Happy Halloween!

Death Star, Gollum or Enterprise pumpkins, anyone?






There's even one for Obama!

See Fantasy Pumpkins for carving tips and more ideas.

Sigh, miss the US, esp. in fall - hubby is off on a solo trip this time....

Chronicles of Narnia

Thanks to a friend's referral, I can finally read CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia online, illustrated and free! As a big Tolkien fan growing up, Narnia never quite grabbed my imagination as Middle Earth did. To be fair, although the first two movies were box office successes, they didn't quite do the original books justice -- much like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and other popular children's film adaptations. It'd be good to revisit Aslan's world with my (somewhat) older lenses.

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog

Good things can come out of strikes!

If you're looking for a good laugh, don't miss this quirky 3-part online musical series about "a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to." The talented brothers Joss, Zack and Jed Whedon and Jed's fiancee created and independently produced this during the WGA strike last year.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.), Nathan Fillion (Firefly/Serenity) and Felicia Day. The series is streaming LIVE and FREE right now on Drhorrible.com till midnight Sunday July 20th (I assume that's US PST). Of course, money will be made through sales of downloads via iTunes, CDs, DVDs (with extras), comics and other tie-ins.

Read more here and here ... and here's the trailer:

Does faith have space in science fiction?

As a person of faith who's also an unabashed science fiction and fantasy fan, my interest was piqued by this recent article on God Is My Co-Pilot which looks at how scifi addresses religious issues.

Despite a recent trend toward secularism, God is still front and center in the ages old debate between science and religion. There is a popular misconception that a great divide exists between science and religion. In fact, science-fiction has always tackled religious themes — many times, quite overtly. While the trend recently has seemed to tip slightly in favor of the secular persuasion, God is making a strong comeback... [Battlestar] Galactica’s trip down the path certainly isn’t new in either the realm of science-fiction or television, but given the current climate and trends toward secularism, I find it refreshing. It does represent somewhat of a radical departure from recent, overt attempts of the popular media to avoid religious issues, let alone religious controversy.

While the article's main pro-religious example is the reimagined BSG series, it makes two major omissions. In the scifi genre, Star Trek is a classic example of an intentionally secular series, where most - if any - religious references and beliefs were "alien" in nature, and humanity or science usually prevailed over any higher power. This was largely due to Gene Roddenberry's own atheism, and remained consistent, with few variations on the theme, throughout the various spin-offs. Conversely, Babylon 5 which was created and for the most part written by JM Straczynski (coincidentally another atheist, but raised Catholic), was remarkably open and pluralistic about religion, and far more "ambiguous" in addressing the science vs faith debate.

My own preference for faith in scifi is somewhat in between. I'm drawn to allegories - sans any heavy handed preaching - where spiritual elements are woven throughout the hero's (or heroes') journey of self discovery, often fraught with sacrifice, betrayal, love, war, doubt and eventually, belief. In a similar vein, writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, George Lucas and Eric Kripke have also cited Joseph Campbell's universal journey of the hero across multiple mythologies as key influences on their respective works. This is what attracts me to shows like Star Wars, Supernatural, BSG and to some extent, Stargate and Heroes; ancient mythology and more modern classics by CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Madeleine L'Engle, and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Piers Anthony's Adept and Stephen King's Gunslinger series.

If you're a Supernatural fan, read more here!.

When everything goes wrong, like if your whole life falls apart - then you've gone KABLUEY!

"Everyone has a black sheep in the family. This one is blue."

Kabluey is out! A fun, well received indie comedy by Scott Prendergast about a hapless brother helping his sister care for her two boys in Austin, TX (there's an inside joke here for those who know). Check it out if you live in New York City, Austin, San Francisco or Los Angeles ... or wait patiently ;). Happy 4th of July!

2008 SyFy Genre Awards

Here they are, the 2008 SyFy Genre Awards nominees! You'll be able to vote for your favorites once a day between June 25, 2008 and July 25, 2008 at www.SyFyPortal.com. All clips are owned by the companies and people who created them, and we only claim ownership on what we made.

Celebrate Pangea Day

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.

Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.

Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.

The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person's eyes.

The program will also include a number of exceptional speakers and musical performers. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among those taking part.

In 2006, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim won the TED Prize, an annual award granted at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference. She was granted $100,000, and more important, a wish to change the world. Her wish was to create a day in which the world came together through film. Pangea Day grew out of that wish.

Learn more about Pangea Day here.

100 to 1 top movie lines

Check out this video! How's that for user generated content, eh?



Curious where the lines come from? The reference list is right here.

The new sci-fi

"Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible." - Rod Serling, creator, The Twilight Zone

This article in The Guardian discusses the reversal of fortune for sci-fi since the days of classic Star Trek, Doctor Who and Star Wars, to today's prime-time network hits: Lost, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica. Here's what it says about this (r)evolution:

For starters, the advances in CGI and the relative inexpense of creating it for the small screen has meant that sci-fi and fantasy have become more believable and spectacular.... Meanwhile, in a world in peril, we look to the fantastic for succour. The fin de siècle feeling that pervaded culture at the end of the 19th century, when the end was thought to be nigh, produced a burst of enduring science fiction and fantasy literature.... [Heroes' Tim] Kring points out that heroes emerge in popular culture at times of crisis in the real world: Superman, for example, was born from the depths of the Depression. As Doctor Who supremo Russell T Davies notes, albeit while emphasising the optimism of his own show: "We live in a time of terror." [BSG's Ron] Moore says: "The show is a prism through which we explore themes and situations that are relevant now."

Of course, for fans, sci-fi and fantasy were never genres that we "grew out" of but rather stuff that the rest of the world has finally learnt to appreciate. About time!

What SF&F shows am I watching? Check them out here.

Balancing star power with politics and fun

To me, good entertainment stretches the imagination and even tactfully raises socially relevant issues. As for actors, the ones that stand out not only excel as entertainers, but are self-aware and committed to both their families and craft.

No surprise then that I'm a huge supporter of movies such as Hotel Rwanda and The Constant Gardener ... apart from our sci-fi and action collections, of course ;). "Stars" like The Dixie Chicks, Bono and Angelina Jolie are also some of my favourite celebrities because of their willingness to lend their support for great causes.

That said, being in the spotlight isn't enough. It takes subtlety, humility, skill and effort to pull this off right. A recent American Chronicles article discusses how "a star's political views, or how they go about expressing those views, can quickly distinguish the light that allows a star to shine on worthy causes," constrasting the successes of Hotel Rwanda and Blood Diamond with that of Syriana and Babel.

The author also wrote a fun premise on the next action hero which sci-fi fans, esp. those who watch Stargate and Farscape, would appreciate. Read some excerpts here.

Keeping entertained

It's been a quiet blogging month as I've been travelling around Asia for business. Have one final visit to go before I'm hopefully more Singapore bound in April. All in all, I had more productive planning sessions than I expected, am chronically sleep deprived, gained loads of frequent flyer miles, decided that flying from India to Australia to the Philippines within a week was not the greatest idea (duh), and stopped snapping my hotel or office views, because they started to look the same after the 4th city.

Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines showed its April KrisWorld selection one week early! I'd exhausted my in-flight movie and TV pilot options after 50+ hours of consecutive flight time, but then along comes Blood Diamond, The Departed, Pan's Labyrinth, Three Dollars, and reruns of Rocky Balboa, Casino Royale and Night in the Museum, among others. Too bad I've only one country left to visit!

Back at home, I realized I have NO TV SHOWS left to watch as everything I follow is either on hiatus or cancelled these days (!). Anyone have good suggestions? Just for laughs, I wrote an ode to my favourite TV shows back in my geek blog here.

Perhaps it's time to do those "social" things I've been putting off, eh?

When interests and work collide

I'm happy to share that we (my firm) clinched a coveted TV commercial spot with Star World Asia, bookending none other than my all time fave show, Heroes!

Well, the investment paid off in leaps and bounds (not that this Heroes fan was surprised). Heroes premiered across all of Star World Asia channels this past Wednesday (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand). At least in Singapore, it topped the top 10 list (appearing twice, in fact), with their initial 9p airing followed by the 12:30a repeat. Don't miss more repeats (and the accompanying TV ads ;) on Saturdays at 7p and Sundays at 2p. For those of you without cable in Singapore, I hear Channel 5 plans to pick it up sometime this year too.

More international Heroes broadcast updates found here, while spoilery previews and speculative ramblings are in my geek blog here.

Our Asian heroes

Looking back at 2006, there's much for Asians to be proud of. As long as we don't let success get to our heads, 2007 looks promising!

Not only did we survive countless natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes) this year, several individuals also gained prominence in the global arena. Mohammad Yunus became the first businessman to win the coveted Nobel Prize for Peace for his pioneering efforts with Grameen Bank in microcredit. Ban Ki-Moon was sworn in as the next United Nations Secretary General (apparently with a healthy dose of humour) at a critical time when the UN needs to restore trust, rebuild its image and regain some semblance of authority. Upon successfully combating the SARS and bird flu epidemic, Margaret Chan was elected as the next Director-General of the World Health Organization with a renewed focus on health in Africa and women's health.

Coincidentally, TIME just published a special feature on 60 Years of Asian Heroes (see below). Check it out for familiar and maybe new Asians who've made their mark as nation builders, artists and thinkers, business leaders, artists and explorers, and overall inspirations. Is there anyone not on the list who should be?

Asians are making waves in Hollywood as well. Ang Lee became the first Asian to win a Best Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain, a film which transcended myriad cultural and social boundaries. Don't forget the outstanding quintet of Asian actresses - Sandra Oh, Lucy Liu, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh. Then there's Yul Kwon (click L photo below for Entertainment Weekly's interview), the Stanford/Yale/McKinsey alum, who won over viewers, critics and the castaways of Survivor: Cook Island - and rising star Masi Oka (click on R photo below for New York Times feature), a TIME Asian American whiz kid, who secured a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination for his work in the hit new TV series Heroes. See these LJ tags for more of my thoughts on Survivor and Heroes.

We've heard about Yao Ming, Tiger Woods, Se Ri Pak and Fu Mingxia - all leaders in their respective sports fields. This year, younger athletes have emerged as their proteges such as Grace Park who drove the Asian golfers to victory (see below) over the International Team led by Annika Sorenstam at Singapore's recent 2006 Lexus Cup. And lastly, there's my personal heroine from my hometown and favourite sport: Nicol David, the world #1 women's squash player who together with compatriot Ong Beng Hee (also a Penangite) swept the squash gold medals at the 15th Doha Asian Games.

Addicted to Heroes

While skyping a friend in NYC today, I realized that I haven't blogged here in a while. Real life has been pretty predictable (job interviews - which are now officially over, in-law visits, birthdays, weddings, parties and the occasional outings). But the main reason why I've evidently forsaken you all for my Live Journal geeks is because a certain TV series called Heroes has eaten my brain. If you've not seen it on NBC, SciFi or Global TV, check it out! (If you don't have access, let me know). Both the hubby and I are hooked and think it's one of the best new TV series this season - certainly better than the local programming via Starhub. BTW, if you're already a fan, come join our discussion over here.

Update: And evidently, the media critics agree! Heroes - in the middle of its first season - is already up for several awards and nominations from the Golden Globes, Writers Guild Association and American Film Institute. See more details here.

Here's an introductory trailer:

The Heroes premise is an age old one: "What if, in times of profound global duress, Mother Nature created new forms of life to deal with it?" Each episode this season tracks how ordinary folks around the world discover and learn to control their unique gifts. While it's a serialized drama with supernatural elements (think Lost, X-Men or the 4400), what sets it apart are the ways in which each character is introduced and how the plot unravels when their stories unfold and cross. In Heroes, there are no black and white characters or easy decisions, and I found the end result endearingly real, fresh and fun. The proof is in the numbers: Heroes has raked in 15-16 million viewers each week, making it the most watched new TV show among all the US networks since its premiere. Broadcast rights will no doubt be snapped up by global networks before the first season is over, if the BBC's latest move is any indication.

Just a lot of hot air?

I consider myself pretty environmentally conscious, though I'm no green thumb (my track record with house plants is literally to die for). I love the outdoors, studied geology and chemistry for fun, spent a summer investing in renewable energy projects with the World Bank, and even married a guy who's obsessed with aquatic wildlife (esp. those jellyfish in the Monterey Bay Aquarium), avidly watches Animal Planet, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel (aside from ESPN), and is more anti-sharks fin soup than I am.

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

I finally caught An Inconvenient Truth last night, Al Gore's global warming documentary jointly presented by Paramount and Participant Productions, Jeff Skoll's socially-relevant film company. If you haven't seen it, check it out. You may have doubts but at least you'll be a better informed global citizen and take heed when climate changes - causing devastating hurricanes, heatwaves, infectious diseases, wildfire - leave tangible, personal consequences.

What's the fuss about: Global Warming 101 for dummies


Who's to blame: A CSI on the PSI
We had one the worst hazes in Southeast Asia this year since 1997 - which was ironically when I wrote my first environmental news report in college. As with the haze and all bad incidences due to unsustainable development, guilt is often (wrongfully) assigned to:
Suspect 1: Demographics (Developing countries)
Suspect 2: Technology (Developed countries)
Suspect 3: Economics (Multinational corporations)

"Political will is a renewable resource" - Al Gore
Could the real culprit and the solution lie in politics?

What can you do?
Both individuals (the people) and governments have roles to play. Consider the actions listed in this link or in the clip below: