I've always held Keigo Higashino's books in high regard! The Devotion of Suspect X (go read it and thank me), the first book of his that I've read, became the yardstick for all other mystery/crime books. Reading Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series AFTER reading Higashino was probably one of the worst mistakes ever. Because after all the intelligent traps and killer plot twist from Suspect X, a gossipy old lady whose deductions seem to be painfully milked and concealed for suspense (not working) is really quite unexciting.
Ok I've never read her Hercule Poirot series, so perhaps my impression of her books are abit skewed. But to side track, I must say her masterpiece "And Then There Were None" is brilliant (even if there were too many main characters to take note of)
The mystery is exactly what the title suggests: only 10 people stranded on an island, all found murdered. The 10 Little Indian poem above (corrected version was soldiers) woven into the story gave it abit of creepiness too. EXCITING!
Anyway, Malice is his newest translated book and it costs $29.95?!?!?!
For a paperback?!?!?!
Of course I bought it still. Malice was written differently because the entire novel oscillates between first-person accounts of 2 people, the suspect Nonoguchi and Detective Kaga. I was quite blown away by how the accounts themselves serve to be both the story-teller and the evidence to the crime. Detective Kaga's own accounts become some sort like a balance pole that reminds you to maintain a more objective view, leading you to think logically by putting pieces of evidence together instead of believing whatever is seen (or read). His accounts are extremely factual, narrating what evidence there were and his opinions and hypothesis (not a surprise, because duh detective), but Higashino managed to humanise him by injecting Kaga's relevant past experiences and emotions.
I'm also very surprised how the murderer was actually revealed 3 chapters into the book (there were 9 in total). But of course it's suspicious how the murderer so easily resigned himself and provide his own account of the story, like he's so hasty to get arrested. In the end, many backstories are excavated and you realise that they form the underlying motive for murder.
"Your plan was unique. You had an entirely different goal in mind. You wanted to get arrested. You didn't care about committing the perfect crime. You wanted to establish the perfect motive"
"Yet who would suspect a killer of forging a vital piece of evidence indicating his own guilt of a crime? Truly, that was a brilliant stroke."
Anyway, I felt the translator would sometimes lapse into clumsy expressions. I didn't feel right reading them.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
I was extremely reluctant to catch this movie given that I'm not even halfway through Fellowship of the Ring and that I've not watched the 2 preceding movies. I'm actually still quite annoyed that I'm not reading AND watching in succession lol. To be honest I never thought I'll ever read or watch LOTR/Hobbit series because the plot seems terribly convoluted and contains too much fantasy (least favourite genre next to romance), but if the Harry Potter series could captivate me, then I don't see why I shouldn't try LOTR!
I was expecting abit more action from the titular Bilbo Baggins, because I thought it's called The Hobbit for a reason. Surprisingly, the entire movie instead revolved around Thorin's "dragon sickness" and his turning over a new leaf and his valiant showdown with the Orc leader (while the concussed Bilbo stays entirely out of the battle and therefore had extremely little screen time throughout the movie). Maybe it's because I've not gotten hang of how the Hobbit series goes or something??
The fact that I could fully comprehend the happenings in the movie made me feel that it was pretty much a "one-off" kinda movie despite it being the last of the trilogy. I was prepared to be completely lost with all those ridiculous sounding names (Thranduil, Saruman, Radagast, wth) and places of Middle Earth but I'm just thankful for the last minute research on the characters on the way to the cinema. Except for the beginning, when I couldn't decide whether who Bard was (I thought he was Thorin lol they looked the same: messy hair) and hence had to google abit on the plot. (Visual cues: Gandalf &/or Saruman = less magical Dumbledore, differentiate Hobbits from dwarves is to look at feet, Bard from Thorin, look for eyeliner)
I really like how the different races in the Hobbit and LOTR series have qualities characteristic to them. In the movie, those of dwarves are distinct, even though all the main 13 of them looked the same (beard, ugly braids). The Elves were lithe and lofty and are supposed to be perfect, shimmering in light and stuff in accordance to JRR Tolkien's description, but I thought Thrandiul had the air of Lucius Malfoy especially with his flawless platinum blonde hair.
The melee probably took up more than half of the movie and I got abit tired of all the sword wielding and killing UNTIL the part where Legolas the elf was saving Tauriel and slaying an Orc on the bridge. WOW so agile and good-looking! Another was Thorin's showdown with the Orc leader which led up to the dwarf's death (then Bilbo timely wakes up after being MIA for the entire battle).
I did abit of googling, and it turns out that the giant Eagles were actually considered one of the 5 armies, but I felt they were the game changer in the battle, characters Peter Jackson hastily inserted because he can't think of ways which an outnumbered patchwork army of dwarves and elves could save the day. It was honestly quite a terrible conclusion to the battle, with Eagles appearing miraculously out of the blue, swooping down to disarm the Orcs (not killing it though) and releasing the bear-guy. Perhaps it's my lack of familiarity with the entire LOTR and Hobbit series but I thought that part of the movie was weak. There was also a lack of explanation to what happened to the Arkenstone (what does it do actually??) and whose possession did it eventually come under. And the treasures that the Elves wanted, did they get it???
The movie gave me an incentive to continue reading my book so I can watch both series in order, but it wasn't really that fantastic either sad to say. So far I'm quite into the book and hopefully Fellowship doesn't disappoint!
Reverse-Bungy: Attempt 1
Hilda and I wanted to go on the G-Max Reverse Bungy at Clarke Quay on the eve of Christmas! The drizzle foiled our plans initially so we settled for a good dinner and the sky cleared up abit after that so we bought our tickets ONLY TO BE DENIED OUR TURN DUE TO A SAFETY CHECK. We waited close to 40 minutes for our turn, feeling so excited and nervous watching people being launched into the air, only to end up in disappointment. Tsk. We then settled for a good dinner.
"Wait, my fringe!!!" collage:
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| "Oh look, they are taking a photo! Let me very impolitely park myself in between them" |
Reverse-Bungy: Attempt 2
It was almost exactly like our first try, what with unforgiving weather and walks along Clarke Quay to kill time.
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| Post-ride |
The G-Max staff were quite funny, severely telling us that we weren't allowed to hold on to anything during the entire duration of the ride and we were actually quite gullible at first. There was NO COUNT DOWN to our blast-off so one of them kept on asking questions like "How long were you two friends for" and stuff to divert our attention but it did not work for we were/I was too fixated on the tightening elastic that holds the capsule. I was SO SCARED.
Stills from the video we bought:
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| Instant when we took off, lol |
^LEGS!!! The capsule was spinning and it was like we were about to be thrown off. You see how varying leg lengths determine the extent of knee-bending
Finally! An unforgettable way to almost conclude 2014! Next up is GX-5 Extreme Swing >:-)
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| Gratuitous photo to show off my phone camera and MIKA-designed watch |
Great to celebrate Christmas with them!
