Movie 2005.03.29 - Shaun of the Dead

Another funny movie from the Brits. It's interesting how each country has its own brand of humour. Japanese/Koreans tend to be slapstick and overacting, and use facial and vocal expressions a lot. Filipino humor tends to be low-brow. French comedy is funny, but I can't figure out why. I'm not sure if Stephen Chow represents Chinese humour - but that guys is LOL funnee.

Anyway, story is about Shaun and Ed who wake up and find that the whole neighborhood turned into zombie land. On their way to rescuing Shaun's Mom and girlfriend (two different people), they get to bash and maim and run over a lot of zombies. But the numbers are against them. One by one - his stepfather, his Mom, his mates, his best friend Ed are either devoured or bitten/converted by zombies, while they wait it out in the pub - Shaun's great idea. The military came in at the last minute and blew away all the zombies. Actually, not all the zombies. The leftovers were recruited as cheap labor, and Shaun managed to retrieve zombie Ed, so he has someone to play video games with.

Humour, blood and gore, decapitations, action, suspense, drama, romance, etc. in 90 minutes. Not too bad.

Movie 2005.03.27 - Kopps

It's always hard to choose what movie to watch on TV, escpecially when you've never heard of them before. After watching the first scene of Swedish movie Kopps, I'm fairly confident this is a good one. Well-dressed man with moustache sitting on a restaurant dinner table. A lady later joined him. The lady immediately barraged him with questions. She decided he's not her type, and left even before the guy had a chance to order.

Jacob (pronounced Yah-kob) is actually is a police officer in a sleepy Swedish town, where crime is yet to be invented. Because of the zero crime rate, the whole police force (4 police officers, the dispatcher, plus the police chief) spends most of its time eating sausage lunches, playing poker with old ladies (and losing), renovating the local grocery store, fooling around the station, and yes, patrolling the streets.

One day, another police officer called Jessica (pronounced Yessica) drops by to say that their station will be closed down due to budget cuts. Jessica turns out to be girl Jacob met at a bar last night, while he was waiting for his date. (Clueless Jacob assumed Jessica was his mystery date when he walked in the bar, and proceeded to chat her up, so it was a funny sight when his real date turned up.) Anyway, to stop the station from being closed, Jacob and his partner started committing petty crimes to boost the statistics - bribing the local drunkard to steal from the grocery, simulating shoot-outs in the woods, destroying cars, burning down the sausage shop, etc. When the other police officers found them out, they were outraged. "Where are going to have our lunch now?!"

Benny the warfreak Cop decides to do one better and stages a kidnapping involving his neighbor's kid and the drunkard (again). Everything was proceeding quite smoothly with Benny rushing through the woods and barging into the kidnapper's shack by himself. The boy was freed, and the "kidnapper" took him instead. That's when things started going wrong. The dispatcher called in the SWAT team because he thought the kidnapping is for real. Jacob sneaks into the shack to relay the news. A horde of SWAT cops storms into the woods. Apparently, Benny wasn't expecting this one because it's not part of the script. Jacob swapped clothes with the drunkard, and uses Benny as hostage, then drives off with the getaway car. Actually, it was Benny who did the driving. He was so pumped up, he drove like the action heroes in the Hollywood movies, even though nobody was chasing them. He manages flip over the car while making a sharp turn. Lo and behold! Benny is actually balding, a fact which even Jacob doesn't know. At this point, Benny goes melodramatic, crying about his lack of girlfriend, lack of hair, etc. etc.

The handcuffed Jacob and Benny makes a run for it, with the SWAT hot on their heels. Suddenly, Benny got a stomach ache and has to go right then and there. It was a funny sight when they were discovered by everyone. Benny with his wig askew, crouched and straining with his pants down; Jacob stooping a bit because of the handcuffs, trying to avoid the smell.

Regardless of the team's efforts, the police station still had to be shut down. Jessica tore up the report she made to spare everyone involved the embarrassment. Last scene shows the guys running a "Police Pizza" operation, and doing quite well. (Volvos make nice pizza delivery cars.)

Book 2005.03.13 - The Bluest Eye

Finally finished reading Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. (Toni Morrison is winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature.) A sticker on the front cover announces that this book is a selection of Oprah's Book Club. Wow, no wonder this book is good. (Ahem.) The book is pretty thin, about half an inch, but it's not the kind of book that you speed read. First heard of Toni Morrison from a book club magazine when her book Love came out.

The story is pretty simple - incest in a sleepy town and how people react to it. Eleven-year old Pecola Breedlove is ugly and poor. Victimized by her own father, she prays that she'll have the blondest hair and the bluest eye, so that her world will become different. Most of the book is devoted to character development. You can almost imagine in your mind's eye each of the characters and how they look. The author is so good with words. Read the following passages from The Bluest Eye, and you'll know what I mean.

"We in this colony took as our own the most dramatic, and the most obvious, of our white master's characteristics, which were, of course, their worst. In retaining the identity of our race, we held fast to those characteristics most gratifying to sustain and least troublesome to maintain. Consequently, we were not royal but snobbish, not aristocratic but class-conscious; we believed authority was cruelty to our inferiors, and education was being at school. We mistook violence for passion, indolence for leisure, and thought recklessness was freedom. We raised our children and reared our crops, we let infants grow, and property develop. Our manhood was defined by acquisitions. Our womanhood by acquiescence. And the smell of your fruit and the labor of your days we abhorred."

"All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us. All of us - all who knew her - felt so wholesome after we cleaned ourselves on her. We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor. Her inarticulateness made us believe we were eloquent. Her poverty kept us generous. Even her waking dreams we used - to silence our own nightmares. And she let us, and thereby deserved our contempt. We honed our egos on her, padded our characters with her frailty, and yawned in the fantasy of our strength. And fantasy it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good, but well behaved. We courted death in order to call ourselves brave, and hid like thieves from life. We substituted good grammar for intellect; we switched habits to simulate maturity; we rearranged lies and called it truth, seeing in the new pattern of an old idea the Revelation and the Word. She, however, stepped over into madness, a madness which protected her from us simply because it bored us in the end."

Dummy for a Dummy

Ikea is having a 60% clearance sale. As we just moved house, we're on the prowl for new stuff to buy. I always feel like a kid inside a toy store whenever I go in an Ikea store. There's lots of cool stuff you don't really need, but you just want to have. Good thing my sisters were there to keep me in check.

When they weren't looking, I grabbed a Gestalta artist's dummy. It's a wooden doll with movable joints for the arms, legs, torso, and neck, so you can make it pose it lots of different ways. My sisters can't understand why I would want such a dummy, and were strongly suggesting I drop it. For such important things, you just have to stand your ground.

Another Walk in the Clouds

Not satisfied with my trip up the skybridge of the Petronas Twin Towers, a colleague and I decided to give the Menara KL (KL Tower) a visit. It opens until 10pm, so we went there after work. The place is not that easy to find. It is visible from almost everywhere in the city, but to access it you have to walk along a narrow side road. Best option is to get off Rajah Chulan station. (If you look at the map, it is closer to Bukit Nanas, but trust me on this one.) When you get off the station, walk along Jalan Sultan Ismail, turn left at Jalan Ramlee, then right at Jalan Puncak. Just follow the winding path and you'll end up at the base of the Menara KL.

Menara KL is the tallest structure in South-East Asia, the tallest single standing concrete structure in the world, 421 meters above the ground, 515 meters above sea level. Entrance fee to the observation deck is RM 15. When you get to the lobby area, look up and admire the glass ceiling arranged in the traditional Islamic form of the "Muqarnas". Artisans from Iran were specially called in to work on the domed ceiling. The design illustrates the seven layers of the sky with sun rays shining from the middle - representing the human journey for perfection in life.

The Tower Shaft has 22 levels, while the Tower Head has 6 levels. The entire Tower Head is clad in glass (double-glazed with gas infilled) arranged in the traditional Islamic form of the "muqarnas". First level is the observation platform, while the next features the revolving Restoran Berputar Seri Angkasa. There are four high-speed lifts gets you from the lobby to the observation deck 276 meters above in just 60 seconds. The entrance fee includes a multi-language audio tour of Kuala Lumpur's city skyline from 12 locations of the Observation Deck. No tour guide; you're given an mp3 player where you key in the location code to hear a description of that section of the skyline. There are also some fixed binoculars around.

The 360-degree view of the city at night is spectacular. I wasn't able to get sharp pictures because I don't have a tripod, and the glass reflects internal light. My colleague with his 120x zoom Handycam is having a field day.

To the Batu Caves, Robin!

I could've easily taken a cab to the Batu Caves, but instead I decided to take the bus, as the locals would do. I've been commuting on buses back in Manila, but this is not as easy as it sounds. For one, I don't know the language, and second, I don't know the place. I took the train from KL Sentral to Pasar Seni (Central Market) station, and from there I walked about looking for the bus stop for 11D. My research on the Internet tells me the bus stop is near Bangkok Bank, but 15 minutes later I still don't see any 11D bus passing by. I asked a lady storekeeper nearby, and she was kind enough to tell me that the 11D has already been discontinued. Better for me to catch the 69 bus.

I moved on to a plaza with a short clock tower sandwiched between two HSBC branches, and waited for my 69 bus. I didn't see any coming, so I asked one of the bus drivers waiting there which bus is going to Batu Caves. He pointed to the bus in front of him. Must be my lucky day. I thanked him, and proceeded to board bus number.....26. Hey, something must be wrong here. I got off the bus, just in time to see the bus driver drive off with an amused look on his face. Well, I may be a tourist, but I'm no dummy.

Bus 69 eventually came. I'm sure this is the right one because a lot of other foreigners are queuing up. The bus is beat-up and dingy, but at least it's airconditioned. You have to give the driver the exact fare because they don't give change. One thing I noticed is that the locals don't their seats to the elderly. I gave my seat to one and ended up standing for 30 minutes all the way to Batu Caves.

First thing you see when you get to Batu Caves is the imposing 272-step stairway that leads up to the mountaintop. Next are the macaque monkeys that seem to be everywhere. You can buy bananas and peanuts from the nearby shops to get them to approach you. Batu Caves is made up of three main limestone caves (400 meters long and 100 meters high) and some smaller ones. Inside are shrines for the Hindu gods. Once a year, the Thaipusam festival (honoring the son of Shiva) is held here, which draws as many as 800,000 devotees and visitors. People carry heavy kavadis and pierce themselves with metal hook and skewers, as a form of penance or sacrifice.

A Walk in the Clouds

Going up to the Petronas Twin Towers is free-of-charge, but you still need to get tickets. There's only a limited number of tickets being issued per day, and they run out pretty fast. Last tour is at 4:30pm, and public access to the Towers is closed by 5pm.

I was expecting the ticket office to be somewhere within the Suria Shopping Center at the base of the towers, but it's actually at the lower level of Tower 2. I got there around 11:30am, and there's already a long queue of people, mostly foreign tourists. Good thing I managed to get myself into the 4:15pm batch.

Visitors are given a colour-coded pass to identify members of a batch. Then, we have to go through security checks and metal-detecting doors, just like those in the airports. While waiting for the others to come down, we were ushered into a theaterette where a short movie gives an introduction to the Petronas Towers. Intelligent building, an engineering marvel, 88-storey main towers, 44-storey annexes, 58.4-metre double-deck skybridge at levels 41 and 42, 452 metres in height, 65,000 sq. metres of stainless steel cladding, 77,000 sq. metres of vision glass, 160,000 cubic metres of concrete in the superstructure, 32,500 tonnes of reinforced concrete under each tower, etc.

Our high-speed lift (one floor per second) took us to the skybridge level, then we were let loose. It wasn't as spectacular as I expected. It's just a glass-and-steel bridgeway, which gives you a good view of the city. And close-ups of the sides of the buildings. You can't take very good pictures though because the glass reflects a bit. Apparently, that's the highest you can go up the Petronas Towers. Next thing we know, we're back on the ground floor.

Note: The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from April 15th, 1996 until October 17th, 2003 when Taipei 101 (Financial Center) was topped out at 508m (1676 ft).

Next Impression of KL

On the train ride to KL Sentral, I noticed that construction seems to be going on everywhere - new highways and roads, new high-rises, etc. Surprisingly, the whole place is surrounded by rubber trees and vegetation.

People drive way beyond the stated speed limits, and the road signs make little sense at all (at least to me). People change lanes whenever they want, and always at the last possible limit. Wearing of seatbelts doesn't seem to be mandatory. Negotiating roundabouts is a scary affair because it's a free-for-it. I've heard the taxi drivers don't issue receipts. If you look like a foreigner, there's a high chance you'll be taken for a ride (literally). Best to negotiate a price before getting in the cab.

Things here are pretty cheap. In some cases, even cheaper that those in Manila. A Big Mac meal with medium fries and medium Coke (never Pepsi), including the Big Mac of course costs about MYR 8, approximately PHP 115 or USD 2.1 or AUD 2.7 or SGD 3.4 or EUR 1.6. (I hope I didn't miss anybody.) Fake DVDs at MYR 10 for 3. Short trips on the train or bus is only about MYR 2. Meals at the local hawker center is about MYR3. I could learn to like this place.

First Impression of Kuala Lumpur

When the plane touched down, and I walked into the airport, I had a sudden feeling like I was back in Manila. And that's not a compliment.

The weather is hot and humid - not KL's fault. The moment people got to the arrival area, everyone rushed to the doors of the waiting monorail called the Aerotrain, which will take them to the immigration area. I go "What's the rush?" The KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) is big and new. Doesn't anybody want to stop and look around for a while? Later, I found out why. By the time I got to immigration, there's a long long queue. The early birds are milling around the baggage conveyor belt already. The immigration counter people are not smiling, either.

There are two exits - one for Goods to Declare, the other for No Goods to Declare. Nobody was manning either of the exits. People naturally went for the obvious choice. I knew I should've smuggled some bad medicine or diamonds or exotic birds or whatever it is people smuggle.

There were some official-looking guys trying to get foreigners to book airport taxi. They're not fooling me - this guy's a veteran from Manila. I went straight to the KLIA Express train booth. 75 kilometers in 28 minutes - non-stop to KL Sentral. I asked the lady how much are the tickets.
One-way or round-trip?
Round trip (of course).
That would be 70 ringgits.
(Hands over cash.)
How much is a one-way ticket then?
35 ringgits.
Ah, so.

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur.