Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts

30 December 2021

《琅琊榜之风起长林》电视剧 - 观后感

今年由于疫情的缘故,比往年更时常呆在家里,又对韩剧觉得比较厌烦,就开始找多一些中文剧来看。

2015年播出的 《琅琊榜》已看了几遍我自己都算不清楚(连我的女儿都看了不少过五遍)。我便开始找第二部 《琅琊榜之风起长林》。第二部《琅琊榜之风起长林》(我是指电视剧的故事)虽没有第一部来得精彩,但是还是有一定的颜值。

   



我本人比较喜欢的几个地方: 

1. 仍有不少的武打场面
以《琅琊榜》为名的剧情怎么能少得了琅琊高手呢?武打场面还是蛮不错,尤其是萧平旌,荀飞盏的戏份。只是看完了还是有些地方觉得好奇:

一,荀飞盏既然是前朝禁军大统领蒙挚关门弟子,为何武功看似比较花俏,总是持剑,不像蒙挚那种 “少林俗家弟子,身负大力金刚功” 的 强硬大纲的风格呢?撇开他以禁军统领的身份持剑对敌吧。他在城外搭救平旌时对抗段桐舟,或者再后来在琅琊山上与平旌一教高下,每次都是用剑。 记忆里只有一场(在金陵)当街与萧平旌打架时,才单单以赤拳对打。

二,萧平旌在琅琊山上学艺,武功是跟谁学的?(电视剧中并没有交代,等我读完原著再看有没有解答)

三,蔺晨(第二部里的琅琊阁老阁主)继承琅琊阁后,为何会决定改动琅琊榜的入榜资格,凡介入朝局或领有朝职者将除名?(电视剧里没有明确地交代,且等我看完原著后来又没有提。)


2. 多了一些儿女情长的戏份
第一部《琅琊榜》电视剧虽然把穆霓凰和林殊年少时的婚约与爱慕感情改编的与原著小说不一样, 可是还是从头到尾只注重林殊为赤焰军翻案的大义主题。主角(梅长苏)和其他角色(萧景琰,萧景睿,谢弼)都没多少感情戏(剧里并没有带进谢弼与天泉山庄的亲事)。

第二部反而把每一位高手、主角都加了恋爱对象;萧平旌与林奚的 “父母之命”却也 “自然恋爱”, 萧平章与蒙浅雪的 “青梅竹马,世世代代都要做夫妻“。连大反派萧元启也似乎对荀安如动了真感情,莫要说荀飞盏对蒙浅雪的单恋。

平旌与林奚的感情戏随从头到尾都有,可是又不像一些无聊的电视剧,随着 ‘男见女-喜欢对方-相爱求婚-结婚生子’ 的步伐。 林奚虽然看似是个弱女子,可是还懂一些武功,可以独当一面担任济风堂少堂主,而且志在四方,自小立志学习神农氏尝遍百草、编写药谱。并向平旌表示:“我的心会等着你,但我的脚步不会为你停留。”

相反的,因为不同环境与原故,武艺高强的蒙浅雪却因从小收养于长林王妃身边,年少时由皇帝赐婚,成为长林府的世子妃。我总觉得林溪在认识世子妃和平旌后,一定不肯透露自己的身份,因为她不想被困在王府的“牢笼“ 里。


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简单说了喜欢的部分,现在提一下我本人不喜欢的部分

(无聊的)宫廷斗争
因为第二部宫廷里的反派真的描的太笨了。真不敢相信景琰会为他的儿子(萧歆)选这么迷信又没脑的荀氏皇后(这点应该是因为改编成电视剧的问题,有些细节没有办法完整的交代)小说里第九章有解释荀氏一族的来历,并交代武靖帝(萧景琰)对荀白水之父的恩信, 所以当时才会立荀白水之妹为东宫的太子妃。

墨淄侯
我应该说什么呢。。。鼎鼎大名的琅玡榜第一高手出手时,绝大部分就只是CG跳来跳去。。

好了,暂时就写到这。。。最近忙着工作 (年底到了,会计方面的好多事情还没做)没有这样多时间慢慢地阅读原著。等到农历新年到了才有比较多时间赶上阅读进度(我只读到第23章)

16 May 2021

Here we go again... Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) Starts 16 May 2021

 Just a post to mark another stay-at-home phase... what the government has termed "Phase 2 (Heightened Alert)".  Starting today, 16 May 2021, dining-in at all F&B outlets would be prohibited; permissible group sizes reduced from 5 to 2 etc etc.

As I went out to buy breakfast today, the streets and shops were significantly quieter. F&B establishments in the neighbourhood that were already operating then (8am in the heart of Singapore's CBD on a Sunday!) were already well-prepared. The usual dining tables and chairs were stacked neatly to one side of their premises; signages were up, next to the ubiquitous SafeEntry posters and temperature scanners at each shopfront. 

How about the supermarkets? I hadn't needed to make a grocery run to the supermarket since the announcement of this newest development on May 14, and neither did I bother to follow social media for photos and reports of what 'uncommon scenes' (i.e. long queues of kiasu customers) ensued as a result of the new restrictions. But the NTUC Fairprice supermarket was relatively quiet, just like any other Sunday morning. Perhaps we had already gotten used to the fact that this "roti-prata" way of relaxing-and-tightening-social-restrictions will be the new way of life, at least for now, for the upcoming many months ahead. Or maybe all the panic-buying and "just-one-last-visit-to-my favourite-bubble-tea-shop" chaos had ended without me realising. 

Thankfully, I happened to complete most of my weekly grocery-shopping at the wet market on Wed, just  days before the announcement. And since I always had my stash of frozen food, I had been cooking simple meals without having to replenish much. 

As I sat down at my computer to start this post, I was wondering "What will change?". Hopefully, I can learn from my mistakes from last year's Circuit-Breaker experience, not to let my guard down too much (and face a mountain of work-related backlog). It probably won't happen this time since my workplace isn't closed. I also made plans to really prepare more home-cooked meals this time round, rather than relying on the ready supply of instant food products and the yummilicious hawker food just nearby. 

I had also been trying to get Y to go out of the house more often (she was refusing to leave home except for school and weekly visits to grandparents') ever since we exited CB last year. And dangled some incentive carrot for her to do so, so I hope we will get down to doing some outdoor exercise (as a group of 2). Everything, anything to pry her away from her bed, mobile and computer playing Kpop idol music. haha. 


20 May 2020

Stay Home for Circuit Breaker 2020

So many resources had been shared online, for keeping the young ones entertained, educated(!?!) and occupied, and to fight off boredom for the seniors (and everyone else in-between!!!!)

Just compiling my own list here. Leave me a comment below if there are links that don't work, cos I don't visit all of them... You know, in between cooking almost 3 meals a day, marketing and household chores, screaming at the kid, trying to catch up on some of my work, and keeping myself sane with Korean shows... Heehee

General 

Read/Listen

  • Even before the Covid-19 situation hit, I have been a fan of the collection of e-books offered by the National Library Board, Singapore eResources platform. Just sign up for your 'myLibrary' account (if you are Singaporean or a NLB member), and you are set to read on a browser, or using the NLB mobile app, or download to read offline using the Overdrive or Libby app. See what you need here
  • Amazon Audible has made Stories free available online for kids, as long as schools are closed.

Teaching and Learning Resources

  • As part of a global initiative to support parents and educators through these times, Scholastic has been providing free access to digital resources which are developmentally-appropriate for children aged 4 to 15 years. 
  • Cambridge University Press has also stepped up to provide educators with resources to support the teaching and learning during the school closure period. 

Nature

  • Part of the #PlantOneOnMe series by the Gardens By the Bay, Singapore. This is a multi-episode series on tours in the Cloud Forest conservatory. We will be eagerly waiting for the day when they will be open again and we can actually use our membership...

The Arts 

  • #GalleryAnywhere gives you a daily dose of art from the comfort of your home. Presented by the National Gallery, Singapore.
  • The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. features two online exhibits through Google Arts & Culture. One features watercolour renderings on American fashion from the Index of American Design; whereas another is on Dutch masters of genre painting, or scenes of daily life. 

Performing Arts

  • Esplanade Offstage is provided for all to enjoy performing arts in Singapore and Asia. You can easily filter by your preferred form of performing arts, and enjoy one-stop page of links to their partners. Besides reading about artists, Offstage has also listed videos for us to enjoy the performances online via "The show goes on---line" since the national performing art's centre is closed.
  • Of course, not forgetting the weekly full-length broadcasts of famed musicals via the Youtube page The Shows Must Go On!. We enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera and Cats.
  • BroadwayHD is a subscription-based internet service that lets you watch musicals without getting to Broadway itself. It offers a free 7-day trial, so plan when there's a long weekend/holiday stretch coming up. 

Music 

Facebook live broadcasts are one of the ways musicians used to continue to showcase their craft.

History

  • This "Museum of the World" virtual museum tour of artifacts brought by the British Museum and the Google Cultural institute allows us to pick and choose the time period and cultural setting we want. 

Christianity-Methodist

  • Even as The Methodist Church in Singapore celebrates 135 years in Singapore this year, we are constrained by the ongoing Covid-19 situation to stay at home as much as possible. But that doesn't stop us from continuing to come together to pray and worship online as a community. I signed up to receive whatsapp updates to receive the daily prayer prompt on whatsapp. 

Entertainment

Of course, it has been almost impossible to get Y to guai guai complete the never-ending list of chores (cos she doesn't complete them) and assignments set. All she hankers for is for her own game apps and the Xiaomi phone we bought last year. We have been considering whether to get on the Netflix bandwagon after our Starhub contract ran out and we decided not to continue (we hardly sat down to watch anything at all, since we all had our own choices of entertainment on our phone/tablet/laptop/desktop anyway). So I started looking out to see if the Netflix offerings were suitable. Some links/lists here for those who already have a subscription include: 
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This post was first published on 20 May 2020. 

02 September 2019

Why I will start ranting

It has been a downward spiral for quite a while now, but I thought I would attempt to pen my thoughts and feelings down so that I have an outlet for myself.

The long-suffering hubs had been at the brunt of my rants for the past 4 years (that is if I count the official school-going/primary school years). Then, he was on a break in-between jobs. That was when Y was in the later half of her Kindergarten 2 year, and we had quite a fair bit of family time together. He found work to pay the bills later, and I started my obsession with monitoring Y's academics, you know, just like how everyone expects a SAHM to be doing. Y was well-trained by her pre-school teachers and was one of the darlings of her class, so we had enjoyable "teachable" moments for her first year of primary school. Plus, having both parents at home after you finish school at 1.30pm, makes it pretty hard to be "naughty". But even then, we had our fair share of days when voices were raised, crying sessions starts, time is spent persuading and reasoning with Y, and then repeat...

By the end of P2, Y had some unpleasant incidents in school, and started being a bit more withdrawn, less smiley and cheery. She did well enough at the end of P2 to get a bursary, so I thought I could let her be more independent in her own learning at home. The other reason was also because I was getting nowhere trying to coach her. She would chase me out of her room when I wanted to go through her academic materials with her, saying she will read/study on her own, and let me know when she needed help. But all she was doing was playing/reading comics in the comfort of her aircon room.

To cut a long story short (and also cos I'm not quite ready to share those dirty bits of laundry yet), we have come to the current situation where barbs are traded daily, and I find myself doing things I should't be doing, and hating myself after...I try to console myself by saying that it is the effect of nagging every day/hour/minute after mundane things Y does that get on my nerves; strewing dirty uniform/laundry over the house, uneaten recess/lunch contents not disposed off properly, taking 30-40min long showers, snacking while reading, bugging for electronics etc. But when I look back and think that these are the result of not building disciplined habits in her from young, I can only hang my head in shame.

But for the sake of my sanity, I will start ranting, so please bear with me.

22 February 2019

What should I say?

 Saw something a friend shared on Facebook that described fully the mixed emotions I have been feeling in recent months.



18 January 2010

CO Memories on (and from) Youtube

I was on facebook as usual today and saw a CO junior's status updates on Youtube videos on CO and lamentations on why there wasn't such stuff during our generation. She's two years younger than me, so I consider myself being of the 'same generation'. Haha. 


I thus continued to login to my Youtube account and decided to go through the videos and music pieces I had searched before. And of course, I had "favourited" two videos, which included me in the concert performance. That was during the DHSCO anniversary concert:《华夏情韵回顾30年》 or "Melodies of the Chinese Spirit - Recollections". The pieces played then weren't my most proud moments/best pieces, but ah well... better than nothing!