Jumanji: The Next Level

Well, luckily for us in Malaysia/Singapore, Jumanji: The Next Level has a releasing date that precedes the US/UK. I only knew the movie was a hit when I was little (which means in the 1990s) but I did not know there was a reboot/sequel 2 years ago and I certainly did not know this movie is the sequel to that. Anyway, I'll get straight to the point: the movie is good, exciting and the actors are fabulous. They - spoilers alert! - wonderfully play out different characters superbly and they gave colour I did not foresee. Plot wise it was rather hollow with no real storyline, but it did not really bore me. Only three challenges for two hours was quite a let down but each challenge was unique and exciting on its own so I'll try not to complain much about it. Anyway I thought the movie started rather slow, but at the end it was alright. Would give it a 4/5.

p/s I watched it at Emperor Cinema at R&F Johor. It's a newly opened theatre and, though the ticket price was a bit pricey, the seat was incredibly comfortable with reasonable legroom (you'll be surprised how some cinemas have their seats so closely spaced it bothers me that my legs can't stretch out comfortably) and good sound system.

梁文音 《還好》

I like this singer ever since I heard her version of 那女孩对我说 on Spotify.

Then I went to her profile and listened to her top songs, and this emotional song came in number 3.

Her songs really stood up, in the sense that musical instrument presence is minimal and the emotion is raw and authentic.

Awesome songs shall be shared.

梁文音《和平分手》 ft 蕭煌奇

Good songs shall be shared. Her voice is sweet, and the emotion is pretty intense. So is his.

And the fact that the male singer is a blind is a plus. 

The Nightwalker

I've always wanted to update but somehow I did not. So now I'm updating with a book review.

I saw this book at Book Xccess in Gurney Paragon and despite the fact I swore that I would stop buying books as I don't read as much anymore and I've plenty of surplus of books I could not possibly devour in the next few months, I bought it anyway because, one, I love horror books and they are hard to come by, and two, the recap was very attractive.

It did not disappoint. The book did not waste much time getting to the point, but the suspense is heavy and the twist is hard to digest sometimes. This is a psychological thriller book, in contrast to what I expected it to be, but nonetheless it remains a good read because the plot really is great despite the messy timeline switches. His wife disappeared one night with significant injuries and he thought his sleepwalking diseases came back. He sought the help of the doctor who treated him when he unbearably suffered it while he was little but at this time his doctor did not seem convince it recurred and so he had to figure things out by his own. But as the story progresses, things really do not appear to be as simple as it seems.

I would rate this book 4.5/5, and it deserves this high star because not many books attracted me enough to finish them in a matter of days. I usually finish reading a fiction over two weeks or more, because I'm busy with work and leisure time is too precious to be entirely spent on just reading when there are also so many activities out there to be indulged in. But this is one book that succeeded, along with all Chris Carter's books which remain among the best books I've ever read in my life.

It's Getting Boring Again...

Singapore is getting very boring again.

It's a tiny city-state, where going from one end of the island to the other end on the MRT takes only one and a half hours. And that metro line isn't even straight!

There really isn't much to do in this tiny island nation. There's only so much it can offer, and 30% of its land are nature parks or untouched greenery (like Lim Chu Kang and central water catchment, where you won't often return there though sometimes you go there for some nature touch), the remaining 45% are HDB housing estates, and the remaining 25% are where tourists throng but 25% of this already claustrophobic island is really little to go by.

I've gone to almost every corner of this island deemed worth visiting, except Sentosa which I don't find anything fanciful as I'm not man-made entertainment type of guy, and Coney Island which takes a lot of time on foot and I haven't found a suitable date with nice weather.

This explains a lot. It shows that despite the strength of its currency and the robust economy, the people really have not much entertainment left and therefore they resort to spending money. Buying stuffs, on a weekly basis, become the norm and what keeps the economy going, and that's why people here care so much about branded stuffs.

Too bad I'm not one of them. To me, all these superficial items buy you momentary happiness, but after a while it fades. I find the purchasing power here overwhelmingly tempting, but the fleeting satisfaction it provides me fail to propel me to continue this momentum.

Well, my days in Singapore are numbered.

Two more years. Max. Could be less. Unlikely to be more, unless I'm given very, very good reasons to stay.

The Captain, 中国机长

Based on and modified from a true event, The Captain is a rather simple movie that regales us about how a pilot successfully lands an aeroplane that suffered from a massive loss of cabin pressure due to window breakage at few thousand metres above ground.

I didn't know much about Sichuan Airlines 8633 incident that happened in May 2018, where the window unexpectedly broke and the co-pilot was nearly sucked out from the cockpit. There wasn't much coverage about the incident and I couldn't find any news that explained the aftermath and any investigation report as to why a seemingly robust glass could miraculously gave away on flight. I'm not doubting that everything is made up, in fact I believed everything about it is real, but the lack of coverage and transparency seem odd, though probably typical of Chinese bureaucracy.

Anyway I knew about this movie because it was given much hype from the media and apparently a lot of enthusiasm was running because of it. It was released as a celebratory movie on the 70th anniversary of PRC independence, or founding. Not exactly know which is it, sorry.

The movie was good. It wasted no time talking about stuffs that aren't relevant or would doze you off. It began with the airline crews prepping, going through the procedures, and within 20 minutes of the movie, the plane has departed and the action was about to begin.

The adrenaline started pumping hard after the glass broke. With sudden loss of cabin pressure only within the cockpit, and with not much time to despair but to gain control of the aeroplane despite the chillingly low temperature and wind pressure that silence out all other noises, cutting off all radio contact and the subsequent loss of oxygen, the pilot has to find a way to land the aeroplane at the nearest airport without any radio contact and assistance from the ground.

The actors of the movie, together with some
of the real survivors of the accident.

What really made this movie amazing is the skill of the pilot in maneouvring the aeroplane into safety. The climax of the movie has to be the part where the pilot made a judgment call and deems it absolutely necessary to penetrate into the dense turbulent horrific weather, despite the loss of windshield and subjecting themselves to the horror of the nature, and therefore loss contact with the outside world and every authority thought the plane must have crashed to suffer from such cut off. It became a huge relief where the plane emerges from the clouds and reappears on the radar.

The movie lasts about 1 hour and 40 minutes, and none of your time would be wasted. Your adrenaline would be pumped at its maximum rate and you'll feel at times that you marvel at the skills of the pilot while at the same time deeply touched to know, a single action from a single person could really change the lives of many people.

I would highly recommend you to watch this movie. It's so far the best Chinese movie I've watched and one of the best ever, surpassing some of Hollywood's top.

It would also be great that we understand that airline crews, not only the pilots, but also the co-pilots, stewardess, ground crews, those who work in the aviation authority and the control tower, all play an important role in guiding all flights safely. Their role in the flow of air traffic shouldn't be overlooked and forgotten, even though most of the time we don't appreciate what they do because we don't interact with them.

Joo Young - Nothing`s Gonna Change My Love For You

Now, true talent like this is extremely rare, probably on the brink of seemingly extinction, due to the influx of large untalented singers rode on the popularity wave because of electronic aids or deceptive images. But talent like this often goes unnoticed, yet is what attracts me the most.

This is not a new song. It's an oldie which I occasionally enjoy. The old songs often have heavy tunes - not those electronically modified, natural, but still heavily tuned - and I often don't enjoy them unless they're covered by another singers or sang during live performance.

I heard this song again recently when I was shopping at Chinatown. The version I heard was acoustic and I loved it so I immediately jot it down to google it when I go home.

And so I did. I couldn't find the version I heard, but I stumbled upon this. This blew my mind away. It's an authentic sentimental performance, real voice, real performance, authentic emotions, and it's a true talent.

This singer is not famous, but I guess he should be. Because this is really good.

And good videos ought to be shared.