Huo Yuan Jia 霍元甲

After Fun with Dick and Jane yesterday, I went to see Fearless today.

The plot is predictable. But what made this movie worth my money is and fight scenes and the fact that it's based on one of the most famous chinese martial arts heroes who left a lasting impact on the chinese people.

As usual, after watching a movie based on a historical character, I searched the internet and dug up all the juicy stuff about him. The site that best describe his life and the JingWu philosophy will be the chin woo or 精武 organisation site which I believe is the most accurate I can find. It also mentioned that the early Chin Woo Association in 1920 sending the "Five Northern Dragons" to spread it's influence in Singapore and Malaysia, cool!

The movie also matches the historical description that Huo was lethal and decisive in combat, taking on many at once, and often breaking the arms and hands of his opponents, all the while remaining un-defeated.

Today, Chin Woo Association 精武门，has branches all over the world, in Europe, America, Japan, Asia, even NZ and Canada!

Tragically, like many other heroes, he was killed by dispicable means, poisoned by his enemy (his Japanese Doctor, who also was a Judo teacher) and died at the age of 41 (or 42 as mentioned in the film) after Huo broke the hands of ten Judo practitioners who rushed him together.

Another surprising find was that a Chin Woo Grandmaster Lin Bo Yan (1903 - 1990), besides teaching wushu, had actually taught Chinese and Geography in Chung Cheng Middle School in Singapore in the 1940s!

And for what it's worth, from this site about Mi Zong (Lost Track) style, it also seems that Huo's great-grandfather Huo XuWu was taught the Mi Zong Boxing style by Sun Tong.

All I can say is, 霍元甲大侠，请受小人一拜！kowtow

Number one, no more/ Seven Swords

Finally got to rest after a hectic week at work. I'm gonna catch Tsui Hark's Seven Swords (七剑) later. Ever since Crouching Tiger- Hidden Dragon, there's been a good supply of these wuxia (武侠) movies surfacing. I'm quite happy with what I've seen so far, the likes of Hero, House of Flying Daggers, are quality productions with fantastic plots.

For quite some time now, Cathay's Orchard Cineleisure has taken over Shaw's Lido One as the my number one venue for my weekly movie event. Although none of the halls are as big as the gargantuan Lido 1, they have soundly(pun intended) beaten Lido 1 in all other aspects-

1. THX sound system - I don't know what happened to Lido 1, but are they still THX certified? Cathay has been making claims that their Cineleisure multiplexes are the only THX certified ones in Singapore, so does that mean Lido 1 has lost it?
2. Unblocked viewing - the hall's gradient and seat height is excellent. Even if the hyper-tensed bloke in front of you sits fully upright, you are unlikely to have your line-of-sight to the screen blocked. Unless, the bloke in front of you is Michael Jordan or Shaq O'Neil!
3. Air Conditioning - they got it just nice! Not too warm, and definitely not too cold! In some other theatres, I could've swear that I'd stepped into a container for freezing meat!
4. Washroom - yep, they got a loo, a toilet, whatever you choose to call it, right at the back, inside the hall, the bigger ones got 2. No need to run all the way out of the hall to a common toilet, and miss the most climatic scene of the movie!
5. Nice mix of retail outlets - although the building is not as big as Plaza Singapura (where GV plaza is) or Shaw House(where Lido cineplexes reside), they still manage to squeeze in a good mix of retailers, sports stuff, music, food, fashion, to keep both the guys and girls happy.
6. Human traffic - well, this is what my colleague said, not me! There's a 'nice' flow of human traffic there...blah blah blah!

So, there you go. I can't wait to see Donnie Yen in action again. He is a true martial artist, fights hard, can clown around, can be deadly intense just the same, and he speaks fluent cantonese, mandarin, english, and probably french as well(since his family is in Canada). I expect the movie to be a little hectic and requires a lot of imagination, what with the original cut being about 4-hours long! So it helps that the official website gives alot of background info and history of the characters and of course the swords. I hope Tsui Hark won't overdo those superman flying around stuff, and I hope it will have a gripping plot like Hero, and the color and romance like Flying Daggers. And quoting Donnie in an interview with China Times, I'm pretty positive that I won't be disappointed.

“I love Tsui Hark, love Seven Swords simply because of its level of realism. I don’t like movies in which the people can fly. Nowadays, due to the abilities of the actors, stunt doubles have to be called in or special effects employed even for not especially sophisticated action, while understandable, I do not support this.”

But, the best way to truly enjoy a movie is not to read or believe in any reviews (they are, after all, just the opinion of one or two individual), and to go with ZERO expectations.
Seven Swords, here I come!

An Afternoon at the Theatre

"I am going to start injecting..."

"I am starting to cut, tell me if you feel any pain..."

"Knife."

And there the surgeon goes, cutting me up like a sirloin steak, rare.
Since he's working on my back, I can't see what he's doing. But, that's the thing, you see. Although I don't feel any pain, thanks to the local anesthesia, I can still feel the sawing motion on my skin, and the feeling of my skin being stretched and held apart so they can see whatever is under my skin. Whatever they're tugging at, I can feel it!

The nurse, not hearing anything from me, came over to the front to check, and asked if I was ok. I must say that I'm quite impressed by the nurses. While waiting for the surgeon to arrive, they were chatty and attentive, making sure that I feel warm with the ultra comfortable heated air blanket, which blows warm air at me through very tiny holes. They talked to me like they've known me for years, and I talked to them like they're my mother.

After working on my back, which went quite well and was over in less than 45 minutes, he proceeded to work on my arm.

This time, I can feel more pain during the injection of the LA, probably because the skin on the forearm is much thinner, thus the needle will get into the muscles beneath more easily. Although my face was covered, I can still see what's going on from the reflection on the surgeon's spectacles. I can see the dark red muscle tissues contrasting against what is by now my very pale skin. An assistant surgeon or someone like that was helping the surgeon to keep the incised skin parted.

Every now and then, the surgeon will say things like,
"Vein..." (I hope he meant to avoid it)
"Scissors..." (oh man....)
"Knife...." (what, more slicing?)
"Oh my god..." (What!?!)

"What!?!", I thought to myself. I tried my best to see from the reflection what it's all about, but all I can see is still the rare sirloin steak like colour.

Thank God, all in all, the operation was over in about 2 hours or less. The nurses and doctors of Tan Tock Seng did a good job. The nurses and staff were polite, gentle, patiently repeating what they told me again and again when I acted like a blur sotong. I was offered Milo and crackers before and after the op. Two different nurses asked whether I waited long, and they made sure I made good use of the huge blanket they provided instead of just hanging it over my shoulders. When I had to wait, even for just a few minutes, they made sure I am seated and comfortable.

I must say, I have spent much longer hours in a polyclinic without getting half as much done. But then again, at the polyclinic, I'm paying peanuts to hear the doctor tell me something I know. Here, we're talking thousands.

"Is one week mc enough?"

....mmmm.....

Olivia

Just heard Olivia talking and singing in a radio show. Very good and clear voice, and there's a very airy sound to her singing, the type audiophiles would love.

Glad to know that another local singer is making big in outside of Singapore, this time Japan.

Gotta check out her music, after I'm done with my assignments!

S2SJ.com
Artist page
Blog

The Giordano girls? Eh? What's the Puma doing there?

World Harmony Run 2005

Went for the World Harmony Run on Saturday morning with ct. Met the usual faces we come to expect at MR. Sukaimi, Phillip, Alex, just to name a few, but where's David? Was so looking forward to run with him.

NMP Eunice 'Wheel of Fortune' Olsen was there as the Guest-of-Honor. She didn't run though, but her very beautiful and sporty mum did. She was running ahead of us almost throughout the whole trail part. We only managed to overtake her towards the end. Way to go Ma'am!

We didn't continue running the 2nd leg as ct was already wheezing. I think she started off too fast, not giving her body enough time to warm up.

We followed some of the organizers down to the Ceylon Sports Club to wait for the runners while having our breakfast. We then ran with them for a short distance(?) to the Civil Service Club(?). It was getting pretty hot already.

After lunch and some rest, I didn't join them for the next few legs cos I was feeling a bit sick and drowsy. Slept in the mini-bus instead.

We decided to follow Phillip's plan to join them for the final leg of about 10km instead. Starting from the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple at East Coast Road, via Nicoll Highway, all the way down to the Merlion at Esplanade Drive.

It was 3plus in the afternoon and the blazing sun was beating down on us like hell. I've never ran in this kind of condition for a long time since my army daze. I felt like puking blood! But I managed to pull through by keeping my pace at a comfortable level, slow and steady. Although my right hamstring started to tighten towards the last 200 metres or so after a series of stairs up and down. But at least my knees held up well, thanks to the knee sleeves I had on, I suppose.

Before this run, I was seriously contemplating to take part in this year's marathon. But now, I think I have to reconsider. I don't think my skinny legs can take it anymore! Guess I'll have to train and run more and see how it goes.

Next, looking forward to the Milk Run and the Olympics day run or sumthing like that...

some pix

kboxing day

(Click on the pile of pix to see details)

Had a fantastic session of chicken-slaughtering with 4 pretty nurses at kbox the other day... we sang our hearts out and it was all good, despite the insanely cold air-conditioning and the rashes appearing on my face due to a reaction to some medicine I took.

A day at the office, a day in my life

(Click on the pile of pix to see details)
Received an sms from my boss, asking me to go jogging with him and gang again tmr. I'd love to, and would have said yes. But I've already agreed to joining ct and her friends for yet another karaoke session, this time at Kbox. Hope I won't 丢脸，but, really, I've forgotten a long time ago what shy or embarassing means.

My boss, Ben, is a really strong runner. Last week, we were with CL, Lio, and Ben. We jogged at a rather good pace for around 5km. Ben's stride was shorter than mine, but he seemed to glide along effortlessly, even picking up the pace towards the end. I stepped up a gear, too, but couldn't really keep up cos I dun know how much further I was from the end point. I have this weird mental block whereby I can only sprint towards the finish line if I know how far away it is. (CT ran more than 10km from Yishun to Woodlands to join us. Frankly typing, I don't want to see her run too much cos she's losing too much weight!)

Next time, should we take the same route, I will fare better.

Today, me, my boss Ricky(yes, I have so many bosses above me, and no more men below me), LK, and Heng, were taking farewell pics with MP. It's a pity she's leaving us so soon cos she's really very goofy and cool at the same time. I've never seen her lose her cool or raise her voice, and she is always genuinely nice and friendly to everyone. Hope she'll move on to better things and that she'll stick to being her true self.

Sometimes, I feel so lost. One by one, those colleagues whom I also regard as friends had left or are leaving, moving on to greener pastures. Me? I'm still here in my "comfort zone", lacking the courage to break away from it.

But, looking on the bright side, at least I still enjoy the things I do at work and off. Running, going to ktv, catching movies, and even my struggles with part time studies, are adding much flavours to my life. I've never had so much fun since my school days, haven't been so sociable and talkative for quite a while now.

I know ct is having some trouble adjusting to all these changes. She's so used to seeing me shut myself indoor, facing the pc whole day, or go swimming alone, keeping to myself all the time, that she's understandably quite alarmed by the smses and the phone numbers of my new friends and classmates appearing in my mobile.

Tell me, how can I make her understand that she can never be replaced?

MIA

Oh my! Haven't been blogging for quite awhile.

It is true that I've been pretty busy lately. For my friends who cared enough to keep coming back, only to see the same old same old, I'm so sorry! I've been busy, lazy, distracted.

Working a 5-day week, really takes a bit of getting used to. Lectures, tutorials, and assignments. Needless to elaborate.

But I'm glad that I finally found the time to go running last saturday with ct. We ran for about 5km, and I even have the ability to open up my pace for the last 200 metres. Thanks to the knee sleeve around my left knee, I felt no pain after the run. Must do it again, soon.

Also picked myself up to go see some movies again. Kingdom of Heaven, Infected, Amityville Horror, all pretty good. I even got the tickets in advance to watch this coming Saturday's Starwars III. Can't wait!

Last, but not least. Grandma got transfered from a normal ward to the icu yesterday. Went to see her again this morning. Hope she recovers soon.

KLIM 2005 pt.1

KLIM 2005...click on pile of pictures for the full set.

What a rush. It all could've started so wrong for us. We were in a cab, trying to make it to the train station before 10pm. Luckily for us, we got a crazy driver who thinks he is Schumi, and the traffic on that night was quite smooth.

Sukaimi was calling me on my cellphone a few times.

Kevin, where are you? The train is leaving, they are closing the gate!

Stress! We felt like we were in the amazing race! We were just outside the train station and the taxi was like taking forever to make the u-turn. Thank God, we still managed to get there and boarded the train about 5 minutes before it started to move.

We were greeted by Sukaimi and this guy David. I will talk more about him later.

It was my first time taking the KTM, so I was looking forward to it. We got the cabin with the bunker beds, and I must say it was pretty comfortable. Ct and myself decided to bunk together and very soon, I was off to dreamland. The ride wasn't too bumpy, and the shaking from the train actually helped put me to sleep. I was only interupted when ct woke me up to switch sides cos she was feeling cold. As usual, we didn't bring any sweater or stuff to keep us warm. Didn't sleep too well after switching sides, it was cold indeed.

We arrived at KL in the early morning and took a cab to the hotel. Read more about the rest of the day at Sukaimi's blog.

It was a relatively uneventful day, except for when I received an sms from MINDEF about a notification of activation!

My heart almost hit the floor! I had forgotten to notify MINDEF of my overseas trip! Technically speaking, I was still safe since it was less than 24 hours after I had enter Malaysia. But still, if the activation was immediate, I would have to rush off to take the next bus back to Singapore to report.

I called back the number to check, and, fortunately, it was a notification for in-camp-training in September. Man! Of all the days, they had to choose this day to send out the sms! You have no idea how much of my brain cells died there and then.

Later in the day, I went to the humongous Berjaya Times Square and wasted no time in finding an Internet Cybercafe to notify MINDEF about my trip. Phew!

Meanwhile, Sukaimi was pretty busy, taking care of his family, calling and getting calls from people he's supposed to meet, and also waiting for Fd's arrival, so ct and myself had lots of time to spend together with our dear friend David 'the boss' a.k.a. 'handsome elite runner who is member of MR25'. You know Oscar from Sesame Street? David reminds me of him, only this is Oscar on steroids, lots of it.

I've known him for less than 2 days, and already we were trading blows verbally whenever we talked. The way we 'compliment' each other, anyone who didn't know better would've thought we had been 'friends' for many years. Ct was litterally holding me back from verbally poking his eyes out, heheh.

But honestly, I really enjoyed his company. He was quite animated and very chatty. And he is also rather comical in the way he moves and talks. He also gave me the opportunity to practise my sarcastic remarks and verbal swordplay. Haha. It's a pleasure to meet you David!

To be continued....