391: five hundred days is pretty long

The only people for me are the mad ones.

(As usual, cut for spoilers, 500 Days of Summer.)

380: you are not welcome here

My friend says this is the best movie he’s ever watched in his life, and I think I can see why, even though we see the same things differently. For me, it was good — one of the better ones, in a long while — but it might have been because I had to sit through with a pounding headache that changed my perspective.

(Spoilers ahead; don’t read if you haven’t watched District 9.)

358: 心会痛，心也会感动

从没有放弃过心中的理想

… 不知不觉已变淡，心里爱

333: fireworks in lake michigan

As usual, I have not done anything (much) today. I have an exam on Monday but I’ve barely started studying. This would be better if it were actually graded so I could feel more fear, or written so that I could feel less. As it is, it’s an oral exam. I’m scared shitless and yet not, and my brain is continually pushing waves of apathy towards me. 

326: look what love gave us

These few days have been better, but it might have been all the alcohol.

Everyone is going home soon, and it’s hard to fathom that one semester has already passed us by. In these three months so many things, good and bad, have happened, sometimes changing our lives irreversibly. Whatever it is, whether it’s the people we’ve met or the people who have left or are leaving, this exchange year is shaping up to be an unforgettable one.

260: クローズ ZERO

Watched Crows Zero over the last weekend. Can’t believe it’s already Wednesday and I have so much work to do. Anyway it was pretty good, although I admit I’m biased because I so totally went to watch it because of the two male leads. It reaffirms what Isaac said to me the other day about Oguri Shun – which is that he manages to be convincing in any role he plays. Even here, as a high-school gang boy. Not like in Gokusen; more intense. I literally saw his mouth twitch in rage for an agonizingly long period of time before he let loose a roar and his eyes burn. Anyway like I said, maybe I’m biased, but he is a very good actor. Who plays a deaf boy, a gangster, and Hanazawa Rui (花沢 類) so convincingly all at one go? (Don’t forget Hana Kimi!) In contrast, Yamada Takayuki – who is also a very good actor, in very diverse roles – doesn’t convince me that much. Maybe it’s because of his baby face.

The soundtrack was good though, and so was the directing, by Takashi Miike. I hadn’t heard of him before this movie but I like his style so I’ll probably check out more of his stuff. J didn’t like the choppy cinematography used for the landscape, but I think it worked pretty well. And there was judicious use of colour vs. black and white. I liked that a lot. That said, it is a manga adaptation after all, so there are loads of funny and stupid parts. I didn’t get the crow reference till the last part, and then it all became clear.

It’s probably going to be on limited run, so go watch it soon!
It’s such a refreshing change not to see Caucasians on the big screen. -_-

255: don’t look back in anger

 

243: this is longer than sorrow

Honestly? Okay, really honestly? This is the best ever movie poster. Ever. I would give a lot to see that hanging on my wall, just because it’s my favourite book and the poster is beautiful. Though they should have used a camellia.

(But the 2046 poster SJ got me for my 18th birthday is still in its “you better freaking have an orgasm when  you get this” case. Though that’s because I haven’t a frame big enough for it yet.)

And. Javier Bardem. Ahhh.

238: try a little tenderness

My Blueberry Nights doesn’t really make sense, and neither does its title, until you think it through.  

“A film about a woman who takes the long route, instead of the short one, to meet up with the man she loves.”  

(Cut for spoilers; if you want to watch it, you should probably read this only after you’re done.)   

229: lovers’ chatter is as dust

I’m having a headache. I’ve been having a headache on and off for the past week, and I don’t know why. This is all so strange. I feel like a mysterious and fatal disease is quietly descending on me. Hur.

This week –

We went to the National Museum on Friday, and I hadn’t been there since the last primary school field trip, and to Timbre for dinner after, because we happened to park there. It’s changed a lot, and I liked it. There are a couple of pretty cool exhibitions there, including one on New Buildings (modernist architecture) and Greek sculptures from the Louvre. Now they make me want to go to France, not for the first time.

We watched Two Days In Paris on Monday night, and it was wonderful. I hadn’t watched a movie that uplifted me in so long (I’m sure you will agree that of the many things that Lust, Caution is, uplifting is not one of them), given there was never a single down moment or a lapse in concentration. Like every movie with Julie Delpy, the conversation just keeps going, even though sometimes that’s all there is keeping it up. I love it. I love how a movie can be made so completely out of words, and though the surrounding is important in providing a context for these words to fall in, it’s still part of a supporting role. Each character, whether mimicking life or art (Julie Delpy’s real-life parents are her movie parents as well), has their own backstory and past, the glimpses of which are shown solely through conversation, evoking a picture just as vivid as a visual flashback.

I love her. And the part about the balloons and where Adam Goldberg smiles goofily like a squirrel. Daniel Bruhl (Goodbye Lenin fame, another movie I love) was totally random.

#

So the second week of my vacation has passed, with three more weeks left to go. In another week, it’ll be Christmas, and then the New Year. It feels strange not going away this holiday, but I’ll live. I’ve been spending my time redecorating my room, unearthing old photos and sticking them on my wall, fixing random things like the TV wiring and getting a tape unstuck from the VCR (antique device that it is), going out with the bf and my mother and grandmother, watching Japanese dramas.

More on Japanese dramas. I like them a lot, not solely because the cast is attractive, but because they deal with interesting issues (not like Taiwanese ones, which are either idol dramas or about scheming heirs to a family fortune plotting to take over the company), like Kimi wa Petto, which deals with the highly improbable situation of a young OL keeping a teenage boy as a pet after she finds himself abandoned in a box outside her house. Or Kindaichi — which though predictable after 2 seasons — continually amazes me with ingenious ways to solve crime. In addition to that, they come in manageable 9-11 episodes, not requiring you to follow the slow unfolding of a very complicated plot (like in Hong Kong) over something like 30 episodes. And unlike Korean dramas, nobody gets a fatal disease and dies at the end (most of the time).

My boyfriend is probably sick of me talking about them, since I talk about a different one every week.

In other words, I’m doing nothing very productive. But lovely enough, for the days to come, where 18-hour days come to haunt me again.

218: bumbling along

the clock is winding down its time, but more and more so the pressure of the week seems to lessen as i keep clearing away the backlog. that appears to be a good thing.

my ceiling started leaking a few days ago, right between my writing table and my bed. the head of my bed, to be exact. so now i am sleeping on the other end of the bed in the hopes that i will still be alive when the ceiling falls down. hahaha. kind of like chicken little – the sky is falling down! the sky is falling down! wah. anyway that day i came home to find my little bedside table filled with water and the soft-baked cookies which were sitting innocently there minding their own business were utterly and thorougly waterlogged. ew.

as time goes by, old things get displaced from new environments, and they must find their place in the world.

#

i watched lust, caution twice – i did not regret it. there’s something about haunting films. some people don’t understand how powerful sex can be, which is why they edit it all out and pretend that showing people stripping naked and coming afterwards is an adequate substitute for a power dynamic, that can only be seen in its most primal form. my favourite scenes, however, involved a lot of eye contact. the very first scene at the mahjong table, and the one in the middle with the conversation at the restaurant. it is something that tony leung is very good at, and what separates the boys from the men.

after the first time i thought i wouldn’t watch it again, because it was too intense, but now i feel like i could watch it again and again. it makes a difference that you see the nc-16 version before the r21. only then do you adequately appreciate its importance, because you don’t need to imagine, but know, how it was like without the sex. and also: after you know the whole story, going back to watch it again makes every nuance weighted with far more importance. especially the scenes at the start.

it’s not like 2046, which is beautiful but not raw, and (very) surreal. but still.

so: every tale of lust is a tale of caution.

#

yesterday i was so bored in school, studying company law. so: peas be with you.

209: whee qualifies as a boggle word

beer and breakfast at tiffany’s. :)

today i sold my stuff at home, and earned $100! had a nice dinner to celebrate. i saw alot of nice clothes there, but i refuse to blow my hard-earned money (haha) on instant gratification. most of the time it ends up being sold at the next flea market. UO is having 15% off sale items but i can’t find anything to buy.

however, my favourite pizza joint is still da paolo pizza bar! so much more worth it than stupid pizza hut!! (i really don’t understand it when people say they swear by pizza hut when there is much nicer and authentic pizza out there for less than what they are charging…)

i am happy to be in school.

186: 三年的感情 一封信就要收回

today was a good day.

we are often too caught up, too absorbed, too too busy to just sit down and have a chat. so what better way to do it than pon a useless lecture and relive a holiday mood? i like talking to people. thank you for trusting me. (:

only one useful thought while watching hairspray. it suddenly seemed poignant to me in the middle of the movie while queen latifah was off belting out some song pretending to be emo and crying that the camera angle swept across the marching crowd and in it all i noticed the wizened face of an elderly black man holding a ‘integration not segregation’ sign. which could have been real, and him there to hold it. i wondered as he walked if it brought back any memories for him, marching as he would have when he was younger, 45 years ago. this moment in the film – it changed it from being just another happy teenybopper musical into something much more meaningful for me.

funny how things change, and thankfully not always for the worse.

#

some people are in deep shit, and they do not realise it. sometimes people really need to think about things properly before they do them, and land themselves into a whole pile of muck without knowing. and preferably not with the anatomical protrusion on their body.

it really annoys me that people really don’t know that they are messing up their life.

#

成年人分手後都像無所謂.

talking to you brings back memories. it’s sad to realise that i remember the After more than the Before.

174: just go ahead, let your hair down

today was pretty good. met the girls today and watched the simpsons, which was funny in some parts but still better in half-hour episodes. had a nice dinner (marred by a telephone call, but quickly rectified after) and some really nice dessert. i spent a lot of money today, but it was good. bumped into the a14 people and chatted at macs for a long long time before heading off to chijmes for drinks. and talked a lot more, once the alcohol was all in the system. ’twas good to see everyone again and catch up and talk about stupid things late into the night, sort of high. thankfully no drunken photos.

watching NDP preview tomorrow courtesy of joel! whee (:

155: happy boys and happy girls we’ll be

crimson tide! spent most of saturday night feeling fuzzy and warm, which was very good considering i started getting crampy and had a headache through the night – but then again, i slept at 5am.

it was hong’s birthday party yesterday, the last one in a long long time, since he’s flying off to MIT in september. this year there weren’t 3 cakes (just one) but it was baked with looooove even though d_____ thought it tasted like play-doh (omg when was the last time you played with this stuff!) i think he’s just jealous he doesn’t have someone to bake one for him…

caught up with grace and joel, all the while marvelling at how all the boys remain the same – as full of nonsense as ever! anyway the good thing that came out of that chat with them is that now there is a meet-the-girlfriend session in the works… joel you better go organise it quick!

j came to pick me after and his car got banged, now his headlight has fallen out. it would be funny but it’s evil to laugh, so :x anyway we went back home and watched music and lyrics on my mac – after he protested he didn’t want to watch a bloody movie (kill bill) in the middle of the night. hence, a sappy movie! it was actually quite funny – british humour (: (“maybe this time i will write, and i will write like a human, and not like a … small pekinese dog”)

anyway – here’s some of friday’s happenings (:

148: i know right now you can’t tell

things that make me happy

- banana crumble
- chwee kueh
- nice fried tang hoon
- steak & guinness pie
- guo tie
- urban outfitters
- shopping in bangkok
- sesame and flaked salt crackers from M&S
- pasta pomodoro
- fish and chips, in newspaper with vinegar
- a filled notebook
- an empty notebook
- a hug
- friends getting together
- people getting attached
- a good sleep

things i want to do
- watch all 4 seasons of the L word
- watch the remainder of the guhuozai series
- watch the entire samurai x anime again
- and slam dunk
- watch meet the robinsons
- eat toad-in-the-hole
- re-read all my enid blyton (st. clare’s! mallory towers!) and roald dahl books (i read the BFG yesterday!)
- go kayaking
- get a tan

you know what, they should really have a magazine for women that’s like vogue + economist + wine&dine – much like monocle, or to a lesser extent lexean, which i think is trying too hard (there are only so many things to gripe about singapore, and even then – i could’ve written that stuff, and they’d even save money paying me less). why is there no such magazine in the world? does everyone still think women are morons who only like to read about 1) the latest trends, 2) how to please their partner in bed, 3) aunt agony columns?

maybe i just want an intellectual fashion-y food-y magazine. i think that would go down very well indeed!!

(well, back to illegality of contract. that’s far too much intellectual stimulation for me…)

142: take you on a shopping spree

i am very annoyed that my dress is not here even though i bought it last sunday and the girl said she’d mail it first thing on monday morning. i emailed her on thursday again, and she said i’d get it by monday latest, but i get home and there’s still no package. i shall wait one more day, and if nothing comes, i will go and scold her.

maybe it’s my fault because i never opt for registered mail. i feel stupid and even more annoyed. bahhh.

in other news, we watched breaking and entering tonight at cathay after a long day in school which ended up in me sleeping across 3 chairs. it was a good movie, even though it cemented the fact that i somehow don’t really like jude law.

i’d forgotten how good a subway sandwich can taste! (:

130: the little things that we do without

the rain beats down without me knowing on my classroom windows, while i’m holed up inside discussing privity of contract for two hours, and when i come out into the air again, all i see is a grey sheet of rain and the dismay that wells up when i realise i have to get wet in order to get to the car. j then gallantly offers to bring an umbrella for me and i disappoint him greatly when i brave the rain across two metres of pavement just so he can walk less. after we rush to town for my appointment, he waits on the slopes for me to be done before he ventures out again and we drive around, not knowing what to do. eventually we decide, and after we park the car our slippers get wet in the puddles of rain that pool on the ground, and we plod into the building with wet feet and vaguely grumpy dispositions. we slide into dinner slightly damp, and are slightly happy when the food comes. we cool our heels in the cinema: i’m freezing from the rain and shiver involuntarily throughout, and after we finish paris, je t’aime we’re amazed at the bizarre french humour, and sit down outside the sidewalk with the rain pattering just a bit further out to come off from a high that leaves us both bent over with laughter. over warm coffee we huddle together and talk, about things other than school, about our friends, about the people that walk by, about our past, about us, in the quiet, rainy night that seems so magical in the middle of a busy week.

108: some kind of lazy day

st james was… interesting. the cover was only $10, though, so it’s worth a check out just for the variety. i’m sure the music and crowd will improve with time — though it seems horribly overaged, and the guys were suitably disappointed by the lack of fresh meat down there (heh). and the DJ was vaguely annoying. but happy birthday JQ anyways, you’re 21! (:today was possibly the first day in a long time without any rain, and i finally watched curse of the golden flower, starring gong li’s boobs (and about 10,000 other extras’) — seems a trifle excessive, though, JQ was telling me he’s off boobs now after watching it, he’s “now an ass man” — quite a depressing film, really. there are loads of good movies coming out in january, though, so that’s something to look forward to. since we watched it in yishun, it seemed like a throwback to the past (when was the last time you visited yishun?), and it was pleasantly nostalgic and suburban. the spaces are so much wider, and you can actually see some greenery… bumped into ziyao at the interchange, and had a drowsy, pleasantly stony bus ride home. stopped a bus stop earlier and walked back, soaking in this glorious cool non-rainy weather, just in time for dinner. lovely. off to bangkok in two days!

103: now she says she knows, you’re not the hurting kind

there’ll be pictures of what transpired this last, crazy night once caitlin sends them to me. 4 people, completely barking mad. there are lots of things you can do with a car, as we all found out. shan’t spoil the surprise for you!

before that, though, we watched after this, our exile at midnight. it was … mind-boggling (again). but it was good. aaron kwok can actually act! insert gasp of surprise. a lot of interesting relationship dynamics, and somehow the depiction of a grossly dysfunctional family was gritty and kind of heart-wrenching. (which is more than i can say for singapore movies… somehow they just can’t do it the same way, or similarly. why… we have a long way to go.) but in any case, the ending was a bit strange… rather abrupt, though stylish; we all thought there was no real way to end it, anyway. watch it! though i have no idea why it’s m18. also, this is one of the few chinese movies that actually has a cool-sounding english movie title. now, saying that i want to watch confession of pain just sounds retarded.