Causeway Cup 2011 (Day 1)

This is the tenth and last Causeway Cup. The Open section had the same number of players like last year but the format has changed to king of the hill with no repeats.

Round 1 vs Aubrey Millet(India)
My first opponent was a middle aged man who was a professor from India. Missed a chance to move ahead when my SENATERS* played with a AEENRTS rack and a floating S in the bottom center to hit the TWS cell was challenged off. Later, he scored well with MAVINS for 50 points and we had one bingo each. He had REAPING(78) and I had ORIENTS(73). Lost by more than 100 points in the end.

Round 2 vs Tashwindran(Malaysia)
Tashwindran was a small boy who was a beginner. Won easily as I challenged off two of my opponent's phoneys and played two bingos, NEGATION(71) and ATRESIA(68).

Round 3 vs Moses Owugah(Nigeria)
My third opponent was an young man from Nigeria. Lost by slightly more than 50 points as I had REGAINED(59) while he had STONING(67) and SLENDER(70).

Round 4 vs Martin Waterworth(Australia)
Martin was a bespectacled man with a beard whom I played a few months ago at a Scrabble event in Singapore. I had ETESIAN(71) and LATRINES(59) while he had UPFOLDS(85) and AdVIsED(74). Got away with UNCAN* and scored well with ZEA(32) but he also scored with EXIT(33) and JEAT(38) to lose by about 100 points.

Round 5 vs Gary Pollard(Australia)
Gary was a casually dressed Australian and had a beard similar to the one from Nigel. Lost by over 100 points as my opponent had KEEPERS(72), OVERAGE(92) and MEANIES(65) while I only had VANTAGE(82).

Round 6 vs Mary Morgan(Ireland)
My first female opponent was an elderly lady from Ireland. I had RULIEST(72) and scored well with QUINS(66) to take the game.

Round 7 vs Umair Khalidi(Pakistan)
Umair was a young boy from Pakistan. Won easily with my ENDEARS(71) and ENGRAVED(67) against his RELISTS(66).

Round 8 vs Tsholofelo Modise(South Africa)
My second female opponent was a girl from South Africa. Had SEERING(81) and ATELIeR(74) to win pretty easily. Should probably have played IRATELy instead of ATELIeR as she was able to score well with SHE(30) subsequently with the H on the triple letter cell.

Round 9 vs Maureen See(Australia)
My third female opponent was a woman from Australia whom I played before at last year's Causeway Challenge. Lost as I did not have any bingos while she had DANCIER(76).

You are the Apple of My Eye

The story is based on a autobiographical novel written by Taiwanese author, Giddens Ko, about his youthful days spent with a group of friends and a pretty girl in class.

Liked the interesting plot and the actress who played Shen Jiayi! Not sure if the male nudity scenes were really necessary and felt the film dragged a little bit towards the end though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Best of Stuggart Animation Festival - International

Liked "The Cow Who Wanted To Be a Hamburger", "Changeling" and "Monstre Sacre" the best for their interesting storyline!

"Tatamp" was a nice musical animation experiment. "The Lost Thing", "Nullarbor", "The Boy Who Wanted To Be a Lion", "The Box" and "Preferably Blue" were also not bad. Didn't really like "The External World" as it was too pessimistic.

Best of Stuttgart Animation Festival - Baden Watenburgh

Liked the "Princess' Painting", "Tom & Die Ameisen" and "The Visit" the best as they were pretty straightforward and easy to understand.

"On the Way Back Home" was imaginative and "Loom" was beautifully drawn! The rest of the films "Sunday 2", "Ravenboy", "Es Geht Um Alles", "Halbschatten", "Orpheus' Pony", "Kopfsache" and "Meinungsmeer" were too abstract in my opinion.

Among the trailers, I liked the last one with the tatoo characters the best!

Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva

The story is about how Professor Layton solved a mystery that stemmed from an ancient legend together with his assistants.

Liked the interesting puzzles that the team had to solve! Great action sequences too!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Straits of Love and Hate

The story is an adaptation of Tolstoy's novel, "Resurrection". A girl's life is ruined by a rich guy but he only realised his mistake years later and wanted to make amends.

Liked how the director managed to distil the essence of the long novel by discarding the legal, political and religious aspects! The scene where the guy first begged for forgiveness in his room was particularly well crafted in my opinion!

Internet Movie Database Link