Causeway Cup 2010 (Day 1)

Played in the Causeway Cup four years ago which featured 20 games over three days. This time round 45 games were played over a period of five days. The Open section had 84 players and we were divided into groups of six where we played round robin against each other. A regroup into a next group of six was then done based on our results.

Round 1 vs Aganaba Mathew(Nigeria)
Had an easy game as I bingoed with RESAILS(77) and my opponent missed a bingo with an ACEINRS rack and phoneyed with CRAINES* instead. He bingoed with ATONIES(71) later but it was too late for him to catch up.

Round 2 vs Chim Wai Main(Malaysia)
I bingoed with DRAINER(69) while my opponent had SHEARING(62) and SAUTOIRE(71). Then I spotted a nine-timer play with REISSUES(113) to catch up. Managed to win by a bit in the end.

Round 3 vs Akomobong Okoridem(Nigeria)
I had LASERED(75) while he had DETAINEE(77) and PLACENTA(81). I was pretty impressed by his PLACENTA find which he played through an existing P to touch the TWS cell. Lost in the end.

Round 4 vs Sharon Sorensen(Australia)
I had LEADIEST(64) and she had MOSSING(80) and MAGGOTY(69). Lost badly as I tried to bingo with TREADIER* unsuccessfully later.

Round 5 vs Hardy Yohanes(Indonesia)
Was trailing when he bingoed with SORTIES(74) but when he played LIEU to have the L on the TWS lane, I bingoed with the second nine-timer of the day with RETAILED(140) and overtook him. Won comfortably in the end. Won 3 games and lost 2 in my first round robin group.

Round 6 vs Betty Erickson(New Zealand)
I had AUNTIES(61) and SPEARING(69) while she had RAIDERS(85) and SOLSTICE(75). She tried unsuccessfully to bingo with COILIEST* before her SOLTICE(75) bingo. Won by a bit in the end.

Round 7 vs Lim Sha Lyn(Malaysia)
Was surprised to see the current world champion Pakorn come personally to see how my opponent was doing before the game. Realised only later that she was his girlfriend. Lost badly as she bingoed with ENDORSE(69) and PARADES(72) while I phoneyed with REWIEST*.

Round 8 vs Valliammah Thambiayah(Singapore)
Won easily with 3 bingos, FADINGS(89), ENTRIES(79) and DISSENT(66) while my opponent had none. Made a mistake with a phoney FUNGAE* though.

Round 9 vs Yeoh Eiu Jyn(Malaysia)
My opponent's two sisters and mother were playing in the Open section as well! Hope to play with her sisters in the next few days! Lost badly as he had two bingos with NARTJIES(87) and GRANITE(70) while I only had RAINIER(74).

Round 10 vs Kashi Ross(Australia)
Lost easily as I had no answer to her two bingos: SLANTED(80) and BOILERS(67). Won 2 games and lost 3 in my second round robin group.

First day result: won 5 games out of 9 and had 12 bingos while my opponents had 16 bingos in total. Missed bingos were from ACEINRS and EEIRSTW racks where phoneys were played instead.

White Ribbon

The story is about life in a German village just before the first World War narrated by a school teacher who fell in love with the baron's maid. Besides the baron, the village also has a doctor, a midwife, a steward, a priest and a group of school children.

Liked the nice black and white cinematography and how the director depicted the human psychology within the village! Great acting by the priest's children! The priest reminded me of the step father in Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander".

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Push

The story is about how a group of people with special powers fought back against the authorities who made use of them. Movers, Pushers and Bleeders act like the strike force to attack the enemy physically and psychologically. Watchers and Sniffs provide both long term and short term intelligence. Wipers, Shifters, Shadows and Stitchers help to protect critical information and to heal oneself.

Liked the catchy names given to categorize the special powers! The special effects were good! Also thought that the rivalry between the two Watcher girls was interesting!

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When We Leave

The story is about how a woman left her abusive husband in Turkey and brought her son to stay with her parents in Germany. They welcomed her initially but eventually felt ashamed by her.

Only realized that this film was based on true events after watching the film. Great acting by the actress! Liked the detailed depiction of her relationship with her husband, her family and her friends!

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The Heiress

This is a film adaptation of Henry James's novel "Washington Square". The story is about how a naive doctor's daughter is wooed by an unemployed handsome young man who is after her money.

Great acting by the lead actress! She looked believable as both the shy young lady and the confident heiress that she later became! The maid also looked quite pretty and had a cute voice!

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The Outlaw and His Wife

The story is about how an outlaw escaped from jail to work for a rich widow who fell in love with him and followed him to live in the mountains when the authorities came to their door.

Liked the nice Scandinavian scenery and the use of flashbacks towards the end! The inter-titles had a lot of words for a silent film though.

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Blind Beast

The story is about how a blind sculptor abducted a pretty young woman to be his model and how they fell in love with each other.

Liked the voice over narration and the psychological game played by the model with the sculptor and his mother in her attempt to escape! The visual effects and sound effects were very good too!

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Soul Kitchen

This is a comedy about the transformation of a restaurant called "Soul Kitchen" from an ordinary eating place to a gourmet paradise filled with a hip crowd and nice music.

Liked the good sense of humor by the director and the great teamwork displayed by the family and friends of the restaurant owner!

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The Housemaid

This is a remake of Kim Ki-Young's 1960 film with the same title. The original film can be watched for free here. The story is about what happened after a housemaid got pregnant by the master of the house. The wife had a young daughter and was pregnant with twins at the same time.

Liked the nice soundtrack and beautiful choreography of the sex sequences of this film but the original film was more exciting in terms of the suspense and thriller portion! Half expected the old maid's son would play a part in the maid's revenge but was disappointed.

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Mouchette

The story is about how the life of a young girl named Mouchette with a dying mother and an alcoholic father changed after she got involved in the conflict between a poacher and a rural policeman.

Liked the opening scene that summarized the whole film! Great acting and excellent mud slinging skills by Mouchette! The ending sequence made a lot more sense to me now as I have seen the clip in another film prior to this.

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Melo

The story is adapted from a play about how a wife had an affair with her husband's friend and its consequences.

Great acting by Sabine Azema who played the wife! The dialogue was very well written and helped to flesh out the psychology of each character!

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Son of Babylon

The story is about how a boy went on a journey with his grandmother to search for his father who went missing during the Iraq war.

Liked the interesting journey and the beautiful scenery but the boy was really annoying for crying out to his grandmother for every small little thing.

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Every Man For Himself

The story is about how a man, his wife, his lover and a prostitute are inter-related. Each of them are reflecting upon their present situation and are looking for a change in their lives.

Liked the innovative slow motion technique and the nice soundtrack! Didn't really like the explicit political messages though.

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Possession

The story is about a woman who is possessed by a monster and this affected her relationship with her husband, her son and her lover.

Liked the great acting by Isabelle Adjani and the eerie atmosphere! Had a feeling that the director was influenced by "The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife" that is a woodcut created by the Japanese artist Hokusai around 1820.

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The Social Network

The story is about how the social networking site "facebook" started and got popular.

Liked the witty dialogue and how the director depicted Zuckerberg's relationship with his friends and competitors!

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The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

The story is about what happened after a man who had been locked up alone in a dungeon for many years found himself back into civilization. He had to learn to read and write as well as social norms from scratch.

Liked the shots of nature and the nice background music! Great acting by the lead actor! The rhyme recited by the little girl sounded quite nice too!

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The Phantom Carriage

The story is about how an alcoholic mistreated his wife but repented after a ghostly encounter with the phantom carriage. This carriage was driven by the last person to die during the previous year and his job was to collect souls for one whole year.

Liked the nice plot and the great special effects!

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Three

This consists of three short stories set during the Second World War and about the psychology of a person when he witnesses the death of others.

Liked the interesting bear performance in the first story and the exciting exchange of fire in the second story! The third story is a little boring in my opinion.

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The Big City

The story is about what happened when the housewife of an Indian family started to work to earn more money for the household. She became more confident of her abilities while her husband slowly became unhappy about the situation.

Liked the nice simple plot and the insight into the psychology of the different characters!

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Satyajit Ray, Filmmaker

This is a documentary on a famous Indian director, Satyajit Ray.

Liked the clips from Satyajit Ray's films but it was a pity that they were not subtitled. Learnt a little bit more about the director through the interviews and the look of his workplace!

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