Comics

2007 was the year I rediscovered comics. From the library I borrowed and read most of Eisner's works, Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis", Art Spiegelman's "Maus" and the Lone Wolf and Cub series. On my own, I bought comics of which some are shown above. Most of these are not superhero comics; they are little stories of everyday life, except for the political journalism of Joe Sacco (top). A good survey of these type of comics is found in the latest "Best American Comics 2007", edited by Chris Ware (bottom panel). Most of these gentle aimless stories tend to be autobiographical, and some can be unbelievably shallow. But they were perhaps following the foot steps of Spiegelman, Satrapi, Craig Thomson, Robert Crumbs, etc, artist who had bigger themes and more concerned with the "truth" than the "I". Yet, when it works, like Alison Bechdel's extract from "Fun House" (second last panel), the effect can be magical, poignant, funny and even literary. This is a growing medium. It takes too much trouble and effort to do them, as I tried to do during the March holidays, but thankfully, not that hard to enjoy them.

Chup

The beginning...

Well, oshin, one of the great debates among religions is what a "soul" is and when exactly does a soul comes into being. Catholics are against abortion because they believe the soul comes into existence at the moment of conception, and hence abortion is murder. Of course, the topic of abortion is a huge issue in any discussion of politics in the US. Anyways, why am I telling you all this, oshin?

Er, I dunno...

Chup

Best of 2007

2 years ago, I posted a blog on some end-of-year selection of photos that meant something to me. This time round, I have less to choose from, because Lin and I hardly travelled this year. But other things make up for it; family, friends and quite a case-load in career. They were moments that weren't captured in photos, or if they were, didn't have any merit. Or else, things happened overseas, like O getting PR in Japan and S graduating in digital media with distinction in UK, and Y holding solo art exhibition in KL. But photographs are again an important part of my life because I had to teach 2 classes on its art this year. I was also able to test out the full-frame Canon 5D and use the Nikkor 70-200 lens (the macro shot above). The wedding shot was with the Canon 5D. After testing it a few times, in some instances side by side with my Nikon, I've decided that Canon's default colour is just too reddish (even after adjustments) and I'll stick with Nikon's more naturalistic rendering. Some photos made me money, like the atrium shot above, while the photo of the blue bench and dried leaves was my own attempt at an assignment topic I had set for my students. The only travel I made was to Jakarta in Mar, and K took me around the old town (bottom photo) on a motorbike. As I write this we are busy preparing to move house. Hopefully 2008 will be as kind to us all as 2007 had been.

Chup

1300 square feet

The same 16 souls who shared dinner over 730 sq ft on 23 Dec repeated the feat over a more comfortable 1300 sq ft on 25 Dec. The menu was very much more meaty and more more. Here again are some more attempts at preserving another slice of our lives. As always, the young are always the most photogenic, the life of any family gatherings. And if the group photo shows only 15 of us in spite of the fact the camera was on self-timer... well, we can't always trust the camera to capture all present at all times...

Chup

730 square feet

On 23 Dec 2007 our 730 sqft apartment hosted 16 souls to a soto party, starting at 4pm and ending at 9pm.

This is a quotation taken from the young Henri Cartier-Bresson: "I went to Marseille. A small allowance enabled me to get along, and I worked with enjoyment. I had just discovered the Leica. It became the extension of my eye, and I have never been separated from it since I found it. I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung-up and ready to pounce, determined to "trap" life-- to preserve life in the act of living. Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes." (italics mine)

These are 3 out of over 100 shots in my attempt to preserve a slice of life over an afternoon in an apartment I've lived in for 12 years, and which we will be vacating in about a week or 2. It has become too small for our needs, and we'll have to move on...

Chup

Tempest

Taken at Labrador Park on 16 Dec 2007, when Lin was bored with being stuck at home. I asked if she wanted to see the newly opened horticultural park at alexander or labrador. She said she wanted to see the sea again. It rained intermittenly, and there was a lovely coolness...

Chup

Portraits

Taken on 23 Dec 2007, of Lin's angelic cousins, when they came by for Soto dinner. They are not sisters but both their names start with "A"...

Chup

A Walk in the Park

Taken on 21 Dec 2007, at the Kent Ridge Park, using Nikkor 70-200 lens. It was an unusually sunny afternoon, after days of moody skies and rain... It felt good.

Chup

To be young...

Taken on 15 Dec 2007, a Saturday with friends at the poolside. The girl is a neighbour. I asked if she could touch the floor with her hands leaning backwards and she obliged...

Chup

The Golden Compass
Rating: ****1/2
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Watched on 9 Dec 07 with Chup at Vivo City.

I have come to a conclusion that buying tickets on the day itself during school holidays like now would end up in disappointment than anything else. So for this movie and the previous entry, Enchanted, the tickets were bought since 7 Dec :)

From the same producer as Lord of The Ring, I enjoyed this movie much more than LOTR. It's probably less complex and my reasoning to Chup for preferring this movie was, the baddy doesn't look ugly like how they would have been in LOTR. He he... Ugly creatures just make me depressed.

What I didn't know was, this is actually Part I of a trilogy. So I was totally unprepared with the abrupt ending. There will be part II called The Subtle Knife and finale The Amber Spyglass. Hhmmpphhhh... And Chup secretly didn't warn me too.

Now, for those who have yet to watch, I have warned you ya...

...the one who would have given the movie a full ***** if not for the unexpected surprise at the ending

Enchanted
Rating: ***
Cast: Amy Adams (Princess), Susan Sarandon (Evil Queen), Patrick Dempsey (Handsome lawyer), James Marsden (Prince Edward)
Genre: Romance/Comedy

Watched on 8 Dec 07 with Chup at Vivo City.

Although the last movie I blogged on was Fantastic IV back in July 07, that wasn't the last time we watched a movie. We haven't been watching much movies lately but there was definitely some movies/shows I watched in between July 07 and Dec 07. Just that if you ask me now, I can't recall them. For sure I watched King & I musical in Aug, Ratatoille in Sep, Kumar the Queen in Oct. Now that's not too bad, right? Maybe Chup can add on more if he had jotted them down in his little note book.

Typical fairy tale story with a hardly surprising twist at the end. Of course, like any fairy tale, it came with a happily-ever-after ending.

Found parts of the movie boring and even ludicrous (like how the entire New York city turned into a happy carnival just from the Princess' singing). It's a happy movie after all, so go, be happy and just enjoy it :)

...the one who would have given the movie **1/2 if not for Chup who gave it *****!

The Unfortunate Umbrella

On one rainy Monday afternoon on the 26 of Nov 2007,

2 friends from Somerset braved the thunderstorm with their sendal jepit (flip flops),
to meet another 2 friends in Dhoby Ghaut.





It rained like there was no tomorrow.

But we went anyway,
Cos we promised,
Rain or shine we will be there.

All because one of the Somerset friends wanted to eat
badly.





And to our disappoinment, our Dhoby friends were late.
TSK TSK TSK!! To think they are just next door.

They claimed they were caught in the rain too.
Yeah right...
They only needed to cross ONE road.

But as magnanimous as we always have been,
we forgave and tried to forget.

But forgetting wasn’t easy,
cos it was really too hard to forget.

When the 2 Dhoby friends crossed the ONE road,
their umbrella refused to cooperate.
Causing such a sight !

















How embarrassing ! Luckily we were not there with them when it happened.

They arrived safe and sound anyway.
So we finally get to tuck into our lunch meal sets.

We had






After our long chat and endless gossips,
It’s time to..... say goodbye.........
Let’s arrange lunch again soon !
Missing each other so much.

Just when we thought that was the end of our wonderful lunch,
there was a finale awaiting us !

As we were walking out of the building,
a fiasco occured !

Let the picture speaks for itself !!!





















If you can’t believe your eyes,
BELIEVE IT.

One of our Dhoby friends,
while strolling happily swinging her umbrella,
had her umbrella sucked into this powerful floor fan !!!

The fan was meant to air the wet floor of the building.
This poor attendant had to clear out the unfortunate umbrella,
out of the even more unfortunate fan.

She commented nervously,
“This fan belongs to CAPITALAND, not Plaza Singapura. Trouble...”

Dhoby friend said,
“Does that mean I have to pay for the fan?”

As you would have guessed, the culprit is now on WANTED list of Capitaland.
Anyone who had seen this criminal,
Please report to hotline 99999999.
Or email wantedcriminal@capitaland.com.sg
REWARDS would be given for helping to catch this criminal,
DEAD or ALIVE.

















...the one who is from Somerset