What happened to 2017??

I hate that the last post I wrote about is an awful romcom hahahaha but then I’ve had no time to write anything. Anything. I’ve barely had time to watch movies, or read any books, which is quite sad really. So before I forget, these are the movies/TV things that I still remember watching this year, and which I shall have to try and post next year when this job I’m on is finally over:

– Dunkirk (probably my fave film of 2017)
– Coco
– The Big Sick
– Thor: Ragnorak
– Kingsman: The Golden Circle
– Okja
– To the Bone
– Lady Macbeth
– Ingrid Goes West
– Little Hours
– Baby Driver
– Just Like Heaven
– Transformers: Age of Extinction
– Williams
– The Battle of the Sexes (the documentary, not the Emma Stone movie)
– Dying Laughing
– A Small Section of the World
– Harry Benson: Shoot First
– Bodyguards: Secret Lives from the Watchtower
– Silicon Cowboys
– Trevor Noah: Afraid of the Dark
– Judd Apatow: The Return
– Jack Whitehall: At Large
– Jurassic World (netflix UK)
– Spectre (netflix UK)
– Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
– The Crown
– Blacklist
– Scorpion

I also watched a documentary about an art forger, and a documentary about a sprinter who was caught doping… Justin Gatlin maybe? I don’t remember. Argh. I need to write down the movies I watch on CX planes…

Music things:
– Clockenflap 2017 (Massive Attack, The Prodigy, Stormzy, Temple, Blossoms, Jungle)
– Ed Sheeran

Eateries of significance:
– Gaa (Bangkok)
– Nouri (Singapore)
– The Apiary (Singapore)
– Harwood Arms (London)
– Sketch (London)
– Borough Market (London)

Books:
– The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food
– The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
– currently reading: From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars

Other things that happened:
– JCA17 (Micah Bournes!)
– Meeting Becca

Failure to Launch.

I never liked Matthew McConaughey (I can’t believe I had to google how to spell his name hahaha – too many damn vowels) and I wasn’t a huge fan of SJP either (mostly because I just didn’t get Sex and the City), so I didn’t watch this film, even though I remember the poster vividly. What is it with me and posters. Haha.

So yeah I watched it. And then I was like hm. I suppose it’s because I’m Asian and many of us live with our parents until we’re much older (although I moved out as soon as I could haha). Also because accommodation is so expensive in HK, we just don’t move out in order to save money (although again, I moved out as soon as I hit the legal age haha why do I feel a need to reiterate this…)

But anyway. I suppose it’s an interesting meet cute, in a contrived sort of way. So yeah. It wasn’t terrible…. but I’m kinda glad I didn’t see it at the cinema. Haha.

Elizabethtown.

I remember wanting to see this when it came out – I still remember seeing the posters everywhere. Can’t quite figure why I didn’t!

This is a pretty cute story. Orlando Bloom’s American accent is… passable, I guess, and Kirsten Dunst’s flight attendant arm gestures in the fire evacuation was awful, but otherwise, it was pretty cute. And I really, really want a road map like that one she made for him. Complete with music no less! So bloody awesome!

Anyway. Yeah. Cute. I liked it :D

The Flash – season two.

Wah! What a first episode!!

The premise of this second season is quite amazing – it opens the Flash world up to so much potential since there are multiple Earths and doppelgangers for everyone! As with season one, I found the big bad quite predictable – although the real Jay Garrick was a shock! – and again with the speedster needing speed, it seemed a bit similar. Still a fun show though, but sad that season three isn’t available on Netflix (yet)…. Hm.

The Hippopotamus.

by Stephen Fry.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. I mean, first of all it’s written in the first person – I haven’t read a book in the first person in aaaaages – and secondly, it’s so over the top. The main dude is such a pretentious, cantankerous old fart, and yet as the story goes on, he kinda grows on you, despite his being an annoying lecherous old fart… Haha.

So, like the main dude, the story grew on me, and I finished it much quicker than I expected. I was quite surprised to see the timeline of the book being in the early 90s – it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen a story set in that time period – but it doesn’t detract from the story at all (perhaps because I lived the 90s – it might not resonate so much with people who don’t remember a time without mobile phones…) and I really enjoyed the reading about the shenanigans that the wealthy English aristocrats get up to.

And then when I finished and put the book up on goodreads, I found out that the book had been published in 1994… which makes the timeline make sense now hahahaha… Too funny.

I’m curious to know whether Stephen Fry’s writing is always like this…. but I have many, many already purchased books to get through… Haha. So we shall see when the next Fry book shows up on my list :D

1st July, 2017.

Old people often say that time passes by like the blink of an eye. I must have somehow turned into an old person, because twenty years just… flew by. I don’t remember where I was twenty years ago today. I do remember watching the ceremony on TV. The one where Chris Patten and his family left Hong Kong in the pouring rain. I remember the uncertainty in my heart – I wasn’t a full-fledged HKer yet (and it turns out I missed the boat on that one – should’ve gotten a Hong Kong passport, or at least that damned return home card before ’97) – the uncertainty that would highlight our future.

It’s strange that now looking back, I don’t think much of the change actually happened until about 3 or 4 years ago (although by 2003, I already couldn’t get that damned return home card) – that could well be my own ignorance though. I don’t know. There are pros and cons to living in every single city in the world, so I chose to see the pros. I am still trying to choose to see the pros – Hong Kong is still a fucking awesome city. But in addition to the inability to ever purchase your own flat or house, the ever-increasing wealth gap, the ridiculous stagnation of income despite inflation year after year, it’s also the fear of Tiananmen, the fear of a non-transparent justice system, the fear of eroding freedoms, the fear of an all out communist dictatorship that’s boiling over into this political turmoil that is Hong Kong right now.

It’s so weird to look at this place that I call home and wonder about the future. It’s not the first time there has been civil unrest in Hong Kong. It happened in the 60s when people rioted against British colonial rule…. Hong Kong people seem to have forgotten that colonial rule wasn’t always great. But I suppose that’s because we had some really good governors right before the end… Sigh. I don’t know. What will the next twenty years bring?

The Royals.

Whoever the hell commissioned this should be shot.

It is so gossipy, and there is so much speculation and while yes The Crown was also mostly speculation, but it was done so much more tastefully. I felt like I was watching the E! News version of the royal family saga. Ugh.

It’s only six episodes but I didn’t finish it. I couldn’t even just let it run in the background. Not my cup of tea.

28 Days.

This film was quite unexpected haha. It showed up on a romcom list, and while it is funny, and there is a love story sort of, it isn’t quite a romantic comedy.

28 Days is about a rehab stint for our main girl (the always amazing Sandra Bullock), who crashes a car, drunk, because she had to go looking for a wedding cake, as she had fallen into the cake at her sister’s wedding. The judge packs her off to rehab (instead of jail), and we watch her journey from defensive, reluctant observer, to actually going through the system and coming out on the other side, a slightly better person, and more able to deal with life.

The good thing about the film, is that it’s not just a happy clappy kinda thing… but on the whole, it’s still just a superficial… well, it’s Hollywood. So yeah.

Unexpected is my verdict. Would I recommend it though… I’m not sure. I mean… there are so very many other movies and TV things to watch…. Haha.

The Flash – season one.

Barry Allen!

Okay, so The Arrow really put me off DC TV shows, but then everyone was raving about The Flash, so I thought okay fine, let’s see how this goes. And funnily enough I really enjoyed it. I think I like the mindless, brainless entertainment, I like the sunny disposition throughout the show (unlike the dark, brooding intensity that is Oliver Queen), and Grant Gustin is just so darned cute.

To be fair, the big bad of the series was totally predictable, and also I am not a fan of Iris West (although I might be the only person to think so – all the panels and interviews I watch, she’s apparently quite beloved…), but the show is interesting and the episodes are fun, and all in all, I think, it’s pretty cool.

On to season two.

Serendipity.

So… a friend of mine – a male friend of mine, it should be noted – was telling me his favourite romantic comedies were ones with John Cusack, to which I was not sure how to respond. The only thing I remember seeing John Cusack in, is Con Air, which isn’t exactly a romcom…

Anyway. I was in Beijing recently, and said friend and I met up, and we decided to drink wine (he drank wine, I drank tea) and watch old movies… and who showed up on my Netflix browser but John Cusack.

In a way, I’m really not a fan of this film. It perpetuates the unicorn myth – at the end of the film, I turned to my friend and said, “No wonder you believe in unicorns.” On the other hand, it is a kinda sweet story… And Kate Beckinsale is bloody gorgeous.

Okay well. If anyone knows where I can find a copy of Grosse Pointe Blank, do let me know. Haha.