Children of Hiroshima

The story is about how the people in Hiroshima coped with their lives after the atomic bombing on 6 August 1945.

Liked the use of flashbacks to contrast life before and after the atomic bombing! The short sequence that depicted the historic event was very well done too!

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Children in the Wind

The story is about how children lived in dysfunctional families. The father of a family was locked up in the police station for suspect fraud, forcing the mother to look for a job and to send her younger son away to a friend's place.

Liked the nice depiction of Japanese life in the thirties! The children seemed to enjoy themselves very much during play and respected their parents at home!

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Peppermint Candy

The story is about a Korean man's life told in reverse from the late nineties to the late seventies. It explains the impact of the Kwangju massacre in May 1980 on his life.

Liked how the story was broken down into episodes and told in reverse chronological order! This made me want to find out more the reason why the man wanted to go back to the past so badly. Quite sad to see how he became such an unlikable character. The female protagonists that appeared in the film all looked not bad though!

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A Tale of the Wind

The story is about an old film director trying to film the wind in China.

Thought it was a little bit abstract but I liked the scene on the moon and the finale that showed an old lady summoning the wind in the desert!

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Bigger Than Life

The story is about a teacher who became more conceited and full of himself when he got addicted to his prescribed drugs to solve a chronic pain. His behavior changed in school and at home with his wife and son.

Liked the nice fifties style costumes worn by the wife and the suspenseful mood! The monologue speeches were interesting and the use of shadows was great!

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No Day Off

The story is about how an Indonesian girl started training to be a maid in Batam and worked with three Singapore families for a few years before returning home to her child.

Liked how the story was told through the point of view of the maid! Thought it should be more balanced though as it showed mostly of how mean the employers were except for the last family. Great acting by the lead actress!

Io Island

The story is about life on an island that was inhabited by many women divers seen through a series of flashbacks.

Liked the nice scenery on the island, the hypnotic drum beat and the strange customs of the people! The flashbacks were particularly effective in fleshing out the character of the protagonist!

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Distant Thunder

The film describes the 1943 famine in Bengal India through a Brahmin family living in a village.

Liked the interesting storyline and the psychological study into human behavior under extreme circumstances! Great acting by the actresses!

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Peter and the Wolf

The story is about a young boy called Peter who lived with his grandfather and had a cat, a bird and a duck as pets. A wolf tried to eat his duck and was caught by him. He released the wolf later when he saw how the local hunters made fun of it.

Liked the nice animation film that was without any dialogue and the live music accompaniment! The cat looked really fat and furry!

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PSTAR Scrabble Games 2010

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 (Bukit Batok) on 22nd May 2010 from 10am to 5pm. A total of 30 teams took part. MINDEF had one team taking part this year.

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

Our first pairing was against Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) team 1.

Game 1: MEWR 1
My first game was against a friendly Malay guy called Samsul. Had pretty good tiles and I led comfortably after I bingoed twice with LOADErS(73) and dRAINED(81). Learnt a new word "COMP" from my opponent. He invited me to challenge the word as he said he was not sure of it too.

Won 455-230. Our team won 3-0.

Next game was against Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) team 1.

Game 2: CAAS 1
My second game was against a petite lady called Karen. I scored well with QAT(31) and JEAN(42). I also bingoed with a ERSSTV? rack while she scored with ZA(34), XI(38) and TREKS(30). There are 5 anagrams with the ERSSTV? rack that begins with "S", two of which are common words.[1]

Won 416-314. Our team won 3-0.

Had free lunch catered for us after our second game. The dishes were not too bad!.

Our third game was against Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) 1.

Game 3: MAS 1
I was paired against Ben who had played in national Scrabble tournaments before. He bingoed twice with RETRACT(78) and OUSTERS(87) while I had one bingo with RETAiNs(68). I had too many vowels in this game and I scored very low points trying to play them off. Lost badly and only reduced a bit of spread difference by my opponent's overtiming by 5 minutes.

Lost 328-458. Our team won 2-1.

Our final game is against Ministry of Education (MOE) 1.

Game 4: MOE 1
I played against Elizabeth who contrasted with Karen from CAAS in terms of size. She looked like she could be a Judo teacher! She had an opening bingo with a EEEPRSW rack[2] while I made many mistakes in this game! I spelled LARVAE as LAVAE* and it was challenged off. I had a DENOR?? rack and I played a phoney REbONDs*(69) which was fortunately not challenged off. I also opened up the triple word score lane late in the game thinking that my opponent may not have the "S" even though there were still two left in the bag. She scored promptly with DISRATE(88) and widened the spread!

Lost 287-499. Our team lost narrowly with 1-2.

In the end, MINDEF 1 came in 4th placing. MOE 1, MOE 2 and NP 1 were the top 3 teams. Had fun seeing so many familiar faces! Hope we could do even better next year!

Quiz answers (highlight to see clearly)

[1] STaRVES, STeRVES, STiVERS, SToVERS, STRiVES
[2] SWEEPER

Only Yesterday

The story is about a girl reminiscing about the past while going to the countryside for a farming holiday.

Liked the interesting childhood anecdotes and the story shown during the ending credits! The illustrations of the background scenery and the references to Haiku reminded me of his later work, "My Neighbors the Yamadas", which I saw a few years back.

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Very Short International Film Festival

Saw "International Selection 1", "International Selection 2", "International Selection 3" and "Local Selection" at the "Very Short International Film Festival". Most of the short films were pretty interesting despite their short length of less than 3 minutes!

I voted for the following films:
International Selection 1: "Bob" and "Great expectations".
International Selection 2: "Stromsparen".
International Selection 3: "The sick boy and the tree", "Telefono" and "Sutphin blvd".
Local Selection favorites: "Emma".

La Strada

The story is about how a young girl, Gelsomina, trained to be the assistant to a performer, Zampano, and they traveled to many different places in his motorcycle van.

Great acting by Giuletta Masina! Liked the surprising twist towards the end as I thought it was particularly touching!

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Intervista

The story is about the daily life at the Italian cinema studio that Fellini worked in. The film title means "Interview" in English and the whole film is conducted in an interview format. Japanese reporters interviewed Fellini and his crew, the actor who acted as a young Fellini interviewed a beautiful actress.

Liked the beautiful sets and the pretty costumes worn by the actresses! The screening of "La Dolce Vita" in Anita Ekberg's home was interesting as the actors and actresses reminisced about their past!

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The Steel Helmet

The story is about a group of American soldiers fighting in the Korean war.

Liked the innovative opening scene and the friendship between the little Korean boy and the veteran Sergeant! It was also interesting to watch how the various personalities among the soldiers interacted!

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Dear Doctor

The story is about how a doctor made an impact on the lives of the villagers in a small town.

Liked how the doctor could treat all his patients as his friend as he had worked there for many years unlike in big hospitals! Everybody had a good impression of him! The plot is interesting with an unexpected twist in the end!

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La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet

This is a documentary about the Paris Opera Ballet. It shows the dancers practicing and at rehearsals, the administrative work and the various support staff working to make the performances a success.

I realized that there is a lot of hard work done by many people behind each successful performance! Liked both the classical ballet pieces as well as the more abstract contemporary ones! The ballet dancers' costumes looked prettier in the classical ballet pieces but the concept and dance movement is more innovative in the contemporary pieces!

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Singapore Short Film Competition: Finalists

The finalists consists of 7 films: "Que Sera Sera", "Contained", "Sunrise", "Life with Ummu", "Promises in December", "The 25th of Laura" and "Mu Dan".

Liked the autobiographical "Que Sera Sera", the social commentary in "Promises in December" and the philosophical "The 25th of Laura" the best! The stop-motion animation in "Contained", the documentary in "Life with Ummu" and the country-side scenery in "Sunrise" are interesting! Didn't quite understand the story in "Mu Dan" but the visual effects look good!

Mammoth

The story is about how the consumerism culture in America contrasted with the living conditions in Third World countries. This is seen through the relationship of the Filipino maid with a rich American family that she works for, the impact to her family in Philippines and the encounters of the husband in Thailand.

Great acting by Michelle Williams! Liked the nice soundtrack and the beautiful outdoor scenery! I thought both the wife and the husband learnt a lot more about themselves during the period when they were apart.

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Don't Look into the Mirror

The story is about how an artist reacted when he discovered that he could only see other people's images inside the mirror instead of his own.

Had wanted to catch "German Shorts" but I mistakenly remembered that it was screened at Arts House instead of Sinema. This is one of the strangest films that I have watched and it reminded me of another Armenian film, "Colors of Pomegranates", as both films had heavy religious overtones and great visual effects!

Last Train Home

This is a documentary about migrant workers in China focusing on one family.

Was amazed at the huge number of people present at the train station! Liked how the director captured the fragile relationships within the family!

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His and Hers

This is a documentary consisting of interviews with 70 female characters arranged chronologically at their homes.

Thought the concept was pretty interesting as it gives the audience a broad overview of a typical Irish girl/woman and her relationship with her father/husband/children! Got a little bit lost on the thick Irish accent at some instances but I liked the nice soundtrack and the beautiful outdoor and indoor scenery!

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Tears

The story is about a retiring policeman with a dark secret solving a murder mystery of a drug addict.

The costumes worn by Xiao Wen looked very nice and she looked pretty too! Realized the significance of the film title after seeing several characters crying. Each of them was trying to suppress their emotions until it is no longer possible to do so and tears flowed out of their eyes.

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Sex Volunteer

This is shot in part documentary style that described the sexual needs of disabled people and how they can be fulfilled by volunteers.

Liked the provocative discussion of the social issues and the realistic portrayal of the daily life of the disabled people!

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The Baron of Arizona

The story is about a legendary swindler, James Reavis, who spent many years plotting a scheme to take control of the whole of Arizona. He took in a little girl who was an orphan and painstakingly invented a baron ancestry for her by forging documents in various parts of the world.

I was amazed by the effort put in by James to achieve his objectives! I also liked the strong loving relationship between him and his wife!

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The White Sheik

The story is about one day of a couple's honeymoon when everything went wrong. The wife secretly sneaked out to see her idol, an actor who acted as "The White Sheik", but was sent to the acting set very far away by mistake. The husband had to investigate what happened to her and pretend that everything is alright to his relatives.

Thought the script was excellently written by Antonioni! Liked the nice little comedy that was witty and did not rely too much on slap stick!

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My Flesh My Blood

This is a love story between a boxer who is about to die and a Vietnamese illegal immigrant.

Great acting by the boxer! The Vietnamese song sounded quite nice too! Didn't quite agree with the last bit of the boxer's arrangements before his death though.

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I Shot Jesse James

The film is a psychological study of a man called Bob Ford who killed his wanted friend Jesse James in the hope of settling down with his sweet-heart.

Liked the nice song that summarized the whole story and the quick pacing!

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Love Conquers All

The story is about what happened when a girl fell in love with a bad boy while staying with her relatives in the city.

The bespectacled little girl looked quite cute! Thought her story was more interesting than the main storyline! Understood the Malaysian way of life slightly better after watching the film!

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A Single Man

The story is about a day in the life of an English professor when he plans to commit suicide after work as his lover died eight months ago.

Liked the soundtrack and the flashbacks that gradually revealed the professor's past! The slow motion sequences were pretty interesting too! The film also made me want to check out Huxley's "After Many a Summer Dies the Swan", Kafka's "Metamorphosis" and Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" one day.

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The Sun's Burial

The story is about life in the slums of postwar Osaka. People have to rely on their street smart skills to survive as they do not have proper jobs.

Liked the nice song by Takeshi but was quite confused about the complex schemes thought up by Hanoko and the rest of the gang members to make money! Among the few films about postwar Japan that I have seen, I think I enjoyed "Pigs and Battleships" by Imamura and "Gate of Flesh" by Seijun Suzuki better.

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Treeless Mountain

The story is about two sisters who had to cope with their mother's absence when she left home in search of their father. They were first sent to their aunt's place then to their grandparent's place.

Great acting by the two young actresses! Liked the simple story and how the director fleshed out the film with little details! I wonder how tasty the fried grasshoppers were!

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Walkabout

The story is about the adventures of a teenage girl and her younger brother in the Australian Outback when they got lost and met a local aboriginal boy.

I liked the nice scenery of the Australian Outback and the psychological tension among the three people! I found quite a lot of similarities with "Alice in Wonderland". The teenage girl was like Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" walking around in a land filled with strange creatures, the aboriginal boy was like the Mad Hatter who guided her across the land and performed a special dance towards the end. I also liked the poem recitation in both films!

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Alice in Wonderland

The story is adapted from Lewis Carrol's novel "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass".

Liked how elegant the Cheshire Cat floated and flipped around in the air! The plot was not particularly exciting and the ending was a bit awkward in my opinion but there is an interesting analysis that explains the mathematical background of the story!

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The Class

The story is about school life in France focusing on the interactions between a French teacher and his students who come from a diverse background.

Liked the realistic depiction of the camaraderie among the teachers and the lively discussions in class!

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Color of Pomegranates

The story is about the life of an Armenian poet called Sayat Nova.

Liked the visual aesthetics in the form of colorful costumes and nice props! The plot is near to non-existent but the inter-titles helped me understand what was going on.

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Syndromes and a Century

The film compares the working conditions of doctors working in a rural hospital and those working in a city hospital. The rural hospital is closer to nature and the doctors had a closer relationship with their patients.

A little bit abstract for me as there is not much of a plot. Thought the interview questions were pretty interesting and the songs were nice!

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Up the Yangtze

This is a documentary about people living along the Yangtze river who had to move as the construction of the Three Gorge dam neared completion.

Liked how the director focused his story on one family and contrasted their life with their daughter's life who quit school to work on board of the cruise ship! Nice scenery of the Yangtze river and the dam looks huge, perhaps even bigger than the Marina Barrage!

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72 Tenants of Prosperity

The story is about how the tenants on a street in Hong Kong helped each other in times of crisis.

A little bit messy as the director tried to fit as many big name actors and actresses into the film as possible into the plot but I liked the marketing strategies of the two mobile phone shops! They were pretty innovative!

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Through the Olive Trees

The story is about the process of making a film and describes the actual story of the actor and actress who were victims of an earthquake.

Loved the off-screen speeches by the lead actor, the beautiful Z-shaped path that was carved into the mountain and the final scenes! Don’t really understand why there was a need for so many NG scenes though.

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Memories of Murder

The story is about how the police tried to track down a serial rapist in a small town.

I liked this better than "Mother" as the plot was more focused on making sense of the clues rather than on other miscellaneous sub-plot! Great acting by Song Kang-Ho who was also the lead actor in "The Host"! The final scene expressed what he felt over the whole incident very well!

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The Mad Fox

The story is about how an astrologer became mad and his encounters with a fox.

Liked the interesting plot, nice music and amazing special effects! Really impressed by their set design!

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Germany, Pale Mother

The story is about the life of a German family before, during and after the second World War, narrated by the daughter who was born during an air raid.

Liked the mix of documentary footage and the film as well as the exploration on the effects of war on the human psychology! I thought the hairstyle of the mother looked quite similar to that of Princess Leia from "Star Wars". Wonder if it was a coincidence or a direct influence.

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Burying Old Alive

The story is about life in Korea many years ago when famine was common and there was a custom that required old people to be carried to the top of the mountain to die once they reached seventy years old. People were also more superstitious then and relied heavily on the advice of the shaman.

Liked the interesting storyline and the anti-shaman message! There were several scenes that were completely black except for the subtitles. The audio output was not disrupted though, so it was like watching a radio play. Thought it was a very unique experience!

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A Page of Madness

The story is about a woman who is a patient at psychiatric clinic. Her husband works as a janitor at the clinic and their daughter is getting married.

Liked the interesting special effects and the nice soundtrack! It is a pity that the condition of the film is not too good.

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Boy

The story is about a boy and his dysfunctional family that consisted of him, his father, his step mother and his younger brother.

Liked the weird music in the background and how the boy's introspective character was shaped by his environment! Learnt a little bit more about Japan's society at that time through this film too!

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Le Franc

The story is about a poor musician who is about to be thrown out from his home for not paying his rent but decided to buy a lottery ticket to change his luck.

Liked how the real and fantasy sequences gelled together! The characters were pretty interesting too!

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Always: Sunset on Third Street 2

The story is about life in a small neighborhood in Tokyo during the late fifties.

It was a little bit difficult to identify the characters at first without prior knowledge of the original film but I was able to slowly deduce their relationships along the way. Liked the little stories of the different characters! The young girl who worked at Suzuki Auto looked quite cute with her two ponytails!

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Do the Right Thing

The story is about how a small incident sparked a racial riot in a black neighborhood.

Liked the plot and the interesting characters in the film! Could tell that the director was telling a story close to his heart although I was lost on some of the real life references.

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Mother

The story is about a mother investigating a murder mystery that allegedly was committed by her dim-witted son.

Great acting by the mother! Liked the twists and turns in the murder mystery! Was really taken aback when they revealed who the real killer was!

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