Yeah, pandas are so so so lovely.  Thus these cardigans.

Have a lovely weekend!

x

Those of you who know me or have been following this blog long enough would know that I am very fond of going to the movies and sharing bits and pieces of what I think.  But if you follow closely enough, you’d also notice that I haven’t been posting much about the films I’ve seen lately.  Oh you know, it takes quite a bit of effort to part ways with laziness. 

Back to the film – Overheard 2 – director/writers Alan Mak and Felix Chong reunite and make a comeback with actors Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, and Lau Ching Wan who also starred in their financial crime thriller Overheard in 2009.  Sharing the same name, the sequel to the original film tells an entirely different story with the actors playing completely different personas who are no longer all on Team Cop.  This time around, while Koo plays an inspector in the Security Bureau with an unwavering sense of justice and social responsibility, Lau becomes a shifty stock broker, and Wu a cryptically skillful stranger who may well be an ex-military man, all loyal to different lineages should the word here be loosely used.

Unlike the first film, where criminal conspiracy, betrayal, blackmail, and breaching moral duty are nearly portrayed as the norm, the sequel balances off this less-than-alluring depiction of the Hong Kong police force by giving Koo’s character an unyieldingly clean morality.  Like in their famous trilogy “Infernal Affairs” (which has been remade into the Hollywood blockbuster “The Departed”), Mak and Chong once again play with the dark and bright sides of human nature, reinforcing their trademark and reusing their recipe of success by giving their male leads a tragic flaw, be it squalor, greediness or intransigence, and carefully crafting them a moral downfall with a twist. 

Adding on to their tried and tested equation of success were a club of semi-retired veteran actors Kenneth Tsang, Woo Fung, Lok Ying Kwan, Kong Ngai, and Samuel Kwok who together form the “Landlord Club” and on quite a few occasions, stole the show.  Contrastingly though, while Mak and Chong did their male characters much justice, the female leads were far from fairly dealt with.  Like most of their previous female depictions, Michelle Ye and Huang Yi were merely portrayed as frail and fragile walking vases.  For me, their lines were out of place and emotions disconnected with the audiences’ perceived reality. 

Should I be really critical of their work, it would be that the director/writers failed to understand what goes on in the female mind, leading to the simpleminded illustration of one-dimensional female characters who are only given the chance to put on a miserable face.  Consequently, and rather unfortunately, I could not identify with either their characters or their acting.  They might as well leave them out of the plot, and the audience would hardly notice.

Though action thrillers have always seen the imbalance of hormones and testosterones, I am still looking forward to seeing a mainstream local crime flick which features more female protagonists.  I quite appreciate the action sequences in this sequel particularly the chase up the stairs that follow a bombing scene in Central and Wu’s motorcycle chase.  But I would say the magic number has been, is, and will probably always be three.  It can get a little over the top and way larger than life if too much screen time is dedicated to fast and furious chases in the busy streets of HK.  Still, I do give the creative duo credit for their effort to unfold the plot with more visuals and subtlety, rather than extended dialogues, which seems to be rather conventional in local productions. 

Overheard 2 continue to demonstrate Mak and Chong’s dexterity in writing and making signature Hong Kong cat and mouse films.  I won’t be surprised to see them announce the making of Overheard 3 to make it a perfect box set trilogy they can sell to the producers in Hollywood.  And I will be there, hoping to see better representation of the female race and more solid and mature performances from the cast (especially Wu, whose performance is mellowing charmingly with experience).

Photos from chinesefilms.cn

the sun sets every single day, but let’s not lose sight of what will come tomorrow
each morning, darkness breaks into dawn, just that we’re not up so early to see it
we all know this is true, though we may sometimes forget

the sun will always set and rise again
let your heart do the same xx

Anyway, back to Singaporean ice cream sandwiches.  We found a number of pushcarts along the famous shoppers’ hangout Orchard Road and around Chinatown, mostly operated by husband and wife.  We read about these 1 SGD ice cream sandwiches way before the trip but had no idea they’re mostly operated by such lovely couples.  They work so diligently on the street to serve ice cream in the eternally warm streets of Singapore, that you feel like you’ve got to get one to show your appreciation!

Ube / Taro flavoured ice cream wrapped in a sweet green and pink slice of bread

Frankly, it’s not the best ice cream i’ve ever had.  Yet, it might be one of the sweetest – when you watch the couple working hard to make you the ice cream sandwich you ordered, not missing a single beat.

When i got home from the trip, i tried to make my own:

Ingredients:
* Corn Bread (which i brought home all the way from Singapore)
* Caramel Biscuit & Cream (from Haagen Dazs)

How to do it:
It’s really easy.  Just pop two scoops of ice cream on your slice of bread, role it up like a hot dog and consume immediately.  i like to warm my bread sometimes, but either way is cool.  Enjoy your summer treat!

all this summer, i have been working outdoors in the sun and occasionally in the rain.  i have an awful tan, though natural, have my arms in four different shades. and all this time, we dream of being able to stay indoors in an air-conditioned room. 

now, as i start work in a new environment, very far from my previous workplace and favourite theme park, where the air con is freezing cold, i sometimes think of the warm sun and the beautiful blue sky out there, and almost wish i were out there.  during break times, when we get to look out of the window, we’re always welcomed by the view of the sea and yet another theme park.  there’s so much action out there that you can’t quite take your eyes off it.  you almost wish you can plunge down and find yourself in the middle of all the fun.

it’s strange how the human mind works isn’t it? 
everything seems better and looks prettier once you’re at a distance.
so, do take a step back every now and again to take in the bigger picture. 
what do you see?

ps. the pictures are taken from the podium of where i live,
not out the window at work

swoosh!  this bird came diving into the water and up it came with a fish! 

proud and fierce, it shows off its prize to the audience, turning 180 degrees to make sure we all get to see

some said we should throw a rock at the bird so that it’d free the fish
others turned away at the sight
it was really quite a disturbing scene

but somehow, that’s the way of life isn’t it? 
that’s how the food chain goes, right?

and, aren’t we like this bird in one way or another?
yet, how often do we reflect on our aggressive behaviour? 
is this how we’re living our life too?

Pictures taken at Yu Yuan in Shanghai, 26 July 2011

hello, i’m little miss piggy~ i’m a bit shy though *blush*

this a profile of myself and my owner Nancy~

what’s there? what’s going on?

ooopsy daisies!

and this is Johnny giving Brown a big hug : )

Just for the record, this is the 112th blog post, and as I write this post, the blog has 7,043 hits since opening.

A friend of mine is fashion-blogging in Japanese. 

He just featured me : P