CHRISTMAS DECORATION

This year's Christmas decoration looks like of out of the norm for me and I am still undecided whether I like it or not. 

I must admit that we often get brainwashed to accept things that are similar because it is safer to follow the masses. But I don't think this is the right approach if we are serious about creativity and innovation. It is always important for someone to think differently because this will give rise to diversity and new ideas.

In the movie "World War Z", I remember one of the characters said something to Brad Pitt, who was looking for a solution to the zombies problem, to the effect that if there were ten people in a group and when they voted, it was important to have at least one who voted differently from the rest. He explained that it was this unique ability to think differently from the rest that helped him built a high wall to ward out the zombies while the rest remained oblivious to the impending crisis.

I always love to look out for Lee Hwa Jewellery's unique window dressing.

I love the bright glittery colours of Christmas.

WORLD WAR Z

To be honest, I have watched lots of zombie movies. I love some and I loathe some. This movie directed by Marc Forster and starring Brad Pitt, who also owns the movie production company Plan B Entertainment, is one that I happened to love very much because of the fantastic original storyline and pacing. By the way, Matthew Fox had only a split second cameo as the pilot of a helicopter, if I didn't see wrongly.

Compared to the "Man of Steel" which is almost of the same length in terms of duration, this movie has a very good pace and sets the tone for the audience to grip their seats in suspense. There were quiet moments and there were high-strung ones. It was a good mix of both so the audience have time to feel the highs and lows. On the other hand, the former superhero movie was kind of slow in the first hour before plunging full length into a series of action packed sequences involving the complete decimation of the city. It was a blurry mess that made me insensitized to the fight and wondered when the battle would end.

The zombies in this movie were really scary and it only took about a mere 15 seconds to transform a normal human who was bitten and infected into a zombie. Someone who was a kin could potentially turned into a living dead with nary a recognition of their loved ones, as witnessed by many such scenes in the movie. The zombies attacked the living with a vengeance and ferocity like no other. They studied the behaviour of animals and applied what they learnt into the movie with many zombies possessing incredible speed and lunging towards their prey. When there was no sound, these zombies became inactive. However, any loud enough sounds would trigger their immediate response to attack. Even a solid wall at least 20 m high at a refugee camp in Jerusalem could not stop the zombies as they clamoured and climbed onto each other before scaling over the high wall and created havoc by transforming a safe haven that protected the survivors from the infected into a living hell.

Brad Pitt delivered a credible performance as a former United Nations personnel Gerry Lane who was forced, in order to ensure the safety of his family, to escort a virologist to find the source of the infection in order to develop a vaccine but eventually became the hero who found the "cure" to protect humanity against the infected zombies.

I was definitely entertained throughout the entire movie.