Christmas Celebrations

2 Christmas celebrations this year.









Melissa Hoeden's place: An early celebration due to early departures of Fel and Mel to Italy and Indonesia respectively. The setting was perfect with excellent music and gregarious company. Wine glasses chinked at the presence of candlelights, melissa hoeden's place is truly the house of wax. We were all well dressed for the occasion, everyone wore dresses and shirts and I outdone myself wearing a suit. Spaghetti, roast chicken, mashed potato, bread rolls were just too much for the 6 people to finish.
Secret Santa supersedes the normal present exchange perfectly because you know the gift you're gonna get is perfectly made for you. Thank you melia for your most wonderful present. A gigantic beer glass that can hold 2.5 pints of beer called the ' The Jingli', a pillow sheet called 'please change me once a week' and a very exquisite christmas ball if that's how you call it. I certainly hope Luq liked my Neil Strauss book. You better lend it to me after you finished it.

Food and Ambience: 18/20
Company : 18/20
Music : 17/20
Gift : 20/20
Comfort :15/20 Very tired after the cooking.
Overall :88/100












Faney's place: Christmas Eve at Faney's is the second Christmas celebration with my JC class. Last year's 'Christmas at Dianfang's' could not materialise this year due to Dianfang's hectic schedule. So it's still the 6 of us. Things are a lot different here with a predominantly male group. The music was great because I ripped the perfect Christmas CD after downloading all the Christmas songs I could find. Original versions of these Christmas songs really gets you in the mood. A few winning eleven sessions here and there followed by an intensive game of Monopoly. Dinner 2-4-1. I got a very good present in the form of Creative headphones by Ryan. Faney and I really hope Yuety likes our present. All in all, Fane is just a really good man, giving up his bed, making all of us feel real comfortable. This was like a family gathering. 2 years and running.

Food And Ambience: 14/20
Company : 20/20 We've been friends for a long time..
Music : 17/20
Gift : 17/20
Comfort : 17/20
Overall : 88/100

Thank you all for a wonderful festive season.

Top 10 movies of 2005

1. Hotel Rwanda

The story of Rwanda and the war between the Hutus and the Tutsis has long been close to my heart. I was fascinated with the chinese translation of the word Rwanda '如旺达' something like that. Both Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo delivered excellent performances that left me shaking my head, murmuring 'fuck they're good' a few times. A really gripping and powerful story about human spirit and the condemmation of gratituous killings and bloodshed. Excellent performance from the actors and a very good representation of the actual story. My favourite scene of the movie was when Cheadle continued to deliver bills to every room to the refugees he help saved, claiming that business is as usual with or without the war.



2. Sideways

My favourite movie of the year 2005. The movie plays with your emotions. It's so fucking funny and sad at the same time and you feel so much for the characters inside. They are as flawed as we are, these 2 guys going on a road trip before 1 heads off to get married. Its one of the most simple stories you'll ever see but it's also one that gets stuck in your head and reflecting about your own life for quite a while.



3. Million Dollar Baby

Best film. Best director. Best Actress. Best Supporting Actor. Enough said. Ok, not enough. Again, it's just a very simple film and I like boxing. Boxing is not the theme of the movie, rather the relationships between the 3 people. Managed to win some of my tears. A very well done movie.



4. Crash

Another movie starring Don Cheadle albeit a lesser but still an important role. The star performer for me was Matt Dillon, a racist cop who humiliated an opulent black couple by molesting the wife. It's a deeply depressing show about the inner demons in all of us and our subconscious racist feelings towards people. Even Ludacris pulled off a commendable performance. The parts with Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock, the 2 biggest names were however, a little dry and pointless.



5. Sin City

Critics may not like it but I thought it was pretty awesome. Minus the Owen Wilson story and it would have been some movie. I love the other 2 stories. Mickey Rourke outshone Bruce Willis in this one though it's still a good fight. The monologues, graphical violence and the noir feel made this a masterpiece and repaid my intense anticipation. And who can forget little Nancy, Jessica Alba who turned out just fine.



6. Batman Begins

The best ever Batman movie. And Christian Bale is really Batman. Both are 1.88m and both are so difficult to read. Batman is all about stealth, cool gadgets and martial arts in Gotham City. Thinking back of Batman And Robin with George Clooney making a real fool of himself, Batman Begins eradicates all bad memories with proper direction and Bale himself.



7. Mysterious Skin

Its essentially a very sick movie but the performances of the main actor was amazing. The angst, fragility, desperation and hopelessness written all over his face. He didn't have to say anything for you to know that he has been scarred for life by his baseball coach who sodomized him when he was 9. Add an alien abduction and you have a real bizzare story.



8. Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

Not as disturbing as Old Boy but the movie paces itself well until the twist in the end where the most ordinary folks carry the most dangerous weapons. The law is not always the panecea to problems to do with the people you abhor. I love those pink eyeliners on Lady Vengeance. Very dangerous.



9. A History Of Violence

Oscar-bound and deservedly so. Viggo Mortensen is absoultely scary when he does nothing. His piercing eyes both trying to cover his past and his identity. When violence disrupts a peaceful town, the juxtaposition is just too much that it becomes more disturbing than a movie with gore. The multiple hits on the nose was something I always thought of but I didn't know it could get that bad.



10. King Kong

I love 3 hour long movies except for maybe Harry Potter: Goblet Of Fire and Nixon. When I heard Peter Jackson is doing King Kong and he's doing it the 3 hour way, I knew it would be great. It's really a brilliant follow up to Lord Of The Rings trilogy. I shed the most tears for this movie for no apparent reason. Maybe because King Kong is an alpha male like me who fell to his death. Maybe because Naomi Watts' eyes never left Kong when he fell. Maybe its because the cinematic experience of King Kong on top of the Empire State building fighting the aeroplanes is just an epic on its own and second to none. That scene is truly memorable and I now know why Peter Jackson decided to do film-making watching the 1930 version of Kong.
Beauty killed the monster but the monster lives forever in our minds maginficently and beautifully.

Next year most anticipated movie: V for Vendetta.

Christmas Present

Santa gave me this pimple inside my left ear. What the hell. Thanks Santa. Now that my left ear very pain, Merry Christmas to you. We'll rather have pimples in our ears than our faces.

Christmas Eve

When you get older, Christmas lost most of its meaning. All I want is some soothing music by my ears. Nice slow Christmas songs : Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye. Christmas Eve is no different from any day. The house is still 3 rooms. The 2 bed rooms and the living room. The doors of the 2 bedrooms shut. Everyone asleep by 11 p.m.

Christmas Eve night was cold and i made it cooler by directing the fan towards me. The cooler the surroundings, the warmer your heart gets. No christmas tree for almost 10 years. The tiles are white though so that could be snow. And so Christmas is up to your imagination. Imagining things and remembering things that will evoke a little smile. A nice, sweet and warm feeling.

So I seek warmth in my little bed. Cover myself in sheets like I always do. Think about something sweet and wonderful. You need to start imagining like John Lennon. Things will look more beautiful. But when things are too beautiful, a poignant reminder of the not-so-beautiful things in the world surface.

So the music must carry on. Nice soft beats, a melodious voice, a catchy tune that warms ur heart to forget all the unpleasant things in the world. Then you immerse yourself in the story you created for yourself and never wake up from it.

Lilja 4-ever

I cried in a lot of films recently. For example, King Kong. Lilja 4-Ever, however, did not move me to tears.

Social commentary aplenty. The lead character Lilja is abandoned by her mother, who moved to the US with her boyfriend and disowned Lilja. All the characters in the show condemmed their home country, Russia and envisaged a better life in the States. The aftermath of the Cold War lingers. The diminished superpower.

MacDonalds appeared everywhere in the show.

It's not a sad movie but something that will make you feel repugnant about this world. Why our world is so fucked up. Why money buys sex and why people sell sex. There are lots of sick people out there. Disgust fills ur head.

I read this article from Straits Times of this teenager who was asked to do all sorts of nonsense in front of his webcam by stranger adults who paid for his actions. Among them were respectable professionals like lawyers, doctors and businessmen. Paying young kids to masturbate in front of their webcams.

We are really living in a shitty world are we?

At times, life doesn't seem good at all.

(Not) Love at first sight

I so wanted to post this for some time. I'm not sure if you can read the article clearly, not that I really care.

I suppose Life! didn't have many stories or news then, why they even interview me for something so lame baffles me even till now. I was really famous then. Ha.

But then again, my love affair with Li-lin...

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绚丽的荧幕画面让你幻想。

圣诞前夕的爱情故事总是带来希望，总是带来一丝惆怅。

纷飞的雪花点缀着漆黑的夜空，情人携手漫步白毯，寒风中还有彼此的温暖。

怎么会有莫名的旋律，怎么会有熟悉的音乐？

难道这样的美景不够动人吗？需要音乐的介入吗？

原来爱情故事因为有外来的补充才美丽，

看完电影后，小情人决定买机票飞到电影里的那个地方，共度圣诞节。

那个地方没有电影荧幕里的那么漂亮，鸦雀无声。

不是浪漫的平静而是空虚的宁静。

多希望有些浪漫的音乐开始播放。真正的圣诞爱情故事原来没这么美好。

Shooting Stars

I have spent 12 hours in the not-so-new National National Library hitherto.

Shooting people is a crime and now I understand what is consensual and non-consensual sex.

You become such a fucking slut when you let your pictures be taken by people you know. You give your hand gestures. You give seductive poses. You give expressions that shout attention. Because you know the person. You let the person do what they want. You are safe. You can relax and let the person fuck all he/she wants. There is nothing to lose. I think.

But if you are shooting complete strangers, it becomes rape. It becomes an outrage of modesty. It becomes worse than an outrage of modesty. It becomes rape. They give you the unwilling look. They dun give you your eye contact. And that sucks. You need eye contact to do your job. The worst part is, when your profession is a serial rapist, all the people gives you that lousy look and you feel like shit. I mean, come on, I've a job here. Just give it to me man.

Things improved after a while. People start to give their hand gestures but their faces remain lame. A terribly unsatisfied look. Well, maybe it's my fault. I don't do the 'hey look here, give me some hand gestures', I do the papparazi. Sneak in for the candids. So maybe I am a rapist. That's why they resent me. I force it upon them. I catch them offguard. And they hate me. They prefer if I asked. You know, just a simple question. Dance with me. What's your name. Mind if I take your picture sort of thing. They want cues. They want timing. They want rhythm. They want a process. Like a lousy and cheesy story told. Or maybe like a lousy foreplay or a pick-up line.

I tried. I tried using the 'smile a little'. You know, poke the side of the abdominal area. Come on. Come on. But very mild. Soft even. People tell me they cannot draw when I'm shooting. Which is telling me, stop looking at me when I'm urinating. I give me sorries and ohs.

So as usual I sit down quietly at one corner, trying to tell myself I'm cool, trying to tell myself I enjoy being a loner. Trying to tell people I'm cool. Trying to equate loner to cool. Trying hard to think I'm not a loser. Trying to disassociate loner and loser. But it's been interesting and something new so far. Shooting people. I've been fucked at the backside by strangers too often in the past. Boy am I enjoying it this time.

Benfica 2005

The team that sent Manchester United crashing out of the UEFA champions league.

After switching off the TV, I did not throw the remote control like a baseball, smashed my TV set and got my eyes temporarily blind by glass splinters. Rather, I calmly place the remote down softly on my sofa and thought quietly about the future of my childhood club.

So many glorious European nights Manchester United had given me. The 4-0 thrashing of Porto at Old Trafford where Ronny Johnsen, Ryan Giggs and Eric Cantona were simply out of the world that night. That wonderful 3-3 draw against the Rivaldo-led Barcelona at Nou Camp. The 3-2 comeback victory against Juventus at Turin where Roy Keane ran his own show that day. That unbelievable night at Nou Camp when we saw Samuel Kuffour punching the ground, Oliver Kahn looking up the sky holding back his tears when they were outdone by 2 injury time goals.

I remember the Group of Death for Manchester United in 1999, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Brondby. Manchester United finished the group with 2 wins and 4 draws. Knock 11 goals past Brondby home and away. Two 3-3 draws with Barcelona and two 1-1 draws with Bayern Munich. That's a massive 22 goals if u do the math.

This year's group for Man U: Villareal, Benfica and Lille. It's probably one of the easiest group in the campaign alongside Arsenal's group. Besides Juan Roman Riquelme, there are hardly any big names from the 3 teams put together. Yet only a miserly 3 goals were scored over 6 games. That is really shameful for a side like Man United's pedigree, seasoned European campiagners with stars like Rooney, Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy who netted 44 goals in the Champion's League already.

An unceremonious exit from Europe is hard to swallow when you piece those glorious night of European football in the past with the present. Choosing between the UEFA Cup or total exclusion in Europe, I would have chose the latter. The UEFA Cup is a cup for Europe's minnows, the second-strings and it will be painful seeing Man U competing against unknown teams, competing for a trophy that is hardly worthy for Man U's name and club history.

Nobody knows what has gone wrong for Manchester United's European campaign this year. They have always been strong favourites, they are so experienced, Gary Neville holds the record for most number of Champions's league appearances and Wayne Rooney always looking eager to take on any side in the world. Domestically, they have picked up their momentum a little but in Europe, early fuck-ups in their home games against Villareal and Lille have left them an uphill task at Lisbon.

It is a sad day for all Man United fans and a very sad month as well with the death of George Best. And yes, I do sound like Chistopher today.