General

Sleuth

By Jay Lagare on Monday, March 10, 2008

Yesterday, after badminton, a belated lunch, and some shopping, Edong, James, and I headed for the usual movie. We usually watch no-brainer action flicks. Exactly what we need to just sit back and relax after a strenuous morning at the courts. We all thought Sleuth would be the usual fare but I was extremely delighted when it turned out not to be. The movie is about a husband (Michael Caine) getting back at his wife’s lover (Jude Law). And the latter getting back at the former for that. And so on. The whole movie is just the two men doing mental and verbal sparring. Lots of clever dialog and impressive acting. Interestingly, I learned that the movie is a remake and Caine played the role that Law played in this new version.

Rating: 4/5

General

Motorcycle Riding Dog Redux

By Jay Lagare on Sunday, March 9, 2008

I saw another motorcycle riding dog today. It was a native dog dressed up in pink clothes(?) on top of a blue motorcycle. Coming from the previous sighting, I would’ve thought I’m going insane (as though I’m not already :P) but James who was riding shotgun saw it too.

General

CuillÃ©re

By Jay Lagare on Friday, March 7, 2008

Last night was the final session for the current module of my French class and the classmates decided to have dinner together at CuillÃ©re at Serendra. The first thing I noticed was that plastered on the windows were the words “Cuisine et Patisserie Francaise, Glaces Artisanales, Aperitifs, Vins, CafÃ© Digestifs” which I think literally means French Kitchen and Bakery, Artistic Ice, Wine, Wine, and Digestive Coffee :P I don’t know whatever the hell it really means but with all those claims, the place just sounds so trying overly hard to be French.

But hey, I’m here for the food, right? Aside from the company, of course. Well, I had mushroom soup, steak, and crÃ¨me brÃ»lÃ©e and that didn’t improve my opinion. The mushroom soup was so-so. So was the steak (but in fairness, how many ways can you steak a cow?) . And the crÃ¨me brÃ»lÃ©e sucks. The taste does not reflect the cost. I don’t know where the cost came from but I suspect a load of it went into all that pretentiousness and the rest went into the location. One of the reasons why I’d rather go for restaurants that are off the beaten track.

Rating: 2/5

General

No Country For Old Men

By Jay Lagare on Wednesday, March 5, 2008

No Country For Old Men is not an easy movie to watch. It is full of subtleties and nuances in addition to the in your face violence. Throw in the Texas drawl to the mix and you’re guaranteed to have a hard time understanding everything. A small-towner running away with a bag of cash he finds from a drug deal gone bad (imagine lots of dead people and even a dog too, that bad). A psychotic professional (and really scary) killer running after him. People dying left and right (and up and own). It sound like your average predictable thriller, but it’s actually unpredictable and quite riveting all the way down to the very end. I have to confess that it doesn’t totally make sense to me but I liked it and I’ll most probably watch it again just to make more sense of it.

Rating: 4/5

General

Motorcycle Riding Dog

By Jay Lagare on Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Driving home tonight, I saw a motorcycle riding dog perched precariously behind the rider. It’s so unbelievable it didn’t register for a full second or two. But as soon as it did, I whipped out my phone but it was already too late and he was gone. Maybe I should rig a forward-looking camera like those in police cruisers.