Archive for October, 2012

a great weekend

Sunday, October 7th, 2012

What a great weekend we had!

Friday night I did something completely new – I had a Thai kickboxing session at my new fitness club (it’s in my building, I joined just ten days ago). I went to the gym five days last week, and am feeling fairly in the swing of things fitness wise, so now is time to take classes and do things like that. The Thai kickboxing was part of the joiners package, which includes one session with a personal trainer, so I selected Thai kickboxing. I’m glad I did – it was a great session, and afterwards I felt marvelous! That night I was full of energy and felt completely alive. Strangely, I only slept six hours, waking up at 5:30 AM or so on Saturday morning; happily, though, I was not feeling stiff and sore, which is a good shine – I’m not in such bad shape after all.

Saturday was a bit of a write-off – spent the day at home reading Batman comics, played just a little bit of guitar. No big deal. In the evening we watched The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. This was Zen’s first Clint Eastwood film, we’ll probably watch with him a few more of the films he made with Sergio Leone, that should be fun.

Sunday was another stay-at-home day, just chilling out and getting home stuff done, like blogging and things. Playing guitar. Nice.

Both days Zen and I had a great time playing badminton and swimming. Lots of great laughs and fun times. It’s great to be active and have a nice time as a family.

We also wrote our first rap:

I got a pit in my arm
It’s ten inches long
I got a hole in my ass
It’s great for passing gas

What a difference two months makes

Sunday, October 7th, 2012

We planted two kinds of vines on our balcony for the grill, a beanstalk and some morning glories, it’s turned out very nice in just a short period of time.

Our balcony garden on August 2nd

Our balcony garden on August 2nd

Our balcony garden on October 7th

Our balcony garden on October 7th

Recent pics

Sunday, October 7th, 2012

Here are some recent pics. It’s been a while since I updated my blog with personal pics, hope you like them.

Happy birthday Naoko! We ate chili crab!!

Happy birthday Naoko! We ate chili crab!!

Oh my God - it's CHILI CRAB!!

Oh my God - it's CHILI CRAB!!

Oh my God - it's CHILI CRAB!!

Oh my God - it's CHILI CRAB!!

Bamboo clam!

Bamboo clam!

Retro Singapore!!

Retro Singapore!!

Zen set up the time on his camera for this one, a rare shot of the three of us – smart boy, he’s learning.

F1 was in town in late September, I got some good shots of the course from the 62nd floor of the Swissotel.

F1 was in town in late September, I got some good shots of the course from the 62nd floor of the Swissotel.

F1 from 62

F1 from 62

F1 from 62

F1 from 62

F1 from 62

F1 from 62

Zen came to my company for a kid's day painting project

Zen came to my company for a kid's day painting project

Stormy day view form the office windows

Stormy day view from the office windows

Morning view from the office

Morning view from the office

Evening view from the office

Evening view from the office

Victor Victoria

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

VV

VV


Victor Victoria – The film opens on a fake-looking Paris of 1932, a set practically torn out of the Universal Studios production lot (see also Who Framed Roger Rabbit). The film is full of flirty gay dialogue, and a struggling-actress Julie Andrews’ wicked audition with breaking glass, “What in the hell was that?” “D-flat.” (yes, it becomes a terrible cliche). Lots of great off-camera comedy happening – hey, it’s a Blake Edwards film!!! Gay Pa-ree song by a gay (“they say that Pa-ree has always been that way”; self-consciously funny). Cockroach-waiter-restaurant-maitre d story (“Mademoiselle, I offer my sincerer apologies.”) Amazingly – this is a Blake Edwards film – the cockroach waiter turns up later on… great “is she… that girl I saw earlier… nah” internal conversation expressed on the face. Ha ha! Julie Andrews beats up a gay man (we’re watching this one night after we saw her in The Sound Of Music), and sets up a plausible diversion. Awesome champagne balancing act set-up by a magician, possibly set up by Victoria and her partner Toddy. Gay onlookers at practice, watching a women pretending to be a gay Polish count pretending to be a woman. During musical numbers we see Julie’s cleavage, but everyone else is fooled when she pulls off her headgear to reveal… a short haircut! She’s a HE!! “Sit up, stand up, throw up.” Great musical numbers, great Robert Plant-like siren rise.

I just love French men.
Me too.

I think the right woman could reform you.
I think the right woman could reform you!

You must have been in the army.
Oh, once or twice.

“Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope are gay.”

You know, being a man has its disadvantages.
My dear count, you just said a cotton-pickin’ mouthful.

Spanish number again with shattered glass. Lesley Ann Warren awesome as the dopey, fleshy, cleavage-y gangster moll Norma Callaghan, who is kicked out of her impotent (uninterested) boyfriend’s suite, scorned, flashing her lingerie as the train pulls out of the station in Paris, in a new cabaret in Paris tattling on her ex’s wavering sexuality to gawking slack-jawed cigar-clenching local gangsters. “Run that by me again.”

Great fight – nice touch as Toddy tries to bribe a cop, then punches him and keeps the money. Wonderful unveiling romance.

I don’t care if you’re a man.
I’m not a man.
I still don’t care.

The burly bodyguard has an opportunity to come out to his boss, and more insanity ensues. Crackling dialogue abounds, especially from Julie “I’m my own man, so-to-speak” Andrews and tough guy James “If you think I”m worried that people think I’m a fag, then you’re right” Garner. And Blake Edwards, being Blake Edwards, can’t resist throwing in a bumbling inspector, played by Geoffrey Beevers, who has two great scenes, one of them after he sits down on a stool after a bar brawl:

Be careful.
I am always careful.
That stool is broken.
It is?!?!

BAM!! Great scene as Andrews and Garner go to the fights (he’s into it), and then to the opera (her world). Ha ha. Gay dancing, with masks. “You two-timing son-of-a-bitch – he’s a woman!!!”

Incidentally, the film is a remake of the film Viktor Und Viktoria, a German film from 1933, and later in French as Georges et Georgette (also in 1933).

VV1933

VV1933


GG

GG

Daredevil The Man Without Fear

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

DDTMWF

DDTMWF


Daredevil The Man Without Fear – Frank Miller made Daredevil. Sure, Daredevil existed before Miller, but who cared about him? He was super dull, he was blind, nobody understood his motivations, and everyone thought him a poor man’s Batman-without-a-cape. Great. Then along comes Miller and makes him edgy, introduces ninjas, makes the Kingpin a crime lord to care about, while even making his wife intriguing. Nice. Electra, Bullseye, Stick, the Hand, all that jazz. Really great!

Then Miller gives Daredevil his Year One treatment. Nice. Editor Ralph Macchio even calls it that in his intro. Bummer. He also get John Romita Jr to draw it; even bigger bummer.

I’m not a fan of JR Jr’s style. Maybe it’s a bit too sketchy, and stylized in a sketcherly way. How amazing would this book have been if Miller also drew it? Much more! Still JR Jr’s work is probably better than it’s ever been – the layouts are wonderful.

Oh well… that’s okay. The story’s not too bad. You see the young Matt Murdock, and your heart goes out to the poor kid. Then… the accident. You meet Stick, who trains him, and there are great scenes of Matt and Stick dancing across the rooftops. Nice. You come across all the various crime dirt and scumbags. Not nice. The fight, the murder/torture of vindication, Matt’s revenge on his father’s killers, the “innocent” who dies as a result of Matt’s interference (reflecting a balcony drop scene that occurred in Batman Year One!! There’ s a scene from “The Terminal Hotel”, Matt deals with Foggy’s bullies, then he meets… Electra. His physical match, and his only love. She’s a psychopath, and he doesn’t see that when he’s blinded by love (yes, lots of corny puns here). There’s a pointless “attack” on Electra’s mansion, a love scene, and then Electra’s pointless “attack” on a bunch of Times Square lunatics that she lures into an alley. Nice.

Electra’s father is murdered, turning her into a merciless assassin, the Kingpin makes an entry (corny), eventually setting up a crime racket that Matt Murdock simply must breakup after his buddy Mikki is kidnapped by his network. Silly. All this happens before our man discovers his costume. Why are we reading Daredevil Year One again?

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Saturday, October 6th, 2012
TGTBATU

TGTBATU

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly – The great classic of double crosses and double-double crosses, between Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Walach. Great great great great great!!! It takes 30 minutes to introduce the three main characters, each of them getting a short film of their own to establish their characters. There’s no language for the first 10 minutes!! Close-ups of craggy, scarred, bearded, sweaty macho faces glaring and twitching, magnificent. Great opening credits full of gunshots and clunky animation, hilarious video game of “blast-the-horseman-with-a-cannon” with 1979 graphics.

There are double-crosses and back stabs, murderers for hire, pitiless torture and beating. During the bloody beating of Tuco by Angel Eyes a local band plays, the musicians wringing emotion out of the song, the violinist red-eyed and can barely continue. Wow. Great soap suds murder as a man bent on revenge catches Tucco in the bath – except he’s armed!! Great gun “purchase” scene. Destroyed town. Ugly landscapes around cemetery. Showdown triangle of death in a satanic round piazza. The final double-cross is Blondie’s.

The extended version is three hours long, all of it good. Great reunion between Tuco and his brother.

Tuco and Angel Eyes are in the film quite a lot, it’s hardly a film that features much of its star, The Man With No Name, despite already being the third film in the series. But apparently Eastwood had already tired of working with Leone because of his dictatorial methods and his gluttonous character – it was the last time they worked together.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

WFRR

WFRR


Who Framed Roger Rabbit – Another film where the bad guys are only in it for, ah, the money. Intimately reconstructed Los Angeles of the 1940s, where people said things like “who needs a car in LA, we’ve got the best public transportation system in the world.” Wild noir stuff, contrasted with goofy kids stuff. “A toon killed his brother. Dropped a pianio on his head.” Wild Donald versus Daffy sequence… with guns. “Can anybody underthtand what thith duck ith th-th-thaying?” Flipping patty-cake photos imitate animation – very cleverly meta-cinematographic. Baby Herman is over the top – “my problem is I got a 50-year-old’s lust and a three-year-old’s dinky.” Toon violence, shave-and-a-haircut two bits. Eddie grabs Delores’ shirt. Freaky deaky ending very screamingly weird, man!

The film comes with great extras: Deleted “Pighead” scene, which includes weird equipment Bob Hoskins had to wear on set. “Tummy Trouble” short with Nurse Jessica and all the syringe insanity, and a killer sadistic Droopy. “Roller Coster Rabbit”, featuring the world’s most psychotic roller coster. Hostage Jessica, Snidely Droopy says “Curses, foiled again.” “What’s the matter, toots, afraid of a little… bang?” “Trail Mixiup” shows Ranger Jessica. Between legs shot: “Only you can prevent forest fires” in sexy voice. Most back office guys who give comments in the special features have facial hear – mustaches at least, or full beards. Why is that? The guy who did the voice of Roger Rabbit wore a Roger Rabbit costume while he did his voice acting. One year of post production, no CG!!!

I love you more than any woman has ever loved a rabbit.

Jessica is somewhere in between a human and a toon. The sneak previews were bad. Zemekis had final cut, he didn’t budge on it. The film was called by many who were on the cast and crew as “difficult to make.”

The challenge of designing the rabbis is that they had to make him distinct from Bugs Bunny. They rushed out the Roger Rabbit design, too many colours, triangle-shaped like a dunce hat, needed a peach impediment (lip ruffle?). Chapinesque tex Avery style of animation. JOel Silver first human actor in the whole show. Bob Hoskins did a perfect American accent. “There’s really no reason to shoot a film in the US.” This was the first time to get all of the cartoons of the various studios into one film. Why is there no question mark after the title. Toon swearing was a problem for Disney. Roger has no shoulders (or nose), Jessica has no waist so that there would be no accusations that a human actor was used and then rotored out. “Why Don’t You Do Right” by Peggy Lee was sung by Amy Irving. An actor who was strangeld by Darth Vader is in Roger Rabbit.

Nirvana MTV Unplugged In New York

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

NMUINY

NMUINY


Nirvana MTV Unplugged In New York – This great DVD shows the original uncut recording, with all of the commercial break pauses and other random chit chat, along with the original MTV broadcast (which didn’t include “Oh, Me”. It also has all of the looseness (not to mention an impromptu rendition of Sweet Home Alabama) that you don’t get in the superbly-edited CD recording. The MTV broadcast, for example, edits out the story of the offer of Leadbelly’s guitar for $500,000 (apparently the offer was only a tenth of that, but it’s always more interesting to exaggerate a story), while both the MTV broadcast and the CD edit out Kurt’s mispronunciation of David Geffen as David “Gessen”. It also edits out the profanity, such as “fuck you all, this is the last song of the evening” before the band goes into an insanely good “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” Funny, he pretends to smash a guitar at the end of the set, before walking off. Ah yes, Kurt – in those days he walked, he talked, he smoked, he gave autographs… he loved his wife and his daughter… then he blew his brains out and selfishly deprived all of us of himself and his songs. But hey, what did he owe us? How can one person just give and give and give and give…?

It’s cool to see him so close, his glassy stare, his occasional smile, the way his jaw shifts in strange ways, how he seems to sing so effortlessly, how he hardly seems to move from his perch at the edge of his band, who sit so far behind him. Krist slack-jawes, Dave Grohl trying to be light-hearted, Pat Smear off to the side and looking a bit amused with it all… The biggest revelation of the DVD is the banter between the last two songs and a strange audience interaction when they request REM’s “Pretty Persuasion” (?!?!), and one woman screams lustily “RAPE ME!!!” A shocked, yet devilish smile from Kurt here. “I don’t think MTV will let us play that.”

The DVD also has a weird “interviews with” a bunch of irrelevant people who were there or involved backstage. It’s very different from the spirit of the show. There are also a few samples of the practice session, where we hear that Kurt’s vocals are too low in “Polly”, how his voice cracks already in “Plateau”, not to mention how you get to see Curt Kirkwood singing along to his own songs (as we do in the main set). Wow.

The Sand Pebbles

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

TSP

TSP


The Sand Pebbles – A film so long (three hours) that even the DVD comes with an intermission! Aw heck, the intermission is swell, with its highly dated music (they really don’t make swelling soundtracks like that any more!). Shanghai 1926, and a sailor arriving with his orders, checking into a hotel, buying himself a girl. He gets onto his boat, figures out how things work, and meets the people, making friends with a big dumb sailor called Frenchy. Nice. They get into a barroom brawl, and things stay relatively light, with a bit of conflict. “As long as you’re good at something they won’t break you down.” Generalizations over breakfast about human destiny, the fate of China, American sailors, etc. Candace Bergen plays Shirley Eckert, an innocent young missionary who has signed up for seven years in China to teach English to the locals. James Hong plays a Chinese pimp, but here at least he’s fairly young-looking – only 36 years old! Jake starts off calling the Chinese “slopeheads”, although with time he eventually makes Chinese friends, a coolie who he teaches engineering; there’s a funny scene when McQueen is thrown off by his pronounciation of “steam” (stim) and “valve” (walwee). By the end of the first half, though, we can see that things are going sour fast – the natives definitely don’t want these people here, and there’s the first murder. Someone plants opium on board. They throw it in the furnace, but the thick black smoke that comes out drifts across the American flag (how dramatic!). The saga of Frenchy and Maily (who was played by Marayat Andriane, the original Emanuelle). The San Pueblo engages in battle, and we find the film’s tragic, action-filled conclusion. Very nice.

The film has plenty of extras that are really great. Seems taht Robert Wise was fascinated with China, and wanted to film Richard McKenna’s best-selling book. There were problems with the screenwriter, who gave McQueen too much dialogue – McQueen felt that he could express more with his eyes than he could with all sorts of dialogue, and the screenwriter eventually left the project. McQueen got his only Oscar nomination. The film cost a bomb to make, in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and this was after the huge cost over-runs of Cleopatra. There were 300 crew on any given day, and on days when there were 1,500 extras there were also 1,500 crew! The San Pueblo ship cost $200,000 to have done, which would have been $20 million in today’s dollars. But the engine room was on a soundstage.

The Goonies

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

TG

TG


The Goonies – Preposterous and clinically weird film full of misfits and maladroits (and the odd hot chick), including someone wearing a Purple Rain t-shirt at the beginning (?!?!). Hardcore stuff – kids saying “shit”, Michelangelo’s David’s penis broken off, screwball comedy, Data throwing a weird tantrum. The DVD has some special features, such as outtakes, and a documentary on the making of The Goonies, showing a freaked out Richard Donner. Cyndy Lauper’s video with pro wrestlers comes up, along with Stephen Spielberg’s cameo. Actors appear in the video, which has a part one and a part two, the latter of which includes Andre the Giant.