandling of books and magazines. It made the whole process more tedious. Someone stepped on Ady's toes and she yelped and the perpetraitor(this unruly auntie) turned around and glared at Ady as if she did an offence unto her! Tsk. Old people these days...

In the end I didn't manage to get the exact titles I was looking for but I did get an author I had in mind. Bought 5 in all for 10 bucks which was kinda a steal.
The Castle by Franz Kafka. I was actually looking for Metamorphosis but this sounds interesting too.
Feast of July by H.E Bates.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl. This is like a blessing! I lost my copy from my childhood and now I got a replacement. =)
The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulison.
London After Midnight which is a collection of short narratives by the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Graham Greene, Agatha Christie and etc.

Think this week may be busy as well...