Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows was a recent horror film that was based on a 1966–71 gothic horror soap opera. It starrs Johhny Depp as a 200-year-old vampire who was imprisoned in a coffin but is unearthed and makes his way back to his mansion now inhabited by his dysfunctional descendants.

Through this film, I realised that you might lose your plot if you mix horror with comedy and romance. You can scare the audience, but to make them laugh shortly after you put up some gross scene - might confuse the audience.

Through this film, I realised that having a detailed storyline is not sufficient. One must develop each character for us to connect to them. For e.g. Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was the matriarch of the family, but not much was known about her - besides the fact that she is a Collins. How was she like? What are her beliefs? Why was she still living?

Through this film, I realised that being immortal is never going to be a good thing. To have the ability to remain forever young, one has to transform into either a vampire or a witch. A vampire sucks peoples' blood, whilst a witch curses your every move. Maybe it was my inability to suck and curse that make me a mortal.

A film on the dark side has made me arrive at 3 different realisations.... What a dark movie it really was...

Flower in the Pocket (口袋裏的花)

The advantage of local films over international films is their ability to connect. As the plot is planted in a familiar environment, viewers are able to understand the storyline and empathise with the characters. Recently, I watched one such movie - Flower in the Pocket. Having won an award in the Pusan International Film Festival, this is a sonnet to people who have nothing and yet seek nothing.

The movie tells the story of two boys, Li Ohm and Li Ah, who are mostly left on their own by their father Sui who wallows in self-pity due to a failed marriage and distances himself from the rest of the world. The children, through no fault of their own, ends up also suffering in school and in society, but seemingly take joy in the little things in life.

Such settings are so real across the Causeway and we are so blessed to have grown in a protected environment. If I didn't have the fortune to have such wonderful parents, I guess I might end up:

(i) Getting pleasure from just eating Tomato Ketchup from a sachet,
(ii) Eating raw eggs with plain rice for dinner,
(iii) Spending my afternoon squatting in a canal,
(iv) Not doing homework and not interested in school,
(v) Growing up with a carefree life and without any ideals.

Growing up as a child is such an important phase. In Singapore, we complain that we give too much direction and stress to the child. But yet without any emphasis, a child would never figure out what is right nor find out what is in store later in life for him.

Maybe I should count my blessings - for the cane whips, extra lessons and assessment books that I endured during my childhood years.

Keeping Fit is Hard to Do

One of New Year resolutions was to Keep Fit & Be Healthy. It sounded easy, afterall, I used to a healthy and strong athlete. But 4.5 months into the year, I realised that it has become my most difficult resolution to date.

On 16-May (Wed), I finally motivated myself to change into sports wear and exercise during lunch time at my workplace. It was my first time doing such a lunch-time exercise. Some could call it an achievement. But what it probably meant is that I have wasted my past 9 months not utilising such comprehensive sports facilities at my workplace.

Jogging isn't a difficult thing to do. Despite my lack of stamina, I covered 3.2 km in 23min 05sec - on the treadmill. Prepping myself to jog is the difficult thing to do. In the morning, I doubted if I could really accomplish this lunch-time activity. An hour before the jog, I asked if I had more important tasks that could supercede the act of keeping fit. Minutes before leaving my cubicle, I checked if I have more pertinent e-mails to work on.

Now that I have to clear IPPT soon, that has become another impetus for me to keep fit. Maybe that was why I just completed another jog of approximately 3.2km on this morning.

However, as I finish up this blog entry, I re-looked at my paunch and knew that this is just the start of an uphill task - to Keep Fit & Be Healthy. I have just to keep going...

Fear Factor - Eating Balut in Manila

I used to watch contestants in Fear Factor challenging them to eat weird food. I used to wonder if I will ever do that. Recently, I dared myself to eat one of Philippines' delicacy - the balut.

The balut (egg) is a fertilized duck embryo that is eaten in the shell. Considered a hearty snack, baluts are common and I found my balut in Robinsons Mall, a huge mall in Central Manila. My balut wasn't eaten boiled. As a tourist, I chose the fried version, in which the balut was cooked with seasonings such as garlic and sweet chilli. Eating the balut is indeed refreshing. Bigger than an ordinary egg, it contains very little egg white. Eating the balut was like eating young tender meat that has been stuffed into the egg.

As the foetus was yet to be born, bones could not be felt. I ate slowly to savour my balut. That careful act of mine enabled me to ascertain that it was a young duckling awaiting its birth - bits of feather can be seen from inside the egg. As I continue to take small bites to finish the entire balut, I realised that it tasted different from my first mouthful - a little crunchier and less bitter than before - probably due to different segments of the duck.

Indeed - an interesting intriguing experience - all for price of less than S$1 (30 pesos). I guess I need another one now...

HKG - My 2 cents from 4 perspectives

My trip to Hong Kong wasn't exactly a value-for-money trip. But there were opportunities in which we tried to save. Here were 2 occasions:

1. We decided to arrive in Hong Kong on Saturday early morning, instead of Friday late night. Yes, we could have missed out on Friday's supper, but we also saved a hefty sum on an additional night of accommodation.

2. We chose a 3-star hotel that was priced reasonably at approximately SGD 125. Located within walking to Prince Edward Station, we were able to travel to Mongkok in just under 5 minutes.

Food was the trip's saving grace. Hong Kong was another food haven, especially Mongkok which was peppered with food stalls. These were 2 food bits that left memories on my taste buds:

1. Curry Fish Balls - we tried them at 2 different stalls (It's not easy to make them - such tasy balls are usually chewy and yet spicy.)

2. Smelly Tofu within Mong Kok markets (We do not have opportunities to eat such 'delicious' food in Singapore, though I wonder if it was the pungent smell that make us crave for more.)

Indeed Hong Kong is very similar to Singapore. It has an efficient rail network, an array of shops and streets of concrete buildings. In addition, Hong Kong had 2 differences that brought a smile to my face:

1. Cool weather - The temperature in early March hovered around 16 - 20 degrees Celsius.

2. Hidden sights - The Flower Market was one such example, where I saw many interesting sights during my short walk in such an unique market.

But such a short trip was never going to be enough. If I was to visit Hong Kong again, there are 2 places that I would like to visit:
1. Victoria Peak - the skyline at night, the Peak Tram, the weather at the top
2. Lantau Island - Disneyland, Big Buddha, the cable car

USS - Doing It a Second Time

Usually, most people visit a place of interest once and move on to explore other places of interest. I last visited Universal Studios Singapore (USS) in Jul 2009. 2.5 years has passed and USS is still very much the same, but I believed I could enjoy my 2nd visit just as much. Hence, I embarked on my 2nd outing to USS in Mar 2012.

1. A couple of new additions were included, such as Madagascar: A Crate Adventure - that involved a river boat ride with the 4 movie characters. Transformers The Ride was a surprise. I was expecting a 3D movie, but it encompasses non-stop action and 3D effects on a moving roller-coaster.

2. The roller coasters were functional and thus, I tried both Battlestar Galactica -CYLON & HUMAN. My preference was the CYCLON, because it was more adrenaline pumping - as it involved suspending your legs in mid-air and turning you upside down at high speeds.

3. I spotted rides that I have missed the 1st time - such as Treasure Hunters, Canopy Flyer & Dino-Soarin'. These were the missing rides that also prompted me to re-visit USS - so that I could now boast that I covered every single spot within USS. The Canopy Flyer was the most surprising amongst the three - Meant for children above the age of 6, this roller coaster zipped round Jurassic Park at high speeds with our legs dangling above the air.

4. Interesting rides were repeated - but with a different perspective. For e.g., I was surprisingly thoroughly drenched this time as I sat on the wrong side of the raft for Rapids Adventure. I started my USS journey later and was pleasantly happy to be able to catch Hollywoods Dreams Parade in the evening at 6.15pm.

There are definitely learning points - even though one could be repeating things. The question here is not whether one should be repeating things, but whether one can find enough reasons to make every repeat an interesting experiential journey,

My Mind vs My Body

In most cases, my mind and my body act in unison. Today, there was a disagreement. The weekend has come and there are many things that my mind wants to accomplish - ranging from work, chores, mundane tasks of cleaning up and even jogging at East Coast. Weekends only come once every 7 days and my mind decided that it is only wise that I packed this day with activities.

On the other hand, my body decides that it should have a rest day - a day in which the body can rest its engine and not carry out any physically strenuous exercise.

With 2 conflicting views, there is only going to be 1 winner. In the end, my body performed a winning move - it broke down. With body aches, fever and a sore throat, my body took control of the decision-making process and authorised the shutting down of my system so that I can get the necessary sleep - late in the day and in the evening.

My day was not filled with meaningful activities; it wasn't a fruitful day, but it was a day in which my body required the task of doing nothing to recharge itself in going further.