78th Academy Awards nominations are in!

Best Picture
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

Best Director
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
Paul Haggis - Crash
Bennett Miller - Capote
George Clooney - Good Night and Good Luck
Steven Spielberg - Munich

Best Animated Film
Howl's Moving Castle
Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbits

Best Actor
Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line
David Straitharn - Good Night, and Good Luck

Best Actress
Judi Dench - Mrs Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman- Transamerica
Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron - North Country
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt - A History of Violence

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Junebug
Catherine Keener - Capote
Frances McDormand - North Country
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain

Best Original Screenplay
Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco- Crash
Stephen Gaghan - Syriana
George Clooney & Grant Heslov - Good Night, and Good Luck
Woody Allen - Match Point
Noah Baumbach - The Squid and the Whale

Best Adapted Screenplay
Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana - Brokeback Mountain
Dan Futterman - Capote
Jeffrey Caine - The Constant Gardener
Josh Olson - A History of Violence
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth - Munich

Best Foreign Film
Don't Tell - Italy
Joyeux Noel - France
Paradise Now - Palestine
Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days - Germany
Tsotsi - South Africa

Best Art Direction
Good Night, and Good Luck
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride & Prejudice

Best Cinematography
Batman Begins
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck
Memoirs of a Geisha
The New World

Best Sound Mixing
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
Walk the Line
War of the Worlds

Best Sound Editing
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
War of the Worlds

Best Original Score
Brokeback Mountain, Gustavo Santaolalla
The Constant Gardener, Alberto Iglesias
Memoirs of a Geisha, John Williams
Munich, John Williams
Pride & Prejudice, Dario Marianelli

Best Original Song
''In the Deep'' - Crash, Kathleen ''Bird'' York and Michael Becker
''It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp'' - Hustle & Flow, Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard
''Travelin' Thru''- Transamerica, Dolly Parton

Best Costume Design
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Memoirs of a Geisha
Mrs. Henderson Presents
Pride & Prejudice
Walk the Line

Best Documentary Feature
Darwin's Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
March of the Penguins
Murderball
Street Fight

Best Film Editing
Cinderella Man
The Constant Gardener
Crash
Munich
Walk the Line

Best Makeup
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Cinderella Man
Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith

Best Visual Effects
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
King Kong
War of the Worlds

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At U.S.C., a Practical Emphasis in Film

Today, the emphasis on craft over artistry gives the school a split personality. U.S.C. relies heavily on its connections to the towering talent that has passed through its halls — which, not incidentally, are everywhere adorned with signed posters from landmark films by Mr. Lucas ("Star Wars"), Robert Zemeckis (another alumnus, director of "Forrest Gump" and "The Polar Express") and Mr. Spielberg.

But as dearly as U.S.C. holds its connection to the greats of the 1970's, the current emphasis is elsewhere. Indeed, only a few directors stand out among U.S.C.'s more recent graduates as at (or near) the top of Hollywood's artistic or commercial heap: Doug Liman, who directed "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"; Jay Roach, director of the "Austin Powers" films; Richard Kelly, who wrote and directed the cult hit "Donnie Darko"; and Judd Apatow, who co-wrote and directed the hit comedy "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." (Ron Howard, who won the Oscar for "A Beautiful Mind," left U.S.C. after two years.)

"We can't point to someone recently who's made the same impact as Lucas, or Walter Murch," the Oscar-winning cinematographer, acknowledged Mark Jonathan Harris, a film professor at U.S.C. and a two-time Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker in his own right. (He went to Harvard and studied English, not film.) "What is the purpose of film school?" he continued. "It's a large question worth asking. At the undergraduate level, we teach people to see more clearly, whether or not they're going to be George Lucas."

At U.S.C., a Practical Emphasis in Film

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My birthday party (Part 1)

I probably should write something about my recent birthday party.

So here goes... 21 January... Fullerton Hotel... Room 777... sea-view... check-in... last minute stock up at Seven-11... complimentary tea... sonia, wanting, cheewai... we ate... a lot... they charged me extra for 2 guests... embarrassed... started drinking... again... champagne... 2 glasses... uno stacko... several shots... brothers arrived... beer... co-workers arrived... vodka mix... my family... sneakies... how many people can fit in the bath-tub... primary school friends... some more drinks probably... met ben's friend, thomas... conversation with sister... working the room... big fish small fish... more photo-taking... probably more shots... sending some people to the door...

(and based on photographic evidence, post-party updates and whatever I can remember, not necessarily in chronological order)... wrestled... arm-locked clem... flashed him... groveled on the ground with my pants down... threatening to jump off the balcony... nice view... romps in bed... puking right before getting to the toilet... changed my clothes... by myself... snuck into bed... next day... hang over... complimentary breakfast... hang over... swam... check-out... hang over

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The Roots to My Melancholy

It seems like the roots to my melancholy is more predestined than I thought.

According to this article, 23rd January has been considered the most depressing day of the year. That means, when given a choice to pick one day, one out of 365 days of the year, psychologists, counsellors, helpline officers, psychiatrists, even debt collectors would pick 23rd of January as the most loathsome, miserable, unfortunate day of the year. How great is that! Thanks, mom and dad.

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Birthday Invite

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Film Review: Broken Flowers

Jim Jarmusch's film is a lovely and somewhat poignant journal that captures the vivacity of Americans and their relationships. In this film, the journey is more important than the destination. The audience is brought along into the heartlands of the country to meet unusual characters living their lives as individuals almost detached from the present world.

Don Johnston (Bill Murray) stars as an aging casanova who is on the verge of having another woman leave him. He appears destined to live his life as a chronic passivist, that when his latest girlfriend packs up and leaves, he lets her go without a struggle, only to withdraw to his couch to watch television.

Things starts to slowly stir when he receives an unexpected letter from a long ago ex, who claims that he had fathered her son who is now 19 years old and on his way to find his real dad. With the urging of his Ethiopian neighbor, Winston, who with a wife, 5 kids and 3 jobs is an exact opposite of Don, he sets out on a trip to find the origin of the letter.

The journey here is a backward-looking one; the camera focuses time and again on the rear view mirror in the car. Don is backtracking literally on his life, going back in time to revisit his old flames who each seemed to share larger than life moments with him. It is a bittersweet journey as the romance has faded, but the relational baggage still exists. (A second journey is being carried out by his supposed son who is tracing his roots, but in opposite directions)

Murray is brilliant here as the thrown-about early retiree who comes to terms with his past and seeks to eschew only the present. The supporting cast, including Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton, creates a wide palette of eccentric types that further emphasizes life's plenitude of people, lifestyles, homes and dreams.

Jarmusch lovingly details the emotions of such a journey and the accompanying psychological flashback with such heart but also nuances, it just makes one itch to go on a similar trip into one's past. There are no big emotions or tear-jerking dramatic scenes here. The ending is not monumental or climatic. Life, as depicted by Jarmusch, is one filled with one quiet moment after another.

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My 2005 in Pictures

Top Row (L to R):
1. 2005 started off with a bang. I partied like there was no tomorrow on my 25th birthday. I got so drunk that I did not remember getting a penis enlarger pump as a present. But obviously as seen from the picture, I was very happy to receive it.
2. Spring Break 2005 saw me hopped into Costa Rica with a bunch of friends who were to become some of my closest buddies in college. It was undoubtedly my best Spring Break ever.
3. We celebrated David's birthday too in convivial drunken fashion. He was my roommate in my final year in school and has become one of my best friends, favorite travel-mate and partner-in-crime.

2nd Row (L to R):
4. Graduation came and went in a blink of an eye. Four years of education culminated in 10 hours of ceremony, 2 degrees and 1 very tired senior.
5. After school ended, I embarked on an Amtrak trip across the United States. The journey took me to San Antonio, Orlando, Miami and New Orleans (in the picture) before it became a watery grave.
6. Back in LA, I managed to spend time with some of my American friends whom I have known the longest in the States. It was sad to say goodbye.

3rd Row (L to R)
7. My farewell party was a bittersweet affair organized by some of my friends. The Asian stripper aside, it was a sobering time for me.
8. I returned to Singapore in July and felt good to be home. The trees outside my window have grown much since my last stay more than a year and a half ago.
9. Starting work means getting used to new working environment and meeting new people. Being in the Recreational Committee and putting up events like Halloween help to break up the monotony of office life.

Last Row (L to R)
10. The view from my cubicle is rather decent. Staring out of the window gives my eyes their much needed break and constantly reminds me that I am back in the real world that is Singapore.
11. Having been away for so long, I have drifted apart from many of my old friends. The BFC, formed by a healthy bunch of new staff at my office, helps to keep the boredom away.
12. 2005 marks a new chapter in my life as I start my career in urban planning. The Lim Chu Kang planning area is like my little baby, as I try to apply what I have learnt in school to the real world.

Hopefull 2006 will be just as eventful and colorful as the past year.

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Film Review: A History of Violence

David Cronenberg's latest masochistic thriller tells the story of an idyllic small town torn apart by the violence both outside and inside of an all-American family.

Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) who appears to be living the American Dream unexpectedly meets two gun-totting thugs who are driving across the country on a killing spree. After a frenetic shoot-out at his diner, Tom becomes an overnight hero, only to see his past catch up with him. Violence ensues tragically, leading to killing that only begets more killing.

Unflinching in its depiction of violence, the film shows head-on the fatal results of gun wounds in sensational scenes of bloodshed and gore. Yet, much of the film languids in a placid pace, much paralleling the slow internal collapse of Tom's superficially ideal American household.

Although the mobster narrative drives the storyline, the violence clearly extends beyond that of organized crime. It is also about the violence of the family, the violence of adolescence and bullying, the violence of sex and lies, and the violence that one inflicts onto himself. Cronenberg suggests that there is violence in everyone, and in this tale of a history of violence, it is a violent America where Americans terrorize one another.

In a pivotal scene, Tom's wife, Edie (an incredibly real Maria Bello) turns from the tragic sufferer to become an accomplice by lying to the town sheriff of his husband's past. (It is a chameleon act that also brings to mind Laura Linney's evil transformation as Hamlet's Getrude in Mystic River.) The couple then continues the emotional battery by engaging in violent sex on the staircase - every gyration on the staircase causing a scar on her back, as their marriage goes downhill with every descend down the stairs.

The film is a departure from Cronenberg's previous body of work which can only be described as eccentric and weird. Here, the Canadian director is also at his most invisible, letting his terrific cast take the lead by pushing the story into a whirlpool that never seems to be able to come to a stop.

This is a great movie that invigorates the familiar narrative of an externalized terror intruding into the safe and protected confines of home and town. Films like In the Bedroom and more poignantly in the post-9/11 period, Mystic River, 21 grams and Dogville depict the insanity of acts of terrorism and counter-terrorism and how they escalate into an endless cycle of violence.

In A History of Violence, the terror is not so much as that coming from the outside. The external threat as characterized by the mobsters are portrayed as darkly comedic and inconsequential as compared to the larger threat of the paternal and familial variety. Although the ending of the film hints at a sense of forgiveness and closure, after one and a half hours in the theatre, the audience is well aware that the exacted toll from the violence is unlikely to be forgotten.

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Singapore Movie Tickets are too Expensive?

I hear the common refrain from Singaporeans that the price of a movie ticket here is very expensive. But from my own experience, having travelled to several countries and watching movies regularly, I have always thought that movie ticket prices are cheap here!

In LA, which is the last place I lived in (and where movie theaters abound), a typical ticket price is 9 USD. Comparatively, in Singapore, a ticket on the weekend costs 6 USD (4 USD on a weekday afternoon). Is it just another thing that Singaporeans complain about?

Here, I have googled a sample of movie ticket prices (in USD and affected by exchange rate).

Los Angeles, USA $9
Halifax, Canada $8.50
Lisbon, Portugal $7
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia $2.75
Melbourne, Australia $11
Shanghai, China $3.50
Brussels, Belgium $9.50
Bucharest, Romania $3.20
Nairobi, Kenya $4
Istanbul, Turkey $6
Dublin, Ireland $10.50
Bangkok, Thailand $3
Auckland, New Zealand $8.50
Tokyo, Japan $15
Singapore $5 (average)

Maybe a more telling picture is comparing the price of a movie ticket to earning powers of the audience. Screen Digest collated the following data, which shows Singapore's movie ticket prices well below the global average.

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