The City Never Sleeps

Apparently, Singapore would never see a white X'mas, unless snow is created artifically.

Being near the equator, snow melts before it arrives the land. Thus, that explains why residents from Johore Bahru could not smile in this lovely season. The rain that leads to the flood explains everything.

Well, called Tash just now and he is spending his X'mas in Penang. How lovely! However, going back to Ayer Tawah and Changkat Kuning is simply out of the question now. No 1: The flood causes coach service to other parts in M'sia (especially in land) to be suspended till the flood is cleared. No 2: RP course in Mowbray. OK, so there goes my plan of visitng the shooting ground of After This Our Exile, and the opportunity of visiting the old pre-colonial shophouses where Ang Lee used it for his upcoming production, Lust, Cautious.

See what has rain done to this lovely December?

Tash asked me how did i spend my weekend. It's the same old usual stuff: movies (and Zhang Yimou should not direct a martial-art movie anymore. His Curse of the Golden Flower has been too depressing to most people.), shopping (malls still packed as usual, especially it is filled with people who wants to go for the last minute shopping.) and movies (invited Lawrence to the free screening of Confession of Pain on Wed.)

He asked me what had i gotten for my X'as present. I told him: a box of Renoma trunks+ socks and a Mambo shirt. Receive Jamiroquai's High Times: Singles 1992-2006 from a close friend and there are things that still have not appeared in my wish list: a Arena swimming trunks and a wallet. Was wondering should i get an FX Creation or Topman wallet. He said, he is getting them post X'mas sale. Teehehe.

OK, X'mas falls tomorrow night. And that spells one thing: 2006 is coming to an end soon. In a week's time, we are sending off this lovely little year. (Yeah, 1st countdown, 1st wee hour movie, last time preparing for final exam, Ang Lee created history by being the 1st Asian director to won an Oscars for his heart-breaking Brokeback Mountain, 21, frequent visit to Yangtze, BMT, POP (something that i feared that i would never make it thru, but i did it.), RP (an unexpected job. hoped to become a medic, but was given a job that i could never dreamed of...and Lawrence says never challange a RP. hehe...), saw my beautiful cousin getting married yesterday...

Eh, anymore surprises for the next 1 week before we (or should i say I ?) welcome the 2 with a dbl O and a 7 ?

Joyeux Noel. =)

And it seems that malls in town are crowded on X'mas season. Yeah. Think of the 13th month bonus and your 1 mth salary. The 13th mth is somekind of bonus to reward yourself for all the hardwork and effort you put in for the past 12 mths. But apparently, it seems that 13th mth is not in an NSF's dictionary.

Who is the winner in this season? Retailers, of course. The constant ka-chings in the cashier counter with the countless queues waiting in line is a common sight and sound in the stores, just like bees attracted to lovely flowers. To sweeten the honey, retailers cast the 4 magic character: SALE.

And i am not surprised why tonnes of S'poreans flocked to the large C and the little k in Orchard and deserted their French cousin Agnes b. (Ck is now offering a max of 70% off for all clothings while Agnes b gives only a $10 off for every $300 purchase. Sorry hunky guys round there, but only 20% discount for briefs if you want to impress your opposite sex or the other 1/2 with Ck briefs. Or you just want to stock up one year's supply of Ck.) Loved their shirt and their ties (shirts at 60% off and ties at 50% off.) but at the end of the day, money still matters for a poor NSF with a pathetic $450/mth. Don't believe it? Here's the math:

Shirt ($299 x 40%) + Tie ($109 x 50%) = $174.10

See? Shopping at Ck for just a tie and a shirt has already taken a large fraction of my monthly allowence. If you are going to deduct fees for daily necessities, i can tell you, be prepared to go totally bust at the end of the month before the 10th of every month arrives.

Well, vanity comes with a price. Still, that doesn't stop dudes who wants to show off their pink dollars to top up something new for their wardrobe.

Energie is having their Pre-X'mas sale too. Loved one of the their bags and feels that it is a good bargain ($149 x 50%) that is too good to be true. However, their clothings doesn't seem to be my cup off tea. So bags are for me, but not the shirt and pants.

Eventually, i gotten myself a pair of Renoma trunk and socks, and wrapped it up in the counter for free.

And gotten myself a Mambo shirt at 70% off. Just nice enough for my New Year's Countdown party.

But, i have to give up Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy, a DVD set that i yearn for years... =(

And it has been ages since i last blog. Think i am old and creative juice has been running out to be used as ink for this electronic quill pen...

Met Shyam for a movie and dinner after 1/2 year. And i brought him to Patrick Tam's latest production: After This, Our Exile.

Featuring Aaron Kwok, Charlie Yeung and Gouw Ian Iskandar, After This was like what Shaym says, a Hindi matinee soap drama. And i beg to differ.

Set in Ipoh, Perak (seems to be the 2nd movie set in Ipoh after watching Yasmin Ahmad's Gubra, the sequel to highly acclaimed Malaysian flick, Sepet), After This tells us a tale of a gambling-addicted father (Kwok), a disappointed mother (Yeung) and their 9 year old son torn between the parents. The son sense something is amiss when the mother treats him exceptionally well on a normal morning. He runs back home, and found his mother packing her clothings, decided to leave the family. Son runs to his father's workplace and inform him about his mother. The couple quarreled in front of their neighbours, and father had mother locked up.

After the mother expressed her disappointment towards him, father decided to turn over a new leaf. He brings the family for a cruise trip, but the mother did not go for the trip due to diahorrea, and it gives her an opportunity to run away to Johore Bahru with her new boyfriend. Faced with sudden loss of wife, the fiery-tempered father decided to find ways to get more money, so as to clear debts from loansharks. The son ends up stopped receiving education due to the constant runaway from the loansharks. They moved to a motel and father befriends a hooker. Son looks for mother in JB and found out that she was pregnant. Son left mother, and ends up a thrashing from father. Father attemped to runaway from loansharks but were caught by them, and ends up a broken leg from the trashing.

Father forces the son to steal from a rich family after the son stolen a gold watch from his classmate's house. The son fails, and was rescued at the last minute by the father. The father forces the son to steal again despite the son decided to quit. This time, the son was caught and arrested by the police. Father runs away and the son ends up in boy's home. The son bites off the ear from the father.

10 years later, the son is looking for his father, but do not recognise his father when he walked pass him.

The wallpaper features the father and son riding a bicycle, with the son holding a windmill. It looks lovely and heartwarming. However, behind this heartwarming picture, it lies a sad tale that is still happening around us today. The stubborn and hot tempered father who fails to reflect himself ends up losing everything.

Kwok makes a impressive performance, which in After This, it gives him a greater experience on exploring his roles. Never before in my life did i see a HK celeb could potray a role of lowly educated man from the rural part of Malaysia so well. (And this is much more better, compared to Jay Chou, who was horribly miscast in Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower.) Somehow, i am a bit disappointed with Yeung's skills on acting a woman in despair and the amount of times she could appear in the story. There are more rooms for her to display her talent, since she fails to disappoint her fans in films from her recent comeback.

Iskandar was the one that amazes me in the film. The 9 year od boy has not only displayed his innocence, but also displayed his emotions of being a troubled 9 year old.

And from my knowledge, there are 3 versions available for After This. One for HK, one for M'sia (M'sia audience would not be able to get a chance to see the scene where Kwok and Yeung displyed their affection on bed, that leads the movie to be rated M18 in S'pore.) and one for international. And since Jeremy is asking me to bring his gf and himself to JB, i think, i should brainwashed them to go for the film. :P