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June 06 Officially retiredThis blog is officially retired. My Nomadlife blog is now my only blog.
Please visit http://lx.nomadlife.org like right now!
Alex April 15 The PromiseAfter last week's train-wreck (Dragon Squad) I was cautious about this film. I heard very mixed reviews, most of which were erring on the side of shite. The internet particularly did not like this film and the discussion boards pretty much "ethered" it. I had heard some decent reviews from some friends, however, and decided that it was worth seeing... I could always quit halfway after all!
The film involves three characters, a famous general who wears equally famous crimson armour (played by Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada), the "beauty of beauties" QingCheng (played by Cecilia Cheung) and a slave who can run fast, really fast (played by Korean actor Jang Dong Gun).
The film begins with a little orphaned girl. After cheating another little kid out of a piece of bread, she runs away and makes a deal with a Goddess that in return for being awesome and desirable, she will never be with the man she loves. The next scene is a battle scene, a famous general (played by Japanese actor, Hiroyuki Sanada) Guangming wearing equally famous crimson armour enjoys a spectacular victory against a barbarian horde. He beats 20,000 barbarians with 3,000 soldiers, partially thanks to a slave (played by Korean actor Jang Dong Kun) named Kunlun who seems to be able to out-run a herd of buffalo.
The general acquires the slave and finds out the King is in trouble, so he tries to go back and save the King but gets into a fight with an equally speedy assassin (played by Ye Liu) Snow Wolf. The General is wounded and strung up. The Goddess comes back and tells the General that the King will be killed by someone wearing his armour. The General doesn't process this information very well and decides to give his armour to the slave to gave save the King in his place, since he is now wounded.
Meanwhile, the King is under siege by the army of Wuhuan (played by Nicholas Tse) who is a campish pretty boy after the King's "beauty of beauties" Princess Qingcheng (played by Cecilia Cheung). Qingcheng sells the King out because he's a dick, and he in turn turns on her. At this time, Kunlun gallops in, sees a woman in trouble and kills the King, such a chivalrous slave he is. But since he's wearing the armour, everyone thinks he's the General... including Qingcheng!
The General decides to take advantage of this and enjoys some fun times with Qingcheng in the sack... go General! Meanwhile, Kunlun is trying to figure out whether he should be loyal to his master, the General, or his love, Qingcheng. A bizarre love triangle ensues with plenty of hijinx punctuated by Wuhuan's plotting at revenge. Snow Wolf also plays an important role, he is Kunlun's countryman and has to go through his own clash of loyalties as he seems to be wearing a magic cloak, given to him by Wuhuan that keeps him alive.
Basically, this movie is pure fantasy. If you are expecting the same sort of historically grounded wuxia like in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero or House of Flying Daggers then abort mission. This is sci-fi ladies and gentlemen. We have magic cloaks, slaves that can run fast enough to travel through time and Nicholas Tse's hair. None of these things are the least bit real.
This movie is entertaining but it is also downright silly. This is in part thanks to the horrific CGI employed by the HK film studio. The film is meant to look beautiful and colourful, in the same way as Hero, but it just ends up looking fake. Chen Kaige is not Zhang Yimou, obviously.
It is also in part to the idiotic character detail and poor acting. The Japanese and Korean actors are absolutely terrific. They speak their parts in Chinese like they were natives and their roles are the only serious ones, so it seems. Nicholas Tse's character is an absolute joke. He has a stupid gold finger-staff (see pic below) and in the last scene his hair is actually in corn rolls. CORN ROLLS. We are not meant to be in Compton or Harlem... we are meant to be in ye olde Beijing!
Speaking of ye olde Beijing. Not only does Chen Kaige fail at real character development, Chen Kaige also completely fails in establishing any sort of background within which the story can flow. For example, there are no people in this movie. Just the characters, slaves and soldiers. Where are the townspeople? Also, the sets the use seem to have been created simply for coolness... no practical value. Aren't people meant to live in these houses and palaces? What use is a bunch of sliding bird boards, other than looking cool in a fight?
Cecilia Cheung also totally fails in this movie. Her role is meant to be the most interesting and complex one. How does she react to finding out that the General was not her saviour after letting him ravage her in bed? What will her relationship with Kunlun be like? How does she feel about the promise she made to the Goddess at the start of the movie as a little girl (yes that was her)? Think Cecilia Cheung will answer these questions with her performance? Think again. Her performance is cold and completely forgetful, which is in part why the audience is totally emotionally withdrawn from her relationships. Apparently this was meant to be a love story!
The good things about this movie are aforementioned performances by the Korean and Japanese actors. Also the fight scenes are reasonably entertaining, as far as general battle/fight scenes go. However, they are not groundbreaking as there are no real martial artists in this movie.
The film overall is reasonably entertaining if you completely look past the absolute fantasy and general incosistencies within it. How it was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes is absolutely beyond me, however. It seems these wu xia films pitched at the West have been getting progressively worse. We had Crouching Tiger which was awesome, Hero which was pretty good, House of Flying Daggers which was quite bad and The Promise which seems to be outright bad. They were all entertaining however so if you're after non-Hollywood flavoured but Hollywood-level entertaining garbage then this movie is for you.
2 stars
Alex
PS. Nicholas Tse is seriously shit. April 05 Dragon SquadWhy oh Why do I not pay attention to internet movie reviews?
I can't believe Sammo Hung and Simon Yam put their names to this garbage. I hope they got paid... lots!
The film is about an elite group of SWAT policemen, the "Dragon Squad" who fight baddies.
This is basically another HK triad vs. police flick... except do not expect "Breaking News", "Infernal Affairs", "SPL" or "Police Story". This movie sucks! I can think of several scenes that made me absolutely cringe with their corniness and horrific dialogue. In fact, the dialogue was so bad, that if George Lucas was to learn cantonese and direct a triad flick, this would probably be it (albeit there'd probably be a random character named Jar Jar Bing, probably played by Nicholas Tse, who would just be there to annoy people).
Seriously, scenes where the members of the so-called Dragon Squad argue over who will be the one covering and who will be the one running and shooting... in the middle of a triad gunfight! Meant to showcase their bravery but could you imagine if that happened in a real SWAT team?
Scenes where these guys showcase their shooting skills in an arcade with moving ducks? Scenes where Sammo Hung is running with a group of other police officers and his dragon squad in tow... the whole dragon squad throw away their jackets (clothes in Asia are cheap but come on!) and there's some motivational speech... I mean... come on! Sammo Hung is large... the man needs a sports bra to run... his boobs jiggled like no SWAT team leader I've ever seen! Sure his kung fu is good but COME ON! How are sweaty jiggling manboobs and gratutious jacket throwing motivational?
This movie also features Shawn Yue, Maggie Q, some ABC from F4 and a random white guy who is the most one-dimensional character possible! I'm talking more one-dimensional than Disney and that shit was animated!
OK, I admit, I wanted to see this movie because it looked cool... and it was kind of... there was shooting, and blood, and explosions and car chases... but the movie buff within me rejected this movie on the basis of it being complete and utter crap. God the HK film industry has gone downhill in recent times. I couldn't even finish it. I cry... for the HK film industry and the Triad vs. Police genre... I cry...
0.5 stars
Alex March 12 Hustle and FlowHustle & Flow is about a cheap Memphis hustler and pimp Dee Jay (Terrence Howard) who has a dream to make it in the rap game. With his DJin friend (Anthony Anderson) he tries to hustle a well-established rapper, Skinny Black (Ludacris) also from Memphis to get a shot at the big time but things don't always happen the way you want them to...
Even though I'm a big hip hop fan (as y'all probably noticed from the rest of this blog), I didn't really have high hopes for the quality of this movie. I thought it would be another 8 Mile type scenario and the plot sounded a lot like Fiddy's Get Rich or Die Tryin' (which I havent seen)... Needless to say, I was surprised when I saw Terrence Howard's nomination for a Best Actor Oscar and even more stunned to see Three 6 Mafia pick up the Best Song Oscar. I also started seeing reviews in papers saying the Howard's performance was excellent and fully deserving of his nomination.
Finally the movie is released in Australia and I can check it out... totally blown away but the quality of this film! The Hip Hop is incidental (and a little annoying because of the southern sensibility). The true success of this film is its depiction of the gritty realism of life in the hood. Howard's performance as the determined pimp who could sell ice to the eskimos (not to mention pimp $20 hoes out the back of his chevy) is an absolute tour de force. Although Howard refused to perform the song at the Oscars because he didn't want black people to be pidgeon-holed as rappers and pimps, he must get props for this performance. Surely, Howard is due for greatness and Oscars to come, hopefully.
It also has to be said that the supporting cast of Taraji P. Henson (as Shuge, the pregnant prostitute who can really sing and DJay's love interest) and Taryn Manning (as Nola, the hoe with ambitions and some hidden abilities) who are all pretty much no-names did also perform quite well. Anthony Anderson provided his usual voice and attitude to the film. DJ Qualls, cast as Shelby, the church boy-cum-wigga-cum-DJ is terrible, however and one never fails to cringe during his lines which are meant to be taken seriously!
The film teaches some interesting lessons about following your dream, appreciating the people that support you and not relying on strangers for favours... however much of the moral subject matter is cliches and can also be cringeworthy at times (particularly during some of DJay's monologues) but also poingnantly insightful (DJay's "we man" monologue is a good one).
Overall, this is a success for hip hop culture and poverty in America because it really gets both subcultures out to the masses and quite successfully. The film is not perfect but by far the best to come out in its class.
4 stars.
Alex March 07 RizeSaw this at the Union Theatre... $5 tickets and it was 2 for 1... great deal! Reppin' it for the Uni of melbbbb....
"Rize" is a movie that documents the growing popularity of krumping and clowning, two very similar dance styles that have developed in the LA streets. The disclaimer at the start of the movie states that nothing in the movie has been sped up... you think, why are they saying this... soon you realise! The dance moves performed by these LA youngsters are incredible, speed, intensity, acrobatics... passion.
The kids on the streets of LA see this dance phenomenon as a positive outlet for their frustrations, those frustrations arising from the hardship of day-to-day life. The founder of the dance craze, Tommy the Clown, is referred to with reverence. The people involved see krumping/clowning as something that keeps them from doing something more negative, like joining a gang or getting involved with drugs, like many of their friends.
The documentary successfully showcases the amazing abilities of these kids, along with their feelings of frustrations and their incredible passions for their dance and their people. The problems and social issues that permeate their hoods (we're talkin' Compton, Long Beach, Inglewood...) are also clearly evident.
The highly personal nature of this phenomenon is probably what comes through strongest in this film but the director does well in capturing the vibe of the moment and linking it in a very socially relevant way.
Very much recommended,
Alex March 06 A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight MaraudersSome background. The early 90s saw the rise of "backpacker" or underground rap music. Pioneered by the likes of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, this was hip hop music that reject the gangsta rap that was permeating hip hop charts all over. "Backpacker" rap typically confronted important issues such as afrocentricity, alcoholism, ongoing police brutality and marginalisation, etc.
Tribe's "Mindight Marauders" was their second album, after their highly acclaimed debut titled "Low End Theory". The jury is out as to which LP is better, personally I prefer "Midnight Marauders" because it betrays improved production methods (props to DJ Mohammed) and vastly improved rap skills from the two main MCs, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg.
Tribe's sound is best described by comparing it to De La Soul's previously established fusion of jazzy beats and fluid rhymes. Tribe's rhyming was a little less boombastic than De La Soul's though, more chilled out (if possible) and more laid back. There seemed to be an almost tribal (heh) kind of ambiance in their music and the interaction between the two MCs can be cited as the main reason for this.
Standout tracks on this CD would have to include the anthemic "Award Tour" and the incredibly poignant track "Sucka Nigga" which deals with *that* N-word along with posturing MCs prevalent in gangsta rap circles. Here's a taste of the latter track's rhymes:
" And being that we use it as a term of endearment
Niggas start to bug to the dome is where the fear went Now the little shorties say it all of the time And a whole bunch of niggas throw the word in they rhyme" An interesting reflection on the word and how it has developed into an important and extremely contentious part of American culture.
And that, in a nutshell, is A Tribe Called Quest. Surely, they are one of the most intelligent and relevant groups to come out of the 90s. Though they broke up in 98, their legacy lives on in their influence over many of today's popular "backpackers".
Alex February 26 Slim Thug - Already PlatinumGuess Who's Bizzack! Yup... me... and my music reviews!
Well, I can't remember what or when the last one was but I am back in action well and truly and, most appropriately, my newest review is of Slim Thug from Houston, Texas, a place that has given rise to several of Hip Hop's newest superstars. If you aren't a dedicated hip hop fan, H-Town is the new thaaang (well not that new now, but new enough for me to call it new... heh). Not only has the Dirty South well and truly established itself as a force to challenge the traditional rap arenas like NYC and Cali but Houston has risen up, along with Atlanta, to be a major home base for Southern rap. Some of you may have heard Slim Thugga already on various guest spots that he's done, most notably rapping on Beyonce's latest smash hit "Check Up On It" from The Pink Panther movie. You may not have realised, however, that Slim Thug released a solo album last year called, somewhat ambitiously, "Already Platinum".
Slim stands out from his other H-Town homies in a few ways. Firstly and most importantly, his voice is gruff and raspy, unlike some of the other southern drawlin boys. Also he stands 6'6 tall so you dont mess with him. Finally, he's signed to Pharrell's Star Trak label not Swishahouse (where other notable H-Town acts are signed).
Slim already had a fair bit of street cred under his belt, his work was well known on the mixtape circuit and he was well respected in his hood. This album is still some achievement for him though.
My two favourite tracks on this CD have to be "Boyz N Blue" and "I ain't heard of that" featuring Bun B. I also rather enjoyed "The Interview" and the final track "Dedicate" which features Pharrell and is dedicated to some of his homies. I'd like to say that Track 2 "Like A Boss" would be totally awesome if it wasn't for an annoying high-pitched yapping that has been looped over the track, yeeech...
Note, some of the tracks on this CD are "screwed and chopped" which is a Houston phenomenon where tracks are slowed down somewhat, making rappers sound like they're rhymin' and yawnin' at the same time (heads up to my man Daz for that call).
Overall, the Pharrell and Bun B collabos are pretty swish but I think Slim could do with some more guest rappers over the Star Trak beats. Seriously, I think a bit of Paul Wall or Chamillionaire wouldnt have hurt.
Also, the screwed and chopped thing, well I ain't totally diggin' it so maybe I'm not a true H-head but thats the way it is.
Overall though, impressive debut from Slim Thugga. He's not my favourite southern rapper. In my mind Luda still holds that title or maybe TI. I also enjoyed Bun B's and Paul Wall's latest albums a bit more. Still, this CD is definitely worth a cop and its in the "classic albums" category because it's a bit older (released mid last year) and has received very good reviews elsewhere. I ain't lovin' it as much as everyone else so 3.5 stars from me but props to Slim Thugga and the Star Trak team.
Alex
February 11 Last Night...I went clubbing last night which is something I haven't done in a bit of a while. It was good to see that nothing had changed: Lines, expensive drinks and crap DJs. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time... but I'm putting this up to complain about something specific, the DJs. Granted, they didnt trainwreck any mixes but that's probably because they play exactly the same sets every single Friday night so they've gotten used to mixing 50 into 112.
But still, that does not excuse playing songs twice, ie. every 3 hours.
We entered the club at around 11:30 and left at some time between 2 and 3 so we weren't there for thaaaat long and yet still Disco Inferno, Gold Digger, California Love and Chris Brown's Run It! were all played twice. OK, granted, they are all good songs but seriously... I was sittin around all night hopin to hear Lean Back or Hate It Or Love It... They didn't even play Right Thurr, Usher's "Yeah", Lil Jon's "Get Low" or any Nelly... these are club anthems people! And why did they have to play those songs twice for God's sake? If they wanted more 2Pac they could've played How Do You Want It... and The Game instead of Fiddy would've worked, given they played like 6 Fiddy songs.... Goddamn!
Well that's my gripe for the night... Hip Hop fans unite...
Alex February 01 Oscars Predictions Here are my predictions for this year's Academy Awards:
Best Picture: Brokeback Mountain Best Actor in a Leading Role: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) Best Actress in a Leading Role: Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line) Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man) Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) Best Animated Feature Film: Corpse Bride Best Directing: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) Best Foreign Language Film: Tsotsi Best Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain Best Original Screenplay: Crash Keep in Mind that I haven't seen half these movies and am more making predictions based on the trends seen from the other awards already given out... and this doesn't necessarily reflect my personal opinion either but more how I think the Academy will vote... What do y'all think? Alex PS. Find all the nominations here.
Cheers.
Alex January 03 Happy New Year aka. Mega Movie ReviewFirstly, Happy New Year!
OK So I've seen a lot of movies lately and I really don't have time to write separate reviews on all of them so, for the sake of catching up, here they all are, chronologically, in order of when I saw them.
Wedding Crashers (US)
Saw this one on the plane to Singapore. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson team up to play a couple of dudes who crash weddings to pick up chicks but their fiendish plot is foiled when they meet two girls, sisters, who happen to be related to a US Senator, and fall for them. OK, these two guys are funny and there are some valuable jokes in the film but, overall, both of them have done better movies. Dodgeball (Vaughn) and Zoolander (Wilson) were both far superior to this so, for that, I give it...
3/5
Dukes of Hazzard (US)
A town named Hazzard is threatened by an evil developer guy who seems to have the cops in tow but his plot is foiled by the Duke cousins (including their hot sister). Starring Jonny Knoxville, Sean William Scott and Jessica Simpson. Given that my expectations of this movie were rock bottom (heard some bad things), I would say it wasn't that bad. It was entertaining, because it was funny, and it has a happy ending (sorry if I ruined it) and Jessica Simpson is damn hot. For that...
2.5/5
Narnia (US/UK)
Again my expectations of this were rather low and they were pretty much met. A bunch of kids randomly finds a portal to another dimension (the mythical land of Narnia) in the wardrobe of a professor's house at which they're staying. Soon they are caught up in a mythical battle of good and evil. Starring a bunch of randoms and a lion. Watch out for biblical references!
2/5
A Chinese Tall Story (HK)
The Journey To The West legend of the Monkey King and his friends is reinvented here when the guys get into a fight and get captured but the Monk Tripitaka is sent away to some imp land where he is left in the care of a hideously ugly chick. The ugly chick is meant to eat him because she'll live forever if she does but she ends up falling in love with him and they go on wacky adventures trying to save the rest of the gang, with assistance from a golden stick that can do pretty much anything. They also accidentally kill some people (including one of the Heavenly Knights!) and then bad things happen. Starring: Nicholas Tse, Charlene Choi, Boyz and random aliens. This movie had some funny sequences but, like any EEG movie, it sucked. The plot was crap and hard to follow and it was generally bad, apart from the ugly chick (Charlene Choi with lots of make up) turning hot (Charlene Choi with more make up but of a different kind) in the end.
1.5/5
Ah Sou (Mob Sister) (HK)
A girl (Annie Liu) who is saved by a mob boss (Eric Tsang) from being killed by a violently vengeful rampaging widow (Karena Yam) becomes the head of a powerful Triad soceity when the boss is killed. Protected by her three uncles (Anthony Wong, Simon Yam and Alex Fong) she seems alright but then they start turning against each other and all help breaks loose when the rampaging widow comes back. The ending of this movie is meant to be meaningful and is meant to speak volumes about rewriting the laws of the Triad and making people see what they're doing is wrong, etc but, in my opinion, the movie fails to do this and just seems boring... while the ending just seems abrupt. Annie Liu does nothing in the movie, apart from crying, running and flailing like a little girl should. The movie is saved by great performances from Wong, Yam and Fong who are all classic HK bad boys...
2.5/5
Drink Drank Drunk (HK)
Directed by one of my favourites, Derek Yee, this movie is actually pretty good and the best movie I saw for a while (as you can see). It's about a plain Jane beer lady (Miriam Yeung) who's special ability is being able to drink infinite amounts of alcohol and not get drunk who meets a handsome French chef (Daniel Wu) who cant hold his liquor and they decide to start a joint venture, cafe/restaurant. Funny capers and romantic stuff, this movie actually works. Who would've thought that I'd enjoy a lovey-dovey HK romantic comedy. Watch out for funny scenes from a gay guy and a Triad boss.
3.5/5
The Transporter (US)
This badass transporter guy (Jason Statham) who used to be in the army now carries dangerous parcels for people and his thing is that he never asks questions about what he's transporting, nor does he ever open the parcel... except for this one time when he opens it and finds hot Chinese chick Shu Qi inside. And then... well... you know... they have sex and she convinces him to help her on her quest against some bad men. The action is fun and Shu Qi is eye candy but otherwise, this movie blows. Note: I can't believe they made a sequel.
1.5/5
SPL (HK)
In 1994 a bigwig triad king (Sammo Hung) has an intentional car accident with a police officer (Simon Yam) and his family friends. The family die except for a little girl who Simon Yam cares for and swears revenge. Fast forward to 1997 (strange given this movie was released in 2005) and Simon Yam is hellbent on revenge. His group of dirty cops try to frame Sammo Hung with the assistance of awesome martial artist cop, Donnie Yen, but they fail and bad stuff happens. Sammo walks free and systematically starts killing the cop squad for putting him in jail on Father's Day. The Donnie Yen, who is now a free operator because he disagrees with Simon Yam's dirty tactics but still wants to take the Triad boss down, has to have lots of fight scenes... which is the best bit. This movie was great, a return to the badass HK Triad flicks of the 90s... big high 5s all round.
4/5
Seven Swords (HK)
Directed by Tsui Hark. Set after the establishment of the Ching dynasty, the Government releases an Edict banning use of martial arts (punishable by decapitation) and a gang of blood-thirsty killers roam the land killing martial artists and claiming money rewards for their heads. They threaten a small village where a freelance good guy with two villagers contact the people of Heaven Mountain for help. There, the good guy and the two villagers get awesome swords from a fabled swordsmith and are joined by four disciples of said swordsmith. They become the Seven Swords and understandable hijinx ensues and there is even a random Koean subplot. This movie was good and also fits nicely into HK's usual wuxia staple. The fight scenes aren't quite as fluid as, say, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the visuals aren't quite as pictureseque as, say, Hero but thats what makes the film that much more gritty and real. Having said that, there are too many plot-lines in this film and many of them end up being underdeveloped. Starring: Donnie Yen (as an incredibly intense Korean warrior who speaks Chinese), Charlie Young, Leon Lai and some others whom I dont know. Also stars a hot Korean chick.
4/5
Of those films I think the best were:
1. SPL
2. Seven Swords
3. Drink Drank Drunk
wow... all HK films. Guess I lucked out... the US films I watched sucked. I did catch half of Sin City though which was damn awesome so when I finish watching that, expect a good Hollywood review. Until then... Hollywood just keeps churning out crap.
Alex
PS. Going to Perth on Wednesday so I'll probably blog from there. Feel free to post up your thoughts on any of the above films. December 30 Last night in town...Damn... my flight leaves in 9 hours...
I'm gonna miss Malaysia and Singapore and to prove it here are my Top 5s.
Top 6 things I hate about Malaysia
6. whats with all the Man U supporters? Die already.
5. the spitting, the damn spitting
4. the LRT, the ticketing system sucks... it takes longer to line up and buy tickets than it does to actually wait to board a train
3. the Malaysian concept of time, already previously explained in the last post
2. "the Indian stare"... I expected them to stare at me, which I wouldn't have minded, but instead they had to stare at any of the pretty Asian girls I happened to be spending time with... Heidi, Geraline, Steph... damn it made me feel very uncomfortable.
1. cockroaches. yuck.
Top 6 things I love about Malaysia
6. Malaysian English... ayioh, lah, wah lao, etc. so shiok lah...
5. Footall. They love football and it's everywhere. Finally I can be in a country where people love football. Word.
4. the LRT, its fast, modern, convenient, well air-conditioned and carries a great view!
3. the exchange rate. Stuff is cheap. Really cheap. No matter how much Ren Chang hates it but it is...
2. the FOOOOOOOOOOD. Damn I'm fat. But seriously... mamak, hawker centres, restaurants, etc. Truly heaven. I'm gonna miss that so much.
1. the people and their attitude. They are relaxed but hard-working. They play pool, love football, love to eat and love to chat. Very friendly and helpful, once you get to know them, and there are a few cute girls too. Go Malaysians.
So this is my last nite in town. I'm watching BBC, on Bulan's laptop, while the rest of the house are in their rooms. I have spent two fun-filled days shopping my ass off in Orchard Rd. Thank you end of year sales! Thank you Club 21 (CK and DKNY). Thank you Zara, Top Man and Thank You Ralph Lauren Purple Label... :D :D :D
I can't really say much more and I don't really feel like it but thanks to everyone that made my trip memorable.... all the OCSEA people (The Kiwis, the Indonesians, Nueng/Pang, the Japs, the Ms OCSEA Cross-dressers, the faci homeboys and the OC), the old-school Malaysian AIESECers (Alicia, current MC, Bonnie, WeiHan), the party crew (Geraline, Melvin, Stephanie, Dave), the "Singaporeans" (Sharon, Bulan, Abby), the Penang tour guides (Apple, Apple's mum), the Ipoh tour guides (Nicole, Chang), the rich kid (Jau), the Aussies (Joachim, Joyce, Fei, Mel Soh, Heidi)... I know I've forgotten people and I apologise in advance but you guys have been great... thanks to y'all!
And see you all in Melbourne very soon... for around 6 days before I jet off again to Perth... damn.
Cheers and Teh Tareks,
Alex
PS. I'll probably do another post-Malaysia posting later tmr when I have more battery life... and am on my laptop at home heheh
PPS. Thanks to everyone reading my blog and posting... keep it coming. Thanks to everyone whos added me on Friendser, man my account has expanded... haha I'm beating you now Heidi!!
December 25 Merry Christmas from KLHello and all Merry Christmas,
I'm writing this from Melvin's place... his folks are watching some canto music, steph's on his laptop and he's crashing on his bed... seems like a relaxing Malaysian Christmas right there... right? WRONG!
Malaysians sure know how to relax but one thing I learnt last night is, when it comes to Christmas, they also know how to party. The streets were damn crazy! We were in Bangsar first where everyone was out throwing foam and confetti all over each other and wearing christmas hats (to the random girls who snuck a paparazzi photo of me in coffee bean with my christmas hat... Hai Chiizu!) So yeah we ran through the crowd and got totally foamed and confetti'd (Geraline seemed rather annoyed, her jacket and hair got pretty messed but i guess it was fun) and drove to Hartamas. After a brief stint at Christros where there was a black dude DJing and trying very badly to speak terrible cantonese (worse than mine) we left realising that the kitchen was closed (which didnt disturb the punters that packed the place) and went to Hartamas Square. There we had beers, sheesha and food! What a great night! I like Christmas Malaysian style... it involves eating, drinking and partying :D
Did I mention that morning I left Penang and went through Ipoh on my way back to KL. Spent a few hours in Ipoh hanging out with Nicole and Chang, had a great time. Those guys are good tour guides! We had the famous Ipoh Kway Teow soup with Chicken and Bean Sprouts... damn tasty. After that we went and had the white coffee that Ipoh's Old Town is famous for and then checked out some temples in caves... cool stuff! Thanks guys!
Thanks also to all those reading and leaving messages on my blog... Heidi, Nueng, Vivi and Doogs... thanks guys! I'm reading your blogs too but just not having time to post... will try to get around to that soon!
Merry Christmas to all and stay posted.
Cheers,
Alex
Random Reflection 1: Whats with the random cats, dogs and chickens all over Penang's streets. It's hard enough trying to drive there and avoid the people all over the road and the auto-rickshaws, let alone the damn animals everywhere!
Random Reflection 2: The Malaysian concept of time... attrocious. Only in Malaysia can 10 minutes mean an hour (Apple!) and 10pm mean 11:45 (Ying and Geraline!)
December 23 PenangHello all,
Am writing this in an internet cafe in Penang where the keyboard is damn slow... probably on purpose so that we stay here longer and spend more money, bastards.
Anyway... its a nice little island. Arrived yesterday and was picked up by Apple... then we went to eat... hahah... typical. The food was excellent though, we went to some hawker road-side stands over in the centre of the city and ate a variety of things including dumplings, excellent satay, char kuay teow, chee cheong fun, jawa mee...
Gearing myself up for more eating today... pretty much everyone I spoke to about Penang told me that it was an island of food... woohoo... The area I'm staying in, the red-light district hahaha, is quite a fair bit more run-down than KL and Penang is obviously less developed but that's ok... it has character!
One thing I've discovered about Malaysians (that I immensely like) is that we share many common interests. For example, the country is obsessed with English Premier League football, lots of people play pool here and pool halls are commonplace, and did I mention that they like to eat? Wah lao eh! Good people these Malaysians, good people.
And another thing... Malaysian time. In Malaysia, 15 minutes can mean one hour and 10am can turn out to be 12:30pm... just a warning to any Germans or Japanese out there who have uber-efficient plans in Malaysia... don't count on it!
That's what I find so hilarious, everywhere I go people ask me "whats your plan", just like in HK, and I always reply that I have none... because I'm Aussie and we're laid back... hehehe... but its kind of a contradiction... why have a plan if you're just gonna be mega-late anyway and miss it! Better have no plan to start off with!
Anyway... the only frustrating thing is that the hawkers here dont understand the Malay language (because the island is like 80% chinese). Apple tells me they all speak Hokkien and nothing more which is bad for me because I cant even count in Hokkien (well Apple told me how last nite but i dunno if I remember) let alone order food or make pleasant conversation... hahaha...
But thats it from me,
Thanks for the messages, Vivi and Nueng and all y'all who read this blog.
I promise to leave a note on your blogs when I get some time!
Cheers and Tiger Beers,
Alex
PS. I saw "A Chinese Tall Story" and "Narnia" here and I don't have time to write proper reviews so I'll just tell y'all that they were both crap :P December 17 Waiting on SQMan I hate Airlines. Apparently I have to wait til Monday (the day before my present flight... although the lady in the call centre assures me this is ok) before I find out whether I can change my flights or not. Apparently, they have to contact Sydney to find out whether I can and whether or not I am charged. Bastards. So now I play the waiting game...
So what have I been doing? Well basically there was conference which was an absolute blast. I have far too much to write about it in this blog posting so I just won't... if you wanna know about it then just ask me or, alternatively, view my photos upon my return. But basically I lost my voice for pretty much the entire conference, ran sessions that were both chaotic and rewarding, enjoyed a variety of amateur drag queens grinding on me and got hit on by a gay reception clerk. Great. There was also the Sri Lankan drum group that burnt my eardrums and the excellent buffets and the massive cockroach I killed in the bathroom.
Since conference I've been staying with Jau in his humongous mansion of a house that's in the Embassy District (!)... it has a lift, a pool and around about 30 or so rooms. Might I add that I've also been driven around by his chauffeur and bodyguard and his maids have been cooking my food and laundering my clothes. It's a good life.
The other night I went clubbing in Bangsar which was good. It was the day conference ended actually and we went out without proper sleep or anything and still had a good time. Couldn't really drink because my throat is still screwed but I did sweat right through my clothes dancing in one of the clubs so it was... all together... a great night. Thanks for the lift home, Melvin!
The past few days have been mostly hanging out with Jau which has been great because I've really missed that dude... Went to the gym this morning too, my first foray into an international Fitness First and it was good! Same equipment as the Melbourne clubs but they gave me towels upon arrival... woohoo!
And thats about it at this stage,
Stay tuned for more updates.
Alex
PS. Man I've been reading about these race riots in Sydney... it is so embarassing to be an Australian right now.
December 10 Makan Makan MakanOK so this is my 4th day in KL now and I would say that I'm adapting quite fast. This is probably the poorest country that I've been to for this long a period of time so it does take some adjusting. Sure, I spent a few days in China which is considerably worse on the poverty, crime, dirty scale than malaysia but I didnt really need to adapt because I was there for such a short period of time.
After I arrived a few days ago, I spent some time in the MC office doing nothing and surfing the web while the other guys worked, there was nothing for me to do yet as conference prep was starting the day after. The Malaysian AIESECers (and various other nationalities that happened to be there) are very cool though and I met a few of them on the first night at makan... several times. The ubiquitous "Makan" is the Bahasa Malaya word for "eat" and is used often and in varied meanings. The Malaysians use it almost as often as they eat which is ALL THE TIME by the way. Sometimes it seems like the Malaysian AIESECers will get to the office in the morning and their day will basically consist of working and going downstairs for makan every few hours. Even when they're not hungry but someone else is, they will still go to eat somewhere to provide company and have a chat.
The office is in Petaling Jaya or PJ as its colloquially referred to as. PJ is technically a separate city outside of KL but it's only about 11km from KL centre so it's basically considered a suburb of KL by most people. The are around the office was very cool for escaping the hustle and bustle of KL and representing a more "real"-feeling Malaysia.
The first night I stayed at fellow faci Edwin's house in Petaling Jaya. He stays at a compound near University Malaya where a lot of students stay. It's a nice place, similar to our college dorms except that Edwin gets his own bathroom! And he has aircon! Luxury!
The next day we had a few meetings and spent most of the day in the office... We worked around the rough agenda and added more structure to the sesions and divided responsibilities. At night we went to Bangsar, which is kind of like KL's Chapel St, one of the expat areas where richer people go for drinks and coffee. We spent a few hours at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in a long meeting, served by a Malay guy that really looked like LL Cool J. On that note I would like to add that the CBT Mocha Ice Blended is a nice drink but horribly horribly sweet and rich and that hurts me.
That night Grace, Chris and myself stayed at this random hostel in PJ found by the Malaysian MC. It was completely empty, other than us and was run by this crazy old Indian woman and a few other Indian guys that seemed quite nice. It was a bit weird, felt like the house out of a horror movie because it was completely deserted, we decided to move to another hostel in KL city the next day.
Now's a good time to introduce my faci team. Although I'll post up a photo later, they are: Hui Lin (MCP, Malaysia), Ren Chang (MCVP, Malaysia), Chris May (NST, Germany). Edwin (APER, Indonesia), Grace (MCVP, Indonesia) and myself. They are a great bunch of people and I've really enjoyed our many chats and meetings so far.
Yesterday was a bit of crappy day for me. We spent most of the day in Starbucks Time Square but because I didnt have a laptop (unlike all of them) I couldnt really do much outside of waiting to use one of theirs when it freed up. Why didnt I bring my laptop?!? I also have decided to bend my no-Starbucks rule to exclude Starbucks overseas where it isn't damaging the local coffee economy in Melbourne and rather developing it in KL. I bought a Green Tea Frap which was very good and a Black Ais Tazo Tea... nice...
I also had a bit of time to do a spot of shopping and bought myself some khaki green cargo shorts at some random Butik (boutique) in Times Square. We went to a night market for food that night and I had a relatively bland Hokkien Mee. Ren Chang and Hui Lin agreed that the food was less than excellent. What is it with me and bad luck!
The fact that I was feeling a bit under the weather all day didnt help either. I think I caught a cold sleeping in front of the fan at the weird lady's hostel in PJ (although Chris disagrees and believes that it's scientifically impossible to catch a cold just by sleeping in front of a fan). I've been taking cold & flu tablets but they havent been helping and I feel kind of sick today still.
We are staying at Pudu Hostel at the moment, where I'm writing this posting from. It's a nice, clean place full of international backpackers from all ove the place. I've seen Koreans, Brits and Germans so far but who knows what else the place will throw up. There is an internet cafe (only R3 per hour) and a pool hall and a VCD library. There is also a restaurant/cafe in the lobby and a big couch area with a big screen TV. This are always seems to be packed with people... God knows why they travel to Malaysia just to sit in front of the TV.
Current reflections on KL and Malaysia. I think the Malaysian lifestyle is very cool and in some ways, similar to our lifestyle in Melbourne. KL is a hustling and bustling city to match it with the best of them and it feels busy, congested and full all the time. The streets are full of people, many of which are poor and live on the streets, rather sad. At the same time though, there are so many restaurants, cafes and hawker venues that it's impossible not to trip over one whenever you feel hungry. The Malaysians enjoy a relaxed lifestyle, despite this hustle and bustle, where they can sit around at "makan" for hours on end chatting to friends and relaxing. This combination of busy and relaxed is similar to Melbourne (where we sit around in cafes and bars).
Malaysian people are also quite open and relaxed, once you get to know them, despite the random people on the streets staring at me and stuff. There are malls everywhere and the roads are a nightmare. God help me if I ever have to drive here.
One other thing I noticed here is that the beggars are extremely well behaved in comparison to China. They ask for money but walk away quickly if you refuse and do not actually, physically chase you like in China. This is comforting. I've been trying to give the beggars money as much as I can...
And thats it from me,
Singing off...
Alex
PS. thanks for your comments guys, flattering to see people are reading my blog. Keep em coming! I wanna hear your thoughts on... my thoughts. Lol.
PPS. I just found out that Australia has been drawn with Brazill, Croatia and Japan in our World Cup group. Ouch. December 07 Singapore AnewSo I just arrived in the AIESEC Malaysia office in Petaling Jaya after
spending a few action-packed days in Singapore. It's good to be in an
AIESEC environment again, its familiarity and comfort are something I
always look forward to when I travel. Here we have a group of
hard-working and utterly silent individuals. They work in a room around
the same size as the meeting room in the Aussie MC Office and there are
6-8 of them working in here at any 1 time. Not much room hey. Seeing as this is the first I've had a chance to get onto a computer, let alone the internet, since arriving in SIngapore I'll try to pack in as much as I can before I get booted off or get bored typing. Overall, my opinion of Singapore has greatly improved since the first time I visited. My first impressions were of a boring, sterile country where individual creativity was stifled along with freedom of speech and political opinion. Shows what a difference good tour guides can make! I now see Singapore as a modern metropolis that is an absolute melting pot of cultures and backrgounds, there is plenty of excitement there if you know where to find it. I arrived on Monday via Singapore Airlines flight SQ228 (that's the 5pm weekday one... my favourite) at around 9:35pm Sing time. I was greeted at the airport by Joachim and Joyce (happily displaying an A4 placard with my name and position on it, nice... felt just like a business man!) That night I went and dumped my things at Abby's, where I was staying, a lovely condo near Dhoby Gaut MRT station. After that we went for some absolutely delicious Indian food just around the corner and then wandered around the area and got home at around 1am. I was quite impressed by Abby's horror stories of working hours from 8am to 10pm every day but they were later eclipsed by her investment banker roommate who managed to come home at like 2.30am. Damn. The next day I went around central Singapore for a little bit, along the Singapore river, and had a look at The Fullerton and The Asian Civilisations Museum which were both nice. I was accosted by a random Buddhist monk who thought that by the mere fact that he was Buddhist and I was Western that would imply some sort of divine respect on my part and involve some sort of transaction... he was mistaken. After that we went to Johor with Joachim's dad (who is a cool guy and looks a bit like Jackie Chan, although Joyce doesn't believe me). That was my first time in Malaysia (and my first time in Malaysia's "parking lot" aka. the motorway). The main thing that struck me was that the place is a lot more ramshackle than Singapore, certainly not developed, it is both very green and very dirty. There are people everywhere and they all stare at you... ha. We went to a good restaurant and ate some nice food and then hung around some plaza doing some shopping. Did I mention things are cheap? Man... three months supply of contact lenses is like RM60... thats like A$25! I picked up some greenish/hazel contacts and some mushroom crisps and moseyed on out of there. Overall JB reminds me a lot of Shenzhen (the bordertown between HK and Mainland China). It's got the same gateway type feel to it where the bordertown serves largely as a depot for illegal activities for the residents of Singapore/HK and many of the more enterprising locals take advantage of this by begging, touting and whoring to their richer neighbours. While Shenzhen was a lot more hardcore (ie. 12 begging women with their babies in their arms running after you across the causeway and touts throwing themselves at you yelling "sexy DVDs, sexy DVDs for you") JB definitely had a similar feel to it. After that we met up with Heidi along Orchard Rd, shopped at Topman, and had some food at a place called "Food Republic" which was freaking awesome. I had kopi but soon along came an Indian man and sold us some papadums and then along came a Chinese woman and sold some prawn dumplings from a dim sum trolley... right at our table! Amazing! The place is like a food court cum yum cha restaurant... great idea! After that I shopped around with Heidi for a while and went to Chinatown for dinner, had a terrible Kuay Teow (how unlucky we must've been to have terrible food in Chinatown... the place is *teeming* with great food). During this time, Heidi kept me entertained with her flashes of blonde and complete lack of understanding of our surroundings (despite living in Singapore for like 13 years). Such flashes of brilliance as "I think we're in Chinatown..." (after we got out of Chinatown MRT station and have been talking about going to Chinatown for the last 15 minutes) and various random about turns... Meanwhile, I got a strong reprieve from the staring because all the guys in the nightmarket were staring at Heidi and various parts of her anatomy... dirty... but now I understand what she means when she says that they stand out when they go out in Malaysia... After the bad food we went back to Orchard to meet Thomas for coffee, had a good chat about his relationship/work issues. Feel sorry for the kid, he really doesn't like Singapore or Accenture. Went home after that for a good chat with Abby. Then this morning I met Joachim and Joyce for breakfast at the hawker centre near the condo, overdosed on chili, and then taxi'd it to the airport. At the airport I realised that I left my glasses at Abby's, d'oh, and will have to get them FedExed/DHLed, double d'oh. Since then I've been on planes and trains and am now in KL. Btw, Changi is huge and KLIA is damn nice with lots of glass and things. KL itself seems a lot more spread out than Singapore with lots of highways and expressways and roads but very little walking to be done betrween places, or so it seems. I guess I'll find out if this is true later. The place seems to have malls everywhere, angry-looking Malays staring at me and plenty of Indian men with impressive moustaches. Peace out for now y'all, Alex December 04 Nguyen's executionWhile I agree that capital punishment is barbaric and wrong, I disagree with the focus and weight that has been placed on this execution by the media and the Australian people. The fact of the matter is, people die all the time, innocent people, and these deaths can usually be averted. Think about the amount of time and energy that people put into ranting about Nguyen and screaming hysterically for the Australian Government to lobby Singapore with trade sanctions and God-knows-what-else. If that time was put into yelling at the same Government to increase aid to famine-ravaged African countries or earthquake-ravaged Pakistan then think how many needless deaths could be averted and how many lives could be saved? The People and The Media need to put their money where their mouths are when human rights and saving lives are concerned. You can yell about the needless death of Nguyen until the cows come home, and I won't disagree with you, but as you do... another kid in the developing world dies of something-or-other. Famine, disease, poverty, etc. Unfortuantely they are not Australian and their story is not as sensational as Nguyen's but what is the value of a human life? Alex November 17 The World GameThis evening, after 32 years of trying and failing, after 32 years of heartbreak after heartbreak, Australia has made it to the World Cup for a second time. The feeling for me is indescribable. Don't get me wrong, I love the Bombers and I love our cricketers but those two sports just do not compare for me. The feeling I get when I see the Socceroos go through to the World Cup is like 5 AFL Grand Finals, it's like 10 Ashes campaigns...
I was watching when the Socceroos threw away a 2-0 lead to lose to Iran in 1997 and I remember vividly as the Aussies got annhilated 3-0 in Montevideo in 2001, after eking out a 1-0 lead in Melbourne. But for me, it's not just about the many losses that have happened in the lead up to this tremendous victory, for me its more about the nature of the sport.
You see, soccer has largely been known in Australia as a game for migrants. Working-class migrants from Europe are the ones that have built the game in this country and to see 82,000 screaming fans at Telstra Stadium and a whole nation watching at home get behind this group of players that has never felt such amazing support before. A group of players, mainly made up of migrants or children of migrants, that has always been generally shunned by the Australian soccer community has suddenly achieved the greatest Australian sporting victory since Cathy Freeman in the 2000 Olympics.
It seems, the only thing Australia loves more than a winner is a winner that triumphs over adversity, the underdog, the "battler". That great Australian cliche comes back to us every single time. And for 120 minutes (plus penalties), it didnt matter where the players were from and it didnt matter where the supporters were from, everyone was aiming towards the same thing, that ultimate goal. Glory.
It is true, that Australians have a deep, possibly unnatural and definitely crazy obsession with sports. Someone once said that if an Australian saw two ants crawling up a wall they'd probably start cheering for one of them. But this obsession is what unites us as a country. It makes us forget our colonial, violent past and our partially segregated, less-than-tolerant present. Truly, as the song says, in these moments of sporting success... "we are one, but we are many... and from all the lands on earth we come"
But let us not forget that, by birth, I am a European and soccer is the sport of my parents and grandparents. I too am a migrant, like many of the players on the pitch for us this evening. Seeing this country unite around a sport that has always been considered foreign and a group of players with foreign names and backgrounds is an amazing feeling. This is where I can truly see the mix of my European heritage and Australian identity come to fruition. This is where I can truly see the integration of migrants into Australian society. So for me, there is only one true game that I love, the world game, the round-ball game... and for this game, I am a Socceroo for ever.
Alex
PS. Thanks to Huy and the rest of the gang for a great night at the Chau manor. Such moments of passion could only come from AIESECers and Australians. Thanks to the trainees for taking part. :) November 14 New Sedition Laws aka. Your Ticket to the GulagIt appears that as part of the Government's already highly-suspect and largely-unnecessary "anti-terrorism legislation package" they are including an update to our sedition laws. They intend to enshrine into law a clause that makes it illegal to "promote ill will and hostility between different groups". What this has to do with terrorism, i do not know, but I do know that it means that many of the things we do day-to-day will soon be, technically, illegal.
So no more of the following things: paying out politicians, paying out celebrities, paying out lecturers, paying out friends, paying out anyone for that matter, no more stealing mascots, swearing at people, disagreeing with people or poking people, no more saying that your LC's better, no more saying that your football team's better, you cant even say that your marks at school are better even when they clearly are. No more arguing with parents, no more of a lot of damn things...
That's right, there's no definition of "ill will and hostility" or "different groups" or even "promote", there's no guideline for a reasonable person to draw any inference and there's no likely outcome that they are trying to avoid. These laws appear to have nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with turning Australia into another totalitarian police state such as Hitler Germany, Stalinist Russia or Modern Singapore (hehehe).
Moreover, it appears there is no logical reason for including this particular clause, not even under the false pretense of stopping terorrism (how passe, its everybody's pretense for everything these days).
From The Age: "Ibrahim Abraham, from Monash University's Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, raised concerns that the sedition provisions could return Australia to an age of censorship. Asked whether excising the sedition provisions would weaken Australia's anti-terrorism capacity, he said: "No, I don't suspect it would". Mr Abraham said if the sedition amendments were excised from the bill, "you'd still have sedition legislation as it exists right now ... which of course could be used, and could have been used any time now, to convict people and prosecute people"."
So brace yourself ladies & gents, free speech is over and we're all going to the gulag/dachau/auschwitz or we'll be shot outright... in fact, this blog posting is incriminating enough. Im clearly promoting ill will and hostility between groups, namely between the Federal Government and its unlucky constituency, so when the laws are in place and able to act retrospectively, I'll probably be shipped off to Siberia with the rest of the political cartoonists and radio talk-back callers... hope y'all send me chocolates!
Alex http://theage.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Sedition-not-crucial-to-terror-laws/2005/11/14/1131816858905.html
November 11 Gregory David Roberts - ShantaramWhew. 933 pages is a lot but hey, it was absolutely worth it. Shantaram is not one of the best books I've ever read but it is certainly one of the most *enjoyable*, and on that criterion I would probably put it in the Top 5 easily. It's a book that made me really want to go to India, it made me more aware of how priviliged I am, it made me reassess what exactly I want to achieve in my life and what my direction is and most of all, it really really made me want to go to India!
Let me start by saying this book is not particularly well-written, which is actually a good thing because that makes it tremendously easy to read. And trust me, it had better be easy to read, weighing in at 933 pages. Despite the fact that "Love In The Time Of Cholera" was probably the better book (of those I've read this year), I can comfortably say that Shantaram was far more enjoyable and important for me. I could not read 933 pages of Marquez back to back, for example, despite the fact that I love him to bits.
This book appealed to me on many levels. First of all, pure entertainment value. The things that happen to the protagonist are really quite amazing and the fact that it's largely autobiographical and, thus, based on a true story, really boggles the mind. The book is about a Melbourne man who is convicted to 20 years jail for a spate of armed robberies he committed whilst addicted to heroin. After about a year in Melbourne's maximum security prison, he decides that the jailbird life is not for him and escapes over the front wall in broad daylight. He finds himself in India, on a fake NZ passport, and quickly embroils himself in all manner of adventures with a multitude of characters to guide him (or sometimes hinder him) along the way.
Secondly, I love the fact that is book is one-part travel journal. I personally love to travel and see internationalism as a key part of who I am and the life I want to lead so I love reading travel writing, other people's thoughts about integrating into another country, etc. The protagonist, Lin or Linbaba as he comes to be known, is full of interesting thoughts and observations about life in India. As someone who comes to really embrace the Indian lifestyle, he provides a refreshing point of view from a Western standpoint.
Finally, the ideological discussions in the book interest me somewhat also. They are by no means groundbreaking or even that deep but they do give the book a nice philosophical touch and certainly make you think.
The book is by no means perfect, in fact it is quite flawed but hey, it's a debut novel after all. The flaws are generally in the language. Roberts overextends himself many times by trying too hard to be poetic, it just doesn't gel. A lot of the scenes in which he is with his love interest, I found particularly uncomfortable and unineteresting. Truly, his relationship with Karla (this Swiss chick he falls for) failed to engage me as a reader at all and only when certain things come to light at the very end do I become the least bit interested in it.
Over all, its flaws contribute to the overall beauty of the book. It is simple and yet it's beautiful because the simple meditations on human nature and cultural integration that are present in this book are all you need to build a solid ideology upon. You can't help but love the protagonist because he is someone we all, more or less, want to be like. He may be a violent, drug-addicted man but he is a human being with a "huge heart", he is moralistic and he stands up for what he believes in. The hero cliche, perhaps, but a beautiful cliche to aspire to, nonetheless.
I thoroughly recommend this book, do not be turned off by its size because it is extremely readable and it will keep you enthralled from cover to cover.
Alex |
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