Eh, Minecraft movie

'A Minecraft Movie' did not resonate with me. Although I don't play the game, I thought I would give the movie a go as lately video game-based movies like Sonic and Super Mario Bros were decently entertaining enough. Perhaps Minecraft was meant for a younger audience, but the audience around me was mostly children and it didn't seem like they were very entertained either. While not disruptive, thankfully, the kids maintained a low-energy level of polite watching. The occasional question seemed more frequent than laughter.

What didn't work for this movie is the open-ended nature of the source material. The game is mostly about learning to interact with the environment by discovering new materials and crafting recipes, then becoming creative in reshaping the environment with these new discoveries. The game raises the stakes from time to time by sending waves of hostiles for the player to defend against. But it is up to the movie to design a motivation for these attacks. While the main villain's arc does fit the overall theme of how society represses creativity by showing how the different characters react in either healthy or unhealthy ways to their own experiences of repression, really, the chief antagonist has the least provocation to overreact as she does. Without strong motivation for the villain, the stakes are uninteresting.

The humour tends to lean too hard into slapstick. Jason Momoa's character, "Garbage Man", is the butt of most of the jokes. Tough guy gets scared and screams like a little girl. Tough guy gets his ass kicked by cannon-fodder level enemies. Tough guy falls down a lot. It gets old after the first couple of gags. He does swoop in later to pull off a spectacular save, so I guess he finally learns how to play, but frustratingly, his process happens off camera. Jack Black's character, "Steve", takes the mentor role, playing the straight guy to Momoa's goofball. Black sings funny, improvised songs but again, once too many times to be funny every time. Sure, the 'rule of three' is there for a reason, but humour is in the escalation of each of the three stages. Here it's just the same thing repeated and falls flat.

I did identify with the theme of repressed creativity, however. I've been trying to be more creative in the last couple of weeks working on some personal projects. But I'm finding that my more responsible commitments have been holding me back from fully realising my creative goals. I recognise I'm still at a learning phase and so my creations are still super crappy, but having the discipline to keep practicing will eventually get me where I want to be. Baby steps. So, while I may not have enjoyed the movie as much as I hoped to, I still appreciate the encouragement I got from it.

From Babymetal to you

Have I ever mentioned the solid work ethic the BABYMETAL team has? 'From Me to U' has finally dropped since it's been teased for weeks now. This new track -- which will feature in the next BM album, 'Metal Forth' -- is another collab, this time with new-ish metal vocalist, Poppy, with whom BM has a lot in common... being ladies in metal, at the very least. I know little of Poppy, so this song is my first official intro to this new artist vying for a place on my playlist.

FMtU hits hard and fast, delivering waves of energy that will keep the crowd jumping from beginning to end. Thematically, energy transfer is BM's hallmark in crowd interaction. They provide boatloads of energy from the stage to the audience, and the crowd gives it right back, closing the energy loop which blows the roof off every BM concert venue. Everyone is drenched in sweat, ears ringing, grinning from ear to ear in the aftermath of the explosion. This track -- need I say more -- too, is pure energy. Wow!

Musically, FMtU leans more towards metal, supported with EDM and pop elements. SU and Poppy share verses, while interspersing lines within the chorus. Between SU's melodic tones and Poppy's screams, the compromise makes it difficult for me to immediately pick out parts I can sing along to. Perhaps I don't need to. Keeping my mouth shut and headbanging appreciatively is all this song really asks for.

One issue I have is that SU's voice sounds over-processed with too much electronic overlay. Given the futuristic setting of the video -- it looks like they are street level in the city outside the windows of the Ratatata set -- perhaps her voice was supposed to sound synthesized. Still, it's a pity to mask out her natural talent. SU sings mostly in English and her enunciation has evolved so much that she sounds like a native speaker now. That's impressive!

As for Poppy, she isn't at all poppy like her name or appearance suggests. She screams all the way through, providing a hard edge to the energy pouring forth. She represents the 'rage' SU sings about in the chorus, while simultaneously singing sweetly about 'killing the enemy'. Yikes!

The visuals suggest a video game environment. Halfway through, the neon city is destroyed and collapses in flames. A huge monster rises up to confront the BM trio dancing on the last remaining circular platform. This scene reminds me of some boss battle scenarios from Path of Exile and Diablo 4. Is this the enemy SU intends to kill? Apparently not. It screams in Poppy's voice, so it's her avatar, or something. All four artists (boss monster representing Poppy) are finally together in the closing shots, beautifully synced up... and no enemy in sight.

Ok, I won't think too much about it. Overall, this track is another banger of a collab. It's a crowd energiser and great for a frenetic cardio workout. With more as yet unreleased tracks in the run up to new album, we wait with bated breath for the next drop.

A G-shocker of a scam

Wow. This here is a pretty convincing scam I almost fell for. I was led here via a Facebook post about how Casio apologises to the people who queued at the new G-shock store at Vivocity waiting to purchase the GA-2100-1A for $75 (USP $199) but were disappointed when stocks ran out early. To make up, the store directs the reader to the website pictured above where anyone can enjoy the same discount. The copy on the right promises 'VIP support service' AND a 70% discount voucher on the next purchase as enticement to purchase 2 units. Perhaps the scammers overplayed their hand here as the offer was too good to be true. There is also a typo that doesn't make sense. Still, since I was in the market for a new watch, I clicked the 'Buy Now' button...

and this window pops up. A bold eye-catching timer urges a quick response, while the 78/100 of 'quantity remaining' is there to show how lucky we are to be among the remaining few to enjoy this limited-time offer. I actually went as far as to fill in my personal details, but stopped short at clicking the 'Buy Now' button. Call it paranoia, but I decided to check for any corroborating news stories about such an event occurring. None. The supposed 'new store' doesn't even exist. I tried clicking on the menu buttons at the top, and they don't work. The buttons that did work were the icons at the top right, but they only led back to this purchase window.

I wish I could find the Facebook story that led me here in the first place, but when I returned to my FB feed, it automatically refreshed and the story disappeared. Anyway, a really close call for me. Glad I listened to the alarm bells in my head.

Ne Zha 2 was a lot

Added another $16 to Ne Zha 2's over $2b gross earnings to date. It's pretty bold to make the titular character look adorably un-cute. Ne Zha's design is that of a short, pug-nosed, gap-toothed troll, but his charm is more in his heart to stand against adversity while overcoming prejudice over his disadvantages acquired from birth. It's not easy for a person of demonic heritage to live among and be accepted by human beings.

In this episode, Ne Zha's demon self has to be hidden from the gatekeepers of immortality, or his quest to save the life of his best bud, Ao Bing, will fail, resulting in the destruction of his hometown by Ao Bing's pissed-off dad, the Dragon King. That is a summation of the main plot, while the sub-plots involve other factions pursuing their own selfish agenda and pissing each other off both by grand design and more often by a blind sense of self-righteousness seeking to do good, but causing an intricate mess of chaos instead. It's a case of everybody being a hero of their own tale, while being the villain in someone else's.

It's a complex, ambitious piece of storytelling accompanied with spectacular animation, which is what people are mostly paying to see. The scenes are stunningly rendered and beautifully composed, inspired from classical Chinese-Taoist themes. There is an epic sense of scale as the camera moves from individual character detail to a zoom out shot taking in the murmuration of entire armies swarming in formation, colliding in battle in a way that we can almost see each individual combatant within the swarm at the same time. It's breathtaking to behold.

While technically impressive, the storytelling could have been more economical. Perhaps some references to mythology are lost in translation, given my woeful lack of context. Some scenes felt draggy, and I felt myself dozing off at one point. My poor brain was having to keep track of which faction was doing what to whom for what motivation, and I probably needed that micro break. Also, the process of attaining immortality was confusing as Ne Zha had to succeed at beating up a series of random critters that are minding their own business -- but without much sense of progression of difficulty level -- in order for him to be granted immortality. Yet, the same deity who granted him immortality was busy making thousands of immortality pills for... not sure whom exactly. So is immortality gained by beat-em-up, or by swallowing magic pills? Unclear.

Which leads me to the observation that magic in this universe has no rules. Magic is wielded as a convenient deus ex machina. Want something to happen, just name a mystical device/spell and there you go. How powerful a character is depends on what things they can name at the time they need it. If that's the only rule, it's a bit cheap, sorry to say.

Ultimately, what carries the story is Ne Zha himself and his small but loyal group of supporters, namely his parents, his mentor, and his counterpart, Ao Bing. They are all pure of heart, sincere in their intentions, and courageously brave the turmoil they are thrown into. These qualities are what an audience can get behind, especially when balanced by the main character who is also an obnoxious stinker who learns and grows throughout the movie.

Stay for the mid-credits scene. I enjoyed it as whichever studio got to animate this part had the most fun with it. We could have used that type of humour sprinkled more liberally through the rest of the movie as the fart and toilet jokes weren't doing it for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, though I also feel that the movie suffered from too much of a muchness. When Chinese cinema learns the value of 'less is more', that's when I think it will be unstoppable.

The unrealistic expectations of modern dating

A parent had a casual chat with me and mentioned their adult son who has decided to forego dating as he feels it is "not worth it". This attitude seems to be a recent development in dating dynamics overseas, but to hear that young men here are of a similar mind, it's worrying. If we are trying to encourage breeding among our young couples, perhaps incentivizing already married couples to procreate is too little too late. After all, if young people aren't dating in the first place, nobody's getting married.

Of course, I'm speculating and overgeneralizing here, but it seems that dating, marriage, and babies require more money than people are willing to spend on them, hence the PM's Budget proposal. But we need to examine the problem at the root. PM Wong isn't allocating any budget to encourage dating, the first link in the ball-and-chain of marriage and family, but I doubt throwing money at this problem will solve anything, anyway.

What I think has gone wrong with dating today is not the money per se, but the expectation that young men have been priced out of the dating market. In the past, couples knowingly believed in the romantic fantasies of 'love at first sight' and 'love conquers all', meaning that even if we were broke, the couple would still find something to do without breaking the bank. That was how it was with me and the wife in our early days, especially in the year she had an income, and I was living off my rapidly diminishing savings. Today, dating has transformed into a transaction. No more 'love at first sight', aspiration has mutated into the expectation of 's_x on first date'. There seems to be an understanding that the man will pay for an expensive date, but if he doesn't get to round the bases after that, he feels cheated, having been used for a free meal, drinks and entertainment. Meanwhile the ladies invest in themselves to look their best on the date, hoping to entice their partner to become so smitten by their stunning appearance that wallets gape open, spewing money everywhere. "If a man can spend so much money on me, it must be love", but because of the transactional nature of the date, it's like the more money he spends, the less she feels cheap and the more she feels like a princess when it's time to seal the deal.

Young men, of course, don't earn enough to pay for many extravagant dates, so they don't even bother approaching women, while young women get asked out by older gentlemen who have built up enough resources to lavish their dates with the level of luxury expected. But once the old, rich guy has had (and paid) for their fun, they'll take their business elsewhere. No commitment, no baggage, just the endless thrill of "love 'em and leave 'em". Women are left bewildered and frustrated, being ghosted by the man who demonstrated love by showering them with material blessings the night before, and now they no longer believe that love is forever. Everybody playing this game eventually develops trust issues, it seems. Not exactly a solid foundation to build family on.

If it is true that the dating pool today is messed up by everybody's unrealistic expectations of what the dating ritual is supposed to accomplish, then it's going to take an attitude reset, and not necessarily mo' money, that will get the human population back on track.

The lanes, how I've missed thee

Well, this video was totally unsolicited. George, Bee, and I chaperoned the kids at an introductory course in bowling. Brought back memories of some of my earlier posts in this blog when causing our own chaos at the lanes was all the rage.

I joined in as a participant to make up for a vacancy and learned a couple of tips that benefited my game. Stand on the centre dot to start my walk-up and aim dead straight at the second aiming arrow right from middle. Stay focused and follow-through. That did wonders for keeping my first throws on target, mostly. Still need more work to convert the spares, but that was beyond the objective of today's toe-dip into 10-pin mayhem. Racked up a score just below the averages I used to get back then.

I loved the ball I selected from the public rack, this silver 11-pounder with holes that perfectly matched my grip. It fit so well and handled so easily that it gave me a lot of confidence using it. I wish I could have bought it there and then, but since I'm not bowling regularly any more, it would just have been a frivolous purchase. I didn't notice Bee taking this video of me but, damn, despite maybe a decade or more being out of practice, I still haven't lost much form. Good thing I did convert this spare, else it would have been all flair and no substance.

The elderly chief coach has inspired me to likewise be a bowling coach in my retirement years. Not long now...

Focus on POTUS in MCU's Captain America: Brave New World

MCU's Captain America movies usually have some political statement to make. Brave New World, Cap's 4th outing, draws a parallel between newly elected POTUS, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) and the real-life current POTUS. Both have done and are still doing morally questionable things, and although much of their misdeeds are public knowledge, they have still been given the mandate to be the country's top decision-maker.

What's different about Ross is that his misdeeds are misguided attempts to keep the country safe by all means necessary, including the use of deadly force resulting in heavy collateral damage -- a callback all the way to the MCU's second movie, The Incredible Hulk. That legacy carries over to his initiation of the Sokovia Accords resulting in the unintended(?) disbanding of the Avengers during the brutal Civil War conflict. By this time, Ross is convinced that regardless of his political success, he would never win back the love of his daughter, Betty (Liv Tyler). As such, he seeks to redeem himself by negotiating a global peace treaty over the fair and equitable distribution of a new element that seems to have more potential than even vibranium. This new element is found in the body of Tiamut, the Celestial that arose in the Indian Ocean, but whose full emergence was prevented by the Eternals in their own movie.

Current real-world POTUS has opposite designs for national self-sufficiency at all cost. 'nuff said.

The mantle of Captain America now falls on Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), formerly Falcon. He bears the shield with a sense of inadequacy, feeling that Steve Roger's boots are too big to fill. Moreover, Wilson does not have any super-soldier enhancement, and clearly cannot match OG Cap's physical prowess and abilities. Wilson does have the advantage of aerial combat and makes use of his natural empathy to deescalate tense situations. Without enhancements, Wilson has his own approach to dealing with powered individuals, preferring to use words over fists, although fights can end a bit anti-climactically for a hero-fest. It's not that he can't use his fists to end a fight -- as he does with Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) -- but he prefers not to.

BNW is a straight up comic-book movie. There's enough action and fighting through a varied palatte of threat levels to keep the pace breathless. But because Wilson is already such a good guy from the start, his character arc doesn't have that many legs. By the end, he's gained a little more confidence in himself as Cap's successor, but we already knew that he was worthy. His costume design is also busier than I like, but that's an aesthetic quibble. It was President Ross who kept my attention for this movie. He had the broader character arc with more to redeem himself from and more to seek forgiveness for. His resolution is a bit of wish fulfilment for us in the real world, but it is in taking personal accountability and responsibility for his past missteps that finally brings Ross peace.

Overall, while political enough, I feel that the previous Captain America movies had more emotional depth and higher stakes. BNW tried to create a bit of a besties dynamic in the Sam Wilson-Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) pairing, but the Wilson-Bradley friendship doesn't run so deeply that the audience roots for them as we did with Steve-Bucky. The biggest impact of BNW on the greater MCU is the tying up of some loose ends from previous movies while vaguely pointing the way forward with the discovery of a new element to exploit, and a cryptic prophecy delivered in the sole end credits scene. Generally a good movie, but seeing as the supporting character stole the show, it doesn't top any of the previous installments of MCU's Captain America movies, at least for me.