Act Chio Only

I'm so bored I'm resorting to emulating Ah Lians with my version of high-angled duckface camwhore shots. Great start to my trip to Penang lol ;P

Blogger App

Testing out the new (and long-overdue) official Blogger iPhone App. Seems pretty dumbed down so it shouldn't be too hard to use it. In all honesty though, the only reason that I still have my Blogspot is because there's a sentimental value attached to this damn thing.

Best Summer Superhero Movie Yet

For a movie that was made within six months, X-Men: First Class surprisingly exceeded my expectations. Maybe it was the lack of marketing, or the fact that when they did market the movie, it seemed as though they passed the job on to amateur, failing design school students (take a look at them here). Either way, it left my expectations for the movie really low. That was probably the biggest reason why the quality of the movie shocked me (in a very positive way).

The Good

Considering that the film was initially planned to be "X-Men Origins: Magneto", much akin to X-Men Origins: Wolverine (watching it was like forcing myself to eat a packet of already-cold fries - soggy, unsavory and ultimately disappointing), it stayed true to its original idea with a strong focus on Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto and his relationship with Charles Xavier/Professor X. The Hellfire Club also finally gets its long awaited exposure to the mainstream crowd, though the choice of characters that made up the club (as well as some of the ones in the X-Men) was questionable, but more on that later.

I think it was genius of the writers to tie the film's storyline with true historical events. What if mutants were realy involved with the Cold War? Imagine that! The 1960s setting also allowed the actors to be decked in stunning, colorful 60s fashion, which is a nice change from the black leather costumes (BORING) that everybody donned in the first trilogy.

Michael Fassbender made the portrayal of Magneto his own with a strategic balance of irascibility and delicacy, a sharp contrast to Sir Ian McKellan's hard and jaded depiction in the original trilogy. James McAvoy's Charles Xavier is equally commendable for the combination of youthful charm with a wizened disposition. The two of them created truly memorable versions of the classic duo, and showed that superhero movies could have a softer side (never have I seen two grown men cry so much on screen). Aside from the two leads, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult as Sebastian Shaw/Black King, Raven Darkhölme/Mystique and Hank McCoy/Beast respectively, gave stellar performances.

Kudos to the producers for putting so many easter eggs in the movie! [SPOILERS: YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ AHEAD IF YOU'RE A FANBOY/FANGIRL AND HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET. JUST SAYING. BUT I KNOW MOST OF YOU WILL READ IT ANYWAY SO... MEH. HIGHLIGHT THE BLACK SPACE BELOW TO TO SEE IT.] I had several fanboy moments gasping at the reference to Lockheed (Kitty Pryde's pet dragon) when Moira was staking out in the car outside the Hellfire Club, the appearance of William Stryker (as one of the heads at the CIA lololol wtf), the blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of little Ororo Munroe during the Cerebro sequence, the surprise cameo of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (in a Japanese bar, perhaps a reference to the next Wolverine movie?) who provided the best single use of the f-bomb allowed for PG-13 movies, and an even more surprising cameo by Rebecca Romjin (the fan-favorite Mystique from the original movies).

The Blah

For a movie that gave us great male leads, it severely fell short in that aspect for the female actresses. Rose Byrne had three main expressions as Moira MacTaggert: shock, anger, disbelief. Also, WHY WAS MOIRA MACTAGGERT PORTRAYED AS AN AMERICAN? She was one of the few Scottish characters in the comics that really stood out and made an impact in the X-verse (even in her most recent appearance as one of the multiple personalities of Legion - refer to Age of X).

However, that wasn't the worst decision made about the movie. The worst idea was casting January Jones as Emma Frost. After the horrifying association of Emma Frost with Silverfox (as the latter's sister) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the producers decided to f*ck with the character even more by giving Jones the leeway to ruin the classic White Queen with her bad acting. Yes, Emma Frost may be a big-tittied blonde in the comics, but she is also the HBIC of all HBICs. She's one of the most manipulative characters in Marvel history and has risen to such high prominence in the past decade that any other depiction would be a giant slap in the faces of everyone who has read any X-Men comic in recent years. And what a slap in the face January Jones was. Aside from her ditzy, dumb-blonde speaking style (which is completely uncharacteristic of the Emma Frost all fanboys know and love), Jones was completely one dimensional in her acting. All she gave was pretty while delivering her lines monotonously with a blank stare. Even Barbie from Toy Story 3 was more believable, AND SHE WAS CGI. If there is to be a sequel to First Class, they'd better get another actress who can give more than just cleavage and mug.

As a huge fan of the comics, I felt that some of the other characters could have been chosen more carefully. The inclusion of Azazel and Riptide in the Hellfire Club was baffling; it felt like they were there for the sake of their skill sets (yay, more special effects!), namely teleportation and whirlwind manipulation. Azazel's introduction to the comics in 2003 was widely panned while Riptide has only been fodder. Angel Salvatore and Darwin didn't do anything for the movie either. Again, they were most probably chosen because of the characters' potential for the excessive usage of special effects.

Verdict

Other than the minor problems presented by certain character portrayals, the movie was generally very satisfying with a strong focus on Erik and Charles' relationship while introducing lesser known characters to the mainstream, non-comic book reading folks. Comic book fans will be satisfied with the various easter eggs littered throughout the movie while everybody else will enjoy the story and the new perspective it provides to some of the better-known characters.

I dare say that this is the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight. The studio was confident enough in the X-Men brand to not shoot the movie in 3D (like most blockbuster movies since the 3D craze), so you won't be facing the choice of "should I spend/waste another $3 on top of the already incredulous price tag for a movie ticket". Go ahead and watch the film. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Shangrila February 2011

Had a blast performing this past weekend at Shangrila @ The EndUp in San Francisco :) The crowd was amazing! It felt really good to be on stage again. Many thanks to all of my friends and fans who showed up for my show. For those who didn't manage to make it because of various reasons, here are the videos:

Firework


F**k You


Lotsa Love,
JJ

Hot Mess + F Bombs = Bad Teacher

Like I'd mentioned in my Green Hornet review, Cameron Diaz should not be acting as the "hot chick" anymore but here we are: another movie of her about on her "hotness". Dear Producers, CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT SHE'S HECKA HAGGARD AND FUG NOW? Also, why pair her with Justin Timberlake? Didn't she and JT have a history together (they broke up in 2007 if I recall correctly)? Is this some kind of April Fools' joke? OT: I think I speak for everybody when I say that Justin Timberlake should return to making music because the last time he released an album was way back in 2006 and a follow-up is long overdue. This, and cos JT can't act to save his life. Who can forget his bland performance in The Social Network?

Complaints aside, I think it might be a pretty funny movie, mostly because we get to see Cameron Diaz hit in the face by a dodgeball and also because we get to see Jason Segel's ballsack. But I'll most likely be waiting for this mess to end up on Netflix instead of paying to see it in theaters.

I Love You 爷爷

I would greatly appreciate it if you could all please pray for my grandfather.

Thank you kindly.

Born This Way Hay

This crazy bitch.

Don't you think you're taking the whole "born this way" schtick a little too literally with the egg metaphor? I personally found it rather tasteless and blah. You're Lady Gaga for goodness sakes. Try harder. I was half expecting you to emerge in a velociraptor/Godzilla baby suit, but you came out with a pink ponytail, some shoulder horns and an egg yolk(?) hat. You went to the MTV VMAs in a meat dress and this is the best you can do? Wow. I think your knack for gimmicks may have run its course. If you wanna do something, go all the way. Don't be a tease, like how Britney Spears is with the daily, 5-8 second long "teaser" clips of her Hold It Against Me music video; IT'S ANNOYING AND HAS ACTUALLY KILLED ANY SEMBLANCE OF EXCITEMENT I HAD ABOUT THE VIDEO. I digress. Back to Gaga.

I'm sure by now most people have compared Gaga's Born This Way to Madge's Express Yourself a million times and more (Madge's people even uploaded her 1989 clip of Express Yourself to YouTube right after the debacle started, hur hur - see this), so I shall not talk about it further. Here's what I gotta say about the song though: you don't declare your song an anthem until the people decide to crown it so. It's really contrived and unnecessary. Oh, and PS: Asians don't like to be called "orient"; it's derogatory and very offensive. Just FYI. The next time you spend 10 minutes writing a song (which she apparently did, see this), double check on your language; you're a role model after all.

On the bright side, this song marks Gaga's sort-of departure from her dark era of Bad Romances and Alejandros. In some ways, it reminds me of Michael Jackson's Black or White, in the sense that it tries to encourage people to look away from their differences and embrace diversity because "baby I was born this way". It feels like a good middle ground between her The Fame and The Fame Monster era. I do miss the good ole days of her singing about dancing and poker faces though. She was so much more fun back then.

Truth

As we grow older, we develop a greater propensity for lies and deceit. Sometimes, we lie so much that we don't even know where the truths end and where the lies begin. The blurring of fact from fiction is so powerful that even the best men and women can't tell the difference. Why has honesty become so cheap? Is it really easier to live with the burden of a lie than to come clean with the truth?

I'm still looking for an answer to that.

It is true that sometimes it's easier to lie about how we feel to get the reaction we want - some people call it white lies, I call it bullshit. Somehow, it's easier to dole and receive bullshit because we've become so caught up with our lives and accustomed to fulfilling our selfish need to satisfy our "me me me!" To sit down and examine the truth seems so far-out. Lying is the easy way out, but not necessarily the right way.

I've still yet to come to terms with how I've dealt with certain situations in my life, but I know that lying is definitely not the be all and end all of it. I know, but I still do it anyway because it's always convenient to blame it on my human nature instead of having to deal with the reality of circumstance.

In fact, the hardest thing anybody could do is to be honest, to express how they really feel.

23

Another year

Another year older

Another year wiser (hopefully)

Another year happier with myself

Another year to be thankful for

Another year that has come and gone

Another year for me to laugh and cry

Another year to be grateful for the lessons learnt

Another year for me to learn to live and love

Thank you to all who have come into my life

Who've taught me to be a better man than I was before

Stung by The Green Hornet

Have you seen the trailer? If not, watch it. The good parts are pretty much all in there.

What It's About

Basically the premise is that Britt Reid (Seth Rogen), party boy and good-for-nothing, inherits his father's newspaper, The Daily Sentinel after the man dies from a bee sting in his own garden. He meets and teams up with Kato (Jay Chou), his father's go-to guy for cars and coffee (yes, coffee), who also happens to be somewhat of a brilliant engineer, scientist and martial arts expert. Together, with the advice of Reid's secretary Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), they blow up meth labs and pick fights with the gangs of LA in an attempt to appear as villains to the press so as to infiltrate the criminal underworld. They inadvertently rub the kingpin of LA, Chudnovsky (Christoph Waltz) the wrong way and he tries to kill them, climaxing in an elaborate fight scene between the duo in the Daily Sentinel building.

The Good

The script was fun and entertaining for the most part, kudos to Rogen for his contributions (he did co-write the award-winning Superbad afterall). Waltz did a good job in portraying the jaded kingpin of the LA underworld and the fight scenes were very well choreographed. It was also a nice surprise to have James Franco cameo at the beginning of the movie.

The Blah

3D, 3D, 3D. I don't know why so many movies are made "3D" nowadays. Is it for the receipts? Does an additional $4 on every ticket make a difference? Or is done simply to show off "Hey, we can do this cool shit with his eyes! Check it out!" or "Hey look at this other cool shit we can do with the lights!"? I mean, c'mon, most of the movie wasn't filmed in 3D. And for the parts that were (aka the fight scenes), they were mediocre, save for the ending credits that actually looked pretty amazing in 3D compared to the rest of the movie.

The Nasty

Where should I start? Hmmmm. Let's talk about Jay Chou's acting. One word: FAIL. Seriously. Whose bright idea was to cast this joke of an actor who only has one (yes, ONE) facial expression i.e. the perpetual frown, to act in a big budget Hollywood movie? Granted, he's a great musician and singer, but he can't act to save his life. I cringed every time he delivered a line and I stifled my laughter when he tried to emote. Actually, I think I LOLed in real life for a couple of times in the cinema.

Also, I'd like to know who decided that Cameron Diaz should play the role of the "hot secretary"? She was hot fifteeen years ago, not anymore, and probably not ever again. I mean, she was nominated for "Most Desirable Female" at the MTV Movie Awards in 1994. Yes, 1994. Damn, now I feel old. She looked real haggard and washed-up in the movie, and I actually felt bad for her. Poor thing. Dear Ms Diaz, please say no to roles like that in the future. You need to move on from the "token hot blonde" roles cos you don't fit the bill no more. Just sayin'.

Should You See It?

It's really up to you. If you're up for some mindless fun and can put up with bad acting (since Jay Chou is in almost every other scene), this is the movie for you. If not, wait for it on Netflix. Just don't watch it in 3D.

Ri-Session

Maybe it's the superb management team behind her, or maybe it's because she's too hot to be ignored. Regardless of the reasons, you can't deny that Rihanna's one of the world's biggest stars right now. Granted, the radio stations over-play her songs (on the Top 40 stations, you can literally hear Rihanna songs played almost every five minutes), but that's only because they're so catchy (yay for a great song-writing and promo team!)

The trick to having increased radio presence is to do it the Rihanna way - release a couple of singles at once. See how she did it with "Only Girl In The World" + "What's My Name" and again with "Raining Men" + "S&M"? Genius publicity move. Ok, back to the topic: how many girls can pull off a Ronald Mcdonald-ish hairdo and still look sizzling? This girl can.

Today, she debuted the video for her latest single "S&M" and I'm lovin' it. I love the cheeky and playful concept of the video, especially her costume changes. Like her album title, it's loud, in your face, and it's unadulterated, risque fun. Definitely NSFW and NSFK. Check out some of the screenshots of her various costume changes:


























I also liked how all the pseudo-journalists were chained up, S&M-style. Very kinky. Nice allusion to the life of celebrity, where photogs and paparazzi restrict freedom and trap celebs with their presence. Her team did a great job in making fun of the world of celeb stalkers with the chains, whips and costumes.





And who doesn't love seeing Perez Hilton being RiRi's b*tch? Seems like he got into the role pretty easily. Heh. Anyhoos, I'm sure it's every Perez-hater's dream-come-true!




Enough talk from me. Check out the video for yourselves and tell me if you like it (or hate it). Enjoy! :)

Hello Again

It's the end of January 2011, and somehow I decided to revive this ancient blog. Maybe it's because I'm a sentimental man. Maybe I just can't let go of something that used to fascinate me so much (remember the good old days when we actually had to play around with HTML to make our blogs look pretty?) Also, I can't believe this blog has survived for 7 years!!! Still wondering what I should be doing with this though, seeing how I've already got a Tumblr and Twitter account that are more frequently updated than this antique of a webpage. I just find it very wasteful to be wasting such a prime (it's prime to me) piece of web real estate. Hrmmm... Should I make it a talky blog? Should I do reviews? What do you think I should do? Leave your suggestions in the comments!



Sleepy Kitty thanks you for your time :)

The Day I Celebrate Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving. It is the one day of the year that the Americans have put aside to give thanks for all of our blessings. Personally, I am thankful for all that has happened for and to me this year. Being able to come to the US to further my education has been nothing short of a dream come true. I am also thankful for the close friends that I have made here who have been taking good care of me. Being alone and away from home is more taxing and difficult than you can imagine. I'm truly grateful for all of the wonderful help I've been given along the way. I'm also thankful for my parents, for without their love and support, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

Dear Hater,

Yes, I'm actually dedicating a post to you. I don't understand why you choose to repeatedly post flaming comments anonymously on my blog or what's going on in your head. You need to know that:

1) I've dealt with much worse in my life,

2) so I don't care if you don't like me because I don't know who you are anyway.

3) Besides, all of the comments are moderated. Every single one of them. I simply delete the hate,

4) so if you hate me, it just means that you care enough about me to do something about it.

5) Or maybe you just want the attention?

If that's the case, do leave a name and an e-mail address, or even better, a postal address. I promise that I will keep in touch with you. Or if you'd like, I could share the information with all of my friends here. I'm nice like that.

But I'm sure you have better things to do with your time. So stay in school (or at work, if you've already dropped out of school), read more to improve your general knowledge, and do some exercise every day. It'll help to clear your head and allow you to make better decisions the next time you feel like flaming me or anybody else behind the facade of anonymity.

Sincerely,
Justin

An Open Letter To Apple

AN OPEN LETTER

TO APPLE (THE COMPANY THAT SELLS iPODS AND iPADS, NOT THE FRUIT THAT HIT ISAAC NEWTON ON THE HEAD)

February 14, 2010

Dear Apple,

As a loyal customer and fervent fan, I applaud your innovations and the constant improvements you have made on your software as well as your hardware products. I fell in love with your brand at the introduction of the iPod in the early years of the new millennium, and subsequently, have come to know and love your products: I am an avid user of the Macbook, I entertain myself with my iPod and I stay connected with my family and friends through my iPhone.

You have managed to remodel essential consumer technological products such as the MP3 player, the laptop and even the mobile phone by repackaging them as niche, simple and clean gadgets that appeal to the average consumer. That’s ok, because who wouldn’t want to walk down the street plugged in to their iPod or talk on their iPhone, having an image of superiority and sophistication? But now, you’ve gone one step further and rehashed your own product while claiming to have birthed your “most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device”: the iPad.

Yeah but…. what? When rumors of the Apple tablet started circling in the technological world, many experts theorized that Apple, the same company who came up with the industry-changing iPhone, would produce a tablet computer that would once again bring about an industry-wide ripple effect. But instead, we were introduced to an enlarged version of the iPhone/iPod Touch (depending on whether we’re talking about the 3G or non-3G capable versions, but it really doesn’t matter). How revolutionary.

Secondly, the name. What were you thinking when you came up with “iPad”? I don’t suppose that there were ladies on the project who thought that it was an odd name for the device and didn’t sound it out? I know that you probably want to keep the associative rhyme (like “iPod” and “iPhone”), but any word that is synonymous with a female hygiene product isn’t exactly ideal in making a good first impression, unless you are actually trying to break into that particular market, which you obviously aren’t.

Thirdly, iBooks is hardly a new concept (much less a feasible selling-point for the iPad). Excuse me while I attempt to refresh your memory. If you do a little search in your iTunes store, you will be able to find the “Stanza” as well as the “Amazon Kindle” App for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. These Apps work exactly like iBooks by giving users the ability to download entire books onto their devices, but I’m sure you already knew that because you probably approved of those Apps for the App Store yourself. I have henceforth assumed that the above mentioned Apps would be facing their demise (along with my collection of e-books) when iBooks is up and running, lest you prove me wrong.

Lastly, please stop congratulating yourself on innovation. You're making your fans (ie. people like me) look like douchebags. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Justin Jap

One Month Later

And here's how long my hair has gotten in the past month ;) I've been coping rather well in the US so far. It's been a trying period of adjustments, but I think my body and mind has finally been able to adapt to the surroundings here. Allowing your brain to fester for three years and throwing yourself back to the books has not been an easy task, but I'm getting there. I'm just glad that I'm not doing this alone.

I'll have a proper post up this weekend, so stay tuned.
In the meantime please be safe, wherever you are.

xx :)
Justin

Romance

“I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.” - Pietro Aretino.

Everybody wants to find that special someone that they can hopefully spend the rest of their lives with like a Disney fairytale ending. But life, however, works rather differently. Falling in love and being in a relationship requires more than just Cupid's arrow and a damn good shooting arm.

The Day I Talk About The New School Year

I'm finally back in school after three years of non-academic activities (ie. NS + Work + Idol). It's definitely a fresh start and I've never ever looked forward to studying so much in my life. Going through so much in the past couple of years has definitely helped me grow as an adult and it's given me quite a different perspective about school-life in general. I really appreciate it more now.

Although it's getting colder every day, I'm beginning to get used to it. The 30-minute walk to school, the botak trees by the roads, the buying of groceries at Whole Foods, the quirky teachers and students in school, the mucking around in the bookstore, are all very refreshing and exciting for me. My professors really make my day. I have a quirky Physics instructor who has an odd tic of saying "...here, ok" at the end of every sentence. And my English instructor who grew up in a circus used to be dressed up as a clown as a child.

I can't say that I don't miss being home and being close to my family and friends, but I've decided to embrace my new life here. I know that I still have people who care for me, who'll miss me and who'll welcome me back with open arms, but the time is now for me to embrace my present, and to secure my future. I miss you all, but I will be back very soon. Even before you know it.

The Day We Entered 2010; A Reflection on 2009

And so we've said farewell to the crazy, amazing, heartbreaking, exhilarating, unpredictable year that was 2009. We've all had our triumphs and failures, but through it all, we've definitely learned and grown wiser from all that has happened.

Personally, I've taken so much out of it without actually expecting to. In the beginning of the year, I managed to land myself a job at a recruitment firm, without which I would've never have experienced life in a back-stabbing, hypocritical yet educational corporate landscape. There's really more than what meets the eye.

After I left my job, the next highlight of my year was the Singapore Idol experience. Going into it with a "let's see how this works out" frame of mind, I somehow managed to beat the odds and made the Top 12. The friends that I've made, the love that I've been shown and the priceless experience that I've gained through the process has been nothing short of amazing. Yes, I may have had to defer my studies for awhile for the show, but in retrospect, I wouldn't have had it any other way. There are some things that money can't buy and this was definitely one of them.

I know that I usually don't stick to my resolutions (like 99% of the people I know), but here's mine for the 2010. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to it this time round.



"Time to reach out, time to be who I am."

I guess I can do that now.

The Day We Crowned Our New Singapore Idol

It's been a long and winding journey, but we've finally reached the end.

Congratulations to Sezairi for winning the title. You've worked so hard to achieve this and you truly deserve your achievement. Kudos to Sylvia for putting up a good fight. Your elegance, poise and beauty is simply captivating (that, and your quirky personality, and that "busok" face I'll miss so much). You were both amazing last night.

It's been an honor to have shared the same stage with all the beautiful and talented people I've met in the course of my Idol experience, and last night's explosive finale was a fitting cap to the end of another exciting and fruitful year.

Here's to new beginnings, and bigger things to come.