BG Run, November 2008 and Am Ende kommen Touristen

It was a wet and thundery morning. At around 0530 hrs, the winds were still howling and I could see from under my blanket that the buildings outside my window were being lit up by the occasional flashes of lightning. But the drive to go run overruled the desire to sleep through the storm, so I SMS-ed Ripley and said that I'll go ahead to meet her at the old SMU for this month's BG Run, regardless of the weather. Thankfully, BoSe and nerradhog had the same idea so I managed to catch a ride with them to the starting point in the rain. But the skies were clearing up by the time we reached at 0700 hrs. There, we were joined by _licht, doraemon_red and tktan. After waiting for another 30 minutes for the drizzle to subside, we set off.

For Phase I, we entered the Botanic Gardens via the Rain Tree Drive, then went past the Eco Lake towards the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden. Then, we double-backed along Eco Garden Way and ran through the Evolution Garden (stopping prematurely along the way because of upgrading works). Then we cut through the Visitor Centre and into the Ginger Garden, behind a waterfall and then up the Bandstand. After touching the Swiss Granite Fountain, we ran along the Swan Lake and then exited the gardens. We ran about 5 km, I reckon, by this time.

For Phase II, we ran up Minden Road, past Loewen and Ridley (and the house with many Ferraris), towards Tanglin Mall and then back to the old SMU via Nassim Road. A good route for hill training. :) And about another 5 km too.

The whole journey, interspersed with phototaking, was about 10.5 km by my guesstimate and took 1 hr 26 minutes.

Thanks to doraemon_red, we had refreshingly delicious Pocari Sweat- and Ribena-flavoured jelly to feast upon. :) Then we showered, and settled breakfast at the Prata Cafe. I had my standard teh halia and iced milo, plus two egg pratas :D

Later in the evening, I went to watch Am Ende kommen Touristen (And Along Come Tourists) at the Cathay with _licht. It's a German film about a youth Berliner Sven who had to serve a year of civil service in Auschwitz to help out an elderly former imprisoned Pole Stanislaw Krzeminski who lived next to the holocaust museum. A rather sombre film, which compares how the old Polish holocaust survivors and the new generation of Poles view and cope with the atrocities of the past.

A skull on flames

Began Book 7, Schopenhauer's Telescope. Nothing quite of the sort that I had ever read before. 60 plus pages down, 240 more to go.

I watched "Ghost Rider" with TLR, Fd and Ripley last night but I was not exactly bowled over by the movie, nor by Nicholas Cage's acting. It was rather anticlimatic to see each evil demon being pulverised without putting up so much of a fight. The special effects were also bland on-screen, although I can imagine a much more captivating presentation of the storyline in the comic book version.

On a more philosophical note, I found it rather odd that Johnny Blaze only singled out prisoners and criminals caught red-handed as guilty and wicked, while everyone else was considered innocent. It wouldn't have been so odd if Blaze was merely an arm of the prevailing legal system, but he was an agent of the devil! Therefore I would have presumed that his assessment of true wickedness should not have been based on the legislation of the day but on some higher, timeless scale of morality.

On the whole, I can only say that there are better Marvel character films than this. Rate it a 2/5.

Quite a number of folks are embarking on ninja running training recently. I'm burning with a curious envy. I'm hoping to get back into exercise sometime next week. Been out of action and out of shape too long, it's driving me insane! But my shoulder has not shown as much progress as I would have liked.

Gandhi

My first day of leave in a long while. I spent the afternoon at home watching "Gandhi". The film never fails to move me. I cried and cried. And cried.

Early on in the movie, there is this scene in which Gandhi and his British clergyman friend Charlie Andrews are walking down a street in South Africa when they notice three big-sized white South African youths ahead of them. The trio roll up their sleeves and hurl racist remarks. Charlie nervously contemplates taking an alternative route to avoid confrontation. But Gandhi walks on, and says:

Gandhi: "Doesn't the New Testament say...that if your enemy strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the left?"

Charlie: "Well...urm...oh, I think the phrase was used metaphorically... I don't think it was..."

Gandhi: "I'm not so sure... I have thought about it a great deal... And I suspect it meant that you must show courage, be willing to a blow, several blows, to show you will not strike back nor will you be turned aside... And when you do that, it calls on something in human nature...something that makes his hatred for you decrease and his respect increase... I think Christ grasped that, and I have seen it work."

¡Agua para la mujer de Capitan!

Went for the BG Run earlier this morning. Tiwazz, Astrogirl and Petia did some training of their own in the Botanic Garden, while Asturias, Eugene_Ng8, Yakman, Dasher, Run3, Charlotte and I did the Frodo Loop, essentially an approximately 15.5-km route from old SMU - Bukit Timah Road - Ngee Ann Poly - Clementi Road - Ulu Pandan Canal - Buona Vista MRT Station - Holland Village - Holland Road - Botanic Gardens Minden Gate - Cluny Road - old SMU.

The weather was great throughout -- it was overcast and cool all the way, and didn't start to drizzle until we had finised our 1 hr 45 min run.

Ripley, Alec_chua and Roonz joined us all for breakfast at Mr Prata. I ordered the Blueberry Prata which was not only sweet and purple, and, as I eventually found out, didn't really go well with curry. :P

After we had eaten, Ripley, Asturias, Roonz, Petia and I took a bus and headed to Novena Velocity, where we did some shopping at Running Lab. Later, at around 11.30 am, Ripley and I met up with Bose at the California Fitness gym upstairs.

After our workout, the three of us went over to The Cathay to watch the Spanish production "Pan's Labyrinth" (El Laberino del Fauno) (with English subtitles). It's QUITE a film, violently and bloodily graphic, mysterious and intense, imaginative and thought-provoking, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War where the heat of battle between an iron-fisted military and stubbornly resistant guerilla forces interplays with the ephemeral quality of a fantastical realm dominated by legendary and bizarre beings. The beautiful little girl, Ivano Baquero, who plays the character of Ofelia is splendid in her performance, although I am still baffled by her lack of fear of all things creepy-crawly and slimy. I rate this film 4/5. :D