I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody.



Recently, I got (or rather, exploited) my sis once again to help me buy books. Two books this time round: The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger & Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

Shuddap, i know i haven't read Memoirs of a Geisha and i'm really ashamed of it ok?

Anyway, The Catcher in the Rye is my favourite book of all time now. I wouldn't recommend it to people who thinks life sucks already, you'll just commit suicide after reading this book or take a knife at kill any phonies.

Gosh, this book killed me. Look! I'm already pretending I'm Holden Caufield! No la, I'm not. It's such a depressing book that it took me so long to stop really thinking about it. And everytime I tell anyone about this book, I fall back into a depression. It's that powerful.

So in order to avoid getting into depression again, i shall copy and paste the synopsis from Amazon.com instead of writing it myself.

FROM AMAZON.COM: In J.D. Salinger's brilliant coming-of-age novel, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old prep school adolescent relates his lonely, life-changing twenty-four hour stay in New York City as he experiences the phoniness of the adult world while attempting to deal with the death of his younger brother, an overwhelming compulsion to lie and troubling sexual experiences.

Salinger, whose characters are among the best and most developed in all of literature has captured the eternal angst of growing into adulthood in the person of Holden Caulfield. Anyone who has reached the age of sixteen will be able to identify with this unique and yet universal character, for Holden contains bits and pieces of all of us. It is for this very reason that The Catcher in the Rye has become one of the most beloved and enduring works in world literature.

As always, Salinger's writing is so brilliant, his characters so real, that he need not employ artifice of any kind. This is a study of the complex problems haunting all adolescents as they mature into adulthood and Salinger wisely chooses to keep his narrative and prose straightforward and simple.

This is not to say that The Catcher in the Rye is a straightforward and simple book. It is anything but. In it we are privy to Salinger's genius and originality in portraying universal problems in a unique manner. The Catcher in the Rye is a book that can be loved and understood on many different levels of comprehension and each reader who experiences it will come away with a fresh view of the world in which they live.

A work of true genius, images of a catcher in the rye are abundantly apparent throughout this book.

You know what I really want to do now? I'm really wishing to finish the exams soon, then I'll tell my parents I'm going on an overseas trip with my friends, get some money and go backpacking most probably to Vietnam or China. I want to be alone. I want to meet people. I want to be free from civilization for once.

Like I've said, don't read the book if you think life already sucks. This book will make it much worse. And if you do read it, please, don't buy knifes or guns or ropes within the next one year.

*If-a-body-catch-a-body-comin'-thru-the-rye*,
Johnzzon

 

Wow~ there's a sudden interest in why i chose the nick "jumbosale"... [check out my tag board on the right]

Mmm~ it's nothin' very interesting really.

It was in secondary 1, then i was first exposed to irc during one of the computer lesson. and i needed an interesting nick.

First I tried tomatoface (which was my nickname during primary school cos my face will turn red when i laugh very hard), but it's just so... not nice.

Then I tried shampoo, because of the "johnson & johnson" shampoo. Then weird boys start mistaken me as some nanyang girls' high's hot babe. All thanks to the stupid "I'm In Trouble" song by the group called "Shampoo" as well. Can you imagine when a nick like "hotguy" suddenly message me and say "hey, babe! wanna call and meet up?" i get that message every time for the next few irc sessions.

So, I was desperately trying to find a nickname representative of myself, out of this world (that no one in the world would tot of using) and representative of, most importantly, my gender as well. That's when I started thinking of using a nickname starting with the letter "J" since my english name was called Johnson and my chinese name can be pronounced with a "J" sound. (you know, Zhengyong can well be pronounced "Jengyong" for the foreigners) SO~ i tot... and tot...

then i started using "jumbosale". then ppl started to call me "hey, jumbo" in irc. makes me feel good. and it starts with a "J", and it sort of mean like i'm so skinny cos all my flesh are sold off in a jumbosale liao, nothin' left. And the best thing is, NO ONE IN THE WORLD IS USING THIS NICK! whoot! i totally don't like to use numbers in my nick u know? lots of people are oredi using "johnson" so i have to resort to "johnson_84" or even "johnson__84" to get the available nick. So sian. Jumbosale is good. no one is using. see, even my blogsite is "jumbosale.blogspot.com" and not "johnson_1984.blogspot.com". don't you just hate numbers? *shake head*

yup, that's the history of how the nick jumbosale came about.

for those who came here thinking it's another "eBay" or something, sorry! then again, why don't you just go to www.ebay.com? u very weird leh.

*trying-to-complete-projects*,
Johnzzon

 

You know you're getting old when half of your conversation start with...

"Last time when I..."

Shit.

*growing-white-hair-soon*,
Johnzzon

 

Two scores are nominated!
And John Williams lost the "Best Original Score" to a first timer!!

Damn~ I'm so going to watch Brokeback Mountain to listen to the score... Is it that good?

*The-Sky-Has-Fallen*,
Johnson

 

It's that time of the year again! And (I don't know if i should say 'as usual' since i've only done this for the past two years) I'm going to try to guess who's going to win (although I've yet to see half of the movies nominated).


BEST PICTURE
And the nominees are: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN / CAPOTE / CRASH / GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK / MUNICH

And the winner should be: Brokeback Mountain. It's been a long time since any movie created such a hype without the quality of the movie itself jeopardized. People's expectations are high and yet this movie has yet to disappoint. Whoot!

ACTOR - LEADING
And the nominees are: Philip Seymour Hoffman CAPOTE / Terrence Howard HUSTLE & FLOW / Heath Ledger BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN / Joaquin Phoenix WALK THE LINE / David Strathairn GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

And the winner should be: Philip Seymour Hoffman. Biography of interesting people relies heavily on the actor's portrayal of the character. And which actor has actually portrayed a writer that successfully? Writer's stories are boring, and this movie isn't.

ACTOR - SUPPORTING
And the nominees are: George Clooney SYRIANA / Matt Dillon CRASH / Paul Giamatti CINDERELLA MAN / Jake Gyllenhaal BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN / William Hurt A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

And the winner should be: Jake Gyllenhaal. Just a gut feeling. Golden Globes has proved to be quite inaccurate in recent years, so i'm just keeping my fingers cross. But I would like William Hurt to win though.

ACTRESS - LEADING
And the nominees are: Jude Dench MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS / Felicity Huffman TRANSAMERICA / Keira Knightley PRIDE & PREJUDICE / Charlize Theron NORTH COUNTRY / Reese Witherspoon WALK THE LINE

And the winner should be: Felicity Huffman. Her portrayal of the transexual seems to be quite good, and i am hoping to catch this show just to see her performance. I have a hunch that the winner may be Reese Witherspoon as well, but she has yet to take on any serious roles before this. Too early, just too early for her. JUST don't let the award go to Charlize Theron. She's just doing formula acting.

ACTRESS - SUPPORTING
And the nominees are: Amy Adams JUNEBUG / Catherine Keener CAPOTE / Frances McDormand NORTH COUNTRY / Rachel Weisz THE CONSTANT GARDENER / Michelle Williams BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

And the winner should be: Rachel Weisz. Oh, did I mention I am a biased person?

ANIMATED FEATURE
And the nominees are: HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE / TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE / WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

And the winner should be: Howl's Moving Castle. This is a damn difficult category. I love all three, but my guess goes to the one with the deepest and most profound (read: least understandable) plot.

DIRECTING
And the nominees are: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN / CAPOTE / CRASH / GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK / MUNICH

And the winner should be: Brokeback Mountain. Great movie with a difficult story comes with great directing. Lee Ang deserves this award for making this movie a hit. Though I really really wished Steven Spielberg can win for his Munich.

ART DIRECTION
And the nominees are: GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK / HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE / KING KONG / MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA / PRIDE & PREJUDICE

And the winner should be: Memoirs of a Geisha. Should be. I hope. *Fingers crossed*

CINEMATOGRAPHY
And the nominees are: BATMAN BEGINS / BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN / GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK / MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA / THE NEW WORLD

And the winner should be: Memoirs of a Geisha. Definitely!

COSTUME DESIGN
And the nominees are: CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY / MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA / MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS / PRIDE & PREJUDICE / WALK THE LINE

And the winner should be: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Whacky! This movie is so colourful and so are the costumes, yet it fit perfectly into Tim Burton's difficult style.

ORIGINAL SCORE
And the nominees are: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN / THE CONSTANT GARDENER / MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA / MUNICH / PRIDE & PREJUDICE

And the winner should be: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. I did mention I am biased, didn't I? John Williams should definitely win after so many awards pre-oscar for this score.

I'm doing this like ten minutes before my lecture and forty minutes before the actual oscars. Ah, heck, I shan't bother about the other awards la, cos I don't know how to predict them. Ha!

*high-Oscars-fever*,
Johnzzon