Mother's light,
Shines my future.
Cool and calm,
Keeps me focused.
Encouraging words,
Keeps me going.
Believes the impossible,
Gives me to wings to soar.
Friends forever,
Companions for each other.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Friday, April 15, 2005
F.I.R --> A thousand-year love
Found this song totally by chance...I was so tired on my way home then when I suddenly heard this song. It brought out the bitterness of me I guess. Enjoy the song. Ig u like it u can get the song at here.
By the way, i love its mtv as well. Overwhelmed by the music n the voice.
My recommended song of the week or the month.
Lyrics are listed below
竹林的灯火 到过的沙漠
七色的国度 不断飘逸风中
By the way, i love its mtv as well. Overwhelmed by the music n the voice.
My recommended song of the week or the month.
Lyrics are listed below
竹林的灯火 到过的沙漠
七色的国度 不断飘逸风中
有一种神秘 灰色的漩涡
将我卷入了 迷雾中
看不清的双手 一朵花传来 谁经过的温柔
穿越千年的伤痛 只为求一个结果
你留下的轮廓指引我 黑夜中不寂寞
穿越千年的哀愁 是你在尽头等我
最美丽的感动 会值得 用一生守候
竹林的灯火 到过的沙漠
七色的国度 不断飘逸风中
有一种神秘 灰色的漩涡
将我卷入了 迷雾中
看不清的双手 一朵花传来 谁经过的温柔
穿越千年的伤痛 只为求一个结果
你留下的轮廓指引我 黑夜中不寂寞
穿越千年的哀愁 是你在尽头等我
最美丽的感动 会值得 用一生守候
Whew!!!
Finally finished all my projects and term papers..Realli tough but strangly i lose the challenge of it, especially the satisfaction of finding some stuff..Really totally gratifying...heheee......now the final showdown....hope i can make it!
Monday, April 11, 2005
News interesting for me!!
1. Birthday of Homeopathy father -- Hahnemann
Malaria row inspired homeopathy
Taking arnica for bruising or apis mel for bee stings has become second nature for many people.
But few of those with homeopathic remedies in their cupboards know that they have a German physician to thank for the remedies.
This weekend, supporters of homeopathy are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Hahnemann - the man widely accepted as the founder of homeopathy.
Homeopathy today is one of the most popular and widely used complementary therapies with about 100,000 physicians using it globally.
Medical
In the UK today there are five NHS homeopathic hospitals and the global sale of homeopathic medicines represents more than £1bn globally.
But the very concept might never have been discovered had it not been for Dr Hahnemann, who was born in Meissen, Germany, in 1755.
Fight like with like
Dr Samuel Hahnemann
After training in sciences and botany he qualified as a doctor.
But he soon became dissatisfied with the medicine of the day, feeling that the purges and bleeding of the period were excessive and harmful.
He was so disillusioned that at one stage he even quit medicine to work as a translator.
But, ironically it was while translating medical texts that he made his biggest breakthrough - the realisation that taking quinine to treat malaria produced the same symptoms as the illness itself.
Dr Hahnemann found a piece by another doctor, Cullen, who was examining the use of quinine (which he referred to as Peruvian Bark) to treat malaria - or Marsh Fever as it was then known.
Dr Cullen said the bark was successful because of its astringent and purgative properties.
But Dr Hahenmann took issue with this. He argued that other medicines had the same properties - but had no effect on malaria.
To prove his point, he decided to experiment with quinine, taking the drug himself.
The results were to prove hugely significant.
Key idea
According to John Saxton, president of the faculty of homeopathy which promotes the academic and scientific development of the discipline, they effectively laid the foundation stone for the creation of homeopathy.
Hahneman put the patient as an individual at the centre of healthcare
Johjn Saxton
"He took a dose of Peruvian Bark - four drams - and developed all the symptoms of malaria apart from the fever.
"For as long as he continued to take the bark, he had the symptoms and when he stopped it, they stopped.
"It set him thinking."
Dr Hahnemann came to the conclusion that it was the very fact that quinine produced symptoms so similar to malaria itself that made it a useful medicine - in effect he discovered that like can be used to fight like.
As Dr Hahnemann said himself: "Every effective drug provokes in the human body a sort of disease of its own, and the stronger the drug, the more characteristic, and the more marked and more violent the disease.
"We should imitate nature which sometimes cures a chronic affliction with another supervening disease, and prescribe for the illness we wish to cure, especially if chronic, a drug with the power to provoke another, artificial disease, as similar as possible, and the former disease will be cured: fight like with like."
Inspiration
Dr Hahnemann also became involved in experimenting in diluting substances, including poisonous metallic elements mercury and arsenic.
His aim was to derive their benefits, while avoiding their side-effects.
His ideas spread quickly following the publication of his book The Organon Of The Medical Art in 1810, which attracted both admiration and hostility.
Dr Frederic Quin brought the idea of homeopathy to Britain and the British aristocracy became early admirers.
In 1849 Dr Quin founded the London Homeopathic Hospital (now the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital).
This is due to be reopened next month following an £18m refurbishment.
To celebrate Dr Hanhnemann's anniversary there will be a number of events throughout Germany as well as an exhibition on him and his followers at the British Homeopathic Association and Faculty of Homeopathy's offices.
Mr Saxton said: "Hahnemann put the patient as an individual at the centre of healthcare and believed that factors in a person's life, such as emotional influences, had a fundamental impact on their well-being.
"That was revolutionary thinking then and it still sounds very relevant to us today."
2. Love is in the air
By Thomas Kielinger
In Windsor
German journalist Thomas Kielinger visits Windsor to observe the town's preparations for the forthcoming royal wedding and finds a less jaundiced view of the occasion than that displayed by the British press.
It is a strange sensation for me to be actually standing at the foot of the statue of Queen Victoria with Windsor Castle's imposing structure right behind it, and to muse about the event that has captured the world's attention for weeks and months - if not years - the marriage of one Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor to his bride, Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.
People have been rushing to buy souvenirs of the wedding
So inured are we to the constant drip-feed of salacious news from the production line of the Windsor saga that I, for one, am having a hard time liberating myself from the mass of media coverage and developing something of a coherent view of what this event might betoken for the monarchy and its subjects.
Pondering my plight, I chance into a souvenir shop on Windsor High Street, where I browse around the bric-a-brac of royal memorabilia to knock my thoughts into shape.
The first thing that strikes me is that nowhere is there a single item with Camilla Parker Bowles alone on display. She is on sale only in conjunction with her new husband, never on her own.
Whereas Diana Spencer, unforgettable Princess of Wales, beams at you from hundreds of items sparkling with her uniquely iconic lustre.
Humbled and enlightened
Thus, for starters, I can't help asking myself if the British people will ever forgive Charles and Camilla for the role they played, willingly or unwillingly, in Diana's sad undoing.
Charles and Camilla will honeymoon in Scotland
Can people ever be comfortable with King Charles III and Queen Camilla, when someone with far more glamour and charisma might still be commanding the nation's rapt attention?
It doesn't take long before the lady at the till in the Windsor Craft and Woollen Centre despatches my doubts with a vengeance.
"They are so well matched, aren't they?" Mrs Dillon divines, in true vox pop fashion.
Not a word of remonstration or backward-looking does she utter as we descend into a proper psychoanalysis of the royal couple.
I feel both humbled and enlightened at the hands of my guide. As a media person, I am congenitally wedded to the view that newsworthiness comes mostly from things that go wrong, rarely the other way around.
This wedding in particular is a case in point - lurching as it did from mishap to mishap right up to the last days of the preparations, when a ghastly security breach at Windsor Castle was exposed by a tabloid newspaper.
The media have had a field day doing the two protagonists down.
As a matter of fact, I have rarely seen such malicious glee on display in the British newspapers.
Saving paradox
But Mrs Dillon, bless her, is totally unfased about all this negative hullaballoo.
After all, it is people like her who determine the way ahead for even an ancient institution such as the monarchy.
Love Actually was the most successful British film of 2003
And what is the demotic password my goodly lady has come up with? Love, actually, as in the film of the same name starring Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley and other screen luminaries.
Love, actually, also seems to save the day for Charles and Camilla in the eyes of other people I talked to after I had emerged from my education lesson at the hands of Mrs Dillon.
Quite a paradox, when you come to think about it.
It has been said that the Royal Family is mired in dysfunctionality and that the only person really up to the "top job" is its current holder, the Queen, who has stayed the course with exemplary stoicism, albeit at times somewhat inflexibly.
After her the deluge, more or less. Charles' erratic curriculum vitae did not bode well for the future of the monarchy.
Well, what do you know. Now steadfastness rules the day, the very elevating spectacle of a couple true to their love over many a decade.
Dysfunctional? Let the media learn to adjust their radar screens.
Here is one story that has, against all odds, come right, through the slings and arrows of outrageous missteps, blind alleys and cruel misjudgements.
Peace, finally
Yes, of course, Diana was a victim, of her own machinations as well as at the hands of others, including these two happy-enders.
But as a legend in their own right Charles and Camilla have emerged with the paradoxical virtue of long-lasting fidelity.
Dysfunctional? I should think not. Anything but.
In Germany, to where I report, the royals are sometimes adored beyond all reasonableness, just as in Britain they are often unreasonably debunked for their remoteness from ordinary life and their own higgledy-piggledy lives.
Well, at least with this couple you can forget about both fawning and debunking.
Camilla seems a supremely natural and down-to-earth woman, a boon for the monarchy because of the very absence of that double-edged attribute, celebrity, which so overwhelmingly characterised Diana Spencer.
In turn, I see in Charles the contours of a man finally at peace with himself. Love, actually, may be the greatest strength of this much-maligned prince.
What an outcome of a life story so far riddled with, nay, mangled by tragedy. Who would want to wish the royal couple anything but continuing happiness?
In the first place, if Charles love Camilla so much, shouldn't involved third party, Diana. Should have married b4 then. Afterall, now it is back to "CC" (not cycle and carriage) and not "CD"(not Christian Dior)
Malaria row inspired homeopathy
Taking arnica for bruising or apis mel for bee stings has become second nature for many people.
But few of those with homeopathic remedies in their cupboards know that they have a German physician to thank for the remedies.
This weekend, supporters of homeopathy are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Hahnemann - the man widely accepted as the founder of homeopathy.
Homeopathy today is one of the most popular and widely used complementary therapies with about 100,000 physicians using it globally.
Medical
In the UK today there are five NHS homeopathic hospitals and the global sale of homeopathic medicines represents more than £1bn globally.
But the very concept might never have been discovered had it not been for Dr Hahnemann, who was born in Meissen, Germany, in 1755.
Fight like with like
Dr Samuel Hahnemann
After training in sciences and botany he qualified as a doctor.
But he soon became dissatisfied with the medicine of the day, feeling that the purges and bleeding of the period were excessive and harmful.
He was so disillusioned that at one stage he even quit medicine to work as a translator.
But, ironically it was while translating medical texts that he made his biggest breakthrough - the realisation that taking quinine to treat malaria produced the same symptoms as the illness itself.
Dr Hahnemann found a piece by another doctor, Cullen, who was examining the use of quinine (which he referred to as Peruvian Bark) to treat malaria - or Marsh Fever as it was then known.
Dr Cullen said the bark was successful because of its astringent and purgative properties.
But Dr Hahenmann took issue with this. He argued that other medicines had the same properties - but had no effect on malaria.
To prove his point, he decided to experiment with quinine, taking the drug himself.
The results were to prove hugely significant.
Key idea
According to John Saxton, president of the faculty of homeopathy which promotes the academic and scientific development of the discipline, they effectively laid the foundation stone for the creation of homeopathy.
Hahneman put the patient as an individual at the centre of healthcare
Johjn Saxton
"He took a dose of Peruvian Bark - four drams - and developed all the symptoms of malaria apart from the fever.
"For as long as he continued to take the bark, he had the symptoms and when he stopped it, they stopped.
"It set him thinking."
Dr Hahnemann came to the conclusion that it was the very fact that quinine produced symptoms so similar to malaria itself that made it a useful medicine - in effect he discovered that like can be used to fight like.
As Dr Hahnemann said himself: "Every effective drug provokes in the human body a sort of disease of its own, and the stronger the drug, the more characteristic, and the more marked and more violent the disease.
"We should imitate nature which sometimes cures a chronic affliction with another supervening disease, and prescribe for the illness we wish to cure, especially if chronic, a drug with the power to provoke another, artificial disease, as similar as possible, and the former disease will be cured: fight like with like."
Inspiration
Dr Hahnemann also became involved in experimenting in diluting substances, including poisonous metallic elements mercury and arsenic.
His aim was to derive their benefits, while avoiding their side-effects.
His ideas spread quickly following the publication of his book The Organon Of The Medical Art in 1810, which attracted both admiration and hostility.
Dr Frederic Quin brought the idea of homeopathy to Britain and the British aristocracy became early admirers.
In 1849 Dr Quin founded the London Homeopathic Hospital (now the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital).
This is due to be reopened next month following an £18m refurbishment.
To celebrate Dr Hanhnemann's anniversary there will be a number of events throughout Germany as well as an exhibition on him and his followers at the British Homeopathic Association and Faculty of Homeopathy's offices.
Mr Saxton said: "Hahnemann put the patient as an individual at the centre of healthcare and believed that factors in a person's life, such as emotional influences, had a fundamental impact on their well-being.
"That was revolutionary thinking then and it still sounds very relevant to us today."
2. Love is in the air
By Thomas Kielinger
In Windsor
German journalist Thomas Kielinger visits Windsor to observe the town's preparations for the forthcoming royal wedding and finds a less jaundiced view of the occasion than that displayed by the British press.
It is a strange sensation for me to be actually standing at the foot of the statue of Queen Victoria with Windsor Castle's imposing structure right behind it, and to muse about the event that has captured the world's attention for weeks and months - if not years - the marriage of one Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor to his bride, Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.
People have been rushing to buy souvenirs of the wedding
So inured are we to the constant drip-feed of salacious news from the production line of the Windsor saga that I, for one, am having a hard time liberating myself from the mass of media coverage and developing something of a coherent view of what this event might betoken for the monarchy and its subjects.
Pondering my plight, I chance into a souvenir shop on Windsor High Street, where I browse around the bric-a-brac of royal memorabilia to knock my thoughts into shape.
The first thing that strikes me is that nowhere is there a single item with Camilla Parker Bowles alone on display. She is on sale only in conjunction with her new husband, never on her own.
Whereas Diana Spencer, unforgettable Princess of Wales, beams at you from hundreds of items sparkling with her uniquely iconic lustre.
Humbled and enlightened
Thus, for starters, I can't help asking myself if the British people will ever forgive Charles and Camilla for the role they played, willingly or unwillingly, in Diana's sad undoing.
Charles and Camilla will honeymoon in Scotland
Can people ever be comfortable with King Charles III and Queen Camilla, when someone with far more glamour and charisma might still be commanding the nation's rapt attention?
It doesn't take long before the lady at the till in the Windsor Craft and Woollen Centre despatches my doubts with a vengeance.
"They are so well matched, aren't they?" Mrs Dillon divines, in true vox pop fashion.
Not a word of remonstration or backward-looking does she utter as we descend into a proper psychoanalysis of the royal couple.
I feel both humbled and enlightened at the hands of my guide. As a media person, I am congenitally wedded to the view that newsworthiness comes mostly from things that go wrong, rarely the other way around.
This wedding in particular is a case in point - lurching as it did from mishap to mishap right up to the last days of the preparations, when a ghastly security breach at Windsor Castle was exposed by a tabloid newspaper.
The media have had a field day doing the two protagonists down.
As a matter of fact, I have rarely seen such malicious glee on display in the British newspapers.
Saving paradox
But Mrs Dillon, bless her, is totally unfased about all this negative hullaballoo.
After all, it is people like her who determine the way ahead for even an ancient institution such as the monarchy.
Love Actually was the most successful British film of 2003
And what is the demotic password my goodly lady has come up with? Love, actually, as in the film of the same name starring Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley and other screen luminaries.
Love, actually, also seems to save the day for Charles and Camilla in the eyes of other people I talked to after I had emerged from my education lesson at the hands of Mrs Dillon.
Quite a paradox, when you come to think about it.
It has been said that the Royal Family is mired in dysfunctionality and that the only person really up to the "top job" is its current holder, the Queen, who has stayed the course with exemplary stoicism, albeit at times somewhat inflexibly.
After her the deluge, more or less. Charles' erratic curriculum vitae did not bode well for the future of the monarchy.
Well, what do you know. Now steadfastness rules the day, the very elevating spectacle of a couple true to their love over many a decade.
Dysfunctional? Let the media learn to adjust their radar screens.
Here is one story that has, against all odds, come right, through the slings and arrows of outrageous missteps, blind alleys and cruel misjudgements.
Peace, finally
Yes, of course, Diana was a victim, of her own machinations as well as at the hands of others, including these two happy-enders.
But as a legend in their own right Charles and Camilla have emerged with the paradoxical virtue of long-lasting fidelity.
Dysfunctional? I should think not. Anything but.
In Germany, to where I report, the royals are sometimes adored beyond all reasonableness, just as in Britain they are often unreasonably debunked for their remoteness from ordinary life and their own higgledy-piggledy lives.
Well, at least with this couple you can forget about both fawning and debunking.
Camilla seems a supremely natural and down-to-earth woman, a boon for the monarchy because of the very absence of that double-edged attribute, celebrity, which so overwhelmingly characterised Diana Spencer.
In turn, I see in Charles the contours of a man finally at peace with himself. Love, actually, may be the greatest strength of this much-maligned prince.
What an outcome of a life story so far riddled with, nay, mangled by tragedy. Who would want to wish the royal couple anything but continuing happiness?
In the first place, if Charles love Camilla so much, shouldn't involved third party, Diana. Should have married b4 then. Afterall, now it is back to "CC" (not cycle and carriage) and not "CD"(not Christian Dior)
"Naked Weapon"
Tonite on channel U, this show by Maggie Q, Anya, Cheng Pei Pei and Daniel Wu caught my attention. Rather that watching the charity show which I consider the stunt that they perform a bit meaningless. (You know the part of Jack Neo "licking" the fan. Hello, You are HELPING charity not to self-inflict wounds to yourself that's being given by your parents.)
I thought this will be a nice substitute after watching the 1st ten minutes of the show. But unfortunately, I know why it is the box office poison for theaters (not so for the star's fans!!) The part of training and killing off mates is gory and unimaginable. Tis is actually the exciting part of the show. Later, move on to Maggie Q being a assassin known together with Anya as "the china Dolls". CIA has a record and an agent on it. Daniel Wu again. I wonder y CIA has a part on it? Not interpol or FBI. Weird.
Then you know ah, the practise of commercialism is getting so rampant that it is similar to Hollywood. One scene on the two leads running into the Magnum ice-cream truck. It is so prominent and obvious. Y not WAlls? Y not Haagen Daz? Then came the part on how Maggie Q ran out of the truck. the delivery boy was stung. This is so clique of a TV ad of Magnum or product.
It obviously tried to target at the Westerners. Daniel Wu, Cheng Pei PEi and Maggie Q speak excellent, US english. It also placed Taichi in it. The power of temple and the prayers to goddess, having a wish coming true, granted by goddess, meditating and the Chi field of a person. Have you seen the ads by the Guiniess i tink? on cantonese movies were power come from the palm of the swordman????that u can fight using the bottles hanging in mid air? The scene reminds me of it, except that more sophisticated.
On the whole, it is a great disappointment to me. The ending even ridiculous. A japanese guy (Lien Kai) suddenly came in and killed Maggie Q's boss and best fren. Some more the guy is from Hong Kong lor....can tell one....
Then i go and read some comments and i get the gist after reading and not from watching.
世界各地发生多宗少女失踪个案，幕后策划是Madame M ，她专门诱拐并训练貌美少女，令她们成为防不胜防的床上杀手。一众女孩被软禁在荒岛上进行地狱式的特训，钻研各类型的战斗知识及暗杀技巧。活泼开朗的Charlene坚强沉郁的Katt先后抵达荒岛，二人在艰苦的考验中互相扶持。Madame M采用汰弱留强制度，如趁女孩们熟睡期间，突然下令每人必须杀死一个同伴，其中Charlene、Katt及另一女子Jing表现出色。Charlene及Katt首次执行任务时，由Charlene负责色诱目标，然后以戴在手上的钻戒割破对方喉咙。可惜逃走时却失手被擒，Charlene几乎死于枪下，幸好Katt于千钧一发之间救回拍档。
CIA专案小组指挥Jack一直致力捣破Madame M的杀人集团。在香港举行的一场龙舟竞渡中，Jack保护的要人竟是Charlene的目标。正要下手之际，Charlene竟重遇失散多年的母亲Faye。Jack穷追不舍，却给Charlene逃脱。Jack认定她会再度出现，于是日夜守在Faye身边等侯机会。
同时，Madame M拉拢日本赤军的龙三郎，合作更大规模的非法勾当。龙三郎觊觎Charlene的美色，竟在酒中下了强烈催情药以图强奸对方。Charlene在迷糊之下向Jack求助，更因药力影响而向他投怀送抱，令他惊喜交集。Jack极力自制而决定不会乘人之危，更悉心照料她，这对兵贼渐渐互生情愫。
Then I take a look at the scriptwriter : Wang Jing. No wonder lah....so crappy.
该片的导演和编剧是程小东和王晶，他们是当年喜欢看香港电影的观众最为熟悉不过的名字了。不过，两人最近的导演作品都不多。程小东可能忙于做武术指导，在忙完了《英雄》之后，不知又会接下什么大制作。王晶现在则是力推新人，自己多做监制。像这一次这样这两位一导一编的组合，实在当是很难得。
虽然安雅前不久有嗑药的绯闻传出，但本片的新闻点更多还是被放在了吴彦祖和Maggie Q这对旧情人身上。影片中，虽说兵贼难以相容，但相爱的故事再次发生在二人身上。从影片的片名里，很多人早就猜到故事里会有“赤裸”的东西存在，不过在影片上映前Maggie Q只说这是一部有关挣扎求存的电影，片中最重要的原素是动作，但眼下曝光的剧照中还是被人暴露了影片中的爱情故事里有激情戏。
这些本身并不值得大惊小怪的东西，因两人之前的特殊关系而被再次炒得火热。虽是动作片高手执导的动作片，但片中的演员除了配角郑佩佩之外，其他都难以算得上专业的动作演员。尤其是身为主角的Maggie Q，因为工作太忙，竟然连抽点时间出看别人拍打戏都不能。连同安雅，两位这样的弱女子竟然能在一个动作片高手执导的电影演出过关。如果程小东没有网开一面的话，那么二位拍片时受的伤一定不少。
吴彦祖演警察、拍动作片相对于他的演戏时间来说，经验算是很丰富了。相貌出色的人在电影里导演总是忘不了让他出卖一下色相。看看《游园惊梦》和《知法犯法》等影片，便不难发现，原来吴彦祖的色相很受导演青睐。程小东显然也看出他的优点和优势所在，同样给了他一个表演赤膊上阵的机会。近日网上点击率颇高的他和Maggie Q激情戏照片便是例证。郑佩佩的出现，则是让本片多了一些动作片的刺激，不过你别指望她会和当年一样有什么不错的表演，如今她应该只是装点门面的好东西。
Anyway, here is a picture of it
I thought this will be a nice substitute after watching the 1st ten minutes of the show. But unfortunately, I know why it is the box office poison for theaters (not so for the star's fans!!) The part of training and killing off mates is gory and unimaginable. Tis is actually the exciting part of the show. Later, move on to Maggie Q being a assassin known together with Anya as "the china Dolls". CIA has a record and an agent on it. Daniel Wu again. I wonder y CIA has a part on it? Not interpol or FBI. Weird.
Then you know ah, the practise of commercialism is getting so rampant that it is similar to Hollywood. One scene on the two leads running into the Magnum ice-cream truck. It is so prominent and obvious. Y not WAlls? Y not Haagen Daz? Then came the part on how Maggie Q ran out of the truck. the delivery boy was stung. This is so clique of a TV ad of Magnum or product.
It obviously tried to target at the Westerners. Daniel Wu, Cheng Pei PEi and Maggie Q speak excellent, US english. It also placed Taichi in it. The power of temple and the prayers to goddess, having a wish coming true, granted by goddess, meditating and the Chi field of a person. Have you seen the ads by the Guiniess i tink? on cantonese movies were power come from the palm of the swordman????that u can fight using the bottles hanging in mid air? The scene reminds me of it, except that more sophisticated.
On the whole, it is a great disappointment to me. The ending even ridiculous. A japanese guy (Lien Kai) suddenly came in and killed Maggie Q's boss and best fren. Some more the guy is from Hong Kong lor....can tell one....
Then i go and read some comments and i get the gist after reading and not from watching.
世界各地发生多宗少女失踪个案，幕后策划是Madame M ，她专门诱拐并训练貌美少女，令她们成为防不胜防的床上杀手。一众女孩被软禁在荒岛上进行地狱式的特训，钻研各类型的战斗知识及暗杀技巧。活泼开朗的Charlene坚强沉郁的Katt先后抵达荒岛，二人在艰苦的考验中互相扶持。Madame M采用汰弱留强制度，如趁女孩们熟睡期间，突然下令每人必须杀死一个同伴，其中Charlene、Katt及另一女子Jing表现出色。Charlene及Katt首次执行任务时，由Charlene负责色诱目标，然后以戴在手上的钻戒割破对方喉咙。可惜逃走时却失手被擒，Charlene几乎死于枪下，幸好Katt于千钧一发之间救回拍档。
CIA专案小组指挥Jack一直致力捣破Madame M的杀人集团。在香港举行的一场龙舟竞渡中，Jack保护的要人竟是Charlene的目标。正要下手之际，Charlene竟重遇失散多年的母亲Faye。Jack穷追不舍，却给Charlene逃脱。Jack认定她会再度出现，于是日夜守在Faye身边等侯机会。
同时，Madame M拉拢日本赤军的龙三郎，合作更大规模的非法勾当。龙三郎觊觎Charlene的美色，竟在酒中下了强烈催情药以图强奸对方。Charlene在迷糊之下向Jack求助，更因药力影响而向他投怀送抱，令他惊喜交集。Jack极力自制而决定不会乘人之危，更悉心照料她，这对兵贼渐渐互生情愫。
Then I take a look at the scriptwriter : Wang Jing. No wonder lah....so crappy.
该片的导演和编剧是程小东和王晶，他们是当年喜欢看香港电影的观众最为熟悉不过的名字了。不过，两人最近的导演作品都不多。程小东可能忙于做武术指导，在忙完了《英雄》之后，不知又会接下什么大制作。王晶现在则是力推新人，自己多做监制。像这一次这样这两位一导一编的组合，实在当是很难得。
虽然安雅前不久有嗑药的绯闻传出，但本片的新闻点更多还是被放在了吴彦祖和Maggie Q这对旧情人身上。影片中，虽说兵贼难以相容，但相爱的故事再次发生在二人身上。从影片的片名里，很多人早就猜到故事里会有“赤裸”的东西存在，不过在影片上映前Maggie Q只说这是一部有关挣扎求存的电影，片中最重要的原素是动作，但眼下曝光的剧照中还是被人暴露了影片中的爱情故事里有激情戏。
这些本身并不值得大惊小怪的东西，因两人之前的特殊关系而被再次炒得火热。虽是动作片高手执导的动作片，但片中的演员除了配角郑佩佩之外，其他都难以算得上专业的动作演员。尤其是身为主角的Maggie Q，因为工作太忙，竟然连抽点时间出看别人拍打戏都不能。连同安雅，两位这样的弱女子竟然能在一个动作片高手执导的电影演出过关。如果程小东没有网开一面的话，那么二位拍片时受的伤一定不少。
吴彦祖演警察、拍动作片相对于他的演戏时间来说，经验算是很丰富了。相貌出色的人在电影里导演总是忘不了让他出卖一下色相。看看《游园惊梦》和《知法犯法》等影片，便不难发现，原来吴彦祖的色相很受导演青睐。程小东显然也看出他的优点和优势所在，同样给了他一个表演赤膊上阵的机会。近日网上点击率颇高的他和Maggie Q激情戏照片便是例证。郑佩佩的出现，则是让本片多了一些动作片的刺激，不过你别指望她会和当年一样有什么不错的表演，如今她应该只是装点门面的好东西。
Anyway, here is a picture of it
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Solvil Et. Titus watch ads
Well, I am trying to prepare for the presentation tml as I search for video clips on commercials. I came across something which I forget how much I love it. Yeah, as shown by the title, I like the ads alot. Though I dun like the commercial value of it. I think thi is a spoof of the movie "Tian Ruo You Qing III Feng Huo Jia Ren".
Andy Lau and Jacqueline Ng
Andy Lau and Jacqueline Ng
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Yakuza Fever!!!
Though it is a Saturday, I still have to go to school for a project presentation. I slept at 6am in the morning because there are alot of editing to be done. I simply cannot trust the rest of the gals. It has been a long time since I do this stuff so a bit rusty.
My project title is " Shadowy Reign of the yakuza: Tokyo and Globalisation".
Sounds cool huh? But a lot of stuff needs to be done. I found out to my horror, I woke up at 820am instead of 7am. I had to miss the tech run with my groupmates. Worse still, Qin haven send me her part and I haven finished editing. We overshot by a lot of words.So I send them the copies so that they can make amendments while I try to travel to school.
Luckily, by the time I reached, it is juz about to start. I am late for 15mins. The first team took so long. Then subsequent teams have no time to complete. My frenz laughed at me for being a train coz I rush so fast. C'mon, the lecturer flashed 1-min placard right in your face lor. Can you not hurry up?
Yakuza with their tattoos
Oh, as for those of you who duno, Yakuza are Japanese secret society members / gangsters.
Final note: I find the picture below very hilarious. 
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Film industry in Singapore
Recently,I have been focusing on Hong Kong film industry as my research project. So here are so extra news locally from my school magazine, HOOKED.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
A Sneak Peak at the Cinema Industry
Contributed by Melissa
Monday, 04 April 2005
Lights, camera and action! HOOKED gives you the lowdown on some of the inside tidbits of the cinema industry. And whilst it is not the glimmer and glamour that people would expect, it really is a whole new world.
In our little island of Singapore, there really is not much to do. It is thus not surprising that going to the movies is one of our favourite past times.
How often we have caught ourselves chit-chatting about how hot Brad Pitt was in Troy, how cool Keanu Reeves was in the Matrix and oh, how a must-watch the Lord of the Rings was.
Really, who can deny that friendships were formed, bonds were reinforced and even love was found in that 2 hours spent in a cinema hall.
Yes, cinemas have always been and probably will always be a great part of our lives.
The question is, as people grow busier, and the televisions grow bigger, and err, the fare to Johor Bahru grows cheaper, how many of us find ourselves forgetting the simple joys of spending time in the cinemas?
Really, my dear friends, it’s time indulge in a box of popcorn, prop up your legs and join us here at HOOKED for a little trip down memory lane as we rekindle that passion for the big screen and perhaps in the process pick up a tip or two as to our options when watching movies.
DID YOU KNOW?
1) That there is a difference between an exhibitor and a distributor?
An exhibitor is one who shows movies at their cinemas
A distributor is the company who goes to the film festivals to scout for new movies for their companies following which he buys the franchise to the movie and sells the right to show the movies to the exhibitors.
2) That piracy and parallel imports are the biggest threats to the cinema industry in Singapore?
Thankfully the government has stepped up and controlled the problem so our friendly cinema companies can keep their rice bowl and movie goers still have a place to watch movies.
3) That the real money is not in the selling of movie tickets?
According to industry sources, the real money comes from the sale of popcorns and other food and beverages. This is because exhibitors (i.e. the cinemas) only get to keep about half of the income from the ticket sales, the other half goes to the distributors. This is as opposed to the sale of food, where the cinemas get to keep all the money.
4) That the industry is going digital?
For many years, all cinema exhibitors make use of the standard 35mm film reels (see feature below on projection room). However, as technology has improved, the world of make-belief. The use of digital technology to replace the usual film reel technology will be the next big thing to hit the market.
5) That for the exhibitors, its not just as simple as screening the movies?
A lot of work goes into deciding when and where to screen the movies. A programmer is hired just to decide what is the best time to screen a particular movie, which cinema hall to screen the movie and how often to screen the movie. Really, you have to milk a good movie for what its worth, but there is also an art as to how to do that.
6) Who the major players are?
THE MAJOR PLAYERS
SHAW BROTHERS
Status: Both distributor and exhibitor
Locations: Jurong, Century Square (Tampines), Chua Chu Kang, Balestier, Bugis, Prince/Jade (Beach Road) and Lido.
Famous for: Bringing to Singapore Lido, one of the greatest hangout places for us students. Thank you very much.
Busiest Days: Weekends
Booking Options: Box-office ticketing and online booking via credit card at http://www.shaw.com.sg
Look Out For: A leaner, faster and meaner online booking system coming your way. It will not only cater to credit card users, but also accommodate students who do not have credit cards by coming up with newer booking options.
HOOKED’s verdict: The cinema company which gave us greatest the feeling of being at home. The Shaw cinemas are the best places to bond. Lido, is as always, a great student hang-out place, nobody can doubt that.
GOLDEN VILLAGE
Status: Both distributor and exhibitor.
Locations: GV Plaza (Plaza Singapura), Tampines Mall, Grand (Great World City), Marina Leisureplex, Bishan, Jurong Point, Yishun and Tiong Bahru
Famous for: Being a collaboration between Golden Harvest (Hong Kong) and Village Roadshows (Australia). Hence the name Golden Village.
Busiest Days: From Thursday to Sunday
Least Busy Day: Monday
Booking Options: Box-office ticketing, ticketing machines at the cinemas, online booking via credit card at http://www.gv.com.sg
Look Out For: Their new, flagship outlet coming your way at the end of next year at Harbour front.
HOOKED’s verdict: This was the most professional of all the cinema companies we visited. They have assured us of consistently premium quality of cinema at all locations. Since they presently have the biggest market share of about 45%, we belive them.
CATHAY
Status: Both distributor and exhibitor
Locations: Orchard (Cathay Cineleisure) and Causeway Point
Famous for: Bringing to us arthouse films. All the movies brought in by their distribution branch called Cathay-Keris can only be watched at the Cathay cinemas. They do not allow their movies to be played at any other cinema houses.
Busiest Day: Saturday
Least Busy Day: Tuesday
Booking Options: Box office ticketing, sale of tickets at Coca-Cola Red Lounge Café, A ticketing kiosk at Orchard MRT, use of PDA ticketing when the queues are too long and online booking at http://tickets.cathay.com.sg/ via credit or debit card.
Look Out For: A new cinema near Dohby Ghaut MRT which will bring back the old Picturehouse. This one’s for the yuppies, you will see.
HOOKED’s verdict: This was the most youth-friendly cinema operator of all. Their outlet at Cineleisure is catered primarily to the youth, with a funky Coca-Cola red lounge, midnight movies all weekdays and 24 hour movies on weekends; you know where to go when you cannot sleep.
BOMBAY TALKIES
Status: Both distributor and exhibitor
Locations: Bedok
Famous for: Being the only exhibitor to show Bollywood movies
Busiest Day: Saturday
Least Busy Day: Thursday
Booking Options: Box-office ticketing, Phone booking (one you book tickets with them, it will be credited immediately. In the event you cannot make it, you can reschedule the tickets for another show)
Look Out For: A different pricing scheme from other cinema companies: $6, $7 on weekends and $8 on weekends. Sometimes it can even go up to $10 for a Sharul Khan movie.
HOOKED’s verdict: What more can we say, for the Bollywood fans, this is your place to go.
HOOKED’s sneak peak into a projection room, courtesy of Golden Village.
A typical projection room.
This is what is called a platter system. One movie usually comes in multiple film reels. A platter system can hold an entire movie at one go which prevents jumps in the movie as the film reels do not have to be changed when fed into the projector when using the platter system.
This is what a typical projector looks like
A look at the control panel for the projector.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Blog construction in process!!!
I am in the midst of correcting and rearranging my blog so do bear with me...This is such a trouble as I still have few more papers to go....Juz my luck that the previous skin did not work. Hope this one can last longer.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Change of BlogSkin
Sorry guys and gals, due to some problem with the original blogskin which I like but not functional, I decide to use one of the blogger template then. Do bear with the lack of stuff on it as I am waiting for blogskins.com to resume its activity asfter a serious problem with its server.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
"Black Hawk Down"
As Usual, I am slow again...but nonetheless, I still managed to catch it.
The official poster on the DVD
Starring Josh Harnett, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor and others based on the real life story of the Somalian war then in 1993. It is a good one abeit that one may feel a sense of heavy-heartedness at the end. It is so realistic that I cant bear to stay glue to my chair. I dont wish to see such a sight as it makes my blood boil. Nonetheless, I still watch it. It truly depict the humanity as it is. Coward, Bravery, Community forces, war savagery, life and Death. There is one scene that left a big impression on me.
One is the one on the pilot of one of the black hawks down. He was being rescued by two marines. But in the end the community forces of Somalians actually overwhelms them. They fight till the last. But guess wat the somalians did? They actually tear and attack the dead corpse of the marines. Gives me creeps. Seems like a bunch of black ants trying to carry the piece of cake across the floor. This is the imagery that I linked with the scene instantly. Hope this does not offend anyone. (I am not being racist or having any discrimination here but this is how the movie is portryed or rather the director lead audience to think of. Yeah I know the underlying discrimination conscious of the director.)
Following wic they found the pilot and tried to do the same thing to him. I can see that he is scared and he longed to see his wife and child by clutching to their photos.Duno whether it is his luck or not, he was taken hostage by the warlord. Very emotional scene I must say. You can feel his terror and emotions for his family as he fear death..
The director is Ridley Scott. A famous director I must say who actually got funded by Shaw Brothers on a film called "Blade Runner" starring Harrison Ford. I think he like to make a lot of action movies. But nice though.
The Delta Force coming into the Somalian city
Orlando Bloom in his unrecognised state
Josh Harnett
Removing casualties amidst the war and rubbles from the "Black Hawk" down
It makes me wonder after the film whether US actually advocate for peace or do they rush things so that they can get over and done with without proper planning or it is that the situation in war is like that, taking risk as if nobody's business?
I am not sure but this film cetainly left me wondering that.
The official poster on the DVD
Starring Josh Harnett, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor and others based on the real life story of the Somalian war then in 1993. It is a good one abeit that one may feel a sense of heavy-heartedness at the end. It is so realistic that I cant bear to stay glue to my chair. I dont wish to see such a sight as it makes my blood boil. Nonetheless, I still watch it. It truly depict the humanity as it is. Coward, Bravery, Community forces, war savagery, life and Death. There is one scene that left a big impression on me.
One is the one on the pilot of one of the black hawks down. He was being rescued by two marines. But in the end the community forces of Somalians actually overwhelms them. They fight till the last. But guess wat the somalians did? They actually tear and attack the dead corpse of the marines. Gives me creeps. Seems like a bunch of black ants trying to carry the piece of cake across the floor. This is the imagery that I linked with the scene instantly. Hope this does not offend anyone. (I am not being racist or having any discrimination here but this is how the movie is portryed or rather the director lead audience to think of. Yeah I know the underlying discrimination conscious of the director.)
Following wic they found the pilot and tried to do the same thing to him. I can see that he is scared and he longed to see his wife and child by clutching to their photos.Duno whether it is his luck or not, he was taken hostage by the warlord. Very emotional scene I must say. You can feel his terror and emotions for his family as he fear death..
The director is Ridley Scott. A famous director I must say who actually got funded by Shaw Brothers on a film called "Blade Runner" starring Harrison Ford. I think he like to make a lot of action movies. But nice though.
The Delta Force coming into the Somalian city
Orlando Bloom in his unrecognised state
Josh Harnett
Removing casualties amidst the war and rubbles from the "Black Hawk" down
It makes me wonder after the film whether US actually advocate for peace or do they rush things so that they can get over and done with without proper planning or it is that the situation in war is like that, taking risk as if nobody's business?
I am not sure but this film cetainly left me wondering that.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Dan Brown " Da Vinci Code"
Well, Well...I am a sucker for thrillers especially mind-boggling games and mysteries. This book caught my attention when it hit the bookshelves with an excellent record and rating. I cant wait to get my hands on it but I am busy and damn broke as always as my frenz said. Well...All i can say is that I am bad at finances and life isnt as ez as I wished it would be. I would count myself lucky as I managed to get into Uni.
oK...digress again.....The book is excellent in terms of plot and engagaing the reader into this web of Piory of Scion. It is totally fabulous in terms of that. However, in terms of fleshing out the characters, I feel that it is not well-done. Maybe it is part of the writer's strategies to do that to induce mysteries. I feel a lack of sumthing. But the overall feel is fantastic and it helps me get pass the agony of writing a very challenging term paper that I set out to do. I love this feeling of writing but sometimes it just get on my nerves and it produce this self-doubt in almost all writers. The question of whether we can produce the next best piece. So we constantly push ourselves to do it.
No doubt this is a good book. I like it alot. Wish I had the time and $$$ to buy the next book which I believe is called "Da Vinci Decoded"? I know my network is slow..but hey that's how life is...Sometimes with the limited resource, you got to make the best out of it.
For those who are bent on starting a thriller, this is a good one. I would rate it as 5 out of 5.
The cover of the book
oK...digress again.....The book is excellent in terms of plot and engagaing the reader into this web of Piory of Scion. It is totally fabulous in terms of that. However, in terms of fleshing out the characters, I feel that it is not well-done. Maybe it is part of the writer's strategies to do that to induce mysteries. I feel a lack of sumthing. But the overall feel is fantastic and it helps me get pass the agony of writing a very challenging term paper that I set out to do. I love this feeling of writing but sometimes it just get on my nerves and it produce this self-doubt in almost all writers. The question of whether we can produce the next best piece. So we constantly push ourselves to do it.
No doubt this is a good book. I like it alot. Wish I had the time and $$$ to buy the next book which I believe is called "Da Vinci Decoded"? I know my network is slow..but hey that's how life is...Sometimes with the limited resource, you got to make the best out of it.
For those who are bent on starting a thriller, this is a good one. I would rate it as 5 out of 5.
The cover of the book