It is horrendous how the night passes so quickly sometimes. Now it is past midnight and a brand new day in a series of other impending new days. And new days, new days, they only sit around waiting to become history.

Good things:

- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
I haven’t watched any anime in the longest time, but this caught my attention and held it. This is Tokyo, post a Richter 8.0 earthquake, and it unsettled me a tad more than I thought it would.

- Blade Runner
Finally got around to watching this. Quite ace, save for the presence of Harrison Ford. The eyeballs scene was tmd scary.

- The Brain that Changes Itself
Despite the title, this book is not a self-help/improvement book, even if it reaffirms the importance of positive thinking etc. I’m not done with it yet, but so far, it’s been a very fascinating and insightful read on our brain (brain!). There was also an article on one of the neuroscientists V.S. Ramachandran and his work on brain plasticity in an earlier issue of the New Yorker, which was equally interesting. (There’s hope for Homer, maybe.)

On Saturday, I watched the most horrible movie (’Obsessed’, not worthy of a link) ever. I’ve griped aplenty to different people already, but I’m not rid of my irritation yet. So, here I am again, despite having run out of adjectives to describe the show. Miss J. and I were desperate to see a movie, and that was the only one available without us having to aimlessly wait two hours. (I must say, however, that the Filmgarde cinemas are pretty decent and the tickets are cheaper, too.) Now, I’ve watched a decent number of movies and I’ve watched a decent amount of crap, but none so far has made me entertain the thought of walking out of the cinema halfway so badly. I didn’t in the end, but it was probably because I still had a lot of popcorn left (they forgot we wanted mixed, so it was all terribly sweet). The movie has no redeeming feature. Typical enough plot, with boring lackluster bland characters and acting, cheesy dialogue, and a ridiculous ending. Arghs. Thoughts that went through my head during the movie were: I really want to toss popcorn at the screen | Wtf, she is knn irritating. | I wish she died in her suicide attempt. | Wtf, wtf. | Kill her, kill her | Why isn’t it over yet? Rinse and repeat every 15 minutes for 2 hours. It made ‘Ice Age 3′ look like a serious Oscar contender.

Why do we have so many cinemas showing the same stuff at the same time?

But anyway.

Saw ‘Ice Age 3′ yesterday. The whole Singapore was watching the movie too, it seemed, seeing that most of the screenings were sold out. ★★ It is half a star lower from yesterday’s initial impression, but it isn’t that good really. Predictable laughs, and the same old plot from two sequels ago. No wonder the animals became extinct. If you have to recycle gags all the time, sooner or later suicide will seem like a very viable option.

Dance dance dance.

Also saw ‘I Love You, Man’, which was a lot better. ★★★☆ (3.5 stars) At least, it got some real chuckles out of me.

Watched ‘Bashing‘ a little earlier on on The Auteurs. ★★★☆ (3.5 stars too) Some parallels with another Japanese flick I saw last month, which I guess are quite telling about the societal norms (and expectations) in the country.

Movies Entry Sunday. I can’t believe it is midnight aka Monday already. The weather today has been quite perfect. Was trying to finish a book earlier this afternoon, and that proved to be quite the impossible mission. It is an excellent book, but every time I read it, I can feel my brain die a little from the over stimulation, which is quite the exact opposite desired reaction that I’ve been hoping for. Yes, I fell asleep.

I love Tetris, and I kick ass at it. And yesterday was Tetris day! I feel like I should had played a few games to celebrate, but I didn’t know about the day until it was over. The Google Tetris logo was cute though.

Tweeted about this earlier, but theauteurs.com has made my films-to-watch list explode with joy. From the site: “The Auteurs is the fastest growing online destination for lovers of independent, foreign and classic film; an online cinema, anytime, anywhere.” Like, uh huh. YES. And then a whole load of ecstatic emoticons. Granted that there aren’t that many films available for viewing in Singapore yet, but that is certainly promising.

(By the way, as a sort of disclaimer or whatever you may choose to deem it, contrary to what some may believe, I don’t necessarily just watch art house, indie, or foreign films. I like good films, and sometimes they fall into those mentioned categories. I like my movies entertaining, and I like them smart without being obtuse. And with intelligent dialogue. And with humour. And with no monosyllabic beefy guys in racing cars. And with no cheesy love story involving a scene with a flock of white doves that will suddenly swoop up at you when you’re contemplating a sacrificial suicide. Apart from those criteria, I am pretty much quite easy-going when it comes to movies.)

Watched ‘After Life’ on the site this afternoon (I liked it, though not as much as ‘Still Walking’). Seeing that it was a Saturday afternoon, the streaming was relatively decent – I left it to load for an hour before I started to watch – and the quality was equivalent to a HQ Youtube video. Screencaps below:

The only gripe I had was the sound. It was a tad soft, but I guess turning the volume dial higher isn’t gonna need a whole lot of effort.

A little indignant, so I googled for ‘Must Watch Films’ to see how far behind I really stand. I mean, all that zoning out in the uni audiovisual room must count for something. It must! That uncomfortable chair, the yucky headphones, the no-eating policy, and their stuffy opening hours. I refuse to have suffered these discomforts for nothing. Anyway, here are some lists (not in merit, but in how easy they came up on Google):

NYT: The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
Guardian: 1,000 films to watch before you die
Time: All-Time 100 Movies
From here: 1001 movies to see before you die

Counting in progress.

Time: Seven. 7! Wtf!
1001 Movies: 67. Depressing.

(Of course, quantity is nothing. Ha ha. Sigh.)

- How David beats Goliath, When underdogs break the rules
If their strengths are your weaknesses, you gotta stop playing to let them win.

- The Squint Test – How to protect fashion designers like Jason Wu from Forever 21 knockoffs

- Objection, Dear Leader! – How do court trials work in North Korea?

- 19th-Century Pregnant Dolls

- How Not to Photograph

Bored. Four minutes to Monday.

Anyway, it is about five hours away from my check-in time. Every time I get a 6 a.m. flight, I would promise myself that that would be my last time I buy tickets for such an early flight. Funny how that promise would never occur to me again until after I get tickets for my next trip. Sometimes my brain takes refuge in places where oxygen and other healthy nutrients can’t reach. And all the savings from buying cheap tickets go to a cab driver who will usually be unusually talkative at three in the morning.

I have decided not to sleep for tonight, even though I have a headache. Much thanks to stupid mothballs in my wardrobe drawer. Note to self: keep drawer tidy. I was pretty sure that I had some Cambodian riel left over from my previous trip, and since everything trip-related (itineraries, passport, tickets et al) ends up in that drawer, I thought I would probably unearth a small fortune (I was hoping for some USD as well) by going through that drawer. Right. Note to self, part two: do not be that serious about such a search, and check regularly that the mother has not gone and put a dozen moth balls in one single drawer. And there wasn’t even a fortune to be had. I found 5000 Vietnamese dong, 40 Hong Kong dollars, 1 Malaysia ringgit (one!) and a few Japanese coins. Disappointment is an understatement. Well, I eventually found 1500 riel in another bag. Let’s see. That is half a (Sing) dollar. So I have 266.30 USD altogether for my trip. Wicked.

Back to the movie. I really, really liked it. Hopefully it will get a general release and I can watch it again. I really liked it. Better reviews are here (Japantimes) and here (Midnight Eye).

Am reading The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa. Thus the math puzzle (see first paragraph). It is depressing because I promised myself that I won’t continue reading the book until I find the solution to that puzzle. I happen to like keeping this particular type of promise. It sucks because I was planning to bring that book along for the trip. Good job, me.

Bored and a little hungry.

Saw Oriume this afternoon. Screened as part of Films about Dementia presented by the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (Singapore), the film is a positive tale of how a family comes to terms with the disease when their grandmother is diagnosed with the illness. Certainly a sensitive portrayal of a difficult topic and a very heartwarming story indeed (with outstanding performances put in by the two lead actresses in the roles of the grandmother and the daughter-in-law), though I thought it got a little sentimental towards the very end. For me, at least, and not in an off putting way. It is just the cynic in me that rears its ugly head even in the prettiest of all cherry blossom showers.

Prior to the film, we also saw a selection of four winning entries from a short film competition organised by the same association. Winning. The first two were relatively decent. I found myself sniffing a little during the first one and, as the cynic kicked in, wondered with relative disbelief if I would be a sobbing mess even before the main film started. Turned out I had absolutely nothing to worry about, because the third and fourth films were totally rubbish. I say this without malice, but they were terrible and pretty much undid any good that the earlier short films had. I would have no issue if I was watching them as part of some student film festival (sorry, students) or at some open house, but given that the competition was to increase awareness of dementia and to foster a more positive understanding of the illness, it was painful to sit through those two films. There was no new perspective or insight, nor was there any discernible effort put towards that end. Well, there was the stereotype that the filmmakers were so comfortable with portraying. What’s the best way to show that someone has dementia? Why, to have her ask someone if he’s had lunch a gazillion times, of course! Then either tack on a few powerpoint-sque shots of advice, or a melodramatic accident. Yes, I know that these are (young) student films, but that isn’t any excuse. If they aren’t good enough and if all they do is entrench a stereotype, why show them at all? /end rant.

Showing tomorrow and Tuesday: Summer Snow and Away From Her.

(Image from oriume.com)

A delightfully enjoyable (and hilarious!) animated film, Sita Sings the Blues is now “legal“. Indian folklore has never been so fun or accessible! The latter, well, to me at least since I’m absolutely ace at forgetting/confusing names. All the fairy tales + folklore + mythology I’ve ever read is probably jumbled up in one single tale with thirteen protagonists eating at the wrong tables and all going after the wrong enemies. My brain’s theory of evolution involves data assimilation solely for convenience’s sake/laziness.

But anyway, watch the entire film online here.

Sita: Once he (Rama) comes, your ass is grass.

This year, so far at least, seems to be a year of film-watching. Am looking forward to Dinner with Murakami this Sunday, and then the film fest in April. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like I’ll be watching a lot of stuff too this year, seeing that most of the stuff I was interested in happen to be screening at the same time. Why, oh why.

Am also browsing the Hong Kong International Film Festival site and feeling a tad envious because I’ve counted at least 5 shows that I’d love to see. And their selection of Japanese films is just delectable.

Signed up for a Bloglines account some time ago, but for some reason, I’ve never logged in after I created the account. Somehow, it seemed right to me to click through dozen of sites in my bookmarks to see if any has updated. Yes, RSS feeds do exist, and we were friends when I was on Firefox but they don’t seem to go down very well with Google Chrome and I was a little lazy to go figure it out. But anyway, I got to using Google Reader the other day and it’s been excellent so far. Although it took a while to add and organize subscriptions from scratch (and I’m not even halfway through, I think) and information overload has never seemed as real a problem as it does now, at least I won’t need to click through half the internet checking for updates before I move on to more interesting (well, it depends), never-gone-before sites. This might also mean I will never get to any of those sites, since my number of unread items goes up every time I move my mouse.