Brokeback Mountain

While on MC at home yesterday, I decided to download Brokeback Mountain and Never Let Me Go (just because I wanted to watch it again) for a cozy little movie marathon. I've put off watching the former for too long - 6 years maybe, from back when I was in Sec 2. At the time it was released, the plot and its devices came across as foreign even in Hollywood's terms, and I believe it was barely even cleared for screening in the theaters here. All I could remember about the film then was the way my dad talked about it while we were watching the 78th Oscars. Basically he seemed apprehensive yet fascinated in the face of a film which explored risky yet uncharted (more or less) territory - a reaction which stuck with me, even as I forgot about this ~unspoken taboo~ of a film until now. Of course, thinking about it now, so much has changed such that it really isn't much of a big deal anymore. And contrary to popular (and ignorant) belief, Brokeback Mountain's by no means a 'gay cowboy movie'.

Getting to the point, yes, I watched it yesterday, and in response, I pretty much have just one word: heartbreaking. Or devastating. Your pick. And as much as I don't really trust my take on this - after all, I haven't amassed enough timeless romantic classics (yes, I HAVEN'T watched Titanic) in my history of film-going, it really is an excellent love story. What really stuck with me was this scene where Ennis learns that he can never truly be happy in life - it was a flashback to his childhood, when his dad took him to see a gay man who was beaten to death. It was really then when Ennis was taught to hate his own feelings - this haunted him into becoming the heavily guarded man he was later in life. And at the end of it all, after a loveless marriage, after raising two daughters whom he only grew more estranged from over the years, and even after his life has been compressed into a mobile home of numbing misery, he simply accepted that he was right where he was supposed to be. Because he simply couldn't express freely the only great love he ever felt, it ended up destroying and consuming him from within.

The film also portrays, loudly and clearly through the gasping silences and the many terrible expressions of grief, the power of repression. It doesn't only eat at Ennis and Jack - it affects all those around them as well, and this makes the wives the victims, too. Michelle Williams was extraordinary as Alma in the film - she so convincingly brought out the pain from realizing that she never even had a place in Ennis' heart at all. This pain of hers culminated in a desperate fit of screams, tears and shaking, which, in the end, came out empty and useless still. With that, the pang of regret was made all the more unbearable and intolerable. On the other hand, Anne Hathaway handled Lureen pretty well too, showing clearly the transformation of a lively young rodeo girl into a stiff shell of who she once was.

What really impacted me most was the deep love between Ennis and Jack, which really exceeded expectations in forming the backbone of the film. Personally, I've yet to understand love and passion so strong it could tear people apart if not let loose, but it's fine - it'd be pretty darn scary if I did. For all I know, it'd even be unrealistic in the real world. But the film really explained why it's so important for love to run wild and free in all its abundance, and to simply let love... be.

In other news, this film made me miss Heath Ledger quite badly. He really was a brilliant actor.

Every November should be like this year's

Kinda thought that I should make better use out of my time spent on the computer, so instead of the usual stalking on Facebook and the browsing through of a never-ending queue of posts on my Tumblr dashboard, I'm here.

To be honest, blogging has become more and more of an obligation, because it kinda seems as if no one reads my entries, or rather, there isn't much interaction from blogging now, compared to last time. And that has really made this place boring as hell. But I figured that I had a lot to write about anyway.

I shall start with my egg-crack day: Thursday, November 3. It wasn't as big a deal as it was supposed to be (lol) and I was really quite disappointed, but in hindsight, I guess it was okay. Probably a reason behind why I was rather down then is because I'm used to being around people and having friends do all sorts of nice stuff for me, so used such that, unknowingly, I've started harbouring greater expectations from everyone.

The morning of my birthday was spent finishing up my PW OP slides during free periods in school. Dry, isn't it? But I just had to do it being the perfectionist I was. Just couldn't leave the job to someone else and be assured that everything'll sail smoothly. :S

Jasper went to find me after the Economics lecture to pass me my gift — a very beautiful tumbler with a photo collage. I was also given a birthday surprise after school by a couple of my closer classmates. On top of that, Rashid & Janet came to find me to pass me a huge plastic board they made complete with birthday greetings. :D

Went for dinner at East Coast Park with my parents after school. Had it at Jumbo restaurant, was pretty good. :) Went home shortly after, where Hui Yen met me to pass me her gift, haha. Was really sweet of her to come down and all!

Shared another birthday cake with my family, and when the candles went out, my birthday more or less ended.

November 4 was slightly better, but it just went downhill towards the end. Don't really want to remember that night; took me quite some of effort and self-encouragement to get over it.

After school that day, I went down to Parkway Parade with some secondary school friends to hang out for a bit and have a celebratory lunch together at Pastamania. I left them early to meet some of my classmates and head over to Somerset to catch 'Footloose'. The movie was okay, but I expected much more emphasis on dance, hahaha. The country soundtrack was good though.

November 5 all the way till November 10, which was the last day of PW for me, was spent with my PW group on OP, the final component. Hosted one of the meetings, and brought them to the McDonald's nearby for lunch, where we bumped into Jun Jie's PW group, haha. Because the final lap is usually the busiest, I compromised quite a lot of trainings, but it's not like compromises have never been made before then; I really did a lot of work for the damned subject.

The day of my PW group's OP was November 10, and it was really dramatic one (in a bad way of course). Was up for the afternoon session along with TJ082, Teck Wee's group. In summary, one of my group members got into trouble with the examiners, and this worked well as a major morale destroyer, after which we met with technical difficulties once at the start, once in the middle and once at the end of the presentation. The outcome? Two of my members breaking into tears after OP, when all of us were supposed to celebrate the end to a whole year's worth of hell. But they're really not to blame, though. But overall, the OP was still alright.

Our group was also not the only one that met with a whirlwind of... interesting, events. Teck Wee's group saw a rather awful spat between two members after OP, which left one storming out of the school. But of course, we did still take some celebratory photos after everyone calmed down and all. At least.

My 11/11/11 was spent with my class and E391. Met Michelle, Amira, Hannah & Cally in the late morning for lunch at Tampines Swensen's, after which we went down to the Udders at Siglap for the class gathering to spend the $200 worth of ice cream vouchers we won from various school events. It was a pretty successful gathering I guess. :)

Headed home for dinner after the gathering and left the house again in the evening for CGM. It was kinda ridiculous because the venue was at Opera Estate, somewhere near Siglap. So essentially I went from Siglap to Pasir Ris and back again, tsk.

Compared to the previous session, CGM that night was much better. Everything was great, from the worship, to the testimony and finally the word. Hui Jie & Yu Yun came along as well, so I had a good time of catching up with some friends I haven't met in a while too. We arranged for dinner next Sunday; can't wait. :)

The morning of November 12 was spent at the Outward Bound campus over at East Coast Park. Came totally unprepared for the gear check for the upcoming India expedition, and as a form of reflection (I already made plans to go shopping actually), I met my parents and we headed down to Queensway Shopping Centre to get my track pants, track shoes as well as a pair of fashionable Nike shoes (which I didn't intend to get initially), haha.

Dropped off at Suntec City after the shopping session for church service. Rev. John Bevere was up that week, and he was powerful and charismatic as usual. Rarely do I ever come across such outgoing and engaging speakers! Thoroughly enjoyed my time with him. And the word he shared was one in season, too. :)

After service, I headed down to Old Airport Road with E391 for a time of fellowship over dinner. Had good chicken chop and I finally got more of my friends to try the amazingly delicious tauhuey there! As expected, they claimed that flew up to heaven the moment the beancurd melted in their mouths. :P

November 13 was spent with my family in the morning over a dimsum meal at Paramount Shopping Centre followed by '那些年,我們一起追的女孩 (You Are the Apple of My Eye)' in the afternoon at Cathay E!hub with a bunch of friends from secondary school. Save the coarse language (though it's mild-sounding, probably because I'm not used to Taiwan's conversational Mandarin) and the many sexual references, '那些年' was a quality catch! The entire story was well-linked with a fluent flow, and the ending was made stellar by the beautiful flashbacks which tied everything together tightly. Lovely settings were used as well — a given for Taiwanese films, and they evoked in me a pleasant sense of wanderlust. :)

Headed to the new McDonald's at Pasir Ris Sports Complex after the movie to have some ice-cream and catch up for a bit. Jun Jie passed me his birthday gift there as well, and it was a cool USB modelled after a Canon DSLR camera. :D

Yesterday, being Ms Awyong's birthday, the class made an elaborate plan to surprise her at her house. We met in school and went down together to Parkway Parade to get a birthday cake, after which we headed to our ultimate destination nearby. As planned, she had a pleasant surprise, and even invited us into her quaint and cozy flat. Had a quick celebration, after which we engaged in mahjong and Taboo together.

We left Ms Awyong's place together with her at around 1. Went back to Parkway Parade with some classmates to have lunch, where I bumped into Hui Jie and saw Huang Jun Xiong filming for an upcoming television drama. It was such a pleasant coincidence! The story didn't end there — on the way back to TJ, I not only saw Rui En, but did so at close proximity, haha. That afternoon, Marine Parade was truly a district of stars.

Guess in essence, those were the highlights of the past week. If I feel like it, I'll update this blog again later with what happened today. Stay tuned. :)