get busy living, or get busy dying

can the real batman please stand up?

Never since the diabolical Pennywise the Clown and Nicholson’s Joker have I been so afraid of clowns. (Ronald MacDonalds too at times actually) That macabre makeup, unkempt hair and creepy stare that leaves a shiver down your neck. I loved it.

The storyline is simple but effective. Joker is teasing and playing tricks on the mafia. He terrorizes the city. Joker kicks the ass out of Batman. Batman kicks up a big fuss and in turn kicks the ass out of Joker. The new District Attorney of Gotham, Dent, is caught up between their fight. Many lives are lost. Batman saves the day (duh). I was blown away for the entire length of the movie (153 minutes mind you). It has been a while since I could maintain my attention-span for a two and half hour film. Dark and morbid is the way I like my films to be.

Without giving too much of the plotline away, Ledger was, in my opinion, the star of the show. When the two of them appeared together, Ledger’s looming screen presence made Bale shrink in stature in the same way as a cow grazing next to a berserk tiger. Frankly, I could not take my eyes off Ledger’s sterling performance. The only thing I felt inadequate was how Joker’s origins were not explored to how I would like it to be. But upon returning home and google-ing on the production of the film, I realize that it was how Chris Nolan wanted it to be. The Joker was just there, representing chaos and anarchy as something that was unexplained.

Nicholson's Joker was more comical and he did make me laugh, but Ledger's version was pure super-villain material. He was dark and scary (while trying to be funny) and shocked the hell out of me. And that, is pure magic. Even though I wish I could see more of his rendition, I am afraid that is no longer possible (unless he is sighted at Argentina like Leslie Cheung and Elvis Presley and Anita Mui).

A quick comparison with the other Batmans: Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney (in order of merit J ) Bale has gained a strong following with his rendition of Batman and Bruce Wayne. I have to admit he is the best of them all. Keaton was dark but not dark enough, Kilmer was great looking (especially with Nicole Kidman draped by his side) but just 木纳and Clooney was umm, well, the nipples screwed it up (and the story, and Joel Schumacher, and Robin and EVERYTHING). Bale impressed me in the first part and he did enough to do the same for the second.

With a great supporting cast of Freeman, Caine, Oldman, Gyllenhaal, Edison Chen (in a 3 second cameo) and our very own Chin Han from the acclaimed Channel 5 drama/comedy Masters of the Seas (cue Margaret Chan: “Crush them like a cockroach!”); the ever great Chris and Jon Nolan (think Memento) and a bored father sitting next to me snoring for the last forty-five minutes while his son desperately tries to wake him up, The Dark Knight left me gasping for air and wanting more. The sooner the next episode comes the better.

Get out of the way X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk (both versions are bad), Iron Man and VR Man, Batman is definitely the trend setter for all the comic adaptations around. Notice Spidey is missing in the list because of my infatuation with Mary Jane, ah but that’s for another day.

5 upon 5 stars (sorry, but im biased)

life is beautiful

you reached the park after a long and tedious bus journey, changing into your running kit, locking up your belongings into the locker. Holding on to the little key that holds everything in your life, you commence on your warm ups that involves nothing more than the twisting of your upper torso and a few useless jumping motions. You look around the park, seeing the hordes of teenagers making as much noise as the maniacal dog at Plantation Ave and you sigh in exasperation.

'Here it goes," you utter in a low grunting whisper that resembles nothing more than the voice of the transvestite you saw at Changi village last weekend before treading your way to the joggers' route. You switch on your own trusty ipod and finger your way to your favorite tunes by the hell of a singer from Hongkong whom yours truly is crazy over.

And the run begins.

you meander through the crowd and widen your strides to gain up on the slow ass in front of you. the greasy fumes from the barbecue pits smoke your eyes and your stomach rumbles with the whiff of barbecued food that you have been dying for. you notice the kid (or bugger) in front riding that pesky bicycle blocking your way and you feel like hollering at the top of your voice: "CAN'T YOU SEE THIS IS FOR JOGGERS!?"(translated from *&^%$#$%^&*(*&^%$) But you managed to run around him. after a while,you feel the strain on your thighs and your breath gets quicker and heavier by the second. The cold sea breeze ruffles your hair and soothes the growing pain in your legs. you look up into the bright blue sky covered with clouds of the strangest shapes and you almost thought you saw an almost familiar shape of doraemon hiding somewhere within.

Picking up speed, you finally managed to hit the jetty, running pass all those strange eyes as if you were a martian visiting Istana. Then you notice a pair of eyes staring at you.

"Great eyes, oh my type of face too," you murmured to yourself before turning away to avoid glaring too intensely. As you turn back towards the starting point, something hit you. you begin to appreciate the little things that are happening. the glaring sun turning your skin into a darker tone, the revitalizing breeze that leaves you wanting more, the tiring run that seems to be never-ending, the pesky children whom you would love to call your own, the adorable Golden Retriever that saunters on the walkway as if it owned the place.

then you realize the joy of running makes up for all the lost time on journey.

If you made it through so far, my apologies for my self indulgence but theres nothing more to it than this:

Appreciate the little things in life.

Life is beautiful.

simple soccer Sunday 20/07/08

Tentatively, there will be a simple kick-around this Sunday 10am at Redhill (old Republic Poly campus) followed by a lunch session at the nearby (well not so near actually) hawker center that sells one of the best carrot cake around (the stall with the mickey mouse signboard)

watch this space for more updates.

PS: compliments from one of my ardent fans, just to share with everyone

7/18/2008
1:10:14 AM
kob กบ コッブ gwn:: 可恶的H-Boys，唱上瘾了！says:

i like e shit on youareben


Personally, I'll take that as a compliment, that's exactly the whole point. Gracias

Words from your kind editor

Commencement is a special time where students come back for one last round of fun and laughter as an entire graduating cohort. Just like the aged-old saying, 走出去就不要再回头了 (i.e. dont dabao), it is now time to step up to the next phase of life.

It has been an exhilarating journey of fun, sorrow, joy and misery all put together into a unique concoction which is just -- university life. Even though somebody duped me to take a module which I failed miserably, it has all been forgotten (for now). Just make sure you keep watching your back on Sunday in case I lose control and morbidly stab you repeatedly on stage. who can forget the sleepless nights of hanging over in level 6 central library areas, like blood thirsty vampires, leaving for their hideouts at the first sight of sunrise. who can forget the nonsensical stays at the AS7 computer labs just for the sake of 6 dollars an hour. most importantly, the cumbersome 2km walks for cold and hard rock 煎饼 or maggie goreng and the continual process of photocopying books (mind you usually the entire)

To years of a tertiary education in history (and the continual essay churning, discussions and presentations, I bid my sincerest and most heartfelt farewell to you. You will always have a place in my heart and I hope to see you again, sometime, somewhere, somehow.

to all those who had/ will be going for their commencement ceremonies, it has been a pleasure to be on this hell of a rollercoaster ride with you guys. It has been my honour. Congratulations, my friends.

(fake valedictorian speech)

This goes out to a dear friend who made a long trip with his senior to the editor's commencement. It was a blast seeing you guys. Thank you.

PS: have you ever watched Revenge of the Sith? well, if you didn't notice by now, somebody's back. 正所谓，恭敬不如从命，if I don't do it, who will? ( same tone as "if singaporeans dont support S-league, who will?")

What a piece of trash. Have fun for the weekend.

This blog will officially be on hiatus until further notice.

(not that anyone will care)

As requested, this is a reminder to all you readers out there who are interested in a simple-soccer session this coming weekend.

Time: Unknown
Place: Unknown
Attendance: Unknown
Opponents: Ah Hui's team ( but more likely to have internal squabbling in our team)

As you probably can see by now, nothing is fixed other than the opposition. We need your response asap. Contact Mr Lai or Mr Ng for more details.

Reports to follow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Due to miscommunication, please note that the above listed opponent is not confirmed. The details as follow:

Time: not confirm
Place: not confirm
Attendance: not confirm
Opponent: not confirm

Please leave a comment stating your availability for a kick-about this sunday.

Independence Day - 拉队 to Partyworld

As part of the celebration for Independence Day and the rapid growth of YouareBen's fanbase (now officially five), a publicity stance was done at Partyworld. Enuff said.

Picture titled: 碍眼 / 爱演

On a side note, here are ten lessons learnt:

1. Old Changkee curry puffs are fast becoming the ideal dinner choice.

2. Remember to demand for beer to be served one by one and not together at one shot. Tasted like piss towards the end.

3. Wearing black does not always make one look slimmer ( refer to right side of photograph above)

4. Always bring a camera to KTV sessions, it amplifies the fun level. Don't offer to take pictures if you are going to leave a lot of empty space in the picture.

5. If you are afraid of 冷场，do not pick the song 'Hey Jude'. Ever.

6. On the same note, bringing up Aileen Tan's song list will help invoke snigger and laughter.

7. Doing absurd hand movements that follow the rhythm of the song are as important as the singing.

8. Cantonese songs are occasionally regarded as fart.

9. If you cannot remember song names by 蓝心梅, refer to the Sage ,i.e. 老祖.

10. Power Station has been stereotyped. They have since changed their band name to The Shriekers / Screamers/ Han3 Kia4

If you have any comments / alternatives, please do not hesitate to leave a note here. We look forward to any comments you have.

(静去)

Yours Sincerely,
Editor of YouareBen
(lone soldier fighting the war)