The Paper

{ November 28, 2009 @ 3:39 pm } · { movies }
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Wrote this about a month or so ago. Posting it now to prevent another blog drought.

Exciting and entertaining, The Paper not only gives viewers a peek of the goings on behind the production of a newspaper, but also takes us on a roller-coaster ride as Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) races against time to ensure his story makes the headlines.

Henry Hackett, a passionate editor at the New York Sun, is forced to consider another job at a more established newspaper in order to spend more time with his pregnant wife, Martha (Marisa Tomei). However, when the chance of getting a big story for his paper arises, Henry blows his chances at the new job and stops at nothing to put the story on the front page.

This is a fast paced film with all events happening within a day. Tension is nicely built up with the help of some clever editing from sequence to sequence. The buzz and excitement of the newsroom is also well portrayed and Ron Howard successfully draws the audience into the frenzy of it all.

As the film progresses, its plot gets increasingly far fetched and exaggerated. However, the strength of this film lies in its good character development supported by a strong cast and witty dialogue. Michael Keaton and Glenn Close lead wonderfully, both portraying strong characters determined to get what they want and at the same time providing some comedic moments. Also as praiseworthy is Randy Quaid. His portrayal of the quirky McDougal was a truly stellar performance and what started off as a character that seemed to just provide comic relief ended up playing a significant role is driving the plot.

The main underlying theme of The Paper is how people struggle as they juggle between their careers and families. This is something many people go through today and can relate to. Many would be able to sympathise with Henry who finds himself torn between his quest for the ideal story for his newspaper and his pregnant wife or with Bernie (Robert Duvall) whose relationship with his daughter suffers as a result of a hectic job.

Funny and engaging, The Paper is an enjoyable film, which will keep viewers glued to their screens.

5 things I miss about unemployment

{ November 20, 2009 @ 12:36 am } · { rants }
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It’s been almost 2 months since I last updated. And what else happened almost 2 months ago? Yes, I started work. It does feel empowering starting on my first real job but I also have to kiss my lazy, idle days goodbye and probably revisit them 40 years later. So here’s my way of bidding these days farewell.

1. Blogging, reading, writing

I used to spend most of the day doing these if I stayed home. I managed to read some of the books I’ve been wanting to read but didn’t have the time to during my university days. I also spent hours on end on the internet blog hopping, reading commentaries and browsing through online magazines. And these provided me with things to blog about since many of my posts are about interesting things I stumble upon. I’d also write the occasional book/movie/music review. But since I don’t have that many hours to sit in front of my laptop or in my bed with a book anymore, the blogging naturally stopped. And this is something I do really miss because I do like to keep the gears in my brain well oiled. But the situation will improve, I believe. Things are kinda bad now with my working retail hours 6 days a week. Fortunately, that will all come to an end by the end of next week and I’ll go back to working office hours, 5 days a week. That will hopefully mean more time for this particular activity. So in case you’re wondering, no, this blog is not dead.

2. Cooking

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I did spend many of my days of unemployment in the kitchen. I’ve grown to enjoy it tremendously and I’m still yearning to experiment with new recipes. I don’t think that would happen very often now though, since I can’t be home early enough to prepare dinner for the family. I would still try to squeeze in a dish or two on some weekends though.

3. Friends

Yes, I do have friends at work but I miss my university friends terribly. Sure, we’ve got phones and the almighty internet and we have been using these marvelous creations to keep in touch but it’s been ages since we met. If there’s one thing I miss about my undergrad days, it’s definitely their company. I loathed studying and assignments and projects got on my nerves all the time but having great friends go though all that crap with me was truly a blessing. Can’t wait till we next meet.

4. Having the day to myself

Waking up at 11am, having brunch with Mummy, hanging out in town without being bothered by the weekend crowd, sitting in front of the TV for hours, catching up with old friends over nice dinners, staying up late. All that. I miss it.

5. Bus concessions

Well, this is more like something I miss about being a student. But anyway, it used to cost me just $52 a month for unlimited bus rides. But I don’t get that anymore and it hurts every time I top up my ez-link card, which happens too often. And I now consider different routes to my destination, calculate the different fares (easy peasy thanks to gothere.sg), weigh cost vs. efficiency, etc. Such a pain in the ass.

All that being said, I am thankful for my job. It’s an interesting position in an industry I’ve been dying to be part of and I’m truly grateful to be given such an opportunity. It’s not my dream job per se, but close enough. Very close. And considering I’m not academically qualified in the area, I really couldn’t ask for more.

Speechless

{ September 24, 2009 @ 5:20 pm } · { art }
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This is something so beautiful and moving I just have to share.

Tartufo Love

{ September 21, 2009 @ 12:35 am } · { food, travel }
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One of the many things I love about Florence is the food. I’ve blogged about Florence before but I wonder why I didn’t mention anything about the food! There were lots of great eats but what was most memorable was trying truffle for the first time. Yes, it took me 23 years and a 15 hour journey to discover it.

Hard to believe that such a simple looking fungus which somewhat resembles a potato or tapioca can be so expensive! White truffles can cost more than 3000 euros per kilo while the cheaper black ones cost about 200 to 600 euros per kilo.

My first taste came in the form of a tiny truffle sandwich which I shared with a friend. I’ve been warned that it’s an acquired taste but no, it was love at first bite for me (sounds so True Blood, haha). We then had the wonderful fungus again on a pizza at Trattoria ZaZa. Trattoria ZaZa also happens to be an excellent restaurant which I would highly recommend. Great food, great service and nice funky decor. If you happen to be visiting Florence, it’s located right next to Il Mercato Centrale. Need the address? Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 26r. Here’s what we had for dinner.

So, back to truffles. I visited Il Mercato Centrale on my last day there and got to sample various truffle products like honey and jam. I bought a little jar of truffle jam back to Singapore so now I can still enjoy it at home! I only eat it once in a while though. Can’t bear to chomp down chunks of it in one go. I dread the moment when I have to scrape the last bits of it from the bottom of the jar.

Rorschach’s Journal

{ September 16, 2009 @ 8:23 pm } · { books }
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“Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout ‘Save us!’… And I’ll look down, and whisper ‘No’.” Watchmen, Alan Moore

How can you stop reading after an opening like that?

Great covers

{ September 11, 2009 @ 1:43 am } · { music }
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I don’t usually like covers, especially if it’s of a song I really like. One of the reasons why I don’t like talent/singing type shows like Idol. But I don’t detest all covers. On the contrary, there are some I really like at least at much as the original, maybe even more (Marco Hietala’s vocals alone already makes Nightwish’s High Hopes so much better than the original. And we aren’t even talking about the arrangements yet.). These are usually covers where the musicians give the song a whole new feel and interpretation and play it in their style. Listen to some of my favourite covers and you’ll get what I mean!

Helden/Heroes Original by David Bowie

Wonderwall Original by Oasis

High Hopes Original by Pink Floyd

Ain’t Nobody Original by Chaka Khan

Cute gone bad indeed

{ September 9, 2009 @ 2:49 am } · { art }
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Can’t believe I went through every single strip. Some are so cute and funny I’ll never see said items the same way again.

To Mega Therion

{ August 15, 2009 @ 1:18 pm } · { music }
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It all started in 2004/2005 (my memory fails yet again) with me letting Lucas listen to some Final Fantasy VII and VIII soundtracks which I enjoyed so much. He then recommended me this band, Therion, which he thought I’d like judging from my tastes. I then got home and searched the almighty Internet for some of their stuff and found The Rise of Sodom and Gomorrah. I really liked what I heard so I asked Lucas for more songs and I ended up having their Crowning of Atlantis album. Therion then slowly became my favourite band and I now have many of their CDs and DVDs in my possession.

There are a couple of reasons why I like this band so much. The first and most obvious one would be their combination of orchestral and metal elements. At that time, I was already listening to bands like Black Sabbath, Metallica and the Japanese band Malice Mizer. But Therion and the whole symphonic metal genre was very new to me. I was pretty fascinated and soon decided that I rather prefer this kind of music. Which is not to say I’ve stopped enjoying other genres though.

In terms of musical style, Therion’s has evolved from album to album while still maintaining its characteristic traits. So in a way, it never grows stale and there are different songs to suit different moods. Well, since what I listen to largely depends on the mood I’m in at the moment anyway. I really liked that Secret Of The Runes was a concept album focused on Norse mythology. It still remains one of my favourite albums. Another favourite is Gothic Kabbalah which was released in 2007. This one had a rather drastic change in style and was much more progressive. And this was strangely in sync with my musical taste then since I was starting to listen to a lot more progressive stuff in the form of Dream Theater and Opeth.

Next would be the mythological contents of their songs. Ever since I could read, I was very interested in Greek and Roman mythology and read rather widely within the subject. At 10 years old, I knew all the major Greek gods and goddesses at my fingertips. So as a teenager, listening to a band sing about all these characters I was so familiar with all my life was very exciting. And as their songs are not just limited to Greek and Roman mythology, I also started to learn more about other myths and legends. Norse and Egyptian mythology, for instance.

This is The Blood Of Kingu from their Classic show in Miskolc. My favourite live performance of this particular song.

Being a fan of a band that’s so obscure in Singapore can be quite frustrating at times. Of all the merchandise I own, only one CD is from the local HMV and it cost more than twice the price of other more common CDs. The rest are from overseas or ordered from their online store. And it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll ever play live here. Oh well.

More Therion here: Official Website, MySpace, Therion Store

In The Mood For Love

{ August 8, 2009 @ 1:54 am } · { movies, music }
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As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’m a huge Wong Kar Wai fan, my favourite film being In The Mood For Love. Click play to enjoy some snippets of the film as well as one of my favourite tracks off the soundtrack.

Herbs and Spices

{ August 7, 2009 @ 12:57 am } · { food, rants }
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No, I’m not talking about the oh-so-good restaurant that used to be along Upp Thomson Road. I’m talking about me being bitten by the cooking bug!

Maybe it’s one of the effects of unemployment, but I’ve been spending quite a lot of time in the kitchen. Now, this would come as quite a surprise since I never liked cooking. Home Econs was never my favourite subject in secondary school. Every practical exam, I would search for the simplest recipes ever and take all sorts of shortcuts like buying ready chopped vegetables. At home, I used to loathe helping Mummy out in the kitchen. Even the simplest thing like watching a pot so it doesn’t boil over seemed like such a chore.

But now, surprise surprise! The kitchen beckons! I suddenly find myself sourcing for recipes on the Internet or in cookbooks, paying the neighbourhood supermarket frequent visits and cooking dinner for my family once every few days. I’ve been enjoying it immensely and now have the urge to recreate all my favourite food myself! And fortunately, I haven’t had to deal with any kitchen disasters yet and my 3 pastas, 2 chicken dishes and 1 curry have been successful.

I plan to tackle desserts next. Starting with either tiramisu or panna cotta.

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