29th SEA Games Kuala Lumpur 2017 opens with surprisingly good opening ceremony!

The 29th South East Asian (SEA) Games Kuala Lumpur 2017 has officially opened with a magnificent opening ceremony held just now in Bukit Jalil National Stadium. I am not in Malaysia but I am glad to be able to watch the ceremony live just now from YouTube. It began on 8.17pm (20:17 time for this year of 2017). I didn’t have high expectation of the ceremony, as you know, it is Malaysia. I remembered that our opening ceremony for 1998 Commonwealth Games was nothing exciting and I don’t even remember a single moment from the ceremony in 2001 when we last hosted this SEA Games.

Then, I am left surprised. The opening ceremony just now was actually good. Not to the point that it was incredible or out of this world, but it is still a great show. We of course cannot compare this to Olympic-level ceremonies. This is considered breathtaking at SEA Games level. The ceremony is short (just two hours) and I’m fine with it. The official speeches were short (good too). The first half of the ceremony is dedicated for all the official procedures like flags parade, athletes parade, and oaths taking. Then, came the second part that I’m looking forward to which is the performance segment.

I’m surprised that the role of the creative director is given to a Chinese this time. Cool. That’s a wise decision. I’m not intending to be racist here but giving major role to a Chinese in Malaysia is a very seldom occasion. Give us a chance and we will deliver. And he (forgot his name) delivered. I’m amazed by his ability to combine the traditional shows with contemporary elements for the performances. It’s hard to do that and he accomplished it. I can still experience the unique diversity of Malaysia (and ASEAN overall) through traditional dances and outfits, but at the same time, listening to vibrant modern music and seeing high-tech colourful lighting and projection all around. The choreography and synchronisation aren’t at the best but the effort is there. The presentation appeared to be like a mess for a time but overall, the energy was there.

Before watching the show, I have fear that the ceremony will be overwhelmed with very traditional dances and songs. I’m now certainly in relief. The songs during the performance are also great and complements to the energetic atmosphere of the almost fully-packed stadium. As for the stadium, I love the newly refurbished stadium. It looks awesome with the new skin cladding and modern LED lights. A major disappointment of the ceremony would be the cauldron. It’s just a huge chunk of cylinder mimicking ‘oil lamp’ (the broadcaster said so). That part is supposed to be intense and exciting. The end result is not. Lack of effort on this crucial part of the ceremony. And I don’t even know the last torch bearer. Apology but who is she? The last torch bearer is supposed to be someone who is the most excellent in world sports. By the way, where is our beloved Datuk Lee Chong Wei? He is not appearing at all in this ceremony. He is the best choice for that spot.

Last but not least, the concluding fireworks is awesome although I wish for more. Generally, the ceremony is great and is a good effort but it lacks ‘wow’ moment. There literally isn’t any ‘wow’ moment in the show. All the ‘suspended in the air’ show in the ceremony fall short of excitement too. The idea of having LED lights installed at the side of audiences’ seats reminds me of the same situation for London 2012 ceremonies. Well, I’m fine for this idea to be reused again to make the show better. Now, the games begin and we will see if Malaysia could reach its target by winning over 111 golds and topping the medal tally. The games will end with a closing ceremony on 30th August 2017, which is coincidentally the eve of the country’s 60th anniversary of independence celebration.

(Images in this post are from The Star Online and YouTube screenshots)

Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games begins this Saturday.

My home capital, Kuala Lumpur will be hosting the 29th Southeast Asian Games beginning this Saturday. This biennial event will take place from 19th to 30th August 2017 and will see participation of 11 countries in the South East Asia region. This will be Kuala Lumpur’s 6th time in hosting the games. Its last edition here in KL was way back in 2001. There will be 404 events in 38 sports in this games including the first ever winter-sport (ice skating) events included in SEA Games history.

In preparation of the games, the old sports complex in Bukit Jalil went through a major refurbishment and rebranded as KL Sports City. The sports complex was previously built to host the 1998 Commonwealth Games. That was almost 20 years ago and many areas and venues in the complex were in serious need of upgrade works. And they are now all done for the coming SEA Games. One of the major upgrades is the addition of a skin system to the present Bukit Jalil Outdoor National Stadium. Well, it looks good on the stadium with the LED colour-changing lights on it.

Malaysia hopes to be the top of the medal ranking at the end of the games. This is expected since we are the host nation and there would be advantages on our side as usual. However, in my opinion, reaching the top at this games means nothing. It is just a small regional event. Malaysia shall aim higher by targeting to reach top 10 in future Asian Games (we are placed at 14th place in Incheon 2014 with 5 golds, 14 silvers and 14 bronzes) or even top 30 in future Olympic Games (we are placed at 60th place in Rio 2016 with 4 silvers and 1 bronze…haiz, 4 silvers and not even 1 gold…sad). Opps…we have not even won a single gold medal in the Olympics yet. We are basically weak in most of the sports. Even our performance in badminton (our most popular and considered to be our best shot for medals) keep on dropping in these recent years. We should look up to China on how they train their athletes. They are crazily strong in almost all sports now.

On the other hand, Malaysia should consider strongly to bid for bigger games in the future such as the Asian Games. I remember Thailand had hosted it for many times and we have not even hosted it once. We should bid for Asian Games. I think we have all the necessary stuff needed to host the games. Aim higher. We do not even need to spend much on building new infrastructures as we already have most of them. So why not? It will not cost much and by hosting bigger-scale games, our unity spirit and international recognition will rise. Wait…how about hosting the Olympics? Wow…this dream is way too far. It is still possible if Malaysia and Singapore work together for a joint bid. But for now, we should set our eyes on bidding for Asian Games first. Oh no…we have to wait to bid for the 2030 Asian Games. The host for 2018, 2022 and 2026 games have already been decided earlier. Year 2030…hmm…I will turn 39 years old by then.

Anyway, back to this coming SEA Games. I will still wish for the best for the Malaysian athletes! I have no doubt we will get No.1 in this games in overall medal tally. Let just see this as a warm up for much bigger games ahead. Malaysia Boleh! I hope the country will be doing something cool for the opening ceremony this Saturday! Perhaps matching the quality of the opening ceremonies in Olympic Games. I doubt it.

(Images and video in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

Review for TVB drama ‘Bet Hur’ (2017)

‘Bet Hur’ (賭城群英會) is a TVB drama directed by famous film director, Wong Jing that revolves on revenge started from a lost in a gambling match between two masters. The revenge continues to the younger generations. The drama is categorized as a gambling drama but gambling is only present on the first and the last episode of the whole 35-episodes series. I was very excited for this drama back then because it is a huge production drama and it has a great cast including those we have long not seen in television before such as Patrick Tse, Nat Chan, and Monica Chan. The drama also starred Kenneth Ma, Charmaine Sheh, Raymond Wong, Samantha Ko, Dominic Ho, Carlo Ng, Joseph Lee, Connie Man, Matt Yeung, Louisa Mak, etc.

What do I think of the drama? One word: Lousy! The drama’s title itself gives a huge false impression. It is so misleading. I am expecting a drama filled with intense gambling, dramatic action scenes and suspenseful plots. I ended up seeing a drama with extremely poor story, illogical plot that doesn’t flow cohesively, and emphasizes more on boring love storyline. I can only see gambling on the first and the last episodes of the drama. That’s it. No thrilling actions or plots going in between. The huge amount of time given to develop the romantic relationship between Dominic Ho and the other two girls is so unnecessary and irrelevant to the whole story. Even the love storyline between Kenneth Ma and Charmaine Sheh is not developed to that level. Everything is not balanced.

The presence of heavyweight cast in this series is a total missed opportunity. They are some great scenes for them to showcase their acting (especially some explosive or death scenes) but they are not enough to save the whole drama. It is a waste to their talents. Nevertheless, Kenneth Ma do has one scene that is amazing but that doesn’t help to push him for any award recognition this year. The old veteran that acted as the nemesis of Patrick Tse in the drama is very poor on voicing out his lines. I always cannot hear what he said. Patrick looks cool at his age but his role is so ’empty’. Nat Chan and Monica Chan couldn’t act and shouldn’t be here at all. Louisa Mak, a newbie actress, performed badly but can be forgiven since this is her first time acting. Her crying (Nat Chan’s crying too) scenes in this drama are awful. Raymond Wong and Connie Man’s characters are very minor and it makes me feel as though they are added to the story just to join in the fun.

I can literally call this drama a rubbish. There is literally nothing going on for almost 30 episodes of the drama. And as the drama nears its ending, the scriptwriter decided to kill as many characters as he/she wants. So many deaths, and surprisingly, I’m not feeling anything. The whole story is badly written. And how about the conclusion? Another bad conclusion. Kenneth’s character has to have evil intentions and has to kill innocent people to win in the end. And he is not going to jail for that? Hmm…that is sending out a bad message to audiences. Charmaine’s character made a good decision to leave him. The only happy thing is at least that the whole bad family is now gone, and the scriptwriter decided to stress on that again and again in the last episode. That is so not necessary.

Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Bet Hur’ a total of 5.0. Out of that 5, 3 points are for the stars and 2 points are for the production effort. No point at all for the story. It’s a total crap. Very disappointed with this series. Let’s get this series out of the mind and I now look forward to the next TVB drama ‘The Unholy Alliance’.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

 

Movie review for ’47 Meters Down’ and ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ (2017)

It has been so chilly in these few days in Perth. Perth city recorded only 1.7 degree celsius early this morning. It almost nears the freezing point. The worst thing is I think that the heater in my room is not working well. There is not much heat radiating out from it. Please don’t be down. I need you for the rest of the winter. You are super crucial to someone like me who enjoy being in warm rather than in cold weather like this.

Alright. Back to my blog’s topic. I have watched two new movies in my first few days here in Perth. They are ’47 Meters Down’ and ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’. Here’s below are my quick reviews of them.

’47 Meters Down’ is a survival horror film about two sisters who go on a holiday in Mexico and are invited to cage dive and see sharks up close. The cable holding the cage breaks and it plummets 47 metres down to the ocean floor, trapping both of them. Then, you know the story…they have to find a way to escape with their air supplies running low and the great white sharks stalking around. It’s basically another shark movie.

They are a lot of bad shark movies out there but not this one. It has a good plot and I particularly amazed by a twist of the story in the end that kept me surprised. I didn’t expect there is such a ‘shocker’ in this kind of monster movie besides than the typical jump-scare moments when the shark suddenly appears. The two female leads in this movie are doing good without any exaggerated performance. The movie did deliver by giving us realistic picture that kept me to the edge of my seats. The direction this particular movie is going is different with the typical shark attack movie. The only minor issue is that the cage and the failed cable really looks too crappy. Once I saw them on the first time, I wouldn’t want to get into that cage straight away. Out of 10 points, I rate ’47 Meters Down’ a total of 7.2.

‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ is the third and final installment of the ‘Planet of the Apes’ reboot series. If you do not remember much from the first two movies, don’t worry. This movie starts with a brief summary of what happens in the first two movies. Here in this concluding chapter, Caesar leads a team of apes to confront human who started the war against their species.

The movie is quite long (over 2 hours) and can be shortened by reducing the amount of time spent on watching Woody Harrelson staring very long on Caesar in many scenes. Other than that, this movie has absolutely no negative things for me to comment on. The CGI is extremely great as the apes look very realistic. The background or setting views are amazing too. Groundbreaking visual effects. Andy Serkis gave another tremendous performance portraying as Caesar, the ape that serves as the leader of its species. You can felt his sadness, his anger, his happiness, his power, his toughness, his anxious, and his care all from his facial expression. Another excellent job the movie did is touching on the relationship between human and apes, and the messages delivered out from it are exceptional and moving. There is no point for seeing which species is stronger; ape or human. In the end, mother nature overwhelms. That is reflected through the ending of the movie. The movie goes deep to the messages it wanted to deliver and succeed also by its great actions, emotional parts and engaging storyline. There are also some unexpected funny scenes in this movie, mainly due to one ape that even wears winter clothing to join Caesar. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ a total of 8.2. I think this is the second movie of the year so far that I have given over 8 point in the rating. What an epic conclusion to this reboot trilogy.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Perth greeted me with extreme cold!

I safely landed on Perth early this morning! Went straight to home and have a nap till afternoon to recover on the sleepless night I had in the plane. Woke up and went immediately for a quick essential grocery shopping before going to the first class of the semester on 4pm. As soon as I landed on Perth, I felt the cold deep to my bones! It was a huge transition from the very hot climate in Malaysia to the wet winter in Australia now.

I’m back to this beautiful small city of Perth, Western Australia. (Picture above from: http://www.visitperthcity.com)

The highest temperature today is about 12 degree celsius. It may not sound very cold for you, but it is for me. My body is shaking and I can the air I breathe out in the evening. Continuous rain and strong wind for the whole day today makes it almost unbearable for me. If not for the class to attend, I would not want to step out of my house at all. The class is over after 2 hours, had a nice dinner and great catch-up with my classmates and now I’m back to my room with my heater on. That’s the most comfy thing ever for today. Ahh…also the hot shower I took just now too.

The first class was fun with great lecturers and classmates. It’s my first class of the semester on the last day of the month. It will be August tomorrow. A 2-hours workshop once every week (that’s the only class for us this semester) and some fun-looking assignments that will get us prepared to enter the working industry soon after we graduate. This unit is like a ‘side dish’ to the thesis (full meal) that will complete the semester as well as the whole course.

So, let the countdown begins. 4 more months for me to endure to finish this postgraduate study. 4 more months to end my journey in education. I have no plan to go for PhD which is not necessary unless you want to be a very theoretical-based professor/lecturer in the future. 4 more months before going to the full ‘working’ mode. 4 more months before I can no longer call myself as a student (to enjoy all the student benefits) eventhough many would still mistaken me as a young school kid. It will be my last critical mission of the year. Finish the course with hopefully good results.

Last day in Malaysia and semester starts tomorrow.

My holiday has officially come to an end. This mid-year break that last for about a month is over. Today is my last day in Malaysia before flying back to Australia tonight. My very final semester starts tomorrow with a class in the late afternoon. I only have a single class session for this semester but never ever think that I’m very free. Most of my time will be spent on the thesis and I think I will be very busy for the entire semester till the very completion and final presentation of my thesis.

I don’t know why but this time, I have a strong feeling of not wanting to leave Malaysia. I’m like a little kid who doesn’t want to go to school. Haha…it’s weird. This emotion is not that strong in the previous occasions. I think it may be due to this holiday being too short and I certainly have had not enough of it. On top of that, I’m also pre-occupied with many stuff to do during this break. I also couldn’t accomplish certain tasks that I promised to do during this break before it begins. What a failure…but whatever!

I didn’t expect there is an orientation session for final year student last Friday. I’m still in Malaysia and so I skipped that. I would get the information from my friends but I still think I may have missed certain crucial information. Once I’m back to Perth, I have only a short period of time to prepare the works required for my thesis’ progress. Stress arriving even in the first week of the semester already. What a life! Fortunately, I only have two units this semester; one is the thesis project and another one is the Professional Practice 2. Once I’m done with them, I’m officially done with this Master of Architecture programme! Can’t wait for that!

By the way, I noticed that I watched significantly lesser number of movies this year. I think that’s because I have to allocate more time on my final year of study and also that I don’t have the urge to watch more movies this year. However, I do watched more Hong Kong television series this year. Right now, I’m catching up to two series concurrently. Well, now I know the reason where my time goes to…not for concentration into my study as claimed before. Haha. They are considered my only way for entertainment during this coming period of time that is expected to be stressful. Alright…time to pack my luggage and get ready to the airport. Bye…

Movie review for ‘Baby Driver’, ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’ (2017).

I spent this last week of my holiday intensely catching up to some new movies. They are ‘Baby Driver’, ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’. Each of them has been receiving critical acclaim and obtained over 90% rating in Rotten Tomatoes. They are good films, but in my personal opinion, I don’t really think that they are exceptional to that point of acclaim that they received right now. Check my review below to find out why. By the way, I look forward to watch ‘Baby Driver’ because the star even came to Malaysia recently to promote this movie. I wish to watch ‘Dunkirk’ because it is directed by Christopher Nolan. Enough said. And lastly, I go for ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’ because I wouldn’t want to miss a single Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film.

‘Baby Driver’ follows a young getaway driver named ‘Baby’ who is coerced into working for a crime boss in multiple missions. In the process, he never intend to hurt anyone that are innocent and also felt in love with a waitress. The film starred Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, etc. What’s unique of this film is the catchy and continuous music acting as the background score for the movie in almost its entire run. Some actions in the movie also follow with the rhythm of the background music. Great choreography in there. The car chasing scene at the very beginning of the film is also engaging and intense. However, as the story progresses, things start to get slow and boring. There isn’t much development to Baby’s illness in relation to his mother’s death. I can’t felt the progressing love between Baby and Debora. And things don’t match up logically in the end. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Baby Driver’ a total of 7.0 only. I thought I would be impressed looking at all the positive reception the movie has received. But I am left disappointed. Some people said this movie is a mix between ‘La La Land’ and ‘Fast and Furious’ and the outcome is much better. I don’t think so. It is just an ordinary film being over-hyped by its extreme dependence on the music.

Next up is another movie that is also highly dependent on the music to set the mood. It is a war film called ‘Dunkirk’. The movie follows the historical real event, the Dunkirk evacuation. It emphasizes on the evacuation of British soldiers to home away from the German armies during a fierce battle in World War II. The film starred Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, etc. What’s unique of this film is that it is told from three perspectives – the land (1 week), the sea (1 day) and the air (1 hour) and that the movie has very little dialogue with suspense created solely through details. Craftmanship is excellent and is expected as it is directed by Christopher Nolan. The acting by the cast are generally good. The music is loud, heavy and successfully sets the mood eventhough nothing much is really happening throughout the movie. Yes, that’s a problem; nothing much is really happening. The movie lacks drama and actions that a war film should deliver. The music (score) is overused. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Dunkirk’ a total of 7.2. For me, it’s not an excellent war film, which is contradictory to some people who claimed that this is one of the best war films ever made. This movie made me to somehow miss ‘Pearl Harbor’ and even the recent ‘Hacksaw Ridge’. They are much more moving and engaging. This ‘Dunkirk’ didn’t hit to me.

The last movie to review here is ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’. This is the second reboot for this superhero. First is Tobey Maguire, then comes Andrew Garfield for the not so successful reboot. And now, the Spider-man joins back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Tom Holland taking on the titular role. I admired his performance few years ago in ‘The Impossible’, a tsunami movie that also starred Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.  However, I still find that he is too young for the role. Well, that is what Marvel wanted in their future direction of their movies…and so I couldn’t say anything more. This movie revolves on Peter Parker (obviously since he is the Spider-man) who tries to balance his high-school life with being a superhero, while facing the Vulture (villain whom is on a suit with mechanical wings). Besides Tom Holland, the movie starred Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, etc. It is a fresh new way to see Spider-man now as he is now still a teenager with many awkward yet hilarious teen issues. The Iron Man here is like a mentor to this young Spidey boy after getting him to the Avengers team in the last ‘Captain America: Civil War’ movie. On the other hand, Michael Keaton is the Vulture. He is a bit too old for this role and I find that he always get the role that is associated with wings (he has acted as Batman, Birdman, and now as Vulture). The actions are cool but nothing spectacular. For me, I still think that the first three Spiderman movies with Tobey Maguire are the best. Anyway, this ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’ is still a fun movie to watch. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’ a total of 7.4.

I thought I would give them over 8 points respectively but I couldn’t. They couldn’t even get past 7.5 from me. I don’t know why the critics nowadays are suddenly so flexible and soft. By the way, I watched the recent leaked trailer for the upcoming ‘Avengers; Infinity War’ (set to be released next year) and I’m so excited for it. Thanos, the big evil boss is finally out to take on all the Avengers! Marvel, please release the clear version of the trailer very soon!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)