Dr. Cai Mingjie

The Straits Times ran an article two weeks back on a Dr. Cai Mingjie, a former Stanford-educated researcher with A*Star who is now working as a taxi-driver. Being a wannabe academic myself (or at least, I wanted to be one several years back), this topic naturally hits close to home. During the course of grad school, I gradually steered my career aspirations away from academia (and it's incredible how many of my lab-mates and friends in the US feel the same way I do), and this (horror) story has done nothing to raise the desirability of academia as a long-term career in Singapore. The true reasons for Dr. Cai's dismissal from A*Star might never be known, but it appears from the article that his work was deemed unsatisfactory by an external scientific board which then recommended that his contract not be renewed.

I've always found it a little galling the insistence by universities, research institutes, etc, that quality of research is measured by such metrics as number of papers published per year, importance of journals the papers are published in (through the impact factor), the number of citations your papers receive etc. Sure, these measures do indicate to a certain extent the productivity of one's scientific work, but anyone's who's ever done a research project will know that this is not all there is to it. Different projects in different fields inherently incur different time requirements, so a certain field might naturally yield more papers than others. In addition, as Toby Ziegler put so eloquently in the episode "Eppur Si Muove" of "The West Wing", there's no telling where undirected research might take us, X-rays and Penicillin being among the two best examples. Too strict an adherence to judging research performance based on quantifiable guidelines might constrain researchers to devoting time and funds only to short-term projects that might yield papers quickly, in order to "save their jobs", but might not be the researcher's true passion, and what's the point in that? And it might even be counter-productive...work done in haste and too narrow a scope might not be necessarily be of the real practical worth that the higher-ups hope the work to be in the long run.

Sure, researchers receive funding from various sources like corporations, from taxpayers etc, and should be answerable to these entities in some way, and metrics like number of papers published are an obvious, tangible way of assessing research performance. But a seemingly inflexible way of assessing performance solely (or mainly) on these metrics, either during the award of tenure or in renewing contracts, is just the kind of thing that will send shivers up the spines of budding researchers or grad students just embarking on their PhDs. Imagine spending (or going to spend) so much time and sweat on a degree just to get into a career that could well see you jobless in middle-age.

Dr. Cai Mingjie's story is a sobering cautionary tale for all of us who are foolhardy enough to want a career in academia in today's remorseless research climate (publish or perish, indeed). My best wishes to Dr. Cai.

Pictures of Chengdu Concert

Some pictures of 静茹's concert in Chengdu. Thanks to my friend for kindly taking all these wonderful photos!

梁静茹2009成都演唱会; Fish Leong Chengdu Concert 2009

Note before reading: This post contains effusive gushing and praise for 梁静茹. You've been warned :)

A couple of my friends and I visited Chengdu and we went to 静茹's concert on August 22! It's my first live concert, and the first time I've ever seen my favorite musician live, and it was truly a memorable experience. We got front row seats(!) (a big thanks to the ticketing office 中国票务在线 for allocating such great seats to us), the Chengdu crowd was in good voice and really contributed to the fantastic atmosphere in the arena (四川省体育馆) and most importantly, 静茹 was perfect; she didn't put a note wrong all evening, her banter with the crowd and the special guest 品冠 was easy and humorous and really got the audience into it, and her live singing is simply terrific! Absolutely no difference at all with studio recordings. Her wide vocal range and powerful voice effortlessly carried the full spectrum of songs without a hint of wavering in the close to 3 hour concert, and by the end, everyone rose to their feet and sang along to the final song 宁夏. A big thanks to 静茹 for putting up such a wonderful concert and giving us fans memories that I'm sure we will cherish forever!

We arrived at the concert venue at around 6-6.30 pm (concert has a scheduled start of 8.00 pm), passing several touts and people selling concert paraphernalia like light batons, and already there were throngs of fans milling around outside the stadium. We went to the East entrance and there was a board there for fans to leave their greetings and well wishes to 静茹. My friend took a picture of me beside the board (very paiseh to be standing in such a prominent place with so many fans looking on at the board) and then I took a marker and left our greeting to 静茹: Love from Singapore, Ed, Jas and Wee. Hey, I only had like 10 seconds to come up with something :) My friend chastised me for writing the greeting in such small handwriting, and it really was like only 8-point font, compared to some of the other 200-point font greetings on the board. Aiya, it's the thought that counts, right? (Rhetorical, don't answer that).

We went to the south entrance where our tickets are allocated and were surprised that we could already go into the stadium (the east entrance where the board was, appeared to be closed at the time). So we proceeded through the security checks and went immediately into the concert arena. After asking a security personnel, we found we had front row seats! Yay! Plus, my seat is an aisle seat, which made it even better, since I'm a tall guy and aisle seats mean more room. The layout of the venue was such that the seats are really close to the stage...seriously, the stage couldn't have been more than 2 meters from where we were sitting. We could see the tubes containing the confetti, which, later on in the concert, would throw the confetti all over us :) Man, I'm never ever going to get such fantastic seats at a concert again.

One good thing about arriving early is that the stadium was still relatively empty and we got to see the stadium gradually fill up. We got to see some of 静茹's recent MV's on the big screen hovering over the stage, such as 没有如果, 用力抱着, 别再为她流泪 and 情歌. I was also flipping through the concert brochure which gave a tentative 曲目 which turned out to be relatively inaccurate...haha.

The concert only started at close to 8.30 pm but the crowd was LOUD when the lights went out and the first strains of 风笛手 started playing. The whole atmosphere was electric and became even more so when 静茹 appeared! I thought 风笛手 is a great opening tune since it's upbeat and energetic and gets the crowd going (not that the crowd needed any help there), but it isn't one of the 主打歌 so the really really late-comers probably won't miss it too much if they came in after the song. 静茹 went right next to two rock songs, 一秒的天堂 (which she performed in front of our section of the audience...yay!) and 燕尾蝶, which really got the crowd into the concert by the end. After this, 静茹 asked the crowd whether we've been waiting a long time (haha...YES!), and explained that they were late in starting the concert because of the traffic conditions which prevented a lot of fans from making it into the arena on time, so they wanted to make sure everyone got in before starting :)

挥挥手 你是不是我 我的风笛手
请你对着我说 这首旋律只属于我
- "风笛手"

静茹 then asked us whether we had eaten dinner (KFC for us!), and the reason she's asking was because so we would have energy to sing along with her :) She went to the lower level (there were two tiers) of the stage (我下来这边唱) which brought wild cheers from the crowd, for the next song 会呼吸的痛 (which she performed beautifully, and I mentioned this especially because it's a deceptively difficult song to sing well). She then walked around the stage and sang Fly Away (one of my favorites, not least because of its soaring chorus) and went back up again to the top tier of the stage for 无条件为你 (where 静茹 very nicely scaled the ultra-high voice pitch required for the song) followed by 崇拜. I was trying to memorize the songs 静茹 sang up to this point but it was becoming too stressful so I gave up, figuring that HearFish will probably have the songlist (which they do, so a HUGE thanks to them). The first act came to an end with 崇拜 (again, difficult song with a prelude that requires 清唱, but 静茹 coasted through it like it was nothing), with an impressive acrobat performance during the interval.

看着你 就可以让我 茫茫人海里感到安定
- "Fly Away"

静茹 then appeared for the second act sitting atop (what I'd like to call) the 暖暖 locomotive (which first appeared in the 2008 台北小巨蛋 concert), singing 暖暖 (one of my favorite favorite songs of hers)! The reason for the locomotive is because the first line of the lyrics goes like "都可以随便的， 你说的， 我都愿意去， 小火车摆动的旋律". Awesome rendition! I was singing along softly to the first few lyrics of the song...very paiseh to sing any louder :) 静茹 then got down from the train to chat with the audience. She joked that her English name is "Fish" which was labeled on the side of the train, but that the "h" had fallen off, probably during transit so she had to now quickly move over to cover it up. She faced the opposite section of the audience (the north section) and noted that the crowd was very united in their cheers (and they really were, with their chants of 遇见静茹， 遇见幸福! (I agree!) and 梁静茹， 我爱你! Yay!). Some of the crowd in the upper tier were throwing balloons down to the stadium below and 静茹 asked for them to throw a balloon to her. She then asked how it's only the north section that has balloons (ha!) and went to our section to see if we had any (none, but tons of cheers), and proceeded to sing 亲亲 in front of us! (She told the crowd in the other section to wait for her) She asked if it was our first time at her concert and the crowd in our section responded with a resounding Yes! (me too! me too!) 静茹9 静茹 then got down from the train to chat with the audience. She joked that her English name is "Fish" which was labeled on the side of the train, but that the "h" had fallen off, probably during transit so she had to now quickly move over to cover it up. She faced the opposite section of the audience (the north section) and noted that the crowd was very united (and they really were, with their chants of 梁静茹， 我爱你! Yay!). Some of the crowd in the upper tier were throwing balloons down to the stadium below and 静茹 asked for them to throw a balloon to her. She then asked how it's only the north section that has balloons (ha!) and went to our section to see if we had any (none, but tons of cheers), and proceeded to sing 亲亲 in front of us! (She told the crowd in the other section to wait for her) She asked if it was our first time at her concert and the crowd in our section responded with a resounding Yes! (me too! me too!) 静茹 also asked if we knew the lyrics to the song (me, ashamedly not very well, but the rest of the crowd, a resounding Yes!). 静茹 then walked around the stage to sing 没有如果, great song with a really catchy melody.

我哼着歌 你自然的就接下一段
- "暖暖"

静茹 then chatted with the audience again. I have to say, one of the things I love about 静茹 is her personality. She always comes across as so down-to-earth and approachable, even though she's a 天后, and the crowd (and all of her fans worldwide) really takes to that, I think. I mean, I've liked "aloof" singers like Faye Wong and Kit Chan, but it's really really really (because one "really" isn't enough to emphasize the point) a nice change of pace to have a musician who's talented and successful but yet so openly appreciative of her fans and so seemingly just like "one of us". I'm probably remembering the sequence wrong here, but it was probably at this point that 静茹 noticed one of the fans was using a megaphone to shout his cheers to her. I thought that was great...very bravado! 静茹 was pleasantly surprised and asked if he could sing some lines of one of her songs, perhaps 勇气, to her. She kidded that she rarely singles out fans during concerts so he HAS to sing. Alas, the megaphone failed the poor guy, but 静茹 still managed to hear him sing (听到了, 听到了!)

Right before 静茹 began her next song (the sweet 我喜欢), she noticed a fan had a bouquet of flowers and asked if that was for her :) The fan said it was and then proceeded to try to get down from where he was to give the bouquet to her, which only made it to 静茹 via the security personnel after the song had started. Important thing, though, was that 静茹 got the flowers :) The next song was 今天情人节 (which shares its title with the theme of 静茹's concerts), followed immediately by one of my favoritest (yea, I know it's not a word) songs of all time, 情歌!!! This song only made its debut on the concert songlist in Beijing (in May), and 静茹's powerful vocals carried this great song here and brought it beautifully to the audience, which was understandably vociferous when the opening strains started playing and it became obvious it was 情歌. Its resonant lyrics (kudos to lyricist 陈没) of unrequited love and regret really struck a chord with the 静茹 fanbase. Next came another song which I like a lot, 属于, which has a simple arrangement (though with a real knockout of a prelude) but is one of the many songs where 静茹's rendering makes the song better (this song really gives 静茹 a chance to show just how powerful her vocals are). The second act came to an end with the pensive and wistful C'est La Vie, sung in a musical fashion with the mime who appeared at the start of the concert. A nice silent montage of the mime pining over 静茹 played over the interval after 静茹 had exited the stage.

慢动作缱绻胶卷 重播默片 定格一瞬间
- "情歌"

我坚持的 都值得 坚持吗
我所相信的 就是真的吗
如果我敢追求 我就敢拥有吗
而如果 都算了 不要呢
- "属于"

The third act started with 静茹 singing a series of songs to an orchestral group, starting with her cover of A-mei's 记得. I have to say, as much as A-mei is understandably a living legend in Chinese pop, in my opinion, 静茹's cover of 记得 is actually better than the original...more soulful and heartrendering. Next came Let's Fall in Love (Karen Mok 原唱), a nice little ballad which I like a lot and which I think 静茹 first sang at the aforementioned Taipei concert. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, 静茹's version is sooo tender and moving! This is followed by a cover of Jacky Cheung's 情书. This is my favorite Jacky Cheung song, and though 静茹 did a great job here, I have to say I prefer the original version, with Jacky Cheung being more at ease with the jaunty melody of the song. Last is the cover of Mayday's 知足, and here I have to say 静茹 really knocked the ball out of the ballpark. Absolutely heartbreaking rendering of the song that has become one of my favorites of hers. Mayday wrote the song and their original is great, but here I thought 静茹 really made the song her own. Next came one of 静茹's most popular songs, and which I think is her most devastatingly gutwrenching song (even more so than 会呼吸的痛 because it's subtler), 可惜不是你. I think this song is one of the most technically challenging in 静茹's repertoire of songs since one has to start the song singing low and deep and the chorus rises to near soprano level. This is followed by 丝路, another tricky song with a section where the lyrics come hard and fast, but again, no sweat for 静茹 :) 静茹 paused here again to chat with the audience, and praised them again for their exemplary participation, and said maybe the gusto stems from the spicy Sichuan cuisine :) The crowd united and chanted 梁静茹, 雄起! 静茹 first misheard the cheer as 梁静茹, 休息! (haha), and then 梁静茹, 勇气! (which was what I thought too) before the director clarified the crowd's cheers for her (it was really hard to make out the cheer clearly amidst all the noise in the stadium). 静茹 was surprised because she's never heard this cheer before (me neither), but was very touched and said there would be more 雄起 (后面还有更雄起的) later :) She then mentioned that she brought a good friend today (special guest 品冠!) and asked if we could give him as raucous a welcome as we did earlier for her. Next she began the first lines of the duet that she would be singing with 品冠, 明明很爱你.

当一阵风吹来 风筝飞上天空
为了你而祈祷 而祝福 而感动
- "知足"

I thought the choice of 品冠 as guest was great, and was delighted when I read online it was going to be him a few days before the concert. He and 静茹 have been very good friends for a long time and so the chemistry is there, and the songs he sings are thematically and stylistically similar to 静茹. The crowd went berserk when 品冠 appeared, and 静茹's and 品冠's ease with each other really shone through in how they effortlessly and perfectly complemented each other during the duet. Their banter after the song was terrific...humorous and kidding around with each other (and with the audience!)...just like old friends catching up. 品冠 then proceeded with two solo songs as 静茹 retired for the interval, a slower number that he started at our section (yay!) 那些女孩教我的事 and a faster one 一切为了爱 that he sang while playing the guitar. He joked that Sichuan is famous for pandas so he wore a shirt resembling the colors of the panda that day (black and white) when he was taking his coat off for the guitar performance. It must have been hot too on the stage since he had to wipe sweat off with a towel. At the end, 品冠 shouted for us all to support 静茹 (我们永远支持静茹！). You're preaching to the choir, 品冠 :)

这一刻突然觉得好熟悉 像昨天今天同时在放映
- "可惜不是你"

The last act of the concert. It began with a video on the big screen asking the audience to clap our hands and stamp our feet according to the cues that were shown on the screen, and also panned to the various musicians in the band who contributed to the great concert. Then 静茹 re-appeared and sang 小手拉大手!!! My favoritest 静茹 song (and therefore my favoritest song, period) in the whole wide universe. I mean, I love all of 静茹's songs, but 小手拉大手 is the first among equals. Its irresistibly charming melody by Tsuji Ayano and upbeat lyrics by Cheer Chen is made even more perfect by 静茹's rendition, which imbues it with a contented cheeriness that doesn't call attention to itself or overstate the "happy", but just brings forth the joy as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Very nice. 静茹 began the song at our section, but she wanted to allocate equal time to all sections of the audience so she was at the other end of the stage when the song was completed, but it was still a real treat to hear her perform the song live. Priceless.

我们小手拉大手， 今天加油， 向昨天挥挥手！
- "小手拉大手"

The next song is also one I love a lot, 孤单北半球, which 静茹 actually first sung at a concert in Singapore 2007 (yay! Score 1 for Singapore). **I think it was after this song (and it's almost criminal that I can't remember this part too well) that 静茹 came over to our section of the audience and chatted and waved (or it could be during the song as she was singing it) and there was a moment when she looked in our direction (where we were sitting) and I waved vigorously back. She waved too (!!!!!) and I wasn't sure that she was waving at me in particular, but I'd like to think so. Most. Important. Moment. Ever. Haha, like I said, I was too excited by The Wave to remember when exactly The Wave happened. 静茹 then went up onto the upper tier of the stage for the next song (by her "师哥" 阿信 of Mayday) 听不到, followed by one of her most well-known songs 分手快乐. 静茹 has mentioned many times (and astutely so) that despite the seemingly off-putting title, this is a friend's song (朋友的歌), and how friends are there for each other in times of need, and asked if the audience would join in the song with her. The lyrics to this song are burned into my brain and so I sang (softly of course) along. It's a great song, not necessarily a particularly memorable melody in my opinion, but extremely resonant lyrics by well-known lyricist 姚若龙, and it's easy to think every single soul was singing along with 静茹 because the whole stadium seemed to rock :)

挥别错的才能和对的相逢
- "分手快乐"

静茹 paused after the song to acknowledge the Chengdu audience, and said that she's especially moved (and mentioned that she noted as much to the backroom staff during the interval) that the audience sang all of her songs so loudly, which isn't necessarily the case at every concert. 静茹 then acknowledged the sponsors of the concert, and the musicians in her band, which included 伍冠谚 who composed the melody for 情歌! 静茹 kidded that he finally wrote a song for her and it's not a bad song (haha...putting it mildly, 静茹). Then came another memorable moment. 静茹 mentioned the next song she was going to sing was a song for our loved ones, a good natured song that wishes our loved ones well, and it's none other than 三吋日光! This is one of my favorite 静茹 songs, for exactly the same reasons that 静茹 just mentioned, and I had HOPED (without really expecting) that she would sing it in this concert. It's not a song that is sung at all the concerts, for instance, it wasn't on the songlist at the KL concert, but it was used so pitch-perfectly as the closing song for the Taipei concert, and so I let out a "Yay!" with clenched fist when 静茹 announced that she was going to sing it, before I could help myself :) I sang the opening and closing lines of the song too :)

一人一只闪闪仙女棒 好像我们指尖有星光
很烫 可是很灿烂很漂亮
一点点光鹏捧在手上 像太阳
- "三吋日光"

Then came 静茹's final monologue before the concert was over. She mentioned that she had read the online forums and, though she might not reply to the posts, she knew that the Chengdu audience had always hoped that they could have a 静茹 concert to call their own, and she herself too had wanted to hold a 个人演唱会 here after visiting so many times previously. And now their dream is realized and she hoped that one day she could return again to hold another concert in Chengdu, at which the crowd went ballistic! In my mind, I was asking 静茹 to come to Singapore soon too for her concert. Her last was in December 2007 and that's way too long a wait. 静茹 was visibly emotional during this speech and was on the verge of tears, and that made the crowd cheer even louder for her. This is the last concert that 静茹 is holding before a well-earned break for her upcoming wedding (hearty congrats to 静茹 again for this felicitous news!), and I was wondering whether 静茹 being overwhelmed was also because she's silently bidding farewell to all of her fans worldwide as well, with Chengdu as a surrogate. Thinking back now as I'm typing this, even me, the cynical Singaporean, is tearing up at what is undoubtedly one of the most moving and affecting moments of the concert.

静茹 then proceeded to sing 勇气, her career-defining and most well-known song, which is used traditionally to close all of her concerts, and so it was a bittersweet moment when the first strains of this great song started, because we knew the concert would be coming to an end soon, the encore notwithstanding. After the perfect rendition of 勇气, 静茹 thanked all of her fans and exited the stage, after which the Chengdu crowd chanted 静茹! 静茹! 静茹! at near deafening levels. I was all ready for the traditional Encore chant, but I have to say, the Chengdu crowd got this correct. So much more apt and personal! 静茹! 静茹! 静茹!

放在我手心里 你的真心
- "勇气"

静茹 then appeared for the encore to rapturous applause and cheers with 爱你不是两三天, and everyone was singing along. It was at this point that several fans from the seats above us ran down to the railing in front of our seats, blocking our view, so we had to stand to still be able to see the stage. 静茹 was going around the stage and she stopped in front of our section and again, I waved like there's no tomorrow when she looked in our general direction. Wonderful times :)

After the song, 静茹 mentioned that there were ten recently engaged couples in the audience and was wondering whether the director could find them so we could give them our blessings, and then kidded with one of the couples who was caught on camera (不要害羞!) and asked if they could kiss for the audience :) 静茹 then asked whether there are any singles in the audience, at which a HUGE section of the crowd responded, way more than I expected. Haha, really Chengdu? So many? 静茹 then kidded that those singles could look to their left or right and see if there are any they fancied :) It was at this point that someone from the seats above us shouted 不用找！就是你了！ LOL. Dude, she's engaged (our seats were actually close enough to the stage that we noticed 静茹 was wearing her engagement ring during her concert...awww sweet!). 静茹 mentioned that there are fans who have really met at her concerts and gotten engaged (e.g. in HK). She then wished all of her fans well and hoped that we all could find someone someday. 静茹 asked whether we wanted to go home yet (你们还不要回家啊?), and the crowd responded with a big 不要! But then she mentioned that the concert must really end soon (*sigh*), and that we have come really to the last song for the night. 静茹 said it for all of us when she said it's been a great night, and asked if we could put all of the happiness that night into the last song 宁夏. Right before the first strains of 宁夏 (couldn't have chosen a better closing song, with its blissful melody evocative of innocence and young love) played, 静茹 asked the crowd that they could stand and sing it if they wanted, at which the entire arena rose unequivocally to its feet and sang along to the song. One of the most lasting memories of this last song was that I looked across the stage when 静茹 was singing the song in front of the east section of the crowd and everyone was standing and waving along to 静茹's singing and that was just such a great sight to behold, seeing 静茹 being so appreciated by such a responsive audience. It just made such an indelible impression and could very well have been the defining image thematically for the whole concert and I'll probably always think of this snapshot whenever 宁夏 plays on the radio from here on out.

知了也睡了 安心得睡了
在我心里面 宁静的夏天
- "宁夏"

静茹 then proceeded to run around the stage, pausing at each end to bow and thank the audience, and the crowd remained on our feet to give her a richly-deserved standing ovation. And then 静茹 exited the stage. 天下没有不散之宴席; all good things must come to an end. It sounds sad whichever language you say it in. The wonderful concert comes to an end after close to three hours of perfect singing by one of the best Chinese pop musicians of our generation. Oh, how I wished the concert would never end and I could stay in that stadium with my fellow fans and hear 静茹 sing forever. Alas, that was not to be, and the concert had well and truly ended. But I stayed a while longer as the crowds dispersed, just to let it all soak in, to remember every moment that had transpired over the past three hours, and probably on a subconscious level making a futile attempt to *will* the concert into continuing (haha). We left after a while, at which point the Chengdu crowd had poured onto the streets (the stadium is located right next to a main road) causing traffic to come to a virtual standstill. 静茹 caused a traffic jam!

A HUGE thanks to 静茹 for giving us fans a truly, truly memorable experience. I don't think it's an overstatement to say it's been an out-of-this-world experience and I'll cherish the memories of this concert forever. 静茹, this is one fan who'll support you for life :) It's my first concert and I seriously doubt this will ever, ever be topped. Even as a diehard fan of 静茹, watching her live for the first time gave me a new appreciation of what an awesome musician she is; her voice is so powerful and clear, and her vocal range is so wide, she can practically ace every song that comes her way (and that's not even mentioning her exemplary 咬字). And singing so tirelessly, pitch-perfectly and in tune, 30 songs for close to three hours is no mean feat. A big thanks also to the Chengdu fans for being such a great crowd and contributing to the electrifying atmosphere in the arena, and to HearFish for the songlist of the concert. I really hope I'll get another chance to see 静茹 in concert again.

Finally, best wishes to 静茹 for her upcoming wedding, and may she and her knight-in-shining-armor have a fantastic happily-ever-after! 祝静茹和她的白马王子永远幸福， 白头谐老 :)

PS: By the way, 宁夏 was also the song playing in the lobby of our hotel the last night we were in Chengdu (I am NOT making this up!), which I thought was pretty awesome :)

Disclaimer: I'm writing this recap from memory, so some of the chronological order of the events in the concert could very well have been mixed around. Apologies for any mistakes.

**Update: I'm pretty sure now that this was towards the end of the song :)

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Thoroughly entertaining movie, as one might expect from Pixar. The sterling first 10 minutes, chronicling Carl's life with his wife before the main events of the movie, is the perfect portrait of companionship (or lack thereof): real enough yet perfect enough to draw the audience in and tear their hearts out, even when the ending is inevitable. In fact, this prologue is so good, the rest of the movie seems almost an afterthought. In a way, it's kind of like Wall-E, Pixar's previous movie, where the bits on Earth are more fascinating than the bits in space. It does seem that the plot doesn't really know what to do after the concept has been laid for the audience (in the case of Up, a lonely elderly man who goes on the adventure that he and his late wife had always wanted, but didn't have a chance to; in the case of Wall-E, how a lonely robot finds love in a deserted future Earth). Still, the final scene that ties in the first 10 minutes is the perfect way to end the movie, and one can never go wrong choosing Pixar :)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Went to watch "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" earlier this week, and really enjoyed the movie. I've seen all the Potter movie adaptations and this has to rank up there as one of my favorites, alongside "Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Goblet of Fire". To someone who hasn't read any of the books, "Half-Blood Prince" came across to this non-reader to do a much better job than its immediate predecessor ("Order of the Phoenix") of streamlining JK Rowling's dense tome so that all the major plot points in the book are covered without seeming to rush from one event to the other, while leaving room for the movie to breathe in terms of letting the emotional moments sink in. Maybe part of this is because Steve Kloves, who adapted all of the previous novels to the screen except for "Order of the Phoenix", has returned to writing duties, and also perhaps that director David Yates (who directed "Phoenix"), has become more accustomed to his role.

Whatever the reason, "Half-Blood Prince" was an emotionally-rich movie that canters along at a good pace while having time for a few light humourous moments as well. The latter has been criticised by some critics and fans, but I felt the movie absolutely needed that, given the dark tone of the main plot in which Harry and Dumbledore seek out one of the horcruxes in which Voldemort has hidden part of his soul. The humor is mainly contained in Harry's and Ron's "adventures" in the romance department, and it not only serves to provide some much needed, and effective, light-hearted moments, but the subplot paid its dues in full when at the end, Harry's mourning of Dumbledore's death was made all the more effective because Ginny was there for him to have a shoulder to cry on. That final reel was a real gutwrencher, and made all the more so by all the students and teachers at Hogwarts raising their wands in honor of the fallen headmaster. I teared up all over and it was all I could do to prevent myself from crying out loud. As powerful, if not more, as Cedric's death at the end of "Goblet of Fire".

A minor quibble, and probably more because I haven't read the book, is the seeming throwaway reveal near the end that Snape was the titular Half-Blood Prince. Is this revelation meant to bear more significance?

"Half-Blood Prince" is a movie I thoroughly enjoyed, and this is one happy fan who'll most definitely be looking forward to the next movie in the series.