monoceros blogsSeason 5 of "How I Met Your Mother" has been a bit of a let-down. There were a few good episodes but nothing to lift the show to the level of awesome-ness that defined it when I first began watching it five years ago. The finale, though, ended with some terrific HIMYM traditions - flashbacks, references to Barney's blog, running jokes, big changes, and Ted-isms that ring so true - reminding me again why I love this show.
One of the running jokes is the group's search for doppelgangers of themselves. The last one - Barney - appeared in the episode, though Barney also paraded as two of his own doppelgangers. The doppelganger thread tied in beautifully with the other storyline in the episode, which had to do with Robin and a choice she made, leading to Ted reminding Robin - and all of us - how much these characters have changed over the past five years.
Ted: And you, five years ago, you never would have chosen love over your career, but today you did.
Robin: Looks like I'm getting dumber.
Ted: No, just more courageous.
Ted: Look, we've all been searching for the five doppelgangers, right? Well eventually, over time, we all become our own doppelgangers. These completely different people who just happen to look like us.
It also reminded me how much all of us, the viewers, have changed. A few months ago, I was telling JF about how I feel there are different selves within us, not the various selves that surface in different situations and places but the selves that come and go with time. The person I was a few years ago is different from who I am today, and different too from the future me, whoever she will be.
And if you think of the people you know - especially the ones you refer to as "someone I used to know" - you realize it's true for them too. There are some who you love and will always love - all their multiple selves - and there are others who are too different from their past selves to mean anything to you now. And the ones who once loved you - the selves who did - they aren't there anymore. You see only their doppelgangers now, or perhaps it was their doppelgangers you knew before. And to them, you're one too.
And, yes, there was a good song at the end of the episode - A Fine Frenzy's "Lifesize." Like many songs that accompany good shows, it was splendidly chosen.
"All for love, we become
Larger than lifesize, wondersome
Great in the eyes of someone"
~ from "Lifesize" by A Fine Frenzy
Lifesize, by A Fine Frenzy
When I first saw Joe Wright's acclaimed Dunkirk scene in the film "Atonement," it was difficult not to be affected by the desperation and frailty of the hordes of men on the beach. It's been a couple of years since I saw the movie but I haven't forgotten that scene. The ferris wheel, the killing of the horses, the soldiers crowding in a gazebo, a marooned ship, the shell of a blue car, men wrestling with each other and with their madness. Wailing, shouting, singing. Burning papers spiraling towards a heaven that seemed so far away the idea of it could have been a delusion. Yet those soldiers kept singing. And waiting.
Watch the scene from "Atonement" here.
British, French, and Belgian soldiers along the Dunkirk coast
Elegy for Dunkirk, by Dario Marinelli
Elegy for Dunkirk, by John Beck (featuring Olivia Stone)
"The Legend of 1900" is perhaps one of the best films no one has seen, as someone once wrote. I knew of it years ago only because I was a rabid fan of anything Giuseppe Tornatore directed, so I kept track of his work (his more famous films include "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" and "Malena"). When I learned that he was making his first English-language film, to be titled "La Leggenda del Pianista sull'Oceano," I waited for it to open in Singapore. It never did, but they did release it in VCD format, which I bought.
His music collaborator was, of course, Ennio Morricone, who wrote the scores for his earlier films and has written some of the most beautiful music in film history. Music matters in this movie, because the plot revolves around a piano player who has spent his entire life aboard a ship. Very poetically, his world is all the ocean and the span of his piano's keyboard. The soundtrack is wonderful, but one piece stands out for me, because its meaning is derived from the scene over which it plays.
1900 (the protagonist is named for the year he was born in) is reluctantly making a recording aboard the ship, but as he plays, he catches sight of a young woman outside in the morning light, using the porthole as a mirror while she wipes the sleep from her eyes. There isn't a whit of self-consciousness about her; she doesn't see him, after all, and in her innocence, she now directs his fingers upon the piano. And how he watches her, and studies her, panicking slightly when she wanders beyond the frame of the porthole. His eyes search for her and find her again in another porthole, a small circle that encapsulates her face and the sea behind her. Like a photograph in an old-fashioned locket, but far better, for it's alive with her movements, the wind, the curling waves. It's a perfect moment for 1900. Everything that matters to him is right before him.
For the viewer, it's a beautiful combination of cinematography, music, and emotion; a three-minute story played out without words. You see 1900's emotions on Tim Roth's expressive face, but you hear them even more vividly in the music he plays.
There are other great scenes in the film, like the piano duel between Jelly Roll Morton (the inventor of jazz) and 1900. In that one, 1900's playing leaves you slack-jawed. But this is the scene that stops your heart, or reminds you that you have one and that it still responds to beauty and emotion. And music.
Playing Love, by Ennio Morricone
When I watched the 20th anniversary interview with Nick Park, creator of Wallace and Gromit, and learned how Hergé and his creation, Tintin (in the adventure "Destination Moon"), had inspired "A Grand Day Out," I was immensely pleased about the connection between two of my favorite story-tellers. Both draw up marvelous adventures of two fellows and their dogs, and during some important moments, it's the dog who saves the day (this happens way more often in "Wallace and Gromit" though). Gromit is often miles ahead of Wallace. And though both are terrific characters, it's Gromit who gets my favorite character vote. He's sensitive, an avid reader, a deep thinker, loves Bach, drinks tea, and though he's quiet, he has the most expressive face. And he knits!
So the pair are 20 now, but I sure hope this doesn't mean Nick Park will be slowing down. I'd love to see more of Wallace and Gromit! Their cheeky humor, the whimsical sets, the abiding friendship between them, Wallace's vests and nutty inventions, Gromit's rising and falling and twitching brow, the silly situations they get themselves into. 20 already! I think I'll celebrate by watching "The Wrong Trousers."
Last weekend, I organized a mini karaoke session, something I never imagined doing (I hadn't stood near a karaoke machine since I was 11). Still, I did so only because I'd won a free two-hour pass from a contest at a work dinner. Couldn't let it go to waste now, could I? We had two enthusiasts in our little group - an Aussie sailor who wanted to sing the theme song from "True Blood" (it wasn't available, unfortunately) and a girl from a Turkish city famous for mandarin oranges (the two us raised our arms and snapped our fingers while singing the Beatles' "Girl" ala traditional Greek dance style). It turned out to be quite a rollicking session. We morphed with every song, going all emo when OneRepublic's "Apologize" started up and then turning giddy and trippy with "Yellow Submarine." We extended our session for a couple more hours and sang until we were hoarse. Actually, we were already hoarse when we finished our first two hours but nobody seemed to care.
This weekend, sans the sailor, we went to see "(500) Days of Summer" (finally!). And how we loved it. H declared she wants a young man who would love her as sweetly as Tom loves Summer. And me? I loved the writing, and how it doesn't have a fairytale plot, and that it has an awesome soundtrack full of indie music, each song perfectly selected for its scene. The characters are flawed but sympathetic, unique but still recognizable as everyday people. They exude the joys and confusion and tenderness of what it means to be human.
A lot of the themes reminded me of those in Alain de Botton's writing. In fact, Tom reads The Architecture of Happiness by said author, and how fitting, since Tom trained as an architect, though he winds up a slightly unhappy greeting-card writer. The film also mentions Werther, the protagonist of The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Goethe. How uncanny, because in the last month, I read two books that refer to the character (one of them being Alain de Botton's The Consolations of Philosophy, a good book to dip into every now and then). In the film, at a karaoke bar (yes, another coincidence), Summer teasingly refers to Tom as "young Werther."
In one of the most moving scenes, Summer and Tom are sitting on a bench, with Tom's heart withering after a particularly difficult moment. Still, perhaps because of this conversation, he manages to retrieve the ideals he recently discarded, but with some important adjustments. (He reminds me of another romantic architect, Ted Mosby from "How I Met Your Mother.") Before she leaves, Summer tells him, "You weren't wrong, Tom. You were just wrong about me."
There goes the fear, by Doves (from the film's soundtrack)
Neil Patrick Harris killed at the Emmys as host and made a special appearance as Dr. Horrible.
Tonight, he'll make more folks (that'll be me) happy when Season 5 of "How I Met Your Mother" premieres. Here's a fun catch-up trailer to get us excited about the first episode. Not that we really need the encouragement, but it's a good one!
I've had my eye on this film for a while now, but it was DSD who gave me the heads-up about the latest trailer. It has a wonderful monologue about the objects and people that make up or weigh down our lives. Baggage, of the metaphorical kind.
People and our relationships with them - they're the heaviest. Not all are heavy though; the lightweights are the ones we shed no tears for when they vanish from our lives. The brief acquaintances, friends of convenience, distant colleagues, the hollow ones, the aloof, hostile, ingratiating. The heavies mark our lives, all through the years, like beacons on hills and cliffs. And who among them do we draw near to? Who among them do we carry with us as we arrive and depart from cities and towns; who do we remember at the ends and beginnings, the birthdays, anniversaries, memorials, and reunions?
At the end of the trailer, swans receive a mention. An example of symbiotic creatures who carry each other throughout their lives. Often, this makes the baggage lighter; you don't carry it alone, or sometimes you persuade each other to let go of some of it. But altogether, somehow, there's more to carry. So some people prefer to be sharks. They hunt, feed, and then they go about their way. No ties, no complications.
There are days when I think it's better to be a shark and others when I think I'd choose a swan's life over a shark's any time. But still I wonder how either could ever be better than the other. Perhaps we will be both all through our lives, transforming with the seasons, with the experiences; it's just the one we become at the end of our days that we'll remember ourselves as. And how heavy will our lives be then, or so very light?
Michael And Heather At The Baggage Claim, by Fountains of Wayne
Swans, by Unkle Bob
There are no summers where I live. Or you could say that we do have summers, summers that never end, which can be nothing short of a nightmare a lot of the time. Some days the humidity makes me want to scream.
In my head, summers are ice-cream parlors manned by bored college students, book carts outside indie bookstores, outdoor concerts, impossibly green fields without a soul in sight, a graveyard that actually seems a blissful place under a benevolent sun, clusters of hydrangeas, lone trees set nobly against a clear horizon.
Those are the summers I want.
Incidentally, when I was in kindergarten, I was friends with a girl named Summer, and I remember thinking how special a name it was. To be named after a season.
Now the film "(500) Days of Summer" has introduced me to another Summer, a rather quirky one. The movie's about two people who seem perfect for each other, but aren't. Because one doesn't believe in love, and the other...the other is a dreamy romantic.
The leads are terrific. Just watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt's face in the first scene of the trailer; it goes from distracted to attentive to attracted to hugely smitten (much to his own shock, and he stares after Zooey Deschanel, who seems to have unwittingly dropped a bomb on him and then breezed out of the lift). Perfect.
This next video doesn't have much to do with the film itself, though it has the same director, Marc Webb, and features the two stars, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I like it because unlike most music videos, it doesn't feature the singer lip-synching or gazing directly into the video like a preening nymph. Instead, Zooey (who actually is the vocalist behind the song - she's the female part of the duo She & Him) and Joseph appear like they're having a grand time dancing.
We should all be so lucky.
Here Comes Your Man, by Meaghan Smith
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here, by She & Him
B is for books. For beasts and boulders and birdwings. For Bach and Boccherini. Chopin's Berceuse and Barcarolle. The biscuits and butter in the refrigerator. For "Butler" in William Butler Yeats. B is for the boy who said his name so softly that I misheard it. B is for bougainvillea and bergamot, birch trees, banter, and balance. B is because...because I cannot forget. Bring back to me that word, that laugh. A brush, a buzz, a beckoning. The bottom of the sea, where ocean behemoths slumber and battle, birth and fade. Dante's Beatrice whom he captured but could not have. A broken ballad. The blood that clings to its falling notes. Balloons over a famous city. A basking lizard stretched in the sun. The brown of an eye where wonders bloomed like ink blot visions. The bell that told me you were calling. The bleating of my bitten heart, a pale-white creature. The "b" that bends and bleeds into all the letters that build a name. When I am bruised, it is a balm, or worse. A burning. I cannot say what "b" means; it is beyond me. It is a remembering bar of music. The back that turned to me. It is a burden, a breath, a puzzle box, a boundless hope, and still more than all of these.
"Bright Star" -
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing." ~ John Keats
"The Lovely Bones" -
...if we never did anything, we wouldn't be anybody." ~ from "An Education"
This trailer had me in seconds. A girl with a cello. Paris. The definition of education.
And then the music, the actors. I always rather liked Peter Sarsgaard. He isn't conventionally handsome, but there's a certain something about his face and air that I find incredibly riveting. And that gaze. He also happens to remind me, on occasion, of Ewan McGregor, and in the poster for this film, he is a spitting image of McGregor. I wonder what it would have been like if it were McGregor playing the character of David. Still, I prefer Sarsgaard for this film since he isn't so well-known and his status as an actor doesn't eclipse the character. He's also rougher round the edges, something the character probably requires. McGregor still possess the face of a guileless young man.
So what is education? The words "Sometimes an education isn't by the book..." flashed across the screen. I still don't know how to pin it down - what education ought to be - but I do agree that education isn't confined to the classroom. Or by the rules that "educators" set in stone. The philosophy of education changes constantly, and I love that it does. I love that it continues even when you're long past the age of a schoolgirl.
I'm not sure that I love the pain that accompanies it, but it does make me learn faster (even if I'm sometimes slow to apply what I've learned). And don't they say that the most painful lessons are the most valuable ones?
The film is based upon a memoir, adapted by Nick Hornby. If you don't want to know the whole of the film's plot, don't click on the link. I read the excerpt by Lynn Barber in The Guardian and liked how honest and unsentimental she is about her education. So while I do know how the film will turn out, I still want to see it. Every second of it.
I'm looking for the tower of learning
I'm looking for the copious prize
Saw it in your eyes what I'm looking for
All the sights of Paris
Pale inside your iris
The Tower of Learning, by Rufus Wainwright
I watched a Scrubs episode today (thanks again, Joseph!) and something that Turk said hit home. It was in reply to Elliot's question on how to make her second (or third?) go with JD better than before - "You wanna know what's so special about Carla and me? That we don't have to try and make it special. Okay? We're just connected. If you want things to be different with JD this time around, you gonna have to give up all of that immature, neurotic overthinking and just be with each other."
It reminded me of what DSD and K have told me time and time again - I think too much. And while it's good to think before leaping, sometimes I overthink things and wind up missing a good number of experiences. I need to stop doing that.
Inexplicably inspired recently, I tried it. So what did it feel like? I felt lighter. Not so much like an airhead, just a lot more like the person I could be whenever I'm relaxed and enjoying myself. And I like being that person.
Missed The Boat, by Modest Mouse
I'd Rather Be With You, by Josh Radin
I started watching "Scrubs" when I was in grad school, around 2005, a little later than when the series first began, but I'd like to think that it's never too late for anything (although I've been proven wrong a number of times). My buddy Noob had given me a bunch of downloads, and I remember breezing through three or four seasons over the summer and then watching subsequent seasons whenever I could, though the screwy streaming videos I watched in Singapore put an end to my regular viewings. Still, I've never forgotten the terrific music selection, J.D.'s weird and wonderful fantasies, his musings, the bro-love he shares with Turk ("chocolate bear"), the heartbreak he experiences, the hurt he causes, Colin Hay's songs, the great ensemble cast, especially the janitor, Perry, and Dr. Kelso. Every episode was a grand treat.
The show has finally ended (it goes on but without the usual cast, so to me, it might as well be the end), and though I haven't had the chance to play catch-up on the seasons I've missed, I couldn't resist reading about the finale. I kind of wish I didn't. Not that anything was spoiled for me, but the accompanying clip was so good, it made me want to purchase all the missing seasons from iTunes just so I could get to this last episode.
I watch another show - "How I Met Your Mother" - which I love as much as I do "Scrubs," and perhaps one of the reasons is the main character. Both J.D. and Ted are endearingly dreamy and hopeful. Haven't we all met someone like them once? Innocent and complex, young and also very old, greedy for but sometimes a little apprehensive of new experiences, frustratingly sensitive on all the wrong occasions, sometimes sunk with disappointment, but always emerging again to chase after clouds and dreams and shadows.
But back to "Scrubs." I like what Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly has to say about J.D. after these eight seasons -
"But understanding and experiencing that suffering isn't the same thing as being defined by it: Is there anyone more resilient than J.D., who despite everything, still thinks this time, his fantasies could come true?"
"The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from...
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know."
~ from The Book of Love, by Peter Gabriel
I think I've reached the heights of maudlin behavior when my throat starts to catch or my eyes start to sting a little while watching, not a movie, but a movie trailer.
But I think "Everlasting Moments" will be the exception.
Perhaps it's the theme of seeing that captured me, or how the gift of a camera can move a woman to tears, or how photographs are miniature pieces of art that people take for granted, or how people don't often pay attention to what they see or how they see things. Or perhaps it's because of the story. The story of a woman who finds, through the lens of a camera, a measure of independence and dignity that frees her mentally from the bleakness of her life.
In the past two days, I've discovered that a person can get a lot of reading done in a hospital garden. Apart from quantities of birds and flowers, there are no distractions, and I relished the quiet, green space, four levels up from the ground. Behind me rose the Marriot Hotel, and around it, I imagined, surged the constant current of shoppers and tourists, but I saw and heard none of it as I sat reading in the garden.
Still, the hospital is no cheery place, certainly not when the fourth floor is also home to the children's ward. The novel kept my spirits elevated, and so did the memory of an animated short film that I saw over the weekend.
"La Maison en Petits Cubes" (The House of Small Cubes) by Kunio Kato, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film last night. And it deserved to. Of the five nominated short films, I saw three. The Russian entry, "Lavatory Lovestory," was sweet and delightful, and "Oktapodi," cute and amusing. But it was the Japanese "La Maison en Petits Cubes" that took my breath away.
An old man lives in a tiny room that we soon realize is one of many that he has built throughout his life, each cube of a room resting atop the previous one. It's some time in the future, when most of the world is submerged and the sea level continues to rise. The short film doesn't dwell on this; instead, it reveals the stages of the man's life, the memories enclosed within each cube.
These 12 minutes of melancholic wonder remind me of Hayao Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky," particularly the apocalyptic motif of submerged worlds (on the island in the sky, the children find ponds with tiny buildings - whole worlds - within the waters). Japanese artist Inoue Naohisa's paintings also feature similar images. All three have different styles, but their creations suggest a distinctly Japanese sensibility, one that values nostalgia - not maudlin or mawkish but poetic and arresting in all its serenity.
The short film also reminded me of a young man in Argentina who told me he wanted to build his own house one day and live in it with the girl he loved, whoever she might be. I'd never met anyone who had a dream like this, certainly not in this day, and his declaration took me by surprise. And as I watched "La Maison en Petit Cubes," I remembered something else he had said - that he was wistful about much of his past but never regretful. Years from now, if we're still friends, I hope he'll be telling me a story much like this one.
A Korean immigrant's vast film collection, an Italian town, quirky people in charge. This article could have been the plot for a new Giuseppe Tornatore film, with a touch of "Be Kind Rewind" thrown in. But this is non-fiction, and some of the most fascinating I've come across this week.
A Korean immigrant in New York, Yongman Kim, started a video rental business in 1987, and over the years, he amassed some 55,000 films. But online DVD rentals meant that this amazing video store had to close, and Mr. Kim decided to release his entire collection to any person or institution if they agreed to these terms: keep it intact, keep it up to date, and make it accessible to members of his video shop and others.
No offer satisfied Mr. Kim until a town in Sicily, Salemi, stepped up.
And this is why I'd like to live in Salemi -
Last year, in a bizarre political manoeuvre, the ancient Sicilian town of Salemi had voted a dandyish art critic called Vittorio Sgarbi as its new mayor.It was clear from the start that Mr Sgarbi would not be a conventional mayor, and he proved it by offering houses in the ancient but depressed town, heavily damaged by an earthquake in 1968, for sale at €1 each to owners who agreed to restore them. He also appointed a raft of unlikely people to municipal jobs: a Sicilian prince as head of town planning, an avant-garde Roman artist as "councillor for nothing", and his close friend, Oliviero Toscani, as councillor for creativity.
...
Last November, from his new "department for creativity", he launched a similar initiative, selecting 20 young artists from the island to join him in the town, providing them with food and lodging and little else and encouraging them to set their imaginations free. "We chose them for their talent and capacity," he said yesterday.
"It's an arts workshop. So far they've produced a manifesto on violence against women, projected a festival on human rights, designed a project on obesity, another on differentiated rubbish collection, another on illiteracy, a daily programme on the news for a TV music channel. We're working on a four-page newspaper which will be offered as an insert to national papers; maybe The Independent would be interested?"
And the video collection? One of Mr Toscani's many plans include the "Never-ending festival," a 24-hour projection of several films simultaneously. The festival would last 11 years.
There's something very irresistible about living in a town led by a mayor with wild - infectiously wild - ideas. And that the town happens to be in Italy...well, it couldn't have worked out better.
Visit To The Cinema, by Ennio Morricone (from Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso")
Gelsomina, by Nino Rota (from Fellini's "La Strada", performed by Quadro Nuevo)
It's never too late for anything, people say. As I told a friend - "a rare connection with another person or exhilarating exploration late in life? Take your pick."
Synopsis -
New Yorker Harvey Shine is on the verge of losing his dead-end job as a jingle writer. Warned by his boss that he has just one more chance to deliver, Harvey goes to London for a weekend to attend his daughter’s wedding but promises to be back on Monday morning to make an important meeting—or else. Harvey arrives in London only to learn his daughter has chosen to have her stepfather walk her down the aisle instead of him. Doing his best to hide his devastation, he leaves the wedding before the reception in hopes of getting to the airport on time, but misses his plane anyway. When he calls his boss to explain, he is fired on the spot. Drowning his sorrows at the airport bar, Harvey strikes up a conversation with Kate, a slightly prickly, 40-something employee of the Office of National Statistics. Kate, whose life is limited to work, the occasional humiliating blind date and endless phone calls from her smothering mother, is touched by Harvey, who finds himself energized by her intelligence and compassion. The growing connection between the pair inspires both as they unexpectedly transform one another’s lives.
"Last Chance Harvey" reminds me of "Before Sunrise" but it's an encounter that takes place for the pair a little later in life. Does it matter? The encounter seems to be just as rare and beautiful.
And then there's exploration. Via balloons. Without leaving the comfort of your house. Because if you're 78, why should you give that up? Carl Fredricksen is finally fulfilling the promise he made his wife when they were very young - to travel to South America. But she probably didn't expect him to do it balloon-style.
The Shining, by Badly Drawn Boy (as heard in the trailer)
Tonight We Fly, by The Divine Comedy
I love fall and winter for the excellent films that get released, and one that I'm especially looking forward to is "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." It stars the exquisite Cate Blanchett who can carry adolescent innocence in a glance, and gravitas and grace with her voice alone. How wonderful that her character is named Daisy - after Gatsby's great love in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby - and not the original Hildegarde. And then there's Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button, a character that will let him stretch his acting skills. Benjamin Button is born looking like an old man, and as he ages, his appearance grows more youthful. It will be fascinating to watch Benjamin Button - vertically challenged, bespectacled, gray-haired at seven years old - who grows into an impossibly young man, all of sixteen years with his unblemished face and corn-colored hair, and a far older soul. (You'll see the young - or old, depending on how you look at it - Mr. Button at the end of the second trailer.)
Fitzgerald's short story was largely inspired by Mark Twain, who remarked that "it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end." So he turned things round for one lucky individual, or unlucky, considering that Benjamin Button's aging process is unique among his family and friends. Since then, several authors have taken this concept on board. Andrew Sean Greer is one who did so. In The Confessions of Max Tivoli, Max Tivoli ages backwards. He also meets the girl he loves three times; on each occasion, she doesn't recognize him.
Director David Fincher and the film's writers appear to have been similarly inspired as they developed the brief story into a more epic film. Benjamin gets to meet Daisy when she is six, and again when she's in her 20s. However, she appears to know who he is and has accepted the strangeness of his condition. In the short story, the theme focuses on our attitudes toward aging, but there's plenty else in the story to mine, and Fincher appears to be thoroughly exploring a relationship where one person grows old while the other becomes increasingly young and potent. I'm excited to see how the film reflects our fixations on youth, beauty, mortality, and demonstrates how love endures - or doesn't - the vicissitudes of life, our appearances, our desires.
"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been." ~ Madeleine L'Engle
I've never been a fan of Claire Danes, not since she wailed her way through "Romeo and Juliet." She was tolerable in "Stardust," glowing quite prettily as Yvaine, the star. But it's in this one scene in "Evening," another film adaptation of a splendid novel, that she impresses.
She surprises with her singing - tender, untrained - but it's the way she gazes at her friend (played by Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep's real-life daughter) as she sings that really makes the scene. By turns, she is nervous, thrilled, brimming with happiness, love, and hope for Lila, especially in the opening strains of the song. Of course, Mamie Gummer's Lila Wittenborn looking uncannily like a college friend of mine made it that much more poignant for me. And then the palpable emotions among the four main characters. What a story they tell in those three minutes.
When I saw the trailer for "Man on Wire", I recalled a vague tale of a French man who walked and danced on a tightrope between the two World Trade Center towers. The year was 1974, when Nixon resigned; in fact, he resigned a day after the incident. I never knew much more than that. So the trailer captured my attention immediately, and it held it in its grip.
We could watch the documentary for its marvelous feat alone, but today, especially for New Yorkers, many of us would bring to it our own awareness of the events of September 11. How does it affect our viewing? Does it make it harder to watch, or does it move us even more? Whichever the case, it's a glorious way to see the Twin Towers again, to imagine and feel the wonder and awe that filled onlookers, so vastly different from the horror that we experienced nearly seven years ago.
It makes you wonder too, could I live like that, right there on the edge?
Read Salon.com's interview with Philippe Petit.
Hellboy hangs with geek du jour, Chuck.
I'm aware of the craze over Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, though I never thought to see what the fuss was about. Vampires aren't really my thing as far as genre fiction goes (I made the exception only for Elizabeth's novel, and her book doesn't quite count as genre fiction), though there is something very erotic about lips pressed against a neck. At any rate, I nearly changed my mind about vampires when the actor Robert Pattinson (famous for playing Cedric Diggory) appeared in the trailer, because the first words that popped into my head were "Byronic hero." Byronic heroes aren't exactly my thing either, though I've noticed a number of appealing traits, and they certainly are interesting to observe. Heathcliff and Rochester, anyone?
Of all the winners at this year's Oscars, these three made me happy they won:
Marion Cotillard for her role as Edith Piaf in "La Môme" and
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová for their song "Falling slowly" from "Once."
Glen got to make an effusive thank-you speech but when it came to Markéta, the orchestra drowned her out before she could get a word in. Jon Stewart has always been a great guy in my books, but his position shot farther up when he retrieved Markéta from backstage so that she could have her moment at the Academy Awards. And her words are worth more than plenty of other mundane thank-you speeches. She touches on the struggle of independent musicians and the need for hope to keep them going and bind everyone together. It could've rung false if spoken by most people, but coming from Markéta Irglová, who is one of the most sincere and sweetest persons to ever walk a stage in Hollywood, her speech deserved all the applause and cheers it received.
While they sure cleaned up good (Glen's clean-shaven and Markéta dons a gown) for a performance at the Oscars, I still like the film's version of the duet better - sans orchestra, just a piano, a guitar, and two voices in a quiet but beautiful harmony.
"Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
DSD and I spent Valentine's evening together. It happened by chance. On Sunday, after our late lunch, I suggested meeting again this week; my Thursday evening was open, and hers was too. And then it occurred to us that it would be Valentine's Day. Did we want to brave the streets where flowers and bears and balloon hearts would almost certainly decorate the arms of young girls? Sure.
We had Korean food at Far East Plaza, tried to find clothes that weren't shapeless sacks of cloth, failed at that, looked at shoes, and talked plenty. We talked about our match-making success (the couple are newly engaged), how we had yet to figure out our lives; we discussed careers, job interviews, places we wanted to see, places on Monocle's list of most livable cities - Munich, Copenhagen, Zurich, Tokyo, Vienna, Helsinki, Sydney, Stockholm, Honolulu, Madrid, Melbourne, Montreal, Barcelona, Kyoto, Vancouver, Auckland, Singapore(!), Hamburg, Paris, Geneva; she shared her stories about working on farms, I dreamed about working on farms; we wondered about our friends, admitted to knowing how lucky we are to have our passions - paddling for her, tango for me - through which we escape the world. She loves being out in the sea and I love that I can be away from everything. I read somewhere that "tango begins when you decide to live in another country in another time in your mind, while continuing to function in the life you are living," and that's almost how I see it.
Earlier, on Sunday, we also talked about the films "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset," which I like to think "speak" to each other, in pretty much the same way the two sensitive protagonists enjoy a long, passionate conversation in each film. DSD prefers "Before Sunset," which seems more realistic, because life isn't pretty for either of them. I like both equally, because I can still remember what it's like when the world seems incredibly open and full of possibility, when you're young like Celine and Jesse in "Before Sunrise." The films work because of their honesty and real-world magic, the kind that happens between two people who find a rare connection. Perhaps this is the 90s version of "Once." "Before Sunset," set nine years later, builds on the things that made the first film work, and makes them better. When Celine and Jesse reveal to each other how miserable they are, laying bare their secrets, they're in their most convincing scene. DSD and I are nearly 30, not very old, but old enough to understand what they're feeling. What makes a film, book, or poem reach out and grab a person is that startling moment of recognition. You see it, and it's saying, "I see you."
Here are highlights from both films, and songs to go along with them.
The person who put this video on Youtube calls it the best scene in the first film: the awkward silence; the stolen glances - unseen by them - that tell the audience everything.
Come Here - Kath Bloom
My favorite - the wacky make-believe phone-call scene in a Viennese cafe. They get to tell each other what they think and feel, without the pressure of telling each other "directly."
Falling In Love In A Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg
Not really a scene from "Before Sunset," but the trailer itself.
You won't see this in the trailer, but I have to say how I like that the first film ends quietly but powerfully - images of all the places where Jesse and Celine sat and talked the night away; now they're lit with the morning sun. Scenes in the morning are usually hopeful, suggesting newness and possibility, but we've seen these places in another time, another light; now they're empty, and haunted by the memory of Celine's and Jesse's presence and words. The sequel opens similarly, with a series of places in Paris. As the film progresses, these places are filled in with the strolling figures of Jesse and Celine. They're in a narrow walkway, heading to a cafe, entering a garden path. It's also the second film speaking to the first one, saying that it remembers, and, let's begin again.
Edge of the Ocean - Ivy
This is what they've really been thinking and feeling for the nine years they didn't spend with each other.
Roger Ebert's reviews say it best - "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset."
Dozens of critics and thousands of audience members couldn't be wrong - "Once" is certainly one of the great films this year.
EW's Owen Gleiberman says it best - "In a year when Hairspray and Sweeney Todd arrived on the big screen with fervor and panache, John Carney's wee gem of an Irish indie brought off something miraculous. It invited you to swoon the way that only a great musical can. Yet it did so quietly, realistically, with nothing more than two lost souls — a 30ish Dublin busker and the coltish Czech émigré he meets in the street — gathered at the piano, or in a recording studio, to declare the tender ardor they can express only through music. A lot of movies make you cry; this one makes your heart burst."
I wrote about "Once" half a year ago, listened to the soundtrack often enough but gave up hope of the film being screened in Singapore. It wasn't until I met my friend Nigel for lunch on Friday - during which he talked about "Once" and how he loved it - that I decided I should get round to watching it.
"Once" is set in Dublin, a city that attracts and welcomes traveling musicians, like Mexican guitarists Rodrigo and Gabriela. Our protagonists are a pair of musicians who meet on a street, though only one of them is actually playing music. The Irish guy is a street busker, singing and playing his guitar for passers-by, while the girl, a Czech immigrant, sells flowers from a basket. She sees him singing late one night, and intrigued by the song and his passionate singing, asks him questions like who he wrote it for and what happened to the woman. When she finds out he fixes Hoovers for a living, she insists that he help her with hers, and returns the next day to the same spot, dragging her dark blue Hoover behind her like a small pet. He's a little annoyed at her persistence until he finds out she's a classically trained pianist and wants to hear her play. They wind up at a music store where the owner kindly lets her play the piano for free since she can't afford to own one. When she plays Mendelssohn for the guy, he's stunned by what he hears. Eventually, he offers up the score of a song he's written, sings her the basic chords, and as he begins strumming his guitar, she joins in with the piano. He sings the first few lines, and when she tentatively adds an accompanying harmony, he's a little surprised but pleased. It's an amazing scene that begs repeat viewings - the music seems simple but the melody is strong and full of yearning; the lyrics hint at the story to come; the guy and girl get caught up in the profound experience of playing a song together for the first time and realizing how much they enjoy it. It's such a genuine, unexpected moment for them and for the audience.
What I love about the film is how everything appears so unrehearsed and unforced. The actors aren't professionals and this could have been a documentary for all I knew. It's true to life, where drama doesn't always escalate in a romance that begins at a wrong time. Despite their intense connection through music, there are other people in their lives - he's thinking about a former girlfriend and she has an estranged husband.
(Skip the jump if you don't want to read any spoilers.)
It's a bittersweet end where after she helps him make a recording to take to London (before this, he decides ultimately to look up his old girlfriend in London and become a professional musician there), he wants to spend his last few hours with her, but she backs out of meeting him. The end is little more than a kiss on a cheek and a farewell gift of a piano. He doesn't even get to say goodbye to her. But when her face lights up at the sight of the piano, when he smiles as he walks to catch his plane, thinking about her seeing the piano; when she plays the piano while her husband, newly arrived in Dublin, plays with their daughter, I thought it a perfect ending. The final moment shows her finishing her song on the piano and then gazing wistfully out the window. Understatement is a beautiful thing in a movie! As the music of "Falling Slowly" wound down, the screen became a blur within seconds, and my nose needed tending to as well.
Despite the protests of a few people who complained that too little of the guy's and girl's attraction to each other is shown - did they really care for each other that deeply? - there's actually a scene that tells you the answer (on her part, anyway), if you know Czech. I don't, and I had to read up on her response to his question "Do you love your husband?". She replies in Czech, "The one I love is you." Add the setting of Irish sea-cliffs, the meaning of her untranslated answer to him would leave anyone breathless.
I re-read Salon's review and still very much like what it highlights - the delicacy and modest tones of the film, the strength of the characters - particularly the girl's - and the very real and difficult lives they lead. The film "reminds us -- particularly those of us over 40 -- how complicated young people's lives can be: When most of your life is still ahead of you, the fear of making the wrong choices can be a burden, even more so when you have a child."
A friend said the film has a weak title. "Once," it's too simple, too easy, she said. But when you pair it with the movie's tagline - "How often do you find the right person?" - the title is perfect.
I spent the week before my Japan trip attending screenings at an animation festival held at the National Museum. At the behest of Frank in Ann Arbor, I made sure I got a ticket to watch "The Danish Poet," one of many international animated shorts featured at the festival. "The Danish Poet" won this year's Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, but I didn't pay much attention to it until Frank wrote to say that I should watch it if it ever showed in Singapore; he was certain that I would love it.
He knows me well. The short film brings up ideas about fate and chance, and the small, everyday details and events that are easily forgettable even if they aid in orchestrating a larger outcome. I loved every minute of it: whimsical art, a light but distinctive soundtrack, subtle injections of humor.
Of course, I didn't know that it's easily available on Youtube. No matter, this means I can watch it any number of times now. And I should also pull Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter off the shelf and finish reading all 1168 pages of it.
What's not to love? The movie has big band music, transporting scenes of London, an excellent cast: the brilliant Frances McDormand, effervescent and talented Amy Adams (fresh off "Enchanted"), the sweet-faced Julliard boy Lee Pace (from "Pushing Daisies"), and dashing and debonair Ciaran Hinds (if you didn't see him in "Persuasion," you should).
(Look out for the blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance of Shirley Henderson, who plays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies; she's the one who makes over Miss Pettigrew, giving her "a little powder." I recognized her voice before her face; no one can forget Moaning Myrtle's voice!)
I watched him become that famous guy with the radio, standing below a girl's window, and then morph into a homicidal but cool professional hitman attending his high school reunion, and change yet again into a self-absorbed, music-obsessed fellow in Chicago. John Cusack did good in smart and funny films like "Say Anything," "Grosse Pointe Blank," and "High Fidelity" but went to waste in throwaway rom-coms like "America's Sweethearts" and "Serendipity." Now, he's a fair bit older, pudgier, but once again marvelously watchable in "Grace is Gone," which won the Audience Award for Drama at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
The trailer alone undid me. And then there's the surprisingly poignant score by Clint Eastwood, who I thought had already done everything from acting to producing to directing. While this may be his first full-length score, it turns out he's had writing credits on several soundtracks since 1986.
Bespectacled and frumpy, Cusack is a husband and a father dealing with the loss of his wife who's been killed in action far from home - specifically, Iraq. The film is about his struggle to tell his daughters that their beloved mother is dead. Cusack is entirely convincing in his frailty, strength, pain, and devotion. See why in the trailer below.
In 1998, Gwyneth Paltrow won the Oscar for her role as Viola in "Shakespeare in Love," a role that, while entertaining, did not deserve the award; certainly not when another Oscar-nominated role carried far more gravitas and pathos - Cate Blanchett's Queen Elizabeth I in "Elizabeth."
Nine years later, the sequel should land Blanchett another nomination, and if the trailer is anything to go by, she's a shoo-in for the award. Blanchett's become a queen again, and we witness her power, fragility, rage, pride, and yearning.
If I had to pick a favorite scene, it would be Elizabeth armoring up to face the Spanish Armada and giving her troops some pep talk, or rather, that famed Speech to the Troops at Tilbury. An excerpt: "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a King, and of a King of England too! And I think it foul scorn that Spain or Parma or any prince of Europe should dare invade the borders of my realm". After that, it would be Elizabeth telling off the Spanish diplomat: "I too can command the wind, sir!" If I were one of Cate's young sons watching his mother in that scene, I'd probably faint dead away from terror.
Here is the international trailer that preceded the just-released North American one.
Acting on the advice of Entertainment Weekly, I watched the trailer for the latest Michel Gondry film, "Be Kind Rewind." I enjoyed "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and wanted to watch but missed "The Science of Sleep" (will watch it on DVD), so learning that he has another movie pleased me. However, the trailer didn't just please me; I was grinning and laughing and watching it again and again, if this were on video, I'd be rewinding a fair bit!
Two friends (Jack Black and Mos Def) film their own versions of famous movies ("Ghostbusters," "Driving Miss Daisy," "The Lion King," "Robocop,") after they learn that all the videos in the store Mos Def's character works in have been erased. I can't decide which parts of the trailer I like best - Jack Black singing (mangling) the "Ghostbusters" theme song; filming "Driving Miss Daisy"; filming "Robocop"...there are so many I like!
It's the original bumbling spy! Here is the opening from the 60s TV show.
And here's the trailer for the movie that's due out next summer. Steve Carell and Alan Arkin (from "Little Miss Sunshine") are excellent casting choices. Anne Hathaway looks terrific as Agent 99, and The Rock, cool and statuesque; I certainly hope he gets some comic moments too.
What I especially like about the original show is the corporate-world details applied to the world of spying. My favorite - "In the interest of company morale, both CONTROL and KAOS have their own bowling teams." (CONTROL and KAOS are enemy agencies.) And who can forget the shoe phone? I'm guessing the movie version will be set in the present day, so a cell phone will likely replace the shoe phone. At least the phone booth/elevator is still around!
So they've gone ahead and done it, turned Charlie Baxter's The Feast of Love into a film. It's not going to be set in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but Portland, Oregon. $#@%!
I got this from my brother, and it's one of the best ads I've seen lately. Way to go, Federer! 11 and counting.
It's been real nice seeing more of VanTan lately. We had dinner with D one evening last month; Van came over to have pizza another night, after which we had a three-way phone conversation with DSD calling from London; that same week, I went over to her place for Indonesian food and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" on her Mac. Two weekends ago, I got to see her perform at her school concert, where I was treated to a jivin' jazz piece composed by the talented lass herself - "Riding'". It's been long years since I first knew Van to be a whiz at music (among other things), and I remember well the song she wrote for well, me. Or perhaps not the music itself (it's a little fuzzy in my memory; Van, where's my long promised recording of it?), but that she wrote one at all for her namesake.
Last night, we felt like kids again (or I did, anyway) as we watched the Transformers movie. My memories of Transformers are linked invariably to my brother who started his fanboy days with the series when we were small. He has always been more into it than I am, and so is Van (who has named some of her koi after Autobots), but I distinctly recall being impressed by Optimus Prime's noble leadership and heroic qualities, Bumblebee's courage and zest, and the awesomeness of the Dinobots. I never had any Transformer toys of my own, but recently, I bought myself a Convoy (what Prime's known as in Japan) Revoltech figure, and have on temporary loan my brother's extra WST (World's Smallest Transformers) version of Grimlock, complete with movable jaw and little swingy arms (I like Grimlock in his dino mode).
The toys helped fan anticipation for the movie, and soon after Van said she'd save Wednesday for it, I booked us tickets to the digital 4k version of the film. She's written a review, which you can refer to if you don't mind spoilers. It wasn't a superb movie, but it wasn't all bad either. Watching Prime transform for the first time was amazing, and I can't say I didn't laugh out loud when the Autobots attempted to conceal themselves about the Witwicky residence. Prime, of course, chided them for the lousy job, though he wasn't too great at it himself. I wished for more fighting between the Transformers that wasn't visually and aurally interrupted with explosions and ensuing smoke. The only "clean" fight was between Prime and Bonecrusher along a highway. More of that (Prime kicking ass) in the sequel, please, and some Dinobot action too.
I'm not sure why I was looking up information on Emily Blunt, but somewhere along the way, I read that Emily sang on her boyfriend's (Michael Buble) latest album, and that she'd also sung on a film called "Gideon's Daughter,". So I went to Youtube and hunted for "Natasha's Song" and even though I knew nothing about the film, I felt drawn by Emily's voice, the haunting melody, the way some pain inside her is kept fiercely in check even as she breathes life into each compelling line of the song. Is she telling her own story? Is she speaking of her own father? Is she speaking to her father? While the sleepy-eyed girl sings, her gaze is steady, perhaps laying heavily on her father in the audience. When the song ends, and the applause begins, she breaks into a smile, just a schoolgirl pleased with what she's accomplished; but then, just before she turns away, for an instant, she glares stonily at someone.
Thankfully, some kind soul put the entire film there, and I got to watching it right away. It turns out that the song leads her father to desperately wonder how he can reconcile with her before she leaves him, possibly forever. Bill Nighy turns in a beautifully nuanced performance. He is Gideon Warner, a successful man in the PR line, but so flawed in many other ways. His life revolves around his work or the female celebrities who cling to him. He hasn't been a good man, but you feel for his character. Right in those moments when his need for change, his desire to connect to another human being is so palpable.
Just as he begins to reach towards his daughter, another person unexpectedly enters his life. Miranda Richardson's Stella comes from a world very different from Gideon's, though they did grow up in the same area. She looks like a hippie, wears her hair bright red, and works in a 24-hour shop to escape her grief of losing her five-year-old son. Together, these two parents learn to cope with their pain and loss, and Stella slowly guides Gideon towards a different kind of life.
It's a quiet movie, filled with quiet moments, pauses, images, expressions. But each one is weighty with emotion and significance. The music - in particular Natasha's song and the famous Thomas Tallis 40-part motet, "Spem In Alium" - also does an important job of pushing the story ahead, affecting the characters and revealing much of their emotional landscapes.
One of the loveliest things about the film is its ethereal quality, created by the narrative device itself. The film is framed by scenes of the storyteller, one of Gideon's friends, who is narrating it to a young woman. He tells it almost as if it were a fable, and yet, he did meet all of the characters of his story. Knew them, saw them. It's a fable that he watched unfold as it was being written. Written in a time we all lived in: in 1997, when New Labour rose to power and Princess Diana died, an event that seemed unbelievable when it happened. That real-life magic continues in one scene where the figures of three people vanish from a street in Edinburgh; they've been magicked away into a part of the story that can't be told to us because the storyteller doesn't know it himself. That part certainly resembles real life, the way we can never know what happens to some of the people who crossed our paths a long time ago.
Even though it rained this past Monday, I still felt we barely had any rain this past month. So when I woke to a cloudy, dusty gray sky today, I thought, yes! Rain again. By lunch time, it was pouring. And it rained again late in the night, through the night, for most of the night.
It was a good Saturday, because, believe it or not, I finally played my first game of Scrabble with my mother and two of her friends. I'm happy to report I won, and my mom came in second. After I ran off for a movie in the afternoon, my mother won the next game. Woo-hoo!
I'd imagined Saturday couldn't be better after the rain and Scrabble, but then the Japanese anime I caught at Orchard Cineleisure pushed it to the top of a short list of great Saturdays. I first discovered "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" or "Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo" or "Tokikake" (for short) at the Kinokuniya bookstore. In the manga section, tacked on a pillar is a huge poster of a schoolgirl in a short skirt leaping across a blue sky. "Opening in June," the sign said. I went home, did a Google search and found out that it'd won a major Japanese animation award - beating out even a Studio Ghibli film - and received many, many good reviews from critics and viewers lucky enough to have seen it in the few film festivals it played at.
The film's main delight is a high school girl, Makoto, who discovers the ability to time-leap or jump into the past. She tries out her power hesitantly at first, and then moves on to bigger things like singing karaoke for 10 hours (going back in time after each karaoke session ends), acing surprise tests that are no longer surprises to her, averting the usual school disasters like frying tempura in home econ and getting huge guys tossed in her direction. But when time-leaping involves fixing things for or about her best friends - two blokes named Chiaki and Kousuke - without their knowledge, the results get a little more complicated.
I loved the scenes of modern Tokyo; the lovely friendship between Makoto and the boys; how real their characters seemed in speech and behavior; the fine comedy of errors and bumbling efforts achieved only by high school students; the brilliant soundtrack with two classical solo piano pieces that reminded me of the hours I spent practicing piano as a teenager. Mostly, I loved the story and how it made me feel - nostalgic, wistful, thoughtful about how it's impossible to avoid certain events and being responsible for the effects if you did attempt to avoid them. There's something about high school (or in my case, junior college) that's unlike any other phase in life, and watching "Tokikake" made me wish, just for a few moments, that I was seventeen again, brimming with the kind of energy that makes a schoolgirl leap across a blue sky.
It's playing exclusively at Cathay cinemas in Singapore, and I expect only for a short period. Go watch it if you can. I've read that even non-anime viewers found it charming, moving, and very delightful.
Here's the trailer.
And a few reviews.
An update is long overdue. Unfortunately, I'm rushing an editorial job so the update will have to wait till perhaps, this weekend.
In the mean time, I thought I'd put a brief note about - of all things - desktop images. I've been using movie posters for my wallpapers - small 4 x 6 size pictures against a black background. Here's the latest.
I really, really like this trailer.
I don't care if Waitress appears mainstream - it's really an indie film - or that the pies might be a little overkill (still, the names of the pies are pretty great). It's got Keri Russell (Felicity!) and Nathan Fillion (from Firefly!). And in the awful-husband role is creepy Jeremy Sisto who first creeped me out in Six Feet Under years ago.
Despite the comedy and heartfelt goodness (though I suspect there won't be a predictably happy ending, because the clue - if you catch it quickly enough - is right there in the trailer), the film has a tragic background. Adrienne Shelley, who writes, directs, and appears in the film, was murdered before she got to see her work raved about at the Sundance Film Festival. I think a lot of people want the film to do well; it would be a wonderful tribute to the director.
On a personal note, my teaching observation came and went. I don't think it was great, but I suppose it wasn't all bad either. My students were supportive and quite sweet (I do like them so!). I have three more weeks of teaching and intensive grading and eating the same ol' mee pok tah at the Engineering canteen (it's the shortest line). Somewhere in between, I'll miss my brother's graduation (my parents get to attend though), squeeze in a few tango workshops with Argentine tango superstars Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Misse, finish up Susan Minot's Evening, listen to Regina Spektor's "Samson" dozens of times (thanks to yAnn, who wrote about the song; this got me hunting for the original, slower version that Spektor recorded in 2002), and plan for a vacation whether or not I ever get to take it.
It's been a while since I highlighted any movie trailers, so I watched about eight in a row yesterday and found two that made me laugh. They're both about rather unusual pairings - just observe the facial expressions, the dressing, the personal obsession with revenge and dogs. Animals are pretty symbolic in both movies - dog, shark, eagle.
Eagle vs. Shark, a film from New Zealand, showcases the stranger of the two couples. Sure Jarrod and Lily are peculiar and awkward, but they're also highly watchable and endearing. Lily's shy, and Jarrod's like a boy trapped in a man's body with a fringe so short it takes even more years off him.
The title of Year of the Dog made me think of Chinese New Year. Ideally, it should've opened last year instead of this year. Anyway, it seems like typical Hollywood romantic-comedy-fare, but from what I've read, the film explores singlehood and depression and animal welfare issues. Even if it fails to accomplish this, it has John C. Reilly! And Peter Sarsgaard just glows in the trailer. He's never been known for romantic roles, but he cleaned up very well for this film, and it certainly helps that he still sounds mellow and mysterious, very John-Malkovich-like. Incidentally, he played John Malkovich's son in The Man in the Iron Mask, the young musketeer who Leonardo DiCaprio - as King Louis - had off-ed so that he could lay claim to Sarsgaard's fiancee.
The dogs look great, and the eagle and shark costumes? Spectacular.
I watched the first two or three Rocky films when I was a kid (yeah, my parents weren't afraid about exposing me to violence in films; I even watched horror movies back then and I could stomach them a lot better then than now) and don't remember much except that Rocky had to fight really hard and get bloodied a lot before winning. Sly Stallone was the underdog in the film, and even in real life, especially during the past couple of decades, he seemed one too; people would snicker at his name, his movies. He wasn't a respected actor, not a veteran, not a character actor, not a Robert de Niro or an Anthony Hopkins. Still, I never really got into those Stallone jokes. I didn't care a whole lot for him, but I didn't think it was cool to deride him either.
Watching the trailers for Rocky Balboa woke more than a few memories of seven-year-old me sitting in a movie theater with my parents and brother. Here is Rocky once more - an aged Rocky with a son who could be my age (played by Milo Ventimiglia, my favorite hero on Heroes) - ready to enter the ring again. He's even more of an underdog now because of his senior citizenship. Still, that feel-good theme of under-dog-makes-it gets me. Is it the music? The scenes of tough training, those sound-effects-amplified punches or Rocky's eternal determination etched in his jowly face? Whether it turns out to be a bad film or not, I think I'd like to see it. It's the last one - Stallone (and Rocky) is 60 - and in a way it's saying goodbye to a familiar figure from childhood for me. Rocky's getting old, and I'm getting older.
And whaddaya know, it turns out that Rocky Balboa has been well received and well reviewed - it's fresh on rottentomatoes.com
There's nothing quite like the theme song to get you excited about the finale of a movie franchise stretched over three decades. Except that the excitement's got to last you for three months before the movie gets to Singapore in March.
On Monday night, I got round to watching something other than Ugly Betty. It turns out that my supplier also puts up a TV show called Heroes, which I'd seen mentioned a few times on ew.com. I knew that it was one of this season's successful shows but wasn't sure of its premise. All I had were vague ideas that it could be a reality show about ordinary people doing heroic acts.
What finally sent me checking out Heroes was an article about Ugly Betty, which said that the only other perky TV hero of the season is a bespectacled Japanese salaryman called Hiro Nakamura. And it turns out that Hiro on Heroes is played by Masi Oka, the same guy who plays Franklin, the lab guy on Scrubs. How cool is that? (Okay, maybe only a geek would appreciate it.) Masi Oka is a genius with a 180+ IQ. At age 12, he appeared on the cover of Time magazine as one of the Asian-American whiz kids. As an adult, he's done CGI work for Industrial Light & Magic (yeah, that company owned by George Lucas) and he still works there part-time. (Information courtesy of imdb.com - Oka's CGI-work resume is pretty impressive.)
So I stayed up all of Monday night and most of Tuesday morning to watch the first nine episodes of the show. What a ride. It's no reality show, but something rather like X-Men crossed with X-Files, and bursting with cliffhangers, revelations, embedded mysteries. Tim Kring, the creator, is best known for the show, Crossing Jordan, and he has a very able co-executive producer, Jeph Loeb, of comic-book and Lost-and-Smallville fame.
The show has an ensemble cast featuring characters who realize that they possess strange abilites and powers. Some are bewildered, some are indifferent, and some are just plain thrilled, like Hiro. He's a Trekkie, an anime and manga fan, and he loves that he can bend space and time. Telling only his colleague, Ando, about it, Hiro is determined to use his power to do good. And the good deed du jour is saving New York City from a nuclear explosion. To do this, he'll most likely need help from the other folks who are less enthusiastic about their burgeoning powers. The only other fellow whose desire to save the world equals Hiro's - but with less glee - is Peter Petrelli, a former male nurse with a Rogue-like ability to mimic other people's powers.
Perhaps it's because these two are so proactive and eager to help that I like their characters best. Peter's desire to make a difference in the world and in his own life, his quiet search for his destiny touched something in me, because really, don't many of us want to do the same? That is, those of us who still have a fraction of Hiro's wonder and excitement about being alive and delighting in it?
All this hero talk makes me nostalgic for Bonnie Tyler's "Holding out for a hero."
I actually had a little countdown on MSN Messenger with Ms. Dimsumdolly while we waited for the Spider-Man 3 trailer to premiere online. Well, James Franco still looks terrific and the third installment looks like it'll be darker than the first two - excellent.
The trailer for Meet the Robinsons looked a little ho-hum at first, just another CGI film for the family. It's sharp and colorful, of course, but I was hoping for something new, something to set it apart from the parade of CGI films we've had lately. I waited, and I did find the something - check out the dinosaur. He has two scenes and both sealed the deal for me; I'm going to see this for the T-Rex.
Since October, I’ve been reading about a new TV show that's been growing in popularity. Ugly Betty, starring America Ferrara from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, will remind you a fair bit of The Devil Wears Prada. Ugly, awkward assistant makes good at a posh fashion magazine. But don’t accuse this show of being a copycat - it’s a remake of a Columbian TV show, Yo Soy Betty, la Fea, that started in the 90s, so it’s really copying something else. Another difference - Betty never quite gets the dream makeover that Anne Hathway’s character does. She gets a makeover, sure, but it doesn’t quite work out the way you think. She’s plump, has busy eyebrows, big hair, glasses, and glittering braces. She’s also a Latina from Queens and she’s just landed the job of assistant to the floundering new editor-in-chief - and resident hot guy - of Mode, a magazine of Meade publications in New York. Everyone resents her, makes fun of her, and tries to break her spirit, but she always come through (not without considerable struggle). She certainly comes through and even succeeds where thinner, sexier, and better-dressed Botoxed colleagues have failed.
It’s a successful comedy with lots of heart and a really good message. Reading about how it’s been remade in Russia, Germany, and India, sparked an idea. Since Singapore TV has always been accused of copying overseas shows, how about just going with it and remaking this one for Singapore audiences, claiming inspiration from the original Betty La Fea, or ABC’s Ugly Betty? Salma Hayek, the producer of the American version, heaps much praise on its source, after all. Copying this show wouldn’t be too difficult. It’d be quite believable in fact, for a remake of an American or Colombian production. We have fashion magazines; we have in place the same standards of unattainable beauty; we have gorgeous high-fliers - who could probably be models themselves - working in the fashion world. And we have our minority races. We don’t have Queens, but we have Geylang and Serangoon. You could still cast a Chinese girl in the main role, just play up the whole foreign talent controversy by having a Caucasian expatriate in the role of editor-in-chief. He’d be white, handsome, and shipped in from posh London or swanky New York, but this is why the role would still work against stereotype - he’s one of only two or three people in the company who recognizes Betty’s talent and spirit, admires her for who she is, and treats her with kindness and respect. Of course, he’s still a Casanova and beds any pretty thing in a skirt.
I’d also dare the Singapore production to re-create every character on Ugly Betty’s cast, especially Betty’s young effeminate nephew who wears discounted but sharp-looking Ralph Lauren vests, tap dances and sings like Gene Kelly, and dishes out fashion advice and encouragement to Betty. One scene in the Halloween episode shows Justin tapping and singing for his family, who are supportive but worried about the reception Justin might get in school. Instead of forcing Justin to throw out his Halloween costume and cease his dancing, his grandfather says, "I hope he can sing, dance, and throw a punch!" Some viewers had doubts about a show with a "gay boy" (he's not gay - he doesn't have a boyfriend!), but Justin's pretty much a universally loved character by now.
I’d love to be a writer for the Singapore version, if there ever is one. Of course, anyone in Singapore’s TV industry who reads this post can steal my idea – if it hasn’t already been thought of – and I can kid myself into thinking that someone did read this and brought it to a Singaporean audience. First thing though, we need to have the actual show on our channels! I’m having an Ugly Betty withdrawal period now. I watched the first five episodes on Youtube several times before the admin folks caught on and yanked the user’s account.
There’s still the trailer though (look out for the Guy-Pearce-look-alike model, what cheekbones!). This show is for anyone who feels frustrated that they care too much about what people think or wants badly to achieve something but don’t think they have what it takes. Well, just take a page from Betty’s book. Screw the standards of beauty, the wicked gossip, the judgmental jibes about your appearance, lack of pedigree, graces, or fine clothes, and just forge ahead with guts and an indomitable spirit.
So Chicken Little wasn't so hot for me (though I did like one particular song on the OST) but never mind that because Zach Braff is in a new movie with an excellent accompanying soundtrack, which he helped put together. Apart from the fact that the soundtrack for The Last Kiss is a generous collection of 15 songs, it also happens that the 15 songs sound even better than the selection on the Garden State soundtrack. Until I get my hands on it, I guess I'll have to stick to my Scrubs playlist on iTunes for a while.
As for the movie itself, it's about growing up at 30, at 60; welling up with doubt; letting that doubt influence what we do to the ones we love, whether it's making the right choices or making them cry. I hope it'll reach Singapore someday soon. Here's the trailer.
Cons - long and short - are always entertaining. When noob got me the first two seasons of BBC show, Hustle, I didn't know at first how good they'd be, and took nearly a year to watch them. This summer, I finished all three seasons. The show, which features the art of the long con, is very good. After all, you, the viewer, gets conned as well, and it's always fun to find out how. Each episode is a solid hour, and it was sublime to watch these back to back, stopping only to eat, use the restroom, or get the laundry. (My brother will vouch for this.)
I did take some time off to also watch a couple of movies at the theater, and during one afternoon, I caught the trailer for The Night Listener. If you know nothing of the book or the controversy behind Anthony Godby Johnson, you'd think the film is a thriller about a mentally imbalanced woman (Toni Collette), who terrorizes a radio host (Robin Williams). I didn't, and was curious about the film because it's based on true events and a book, also titled "The Night Listener."
The controversy deals with a literary hoax or con in which someone creates a persona - often a pitiful and tragic one to elicit sympathy - and has that persona "write" a book about his or her traumatic past. The persona becomes famous, beloved, and the real person behind the hoax collects the dough and enjoys part of the fame as well. You can read about it here.
This bears a great resemblance to the JT Leroy controversy, which I did read about. Some folks even say the Godby Johnson case inspired the woman behind JT Leroy. The facade collapsed earlier this year, right around the time of the James Frey story. Here is the article that eventually led to the crumbling of the JT Leroy enterprise. More here and here.
Cons are fun when they're fiction, as in Ocean's Eleven, The Sting, and Hustle. Who doesn't enjoy watching someone else get bamboozled? Of course, it's the movies or TV, and you know no one is really at the losing end. But when it happens in real life, a lot of people get upset, especially if you were one of many who got the wool-over-the-eyes treatment. Oprah teared on her show because of Frey, columnists and readers began questioning the literary merit of Leroy's work after having embraced it when it first emerged, and movies get made about the true stories behind the hoaxes. And shocked as they may be, folks are likely to lap it up precisely because they are true stories. Perhaps the real-life events are the more alluring ones - even if we aren't laughing the way we did when Clooney pulled off his casino heist - because we never thought it'd really happen to any of us, and we're desperate to know how it happened. Call it a case of morbid curiosity or unbridled anger.
Magicians are in vogue this fall. Two films about magic and magicians are scheduled for release later this year and I have a tingly feeling they're going to be good. The Prestige is likely to gain huge attention because of its director, Christopher Nolan, of Memento and Batman Begins fame. It's adapted from a novel written by Christopher Priest, who, according to Publishers Weekly, was one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists in 1983. The novel itself garnered Priest another accolade; it was Winner of the 1996 World Fantasy Award.
Based on a short story by Steven Millhauser, the other film is an independent titled The Illusionist. Both movies have impressive casts though; Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman star in The Prestige, and Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti headline The Illusionist. Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti - I love the idea of them being in a film together! Of course, you can't deny the equally intriguing (and rather droolworthy) combination of Bale and Jackman, who are a little more mainstream but nevertheless talented and charismatic. And even if those two can't whet your appetite, maybe the supporting cast might. Here's the lineup - Michael Caine, Andy Serkis (you might know him as Gollum), David Bowie, and Scarlett Johansson.
Now if the folks behind the movie adaptation of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell would hurry it up, then we'd have a perfect series of magician movies. This is probably the magician film I'm waiting for. Then again, I hope the scriptwriter doesn't rush and mangle the adaptation. It's Christopher Hampton, who recently adapted Ian McEwan's Atonement, another good novel. Looking over his earlier work, it's hard to say if he's a sure-fire bet. Although he wrote the screenplay for Dangerous Liaisons, he also wrote Mary Reilly.
This hasn't anything to do with stage magicians but it's equally appealing. Here is the trailer for The Fountain, which stars Hugh Jackman (okay, there's a little link: the lead actor from The Prestige) and Rachel Weisz. Look also for the attractive and supposedly good graphic novel created by director Darren Aronofsky (who did Requiem for a Dream and who married Rachel Weisz) when film plans initially fell through. Lucky for us, the film got revived and the graphic novel got to stay too.
Yes, enough already with the pictures of perfect-looking movie stars. If they want us to gaze at their mugs, let's have them entertain us too. Time magazine has an excerpt from Howard Schatz's photo book of actors acting. Every actor is given a situation and then photographed as he acts the part. Some are moving, some hilarious (I like both of Christohper Lloyd's), and some encompass whole stories.
The heart melted like cheese in the oven when the photo of red-haired Wallace and one-year-old Gromit appeared at the start of Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
This little article made me smile. And I smile a lot whenever I watch an episode of BBC's 1995 Pride and Prejudice. Darcy as the gentleman of dreams. And Firth as Darcy.
The new version arrives in Singapore early December. Can Keira and Matthew inherit their roles from Jennifer and Colin with praise? Word so far is, yes. This should be a December treat then.
"It's a sad day in the Hundred Acre Wood: The voices of Tigger (Paul Winchell) and Piglet (John Fiedler) both passed away over the weekend. Both were known, of course for other roles - Winchell as the ventriloquist behind Jerry Mahoney, Fiedler as henpecked Bob Newhart Show patient Mr. Peterson - but they'll probably be best remembered for their work in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh cartoons and features. Upon learning the news, Eeyore simply let out a deep sigh." ~ from http://popwatch.ew.com
I finally got to watch Howl's Moving Castle. It's the dubbed version though, but having Batman (Christian Bale) and Emily Mortimer voice the lead parts was quite exciting.
Perhaps I made the mistake of reading the book before the movie came out. I loved the book immensely (so did my mom, who read it on one of her visits here), and wanted a film that worked in all my favorite aspects of the novel. I believe Miyazaki kept in many things - Howl being incredibly vain, the green gobbledy-goo scene, a very mousy Sophie, a cheeky Calcifer - but certain things seemed too random and inexplicable, perhaps out-of-place in the film Miyazaki aimed to make.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith - Never mind the naysayers. I thought it was entertaining. The leads looked splendid (how could they not?); I liked the music; and I appreciated the real issues in marriage which the less-than-real characters were struggling with.
Mad, Hot Ballroom - I'm not sure if folks outside the U.S. have heard about this documentary, but it's a terrific one. You can watch the trailer here and the first six minutes of the film here. Inspiring, hilarious, and engaging. Everyone was clapping, laughing, and cheering throughout the film. In New York, public schools provide free ballroom dance lessons for 10 year-olds. It's noted that rich children get to have dance classes, music classes whenever they want. The program lets average and less fortunate kids enjoy dance, learn about the history of rhumba, tango, foxtrot etc. They gain confidence, poise, style. Dancing is a useful skill to have. One day these young boys will grow up and attend proms, and they'll be able to feel comfortable dancing with a girl.
After watching it, I felt very strongly that Singapore should have a similar program for primary school kids. Not the independent schools but the government ones, where both boys and girls attend. It's better than P.E. It gives the children focus; they learn to dance and befriend children they wouldn't normally talk to. Dance is a very natural way to engage each other. And they also learn a bit of culture from other countries. And of course, dancing is fun.
Ladies in Lavender - Elizabeth recommended this one. She saw Natasha McElhone in the film and thought she could play one of the characters in her novel.
I've always loved Cornwall, and I've always loved melancholic music. This film has both. It also has Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in it. And a handsome young German actor, Daniel Bruhl, who appeared in Good Bye Lenin. The two British thespians play sisters living in a cottage by the sea in Cornwall. One morning they find a shipwrecked violinist who speaks no English. Much ensues. The music is wonderful, performed by Joshua Bell. The story is about loving and letting go. And I thought of all the mothers who are aware that their children could excel at their gifts if they went away, but stubbornly keep them close because they fear to lose them. The more you hem them in, the more you drive them away. What good is possessive love?
"You gave me life; now I am making use of that life."
Bonus - the trailer for March of the Penguins. Just watch, and smile.
On the one hand we have Mr. Cruise fervently expressing his love for Katie Holmes, who is getting the hang of things and also declaring her adoration for Tom.
On the other hand, there's Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie denying any relationship of sorts except a healthy respect for each other. And friendship, of course.
And nobody believes either couple.
Confession: I watch American Idol. It's all my mom's fault. When she came to visit me, she tuned in every week, and since my desk is in the living room, I can't help but watch too, especially since it's just before House, M.D..
So the finale took place today, and yes, Carrie Underwood won, though I wouldn't have been surprised if Bo had won it instead. When I watched a random episode this season, I happened to catch Carrie singing, and I thought, not bad, this blonde. I'd never have guessed that she'd be the one to win the competition.
But the best parts of the finale were the musical performances (especially when Bo sang Sweet Home Alabama) and that terribly funny video by Paula, Randy, and Simon. I'll never get that image of Paula dancing at the control panel while Randy rapped and head-banged in the recording studio. And that Simon may piss people off, but he sure can entertain in a clever, understated manner.
I was terribly afraid that the trailer for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe would be the best thing of the afternoon. Aslan's roar raised hairs and the trailer certainly whetted my appetite for the December release. I better re-read C.S. Lewis' works before the movie arrives.
I'm happy to report that Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was good (despite Lucas' requisite stomach-churning love dialogues). The film was littered with nifty references to the first trilogy - Obiwan picking up Skywalker's lightsaber and holding on to it (for Luke, of course!), the Death Star in the works, Luke's first Tatooine sunset, and the origins of Palpatine's saggy face.
I messaged my brother to say I'm now a born-again Star Wars fan, which means I need to re-watch the original trilogy. And I'm even inclined to watch Episodes I and II again, if only to figure out the machinations of the Emporer. He's a clever one, isn't he?
So what if folks say Hayden Christensen's acting is wooden? I've seen worse. And Vadar's overly dramatic "Noooo..." towards the end can be blamed on Michigan alumnus, James Earl Jones. The thing to remember is that the Star Wars films aren't the place to display one's acting talent. So all disappointing performances ought to be forgiven.
It's back to Episode V now.
Today is Wednesday. I went to see a movie, Crash, with friends at Showcase Cinemas. It's a very good film - nearly every racial insult used in the melting pot of America can be heard in it. An ensemble film set in L.A., it's got Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Philippe, among others. Everyone turned in solid performances. It's rather sad and moving, and makes you think about the relationships between human beings - how we've become isolated, and how we occasionally crash into each other merely for some contact.
After the movie, I drove home, cleared out the car, took out my six CDs from the changer, peeled off car decals, and finally unscrewed my license plate, "WHTRABT," from the white Golf. At 7:30 p.m., the new owner arrived, gave me a bank draft, took the two sets of keys from me, and drove away. I watched until I couldn't see the back of the little white rabbit anymore.
I put up post-it notes to remind myself about the final episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. Monday night, CBS, 9 p.m. I forgot about the special documentary before it though. But that's okay. I loved the finale. Ray had warned that it wouldn't be something huge and overly dramatic. It would be like another episode but with a sense of life carrying on - ours and theirs - even after the show ends.
Ray isn't know for articulating his emotions and in this episode, after a near brush with death and learning of his wife's, Deborah's, reaction, he uses sign language to tell her how he feels. Even Frank, his boorish father, manages to be nice to Marie for a little while. It was all very touching without being sappy.
I'm going to miss the show. I think I'll go look for some DVDs. 9 years, 210 episodes of good writing and great acting. It's often been said that each of the five actors could be stars of their own sitcoms. Putting them altogether in one was genius. The show's ratings arguably saved CBS.
Despite it all, it never seemed to have gained the kind of attention that Friends and Seinfeld enjoyed in their days. I actually prefer Everybody Loves Raymond to the two said sitcoms. I'm not saying this to be contrary; I just enjoy this show more. I like the characters a lot more - Ray's a simple, family man, Deborah struggles to run a household, Robert - Ray's brother - is a ham, Ray's parents are lovable if infuriating neighbors. I suppose I like the domestic scene, the family relations. I didn't always find the characters on Friends very sympathetic, and their New York lifestyle seemed a bit much. My brother will think I'm crazy for not liking the show, but I'm sticking to my guns. I got him the show's finale on DVD last spring; this year, I'm going to get the ELR finale DVD for myself.
Lin Kiat and I went to watch Kingdom of Heaven the day he arrived in Ann Arbor. First blockbuster of the summer, and a Ridley Scott film.
By the end of the film, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Neutral, I suppose. I was rooting for both Christians and Muslims to win and both to lose. For all the stunning battle scenes, the film seemd like it bore an anti-war message. Both kings wanted to avoid war, and for good reason. If anything, the film made me think about the desires, often cruel and selfish, of man; and power that often falls into the wrong hands. All very sad.
The saddest part was when King Baldwin, played by the brilliant Edward Norton, died. Baldwin is a leper and hid the effects behind gloves and silver masks. Beneath his deteriorating body is a gentle, soft-spoken soul though. Wise, noble, quite magnificent. When he died, I lamented the loss of his presence in the story. More Baldwin. I could have done with less Balian, frankly. Baldwin left more of an impression on me than Balian. Even with a mask, Norton really made the role true to life. The piece of music that played during the king's funeral - "Vide Cor Meum," which is actually from the movie, Hannibal. And though the score for that movie is composed by Hans Zimmer, "Vide Cor Muem" is actually written by Patrick Cassidy.
Great costumes, authentic and detailed sets (I want the set designer for King Baldwin's study to do mine!). But the film seemed poorly edited. I guess I'll wait for the director's cut on DVD. It's rumored to be an hour longer than the theater version.
This is good. The movie better be good.
After much deliberation, I decided to spend the US$72 and buy the Master's graduation gown, hood, cap and tassel. I nearly decided against going for the commencement ceremony, but I figured, this is the last time I'll graduate from anything.
In the evening, I watched Miyazaki's Porco Rosso at last. Italy, the sea. Planes, flight sequences. A chanteuse singing in French. And an inspired scene taken from Roald Dahl's short story, "They Shall Not Grow Old." A strange and surreal moment in a pilot's life - watching the planes of dead comrades and enemies ascending and joining the long stretch of planes drifting across the sky.
On Tuesday, I watched, for the first time, House, M.D. on Fox, after American Idol, which my mom is addicted to. Consider it ER meets CSI, though I think it's better than ER. Not sure about CSI since I've never watched it. So Greg House, the lead character is played by Brit Renaissance (a writer, musician, and comedian) man, Hugh Laurie. The character has an illness which makes him limp and gives him reason to pop plenty of painkillers. He's irritable, irritating to those around him, brutally honest, and unable to warm up to anyone. He actually reminds me - a little - of someone. I mean the personality in general, though I'm not sure about the heart, which Laurie's character actually has quite a bit of.
Everyone else is crazy about Desperate Housewives or Lost but strangely enough, I'm not hooked.
I think I'll keep watching House, M.D. though.
Two weeks ago, my friend Irene and I went to see Bride and Prejudice. I loved the costumes and watching Aishwarya Rai dance.
Today, I saw Monsoon Wedding, another visual feast of costumes, jewelry, and dancing. I thought the characterization was better in this film. The attraction between Alice, the house-maid, and Dubey, the up-and-coming wedding planner, was sweet, especially with the marigold motif.
The films reminded me of the Indian jewelry I received from my mother-in-law when I got married. She wanted me to choose my own necklace and earrings as a bridal gift, and I was grateful she was open to my selecting jewelry from Little India. They're so much more detailed and colorful than the spare and geometric designs from the larger jewelry chain stores around Singapore.
Even my mom bought a necklace-earring set when we were shopping in Little India two years ago. I'll probably dig them out for the slew of weddings I'll be attending later this year.
It's been a year and a half since Lost in Translation appeared on screens. I rented the DVD last year to see what all the hype was about. The film didn't appeal very much to me though I understood why several of my friends liked it - the humor, the strange, urban beauty, the familiarity of alienation and struggling to live in a foreign city. I didn't dislike it but I didn't like it a whole lot either.
This morning, I was reading about the new Harry Potter film, The Goblet of Fire, particularly the debate about Katie Leung, the young Scottish actress of Chinese heritage who will play Cho Chang. People claim that Cho Chang is Korean and should be played by a Korean actress, not a Chinese one, even if she's from the U.K. The debate then shifted to whether "Cho Chang" is a Chinese or Korean name; and finally to a who-can-tell-the-difference-between-Chinese-and-Koreans. Someone provided a link to a test - do Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people look alike or can one tell them apart?
I took the test and I failed miserably - 7 out of 18. Shame on this Chinese girl, I suppose. In any case, I looked round the site and found an interesting take - two reviews - of the movie Lost in Translation. One review found the film racist and unfair to Japanese people. The other writer wrote his review in light of this article and suggested that Sofia Coppola shouldn't be expected to depict the Japanese people and culture fairly. I found both sets of arguments very compelling.
When I get rankled by displays of ignorance or indifference, I usually check myself and wonder, is it me? Am I being too sensitive? Then again, the infuriating people I encounter don't check themselves; they don't care if they're being insensitive, so why should I bother if I'm judging them unfairly? They've judged and labelled me, as it is. Eh, I'm so indecisive. But I have met customs officers at airports and university officials who think Singapore's in China. These are the two places I'd have expected folks to know better - after all, their work deals with travelers and international students.
BBC's three-episode Daniel Deronda is perhaps the one production that combines my love of film, music, and literary fiction. George Elliot is more famous for Middlemarch but her interest in Zionism is showcased in Daniel Deronda. Burgeoning zeal for one's community, self-discovery, self-loathing, finding meaning in life - these are running themes in the novel, which is equally divided between Daniel Deronda and Gwendolyn Harleth.
Will they or won't they - the question of whether they will find lifelong companionship in each other simmers in the BBC production. Daniel Deronda is played by Hugh Dancy, recently seen in Ella Enchanted and King Arthur. This is perhaps his best role, although one of his least-known as well. Very dashing fellow. Okay, I'll confess I'm impressed that he chose to read English at Oxford University instead of going to drama school, and he still managed to emerge a decent actor; more than decent really.
Romola Garai plays the female lead. She acted splendidly in I Capture The Castle and is quite enchanting here, particularly since her character has an expansive emotional arc in the novel and TV series. Both her roles have managed to break my heart.
The music - it's so beautiful that I can't believe they didn't release the soundtrack commercially. "Cavatina" from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro; excerpts from Mendelssohn's On Wings of Song and Beethoven's Ah! Perfido, Op.65. A Jewish lullaby sung by Mirah, the character played by Jodhi May, is a haunting tune composed by Rob Lane, who provided the score for the series. It's so haunting that I was humming the melody for days. I'll have to sit down one day, play the DVD over and over again until I learn the Hebrew lyrics phonetically.
At least four of the characters sing, two of whom are professional singers, so music is a huge part of the production. So is sculling, and Italy! Beautiful shots of Genoa and palazzos. The costumes are also very lush. I wouldn't mind donning a long coat with tails and a black tophat. The gowns are lovely, but seem a little hard to walk in.
Zathura is a new movie from the makers of Jumanji. The producers clearly love the work of Chris Van Allsburg, the author of these two titles and The Polar Express.
I have only one book of his, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, which reminds me very much of the art of M.C. Escher. Peiming and Lim Jia bought me a book by Mr. Escher two years ago and I've been a fan since.
But back to Chris Van Allburg. He uses pencil drawings to create a peculiar, melancholic mood in many of his books. Many of the images are great for engaging the imagination and you can write whole stories based on one picture - very good for young children who enjoy creative writing.
In the trailer for Zathura, I noticed a familiar face. It's Ice Bat, one of the UglyDolls whom I featured earlier. Watch the trailer and see if you can spot him. He appears for just a split second before getting zapped to smithereens by the meteor shower. Poor fellow.
Crouching Tigger, Hidden Pooh - courtesy of the great TV show, Whose Line Is It, Anyway?, a half-hour display of pure comedic talent.
Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle is going to open in Singapore on February 24th, shifted up from March 10th.
If only I were going home for spring break!
My enthusiasm for the movie arrives seven years late. I watched it at State Theater when I was an undergraduate here in Michigan. I watched the Oscars the year it won Best Picture and Gwyneth Paltrow won for her role as Viola, much to my chagrin, as I was rooting for Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth.
I may have mentioned before that I don't care much at all for Ms. Paltrow, though her acting in The Royal Tenenbaums didn't grate as much as I'd expected. And I'm thoroughly willing to endure her screen presence in Shakespeare in Love if only because the screenplay is just terrific and so is the score. And the costumes aren't bad either. And I have fond memories of reading the Bard's plays.
Watching it again on TV tonight was better than that time at the theater. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I'm older now and more tolerant of Gwyneth Paltrow. I do remember liking the final scene that has Shakespeare imagining his muse, Viola, walking out from the sea towards a thicket of trees. A very resonant closing scene. It was perhaps the one moment in the movie that I looked forward to watching again.
I just watched the trailer for Tim Burton's stop motion animated film Corpse Bride, and it's hilarious. Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Emily Watson lend their voices to the lead characters. Even the lead guy, Victor, looks a little like Mr. Depp with that floppy lock of black hair.
The movie is based on a Russian folktale which you can read here. It's a good story. Sad, but good.
My favorite moments in the trailer - when Victor's fiancee finishes his sentence for him..."married," and when Victor addresses a skeletal dog, and says in a very endearing voice, "Play dead." Gotta love that bumbling groom-to-be.
Oh, and McFarlane is doing the figures for the show. Spawn is just great with figures.
I've also been watching the trailer for Bride and Prejudice. Aishwarya Rai is just luminous, and LK is smitten. We're hoping the film will open in the US the week he visits.
For my part, I seem to be smitten with Ioan Gruffudd, who will play Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. The movie Fantastic Four looks promising in the trailer, but I won't keep my hopes too high. Not sure about Jessica Alba as Susan Storm. And anyone who mistakenly assumes that the powers of the Fantastic Four resemble those of the Incredibles' should be aware that it's the other way round.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - the movie is a little different from the books, but it retains the terrific Victorian/Gothic feel. Loved the art direction, the sets, the costumes, especially Violet Baudelaire's - fishnet sleeves and that great blue coat. Emily Browning is going to break hearts when she's older. She's probably doing this already, and she's just sixteen (fourteen when she made the movie).
If you liked Before Sunrise, if you're a bit of a romantic, if you admire Diane Lane, if you're easily moved by wonderful music scores (by Georges Delerue), I think this 1979 movie is a must-see. It's Diane Lane's movie debut (she was in Italy even before she made Under A Tuscan Sun) in which she plays an American girl living in Paris. She's bright, well-read, and brave, and when she meets a French boy, Daniel, who's equally precocious and has read the same books she has, they set off on an adventure. The plan is to get to Venice and take a gondola ride to the Bridge of Sighs where they must kiss at sunset when the bells are ringing so that they will love each other forever. Along the way, they get some help from an elderly gentleman played by Lawrence Olivier. Horse-racing, movies, philosophy, the Brownings - these are some of the little details that make an already lovely story more endearing.
It brought back more than just a few memories of the times I was in Paris, Verona, and Venice. There's nothing quite like the buildings, the bridges, and the streets of these cities. History, literature, art, music, tragedy, deception, beauty - I found a little of each even in the smallest of objects I chanced upon during my travels. Snowfall in Piazza di San Marco; autumn light in a quiet Parisian street; tiny cracks in the walls of the Arena in Verona; a night-time recital in a small church in Venice; a shop of handmade masks (the very one that provided props for Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut); Giuletta's balcony; a cart of books along the Seine.
When Diane Lane embraces Lawrence Olivier goodbye, it really is a wrenching farewell. She knows she might never see him again, this aged man who helped her and her beau pursue a legend. What do people do with the realization that they won't see a place or a person ever again? They cry; they wave frantically, as Daniel does, running after a car on a busy Paris road; they promise to remember every little detail of their time together. It's terribly hard to say goodbye to romance, even if it's just a little one.
Plenty of new trailers on Quicktime:
1. Featurette of Weta's work on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. One more year, one more year. Damn.
2. Bride and Prejudice. Aishwarya Rai. Wow.
3. Kingdom of Heaven (this one is actually on Yahoo Movies). In my opinion, Orlando Bloom looked his best as Legolas, but I do admit he doesn't look too shabby in this movie. Nice trailer music by Jonathan Elias, from "The Prayer Circle." Will this movie be better than the much-hyped-but-disappointing epic flicks, Alexander and Troy?
4. Sin City. Ooh, very dark, very noir. Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood (as a bad-ass villain who favors human flesh), and other well-known actors. Based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller. I hear they're very violent, very disturbing. Sin City is short for Basin City, which is another moniker for Los Angeles. Trailer music by UK band The Servant, specifically, the instrumental version of their song "Cells."
5. Sahara. Dirk Pitt comes to the big screen. My brother and I used to devour the Dirk Pitt novels. I hope this one will do the novel justice.
Sideways is a little movie about two middle-aged men on a road trip in California. It's a gem that's garnering rave reviews and plenty of fans. It doesn't feature special effects, big-name actors, or a car chase (though there are some interesting scenes with a car). The lead actor is short, slightly rounded, and balding; none of the women are nubile young things (although Sandra Oh has the body of one); but the film is wonderfully written and the characters painfully real.
The two guys are miserable characters. Miles is miserable and Jack does miserable things. Jack is a faded actor about to be married and Miles is a failed writer waiting to hear from his agent about his latest manuscript. The road trip is Miles's gift to Jack before he marries. At times, the characters aren't easy to like, but they come through in the end, either displaying genuine human frailty that we recognize in ourselves or the strength to unearth happiness even when the emotion becomes incredibly elusive.
Oh, there's also a terrific background of wine, wine estates, and wine bars. If you know your wines, if you love wines, watch this movie for the great conversations about wine.
Actors - Paul Giamatti (from American Splendor and Duets), Thomas Haden Church (the guy who plays the dour mechanic in that funny sitcom Wings), Virginia Madsen (from Electric Dreams), and Sandra Oh (well-known in her home country, Canada; the brown-nosing principal in Princess Diaries, and wife of Sideways's director, Alexander Payne).
Notes for me:
- Watched Sideways at State Theater on State Street.
- After the movie, Frank, Jake, Lim Jia, and I headed to South University for bubble tea and several rounds of Taboo.
- Teaming with a fellow Singaporean helps when playing Taboo. We can use Hokkien or Mandarin to say things.
- Someone should invent a Singaporean version of Taboo.
- Much to my embarrassment, I found it easier to use rather graphic language to describe words like "blow," "vibrate" etc. instead of using more PC and roundabout sentences.
So Bush is president again. I watched the news for most of Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, not really believing the number of votes appearing on the TV screen. In Ann Arbor, I've been surrounded by Kerry supporters, and the large number of them gave me the impression that Kerry was going to win. On Wednesday and Thursday, I went to school and spoke to a my disappointed friends and colleagues. Most of them described the day after as a day of mourning.
In any case, everyday life carries on. It's getting colder and my mom's elbow is aching. I wish she could stay longer, but perhaps it's better she return to the warm weather soon. We went to Target yesterday where we got her a nice lime green sweater and me some vitamins. I started reading a new book on travel writing, specifically Best American Travel Writing 2000, edited by Bill Bryson. Since I'm taking a travel writing course next semester (we'll be reading Paul Theroux, The Odyssey etc.), I thought it'd be fun to get into the travel spin early.
I love Friday mornings. The weekend is still young and I get to watch TV without feeling guilty. On the news, Cedar Point, famous amusement park in Ohio, now has a large indoor pool which is 83 degrees year-round. The slides and rides make the place a far better deal than the mediocre thrills LK and I had at Singapore's Wet Wet Wild. More on the news - Star Wars Epiosde III: Revenge of the Sith teaser trailer. The trailer will be released today with Pixar's The Incredibles, but TV viewers get to see it on Fox news. Looks very exciting - glimpses of C3PO and R2-D2, Anakin with yellow Sith eyes, Padme looking beautiful as expected (and with the Leia hairdo), sweeping battle scenes. Other movie bits - the sci-fi movie, The Island, set in 2024, is shooting scenes in downtown Detroit today and this weekend. A small part of the city has been altered to resemble Los Angeles. Imagine that.
I think I'll take my mom to see The Incredibles this weekend, and then a nice, luxe dinner at swanky Gratzi down Main Street. She deserves it and a lot more, after all she's had to put with. That would be me.
So I got rather lazy over the weekend and watched a couple of DVDs instead of preparing for school next week.
If you've been reading this blog, you'd have guessed that I kind of like movies. A lot. And I hoard DVDs, particularly those of my favorite movies. I also get a little carried away with the available extras. I'll watch movies with the commentary on, especially if it's a good one that features the cast as well.
I also happen to enjoy hunting down Easter Eggs. I first learned about this feature from playing a computer game called Leisure Suit Larry back in the mid 90s. (My brother had me corrupted; I didn't pick up that naughty PC game on my own.) If you knew how to key in the right moves or make Larry do the right things, oh, a girl here and there would lose most of her clothes or grant Larry some nice favors. Anyway, those Easter Eggs I dug up myself; my brother is innocent and probably never knew of their existence. I was pretty pleased to learn they have this feature on DVDs. No ladies stripping, but you do get nice little extras. On the LOTR extended editions, for instance, you get neat clips of Gollum up to some mayhem.
So, if you own some DVDs, you might like to check out this website for Easter Eggs. Search for the DVD title and see what comes up!
I refer to the first set of movies, of course. The collection is on the way, folks! Go here to see artwork, screen shots, and a nice review.
I was a lot younger then, so I had a thing for Luke, and not Han. These days, my sights are set on just the Ewoks, since I was given a pewter Ewok once, a none too subtle implication of the similarities we share (height-wise, of course!). Seriously, I do like them light-saber battles. "Luke...I am...your...father." Ahem, right, Darth Vader was an alma mater of U of M, so I'm rooting for him. His voice, at least.
Thanks to Shin Dee who sent me this link. You'll find very nice images of the movie poster and a few characters.
Someone provided an excellent review of the movie. I'd advise anyone who's impatient for the movie not to read it. It'll make you even more jittery - "When's it coming out? When's it coming out in the US? And don't dub it in English, please!" [Note to my mom: Remember reading the book here last fall? I remember you enjoying it quite a bit. I think the movie should be equally nice. If it comes out in Singapore later this year, go see it for the both of us!]
"The sky is falling!" screams Chicken Little. If you liked Zach Braff in Garden State, you might enjoy his voicing of Chicken Little in the upcoming animated feature from Disney. This isn't a Pixar one, though it looks nice. Go here to see the trailer.
Over lunch yesterday, I had a Wong Kar Wai movies conversation with a grad student who was born in Eastern Europe, but has lived for a number of years in the U.S. When I mentioned that I'd grown up watching Liang Chao Wei in Hong Kong TVB serials and that I found him handsome and youthful, she quipped, "Yes, he's attractive in a very non-good-looking way!" I was a little stunned at first and asked her if I'd heard her correctly, that he wasn't good-looking to her but still attractive in some way. She nodded.
Is the beauty of Asian faces so elusive? Like the next person, I'd be the first to acknowledge the highly photographable looks of say, James Caviezel, Ioan Gruffudd, and Natalie Portman, but why am I made to feel that my celluloid tastes are questionable when I mention the name of an Asian actor? Do people outside of East Asia find it difficult to appreciate what we call beauty in our own homes? Mind you, there are people who are quick to point out the fervent idolization of Asian females. But what about the men? Perhaps those who aren't familiar with Asian pop culture recognize only Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Tony Leung, Bruce Lee, and heaven forbid, William Hung. Compared with the faces of legions of Hollywood and international stars, these guys don't get placed very high on the beautiful-people list.
Or maybe it's because our world is still an Occidentally driven one. Numerous women from Japan and Korea, and Singapore too, continue to undergo surgery to get double eyelids because this makes their eyes look wider and more Caucasian-like. Women of mixed heritage where one parent is Caucasian are often considered superior to purely Asian women in terms of beauty, particularly when they have strong Caucasian features with a hint of Asian delicacy. One Miss Thailand, I recall (though I can't recall her name or the year she won), said that she was proud she beat luk kreungs - half-Thai and half-Caucasian persons (very favored in the Thai media) - to the crown, insisting that ethnic Thai beauty is still relevant in this day and age.
I doubt standards of beauty will change very much through the decades. Even as more people gaze upon the faces of non-Westerners, like model Alek Wek and actor Tony Leung, their beauty would still be branded "exotic," not typical, not what you'd expect.
Now, I wonder what my friend would say about Takeshi Kaneshiro.
My parents went to Comex yesterday, I wonder if they purchased anything. Did I ever mention my father is a gadget geek? He drags my mom to computer fairs, which is actually quite sweet. They watch tennis tournaments on TV, they go for walks, or rather, my mom has to pull him out of the house.
Anyway, I meant to write about Collateral, the movie which stars Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise, and is directed by Michael Mann, who did Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, and The Insider. The film has had mainly good reviews with several not-so-good ones. People either like it or come away disappointed.
I was thoroughly impressed by Cruise's bad guy character. I loved watching him make his kills, particularly at the night club. It's Tom Cruise after all, and you root for him to get his job done. But you also root for Jamie Foxx's Max. What drives the film is the intense and unusual relationship both men share for that one night. The bond is aptly suggested by the two coyotes that the cab encounters halfway through the film. Max, although he may not see it, isn't too far off from Vincent's anti-social, prowling character. As a cab driver, he moves around the city, seeing everything but engaging nothing. Vincent travels to fulfil contracts, but he does it unfeelingly, indifferently. They're both good at their jobs. Like the coyotes, they traverse the land, existing on the fringes of society, one following the other for convenience or for necessity. It's Vincent who spurs Max out of complacency, out of his bubble, galvanizing him into action, into calling the girl and seeking her out. By the end of the evening, you sense that each has taken from the other, although I'm hard pressed to determine what Vincent comes away with.
Vincent consistently deflects Max's questions and remains unfathomable. Yet you sense a magnetic quality about him. Despite his cold, exacting executions, he's impressively knowledgable, eloquent, even charming. This is definitely one of Cruise's better roles. I think I actually liked the salt-and-pepper shaded hair, even the strangely cut grey suit. I'll remember him for this role. This and, oh, okay, Jerry Maguire. He certainly had me at "Hello."
Speaking of Tom Cruise, my favorite lookalike (then again, the only lookalike I know of), Barney, and ex-boss joined me for a morning/night (my morning, their night) online conversation. Much later, I also got to chat with old friends Karen and Benny who happened to be online at the same time, although they now work in different offices.
Movie: My Sassy Girl
~ It took me two or three years to get round to seeing this. Thanks to Boon for loaning me the vcd. When my old colleague Benny told me it was a great movie, I was "Eh, okay," and promptly forgot about watching it. At that time, the only Korean film I had seen was Il Mare. It was a sweet film, and the soundtrack was even sweeter. Jeon Ji-hyun stars in both and what varied roles they are. She has decent acting chops, I must say. I do think My Sassy Girl is the more entertaining of the two. Hilarious, sweet, heart-breaking, cute-looking leads, pretty songs, and the movie's based on a series of entries on a Korean weblog! People should really see this movie. The interaction between the two characters is remarkable and convincing, the nice little twist or revelation at the end makes you smile, and there're so many moments that you want to call your favorite. Too, there're strange asides in the film - appearances of quintuplets and a UFO.
Trailer: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
~ It's a Wes Anderson movie (read: quirky)! Set in the ocean! One of the Wilson boys is in it too (as expected)! I'll miss Kumar Pallana though, the guy who plays Pagoda in The Royal Tenenbaums. He's been in all the earlier Anderson movies. Nevertheless, go see the funny trailer for this movie here. You just gotta love Bill Murray. And that Owen Wilson chap ain't bad too. Then there's Jeff Goldbum, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, Angelica Huston...what a cast!
The trailer looks lovely! Go here to see it. The first download option requires Quicktime, the second, DivX.
For those who can't read Japanese, here is the text in English (translated by Deborah Goldsmith):
A film by Miyazaki Hayao
The heroine is a 90-year-old girl
Her sweetheart is a cowardly wizard
Sophie: Baisho Chieko
Howl: Kimura Takuya
Witch of the Waste: Miwa Akihiro
The two lived... in Howl's Moving Castle
Script, Director: Miyazaki Hayao
Music: Hisaishi Joe
This old lady is pretty energetic!
The fun of being alive, the joy of being in love, drawn by Miyazaki Hayao ("drawn by Miyazaki" comes first due to difference in word order between English and Japanese)
The deeply moving super-classic that's caught the attention of all the world
Howl's Moving Castle
(voiceover: a film directed by Miyazaki Hayao)
Original work: Diana Wynne Jones
"The Wizard Howl and the Fire Demon" (published by Tokuma Shoten) (c) 2004 Nibariki, "Howl's Moving Castle" Production Committee (voiceover: "Howl's Moving Castle")
This Fall
Coming to Toho theaters throughout Japan
My thoughts:
- Calcifer, the fire demon, looks adorable. I love his look of pure mortification at the start of the trailer.
- Howl is probably the first grown-up male protagonist that Miyazaki has illustrated. He looks cool - I'm glad they got the jewelry bit in, and the hair color changes too.
- Old Sophie looks a little like Yubaba from Spirited Away.
- They got the four-colored knob right!
- As in his other films, Miyazaki has included some lovely flight shots. There's always someone or something flying in each of his films.
- The location or architectural work as an important character in the film is key here - the castle itself. Other great locations Miyazaki has developed - Laputa, the bathhouse in Spirited Away, the forest in Mononoke Hime, the seaside town in Kiki's Delivery Service.
Looks like the rest of the world will see this some time next year. If it arrives in Japan this fall, it may reach Asia later in the year, but I'll be away and have to wait till 2005!
The next animated film by Hayao Miyazaki will have a lovely theme song, judging from the 42-second clip I heard late last night. It's written by Yumi Kimura, who wrote and sang the theme song for Spirited Away. However, this time the theme song will be sung by the actress, Chieko Baisho, who voices Sophie, the heroine of the film. Joe Hisaishi, who is composing the soundtrack, re-arranged the song for the actress.
You can listen to Yumi Kimura sing it here. It sounds pretty. (Scroll down to the second pink box, look for two little music notes. The song you're looking for is the second one, with a longer title, and it means "The promise of the world." The first song is called "Shooting star" and that's pretty too.)
First off, here are my links to tennis:
1. I'm married to a tennis nut who, as a secondary school student, hit the balls so hard they flew from the school courts to the main road.
2. I'm related to a tennis nut who bought my husband a tennis bag and who goes with my husband to tennis shops regularly. (This is my brother.)
3. My parents watch major tennis tournaments religiously. (Unless they're traveling - they are in Switzerland now - and then they get my brother to record matches for them.) (Also, my mother used to play tennis, and as she got older, she picked up pickle ball, which is a sort of indoor tennis for older folks.)
4. One of my friends from junior college, and who helped at my wedding, is a terrific tennis player, and is a regular guest in my brother's and husband's tennis group.
5. This tennis group is interestingly made up of our friends who helped at our wedding - actually my brother's friends who ushered, sang in the choir, and guarded the rented decorations. I suppose after the wedding was over last July, they discovered something else to enthuse about - tennis. My brother and Lin Kiat now book courts several times a week and the whole group visits a particular shop in Queensway to buy new rackets or to have them strung or to buy tennis-related birthday gifts for each other.
Since my return to Singapore, I've been surrounded by tennis fever. So when my brother forwards me a link to a movie with a tennis theme, I feel obliged to watch the trailer.
And it's a good one! Paul Bettany stars as a fading once-top-ranked tennis star from the UK. Just as he's about to retire, he meets a young tennis player who's on a winning streak and she shows him what it's all about. Wimbledon comes from the makers of Notting Hill and Bridget Jones' Diary (you'll learn this too, if you watch the trailer) so it ought to be funny British romantic comedy.
I bet the tennis folks will be watching this to see what rackets the players are using, so I suggested that they do a group outing this September when the movie opens.
The trailer can be found here.
Having seen every summer blockbuster thus far, LK and I are out of movies this week. So we're on to DVDs.
My brother procured the Infernal Affairs trilogy recently, and my family's gone a little nutty over the Hong Kong movies. My father, the king of MP3s in the house, has already gotten hold of Tsai Chin's "Forgotten Time," the song which plays in the stereo shop when Tony Leung's character, Yan, demonstrates a set for Andy's Lau's Chin.
The first installment "Infernal Affairs" won several awards in Hong Kong, including Best Movie and Best Song, and performed very well at the box office. I anticipated an action film stuffed with bullets and blood and car chasing. While there are fancy cars and the occasional bullet-riddled body, the film's actually more dramatic than the usual HK movie fare, thanks in no small part to the ensemble of actors.
Yan is a cop working undercover in a traid and Ming enters the police force to gather information for his triad. Cat-and-mouse game, the movie is rather gripping. I got rather attached to the characters, particularly Tony Leung's scruffy and smirking Yan. He does get a little looney at times. Ming walks the fine line between good cop and bad cop - does he really want to be a good guy?
The drama is played out against a dynamic Hong Kong backdrop. Hong Kong's always been exciting in real life and the movies. The script is belivable for the most part, except for when both sides discover the presence of moles - surely the cops and baddies would be smart enough to stop meeting with their moles in the event of being followed?
Well, we'll be watching the next two movies. They should be fun, although my brother warns that we'll have to pay attention in the third film. The plot's a little convoluted.
Go here to see the official site, and to listen to the cool soundtrack.
The players in Infernal Affairs III
I just caught the trailer for the controversial film that won this year's Palme d'Or. I sure hope to see the movie when I return to Michigan in the late summer. The trailer itself has some interesting and provoking scenes. Go see it here.
On Michael Moore's site, the director writes that fans outside of the US will get to see the movie this summer. Most of us, he says, but I'm not sure if this includes Singapore.
Too, I'm not sure if I heard this correctly, but in one scene President Bush says, "This is an impressive crowd to haves... ." Horrors!
Shrek 2 was heaps of fun. More spoofs, more cool music, and more flatulence. By now, anyone who reads some form of entertainment news will know that the movie has reaped lots of cash. Shrek and Fiona are traveling to meet Fiona's parents in the kingdom of Far Far Away with Donkey in tow. Throw in a few new characters - Fairy Godmother (who packages and markets spells), Prince Charming, the Ugly Step-sister among others - a chance to see Shrek as a handsome, strapping human (and Donkey as his white steed), some lovely interaction with the in-laws, and you're set for a sequel that actually works.
My favorite character from the last movie was the Gingerbread Man, but in this one, I've shifted my loyalties to Puss-In-Boots, who has captured the hearts of everyone. He's part suave and swashbuckling gentleman and part adorable furry cat (read: huge limpid eyes). And he cleverly plays each part at the right moments.
Ever the fan and observer of music in movies, I noted that the selection for this one was spot-on. I particularly enjoyed a quirky rendition of the classic 80s song, Holding Out For A Hero, by Frou Frou which played during the credits.
The Day After Tomorrow was marketed on a huge scale, almost as large as the wintry hurricanes that bury New York city and traps our teenage heroes in the New York Public Library (which reminds me that I really should put up pictures and write a little on my recent stay at NYC. I spent a day at the library after getting myself an access card, so the scenes in the library struck a chord). Lin Kiat and I wanted to see it for the effects, which delivered the expected thrills and oohs and aahs. I admire the three climatologists who are so trained they can make camp anywhere and sleep while the storms rage outside. The effects of global warming are perhaps exaggerated in the film, but that's how movies go, I suppose.
Harry Potter is getting remarkably handsome. But that isn't the real draw of the third film. I love the brisk pace set by new director Alfonso Cuaron. You really fly with the scene changes, not so much like the speeding bus that takes Harry away from the wretched Dursleys as the soaring hippogriff that sends Harry across a lake and into a horizon of trees, mountains, and wide English (or Scottish; I believe they shot the film in Scotland) sky. This time, we do get to see more of the land around Hogwarts - just lovely. Wide shots of an ornate bridge, hill slopes, a large body of water (okay, a lake)... . There's more to say, but I'm getting tired after this slew of movies. I'll take a break from the cinema this week. Next up will be The Chronicles of Riddick, which opens here a week after the US opening.
In the meantime, I'm prowling the trailer pages again. The new trailer for Garden State is a favorite and I've just caught the first trailer for Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unforunate Events - Emily Browning, who plays Violet Baudelaire, is a dead ringer for a young Angelina Jolie...those lips! I've been reading the first three books and they are excellent. Get three for the price of two at Borders! I'll have to pick up the rest of the titles soon. The eleventh book comes out this September.
Jim Carrey as Count Olaf in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Nine years ago, I heard of a little movie about two people meeting on a train and spending one night in Vienna. Before Sunrise was the movie on everyone's mind that year. It was particularly poignant since that was the year I would make my first trip to Europe.
I can't remember why I didn't see it, but some of my friends spoke of it, excited because they were going to Europe too. The school choir made up of seventeen and eighteen year-olds was going to Istanbul, Rome, Florence, Venice, Salzburg, and Vienna. Back then, a girlfriend and I were heavily caught up with the idea of soulmates and that strange chemistry between two people who are perfectly in sync, liking the same things, speaking the same language, just knowing what the other felt. She had seen it and the movie struck a chord in her. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy played their parts wonderfully and although the movie could be criticized as one long conversation, the conversation let you see the two characters through and through, and the terrific bond they shared for some fourteen hours.
Nine years after that meeting, the two meet in Paris, where Jesse, Hawke's character, is on a book tour. Celine, played by Delpy, frequents the store where he's reading and knows about his book, which has quite a bit to do with that one night they spent in Vienna. How will they part this time? With a promise they won't keep again?
I finally watched the first part tonight and must say that their talk reminds me so much of how I was nine years ago. Young, hopeful, idealistic. Reviews of the sequel say the two characters have matured, their faces show the years that have passed. I can't wait to see it later this summer.
What I liked about Before Surise is how realistic Jesse and Celine are. Listen to how Jesse speaks and you know you've met an American like that before. And Celine's craziness isn't too far-fetched. The realism makes you feel for the characters. They're familiar in a good way; you can see them aging along with you.
I wish I could write more about the bittersweetness of chance meetings and not meeting the other person again. I used to daydream about such tragic situations. Now, I worry mostly about whether my luggage is too heavy and whether I've replied to enough emails for the day. Gosh, I've degenerated, haven't I? I've moved on and left the romantic behind. Maybe I should make a trip to Europe again. Renew a part of myself. Maybe next year, Lin Kiat and I will go.
Go see the trailer here.
I shall put off writing a post on what I've been up to lately by obsessing about a new trailer. Garden State is the directorial and writing debut of Zach Braff, the endearing lead fellow in NBC's Scrubs. He's a graduate from Northwestern University's film program, and wrote this screenplay while he was a student there. He managed to sell his film at a recent Sundance Festival.
This trailer has no dialogue, no human voices; just a great song called "Let Go" by Frou Frou (and I recommend the album, Details, heartily) and images that flow perfectly in time with the song. Oh, and it also features a leading lady called Natalie Portman.
Some of my favorite details - a guy shooting a flaming arrow from a crossbow (while smoking), a knight in armor holding a gallon of milk, Braff's character in a shirt that blends in perfectly with the wallpaper, Portman's character doing a silly dance, Natalie dancing in front of a fireplace in a huge hall, Natalie looking away and smiling, Braff getting cornered by two big dogs while Portman hangs up her sweater, Braff and Portman looking right at each other...hmm, lots of Natalie in my observations. She is a lovely, lovely girl after all, and recently armed with a degree from Harvard.
Oh, yes, and the movie...Braff's character returns to the Garden State (that's New Jersey) some ten years after leaving it. He's there to attend his mother's funeral and arrives with more baggage than he's pulling off the luggage belt. It opens in the US July 30, so I should be able to catch it when I return August 10.
Go here to see the trailer.
Today seems to be movie day. I've been preparing a list of must-see summer flicks (fun entertainment). Here it is, in no particular order of preference:
1. Troy
2. Van Helsing
3. Shrek 2
4. Harry Potter 3
5. Spiderman 2
6. I, Robot (a Will Smith movie based on the short stories by Isaac Asimov)
7. The Day After Tomorrow (by the director of Independence Day)
8. The Terminal (romantic comedy by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks)
9. The Village (the new movie by M. Night Shyamalan)
10. Collateral (a Tom Cruise/Michael Mann movie. Cruise is a baddie)
11. De-Lovely (about Cole Porter, starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd. Plenty of appearances by singers - Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Alanis Morissette, Natalie Cole)
12. The Bourne Supremacy (sequel to The Bourne Identity)
13. Arthur (from Jerry Bruckheimer! Set in England! Starring that Pirates girl, Keira Knightley!)
Strictly for chicks:
1. Princess Diaries 2
2. 13 Going On 30 (the Alias chick actually smiles and dances here)
3. Ella Enchanted (Anne Hathaway as a princess again!)
4. The Prince And Me (Julia Stiles and royalty)
5. The Notebook (based on that heartbreaker book)
6. Before Sunset (sequel to Before Sunrise)
7. Shall We Dance? (American version of the Japanese movie)
There're also a few international films I want to see but I'll save that for another list for another day. Phew!
I've decided that watching horses and birds in action is a wonderful thing to do. Two of my favorite migratory bird shows include Fly Away Home and Winged Migration. Living in Michigan also allows me glimpses of large eagles soaring in the sky or geese lazing on a frozen river. Just the other day, at a stoplight, I caught sight of a two eagles circling high above me. Watching them for a few seconds gave me an immense sense of peace. I guess this is what Wendell Berry was talking about in his poem "The Peace of Wild Things."
Horses, ah horses. I regret that I never learned to ride one, although I did go on two long horserides in the Rockies when I was in Canada several years ago. We traversed a river and went up mountain paths. More recently, I finally got round to watching that wonderful gem of a movie, Seabiscuit. Last year was my LOTR craze so the the horse movie kind of got eclipsed by Frodo and gang. Well, I am pleased to say Seabiscuit moved me. A horse that was too small, a jocket was too tall. The movie followed the book closely, and the book detailed the true story wonderfully. So all the great moments in the movie actually happened. It's beautifully-filmed, the acting was splendid, and my heart really went to Seabiscuit.
Inspirational movies can get cheesy, but this one was uplifting, aided by a great film score. It's no wonder it was nominated for Best Picture. If I'd watched this earlier, I think I wouldn't have minded if Return Of The King had lost to Seabiscuit! Yeah, I liked it that much!
I have about half a dozen entires I should write and an editing job to finish but I couldn't resist putting up a rather interesting post to do with a movie and a sport - deep sea diving.
Open Water was shown at the Sundance Festival earlier this year and it's been getting rave reviews. Comments like "Jaws meets Blair Witch Project" and so on. Some folks didn't like Blair Witch Project, which didn't quite deliver, and Open Water is supposed to.
The movie is loosely based on a true story that involves a married couple on a dive trip. They get accidentally left behind (the bloody boat left without them!) and are literally surrounded by miles of ocean and sharks. The filming process is another story - the budget was so low that the director couldn't afford to have a CGI shark or build a mechanical one. So he packed the actors with anti-shark chain mail, dumped them in the Bahamas, dropped sharkbait in the waters and waited for the sharks to show up. Then he filmed the actors shaking with real fear in the water. The actors weren't insured. They just signed contracts stating that neither party would sue each other.
If you're interested in the true story, which happened in 1998, off the Great Barrier Reef, go here.
Reading this made me a little nervous, especially since my brother, Randy, just returned from a dive trip. He loves diving and my mom and I are always concerned when he goes. I think I'll make him read this article.
I'm not sure I can handle watching the movie. Watching the trailer was enough to make me quake. Go here for the trailer.
I do believe that's a real shark!
My favorite online DVD store gave me a nice discount last Christmas and I bought a bunch of DVDs during the holidays. Tonight I finally got round to watching one of them - Amelie! Watching it again was like finding a small treasure I'd hidden a long time ago, not unlike the tin box of mementos hidden by Mr. Bredoteau in the 1950s.
I laughed and smiled and felt very warmed by the burgeoning mystery and attraction between Nino and Amelie. Nino works two jobs, as a skeleton in a horror train ride at a funfair and at a porn video store, but his passion lies in collecting things; presently they are discarded photos at instant photo booths around train stations in Paris. Amelie, a waitress at Deux Moulin, turns a do-gooder after returning the box of trinkets to its aging owner. She doesn't just do good, she changes lives.
I think every girl wanted to be Amelie after watching the movie. Amelie the perpetual dreamer, the sweet pixie who skips stones and makes great plum cake. And certain guys wanted to find Amelies for themselves. Me, I just want to go to Paris and climb to Montmarte! Actually, once, I did think about cutting the hair a la Amelie, but I didn't think it'd suit me. Paris it is then, some day.
The teaser trailer is out today. Go here to take a look. A rather small screen though.
Update on my essays: I have a mild suspicion I'll make it through today and hand in my work on time.
While we're caught up in the euphoria of the approaching King (that's Aragorn to those of you who have been hiding in a cave for the past year), there is the other fantasy series of a young wizard-to-be. Mustn't forget about Harry Potter, now.
The third movie revolves round the mystery of Sirius Black, recently escaped from the Azkaban prison. Gary Oldman plays the said wizard. Ah Gary, one of my favorite actors who doesn't fit into the hero/protagonist mold so easily. Perfect to play the odd one, Sirius Black.
Harry flies into theaters June 2004.
Go here for the teaser.
I spent the afternoon in the company of friends yesterday - dim sum, TV, played with Clinton's cat (called Cookie, also the name of Peiming's dog!), tried my hand at CS again and a new game Yew Hoe insisted I take a look at (after two years, am very rusty at first-person shooting), spoke to Crystal, Kuan-Yin's girlfriend, who says my Mandarin isn't so bad (great! Or maybe she was being nice?).
Ben, Kuan-Yin's roommate, drove us to Rochester Hills, because my beloved white rabbit wouldn't start! Brought her to Kuan-Yin's house fine, but she wouldn't start when we were ready to leave. Highly embarrassing and frustrating while everyone waited for me. It's happened before - the key recognition system not reading my key - but my car would usually start after several tries. I figured yesterday was the day the system finally broke down completely. So I'll have it towed tomorrow morning to the dealer to get it fixed. Very troublesome. But seeing as how I treat my car almost like my child, it's like having a sick little girl to send to the medical clinic. A mother would have to take time off from work or her daily chores to get the suffering, immobile child to the doctor's.
I once read a nifty little statement that goes something like this (I think): "the significance lies not in that adults make children but rather that children make adults out of us." In this case, it's my car! One day, Lin Kiat and I will have little people running around our home (imagine miniature versions of LK and me. Horrors! A little boy with an irrespressible grin and a small girl who wants a story read to her every night!). For now, I've just learned that an old schoolmate of mine is a new mother and I'm thrilled for her. I'm slightly envious, but I'm far from ready to be a mother myself. Not until I've done all the things I need to do for me (finishing my MFA program, travelling with LK, spending lots of time with him in our very own home - no matter where that might be - and finding a job) because when it comes to raising children, I think I'll want all my energies concentrated on the little beings. I don't want to be - for lack of a better description, and as a friend once said - a half-assed mom.
My own god-mother, my witness at the wedding (and my ex-Literature teacher in JC), is also pregnant, and expecting a boy next March. I've always looked to her as the ultimate literary and whip-smart woman whose interests in books, travel, movies and culture coincide with mine. She once told me she loved children but was a little terrified of raising one. I've recently bought a book for her - The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting. She's lived and studied in the UK, the US, travelled to unusual places in Europe, earned a PhD, and now, will take on the gargantuan task of bringing a little boy into this world!
I have yet to get to what I'm referring in the title of this post. In a windy sort of way, I'm finally getting to my review of the movie "Love Actually." I got back to Ann Arbor yesterday evening to meet up with my friend, Jenny, who I've been friends with since our hiking days in the summer of 1999. We'd both planned to see the new British romantic comedy (from the makers of "Notting Hill," "About A Boy," "Bridget Jones's Diary," and "Four Weddings And A Funeral") because we both like feel-good movies (as long as they're not sappy). The movie redeemed my awful day (car not working, watch stopping, rainy weather) because it reminded me that love is all around, so goes the title of the song from "Four Weddings And A Funeral," which is transformed ironically into "Christmas Is All Around" in this new movie.
The inter-connected stories in the two-hour movie were sad, uplifting and inspiring. Great direction, and a wonderful cast - Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Alan Rickman, Laura Linney, Rowan Atkinson, among others, and cameos by Billy Bob Thorton, Denise Richards and Claudia Schiffer - which made this a great ensemble movie. The movie has its faults but you do leave the theater feeling happier and glad to be alive and knowing that there are people in your life who you love and who love you back.
The stories include a man (Liam Neeson) who's just lost his wife and realizes that he barely knows his step-son, a precocious boy who is in love with a girl who sings beautifully; a married couple (Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman)with the spark fading in their marriage, and where the husband is tempted by his bewitching secretary; a young, new wife (Keira Knightley) who tries to be friends with her husband's best friend, not comprehending the reason for his cold disposition towards her; the Prime Minister of England (Hugh Grant) finding love in the most unusual of places (Harris Street, the dodgy end); a writer (Colin Firth), who discovers that his live-in girlfriend has been shagging his brother, and then goes to France to work on his book while trying to communicate with his Portuguese housekeeper; an American woman (Laura Linney) who yearns to begin a relationship with a colleague (played by Rodrigo Santoro, a very good-looking Brazilian actor, who reminds me of Raoul Bova, the Italian chap in "Under A Tuscan Sun"), but keeps having her life interrupted by mobile phone calls; and an aging ex-rock star who's trying to get a no. 1 single this Christmas.
There are so many lovely moments in the movie. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. The wedding. Look for the surprise that the best friend has prepared for the couple.
2. The discovery. When Emma Thompson's character realizes she didn't get what she thought she would from her husband.
3. The dance. When Laura Linney's character finally gets her first dance with officemate, Karl. Very tender moment there.
4. The parting. When Colin Firth's writer says goodbye to his housekeeper. What they say in their respective languages to each other, and what they don't realize the other person is saying.
5. The performance. When the little girl sings Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You."
Not all the stories end happily, the choices the characters make aren't always the ones we want them to, but we understand a little of why they make them. Go see this with a loved one, a friend, or someone you want to impress with your fun taste in movies. Suspend your cynicism when you enter the theater. After all, Christmas is nearly upon us! Love comes to all beings - fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, grandparents, friends and even the vulgar rock star!
Go to the official movie website here. Watch the trailer! You'll smile.
I got out from class at four and Boon rang me, "Do you want to go see The Matrix?" I had planned an evening of errands: post office, Office Max, read an essay. In the end, I skipped the errands and hastened down to Showcase Cinemas to meet Boon and his friend. Movie on impulse, that's the way to go.
For a four-thirty show, the theater was pretty crowded (the first showing was at nine this morning, I believe). We got three seats and plunked down to a splendid showcase of trailers. Troy (it looks great! The hundreds of ships sailing towards Troy, Brad Pitt looking yummy and Orlando Bloom looking yummy. Where was Sean Bean, our dear Boromir?) was followed by The Last Samurai. Now I wish they hadn't titled the movie that, it puts people off, how can they give a man from the west such an esteemed title? Forget the title, focus on the battles scenes. Impressive, I'd watch it for the fighting, the costumes, and the lovely Japanese lady who serves up as eye candy and requisite lover for Tom Cruise's hero character.
Cut to movie at last. Hmm, I wish I'd rented Reloaded before going to see the final part of the trilogy. Even though it's been a few months, so much has happened in between that I've forgotten the plot points in the final moments of Reloaded. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll sound really general in my review. Lots of action, puts you at the edge of your seat, fights with sentinels, fights with Smith, fights with nameless, gun-toting, leather-clad baddies. Just a few moments (and one miserable line!?) of Monica Bellucci (lots of cleavage though), a cryptic little Indian girl, more Oracle talk, less Morpheus waxing philosophical. The end wasn't as I expected, a little compromised, a little anticlimactic. I wanted more to the story. Maybe they wrote it this way to leave room for another trilogy (a final war with the machines?). There were a couple of things I didn't quite grasp, one being Smith's power. I must consult with my brother, who's more of a Matrix fan and expert than I am.
So the movie ended, I left Showcase (but not before seeing a couple of fans dressed in long, black cassocks, Neo-style, sans sunglasses) and I went to dinner at a friend's house where we watched Finding Nemo, which has just emerged in DVD format. Still as heart-warming and satisfying as ever. Now, I shall return to the essay I postponed. Outside, the temperature falls (and falls) and I shall cozy up with a new friend: a small blue mouse whose belly hides microwavable lavender beads to warm and relax the senses. The eczema has spread to my neck, so I really must get some down-time. Too bad I can't plug myself into a beach-resort program and immerse my consciousness in sun, sand, and ocean.
My blue pal in the microwave
[Update]: The mention of "blue" reminds me of one favorite moment in the movie. At one point, while Trinity and Neo hurtle towards the machine city, they are forced to escape the sentinels by nosing the ship into the sky, above the wretched machines. They burst through the black cloud and lightning and find themselves surrounded by a beautiful expanse of blue sky and the sun blazing benevolently upon their faces. It was probably the first time Trinity had seen and felt the sun's rays upon her face. Her experssion was perfect: awe and wonder at such a phenomenon. And then they were plunging back into the dark world, leaving behind the faint outlines of a crescent moon and that unending blue heaven.
Brad Pitt as a golden Achilles. This is the first teaser poster of next summer's blockbuster, Troy, starring several international acting luminaries. This should draw in the history and Literature fans, general movie buffs, and screaming girl fans who will have four delectable males to choose from: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom. The latter two are LOTR alumni, so that should bring in most of the LOTR fans as well. They sure know how to pick their actors.
My friend Jennny and I ate Subway sandwiches and watched snippets of my wedding video cds, and then I drove us to Showcase Cinemas to watch Under A Tuscan Sun. A chick-night indeed. But it was a good night. The movie was one of those feel-good shows and it was all about Italy! Okay, it was about Frances Mayes, played by the lovely Diane Lane, and how she gets her life back on track, or on a different track, in Cortona, Italy, to be specific.
The vistas were lovely and got lovelier as the movie progressed. It was a long show, but I didn't mind gazing at the Tuscan landscape, or the sea at Positano, or the old buildings, or the run-down house that eventually became a beautiful villa. Of course, Positano boasted more than the sea - that's where the splendid looking Marcello lived and took Lane's Frances to visit. What shoulders, what cheekbones, what a smile... . He's got better skin than I do (damn it!). If you watch the movie and it does nothing for you, I'm sure Raoul Bova will (unless you don't fancy guys).
The movie is loosely based on the best-selling Frances Mayes memoir of her life in Cortona as she refurbishes the villa, Bramasole. Quite different, but the movie can stand on its on. If nothing else, the movie made me miss Italy even more. When I saw the facade of the Duomo in Florence rise on the screen, I could almost smell again the rain that poured on one of the last Sunday afternoons I spent in Florence. I was waiting for my friends and it was raining (just like in the movie), I went inside the Duomo, which was being decorated for Christmas, and I sat next to and befriended an old Italian man who thought I was Japanese and who later kissed me on both cheeks and wished me happy holidays. I need to go back - not for the old man, but for the feeling. That unmistakable feeling you get when you're walking on the same stones that great artists once tread upon, when you're gazing at a landscape that turns your heart to putty, when you're hiking right by the Mediterranean Sea and threading through grape vines. Nothing ever gets to you the way Italy does.
I feel I ought to be writing some paragraphs on the movie's I've seen recently. But most people have seen most of them and already know what it's all about. So perhaps this is more a list to keep track of what I've viewed:
Movies in the theater
- Whale Rider (this was quite a while ago. Two months. But I'm still remembering the strange sounds of the sea when Paikea lives up to her name as the whale rider.)
- American Wedding (since LK and I saw the first two American Pie movies, it would be apt to watch the third. ahem.)
- Pirates of the Carribean (how could anyone not watch this. heh.)
- Lara Croft: Cradle of Life (I play the games, might as well watch the movies.)
- S.W.A.T. (we'd just seen Phone Booth and The Recruit on DVD so it was a Colin Farrell marathon.)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (watched this show one and a half times, due to inconvenient blackout.)
- The Medallion (not so good. Sorry, Jackie.)
- My Boss's Daughter (we watched about fifteen minutes of this and it was more than we could stomach.)
- The Italian Job (fun chase movie. Made me almost wish I were leaving the theater in a new Mini Cooper S instead of a Golf GTI. But my white rabbit is a good car. Like I said, almost wished.)
Movies on DVD
- The Colin Farrell marathon: The Recruit, Phone Booth
- Talk To Her (terrific film. Just terrific.)
- Bringing Down The House (this was good, fun comedy.)
- The Hunted (I'd watch most Benicio Del Toro movies. Go Benny of the bull!)
- When Harry Met Sally (got this at a good price in the Virgin store in NYC.)
- Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (will not gush, will not gush.)
- Bowling For Columbine (we liked this. Made you sit up. Made me think of all the fellows in Singapore. Great gun control in the country, but almost every guy and a number of women know how to work an M-16. They know it but they don't yearn for it.)
- One Hour Photo (very good show. Cleverly and tastefully done.)
- Tadpole (watched this with Jenny who's recovering from shoulder surgery. Great movie. Loved the soundtrack, which was never made available. French songs and Adam Cohen singing Charles Aznavour's "She" in French. And I've discovered the British group Everything But The Girl at last. Anyone got good recommendations on their discography? I recall Van Tan once remarking how the name "Everything But The Girl" suggests the kind of emotion and expression you'll find in their music.)
Movies I would like to see
- Le Divorce (I like Paris. not a fan of Kate Hudson, but I like Paris and French music.)
- Under The Tuscan Sun (read the book, might as well see the movie. It's also starring Diane Lane, who was in The Outsiders, The Perfect Storm, A Walk On The Moon and Unfaithful. Oh, and this film is also about Italy. Italy.)
Note: There are several more movies I marked down in my Entertainment Weekly issue, the one with the fall movie preview. But it's sitting in my bedroom, and I'm lazy to go get it.
Movies I want to see but won't get to
- Turn left, turn right (starriing Takeshi Kaneshiro and Gigi Leung, based on a lovely little Chinese book that I read over the summer. Thank you to my colleague Susan who gave me the soundtrack inspired by the book, which inspired me to pick up the book; and thank you to Desiree, who shares my enthusiasm for the book, the movie and Takeshi, and who'll get to see it this month in Singapore and who'll, I'm sure, tell me all about the movie I am missing.)
For anyone interested in reading about the author Jimmy, go here to his website (it's in Mandarin). His books have great water-colors, themes and lovely words (or at least, from what I make them out to be, they sound lovely).
And for those interested in the film itself, here's a website to visit (you have to wait a long time for it to load up. Thanks for this, Des!).
Lin Kiat and I finally caught Finding Nemo last Friday evening. Quality animated films are a real delight and Finding Nemo is one of the best. Pixar has produced Toy Story, a Toy Story sequel, A Bug's Life and Monsters' Inc, but the latest creation is just fabulous.
The sense of place and mystery about the ocean is very present in the film. I've always been in awe of how much is unknown about the watery world that stretches beyond our continents. That's why I've been particularly excited about the recent discovery of colossal squids (imagine that! Bigger than giant squids!). I like the possibility of mermaids, the presence of an abyss, the graveyard of ships, large whales bellowing poetic echoes in the water and the tiniset of fishes hiding in the shadow of corals.
The themes are well-known and have been used often, but used in this setting, they are apt and made new for children and those who are willing to put aside a cynical, aged state of mind. The film is about travelling to new distances and going out there with nothing but faith and a promise. Marlin, the daddy, has to learn how to let his son go - metaphorically - and love him at the same time. He's got a lot more to let go, like his fear and neurotic behaviour (I'm one to talk). Nemo is plain adorable (I want to hug him, but would probably kill him in the process), especially in the scene when he deliberately hits the base of the boat with his fin and puckers his little orange face into a scowl, outrightly disobeying his father who watches in comic horror.
Journeys - physical and emotional. Marlin and Nemo (and crazy Dory, the blue, short-term-memory fish friend that Marlin picks up) experience these through the course of the film, many of these involuntary. Journeys are always special. And the audience does journey with these creatures of the sea, and when the travelling has ended, you kind of wish it had gone on a little longer. There's still a whole lotta ocean out there.
I've finally caught The Matrix Reloaded a week after its huge opening. It was enjoyable, visually impressive and a fun distraction on a Saturday evening.
Too, I watched The Animatrix the night before and am very glad I did. Of the nine shorts, four are relevant to the feature film and answer many questions that occur to the average fan who is, at times, too keen to discover the ins and outs of the Matrix. The directors of the Animatrix are well-known Anime directors. Two are my personal favourites: there is Shinichiro Watanabe, who directed the cult series Cowboy Bebop, and Square, the people who give us Final Fantasy games.
The Second Renaissance Parts 1 and 2 provide the story of why the Matrix came to be and illustrate the violent wars between man and machines. Kid's Story shows how the Kid (the young eager fellow who greets Neo when he returns to Zion) extricates himself from the Matrix to wake up in the real world. Square's triumph, titled Final Flight of the Osiris, is just beautiful. Breathtaking. Its story serves a purpose - the crew of the ship Osiris discovers a huge number of sentinels digging towards Zion, and one member sends out an emergency warning, which leads to the photographs that Captain Niobe presents at the meeting early in the feature film.
Now, anyone who has watched The Matrix Reloaded will realize that for the most part, the film is a no-brainer - plenty of heart-thumping action sequences, special effects and gorgeous close-ups of the lovely Monica Bellucci. Yet there are several times in the film when philosophical riddles and provoking conversations take place. These pave the way for the viewers as they inevitably reach the bewildering conversation between Neo and the architect of the Matrix.
With a little help from the transcript of that scene and some interesting discussions with my brother, I've managed to write down an explanation of the deeper ideas presented in the film. My brother, an engineer, and I took a couple of philosophy classes during our college years, not enough to make us experts in the field, but sufficient to help us appreciate and understand certain concepts in the film.
If you don't want spoilers, stop here. If you want to know more, keep reading. Warning: this will be my most geek-style entry ever, so do bear with me.
If you weren't paying attention, you'd have missed the meaning of what the architect was saying. True, the fellow was talking too quickly, but he invented the Matrix, he's A.I., and that high a level of intelligence most likley suggests swift expression of thoughts and ideas.
In any case, there are two ideas presented here. One is choice - do we really have a choice? Cause. Effect. Can you stop what has been effected? The other is control - the Matrix controls even those who live outside the Matrix, the freed people of Zion.
I'll talk about control first. We learn from the architect that the Matrix is a flawed one. The first was perfect, but perfection did not sit well with humans because we are flawed. Many rejected the first Matrix. So a second one was created, an imperfect one to "more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of (human) nature" says the architect. The solution (the Oracle, a computer program herself, discovered this, by the way) to getting 99% of humans to accept the Matrix - they are given a choice, even if they are only aware of the choice on an unconscious level. This addition somehow makes the Matrix flawed and creates an anomaly that if left alone will threaten the system (the Matrix) itself. Think of a computer that any of us might use - if it has some flaw in it, however minute, it will hurtle towards "an escalating probability of disaster", which means the computer will crash. So in order to prevent this, the system must be re-booted or re-formatted (hence the title The Matrix Reloaded).
The architect is saying that yes, we got the humans or most of them to accept the Matrix, but we'll need to take care of that growing probability that the Matrix will crash. That anomaly needs to be fixed when it gets to a certain point. That anomaly is Neo. Or the anomaly has led to Neo coming into existence - "Your life is the sum of the remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomoly which, despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision."
In order for the Matrix not to crash, Neo, the anomaly or the result of the anomaly, must return to the mainframe to re-boot the system. Re-boot the Matrix so that everything begins again. This means Zion must be destroyed, save for a chosen few plucked from the Matrix to awaken and assume responsibility for re-starting Zion, allowing the cycle to continue. For the Matrix to work, there must be a Zion, to give that semblance of choice to humans - Zion's existence provides the impression that they have a choice to be free of the Matrix and live outside the program. But Zion is a necessary exterior part of the Matrix. (This also deals with the idea of choice - is there really one?) The Matrix 'allows' Zion to exist because it needs it to, until the time comes for the system to be re-booted.
If the Matrix is not re-booted, then the system crash will result in the deaths of all humans connected to the Matrix, which, "coupled with the extermination of Zion, will ultimately result in the extinction of the ENITRE human race." The machines have already sent the sentinels to seek out Zion and destroy it, placing Neo in a real fix.
Neo is offered two choices - enter the source of the Matrix (thus re-booting it), choosing the 23 individuals to re-build Zion (it'll certainly be destroyed by the sentinels), thus saving the human race according to the enemy's terms, OR save Trinity, don't re-boot the Matrix, thereby forfeiting the chance to choose the people who'll make up a new Zion and allowing the human race to be wiped out by the sentinels.
All the previous "Neos" or anomalies chose nobly - they re-booted the Matrix each time and allowed Zion to be destroyed and re-built five times. Good for Matrix, not so good for the inhabitants of Zion. This time, the anomaly Neo chooses selfishly. Love. His weakness is love. Lucky Trinity. The architect tells Neo that his predecessors were "by design based on a similar predication in contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species facilitating the function of 'the one'." In layman's terms, this means each Neo is designed to believe he can and should save the world. He is "the one". What sets our Neo apart is his love for Trinity, which leads ultimately to his choice.
But did he have a choice? Choice is the other theme in the movie. The architect states "we already know what you are going to do, don't we? Already I can see the chain reaction -- the chemical precursors that signal the onset of an emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason." Because he loves Trinity, he HAD to go save her, there is no choice. The French guy (the one who keeps the Keymaker prisoner) spouts it again and again - cause and effect. Cause - love. Effect - must save Trinity, to hell with the rest of mankind.
There is no avoiding the effect once the cause has taken place. The film focuses on Neo's gradual understanding of this - why he is where he is and that he cannot escape his fate. There is only the matter of whether he comprehends how and why he gets there. And there's also that other little matter of saving the world, but that's for the final film.
One may then think that the Oracle - the crazy old lady with the sweets - is a fraud. She deliberately led Morpheus and Neo and a whole bunch of people to believe what she tells them and to make those things happen. She told Morpheus he would find the One; he did. She told Neo he would end the war; he will, when he re-boots the Matrix. But she didn't tell him that by doing so, the humans will be on the losing end with only a small reward - their race doesn't get wiped out. It's the Oracle's job to lead certain individuals down certain paths. She starts the cause that will lead to the effect the Matrix wants. The Oracle doesn't really predict things out of nothing. She causes an event and knows the result. Her knowledge of the result or effect is her 'prediction'.
But you've got to remember also that it was the Oracle who told Trinity she would fall in love with the One. Maybe this 'prediction' played a part in Trinity's ardor for Neo, or maybe not. The important thing is that it is Trinity's love for Neo that makes him choose differently from the previous "Neos". If Neo's unusual choice leads to the collapse of the Matrix, then one could say that the Oracle caused this. Her prediction helps Trinity fall in love with Neo, that love makes Neo reject the choice to save the human race, his choice causes the end of the Matrix. So the Oracle is helping out, isn't she? Well, sort of.
The third film will show the result and reveal other answers like why Neo was able to exercise his power outside the Matrix. My brother came up with the possibility that what if there is a secondary Matrix? What if the matrix that is featured in the films is part of another matrix? It could be too much of a complex idea, so another possibility is that Neo's powers are evolving, or perhaps he's a computer program too (Ben, the designer I work with, came up with this theory).
I'd also like to know what Agent Smith's role is, now that he's a rogue program and no longer a part of the mainframe or Matrix. Note that he's now in disguise among the humans - he 'overwrites' one of the Zion members. The one who's cutting up his hand and who is the only survivor in the attack on the five ships at the end of the film. My brother explained that it's most likely this Smith spy who sabotages the defense, which leads to the sentinels slaughtering the crew on the other ships.
How does Smith overwrite the Zion fellow? Well, think of the computer game called Everquest, a role-playing game in which you can choose your character and load him into the game each time you play. When he moves, you see what he sees, you hear what he hears. The game engages two of your senses. The Matrix engages all of your senses, it is the perfect virtual reality system, you feel like you're actually in there in the game. In Everquest, you play the character who's really made up of codes, and on a larger scale, every human plugged into the Matrix is also in codes or a coded form. In the Matrix, humans view each other in graphical interface, just as Lara Croft appears as the tough chick she is on the screen. But she's really made up of codes which we don't see unless we're special like Neo who can views things in the Matrix as how they really are - green figures that represent codes. Characters like the Keymaker and Smith are programs. They're able to re-write certain things in the Matrix. Now think about the Sony people who made and maintain Everquest, they are able to view all the codes of the game and re-write anything if they wish. Likewise Smith can rewrite the Zion guy within the Matrix, and when the Zion guy unplugs from the Matrix, he takes with him what Smith has written over into his 'program', just as a Sony guy has the power to alter your character in Everquest.
Someone asked how those fighting twins can go all translucent and pass through cars and people and the like. I don't have the real answer but here's my theory. They too are programs with certain abilities. Now two years ago, I had a whoop of a time playing the game Alice, by American McGee, a dark violent version of Wonderland that occurs when Alice is admitted into an asylum in the real world. (Coincidentally, Alice in Wonderland is a motif featured in the first Matrix movie.) I found a couple of cheat codes, one which allowed my Alice to fly and move through almost everything. She stayed in the brook - for as long as I wished - without drowning, she could move up or down through floors - it was wonderful. I soon discovered that it was more interesting to explore the landscape of the program than to limit myself to the graphical interface of Wonderland. At one point, I moved Alice vertically through all the stairs and ceilings until she reached a dark sky decked with stars. She floated there while the real landscape remained below, the only landscape she was permitted to explore if I hadn't used the cheat code. Well, I imagine that the twins in the Matrix were able to do something like what I did for my Alice. They can break the rules of the Matrix or certain rules just don't apply to them.
I've written a very long post, but I wouldn't say I'm as fond of The Matrix as I am of other movies (LOTR!); and I'm not really a science-fiction fan. But I do like it when movies make you think and figure out plots and themes. A number of people have written off the film as weak, and with a convoluted plot. I'd suggest taking a bit of time and effort to understand the ideas behind the plot - there is a structure and meaning behind the chaos and riddles - or perhaps it's only geeks like me who go hunting for them.
Band of Brothers is an incredible 10-part series that I've discovered rather late in the day. But what a welcome distraction it is during these weeks.
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks put together a wonderful cast and made sure they got every detail right in this series that pays tribute to Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division. These men were heroes during their time in Normandy, Holland, Belgium and Austria. They returned home anonymous, slipped back into their families and carried on with life as best as they could. Then Stephen Ambrose brought them out of anonymity with his thoroughly-researched book, and today, Spielberg and Hanks have made sure no one will ever forget what Easy Company did for America and for the Allied Forces during World War II.
It is true that the series shows events from the perspective of the Americans (the British and French are seldom featured), but Spielberg and Hanks based the series on a book, and the author chose to focus on Easy Company's stories. Both producers aren't defending or delivering excuses for their decisions. And they shouldn't have to. These stories are about a group of men who fought on the side of the Allied Forces, who fought for their company and platoon, and for the brother next to them.
As Lin Kiat once told me, in the thick of the battle, you don't think about your country; you think about the guy who's beside you, who's putting his life on the line as you are yours. He's the one who'll give you cover fire, and you'll cover him when he needs it.
When I was a lot younger, I used to read my brother's X-men comics. There, I said it. Another clear sign that I've been a geek for an even longer time than people dare suspect. But that's another story (or another post).
Over the weekend, I caught the sequel to 2000's summer hit X-men, I was impressed by an even better X-men movie - better special effects, more cameos of other superheros, and a strong and developing plot that will keep the X-men movies going through the next few years (*fingers crossed*). The demise of a certain character at the end of the movie follows closely the fate of the same character in the comics. For those in the know, we can look forward to the rise of the Phoenix when X3 arrives.
Last Friday, I went to a bar at The Fullerton Hotel. Now, I can't recall the last time I was at a bar so this was quite the unusual night out for me. I didn't go for the old faithful drink - a Bloody Mary - but went for a cocktail called Strawberry something something (my lack of familiarity with the latest hip drinks is evident here); maybe Steph, my old roomie from Ann Arbor who recommended it, can enlighten me on this. I must say it was pretty good though, despite the forgettable name.
I happened to be wearing my hair in a ponytail and had donned my Audrey Hepburn stlyed ballet flats that day (the bar trip was unplanned), so thank goodness I had a corporate-looking shirt on. Everyone who thinks of me thinks "small-sized girl", so I was lucky I managed to pass as a working woman, and more importantly, an at-least-21-years-old person, and not get asked for my identification card. I sat at the bar, lit my friend's cigarette with the hotel's chic-looking black matches (with silver heads), sipped my drink and watched the too-good-looking crowd move and mingle about the dark room.
Going to the bar again after a long time, I felt like a kid who'd entered a grown-up world, experiencing the unfamiliar and doing a dance with steps that were previously imaginary and were now delirious and daringly real.
My sentiments that evening were probably not too far off from those of Renato Amoroso, the young boy in the Italian film, Malena. How funny and timely that I watched the movie last evening and, with my Friday outing still fresh in the memory, was able to understand how Renato yearned to wear long pants and be led to the adult seat at the barber's instead of the little stool in the dark corner. He didn't want to be seen as a young boy, just as I have envied other girls who look their age and command some respect, that is, they aren't called "cute" and don't have their heads patted as if they were dolls.
I didn't quite share Renato's amorous intentions though, or his deep emotions that well up (in more places than one) when he first sets eyes on Malena walking by the coast. Yet, I'd be the first to concur that Monica Bellucci, who plays Malena, is a certifiable beauty, and I don't blame Lin Kiat for having a photograph of her perfect face in his My Pictures folder. (I've got one too.) Anyway, Malena doesn't say more than a handful of sentences in the film, but her character is built up and through Renato's eyes. He trails her around the town and the viewer knows his is a youth's fantasy. His hormones are raging and he's on the brink of manhood. What sets Renato apart from his other lusty schoolmates is the concurrent development of his courage and independence.
Renato asks a saint to protect Malena from the vicious and hypocritical town whose people shun and speak ill of her when her husband is away at war. She stands apart from the others - out of reach of Renato (and all other men), alone and silent in a place where she struggles to live with dignity. Renato's single act at the end of the movie displays his final and most important crossover from youth to young man. Yes, he did get his trousers and he did get invited to a proper seat in front of the mirror at the barber's. But these transitions pale in comparison to his most courageous act and secret gift to Malena.
The movie was released in 2000 and it took me three years to finally watch it (thank goodness for uncensored DVDs from the US - I'm tired of all the censorship of films that don't deserve to be mauled and mangled by a committee in Singapore that decides what we can or can't watch). For everyone who hasn't seen this, I heartily recommend viewing this powerful and moving film from Giuseppe Tornatore, the acclaimed director who also gave us Cinema Paradiso, which incidentally, is out in a new version on DVD. See more.
I'd like to add that the music score is composed by Ennio Morricone, a composer I've admired since I was ten. He was responsible for the score in Cinema Paradiso as well, and countless other film music - some 400 or so, according to the Malena DVD feature on him. I heard the music before I watched the film, and though I enjoyed its melodic arcs and variations, I didn't grasp its full emotion until I watched the film last night.
More on Morricone tomorrow when I've regained some energy after a manic Monday. In the mean time, go here to the official site of Malena, and enjoy some of the music that still haunts me 24 hours after I've watched Malena move along the Sicilian coast and across the TV screen.
I'm pleased to report that the first award given out on Sunday evening was the Best Animated Film to Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. One of my favorite films and more than deserving of the award.
There were some excellent acceptance speeches - one notably by Peter O'Toole when he received his honorary Oscar. He'd been nominated seven times for Best Actor but never won, so I suppose the Academy decided to hand him an honorary one to make up for his being passed over seven times. Peter O'Toole - well known for his leading role in Lawrence of Arabia - was eloquent, sincere and gracious. "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot!" quipped O'Toole.
Interestingly enough, one of the roles he was being honored for tonight is Lawrence of Arabia, based on the story of T.E. Lawrence, who aided the Arab rebellion against the Turks during World War I, a movement that led to the creation of the independent Arab state of Iraq.
Adrien Brody, who won the Best Actor award for The Pianist, drew much applause and the audience to its feet with his moving words on the effects and sadness that come about from war. He began his time on stage with a deep, dramatic kiss that he bestowed on a bewildered Halle Berry and ended with tears and a shaking voice, encouraging the audience to pray for peace and a swift resolution.
The Oscars were interrupted twice to provide updates on the Gulf War, although audiences at home were not privy to these.
Michael Moore, who won for Best Documentary Feature, fired up the night with his harsh words for President Bush. Read more.
The Region 1 DVD of Spirited Away won't be here till April, but here are some screen shots of the menus, which are very attractively done, compared to the simple ones of the Region 2 Japanese version. Go here for a viewing.
More thoughts on Hayao Miyazaki's beautiful animated films soon.
It appears that the much beloved animated feature film of the 1980s will finally be re-made into a live action feature film. The story will be based on the original book by Peter S. Beagle, not on the animated film whose screenplay, though written by Mr. Beagle himself, was altered slightly.
Fans will be pleased to learn that actors from the original voice cast plan to bring to life their original roles. Christopher Lee, by now the main man to play famous baddies (Count Dooku in Star Wars Episodes 2 and 3, Saruman in the Lord of the Rings trilogy), will reprise his role as King Haggard. Angela Lansbury, nearly as eternal as Mr Lee himself, will play Mommy Fortuna again. Mia Farrow, who lent her voice to the Unicorn and Lady Amalthea, will not play the young girl Amalthea again (for obvious reasons), but will take up the role of Molly Grue, the lady who has lost her youth yet instinctively recognizes a unicorn when she finally sees one.
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers - many will remember him as the Irish coach with piercing blue eyes in Bend It Like Beckham - will play Schmendrick the Magician, although rumors had pegged him for the endearing role of Prince Lir.
The two main roles remain to be filled. Who will play the Lady Amalthea (no doubt the Unicorn will be created by CGI) and Prince Lir?
All will be revealed when the film opens in December, 2004. This is good news for Lord of the Rings fans - originally, many believed they would spend their days contemplating the chasm left after the trilogy wraps up at the end of 2003. Now, for those who have loved these two classic tales, there will be another film to embrace, another soundtrack to be played again and again, more paraphernalia to be whipped up and another year of anxious waiting.
In the mean time, you can read all about the movie from the official site here.
And if you haven't read the book, now's the time to do so.
My buddy, Vanessa, posted an entry on Tintin going to Hollywood. One of my childhood heros...I hope they find an actor who does him justice.
I remember when I used the phrase "Billions of Blistering Barnacles" as an example of alliteration in a poetry class at Michigan, I discovered that my American classmates had no idea who Tintin was! My professor, the poet Richard Tillinghast, did though, because he lived in Switzerland for some time and bought Tintin comics for his children (excellent parenting decision). I was very pleased to find a fellow fan of Tintin, and we introduced the brave, young journalist to our class.
Now, Spielberg will do the same for America.
Read more