celes' space: September 2007

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Lantern Festival - Chinatown Part II

..experimenting with channels. nudged the red and green channels then filled the blue channel with black.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Lantern Festival 2007, Chinatown

"The celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival is a Chinese traditional where families gather for reunions at a time when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, enjoying mooncakes and pamelos with a cup of fragrant tea. The Festival celebrates the legend of Chang Er, the lady of the Moon, who is believed to have floated to the moon after swallowing the elixir of eternal life. From 8th – 30th September, colourful lanterns will frame the streets of Chinatown and Singapore River, complemented by spectacular festive lighting and street bazaars."

(text lifted from SingaporeSights.com)

Vivo City

vivo city curves

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Tiong Bahru

catnap

psb academy

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Untitled I

believe it or not, this was taken using a phone camera.

photography originally uploaded by *helmen.

The Dark Knight

click the logo for the teaser. :D

Labrador Park

"Labrador Park is an oasis of tranquility and natural wonder. The park offers a picturesque view of the sea. A staircase built on the edge of the secondary forest will offer a prime view of the cliff side vegetation coupled with a panoramic view of the sea. It is not uncommon to hear songs sung by a variety of bird species, including the Oriental Magpie-robin and Black-naped Oriole... Walk along the Promenade to the soothing sound of the waves and watch cruise ships sail past Sentosa Island. A recently refurnished jetty will take the visitor into the sea to enjoy a breathtaking view of the sunset. If fishing is your cup of tea, join the regular group of anglers at the sea walk along the promenade. . "

-From the Singapore National Parks website

Friday, September 21, 2007

Autumn at St. Basil's

Movie Review: Ratatouille and Azur Et Asmar

It has been a long time since I wrote some movie reviews..

To catch up I'm comparing two animated films that I have just seen the past few days.

One is the more commercially successful Ratatouille, and the other less-heard but highly acclaimed Azur Et Asmar.

Commercialism notwithstanding, both movies were great. Ratatouille is now my favorite Pixar film, a much needed rebound from the less than appealing Cars. What's not to like..? With this film Pixar has not only reclaimed its title as the CG studio to beat, it has also elevated itself in the realm of the real Walt Disney classics. It is a when-you-wish-upon-a-star-your-dreams-come-true revisited, redefined as anyone-can-cook (or anyone-can-____ for that matter).

Today was the last day of showing the film in Singapore - so I had to catch it in the big screen. Azur et Asmar was a good film! While Hollywood studios jump into the CG bandwagon trying to achieve realism as much as possible (evidenced with that upcoming ridiculous Beowulf movie), Michel Ocelot (the director) has stuck with his trademark 2D graphical style. While the plain 2D artwork and occasional flat-shaded 3D elements were present in this film, it was done in such style and great artistry that the scenes depict some sort of a Klimt carnival. And the movie goes beyond its aesthetics - the story itself was full of positive values (from Variety: "..a modern, liberal sensibility informs story's plea for racial and religious tolerance, respect for women, and the virtues of cooperation and good manners."). The film ran with French and Arabic dialogue, but only the French parts were subtitled. Even so, the movie was intelligible during the Arabic parts, most of which had good humor (or so the audience felt). Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki's animation studio) acquired the film's distribution rights.

Can't wait to see more of this sort of animated stuff.. Possibly Tales from Earthsea..