I think for those who watched the original classic 'A Chinese Ghost Story' starring the late Leslie Chueng and Joey Wong, they would catch this latest remake starring Louis Koo and Liu Yifei. Well, at least I did.
There was a slight change in the storyline. In the original, the female ghost Joey was in love with only Leslie after encountering the decent scholar who tried to rescue her from the demon-hunter and touched her heart with his pure love for her despite knowing that she is a demon. In this remake, Liu Yifei played the sweet and innocent looking ghost, but she was caught between an old love, Louis the demon-hunter, and the new love Yu Shaoqiang. If you find the twood-twood scholar familiar, that is because he recently starred as one of the monks in the movie 'Shaolin' played by Andy Lau and Nicholas Tze.
Whilst the latest version boasts beautiful cinematograhy and authentic scenery with mainly chinese mainland actors, the original's appeal is irreplaceable. I don't think anyone can forget the wonderful pairing of the charismatic Leslie and beautiful Joey as the on-screen human-demon couple, with a tragic ending, torn apart by their differences in existence. While I don't dislike the new version, I also don't necessarily think all new things are always better than the older ones.
The first '
Scream' movie debuted in 1996 and due to its success, Director Wes Craven went on to produce 2 more, which I watched fondly as a fan. The film franchise ended in the year 2000 and I thought that was the end of Sidney Prescott.
Who knew that 11 years later, the same director went on to make Scream 4 or Scre4m, still starring the 3 titular characters played by Neve Campbell, the recently off-screen divorced couple Courtney Cox and David Arquette.
This movie spawned a horror-comedic genre of movies and mocked a slew of many other slasher movies in the market with a predictable and shallow plot. In the original, Drew Barrymore was quickly killed off within minutes of appearing on screen and that shocked the audience back then. This seemed to be the trademark of the film series where the characters were killed one by one and sometimes within minutes and seconds of each other. One would have expected the fourth installment to be lame and predictable but it brought some pleasant surprises to me. It continued to thrill me with its scene within scene opening and it left the audience guessing the identities of the killers right till the end. It was definitely refreshing to see the same characters Sidney, Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley as if they were old friends whom I have not seen for a long while. By the way, both Neve and Courtney does not look a decade older than the last movie.
I initially wondered why the 3 of them would reprise their roles after so long, especially Neve Campbell who disappeared after Scream 3, but I think I understand after watching it. After all, who wouldn't want to be associated with a successful franchise despite being out of the limelight for a while? There were new twists and the plot was current and relevant, in the sense that it represented a new yet disturbing generation of teenagers, so influenced and affected by the internet age and characterized by a detached apathetic state of mind. Emma Roberts, the niece of Julia Roberts and daughter of Eric Roberts, played a (spoiler alert) psychotic teenager who orchestrated the entire slew of killings. Who would have thought and how else can one explain why she plotted to kill her own close friends, her cousin Sidney and even her own mother all in the name of achieving instant fame status in the shortest possible way through such premeditated killings? Which normal person would do that if she wasn't sick in the mind?
In this recent installment, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell were killed off in the opening scenes. Hayden Panettiere, best remembered for her role as the high school cheerleader with regenerative healing powers in the TV series 'Heroes', was however less immortal here. She was stabbed towards the end and ironically, her healing powers could no longer save her from a certain death in this movie.
Some links on this film series are attached below:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(film)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(franchise)
These were some of the weed plant photos taken in the nursery.
The Tridax procumbens (common name: Coat Button; Family: Asteraceae / Compositae) is a very common garden weed but its small flowers are also nectar plants to some smaller butterflies. A link on this plant is shown below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridax_procumbens
Elodea infestation in waterways is a huge problem worldwide. This monsoon drain is not spared, as evident by the amount of growth amongst the white waterlily. When in large amounts, they tend to float up to the surface and its unsightly look makes the water body aesthetically unappealing. A link on this noxious weed is attached below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elodea
The last is the climber Cissus hastata (synonym: Vitis hastata; common name: White-Stemmed Button Vine; Family: Vitaceae). As can be seen in the photos, it can be an aggressive climber that smolders the host plant it climbs on. Its red tendrils are what caught my attention. A link on this weed is shown below:
http://keys.trin.org.au:8080/key-server/data/0e0f0504-0103-430d-8004-060d07080d04/media/Html/taxon/Cissus_hastata.htm
I posted about this flowering Syzygium zeylanicum recently and the fruits were so abundant.
Without the opened flowers, it may not be so easy to recognize the Quisqualis indica (common name: Rangoon Creeper, Drunken Sailor) from the leaves and floral buds alone.
The last photo is of the unknown Ixora or genus posted earlier. It is strange that half the floral buds opened up as flowers whilst the other half are closed. What was it thinking?
At the Punggol Waterway and Promenade, I saw this mass of beautiful tall grass with yellow seed heads. When they swayed in unison with the wind, it gave a serene and calm feeling. I wish they could retain these patches of grass, although I am aware that it may be an aggressive weed, like the common Lalang (scientific name: Imperata cylindrica; Family: Poaceae / Gramineae).
In the area, there are some Crotalaria anagyroides (synonym: C. micans, C. brachystachys; Family: Fabaceae / Leguminosae) which is also a butterfly host plant and I collected the seeds for our nursery to germinate them. Some links on this shrub are shown below:
- http://www.hear.org/pier/species/crotalaria_micans.htm
- http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist%20V2/CI/index.php/start-page/startpage/showplant/32
I posted about the blueberry-like fruits of this palm species recently and this cluster of palms along the Broadwalk is flowering, not fruiting.
At the Water Garden, they planted some Portulaca grandiflora (common name: Japanese Rose) on the floating platform. It is interesting and let us see if it can survive the growth in water.
There are two tree species shown here again.
The first is a beautiful Cratoxylum cochinchinense with lots of pinkish new leaf flushes and the second is the Gnetum gnemon (common name: Melinjau, Belinjo; Family: Gnetaceae). I seldom see the fruits and it is used to make crackers. A link on the latter is shown below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnetum_gnemon
