HMV (Halloween Movie reView) / Modern Minds and Pastimes (Part 2)

Another quick post here, to review a movie and a CD I caught/listened to recently.

1) HMV (Halloween Movie reView)

Okay, I know this movie came out long time ago, but it’s still in cinemas, so you can go watch if you find it worth your time.

Resident Evil: Extinction
Directed- Russell Mulcahy
Starring- Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Oded Fehr, Ashanti

This movie embodies one of my greatest horror nightmares.

I’ve watched classics like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (the quality was really bad on that one), but without a doubt this movie terrorizes me in ways that I never thought possible.

I hate zombies.

Zombies are fucking scary.

Don’t be so quick to judge me, because I’m not that really scared of Things from Black Lagoons, Frankenstein’s monster, or even Chucky (come on lah, a freakin dummy-puppet??!?!) but zombies completely scare me senseless.

Zombies, mindless, yet breathing, yet not dying until you shoot them in the head. Ravaging beasts, without a mind.

Not like Dracula, who’s slick and smart and cool. Not like Frankenstein’s creature, who at least has semblances of humanity. Zombies are lumbering, fugly, nearly-unstoppable, and what’s worse, in RE: Extinction they can turn you into zombies too.

If all that wasn’t enough, they had to tell us that hey, the WHOLE WORLD is zombie-infested, and there’s no way to get out unless you fly out into space.

Trapped in a WORLD with fugly nightmarish shitheads is terrifying. And Extinction plays to that fear, letting zombies leap out at every chance, with certain action twists and shock value imbued for maximum fear factor.

I was sitting at the edge of my seat, and I was absolutely about to go bonkers during the main action scene in Las Vegas. It was complete madness.

But if there’s anything redeeming about this movie, it’s that it also has something I love a lot: Special powers.

Alice has telekinesis, telepathy, enhanced strength, enhanced speed and stamina. It is a little like watching a few characters of Heroes (coincidentally Ali Larter stars in Heroes too) all jumbled into one person, and that would be Milla Jovovich’s character.

So that, to some extent, levels the playing field. Things get less scary when you have a superpowered human that could wipe out several tens of zombies before you can say, “Whahaha?”

Still, it doesn’t get any easier for the viewer when zombies leap out from behind bedrests, from within cabinets, and from under trucks and vans. The production quality of this movie is also much better than RE: Apocalypse and the original, which is another redeeming factor. The desert lands are brightly lit, contrasting the horrific scene that they are trapped in. The actors are well-trained and they seem so human (not a bunch of pixels brought to life), and the special effects are well-directed and so good that it makes you marvel and appreciate the technology behind it all.

The fight scene towards the end was probably the best and was excellent, but I hated the ending itself. The final scene was complete crap, and I can’t reveal too much, but all I can say is that it’s a stupid plot point that will trap the franchise should the producers decide to make another movie.

Still, it’s a video game movie, so I can’t say much.

*** 3 stars!

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Modern Minds and Pastimes
The Click Five
Lava/Atlantic Records

I have mixed feelings about this album.

I’m a fan of the Click Five, sure, and you can read my previous post to know how much I enjoy their performances and music.

But with regards to their newest album as a whole, I have mixed feelings.

Power pop is of course a big deal with modern pop bands nowadays, their music aimed to the younger, teen (not ‘tween’, mind you) population, and they are usually filed under ‘alternative’ for their deviation from the classic rock style with their extensive use of synthesizers, a lack of rampant guitar rifts, the hardcore sound and opting to go for a sound that is high-octane and energetic.

And without a doubt, Modern Minds and Pastimes adheres to this definition of power pop, but also, there is a lack of a clear direction overall.

In Greetings From Imrie House, it was clear what the genre of music was set out to do, with tunes that were cheerful and happy and Eric Dill’s good singing to match that level of fun.

Superficial yes, but it definitely brought a smile to my face when I first listened to songs like ‘Good Day’, ‘Catch Your Wave’, ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ and ‘Friday Night’, all of which were infectious and were clearly power pop songs aimed to make the dance floor and to be stuck in the heads of teenagers and people who are on happy fixes.

In Modern Minds, the power pop direction is lost somewhat, and things get more emo, and the band ventures further into the AC Pop direction, with songs that are very unconventional and mix several genres of music together.

All fine, but that causes a weird feeling at the end of listening to the whole album, like I don’t know what I just listened to and I don’t know what to make of it.

The first few songs are gems, and ‘Flipside’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ are good showings of the band’s AC Pop style mixed with power pop, and ‘Addicted to Me’ is clear power pop styled. ‘Jenny’ was good, but not as good as compared to the other songs. I found ‘I’m Getting Over You‘ and ‘Headlight Disco’ surprisingly innovative songs, and ‘Empty’ a good change of pace and a good way to end the album.

Apart from the abovementioned seven songs, the rest I could have done without.

‘When I’m Gone’ and ‘Long Way To Go’ is so heavy rock it completely didn’t match the rest of the album. ‘All I Need Is You’ nearly made a hit with a good intro, but it lacked the infectious punch in the chorus the other songs had.

The rest, all forgettable and not really contributing to the overall album, they just being there for the sake of filler material. That said, I realize Kyle Patrick does sing very well, even better, I fathom, than Eric Dill.

I realize how much of the band’s songs (from BOTH albums) focus on love and girls and more love. Good themes for a fun, superficial two albums, but if they really want to move away from power pop and into the AC pop side like they showed in Modern Minds, they also have to learn to write really emotive lyrics and songs which emphasize more on globalized issues.

***^ 3 1/2 stars!

Modern Minds and Pastimes

In keeping in line with the Halloween theme, I will say one thing:

One of the scariest places to be at night is in an alleyway.

A dark road, abandoned by civilisation, shielded from the lights of the city and streets, filled with prowling beasts, both animal and human, and waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey.

Before we get to the literal part of that, let’s talk about unsuspecting prey in the CLUBS that are NEXT to the so-called alley.

Ministry of Sound! Where i went for the Click Five showcase, Modern Minds and Pastimes! That’s right, those boys were in town for their new album promotion, and I got to see them twice!

So, back to MoS, where dearest Nadiah was kind enough to invite me!

The queue was so damn long, and the management of MoS was really bad (that’s a horror story in its own right, I swear to you) that at one point, three queues had formed to enter the freakin’ place.

THREE queues u know! It’s not even a queue anymore, it became a crowd. A massive, bunched-up and humonguous group of people squeezing against one another to push through to the inside of the club.

Never had I seen anything worse. Not even during Hello Kitty craze.

Immensely frustrating and annoying to navigate. The system was really bad, the staff were borderline rude, and it didn’t get any better when we entered the club.

That’s Haniel above. Super click five fan, but he doesn’t like Greetings from Imrie House (boo! ;p)

Nadiah and her good pal Sulaiman, us all photowhoring while waiting (‘waiting’ doesn’t really cut it here) to go into the club.

Sarah was also there, but she was shy, so I didn’t manage to get any photos of her. ><

And once we got inside the club, and started to crowd around the main platform, I got even more pissed.

Some clubbers just do not understand the meaning of politeness.

I mean, it’s okay if you want to go forth to see the click five more (who doesnt?) but you don’t PUSH. You can say, excuse me, and then politely move forth to go see, but u do not SQUEEZE your way in with force and then try to act all nonchalant like, Oh, I didn’t do nothing, no no, sir!

That’s another horror story that could lead to stampeding and trampling (why am I thinking of that Hello Kitty phase?!)

In fact it could lead to my very own horror story with my fingers wrapped around your neck or a bloody knife. With YOUR rude-ass blood on it.

Anyway, I don’t have photos of the click five performing because 1) MoS is dark, 2) My camera is very low quality, 3) Uploading photos on Blogger is very tiring and exhausting and apparently Blogger still doesnt get the ‘efficient photo-uploading’ function we all wish for.

Anyway, the quite-scary part is after the concert, you go out and there’s like this long alley outside MoS which you can imagine lurking with many beasts of many different sorts… It’s the kind of place where crimes of many colours happen.

Luckily, however, we are in Singapore, and although crimes do happen (humanity, after all) but I am certain to say we are one of the safest countries in the world.

Still, that will not stop me from migrating. (Another story for another time)

Anyway, though no MoS content, I do have material from…

Power 98 studios!

That’s right, went there to MEET THE CLICK FIVE in person!!!!

Yep, actually to see them lah, cos I kaypoh.

Great songwriter and keyboardist Ben Roman, lead guitarist Joe Guese sitting down, and Joey Zehr the drummer, in between them.

Below we have the tour manager, who is between Ethan Mentzer the bass guitarist and Kyle Patrick, the lead singer.

And dearest Janice wanted to take a photo with Kyle (she asks: “Why couldn’t it be Janice, and not Jenny?!?!”) and there they are.

The photos of me and the band are with Power 98, and they havent sent me those yet I think, so I’m just going to show you a video taken by yours truly of the whole acoustic performance the boys gave us in studio!

Alright. That’s it from me.

Happy Halloween and… erm… Chinese O’s?!!!!

P.S. Sorry for not blogging for so long… I was damn busy this week, with RS and semi-mugging, and other prior commitments!

I’ll make it up, somehow.

P.P.S Something’s wrong with the font. Stupid, stupid, shitty, totally f-ed up Blogger.

Hopes and Fears

Time to scare yourself silly again.

Halloween, is of course, a festival that was borne out of good intention and goodwill and rituals and ancient blessings and practices (that’s way too many ‘ands’ in a sentence) but without a doubt, the modern version feeds too much on our ‘hopes’ and ‘fears’.

Skeletons, zombies, vampires, masked murderers, the various sorts that send shivers down our spines. Then we wonder, why do we get those shivery tingles?

In the movie ‘1408′, an adaptation of the classic horror short story of the same name by Stephen King, Cusack’s character Michael Enslin says something along the lines of, “Why do people believe in ghosts? Because they want, they need to believe in life after death.”

In other words, people need assurance.

As humans, we are only human, and we need the reassuring touch of a mother’s soft hand and a calming, soothing voice. Or, in the case of Enslin, he believes we need to know we’ll not be gone even after we are, technically, anyway.

I ask all people out there, adults and teenagers, when they have last felt the soothing voice of a mother’s song, or a soft touch from your mother to assure that all is fine.

It’s been a while, for most of you.

Our greatest fears as humans lie in a variety of things.

But I believe that deep down, everyone is scared of one common thing: The lack of certainty and confirmation in life.

Scared of spiders? Scared of heights? Scared of water? Scared of the number 13?

That’s all fine and everything, but that’s not your greatest fear.

It’s not anyone’s.

One’s greatest fear COULD stem from all these minor fears, but the underlying fear is that there is no one to rescue you and save you, and assure that everything is fine and all right.

I’m personally scared of heights.

Not my greatest fear, but a huge one, because I can’t get up to the 4th floor of a building before I start getting sweaty palms and getting all nervous.

Before you think it’s a common fear, I’d say it is, but many of my friends are heading down the pilot path. To them, I say, well-done.

I could never do it.

I see through the acrophobia, that the eventual fear is that when I fall, I fall alone.

Falling alone, without a safety net, and someone to catch you, is very scary indeed.

It appears it’s a lonesome, pitiful drop, all the way down, until you hit the ground hard and your bones, every single one of them, crack and shatter upon the impact because the velocity is so high, and your blood will spill from their vessels and explode outward because the pressure change is drastic.

Guts splattered over a large, large field.

Tell me that isn’t scary.

Tell me that in the course of falling down, you don’t think about the eventual outcome. Of course, when you’re falling, naturally, your mind will be moving at octane speeds, thinking, making plans to try to stay alive, to perhaps grow wings in seconds.

Some, unfortunately, think about that last, unfinished report sitting in the office.

But the fall, that drop I’m talking about, isn’t the kind of fall from the roof of a flat that you do voluntarily, that is faster compared to some, and met with a kind of bittersweet end.

This is the kind of fall that is unplanned for, that is horrifying, that is the kind of fall when you are thrown from a plane due to a problem with the plane, or when you fall off a tall bridge, or when you are forced to leap from the burning World Trade Center towers because there’s no other way out.

I’m not going to talk about your fear of spiders, or water, and I’m going to be all selfish, because I think that when it comes to fears, I think I got enough of my own to worry about.

I also fear not being able to move far in life.

I fear being stuck in a rut, being stopped in a traffic jam of life, being unable to realize that hope or dream, and watching it get destroyed in time.

That underlying fear tugs again. The one that tells me that there is no one to catch me or save me if things go wrong, and if my life screws up, I screw up by myself, because everyone is alone in life and because everyone was born alone, and everyone will die alone.

Hopes and fears.

That’s what life is made out of.

Our dreams, or lack of them, and what we aspire to be. Everyone, even the worst of humans, aspire for something, and dream of something, because that is what makes us human. Clinton aspires to be the first female President. Obama aspires to be the first black President, both of the USA.

Your father aspires to get that car. Your sister aspires to earn her first million.

Your friend aspires to see the world, to see it for what it is, and to see beyond that, to the stars, to space, and to the beauty and wonder of nature and how it all comes to fruition.

Your friend aspires to learn where he belongs, and how he is affected by everyone, and how he fits into the grand design and the puzzle of interconnectedness in life.

And with all these aspirations, hopes, and dreams, there is that fear that things will not turn out the way they were envisioned to turn out.

There is the fear that you will fail. That all these wishes and wants, will all turn out to be words on paper, and the stuff of imagination and youth.

For me, there is the fear that I will fall, and I will fall alone, and hit the ground hard, and end up nothing more than splattered fuck on the pavement.

I need assurance.

We all need assurance.

We all need assurance that we will win in life, in OUR lives, and we will end up as we saw ourselves to end up, and that we will make something good, and that we will realize those hopes and, to some extent, the fears.

Realizing the fears, but not overcoming them, because no one can overcome their fears.

Fears are like the aspirations. Without something to be scared of, we are not human. We need fears, as well as future dreams, to give us a purpose in life.

When we realize our fears, we come to terms with who we are, and that it’s okay to be scared.

It’s okay to shrink away from the window when you sit on a plane, but it’s okay, as well, if you still hate to sit on one.

It’s okay to feel disgusted and feel the pangs of horror at that large tarantula sitting in a glass tank, but it’s okay, also, if you want to stomp all over it, even if that means destroying a rare species.

It’s okay to not go near water, and preferring to just sit on the grass and the beach, but it’s okay too, if you decide that you will never ever take a bubble bath.

Hopes and fears.

Two sides of the same coin. The coin of humanity, it would seem.

Yes, I’m scared!

I need to be assured, to be calmed!

I want my mommy!

And hey, I’m absolutely not ashamed of it.

The Ugly American

As you can see, the current theme right here on http://fineattitude.blogspot.com/ is one of spooks, scares and sickos. Halloween, of course, is upon us, and with Halloween comes the scariest times of the world, where ghouls, ghosties, and all sorts of beasties descend upon the realm of humanity.

For the whole of this month, until mid-November, the blog will be in a state of fear, and the posts you will see here are highly horrific, sadistic, and some may say, satirical.

For example, take a look at this picture here:

This… they say it’s a scary photo. It’s frightening, it’s freaky, it’s horrifying!

Not that I’m very pretty or good-looking myself, but my point here is…

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN AN UGLY AMERICAN?!?!?!

In all my life, I think 9 times out of 10, the Americans, ang-mohs, or to some extent, Canadians (separated by a border) ARE SO GOOD-LOOKING!

Not just Americans or Canadians in North America. I’m talking about ang-mohs as a whole. The blondes (naturally, please), rednecks and even mixed-bloods, to some extent.

I may dislike them for some things, but one thing I will have to admit is how good-looking they are as a whole!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Everyone is this good-looking in America, I swear.

The other day I was watching the Tyra Banks Show out of sheer boredom (Hari Raya Monday) and I noticed just HOW good all of those ‘makeover girls’ look on the show.

Seriously. There was this black girl called Mia on Tyra Banks show, who everyone criticized was ugly, had ugly knees, had teeth problems, but LOOK AT HER! (video right below)

Right there, is a mix of Rihanna and Beyonce in a teenage girl. If that’s how they all look, book me a jet to USA now!

But seriously, even with all the good-lookin’ people, people still wanna go for nips, tucks, belly shapings, resizings, facial alterations of various sorts.

And that’s in the USA alone.

Can you imagine how the rest of the world might feel, us ugly people included, if the girl on the beach above (Photo 2, for the uninitiated) were to decide one day she didn’t like her nose and went for a nose job?

Wouldn’t the whole world have to get a plastic surgery operation of some sort, and for that really odd-looking man in the first photo, he’d have to get a whole billion-dollar plastic makeover set (really Barbie doll ah!) to look like this:

I didn’t even choose the handsomest photo from Google Images you know. I just found one that I thought looked reasonable for the ‘change’.

WOW. It’s a great change. But not impossible.

Scary can become un-scary quickly, but to become handsome….?

But surely, it would take a lot for this guy to walk out everyday and see all those pretty young things around him.

Jealousy is one thing. But there’s this other thing with realizing that unless you have that billion dollars, you ain’t looking as good. It’s not of jealousy, but of bitter sadness and coming-to-terms with the truth. It’s of depressing reality.

Especially when you’re that 1 person out of 10 who doesn’t look up to mark.

And that’s why people commit suicide sometimes.

Not because of the homework, because let’s face it, the best way to deal with homework is really to burn it in a huge Samhain bonfire, but when faced with yourself in the mirror and all the people that you feel are much better than you, you have nowhere to run, and the only place you can go, perhaps, is down, which is why people jump.

Need more proof other than Tyra Banks’ show?

Go find Survivor: China.

Even John-Robert, the poker player who looks like his cards look better than him, still look better than some Singaporeans I’ve seen, and I could count myself in that bunch.

Maybe you say, Kar Liang!

It’s ALL THE packaging! All the show material! Reality, my ass, it ain’t reality when the people there ain’t ugly!

What if Mark Burnett couldn’t find any ugly people? What if all the people that applied looked like they came right out of Louis Vuitton catalogue?

Well, I certify that if you go to America, and find people under the age of 40 (because, come on, age turns everyone ugly at some point in life) you will see that what I say isn’t unjustified… 9 out of these 10 can sure kick butt in the looks department!

But then someone tell me…WHY ARE THEY SINGLE AGAIN?!

But that’s another horror story for another time.

For now, the horror story I have is one of superficiality and surface-level scares.

Happy Halloween!

This Is Not A Pro-LKY Post

So, Myanmar.

What is one to do with it.

Burma, Myanmar, whatever you want to call it, is currently facing a lot of problems.

And I won’t say it’s a problem with the ‘method’ of governance.

China’s doing well without democracy and all, but it’s the government that’s ‘doing it well’, to quote Jennifer Lopez.

The problem with Burma is the inability for the government to meet the needs of the people without being tempted by corruption.

Come on, I know we’re all humans and everything, but someone apparently forgot to teach them to resist taking money off the taxes for their own purposes.

When the junta’s wealth is growing and the rest of Myanmar’s is dipping, there is CLEARLY something wrong.

And the military doesn’t correct that, NO, but instead decides to block off Internet connection of Myanmar, and also fabricate excuses like the violence being caused by “hot-blooded monks” who are “jealous of national development and stability.”

CAN THEY HEAR THEMSELVES?

1) WHY would monks be jealous of ‘national development and stability’?
2) WHERE is this said ‘national development and stability’?

Come on. Get real. This military regime of Myanmar is getting on the nerves of people all over the world and it’s really not a good showing of a country that had such promise when it gained independence from UK on 4 Jan 1948.

Shooting monks?! Killing Japanese photographers?

These military men are going to go straight to hell when they die, and they know it.

Question is, WHY do they still follow this rule? When they know clearly what they’re doing is wrong?

They get more money?

How’s for, Let’s Let Aung San Suu Kyi out, let her implement her economic and trade policies, and we ALL get a higher pay. On the plus side, We won’t go straight to hell and no one will die! SURPRISE!

This is simply preposterous.

The level of corruption and selfish thinking in Burma is so extreme, it’s nearly absurd.

One couldn’t think such a level of self-destruction and self-deprecation could exist in a country and its people.

And not to be all high and mighty and proud, but why doesn’t Myanmar take its lead from better and more successful countries in SE Asia like Singapore?

Also, not to be all pro-LKY or anything, but let’s face it, if it wasn’t for him and his swift thinking, no-corruption stand, would Singapore be where it would be today?

I know I complain a lot about the exams, our schooling life and lives as Singaporeans and all (I’m a student, ok, so sue me) but I think I would be complaining a hell lot more if I was a student in MYANMAR.

That would be ten times worse.

Wait. Student in Myanmar? Their schools still even functioning?

The point is, Singapore is way better-off. We complain so much about the hecticness of our lives and everything, but the way things are going, there’s only growth for Singapore. For Burma, I think there’s not exactly much of anything left, unless the junta can FREAKING grow up and let hold of the country that has fallen to ruins under their grasp.

Think of it this way:

A large kid, holding onto a red firetruck toy, is trying to figure out how to make the water hose accessory work. Along comes a girl, who knows how the hose works, but the kid is so furious at the girl trying to ’snatch’ what’s his, and he gets so paranoid, and he wants to the toy all to himself, that he smashes it on the ground to break it to pieces, just to prevent anyone else from touching it. Then he plays with the individual pieces and gets his fun from that.

Equate ‘kid’ with the junta, ‘fun’ with money, the ‘firetruck’ the country, the ‘pieces’ the divided people, and the ‘girl’, the National League of Democracy, with the ‘hose’ being governance, and you have, what I think, is a pretty summarized way of looking at this problem.

You can also see how childish it is.

Again, not pro-LKY, but the ‘kid’ in Singapore’s case, knew how the hose was to work in the first place, saving all the trouble once and for all.

The Burmese ‘kid’ should learn to really see the bigger picture. The people of Myanmar are living on about a dollar a day.

Something’s not right with that. Diseases are rampant, like malaria, and I’ll bet AIDS will soon come along too, because no one can deny that universal disease, and instead of handling all these problems, the junta just wants to stifle all the protesting, even when they KNOW the protests are for a reason, and they also squash out the Internet connection because Jim Carrey is pleading for the ban of arms shipments to Myanmar via YouTube.

This is so childish, it’s irrational.

It’s like they want the country to shut up. But they don’t realize, if they want the country to shut up, give them a good life, and they’ll shut up.

And Daw Aung San Suu Kyi? How long has she been stuck in her own house?!

I don’t think people out there actually know how amazing she is. She’s like an Asian version of Clinton, and less loud too.

If you’ve watched any one of her videos of her speeches to the people back when she was still free in 1989, you’ll be instantly impressed with her complete confidence, her complete competence in voicing out her ideas for the future and her policies for Myanmar, articulated in perfect English, and how calm and collected she is even when faced with so many problems.

If the junta didn’t behave like a grown spoilt kid, she would have taken over as Prime Minister-Elect, and then we wouldn’t be seeing floating monk bodies on the Yangon.

Come on. Killing monks?!

How low could those people have gotten?

As I’m writing this, my feelings have grown from plain distaste to downright disgust and disbelief.

I don’t think many Singaporeans care for the situation, because they feel it’s far away, and they have their jobs to worry about.

It’s been the same with Hurricane Katrina, and the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Too far away for us to experience how horrific the situations really are.

But I can almost feel with them. WE are doing OUR work because the Myanmar situation just is a situation that is so disjointed, because, thankfully, we had good governance that led us to the fore, allowing us now to work on carving better futures and lives, instead of worrying about how to stay alive feeding a family with one fucking dollar a day.

They say Singaporeans walk too fast.

I think, comparatively now, I don’t give a rat’s ass about the speed of our feet.

I think the Myanmar people will gladly take the Singaporean way of life anytime, compared to what’s going on over there.

And I think that we should be thankful for what we have, because we have it, whatever much we may have.

Finally, we should really show that we care. We need to speak out.

It’s the same with global warming, with all issues we feel we need to concern ourselves with, because it’s JUST NOT RIGHT.

Killing monks?!

That’s NOT RIGHT.

And if you claim yourself to be a Buddhist, or a Christian even, and you find yourself not caring about what’s going on, not caring about the deaths of innocent human lives, then I think you should really denounce your religion and go find the Devil or Satan or whatever because frankly, that’s where you belong.

But if you find yourself caring, know then at least, it’s NOT RIGHT, and then find a way to tell someone, to spread the news, be it on Facebook, or on your blogs, or writing emails to your community leaders for them to band together and bring together not just the people of Myanmar living in Singapore, but people of ALL religions (Buddhism, Christianity, ANYTHING) to speak out.

This is something bigger. Don’t be that little kid.

Top 10 Musicals of All Time

So previously I did a post on the best 10 movies of all time, at least in my opinion.

http://fineattitude.blogspot.com/2007/08/top-10-movies-of-all-time.html

Now it’s time to take it to the semi-related theme of best 10 musicals of all time, in my opinion, ranging from film adapted versions, to on-stage versions that I was lucky enough to catch, etc.

Since after all, 2006 and 2007 are known for the range of musicals, Hairspray, Dreamgirls, High School Musical, etc., two of which by the way, made it into my list.

If you haven’t caught the following musicals you HAVE to catch them, because the music is amazingly excellent, and the dancing and acting is such a tough thing to pull off, but the actors did their job well. Here we go!

10. Wicked
One of the most imaginative musicals of its time, Wicked takes its plot from The Wizard of Oz, restyling it to the witches’ point of view (I think you might have guessed that). It pokes out at corrupt government, and satirizes the good-evil fight by reversing the situation: The Wicked Witch of the West is really a misunderstood woman who was trying to strike out against the corrupt ‘witching’ politics.

I managed to catch a video version of its live run, and I was immediately impressed by the way the songs appealed to the children imagination of witches, yet bringing forth an adult point of view disguised within, much like how the Lilliputian part of Gulliver’s Travels can worm its way into children’s novels without the children knowing what the hell it was all about.

That’s subtlety, right there.

9. Beauty World
Perhaps-forgotten, but making its return to the stage in January 2008, and I’m definitely one of the people in line to catch this brilliant show brought into modern light.

Dick Lee wrote these tunes, and the title in itself extracts so much curiosity from a Singaporean.

A Singaporean musical could not get as good as Beauty World, with its historical context, touch of campiness, and the pure catchiness of the tunes. After all, “It’s cabaret, ichibo, cha-cha-cha!”

8. Little Shop of Horrors
A ginormous, growing plant with snapping jaws and flingy tendrils… something clearly out of a nightmare, or a good Stephen King novel with less finesse. I watched the 1986 film something back in this year, during one of the Holiday specials shown on Channel 5.

It sticks out in my mind so brilliantly, with my most favorite tune being “We’ll Have Tomorrow.” Notwithstanding, of course, that ever-growing monstrosity of green that would have Al Gore running in two seconds.

I also managed to catch the Singaporean edit with the Dim Sum Dollies and Hossan Leong, and although it didn’t quite live up to the expectation I had of the adaptation, I was impressed with their references to our country, which is clearly a plus. Plus Hossan Leong as Seymour is always funny.

7. Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge was arguably one of the forerunners of the musical genre in Hollywood, one of the first of the decade even, for it brought new life to musical films in 2001.

The thing about Moulin Rouge is how ‘pop’ it is. Usually musical films don’t carry a lot of pop with it, but this film explodes with all the pop sounds. “Lady Marmalade”, the original of Patti LaBelle and redone by Mya, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Lil’ Kim is the standout track, combining sexiness with a bit of tramp sluttiness to showcase the Moulin way of life. For me, the favorite was definitely “Come What May”, by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, who epitomized the concept of forbidden love and true devotion.

6. Rent
This show is so dark and morbid, it’s hard to find anything happy and warming about this, but one does have to try.

Imagine this scenario. A bunch of aspiring hopefuls of artists, artistes, and anything in between, ala American Idol auditionees (I refuse to use the word ‘wannabes’), living in a bad part of New York City, with drugs, AIDS, fights and deaths happening everyday. On top of it, this bunch of misfits can’t pay off their rent. Morose enough, but behind it all is a concept that attempts to show the real situation down in the worser communities, and to translate human emotion.

Who can forget the painful, heartwrenching, “Bohemia! Bohemia!” of “La Vie Bohemie”, one of my favorite songs of the musical? Of course, “Seasons of Love” ended on a good note, it and all of its “five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes.”

5. The Phantom of the Opera
Anything by Andrew Llyod Webber is clearly something you shouldn’t miss. The Phantom of Opera is a classic, with a right balance of mystery, love and action. I managed to catch the film version on Channel 5 sometime ago (again shown during one of those Holiday specials) and I managed to watch the stage version when it came to Singapore some time ago (my memory is very bad now).

The point was, perhaps the Phantom swinging down from the chandelier stuck out the most (as I’m sure you will all agree if you watched). Not any less impressive was the ending, for the film at least, the theatre was burned down, which was a really good representation of dashed dreams and destruction.

4. Hairspray
I didn’t watch the 1988 film version or the Tony Award-winning 2002 stage version, although I do have a couple of tracks from the 2002 piece. But I caught the 2007 one with John Travolta, Amanda Bynes, Nikki Blonsky, Queen Latifah and that seriously overhyped Zac Efron. I was immediately impressed with the meaning of the story, and how beautiful it was to convey such a great message through song.

Travolta was good, hamming it up and being all campy, just like Harvey Fierstein in the highly-lauded 2002 version, and I was surprised he didn’t make it more manly. But he did it fine, and afterward, when I caught clips of Fierstein’s performance, I was surprised at how different each actor portrayed Edna, but at the same time, how similar, with their reluctance to leave the house and to “Welcome to the 60’s”, by far my most favorite song from the show.

3. Dreamgirls
Multi-Academy Award nominated Dreamgirls is something everyone should catch. I haven’t caught the stage version, and I definitely wouldn’t want to, because the 2006 version set such a high standard I don’t want anything to bring it down. Jennifer Holliday may have done a good job, but it was Jennifer Hudson’s performance that brought the house down (and an Oscar to her too).

I felt Beyonce could have acted better at the start, because she kind of faded away, even for a lead actress role. Later on, she brought out her power, with a beautiful “Listen”. If anything, Dreamgirls ‘06 is notable just for Hudson’s powerhouse “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”, and Beyonce’s “Listen”. It was a pity Eddie Murphy didn’t take home Best Supporting Actor, although it could be said he didn’t perform up to his best abilities either. I did enjoy, though, his ultimate portrayal of humiliation at his final stage performance (the one where he pulled his pants down).

2. Chicago
2003’s prize-winner of Best Picture, Chicago is the kind of musical that sets itself at such a high standard it’s hard to find another musical to match up to it. No campiness in this one. No drag queens (maybe one or two at the club in disguise, when Velma is performing), and no sappy love storyline or storylines that’ll make you bawl.

Yeah, sure, there’s dreams for Roxie Hart, there’s dreams for Velma Kelly, but the ultimate point of this is to showcase how downright gritty and desperate the scene in Chicago during the 1930s were, with people killing for money and fame, and manipulating, and backstabbing (literally), and of course, “All That Jazz.”

1. The Sound of Music
Who would have thought this free musical of absolutely pure fun would create memorable tunes such as “Edelweiss” and “The Sound of Music”?

Although the film is clouded with a dark atmosphere of war and attempted grittiness, the exchange between Maria and Georg Ritter von Trap is fun and heartwarming, and the attempts of Maria to lighten up the kids of the household would prove to be lighthearted and light-spirited, something which would clearly stand out in the war-torn setting of the film.

Well-thought, then, for such a striking contrast, and of course, noted duly, for the yodelling which I enjoyed so much, and found given a modern twist in Gwen Stefani’s songs, pleasingly enough.

Definitely the pioneer of musicals, and one to watch without a doubt.

With the current revival and translation of old musicals to the modern context, getting into the song-and-dance Broadway mood would definitely be easy!

P.S. I can’t believe just HOW MUCH exams dictate our lives. Now that it’s all over, I find myself amazingly, supremely bored at home. Can you believe it? And earlier I was wishing I was bored. Something’s interestingly wrong here…

Born To Try

After today’s fiasco in tests for Maths and/or Chemistry, I have come to a very decisive conclusion about tests and exams: It’s useless to mug.

No, seriously. For all the teachers who read my blog, you probably must be tsk-tsking, shaking your head, or for the more-extreme ones, going “NOOOO!!!”

It’s true, I tell you.

Everything, I have come to realize, is inborn.

There’s no such thing as mugging for grades, just like there’s no such thing as learning to paint or learning to draw.

Either you got it, or you don’t.

Yesterday I spent the whole Sunday and a lot of Saturday furiously practicing Maths, scribbling away on paper, and I managed to complete a lot of questions and worksheets, thereby neglecting my Chemistry.

Today rolled around, and I found I still screwed up the Maths test despite all my practice.

You may say, “Maybe you didn’t practice hard enough” but I know my own problem.

I just couldn’t SEE it.

That vectors question. That circular measure question where you have to find CA. That trigonometric proving question.

All I couldn’t SEE.

It’s not a matter of practice. Cause when Mrs Seow came around to collect the papers, my question paper was upside down, and for some weird reason, I SAW how to do that circular measure question by drawing another triangle in the diagram.

It’s all about the SIGHT.

And because I practiced for Maths (ended up screwing it up anyway) I didn’t mug for Chem, and hence probably messed it up too, unless my natural IQ allowed me to pass, which I highly doubt, cos I know exactly how high my IQ is.

My mother always says, “Hard work always makes up for everything else.”

I was always skeptical of that, and today confirmed it. I believe now that no matter how hard you work, it’s all going to go down the drain unless you can SEE how the solution works, and how to get to the answer in the least steps possible.

I have the right word for that: Ruthless.

Ruthless people, as I read somewhere before, don’t care who or what is in the way. They go straight from Point A to Point B, and they win.

I guess I’m not ‘ruthless’, or ‘quick enough’ to SEE that fastest solution. For the proving question, I sat there for a good few minutes trying to see how to convert that tan (A+B) to the RHS answer.

I just couldn’t see it.

And I believe that no matter how much I did, I still wouldn’t have been able to see it.

So if that’s the case, why do we practice so hard? Why do we still work our asses off studying for tests?

Even in the working world, you can work as hard as you want, work your ass off, but eventually, the sexy chick who wears that low-cut dress to work every day is going to get that promotion, not you.

No one rewards hard work anymore. It’s all the ’smarts’, the ability to SEE how to get to the top the fastest.

To hell with hard work.


Apparently I was born to try, and trying is at most all I’ll ever do.

P.S. If someone is going to dispute me on this fact, teachers or friends, you’d better have the evidence to prove it. I honestly believe you all think this way too. There’s no way anyone could ever believe ‘practice makes perfect’ anymore.

P.P.S To all the students out there, this post is not telling you not to mug. You still gotta make the decision yourself. If you think you can still score by working your ass off, by all means do it.