Entertainment

 

Chinese New Year Events in Hong Kong 2015

By Shefaly Ray

 

Chinese New Year is a remarkable Chinese festival celebrated all over the world. It marks the beginning of a new year, starting after the second new moon after the winter solstice and ending on the next full moon. During this fifteen-day period, Chinese New Year is celebrated by visiting friends and families, giving gifts to loved ones, having special meals and enjoying the fireworks. Also during this holiday, some families in Hong Kong take this time to have a vacation, whereas other families prefer to stay in the country to enjoy the festival. If you and your family are planning on staying in Hong Kong for the holiday then here are some Chinese New Year events that you can attend this year.

 

 

1. Day 1 of the Chinese New Year: The Parade

This year, the first day of the Chinese New Year / New Year Day will take place on Thursday, February 19th. To kick off the festival, the Chinese New Year Parade will take place and make its way through Tsim Sha Tsui, near the Victoria Harbour.

 

 

2. Day 2 of the Chinese New Year: Fireworks

The Chinese New Year fireworks will take place on Friday, February 20th, the second day of the Chinese New Year festival. Every year, the fireworks can be seen over the Victoria Harbour, from either Hong Kong or Kowloon Island. The fireworks will display along with the Symphony of Lights at 8pm.

 

 

3. Day 3 of the Chinese New Year: Horse Races

The Chinese New Year Horse Races will take place on the last day of the festival, Saturday, February 21st. This particular horse race is a very special event for Chinese New Year and it is the most popular horse race in Hong Kong. It will take place at the Sha Tin Racecourse.

Apart from these famous events that will take place in Hong Kong, some other Chinese New Year activities that will also take place are the lion dance, family gatherings, gift sharing and many more. Enjoy your 2015 Chinese New Year, the year of the goat!

 

 

 

Game Review: Five Nights at Freddy’s

By Sourashis Bhowmik

 

Let’s talk about the scariest game in the market today. The point-and-click horror game from Scott Cawthon has caused quite a sensation throughout the interwebs. Five Nights at Freddy’s is a story based in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, where the player (Mike Schmidt) works as a night-time security guard.

 

Now, this is no Night at the Museum, there are severe complications present in the night time security job. The four animatronics of the pizzeria, Bonnie, Chica, Freddy and Foxy are animate dolls from hell, whose purpose is to roam at night and murder the guard. The protagonist works with a series of cameras to track the positions of the animatronics, and has doors which can be shut to prevent them from entering. All while dealing with the issue of battery. Survive for six hours, from midnight to six a.m., for five consecutive nights and collect your paycheck.

 

This game combines the horror of all night-time games with more essential skills such as power management, as a loss of power ends in death. This game is also a great example of how the suspense can build up to a final jump scare at the end. Overall, this game is an excellent one that deserves its hype and deserves its popularity as the top horror game of 2014.

 

 

 

Book Review: A Diary Anne Frank

By Anjali Patel

 

“A Diary Anne Frank” was published in 1947. This book is all about Anne Frank’s extraordinary diary which was written in the Amsterdam attic where she and her family hid from the Nazis in a secret annex for two years during World War 2. But they knew they were not completely safe from the Nazis. The book has become a world classic and a timeless testament to the human spirit. Anne Frank’s diary begins on her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, and sadly ends shortly after her fifteenth. At the beginning of her diary, Anne describes typical girlhood experiences, writing about her friendships with other girls, her academic performance at school, and her crushes on boys. Moreover, Anne Frank was a teenage girl who was touchingly vulnerable, obstinately honest and in love with life. She conveys her deeply secret world of soul-searching and hungering for affection, unruly clashes with her mother, romance, and truthful observations of her companions. As the war heated up and people throughout Europe suffered, Anne started to become depressed and suspicious about her family’s chances of survival. Furthermore, this book basically explains how she was facing hunger, fear of being discovered at any time and death and loneliness.

 

        I would recommend this book because the story of Anne will have an effect on rest of your life and will encourage you to work for unity and peace. It is an interesting and heartbreaking story which would bring you to the past and experience every moment that Anne encountered. You will get to know and feel how people suffered during the war. By reading this book, you will meet Anne Frank more real, more human, and more vital than ever. Besides, the diary is translated into more than 60 languages. Additionally, it has adopted both firms and theatre. Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank decided to fulfill his daughter’s wish by publishing the diary which has now become a condemnation of the inconceivable horror of the holocaust. She wrote her diary with adult wisdom and views from June 12, 1942 to August 1, 1944. Overall, this book will make you appreciate and consider its horrible context, World War II and the Holocaust.

 

 

 

A Farewell to Arms

By Vivian Li

 

The novel A Farewell to Arms is written by Ernest Hemingway. It is serialized in Scribner’s Magazine in 1929. It is first published in September 1929 in the United States of America,the first edition has 355 pages. The book is written in first-person narrative of an American young man named Frederic Henry. The story narrates the love affair Between Henry and a British nurse named Catherine Barkley during World War 1; World War 1 was fought between Germany and Austria on one side and the allies including Great Britain, France, Russia, and the United States on the other, Italy joined the war in 1915. The Italian Army was ordered to prevent German troops from strengthening Austrian troops on the eastern front. The most significant historical event Hemingway mentions in the book is the Italian retreat after the Battle of Caporetto on October 24, 1917.

 

The novel narrates a love story of uncompromising passion. A cynical soldier Frederic Henry involves himself in an elaborate game of seduction with the British nurse Catherine as soon as he meets her. After Henry is wounded on the battlefield, Catherine takes care of him in Milan during his recovery. They quickly fall in love and commit to each other. However, when Henry is healed, he is needed in the Front line and he is told that Catherine is pregnant. Henry goes back to the Front line and the Italian Army starts the retreat, Henry kills the engineering sergeant for insubordination. After he catches up with the main forces, he is caught for treachery. Henry escapes by jumping into the river before he gets executed. Then, he finds Catherine and they flee to Switzerland. Catherine dies during the childbirth in Switzerland and Henry returns to hotel lonely in the rain.

 

The book is written based on Hemingway’s personal experience in Italy during World War. It has a strong autobiographical color literary interpretation, the inspiration for Catherine Barkley is a nurse who takes care of Hemingway during his recovery in Milan after he is wounded on the battlefield. However, she disdains Hemingway’s love when he goes back to America. In the story, Henry’s life with Catherine is based on Hemingway’s two marriages and the tragic death of Catherine is based on his second wife’s death during the childbirth.  Hemingway sees wars as an abomination, this novel reflects his desire for peace and advocates pacifism. Hemingway successfully achieves his subjectivity through developing different themes, archetypal plotlines and social commentary.

 

 

Big Hero Six

By Akhil Sindher

 

Big Hero Six is the latest animated feature released from Disney after frozen. Big Hero Six is a special animated feature for a lot of reasons. One of them is, that the movie is based on a marvel comic also named Big Hero Six.

 

The plot of the movie is about a relationship of two brothers and their friends who are geniuses in robotics and science and study at a well-known university in San Fransokyo. The brothers, Tadashi and Hiro, are orphans who live with their aunt and know how it feels to lose a loved one from a young age. Hiro is the main character of the movie and he does not want to follow in the footsteps of his brother who is at a university and instead he takes part in illegal robot fighting. One day after his brother shows him how good it is at this university and all the remarkable innovations his friends have made, Hiro decides to join and makes microbots that can make anything the mind can imagine. Hiro gets admitted into the university but his brother dies in a fire wanting to save the dean of the school. The only thing Hiro has left from his brother is his creation, a medical robot called Baymax whose only purpose is to help people. Together, Baymax, Hiro and his friends set out on an adventure to solve the murder of Hiro’s brother and bring down the big bad villain who is using Hiro’s creation to create chaos.

 

The movie follows a generic plot of any superhero movie but what really works about Big Hero Six are the characters of Hiro, Baymax and his friends and the beautiful scope of the fake city San Fransokyo. Baymax is a character who anyone will instantly fall in love with. Baymax  does not get expressions and social norms which make for really good and light hearted comedy and the friends of Hiro serve the same purpose. Big Hero Six also has a lot of heartfelt moments where you cannot help to feel a bit sad and actually connect with these characters on another level. The beautiful cinematography of Big Hero Six and the city of San Fransokyo is almost a character itself where it shows how vibrant and beautiful this fake city looks and gets you at the edge of your seat when seeing the city up-close. All in all Big Hero Six is a great animated feature with a larger than life scope and a perfect family film. I would rate Big Hero Six a solid 4/5.

 

 

Dumb and Dumber ‘to’ Review

By Raziq Muhammad

 

Here is the movie review for the movie ‘Dumb and Dumber’ which I watched with my friend, and below is my personal before and after perspective of the movie.

 

Before

To understand this movie, you have to watch the first movie which is Dumb and Dumber. Starring in this movie, there will be Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, who are both known for their sense of humour and talents of making people laugh. If they could do it in the prequel, then I hope they could make me laugh into tears in the second one.

 

After

Two words, ‘Superbly Funny’. After the movie ended, my friends were still discussing about it. Some of my friends were re-enacting some of the scenes that were funny and hilarious. I could not say much more but I will say, it is a must watch movie.

So I will give a brief description of the movie. In need of a new kidney and having learned that he has a long-lost daughter, dimwit Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) snaps his equally talented pal, Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey), out of an apparent fugue state to accompany him on a journey to find her. Ending up in a place least they expected. So I would give a rating of 7.5/10 for this movie.

 

 

Eleanor & Park

By Rainbow Rowell

 

Eleanor: A new, messy,overweight, colourful, freckled, poor, fiery red-head in school. This girl wore clothes like she was a walking piece of art- but art doesn’t have to look good. It’s supposed to make you feel something. She is a “neon sign for bullies”, really.  

 

 

Park: An Asian, considered an “outsider” in the very white town in Nebraska, comic book geek, music lover, a guy in need of acceptance.

 

Being the new girl in school, after having to sit next to Park in the school-bus (the only available seat in the bus), Eleanor and Park’s friendship blossoms as she silently peers over his shoulder to read Park’s comic books during every bus ride.

 

 

Eventually, mix-tapes are swapped. Comic books are traded. Sparks have flown. Young love is born.

 

 

However, being the star-crossed lovers that they are, Eleanor and Park don’t get to experience being deeply in love for long.

 

 

This book deals with obstacles in life and society, and it’s not like every other lovey-dovey young adult chick-lit. Without dealing with a “vampire-human love”, “my-parents-don’t-agree-with-this” , or “I-am-suffering-from-a-terminal-disease” scenario, it manages to capture the reader’s heart by dealing with societal issues of stereotypical prejudices, and bullying & abuse.

Set in the era of the 80s, cassette tapes, John Hughes, and high-school, Eleanor & Park is a straight-to-the point written book with no flowery or fancy language, which is what sets this book so different from other romance novels. Not only love, but this book explores themes of family, isolation, race, gender, suffering, and courage.

 

 

Eleanor & Park

By Akshay Agarwal

 

This movie involves Matthew McConaughey (played as Cooper) & Jessica Chastain (played as Murph) as the main characters. This movie is directed by Christopher Nolan and is based on mid 21st century. A series of negative events occur, such as sand storms, depleting resources. The protagonist, Cooper, a former NASA astronaut finds his way back to duty when Professor Brand, the only scientist who knows about the end of the world, gives a mission to find a new planet to sustain life. However, this mission wasn’t the first; there were many missions before, but time was running short. They were the last explorers to send to outer space and Cooper was one of the 4. They go through many scientific events, such as entering a wormhole to jump to a distant galaxy containing few planets for spreading life. Nevertheless, these planets are to be inspected before any further actions. These inspections takes us on different planets showing upon astounding, yet dangerous phases, such as tsunamis, icy clouds and vast mountains. However, the crew have came close to death many times. The big question now is, can they safely come back to earth? Can they find the planet suitable for living? And will he be able to find his loving daughter again? If this plotline interests you, be sure to watch Interstellar.

 

Thus, you better watch to find out what  the great ending be and if it reveals a new way of thinking for you!