In between inspired and stressed.

It’s half past 10 o’clock in the evening and I saw one of my housemates brushing his teeth and get ready for his sleep. I then proceed to my room to continue on my assignments. Sleeping at 11pm is an impossible mission for an architecture student. Even when you found the opportunity to sleep around that time, you will still end up not able to fall asleep due to that worried feeling lingering in your brain about that many more things needed to be done after this.

Recently, I put a lot of effort on preparing for my thesis project next semester. Our supervisor has been great to me and my other two peers by inviting a former student to present his last year’s thesis work to us recently. It is a benchmark to us as the student scored a ridiculous 95% for his thesis. He did enormous quantity of works on his thesis and his effort paid off. I saw that as both an inspiration as well as a pressure for me even by this semester already as our thesis has actually started with this preparation unit this semester. I felt like I have done insufficient work. I really need to work a lot on it.

This is the time when I have to get a lot of things done before the end of semester next month. In about a month from now, I would be flying back to Malaysia for my semester break and to conduct my site analysis for my thesis project next semester. My dad also told me that I would be able to eat durian this year when I’m returning next month since I skipped the durian season last year as I didn’t go back home last year during the mid-year break. I can’t wait to taste one of my most favourite fruits! And can’t wait to return to KL to look at the twin towers.

There is a joyful news in this busy time. I recently received a letter of commendation from the school that praises my outstanding achievement on my previous semester last year. I also did receive a similar letter for my first semester. Now, I’m hoping that I can consistently producing similar result in both this semester and the next one which is the crucial final semester. This, similarly to the recent presentation of past year’s impressive thesis works, have given me both motivation and pressure. It’s up to me to decide on which part should I look forward to. I guess I have to be positive, and goes with the motivation.

 

One submission done, five more to go. And this is my blog’s 1888th post.

Huh…what a sign of relief. I have completed my Interim Dissertation Proposal two hours before being issued with a late submission. One submission is over, but I have five more in a row to go before I can fully immerse myself into another break. Five more! That’s a lot. Finish all of them and that would be the end of my second last semester. And I’m flying back to Malaysia on this mid-year break as I have nothing to do in Perth during the winter break and that I have to work on my site analysis in Malaysia for my thesis in the next semester. Hence, I take even this semester’s thesis preparation unit quite seriously. Dissertation is the one that will significantly impact a student’s achievement whether he or she will be graduating with flying colours.

I think I have not been posting any movie review recently. That’s because I’m very busy with my assignments and don’t have the time to watch some new films. Anyway, I did manage to watch one new movie last week and that is ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume II’. I didn’t much things to talk about this movie. It follows the similar fun and colourful approach of its predecessor and I enjoyed it. I have to watch it because I would not want to miss any Marvel films right now that will eventually all lead to the Avengers: Infinity Wars. Chris Pratt is as usual awesome as the Star Lord, but it is the animated Baby Groot that stole the show for its cuteness. And his voice is provided by Vin Diesel. That is very unexpected.

This movie is achieving great result in worldwide box office and could be the next movie of the year to gross over US$ 1 billion after ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Fate of the Furious’. I would rate ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume II’ a total of 7.2. One fun facts of this movie is that it has 5 post-credit scenes. That is ridiculous. Also a big news for Malaysians as we got to see our popular Michelle Yeoh (Malaysian actress) in the post-credit scenes.

Recently, there is this MTV Movie and TV Awards 2017. It’s a not so important award ceremony for Hollywood but I read news that ‘Beauty and the Beast’ won the Film of the Year. Congratulation to this live-action remake for winning also for the Best Actor (genderless) of the year to Emma Watson as Belle in the movie. I like Emma Watson (she is so pretty) but her acting is just average in that movie. Well, this awards is based on popularity and hence there is not much surprise that she is winning. The movie is also currently the highest grossing film of the year but it will be surpassed by ‘The Fate of the Furious’ very soon. Haha…the trophy for this awards is in the form of a bucket with golden popcorn.

Let’s move on to other issues. How about politics…It’s a major news now that the French presidential election was over recently and that a 40 years old man won the election and will be the next President of France. He is Emmanuel Macron. He defeated Marine Le Pen for the top position of the country. His principles are against the ones with extreme thoughts, and the French are against the anti-immigrant policies by Le Pen. Hence, Emmanuel Macron won the hearts of the people with a landslide victory. I think he is one of the youngest people in history to be the leader of France. His wife is many years older than him but I won’t go into his personal family issue. If he govern France well, then everyone will be fine and happy with him.

France made history! And my blog here also made a little history today as this is my 1888th blog post. 1888 = cool number there.

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

‘The Fate of the Furious’ becomes the 30th film in history to cross over US$ 1 billion in worldwide box office.

‘The Fate of the Furious’ is now officially the 30th film in history to gross over US$ 1 billion in worldwide box office. It is the second film in the ‘Fast and Furious’ film series to accomplish the milestone. The other film is  ‘Furious 7’ that has grossed a total of US$ 1.516 billion worldwide in 2015 which placed it as the world’s 6th highest grossing film. Gaining over US 1 billion in worldwide box office is a no easy feat. A movie has to be a super massive hit in theatres worldwide to join the billion dollar club. It is incredible to see that there are now a total of 30 films that have done that.

As of today, ‘The Fate of the Furious’ has earned US$ 193 million in domestic box office (North America) and US$ 868 million in foreign box office for a total of slightly over US$ 1 billion. Well, this is not the final box office intake yet at the movie is still in its wide release period. Hence, this movie is expected to earn about US$ 1.3 billion in the end. It will be slightly lower than the amount ‘Furious 7’ achieved due to the latter’s extreme popularity back in 2015 after the death of one of its main cast, Paul Walker. Anyway, it is still a huge box office success for this latest 8th installment of the film series. It is doing exceptionally well oversea. You can read my review of this movie in my previous blog post too. It is a good movie (has some crazy stunts as expected) but it is not as fantastic as ‘Furious 7’. I also read news that this film series will end with 10 films. Hence, two more to go. Would you believe it? I think after the 10th film, Hollywood will just replace all the cast and do some sort of spin-off or remake again, not in a single film but setting off another franchise again. Typical Hollywood pattern.

‘The Fate of the Furious’ is also the second movie this year to cross the milestone after ‘Beauty and the Beast’, the live-action remake of the animated classic of the same name in 1991. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ has now gained over US$ 1.1 billion and its box office intake is still not ending yet. Which movie do you think will be the next film of the year that will cross the 1-billion mark? I think ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume II’ has the potential to achieve that. It has already been released here in Australia but I don’t have the time and opportunity to watch it yet. Other potential films released later this year that will have a shot on 1-billion box office are Spiderman: Homecoming, Justice League, Transformers: The Last Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Despicable Me 3 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Unlike last year of which animated movies are doing exceptionally strong in worldwide box office (with 2 animated films grossing over 1 billion respectively), it is likely not the same case for this year. The only animated movie predicted to cross that mark is Despicable Me 3. This year, superhero movies are going to dominate cinemas worldwide. And of course, topping the chart for this year’s movies will be the Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It is almost a 100% confirmation that it will cross 1-billion mark and will go as far as above US$1.5 billion too. However, it is projected to be earning not as much as the Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015 which has earned US$ 2.068 billion.

That’s it for my box office analysis in this post.

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

Review for TVB drama ‘Mind Hunter’ (2017).

Ohh..we have come to the month of May 2017. One third of the year is gone. I have had a very imbalanced past four months. January and February have been a very free and easy months for me since I’m still enjoying my study break. Once my study commenced from March onward, it’s been a hell. I am freaking jealous of my housemates who can be very free and don’t have much to work on for their assignments. They always hang out and chill in the living area or even go out the whole day frequently. I wish my student’s life will be like that too. Too bad, an architecture student will never be able to enjoy to that extent.

Recently, I have finished watching a new TVB drama entitled ‘Mind Hunter’ (心理追兇) and is also called ‘My Dearly Sinful Mind’. It is a 28-episodes drama about a mentally ill psychologist who goes all out to investigate the death of his girlfriend of which he believes that it is not simply caused by just an accident. The drama starred Kenneth Ma, Sisley Choi, Pierre Ngo, Grace Wong, Vivien Yeo, Michelle Yim, Mat Yeung, Raymond Cho, etc.

I always have this mindset that TVB dramas that are released at this time of the year are usually not that good. But hey…this drama goes against my opinion. It is actually quite interesting and intense at some points, and I totally didn’t expect it. The reason I watch this drama is because I don’t feel like watching the one in the other time slot and that I also like most of the cast in this series. The psychological tricks by Grace Wong and later by Raymond Cho are thrilling to watch in this series. I also enjoyed the way they put in some side stories nicely in between to support the whole flow of the plot.

This is a drama that shows off how great the acting was done by the supporting cast. How about the leading cast? Nope. They (Kenneth and Sisley) delivered only average performance. Their roles in this drama are not impressive or challenging. I just don’t like seeing the scenes when Kenneth hallucinates of his late girlfriend in his home with the same song playing all the time. As for Sisley, she is just too small and too unnecessary for a presence here.

On the other hand, Grace Wong did exceptionally great for her evil role here. I am fascinated by how quick she can change her emotion and expression in several scenes. She had some stellar roles in recent year and she had won the Most Popular Female Character in TVB Anniversary Awards last year for her performance in ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’. Looks like there will be more awards for her soon. Pierre Ngo is great as the policeman who has psychological trouble with his leg and Mat Yeung is also excellent in portraying a character that has Asperger’s disease. The ending was also not bad and I’m thrilled to see Grace surrendering herself to the police in the end, right during the plan in killing her own brother who wanted to get rid of her earlier. What a scene. You will usually see bad people that doesn’t admit his or her fault or even want to walk near the police station. In this ending, Grace walks happily to the police station to surrender. The total opposite and that is cool. Kenneth’s ways of resolving the situations with ill intentions are not forgivable and hence his character attempts to commit suicide in the end. I think Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Mind Hunter’ a total of 7.5.

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

 

I.M. Pei, an architect who had just celebrated his 100th birthday.

I.M.Pei, a renowned Chinese-American architect has just turned 100 years old few days ago. A lot of major architecture websites do share news of his centenary birthday and a glimpse of his architectural projects under his career that spanned over six decades. He defied the typical saying that ‘architect do dies early due to the stress, heavy workload and constantly being all-nighter’.

Born on 26th April 1917 in Guangzhou, China, I.M.Pei moved to USA and studied architecture in University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Graduate School of Design. He was inspired by works by Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer during his years in architectural education. He was particular fascinated by modern architecture and International Style.

I.M.Pei’s design style is described as modernist with significant cubist themes. He is known for combining traditional architectural elements with progressive designs based on simple geometric patterns. He has designed over 70 projects across the world and has received multiple awards and honors such as the Pritzker Prize (known as Nobel Prize of architecture) in 1983, AIA Gold Medal in 1979, Royal Gold Medal in 2010, Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, etc.

Here below are 10 of his most iconic works:

131 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, USA (1949) – I.M.Pei’s first project.

Luce Memorial Chapel, Taichung, Taiwan (1963)

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, USA (1973)

OCBC Centre, Singapore (1976)

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, USA (1979)

Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, China (1989)

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, USA (1989)

Louvre Pyramid, Paris, France (1993)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, USA (1995)

Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar (2008)

Looking just at 10 of his works above, you will obviously notice that he applied strong geometrical shapes into his design. It has become his signature approach in architecture. He designed a variety of projects ranging from community centers to highrise towers. He is no doubt one of the greatest living architects of our generation.

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

And so, the two weeks of my holiday ends!

The holiday disappeared! I didn’t go out for any vacation and I didn’t have a single day totally dedicated to be off-assignment day. Two weeks of mid-semester break is gone just like that. What have I been doing the past two weeks? I have been working on my assignments and still they are not completely finished. There is actually a long way to go to have them finished. I’m also trying my very best to be productive during the break but I just can’t. I have to get my comfy sleep and I just can’t let those assignments to ruin my mood everyday. There will be a major design studio submission next Friday. Wish me luck…

I thought I would of at least watch three new movies in this holiday since I got some ‘so-called’ free time and there are quite a number of nice movies out now. However, I ended up to have watched only one; ‘The Fate of the Furious’. You can check out my review to this movie in my previous blog post. The movie set the record for the biggest opening weekend worldwide, beating the previous record holder, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. Now, it is on track to be the second movie of 2017 to gross over US$ 1 billion in worldwide box office, after ‘Beauty and the Beast’ which had just achieved that milestone not long ago. ‘The Fate of the Furious’ didn’t really perform that well in US but it did exceptionally well in all oversea markets.

During this holiday, I have been spending my time working on my assignments while listening to music. Those who are familiar with me will know that I like Sammi Cheng’s songs a lot. She is a Hong Kong singer and actress and she is famously called as Cantopop Diva due to her immense success in entertainment industry. Recently, I kept repeating this side-track song medley by her. I think it’s a collection of some of her unpopular songs she released many years ago. She has over 100 songs and so there are some that are not given the deserved attention inevitably. You can listen it below if you understand Cantonese. Even if you don’t, you can also just enjoy the melody that sounds very nice.

That’s it for my blog update. I have to get back to my ‘never-complete’ studio works.

Easter joy for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (2017) as the movie surpassed 1-billion dollar in worldwide box office. Also movie review for ‘The Fate of the Furious’ and ‘The Boss Baby’ (2017).

First of all, Happy Good Friday and Easter to those who are celebrating! This year’s Easter has been a joyous moment particularly for the movie ‘Beauty and the Beast’ as it has recently grossed over US$ 1 billion in worldwide box office. This live-action remake of the original 1991 animated movie that starred Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Stanley Tucci, Emma Thompson, etc has become the 29th film in history to cross over the 1-billion milestone. The movie has exceeded expectation in the box office and is also gaining positive reception from critics. It is the first 2017 film to cross that mark and soon, there will be another movie this year joining that prestigious list. And that will be ‘The Fate of the Furious’ which is the 8th film in the popular ‘Fast and Furious’ film series. Besides than being currently the highest grossing film of the year, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ also accomplished another record by being the highest grossing live-action musical film ever.

‘The Fate of the Furious’ sees the return of original cast as well as some new members. This movie reminded me again of the death of Paul Walker several years ago, an actor who has been crucial in this film series but died in a car accident. The previous ‘Furious 7’ film concluded with high note and touching ending and is the first of the film series to gain over US$ 1 billion in worldwide box office. Hence, I’m expecting this 8th film to cross that milestone too. Back to this latest movie. It tells about an arrival of a mysterious woman who seduces Dom (Vin Diesel) into the world of terrorism and a betrayal to those closest to him. The movie starred Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Charlize Theron, Luke Evans, etc.

Similarly to the previous movie, this film delivered with some intense, over the top and exhilarating action scenes in a scale that no one has foreseen. Cars raining down to the street and a huge submarine chasing a group of cars and a tank. This film series started with some humble car racing moments to extensive gun fights and attacks of high proportion we saw in recent movies. It is going big. Despite it is already being the 8th film, I find every film has its refreshing storyline and different outtake on its action sequences. I also noticed that Hollywood takes on this approach to find Oscar-winning cool-looking actresses to portray villain in big-budget movies nowadays. Charlize Theron as the villain in this movie and then soon Cate Blanchett will be the villain in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ which will be coming out end of this year. There are some hilarious parts to balance things out (and also some adorable moments from a baby). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Fate of the Furious’ a total of 7.6.

Recently, I also watched another much relaxing movie called ‘The Boss Baby’. It is an animated movie about a suit-wearing briefcase-carrying baby who pairs up with his seven-year old brother to stop the dastardly plot of the CEO of Puppy Corporation. It’s funny to see a baby with an adult mindset on a serious mission to stop an evil plot, and he is joined by a brother who wanted him to be out of the family due to diversion of his parents’ attention to the baby. The movie is highly entertaining. Certain flaws and plot-holes in this movie are forgivable too. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Boss Baby’ a total of 7.0.

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