The Grandmaster 一代宗師 at Cathay Platinum Movie Suites

The Grandmaster Synopsis
"Martial Arts, there's only two words to summarize it: horizontal and vertical. Whoever remains standing in the end, wins." The movie started with IP Man reflecting on martial arts and then into the scene as he fights his way among dozen combatants under the rain. With him as the last man standing, the movie moves on to flashbacks of his life.

As martial arts grows more popular in the 30's, more people flock to Foshan Province in Southern China to learn from the masters. These experienced masters love to challenge their counterparts in underground battles that were held at a locked-up venues to prevent anyone from leaving halfway. No food and rest is allowed before the results are announced in order for them to stay focus. 

At the age of 40, Ip Man (Tony Leung) is happily married to a beautiful wife (Korean actress Song Hye-Kyo). Having a healthy inheritance, he continued the family legacy of advocating Wing Chun, though extremely talented in martial arts, he choose to keep a low profile. 

One day, North-eastern Grandmaster Gong (Wang Qingxiang) decided to challenge the best Southerner to a fight before he returns North. It was held at the Golden Pavilion, which is a local brothel patronized by many of the region's best martial artists. Ip Man make his first public debut there. He proves that intelligence and restraint can be as powerful as Kung Fu and insists that Northern and Southern martial arts can co-exist peacefully. Many were left very much impressed and amazed by his fighting abilities, especially Grandmaster Gong. 

Master Gong's daughter, Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) is not as satisfied and returns to challenge Ip Man herself. During the fight, they share a brief moment of attraction. Gong Er returned home and was shocked to discover that her father's best disciple, Ma Shan (Zhang Jin) has killed his father as he is not willing to accept his master's defeat. Master Gong dying wish is for Gong Er to get married but Gong Er vows to have her revenge and to get back the last remaining of Gong's revered 64 Hands technique. 

After which, the movie shows the Sino-Japanese war which destroys everything. 

The Grandmaster Trailer



Rating: 3/5

Picture Source : http://www.recentmovieposters.com/2012/12/debut-poster-for-scott-stewarts-dark.html

Experience at the Cathay Platinum Movie Suite

Before I started on my review of the movie, I would like to share my experience at the Cathay Platinum Movie Suite as it was my first time there. Didn't know that I can collect the tickets at the lounge at level 5 itself so I still went to queue at level 1 ticketing collection counter. Wow, it was quite a thrill seeing 18 tickets coming out from the printing machine! 

This movie treat was actually the prize for coming in Second over a friendly quiz session put up during the last district meeting. As staff, I got to attend both the winning team's treat which is a buffet lunch at the Hyatt hotel for the first team and this. Thankful for the people who make this possible. 

Since I have to collect the tickets, I was the first to reach. The place is oh so grand. I just have to take photos and camwhore inside. Who knows when will be the next time I step in? 

When majority has arrived, we ordered our food from the menu to be served inside. I ordered my all-time favourite Chocolate Lava cake. Heehee.

Chilled a while, took some group photos (which I will not post here as I'm not going to get everyone's approval for their face to appear on my blog) and we went in. There's only like 28 seats inside and we already took up 18 seats. The whole theater just felt so first class. The seats were all sofa seats and you can also adjust the back of the seat. There's a small lamp on the table shared by two person and they will even give you a blanket to cover your leg. 

My movie partner is Ms Tay and this is my second time watching movie with her. Haha. Really comfortable so if it's a boring movie, I bet many will fall asleep there.    

The Grandmaster Review

Before watching the movie, I was very much anticipating it after learning that Director Wong Kar Wai took almost a decade before it was officially release. Expecting it to be like a remake of Ip Man, another popular movie starring Donnie Yen is a big mistake. The whole movie of The Grandmaster is like a poem. It's neither a Kung Fu movie nor is it a love story. Every line is like a quote and the movie jumps frequently from scenes to scenes. Far too fragmented. Many a times, I find that I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the movie and so I had to read up a lot of reviews online about this movie before writing my own. Online report said that the movie had a four hour cut-off time and that explains why one character inside known as "The Razor" had only about ten minutes of screen time in three scenes. His existence seems almost pointless. I think the main gist of the movie is watching the characters ponder about their lives.  The missed opportunities by keeping the honour is especially displayed in the part when Gong Er choose not to get married so that she can hold the honour and learn the last bit of his father's kung fu. 

Great links for further read up

1) http://twitchfilm.com/2013/02/berlinale-2013-wong-kar-wai-and-the-cast-share-insight-into-the-grandmaster.html

2) http://movies.insing.com/feature/the-grandmaster-movie-review/id-c06b3f00

Song of the day

This is the song that was played in the movie during some of the scenes. 

My Look Of The Day 

Photo edited with app - Snapeee. Thanks for reading! 

Men in Black 3 [Time Travel] + Dinner at TCC

I love a free movie or two especially when it even comes with free pop corns and drinks. Thanks Ms Tay for bringing me to this movie event organised just for the Pacer Club members where we got to watch Men In Black (MIB) 3 for free. On top everything, she even receive her "result slip" which shows that she is very well on track. Keep it up! The result slips comes in three different colour and for those who got the pink slip, they have to buck up and work harder. 

I have a brief idea what the movie is about since I've recently watched Men in Black 2 shown on Channel 5. The signature trademarks of the Men In Black (MIB) series were still portrayed in this movie. Like how Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) would put on their black shades before zapping their pen-like neuralyzers to wipe off the memories of anybody that happened to witness something that they should not be witnessing. What the people are being kept from knowing is the secret that aliens are living among the people in New York City but these ailens have the ability to transformed themselves to look like ordinary human. So the alien could just be that waiter serving them in the restaurant or something like that. The task to ensure a safe and neutral existence between them and human lies in the hand of the MIB agency. 

Sidetrack a bit, the topic of aliens existence is always a mystery. With such a vast universe, we can't for sure conclude that there's nothing else living on the other planets. Perhaps, those creatures are also doing investigations on us? How do they looked like? What to they do? Have they visited Earth? Nobody knows the exact answers. Think about the pyramids in Egypt that were constructed in such a profound manners, how could ordinary people at the time did it?

 

In this movie, there is something different with the inclusion of time travel element. Story is about the one-armed alien called Boris The Animal who has broken out of the prison on moon to seek revenge on Agent k who caused him to lose one arm. So he travelled back in time to kill him. Meanwhile, agent J seems to be the only one who is aware of this and the other person is Agent O who claims that Agent K has died more than 40 years ago. Agent J is the only person who can travel back in time to change history. As he travel back to 16th July 1969 (one day before Boris was captured), we see the younger Agent K, this time acted by (Josh Brolin) having an ambiguous relationship with Agent O (Emma Thompson). The often seen as straight-face Agent K actually knows how to smile during his younger days. The ending also comes with a touching surprise as we finally understand the relationship between Agent K and Agent J. Agent J was warned by an alien, Griffin who can predict the future in terms of many different possible outcomes that no matter how he try to change history, one person has to die in that episode. It ended up the person being sacrifices was his own father as he witnessed. Overall, a highly entertaining movie. 

Yummy, reviews to be up soon!

West Side Jam at Raffles Marina Singapore

Went to give support to my fellow associates who were tending the stalls at the West Side Jam event at Raffles Marina Singapore. If you are like me who have never been to this type of places before and have to guess where this place is located. Most probably, you would have thought it's either at Raffles Place or Marina Bay area right? If you are guessing this two places, then you are wrong. Raffles Marina is actually located at 10 Tuas West Drive 638404. (See Map below from Street Directory)

Luckily, the taxi driver knew this place and he went on to chat with us on how he was approached to park his yacht there before but it was so expansive costing like $3k per month that he decided to park at Thailand. 

The afternoon scorching sun. Luckily, I wore my cap out. I think this is the hottest area in Singapore. Without any shade from tall buildings. Just many many yachts. It's no wonder many of them who were on shifts yesterday posted photos of them getting sun burnt.

With some of my fellow associates and the overview of the stalls there. Mostly are run by people from my Company. The drinks stall get the most business which is quite predictable. 

Glad to have a chance to be here to explore this prestigious yacht club. Being here makes me feel like a High Net Worth individual.  

My boss even went all out to chartered a yacht - the Clipper 40 for networking purpose. It's good to be rich.

Went on board to enjoy my lunch. 

 

At the upper deck enjoying the breeze and view.

The exciting wake-boarding begins. 

Carpe Diem. Seize the day. My favorite saying.  

  

So this is West Side Jam. Click here to read on who has won. 

Motion District Kick-Off : Sponsored Trip to Macau Day 5 - Casino and Departure

14 Jan 2012

Today marks the last day of the 5 days 4 nights Company's sponsored Macau trip. As much as I wish that I could go on a holiday forever, I still have to accept the fact that it's time to go back to Singapore. Time to work harder. Let me just take one last photo of my hotel room again from the other angle. Jes has already flown back to Singapore on the earlier flight and I'm taking my own sweet time to enjoy the bath tub. 

Luckily, I've already packed my luggage yesterday but I've yet to pack my holiday mood away. Tugged my heavy luggage with me to check out of the hotel room by 11am. The whole big group is divided into smaller group with the majority returning back to Singapore and a handful embarking on the next journey to Hong Kong. So envy. I did thought of extending and going to Hong Kong with them too but considering all factors like accommodation, time to rest before work on Monday, I choose to change my flight to return from Macau today. Well, at least I have a reason to travel to Hong Kong again next time. 

Our flight is at 5.05pm so there's still plenty of time left after the check out. Walking around the hotel shopping area again with Hui, Cl and Py. Thanks Ms Tay and Cl for the lunch and coffee treat.

There's still one last item to buy back for my parents beside those almond cookies which I've already bought yesterday and that is the Portuguese egg tarts. Since it can't be kept for too long,  it's better to buy them on the last day before departure to retain the freshness. Cl recommended us this shop called the "Lord Stow's Bakery & Cafe" and interestingly, I learnt from her that this shop is actually opened by the ex-husband of Margaret who also opened a very famous egg tarts shop called Margaret’s Cafe e Nata (马嘉烈葡挞店). Well, didn't have a chance to taste it (refer to my earlier post which I've yet to blog about) but I'm quite sure the standard is just as nice. Read review by PassportChop.com comparing on the different egg tarts between Lord Stow, Margaret and KFC.   

When you are in a Venetian hotel, it's always nice to look up to their ceiling for their paintings.

Dragon year.

Look below! it's the casino. Hoping to make a windfall there by playing the jackpot. For the past few days, I've only walked past the casino but didn't played anything inside. So since it's the last day here and there's still so much time left after shopping so we decided to kill time inside. 

It's my very first time playing the jackpot in a casino. Great experience with the many masters guiding me like Py who even sponsored some loose change for me and Hui to start. Five in a single row to win the jackpot money but sometime if three of a certain icon match, one could win a little bit of money too. Initially I was winning but after a few more games my wealth luck disappeared. For the last game, I put in a HK$100 note and a few minutes later, it was reduced to HK$1.45. It really feels like throwing the money away. Get this piece of cash ticket for keepsake since it was no point cashing out. I can totally understand why some people got addicted to the jackpot. If you are winning, you wanted to win more. If you are losing, you wanted to win back. We stopped as the time is up for us to catch the coach to the Airport, if not I might just invest in a few more hundreds there.  

Motion district Kick-Off : Sponsored Trip to Macau Day 4 - Meeting + Shopping + Cocktail Party + Dinner

13 Jan 2012

Wow, does the above photos make you feel hungry? This is the buffet breakfast that we had before our meeting start. Most people might have thought the buffet breakfast during our stay at the hotel must be complimentary but it's not true. Only a few of us who came earlier knew how Boss have to negotiate with the hotel manager before we got our daily breakfast. In fact, he actually have to pay to get the breakfast coupons yesterday and exchange a lunch menu for today's spread of yummy breakfast. This is the only option to make sure everyone don't go hungry during meeting. Through this, got to understand that the culture over there is so different. They are more interested in making money from the big "players" (those who played at the casino) and only them get the VIP treatment. So ya, bottom-line for this breakfast episode is to remind everyone not to take everything for granted, must learn to appreciate what people have done for you. 

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So the meeting also begins with a sharing from Boss on "Appreciation." Quoted him, "Appreciation is reflections." We need to be truly thankful and appreciate people who assist us to our success and also those who aid us during difficult times. Next is WL's turn to share. She also had a quote that is pretty meaningful and it goes, "To begin a journey one must have courage, to finish a journey one must have perseverance." The below video is a great motivation too. Basically, the video is about how people view insurance agents as - cockroach! However, don't be despair, continue to be with them, be sincere and when you get the deal, it will be forever. 





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After the meeting is free and easy time until 5pm. Went shopping with Pam. Below are some of the items that I've bought. I've also bought a big bag of snacks worth HKD 402 (Almond biscuit, peanuts sweet, etc) to bring back to Singapore. Seriously, I think the two bags and pair of shoe are considered the more expansive things that I've gotten for myself. Usually for bags, I won't buy it if it cost more than $30. For shoe, likewise. This pair of shoe from S.Culture cost me HKD699.00 but it's so comfortable I think it's worth the money beside I don't even have this kind of comfortable shoe at home. Only problem is this shoe is one size bigger and they actually have to put insoles inside so that my feet could fit. The insoles covered part of the original sole that has the pop up thingy that aids in massaging. For the two bags, I just love the design and colours so much I think I would regret if I don't buy them.  

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5pm and all of us gathered at room 35047 for a "bring you own glass" bonding session. The lack of power nap makes me look super tired and many asked if I was not feeling well or what. Sat at a corner and rested until my energy level is back and that's when I took over to become the photographer. Everybody was in high spirits and lots of nice photographs were taken with mine and Pam's camera.  

Birthday boy for the month of January.  

  
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After the great bonding, we went back to our rooms to freshen up before we gathered at West lobby for our coach to bring us to our dinner venue. 

  By the way, this dinner was treated by Boss too.

The scrumptious and expansive meal.


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Went back to my room and I remembered I have to take a photo of me with my room unit. Think this photo of me looks nice. Credit to Pam. 

This photo too. 

And we went down to the shopping area since it's the last night here. 

Steal some free Wi-Fi and had a drink at Starbucks before went back to hotel to sleep. 

MBS Presidential-Suite and SkyPark

"When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Here's what she said to me. Que Sera Sera. What ever will be will be. The future's not us to see, Que Sera Sera. What will be, will be."

I don't come from a rich family (and I can't choose my family either), I don't have a rich bf (and this is fated), so I'm really fortunate that I can choose whom I want to work with and working for a rich boss definitely has its perks. If not for my boss and lady boss's invitation, I wouldn't even find myself stepping into the skypark let alone a Presidential Suite at MBS. 

to be continued