2010 was the year that things panned out evenly.  

A year of peace and achievement as I managed to keep things relatively balanced. In contrast, last year’s review post rang loud and clear with my frustration, bitterness and in the end, relief. The highlight of the year has to be the people. Whether you are a new friend, colleague or part of the old guard, you’ve brightened by life immensely. 

Work-wise, I feel more fulfilled; getting opportunities that I would never have gotten back at the old place. I learnt to be a more patient person who looks at the overall picture and not just at the small pieces. I am now more independent and organized but at the same time, a stronger team player. Most of all, I opened myself to learning new things and taking on new challenges. At times the road was fraught with frustration, but at the end of the day, I realized that there are people who appreciate the effort that was put in. Not just criticize everything. Thankfully, I have great colleagues who will weather all the strangeness with me so that makes the road a lot smoother.

Fun at Peiling's wedding

Brunch in London, near Corrin's. Brilliant!

New Perthy friends on a mini road trip

Dance Unlimited performance team

I've been on a mad movie bender with the girls and its been great, if a little bit of a pain-in-the-ass. The pain comes from sitting in all the weird little cinemas.

Thus far, we've caught a Fellini retrospective, A Year with Take Dance (pronounced Ta-ke Dance, cos the founder is Japanese!), the entertaining Mexican movie Rudo y Cursi and the ultra violent, yet hilarious, Kick-Ass. All over one weekend.

I really love films and the one thing that still stands out for me is, the story and how its told. Catching so many films in one weekend showed the power and differing styles of the directors. It showed that even a master like Frederico Fellini had problems when delivering a film as complex as 8 1/2 - how the hell do you show what is going on in the protagonist's mind back when the movies were still in black and white? It also shows that if anyone wants to make it big in film, they have to be up-to-date on the medium, its channels and the formats that film can come in. Or they have to pick a compelling subject matter. But enough grousing.

Here is the film that we're planning to watch soon. This is the follow-up to, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, titled, The Girl Who Played with Fire.Hopefully with lots of good company and pillows, so that we have something to hide behind when things get hairy....

Its the night of the Singapore International Film Festival, where three girls decided to be part of set and show up in similar outfits.

Excitement ran high as the three stepped into the Hard Rock Cafe. The staff, were very amused. Singaporeans at large, were oblivious. Not many double takes or sniggers. Sigh. In evil response, the triplets decided to take as many annoying shots as possible. All over the place. Check out the photos in the Flickr link :p

Hilarity aside, it took nothing away from the night's movie, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name, I have to say that the critics got this Swedish movie right on the money. Although the movie started slow, the moment it kicked into gear, it grips the audience and hardly lets up, right up till the end.

Its only April, but thus far, this movie has the most complete and succinct storyline and pacing I've seen in a long time. The pauses are few but when the shocks and violence comes, it wallops you in the gut. At the end of the movie, we walked out feeling like we've been on a really intense roller coaster ride, nerves jumping all over the place. But why just hear it from me? Go catch it and be your own judge.