Fortissimo

There it is. Again.

As I read Jafnie's and John Cheo's posts about their euphoria, it was as if my heart (not the physical one, the figurative one around the upper chest area) was suddenly drained, devoid of any feeling except a deep loneliness and an almost pensive sadness, recalling my own thoughts of never being able to feel with the group of actors who have grown so close to each other, or basically anyone from EL again. I could only imagine the madness that ran through their minds, buckling under the sheer weight of the word. GOLD!

I learnt the news that very night, Friday. I returned to my room after dinner to find an impatiently flashing message from Bertrand on my com.

'did you hear the news?'

'what'

'drama'

'so fast?'

'GOLD'
'and we got clean sweep'
'ALL FIVE GOLD'
'cultural groupie things'

'eh but i thought they say two weeks later'

'SHUT UP'
'GOLD'
'!!!!!!!!!!!'

'cool'
'but you're not pulling my leg are you'
'i'll bloody kill you'

'GOLD LALALALLALALALLAL'
'i'm like messaging koh now lah'

'ang will die miserably'

'go VS website urself'
'too tired to argue'

'oh okok'
'cool'

When it sank into me (it's quite a habit, bad or not I won't say, to not believe Bertrand until I see hard facts. Now it's gone into my subconscious, sheesh), the feeling was beautiful, like an erupting volcano, and I just yelled, 'WHOOOOOOAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!' as it flew out of me, eliciting a stare from my brother. And my mom looked from the other room and asked, 'Why, Renhao?' My brother, as usual, received the full impact of the shock (he's in Chinese High Drama and they prepared much more than us. Or at least a few weeks earlier, I forgot), and then masked his face, shook his head, and sighed, 'Gold only.' Talk about denial.They'll probably get an award too, the script was good.

And Ang will die, because EL is gonna demand a much much bigger budget for SYF. May I remind you that they merely received $1000 which they blew on a supposed theatre professional (ah it's somewhere below or in the archives lar. Go check it up yourself).

And moving on now to local news. I bought a complete set of magnets with all six Star Wars movie posters and another Episode 3 Mace Windu magnet (I actually like the violet lightsaber more than Samuel L Jackson, but he's a marvelous actor). From the movie memorabilia shop at the Esplanade Mall. It's really splendid, you should go there sometime. Second level, beside Chocz (chocolate coated strawberries ain't as licious as it looks). It has movie posters, big (check out the holographic Matrix code one) as well as standard B4 ones. Note though that these are promotional posters from Japan where it is normal practise to distribute them as teasers. As such you don't get 'Lilo & Stitch', but Japanese words in the same font. Not quite the same appeal. There are also the more familiar pocket calendars at $1 each. I finally got a picture of Jack Jack (from the Incredibles) on plastic-coated hard paper. They slip it in protective plastic when you make your purchase. And the magnets at $3 each, good selections from latest movies back to around the Harry Potter 3 period. And all the other stuff! Man...

Harry Potter
-life sized replicas of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's wands in velvet lined casing. Non working. ($90)
-life sized time-turner replica. Non working. ($150)
-mini (no actually tiny, considering the actual size) replica of Firebolt. No, it doesn't fly.
-figurines and normal souvenirs.

Lord of the Rings
-Bilbo/Frodo's sword replica
-another sword stuck in a stone that looks too long to be Frodo's
-the Ring normal, with inscription and chain ($15)
-the Ring in 24k gold and red coloured inscription of the curse with chain ($90). Non working.
-Figurines and souvenirs

Phantom of the Opera
-mini replica in what I suspect is wax of the Mask

Star Wars
-mini replicas of lightsaber handles of
~Luke Skywalker
~Mace Windu
~Obi-Wan Kenobi
~Darth Vader
~Darth Maul (half of his double blade)
~Count Dooku
($79.90) Non working.
-slightly-larger-than-life sized replica of Darth Vader's and Luke Skywalker's lightsaber. A large plastic tube which lights up in ascending motion (whatever you call it, the way the blade shoots up in the movies lah) as the blade when the switch is turned on. Corresponding sounds with motion sensor. ($240)

And these are only the really outstanding and expensive ones. There are much more to suit your fancy. Disney stuff too. So go check it out.

Speaking of which, in accordance to my parents wishes I have taken this time to do whatever I want at the Esplanade library, and shall stop visiting in view of my classes commencing soon. Quite coincidental that I borrowed Mozart's Requiem in D-minor on my final visit. Oh well, I get to go to the movie shop once more when I watch Butterfly on 6th May.