The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

I finally went to see "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" today! I've been reading the Tintin comics since I was in primary school and really love them. I was super excited when I heard that Steven Spielberg was going to adapt the series into a movie a few years ago, yet apprehensive that the movie might lose the comic's magic However the movie has received rave reviews, and deservingly so. The movie cleverly weaves the stories of "The Crab with the Golden Claw", "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Reckham's Treasure" seamlessly into one. I like how Captain Haddock told the tale of the Unicorn. I guess that's where cinematography comes into play. Instead of him reading off Sir Francis's diary (as in the comics), we have Haddock remembering the tale in a rare moment of sobriety in the desert and again when he consumed medicinal alcohol (thanks to Snowy ^^).

My favourite scene was after the performance of Bianca Castafiore, the "Milanese nightingale". Tintin had entrusted the Captain with the parchment from the ship's mast. The Captain, stepping out to avoid Castafiore's singing, was briefly tempted by a bottle of whisky offered by Alan, before shaking his head clear and tucking the parchment safely into his pocket. (I went, Good for you, Captain!) Later, a dejected Captain informed Tintin that the bad guy took their copy of the parchment. Tintin angrily accused the Captain of drinking, and Captain Haddock attempted to explain, "No, it was Alan, he..." His feeble attempt was cut short by Tintin, who grabbed him and said quietly, "I can smell it on you." (Aww what have you done, Captain?) Tintin then walked away, leaving the Captain in astonished silence. What a powerful scene! I can sense Tintin's disappointment in Captain Haddock, which created another dimension in their relationship. The Tintin in the movie had more emotions than in the comics. Likewise, the movie Haddock had a more world-weary feel than the comic one. He explained that he drank because he could never match up to Sir Francis's bravery and ability, and he felt like a loser. It's hard not to feel sorry for him.

And I think I finally realise why I think the CGI characters look weird to me. Because Haddock and Tintin's eyes were very blue. Very beautiful, but in the comics they were just, well, two black dots. xP

Looking forward to seeing Professor Cuthbert Calculus in the next movie!

The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen

"In a study published by the journal Psychology, Crime and Law, Belinda Board and Katarina Fritzon tested 39 senior managers and chief executives from leading British businesses. They compared the results to the same tests on patients at Broadmoor special hospital, where people who have been convicted of serious crimes are incarcerated. On certain indicators of psychopathy, the bosses's scores either matched or exceeded those of the patients. In fact, on these criteria, they beat even the subset of patients who had been diagnosed with psychopathic personality disorders.

The psychopathic traits on which the bosses scored so highly, Board and Fritzon point out, closely resemble the characteristics that companies look for. Those who have these traits often possess great skill in flattering and manipulating powerful people. Egocentricity, a strong sense of entitlement, a readiness to exploit others and a lack of empathy and conscience are also unlikely to damage their prospects in many corporations.

In their book Snakes in Suits, Paul Babiak and Robert Hare point out that as the old corporate bureaucracies have been replaced by flexible, ever-changing structures, and as team players are deemed less valuable than competitive risk-takers, psychopathic traits are more likely to be selected and rewarded. Reading their work, it seems to me that if you have psychopathic tendencies and are born to a poor family, you're likely to go to prison. If you have psychopathic tendencies and are born to a rich family, you're likely to go to business school.

This is not to suggest that all executives are psychopaths. It is to suggest that the economy has been rewarding the wrong skills. As the bosses have shaken off the trade unions and captured both regulators and tax authorities, the distinction between the productive and rentier upper classes has broken down. Chief executives now behave like dukes, extracting from their financial estates sums out of all proportion to the work they do or the value they generate, sums that sometimes exhaust the businesses they parasitise. They are no more deserving of the share of wealth they've captured than oil sheikhs.

The rest of us are invited, by governments and by fawning interviews in the press, to subscribe to their myth of election: the belief that they are possessed of superhuman talents. The very rich are often described as wealth creators. But they have preyed on the earth's natural wealth and their workers' labour and creativity, impoverishing both people and planet. Now they have almost bankrupted us. The wealth creators of neoliberal mythology are some of the most effective wealth destroyers the world has ever seen."

Adapted from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/07/one-per-cent-wealth-destroyers by George Monbiot

Earthflame by Himekami. This was used as the theme song in the show " 向世界中心出发", but I'm pretty sure I've heard it used in some other dramas before. Sad song...

I just found out that the labels on certain The Body Shop products can be peeled off to reveal another layer underneath. This allows them more space to present additional information since their instructions are in so many languages. I realise that the ingredients of the product are usually printed on the bottom layer, carefully concealed from consumers such as myself. Bleh. Anyway, all along I had thought that TBS products are very natural (doesn't it give off that vibe, with all the emphasis on plant extracts) and contain less harmful chemicals than other brands. But the ones that I'm currently using (shea shower cream, guarana berry shampoo and seaweed night treatment) contain parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl), hydrolysed wheat protein, sodium laureth sulphate, cocamidopropyl betaine etc. I don't really know what harmful effects these chemicals may have, but guess I'm less obsessed with TBS products now.

没有什么渴望不能抑制；就算是最爱，亦终有一日可以舍弃。

有些记忆，不想破坏，想好好藏起，这是留住美好曾经的，唯一方法。

I-weekly 10 Nov 2011

Back from dinner with MS and WQ. Pity LJ couldn't make it though. It's kind of scary you can be so overworked you fall sick. O.o

Anyway, it feels nice to do some catching up with old friends. If I were a Sim my social bar will go ++ to green. X)