Watch this movie.
It is called the Teenage Textbook and is based on the novel of the same name as well as the novel’s sequel the Teenage Workbook. The two Adrian Tan-written novels (yes, by a Singaporean) from the late 80’s are two of my favourite and most-read books of all-time.
Gone are all the alien and unbelievably cliched Western high-school cultures from Sweet Valley High (which I read when I was much younger by the way); the Teenage Textbook and the Teenage Workbook are purely Singaporean-based scenarios about Singaporean teenagers and their misadventures in love and life.
I have been looking for the movie for years (since I was 13 when I first read the books incidentally), and I thank YouTube for the lovely movie although I prefer the book version better. I mean, one and a half hours of film to replace two full-fledged plots and story-lines was always going to be difficult, but it was a nice movie experience for a fanboy nonetheless.
So what ya waiting for?
Mui Ee, Sissy, Daniel, Kok Sean, and Chung Kai are waiting =)
2009 has been a mixed year, but thank God for the decent music! I found so much solace in these awesome albums and magnificent tracks that I have to share them with you; these are my favourite albums and tracks of 2009 so far in no particular order or rhyme, and if you are lucky, they can heal your soul like they healed mine =)
I absolutely adore A Camp, the indie pop trio from Sweden, whose second album ‘Colonia’ ranks among my most played records of the year. Nina Persson of The Cardigans fame is a master storyteller; while this album’s theme is bleak and dark which focuses on religion colonialism (hence the title) amongst others, the satirical and sarcastic elements of the songs are well-hidden by the warm and distinctly Scandinavian pop-infused sounds and arrangements.
‘The Crowning’, the first single off the album, is one of my favourites of the year; taking a look and a dig at the past and present leaders of the world as well as an ignorant public who raise their ‘glasses for murderous asses’. In retrospect, ‘The Crowning’ also encompasses every pompous git and every arrogant douche-bag you have met in your life as Persson back-handedly sings ‘bells are going to ring, birds are gonna sing…the crowning of your big/ruthless head’, and you know what? Anybody can be ‘the guest of honour’ in ‘The Crowning’, the full-of-him or herself-friend or the immature brat you call your siblings.
‘Stronger than Jesus’ can be looked at from two different perspectives; one would be a blasphemous view as ‘love is stronger than Jesus’ (even though my friend Kenneth maintains that love is indeed Jesus and vice versa) and ‘anyone can look like a saviour’. The less subtle and more obvious approach would be that love is indeed the strongest entity in the world which far outstrips religion and God, and that even with ‘war and diseases’, love can pierce through your heart like a short-gun can never do. As Persson’s melodic voice rings in your ears along with the ironically happy and addictive pop rhythm, maybe you will realise that breaking somebody’s heart is condemning someone to a fate worse than God’s wrath, and you wonder ‘how people can stay alive’ when love is lost, and just maybe, people would take love as seriously as they take religion.
‘Golden Teeth and Silver Medals’ is my favourite duet of the year so far (alongside all the marvelous collaborations in ‘Dark was the Night’), and it can only be classified as a somber and solemn wedding song filled with regret and forgotten memories. As Persson and Nicolai Dunger belt out the chorus ‘golden teeth and silver medals, beauty marks and scars, that is what we got; raindrops in a reservoir and minutes in a jar, that is what we got’, you are transported to a time in the future when you are old (golden teeth), when all you can look forward to is death following years of under-achievements (silver medals). Love is like finding someone in the middle of the song of life, and merging two lives together regardless of past heartaches and scars, and when the final note of the song of life curtails, you know ‘you have won’.
If you know me personally and read my musical musings, you would have known that I am a huge Belle and Sebastian fan, and as the Scottish indie pop band are far from another studio album since the majestically-executed 2006 effort ‘The Life Pursuit’, God Help The Girl would just have to do. God Help The Girl is Belle and Sebastian singer-song writter Stuart Murdoch’s brainchild, a musical-film project which I have been eagerly anticipating since it was announced all those months ago.
God Help The Girl is a major music extravaganza featuring the original members of Belle and Sebastian as well as nine other indie singers from just about everywhere which culminate in one of my favourite retro pop-noir albums of the year so far (followed closely by Camera Obscura’s blazing ‘My Maudlin Career’). Lazy tunes like ‘Come Monday Night’, ‘I’ll Have to Dance with Cassie’ and ‘God Help The Girl’ (yes, the album, the artiste, and the single share the same name!) are reminiscent of the pure jangly pop of 50’s and 60’s classics like Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown’.
Murdoch then offers ‘The Life Pursuit’ favourites like a totally revamped ‘The Act of Apostle’ and ‘Funny Little Frog’ a face-lift before introducing a character called Eve, the girl he hopes God will help, which reminds me of Sukie from ‘Sukie in the Graveyard’ in ‘The Life Pursuit’. Eve takes center-stage on most songs, taking you from a guy she crushes on to a likely bipolar disease, from being a genius and prodigy to joining an all-girl band. Eve embodies the basic human nature of hypocrisy, saying one thing in a verse and doing something completely opposite in the very next verse, and these true blue human element to the album is extremely appealing. Dashes of jazz and blues are dabbed on this old-fashioned and very retro-sounding record, and you are left with what made Murdoch and his Belle and Sebastian band so well-loved in many regions of the world – the familiarity and comfort of vintage pop music served with human flesh and blood.
Murdoch’s stories have always been less than obvious, and I just cannot wait for the film, which will start shooting in 2010, to find out the true story behind this superb soundtrack of soul and life. Come and join Murdoch and the rest of the gang in this musical journey which is by all means not a concept album, not a narrative, but a celebration, a symphonic celebration of human emotion and pop perfection.
I had no idea writing music-write-ups would take so long, so here are the rest of my favourite 2009 albums which have been in constant repeat on Zooey Music Fairy:
1) Bishop Allen – Grrr…
2) St. Vincent – Actor
3) Love Language -The Love Language
4) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
5) Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
6) Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
7) Passion Pit – Manners
The Thermals – Now We Can See
Another self-indulgent post; gosh, I love blogging.
PS: In non-music related news, can Carlos Tevez just shut up already?
The above poster just about sums the whole movie: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has more alien robots, bigger explosions, and much more Megan Fox.
But does the excess of those three elements contribute to a better movie than the very enjoyable first film?
I have heard everything from my friends, from the cool effects to the non-existent plot, from Optimus Prime kicking ass to Megan Fox’s ass; I guess that’s what I get for being sick during the premier, but as I was sitting down in the cinema today waiting in anticipation of the live action version of my beloved cartoon series, my head was filled with different perspectives and view points.
What to expect?
Will I like it?
Well, the answer to the first question is very clear-cut. Michael Bay’s creations are all about the boom boom pow, the action, the bigger the explosion, the better. Bay was never known for his subtlety, and in the midst of the impressive Devastator and the other epic fight-scenes, a little discretion would have been helpful, and this issue leads me to the second question.
In short, the movie could have been much much better. Two and a half hours later (that’s the duration of this insanely long film), I found myself surprised by the utter drag-iness of this summer blockbuster. Revenge of the Fallen is driven by the Autobots and the Decepticons and the Cybertronian War, but for a movie to span this long, it needs a good solid plot. Alas, the plot is as non-existent as Megan Fox’s clothes.
First of all, what’s up with the Fallen? The Grandpa of all Decepticons? And sorry to say, Megatron bows to no one, let alone call him master.
Some scenes and characters were utterly unnecessary. Did we really need to see Sam’s mum high on pot running around campus tackling football players? Was it paramount to put so much spotlight on the Twins? And finally, why hasn’t Ratchet fixed Bumblebee’s voicebox? It’s been freaking two years!?
But kudos for bringing back Soundwave, one of the coolest Generation 1 (G1) Decepticons, but I am still waiting for Bay to reintroduce the Dinobots. Grimmlock like!
Revenge of the Fallen takes place two years after the initial battle royale between the Cybertronian brothers, and now the Autobots are working with a Major Lennox-led special ops team who search the world to destroy the rest of the Decepticons. And in the span of these two years, new robots have come to Earth since Optimus Prime’s open invitation to our green planet at the tail-end of the previous movie.
In the more human side of things, Sam, played by Shia LaBeouf, is going to college, leaving his parents and Fox’s character Mikaela at home. This is where the storyline breaks down for me, while the first movie succeeded in introducing the pair in easy-to-bear doses, the college scene took so much time which leads to the Fallen. While Energon cubes were non-entities in the first movie, they are essential in the G1 series, and now the Fallen is searching for the location for the tool that can make Energon cubes which incidentally only Sam knows after a freakish accident.
So yes, everyone is out to get Sam, and mayhem ensues.
Sure this sequel looks more larger than life in comparison to its predecessor with the introduction of so many new Autobots and Decepticons, but most of them come and go as fast as the movie’s flat jokes, and one cannot help but wonder if Hasbro was behind this ridiculous plan in order to make more action figures. The Autobots you were so close to in the first movie are mere pawns in this over-elaborated special effects extravaganza; they lack the human touch and emotion and character as most of them are just there to be killed.
Revenge of the Fallen is big on bang; while the original 2007 movie struck a balance between a whimsical storyline and true blue robot-on-robot action, the 2009 version is very top-heavy as the ending was rushed and unassuming while the beginning was skip-able and ultimately too long. Once the cool factor of the transformations and robots goes away, you are left with a long-drawn and messy wreckage which is nothing more than Fox-y robot fluff eye-candy.
Excuse me while I go find solace with the 1986 classic cartoon movie. Now, that’s awesome Transformers goodness.
PS: And yes people, that thing Optimus is holding is what the Matrix is supposed to look like.
PPS: Seriously, go dig out the 1986 cartoon feature; it is awesome beyond compare. Classic retro 80’s goodness at its pinnacle.
PPPS: And the whole cliched ‘One shall stand and one shall fall’ crap is actually taken from the 1986 animated movie as well when Optimus was facing Megatron in a titanic battle. The 1986 movie also introduced actual robot killings in comparison to the G1 cartoon series, where anybody rarely died and the guns just don’t target well.
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Now playing: The National – So Far Around The Bend
via FoxyTunes
After 2.5 years and 185 posts later, as of 8.06 p.m. on 26 June 2009, The Good, The Bad, and The Plain Old Lazy celebrated its 30,000th blog view, so yay me!
This blog has been with me through all my years at HELP University College and now Taylor’s College; it has been with me through thick and thin, through the good and the bad, and of course through the plain old lazy (I could not help it, sorry =p). Blogging to me has become more than just a hobby; it has become part and parcel of my existence, and when I have something to share, I post it here. Friends come and go, epiphanies appear, and magical things happen on this blog, and I would not have had it any other way.
So as a tribute to my sanctuary, my guilt-free zone, and my blank canvas – my awesome blog, I shall share the funny photos which I sorta talked about in my previous post.
And here they are, in all their glory and in chronological order:
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Now playing: St. Vincent And The National – Sleep All Summer
via FoxyTunes
And as if I did not learn my lesson…
And as if everyone did not learn from my double water in my eyes salvo…
So, moral of the story is, just don’t stand near fountains.
And yeah, as the pictures and smiley faces showed, the Genting trip was fantabulous. It was a magnificent end to a very eventful second semester and overall first year of degree life at my new university.
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Now playing: The Hylozoists – The Island Of Seven Cities (FSR)
via FoxyTunes
To all my readers, all six of you (you know who you are =p), thank you for putting up with my horrific and atrocious grammar and language during the early days and for commenting without fail, I know not having a CBox sucks, but no, the comments are here to stay.
To the next 30,000 views and 185 posts, may my life be as unpredictable as the Genting theme park fountain =)
PS: I know it is simply evil to poke fun at the dead, but Eu Veng totally shared an outrageously funny joke about Michael Jackson on Twitter.
The King of Pop’s last words before passing away, “Send me to the childrens’ hospital”. May he rest in peace.
Oh, and hail Twitter, the latest to-go-app for information. Following Ryan Seacrest is totally worth it.
