Bleargh

My "holiday" is coming to an end. Tomorrow I would have to start the old routine again, and I’m just not looking forward to that. Having had nothing to do at the office has been great because I got to goof off and still got paid for it. One would think that with all that free time at work, I would actually be able to write all those story ideas I had been storing for months.

Er, no such luck.

For one, Scrabulous has taken over my life. I’m still hooked on it till today, and I get very upset when I lose by anything less than 50 points. I get even more upset when my rating falls after I’ve worked so hard on getting it right up there with the big leagues.

It’s only a game, I know, but Scrabble is my favourite board game to date. I used to play all the time — all by my lonesome, as OMY would say. You see, by the time I was old enough to spell, none of my brothers and sister was interested in the game anymore. The kids in my neighbourhood were, well, let’s just say they struggled to speak proper English at the time, and cousins were nowhere in sight.

So, I played Scrabble by myself. I guess it was a little sad and pathetic but hey, I turned out to be a well-balanced human being nonetheless. Plus, my command of the English language rocks, so there!

These days I play online with strangers and friends. I like playing with strangers because it’s pretty challenging, though I do tend to play with people whose ratings are lower than mine heh heh. The only problem is that most of these strangers come from either the US or Britain, so the timing ain’t so great. Because of that, I sometimes have to wait ages for them to make a move and that’s just pretty damn annoying.

Oh well.

Now that I have to get back to the old routine of coming in early and staying back till very late I guess I have to cut back on Scrabulousing.

Anyway, on to a cheerier topic: This morning, after almost five months of being absent from film previews, I actually dragged my ass out of bed early to watch a movie.

"At last… my arm is complete!"

And at last, my hunger for more Johnny Depp action is satiated with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

In this film adaptation of the Broadway musical (I think it was Broadway, or was it West End? Ah, who cares, right?), Johnny plays Sweeney Todd, a man who was sentenced to a life of hard labour in another land (it’s Australia, but I don’t think it was mentioned in the film) on false charges.

He escapes, and is saved at sea by a young sailor. They head for Sweeney’s old hometown — London, a place filled with people who are filled with shit (hey, those are the words, baby!).

There, he goes back to his old apartment, which he once shared with his lovely wife with yellow hair, and their baby girl. Of course, his family is no longer there. A woman, who proclaims that she makes the worse meat pies in London, tells him that his wife had poisoned herself years ago, and that his child is now under the care of the horrible Judge Turpin, the same guy who sent Sweeney Todd into exile.

Angry, crazy but still beautiful, Sweeney Todd sharpens his barber’s razors and starts plotting his revenge on the judge, with the help of the meat pie lady.

Or something like that lah.

Anyway, not only is the story interesting, the film also has been wonderfully made by kooky director Tim Burton. Expect dark undertones, grey clouds (it’s London, after all), lots of raccoon-eye makeup, crazy hairdos and quirky costumes.

To top it all off, is a singing Johnny Depp.

Helena Bonham Carter sings pretty well too, though I must say the three younger actors in the film are the best singers (sure, the girl sings in an ungodly high-pitched and over-the-top voice but it IS a musical, duh!).

The script was well written, but I have no idea how much of the original script was used so I can’t give credit for that. The songs are pretty great too, and I found myself humming the last song in the film after I walked out of the cinema.

Unfortunately, the overly festive "gong xi, gong xi, gong xi nie" song was piping through the mall’s PA system and I soon started humming that tune instead.

Blast!

Oh, before you pack your kids in the car and head for the nearest cinema to watch the movie (it opens next week), do take note that it is one GORY film. I think there is more throat slitting and blood flowing in this film than in 300!

Even though some slitting of the throats have been censored, it still did give me goosebumps each time Johnny, I mean Sweeney Todd, sharpens his razor. The first kill he makes in the film will sure give some kids nightmares. Worse, your child will never ever go to a barber after that, which is not a good thing if your kid’s a boy…