So Much Trash, So Little Time.

i had a nice substancial blog all planned and penned yesterday about the oscar nominations and had intended to publish it today when i flipped through today's life and found a whole page dedicated to them and figured that u guys would probably have more than enough of that. so i won't talk about it... much. =p except for that fact that i'm appalled that anthony minghella is being left out of the best directing category, surprised that nicole kidman was excluded from the best actress in a leading role category, glad that russell crowe wasn't nominated at all and smug that the academy is leaning toward world cinema with the inclusion of more international talents. they're always going with what's hot at the moment... remember their indie craze back in '96 when indie cinema was becoming more prominent? bah! and dogville's m.i.a for obvious reasons... in fact, i'd be impressed if they even acknowledged that dogville existed.

i watched love the hard way yesterday which was the movie that made ady fall in love with adrien brody. the vcd was courtesy of her as well but it was heavily censored and thus, it got a little annoying. so jack (adrien brody) is a petty thief who romances claire, a straight-laced but relatively naive university student. the movie chronicles the trials and tribulations of their trying to fit into each other's world with some disastrous effects. the film's an interesting watch and while it's not one of the greatest out there, it nonetheless, escapes mediocrity. adrien brody's quite a joy to watch as a pimp with the swagger and the nyc street accent which is 180 degrees from wladyslaw szpilman. the movie got me thinking about a question a friend once asked me and owing to him being of the male persuasion and hence having a big enough curiosity to ponder... why do girls tend to fall for the bad boys? and i said that not all girls do that and in fact, many whom i do know actually prefer to start relationships with the good boys. trust us, people... we're lookin' for a few good men ;)



i caught 21 grams this morning with ady. a freak (car) accident brings 3 strangers together forever altering their lives. sounds simple yeah... but like a lot of movies out there trying to make a statement, it didn't unfold in a chronological order. it didn't go backwards like memento and irreversible- in fact, it was a piece that exploited the devices of prolepsis and analepsis which resulted in a rather disjointed narrative. it's not very difficult to keep track of the plot and one will definitely understand it in the end but it might not appeal to everyone. i wasn't prepared for that but ady was. and i was prepared for it to be quite slow paced and revolving around one main incident while ady wasn't. we should've just exchanged notes before we watched the movie and prepared ourselves fully! =p having plots that don't follow the conventional chronological sequence is rather unique but now, it seems like every movie wants to be part of that and consequently, it's becoming one of those devices that's just overused, abused and mishandled. as a result, 21 grams, while being quite poignant at times, is rather clumsily made.

and they're still checking my i.c!! what's up people?? they've stopped for a while and now they're back at it again! doesn't beat the time i was stopped before going in for an nc-16 movie though...

all those who're near and dear to me or those with whom i talk to quite a bit, will know how i condemn brad pitt to heck and boycott his exploits after he abandoned and shafted darren aronofsky's (then) lastest project, the fountain. because of that, the fountain was kicked all the way back to development hell as studio execs at warner bros weren't confident to continue with the project without a big-name like brad pitt upon whom they were depending on to draw in the crowd. so it looked, pretty much, like the fountain wasn't ever going to get made. i'm a huge fan of darren aronofsky's previous movie, requiem for a dream, and was eargerly awaiting the start of the shoot when the imbecille decided to pull out the last minute to work on troy(which looks like a whole lot of humbug...except for orlando bloom =p). yes, yes i know it happened way back in 2002 but i'm still sore, can?? but i stumbled upon the strangest piece of news recently. word is out that ellen burstyn(who's one of the original cast members of the fountain) mentioned that she is, in fact, slated to start filming aronofsky's the fountain this fall! since when have the heathen gods at warner greenlighted the project? is this news true? or do i smell a media rat? or is ellen burstyn (turning 74 this year) just going senile? and if it is indeed true, why wasn't a word even uttered before this? huh?? WHY?? *hysterical*


chronic liar or media victim?

anybody watched american idol last night? i tell ya... if i were one of the judges, i'd get completely frustrated as well. i still maintain my amazement... how do these people who have zero talent actually believe wholeheartedly that they are the next american idol? remember those two contestants who just wouldn't stop singing... the woman who did that celine dion song creepily with thunder booming in the background and that hispanic looking man who sang to an emptied judge's table? and that chick (with the restless bootie) who actually took up simon's bet to perform in a mall and try to return with 10 people who might like her singing... which of course she didn't succeed in the end. yikes! i admire that one has the utmost faith in oneself but seriously, you need to be in touch with reality too. this is beyond sad... it's actually getting quite scary.

another episode tonight! *she bangs! she bangs!* will be performing tonight ;) and after that at 11pm there's door to door which is this awesome movie that swept awards at last year's emmy's. if you like william h. macy and you have hbo on cable, tune in man!!

4 more days till survivor all-star!! woohoo! i've discussed with some friends... namely eileen and ady and we agreed that although richard is the original weasel king who could probably screw everyone in the arse, they would be overtly aware of that fact and hence, it puts his neck on the chopping block. and since this season is touted as the one 'filled with evil', how come they didn't bring back jon "i-swear-on-my-grandmother's-grave" dalton (pearl islands)? and is it fair that tina, richard, jenna and ethan are given another chance at ANOTHER million dollars? i guess they're trying to bring together the best of everything... the champions, the physically strongest and the most canniving... will definitely be fun to watch!


An Update.
omg... american idol was hilarious...and it all but ended at midnight so i had to give door to door a miss. no matter, repeats on 2nd and 8th of feb. hands down william *she bangs! she bangs!* totally cracked me up but i kinda like the attitude (tried his best no regrets) even though he really had no business being there. but the person who really struck me as the king of fools was the dude who auditioned for american idol because he feels he's in desperate need of a girlfriend!! consider this scene (paraphrasing here cuz my memory ain't that good):
paula abdul: it says here you're auditioning because you badly want a girlfriend.
contestant: yeah, i really want one. that's not the whole reason but yeah i do hope this'll do it for me...
paula abdul: (speechless for a while) well.. i hope so too.
contestant: before i start, i'd like to make a shout out to all the people who believe in me.
judges: (a little stunned).....
contestant: cuz if not for those people, then you just come here for yourself.
judges: (same stunned look)....

i was laughing my arse off!! i was like, "whaaaaaaat?" i mean, seriously.. i was hoping he'd shut up cuz he was just stuffing both his feet into his mouth! and i wasn't very glad christa, or whatever her name was, the gal with the huge hawaiian spirit didn't make it thru!! her voice was actually pretty good and even better than some of the other people who managed to get through. and then some beautiful model with huge breats and a flat tummy, but a questionable voice, managed to get thru? there was so much bullshit, i needed a bloody shovel! *grumble*

anywayz, took a personality test which i thought was interesting.

You are Morpheus, from "The Matrix." You
have strong faith in yourself and those around
you. A true leader, you are relentless in your
persuit.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Rainy Days and Mondays (technically...wrapped this up a few mins after midnight)

the chinese new year weekend's over... and it's all back to school or the office. well, except for me who's officially still on vacation. bwahahaha! *cough* how the minutes of total freedom pass in an utter rush. don't worry folks, it'll be my turn soon enough. march isn't that far off anymore.

so how did the day go... lemme see... i can't help but feel that today was filled with stories. i was pretty much immersed in one tale or another hour after hour. well, in the morning there was the golden globe awards and for those 4 hours, i lived vicariously through the lives of many actors and even thought of what might be a good acceptance speech. film award shows are an important staple in my diet. i watch an award ceremony like how my dad watches football. laughing aloud at jim carey's or robin william's ridiculous presentations, cheering when the film or actors i'm rooting for bag awards and jeering passionately when a film which i feel is underserved to win, does.

the fangirl in yours truly did three cartwheels and and a handstand split when return of the king nabbed best film(drama) and best director for peter jackson. but i guess i wouldn't know for sure which movies and which directors really deserved those awards until i watched all the other nominees. i felt it was a tough call for both categories since they were filled with exceptional talents from the industry. congrats to sofia coppola whom i feel is one of the best women film directors out there!!(not a particularly impressive actor though but everyone seems to be forgetting that unfortunate stint in her dad's film) can't wait to catch lost in translation. isn't charlize theron just gorgeous??? i caught the trailer for monster and a couple of snippets, and it looks promising. is it just me or did the award ceremony seemed cold to you too? where is the LOVE, people???


wow!! check out anne hathaway! how come the cameras didn't glue on to her earlier today? she looks great!

read volume 2 in the sandman library series entitled the doll's house and it's getting better and better. one of the most interesting parts of the tale is when he finds himself attending a serial killers' convention. i mean how depraved is that? good piece of storytelling i tell ya... and it is one heck of a compelling plot.

back to the boob tube cuz seriously, there's just that much reading which can be done in a day. =p i gotta admit that i've been in a pretty romantic mood lately. i don't relate to the kind of in-your-face cornball, overwhelmingly cheesy cinematic kitsch that is usually and shamelessly exploited in romantic comedy gumbo. well not usually anyway but i did discover two romantic films that i thoroughly enjoy from last year: love, actually and love me if you dare. the former a rather predictable but rich and sensitive portrayal of love. plus who could forget the hotter than hot rodrigo santoro (karl!!*screams*), hugh grant boogeying or some crazy christmas version of 'love is all around'? while the latter, a spunky and off-beat approach to the same matter with a rather dark conclusion.



this nagging sweetness seemed to have followed me into the new year... like that strong lavender candy after taste, alternating between being quite nice and utterly nauseating. well anyway, i watched the princess diaries on the disney channel and found that i quite like it despite hating it with a passion when i first caught it in the cinema some years ago. after that i switched to star movies and greedily indulged in another unhealthy serving of bridget jone's diary when i already had a piece of that just a few weeks ago. the part when mark darcy and daniel cleaver, two prissy englishmen, engaged in a fist fight is hilarious!! i guess, sometimes we all need that bit of the happy fairytale (no matter how annoyingly obvious and implausable they come across sometimes) to counter the harsh brutality of realism before it poisons us whole.



speaking of bridget jone's diary... renee zellwegger looked very prosperous during the golden globes earlier today! bridget jone's diary the sequel must be in full swing shoots right about now! wohooo! more lovey-dovey mush!! more more MORE!!!

*cough cough*

anybody watched american idol 3 last thursday? simon touted this season as the "season of delusion". and i agree... well, there have been loads of deluded people in the last few seasons but u'd think that folks would figure out by now the kind of talents they're looking for. and honestly... how in hell can these people be so blinded to their total lack of talent... basic singing ability even. and i do feel that simon's remarks can be unnecessarily brutal sometimes but he does have a job which involves giving contestants reality checks. and people who can't handle flak well would probably have great difficulty handling that kind of a career.

i'm so looking forward to survivor all-stars. long live trash on tv!!

Dogville may have disappointed Cannes 2003 but certainly not me...

dogville ended my stint with the nordic film fest last tuesday and what a way to finish off! lars von trier is one of cinema's greats and that is a fact sealed with dogville. grace (nicole kidman) is a beautiful, mysterious fugitive hiding from a mob when she chances upon a small, isolated town in the rocky mountains called dogville. upon the invitation of tom edison(paul bettany), a self-appointed spokesman and philosopher of dogville, she embarks on tom's plan to offer herself for any sort of physical labour in a bid to win the townfolks' approval and as a means to repay their kindness for habouring her there. however, as it becomes more and more apparent that it is increasingly dangerous to keep her, the townspeople begin to demand more and more of grace. in these demands, the prior charms of dogville begin to melt away and the true nature of the people comes to the fore.

once again, like in breaking the waves and dancer in the dark, lars's recurring themes of humanity and kindness are being explored in dogville. to what extent is kindness sincere and truly devoid of ulterior motives? how much is a person willing to give without any strings attached? behind the smiles, the generosity of heart in the willingness to let grace stay, belies the irrational fear and bitterness borne out of xenophobia. there are double standards in the way grace is treated as compared to the original residents. grace has to work twice as hard under relatively exclusive rules- most apparent when she took a shortcut through the gooseberry bushes and was chided for it by ma ginger (lauren bacall). grace defended herself by pointing out how others use the same shortcut as well and was met with a harsh, snide reply, "but u haven't lived here that long." i think lauren bacall is just deliciously, brilliantly bad... but i digress. hypocrisy is pervasive in dogville and it clings onto everyone- and no one personifies hypocrisy better than tom edison. although he claims to love grace, he is truly in love with himself and his extending a gesture of help, is really a self-righteous mission to prove his own theories and elevate dogville into a glorified existence with him to be thanked afterwards. grace, as her name befits her, is very forgiving of the town and the sins of its people and yet they use and abuse her to the point that she becomes dehumanised. toward the end, she is chained and treated no better than even the town's dog, moses. but retribution sweeps upon them when the mob drives into town with james caan (woohoo!!) as the mob boss. the godfather theme started playing in my head during his onscreen time... but again, i digress.

ths story is split into 9 chapters and the beginning of every chapter is indicated with the chapter number, and a one-line summary. this self-reflexive tool works brilliantly with lars's largely theatrical set. the cinematography in this film is not the conventional natural landscape or outdoor sets but rather an indoor studio, with several random props to indicate the homes of people. there are no tangible walls but they are indicated by lines drawn into the flooring of the studio. lars von trier is experimenting with television theatre, a genre that was very popular back in the 1970s and 1980s. what struck me also is that because he is experimenting with theatrical artifice, lars extensively manipulates lighting and music and hence, deviates from his famously forged rules of chastity from his dogma 95 film making doctrine. so he is not only dealing with material that is not conventionally mainstream but he is also making it unconventionally dogmatic (95). i think this is a very brave and clever decision to move around genres so one doesn't get pinned down and become too distinct. i also respect that as being versatile. so here's to lars von trier and a healthy career. it'll be good for us too!

picture courtesy of http://outnow.ch/

A girlhood past time.

my brow broke into a sweat. the seconds passed, pounding in my ears. i couldn't stay like that forever. a decision had to made no matter how tough...
i clutched the sandman volume 1: preludes & nocturnes and painfully placed this month's issue of sight & sound back onto the shelf, bill murray staring out from the covers in that wry, idle way of his as if mocking my choice. so it's goodbye cover story of lost in translation- the force is stronger in neil gaiman this time. i've been on a total gaiman binge lately. read coraline back in 2002 and really love it and i'm currently reading neverwhere. i also recently flipped through the wolves in the walls... i'm contemplating whether i should get a copy for my nieces. if i want them to grow up appreciating some of cult's finest, i gotta start early. anyway, the sandman volume 1 cost me a whopping 30 bucks! so i'm officially penniless now... i've gone for broke and i need to stay in to survive. can't go out anymore unless it's to collect some ang pows. btw, happy new year to all!

the sandman: preludes and nocturnes contain the first 8 issues of the acclaimed sandman graphic novel series from the 1990s. the sandman was hot property back then when i was collecting but i was an avid x-men fan and didn't pay much attention to it. it's awesome to curl up with a good comic book and i almost forgotten the feeling. the first thing that hit me was the distantly familiar world of comic book images- the vibrant colours, the sharp inking, the flowing contours. the other thing that roused my memories was the distinct smell of the glossy pages. before i knew it, i started to remember the days, 10 years ago, when me, jia and another pal of ours, tricia were hardcore comic book collectors. we all started with x-men, but jia moved on to spawn and tricia found solace in cyberforce. only i remained the rabidly loyal x-men fan. we used to visit our usual comic book stores together, buy our monthly stuff and proceed to the nearest mcdonald's, buy a couple of drinks, and just sit there for hours reading. and when we're done with our own, we switched so we knew what was going on in each other's titles. and since we were the ones contributing to the rare female presence in comic book stores, the nice uncles used to give us cards, posters and other memoribilia for free! i've still got my hundreds of issues packed away in a huge air-tight plastic box and i think i have a collector's issue, with a certificate of authenticity and signed by the artists. wonder if that's worth anything.

i enjoy the sandman so far. it's really interesting to see neil gaiman's interpretation of old english lores and myths into dark urban fairytales. the stories revolve around morpheus, king of dreams and nightmares and his kin, the endless who include destiny, desire, death... just to name a few. so morpheus is like this tall, pasty and brooding bloke while death, his sister, is an overtly cheerful goth chick. the characters are rather 3-dimensional and the plots quite unconventional as far as comic books go anyway.

Le Temps Detruit Tout- Time Destroys Everything.
(major spoilers for irreversible ahead so if you're a nonspoiler purist-like me-you have been warned.)

a piece of art immitating life does just that and consequently, stories deal with not only happy moments that depict the beauty of humanity but those to do with the ugliness of the human race as well. of course everyone knows that already but sometimes i forget how much that one simple notion can affect me intensely. and when it does, i realise how many conventional films, that either deal with the usual subject matter or are made with conventional techniques, have ceased to move me. we're lulled to an almost unconscious state of consumption and it is the occassional audacious film that stirs us from this slumber. the last good film i caught that dealt with something truly ugly and brutal was michael haneke's adaptation of la pianiste (the piano teacher). i reviewed it, it's somewhere in my archives (which doesn't work).

born and raised a film buff, i've been pretty much exposed to a lot of violent imagery in film. since i was a kid, i've seen people being hacked into pieces in zombie movies, scary realistic werewolf transformations, blood baths, awful deaths in wars but nothing... nothing gets to me more than a craftily simulated rape scene. when i was 7, i was passing by my dad in the living room while he was watching a movie and i happened to chance at the part when a man cornered a woman for information and proceeded to rape her. this was obviously years ago and yet till today, i still remember the raw fear in the woman's voice as she spoke and sobbed during the ordeal, her awful screaming. alarmed, i demanded what was going on. my dad has always been honest with me and never minced his words... he told me that a bad man was forcing the woman to do something she really didn't want to do. somehow i put 2 and 2 together and figured to some effect what was going on. i was petrified. my mum shooed me to my bedroom because it was past my bedtime. as i walked up toward my room, i stopped in my tracks and right then and there, i started screaming and wailing on the stairs. my mum never did figure out what brought on my hysteria. she didn't guess that i would've understood what was going on in the scene of that movie cuz i watched it for even less than a minute.

speed up to when i was 17. i was watching boys don't cry on an uncensored vcd with 2 of my pals from junior college. and again, the part when teena brandon was raped by 2 vengeful men who're angered to find out that she was a dyke disguising as a man brought back the grief and i bawled uncontrollably. like i said, nothing gets to me more than a rape scene... it frightens me, angers me and saddens me all at once and i guess that's overwhelming. it's not just about taking a victim sexually against her or his will (which is bad enough) but rather the sheer ugly cruelty involved- the monstrosity a person is capable of is brought to the fore.

the 5-7 minute rape sequence in irreversible is, by far, the most explicitly graphic portrayal i've ever witnessed. it was petrifying, painful and horrible to watch. do not scorn the warning that was put up with the poster. i dare anyone to leave this film totally unscathed and unaffected...and if you do, i'm sorry to tell you that a part of you must have died a long time ago. there during the sequence, as i lay crumbled in my seat, i reverted back to that 17 year old youth who sobbed into her pillow and then further still to that little girl who wailed on the staircase.

i didn't lose myself to hysterics of course but i was driven to tears. irreversible borrowed the revolutionary technique of chronologically backward narrative from christopher nolan's excellent film, memento. but unlike the film noir, irreversible is more of a character driven piece rather than a convoluted, mystery plot with staggering revelations at its climatic peak. so don't expect to get what you received when you watched memento, i did so i felt a little shortchanged at the end. but upon contemplating it further, i came to a conclusion about just how brave and audacious this film is. it is honest and straightforward in its depiction of violence, not just during the rape scene but also when pierre (bestfriend of alex, the rape victim) bashed up a man whom marcus (alex's boyfriend who's out for vengeance) suspected was the perpetraitor. it was excrutiating, nothing was left of the man's face after he was done.

a word of warning, the camera propels 360 degrees. it literally places the audience in the position of an unobserved 3rd person... like a fly on the walls, hovering above and off to the side of the commotion. and when the adrenaline of the characters start to pump in their distress, the camera pans even faster and when it settles on one plane, it runs and stumbles after the characters... it makes nypd blue look like a calm day on the ocean. it is to an extent, overtly done and in my frustration to understand what i'm seeing and what's going on, i even felt that it was all quite unnecessary. i actually suffered some motion sickness and almost ran to the toilet to throw up. but i do understand what the director, gaspar noe, is trying to get at- the sense of disorientation, the chaotic mental and emotional breakdown in moments of crisis. i felt ill literally and even though i suffered, it really did help me understand and get into the psyche of the characters and start to understand the kind of pain they're in.

monica belluci did a great job. i can't understand how she could do that scene and emerge with her sanity in tact. twirling sequences and the loud, intense, breaking of the film at the end (which was supposed to be the beginning) suggest the destructive forces which was focused upon in the context of the story itself and is self-reflexive, referring to the reversed film technique and how that breaks conventional flimic representation and in a way, letting us know how it has broken our complascent slumber. it's an attack on the senses which is reminiscent of the rape... and i left the theatre almost as horrified as if i had somehow been violated.
get the trailer here.
visit the official site here.

Confessions of a Movie Slut.

the crowds these days seem to be on edge.
last friday, jo had a belated birthday celebration at zouk. loubs, ady and i hung around for a bit though we were seperated quite a lot of the time. jo had other friends around the place while loubs was there with some colleagues and friends. anyhoo, the place was totally packed. particularly phuture where we thought of hanging out cuz jo's a total slave to r&b. *wink* i love the music and the dancing bit but i'm not a really big fan of the clubbing scene.

the crowd was arguably the worst i've encountered in my personal clubbing history which admittedly, isn't very extensive. i was elbowed, pushed, brushed aside, sandwiched (and not the good kind!), molested, ash-trayed (some imbecillic jerks were smoking all over the dance floor and dispensing their ash carelessly) you name it... i felt it. the encore? nobody even bothered to apologise.

i ranted about it to art, and he read my mind... maybe the next generation of clubbers are starting to replace ours and banished clubbing etiquette to that increasingly barren wasteland of basic humanity. they were like a horde of raging zombies! and i'm talking bloodied, crazed, out of sync 28 days laters kinda zombies... in a mad, tribal dance. i'm all for having a good time but i also hope people are considerate enough to consider the well-being others. maybe a club isn't THE place to look for that but there we were packed in like sardines and many inconsiderate idiots were flailing their limbs about, practically bruising other people around them. i'm quite surprised that brawls didn't break out. absolutely horrifying.

speaking about zombies, i'm sorta getting back into the element of cult, zombie movies. maybe it's because of the increasing amount of re-exposure to george a. romero, the director of that cult classic, night of the living dead. my dad got the special director's cut dvd... all by himself, without me while i was in perth. *sniff* i'm so proud... the man's all grown up and making smart dvd choices. hehehe. thank gawd, he doesn't read my blog... anyway, a remake of romero's 1978 sequel, dawn of the dead is signed, sealed and (to be) delievered to american cinemas this march if i'm not mistaken. it's gotten mixed reactions from movie buffs so far... some are jazzed, some romero puritants are outraged. well, you decide. you can get the trailers here. make sure u have quicktime. anybody caught 28 days later last year? awesome stuff. i've got evil dead 1 on dvd, and i'm hunting down evil dead 2 which is the scariest one in the whole trilogy in my opinion. anybody seen those? totally freaked me out as a kid.


movies, movies and more movies...
i caught arven (the inheritence) yesterday, my first movie for the nordic film fest. ady was kind enough to allow me to leave her church service earlier so i can make it on time. she was baptised yesterday! you looked and did great, grrrl! i'm not very familiar with the director's previous works but to my understanding, arven is one of a trilogy of films depicting sectors of the danish society. it focuses on the wealthy elite and portrays a man's moral, emotional and psychological deterioration when he sacrificed his life's passions to assume familial obligations and responsibilities. something a lot of people can relate to, i wager. pretty good film to start the year with... so i hope like dogville, it'll get its run in the cinemas after the fest.


i'm going for villmark (dark woods) tonight with my dad. i think i'm completely saturated with asian horror movies and there's a need to see how europeans deal with the same genre. afterall, the devil's backbone became one of my all-time faves and the others is pretty darn good in my opinion. i'm hunting down a spanish horror film called tesis (thesis)... to no avail so far. i might just have to resort to amazon.com.

i'm going for a sneak preview of irreversible with eileen tomorrow night. cathay has finally kept their word after the whole 27th november fiasco. and dogville comes after that on tuesday. woohoo!! muh wheels're on fire!!! *cough cough*

so... going out incessantly, watching movies in bulk, endless dvd hunts. ok pple, 3 guesses on why i'm sadly broke!... anyone?

an update...
so i just returned from villmark and i'm glad to conclude that the europeans do know their horror. i was also quite sad with the turn out. perhaps, just about half of the relatively small cinema auditorium was filled and about that same number of people turned up for arven yesterday. these numbers pale in comparison to films screened at the european union, french and german film fests. sometimes i feel that the glitz from more well-known genres like the french new wave, or the like, tend to cast a dark shadow over more 'obscure' genres. and i hope that viewers and film buffs don't underestimate the talent pool from nordic countries. denmark happens to be one of 'em and it's where lars von trier and some other film directors forge one of the most fascinating cinematic philosophies and practices ever: dogme 95. kudos to that! although it's been admitted that they cheat and break their own rules sometimes. but the ideology is worthy of respect.

so back to my night. the old man was really hungry all of a sudden and chugged down about 5-6 plates of sushi AND an unagi bento set at sakae sushi. now this is the same dude who proclaims that he doesn't have a big appetite in his old age. we had a bit of time after dinner so we walked around for a bit and decided to sit around at the cinema's foyer. so there i was, stoning and participating in lazy conversations with my dad when the peaceful riverie was quite rudely broken by piercing laughter and some childish jostling about. i turned to look and lo' and behold... (annoying music starts) *do you see what i seeeee?* two life journalists and some other people who could be journalists as well but i don't quite recognise the men in their company... i recognise the ladies though. they were none other than ong sor fern, life's sometime film reviewer and all-time book reviewer, and ong soh chin. i admit to not having read much from the latter person's columns. well, i guess they're having some good (down-) time with friends after work but i'm feeling quite bitchy while i'm penning this. seriously, maybe it's stereotyping but i figured journalists to be matured, educated, serious to the point of being anal but these folks were like the loudest bunch in the place... just surprised me i guess that they could also at the same time act as obnoxiously as the next group of teen punk, know-it-alls. ok, that's just mean... pardon me hey. i get peeved sometimes because it's an open secret that the folks over at sph are quite elitist.

villmark is creepy... it's suspiciously tailored like the danish version of the blair witch project sans the shaky, nauseating camera work and the improvised dialogue. perhaps this could be the kind of movie blair witch might have become if it just went indie and not guerilla. the film makers understood that horror is all about tension and not cheap scares. something that many genre film makers tend to forget these days.

ok, so i'm left with dogville to wrap the nordic film fest and word is out that tix are completely sold out for this one.

Living Frugally.

it's rather overwhelming when i realise that my weeks are chock full of plans with friends when i figured i'd be free. give one day here and another day there and before i know it, i would be out almost all 7 days of the week. consequently, all the going out's driving me broke... =p so it's nice when i get to stay home once in a while. ady came over earlier today so we chilled, pigged out and watched the two towers extended edition. we also exchanged some dvds and vcds. but before that, we dropped by video ezy and secret recipe which were a stone's throw away from my place. she borrowed 6 vcds and we each got a cake from secret recipe, 5 bucks a pop. so much for my living frugally till next month plan. being a sweetie, she foot the snacks bill. thanks, babe! u've always been generous to me.

weeks pass in a flash cuz there's always something to do everyday... which is a good thing. i'd love to spend as much time with everyone before i return to perth. i'm so going to miss all this. anyhoo, i've added a new blog to my list of links on the left. do visit his blog. known this dude for a while already and he's another person who's got a penchant for films and writing.

the nordic film fest begins!!! i'll be going for the inheritence this saturday, dark wood this sunday with my dad and dogville the following tuesday. woohoo!!! film fests in singapore rock!!

Where Smut Apes Come (Excuse the pun) Together.

i admit that by thinking about singapore as "squeaky clean" literally and metaphorically, one is being blatantly naive or one is a victim of kitsch local media. prostitution is legal here after all and moreover, there's always that friend of a friend or whomever who does that kind of thing. but this has managed to raise an eyebrow and as i looked through the site, my temper also. eileen thinks it's hilarious but she's always been nicer and a more even-tempered person than i am. anyway, in the heart of the local www section, there's actually a "database" about the commercial sex scene here in singapore. it's a place where a smut king shelves out advice, tips, addresses and even has an extensive faq about acquiring the services of prostitutes in singapore. "celebrating the singapore commercial sex scene"- he touts. whatever anyone does with porno, or even with these kind of resources is, i guess, their personal business. but what pisses me off, is the kind of language these neanderthals use to refer to these women. politically incorrect is like the uber understatement... most evident in their forums which actually discusses, in graphic detail, their sex escapades. don't these women deserve at least a level of professional respect? after all, they are providing an unsavoury service. not only that, many of these participants are in relationships, or are married. what's the world coming to... if the wife or the girlfriend, for some insane reason, allow them to do their rounds at brothels so be it but if they're doing it on the sly, they must've been on a vacation while God was handing out brains and morality. check this site out... i really want to hear your views on it.

The Return of The Blog.

yeessss! i got my blog back. the strangest thing... it went missing for about a week or so. kinda frustrating now that i've started blogging again. think it's something to do with blogger's server. everything is restored now except the fact that my archives still don't work and my yaccs comment is a little funky. despite generous messages left in the comment box, the numbers don't compute on the link. weird...

well, the biggest movie buffs have done it and newspapers have done it. so it's about time, this film fanatic got around to doing it also. after numerous internal debates with the several voices in my head, here's the top 10 list of the best movies i caught in 2003.

1. Kill Bill: Vol. 1- this film encompasses a lot of things that fascinate me: post-modernism, post-feminism, heck even post-ethnic representation if there is such a thing. despite the fact that i don't like tarantino a whole lot, he's able to prove that he could run for king of subversion. this homage to samurai films is packed with intertextual references, trivia and some amazing camera work. a lot of fun for fans to break down and ponder about. can't wait for vol. 2.

2. 11'9''01, September 11- i consider myself fortunate for having able to catch this. it's probably one of my most memorable film experiences in 2003. a close fight with kill bill. this is THE piece which caused all that hype, applause and outrage at the 2002 venice film fest. 11 of the world's best film makers come together to offer 11 short films, each 11 minutes and 9 seconds long and shot in a single frame (hence the dimensions- 11, 9, 1) which portray their perspectives on the events of september 11. it deviates from the conventional view point which consequently earned it an unfair reputation of being anti-american. what the film's naysayers need to realise is this is how the rest of the world sees it... and it is just as valid.

3. Chicago- musical, subversive characteristics, the almost seamless intertwining between the artifice of stage and film, great performances, a visual feast... how can it not be on my list?

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King- the fangirl in me was outraged. she wants it to be tops this year but i shut her up. anyway, it's a great conclusion to peter jackson's trilogy and despite certain plot liberties, it pretty much holds true to the tolkien spirit. now i'm anxiously waiting for the extended edition dvd on which there's been word that it's gonna be 5 hours long! hehehe.

5. City of God- the only few significant things that this film is similar to pulp fiction is the non-linear narrative and its preoccupation with violence. other than that i don't see it as a brazillian version of the said movie. it has a more sensetive portrayal of the dehumanizing effects of violence and how crime traps, not only its victims but its perpetraitors, in a sad and uselessly vicious cycle.

6. Spider- i'm quite the fan of films by david cronenberg. he's made some of the most fascinating psychological thrillers in contemporary cinema. the first cronenberg movie i ever watched was videodrome as a child and i had nightmares for a week! a very cool director who doesn't fear working with unconventional material. Spider chronicles the psychological journey of a man who regains traumatic childhood memories and is torn between reality and what he thinks is real.

7. The Pianist- hands down one of my favourite sequences ever shot was when wladyslaw and his family watched, in horror, the cruelty of nazi soldiers through the window of their apartment. no close-ups, the sequence was a single shot without any editing and the effect is priceless, frighteningly realistic account of the events leading to the holocaust. kudos to roman polanski, an oscar well-earned.

8. Goodbye, Lenin!- quirky and humourous representation of the sweeping winds of change and how the people affected deal with it. eastern europe was fast being enveloped by west european culture after the collapse of the berlin wall. a touching and funny story about how a filial son tries to shelter his patriotic and sensitive mother from the brutal truth that her world as she knows it is endangered.

9. Swimming Pool- francois ozon!!! if u ever read this, i so want to have your children!!! i luv, luv, luv his movies... intrigue, suspense, msyery.. common elements of his films. and swimming pool is no exception.

10. Igby Goes Down- one of the best things i love about this film is the script's crisp, witty dialogue. and that comes very rarely these days. one the few films that manage to escape cliches, perhaps not completely, but relatively unscathed. this is why kieran culkin makes it in this industry and macaulay doesn't.


so that's the few i've been wrecking my brain over... there're plenty of honourable mentions, the few at the top of my head being Russian Ark, Talk to Her and Finding Nemo. all in all, quite a good film year... am hoping 2004 works out to just as great if not even better.

it's funny i couldn't access my blog...

2003 in retrospect.

it's hard to summarize a whole year. needless to say, 2003 was something special. i learnt a lot. and i probably did much more growing up in that one year than many years from before. i can say that i've built myself a fair bit more as a person and i actually found courage when i thought all along i had none. my mind's eyes have opened wider and so many things have fallen into place... after hours of struggles of course. but we can never appreciate the good times without having slogged through the bad right? =) all in all, it was an amazing year and i thank God for letting me stick around to see it. i wish everyone a happy new year and hope 2004 will be awesome for everybody!