The Princess and the Warrior and the Secretary

Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior) is Tom Tykwer's second outing after Lola Rennt (Run, Lola, Run). (Tykwer retains Franka Potente as his leading lady.) While Run, Lola, Run is fast and frenetic, this movie is slow and somber. Franka Potente plays Sissi, a psychiatric ward nurse, while Benno Furmann plays Bodo, an ex-soldier who can't hold down a steady job.

They meet in the most unusual of circumstances - under a truck. Bodo was running from the cops, and caused a truck to hit Sissi. Bodo, still evading the police, hides under the truck and finds Sissi there, unable to breathe. Not knowing that he is the cause of the accident, Bodo performs emergency tracheotomy on Sissi using a pen knife and a drinking straw. After she has recovered, Sissi goes looking for her saviour. She ultimately finds him, but he wants nothing to do with any woman after losing his wife in a gas station explosion. Bodo and his security guard brother pulls a bank heist, and Sissi happens to be there (again). The robbery goes wrong, and Bodo's brother is shot. His last words to Bodo were, "Get off the toilet, Bodo." Sissi hides Bodo in the mental institution as a new patient. Meanwhile, another patient tips off the police. Cornered on the roof, Sissi and Bodo jumps and lands on a moss-covered pool below. They make their escape to her friend's place in the countryside. Along the way, they pass by the gas station where Bodo's wife committed suicide. Bodo makes peace with himself and lives happily ever after with Sissi, fulfilling her dream in which they were "brother and sister, mother and father, husband and wife".

Actually, that last part is my own interpretation. The movie with its many subplots is much more complex and deeper than that, so its up to the audience to make his/her own conclusions.

Secretary is one of the more original movies I have seen. The humour is dark, some scenes are disturbing, but the script is highly original. On one hand, you have Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who has a history of self-mutilation and masochism. On the other hand, you have Mr. Grey (James Spader) who is a tortured, twisted soul himself. Pair a submissive secretary with a dominant boss, and you've got a sadomasochistic love story. (Not for the squeamish.)

Lee is fresh out of the mental hospital. She completes a typing course and gets a job with E. Edward Grey as secretary. Mr. Grey finds a typo on her letter and marks it with one of his dozens of red markers. He calls her to his office and "punishes" her. Funny enough, Lee discovers that she liked the "punishment." She even goes out of her way to make deliberate mistakes, so she can get more. Things were okay for a while - Mr. Grey is able to release his sadistic tension and Lee feels empowered with the nitpicking Mr. Grey is giving her. One day, Mr. Grey probably figured this office romance is going to work out, so he starts giving her the cold treatment. Lee makes more and more obvious mistakes, but he just ignores her. He later fires her for good. On her wedding day to an old high school acquaintance, she runs away and declares her love to Mr. Grey. After days of sitting on Mr. Grey's chair with her hands on the table, with no food or drink or toilet breaks, she proves herself as a loyal submissive. Mr. Grey comes back and takes her as his bride.

Bad, Ten, Bad

No wonder Ten shares are falling like a brick in a vacuum - something like 14% in two weeks. Big Brother has always been Ten's trump card in the ratings war. It used to be naughty, but this season is downright dirty. If it's intention is to get attention, it got it all right. Even the media watchdogs have taken notice, and they're taking a closer look. The market didn't like what it saw, so down you go.

A description of Big Brother Uncut: "The naughtiest, skimpiest, downright dirtiest bits of Big Brother that we can't show you any earlier. See what your favourite housemates are REALLY up to in the Big Brother House." And this for Big Brother Up-Late: "Take a live and uncut peek into the late night mischief and more controversial goings on in the Big Brother house. Under cover of night no-one is safe from the cameras in the Big Brother House." But that's not all, Ten gives us Blokesworld: "Twenty Six minutes of feel good light entertainment which traverses the world of "Blokedom" and rediscovers the joys of a roaring V 8 engine, a good bar-B–Q, a punt on the dogs and a bit of a perve along the way. Plus handy hints on how a bloke can re-immerse himself into a culture more reminiscent of the sporting 70’s than the snag infested 90’s."

Never watched BB05, but caught Blokesworld one time. You have a bunch of unshaven blokes sitting around, VB in hand, with a sprinkle of scantily-clad dancing ladies, who don't mind a little flashing. Segments include a barbie-building competition, a pole-dancing competition, some Crusty Demons videos, lingerie pillow fights, Chinese martial arts demonstration, etc.

If things were allowed to run their natural course, I'm sure the share price of Ten would've gone through the roof. Too bad this is not an ideal world.

Bondi Day

Spent the whole day at Bondi Icebergs. Would've been great if not for the fact that I was there for a company planning session. That means a whole day of PowerPoint presentations. The only time I got to look out at Bondi Beach from the balcony was during coffee/tea breaks and lunch.

Bondi Icebergs was not as swanky as I thought. Either that or we're in the wrong conference room. I was told this is where industry captains wind down after a long hard day of doing nothing. Well, the conference room we're in has a very noisy ventilation system. Parts of the carpet were worn-out, there's a disco ball hanging on one side of the room, and the food was delivered late.

Skipped dinner at The Rocks, and went straight to Westfield Bondi Junction. It's one of the few places in the city that closes late, but that's enough to entice late-night shoppers. I was there 6:30pm, and there's not much shoppers around. Dropped by the digital camera section of Harvey Norman. Was surprised to see the Canon PowerShot S2 IS there. The guy at the counter says it was only delivered yesterday. He proceeded to show me the features on the model, plus comparisons with the Pro1, the G6, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1. By the time I left the shop, I'm all confused.

Thoughts for Week 24

1. There's a reason why driving instructors charge A$35 to A$50 per hour, and they can still make good money.
2. It's always nice to know that some people share your eclectic TV show choices.
3. Lunch at Doyle's Sydney Fish Market is a good way to spend three hours of your Thursday afternoon.
4. Listening to people chat about their lives is not a good way to spend five hours of your Sunday night.
5. That mint collection of Happy Meal Snoopies will be worth a fortune in the future. The lady who took my money said so.
6. Why do people come to my blogsite for beautifulagony passwords and pythonchallenge hints?
7. Those BSL shares are not a loss and those COH shares are not a gain until they are sold.
8. A bargain's not a bargain unless it's a free TV or a half-dollar mobile phone.
9. Trust not the know-it-all. Trust not the experts. Trust not the guesser. Trust no one.
   
10. Apple IPS works best with a high-power USB 2.0 port. Or so I was told. Now I know.
    

Monday Night TV

Monday night is SBS night. That's why I make it a point to come home early (relatively).

At 7:30pm, it's Mythbusters. The dynamic duo of Adam and Jamie makes science and engineering so much fun. Makes me wish I had them as my lab instructors. Basically, they go around disproving (or proving) urban myths that we've all heard before by doing actual experiments. For example, do you get wetter running or walking in the rain? Can chatting on a cell phone while pumping gas cause the pump to blow up? Is it really that dangerous to answer the call of nature on the electrified third rail of a train track? Did Lucille Ball exposed a Japanese spy ring by listening to radio signals transmitted by her tooth fillings? Can firing a bullet inside an airplane cause an explosive decompression? Can the rhythm of soldiers marching together can cause a bridge to collapse? Can you really murder someone by dropping an electrical appliance into a bathtub? Is it possible to throw a regular playing card fast enough to inflict bodily harm? These and more on the Mythbusters.

Next up are Pauly, Habib, Toula, and Rocky in Fat Pizza. I've watched these guys circle the globe (twice) in search of the original pizza. Now, they're back with an all-new series. How did I know it's really new? Well, Pauly's mobile phone has the latest Crazy Frog ringtone everyone's crazy about. Bobo the Chef is expanding his pizza business, so he opens an outlet at Hashfield Heights. He gets an apprentice, hires a bunch of misfits (a parking lot DJ, a Chinese, and a Maori Bouncer), and makes Pauly the supervisor. He refuses to rehire Davo, who's living in a trailer in his G-string, stoned as ever. The episodes revolve mostly around fat pizzas, fast cars, cultural clashes, and hot chicks. Fully sik, mate!

At 9pm, it's John Safran vs. God, where he takes on the world's major religions. If you think he's good in Music Jamboree, he's a natural in John Safran vs. God. He has so much angst inside him. Why take it out on the boybands and the music industry, when you can take it out on religion? In this irreverent, blasphemous series, he gets a fatwa placed on Rove McManus, tries to convince the Grand Dragon of KKK to admit him as a member, auditions for the Harlem Gospel Choir, gets a Mozambique witch doctor to break the 30-year old curse placed on the Australian football team, buys himself a set of Mormon magical underpants, drinks Viking wine filtered through the priestess' underwear, etc. Ah, the things people do for TV ratings.

Movies Not to Watch

The Guru

Even the presence Heather Graham and Marisa Tomei can't save this movie. Has a good enough plot, but story development is just bad.

Macarena dancer from India goes to New York in search of the American Dream. He works his way up as a waiter, a pr0n star, a party swami, then to guru of s3x. He preaches to the rich and famous, but actually gets his teachings from his movie partner (Heather Graham). She later discovers his scam, and decides to tie the knot with her long-time fireman-fiance. At the wedding ceremony, the guru intervenes and wins her back. Meanwhile, the groom "comes out" and declares his love for his fireman buddy. Everybody breaks into a Bollywood-style dancing, and get this, Heather and Mister Guru flies off into the heavens in a red Mercedes convertible. I kid you not.

Kiss the Bride

I have this knack for identifying bad movies just by looking at the title and reading the back cover of the DVD. And I was right about this one. Throw in storylines and scenes from all the family dramas you've seen, and you end up with this.

• Family with four daughters: the confident overachiever, the suffering fighter, the normal homebody, and the rebel rocker
• Overachiever comes home in a Hummer as long as a submarine with a hotshot boyfriend in tow, and impresses everyone
• Fighter sacrifices lovelife in favour of career to prove she's as strong and as capable as Overachiever
• Rebel comes home in full rocker costume, and gives her girlfriend a torrid kiss in the mouth, in case anyone forgets she's the black sheep of the family
• Mandatory big family lunch where the father questions the boyfriend's love for his daughter, where one of the sisters admits to sleeping with the boyfriend, where another sister throws a tantrum and makes a tearful speech about being neglected, and everyone sits around looking shocked
• Surprise wedding by the sea with all family members present, happy and content.

The script is flimsy, the dialogue is bland, the scenes are mostly irrelevant. Heck, I wasn't even watching the movie. But working away on my laptop, while listening to the dialogue and looking at the TV once every few minutes, I still have the feeling I've been cheated. Throughout the movie, I kept asking is this scene even remotely relevant to the plot? Then I go, Jeez, what plot?! I can go on and on and on, but I'll make this short - this movie is bad, bad, bad.


My Big Fat Greek Wedding

My guess the reason why this movie became a box-office hit is the same reason why Yao Ming was voted as the starting center for the NBA All-Stars. Billions of Chinese voted for Yao Ming and millions of Greeks watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Here's the plot. Long-haired vegetarian schoolteacher marries Greek spinster. That's it. Full stop. Period. Um, I'm trying to make the plot look longer, but that's the best I can do. Some of the Greek trivia were interesting when I first watched the movie a few years ago. When a Greek girl becomes 30, you need the father's permission to date her. So, that's how a grown-up man gets baptized at the Greek Orthodox Church. Yuck, they actually spit on the bride. Oh, that's the zorba dance. They sure eat a lot, and instead of Wazzzup? they shout Oopah! every 5 minutes.

On second viewing, I found the actors' performances contrived and forced. The jokes and gags are not that funny. If it's Greek trivia you want, look it up on the Internet or better yet, talk to your Greek friend.

Another Secondhand Saturday

Another round of Secondhand Saturday. This time at Leichhardt. There are good things to be had in these sales. A pack of stamps for just $1. At the tourist shop in Circular Quay, it sells for $10. Bought some phone cards for my collection, too. A hardbound book of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, including The Stars Like Dust, The Naked Sun, and I, Robot for $2. Another hardbound book of George Orwell's works also for $2. Snagged some Happy Meal Sesame Street and Winnie the Pooh characters, a Russ Cromwell Bear and a Wild Republic orangutan. I also got a Beanie Babies moose, but only for 5 minutes. As I was driving away, the lady owner flagged me down and wanted it back. Said she couldn't bear to part with it. I should've doubled the price.

The Lady and the Lorakeets

On my way to the post office, I passed by this lady's place, and the front of her house is being mobbed by lorakeets. I've never seen so many lorakeets in my life. I asked her if they are her pets. No, she said, they just come to her for food. They come in the morning, and again in the afternoon. She has been feeding them every single day for the past seven years. She even has a special tree/twig where she sticks apples, pears, bananas and grapes for them. Some of the pigeons try to gatecrash and get a free lunch, so she has to chase them away.

The lorakeets are so colorful and radiant, I wonder if they wash their feathers every day. They twitter non-stop, and because of their numbers, the sounds they make are quite loud. I wonder if the neighbors ever complain.

Badminton Tournament - Day 4 (Championship)

It was supposed to be a best-of-three championship match, but our opponents showed no mercy. JLo and I did quite well in the first game, even though we lost. By the second game, we started making mistakes. Bad serves, missed returns, net balls, etc., so we cracked. Didn't even get to see game #3. I'm just relieved it's over.

Like I said, first prize is a Yonex Muscle Power, while second prize is a Yonex racquet bag. Given that my Carbonex14 is old already, I really wanted that Muscle Power. Not to mention the bragging rights. Funny thing is, a lot of people said they'd rather have the bag. So would the first-placer rather have the Yonex bag than the Yonex racquet? Sure he does. So that's how I lost the match, but won a new racquet. But here's the catch. (Yes, Virginia, in life there's always a catch.) The supposed Muscle Power magically transformed itself to an Isometric. Could it be that my decades-old Carbonex is still better than the new Isometric? Possible, but what am I supposed to do with a big racquet bag if I have only one single racquet? Let's see what the Isometric has to say for itself in next week's practice session.

Albert Goes to Melbourne

Went down to Melbourne for a day trip. The return plane ticket via Qantas costs about A$600+. Considering the cheap airfares being advertised by Virgin Blue and JetStar, I'm shocked it's costing the company this much. If I changed my schedule a bit, the fare can go down as low as about A$300+, but that's about it. No wonder our company is losing money.

People say time flies when you're having fun. Others say time flies when you're not doing anything. I say time flies. Period. I settled comfortably in my seat. Picked up the inflight magazine and read the more interesting articles. I put on the headsets and listened to a couple of pieces and songs - flipping through the magazine, trying to identify which channel is classical, which is pop. Then thud, touchdown.

We could've easily taken a cab to Sunshine, but the Project Manager decided to rent a car. I thought he knew what he was doing, but apparently he didn't even know where we are going. It's a bad idea to sit in the front passenger side because that automatically made me the navigator. He handed me a map of Melbourne, and off we go.

They say Melbourne is Europe and Sydney is US. They could be right. I don't think the streets of Europe are also arranged in a neat grid formation, but there's enough old buildings and Old World charm to warrant the comment. My camera didn't see much action, because we were always stuck in a car (going to the customer site, looking for a good place to eat in the city, rushing back to the airport half an hour before it flies).

The project manager and our client were duly impressed with my map-reading skills that they actually commented on it. The PM reasoned that's because I'm a male. I told him he's being a (male) chauvinist, but I'm thinking he could be right, you know. My sister's map-reading could be further improved. (That's putting it nicely, as she might be reading this.) Now, this is the PM talking about his wife-navigator. "She has a hard time orienting the car with the map, so left becomes right and vice versa. She usually gives directions one or two streets late. Instead of giving the street name or counting off the intersecting streets, she would simply say, "Turn right NOW!"" They would argue in the car, which usually ends with the wife handing (putting it nicely) the map to the PM.

I know how you feel, mate.

Badminton Tournament - Day 3

Today's sort of the semi-finals because Team A has won 7 games so far, while teams B (me and JLo) and C are vying for second place, with 6 wins each.

We played first against Team C. Surprisingly we lost both games. Worse thing is, we got the upper hand (6-1 and 6-0), but the games eventually went to them. Our next match is with top-placer Team A. My partner reminded me that we have to achieve a 2-0 win just to be in the running. Even then, we'll still need a tiebreaker. Surprisingly, we won that set. By the time the smoke has cleared, Team C is at the top of the heap, with us and Team A tied. The organizers decided to count points to determine who goes into next week's finals. Third surprise of the night: with 147 vs. 138 points, JLo and I are going to the finals. Muscle Power, here I come!

Caution! Book Crossing

I came across my first BookCrossing book today. It's Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I don't know why I picked it up because I've finished the Foundation trilogy back in my college days. And it's not like I'm going to be reading Foundation again because I don't have Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation with me at the moment. Maybe it's because you can't put a good book down.

What's BookCrossing, you ask? According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, bookcrossing is "n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise." BookCrossing.com is basically an online book-lovers community. Members are asked to tag books with a BookCrossing label and register it with the site for a unique BCID. (The book I got is 368-2082096.) Release the book into the wild, and track it via the website. "You'll discover where I've been and who has read me, and can let them know I'm safe here in your hands. Then... READ and RELEASE me!" (That's the book talking.)

Badminton Tournament - Day 2

Things aren't looking so good. First, I got to the venue late. We usually do some warm-ups before the games, but this time I jumped straight to my umpire role. Worse, my partner JLo has a foot injury. She dropped a heavy vase on her foot yesterday. She didn't think much of it, so this afternoon she even played a few games as warm-up. When she checked her toes again, they're a bit bloodied and in much worse shape.

Out of 4 games, we won 3. First set is 1-1, then 2-0 for the second set. Not bad, not bad at all.

Too Young for the Casino

Today I went to Star City. No, not for the pokies, but for a drink (mocca coffee, that is). Security stopped me at the escalators and asked for some identification. Whoa! "Do you think I'm underage?" "You should be happy." I showed him my driver license. Still not convinced, he asked for my age. The nerve of the guy!

Five Movies in a Week (Part 2)

CONfidence
Another one of those unbelievable films. What I meant was, incredible. Actually, preposterous is the word I'm looking for.

So you've got this slick con called Jake and his team. He's been pulling scams, and one time he pulled one on the wrong guy. You don't take money from the King without paying for it dearly. To pay back the King, the plans one last big con together with his posse, plus a new sexy recruit and the King's enforcer. The scam involved a complex scheme involving corporate loans, creative accounting, wire transfers and off-shore accounts, but they were able to pull it off. Unfortunately for him, his long-time nemesis, a federal agent, caught up with him, and vows to bring him down if he makes any funny moves. Seeing no way out, he decides to walk away. His new girlfriend demands a cut (even before they actually got the money), and got told off. Jake later had a change of mind, and decides to continue with the plan. Meanwhile, the disgruntled girlfriend spilled the beans to their supposed mark. Aside from that, the federal agent managed to switch the bag containing all the money at the airport customs. Worse, the mark's assistant got Jake at the business end of a gun, demanding the money's location. Here's the clincher, in a fit of rage, the girlfriend pulls out a gun and shoots Jake twice in the chest. The end.

If you've watched Ocean's Eleven or Ocean's Twelve or Matchstick Men, you probably already know how the movie ended. SPOILER ALERT!!! The federal agent drives by and hands the bag of money to Jake, who has now risen from the dead. Jake and his crew rides away into the sunset with the King's AND the mark's money. Watch Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels if you're into cons and last-minute plot twists.

Down with Love
Feels more like a theater play than a movie. The sets, costumes, and production design are so colorful and retro-chic. The dialogue is smart and witty. Story is about this feminist author whose book "Down with Love" becomes a literary sensation. Women all over the world are becoming liberated. Dashing and debonaire man-about-town disguises himself as mild-mannered NASA scientist and manages to make manhater author fall in love with him, thus proving his theory that what all women want is love and marriage.

The movie would've ended like the other romcom movies of the 1960s era, but this one has a post-feminist twist. Our lady author is actually our most eligible bachelor's former secretary, and this is her way of making sure he notices her this time. He proposes marriage; she declines and goes on to start her own media empire. He applies as her personal secretary; she accepts and happy ending.

Highlight of the movie was Renee's 5-minute single-take monologue. I kept expecting a scene cut for her to rest and review her lines, but looks like she has the whole thing memorized. Impressive. And don't forget that split-screen telephone conversation.

Badminton Tournament - Day 1

After months and months of practice, it had come to this: the Filipino Badminton Club of Sydney (Filipino BCS) finally had its first day of tournament on May 7 at the Castle Hill High School gym. Members are grouped in Class A (good) and Class B (not-as-good). There were 7 Class A and 8 Class B teams. I was partnered with a lady everybody calls JLo. Not called such because of her singing prowess on the courts. Somebody else has first rights to her first name, and her last name happened to start with L-O. So JLo it is.

Each set is only 2 games, and it's 15 points to each game. Each team plays 2 sets every Saturday, until each team has played with every other team. The top two teams then plays the championship set. Winning team gets a new Yonex Muscle Power racquet each. Not sure what the runners-up get. I've got my sights trained on that ArmorTec as my Carbonex14 is already decades old and deserves to be retired.

Day 1 went quite well. I and my partner won 1st set against some pretty nimble opponents, and our 2nd set was a draw. Things can only get tougher.

Five Movies in a Week (Part 1)

This is some sort of a record, even for a movie buff like me. I'm more selective with the movies I watch in the theater, but when it's showing on TV, and there's nothing urgent for me to do, I'll just sit and watch.

Along Came a Spider
Morgan Freeman stars in this suspense-mystery as a washed-out detective who was called out to solve the kidnapping case of a Senator's daugher from a high-security private school. The movie started off well - the mood reminded me of Se7en, given the fact that Morgan is working with a less-experienced Secret Service agent. Just when they are about to solve the case, the plot twist. All the psychotic kidnapper wanted was media attention as he plans to kidnap the Russian President's son using the Senator's daughter as bait, but somebody has even bigger plans. There's a puppetmaster behind the scenes biding his/her time, taking advantage of the situation to get millions worth of diamonds as ransom money.

The coincidences and implausibilities are just ridiculuous. How can the criminal mastermind be sure that the demented kidnapper will stick to the script? How did the accomplice know Mr. Freeman's movement, timing, and location down to the platform and train, when he was out there on the tracks waiting to catch the bag of diamonds thrown out of the speeding train's window? And how did Freeman get to crack the mastermind's master plan? What else, by booting up her computer and typing in the security password, which happened to be a phrase she mentioned when they were chatting a long, long time ago. That's Hollywood for you. Read the James Patterson book instead.

Upside of Anger
I wouldn't have watched this if not for the free tickets. I don't know why but I tend to avoid movies by aging actors who still think they've got it, e.g. Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, and yes, Kevin Costner. I probably would've liked it more if Bruce Willis played the part. You've got this ex-baseballl star turned radio host forcing his way into the lives of a bitter and angry housewife and her four daughters. Funny how the teenage daughters act more mature than the adults. I mean sneaking into each other houses for a quickie, or stopping their cars in the middle of an intersection to argue, then kissing and making up while everyone waits for them to move their cars?

Some moral lessons from the movie:

• Never tell your daughters what NOT to do because they'll do it anyway.
• Never assume that your husband ran off with his Swedish secretary just because he suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. He could simply be dead in the backyard.
• When your drunkard of a neighbor starts hanging around your house after learning that your husband desserted you, you don't need to ask. All he wants is to have s3x with you.

Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è Bella)
I can't believe this film by Italy's national treasure Robert Benigni won so many awards, including the Cannes, Oscar, and BAFTA. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's not that good nor that funny. You get classic comedy during the first half and poignant tragedy in the second. I know the audience is supposed to let slide the many improbable events in the film, but how is possible for one father to hide an active, curious kid in a German concentration camp for years without being discovered?! All along, the father behaved as if the whole camp is his giant playground without being shot or punished for it. And the kid believed his story that it's all a game, and that by the time the gunshots died down and the smoke cleared, they're going to win a real tank as a prize.

The kid managed to get his tank all right (and reunited with his Mom) after the war, but I fear he'll be gullible for the rest of his life. If it's a Holocaust comedy you want, watch Train de Vie instead.

The Lion King

The Lion King is leaving Sydney in a matter of weeks. It's a good thing we were able to get tickets for the May 5 showing. It's also fortunate I didn't have any scheduled work or emergency calls that night. We got to Capitol Theatre around 7:55pm, and the show started promptly at 8pm.

It was a spectacular show and better than I expected. The firstthing that got my attention was the actors' voices, esp. Rafiki. They were so loud and clear, I'm sure they're being magnified by microphones, but I can't spot anyone wearing one. (From where I was seated, I don't expect to see any mic. Hah!) The sets and the costumes are unbelievably inspired and creative. You've got people dressed up as lions, giraffes, leopards, birds, hyenas, antelopes, shrubs, meerkat, and warthog, etc. The costumes are so well-designed, you tend to forget about the actors and start seeing the characters as real animals. The live orchestra and the stage design and the props are very impressive, too. During some scenes, the stage would angle up to give more depth and space. Later, parts of the stage would open up and out comes plastic inflatable cactus plants. In another scene, a circular piece of reflective cloth simulating a pond was slowly pulled through a tiny hole to represent drought. Then, there were giant ostriches(?) and sliding staircases that circle and move around the stage. Not sure if there are people inside the structures pushing them, or maybe they're remote-controlled. There were some innovative use of shadow puppetry, too. The lighting was just amazing - cool blues, bright oranges, radiant greens - all colors of the rainbow (except yellow, I think).

Unfortunately, all forms of photography and video are prohibited. I was really itching to take some shots. I've actually got my camera out - LCD viewfinder turned off and volume set to silent, but there's just too many ushers around, and I don't want to risk being kicked out of the show. But it's all good. Hakuna matata.

Cure for Pokie Addiction

Heard about the latest treatment for compulsive pokie gambling? Patients are made to listen to pokie tunes and watch pokie video for days on end. Later, they are asked to sit in front of pokie machines without playing. Through sheer repetition, the patients get bored and they get over the urge to play whenever they catch sight of a poker machine.

Reminds me of the story about a father who cured his son of smoking by forcing him to smoke non-stop. I'm not even gonna mention Clockwork Orange because I'm not too sure if the "cure" worked or not.