Monday, November 02, 2020
From Victoria Street to Ang Mo Kio
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Our Time Machine
This is a documentary about a son making a puppet theatre show as a tribute to his father.
Liked the interesting concept but also wondered if it was worth spending so much time and money on the project! The puppet handlers were pretty skillful in my opinion!
Tuesday, October 06, 2020
Shukuhachi: One Sound One Life
This is a documentary on an ancient Chinese wind instrument that is made of bamboo.
Liked the nice Shukuhachi music in the film! Was impressed by the woman who imitated the music of different Chinese minorities that were inspired by nature such as the rooster or the sheep!
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Tamaran Hill
The story is adapted from a novel and it is about a young girl trying to find out more about her past when she digs deep into the history of Tamaran Hill.
Liked the voice over narration, the animation sequences of the words flying and the mother singing as well as the old historic photographs! I felt that reality and fiction fused together at times.
Monday, September 28, 2020
Social Dilemma
This is a documentary on the impact of social media on the world.
Liked how the film physically showed what the artificial intelligence might look like in person! Didn't realize how entire nations like Myanmar and Hong Kong were affected by social media! The takeaway for me is to turn off notifications so that I still can enjoy my offline social life.
Monday, September 21, 2020
Isadora's Children
The story is about four women trying to learn a dance created by a choreographer to commerorate her children who died in an accident.
The pace was a little bit slow but I liked the elegant dance movements and the different perspectives on how different people approach a subject: from a book, bouncing ideas with each other through conversations and personal experience.
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Rising Phoenix
This is a documentary about the Paralympics.
Liked the personal stories of the athletes and how different sports and different countries were featured!
Saturday, September 12, 2020
CSC E-Scrabble Competition 2020
Here's my match report.
Game 1: Muhammed Farhan (MHA)
I bingoed with COSINES(78) and scored well with JET(33) while he scored well with UNFACE*(42), HOX(48) and HAZE(36).
Won 370-332. 1-0 spread +38
Game 2: Chan Andi Andy (PA)
I bingoed with FALTERS(78), EROTISE(72) and scored well with DJIN(36), LIKE(30) and MUX(37) while he scored well with ZA(33) and HOAX(39). I challenged his TORAN as I was not sure if it was valid but it turned out to be good.
Won 474-189. 2-0 spread +323
Game 3: Marlon Prudencio (LTA)
I got away with a phoney bingo TRELLERS*(61) and scored well with WALTZ(34), HUE(37) and QIN(44) while he bingoed with ELMIEST(90), CAREENED(63) and scored well with OK(38), JAILS(47) and RAND(31). Was quite surprised when he put down a phoney bingo FISHMEN* and I challenged it off successfully! Learned two new words, ELMIEST and SKEN.
Lost 374-438. 2-1 spread +259
Game 4: Joseph Tan (HDB)
I bingoed with sPoRTED(72) and scored well with DORY(36), PIS(31) and KIN(33) while he bingoed with RAVENOUS(72), HORSING(72), STEAMIE(70) and scored well with JEED(40), DEIL(31) and REZ(32). Played two phoneys that were challenged off: SHINT* and WINKIE*. Was considering between WINKIE* and WINKLE which would have scored 50 points but chose the wrong one in the end.
Lost 320-489. 2-2 spread +90
Game 5: Ramamoorthy Rajagopal (MHA)
I bingoed with HUNTERS(78) and scored well with SEZ(32) and MOA(31) while he bingoed with SILTIER(73), BLASTER(69) REPEALER(68) and scored well with HANKY(35), BIRD(32), QI(36) and JIG(30). He put down SLITIER* initially and I challenged it off but he put down the correct anagram on the next turn. Was surprised in the middle of the game when he passed his turn for no reason, then found out that he was trying to change tiles but accidentally pressed the pass button instead.
Lost 372-443. 2-3 spread +19
Game 6: Govinda Ghale (MHA)
I bingoed with cLEAVED(78), TrIAGES(75), ATTIRES(83) and scored well with HIVED(50), ZIG(43) and DEX(43) while he bingoed with UNNATIVE(72), INCASES(67) and scored well with MOW(33), QUIN(36) and ZEL(36). Was quite surprised that INCASE took an S back hook.
Won 496-403. 3-3 spread +112
Game 7: Muhammed Farhan (MHA)
Played Farhan again in the first king of the hill. I bingoed with GUITARS(73) and scored well with YOK(33), ZARFS(81), HON(30) and WUDS(30) while he bingoed with LEAVING(76) and scored well with JEE(30) and QUIT(46). Fatigue might have set in for him as he played OT* which was obviously no good and I challenged it off. That might have made a difference in who won the game as our scores were not too far apart.
Won 418-397. 4-3 spread +133
Game 8: Shahrul Kamal (SP)
I bingoed with TEEINGS(83) and scored well with ZEA(31) and HAIR(30) while he bingoed with COWARDS(86) and scored well with VEX(33), INJURE(63) and RETRY(38). Late in the game, I was 20 points behind and there were 5 tiles in the bag including possibly the Q. There were two I spots on the board and I blocked one of them, thinking he would play a Q on the other I spot. He played RETRY front hooking the Y to be CLAD instead and was ahead by 47 points. He was stuck with the Q though and I managed to outscore him by playing one or two tiles at a time while he passed several times.
Won 393-388. 5-3 spread +138
I managed to play with players in 5 different organisations. A pity I didn't have the chance to play with players in Ministry of Health and Ministry of Law. Final result was 12th placing out of 37. Not too bad in my opinion considering the number of mistakes I made. Hope next year will be an online competition again so that I can play in the comfort of my home!
Friday, September 04, 2020
High Score
This is a documentary about the video game industry, how it evolved from the arcade, to specialised console and then to the personal computer.
Liked the use of the nice cartoonish animation to tell parts of the story! Used to play Street Fighter II quite a bit when I was doing my National Service so it was quite nostalgic to see it on the screen.
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Athlete A
This is a documentary about a scandal involving the United States Gymnastics Olympics team doctor, Larry Nassar.
Liked the interviews with the gymnasts and the people who were helping them! The doctor should have been caught long ago, thank goodness he is being punished for his bad deeds now!
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Wanton Mee
The story is about a food critic interviewing hawkers of traditional local food. The film also shows his relationship with his colleagues and with his father.
Liked the heartfelt interviews that focused more on people rather than the food itself! Might be interesting to do a food tour around Singapore to visit those stalls!
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
The Teenage Textbook Movie
The story is about students finding love at a fictional junior college. It is based on the novel "The Teenage Textbook" by Adrian Tan.
Liked the old Singapore landmarks like Borders and the old style bus stops! The characters were a little bit too stereotypical and some scenes were not quite believablebut I enjoyed watching the ups and downs of their relationships.
Saturday, August 08, 2020
The Songs We Sang
This is a documentary on the history of XinYao, folk songs created by young Singaporeans in short.
The second Singapore documentary that I saw during the National Day weekend. Liked the historical footages and the lovely songs! Brought me back to my secondary school days when my friend introduced me to Eric Moo.
Friday, August 07, 2020
To Singapore, with Love
This is a documentary about Singaporeans who had to stay abroad because of their political beliefs.
I appreciated how the director made us feel that they love Singapore too despite being treated as outsiders. Perhaps the director should also interview staff from the security department to make the film less one sided. Was quite surprised by how strongly the father of two children felt for the Singapore Armed Forces and the female doctor for the Palestine cause. Can't imagine myself hiding in the jungle for so long without an end in mind.
Wednesday, August 05, 2020
The Speed Cubers
This is a documentary about two of the greatest speed cubers in the world, Feliks Zemdeks and Max Park.
Liked how Feliks and Max encouraged each other despite being competitors! I learned that competition is not just about winning but also about how to lose gracefully too!
Sunday, August 02, 2020
Spelling the Dream
This is a documentary about how Indians in America came to dominate the spelling bee contests.
Liked how hardworking the kids were in preparing for the contest and how the parents supported them! The interviews gave me a better idea of how the Indian community felt about their achievements.
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Little Women
The story is about the lives of the daughters in the March family around the American Civil War period.
Liked the nice sisterly bond among the little women! Was pleasantly surprised that Emma Watson has grown into a pretty young lady since I watched her as Hermione in the first few Harry Potter movies! The switching to and fro from the present to the past worked really well and less confusing as I thought it would be!
Tuesday, July 07, 2020
Kramer vs Kramer
The story is about how the husband and wife of the Kramer family drifted apart and fought for the custody of their son.
Great acting by the son who was only about 7 years old at that time! Almost thought that the husband would fall in love with his neighbour downstairs but I guessed wrongly. The couple could have saved much legal fees if they had realised earlier that the best arrangement was to remain status quo!
Thursday, July 02, 2020
Parasite
The story is about how the members of a poor family managed to all work under a rich family through their street smartness and what happened after that.
Liked the ingenious plans crafted by the poor family! Thought I knew what would happen when the son took out the stone from the bag but I was really surprised by the twist towards the end! Great social commentary about the differences between the rich and the poor too!
Friday, June 12, 2020
Leon in Wintertime
The story is about the adventures of Leon the bear during winter time. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.
Liked how the film tackled serious issues like discrimination based on one's looks! Also liked the budding friendship among the elephant, the bear and the hedgehog!