Quantum of Solace

a cooler title that most people do not understand.

a whole lot more of action that most people cannot even grasp.

a continued plot that most people barely knew what was happening.

Well that is Quantum of Solace for you.

So basically caught this movie during Artemis Faculty Outing to the movies on Friday night and was left rather unsatisfied and disappointed at all the hype about it.

I think as the cliche critics always put it; sequels truly are a difficult mix to deal with. See it this way, if you have a successful 1st attempt, people would definitely expect it to be better. Or if it was a chaotic 1st attempt that was rather diastrous, well, first of all a sequel would not exist at all or even so people won't even be bothered or expected to catch it. Well it all goes down to expectations really.

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So that aside, as a whole I would say that Quantum of Solace may well be classified yet as another typical classy kind of James Bond movie. Much of the plot here is a continuation from the impressive Casino Royale, where 007 is seeking revenge for the murder of Vesper Lynd. The main, lets call it "problem that sets the climax" of the plot is a men named Dominic Greene from the Quantum organisation, who intends to take control and domination over the water supply in Bolivia.

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In terms of plot wise, well lets just say that the action and thrills of the film more or less completely overshadow the plot direction and most of the audience are lost or trying to get glimpse of what the film is really saying within the 1st half hour of the film. But then again, its a James Bond movie- what do you expect?

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Many pertinent provoking issues lies within premises of the plot that can definitely be highlighted if this is a dramatic piece gunned for oscars. The whole issue of dominance and military lords in South America, issues of corruption and poor governance, concept of environmental and basic needs control. Lots of meaty social issues with lots of room for thought and thinking. However, as mentioned earlier, this is a James Bond movie, so lets just move on.

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Daniel Craig puts in yet another well partly charming, partly composed performance as 007 and as with all the critics comments and reports, he is fast becoming one of the most popular bond since Sean Connery.

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That aside, Quantum of Solace really is just another James Bond film.

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It is a definite fact that most people, like me, will tend to compare this with Casino Royale, holding rather high hopes of a new reinvigorated bond series. But that is not the case. Casino Roayle is like the occassional joy you get when we see a wonderful attacking linkup and play in football. But others like Quantum of Solace, is just that average, usual plays, goals and scores that we see in the sport of football.

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afterall, at the end of the day, as much as plays and stuff matters, its all about the final score in football as with anything else. People pay to just see the overall thing- that action and thrill that moves faster than your eye.

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so similarly, Quantum of Solace- yet another James Bond film that most people will see and say,
"oh so thats it."

For the last time.

It began on an April afternoon, right after PE lesson. In the classroom we waited and listened. And then by fate and chance we were casted together. One will recall the signing of "a contract" and the thoughts of various plans. But most notably, silence was the motif.

We all will remember that day when Ms Ng announced the groupings, and silence fall upon us when she announced ours. And I don't think much have changed too since then, I guess you can call it our trademark.

That style continued to evolve subsequently where online meetings were frequent, coupled with occasional 15 minute sessions right before break ends or at times that 1 hour we have together during PW lesson. But other than that, as much as we said "thursdays afternoons will be for PW", we never really got down to that at all.

Words were rarely spoken, but somehow they always get written down or typed out. At first, it was seemingly an endless rush to meet deadlines after deadlines. Nights and nights of MSN and online convos, yahoo e groups, compilation and then the calling of a "certain gay partner" for printing.

Time progressed on with online surveys and comical revealing of our survey password online, or funny trips down to the pharmacy where you have 3 guys asking for slimming pills or a fine day where we coped 100+ postcards from the library and school alike for a class trial.

And then pieces fall together nicely, fitting together as one final piece of work. But that is not before endless struggles of writing, then inserting diagrams, and then summarising and of course the ugly, tiresome job of beautification- formating.

that was not all though as the final court trial awaits. and so we gathered our evidence, we rehearsed our plead and then the time came

where, we then took that piece into the "courtroom" for that final trial and pushed our case across to that familiar yet large prescence.

and then its done.

all that remains is the final piece along with the recordings of that fateful November Monday afternoon.

yes, it concluded exactly a week ago where hearts and souls were set free with joyous smiles and cheers as we finally wave goodbye to a long, ardous and yet "fulfilling" modernising journey of Project Work.

with that, once again, for the last time,
silence was the motif.

blue.

blue [bloo]
noun, adjective, blu·er, blu·est, verb, blued, blu·ing or blue·ing.
–noun

1. the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 450 and 500 nm.

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yap. i am going blue.

have been looking around over the past week and finally got what I needed- new shoes and boots.

and yea, ended up with a blue-ish theme for both.

So first up rugby boots!

Nice cool adidas predator blue- rekindle thoughts of daniel carter...

its good bye to my old boots, or rather Li Xiang's boots as I bought it from him second hand.

Next say hello to stone shield.

Blue blue nike shoe.

Putting them together...

Nike and Adidas... a Blue Match.

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blue is the sky,

reflecting in my eye,

making me go aye.

aye- yea, i love my blue shoes. :)

waiting.

a week has passed since promos.

and what a week its has been, totally replete and packed with Festival of Sports, Sabbaticals, Graduation Night and then Open House.

interesting enough these are just transition "itenaries" as one awaits the returning of promo papers and perhaps pw amongst others.

as much as it has been a week, it has seemed like a long time. i barely recall the last time i stepped in the examination hall, head cramped with facts, figures, definitions and diagrams; all that seem so fragile as if i was going to lose any of them with any movement of my head... oh boy actually I do remember...

the bell rang. 

it was 7.30am. flag rising was just over. students all flooding over to their respective classrooms. on any other day they will have stoned around chatting at their benches, but it was different today. it was their examination day.

A310, A207, Hall Row 7. Some had memorised the exact venues. A couple others, well... lets just say that they know that someone will always know where to go.

7.40am. around 15 to 20 mins more of last minute cramming, as all frantically flip through notes. some had their personalised summarised notes, others still browsed through the thick and elaborated lecture notes. a few others crowd around the brains of the class, pouring them with questions, all in a last minute bid to clarify concepts and certain questions. some are calm, composed, others are feeling increasingly tensed and nervous.

the bell rang again. it was 8.00am. with the sound of footsteps leading into the class, stillness followed. some visited the washroom for the last time. others prepared the tools they needed. Identification cards, stationeries, calculators. some panicked when they realise their calculators are running low on batter. others just keep reflipping all the knowledge in their head. 

paper is given out. hands shaking as one writes their name and quickly flip through to see what they are in for. and then all eyes were on the clock as they wait. a wait for the bell to ring again.

and so it begins. everyone around starts scribbling furiously. and then you realise you are on your own. this is your personal battle. you have to do it yourself.

before you knew it, 5 minutes remains. some have completed and sit waiting, constantly picking their pieces up, flip through, change a bit and yea satisfied with their work. others still struggle furiously as they juggle between those blanks that they have. repeatedly thinking... well I know i have seen that somewhere before...

the bell rang for the last time.

pens are dropped, papers collected...  it is over. discussions followed amidst certain disappointments sometimes filled with cursing and dejection.

and then the wait begins again...

waiting, waiting, waiting...

for the bell to ring yet again.

Rain Man.

the holidays are here and in the midst of frenzy mugging and preparation for promos, i decided to dig sth out to watch.

and out comes "Rain Man". best picture from 1989's academy awards. can't rmb when I bought it but surprising that the disc is still wrapped in transparent plastic and yea pretty much I have not touched it at all.

The film's premise is rather straightforward- after Charlie Babbit father had just passed away, Charlie realised that his father only left him an old convertible and some prized rose bushes. He then found out that another undisclosed trustee is receiving $3 million dollars- and that trustee is none other than an older brother that he have never known- Raymond. However, there is something different about Raymond- he is an autistic savant, with a superb memory and mathematical deduction skills- but little intelligence in terms of basic understanding and logical reasoning, let alone handling human emotions and relationships.

So Charlie "abducted" Raymond to Los Angeles to meet his attorneys in an attempt to get back his fair share of the Babbit assets. What began as a selfish motivation is soon changed into a caring and loving brother.

The film holds certain funny moments, like when Raymond was crossing the road halfway and then the Green Man turned to Red Man- he just stopped completely in the middle of the road. Car horns, people shout but no- he won't move unless the sign says Green Man.

On top of such comical moments are certain scenes that develops Charlie and Raymond's relationship- like when Charlie discovers why Raymond was sent away. That was one striking scene that just hits me deep:

Charlie: When did you leave?
Raymond: January 12, 1965. Very snowy that day. 7.2 inches of snow that day.
Charlie: Just after Mom died.
Raymond: Yeah Mom died January 5, 1965.
Charlie: You remember that day. Was I there? Where was I?
Raymond: You were in the window. You waved to me, "Bye bye Rain Man", "Bye bye."

Realisation. That because of you- your brother was sent away all this years, suffering in silence.

Dustin Hoffman puts in a delicate performance as autistic brother Raymond in this heartening and deep film that just makes my heart feel a certain sense of depth and sympathy.

I am not sure how to put it, but somehow when you view visuals depicting the at times childish and silly acts, hear the words and thought of a simple mind and often watch them suffer in silence. Worst still- most perhaps do not even know or understand that bit of bitterness.

That it brings both laughter and tears watching those comical and yet heartfelt incidents portrayed in the film.

Sigh.

A tinge of sadness filled with empathy, at a lost for words.

Just rain on me, Rain Man.

WALL-E.

So it is the afternoon after Teachers Day celebrations last Friday, and a few of us went off for a movie- Wall E.

I guess it is amazing that within the month of August, I have been to the cinema 4 times. when compared to the months presiding like even June Holidays itself, it has been proportionately much less.

But nonetheless, I think it has been sometime since I watched an animation on the big screen. And Wall.E did not disappoint at all.

Set 700 hundred years into the future, this is an earth far too polluted for the existence of any lifeform. All humans have moved away into a spaceship far away in the galaxy years before.

All thats left is little robot- WALL.E, who has been dutifully tidying up our earth, compacting trash and stacking and piling them all over our city. This is until he met EVE, a female robot sent from the human's spaceship to evualate if there is any growth or signs of lifeform on earth. What soon happens is a subtle but yet warmly magnetic bond between the pair. It all began when WALL.E followed EVE all around, showing her his place/special items etc. And all goes well until EVE somehow broke down.

And then, WALL.E just faithfully protect EVE, from rain, wind etc. Before a spaceship returns and takes EVE away. Unwilling to "let her go", WALL.E thus hops on to the spaceship and follows EVE back to where humans have been all this while. This leads us into the 2nd act of the film and goodness what humans have become- little plum bodies that can't even stand on their own. Yes, our human race that has degraded to the extent that they rely on machines to get around, communicate with each other and so on. In some sense, their lives are highly run by machines that when the time calls for them to return to an earth capable of sustaining life once again, they are held back and prevented from returning by these machines.

This is where the magnetic pair of WALL.E and EVE comes in as they ignite a revival on board the spaceship, ultimately taking everyone back to earth.

Though one of the key themes this film highlights is that of our increased pollution and reliance on technology, but the star of the show is the relationship between Wall.E and EVE. This is a minimal dialogue show.(well what do you expect? robots talking?) And it is this point that makes this film such a charm. It is just delightful how PIXAR has given so much feeling into WALL.E, that you too share his love and warmth and sadness. All seen through those lens or eyes if you will like of his. Coupled this with the romance between WALL.E and EVE, from their little dates on earth to the amazing journey they have in space. There is this lovely memorable scene where both of them dance around in space behind a backdrop of the galaxy. Simply beautiful.

Indeed, WALL.E is a tale of love and heart- and these are things so beautiful and yet simple, that even robots share it amongst them. A simple touch of love- and that may well be all it takes to save our planet.

20.08.2008- the wonders of our life

how often is it do you get such a good date?

20.08.2008

pretty nice and balanced.

somehow 2008 as a set piece has offered so much beauty and symmetry in its dates and timing.

and it is pretty provoking to think how men are the ones who created all this symmetry and structure- dates and naming etc... mathematical wonders of our life.

so much that it just leaves us standing there... with a "woah, that is nice."

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my name is "Dave Ming Chang."

yes yes. Meet Dave.

He is not a person. he is a spaceship.

Watched "meet dave" last week and yea pretty much a really silly but hilarious show.

I can''t rmb when i laughed so much in a theatre. Eddie Murphy puts up a really comical and retarded performance that just puts the smile and laughter on the whole audiences.

A group of aliens coming from a more intellectual and advance earth, they still require "water" from our planet for their planet's survival. and as they are all tiny little people, they come in a spaceship that looks just like a human- and uses that to get around.

so what you have is really funny moments where "Dave" first learns to walk around, express the various tones of emotions like smiling, frowning etc.

but i think whats most interesting is the concept of emotions. It goes back to the "meta-IQ" discussions, that both are truly independent of each other. Here, we see a bunch of "aliens" who are smart intellectually but no nothing about emotions. People are named simply based on their system... like "3", that guy is "5", that guy is "2"... you get the idea...

they talk formally, directly, objectively. everything is straight to the point. and of course, they don't seem to have any sort of emotions whatsoever. So here comes the interesting thing. they come to earth, experience the range of feelings such as love. 1 particular scene is when they find a spot for the "spaceship/ aka dave" to rest over the night, they found an empty spot in times square. another beggar was there and they shared the spot. whats amazing is that the beggar, who he himself have so little, acctually offered his only blanket- his only source of warmth to dave. and this simple act of kindness just left dave stunned. for so far everything he has seen in earth, from their magazines and news are all about problems and global crisis liek global warming.

another really fuzzy moment is when "3" and "captain" watch "its a wonderful life" another beautiful film there but yea to them its like a lecture and tutorial on love.

[they finish watching "It's a Wonderful Life."]
Captain: [crying] "Lasso the moon". Physically impossible!
No. 3 - Cultural Officer: [crying] Absurd.

and it is just so heartening to watch a group of people who know nothing about emotions, to slowly learning how to interact in our world and eventually enjoying all the warm bits on earth that makes us who we are- that of caring and concern for each other, having fun with family and friends and of course to be able to love and be loved- the very things that makes us human.

and in our complicated and often confusing world, it is this simple things that keep us going on inspite of all struggles and problems.

yes.

afterall, it's a wonderful life.