Wrote quite a number of posts this month…

It’s me again and here comes another blog post! I think this is the month out of the year with most number of posts written (I counted, 11 posts in this month alone). It’s the middle of last week of 2021 now. Tomorrow will be my last day of work for the year as I will be off on Friday which is already the New Year’s Eve. My office is technically closed this week but I decided to work for a few days to settle some outstanding tasks and to save some of my annual leaves for next year. I don’t know what I can do if I’m following the office closure and not work for the entire week. Anyway, I’m still far from ‘workaholic’ stage.

Let me share some of the miscellaneous stuff before I forget. First of all, a big congratulations to ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ for becoming the first ever film in the current pandemic era to successfully gross over US$1 billion in worldwide box office. The film has now topped the list of highest grossing film of 2021 right before the year ends. It has been two years of having no film that is able to cross that milestone due to the pandemic. The film’s huge appeal mostly derives from the return of Tobey and Andrew to join Tom in taking on the returning villains. The current Omicron wave may have impact the turnouts to the cinemas but that does not prevent the latest Tom Holland’s Spiderman film to join the 1-billion dollar club. This feat is super impressive too because it does not have any earnings from China because the country has not set any release date for the movie yet.

Recently, I have watched an animated film called ‘Encanto’. This Disney film tells the story of a young Colombian girl having to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers. The film is beautiful and is nice to watch but is not as exciting or memorable as many of the previous Disney classics. However, it is already good enough to give it a very high chance to win most of the awards next year in the animated film category. My personal favourite animated film for this year would be ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’ which I have watched early this month. This one is more interesting and engaging to me.

I also would like to share that I have been constantly playing this new mobile game called ‘Pokemon Unite’ ever since its release on smartphones from last September. I can say that I’m quite addicted to it now to the point I’m dropping another game; ‘Jurassic World’ which I have played non-stop since years ago for a while until I’m done with this new game. Haha…I heard that ‘Pokemon Unite’ which is a multiplayer online battle mobile game featuring famous Pokemon characters is indeed very popular now. Did you play it? Its popularity will die down eventually just like many other past games that were once massive hit.

Alright. That’s all for what I believe would be my last post of the year. See you around next year! Three more days to 2022…

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Year 2021 in a nutshell.

Year 2021 is coming to an end in a few days. Like 2020, 2021 was heavily defined by the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. There were emergence of multiple Covid-19 variants, on and off lockdowns in many parts of the world and major global rollout of Covid-19 vaccines. Just as the Delta variant starts to subside, another more transmissible Omicron variant emerges recently across the world. I wonder when will this pandemic ends…

Besides the pandemic, there are also a number of major highlights or events that define 2021. Follow with me as I run through the year in a nutshell;

January 20th, 2021 – Inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of USA. He is the oldest person to have assumed the office.

April 9th, 2021 – Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, died at the age of 99. He was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and was the longest serving royal consort in history.

April 21st, 2021 – An Indonesian submarine, KRI Nanggala sank in the Bali Sea during a torpedo drill, killing all 53 personnel on board.

June 11th to July 11th, 2021 – UEFA Euro 2020 (football championship) is held at 11 countries. The championship is won by Italy after defeating England in the final.

July 23th to August 8th, 2021 – 2020 Summer Olympic Games is held in Tokyo, Japan with USA topping the medal tally while China is closely behind at second place. The event is then followed by 2020 Summer Paralympic Games from August 24th to September 5th, 2021. 2032 Summer Olympics hosting right is awarded to Brisbane, Australia.

August 30th, 2021 – US armed forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on this date, marking the end of the 2001-2021 War in Afghanistan. After their withdrawal, Taliban insurgent group successfully captured Afghanistan from the reigning Islamic republic government.

September 11th, 2021 – USA marks 20th anniversary of the 911 tragedy with memorial services held across all the sites of the hijacked planes’ crash on 11th September 2001.

September 17th, 2021 – Release of Netflix TV series ‘Squid Game’, a South Korean survival drama to critical acclaim and international attention. It became Netflix’s most watched series and Google reported that ‘Squid Game’ was the most-searched television show on search engine in 2021. It has sparked worldwide interest and became a popular internet meme.

October 1st, 2021 – 2020 World Expo in Dubai opens. The expo which has 192 countries and 10 organizations participating will run for 6 months at a 438 hectare site near Dubai’s southern border with Abu Dhabi. The expo features various pavilions and structures with fascinating architecture.

That’s about it for the recap of 2021. As the world is still battling with the Covid-19 pandemic (the coronavirus alone has killed over 5 million people worldwide since it first began in December 2019) and it is unfortunate and saddening, we can at least feel a bit of relief that no major deadly natural disaster has happened this year.

As for my country, Malaysia in 2021, the most defining event would be resignation of Bersatu’s Muhyiddin Yassin as the Prime Minister on 16th August after he lost the majority support of MPs in parliament due to criticism to his handling of Covid-19 crisis of the country and several UMNO MPs withdrawing their support. There was a lot of political dramas going on that eventually subsides after Ismail Sabri from UMNO is sworn in as the new Prime Minister on 21st August. The 18-months long political crisis ended with Ismail signing a memorandum of understanding with main opposition pact, Pakatan Harapan on 13th September for political stability. What a bad state that Malaysia has gone to….

Another major event happened in Malaysia in 2021 is none other than the recent major flash flood that hits several states particularly Selangor and the nation’s capital Kuala Lumpur that has claimed over 50 lives and caused huge disruptions and widespread damages. Taken place during the non-stop rain 2 weekends ago (18th December 2021), it is considered as one of the worst flood disasters in the country in 50 years.

Last but not least, let us take this moment to pray for 2022 to be the year when the pandemic will be over, things start to return to normal, the world will be more safe and peaceful, and for Malaysia to be led by capable people for a prosperous nation fair to all (definitely not this PN or BN government). I won’t go any further on that.

By the way, hope you enjoy reading the post! Have a great day!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

2021 TV series that I have watched and my personal selection of the best.

Hong Kong’s TVB wasn’t the only television station this year that I have been keeping eyes on for this year although most of the television series I watched in 2021 still comes from TVB. I have been growing up with TVB series but for this year, I choose to diversify a bit by watching also one series from ViuTV (also from Hong Kong) and one from Netflix.

2021 is the year when I watched the most number of TV series, at 17. 15 are from TVB, 1 from ViuTV and 1 from Netflix. For record, I watched ‘Ossan’s Love’, a romance comedy TV series by ViuTV and the worldwide popular ‘Squid Game’, a South Korean TV series by Netflix. Now, let’s get back to TVB…

Here below are the list of the 15 TVB series that I have watched this year along with my rating (out of 10 points). You would have read my individual reviews to each of these dramas before too in my earlier posts;

• The Offliners. (7.3)
• Armed Reaction 2021. (6.8)
• The Forgotten Day. (6.6)
• Shadow Of Justice. (5.0)
• Sinister Beings. (7.5)
• AI Romantic. (8.0)
• Final Destiny. (6.9)
• Plan ‘B’. (7.8)
• Murder Diary. (6.0)
• Battle Of The Seven Sisters. (7.4)
• The Line Watchers. (6.3)
• The Kwoks And What. (6.8)
• Kids’ Lives Matter. (6.6)
• Take Two. (7.9)
• The Ringmaster. (6.6)

It’s annual anniversary awards presentation is coming soon (to be held on 2nd January 2022) to honour the best of their series and programmes in 2021. Before they announce their report card, it is first time to announce my choice for the best of the year from TVB series in 2021 that I have watched (in 13 categories below):

Best Series: AI Romantic

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Shaun Tam (Take Two)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Linda Chung (Kids’ Lives Matter)

Most Favourite TV Male Character: Billy Luk (AI Romantic)

Most Favourite TV Female Character: Ali Lee (AI Romantic)

Best Supporting Actor: Jonathan Cheung (Sinister Beings)

Best Supporting Actress: Moon Lau (The Line Watchers)

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Karl Ting (The Offliners, Sinister Beings, Battle of the Seven Sisters, The Line Watchers)

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Gloria Tang (Armed Reaction 2021, Take Two)

Most Favourite Drama Theme Song: ‘Committing Mistake Knowingly’ by Hubert Wu, ending theme song for ‘The Line Watchers’)

Most Favourite On-Screen Couple: Billy Luk & Ali Lee (AI Romantic)

Most Favourite TV Villain: Gilbert Lam (Take Two)

Outstanding TV Veteran Artiste: Mimi Kung (Plan B, Kids’ Lives Matter)

The above list is solely based on my personal choice and excludes the rest of the TVB series aired this year that I did not watch. To me, ‘AI Romantic’ is the most interesting, warm and engaging TVB series of the year and I’m disappointed that Hong Kong audiences didn’t give enough attention or awards buzz to this series of which I considered the best in 2021.

Despite being stuck here in Singapore for the entire year, but to me, 2021 is still very much eventful.

2021 is wrapping up soon. I spent all of 2021 only in Singapore due to all the border restrictions and they have only opened up for leisure travel to Malaysia last month. I will only head back home end of next month during Chinese New Year period.

I quickly browsed back all the photos I have taken this year and scrolled through my posts published all the way from January 2021 for a flashback of all the special occasions, events or highlights happening this year. I have to say that 2021 is indeed an eventful year for me despite being stuck here in this tiny island nation for work.

Here are the highlights of my year in 2021 by months:

January 2021

• Watched mini yet satisfying new year fireworks from one of the nearby heartland locations due to cancellation of annual mega new year countdown celebration at Marina Bay to prevent crowd due to on-going pandemic.
• Visited Jurong Bird Park for the first time. Have accomplished complete visit to all parks under Mandai Wildlife Reserve (other parks are Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, and River Safari which I have visited in previous years).
• Went to ‘Light to Night Festival’ (animated light projections on several landmarks at Singapore Civic District.
• First time visit to Macritchie Reservoir. Completed one of the walking trails within the jungle under the rain.

February 2021

• First Chinese New Year celebration in Singapore away from home and family.
• Visited ‘River Hongbao’ (CNY decorations and exhibition) event at Gardens by the Bay.
• Had great CNY meals and gatherings with friends, housemates and office colleagues.

March 2021

• Focus of the month was on watching as many Oscar nominated films as possible.
• No special outing this month due to being busy with work.

April 2021

• Explored Rail Corridor (refurbished landscaped walk along former railway line) close to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

May 2021

• Bought a new laptop (also from Acer brand).
• Had a brief 1 night staycation in the city during Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday.
• Visited Singapore Flyer (one of world’s tallest observation wheel) and ‘Time Capsule’ exhibition at the base of the flyer.

June 2021

• Went to Singapore Botanic Gardens (country’s first UNESCO heritage site) for the first time.

July 2021

• Received my first dose of Covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer).
• Watched the fireworks display rehearsal event in conjunction with Singapore’s National Day celebration on next month at The Float, Marina Bay.

August 2021

• Went for the 4 days 3 nights cruise to nowhere on board Dream Cruise. Had a lot of fun (playing games, having wonderful meals, soaking in jacuzzi, trying my luck in the ship’s casino, watching some shows, etc).
• Received my second dose of Covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer). Hence, completed my vaccination regime.
• Played skyline luge and skyride at Sentosa for the first time.

September 2021

• Attended a Mid-Autumn Festival event at a church at invitation from my friend.
• Celebrated my blog’s 13th anniversary and reached 2300th post milestone.

October 2021

• Went to Universal Studios Singapore for the second time. Had fun from the attractions and the Halloween theme ‘Trick or Thrills’ in the theme park.

November 2021

• Visited KAWS Exhibition (a popular giant inflatable doll) at The Float, Marina Bay.

December 2021

• Celebrated my historic 30th birthday! Had a sleepover in camp at Changi Experience Studio in Jewel. Enjoyed the time seeing all the Christmas decorations and vibes. Also visited the Canopy Park in the Jewel.
• Quick 1 night staycation at Orchard.
• Visited ‘Christmas Wonderland’ (Christmas decorations) at Gardens by the Bay.

Besides March, the rest of the year was pretty interesting. Hopefully more places or countries will open up for leisure travel without much hassle by next year so that I can travel oversea (I’m travel deprived…haha) and fill 2022 with more exciting events. But first of all, priority is to head back home next month (once 2022 starts) to meet my family after almost 2 years of not able to see them (video call not counted!).

I worked mostly at home this year as work from home remain as default in most of 2021. Countless Teams online meeting, Zooms call and site meetings have filled significant parts of my job this year. To be honest, most of these online meetings are a waste of time.

That’s all for my personal highlights of the year. Hope you had a great 2021 too! Few more days to make the most out of it before the year ends…

‘The Ringmaster’ is my final TV series of the year.

‘The Ringmaster’ (拳王) is a 25-episode TVB drama that is themed on boxing and starred Wayne Lai, Owen Cheung, Brian Chu, Elaine Yiu, Winki Lai, Shaun Tam, Huge Wong, Timothy Cheng, etc. It is one of the 4 anniversary series in conjunction with TVB’s 54th anniversary celebration this year. It is my 15th watched TVB series of the year and is also the last.

I couldn’t avoid but to be quite harsh on my review to this drama. The storyline is boring. I couldn’t get myself engaged to the dramas the characters are going through in the series. I hate that they kept on putting in intense powerful background score to lift up intensity of many scenes that aren’t really climactic or dramatic at all. It doesn’t work that way and it puts me off every time.

Owen Cheung put in a lot of effort to bulk up his body for this role. I am amazed by his effort and dedication but I think that has taken a toll on his acting. I find that his acting is a bit expressionless, stiff and bland in here. Wayne Lai is still a very solid actor but he alone cannot save the boredom of the storyline. And I can’t stand the fact that Owen defeated Wayne for this drama to be placed in top 5 in running for best actor next weekend. Wayne’s acting is much more refined and layered as compared to Owen’s bland performance here. Owen’s dedication in bodybuilding for this drama is not equal to his acting performance! Certainly poor judgement by these Hong Kong voters. And now I keep seeing Owen and Brian Chu in many recent TVB series. It is very obvious that TVB is heavily promoting them…and their muscular body. Brian especially…I knew it is not his choice but in both ‘Take Two’ and ‘The Ringmaster’ (back to back series), he has to purposely take off his shirt in some scenes. He has to show and prove his acting, not his body. TVB, please take note!

Although Shaun Tam only plays minor role in this series (as the deceased elder brother of Owen Cheung), but his storyline is actually the most engaging one. Elaine Yiu is the first female lead here but I don’t really see her presence as the lead. There is a huge group of friends of Owen in the boxing circle in the drama and each of them has their fair share of story arcs too but I couldn’t care less. By the way, Jacky Cai is the most annoying of all. I couldn’t stand her character. She has to magnify her voice and expression every time she act in this drama and that is very disturbing. I have not seen her before in any previous series too.

Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Ringmaster’ 6.6. Features quite a number of award-winning actors and actresses but felt flat due to its boring and unappealing plot. Quite disappointed. Even the final episode contained very draggy and unnecessary long scenes of closures for each characters. They should have aired ‘Barrack O’Karma 2’ (expecting it to be good as its predecessor) instead of this series to end the year with a great finale.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Christmas Wonderland 2021 at Gardens by the Bay.

Christmas Wonderland is an annual event held at Gardens by the Bay where a lot of Christmas festive decorations are put up across the huge park for visitors to enjoy and take pictures. There would be also some carnival games, kiosks selling merchandise and photo taking services, as well as stalls selling food and beverages. I first attended the event in 2019 and hence this is my third time visit. Admission is priced at SGD$9 per pax this year.

Since I visit it on the Christmas Day itself, I already expected massive crowd. It started to drizzle a bit when I first enter but fortunately, the rain stopped soon after. I spent over two and a half hours in there and most of the time was just used to queue at the various spots where the decorations are. Long queue at every spots and you have to take your shots very quickly before being asked to move for the next group in line.

I noticed some decorations are recycled or exactly the same from last year. One of the new attractions and no doubt the most spectacular one this year is the illuminated bridge on a sea of blue lights. Santa Claus is also present to take pictures with you under a beautiful gazebo. There is also a Christmas edition of light and sound show of the supertrees at a time intervals. Okay…so here are some of the pictures I took:

The event runs until 2nd January 2022. So hurry up and go for it before it ends. It is worth it and will certainly gets you into Christmas mood (although a bit late by now as Christmas is over).

Drop by to wish everyone Merry Christmas!

As Andy Williams sings ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year….’ (one of the classic Christmas songs), I will immediately get into the feel…yes, Andy, you are right. Christmas is one of the most wonderful time of the year. Even when there is no winter or snow here, our streets, malls and some parks are filled with beautiful decorations in conjunction with Christmas celebration to get us into the festive atmosphere.

From wherever you are, please remember to keep safe while celebrating the festival with your family and friends as the pandemic is still on-going. Have fun and enjoy it with the warmth of your loved ones.

I’m not a Christian but I will revel in by having a nice luxurious dinner tomorrow with my friend and will pay a visit to the annual Christmas Wonderland event at the Gardens by the Bay where there will be a lot of beautifully lit Christmas decorations scattered around the already amazing park. Will certainly share more about it in my next post after the visit.

That’s all for my post today. Merry Christmas once again! Wishing you peace and joy all season long! Happy holidays! One more week to another new year. This coming year, may you be gifted with countless blessings too!

List of 2021 films watched and selection of my most favourite films of the year.

It’s almost end of another year and as usual, it’s time for me to compile the list of all the films released in 2021 that I have watched alongside with my personal selection of my most favourite ones of the year.

Here below are the list of 2021 Hollywood (English language) films I have watched with their individual rating (most being 5 stars). The films highlighted in bold are my top 10 favourites:

1. Bloody Hell. ★★★★
2. Wrong Turn. ★★★
3. Paradise Cove. ★★1/2
4. Willy’s Wonderland. ★★1/2
5. Rage. ★★
6. Tom And Jerry. ★★★
7. The Vault. ★★★★
8. Boss Level. ★★★★
9. Zack Snyder’s Justice League. ★★★★
10. Godzilla vs. Kong. ★★★★
11. Chaos Walking. ★★★1/2
12. Dawn Of The Beast. ★★1/2
13. Thunder Force. ★★★1/2
14. Stowaway. ★★1/2
15. Mortal Kombat. ★★★★
16. Boys From County Hell. ★★
17. Ape vs. Monster. ★1/2
18. Voyagers. ★★★1/2
19. Those Who Wish Me Dead. ★★★1/2
20. Locked In. ★★1/2
21. Great White. ★★★
22. Army Of The Dead. ★★★1/2
23. The Retreat. ★★★1/2
24. Wrath Of Man. ★★★★
25. The Unholy. ★★★1/2
26. Endangered Species. ★★★
27. Cruella. ★★★★1/2
28. Last Of The Grads. ★★1/2
29. Spiral. ★★★
30. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. ★★★★1/2
31. A Quiet Place Part II. ★★★★1/2
32. Share Or Die. ★1/2
33. Edge Of The World. ★★1/2
34. Awake. ★★★
35. Nobody. ★★★★
36. Fast And Furious 9. ★★★★
37. Jungle Run. ★1/2
38. The Ice Road. ★★★1/2
39. The Boss Baby: Family Business. ★★★1/2
40. The Tomorrow War. ★★★1/2
41. Black Widow. ★★★1/2
42. The Forever Purge. ★★★
43. Fear Street Part One: 1994. ★★★★
44. Fear Street Part Two: 1978. ★★★★
45. Fear Street Part Three: 1666. ★★★★
46. Jungle Cruise. ★★★★★
47. Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. ★★★
48. The Suicide Squad. ★★★1/2
49. John And The Hole. ★★1/2
50. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. ★★★★
51. Don’t Breathe 2. ★★★★
52. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. ★★★★1/2
53. Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions. ★★★★1/2
54. The Voyeurs. ★★★1/2
55. Malignant. ★★★★
56. Old. ★★★1/2
57. Candyman. ★★★
58. Dear Evan Hansen. ★★★
59. The Guilty. ★★★
60. Intrusion. ★★1/2
61. Free Guy. ★★★★
62. There’s Someone Inside Your House. ★★★
63. Halloween Kills. ★★1/2
64. Venom: Let There Be Carnage. ★★★1/2
65. The Addams Family 2. ★★1/2
66. Dune. ★★1/2
67. The Deep House. ★★★1/2
68. Army Of Thieves. ★★★★
69. Paranormal Activity: Next Of Kin. ★★★
70. Eternals. ★★★1/2
71. Respect. ★★1/2
72. Love Hard. ★★★
73. No Time To Die. ★★★★
74. Home Sweet Home Alone. ★★★1/2
75. Red Notice. ★★★★
76. Tick, Tick… Boom! ★★1/2
77. Spencer. ★★1/2
78. Black Friday. ★★1/2
79. Finch. ★★★★1/2
80. Clifford The Big Red Dog. ★★★★
81. Ron’s Gone Wrong. ★★★★1/2
82. Extinct. ★★★
83. Antlers. ★★★1/2
84. Spider-Man: No Way Home. ★★★★
85. The Boathouse. ★★
86. Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City. ★★★1/2
87. Encanto. ★★★1/2
88. Don’t Look Up. ★★★★
89. Luca. ★★★★
90. PAW Patrol: The Movie. ★★★
91. Nightbooks. ★★★
92. Ghostbusters: Afterlife. ★★★1/2
93. The King’s Man. ★★★1/2
94. See For Me. ★★★★1/2
95. Nightmare Alley. ★★★
96. West Side Story. ★★★
97. Vicious Fun. ★★★1/2

Here below are the list of 2021 international (foreign language) films I have watched with their individual rating (most being 5 stars). The films highlighted in bold are my top 3 favourites:

1. Hi, Mom. (China) ★★★★1/2
2. All You Need Is Love. (Hong Kong) ★★
3. Meander. (France) ★★★★
4. Sinkhole. (South Korea) ★★★★
5. Prey. (Germany) ★★1/2
6. Crazy Tsunami. (China) ★★★
7. Anita. (Hong Kong) ★★★★1/2
8. Blood Red Sky. (Germany) ★★★★1/2
9. The Cursed: Dead Man’s Prey. (South Korea) ★★★★

As of today (27th March 2022), I have watched a total of 106 films. Managed to break the 100-mark milestone before the end of the year (2021). Still staying to my average of around 100 movies per year. That’s about 8 films per month or 2 films per week. It’s considered quite a lot and further proves that I’m quite a movie fans myself for all these years.

Here below are the top 10 highest grossing films in year 2021 (as of 27th March 2022):

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home. (US) (US$1.886 billion)
2. The Battle Of Lake Changjin. (China) (US$913 million)
3. Hi, Mom. (China) (US$841 million)
4. No Time To Die. (US) (US$774 million)
5. F9. (US) (US$726 million)
6. Detective Chinatown 3. (China) (US$706 million)
7. Venom: Let There Be Carnage. (US) (US$502 million)
8. Godzilla vs. Kong. (US) (US$468 million)
9. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. (US) (US$432 million)
10. Eternals. (US) (US$402 million)

The on-going Covid-19 pandemic is still impacting the global box office intake due to cinemas operating at reduced capacity, plenty of restrictions, fear of catching Covid in cinemas, etc. In pre-Covid era, usually there will be more than 4 films that will gross over US$1 billion every year. That no longer happens beginning last year (2020) due to Covid. Only 1 film breaks that barrier this year which is the currently airing ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’. Several films from China are able to join the list due to their own large China market without the need to depend on oversea intake and that the country has already basically returned to normal way earlier than other countries.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

(Post first published on 18th Dec 2021 and will be occasionally updated from time to time. Latest update on 27th Mar 2022)

Huge crowd reaction in the cinema while watching ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.

The last time I witnessed crowd cheering and clapping while watching a movie in the cinema was during the screening of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ two years back. Even the crowd reaction at that time was not that huge as compared to what I went through during yesterday’s evening while watching ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ on its first day of release here in Singapore. Must have been a lot of Spidey fans in the theatre with me yesterday….haha. They got too excited.

I’m excited but not to that extent. Okay…warning; spoiler ahead. Do not read further if you have not watch the movie. Would not want to spoil anything to you.

I still felt incredibly great, contented and nostalgic as soon as Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire first appeared in this movie as Spiderman from their respective universe. They have insistently denied their involvement in this film from past interviews to keep it as a secret from their contractual obligation (typical Marvel). So you two are indeed lying…haha!

In fact, the film delivered more of a fan service than a solid action-packed adventure film for the titular hero. But the former alone does adds a lot of point from me who have grown up watching Tobey’s Spiderman, then to Andrew’s version and finally now to Tom’s version. That’s 3 generations of this superhero that brought us back a lot of childhood memories of the past films (the first film with Tobey as Spiderman was almost 2 decades ago).

In this latest film that continues immediately from where the previous film ends, Peter Parker’s identity as Spiderman is revealed to the public and he seeks the help of Doctor Strange to cast a spell that would make all people forget that Peter Parker is Spiderman. However, the spell goes wrong and leads to opening of multiverse, where dangerous foes from the other worlds start to appear.

As mentioned earlier, the story for this film isn’t as solid and the sense of adventure is lacking as compared to the 2 previous Tom Holland’s Spiderman films. But beware, there are a lot more emotional scenes in this one that would make you felt really moved to compensate for that. Seeing the return of villains from previous live-action Spiderman films are fascinating too (Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Electro, Lizard and Sandman) and it is great to see that this film brought some form of closure not only to the 3 Spiderman but also to the villains.

The battle scene at the end is too quick for me. I have 3 Spiderman on the screen and hence I’m expecting triple amount of time for the battle with the villains. But it was all too fast as mentioned earlier. Nevertheless, the battle is still fantastic. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ a total of 8.0. Also as expected, do stay till the end of the film to watch one mid-credit and one post-credit scene (post-credit is more of a movie trailer). This movie is most likely to be the first ever film since the pandemic to gross over US$1 billion dollar worldwide.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

30 pictures for my 30th birthday celebration at Jewel Changi Airport!

It looks like I have made many visits to Jewel Changi Airport this year including for my significant 30th birthday occasion this weekend. With the Christmas and New Year celebration around the corner, there are many special activities, festive events and decorations on going at Jewel to keep visitors coming. By the way, it is already a perfectly cool place to hang out during normal days.

As mentioned earlier, I have visited Jewel quite a number of times but have not fully explore the place yet mostly because of several areas within that are only accessible with admission fees. It’s my 30th birthday and so it’s time to spend some bucks along with my friend. Yesterday (the day of my birthday), we first visited the Changi Experience Studio. It occupies a section of Level 4 of Jewel with high-tech interactive exhibits and games focusing on aviation and particularly the Changi Airport itself. The studio is quite small and we were not really engaged with the exhibits and games inside. However, I do impressed by the high-tech stuff in the studio especially the interactive light projection.

We are not done with the studio yet as we will be actually spending the night in camps specially set up in the studio for visitors who purchased the sleepover package. We then proceed to have my birthday dinner at Jumbo Seafood Restaurant as I always miss their signature chilli crab. We bought a signature tasting set meal that includes other dishes like prawns, cod fish, lobster, etc. The food were delicious but we felt it was overpriced.

After the dinner, we went for a quick window shopping before heading to the Shiseido Forest Valley (where the iconic indoor waterfall / rain vortex is) to check out the decorations, Christmas light and sound show at the rain vortex that happened once in every hour in the evening, and to experience the magical (fake) snowfall that happened once in a while. All these are part of the on-going ‘Meet the World at Jewel this Christmas’ event that runs from 19 November 2021 to 3rd January 2022. Time for a lot of pictures here.

It’s already late evening by then and we head back to our camp in the Changi Experience Studio to play some games before calling the day off. I couldn’t sleep the entire night because it is not comfortable (quite stuffy with air-cond probably closed after 11pm inside and the very hard floor surface I’m sleeping on) but it was a cool and unique experience to be able to camp inside Jewel.

We checked out from the camp early this morning but my birthday trip didn’t just end there. Our sleepover package includes complimentary visit to the Canopy Park on level 5. We immediately headed there after our breakfast and took some few final beautiful shots before ending the overnight visit.

And yup…that’s how I’m celebrating my 30th birthday on this lovely first weekend of December 2021! A very interesting and memorable experience to start of my journey through the 30s.