Yasunari Kawabata's Palm Of The Hand Stories

Swifty: Posting this review for Justin.

Video: My Love Letter To One Utama, Best Shopping Mall In Malaysia.

Gargantuan megamalls are one of those things that are conspicuously missing in Perth. While I am barely a shopaholic, shopping malls tend to be a favoured hangout place for me, either to watch a film at the multiplexes, or to meet up with friends for coffee, or perhaps just to pick up the latest PS2 games. All these can be done under one roof. Such experiences are sorely missed when I was in Perth. (especially the part about buying cheap pirated games)

List Of Great Movies About Fatherly Love

All right, so it's Father's Day, thus I shall list some great movies that are simply perfect to watch with your dad (or if you're a dad, to watch with your kids) and get all warm and fuzzy. Unfortunately, most of the films I'll be listing are Father-Son relationships, for reasons I can't comprehend, there just aren't that many Father-Daughter movies I can think of.

Right, so let me begin. Note: They aren't in any particular order.

THE BREAK-UP starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film. Hell, I wasn't even looking forward to see it despite the fact that Vince Vaughn's last few films were been pretty damned funny (especially The Wedding Crashers, one of my favourite comedies of last year, read my review here). With its lackluster trailer and numerous tabloid coverage, I thought this film has 'crap flick' written all over it, and yeah, I was especially wary cos' Jennifer Aniston's in it. I mean, as good as she was in Friends, I just felt that she wasn't good enough to make the transition to the big screen despite her various attempts to transform her own image. The only two films (I'm not counting the awesome Iron Giant, which she did voice work for) I've remotely enjoyed watching that had her in it were Bruce Almighty (and I consider that one of the weaker Jim Carrey films) and Along Came Polly (and that's because I'm secretly a sucker for romantic comedies, and the film's harmlessly forgettable, thus I can't remember whether it actually sucked or not, just that I had some laughs whilst watching it).

Trilogy of Videos Featuring My Misadventures in Perth

I've returned to Malaysia from Perth! Yes, I think this is pretty sudden since I've not made any mention of this in previous posts, but then, I haven't really been updating that much until the last few days. So yeah, I'm currently in Malaysia to rest the energies I've expended to make my short film, Vertical Distance (read this, this and this entry if you interested in a bit of its filmmaking process).

Combien tu m'aimes? (How Much Do You Love Me?) starring Monica Bellucci

I've long wanted to see this film. In fact, my first attempt to see 'Combien tu m'aimes?' (aka 'How Much Do You Love Me?') occurred way back on the 11th of April, during the French Film Festival held in Perth. I was tremendously excited, I dragged Justin with me to see it just hours before the Sigur Ros concert (the concert rocked, go read Justin and my reports here), but unfortunately, tickets were all sold out.

THE DA VINCI CODE film

Plot Outline (stolen from IMDB because I am lazy to come up with my own): A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years -- which could shake the foundations of Christianity.

My Thoughts: I am not a fan of the book. I think Dan Brown is a rather mediocre writer. I cannot help but chuckle when I see bloggers everywhere heaping praises upon the book as if it were some insanely awesome literary masterpiece that shook the very foundations of the world (all right, its impact and sales, and transformation into a genuine cultural phenomenon DID shook the very foundation of the world, but it definitely has nothing to do with the quality of the book), however, the book IS a page-turner, because the crazy theories Dan Brown conjured were pretty damned amusing/funny/interesting, but that was it. In terms of plot, The Da Vinci Code was not THAT different from its predecessor, Angels and Demons, which pretty much exposes Dan Brown's limitations as a writer.

Of course, by dissing Dan Brown, I'm risking the wrath of his millions and millions of fanatical fanatics, who had just thrown a campaign to support Dan Brown in his bid to win a Nobel Prize. Therefore, I shall stay silent, after all, like most of my film reviews, I tend to disregard the existence of the source material and judge the film based on its own merits.

My thoughts? The Da Vinci Code film is amazing.

X-Men: The Last Stand

Plot Outline (stolen from IMDB again cos' I really hate coming up with plot outlines): In X-Men: The Last Stand, the final chapter in the X-Men motion picture trilogy, a "cure" for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier (Stewart), who preaches tolerance, and Magneto (McKellen), who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test -- triggering the war to end all wars.

Mutants are on the verge of X-tinction, it seems, when US business Worthington Industries discovers a cure for mutation. This scientific breakthrough complicates and intensifies the battle - both physical and ideological - between Professor X's (Stewart) integration-friendly X-Men and the human-hating muties let by Magneto (McKellen)...

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.

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.

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.