Scrabble Nationals 2011 (Day One)

This year's Nationals is once again held at Toa Payoh West CC.

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

Game 1: vs Chua Wei Yang
Wei Yang is a student from St Joseph's Institution. I won pretty easily despite his two bingos as he was fishing and exchanging tiles frequently. He looked quite disappointed after the game. Hope he would still continue to play in future tournaments!

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: - Opp Bingos: STEADIED(59), SEARING(62)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: TOX*
My High Moves: YEP(37), PIQUED(84), JUT(38) Opp High Moves: -
W 477-297, +180. 1W 0L (Accum spread +180)

Game 2: vs Tan Mun Ri
Mun Ri is the top rated player in this division. Her word knowledge was very good and she played many words that I did not know like BIALI and ETAPE. I played TAPE just below the triple word score lane as I thought there were no front hooks and she scored with REGO(30) front hooking her E to it!

New words learnt: BIALI, ETAPE
My Bingos: DEASOILS(73) Opp Bingos: SAILORS(67)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: QUIOT*
My High Moves: GOX(32), ZO(31) Opp High Moves: BIALI(32), UNLIKE(30), HM(30), REGO(30)
L 365-377, -12. 1W 1L (Accum spread +168)

Game 3: vs Gavin Ng Teck Boon
Gavin is a student from Victoria Junior College. He claimed to be out of practice with his heavy school workload. I had two bingos early on with TROOPERS(76) and LOANINGS(70) but he kept scoring consistently to be not far behind. Saw the third bingo out of a EIINSTU[1] rack but chickened out of it and played UNIT instead.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: TROOPERS(76), LOANINGS(70) Opp Bingos:
My Phoneys: BROM*, BROMS* Opp Phoneys: YEE*, TENCE*
My High Moves: HOY(30), VIED(41) Opp High Moves: NEW(30), AFLAJ(30), CITY(32), RAIDS(32), HUIA(30), OX(56), WIZ(35)
W 436-344, +92. 2W 1L (Accum spread +260)

Game 4: vs Arul
Arul is a masters player whose rating recently dropped for him to play in division B. I had two bingos, one more than him, but he scored consistently to be always just a few points ahead. I think the turning point came when I got rid of the Q and scored with my Z with BEZ(33). Was very happy with my BEZ find as I had a terrible rack in the end: BEUVZ and two other one pointer tiles.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: ROTATES(68), RESITES(72) Opp Bingos: RECANTER(74)
My Phoneys: UNSWIRL* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: BEZ(33) Opp High Moves: GRAM(30), HAJ(32), NIX(44)
W 382-370, +12. 3W 1L (Accum spread +272)

Game 5: vs Serene
Serene is a masters player who was famous for her defensive style. I was leading at the start with an early bingo, so her usual tactic did not work too well. Towards the end of the game, I chickened out of two potential bingos as I was unsure of them: one with a GGINRSU rack that had to end with the S[2] and another with a AEGINOS rack that had to make use of a floating B on the board[3].

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: BAITERS(76) Opp Bingos:
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: BEENO*
My High Moves: AWA(33), ZIP(58), EASING(32) Opp High Moves: JOR(40), SOH(36)
W 375-324, +51. 4W 1L (Accum spread +323)

Finished day 1 with 4 wins and 1 loss.

Quiz answers (highlight to see clearly)

[1] UNITIES, UNITISE
[2] URGINGS
[3] BEGONIAS

Monsoon Wedding

The story is about an Indian wedding in Delhi.

Liked the nice Indian songs and the street scenes with the people working and playing in the rain as it was monsoon season!

Internet Movie Database Link

City of Pirates

The story is about the nightmarish dreams of a young woman who lived near the sea.

Liked the beautiful scenery and the special lighting effects! Didn't quite understand the plot though.

Internet Movie Database Link

The Days After

The story is about how a couple, whose first son died when he was one years old, came to believe that he was reincarnated as a boy who mysteriously appeared at their home.

Liked the nice traditional Japanese home and the young mother looked quite pretty! It would be interesting to see the other episodes of this TV series!

Internet Movie Database Link

Strawberry Shortcakes

The story is adapted from a comic about four women searching for their purpose in life.

Liked some of the funny moments but the overall mood was a bit too pessimistic. It was interesting how the writer split different aspects of an ordinary woman: the innocent girl, the career woman, the faithful girlfriend and the passionate lover into four characters!

Internet Movie Database Link

Where Chimneys are Seen

The story is about life in a rural neighborhood near Tokyo. A couple suddenly found themselves with an abandoned baby and one of their tenants decided to help them to trace his parents.

Liked the nice voice of Takamine Hideko as an announcer and the interesting phenomenon of the vanishing chimneys!

Internet Movie Database Link

Immortal Love

The story is about how landowners exploited their tenant farmers seen through the eyes of a tenant farmer's daughter who was forced to marry the young master after being raped by him.

Liked the epic plot that spanned many years and how everything tied together very nicely in the end!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Munakata Sisters

The story is about how traditional values clashed with the modern way of doing things seen through the eyes of two sisters.

Liked Takamine Hideko's comical facial expression and her cheeky behaviour towards her elder sister's ex-lover! Was quite upset by the elder sister's husband who was a good-for-nothing!

Internet Movie Database Link

Yearning

The story is about a young widow who spent much of her life looking after her mother-in-law's provision shop and her relationship with her younger brother-in-law.

Great acting by the actress! Liked the parts that showed the widow and brother-in-law working hard together for the shop!

Internet Movie Database Link

Hideko, the Bus Conductress

The story is about a bus conductress thinking of ways to save her bus company from going out of business together with the driver.

I had wanted to see this film after watching Takamine Hideko as a bus conductress in Lightning at the 2002 Japanese Film Festival, so I was very happy that this film was part of the 2011 Japanese Film Festival line up! Liked the interesting adventures on the bus and the nice voice of the bus conductress!

Internet Movie Database Link

Poetry

The story is about an old woman, who is slowly losing her memory, learning how to write a poem while having to deal with her delinquent grandson.

Liked the interesting screenplay and the great acting by the actress! The poems recited by the different people sounded very nice!

Internet Movie Database Link

Ajantrik

The story is about the close relationship between a quirky taxi driver and his car.

Liked the great sound effects and the interesting taxi trips across the country! Quite sad for the old car in the end though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Carmen Comes Home

The story is about a strip dancer returning home to the countryside from Tokyo for a few days of holiday with her colleague.

Liked the beautiful countryside scenery and the reaction of the villagers towards the two girls from the city!

Internet Movie Database Link

Mr Popper's Penguins

The story is about how the life of a businessman called Mr Popper changed after he inherited a few penguins from his father.

Liked Ms Pippi who spoke in rhymes and looked quite pretty! Didn't find the penguins cute though and pitied Jim Carrey for having to put up with them.

Internet Movie Database Link

Tokyo Chorus

The story is about the struggles of an insurance agent who was fired for arguing with his boss.

Don't think I would recognize Takamine Hideko if nobody told me that she was in this film! She looked quite cute as a child with a few missing teeth! Great drama about teacher-student, boss-employee and parent-child relationship!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Valiant Ones

The story is about how a group of people with very good martial arts skill tried to eliminate the Japanese pirates during the Ming dynasty. Their job was made more difficult as some officials were being bribed by the pirates.

Liked the exciting martial arts choreography and how cool Hsu Feng looked as the wife of Wu Jiyuan! The use of the weiqi board as well as the black and white stones to display the situation picture was ingenious!

Internet Movie Database Link

Pulgasari

The story is about how a monster called Pulgasari helped the farmers overthrow the evil king. It was created by an old blacksmith before he died.

Liked the interesting special effects and how cute the monster looked!

Internet Movie Database Link

Adieu Philippine

The story is about how a man who worked in the media industry as a camera man spent his time with two pretty girls before he was enlisted for the war in Algeria during the sixties.

Liked the quirky television commercials that were produced then and the two pretty actresses!

Internet Movie Database Link

White Light Black Rain

This is a documentary about the impact of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Liked how the news clips complemented the interviews by the survivors and how it showed both the American and Japanese side of the story!

Internet Movie Database Link

Assassination

The story is about how a mysterious expert swordsmen manoeuvred his way between the Emperor and the Shogunate supporters during the 1860s in Japan.

Liked the great sword fighting sequences and I learnt a bit about Japanese history!

Internet Movie Database Link