Review of "Hakugin Jack" / 白銀ジャック

To be honest, this novel started off very slowly so it took me a long time to move past the first 100-pages or so because I found that the case was really getting nowhere. What's more, there were no possible suspects throughout much of the story and it was only till the very last juncture that the pieces of the puzzle fell together quickly. There were people who looked suspicious but in the end, they all turned out to be false guesses. The actual criminals were people who didn't have anything suspicious going on throughout the whole story. In fact, I felt like the truth was shoved right into my face and I just had to accept it even though I did not agree with some parts of the "truth" or how certain things developed.

For a suspense thriller to be engaging, it must allow the reader to feel like they are involved in the developments e.g. by giving clues for the reader to guess or deduce the truth so that they continue to be interested in the novel. However, I kept feeling that I was an outsider all this while and seriously, this meant that whatever happened to the characters didn't matter that much to me. If this case was really as exciting and intriguing as it promised, the truth was pretty much of an anti-climax. The tempo of the story was rather off with the pacing being extremely slow and suddenly accelerating in the last 40 pages or so and then screeching to a sudden halt when things settled down.

In conclusion, I think that this is a pretty disappointing work but I hope to see a better version with the live skiing scenes when the drama SP starring Watanabe Ken, Hirosue Ryoko and Okada Masaki gets shown this summer.

An affordable gem in the CBD - The Wicked Garlic

This place may not be easily noticeable as it doesn't face the roads but once you enter the International Plaza building through the entrance where UOB and Swiss Bake are at (just beside the taxi stand), you will be able to spot this quaint shop with minimal frills but with lots of tempting fragrances luring you to check out what they are serving. And I finally gave in to temptation one evening to check out The Wicked Garlic.

This place is unlike your usual Italian restaurant because it is so small and there are not that many decorations or fittings which hint that this is a high-class dining place. However, despite the lack of frills, the food proved to be better than I expected especially with their pocket-friendly prices. I had the prawn aglio olio which gave off such a great aroma that I wondered why other versions of this dish I had elsewhere did not have that same fragrance. The prawns were also considered to be big, considering its price and especially when compared to that other seafood place I reviewed recently. The amount of spaghetti is good enough for one person but if you happen to be a big eater, you should get other dishes such as pizzas or sides to supplement the main pasta or you might not feel full enough. With regard to the taste, I like the fact that the spaghetti did not stick together in one lump and was not greasy at all. Coupled with the prawns which were grilled to the point where the shell portion was slightly burnt and gave off a nice aroma, it was such a perfect combination that I finally understand why there were so many other customers that night who ordered the same dish as I did.

To end the evening on a sweet note, I had wanted to try its signature tiramisu but too bad, it was already sold out. I chose the oreo cheesecake instead which turned out to be good too. The texture of the cheesecake was firm yet moist while the oreo cookies base and top accentuated the flavour of the cheese. I could have done without that drop of cream on top of the cake though. The cookie placed on the cream was a bit too soft which I gather was due to the fact that it had been placed in the fridge for some time and absorbed a fair bit of moisture before it got to my table that night. Other than this slight flaw, I thought that the cheesecake matched up to my expectations.

Considering the price I paid, I was quite impressed with the quality of the food and the prompt service. It would have been ideal if the shop space was bigger so as to accommodate more diners which would have prevented me from listening to what my fellow diners were talking about. However, given that this is the CBD and rental must be quite high, I think it's probably best for The Wicked Garlic to build up a loyal following with its food first before expanding further. For the time being, I'll be sure to go back again to try out its other dishes especially the new Bailey's tiramisu. ^__^

If you want to find out more about them or see their menu, you can visit their official website.

Review of "Maleficent"

"Maleficent" is really not your typical Disney movie. "Frozen" bucked the trend by being a film which attracted people of all age groups, had a runaway hit song, poked fun at some of Disney's typical developments in its past movies and reversed the trend of princesses always waiting for their princes to save them. In that sense, "Maleficent" was also very different from typical Disney movies because its protagonist is not a typical hero but rather one who can seen as both a hero and villain.

Instead of being a film meant purely for children, the message it tries to convey seems to be one which can be understood more by adults. Although I had the nagging feeling that this might be a kiddie movie before I watched it, I was pleasantly surprised at the end.

If you are interested to know how the story progresses, you can visit the Wikipedia page so I won't go into further details here. As for those who have not watched this movie yet, be warned that there will be spoilers below so you may wish to skip this review.

Angelina Jolie is awesome as Maleficent. In fact, if she had not taken up this role, it would have been difficult to imagine who might have played it as well as her. Her metamorphosis from a cheerful fairy to that of a dark fairy was due to the betrayal by the man she loved. According to Jolie in an interview, the significance of that scene where Maleficent had her wings cut off by Stefan was tantamount to rape. Of course, in a Disney film, it would have been impossible to convey that explicitly.

Due to the physical and emotional pain she suffered, that caused Maleficent to change into a dark fairy. However, she was not evil by nature thus her heart softened as she watched Aurora grow up and became drawn to the little girl she had cursed because of the misdeed by Aurora's father. There were multiple facades of Maleficent which made her more endearing to the audience and her actions more understandable instead of traditionally strict lines separating the good and evil in typical children's stories.

I also liked the twist where a mother's love was seen as "more true" than the spontaneous "love at first sight" typical in Disney stories. It made the story less predictable and provided a source of redemption for Maleficent who could save the girl she cursed.

Frankly speaking, the graphics in this movie were a tad darker and less colourful than what you usually see in Disney movies for children. That cannot be helped as Maleficent was portrayed as a dark heroine with lots of pain, anguish and hatred for most of the movie. Of course, when she finally overcame the dark past, things became better and the world suddenly became colourful again. I thought it was a great way to show that how people's perspectives of the world can change depending on their state of mind. If Maleficent had continued being a dark heroine, her world would still be dull-looking even though it was far from reality.

In conclusion, "Maleficent" is a film which exceeded my expectations in a good way and I would recommend it to anyone to give it a try in the cinemas.

Australian seafood by the riverside - Fremantle Seafood Market (Clarke Quay)

On a sweltering late Saturday afternoon while looking for something light to eat i.e. no meaty or heavily-spiced stuff, I chanced upon Fremantle Seafood Market which is located next to the bungee facility at Clarke Quay. My impression of Australian seafood was formed largely based on various travelogues and food programs I've watched i.e. fresh, big, fleshy and juicy seafood. As such, that was what I thought I would get at Fremantle.

First up was the main course i.e. scallops and prawns linguine in white wine saffron garlic butter. The first impression was why the chef did not bother to wipe out the stray stains left by the sauce at the side of the plate. Second thing I noticed was how bright yellow the linguine had turned out. Actually, among the four sauces to choose from, I thought this was the lightest compared to squid ink, mushroom cream and spinach pesto but sad to say, I was wrong. The buttery taste and smell was pretty overwhelming to the extent that the zucchini and linguine was totally soaked in the sauce and I could taste nothing but the butter sauce. As for the seafood, it was rather disappointing to see prawns of such a small size and not being able to taste the freshness of the ocean from these prawns was pretty unacceptable especially considering that this plate cost me $24. The only saving grace was the scallop which was pan-fried to a nice golden brown on the surface but it would have been better to be able to taste its original freshness rather than have its flavour altered artificially by the overpowering sauce. Perhaps another sauce would have helped in letting me enjoy this dish a bit more? If they decide to do something like aglio olio-style, I think it would be the best test of the chef's skills in delivering the freshness of the seafood from the ocean to the table.

The mussels in spicy white wine broth were also rather disappointing. Not only they were not as big and juicy as I thought, the mussels seemed to be cooked unevenly with some having the taste of the broth while some obviously didn't absorb it. As such, the inconsistency in taste made it difficult for me to like this dish. Surprisingly, the garlic bread was very flavourful and tasted great when dipped into the broth. I would have wanted more pieces of this to go with the broth, two was simply not enough. Unfortunately, to have the supporting cast turn out to be better than the lead star in the dish is really not a nice thing to happen and I would have expected a seafood place to do better in terms of the quality and taste of its main selling point.

In conclusion, I am not writing off Fremantle entirely yet since I saw some other items of interest in its menu which I may return for a try in the near future. However, if the next visit continues to disappoint rather than impress, I might as well go elsewhere for more reasonably-priced seafood dishes. After all, if you can't get your signature item right, it's going to be difficult to justify that price tag and keep customers coming back for more.