Smile

 I travelled to Sarawak, for reasons I'll find time to elaborate in other posts. But I had free time to kill and I decided to watch Smile, a horror movie I've heard raved and praised for its uniqueness. So I checked the timeslot at The Spring in Kuching and found one about two hours later and bought it without hesitating too much as I knew hesitation and unnecessary deliberation had not been proved helpful most of the time. By the way, though MBO in Spring gave me bad impressions, this time GSC seemed to have improved it.

Anyway I went for the 7.15pm screen but was shopping at Parkson shortly before. I went to the counter and paid for what I wanted at about 7.05pm and thought it would be timely then to enter the hall, but I did not anticipate transaction errors the counter might face. It caused me a delay and by 7.20pm I said I couldn't wait anymore and left - the only problem they had was the inability to print the receipt for me. The product could still be paid for and was successfully paid for. I thus left.

I entered the hall late about 7.25pm and thought the trailers would run for 15 minutes, but I was slightly wrong - it had begun, but judging from the looks of it, only for about a few minutes. Anyway, the hall was pretty empty. And I think due to my rush, I was a little clumsy and noisy and disruptive, especially when I on the torch in my phone to find my seat in an otherwise dark room that was suitable for the genre.

Anyway, to the movie.

It was good, but it wasn't 'smiley' enough. The theme of the movie is about an evil entity that smiles. That's it, but 99.5% of the movies involve no smiling. The main character saw a person smiling at her and then slit her own throat, and she thus is haunted by a ghost that no one else can see. That's the gist of it, and she began her homework to find the root of the evil.

Okay, the movie had tonnes of jumpscares. It relies on psychological tricks and appropriately-timed jumpscares to keep the movie alive - and it worked. It scared the shit out of many people. I was in the hall and many people were screaming, some actually tried to leave the hall. I saw a guy standing by the door, not sure whether he had wanted to go for the loo and decided to stay a little to watch what was going to happen or that he was just scared and wanted to go. 

But the jumpscares worked. It reminded me of the movie Oculus, about an evil mirror that curses the beholders. Movies that deploy psychological trickery, if masterfully crafted, could enthrall viewers in manners others genres could not. And Smiles did - a few jumpscares really worked, and it really made the movie a lot more interesting rather than dulling it by repeating what the viewers could have foreseen.

Though, I must add, for the jumpscares to work, you probably do not want to watch the trailers first. I watched the trailers and found how revealing they were and am glad I did not watch it before the movie.

Overall, I give it a 9/10. One of the finest horror movies recently. Horror movies have been on the decline, especially since J-horror and Thai horror had appeared to cease, and quality horror movies had all but came to a screeching halt other than the Conjuring. Smile is a welcome return of the horror genre.

Marcella

 It ain't that bad a series, but it ain't extremely captivating or fascinating either. The titular character, Marcella, is a detective who had temporarily left the police force to cope with the death of her child. She's had a troubled life - estranged husband and two disconnected children. In season 1 she had to deal with a cold case she worked on. In season 2, now that she's back on the workforce, she's dealing with the disappearance of her son's friend, the discovery of his body, and the uncover of a serial killer.

I wouldn't say it's a bad series, but it certainly is pecular. Marcella is not your typical smart detective. She's antithesis of the typical police fictional character - she's smart, but her impulsiveness triumphs more and is obviously more dominant. She's mentally medically ill and she's leading a dysfunctional life and is not enjoying a stable, blossoming romantic life. But she remains sharp, although largely guided by her impulsiveness so it hadn't been always been receptively entertained.

The good thing about the series, like a typical British series, is that the emphasis of the character's personal growth is secondary to the main theme of the show. You'll be spending more time watching the crime rather than the drama of the character's lives. The bad thing is that Marcella is disturbed and I'm not sure how a person like her actually is a model representation of a hero even though it's obviously fictional.

Nonetheless, I've watched season 1 and season 2, with season 3 next. I know that the online consensus seems to favour season 2 over season 1, but I happened to like season 2 more than season 1. I'm not sure why, but I thought season 2 is underappreciated. The complexity of the crime is obviously few notches higher than season 1's, and the crime itself is just more interesting.

I'll look forward to season 3, but Marcella proves to me that British series has always been better than American series.

Lady Gaga - Hold My Hand

Yes, I love the movie. Top Gun: Maverick is the best movie in 2022 so far and I don't foresee any movies displacing it. Not even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or even Avatar.

But, more importantly, I love Lady Gaga. Such an awesome song.

Calum Scott - Heaven (Official Video)

I guess, like the old times, good songs ought to be shared.

Songs like this are the best, and are disturbingly increasingly becoming a rarity.

Just Beyond

I chanced upon this on Disney+, so I gave it a try.

This is an anthological series consisting of 8 episodes. It's categorised as a paranormal series, but in actuality, it's more of a teenage supernatural series. It's nothing very scary, and is more suited for kids than young adults, to be honest.

It's based on a few comic/children books, adapted to a short series.

It's pretty fun, and like most shows geared for kids, it's partially educational. Every episodes explores an incident which aims to serve as a lesson for the viewers.

I particularly like the first and the last episode. The last episode was a particularly strong stand-out. The first made a very nice introduction of the series, but unfortunately, it's followed by a few subpar episodes, but they are still alright. I just prefer the first and the last.

Since each episodes is about only 20 minutes long, it's a mildly entertaining show you can choose to watch during your lunch break. I kinda like the show, and if there's a second season, I'll give it a try too.

Ok. So This Is It

Okay, I'm pushing 30, and the incessant question of 'why are you single?' is getting much more relentless.

The truth is, I belong to the rare group of people called aromantic. (link attached) Essentially, it means I'm a kind of person who does not, or has a very poor ability to, develop romantic feelings. 

I can care for every living thing, but I'm just the kind of person that does not develop romantic feelings towards others.

I can be obsessed with things, but being obsessed is not quite the same as romantic I guess. I would like to learn about that particular thing to the extent of what interests me - I'm not interested in prodding further.

Then, I'm simply not keen to have another person in my life. I'm sometimes bored being alone but I don't feel insecure or incomplete. 

I just never experienced that. I wanted to experience romance too, you know, since my youth is almost gone, but I simply lack the capability to do so.

And it's not entirely a bad thing. Unlike many people, I'm not complaining I want a girlfriend but can't get one. I'm not complaining.

There are many things in my life that I want to have but can't have, and I accept this as part of it and I've settled with it.

Just like, I want to be rich but it's simply not a realistic dream. It's the same attitude I hold towards a partner.

So, there, that's why I'm single.

Blood Donation

A few weeks ago I read that the Red Cross was appealing for blood donors for, I think A+ and O+ blood, so it suddenly piqued my oddly subdued interest to donate blood, though my blood type is B+.

My friend and I decided to then travel to the blood bank at Dhoby Ghaut to donate, because he donated before and he knew the process and I thus decided that it was safer to tag along him rather than going alone. Alas, because we made no appointment, the queue was two and a half hours waiting time so we forewent it.

Until just last Saturday, there was a mobile drive. So we decided to go again.

I'm going to say that the first time of everything gets my nerves all fired up, despite repeated assurances and stories that say it's a simple process that does not necessitate any fear, but anxiety is, after all, an irrational response that is biologically necessary.

As we reached there, the first thing to do was to fill up a health form. Then we proceed to get our details registered.

Then, we had to get our haemoglobin levels checked. Insufficient haemoglobin disqualifies one as a donor; after all, if you don't have enough, you shouldn't donate. I knew it involved extracting blood from a wound on the finger, so it got my very, very nervous. The nurse saw that my palms were all sweaty, so she gave me a tissue paper to wipe off. I was very scared of any pain, regardless of how small it is, and I would say I was totally unprepared for the 'stapler' (don't know what it's called) and the subsequent rather loud sound it produced. It threw me off balance and my palms were visibly sweaty again despite just wiping them off a few seconds ago, amusing the nurse that took my blood. Ya, it hurt a little, but it was temporary (and uncomfortable).

My haemoglobin level was 15.2 g/dl. It was good. 

Then, the next was health check. I hadn't taken any medicines or fallen sick, so it was good.

Next, we waited for donation. It was quite a while. I wasn't expecting the donation to be in the centre of the room with the crowd watching while waiting.

When it was my turn, I was asked to sit on the chair. I was given a small thing to squeeze to stimulate blood flow. The nurse tried finding my veins, but was deterred by what she said was 'very small' veins. She then moved on to my right arm in hope for a better shot, but I knew my right arm was the red zone for all nurses - very, very few nurses successfully extracted blood from my right arm. She moved back to my left arm hoping for a better luck, to no avail, and sighed rather frustratingly as if I offended her. She had to seek help, and another nurse came and took a look and pondered a while, and then she said, okay. She would do it. 

She applied anaesthetic on my arm, and naturally the standard procedure required my vision of the extraction site to be blocked off so I couldn't see it. Then she tightened my arm again and told me to please squeeze hard because my vein was very small. Then I felt a prick, which was rather uncomfortable though momentary, and she plugged the tube in. I had been advised to squeeze that thing every 5 seconds or so to accelerate the extraction, and so I did. But to be honest, squeezing that thing allowed me to feel that a tube was plugged in me and it was not very comfortable.

After a while, I surmised not more than 3 minutes, she came and removed the tube, which I thought was fast. Three people in front of me sat down a few minutes before me and they ended their donation the same time with me. In fact, I left the chair earlier than all of them, which prompted my friend to say 'your donation process was especially fast'. I was told this meant I had healthy muscular system and blood circulation, so I took it as a compliment. We were given foods and drinks for rest, and I took Milo.

After that, the side effects were not immediate. But I did feel a little dizzy and light weight a while later, and by night time I felt a little angina and heart weaknesses, and my heart seemed to beat a lot faster than usual. Considering that I lost about 15% of my blood, I supposed it was normal. I felt better the next day, but my appetite was beyond normal for the next three days.

Overall I would say the entire process was fairly easy and only minimally painful. I would be eligible to donate in 45 days, and I guess I might. Maybe not soon, to allow my body to heal better, but suffice to say I think a second donation is imminent. If I can save lives, I guess I'll do it. And I guess everyone should too - it's fairly harmless yet beneficial.