The aim is to take elements of the classic superhero myth – whether it be the Superman or Batman mythos – and try to fit it in a Bruneian setting. To me, a story about a Bruneian superhero should have elements from major superheroes such as Spiderman, Batman, Superman while tackling social themes relevant to Brunei (eg. sense of community, the power of media, social harmony vs individualism)
Set in a heightened reality/fictional/alternate version of Brunei, GUARDIANS OF DARUSSALAM is a story of an ordinary boy named ADAM who gained super strength after an encounter with a magical giant archer fish – just like the legend of Brunei’s mythical hero, Awang Semaun. Initially reluctant, Adam soon finds the hero within him and set out to become a superhero known as CAPTAIN BRUNEI.
However, an ancient evil spirit and his forces rises and threatens the peace in Brunei. It is up to Adam and his allies – including RIDZUAN, son of wealthy family turned crime fighter; AKMAL, a young detective; the tough police officer RAHMAN and his daughter LIZA; VIVIAN, the journalist; ALI, the comic book geek – to stop it and uphold DARUSSALAM – the Abode of Peace
I’ve only written 5 Chapters and a prologue so far….I am planning on doing more (The whole story is probably 40% planned out…60% made up as I go along but that’s part of the fun).
Three years ago, I wrote about my opinions on several planned movies featuring DC superheroes.A lot have changed since then and I’m now going write another overview of the projects featuring DC superheroes and my opinions of it. With all the attention on Marvel’s Thor, Captain America and the Avengers next year, I think this is a good time to take a look at our folks in DC.
Superman
After the ‘not-so-satisfying-enough’ reception of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (a quasi sequel to Superman II), Warner decided to reboot it and aimed for a darker take on the character ala Batman Begins. I was opposed to the idea because making Superman darker is not necessarily the best way to make a good movie. A more accurate word would be ‘mature’ or ‘character driven’. Brandon Routh’s Superman did have angst in him but the movie was sadly let down by the lack of a formidable threat (I like Lex Luthor but creating a continent for real estate??? seriously??).
The story has it that director Christopher Nolan and writer David Goyer were taking a break from writing the third Batman movie and talked about Superman. Goyer told Nolan of the way he would approach a Superman movie to make him more relevant to modern times and go into what he is as a man. Nolan loved his idea and helped him pitch it to Warner Bros. They accepted it and the rest was history. Set to be released in 2012, the tentatively titled ‘Man of Steel‘ is a movie project produced by Nolan, written by Goyer and directed by Watchmen’s Zack Snyder. It features a cast of Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent with Michael Shannon as villain General Zod.
Many have complained about Zod being the villain again but come on! – 1) Joker and Two Face was in more than one Batman movie 2) General Zod could provide some Kryptonian mythology which is an opportunity to explore Superman’s origin without making this movie a straightforward origin story.
Speaking of origin story, there have been various rumored plot over the internet but the one that I really liked the most involved “Clark Kent as a journalist travelling around the world, including getting caught in the middle of a West African civil war, contemplating whether he should become Superman or not. He then traveled back to Smallville and comes face to face with his secret destiny.”
Batman
The Dark Knight Rises is the final part of the Batman saga that director Christopher Nolan wants to tell. Nolan’s Batman story is basically a one long origin story so expect the end of TDKR to be about Bruce Wayne transforming himself into the Batman we all know and love. Christian Bale will return as Batman and is now hunted both by the Gotham police and his past with the League of Shadows from the first movie. This is hinted by the casting of Josh Pence as the young Ra’s Al Ghul in a flashback and Marion Cotilllard who, despite the recent story of her playing a Wayne enterprise board member, I think will be revealed as Talia Al Ghul towards the end of the movie and double crosses him.
Another adversary that Batman will face is Bane, played by Tom Hardy. We still don’t know whether he is related to the League of Shadows but expect him to beat the living shit out of Batman. In the comic, Bane is infamous for breaking Batman’s back and put him on a temporary retirement. Although I don’t think Batman’s back would be broken in this movie, I do think he would get some kind major ass whooping from Bane. This would probably have an impact on Batman’s ability to save Gotham on his own. With the Gotham police against him (except for Commissioner Gordon), Batman probably will have to form an uneasy alliance with someone outside the law – a thief called Catwoman played by Anne Hathaway.
So what happens after Nolan finishes his Batman saga? A Reboot.
I predicted this three years ago because I saw it as the only way they could incorporate a version of Batman that is compatible with a Justice League universe. So it seems that Warner/DC stoleread my mindread my blog post logically had the same idea. So should they make a rebooted Batman movie so soon? Hell no! But should they instead reboot Batman through a Justice League movie? Sure!
But like what Marvel is doing with the Avengers, I think Warner/DC should do the same and start building the DC universe to prepare themselves for an eventual Justice League movie. And they should start with the Green Lantern movie…
And then the much longer trailer showed up and blew me away. NOW THIS IS WHAT I WAS PROMISED ABOUT YEARS AGO! An epic Space Opera Superhero movie!
It’s clear that they are now selling on the otherworldly premise of the movie and I think this movie should be the building block to an eventual Justice League movie. The world of Green Lantern is vast and fantastical so it would be really easy to incorporate the rest of the Justice League heroes into the universe laid out in this movie. I’m not expecting a Justice League reference in this movie (it’s too late for that) but drop it in the sequel (yes, a sequel is already in development). OR they can start laying down the Justice League foundation with….
The Flash
A movie starring the Flash is currently in development by the same people who wrote the Green Lantern movie (Greg Berlanti, Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim). So fingers crossed that they’ll set this movie in the same universe as the Green Lantern movie (IF they’re not planning it…then I suggest you buy tickets to Green Lantern movie so the it can make lots of money which will convince Warner/DC to ride the Green Lantern bandwagon by making Flash associated with Green Lantern).
No, I’m not saying that the Justice League movie should be dark and realistic. I just think that Christopher Nolan could be sort of act as a quality control to the project. I think Warner would be happy to have Nolan be on top of things because of the huge success of The Dark Knight and Inception. It also adds some credibility to the project.
Rebooted Batman introduced in this film
Rather than make another standalone film, a rebooted Batman would be introduced in the Justice League movie. Just like how Wolverine was the anchor in the first X-men film, the Justice League film could be anchored by a storyline following Batman’s introduction to other superheroes like him and his eventual realization on the benefit of working together. As for casting….why not give another shot at Armie Hammer (the Winklevoss twins in Social Network) because he was close to playing Batman in the previously scrapped Justice League project.
Henry Cavill as Superman
As much as I liked Christian Bale as Batman, I don’t want him to play Batman in the Justice League movie. It would be wrong to see him in a fantastical Justice League movie after being used to seeing him in three realistic Batman movies. However, I do want to see Henry Cavill as Superman in a JL movie. Despite what Zack Snyder said about his Superman being its own thing, I want them to stick with Henry Cavill for Justice League. I didn’t like how they wanted to recast Brandon Routh and I certainly don’t want them to recast Cavill.
Green Lantern and the Flash
Use the world introduced in Green Lantern as a starting point, then build it up with Green Lantern 2 and The Flash movie.
Wonder Woman
It wouldn’t be Justice League without Wonder Woman. I’m not sure if they have time to slot in a Wonder Woman movie before Justice League so I think they should introduce her in there.
So what do we have?
There is a big threat to earth that not one superhero can handle. Batman is investigating something in Gotham that led to this big global threat. Batman’s investigation led him to meet other superheroes such as Superman, Green Lantern and the Flash. Martian Manhunter is introduced as someone related to this big threat. Wonder Woman’s Amazon land is under threat and is forced to unite with the superheroes from the world of men. Superman tries to unite everyone, Wonder Woman doesn’t trust men, Green Lantern prefers to do things with Green Lantern corp, Martian Manhunter is unfamiliar with human customs, the Flash is…well…confused by all this shit AND Batman doesn’t want to be associated with these idiots. They all unite eventually and save the day. Justice League is born. Batman says he’ll just be a part time member but he respects them nonetheless.
—
Of course, all of this depends heavily on the success of the upcoming Green Lantern movie. I hope that 1) It’s a damn enjoyable good movie 2) Makes lots of money. Then have other things fall into place such as Flash, Superman and Green Lantern sequel to set up the Justice League movie.
IF they could make this work and do it right, I’ll assure you that a Justice League movie will totally be bigger than the Avengers. I love Marvel and they have more cooler characters but I always see DC as having more prestige and much more iconic. There is something about Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman that taps into a universally recognized archetype.
Made the list last year but didn’t finish writing it because I was occupied with other things. A bit overdue but hey! it’s still January so it’s not too late. For me, 2010 was a good year for the over top fun action movie genre that I really have a soft spot for. I had a blast with action movies like The A-Team and Machete. It was also the year of great movie soundtrack with Daft Punk, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nail and Hans Zimmer delivering epic music scores (I want them to do a collaboration!!).
From the director of Smoking Aces Watched it: Once
I wasn’t really expecting much when they announced a remake of The A-Team. I mean, who the hell are gonna replace the original gang (especially Mr.T). Then they started casting what seemed to be actors that looked perfect for the role. AND THEN you see them act as the characters in the movie! Again, I’m a sucker for action movies and have a soft spot for those ridiculously fun ones; this movie certainly delivers in both departments.
Highlight: But what makes The A-Team special is that it’s about these four guys, each of them being bad asses in their own way, working together and bickering amongst themselves but always gets the job done no matter what. Watching these iconic characters gets portrayed both in a faithful and also refreshing way by these wonderful actors is best part of this remake. Hannibal, Face, BA and Murdock have distinguishable archetypal personalities (the brain, the look, the muscle and the ‘wildcard’) that makes it so fun to watch as a team and bein ridiculous situations. The first 30 minutes of the movie was brilliant in how they introduced each character one by one and setting the tone of the movie.
You can read my previous posts on dreams: I Have A Dream – Outlined several instances where I visit the same place in my dreams again and again. A Dream Within A Dream – Exploration on the dreams that I’ve had. I attempt to define several properties of my dreams. Dreaming The Inception – My dreams the night after I watched ‘Inception’
***
Never intended to write another post on dreams but after the release of the movie ‘Inception’ and it’s surprising commercial success (and the fact that it is probably the most talked about movie right now), I couldn’t resist not writing one more thing on the subject. I’ve written down what I dreamt about the night after I saw Inception over my Tumblr blog. However, for this post I’ll be talking more in depth about dreams and I’ll also be referring to things from the movie so I advise you to stop reading if you haven’t seen the movie yet.
Construct of dreams
One of the main criticisms of Inception was that people were screaming “Hey that’s not an exact portrayal of dreams! It’s too formulaic and too restraint! It’s not surreal! It’s not weird! What about the sexual elements?! Where are the boobies?! We entered four guys head and no boobies?!!” I think those criticisms weren’t fair because:
These are lucid dreamers. They have a certain level of control in their dreams. They are not dreamers who are passively experiencing crazy surreal images/narratives when they are dreaming. Like I’ve said before, I tend to like the latter way of dreaming.
The dream worlds in the movie were constructed by the Architect. They were grounded in realistic way in order to fool the subject that he’s not in a dream. It’s like a mouse trap with the illusion of reality being the cheese.
So it’s not an accurate portrayal of dreams because those dream worlds were constructed for the purpose of the mission.
Levels of Dreaming
I’ve talked quite a bit about my experiences of “dreaming within a dream” Of course, there is a difference between how ‘dream within a dream’ (DWD) worked in the movie and how I’ve experienced it. In the movie, the concept of DWD is related to the technology of dream sharing where a group of people is connected through some wires which enables them to share a dream space. A DWD occurs when the procedure is repeated within a dream therefore entering a deeper level of the subconscious. The dreamers take turns in ‘hosting’ the dream space they enter. For example, in the early sequence of the movie, Leo and Saito were in Joseph Gordon’s Levitt dream WITHIN the first architect guy’s dream!
So in the end, Juno was in Leo’s dream within Tom Hardy’s dream within Joseph Gordon Levitt’s dream within Yusuf the chemist’s dream! Here are several interesting comparative points between my own experiences and Inception’s rules on DWD:
1) I’m experiencing it myself so I’m not jumping into other people’s dream while I’m in a dream. I don’t have a dream sharing technology (If such thing even exists!)
2) I always start on ‘Level 2’ (although I don’t really prefer it but I’ll just use the terminology from the movie to make things clearer) and then wake up to ‘Level 1’. Never have I dream about going to sleep except for maybe this one time:
I woke up and I looked at the clock on the wall of my room. It’s still early so I went back to sleep. I woke up and it’s 6pm!! I’ve missed or am late for whatever it was that I was planning to do that day! I went out my house and I’m suddenly in a parking lot. It’s night time and raining. I saw a group of actors gathering around the parking lot and shooting a scene. HOLY SHIT! IT’S THE CAST OF ‘LOST’!! They greeted as if they know me and asked why I was late. Turned out I’m supposed to be in that scene they were shooting! The rain stopped and it’s suddenly a beautiful sunny day. I hung out with Henry Ian Cusick and Daniel Dae Kim (actors who played Desmond and Jin respectively). We went to a parked double decker bus that was actually an ice cream restaurant in disguised. I was talking to this cute lady who was behind the counter and taking my order. I woke up…and looked at the clock on my wall of my room. It’s STILL early so I went back to sleep.
It may sound like a normal ‘one level dream’ but I began to doubt that I even wake up in the beginning. Although I’m really sure that I really did wake up the moment after I ordered my ice cream, I’m still a really hazy with the first moment when ‘I wake up’. Is this an example of me dreaming about going to sleep and dream about something else? A ‘Level 1’ ->‘Level 2’ -> ‘Wake up’ scenario as opposed to my usual ‘Level 2’ -> ‘Level 1’ -> ‘Wake up’ experiences?? I HAVE NO IDEA!!
3) I don’t think this is intentional on Christopher Nolan’s part but I notice that the further down the dream level you are in, the further it gets from the realm of reality. For example, Level 1 was constructed to be close to reality with its urban setting. While Level 3 was a hospital that looked like a fort in the middle of nowhere!!I’ve noticed the same thing with my DWDs:
Level 2 – A character dies in one of my favourite TV shows. Level 1 – Woke up and I saw the same character die on TV and I told my brother that I dreamt it! Reality – Woke up.
Level 2 – A wrestling match between Shane McMahon, Goldberg and Peter Petrelli from Heroes. Level 1: woke up to write it down in my dream journal. Reality: Woke up to find out that I DIDN’T WRITE IT DOWN BECAUSE IT WAS JUST ANOTHER DREAM!!
Level 2 – A road trip on New York with friends. Level 1 – Woke up and writing down my dreams while in McDonalds with my friends. Reality – Woke up.
You can see how Level 1 reality is more realistic/believable than Level 2 dreams in terms of the settings (eg. Wrestling ring/bedroom, New York/McDonalds) and the people (eg. TV characters/my brother).
4) I’ve never experienced a more than 2 Levels of dreaming. Hell, I don’t think it’s possible!!! Unless you watch too much TV/movies or play too much video games! That is how I always like to explain the cause of DWD…because I watch too much TV and movies.
Cinematic dreams
“You have very….adventurous dreams” “That’s because my life isn’t that adventurous!” That may be true but I tend to think that it’s because I watch too much TV and movies. So certain aspects of movies and TV shows gets deeply ingrained into my subconscious to the point where my dreams tend to follow movie formulas. The following example is one of most memorable dreams I had when I was a young:
My friend’s little brother has been kidnapped by a group of mafia/gangsters. Nobody dared to volunteer for a rescue mission except for me (don’t know why I volunteered…probably because I was a bad ass!). CUT TO – Another friend of mine getting stalked by some perverted guy. She tries to escape from her stalkers so she volunteered to join me on my mission. CUT TO – We arrived at a lavish party hosted by the evil mafia. I stood up and shouted at the head mafia boss. I demanded that he release my friend’s little brother or else he will pay the price! The mafia boss laughed and ordered his men to kill us. Crazy gun fight!! I gave my friend a gun but she said she didn’t know how to shoot. “Then what the hell are you doing here?!” “I was just finding a way to escape from my perverted stalker!!” I gave her a quick lesson on how to shoot. She managed to kill a few bad guys. I continued dodging bullets and killing few men. BULLETS FLYING! GLASS SHATTERING! PEOPLE SCREAMING! I woke up….checked the time, still early in the morning. Got back to sleep but I couldn’t continue my kick ass dream.
That dream had a typical action movie written all over it! A rescue mission? Check! A bad ass hero? Check! Evil gangsters? Check! Crazy gun fights? Check! A female partner? Check! Hero’s love interest? That girl was someone I had a crush on so that’s a Check! The way it was sequenced also felt cinematic with scenes suddenly cutting into another scene.
Another interesting dream I had recently borrowed one particular cinematic technique. There were three ‘scenes’:
1) My mom asked me about whether I went to eat at this restaurant with my friends. I didn’t go but I decided to lie at my mom. With every question she asked, I made up some story to answer it.
2) Its raining hard and there is a flood. Water started to violently flood the restaurant that was referred in the previous ‘scene’.
3) A Voyager space probe flying past the planets with me narrating my intention of creating an exciting fantastical account of the Voyager space probe into a Sci fi tv show
Those three ‘scenes’ were intercutting between each other in my dream! The relation between the first two ‘scenes’ were obvious: I was lying to my mom and it is evident that I was lying because that restaurant was actually flooded. As for the third ‘scene’….that’s an idea I had when back when I was 3rd grade or something. It also proved that an old idea is never gone but just got lost somewhere deep within your mind waiting for it to resurface.
“You Never Really Remember the Beginning of a Dream”
One notable dream that I had when I was kid involved me saying farewell to all these wonderful animal characters that I’ve had many adventures with. It was a tearful farewell and I got so emotional about it. The funny thing is that I never remembered any of my adventures with them…I never had any dreams about them before! The dream abruptly started with a farewell to these animals that I was supposedly having many adventures with without actually knowing what those adventures were exactly. It’s like watching an emotional ending of a TV show without watching the whole series.
Here’s another and more recent example of a random non-beginning dream that I had:
I’m in a hotel room with three other people: two guys and a girl. We’ve been staying in the hotel for a while and we’re waiting to go another city. On each city that we’ll visit in our road trip, we get to stay on one of our friend’s house. I told the others that it’s impossible for me because “I have no friends.” One of the guys took pity and said “don’t worry, we’re your friends.”
That last part of the dream is really interesting because they claim to be my friends yet I DON’T REALLY EVEN KNOW WHO THOSE THREE PEOPLE WERE IN REAL LIFE!!! They weren’t friends that I know nor fictional characters from TV or movies. They were just three random people (a guy in red shirt, a girl in green shirt, a guy in black shirt). But I seemed to be fine and have some “unseen backstories” with them in my dreams. Although, I do think they were mash ups of different people I know but that would still make them a bunch of random strangers!
Dream Time vs Real time
According to the movie, Dream time is slower than real time (eg. sleeping for 5 minutes feels like an hour in the dream world, which feels like a week in a dream world within the dream, etc). Is there any difference? Yes. Is there a specific time difference? I don’t think so. Normally, I wake up and check the time to see that it’s still early in the morning so I go back to sleep. I would have some elaborate dream that feels long only to later wake up again, check the time, ONLY 5 MINUTES JUST PASSED!
Here’s a recent example:
– I wake up, check the time, still early, go back to sleep.
– I have a conversation with a friend
– **more dreams but I couldn’t recall it clearly**
– I have a restaurant by the seaside. It’s late and I’m closing it down. Strangely, I strap a balloon around my waist and I was floating around.
– I wake up, check the time, WTF?! ONLY around 15 minutes?! All those dreams felt longer!!!
***
Well that’s it for now! Inception is definitely the most talked about movie this year and if you haven’t seen the movie yet then WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO WATCH IT NOW! And if you have….GO WATCH IT AGAIN!! Honestly, I’ve only seen it once and I’ve been talking about it for a few weeks now!
To close it off, I’ll leave you with this weird ‘dream’ that happened to me just few days ago:
It was a sunny day and I was walking with my friend in the middle of a road. It was crazy with cars, parades and marching bands yet we didn’t have any problem because they always gave us space to walk. We were having a conversation about last night (thus giving this dream some sort of time frame) UNTIL…..
*my phone vibrates*
Woke up and that same friend is calling. She asked if I could join her for lunch. I barely opened my one eye to peek at the clock on my wall. I closed my eyes again and said that I’m not coming but I’ll probably meet them at a later time.
She said, “Ok! Sorry to wake you up”
I said, “What if I’m still asleep?”
She said: “Hahaha!”
I said: “What if I’m in a dream within a dream?”
“HAHAHA YOU NEED A TOTEM!!”
“You could be my totem”
ummm..ok, how?
If you call me and say ‘I love you’ then I know it’s fake and that it’s all a dream
errmm…ok…..
if you call me and say ‘get up, go take a shower, you smell’ then it’s reality
ermm…i think you should go back to sleep…i’ll see you later ok, BYE!
*hangs up*
I didn’t even say bye and slept for a few more hours…..
Or was I asleep all that time?! Obviously, I wasn’t fully conscious when I say those things….or maybe I was?! so was that real? Or was that a dream?
A Half Remembered Dream
A more recent posts on my dreams plus with references to the movie, Inception
I have always been fascinated with dreams. Anything can happen in dreams and for most people they are beyond their control. It can be exciting or frightening but most of all, it is mind-boggling. It is a place where you experience your heightened fantasies and fears that you most probably don’t know you even have. I believe that the best way to understand your own mind is to dive directly into your subconscious part of the mind and dreams are the easiest place to do it. Some seek to fully control their dreams but I prefer not to. I want them to surprise me…I want to see what kinda of stuff my mind can create.
Most of the time, I tried to mentally recall my dreams as soon as I wake up but recently I’ve scribbled down notes every time I have a chance to wake up (Nov 1 – 11 2009; May 11 – June 2 2010). The fun part begins when you are fully awake and you start reading the stuff you wrote. Some of them actually create a coherent narrative:
May 14
Group of students in a theatre with an empty stage – trying to create a play but there is no script – a teacher shows up warning us to leave if we don’t have anything to show – the scriptwriter (a white girl) and her friend (a black girl with curly hair) wrote the first scene – a casual talk between characters at a dining table and they find a mysterious origami – they asked us for suggestion on the next scene – my friend, Ida stood up and start giving some elaborate suggestion – I disagree and suggest another scene – we argued
Some of them are randomly funny:
May 23
Watching TV – saw a music video of a new catchy song by Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan – titled “Candy Time” – lyric – “wake up, it’s the morning, It’s Candy TIME!”
And some are just…it made me pause and say WTF? because it seemed to be gibberish:
May 17
The city got its ‘Voice’ back. I told Joan that I’ll be the new voice of Amy’s town.
“Building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp on what’s real and what is a dream”
But as strange these dreams may sound like, they can be dissected and explained. The first dream is just an alternative representation of a real life situation between me and my friend (in this case, arguing about direction of a script we’re working on). Furthermore, the origami is a reference to the game ‘Heavy Rain’.
The second one is strange because as far as I know Mischa Barton is not a singer. But I could tell that the ‘Candy Time’ lyrics have its basis from Robin Thicke’s ‘It’s in the Morning’ song. As for the third dream, the only image that I remember from that dream was an animated city from the Facebook game, ‘Social City’. As for the inclusion of my friends and the whole business of ‘Voice’…that I have no clue.
Therefore, a dream will always have its basis from aspects of your memory. But can it have a basis from things that hasn’t happen yet?
Dreams as prophecy
Throughout history, some people have associated dreams with predicting the future. I lost a comic book once and I dreamed that I would find it in a drawer. I woke up the next day and guided by my dream, I found the comic on that very same drawer. A divine message? Or was I just thinking about the possible areas where the comic is and the dream was just a mental representation of my thought process?
Let’s take another recent example. I dreamt about me and my brother trying to climb over a fence. My brother climbed first and when he did, I noticed a big centipede on his back and then I woke up. Later that day, me and my brother were watching Bear Gryll’s Man vs Wild and there is a scene where he encounters a big centipede! Was my dream predicting this? Or was it just my mind taking something from my memory (a movie called ‘Human Centipede’) and it manifest itself in the dream? Back in November, I tried to not only write down what I dreamt about but also what happens during the day just to see if there is any connection.
I found out that there is a connection between what goes on in your day with what you dream about later that night. Here’s one notable example where on Nov 4, one of the things I noted that happened that day was “Laptop got fucked up” and this is what I strangely dreamt about that night:
Nov 4
I was walking on the street – my laptop was in the middle of the street – went to plug it out and shut it down – three kids/siblings (a girl, a boy and an older brother) starts stepping on my laptop intentionally – I pleaded them to stop – they refused to stop – I got furious – I punched the little girl and choked the little boy to the ground and threaten him – the older brother was standing up and too scared to do anything – they all fled. I met them later – they were scared – smiled at me – one shook my hand
And all of that was created by my mind only because I was frustrated with how my laptop got fucked up earlier in that day. Now it is really an interesting exercise to keep a record on your dreams however I stopped doing it mainly because it got more difficult to keep up especially when you encounter this situation….
Dream within a dream (DWD)
On May 16, I dreamt about a wrestling match involving Shane McMahon and another wrestler beating up Goldberg. Peter Petrelli, from the TV show Heroes, later arrive at the ring to assist Goldberg. I ‘woke up’ and wrote about the dream in my notebook and then I went back to sleep. A few hours later, I woke up again and was eager to re-read what I wrote. BLANK. I didn’t write anything and never did!! because it was a dream!! A Dream within a Dream! My plan has backfired! This went on several times where I started having dreams of writing about my dreams!!
“This can’t be done. Dreams within dreams is too unstable.”
My method was to write when I’m in a half-awake state because I believe that’s the best time to get a more accurate recollection of your dreams. What I didn’t take into account is I can easily drift back into a dream state OR be deceived into believing that I’m actually awake! Hence, the occasional occurrence of ‘dream within a dream’ (DWD) situation whenever I tried writing in my journal.
But DWD isn’t anything new to me. The first DWD that I remember was when I was kid, I dreamt about watching a cartoon where one of the main characters died. I ‘woke up’ and watched the same cartoon only to see that very same character die. I told my brother that I actually dreamt about it!!! THEN I woke up again….for real this time.
Here’s another more recent DWD:
I took a bath in this large expensive bathroom. Then suddenly a lot of people (from both gender) came in. I was embarrassed and asked one of them “What the hell are you people doing here?!”They said that this was a public place and we are all sharing it. I ‘woke up’. I met three of my friends and told them about my dream. They started debating about it and came up with ridiculous explanation. Later, I was in Starbucks and I was discussing about my dream to my classmates and the subsequent debate among my friends. When I left Starbucks, I couldn’t find my car on the street and started searching for it at a mall (why? Don’t ask). This is where the logical part of my brain kicks in and I said “My car is not here because it’s back at the garage in Brunei”. I woke up for real.
The thing that I noticed in this dream is the amount of time jumps. One moment I’m debating with friends and instantly the next moment I’m at Starbucks. Later, the streets where I lost my car was instantly transformed into a mall. That is entirely illogical and it should’ve been an obvious sign that I was in a dream. But it didn’t wake me up because I haven’t reached that level where I could logically grasp the concept of time and space when I’m in a dream state. Then how could I finally put some logical thinking at the end of the dream?
Wake up call
I’ve noticed that I can only wake up from a dream when I’m in trouble or in fear. I couldn’t find my car so my logical thinking kicks in to escape from the nightmare. I got chased by a monster and force myself to wake up. I had to do an examination and my logical part of the brain instantly creeps up to tell me that I don’t need to because I’ve already sat through it and I passed! I used to think that these are evidence that I’m capable of controlling my dream but I now think I’m merely just reacting than controlling.
Morphing location
Let’s go back to the concept of space in a dream. For me, it is rare for a dream to take place in a single location. I usually end up in an environment that is radically different from where the dream started. Look no further than the dreams that I’ve managed to record:
Nov 1 – Walking on a brick road at night – hallway with red carpet – a shopping mall
Nov 3 – climb a steep green hill – climb down – reach a muddy lake and could only be crossed with the floating logs – entering a club with changing coloured floors
Nov 6 – shopping mall full of people – went upstairs to a casino – went down and the mall was dark and empty – walked further and end up at an airport
Nov 11 – in a ‘Counter Strike’ map (CS assault) – parking lot – swamp – residential area
What was amazing is that these locations morphed in a seamless way that you don’t even realize it.
Here’s an example of one of my recorded dream that seemed to combine all of the major aspects that I’ve mentioned so far (Real life basis, Dream within Dream & Morphing location) plus a surprising twist at the end that I will get to later:
May 29
It started with me and my friends on a road trip around New York. We didn’t have any maps so we followed our guts (real life basis: we recently did a road trip). We eventually end up at a shopping mall that was about to close. The girls rushed around and shop a lot while I only bought one shirt.
I woke up and I wrote down what I dreamt about (‘Dream within a dream’). I was suddenly at McDonald’s, writing in my dream journal (‘Morphing location’). I was surrounded by my friends who wanted to see what I wrote but I refused to show it them. A guy walked past with three dogs. The three dogs started fighting with a cat and another dog. One of the three dogs was a bulldog who starts spitting his saliva all over the place. A lot of the saliva washed over my burger and I got furious at the dog!
It was suddenly night-time and McDonald’s was no longer located in town but beside a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. My friends and I followed the dirt road and found ourselves at a quiet abandoned resort. We came upon a swimming pool. I recognized the place and told my friend that this was a place where we had a New Year party. She didn’t recall that party.
Now this is where things got interesting. The reason why she didn’t recall that party was because she wasn’t there….actually, NO ONE WAS THERE! IT DIDN’T EVEN HAPPEN….at least in real life. I was actually referring to another dream!!
Memory of other dreams/de javu
I’ve visited the resort many times in my dreams. Of course in another dream, it was full of people and joy (certainly not abandoned). There are many places that I’ve visited many times (creating a sense of de ja vu within a dream) and the most notable one was the fountain room.I’ve talked about this place in my blog few years ago and you can click here to read it. One possible explanation for why I seemed to recognized places that I’ve dreamed before is because these places, just like a lot of things in dreams, have their real life counterparts. I admit that the ‘Fountain’ that I usually come across in my dreams is just a supersized exaggerated version of a fountain at Glorietta shopping mall in The Philippines. Yet, it doesn’t explain one particular dream: My friend and I found a secret passage at our Elementary school that leads us to a magical place with dancing fountains. Years later, I dreamt about returning to that place and actively seeking the very same secret passage (and successfully found it too!).
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And that was my weird account on dreams and I’m not sure if other people share similar experiences. But what I do know is that there is an upcoming movie that I’m REALLY excited to see!! From the director of The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan…
…directs an international cast in an original sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible—inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. This summer, your mind is the scene of the crime.
Things I noticed:
– a mention about creating a dreamworld not based from your memory. I find that almost impossible (“You gotta draw from something right” said Ellen Paige’s character)
– A mention on ‘Dream within a dream’
– A ‘Kick’ – sense of falling that snaps the person out of his dreams. ‘Falling’ in a dream tend to wake you up.
Inception – July 16 2010
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Well I’m off to bed now! Let’s see what’s in store for me tonight! 🙂
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UPDATE 24/06/2010
My dream the night after I posted this entry. Enjoy
– Made my way to an old run down hospital located somewhere at a backalley of futuristic industrial Blade Runner-esque city
– Met a Chinese doctor and nurse. I needed an special medical treatment to prevent myself from being infected with a new disease.
– The treatment involved making a minor incision on my shoulder. Then they heat up this small but thick disc shape object – place that on the area of my shoulder that has been cut – the object sticks to my skin and eventually gets absorb
– the doctor even introduced to me another procedure where several of these heated disc shaped object gets put on people’s head to increase their memories
– went out of the hospital – Walked through the rainy and dark city – had to pass through a chocolate cake factory – managed to steal one too – arrived at a toy shop but it was closed – I was disappointed but a security guard lady came to me and told me that I will get a discount on my next visit
– I was watching TV and it was showing a documentary on ghosts. The show depicted a scene where a guy was sleeping and his laptop automatically switched on – showed some scary but blurry images – the images seems to be showing a particular room
– next thing I know, I was no longer watching the TV show BUT was part of it! I was part of a team who are experts on the paranormal. My speciality was that I study the connection between ghosts and electrical energy (thus explaining how the guy’s laptop got messed up) – we arrived at an abandoned hospital and there is a dark room – some entered the room (a cop and a scientist) – we suddenly hear a scream and two fingers flung out of the room and hit one of the cameraman!! The cop and the scientist got out of the room – the scientist were screaming and showing his bloody hands (missing fingers!) – the rest of us were closing the door and try hard to prevent whatever is inside the room from getting out – THEN a head pops out of the door – A PALE FACE WITH WHITE BLANK EYES!!! – EVERYONE SCREAMED! – I shouted MOTHERFUCKER!
Yes this is a bit late but who cares…anyway, let’s start with some random statistic about my list:
– 5 Sci Fi films
– 1 animated film
– Feature length movie debut by 2 directors
– 1 superhero film
– 4 films adapted from an established franchise
– 3 films that are considered to be frontrunners in the Oscars
– No biographical film
– No New Moon
without further ado here’s my top 10 of 2009 list:
“Avatar,” a live action film with a new generation of special effects, takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads an epic battle to save a civilization. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, “Avatar” delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.
The story’s hero is Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. Bitter and disillusioned, he’s still a warrior at heart. All Jake ever wanted was something worth fighting for, and he finds it in the place he least expected: on a distant world. Jake has been recruited to join an expedition to the moon Pandora, which corporate interests are strip-mining for a mineral worth $20 million per kilogram on Earth. To facilitate their work, the humans use a link system that projects a person’s consciousness into a hybrid of humans and Pandora’s indigenous humanoids, the Na’vi. This human-Na’vi hybrid – a fully living, breathing body that resembles the Na’vi but possesses the individual human’s thoughts, feelings and personality – is known as an “avatar.”
In his new avatar form, Jake can once again walk. His mission is to interact with and infiltrate the Na’vi with the hope of enlisting their help – or at least their acquiescence – in mining the ore. A beautiful Na’vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake’s life, albeit reluctantly, because even in his avatar body, Jake represents to her the human encroachment on the Na’vi’s unspoiled world.
As Jake’s relationship with Neytiri deepens, along with his respect for the Na’vi, he faces the ultimate test as he leads an epic conflict that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.
Was supposed to post this around the end of December but got sidetracked with other things. Well here it is now, my top ten movies that I’ve seen in 2008. You have two movies starring Robert Downey Jr., two superhero movies, two animated movies and three movies starring our old beloved heroes:
A movie with a thin plot: a washed up star gets into a hostage situation and gets wrongly accused of robbing a bank. What made this movie special is that it’s not some guy playing a washed up actor, it’s JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME, a washed up star himself. The movie is fictional yet it touches upon real facts about Van Damme (eg. drug addiction, child custody, rivalry with Steven Seagal, his recent work on ‘Direct to video’ movies). The ending was the biggest surprise for me. It’s not quite a happy ending yet not a sad one either.
While Jean Claude Van Damme is reinventing his on screen image with JCVD, Stallone is reintroducing one of his iconic characters to the new generation. ‘Rambo’ doesn’t follow the usual 3 Act formula and instead it’s a one constant build up that ended with an explosive finale. Stallone, bring on ‘The Expendables‘!!
7. Iron Man
Iron Man aka “How Marvel movies got her groove back”. You have a hero who’s cool, crazy rich, a playa, drives cool cars, wears an indestructible armour, can fly, can blow things up, hook up with Gwyneth Paltrow and go toe to toe with Jeff Bridges (who looks badass in this movie). Add to the fact that this hero is played by the talented Robert Downey Jr. and you have a winner 😎
6. Wanted
F***ing ridiculous but I love it. You have curving bullets, crazy car chase, violence, John Woo/Matrix style gun ballet and Angelina Jolie.
I liked the twist in the middle too which saved the story from being the typical “I’m the chosen one and must avenge my father” angle.
I loved it. That’s right, I enjoyed this movie. On my second viewing, the parts that I did have a problem with were still problematic for me (CGI beaver, Indy inside the fridge to save himself from nuclear explosion, etc) but I enjoyed the rest. I didn’t have a problem with the aliens which wasn’t much of a surprise for those who have been following the development of the 4th installment of Indiana Jones (you thought that was ridiculous for an Indiana Jones movie?? Come on, we had a box with mysterious powers that melts Nazis, an Indian cult group that takes out the hearts of children and a sacred cup in which you get immortality if you drink from it). Overall, it was a fun adventure movie.
4. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Highly entertaining movie. It’s funny, frightening and action packed. I cared about the characters and I even kinda felt sorry for the main villain too. The main highlight of the movie for me are the creature designs; from evil little “tooth fairies” to giant plant monster, the ectoplasmic german guy to the angel of death (my favourite). The audience were in awe whenever some new creature shows up and it proves that the director have limitless imagination. Del Toro, bring on ‘The Hobbit‘!
Wall E is a preachy movie with an environmental message like ‘Happy Feet’. But its brilliance lies with the way it kept the central focus of the story on the main characters instead of the message itself. The first part of movie where you follow Wall E’s daily life and his unrequited love for Eve is sweet and adorable. Best Pixar movie since Finding Nemo.
2. Kung Fu Panda
Wall E is epic but Kung Fu Panda is just pure fun. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve seen this movie but I’m still not bored with it. Introducing the classic Kung Fu story formula (clumsy guy trained into a Kung Fu master and save the village) to a younger generation through an animated feature is a smart move. You add a loveable Panda (the national animal of China aside from dragon) as the hero, hire a wide range of actors to do the voices (Comedians like Jack Black & Seth Rogen to superstars like Angelina Jolie & Jackie Chan and a Hollywood veteran, Dustin Hoffman) add some action and sprinkle it with humour and what you get is a work of genius Haha
You must be tired of how this movie is on everyones top list but seriously, it is a really good movie. A psychological and sociological study that touches on themes of anarchy, heroism, law & order under the disguise of a summer popcorn superhero movie.
The Dark Knight is not just a Superhero movie, it’s a two and a half hours long epic crime drama that touches on themes like law & order, the price of heroism and what people can do when their comfort zone get disturbed…The movie is about Gotham City and the efforts of three men (Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent) in saving it from the Joker, the self proclaimed agent of Chaos.
I just realized that few days ago (November 15) marks the first year anniversary of this blog! Holy F***! It has been one year? A year ago I was bored and sitting in front of my computer while starting this blog. Now…I’m still bored and sitting in front of my computer writing this post…some shit never change 🙂
Anyway, thank you to all those who viewed this blog (all 126,214 of them) and those who left comments, I appreciate it, it kept me ‘blogger sane’ because then I know somebody actually read what I wrote (especially during the early months of blogging).
I was planning to write an overview on the posts I made since last year but I remember that I pretty much wrote about it in my previous post. So I’m just gonna copy and paste it here:
Some of my earlier post were more personal like the one I wrote about my story idea or the recurring dreams. Even the post about Battlefield and WWE were also personal. I think I should do those personal posts more often rather than being preoccupied by movies. My friend even called my site a movie blog. WTF
I also remember how at the beginning, I said to myself that I’m not going to talk about politics. Blah! I guess I failed in keeping up with that promise. Another promise that I sort of broke was the one that I stated in my About page.
…post about things that interest me…..anything that’s part of the Pop culture that I find necessary to post about (no I’m not going to talk about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, you can find that somewhere else)
On second thought, I did not break that promise because I did not talk about them. I just posted their pictures😆
Recently, I made few posts on my country Brunei. I just thought that I needed to write something related to Brunei or maybe it’s just another way to balance out all those movie related post.
I’ve also noticed how I began to write more episodic posts (eg Part 1, part 2). Several reasons; either the original idea of the post was too long or I was just lazy to finish the post and hold it off for later. Examples of this can be found here, here and here.
Oh and one more thing, I realized that I have only reviewed one book. Man, I haven’t read any novels for a long time. I’ll try posting a review of books that I have read. (fiction or non fiction).
I wrote that back in March and I have little to add to it except for few things I did since March like:
Finish my ‘Trylobyte Odyssey Portal’ page that I was planning to finish by November 15 lol (more on this later)
Restructure my ‘Top Post’ page. It’s outdated now.
Publish this post that I’ve been thinking about in the past few days
Hopefully adding more links in my links bar/blogroll.
If you’re interested in some random statistic facts about my blog then click ‘More’ at the bottom of this post. In the meantime I’ll leave you with Coldplay’s ‘Lovers in Japan’. No reason….just felt like putting up a video at the end of this post hehe 😎
8:01pm: Here we go!! The raising of the Chinese Flag accompanied by the national anthem. A presentation on the big screen. A group of drummers wearing bicycle helmets (ok???!!). They get surrounded a larger group of girls forming a circular formation looking like the Sun. WOah two giant floating drums. FIREWORKS! CGI? hehe
8:12pm: Stupid commercial! A group of guys ‘cycling’ in a circular wheel enters the arena. The helmet guys are gone and out comes 200 bouncing men!! They seem to be wearing those special artificial leg that were always used for runners with disability. WTF Commercial again!
8:16pm: Flags of the participating countries arrive. I see East Timor, I see Spain, I see Trinidad, I see Swaziland. Since I was 5, I’ve always been fascinated with the world maps and countries so I’m familiar with the flags and the location of most of the countries in the world. Commercial…. 🙄
8:25pm: The athletes comes out accompanied by a group of Chinese ladies in red drumming. And there’s also a young kid in the middle with a drum set. There’s also a little girl too…I think that’s the same one with the fake singing from the Opening ceremony.
8.36pm: Victory ceremony for the Marathon event. Kenya get a Gold,Morocco get a Silver and Ethiopia get a Bronze. It’s followed by a presentation for the athletes volunteers and children volunteers.
8.49pm:the raising of the Greek flag. Greece hosted the previous Olympic games in 2004. Speech by president of the Chinese Olympic committee and the President of the IOC.
8:59pm: Raising the UK flag accompanied by the familiar British national anthem, God Save the Queen.
9:03pm:The Olympic flag is lowered and the Chinese choir is singing the Olympic anthem. Out comes the Mayor of London. Mayor of Beijing is handing the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London. That’s a big flag…they carefully try not to aggressively wave it 🙂 .
9:10pm:Haha The familiar double Decker London bus is here! Hmmm..I think this is a just a taste of what o expect for the opening ceremony at London in 2012; more of an Urban performance than the more traditional Chinese performance. The Double Decker bus transforms and out comes Leona Lewis and Led Zeppelin’s guitarist performing. Again, I think this is just a taste of what to expect from the opening ceremony of 2012 London games; a ceremony that is more like an ultra mega concert with various mega stars. Not saying that would be bad thing. OOOH DAVID BECKHAM!!! HAHA He kicked the ball and one lucky Chinese guy (one of the volunteers) catches it.
9:20pm What’s this? Three people climbing up the staircase like those that you see for aircrafts. They stopped and look at the giant torch. You see highlights from the games on the upper walls of the bird’s nest stadium. There’s also two half naked guys (painted in gray) in the middle of the arena doing some expressive body movement. Cue dramatic music followed with a Capella by Chinese girl and the flames from the torch disappears.
9:25pm: A large Babel tower like structure in the middle of the arena covered with people dancing. A group of guys just ‘walked’ vertically up the tower and WOAH!! The guys hanging on the tower forms a red rose. Nice! The guys creates a human spiral thing around the tower. The tower is then covered with red sheets and…wow! umm…wow! those stripes of red sheet starts to float creating….wait wow Fireworks!!!…anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, those stripes of red sheet starts to float creating this web-like/spider-like formation around the tower…Ok maybe that’s not the best description. I will update this post with photos
9:32pm:Performance by various Chinese artists. Beijing, Beijing! Wo Ai Beijing! The song goes something like that. Is That RAIN?! The Korean singer who’s recently finding some fame in the US with a role in the movie Speed Racer and his “dance off” with Stephen Colbert.
9:36pm:a group of Chinese girls comes out and looks like they are lip synching a song but I don’t care about that :LOL: . Commercial again.
9.40pm:back from commercial and BAM! I see a George Lucas look like on screen! Haha This George Lucas look a like is singing an Opera song with a Chinese lady. Ok, a quick search and I found out that the George Lucas look a like is Placido Domingo, Spanish-Mexican Opera singer.
Another performance by various international artists with a group of performers floating in the air. Is that Gong Li?? Ok it’s not Hehe WTF Haha! Astro (Malaysian Cable Tv) keeps showing a lot of commercial. If I remember correctly, there weren’t that many commercial during he opening ceremony. Back to the ceremony and the arena is now suddenly crowded…see that’s why I hate commercial coz you miss stuff. The mascots are there; the guys are hanging around the tower; the different ethnic groups are there; …woah wait…fireworks!!! MASSIVE!! Is this the fireworks to end all fireworks?
9.54pm: The ceremony officially ends but there are still fireworks. See ya in London 😎
9:58pm: Wait, I heard that Jackie Chan was there…I didn’t see him! Oh well, that is what happen when you’re watching and typing at the same time or when there were commercials every minute 🙄 So I guess that’s it! Time to change the channel…hmm…ooo, Apocalypto on StarMovies and it just started! Haven’t seen the movie so..yeah, I’m watching it now. Good night!
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