Assorted Ravings of the Slightly-Weird

For Love of the Game

There's one movie that never fails to move me. Every single time I watch it, I tear up. And no, it's not "Titanic" or anything like that.

It's "For Love of the Game".

"For Love of the Game" is a baseball movie that's one part action, one part love story and one part cheesy. The story centres around an aging pitcher, Billy Chapel, who's taking the mound for the last game of a regular season. It's been a long and losing season for his team and they face the Yankees at home who need to win to get to the playoffs. The morning of the game, Billy learns that his team has been sold and he will most likely get traded at the end of the season, while his on-off long-distance girlfriend (she lives in NY, he plays for Detroit) tells him that she's moving to London that very day. So in the span of a day, Billy has to decide between retiring or being traded to another team while dealing with the news that the woman he may very well love is leaving.

Over a series of flashbacks interspersed with the baseball game that's taking place, we get to learn of Billy and Jane (that's her name) and their 5-year long on-off romance and of Billy's various experiences over his 19-year baseball career. At the same time, Billy's pitching well enough that he's taken a no-hitter into the 8th inning before he realises that he's on the cusp of pitching a perfect game. For the non baseball fans, a perfect game is when a pitcher doesn't allow any opposing player on base at all, which means 27 straight outs without a hit or a walk. It's one of the rarest accomplishments in baseball.

I'm not going to spoil the story but suffice it to say that it's a Hollywood movie after all. Heh. What I love about the movie is that it works both as a baseball movie and as a love story. On the baseball front, you see his team rooting for him, playing their guts out for him as his arm tires towards the end of the game. You see his ex-teammates giving him looks of respect. You see the sweat and the agony on Billy's face as he pitches the game of his life. (And Kevin Costner, who plays Billy, threw every single pitch and did all the baseball stunts in the movie.) On the love story front, some of the things that happen to the two of them mirror real life almost perfectly.

Sure, the movie's cheesy in some bits. Like when Billy calls his ex-teammate a worthy opponent. Or when he says "Clear the mechanism" everytime he starts an inning to block out the noise of the crowd. Or the lines from jeering Yankee fans that are so corny ("You couldn't pitch a tent!") but so real. And especially this line from the baseball commentator, where he says "On this night the cathedral that is Yankee Stadium belongs to a Chapel." But they're cheesy in a good way.

And the scenes and lines that get me every single time?

Movies Galore!

Ok first an ad for one of my softball pals. There's a sports photography exhibition at Vivo City from tomorrow till Thursday; photos of the 06 Asian Games will be on display. Check it out here for more details.

I love cold weather, I really do. Walking about in the cold is just so refreshing. The thing I hate is the static electricity. I keep getting zapped whenever I touch the door handle or press the buttons in the elevators. Bzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzzzt. And it hurts like a bitch!

I've been watching a ton of movies on the flights. So far, I've caught The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, Open Season, Accepted and various other old movies.

The Departed
Definitely worth watching with a great cast. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen AND Mark Wahlberg. All head-liners in their own right. It's supposed to be the Hollywood version of Infernal Affairs, but since I haven't seen it, I have no idea if the storyline diverges at the end.

Little Miss Sunshine
This is a great show! It's about a hilariously dysfunctional family who seem to hate each other's guts but they band together to go on a road trip to attend the Little Miss Sunshine competition for the little girl's sake. And the scene when they all dance together to Supafreak is just hilarious but touching as well.

Open Season
Surprisingly funny and witty show that works for adults as well. Quote: "I'm not a doe, I'm not a buck... I'm a duck!" Teeheehee. And the animation's great!

Accepted
Movie about a high-school kid who doesn't get into any college and sets up a fake college to get his parents off his back. It's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes of your life: it's quite funny and takes a few potshots at college life in the US of A.

I just hope that when I get back, the movies will have been changed to the February schedule cos I'm out of stuff to watch.

Day 1: Kimchi, Anyone?

A TV just fell on my foot. Fucking A (although I never did understand how that expression came about)...

Anyhow here I am in Seoul, and judging by what just happened you'd think I'm in some crummy hotel but I'm not. Great, now my finger's busted again. I busted it a week ago saving 2 wine bottles from breaking. Yeah, I know - bring on the alcoholic jokes. At least this time around I busted it saving a TV from breaking, which seems to be a slightly nobler cause. Woohoo, what a start to the trip. After this, the company visits just have to be good. Yippee.

Right now I'm partway up a hill overlooking some part of Seoul, facing westwards watching the sunset. It's actually kinda pretty. For those looking for travel ideas, August seems to be a pretty good time to visit, on the weather front.

On the flight up, I caught 3 movies: Madagascar, The Notebook and A Lot Like Love. All 3 were pretty good, with the latter two surprisingly so.

Madagascar
Animated film that works on both adult and kid levels. The guy sitting next to me must have thought I was slightly mad with all the chuckling noises coming from my seat. Worth watching again, in a couple of years or so.

The Notebook
Aw, it brought a tear to my eye. But seriously, when the movie first came out I'd written it off as another soppy/sappy love story but I take it back; it was actually enjoyable. Touching ending, which made for some uncomfortable sniffing moments during the lunch service.

A Lot Like Love
I like Amanda Peet, ever since I first saw her in the short-lived TV series "Jack and Jill". She's got this grin that's just infectious, plus she's really pretty to boot. And Ashton Kutcher, he kinda grows on you. So anyhow, this movie (did I miss it in SG?) was enjoyable too; I found myself rooting for the two to just get it on.

But having said all that, I still blame Hollywood for propogating unrealistic ideas about romance, love and THE ONE. No, not Keanu Reeves but THE SOULMATE. Ideas like eyes meeting across a room, or friends finding out that they actually are meant for each other, or some stranger suddenly sweeping someone off his/her feet. Yeah, like that really exists. Statistically it's just impossible to find the person you're meant to be with in the time that's alloted (i.e. before your expiry date). Plus, now that horizons are expanded it makes the pool almost an ocean and what's the chance of finding that one single drop in the ocean? Which, to my mind, explains why people are either getting married later (cos they're holding out for that one guy), or getting married and divorced and married and divorced again (cos they think they find the guy, find out they're wrong and ad nauseum).

If I sound bitter, it's cos the TV fell on my foot. Fucking A. Oooh, dinner time. Catch you later, dudes.

Game, Set, Match

Hm, the movie category has been languishing lately - I haven't really been in the movie-going mood. Anyway the last two films that I caught were New Police Story and Wimbledon (last night).

New Police Story
To summarise: Jackie Chan has aged. That's basically the whole takeaway from this movie. Oh, and Daniel Wu is kinda hot. The stunts were nowhere near to Jackie Chan's usual high standards, and there was too much time spent on his wallowing-in-self-pity mode. How many times do we have to see him sitting in a bar, getting piss-drunk and stumbling and puking his way back home?? We get it, he's devastated by the death of his teammates.

Speaking of which, they killed off the cutest guy in 10 minutes!!! He looks a little like Takeshi Kaneshiro except that he's more slit-eyed. *drool* Now to figure out his name...

Wimbledon
I have to say, Paul Bettany is really growing on me. The more I watch his movies, the more I like him. As for the movie, it was OK. Probably not something I'd pay $8.50 for, but still an enjoyable way to spend a Tuesday night. What is up with the dresses Kirsten Dunst wears in the show though? (Yes, that weird beige dress with flowers that didn't fit her very well.) It's as if they're trying to say tennis players have little to no fashion sense.

In other news, my home computer is in critical condition again. The ambulance is coming round either tonight or tomorrow to pick it up. No more Civ-ing for the time being... Sigh.

I freaking hate computers.

Two Idiots and Bad Karma

Buenos dias amigos! Feliz viernes!

But not to the two idiots who sat in B9-10, Cinema 7, Orchard Cineleisure on Wednesday 14 July 2004 at 2145h watching "Japanese Story". You know who you are.

Quick word on the movie: Touching in some parts, funny in others. Left the cinema in a contemplative mood. For more, visit the official site - RHS, under "Now Screening".

The two dumbasses persisted in talking through the entire movie despite my frequent glances. Plus the girl had a really squeaky voice. Man, if you're going to talk throughout the entire freaking movie, SIT IN THE FRONT. Where no one can hear your stupid comments. It pissed me off so much that as I got up from my seat, I had to turn around and give them the whole eye-glaring, head-shaking, eye-rolling, exasperated-sighing routine.

Dumbasses. People who talk in cinemas during a movie are now one of my pet peeves.

Anyhow, I'm now thoroughly convinced that someone up there didn't want me to bitch about the two talking idiots. First, the site went down and only came back online sometime in between 1am and 10am today. And then, as I was typing this entry somehow my coffee spilt on me and I had to run out to the restroom to perform emergency surgery on my WHITE shirt. Now my shirt is damp and I'll probably catch a cold from wearing a damp shirt in the coldest place in Singapore.

Damnit! I'm sneezing already!

Teenage Wizards and Hotbod Greeks

No prizes for guessing which movies I've seen recently... Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban and Troy.

HP3 was pretty enjoyable, and very true to the original plot. I think they managed to get most of the extremely-thick book inside without making it an overly-long movie, but then again, the last time I read the book was a few years back. Emma Watson is really growing up to be a real stunner, I think. I just hope that Book 6 will be out soon; J K Rowling is fast losing her fan base with long delays between book launches.

As for Troy, well it's tough to enjoy a movie when you know the story pretty much by heart and the ending is pretty tragic. As the movie wound down to its inevitable conclusion I kept thinking that a deviation from the story wouldn't be that bad. The battle scenes reminded me of LOTR, and in this era of cost saving, I like how they recycled Orlando Bloom's archery skills. But wow, Brad Pitt's abs are a sight to behold. Too bad that there was only one clear shot of him bare-chested, and even then he was caked with some mud/grime. I don't recall Briseis being in the Iliad, but if she wasn't, then her addition added some needed depth and humanity to Achilles' character. All in all, it was not a bad way to spend $6.50 :)

P.S.: If Agamemnon really pissed you off, you might be happy to know that his come-uppance was way more painful and drawn-out than getting stabbed by Briseis. At least, that's my hazy impression from taking Classics 28 in Cal.

Movies movies movies

It's been since I added anything on movies, mainly because I haven't been watching much. It's weird but nowadays I only want to watch comedies and light-hearted fare because all the violence just bugs me. I think it's old age creeping up on me...

Anyway, today's entry is about 50 First Dates and Calendar Girls. Both were pretty enjoyable with plenty of laughs.

50 First Dates
I think Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore work well together and as a screen couple they're really compatible. They both look like they are having fun throughout the whole movie. Even though the premise was a little thin, I still enjoyed it, plus Rob Schneider is always good for some laughs.

Calendar Girls
Calendar Girls, which I just caught last night, was pretty good as well. Less haha-type laughs than chuckles, but still very entertaining and more so when you find out it's based on a true story. And Helen Mirren is such an amazing and versatile actress.

I am a happy camper today! My work computer has been a royal PITA because it's been acting up since Wednesday. It was just so slow, opening up Outlook took half an hour. Thankfully it's now settled, and Greg, one of the IT support guys, is now one of my favourite persons in the world. (Hm wait a minute, now I actually have to work, so maybe he's not my fav person after all...)

Anyway, happy Friday! :D

Love Actually, Revisited

On the flight to Chennai , I watched Love Actually again, but this time it was the uncensored version. Which explains why, when I watched it in December, I could only count 9 stories. The censored story, about two porn actors, was actually quite funny but could have done with more character development - an unavoidable pitfall when you're dealing with a movie that deals with that many characters.

Still, Rodrigo Santoro looked as good as ever *drool*
I'd buy the DVD just to watch his 10 minutes of screen time.

Lost in Translation

Since I have another half an hour to go before I head home to pack, I decided not to start on any new work and blog instead :)

(Nat! I'm hooked! How?! It's cos of your birthday present!)

Anyway, a couple of us caught Lost in Translation last Friday. I had read about it a while back in the NYTimes, and it had a pretty good review, which was why I was eager to see it.

It was not bad, but I'm not sure why it was nominated for Best Picture. It just didn't seem to be good enough for that honour. There were some funny scenes ("Lip my stockings!") and some touching scenes but all in all the movie felt really jerky and could do with better editing. The story just didn't seem to flow very well.

Having said that, I think Bill Murray, nominated for Best Actor, did his best work ever. His character had this aura of weariness and passive despair and throughout the whole movie I just didn't get the sense that Bill Murray was acting; I felt he really was world-weary.

My favourite part of the movie (besides the hooker scene) was when Bob whispered into Charlotte's ear in the end. I would love to know what he said but I think the whole point is for the audience to put their own spin on it. The last part of the movie was what redeemed it for me, because in some way it humanised the film. Otherwise it would just have been a meaningless tale of two strangers meeting up in a strange city, that attempted to poke a little fun at the inhabitants of that city.

Pizza Parties and more

New Year's Day was rather enjoyably spent having a pizza party with some friends... but unfortunately I was too busy the past few days to provide a multitude of toppings, so people were stuck with the usual peppers, mushrooms, pineapples, ham and some weird cuts of various meats that Cold Storage optimistically labels as "pizza toppings". Plus, the tomato paste ran out (you guys use WAY too much paste!) even though it was a double recipe, same as the pizza dough.

Anyway it was good fun, and next time I will provide more unusual toppings, promise! Stuff like roast duck, barbecued pork, char siew, prawns, anchovies, olives, squid...

After that I was too nua to do anything but watch a movie, so off we went to catch Scary Movie 3. Read on for the review.

I also watched ROTK but I think it's been talked to death so nothing from me except "Damn Legolas is hot!" but I really think it's the hair.

SM3 is strictly a Monday-Wednesday movie cos that's when tickets only cost $6.50. Directed by the same guy who did Naked Gun, it was pretty ok... I chuckled through the movie but it wasn't the laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts kind of funny. It would help though if
a) the cinema was more crowded - there were like 10 other people in the cinema
b) the other people actually GOT the jokes...
c) the stupid couple one row behind would stop TALKING and saying stupid shit like "Oh this is from The Others..." or, "Aiyah, why the little boy so poor thing".

Note to all guys who dig Pamela Anderson: Watch the first 5 minutes VERY CAREFULLY. Two words: nipple action.

New Section!

Yo yo yo :) I'm getting good at this!
Introducing "Now Screening..." - movies that I've watched in the recent past. Links are on the RHS.

Up first, Love Actually: a (mostly) feel-good holiday movie with 10 interweaving stories (though I only counted 6...).

I watched it with my sister, and I think it's definitely a chick flick. Having said that, we exited the cinema with smiles on our faces so it couldn't have been that bad!

Most of the stories were predictable, but I think the sappiness wasn't overdone. My favourite stories were that of the writer who falls for his Portuguese domestic help, and the shy girl carrying a torch for her (extremely!!) hunky colleague... hm, sound like anyone you know? And as always, you can depend on Hugh Grant to deliver some (at times bittersweet) laughs.

The only problem was that with so many stories and characters running around, it was difficult to develop all of them fully. I would have enjoyed learning more about the middle-aged woman who tries to deal with the discovery of her husband's infidelity, and I definitely wanted to see more of the Laura Linney-Rodrigo Santoro story. Not just because he's the eye candy but because their story was the most moving.

All in all, it was an enjoyable way to spend a quiet Tuesday night. As for the mushiness, well, 'tis the season, ain't it?