The Gulf (TV)

 I've always wanted to watch a good British/Australian/New Zealand TV series because they're often short, compact, and very powerful. The Brokenwood Mysteries is a good Kiwi series but its length is a bit exhausting. I continued to google and found a new TV show - The Gulf.

I started expecting this show to be one six-part series on a single crime. It turned out to be a six-episode series with three story plot with each spanning over two continuous episodes. This means the show has everything I enjoy - short, compact, powerful. Technically it's similar as one episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries, except that The Gulf has a much serious tone, not exactly humorous, serious investigative work, and authentic suspense.

The Gulf started strong - Jess, the main female character, woke up from an accident of which she had no recollection of. Harding, her ambitious subordinate who she apparently wasn't very fond of initially, greeted her and sort of needed to investigate what happened.

The first story revolves around the finding of a boy who the police thought died five years ago but couldn't find the body and closed the case. The second story is about a missing girl from Perth who had a party in New Zealand. The third and last story is about the ex-cop on the island killing a Maori guy as alleged self-defence of home intrusion.

The third one was the most boring in my opinion, but it opened my view to an open and ongoing social unrest in New Zealand about how the Maori is treated. The minority is often not treated as equal everywhere, and New Zealand shows very rarely discuss it. Or at least I haven't come across one that does. 

I liked the first story the best, but I loved the ending. There are many questions that haven't been answered, and I'm hopeful that the newly aired season 2 will shed some lights on it.

Who knows Jess's secret?

What's Harding's relationship with his father got to do with anything and how did the lady know?

Part of the acclaim has got to do to the lead two actors. Kate Elliot's acting is powerful, she's an amazing actor. Acting like she did wasn't easy and not common. I've watched a lot of shows but not many plays a character as strong as she does. The struggle she displayed in the show about the memory loss and the slow resurface of lost memories and the painful dealing with her daughter and her colleagues and subordinates were captivating and she made the experience somehow relatable. Ido Drent's acting was good but his struggle over his internal demon part appeared true, although other than that he simply played a rebellious character.

Anyway, I like this show. I can't wait to watch season 2. I just hope it's available in Netflix - in Malaysia or Singapore.

Dua Lipa - Levitating Featuring DaBaby (Official Music Video)

I'm saying it: I thought Dua Lipa is a Malaysian. It turns out she is an Albanian/British.

Anyway, it's a good song. 

CNY 2021

 Chinese New Year for 2021 was exceptional for me, because it was the first time I spent such a festive holiday away from home.

Most of us, Malaysians, are stuck in Singapore due to Covid-19. To be fair, many Malaysians are also stranded away from home, perhaps in other states, due to MCO.

With most countries' borders shut, nobody has been travelling.

So CNY this year, we see very few tourists, but a little more festive due to people celebrating CNY here.

Well, I've spent my eve with my university friends in a German bar eating a German burger, so that's something. But that night was spent like we just finished final exam instead of a reunion dinner. It was fun, different and to be honest, memorable.

I spent the first and third day visiting my cousins. 

I spent the second day trying to enter casino but was informed the patronage was high and it was only limited to members. Oh well.

So my friend and I travelled to Jewel instead as we wanted to stay indoors, visited the Canopy Park, and toured T1 and T3. Struck a bargain in WH Smith in T1 - I wanted to only buy a magazine as a support as I know their business has been horrible due to lack of tourists, but ended up buying a few relatively new books sold on clearance. 

Well, it has been different.

Hopefully, the next year doesn't have to be. 

Happy Chinese New Year!

Nature Walk - Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park

Living in a city-state with a very dense population spurred me away from locations where people tend to congregate. I therefore often try my best (not always successful) to avoid crowded places, especially since in the current pandemic it's highly advisable to do so.

Yesterday, I went to make new specs in J8, since I got my bonus. I wanted to, well, treat myself a bit better, especially since my current specs is 5-year-old and it's about time to upgrade anyway. Luckily, my eyesight was fine. It didn't deteriorate further, although with my busy work and constant looking at screens whole day long, I definitely thought it had regressed.

After that I went to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. I often go there, but it's always at night when I jog. So I chose to go during the day so that I can soak my legs in the water.

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park is a naturalised park. That being said, it was a concrete canal that was demolished to artificially recreate a biotic system. It is marvellously beautiful, wildlife does thrive well. Plants there are awesome. Fish and tortoise can be seen in the pristine water which looks clean enough to drink (but it is untreated, so don't). The picture above was taken on a bridge that led to a 24-hour McDonald's in the park.

Look at the turtle and the fish. See how clean the water is? It's beautiful! 

There are stones where people can walk on to cross the river. It's not slippery, and it appeared to be designed such that water is diverted besides it instead of over it. So it's always safe to use that. Plus, I'm a Malaysian. I'm used to unprotected, natural pathways that are very much sneakier to traverse.

The picture above was taken on the river.

I like Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park. I love the waterway. Not the park itself - okay I like to jog there, but there's nothing interesting about the park except the river. A naturalised river.

US Congress Certification

 I woke up today to the horror of learning a staged insurrection occurred in the United States while I was sleeping. Trump is insane and he's capable of mobilising mass protests but breaking laws to invade the Capitol Building for the first time in two centuries is a level I wasn't anticipating. 

The US Senate and House were meant to convene and certify Joe Biden's victory, and I guess Trump just got desperate.

The consequence? The count was suspended but resumed hours later. A thorough investigation would be launched to determine how it transpired, given that it should be one of the most secured buildings in the world. Facebook and Twitter both suspended Trump's accounts, with Facebook entirely blocking it for 24 hours which is a harshly different approach it undertook earlier. 

In the end, the counting pushed through. Mike Pence did not bend for Trump, and neither did Mitch McConnell. Objections were raised for Arizona and Pennsylvania but eventually, both were rejected roundly by both the House and the Senate. The landslide majority by the Republican-controlled Senate was rather eye-opening for me - I expected much stronger resistance but it turned out the Senate shot it down very much faster than the House.

The number of Republicans supporting Trump is disgusting, despicable and deeply disconcerting. Trump is a criminal and ought to be chained behind bars with his mouth shut.

I spent one whole working morning listening to live video of the counting (since I was working) all the way until 3.44pm when they concluded and officially announced Biden as the 46th President come 20th January. Today has been breathtaking for me, to watch democracy survives in face of siege.

Trump should be ashamed, but cult leaders rarely do, don't they?

Also, the Dems won both Georgia seats, meaning the Senate is split 50-50, and Kamela Harris is allowed to be the tie-breaker, which means the Democrats controls the Senate.

In four years, the Republicans lost the House, the Senate, and the White House. Can't say I sympathise Trump's suckers. They deserve it. I just hoped they lost even more and got more brutalised. 

BLACKPINK - 'Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)' M/V

Okay, admittedly, this isn't the kind of song I often listen to.

I'm not a K-pop fan. Still ain't one, though I won't say I won't become one in the future. Now it just doesn't appeal to me.

The lyrics are complete garbage with no actual meanings other than sentences that kids seem to cook up while learning a new language.

But, I admit the song is pretty catching.

Okay, rather enjoyable. 

Next.

2021, New Hope?

It's the 1st of January, year 2021. 

It's amazing how time flies, doesn't it? Last year, this time, we were all so looking forward to the year we grew up looking forward to: the year 2020. The year of Wawasan 2020 which we learnt when we were in school. The year we visualised to be everything like science fiction. How funny it has turned out to be.

End of year 2019, some day nearing the end of December, I was having breakfast at Marsiling market before doing a visual inspection. It was that day, in CNA, that I first read a news report about some mysterious pneumonia that had emerged in Wuhan. I didn't really bother about it at that point because new viruses kept emerging, and the last full-blown virus epidemic didn't turn out to be as scary as it was first reported. Okay, to be fair, Zika was horrific for pregnant ladies, but it otherwise was fine. I lived through H1N1. A(H1N1) was also treated with extreme fear, reported to be a fusion of three flu viruses and people were scared shit. Few years down the road, it was reported H1N1 infected about 25-50% of the world's population and people have since stopped giving so much care about it. I thought it would be the same for whatever new virus that was being investigated. To be fair, I also thought it might just be some existing virus which they might not be able to identify yet. It probably wouldn't be nothing, or so I thought.

Then, it was reported it was a brand new virus with seemingly crippling effects. It hadn't reached Malaysia or Singapore's shores, so during CNY, travelling back to home was still expected. And so I did. Only when we reached the Tuas custom, we learnt that Singapore had since recorded the very first case on its soil.

CNY went through relatively quietly. Then I travelled back to Singapore.

One month down the road, in March, apparently, the situation in Malaysia spiralled out of control. Malaysia imposed a lockdown. Singapore followed suit when the cases in the dormitories balloooned. 

And now, the first day of 2021, still no end in sight. The virus is still spreading. We all thought it would have ended end of 2020, but as it turns out we're still so far from it.

Well, news about vaccines have emerged and vaccines have begun being distributed. It's a silver lining, but the road to recovery seems uncomfortably long.

I crave for the pre-covid normality. What we have now is survival. It couldn't last. Fatigue has set in for many people, and this cannot continue anymore. The people are getting tired.

So, here's to 2021, hoping that covid-19 would cease to become relevant.

Happy New Year everyone. May 2021 be a better year than 2020.