Tuesday, June 25, 2002

Windtalkers. Movie Review @ Hollywood.com - The best online source for movie reviews.

The topic this week is Windtalkers or Wintalkers according to a cinema in MId Valley Megamall. The premise of the story promises to be tear-jerker with lots of insightful, inner contemplation in man that so often draws the crowds. However, this movie was unnecessarily long and not tear-jerking to boot.

Nicholas Cage plays Joe Enders, a hardened stoic soldier who has the deaths of his former soldiers weighing heavily on his conscience and Adam Beach plays Ben Yahzee, a Navajo language code talker and a fresh patriot eager to do his part for his country and his family. Of course, the story pits these two men together against the world, or in this case, against the Japanese. Enders is duty-bound to protect Yahzee (read: THE CODE) at all costs. You get an inkling that this is why Enders does not allow himself to get too close and personal with Yahzee. However, the pervasiveness of this emotion runs throughout the movie...so much so that at the end of it all, you conclude that the objective of the movie doesn't get fulfilled. The audience does not see the inner turmoil and struggle a man has to go through in deciding to betray his man or his country. The audience does not share the indecision and guilt Enders fights with from the past and from the present. I think the audience pretty much leaves the cinema how they entered it.

Needless to say, the chemistry between Cage and Beach is not palpable. One would do better to watch the camaraderie between Ox Anderson (Christian Slater) and Charlie Whitehorse (Roger Willie). They portray more of the brotherhood one would expect from war buddies. Cage just comes across as a tired uninspired human but the opposite as a soldier. There is a smattering of scenes where Enders and Yahzee try to bond and act human but the end-result has a lot that can be improved.

My friend, when watching the trailer, concluded that Ben Yahzee was sure to die and/but guess what......Yes, I actually meant 'guess'!

Anyhow, what's this weird coincidence with me and 'Ender' huh?
Write me: errolyn@errolyn.com


Thursday, June 20, 2002

Gosh it's been a busy week and it promises to get busier!

Last week I attended my friend's wedding which made me wanna get married now too...except for the glaring absence and need of a groom. How pathetic can the situation be huh?

Anyway, an update on Ender's Game. The afore mentioned is the first (complete) instalment (on its own) of the quartrology with Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind following on its heels. And another series from Bean's POV (Point of View) is Ender's Shadow.....I now have the full copies of #2 and #3 but have yet to read them....(read above, keyword: Busy). Will keep you guys updated on the stories.

READ IT YOU GUYS!!! (if you haven't) :)

Friday, June 07, 2002

Ender's Game

A fabulous book I read recently was Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's of the sci-fi genre but please trust me when I say that even if you are not a sci-fi fan. It is NOT a book to miss. It's a few hundred pages long but you won't notice it. In fact, you'll be wishing there were more pages when you actually reach the end. Ender's Game is the first instalment of a trilogy.

It's about a young boy, age 6 no less, who has been hand-picked as the only one capable of saving the Earth from total destruction to be wreaked on them by an alien race. The fight has been on for years and years but this is the Final Battle and only Ender can ultimately 'end the fight'. He is plucked from the 'relative' safety (he has a malicious cruel brother, a caring sensitive sister and non-descript parents) of his home to train intensively at Battle School.

All sorts of techniques, challenges and strategies are thrown at him to physically and mentally prepare as well as test his abilities. Along the way, the seemingly destined to remain friendless and lonely, does manage to gain the friendship and loyalty of several fellow students, Alai, Bean, Hot Soup (!) and the one fighther girl in the whole story, Petra. Even Card's sub-plot with Peter and Valentine, Ender's siblings, ties in more tightly than usual sub-plots in novels.

This novel was written in 1977 with fantastic imagination for the 'futuristic' use of computers, 360 degree views and graphics (excuse my poor use of technical terms).

The great thing about Ender's Game is that it succesfully draws you into the story and you are able to empathise as well as symphatise with Ender. It seems an awful load to lay on the shoulders of a boy this young...a fact you may have to keep reminding yourself because of the way he talks, presents ideas and devises strategies. But we ARE dealing with child geniuses here.

Ender's Game is a book to be read by readers and non-readers period. You will not regret it....I will not reveal the ending to you but I must say I had different notions of how it could have gone. One of which was that the whole 'adventure' was the Ultimate Dream of a Loser Boy. But as I got along with the story, I realised the revelation in the end. It's Unbelievably, Indescribably Good-Feeling Inducing.

P.S. The person to whom I will be forever grateful for introducing me to the book, albeit as a passing sentence, just commited "A Grave Mistake" and a half! He suggested Ender's Game be made into a cartoon!!!!!

Thursday, June 06, 2002

I guess you can tell it's been a busy busyyy week. There was a rush at work but now I am back....ready to tackle whatever the hot topic is at the moment.....Just give me a moment to snare the hot topic ok.....

My Hot Topic of the Day is:

People using your stuff without asking you first. Housemates are probably the biggest culprits...ok I don't know that for sure but they sure are to me! However, the weird thing is that it's a seasonal thing....usually involving when housemates' FRIENDS come a-visiting. Did nobody ever teach these people that they are NOT SUPPOSED to be using other people's stuff without having the courtesy of asking first?

I don't care if it's toothpaste, or glue or my slippers or my rubbish. ASK ME FIRST! What makes my situation so ingratiating is that they are using my Ultra-Expensive Hair Care products. I could commit blue murder! Those Kiasu Visitors.....(need not mention where they come from eh? :)

Anyhow, being Asian and unnecessarily polite at times, I am just going to have to resort to stashing and safeguarding all my stuff in my room. God Help Me! I need to rent another room for storage......

errolyn@errolyn.com