Equilibrium

               I was just watching Equilibrium. It was quite interesting. Christian Bale(Batman) is acting. It's concept was the most interesting. A world where all emotions are suppressed by a drug;Proziac so that there will be no hate or rage and therefore no war.

              A group of elite soldiers maintain order by killing anyone who abstain from their daily dose or those found with emotion stimulating objects such as paintings,books,movies etc. They are known as Clerics. Christian Bale plays Preston, one of the best Clerics who one day, avoids taking his dosage.

            They tried to make the storyline too complicated so it resulted in it sounding a bit silly at the end when the bad guy(The Father) tells Preston he planned everything.But the action isn't bad.Cool gun fighting moves, even if it is a bit unbelievable.

             One part of the movie that caught my attention, is the part where Preston returns home and his son(training to be a cleric) is sitting in front of this enormous TV screen watching the Father, talking about Proziac and basically extolling the virtues of not feeling and being identical to everyone else and all that. The image is such a typicality of Brainwashing. I am sure this scene has been used in many movies to represent brainwashing. 'Small boy in front of big screen listening to face talking about something'. If it had been a small screen it wouldn't have had that effect.

            I think Christian Bale did a good job in this movie. Most of the acting here is facial motions and body language, unlike most movies. Just a simple slide of eyes to the back of someones head tells you that person is not feeling as he should be. Tells you to watch him carefully.

O'Levels and Practicality

    I visited my friend Silas's blog. Good lord, he even has a countdown to O'levels. Its making me extremely nervous. It's uite refreshing reading his blog. His language is uite bombastic and humorous. His blog is uite informative. Most blogs are typical in the way they describe their users' lives and the language they use is almost greek.

   Anyway, i visited VJC's homepage. I wanted to DSA for it but now i'm not sure. They want those talented in Arts and Sports. And i'm neither. Even my CCA's aren't anything to do with them. Groan!!! Plus their subject combination doesn't include Bio and Econs. Sucks man! I wantes to do H3 Bio and H2 econs since i need to know about monetary stuff. Who else is gonna deal with my finances(tax,investments, and bills) when i'm older? I need to be self reliant.

   I notice this peculiar trait, all the good students take up subjects that are mostly useless in their working world while the not-so-good ones(for whatever reason) take up the practical subjects. I mean why would i need to know how an insulated sphere works and why HCl is acidic in aueaous form and non-acidic in gaseous form? But would it not be better for me to take Principles of Accounts? Even if i don't become an accountant i can use it in my personal life?

   But if i opt for those subjects, people will look down on you and for some reason you will not be as respected and you won't get as many chances as those who take the more 'useless' subjects. Not to mention the reaction of the parents. Anyway the only way i can become independant and make my way through the working world is to know all that so i guess i have to educate myself. Groan!!! All that workload. I am just grateful i am not someone who gets stressed out or panics. I never do that!

  
 

Pics and cams

  I would have posted some pics of the trip but unfortunately my father's camera went kaput halfway. But at least my relatives took pics. I'll beg some and post it up here. Wish i hadn't lost my cam in India. A thousand and one curses on the saukerl that took it. And at the end of the trip too! With all those lovely pics in it! Next time i get a camera, i'm gonna attach it to my belt loops like a wallet.

Mt Kinabalu

I went to Sabah. It was my first time back. It was a bit more built up than i expected it to be. I went to Mt Kinabalu. Wow, about 1/2 a km up and i was panting away. I would like to make the full climb sometime in the future. It is my own private vow. On the way up i saw an amazing thing. There was a guy carrying a tank of gas and running up the mountain. My jaw dropped all the way to my toes. That guy was friggin strong!! Carrying such a heavy thing and running up and down like it was no big thing. WOW!

His calf muscles were huge. Bigger than the width of both my arms put together. He nearly bumped into my cuz on the way down and he gave this shy smile and mumbled a sorry before racing off again.

   At the Timpohon entrance we saw this board with the list of the fastest climbs ever made. Coming in 2nd and 3rd for the male (i think) amateurs were japanese men. We saw a bunch of japanese hikers and they looking at the board and acting all proud and whatnot. I felt like laughing at their expressions. They were going "ah so" and all that. Later when i saw that guy running i was thinking, that guy could probably beat them all even with a leg ache.

  It's just unfair sometimes, the way some people get credit for stuff when other people have done it better than them. This guy could probably win cross countries with no problem at all! Ah well, all i can do is wish him well. I'll look for him, next time i go there.

Avatar

I watched Avatar. It was superb! I loved it. I liked the way the movie mirrors our own lives on earth. How we are no longer in sync with mother nature, how we abuse her, exploit the indigenous(sorry if i spelt it wrong) people of the various countries and how we are all so materialistic. All gunning for money.

 Anyway, that aside, i think the special effects were awesome but i don't think i have to even say that. But i must say i am surprised. This was not the mindless blockbuster i expected it to be. It had a lot more meat under the skin. Although the plot is a bit of a cliche, i think it can be forgiven because of the rest of the great stuff.

  I'm gonna watch this again!!!