一周间，经历了快乐也尝尽了失落。
一周前~
首先是一大早就突然有灵感，要如何完成一个在我心里沉睡多年的剧本。相信在不久后终于可以完成这个故事。这个剧本如果发展得不错，我打算砸钱把它拍成短片。
还有我 终于和一个近期很想合作的同事碰了面。其实我想换部门有一段时间了。和这个同事碰面的其中一个原因就是想了解他的新部门的运作。他人比我想象中友善好 多。我们聊了一个半小时，他邀请我加入他的一个team。而这个team的领队刚好又是另一个我很想合作的同事。(我也同时对其他的部门感兴趣)。顿时觉 得我换职一事还颇有希望!当然一切还言之过早，一切还得看后天的努力，但至少我可以理所当然地接近我想接近的人。
然后是我接获“Routine”入围剧本创作比赛，有望摘下大奖。我已经收到邀请涵，会参加颁奖礼。到时会有多个圈内名人，光想就十分兴奋。
一周后~
得到了一年一度的员工奖励花红，结果比想象中差。失望是必然的，不过早有心里准备。自从很照顾我的两个上司在去年上旬相续离职后，我的机遇就大不如前。再没有人罩着我，没有人关心我事业上的未来。
我现在的老板不是不好，而是他们和我直接合作的机会很少，而真正和我时常接洽的上司显然地没有帮我争取更好的待遇。所以我的成就逃过了大老板的眼睛。当然这样下去不是办法，我也在想法子为自己找机会。好工作难找。好老板更是难求。我突然担心起我的将来。
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Happy Feet Vs Cars
Finally finished 'Happy Feet'. It's not better than 'Cars', Pixar's most mediocre work to date.
I can't say it was deserving of the animated picture oscar. I have to watch 'Monster's House' to decide. But then again, what difference would it make? The awards have been doled out, and nothing will change the winners, no matter whether they deserved it or not.
Of course, winning isn't everything. Some movies withstand the test of time and go on to become classics, even though their brillance didn't stand out in the beginning. 'Citizen Kane', Bonnie & Clyde' come to mind.
'Happy Feet' isn't entirely crap. It has a pretty good premise, and some bits of originality, something 'Cars' lacked. With 'Cars', it was very much travelling on a straight road with no view. I already knew the ending even without finishing the first act. I can't even remember the title character's name.
I laughed with the 5 mini penguins, the chief saving grace of this let-down. Story-wise, it was ill-developed, and scenes didn't link well or flow into one another. But it was cute that they integrated live action elements into the otherwise visually boring film.
Pixar recently recruited Michael Arndt, writer of LMS, and he's writing 'Toy Story 3'. Let's hope Pixar lives up to its good name again.
I can't say it was deserving of the animated picture oscar. I have to watch 'Monster's House' to decide. But then again, what difference would it make? The awards have been doled out, and nothing will change the winners, no matter whether they deserved it or not.
Of course, winning isn't everything. Some movies withstand the test of time and go on to become classics, even though their brillance didn't stand out in the beginning. 'Citizen Kane', Bonnie & Clyde' come to mind.
'Happy Feet' isn't entirely crap. It has a pretty good premise, and some bits of originality, something 'Cars' lacked. With 'Cars', it was very much travelling on a straight road with no view. I already knew the ending even without finishing the first act. I can't even remember the title character's name.
I laughed with the 5 mini penguins, the chief saving grace of this let-down. Story-wise, it was ill-developed, and scenes didn't link well or flow into one another. But it was cute that they integrated live action elements into the otherwise visually boring film.
Pixar recently recruited Michael Arndt, writer of LMS, and he's writing 'Toy Story 3'. Let's hope Pixar lives up to its good name again.
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Little Movie That Could But Didn't
And so, as oscar bloggers predicted, my fave movie of 2006, Little Miss Sunshine loses the Big One. Falling victim to a premature frontrunner status (thanks to its PGA and Screen Actors Guild awards), LMS found itself subjected to unprecedented backlash from audiences who once claimed that they enjoyed the movie. Unfortunately, most audiences, like the academy, suffer from genre biases too, and a comedy winning Best Picture is just an unthinkable thought.
It did not come as a surprise then, that The Departed soon caught up with the race to surpass LMS as the leader of the pack. Some rumours regarding support for Babel surged over the past few days, making it a three-legged race between Babel, LMS and Departed. However, the worries were unfounded. Babel only managed one weak win in Best Original Score (for a very original sounding score indeed), despite topping the charts with 7 noms amongst the Best Picture nominees.
I watched the Oscars live for the first time, and at the beginning after Alan Arkin pulled an upset win over Eddie Murphy, and Babel won score unexpectedly, I thought - "Now this is going to be interesting." Editing which had yet to come then, was said to be a toss-up between Departed and Babel. If Babel won Editing, then it will be 2 wins a-piece for the 3 Best Picture Nominees (since the categories for 2 screenplay categories and director were locked). But when Departed took Editing, I knew almost for sure that we had our Best Picture winner. And so, it was.
What did it feel like watching the Oscars live? Well, not very fun. This year's show was soooo long. It clocked at around 4 hours and 17 minutes. Ellen Degeneres tried her best, but some of the jokes fell flat, and the opening sequence with the nominees talking just did not work. We didn't know or cared for 80% of them. It was a bad way to start the show. Also, what is with the shortened acting clips of nominees? Each clip only had like 10 or 15 seconds at most. Acting clips are one of the best stuff audiences look forward to within a long show that drones on. It doesn't do justice to the artistes' work. It was also a let-down that most winners read off lists, and almost none of the acceptance speeches were inspiring. Perhaps Helen Mirren's was the best. But that's partly because she has admirable confidence and air. And I must say, I hate it when the announcer say that Departed is based on a Japanese film. Hello? Didn't you do your research properly for such a big event? Have some respect for the original film-makers!
Of course there were some fun bits. I like the "shadow play" performers. Like a style reminiscent of wayang kulit, dancers in skin-tight bodysuits went behind a white screen and showed us motifs of some of the nominated films. For LMS, it was the bus. For Departed, the gun. And my fave - for Happy Feet, we saw the 'silhouettes' of the 5 pint-sized "amigo" penguins! I also liked the fuss-free way of introducing the 5 Best Picture nominees. Instead of having people come out to introduce them, the producers cut to the chase and showed us scenes from the movie, which included narration from a key cast member or director on how this film was put together and how much it meant to them. Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lukas cracked me up when they joked while presenting Best Director.
I'm also glad "Cars", the movie that induced me to sleep, lost. I'm not sure if "Happy Feet" is a deserved winner, yet to finish it. I'm not so glad that "Dead Men's Chest", the only movie that put me to sleep twice in a single screening, walked away with one win, in visual effects.
In terms of fashion, I thought the best-dressed person was Nicole Kidman in bright red (think she celebrated CNY too, haha!). Emily Blunt is resplendant in shimmery blue. Rachel Weisz and Cate Blancett also looked very elegant like sliver and grey respectively.
Will I watch Oscars again next year? Hmm, I dunno. Depends how much I love the movies this year!
It did not come as a surprise then, that The Departed soon caught up with the race to surpass LMS as the leader of the pack. Some rumours regarding support for Babel surged over the past few days, making it a three-legged race between Babel, LMS and Departed. However, the worries were unfounded. Babel only managed one weak win in Best Original Score (for a very original sounding score indeed), despite topping the charts with 7 noms amongst the Best Picture nominees.
I watched the Oscars live for the first time, and at the beginning after Alan Arkin pulled an upset win over Eddie Murphy, and Babel won score unexpectedly, I thought - "Now this is going to be interesting." Editing which had yet to come then, was said to be a toss-up between Departed and Babel. If Babel won Editing, then it will be 2 wins a-piece for the 3 Best Picture Nominees (since the categories for 2 screenplay categories and director were locked). But when Departed took Editing, I knew almost for sure that we had our Best Picture winner. And so, it was.
What did it feel like watching the Oscars live? Well, not very fun. This year's show was soooo long. It clocked at around 4 hours and 17 minutes. Ellen Degeneres tried her best, but some of the jokes fell flat, and the opening sequence with the nominees talking just did not work. We didn't know or cared for 80% of them. It was a bad way to start the show. Also, what is with the shortened acting clips of nominees? Each clip only had like 10 or 15 seconds at most. Acting clips are one of the best stuff audiences look forward to within a long show that drones on. It doesn't do justice to the artistes' work. It was also a let-down that most winners read off lists, and almost none of the acceptance speeches were inspiring. Perhaps Helen Mirren's was the best. But that's partly because she has admirable confidence and air. And I must say, I hate it when the announcer say that Departed is based on a Japanese film. Hello? Didn't you do your research properly for such a big event? Have some respect for the original film-makers!
Of course there were some fun bits. I like the "shadow play" performers. Like a style reminiscent of wayang kulit, dancers in skin-tight bodysuits went behind a white screen and showed us motifs of some of the nominated films. For LMS, it was the bus. For Departed, the gun. And my fave - for Happy Feet, we saw the 'silhouettes' of the 5 pint-sized "amigo" penguins! I also liked the fuss-free way of introducing the 5 Best Picture nominees. Instead of having people come out to introduce them, the producers cut to the chase and showed us scenes from the movie, which included narration from a key cast member or director on how this film was put together and how much it meant to them. Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lukas cracked me up when they joked while presenting Best Director.
I'm also glad "Cars", the movie that induced me to sleep, lost. I'm not sure if "Happy Feet" is a deserved winner, yet to finish it. I'm not so glad that "Dead Men's Chest", the only movie that put me to sleep twice in a single screening, walked away with one win, in visual effects.
In terms of fashion, I thought the best-dressed person was Nicole Kidman in bright red (think she celebrated CNY too, haha!). Emily Blunt is resplendant in shimmery blue. Rachel Weisz and Cate Blancett also looked very elegant like sliver and grey respectively.
Will I watch Oscars again next year? Hmm, I dunno. Depends how much I love the movies this year!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
金枝欲孽(warning: spoilers ahead)
“金枝欲孽”终于落幕了。结局很悲情，死亡未必痛苦，活著未必幸福。明白为何这么多人看完了剧集后，沉重心情久久不能平复。
虽然每个人都在害别人，不过都是因为太爱另一个人，甚至有些到了盲目爱慕的地步。尔淳和玉莹是孝顺父母、如妃是关切女儿、安茜是为奶奶报仇、小禄子和孙大人和陈爽是因为狂恋一个女人。最后谁是真正关心皇上的？我相信就是那位丧心病狂的皇后。
为什么“金枝欲孽”那么引人入胜？因为我相信每个人都有劣性。我们和剧中人的相似处比我们想像得多。
做 了一个趣味测验，测试自己最像剧中的哪个妃嫔。结果我像的竟是尔淳。一直不太喜爱尔淳，因为她很阴沉，又不笑。不过到了故事的结尾，不禁觉得她很可伶。 被义父利用、亲姐姐在没告知身份就死去、怀了不爱的男人的小孩、无家可归、无依无靠，确实挺惨。难忘她知道安茜将死之后的反应。善于尔虞吾诈的尔淳变成了 一个无助的小孩。她求安茜活著，以后好她做什么都行。
弟弟诧异为什么平时斗个你死我活的人最后竟一个个关心彼此的死活。也许这是人的天性吧。在陌生人与同校或同公司但不熟的人，人都是会自然的想要接近和自己有些关联的人。
究竟我有多像尔淳，我想多少是有像的。至少不是像那个阴晴不定、沉不住气的玉莹。
虽然每个人都在害别人，不过都是因为太爱另一个人，甚至有些到了盲目爱慕的地步。尔淳和玉莹是孝顺父母、如妃是关切女儿、安茜是为奶奶报仇、小禄子和孙大人和陈爽是因为狂恋一个女人。最后谁是真正关心皇上的？我相信就是那位丧心病狂的皇后。
为什么“金枝欲孽”那么引人入胜？因为我相信每个人都有劣性。我们和剧中人的相似处比我们想像得多。
做 了一个趣味测验，测试自己最像剧中的哪个妃嫔。结果我像的竟是尔淳。一直不太喜爱尔淳，因为她很阴沉，又不笑。不过到了故事的结尾，不禁觉得她很可伶。 被义父利用、亲姐姐在没告知身份就死去、怀了不爱的男人的小孩、无家可归、无依无靠，确实挺惨。难忘她知道安茜将死之后的反应。善于尔虞吾诈的尔淳变成了 一个无助的小孩。她求安茜活著，以后好她做什么都行。
弟弟诧异为什么平时斗个你死我活的人最后竟一个个关心彼此的死活。也许这是人的天性吧。在陌生人与同校或同公司但不熟的人，人都是会自然的想要接近和自己有些关联的人。
究竟我有多像尔淳，我想多少是有像的。至少不是像那个阴晴不定、沉不住气的玉莹。
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Terrible Chinese New Year Ahead
The coming multiple CNY holiday is going to be a dread for me. Firstly, we have very few people to visit. Mt great grandma died some time ago, so the extended family is not celebrating CNY in memory of her death. Secondly I'm going to have to see my aunts (on my paternal side) whom I will dislike till the end of time cos of the ingratitude they showed us a few years ago. Then, my foreign relatives are coming to visit. A whole lot of them - from HK and China. That means my parents are going to spend time taking them around. That also means my siblings and I have been relegated to guard the house. I can't imagine what kind of joy I could derive from that. Some people should have the common sense to know that CNY is not a good time to come holidaying in Singapore, and expecting us to bring them around. My parents being the kind (and sometimes too kind for their good) people that they are will definitely want to attend to them, thus inconveniencing the entire family. Their pleasure at our expense. Boy, do I hate rude people.
Maybe I will invite friends over to my house. Provided they are having as boring a time as I am this holidays. For their sake, I hope not.
Maybe I will invite friends over to my house. Provided they are having as boring a time as I am this holidays. For their sake, I hope not.
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