Khamis, 26 Disember 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro


29 killed in Thailand bus accident

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 05:08 PM PST

BANGKOK: A bus carrying New Year travellers plunged off one of Thailand's highest bridges in the kingdom's northeast, leaving at least 29 people dead, police said Friday.

The accident occurred around midnight Thursday-Friday in Lom Sak district, Phetchabun province while the bus was en route to the northern province of Chiang Rai.

"We suspect the bus driver fell asleep," Major General Sukit Samana, police commander of Phetchabun province, told AFP.

Twenty-eight bodies were found in the ravine and one died in hospital, he said.

Several others were in a critical condition. No foreigners were believed to have been on board.

"The eyewitness who informed the police said the bus went very fast before it plunged into the ravine," Sukit said.

He said more than 100 police, soldiers, civilians and rescue workers had joined the rescue effort.

The bus, which was carrying 40 passengers, was completely destroyed in the accident.

Transport Minister Chadchart Sitthipunt said the bus smashed through the safety barrier of the Phamuang bridge, whose highest pillar stands at 50 metres (164 feet) tall and which links north and northeast Thailand.

"The accident may have been caused by a reckless driver as the bus was travelling at high speed going downhill and it crashed through the bridge railing before plunging into the 50- to 70-metre deep ravine," he said.

The accident occurred as millions of Thais are expected to travel during the New Year period to take advantage of a five-day public holiday starting on Saturday.

Safety standards are generally poor in Thailand and deadly road accidents are common.

At least 20 people were killed in October when a tour bus carrying elderly Buddhist devotees plunged into a ravine in northeast Thailand.

A recent report by the World Health Organization said the country saw some 38.1 road deaths per 100,000 of population, compared to an average of 18.5 in Southeast Asia as a whole. -AFP

Okinawa approves relocation of US airbase in Japan

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 10:07 PM PST

TOKYO: Japan's Okinawa on Friday approved the long-stalled relocation of a controversial US military base, the defence ministry said, a breakthrough that looks set to remove a decades-long source of friction between Tokyo and Washington.

Local bureaucrats signed a document that gives the governor's green light to a landfill, paving the way for the construction of a new base on the coast.

The defence ministry's Okinawa bureau confirmed that it had received the document, which bore the governor's seal, from local government officials.

"The office received the document at 10:50 am. It was approved," said a ministry official at the bureau.

After years of staunch opposition, Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima this week met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pledged a big cash injection into Okinawa's economy every year until 2021.

Nakaima's nod marks a breakthrough on an original 1996 agreement to shut the Futenma airbase, which is in a densely populated urban area.

The United States affirmed in 2006 it would re-site the base on the coast, but the move has been stymied by opposition throughout Okinawa, which feels overburdened by its outsized share of the American military presence in Japan.

The governor is expected to announce his decision on Friday afternoon on Okinawa, where local residents have already reacted furiously to the news.

In the meeting with the Okinawa chief on Wednesday, Abe pledged an unheralded cash bonanza for the archipelago, at least 300 billion yen ($2.9 billion) for Okinawa's economic stimulus budget every year until fiscal 2021.

The package of proposals also includes halting operations at Futenma within five years and the early return of the land.

Nakaima has been a bitter critic of the central government, which he says is unsympathetic to the southern tropical island, which hosts around half of all the 47,000 military personnel in Japan.

Winning his approval marks a significant achievement for Abe, and one that is expected to burnish his credentials in Washington after years of frustration over the issue.

Observers have pointed to the timing of the deal on the base move and Abe's controversial visit Thursday to the Yasukuni war shrine, seen as a symbol in northeast Asia of 20th century Japan's brutal imperialism.

The visit, the first by a sitting premier since 2006, drew sharp rebukes from South Korea and China, as well as rare criticism from Washington, which said it was "disappointed".

Critics say Abe may be counting on the base deal to remove some of the sting in Washington's reaction.

Abe, who did not visit the Yasukuni shrine during a previous stint as prime minister, returned to power in part by accusing a left-leaning government of jeopardising the US alliance through the feud over Futenma. -AFP

New airport terminal in 2017

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

CHANGI Airport's Terminal 4 ,which will be ready in 2017, will cost S$985mil (RM2.5bil).

"The work being undertaken by Takenaka Corporation includes buil­ding a new passenger facility to handle up to 16 million travellers a year and other related works," Chan­gi Airport Group said on Thursday.

T4 will have parking room for 17 narrow-body aircraft and four big planes. The parking stands will come with aerobridges for travellers to move from the terminal straight to the aircraft.

If space runs out, travellers will be ferried by bus to the parking area across Airport Boulevard Road.

A new multi-storey carpark and another open-air car park will cater for up to 1,500 vehicles. There will also be a double-storey holding area for taxis waiting to pick up arriving passengers.

To improve access to and from the new terminal, a new road will be built to funnel traffic direct­ly from T4 to the East Coast Parkway.

A new bridge across Airport Boulevard Road will enable buses and other airside vehicles to move from T4 to new aircraft stands being constructed at a land plot near T3.

According to Changi Airport Group, Takenaka Corporation also built Changi's T1 and upgraded T2.

It was one of five firms that had bid for the project. — The Strait Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz


A life out of the ordinary

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

Ben Stiller plays a man who steps out of his comfort zone in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty.

Struck by the notion presented in James Thurber's 1939 short story – that everyone is a hero inside who goes unnoticed – Ben Stiller decided to make The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. Directing and starring in the film, Stiller described it as one of the most challenging and meaningful films of his career.

In a transcript provided by the film distributor, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Stiller theorised why the classic tale about a daydreamer who escapes his unremarkable life by entering a world filled with fantastic adventures still resonates with people. "It is the idea that we all have so much inside that nobody knows about. Walter sees so much but nobody really sees him. I thought that was a beautiful idea."

For the film, Stiller expanded the idea a little bit. "This film is not just about a guy who has crazy daydreams. It is about a guy who is trying to get in touch with himself. I liked the idea of the guy stepping out into the world and actually trying to make a change."

Walter (Stiller), a photo editor at Life magazine, took on the responsibility of being the man of the house after his father died when he was just a teenager. While he enjoys his current job, Walter longs for something more, especially a relationship with a colleague, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). So he dreams about a life in which he is the greatest hero Cheryl would know.

However, his comfortable bubble faces real jeopardy when the magazine is bought over and is going digital. Walter is tasked with developing the negative of the photo taken by the magazine's most famous photographer (Sean Penn) who thinks it should be the cover of the last issue of Life.

Only problem is, the negative is missing, leaving him with no other option but to travel to the ends of the world to find the photographer and get the negative. Hence, begins Walter's amazing journey for real.

The clear message in the film is to live in the moment and appreciate it – something 48-year-old Stiller has come to realise is true. "It's one of life's biggest challenges. First of all it's challenging to become aware of it. I think most of us go through our lives not even aware that we're not in the moment.

"I think maybe I relate to Walter's story at this point in my life because I'm getting to an age where I'm becoming more aware of those things. As you get older you start to think more about time and how short life is and you start wanting to take advantage of the moment." 

  • The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty opens in cinemas nationwide tomorrow.

A rewrite for 'The Magnificent Seven' remake

Posted: 25 Dec 2013 06:45 PM PST

John Lee Hancock, director of Saving Mr Banks, has taken up the tast of rewriting the script.

Saving Mr Banks director John Lee Hancock has come on to rewrite MGM's remake of The Magnificent Seven, which Tom Cruise is no longer involved with, TheWrap has learned.

True Detective scribe Nic Pizzolatto wrote the initial draft of the script. John Sturges directed the original 1960 Western, which itself was based on Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic Seven Samurai.

Magnificent Seven starred Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter and Horst Buchholz as a group of American gunmen hired to protect a small Mexican village from a group of savage bandits led by Calvera (Eli Wallach). The film was followed by three sequels and remade as a CBS series in 1998-2000.

Cruise first became interested in Magnificent Seven back in May 2012, when MGM began developing a remake of its library title, though with his busy schedule, the project was never in his immediate plans. Pizzolatto was hired in August 2012 thanks to heat generated by HBO's upcoming miniseries True Detective, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

MGM remains focused on mining its library titles to generate new profits. In addition to upcoming reboots of the RoboCop and Poltergeist franchises, the studio is also developing remakes of Death Wish and WarGames.

Hancock is no stranger to the Western genre, having co-written and directed The Alamo for Disney, which has maintained faith in the filmmaker despite that film's disappointing box office performance. Not only did the studio entrust him with its own Walt Disney movie Saving Mr. Banks, which is currently in the awards conversation, but it also turned to Hancock to fix its upcoming tentpole Maleficent. Hancock wrote several new scenes and helped oversee reshoots on the US$200mil-budgeted Angelina Jolie movie.

Hancock directed Sandra Bullock to an Oscar nomination for The Blind Side, which was a surprise Best Picture nominee. His other feature writing credits include Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World and Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, and Hancock was also among a trio of scribes credited on Snow White And The Huntsman. — Reuters

Martin Scorsese lambasted for his film

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 07:50 PM PST

The director's Wolf Of Wall Street is definitely not for everyone.

Martin Scorsese knows that The Wolf Of Wall Street is not for everyone, but he probably didn't expect to be lambasted by an Academy Of Motion Pictures and Sciences (AMPAS) member when he arrived for the official members screening of his film last weekend.

But according to a Facebook post from actress Hope Holiday, that's what happened.

Referring to the graphic three-hour film about the sex-and-drug-filled lifestyle of stockbroker Jordan Belfort, and then to the arrival of Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles, she wrote: "Last night was torture at the Academy – The Wolf Of Wall Street – three hours of torture – same disgusting crap over and over again – after the film they had a discussion which a lot of us did not stay for – the elevator doors opened and Leonardo D. Martin S. and a few others got out then a screen writer ran over to them and started screaming – shame on you – disgusting..."

Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street is getting mixed reactions from viewers. 

A Paramount rep who was with Scorsese said that no one screamed at the director, but admitted that one person offered "a negative comment". The film's talent didn't stop to respond, because they were hurrying into the theatre for a post-screening Q&A with Scorsese, DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and writer Terrence Winter.

When asked for additional details by TheWrap, Holiday declined to identify the screenwriter who confronted Scorsese as he exited the elevator on the second floor. But she said that the screenwriter's criticism of Scorsese was "a shocker", and "very awkward and embarrassing" for others waiting for the elevator. Some people at the screening, she added, did applaud the film, while others ("including myself") hated it.

Others report healthy applause for the film, and for the panelists at the Q&A. The screening was reportedly very well attended, despite it being a three-hour film screening on the Saturday night before Christmas. "It's brutal," admitted Scorsese in a conversation with TheWrap last week. "I've seen it with audiences, and I think it plays. I don't know if it will be to everyone's taste – I don't think it will. It's not made for 14 year olds."

To be fair, the Facebook post and its subsequent comments showed that Holiday and her friends clearly aren't the target audience for Scorsese's film, either. The 75-year-old actress, who appeared in The Apartment and Irma la Douce, among others, and her friends bashed current films, including Inside Llewyn Davis, and praised White Christmas, When Harry Met Sally, As Good As It Gets and The Wizard Of Oz.

Holiday did say that she "liked" David O. Russell's American Hustle, but found it "confusing". Saturday's incident was not the first time that a Scorsese film has been rudely greeted by someone in an AMPAS audience. One longtime Academy member told TheWrap that at the members' screening of Scorsese's Casino in 1995, one man stood up in the middle of the film and screamed, "Disgusting! Pornography! Crap!" at the screen. That film received one Oscar nomination for Sharon Stone's lead performance. — Reuters

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio


American remake of Broadchurch

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:30 PM PST

Actor Josh Hamilton lands role on Fox's Gracepoint.

The actor currently appearing on American Horror Story: Coven has joined the cast of the American remake of the hit British show Broadchurch, Deadline.com has announced.

Dubbed Gracepoint, the American version will bring the plot of Broadchurch across the pond. The star of the original series, David Tennant (Doctor Who), will once again play an American detective investigating the murder of an 11-year-old boy, a crime that shocked the sleepy town in which it occurred.

Josh Hamilton will take part in the adaptation in the role of Joe Miller, husband to the local detective Ellie Miller, played by Anna Gunn, best known for her role as Skyler White on Breaking Bad. Disappointed at having to share the case with Emmett Carver (Tennant), she is forced to view the inhabitants of her hometown in a different light in order to identify the author of the crime.

Slated to air on Fox in 2014, Gracepoint will be written by Chris Chibnall, the creator of Broadchurch, and directed by James Strong, who was behind the camera on the original series as well as on Downton Abbey.

Broadchurch, first aired last spring on ITV, has been renewed for a second season in 2014, but it remains unknown whether Tennant will return in the role of Alec Hardy. — AFP Relaxnews

Cartoon Network welcomes Steven Universe

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 06:55 PM PST

Check out the brand new cartoon about a young boy who may or may not have magical powers...

Fans of Adventure Time and The Regular Show will have more reason to keep tuning into Cartoon Network – Steven Universe is making its debut soon!

The whimsical new series is a combination of magic, sci-fi, action and comedy, and will include some unconventional musical numbers, too. Created by Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe revolves around the adventures of a young boy who hangs out with three galactic warriors.

Steven is described as a hammy, goofy ukulele-playing boy who is sort of a little brother to the warriors, the Crystal Gems. As the magical guardians of humanity, the Crystal Gems is made up of of leader Garnet (voiced by R&B singer-songwriter Estelle), fun-loving Amethyst (voiced by Michaela Dietz) and perfectionist Pearl (voiced by Deedee Magno Hall).

Meanwhile, Steven – who is voiced by Zach Callison – may or may not have magical powers coming out of his belly button when he eats ice cream...

But one thing is for sure, viewers can expect him to spontaneously break into a song. Or two.

Steven Universe also features the voices of Sinbad and Joel Hodgson; there are also a few episodes where special guest stars Nicki Minaj and Aimee Mann appear. 

> Steven Universe premieres on Cartoon Network (Astro Ch 616), on Jan 6 at 6pm. 

Getting wires crossed

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

There is some artificial fun to be had in Almost Human, a buddy-cop TV series set in the future.

WHEN it comes to pairing two people together to work on solving cases, the sure-fire formula is to partner a by-the-book person with the department's loose cannon.

Then just sit back and wait for the sparks to fly.

Most of the time, it really works – The X-Files, Hunter, Castle and Elementary are some TV shows featuring successful mismatched pairs. You can add one more show – Almost Human.

The series is a procedural set in a police department where cases of murders, kidnappings and drug dealers are investigated on a daily basis. But the series has a couple of twists – the biggest of all is that one of the partners is actually a robot.

Set in the year 2048, Almost Human revolves around Detective John Kennex (the ever watchable Karl Urban) coming back to work after an injury that cost him one of his legs. Like all police officers in this future, he is paired with a robot. Unlike others, his "synthetic", Dorian (Michael Ealy with a perpetual mischevous glint in his eyes), has the software to understand and emulate human emotions, giving him an artificial soul. Soon, however, it becomes clear that the show's title can be applied to both the main characters – Dorian, for obvious reasons, and Kennex because he has way too many awkward interactions with people.

While it would be easy to dismiss this pair as nothing more than a gimmick, especially with them having all the cliched traits, it would be a shame not to see Urban and Ealy play these characters who often have biting exchanges and throw insults at each other. The thought that a robot can come up with a sarcastic remark (like, "It is amazing how you wear insurbodination like a virtue") is funny.

Unfortunately, there are more than a few gags that go sideways and backfire as well, like Dorian talking a chef into putting a live snail for a reluctant Kennex to eat or Dorian nagging Kennex about his social skills or love life.

Thankfully, there are more than a few things to distract us when the humour falls flat, namely the various gadgets in the future. The surroundings look similar to the present day – except certain night scenes that look like a poor version of the movie Blade Runner – but there are some cool technologies envisioned in the series. For one, Dorian is a walking computer, allowing him to access anything about the crime scene instantly (whenever his CPU is working, a blue light appears on one side of his face).

In this future, the crime scene yellow tape is actually a hologram. There is also a technology which makes a person's face appear as a ball of light on surveillance cameras and a bomb that releases all kinds of stuff, turning a crime scene into a forensic nightmare.

Other than Dorian talking us through all the techical aspects of the show, there is also the geeky lab guy doing the explaining. Actor Mackenzie Crook (the pirate with the glass eye in Pirates Of The Caribbean films) makes a watchable, although stereotypical, character.

However, the same can't be said of Lily Taylor and Minka Kelly. These actresses play what must be the most colourless police officers on television ever. Kelly is pretty to look at, and the series obviously wants to romatically pair Kennex with her character, but there is just no chemistry. Taylor is a superb actress, but her character is so bland because she is hardly given anything to do.

Again, Almost Human is salvaged by something else – the action sequences. Since Ealy and Urban are two physical actors, they come off very natural when pulling out guns. Ealy has played a cop in all of his previous roles, so he should be familiar with the physical aspects of being a cop.

At the moment, Almost Human plays out like a weekly episode, with the duo handling a different case every week. But as seen in the pilot, there is a bigger mystery concerning Kennex's girlfriend and, how the man lost his limb in a bust gone very wrong.

Whatever path the series decides to take – a weekly procedural or a season-long arc – Almost Human has enough entertainment value even with its few kinks.

  • Almost Human is aired every Monday at 9.50pm on Warner TV (HyppTV Ch 613).
Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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Iranian dissidents say rockets hit their Baghdad camp, kill three

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 08:40 PM PST

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A camp of Iranian dissidents in the Iraqi capital was hit by rockets on Thursday in an attack the group said killed three residents and seriously wounded several others.

A Shi'ite militia claimed responsibility for the attack on the Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) camp in western Baghdad, which has repeatedly been the target of mortar and rocket attacks in recent months.

The group, which calls for the overthrow of Iran's clerical leaders and fought on Iraq's side during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shi'ite-led government that came to power after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

A Paris-based spokesman for the MEK, Shahin Gobadi, said three people had been killed when "Camp Liberty," located in a former U.S. military compound, was hit with dozens of missiles.

Several of the wounded were in a critical condition, said Gobadi, adding that more than 50 had been reported injured. The group accused the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of being behind the attack in an attempt to win support from Iran's government ahead of elections next year.

Iraqi authorities have repeatedly denied involvement in attacks on the group.

In a rare claim of responsibility for attacks on the MEK, Wathiq al-Batat, commander of the al-Mukhtar Army militia, told Reuters his group had fired 20 Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds at the camp.

"We've asked (the government) to expel them from the country many times, but they are still here," he said, accusing the group of communicating with Sunni and Shi'ite politicians he said were linked to al Qaeda.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack "in the strongest terms." In a statement, it urged the Iraqi government to take additional steps to secure the camp against further violence and "to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable for the attack."

Al-Mukhtar Army is a relatively new Shi'ite militia, which has said it is supported and funded by Iran. Batat is a former leader of the more well-known Kata'ib Hezbollah militia.

Shahriar Kia, another spokesman for MEK who lives in the camp he said houses about 3,000 Iranian dissidents, said two men were killed when a rocket fell near their caravan.

"I saw two caravans set ablaze and black smoke billowing," he said. "We are still taking shelter inside the caravans out of fear of more shelling."

Police sources confirmed the camp had been targeted by mortars and said four wounded Iranians had been transported to a hospital in western Baghdad.

More than 50 people were killed at a separate MEK camp north of Baghdad in September. The attack drew condemnation from the United States and Britain.

(Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy, Ahmed Rasheed and Kareem Raheem; Additional reporting by Peter Cooney in Washington; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by David Evans and Bill Trott)

China media slams Japan PM for paying homage to 'devils'

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 08:15 PM PST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers blasted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, describing his visit to Yasukuni Shrine as "paying homage to devils" and warning that China has the ability to crush "provocative militarism".

Abe visited Yasukuni on Thursday, a shrine where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal after World War Two are honoured along with those who died in battle. The move has infuriated China and South Korea, both of which were occupied by Japanese forces until the end of the war, and prompted concern from the United States about deteriorating ties between the North Asian neighbours.

In an editorial headlined "Abe's paying homage to the devils makes people outraged", the military's People's Liberation Army Daily said Abe's actions have "seriously undermined the stability of the region".

"On one hand, Abe is paying homage to war criminals, and on the other hand, he talks about improving relations with China, South Korea and other countries," the newspaper said. "It is simply a sham, a mouthful of lies.

"Today, the Chinese people have the ability to defend peace and they have a greater ability to stop all provocative militarism."

In a separate commentary published under the pen name "Zhong Sheng", or "voice of China", the Communist Party's People's Daily said: "History tells us that if people do not correctly understand the evils of the fascist war, cannot reflect on war crimes, a country can never (achieve) true rejuvenation."

The Global Times, an influential nationalistic tabloid owned by the People's Daily, urged China to shut its door to Abe and other Japanese officials who have visited the shrine this year.

"If condemnations are China's only recourse, then the nation is giving up its international political rights easily," the newspaper said. "Ineffective countermeasures will make China be seen as a 'paper tiger' in the eyes of the rest of the world.

"In the eyes of China, Abe, behaving like a political villain, is much like the terrorists and fascists on the commonly seen blacklists."

A survey on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging site on Thursday showed that almost 70 percent of respondents would support a boycott of Japanese goods, with many users expressing outrage at the shrine visit. The survey was later removed.

However, the topic was not one of the most talked about on Weibo, with people being more distracted by the latest celebrity gossip and the upcoming new year.

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Additional reporting by Li Hui and Huang Yan; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Dozens of bodies recovered after violence in Central African Republic

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 06:10 PM PST

BANGUI (Reuters) - Red Cross workers have recovered 44 bodies from the streets of Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, they said on Thursday after inter-religious fighting in the last two days.

Six Chadian peacekeepers have also been killed in the former French colony, while judicial authorities said they had uncovered a mass grave with 30 bodies, many of them showing signs of torture, near a military base used by Seleka rebels.

The rebels seized power in March, unleashing a wave of looting and killing on the mostly Christian population. Thousands of French and African troops have struggled to contain a flare-up in violence in the last week.

The mostly Muslim Seleka and Christian self-defence militias have carried out tit-for-tat attacks on each other and on the local population.

Georgios Georgantas, head of an International Committee of the Red Cross delegation, said the 44 bodies were probably only a fraction of those killed in Bangui in the last two days, given that his team had been unable to go into parts of the city.

"Violence has been at extremely high levels," Georgantas told Reuters by telephone. "We have information about more bodies in certain parts of town which we have been unable to access because the fighting was so intense."

A representative of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres at Bangui's main hospital said it had seen more than 50 people since Wednesday night with gunshot or machete wounds from the fighting that raged for hours across Bangui.

A spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping mission (MISCA) said Chadian peacekeepers were attacked by gunmen in the Gabongo neighbourhood near the airport on Wednesday.

"The number of Chadian soldiers killed has risen to six because one of them died from his wounds this morning," Elio Yao told Reuters. He could not give a precise total for the number of African peacekeepers killed so far in the crisis.

Two French troops were killed just days after Paris deployed a 1,600-strong peacekeeping mission in its former colony in early December under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Thursday that he was appalled by the continued violence, including the reports of dozens more bodies found on the streets of Bangui.

Ban also said he was saddened by the deaths of the six peacekeepers. "Their mission is to provide desperately needed security. They are not part of the conflict between Central Africans," he said.

Ban is drafting plans for a possible U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was alarmed by this week's attacks on civilians by both Seleka and Christian militia fighters, and "deeply disturbed" by the discovery of the mass grave in Bangui.

"The continued sectarian fighting only deepens the country's wounds and makes reconciliation more difficult," Kerry said in a statement. "The United States calls on the CAR transitional authorities to immediately end the violence, end the use of torture, and investigate and prosecute all those implicated in grave human rights abuses."

The violence eased on Thursday as French peacekeepers took up positions on main roads near the airport and in troubled neighbourhoods, although sporadic shooting was reported in several areas during the morning.

Many say the bloodshed has little to do with religion in a nation where Muslims and Christians have long lived in peace. Instead, they blame a political battle for control over resources in one of Africa's most weakly governed states.

MASS GRAVE

Bangui's public prosecutor, Ghislain Gresenguet, said authorities on Wednesday discovered some 30 bodies clustered near the Roux military camp by a hill on the edge of Bangui. The corpses were scattered over a 200-metre (yard) area.

"Some of the bodies were tied up. Others had big gashes and wounds which showed that they had been tortured," Gresenguet told Radio France International. "They were likely killed somewhere else and dumped there."

The Christian militia, known as 'anti-balaka,' which means anti-machete in the local Sango language, accuse Chadian forces of supporting the Seleka rebels. Chad strongly denies this.

MISCA's commanding officer, Martin Tumenta Chomu, said on Tuesday that Chadian troops would be moved outside the capital to northern Central African Republic. The 4,000-strong MISCA force is scheduled to reach 6,000 soldiers by the end of January.

Colonel Gilles Jaron, spokesman for the French military, said France was deploying troops to flashpoints in the city, such as the Gabongo and Bacongo neighbourhoods.

France's force, code-named Sangaris, has between 1,000 and 1,200 men in Bangui, with the rest deployed in the interior.

"The Sangaris force has not been the target of coordinated attacks. We are the target of sporadic shooting, which we respond to each time," he said.

(Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier in Paris, Daniel Flynn in Dakar, Michelle Nichols in New York and Peter Cooney in Washington; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Ruth Pitchford and Ken Wills)

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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A life out of the ordinary

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

Ben Stiller plays a man who steps out of his comfort zone in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty.

Struck by the notion presented in James Thurber's 1939 short story – that everyone is a hero inside who goes unnoticed – Ben Stiller decided to make The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. Directing and starring in the film, Stiller described it as one of the most challenging and meaningful films of his career.

In a transcript provided by the film distributor, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Stiller theorised why the classic tale about a daydreamer who escapes his unremarkable life by entering a world filled with fantastic adventures still resonates with people. "It is the idea that we all have so much inside that nobody knows about. Walter sees so much but nobody really sees him. I thought that was a beautiful idea."

For the film, Stiller expanded the idea a little bit. "This film is not just about a guy who has crazy daydreams. It is about a guy who is trying to get in touch with himself. I liked the idea of the guy stepping out into the world and actually trying to make a change."

Walter (Stiller), a photo editor at Life magazine, took on the responsibility of being the man of the house after his father died when he was just a teenager. While he enjoys his current job, Walter longs for something more, especially a relationship with a colleague, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). So he dreams about a life in which he is the greatest hero Cheryl would know.

However, his comfortable bubble faces real jeopardy when the magazine is bought over and is going digital. Walter is tasked with developing the negative of the photo taken by the magazine's most famous photographer (Sean Penn) who thinks it should be the cover of the last issue of Life.

Only problem is, the negative is missing, leaving him with no other option but to travel to the ends of the world to find the photographer and get the negative. Hence, begins Walter's amazing journey for real.

The clear message in the film is to live in the moment and appreciate it – something 48-year-old Stiller has come to realise is true. "It's one of life's biggest challenges. First of all it's challenging to become aware of it. I think most of us go through our lives not even aware that we're not in the moment.

"I think maybe I relate to Walter's story at this point in my life because I'm getting to an age where I'm becoming more aware of those things. As you get older you start to think more about time and how short life is and you start wanting to take advantage of the moment." 

  • The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty opens in cinemas nationwide tomorrow.

A rewrite for 'The Magnificent Seven' remake

Posted: 25 Dec 2013 06:45 PM PST

John Lee Hancock, director of Saving Mr Banks, has taken up the tast of rewriting the script.

Saving Mr Banks director John Lee Hancock has come on to rewrite MGM's remake of The Magnificent Seven, which Tom Cruise is no longer involved with, TheWrap has learned.

True Detective scribe Nic Pizzolatto wrote the initial draft of the script. John Sturges directed the original 1960 Western, which itself was based on Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic Seven Samurai.

Magnificent Seven starred Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter and Horst Buchholz as a group of American gunmen hired to protect a small Mexican village from a group of savage bandits led by Calvera (Eli Wallach). The film was followed by three sequels and remade as a CBS series in 1998-2000.

Cruise first became interested in Magnificent Seven back in May 2012, when MGM began developing a remake of its library title, though with his busy schedule, the project was never in his immediate plans. Pizzolatto was hired in August 2012 thanks to heat generated by HBO's upcoming miniseries True Detective, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

MGM remains focused on mining its library titles to generate new profits. In addition to upcoming reboots of the RoboCop and Poltergeist franchises, the studio is also developing remakes of Death Wish and WarGames.

Hancock is no stranger to the Western genre, having co-written and directed The Alamo for Disney, which has maintained faith in the filmmaker despite that film's disappointing box office performance. Not only did the studio entrust him with its own Walt Disney movie Saving Mr. Banks, which is currently in the awards conversation, but it also turned to Hancock to fix its upcoming tentpole Maleficent. Hancock wrote several new scenes and helped oversee reshoots on the US$200mil-budgeted Angelina Jolie movie.

Hancock directed Sandra Bullock to an Oscar nomination for The Blind Side, which was a surprise Best Picture nominee. His other feature writing credits include Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World and Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, and Hancock was also among a trio of scribes credited on Snow White And The Huntsman. — Reuters

Martin Scorsese lambasted for his film

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 07:50 PM PST

The director's Wolf Of Wall Street is definitely not for everyone.

Martin Scorsese knows that The Wolf Of Wall Street is not for everyone, but he probably didn't expect to be lambasted by an Academy Of Motion Pictures and Sciences (AMPAS) member when he arrived for the official members screening of his film last weekend.

But according to a Facebook post from actress Hope Holiday, that's what happened.

Referring to the graphic three-hour film about the sex-and-drug-filled lifestyle of stockbroker Jordan Belfort, and then to the arrival of Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles, she wrote: "Last night was torture at the Academy – The Wolf Of Wall Street – three hours of torture – same disgusting crap over and over again – after the film they had a discussion which a lot of us did not stay for – the elevator doors opened and Leonardo D. Martin S. and a few others got out then a screen writer ran over to them and started screaming – shame on you – disgusting..."

Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street is getting mixed reactions from viewers. 

A Paramount rep who was with Scorsese said that no one screamed at the director, but admitted that one person offered "a negative comment". The film's talent didn't stop to respond, because they were hurrying into the theatre for a post-screening Q&A with Scorsese, DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and writer Terrence Winter.

When asked for additional details by TheWrap, Holiday declined to identify the screenwriter who confronted Scorsese as he exited the elevator on the second floor. But she said that the screenwriter's criticism of Scorsese was "a shocker", and "very awkward and embarrassing" for others waiting for the elevator. Some people at the screening, she added, did applaud the film, while others ("including myself") hated it.

Others report healthy applause for the film, and for the panelists at the Q&A. The screening was reportedly very well attended, despite it being a three-hour film screening on the Saturday night before Christmas. "It's brutal," admitted Scorsese in a conversation with TheWrap last week. "I've seen it with audiences, and I think it plays. I don't know if it will be to everyone's taste – I don't think it will. It's not made for 14 year olds."

To be fair, the Facebook post and its subsequent comments showed that Holiday and her friends clearly aren't the target audience for Scorsese's film, either. The 75-year-old actress, who appeared in The Apartment and Irma la Douce, among others, and her friends bashed current films, including Inside Llewyn Davis, and praised White Christmas, When Harry Met Sally, As Good As It Gets and The Wizard Of Oz.

Holiday did say that she "liked" David O. Russell's American Hustle, but found it "confusing". Saturday's incident was not the first time that a Scorsese film has been rudely greeted by someone in an AMPAS audience. One longtime Academy member told TheWrap that at the members' screening of Scorsese's Casino in 1995, one man stood up in the middle of the film and screamed, "Disgusting! Pornography! Crap!" at the screen. That film received one Oscar nomination for Sharon Stone's lead performance. — Reuters

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Hibiscus: Cost of Oman well will be capitalised

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

PETALING JAYA: Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, which saw its share and warrant prices plunge to a three-month low of RM1.53 and RM1.02, respectively, has announced that its unit responsible for the oil drilling programme in Block 50 Oman would be capitalising the cost of the Masirah North North 1 (MNN 1) well and not be writing it off at this stage.

In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia, the company said: "Until and unless the area is abandoned (and as there are no plans to abandon the area currently), there is no requirement for costs to be written off.

"In this event, Hibiscus would not be recognising its share of the cost of the MNN 1 well in its income statement at this time."

Hibiscus owns 35% in Lime Petroleum Plc, which in turn has a 64% stake in Masirah Oil Ltd, the entity which holds the rights to the Block 50 concession.

The special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) told the stock exchange that the total estimated cost incurred by Masirah for the recently drilled MNN 1 well was approximately RM60mil.

"Hibiscus and Lime have both adopted the full cost method of accounting, wherein the oil and gas (O&G) expenditure incurred is accumulated in respect of each identifiable area of interest and capitalised (and not expensed) to the extent certain conditions are satisfied," it added.

It also said it was too premature to conclude on potential impairment, if any, due to its plan to drill the second well in the near future.

"The impact of the MNN 1 well's result on the impairment assessment would be fully evaluated by Lime/Masirah, and the results would be disclosed in Lime's audited consolidated financial statements for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2013," it said, adding that the results of its assessment would be disclosed in its next quarterly report.

The total estimated cost of the second exploration well is expected to be approximately RM83mil, likely to be fully funded by cash already available in Masirah.

O&G analysts contacted by StarBiz said the selldown in Hibiscus shares and warrants was due to negative sentiment, following results that well number one was not commercially viable and that it might have to write off the asset.

The mother shares plunged 42.91% from the peak of RM2.68 on Dec 13, while its warrants dived 51.66% from RM2.11. Yesterday alone, the stock lost 31 sen, or 16.85%, while the warrants fell 30 sen, or 22.73%.

In an earlier report, RHB Research said Hibiscus shares could be worth as low as RM1.18 if its drilling campaign in Oman Block 50 ended in failure.

Its Singapore Exchange-listed joint-venture partner Rex International Holdings Ltd, which provided the proprietary technology to detect potential oil reserves, also fell 5.5 cents to 58.5 cents.

Separately, Bloomberg quoted an analyst from United Overseas Bank Ltd as saying the Oman block was one of Rex International's major assets, and hence the great amount of attention on the development and significant drop in share price.

Rex International said the data from the coring and logging programmes would be used to better understand the area's geology, and that the drilling of the second exploration well in the area would start within two weeks, according to the report.

While some observers expected the sentiment on the first SPAC to possibly spill over to other listed SPACs, Sona Petroleum Bhd was traded unchanged at 44.5 sen, while its warrants dipped 0.5 sen to 26 sen.

CLIQ Energy Bhd, on the other hand, fell marginally to 65.5 sen, while its warrants were one sen lower at 37 sen.

Japan inflation rate tops 1% for the first time in 5 years

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 06:59 PM PST

TOKYO: Japanese consumer inflation topped 1% in November for the first time in five years, making steady headway under the central bank's efforts to achieve a 2% inflation target via aggressive monetary stimulus.

Factory output rose for a third straight month, retail sales jumped and job availability hit a six-year high, other data showed on Friday, adding to growing signs the recovery in the world's third-largest economy is gathering momentum.

Still, analysts remain doubtful of whether inflation will accelerate quickly enough to meet the BoJ's ambitious target, set in April, of 2% inflation in roughly two years.

"Consumer prices show signs of being pushed up by the weak yen, so we're still looking at cost-push inflation. It remains to be seen how strongly wages will rise," said Yasuo Yamamoto, senior economist at Mizuno Research Institute in Tokyo.

The core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes volatile costs of fresh food, rose 1.2% in November from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, roughly in line with a median market forecast for a 1.1% increase.

That was the fastest pace of growth since a 1.9% increase in October 2008, when a spike in global commodity prices pushed up import costs.

In a sign of broadening inflation, the so-called core-core inflation index – which excludes food and energy prices and is similar to the core index used in the US – rose 0.6% in the year to November. That marked the second straight month of gains and the biggest increase since August 1998.

Factory output rose 0.1% in November, less than a median market forecast for a 0.4% increase, although manufacturers surveyed by the government expect production to rise in December and January.

The BoJ launched an intense burst of monetary stimulus in April, pledging to accelerate inflation to 2% in roughly two years via aggressive asset purchases in a country mired in prolonged deflation.

Japan's economic growth slowed in the third quarter due to soft exports after outpacing its G7 counterparts in the first half of this year.

Analysts expect the economy to pick up again as consumers try to beat a sales tax hike in April next year, although they worry about the damage the higher tax could do to the economy in the latter half of next year.

BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has repeatedly said the pain from the sales tax hike will be temporary and will not derail the path towards achieving the bank's 2 percent price target.

He has also said wages, which have barely risen for years in Japan, need to rise for the BoJ to achieve its price target and for household spending to sustain strength.

In a sign of a tightening job market, the jobs-to-applicants ratio improved to 1.00 in November, meaning one job was available for each job seeker, from 0.98 in October.

This was the strongest demand for workers since the ratio was 1.01 in October 2007, as demand for real estate and other services led to labour shortages at some non-manufacturers.

Retail sales rose 4.0% in November from a year earlier, exceeding a median forecast for a 2.9% increase, partly due to demand ahead of a planned increase in the sales tax next year – Reuters. 

Textron to buy Beechcraft for US$1.4bil

Posted: 26 Dec 2013 06:44 PM PST

NEW YORK: Textron Inc, maker of Cessna planes, said it will buy aircraft maker Beechcraft Corpfor about $1.4 billion in cash, in a deal that sees Textron expand its aviation business.

Shares of Textron were up about 3 percent in extended trading after the announcement of the deal.

Beechcraft emerged from bankruptcy protection in February and was seeking buyers for its jet plane business which has been losing money.

Textron, which also makes the Bell helicopter, said it plans to finance the deal through a combination of available cash and up to $1.1 billion in new debt.

The deal is one of the largest after a U.S. budget agreement that experts say could set off the most robust series of mergers and acquisitions in the aerospace and defense sector in years.

In case Beechcraft is able to find a higher bidder, it will be liable to pay a termination fee of $48 million to Textron, Beechcraft said in a statement.

Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisors to Beech Holdings. JP Morgan served as financial adviser to Textron.- Reuters

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Martin Scorsese lambasted for his film

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 07:50 PM PST

The director's Wolf Of Wall Street is definitely not for everyone.

Martin Scorsese knows that The Wolf Of Wall Street is not for everyone, but he probably didn't expect to be lambasted by an Academy Of Motion Pictures and Sciences (AMPAS) member when he arrived for the official members screening of his film last weekend.

But according to a Facebook post from actress Hope Holiday, that's what happened.

Referring to the graphic three-hour film about the sex-and-drug-filled lifestyle of stockbroker Jordan Belfort, and then to the arrival of Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles, she wrote: "Last night was torture at the Academy – The Wolf Of Wall Street – three hours of torture – same disgusting crap over and over again – after the film they had a discussion which a lot of us did not stay for – the elevator doors opened and Leonardo D. Martin S. and a few others got out then a screen writer ran over to them and started screaming – shame on you – disgusting..."

Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street is getting mixed reactions from viewers. 

A Paramount rep who was with Scorsese said that no one screamed at the director, but admitted that one person offered "a negative comment". The film's talent didn't stop to respond, because they were hurrying into the theatre for a post-screening Q&A with Scorsese, DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and writer Terrence Winter.

When asked for additional details by TheWrap, Holiday declined to identify the screenwriter who confronted Scorsese as he exited the elevator on the second floor. But she said that the screenwriter's criticism of Scorsese was "a shocker", and "very awkward and embarrassing" for others waiting for the elevator. Some people at the screening, she added, did applaud the film, while others ("including myself") hated it.

Others report healthy applause for the film, and for the panelists at the Q&A. The screening was reportedly very well attended, despite it being a three-hour film screening on the Saturday night before Christmas. "It's brutal," admitted Scorsese in a conversation with TheWrap last week. "I've seen it with audiences, and I think it plays. I don't know if it will be to everyone's taste – I don't think it will. It's not made for 14 year olds."

To be fair, the Facebook post and its subsequent comments showed that Holiday and her friends clearly aren't the target audience for Scorsese's film, either. The 75-year-old actress, who appeared in The Apartment and Irma la Douce, among others, and her friends bashed current films, including Inside Llewyn Davis, and praised White Christmas, When Harry Met Sally, As Good As It Gets and The Wizard Of Oz.

Holiday did say that she "liked" David O. Russell's American Hustle, but found it "confusing". Saturday's incident was not the first time that a Scorsese film has been rudely greeted by someone in an AMPAS audience. One longtime Academy member told TheWrap that at the members' screening of Scorsese's Casino in 1995, one man stood up in the middle of the film and screamed, "Disgusting! Pornography! Crap!" at the screen. That film received one Oscar nomination for Sharon Stone's lead performance. — Reuters

Jackie Chan's cop saga

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

Here are some of the legendary actor's top cop films.

Police Story (1985): Considered one of Chan's greatest and most popular movies ever, it features Chan as Ka Kui, a Hong Kong detective who tries to bring down crime lord Chu Tao. This movie contained some of the most inventive action sequences and best stunts he has ever done, including an early chase in which Chan hangs on to a double-decker bus with an umbrella. It also won Best Film at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards.

Police Story 2 (1988): After the massive damage he caused in the first film, Ka Kui is demoted to traffic officer. Things soon get messy again when his arch-enemy Chu is released from prison and goes after the cop who put him in the slammer. Though not as memorable as the first film, the sequel still featured a high level of action and stunts. the best one being Chan running across the roofs of buses during a chase scene.

Police Story 3: Supercop (1992): Malaysia Boleh! This was arguably Datuk Michelle Yeoh's breakthrough movie, playing a policewoman from China who joins forces with Ka Kui to bring down a drug ring. Best known as "the one where Jackie Chan flies around Kuala Lumpur while hanging from a helicopter ladder", it was Yeoh's performance and derring-do that caught the eye here.

Police Story 4: First Strike (1996): This was where the franchise started to go downhill. Made during Chan's early days in Hollywood, he tried to appeal to both Eastern and Western audiences by filming this partly in English, which made for some highly cringe-worthy dialogue and a pretty lame plot. Still, it turned out to be Chan's biggest ever box-office hit in Hong Kong at the time.

New Police Story (2004): Older and much wiser, Chan returned to the franchise with this remake of the original, and put the focus more on drama than action. This was probably the first Police Story where Chan's acting stood out more than his fighting, garnering him a Best Actor nomination at the 24th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards. 

Related story:

Purity in motion

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Sleepless malice

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

David Lim's Miasma deals with deadly secrets that can hide in the most ordinary lives, and the consequences of unravelling them.

SECRETS. All of us have them. Some are shared, some are forgotten, and some lie dangerously hidden, like sleepless malice, awaiting their time to come forth. It is these secrets that daunt us in our waking hours and haunt us in our sleep. There is no telling when they will come to light.

And it is this unravelling that most of us dread. What if someone finds out our deepest and darkest secrets? What if this demon that has been locked away decides to break free from its chains and wreak havoc?

This is the preoccupation of the many characters of Miasma, a collection of four short plays presented by Luminal Edge. Not in any way connected to each other (a commonplace practice by many Malaysian theatre productions), the four stories take a voyeuristic look at the lives of two best friends, a father and his two children, a son and his mother, and a host of other characters and the secrets that they live with.

Directed by David Lim, of God Of Carnage and Boom fame, the four plays were written by newcomers Shamaine Othman and Adiwijaya (whose real name is Iskandar Ismail) and veterans Na'a Murad and Maya Tan Abdullah, and were staged at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Of the four, the one that struck a chord with this writer was Bapak by Adiwijaya. The story tackled the relationship between an older sister and her brother and their relationship with their father. It began with the brother wanting to confront someone for his transgressions only to be discouraged by his sister, who insists this person has repented and changed. The siblings then have a meal with their father but what should have been normal dinner conversation takes a dramatic turn when the brother confronts his father about molesting his sister.

Tensions flare up and accusation after accusation are shot like fiery arrows. In all of this, the father tries to calmly reason his way out while the sister denies having ever said such a thing to her brother. The play ends with the sister insisting that she will remain behind to look after their father and imploring the brother to leave them alone.

LEAD PIX: Siti Farrah Abdullah brilliantly evoked the silent trauma of sexual abuse in Bapak. -- Photos by RAYMOND OOI/The Star

Tormented soul: Siti Farrah Abdullah brilliantly evoked the silent trauma of sexual abuse in Bapak. – Photos by RAYMOND OOI/The Star

Playing the character of the sister with conviction, vulnerability and a silent anguish is Siti Farrah Abdullah. This role could very easily have been overplayed and unnecessarily dramatised but Siti Farrah lent gravitas to her character, at once making the sister believable and accessible to the audience.

Siti Farrah also shone in her ability to portray the silent and internal torment of her character, especially when the brother details the horror of how their father raped her in the nights after their mother's death. She just sat there, quietly, witnessing the whole account and one can see her body waxing with the weight of truth.

Another actor who should be lauded is Zukhairi Ahmad, who was not only a delight to watch as the brother but also as Nazim in Maya Tan Abdullah's Dunia Lelaki, in which he plays a conflicted young man who is faced with the pressures of living up to his mother's expectations. Funny and charming, Zukhairi made his characters likable.

The production took a minimalistic approach to staging, using simple props only when necessary. But what gave Miasma that intimate feel was the set design by Freddy Tan. All three sides of the stage were draped in black cloth, making the scenes look that much more private. The long, entwined strips of black cloth seemed like metaphors for the twisted secrets that entangled the characters, and when the characters exited, it looked like they were swallowed by the darkness.

Miasma did have its share of shortcomings. For one, the last two plays were slightly confusing, especially Hundred (written by Na'a), which follows the trail of a hundred ringgit note. Since some actors played more than one character and the play stretched for what felt like a long time (though each play was supposedly 20 minutes long), I wondered if the same character progressed with the passage of time.

Furthermore, Amelia Chen failed to convey the dangerously jealous character of Nora in Noah (written by Shamaine), a simple, dark comedy about Nora who accuses Linda, her pregnant best friend, of stealing the name Noah for her soon-to-be-born son. Chen seemed too calm and nonchalant when confronting Linda, even after her water breaks because of the confrontation. There was no drive to her character and her acting was only passable.

Nonetheless, Miasma had all the right elements to form an engaging and truthful play that handled heavy yet close-to-the-heart topics without any pretensions.

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