I'm not really a MCU fan, but even then you've got to admit, Spiderman has its charm.
I remember when I was a little kid, in 2002, the first Spiderman was released. Starring Toby Maguire, it was the topic of the year. Back then, smartphones weren't a thing, we get our information from the newspapers and we watched the movies in the theatres instead of Netflix. Then there was a sequel, Spiderman 2, which was literally the topic of the year, even bigger than its predecessor. And I remembered I was in awe watching it - the movie stuck with me forever, and I can still remember the scenes even today.
I never really watched Andrew Garfield's reboot of Spiderman until 2 days ago. In my opinion, while Toby Maguire was the original one, he was a tad too mature. Andrew Garfield's is far less nerdy but is a much more agile and acrobatic spiderman, even though slightly weaker as it stayed loyal to the comic version by using web-shooters instead of shooting his own webs.
Tom Holland's version never really resonated with me. I like his physicality and agility but he was far too talkative and immature to be a superhero but that's partly because he's in a universe where his 'colleagues' and villains were far too grand so his role was dwarfed and pale in comparison.
Until now, we've got Spiderman: No Way Home.
Spoilers - yes, all three spidermen are in the film! Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield are in too!
Let's just admit it, it was a mind-blowingly fantastic 2 and a half hours. The only complaint I have about this film is that the pace is far too high - you never really get to take a breath because the story just pushes along non-stop. I guess with 5 villains, you don't really get to rest.
I won't spoil too much other than revealing the other two are appearing, but I will just say I feel very, very bad for Tom Holland's version of Peter Parker.
He came into MCU universe as a young, innocent, naive kid. But by the end of the movie, he has absolutely nothing left. He lost his mentor, Tony Stark. And then, he lost his only family member - Aunt May. He had to watch both of them died, and one in his arms and he had to flee because he was being pursued. He then lost his friends because he pled Dr Strange to rid everybody of memory about him, including Strange himself. He lost MJ. He lost Ned. He lost Happy. He lost everyone. At the end, he started living on his own, starting a new life, but anonymously continuing as a spiderman.
My question is thus this, why can't Strange cast a spell that makes people forget about 'Spiderman', instead of 'Peter Parker'? If everybody is attracted to Peter Parker because he was Spiderman, making them forget about Spiderman should have done the trick equally efficiently. That way, at least Peter Parker gets to keep his friends like MJ and Ned, although he would probably still lose Happy and Strange. But that looks like a far nicer alternative than a lonely choice.
I hope there could be a sequel where somehow the spell breaks, and Strange gets a chance to fix it again. Or, better, maybe Wanda wouldn't be affected by Strange's spell, and Wanda retains her memory of Parker and looks for him in the next Doctor Strange movie.
He deserves a better outcome.
But overall, this movie is absolutely fantastic, worth every penny I spent.
Then, I saw Guardians by the Galaxy Vol.2. I watched the first, I remembered it was good. I remembered the second hitting the cinemas but I never watched it, so I seized this opportunity to catch up with what I lost. Holy shit. This began my madness about MCU.
Believe me or not, I didn't know MCU existed. I know about Avengers series but I didn't know it was part of a deliberate, planned Marvel Cinematic Universe. I didn't even watch Iron Man or Captain America to begin with. I remembered the tonnes of questions flooding my FB's page after Avengers: Infinity War about what the hell happened in the ending, and the hype about Avengers: Endgame, and also Black Panther because somehow Wakanda was a real thing.
Hooked, I immediately watched the MCU films I liked. Because I watched Avengers: Infinity War and then the sequel first, it was a bit boring trying to watch from the first - switching from an action-packed movie to an introduction is not a great idea. Next time, please just start from the jump.
I watched only the recent ones - Dr Strange, because Benedict played Sherlock and I liked him. As always, awesome actor. I then watched Spiderman, and jumped into the bandwagon of watching Homecoming and Far From Home, although I initially wasn't interested in them to begin with because Tom Holland's version of Peter Parker was a little 'too young' for me. But it was entertaining nonetheless (and I like Stark-Parker's father-son relationship a lot).
I just finished Captain Marvel. This movie was a bit boring, but it was still good. Pace's very slow after you've watched Avengers. I'm now hooked on WandaVision. I like Wanda, she's a powerful witch and a really intriguing character. Of all the characters in the MCU films, I like Wanda, Danvers, Peter Parker (ya, though I initially disliked him), Dr Strange (literally Sherlock with magic), and Guardians of the Galaxy's teams, especially Groot, and also Quill. And also Black Widow, but she lost points because she's quite ordinary, just equipped with fighting skills, when compared to the rest of the team members. But she's hot.
Needless to say, I'll continue the current MCU series. I regretted not knowing it earlier, and didn't watch Avengers: Endgame in the cinema, I could imagine it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Well, I never really liked Marvel. Now I like it only because I subscribed Disney+ and was introduced to it. Never mind, better late than never. I'm considering subscribing for one full year - that allows me to save 15% annually or 11 months + 1 month free, but other than these movies I'm not sure Disney+ has a lot else to offer me. But we'll see.
Looking forward to Spiderman: No Way Home!
Dude, this is among the best show out there, ever!
I've just finished You, and was looking for another show to watch. Well, not knowing what to watch, I stumbled upon Stranger Things and decided to give it a try, because the summary sounds good - supernatural teenage-horror, sounds like the kind I enjoy.
And OMG it blew my mind. I cannot remember when was the last time I finished a series in this short period of time.
The storyline is fascinating. A boy went missing, the community was shaken. There was shock, horror, confusion. Will's mother went insane thinking her son is trying to communicate with her via phones and lights. His brother initially thought his mother went insane, until Nancy, Mike's sister, also saw a similar terrifying creature and Jonathan drew the dots. Will's friends refused to accept he died and tried to search for him. They came across an enigmatic girl, Eleven, with seemingly supernatural powers, and Mike grew a liking to her. Well, story is about like that.
The show is set in 1970s in a rural town in America. It's a science fiction about inter-dimension travel and failed experiments that somehow allowed subjects to gain supernatural powers that unwittingly invited an unwelcome creature that cause disruptions to their world.
I finished eight episodes in three days. I know it's not an impressive record for most people, but for me this is quite an impressive one. The show is awesome. I cannot really express how good it is.
What particularly amazes me is the kids' performances. The main characters are all kids - either young children or teenagers, and yet all of them gave solid, professional performance that powerfully made this show amongst the best out there. It's incredible that these kids could act so marvellously.
If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend this show! I can't believe I jump into the bandwagon 5 years late!
This show is an oddity. Usually, a television series's quality drops as it progresses, but this actually improves.
Season 1 was, well, boring. Or, perhaps, it was more like the pace was slow. The progress was slow. It didn't feel captivating. It didn't make me want to continue watching. I gave the first season a try because I thought, why not? And to be honest, I considered giving up, although I ended up finishing it. The second season was an improvement, I liked it a lot.
And now here comes the third season. Holy shit!
After that's ended, we confront Joe and Love's more intrinsic, basic problems: they have trust issues. They love each other so much they feel like murdering each other. Both of them grow an obsession with another person, Love with the neighbour's kid Theo, and Joe with his boss Marianne. The pace went a bit slower in this second plot, but it ended with....well, Love dying. God. Love died! I mean, I love Love. She's why I find the show has improved, but now the season has ended with Love dead, and Joe in Paris looking for Marianne.
I'm not sure how season 4 would pan out but I hope it doesn't disappoint, although I'm prepared to face the fact that it'll be inferior than season 3. I wish Love is still alive. But, season 3 has been a very entertaining season and I absolutely love it.
p/s Sherry is a very annoying, pretentious character that should have died in the cage with her husband.
And I did so today.
The Conjuring 3 is the first movie in The Conjuring series (not franchise) that isn't directed by James Wan, so some disappointment seems inevitable given that a different touch would be inserted. Yet, I don't find this movie as disappointing as some critics too eager to criticise. I find it equally entertaining, albeit a little less scary. The storyline was still engaging, fascinating and extremely captivating. The horror is tellingly less scary than the predecessors, but it was still a remarkable work. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Ed and Lorraine Warren are as lovely as ever. Lorraine's psychic ability was also given particularly extra focus in this movie.
I think The Conjuring would remain a strong movie franchise to go on. After three movies, one might expect the quality to drop. But unlike other horror movies which depend heavily on the work of creativity which dissipates with time, The Conjuring series is based on allegedly true stories which would never run out of originality. I look forward to watching future Conjuring movies. Seriously, I do. Since J-horror and Thai-horror faded, there has been a serious dearth of horror movies in the market. The Conjuring series is a welcome revitalisation of horror movies.
So I went to TTSH. Going to hospital for the first time in Singapore was a strange experience, especially during a pandemic. I called in sick (after all, I already had a MC from GP the previous day), travelled by MRT to Novena, and walked into TTSH. Throughout the whole walk, I did feel my heart still beating rather fragilely, so I took precautions to pace myself. But, well, I was heading to a hospital anyway, what could have happened.
The walk from the main entrance to A&E was rather lengthy. The A&E section was barricaded, so I entered. But nobody was really queuing. I approached the counter and delivered the letter, and I was very swiftly attended by a doctor and a nurse who proceeded to take my blood pressure, heart rate, and ECG. After my ECG, I was asked whether I preferred to continue laying on the bed until it was my turn to see the doctor or whether I would prefer to wait in the waiting area. It was a strange choice, that I got to choose to lay on the bed and wait. But I conveyed that I prefer to sit, my condition wasn't critical and I didn't want to go anyway so there was no need for me to really use up a bed.
The waiting area was a little crowded but otherwise, it was like any clinic, except with a few doctors tending to many patients. I had a wristband on me with an electronic tag that would only be removed after the consultation and payment was made, so I sat. The place was cold, I guess part of the fee paid covered the air-conditioner on almost full blast.
Nobody there looked particularly distressing or in urgent need of medical care. It really looked just like a regular clinic at a regular place. After a half an hour wait, I was called by a very young-looking female doctor that I suspect was either a fresh graduate or on housemanship. But staffs there were wearing protective equipment so their hairs were covered, eyes were behind a goggle and they wore gloves. Their features were not very distinctive as I couldn't made up a lot, but she looked very young.
She asked me the same question my GP asked me the previous night, except that she was a little more detailed. She had access to my vaccination status, I probably shouldn't be surprised anymore.
After that, she drew blood. She said her 'senior' saw nothing concerning, but a blood test might help to shed further light as she said 'electrolytes imbalances may cause heart palpitations'. I knew it was not possible - seemed comically coincidentally - but the only thing in my mind was, shit, how was I going to pay for the medical bill? This was Singapore, a world top expensive city with top expensive healthcare system.
So she asked me to go another room for her to draw blood, and based on blood-drawing experience, ya, I could tell she was definitely very young and very fresh in this field. First, I was supposed to hold my strength, tightening my muscles so that she could draw my blood more easily - she did not request me to do so. Then, she tried to tie my bicep with a glove, but the glove was too small (I rather think it as 'I'm too muscular', just let me have that moment please), so she proceeded to get the proper equipment. Subsequently, she tried to draw my blood, but she seemed to have quite some difficulty drawing my blood. Based on my past experience, my blood wasn't easily drawn because my vein appeared too close to my bone. But the current situation was more like, well, she didn't ask me to flex, so she had difficulty extracting blood. She kept tapping for a while, at least 2 to 3 minutes, and based on my past experience, it wasn't supposed to be this long. The process was short, swift and simple, but she took quite a significantly longer time. And when she retrieved, she told me, she would send it to the lab and hopefully she 'drew enough blood for test', because she said based on the syringe, she 'drew just below the line', indicated possible insufficient quantity for proper assessment.
After that, I was asked to wait outside. The lab test took one hour, but I waited up to one and a half hour. Without breakfast. I was famished, badly starving, and the full-blast air-cond really burnt up whatever residue calories I had stored in my body. Thankfully, she came back at 12.45pm (ya, I remember the time, because the wait was torturing) and told me my blood results were all normal, and she discharged me but told me to return if my heart still felt abnormal. I proceeded to make payment, expecting to have to pay a hefty sum, only to realise it was capped at SGD128, inclusive of 'x-rays and everything'. I was like, damn, should have requested for more tests to be done.
And that's all.
The first thing I did was immediately went for lunch. Thankfully, it was after peak lunch hour so I did get plenty of seats. When I was leaving, always in the MRT station, only then I remembered I forgot to get my GP's reference letter for insurance claim, I then returned to retrieve, and after that I went home.
For the whole day, my heart still felt abnormal. But thankfully, nothing serious occurred later. I was among the early batch of people who had heart palpitation as the covid side-effect, and I was the unusual ones that had it after the first dose. Most people got it after the second dose, and in Singapore, quite a number of people were hospitalised for monitoring after receiving the second dose. Me? Well, I got my second dose. I declared my side effect, but they didn't look concerned, suggesting it was quite common. My second dose, taken 4 weeks later, was uneventful except for slight headache on the next day which was suppressed by panadol. There was no heart palpitation, something I feared badly, but thankfully never arose.
I don't know whether I'll get it if I get my booster shot in the future, but this experience has been enriching.