My blog
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There and back again part 2 - New York
( 繁 )Monday, Apr 13, 2009 8:51PM / Standard Entry
Second stop is new york. I went over to visit a long time friend of mine, and to see the city i havnt visited for twenty years. Hes running a busy schedule during the day, so i was pretty much on my own, we only had dinner together from time to time. That aside, i get to see manhattan in my own sort of way^^ i went to meat packing, east and west village, south sea port, fashion avenue, canal street, st.marks and little italy etc. Anyways its a vacation, and manhattan was great fun.
Topshop Topman fans spread over to nyc, dont remember where exactly it is any more
plays, muscial, motion picture scripts for sale! awesome
central park skating
spent an hour or so strolling down central park, this spot is one of my favourite
lake cafe, imagine the scenary being very different in summer
this is actually bits and pieces of african tribe roof top banners put together by the museum, just to look elaborate
ancient roman and greek exhibition hall in the National Art Gallery
1535-1554 etched steel, made by armorer wolfgang grossschedel
frederic edwin church, aegean sea, 1877 oil, lovely
guggenheim modern art gallery, theres so many places i want to go, didnt even have time for lunch, but then i m convinced after guggenheim, that i really prefer classical art by FAR
center plaza, guggenheim
fillette 1968, little girl, louise bourgeois, genital looking item made of plaster and latex, the reason why i dislike modern art explained
j.Pollock, autumn rhythm, 1950 oil. do all his pieces look alike or is it just me?
people with aids plaza, i looked around and ponder
crane tower one, ground zero reviving
memorial artifact of ground zero - earth globe
vessel open for exhibition by the shore
the statue, never been, well now i have^^ fasinated by the history of how the french came up with the idea, and how come we dont do that anymore? well the chinese give away pandas but they are just lazy animals locked up in a zoo?!
ppl gather round by the shore, watching a street performance that dragged on too long
Palm's 3 pounds caspian lobster, costs a bomb, delicious though
broadway musical Wicked, never heard of it before, its been around since 2002, and its soooo good even though its a girl story
i thought i m the tourist, my friend, having lived in ny for years, asked for a snap shot before me
5th avenue mid town
empire state building, view from the balcony
my friend didnt spend much time with me, but he makes good tea^^;
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There and back again part 1- Basel
( 繁 )Friday, Apr 10, 2009 7:53AM / Standard Entry
Hello there folks, as u can see, i have been travelling around the world, and returned for a while already. I must say this was an awesome trip, cos i got to see basel, a beautiful city at the north of switzerland, then went to visit manhattan, and last but not least, london. The trip lasted more than two weeks.
For my first stop, basel, i was there to attend BaselWorld - the world's most renowned jewellery and watch convention, where the world's most famous brands meet; and it was kinda like a business trip for me. The event is supposedly universal thus attracting a lot of media attention, unfortunately due to the recent crash in world economy, i, for the first time in basel, had to witness the inevitable show case of 'quietness'. Back in previous years, say for a period of a fortnight, where business should be thriving for at least ten to twelve days, now its only down to three to four days, henceforth, only a quarter of goods sold. This is almost like a red indicator for the rest of the year. Bare in mind though, i m only referring to the jewellery business so far. I went to see the watches, and they were having champagne celebration parties all the way! Even though i have no idea how well those watches were selling, i m convinced that the watch business is way way waaay beyond the scale of jewellery, they always have, and always will be, for many reasons. But lets not get too much into that.
marqee square at the center of convention, building at the back is one of the exhibit hall
the high end jewellery section i.e Baccarat, Mikimoto etc, photography is prohibited (!)
inside the basel bahnhof SBB (train station), giant wall painting
Rathaus, Basel's Town Hall
dad made a joke about the medival peasants prolly have their pants soiled coming to the tax collectors building
cottage hotel Zofingen, situated forty five minutes away from basel city
continental breakfast, magical... the brie, coffee, home bakery, and the magnificent honey!
something u only see in europe
so is this... looks tasty to me lol
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Around da world
( 繁 | 简 )Monday, Mar 23, 2009 11:54AM / Standard Entry
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Check it: Jero umiyuki
( 繁 | 简 )Saturday, Mar 21, 2009 7:27PM / Standard Entry
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Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
( 繁 | 简 )Saturday, Mar 14, 2009 12:51PM / Standard Entry
Writer: Simon Beaufoy Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan Cast: Dev Patel as Jamal Malik, Freida Pinto as Latika, Madhur Mittal as Salim, Anil Kapoor as Prem Kumar the show host, Irrfan Khan as police inspector
Comment: Having scooped 8 Academy, 4 Golden Globe, 7 Bafta, and an impressive gross revenue of 268 million usd, this movie, for a change, is highly recommended by friends. Yet i did not rush into view at first instance, thinking its success is political based, and by political i mean poverty and inequality in india, inevitably grim and viewers must be 'in a mood' to watch. For the chinese, this movie genre is so abundant sometimes i ponder if this is the only genre we got, but lets get back to our neighbouring friends here. The movie did not try to dig too deep into the dark alleys, but remain illustrative on abuse and violence- say the gorging of the infant's eyes (happens also in china) should stay in minds of viewers. I particularily enjoy the childhood part, the bit when they were playing cricket on air fields, most refreshing. The chase was well paced, razor sharp duck tour of the slum, and up beating soundtrack. The story left out almost entirely on the female voice, perhaps to maintain pace and focus more on brotherhood, and sadly there isnt much to talk about, their development is a feeble support to the start. The moment they stumbled upon the temple as tour guides, everything instantly become so cliche, the movie should be retitled 'journey FROM the west'. I believe this is what really annoyed the local audience, in comparison, whether the kids all of a sudden have fluent english accent is absurd, but only irrelevant. Lots of praise to actors such as the inspector, and the show host- his tendency to destroy the protagonist should be most reflected amongst indian society, this is self explanatory when the protagonist, despite not entirely intelligent, his drifting years in the streets give him the correct answer. Here brings across an important message, that child abuse and poverty may be unfortunate, but jealousy is a sin. In a whole, even though the full of cliches and irony on second half dragged the story to commercial level, i d say 'jai ho' (victory) to the movie makers. It is an entertaining two hours of indian adventure, it is about young lovers pursuing destiny, the future, not about a bunch of old timers dying of hunger, the past. The world's attention is on india again, at least for a while, last time it is when ben kingsley was Gandhi in 1982; what more can you ask for? (3.8/5)
Writer: F.Scott Fitzgerald, Eric Roth Director: David Fincher Cast: Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button, Cate Blanchett as Daisy Fuller, Tilda Swinton as Elizabeth Abbott, Jared Harris as Captain Mike, Taraji P. Henson as Queenie, Julia Ormond as Caroline (modern day daughter)
Comment: I cannot resist to compare this movie and the above, indeed they are competitors on most motion picture awards this year. First of all, this movie is a narrative story on benjamin button's miraculous life story, stretching close to a century's time; under such circumstances, should this equal to a three hour movie, i believe it is unnecessary. 180 minutes is enough to drag a supposed good movie to turmoil, especially the bit on brat pitt looking all 'sexy and cool' and started picking up chicks (back to his old self?)... that practically shattered the character which he tried so hard to portrait. The life story of benjamin's birth mom and some others are quite irrelevant. Also, the lack of justification of benjamin's bizarre growth has made the story development hollow. Make up and scenery shots on the other hand, are superior to most others. The sun set at the pier is some what similar to Dark City, but still breathe taking. Cast wise, both pitt and blanchett have done a terrific job as individuals, but lack chemistry as couple (great attempt tho). I particularly enjoyed Swinton's sharp performance, she just continues to impress.
It is apparent that this movie has an artistic vision, and more domestic to fellow americans than the movie above. I suppose the only reason that leads to its defeat, is that its fictional nature, it may be beautiful, it may even be curious, when a man finds his fountain of youth; but this is relatively flimsy when comparing to the slums in india, the real lives of thousands. Overall, i like the arts of benjamin button, but prefer the pace of slumdog by far. (3.9/5)
Stats
- Being an actor and stage performer, i have travelled to amazing places, but there is no place like home.
- Occupation: Singer , Actor , Screenwriter
- Gender: Male
- Total visits: 299,868
- Translators: Jry7
