Ghost in the Shell: Innocence

I caught Ghost in the Shell: Innocence over the weekend, and I must say, it's one of the best animes I've seen in a long time.



Here's a pretty good review of the show.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/innocence-ghost-in-the-shell

Suffice to say, I would recommend this DVD to anyone who isn't pregnant right now (due to some disturbing visuals for preggy moms), so feel free to grab it off our shelves next time you drop by the MMF's house. :)

Newsweek

A number of readers have been asking why I have not blogged for a while. Well, I am coming to the end of my second trimester and entering my third (this is the 27 week for me) and the tiredness is beginning to come back to plague me again. I doze off on the sofa at 9 plus every night and more often than not, I hit the sack by 10pm (after reading to cayden or listening to doppy's fairy tales). And of course, I have also gone back to work and these two weeks have just flown by me with lesson preparations and trying to complete all the overdue work that I still owe others. Everyone's been telling me to take it easy at work and I honestly do try. Yet for those who are teachers, you know that it is inevitable that we are swept along with the tide and pace in school. As it is, I get breathless from climbing the flights of stairs to get to my classroom on the 4th level. I need about 5 minutes to catch my breath before I can start talking. My students look at me gasping for my breath with amusement and my colleagues who have 'been-there-done-that' laugh commiseratively at me. So yeah, between trying to take care of that little one in me and those big children at my work, I didn't have a lot of time to blog. Since I am at work on a Saturday morning and I really don't feel like reading my big kids' essays, so here I am, blogging some of the highlights as far as my memory can serve me, especially to provide some updates and entertainment to my dearest friends who are both at down under right now.

Pump Room

Before 2007 came to an end, my gfs and I had been talking about having a girls' night out. That talk finally materialised itself about a week ago when we met up to go for drinks and dancing. Yes, you read it right the first time, dancing. Initially Petals suggested Gotham Penthouse since none of them had been there before. She actually thought that we could go and laugh at the 'strippers'. I was perplexed as to where she got the idea that they would be funny to laugh at. Unfortunately, when the three of us (Meow, Petals and me) finally arrived at the doorstep of Gotham Penthouse, we were informed that the show had been stopped temporarily as they were revamping it.

Thank goodness we were at Clarke Quay so being the creatures of habit we are, we trooped back to Pump Room to check out the scene. The waitress asked us for our first drink and Petals in her classic fashion blurted very loudly when I was offered cranberry juice, "Cranberry juice is good. It prevents urinary tract infection." There was a stunned silence before she quickly redeemed herself with a "Not that you have it lah". Gosh! She never fails to make me laugh with her classic comments. :)

The place had plenty of standing room and both of them fussed over me in trying to get me a seat. Petals even activated one of her students who was working there to try to coerce the other customers to share a table with us. I had a ball of a time dancing (or rather, just swaying very gently) to the songs which we were all familiar with. I even caught the eyes of a couple of guys there though not for the same reason that I caught my husband's ones 6 years ago. A number of them pointed at me and jabbed their friends in their ribs in a bid to make out whether I was just fat or really pregnant. Petals and Meow had a hoot of a time trying to prevent people from bumping into me and tried very hard to take videos of my dancing. Well, we all had a great time but we decided to call it a night by 1.30am because the songs were becoming less and less familiar. Cayden must have had fun too because he was kicking me very vigorously the following night when it was time to go to sleep.

Cayden - our little warrior

Speaking of little cayden, our little one is growing a little way too fast. At our last visit to our OB, she said that cayden's on the big side. Though she reassured us that there is still a long way to go and his size might change, both doppy and I are of the view that he is big-boned like doppy and is likely to be on the big side. The kiddo has not even put on his baby fats yet (so far, he's still growing his skeleton, experimenting with his five senses and his weight will only shoot up in the last trimester) and he's already considered big. Doppy, in his usual problem-solving self, began to suggest exploring a C-section birth with me. Oh well. We'll cross the bridge when we come to it and see what our OB advises then.

We also had a little scare on New Year's eve. If you had met us this week, you would realise that doppy is driving an ah-pek-chia, the Toyota Altis, instead of his bengster Lancer. That is because we got into a minor accident on NYE on our way to lunch and his car is currently in the workshop hence he is driving a replacement car. Our vehicle was stationary along a slip road and we were waiting for the on-coming traffic to clear before we turn out. This Colt came up from behind without slowing her speed down and rammed straight into us. Thank goodness the impact was not a very big one and except for the yelp that Sotong made and the curse that doppy muttered, we were all none the worse for wear. Fortunately, I did not hit anything but merely jerked forward suddenly at the impact. The OB checked cayden out and he was also fine. Doppy was real nice about the whole thing and even told the lady driver to try to have a good new year still. Now we are just waiting for our car to return cos poor doppy's legs are in a permanent cramped position due to the car seat being too low and close to the pedals.

Work

On the work front, I am actually having things a little easier this semester. I have actually managed to pack my table and it is now 2 weeks after school has reopened and it still remained very neat and tidy. I am slowly trying to farm out the things I am doing in view of my impending maternity leave. I have applied to go on leave earlier as I do not want to start work at my new post later than the official date as they have held the position for me for half a year.

It sure makes a difference when one can see the end of it. I find myself counting down the weeks and honestly, I only have about 8 more weeks to go. 7, actually, if you take into consideration that the CNY week is an non-existent one.

Things to do

Speaking of which, we need to start preparing for CNY soon. It is a mere 3 weeks away and our place is still a mess. My Fil and Ah-Yi are flying in as usual and we would need to clear out the spare room for them and the maid subsequently. I am looking forward to cooking the reunion dinner cos doppy always enjoy a home-cooked meal and I could do more dishes with more people eating.

I have also yet to sign up for my prenatal classes (note to self: do it this weekend), engage a maid, sort out cayden's stuffs (we're very blessed. All our friends and colleagues are offering us stuff that they could spare and I think we're saving quite a fair bit. hehe) etc etc.

Movies Caught and To Be Watched

As I caught "I Am Legend" with doppy, the points I earned got me "American Gangster" last night! :) Washington was superb in his role (doppy puts him in the same league as Tony Leung leh)and though the pace was a little slow in the beginning, it was engaging enough to sustain my interest for the 2.5 hours it was screening.

We are going to catch an anime today with Yogi, Vexille, at Cathay and hopefully, it is a good one too (the cinema is really small and Rotten Tomatoes did not have a review of it yet).

The other shows that I want to catch are the following:

1. Eastern Promises (doppy frightened me off with the purported violence so I am still trying to decide if it's worth watching)

2. Atonement

3. Love in the time of Cholera (my guru colleague said that the book was superb and I thought I should check the show out)

If anyone is interested in any of the above shows, leave me a comment and I will jio you when I eventually go for the show.

Well, I think I have bored all enough with my mundane life. :) Hope that this long post more than makes up for the posts that have been missing.

Have a good weekend, all. :)

Yearly Homage to Comex & Ratatouille

Comex is here again and the mmf could hardly give it a miss. Year after year, we told ourselves that when the rest of Singapore are at Comex, we should go to SLS as the prices there are comparable and there are less people. Yet year after year, the tech-toy geeks in us could not resist the call of hundreds of booths (not to mention the babes for doppy) and always feel compelled to at least walk a round even if we do not have anything in mind to get.

This year, we actually had a shopping list. Doppy wants to get a portable dvd player in his resistance effort of my banning TV in the bedroom. He argues that since nothing much is happening in the bedroom right now for him to be distracted from, he would like to occasionally be able to lie in bed and watch a dvd instead of having to lounge on our not-very-comfortable sofa which I refused to change unless if and when we move house. Audio House had a number of models on display but they were either out of our budget or really terribly aesthetically unappealing. We did finally spot a Shinco model that we both like going for $199 but by the end of the walkabout, we were both so tired that we kinda forgot about it. And since we could not find any dvd recorder at the fair, which was another item on our shopping list, we essentially came out of Comex with nothing to show except for a few pieces of brochures.

We shopped around Suntec and Marina Square a little before meeting up with AD and Sotong to catch Ratatouille. It has been a while since we last caught a good movie (our last one was Rush Hour 3 I believe which was hardly even entertaining) and Rat was totally enjoyable. It is probably not a movie that is worth catching it again but for that two hours we were in there, it was very good fun. Doppy thoroughly enjoyed himself and I was glad that we caught it on the big screen.

Inspired by the show, doppy felt like having a Western dinner and we ended up at Border's Bistro for a meal. Unfortunately, I think their air-conditioning was not working very well and the entire place was kinda stuffy and saturated with food smells. Nonetheless, it has been a while since we caught up with AD and Sotong as AD has been travelling quite a fair bit these days and it was great to be able to sit there for 3 hours and talk the night away.

Now that the holidays are here, I resolve to clear the markings that have been sitting on my desk looking pretty for the longest time. But I am just so darn lethargic and lazy. Hmmm .. perhaps I should wait for doppy to take me for breakfast after his RT before I get down to work. Hmmmm ..... :)

Pizza, Beer, Ice-cream, Movie - What a Lovely Saturday!

To celebrate doppy's and thereisnospoon's passing of the CFA Level 1 examination, AD, Sotong, thereisnospoon and the mmf gathered for a evening of good old Italian food at Greenwood Avenue (inside Bt. Timah Road, near to NJC) and went for a movie at (where-else?) Lido.

The initial plan was to take the group to Sunset Bar & Grill for buffalo wings and beer but it was a little of the way and thereisnospoon counter-suggested Peperoni Pizzeria. We have been meaning to recee Greenwood Avenue (where you can find the famous Lana Chocolate cake) for a while but have found the prices not very friendly and could never justify an evening out there. Seeing as how the two guys have studied so hard for their exams, we decided to splurge a little last night and surprisingly, the total bill only came up to $99 for 5 people which wasn't so bad for good-quality Italian food.

We ordered calamari and fried chicken wings for the starter and had 3 beers and 2 glasses of juice. Our mains consisted of 2 medium (12") pizzas, a Suprema (sausage & mushroom) and a Frutti di Mare (seafood). The pizzas are of the thin-crust type and the seafood one was particularly good. The ingredients were very fresh and the cheese on the pizza was quite different from the ones we regularly have. The calamari was so-so (I like the Spaggedies' ones better) and chicken wings were nothing to rave about. Doppy and I had a bottle of belgium beer, Chimey (nope! It's not made in China), which we had tried previously at his friends' new pub. It was good and coupled with pizza, it was a most lovely meal.

AD then treated us to ice-cream. We were initially going to move out to Island Creamery at Serene Centre but then we stumbled upon a hole-in-the-wall gelare shop along the same stretch as Peperoni Pizzeria. We decided to give it a try and it's the first place that I have been to that had yam ice-cream. Not even Tom's Palette which I swear my undying devotion to has that! I was way too greedy and had a large cup to myself (which I eventually shared with thereisnospoon cos the helping was quite generous) which I ordered durian, yam and coffee flavour. Both the durian and yam flavours were quite good, with pretty strong authentic taste and the prices were reasonable ($5plus for a large cup), considering that the other restaurants along the stretch are either part of the Les Amis group or displayed 'The Tattler's' reviews on their doors.

After dessert, we (except thereisnospoon who took a rain check) then proceeded to Lido to catch The Simpsons. We went into the cinema only to find two of our pre-booked seats occupied by two ang-mohs. We took out our respective tickets to check the details and both sets of tickets displayed the same seat details. Eagle-eyed doppy then spotted their tickets were pre-booked for an earlier show which was supposed to be screened on Friday night and the poor girlfriend/wife who did the pre-booking was so apologetic about her mistake. The two of them then dutifully trooped out of the hall to try to see if they could exchange their tickets for the current show whereas the four Singaporeans remarked that if we were the ones who made that mistake, we would have just found 2 empty seats in the theatre and plonked ourselves in the seats.

The movie had both doppy and AD howling in their seats and even Sotong enjoyed it. I have never been much of a Simpson's fan and though I get the satirical parts of the movie (trust me, there were some who didn't, for instance, the couple seated next to me. The girlfriend was doing a running explanation of all the jokes that were being made in the show with her boyfriend's laughter coming at least a couple of seconds later than the rest of the movie's audience), the humour isn't quite my cuppa of tea and I ended up keeping a straight face throughout the show and dozing off once-in-a-while. Doppy took pity on me and declared that he would catch Balls of Fury with the guys as he had no heart to put me through that movie. I must say however that the movie version of The Simpsons is a lot better than the episodes that are showing on TV and one doesn't necessarily have to be a Simpson's fan to enjoy the movie.

All in all, it was lovely Saturday evening out especially since I had spent a lovely morning with Petals and PJ at NIE/NTU sitting in the courtyard(??) and catching up with each other. I thoroughly enjoyed myself yesterday with the various friends I met up with and how I wish that today is still Saturday.

No such luck though so it is back to marking I go. Enjoy your Sunday or whatever that is left of it.

More than Meets the Eye

We caught 2 movies over the weekend and seeing how doppy is alternating between earning his lance corporal rank in C&C land and playing mindless missile-shooting-balloon games online, I will start the ball rolling with my reviews and I am sure he will chip in his two-cents worth once he gets around to reading this post.

Well, first up is

I must admit that I caught the show because doppy wanted to watch it. One of his most hummed lines at home (apart from the MacDonald's breakfast song) is "Transformers ... No money to buy!".

Well, the show was a blast though he had to spend some time explaining to me who the Autobots and Decepticons were. The lighter moments were well-balanced with the action ones though the typical patriotic US soundtrack at some points were a little cheesy. The CG were great and the plot was sufficiently fast-moving enough for me not to feel bored and suspend my disbelief.

I thought the Chinese names of the Transformers were cool too! Optimus Prime is 擎天柱 and Megatron is 威震天. Cool, right?! I was so thrilled by the show that I wanted to rush out to the stores to grab a Optimus Prime! I was never much of a Transformers' fan partly because I could never quite figure out who the good guys are and who the baddies are. I used to love Masks though. I wonder if they would ever make that into a movie. :)

The second movie we caught was completely due to a process of elimination. Doppy wanted to catch Die Hard 4 but it was not showing at any of the big theatres as it was still a sneak preview and the big ones were showing Transformers. I didn't think I would have the guts to stomach a Tarantino show (Death Proof aka Grindhouse) which was paying tribute to the B-grade sex-and-violence exploitative films. Thus it was then that we went to catch


If you like Brit humour and parodies, then this is definitely the show for you. Doppy had a HOWL of a time (literally!) and I could appreciate the clever undercutting of the Hollywood action genre. If you are looking for a good time without coming out of the cinema feeling like a prize idiot for sitting through an inane show, this is one good fun movie to catch. You need to have watched enough action films though in order to appreciate the film. Then again, in this day and age, who amongst us have not caught a John Woo or Michael Bay film or two? :)

Enjoy yourselves!

Wild Hogs

Wild Hogs is one of those feel good shows made even better by the seasoned acting skills of the 4 lead men. Travolta is scarily funny acting as a washed out playboy, Tim Allen plays the suburban dad with well-practiced ease, Lawrence Martin brings out the henpecked black guy with familiarity, and William Macy is the dork which everyone identifies with. They play well-established characters that really reflect on each of their respective careers, and they played their roles well.

The 4 of them go on a trip to rediscover their youth, and the story is a tried and true tale of how their friendship helps them to get through the adventures they encounter. Their mid-life crisis also serves to remind us that we should cherish life, because before we know it, we will all be in their shoes and life would have gone us by.

In short, we found the show funny and enjoyable, like a cup of coffee at one's favorite kopitiam. Go watch it if you have the time and feel like spending 10 bucks, otherwise, this is more of a DVD film.

:)

North Country

Doppy was attending a former college mate's wedding last night and so I was home alone. I figured that since this is a rare time that we were not together, I should watch a dvd that I knew he would never want to watch with me.

I bought North Country with absolutely no idea what the show was about. I was sold by the star, Charlize Theron, and the fact that the dvd was a taiwanese?/chinese? product and cost less than $10.

The show was based on a true story of a female miner, fighting in the courts of law for Minnesota to institute laws against sexual harassment in the mines. This case took place not too long ago, in 1989, and was a water-shed case for all the other companies to review their HR policies and enact laws against sexual harassment.

Theron puts in a credible performance, though none as impressive as her role in Monster, and I guess she was perfect for the role as an atypical female miner. The film also reminded me that indeed, females face a lot more sexual harassment at the work place than males do. Afterall, guys don't wouldn't get women sticking their hands into their pockets on the pretext of getting something in order to cop a feel. I am pretty sure men don't get asked questions like, "Eh, you buy your briefs at Calvin Klein, is it?" or whatever the male's equivalent to the female's Victoria's Secrets might be (Is there even a male equivalent?).

One of the memorable lines from the movie came from the advice given by the lawyer to Theron when she indicated that she wanted to take the matter of sexual harassment to the courts. He said something to the effect that we would like to believe that the courts are fair and uphold justice. Truth of the matter is, women who file sexual harassment suits will be given the 'nuts or sluts' treatment. You are either a nutcase for thinking that men would want to harrass you when you are so ugly/fat/undesirable/etc or you are a slut asking for it. His advice to her reminded me of how much in awe I was of Atticus' speech in "To Kill a Mockingbird" when he was concluding his case and argued that only in a court of law, is an idiot the equal of Einstein, a pauper the equal of a Rockerfeller, a commoner the equal of a prince. I have come a long way since then to know that our legal or judicial system is but a human one and fraught with flaws and weaknesses. Nonetheless, Atticus' speech will always remind me of the need for justice and truth to prevail in court regardless.

300

We caught 300 last night at Marina Square with Darth Binky and PJ.

It was a very good show. If you have not caught it, we definitely recommend it.

Blood and gore, there's aplenty but the cinematography was anime in nature and there's a certain grace and elegance to the action.

The Spartans and their queen were definitely drool-worthy and their clothes left nothing much to the imagination.

The story is a well-told one with a good pace and the plot was suspenseful enough to be engaging.

Quotable quotes:
Persian emissary: What gives this woman the right to speak in front of men?
Spartan Queen: Because only Spartan women give birth to REAL men.

Spartan Queen when she stabbed the disgusting politician: This will not be over soon. You will not enjoy it. I am not your Queen!

Women RULEZ!!!!