It took me 3 years to get around to watching The Lost Room. This Sci-Fi Miniseries came out in 2006 I searched for the DVD’s .. no luck. until recently… and less the 3 months after I watch it.. Mediacorp 5 announces with aplomb, the PREMIERE of The Lost Room on Channel 5.. tsk..
Category Archives: TV
“..The Pupil (long-ish)..”
The person who coined the term “Mediacorp 5′s Blockbuster Drama of Year” should shot.. drawn… quartered… tarred… feathered.. and hung .. at the 4 ends of Singapore.. really…
Touted as Mediacorp 5′s first courtroom drama, I think the genre had a lot of promise. I mean the idea is there but the execution is just plain cheesy. Mediacorp has as usual fallen into the huge pit-trap of stereotyped characters, bad writing and just a poor grasp on what really happens in the REAL Singapore. Here are my thoughts on the first episode..
First off I would like to commend Mediacorp of using a “cold open” for this episode and hopefully something that will follow through the rest of the series. It sets the tone of the episode and it immerses the viewer immediately into the story. This episode features 2 cases. The “main” case being that of a certain Michael Allan (two first names?? ok just me being picky), an American citizen who is also a Permanent Resident here. The other case mentioned in this episode, probably part of story arc that will span over a few episodes, is to put simply a malpractice suit to a fictional health care organisation.
The Opening shot shows Michael walking through the Arrival Hall. He is obviously distressed as he makes his way to the taxi stand while furiously speaking into his mobile. He is stopped by two law enforcement officers.
Man in blue: Sir, could you please come with us.
Michael: Why?
Other man in blue: You need to come with us please.
Michael: but i need to get to the taxi stand.
Men in blue: Sir please come with us..
*scuffle ensues*
Men in blue (pinning down Michael) : You are under arrest for Defaulting National Service..
To me, right there, is a whole sequence of unfortunate plot holes. First of all, logic suggests that if you are an NS Defaulter, the minute you come through customs and they scan your passport, you would be be redflagged and the relevant ICA officers would already be pulling you aside for questioning at least. No authority in the right mind would allow such perpetrator to roam the Arrival Halls before making an arrest no less. The arrest itself is laughable. The two officers approached the man, and when asked did not offer any valid reason. Sure enough the man engages in a scuffle and is hence arrested. Again logic dictates, and I could be wrong here, that somewhere before the suspect has been subdued that they could have informed him that he was under arrest for suspicion of defaulting N.S.
When making an arrest, a Police officer will come into physical contact with or even attempt to confine the suspect. If the suspect forcibly resists arrest or attempts to escape, the officer may use all necessary means to effect an arrest. The law does not prohibit a male officer from arresting a female suspect. When a suspect is being arrested, he/she should be informed of the grounds of his/her arrest as soon as the circumstances may reasonably permit. – SPF
Didn’t the circumstance present itself when Michael asked why he was being arrested? Again I could be wrong yeah.. I stand corrected if I am..
We are then introduced to the Main Characters and a little back story on the pupil itself. I liked the grainy feel of the flashback scenes. The backstory also seems tangible albeit a bit melodramatic, but it works. Seeing Adrian Pang in back to back time slot kinda was well, it put me off. I’ve always believed Adrian Pang to be a very good actor, but of late .. and glaringly, he seems to be either typecasted or he got the Icannotactis disease from Gurmit Singh. After watching Polo Boys *wince*, The Pupil has him playing a similar character with a similar personality only difference is the setting. He has some terrfific one liners (” your dress sense.. very kampong chic “), and he had great screen chemistry with Janice Koh. But we’ll see how the characters develop as the season goes. Vadi (Mumbai Dhar Dhey!) was reasonably good as Adrian Pang’s buddy from a previous law firm. And I believe his exploits with Adrian would prolly be some form of comic relief in the series.
Moving on to the gist of what this series is about. The court scene. Nick Shen as a prosecutor just doesn’t sit well with me. I mean.. the moment he opened his mouth I was like.. EH??!! The scenes were bland, no sense of urgency, drama .. zero..right here was where I had a good laugh. The prosecutor in summing up the case, mentions Michael’s involvement in a barfight in Bangkok. He reports that Michael had mocked National Service and that the fight ensued because the two NSmen (while on Overseas training) stood up to him. Mediacorp.. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES.. I mean national pride aside and all, but approach any male going through NS, and they will also make fun of it. Many of us find serving NS a pain, that we would just like to get over with. The running joke everywhere, sorry Singapore, S.A.F = Serve And Fuck off.. So the notion that two NSmen on R & R in Bangkok after training would get involve in a fisticuff upholding National Service is really out there.. next to Elvis and Michael in their spaceship. Then again Mediacorp markets the series as the first courtroom drama inspired by real life cases. If this holds true, well, feed me nails and call me Rusty.
I really want to watch a reasonably written LOCAL ENGLISH drama. I got my wish for a reasonably written local MALAY drama when they screened Sew4 . I am hoping that the pupil would prove me wrong..
till next time
“..oh BUG OFF!!..”
It’s been excrutiatingly .. painful.. yes. painfull that’s the word.. a painfull last two nights..
Last night.. it didn’t occur to me it was OSCAR NIGHT.. yeah even though it was telecast LIVE in the morning they would screen it in the evening too for the benefit of the general population who didn’t catch it Live..Not that I’m complaining but i generally don’t like award shows.. they’re long.. draggy.. and boring. As it that wasn’t painfull enough, the entire mosquito population of Singapore just happen to show up in my room that night.. I mean it was buzzing ALL NIGHT..my arms .. legs and thighs.. tummy and chest (er I sleep in my boxers ..).. were all fodder for the marauding mozzies.I had at least 10-20 bites on my arms alone…they kinda showed up around 2ish-3…and by 5:30 i couldn’t stand it.. i just up and left my room went to shower.. Adik (in her towels) had a shock of her life i was up so early.. she’d been preparing to go to work (attached to NUH this few weeks).. She complained too of the mozzies..and showed off her battle scars from the night before.. we came to the conclusion that it was the dumpster sitting in the carpark that might have been the culprit of the sudden surge in the mosquito population in the area.It was one of those big tipping dumpster thingy that would load up the back of a truck and It’d been sitting there for 2-3 months now, and even though it had some form of tarp covering, we could see that there were holes in it, and the inside of the dumpster could have been a festering pool of mozzie breeders.
When I got home yesterday, however, the dumpster was mysteriously missing. I’m guessing some other residents began having mozzie misadventures and had complaint. When Adik got home later, she also commented,” heh the dumpster is gone.”
So i’m thinking that’s the end of my mozzie mania. I .. WAS … WRONG… bzzz bzzzzz *bite*thwap*thwap*bzzzzzzz*scratch*scratch*
tonight .. i will wage war on the mozzies.. I will fight on the bed… I will fight in front of my TV.. I will fight on the window sill and on my cabinets. I will defend my body.. whatever the cost maybe .. I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!!
*mental note buy many many mozzie coils and insect repellent*
That aside, back to the Oscars..
Hugh Jackman for a very longtime has been on of my favourite actors. But i wondered how he would fare. yeah I know what I said about awards shows ..and the last few.. in fact up from 1984, the oscars were hosted by a comedian of some sort , who would give a light hearted opening skit. He didn’t fit into that mould.. yesh he is an Emmy Award winning Host (for the Tony Awards).. but..yeah so i got to watch his opening skit on Youtube.. and wow.. just wow.. I guess he did a good job..
“.. fear not ..”
Came across this site … Got it from Ananth, who got it from Yuko, who got it from Jess. Who is Ananth, Yuko and Jess? Noone I know personally.. lol .. Anyways got this link from Applegeeks.. and I must say even though the photos creep me out.. they are amazing.. According to the the photographer Joshua Hoffine
“…I stage my photo shoots like small movies, with sets, costumes, elaborate props, fog machines and make up. I use hotlights rather than strobes, because they give me better fog effects as well as a warming colour shift.My images are not photoshop collages.I use photoshop to finesse details and to adjust color and contrast for printing.I use friends and family members as actors and crew.Everyone works for free. We do it for fun….”
simply wow..really stunning images.. IMHO.. it captures the mood of fear… and they don’t come cheap either (USD$900 for a 22″ x 22″ print)..
on a totally unrelated topic.. I draw attention again to the current season of Britain’s Got Talent.. and another gem .. Kid’s name is George Sampson..bloody brilliant..
“..got talent..”
Well most of us know of America’s Got Talent thanks to Mediocre’s..oops MEDIACORP’S faithfully keeping the tradition of showing overseas shows a full season behind broadcast release. And of course AGT features has beens Brandy and The Hoffman himself David Hasselhoff on the “judging” panel along with the Brit chap(i forget his name). Needless to say we also know the the yanks have a knack of taking Brit Variety shows and running with it (Whose Line Is It Anyway.. and uh,, yeah IDOL)..this of course is a Brit idea.. I for one enjoy the Brit version of “Got Talent” then the American one.. And of course this following video made me smile on a day that , before viewing this , brought none…. enjoy.. I know I did
