Watching out for the Watchmen

The top movie on my 'Must See Movies of 2009' is opening in 2 weeks time. After so much controversy and production hiccups, I'm glad DC finally gave the thumbs up to Zack Snyder to direct the screen version of the much-acclaimed comic that was first published in 1986. In my opinion, he did a fabulous job with 300, capturing that dark, enigmatic feel of the Spartans from Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name, and I'm confident he's capable of doing the same with Watchmen.

Check out the trailer below which almost made me soil my pants. My fanboy palms are sweating in anticipation. So exciting!!




The 12-issue comic series found crtical acclaim as it came during a time when American comics industry was facing an all time low since the 1950s anti-comics movement. Not only did it shatter all comic book superhero stereotypes, it was a political and social commentary touching on the uncertianties of the 1980s. Revisiting the plot now serves as a poignant and stark reminder of how things could have been and also how volatile things are in this crazy, callous world.

Read up on the Watchmen here before catching the movie so it doesn't spin you in circles.

I await with bated breath.

The world will look up and shout 'Save us!' And I'll whisper 'No.'

~ Rorschach

A-roi krub!

I've always been a sucker for Thai food. But it's hard to find really good, authentic Thai food in Singapore (we usually go to Ying Thai Palace at Purvis Street but they are quite pricey). The crap they serve at places like Baan Thai are what I term the 骗红毛 kind of fare you'd usually find littered around the island. They serve you that oily, red, just-spicy-and-not-much-else tom yum soup and they don't even have chicken feet salad on their menu.

Just yesterday, I had a sudden craving for tom yum soup. Too lazy to go out there and find a good one, we rummaged the fridge and realised that we had this tom yum kung soup package that we'd bought eons ago but never got around to cooking it. It came with all the necessary herbs, spices and sauces required to make ourselves a nice, steaming pot of that mouth-watering, sour and savoury broth. And we could add whatever we wanted! Lovely!

I prepared some prawns (the scrawny kind although the recipe on the pack called for king prawns), squid, some chicken and a whole lot of straw mushrooms. It was so convenient - just boil some water, throw in the mushrooms with Packet #1, bring to a boil, add Packet #2 and the rest of the ingredients, bring to boil again and add Packets #3, #4 and #5 before turning off the fire. That's it!

We were drooling by the time it was done as the fragance was overwhelming while the soup came to a boil. Slurp!

*Sorry, no pic of the final product since we were famished by the time the soup was done!*

Spritual surfing

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1

Faith is a peculiar thing. Just when you think you have it, it eludes you and starts whether or not God is indeed there. The Bible tells us He is always there, however our sin separates us. How then do we not sin? Is it even possible while we live in a fallen and sinful society, surrounded by secularity each day? The Bible tells us it is possible; ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me’ (Philippians 4:13). But in order to truly believe in that, we need to have faith.

Hence my dilemna. I seem to be caught in a vicious cycle. Every Sunday after a good praise and worship session or a good sermon, I feel ready to take on the world after being touched by the Holy Spirit. Somewhere along the way, just when I thought everything is going to be great, things just don't seem to go my way. So my faith gets zapped and begin to wonder if God is there. This feeling of hopelessness sometimes even carries into Sunday when we go to church, so while everyone is worshipping the Lord, I’m wondering about what is going on in my life and what God can do FOR ME. From there, my logic takes over and I begin to take things into my own hands, which of course ends up

Evertime I pray, God tells me to trust Him more. How do I trust Him if I don’t have faith? Faith comes from the Word of God, so the Bible says. But again, if I can’t even bring myself to sing a song of praise, how do I open up the Word of God to focus on what God is saying?

It’s a sucky feeling to have to go through this cycle over and over again. Each time I think I’m up there, I find myself down below again. Day in, day out I ride the tides of wavering faith.

I reckon what I’m going through now seems akin to surfing. You see a great wave, you think you can handle it so you swim out and take it on. Halfway through you get wiped out and you ask God ‘Where were You when I needed You?’ Then God picks you up and sends you out there. You get complacent and the whole cycle repeats itself. Bummer.

Maybe one day I’ll have enough material to write a book. It’ll be entitled ‘Spritual Surfing: Riding the Tides of Wavering Faith’ and go on to become a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. I’ll be filthy rich from royalties, get complacent and find myself back here again.