Wise Words

Right down the line
Its been you and me

And lovin a music man
Aint always what its supposed to be

-Steve Perry

More than a War Movie

I just watched Flags Of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood. It's a recently released film, showing the story of the flag raisers at Iwo Jima for WWII, and how the American govt used, no, exploited the flag raisers to promote a money drive for the war effort.

But you probably already know that.

This is not just a typical war movie. It's not some war movie based on fictional characters, fighting against stereotyped bad guys and saving the world, becoming heroes in the meantime. It's also not just about how a picture about a flag being raised swung the war to the American's side. It's about soldiers who never saw themselves as heroes but thrown into the spotlight nevertheless to serve a 'higher purpose'.

Now, some of my friends who watched it do call it a little boring at times, or perhaps irritated by the constant flashbacks, certainly a unconventional portrayal of war movies. But they all agreed at least, that it was a meaningful show. The switching scenes of the 3 men in the battlefield juxtaposed with their shoulder bumping with the D.C. bigwigs back home, only serves to highlight the superficial packaging of the war to the American public, and how everything seems to be a show rather than what war really is -- a passage of excessive horror.

And the one scene, where Bradley drove past a limping and exhausted Ira Hayes, was so symbolic, no? (I suppose ever since I got into Film class I've been taking a different approach towards movies) It does seem that Eastwood was making an anti-war statement, however, I leave that up to you to decide for yourself.

What got me thinking, is something which I've already knew, was that the fact that the rifleman on the ground fighting the war, was only fighting because of his fellow men beside him. Because the person next to him was willing to give up his life for him, and vice versa. Band of Brothers drove home that point to me. And it got me thinking, because in the world today, with information being so widely accessible, should the riflemen know the real agenda behind their govt's decision for war, would they still have fought, or would they have deserted?

Imagine in Roman Antiquity, when civil war broke out. I personally don't think the foot soldiers knew what the Republic really represented. Were they fighting for the Republic, or a new era under the Empire? No, in all probabilty, they were fighting for their general, and their fellow legionnaire beside him, for promises of fertile lands and pillaging of provinces. Or going even further back, (even if a myth), would the Spartans have invaded Troy if they knew it was because their bum of a king lost his wife to a pretty boy Trojan?

So what are today's soliders fighting for?

To protect their country? To protect the entire world? For democracy? For their religion? For $? How much of their own beliefs are actually aligned to that of their government's?

What are you fighting for?

This film turns out to be more provoking than I thought. If you want to be entertained, go catch a Jackie Chan or a Owen Wilson. If you rather watch a docu-film, or a war movie, this movie is a must catch.

Eastwood, to his credit, has not only made this film from the American perspective. He made a complementary film called Letters from Iwo Jima, showing the war from the Japanses perspective. It's in Jap of course. And I'm in anticipation of it. Perhaps after watching Flags, you will too.

Photos !

Heh better post up some pics before I forget!

Snow in London! One fine morning I woke up and there was snow! quite rare. This would be the 1st of 2 times I seen it in London thus far...

Snow in London

Paris -- Went there with Teresa for a weekend getaway. Did the touristy route with Lourve and Eiffel and Arc etc ... then we ended up just walking the streets of Paris and soaking up the atmosphere. Really nice place =)

Paris Feb 07

Arsenal VS Cardiff City (FA Cup Youth Q/F)
Final score Arsenal 3 Cardiff 2
Cost to watch: 3 pounds only! heh.
Went with Lap and Alex... really worth the $. Sure I dont get to see the big names like Henry but the youths are no pushovers either. Fran Merida perhaps? Enjoyed myself throughly!

emirates

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

hello everybody!

Just here to say Happy CNY to everyone. Gong Xi Fa Cai and Wan Shi Ru Yi.

been quite a bz week leading up to the CNY... 1st with Hwa Chong night last Saturday at Marriott which was quite a blast, for I met up with quite some old friends and was reminded of many JC fond memories... then the hall's CNY meal on Monday where we got catered food from a chinese restaurant. Then V-day next on Wednesday, had yummy seafood at Back to Basics with the girl. Singsoc also organised on Thurs a CNY dinner at this chinese restaurant called Harbour City where the Singaporeans took up 2 storeys of the entire restaurant. Wow.

And then there was today, where the Singaporeans of Evelyn Gardens and Friends came upon our not quite humble common room and had a smashing time steamboating. Me for one is a steamboat guy la... Miss it so much from home. Too much food today heh, but I'm sure all of us had our pick of nice foods, be it Kenneth's spring rolls, the collaborated wantons, or Cheryl's delicious desserts. Had a mini drinking session later where we played Avalanche again heh, and realised its nothing more than just an excuse to finish a liqour drink. (Drink! awww... drink one !) Never really had much alcohol during CNYs to be honest, other than beer at relative's places. Blackjack game never came to fruition, and not even Hold'em. oh wells. can't recover the mj losses from the previous night then.

Called home earlier just now, such a joy to hear the family's voices even though its just for 3 mins and hearing all the wake-up grogginess of everyone. Of course a little homesickly (who wouldn't on CNY?), but generally the pple around me, esp Tere, have been making it really comfy & homely here. Guess at the end of the day, we've all gotta cherish the times we have with our loved ones, whether it be family or friends, rather then miss the times with regret once we're not with them.

Still having said that, it's so heartwarming to be in amongst so many Singaporeans on such an occasion, and I'm thankful for everyone who made it a quite simple and successful affair. I'm sure we all had fun heh =)

And oh yeah, of course, there was the little thing of 2 men running around topless at Evelyn Gardens, but I suppose that's a post for another time ....

Space Oddity Animation

Suddenly thought of this song by David Bowie, one of my all time favs. I remember seeing this animation once about a year back, and I wasn't feeling too good that day, but this vid certainly cheered me up. There's something about Bowie...

Here's the link, Enjoy!

Martin Scorsese's Sesame Streets

As a follow up to Ducktales Heat, I chanced upon this spoof of Martin Scorsese's shows, using De Niro's voices (in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Godfather etc), and incoporating Sesame Street characters. heh.

Profanity abound, and even though sometimes the syncing seems a bit off, at least compared to Ducktales, it's still not a bad effort. Quite cool la.

Enjoy



Martin Scorsese's Sesame Street

A halftime rock show to remember

Hey! Back from Paris, such a lovely city =)

Anyways, Super Bowl's over, and with quite a rousing halftime show, I think it should be shared as much as possible among friends! Here we go, Prince (or the Artist Formerly Known as a Symbol), doing old school covers (Dylan, CCR, even Foo Fighters), and of course his signature hit, Purple Rain.

And dare I say, what a rockish-chic outfit heh. He could just well be the next Hendrix?? oh well.

Prince's Super Bowl 2007 Halftime Performance

Getaway!

Off to Paris, till tuesday!

Au revoir =)

Ducktales Heat

While, doing some random youtube surfing, I caught onto this.

The maker of this vid used the trailer for the 1995 film Heat starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and used Ducktales characters to 'lip-synch' the actors! I thought it to be quite brilliant. and yeah, I do remember that ducktales episode (or is it movie??) hah.

Enjoy

Ducktales Heat