I just saw Lust,Caution

... and I have to say, it is the hottest Chinese movie that has ever passed through these arguably tired 33-year-old Malaysian Chinese eyes.

Saw it, incidentally, on PayPerView... in its NC-17 rated version. Ang Lee did an excellent job, and not being the most subtle of persons, I don't always 'get' the beauty of the subtlety in his movies.

Much has been written about the movie, which stars Chinese newcomer Tang Wei (very impressive debut, that) and Tony Leung who gets better as he gets older. And oh my word, don't ever say a 40-something Chinese man isn't attractive, because he smoked throughout his performance in the movie in that quietly intense, almost ermmm dissolute way. Leung, being in show business for decades, knows how to court the camera, and when he stares out through a curling whorl of grey cigarette smoke, he thoroughly sizzles.

They can say this new star or that new hunk heats up the screen. But nothing feels like watching a hell of a movie and thinking it is celluloid lovemaking with your clothes on. The closest comparison to this kind would be some of the movies Jeremy Irons made (not the horrible Die Hard/Eragon mainstream stuff, but more like Deadringers, etc)


On other things, as again, the long silences on this blog have been pathetic but in part, I felt, excusable. The truth? Many happenings on many front on this end, but things are getting resolved and in a very happy manner. More news to come... maybe next week or maybe next month.

An issue about semantics

Before I begin, I'm slowly reading through this book, written by a fairly well known atheist. I'm not a non-believer, but would like to think that I am a questioner and that in any faith, every individual owns and should exercise the right to question. The process of question (as opposed to doubt and criticism) may not be a comfortable one but it may just lead to a higher state of consciousness and a greater level of understanding not only about the faith itself but what position the believer/follower occupies in that grand scheme of things.

I had read in a Malaysian blog that they had to order it in electronic format. Now, I'm not sure if this is a banned book in Malaysia (most pornographic, anti government, neo-leftist, anti moslem tomes make the cut into THAT particular list ... and part of it may include atheist texts) or not, but since I now live in GA, I do have access to a whole lot of stuff (for free, nonetheless!) that I take a lot of advantage of.

Christopher Hitchens does make very sound arguments about whether God made man or man made god (spoiler: he proposed the latter) and went on to illustrate how so many modern religions have fallacies in them. I'm born a Buddhist and I may never convert to anything else in my lifetime, but it doesn't meant I can't keep my mind open. And by gosh/God, what this book can do to your mind. Hugely recommended!!!!

On other reading news, I finished and thoroughly enjoyed this one:

Done in the best Stokerian tradition, nonetheless. But maybe a bit spicier than Bram's version!

On to the semantic thing... I'm writing this novel (stuck in Chapter two and quagmired in Writer's Mud at present). I had the vague idea that it would be set in sort-of-ancient China and it would be a mix of realism of today's relationships, a touch of magic realism and a pinch of fantasy. In other words, p retty much not belonging to any genre at all. Within that framework itself lies new opportunities and new limits. Here's me now: not really happy about those new limits, the largest of which is trying to explain concepts in a language that makes no/lesser reference to modern culture but attempts to convey SOME idea of plot and quality of expression at the same time.

Very confuzzling. I'm gyring and gimbling in the wabe. (sorry, Mr L. Carroll).

oh yeah

I am writing once more.

waaaahooooo!!!!

Bad obsession

Well, folks, I'm here

to spread a little Christmas cheer

(more like humbuggery)

Here's a quick self-test (to anyone who's reading). Which of the people in these pictures do you recognise first? (or recognise per se)

Practically anyone who's opened a magazine, newspaper, has an Internet connection or turned on the television knows the couple in the second picture are (l-r, of course) Kevin Federline aka K-Fed and his more famous wife, Britney Spears.

Not everyone who saw the pictures may recognise the first picture: Ben Bernanke.

What's sadder is, fewer people may know what Bernanke does. (pssst, if you went errr, he's the chairman of the US Federal Reserve i.e. the boss of the central bank of USA. I'm honestly trying to be informative, not condescending).

Of course, Bernanke is not as famous as THIS guy (yet??) :

Caption: (yes, I had to do it) Former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan.

So a thought occured to me over the past couple of days. They don't normally occur, and when they do, have the frequency of a wet fart -- meaning it's uncomfortable, other people may sometimes notice, and has the effect of a rather bad pong.

Malaysians, Americans, or just a lot of people/growing numbers of people have been obsessed with celebrities i.e. people that really do not matter or have the most infitesimal effect on their lives.

And while that is happening, they are closing themselves to things that do. Now I'm not trying to be some kind of intellectual supremacist, god knows I'm barely equipped to take that stance.


Okay, so I did a check on Msn.com about what's hot in Hollywood. Among these: Katherine Heigl got married (Yay for Kate! I think she is a rather nice lady esp since I saw Knocked Up, so I'm happy for her). Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (further research revealed that she is wife number three, and he is about twice her age, and they had some baby together) have some sort of drama/problems. Lindsay Lohan continues to flirt with jail. Britney Spears' (yes, that media-embattled singer that no one can seem to get rid of) sister (age sixteen) is p-r-e-g-g-e-r-s.

I'm willing to go out and say that's the kind of stuff that makes people want to pick up the mags, papers, surf onto the Internet. I saw it with my own eyes when the paper I used to work for began to have a clear shift of focus (1 full page each day in full colour on Hollywood, Hong Kong, Bollywood and local Tinseltown). The sad thing is, people probably gravitate to these pages first. People rather watch about what the hot new movie star is wearing (or isn't) over floods, recessions, etc.

Come on, folks. What matters more? That Britney Spears lost custody or that interest rates on your next house may be coming down? That her sister is pregnant or that it may be more difficult to get a job/change jobs next year.

Consider what affects people more. News of drink and drugs found in a starlet's car, or that oil prices are rising so high that it's a) more expensive to drive b) more expensive to buy anything because the cost to transport that anything just went up.

Why is it that people are more interested to see which actress is losing weight/gaining weight over what's happening to people (from all sides of the coin) in, say, the Middle East? (or anywhere else in the world)



Wake up, people. And have a merry #$%#$% Christmas.

Some thoughts on Christmas

Picked part of this off a BB message I posted.

Well, I can't say I celebrate Christmas because it was not and still isn't my religion. I do remember vaguely when I was very young that there was a tree (plastic... they didn't have real Christmas trees in Malaysia) and we did do the present exchange thing for a few years. I remember it was a cool time, even if I grew up to learn that real trees have a fragrant smell to them.

And that the little Made in China tree ornaments like shiny plastic balls and dinky little 'gift boxes' that you hang on the tree were special. (Later, I would see more elegant ornaments adorning homes in America and Europe). I remember the tree had tinsel and lights all around it, and that my grandpa always carried me high enough to put the angel on top of the tree.

Later when I grew up, graduated and started working, Christmas became a season that I had to work through (at the newspaper, we were allowed to take off for a few weeks for only one festive holiday a year, so I picked Chinese New Year). In my 20s, Christmas was really all about parties and making merry.I knew that something was in the air when I turned 30.

That something was going to change in my life -- and it was with that same sense of hurmmm ... prescience? that I eventually decided to start making actual goals for living my life. It was around that time that I met R and the rest is history

Well, my Christmas of 2004 did change.I was preparing to fly out to California to spend some time with him my last assignment for 2004 was to cover... a Christmas party.

It wasn't just the kind of party with food, presents and streamers. It was held in an obscure little dive in one of the worst parts of the city, rife with crime, pick pockets, drug addicts. The red light area was a short walk away.One of the local churches whose primary work was to feed the homeless and unwanted from the streets each day (I mean if you talk about the grimy living conditions, endless drudgery and sheer misery, this was probably it) ... threw a party for people they thought deserved not to be forgotten.

So I went to the party to look for a story to write and truth to tell, since I was flying off to San Francisco the next day, I wasn't really keen to work so late. Well, I walked through the doors to find the party in full swing. Yep, there were homeless, druggies, tranvestites, street kids, orphans and the church volunteers. It really did open my eyes, because everyone made a real effort to spread some cheer around. Of course there were many hymns and "praise the lords" said, and the church said that they spent their funds on the daily feeding so there weren't any presents.

But, as the pastor told them, Christmas wasn't about presents or a tree (though they had a tree), and that it was a time for sharing and giving (or something ... I wasn't really paying too much attention), and that it was about spending time with people who were important to you because times like those are precious and should not be put to waste. And how true it is, too.I guess that was the most memorable Christmas I ever had.

Happy Holidays, everyone! I'll be back with some more books and empty yatterings.

The Witty and The well... Not Really Good

Tomorrow is going to be Library Day again, and a bunch of stuff goes back for about two weeks (I think, as it's closed over Christmas).

Out of this, a bunch of graphic novels are going back together with Sharon Kay Penman's Time and Chance. It's not because it's a bad book ... the whole Thomas/Henry/Eleanor of Aquitaine story, as it turns out, comes in a few books and this was certainly not the first one. Reading this first would be like reading the Harry Potter (and yes, I've read them all) series backwards. Worth a try, but why waste time?

Also, there's this doozy to return:

This reading experience was like a reminder not to do certain sequels. The Star Wars Episodes I, II and III was a great example.

In the original Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell made Scarlett O'Hara tempestuous, strong, selfish, begrudging, opinionated and pretty bitchy (but oh, what a bitch she made). I think my greatest complaints about Alexandra Ripley's version of Scarlett -- yes, yes, I know they are two different writers, and hence, produce two very different characters -- were that

a) she (Scarlett O'Hara)was a definite wimp, compared to the catty, clawy MM version and that in itself took a lot of flavour out of the sequel. Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett would never get so weepy and clingy. MM's character studies were sharp, unrelenting and unforgiving.

b) the book just meanders from beginning to end

(spoiler alert!!!)
And yes, she gets him in the end. Which was probably the whole rationale behind the sequel.

Now this one, on the other hand...

.... gets my five star rating.

Billed as the 21th century Victorian Novel, this book is about the tiered society in 1800s London, dealing with pride, lust, family ties and ties of another kind. It's a world of the upper classes - marked, if not by money problems, by the unsaid problems... and a whole load of Victorian (sic, hahahaha) guilt.

And also a world of the lower classes -- workmen, prostitutes, tavern ladies, madams.

And of course, these worlds meet and clash and ... well I won't go into it here now.

I think much has been written about this book, so I won't go into too much detail (other than the fact that I'm still about 120 pages in and can't offer a half decent comment, let alone review)

The best part about it? Faber's clever, almost sinuous, and sly prose -- it makes you fall in love with the written word all over again.

I gotta go and eat some grits.

A sample birth announcement

A very dear friend of mine has just given birth to her firstborn. Welcome to this world, P! May you grow up tall and strong and happy!

She mentioned birth announcements, which is really a new thing to me but Joyce tells me it's actually a popular practise. Since we're about to receive these birth cards in the mail, and I'm curious as to what they are.

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

(insert Dad's name here)

&

(insert Mom's name here)

would like to announce the arrival of

(insert baby's name here)

to this world on (insert appropriate date)

(baby's name) was born to the sounds of (Mom's name) moaning and screaming the occasional obscenity, mainly at (Dad's name) for allowing him to inject what is at first, miniscule and microscopic, and in the process of growing has induced fits of bloating, strange appetite urges, regular puking, hating all your old clothes, varicose veins, and ultimately the result attempts to squeeze out of a tiny little peehole.

(Mom's name) would like to inform you the experience is like trying to push a bowling ball through your nostril, and (Dad's name) needs to buy a carton of Trojans to last the next few years.

Congratulations to us!

And now, to start working on the college fund...