The Day I Leave For Pre-U Sem

Finally.

The wait is over. I will be attending Pre-U Sem 2006 from today till Friday, so pardon me for the lack of posts. You can keep track of what I'm up to at http://jusdan88.campusmoblog.com.sg.

Till then, enjoy the beginning of the June holidays (aka exam-preperation month)!

Also, check out this video that Tammi put on YouTube, starring yours truly, Tammi, Shaun and a special cameo appearance by YingHui! It's some trash-movie we made during CT sometime back. Lame shit... :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td2YPVlJji0

Tha Day I Talk About Physically Disabled Bengs

Had the weirdest encounter this evening after dinner. Have you ever seen physically handicapped Ah Bengs? I did. I know that it's bad to stereotype, but that's what I saw.

After getting my face stuffed at the Kovan kopitiam, I took my little cousins for a walk. Then we came by these two skinny guys with half-brown hair, sucking cancer-sticks while sitting by the pavement. One of my cousin's grimaced and gave me the "God-I-hate-smokers" look. The younger one just looked at them in astonishment. Here's the reason why:

They were signing. As in "speaking" through hand-signs and they made no sound. One was gesturing wildly like some crackpot and after that, he took a long draw on his cigarette while his counterpart replied in a furry of hand-movements. It was odd yet amusing.

Not wanting to get into trouble for staring (just in case), I grabbed the two kids and immediately headed for another direction. Then we laughed. I dunno why I laughed but I did. I guess that the idea of an Ah Beng being either deaf/mute just seemed ridiculous.

We learn something new everyday, eh?

The Day I Talk About Bitching, Mood-Swings & Hypocrisy

I'm bitchy and I know it. As a matter of fact, most of us are (with the exception of the few, rare angels we meet through the course of our lives. The keyword is "rare").

Don't say you aren't, cos when you talk bad about someone when they're not around (or when you think they're not around), you're bitching. Or when you indiscriminately slam them in their faces in outright confrontation, you're bitching. The only difference is how bitchy we are.

I know that I'm really temperamental sometimes and that I have mood swings; It's genetic and I'm guilty of it. So sue me. If I've hurt any of you (who are reading this), I'm truly sorry. I know how horrible it is to get bull from people when you don't do anything wrong and I will learn to control it. It's been scientifically proven that when one hits 16 and beyond, it's very difficult to change his/her personality; They say that "it's difficult", but they don't say that it's "impossible". Give me time, I'm trying.

Just recently, I find out that I've been labelled a a hypocrite by some people. You know how much I hate hypocrites, and now I'm called one? Great news huh. Well, here's the deal: I don't smile at people and say hi and laugh while I secretly hate them. Cos I don't hate. I can't. I may dislike somebody but not to the extent of hate and even then, I don't "pretend" to be jovial cos I'm a hypocrite. You see, hypocrites don't have a conscience. They can say one thing in your face and another when you're not around. And they sure as hell don't feel guilt. But I do. Guilt is a nasty nasty feeling. It's just that it's easier to avoid awkwardness by showing some friendliness and hey, a smile brightens up everybody's day. I admit that I'm not the worlds' best Catholic, but I make an effort to "love thy neighbour" as much as I can.

As for the many hypocrites I meet (if you think you are hypocritical in front of me), I just wanna say, if you don't like anything about me, feel free to just tell me. I'd rather know that you hate me and live with it, than find out from other people that you hate me when I always thought you were my friend. It just hurts alot when that happens.

Being a nice guy isn't easy. It's just that Mother Theresa (or should I call her Saint Theresa now?) made it seem like it's so easy. I'd sooner embrace my devilish nature and temptations than become a saint, cos being good takes so much more effort and strength than being bad.

And lastly, I believe in karma. You should too, cos what comes around goes around. Just take a look at the news everyday and observe things that happen to the people around you. One way or another, you'll get what you deserve at the end of the day. So just try to be nice and maybe life won't be so bad to you in the end.

I'm trying.

The Day I Talk ABout My Oh-So-Not-Exciting Life

A generally terrible day. Looked bad and felt bad.

I talked things out with the guy I was incredibly pissed with yesterday. It was seriously my error for overreacting on such a small matter, but what's done is done.

And I learnt that it's really true that you only find out who your true friends are when something bad happens. I'm really grateful for the few of them.

The Day I Watched X3

X-Men: The Last Stand was really quite disappointing, despite the hype that surrounds it. The action scenes were wonderful, no doubt, having it's fair share of excellent CGI cinematography as well as acting by Oscar winner Halle Berry and Australia's-hottest-export-since-Nicole Kidman-and-Heath Ledger, Hugh Jackman, and the two "fastball specials" (Wolverine getting thrown towards the enemy by Collosus). However, these weren't enough to salvage this movie, partly because of it's incredibly short duration (90 minutes), and also because there were too many characters in this one.

The Bad
Angel was practically useless. He appears for two scenes, has about 6 lines, and doesn't really do much at all; The Kitty-Bobby-Rogue love triangle wasn't even developed at all; Collosus didn't have more than 3 lines and just acted like a pretty jock-stud throughout the scenes he appeared in; Psylocke only teleports in the show (she only had those powers for like 3 months in the comics); Callisto has superspeed and mutant-detection powers?!?! (What the hell? She might as well be Cerebro)

Let's take a stripped-down-to-the-core look at the movie. (Note: Spoilers ahead)

The Plot
Taken from two major X-Men storylines, namely "The Dark Phoenix Saga" in X-Men #129-#138 (1983) and "Hope" in Astonishing X-Men #1-#6 (2004), the former is adapted as the main subplot of the movie, while the latter is adapted into the main plot.

Synopsis
The mutant "cure" has been found, thanks to the DNA of a young mutant child, Leech, whose mutant powers is to nullify other mutants' mutations/powers. The movie begins with a flashback scene to 20 years before, when Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Eric Lensherr (Magneto) pays their first visit to the young Jean Grey, who had already possessed immense potential as a class 5 mutant (also known as an "Omega" level mutant in the comics). In that scene, we witness Jean using her telekinetic power to lift up every vehicle (and her neighbour's lawn-mower) within the vicinity of her home without batting an eyelid.

The next scene, we are fast-forwarded to 10 years ago, where Warren Worthington III (Angel) is seen cutting off his own wings during the initial stage of mutation. Note all the blood and feathers on the floor. One of the rather memorable scenes of the movie.

Following that, we return to present day where the X-Men, consisting of Wolverine, Storm, Collosus, Rogue, Iceman and Shadowcat are fighting a Sentinel simulation in the Danger Room. In this scene, Collosus displays a unique form of his power that has never been seen in the comics, which is to cover a person he touches (in the movie, Rogue) with the same organic-metallic shield.

The scenes after that sees Cyclops (who was possibly the only actor who appeared for less than 5 minutes in the entire movie, not including the extras) hearing Jean's telepathic cries and visits Alkali Lake, only to watch Jean's resurrection from the dead. Well, and after that, he dies. Let's just say that he received a kiss of death. Subesequently, the Professor feels Jean's cries and informs his two main X-Men (Storm and Wolverine) to check out Alkali Lake. And sure enough, they find an unconscious Jean (with pebbles, rocks and boulders floating all around her due to her uncontrollable telekinetic power).

At this point, it's Brotherhood: 0 and X-Men: 1, in terms of casualties.

Jean is then transported back to the Mansion, where she is put under observation by Xavier. There, he explains to Logan about Jean's dual personality as a result of a mental block he placed in Jean's mind to control her dangerous power. One of them, the usually dormant personalit, was the normal ean.The other was known as the Phoenix.

So Phoenix wakes up after feeling Logan touch her, goes on a passionate rampage, and flees from theMansion, only to be found in her old home by Xavier and Magneto. There, her usually-dormant Phoenix personality takes over, and all hell breaks loose. She uproots the whole house with her telekinasis (even water starts floating upwards), and starts "undoing" the Professor on a molecular level (meaning he's stripped away atom by atom). Eventually, the Professor disintegrates to dust, right in front of Magneto and Wolverine (and the perpetrator of the incredulous act, Jean).

At this point, it's Brotherhood: 0 and X-Men: 2.

So Jean leaves with Mags and his gang (which includes new additions Arclight [earthshaking thunder-clap], Juggernaut [brawns and no brains], Callisto [speedster, mutant sensor], Multiple Man [the name implies], Quill [sharp, needle-like quill protrusions from his body], aside from his ever-loyal Pyro [fire manipulation]), while Logan and Ororo mourn their mentor's death back at the school. The cure is unintentionally used on Mystique (she was shot with a syringe of it while attempting to escape from the authorities, with the help of Magneto) and is kicked out of the Brotherhood for becoming "one of them". Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and she sells out Mags' camp's location to the government.

So now, Brotherhood: 1, X-Men: 2.

Angel is almost administered with the cure before he finally chooses to keep his wings and escapes from his father's lab facility (as well as the grasp of Dr Kavita Rao). The Brotherhood then attacks the lab that holds Leech, aiming to kill him, and the longest fight scene that saw mutants vs mutants (X-Men vs Brotherhood), mutants vs humans (Brotherhood vs Army), mutants becoming depowered, as well as big explosions. There's also a nice battle scene between Pyro and Iceman (fire vs ice, waaay cool). In the end, Jean goes berserk, killing and almost destroys the whole island and is eventually stabbed to death by Logan so as to end the madness.

In the end, Magneto is injected with the cure, thanks to Beast, and Rogue voluntarily went to get jabbed (so that she could finally touch Bobby aka Iceman). Many dead mutants (Callisto was fried by Storm; Quill, Psylocke and Arclight are de-molecularised by Jean etc) and depowered ones (aka Magneto).

In the final scene, we see the tombstones of Jean, Scott and Xavier in the Mansion's Memorial Garden.

Trivia
- Keep an eye out for the 3 Stepford Cuckoos in the movie. They appear very briefly as background characters.

- Look closely at Jean Grey's hair and you can see very obvious traces of a bad dye-job. Famke's black roots were still extremely visible in the show.

- The scene where Logan stabs Jean with his claws is very similar to that in 2005's "Phoenix Endsong".

- Angel never wears the X-costume that he wears on the X3 poster in the movie.

The Day I Talk About The Da Vinci Code Movie, Blesphemy and Some

Just caught The Da Vinci Code today.


The Da Vinci Code (Movie)

If I had to summarize the movie in one word: Bland

Tom Hanks, taking the lead role of Professor Robert Langdon, displays a wide array of emotions in this one, which includes frowning in deep thought, frowning in surprise, frowning in anger, and the peculiar frowning smile. Yes, he's as stoic as a board. Even my rabbits display a larger variety of emotions.

My favourite French pixie, Audrey Tautou, does a good job in emoting Sofie Neveu, and her English is surprisingly passable. She was the only person who captivated me enough to keep me awake through the show.


Tom Hanks & Audrey Tautou from a scene in the movie

Sir Ian McKellen of X-Men and The Lord of The Rings fame (he has recurring roles as Magneto in the former and Gandalf in the latter) does an ok job as Sir Leigh Teabing, the actual mastermind who orchestrated the killings of the Priory of Sion members in the movie.


Sir Ian McKellen

Then comes Paul Bettany, husband of Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly, as the extremist albino, Opus Dei monk Silas. Best acting I've seen from him so far. He looked really scary in the movie...


Paul Bettany


...as Silas

Now, a quick critique of the movie:

The US$124 million movie does not feel like a $124 million film. It lacks the oomph of a blockbuster. Sure, they have big names that have massive drawing-power, like Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen etc. But the film follows the book so closely that there are not many unpredictable sequences that really make the audience go "whoa!". Did I mention that Tom Hanks' acting in this movie was probably his worst, by far?

If you ask me, it's not worth the $9.50 ticket price. Wait for the VCD or DVD to come out and go rent it.

Summary of the story
In short, the story is about the discovery of a 2000 thousand-year-old fraud by the Church, which tries to erase the evidence of Jesus' decendents (a result of copulation with his "Holy Grail", Mary Magdalene).

Incredible blasphemy, if you ask me. If you're any interested in the truth, go get your hands on The Da Vinci Deception, a great read for those who actually believe the many factual errors stated in Dan Brown's novel.

Some facts:
- Da Vinci was never an occultist who put secret "codes" in his paintings and other works. He was just a maths freak who was uber interested in the mathematic meaning behind symbols and shapes.

- Da Vinci was a genius inventor.

- Da Vinci was a bastard and gay, which caused him to be ostracised by many as well as gotten him persecuted by the Churchof his time.

- The Opus Dei is not an "evil" cult, as portrayed so in the movie, but comprise of very normal and strictly religious people.

My day...
I'd actually caught the movie with Kenny (my good friend from my 1st-three-months in MI) even though I had not intended to initially at Orchard Cineleisure. God, I really hate Cine. It's a checkpoint for the bengs and lians. A sight for sore eyes I tell you. Many of the boys and girls was garishly overdressed and hairstyled. But nonetheless, it was great hanging out with a buddy.. :)

I've got some stupid briefing at NUS tomorrow for Pre-U Sem (PUS 2006 for short. PUS. Get it? Nevermind...) early early early in the morning, followed by College Day back in school in the late afternoon. I dunno why they made it compulsory for all J2's to go bak for the lame-o event, but we're all supposed to go anyway. Urgh. School still wants to kill us even though it's the weekends.

Bloody hell...

The Day I Talk About X-Men 3 (Again)

The Cure for mutantcy.

That's the theme for the upcoming X-Men movie. Well, other than the resurrection of Jean Grey in the form of Phoenix. But that's the soap opera part. What I'm going to talk about today is the cure.

Imagine if you were different, and had everybody hate you. Maybe it's because you were of a different colour; maybe you were gay; or maybe, you had a mental disability. Society looks at you differently and hates you. Then, somebody comes up with a cure for you "difference". The question is, will you take it? Or will you embrace what you are, despite the social stigma attached to being different?

On many levels, the X-Men stories reflect real life figuratively.

The "Cure" storyline was first introduced in the first issue of Astonishing X-Men in 2004, written by Buffy-creator Joss Whedon.


Astonishing X-Men #1
(I know, it looks surprisingly similar to the X3 logo)

An Indian Doctor, Dr Kavita Rao, discovers a cure for the mutant x-gene. This information quickly perpetrates to the media and many mutants, especially those with physical and life-halting mutations, are queueing up to get it. Among the X-Men, Beast gets his hands on the mutant cure and is deliberating about using it when Wolverine interjects and gets into a tussle with him. After that, Beast decides that an X-Men never gives up on their roots and doesn't take the cure.


X-Men: The Last Stand

In the latest instalment of the movie, a mutant cure similar to that of the cure in the comics has been discovered. Cue pandemonium and disparity. Warren Worthington III (Angel), whose father wants him to take the cure so as to have his wings removed, goes against the idea and runs away from the lab moments before the cure is administered to him. In this movie, I expect that Rogue, Beast, and many of the mutants with socially-stigmatised mutations (blue fur, uncontrollable life-force-sucking touch etc.) will deliberate about whether or not to take the cure.

I hope that everbody who watches the movie will see beyond the action (I admit, I'm really looking forward the the CGI action scenes), Jean's soap-opera-ish resurrection, and understand the true meaning the film is meaning to deliver.

The Day I Get My X3 Tickets

I bought my X-Men: The Last Stand tickets! I'm gonna catch it on the 24th of May, a day before it's official release! I'm the happiest boy in the world right now... Whee~~ :D

The Day I Talk About MARVEL's Civil War & X-Men 3

I'm not talking about the real Civil War, but the Marvel event of the year, Civil War.

History


House of M


X-Men


The New Avengers

After the House of M last year, the mutant population has been severely decimated*. There are roughly about 198 mutants left in the world. Because of that,the government has placed mandatory full-time protection by Sentinel Squad O*N*E*. On the other side of the line, the New Avengers, even though they consist of a largely non-mutant (with the exception of Wolverine) team, have been affected by the events of H.O.M as well. Post-H.O.M, the government wanted to tag and register all mutants with a proposal of the Mutant Registration Act.

Civil War


Lines are drawn. Whose side are you on?

Recently, a reality television programme starring former teen superheroes, the New Warriors, shot an episode of the team going against 4 C-grade villians, namely Coldheart, Speedfreak, Cobalt Man and Nitro. Unexpectedly, Nitro creates a atomic-bomb like explosion and blows up the vacinity, which included a school full of school childern.

Because of that, the Superhuman Registration Act was also introduced. Now, all superheroes have to regster themselves in order to work as superheroes. That means no more unknown, masked vigilantes, and this also meant that villians could threaten superheroes on a more personal level.

So now, the sides have been formed. Some heroes are for it, and some are against it. Whose side are you on?



OR



You decide.

X-Men: The Last Stand
10 more days... I can't wait!
For those who want a 7 minute sneak peek of the movie (yes it's really actual scenes from the movie), here's a link:
http://www.dell.com/html/us/xmen/index.html

The Day I Talk About Matchmaking

There's been a bout of the Matchmaking influenza going about my friends lately. And the worst thing is, they're trying to matchmake me. I mean, it's bad enough that matchmaking is a dead trade that nobody in the right frame of mind would go for willingly in the 21st-century (with the exception of the super-traditionalist Indians in the faraway land of India, according to what I hear), I have been misunderstood as some desperately single, undersexed adolescent.

If it was just one person attempting to help me "get together with" some crush of mine, it's all fine. But now it's not only 1, but 2 of my dear friends are arbitrarily trying to get me hooked up with their just-as-single and seemingly desperate friends.

God-knows why people actually think that I don't enjoy the fruits of singledom. As a matter of fact (in the words of the lame-o McDonalds' diddly), I'm Lovin' It! Seriously.

I don't want to get together with anyone right now, and neither do I have a crush on anybody. Besides, I don't need to get laid, and I'm more than happy being single. Anyway, I don't exactly have the time nor the money for a relationship. I'm really grateful for your concern and all, but I don't need a girlfriend.

Not now, at least. *sigh*

The Day I Talk About My Rabbits and My Neighbour's Stupid Cat

I really don't like cats.

Mainly because they scratch alot, and cos one of them tried to kill my rabbits today.

One of my neighbours (I haven't found out which one) has this white, furry and feral tubby cat that was observed by yours truly in an attempt to make a pass at my rabbits today. By "making a pass" I mean attacking. Just for your information, my female rabbit, Queen (the white, lazy and fat one), is kept in the garage, and Forrest (the older, grey and cuter one) is kept outside in the garden.

This morning as I was leaving my house to go to school, I saw Queen all huddled
up in her cage in fear and from a distance (about 6m away), I saw that tubby. I assumed poor lil Queenie was aantagonized by that feral no-brain. Later in th evening, after I let Forrest out of his cage, the stupid cat popped out of nowhere and chased after him while he was out for his daily "run" in the garden. AND THE BLOODY CAT SCRATCHED MY POOR BABY.

Stupid cat. When I find out who it's owner is, I tell you... *growls in displeasure*

The Day I Add Some Synergy '06 Photos

I have absolutely nothing to blog about. Oh yes, we celebrated Sean's birthday in school today. That's about the most exciting thing that happened. Here are some photos from Synergy 2006 that I've grabbed from nanyangjc.org. Go there for more photos if you're interested.



Spot me (Now you know what I meant by Paddlepops?)



I'm somewhere here too. (In the midst of a whole sea of Paddlepops. Gross. *BLEARGHARFGH*)



Charlotte's flashing me! Woot! :P



Here's me looking like a complete idiot sitting at the edge of the stage. Yes, laugh all you want. It's funny. I know.



My singing partner, Marcus (looking like a complete idiot as well).



The two idiots.



Me with my other idiotic-looking partner, Junyi, during the evening finale.

The Day I Talk About The Hot, Smart & Gorgeous

I just bumped into Leslie Kwok a couple of days ago and this thought hit me: why am I not one of those hot, smart and gorgeous?

I absolutely revere them. And I hate them; It's a love hate thing.

Here are some people who you'll love to hate and the reasons why you'll feel that way:
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Leslie Kwok

This 33-year-old ex-Singapore National Swimmer, a graduate of ACS(I) and ACJC, is also a proud owner of his very own spa chain. He is also a well-known local model and became one of Cleo's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors at the age of 24. He was also featured on Channel News Asia's "What Women Want... Really" Program recently as one of the most sought after men in Singapore. *jealous*
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Natalie Portman

Hollywood actress. Harvard graduate. Looks to die for. Natalie Portman is one of Hollywood's up-and-rising stars. With three Star Wars movies under her belt, as well as her critically acclaimed sleeper hit Closer and her most recent film outing, V For Vendetta, it is no wonder that she is a bona fide actress. Topped with her genious and fresh-faced appeal, this Jerusalem-born pixie is definitely on top of many little girl's "hate lists".
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Jon Jonsson

He was the winner of Bravo's Manhunt reality tv show two years ago and is currently an astrophysics undergrad at UC Santa Cruz. With brains like his, a rippling bod and killer good-looks, does it puzzle you why he's on my list of hot, smart and gorgeous people? I so totally hate people like him. Urgh....
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I'm just thankful that I'm not born with any physical or mental defects. But still, you'll find yourself hating these born-better-off-than-you people if you were me.