The Most Beautiful

The story is about how a group of women working in an optics lens factory encouraged each other to meet the work target during the second world war in Japan.

Liked the team spirit shown but felt a bit sad for them as they had almost zero work life balance.

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Survivors Only Scrabblathon 2011

The idea of having this event came from the top female Scrabble player in Singapore. The format is twelve King of the Hill games in one day where we play Scrabble from morning till night and the venue is at the Yew Tee Community Club. Many top players from Singapore and Malaysia took part despite the meagre prize money because of this unique experience.

Here's my match report, with quizzes marked with [number] and the answers given at the end of the report. The detailed match results can be found here.

Round 1 vs Paul Richards
I had TRADINGS(63) and AYU(35) but he scored consistently with ZAG(50), CRUXES(71), TOPE(32) and SKIP(34).

Round 2 vs Tony Sim
I had QIS(41) and ZETA(39) but he had UNRULES(74), WAISTED(86), SNORTED(83), JAB(38), GRENZ(55) and OX(40).

Round 3 vs Ricky Purnomo
I had UNSALTED(62), JAM(34), ROK(40) and QUIP(30) but he had ATONIES(71), BOTANIC(81), NEWS(40), RITZ(33) and OILY(38). Tried to front hook an A to the NEWS and form a word down to the triple word score cell but ANEWS* was challenged off.

Round 4 vs zzBye
On retrospect I probably should have gone for lunch earlier with the extra break. I had imagined that all the players would go to some nice hawker centre for lunch together after this game but we ended up ordering Pizza Hut to eat in because of the rain. Saw Jian Rong got away with AMENITA* in his game with Adrian as Adrian thought he saw the correct anagram.[1]

Round 5 vs Poh Ying Ming
I had REDTAIL(74), NIED(30), ZITE(35), ISLAND(35) and FAKE(33) while he had no bingos but scored well with DILUTE(35), BRAINS(46) and BYGoNE(33). Won partly due to his WERNERS*, NER* and BYEING* phonies.

Round 6 vs Alvin Leung Hoi Kit
I had ENTRIES(76), BERRIES(66) and ZEL(30) while he had OX(38) and exchanged tiles three times. I chickened out of TRENISE which would give me a four-timer as I have forgotten whether it is TRENISE or TRENIES*. He was thinking aloud if GENTRIES was good when I challenged off another phony word of his that he formed while front hooking the G to ENTRIES and concluded that it should be GANTRIES instead. Both words are valid and there are two other front hooks for ENTRIES.[2]

Round 7 vs Tony Sim
I had CZAR(38), AAH(33), PAST(39) and DELI(31) but he had REBATOES(105), FIGURER(91), TOONIES(74), JEON(42), XI(38), QUIRE(36), HUGY(36) and VEST(30). I had ?AINOT in the end and Andy helped me do a post game analysis. We found out that the best move should be either DELIbATION or DELIgATION by back hooking an existing DELI to reach the triple word score to finish.

Round 8 vs Poh Ying Ming
I had UNAIRED(63), AXE(30), HOE(30), BAGS(33) and ZA(35) while he had MILLERS(63) and PEND(32). Tried BARINGS* and it was challenged off as I didn't know the correct anagram of it.[3]

Round 9 vs Eden Choo
I had UNIVERSE(70), LIDLESS(81), MEL(30) and YIRR(31) while he had DEAFEN(42), DEAFENED(39), SEDUCE(35) and MIEN(30).

Round 10 vs Marlon Prudencio
I had ENTASIA(70), OUR(33) and WONK(33) but he had NONSUIT(86), VELATURA(91), WOAD(39), DEBATES(40), AXON(49), WIGGY(45) and ZAP(42). Was quite impressed that he knew such a weird word and was able to spot it to bingo out across the triple word score lane!

Round 11 vs Goutham
I had STILTED(79), NAY(33), KYE(31), FEUD(44) and VOX(65) but he had INGRATE(70), HOLDERS(78), DOJO(36) and PEG(30). Wouldn't be able to play STILTED(79) if he didn't phoney with GOATIEs* to hook the S to an existing WIPE. There are two anagrams that could have fit there.[4] Made a mistake in challenging his last move as it turned out to be valid and I lost by one point. I thought I would have lost if I didn't challenge due to a miscalculation of the score on my part as we didn't confirm the total score towards the end.

Round 12 vs Yong Jian Rong
I had RULINGS(75), JAIS*(33) and SPEW(43) but he had URICASE(76) and HOAX(89). It was a bad move playing JAIS* just above the triple word score lane as I thought my opponent wouldn't be able to score well with PI on top. Was really surprised when he whipped out HOAX(89) just underneath! I really played very poorly for this last game as I basically opened up for my opponent to score while fishing for bingos on a closed board. Was lucky to have RULINGS(75) towards the end to narrow the gap as he opened up a bingo lane for me.

Overall, I thought it was a good experience for intermediate players to have an idea of what it was like to play with the top players in Singapore although it didn't feel too good to have a bye as it meant you were last!

Quiz answers (highlight to see clearly)

[1] AMENTIA
[2] SENTRIES, CENTRIES
[3] SABRING
[4] GOdETIA, GOATIEr

Warsaw Bridge

The story is about the lives of a writer, a conductor and a professor in Europe. They were friends and had a small gathering after the writer won an award with his novel about the Warsaw Bridge.

Liked the nature scenes and the choral music by a group of women! Didn't quite understand what the film was about but read that it was about the situation in Europe since it was made in 1989 just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The final sequence was interesting and visually stunning!

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Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

This is a gothic fairy tale about a young girl similar to "Alice in Wonderland" but with more adult themes that touched on sexuality and religion.

Valerie looked very pretty and many scenes were beautifully shot! I enjoyed this much more than the recent Tim Burton film on "Alice in Wonderland"!

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True Heart Susie

The story is about how a young couple's love was tested against circumstances beyond their control.

Great acting by the lead actress Lilian Gish! Liked the soundtrack and the inter-titles that foretold what was to come!

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Berta's Motives

The story is about a young girl's coming of age when she became friends with a neighbour who claimed to be a widow.

This reminded me of Edward Yang’s “Expectation” episode in “In Our Time” made one year prior to this film. Wonder if the director was influenced by it?

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Rango

This is an animation about how a chameleon became a hero for a small town in the desert by accident.

Liked the action sequences and how the protagonist searched for his purpose in life! A little disappointed that they didn't really put the water into good use in the end though.

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A Brighter Summer Day

The story is loosely based on the first juvenile murder case in Taiwan that happened in 1961. Students joined gangs to have a sense of belonging and the secret police were arresting people who were suspected to be communists.

Liked the nice songs, the detailed depiction of the life in Taiwan back in the early sixties and the theme of finding one's identity and purpose in life! The three sisters of Zhang Zhen all looked quite pretty!

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Taipei Story

The story is about how a couple who knew each other from young slowly drifted apart.

Liked the scenes that showcased the cityscape of Taiwan and how Ah Lung treated his old friends and his father-in-law! The Japanese advertisements and the historical footage of Taiwan playing baseball in America were also interesting!

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The Winter of 1905

The story is about a Chinese student, Li Shutong, who studied art, music and drama in Japan in 1905. His friend was a revolutionary who wanted to overthrow the Qing dynasty.

The Japanese girlfriend of the Chinese student looked very pretty but his acting was a bit wooden.

In Our Time

The film consists of four short stories: "Little Dragon Head" about a young boy with a toy dragon, "Expectation" about a young girl's yearning for love, "The Jumping Frog" about college life and "Say Your Name" about one day in the life of a couple.

Liked the dream sequences and the song in "Little Dragon Head"! The teenage girl in "Expectation" acted very well, the competition was exciting in "The Jumping Frog" and "Say Your Name" was funny!

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Black Swan

The story is about how a ballet dancer's strive for perfection caused her to lose herself as she prepared for two contrasting roles in a new adaptation of "Swan Lake".

Liked how the film depicted the psychological transformation of Natalie Portman! Great special effects that merged dream and reality! Also liked the pretty costumes and the nice music!

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Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly

The story follows several characters on how they lead their lives in Indonesia. There are two students, a national badminton player, an old billiards player and a blind dentist among others.

Liked the scene with the pig! Thought the film showed the identity crisis faced by Indonesian Chinese quite nicely! Nice song too!

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The Private Life of Henry VIII

The story is about the relationship between King Henry VIII and his six wives.

Liked the King's optimistic attitude despite his many past failed relationships! Learnt a bit about the history of England through this film!

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It's A Great Great World

The film consists of four short stories about the Great World Amusement Park in Singapore that was established in 1929 and closed down in 1978.

Liked how the director covered several parts of the amusement park across different eras! Henry Thia's photo shoot in the first segment was innovative, the ghost ride in the second segment was scary, the songs were nice in the third segment and the dialect jokes in the final segment were funny!

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Made In U.S.A.

The story is about a female reporter investigating about her boyfriend's death.

Didn't really like this as it was very hard to follow without having any background knowledge on the obscure political and literary references that the director was making. The songs sang by the Japanese girl and the French girl were very nice though!

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When Hainan Meets Teochew

The story is about how two neighbors, Hainan and Teochew, met and fell in love with each other. Hainan is a manly woman who used to share her flat with her ex-girlfriend. Teochew is a man who wished that he was a woman and whose dead brother would appear from nowhere to give him advice.

The relationship among the characters was too complex for me to comprehend but I liked the scene where Hainan was teaching her siblings how to pronounce the Hainan dialect properly! Her younger sister looked quite cute!

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Invasion

The story is about how a small group of resistance fighters plotted against a totalitarian state.

Liked the interesting sound effects that incorporated tango music and the grand invasion sequence with many lorries, planes and ships!

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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

The story is about the past lives of a middle aged man with a kidney problem. His son transformed to a giant ape and his dead wife came back as a ghost to take care of him. His sister-in-law and two other friends were also featured in the film.

Liked the interesting catfish episode and the nice leisurely walks through the countryside!

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A Brand New Life

The story is about a little girl who was left by her father in an orphanage during the mid seventies as he hoped that she would have a better life.

Liked the scene where the father cycled with the little girl at his back! Great acting by the little girl but I enjoyed "Treeless Mountain" slightly more than this.

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