Spinning: Stay With You - Dreamz FM

I find it really weird that I've been seeing Charlize Theron all over the place nowadays - not a result of overexposure - rather due to pure coincidence. If you're not hiding in a hole, you would know that there's a new sci-fi movie, Aeon Flux - starring Charlize Theron - to be released sometime this December. So it wasn't surprising to find an article on her in my fave weekly mag 8 days. It was an article that possibly allowed me to know more about Ms Theron - the only role I'd saw her in was 'The Italian Job', I think. The same night I read that article, I saw a film on HBO starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron. So I watched. And 15 minutes into the film, I realised I'd stumbled upon the 1997 film 'The Devil's Advocate'. It's an amazing film which I never got to watch upon its release because I was too damn young. Spoilers abound in this post, so if you don't want to find out anything about the film without first watching it, don't read this post.

I found it most intriguing. Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) is an attorney from the South who tries his luck at making it big in the Big Apple. Already married to a wife, Mary Ann Lomax, from the same hometown (Charlize Theron), he has a job at an oustanding law firm - at which he meets his boss John Milton (Al Pacino). What he doesn't know is that Milton is ... whaddya know - the devil himself.

A scenario that is stretched rather far, I know - but when you dig deeper, you realize that Milton and Lomax, and what happens to them throughout the course of the movie, are really representations in the real world, of Man's morality. The choice between good and bad - a theme that is omnipresent in the movie. What struck me the most was the scene where Lomax confronts Milton, after the demise of his wife. Oh. The demise of the wife - I must really touch on this. A bloody, shocking scene, in a literal sense. Mrs. Lomax, on the verge of total insanity thanks to Lomax's obsession with vanity/success, picked up a shard of glass from a broken mirror and jabbed it against her throat, sliding it across her neck. My jaw just dropped when I saw that.

Oops. Minor digression. Anyway - the scene where Lomax confronts Milton. Amazing, intelligent dialogue. Milton accused Lomax of having "loved someone else more than your wife - yourself." and therefore causing his own wife's demise. Milton, quite predictably since he was the devil, also continued to assault Lomax with other accusations - alleging that he'd only 'set the stage' and it was Lomax who destroyed himself. Lomax eventually got his own back by - major spoiler here - killing himself. That moment was so powerful, I don't know man I was just blown off my feet- or seat, since I was ogling the TV like no one's business. As to why killing himself would equate to Lomax 'getting his own back', I won't reveal it. That would be the greatest spoiler of all and I don't think I should spoil it :) The ending is at first perceived to be the usual good triumphing over evil - but later on we realize that it is a dark ending after all. Cleverly thought out I would say.

As for the acting - with a cast like Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, and Charlize Theron - you can expect great stuff. It is unbelievably believable. Their acting is so convincing - just 1st class stuff. A lot of people have critisized Reeves for his lack of acting chops. I haven't watched enough of his films to have an opinion on that - but as far as this specific film is concerned - he delivered his lines well. He emoted well. He had great chemistry with the rest- and that is enough for him to be the leading man. Al Pacino was, as always, fantastic. Whenever he appeared, he just had this presence that really engaged the audience. A true veteran he is. Mary Ann Lomax was Theron's breakthrough role - and I can see why. Mary Ann was a pitiful character - at first a devoted woman, but later on a deranged one. And Theron expressed those really well.

As for the more outstanding scenes, they include many gory ones because they were the ones which left a great impression on me. The gore is there for a reason - not pointless gore lah. Freaky, creepy, and made my hair stand. I was just hiding behind my pillow. Half of my face. (I always do that during horror shows.) The best would still be of course, the standoff between Milton and Lomax. But other memorable ones include Mary Ann's suicide scene. It's so depressing and disturbing. It's not just disturbing just because of the gore; it's disturbing because of the fact that Kevin Lomax was outside the room where it happened, totally aware of it, and also bashing the door down in vain - witnessing his wife kill herself in front of him. (By the way - Mary Ann killed herself because she was already deranged beyond belief. Schizoprenia I believe.) Mary Ann also had a nightmare in which she saw a baby playing with something - and it happened to be her ovaries! Blood and all! Arggh!

The movie was initially rated 'R', but of course, they wouldn't let it broadcast here without snipping off some 'offensive material'. Still there are some gruesome stuff to be found. Quite disturbing - not for the faint hearted. Though I would still say it's much better than some horror flicks.

However - I must warn those who are Christians - because I have, as a Christian, at some point been a little disturbed by some lines. The film touches on rather sensitive religious issues pertaining to Christianity. Watch it with an open mind, and watch it bearing in mind that this film is about morality - and it does not promote satanism in any way - at least that's what I think. Milton's lines may be very provocative, but remember it is supposed to illustrate who's the villain here - at least in my opinion. Some people have said it is a dig at organized religion. I really don't think so - and I don't think the film has any intention of doing that. I think it is a swipe at lawyers, if anything else.

I know, I'm bloody slow in updating. It has been a rather uneventful holiday for me - I did not go scoping for a job, nor did I sign up for any other activities. Being the youngest probably comes with its own perks. Ever since my sis and brother started working, they told me to 'enjoy my student life'. So that's what I'm doing now. My auntie commented rather bluntly that I was 'whiling my time away'. I think otherwise. Besides having some much needed rest and leisure time, I'd like to do some other things - getting creative with my room tops the list. I went to Ikea not too long ago and bought a new lamp, and some storage space for my overflowing desk. I've also bought black and white photo frames to frame up the photos of Big Ben and Tower Bridge I bought from the UK. Every time I start decorating my room and making it look more presentable, I feel a sense of great satisfaction. I promise my home's going to look presentable in future.

Other than refurbishing my dreary looking study room, I also went to the topmost balcony and sun-tanned. The results are mediocre - I don't think the unobservant would notice any change. You can expect that with such a rainy month - which brings me to the next activity I enjoy doing as well - sleeping. Late into the afternoon. I don't like waking too late but somehow, the rain makes me go back to sleep.

I've caught 1 movie (HP - see below) so far and I intend to make that number increase somehow. I'm planning to catch Aeon Flux starring Charlize Theron, and am on the look out for new movies.

Personal activities aside, I've also been going out with friends. I went out with ZH, YM and Vanessa last ... Wednesday I think, and spent more time walking to our destinations - going up 10 storeys of the newly built national library, walking to Parco Bugis Junction and sitting at Coffee Bean for a few hours, talking about loads of things. We broached upon some intellectual conversations, which, to be honest, I am hardly adept at, and some idiot proof conversations as well. We yakked more than we looked at items on sale, and you know what? I like that. It's strange - because apart from ZH, the rest were classmates whom I wasn't that close to. The decision to go out was made at whim. In fact I was wondering if it would be weird to go out with people I wasn't close to. Which just brings me to the conclusion that - if you don't give other parties a chance, you may just destroy your potential to be good friends with them.

The same applies to my squadmates - and I'm sure they understand what I mean by this. Bonds can still be forged even after the 4 years we've spent together - only if every single soul is open to it. I will elaborate more on the squad outing we had yesterday night in the next post.

So you see - with so many things to do during the holidays - not forgetting the crapload of holiday homework we have, I don't regret not getting a job.

Now that PW's FINALLY off my back, I can start blogging anew again, w/o having to look at the Oral Presentation powerpoint on the task bar and go 'shiiiiittt....'. If you guys really want to know, OP was fine today. I can only say, thankfully we only had 2 examiners.

I believe I once mentioned a Primary 4 school camp (actually my alma mater's camp) where I signed up to be a facilitator. Partly because of CIP, but more for the experience since I MAY be doing psychology - which can come in the form of child psychology. Initially, a coupla of friends from my group went to sign up together. More specifically, just ZH actually. For some reason, she didn't get past the interviews *EDIT: ZH wants to clarify that she DID go through the interviews - it's just that her team leader called her at the last min (few days b4 the actual camp i believe.) END EDIT*. And from then on I kinda regretted signing up, 'cos most of the people who signed up came in HUUGE groups and they all knew each other! I dragged my heels for a bit and dawdled through the decision of whether to drop out or continue. Let's just say I continued in the end.

As a facilitator, I had to attend both the pre-camp and the camp itself. Met up with my team members - Wei Kheam (Ah Kheam), Vanessa Lum (Van), Shi Han (SH) of course, Mathias (Mat), Reynold (G.G), Jasmine, Fei Ting - all from Dolphin House. I've talked about Pre Camp before, so on to the real thing.

Kheam was my partner for the actual camp, and when we first walked up to the kids we were assigned to, I kind of backed away. 16 pairs of eyes were just staring back at us when we walked up to them. Quite intimidating. Believe me, today's kids are not to be trifled with! So from the very beginning, we laid out some ground rules (and they were just broken later.) and introduced ourselves. That's when we were reminded that kids at this age just HATE the opposite sex to bits! They just REFUSE to sit to a fellow member of an opposite sex, much less talk nicely to them! They engage in all sorts of name-calling, shout at each other.... basically you get the picture. Then when we sat them down and said, 'You know, seriously, you guys are going to change your perception later in life.'. Just when we thought we'd won the argument, they shot back, "Later then later lah! Now is now!" "!!!"

Ok - So after convincing them that sitting next to each other would not have any dire consequences (I actually told them - if anything happens between you guys I'd take full responsibility. They started listening. Not for long. Later on during the Amazing Race I was UBER irritated! Just imagine. I was leading all 16 of them (when Kheam was away finding some clues) and trying desperately to keep them together - by shouting (GET INTO 2 LINES. TWO LINES.) They just refused to keep in 2 lines! Once we reached a checkpoint they scattered around the area, and when I asked them to gather, they actually walked further away! Tell me lah, what kind of monsters am I handling! At one point of time I actually exploded, because they didn't listen to my warnings and went down to the beach area. Pissed, I called them back, 1 by 1, and started shouting at them - about how their parents have entrusted them to me and whatnot. Total crap, to be honest. So after the Amazing Race itself (which was one of the less fun activities) we went back to school to play station games. Frisbee, Touch Rug, Rockclimbing, Pushball... blah blah the like.


That's when I encountered my 1st crybaby kid. It was a NIGHTMARE dealing with him. He's from the gifted education stream. And not to be offensive or anything - I've always thought people from the GEP stream are on different frequencies from people from the rest of the streams. Perhaps this boy was too smart for his own good. Whatever it was, throughout the camp he was really putting on this defiant attitude. Occasionally displaying weird and eccentric behaviour as well. My immediate response to his outburst was to ask him why he was crying. And he was telling me something about being ostracized (REALLY!). And then. Guess what. He said, "By coming to this camp I won't get to play my Xbox for 3 whole days!". Dude. I'm an avid gamer myself but I don't think of my PLAYSTATION during camps! Following that he gave really monosyllabic answers to my questions. So I thought - Oh okay. He's just feeling homesick. Right? WRONG! I mentioned he's quite an oddball right. During one of the checkpoints in Amazing Race, he found a small hole amongst the bushes - and what did he do? Crawl in. And squat there, not moving. Kheam, flabbergasted, hauled him out and told him to follow the group closely. During dragon boating, he was at it again. He wormed his way into a small storage area and balled up. Fortunately Rey was there to notice, and again hauled him out of the area. Thankfully, he didn't pack himself into his bag. He seems to have a liking for small spaces.

2 other crybaby kids came wailing to me towards the end of campfire. But that's cos they were homesick. I said something to pacify them- probably a first-time attempt - and hehe, succeeded.

I would say the kids I was in charge of were generally okay. There was only 1 boy who was really adorable (from choir. Hahaha!). The rest weren't that outstanding. Some girls (and guys) were quite pampered - which was what I really expected. Some nitpicked at the food, the tents (they refused to sleep until I told them to PRETEND to sleep. Which worked!), and complained endlessly. Unfortunately their complaints fell on deaf ears lah. I just tuned out the moment they started complaining about this and that. Very often I would retort, "You think this is a 5 star hotel? It's a CAMP! (for crying out loud!)" And a word of warning when you deal with kids - when one starts asking questions, be prepared for a barrage of questions from the rest. They never know when to stop and give you air.

And you know, naughty kids can be divided into 2 categories - 1 would be cute naughty, the other would be monstrous naughty. I had 1 belonging to the 2nd category. Quite a jerk actually - he was very violent - and he had this burning hate for all girls on earth (HA! Let's see how that will change in a few years' time!) - including me. So you can imagine how idiotic he was behaving towards me throughout. Damn rude. But, aiyah. It was just him. And to be honest he could be all right at times. So I rest my case I guess.

Other than getting to know the kids, I also bonded with the rest of the facilitators. Because they were a really fun bunch. They were genuinely enthusiastic and used their brains when making decisions (not like some others.) Got to know more people in TJ, and also CJ and 1 from MJ :)

So - guess who won the best house? Dolphins (my house)! Haha. For that I got a teddy bear souvenir. Damn cute.

To end this entry -rather abruptly actually - I'll leave you guys with a nice pic of all the facilitators:

What number are you?