Memoirs of a King Kong, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe
There haven't been many good movies recently. It has been pretty disappointing because traditionally, the approaching of Chinese new year always promises many blockbuster on the cinema screens. The usual suspects were all missing this year, Jacky Chan, Stephen Chow and so on. I am already accustomed to watching their new shows during the new year every year. But not this year.
For the past 2 to 3 months or so, I have only watched three movies, a low record for an avid movie freak like me. Perhaps its the lack of time as I am only free during the weekends as the remaining of the week I will be at Tekong.
But I must say that the three movies, King Kong, Chronicles of Narnia and Memoirs of a Geisha have been pretty much of a flop in my opinion.
Watching King Kong was like watching Jurassic Park 5. King Kong VS T-Rex. King Kong VS Rest of the world. And this even goes one up better. King Kong falls in love. Perhaps its because I have never been fascinated by this big monkey when I was small and thus the lack of interest. Most people who like this movie are those who have been fascinated by him during their childhood. The first hour of the movie was a bore and there wasn't even the sight of the King Kong. The remaining 2 hours saw our hero jumping and flying here and there mainly because of the female lead. And our hero King Kong even knows how to act cute in the movie. Spare me.
Chronicles of Narnia is the small kid version of the Lord of the Ring. Children holding swords and attacking goblins or whatever you call that. A small girl chances upon an old wardrobe and enters another fairy-tale dimension and the adventure starts from there. The fighting scenes pales so much in comparsion with those ancient war movies. Of course, how much can you expect from kids? And the magic enchantment is not even a fraction of what Harry Potter provides. And wait, there are talks of a sequel or even more for this movie but you can be sure I will not be there for its sequel.
The movie Memoirs of a Geisha did so much injustice to the book. I went to watch the movie because I was totally hooked and fascinated by its book. A section mate of mine happens to have that book and after starting to read, I simply can't stop. But the movie was very disappointing. It misses so many important details which can be said was the climate of the book. The credit I can give was the acting of the 3 Geishas in the movie, Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeo and Gong Li. Each was pretty in their own right. The only question was why Zhang Ziyi gets laid in every movie she acts in. From Crounching tiger and hidden dragon to House of flying daggers to Hero and to today's Geisha, she gets laid. Doesn't she ever get sick of getting laid?
2 movies worth looking forward to in the next few months are The Da Vinci Code and Mission Impossible 3, both coming out in May. Hope both will be good and anyway, happy Chinese New Year.
My cute Sergeant
"By the count of 5, I want everyone to disappear from my sight and run to the open field on my right! Move!" shouted my Sergeant.
The entire platoon ran like mad, knowing that if we did not do as what he said, we will be punished. However, one recruit slipped while running and had a small cut. The Sergeant ran over and examined him to see if he's ok.
"Aiyo," said the Sergeant, "who ask you to run one? See la..now fall down liao."
My Sergeant so veli the cute. I have nothing to say.
IronyWhy do almost all men claim to hate NS so much and yet everytime they met, they just can't stop talking about their NS experiences as if it is so much fun?
On leadership
Wherever there is a big group, there will be problems. Wherever there are problems, there has to be a leader to stand up and try to solve the problems in a diplomatic way so that majority will be satisfied. What if all the voices start coming in together all proclaiming to be leaders?
Then you will get a much bigger problem than before.When I was schooling, there was a big emphasis on leadership and the school will engage the so called 'experts' to come to the school to give talks encouraging students to speak up and be a leader. If a class of 40 people all turn out to be leaders,
who will be the followers?I'm afraid such education seems to have a much negative effect than postive to the students. Because most people seem to have misinterpert the actual meaning.
Many tend to believe that by having the final say, they have achieved that 'leader' badge.Example: A: Let's go using the left path.
B: Why left? The path on the right is also the same distance. Why not go in from the right?
Slap your balls lah. Since its the same, why not just follow? Instead time has been wasted debating the correct path to use. Most wise guys would have just go and shut up. But no, somehow some people just love to have that final say. Instead of showing yourself a leader, you just showed what a fool you are. Slap your balls again.The leader is the one doing the most dirty work, not the one shouting off instructions and expecting people to follow while he sits down and shake his balls.Need I say more? Slap your balls again. You honestly expect people to follow your instructions while you shake balls?One golden rule people tend to forget.
When one talks, the rest shut up. Instead you hear so many voices talking at the same time, competing who has the loudest voice around. Many ideas, many arguements. In the end, no work done. Instead, harmony is distrupted and the battle of egos starts.
To be a good leader, you have to be an even better follower.How do you expect to gain respect when you cannot cooperate with others? How do you lead when you cannot even do well what has been expected of you? Do you think by opposing every idea and insisting on your own, you gain respect?
Of course, there will be many point of views from each individual and it is healthy to point them out. But before speaking up, one should always think carefully.
Is my opinion going to help the cause? Is it really a better option? Why so? Always back up your opinions with valid reasons. Not talk for the sake of making your presence felt.
Refreshing from those leadership courses and those so-called 'How to be a leader' books, they seemed to have miss out something very important. They have forgotten the real objective for the need to have a leader.
The main objective of a leader is to ensure that the whole operation works smoothly with minimal delay and fuss, not to be the one with the loudest voice and the final say.Still don't understand? Never mind. Go slap your balls.The reason for this post is because I am sick and tired of the number of voices I hear whenever something crops up. Whenever such things occur, the actual problem is seldom solved. Instead more problems began to pile up and everyone is unhappy with everyone. Nowadays, I will prefer to sit one side and wait for the arguement to end and the 'solution' to arise somehow. Its much better for my health this way.
2006
It has been a long long time since I last blogged. My last entry was in September last year where I announced the temporary closure of this blog. I have actually been procrastinating and promising myself to start writing again but I am just plain lazy. My new year resolution is to update this blog as frequent as I can but since I am in the army, I can only come back during the weekends. Hopefully there will be things to write every weekend I come back.
Looking through the archives of my blog, I am really glad I started this blog because this blog had served my purpose of starting a blog in the first place. The main reason for starting a blog is because I want to remember everything that I had gone through in my life. Memories be it good or bad.
I realized that I had no new year resolutions last year. Back then, I was still in Ngee Ann enjoying my life. They always say that the most fun you have in your life was when you were still in school. How very true indeed. I was having so much fun that I didn't make any resolutions because I was happy as can be.
Looking back in 2005, I can say there are 3 major events in my life. First is the death of my grandmother. I hope she is resting in peace now. Second is the completion of my diploma in Ngee Ann Poly. I remembered things were looking so bleak in my first year that I considered dropping out. Luckily I am blessed to have many helpful classmates and friends to have help me pull through.
The third major event is I have finally been enlisted in December last year. Everything has been ok so far although I still grumbled every now and then on 'why must we serve?' The army is really a new environment and totally different from the outside world. Everything is being controlled and you even need permission to fart (joking la). What I mean is there are many restrictions and you need permission for everything you do.
My last 5 weeks in the army has been interesting so far. From spooky encounters to weird inmates and all the cock things that happen. I may list some of these interesting events in my future entries.
Time really flies and it's the year 2006. 2005 has been good to me I must say. Let's hope that 2006 is the same as well. Hail 2006 and World Peace.
