Checked out the light projections and few art installations after work at Light to Night Festival 2024.

Light to Night Festival returns this year from 19th January to 8th February 2024. Themed ‘Reimagine’ for 2024 edition, this district-wide visual arts festival looks to inspire audiences to forge deeper connections with art in new and engaging ways. The festival features art installations, light projections on building facade, exhibitions, live performances and various other programmes.

(Image source: “Light to Night Singapore’ Facebook page)

The parts I’m looking forward to see every year are only the art installations and light projections. After finishing my work for the day just now, I met up with a friend of mine and had dinner before going to explore the displays/installations. First, we went to check out the light projections (titled ‘Temple of Love’ and ‘Teo Eng Seng: Living the Life’) on the front facade of National Gallery Building. There is also an installation (named ‘Wings of Change’) over there right opposite the building at the Padang. It is said to resemble seeds but they look like ‘siham’ (cockles) to me…hehe…

After that, we walked over to The Arts House (besides National Gallery) for another light projection (titled ‘Winter Sonata, Summer Mookata’). Here, there is a small art installation titled ‘8-bit Word Cloud’. Next, we moved on to the adjacent Asian Civilizations Museum (just visited this museum two weeks ago) to see a light projection on its sideway (titled ‘Passage’) and saw another light installation named ‘Party Pavilion’.

Following that, we proceed to the Victoria Theatre building to see the last light projection (titled ‘Embroidered Landscapes’). This light projection is the most mesmerizing out of all that we have seen this evening. There is also another art installation over there called the ‘Wayang Spaceship’. That’s it. A quick walkaround the area to check out all these in less than an hour.

As it is weekday today, there isn’t too many people during our visit to the festival area (Singapore Civic District) just now. There was a time of rain before I finished work but luckily it stopped right after.

My working holiday trip to New Zealand is now just around the corner…and my brief review to TVB series ‘Stranger Anniversary’.

It’s the month of June already and four days later, I will be flying to New Zealand to commence my working holiday trip. The trip was planned since March once I got my working holiday visa approved. After nearly 3 months of waiting and preparation, the trip is finally within sight.

Settling on a new place to live is never easy and is pretty daunting at first. Fortunately, I have such experience in the past twice when I moved to Australia for two years for my postgraduate study and then moved to Singapore for work purpose. Haha…I was like a nomad; changing places to settle at once every few years.

I would already be in New Zealand by the time my next blog post appeared. I will most probably write on my first impression of Queenstown, share some stunning pictures of the place during winter (opps…it’s going to be freaking cold over there!), and share some of the things I have to do once I arrived there before I start my seasonal job at the Remarkables ski resort. Looking forward to this view below of Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain at the background when I get there next week.

Before ending my post, I would like to share my quick review to a recent TVB drama that I have watched; ‘Stranger Anniversary’. It is a 25-episode series (cut short to 20-episode for TVB version due to extremely poor rating this series has received) with a story that revolves on two people who are not related by blood, but very similar in appearance. They contact each other, and have been miraculously affecting each other’s life trajectory. The series starred Joe Ma, Roxanne Tong, Winki Lai, Matthew Ho, Alice Chan, David Chiang, Angel Chiang, Tsui Wing, etc.

I understand why the series received such poor rating. A very simple answer; it is simply bad. Comes with a non-engaging storyline and poor chemistry between the cast, the series just couldn’t deliver. Joe Ma is too old for the role and is not compatible at all especially with her much younger female co-stars (Roxanne and Winki). The comedy part of the series was also not funny. For its drama side, it was uninteresting. My only compliment to the series is its effort on putting two Joe Ma’s characters together in the same frame in a couple of scenes which require some hard work. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Stranger Anniversary’ a total of 6.0. A light-hearted show but could not bring anything fresh to the table.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘No Time To Die’ is a fitting conclusion to Daniel Craig’s James Bond.

‘No Time To Die’ is the 25th film in the popular James Bond film series. It stars Daniel Craig in his fifth and final outing as the iconic fictional British MI6 agent, James Bond. His first film in the series was ‘Casino Royale’ in 2006. His journey as the titular character continues with ‘Quantum of Solace’ in 2008, ‘Skyfall’ in 2012, ‘Spectre’ in 2015 and finally ‘No Time To Die’ in 2021. 15 years in the role, Daniel Craig is indeed the James Bond of our generation.

In ‘No Time To Die’, Bond, who has left active service with MI6, is recruited by the CIA to find a kidnapped scientist, which leads to a showdown with a powerful adversary. Besides Daniel, the film starred Rami Malek, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Christopher Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, etc.

Although Daniel Craig looks tired and aged, but he did nailed the role once again with brilliant performance from his actions to emotional scenes. It’s very much satisfying to see him again for the final time as Bond in this film that delivered in almost all aspects. The action sequences are amazing although the final clash with the main villain (Rami Malek) is a bit of a letdown. Besides that, the cinematography is excellent!

The only downside to the film would be its excessively long runtime. The film is over 2 hour and 40 minutes long. It took me more than four days to finish the whole movie mostly during my lunch break for the past week. Nevertheless, ‘No Time To Die’ is a solid film that offers a beautiful and fitting conclusion to Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Out of 10 points, I rate it 8.0.

The movie has been performing fairly well in the worldwide box office too. As of today, it has grossed around $670 million dollars and is the 5th highest grossing film of the year. Top 2 highest grossing films of the year so far goes to China’s films, ‘The Battle of Lake Changjin’ and ‘Hi, Mom’ (have watched this one too) that has grossed $881 million and $848 million respectively. Hollywood no longer dominates the box office figures since last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected operation of cinemas worldwide. China’s blockbuster films are still making big bucks due to its reliance only on its domestic market which is big enough and that the country has reopened their cinemas way earlier than the rest of the world. ‘Fast and Furious 9’ sits at 3rd place and is Hollywood’s biggest film of the year so far with over $721 million dollars grossing.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Awesome time at 4 days 3 nights’ ‘cruise to nowhere’ on board World Dream.

In the blink of an eye, my 4 days 3 nights cruise is over. I have disembarked from the ‘cruise to nowhere’ this morning and had just returned home wishing to have spend more days in the ship rather than returning so quickly to land and reality. I had an awesome time and experience on board the ship, which is named ‘World Dream’ and is owned by Genting Cruise Lines. It really does felt like I have went for a short travel or getaway with my friend.

1st Day (Sunday, 1st August 2021)

It was quite a long process for checking in before boarding the ship in the early afternoon at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre. First of all, we have to undergo an antigen rapid test (swab test that is much less intrusive and painless) at 1pm and wait for about 30 minutes before getting the result. It was of course a ‘negative’ result and only then we will be allowed to complete the check in procedures. There were various stops for Covid-19 checks, baggage check, immigration clearance, Tracey token (it is something like a TraceTogether token to be carried all the time in the ship) and cabin card collections, etc. However, the process was easy and quick. We managed to board the ship and enter our cabin (is a balcony stateroom) at around 2.30pm.

We immediately make booking for the pool and jacuzzi usage and to the 2 complimentary shows through the Dream Cruise mobile app due to the very limited capacity caused from the current Covid-19 restrictions. We watched both the shows today; ‘Vision’ which is a magic show by an European illusionist and ‘Faith’ which is the cruise’s signature show that features dances and artistic performances. Each of the show is 1 hour long. They are quite entertaining but I don’t quite get the storyline of the ‘Faith’ show.

We explored parts of the ship before calling it the day. By the way, due to current Phase 2 heightened alert in Singapore, we have to resort to having our meals only in our cabin. Limited variety of restaurants and food options during this period and only takeaways or room delivery is allowed. The food quality can be better from the free-of-charge restaurant (only 1 free restaurant this time). We also did tried on the food from other restaurant which we have to pay and those are unreasonably expensive.

2nd Day (Monday, 2nd August 2021)

We started the day by playing two complimentary virtual reality (VR) experience games. The games are free because they are covered from our purchase of the ‘Dream Boys’ show which will happen on the next day. The free VR games were quite lousy and quick though. It was my first time playing VR game too.

We spent most of the afternoon resting in the cabin and watch live broadcast of some sports in the on-going Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In late afternoon, we then proceed to dip into the jacuzzi and played the water slides. The ‘easy level’ water slide was already quite scary and thrilling for me.

I tried my luck with roulette at the casino on board the ship for an hour and won 100 dollars. Well, that was good to pay off part of the extra charges I have to bear for the cruise. I then went to play live Bingo game in the evening (30 dollars for one set of games that comes with 3 tickets). Didn’t have any luck on this one though.

3rd Day (3rd August 2021)

It was the day for most of the outdoor activities that we wanted to play. First, we went to the ropes course that ends with a zipline suspended above the ocean. Our over one-hour wait for this activity is very much worth it. Even the unusually brave uncles and aunties are attempting this. We also played the table tennis and I watched my friend attempting the rock climbing wall.

We played another Bingo game (still no luck and didn’t win anything) and went for a brief window shopping in the ship. We also spent quite a lot of time today just resting in the cabin and watching movies and the Olympic channel. We took the opportunity to catch the sunrise and sunset moments today too but the overwhelming clouds were blocking the beautiful views today.

In the evening, we went to catch the 5-minutes laser display show at the main pool deck before attending the ‘Dream Boys’ show which is our last activity on board the cruise. It costs 60 dollar (for front seat) and 50 dollar (for back seat) per pax and it features muscular and sexy men performing seductive moves and acts. This show will be particularly hot for the ladies. This is my first time watching this kind of show too (only for people above 18 years of age ya…).

4th Day (4th August 2021)

There is no more activity for the guests today as the ship will reach the port at 9am and we have to check out and disembark immediately after that. We had to settle all our bills, return the Tracey token, go through the typical immigration clearance and baggage check. We get to keep our own cabin card. It was a very quick and smooth disembarking process (took only 30 minutes).

That’s all for the highlight of my ‘seacation’ (sea+staycation). I won’t mind going for it in near future especially when Covid-19 restrictions are much more less severe. I am glad that I tried almost all the activities on board the ship (skipped those Japan-themed workshops and classes only and missed the live music performances), watched all the shows, and also had the chance to perfectly rest, chill and just enjoy the moment with the sea breeze and view.

Time flies very quickly when you had a good time. This is true. In total, I spent about 500 dollars (per pax) for this trip. The amount is still considered reasonable and above all, it is a much needed getaway for me to destress. In conclusion, I had an awesome and unforgettable experience on board World Dream ship during this 4-days 3 nights ‘cruise to nowhere’ trip. Worth it. Go try if you haven’t. I do recommend it.

As January is coming to an end, CNY mood starts to fill the air.

Today is already the last day of January and it’s now less than 2 weeks away from Chinese New Year festival. This will be my first time celebrating this festival away from family and home. And due to the pandemic, my annual CNY oversea vacation will not materialize this year too. It’s going to be a very different and more muted celebration this year.

But that didn’t stop my CNY mood either especially after seeing many places selling CNY goodies and biscuits, hearing festive CNY songs in malls, seeing beautiful CNY decorations at public spaces, and realizing that my coming CNY break is just around the corner. Here are some shots I took at Chinatown last week with all the CNY decorations including a lighted up display of a giant ox with wheel (it will be the year of ox in 2021).

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On last Saturday, there is a sudden urge in me to visit somewhere in Singapore that is overwhelmed with nature. Macritchie Reservoir came to my mind. I had always wanted to visit this place (never visited it before) as it is known for its vast reservoir and forest area. I need to have a quick escape from the concrete jungle environment that I see everyday and the reservoir seems to be a perfect place for that. Although the famous treetop walk over there is closed for maintenance during my visit a week ago, I still had a good time (spent about three hours) covering a small section of the many walking trails available there despite a sudden heavy downpour in the middle.

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I also saw a lot of people canoeing on that reservoir including small kids. I have not played it before and would like to try it someday. I’m going to visit the reservoir again once the treetop walk is opened back and when I started to miss the sight of overwhelming trees and smell of the forest again.

That’s my activity last Saturday. For this weekend, I went to see the animated light projections on National Gallery, Asian Civilization Museum and Victoria Theatre yesterday’s evening. These projections are part of the Light to Night Festival which lasts for a week and is ending today. I find that Singapore love to organize light shows. These events do attract crowds but with proper discipline of each group keeping a distance from one another, the huge empty space of the ‘Padang’ that helps in scattering the people and the presence of many safe distancing ambassadors around, everything appears to be fine for people to enjoy the light shows.

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By the way, I do not get at all the meanings of those light projections and I’m lazy to read all the lengthy descriptions. Beautiful sight and that is enough. Haha…There is also free admission for all visitors to the exhibition galleries inside the National Gallery. I did went inside the majestic looking building but left after a short while as I’m not that interested into the themes of the exhibitions. Do go to City Hall area to check them out if you haven’t. It’s free and today is the last day.

Movie review for ‘Peninsula’, the highly anticipated sequel to ‘Train To Busan’. By the way, it feels so good to be back to the cinema after over 4 months.

The cinemas here in Singapore have just been allowed to resume in operation early this week after over 3 months of closure due to Covid-19 restrictions. The first major blockbuster to hit the cinemas after the reopening is the highly anticipated sequel to the 2016’s ‘Train To Busan’. The South Korean movie is called ‘Peninsula’ and it sets 4 years after the event in ‘Train To Busan’.

It feels so good to be back to the cinema after over 4 months. With all the safety measures in place (only maximum of 50 people in a hall, more than 1m distancing with other audiences, mask-wearing at all time except when eating or drinking, contact tracing and heightened hygiene measures by individuals), I felt it’s okay to visit cinemas by now although Covid-19 is still out there.

After reading reviews to the movie, I already set my expectation lower for this movie. And after watching ‘Peninsula’, I do agree to most of the reviews by the others; overuse of CGIs, unrealistic scenes, lack of emotional depth and characters development, and too much car chasing scenes that made us felt like we are watching another ‘Fast and Furious’ movie but set in zombie apocalypse setting. People also compared it to ‘Mad Max’, ‘World War Z’ and ‘Maze Runner’ films, and it means there are too much similarities and it lacks originality.

The storyline is also too predictable. Spoiler ahead….The plot revolves around a man who managed to escape from the zombie outbreak in South Korea few years ago and now lives in exile in Hong Kong. He is then given a lucrative chance to return to Korea to retrieve large bags of cash left abandoned in the city. However, he and his team are ambushed by lawless militia and vicious zombie hordes. He is then saved by a group of survivors and they worked together to attempt to leave the place.

I watched the movie this afternoon. In the morning before that, I had the time to rewatch ‘Train To Busan’. This is perhaps my third time watching that movie and it was still very good. ‘Peninsula’ is no where near. Since I have already set my expectation lower, I do still find it an entertaining zombie movie but it lacks the thrills that ‘Train To Busan’ successfully delivered last time. I also could not immerse into the emotional side of the characters. The ending part is just a little moving but easily forgettable (not the case for the very touching and memorable sad ending for ‘Train To Busan’).

I would rate ‘Peninsula’ a total of 7.0 out of 10. Still watchable but lacks almost all the things that made the first movie exceptional. Many people would flock to the cinema to watch this as it is creatively marketed as the ‘sequel’ to the very successful ‘Train To Busan’ although the former has very little relation to this sequel except than the zombies. People would also feel the need to visit cinema again after so many months of not being able to do so and that there are no other major movie releases at the moment.

On a side note, as a Cantonese speaker myself, the Cantonese spoken by some of the minor characters supposingly at Hong Kong in the movie were very awful. The director should have put a bit of effort on this. The next movie I’m looking forward to watch is ‘Mulan’!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Less than one year to go to Tokyo 2020!

The first Olympic Games that I have watched was Athens 2004 when I was only 13 years old. From then, I am impressed by the sheer beauty of its opening and closing ceremonies, huge variety of sports contested, large number of participating athletes from all across the world, and the loud cheers from enthusiastic audiences.

Beijing 2008 stunned us all with unforgettable and magnificent opening and closing ceremonies, topped with stunning architecture in its Olympic venues (particularly the famous ‘Bird Nest’ stadium). London 2012 also fascinated us all with its fantastic green initiatives in the games and I even did a research report about it in my Master study. The latest edition of the games was Rio 2016. That’s the games that didn’t leave any impression due to its pretty average ceremonies and venues (the venues had now fallen into state of disrepair) and its multiple controversies.

Now, I’m looking forward to the next games which is now just a year away; Tokyo 2020. I have high expectation to this games as I believe Japan can deliver and put us all in awe with its advanced innovation and ideas. It will be the 5th Olympic Games (or to be exact, the 5th Summer Olympic Games) that I will be paying my attention to (I never bother to watch the Winter Olympic Games).

With the clock now ticking, Tokyo has already made immense progress on its preparation to this games. It will be their second time hosting the games (also the first Asian country to host it twice). The exterior of the main National Stadium looks completed as seen from the recently released photographs. Designed by Kengo Kuma, the latticed timber stadium will have a maximum seating capacity of 80 000 people and is set to be completed end of this year.

Recently, the Tokyo 2020 medal design has also been unveiled to the public’s excitement. Why? It is because that all the medals are manufactured from recycled smartphones and small electronic devices that were donated by the public between April 2017 and March 2019. Talking about green inititative here again…Altogether, these yielded 32kg of gold, 3500kg of silver and 2200kg of bronze. Ohh! I didn’t know that our common electronic devices have gold in them?!

I am also looking forward to our Malaysian athletes’ performance in this games. Our best bet, Lee Chong Wei will be no longer playing but I do still hope that we can finally win our country’s very first Olympic gold either from other badminton players (but our national badminton team isn’t doing well now unfortunately) or even from other sports.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

 

71st British Academy Film Awards: List of winners and my overall opinion on the final race to the Oscars.

The 71st British Academy Film Awards, or simply known as BAFTA took place on 16th February 2018 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. This is the fourth of the five major televised awards in recognizing the best of Hollywood films every year.

‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ is the biggest winner with 5 wins including the coveted ‘Best Film’ prize. The film also won ‘Outstanding British Film’, completing the difficult feat of nailing both the best film prizes BAFTA offered. Its big win here reinforces its position as the Oscar frontrunner particularly in the best picture race where ‘The Shape of Water’ is another serious contender. After winning Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Screen Actors Guild for Best Cast for Motion Picture, and then this BAFTA for Best Film, ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ now is predicted to win Best Picture in the coming Oscars as well. The only major televised award it missed out is Critics’ Choice for Best Picture that went to ‘The Shape of Water’. I’m still hoping that ‘The Shape of Water’ will upset ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ in the Oscars.

As for the four acting categories, it is a lock. Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney can now safely practice their Oscar speech. There is no more competition. It is very unlikely that other nominees will win after they won all the major precursor awards leading up to the Oscars. James Ivory is sure to win ‘Adapted Screenplay’ in the Oscars too for ‘Call Me By Your Name’ while competition for ‘Original Screenplay’ remain heated with ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ and ‘Get Out’ battling each other. On the other hand, I’m 100% confident that ‘Coco’ will win Best Animated Feature in the Oscars without any further explanation required.

Leading with 13 nominations, ‘The Shape of Water’ is now expected to take only ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Production Design’ and ‘Best Original Score’. This movie deserves more in my opinion (including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actress’, etc) but it looks like no one can block the immense love to ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ from the industry people. On the other hand, it’s a pity that Timothee Chalamet lost the Rising Star Award to Daniel Kaluuya because the latter is a homegrown (definitely an advantage since this category is voted by the public). Timothee Chalamet definitely had a more stellar year (2017) in films (‘Lady Bird’ and ‘Call Me By Your Name’). ‘Blade Runner 2049’, ‘Baby Driver’, ‘Dunkirk’, ‘Phantom Thread’, ‘The Shape of Water’ and ‘Darkest Hour’ win in the remaining technical categories. Notable highlight here is ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ losing ‘Best Visual Effects’ to ‘Blade Runner 2049’ and this hurts its chance in the coming Oscars.

Here below is the full list of winners for the 71st British Academy Film Awards (2018):

Best Film

“Call Me By Your Name”

“Darkest Hour”

“Dunkirk”

“The Shape Of Water”

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” *Winner

Outstanding British Film

“Darkest Hour”

“The Death Of Stalin”

“God’s Own Country”

“Lady Macbeth”

“Paddington 2”

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” *Winner

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer

“The Ghoul Gareth Tunley”

“I Am Not A Witch” *Winner

“Jawbone Johnny Harris (Writer/Producer), Thomas Napper (Director)

“Kingdom Of Us”

“Lady Macbeth”

Film Not In The English Language

“Elle”

“First They Killed My Father”

“The Handmaiden” *Winner

“Loveless”

“The Salesman”

Documentary

“City Of Ghosts”

“I Am Not Your Negro” *Winner

“Icarus”

“An Inconvenient Sequel”

“Jane”

Animated Film

“Coco” *Winner

“Loving Vincent”

“My Life As A Courgette”

Director

“Blade Runner 2049,” Denis Villeneuve

“Call Me By Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino

“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan

“The Shape Of Water,” Guillermo Del Toro *Winner

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin Mcdonagh

Original Screenplay

“Get Out,” Jordan Peele

“I, Tonya,” Steven Rogers

“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig

“The Shape Of Water,” Guillermo Del Toro, Vanessa Taylor

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin Mcdonagh *Winner

Adapted Screenplay

“Call Me By Your Name,” James Ivory *Winner

“The Death Of Stalin,” Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, David Schneider

“Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool,” Matt Greenhalgh

“Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin

“Paddington 2,” Simon Farnaby, Paul King

Leading Actress

Annette Bening, “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool”

“Frances Mcdormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” *Winner

Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”

Sally Hawkins, “The Shape Of Water”

Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”

Leading Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”

Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”

Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” *Winner

Jamie Bell, “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool”

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me By Your Name”

Supporting Actress

Allison Janney, “I, Tonya” *Winner

Kristin Scott Thomas, “Darkest Hour”

Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”

Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”

Octavia Spencer, “The Shape Of Water”

Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer, “All The Money In The World”

Hugh Grant, “Paddington 2”

Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” *Winner

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”

Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Original Music

“Blade Runner 2049”

“Darkest Hour”

“Dunkirk”

“Phantom Thread”

“The Shape Of Water” *Winner

Cinematography

“Blade Runner 2049” *Winner

“Darkest Hour”

“Dunkirk Hoyte”

“The Shape Of Water”

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Editing

“Baby Driver” *Winner

“Blade Runner 2049”

“Dunkirk Lee Smith”

“The Shape Of Water”

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

EE Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)

Daniel Kaluuya *Winner

Florence Pugh

Josh O’Connor

Tessa Thompson

Timothée Chalamet

Make Up & Hair

“Blade Runner 2049”

“Darkest Hour” *Winner

“I, Tonya”

“Victoria & Abdul”

“Wonder”

Costume Design

“Beauty and the Beast”

“Darkest Hour”

“I, Tonya”

“Phantom Thread” *Winner

“The Shape of Water”

Sound

“Baby Driver”

“Blade Runner 2049”

“Dunkirk” * Winner

“The Shape of Water”

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

Visual Effects

“Blade Runner 2049” *Winner

“Dunkirk”

“The Shape of Water”

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

“War for the Planet of the Apes”

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

Top 10 tallest buildings to be built in 2018

2018 will be another great year in worldwide achievement on building skyscrapers. China is again leading the way in building supertall buildings. My capital city, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia will also be included into this list for the first time after so many years due to the projected completion of 492 metres tall The Exchange 106 Tower mid of this year. So, what are the top 10 tallest buildings to be built in 2018? Here’s the answer:

1. Goldin Finance 117 Tower, Tianjin, China (597 metres, 128 floors). The tower is now nearing the stage of topping out with the construction of the diamond-shaped crown to commence shortly. However, there are news that this project is put on hold due to budget constraint and may not be completed this year. If it is managed to be completed this year, it will be the world’s 5th tallest building. It is only 3 metres shy from 600 metres mark.

2. Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin, China (530 metres, 97 floors). The tower has topped out and is set to be completed this year while fate is still unknown for the Goldin Finance 117 Tower mentioned above that is located in the same city; Tianjin. When completed, it will be among the world’s top 10 tallest buildings.

3. China Zun Tower, Beijing, China (528 metres, 108 floors). The tower has topped out. When completed, it will be among the world’s top 10 tallest buildings.

4. The Exchange 106 Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (492 metres, 106 floors). The tower is now nearing the stage of topping out with the construction of the glass crown to commence shortly. This will be the first building in the country to have over 100 floors and will be the country’s tallest when completed.

5. Lakhta Center, St Petersburg, Russia (462 metres, 86 floors). The tower has topped out and will be the tallest building in Russia when completed. First time seeing Russia join in the race to construct building of this height.

6. Changsha IFS Tower 1, Changsha, China (452 metres, 94 floors). The tower is nearly completed with all exterior cladding already installed.

7. Suzhou IFS, Suzhou, China (450 metres, 98 floors). The tower has topped out and its exterior cladding is almost completed.

8. Wuhan Center Tower, Wuhan, China (438 floors, 88 floors). This one also has topped out. Another higher skyscraper, Wuhan Greenland Center is also rising quickly in the same city and when completed in 2019, the 125-storey tower will have a height of 636 metres.

9. China Resources Headquarters, Shenzhen, China (393 metres, 67 floors). Topped out. Shenzhen has been seeing record-breaking number of skyscrapers completed in recent years.

10. Shum Yip Upperhills Tower 1, Shenzhen, China (388 metres, 80 floors). Topped out. Another one in Shenzhen.

Out of the 10 building above, 8 are in China, 1 is in Malaysia and 1 is in Russia. We seldom see any supertall skyscraper completion in Russia and 2018 will be the year for that to happen. China dominated the race to build skyscrapers again from its cities like Tianjin and Shenzhen. United States, which is once known as the country of the origin of skyscrapers did not make it to the list. The first 8 in this list will have final height of over 400 metres respectively while the first 3 even exceeded 500 metres mark.

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

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is the latest film to join 1-billion dollar club and movie review for ‘Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle’ (2017)

As expected, the latest film in the Star Wars film franchise, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ has grossed over US$ 1 billion on its worldwide box office recently. The movie reached the milestone only about three weeks from its release date. As of 2nd January 2018, the film has grossed US$ 1.056 billion (US$ 533 million from US and Canada and US$ 523 million from all other markets). It is very seldom that the international intake is more than the domestic intake for a film and this ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is an example. It proves that this film franchise is intensely popular in US. On its release week, it has the second largest opening ever if I’m not mistaken.

The movie is now one of the four films in 2017 that grossed over US$ 1 billion respectively. It is currently the 22nd highest grossing film of all time but that ranking is expected to rise further as the movie still observes high attendance from all parts of the world and that it has not even released in China yet. I’m expecting that it will have a final box office intake of somewhere around US$ 1.5 billion. It will not come close to 2015’s ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ that has gained US$ 2.068 billion to become world’s 3rd highest grossing movie of all time (unadjusted for inflation). ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ will ultimately topped the chart as the highest grossing 2017 film, defeating ‘Beauty and the Beast’ that stands at US$ 1.263 billion. The conclusion is; whenever you are producing a Star Wars film, you are sure to get over 1-billion dollar box office return. I’m not a fans of this franchise and I have not watched it yet (no huge interest on it).

Now, let’s talk about another movie and I’m giving my quick review to it now. It’s ‘Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle’. I watched it two weeks ago. It’s a sequel to the first ‘Jumanji’ film in 1995(and 2005’s ‘Zathura: A Space Adventure) and has its story set 21 years after the first film. I remembered those two films and I loved both of them. The plot now follows four teenagers who are transported into the video game world of Jumanji, playing as the characters they chose, and must beat the game in order to return home. It is no longer based on a board but rather on a video game. The movie starred Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, etc.

I had a great time watching it. There was so much fun in this movie. Hilarious moments in almost every scenes, gorgeous visuals, likable cast, and great actions. This is one of the most entertaining movies that I have watched in recent years. I’m happy that Hollywood decides to remake ‘Jumanji’. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle’ a total of 7.8. I am seeing Dwayne Johnson everywhere. He is taking up so many movies (Fast and Furious franchise, San Andreas, Journey to the Mysterious Island, G.I.Joe: Retaliation, Central Intelligence, and upcoming Rampage, etc) right now, and is a much needed actor for movies that require an extreme body physique.

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