No Spoilers Here

I went to see 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' with her today. All I have to say is this:
You will not be disappointed.
Geeks & noobs, fanboys & non-fans alike, this movie will rock your socks.

Very often, when a commercially sucessful movie decides to have a sequel, it will recieve an unfair and strongly biased (for and against) treatment based on what the audience expect from its predecessor.

More often than not, the movie will become crushed under the immense weight of expectations. Last year, The Dark Knight well exceeded the impossibly high benchmark that was set for it. Transformers is this year's dark knight. [ironic since everyone says that Transformers will be good. but the bigger they are, the harder they fall (Thor, somedamnlongtimeago) and it has much to fall]

If you are hoping to find a critical analysis and review of the film, you won't find it here. Why? Because10 minutes into the film, I decided to switch off the logical lobes of my brain and just enjoy the palate of visual orgy presented to me. With the overflow of sensations running through each frame,I decided to stop taking mental photographs and just watch the damn robots.

This definitely means something because not every film is capable of making its audience forget they are watching a film, much less something that doesn't make sense.

What I personally liked about this film is Michael's Bay decisiveness to embrace his work as a dick flick. If you want an intellectual reflection of life, a psychological and spiritual analogy of peace and wisdom, you won't find it here. This is a dick flick, ie a cohesive composition of explosions, pretty faces, giant robots fighting, more explosions, cleavage... all without the help of logic.

So once again, if you want an emo-intellectual flick, go the arthouse but if you do want to watch Transformers, do come prepared. Leave your brains in your car.

But before I end this subjective first impression, I am really glad that the film explored two characters; Jetfire and Starscream. Both of them embodies different justifications and reactions toward conflict and violence. Without giving away spoilers, I have found new respect for Starscream and I feel that he is much more nobler than what meets the eye.




Movie aside. It was a good evening. I enjoyed it very much too =)

Sudden Revelation

How many of you watched Night At the Museum (part 1)?

I suddenly realised that Ben Stiller meets Dexter the monkey in an African exhibit. Dexter continues to terrorise Ben Stiller throughout the movie.

But wait. Dexter is a brown-tufted capuchin monkey... which originates from South America....
Major blunder this show made.

A Strange Game?

who cares if I have lost already?

courtesy of XKCD.com

Right back at you ;)

oh well... =)

Truth or/(of) Dare

How dare I? You dared me. So here, I accept your dare.

It's been too long. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all those missed calls. I'm sorry for all those late msn convos. I'm sorry for all the time that I'm too busy at the zoo. I'm sorry if i have given you mixed signals. I'm sorry if you have waited. I'm sorry for the excuses. I'm sorry dear.

But, I've decided. I want this to work, I really do. This is what I want.

How silly of me. It took me one whole year to realise how much you mean to me. I guess the last week without you really knocked it into my head.

I'm not sure if words can truly convey what I want to say. But Lizzy,

I'm here for you.






*ps: don't kill me for posting this photo. but YOU Dared me. hahaha

Happy Father's Day

I buried my head in my hands as my dad stomped out of a korean restaurant on Sunday. What is this ? Your service queue is illogical? Why isn't the air-conditioner working? This doesn't make sense. I'm taking a second queue number to make sure they won't skip our number! As he walked out in anger, I went to comfort the shell-shocked waiter who has no idea what hit him. Being the son to my father made me an experienced peacemaker. Being diplomatic for my dad is like the lone Japanese janitor who clears up behind Godzilla.

There is alot in life you can learn my old man, subtle hints and diplomacy is not one of them. It was during one these public analysis of incompetency that I swore to myself that I will not grow up to be my Dad. It was in Primary school and it is one the vows I still live by today.

Does that mean I disrepect my Dad? No. in fact, my father is one of the most respectable person I know in my life. I am glad he named me Pedro, a variation of Peter. I want to be a rock like my Dad when I reach his age.

In my eyes (and in many others') , my dad is an accomplished man. He has worked in one company since he earned his First Class Honours back in HK. His life is a truly a success, if you define success as progressive realisations.

Why didn't I want to be my Dad? Maybe it because his values are absolute. Never disregard your work. When you work, you put in 100%. If you work in the IT department, this means you know the codings backwards. If you work in a bakery, you know the exact ingredients composition in every bread. If you work in an aquarium, you know every fish species and requirements. If you work in the Zoo, you know your animals down to their latin names. My dad is a peaceful version of Rosharch.

When he sees unprofessionalism, he flares up. Morals, ethics, values and professionalism are absolute. Blame not the manager, everyone should work with common sense and inititative. Sadly, most of the world doesn't share his romantic ideals.

I may not find my dad the most amusing and entertaining father. His sense of humour has not been seen alive for 9 years, and it can be declared dead. If it get ressurrected. It can not only stop global warming, it will bring the wooly mammoths back into existence.
Throughout my time growing up, I always had trouble communicating with him and I prefered to talk with my sis and mom. This might explain my slightly feminine disposition. But really, the difference in frequencies is the main rift between father and son.

But I do respect my Dad as a man. I guess, in BGR, many of us try to emulate our parents' relationship. When it comes to love, My dad is a rock and he left some big footprints for us to fill up.

He decided that he liked my mom. He stayed with her all the way. Through the years, through the sweet times, through the tough times, through the arguments, through it all. Never once, did he strayed. One woman, one way. all the way. With his job, I am sure that women have crossed his path before, but he never strayed once. His steadfast simplicity and dedication is something I will strive to work towards.

His dedication is concrete. He may not be sharp enough to notice the anomalies in our goldfish, but when after he does, he will not leave a single fish behind. When one of our fish, tipsy, lost control of her swimming bladder 2 months ago, my dad did not abandon her. She costed $2.50. But in my dad's eyes, she was worth the life she is. For two months, he stayed by her side, checking on her when he is back from work. Like the sheperd Jesus described who will run out looking for that 1 lost sheep among his hundred. My dad's dedication and accountability is admirable.

But really, in my heart. My dad is the ideal husband and the best father I could ever ask for. He may not be funny, sassy or the slight bit interesting. But he taught me how to live like a man. He taught me not by words but by example.

So to the best Dad I know:
Happy Father's Day Dad.

ps: I will still not grow up to be you. But I will live up to the standards you have set for yourself. You will not be disappointed Dad.

Anime Eyes

## Edit: I swear upon the loveofmylifecharlenelow that there has been no edits to this post at all ##

A lazy response to shireenus' korean friends- (ps: It's an animal known as a Tarsier)
Filming today was good. very tiring and uber messy. But shoots like these remind me why I want to be in EBM.
I don't see it as a limited path to a peanut-pay, I don't see it as an idealistic dream. I don't even see it as ambition. But it's going to be the most fulfilling years in my life before I become a working independent adult.
To Angeline, Audrey, Carina, Sean, Terrence, Wee Koon, Sarah, Chang, KAISHI GOH, CHARELENE LOW and last but not least... my fellow OGL/Directing brother, Lide: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!... too bad lizzy wasn't around though..
FOC is almost here. I cant hardly wait.

Anime: Origin of Culture

In response to a post by my dearest Shireen,
" why do anime characters look caucasian?"

Large round eyes, chiselled jaw lines, non-black hair. We all know that most anime characters don't look the least bit Asian, much less Japanese. But why on Earth is this so?

Upon first glance, many might jump to the conclusion that Japanese are culturally insecure. They are not satisfied with themselves, as such they borrow features from all around to create their own dream utopia.
Others even claim that anime is a reflection of today's society. A simple reflection of how today's youth go for dyed hair and artificial make-up.

Wait. Hold your horses everyone. Before we jump the gun, we need to analyse anime from a historical perspective. What many people do not know is that anime isn't a recent invention. Anime has been on the air ever since the late 1950s, straight after the world war II.
It should be noted that at that point of time, Japan was undergoing an economic restructuring. Exports were crucial in her market recovery.
To call anime a reflection of today's society cannot be further from the truth.
As such, the primevial anime wasn't Japan-centric at all. In fact, if we take a look, we'll realise that many anime were made specifically (ironicaly) for a general audience. Rose of Versilles recounted the French Revolution, Starship troopers told a story of a Fillipino soldier in the global confederacy. Lupin told the story of French thief. Kimba told the story of a white African lion.
Anime was the Japan's window to the world, and the window for world to Japan. While they tried to export these products beyond Japan's water, Japanese became more and more fascinated with the foreign culture.
How did the purple and weird hair colours come in?
When we look at traditional anime, caucasian characters are not unusual. Many main protagonists were outrightly foreign. Blond, brunette and other foreign body features were drawn in for accuracy. However , with the rise of sci-fi anime, more and more weirder features started appearing. This is called a culturally utopia setting (napier, 2001).
Anime started to create a whole new culture with totally alien ethnics. Blue hair. Enormously large eyes. With these feature, character are not bound to any ethnical groups and cultures. They transcend all previous stereotypes that racial and gender grouping have imposed on our perceptions.
We'll see that in anime, there are many strong-willed, sassy, independent and strong women. Japan, however, still remains as a strongly patriachal society with strong respect for the male gender. What anime is doing, is that it is intentionally creating an alternate reality to the real world rather than emulate it. By intentionally destroying what viewers recognise as watermarks of reality, anime is able to break away from the laws of the real world.

This, of course, is just one of the many theories in a nutshell. I personally go with this one though. Anime characters look weird due to their very early cosmopolitican heritage. Today's characters are an evolution of what was percieved as an overall global culture over 50 years.

My Godzilla Phase continues

Aww, they removed their sad requiem video. Maybe they realised that Godzilla will never die.
Anyhoo, My Godzilla phase is still in. Not unlike the true Godzilla, my Godzilla-phase is known to enter a dormancy state of half a decade. Now it awakens!
so in replacement of Requiem, here is the opening credits the last Godzilla movie before its hiatus; Final Wars.

This is the most expensive Godzilla Film in history and was probably made out of good will rather than profit. This opening is the first time Akira Ifukube's theme isn't used but it is a tribute to the entire franchise nonetheless.

Requiem For the King

I remember crying when I first found out that my favourite King of Monsters died in this grand finale to the Heisei arc.

Just to let you know the context of this film. Godzilla is glowing red because he suffered internal injuries while protecting his child, Gozilla Jr, in his previous film in a fight with Spacegodzilla. As such, he is having an internal nuclear meltdown.

Meanwhile, this monster called Destroyah appears. It is apparently a mutation from the side effects of the oxygen detroyer weapon that killed THE very first and original Godzilla back in 1954. As such, it is the very first monster in the franchise born out the Godzilla's weakness.

Immediately, it clobbers and kills Godzilla Jr. Enraged, his father engages in an all-out fight with Destroyah, to the extent in which he finally succumbs to his injuries. dodgy dubs but beautiful movie and music T___T

emo muchs

Wrappsoon

Final Location for the last segment... just a little more left.

Accountability

K.S LYNN

If there was anything I remember from this man is that only we are accountable for our happiness.

I will be accountable for my own. I have decided to tell her. Happiness or misery, I will be accountable for it. I will not blame it on fate or procrastination. I will tell her soon.

Ironic Perks @ work

A Random Little thing that cheers me up at work.

When visitors with cameras try 'teaching' me how to use them.
"okok ! you'll need to press the button down to take the photo. Don't worry, the image will appear on the screen. Please press slowly ok?"


Little do they know that the reason why I am taking that extra 2 seconds longer to snap their photograph
is because I am switching off their unnecessary macro-mode and correcting their white balance.
But its alright. These are all little perks that cheer my day up.

Day at Sentosa

I never knew my hallmates were so kok.
Damn my badly timed flu.

A Dream Come True

Shizuoka. Mt.Fuji
Shiga. Lake Biwa
Aichi. Prefectures.
All this, in my next Sem.



When blessings come, they are often so surreal that you can't accept it.
Thank You Lord.

Revelation!

We accidentally captured a Shinigami on film.

We believe its name to be Rem.

Rejoice

supremely bored

Mr. Blue Sky

A Taiwan sky, September 2006

Sun is shinin' in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day hey,hey

Runnin' down the avenue
See how the sun shines brightly in the city
On the streets where once was pity
Mister blue sky is living here today hey, hey

Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?

Hey you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin'
And today is the day we've waited for

Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you

Mister blue, you did it right
But soon comes mister night creepin' over
Now his hand is on your shoulder
Never mind I'll remember you this
I'll remember you this way

-Electric Light Orchestra, 'Mr. Blue Sky'