Dim Sum Magic. The Phoenix Dies.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the movie was such a yawn. The script was boring, bogged down by way too much dialogue and slow pacing. It felt longer than it's 2.15 hours .... throughout the movie, people were obviously restless, there were plenty movements in the packed out theatre seats. If it wasn't for the fact it was THE legendary Harry Potter movie, reckon people would've walked out. I thought the last movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was bad, this one was worse. Perhaps the worst in the entire movie series. I could not yawn any more hehe

Won't dignify J K Rowling if I compare the movie to the wonderful books ... although Order of the Phoenix is one of her weaker books in the series. Still, like Anie Ben Dangles says, the Pen is Mightier :)

Only Alfonso Cuaron's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is to me, the best of the movies. Loved the scene of the Dementor sucking the life and happiness of Harry in the Hogwarts train. Sheer creepiness. A wonderful piece of movie magic.

Wonder how The Kite Runner and The Golden Compass would turn out. Can't wait for these movies to appear in November 07. Khaled Hosseini and Philip Pullman are master craftsmen, and their books are in the league of their own, so the movies would probably pale in comparison.

The key is probably not to compare the movies to the books, they are vastly different mediums. The challenge for the movie director is to create magic out of the contents offered in the book, and sometimes, less is more. The director needed to make a good judgment on which parts of a detail-filled book he should not film. Alfonso Cuaron made Azkaban, Rowling's best book in the series so far, his own. And it was magic.

Well, if the movies actually lead people to read the books, then it's done Mankind a bit of good. Especially Khaled Hosseini and Philip Pullman, talented and master storytellers.

Where the Harry Potter movie was a disappointment, Dim Sum Dollies was SHEER BRILLIANCE! These ladies should take the Dollies show overseas! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

It takes a Singaporean to know all the nuances and the contents that they use and poke fun at - ministerial salaries, GST increase, how Singapore women may become maids, our founding father, our wonderful island of Temasek/Singapura, Sarong Party Girl, Indian foreign labour etc - but it was a RIOT! Mega-hilarious.

It was also sold out. And they'd probably do a Re-run in February 2008. And I'd be there to watch them again! :D

Was thinking to myself during the show, how can I get hold of the witty, witty, witty script?

The nieceling and I truly enjoyed ourselves, we rolled on the floor laughing, and of course at the end, we waved our Singapura flags as the entire theatre sang our national songs.

Till February ... :)

Am reading Oprah, the magazine by Oprah Winfrey - she who doesn't need any more money from me ;-) - at the recommendation of a friend, and it's surprisingly quite good. The psychology is winning.

PS. I have a lovely friend who knowing that I'm going through a little bit of a tuff time, has been very sweetly showing moral support by sending me mail with funny story books, nice notes -- and magazines too. Am very thankful for the friendship, and for the small but wonderful gestures. Thank You!