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BATMAN : The Beginning

Finally managed to catch ze much talked-about movie starring a brand new Bruce Wayne. Yes it took quite hell of a long wait to see him in his Batsuit attire, a whole 1hr 10mins at least. Then again, this was titled as Batman: The Begining, therefore the focus was more on the early years of how Bruce Wayne came to be Batman. Yes Christian Bale does look delicious as Bruce Wayne. Not too broody and emo as Val Kilmer, not too ageing playboy like George Clooney and not too short with a wide forehead like Michael Keaton. But it'd be better if he kept his moustache n stubbles throughout as Batman, a more rugged, manly-cowboyish Bruce Wayne. Aint it cool to see the chin of Batman full of a bushy beard and a thin fine moustache.

The all too familiar tale of how Bruce's parents were killed was re-enacted here more vividly as to compared the version in the first installment of the Batman movies. A down-and out street thug, tho i cant recall his name, had murdered both parents out of desperation. We are also introduced as to how his fear of bats came about, after falling down a well after playing sembunyi2.

And his fighting abilities were honed by rubbing shoulders with the elitist League of Shadows n undergoing gruelling trainings that would make our Tekong counterparts cringe. Under the tutelag of Qui-Gon Jinn, oopps, wrong story, imagine a Jedi Bruce Wayn-obi? I meant under the guidance of Ducard, he trained with the League Of Shadows, the CEO being Ra's Al-Ghul, played by Ken Watanabe who interestingly i found out in a trivia that he doesnt blink. Hope that was useful.

And so Bruce wants out of the gang after learning their plans of destroying Gotham after the city has been so filled with crime and corruption it should no longer cease to exist. Talk abt being extremist. Geez. He does get out, by killing the Lao Da (big boss) himself and saving Qui-Gonn, i mean Ducard's arse. And so he returns back to the city he had turned his back against to fight crime under the persona of Batman. See the transformation ala Spiderman 1 when we see different variations of the early stages of the character until he settles with the final look.

The villains this time round is Scarecrow and Ducard himself. A bit of a common theme for Batman to have his hands full with at least 2 villains, dating back the previous 2 Batty movies with Two-Face and Riddler and Poison Ivy n Mister Arnold Freeze. For saving his arse, this mofo comes back to finish off Batman. Such gratitude. And Scarecrow is this villain who works as a psychiatric doctor by day, and a psychiatric patient by nite. His character wasnt developed entirely, bits of pieces here n there. But hell his costume sucks. His Scarecrow mask was cool, but that Hugo Boss suit? C'mon. I know you yuppie and all but must change outfit lah. The evil plan this round is rather complex, you know even i myself got lost in it. Basically i only know they need to vaporize all the water for the drugs to take effect. And as said, the Scarecrow dude wasnt developed fully. We didnt see how he became scarecrow, probably some disgruntled quack doctor who was blacklisted by the Doctors Association.
But i love the special effects of the movie, when one gets, well, 'high'. Everytin you see is throbbing and you cant see the person's eyes and they'd be in red or sumtin. Very cool evil effects.

Now the Batmobile. Yes for this episode, the Batmobile has a name of its own. The Tumbler. Previous installments has the Batmobile to be very sleek and stylo-mylo lah, can move vertically up a building all. This one is more for practicallity. A cross between a tanker n a racer, proves to be very hardy and fast too. I like very much. This car is gonna be the next thing on the wish list of those rappers with their Hummers. You gotta pimp this ride.

Overall, this was an excellent movie. Second best movie this year, only behind Revenge of the Sith of course. And casting Christian Bale as the caped crusader, wise choice sir, wise choice. Tho i cant help tinking that he looks like the love-child of Christopher Reeves (the real Superman) and Tom Crusie (the really short man). Seriously, he looks a lot like them. It's kinda weird to be seeing 'Clark Kent' dumping his Superman garments for Batman. Geez. Maybe it's just me.

4 / 5 char kueys! Yummmmmm!

What can you say abt a band started by one of the drummers of one of the most influential bands in the history of MuZik? Led by drummerXtrodinaire Dave Grohl, this 20songs 2-CD effort by the Foo Fighters is delightfully packaged;the first CD gives the listener the best of guitar heavy rock n roll and while CD numbor dua is full of mellow acoustics which is so lacking in today's music(with the exception of Kings Of Convenience of course).
The opening track on CD 1 ' In Your Honor' is typical in-your-face FooFighters .Mr Grohl starts off screaming 'Can u hear me, hear me screaming, in the muted sky' which reminded me of 'This is A Call'.The first single ' Best Of You' which is like an ode to your loved one is bloody infectious.The drumbeats provided by Taylor Hawkins are also fast & furious, the obvious influence of Dave Grohl.Other standout tracks in CD 1 include 'Resolve', 'The Deepest Blues Are Black'.
CD numbor dua, really blew me away.I was expecting more pop-friendly songs like 'Big Me' and 'Walking after you'. However song 1 on cd 2(ha) 'Still' changed all that. It sets off cd2 with other melancholic gems such as 'Miracle','Razor' and of course the bossa-fuelled 'Virginia Moon' feat.Norah Jones D/O Ravi Shankar.And having legendary bassist from LED ZEP John Paul Jones (no he is not the former Southampton keeper)contributing to the album can only help make it a great CD.This cd really shows you what a good and versatile band the Foo Fighters are.Definitely one of my top 10 cds in 2005.

current audio - 'Virginia Moon' - Foo Fighters feat Norah Jones

Su, you are is the best. Finally got my hands on bloc party, the bravery, kings of leon, mando diao and more more more!

you saved me like what, a hundred bux? hell even more i tink. here's to more cds in the future. terima kaseh kak su. all shud be fine lah. im slowly going thru one by one. terima kaseh tuan puteri bulu betong.

now to get hold of the kings of convenience cd from yun and the futureheads from wandi. i love my friends. now to have an volcanic eargasm (ask yun abt it) for the fun-filled weekend. yippe-yay!

Ah yes, today passed my shooting. Nothing special, just 2nd class. IPPT has been cleared. So all geared up for ORD LOH! I can smell it.

On another note, over the weekend, $140 was spent. Total damage incurred so far thus GSS :

1 Stussy paint splattered tee $39
1 Franz Ferdinand tee $33.90
1 The ever ekcellent Mars Volta album, Frances Bean The Mute $20.90

Another $50 went to da phone bill company.

Still eyeing an Interpol tee and a pair of Levi's jeans. Ah how money comes n goes. And Puan Su from deadwhite will be helping me save bundles on cds. Go Su!

Finally a rocknroll concert to look out for. The Bravery is coming to town at the Indoor Stadia, Augustus 5. Tix $60. Anyone up for it?

http://www.sistic.com.sg/SOPApp/SOPPortal/portal_proxy?uri=X.=2G!wX5vCFus_zKPiLkXaTBmYM3Py-b5KAzsJFM

X & Y - Coldplay

Yeah yeah.I was quite hesistant to get the album, with the big marketing campaign being put into to promote this album.Its been almost 3 years since their last album, and i must say this cd takes a couple of spineeroonies before one can immerse oneself into the beautiful musicianship of this band.Clearly fatherhood and having a famous Hollywood wife hasnt changed Chris Martin sharp lyrics.And on this album, his voice sounds great.On 'Square One', he croons"You just want Somebody listening to what you say ..." & it hits me rite on the head listening to this at work.Ha. The next few tracks run along nicely till "Talk" which samples Kraftwerk. This song & "X&Y" could be their next single. My favourite song on this album has to be"X&Y".U noe its juz one of those songs which u wanna put on repeat mode, n not get sick of it. I must say dun really dig "Speed Of sound","Low" and "swallowed in the sea".However the other songs in the album make up for it. Overall, i was quite happy that the album didnt sound too 'parachutes' or 'a rush of blood'. The album is great, not the best, but hey it beats crap like good charlotte & rooster 1000 times over. All in all, X&Y is worth your 18++ dollars(depends where u get it lah, i recommend u buy at gramophone.) U wont exactly get an eargasm(watever the hell dat means) but u will get little tingles on the hairs of your arms and the back of your head.

"I dive in at the deep end ,You become my best friend ,I wanna love you but I don't know if I can " - X&Y
How apt.