Yu Sheng Lo Hei (鱼生捞起) Auspcious Wishes

My family has Yu Sheng every year and somehow we forget some of the auspicious wishes. Here is the mini SOP for reference:

When the Yu Sheng is served to the table, welcome it with "恭喜发财！万事如意！“

And the auspcious wishes as each of the ingredient is added:

Raw Fish - 年年有余

Abalone - 年年包有余

Pomelo, lime/lemon juice - 大吉大利

Pepper - 招财进宝

Five-spiced powder - 五福临门

Sesame oil - 一本万利、财源广进

Sweet plum sauce - 甜甜蜜蜜

Red carrots - 鸿运当头

Green radish, ginger, lettuce, etc - 青春永在

White radish, ginger, etc - 风山水起

Peanuts - 生意兴隆

Sesame seeds - 财源滚滚

Crispy fried pillows - 金银满屋、满地黄金

And when everyone is ready to toss in the good fortune, you will say "捞起！ 捞起！ 老到凤山水起！“

iChestnuts 15

I finally got to watch the longest running parody comedy, iChestnuts 15 at the Jubilee Hall.

Literally everything is spoofed in this comedy from local television shows to Broadway musicals, Hollywood blockbusters and even Walt Disney characters! If you are looking for a night to laugh your heart out, iChestnut 15 may be the show you like to watch.

I particularly love the snippets of mini Quentin Tarantino series of Kill Belle to Kill Bella and the Ivory Low Ai Kiu's promotion of the new app, SisRis. For those who understand Hokkien, you may want the 882 sisters Hokkien-nised version of Umbrella and Singing in the Rain or perhaps the strong local flavour of The MerLion King.

The comedy is a little unglam, a little crude and a little trivial about certain matters but it has its very own charm and definitely followers. Either way, I had a couple of good laugh this evening. Kudos to Judee Tan for the excellent portray of Ivory!

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. It is a decent comedy. I won't cry if I had missed it. Not perfectly my cup of tea but good enough.

Kings and Queen of Comedy Asia II, 22-23 October 2011

Just for two nights, some of the most funny stand up comedians gathered at Singapore's Esplanade to tickle our funny bones.

Hosted by Harith Iskandar, the comedy filled Esplanade up with laughter. There are a total of 3 Kings (Ronnie Chieng, Papa CJ and Paul Ogata), and our one and only lovely Queen, Kumar. Of the four of them, I like Kumar and Paul Ogata the most.

Ronnie's sense of humour is rather on the abusive side with a lot of "f**k you* and angry laced comments.

Kumar is still as humourous as ever. No one, regardless of our nationality, race or religion, is spared from her sharp tongue.

Papa CJ has almost a similar style of Ronnie's, plus the pride of an Indian. He is quite good in playing with his race and adding quirky clever retorts.

Paul Ogata is a tiny man with a great statue. He is truly the highlight of the comedy night. Love his sense of humour and jokes leading up to "that was the best part".

Not forgetting the host, who is equally funny in giving out his rendition of "Grenade" and advising all women to run away from a man who sings this song when he professes his love for you.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. I had a great evening attending this comedy. I love to go for more laughing sessions.

Je n'ai Rien Oublié (Small World)

The wealthy Senn family faces a threat as their holiday home caretaker's health deteriorates due to Alzheimer. Simone, whom recently married into the family, finds herself forming a strange friendship with Conrad. As she tries to help Conrad recover, she discovers the very secret which her grandmother-in-law Elvira is desperately trying to keep hidden.

Unbeknown to all, Elvira had murdered her husband and bring up her own son Thomas as the legal heir to the Senn's fortune. The only living person aware of this secret is none other than Conrad. With his health worsening, will he take this secret to the grave or unintentionally expose it?

I was a little irked by the fact that Thomas failed to remember his childhood. It is only upon seeing a childhood album when his memory was rekindled. I would imagine he is old enough to have some reminiscence of his younger days.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. The movie is a little intriguing and confusing as there are many flashes of scenes from different time being pieced together. You see part of Conrad's world when he is sober and times when he is stuck in a past memory.

Green Lantern

Now DC Comics is trying to get a piece of the movie-goers who have been watching too many Marvel characters on the big screen.

Green Lantern is an intergalactic cops organisation that serves as guardian of our universe. The story starts with Abin Sur being badly injured by Parallax, the embodiment of fear. Before Abin Sur passing, his ring chooses Hal Jordon, a human. The new successor now has a challenging task to ensure peace through the universe and live up to the expectation of other Green Lanterns.

While the movie is interesting, I seem to be remembering the wrong concept. The thing that stands out in my memory is Hal Jordan is an irresponsible person who somehow managed to save the world and become a better person. In my humble opinion, he is just an attention seeker.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. It is quite a decent movie to watch if you don't mind the simplistic story. I'm a little disappointed that Hal defeated Parallax so easily when all other lanterns sacrifice their lives and still failed the mission.

Super 8

Another overly-hyped movie simply because it is produced by Steven Spielberg. I watched this movie during my flight to Maldives.

Set in the 70s, Super 8 tells a story of a group of young children and their encounter with Alien. Yes, another alien conspiracy story. While filming a low-budget zombie movie, the kids get themselves caught in the mystery of a train crash and eventually discovering the imprisonment of an alien by the government.

The movie attempted to build up suspense to captivate viewers and played on their imaginative of what could-be, might-be and would-be. The plot is simplistic, story is segmented and ending boring.

Rating: 3 out of 5 fairy clouds. I could have better used my time to watch other movies or sleep. Or perhaps my expectation was made higher.

Letters from Iwo Jima

I realised recently that I didn't write the review for this movie. So now it goes...

Letter from Iwo Jima depicts the story of Japanese Imperial soldiers defending Iwo Jima to keep the Americans out of Japan. The movie focuses on a soldier Saigo and General Kuribayashi, and shares their thoughts and feelings as the battle looms. Though the defense effort is futile, you can't help feeling sad for the soldiers.

While some portions of movie is a little slow pace, the development of the plot is still excellent. You see the loyalty and the honor of these men and you also pick up on the strength, humanity and horror of man's foolishness.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. After watching the movie, I'm quite keen to read the book which probably offers a richer background to the characters. This movie can be quite intense as war theme is general harder to digest. Yet lined with mild violence, it is more palatable than other war movies. Perhaps too soft for those wishing for adrenaline rush.