My Summer of Love (also known to some as wtf??)

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I’m writing reviews that people can actually understand instead of all the high flying psycho-babble which leaves you wondering “so does that mean it’s a good or bad movie?”

I saw this artsy film recently and was among an audience of about 10 since it was the matinee. Half the audience was made up of a group of retirees on their movie outing. I really wonder if they knew what the film was about or did they make their movie choice based on the R21 rating.

!!! DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON: SPOILERS AHEAD !!!
!!! DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON: SPOILERS AHEAD !!!
!!! DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON: SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

So anyway this movie is set somewhere in rural England, where rich people have their stone mansions to rear horses and hang out in summer. The small town nearby is full of these simple folk, where everyone knows everyone else and one of these country folk is Mona, a teenager who lives in a pub with her older brother, a former convict who found Jesus Christ while behind bars.

Since finding Christ, the brother decides to turn the pub into a place of worship where he would hold bible sessions and they would all start talking in tongues and go into trances.This gets on Mona’s nerves as she wants her ‘real’ brother back, not some bible-spouting Jesus freak. So she spends most of her time outdoors where one day, she meets Tamsin, another teenage girl who was spending summer in one of the mansions.

The two become fast friends because there isn’t really much to do in the countryside. Tamsin has an unhappy family where the mother is off in Europe with a boyfriend, the father is having an affair with his fat and ugly secretary, and Tamsin’s sister died of anorexia through her parent’s negligence. Tamsin is suspended from school as she is “a bad influence on others”, which is how she came to stay at the summer mansion.

So these two unhappy souls find solace in each other even though they are as different as chalk and cheese. Tamsin is this worldly wise, rich and cultured girl whereas Mona is basically a gullible yahoo. Their friendship soon grows into something more intimate.

When Mona’s brother finds out about the two of them, he goes over to Tamsin’s mansion to get Mona home. Tamsin starts acting vulnerable to trick him into thinking she was trying to find Jesus and he leans forward to kiss her whereupon she bursts out laughing: “that was too easy…you’re such a fraud”. He almost chokes her in his anger, but leaves dragging Mona away who is listening outside the room.

During a prayer session at the pub, Mona’s brother loses it and drives away his cell group. The old him is back. Tamsin is right. He is a fraud. Mona packs her bag, bids her brother goodbye and goes to Tamsin’s mansion. She goes up to Tamsin’s room and sees a woman packing – it’s Tamsin’s mother. Tamsin says she’s going back to school. They are not going away together after all despite their plans. Mona turns and runs down the stairs where someone calls out to her to return her top. It’s Tamsin’s sister – she’s very much alive and not at all anorexic.

Mona realises that she has been played, for whatever reason. She goes to her favourite spot at the waterfall and Tamsin joins her later, where she tries to explain herself – “I’m a fantasist”. She’s someone who likes to act out a fictional character, creating another life for herself. Mona kisses her and pushes her under the water almost drowning her. Then Mona gets out and walks away.

The End.

The soundtrack mostly from Goldfrapp is amazing. The mood of the film is so laid-back, lazy and wonderfully shot. The two leads give extraordinary performances taking viewers on a dreamy journey that ends abruptly but the bittersweet friendship is one memorable experience. (That means I think it’s a good movie.)

Hollywood celebrity gossip news rumors


“Tell me what you don’t like about yourself”

Posted in Showbiz | No Comments »

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So the two plastic surgeons of Nip/Tuck would ask at the beginning of the show. I am ambivalent about Nip/Tuck Season 3 being shown on local TV. I was planning to get the dvd, and last night I saw the teasers announcing a new season starting next Monday.

Without a doubt the most cutting-edge TV you can get, the local TV station themselves will be doing quite a lot of snip snip to the show especially with the recent incident of cable tv being fined S$10,000 for airing American reality TV show ‘Cheater’ which contained scenes suggestive of lesbian sex even thought they were pixelated out and screened at midnight. This programme is aired in China, India and Indonesia.

Hollywood celebrity gossip news rumors


Survivor XII : Cook Islands – As long as it’s not in our backyard

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This is the season where teams are divided racially:Asian-American, Caucasian, Latino, and African American.

There have been cries of protest over these lines of division in the US where the show originates. Angry mobs there say that this heightens racial differences and intolerance. Some have assumed that Singapore, being hyper-sensitive to race, religious and cultural tolerance would surely not run a tv show that would potentially unbalance the very values that have taken a generation to promote.

Yet, tonight at 11pm, Survivor XII: Cook Islands will premiere on local tv. Division of races along the lines of Asian-American, Caucasian, Latino, and African American doesn’t apply to us. Since these races don’t live in Singapore, not in significant numbers anyway, you’ll hear no protest from us. It’s strictly an American dilemma.

Moreover, I think we are quite confident that the Angry Mob in the US won’t be rallying fellow Americans around the world to boycott Singapore goods, burn down our embassies and stage violent street riots.

Hollywood celebrity gossip news rumors


Day into night

Posted in Odds And Ends | No Comments »

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I received this awesome image in my email today. The text below came with it.

“The photograph attached was taken by the crew on board the Columbia during its last mission, on a cloudless day.

The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots you see are the cities’ lights.

The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert.

Note that the lights are already on in Holland, Paris and Barcelona, and that it’s still daylight in Dublin, London, Lisbon, and Madrid.

The sun is still shining on the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean Sea is already in darkness.

In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores Islands; below them to the right are the Madeira Islands; a bit below are the Canary Islands; and further South, close to the farthest western point of Africa, are the Cape Verde Islands.

Note that the Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during day time and night time.

To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.”


The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain

Posted in Odds And Ends | 4 Comments »

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The Indiana Jones of the culinary world, Anthony Bourdain has compiled his old articles and stories into The Nasty Bits – tales of encounters with food and characters from his travels in search of good food. I wish I had his job. Or do I.

It sounds like a dream job but in one story, he recounts how badly jet-lagged he was and in fact threw up some of his lunch, tasty though it was just before it made its way down his stomach.

He was in Singapore too, where he tried some of the local favourites. Unfortunately, he must have had his hands full eating and couldn’t take notes because he got his food mixed up. Nasi Lemak – Malay rice he mistook for a broth, and Bak Ku Teh – a Chinese pork ribs soup he said was a Malay speciality. Horrors….pork from Muslims? Maybe Osama Bin Ladin has already issued a fatwa for Bourdain’s head over this insult.

He even had food that the locals (like me) don’t have a chance to try. Like the sumptuous feast he had at Sin Huat where he was served steamed grouper (that alone must have been at least $80), crab vermicelli, an assortment of seafood, and god knows what else.

The cook who no longer cooks now hosts food travel programmes, writes books, attend special events and globe trots. In a telling final story about a cook who became a celebrity and does the celeb circuit more than he cooks, he writes about the cook’s salvation on Christmas Eve, how the cook goes back to his roots and dishes a fantastic meal for some rich guy who decides to invest in the restaurant which was on the verge of collapsing from neglect. Is this something Bourdain is wishing or imaging he would do one day?


Oh no…Michael J Fox

Posted in Internet, News, YouTube | No Comments »

Here’s something to make you thankful for everything you have in your life.

Support stem cell research!!!

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