They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
– Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987)

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
– Nelson Mandela

Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.
– Adrian Mitchell

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
– Ursula K. LeGuin

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
– Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)

Life is a balance of imperfect things.
– Ganz

Your best friend is also your greatest enemy. For he knows all your strengths and as well as your hidden weaknesses.
– Ganz

Every year we humans find more ingenious ways to kill ourselves.
– Ganz

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
– Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
– Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)

A Wager Between Heaven and Hell.

Films based on comic books don’t have the best reputation in the world. Even in the years of critical and commercially successful comic films like the Spider-Man and X-Men films, there are still films like Catwoman.

The world of Constantine is a world in and of itself. It’s part present day, part imagination – but it’s not comic-book material. That’s partially what makes it so enticing and frightening all at once. It exists in its own reality while mixing even doses of our reality at the same time.

John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a jaded, tough-talking, hard-boiled, smoking, drinking guy with a pretty unpleasant personality. Equally scorning heaven and hell, Constantine has a rare gift to see half-breed demons and angels that walk the streets of Earth in human disguise.

Earlier in life, Constantine was driven crazy by these visions that no one else could see. He attempted suicide and, for a few brief minutes, got a glimpse at the ultimate horrors of hell. He has been condemned to hell, so he fights for a reprieve he knows he’ll never get.

The story starts off with a grisly exorcism of a young girl that unavoidably references The Exorcist. Constantine comes in and, with very little flash, pulls a really nasty demon out of the girl. As visually stylish as the film that follows, the scene takes exorcising demons to a new level, an exceptionally memorable introduction to his character.

Constantine’s path soon crosses with a skeptical detective named Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) who is investigating the suicide of her sister. She believes that her twin sister, a devout Catholic, couldn’t possibly have committed suicide.

Demons are also starting to cross over to Earth at an alarming pace and Constantine is trying to shut the gateway while simultaneously attempting to help Dodson solve the mystery of her twin.

Constantine is one of the most technically brilliant films I’ve ever seen. This is the reference for all future CGI. It’s that cool. Overuse of CGI has plagued and degraded cinema for years now, often serving as more of a distraction than an enhancement, something directors use in place of imagination. Director Francis Lawrence and the visual effects crew on Constantine have given proof that, when done right, CGI can create a world never thought possible.

When the striking images of hell pass before you on screen, they literally look like Armageddon. The creature effects, from a demon made up of bugs swarming to form a bad-ass demon to little winged minions of the devil, are seamlessly integrated with reality. The facial effects on half-breed demons look very cool, mixing flesh with, well, gruesome bad looks.

The world of Constantine is totally immersive. It’s always great when you get that feeling of being transported to another place, of forgetting where you are and being totally sucked into a movie.

This is an exceptionally directed film. It is stylish without being overtly flashy or showy. The pacing is nearly perfect. I’ve heard some critique of a few of the film’s slower moments, but I gotta say, I didn’t even notice them. The story was so engaging to me that, even when the action slowed down, I was just as intrigued by the story that unfolded.

There’s a sort of voyeuristic fascination to darkness and depression, and watching John Constantine, a man who thumbs his nose at both heaven and hell – it just works. This is a role perfectly suited to Reeves, perhaps even more so than Neo. You empathize with him while being damn glad you aren’t him.

This is a very dark adult film and it pulls no punches. It’s packed with language, violence and gruesomely realistic and harrowing imagery sure to give any child who unwittingly stumbles upon these images nightmares for years to come.

It’s rare that any film can provide intense discussion or debate on the issues it brings to light. I’ve never seen a comic film that did this. After this weekend’s screening of Constantine, debates of historical lore and religion were raging in the theater lobby and continued at the press day.

I can’t comment on how accurate or loyal an adaptation of the Hellblazer comics this film is. In the end, the comic audience, especially the one for a graphic novel like this one, simply isn’t large enough to determine the success of a film of this magnitude.

Sometimes a comic can’t be directly translated. Maybe I’d feel differently if I checked out the comics, but for my money, the director has taken the source material as a jumping-off point and made a great film. An achievement of both story and technique, Constantine is one of the best comic-based films ever made.

GOD’s Unfathomable Motives.

I heard call. I turn around and saw a lady who asked me, of all people, to follow her to pray to Buddha. Yes this was what preciously happened last Sunday evening as I was on my way to Causeway Point to buy home KFC for my family members.

Actually it was my grandmother who suddenly asked me to buy her KFC. So being the good grandson I set off to buy my dear granny those Fried Chickens. But on the way there I met a stranger who asked me, of all people who were present there, to follow her to pray to Buddha.

I was dumbfounded for a moment because nobody as ever asked me to follow them to pray to Buddha. I found it strange because I haven’t been answering to my gods as of late and wondered if god was using this person to remind me of him.

As far as confessions go, I have stopped praying to my family deities in my prayer room because I have nothing to ask of god. I feel I am being selfish if I asked him anything. Because I believed that god gave us everything we need and we must make the most of it. That is why I place more belief in my own abilities than waiting for god to help me.

Faith is always good, but one must also have faith in his or her own self because in the end it is you who are here and are making the difference in your own life.

And also another ludicrous idea crept into my mind; maybe god has just saved me from a disaster. Whatever the case, this coincidence was just too peculiar.

Like I always say we sometimes tend to overcomplicate simple things with our intelligence. That is why intelligence fails when we are faced with a simple conception.

Like in this case I am throwing possible scenarios of why the woman asked me to follow her to pray to Buddha. Though it is still possible that she chose me out of a random and simply asked me.

But maybe just maybe, god had other plans in mind for me.

My Favourite Band.

Germany’s only global band, Scorpions happen to be my favourite hard rock band. To me they are the band that defined the hard rock genre. So as a tribute to this wonderful group, I have tracked down all of their albums and presented them here.

It is quite amazing that Scorpions have been together for more than 35 years, Today’s band’s can’t even last for 3 straight years. Anyways these guys were committed to their dreams and conquered the world through their music and stand today as the best rock band in the world.

So without much ado, here is the list of all their albums.

• Lonesome Crow, 1972
• Fly To The Rainbow, 1974
• In Trance, 1975
• Virgin Killer, 1976
• Taken By Force, 1977
• Tokyo Tapes, 1978
• Lovedrive, 1979
• Animal Magnetism, 1980
• Blackout, 1982
• Love At First Sting, 1984
• World Wide Live, 1985
• Savage Amusement, 1988
• Crazy World, 1990
• Face The Heat, 1993
• Lives Bites, 1995
• Pure Instinct, 1996
• Eye to Eye, 1999
• Moment of Glory, 2000
• Acoustica, 2001
• Unbreakable, 2004

I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.
– Neil Armstrong

If you can’t do what you want, do what you can.
– Lois McMaster Bujold

When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.
– George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
– Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.
– Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881)

A birthday in which a new phone was presented and a hellish movie was watched.

For my birthday celebrations I caught Constantine at the cinema at Plaza Singapura with my dad and brother. I also got a Samsung E330C handphone from my father as a present.

But in fact, I actually fell in love with the E700A model. I was disappointed to learn that it was actually no longer in production and was currently out of stock.

But the salesgirl was nice enough to advice me to purchase the Samsung E330C as it was a newer and much better handphone than the E700A. The real reason I loved the E700A model was because of its deep blue color. But as fate which always has a hand in my life, decided upon the E330C model.

Well I can finally say with pride that I got myself my very own flip phone. Something about these types of phones always entices me. It’s almost too sexy to carry one of these babies.

And that’s how I spent my 22nd birthday.

Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer…

Another week has passed and I have read another of Paulo Coelho’s book, Eleven Minutes. This is daring novel that challenges our prejudices and opens our minds and has kept me utterly enthralled.

Eleven Minutes tells the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer…” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Instead, she ends up working as a prostitute.

In Geneva, Maria drifts further and further away from love as she develops a fascination with sex. Eventually, Maria’s despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness, sexual pleasure for its own sake, or risking everything to find her own “inner light” and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love.

The fact is Eleven Minutes’ Down-to-earth dialogue and detail about classy whoring has persuaded me to read this book for a second time. Actually it’s been my practice to read a book twice if I really liked it. I am also planning to buy another Paulo Coelho novel tomorrow at my local book store. The only question is which one?

For I am the first and the last
I am the venterated and the despised
I am the prostitute and the saint
I am the wife and the virgin
I am the mother and the daughter
I am the arms of my mother
I am barren and my children are many
I am the married woman and the spinster
I am the woman who gives birth and she who never procreated
I am the consolation for the pain of birth
I am the wife and the husband
And it was my man who created me
I am the mother of my father
I am the sister of my husband
And he is my rejected son
Always respects me
For I am the shameful and the magnificent one

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
– Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.
– Friedrich Engels (1820 – 1895)

When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is any thing you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.
– Edgar Watson Howe (1853 – 1937)

There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
– Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964)

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.
– Anais Nin (1903 – 1977)