Embed Instagram Post Code Generator

Monday, June 05, 2006

Singapore Airlines

Well, Swifty has failed massively in his efforts to update this blog. There hasn't been new material for what, two weeks or so? Sensing this dire situation, I am taking it upon myself to post whatever I damn well please. Instead of trying to form my thoughts into coherent-theme-based entries, I will post whatever comes to my mind. For example, drugs are awesome and all orthodox religious traditions are stupid.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Photos of Sunday's 'Vertical Distance' (My Short Film) Shoot.

Photos taken last Sunday (14th of June, 2006), when we were shooting a climatic scene for Vertical Distance, my short film. Yeah, been so busy that I can't even update this site myself, seriously.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

20th Century Japanese Literature in Grade School Terms

20th Century Japanese Literature is often considered an impenetrable morass of nature poetry, vague description, and suicidal authors. In order to improve on this reputation and open these works up to a wider audience, we undertook an intensive program - and after months of study, we discovered that the most prominent authors (including two Nobel Prize winners) could best be understood in terms of a grade school class. This intensive research has infallibly determined that all of the writers mentioned below pretty much conform to the simplistic stereotypes I’ve reduced them to, both physically and in terms of their writing.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Visual Thought Learning, An interesting method for directing actors

Tifa Cosplayer 3VTL, short for Visual Thought Learning, is a rehearsal tool devised by Annie Murtagh Monks, my teacher for Directing Actors class, a year and a half ago. And to me, it definitely changes the way I've always thought actors should be directed.

Basically, the whole point about VTL is to aid actors in remembering their lines, and allowing themselves to get more into character, immersing themselves completely into the scenario as presented to them in the screenplay. It isn't about memorizing your lines like a robot, but feeling and understanding why your characters are saying those lines in a particular scene. For VTL to work, the best method is to make sure the actors haven't read or memorized that particular scene.

To perform a VTL session, what you do is to have your actors sit closely to each other so that their knees will touch, and that they won't cross any part of their bodies. Then, sitting beside the two facing figures, you will read the script to them.

1) But actors are not supposed to try remembering the lines read to them.

2) They should imagine and picture the scene while it is being read to them.

3) The scene will be read to them by the director three times.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Mission Impossible 3

Appreciating films that have Tom Cruise in it has made me an object of ridicule during the last few years. How could a manly man like I cite Jerry Maguire as one of his all-time favourite romantic comedies (I listed it as one of the must-watch movies for Valentine's Day earlier this year)? How could a rational film student like I call Minority Report one of Spielberg's finest films? How could a person like me always feel excited whenever a Tom Cruise film is about to come out? Be it War of the Worlds (... yes, the ending sucked, but I wrote a fanboyish review right after I saw it last year, before it occurred to me that the film wasn't THAT good after all) or The Last Samurai (... yes, the ending sucked too), I would always be the one rushing to the theaters for their premiere.

Friday, May 05, 2006

American Dreamz

I have no idea how it started, but I think I am starting to fall in love with Mandy Moore.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Failure To Launch

I can never understand why I belong to the 1% of the entire male population in the world actually partial to romantic comedies and chick flicks. I'm a hopeless romantic, that's long established. After all, I AM a Piscean. But anyway, yes, I don't know what is it about romantic comedies that appeal to me. Fulfilling my fantasies? Hm. Perhaps it's caused by my years-long singledom. But anyway, what do I have to say about this sleeper hit starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker?

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Scary Movie 4 is LOL-inducing sometimes

I have waited more than a week to review Scary Movie 4, because I felt that it's, er, pretty damned challenging to review a film like this. Seriously, when I look at the reviews in Rottentomatoes (39% in the Tomatometer thus far), I have to scoff at the negative reviews, were critics really expecting THIS to be a masterpiece? This isn't a film where you can give negative or positive reviews, the usual methods used to evaluate the merits of a film are useless with films like Scary Movie 4. Is it acted well? Is it well-scripted? Is it well-directed? How's the script like? Oh please, are you even looking for all these?

Thursday, April 20, 2006

My very first attempts at video editing + Kahimi Karie

Back in July-August 2004, before I made my very first short film called A Boring Story. The first video I've ever put together was what is now known as a mashup video featuring snippets from the Japanese film, Casshern, and the Jude Law film, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and also music videos of Hiro, lead vocalist of the long-disbanded Japanese girl group, SPEED, object of my obsession for many of my teenage years. (whose latest video, as I've mentioned here, unfortunately sucked)

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Cultural Uniqueness or Stereotypical Caricature?

"But as I think of the many myths, there is one that is very harmful, and that is the myth of countries. I mean, why should I think of myself as being an Argentine, and not a Chilean, and not an Uruguayan. I don't know really. All of those myths that we impose on ourselves - and they make for hatred, for war, for enmity - are very harmful. Well, I suppose in the long run, governments and countries will die out and we'll be just, well, cosmopolitans." - Jorge Luis Borges, 1980
Whilst attending a seminar organized by the Sin Chew Jit Poh Newspaper last year, where two acclaimed Malaysian filmmakers, James Lee and Tan Chui Mui, were featured as guests, one thing that left the deepest impression for me was when they started speaking about how some people, both the authorities and the filmmakers, have been trying too hard to produce a film with a 'distinct Malaysian feel', thus limiting the boundaries of creativity. After all, must all Malaysian films feature people speaking Manglish? (to proclaim proudly to people of other countries our sheer ineptitude with the English language?) Must all Malaysian films feature mamak stalls and coconut trees? Why, because Malaysia is all about mamak stalls and coconut trees? And that without these, Malaysian isn't Malaysia anymore?

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Is height an issue in relationships?

Well, haven't been able to go online due to the fact that I can't reload my Internet quota (it's one of the biggest annoyances about staying on-campus, the lack of unlimited Internet connection). It's Easter weekend, and I assume everyone's probably celebrating by slaughtering bunnies for fun. Hah.

Anyway, I'm currently developing two screenplays for two short films that will be done by this all-Malaysian girls screen production group I've volunteered to help (oh, and Kenny Sia's cousin happened to be one of them, small world huh?). I've already written one called 'A Mother's Love', which deals with a man who is still dealing with the grief of losing his wife, and also trying to bond with his son, who seems oblivious to the death of his mother. And then, the man's asthmatic attackes are also growing increasingly violent. Since this IS written by me, the entire short film takes a pretty cruel twist towards the end which will leave people shaking their heads in disgust after losing their meals. Of course, it's a matter of whether it will be translated well onscreen.

I am now starting work on a second screenplay for the group called 'Vertical Distance', which I have to examine how important a role heights can play in a relationship. As in, will guys go out with gals taller than them? Will gals go out with guys shorter than them? If yes, why? If no, why?

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Koda Kumi's 4-part music video miniseries: YOU, FEEL, LIES, SOMEDAY

While speaking about using music videos to inspire myself when planning the visual looks of a film, I posted Koda Kumi's 倖田來未 beautifully shot 'You' music video because I was amazed by it. But most of all, I was really intrigued by the fact that it unfolded like a short film (I'm pretty into plot-driven music videos, actually), and when I realized that there are continuations to the 'You' music video. I went off to look for them, and I finally did, and arranged them into sequence so that you peeps can the music videos, and get the whole damned thing.

L'Enfant (The Child) by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

L'Enfant, or the Child, directed by the Dardenne Brothers

L'Enfant (The Child), A French film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is Cannes Film Festival 2005's Palm D'or Winner.

Tsotsi by Gavin Hood

Tsotsi, winner of 2005 Oscar's Best Foreign Film award

Tsotsi, a South African film directed by Gavin Hood, is this year's Oscar winner for Best Foreign film.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Minds Blown Apart By Sigur Ros' Perth Concert

Swifty: Sigur Ros' concert in Perth wasn't something I was looking forward to. After all, the price was rather steep (70 bucks!), and while I appreciated their two albums that I have, () and Takk for their unique-ness and weirdness (it adds to my indie cred), I just never bothered listening to them over and over again. Their stuff are spaced out, indescribable, the main vocalist sings in a language invented by himself, which makes things even more outlandish and crazier to get into.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Finding inspiration in J-pop music videos

Music videos tend to be one of the most overlooked sources of inspiration for aspiring filmmakers. While I tend to avoid those from Hong Kong (too uninspired, bad production values, very generic) and Taiwan (they occasionally have some hot babes, but still too bland for my liking).

I am expected to hand in a visual style report (which illustrates the stylistic approach, setting, design, lighting, wardrobe design and editing) for my upcoming allegorical (hopefully) sci-fi romantic (hopefully) short film, Girl Disconnected, within two weeks, thus I have spent the past two days poring over some films, like the aforementioned Eraserhead, Alphaville and Fellini's 8 And The Half (three vastly different films that use black and white to enhance their surrealism). Yet as my tale emphasizes more on the romance (like I said before, it's pretty much a love story with science fiction elements, because both sci-fi and romance aren't explored by anyone else in my screenwriting class... not surprisingly, considering that Crash's unjust Oscar victory had everyone shifting their attention to developing sociodramas with preachy messages), I need something more emotional for reference, something so lush and romantic that can make me melt whilst silently making mental notes that can aid me in my visual style report.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

V For Vendetta

Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman in V For VendettaI walked into the cinema with heightened expectations for V For Vendetta, after all, it is the most-talked about Hollywood film in Singapore and Malaysia during the past few weeks. People I know told me it's a cool film, I see people on my MSN list quoting its lines, ranting and raving about Hugo Weaving's coolness, and the reviews I read are generally positive in Rottentomatoes (it scored 75% on the Tomatometer). Until Guestblogger Justin, who saw it few days ago, told me that he was rather disappointed with it, but he was willing to see it one more time with me.

Since it's written by the Wachowski brothers, I thought, even if it might not be the classic Matrix was, it might at least have some fun action scenes of the sequels (bad they may be, the action sequences, to me, ARE entertaining), with some rather thought-provoking questions thrown in for me to ponder. But as I sat through the movie, I realized that, yes, there are some similarities to the Matrix sequels, but unfortunately, not the action scenes, it's the over-the-top, overwrought, sheer pretentiousness, like the Zion rave scene, or the LENGTHY Architect scene, where you wish the film would just move on instead of lingering on something you barely care about. Based on Alan Moore's graphic novel, it was disowned by him as he thought the screenplay was 'rubbish', but then, this guy doesn't really want to have anything to do with every single film adaptation of his works after the disappointments of From Hell and the hellishly bad League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Inspired by awesome Perth artist Shaun Tan

Jean-Luc Godard's AlphavilleIt's been more than two weeks since I've spoken about my upcoming sci-fi short film. But then, come to think of it, I have actually ceased updating this site on a daily basis. Yes, I have been THAT busy. Working on a documentary, battling security forces of the university who are preventing me from shooting my short film in the toilet, and toiling non-stop with my screenplay for the sci-fi short film.

I don't think I have announced it here before, the title of the short film is Girl Disconnected.

If you are new, or you have forgotten about the basic concept of the sci-fi film, well, here's the entry to jog your memory. It was originally meant to be based loosely on this short tale I wrote about the Internet collapsing entirely (or to be more precise, stolen by this evil massive conglomerate called YahooGleSoft) and the heroine, Maya, had to begin a quest to restore the internet to the world. This project managed to evolve much throughout the past 6-7 weeks since its inception. From a mockumentary, it turned into a drama that had elements of romance and satire in it, my musings during the evolution can be read here, and then, in the end, I examined the themes I was playing around with for the Girl Disconnected, which should be the very last entry I wrote about it.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Kenny Sia Appearing In Upcoming Erotic Thriller. Urgh, my eyes.

Disgruntled with Singaporean blogebrity Xiaxue's popularity, Malaysia's very own blogebrity, Kenny Sia (picture below) has promised to appear in my upcoming short film, 'Coconut-breaking Dykes' an erotic thriller which is a combination of the masterpieces, Basic Instinct and Showgirls.

Someone's 2004 April Fool Prank.

This is a (less funnier) April Fool prank I posted on Jpopmusic.com, a popular Japanese music news and gossip page, back in 2004.

Someone's 2003 April Fool Prank.

This is an April Fool prank I posted on famous Jpop news and gossip site, Jmusic.com back in 2003. It was pretty big, got thousand plus hits on that day. Putting it here for archiving reasons.

Spike Lee's Inside Man

Denzel Washington and Clive Owen in Spike Lee's Inside ManPrior to writing this review, my friend Sebastian told me that he had just read about (or heard) an interesting commentary about Inside Man, and that's about every single Spike Lee film sharing a common theme: Power. (My initial guess was racism, or 'white people are bad’, or 'white vs. black'… but then, I was affected by the Talkback section in Ain't It Cool News's film review).

Unfortunately for me, I haven’t actually seen that many Spike Lee films, in fact, He Got Game is the only one I’ve seen (my credibility is immediately destroyed in the eyes of my visitors with this confession), which has Denzel Washington and NBA star Ray Allen in it. But I’ve always been given the impression that Spike Lee films are generally edgy modest-budget productions with one or two big-name cast member attached and take place usually in New York (but then, that's because I haven't seen that many Spike Lee films). I didn’t know a single thing about Inside Man until I saw its poster (and then, the trailer)

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Battling The Entire Murdoch Uni Security Force (To Shoot A Scene)

Perhaps you remember me mentioning about wanting to do a short film that takes place entirely in a public toilet two weeks ago. It would've been a masterpiece, shooting would've commenced today, then the craziest shit ever to happen in my brief filmmaking career occured. Being the bad boy filmmaker I am, I had wanted to go on with my project despite not getting the proper permission from the authorities, yet I made a grievous error.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Don Bluth is underrated

It all happened during a conversation I had with Guestblogger Justin when we had dinner just now, about the animator, Don Bluth. Many people have already forgotten about him, all thanks to the evil Disney, and the rise of 3D animation (Pixar's stuff are great, but the Shrek movies are kinda overrated, and we also get such mediocre shit like Robots and A Shark's Tale).

But I remember, during my childhood, Don Bluth's animated masterpieces leave a much deeper impression than Disney films (before they reached the 'second Golden Era' with the likes of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Lion King). And therefore, I will now revisit my fond memories of Don Bluth cartoons, which, all of a sudden, I have a strong desire to find their DVDs.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

I combined an Australian student short film with Cowboy Bebop dialogue for mashup video

Well, here's another entry to remind you that I AM a filmmaker. Just a couple of days ago, I mentioned that during my editing assignment, I realized common themes found it the majority of my projects, you can now witness the editing assignment for yourself.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Now Everyone Knows My Fear For Dogs

Dawn Yeo, or Dawn Yang, depends what you call her, is perplexed by my fear for dogs

"My hatred for dogs extend to cartoon characters. I hate Goofy and Pluto because they are so freaking annoying. And I think Snoopy's a pretty condescending son of a bitch, even though he IS literally one. And Scooby Doo, goddamn Scooby Doo and his stupid cry, I can't freaking stand him."

"I hate dogs. I am supposed to be a manly man, but they made me seem unmanly, man. They make me feel exposed and vulnerable."

"When I was a toddler, and I wanted to get out of my house, my nanny told me that if I do thus, I would be eaten by dogs. Well, even if I don't believe that I'll be eaten by dogs now, I feel that they can still bite off my fingers easily."

"Crazy rottweilers. I remember reading the news about how this old woman was beaten to death by some crazy rottweiler many years ago, I never looked at the same way again."

"I always thought that by revealing my fear for dogs to a woman, she will appreciate my soft and sensitive side, and hopefully share this trait of mine as well, so that they would invite me home and that we can then... discuss about our mutual fear. Unfortunately, this had never happened."

My creative works seem to share a common theme...

Dawn Yang, or Dawn Yeo, returns to The Great Swifty Speaketh!

During the editing assignment, a raw footage from a short film is given to groups of two to edit into a watchable short film. The rushes weren't anything special. It's about this guy who works in the filming equipment room at the Media And Communications School of Murdoch University. It was late at night, someone called Monty phones in to book a camera, the main guy complied. Then, suddenly, a hot babe walks in, flirts with him, seduces him into giving her the last camera. Hot babe leaves happily.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

David Cronenberg's A History of Violence

Viggo Mortensen can still kick ass even if he's not Aragorn in A History of Violence

When I was in the cinema, many people snickered and giggled during the two much-talked about sex scenes of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, and some wincing and groaning during the second staircase one. I felt that the scenes were pretty over-the-top, but someone in IMDB justified the scenes like this in reply to someone who made a remark similar to mine (and that the sex scenes were entirely unnecessary and slowed down the pacing of the film):

Friday, March 17, 2006

Jeff Lau's A Chinese Tall Story 情癲大聖 is underrated

Charlene Choi seriously didn't suck in this film

This film has received some rather mixed reviews, and it did only middling business in the box-office, but knowing that this Jeff Lau film is a quasi-sequel to Stephen Chow's Chinese Odyssey (which was also directed by Jeff Lau), I was looking forward to see this film, and was rather annoyed that I never had the chance to see it when it was showing at the cinemas, nor was I able to find anyone to watch it with me. It was already judged as a shitty film. Perhaps it had to do with the cast. Having guys from Boy'z as the Tang Monk's (Tripitaka) disciples doesn't really help matters. Nicholas Tse's once-promising acting career has been buried by one tabloid news after another, and Charlene Choi? Well, she's from Twinz. What more do I have to say? I can't even name a film which she doesn't annoy me... except, maybe that Andy Lau film last year. That's because SHE DIED IN THE BEGINNING OF THAT FILM.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

My Sci-Fi Satirical Slapstick Becomes... An Emotional Love Story?

The Postgrad Diploma students are supposed to be working on two projects thus far. A self-reflexive (reflective?) documentary which involves all four filmmakers sitting before the camera talking about themselves. And also the toilet paper epic I mentioned few days ago.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

My Graduation. Oh, and Annie Proulx's pissed that Brokeback Mountain didn't win the Oscars.

I spent the last few years doing my degree on Marketing Management, not entirely something I liked to do, but I did for practicality's sake. My minor was English Literature, to serve as a refresher to my course. Business units, for me, were always dry and boring, thus I needed something interesting from the literature units to challenge my mind, and constantly dove into my filmmaking and writing endeavours (like this site) for the sake of reducing the numbness I get when doing a business course.

But that ended last year. I've already finished my degree since then.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Stephen Gaghan's SYRIANA

George Clooney's substory is the most interesting, to me.Syriana is, well, not an easy film to follow. It's about the global oil industry, terrorism and Middle-East politics. So many characters, so many different locations, so many subplots were going on that despite my brilliant mind, I had trouble following the film, then the trouble started subsiding, then, it came back, then it subsided again, and then came back, and subsided, until I was shifting from full understanding of the plot to slight confusion within minutes. Yet in the end, I knew enough to know that the ending was a depressing one. The CIA were portrayed as bastards whilst the business world was shown as a cesspool of immoral, manipulative rich men.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Woody Allen's MATCH POINT

Scarlett Johansson... mmmm, Scarlett Johansson...Match Point is Woody Allen's much-lauded latest flick. Much-lauded because it is entirely unWoody Allen, it's not a comedy, it doesn't have Woody Allen in it, it doesn't have Woody Allen getting it on with some young actresses, it doesn't have some guy like Will Ferrell trying to imitate Woody Allen, it doesn't take place in New York. Critics were excited to see Woody Allen doing something so different from his usual stuff, it's the equivalent of seeing John Woo tackle a romantic comedy (without pigeons in it), or George Lucas attempting an erotic thriller, or Uwe Boll doing a serious biopic about James Joyce, or Michael Bay doing an explosion-less family drama, or... well, you get the idea.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Doing A Short Film About... The Importance Of Toilet Papers?

Progress Report of Swifty's Untitled Sci-Fi Project

The problems with the previous version of my postapocalyptic satirical sci-fi epic are rather apparent. It's too complex and confusing to be put in a 10-15 minute SHORT FILM, combining satire (poking fun of people’s overreliance on the internet by showing those homeless bums) with sincerity (romance between Edward and Maya) is not a good choice, one has to be chosen over the other.

(Read the idea here. And read my pitch here.)

And to have so many themes in a short film is dangerous as well... the themes I had in consideration were:

• Technology becoming an extension of humankind.
• Humanity’s overdependence on technology (and the internet).
• Machine vs. humanity
• The line that separates humanity from machine is blurred.
• Human interaction ruined by technology
• Technology substituting human emotions

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

It's My Birthday! + Some Brief Oscar Thoughts.

Ang Lee was robbedOn the 6th of March, 1984, in Singapore, I was born. That was two decades and two years ago. How do I feel? No different from when I turned twenty one, which was no different from when I turned eighteen, still the most eligible bachelor in Malaysia. Perhaps there will be a time when I throw huge and garish parties for my birthday, inviting politicians, celebrities and members of the media to celebrate with me, but that day hasn't arrived, and I remain merely a low-profile film student who keeps his birthday to himself. No parties were thrown, so I will not cover the entire entry with photos of people you barely care about in a party you don't even wish of being there.

Perhaps a quick recap on how this site has evolved since going 'public' on July 2005?

Unfortunately, that will most likely be a snoozefest. What is worth reading on this site has already been archived and can be accessed via the numerous links at the left sidebar. My film reviews, literary articles, webcomics and other miscellaneous stuff. After all, it is always rather unfair to count the 'highlights' of your life, since some will be unhappy that I left them out of the 'highlights'. Hence they will start disputing my choices, and because I am such a nice guy, I will put them in as 'highlights', even though they aren't exactly my 'highlights', which will render things pointless.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Stumbling Into The World of Robert Altman

Robert Altman is such a cool-looking old dudeA short film idea I had in 2004:

It takes place within the span of a night in a mamak stall. (note to international readers: Mamak stalls are indian restaurants opened for 24 hours that can be found anywhere in Malaysia. It's a favourite hangout place for all kinds of people. People are there for the great curry dishes, the fried noodles, the roti canai (indian pancakes), the drinks (just milk tea, coffee etc. nothing alcoholic). A hangout place where people can just chit-chat, or watch the latest English Premiere League match. It's a subculture in Malaysia) An ensemble flick where a colourful cast of characters will be involved in various kinds of subplots while they were at the mamak stall. A bunch of football-crazed fans mouthing off while watching a game on TV, a man whining about his work with his buddies Clerks-style, a bunch of high school girls trying to entertain a Japanese person (from a student exchange program) with the mamak food, leading to comical results, a young couple confronting each other for their infidelities, a wealthy couple complaining about the less-than-satisfactory condition at the restaurant, a bunch of old men speaking about old times, two policemen resting from their duties, a pirated DVD peddler comes over to display his stuff.

Friday, March 03, 2006

The Times When I Felt Betrayed By The Oscars.

Despite having followed the Oscars since I was a mere child (the earliest Oscar I recall is the one when Dances With Wolves swept through everything), I've never been truly passionate about its results, merely make notes on the films I would watch after they've won an Oscar. Some would say that the Academy Awards are meaningless, and that no one gives a shit about it because it's like some meaningless awards show meant to reward highbrow arthouse films (of course, people only gave a shit when films that actually appeal to the masses were nominated, like Titanic, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the LoTR films, these films made such a huge impact that everyone would start tuning into the Oscars, rooting for it to win).

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Wrestling with my short film screenplay

Before even directing an actual feature-length film, I feel I am becoming one of those tyrannical, egoistic, obsessive, power-mad and most of all, stubborn filmmaker desperate to do whatever it takes to preserve his own vision despite everyone else telling him to do otherwise (something like James Cameron... while making Titanic). A week has past since I developed the concept for my upcoming short film, its concept is, as I've mentioned before, loosely based on the three chapters of Tales of the Blogosphere I have written back in January (which, in turn, was based on a short sci-fi tale recommended by my archnemesis, BoingBoing).

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Tropfest 2006 Results. My thoughts on this year's 'scandal'

All right, the results for Sony Tropfest 2006 is announced! (Check out my recap of the event here, which will help you know which film is which) So here are the winners:

Monday, February 27, 2006

Adventures In The Sony Tropfest 2006

The Sony Tropfest is said to be the biggest short film festival in the world, cos' of the massive number of audiences watching the chosen finalists during the festival. Sixteen finest Australian short films, broadcasted simultaneously to 130 000+ people from all over the nation. (I wonder whether we can get a tenth of that number if such an event is held in Malaysia) I went to the last one last year and was definitely mesmerized. Yet my joy was slightly dampened by the fact that I was alone back then (Guestblogger Justin had to visit his aunt and cousins).

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Predictions for Oscars 2006

Yes, I did say that I was going to make my predictions a day before the Oscars, but considering that most awards events are already over, there's really nothing that can affect my predictions anymore (note: you always need to worry when a supposedly hot favourite for a particular award loses momentum towards the end, this has happened many times before). Last year, I was so blinded by my love for Sideways that I made some costly errors in my predictions.

Right, so let's begin. After the Oscars, I'll revisit this entry and see how many I've gotten correct.

Thinking of going to Sony Tropfest to find inspiration for my own short film

Now, how many Aussies are going to the Sony Tropfest this Sunday? Seems like a lot, including this animator/illustrator chick whose work got nominated. I'm definitely going. It's a short film festival showing the finest short films of the year in Australia, beamed nationwide. This annual event is usually pretty damned popular, held at this pretty large field, where everyone could bring their own food and drinks + a rug so that they can have picnics while watching the films. (I wish there will be a day when such events can be held regularly in Malaysia with resounding success, I feel somewhat sad that this seminar about indie filmmaking held last week had pretty lukewarm reception... seven speakers and fifteen audience members is kinda bad, why can't people love movies more?) I didn't post about it last year, but I'll be doing it this year (and also keep an eye on others chronicling this event). Watching good short films motivates me to do better.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

To Direct or Produce?

Professional Development in Screen Production is an interesting unit for third year film/media students who really want to get into the business. Therefore, one has to choose between different modules that can help sharpen their craft: cinematography, directing, producing, sound editing, editing etc.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Pitched an idea for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi mockumentary

The Postgraduation Diploma in Media Production course in Murdoch University is a rather strange course, anyone undertaking this course will have to go through a crash course to learn stuff within a year which normal undergraduate film students have to learn in three years. Basically, the first semester will be me, going through classes like Screen Production 1 and 2 SIMULTANEOUSLY (this shouldn't be done if you were an undergraduate), the Screenwriting unit, and a Directing unit, so that I can produce a short film during the second half of the year.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Thoughts And Predictions About Hong Kong Film Awards Nominees

Well, being the top-rating site in Technorati that is related to 'Asian Cinema', I guess it is necessary for me to voice out my thoughts and predictions about the upcoming Hong Kong Film Awards 2005, which will be announced on the 8th of April (more than a month after the Oscars).

Watching 'Just Like Heaven' alone, the day after Valentine's Day

Reese Witherspoon in Just Like Heaven
I watched my DVD of 'Just Like Heaven' a day after Valentine's Day, early in the morning, when I had just struggled out of bed, and was desperate to warm my frozen heart with a cheerful romantic comedy (I spent Valentine's Day alone, doing nothing but write a poem for someone who was rather far away), and any long-time readers of this site should know by now, I am a sucker for romantic comedies, and knew pretty well that this is a film that will most likely cheer myself up.

Yet there is one thing I have to say about supernatural romances, with the exception of Ghost (... okay, maybe there's Corpse Bride too), I don't recall any other major human/ghost romances from Hollywood that actually leave a deep impression, much unlike Hong Kong, when during the 80s and early 90s where films from this particular genre were everywhere, and pretty much regarded as classics of their own (Chinese Ghost Story, Happy Ghost, My Wife Is A Ghost, and countless other Hong Kong films which English titles I don't know come into mind. Hell, I even recommended 'My Left Eye Sees Ghost' as one of the perfect HK Valentine's Day films), perhaps it has to do with the fact that in Hong Kong, these supposed romantic comedies which started out wacky and crazy would usually become poignant and bittersweet, where we audiences can't help but lament the fact that regardless of how hard they try, our protagonists will never overcome such a major obstacle of one being actually dead, where the ending is usually never entirely happy, with the ghost heading off for reincarnation, and the hero seeking solace from meeting someone who looked entirely like the ghost (damn I hate cop-out endings like that).

Monday, February 20, 2006

Screenwriting workshop. An idea for a new short film?

And thus, classes have finally started. During the screenwriting workshop, when each person is supposed to develop a screenplay that he or she will be working on throughout the entire semester, I started pondering about the numerous stories and ideas I had in mind that I could try developing so that I can attempt to shoot it during the second half of the year. (I'm currently doing Postgrad Diploma in Media Production, just finished my Degree in Marketing and Literature last year, a weird combination indeed).

Sunday, February 19, 2006

CASANOVA by Lasse Hallström

Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller in Casanova
The role of the title character in Casanova was chosen by Heath Ledger after he did Brokeback Mountain. It was a logical choice, if I were an actor, I would want to be in a much lighthearted and cheerful fare after doing something as depressingly angsty as Brokeback too. The director of this film is Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom, whose better-known films are Chocolat, Cider House Rules and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, so I guess he is quite a serious director (although the aforementioned works do possess certain hints of humour)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Pondering about my future film projects.

It was a discussion I had with Guestblogger Justin a few days ago, about a personal dilemma, a fear that the flames of creativity that burnt brightly within my soul had completely been extinguished, my ocean of genius had been sucked dry by a vortex of disappointment (that occurred when two consecutive short films I wanted to make had to be shelved, or most likely scrapped, after some cast members were unable to make any commitments).

Steven Spielberg's MUNICH is one of his best

Eric Bana and Ayelet July Zurer in MunichDespite my initial ravings of War of the Worlds, in retrospect, it isn't one of Steven Spielberg's finest films (it's one of those rare films reviews of mine that I would want to rewrite if I am allowed to). Yes, it has some stunning set pieces, some decent acting, some chilling scenes, but basically, Spielberg was just recycling his bag of tricks, and despite the fact that I had tried defending the film ending (what happened to the aliens in the end was based on the book anyway), it was still a pretty bad ending (what happened to Tom Cruise's son was NOT based on the book). And after King Kong, I can't help but realize how shallow an experience War of the World was when compared with Peter Jackson's near-masterpiece.

Friday, February 17, 2006

The Fanfiction Debate

In many ways, this is a continuation of Guestblogger Justin's rebuttal against Robin Hobb regarding the merits of fanfiction and Mike Peterson's entry about Copyleft. Although I have retired from fanfiction, and there are many things about fanficdom that annoys me (check out my rant here, here, and here), I don't really condemn the mere action of writing fanfiction, and I think I will be pretty flattered if people do write fanfiction based on my creative works instead of screaming bloody murder like Robin Hobb did. Sure, if people tries to make money via this fanfiction, then it might be some sort of copyright infringement (but you can most probably get away with it if you were Neil Gaimnan), but otherwise, I think it works well from a marketing point of view, and from a creative standpoint.

Anyway, for years, I've been a member of this fantasy writers mailing list (join by sending blank email to fantasy-writers-subscribe@topica.com) and I recently got into this interesting discussion about fanfiction with numerous of its members. Will use different colours so that it'll be easier for y'all to differentiate us.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

WALK THE LINE, fine performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as Johnny Cash and June Carter in Walk The Line I am rather ignorant to the details of Johnny Cash (and June Carter)'s history, and I don't remember ever listening to any of his songs before (well, I might heard some when my dad was playing it, but I don't think dad was that into Johnny Cash either), thus I can only evaluate the biopic based on whether it could hold the attention of any viewer who does not know anything about its subject. After all, I'm not anal when it comes to judging the factual accuracy of biopics (I can never understand why some people like condemning biopics that much just because they aren't accurate enough, yeah, I'm looking at those who complained about 'A Beautiful Mind' not examining John Nash's homosexual tendencies), it's more about whether it 'works' for me as a film.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Why did I watch Big Momma's House 2?

Martin Lawrence in Big Momma's House 2Do not believe what everyone else said, Big Momma's House 2 is absolutely a necessary sequel. There is a need to see Martin Lawrence going around dressing up like a fat woman again, and then bonding with three children in your typical Hollywood manufactured warmhearted scenes that are similar to the gazillions (pardon me, but what is bigger than gazillion? Bazillion?) of inoffensive family films out there. There is a need to see Big Momma in a bathing suit to understand the true concept of being grossed out (yeah, look at left pic to suffer what I suffered).

Six years have passed since Big Momma's House 1, but I am sure absolutely everyone's hungry for this sequel, since it did make 28 million during its first weekend in the United States despite everyone pretending to complain about it before its release. And hey, I'm sure we are always craving for films about poor misfits teaching seemingly rich but emotionally lacking people what is it like to be a family. Hey, having a somewhat good intentioned family comedy is good for families, right? Good to strengthen family ties. Yeap. Maybe it'll work for kids, or people in their early teens, but if this is a film meant to appeal to the masses, then the crowd it will entertain will most probably be pretty small.

Monday, February 13, 2006

My Recommended Valentine's Day Films Part 3: Hollywood Films

Well, this is the hardest part of my romantic film recommendation series. How can I possibly compile a decent list of Hollywood films when there are so many of them out there?? Hmm. Once again, I'll try to separate them via categories. As for the film reviews, I'm not going to painstakingly put them up, you can do your own search at Roger Ebert's, or head to Rottentomatoes. Click title for info.

Once again, I'm going more for feel-good films than the sad and tragic ones. And I'm also avoiding three hour epics, so nope, I won't be mentioning that little film about that sinking ship (... I'll probably get lynched if I do anyway). I would recommend Brokeback Mountain, but it's too depressing for V.day viewing too.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

CAPOTE, Bennett Miller's impressive film debut, Philip Seymour Hoffman's great performance

I felt disturbed when watching the biopic, Capote. Maybe it had to do with how much Truman Capote reminded me of, well, myself. Except the gay and effeminate part. Both of us are ambitious, egoistic, manipulative, charismatic, persuasive... well, the fact that I’m drawing comparisons between Truman Capote and myself in a film review should speak volumes about my ego.

Anyway, this is a biopic of Truman Capote, but thankfully, it isn't the type which begins with a childhood event and then ends with a death scene. Nope, this, like many of the recent biopics, focuses only on a pivotal event of the person's life, and in the case of this film: the six years Truman Capote spent to write the groundbreaking non-fiction book 'In Cold Blood' (he used a style which made the whole thing look like a gripping fictional novel instead of some dry report. Check out Wikipedia's entry about New Journalism) that became an international bestseller and made him, according to the film ending, the most popular writer in America.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

My Recommended Valentine's Day Films Part 2: Japanese, Korean and Other Asian Films

While compiling the list for part 2 of my recommended Valentine's Day films, which will focus on Korean and Japanese films, I was suddenly struck by a chilling realization that had never occurred to me before. Despite watching quite a number of Japanese films, there just doesn't seem to be an absolute romantic film that really stuck to me. Unlike the Koreans, whose amount of sentimental and melodramatic romantic films are more than enough to flood an entire nation and make everyone die of diabetes, almost every single good Japanese film I can remember isn't exactly pure love stories. Just thrillers, action films, psychodramas, sci-fi tales, horror tales with maybe a bit of subtle romance tossed in as a subplot.

I wonder why. Maybe it's because the Japanese are somewhat more cynical than the Koreans, hence they don't really make all those fullblown romantic melodrama the Koreans are so famous for? But then, to be fair, the Japanese television dramas are entirely a different story, I can remember most of the finer classic J-doramas I've watched over the years that are great romances, mostly those Takuya Kimura stuff. One something light-hearted and sweet? Go for Love Generation (simple love story between two yuppies) or Long Vacation (simple love story between a pianist and a girl who moved into his place). One something that will make you weep? Go for Beautiful Life (simple love story between a hairdresser and a dying librarian).

But this is a list of films, not television, and it won't be a long list like the previous one since it IS very difficult to come up with GOOD Japanese romance films (as I haven't exactly been exposed to that many of them) and I don't intend to let an entire list flooded by only Korean films. Once again, I'm aiming more for happier films, or at least, bittersweet ones, not the depressingly sad ones. But I'll be separating them via categories.

Friday, February 10, 2006

My Recommended Valentine's Day Films Part 1 - Hong Kong Films.

Well, Valentine's Day is coming, and it's up to me, the Great Swifty, to recommend to you all some of the finest romance films (in my own opinion) to watch with your loved ones, or, erm, in my case, by myself just so that you won't feel so alone. All right, it'll make you feel more alone, but hey, who gives a shit when you're watching a good movie right?

So, for the next few days, I'll be providing a list of films from different countries to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Perhaps after HK, I'll look at Japanese and Korean, then Hollywood (which, naturally, will have a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG list).

My personal criteria for such films is simple, they should be mostly romantic, sweet stuff instead of angsty tragic stuff. But then, since tearjerkers do work fine too (for couples, so they can hold each other while bawling their eyes out, not recommended for singles, who will be driven to suicide by the overwhelming angst).

These films aren't in any particular order (well, maybe from the earliest to the most recent), and I shall provide ten of them.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

THE NOTEBOOK

Well, since Valentine's Day is coming in a week, I have prepared to get myself into a romantic mood by watching some romantic flicks in the past few days. Two days ago, I went with the Korean flick Il Mare (currently being remade by Hollywood with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in it) and Tim Burton's animated feature, Corpse Bride, then last night, I checked out the much talked about 'The Notebook'.

Despite having the DVDs for quite a while, I've never gotten the chance to actually view it, but to most of my female friends whom I lent the DVD to, almost none of them told me that they did NOT cry at the film. Not knowing whether I could take another emotionally-charged film about Alzheimer's Disease after being emotionally-raped by the over-the-top emo Korean film, Moments of Love (sad and tragic tale of a young woman in her 20s suffering from Alzheimer whilst her poor husband had to suffer, read Lovehkfilm.com's review here), I had always left The Notebook in my shelf.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Ang Lee's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is heartbreaking


Everything that can be said about this film in a review has already been said by most American critics here. And based on Technorati, it's been the most talked about film for the past few weeks since its victory at the Golden Globes. So what can I say about Brokeback Mountain in this review of mine to make it not sound identical to the thousands and thousands of film critics and bloggers out there? Alas I am at a loss.

Even the Malaysian Chinese media, usually stingy over its coverage on the Awards season, has spent day after day reporting on its awards haul and raining praises on director Ang Lee. Chinese newspapers haven't paid that much attention to the Oscars since, oh, right, when Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came out. If Ang Lee wins the awards for Best Picture and Best Director during the Oscars, he will become the first Asian director to ever do so, not even the legendary Akira Kurosawa had done this. Even if viewer ratings are going to be low in America, I'm sure it'll set records in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

The Shopaholics 最爱女人购物狂 by Wai Ka Fai


This movie is a difficult one to review, since I walked out of the cinemas with mixed feelings after seeing it. One part of me felt that I was robbed, and agreed with my sister that it was a pretty lame film since everything was so inconsequential, shallow and over-the-top silly. After all, it was just days after I've seen the old Chinese New Year screwball comedy Eight Happiness (starring Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Cheung and Raymond Wong, along with Bobo Fung, Dodo Cheng etc), despite how dumb the latter was, it was a film with heart and sincerity, the scenes between the siblings and their loved ones were affecting.

Why am I comparing Eighth Happiness with The Shopaholics? It's simple, The Shopaholics is directed by long-time Johnnie To collaborator, Wai Ka Fai. And Johnnie To was the one who directed Eighth Happiness (long before he became known for shooting his gritty crime drama and stylish triad films, Johnnie To was known for Stephen Chow movies like Justice My Foot!). And during their collaboration, both Wai Ka Fai and Johnnie To have done some great comedic gems like 'Needing You' (the film that entirely changed my perception of Andy Lau), 'Love on a Diet' and 'My Left Eye Sees Ghosts' (this film made me believe that Sammi Cheng, despite her commercial success, had always been very underrated as an actress).

I have wondered how Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai collaborated in their films, if I ain't wrong, I think Johnnie To was the one who did most of the planning whilst Wai Ka Fai would be the one directing the people on set. And The Shopaholics might have confirmed my assumptions about their collaboration. Johnnie To is the storyteller, Wai Ka Fai's the technical guy.

Friday, February 03, 2006

VIDEOS: The beautiful Green Dragon waterfall at Wuyishan & a 4-year old Chinese tea-making prodigy

Malaysia's most prolific vlogger strikes again! I've spent the entire day editing these four video clips. Basically, it's a continuation of my China vacation videos (yes, it's incomplete). All these clips were shot on the same day, but since some of the stuff I witnessed were so interesting then that I've decided split them, so you can enjoy them separately.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

VIDEO: Mi Ki's Birthday

Been a while since I've actually posted a video done by myself. Just returned from my Grandmother's house. There should be numerous Chinese New Year-related videos to cement my place as Malaysia's most prolific vlogger, just give me some time to edit them all. Updates might be pretty few until I'm done with some videos.

As for this birthday video, it is of a friend's, done almost a year ago. I'm uploading it here after receiving permission from Mi Ki, the birthday gal in the video. Have fun.

Technorati tags: , , , , , ,

Sunday, January 29, 2006

FEARLESS, Jet Li's Last Martial Arts Film?

Jet Li's Fearless Film Poster
Visiting the cinemas thrice in five days can be quite mindnumbing, but nevertheless, it is the Chinese New Year period, thus it is a little tradition of mine to see every single Chinese movie that's showing at the cinemas.

Fearless is widely-publicized as Jet Li's very last martial arts film and is a highly-fictionalized account of Huo Yuan Jia, founder of Jing Wu Men, a martial arts school in Shanghao, and a semi-prequel of sorts for Bruce Lee's film, Fist of Fury, and its 1994 remake, Fist of Legend (a Jet Li film!). (Huo Yuan Jia is the master of the films' protagonist, Chen Zhen, played by Bruce Lee and Jet Li)

There are a couple of reasons why this is the most looked-forward Chinese New Year blockbuster:

Friday, January 27, 2006

My Kung Fu Sweetheart 野蛮密笈


There are times when I want to become Malaysia's Wong Jing. I know this is a startling revelation for you all, that I would choose to be Wong Jing, instead of, say, Wong Kar Wai, or Ingmar Bergman, or Truffaut, or Godard, or Fellini, or even Tarantino, but the fact is, judging by the current indie film scene, Malaysia needs a Wong Jing-type guy.

His productivity is just simply prodigious (he made 5-6 films in a year, I struggled to finish one short film in a year), and the way he capitalizes and exploits the current popular trend in Hong Kong to rake in some cheap bucks clearly shows that he's a damned good businessman.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Stunning Photos of Waterfall, Rude Babies and Cute Puppies That Will Make You Cry

Yeah, I still have quite a number of photos taken during my trip in China that I haven't posted yet. The reason being that I wanted to finish making the videos of the trip (yes, it's still ongoing) before showing y'all this, but I guess it doesn't really matter. (If you want to view the earlier videos of my trip, check out my vlog section.)

Just click the photos for the large versions and their descriptions. They are all arranged in chronological order, taken at Wuyishan, China. The rest (from Shanghai) will come later.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Fun With Dick and Jane (I miss the serious Jim Carrey)


Maybe it had to do with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or maybe it happened even earlier, maybe it happened with Truman Show, or maybe it had to do with this long-kept secret of mine, that I actually ENJOYED the sentimental schmaltz The Majestic (I'm a sucker for courtroom scenes and all those generic BIG speeches).

But somehow, I just seem to enjoy Jim Carrey in a drama more than in a comedy these days. Despite being his personal top-grossing movie, I wasn't that impressed with Bruce Almighty (it was kinda good, but not THAT good). And despite the great-looking settings, Series of Unfortunate Events left me rather underwhelmed (and it didn't really strike me as a Jim Carrey film). Perhaps I am more impressed with his dramatic acting skills than his talent for humour, and that I am just as disgusted with the Academy for never giving him an Oscar nomination for either Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But I'll get back to that later.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Good Night, And Good Luck


I believe one has to do some research on American history to really appreciate 'Good Night, And Good Luck', George Clooney's sophomore directorial effort, more as it is about an important political case that affected the entire nation back then. (Click here for the Wikipedia entry about McCarthyism, and here for the entry about Joseph McCarthy). I actually did some readings about this a couple of months ago when I learnt about the existence of this film and its subject matter, and well, to me, it was rather interesting.

A brief summary about McCarthyism:

Thursday, January 19, 2006

C. L. Hor's The 3rd Generation is a Malaysian film masterpiece.


[Disclaimer: This entire post was written with a lot of sarcasm.]

It happened more than a week ago, when I chanced upon Jesscet's entry (I believe she's a writer for KL Lifestyle and possibly a journalist for Malay Mail) about the Malaysian production, 'The Third Generation' where she mentioned that the film being billed as the very first 'Cantonese art film in Malaysia'.

Never much of a fan of anyone who labels non-mainstream films as 'art films, I left a comment showing my curiosity.

"First Cantonese art film in Malaysia? Really? What about those stuff by James Lee? I just feel that the term 'art film' is highly subjective. Usually used to describe aethestically-pleasing (that's rather debatable) non-mainstream films ala Wong Kar Wai's works, or in America, non-mainstream films that are shown in arthouse cinemas (instead of those cineplexes), knowing that 'art' films are generally non-profitable, I find it strange that the filmmakers of 'The Third Generation' would label their own film as an 'art' film. Let alone, the first ever in Malaysia."

(Note: I mentioned James Lee because his 'Beautiful Washing Machine' was mostly in Cantonese, whilst both Ho Yuhang and Tan Chui Mui's works were in Mandarin)

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Some Dystopian Tale Part 3: Heroic Xiaxue Slayers

This is a Paul Di Filippo-inspired fictional (satirical?) dystopic, sorta sci-fi/fantasy tale that is serialized on this blog every week.

Part 1: The Political Activist And His Murderous Little Birds is here.
Part 2: Bloggers Who Do Lots of Cutting And Pasting is here.




Jeff Ooi
Liewcf
Kahsoon

I wrote their names on a piece of paper, taking note of the once-mighty Malaysian bloggers I've met in Kuala Lumpur thus far, and then struck them off, a reminder that I won't interview them for a future documentary, considering their rather unstable emotional state.

Petaling Street was near, the omnipresent stalls, the pirated dvd and vcd vendors, reduced to half of their original number since the death of the Internet, yet the rumbling and buzzing of noises remained, people screaming the prices of their wares, and potential buyers haggling with them. Rumours have said that many bloggers have chosen to stay here, Petaling Street, the place, the chinatown in Kuala Lumpur, being treated as a replacement of the former blog aggregrator, Project Petaling Street. Oh the irony.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Steven Erikson - Midnight Tides

If you call yourself a fantasy fan, and you have yet to read anything by Steven Erikson (or George R R Martin), you ought to be ashamed of yourself. After I finished reading Storm of Swords by George R R Martin back in 2000, I had no idea that I was going to wait for more than half a decade for the next Song of Ice and Fire to come out.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Chen Kaige's THE PROMISE 无极


Nicholas Tse saved this film from the pits of suckiness.

Now, don't scoff. When his once-promising career was hindered by the numerous scandals he was involved in during the past few years (messy breakups, brush with the law etc.), the likes of Shawn Yu and Edison Chen managed to flourish in his absence with their undeserving appearances in high-profile HK films, but once Nicholas Tse is at the top of his game, not even Jang Dong-Gun could compete with him in terms of charisma and coolness, let alone those two pretenders.

As the preening, flamboyant prettyboy villain in 'The Promise', Nicholas Tse easily stole the show away from the rest of the cast. So impressive he was that the film would feel flat and lifeless during his absence, and one would long for him to appear again just to have him torment our boring protagonists.

Monday, January 09, 2006

More Indescribably Beautiful Photos Of Wuyishan China!

More photos from Tianyou Peak, along with some photos taken at the 'town of tea makers'. Wuyishan is known for its tea. Just click the pics for the large version.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Swifty's Blogosphere Tale Part 2: Bloggers Who Do Lots of Cutting And Pasting.

Chapter 2

by Edmund Yeo


I didn't know how long I've ran from the crazed Jeff Ooi and his murderous little birds. Running through the streets of Kuala Lumpur, I saw nothing but death and destruction, wrecked cars, collapsed buildings? Scavengers gathered around cars, breaking them apart, stealing whatever they saw from within. I snuck into the shadows, careful not to attract any attention as I filmed those people in secret, I was standing in front of the abandoned building which was once known as the Central Market. I knew I wasn't that far away from Petaling Street.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Some Dystopian Tale Part 1: The Political Activist And His Murderous Little Birds

Chapter 1


by Edmund Yeo
Inspired by Paul Di Filippo

The internet went down with a mighty crash. The silence that followed was deafening.

I know, I needed a better opening line than that, but give me a break, the entire world changed on that fateful day, I just can't come up with anything dramatic to describe the events. I'll leave it to the journalists, I'm sure they would've cooked up something more, I don't know, original.

But anyway, the Internet collapsed. Decades of technology immediately rendered useless.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Photos of Wuyishan (China): Tianyou Peak, Wuyi Mountain

I'm putting up more photos I've taken during my China vacation. I took these photos when I was climbing Tianyou Peak 天游峰 of Wuyi Mountain. Was holding the camcorder in one hand and a camera in another while climbing a mountain. Did some photoshop work with them as an experiment.

Click the photos for the larger version.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

First Entry of 2006! Happy New Year!

It would've been a boring new year. I would've been doing nothing but staying at home editing my China vacation videos whilst waiting painfully for the end of 2005, and the beginning of 2006. I would stare blankly at my blog, wondering what I would write to my dear readers (or rather, the remainder of my existing readers).

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe


Edmund Pervensie had always been one of my favourite literary characters during my childhood. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that we share the same name, but when I first read the Narnia books back when I was 12, I was always annoyed by the entire 'goody-two-shoe'/ holier-than-thou/ sanctimonious attitude adopted by most of the protagonists. Aslan and the two elder Pervensie children had always been flat and lifeless, but Edmund was different, like normal humans, he possessed personal desires, dark emotions and such, obviously, I could relate more to him than to the others.

So, almost a decade had passed, and he, along with Aslan (of course), remained the only characters I could remember from Narnia. 'Edmund The Traitor', 'Edmund The Backstabbing Bastard' were the names I fondly remember him as. After all, if I were surrounded by annoyingly holy and patronizing siblings like he did, I would be pissed too.

I'm Malaysia's Very First Video Blogger?

Well, the very first Malaysian guy with video blog to add himself onto the Vlogmap anyway. However, when I went off to check the map again just moments ago, it seems that there's this other Malaysian video blog too. I'm not... unique anymore. Ah well.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Peter Jackson's KING KONG

Saw King Kong yesterday on Christmas. I agree with Roger Ebert's review (and most other US critics'). This film is pretty great.

Zhang Yimou's RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSAND OF MILES 千里走单骑

After making two consecutive big-budget martial arts flicks, the wonderful 'Hero' and the crappy 'House of Thousand Daggers', Zhang Yimou returns to making a simplistic and low-budget drama starring veteran Japanese actor, Takakura Ken.

I saw this film in Shanghai on the 22nd of December, the day of its release. And I think it's going to flop badly in the box-office... considering the fact that MY DAD AND I WERE THE ONLY ONES SEEING THIS FILM IN THE CINEMA!

Zathura

Remember Jumanji? I remembered liking it when I saw it ten years ago. I even had the laser disc (that was before the time of DVDs) and watched it numerous times. Never failed to like it. Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt were funny. And Kirsten Dunst was, well, young.

And Jumanji was the sole reason I went to see Zathura (both were based on books by the same author, and I believe Zathura was supposedly an unrelated sequel). All right, it did get some solid reviews at Rotten Tomatoes too.

Summary? Two bickering siblings find a board game at the basement of their house while their dad (Tim Robbins) is out for work. Then when they start playing, their entire freaking house is launched sent into space, and they meet scary aliens, killer robots and mysterious stranded astronauts. Things can only revert to normal if they can finish the board game, but can they put aside their differences and do so?

This is a decent and simple film. Just imagine Jumanji in space, but less complications and subplots, or probably less budget too. Basically, the film's centered around the relationship between the two brothers, and the child actors did pretty well in here, with the continuous argument and their intense rivalry. I won't really bother watching it twice (like I did with Jumanji, but then, I might have liked Jumanji that much due to my age back then), but it does have a nice little twist in the end.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Photos Of China's Stunning Scenery! (Part 1)

First of all, Edrei, Char, thanks for guestblogging for me during my absence. My shoes are hard to fill, and no mere mortal can do it easily, but both of you have done an, ah, admirable job. Guestblogger Justin's been busy too, as you can see from his last entry.

Anyway, no, I'm not going into detail about what truly occurred during the last two weeks in China, I have filmed them all and will attempt to edit (shitloads of) videos for my video blog entries, I mean, let's face it, I'm sure everyone's more interested in seeing my transform the entire vacation into a narrative video/music video than to have me droning on and on about what happened to me via written word.

Therefore, what I'm going to do now is merely upload the photos I've taken (mostly digitally manipulated to make up for the shortcomings of my own digital camera) throughout the entire trip (yes, basically, I had a camcorder in one hand, and a generic camera in another, which made mountain climbing more ardous for myself).

Sunday, December 18, 2005

The Obscure Cynical-Idealist reviews Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in Swifty's absence

Now that the Great Swifty has briefly left the midst of our blogosphere, it is my duty to follow after the Great Kamigoroshi's footsteps and guestblog on the Great Swifty's online abode.

Oh, but who am I to speaketh on the gloriously beautiful pages of this blog?

I, am none other than the ever humble fencetop lover, the one who has gladly sunk into obscurity in search of inner peace, the one and only Cynical-Idealist.

Okay, flowery language aside, I'm not here to spam this blog and whore mine, although my link is up there just in case no one remembers me. I've come to sing praises of a book.



I've just finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke's first ever novel and currently a well-acclaimed bestseller. I've had such a delightful time reading it that I've decided to kickstart my guestblogging here by reviewing this book.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

PERHAPS LOVE 如果.愛


This is the first Hong Kong musical in almost three decades, and is the country's Oscar representative. The four main cast members are from four different countries, Jacky Cheung (HK), Takeshi Kaneshiro (Taiwan, although you can put Japan in there if you want to), Zhou Xun (China), and Jin Ji Hee (Korea).

Sunday, December 04, 2005

'Perhaps Love' Film Premiere

'Perhaps Love' is the first HK musical in almost thirty years (maybe more), and stars HK musical icon, Jackie Cheung, Taiwanese superstar Takeshi Kaneshiro (the guy in House of Flying Daggers and Chungking Express), rising Chinese actress Zhou Xun (the chick in Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress and Xiu Xiu) and Korean TV star Jin Ji Hee.

It all began when my dad received an invitation from Astro (Malaysia's satellite TV company) to attend the premiere few days ago.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

The HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE film is quite good


I tend to enjoy the Harry Potter films more than my little sister does, probably because I don't expect an entirely faithful adaptation of the books. I regard the films as completely separate entities from the books, in fact, I even totally DISREGARD the existences of the book when I'm watching the films. And that's why I usually compare the Harry Potter films with EACH OTHER instead of with the books.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

I completed NaNoWriMo!

So yeah, I managed to hit 50k words today. I went into a writing spree yesterday which resulted in me doing about 5000-6000 words. I'm rather satisfied, but it merely means that I can breathe easy now and attempt to finish what I've written at my own pace (the story's incomplete, and the last few parts were rushed jobs, I intend to insert scenes between what I've written to flesh things out more).

I will see whether I intend to serialize my story online, while I think it's reasonably good and rather unconventional (despite having a hybrid fantasy/sci-fi settings, this tale is more like a love story/social commentary/coming-of-age tale than a generic 'hero goes on a quest to save the world from the almighty lord of evil' story), I have to ensure that it is as presentable as possible for my readers. So yeah, stay tuned.

So, is there a celebration of sorts for Malaysian Nano-ers?

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

NaNoWriMo Deadline Beckons, I'm Slightly Anxious.

I am near 45 000. Will make the one final push towards hitting 50 000 tomorrow. The reason why I worked slower than I've expected was because of the perfectionist within who wanted the work to be perfect when I hit 50 000, but I guess it's impossible to do so considering how many shit I had to juggle throughout the entire month of November, like...

1) Final assignments for my Shakespeare and Pop Literature class.
2) Final exams for Pop Literature
3) Preparation to return from Perth to Malaysia
4) ... the 'Sellout Week'
5) Playing host to a Japanese friend, Maiko, who came to Malaysia with me.
6) The Italian film festival

Not that I'm whining, but seriously, if I had only had to work on half of the things mentioned above, I could've probably finished my NaNoWriMo in around two weeks. Random notes of the day.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

The Bumper Book of Completely Useless Japanese Inventions

Image hosted by TinyPic.com

It's not often that I feel a book is important enough to give it above-the-line review status. Some of my favorite novels of recent times didn't make it, so I couldn't think of what else would. But that was before I read The Bumper Book of unUseless Japanese Inventions.

大家谈一谈金马奖吧!

嗨!大家好!我姓杨名叫毅恒。笔名是Eliar Swiftfire或者是Swifty。我并不清楚如何翻译自己的笔名,所以还是叫我扬大人吧,如果觉得不好意思的话,您可以叫我恒恒,听起来瞒亲切的!

虽然本大爷是受中文教育的,可是由于从小到大都比较喜欢看英文小说,所以英文水准比中文水准高得多。对我而言,输入中文字体实在是一件非常麻烦的事!可是为了吸引更多的读者来这网站,我只好默默地赏试以中文来与大家沟通。请勿见怪!

Monday, November 14, 2005

INTRODUCING...MICHAEL PETERSON

Hello, my name is Michael Peterson, and I was invited to guestblog here at "The Great Swifty Speaketh," because Justin and Swifty have both sold out, making them irrelevant in the internet community. Because on the internet, we value things that are INDY. If you didn"t like them before they were cool, then your opinion is without merit! Only conforming to Ape Law will let you live amongst the tribe! I have been brought in to save this site from its Timberlake-lovin" self. "Bring me 50 cc"s of Patchwork," Swifty said, and I was rushed in on a makeshift crash cart, still in my bath robe.

See, I am still INDY. I have known Justin since long before he was cool – he was, in fact, a slack-jawed convenience store employee who walked amongst the internet unwashed, like Christ in his early years. What"s more, you know for a fact that I am truly INDY because I shun the love of women. Right, Indy Rock Pete?

Saturday, November 12, 2005

NaNoWriMo Progress Report (Day 12) Trying YET ANOTHER Fantasy Name Generator.

17000 words. So I did 2000 words after the last progress report. Things were getting talky, thus I changed the rhythm. Writing action scenes are harder for me compared to dialogue.

Also, the usual elven generator I use was down, thus I had to surf around to find another. Ended up finding THIS instead. Where you can type in your name and get your name of some Middle-Earth races (hobbits, elves, humans, dwarves and wizards) in return. A particular elven maiden is named after a particular much-talked about blogger.

Anyway, excerpts:

Yet the rats were getting closer, only meters away from the immobile sorceress. The knight stepped forward, his sword drawn, attempting to shield the rodents from her even though he knew it would be futile. Silently he whispered the prayer of the Zeltanian knights, and the blade upon his sword glowed white in response.

“Step aside, you dolt!” The sorceress shouted.

Despite his confusion, Erik did what she said, and she, with a loud sharp command, placed both of her hands upon the ground. Intricate runes of magic flared into life upon its surface, moving and spreading by themselves and towards the all-engulfing darkness and the stone walls of buildings around them. Pulsating silvery-white light of pure brilliance sliced through the sea of rats, bursting into explosions that sent dozens of tiny charred carcasses into the air. Rivers of light streaking through the sea of darkness.

Friday, November 11, 2005

NaNoWriMo Progress Report (Day 10) I'm in 'WRITING' Mode, Not 'FILMMAKING' Mode.

Hit 15000 words. I wrote 2000 words since my last progress report. I would have written more, but my time was spent on the previous entry, some grocery shopping, and watching some performances from people in my Shakespeare class.

Never in my life have I felt unexcited about preparing to shoot a film, yet this is how I feel now. For the very first time in my life.

I will be shooting my Hindi film tomorrow, and I can't say that I'm enthusiastic about it. Usually when I'm hit by inspiration to do something creative, I would rather do it as soon as possible because I am more motivated to do so, and I can expend all my energies upon it. Unfortunately, like Aisyalam, this Hindi project has been delayed too much that I cannot find the fire I had when I first develop my ideas for both film projects.

It's simple, I am currently in 'writing' mode, not 'filmmaking', I'm incapable of being in both modes simultaneously. Both are methods of telling stories, and for me, I prefer focusing my energies upon one particular story to ensure that it is perfect. That is why even if I am a writer myself, I prefer to have Guestblogger Justin doing the screenwriting for me so that I can just concentrate upon the filmmaking instead.

NanoWriMo has started, I have spent the last few days in full 'writing' mode. I have immersed myself so thoroughly into the world and characters of the novel I'm writing now that I have fallen head over heels in love with them. To be wrestled away from it now to work on my film is like the unwelcome arrival of a spurned lover appearing to win my affections again.

Anyway, here are the excerpts.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

NaNoWriMo Progress Report (Day 9)

13000+ words. I've written 3000+ words today, Everything is starting to flow pretty well, once I can maintain this speed, I'll do fine. I would've actually written more if I hadn't gone to Fremantle for a break. However, I managed to finish Akutagawa Prize (highest literary honour in Japan) winner 'Snakes and Earrings' by Hitomi Kanehara while I was hanging out at the bookshop there, it was short read, think it took me less than an hour (I posted her photo in this entry). You may choose to Google her if you want to, I'm not putting up my book review until next month's edition of my Monthly Book Reviews.

Here are the excerpts.