wootsome

Movie night continues (KY's back but is staying over at her boyfriend's place). Tonight it's a 2005 zhang yimou work about an old dad (ken takakura) traversing yunnan in search of an opera singer. Whereas it is not exactly clear what the dad has done to deserve years of non-acknowledgement by his son, the movie offers refreshing glimpses on human interaction in the form of the dad's thoughts from an unabashed release of bottled-up emotions to the loneliness especially magnified in a situation where one does not speak the language of the people around him. Overall, this movie is short and sweet with a simple storyline that doesn't distract the audience from the power of fundamental human emotions in times of death and parting.

KY being in vietnam for a week has resulted in plenty of quiet nights at home after work spent watching movies. And since I don't get home that early most times, I usually start switching on the dvd player at the ungodly hours of 11pm/12/1am... and end up falling asleep not long after. So I usually take a few days just to complete one movie. Yesterday I finally got around to finishing before sunrise, as good as its sequel and I thought there's a good point that celine (julie delpy) brought up about why we seem to always get obsessed with people we don't really so like. Case in point: myself in recent weeks. Maybe it's just the challenge I am lusting for.

Tonight I managed to finish watching a movie in one attempt not in the installments I'm usually familiar with. It's such a visual feast and a show of stylistic-arty brilliance that I find it incredibly engaging. Not so much for the barely-clothed men, really. I'm more fascinated with the oracle at delphi (kelly graig - so intriguingly gorgeous) as well as the brotherhood/loyalty/spartan culture thing. Strangely enough I think the amount of gore is acceptable and oh-so-beautifully-crafted. View comic-to-screen comparison here and a complete account of the battle of thermopylae here. After all these years, I'm finally getting D's interest in greek mythology and sparta now.

Overheard last weekend at the neospring creative festival: Do you have cds with songs good for people committing suicide?

No kidding. And asked by a demure-looking chinese chick, she wasn't even a goth girl or anything close.

• Finally, I've gotten my leave approved... and I'm so darn excited that I went to get the tickets today too. Be booking hostels next up, yay! Can't wait.

All thanks to L, we dropped by a dvd store after dinner last night and I bought a load of movies I wanted to watch but never got the chance to including this 1993 gem by ang lee. Very touching, poignant and funny... and very chinese, be sure not to miss the surprise appearance by lee himself in the movie. I like lee's well-played political connotations in the scenes although I've yet to grasp the sleeping metaphor which keeps reappearing (wai-tung, his dad, his classmate) throughout the movie.

One of my favorite scenes is the one of wai-tung and wei-wei watching his parents leaving the banquet hall, the other is of wai-tung coming out to his mom ("可是又不忍心把扛这么多年的担子再放在你们肩膀上"). Personally I'm not one for big hoo-rah style wedding banquets. I can't imagine myself being the pseudo-star of the evening, center of attention oh the awkwardness of not being a pretty bride. As difficult as it is, should I get married one day I know I'll want to have a wedding banquet. It's for the parents. And I guess, in more ways than I think I am, I'm still a traditionalist inside.

We had dinner at my nyonya gallery tonight. The food wasn't too bad, although as I've figured by now, one can only get the most authentic food at home (country home and mommy home) so I can't complain much. Prices are reasonable too we ate like pigs for CNY 80 (approx SGD 16)/ head.Tacky environment aside, I like the assam fish most and I realize I miss the zi char (煮炒) atmosphere back home - eating rice on plates with forks/spoons, it took china to make me realize how southeast asian that is. I'm not sure if I will make a trip back to my nonya gallery, I probably won't especially head there for the food, whoever knew it would be this tough searching for a good singaporean/malaysian restaurant around here. The only one I really like near raffles city had to close down a few months back.

• Just when I least expected it, J manager bought me mango pudding tonight that's still kinda chilled when he took it over to my desk. I really don't know what to make of him.

Is when random chinese people ask their kids to call me auntie (阿姨) including my chinese neighbor who told her pet dog this evening that I am the auntie from singapore. Maybe, I'm just getting old... and showing it. Bah!