This week, I decided to watch Netflix’s 6 Underground. Now, why haven’t I watched this earlier?
click here to read my review…. hopefully no spoilersMovie Review: 6 Underground
Author Archives: thesitineversleeps
Movie Review: Boy Erased
Sadly, I did not manage to catch any of the movies that’s released this week because real life calls. So, whenever that happens, I turned to Netflix, which is a good alternative. It does have a wide variety of dramas and films to watch and sometimes, really good ones that we did not catch on before.
And one of those movies is Boy Erased.
Now, I’m no Christian so whenever I do watch this kind of movies, I detach myself and try to watch it with an open mind.
click here to read my reviewMovie Review: λ°±λμ° Ashfall
So, it’s been a while… I’m not very good at keeping this blog alive. I will also not make any promises this time to say that I will try to keep the posts coming in. But I do miss watching movies and writing and I thought I should start back on my hobby in 2020.
The first movie I decided to watch out of all the movies that came out on Thursday in Singapore is Ashfall or the Korean name is λ°±λμ°, which is literally translated as Baekdu Mountain. It still exists today and is actually an active volcano sitting at the border of China and North Korea. Last eruption was in 1903. With climate change, who knows when it will erupt but that’s where the movie comes in…
click here for the review (no spoilers)Movie Review: Swing Kids
I am back! I know, I know… quite a long hiatus I did. I guess Siti never sleeps indeed slept. And I have no excuse at all. I did not watch as many movies as I used to and even when I did, I did not do any reviews as I had no motivation at all.
Well, this year, I decided I should go back to doing my one movie a week and back into writing, which I miss so much. I wanted to watch The Mule last week but I was meh about it. And I’m glad. Because I chose Swing Kids as the first movie to watch in 2019 and… it’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my entire almost-35 years of my life. Truly.
Click here for review…Movie Review: KL Special Force
Sometimes, I wonder why I do not watch Malay movies.
After watching KL Special Force with my mom in the theatres, I know why.
Movie Review: First They Killed My Father
I came across this movie by chance on Netflix while I was bored wondering what to do. I read the synopsis and thought it looked interesting.
It was directed by Angelina Jolie so you know itβs going to be some film festival worthy sort of movie and I was right.
Movie Review: Call Me By Your Name
This movie is a long-time coming. When I read the book many years ago, I thought to myself that it could be made into a movie, partly because the story-telling was beautiful. The way Andre Aciman described every detail is how I wish I could write. I don’t have that much talent, except writing reviews, I guess.
When I heard that this movie was coming out, no pun ever intended there, I was partly excited but also nervous at the same time. How are they going to put into life what Andre Aciman has so beautifully written on paper?
Call Me By Your Name, the movie, does not disappoint.
Movie Review: The Greatest Showman
So, last week I watched The Greatest Showman after so many people recommended it to me. They were all praising heaps on it and so I thought why not I watch to find out what they were raving about.
I probably should have lowered my expectations.
Book Review: Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Before I bought the book, I heard a lot of it. I mean, in terms of it being adapted into a Hollywood movie and it’s all going to be filled with Asian actors and was shot in Singapore – that part of it.
I thought: “Oh, that’s cool! I should read the book before the movie releases then.”
I should not have done that. Why did I waste SGD 27.77 for this book?
10 pages in and I was bored but I thought, maybe it’s not that bad and I should give it a chance.
28 pages in and I actually sighed in the middle of my train ride to work and rolled my eyes, really rolled my eyes.
I am fine with tiny annotations at the bottom explaining the Singlish, Hokkien, Cantonese and Malay terms mentioned in the book. Totally fine with foreigners who read the book and give them a slight taste of Singapore culture.
But what I’m not fine with is butchering my ethnic language – Malay. The author butchered it.
28 pages in and I saw the word “ta pah kay”. I thought: “Hmm… is it a Hokkien or Cantonese word?” So I went and read the annotation at the bottom: “Malay for ‘not accurate'”. I was suddenly hit with a possible ethnicity crisis. I am born Malay, talk in Malay language for 33 years of my life, worked as a Malay language translator for 4.5 years out of 12 years of my working life, scored a distinction in Malay language and never have I came across the word “ta pah kay”.
So, I re-read the statement in the book “Daisy, your information is always ta pah kay.” I went through it over and over in my head and I realized the author is trying to say “Daisy, your information is always tak boleh pakai.” Malays would use this to let someone know that their words are not useful and/or not trustworthy. “Tidak boleh pakai” is more grammatically proper. “Tak boleh pakai” is words used in everyday conversations. It could also mean not able to wear something. For example: “Baju ini tidak boleh pakai lagi” – “This clothes cannot be worn any longer”. “Ta pah kay”, on the other hand, is a Singlish term used by literally anyone and everyone who is born and bred in Singapore and/or lived here for so long and used Singlish like it’s their second skin. It’s Singlish. Not Malay.
What irks me and made me stop reading the book and put it into my “We are never ever ever getting back together” book bin is that the author did not even show any effort in trying to find out the correct Malay term for it and just plainly and falsely put the information that it’s a Malay word for everyone to read. Foreigners would think that’s a Malay word and will go to Malaysia or Singapore and say the word and will be hit with confused Malays.
Apart from that, the writing is quite slipshod. I was not enticed to read further and seeing the above made me give up completely.
Whether I would give the movie a chance is another question. After the book, I’m not so sure.
Book Review: The Devotion of Suspect X
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was one of the books recommended by Kai (or Kim Jongin) from EXO and I decided to give it a shot. I didn’t regret the decision at all. I can’t read Japanese so I have no idea how it is in its original form but I’m pretty sure the translated version still keeps the essence of it. In the first few pages, it’s a little slow and draggy – it feels like I was reading an anime/manga but with no pictures or artistic impressions of it. But it picks up pace later on and I lost sleep just trying to finish a chapter or two. As someone who does love crime thriller books, it is right up my alley. I understand why it has a cult following in Japan.
This Siti Never Sleeps At Night 