2-6-2-5

I am sure some of you would have known this already.

As I was having a steamy SMS exchange with a hot stranger I know from the IRC texting using predictive text, I realised that the subject title spells A-N-A-L and C-O-C-K *giggles*

I know, I know, I am such a schoolboy sometimes.

Anyway, I saw this advert for a movie from a Malaysian film-maker Tsai Ming Liang, called I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, which has been banned in Malaysia because it shows Malaysia in "a bad light".

It's always so disappointing the so many Malaysians are famous elsewhere but not in their country of birth, that their work are not recognised and appreciated.

It's so ironic that Malaysian works and films are shown in Singapore instead, deemed our arch-rival and competitor.

Back to the film. The storyline goes that:
After being attacked and robbed in Kuala Lumpur, the homeless Hsiao Kang is taken in by some Bangladeshi workers. One of them, Rawang, lets Hsiao Kang sleep beside him on an old mattress he has found. As he nurses Hsiao Kang’s wounded body, he feels calm and contented. Is it because of the mattress or because of Hsiao Kang?

Chyi, who waits tables in a small coffee shop, is also nursing someone: her lady boss’s paralysed son. Chyi hates her life. When she happens to meet Hsiao Kang, her body fills with lustful desires. However, her difficulty in finding a place to have sex with him brings home to her just how little freedom she has.

As Hsiao Kang slowly recovers, he finds himself caught between Rawang and Chyi, pleading for attention like a stray cat but equally capable of fluttering away as free as a moth. Chyi’s lady boss also develops lustful feelings for Hsiao Kang, finding that he resembles her paralysed son...

Meanwhile a heavy haze envelops the city that is so humid that it reeks of the sweat of its multi-ethnic population. These men and women and the old mattress lose their way in the haze, but perhaps find each other …

Whoo! How interesting. Slightly gay-themed some more.

The so-called trailer is below. The song is just so beautiful and haunting.



I so can't wait to watch it next week. It is in Mandarin, but there are English subtitles, so that's a plus ;P

Edited:

Apparently, I was wrong. Found out that it might be screened in Malaysia after all.

Taken from here:

Despite Tsai having been careful about how he portrayed the character of his Muslim actor, Norman Atun, and the edits they made specially for the Malaysian release, somehow the censors still took offence with the film.

The censorship board's reasons were that Malaysia was depicted negatively in the film, with beggars and immigrants populating Kuala Lumpur and the hazardous haze (caused by open burning) enveloping the city. They said Malaysians were also portrayed as cold and heartless. It is Visit Malaysia Year 2007 after all, so they felt it wasn't appropriate for the film to be shown.

An appeal was quickly made against the ban and just a couple of days ago, the appeals committee of the censorship board finally said yes to the film's release ... but with a few conditions.

The film will only get a limited release in arthouse cinemas, while five cuts are to be made. The cuts involve scenes where actor Lee Kang-sheng's bare buttocks can be seen, Norman is cleaning Lee as he lies injured and clad only in his underwear, Norman washes his underwear, Lee and actress Chen Shiang-chyi are kissing and where radio reports of open burning can be heard in the background.

Producer Tee said they were happy that the appeal was successful, but worried about the five cuts. He said they would make another appeal against those cuts. Meanwhile, Tsai voiced his concern as well, stating that he could not see how a story about love and compassion could be seen by the censors as something negative. He also said he is still trying to make up his mind whether to accept those conditions put forth by the censors.

300

I haven't been reviewing movies lately, though I am still watching one movie a week on average.

Two weeks ago, I watched 300. The CGI background was fantastic. The cinematography which gave it a comic book feel, with greyish undertones worked really well.

Those are about the only good things about the movie.

Storyline itself, there's nothing much to shout about. To be correct, the movie is based on the comic, not the actual Battle of Thermopylae. Most people seem to believed that the movie is quite close to fact, when it isn't.

According to a professor, some of the inaccuracies include the number of Spartans who fought (7000 of them) and any one going into war would be wearing something more than just underpants, like armour and breastplates.

Maybe I am just biased, but beefcakes and mature beefcakes to be precise, doesn't do it for me. And I think there was a little too much breasts exposure for my liking.

Although there are a lot of people gushing over the movie, I would expect that they do because the movie appeals to the masculinity of most straight males. There's violence and there's female nudity. The good guys are fighting for freedom and to protect one's country are indeed noble virtues.

Though the fight scenes are quite nice to look at with the blood splashing spectacularly and a lot of stabbing and beheading, I still prefer the fight scenes in the LOTR.

Anyway, as I said, the movie would appeal to most males. There are sex and violence and gore in abundance.

Another thing that would most likely appeal to them is how the bad guys are portrayed. The Persians are just freaks. Just look at the giant disfigured killing monster of a man, crazy elephants and most of all, the so-obviously-gay-with-too-many-piercings-and-wears-makeup leader, Xerxes.

Needless to say, it perpetuates the idea that homosexuality is evil and freaks of nature and they need to be destroyed.

Acting wise, no one would win any awards. They just shout their battle cries and go to war.

To most males, what is not to like? It reinforces their masculinity and propensity to hate and fear what they do not understand.

As mentioned, the things I found interesting is the beautifully rendered background and the comic book feel cinematography.

Overall, I would rate it a 6 out of 10. IMDB rating is 8.2 at the moment and Rottentomatoes rates it 61%.

Fertility clinic for gay men

I have always wanted kids, even though they may not be my own.

Obviously, there aren't many choices to begin with, either I adopt or find someone who is willing to be a surrogate mother.

Nowadays, there are quite a few celebrities adopting, like the most recent one being Angelina Jolie adopting her third child, who is from Vietnam and the high profile Madonna case and her Malawi boy last year.

Things could get easier, but of course, with ease comes a high cost. To be precise, USD60,000! It's more than RM200,000!

With that amount of money, I think I could have a grand reception and marry a woman, have a child, divorce, pay alimony and get custody rights!

Just kidding of course ;P

You think the price would have gone down, by the time I decide to go ahead with it? ;P

The article below is taken from here.

Gay male parents get dedicated fertility program
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles fertility clinic has launched what it says is the first dedicated program for gay men wanting to become parents.

The Fertility Institutes, already a pioneer in the controversial area of gender selection, said it was responding to huge demand from gay male couples around the world who want their own biological children but are often thwarted by prejudice and bureaucracy.

"There are a lot of centers that dibble and dabble in this. But we are the only program for gay men that has psychological, legal, medical, surrogates, donors and patients all taken care of in one place," Dr Jeffrey Steinberg, director of The Fertility Institutes, told Reuters in an interview.

"The demand is incredible. The United States has always been busy but we are seeing more and more demand from abroad."

The last few years have seen a large increase in the number of gay men who want to father children using surrogate mothers rather than opting for adoption, which is difficult or impossible for homosexuals or lesbians in several U.S. states.

Gay male couples seeking parenthood usually have to go to several different agencies to find surrogate mothers, egg donors, lawyers and medical treatment.

Potential surrogate mothers often opt out when they discover the couple wanting a child is gay, partly because of perceptions that homosexuals have a higher risk of diseases such as hepatitis, syphilis and the HIV virus.

Steinberg gets consent from surrogates up front, tests the fathers-to-be for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, and freezes their sperm for six months as an extra safeguard.

Steinberg has already treated about 70 gay male couples while perfecting the program. Some 40 percent were Americans, with the rest from Britain, Germany, China, Canada, Italy, Brazil and South Africa.

The average cost is about $60,000 -- and three-quarters of gay couples pay extra to choose the sex of their baby. Gender selection of babies is illegal in most countries except the United States.

"We thought they were all going to come in and want boys, but about 65 percent want male and the others want girls," Steinberg said.

Steinberg said he was braced for controversy about going public with the program but hoped to ride the storm.

"This is new. It is challenging. We understand people are a little intimidated, a little frightened by it," he said. "It just takes time to get used to things."

The Swimming Instructor

A few friends and I watched the play called "The Swimming Instructor" yesterday.


The story is about this very Ah Beng swimming instructor called Guan who became the object of attraction of an ambitious marketing executive (Dave) and a spoilt rich girl who is sexually aggressive (Jan).

I suppose the attraction of the play is the unspoken expectation of lots of exposed flesh (checked), ripped bodies (checked) and nice swim wear and apparel by Bods Bodynits (checked).

Shallow as I am, I did expect a heavier and more intriguing story then I was splashed served with.

The scenes seemed patchy. The so-called innovative video which showed the thoughts/past/flashback of the characters, didn't seem to bring anything new into the story. The video scenes could easily have been incorporated into or implied in the live acting.

Guan does not seem to know what he wants and is confused about his sexuality. He kept mentioning about his fiance whom left him five years ago. There was also a best friend (Tong) in his past who confessed his love for Guan and which he rejected. Tong was found dead the next day and Guan has put the blame on himself.

It was unclear from the play whether the fiance was a woman or Tong and the fiance is the same person.

Dave has no time for relationships because of his career and his bad experience in love. He doesn't want to put himself out there and get hurt. He is attracted to Guan, but resist from acting out his desire, even though Guan has shown subtle interest in him.

Jan, whose parents are no longer in love with each other, as the father brings different women home often and the mother indulges in her own affairs to get back at her husband, is afraid of commitment because of parents. Deep down, she wants someone to love her, yet is afraid to commit and thus chooses physical intimacy over emotional solace.

The object of both their affections, Guan, however is still a believer in love and wants to find someone for a committed relationship.

There were a few sexually exciting but gratuitous scenes: heavy make out scene between Guan and Jan and Dave's naked shower scene.

This was a restaging of the original which was performed in 1999. In the original, Guan was almost asexual and there was no obvious interest in either Dave or Jan. It was more intriguing, as the audience was left wondering who did he like. Finally, Guan left for Australia without making his affections clear.

In the latest reincarnation, he was both attracted to Dave and Jan, but more to the former. The ending was to me, a cop out and didn't make sense. Probably to keep to the spirit of the original where no one was chosen, Guan drowned when he did one of his usual sink-to-the-bottom-and-last-as-long-as-he-can routine.

Acting was good all around, even though the three leads were first timers. Guan however was a little too loud; he seems to be shouting all the time in his portrayal of an Ah Beng. Though his chiselled six-pack abs did distract me a little from that weakness ;P

In short, it was quite a disappointing play. I was expecting a meatier plot. The eye-candy can only do so much, as it still boils down to the story.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

An afternoon in the city

Since I had such an eventful weekend, I was dead tired on Monday. As such I took the afternoon off. But then, instead of resting, I went out with Frankie.

These are some of the random shots of places we visited. They were taken at the Singapore National Museum.






The next picture is the Singapore Management University (SMU), located right in the city and near to the National Museum.


The Singapore Arts Museum was our next stop.

There wasn't any description on this, but probably is to inspire the Singaporeans
to procreate more, as their birth rate is one of the lowest in the world.

The corridor outside the Arts Museum

This picture looks so wrong!

Oh, apparently colleagues think that my hair looks quite nice. I didn't think it was that great initially ;P

But now I seem to like it more and more!

My 26th year

First time celebrating my birthday away from home. First time celebrating my birthday with someone else organising it, with the itinerary being more than just lunch.

I had no idea what to expect when I was told to head to Jurong East at 12 noon. My initial thought was either Jurong Bird Park or the Science Center.

But of course, whatever plans for the day would have to start with a meal. I was practically starved and we headed to Pizza Hut.

The people who came were Shahul, James, Anson, Daniel, Lloyd and Jason.

We ordered three regular pizzas. It was more than enough. When we were near to finishing the meal, James and Shahul went out and bought a chocolate cake.

It was really sweet of them. The cake was delicious; not too sweet and sufficiently moist.

I'll post a picture of the cake the next time.

After that, the plan was to go ice skating. Now, I am not really a fan of skating and I only did it once when I was in KL. I thought that time would be my first and last.

Anyway, I thought what the heck. It might be fun, though I doubt I would have improved much. I would probably be falling countless times and flailing like a mad man.

So basically I just walked, not skated. The shoes felt really uncomfortable and I am not very good with my balance.

And then something really memorable happened.

My friends got the management to announce my birthday over the public announcement system. There was another person who shared the same birthday and his name was mentioned as well.

The Happy Birthday song was played and there was ice being sprayed from ice-making machines. It created a snow-like effect, like falling snow.

It was really nice. We were standing in the middle of the rink, with falling tiny ice around us. Most of the other skaters gathered around the middle as well.

Too bad there wasn't anyone around to snap a picture of us.

We skated for an hour and a half. After that we headed to Suntec City as Lloyd wanted to buy a 4Gb Flash Drive at the IT Fair. The item was selling for $75 and that was really a bargain!

Dinner was the next item, as we were all quite hungry from the walking and window shopping. We had Thai at this place called Lerk Thai. which had a 30% discount.

The food was quite nice, but the portions were quite small. If it hadn't been for the 30% discount, I think it wouldn't be worth it. The bill came up to $74.

This was what we had for dessert.



So that was how my birthday went. On the way back home, we spent half an hour browsing books at MPH.

Overall, it was a memorable birthday experience. It was made special by those who came and celebrated with me.

Thanks so much guys! *hugs*

Oh, this is my new haircut. I had it coloured and highlighted ;P

White

Nothing to blog about, so I shall just show pictures of my new trunks which I bought last Saturday.

I tried, like, 8 pairs of trunks before deciding on this. Apparently, this is the one that I look the nicest in, according to Lloyd.



Wore it for the first time on Tuesday. Don't think I got any stares! LOL

By the way, His Skankiness, Frankie has arrived safely last night and survived the first night. Actually, I am the one who suffer as I have to wake up at least half an hour earlier than usual!

It's gonna be a long six days ;P

Tremors

I was talking to my manager today and suddenly I felt my chair was shaking. My head moving sideways and I felt I was about to faint.

My initial thought was, "Oh no! It's another dizzy spell. It seems to have gotten worse since my last one and I really have to see the doctor soon."

I was way off. It was actually the Indonesian earthquake was felt all the way here in Singapore, 400 kilometers away. The time was 11.49 a.m.

Immediately I went online to check for news. No updates. Probably not so soon, even though we are leaving in the age of almost instantaneous information.

As it was almost time for lunch, my colleagues and I, in fact almost the whole company, came out of the building. We saw all the other office lobbies nearby were crowded with people too. Everyone has instinctively left their respective buildings, even though the tremor lasted only about 20 seconds.

There was a sense of excitement and worry. The phone lines were jammed and some of my colleagues couldn't even send out SMSes to their family and friends.

Apparently, many areas in Singapore felt the vibrations too. According to news reports, Kuala Lumpuer felt it too.

But when I called home at 2 p.m., my mom said she didn't feel a thing.

Not long after I put down the phone, another tremor was felt. It was the aftershock of the earthquake, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale. Nearer to the epicenter in Padang, Indonesia, there were many smaller aftershocks after the main one.

This second tremor which I felt seemed stronger than the first one, but was shorter. Probably about 10 seconds.

The thing is, I felt dizzy for the rest of the day, even though there were no other tremors. The feeling is hard to describe; it's like a combination of headache with a slight pain, with some daze and dizziness included. It's also like those feeling when you had a lack of sleep for days ...

I felt better after I had a swim after work. But as I type this, the feeling seems to have return.

I think it's best I go to bed now.