Death Note 2

The story is about what happens when a guy, Light Yagami, gets possession of a magical note book that belongs to the death god. The owner of the notebook is able to kill anyone he wishes when he writes the victim's name, time and method of death on the book. He uses it to kill off criminals but the police, with the help of L who is an excellent detective, are on the verge of identifying and catching him in the first episode. The story continues in this sequel.

I regretted slightly of not watching the first episode and plunging right into the sequel as I was quite lost at the beginning but managed to deduce who the main characters are as the story progressed. The rules on how the Death Note works just flashed across the screen! Light Yagami's sister Sayu and the pop singer Misa Amane looked very sweet! I also liked the exciting battle of wits between L and Yagami towards the end! I was totally engrossed by it and marvelled at how both sides were able to outwit each other!

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Battle in Heaven

The story is about a few days in the life of a general's driver. He accidentally killed the baby that he kidnapped, drove the general's daughter around and took part in a religious procession.

I liked how they panned 360 degrees around to show what's happening in the surroundings and how they simulated the point of view from the driver by blurring some scenes and filtering out some sounds. Also liked the boss's daughter's hairstyle with lots of interesting hair pieces on top!

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Red Diaries

This consists of 3 short stories. The first is about a mistress falling in love with her lover's servant, the second is about how a young man who is studying in a seminary got infatuated with a young woman, the third is about the unhappy marriage of a wife to a violent policeman.

Read that the Phillipines police wanted to ban the movie because of the third segment as they depicted them in a very bad light. The first segment was pretty straight forward. Liked the dreamy sequences in the second segment and didn't like the violence in the last segment.

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Quinceanera

The story is about life of a Latino community in Echo Park, Los Angeles. Latino girls celebrate reaching womanhood at the age of 15 years old which gives the title of the film.

Pretty realistic look at how each of the characters spend their free time! Watched my first Mexican film a few years ago and I am still quite amazed at how some of the accent reminds me of "Speedy Gonzalez" which is a cartoon character. The grandfather has exactly such an accent! The two neighbors remind me of Keanu Reeves and Richard Gere!

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Scrabble Quiz

The above board position is from an actual game (last game of the Causeway Cup 2006).

Your score: 386 Tiles: ACDGILT
Opponent's score: 379 Tiles: ADEEIST

No more tiles in the bag.

It is your turn next. Is it possible to win?

Causeway Cup 2006 (Day 3)

Could make it a 10 game win if I won all 5 games today and had a realistic chance of winning 8 games in total. Didn't manage to do that and only won 7 in the end.

Round 16 vs Dinna Lim (Sin)
Lost to her narrowly by 2 points earlier on, so this was my chance for revenge! I bingoed with EARRiNG(69) early in the game but allowed my opponent to catch up when I let go VENE* for 21 points which I genuinely thought was good. EENV has 3 anagrams and none of them starts with V! Lost again 354-355 but at least improved from the previous game. Hmm, maybe I'll draw with her the next time.

Round 17 vs Ho Yue Jing (Mal)
Scored well with QUOTA(77) early on while my opponent bingoed with ENTRIES(62). Later scored with LEERY for 41 points which was challenged unsuccessfully. Won 425-281.

Round 18 vs Valliammah Thamb (Sin)
Had TOADIES(80) early in the game but she came back with QUIVERER(135) and WIRIEST(86). Had ELNNSU? on my rack. Saw tUNNELS and fUNNELS but I needed a bingo that started with a vowel. Tried UNLENdS* but was challenged off. Had SUGAREd(80) later on but was too far behind to catch up. Lost 383-535.

Round 19 vs Ruby Sim (Sin)
Bingoed early in the game with GORIEsT(69). My opponent didn't have a chance as I had QZ, both blanks and all 4 S. Was playing too conservatively in the end as I could have scored more if there were more bingo lines available. Won 419-282.

Round 20 vs Alex Hong (Mal)
My opponent had two bingos ANTSIER(68) and LACIEST(69) while I had WORKING(106) back hooking to YOK which got challenged. Lost as I had a poor end game finish with 416-423.

It was an interesting experience taking part in this competition! The organisers did a good job making sure everything went on as planned although there were some small hiccups along the way! Only pity is that I didn't have the chance to play against players from Thailand, India, the Phillipines and the UK. Hope I'll be able to do that in the next Causeway Cup!

Causeway Cup 2006 (Day 2)

Round 4 vs Alastair Richards (Aus)
Met another Australian player whose mother was also playing the field. Didn't have a chance at all as he bingoed twice with DOnATED(77) and mEETING(72) consecutively and lost 278-472.

Round 5 vs Tan Jun Horng (Mal)
Was leading until my opponent bingoed with HEROINE back hooking to PIC to form PICE which I challenged unsuccessfully. Lost 334-395.

Round 6 vs Noor Hanis (Sin)
Knew that she won 2nd place in this year's Nationals div C section as I browsed through toucanet during my free time. Pulled ahead when I bingoed with DIETARY(71) which she challenged. She could have formed ZO/ZANY/OE with the Z on the TWL for 69 points and TAX/DA/MUX on the TWS line for 42 points but she missed them. She also went over time by 2 min. Won 397-309.

Round 7 vs Dinna Lim (Sin)
First time playing with this Singaporean player. She pulled ahead with a STOnILY(72)bingo. Would have caught up with a QUIST(76) late in the game if I hadn't spend a lot of time deciding whether it was good or not to go 1 min overtime. Lost 365-367.

Round 8 vs Ganapathy (Sin)
Failed to challenge his opening bingo phoney OUTSEND*(70). Tried to back hook an S to OUTSEND* later to form RECOILS but was challenged off. Narrowed the gap with VOICERs(74) but he widened the gap again with BANTERS(70). Lost 369-491

Round 9 vs Ruby Sim (Sin)
Lost to her in this year's Nationals, so it was time for my revenge! I scored quite well with QUIM(35), JEERED(44) and DITZ(34) while she scored with FAITH(30), WEANS(39) and PAROLE(31). Got my break when she challenged my MIB on the board. Managed to still win narrowly when she finished her tiles first by 345-343.

Round 10 vs Yeap Gim Sai (Mal)
Knew that she won 1st place in this year's Lim Boon Heng div B section. Was playing in the same division but didn't have the chance to play with her then. Both of us had one bingo each with STIPEND(70) from me and STINTER(71) from her. Could have won if I was not too greedy and played HANS back hooking the S to an existing YON on the board. She held for a long time and decided to challenge YONS* which turned out to be no good. Went overtime for my last move and lost 345-350.

Round 11 vs Chen Huang Zhi (Sin)
Both of us had one bingo each, TrOLLERS(79) from him and ANESTRI(75) from me. He was complaining to me all the while about his bad luck throughout the game! Wonder if he says the same things to his other opponents. Won 403-297.

Round 12 vs Ho Yue Jing (Mal)
This Malaysian player wore his school scrabble uniform personalised with his name at the side that looks pretty professional! His good nature was a contrast to my previous opponent. Was more than 100 points behind when he bingoed twice with SNARLERS(70) and LINtERS(65). Managed to overtake him when I bingoed with BRUISING(86) and scored well with ZED(50) and STOW(44). Won 404-375.

Round 13 vs Ismail Kassim (Sin)
Started well with ZETAS(48) and both of us bingoed once each, ROUTInE(70) and MOoDIEST(75) from him. Made a big mistake when I wanted to score with either COD, CON and COL but forgot which one didn't have a front hook. Played CON for 21 points and he played TRAIN for 24 points down the TWS line promptly. Tried to bingo with POLARIED* later but was challenged off. His KRONE(33) and WOXEN(48) sealed the game and I lost 346-381.

Round 14 vs Yeap Gim Sai (Mal)
Had CEIORW? early on in the game. Saw the bingo but didn't know whether it is good or not. Played COW just next to the left TWS line intending to front hook S later on but somehow convinced myself that SCOW may not be good when it was time to play it. Completely didn't have a chance after that when she bingoed with BEAdIER(81) and SPRAINT(75) while I had LORRIEs(62). Lost 360-521.

Round 15 vs Noor Hanis (Sin)
Had a choice of playing the next day but my opponent seemed very enthusiastic to continue so I agreed to play. On retrospect, maybe it was a bad choice as my opponent bingoed twice with STINKING(73) and TASTERS(81) while I phonied twice with ARRETING* and FEETING*. Still had a chance to win if I had blocked the Q spot towards the end of the game but I think I was too tired by then and lost the game 325-353.

Causeway Cup 2006 (Day 1)

I wanted to take part in at least one international Scrabble tournament before retiring from the Scrabble scene, so playing in the Causeway Cup sounds like a logical choice as it is nearest to Singapore.

Three rounds were played in the Open Division for the first day and we had a Chinese wedding style dinner in between the games. The food was delicious and we heard interesting news of the latest tourist attractions in JB from the guest of honour!

Round 1 vs Diane Ward(Aus)
Got thrashed by this elderly lady from Australia with her REtAINS(71) and INULASE(79) while I phonied at least 3 times with BINO*, VICER* and NARRY*. Had BGIMNOO for my last rack but she blocked the only bingo line. Lost 269-464.

Round 2 vs Martin Teo(Mal)
Had one bingo each, HIRiNGS(84) from me and ETOILES(73) from him. Gave away 20 points for challenges (ETOILES, LATI, SWAMI, VADE) and 30 points for going 3min overtime to lose 390-400.

Round 3 vs Aloysius(Sin)
Quite confident as I had a 2-0 record against him. We had one bingo each, LOAThES(81) from me and LABORiNG(61) from him. He was plagued with consonants towards the end of the game and I was able to play FOUL to set up FREAK(48) above it across the TWS line to win 396-348.

Sex and Philosophy

The story is about what happens after a forty-year old man invites four of his lovers to the same meeting place. There are flashbacks to how each of his lovers met him and some philosophical discussions.

The film is a bit slow and I felt that the forty-year old man is pretentious when he said that he is measuring his happy moments with a stop watch. Nice scenery and interesting dance movements though! One of the lovers look quite pretty too!

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Sketches of Frank Gehry

The story features the works of a famous architect, Frank Gehry, and explains how he conceptualises his ideas together with his team. The film also interviewed his friends, fellow architects and his clients.

Interesting how an idea gets transformed to something concrete for everybody to see and walk around! Liked the nice weird buildings shown and Frank's innovative spirit! His design is unique, pretty and keeps in mind the functional objective at the same time!

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The Princess and the Warrior

The story is about how a couple met each other through pure coincidence. The guy, Bodo, is an ex-army guy who has psychological problems while the girl, Simone, works in the mental hospital. They met underneath a truck due to a series of events!

Liked the part of the soundtrack with the bell ringing in the background! Sounds very nice! Also liked the depiction of Simone at work and how she managed to find out who Bodo was and where he lived. The ending is very nicely done and it showed in an innovative way how Bodo was able to forget about his past and move forward.

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Time

The story describes the social impact of plastic surgery through the ups and downs of a couple's relationship. The girl disappears for a few months to undergo plastic surgery without the boyfriend's knowledge and suddenly reappears with a new face. Some twists and turns occur after that.

Interesting look at how plastic surgery is looked upon as a solution to all sorts of problems as one erases the past and starts a new life with a new face! Time comes to a freeze during the 5 months when a person recovers from the face change operation and the relationship is tested through the passage of time. Time's cyclical nature is also revealed through the opening and closing scenes. A good social commentary on current society!

Internet Movie Database Link

Digicon 6+2 Showcase 1

Attended this free screening of 20 animation shorts as part of the "Animation Nation" at the National Library.

The list of shorts are:

The Legend of Shangri-la, The Bad Egg, Kioku, Oasis, Hunting, After Blue, Robota, Graffiti, Nioh, Lotus, No. 5768, Tsumiki ningyou, Miniascape Mix, tough guy! 2005, The Four Seasons, The Running Man, The Naked Ape, Hana, Kungfu Gecko, Hunters

Great action and humour in "Oasis", "tough guy! 2005" and "Kungfu Gecko"! I also liked "Graffiti" which is like watching an animated game being played on the blackboard and "The Running Man" for its story about an overweight man running to keep fit.

Contempt

The story is about how a couple's love for one another could suddenly dwindle for no reason at all. This is interspersed with comments on the movie industry through the husband who is writing a script for an arrogant producer and a famous director.

Great acting by the leading actress played by Brigitte Bardot! I also liked the fluid camera work within the house and the nice scenery at the sea! The conversations are intellectually interesting too!

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Casino Royale

The story is about James Bond who is a spy from England, tracking down the identity of a bad guy who finances terrorists around the world.

Very exciting chase sequence at the start! The small fry bad guy is really good at jumping from one place to another! A bit disappointed with the lack of new gadgets though. Seems like the handphone, the notebook and the car are sufficient for any spy's needs. The leading lady looks not too bad and the poker action at the casino is reasonably exciting!

Internet Movie Database Link

Rhythm Is It!

This is a documentary about how the Berlin Philharmonic collaborated with 250 youngsters from the ages of eight to early twenties to perform the classical piece, "Rite of Spring", by Stravinsky together. The Berlin Philharmonic played the music while the youngsters danced to the rhythm.

Interesting to see the youngsters at the dance rehearsals! They were taught by two very experienced artistes who knew how exactly to bring out the best of these young people who are distracted at times. As a result of their coaching, they became more disciplined and were motivated to test themselves beyond their limits! Their original teachers on the other hand were clearly not as good motivators and would give in when they see their students struggling.

Nice music by Stravinsky! Good that the conductor explained the background story to the music! I finally understood what it meant after hearing it several years ago in the library. It was a piece that I randomly picked that I thought would be relaxing as it contained the word "Spring" in it. The final music and dance performance also blended very well together!

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49 Up

This is a documentary about the lives of a group of 49-year old English men and women that started 42 years ago in 1964 when they were 7 years old. The director would produce one documentary every seven years and call it the 7x Up (where x = 1 to 7).

Interesting to see how the lives of these people change over time! We cheer for them when they do well and feel sad for them when they do not so well. I especially like the black and white footages of the time when they were seven years old. They look cute and their comments were humorous!

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Robokon

The story is about what goes into preparing for a robot contest. Satomi joins the school's second robot club to earn extra credits. Their team is very small with only the captain, the chief designer and a mechanic but they are innovative and worked well as a team as time passes.

Quite coincidental that I was playing Jenga just before watching the film as the contest is about robots stacking up blocks. Two teams play against each other at any one time. Each robot has three empty spots to stack their blocks and only the top most block at the end of the time limit scores a point. The team loses a point if it causes the opponent's blocks to fall while trying to stack on top of it.

Was thinking that it might be boring to see robots stack blocks but I couldn't be more wrong! The competition is very exciting with each team cracking their brains to outwit each other! Was totally engrossed by it! I realised that the performance of the machine is only part of the success formula. The ability to think up good strategy to counter the opponent's moves and to improvise when facing unexpected problems contribute to the other parts!

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Minds Cafe Outing

Had a few friendly Scrabble games at Minds Cafe with players from CPF. Think we used up all their Scrabble boards with six CPF players and four DSTA players all playing at the same time! They had three Scrabble boards and one party Scrabble board. Four of us played party Scrabble while the rest of us played standard Scrabble without the timer. Hmm, maybe should ask if they have timers, dictionaries and score sheets the next time.

My first game was with Mr Lai from CPF. Had a very closed board and might have won if I didn't miss one bingo but I lost eventually by a narrow margin.



Second game was with the CPF captain. Lost to him two years ago, so this was my chance to take revenge! My tiles were quite good and I managed to bingo twice and win!



After that, we played Jenga whose objective is to remove one block from the bottom of a pile of blocks and place it on top without causing everything to collapse. Not too challenging as the blocks seem quite stable.

Walked towards National Museum after the game to catch the Japanese Film Festival which is free of charge.

Grimm

The story is loosely adapted from the "Hansel and Gretel" fairy tale. A brother and sister are deserted by their family in a forest. They made their way to Spain to find their Uncle but discovered that he is dead. Then, the sister married a rich surgeon and invited the brother to stay with them in a big mansion. Many strange things happened after that.

Liked the modern twist to the fairy tale and its many funny moments! It is very much darker though.

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Little Red Flowers

The story is about a little boy, Qiang's stay in a kindergarten and his relationship with the rest of the kids and the teachers. The teacher gives little red flowers to kids who behave well and he longs for them too although he finds it hard to conform to the strict rules.

Pretty interesting to see a day in the life of the kindergarten kids! The day starts with the children waking up and changing their clothes. Then, they go to the toilet together to get rid of the previous day's waste. Quite surprised to see the so called toilet is a narrow stretch of drain that can accomodate more than ten kids squatting down in line simultaneously! The day ends with the teacher wiping the bottom of every kid and sending them to bed. Liked how the process of removing one's clothes as well as wearing socks and shoes is broken down into many detailed steps and presented as a poem!

Great acting by the kids! I got to see the social dynamics and how a non-conformist thinks and feels. Liked how the film mixed reality and Qiang's perception of it seamlessly! Nice ending too!

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Werckmeister Harmonies

The story is about how the lives of the people in a small village changed when a whale came to visit in a giant truck. The film begins with a group of drunkards in a bar and the protagonist explains how the sun, the earth and the moon behaves by asking each person to act the role. From the movements of the planets, he explains how a solar eclipse occurs and how animals become irrational during the eclipse period but returns to normal behaviour after that.

Very nice opening as it gives a hint of what is to follow! The protagonist walked from one place to another to run errands and in the process, he discovered that people are gathering in the square and acting mysteriously due to the presence of the whale. Liked the black and white cinematography and the long takes that slowly uncovered the truth! I also liked how the film made us accompany the protagonist along his journey! WH reminds me of "Songs from a Second floor" by Roy Andersson which has a similar theme with equally long takes.

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Little Miss Sunshine

The story is about how a family travelled across the country so that the little daughter can participate in the "Little Miss Sunshine" competition. Along the way, there are conflicts among the family members but they work well together too!

The little daughter look quite cute in the over-sized spectacles! Liked how the family members overcame their differences and worked together towards a common goal!

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The Thunder of the Mountain

The story is about a Japanese family that is falling apart. The wife's husband is having an affair and the little sister is leaving her husband. Only the father tries hard to pull everyone together.

Didn't understand how the husband can be so cold and distant when the wife maintains her smile and cares for the family! The home imprisons the wife within instead of becoming a safe haven for her. The whole film is so sad that I felt indifferent about the characters as they are so helpless. Liked the family warmth displayed by the father towards his daughter-in-law though.

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Akeelah and the Bee

The story is about how a young girl, Akeelah Anderson, tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee. She comes from a single parent family but she is very good at spelling and playing Scrabble! The school principal knows about her talents and asks a very strict English Professor to coach her. While preparing for the competition, Akeelah has to manage her relationship with her friends, her mother, her siblings and everyone who knows her.

I am already familiar with the rules of the game as I saw a National Spelling Bee documentary, "Spellbound", a few years ago but it is still exciting to watch the kids trying to spell difficult words! I like the human touch in the film! This can be seen in the unconventional methods used by the coach and how Akeelah treats the people around her. It is also funny at times and educational to see unfamiliar words being spelled or being played at a Scrabble game. I learnt new words like FUCHSIA, SOUCHONG, XANTHOSIS*, LOGORRHEA, PLACEBO and LIMN!

I like the ending too that had an interesting twist to it! It made me understand what true sportsmanship is!

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The Banquet

The story is loosely adapted from Hamlet but the settings has changed to China during the warlord period. The film describes the complex relationship among the members of the royal family and members of one of the minister's family.

Quite a violent film! I had expected more erotic scenes with Zhang Ziyi and less violence! Liked the nice songs and the beautiful costumes! The imperial guards looked just like mini Darth Vaders in their uniform while the court ladies looked very pretty in their dresses! Interesting study into human behaviour and office politics too!

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The Host

The story is about how man's action created a monster in the river that in turn disrupts the lives of the people staying near it. In particular, the film focuses on a family who stays in a trailer selling food stuff.

Was quite surprised to find out that the first scene where an employee was ordered to pour chemicals into the drain was based on a real incident! The monster looked like an ugly fish but it is as agile as a monkey! Liked how the family stayed together throughout the crisis and how it depicted the authorities ignoring the voice of ordinary folks!

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Singapore Dreaming

The story is about the life and dreams of a Singapore family that consists of an old couple, their son, their daughter and their son-in-law. Their son also has a girlfriend who lives with them but they are not married yet.

Liked how the film showed the everyday life of Singaporeans. Great acting by the main actors and actresses! Its funny and sad at the same time!

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Isabella

The story is set in Macau, just before Portugal's handover back to China. It describes the budding relationship between a young teenage girl and her father who is a policeman. Her mother has brought her up singlehandedly without the father's knowledge.

I liked the nice music and the beautiful scenery of Macau! Quite interesting to see how the father and daughter interacted with each other after many year's of absence!

Internet Movie Database Link

ISBG Scrabble Games

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 LTA Staff Club on 2nd September 2006 from 10am to 4.30pm.

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 CPF which was the team that I most wanted to play with!

Game 1: CPF
My opponent was a jovial girl whose name was June. She claimed to be new to the game but she is pretty quick at calculating the scores! I calculated the score for one word wrongly as I mistook the double letter score to be a triple letter score and she promptly pointed out the mistake.

Had a pretty easy time as I scored well with ZEIN(69), HOMES(42), QI(36), WEN(39) and GOY(35). I also bingoed with PANTeRS(70) and got away with LICY*. My opponent had no bingos and none of her words scored more than 30 points. It was only after the game that she found out that LICY* was a phoney and she shouted "Ni Pian Wo!" at me subsequently. Was quite embarassed as I was worried that people might wonder what serious sins I have committed for her to say that!



Won my first game with 488 to 233. My team also won the match 3-2!

Our second game was against EDB. One of the players was my school mate!

Game 2: EDB
My opponent started strongly with FAH(31) after I put down OYE. Then I started to lead when I bingoed with EVASION(82). I scored well with KIB(30), FOE(35), MAZE(40), JARrED(58) and OX(36). Was challenged for ONY when I front hooked OX to an existing NY. Heard my opp remark the phrase "ONY is only in Collins" several times to himself when the challenge was unsuccessful.

Made a mistake of opening up the board and allowed my opponent to narrow the spread with a bingo of UNGATEd(78) but I still managed to win.



Won my second game with 454 to 300. Our team also won the match 3-2.

Lunch was provided by the organisers. It was not very good! After lunch, my third draw resulted in my team playing against NP. An important match for us as a win would guarantee at least a second place.

Game 3: NP
I was matched against Winston Gwee whom I have played several times before. Our scores were very close when he bingoed with DiVINES(76) and I bingoed with STORIES(77). I widened the gap when he tried twice to form a bingo with an ENRTTU? rack but was unsuccessful. He tried STUNTERs* and OUTRENTs* but both were challenged off. There are two 7-letter bingos if we treat the blank as an S[1] and two 8-letter bingos through a floating S[2] with the blank as something else which he failed to see.

I got the Q, X and Z very late in the game but was lucky to be able to put all of them down thanks to a phoney that my opp put down which I chose not to challenge. He formed WED/NUD* which allowed me to form WIZ and then QAID later. Would definitely have lost if I had to eat both the Q and the Z which would minus 40 points from my score instead of scoring more than 50 points with them.



Won my third game with 414 to 359. Our team lost the match narrowly 2-3.

Our final game was once again against EDB. They had one player short, so it was important that our lineup does not result in our best player playing against the missing player. I made a bad choice of lineup and the exact thing that we wanted to avoid happened!

Game 4: EDB
My score had been decreasing consistently since the first game while my opponent's score had been increasing consistently. Somehow had the feeling that I might lose this game.

My opp bingoed with HALVERS(78) and I almost caught up when I bingoed with ELATiON(68). Was plaqued with consonants after that and I lost inspiration on what to do. Tried to open up but my opp extended his lead when he bingoed with DUCTiLE(83). Played badly and made many low scoring moves to end the game.



Lost the last game 342-439. Our team lost 2-3 and came in 7th. We managed to play with the eventual 1st and 3rd place winners which were NP and EDB respectively. A pity that we lost in the 3rd game, otherwise we might be able to play with the 2nd place winners, NUS as well!


Quiz answers (Highlight to see clearly):

[1] ENTRUsT, NUTTERs
[2] STENToUR, STRUNTEd

Crazy Stone

The story is about a group of people trying to steal a precious jade from the exhibition hall while the security guard tries ways and means to prevent that from happening.

Liked the quick MTV-style pacing and the interesting plot that linked the different characters very neatly together! The security guard made pretty good use of his limited resources while the bad guys had many tricks up their sleeves! They engage in a battle of wits and skill together which is exciting to watch!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Lake House

The story is about how two people are able to communicate with each other despite being separated by a two year gap through a magical post box. This is an adaptation from the Korean film "Il Mare" which starred Jeon Ji Hyun who is the main actress in "My Sassy Girl".

Knew how the story would develop as I had seen "Il Mare" before. So, I wasn't surprised by some of the twists and turns in the plot. It was interesting to see Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock collaborate together again since "Speed"! This film is much more quieter than "Speed" but their chemistry remains!

Internet Movie Database Link

Mano Po

Saw this Fillipino film at the ASEAN film festival at GV Marina. The story is about the struggles of a Chinese Fillipino family to stay together and to preserve their language and tradition.

The story is interesting especially the parts where they showed the grandmother's encounters in China with her in-laws! Learnt quite a bit about Fillipino history and social situation from this film! Great acting by the actresses!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Cloud-capped Star

The story is about how the eldest daughter of an Indian family picked up the burden of supporting the family and many unfortunate things happened.

Nice songs and the main actress looked quite pretty! Quite a sad story though as it talks about the sacrifices that she made for the family. Learnt that the director was particularly influenced by the Partition and an Indian poet Tagore. Think Tagore writes pretty good song lyrics!

Internet Movie Database Link

Scrabble Poll

This is adapted from an actual game to make the board more closed so as to limit the number of choices.



Your opponent just missed a turn by putting sHAFTED 11G as AJEES* was challenged off. Your rack is EINNORU. What would you do?

The Blood of a Poet

The story is about the strange adventures of a poet when a statue came alive and asked him to step across the mirror.

Was quite surprised at the beginning when a well built half naked poet is seen drawing a self portrait on the canvas. Guess the director wanted to break the pre-conceived notion that poets are the thin mal-nourished sort. The director had a pretty good imagination and he created many strange happenings! The statue looked quite cool with her short hair!

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Battleship Potemkin

The story is about a mutiny on the Russian battleship "Potemkin" and the resulting crackdown at Odessa. The communist ideal of "all for one and one for all" is brought across quite strongly in this film.

Watched this 1925 silent film at the Picture House and it was accompanied by a new score composed by Pet Shop Boys. Had a rough idea of the plot as I had borrowed the DVD from Esplanade before, so I was more interested to hear how well the score would fit into the story. The parts where the horns blew and someone stepped on the piano fitted very nicely! The "we are brothers" song did not fit the Odessa sequence too well though as it sounded too mild.

Internet Movie Database Link

Double Suicide

The story which is adapted from a puppet play is about the complex relationship among a married man, his wife and a courtesan that he loves. The man has no money to buy the courtesan's freedom and enters into a suicde pact with her.

Liked the use of black hooded men who adjusted the set in the background! It simulated the puppeteer controlling the actors' actions pretty well! The plot flowed very nicely too! Great acting by the actors and actresses! The courtesan looked just like a doll with the heavy make-up!

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How much do you love me?

The story is about a guy's relationship with a prostitute. He claimed to have won the lottery and asked her to live with him for the price of 10000 euros per month. Things became complicated when more people came into the picture.

Interesting look at the many difficult scenarios that people enncounter when they fall in love! Nice witty dialogue that gives food for thought!

Internet Movie Database Link

Scrabble Nationals 2006 (Day Two)

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

Game 6: vs Ashley Ng
Was more than 150 points behind when I held a DEINRST rack with an open bingo line that required a front hook to OM. Remembered that STINTER was good, so I played STINDER* hoping that it would be good too but it was challenged off. My opponent scored big later with FANNER(50) down the TWS!



New words learnt: FANNER
My Bingos: - Opp Bingos: FOOTERS(93), ENDEARS(65)
My Phoneys: STINDER* Opp Phoneys: OST*, ULEI*, AUDI*(21)
My High Moves: YA(40), BEST(44) Opp High Moves: ZANY(32), LOWER(32), BOP(31), TRANQ(47), FANNER(50), HEAL(32)
L 299-511, -212. 5W 1L (Accum spread +207).

Game 7: vs Tok Wei Min
My opening rack had both the C and the H, so I opened with CEL with the E on the star, hoping to capitalise on the H on my next move. Alas, my opponent also had the other H and he put down THROW for 32 points underneath! Held a DEHISU? rack[3] and missed the bingo in it. Put down UnHIDES* instead and it got challenged off! I also made a big mistake in my last move where I allowed Wei Min to capitalise his F on the triple letter score while trying to avoid the double letter score.



New words learnt: -
My Bingos: ERUdITE(76) Opp Bingos: PERSIsT(85)
My Phoneys: HEB* Opp Phoneys: PALID*(23)
My High Moves: - Opp High Moves: THROW(32), TAJ(30), DZO(31), BEST(34), FED(31)
L 315-430, -115. 5W 2L (Accum spread +92).

Game 8: vs Ng Ming Wei
Have been playing almost all the HCI high school players and Ming Wei is the last one that I met. Managed to win by having a bingo early in the game and playing conservatively to close down the board. It also helped that I got away with a phoney LUPE* and challenged off the phoneys that my opponent put down.



New words learnt: POKIER
My Bingos: LEARNeR(69) Opp Bingos: -
My Phoneys: LUPE*(18) Opp Phoneys: ETCY*, OT*
My High Moves: SEZ(43) Opp High Moves: TAX(35), POKIER(33)
W 394-264, +130. 6W 2L (Accum spread +222).

Game 9: vs Lester
I was behind by 64 points with no more tiles in the bag and I was desparate enough to try a bingo with a HIPRSTU rack. Tried PHITRUS* but got challenged off!



New words learnt: STOT
My Bingos: - Opp Bingos: INFARES(70)
My Phoneys: PHITRUS* Opp Phoneys: GHITS*
My High Moves: XI(33), HITS(33) Opp High Moves: DIPT(32)
L 342-371, -29. 6W 3L (Accum spread +193).

Game 10: vs Tan Boon Hock
Start of the KOTH and I was playing Steven again. Was quite lucky to get two blanks on my rack. Got a couple of vowels, an S and two blanks. Thought of the 6-vowel bingo[4] but forgotten how it was spelt. Somehow the "old McDonalds had a farm" song kept ringing in my head. Bingoed with OUTSEts(62) later and my opponent bingoed with TINDLES*(71). Didn't realise that TINDLES* was a phoney until much later! He managed to score very well whenever I tried to open up. Lost even though I had a second bingo with STAINED(72).



New words learnt: ROGER
My Bingos: OUTSEts(62), STAINED(72) Opp Bingos: TINDLES(71)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: TINDLES*(71)
My High Moves: - Opp High Moves: ZATI(40), RAX(35), QI(37), HIP(32), BABY(33)
L 373-395, -22. 6W 4L (Accum spread +171).

Game 11: vs Lawrence
Started with COL and my opponent put down DELVING(75). Wanted to challenge as I thought I saw DEVLING, but stopped myself as I had a better look at the board and Lawrence's surprised reaction. He had another bingo with MINUTeS(82). Was almost 150 points behind at one time, but managed to catch up a bit with FEINTER(82) towards the end.



New words learnt: -
My Bingos: FEINTER(82) Opp Bingos: DELVING(75), MINUTeS(82)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: VIVOS*, FEINTERS*
My High Moves: ZAG(51), MAY(30) Opp High Moves: FEY(34), JADED(48), SHEW(45)
L 375-426, -51. 6W 5L (Accum spread +120).


Game 12: vs Ruby
My opponent bingoed with FAlTERS(68) while I bingoed with SAUNTER(68). Played badly towards the end. I phonied with EXED*, almost didn't trap Ruby's "Q" and went overtime for more than 2 minutes. Both of us forgot to include the time penalty in the score sheet though which was spotted by Seow Kie.



New words learnt: -
My Bingos: SAUNTER(68) Opp Bingos: FAlTERS(68)
My Phoneys: EXED* Opp Phoneys: POY*(28)
My High Moves: ReZ(37) Opp High Moves: DOTE(31), VAULT(31), SHY(35)
L 327-407, -80. 6W 6L (Accum spread +40).

In between games, I had fun peering behind the Tournament Director's shoulders to see the results being churned out. Saw this very cute little girl beside the TD asking him who is "ZZ Bye" towards the end of the game! Hmm, one of the mysteries in competitive Scrabble!

Quite disappointed with the many sub-optimal plays that I made and the phoneys that my opponent got away with! Must learn how to keep my cool under competition pressure and not be tempted to any how try for bingos in the future!

Quiz answers (Highlight to see clearly):

[3] DUcHIES, HIDEoUS, HUrDIES
[4] EUOUAES

Hoodwinked

The story is a retelling of the "Little Red Riding Hood" story which is uncovered by an inspector who asked each witness: red, grannie, the wolf and the axe man to give a personal account of what really happened.

The plot fits together very well! I also liked Red who has big beautiful eyes and a sweet voice! Nice songs too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Scrabble Nationals 2006 (Day One)

My first time playing Scrabble in Serangoon CC. After having lunch with Chew Chuah, I explored the CC before the start of the game. Saw a group of young ballet dancers practicing at the dance studio on the top floor and saw the nice exhibits at the polling station for lift upgrading!

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

Game 1: vs Samad Ahmad

Opened with a bingo JUIcERS(92) and scored well with the Q and X. Was about 150 points ahead after my opponent had two phoneys: EnCLOVES* and LOV* back to back. Had another bingo with TOADIES(74) and got a EFIOORT rack[1] after that. Spotted the bingo but thought it may not be good. Allowed my opponent to bingo out with STAINeR(77).



New words learnt: -
My Bingos: JUIcERS(92) TOADIES(74) Opp Bingos: STAINER(77)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: EnCLOVES*, LOV*
My High Moves: EX(44), QAID(42) Opp High Moves: DAIRY(35), VINE(33)
W 490-327, +163. 1W 0L (Accum spread +163).

Game 2: vs Ang Jin Yang

Held an AEEILY? rack[2] at one time but failed to see the bingo in it. Bingoed with SALIENt(70) and later played JEE to set up for BARBER(41) across the TWS. Was quite lucky to have all the "S" in this game and I had three "S" on my rack at one time! My opponent bingoed with TRANCeD(87) towards the end and I managed to bingo out with STUDIOS(67).



New words learnt: PREZ
My Bingos: SALIENt(70), STUDIOS(67) Opp Bingos: TRANCeD(87)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: CUG*, KIM*
My High Moves: - Opp High Moves: -
W 441-313, +128. 2W 0L (Accum spread +291).

Game 3: vs Catherine

Checked my records before the start of the tournament and I discovered that I had a 0-4 record against her! Bingoed first with SATIATE(68) and Catherine bingoed next with AGONISe(63). Our scores were very close throughout the game! Thought I could pull ahead with RAZE(32) but she scored more with RAZERS(47) to the TWS cell! Managed to "eat" her consonants after finishing my tiles first to win!



New words learnt: -
My Bingos: SATIATE(68) Opp Bingos: AGONISe(63)
My Phoneys: PEL* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: WO(33), RAZE(32) Opp High Moves: QIS(36), RAZERS(47)
W 396-351, +45. 3W 0L (Accum spread +336).

Game 4: vs Tan Boon Hock

Was discouraged at first when my opponent scored well with KEX(64) on his second move! Managed to pull ahead with a 4-timer PERCENT back hooking to LOG that drew a challenge. Got away with a phoney LOGED* and scored consistently to maintain my lead.



New words learnt: -
My Bingos: PERCENT(100) Opp Bingos: -
My Phoneys: LOGED*(27) Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: JISM(37), CIG(41), FAP(34) Opp High Moves: KEX(64),ZOS(34), QAID(46)
W 410-382, +28. 4W 0L (Accum spread +364).

Game 5: vs Valli

My opponent opened with FLORID and I back hooked an E to it. Thought it was the correct spelling until Jobeth told us that it was a phoney. Held an ANRSTW? rack and remembered the bingo that Zi Peng played against me during the Millenium Cup but had to try if it took an S at the end as it scored a lot more down the TWS line. It got challenged off but luckily, there was another spot for me to bingo. Could have gotten a better spread if I stopped her from going out on the TWS line and not made a mistake on the submitted score sheet.



New words learnt: FLORID
My Bingos: STRAWeN(79) Opp Bingos: -
My Phoneys: FLORIDE*(25), STRAWENS*, JUR* Opp Phoneys: GALAR*, FION*
My High Moves: BEZ(38), ZELS(39), VIS(32) Opp High Moves: QADI(37), WAYS(36)
W 404-349, +55. 0W 0L (Accum spread +419).

Quiz answers (Highlight to see clearly):

[1] FOOTIER
[2] EYELIAd

The World's Fastest Indian

The story is about an old man from New Zealand, Burt Munro, going on a journey to Salt Lake, Utah in an attempt to set the motorbike land speed record. He has modified the 1920 Indian motorcycle himself in his backyard.

Interesting journey as Burt met many people from all walks of life who helped him along in his journey! I was also impressed by his "never say die" attitude and engineering knowledge!

Internet Movie Database Link

PSTAR Scrabble Games

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 15th July 2006 from 10am to 5pm.

Here's my match report, with quizzes marked with [number] and the answers given at the end of the report. Don't look at the actual board positions if you are trying the quizzes.

I was there a bit earlier to help draw the pairings for my team. The new Collins dictionary is used for this tournament and many players were talking about the new words to be studied. MOE, HDB and CPF had 3 teams each. A friend of mine told me that she hoped that she would not draw against MOE or HDB as they had very strong players.

My first draw resulted in my team playing against MOE 2! My team mates complained a little bit when they knew their pairings.

Game 1: MOE 2
MOE 2 consisted of three ladies, Ruby, Valli and Selvi. After discussing about the lineup, it was decided that JP played against Ruby, CC played against Valli and I played against Selvi.



It was a very closed board at the start. I opened with CHIZ with the I on the star, she played HA underneath and I played VAW on top. There is almost no more place to put any more tiles! The board started to open up a little bit more when I put ANY back hooking the Y on the triple letter score to the ACH on the board to score 39 points. I accidentally closed it down again when I played EAU underneath to get rid of my vowels. Feeling frustrated over the closed board, I opened up with REV but this seems to be a mistake as Selvi promptly put down a eight letter bingo with a DEIMOPS rack through the R[1] for 76 points.

Had AMORU?? on my rack on one turn and I phonied with AMOURed* that got challenged off! Think I overheard the word checkers on what was wrong with the spelling and I managed to put ArMOURs for 86 points on my next turn. Almost ran out of time towards the end of the game and I was lucky to put down the late Q and J that came my way.

Won my first game with 409 to 307. My team also won the match 2-1!

Playing in the tournament is very much like sitting for an examination! The organisers announced the end of the game after exactly one hour after the start of the master clock and everyone is supposed to drop their tiles and calculate their scores even though the individual clocks have not reached the time limit yet. Was figuring out why such a case would happen as the maths added nicely with 25 min playing time to each player and only 5 min overtime was allowed. After one day of thinking about it after the tournament, I finally realised that it was because they did not take into account the time taken for challenges which would freeze the timer. The time taken for challenges would then depend on the number of challenges per game and the average speed taken to process one challenge.

My second draw resulted in my team playing against HDB 2! Oops, two bad draws in a row!

Game 2: HDB 2
JP played against a Chinese guy, CC played against Jessie and I played against Serene.



Serene started very strongly with a bingo: HOARDER for 80 points which I challenged unsuccessfully and a high scoring EXEC for 43 points! I was lagging far behind until I managed to bingo with a ACEILT? front hooking to an existing GIO on the board setting the blank as a "T"[2]. By turn 8, I was only 5 points behind but she pulled further ahead in her subsequent turns.

One interesting rule that my opponents told us before the start of the game was not to turn the board around during the game but to view it sideways. I realised the rationale of this rule towards the end of this game!

The board provided by the official sponsors had no grooves to place the tiles properly on it and it was not designed to rotate smoothly as it is rectangular in shape. During the course of the game, the tiles began to shift sideways even though we tried to move the board minimally. The situation was so bad that I mistakenly put down JOLE, front hooking the E to an existing TEA on the board. Due to parallax error, I thought the EA belonged to another column and noticed it only after my turn. Luckily, Serene did not see my error. She made the same mistake as I as she tried to front hook a B to the ETEA* a few turns later, but I challenged her off!

Lost my second game with 360 to 432. Our team also lost the match 1-2.

Lunch was provided by the organisers and it was quite delicious! After lunch, my third draw resulted in my team playing against IRAS 2. Not too bad although one of my team mates said he preferred us to play against CPF that had many pretty lady players!

Game 3: IRAS 3
Our opponent is an all-girls team. JP played against a Chinese girl, CC played against Sally and I played against a Malay girl. Lost my score sheet so can't comment on the games. Just remembered that my opponent phonied with TIB* and I phonied with CUL* for my game.

Our team won 3-0.

We were placed in the Silver category after 3 games. There were 4 teams in the Gold category, 12 teams in Silver and 14 teams in Bronze. The prize distribution is such that there are 4 prizes for Gold, 3 for Silver and 3 for Bronze, so we still had a chance to get some prizes at this stage. This is a KOTH game and we were placed against HDB 3.

Game 4: HDB 3
JP played against Catherine, CC played against Joseph and I played against Sufarman.



Was very lucky in my game as I had two bingos back to back with a DEGINRS[3] and a AEHILNS[4] rack. After that, I drew two blanks from the bag to form AEETQ?? on my rack which had two possible bingos[5] by itself. Missed the eight letter bingo through an existing N[6]. Scored not too bad with the "Q" for 48 points though.

Won the last game 418-303. Our team won 3-0 and had a cumulative spread of 335 to come in tops for the Silver category teams! Ngee Ann Poly grabbed the top two positions in the Gold Category. Hope we could do even better next year!


Quiz answers (Highlight to see clearly):

[1] PROMISED
[2] TACtILE or LATtICE
[3] DINGERS or ENGIRDS
[4] INHALES
[5] EQuATEd or EQuATEs
[6] pETANQuE

Superman Returns

The story is what happens after Superman returns to Earth after a trip back home. He meets up with his ex-girlfriend Lois Lane, saves people and fights against bad guys.

The soundtrack still sounds very nice after all these years! Nice special effects with Superman flying around and lifting gigantic things! The human side of Superman is portrayed pretty well! Liked the piano piece played by the little boy that is played in "Big" too.

Internet Movie Database Link

The Road to Guantanamo

This is based on a real incident when a group of British Muslims who were friends, got captured by the Americans in Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 incident. They were held in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for two years where they were interrogated.

Interesting "mockumentary" style where the group of friends recounted what happened with interspersed documentary footages! The first part of the film looked like a tour programme about the adventures in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The second part describes their captive lives where they were not allowed to talk to each other and was physically and mentally strained! Liked the flashback scenes that contrasted their "before and after" lives.

Internet Movie Database Link

Rain Dogs

A Malaysian film about how the life of a young man changed after he met up with his brother working in KL during school holidays and many unexpected things happened.

Liked the scenes when he ended up staying in his uncle's place and he made friends with his nephew's tutor. She and her sister spoke in Malaysian style Chinese and it sounded quite charming to the ears! Liked the nice scenery in the peaceful village too!

Respire

A very short film that describes what happens when everyone has to wear a mask 24 hours a day. The mask looks quite cool and even has a hole for people to smoke and drink! Not really sure how they can eat with the mask on though. There is a end-of-the-world feel to it and the music is quite nice!

Internet Movie Database Link

Lightning

The DVD title is mistakenly stated as "Okuni and Gohei" which is another movie directed by the same director, Naruse Mikio, in the same year of 1952. Saw "Lightning" a few years ago during the Naruse Mikio retrospective a few years ago at the Japanese Association and thought the film look suspicously similar to it from the opening scene. Quite confirmed that it is the same film when I finished watching it as I found several other scenes that look similar.

The story is about a family of an old woman and four children, each from different fathers. The youngest daughter, Kiyoko, is frustrated living in the family. Her eldest brother in law is unfaithful, her second sister hangs out with a rich guy and her brother is jobless and plays pachinko all day. She is also being pressured to marry the rich guy whom her second sisters hangs out with, whom she dislikes.

Interesting look at how the family members interacted with each other! Great acting by the actress who played Kiyoko! She looks quite cool in her bus conductress uniform! Found out from this link that the director has made another film on bus conductresses, "Hideko the Bus Conductress" a few years earlier! Would be great if I have the chance to watch that together with "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" and "Yearning"!

Internet Movie Database Link

Roman Holiday

Just realised that I saw two 1953 film on the same day! Saw RH on Central but missed the first half an hour of it. The story is about a princess's adventure in Rome while on holiday there.

The princess, Ann, was given a tranquilizing shot when she tried to slip out from home but managed to escape anyway. She ended up sleeping on a bench and was taken home by a reporter, Bradley, who didn't know who she was at first. He then volunteered to show her around Rome. I began watching the film when they showed Ann deep in sleep on Bradley's bed.

Interesting to see how Bradley flipped Ann to a couch and she continued sleeping like nothing has happened! The adventures in Rome are interesting too! She walked along the streets, had a very nice haircut, rode on a scooter zipping through the busy traffic and danced in a party at night! Wouldn't be surprised if Rome used this film to promote tourism 50 years ago!

Internet Movie Database Link