Witching Hour: Entertainment

Leap Years

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:27:11 GMT

I finally watched The Leap Years DVD which I bought the other day. I did not catch the movie when it was shown on Feb 29th this year. A bit of googling revealed that it was originally scheduled for release in December 2005 ..... my guess is probably they wanted a more appropriate date and which better than the special day in a leap year which this story is all about. I have read this novel years ago and I still cannot locate it. Perhaps one fine day I might find it in some dusty corner.

In my February post The Leap Years, I asked the question 'Would you wait 4 years? Would I wait? ...... I don't know .... perhaps if it's someone worth waiting for'. This was my query before I watched this movie. Now that I've seen it, I know my answer would be 'yes, definitely' ..... if the person in question is someone like Jeremy (Ananda Matthew Everingham, a Thai born Australian Loatian). Actually Li-Ann's wait for Jeremy was over a span of 4 leap years which is a mighty long wait. Is that true love or living in a dream?

There were some unanswered questions in the story, like what's with the absolute silence between each 4 years wait to meet? Not even a call or email .... nothing. It doesn't seem credible that they didn't even attempt to get the other person's contact number. I just feel that Jeremy should have been honest with Li-Ann from the start but I suppose that would have changed the storyline. Ok to be fair, he did try to tell her at their 2nd meeting but she didn't give him a chance to finish.

But anyway I did enjoy the movie, cried a little in some touching scenes and of course enjoyed looking at Jeremy who looks a lot like Orlando Bloom. Love him with his long hair tied back or let loose. Though I felt that his flaw was not being honest about himself, I would forgive him because he kept his promise to return every Feb 29th .... which is a bit too long I think, and a much too brief stay of just a day before he had to disappear again. It doesn't seem worth waiting 4 years to have only a day with someone, does it? But what really got to me in the end was his letter to Li-Ann when she didn't turn up to meet him. She was on her way to her wedding dinner while he was waiting forlornly at the Windows Cafe, their promised meeting place. If someone were to write me such a note, it would have touched me too. I cried along with Li-Ann when that note was read out to her.

The moral of the story ..... guys, please be honest with the one you love and don't make the poor girl wait an eternity for you. She might just give up and marry someone else.

A beautiful song from The Leap Years ....... Scars (Stronger For Life) by Corrinne May.

Makes me feel sad listening to it.

Corrinne May on 6Lyrics.com

Fate trailer

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:19:27 GMT

Coming soon to a theatre near you, this is the latest korean movie starring Kwong Sang Woo (Stairway to Heaven) and Song Seung Hun (Summer Scent). The other day I came upon the movie poster as I was coming out of Tiong Bahru MRT station and it stopped me in my tracks as these 2 are my favourite guys. So unlike the typical soppy tearjerkers, this story is about betrayal and gang fights.

The Fate

숙명(Destiny)

WEB SITE : http://www.fate2008.co.kr/ 123min 35mm | Genre : Action , | Release date in South Korea : Mar 20, 2008

SYNOPSIS : In the dark criminal world of Seoul, U-min (Song), Cheol-jung (Kwon), Do-wan (Kim In-kwon) and Yeong-hwan (Ji Sung) are close friends in a gang. One day, with the help of an older member Gang-seop (Ahn Nae-seong), U-min, Cheol-jung and Do-wan attack the gang's casino so they can start new lives. But their plan goes awry when Cheol-jung betrays them, and U-min goes to prison. He becomes the scapegoat to save his friends' lives.

After serving his time, U-min wants to stay out of trouble but is drawn back into the underworld when he sees what has become of his friends: money and power-hungry Cheol-jung continues to betray others as he climbs up the gang ladder; Do-wan is a drug user; Gang-seop is missing; and his girlfriend Eun-yeong (Park Han-byul) has left him to run a bar as the boss' mistress.

As U-min tries to solve the situation, however, unfortunate twists of fate set off one misunderstanding after another. To make matters worse, the mob boss and right-hand man Yoeng-hwan get them involved in a huge drug deal. Once again thrown into a game with high stakes and big cash, the once best friends must fight one another for their lives.

The Legend

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:20:02 GMT

This fantasy historical kdrama starring my Korean idol Bae Yong Jun is currently showing on Channel U every weekend at 7.30pm. At first I was not very interested in the series as I'm no fan of period dramas but after watching the first episode, I was hooked. I wanted to get the DVD set with English subtitles ..... a bit elusive as the only sets available were those with Mandarin/Malay subtitles. Finally I managed to get a copy at Music Junction at Vivocity. Must have been my lucky day as that was the only set left on the shelf so I made a quick grab for it.

As it's now on Channel U, I'm in no hurry to watch all the episodes unlike the other Kdramas in my collection. Usually I am rather impatient and would like to finish watching the whole series as soon as possible ..... most times, I would go for the last episode first so that I would know whether it has a good ending or not, and then take my time to view the rest of the earlier episodes.

One of the reasons BYJ is my idol is his great acting and good looks. Loved his soft wavy hair in Winter Sonata which was my first K-series with him in it .... such a romantic character which made me his loyal fan ever since. He has this way of making us cry buckets along with him ..... sigh, just watch his eyes ..... and he has the kind of smile that lights up his face. Aww ... how not to fall in love with his character? He looks great with this period drama hairstyle .... how not to fall in love all over again? I think I'll go watch the last episode.

For more information on the series including the filming sites, visit the website listed below. Wished their names were simpler as I tend to get a lilttle mixed up over who is whom. Hwan-ung( the Son of God) and Dam-deok (The Crown Prince) are both played by BYJ. A simple summary in 2 lines .... his character is the chosen King of Jyusin whose birth had been foretold thousands of years ago and destined to rule over the land with the help of the 4 mythical creatures which would awaken at the right time. A tale of politics, fight for power, love triangles and with great special effects.

● Synopsis (taken from the official Korean tourism website)http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/CU/CU_EN_8_5_1_31.jsp

Hwan-ung, the Son of God, descends to earth and builds a country called Jyusin. Before the founding of Jyusin, there existed the Tiger Tribe, which worships a tiger, and the Bear Tribe, which workshops a bear. Ga-jin, a member of the savage Tiger Tribe who continues to harass Hwan-ung, and Sae-oh, a member of the Bear Tribe who falls in love with Hwan-ung, are both Jujak, or gods of fire. However, the three form a love triangle. Mad with jealousy, Ga-jin throws the child of Sae-oh and Hwan-ung from a cliff. Blinded by grief and rage at the loss of her child, Sae-oh sets the world ablaze. Hwan-ung ultimately kills his love, Sae-oh, to save the world. Ga-jin also kills herself atop a cliff, and the tragic love story of the three comes to an end. Later, Hwan-ung imprisons his followers—Baekho (White Tiger), Cheongnyong (Blue Dragon), Hyeonmu (Black Turtle), and Jujak (Phoenix)—in objects and foretells of a new king who will rule Jyusin who will be born on the day the stars of Jyusin light the sky thousands of years later. He then returns to the heavens after ordering these four gods to awake at the right time and aid the king of Jyusin.

Thousands of years later, the stars of Jyusin light up the sky and a son is born to each of the Royal family and the Yeon family, the highest noble family of the Goguryeo Kingdom. The Crown Prince Dam-deok pretends to be weak and slow from childhood because of people’s attempts to harm him. Leading a lonely life in the palace, Dam-deok befriends Gi-ha, a female priest from the Hwacheon Group, and Yeon Ho-gae, who was born on the same day as Dam-deok.

Yeon Ho-gae’s mother, who believes her son must be the king of Jyusin because he was born on the day the stars of Jyusin lit up, plots a conspiracy to poison the king. However, with the help of Gi-ha, Dam-deok exposes the conspiracy and Yeon Ho-gae’s mother kills herself. Yeon Ho-gae begins to hate Dam-deok as he learns that Gi-ha, who he had feelings for, loves Dam-deok and believes that Dam-deok is responsible for the death of his mother. While fighting the generals and noblemen of the Hwacheon Group, who try to make Yeon Ho-gae king, Dam-deok falls victim to a conspiracy. In the end, Dam-deok’s father is killed and Dam-deok, in the heat of a crisis, one by one discovers Hyeonmu, Jujak, Baekho and then Cheongnyong. Is it really possible for Dam-deok to become king as foretold by his destiny thousands of years ago?

The water horse

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:26:51 GMT

Now showing in theatres, this movie for kids seems to be based on the legendary Loch Ness monster or Nessie as it's affectionately called. I would like to get the DVD when it comes out ..... little Crusoe is sooo cute and I can never resist all things cute and cuddly.

The Leap Years

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:45:51 GMT

SYNOPSIS (http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/leapoflove.htm)

Chang Li-Ann, a delightful dreamer, is convinced she will one day meet the love of her life, her soulmate, her Mr Right.

In the year 1992, on that fateful day of February 29, she finds him in Jeremy Lee at the Blue Paradise Café and puts her faith in an obscure Irish leap year tradition that states a woman has the right to ask anything of a man on this day and he cannot refuse her. Li-Ann risks it and asks for a date. To her delight, he agrees and they embark on the most unforgettable night of their lives, running through the old Chinatown of Singapore. Their jaunt, however, ends in sadness when Jeremy reveals that he has to go back to Canada that night and that he is engaged to be married. Disappointed and hurt, Li-Ann tries to move on with her life. However, the bond and connection she had with Jeremy and the feeling of being totally alive for once are too overwhelming for her to leave that memory behind.

A commitment from Jeremy to see Li-Ann every four years on February 29 leads to an emotional trip where we witness her joy, pain, longing and hope. The story takes us from Singapore to Canada and into the new millennium.

Cast

Ananda Everingham – Jeremy
Wong Lilin, Joan Chen – Li-Ann
Jason Chan – Raymond
Qi Yuwu – KS
Vernetta Lopez - Jennie
Nadya Hutagalung - Suneetha
Paula Malai Ali - Kim
Tracy Tan - Dyllan

It's a bitter sweet love story, based on a novella 'Leap Of Love' by Singaporean author Catherine Lim and its release scheduled for 29th Feb 2008 in Singapore. I remember reading this book quite a number years ago but cannot recall where I kept it. It feels kind of sad ..... finding your soulmate and yet not fated to be together.

I wonder if anyone would really have that kind of commitment to wait 4 years to meet up with that someone special. For the diehard romantics, yes it's possible. But 4 years ..... wouldn't that kind of special feelings have faded a little? One might still feel something but ..... would it still be the same?

Would you wait 4 years? Would I wait? ...... I don't know .... perhaps if it's someone worth waiting for.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves ... William Shakespeare

American idol 2008

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:58:47 GMT

I didn't follow this season of American Idol but happened to tune in on Thursday night which featured the 12 males finalists. Most of them looked good but my vote goes to Jason Castro. Love his unusual hair style and striking good looks. Even the acid tongue Simon Cowell gave him the thumbs-up.

CSI idols

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:33:59 GMT

Lt Horatio Caine (David Caruso) Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez)

2 reasons for me to tune in to CSI Miami on Tuesday nights ..... my CSI idols David Caruso (with his signature dark shades and intense eyes) and Adam Rodriguez (looks great with that cute stubble).

Grand lion dance performance

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:32:13 GMT

It had been a quiet CNY for me as usual. Sometimes when I look at the hustle and bustle of people doing their rounds of new year visiting, I would wonder whether I'm missing out on something. Or are there others like me who doesn't follow tradition and treat CNY as just another day? I felt a tinge of guilt that perhaps I had in some way deserted my culture.

Yesterday we chanced upon a really impressive lion dance performance at the coffee shop downstairs while having dinner there. Instead of the usual single lion with 2 performers, there was this huge group of lion troupes gathered together as well as 2 long dragons each manned by another group. As they took turns to line up at the shop front to usher in good luck to the shop, I simply lost count of the total number of lions but a rough estimate would be around 40 of them.

The exciting moment of the evening was the excellent and agile acrobatic performance by a single lion on top of a row of metal plates lined up at different levels along the foot path fronting the shop. I thought the lion was really cute when it rapidly blinked its eyes at us and its moves so realistic that for a moment, one had forgotten that there were 2 people beneath the robes. This cute lion was definitely my favourite.

A pity I didn't have my camera with me and missed what would have been great pics. I tried snapping and recording with my mobile but the images turned out blurred so will not be posting those up here. That was one great performance and an unexpected treat. One thought that went through my mind was how much it must have costs the coffee shop owners to bring in this huge group. It must have cost them a fortune .... but we really enjoyed it, thanks to their generosity. It made a fitting finale to the new year celebration.

Scandal of the new year

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:28:56 GMT

I've not seen his naughty pics .... ok, not exactly true as one of the blogs I usually read had posted some not so explicit pics of his girls and one of him recording a session though with certain parts masked over. I'm not going to search for them either as I don't believe in peeking into someone's private life or in being moralistic. He's now paying a heavy price for his indiscretion.

What I find difficult to understand though is the reason he feels this compulsion to snap all his ladies ....... and they let him. Not very smart of them, and for him to store them in his laptop and then send it for servicing. It's as good as an open invitation.

Interesting creatures

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:08:16 GMT

Came across these strange looking creatures. My fav is this blob of a fish which looks like an unhappy balding guy that had just been beheaded. It looks kind of cute.

Blobfish (scowling bald man with bulbous nose)

The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) is a fish that inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania .. Due to the inaccessibility of its habitat, it is rarely seen by humans.

Blobfish are found at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient. To remain buoyant, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. The relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats by in front it.

Star-Nosed Mole (needs a nose job ..... now where's the face?)

The Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristata) is a small North American mole found in eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States . It is the only member of the tribe Condylurini and the genus Condylura.

It lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and molluscs. It is a good swimmer and can forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds. Like other moles, this animal digs shallow surface tunnels for foraging; often, these tunnels exit underwater. It is active day and night and remains active in winter, when it has been observed tunnelling through the snow and swimming in ice-covered streams. Little is known about the social behavior of the species, but it is suspected that it is colonial.

The Star-nosed Mole is covered in thick blackish brown water-repellent fur and has large scaled feet and a long thick tail, which appears to function as a fat storage reserve for the spring breeding season. Adults are 15 to 20 cm in length, weigh about 55 g, and have 44 teeth. The mole's most distinctive feature is a circle of 22 mobile, pink, fleshy tentacles at the end of the snout. These are used to identify food by touch, such as worms, insects and crustaceans.

Hagfish (face only a mother could love)

Hagfish are marine craniates of the class Myxini, also known as Hyperotreti. Despite their name, there is some debate about whether they are strictly fish (as there is for lampreys), since they belong to a much more primitive lineage than any other group that is commonly defined fish (Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes). Their unusual feeding habits and slime-producing capabilities have led members of the scientific and popular media to dub the hagfish as the most "disgusting" of all sea creatures.

Hagfish are long, vermiform and can exude copious quantities of a sticky slime or mucus (from which the typical species Myxine glutinosa was named). When captured and held by the tail, they escape by secreting the fibrous slime, which turns into a thick and sticky gel when combined with water, and then cleaning off by tying themselves in an overhand knot which works its way from the head to the tail of the animal, scraping off the slime as it goes. Some authorities conjecture that this singular behavior may assist them in extricating themselves from the jaws of predatory fish. However, the "sliming" also seems to act as a distraction to predators, and free-swimming hagfish are seen to "slime" when agitated and will later clear the mucus off by way of the same travelling-knot behavior.

Favourite Korean actors

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:19:05 GMT

Hyun Bin (Snow Queen), Bae Yong Jun (Winter Sonata), Kwong Sang Woo (Stairway To Heaven) & Song Seung Heon (Summer Scent)