Movie Review: The Woman in Black

I know I said I'd blog about the differences between the Queensland and Singaporean Education system, but a movie review on a horror movie starring good ole' Harry Potty is way more interesting.. right?

We caught The Woman In Black over the weekend via... (the internet? heh), thanks to Mark's ever resourcefulness. When he first suggested the movie, I immediately recalled a horror play I watched a few years back in Singapore with the same title. It was a fantastically theatre adaptation of the novel by Susan Hill, which has also formed the basis of this 2012 movie.

It was interesting to see Harry Potty, I mean Daniel Radcliffe, in a role other than a wand wielding boy. I must admit that it's hard not to see him as the boy wizard. Even as he wielded an axe in one scene, we all half expected him to shout out 'Experiliamus!' at one point or another. Plus, he was supposed to play a widowed father of a 4 year old.. In my opinion, pushing it a little. But he was great nontheless. Still looked like a boy next to the other actors, but he did his best as the protagonist of a horror story.


Check out the creepy iconic picture of movie... Shudder-inducing eh?

The official advertisement has all the chill-factors needed in a horror movie.. Creepy wind up toys, golden-haired little girls... And of course,  a haunting poem read out by a little girl in the most disturbing manner..




In my opinon, the advertisement was better than the movie, who's horror didn't exactly peak at the climax, rather, they made the common mistake of letting you see too much of the ghost.I find that a common mistake in horror shows. Once you get to see the ghost for too long, you realise that it's all make up, effects, and that you might even see the Nike shoes under their white flowy dresses.

It was pretty scary throughout most of the movie. A lot of the 'background-hide-and-seek' games you play with the ghost. The movie had some very subtle 'ghost' scenes, much like the asian horror shows (ghost in back grounds without the shocking 'dum dummm' music to accompany, ala the original Dark Water). Just like the window scene above, they didn't have to give you that shocking music to scare the wits out of you. Something I appreciated. However they still do use plenty of the typical Hollywood style in-your-face 'BOO' scare tactics throughout the movie.

I still enjoyed the movie nontheless, purely because I've been so taken away by the original play I'd seen so many years ago, that this movie, in some way, brought me back to the theatre all those years back and reminded me of what was so carptivating and thrilling in the first place.

Don't watch it alone ;)

The Fantastic Differences

I love how as I spend more and more time in Brisbane, I discover more and more differences between our two countries. Whether it be food, education or just culture, both countries have their strengths and weaknesses, and I'm glad I've been so blessed to have the opportunities to see these differences and be thankful about what I have in both/either country.

Since I haven't been blogging much due to the lack of a camera (poor excuse, I know), I decided that furture blog posts shall share some of these differences between Motherland (aka Singapore), and my second home (Brisbane, Queensland Australia).

Here's my pick for today:

The stereotype Western and Asian meals you find in each respective country.

 Exhibit A: Typical hawker centre/kopitiam Western Meal from Singapore

Must haves of a typical western meal:

- Meat chop of some kind, poorly pan-grilled or deep fried
- unsalted, possibly soggy, under-deep-fried crinkle cut fries
- fried egg (commonly called a 'bullseye' in my family)
- baked beans
- occasional poor attempt at coleslaw or stale, soggy, grass tasting salad


(photo courtesy of a real meal someone had on FB)


I'm sure any person from the a westernised culture will be thinking in their minds 'WTH IS THAT CRAP?!WHAT AN INSULT/POOR REPRESENTATION!!'

Well... let's look at some of the attempts at Asian food then..

Exhibit B: Common menu from pseudo-asian takeaways here in Brisbane  


I don't know how Singapore managed to have it's own noodle (I certainly have never had it in Singapore), nor have I heard of a 'pud' thai (though there is the pad thai, which might possibly sound a bit offensive and therefore renamed to pud thai). And don't you just love how the ingredients have been spelled out? Trust me, the food from this particular takeaway was pretty generic.. It tasted like they threw all the asian sauces they had on their shelves into the wok.

However, needless to say, both countries have their fair share of AMAZING representations of western and asian food places. While Singapore has a fantastic array of high-end restaurants serving up various cuisines, Brisbane has the beauty of many emigrants who have set up their own quaint restaurants and eateries which serve up really authentic food as well. I must say that Brisbane is where I'd go for the most authentic Vietnamese and Korean food due to the authenticity of the chefs!

Either ways... all that second grade food is still probably better than most of the stuff I whip up in mh kitchen (mainly the microwave) so far.. So.. no complains from me! (Besides the prices though)

Coming up next post....

Ministry of Education (MOE) vs Education Queensland (EdQueensland)!