I Am Legend

Just finished watching the aforementioned movie on rented DVD. It was kinda awesome, but I think in a theatre it would be a lot more scary.

Wonder what it would be like to be the last man on Earth. I don't think I'd survive it. I mean, I don't know how it happened, but I'm a people person. Humanity intrigues me, somehow. For all the lies, the anger, the hate, the suffering, the turmoil, the savagery, the destruction, the imperfections; I still need people for their love, laughter, kindness, compassion, friendship, life.

It confounds me, how much effort is put into making a short two-hour movie. I guess for the impression it gives the audience, the two months of prep for the two seconds of shot is worth it. It's completely amazing, watching the behind-the-scenes and finding out that, wow, you had to do that much for a passing glance on screen? Which is why I think that some film critics have standards set too high. Sigh. But I guess, two years of producing something useless still gets you something useless.

Something that I noticed as I was watching the clips: my family doesn't have much patience for these sort of things. Once again I find myself isolated from the rest of the world, taking interest in things that the people around me don't. I guess I don't need a global pandemic to be the the last person in the world.

In my eyes, I'm already alone.
The Edna Man

All For Five Point Two

Hey hey, back from China, yippee, hooray, etc. Currently writing out the entire experience; in the meantime, enjoy this song.

-----
Five Point Two, parody of All for One from High School Musical 2
One whole week in China
Nothing could be finer
Having fun with the kids there
Going mountain climbing,
Singing and a-rhyming,
And cow excretion everywhere

Let's take it to the bus
Which never stops rocking
We're gonna stop here
Though the toilet's really shocking
I can't move on
There's a goat in the way blocking
Gonna dance all night

Everybody Five point Two,
Back from China and missing it too!
Now WoW is done; we had such fun,
We're the perfect helping crew
On the plane we flew right through
Under skies that were oh so blue
Everybody, two point five, and five point two!
Five point two, two!

Cars that don't stop horning,
Same food every morning,
The most overused bathroom
LANning until midnight
Cockroaches such a fright
Firecrackers go kaboom

Dancing with the kids,
Drawing them doodles
Giving them our lunch,
Then eating instant noodles
Really friendly dogs,
All cuter than poodles
We only dared drink Sprite

Everybody 一二三!
把你的手放下来
上面滚，下面滚
打鼓；达！
转，转，跳！
把你的手放下来
走前一步；我，你，大家，一！

Making fun of names,
And nobody stopping,
Following the girls
To going out and shopping

It's sad that all the future
Turned into the past
Should have made every single day
Last and last and last!

Low Jun Siong
And Lorraine: so sweet
And Wang Cong
Makes the family complete now!
(Everybody, e-everybody now!)
They really have parental expertise
Hugged them tight, never even let them freeze
Hard to believe they're not Chinese!

Guys!
Wanna come see shooting stars, hey!
Girls!
Wanna ride the three-wheeled cars, oh!

Here, and now
We're gonna finish WoW
Everybody jump in!

Everybody five point two,
Stuffed toy pandas and real bamboo
We ate the food that was quite good
And the pastor's liver stew
Did anybody learn Lisu?
Can you remember how to say "Thank you"?
Temperature was two point five;

Everybody five point two,
(Instrumental)
No mountain climb, no shopping time,
Guys in girls' rooms is taboo
There was a panoramic view
And if you only had, had a clue
It really was a blast
Can't believe it went so fast
Let's make this memory last!
Five point two!
Five! Point! Two!
Whoo!

Municipal Darwinism

What giants walk among us men...

I just finished reading the first book of Phillip Reeve's The Hungry City Chronicles, Mortal Engines. Once again, I was completely absorbed in the world that the author dreamed up out of his head. Basically, it's this post-apocalyptic future, millenia after the Sixty Minute War in which most of humanity wiped itself out with devastating weapons of mass destruction. Computers are things of history now, but cities are now built on giant traction wheels and trundle along the countryside. That introduces the astounding idea of Municipal Darwinism: bigger cities go along devouring smaller towns and villages, ingesting the smaller settlement and ripping it apart for raw materials. What a concept! To make the connection between the theory of evolution and urbanization, and transform it into this fantastic universe; truly the work of a genius.

I picked this book off the library shelf because the author's name caught my eye. Phillip Reeve, the illustrator of numerous Murderous Maths books, wrote a novel? But after reading the blurb on the jacket, I got hooked immediately. I never expected Reeve to be an author; I always thought he was an amazing cartoonist, the best one Murderous Maths ever had. (Why, Poskitt, why did you replace him with someone else?) I guess it just goes to show that there's no limit to what latent talents you might have.

And once again we are presented with the proposal that love conquers all. I have yet to read a book in which the main villain can love. Like Pullman, Reeve presents us another pair of protagonists who begin to love each other across the novel. Power of love. Never underestimate the power of love.

"Was this what falling in love was like? Not something big and amazing that you know about right away, like in a story, but a slow thing that crept over you in waves until you woke up one day and found that you were head over heels with somone quite unexpected...?"
The Edna Man

Remember remember...

The fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason
That the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

Another day passes without any form of recognition at all. It's like Singaporeans (or at least, the people I know) don't understand the significance of certain days. Oh well: Barack me Obamadeus got a landslide victory and Parliament House hasn't blown up yet.

Viva la Revolution
The Edna Man

Extreme Makeover!

Hey! Unless you're severely colour-blind, you'd have noticed the new look. It's made by Charmaine (blatant advertising =P) and I think it looks great! I'm gonna use it for a while, for a change, and there's still a number of bugs I can't figure out yet.

Calvin and Hobbes,
The Edna Man