Okuribito

I have heard of friends telling me about this movie.
Finally got to watch it, courtesy of my colleague.
This is a very touching movie, depicting about the division encoffined.
I was really crying half the time.

The english title of this movie is The Departures -  The gift of last memories.

Plot summary:

Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.

Thumbs up,
Peiyan

Angles and Demons

Went to watch Angels and Demons today with my best friend.
We decided to go Downtown East Cathay Cineplex as we were quite sick of going to town.
Using my Union card, we got cheaper tickets for a weekend movie plus a really small popcorn. (I didn't know that Cathay had such small popcorn packaging)
A little word of warning... the cinema at Downtown East is rather cold and I had to watch the whole movie without jacket.



Here's the movie summary:

When a murder of a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, finds a symbolist, Robert Langdon, and Mr. Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, on an adventure for a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati. Clues lead them all around the Vatican, including the four alters of science, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. An Assassin, working for the Illuminati, has captured four cardinals, and murders each, painfully. Robert and Vittoria also are searching for a new very destructive weapon that could kill millions. Written by XXDustfingerXX

Despite his notorious relationship with the Church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is once again called upon to decipher the clues to a catastrophic conspiracy. The Pope has died, and before conclave can begin to determine his successor, the four preferitti (primary hopefuls for the papacy) are kidnapped. An ominous threat of their hourly demise, along with the complete annihilation of Vatican City, is issued as an elaborate revenge scheme for a persecuted group known as the Illuminati. With their meager time limit steadily counting down, Langdon, accompanied by beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra, must travel throughout Rome to unravel the carefully hidden signs that will lead them to a terrifying adversary, a harrowing discovery, and the shocking truth. Written by The Massie Twins

The Pope died and the conclave has been called for. Four candidates were chosen. However, before the voting, the 4 candidates are killed one by one. The killer leaves clues that seem to say that he/she is from the Illuminati. Strangely though, the Illuminati was long thought to be extinct. Who is the mastermind? Who revived the Illuminati? What do they want?

Overall, I enjoyed the movie as much as I enjoyed Da Vinci Code.
I like to watch such type of movies (so... National Treasures I like too)

Where the angels point,
Peiyan

Where my eyes take me too...

Finally, the results of my expensive Fuji Provia film is out.
Sent it to lab for developing but the lab does not have the correct type of chemical.
Hence agreed to x-pro the film.
The whole roll of film came out purplish.
When scanned, most of the images came out greenish.
With photoshop, what is there to be afraid of (not 100% true).

Here are some of the images...











The rest of the images can be found here.

x-pro,
Peiyan

The right etiquette as a musical audience

What is the correct etiquette as a musical audience?
I find it irritating that audience cannot follow house rules.
Do you think that the house puts that "no photography, videography and eating" sign for fun?
The sign is so big at the door and yet people still break them.
Take out camera to snap, eat inside the theatre.

Come on... the staff did not confiscate the cameras because they trust that this is our personal belonging that we always carry out.
Yet, people misuse this trust to break the house rules.
How well will the images come out?
Blur?
Too bright?

Come on, I'm here to enjoy the show, not and blinded by all the flashing lights before the show began.

Just a rather pissed off audience,
Peiyan

CATS, now and forever

I just came back from watching CATS.
I bought the tickets to watch CATS the musical last week.
It cost me $153 but... the musical was worth it.

The set is nice as it filled the whole esplanade theatre.
The story was good and it was rather touching at the last part of the musical.
Little did I know that the musical was a bit interactive as the audience found the cats to be amongst them during the poem recital in the beginning of Act 1.
Usually, the actors would only come out from backstage.
But my guess is that since it's CATS, the "cats" will be coming out from everywhere.
In the opening play, there were cats that came out from the theatre door.
It was interesting.
The interaction continued just after the intermission break where the cats were found loitering around at the audience seats.

The whole musical lasted about 3 hours including break.

My ticket


The original cast recording album I bought after the musical


Jellicle cat,
Peiyan