SIFFest Journey - Saturday, April 30, 2005

(Siffest will definitely return for its 19th year, and beyond!)

And with Tropical Malady, I heartily close another chapter of the annual film-fest pilgrimage.



Surely I wish for a bang to end my journey with, not with a bewilderment and puzzlement over watching a gay-themed flick turning into a fable where real animals do talk like human beings (and couldn't stop thinking how one part of the film is actually going to be a waste).

But then, not every journey is a fulfilling one, or a displeasant one.

It is best to think that once a journey is completed, then we feel rich with another added experience, and like it or not, some knowledge.

Over films.
Over life.
Over people.

And over the fact that ...

I just need to go abroad this time to properly enjoy a film festival!

;)

Cut!

Gimana sih rasanya disunat?

Waks! Kalo pertanyaan ini ditujukan ke saya, bakal saya tanya balik,

"Apanya?"

Nah, sekarang tergantung dari jawabannya dulu. Kalo misalnya ini pertanyaan literal, yang berarti ritual sunatan adalah ritual buat laki-laki, jawaban saya simpel aja.

"Ngga kerasa, lha wong dibius, trus mataku ditutup waktu itu."

Tapi kalo misalnya yang disunat adalah alat penyambung hidup yang lain, terutama berkaitan ama UANG alias DUIT alias MONEY, maka bukan jawaban yang ada, tapi kata-kata seperti,

"WAADDDOOOHHHHH!"

Sakitnya itu udah kerasa dari awal bulan, ngga perlu lama-lama nunggu sampe tengah bulan atau akhir bulan.

Dan itulah yang terjadi dalam 3 hari terakhir ini, ketika pertama kalinya dalam 7 bulan terakhir ini, slip gaji datang sehari lebih awal dari gajiannya sendiri yang langsung masuk rekening.

Robek ujung pinggir kertas.
Buka perlahan-lahan.

Lihat bagian kredit.
Aaaahhh ... Tersenyum lebar.
Ada bonus dari work-performance yang lumayan.

Lihat bagian debit.
Ah, paling itu-itu aja.

Lihat bagian total.
LHO KOQ?!

Scroll up bagian debit lagi.
AH TIDAK!
Potongan buat CPF udah naik ... 15%!!

Dan maaf mbak Hany, mustinya ini bagiannya mbak Hany buat ceritain Singapore and its so-called uniqueness in everything, tapi sungguh-sungguh saya ga tahan dan udah kegatelan buat complain disini. (See? Singapore sungguh-sungguh sangat kondusif menyuruh warganya buat complain all the time!)

Jadi, kalau kita udah jadi penduduk tetap (Permanent Resident alias PR) disini, maka gaji yang kita terima tiap bulan disini akan dipotong buat CPF.

Apakah CPF itu?
Singkatannya sendiri adalah Central Provident Fund, yang kalo diterjemahin kira-kira
sama dengan Dana Pensiun. Nah, dana pensiun ini bisa juga kita buat investment, atau asuransi, atau jaminan kalo mau beli rumah, mobil, etc. etc.. Yang jelas, bisa diputerin, ato didiemin aja. Nanti kalo dah pensiun atau cabut PR, semua yang kita simpen emang dibalikin ke kita koq.

Berapa besar sih CPF nya?
Ini yang bikin gue lagi culture shock ya!
Tahun pertama dari kita dapet PR, gaji kita dipotong 5%.
Tahun kedua, 15%.
Tahun ketiga, 20%.

Jadi kebayang dong, setelah selama ini dibuai dimanja dengan potongan sekecil setitik itu, dimana setiap bulan paling ngga ada simpenan buat beli majalah Sight & Sounds berikut Film Comments yang lumejen mahal2 itu, atau nonton pertunjukan teater atau nonton konser di Esplanade dengan tempat duduk yang lumayan, sekarang harus nangis meraung-raung sambil ngiris bawang sambil jejeritan,

HUUAAA!!

Sambil masih megang slip gaji itu dengan hati nanar tapi raut muka sok tenang karena lagi di depan anak baru, gue cuman tersenyum miris, sambil sms teman-teman seperjuangan di Komang dan lain-lainnya yang cuman dibales serempak:

"Welcome to the club, baby!"

Yes, I welcome myself living in an impossibly materialistic world of Singapore.

Yet, somehow I indulge on it.



Disunat? Oh biasa aja ... ;)

SIFFest Journey - Friday, 29 April 2005

(Siffest, when it comes towards its end, pretty much has nothing left to offer. Good ones are shown in the beginning, so unless you've got yourself a ticket to watch the Closing Film, it's very seldom the joy will spark in the last 2-3 days.)

But worry not, the socializing process still continues.

I once wrote here on how Shaw Towers building comes to live during the Film Fest, resulting in a good business for the shops and stalls scattered around there.
When it comes to food stalls, of course this translates to getting hard time finding a seat to have our meals, for most of them are taken by festival-goers who decide to grab a bite before or after screenings.

Such a thing really tested our patience, until we manage to get a seat, be seated and begin talking to a stranger sitting in front of you whom you can be assured that she has her meal there because she's about to catch a screening.

We don't even have to mention our names, occupation or other silly and unnecessary details for what bonds us together is the same passion towards basking ourselves in a festive glory.
Raving and cursing about the same object of affection has never been fruitful, if you do it with other people who share this same liking.

But then, I do not have anyone to share my disappointment towards Bow Barracks Forever, an ambitious project that works like a mediocre public-service announcement.



Dwelling on the story about diminishing traces of Anglo-Indian heritage in Calcutta, the film revolves around the stories of supposedly several different characters leading different kinds of lives.
Why only 'supposedly'?
Because what we see is the same harsh life that do not unite the characters, but distract them to be on their own ... film?!
That's more like it.

Surely Anjay Dutt has put an effort in executing the story, turning it into a film, directing or composing the ensemble cast, but does it show enough heart? Hardly. The film only manages to scratch the surface of a deep topic on minority lives, distancing us from getting to the core of the problem. It may only be noted as being different from other typical Bollywood films, but then, we've seen quite a number of that in the annual Indian Film Festival.

The barracks may be something worth fighting for, but not on films.

SIFFest Journey - Wednesday, 27 April 2005

(Siffest has often proved itself to be a festival of surprises, and in terms of films, that refers to many things that may go beyond expectation of any expected feeling. Confused? Read on!)

One of the advantages of attending screenings during a film festival is that a rare chance of meeting creative minds behind a film, be them directors, actors, producers, screenwriters or cinematographers. The latter may apply if they carry household names like Christopher Doyle or Anne V. Coates, for example.

How do you feel when you get to see those remarkably talented people in the screening of their films that we're about to see?
Anxious?
Curious?
Surprised?
Or simply indifferent?

Whatever our feeling that may reflect our perception towards the film itself, be thankful for this rare chance we may not likely often encounter in the first place. And wouldn't it be cool if the director himself said something like,

"Relax. If you fall asleep during the film, please do so!"

Oh! Can anything get any greater than that?

So I salute you, Hou Hsiao Hsien.

First, for being what you are, a respected, honored director. May your recent The Best of Times will bring its best at Cannes this year.

Second, for being humble and honest in seeing your own works objectively. You even persuaded us to be ourselves on how to treat your film, Cafe Lumiere.



And I did what you had, erm, suggested, Maestro.

I fell asleep throughout the entire film.

No, no, no. Of course not the entire per se, but apparently, closing your senses in some parts of the film means losing the core essence of the film. So, no matter that I managed to wake up and tried to decipher the series of images appearing on the screen, I lost the main thread of the story.

And so I lost the film.

Too bad.

But then, it's worth a second viewing. ;)

SIFFest Journey - Sunday 24 April & Monday 25 April 2005

(Siffest has its own ability to lure everyone, or rather, some serious film-afficionado like me, to cash out their piggybanks in this annual pilgrimage. Hey, haven't we heard this before? Oh c'mon, I can't think of any "proper" introduction).

Or rather, juggling your work and doing something that has become your main source of feeling alive has never been easy. That leads to having tremenduous lack of time to indulge in our interests, and in this case, doing breadwinning work, watching films and review them has surely taken up most of my time.

Sacrifice is Freakingly Fabulous! That's how SIFF should stand for.

And for the faithful followers of this so-called journey, you may notice how I'd to sacrifice some confirmed populist films on the list of the fest this year.

Resting time may be substituted, financial constraints can be solved by worshipping loan shark, but meeting your old friends and current ones who are not into films crazily like us is something worth doing, eventhough *deep sigh* we may have to be taken aback when people say something like,

"Hey, I love Garin Nugroho's Rindu Kami Pada-Mu!"
"Really? I missed that :("

But gladly, despite the hectic social hopping here and there, I decided not to miss another fabulous film which is more than qualified to be considered as another hidden treasure in the fest.
I was blown away, literally hopeful in fact, to the Far Side of the Moon.



So much so that it never fails to drift my attention away despite its cosmic subject playfully treated to become comical, yet touching.
On top of that, in a rare achievement of artistry, Robert Lepage manages to spread his artistic comandeering evenly, making the film a pleasant journey of viewing without any hints of watching a work of egoism.

As a director, he turns this film into one imaginative film that still sets its foot deep down to the earth.

As a screenwriter, he turns his own play into a series of quirky and witty utterances that invite genuine laughter.

As an actor, he slips into the dual roles easily, believing contrast characters among the sibling.

As a moviegoer myself, this is a film worth repeated viewings which deserve greater number of audience.

However, the same feeling is hardly the same as when I went to catch a documentary flick on Monday nite.
Common assumption sets that the fest is the best time when we can cram as many genres as possible. Therefore, a fest will not be complete without diversity of genres, and how can one resist new emergences of watchable documentaries?

But this time, as the title itself suggests, I was kidnapped by the terror haunting me when I watched Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst.



Arguably one of the most controversial kidnappings in the '70s happening at the height of mass hysteria over Vietnam war that leads to rebellious movements from some underground organizations, which contrasted with the lives of the rich, the film presents the fact as is, without taking bravery on making its own opinion.

Whereas such action might be seen as an objective move, the film itself becomes lack of emotional attachment to the audience. Robert Stone presents the film in a straight-forward narrative structure, outlining the story in an organized manner of daily-come-weekly-come-monthly basis, as if to make us feel like observing the whole events as news, and nothing more than that.

Yet, the constructed structure takes its blow when the film abrupts its ending by presenting a footage of Patty Hearst a few years later transforming herself as a celebrity. As if to make an ironic comparison to her younger days being with the the Symbionese Liberation Army (that infamous SLA), the footage does not give any weight to the story as it blatantly is presented there for the sake of continuation of the story, to make it as chronological as possible.

And chronologically, this festival journey should continue, despite hiccups and bumpy roads here and there.

waving hands ...

udah nonton "love, actually"?

di bagian awal ama akhir pelem ini, ada adegan dimana kita bisa ngeliat ekspresi orang-orang yang lagi nunggu temen/pacar/kekasih/pasangan mereka di bagian kedatangan. dari ekspresi mereka yang harap-harap cemas nungguin orang-orang asing keluar satu per satu, kita ngeliat raut muka mereka yang penuh kekhawatiran sekaligus ketidaksabaran. dari ekspresi mereka, kita ngeliat bahwa yang ada di pikiran mereka cuman satu: bertemu dengan orang yang mereka tunggu.

sampai akhirnya ... dari gerombolan penumpang-penumpang lain yang keberadaannya kurang atau malah tidak berarti di kehidupan kita, datanglah apa dan siapa yang kita tunggu! raut muka langsung berubah ceria, segala kebetean kita sebelumnya langsung hilang, ga peduli kalo kita udah ngabisin waktu berjam-jam di airport nungguin.
peluk cium ketawa seneng, everything pays off in the end.

nah, gimana kalo dengan suasana keberangkatan?

keberangkatan berarti kita harus nganterin temen/pacar/kekasih/pasangan kita kembali ke tempat asal mereka, dan biasanya, suasana disini bakal beda banget ama suasana kedatangan.
mungkin dari yang ketawa-ketawa pas dalam perjalanan ke airport, eh begitu mo masuk pintu imigrasi, yang ada malah peluk-pelukan dan tangis-tangisan.

walaupun ngga sampe separah itu, tapi kemaren yang gue rasakan adalah kebingungan.

bingung, karena bolak-balik gue ngomong ke sahabat gue selama 11 taun yang bernama Fay ini, dan juga his lady Noriko, "don't worry, there'll always be next time."
padahal sumpah gue bilang ini cuman sekedar rasa assurance aja, tanpa tau pasti kapan bakal ketemu dia lagi.

jarak jauh? ngga ada waktu?
bukan.
lebih karena kita berdua sama-sama sadar kalo kita dah punya kehidupan sendiri-sendiri yang udah jadi center of our own life, yang bisa aja, ngga mengikutsertakan satu sama lain disitu.

which is why it's all perfectly clear kalo gue pulang ke jakarta dan ngga ketemu dia, then there's gotta be other important thing that i need to attend.

thanks for the easiest friendship ever, fay! look forward to another decade.

(ps.: no films on last weekend)

SIFFest Journey - Thursday, 21 April 2005

(Siffest means that we won't hear usual buzz of mobile's ringtones like what we may usually experience in any other cinemas for any other screenings. Thanks to who? Us. Audience. C'mon, give a credit to ourselves, shall we?)

Indeed, so niche the market for Siffest is that we tend to see the same people patronizing Shaw Towers' cinemas over and over again. Considering that these cinephiles would be willing to spend their piggy bank savings to lure themselves into film-indulgence session like this, chances are that we may see them again in any other festivals, be it the country-themed festivals in Singapore, or even within region. After all, my Bangkok Film Festival journey that I did a few months back wouldn't be fruitful had Zefri been not around.

Yet, tonight I missed my chance to politely scrutinize the faces of audience, thanks to my stressed-out day I had had at work earlier. This means that I would crave for a nice, not necessarily healthy dinner, and that would take quite significant amount of time as a dinner would not be complete without chatterings with people that you care for.

But then, this is not Psycho or any Hitchcock's films where you can't afford losing the first few minutes. The film that slightly suffered from my unapologetic lateness happens to be a straight-forward drama from Argentina, and it's about one Live-In Maid in Buenos Aires.



Now, we've often decided to watch a film because of its actor in the film, right?

Exactly. The main reason why the film got selected in my list, not to mention that I bought the ticket at a very last minute, was simply because of one name: Norma Aleandro.

I fell in love with her immediately after seeing her performance in Son of the Bride as an amnesiac woman who was introduced to experience love at first sight again to her husband of 40 years. Looking at her tiny figure in that film, I was taken by surprise to see her voluptuous hair style that transformed her as a demanding matriarch at the brink of bankruptcy in Live-In Maid. She dominates every scene she is in with her sharp facial expression that does not require any words to tell what her character is thinking of.

Her uncanny portrayal of a woman basking in good old days of her height to be crashed with current harsh reality of aging life seems to steal the spotlight from the main actress herself who carries the title role, Norma Argentina as Dora, the maid. Even if Argentina has to share the screentime equally with the more popular Aleandro, yet together they form a duet of class-act performance that elevates the already smart script to be a film so enjoyable, that eclipses the disturbing rough look of digital format the film reels in.

And now, if only I could've finished my dinner any sooner ...

SIFFest Journey - Wednesday, 20 April 2005

(Siffest is the time when you've got to make sacrifice of your social life. Provided that your cliques are not film-buff like you. But if they are? Be prepared to get bored! You see them every day, you bump into them on every screenings, c'est la vie.)

Seriously I don't feel like updating today, for some reason that is non-SIFFest related.

So, you notice that my shoutmix box is gone, and there was my brief history of life. But come to think of it, change is good, change is refreshing, so I welcome shouthuns, thanks to the rotten, outdated blog of my housemate.

Anyway, back to business.

There will come a day during your journey when you can't help feeling a little bit exhausted, yet the quest has to go on, simply because we already paid a good fortune for it.
Or it could be that you're just too tired after a day's work, and this one goes out to 9-to-6 desk-bound office slave who happens to be cinephiles, like me. We just can't help yawning, and no matter how good the film is, tiredness remains. Add the breezing, comforting sound of air conditioner and darkened hall of cinema, chances of us dozing off is still high.

There's no film to blame, for the film like Whisky deserves more attention from audience, worldwide perhaps.



After all, the film does its reminiscence of human behavior at its best. You see, some of us here might lead a life with usual, boring routine, like we go to work in the morning, waiting for the owner of the factory to open the door, do routine check among employees, go home at night to find an empty bed. Or worse, empty house.
Throw in a surprise visit of our relatives whom we haven't seen for quite some time, then we've got the urge to present the best in us, no matter how we've got to create fakeness in the life we've comfortably had.

The result? Unexpectedly subtle.

Through the silence, we can feel the two main characters' chemistry that is about to burst anytime. Their understanding, or rather misunderstanding, is so beautifully constructed through their detailed, delicate gesture that takes our utmost concentration to see.
They might not do much, but what is not spoken reveals much of their longingness and loneliness.

And what is not spoken tells me that I should get enough of proper rest, so as to not fall asleep during the screening again.

SIFFest Journey - Tuesday, 19 April 2005

(Siffest means abundance of hidden treasure awaiting to be discovered upon going to the cinemas and watch them yourself. Post-watching feelings, which can range from being satisfied to dumbfounded, is subject to our own's perception, and pretty much our current state of mind.)
And to think that Siffest never attempts to be glossy and glitzy is pretty much justified by this conversation:

Jer : "Sorry for not returning your call last time. What's up?"
Nov : "Huh? When?"
J : "Think it was Saturday lor ..."
N : "Ooohhh! Oh! Yes, yes! It was over anyway. Got this extra ticket for one screening last Saturday. Eastern Sugar."
J : "Aiyah, I couldn't make it anyway. I'm not gonna watch any films in Siffest this year."
N : (puzzled) "Whhhyyyy?"
J : "The film selections are sucks, man! What a crap! Don't feel like watching any. Not as good as last year's one, rite?"
N : "Eerrr .. Not really, though. You've got to keep on digging to find out the good ones." *grin*
J : "Haiyah, dunno leh. How's the attendance, not as many as last year's, rite?"
N : "Surprisingly some shows are still sold-out, mah. Just now also." (gue tau Bahasa Inggris gue ancur dah dari 5 taun yang lalu, stralah!)
J : "..."
N : "..."

There goes Jeremy, another F-buddy of mine who bid his much-regretted goodbye at this year's fest.
And he's not the only one.
I myself couldn't stop questioning this year's fest committee over their choices of films. As if adding salt to the wound, the rise of the ticket price heightened the curiosity on the matter.

However, at the end of the day, film fest experience is like an adventure to an uncharted territory. You might be taken aback at what the map shows you for its full of uncertainties. Surely Godard is the master of avant-garde cinema, but is he still up to the hype? Garin Nugroho goes mainstream this time, is it any good?
Dare to make choices, that's the key to lure yourself into the free-falling experience of film festival.
You may dismiss Mike Figgis's Hotel last time, or you may joy over Since Otar Left, perhaps. Whatever your mixed-feelings tells you, you will not just experience either side of emotional state upon completing your whole journey.

It might be too early to tell, but tonight, I had the best of both extremes.

Let's start from the low-side, being dumbfounded and puzzled in confusion, thanks to Primer.



The first glance of its sephia-tone look revokes the memory of watching 70's B-grade thriller, yet the premise turns in an unexpected way. The film tells about two engineers who work on (something) that will enable (the thing) to achieve (another thing).
The thing, that's something I wasn't able to figure out.

Yet, for a smart, slick thriller that is filled with too many scientific jargons, it is surprising to see how the film manages to keep its audience glued to the seat from the beginning to the very end. One or two old folks walked out, but that's about it, and the rest of the audience, sadly that includes me, tried too hard to decipher the content of the film. Yet, in the end, I could only remember the look of the film, but nothing much. And that's too much for an indie flick generating good buzz anywhere.

There's nothing wrong with good buzz, though. Certainly the other film is worth every penny of good buzz it has currently enjoyed, and the enjoyment of this film (and in this film) is surely something that the whole audience will flock to see it over and over again.

Ladies and gentleman, the first film from the fest worth all the praises: Millions.



Imagine a colorful film filled with sharp-cutting editing, resulting in rich images similar to those you usually find in pop-up books.

Imagine a story drawn from the innocent child's point of view, told with sincerity and honesty at their fullest.

Imagine a fairytale where imaginary characters come true in real life.

Imagine that being good in cynical world is still possible and rewarding.

And imagine.

The wholesome cuteness is a brain result from the direction of Danny Boyle who did, ahem, Trainspotting and 28 Days Later ..., and the magical writing of Frank Cottrell Boyce who penned, ahem, 24 Hour Party People.

No matter how imaginative Millions might be, its charm appeals widely and strikes us, adults, who can't help but crying in joyful over the lost innocence we have left long time ago.

Imagine, a film that leaves you feeling rich, as rich as Millions itself.



Imagine that such a treasured grace is found here in the dreary land of SIFFest.

SIFFest Journey - Mon, 18 April 2005

(Siffest means perfection, where lateness in the screening time does not happen and abrupt electrical failure is a big no-no during the screening.)

Oh really?

Tonite marked the rare occurence of sudden interruption due to the technical failure that happened exactly in the middle of the screening. Whereas such disturbance usually takes place in the beginning, luckily this jolt did not interrupt our viewing digestion.

You know exactly if this kind of thing is felt, then the film is surely something special to talk about.

Or perhaps we should personify this film as it carries the name that speaks of beauty and fragility.

Her name is Yasmin.



She is a Pakistani (Paki) woman, living a working-class life in UK whose self-esteem life was shaken to the core due to the unfortunate event of 9'11". Her family is torn apart, her shelter of love life shatters, her breadwinning job dismisses her, and she begins questioning the faith she believes in.

So much of paranoia is shown vividly throughout the entire film, some might be a good dose of humor, at times turning this film to a dark comedy territory.
Yet, most of the time, the film speaks to the hearts of minorities everywhere, what it's like to be seen and treated differently while what you've got, is only yourself to stand up tall and straight.

Simon Beaufoy's tight script allows the film to move flawlessly for us to see what it's like to be a part of society being the object of hatred from the bigger cliques.
Kenneth Glenaan's marvellous direction swifts nicely for us to feel like being inside the film.
And carrying the titular role, Archie Panjabi couldn't be more believable in portraying her well-drawn character.

The way she whisks her husband to obey her.

The way she surrenders to reality.

The way she laughs at hedonism.

Finally, a film that is worth standing ovation for its bravery and independent spirit in showing the real world as it is.

But, what about that failure disruption?

Well, what failure disruption?

SIFFest Journey - Sun, 17 Apr 2005

(Siffest is annual pilgrimage for film-enthusiasts in Singapore where suddenly Shaw Towers building feels alive, thanks to the flock of people who seem to have lack of choices except to roam around the almost-dead building while waiting for their screenings.)

It may be best to get yourself feeling full, but not bloated, after taking lunch, for it helps you survive through the afternoon-session of film screenings, be them for 2 pm or 4 pm show.

In fact, heavy lunch will not knock you down to sleep, you've got enough energy to sustain and to keep you awake throughout art-y flicks which are initially made solely based on ideas, without any intention for the makers to put themselves in audience's shoes. Any audience intended, and that means their own group of niche market.

Yet, there is still quite a number of audience who are willing to take the risk of bracing themselves in fronting these self-ego work of arts. The ocean of 12 people in Singapore History Museum this afternoon who gathered to see Faozan Rizal's labor of love film, Aries, is the pool of people with different background united in the spirit of Zen: peacefulness.

Which translates nicely into dozing off.



Whether these audience had a big lunch like what I had had is beyond my knowledge, but their ability to stay throughout the real surrealist film amazed me, eventhough it had to be paid off with missing a few scenes, thanks to the sleep.

On the other hand, having too much of your meal for dinner did not serve well if you watch Notre Musique afterwards. The latest from one of the icons in French New-Wave movement, Jean-Luc Godard, the film starts with horrifying images of living in the world as one helluva hell on earth. Move forward, we begin to unravel the film as interrogative proclamation on bridging endless philosophic question of life/death, hell/heaven, and subtly, freedom/restriction.



Gone was the signatural off-beat and hip style of Godard, certainly the major reason among most of the audience why they chose to attend this screening instead of more popular Tarnation. Depending on how one sees this part-documentary, part-narrative film, I find Godard sings his film a little off-key, and the false note might be a little too much for some audience who decided to walk out when the film has not even reached its half point.

Just like one's feeling after eating what he craves for, so much of the anticipation yet you don't get enough satisfaction.

SIFFest Journey - Sat, 16 Apr 2005

(Siffest stands for Singapore International Film Festival which turns 18 this year. A little above being under-age, but can't be considered mature enough. Nice!)

This year supposed to be my, what, fifth or sixth year of experiencing Siffest? Yet there's one thing keeps being repeated every year and you may accuse me of being ignorant or never learned from the past mistake:

extra rest or enough sleep for the next day's 11 am show.

Because staying up late the night before would only result in waking up late the next day, and you've got to rush to the inaccessible Shaw Towers which takes about 30-45 minutes to reach from your place of stay. Add the mulling of Aki's inability to find anyone up to the extra ticket he had, an anxiety over being late, the unforgivably dark cinema hall of Jade 2 that made us have to head almost blindly in searching for our seats, my first film of the fest this year turned out to be quite a mediocre, not as bad as last year's bumpy start of Little Men though, if we talk about 'watchable'.

Eastern Sugar (Szezon), the entry from Hungary, is being placed under time schedule that surely left its intended audience scratching their heads. An R21 (only 21 years old and above are permitted) film shown at the hour when most adults are still on the bed having hangover from the euphoria of Friday nite's out? And the question is justified by the presence of its impossibly gorgeous cast of actors that seem to be taken out directly from any porn films.
Yet, those quality prevail in making people still turn their head and glued to the film until the end, although the film may have nothing much to boast about, except the overtly done homo-erotic tones which overlaps its half-baked story.



On the other hand, a film with quite an apparent corny title like When Beckham Met Owen made a delightful passing time activity.
Shot in digital format, the film presents an unpolished look of suburban life in Hong Kong, and this time it centers around rite passage of manhood from two school boys who embark on the quest of figuring out their sexual orientation, effortlessly.
Throw in the usual element of a girl in between the two, harsh life of lower-middle class neighborhood, the film has its charms as shown through many inside jokes that never fail to crack the audiences up. Too many of the jokes may seem to fill in the screntime of the film, leaving a forgettable abrupt ending that does not serve to be in synch with the comic potential of the film.



Still a great start after all, a fabulous encounter with an old friend who is truly a survivor of the region's film festivals, and he's none other than Zefri, my F-buddy whom I'm sure we'll get to see each other more often the next days onwards.

That's just one, more to come.

Behind the Scenes

The woman: Are you ready to be the one behind the screen?
Myself: (shocked, but continued slicing the pizza) Hmmm ... I don't know.

How is one supposed to know?

For what we tend to see is the surface, the out-est look (if such a term exists!) of whatever or whoever we wish to see. From the glamour misleading images in glossy magazines to Hollywood trashy flicks that only lunatic minds would bother watching Son of the Mask or Uptown Girls, we only get to see the image-representatives. It's fun to watch Paris Hilton mulling around, but do we ever get to see her secretary or manager frantically try to launch her projected persona?
Raise hands if you are aware that E.T. would never work well without John Williams's score.

Who's John Williams?

Nevermind.

But I do care about him, so much so that I prevented him winning at this year's Academy Awards as his works in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a mere light of dust compared to the winner, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's take on Finding Neverland.
I care about Anne V. Coates's quick-cut editing style in Out of Sight, for it heightens the slick, cool look Steven Soderbergh wishes to convey.

And you all have read my previous entry 'On Faithful Characters'. How I admire those roles of supportive characters standing proudly next to their partners, husbands, wives, lovers, and they put their utmost parts of heart and soul to, willingly, stay behind and be a strong pillar who stabilize and balance the relationship they embark.

Do they do it instantly? Don't they ever wish secretly to steal the spotlight and have the center attention of the world fall on them?

For God sake, I can assure you they do!

Once in a while, when the world seems to hinder from them all the time, when tangible achievement matters most, when the world unfairly shifts to embrace the beauty of outside, the ones staying behind do not react.
Why?

Indeed. Why? Why bother?

Why bother of self-proclaimed achievement if at the end of the day, Winona Ryder still serves Daniel-Day Lewis faithfully in The Age of Innocence? And she does it with smile, a proud smile that goes unrecognizable at times, sinking behind the overflowing praise of her successful husband?

Why bother for Tommy Lee Jones in Coal Miner's Daughter to show-off himself when you know that it is more relieving to see Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn started to taking the world by storm?

Why bother of one's own happiness when you are happy to see your girlfriend smiling? Your boyfriend laughing? Your wife's pride of you?

The woman: One of the biggest achievements in my life is when I got married to him.
Myself: (wandering sight) I see. (looking at her directly, wide smile) I can see that.


- Delifrance, West Mall 21/03/05 -

A Day that was ...

11 April 2005.

The day was Monday, and as the number creeping up to 26 years of age (which also means creeping down to the grave sooner), the following is 26 ways of surviving your birthday, provided if you were born in 1979.

Read, and let our signatural song of "1979" from Smashing Pumpkins fill in the air!

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1) Clear up the Inbox space of your mobile or cellular phone as you may expect flood of SMS-es, from a mere of "Happy Birthday, Nopal" to a long poem.

2) Get a late-nite/early-morning sleep on the eve of your birthday. No matter how you may wish to make people understand that actually you were born at 1 pm, the concept of "i'm-the-first-one-to-greet-you" has become something to be proud of.

Oh well, come to think of it, by midnight of the same day 26 years ago, my mum might be in hospital and waiting for the operation the next day.

3) Turn on all the chatting softwares your computer has, eventhough you have not used them for quite significant amount of time. People may just knock on your username to say something like "oh, dear! this is your last nite of being 25!"

4) And if you are not comfortable with your age, stick to the age you are most at ease being in.
I'm forever 21, enough said.

5) Arian loves surprises, be it as a doer or a recipient. In this case, I salute Dody for dedicating a precious slot in his popularly populated (goodie gawd!) blog to extend a birthday greeting to me.

Aaawwwww! Thank you, Dod!

Utmost thank will be given if only my picture there is, ahem ... well .. urm ... Oh God, you just ruin my chance to be a celebrity!

*****************************

6) Be patient in dealing with people who are "not good at remembering birthdays" (Eko dear, you're included!), so chances are you might be prompted with questions you have to swallow painfully like, "It's tonite, right?"

7) Referring to the point above, remember that when you fall, do it gracefully. When you are caught forgetting one's birthday, the last thing that you may say is something like,
"Oh, well, I think I have to cross the road now, talk to you later!" (courtesy of a sleeping-but-not-beauty girl).

8) You've gotta have a soundtrack of your birthday! And the song might be something that you incidentally stumble into. So don't deny if it has to be from Manis Manja Group or Meggy Z. Whew ...
Luckily, I've never encountered such a mishap. This year, mine happens to be I String Along With You from Diana Krall.

9) Of course, play that song over and over again, to make your short sleep into a peaceful sleep, leaving a smile on your face. Regardless the continuous buzz on your cellphone next to you, the birthday sleep should be one sleep you remember most.

10) OK, you are still struggling with your financial condition, you barely make enough saving at the end of the month, so strictly from the beginning you've gotta state that : Ngga Ada Traktiran Yaaa ...
Thou shalt not fall unto temptation and pleas from other people begging for that.

*****************************

11) Twinnie!

12) Having someone to celebrate your birthday with is more than what you can ask for, but having someone whose birthday is the same as yours, that's a sinful indulgence which by any means is legal to indulge yourself into.

13) Keep that thought, for no matter how the actual day went by, reeling on to the thought helps easing your hectic day.

14) Which could have been avoided easily by: Never Going to Work on Your Birthday! This applies if you do a) job that you dislike, b) inconducive workplace where no one cares about you, c) combination of both.

15) It's your birthday, you are at work, your work volume is way down, how you should treat yourself? Break all the rules! Login to your YM and MSN way early, and you'd never know how you may end up into!
Usual greetings aside, you may find yourself in a curhat-session with the icon of "Desperate Housewives" and Kartini's Day-born Kathy, but there can be no more fun than indulging in a bitching session over Zhang Ziyi with that Kartini-follower and half pair of the white-pants couple.

**************************

16) Love the fact that people are trying hard to accomodate your needs, regardless how illogical it may be. I mean, when else you can ask bakal calon artis wannabe not to wear black on your birthday dinner?

17) In addition, going to a crowded mall like Jurong Point to spend some leisure time over light meals is hardly logical, and surely this resulted from the messed up of mind over the thought "it's your birthday, pamper yourself!".
So thank you my housemate, my sleeping-but-not-beauty friend and my long lost friend Rika over the companion.

18) You might be facing the reality that today's not exclusively for you and your beloved one. Apparently, some people came up to me and saying that the day also happened to be their friend/relative/uncle/colleague's birthday.
So, Twinnie, I guess our April 11-blog will see its daylight very soon.

19) Be insecure: your parents ask you to gain some weight.

20) Old-fashioned birthday card sent via express delivery has to be higlighted here as it took some painstaking effort to present that. Grab the spotlight, Ray Bona!

**************************

21) The garing-est sms:

Met ultah pal! Buset dah lewat 1/4 abad. Hahaha. Untung dah dapet kado kesuksesan nulis di jakarta post. Koran org kaya. Huhu lgs dapet 'upah' iMac.

(courtesy of a guy best asked to go out at the last minute before he bombarded you with questions like: "ntar mo kemana?" - "sama siapa?" - "naek apa?" - "pake baju apa?" - "pake sepatu ato sendal?" etc., and closed with "gue ngga ikut deh!")


22) The fab-est sms:

Happy birthday dear. Mg2 all ur wishes come true, tambah mature, ktemu pacar yg tepat and tambah ganteng kaleee. Hehehehe

(and I responded immediately: Yang dua terakhir udah 101% keturutan kaleeeee!)


23) The underlook sms of this year:

Dear Cinta, hope u feel very, very, very happy on ur bday ... because u're very, very, very loved! =D *pluk cium kamu bareng Bambang* jd jgn bete2 di ktr a nanti. Lembur pas bday udah jd hak paten gue! Huhu...

(courtesy of my Cinta who gave a lovely spoil of my birthday present, so sweettttt!)


24) The clueless-turned-thoughtful sms of this year:

Jeng jeng, gw udah ngantuk bgt ney, maunya nunggu persis teng-nya tgl 11.. Tp disana udah kan? So, i really wish you a happy birthday! Gw yakin, the existence of your tweenie (spelling! -ed.) would make this bday memorably great. Kamu smoga sukses ya, in love and life. Pasaran bgtkah, bday wishesny? Hehe. But i do sincerely wish you so. Salam bday buat your twinnie jg ya. Met hepi2 di bday keliyan.. Muach!! Ps: slain tiket ke sing/jkt, ada bday wishlist? :-)

(courtesy of the bride-to-be who amazed me with her ability to type such a long msg! ok Fin, grab that iBook and iPod for me please, along with the return ticket of sing-barcelona-ankara-barcelona-sing! huahahah!)


25) Yeah, I know, you must be curious of THE ONE sms. Remember, tacky corny silly utterances prove to spice up your relationship:

i was born to love you / with every single day of my life / i was born to take care of you / with every single beat of my heart ...

(ok deeeehhhh, i'm speechless, hueheheheheh!)

**************************

26)




Thank you.


Lots of love,


Nauval.

A Prayer.

I remember,
Once I uttered a prayer
For one wish.

I remember,
The prayer kept being uttered
For one wish that never got fulfilled.

I don't remember exactly,
How the prayer went.
Was it a chant?

You may not be an angel / 'Cause angels are so few / But until that day comes along / I'll string along with you.
I'm looking for an angel / To sing my love song to / And until the day that one comes along / I'll sing my song to you.

I don't remember at all,
That I prayed differently.
Maybe.

For God receives billions of prayers every ticking of seconds,
The way I do.
The way I beg.
The way I order.
The Creator of my existence whom I curse
For loopholing one twenty-four stretch.

And whatever happened to the prayer?

For every little fault that you have / See I've got three or four / That human little faults you do have / Just make me love you more.

Now I remember,
I prayed for someone to be.
Not for something to happen.

And whatever it is,
How numb I've become in the past few days,
My conscience is still at its fullest form.

That this year,
For the first time,
The prayer is fulfilled.

You may not be an angel / But still I'm sure you'll do / So until the day that one comes along / I'll string along with you.

happy birthday, twinnie.



(excerpts from Diana Krall's "I String Along With You", taken from her album "When I Look In Your Eyes")
(thanks to only-Google-knows-what-kind-of-website-this-is for the image, horrendous it may be but apt enough to fit in here)

Diana Krall in Singapore

My very first published article.

Yay! Can't believe it!

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2005/04/08/genuine-jazz-produced-diana-krall-singapore.html

Ke-fhe-fheth.

Udah deh ngga usah susah-susah baca judulnya.

Kepepet, cuman yang ngomong pake aksen ... eerrmmm ... Singlish! :)

Kepepet bukan karena gue lagi mepet-mepetan nulis ini. In fact, biarpun kantor gue punya konsep open-space, tapi cubicle gue cukup luas buat nyimpen 3 kaleng makanan dan dua dus Aqua koq *senyum ironis*.

Dan ngomong-ngomong tentang makanan, bukan kepepet laper juga kalo tiba-tiba postingan ini bercerita tentang makanan, tapi karena trend ngomongin resep diantara para bloggers.
Dimulai dari Doel dengan pizza nya, trus Nana dengan masakan Vietnam yang masaknya harus gaya Tessy-meets-Mien Sugandhi, ditambah Golda juga, dan orang-orang laen yang ga ngasih resep tapi paling semangat ngomongin makanan, siapa lagi kalo bukan Qyu ama mbak Ria.

Lucu aja resep-resep ini, kaya'nya gampang dicoba.
Dan inget, KAYA'NYA, bukan nyatanya.

Bukan karena gue dah nyerah sebelum nyoba, tapi ngomong ini karena pengalaman masak gue yang hampir ga pernah ngikutin resep. Sepanjang sejarah bergulat di dapur pun ngga pernah namanya buka majalah atau malah beli buku khusus memasak, bela-belain ke pasar atau supermarket beli bahan-bahan, trus nempelin resep di pintu kulkas atau tembok dapur buat ngikutin step-by-step.

Sungguh bukan gue banget yang masaknya for the sake of survival!

Itu dia, masak buat bertahan hidup emang beda banget ama kegiatan masak yang jadi hobby atau malah sampe pada taraf interest, seperti yang pernah gue simpulin ama Acay.

Kenapa?

Gampang aja!

Tipe orang dengan masak buat survival kaya gue cukup perlu daging seadanya, sayur seadanya, trus bawang putih ato bawang merah ato bawang bombay ato semuanya, syukur-syukur ada cabe, dan yang paling penting adalah garem dan gula. In short, apa aja yang gue temuin di dapur dan di kulkas, asal dah dikasih bumbu2 dasar seperti itu, bakal jadi sesuatu yang bisa dimakan koq. Lupakanlah nama, jenis, asal usul masakan, namanya orang laper, apapun jadi!



Dan pengalaman membuktikan bahwa waktu tinggal di Regent Heights #18-02 di Bukit Batok, daerah tempat si neng geulis wannabe ini bersemayam, gue pernah bikinin makanan sahur selama 20 hari berturut-turut buat semua penghuni rumah yang terdiri dari gue, Wenny, Inad, Ata ama Dendry. Kenapa 20 hari? Karena 10 hari terakhir ada kerjaan teater yang mengharuskan gue kerja 14 jam lebih sehari. Dan selama 20 hari ini, ngga pernah ada yang namanya nge-plan mo masak apa, paling banter kepikiran pas malemnya dimana gue harus sekalian masak nasi.

Jadi, bangun jam 3.30 pagi, ucek2 mata dulu sambil sikat gigi, trus ke dapur sambil buka kulkas nyari inspirasi.
Ada sayur, ada kecap, ada bawang? Tumis yuuukk!
Ada telor? Bikin ceplok ato dadar!
Ada sisa corned beef? Dibikin jadi bola daging!
Ada sambel? Sok atuh masukin!
Hasilnya? Ga ada yang complain, ga ada korban jiwa, ga ada yang batal puasa (eerrm, kecuali kalo para wanita lagi kedatengan tamu nya tiap bulan yah). Malah dengan pede nya kalo ada temen yang nginep trus puasa juga, ya udah sekalian ikutan sahur dengan masak-masak ceria a la kadarnya ini. Yang penting ceria kan?

Tapi untungnya, ga cuman temen2 gue yang ceria, syukurnya bokap nyokap gue udah mulai ceria membiarkan anaknya ini masakin makan siang kalo pas pulang ke rumah. Yaaahhh, dengan resiko diawasin terus ama nyokap yang masih ga percaya kalo anaknya bisa masak, dan biasanya diakhiri dengan komentar bokap yang "kurang manis dikit, otherwise it's fine", dan tentunya disetujui ama anggukan adik gue sambil nyendok nasi buat ronde kedua.

Apa karena dia laper? Apa karena dia pengen nyenengin gue? Wallahualam! Yang jelas, kepepet membawa nikmat :)

Dan silakan menikmati menu favorit gue waktu buka puasa, warisan nyokap berikut ini. Gue ngga tau namanya, tapi gampang aja bikinnya:

- Cuci cincau (ato janggelan kalo orang Jawa bilang) sampe bersih, potong model dadu kecil-kecil
- Rebus kolang-kaling (ato buah atap) sampe lunak, trus dinginkan
- Buat kuahnya, siapin jeruk nipis yang dicampur air, tambahin gula sesuai selera
- Campur aja cincau yang udah dipotong tadi, kolang-kaling, air jeruk nipis, dan jadilah, erm, whatever you may call, yang pasti nyegerin banget kalo disantap sesudah seharian ga keisi perutnya. Oh iya, hidanginnya dingin-dingin yah!

Apa aja juga enak kalo laper kali, namanya juga kepepet!




(another lightweight postingan sebelum S'pore International Film Festival when this blog will be nothing but film-related blog)

(thanks to Seasite and Bali Travel News for the images)

Maliq & D'Essentials

The drawback of being away from my homeland for quite some time, and infrequent coming-home trip that always proves to be "too-packed-with-hectic-schedule", has made me somehow losing the track of the latest update in Indonesia's music scene.

The result is obvious.

Everytime I march into music store hoping to grab some Indonesian album, I could only see myself in amazement, standing before the racks under the heading "INDONESIA" right above me and all I could think of is, "Who is this Gya?" or "Is this the new Slank album?" or "How come Coklat sounds the same after all these years?" or "Goodness! Jikustik still exists!" or "Not another repackaged album, please! What a rip-off!".

There you go, it was a real gamble when I did my last-minute shopping in Plaza Senayan, a few hours before my flight to Singapore took off, and last-minute consultation to people who are not really tuning into music scene either. Well, how can you rely on their opinions, considering that:
- one of them is a weepie girl whose CD collection in her car consists of nothing but melancholy, broken-hearted songs,
- another one is the lovable guy with comprehensive knowledge in Madonna and Tommy Page,
- and the last one is the bride-to-be who falls head over heels with rock stars a la, erm, Ariel of Peterpan!

I had my day, until I decided to grab and buy the debut album of Maliq and D'essentials.

And never before a debut album of neo-soul genre requires repeated listening in which every turn makes me fall deeper unto its charm.

Not that it has a rough start, though. The first track, aptly titled as 'Intro', tries too much to be hip-and-cool by mixing half-baked rap, "Assalamualaikum" greeting and unnecessary introduction of the band itself.
Yet, from the second track onwards which feature their radio-friendly "Sunshine", we get to know Maliq's musical strength: rich in harmonious notes, smooth and surprisingly soothing.
The suggestively playful tunes fill in every track that make us feel lost at times for enjoying them way too much, and for a debut album of a new band that sometimes require one hit single that may or may not be overtly commercialized, Maliq manages not to sacrifice their uniqueness to be bubbly.

Of course, that hit single is reserved for "Terdiam", which I myself have no objection towards its we-follow-the-market concept, and again, this band has got to have a song that fans can hum along, right?
Which is what Maliq can see its danger from this point: being another washed out R&B/soul band that tries hard to define Indonesian's likeness towards this music. In another words, I find Maliq's relaxed attitude comes whenever they sing the songs in English, instead of Indonesian. Whereas "Terdiam" is an exception, yet the remaining tracks in Indonesian, particularly "Hadirmu" and "Tandanya", are the examples of easily-forgotten tracks thanks to its overtly-used cheesy-love lyrics lost in their soulful music.

There's no harm done following the step set by Mocca after all, Maliq. After all, what you've got here is the superb debut album which may take awhile for Indonesian music market to find, and once they find you, they'll get hooked.

I do.



(thanks to Disctarra.com for the image)

words fail me tonite, so ...

allow me to have a song to show the tiniest part of the trembling, mumbling, rambling, gambling, and the bling-est of the feeling one could ever experience: an unexpected surprise.

it's a little bit funny / the feeling inside
i'm not one of those / who can / easily hide
i don't have much money / but / boy if i did
i'd buy a big house where / we both could live

(why did i decide to wear yellow t-shirt to work? why did i keep humming on the way to that bus stop? why did i feel upbeat, all of a sudden?)

if i were a sculptor / but then again no
or a man / who makes potions / in a travelling show
i know it's not much / but it's the best i can do
my gift is my song and / this one's for you

(why did you keep a length of distance today? why did you respond in a hurry? why did you seem to be out of reach?)

and you can tell everybody / this is your song
it may be quite simple / but now that it's done
i hope you don't mind / i hope you don't mind
that i put down in words
how wonderful life is / while you're in the world

(why couldn't i pick the clues implicitly stated by the people whom i admire for their tremendous amount of slickness and thoughtful thoughts?)

i sat on the roof / and i / kicked off the moss
well a few of the verses / they've got me quite cross
but the sun's been quite kind / while i wrote this song,
it's for people like you / that / keep it turned on

(why couldn't you spoil a tiny drop of hint throughout the tantrum and preserving your dignity being a champion of surprise?)

so excuse me forgetting / but these things i do
you see i've forgotten / if they're green or they're blue
anyway / the thing is / what i really mean
yours are the sweetest eyes / i've ever seen.

(why are we just being cool about it?)

all in all, i would like to credit these humble people, too humble to some extent for what they have hidden all these time, for making "a-tap-on-my-shoulder" followed by "surprise-you're-caught-on-camera" session in cathay cineleisure orchard level 5 became one unforgettable moment in life. two lives.

the bearer:
to acay, for keeping the well-kept secret extremely well :),
to rio, for sacrificing your logical senses in guarding the big bang :),
to kenny, for revealing what kind of miracle that does happen :),
to aldi, for dropping a little hint :)
to bowo, for being fashion-nista! *ga penting deh! hahaha!*
to anri, for being panic asking for help *ini lebih ga penting lagi! hihihi!*

the witness:
acay, iu, copper, etu, leo, bursyeh

the one:
to twinnie, the answer for above them all, and more.

18th Singapore International Film Festival

It’s the time of the year again.

Film enthusiasts (notice how I seldom use ‘buff’ after film, after all, most of film freaks are not, sadly, buffed!) in Singapore embrace the long-month of April with one clear intention in mind which, as sacred as pilgrimage, has become some kind of routine that will defy any other daily activities, at least they will be put on hold for two weeks. Hey, it ain’t that bad! Two weeks of nothing but films unlikely getting theatrical releases, or if they will, surely scissors of censorship would be happily butchering them into some, well, butchered flicks.

Welcome to the 18th Singapore International Film Festival, 14-30 April 2005.

As years pass by, as the number increases, so are the “guides”, and here’s 18 ways to behave, to adapt, to not be yourself, to transform, to survive, and most of all, to enjoy the whirlwind experience throughout the festive season:

1. Set your dates free
Surely you don’t want to be interrupted with late-nite work or unannounced visit of your friends or relatives who do not know your antics being a film-maniac. This will include using up your annual leave days, and do it in style: if you have to catch a 7 pm-film and your workplace is quite a distant from the cinemas (note: it’s the cinemas that are not accessible, folks!), get a half-day leave! Honey, Michael Douglas may say “Greed is Good” and won an Oscar for it, but greediness for watching films? Get a life!

2. Complains!
Oh oh oh! Flood the forums in SGFilm or the SIFFest website itself with your complains! Surely no SIFFest would properly start without hearing any complains on a) the choice of films that lacks of mass-appeal, b) increase steep of ticket price, c) clash-schedule of latest Godard’s work vs. some new indie director whose film sweeps many awards, d) neglected cinemas, e) inefficiency of SIFFest team (hey, give them a break! They’re running on a cash-strapped management!), and the list goes on and on. Oh, did I mention about increasing number of banned films?

3. Do not stay up late on weekends!
Why?
Chances are that you will be watching more than two films on weekends when the schedule on both days start as early as 11 am, and lasts until the usual 9 pm-schedule. What I’m trying to say is that you’ve got to keep your stamina when you watch 4 films in a row (!!!), and certainly having sex the nite before that lasts until dawn is not recommended.

4. Or go clubbing, partying, c’mon, give them a rest for a while. Don’t be afraid they’ll close down soon like Centro or Embassy, they’ll be fine if we’re absent for a little time.

5. Get yourself familiarized with the route!
Most of the screenings you’re gonna attend will be shown in Shaw Tower, Bugis, which is inconveniently located exactly between Bugis MRT and City Hall MRT. Which one? Not both of them! It’s time to get used to taking bus, and kindly refer to SBS website for the bus information. Hey, not every information I’ve got in hand!

6. And getting handy with meals would be another challenging thing!
Let’s see if you can survive on Burger King for those two weeks! And no matter how you claim that Subway is healthier, it doesn’t help if you put way too much mustard on it. The solution? Try out some outlets in the food court only when you have morning shows on weekends as most of them are closed by 7 pm., so by the time you are catching 9 pm-show, you’ll be starving. And believe me, there can be no greater pleasure in bringing your own food, after all …

7. Oooppss! Have you extra money to spare?
This event is surely the most money-draining activity for any underpaid breadwinner, and things do not look good within horizon if the rumors that they’re going to increase the ticket (again!) by next year does come true. The increase in this year itself already forms to be a burden, moreover with SISTIC handling the ticketing system, God knows what kind of cursing has been uttered.
Oh well, rob the bank, break kindergarten pupils’ piggy-banks, ask for loan, guess we all should learn from those junkies on how they survive, don’t we? Hmmm…

8. No popcorn! No latecomers!
Erm, no easily-forgotten Hollywood trash is shown here, and anyone walking inside a theater with a bucket of popcorn would be met with a lot of eyebrows raising. No eating please, this is the time when everybody gets seriously pretending to be serious, so it’s all a hush-hush affair.
And that also explains why you can’t afford to come late, not only it will disrupt the people sitting next to you or basically anyone in the theater, but those cinemas in Shaw Tower belong to some of the darkest cinemas here. No flashing sign of rows and seat number, and my oh my, you have no idea how you may get lost in Prince 1 with 1,000-plus seats! Which brings me to something else …

9. Get your tickets early!
A one-time showing to feed a country in which its cinema-attendance is one of the highest in the world? Be kiasu or be left behind! Even if the film is shown in that Prince 1 theatre, No Man’s Land was a box-office hit some time back, and even Uzak for last year.

10. You get to know the crowd, which is fairly predictable. Arisan! was flooded with Indonesians, so was Bridal Shower with Filipinos, and Lan Yu was jam-packed with gays, the fact goes on and on …

11. It’s wonderful!

12. It’s marvelous!

13. It’s superb!

14. It’s great!

15. It’s a life-changing experience!

16. It thrills!

17. It’s gorgeous!

18. It’s the festive season which you surely will indulge. What else can I say, except to ENJOY, have fun and if you get hooked up with fellow cinephiles, you know who to thank ;)


Yeah, lucky you!