Came across this on the net today. What a blast from the past!! I used to hear this everyday in the morning on the radio – back then, Eurovision winners actually received airplay!!
Eurovision 1976
Winners = Brotherhood of Man (UK) “Save Your Kisses For Me”
This year I received a very nice set of earphones for Christmas – Audio Technica’s ATH-CM7Ti. The CM7Ti is housed in a classy titanium casing (hence the Ti) and features an extremely solid build – probably the best finishing I have seen on an earbud or canal phone. It looks like the CM7Ti can really stand up to intensive use for quite some time.
In terms of sound quality, the CM7Ti also delivers exceptional audio reproduction. I found bass to be abundant and with a nice impact. The buds also do mids and highs very nicely. The CM7Ti were easy to drive and very sensitive, in fact it was much easier to get significant volume from it than my Senn PX100, Sony EX71 and Creative EP630. This does make it ideal for portable use. The buds don’t provide much isolation from outside noise, obviously.
My only word of caution for would be owners would be this – depending on the shape of your ear, you may or may not be able to achieve a good seal with the CM7Ti. If you do manage a nice fit, it can be reasonably comfortable and the sound is astonishing. With a less than ideal seal, however, the bass may be lacking. They are also less comfortable than either Sony’s EX71 or Creative’s EP630.
The idea of a covert ops division of the Green Lantern Corps seems like an interesting idea – and the inclusion of the rebellious Guy Gardner is a good choice. Dubbed the Green Lantern Corpse, this 3-issue arc looks promising after reading issue #7.
I find the inter-galactic background of Green Lantern Corps offers the writers more freedom to develop fresh stories without a need to bring in classic villains or refer to some obscure back story to please hardcore fans (as in the case of the revived Green Lantern title featuring Hal Jordan). I also find Patrick Gleason’s artwork suits the title well.
Verdict : recommended
Penguin’s latest series of very portable classics concentrates on epic tales like the fall of Troy, Jason and the Golden Fleece and many other mythological stories. I picked up the thin 137-page volume titled Siegfried’s Murder two weeks ago, primarily as a quick way to learn more about the legends on which Wagner based his music.
Since the paperback is extremely light, I carried it around and read it when I was stuck in traffic. These Penguin Epics are a convenient way to acquaint oneself with mythology and classics, but since they are heavily excerpted, they don’t convey the “epic” scale of the works.
A month or so ago, I bought a pack Haagen-Dazs “seasonal” ice-cream pack. The box contains 2 flavours – blueberry and muscat. Judging from the packaging, this seems to be a Japanese market Haagen-Dazs product. I sampled both flavours and must say that I am not particularly impressed with either. Both seem too sweet for my tastes.
Books I read recently. I seem to be immensely curious about Japanese culture. The first book cover miscellaneous topics like the Otaku sub-culture and the second one looks at the plight of the Japanese middle class as they begin edge towards a lesser lifestyle and a more cynical outlook on life.
I will say this out straight – I much prefer Daniel Craig to Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore as James Bond. Craig delivers a very convincing performance as James Bond in his early days as a licensed to kill secret service agent, subtly revealing Bond’s egotistical character and his lack of finesse (in his first mission as 007).
Casino Royale was the first Bond novel Ian Fleming wrote. Director Martin Campbell has chosen to set this film not in the cold war past. The plot basically follows Bond as he locates and tries to corner an investment banker who serves the terrorists of the world. Nothing special in terms of plot then. What does distinguish this latest 007 movie from its predecessors is it LACK of bombastic action scenes – there are no hi-tech gadgets, Q does not appear, and the “climax” of the film is a game of poker instead of a massive explosive stunt. Martin Campbell instead focuses on developing Bond as a character. The film highlights how Bond changes from being a somewhat naive spy still prone to trusting people to becoming an extremely suave and detached agent. Casino Royale is thus the most emotionally charged Bond movie ever and an origin of 007 story.
I also felt the supporting cast did a fine job. Eva Green might not be the biggest star in Hollywood, but she is one of the most stunning Bond girls of recent years. Danish star Mads Mikkelsen stars as the villain Le Chiffre, a man who sheds blood instead of tears. Mikkelsen is apparently very well known in his home and I have previously seen him as the drug dealer Tonny in the Pusher Trilogy.
Verdict : highly recommended. I am looking forward to Craig’s next outing as 007.
As a metal sub-genre, Viking Metal originated in Scandinavia and exalts the pagan roots of the people there. A strong anti-Christian sentiment can often be found in the music. Viking Metal features non-stop riffage and a surprising lack of guitar solos. Atmosphere takes precedence over technical individual instrumental virtuosity (in terms of flashy solos), though guitar textures and time signatures can be complex, especially as the sub-genre began evolving in the late 1990s. The consensus is Bathory created the seminal albums that defined the genre, though in recent years Amon Amarth have become one of the sub-genre’s better known proponents.
Bathory – Hammerheart
I’ve read about Bathory for years but their albums are rare and hard to find. I finally managed to get my hands on one of their finer albums last week. Hammerheart is one of Bathory’s seminal viking metal albums and the music on this CD is every bit as great as rumoured, marred only but a really crappy recording. The songs boast of a fantastically grand atmosphere and possess an epic quality that was to become the trademark of “viking metal”. Highly recommended.
Amon Amarth – Versus The World
Obviously not half as influential as the seminal viking metal of Bathory, Amon Amarth’s best album is nonetheless a very satisfying listen – it offers pounding riffs, loads of viking imagery and even the sound quality is acceptable!! Sometimes considered a “melodic death metal” band, their music is perhaps easier to like than Bathory’s more caustic sound. The version I own contains a second disc of extras, including an excellent versions of The Arrival of Fimbul Winter. Highly recommended.
Both Aaron Kwok and Gow Ian Iskander – the father and son referred to in the Chinese title of the movie – won acting accolades for their performances at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Awards in November. I have always found Aaron Kwok a mediocre actor and was not impressed with his award winning role in Divergence, so I was curious to find out whether he had improved.
Most of After This Our Exile was shot on location around Ipoh, Malaysia by Hong Kong new wave director Patrick Tam. This is the first film Tam has directed for over a decade. Technically, Tam has shot a beautiful film that is finely edited with nice montages. The screenplay features a minimal plot but concentrates instead on the inner psychology and emotions of the father and the son. Film length veers towards being overlong – but this is obviously not intended to be a commercial blockbuster, which is evident from the exquisite opening shots. I found the soundtrack to be the weak link on the production side of the film – it felt like a rushed job and the music even reduced the impact of the visuals on a few occasions.
On the acting side, I was impressed with the Gow Ian Iskander who stars as the son. This is his screen debut but he is a natural and successfully generated sympathy for the character. The same cannot be said for Aaron Kwok. Kwok delivers a self-conscious and at times over-the-top performance – you nearly always feel he is “acting”. Kwok, and for that matter all the Hong Kong actors, over-stress the Malaysian Chinese colloquialisms.
Verdict : a niche film that I feel is over-rated in terms of acting, but is nicely shot and edited by Patrick Tam.
The J-horror craze is near its end but Hollywood is still trying to cash in with The Grudge 2, starring Hong Kong’s very own Edison Chen. Is the The Grudge still scary despite nearly half a dozen sequels and is Edison any good in his Hollywood debut??
The answer to the first question is simple : The Grudge 2 is still decently scary but has lost the freshness that made the original Japanese Ju On such a success. Director Takashi Shimizu’s camera work continues to create chilling scenes and despite being an American production, the film does offer J-horror’s eerie atmospherics.
As for Edison Chen, I found his performance at best wooden. Most Asian actors stumble with the dialogue – which is not the case with Edison. His English sounds perfectly natural and fine – but he lacks the ability to make us feel his character’s sense of fear and desperation. Well, at least, he looks cool on screen.
As an aside, Takako Fuji (the boy who plays the naked little boy ghost) has grown quite a bit since he first played the role in Ju On. I found it a bit odd that a “ghost” would grow up. I think they need to hire another child to play this role if they are going to make another sequel.
Verdict : watchable if not exceptional
I came to experience the gruesome first Saw film on DVD as none of the cinemas showed it at the time. I found Saw thrilling with a low budget sensibility to offend and be fun at the same time. When Saw 2 came out on DVD, I bought the disc immediately and thought it was less appealing than the first film.
When Saw 3 finally made it to the big screen here, I chose to see the film at a cinema to see if it would pack more of a punch. I found Saw 3 totally disappointing – it delivers very few thrills, but a lot of gore (including an open brain surgery) that seems to be there just to gross out viewers. And Saw 3 is not longer a fun thriller but a sadistic movie with very little plot. Apart from the predictable plot twists at the end, the film takes quite a while to get going and film length is too long for my liking. Jigsaw (the chief villain) plays a lesser role in this 3rd instalment and the film is notably less entertaining because of this.
Verdict : a disappointment.
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