Review: Black Swan

Black Swan is the latest ballet movie to hit the global box office since Mao's Last Dancer in 2009. However, it is not the run-of-the-mill ballet movie with a fairy-tale ending. It tells the story of a ballet dancer, Nina Sayers vying for the lead role of Swan Queen in the ballet company she is working for in its latest production of Swan Lake. Nina is a talented dancer, however, being a perfectionist she is, it is all the more difficult for her to realise her fullest potential.

Nina did get the lead role of Swan Queen. However, securing this role came with a catch; she also needed to master the role of Black Swan. While mastering the role of Swan Queen came within her grasp, mastering the role of Black Swan soon became an unimaginable nightmare. Nina has to put up with the daunting pressure from her domineering mother and an impossible artistic director.

Not only that, Nina began to feel convinced a new dancer in the company by the name of Lily was determined to snatch the role of Swan Queen from her. As the pressure to excel began to mount on Nina, it was also the point where she began to show signs she were to succumb it. The horrendous hallucinations she was experiencing became the breaking point. Nina finally did managed to master both the role of Swan Queen and Black Swan, however, it came with a terrible price as she did not managed to muster the courage to ask for help.

The character of Nina Sayers was helmed by the ever gorgeous Natalie Portman, and she played it to absolute perfection, performing 90% of the dance scenes in the movie. Thus, this year's Academy Awards category of Actress In A Leading Role has aptly gone to Portman for her brilliant portrayal as Nina Sayers in Black Swan.

Mila Kunis who played the role of Lily was excellent too. The dual personality of the "bitchy" and "nice" Lily was so real beyond any description I could think of. Kunis' acting could have rivalled that of Portman's, they are in my opinion, equally excellent.

As I'm very partial to ballet movies, this would hardly come as a surprise to people who know me well that I would review Black Swan favourably. I seriously think it could have rivalled The King's Speech in terms of global box office collection, despite the fact these two movies are from very different genrés. And yes, I HIGHLY recommend Black Swan even if you are not a fan of the ballet and/or ballet movies.

Malaysian public toilets - etiquettes need to be observed

Malaysian public toilets often leave me much to be desired. It is a necessity for many people yet you would find there are people who do not know how to use them properly let alone treat them with respect. It would not be that bad if people are able to observe simple etiquettes to keep the public toilets clean and in reasonable condition.

Making things worse would be when you have to pay to use the public toilet but its cleanliness is not even up to scratch. One of my top pet peeves about the Malaysian public toilets would be their extremely wet environment. I wouldn't mind if the toilet in my own home is wet as there are very few people using it. However, when you have to share the public toilet with hundreds of other strangers, it is entirely a different matter altogether.

Not only that, some people have the habit of hogging the toilet without any care in the world, even when there is a very long queue of people waiting to use it. This phenomenon is extremely prevalent in the ladies' toilet. My own experience often saw me waiting up to 15 to 20 minutes just to use the toilet for a small business due to some inconsiderate people who decided to hog the toilet cubicle. I also often encounter people who would leave little pressies after they are done using the toilet.

Sometimes the attitude of people using public toilets baffles me. More so if they are supposedly to be well-educated and well brought up by their parents. If most people can keep their own toilet at home clean and tidy, why can't they just do the same when they are using the public toilet? I guess it all boils down to the mentality of many Malaysians - when something doesn't belong to you, you would treat it according to your whims and fancies.

Public properties should be treated with respect as they are built using taxpayers' hard-earned money and/or money spent in retail and services business transactions. People should stop and think for a moment that it is their hard-earned money being used to build public properties around the country as well as hiring personnel to upkeep them. Even if it means you have to pay to use them.

As we are moving towards the direction of a developed country, everyone should play their role to treat public properties with respect, especially public toilets. And it is something NOT to be peed about (pun intended) because it often becomes the first impression foreigners have on our country.

Review: American Ballet Theatre: a 25-year retrospective

Title: American Ballet Theatre: a 25-year retrospective

Author: Elizabeth Kaye (text), Clive Barnes (foreword)

Year: 1999

ISBN: 0-7407-0019-7 (hardback), 0-7407-0018-9 (paperback)

American Ballet Theatre: a 25-year retrospective is a coffee table book that chronicled the progression of America's premier classical ballet company from the time it was first founded in 1939. It is a pictorial chronology of the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), illustrating some of the most prolific male and female dancers who have performed and are performing with the company.

ABT is a company that have always been staging well-known and well-loved ballet classics such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, La Bayadère, Giselle and The Nutcracker just to name a few. However, the company also commissioned quite a few neo-classical and modern ballet choreography from choreographers like George Balanchine, Antony Tudor and Jerome Robbins. Thus, this book contained photographs of some of the most memorable performances that have been showcased by ABT from the mid-1970s to the 1990s.

This book is excellent for people who love ballet like me. I love the photographs in it, coloured and black-and-white alike. In fact, I REALLY LOVE ballet photography. The beauty of it is beyond any description. People who are into performing arts would be able to relate to what I'm saying. I have the paperback version of this book for less than RM 50 many years ago and I thought it was a worthwhile investment when I saw the price of the hardback being sold by Amazon.

However, it would be a worthwhile to get this book if you are as crazy about ballet as I am. I had actually forgotten I have this book; it was because of Black Swan is currently playing in the Malaysian theatres that it jogged my long-lost memory I actually have this book. I have cleaned the dust off it and have been flipping its pages tirelessly over and over, reliving the ecstasy of just looking at those beautiful photographs.