Archive for June, 2007
Singapore’s Ng Chin Han Lands A Major Role In The Next Batman Movie
SINGAPORE : He is well-known in the local arts scene, having began his 20-year career in theatre, television and film as a teen actor.
Now Singapore actor Ng Chin Han has snagged a role in the next Batman movie “The Dark Knight” which is set to hit cinemas in July next year.
Working with big names like Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger and Gary Oldman, Chin Han admits that he does feel a little pressure but the actors are very professional. “That’s the great part about working with these guys. And they obviously come with a great body of work and that’s very exciting for me.”
The audition process was long and grueling, and took about six to eight weeks before everything was set and inked. And it being a Hollywood blockbuster, everything was top secret.
“The scripts that they let you read for the auditions are not the scripts for the exact film movie because everything’s so top secret. You get scripts that are printed on special paper that cannot be photocopied, there are invisible watermarks, all kinds of things. You feel like a spy in a James Bond movie when you are looking at these scripts.”
Even though he’s landed a role in a Hollywood blockbuster, Chin Han’s not turning his back on theatre.
“Theatre is wonderfully exciting, it’s very organic. You have an audience It might sound like a clich but there’s nothing like seeing the smiles on the face of an audience at the end of the play or musical. I think that’s very fulfilling.” - CNA
Channel News Asia
Lara Strikes Back
The amply endowed Lara Croft is back, looking and moving better in her most enjoyable adventure yet. FAIZUL AZIM SAIFUL writes.
LARA CROFT, it was 1996, when I first met her. I was browsing through some games in a shop when through the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of this beautiful woman gazing back at me.
Wearing khaki shortpants and a singlet that just hugs her athletic figure, a long ponytail and luscious lips that you just can’t ignore, I was drawn to her. Here was a woman who was the direct opposite of Indiana Jones, in looks and manner and yet had this femininity around her.
Little did I know that this was going to be the start of a “dangerous” relationship. I mean dangerous because this is a woman who’d rather have her pistols do the talking and her idea of a good time is heading off into some God-forsaken place and go treasure hunting. Definitely no dresses or cocktail parties for this buxom beauty.
But despite all that, she was popular. A lot of people wanted to spend a lot of time with her. Some were even lucky enough to have had the pleasure and peril to have been with her on some of her adventures (present company included).
She started off under Core Design who introduced her to the world and made her a household name. Her popularity took her to several more adventures and also a Hollywood movie, which had Angelina Jolie struggling to keep up with the real Lara persona.
I have personally followed Lara on some of her quests and we have had some good times, with the exception of a misadventure in 2003 where in Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness we encountered some camera problems and hiccups in the way the tomb raid was carried out. Well, it can’t always be sunshine.
This year, Lara invited me for another adventure to celebrate our 10th anniversary as friends and colleague. This time around her benefactor Eidos gave Crystal Dynamics the initiative to send her on this quest and improve her looks, moves and voice.
And thus, I found myself on an adventure again with Lara, and this time it’s called Tomb Raider: Legends (it has always insisted on putting names on our ventures. Hmphh!).
I just can’t believe how someone like Lara could be improved and yet here she was looking better than ever (must have been some training) waiting anxiously at a doorway to a tomb in Kazakhstan with a snowstorm just behind us.
Standing at the doorway, I was taken back to the night before when Lara told me how she first got into tomb raiding. She said that she lost her mother when their plane crashed in Nepal, and while she was trying to find a nearby village, she stumbled upon a sword lodged in a stone (Excalibur?!? In Nepal?!?).
As we entered the tomb, my mind was jerked back to the present and I found myself in awe looking at how well the chambers looked. And not only the chambers in the frozen wastelands of Kazakhstan, on some of our other excursions we were trekking through the jungles of Bolivia, an English amusement park and even a high-tech high-rise in Japan.
I was also surprised to see that Lara’s training has helped her a lot. This quest has put her to the test with her having to leap from ledge to pole to rope and even then she was as graceful and fluid as a gymnast. My God, what a woman.
She can even adjust in mid-air, allowing her to jump and grab onto almost out of reach ledges to pull herself up off a cliff. In earlier adventures, Lara had to slide enormous boxes around to find hidden switches for opening far away doors, but this time around there were more puzzles and intricate contraptions to stop us from advancing.
There were metal boxes to flip through the air, boulders to push off cliffs and coffins to float on (I hated that part) to get to unreachable areas. Some of the places had us scratching our head but of course, we figured it out sooner or later.
As I mentioned earlier, Lara does her talking with her pistols, and in this quest she had a lot to talk about as there were wolves, bats, bears and all sorts of critters who were out to test her vocals. And sometimes, Lara just wanted to shout out with a precision shot to a branch or broken ledge and let the environment do most of the debating. Lara is such a master debater.
Lara does know when to have fun, keeping everything interesting for us with puzzle-solving in between explorations and not to mention heavy combat sequences at the end of each level (a gun-fight with a Tyrannosaurus comes to mind).
And if that wasn’t enough, she also took us on a number of entertaining survival mini treks. The classic Dragon’s Lair stands out where death is but a smidgen of a step or movement the wrong way.
Maybe our benefactors had too much time on their hands or their just sadists as they even made a video of bloopers titled “Unfortunate Mishaps”. But of course, they used another actress for that clip (maybe they should’ve taken Angelina).
And not forgetting the gadgets. Lara’s gadgets are cool especially with the personal lighting device and binoculars that could pinpoint places of interests, such as movable objects, in the levels (where can I get one?).
And the sound, there were no background noises to take your attention away from your quest and Lara. Just hearing Lara’s cries when she jumps and when she slams into the side of a rock, the hollow thud of her connecting safely with a wooden pillar, the sound of her feet slipping as she balances on the tip of a narrow post, and best of all, her grunts as she shimmies around a stone ledge, is enough for you to understand why I follow her on these life-threatening travels.
While on this adventure, I have had problems with camera angles and may have been bored with the combat (probably because Lara despatched them so easily) but Lara’s improved look and the beautiful locations just had me closing one eye to the problem and the other eye on Lara.
It was good seeing you again, Lara. I must say this was the best adventure yet. You have aged with grace and is celebrating your 10th anniversary in style. Welcome back, Lara Croft.
CHEATS, TIPS AND HINTS
CHEATS are entered duringῠ gameplay, but they must first be unlocked.
BULLETPROOF LARA
Hold L1, then press X, R1, Triangle, R1, Square, L2.
DRAIN ENEMY HEALTH
Hold L1, then press Square, O, X, L2, R1, Triangle.
INFINITE ASSAULT RIFLE AMMO
Hold L2, then press X, Circle, X, L1, Square, Triangle.
INFINITE GRENADE LAUNCHER AMMO
Hold L2, then press L1, Triangle, R1, Circle, L1, Square.
INFINITE SHOTGUN AMMO
Hold L2, then press R1, Circle, Square, L1, Square, X.
INFINITE SMG AMMO
Hold L2, then press Circle, Triangle, L1, R1, X, Circle.
ONE SHOT KILLS
Hold L1, then press Triangle, X, Triangle, Square, L2, Circle.
WIELD EXCALIBUR
Hold L2, then press Triangle, X, O, R1, Triangle, L1.
The review game was provided by WEGA Enterprise, located in Sungei Wang Plaza, Kuala Lumpur. Call 03-2141-8688.
New Straits Times