Yamamura Showcase

This showcase consists of the following short animations:

Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor (2007, 21 min)
A Child's Metaphysics (2007, 5 min)
Fig (2006, 6 min)
The Old Crocodile (2005, 13 min)
Pieces (2003, 3 min)
Mt. Head (2002, 10 min)
Your Choice! (1999, 10 min)
Bavel's Book (1996, 6 min)
Kid's Castle (1995, 5 min)
Kipling Jr. (1995, 15 min)
A House (1993, 5 min)
The Sandwiches (1993, 5 min)
Imagination (1993, 5 min)
Perspektivenbox (1989, 4 min)
Japanese-English Pictionary (1989, 12 min)
Aquatic (1987, 5 min)

Was most impressed with "Mt. Head" by its interesting storyline and powerful narration! Felt quite sad when I watched "The Old Crocodile" and I thought "Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor" looked innovative! The series involving two birds: "A House", "The Sandwiches" and "Imagination" was quite cute too!

Freedom Project

The story is about how people fled earth to live on the moon because of an ecological disaster, how survivors from earth made contact many years later and how these two groups reconciled their differences.

Liked the exciting music from Utada Hikaru and the interesting characters! Nice storyline that is well paced!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sing to the Dawn

The story is about how the life of a group of Thai villagers changed with the construction of a casino.

Liked the nice songs and the strong storyline! Didn't really like the 3D animation as I thought the characters looked quite stiff. Might have enjoyed it better if they were done in the traditional 2D style.

Internet Movie Database Link

Piano Forest

The story is about how two guys became good friends through playing the piano. One was rich with his own practice room while the other had to play on an abandoned piano in the forest.

Liked the nice piano pieces and the friendship between the two guys who have quite different personalities!

Internet Movie Database Link

International Shorts Showcase 1

There are altogether seven shorts: "Yellow Sticky Notes", "Procrastination", "Fantasmagorie 2008", "Bloom", "Irresistible Smile", "Death By Scrabble" and "Mesh"

"Yellow Sticky Notes" shows the to-do lists of an animator from when he was still a student until he graduated and started working. "Procrastination" describes what it means to procrastinate. "Fantasmagorie 2008" is about the interaction between old and new digital animation. "Bloom" is based on an Indian folktale. "Irresistible Smile" describes a day's work of a flight attendant. "Death By Scrabble" describes the strange happenings when a couple played scrabble. "Mesh" is a mathematical video on the impact of geometry on science and how digitisation is used in computers.

Liked "Yellow Sticky Notes" as it was a personal account from an animator's perspective and "Mesh" as it was very informative!

Tokyo!

The film is made up of three short stories about life in Tokyo. "Interior Design" describes the small Tokyo apartments through a just-married couple, "Merde" describes the xenophobic Japanese through a dirty old foreign-looking man who created havoc in the streets. "Shaking Tokyo" describes how an extreme introvert who avoided eye contact with people and stayed indoors all the time changed after an earthquake struck.

Liked the innovative "Interior Design" and "Shaking Tokyo"! The twist towards the end of "Interior Design" was interesting and the pizza delivery girl in "Shaking Tokyo" looked quite cute! Thought the poster showed her in a hair salon but realised that it was her helmet! Didn't like "Merde" as I thought it was a little bit boring. The news anchor and the Japanese translator were the only saving grace of this segment of the film.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thirst

The story is about the thirst for love told through a ballet dancer's relationships with her two lovers and the encounters of her recently widowed friend.

It was a little bit hard to follow the plot as there were many flashbacks and flashforwards. Thought some of the lines spoken were pretty well constructed and made a lot of sense!

Internet Movie Database Link

Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure

This is a Western about how a super hero called Lucky Luke helped a group of pioneers to travel from New York to California within 80 days while battling an evil salesman, the Daltons brothers who were bank robbers travelling with them under lock and chains as well as unfriendly Indians.

Thought the battle of wits between the bad guys and the good guys was interesting but some of the gags got a bit too repetitive at times! Nice exciting finale!

Internet Movie Database Link

Between dogs and wolves

This is a compilation of 8 short animations that are either about dogs or wolves.

"Three Little Pigs" made use of wire coils to create the shape of the animals and the narration was funny! "The White Wolf" was about how a pair of brothers made friends with a wolf in the jungle and it was interesting but certain scenes were a little bit sad. "AP 2000" was exciting as it described how the fleas on a dog fought against the latest anti-flea micro-robots in computer-game style!

Fell asleep during "Last Howl" and "Marvelously Grey", so not really sure what the stories were about. "Ponpon the Dog" was very nicely done as it described the flashbacks of a dog just before it was about to be hit by a truck! "Raining Dogs" was too abstract for me and I wasn't sure what was going on. "Dog Days" had a very innovative script about how a baby girl and a male baby dog accidentally switched families one day and their life stories years later!

Vampyr

The story is about a young man's encounter with vampires in a small town.

Liked the eerie atmosphere and the great special effects! The old vampire looked very scary!

Internet Movie Database Link

ISBG Scrabble Games 2008

The ISBG Scrabble games is held every two years, for statutory boards to take part in a friendly game of Scrabble. It was held at the PUB Recreation Center on 27th September 2008 from 9am to 5pm. 15 statutory boards are divided into four groups where round robin matches are played to select the top two teams from each group. This is then followed by a series of elimination rounds to decide the top 4 positions.

Here's my match report, with quizzes marked with [number] and the answers given at the end of the report.

Our first game was against NParks.

Game 1: NParks
Had a bye for my first game so I had a good walk around to see how the other players were doing. Noticed that the IRAS team was quite bored as they were in group A where there were only 3 teams and they had a bye in the first round. HDB and CPF had excess players and they were having practice matches against themselves. I also saw Adeline's end game where she tried AZOS* and ZOAS* in succession and they were challenged off by her opponent! Do you know what is the only back hook for AZO?[1]

My team won the match 4-1!

Our second game was against LTA.

Game 2: LTA
My opponent was a jovial man with a loud voice. Saw him previously at the final game of this year's PSTAR tournament as he was sitting diagonally across me. Had ADEIMT? at one time but gave up thinking of a bingo out of it. There are 10 anagrams for it out of which two are common words![2]. I overtook him when I bingoed with RADIAnS(70) but he was not far behind as he scored steadily. Had a lot of vowels subsequently and I exchanged several times while allowing my opponent to score heavily with EX(36) and SUQ(47). Thought I had a chance when I challenged off his TEB* in the final few moves but he scored with BrUISE(28) along the TWS lane on his next move and I lost.

Lost my second game with 357 vs 378. Our team also lost the match 2-3.

Our third game was against NUS.

Game 3: NUS
Had a relatively easier time when I surged ahead after my opponent played OB just next to the TWS lane and I bingoed with TAPERED(103). I scored steadily while keeping the board close. He had a bingo later with LAYINGs(77) but it was a bit too late. Adeline did very well against Karthik who was one of the most experienced masters player from NUS! She was trailing until she bingoed with a EHIKOOS rack[3] just above the TWS lane and scored big again with MATH underneath. It was a close match and she managed to win by just a few points.

Won my third game with 454 vs 314. Our team also won the match 3-2.

It was an interesting situation after the end of all the small group matches as NUS, LTA and DSTA all have 2 wins and 1 loss. NUS beat LTA 3-2, lost to DSTA 2-3 and won NParks 5-0. LTA lost to NUS 2-3, won DSTA 3-2 and won NParks 5-0. DSTA beat NUS 3-2, lost to LTA 2-3 and won NParks 4-1.

First step to unravel the dead-knot was to look at the matches involving just the 3 teams. All 3 teams had a 1-1 match record and 5-5 games record. Next step was to look at the matches involving all 4 teams. It was here where we lost out. All 3 teams had a 2-1 match record but both NUS and LTA had a 10-5 record while DSTA only had a 9-6 record. NUS was named group champion as they beat LTA in their head-to-head match.

I wonder what would happen if we also beat NParks by 5-0. The rules did not spell out how they would differentiate the sub-group rankings in this case. Hmm, maybe it should have been more comprehensive to cover all possible scenarios.

Packet lunch in the form of seafood fried rice was provided by the organisers. It was not very good! After lunch, some of us went back home while Jiang Pern and Adeline stayed back to play a few more informal games. Learnt later that LTA won 1st place, NUS 2nd, HDB 3rd and CAAS 4th.

Quiz answers (Highlight to see clearly):

[1] AZON
[2] DAyTIME. MEDIATe (Other angagrams: DIAsTEM, IDEATuM, MEDIAnT, MIcATED, MIsDATE, rEADMIT, TAEDIuM, TAMmIED)
[3] HOOKIES

Please Vote for Me

This is a documentary about the class monitor elections in one of the primary schools in China. Three primary 3 students have been shortlisted and they have one week to convince their classmates why they should be class monitor.

A very funny film that touches on the lives of the students and their parents! It was interesting to see how people react in different situations!

Internet Movie Database Link

Though I am Gone

This is a documentary about an old man recollecting what happened to her wife during the Cultural Revolution.

A very depressing movie as we learnt about the atrocities performed by the students in the name of ideology! Would be interesting if the director could interview one of the Red Guards but there was no "the-other-side-of-the-story" to be heard. Learnt about the existence of a Cultural Revolution Museum from the protagonist. Would like to visit it if I have the chance!

Patriotism

The story is about how a Japanese soldier decided to commit seppuku (the act of killing oneself by slitting one's belly open) and his wife's reaction to it. This is an adaptation of the director's own short story.

Liked the silent film look and feel, the minimalistic noh theater setup as well as the great acting by the actor and actress!

Internet Movie Database Link

Fitzcarraldo

The story is about how a young man dreamed of building an Opera house in the jungles of Peru. He encountered many difficulties and even had to drag a streamboat across a mountain in the process!

Had a pleasant surprise initially when I saw that Claudia Cardinale was the lead actress but realised that it had been almost twenty years since she acted in Fellini's "8 1/2" and Visconti's "The Leopard". She still looked beautiful but not as young as before. Liked the nice jungle adventure and the great acting by Klaus Kinski!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Decalogue

This is a 10 1-hour episode TV series made in Poland that is loosely based on the Catholic Ten Commandments.

Liked the excellent script and the modern interpretation of the commandments! It is interesting to see how each character is placed in a situation where he or she has to make a moral choice where there is no clear right or wrong! Episodes 2, 3 and 8 are the most boring while episode 10 is the most funny! Episodes 4, 5 and 7 are pretty good but my favorites would be episodes 1, 6 and 9!

Internet Movie Database Link

PSTAR Scrabble Games 2008

The PSTAR Scrabble games is an annual event for organisations in the civil service to take part in a friendly game of Scrabble. It was held at the Civil Service Club on 6th Sep 2008 from 10am to 5pm. A total of 38 teams took part. MINDEF had two teams taking part this year.

Here's my match report, with quizzes marked with [number] and the answers given at the end of the report.

Chew Chuah helped to draw our first pairings for MINDEF 1 and it was against the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) team 1. MINDEF 2 played against the all girls team from CPF 2. I saw that Peng Kee was really happy with his draw!

Game 1: MEWR 1
Had a bye as my opponent could not make it on time. Played a friendly game with Linda from Ngee Ann Polytechnic instead. My luck was pretty good! I bingoed with TEARIES*(74) and AILERON(73). What are the 2 anagrams for AEEIRST ?[1] I also guessed correctly the "C" front hook for OFF and scored with CHAIN(59) by hitting the triple word cell. Linda could only bingo with BARTENDED(75). If only this was an actual game where it really mattered!

Our team won the match by 3-0.

Next game was against IRAS 2.

Game 2: IRAS 2
I played against Chris who was from the same reservist camp as me! It was a closed board with no bingos from either of us. I scored big when he opened up the triple word score lane with WaRNS(40) and JET(39) by capitalising on the double letter score. Was lucky to be able to play my Z late in the game with ZETA(23). If not, the score line could have gone the other way round.

Won 310-280. Our team won convincingly with 3-0.

Had free lunch catered for us after our second game and it was delicious!

Our third game was against CPF 1. Hmm, I remembered our third game at last year's PSTAR games was against them too!

Game 3: CPF 1
I played against Chee Keong, the same player whom I played last year. JP and CC had a switch of opponent from last year. Missed my opponent's opening phoney HINE*. He bingoed with SWaYERS(88) and scored big with sEZ(64) and OX(38). My only big scores were OATH(44) across the triple word lane and PEAK(35). Maybe I should have blocked when my opponent played OVER with the O hovering underneath the triple letter cell. Didn't realise he had the Z!

Lost 324-403. Our team won with 2-1.

After 3 rounds, MINDEF 1 was placed in the top category that consisted of the top 6 teams: HDB 1, HDB 2, LTA 1, MINDEF 1, MOE 1 and NP 1.

Our final game is against HDB 2.

Game 4: HDB 2
I played against David. Our scores were neck-in-neck after both of us scored one bingo each. I had SoRRIES*(74) while he had InTRUDE(68). What are the 2 anagrams for EIORRSS ?[2] I was leading slightly towards the end until he scored with JOBS(37) to pull ahead.

Lost 375-391. Our team lost narrowly with 1-2.

In the end, MINDEF 1 came in 4th placing among the top category teams. We beat MOE 1 and HDB 1 who both lost 1-2 in terms of spread. LTA 1 came in 1st, NP 1 came in 2nd and HDB 2 came in 3rd. MINDEF 2 had a pretty good showing too with 2 wins and 2 losses! Had fun seeing so many familiar faces! Hope we could do even better next year!

Quiz answers (highlight to see clearly)

[1] AERIEST, SERIATE
[2] ORRISES, ROSIERS

Sakuran

This film is adapted from a Japanese manga and it is about a girl growing up in a brothel and becoming the top prostitute.

Liked the colorful kimonos and the nice soundtrack! The lead actress, Anna Tsuchiya, was a pretty interesting character too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Pathos

This is a follow up to "Broken Blossoms" and it is a documentary about the director's role as a woman, a wife and a mother.

Liked the last segment best as I thought the director's daughter was very cute! It was also interesting to see how a midwife clinic worked!

Broken Blossom

This is a documentary about the impact of the director's miscarriage on her.

Liked the scene where the director talked about her feelings towards the miscarriage! I also learnt a bit more about her during the Q&A session later!