Looking back.

Using a term from the papers, annus horribilus means ‘horrible year’, which rather describes my 2014 to a ‘T’.

[As opposed to my first thought when seeing this term, annus horribilus has nothing to do with bad anuses ew.]

From miserably failing at my one-post-a-day quota, to flunking posting timely reviews to the movies I’ve watched (fortunately I passed movie-watching); from growing white hairs (and not due to age) to getting burned out at work (which shouldn’t happen because I actually love what I do); it's been one heck of a year for me.

And it seems that’s the general sentiment going around. I’ve heard colleagues saying (with conviction) that they hope 2015 will be a better year than this.

Well, I echo that sentiment.

Per a recent post of mine, I hope to “be so happy that when others look at me they become happy too”, to the extent that my happiness makes them explode and if I'm lucky, they stay that way. I hope that 2015 will be a year where things would be straightforward and I wouldn't have to use my noggin' to manuever/dissemble/do such silly things.

I hope 2015 will be smoother than the bumpy 2014.

Most importantly, I hope to be able to write like I used to. Words used to flow from me like wee, but for the past two years or so it's as if I have urinary tract infection.

[Meaning very little wee.]

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Double Feature: Warm Bodies (2013) and Monster University (2013)

Warm Bodies

[HBO!]

My interest in the genre is more towards the zombies themselves, from a biological point of view, how they function. I mean, they don't rationalise, they don't plan, they may not feed even that often, but inexplicably, they survive.

So this movie's told from a zombie's point of view, the premise being that the zombie falls in love with a living breathing girl, and against all (scientific) odds, finds his way back to the land of the living and regains his humanity.

The movie starts off very good, but kinda falls flat in the third act. Our hero's path to the land of the living is an interesting exploration in reversing the effects of zombification, but it setting off a chain of events that leads to the redemption of EVERY zombie, well, that's a bit much for me to stomach.

Adding Deadites (can't remember what they were called, but if you see the movie you'd know who they are) was unnecessary. The focus should be on the zombies alone without any other undead element or further derivation; this just detracts from the story. Plus, these violent creatures are supposed to be able to sense heartbeats and thus feed; how is it that the confrontation between them and the recently-hearted zombies

Nicholas Hoult's portrayal as the zombie of change was good, although I thought his end scenes were done COMPLETELY human (and didn't have that awkwardness that it should). Mind, I know that his progress is way ahead of the rest; I just feel that it shouldn't be human. It should be just slightly less so.

Monsters University

[Fox Movies Premium!]

I would've preferred a sequel than a prequel. I miss Boo.

Even though the focus is more on Mike this time, the storyline ended up predictable (Mike and Sully start off disliking each other). I think the fun I got from the film is seeing that blobby monster with the four / six eyes (can’t remember his name or the number of his eyes) and revisiting the characters we got to know from Monsters, Inc.

And they found a way to fit Steve Buscemi in this one, too!

[Although, his origin didn't gel well with his eventual ruthlessness and villainy and homicidalness. I mean, he wanted to kill that poor girl.]

Despite finding the film rather humdrum, anything Billy Crystal-related gives me a kick (his last outing--Parental Guidance--was just so-so) as he’s not around a lot at the moment.

[Super-short one. Too meh.]

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Bad Milo! (2013)

This movie was featured in the weekend programme some time ago, with a picture of the protagonist with his arm around Milo, and I thought, "looks cute".

See? Cute.

It's about a guy who has bowel problems exacerbated by stress, so when he’s really stressed out he has to go take a big dump. After receiving a call from office saying that all of his work files get deleted by an incompetent colleague, he passes out in the bathroom, and wakes up next morning to find that said colleague is dead, mauled to death. Seeking help from a witch doctortherapist, he finds out that a demon has grown in his stomach, and whenever stressed, the demon will be shat out and it will go kill the source of his stress.

Does this demon stay out, you ask? No, he goes back in the same way.

It's a comedy. And a rather unique horror-comedy, at that. The only instance I can recall a monster coming out of someone’s butt is in Dreamcatcher, which kind of sucked.

Ken Marino is perfect as our hapless hero who has daddy issues (there’s a neat development in the movie but I won’t spoil it) and gets bullied by his boss because of his toilet problem. There’s also this simply adorable sequence where he tries to bond with his stomach demon (naming him ‘Milo’), and even tries to feed him with canned food.

The supporting cast is made up of a surprising number of people that I know, considering this is a movie I’ve not heard of. Gillian Jacobs, Peter Stormare (he’s the witch doctor!), Patrick Warburton, Jimmy JamesStephen Root, that Indian dude from Franklin and Bash Kunal Nayyar. It didn’t hurt the movie to have them in it; quite the opposite.

[Especially Pete Stormare. Always a plus point.]

Bad Milo! is one of those movies that you watch and readily laugh at, despite the morbid topic (the thought of Milo going back in and up is enough to make my butt curl), because funnily, toilet humour never gets old.

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New Year's Eve!

[Added disclaimer: not at all related to New Year's Eve. Except for a fact this is the day this happened.]

Today I forgot my security tag, so I had to get people to tag me out/in of the office whenever I needed to go to the loo. I figured that I could use the disabled's (a.k.a., the guest toilet) instead, so I wouldn't need to borrow someone's security tag just to go pee.

The first time I had to go, I automatically went for the ladies' and got in as someone was coming out. Mid-go(ing), I realised that I didn't have my tag with me, and that there was no one else in the toilet.

Since most people are on leave, mild panic came on, but luckily I thought of standing by the main door (it had vents toward the base of it) to see whether there were people walking by.

Five minutes later (luckily!), the cleaning lady passed by and I knocked for her to let my red-faced self out.

Since this totally counts towards my posts, I've got three more left till midnight. Boo.

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Oh, come on.

As if this year-end doesn't have enough natural disasters.

Yesterday night while watching Vampirella (not a porno), I noticed a newsflash saying another plane has gone missing mid-flight.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore went missing at 6am yesterday. They still haven't found the plane yet. And this isn't even the Indian Ocean we're looking at.

#PrayforQZ8051

I hope they're just stranded on an island somewhere, or they manage to convert the plane to be like a floatation device (and thus, are still living). If so, I hope they're found soon.

Update: The evening news has reported over 40 bodies and debris found in the ocean near Kalimantan. My prayers are with the victims and their families.

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This is my resolution for the coming new year.

I was reminded from a Buzzfeed article on Tom Hiddleston (originally tweeted here) that this existed, and I aspire to be this way when 2015 arrives.

[I got disconnected halfway through reading the article because my internet is on the fritz, but I'd like to think that loading all those .gifs and pictures of Hiddles broke my internet.]

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Argh, the ambiguity!!

Yesterday was the last episode of 9: Nine Times Time Travel.

[Earlier post on this here (or just scroll slightly down).]

Compared to the very heavy preceding episodes, where our hero is shown dying at the end of it, this episode is somewhat lighter. It starts from the point of the teenaged hero, going from how he falls into journalism, and him meeting his step-niecejunior colleague for the first time.

Okay, you know what, I'm gonna name names: Hero = Sun Woo; junior colleague/love interest/former step-niece = Min Young; Elder Brother = Jung Woo.

Now, in the previous episode, a dying present-Sun Woo had told Min Young (as a child) to stay away from a guy that looks like him, as he would be the one that will hurt her (by all this time-travelling nonsense). Min Young grows up, encounters Sun Woo at her workplace (because he's her senior), and in a very comic scene, tells him that she has to stay away from him because of "trauma" (she doesn't elaborate).

Despite her best(?) efforts, Min Young eventually couldn't be bothered and she sticks to Sun Woo like a leech, with Sun Woo thinking she's insane (and making his feelings on this known to her at all times) but finding her adorable and steadily attracted to her by the minute.

The episode briefly shows us the progression of their relationship through the years, right up to 2012, when all this kerfuffle first started.

He meets up with Jung Woo (now out of prison), who says that he's going to Nepal. Min Young herself is also going to Nepal (job-related), and Sun Woo pisses her off enough (he does a lot of attractive teasing) to finally tell him about her encounter with present-Sun Woo 20 years ago. Now-Sun Woo realises that it was him who met Min Young, and that he will eventually die when he's 20 years in the past.

But(!) he realises that he does love Min Young, and with the knowledge of that time travel is a possibility (and the fact that he would die if he went back to 1993) and his future self (initial-future self) telling him that "he would always make the right choice", he decides to go to Nepal to be with her (in the original timeline, he goes to Nepal to identify his dead brother and pick up his belongings).

So, the ambiguity of this is: is he still fated to die 20 years ago, mangled in a telephone booth, or, because of the time travel rippling effect in this show, will he avert this future and not die in the past.

AND WHAT'S WITH THAT LAST SCENE WHERE JUNG WOO IS AT THE MOUNTAIN DYING AND SUN WOO, LIKE, RESCUES HIM?!!

IS THIS CURRENT-SUN WOO OR FUTURE FUTURE SUN WOO!!

ARGGGHHH I SHOULD NOT HAVE READ THE INTERNET!!!

[APOLOGIES FOR CAPS-LOCK!!]

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