I’m delighted by my newfound courage to face and conquer a great nemesis that has plagued my life since the day I was old enough to understand the concept of fear.

For some reason I can’t adequately explain, I find myself suddenly no longer crippled by horror movies. The nights when I have to sleep with one eye open after watching a horror movie are over!

I was able to watch 4BIA with unreserved enjoyment after succeeding in psychoanalysing myself out of fear. Which is good, because 4BIA is as scary as it’s entertaining.

It’s a collection of four short films made by four illustrious Thai directors.

The story is that one of them latched upon an idea for a horror film, but realised that his material could only fill one short film, so he roped in three other directors to make a feature-length run with four short films.

I like that. It’s like watching episodes of The Twilight Zone. Each bite-sized tale is a surprise and leaves you with a sick feeling in your gut when it’s over.

Happiness

Director Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (The Iron Ladies; M.A.I.D.; Metrosexual) kicks the anthology off with this silent horror.

A pretty young lady is grounded in her grimy apartment thanks to a broken leg. She’s lonely and bored and shuffles on a clutch restlessly between her desk and bed.

Then, a mysterious stranger sends her an SMS requesting friendship. After some cursory hesitation, she texts him back. A peculiar friendship bordering on puppy love develops over the next few days.

Alas, she is alone, crippled and stuck in a small, claustrophic apartment. And she obviously didn’t heed the age-old parental advice to never talk to strangers.

Actress Maneerat Kham-uan delivers a noteworthy, essentially solo, performance which raises your hackles in preparation for the next few shorts.

Tit for Tat

This tale explores the subject of black magic via a bunch of rebellious teenagers facing expulsion from school after being caught with weed. An act of cruel vengeance directed at their tattertale results in an explosive series of unfortunate incidents.

This is director Paween Purikitpanya’s second foray into horror after a successful run of Body #19. Tit for Tat has been described as an action horror, but I would say the action comes more from the schizophrenic camera work and jump-cut editing than from the actual action in the story.

I felt like I was watching an extended MTV. The actors are all beautiful and glamorous (even when drenched in sweat and blood). The shots are visually exciting. The edits are quick and in your face. The lighting is often stark and contrasting. The pace sets your heart pounding from start till end.

Unsurprinsingly, I later read this on the 4BIA website.

Paween’s background in music video perfects his visual smoothness, and he shows his talent in winding up screen tension with such spooky efficiency. “I prefer my films to be like rides in an amusement part, instead of being objects in a museum,” he says.

I actually enjoyed the cinematography and editing more than I enjoyed the story itself.

In the Middle

The third film provides refreshing relief after you’ve been put on edge for an hour. In the Middle is touted as a “comedy horror”. However, despite that tag, and despite the laughter from the audience, this short is no less scary than the first two.

This is the story of four young men on a rafting and camping trip. Scaring each other with ghost stories, one of them jokes that if he were to die on the trip, he would come back and haunt the person sleeping in the middle.

What do you know, he drowns the next day, thus setting the scene for some horror buildup.

Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter; Alone) directs this with an equal balance of comedy and horror, which is no easy feat. I mean, how can you feel fear when you’re laughing? This film shows you how.

Last Fright

A flight attendant is assigned to be caretaker of the body of the Princess of Khurkistan, who has suffered a sudden death and has to be flown first class back to her home country.

The body is seated in the first row of the plane, which is eerily empty save for Pim, the beautiful flight attendant, and two pilots in the cockpit. Pim has to make sure that nothing happens to the body during the flight.

But who’s going to make sure that nothing happens to Pim?

Director Pakpoom Wongpoom (also Shutter; Alone) made this film after learning that the royal dead cannot be transported in coffins and have to be seated like regular living people, leading him to wonder what horror could happen on a plane with a dead body sitting around in plain sight.

Being the most visually frightening of the lot, this classic horror very nicely rounds up the anthology. In fact, it was so frightening that Sabrina and Pris ran off 10 minutes into the film and never came back.

Methinks the title is very apt.

I watched 4BIA at the Blog Aloud series by Golden Village, where we got to meet the four directors as well as two members of the cast.

Left to right:
Maneerat Kham-uan (Actress - Happiness)
Paween Purikitpanya (Director - Tit for Tat)
Parkpoom Wongpoon (Director - Last Fright)
Kantapat Permpoonpatcharasuk (Actor - In the Middle)
Banjong Pisanthanakun (Director - In the Middle)
Youngyooth Thongkonthun (Director - Happiness)

Director Paween Purikitpanya told the audience that if everyone likes their film, they would make a 4BIA 2.

Well, I would really love to see a sequel, so please support this film!

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Much has already been said about Royston Tan’s 12 LOTUS. Some bombs but mostly raves.

Me, I’m a raver. I loved the movie so much I couldn’t write a review of it immediately after watching it. I had to go in search of clamps to close my jaws back.

I don’t even know how to start saying it. Almost everything about the movie is good. 12 LOTUS is thankfully nothing like 881, Royston’s previous film. It is miles better. It is more than miles better.

Now, the danger in having me review the movie is that I won’t be able to stop gushing like a giggly teenager, especially since Qi Yiwu is looking better with every film he makes.

So I decided to make the Goonfather do the job. Haha. He’s getting to watch a lot of free movies through me, so I need to make him work a bit.

I managed to sit him down for 10 minutes to interview him on his thoughts about the movie.

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What do you think of 12 LOTUS?

I think it’s not too bad. There are 12 lotuses, not 7 lotuses, not 6 lotuses. 12 is a great number for lotus.

WTF?

At first, I thought it was a movie about 12 ah lians forming a gang. You know how secret societies and gangs like to play with numbers? So it’s like 12 ah lians. But it turned out to be a song with 12 chapters, and each chapter of the song represents a part of the character’s life.

What kind of movie would you say 12 LOTUS is?

It’s a drama. Maybe almost like a docudrama because it gives you an insight into a getai singer’s life. It shows you how people live their lives based on their different circumstances. And it’s interesting because those are lives I’ve never been through before.

So you liked the movie?

The songs were great. The filming was good, compared to Money No Enough 2, which looks like it was filmed by some cheap handycam running around the streets. But 12 LOTUS was a bit grainy for my liking cos I’m a high definition guy.

I think grainy movies look better. I hate high def. It looks fake and plastic.

Nooooo. Everyone should switch to HD. That’s the only way to go.

Never mind. Did you like the musical format of 12 LOTUS?

It’s something unique which I didn’t expect from a locally produced movie.

So, does that mean you like it or not?

Yes, Mindee Ong is very cute.

What has that got to do with what we were talking about??

What were we talking about?

Arghhh.

Okay, okay. 12 LOTUS is a Singapore movie like never before.

How do you mean?

It’s a Singapore musical. And it’s like Greased Lightning meets Taiwanese drama. It’s a Singapore produced Hokkien musical, so it’s very saat, okay?

What about other aspects of the movie?

The staging is nice. The costumes were hilarious, especially the feather guy.

Did you like that it was dominated by Hokkien speech?

I had trouble with the Hokkien. I was struggling to read the subtitles because the only words I’m fluent in Hokkien are words like *CENSORED*…

HEY! I CAN’T PUT THAT IN MY BLOG!!

Okay, okay. My favourite part of the movie was that they managed to get a few packets of Kaka as props.

Er…

It’s damn cool okay! I’m impressed with the director!

Oh, but they were not able to get the bird series $50. They were using the Yusof Ishak $50 in the movie.

What would you say to someone if you’re trying to convince him to watch the movie?

Watch the show. If not I dowan to talk to you.

*roll eyes*

Haha, no. I would say 12 LOTUS is better than The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

That’s a totally different genre lah! You can’t compare apples with oranges.

Yah, but I’m saying it’s a better movie than a supposed Hollywood blockbuster. Don’t waste your money watching The Mummy. Watch 12 LOTUS instead. More worth it.

Can you compare with something more relevant or not?

Okay, it’s better than High School Musical and Hairspray. Those are musicals. Can right?

Why is it better than those two movies?

High School Musical because I slept through it.

Hairspray because it’s not realistic, it’s a fairytale. 12 LOTUS is a realistic insight into the lives of very real people.

So how many stars would you give it?

4 or 5 (out of 5).

Nice. Thank you very much.

Do I have a choice?

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For a guy who is usually very opinionated and would talk your ears off if given half the chance, the Goonfather sure hates being interviewed or being asked his opinions.

He’s difficult that way.

Next time I feel like interviewing him, I should just say, “Don’t tell me about such and such,” and then have a tape recorder rolling in secret.

But go watch 12 LOTUS if you have a chance. It will leave you beautifully haunted.

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Presenting the latest in haute couture, hot off the glitzy runway of Heartland Mall!

Spectators were completely bowled over by the creativity and free-spiritedness reflected in this shocking and innovative new design by a relatively unknown young designer, who looks set to elevate the status of Singapore haute couture.

The designer was unfortunately unavailable for comment.

But Sheylara.com followed the models backstage for a quick interview.

“What do you think of this unusual creation you’re wearing?”

“I love it!” said the model wearing the sleeveless version. “It’s so daring and at the same time fashionable!”

Said the model wearing the sleeved version, “I think it’s perfect for Singapore’s humid weather because the fabric is very thin and cooling!”

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When people ask me to go watch fireworks, I always say, “Siao lah. Never see before is it?”

I will never trouble myself to travel somewhere just to see some stupid sparks in the sky, especially since I know that 20,000 other people will be there fighting for the best spots to stand at and wait for hours.

But when fireworks are brought to me, in a manner of speaking, I can’t keep my eyes away.

Fireworks make such sluts of us.

On National Day evening, which was last night, when half the nation was out being stampeded by the other half of the nation in the name of patriotism, I was hiding in the comfort and safety of Cindy’s apartment.

Cindy and Paul had kindly invited us over for dinner, solving our dilemma of wanting to meet for dinner but not wanting to be stampeded by patriotic Singaporeans.

The apartment had a great view and we were actually able to catch some of the fireworks display from the balcony.

Nice.

Of course, one can’t fully enjoy a fireworks performance if one is busy snapping photos throughout, hoping some of the shots will turn out good. But that’s one of the job hazards a blogger has to get used to.

Then again, no one wants to see crappy fireworks photos taken with my gimpy camera because the entire nation of people have already seen the real thing for themselves, anyway.

So I’m going to show you something else, instead.

Smoke!

Shortly after the first pattern exploded in the sky, smoke started forming.

It thickened progressively and hung in the sky like a widow refusing to move on with her life and find another man.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best analogy in the world but it kinda just popped in my mind.

Very soon, the smoke blocked our precious view of the fireworks.

My friends and I booed at the smoke, which, of course, was unmoved by our impassioned jeers.

A few minutes after the fireworks started, it stopped.

A thick cloud of smoke streaked across the skyline.

It got thicker by the second and refused to dissipate.

I don’t know what the view was like for those with front row seats at Marina Bay. I hope the smoke didn’t disturb their show.

For us in the apartment, when the fireworks came again, it looked like this.

Excuse the bad focus. My hands were shaking with excitement.

Not really.

I just wasn’t able to get a good shot because there were only a few sparks this round.

All I got managed to get a good shot of was the smoke.

We decided to go back to the living room to watch TV.

Periodically, over the next hour, I went outside to check on the smoke situation. Here’s my stills version of a time-lapse.

The entire sky was totally smoked out after about half an hour.

It took about an hour for it to clear considerably.

Oh, well, at least it was something different to watch.

Did you have a good National Day?

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It gets very confusing when everything happens all on the same weekend.

National Day, Olympics, World Cyber Games, Xbox Xperts launch.

I’m normally home on National Day because I’m scared of crowds (because I’m claustrophobic, not because people are scary, although some people are scary).

But I have to go to WCG today and throng with the National Day and WCG crowd. Nice. And I don’t know where to meet my friends for dinner. They’ll hate me if I make them go to Suntec City to meet me. It’s probably gonna be impossible to park there tonight.

So, I dunno. I just wanted to say, “Happy birthday, Singapore!”

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