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)

宅男多到1吓死你

Disclaimer: Geek alert!

This is the first time I have attended such a convention / exhibition. According to a friend, this is the first time something like that had been organized. It was also the first time i attempted to comb my hair the other way. Wah, so many firsts (yah right). Obviously, a Toy and Comic Convention is all about toys and comics. ah but theres something more.

A walk down memory aisle. Ok, its more like a walk in a room full of overweight chimpanzees as you attempt to slither through the crowd with a bagload of equipments. Suddenly you realize the extra burger you chomped down before Spain vs Russia at an unearthly hour has returned to haunt you around the waist.

But I digress. all of a sudden, my childhood memories just came crashing back into me like a harebrained ... errr ... no not hare, but like the dotty mynah that hit my window headlong last week. I saw Mario prancing around, hitting the rock- hard blocks with his head in the Supermario gamebooks I used to wolf down. I witnessed how 老夫子 hit on 陈小姐 to marry him in the comic strips while waiting for the friendly, neighbourhood Indian barber to style/ pulverize my hair (depends on how you see it). I remembered feeling so down when I realized that Superman was dead and cursed afterwards when I knew he was going to return as four separate identities to cheat a primary 6 kid of his pocket money. And the trashy mangas, and the ugly as hell sketches of anime characters, and the old movie posters of black and white movies.

the list just goes on. Gratifying experience indeed.

Apart from the pushy Singaporeans, literally and the queues that go on and on for the free gifts, it was a nice place to spend a few hours on a weekend just to feel the dynamism of the large numbers of kids/teenagers.

Just dont be caught laughing at other people's horrible costumes lest their parents might be nearby, listening to your comments and feeling 痛心. How I wish I could have a mask like the contestants to cover my face then.

Your favorite editor, (since the other has pulled out)
Ben

same shit, different day

New skin, new direction

Hi fans,

Due to popular demand, we have finally given in to the hardcore requests by our dearest fans to change the skin of the blog.

This move is to create a more conducive environment for our fans to indulge in our posts.

to all fans out there who are starting work again tomorrow, good luck and good week ahead

Yours sincerely,
Editors of youareben

Art beyond my understanding?

As a self proclaimed fan of the arts scene (who has yet to attend any related events ever), I trotted down to Drama Center at National Library with a fellow newbie for the premiere of 'Temple', a production by Cake Theatrical Productions. Helmed by Natalie Hennedige, it is a story of seven individuals seeking santuary within a so called temple, away from a world amassed with destruction and terror. Behind the doors, allegiance and relationships are forgotten as they deal with prospective evil seeping through the seven doors which gradually poisons each of the characters when the door is found to be open one day. Following that, the sanctity of the Temple is ruined when murder, corruption and unbridled evil manifests through the actions of the individuals.

Sad to say, as an interested newbie, this was a production which I truly could not appreciate. Brought up by a staple of corny hk dramas and hollywood films, Temple performed at another level of art, beyond what I could appreciate. By the first hour, I had no idea what was going on and what the dialogue represented. Ditto my partner. I had the urge to walk out of the theatre, but nevertheless stayed on in the hope that I would eventually be enlightened by what was on display. One example stood in mind: a video montage was shown with several characters participating in a race at the National Stadium while one of the character was singing a song. Frankly, I had absolutely no idea what that signified. I guess it is a long way before i could proclaim myself a supporter of the local arts scene.

Nevertheless, there were several instances which brought laughter, the cast was wonderful, the dramatic moments that popped up, the Malay and Mandarin speaking characters and especially when the applauses came with the end of the show. With all due respect, I speak from a perspective of the uninitiated who happened to take interest in the premise of the production but simply could not appreciate the performance on display. Simply said, for the uncouth and uncultured like me, this production is not suitable for you.

Boy was I in for a surprise.

In fact, as I recall, the best part of the evening came when I visited Ya Kun after the show where I sank my teeth into the toast, guzzled down my coffee and was almost chased out of the store as they were closing for the night. To quote my confidant for the night, "以后你请我去，我也不会去". (correct me if I am wrong) I felt the same too. No great loss.

And that just summed up my maiden experience in the Singapore Arts Festival 2008.

(以上言论不代表本台立场)

PS: read below for an entry by our guest writer on his brief encounter with a local artiste

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Hi fans,

Great to be back after a 2.5 weeks' absence. Have been busy with work and I simply have no time to update the blog (for my part, at least). Yes, i am still as computerless and I am now writing this piece of article with my girlfriend's laptop.

As promised earlier, I am uploading the pictures that were taken during my HK trip. Hope you guys enjoy the photos and hopefully, you will be making the Pearl of the East you next destination.

第一次，第一天，第一诫

通过热线,警方每天接约185通求救电话。其中180通都关于打抢, 谋杀, 强奸和绑票等。而剩余的5通都是这是这样开始的:“我家好像有些不妥,你能派人过来看个究竟吗？”

从英姿飒爽的陈浩南（古惑仔）到江湖味十足的九纹龙（九龙冰室），郑伊健最能胜任的终究是颓废，忧郁却又带点神秘感的失意男。只可惜，长江后浪推前浪，主帅的位置落在帅气十足的余文乐身上。 在第一诫里，郑伊健饰演的黄警官是个负责“杂物”，并且酗酒的老牌警官。在新干探李警卫(余文乐饰) 的加入下，曲折离奇的时件接踵而来，其中还牵扯了黄前妻与李女友。故事虽然简单，不过胜在剧情紧凑，高潮自然是高潮（没别的含义）， 是部不拘不扣的警匪恐怖片。恐怖的成份虽然不多， 剧里一些恶心的画面却是如此的令人作呕。尤其是电影的最后一幕必将带来一些意外的“惊喜”。。。

虽然是部国片，拍摄的水准可算是不错的。如果看腻了梁导本土味十足的电影而相换换口味，第一诫也不妨是个好选择。当然， 以一个标准的Ekin迷，他的表现还算可圈可点，只可惜表情犹如十年前，一成不变。真希望他能突破自己，找回以往的辉煌时代。别再跟女友瞎搞下去，别再沉迷PS3吧！老友，再次风起云涌吧！

这部电影绝对值得一看，不妨一试，可能还会有出乎意料的收获 。：）

(3.8/5)