Batman

The Dark Knight is here! It is MADE of awesome. A very, very good movie, and well worth the ticket price, clocking in at 2.5 hours.

It was a little overhyped though. I mean, how is Heath Ledger's performance worthy of an Oscar? True, he did do a very good job, but Jack Nicholson did one just as good 20 years ago, also as the Joker. But maybe all the movies released this year were so crap that this is the performance of the year.

I have to say that Christopher Nolan, the director is really faithful to the comic. Batman really is this dark hero, willing to do anything short of murder to achieve victory in his one man war against crime. By the way, Batman only used guns in the really early comics, something like the 1950s or so, and even then it was only for a couple of issues. One really minor thing was the Joker's origins, which were not really covered in the movie. And makeup? The only makeup the Joker is supposed to wear is to make sure he looks normal. Oh well, that's just me nitpicking as usual.

This movie drew a lot of inspiration from Batman: Year One and also The Killing Joke. The symbiotic relationship between Batman and the Joker is well documented in the latter. Batman has admitted that their relationship is a fatal one, that he was willing to try to escape it, but it seems as if they never will. Although the Joker is mad, he is neither stupid nor impractical. There have been many run-of-the-mill crimes that he committed, though he leaves a calling card of some kind. One example from A Death in the Family is the Joker replacing medical supplies that he stole with his lethal laughing gas. He tends to go for the spectacular, to fulfil his own ego. Both Ledger's and Nicholson's Jokers were very good, in that they managed to bring out different sides of the Joker. While Nicholson's was more slapstick, Ledger's dark humour is a little more to my liking.

What about Batman himself? In this movie, because of the focus on the Joker, there is less development of the Bruce Wayne/Batman character. Another one of my pet peeves. Then again, how much more could be squeezed into a movie 2.5 hours long?

GO WATCH HELLBOY!!

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army rocks!! Go and watch that movie. That's an order.

It was actually as good as the trailer promised, which is more than most films can boast of. You've got a rather likeable main character, humour, superb special effects, and best of all, Guillermo Del Toro as the director.

Have you ever watched El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)? That was an incredibly good movie, surpassing all of Hollywood's pathetic attempts at fantasy (excluding LOTR, of course). Del Toro's fantastic creatures in that movie were dark, scary at times, yet felt right, as if all those could be real. His creations are the stuff of imagination, yet brought to life in such a way that one believes such creatures, if they existed, would look like that. His Prisoner of Azkaban was the best in the Harry Potter movies.

Some of the creatures in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army were evidently influenced by his work in Pan's Labyrinth. The Chamberlain of Bethmoora, for one, looks like the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth. I personally think that Hellboy's Death is also influenced by the Pale Man.

The action in the movie is really good. It is over the top, like just about every movie nowadays, but since it's done by otherworldly creatures anyway, it's forgiveable. And the action scenes aren't as drawn out as many other movies, making those scenes short and sweet.

At 2 hours long, with healthy doses of humour, action and good acting, and a fair storyline, this film is one of the best I've watched this year. And it's good value for money. Time to look for the Hellboy comics, methinks.

Efficient or Lazy?

My first semester university results just came out. As I've been telling people, they were slightly worse than expected. Of all subjects, I scraped a top grade on the subject I hated most, yet barely missed out on a top grade for my favourite. Why couldn't it be the other way around?

The arrogant little voice in my head has been berating me for not doing better, in fact I've been outdone by someone I never expected to beat me in a thousand years. I seem to be a bad loser, a worse loser than I thought I was. When I know I have the ability to beat someone, and I put in the effort so as to be able to achieve that objective, I expect nothing less of myself than total victory. It is when I actually put in the effort (which in itself is a rare occurrence), that I demand absolute, unquestionable proof of my superiority over others. However this usually only occurs only when my competition has proven worthy, that they are of a similar ability. When faced with tougher opponents I actually do not have quite the same amount of competitiveness. I guess that these people have already proved themselves superior to me in that area and I realize that I would be unable to defeat them. Also, when faced with inferior rivals I tend to be fairly complacent. I think this might be because of some inborn need for efficiency. Against superior competition, putting in effort is futile as I know I would be unable to overtake them anyway. Against inferior opponents, putting in effort is pointless as I already know the outcome. Hence only when faced with rivals of similar capability would I maximise my ability.

Of course, the above could also be attributed to sheer laziness. Why put in the effort at all, if I am so secure in the knowledge that I am more intelligent than most? Can't really think of any arguments for or against this point of view......... Fingers feeling heavy......... Why am I typing this?........ Zzzzzzzz........ *plonk**headfallsonkeyboard*

Of movies and CGI

Just came back from watching "Wanted" (the movie starring Angelina Jolie. No idea why people say she's hot. I think she's beautiful, certainly, but not hot)

The movie was okay..... Just the usual shoot em up movie, no real plot to speak of. Then there was that rip-off Star Wars moment. Not going to describe the scene but personally it was an insult to the viewer's intelligence. Then there are the ludicrous scenes where the impossible happens. Some how, after watching Shoot 'em up, no other movie can compare.

A bit sad, really, when I no longer feel these special effects are anything but special. I mean it's cool, but I just don't feel awed anymore. LOTR wasn't great because of the special effects, it was great because of a great script, great director and great storyline. Same for Spiderman (not including the 3rd one, that one sucked)

Or maybe that's because I have been reading too many comics (COMICS, not manga) for my own good. I've got something like 13 GB of comics now. Sadly Heath Ledger died, otherwise I'm pretty sure the Joker would reappear in the next Batman movie after The Dark Knight (the movie isn't out yet, I'm basing this on the assumption that the villain will lose and die. Also, I'm hoping for Two-Face to appear, either in The Dark Knight or the one after it). The Joker is the ultimate villain, not particularly powerful, but absolutely psychopathic and this is what is so scary about him. The Killing Joke and A Death in the Family are two of the most brilliant Batman comics.

But I digress.

There are so many movies that are laden with CGI yet fall absolutely flat, especially those that were first created in other mediums, for example The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LXG) and the more recent Harry Potter movies. LXG was originally dark and dramatic (well, Alan Moore's comics are all like that) and the movie was trying to achive that yet became so campy it wasn't even funny. And the Harry Potter movies just sucked from the 4th one on. Let down by poor acting and the scriptwriter's poor selection of material from the books (not that the 5th book was any good), the movies are just another moneyspinner. I know the Star Wars movies (the newer 3) were pretty bad as well, but then again the story is so original, not to mention the older ones tend to cloud the viewer's mind with nostalgia.

The Rule of Cool states that the cooler something is, the more forgivable the leaps of imagination required. Best example, Transformers (Brilliant on the big screen). Now I find that its effect on me and my movie-watching experience is lessening so much that I feel sorry for myself. Of course it might be attributable to CGI fatigue, but it still seems rather sad.

Oh well...... I don't think that will stop me from being a sucker for such movies anytime soon, not with Hellboy 2 and Journey to the Center of the Earth coming out. (But the Mummy 3 movie seems too much like a theme park ride to consider buying a cinema ticket.) The Incredible Hulk was pretty okay though, up till the final fight scene which reminded me of Peter Jackson's King Kong which also had overlong fight scenes.

Profanity Laden Anti-Political Posturing Rant

This post is going to be filled with profanity. I recommend those with an aversion to foul language to avoid reading it altogether.

I am going to contradict myself as this post will be a post based on irrationality and emotion, in absolute contrast to what I had preached about a couple of posts back, where I promoted rationality in the name of efficiency (or at least that was the idea, I might have been rather incoherent).

The profanity starts here.

Fuck you Abdullah Badawi. Fuck you Najib Razak. And in case anyone accuses me of being pro-Malaysian Opposition, fuck you Anwar Ibrahim.

Fuck you Abdullah, for not doing anything to prevent the political posturing from dominating the headlines and Parliament, even though you are the leader of this country, even though you are not directly involved in this farce.

Fuck you Najib Razak, for allowing your good name to be so tarnished beforehand that people believe any allegations against you before they have been provecd/disproved.

Fuck you Anwar Ibrahim, for idly boasting of the ability to topple the government through defecting members of the ruling parties. Fuck you for not having the balls to admit that you have gay, if not bisexual tendencies. Fuck you for shamelessly pandering to the anti-BN gallery and not working your pampered ass off for the people and doing something useful for a change.

Fuck you SAPP for not thinking your actions through. If you have the guts to announce a no-confidence vote, have the balls to try to force it through. If I'm not mistaken it's been 2 weeks since that announcement and now you say you don't wanna do it anymore? You guys had 8 days to at least mention it in Parliament, but noooooo......... Fuck you.

All the incompetent cunts in Parliament right now can go and fuck themselves. If I were a registered voter, and an election were held tomorrow, I would either abstain or send in a spoilt vote, or even stand for election as a candidate. Fuck you self-righteous arseholes.

And all the religious fanatics out there can go hang. If a person is dead, and you take him away to bury him by religious rites when his religion is in dispute, aren't you disrespecting your God, who is supposed to be just (remember what that word means? It's inedible, in case you were wondering) and also the sanctity of the family institution? Does that not go against the very teachings of God you worship? And finally, why do you even give a damn? The poor soul has moved on, for better and for worse, and if you do not know his wishes, would it not, logically, be better to let the people he was closest to decide how to dispose of his remains?

Reminds me of a comic panel I saw in Australia. A Palestinian (presumably representing the current government of Palestine) and an Israeli (also presumably representing the Israeli government) are facing off.
Palestinian: We were democratically chosen!
Israeli: We were chosen 2000 years ago!

I do not mean to insult any religion. In fact I believe that a God exists, however I do not believe in restricting my belief in God to any single doctrine in particular. I just feel that it is amazing how religion has the power to deprive people of rational thought and how easily it can be used to justify morally un-justifiable actions.

Screw all of this. I am just so tired of bullshit. This I think, is why Marx advocated socialism. Because people can just be so stupid sometimes.

Malaysian Politics

I am disappointed.

I am the type of person who favours stability over free speech in a government. Needless to say, in the March elections, I was a supporter of the Barisan Nasional, even though I was less than agreeable with their government, mainly because I was afraid of that unknown component: the Opposition's unpredictability. At that moment, my view of the Opposition's only contribution to the country was: a) Creating an unfair perception of our country as a backward pro-medieval Islam country through PAS' policies. b) Delaying Parliamentary proceedings as long as possible by indulging in slanging matches.

I do not think I have been proved wrong. 3 months on, the slanging matches are still there, the administration of all States have become much more unstable due to the Oppositions' antics, and the Opposition parties seem more interested in grabbing headlines rather than bloody getting down to WORKING.

Abdullah Badawi is a weak leader. There is no doubt about that. But trying to undermine him in every single decision only makes the country much more instable.

Protest against the reduction of the petrol subsidy, why don't you? Stupid short-sighted people. Petrol prices are going up all over the world. What did you expect the government to do? Give out free petrol? The real problem was that the subsidy has been around so long that everyone has gotten used to the (artificially) low price of black gold. "Kudos to you, if only you had done it sooner." Obviously that would not have been a very good opposition slogan, right? But it would have been the right thing to say. Trying to force Petronas to reveal their accounts are one thing, I agree that there is a sore need for transparency, but trying to get them to give you cheap oil is a bit too much to ask. At the end of the day, Petronas is a company, with its main reponsibility to its shareholders, and not the public.

What else has the opposition done? One of the fools tried to log the forest, saying it was God-given. Well, wake up sir, the world does not just belong to you and your precious State Government. God did not create this world only for humans, otherwise we would not be just one species among millions, we would have been the ONLY species.

The optimal government would be one where there is not only the Opposition and the Barisan, it would be one where ALL points of view are represented, Barisan, Opposition, and Independent alike. We need more people who are truly there to work for the people, and not for mere personal gain. It saddens me that this will probably never become reality, whether in Malaysia or anywhere in the world.