October 31, 2006 - The countdown has begun. Europe trip will start in 4 days!! Since I suck in updating my blog (I blame this on the fact that I can't access this site at work), I haven't been very good in writing about all the cool things that I've read about Germany and Austria. But here's something that's (kinda) cool (or nerdy). As I was doing some background reading on Salzburg, I came upon this sidebar in my Austria book that listed "Everything you never knew about the Sound of Music". [Background note: As you probably know, the Sound of Music was shot in Salzburg and today, a tour based on the movie has become one of the key attractions in Austria.] Anyway so here goes:
1. Sean Connery was once considered for the role of Captain Von Trapp. Doris Day was offered the part of Maria, but declined.
2. Julie Andrews was knocked off her feet every time by the helicopter downdraft while filming the opening sequence (when she had to sing "the hills are alllllliiiivveeee, with the sound of mussssssicccccc").
3. Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trapp) hated the final movie and forever referred to it as the "Sound of Mucus".
4. The film flopped in Austria just three days after it was released.
5. Charmain Carr (Liesl) slipped on the first take during the "Sixteen going on Seventeen" gazebo scene. Her leg was strapped and the director used makeup to cover the bandages.
6. The real Maria Von Trapp has a cameo appearance in the movie as a peasant woman.
7. Switzerland was moved over by several hundred of kilometers in the movie so the Von Trapp could "climb every mountain" to escape from the Nazis.
8. A South Korean cinema owner once decided that the movie was too long, so he shortened it by cutting out all the musical scenes.
October 22, 2006 - As I mentioned in my last post, I'm currently doing research for my upcoming Europe trip. It's pretty cool - not only am I learning a lot about these foreign cities, but it's also neat to see how advance they are in terms of their infrastructure and city planning. So throughout the next couple of weeks, I'm going to try to write about some of the large scale infrastructure projects in Germany and Austria that caught my attention. The first one on my list: Frankfurt International Airport - where I will begin my trip in 12 days :)
Frankfurt International Airport, or Flughafen Frankfurt am Main (in German), is the largest airport in Germany and one of the largest in the world. Each year, over 52 million passengers go through Frankfurt airport (compare to Toronto's 29 million), making it one of the key gateways to Europe and to Africa (through flight connections). The airport is also the hub of Lufthansa, the German airline.
The airport features an entire shopping mall (not the typical airport retail stores that you find at Pearson, but like an entire mall). There's a 24 hour supermarket, brand new stores (both European and American brand names), dental and doctor offices, health clubs and spas, an even an adult video and book store (for those really long flights I guess?). The airport also has a wide range of restaurants offering everything from sushi to traditional German food. And if you're really bored, there's also a casino within the airport. I guess if I have to be stuck at an airport, this is probably one of the better ones to be at.
The airport is connected to the city by the S-bahn (sorta like the GO Train, except the S-bahn runs every half hour and runs everyday) and is only 2 stops away from Frankfurt Main Station.
What I like most about the airport is its incredibly sleek and modern architecture and design. The airport is also currently preparing for the arrival of the new airbus A380 (the double decker plane). They even put a video on its website describing its process.
The airport itself is considered to be a tourist attraction in Frankfurt (they even have airport tours!) - so Jason and I will be spending some time exploring the terminals before we check into our hotel (since we have so much time to kill anyway). Since I'll get the chance to visit five different airports on this trip (Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, and of course Toronto's new Terminal 1), I will for sure write a blog about my airport experiences alone when I get back.
October 21, 2006 - So unexpectedly, tonight I went to see The Grudge 2. I didn't want to see the movie in the first place, knowing how poorly the reviews were for the movie and how stupid I thought the first one was (I laughed throughout that one - even when it was supposed to be scary). But when my sister told me she's going to see it, our conversation turned interesting:
Sister: didn't you hear Edison Chen is in the Grudge 2?Me: Edison Chen? the actor/singer/rapper wannabe? since when did he start making Hollywood movies?
Sister: I know!
Me: hmm, I don't know. I heard the movie sucks though.Sister: But Edison Chen is in it!
Me: hmm, ok, I'll go! but only because I want to spend time with you.
Sister: Whatever, you just want to see Edison Chen.
And she's right. I think I'm secretly an Edison Chen fan. I have his albums, I've seen half a dozen of his movies (including Internal Affairs or as America knows it, the Departed, in which he played the Matt Damon role), and I even learned lyrics to his songs so I can sing them at karaoke (as you may or may not know, I can't read Chinese that well, so I have to memorize the song before I feel comfortable singing it in front of my friends). But then again, what's there not to like? Aside from the fact that he's cocky and the fact that he can't really sing - who can deny the fact that he's pretty hot. Those eyes! those dimples!
Edison is in pretty much two-thirds of the movie - he plays a reporter who has been tracking the Grudge story. Not the greatest performance ever but he was decent enough I guess. There was no language problem, given his first language is English anyway. He was definitely good to look at though.
The movie itself was crap - even worst than I thought. It wasn't scary and wasn't even funny. Definitely one of the worst movies I've seen all year - and that's even with Edison in it.
So that's my Edison blog for this year. Apparently he's going to be in more Hollywood films next year. Hmm. As to what else he's been up to, here's what he said on the red carpet at the premiere of the movie.
October 13, 2006 - I know I haven't updated this blog in awhile, but what surprised me most was that a few of my friends actually noticed and asked me about it. So anyway, why the slow updates? Well aside from my usual laziness, my computer died a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't get it fixed for almost two weeks (not to mention it cost me over $300). Now that my computer is back (and faster than ever!), I will try to write a bit more. I will also try to backdate some of my entries from September (particularly those from the Film Festival) and post them gradually over the next few weeks.
I'm also working on getting my own webpage soon - it has been a long time coming but after Jason has generously bought me my very own domain (yay!), I think I'm ready to venture into the world of homepage design. It will take a long time but it would definitely be a neat project to work on.
Also, over the next few weeks, as I prepare for my trip to Germany and Austria, I'm going to try to write about some of the neat things that I have read/came across, most of which would probably be about German cities and urban planning in Eastern Europe. I already have a few topics in mind, like Frankfurt's International Airport, the design of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, and Vienna's incredible ring road.
Countdown to Europe: 21 days.
October 8, 2006 - Yesterday was my friend Joyce and Tak's wedding. They are the first high school friends of mine to get married and I was honoured to have been asked to be one of the groomsmen. It was also the first wedding that I have actually been involved with (in terms of planning and stuff), and I have to say that it was a blast!
The wedding went off without a hitch - everything was perfect: the weather, the dress, the food. The bride and
the bridesmaid were stunning (the pink theme turned out much better than anyone thought it would). It was an outdoor wedding and even though it's October already, it was warm and sunny (felt more like August than October). I also got to meet a lot of new people and saw a lot of friends that I haven't seen in years. The wedding was a mixed of traditional Chinese culture and Western style and that itself was pretty neat (as I've never really experienced weddings this close and personal)!
I guess it's true that when your childhood friends start to get married, you know you're finally growing up - I was definitely feeling that yesterday. It was like another cold hard reminder that you're becoming an adult, and that your childhood (or teenagehood) is coming to an end. I guess now with a real job, an upcoming condo and mortgage payments, and things like RRSP and pension plans and credit card bills, weddings and marriages are just yet more things to add to my "remember you're not 15 anymore" list.
Having said that, I have to say I really enjoyed being part of this wedding - Tak and Joyce have been together since high school (9+ years) and I couldn't have been happier for the two of them. Even though I had to wear a pink tie, sing "A Moment Like This" in front over 150 people (it was the wedding party's gift to the bride and groom), and wake up at 5 on a Saturday morning, I was really touched that they had included me in the wedding party. As for weddings - this is definitely not the end - I have another much larger wedding next May, where not only will I be one of the groomsmen, but I will also be the m/c for the day.
It has been a busy fall but now with 2 down (the film festival and the wedding) - just one more big event to go before Christmas: my Europe trip in November! and that I can't wait :)
October 31, 2006 - The countdown has begun. Europe trip will start in 4 days!! Since I suck in updating my blog (I blame this on the fact that I can't access this site at work), I haven't been very good in writing about all the cool things that I've read about Germany and Austria. But here's something that's (kinda) cool (or nerdy). As I was doing some background reading on Salzburg, I came upon this sidebar in my Austria book that listed "Everything you never knew about the Sound of Music". [Background note: As you probably know, the Sound of Music was shot in Salzburg and today, a tour based on the movie has become one of the key attractions in Austria.] Anyway so here goes:
