At long last

My parents were never really big on buying gaming consoles for me and my brother. I used to have a Sega Genesis and an SNES but that was it. The computer was enough according to them. My poor brother didn't get to even use my old systems, cos a wire or adapter was missing or the thing was just too damn old, moldy cartridges and dusty controllers. He did get my old Gameboy, and after that he got a Gameboy Advance as a gift from a generous family friend. We never had the holy grail of gaming. The Playstation.

Until now! Muahahaha! My cousin handed over his PS2 for us to have until the end of the year, when my parents will probably get my brother a PSP. So anyway, I was pretty happy when we got it, and started banging out on Tekken Tag and DOA2. Since I already had Winning Eleven 8 on PC, WE 7 seemed a bit redundant. Plus I wasn't really used to the controls. Metal Gear Solid, amongst several other games, were all in Japanese, hence limiting my ability to play them well. Just when I thought oh well its not such a big deal, I found Gran Turismo 3.

My god. This is a bloody gorgeous driving simulation. Super realistic and with the idea that you can drive a crapload of real life cars, including some of my favourites like the Audi TT, Mini Cooper and the Peugeot 206. I was in love. This was like heaven and I kept creeping out of working on my project to play this on the weekend. I've stopped now but I really can't wait to get back on it. I played to a point where I got 2 licenses and a souped up EVO VII. Not bad but I decided to start over and collect lots of cars this time round.

So now I'm looking forward to landing all the cars I love. And Gran Turismo 4. Which has got even more cars that I love and a manager-like racing system so you don't have to race yourself. Can't wait to get that or perhaps even the PSP version although I figure I'd probably want the PSX and a nice steering wheel.

Samurai + Hip-Hop Remix

MUGEN

Somewhere in my memory, I recalled seeing a stupid name for an anime. It was samurai something. So I braved the evil interweb and found... Samurai Champloo! Given my penchant for samurais + anything else, Samurai Champloo had to be fantastic. Whatever a Champloo is.

So anyway, a Champloo. Yes well its an homage to Marcel Duchamp. Cos its DuChamp's Loo so thats got to be it. *Checks the google* Ok! "its Okinawan for "mixed-up" or "stirred together". It's usually applied to a kind of stir-fry dish, but in a more general sense it's used to mean "improvised, made up as you go along". In the context of the show it's probably intended to evoke the sampled, scratched sound of hip-hop music and the show's own combination of old, new and invented elements into an entirely original whole." (ahem stolen from... Amalgam, a Samurai Champloo fansite)

OK so double click first episode. Almost half an hour later, my eyes were permanently enlarged after an entirely unexpected assault. I was staring wide-eyed at a samurai hip-hop extravaganza. Hmm. I'm very impressed.

First, the surface elements. The first thing you notice is the music. The opening single was full of nice beats accompanied by lovely visuals. The prologue is translated in English as "Although this story is largely fiction and some parts do not line up with history, STOP BITCHING AND JUST SHUT UP AND WATCH!" No this isn't gonna be your average samurai flick.

Everything is chopped and mixed up. We start in feudal Japan where two lead characters are introduced. Then we cut to a day earlier, a guy dancing across the street in a suburb of New York called Japan, which has absolutely nothing to do with the story at all! Oh its a mistake! That's just what was in real life yesterday! Again! One day earlier! The film rewinds like a VCR, with the beats from the earlier episode scruffed up until we're back in feudal Japan! Transitions are scratched up, sound and video mixed around to cut to another scene. Its kinda like if you mix modern Japan with its graffiti tagged streets and beats, with feudal Japan with its swords and gore.

The shots and framing fall somewhere between Japanese paintings and graffiti. The slower scenes offer a sharp visual contrast, the frames stop and enter a tranquil, Japanese stone garden aesthetic. Music changes from hip-hop/chilled beats to what could be Joe Hisaishi remixed. Clearly, its an important element in the show. The end single is just lovely.

The story itself, centres around 3 people. 2 guys and a girl. The 2 guys offer juxtaposition in disposition (muahaha it rhymes!) and fighting style. Mugen fights like he's breakdancing, has a loud mouth and big hair. Jin is the samurai, honorable and composed, he is the antithesis to the brash Mugen. Fuu doesn't fight, she's the damsel in distress and the unlikely glue that bonds all 3 characters together, with a reason that seems unreasonable. She's trying to find a samurai that smells of sunflowers and brings the 2 along with her. She's the DJ.

Modernity and tradition are caught up and slurred around in a heady slosh of hip-hop beats and woodblock prints. In between, you've got Fuu, who is a mystery, trying to find her way amongst the strife and chaos of the time. Maybe she has to choose either hip-hop or Japanese tradition. Maybe she's trying to put both together. Maybe she's trying to find something that will make her less confused > the samurai that smells of sunflowers.

Yes so we went from Duchamp to Hip-Hop to Japanese culture and tradition. Mmm interesting.

Samurais and giant mecha

All it took was those four words to draw Tze's attention away from his beloved Sri, to my conversation with Hunn over dinner at the XO Yu Pian Mi Fen place in Holland V. Sri was obviously mildly perturbed that he wasn't paying attention. Tze?

"Wah lau! He's talking about samurais and giant mecha lah!"

Yes yes yes. The holy grail of guydom. Samurais and giant mecha. Ok not for every guy perhaps. And I suppose maybe for guys who are like mid 20s (oh my gewdness) its sounds a bit childish. (To the people who think that... Screw you!)

So anyway, my conversation with Hunn that day. It was actually about anime. So we went from Naruto to Bleach and then I mentioned Samurai 7. Which features the alleged samurais and giant mecha. The story was actually adapted off Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. So obviously, I was intrigued. I have to say that firstly I always was in love with the Japanese aesthetic, in films, music, products etc. So samurai would always be something cool for me. The first samurai anime I saw was Rourouni Kenshin or Samurai X. So naturally, spotting Samurai 7, the title was enough to get me to click around on the interweb.

So it starts with a samurai chopping down giant mecha. Really easily. And he can jump really well too. At this point I was thinking maybe its not such a great idea after all, mixing genres and whatnot. It seemed rather stupid. But that was just the opening sequence. You really should sit through that. Because a great story about a bunch of peasants hiring samurai to fend off the greedy mecha riding bandits unfolded, and I was treated to loads of action, humour, intrigue and awe. Adapting Kurosawa's tale meant Samurai 7 had a solid storyline. But mixing the mecha and technology fit perfectly. The poor peasants and samurai had just themselves and a pitchfork or a sword, old technology so to speak. The bandits hid within the huge metal shells, that ran on electricity. It just seemed to highlight the differences between the different factions involved. Weaving technology into the story seems to suggest the struggle between the new and old worlds and how dangerous man itself can be. Able to create and destroy. Order and chaos, honor and betrayal, life and death, good and evil, chocolate and strawberry.

In any case, just remember Samurais and giant mecha.
(Samurais and giant mecha! Samurais and giant mecha! Samurais and giant mecha!)

Tri DIY

DUCT Tape Wallet #2

Trifold~!

Yes that's all I have left...

I'm now thinking that the title is very lame and that most people will feel the same way. But I'm not gonna change it now. Anyway all I can be concerned about is my brand new (well few days old now) Trifold duct tape wallet! Hence the name! Geddit? Yes? No? Kuso...

After finishing my first one with the silver tape. I made one for myself using black and green tape. Worked out ok in the end. With some persistence, I made sure that everything was as aligned as possible. It comes with 3 spaces for cards on the first fold, two spots and a place to slot those plastic card holding things on the second and a space for my driver's license. The cash compartment is totally green and I had to cut and paste a bit to make that happen. Tried to keep everything in a nice line and added some velcro to finish it off.

Next up is a perfect yellow and green one for wenhui. I'll try to make it as seamless as possible, maybe find some higher quality tape. The green roll I got from popular is really sticky and some glue sticks out the side.

Wodemeiren

Wodemeiren

Wodemeiren~! I think this was some lame joke from a SBC 8 serial. Yes it was that far back. Maybe 20 years or something like that. I think it appeared in a serial but it was also common amongst everyone to say something like that.

Anyway~! I love watermelons. Whilst shopping for duct tape for an undisclosed project, I also chanced upon a 6 pack of this Red Brand soda. So I coughed up 3 dollars to have a taste. Verdict?

Disappointing! It just feels too sweet and sugary. Hardly able to taste any Watermelon at all. Overall it felt more like cherry soda. Or Wodemeiren, my plum person.

I bought this off Freitag

My First Duct Tape Wallet!


Space for cash and 8 cards!

I bought this off from NTUC and Popular actually. Then followed the instructions off the 3M website to make this~! Tadaa~! From afar, it actually looks quite cool because the silver duct tape is so shiny... Since this was my first one, I just tried to make everything straight and all. Didn't bother too much about details. (It was about 1am anyway, getting sleepy)

My next one will be the one I'll use, black and green. This time round I'll try to be more detailed and perfect. Maybe come up with something seamless, spotless and perfectly cut.

My Favourite People

I like designer stuff. Most of my friends don't get design. They just think its styling or making something look good. They're so fucking wrong. Its to make things look great.

Here are some of my favourite design related people.

My favourite designer for a long time was Marc Newson. I just love his colors, style and fun. Some of my favourite designs by this guy include a pair of jeans for G Star, a handphone for au, several chairs and interiors.

A Japanese guy I like is Naoto Fukasawa. My 19" NEC monitor was designed by him. He also made that super cool MUJI CD player and has a really nice range of stuff with plusminuszero.

Tobias Wong I just read about in FRAME 42. He's a gay guy from NY who's not a designer per se but also a joker, artist and funny guy. He first sold plastic bags filled with air called dreams for a dollar each. He made Burberry buttons which were later picked up and produced by Burberry themselves. He called them up and they actually asked if he minded that they stole his idea, which was actually originally stolen from them. But his silver pills just takes the cake for me. Pure silver passes through the body entirely so it will just get excreted. So eating silver pills just gives you shiny shit.

My fave frenchies are Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. They have a lovely clean feel and make, functional, elegant objects. I lurve that case folder/bag that is on sale at Takashimaya. Joyn is also a lovely system for an office. Yea if I had to have an office table, it'd be a Joyn.

Another set of brothers that I like come from Brazil. Land of samba, football and fantastic meat buffets, its also home to Fernando and Humberto Campana. They don't have a website so that's just a link to mossonline which sells some of their chairs. I just love how their stuff just feels like handmade and individual, like the Corallo and Favela chairs. Its just gritty, real, not computerised but sculpted by hand.

Everyone probably knows the iMac, G5, iPod, Shuffle etc. Most people don't know that Jonathan Ive had a lot to do with resurrecting Apple. This guy was a genius for making the iPod alone. But he and his design team also made a whole lot of other stuff as well, reviving a company that nearly died. They may not make the most original or innovative products but they make very well designed products and despite absurd prices, they are market leaders in the MP3 player market. There's incredible attention to detail for every product that comes out. They don't just look good on the outside.

There's lots more people out there as well. Karim Rashid, Norway Says, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, Mies Van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier... but I only picked my current faves.

Gay Is The New Straight

I just read the paper this morning and there was an article about the gay party in sentosa. Apparently an MP raised the issue that such parties were spreading the scourge of AIDS and HIV. That's not exactly his theory but an unnamed medical professional's. First thing I thought was this was just absolutely ridiculous. In recent times, the gay community in general has gained greater awareness amongst the non-gays. Its even a topic of debate in parliament as to whether employing gays in govt positions is ok. Gay guys have been appearing on TV shows for quite a while now and quite often, I find them entertaining because there's a gay couple in Amazing Race 7. (GO LYNN AND ALEX!) There are gay shows like Queer Eye playing in the US or Will and Grace. One of my favourite gay stereotypes in television is Sex and the City's Stanford!

Having seen Kinsey (god, he's such a drone) at Lido recently, I learned that there's a scale of how gay you are from 0-6. Most people are 0 or 1 but there are significant numbers of people who are somewhat gay or bi. Which basically means that its not as abnormal as you think. In times past, many people were gay or bi. Alexander was kinda gay too you know. (no I didn't learn that from the movie cos I didn't watch it) So the point I'm trying to make is society has largely tried to force people to believe that straight is the only way to draw a line. Anyone who doesn't follow the line automatically becomes an outcast, but if a substantial number of people are somewhat gay, does that make it normal or abnormal?

In Singapore, we remain largely conventional, traditional people, who tend to dislike change, preferring a more fixed, planned route. We get born, go to a government sponsered kindergarten, try to push our kids into a brand name primary school, then hope the buggers do well to keep going till they reach some goal of being a bespectacled doctor/engineer/life-scientist/computer dude. We create a norm, formed by religion, law, politics, "morals" and precedents. Gay is unacceptable for the auntie on the street, the obasan who rides the bus. Gay is bad. Gay people spread AIDS and bad morals. Hiring maids to look after your own children, ascribing to a material lifestyle, shoving people to get a seat on a train, fighting for cabs, fighting over stupid cat dolls remain just idiosyncrasies. Its just another facet of our kiasu syndrome. If not kiasu how to win? But gay? That's just wrong!

Whether or not a gay lifestyle is ok is up to oneself to decide. But assuming that gay people spread AIDS and gay parties spread AIDS is just stupid. People fuck around everywhere and anyone is susceptible to AIDS. Shouldn't protection and safe sex be the issue with AIDS? Why is there some stigma that gay parties spread AIDS? Is it because people think they're dirty or something? Gay people go through the same stuff that straight people do as well. They have the same fears, hopes, insecurities, loves. They fall in love, they have affairs, they fuck, they remain celibate, they eat sushi, they shop. So do straight people. A lot of whom are suppressing their gay tendencies.

What would life be without gay people? Well, there would'nt be Dolce & Gabbana for one. So tai-tais out there should embrace gay people with wide open arms. We wouldn't have Socrates, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, Andy Warhol, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Tchaikovsky and a whole lotta other people.

Its not so much that I'm some gay rights activist but more so that I think stupidity should be banished instead. Fuck stupid people.

I think the auntie that whacked me on the bus the last time was a Nazi rightist. (this was a randomly generated sentence, ignore.)

The Music

Hmm yea... New sounds? Lots of new stuff by familiar people. And some by unfamiliar people as well.

Doves - Some Cities
My album of the month. Black & White Town is just a stomping single. Read the review in Life! I expected a lot outta this one, cos the review said it was good. Plus, I was rather disappointed by their b-sides album, Lost Sides, which had a couple of decent tracks. The Last Broadcast and Lost Souls were two amazing albums. I really love their grooving, driving, guitar wrung, atmospheric sound. Some Cities actually took me about 3 days before I finally settled in the delicious sound. When I first heard it, it didn't seem quite right. Its like one of those getting used to a new album/sound things. Takes little bit of time to appreciate.

Manic Street Preachers - Lifeblood
Listening to it now. First track was pretty Manic. Heard the single, Empty Souls, at Topshop the other day. Loved that little piano riff. So far its been pretty good. Sounds a lot easier on the ears than a few other Manics' albums. I remember This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours being rather soppy at times, although I still kinda liked it. This album seems more melodic and less punky, angry like the Manics of old. Its more like a Dovesy Manics. Haha.

Damien Rice - O
Watching Closer the other day, I finally heard The Blower's Daughter. Can't believe I didn't actually download Damien Rice earlier. One of the most heartfelt songs I'd heard in a while. Just so earnest and pure. The opening lines just came out from the darkness and the entire hall just shut up, as a gentle voice came on... This album has got to be worth it for just the one song alone.

Stereophonics - Language, Sex, Violence, Other?
OK. I caught Dakota off MTV. Thought it was kinda nice so got SoulSeek on and got the album. It turned out alright. Might need to give it a bit of time. Dunno. I like Rewind as well. Put that on my ! playlist.

The Killers - Hot Fuss
I'd seen these guys on MTV for so long, I finally decided to download it. At first I thought they were just another band. And turns out... They are! Haha. Well They're just another good band. I always saw Somebody Told Me but the track I really like is Mr. Brightside. Not entirely hype. Some good hooks in there. A kinda monotonous driving sound, that relies on little sparks of emotion and lovely guitar riffs. Overall, something nice to nod your head to.

The Music - Welcome To The North
On AXN, there was this ad, praising 3 albums. One of them was this one. They sound a bit like The Rapture, but not electronic. Or maybe like a whiny UK band. Which they are. Its alright overall but doesn't hold my attention for too long just quite right now. Maybe I need to just leave it on my playlist more. Hmm yea now I think of it, I think they sound a bit like Delays. Which are probably chirpier. Something in between maybe.

The Thrills - Let's Bottle Bohemia
This was another album from that AXN ad. So anyway, I kinda liked their debut, So Much For The City. They were a whiff of fresh air at the time. This time round, Bohemia doesn't have the same feel. I think its a bit too countryish for now. Again, might need some time on this, largely because I've downloaded lots of new stuff. I do like Not For All The Love In The World.

Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
I took so long to get this. I really like Sunday Morning. Its also rather unique to have a bluesey R&B kinda rock band around. They sound different for now at least. So its good variety. Its still decent. But, I don't see them anywhere being the new Stones. I can sing Sunday Morning pretty well! Wahaha! I think the video had karaoke in it too!

The Chemical Brothers - Push The Button
Woo, its been a while since I got any electronic stuff. And The first one I got was by a big name. Back in 1997, I was posed the question as to what was my favourite band at the time. My answer was The Chems. Because Dig Your Own Hole and Exit Planet Dust were blowing me away with a brilliant new sound. After that incident, I got tagged as "the guy who listens to The Chemical Brothers". Whatever that meant. So anyway, Push The Button now feels a bit tired. Maybe because I'm used to their sound, even if they introduce an almost Basement Jaxxish, electroclash/dancey feel to it. Still good and interesting.

Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
In SoulSeek, everybody downloads the same stuff, so that just gets shared around a lot. Everytime I browsed through someone's stuff, I'd see Death Cab. With a name like that I always thought they were some gross metal band. I should've analysed the entire name, Death Cab For Cutie. Now I think about it, it sounds like an emo band. Which they are, in a sense. They sound like Dntel but more guitarsy. I got this after seeing it on MTV. (No, I don't get all my music tips from that channel) Nice, sad stuff. Lotsa words. Its like a whole story to every song that could be a 5000 word literature essay by an American emo-kid.

Kanye West - The College Dropout
I don't have too much hip-hop. And I don't know too much about the scene either. So I largely get whatever I think sounds good. This is for me, my favourite hip-hop album in ages. Its not like your average 50 cent record about some bitch/ho/bling/wheels/insert material item but a funny story, with cool, subdued, kinda radio clarity beats. Retroish yet modern, it just feels very trendy. I realise that thats also largely because Kanye has produced a lot of people's stuff in recent times. It also gave me an excuse to have a Twista song! Slow Jamz!

So yea lotsa new music. Most of it is pretty good. Nothing I would put in the top ten albums of all time but... Still its alright. I just got a new iTrip! Which has worked wonders for my hair and the car. Now I can drive and tune into my own station. Plus, I don't have to wear headphones while driving to hear my favourite tunes and re style my hair when taking them off. (I look less like a poser when driving. Had too many people staring at me.) Oh yea and there's a brilliant new station in Singapore. Its been around for a while. LUSH 99.5. Any station that plays Kings Of Convenience has got to be a good station. 70% of the time, they play nameless chill out stuff. It usually sounds like lesser clones of Thievery Corporation but with some other euro bandname. The rest of the time, they play good stuff. Like Kings, Rae & Christian etc. Its all good. I would probably never be bored with my iPod but its a great alternative and for times when my iPod isn't around. Great for background stuff as well. So yea there's also this pretty cool looking MP3 player by Norway Says, the Mica by Asono. If I'd seen this before I got the iPod, I would've wanted this. Largely because its just unique. Even if it only has 1Gb compared to my 40Gb now and 30+ Gb music warehouse. (I still have many CDs I haven't ripped)

Black Grape

I remember back in secondary school (bout 10 years ago) Black Grape was some UK music group. Today, I suddenly realise that it referred to Pinot Noir, the black grape used for making some brilliant wines. So my family (my dad and uncle's families) have been sampling the white and red elixirs for some time, and I have "graduated" from coca cola to join them.

So why the suddenly realisation of some UK band's name being related to wine? Well it was my grandma's birthday. So as with any dinner/celebration, there would surely be wine. Now I haven't had too many wines. Our family has largely stuck to cabernet, shiraz, merlot, brunello but somehow never pinot noir! My cousin brought over a bottle of New Zealand pinot noir today, and apparently New Zealand has managed to produce some rather good pinot noirs, when it is normally a notoriously difficult grape and only the Burgundy region in France can manage the best out of it. It was a Te Kairanga Pinot Noir 2001 Reserve. It was just so different from all the other wines I've ever tasted.

Everything else just seems rather straighforward and normal. That wine was like some super complex thing, with a berry taste in general but something in it I could never quite put my finger on. The smell was just so... different, pungent almost. It was easy to drink, really light and clear color. It had a slight hint of a bubbly feeling to it and kinda felt, to me anyway, like a incredibly amazing berry soda. Without bubbles. So yea it was good. Looking forward to more Pinot Noir.

SIFF

Alrighty! The Singapore Film Fest is here again... While I've been absent from the last few... This time round, there's no way I'm gonna skip it. Why? Well simply because the opening film is Steamboy and the closing film is Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence.

I remember wanting to catch Happy Together with Hunn back in our JC days, and being underaged, my mom didn't want to risk buying tickets for us... Sigh... Well anyway, in retrospect, I suppose it would be rather weird, if two guys went to watch a gay show. Maybe its better that I watched it in the comfort of my own home, with Wenhui as well. Anyway, the Film Fest was always something I thought was really cool, like one year, I wanted to catch a whole bunch of shows... There's always like the booklets with all the synopses and stuff and all the shows were wacky. I watched a couple of absurd European films, funny Japanese ones, American ones, Asian ones, its just fabulous. I think this year, I'll make it like a big thing and watch like 20 shows or something. But first, I have to get my hands on 2 pairs of tickets. One for the opening and one for the closing.

BOING~!

Royal Blue Band

SPRING~!

B&W

SCREW~!

My latest kraft project: SPRING~!

A simple colourful ring made out of flexible rubber covered metal wire, SPRING is fun and flexible too. Its easy to adjust to fit your fingers, and you can easily squeeze it tighter or looser as you desire. You can also tweak one end around wherever you want.

Two SPRINGs put together form SCREW~! A vulgar representation of everlasting love and romance, cheap and easy to take apart if you're not happy~! You can split them apart, one for each lover, only to put them together in a sweet love ritual, screwing the two bands together.

I love film.

Close to a quarter of a century on this earth and I realise that film is my greatest love. From the days of watching Star Wars repeatedly on end to catching the latest art flick, I've been mesmerized by the wonderful world of the movies. My mom got to work on the Golden Village cinemas and as a result of that, I got to work as a projectionist for like 6 months...

Hehe cool thing to write down on my resume. The job was great... I could slack off after a couple pushing some buttons and loading the film. I watched everything that was on offer. Even that 3 hour Indian epic that played for like two days. Heck, I even scared myself silly watching some horror as well. It was a largely lonely affair, with usually 2 people working each shift in 2 different rooms and no one near my age. The place was cold and dark, with lots of cigarette smoke when the others were around. I loved to sneak out to take toilet breaks, when I'd actually hit the arcade instead for half an hour before going back. Lunch was the highlight of the day, other than catching all the previews. Having vast amounts of time, I was also able to pore over every single detail of the most inane shows, like Ali G In Da House. (RESTECP)

Anyway, sometime after that, I took 2 classes, by myself, in NUS on film. The first was Introduction To Film Art, I got an A-. Got to learn the basic aspects of film and catch some classics, like Citizen Kane and Rashomon, as well as catch up on my all time favourite, Chungking Express. Not to mention discussing them in tutorials and writing cool essays in the exam about Tony Leung, cigarette smoke and the time, space continuum. The second class was Understanding Modern China Through Film. I only got a C+ for this, probably because I took some risks, making rather touchy points in my exam and also because I was always presenting more of the art element in the film, rather than how the film demonstrated the socio-political mindset of modern China. Haha. But it was great. I teared listening to a song in Yellow Earth, sat through the 3 hour ordeal that was City Of Sadness, and re-discovered Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige. My dad used to have moldy tapes of Red Sorghum and Farewell My Concubine in the cupboards next to my Ghostbusters and Police Academy.

Going to China, I kinda felt in my bones what I saw in the films and learned about my own heritage and my differences, being an overseas Chinese. Travelling was fun. Of course, the other perk being the fact that I brought home a truckload of DVDs, mostly Western ones like Trainspotting or Spiderman 2! Hahaha. They didn't have too many pirated Chinese films available except for the current releases like Hero. I did get the Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Wong Kar Wai boxsets though. One of my favourite activities was to go to the pirated DVD shop, where it was like, a fake cafe/club in the front. The policeman hanging around did make us nervous until we saw him sipping tea, whilst the lady boss ushered us into the side door, which led to a well-lit warehouse of the latest from the other end of the world.

Today, I'm glad I learned so much about film through various experiences as I'm able to enjoy them all the more. Everything just seems to fall into place, like noticing or realising why certain things happen. Sometimes, I'm fascinated and yet other times, bewildered. On the one hand, there's Constantine, which may not be an art film but it was an enjoyable film, made more enjoyable by my understanding of film. On the other, there's Howl's Moving Castle, which I enjoyed as well but some things just felt like a castle in the sky. I put it down to me not being Japanese but I love the sense of intrigue when there's this underlying element in a "simple" cartoon that you can't quite grasp yet. I left the cinema feeling like I had to watch it again... A sentiment shared and a chance to discuss something wonderful at length as well.

So yea, I love film. Typically I used to watch them alone. (I remember watching Cool Runnings alone when I was twelve at Yishun 10 because of some screw up with my friends and The Virgin Suicides, where I quite clearly remembered saying "One ticket for Virgin Suicides please" at Orchard Cineleisure, age 17) Largely because my friends aren't really into the stuff I watch. I watch everything though, from Meet The Fockers to Kinsey in recent times, enjoying each one for what its worth. But I think life just wouldn't be the same if I didn't have my partner in crime to catch a film with, whether its got guns, explosions, car chases and big boobs or long trails of smoke slowly lifting up into the sky. Damn I wish I was Tony.