Here's My Story

Recently we watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (go watch it!). As usual, I was the one who organised where, when and how. I wanted a morning screening such that we would have lunch right after that, at a suitable location of course. So I ended purchasing tickets at Starling Mall for screening at "Play" theatre. I had no clue then what sort of theatre it was but I did note tits unusually small size. When we got there, I discovered that it was a kids-friendly theatre. Interesting! Aside from the differences (compared to a normal theatre) shown in these photos, the lights were slightly dimmed, rather than switched off, during screening. I actually prefer that. Fortunately, there were no kids at that time haha. I expected them to be noisy if they were around. Great concept for family with kids. Parents wouldn't be as stressed in such theatre.

I have never watched the classic Disney's animated movie version of this story in its entirety. Just bits and pieces. Recently, I caught the tail-end scene where Pinnochio was dead on a bed, while Geppetto was crying, face down on the bed. The blue fairy appeared and not only she ressurected him but also transformed him into a real boy. Pinnochio then spoke to Geppetto which the latter was still facing the bed: Pinocchio : Why are you crying? Geppetto : Because you're dead. Pinocchio : No, I'm not. Geppetto : Yes, you are. Go lie down. 😄 I am surprised at such witty conversation in such old Disney movie and timed with a sad event for Geppetto.

Looks good, right? Unfortunately, the noodle was a little hard and the sauce wasn't sufficiently flavourful. Both Ban and I was quite excited to try it because it's quite hard to get 'dry' udon. We had this just before we watched the locally produced movie 'M for Malaysia'. Good movie, regardless of your political leaning. Coincidentally, that night marked the start of my long period of illness, interrupted by only a few days of full recovery, which I'm still suffering from its lingering effects :(

Love's Coming is quite a fun and light-hearted gay-themed Thai movie but with an important message of acceptance which makes it touching. It focuses on a group of tight-knitted teenage friends who suspect one of them may be gay. Half of the movie is about how 3 of them try various ways to find out the truth while the other half is about the blossoming relationship of the suspect and his neighbour. There were plenty of funny and sweet moments, with occasional serious but heartfelt moments. I would imagine most gay people would recognise the anxiety and fear of being found out, the trepidation of considering coming out to great friends, and the utter hopelessness of finding love in a society where it's still "boys only like girls" culture.  For those fortunate ones among us, we would identify with the feeling of relief and love when family and friends accept who we are; for the rest of us, we wish that will happen when the time comes. After watching it, I was feel...

Warning: Some spoilers ahead. "Some mysteries are not meant to be solved," (or something like that) was one of the last few sentences uttered by Optimus Prime at the end of the movie. Oh yes, how apt was that...especially since there quite a few 'mysteries' in the movie itself. I consider myself to be average when it comes to detecting plot holes in movies/stories. Hence, detecting some would mean how obvious those holes are. The first "huh?" moment came when Optimus and his comrades grouped up with the humans in Hong Kong, who were trying to deter the bad guys from getting hold of the 'bomb'. He stated it was important that the humans get the bomb across the bridge. The obvious thing to do (at that time) was for the Autobots (and, their allies, the Dinobots) to either take the bomb or escort the humans out of danger, right? Nope. Optimus asked the humans to drive a normal beat-up vehicle by themselves @@ Later, there was an even big...

I've watched the tv series a couple years ago and I like it so much that I've been hunting for its genuine DVDs in Singapore and Malaysia. I've finally found it at Animetech at Centrepoint, Bandar Utama. However, my joy was short-lived: there was problem playing it if chapter was selected (rather than "Play All"). It was the same for all 3 DVDs. What I was afraid most was that this problem was laptop specific i.e. it may be playing perfectly well on a DVD player. Fortunately, it was the same problem when tested using the shop's DVD player. Since they did not have another copy, they offered to try to get another one from another branch or to order a new one. Should that new copy also have the same problem, then I would be fully refunded. About 8 days later, I obtained its replacement and so far, it's working well :)

If you read this  and/or if you were one of the fortunate/unfortunate ones to have spoken with me recently, you would know of my opinion of how alike Avatar and Pocahontas are. Till last week, only 1 other person (a colleague) thought likewise too, without much prompting from me. Recent, she forwarded this to me: She suggested that we should do something similar with Lion King and turn it into a blockbuster :)

I watched Avatar recent. It is a good movie but truth be told, I expected it to be great, not merely good. I wasn't exactly wowed by it. Maybe I was caught up in the hype and so had high expectation? *shrug* I watched the 3-D version. Again, nothing to shout about. It didn't seem to do much difference to me. In retrospect, I wouldn't have paid S$5 to watch it in 3-D and wearing uncomfortable 3-D glasses in front of my own glasses. The first encounter between the two main characters reminded me too much of Pocahontas, especially with the theme on respecting nature, give thanks to the animal killed for food etc. I wouldn't have blinked my eyes if Neytiri burst out singing "Colours of the Wind", especially callimg Jake Sully a "baby" when it comes to understanding the forest and stuff. It would have fitted the scene perfectly, with her running up tree trunks and jumping around while pointing to the lovely flora and fauna around. Yah, I'm just ...