Masa: Steak and Hamburg

A little Japanese meat place in Robertson Quay that serves a very fine hamburg steak. Possibly one of the better ones in Singapore. Served sizzling hot on a mini hot plate and on a bed of sautéed onions the hamburg steak was soft and juicy with just enough pinkness in the centre to retain the beefiness. Served with a side of chips, 1 small broccoli and a cherry tomato which were mainly after-thoughts. The starter of yukke Masa style was delicious. The sweetness of raw beef with the slight tang of raw egg yolk and the fragrance of mildly roasted sesame seeds was a delight. Similarly the hot bowl garlic beef fried rice was wonderfully fragrant with generous amount of sliced beef and garlic and mixed long/short-grain rice. Not terribly expensive for the hamburg, but the other beef seemed a bit pricey.

Verdict: Good beef hangout that is atypical of the usual steakhouse.

Take Me Out

Richard Greenberg's Tony Award-winning, Pulitzer-nominated black comedy comes to Singapore. And it is rather surprising considering. Yes, there are homosexual themes and gratuitous male frontal nudity, but there was nothing overtly sexual involved. So, we should be thankful for small things that it even made it to our shores. But then again, the lacked of advertising may also have contributed to the barely half-full theatre on a Friday night. Pity. The other half of the theatre was missing out on a play that is still relevant to our times, even more so in Singapore, despite it being first staged in 2002. 

Superficially, this penis-fest - as the producer, Tim Garner, himself describes it - utilises baseball as a metaphor for Life and Religion, and Homosexuality as a surrogate for all social inequality; but on a deeper layer, it explores themes of bigotry, friendship and society's responsibility for its basest members. With an international cast, this rojak (is it a Singapore-production? Or a NZ production?) production had good actors (standouts included Hayden Tee, Chris Bucko, Tim Garner and Kynan Francis) and a good director (Peter Lucas). However, it was let down by poor lighting and, possibly, a lack of orchestrations (didn't Andrew Llyod Webber win a Drama Desk for this?). Lead actor, Juan Jackson, is a fine example of the male specimen, but at certain scenes his connection with his character's seemed very tenuous. The conundrum and emotional conflict that he should be experiencing was absent. Hayden Tee brought the most consistent laughters in his un-self-conscious, cheekily closeted flamboyance role. The words of Greenberg was smart and witty, double entendres aplenty but yet sharp, piercing and honest at times.  

Understanding a bit about baseball and the mentality of sports fans will definitely enhance the enjoyment of the play, but it's not really necessary. However, the total alienation of this particular sport to an average Singaporean may also have contributed to the poor attendance. Sure, the male nudity is there to titillate. but other than a small minority of the LGBT community, and an even smaller group of straight people, I doubt it really is that much of a draw (from a financial point of view).

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Artwork by:  Danish Ahmad

Martin Scorsese's latest epic is a 3-hour long comedic satire on (American) greed that is filled with sex, drugs, profanities, and more sex, but at least we get a fantastic Leonardo diCaprio, and a very adventurous Scorsese. Pity that it's censored (I think) in homophobic Singapore!

However, it also gives us one of Leonardo diCaprio's - Sorcese's muse - best performances since The Aviator and Revolutionary Road, and at times it seems to be an extension of his role in Django Unchained. It looks like diCaprio may have found himself a type for which he could really excel in: the exaggerated, larger-than-life, alpha-male. Although these kind of role is unlikely to give him the Oscar that he so craves.

In addition, in this film, we also get one of Scorcese's most adventurous directing ever. The camera swoops, swirls, swipes and the pacing is actually not too bad for a 179 minutes movie. It only felt draggy towards the end, last 30 minutes, and this is a great compliment to the skill of the director. It was wise of him to choose to make this more a comedy rather than a serious drama; with the laughters and absurdities as befitting a satire, the audience gets more easily distracted. Hence too the gratuitous nudity as well as the multiple drug-infused moments. But the downside is that, there is perhaps one too many broad comedy moments - slapstick schticks - that was too long. No surprise that almost all those scenes contained Jonah Hill in them (more on him later).

Terence Winter screenplay will too get a nomination come Oscar time, but as an adapted screenplay it lags behind John Ridley's 12 Years A Slave as it ultimately lacked heart. The monologues that diCaprio give were good, well written, but it was more effective because of diCaprio's delivery and Scorcese's directing than Winter's words. Also, the plot itself lost focus and got too saddled with the debauchery. The evolution of diCaprio's protagonist from the wide-eyed country boy to the foul-mouth, multi-addict, stockbroker just happened after a smoke in the back? Neither was there much actual depiction of the crime he was charged with. Perhaps that was also Scorcese's fault.

As aforementioned, diCaprio gave a great performance. You believed him as the naive young man that he is, and you believed him as the debauched, addicted, horn dog; you laugh at him, you pity him, you believe him and you envy him. Without a doubt, he is willing to go-ugly for a scene, and his comedic timing is actually quite good. Even in the dramatic moments, diCaprio has finally gotten the hang of expressing through subtlety. Scorcese really does bring out the best in him. At times he even reminds me of a young Jack Nicholson.

Jonah Hill is an annoyance. Throughout the film. I guess you really got to be a fan of his and his genre of comedy - broad, loud and borderline slapstick. In really small doses, he is tolerable, but when his scenes get extended, with way too much improvisations, it was painful and the movie just abruptly changed gear.

A brief word on Matthew McConaughey. Spotting likely his Dallas Buyers' Club weight-loss, McConaughey is on a career-renaissance. His brief spot is actually one of the most memorable scene of the movie. And no, there isn't any sex or toplessness scene involved. Only he could make that scene as effective as it is. (Can't wait for Dallas Buyers' Club)

Kyle Chandler is sure getting a lot of these small bit roles in big movie eh? At least he is still reliable and always give a good performance. Hope he breaks out soon!

Enjoy this movie as the twisted, cautionary morality satire on Greed that it is, but taking it more than that and you will see the flaws. One of the better films of 2013/14 and may just get a nomination for Best Film but more likely based on pedigree than pure substance.

Intelligence

Disclaimer: I have never watched Chuck before, although I do know of the similarities between these two shows. The clear draw of Intelligence would be in the main cast that they had assembled: Josh Holloway and Meghan Ory.

Pilot: A fairly interesting new addition by CBS to the multitude of procedurals that are out now, and this is clearly not going in the same comedic vein as Chuck did with a similar concept. Like all pilots, this one was exposition heavy, not only because the creators and producers have created a "new superpower" and now got to clearly define its powers and limits, but also because the setting is unique: US Cyber Command (and yes, it is a real thing). But as with all series these days, even procedurals, there has got to be an over-arching mythology that keeps its core audience reined in, and here we have "What happened to Amelia?". Welcome back to the small screen Sawyer! We have missed your smirks, thankfully this time round Josh Holloway is squaring off with an equally snarky and sassy Meghan Ory. These two have much better chemistry than Sawyer and Kate, and this first 42 minutes have clearly set their relationship boundaries and given them both a simple complexity in characterisation that should nicely continue on. Here's hoping that these two are more like Elementary's Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, or Sleepy Hollow's Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie, than one of the many recent failed pairings which got so boring quickly (here's looking at you The Blacklist). Marg Helgenberger's role is a lot like her ex-colleague Laurence Fishburne's in Hannibal, in that they both are superiors to the series' protagonist and serve as exposition and narrative tool with possibly some secret lurking in the back, waiting to pop up during Sweeps. And like Hannibal, there is a fair bit of FX-heavy evidence rendering, though here, Hugh Dancy triumph over Holloway in the acting department. The actual storyline in the pilot is predictable and derivative, so the story has got to get a lot better. Even the ending was expected. That has got to improve to keep the audience tuned in. As for procedurals go, this has the potential to be more fun like Alias than straight-laced and boring, IMO, like Persons of Interest.

Episode 2, "Red X": Now that was fast! Way to hook the audience but sadly the ending just missed the mark. Did not expect to actually see Gabriel's wife in the second act, much less so have Gabriel meet her face-to-face. And then that outcome...let's just say without a body, I think Zuleikha Robinson will still make more appearances in the future. If that is the end of the "mythology" then the creators got to quickly come up with another good one. Although it seems this may just all me a ploy that Lillian is orchestrating. Let's hope the next episode can hook us in some more, because just relying on the chemistry between the two leads, and gratuitous Sawyer topless scenes, are not enough to sustain a loyal audience. Elementary has its Moriarty and Sleepy Hollow has Katrina. Also, the scenes where Gabriel is using his "superpowers" are ridiculous with everybody standing around, and so far there is nothing really "super" about his "superpowers". A hacker could do most of what he has done so far.

Episode 3, "Mei Chen Returns": The exposition-credits are here to start. How annoying. The main attraction so far remains the chemistry between Ory and Holloway, but that can only last so far as the plot continues to evolve and other sources of drama intervenes. The wife-thingy could had been so much more, even if she remained dead, there could have been so much more drama to be had from a widower's grief, but instead, with just a few words from Red Riding Hood and the Axe-man is back in the game.

Episode 4 - 6: These few episodes have confirmed that the show is riding on the chemistry of its two leads, and I sure hope they keep it platonic. They have to re-introduce the wife again. Helgenberger is getting interesting, and there seems to be a trace of the start of some sort of intelligence arc as the show finds it footing.

Whole Earth

You know you are in a rather authentic vegetarian restaurant when the table next to you is a whole group of monks. On a weekday lunch, it was quite full with mainly an office crowd. Parking can be quite challenging at Tanjong but there are a number of public car parks in that area. The restaurant itself is pleasant enough and the wait staff were polite and quite responsive. They actually offered you the snacks (preserved vegetables and fried seaweed/tofu skin) before plopping it on the table ($2/plate). The main focus is of course the food. Started off with the Imperial Beauty Soup which was well brewed and very sweet, with the sweetness coming from the papayas and red dates. Although the mock abalone and sharksfin was rather extraneous. The fried olive brown rice was a standout, if only just a tad oily. The olive masked the organic taste of brown rice and actually gives it a rather distinctive flavour. The teriyaki monkeyhead mushroom was a conundrum. The vegetables that came with it was fresh and well stir-fried, however, they chose to serve the monkeyhead in small chunks and deep fried, rather than the whole bullous head. The result is that the meaty-taste of a delicious monkeyhead is lost within the crunch and overpowered by the teriyaki. Although when dipped in the sambal (which must be asked for) does bring out more taste. The sambal too does wonders for the olive rice. The cabbage roll with spinach sauce was alright. Nothing too wondrous, but similarly, the ingredients were fresh and the spinach sauce does give it that additional rather irony taste. Dessert was the golden pumpkin with black glutinous rice and coconut milk which was a decent end that was not too sweet or cloying. The portions here are rather big, and each order is good for 3 - 4 persons. However, the downside of this place is the price which ended being a bit on the pricey side, especially if you go in with the idea that it's just vegetables. But, for a decent, authentic vegetarian restaurant that serves tasty and good food, the price is only slightly pricey.

Update (19 Feb 2014): Now they are charging 30 cents for water. This is going against my personal belief. 

Verdict: Will come back when I really feel like going vegetarian or if I have got vegetarian guests to entertain; charging for water is a turn-off. 

Frozen

Disclaimer: Expectations were a bit high for this movie since I am watching it rather later since its premiere, and the movie has been en massing a very respectable box-office receipt since then.

A feel-good, child-friendly, typical Disney animation that is just slightly above average. It does not break any new ground in terms of story line or animation. Actually, the latter was rather bland considering the potential that laid in snow and ice animation. Was not wowed by the ice-castles, perhaps would have been in 3D? A braver and more daring company, think the old Pixar or the old Dreamworks, would have embraced the darker aspect of Hans Christian Andersen's source material and even perhaps give it a more sweeping and epic plot. It also lacked the witticisms that made "Tangled" a standout. Then again, since the primary target audience are children, what we have left here is definitely aimed squarely at them. One day, maybe Hollywood would give us a more adult-friendly cartoon (like the brilliant animes from Japan).

The best thing about "Frozen"  is the sure to be nominated for Best Song in the Oscars, and most likely to win it, "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel and the excellent voice cast assembled by Disney. Who knew Kirstin Bell had such a lovely singing voice? It seems that singing is getting to be a very valuable commodity for an actor these days. However, it is a serious crime when you have in your stable, two Broadway belters but are grossly under-utilising them. Jonathan Groff does not sing in his role, instead we have the competent Santino Fontana duet-ing with Bell, and Menzel only have that one title song (at least it's a show stopper of a number) and a small duet with Bell. A powerhouse duet between Groff and Menzel, perhaps on love lost and being alone, would have surely brought the house down.

The short film before the movie perhaps would have given me a clue to the main movie after it, a modern classic story but without no discernible improvements added in the flourishes.

Stay tune for a cute end-credits. 3D may have enhanced some of the sequences. If for children a sure winner, but for adults, a pleasant way to spend almost 2 hours.

Papasan

Based in the new Dorsett Residences at the corner of Cantonment and Eu Tong Seng, this new restaurant headed by Chef Han was doing rather good business, especially for its buffet, when I was there on a weekend lunch. Looking through the menu, the a la carte signature western dishes were clearly not cheap. But since Chef Han is known for his chicken rice, that was what I ordered. Sadly, the chicken rice was at best mediocre. The chicken itself was tasteless and the sauce just did not enhance the flavour, and most importantly the rice lacked the fragrance and intensity of good chicken rice. Coupled with a small plate of vegetables and a soup, and at the total cost of $16.50, this meal was not really worth it despite the air-con environment, comfortable chairs and free water. 

Verdict: Won't be coming back again.