One of the husband's achievements of late - in terms of assimilating in KL - is watching Celestial HD channel. For the benefit of our non-Malaysian friends, Celestial HD is like HBO but only in Cantonese and occasionally Chinese. One can sit all-day in front of the TV watching back-to-back movies. We don't do that, though, because we don't have much time together during the week so TV-time is minimized.
Instead, we regularly scroll through the channel guide to record movies which we think may be interesting. If there is one improvement Astro could work on, it is to indicate the main cast of every movie in the write-ups. Only on weekend afternoons do we catch up on what had been recorded. If we can't sit through the first ten minutes, the movie is deleted. "Next!...."
I am so proud of the fact JL has watched all three parts of Infernal Affairs. And by the third installment, he was able to think like a Hong-Kong mafia boss and predict what is ahead. He loves saying "hai meh?" ("really?") in various tones of speech: sarcastically, sincerely, comically. And he makes the hospitable aunties at our regular Chinese eatery laugh when he says "mmmm goy..." ("please" or "thank you") and "mai dan" ("check please").
"So who's your favourite actor so far?" I asked him last night.
Instead, we regularly scroll through the channel guide to record movies which we think may be interesting. If there is one improvement Astro could work on, it is to indicate the main cast of every movie in the write-ups. Only on weekend afternoons do we catch up on what had been recorded. If we can't sit through the first ten minutes, the movie is deleted. "Next!...."
I am so proud of the fact JL has watched all three parts of Infernal Affairs. And by the third installment, he was able to think like a Hong-Kong mafia boss and predict what is ahead. He loves saying "hai meh?" ("really?") in various tones of speech: sarcastically, sincerely, comically. And he makes the hospitable aunties at our regular Chinese eatery laugh when he says "mmmm goy..." ("please" or "thank you") and "mai dan" ("check please").
"So who's your favourite actor so far?" I asked him last night.
"Anthony Wong for a start. I think he's a good actor. Chow Yuen Fatt is not bad either."
That's my man. He has good taste. But before I could say anything...
"But I still prefer the girls lah!"
Oh gawd. But the funny thing is that he can't really name the girls because they all look alike. He only recognizes less than a handful like Cecilia Cheung, Sammi Cheng and Shu Qi. Oh yes, and the great Lydia Sum because she made him laugh along with Bill Tung.
We love to share our account of watching The Last Tycoon starring Chow Yuen Fatt and Huang Xiao Ming at GSC Pavilion some months back. In Malaysian cinemas, Hong Kong movies are shown in its original language (unlike in Singapore where it is all dubbed in Chinese, sometimes diminishing its comical or dramatic effects, a true example of lost in translation). And being multi-racial, or rather, not wanting to turn away its non-Cantonese-speaking audience, the movies have subtitles in Malay, Chinese and English, usually in this exact order top-down.
So when we bought the tickets for The Last Tycoon, we were assured that there will be subtitles in three languages. (Even though I am half-Cantonese, I can't understand 70% of what is spoken without referring to the subtitles.) Happily we went for lunch and looked forward to the movie, whose cinematography was really beautifully done, by the way.
Here's the thing about Malaysia: remember in one of my previous posts when we said in Malaysia, you don't get what you expect, but what you inspect? Well it happened that day. The movie did come with subtitles. Here's the problem: the audience couldn't see any, except the TOP-HALF of the Malay subtitles.
When I told my best friend about it, her first question was, "Which half-past-six cinema did you go?". Hey, Pavilion Golden Screen Cinemas, okay? We're not talking about the old Victory Theatre in Muar. *shakes head*
It turns out that the guy working in the projection room did not set the screen ratio correctly. So for the first fifteen minutes of the show, we were looking at probably 70% of the original screen size. Fortunately, one of the daddies among the forty-odd of us walked out seeking assistance. When he returned, two staff followed him and they radioed the projection guy.
The movie stopped. The projector screen started to widen and shorten vertically. We watched the movie from the beginning again. This time it was all good. But again, nobody thought beyond rectifying that particular situation. Because even before our movie ended, the audience for the next movie had started strolling in. What a laugh.
So there. A break from food-related posts. Malaysia goes to the polls tomorrow. Let's hope for a safer, cleaner tomorrow.
That's my man. He has good taste. But before I could say anything...
"But I still prefer the girls lah!"
Oh gawd. But the funny thing is that he can't really name the girls because they all look alike. He only recognizes less than a handful like Cecilia Cheung, Sammi Cheng and Shu Qi. Oh yes, and the great Lydia Sum because she made him laugh along with Bill Tung.
We love to share our account of watching The Last Tycoon starring Chow Yuen Fatt and Huang Xiao Ming at GSC Pavilion some months back. In Malaysian cinemas, Hong Kong movies are shown in its original language (unlike in Singapore where it is all dubbed in Chinese, sometimes diminishing its comical or dramatic effects, a true example of lost in translation). And being multi-racial, or rather, not wanting to turn away its non-Cantonese-speaking audience, the movies have subtitles in Malay, Chinese and English, usually in this exact order top-down.
So when we bought the tickets for The Last Tycoon, we were assured that there will be subtitles in three languages. (Even though I am half-Cantonese, I can't understand 70% of what is spoken without referring to the subtitles.) Happily we went for lunch and looked forward to the movie, whose cinematography was really beautifully done, by the way.
Here's the thing about Malaysia: remember in one of my previous posts when we said in Malaysia, you don't get what you expect, but what you inspect? Well it happened that day. The movie did come with subtitles. Here's the problem: the audience couldn't see any, except the TOP-HALF of the Malay subtitles.
When I told my best friend about it, her first question was, "Which half-past-six cinema did you go?". Hey, Pavilion Golden Screen Cinemas, okay? We're not talking about the old Victory Theatre in Muar. *shakes head*
It turns out that the guy working in the projection room did not set the screen ratio correctly. So for the first fifteen minutes of the show, we were looking at probably 70% of the original screen size. Fortunately, one of the daddies among the forty-odd of us walked out seeking assistance. When he returned, two staff followed him and they radioed the projection guy.
The movie stopped. The projector screen started to widen and shorten vertically. We watched the movie from the beginning again. This time it was all good. But again, nobody thought beyond rectifying that particular situation. Because even before our movie ended, the audience for the next movie had started strolling in. What a laugh.
So there. A break from food-related posts. Malaysia goes to the polls tomorrow. Let's hope for a safer, cleaner tomorrow.
