Fantastic Mr Fox

Who loves Roald Dahl, please raise your hands? (Mine goes up!)

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop-motion animation, very unlike the Pixar animation that produces seamless animation. Yes, Mr Fox was produced by piecing frame by frame. In my opinion, this filmography is a fresh take from what I'm used to.

I never read Fantastic Mr. Fox, so whatever I watched in the movie was new to me. It's about Mr. Fox who derives some sick satisfaction from thievery, his excuse being that he's a wild animal and not one to be tamed. He and his family and other animals get chased underground by 3 farmers as a result.

I love the show. I REALLY REALLY DO. Far from what many people have said, it's not a children's movie. OK, maybe it is. But the exultation of thievery and wit here makes it a very adult one. There were several scenes when the director just over exaggerates. E.g. the incredible athletism by Kristofferson (i love the name) contrasted with his loser cousin. The script is really good. I dunno, you really have to just watch this for yourself.

Ok, one more exam tomorrow. Finance 101. At this point, I'm just so unmotivated to go on. :(

Jan to Nov

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov

All that's left is a December photo. Blogger is destroying the resolution of my photos! Oh well.

How much do you know about capitalism?

Corp Reporting exam was so difficult. It's so unfair. :(

I totally forgot to blog about Capitalism: A Love Story!! I watched it with Josh a week ago. Well, another fabulous documentary by Michael Moore. The movie is deliciously biased against capitalism. I think it had to be, given that the upside of capitalism has been preached to us for years. You'll be sad because a lot of people's lives were badly affected by the financial crises. You'll laugh because some parts are funny, in a dark humour kinda way.

BUT... I don't think the show is still in the theatre. Really should have asked you guys to watch it earlier! (well, we all know we don't have to go to the cinema to watch movies..)

OK, back to studying!

Comfort Zone

Yes I drew that :)

It's not meant to be a scary message. I was just looking at my life and realised that 'darn, I wanna do something.' I'm definitely grateful for being in a loving family, the youngest and only daughter of 3, I'm pampered and well-fed. SMU's a good school, I love my CCA, I love singing and I don't suck at it. When it comes to academics, since PSLE, I pretty much have it smooth-sailing. But the absence of hard knocks in my life has taught me little.

I still complain a lot about everything. I feel for everything but do nothing. (I feel for the unfortunate, for the environment, for God's kingdom and more) My cell group needs leaders and yet I like to think my superficial contributions are enough. I can sing, I can make people laugh, I can speak and there's a dozen more 'I cans'. But along the way, I keep forgetting who gave me my I-cans.

And right now, you're probably like me. Just because you can hide behind a myriad of activities (in and out of church) doesn't mean God can't see you.

So what's next? That's simple. Repent.

To end off, read the poem, "The Tandem Bike" in Joshua's blog.

It's a slow fade

As I was mugging hard at 9.15 am (right now actually), my iTunes played this creepy song called Slow Fade by Casting Crowns. Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian band, whose songs are more about contemporary Christian life rather than praise or worship songs.

The lyrics caught my ear "Be careful little eyes what you see... People never crumble in a day." I kinda figured this must be about compromise. So, abandoning Corp Reporting for a while, I checked out the lyrics, and it turns out they are really powerful.

"It's a slow fade
When you give yourself away
It's a slow fade
When black and white are turned to gray

And thoughts invade, choices are made
A price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

(The verse that struck me)
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises
Leave broken hearts astray"

There are more verses, I just picked and choose which were meaningful to me. The message of the song is not new but it sure was a timely (it's always timely to remind yourself of these things) one. If you're thinking this shouldn't happen to you cos you're not committing adultery, watching porn, gambling and the likes, be careful... Your slow fade has probably just started.

Singapore's Universal Studio's Theme Park

It's gonna open early next year! Cool. Freezing cool. Can't wait. News report here.

Adult ticket prices will be :
$66 (weekday)
$72 (Weekend)
$118 (Consecutive 2-day pass)

You can get an express pass costing between $30 to $68 (on top of admission price) to bypass long queues. Talk about the rich-poor divide. The express pass is just another way to show why the rich always win.

According to Shirly Chen, Vice President (Sales Development), Resort World Sentosa, "We have pegged ticket prices for Universal Studios Singapore at an incredible value compared to major theme parks worldwide" Let's see if she's right.

According to Disneyland:
1-day Parkhopper ticket is priced at US$97, and 2-day pass at US$151.

YUP, Shirly Chen is right, Sentosa's Universal Studio's theme park is going to be cheeeeeeeap. Quick quick, save up now. It will not be long before they increase ticket prices. (they always do)

Universal Studios Singapore will feature 24 attractions, including the world’s biggest single collection of DreamWorks Animation attractions such as the world’s first Far Far Away Castle from the world of Shrek, Madagascar theme park ride and the world’s tallest dueling roller coaster. Wow wow wheeee!!!

Let me break down the math for you, let's say we take the $118 2-day pass ticket that hopefully lets us complete all attractions, it's like only 5 bucks per attraction!!! I'm hyperventilating already...

Mugging Time!

It's Mug mode!

I woke up at 7am, to jog. This is physical training for a mental war against Corporate Reporting, Finance and MPW exams. Will be back to normal mode after 1 Dec.

In the meantime, in appreciation for my blogging efforts, you could send me exam welfare packages. In particular, snacks like Pocky, Jagabee, Wang Wang, or any Mark's & Spencer's chocolate biscuits would be awesome.

It's times like these, and times like those

12 Dec 2008

An email to my cell mates

Hey everyone,

How's it going?

I was just planning my 2010 plan and guess what? There's simply, I realize, too much to do, see, hear, try, taste, smell and touch. There's be singing, acting, traveling, internships, mentoring, leading, following, moving, competitions... If you're thinking, wow Anna, I wanna be you. Let me just say, there's a price to everything.

In the past weeks, I've been struggling to surrender my life to God. You see, God wants to be the Lord of my everything, if not, He's just not Lord at all. With all the things going around, I can just hear the Holy Spirit grieving at how I sometimes push him into the margins of my life. (I bet some of you do too!)

It's not that God wants you to be ONLY involve in church stuff, it's not that he wants you to be holy-schmoly, no hint of a secular life. To some of us, he has put us in certain academic, professional, or social circles for a reason. AND let me hear from you what reason it is?? Yes, it's to glorify Him! Light is after all seen brightest in the darkest of places.

The truth is.. Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, life sucks. Yes, life sucks because of sin. Life sucks because it makes us feel stuck at where we are. Hate your job? Life sucks. Hate your school life? Life sucks. Just wanna crawl into a hole? Yes, life does suck. BUT being a Christian is not abt denying life sucks! It's about proclaiming that despite THAT, we have Jesus who overcomes the world. That although life sucks, He is now our new Life and in Him, life is actually beautiful. Most of all, while life sucks, we can find true love in Him. And, hey, I think that's more than enough for me.

(If you've read so far, thanks!)

So now what? Try putting away your work and draw close to God. Pray and let it be an honest prayer. Worship and mean it. While you chew on these thoughts, the next section contains information about this week's cell!

Love, Anna

A Sexy Post by Josh

See Josh's ostentatious post which was partially in reply to my "Week 12", in which I discussed premarital sex --> HERE

It's hilarious.

Week 12

I've stopped my "Week (no.)" posts. After a while, it just felt lame. But after an intense and short period of projects and meetings, I can finally breathe a sigh of relieve and say, it's week 12, happily! In my short time in SMU so far, every term just gets more interesting than the last. Being a sophomore is way cooler than being a freshman. Haha.

During the week, I sat through a very interesting presentation in one of my classes. It was about why some cultures are more open to pre-marital sex. The group presenting had some really interesting speakers! There was a charismatic American and two Indians. Naturally, they compared US and India and Scandinavia, dubbed as the sex city of the world. [NOT THAT Scandinavia is a city!]

I found one of their hypothesis regarding marrying age pretty interesting. Looking at average marrying ages, you can predict a pattern. Countries that experienced higher marrying ages were found to be more prone to practising casual/premarital sex. In the words of one of the Indian speakers, 'If you know you'll get married at like 23, and you're 17, hey, why not just wait another 5 or 6 years and then you can get sex. But if you know you'll get married in 15 years at the age of 33 to 35, you'll be like, why wait? Just experience it now while I'm 17.' I found this particular argument pretty convincing. Don't you?

In any case, the Bible has very clear commands concerning sex outside marriage. No doing IT, and why not? In Joshua Harris' Boy Meets Girl, he explains that God has such a rule not because he's legalistic. Rather he loves us so much and wants the best for us. The best sex is therefore one that is within marriage. :)

Michael Jackson's This is It

I've read so many reviews of This Is It that I don't know what to blog without sounding original. So many people are criticizing the intention of the movie, why can't they see it as a movie of 'what might have been'? As you all know, This Is It is a movie quilt made from 100 hours of video footage of his concert rehearsals. A few things that struck me. First, MJ's really really thin. You never see him in anything less than long sleeves. I'm not surprised, it would probably scare everyone. Secondly, he's such a perfectionist! He's got really sharp ears. Based on feel and intuition, he tells his musicians and dancers how he wants things done, every minute detail just has to FEEL RIGHT with him. One of the musicians said, in an interview, that you can't fool Michael. It's pretty scary working with someone like that huh. (I'm thinking of all the times I try to smoke my way through in choir...)

Thirdly, his voice is no longer at its peak. THAT IS NOT TO SAY he doesn't sound good. No, he still sounds really good, at some points, I could feel the hairs on my arms stand. But, his voice is just not as zai as the one I hear in my iTunes. THEN AGAIN, it's not easy to sing live as compared to a recording.

I left the cinema knowing that MJ was a genius power packed with talent. He was simply oozing with talent. It's kinda scary how someone could be that good. Well, where more is given, more is expected too.

You should watch This Is It. Watch it with the question, 'so what was he like in the months before his premature death?' If you watch it to be entertained, well you'd be entertain except that your money would be more well-spent in some action movie.