Movie 2006.04.24 - The Italian Job

As with most Hollywood heist movies, the plot is a bit hard to believe. But somehow you try to see beyond that and go, "Wow, wouldn't it great if they actually pull it off?" I mean, a bunch of mini Minis racing against a battalion of motorcycles, armoured trucks, and a black helicopter in a Metro tunnel? But I'm getting ahead.

Movie is about a gang of thieves who did a daring heist in Venice and ran off with a safe full of gold bricks by blowing the floor under it. Steve (Edward Norton) and his henchmen pulled a double-cross on the group, killing team consultant John Bridger, taking the loot as his own, and leaving his friends for dead in an icy lake. In true Hollywood fashion, the guys survive and regroup to take down Steve, who's holed up in his Los Angeles fortress. The group recruits Bridger's daughter Stella, as she's an expert safe cracker. Stella manages to bait Steve, but he's no fool, and in no time, he's on to their plan. Instead of waiting around, he makes a run for it with all his gold stashed in one of three armoured truck. The good guys figured out which ones are the decoys and redirects the correct truck to a specific location (by creating massive traffic jam and controlling the traffic light system). Once in position, BOOM! They blast the street underneath the truck (just like in the Italian job). Stella cracks open the safe manually, and they make off with the gold in their Minis. Easy-peasy.

Movie 2006.04.23 - Gosford Park

Would've been easy to simply conclude that the butler did it, but this whodunit didn't make it easy for the viewers. The whole movie runs at 137 minutes. First half of the movie gives you a short introduction to the hundreds (I exaggerate) of characters - masters and servants. The murder takes place around the middle of the movie, then the rest is unraveling who the culprit is. The local police is called in, but the inspector's so incompetent, it's up to the audience to do the sleuthing.

If you're after a murder mystery, don't mind the tension between the masters and the maids. Forget about the petty rivalries among the English, Scots, and Americans. Gloss over who has an interest in whom and for what purposes. All you need to know is that Mrs. Wilson did it, and the son, too. She poisoned Sir William, so that by the time Robert walked in and stabbed his father, he's already dead. That makes Robert untouchable because there's no law against stabbing corpses. Ouch.

Movie 2006.04.22 - Ahobsal Insaeng (When I Turned Nine)

Another Korean tearjerker from the masters of the genre. This time involving schoolkids. Story (based on a best-selling novel by We Kee-cheul) is about a snooty newcomer from Seoul and her relationship with the other students. Most of the kids disliked Woo-rim's (Lee Se-young) pretentious ways, but their schoolyard leader Baek Yeo-min (Kim Seok) seems to think there's more than meets the eye. He defends and protects her whenever he can, much to the chagrin of his loyal supporters. As expected, there's lots of touchy-feely moments in the movie. You know how kids are when things don't go their way or when they get hurt or felt betrayed - they cry. It all leads up to the movie climax where the sassy outsider confesses in front of the class. That all her lies is a defense mechanism, her way of dealing with the death of her father - by pretending that he never passed away, still in America sending her all the nice presents she shows off in school. Her classmates felt so guilty about their nasty remarks and bullying, and it ended in one huge bawlfest. Woo-rim has decided to go back to Seoul with her mom to resume their normal lives. Yeo-min drops in unexpectedly at her house the night before her departure, declares his love for her, gives her a quick peck on the cheek, and runs off into the night. The next day, Woo-rim is gone for good. She leaves him with a letter, and a pair of sunglasses for his mom, who is blinded in one eye because of a factory accident. She has this to say, "To tell you the truth, I really liked you a lot...But everything I said and did came out the opposite of how I felt...I was thinking about what I wanted to give you as my present...and I found out who is the number one person on your list. It was your mom. At that moment, it didn't bother me that I was your number two." How poignant. If I'm the Mom, that's the kind of daughter-in-law I'd want.

Word of warning though. There's a bit of violence in this movie. Apparently, Korean teachers and mothers think that the only way to discipline a misbehaving child is to knock him hard on the head or whip him with a reed.

Half of The Lesley Garrett Gift Collection

I normally don't visit the record shops because CDs in Australia are unreasonably expensive. I prefer to get my music over the Internet. (Ahem.) I passed by a Sanity shop and went in for a look. Surprisingly, I was able to find two Lesley Garrett CDs in the bargain bin. Quite a bargain at $1 per disc, if you ask me. Found out later that they're part of a 4-disc set called The Lesley Garrett Gift Collection. A pity I didn't find the other two discs.

Talking about sopranos, I quite like Lesley Garrett, better than Kiri Te Kanawa. If you're new to Lesley Garrett, try listening to her version of The Laughing Song (from Die Fledermaus) and I Want to Be a Prima Donna (a.k.a. Art is Calling for Me (from The Enchantress)).

Salsa Night

The dance, not the sauce.

Our company is kind enough to sponsor salsa lessons from Salsa Republic to make us well-rounded employees. That's eight sessions of salsa for only $10. I don't usually dance, and I don't usually pass up good bargains either, so I signed up.

My first salsa night wasn't too bad. My colleague told me beforehand that the dance is hot, whatever she means by that, but I don't find it so. As to be expected, the girls outnumbered the guys. Our instructor asked all the boys to stand in a circle while the girls rotate. At the end of the night, I've learned the basic salsa step, the rhumba (side-step), and the open. Not bad for $1.25.

A Day in Kiama

First thing that comes to mind when one mentions Kiama is the famed blowhole. Actually, there's lots of other good things to see in this town. Strolling along Collins Street, you'll find lots of nice cafes and interesting shops selling handicrafts, souvenir items, antiques, collectibles, and clothes. We didn't buy anything, but had a great time browsing through what's on offer.

Today was not a good day to come to Kiama because we're not getting as many water spouts as I wanted to. Yeah, the wind is there and strong enough, but it's blowing in the wrong direction. To get a nice big spout, the waves must be pushing straight into the mouth of the blowhole.

Not happy with the blowhole's performance, we decided to visit the less-known Little Blowhole, where we're told the spouts are more frequent. Got lost a bit going round and round Tingira Crescent, but we finally found it. No much luck here either. The Little Blowhole is really small. You can even stand over the actual hole. A bunch of rowdy tourists formed a circle around the blowhole, waiting for it to do its thing. They waited in vain, and left after a few minutes.

Next, we went down to see the Cathedral Rocks near the Bombo Headland. The thing looks good in the tourist guide maps, but not from where we're standing. I'm guessing we approached it from the wrong direction. Oh, well.

Movie 2006.04.06 - Mutant Aliens

An animated film that is definitely not for kids. Very weird and strange movie. Story is about a space mission that was sabotaged by the selfish Dr. Frubar. Miraculously, a lone astronaut (Earl Jensen) escapes certain death in outer space, becomes king consort in nose planet, and returns to earth together with his alien offsprings - mutant versions of a pig, a worm, a fish, an alligator, etc. Together with his daughter Josie and her horny boyfriend Darby, they have their vengeance on Dr. Frubar, and the story ends. The plot seems innocent enough. However, writer and director Bill Plympton manages to put in a lot of graphic sex scenes, excessive violence, and course language.

Movie 2006.04.06 - Garden State

Garden State is the story of a young man by the name of Andrew Lagerman, who has been away from his New Jersey hometown for a decade after being estranged from his family, who comes back to attend his Mom's funeral. Left numb by years and years of taking lithium and other anti-depressants, he found love during his short stay in the Garden State (New Jersey). I'm sure a lot of the twentysomethings out there can relate to the movie - living life but not knowing why they are living it.

This is one of those films that you either love or hate. To me, it's not tooo bad, but maybe a bit over-rated. Better than the average fare though. There's no sex or violence in the movie - just extraordinary characters living their extraordinary lives. Lots of memorable moments, both funny and sad:

• Andrew lying on his white bed in his white room listening to the answering machine as his Dad informs him of his mother's death
• the guide dog humping Andrew's leg and Sam (Natalie Portman) telling him to kick the dog in the balls to make him stop
• Sam takes Andrew to her room and does her crazy dance, something "totally original that has never been done before in this location and will never be copied again throughout the rest of human existence"
• Sam, Andrew, and Mark (Peter Sarsgaard) in their black garbage bag raincoats, standing on top of a park crane, and screaming their hearts out into a bottomless gorge
• Sam and Andrew in the big bathtub where his mom drowned, and he reminisces about her

Happy Birthday, Albert!

Yes, it's my birthday every April Fool's. No joke!

Got some nice "presents" for my birthday. There's the Midnight Concerto 10-CD box of classical music, volumes 1 to 4 of The Thousand Nights and One Night as translated by Mardrus & Mathers, and a big stuffed Elmo.