'Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno' Movie Review

Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno is the second part of the live action anime of the same title, and it stays true to the Anime.

Like many of you who are reading this, I've watched the anime years back, and watching this again in live action does bring back some good memories. The casting, set and costume if pretty fabulous, except for the fact that you get to see Shishio's face before he was all in bandages.

For me, Tatsuya Fujiwara has been type casted as the Death Note guy, and it felt weird that he is now Shishio.

I would say, the editing and conversion of such a long anime into a 2 hour movie is no easy task, and the director has done a superb job. Much of the side story that does not move the plot is removed, leaving behind key scenes.

I would share some spoliers as there is little deviation from the anime. The plot to get Kenshin accept to go to Kyoto with the death of the Home Minister is done pretty well, and the fight between Sojiro and Kenshin where Kenshin broke his sword is short and sweeet.

Then the scene where Kenshin got the true reverse blade sword by visiting the son of the sword maker and fighting the guy with 4 swords is done pretty well too. The whole build up between this story arc and the next is superb and luckily for us, the final episode will be in a month.

I was quite surprised that this movie was above my expectation, and I'm really looking forward to the last part of the movie. The fight scenes can be a little brutal but overall, the pace of the movie and story flow is very good.

This is definitely a MUST watch if you are a Kenshin Fan. If you watched the first movie, why not try catch this one too!

Overall: 8/10

-- Robin Low

November Man Movie Review.

I was not really interested to watch this movie, but everything else out there seems uninspiring. But I was actually pleasantly surprised about this movie.

This is no James Bond, but Pierce Brosnan is back as a hitman/spy kind of guy. He is a CIA spy guy that is very much part of the war industry. This actually feels like your standard movie with Tom Cruise, but with Pierce Brosnan instead.

The action scenes and the minor plot twist is pretty good, and the head shots... yes!!! Lots of shooting and deaths, especially the head crunching sounds is simply enjoyable. There is blood and gore and make Russia seems like a very violent place. There is also pretty realistic hand to hand combat.

I would say if you are in the movies and this movie is playing and it suits your timing, go for it. Its a good action flick and revealing anything else will make it less enjoyable for you.

Overall 7/10

-- Robin Low

Trincomalee, Sri Lanka (Review)

තිරිකුණාමළය Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

Located on the East Coast of Sri Lanka, Trincomalee is essentially a beach location. The beach is beautiful at Trincomalee and Pigeon Island -- located near Trincomalee -- has lots of corals and fishes as well.

Popular tourist destinations include its beaches at Uppuveli, Salli and Nilaveli, used for temple visits, surfing, scuba diving, fishing and whale watching, and the Kanniya Hot Springs.

The Portuguese fort at Trincomalee is very interesting and the old temple inside is beautiful. The Koneswaram temple, with a recorded history from the 3rd century BCE and legends attesting to classical antiquity attracted pilgrims from all parts of India. The shrine itself was demolished in 1622 by the Portuguese (who called it the Temple of a Thousand Columns), and who fortified the heights with the materials derived from its destruction.

You can get stunning photos of sunrise and the Milky Way is simply too obvious given the dark surroundings. The beach resort (Pigeon Island) is ok, nothing spectacular, and the town has limited shopping availability. But as a plain old beach, you definitely get peace and tranquility without any loud party music.

Definitely a great relaxing spot.

-- Robin Low

Pigeon Island

Anti-Gambling Ad Campaign #Fails

So good even Jimmy Fallon joins in the spoof...

With Germany trashing Brazil 7-1, this Singapore Ad has gone viral. But if this was true in real life, perhaps its not the problem of gambling that the kid's father has when he bets all the savings on Germany, it may be match fixing..

"The anti-gambling campaign comes as some Singaporeans have been embroiled in one of the world’s biggest match-fixing scandals. Last year, an inquiry by European police forces uncovered a global betting scam run from Singapore."

But for now, there are so many hashtags to be used on this ad that ran everyday during world cup, with the government spending a lot of money, and not getting international attention. Perhaps more attention than when Singapore an Youth Olympic Games.



#AlwaysTrustDad
#KidisGoingtoHaveGoodLife
#GamblingPays
#DadsCanTellFuture
#IMRichBiach
...



-- Robin Low

Beerfest Asia 2014 - Tips and Info for #BFA2014

Beerfest Asia 2014 is here again, and I visited it yesterday.

To me, Beerfest Asia started on a wrong note. I rode my motorcycle there and was turned away for reason: "No more motorcycle parking" However, as I turned around, 2 Harleys ridden by White Guys entered.

After parking at Marina Square, because places around like Singapore Flyer does not allow motorcycles as well, I managed to go back because I've already planned to meet some friends there, and I really did feel discriminated against as another few white guys on motorcycles are allowed to enter again.

Tip #1: Sistic pre-purchase of tickets sucks.

When arriving, for my friends who did not buy tickets, they paid $20 and bought a ticket, and entered. Easy...

When you pre-purchase tickets from SISTIC, you need to follow a long queue, wait for them to find your name, then they give you the tickets. For each ticket, you also pay a processing fee, so in short, you pay more to queue.

There was quite a few choices for beers at Beerfest, but upon closer inspection, I found even more ciders! Not that I have anything opposed to ciders, the choice of ciders is actually pretty good.

Being in a backdrop of Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay sands and the Singapore Flyer, the scenery is actually pretty good.

Tip #2:  Purchase your chips wisely.

The minimum purchase for the chips is $30, and the beers range from $5 - $??
Although the chips can be refunded for 80% of original cost, as there are $11 drinks and drinks of other denominations, sometimes the $1 more required makes you want to just pick another drink.

Good thing is, they do offer change. You get 3 - $10 chips and when you buy drinks, they do have $1 chips for change.

Go to the booths, talk to the folks, some stalls have great offers and I managed to get 6 drinks for $30, not a bad deal at all!

Tip #3: Come after dinner. Even though there is food provided by Harry's, much of the food is pre-prepared and relatively expensive. But heh, you are there for beer fest right? Might as well drink more beer to fill you up!

Find the beer kaki... For extra bonus.

Like I said, lots and lots of Cider. Nonetheless, good ciders... There is a relatively good selection of beer as well, but as I've been to the Good beer company, I've drank most of them before.

Overall, Beerfest Asia has comedy, lots of music and tons of beer.

Remember to bring along more friends to have a great time.

Tip #4: And don't ride motorcycle there parking is at Marina Square, pretty far walk, unless you are a white guy.

-- Robin Low

The Good Market Review (Colombo, Sri Lanka)

I just visited the Good Market in Battaramulla. It is a social enterprise focused to promote organic farming / produce, fair trade products and ethical handicrafts of social enterprises.

The Water's Edge is a pretty location, great for an evening stroll, and this Good Market seems to have found a great location to be in. There are quite a bit of variety of the products, and though the products are not cheap, the target market of these products are the expats living in Colombo, and the price is rather reasonable.

For the most parts, the food is rather good and spices smell awesome. Some of the products made by handicapped people or villagers still need a little more work though.

I like the vibe of the location and it does get more crowded when the sun is setting.

Definitely a place to visit when you are in Colombo.

-- Robin Low