tsewei’s blog

Sin City has been showing here in the US for a week. It has got to be the coolest thing around and I have got to watch it!!! (I’ve only seen the trailer and heard my classmate’s review). I’m so excited about it!

Ok, so why do I think it’s so cool?

1. It’s in black and white, punctuated by burst of colors (like blood red, and yellow) at some parts, giving it a really dramatic look. (I just have this thing for black and white )

2. It does not strive to be realistic. It’s a comic book story, and it stays that way. It looks exactly like how comics look like - bold lights, dark shadows and dramatic scenes.

3. It’s got really cool actors in it!! Bruce Willis, Benicio del Toro (loved him ever since I watched Snatch), Clive Owen (loved his acting in Closer). And Gilmore Girl’s Alexis Bledel has a small role in it! And for the guys, there’s always Jessica Alba (she plays a stripper, and she pole dances — that’s great incentive for catching the movie even if you don’t like comic adaptations )

Ok, me trying to explain it here is useless. Go watch the trailer !! And you’ll know what I mean.

From what I see from the trailer, I’m guesing that some people might be criticizing the film for degrading women (yes, they are all rather provocatively-dressed and basically involved in roles that aren’t exactly ‘empowering’ in feminist view) or the overt violence, but frankly I don’t really care. The cinematography and visual artistry excites me enough already!

Can’t wait to catch it!
*highly excited*

Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything.

updated at 1.21am:
Just found out that Sin City opens in Malaysia in June. Which means I’ll get to go watch it with my darling au yong when I’m back from the US!!! woohooo!

Saw a piano concert at Ithaca College’s Ford Hall. Pianist Yundi Li was performing.

And he was excellent. I was very much enthralled by his playing — his expression, and his technique, everything.

He started the concert with a Mozart piece. Sonata No. 10 in C Major, K. 330. It was beautiful. I always got frustrated whenever I play Mozart ’cause it’s so0o hard to play it correctly with just the right touch in the tone. But Yundi Li’s performance was perfect. Wait, more than perfect.

And he played Chopin’s Grande Polonaise from Op. 22!! I love that piece, and needless to say, it was yet another flawless performance.

The best was in the end, he gave an encore performance, and he played a ‘classicized” version of a popular chinese folk song. I can’t remember what song it was, but I’m damn sure it’s chinese and it was a popular folk tune (or something like that). Playful, cute, yet moving at parts. Lovely! yay!

He’s quite a successful pianist — only 23 (only 1 year older than me! and what am I doing with my life?) and he’s been playing all around the world. wow. *respect*

Wonder how the college managed to get him to come perform in lil’ Ithaca. And I only paid ten bucks as a student. Definitely worth all that I paid, and more.

8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) by Federico Fellini is one of the most charming movies I’ve ever seen.

Made in 1963, 8 1/2 is an Italian film about a director who’s lost his inspiration to make his next film after coming off his previous success. In it, he deals with his own personal issues, through vivid scenes of fantasies and childhood recollections.

Symbolism is everywhere in the film, which makes it all the more interesting and fun to watch, trying to catch the layers of meaning underneath the film’s surface. The fantasies, dreams and memories are really classic examples of Freud’s psychoanalytic theories. It’s like watching a psychological internal struggle going on.

And it’s in black and white. All the more charming.

I was hoping to get the DVD copy of the film. Unfortunately, it’s only available in region 1 format — which means I can’t watch it with my DVD player back at home ‘coz Southeast Asia is region 3. Sigh. So disappointing. Was all pumped up about shopping for it on Amazon or something.

oh well. But I really love this. Anyone who can find this in Singapore or Malaysia, you MUST tell me about it ok??

Updated: decided to put up a picture of the film.
o0oh must not forget to mention its cinematography. Excellent I tell you. All the surrealistic images (almost-circus-like) really blends reality with his fantasies. A truly delightful film. And I’d recommend this to EVERYONE!!

sigh. I feel such pain.

My laptop is injured.

FoR no Reason, the letter ‘R’ on my laptop keyboard came undone, hanging loosely (on what I don’t know). And I had such trouble typing my essay just now (and this blog entry as well).
sigh.

I’ll have to get a separate keyboard for now. Don’t think I can survive typing my final papers for 5 subjects at the end of the month with a defective ‘R’ on my keyboard. Au yong helped me found one online that costs USD5.95. Thanks, dear. Guess I’ll get that later.

sigh. I didn’t do anything and it came off! :(
My poor lappie-top.
Can feel its pain everytime I press the letter R. (like Right now).
*hugs lappie-top*
*sob*

Today’s the first Sunday of April, and from today US is now observing daylight saving time , where time will be shifted forward by an hour.

At 2AM, I promptly took all my clocks and watches and set them forward to 3AM.

Suddenly, my world just leaped from 1.59AM to 3.00AM.
O_0 I just lost an hour!!

*tick tock tick tock — the instruments that each lost an hour of time.*

Moving on to other stuff…

Went for my ushering duty at Dillingham’s Theatre earlier this evening for the latest production Owl Creek (yeah, that’s the booklet in the background of the picture above). Was expecting a full house, but some people didn’t turn up so we ushering people ended up getting the chance to actually sit down and watch the entire musical instead of standing at the back of the theatre. wheee! I just love it when I don’t have to pay for shows.

It was quite good, I’d say. Though a little depressing. It got confusing for a second at the end where the fine line between reality and imagination started to blur, and it got depressing when the lead character died (hung to death, ’cause he was blackmailed by the fiance of the love of his life). urgh. I knew I was hoping too much by asking for a happy ending when I saw the program booklets with that sinister-looking hanging rope on the cover.

The mischievous side of the character Aunt Ginny somehow strangely reminds me of the granny Sushila character in Kumars at No.42. Don’t ask me why. That thought just popped into my head then.

p/s: it RAINED the whole day today. got too cold to wear my skirt, or my open-toed heels. bleah.

“wombat”
“celery”
“communist”

What do these three words have in common?
Well, nothing basically. Just something I threw at my 13-year-old ‘lil sister tsepei to shut her up for the moment.

Here’s what happened:

tsepei: eh.. the skool asking ppl to write article for the skool magazine.. english punya.. about anything…

me: N? (bracing myself, coz i know she’s gonna start bugging me for something )

tsepei: i wanna write but can’t think of anything suitable to write about. i can write all those facts stuff where u give ur own opinion and oso poems and short stories of any sort.

me: then, just write anything lah!

(finally) me: if u wanna write factual, then write abt smthg that u feel strongly abt lor..

tsepei: dunno.. wat is the sumthing i feel strongly about?

me: >.< (slaps forehead)

after a while more, Me: ok, i give u 3 words. u join them together into a story, ok?

tsepei: okie. (not knowing what she’s put herself into)

me (plucking words out of nowhere): wombat
me: celery
me: communist
me: nah. You go n think of a story that has all 3 in it. sounds fun?
me: just make up shit about it ok?

tsepei: okie.

I think she had fun alright.

Then, I just saw her online again just a while ago.

tsepei: can give another three words? sumthing simpler.. coz i really dunno much about wombats.. juz noe that it’s a type of animal that looks like a badger.
tsepei: n communism

me: >.< (slaps forehead again)
me (after telling her to relax n write anything): ok. fine. here’s another three words.
me: lucky, dance, Internet.

Sure hope she finds a story out of that soon. Else I’m gonna start looking for another 3 words. =S

updated: hmm, was thinking, anyone wants to attempt some story ideas here to help her out too?

Today, the world celebrates what I feel is the dumbest day — April Fool’s Day. But I’m celebrating something else.

Spring!!

yup, it’s finally here!! wheeee…

Temperatures have finally hit a high of 55 Fahrenheit (about 12 Celsius)! I’ve waited MONTHS for the weather to change! Finally!!

I can stop wearing my down coat now and start wearing all those speghetti-strapped tops that I’ve bought over spring break! wheeee…

*ecstatic*

Walking to class feels great. Without my winter coat, I feel a whole lot lighter (can walk faster too and cut down the chances of being late to class LOL) The wind against my face is for once, not cold and chilly, but cooling and breezy. And best of all, sunshine that actually feels warm! (kinda reminds me of Genting Highlands )

And trees are starting to look a leeetle greener now.

I can’t wait.

Gonna wear my skirt tomorrow. I miss my skirt. It’s been sitting at the very bottom of my dresser, weighed down by all that long-sleeved tops. It’s gonna get to see some sunshine real soon!

*ecstatic*
*dances around in joy*

I have a theory. About animal bullies. Well, cat/kitten bullies in particular.

I have a curse for those cruel cat/kitten bullies:

They will one day die (of whatever disease or cause I don’t care).
And in their next life they’ll come back incarnated as rats/mouse, to be toyed and eaten by cats. Hmph!

Instead, I got this as a comeback from au yong:

“yeah, they come back as rats, so that they can bully elephants in their new life.
It’s a vicious cycle.”

urgh.
I’m speechless.