My Wedding Album

A Singapore Premiere

In transit alt screening

NLB The Pod

This documentary looks at weddings in Taiwan and China. How months of preparation goes into it. And a lot of money.

Two photographers' points of view - one who sells at roadshows and one freelance. They sell love and not just the shoot.

Wedding is a moment but marriage is a lifetime. That's what ended the show.

Two couples one from city Taiwan and another rural China.

The Taiwanese couple. Groom wants sexy shot or boudoir as I've heard today from Annabelle Law Photography, an all women Singaporean photoshoot company. Groom is not known to be demanding but for the wedding he wants like nude shots, the wet look. He lost at least 5kg and tanned himself religiously for it. He's like the star of the night and outshines the bride. They've like lifesize boards which they store somewhere after the wedding in their house, 3 kids later. Groom goes to work in HK and that's how they ended the documentary.

Rural China. They spend their yearly income from selling their Apple harvest and borrow money from relatives and neighbours. After the harvest income, they're still short of usd2,000! Groom is raised by grandparents as he's from a divorced family. Everyone is excited as this is the first shoot of their life esp. for the grandparents. One baby later, baby uses the photo to step on and grab. Groom initially wanted a lenticular print. ... Wow. His ideas quite advance.

We see many brides taking photoshoot in China all at one time by different photographers. So many. Couples prepare at lease a year in advance. Apparently in Singapore, Annabelle shared that couples spend $50,000-$150,000! Maybe overseas wedding photoshoot. For that perfect shot captured in 2d.

New Beginning

Finally got the chance to do some real packing today because clearing out the office left me with so much materials. Dug out my Mathematics notes about Computational Analysis and Basics of Mathematics. Omg those were the days. And kept those that were marginally still relevant in my life today. Like interview tips and Bahasa Melayu.

And all those old catalogues I've accumulated over the years before I joined the museum. Goodness. It dated way back to 2006. Kept only the useful artist essays and resource ideas.

And those travel brochures. So many files. Kept those which were memorable. Like that cute Totoro picture.

And newspaper clippings. Four files full. Started from secondary school. Even posted them on construction paper.

Now I'm just resorting keeping them in soft copy. Even then I great losing my memories. And knowledge. And skills.

Tomorrow Is Another Day

As part of Singapore MINDS Film Fest
Starring Teresa Mo and Ling Man-lung

Teresa Mo is a mother of a 20 year old autistic child. The film begins with an interview of mom where her son helps out to give out Chinese fans in dance class. She expresses her joy and pain of looking after him. It's just like taking care of 30 kids at once.

Her husband, a driving instructor is having an affair with one of his students, a young nubile girl, Daisy. He goes to visit her at her place, have trysts and one day she found his home address from FB and brings him soup when his wife went out grocery shopping.

His wife already suspects extra martial affair and seems like this is not the first. He has many late night schedules and his clothes reek of women's perfume. She came back that day to find her son in a distressed state because Daisy made him touch her boobs. Son expresses repressed shame by humping the pillow. Wife confronts husband and he moves out. He texted after asking for a divorce.

We see how wife plots to kill Daisy. And how she has to deal with son alone when he melts down. She feels guilty for bearing an autistic son and thinks it's her fault for not taking care of herself during pregnancy. At that time husband seemed to be having an affair already.

Wife watches HK movies of how to create an alibi by getting to Shenzhen through Lo ? Metro then taking the boat back to HK. She envisions stabbing Daisy mercilessly and tracked down Daisy's schedule. 5pm is the time she's alone. She does all this with her son whom she thinks doesn't understand anything.

She tried to execute once but chicken out because she's caught on CCTV. She had sought help from one who sells mobile phone who has contact of this auntie who can escort people back in cargo ships. Turns out this aunty has a son with Down Syndrome and helped her. After this Reece, mom gave son sleeping pills and tied him to bed. The son gave her a tender kiss before sleeping.

She found support from knitting aunties and one shared that her husband passed away one night in his sleep due to exhaustion. They have no children. So mom found support with these aunties and went KTV. Mom pain and relieve is so powerful and evident in this scene. The aunties saw this knife which dropped out of mom's bag one day.

Mom tries to start a new life with a job. First two turned her down as she has an autistic son. Finally she could sell ice-cream. Dad chatted with son without mom's notice and asked if son likes him. Son is happy and says yes. Dad promises to bring him to see shark and fish, his son's favourite animal. Dad leaves and son runs to find him. He gets distracted by fish truck and goes to aquarium which he frequents with his dad. Mom picks him up from police station.

Daisy provokes mom by saying husband left her because she bore him a retarded. Mom attempts second murder but was stopped when her son rips drawings of her killing. He sees and knows more than others. Mom and son are like one.

Husband returns because he cannot bear to lose his son. He felt like a father when his son finally held his hand after 7 years of getting to know him better. He apologizes to wife and says she must be even more tired. They go to the sea aquarium together as a family.

Autistic people are also human beings are can be even more sensitive than atypical people. They see everything and pick up emotions even more clearly.

It's a moving film and the cast acting was stellar.

Ant Man and The Wasp

Hank and his wife go on business trip to save an atomic bomb from killing millions. Unable to disable it The wife becomes real small and enters in, and is stuck in Quantum time and space. Hank and his daughter, The Wasp, developed a Quantum machine to save her. 

Ant Man who used to be The Wasp's partner in Infinity War, is under house arrest. He plays real elaborate games of adventure with his daughter. After getting a connection with the wife, he made connection with Hank and The Wasp. They shrank him and brought him out as he has the knowledge of the mom since he came back from quantum. 

They managed to get the exact coordinates when mom enters the body of the Ant Man to give the code. All this while, the Ghost and Ben tries to stop them because the Ghost, whose dad perished in a Quantum experiment whereas she survived it but now her molecules are stitched back every sec, has only a few days to live so she wants to steal the mom's energy.

The trio is also trying to escape FBI and this dude who's selling arms on the black market. Eventually they did, saved the mom, where she used her Quantum power to heal Eva the Ghost. And Ben/ Ant Man is free from house arrest.

The family of four starts a Quantum leap for a sample of quantum magic, but everyone else except Ben is alive.

They had been blown away into smmitherins because of injuries. Infinity War is next.

Only Yesterday

A Studio Ghibli film

Produced by Hayao Miyazaki

JCC at Festival Theatre (Tampines)

27 year old Taeko rehashed her 10 year old self as a kid in Tokyo where she still lives and works. She's still unmarried, a taboo in Asian civilisation, and just turned down a suitor's proposal. She goes to pick safflower in the countryside of Yamagata where her second cousin's family friend lives, Toshio. It's her second time to the city, this time for 10 days vacation. This safflower is used to make rouge and sold in cities, with the by product used to dye clothes.

As a 10 year old, we see her first crush with a baseball expert, how badly she did fractions (D grade), how she threw tantrums and got slapped by her dad, the pumpkin show she watched and could recite with Toshio, how they had menses chat with the school nurse, how the boys found out and made fun of them, how she refused to skip PE because she would be seen as having her period, how she went into so many onsens she fainted and had her vacation shortened. Her 2 elder sisters, one was an artist, another studies economic, and grew up in the age of the Beatles, while she was only good in essays and reciting her lines with enthusiasm, even though it was a minor role, Child Villager A. How she hated someone in class so much he refused to shake her hands. 

The grandma and mother encouraged her to stay in the village and marry Toshio and this made her embarrassed and hypocrite because it's not like she has thoughts of being a farmer's wife. 

On the day she left for Tokyo, her 10 year old self and all her 10 year old classmates encouraged her to stay. Listening to her heart, she finally stopped and took the train back. Toshio had to hide his happiness many times and this was one of it. He wanted to hug her but restrained. When it was raining outside with them driving around, he wanted to console her by holding her hands. It is strange but I think that was a sign of those times, where people were unable to be expressive.

He reads her thoughts and she opens up to him well. Upon reflection, she took that as a sign of her affection for him. For E.g. He asked why is she not married? She says most women who live in the city work so they're still single, like most of her friends. Presumably too busy to get married. Then does she love the work so much? She doesn't love it or hate it; it's just a job.

I think I try to find a job that I love so that it's worth my efforts. But what's the point? If it doesn't bring happiness or fulfillment? How can it replace more everlasting things like relationships?

The moving pictures were all beautiful, with each frame like a watercolour painting.

The film ends with the Japanese version of the song "The Rose" by Bette Midler which was very moving.

Taeko is much like a dreamer like me and I identify with her a lot. In the end she decided to follow her heart.

Avengers: Infinity War

Loki is killed by Thanos and Thor dies under his hands as well. Thanos already has 3 of the 6 stones and goes around getting the rest in the name of sacrifice for peace by exterminating worlds. He killed his daughter Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy for the Gold soul stone. To get this stone he had to sacrifice the one he loves which he did it without much hesitation, just some tears. Next he took the green Time one from Dr Strange. Finally he wields the last yellow Mind one from Vision while fighting Black Panther and his army in Wankanda. Thor is revived and rescued by Guardians. Fox, Groot and Thor get his hammer done, while Gomora's bf, muscle man and slug lady fight it out after joining forces with Dr Strange, Ironman, Spiderman against Thanos. 

Well Thanos crushes all of them, wipes out 50% of Earth including Black Panther, Black Window, Scarlet Witch, Agent of Shield head...

Depressing.

The Great Buddha Plus

SFS film screening
Leading up to Chinese Film Fest

Starts with a funeral and a Chinese band playing Auld Lang Syn. The lead character Belly Button was kicked and bullied because he didn't play to the beat. His band mates did not help him. He is a security guard for a philanthropist, Kevin, a rich boy schooled overseas in NYC and now makes Buddha statues and drives a Merc Benz.

Pickles the vagrant make a living picking and selling trash. He has one friend, Sugar Apple, another vagrant who appeared about 3 years ago and lives in a tower by the sea. They call it Seaside Villa. 

They have one other friend, Peanut, who takes care of a shop Savon, beside Seven Eleven. It's an arcade which also sells nick knacks.

Every other night, Pickles goes to the security shed of Belly Button. One night, Pickles instigates BB to look at the web cam of his boss's Merc. They find recordings of tryst with Cindy a student trying to earn some money for further studies, Miss Peh his ex-flame in her forties and Gucci, his secretary and current toy. They gave surveillance of Miss Peh waiting for Kevin. While Kevin and Gucci were having sex, Miss Peh called and asked to meet at the usual. 

One night, they discover footage of Miss Peh threatening Kevin and recounted the scene that night. Abortion, Kevin not leaving his wife, allowing Kevin to do anything with her, Kevin bringing home a man for sex, Miss Peh goating him to compare sex between both genders, followed by a loud bang. Next we see the Merc being driven to the factory and Kevin knocking Miss Peh unconscious before dumping the body into this gigantic Buddha statue for the Dharma Assembly.

Pickles and BB sit in silence for many days. They seek help from useless mediums, Peanut helped them by seeking out his useless scam uncle of the Li Kai-Shing temple and Sugar Apple knew they were in trouble from a dream. Pickles ate his last meal from auntie at a shed which cooks for prisoners upon requests from family members. It was a sumptuous hot rice meal, fresh with vegetables and chicken wing. It's like aunty, somewhat his mother figure, knew his fate.

He was found dead in a ditch with alcohol in his blood. He doesn't drink but was killed drunk. Most likely by Kevin. BB is afraid he'll be next. His boss already warned him not to say anything by testing if he knew of his wig. That was a really tense moment.

Kevin asks BB to bring his mom to the upscale hospital. They couldn't find anything wrong with the Mother and puts her on drip, just like the first scene in a community hospital. But in that BB has to beg for the drip cos it's past 5pm. He drives mom with the drip home on a motorbike then. In this upscale hospital with all expenses paid for, BB feels trapped because his boss's bribing him. He opens the window for release and for a moment there I thought he was going to jump. His mom pleas with him through her eyes not to. 

I bet the boss has CCTV in the security room and already knew what they were doing a long time ago. Kevin was brought in for a chat by a plainclothes police officer. Another high ranking person demanded for his release. 

The day of Pickles funeral is also the day the Great Buddha is moved to the assembly Hall. Belly Button plays the drums, Peanut holds the picture, Sugar Apple holds this spirit lantern. They don't even have the picture of Pickles. Peanut did a screenshot of Pickles when he was arrested for picking trash by a policeman. The police wanted to confiscate his bike, his only means of livelihood, and Pickles refused so they fought. This was caught on National TV and that's where Peanut captured the screenshot. It is very sad how as friends they knew little of each other. It also portrays police as bullies abusing their power. And the villains escape punishment.

The gang realises how little they know of Pickles when he was alive. They never even visited his home. The first time they visited his home, it was nothing like a vagrant's home. Cosy with many knick knacks. And a UFO spaceship as a bed. Filled with toys he won from those vending machines. Which he plays cos it's therapeutic. 

The one liner that struck me: how Man has conquered great distances and walked the Moon but the greatest distance is that of the heart.

Belly Button is alive but at what price? Pickles is dead, so what?

In the end during the Dharma Assembly all the faithful gather to chat scriptures. Suddenly Buddha silences the chants and casts a disproving gaze on the faithful. Someone had betrayed me.