We might be taking this KTV contest a bit too seriously now. This is the first time I've seen a contestant list for a Mandarin KTV contest, half of which is populated by the English Dept, including yours truly. Jong Yann's done a great job of recruiting a rather unusual mix of staff across departments, but as the big day is coming closer -- tomorrow, actually -- she's looking increasingly stressed out. What's Mandarin for, "Relax, girl!"?

We went in for a quick rehearsal this afternoon, then the bombshell dropped. We'll only be performing after the students have been dismissed. Hey, here we are about to embarrass ourselves in public with our nan2 ting1 accents, but noone's going to watch us do it? I can identify with the Player in Ros & Guil when the two disappeared in the middle of the Tragedians' performance. The regular person is going to be relieved, no doubt, that the pressure of performing in front of a 'live' audience is off, but the performer feels a bit let down.

Nvm. When it was my turn at the mike, I discovered to my horror that I had brought my Jewel case but left my disk at home. Mr Blur strikes again. So I mumbled off 4 lines of chorus acapella and that was about enough for me. Not satisfied with our rehearsal, Vince, Cara and I converged on Amy's to use her (parents') KTV machine. Amy kindly drove me home to grab my disk first, then we had a late lunch with Q-tip at the coffee-shop downstairs before heading back to her place.

Evening found me and June at Sky Captain ATWOT, a boy's comic book fantasy with giant robots, transformable technology, ray guns and sky and sea battles, all set in the period when comic books started to appear in the US. Everything, including the storyline, is campy and retro so expect improbabilties at every turn. The movie is designed with the same comic book style, well, maybe more like a graphic novel. Flat lighting makes the actors look 2 dimensional to match the CGI they perform in front of. The CGI looks like water-coloured backgrounds with slightly washed out colours and blurry edges. Beautiful visuals in spite of, or perhaps because of, the fact that most screen elements aren't 'real' to begin with.

The relationship between Captain and Polly is a complicated one. They are constantly bickering with and bitchin' at each other and they remind me of a non-couple I know who share a somewhat similar relationship. Heh.