It is a little sad that I have little time for movies, TV or even books these days, but flying gives one time and opportunity to catch up on these simple pleasures. This trip I watched a good selection:
Yours, Mine and Ours: Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid sleepwalking throughout a messy, corny and utterly boring plot.
The Family Stone: I was expecting a mix of sentimental (it being a Christmas themed movie) and self-indulgent SJP movie, but it wasn't like that, well, maybe a little in the beginning. But there are some honest, painful moments, an intelligent plot, well-paced script and likeable characters to make the movie worth watching.
Everlasting Regret: Is it just me or does Sammi Cheng have only one expression for every emotion she is supposed to be emoting? But still enjoyable to watch for its male characters, all of them strong, silent and a little tortured. I never mind sitting through anything in which Daniel Wu or Leong Ka Fai appears.
Election: What is a plane journey without a triad movie? This is highly riveting, moody and thought-provoking, i.e. a better movie than most of its genre. It has a big cast of very watchable HK actors too, including Tony Leung (again), Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, Louis Koo.
Parineeta: I watched this movie twice because it was so entertaining, a very good-looking and talented cast, gorgeous cinematography and a storyline that is, sigh, more romantic than Titanic.
What was absent in the experience of watching movies on the plane was something small to chew on. Like deok.
Deok is a catch-all name for Korean rice cakes. We in South East Asia may have our kuehs made with rice, palm sugar and santan. The Koreans make equally delectable sweets with their rice too.
Above left, clockwise from the orange slices: Sticky, chewy rice cakes with seaweed flavours dusted with soya powder, oily sesame crusted fried biscuit that every Korean I know loves, and a zhong-zi like cake of glutinous rice, raisins, pine nuts and red dates. The last was my favourite, they cost about 2000 won each and are so simple and delicious I wish I brought back a dozen.
Above right: rice balls with cinammon-flavoured paste - this I didn't like because I don't particularly like cinammon. The rectangular cakes are pressed with pistachios and sweet red dates, now these are very toothsome.
I know, there is a deok shop near Sin Ming Road but it has weird operating hours. Writing about this makes me long for some, and I hope I will be more lucky next time I visit them.
