World Aids Day - a double bill production

Alrighty family and friends, Yellow Chair Productions (YCP) is back with another play, okay, make that 2 plays since it's a double-bill production.

Yours truly is the producer of the event and will also be acting in one of the plays as a lawyer who has AIDS. In 2 1/2 years, this is my most meatier role ever as an actor with YCP. Haha.

The synopses for the 2 plays are as follow:

The Life of Vanessa

Vanessa is dying. Her life is less than perfect compared to her peers.
To compensate for all the pain she has caused in her family, she
decided to live a life filled with bad company, booze and drug. But
one day, she decided to leave everything behind when she finds out
that she is dying from a terminal illness – AIDS. However, her road of
recovery isn't easy even by visiting her father. Soon, she wonders if
it has been the environment she is going against or herself. With the
help of her ex-boyfriend, Beng, she finds herself embarking on an
inspiring journey of love, faith and redemption.

AIDS Anthology: Judgement Day

Judgement Day awaits for a group of deceased AIDS patients. A
homosexual male, a drug addict, a prostitute, an adulterer and a
teenage girl all got AIDS from different sources. Will they go to
heaven or will they go to hell? How will they plead their cases? Given
a choice, which will they choose?

The details of the event are as follow:

When:
Fri, 18th January 2008
Sat, 19th January 2008

Time:
730pm

Venue:
Tampines East CC Auditorium
10, Tampines St 23

Tickets:
$8

To get tickets:
Call Ella 97365166
or Tampines Central CC 67850004

Come and support the youths of today and a good cause too while you're at it!

My Top 10 Movies of 2007

I only managed to watch a pathetic 93 films in total for 2007. And not all were theatrical releases at that.
Nonetheless, I've managed to conjure my own Top 10 Movies of 2007 list based on what I've seen and this is how it looks like.

10. Lust, Caution

The controversy and all aside, it was a pretty engaging movie to me at least. Haha. And this was minus the sex too, which is why it's placed at number 10 and not higher. Something was lost with the cut version. Tony Leung is as fantastic as ever, newcomer Tang Wei is a future powerhouse and Ang Lee, scores yet again.

9. Across the Universe

The jukebox movie musical that has pretty much left audiences divided; you'll like it or you won't. Still, the movie hits many right notes, including its casting and its reinvention of the Beatles' songs. Sure, it's a bit contrived, has some bizzare moments and is a tad long, but it's a pretty spectacle at the end of the day.

8. 28 Weeks Later

If you want THE zombie movie, 28 Weeks Later probably takes the cake. It is vicious, violent and scary enough to make you wince in your seat while making you think of the many what-ifs.

7. Stardust

Just when everyone thought that the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's well loved book was going to be bad, Matthew Vaughn surprised us with what he come up with. With the exception of a badly thought of ending, which wasn't exactly the way it was written in the book, it had an almost perfect idea of what a fantasy film should be.

6. Superbad

Superbad was FAR from being Superbad! Haha! This gross but indulgent movie became the sleeper hit of the year and also made McLovin, one of the most memorable characters to grace our silver screens in 2007. More of McLovin I say, and goodbye American Pie.

5. Bridge to Terabithia

This is a surprise entry which honestly started off as a surprise movie for me. I had never read or heard of the book prior to its release and I went into the cinemas alone on a Sunday afternoon expecting a feel good movie but this one ended up being a tearjerker that really made me weep! The extremely moving scene is fantastically well-executed, in which, what was spoken was louder than what could be shown.

4. 300

Following in the footsteps of Sin City, 300 muscled its way onto the silver screen and ravaged the box office worldwide. The page by page captured adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, brought the genre to a new level and excitement to the blockbuster. This also cemented Gerard Butler's position as a leading action man and many spoofs galore later!

3. Hairspray

It's not often that a movie comes along with serious themes and issues but doesn't take itself or the themes seriously. Hairspray is one of them. While dealing with racial divides and segregation, Hairspray successfully tells its tale with charming characters and bubblegum wrapped music that gives it a potent combination.

2. The Bourne Ultimatum

I never thought I'd name a threequel as my #2 movie of the year! The Bourne Ultimatum surpassed its predecessors in every aspect from character development to pure, bare-bone grit that was pretty nail-biting till the end. Paul Greengrass has reinvented the spy thriller and made it his own. Everyone aspiring to make a spy movie should learn from this one. And Matt Damon has probably come full circle with his career, playing one of his most memorable characters to date.

1. Pan's Labyrinth

And this brings us to Numero Uno, which also happens to be a Spanish Film. When I first saw this film in January, I said that it will be in my Top 10 no matter what but I'm quite surprised that no other movie I saw in 2007 could top this one. The chilling and melancholic tale of Ofelia, a young girl, during the Spanish Civil War and her fantasies blur the line between what is real and what is a figment of one's imagination. To top it off, it's bittersweet ending remains one of the most unexpected scenes on the silver screen.

That rounds up my Top 10 for 2007!

I regret to inform that the likes of Mukhsin and 881 didn't make it into my Top 10 this year mainly because I still think Gubra or Sepet are Yasmin's better works and I still rate Be With Me as my Numero Uno Singapore film.

Decadence

It's funny how Shaz said my entries packed a punch and for me to look at them later and discover that my last few were anything but.

Well, I thought to myself, perhaps I should get back on track to doing proper blogging and actually updating my god-forsaken links while I'm at it!

In any case, before I get about to doing all that, I actually have a script due this Monday so I'm burning the midnight oil and more to finish it!

Meanwhile, I shall blog about something decadent that happened today.

Oh oh. Before I get to that proper, let me just point out that when it comes to good food, I go really weak in the knees. Not the stomach of course, the stomach's the mighty one when it comes to the goods.

After a simple round of Popeye's, I had a very sinful double scoop of New York Super Fudge Chunk & Chocolate Fudge Brownie topped with Chopped Peanuts and Hot Fudge. Oh mein gott.

I blame Ben & Jerry's for all that chocolate. Straight to the stomach. I've sinned. Sigh.

And then, on the way home, I stopped by the night market that was happening at the interchange and it was there that I bought my dinner.

If the ice-cream was sinful, this was outrightly sinful, shameful and top-of-the-pops, hands down, decadent.

I had...

Ramly Burger.

The chicken patty was sliced into half. The guy threw some pepper and other seasonings inside. While he did this, he simmmered the buns and then he put the two halves back together and threw a whole dollop of chilli, black pepper sauce and mayo right on top of it. He then threw the seasoned patty onto the egg and when it was ready, it was folded and placed into the container.

And when I bit into it at home, the flavours flew out and into my mouth and it was there and then that I knew I had to start repenting, just as the different sauces dripped not-so-subtly down my fingers.

A good Ramly Burger always makes your day doesn't it?

Happy.

Zul's enlistment tomorrow got me a lil' philosophical for some weird reason.

During the course of the day, I had a brief moment when it occurred to me, not that I didn't know it already, that I am actually very happy with my life. :)

Workshop!

I am really going for it. Wow. Haha.

I've paid for it and I'll be spending 10 hours doing it.

Me going for a full day workshop. Heh.

Finally. Yay!

This marks the beginning to a much bigger thing but at the same time, a symbolism of something that will end in say...less than 6 months?

I smell my Pink IC already. Gimme gimme gimme.