Tuesday, February 24, 2015

GODS, CREEDS, BROTHERHOOD, Whatever. JUST BE KIND!

DALAI LAMA

YOU HAVE TO THANK GOD that we are still breathing.

Really.

That we have lived through another week.

Lucky us.

Now, let’s say a LITTLE PRAYER to soothe the flow of the day.

The DALAI LAMA has guided us with this:

“This is my simple religion.

There is no need for temples;

no need for complicated philosophy.

Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness.”

Now, folks, follow your loving heart.

Listen to its murmur, cajoling you to tread carefully.

You can’t go wrong.

Not ever.

Friday, February 20, 2015

"LUCKY STAR 2015" (Hong Kong film, 2015) FILM REVIEW.. I am thanking my lucky star!

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 ERIC TSANG, Hong Kong’s Kingpin of raucous satire breezes into town recently to promote his latest comedy called “LUCKY STAR 2015″。Hopefully my stars shine brightly after the show.

STAR 1

Gas bag ERIC TSANG is generous with his store of raucous jokes to tingle you pink. (blush!)

STAR 2

ELLA, a Taiwanese singer who is married to a Malaysian businessman is noticeably absent. She has an urgent last-minute call-out for family matters, so she's unable to attend. This critic was all geared up to interview her for a story … until …

STAR 3

IT’S PARTY TIME FOR ARTISTES AND CREW to greet the advent of YEAR OF THE GOAT.

STAR 5

Here’s sifu ERIC TSANG having the last guffaw to demonstrate that when all hell break loose, he will stay unbroken in spirit. Don't worry, be happy!

STAR 6

WONG CHO LAM, the likely successor to gas-bag ERIC TSANG hollers in this comedic scene, “COME CLOSER AND I WILL TEAR THIS GUY APART!”

PLOT LINE:

“Lucky Star 2015″ is a Chinese New Year comedy film. It is a slapstick.

It boasts an ensemble cast featuring Eric Tsang, Wong Cho-lam, Ella Chen from S.H.E, Dada Chan, King Tan Yuen and Yuen Qiu.

The film is about a blur blob Wong Cho-Lam who has been invited to perform at a party of a local tycoon. He brings along a motley of look-alike artistes for his show.

However, the local tycoon sees through his trick.

And the hilarious merry-go-round of mistaken identities begin.

It is a “FEEL GOOD” movie specially crafted for the young-and-old alike.

” LUCKY STAR 2015 ” PRESS CONFERENCES

(Press Photos courtesy of NICK LIM (GSC) and FRANK NG for KTeam)

LUCKKY 1

ALL THE STARS

LUCKY 2

WOW! THE FANS ARRIVE IN DROVES

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“WE ARE VERY HAPPY TO BE HERE!”

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MORE PROMOTIONS at JW MARRIOTT’s

LUCKKY 1

IT’s A FIELD DAY for THE PRESS
LUCKY 3

“KONG HEI FAT CHOI!”

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WE PROMISE TO PRODUCE MORE SLAPSTICKS”

LUCKY 2

BOSSES and ACTORS show that they are also collaborative buddies. Bravo!

RATING: 3 out of 5

Local Distributor: GSC MOVIES

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

2014 was a Year of Living Dangerously. Hopefully this Year of Goat 2015 will reap returns on whatever we have lost.

KTEAM CNY 2015

HAPPY GOAT YEAR starts on 19th February, 2015.

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 MAY the following 12 GOLDEN MONTHS BRING US PEACE and ACCEPTANCE to this  SENSELESS, CHAOTIC WORLD.

GOAT YEAR 2

 GOAT is a MEDIATOR of SERENITY and LOVE to guide us to tread safely on treacherous paths ....

ANDREW NGO CHINESE NEW YEAR

ANDREW NGO is our ambassador for advocating GLOBAL PEACE and PROTECTION. He has been our representative spokesman for so many long years.

NEW DAY 2015

2014 was one sordid year where we all lived dangerously.

You name it, we face it.

It was a year of mysterious aviation disasters, notably hitting Asian air travel, mindless wars and political furor involving heartbreaking decapitations, famines and floods.

I'll say this, man, after storming through this spate of deathly grind in 2014, we are bestowed with a brand new year (GOAT: 19th February, 2015) where we have to tread with caution.

And caution we should.

Because history can always repeat itself.

Without apologies.

K TEAM CNY
KUNG HEI FAT CHOI BANNER 2015

BYRON PANG DANCING ROCK AND ROLL

“Hi, I am BYRON PANG.

Before I unleash my series of martial arts manoeuvres here, I would like to share with you some pretty exciting pictures that attest I am feeling on-top-of-world.

For this regional campaign, KOOL CAMPUS drums up the corporate strategies whilst Hong Kong Fashion Photographer PATRICK LAM works on the creative execution.

I am elated, my feelings run along like this song:

“I’m on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find …..
Is the love that I’ve found ever since you’ve been around
Your love’s put me at the top of the world …”

I LOVE YOU, FOLKS ….
and just to remind you that two whole years have whisked by in a wink …. and I have starred in a couple of feature films.  I also want to urge you to treasure the presence of your loved ones around you. LIFE IS FRAGILE, you know.

I AM BACK!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

THE YOUNG ONES. Treasure your Youth. Don't let the "moments" fritter away.

Posted by: koolcampus | February 17, 2015 (edit)

THE YOUNG ONES. We may not remain the YOUNG ONES for long.

IF you are YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME, then you are the YOUNG ONE.

We may not be the Young Ones for long.

“YOU ARE YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME, aren’t YOU?”

We are re-visiting this vintage article that was originally written in August 2008.

This is an unabridged version, nothing has been altered.

8 years have passed, time has flown.

Everybody has aged, much as we will deny.

All of us will grow older in the years to come. Time and youth do not stay still for you.

Reach out for the joy and the sorrow.  Put them away at the back of your mind.

Memories are the transient time that you borrow to spend when you get to tomorrow.

There’s this lovely gushy song that pays homage to BEAUTY and YOUTH and it revokes nostalgia in this romantic ballad:

“YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME, are you?

SOFTER than starlight, are you?

Warmer than the winds of June,

And the gentle lips you gave me,

Gayer than laughter, aren’t you?

Sweeter than music, aren’t you?

Angel and lover, heaven and earth,

ARE YOU TO ME.”

Let’s get it right here, folks.

EVERYBODY KNOWS IT’S GREAT TO BE YOUNG.

Even our friends the manipulating product manufacturers understand this “captive youth market” given the fact that umpteen cosmetic items are flooding the market ever-so-often to nap the unsuspecting egoistic buyer with the promise of an elixir of youth.

Note the influx of mobile phones that are being “churned” out these days with the latest gadgets.

Mobile phones are now positioned as FASHION STATEMENTS rather that instruments of communication. Right?

The psychological factor here has proven that it’s easier to cajole the youth to part with his dollar because he thinks with his heart and not his head. Mostly.

But for how long can anyone maintain his youth?

Life often has it twists.

We often do not live in the “moment”, but plod hard and worry about the materialistic future, hoping for the day that we would be achieving our first hundreds of million of dollars, thereby ensuring our goal to social security.

But everything has a choice.

And with that CHOICE, comes a PRICE.

The passing of youth is something we can never regain again.

Ever.

TIME AND TIDE wait for no man.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

But can the same be said when we lose that “spring”?

Younger than spring time?

What price beauty?

Is the same eye candy good enough to be eaten many years later when your looks are waning?

The pictures of these glowing STARS here are currently in their 20s and 30s, shrouded as the “epitomes” of virtual beauty and finesse, currently enjoying youth at its prime. And all all goodies that money can ever buy.

Let’s live the good life before we get whacked, yah?

Film stars are derived from an odd species that are not only peculiar, but often very paradoxical.

They toil for years to be recognized and idolized, but when fame beckons and their private lives are torn into tethers by the paparazzi, they then adorn caps and sunglasses to shield them from the public glare.

Then they start deriding the media people whose support has put them on the fast track of success. So much for gratitude!

If you are an established producer or super agent and can garner them with a plum role, you therefore have a “utility” worthy for them to stick to you like honey.

But if you are just a normal Joe, then spending time with you needs to be justified.

Like when your best friend’s star is fast rising in tinsel town, a “wistful” place where absurdities and pitfalls prevail in every corner, there’s only one thing to do:

join the bandwagon or entourage.

Be a follower, not a leader, hey!

If you like evergreens, then CLIFF RICHARD‘s famous hit best sums it all:

“THE YOUNG ONES,

Darling, we’re the YOUNG ONES,

And the YOUNG ONES

shouldn’t be afraid

To give love

While the flame is strong,

CAUSE WE MAY NOT BE THE YOUNG ONES

very long.”

Cliff Richard sang that song in 1961.

It’s year 2015 now, folks.

TIME FLIES.

Reality bites, right?

It sucks prime time, man!!

Just listen to CLIFF RICHARD’s sentimental hit “THE YOUNG ONES” from his 1960s MUSICAL MOVIE of the same name.

SUCH A PITY THEY DON'T DO breezy feel-good musicals like this anymore.

Monday, February 9, 2015

MOVIE REVIEW: THE IMITATION MAN (2015)

IMITATION GAME
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"CAN THIS BE LOVE? (in the loudest whisper tone) .... I am used to bedding men but never women."

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He is a cryptanalyst cum mathematician, an enigma with so much to share with this dreary world, yet he harbors a dangerous secret of the time  ..... that he's a latent homosexual.

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She is a beautiful colleague whom he does not love.

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His gung-ho colleagues sharing happier days.

THE IMITATION GAME (2015) MOVIE REVIEW

The plot line:

During the winter of 1952, British authorities entered the home of mathematician cum cryptanalyst Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to investigate a reported burglary.

They accidentally uncovered facts which pointed out that Alan Turing was a closeted gay. And that being gay was a crime punishable by law.

Therefore they ended up arresting Turing himself on charges of 'gross indecency', an accusation that would lead to his devastating conviction for the criminal offense of homosexuality.

Little did the officials know, they were actually incriminating the pioneer of modern-day computing. And even if they knew, they couldn't have cared less as we can see when the story moved along.

Famously leading a motley group of scholars, linguists, chess champions and intelligence officers, he was credited with cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany's World War II Enigma machine.

This film is an intense and haunting probe into a brilliant, complicated man.

THE IMITATION GAME declares a true story of a genius who is under nail-biting pressure to helped shorten the war and, in turn, save thousands of lives.

Instead of being acknowledged for his contributions as a genius of the time, he is prosecuted for being a gay man.

Much of the movie is about Turing's personal history as a homosexual and his great contributions in breaking the German codes developed through the “Enigma Machine,” a device which could produce highly complex codes that were extremely hard to decipher.

The electric powered device, consisting of wheels and different circuit combinations, was set to different configurations daily, making decryption speed a high priority for the allies in World War II.

 FOOTNOTE:

Benedict Cumberbatch who portrays the role of Alan Turing is a brilliant actor and the perfect choice to play the man.

Director Morten Tyldum excels at generating drama.

There are significant flashbacks to Turing’s boyhood, where he was bullied for wanting to keep his peas and carrots separate; war-time scenes of Turing and his team trying to crack the Enigma code; and flash-forwards to the end of Turing’s life, which was cut short by England’s brutal anti-homosexuality laws.

This is a sad story that unravels with what was then.

Now even defying gays are living openly as couples.

Time changes everything. Or most anything.

Right.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: GSC Movies

Friday, February 6, 2015

LOVE IS TRULY BOUNDLESS

LOTUS MEDITATION

 LOVE IS BOUNDLESS.

If you give LOVE unselfishly, it can be BENEFICIAL to all creatures.

But if you keep it totally to yourself, it can create bad karma.

True love does not distinguish time, place, religion or race.

Believe it. Do it.

Spread the love.

Darma Master Cheng Yen.

"TAKEN 3 - IT ENDS HERE (2015)" Movie Review

” TAKEN 3 (2015)– IT's ADIEU to the TRILOGY..

TAKEN POSTER

THIS FILM, SADLY, is the last in a TRILOGY.

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DADDY-O is on the prowl to check his enemies.

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“Look, I did not kill my ex-wife and what make you think I did?”

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A tender moment between a loving father and his distraught daughter.

Film Review Taken 2

“I am not James Bond but I can shoot to kill!”

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Run, lady, run!

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“HELL knows no mercy like a HERO scorned

“TAKEN 3: IT ENDS HERE” Movie Review

This Review comes a teeny wee bit late, due to the fact that I had been sick for two whole weeks, and also because I had been flatten out -of-steam lately.

So I will render this review short, sweet and tread with the usual literary caution (of course).

 LIAM NEESON plays the indefatigable anti-hero on the run from both his dead wife’s assailants and the confused police officers who all believe he had actually murdered his ex-wife.

All  hell break loose from here.

And it’s  butchery mayhem right to bone crunching action all the way to amaze you as you bid a fond farewell to this final installment of the “TAKEN” trilogy.

And it’s about time as the creative well has dried up and there’s no more story to tell.

The film director is leaving no stones unturned.

All thrills and spills are clearly accounted for and he ensures the audience is entertained with enough shocks and surprises.

The beauty of the first Taken was its simplicity, the girl Kim (Maggie Grace) got kidnapped, her commando dad sprung into action and all hell break loose to find his girl.

 Taken 2 kept things tidy, re-casting Neeson as the captured.

This time around, Neeson (Mills) is the prey, having been framed for the murder of his wife Lenore (Famke Janssen).

He is hunted by an ineffectual detective named Dotzler (Forest Whitaker) who is trying to solve Lenore’s murder.

In Taken 3 there are a series of convoluted double-crosses exposing Kim’s bad ass stepdad Stuart (Dougray Scott) against Russian gangster Oleg Malankov (Sam Spruell).

This time the setting is in Los Angeles.

The film begins with Neeson’s Bryan Mills arriving at his apartment to find his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) dead and himself framed for the crime.

Evading the police’s clutches, he set out to prove his innocence – despite being tracked by Forest Whitaker’s smarter-than-average detective.

Like the first two installments, Taken 3 is co-scripted and produced by Luc Besson, a filmmaker who has never let logic get in the way of excitement.

It is directed by Olivier Megaton, a profound action director whose credits include Taken 2 and Transporter 3.

Naturally, he delivered the goods when it comes to carnage.

Now you can scream pow-wow all the way with daddy-O Neeson as he attacks his opponents with gusto.

STAY BRACED!

RATING: 3 out of 5
LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox Films Malaysia