The Divine Comedy

Yes, this is the Milla Jovovich most people know, or 'Alice' in the amazingly woeful 'Resident Evil' series. It is surprising that someone as talented as Milla would stand acting in three incredibly pointless films that add nothing to either the action or horror genre.

Especially when I found this gem of a music album recently:

Okay, so it was released 14 years ago. And not many people know about it. But this folk-rock album from Milla excellently shows her side as a talented musician, as well as a talented actress, model and fashion designer.

Unlike other actors/actresses-turned-musicians, she didn't go for the mainstream option. Instead she went for Ukrainian-folk. And though apparently it didn't go down too well commercially, the critics loved it. And when I first listened to it yesterday, it was understandable. It was rich, poetic. It was beautiful, epic and magnificent. Her voice sounds like a mixture of Bjork and Tori Amos, hauntingly deep and amazing poetry.

So I dug around and found these batch of quotes that describe the album:

"strikingly mature and rich in invention, counterpointing Milla's lovelorn, angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock"
- The Rolling Stones

"She has an ear for delicate medieval tunes and aching drama that would make Tori Amos envious."
- Entertainment Weekly

"Her songs are tone poems of a sort, inspired by vulnerability and wariness, sung in a small, plaintive, unguarded soprano"
- The Washington Post

"Her songs take form in fairytale poetry, as if she were some medieval storybook princess, held captive against her will in a Dragon's Lair. Authentic Russian acoustic instruments create a soundscape of delicate beauty, ethereal, yet soulful and heartfelt. An original."
- Let It Rock!

'The Divine Comedy' becomes all the more surprising when it is found that she wrote most of it when she was 16. She released this album when she was 18.

This is the first time I saw her:

She was Leelo in 'The Fifth Element,' acting beside Bruce Willis. Anyone remember that film? The film with its colourful costumes and colourful aliens.

I've never really seen Milla as beautiful before. Not in 'The Fifth Element,' not in the 'Resident Evil' series. But after listening to 'The Divine Comedy,' I feel she has captivated me with her heavenly voice. It's incredible.

Either buy her album, or listen to some of the demos she's made available for free on her site, here.

Oh, I love this bit. It's from the song 'Reaching From Nowhere':

"How can I be telling you my thoughts my love
When even I don't know what I'm thinking
How can I explain the way your eyes
Burn into my mind, my love"

Signing out

Over and out

Futuristic Demons

I think this Mach 5 looks cool rotating over Hamley's. Hahaha. I still haven't seen the film though.

Anyway, I've delayed my flight back to Brunei for one more day. It's now on July 7th. So I'll be in Brunei 10am on July 8th.

The temporary 'singletons' went out on Wednesday for a Singles' Day Out, since our partners were still all in school doing, well, school stuff. We had a buffet lunch at Pizza Hut just beside Primark, and then we went shopping. It was a good laugh.

I've been watching 'Back To The Future' again, from the start. So far I've revisited Part 1 and Part 2. Part 3 will come soon enough.

'Back To The Future is one of my favourite trilogies ever, probably only second to 'Lord Of The Rings.' I'm not even sure. BTTF is more fun than Rings, definitely. But Rings is so, so epic. It's a masterpiece of storytelling, special effects, and acting.

I want the Nike Airs McFly wore in Part 2, they look amazing. Power-lacing, what an idea. But then after about 23 years, it doesn't look like Nike will ever release it for production. But hey, this is the closest thing to that. And damn, it's pretty damn close. This is the Nike HyperDunk McFly 2015

And this is the one in the film:

They both look wicked. I want a pair. Now.

Oh well.

I can't wait to live in London. Fingers crossed.

I'm still waiting for Pill.

Signing out

Over and out

A Matter Of Materials

Chemistry re-takes. Over and done with.

It was quite an easy paper. Or rather, papers. I quite enjoyed doing the Foundation bit. If I didn't get an A on that, I must have a really distorted, skewed understanding of Chemistry. Hahaha. Organics... Urm... I'm not sure. I guess it's either borderline A or B. And no, I'm not superstitious, so I'm not afraid of jinxing myself. No touch-wood or anything like that. But what I am afraid of is when I confidently predict my own grades there's always a possibility I'm grossly wrong and I have to eat my words through a funnel.

After finishing the paper, we went back to the house and decided to go and grab a coffee in town. It was me, Clive, Lowco, Fudge and Sam who went. Sam drives, so we lazily parked just outside the Quarry near the church and walked the rest to Starbucks. But hey, it's nearly lunchtime, so Starbucks was full and we ended up at Costa's.

The thing I love about Costa is that when they say "medium" coffee they actually mean "massively gigantic cup but there's a bigger one called 'large'." I mean, it's not as much a cup but a bowl a mocha I was having yesterday. And the sandwiches are nice and hot. I think I should've gone for the Frescato option, but oh well.

We got back to school just in time for lunch, but we didn't go to KH.

Then Kam said to me on Google Chat if I wanted to go to town, so I answered, "why not watch a film too?" So we did. And we also brought Mubin along. Indiana Jones it was. And not bad. I thought it was a good action film, filled with funny one-liners and nostalgic references.

There was a blatant reference to Damien Hirst's diamond skull, which was quite funny, but somehow I felt like an arse laughing to it on my own. It's when Indie says "I saw a crystal skull once at the British Museum. Good craftsmanship, but that was it." That was a public-held view of Damien Hirst's skull, that the craftsmanship was excellent and painstakingly done, but its artistic value was nil. To be honest, I'm not a fan of Damien Hirst. Maybe it's the commercial aspect of it. I'm not sure.

Here's Damien Hirst's skull:


It's beautiful, flashy and certainly expensive (£50m in fact), but that's it. You don't feel anything from it. It doesn't draw you in, it doesn't provoke you. It's almost like an ineffective piece of jewellery, which at least pulls you in and makes you want to have it. This, well... I won't even want it on my mantelpiece or as a paperweight.

Now this is one of my favourite paintings. Geo showed it to me because he was doing his Art course on the artist. It's by Georg Baselitz:

It's a painting of a boy masturbating, if you didn't notice it already. What I like about it is that it's surreal and real at the same time. The boy's expression seems to be of both nothingness and pleasure at the same time. The whole painting also embodies a certain comical quality to it. And the brush strokes are unique, which I guess is due to the fact that he paints his paintings upside down.

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do today.

Signing out

Over and out

One Over The Other We'll Rush To The Suburbs

I had a good weekend overall. I went with the Shrewsbury Brunei Posse (hahaha) to Cineworld, to watch '30 Days Of Night,' which was a decent enough action/horror film. And guess what I found next to the cinema in place of Burger King?

Nando's! Hahaha. Admittedly I don't eat chicken, but I love the Peri-Peri sauce, and they have some decent vegetarian options there. And I'm a sucker for bottomless drinks. Ashamedly, I like the music they play in the background, be it portuguese or latino or whatever. Heh. There're more reasons for the Oswestry girls (and guy) to come to Shrewsbury every weekend :) Hahaha. Ho.

In the evening, I had to go to the Sydney Carton Society meeting at Rigg's Hall. Yes, it does sound kinda posh, but trust me, it's not. Well, maybe. A little bit. I guess a bunch of people sitting down sipping red wine while talking about novelists and their writing styles is kinda posh, isn't it? Of course, throughout the whole meeting, I didn't have much to say at all. These other guys are heavyweights compared to me. It's amazing how much they can say about a novelist just after five minutes of reading a page. I can barely speak up after reading a whole book.

I guess I'm gonna have to do more next session. Apparently we're supposed to write our own 8000-words stories, and by the end it will all be published, in one form or another. Quite excited about that. That is of course, if I can bother to write anything even at all close to that.

I need to go. I've got a double PR, and I'm not gonna waste it on Multiply. I might as well play FM and get Brunei to win the 2014 World Cup. Only in games. Only in games, unfortunately.

Signing out

Over and out

Other Lives In Separate Times

I watched ‘I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry’ last night. I half-expected this to be purely making fun of homosexuality, but I was pleasantly surprised. Instead it presented a strong stance against homophobia, and how gays are constantly being discriminated purely because of their sexuality.

If we are not treated with the prior knowledge of the two main characters, Chuck & Larry, are straight, then the two are really believable as gay partners. There is chemistry between the two, and even though most of it is rooted in their long-standing friendship, it makes a case of how two men can fall in love with each other.

As the movie develops, the characters develop. Sandler (Chuck) transitions from being a homophobic, sexist playboy to a sensitive, thoughtful supporter of gay rights. James (Larry) changes from the mournful widower who doesn’t appreciate his son’s artistic side to being ready to move on and acknowledge that there’s more to growing up than just doing sports. It’s endearing that Chuck’s children stand by his side, even when other kids call their dad(s) 'faggots.' Note: The accepted vernacular is gay.

The scene when Larry reads his colleagues’ petition for the both of them to be transferred was especially poignant. If the friends you thought you knew for years abandon you just because of your sexuality, then you’ve gotta wonder if they were your friends to start with.

Throughout the whole movie, we are reminded of how absurd it is for people to dictate how people should live their lives and how their sexual orientation should be. The movie takes a satirical view on the evangelists, who try to shove their beliefs on other people.

The movie aside, I am against the homophobic disease. We are so obsessed with being disgusted over somebody else’s sexual orientation, we forget that the person is a human being too. We overlook the fact that the person might be a better human being than us. Ask yourself, if your friend who you’ve known suddenly comes out and say that he/she has been gay all these years, what would you do?

If that happened to me, I would shrug it off, saying that it’s no big deal, and that we’re still friends, no matter what. If you know me, you would’ve probably seen me joking that I was gay. This is because I resent homophobia, and I want to see other people’s reaction to a homosexual friend. I’m not gay, but I need to know that my friends will stick with me, no matter what my beliefs are. I remember a friend confessing that she might be bisexual, and I thought it was brave of her. Even though she never embraced her lesbian side, the fact that she was willing to discuss if she was, was endearing to me.

Many guys are hypocrites when it comes to homosexuality. They say they despise gays, but trust me, they wouldn’t think twice of watching a lesbian flick.

Even if you think homosexuality is a sin, that doesn’t necessarily make the person evil or immoral. That’s just one aspect of their lives. How do you know the person hasn’t contributed much more to the community than you? And how stupid is it to assume that homosexuals are always horny? Just because a guy is into guys doesn’t mean he’s a pervert who would grab another guy’s arse at the first opportunity.

Anyways, if you’re using religion to argue against homosexuality, forget it. Religion is supposed to be a personal experience. Not a reason to dictate how other people live. Like what the Quran said, ‘your religion is your religion, my religion is mine.’ We are not supposed to shove what we believe down into other people’s throats.

And don’t argue that homosexuality is immoral. From what point of view is it immoral? From a religious point of view, yes. But not everyone subscribe to religion. To the society? How is it that one’s sexuality that doesn’t affect other people’s lives at all immoral? And besides, outside religion, morality is subject to one’s opinions. One might think that society over individuality is the better moral guideline, and vice versa. We cannot decisively argue that any of the two is superior over the other.

Unnatural? On what basis? The fact that there are two distinct genders? We didn’t use to wear clothes. Isn’t nakedness supposed to be natural? We didn’t ride cars or buses. Isn’t walking supposed to be natural? Homosexuality has been around for so long. If you dig into literature, you’ll find traces of homoeroticism. You’ll find it (although obscure) in history books, in ancient Greece and other civilisations.

I hope the government doesn't find this particular blog entry. I think it doesn't help that my blog is listed in Simpur's site. Oh well. This is my honest opinion. I don't think it's too controversial, and I know many Bruneians share the same feeling, even the straight ones.

Signing out

Over and out

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

The title isn't mine. It's from one of my favourite movies, featuring Jim Carey and Kate Winslet. It's not a comedy though. It's a kind of romance story, but it's also an exploration of the human mind.

The story goes on like this. It's actually told in a somewhat non-chronological order, but I'll try to explain it anyway. Winslet's character feels that her relationship with Carey is no longer workable, and therefore decides to erase him from her memory permanently, and start over with a new life. Carey, finding out Winslet's actions, decides to do the same.

Of course, during the process, while being trapped in his own subconscious, finds that he doesn't wanna lose the wonderful memories he had with her, even though the relationship is over. He then tries to wake himself up, so that he could still retain those memories.

It's a great film. I think they show it on Astro from time to time.

I've also just seen '28 Weeks Later' on DVD. This film is amazing. Far from just being a gore-fest, it is a thriller that has heart. The eerie music is essential to the film, giving a sense of hopelessness and desperation. Every little sense of hope is crushed soon after it is given. This film has a genuinely good plot, but the characters aren't allowed to develop.

Rush Hour 3 was a good laugh-out-loud film. But it had so many cliches in it. Recommended though.

Signing out

Over and out