Victor/Victoria

Caught this musical last night starring Laura Fygi, and well, I would say it wasn't too bad, though not exceedingly fantastic.

The story is about a woman (Victoria) who goes to Paris wanting to make it big as a singer. At the suggestion of an acquaintance-turned-friend, she masquerades as a man, masquerading as a woman (female impersonator), which makes him/her the toast of town as people thought she was a superb female impersonator. She falls in love with a man (King Marchan), who also falls in love with him/her (he's not gay, but was actually convinced she was not a man though he had his doubts at 1 point), but she couldn't exactly reveal herself to be a woman due to her career. She had to choose between that or true love. She chose true love in the end...anyway she was exposed eventually.

I would say the story was rather interesting. There were quite a number of funny parts. After all, it was meant to be a comedy. I particularly liked the scene when the King sneaked into Victoria's apartment trying to find out if she was a man or woman, followed by his bodyguard looking for him. There was a whole lot of choreography such that no one gets discovered sneaking around while Victoria and her friend came back home (King & Victoria were staying in the next room to each other in a hotel with connecting doors). That was quite good coz the timing was crucial. However, I felt the "gay" theme was pretty much over-played although I think that's the gist of the whole story, almost everyone seemed gay, except the 2 main leads who were thought to be gay but actually were not. Well, "Gay Paris".

Music-wise, it didn't exactly enrapture me, though the songs were not too bad. I felt it didn't feel "musical" enough. Maybe the sound wasn't so good from where I sat, or the setting, or something. Ok, there were some songs that seemed more memorable like Le Jazz Hot, Almost A Love Song, If I Were A Man and Victor/Victoria. But nothing that is like the theme song.

How will I rate it? Maybe a 7 out of 10.

I lost my Ezlink card!

Yes, it's true, within 5 short minutes, my Ezlink card went missing.

I had already passed through the gantry at Paya Lebar MRT and on the way to the bus-stop (which involved crossing the road), I lost my card. I actually discovered rather quickly as my bus came like 1 or 2 minutes after I reached the bus stop and lo & behold! My card wasn't in my holder!
So I retraced my footsteps...to no avail, all the way to the MRT station.

The lady at the control station wasn't too helpful or friendly as I asked if anyone picked up an ezlink card (I know the hopes are slim but no harm trying) and I was pretty puzzled why she asked my name. I didn't think that will help in any way. So I bought a new card. *sigh*

But as always, one shouldn't dwell on it and I should learn to give thanks even though it's a bit upsetting. Well, thank God that the current system no longer ties our ezlink card to our IC no. and that I think I don't have that much money in it (should be less than $20).

"Never" vs Fear


I was reminded during service that one cannot assume that you will "never" do something or "this will never happen to me". Especially when there is a tinge of complacency, which is most often tied to who you think you are, or what you think you can do (e.g. "I'm a leader, I'm safe" or "I'm sure I can convince him/her and it'll all work out"). In this way, you let your guard down and allow yourself to be exposed to the temptation you thought you were immune to, thinking "I'm sure I will be able to resist the temptation".
In this act of "complacency", you have already taken that 1st step into the "danger zone". Instead, one should not look to yourself for we are usually weak, but look to who God is. Always be on guard as strongholds start from cracks.

Always guard your heart as it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23). Fear of the Lord helps too as we humble ourselves to recognise that only in seeking Him can we be able to cast out these temptations.

Astro Boy

Finally managed to catch the movie tonight and I loved it.

Honestly, I have a vague memory of Astro Boy as I didn't actually watch the cartoon much, but I know of it.
Some parts were touching, as the story plays out how Astro Boy was actually created - as a replacement for Dr Tenma's son who died. Then of how Astro Boy discovers his purpose and how he saves the people. A robot with a heart. I would have loved it even more if it was less Americanized (in terms of graphics and mannerisms). Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

Getting into the Christmas spirit with music

Talking about Christmas, I recently downloaded a Christmas album of Rosie Thomas called A Very Rosie Christmas through www.emusic.com which I rather enjoyed. I like the way she sings.

And, no Christmas is complete (to me) without Bing Crosby's White Christmas from "Holiday Inn".

A Christmas Carol

I just caught A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey (animation) in 3D and well, it wasn't exactly what I hoped for.

It's the first time I'm catching one of these 3D movies in the cinema and I must say the effects were pretty good for this one. The only thing was that this version was slightly more dark and well, I couldn't "feel" the Christmas feel to the story as much. Some parts were a bit funny though like the "candled" Ghost of Christmas Past. Maybe I didn't exactly like the graphics. It was good, but it's not my kind of graphics.

Well, I guess I still prefer a more classic portrayal of this story.

Cameras Cameras!

I'm sad to say I'm "retiring" my Canon IXUS 60. It's a pretty good camera, but it's more than 3 years old, so technology has advanced much since, with image stabiliser, greater megapixels and optical zoom, etc. So I decided to seek out a new camera at SITEX'09 today. I might still use it as a backup though.

Doing my research, I was initially set on getting the Canon IXUS 990 IS...until I found out that it has been taken off the market. I have a soft spot for IXUS due to my old camera, so I shortlisted a few more models like IXUS 120 IS, IXUS 110 IS and IXUS 100 IS, but I wasn't really that sure about them, which turns out true when I went down to test it out today. I didn't like the function keys of these and was hesitant.

I had also researched on Lumix DMC-TZ7.
It had good reviews and looked really nice with strong functionality (25mm Ultra Wide-angle, 12x Optical Zoom LEICA Lens, HD Movie Recording, among other things). And I would have bought it if not for the fact that there was no Panasonic booth at the fair (how can that be?!)! I could not get a feel of the camera and with an uncertainty with the IXUS models I'd seen, I was contemplating not buying a camera at all at the fair (yes, my friends with me would have "killed" me after dragging them along and spending so much time considering), until a photographer friend of mine suggested checking out Fujifilm. I wasn't sure coz I never researched on it, but I checked it out anyway...

And I bought the FinePix F70EXR.
After all that research and I didn't get any of those! Well, my photographer friend said that this model fitted my specs so it's worth a buy since it was selling at only $469 at the fair, inclusive of a bundle pack of an 8GB SD card, 1 spare battery, 1 screen protector, 1 mini tripod, 1 card reader and 1 camera case. It's not bad, with 10x opitical zoom, intelligent flash, 27mm wide angle, etc. It's a bit heavy, but that's due to the metal casing which makes it sturdier. Only thing there's no HD movie recording, and it doesn't look as nice as the Lumix. Well, for movie recording, I guess I have to compromise. After all, the objective here is to take good stills. If I want video, I should get a proper video recorder.

Well, hope this camera will serve me well. I'll treat this as a Christmas present to myself.

December movies

Year-end is always a time when a lot more movies are slated for release, so viewing the situation, I've shortlisted some upcoming movies that I want to watch. Not sure if I am able to catch everything though, and I'm sure there'll be a lot more coming.

Must watch (in no particular order):

1) A Christmas Carol 3D (now showing)
2) Avatar (opens 17 Dec)

3) Sherlock Holmes (opens 24 Dec)

4) The Princess & The Frog (opens 10 Dec)
5) Where The Wild Things Are (7 Jan)
6) New York I Love You (???)

Considering:

1) The Informant (now showing)

2) New Moon (opens 3 Dec)

3) Mulan (now showing)
4) Did You Hear About the Morgans? (7 Jan)

So many movies, so little time!

Sick again?!

I can't believe I'm having flu again. This year, I think I've been falling sick almost every 2-3 months. So terrible.
Probably I didn't get enough sleep last week. And good thing I'm only getting it after the concert.
Fortunately, I think this time round it's not so serious...I hope.

I Like Fencing!

Fencing is great. It requires one to forget everything else and concentrate on the opponent, and at the same time test your accuracy, agility, alertness and tactical skills. I'm not really good at it, but it's a good workout, both mentally and and physically.
I should train up in my "attacking" skills...am usually a bit on the defensive side. And my accuracy too.