If you are a fan of the Harry Potter movies, you will find no fault with this installation. Fantastic effects, great production values. But if you are a fan of the book, you might feel differently, especially if you are a purist.

I’ve regarded the 4th book as the best written amongst the 6 so far. But it is also the lengthiest amongst the first 4 books. It is about twice the length of the first book. I guess everyone can envision problems with squeezing so much info into a movie. They’ve taken liberties and changed some of the plot points to accomodate the limited time. The movie still makes sense, so I think the changes were pretty well-made.

Only problem I have is that every scene is so short, it makes me feel like I’m watching a summary of an actual film. It truly can’t be helped, and I’m probably just nitpicking, i enjoyed it nonetheless

This movie is loosely based on a real life story which seeks to prove the existence of demons, something which you don’t have to convince me about. I’ve had my fair share of ghouls and demons… Written and produced in typical Hollywood style, its entertainment value is irrefutable. It doesn’t play up the supernatural bits too much, which is good.

Here’s an extract from Wikipedia, regarding the movie and the real-life story:

Anneliese Michel (21 September 1952 – 1 July 1976) was a German woman who was believed to have been possessed by a demon and subsequently underwent an exorcism. She was born in Leiblfing, a small Bavarian town, into a lower-middle class Catholic family.

In 1968, Anneliese had begun suffering from seizures which plagued her secondary school years, but was able to go to the University of Würzburg in September 1973, where she would study Elementary Education.

Anneliese was believed to be possessed, and underwent exorcism over several months. Her death caused controversy, best evidenced by the court investigation that indicted Fathers Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz of negligent manslaughter.

This ‘Klingenberg Case’ is the basis of Scott Derrickson’s 2005 movie entitled The Exorcism of Emily Rose. However, this film significantly deviates from the original real world events (e.g., the film is set in the US, Anneliese was renamed Emily Rose) possibly for the purposes of shock value. An upcoming German-language film called Requiem is expected to stay truer to the real events.

Now everyone can create an avatar (cartoon representation) of themselves with a Yahoo account. Here’s mine.

Yuanxiu is getting married tomorrow. Yes, the first guy amongst the CO group to get married. It’s not surprising, this guy was genetically programmed for marriage: stable, loyal, loving… Usually all it takes is for one guy to take the plunge and many more will follow. I foresee many more weddings ahead as peer pressure and parental pressure build up.

For me? Nah. Singlehood is pretty relaxing right now. I still have enough single friends to keep me company, and I’m already enjoying (or suffering) the joys of (surrogate) parenthood with my nephew and niece. Career is the priority. Actually, wealth is the priority, but that usually comes hand-in-hand with career nowadays. Following that would be my own home, then my own car. Yeah, bachelorhood looks pretty rosy right now