Movie review for ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ and ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ (2015)

When there is haze out there, everyone prefer to stay indoor. Now everyone is happy that the haze is no more due to the change in wind direction and frequent downpour in recent days. No more haze but comes the rain. Still not a good environment to hang out since the floors are all wet and traffic congestion are more serious during rain. So, whatever happening outside, I would still choose to stay indoor preferably. And my time in my home would be dedicated to movies as usual. This week, I watched two more movies, and they are both action films.

First is ‘Hitman: Agent 47’. It tells about an assassin who teams up with a woman to help her find her father. Her father is the only scientist successful on enhancing strength, intelligence and reflexes to human but with side effect; inability to feel emotions like pain, guilt, fear and love. Being wanted by a criminal organization to create more of these humans, the assassin named Agent 47 must help the woman to find her father first. The film starred Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto, Ciaran Hinds, Thomas Kretschmann, Angelababy, etc. Yes…Hong Kong’s Angelababy is here for a minor role. Another attempt to simply put a Chinese celebrity into a Hollywood movie for the so-called objective of reaching out to Chinese audiences. Hmm…The film is also partly shot in Singapore.

The film is generally okay. It comes with extremely fast-paced action sequences which are good as expected. However, the film lacks something that I don’t know how to describe. I’m quite entertained with the actions and the performances by the cast, but that’s it. Nothing more. It still feels empty somewhere maybe due to non-surprising plot, insufficient characters’ development, and not much up and down going on possibly. Anyway, I still have fun watching it, but perhaps after a month or two, I would forget most parts of this movie. Nothing special, nothing extraordinary…just a typical fun action movie that is good to get over my Monday and Tuesday nights. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ a total of 7.0.

Next up is another action movie, ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’. U.N.C.L.E. here means United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Well, this is not important as it is only revealed to us by the end of the movie. The film starred Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, etc. Sets in the early 1960s, American agent Napoleon Solo and Russian agent Illya Kuryakin participate in a joint mission against a mysterious criminal organization, which is working to proliferate nuclear weapons. They worked with a woman whom her father is a scientist and is forced to create nuclear weapon for the criminal organization.  Somehow, I find that this plot is a bit identical to ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ that I have finished writing about. It’s about working with the daughter of a scientist again. Same approach. Hollywood is running out of ideas again.

However, ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ stood out than the former because the way the scenes are presented is slightly more interesting. Eventhough this film comes with lesser action sequences compared to Hitman, but it delivered on a nicely developed story accompanied with some great hilarious moments which you wouldn’t expect from the combination of Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, the two very bulky, strong and serious-looking men. How can you believe that they are good in delivering funny scenes too, not from awkward or exaggerated gestures, but from brilliant dialogues and tiny expressions between their interaction in this movie. The musical scores are also catchy and nicely done. This movie is a solid one that does not depend mostly on actions but rather on the way of presentation to get the audiences’ attention till the end of the story. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ a total of 7.4. If both of these two movies that I have watched this week have their sequel, then I would be more anticipated for ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’s sequel. That’s the difference.

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

‘Captain of Destiny’, the best TVB series of the year so far.

‘Captain of Destiny’ (張保仔, literally as Cheung Po Tsai) is a 2015 Hong Kong historical fiction sci-fi television drama of 32 episodes by TVB. The drama is a retelling of the story of 19th century Chinese pirate Cheung Po Tsai and his conflict with the Qing imperial army, meanwhile encountering a time-travelling police constable from the 21st century. The drama starred Ruco Chan, Tony Hung, Grace Chan, Ram Cheung, Elaine Yiu, Maggie Shiu, Joel Chan, Mandy Wong, Susan Tse, Lau Kong, etc. It is a grand production and is one of the four anniversary series of 2015 to mark 48th anniversary of TVB.

This series which concluded just now with its final episode also won the Most Favourite TVB Drama at the Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards 2015 yesterday. Despite receiving average points in viewership rating at Hong Kong, the drama is being very well received and I’m one of them who have more praise to this series compared to all the other dramas released this year. It is just so good and always kept me intensely catching up to latest episode of the series every night. In the first few episodes, I came to watch the series with less expectation but then I’m surprised by the great quality of storyline and characters the series present to TV audiences as the drama develops. I still enjoyed the time-travel concept eventhough TVB had used this idea many times before in the past.

First, we were shown in the present setting of Hong Kong when a female police constable (Grace Chan) accidentally traveled back in time to Qing dynasty from a waterspout when she is on a mission to catch a criminal named Bandit King (Ruco Chan). Once back to 200 years earlier, she met the famous pirate Cheung Po Tsai (Tony Hung) and his gang. Here the story goes between the pirates’ life and the life in the palace emphasizing the 11th prince (Ruco Chan again) who is a hardworking prince in mission to eliminate pirates. Many events followed between these main characters and the story development went very well in a good pacing mixed with light fun moments as well as serious and intense situations.

Ruco Chan delivered yet another impressive performance as the 11th prince. His character here is very diverse, requiring him to deliver multitude of varying emotions and he nailed it. He conquered all the scenes he is in with powerful strength and expressions. Eventhough he is not in the titular role, but he shines over the rest in this drama. No wonder he won Most Favourite TVB Actor in Singapore last night too for his performance here. Very well deserved and I do hope his winning continues to TVB Star Awards Malaysia next month as well as the Hong Kong’s TVB Anniversary Awards in December. It’s time for him to be rewarded. Tony Hung portrayed the titular role and I’m fine with it. However, I find it weird that his character is not being given much attention throughout the series eventhough his name makes the series’ title. That has to be case when you have another lead role, the 11th prince of which I have said earlier that stood out better than the rest including this titular character of Cheung Po Tsai.

Grace Chan is a newbie artist and she should not be promoted too quickly by the TVB station by taking up this first female lead role here. The outcome is you get a performance that is poor and heavily criticized by many people. It’s not her fault mostly but I do cannot stand the overly exaggerated expressions and voice she shown in this drama. On the other hand, I also cannot stand anymore on the cute acts by the 11th prince’s lady servant, portrayed by Kelly Fu. However, her acting is far more natural than Grace. It is the veteran actors and actresses that back the series a lot too. Villains like Lee Shin Cheung (as admiral), Elaine Yiu (as concubine), and Lau Kong (as emperor) and others like Susan Tse (as concubine), Elliot Ngok (as imperial eunuch), Maggie Shiu (head pirate’s wife), and Ram Cheung (pirate’s strategist) did very well. Joel Chan and Mandy Wong also contributed very convincing performances in their respective supporting role too.

Besides that, I’m also surprised by the effort put on the visual effects of this series. The visual effects especially during the war between the imperial army and the pirates are exceptionally good if measured by TVB standard. I’m stunned and amazed by that battle scene. It looks very cool, technically brilliant, intense and exciting. However, I am actually hoping for like two or more of those battle scene to further expand the storyline on the strained relationship between the pirates and the government. So actually, I don’t mind the series to be 40 episodes long.  The effort put on production design, costume and make-up design, and editing should also be complimented for this drama. The drama’s opening theme song by Fred Cheng, closing theme song by Ruco Chan and episode’s plug song by Linda Chung are all very nice to listen to and suits well to this drama’s heart.

As for its ending just now, I’m very happy of how this series came to such a thought-provoking conclusion. It is an ending made with a lot of thoughts (and a nice twist) and I like that. I’m tired of typical non-moving yet happy ending made to most of TVB series in recent years. I’m also surprised to see Raymond Wong making a cameo appearance in the end as a pirate. Why him? It’s because he is originally cast to portray Cheung Po Tsai and not Tony Hung. So letting him to appear in the very last minute of the series’ ending would be quite interesting. In general, this drama is definitely the best TVB series of the year so far and if the next series ‘Lord of Shanghai’ isn’t as good as it is expected, then I see no problem for ‘Captain of Destiny’ to take home Most Favourite TVB Drama in both TVB Star Awards Malaysia and also in Hong Kong’s TVB Anniversary Awards. It is really very good and delivered beyond my expectation. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Captain of Destiny’ a total of 8.2. That’s the highest rating for a series I have given this year. Even Grace Chan’s bad acting here couldn’t pull the series down to below 8 points from me.

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

Full Result of Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards 2015

It is obvious that I’m putting more focus on the TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2015 when we are talking about annual awards presentation for TVB series at oversea as I’m from Malaysia. However, I would also keep myself updated with the other oversea’s awards ceremony to honour TVB, and that is the Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards. As usual, Starhub TVB Awards is the first of the three major awards presentation for TVB, while TVB Star Awards Malaysia will be on next month, before finally the Hong Kong’s TVB Anniversary Awards in December. The 2015’s Singapore Starhub TVB Awards was held last night on 24th October and was attended by over 20 Hong Kong artistes. I must say that Starhub Awards’ trophies are so much better looking than our Star Awards Malaysia’s ugly trophies.

Hereby are the full result of the awards ceremony alongside with my opinions for each categories:

My Favourite TVB Actress
Liza Wang (“Limelight Years”)

Opinion: Didn’t expect Liza to win eventhough from the very beginning I’m already rooting for her from her excellent performance in ‘Limelight Years’. The reason is that because the result is based on voting and I guess she as a veteran artist will not get as much votes compared to the other young and pretty actresses. It’s all about popularity and so I’m surprised that she still gained huge number of votes. Anyway, happy for this result as there is no breakthrough or any outstanding leading female performance this year. So, the next one to consider is her role in ‘Limelight Years’ which is also a good drama this year. I do hope that she will maintain this momentum and go on to win at our TVB Star Awards Malaysia too. It should not be about popularity. It should be measured by performances. Liza Wang deserved this.

My Favourite TVB Actor
Ruco Chan (“Captain of Destiny”)

Opinion: Also very glad that Ruco Chan win this. Out of all the male leading performances of this year that I have seen so far, he is the standout. He had a great role in ‘Captain of Destiny’ and he nailed the role with his superb handling of his face, body, and gesture expressions to showcase a huge range of emotions required for this nicely-developed character. I also do hope that he win in TVB Star Awards Malaysia next month too. He deserved it as he is a very talented actor with all the ingredients needed to win leading actor award already. Well, he also win the same award in Singapore last year. Twice in a row.

My Favourite TVB Supporting Actress
Lin Xia Wei (“Young Charioteers”)

Opinion: Wow..didn’t expect she would jump straight to supporting actress win but well, I think she deserved it too. Her role in ‘Young Charioteers’ is nice and she portrayed it very convincingly. It is far from good for an actress like her whom is still considered at a very junior level. Another talented young rising female artist in TVB.

My Favourite TVB Supporting Actor
Vincent Wong (“Tomorrow Is Another Day”)

Opinion: Didn’t watch this series but I do know that he do improves a lot in recent years. And now winning supporting actor seems to be a right thing for him too. On the other hand, I enjoyed watching him in ‘Brick Slaves’ as a leading role this year eventhough that is still not of a best actor’s material yet. ‘Tomorrow Is Another Day’ is supposed to be series last year, but only get to air in Singapore this year and hence you see this series in contention for their awards this year.

My Favourite TVB Female TV Character
Eliza Sam (“Under the Veil”)
Kristal Tin (“Ghost of Relativity”)
Nancy Wu (“Ghost of Relativity”)
Tavia Yeung (“Eye in the Sky”)
Linda Chung (“Tiger Cubs II”)
Selena Li (“Brick Slaves”)
Priscilla Wong (“Madam Cutie on Duty”)

Opinions: Seven awards handed out. So it is like pork-sharing similarly to the ‘My Favourite TVB Male TV Character’ below. Every TVB artistes attending the awards ceremony whom have been left out of other awards will get this one definitely. I’m not okay with Eliza Sam winning this. She has improved a lot (even her Cantonese is getting better already) but still not worthy to receive ‘my favourite character’ award. There are other females who are more deserving like Myolie Wu, Kate Tsui, etc. I thought usually when you get the favourite actress award (Liza Wang), you will get this one too. But nope, they allocate that spot for other people, obviously cementing my opinion just now that it is a pork-sharing situation here. Same case for the category below when Ruco won the favourite actor but not character eventhough his character is very likable.

My Favourite TVB Male TV Character
Wayne Lai (“Overachievers”)
Kenneth Ma (“Noblesse Oblige”)
Lawrence Ng (“Tomorrow Is Another Day”)
Moses Chan (“Every Step You Take”)
Edwin Siu (“Madam Cutie on Duty”)
Louis Cheung (“Momentary Lapse of Reason”)

Opinion: Only 6 for males compared to 7 for females. Not fair. Haha. If you want me to add one more spot, I would add in Kevin Cheng. He deserved it from his good role in ‘Eye In The Sky’.

My Favourite TVB Drama
“Captain of Destiny”

Opinion: I’m also happy for ‘Captain of Destiny’ series to win this. So far it is an awesome drama with great storyline, great performances (except Grace), and fantastic visual effects and editing. It will end tonight with its final episode. This is the only series of the year so far that I have been intensely catching up to every night.

My Favourite TVB Variety Programme
“Sunday Songbird”

My Favourite TVB Informative Programme
“Not Far but Away”

My Favourite Onscreen Couple
Edwin Siu & Priscilla Wong (“Madam Cutie on Duty”)

Opinion: Many knew they are going to win since many people find this pairing very likable and they are really a real-life couple now. I find their chemistry is there eventhough I have not actually watch the series with them pairing. If omitting them, the next nice pairing I can think for now is Alex Fong and Linda Chung in ‘Limelight Years’. Kevin Cheng and Tavia Yeung in ‘Eye In The Sky’ is also not bad.

My Favourite TVB Theme Song
“Eye in the Sky” – Alfred Hui & Hubert Wu

Opinion: I already forgot how this theme song sounds. So, it is not memorable and I don’t think it should win this. The song by Jinny Ng for series ‘Young Charioteers’ or the song by Fred Cheng for series ‘Captain of Destiny’ are better in my opinion.

My Favourite TVB Variety Show Host
Adam Cheng, Liza Wang & Jerry Lamb (“Sunday Songbird”)

Best New TVB Artiste
Grace Chan

Opinion: Must they hand out this award to her? She must be getting some kind of attention this year from her satisfactory performance in ‘Raising The Bar’ but awful acting with overly exaggerated expressions in ‘Captain of Destiny’. Well, I do pity her to take on female leading role so quick since she just joined in the industry not long ago. It’s too fast for her and it’s usual that she could not catch up. Okay la…give her this award. No more than that for the moment. It’s a bad decision to bring up a newbie artist too fast.

Most Improved Artiste
Tracy Chu

Opinion: Didn’t watch any series with her in it this year too. Well, I think she acted more natural and I couldn’t think of any other name for this award already.

Star of the Stars Awards
Liza Wang
Adam Cheng

Opinion: These two veterans are honoured with special prize this year. I must say Liza Wang has been an active actress (taking on two roles this year; in Limelight Years and in Master Of Destiny) despite her age. Her active involvement should be complimented. But wait…I didn’t see Adam Cheng in any television series for a very long time already. Well,  he is a respected veteran actor but this award for him seems too much for me. I prefer to award this to the other veteran actors who are still very active in television series until these days.

BottomSlim The Perfect Figure Award
Linda Chung

Tokyo Bust Express The Sassy Award
Grace Chan

Next up is the TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2015 to be held on the last weekend of November before the prestigious TVB Anniversary Awards in December at Hong Kong.

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

Durban to host 2022 Commonwealth Games while Hangzhou to host 2022 Asian Games.

Last month, the host city for the Commonwealth Games 2022 and also the Asian Games 2022 was announced respectively. These two games are widely considered as the two biggest multi-sporting events in the world, just behind the Summer Olympics. Commonwealth Games involves participation of athletes from over 50 nations which are former territories of the past British empire while Asian Games involves participation of athletes from 40 countries in the largest continent in the world, Asia. Both of the games are held once in every four years, following the similar interval with the Olympics.

Malaysia is part of both of the games since Malaysia was once British territory before we gained independence in 1957, and our country is in Asia continent. We have hosted the Commonwealth Games back in 1998, but surprisingly, we have not hosted Asian Games before. In comparison, even our neighbouring country, Thailand had hosted it five times! And we have none. Our country bid for the games several times in the past but lost. It must be that our presentation to the voters is not good enough every time. Now, lesser and lesser countries expressed interest to host these games mainly due to the concern of the high cost of hosting them.

Despite that concern, I’m sure that my country, Malaysia is still capable of hosting Asian Games and we should. Of course, hosting Olympics is far from our reach but can’t we go a bit further (by hosting Asian Games) rather than just focusing on smaller games like the next South East Asian Games which is scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017? We should dream bigger! Set our sight on Asiad’s hosting job. It’s possible. I think we shall bid for 2026 Asian Games as the host for the 2022 Asian Games had already been decided recently.We missed the opportunity to host the 2022 edition since we are not bidding when there is not much competition around.

For the selection of the host city for the 2022 Commonwealth Games last month, Durban, South Africa is the only city with confirmed bid as the other city, Edmonton, Canada withdrew their bid early this year. Hence, at the Commonwealth Games Federation’s General Assembly, there isn’t a need to vote as there is only a city bidding and hence it is selected officially to host the games seven years from now. It will be the first Commonwealth Games to be held in African continent. The games are set to open on the 18 July 2022, coinciding with the birthday of the late South African President and global icon, Nelson Mandela.

Same case goes to the selection of the host city for the 2022 Asian Games which was also held last month. There is no other city bidding for the games besides than Hangzhou, China. It is the only city that declared the candidacy in August 2015, a month before the selection. Hence, without any other city battling for the hosting job, Hangzhou is chosen to host the games automatically without the need of voting. If Malaysia bid for this one, we may win because voters may not want to see the games back to China so soon. Now, the voters have no choice. This will be the third time China hosting Asian Games after Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010. Well, I actually expected China to host this again so soon after Guangzhou 2010 because the country has a lot of money and will never have any financial or manpower concern. Furthermore, the country is more than capable of delivering fantastic games with over-the-top opening and closing ceremonies.

Congratulation to both Durban and Hangzhou for being selected to host Commonwealth and Asian Games respectively in 2022. It is an easy path for them without facing any competition by other cities. Well, I think the sports committees involved should really tackle the issue of high cost of hosting the games. Make the games economical and sustainable, and ensure them to present more benefits to the hosting city after the games rather than leaving behind debts and ‘white elephant’ sporting venues.

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

Budget 2016…no good news in the time of all bad news.

Prime Minister had just revealed its Budget 2016 in the Parliament yesterday’s afternoon and his announcement is broadcast live throughout television and radio station as usual. I do listen to parts of his lengthy speech while I’m working yesterday, hoping for some good news on highlighting and easing our financial burden beginning next year. However, as expected, there is no good news to be happy for as claimed by the many local news that back the government. Hence, I summarized the budget as ‘no good news in the time of all bad news’.

We are now in the pressure of high cost of living (higher price for house, toll, food, groceries, and almost everything else), Goods and Services Tax (GST), living under scandalous government (from corruption, cronyism, 1MDB issue, ineffectiveness, etc), haze and many others. Well, I do link the haze to the government too as they do not push Indonesia to solve the annual problem even after so many years having the haze to affect our country already. They even asked us not to pressure Indonesia and let them do the job. What? Of course, we have to pressure them as this is not a new issue; haze has been hitting us every year from decades ago.

Back to the budget, I do noticed that the budget this time is helping more for the people of East Malaysia; Sabah and Sarawak. Well, I do agree that those two states are pretty lacking behind in development compared to Peninsular Malaysia and they certainly needs more attention. However, I’m also quite sure that all the allocations given for them in next year’s budget would be going somewhere else in a huge portion (into own pockets). And it will end up as just simply talking without any action again. It is also very obvious that this emphasis is to prevent Sabah and Sarawak from getting out of Malaysia which will be heavily reducing the number of ruling coalition’s seats in the Parliament. Or in simple, the present government will certainly lose in the next general election if Sabah and Sarawak leave Malaysia. They are now in worry and to prevent that from happening, they would do all their can to persuade the two states to maintain in Malaysia after many decades of neglecting them. Literally, it’s a budget to buy votes.

I won’t list down all the items in the Budget 2016 as this would make my post extremely long and I would like to keep it short and straightforward with my direct analysis towards some allocations in the budget. The government increased the BR1M, as a way to continue giving ‘sweet’ to the poor people while on the other side, taking away more things from everyone. From the very beginning, I do not agree to this way of helping people. It actually helps the poor to be very lazy and dependent on this form of assistance. They should actually work something out to bring these people from poor class to at least to the stable-income group. And to those people who received this BR1M and are very grateful, you are wrong and do not think of a bigger picture. The money from BR1M is also from all of us.

The budget do highlight on the building of more affordable houses. Well, these houses are not much in quantity and they are mostly far from the city, not easily accessible and obviously meant for Malay individuals who wanted to purchase homes. Well, they are protecting their rights to the max and we in the other races are already used to it after their over 60 years of governing in Malaysia. What they should do is actually controlling the price of homes to be sold to buyers. I also noticed the allocation of huge sum of money to repair roads and improve internet speed throughout the country. Haha…do you think they would do that? Nobody think so except than the blind supporters of the government. We all have eyes to see on our road and internet conditions. I guess that allocation is actually going towards buying someone diamond rings or luxurious handbags.

Overall, this Budget 2016 is another piece of shit. I’m actually quite excited by a little drama that when the Prime Minister concluded his speech yesterday, most of the opposition members in the Parliament raised up the placard questioning where is the RM 2.6 billion? That’s the amount credited to Prime Minister’s personal bank account without proper explanation by him after so many months. I still remember the word ‘donation’, which is a joke of the year! It is so wrong to have a massive fund inside your personal account for a government member. Well, he can still get away from it since all of his party members are afraid to speak up or against in worry of losing their job, losing their source of income and losing their comfort zone they have been in for so many years. Useless. They think of themselves rather than for the people and the nation. Hence, it will all lead to the failing of the country as opposed to the claim by the Prime Minister that our people and economy is prospering. Every words from him is a bullshit.

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

 

Sharing all the things in my past weekend for no reason.

Actually I planned to have this post summarizing the most recently passed weekend on last night. However, I spent too much time on writing up my blog post yesterday about the TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2015’s nomination list until the post ended up in over 2000 words. I’m really exhausted after that and so I’ll have this post today. Well, another Monday when I would be as usual very tired to wake up in the early morning to go to work while feeling jealous because the kids don’t need to go to school again. Haze is back and so schools were closed again. Great for them but another typical working day for us. Didn’t expect that the haze return just after one or two weeks of clearer sky. I thought the haze is over for this year, but nope…it remains here, polluting our air for so long this year.

Out of sudden, I felt very excited to share what I have been through for the past weekend. Actually, it is just an ordinary Saturday and Sunday but still I would like to note it down here. On the past Saturday, we finally changed our home internet from TM Streamyx to Unifi. Actually, I’m quite satisfied with Streamyx connection eventhough it is sometime too slow. However, after constant calling by TM staff for almost every day in the past one month or more to persuade me to change to Unifi, I finally agreed. One of the reasons is that I don’t want them to call and disturb me for almost daily again. It’s really annoying. Anyway, it’s also good since I find that Unifi now is a bit faster, more stable, offers also another new home-phone and HyppTV package (but I don’t want that since we have Astro) with only an additional of RM10 like that compared to the past billing.

On Saturday’s night, it’s the typical time for rummy game with family after dinner. Of course, gamble is involved (not big money) but we all took it more as an entertainment and family bonding time than calling it a gamble. Unfortunately, I lost again (I lost last week too). Bad luck recently. Hope that my luck comes back this coming Saturday. Well, on Sunday, I followed my dad to a temple at Ampang to pray for the Nine Emperor Gods Festival in the morning after watching its street procession a week ago. As expected, there was a lot of people (I mean really a lot) there, and I’m like suffering while being inside the crowded temple to worship with the joss-sticks. It’s pain to my eyes from all the smoke, and also pain to my hands especially when the ashes from my or other people’s burning joss-sticks dropped to my hands.

In the past weekend, I have also watched a new movie called ‘The Pack’. The movie is about a farmer and his family who must fight for survival after a ferocious pack of wild dogs infiltrates their isolated farmhouse. Through a series of frightening and bloody encounters they are forced into survival mode to make it through the night. The plot looks interesting and I usually like movie with this kind of story and setting. However, the movie turned out to be very disappointing with characters that do brainless actions, climax that falls flat, poor approach to the dramatic value of the story and unappealing atmosphere. I think I can even make a better movie of this storyline if I’m the director. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Pack’ a total of 6.0 only. It is not really a big failure as it do comes with substantial characters’ development and realistic-looking actions involving the wild dogs.

Okay…that’s it for the things I have been through for the past weekend. It’s going to be a long week ahead with no more holiday and let’s hope for things to be smooth this week and weekend to arrive as quick as possible. Haha…in the mood to anticipate the next weekend already.

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

Nomination List for TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2015

The annual TVB awards presentation in Malaysia is back! The TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2015 will be held from 8.00pm to 10.00pm on 28th November 2015 (Saturday) at Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands. Time flies…I remembered clearly a year ago that I do won free tickets to watch the 2014’s awards show at Genting also after voting in every day within the voting period. However, since I couldn’t attend it, I have given the tickets to someone else. Well, I managed to still catch the show live on Astro and Andy Lau is one of the special guest presenter of the night.

This awards is back but there is no more an official website where you can vote. The only way you can vote now is by downloading a mobile application named ‘TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2015’. Unfortunately, the app is still not available yet for IOS users, and hence I still couldn’t get to vote for my favourites of the year. The voting period is from 16 October till 21 November 2015. So, yup…voting started! Here’s below is the nomination list for this year’s awards. Well, I think I’m the first one posting up the nomination list in English on the web! That’s called efficiency!

Here you go…the nomination list alongside with my predictions as usual every year. The ‘*’ that comes after the nominee indicate that it is my personal top 2/3/5 picks from its particular category.

My Favourite TVB Host in Variety Program

• Johnson Lee & Pal (Sze U Tonight)
• Liza Wang, Adam Cheng & Jerry (Sunday Songbird)
• Kitty Yuen, King Kong (Neighborhood Gourmet 3)
• Maria Cordero, Luk (Good Cheap Eats Series 3)
• Gigi Wong (Eating Well With Madam Wong)

Opinion: Didn’t really watch any of the programs above and so couldn’t comment further. But looking from popularity and the engagement to voters (mostly younger demographics), Sze U Tonight has a bigger chance. Johnson Lee is also quite funny and entertaining. This applies to the category below too.

Expected to win: Johnson Lee & Pal (Sze U Tonight)

My Favourite TVB Variety Program

• Sze U Tonight
• Sunday Songbird
• Helen To-kyo!
• Chef Minor (Series 2)
• Four Amigos Bon Voyage

Expected to win: Sze U Tonight.

My Favourite TVB Informative Program

• Am I Healthy?
• Wellness On The Go 3
• All Things Girl – Malaysia Chapter
• Not Far But Away
• Big Big World 2

Opinion: Didn’t watch any of the above too. So no prediction for this one.

My Favourite TVB Drama Theme Song

• You & Me by Stephanie Ho (Raising The Bar)
• The Beautiful Time by Jinny Ng (Young Charioteers)*
• Truth by Alfred Hui & Hubert Wu (Eye In The Sky)
• Sailing by Fred Cheng (Captain Of Destiny)*
• Years Regret by Alfred Hui (Lord Of Shanghai)

Opinion: Out of these five, I’m more attracted to the theme song for ‘Young Charioteers’. Jinny Ng sing lovely and somehow addicting theme songs for TVB series in recent years. She had just won this one last year for ‘Line Walker’. Dark horse would be ‘Sailing’ for ‘Captain Of Destiny’. Another catchy tune. Why the song by Liza Wang in ‘Limelight Years’ not nominated? That’s a good and a meaningful song.

Expected to win: Sailing by Fred Cheng (Captain Of Destiny).

My personal choice: The Beautiful Time by Jinny Ng (Young Charioteers).

My Favourite TVB On-Screen Couple

• Edwin Siu & Priscilla Wong (Madam Cutie On Duty)*
• Louis Cheung & Grace Chan (Raising The Bar)
• Ben Wong & Elaine Yiu (Raising The Bar)
• Kevin Cheng & Tavia Yeung (Eye In The Sky)*
• Johnson Lee & Elena Kong (Smooth Talker)
• Alex Fong & Linda Chung (Limelight Years)*
• Moses Chan & Kristal Tin (Ghost Of Relativity)*
• Louis Cheung & Tavia Yeung (Momentarily Lapse Of Reason)*
• Ruco Chan & Grace Chan (Captain Of Destiny)
• Bobby Au-Yeung & Joey Meng (With Or Without You)

Opinion: I didn’t watch ‘Madam Cutie On Duty’ but I heard many people said that the chemistry between Edwin and Priscilla is very good in that one. Well, they are now real-life couple. That may push their chances up. But I’m actually rooting for ‘Alex Fong & Linda Chung’ or ‘Kevin Cheng & Tavia Yeung’.

Expected to win: Edwin Siu & Priscilla Wong (Madam Cutie On Duty)

My personal choice: Kevin Cheng & Tavia Yeung (Eye In The Sky) / Alex Fong & Linda Chung (Limelight Years)

My Favourite TVB Most Improved Actress

• Grace Chan*
• Sisley Choi*
• Tracy Chu*
• Jacqueline Wong
• Candice Chiu
• Ali Lee

Opinion: Who is Ali Lee? Only two girls in this category received the most attention because they are given heavy lead role while they are still newbies but they are being criticized for their performances; Grace and Sisley. But I do consider them to have improved, better than the others with name I don’t even know who they are. Sisley only has one major role which is in ‘Young Charioteers’ and that series is aired quite early. Grace has two series that may push her chance a bit higher than the others. If they erase each other out, then Tracy Chu do stand a chance as a dark horse.

Expected to win: Grace Chan / Sisley Choi.

My personal choice: Grace Chan.

My Favourite TVB Most Improved Actor

• Hugo Wong
• Owen Cheung
• Quinn Ho
• Matt Yeung*
• Cheung Wing-Hong*

Opinion: A poor category. I would say Matt Yeung since I do see him frequently in many recent TVB series eventhough they are only minor roles. But I do have to highlight on the comedic role by Cheung Wing-Hong in ‘Wudang Rules’.

Expected to win: Matt Yeung.

My personal choice: Matt Yeung / Cheung Wing-Hong.

My Favourite TVB Actress in a Supporting Role

• Natalie Tong (Lord Of Shanghai)*
• Vivien Yeo (Ghost Of Relativity)*
• Eliza Sam (Brick Slaves)
• Tracy Chu (The Fixer)
• Rosina Lam (Momentarily Lapse Of Reason)*
• Maggie Shiu (Captain Of Destiny)
• Jacqueline Wong (With Or Without You)
• Rebecca Zhu (Officer Geomancer)
• Mandy Wong (Madam Cutie On Duty)*
• Elaine Yiu (Raising The Bar)*
• Samantha Ko (Eye In The Sky)
• Katy Kung (Romantic Repertoire)
• Elena Kong (Smooth Talker)

Opinion: Should put Vivien Yeo in most improved category so she may stand a better chance. She do improved since she had been in TVB for many years already. Well, she is Malaysian and of course I’m supporting her but she will still have no chance to win. Maybe just top 5. Didn’t watch ‘Momentarily Lapse Of Reason’ but I heard many are praising Rosina Lam. Well, she is great too. But I prefer her to be in most improved category too. The organiser totally ignored the veterans in this category. Michelle Yim is good in ‘Young Charioteers’ and Louise Lee is also not bad in ‘Romantic Repertoire’.

Expected to win: Rosina Lam (Momentarily Lapse Of Reason)

My personal choice: Rosina Lam (Momentarily Lapse Of Reason)

My Favourite TVB Actor in a Supporting Role

• Alex Fong (Limelight Years)*
• Pierre Ngo (Ghost Of Relativity)*
• Banjamin Yuen (The Fixer)
• Evergreen Mak (Every Step You Take)*
• Matt Yeung (Momentarily Lapse Of Reason)
• Vincent Wong (With Or Without You)
• Oscar Leung (Officer Geomancer)*
• Raymond Cho (Madam Cutie On Duty)
• Louis Cheung (Raising The Bar)*
• Cheng Tse-Tsing (Raising The Bar)
• Ram Chiang (Raising The Bar)
• Tony Hung (Eye In The Sky)

Opinion: I’m not happy with this category. Where is Joel Chan in ‘Captain Of Destiny’? Where is Derek Kok in ‘Wudang Rules’? Where is Edwin Siu in ‘Master Of Destiny’? These three are simply better than all of the above.

Expected to win: Evergreen Mak (Every Step You Take) – actually prefer him to win from ‘Brick Slaves’.

My personal choice: None of the nominees.

My Favourite TVB Actress in a Leading Role

• Priscilla Wong (Madam Cutie On Duty)
• Grace Chan (Raising The Bar)
• Nancy Sit (My Spiritual Ex-Lover)
• Kate Tsui (Smooth Talker)*
• Liza Wang (Limelight Years)
• Linda Chung (Limelight Years)*
• Kristal Tin (Ghost Of Relativity)*
• Nancy Wu (Ghost Of Relativity)
• Selena Li (Brick Slaves)*
• Myolie Wu (Every Step You Take)
• Tavia Yeung (Momentarily Lapse Of Reason)*
• Joey Meng (With Or Without You)

Opinion: Well, since this awards is all about popularity and hence the veterans stand no chance eventhough out of these five, I think Liza Wang delivered the most moving performance in this year. My second choice would be Kristal Tin since she is solid in ‘Ghost Of Relativity’. She handled the ‘seriousness’ and the ‘comedic’ moments very well in that series. Also not to forget that Selena Li had shown to us in these two years that she can take on lead role very well too.

Expected to win: Kristal Tin (Ghost Of Relativity)

My personal choice: Liza Wang (Limelight Years) – but it’s impossible.

My Favourite TVB Actor in a Leading Role

• Johnson Lee (Officer Geomancer)
• Edwin Siu (Madam Cutie On Duty)
• Ben Wong (Raising The Bar)
• Him Law (Young Charioteers)
• Kevin Cheng (Eye In The Sky)*
• Damian Lau (Limelight Years)
• Moses Chan (Ghost Of Relativity)*
• Louis Cheung (Momentarily Lapse Of Reason)
• Ruco Chan (Captain Of Destiny)*
• Tony Hung (Captain Of Destiny)
• Bobby Au-Yeung (With Or Without You)
• Anthony Wong (Lord Of Shanghai)*
• Kent Tong (Lord Of Shanghai)
• Wayne Lai (Lord Of Shanghai)*

Opinion: It’s a good thing that more veterans are on this category. At least, they are being acknowledged in nomination. I personally prefer Ruco Chan since he is exceptionally fantastic in ‘Captain Of Destiny’. He also has a huge fanbase here. He deserved it more than all the other young actors in this category. Never ignore the two veterans in ‘Lord Of Shanghai’; the Film King, Anthony Wong and TV King, Wayne Lai. However, the series has not aired yet and would not end by the time ceremony comes, hence disadvantage to the series.

Expected to win: Ruco Chan (Captain Of Destiny)

My personal choice: Ruco Chan (Captain Of Destiny)

My Favourite TVB Drama Series

• Raising The Bar*
• Young Charioteers
• Eye In The Sky
• Limelight Years*
• Ghost Of Relativity*
• The Fixer
• Every Step You Take
• Momentarily Lapse Of Reason
• Captain Of Destiny*
• Under The Veil
• With Or Without You
• Lord Of Shanghai*

Opinion: I wonder why people love ‘Raising The Bar’ so much. I watched its first few episodes and I quit as I find it boring. It took up one of my spots in my personal top 5 pick in this category. If not, I would rather dedicate that spot to ‘Eye In The Sky’. ‘Young Charioteers’ is a dark horse too since it is targeting young people and as I said earlier, most voters are from younger demographics. Hence, it has some benefit. ‘Lord Of Shanghai’ will eventually get into top 5 too despite not finish airing yet by the time the ceremony comes since it is a grand production and we have to respect it a bit. It should be looking promising too from its heavyweight line up of casts. However, as of current, I prefer ‘Captain Of Destiny’ to take this top honour since the series is really very nice, and it’s so far, so good. Exciting and good performances (except Grace) and comes with great visual effects by TVB standard.

Expected to win: Captain Of Destiny.

My personal choice: Captain Of Destiny.

Well, there are 13 categories in total but I have only posted 12 categories above. Why? There is one more category which is called ‘My Favourite TVB Drama Characters’. Well, 60 characters are nominated in this category. That’s too long and I don’t have the energy to post it up here. As long as the main TVB artists acted in any of the nominated series of the year, then he or she will be automatically nominated in this category of which in the end, usually more than 10 characters winning.

How come the organizers are so biased by giving a lot of spots in the nomination list to ‘Raising The Bar’ while ignoring some series like ‘Noblesse Oblige’, ‘Wudang Rules’, ‘Master Of Destiny’, etc. I also just realized that Kenneth Ma whom is quite popular too is not being nominated at all this year. Well, his only series ‘Noblesse Oblige’ which is quite fun and entertaining to watch early this year is totally being forgotten. The nomination list this year is not that good. Many not worthy people got nominated while many others got snubbed for even a nomination. Let’s hope that the TVB Anniversary Awards 2015’s nomination list would be better. That one would be released next month.

Okay…should end this post since it is getting too long (already exceeds 2000 words).

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

It’s holiday again..and that gives me time to watch ‘The Martian’ (2015)

Happy Holiday to all Malaysians again! Yes…again! We are happy to be Malaysians because we do have a lot of public holidays. Happy Awal Muharram to all my Muslim friends. For us who are not Malays but also get to enjoy the holiday together, we should actually know a bit more of other races’ festivals like this one. This holiday is actually marking the beginning of a new year in Islamic calendar. It is entering its 1437th year. And so, please don’t assume that Hari Raya is the new year celebration for the Malays or Deepavali is the new year celebration for the Indians. They are not. It is just that these festivals are the biggest for them and that doesn’t mean new year celebration.

Also known as Maal Hijrah, this occasion is celebrated on a fairly moderate scale. Well, at least I can have my nice break today, on a lovely Wednesday. With so much free time available today, why not go for a movie? That is a great idea and I went for ‘The Martian’, a science-fiction outer space film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. In 2013, we have ‘Gravity’ movie that went on to win 6 Oscars in the Academy Awards including ‘Best Director’. In 2014, we have ‘Interstellar’ which is performing very well too, winning 1 Oscar for “Best Visual Effects’. And now on this year, we have ‘The Martian’. It appears that filmmakers love to make movies on outer space recently and most of them tend to perform well to both critics and box office.

‘The Martian’ revolves on astronaut Mark Watney whom is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew in a manned mission to Mars. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Eventhough there has been many outer-space films in the past, but still Hollywood never fails to deliver different and awesome storyline most of the time. ‘The Martian’ has a very interesting plot and that keeps me at least engaged to the whole movie which is taking quite a long time too; a little over 2 hours. It shown to us how Mark survived on that harsh planet by farming, experimenting, calculating, etc and that’s a new territory that we have never seen before in outer-space films and it feels good. The ending is also quite intense and climax-reaching, ending the story on a high note.

Well, there has been a lot scientific stuff going on throughout the movie as predicted and I couldn’t digest them since I’m a normal human being. Hence, there are some time when I felt lost and a bit bored. Fortunately, there are still some understandable dramas going on in between to keep the momentum going. The other priority element to talk about in this kind of film is definitely the visual effects. Well, as expected, the film showcased impressive imagery, with most scenes taking place on the planet Mars. Those scenes were actually shot in Jordan. But I wouldn’t want to award another outer-space film trophy in ‘Best Visual Effects’ again in the Oscars for three years in a row.

Matt Damon delivered amazing performance as Mark Watney, the main character in this movie whom got stranded on Mars alone. He took up most of the movie obviously and he nailed the role with great emotional display and strong will. There is also a line-up of many wonderful supporting casts like Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, etc. Overall, the movie comes with a solid plot, solid acting, solid effects and also some light humorous moments that perfectly complements the drama without appearing ‘forced’. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Martian’ a total of 7.8. Why I didn’t give it 8 or above? It’s because that in my personal opinion, it is still not as good compared to ‘Gravity’ or even ‘Interstellar’. I knew ‘The Martian’ received higher ratings and better reviews than ‘Interstellar’ by most others but I simply thought otherwise. ‘Interstellar’ hits me deep into my emotions but ‘The Martian’ only a little. Nevertheless, ‘The Martian’ is still a great movie that could shine too in Academy Awards early next year.

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

 

Interesting procession for the Nine Emperor Gods Festival last night.

Nine Emperor Gods Festival (九皇爺) is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. I remembered that few years ago when I search for information regarding this festival, there isn’t much info available online. Recently, when I do a Google search again, I’m surprised that this festival even has its own Wikipedia page already. That’s good.

There is a temple not far from my house in Ampang which is famous for celebrating this festival and so there is a tradition in my family to worship and celebrate this festival for almost every year. However, the last time I have been to watch the procession to welcome the Nine Emperors was like many years ago and so I’m actually quite excited when I get to watch it back this year. That was last night which is the eve of the 9th lunar month in Chinese calendar. Me rushing to go back home yesterday after work is paid off with an opportunity to watch a grand and an interesting procession.

The procession actually started much earlier to ‘receive’ the arrival of the Gods from waterways. Hence, it began from the temple to the Ampang river. After the Gods arrived, the procession will be conducted in a much happening mood to welcome and bring the Gods back to the temple. That’s when spectators will line up the street to watch it as it is a good sign to bring luck and good things to one’s life. We were lucky to have arrived nearby there before 9pm and was able to find parking eventhough we were a bit far away. We had a nice spot to stand in the midst of thousand of people already there and by the time we were ready to wait, the procession arrived. Here are some images I took during the procession:

Pictures still blurry despite captured by an iPhone 5. Well, the lighting is dim over there and hence picture quality won’t be good. There were also a lot of movements, hence images not focused. This time, there were quite a lot of lion dances. However, the obvious things missing is the lack of decorated vehicles as well as the famous ‘Kou Keuk Chat’ (the Seven Long-Legged Gods or something like that). And to compensate that, the procession included a number of people dressed in cute and bulky costumes resembling many Gods like ‘God of Fortune’, etc which is certainly a surprising view for me who have not seen this kind of stuff before in this annual procession. The procession lasted about 20 minutes.

A carnival-like atmosphere pervades the temple throughout the nine-day festival. Most devotees stay at the temple, eat vegetarian meals and recite continuous chanting of prayer. The street leading up to the temple is also filled with many hawker stalls, attracting also the youngsters and the scene is just like a bustling ‘pasar malam’. It is believed that there will be rain throughout the nine days of celebration. And yes…it is really raining in these days. My family and I would be going to the temple again this Sunday to pray and burn joss-sticks for the Nine Emperor Gods before the festival ends next Wednesday when the deities will be sent back to the river to mark the end of the celebration.

(Copyrights reserved to all the images in this post)

20 of the World’s Best Building Images.

Arcaid, the leading global image, stock photography resource for all aspects of architecture, interiors and design has shortlisted 20 of the year’s best architectural images for their 2015 awards – the annual Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Awards. The images will be presented in four categories – Exteriors, Interiors, Sense of Place, and Building in Use – and judged by an esteemed panel on their atmospheric quality, composition, use of scale and more. The winners will be considered for the Photographer of the Year Award.

The photographs will be showcased at World Architecture Festival 4-6 November at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, where the overall winner will be announced. The all 20 finalist images were shown here and I will try to be the judge of my own and analyse thoroughly which images are better, overwhelming and thought-provoking in the architectural field. After each image, I will list down my points out of 10 after a careful observations and analysis of my own (haha…so called acting like a professional judge…it’s actually cool to be a judge where you can decide the winner).

Okay…without wasting any more time, here’s the captivating 20 finalist images followed by a little background below:

Building : JBR Beachside, residential buildings and public beach
Category : Sense of Place
Place and Country : Dubai – United Arab Emirates
Photographer : Ieva Saudargaite
Architect : Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG)

My points: 7.1 (The buildings at the back are too dull-looking but I do know that the photographer is emphasizing it actually in contrast to the vibrant beach activities in front)

Building : Parque Natural do Fogo
Category : Sense of Place
Place and Country : Ilha do Fogo – Cabo Verde
Photographer : Fernando Guerra
Architect : OTO Arquitectos

My points: 7.4 (The building blurs into the landscape but the striking light brings the building out back. What’s that light anyway?)

Building : De Rotterdam
Category : Sense of Place
Place and Country : Rotterdam – The Netherlands
Photographer : Ryan Koopmans
Architect : Rem Koolhaas OMA

My points: 7.3 (This photo is at right timing with the cargo ship directly in front of the building which is shown at an angle presenting its front elevation at its best)

Building : Bethel Secondary School
Category : Sense of Place
Place and Country : Gourcy – Burkina Faso
Photographer : Grant Smith
Architect : Article 25.

My points: 7.1 (Highlighting the poor people who deserved functional vernacular architecture shown at the back but I can’t really admire this image as the building is more like a supporting role here)

Building : Kandalama Hotel
Category : Sense of Place
Place and Country : Dambulla – Sri Lanka
Photographer : Tom Roe
Architect : Geoffrey Bawa

My points: 7.8 (The distinction between the landscape and the building is very well displayed. It also shows how well man-made structure lives in seamless harmony with the nature)

Building : Living-Garden House
Category : Interiors
Place and Country : Katowice – Poland
Photographer : Inigo Bujedo Aguirre
Architect : KWK PROMES Robert Konieczny

My points: 7.8 (Many different elements of a small house that comes together beautifully in this shot. A neat image)

 

Building : Tranfor
Category : Interiors
Place and Country : Torres Vedras – Portugal
Photographer : Fernando Guerra
Architect : Pedro Gadanho + CVDB

My points: 7.9 (A very simple yet poetic image. It gives a varying sense of mood in two different spaces)

Building : Refugi dil fieu
Category : Interiors
Place and Country : Flims – Switzerland
Photographer : Mads Mogenson
Architect : AAM Architektin

My points: 7.6 (A very hard image soften by the small fireplace that gives the only energetic colour in this picture)

Building : Long Museum West Bund
Category : Interiors
Place and Country : Shanghai – China
Photographer : Su Shengliang
Architect : Atelier Deshaus

My points: 8.0 (A fantastic angle with one colour domination)

Building : The Leadenhall Building
Category : Interiors
Place and Country : London – England
Photographer : Mark Gorton, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

My points: 8.0 (Striking and seems infiltrating, giving a sense of illusion)

Building : Philharmonic Hall
Category : Exteriors
Place and Country : Szczecin – Poland
Photographer : Laurian Ghinitoiu
Architect : Estudio Barozzi & Veiga

My points: 7.3 (A white building that you may think it is small. But when you see the person in front with the contrasting red shirt, you will notice the scale expression of this image)

Building : Gold Coast Aquatic Centre
Category : Exteriors
Place and Country : Gold Coast, Queensland – Australia
Photographer : Christopher Frederick Jones
Architect : Cox Rayner Architects

My points: 7.5 (Highlighting the complexion of the diving structure between the building and the pool)

Building : Universite Ibn Zohr de Laayoune
Category : Exteriors
Place and Country : Laayoune – Morocco
Photographer : Doublespace (Amanda Large & Younes Bounhar)
Architect : Regroupement d’Architectes El Kabbaj

My points: 7.6 (Simple but strong, thanks to the strength of the colour)

Building : Long Museum West Bund
Category : Exteriors
Place and Country : Shanghai, – China
Photographer : Su Shengliang
Architect : Atelier Deshaus

My points: 8.0 (Another shot taken from a perfect angle highlighting building of the early modernism style with depths)

Building : Bethel Secondary School
Category : Exteriors
Place and Country : Gourcy – Burkina Faso
Photographer : Grant Smith
Architect : Article 25

My points: 7.5 (the shadows, the emphasize on closer look to the bricks and the photography effects makes it a quiet standout)

Building : Yick Cheong Building
Category : Buildings In Use
Place and Country : Quarry Bay – Hong Kong
Photographer : Tan Lingfrei
Architect : Public housing development

My points: 7.8 (the dense and the messiness balanced with the plain clear sky in the middle)

Building : Nudgee College
Category : Buildings In Use
Place and Country : Brisbane, Queensland – Australia
Photographer : Christopher Frederick Jones
Architect : M3 Architecture

My points: 7.9 (It highlights the building complex, the canopy, the field as well as the people with not going overboard in showcasing any of them)

Building : Parque Natural do Fogo
Category : Buildings In Use
Place and Country : Cape Verde
Photographer : Fernando Guerra
Architect : OTO Arquitectos

My points: 7.7 (A statement-built building with tourists at the back…well, the locals in contrasting red-coloured clothings shall be the focus and not the tourists. That’s what I can see from this image, a cultural statement there)

Building : EPFL Quartier Nord
Category : Buildings In Use
Place and Country : Ecublens – Switzerland
Photographer : Fernando Guerra
Architect : Richter Dahl Rocha & Associés

My points: 8.1 (Busy yet beautiful. People’s circulation along the corridors in front of the multi-coloured facade of the building elevates the image to another level. It’s hard for me to choose the best from this 20 pictures but so far based on my view, this one above is the best of all. Well, different people has different opinions. What’s your selection?)

Building : 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
Category : Buildings In Use
Place and Country : Kanazawa – Japan
Photographer : Jeremie Souteyrat
Architect : SANAA

My points: 7.4 (It’s nice to see interaction between people and the building is captured in this one. Engaging)

Let’s wait till next month at the annual World Architecture Festival in Singapore to see which image will win in the end. Some photographs are really subtle and wonderful while some also is kind of moderate based on my personal opinion. Anyway, huge credits to the photographers mentioned above who contributed such fascinating images related to architecture. I myself also like to take photographs of buildings and I do have some great images of my own. Maybe I can share them in my blog here in soon too.

(Information and images in this post are from the following source: http://www.archdaily.com/774864/20-of-the-worlds-best-building-images-shortlisted-for-arcaid-awards-2015)