Info on the symbiote

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ASHREEN AND LOUISA



Now I will talk about that nasty black goo that nearly corrupted Peter Parker for a while, and cost Eddie Brock his humanity...
A symbiote, in Marvel Comics' fictional universe, is a living alien organism that bonds with another living organism (usually a human, although it may bond with non human animals) in order to survive. Since it has no classifying name, it is referred to as a symbiote because of its symbiotic relationships. Often symbiotes are called "living costume" because of the way the amorphous creatures envelop their hosts.

Reproduction

Symbiotes have no gender, and as such have the ability to asexually spawn another symbiote. It is normal for a symbiote to hate its newborn spawn, possibly out of fear of competition and thus a threat to the previous symbiote's existence. Venom, for example, tries to kill and destroy its offspring, Carnage, and Carnage himself tries to kill his 'son' Toxin by leaving it for dead without a human host. Eventually both Venom and Carnage try to kill Toxin because of his vast strength making him easily as strong as his father and grand-father combined, just as Carnage was stronger than Spider-Man and Venom combined.


Personality

While most symbiotes seen in the Marvel Universe have been shown to be capable of great feats of violence, deception and various criminal acts against humanity, it is notable that their hosts were generally unstable before bonding. In a strange twist of nature versus nurture it seems that a symbiote's personality may be based on an amalgamation of the memories and thoughts that have been collected from the various hosts and stored within its' genetic memory. This explains how a creature like the Venom symbiote who once valued life to some degree has mutated into a being who could take the lives of many even without a host to guide its actions.


Powers and abilities
Symbiotes empower the natural abilities of a host to the point where they far exceed that of normal members of the hosts species. These abilities include the following:
- Superhuman strength
- Superior speed and agility
- Limited invulnerability
- Genetic memory, recalling information from previous hosts
- Enhanced healing ability.
- Can expand to any size as long as they have something to grow on such as a host or an object.

The symbiote also reacts to the thoughts and will of the host. The following are functions that have been demonstrated from various hosts' wills (but are not limited to):

• The ability to form fangs or simple bladed weapons out of their limbs
  
• The ability to form additional appendages: limbs, wings and tendrils out of their body


• The ability to shape-shift, from mimicking clothing up to and including complete change of appearance and stature (not featured in film though).


• The ability to blend with its surroundings (seen when Spider-Man follows Sandman in subway).


• The ability to stick to walls (adapted from Spider-Man).


• The ability to produce webbing from its own mass (adapted from Spider-Man).
  
• The ability to bypass the Spider-Sense (because the original symbiote was attached to Peter first, it took his genetic information and spider-powers. This means that the symbiote attacking Peter would essentially be Peter attacking himself, which wouldn't set off his Spider-Sense).

Characteristics in film

The symbiote in the film is less like a liquid than in other incarnations. It moves as if composed of many small strands or tendrills (with more of a "crawling" motion than a liquid which oozes). Initially, the symbiote arrives on earth via meteorite, and clings onto Peter's moped at the very start of the film. Later it bonds with Peter as he sleeps in his costume, sensing his thirst for revenge upon learning that the Sandman was his uncle's actual killer. After testing out the power of the symbiote-laced suit around the city, Peter is able to remove the mask the same way he does in the previous two films. He then brings a sample of the "crawling" symbiote to Dr. Connors, though it is not shown how he obtains it. Peter then puts on the black suit and defeats Sandman. After yelling at his landlord over payment of rent, Peter decides to discard the suit temporarily. He later puts the suit back on to get even with Harry Osborn, who had forced Mary Jane to break up with him so Harry can get his revenge.
All other times the symbiote is shown until Peter tries to remove it, it appears simply as the benign costume, and never mimics Peter's street clothing, for example, as it does in other media. When he ultimately does remove it, it does not leave his original costume behind. It is believed that the symbiote may have merged permanently with the qualities of the suit.
Unlike in the comics, the black symbiote costume worn by Peter is essentially a black version of his normal costume with the same fabric texture, web patterns and logos, but with an altered spider-symbol on his chest and back. When it bonds with Eddie Brock Jr., it retains the fabric texture and web pattern, but gains the larger wrap-around spider logo which are on both Parker's black costume and Venom in the comic book. However, in the film, the logo is a lighter grey than the costume, and not white like the comics. As in the comics, the costume gains eyes and a mouth when he bonds with Brock, and far more commonly appears as the living symbiote (such as retracting to reveal Brock's face).

Info on Spider-Man's powers

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO FIRDAUS AND PINKY

Ok so now I present to you info on the web-slinger himself!!



A bite from an irradiated spider causes a variety of changes in Peter Parker's body, giving him superpowers. In the original Lee-Ditko stories, Spider-Man has the ability to cling to walls, superhuman strength, a sixth sense ("spider-sense") that alerts him to danger, perfect balance and equilibrium, as well as superhuman speed and agility. In story-lines published in recent years, he develops additional spider-like abilities including biological web-shooters, toxic stingers that extend from his forearms, the ability to stick individuals to his back, better control over Spider-sense for detection, and night vision. Spider-Man's strength and speed have also increased beyond his original limits.
Spider-Man's overall metabolic efficiency has been greatly increased, and the composition of his skeleton, inter-connected tissues, and nervous system have all been enhanced. Spider-Man's musculature has been augmented so that he is superhumanly strong and flexible. He has developed a unique fighting style that makes full use of his agility, strength, and equilibrium.
Peter Parker is intellectually gifted, excelling in applied science, chemistry and physics. In fact, Peter's uncanny affinity for science is nothing short of genius. He uses his wits in addition to his powers.

Generally enhanced physiology
Spider-Man's overall metabolic efficiency has been greatly increased, and the composition of his skeleton, connective tissues, muscles, and nervous system have all been enhanced. He can, and has, recovered from broken bones and much bodily damage in a matter of hours. His accelerated metabolism increases his tolerance to drugs (meaning a larger dose is needed to cause the usual effect), and he can recover from the effects rapidly. After getting his powers, Peter soon discovered that he no longer needed glasses and his vision was actually more acute without them. His eyesight has since been at least better than average.

Wall-crawling
Spider-Man is capable of crawling on walls and ceilings. He has conscious control over this ability, and it is simple and instinctive for him to use—he first uses it in Amazing Fantasy #15 before realizing he has the ability. Originally, Spider-Man is able to stick to surfaces using his hands and feet, but later he is shown to be able to cling with his back. The strength of attraction between himself and the surface he is clinging to is considerable, with an upper limit of several tons per finger. If Spider-Man does not willingly detach, but is pulled off by force, the surface usually breaks still attached to his body. However, it has been shown that a significant shock can cause him to lose control of his power and fall off a surface. If a surface is too slippery, he will have problems sticking to it. He can also use his clinging ability to lift or hold objects; for instance, he can catch a thrown ball simply by touching it with one fingertip.
The ability to crawl on walls works through thin layers of cloth, such as the fabric of his costume, but not through materials such as the soles of shoes. When Peter needs to crawl without changing into the costume, he removes his shoes first.

Superhuman strength and durability
Spider-Man's strength varies widely due to artistic license, but is significantly higher than that of a peak-condition Olympic athlete and well into the superhuman range of strength. Early in his career, Spider-Man was frequently said to have the proportional strength of a spider, although his current level of strength has been shown to be much greater. He is able to throw objects as heavy as a car with ease. When in combat, Spider-Man must pull his punches unless fighting someone of similar or greater durability and power.
Spider-Man's bodily tissue is somewhat harder and more resistant to injury than an ordinary human. However, Spider-Man is far from invulnerable. While his body is tougher than an ordinary human, he can still be injured in ways comparable to an ordinary human. For example, Spider-Man can be injured by bullets or knives composed of conventional material and from impacts of sufficient force. However, if injured, his body is capable of repairing itself somewhat faster than an ordinary human is capable of. A doctor has told Spider-Man that it would be impossible for a normal man to survive the punishment that he has endured.
Spider-Man can leap several stories vertically or the width of a city street. He can run at superhuman speed for short sprints, fast enough at least to outrun a car, but prefers using his weblines to travel.

Spider reflexes and agility
Spider-Man's reflexes and agility are considerably greater than those of an ordinary human. In combination with his spider-sense, the speed of his reflexes allows him to dodge almost any attack, or even gunfire, if he is far enough away. Spider-Man has even been documented dodging a bullet after it has been shot. In recent years, the speed of his reflexes increased and they begin responding directly to his spider-sense and instinct, making him even faster, but also making him lash out at negligible threats.
Spider-Man has the ability to maintain his equilibrium on any surface that he can stick to. For example, he can balance on one finger on a high wire, or stand upright on a wall, perpendicular to the ground. Additionally, he is able to flex his body like a contortionist, assuming postures that would be impossible or harmful for most normal humans. His tendons and connective tissues are at least twice as elastic as the average human being's. This ability is often demonstrated by the unusual poses Spider-Man would assume while webslinging or dodging enemy attacks.

Spider-sense
Spider-Man's "spider-sense" manifests in a tingling feeling at the base of his skull, alerting him to personal danger in proportion to the severity of that danger. It appears to be a simultaneous, seemingly clairvoyant response to a wide variety of phenomena. Though the exact mechanism of this ability is unknown, his original spider-sense clearly has at least two aspects in addition to sensing potential or immediate danger:
- A psychological awareness of his surroundings, similar to the radar-sense of Daredevil. His spider-sense helps him navigate darkened rooms, instinctively avoiding obstacles or hazards, or potentially noisy or unstable floorboards, walls or ceilings that may betray his presence.
- An ability to detect certain radio frequencies. Spider-Man's technical skill is such that he has designed spider-tracers that broadcast a signal detectable by his spider-sense.

Using his spider-sense to time his enhanced reflexes, Spider-Man can casually dodge attacks up to and including automatic-weapons fire, provided there is sufficient distance. His spider-sense is sufficiently well-linked to his reflexes, even before "The Other" storyline,
When Spider-Man swings across a city on his weblines, his spider-sense guides his aim, allowing him to travel at high speeds hundreds of feet above street level with minimal concentration, confident his weblines will find secure anchor points.
Spider-Man's spider-sense is directional and can guide him to or away from hidden weapons and enemies. Sudden and extreme threats (such as the Beyonder observing Earth before the first Secret Wars or the predatory Morlun) can cause his spider-sense to react with painful intensity.
Spider-Man can also sense and dodge attacks directed randomly or by a computer. His spider-sense has helped him preserve his secret identity since it alerts him to observers or camera when changing into or out of his costume, though this has been rendered superfluous by his voluntary unmasking in the Civil War storyline. The spider-sense doesn't react to those whom Peter does not deem a threat, such as Aunt May. Distraction or fatigue can diminish the effectiveness of the spider-sense.

Talk show recording

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAY, MEIXUAN AND CHOK

First and foremost, I am very grateful for my mum to get me a cool Spider-Man 3 shirt... it may look rather plain, but it's still worth wearing!! Thanks so much, Linus!! :-)
Due to an agreement me and the few Vincent fans had made to Mediacorp, I had decided not to leak too much on the programme that I did on Wednesday night, lest I get sued for defaming any of the 3 celebs. Vincent was one of two celebs being featured in the talk show recording (the other being a very successful and well-known actress who's been around for a long time... leave u to guess who). The host is a radio DJ who was best known for her role in a popular sitcom back in the late 90s (and she won the award for Friendliest Radio Personality last year). In all, there were about 24 to 30 fans present. The topic shared by the two guest celebs (as well as a children's counsellor) was very meaningful cos it relates to the recent Andy Lau fan scandal as well as to what all of us fans are doing. Thinking back, I realized that while I can't promise not to 'get too obsessed', my recent reactions regarding an 'open invitation' seem to be leading to a dark path, so I may have to keep check of my emotions, lest they cause me to do something very rash.
And errrr... sorry to say this, but I aint gonna upload pictures which the Vin fans and myself took on Wed night after the show... all I can say though is that I did see a few celebs before the show, one of them being Hanwei (looking almost unrecognizable with his new hairdo??). The ones I saw at the canteen were Cynthia Koh, Bryan Wong Yuan Lee, Darren Lim, Marcus Chin and Henry Thia.
And Roy ahd come back to the workplace??? I had no idea man!!! :-O

Screw the WWE!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WILLIAM REGAL, NURIMAN AND MOSES

THAT'S IT!! I may not be going to book tickets for the WWE Smackdown/ECW Asian Tour... so much has happened, and that made me lose my 'faith' in the WWE even more... sad to say, some of the pointers are used to to make way for various wrestlers to take time off due to grave injuries. :-(

• Vince McMahon, the guy who walks like a duck, beating Bobby Lashley (with help from Shane O Mac and Umaga) to become the new ECW Champion??? Obviously the ECW Originals weren't too happy about that, most particularly Tommy Dreamer. It seems evident that Rob Van Dam may not be renewing his contract with the WWE anymore...
• Shawn Michaels to take a few months off from injury after being attacked by Great Khali (does that mean that ther is NO MORE DX???)
• Edge defeating Mr Kennedy to win the Money In The Bank opportunity... and jumps to Smackdown shortly after. Mr Kennedy tore the muscle off the bone of his right arm (awww man, that sucks!!), and his chances of cashing in the MITB opportunity had come crashing down... I think Kennedy may be returning as a face.
• After a grueling Steel Cage match against Batista, Undertaker gets pummeled by... the returning MARK HENRY???? (I hate him!! He MUST get fired!! That big pile of turd won only one pathetic title during his long and grueling on-off 9 years in the company, and the WWE committee still want to push him??? AWWW COME ON!!!)
• Soon after, Edge (now a member of the Smackdown roster) cashes in his MITB opportunity and pins the fallen (and gravely injured) Phenom to be the new World Heavyweight Champion??? :-O

So to those who are thinking about going to book tickets to catch your fave WWE superstars for one-night-only at the Indoor Stadium, you may want to reconsider your plans. It's up to u whether u want to go or not, I won't stop u. I would only go for the show if everything runs smoothly...

To Edge, Mark Henry and most importantly Vincent K McMahon, I have got TWO WORDS for you... SCREW YOU!!!

Blowing my chances...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CAROLINE AND JOYCE-STELLA

Last night I bought the latest U-weekly issue... just like the other time, I was close to becoming that grotesque, vicious creature with the long tongue and sharp teeth... not just bcos of who's on the cover, but also on who's at the back... I wont go so much into detail this time, in due respect to the two aformentioned celebs Miss FC and Miss JT.
Right now, I'm in a state of confusion and remorse, wishing I could take back what I 'said' earlier via email. Nothing seems to be going my way these days. I could haf gotten a higher chance to be selected, if not for the additional lines "do u haf any kind of document to attach to a leave form?". To make matters worse, i had already gotten my leave APPROVED... and now Im going to take leave for NOTHING??? Not that Im blaming the assistant manager or what, Im blaming myself for ruining myself of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appear in a drama serial for the very first time... even if it's a very minor role. BUT before any of u can call me 'desperate' or 'obsessed', the two beauties being in the show is NOT the main reason why I volunteered to be part of the shoot in first place, and that is the truth. Still, I think I really need to go pray intensely for forgiveness in CHIJMES this Sunday... and eat humble pie for my folly :-(
In the meantime, wish me all the best for the talk show recording coming later tonight

Shocks and future plans

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BERNARD LIAO AND ISKANDAR

I am very shocked... I had absolutely no idea that Edwin had resigned at the end of April. In spite of the many odds I may have regarding the scheduling, I still think he makes quite a good planner (no offence to Angeline btw). To make things worse, the prices for each food product had SHOT UP. It has now become quite clear that I won't be staying any longer... I aint gonna stay any longer 'for the sake of anyone else' btw. The sooner I leave, the easier things will get.
Yesterday, school attendance was rather horrid as usual, so I won't go into too much detail here... after school ended, I went for lunch at BK and headed to VivoCity, where I watched Spider-Man 3 for a second time (it's too good lah!). Altho I didn't get to watch the film in 4K digital format or even at the Gold Class theater (could be way too ex, I believe). the sound system at Theater number 10 was still superb (same applies for all other theaters). Still, I can't help but feel sorry for Eddie Brock for letting his greed for power destroy him... at least Flint Marko got Peter's forgiveness, so it is possible that he could return as an ally to the webslinger to redeem himself. And with Harry Osborn giving his life for his best friends in this film (yeah, u can take out those tissues now), things aren't going to be the same without one of the main characters in future instalments (should Sam Raimi return to write and direct a 4th one).
I found out recently somewhere that there is some open invitation for FOUR 'weddings' abt to take place next week (not telling anyone yet). I haf volunteered to be part of the 'guestlist'... now I just haf to cross my fingers and hope that I eventually get accepted. :-)

Info on Eddie Brock (pre-Venom)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SIN WEEMING

Here is some info on Eddie Brock according to the Core Universe and the Ultimate Spider-Man storyline... both versions merged together and altered for a possible character analysis for the film version of this tortured soul.



CHARACTER DEPTH
Eddie Brock is a broken mirror of Peter Parker. He means well, but has a dark past when compared to his rival Daily Bugle photographer. While Peter Parker had the love of Uncle Ben and Aunt May, Brock had none of that. The details provided below are a little sketchy, but we do know that Eddie's morals are completely skewed (shallow, bossy and arrogant). This is one of the main reasons the symbiote manifests itself as Venom rather than a simple costume onto Brock. It feeds off of Brock's hatred. Part of that anger is due to his troubled past, but there are also several problems caused by Peter that contribute to the transformation (more on that later). In some ways, Brock's downfall is quite similar to Darth Vader's, except that Anakin Skywalker had the love of his mother Shmi and retained his good morals, his downfall beginning only after the demise of his mother and the Clone Wars that followed.



UPBRINGING AND EDUCATION
Edward Charles Brock Jr was raised in a Roman Catholic upbringing to a cold and unloving father from whom he desperately tried to gain approval. Though as a child, he excelled in many subjects, particularly athletics, his father's response was always in the form of half-hearted encouragements, possibly due to the fact that his wife died months following Eddie's birth. It is believed that Eddie's father Edward Brock Sr, an extremely bitter and violent man (occupation unknown), sometimes took out his rage at his son whenever he is angry. His father died when Eddie was in his mid teens, and Eddie went to live with his uncle, who didn't show him much love either.

After reading a newspaper article on the Watergate Scandal in college, Brock quit athletics and switched his major to journalism. It is believed that Edward and Peter may have studied in the same college, but never really crossed paths til much later... in fact, Eddie might have become just like Peter were it not for his tragic childhood. Eddie does love to take pictures like Peter before him, and is known to be quite a smooth talker with girls in his younger days.

In the Ultimate Universe and film versions, Eddie was roughly the same age as Peter, but in the Core universe, he was a muscular man about 40 years old and married to a cetain Ann Weying. Another notable difference was that the Core universe version of Eddie was suffering from the early stages of brain cancer prior to merging with Venom.

THE RISE AND FALL OF EDDIE BROCK IN THE FILM

Eddie Brock is shamed by Peter Parker and his masked alter ego, both professionally and personally. Gwen Stacy factors in this situation- although she is aware about Eddie's feelings for her, Gwen is more attracted to Peter's personality. Given that Parker and Brock are rival photographers vying for the same full-time position at the Daily Bugle, the love triangle (which Peter is apparently susceptible to because of the symbiote) pushes Brock to his limits.
At the Daily Bugle, he and Peter Parker are tasked by J. Jonah Jameson that whichever photographer would first bring him photos of Spider-Man committing a crime would get a promotion and a place in the permanent staff of the Bugle. Eddie tries his best to outwit Peter in getting the photos. But after the black, alien symbiote bonds with Spider-Man, it not only gives him a new black costume and augmented spider-powers, but also brings out the darker side of his personality. When Eddie tries to photograph Spider-Man in his new costume, the web-slinger angrily retaliates by snatching and smashing Brock's camera, before going to battle the Sandman in an underground train station, unaware that Brock is carrying a spare. Brock resorts to photographing the bank, then duplicating pictures taken by Peter 2 years prior (the time of the first movie) via Photoshop, to make it look like Spider-Man was robbing thebank. Brock produces those photos to Jameson, who is impressed and promotes Brock to the perm staff. But Peter, who knows that Brock did not successfully photograph him, quickly proves the photo fraud with evidence to Jameson, and Brock gets fired soon after. Jameson is then forced to print a retraction. To make matters worse, Brock later sees Peter and Gwen going out on a date to a jazz club (according to the novel he was dumped by Gwen right after losing his job, though this was never shown onscreen). This infuriates Brock further, and so he starts accusing both Peter and Spider-Man for ruining his life professionally and personally.


Devastated and humiliated, Brock goes to the Our Lady of Saints Church and prays for God to smite Peter. Ironically, at the same time, Spider-Man, after realising the symbiote wants to completely possess him, also arrives at the top of that church in the bell-tower. He attempts to separate himself from the symbiote with no success until he slams himself against the nearby bell, inadvertently weakening the symbiote enough for him to remove it. Hearing the bell gonging, Brock goes to investigate, and is shocked to see that Spider-Man is really Peter Parker. Agitated by the noise of the bells, the symbiote separates from a weakened Peter, falls from the tower and lands on Brock. Upon sensing his hatred towards Peter, the symbiote envelopes him completely...

Thus forming the evil entity known as VENOM!!!

If you want to find out more about Eddie's eventual fate in the film, I strongly urge you to watch the film asap. ;-)

Info on Venom the villain

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAWN YEOH

Here I will talk about my fave Spider-Man villain of all time... the malicious, vicious, vengeful and bloodthirsty VENOM!!!

Venom is the result of symbiosis between an extraterrestrial symbiote and Eddie Brock, a journalist who held a personal grudge against both Spider-Man and Peter Parker for stealing his girlfriend and costing him his job at the Daily Bugle.

The alien costume, prior to grafting itself to the nervous system of Eddie Brock, somehow absorbed the powers of Spider-Man during its brief symbiotic relationship with him. These powers were transferred to Brock, so long as he wore the costume. At his peak, Brock had conditioned himself to lift (press) almost 700 lbs before he came into contact with the costume. Once he merged with the costume, he was able to lift (press) almost 11 tons. The alien costume also replicated Spider-Man’s ability to cling to walls by controlling the flux of inter-atomic attraction between molecular boundary layers.

As Venom, Brock could also shoot strands of the alien’s substance in the form of webbing (from the top of his clenched fists) at high pressure up to a distance of 70 feet. The alien’s substance seems to be composed of tough, flexible fibers of organic polymers, which regenerate swiftly after shedding. The strands have extraordinary adhesive properties, which diminish rapidly once they abandon their living source. After about three hours, with no source to nourish them, the strands dry up like dead skin and dissolve into a powder. The strands possess a tensile strength of 125 pounds per square millimeter of cross section. Venom also possessed an extrasensory ability similar to Spider-Man’s spider-sense (except that it can disable the latter's spider sense). This response is not as complicated as Spider-Man’s inherent sense since the alien costume can detect danger from every direction and conduct Brock in plenty of time. However, it is not as efficient as Spider-Man’s spider-sense because it takes longer to communicate the danger, and Brock’s reflexes are not as fast as Spider-Man’s, even though they had been greatly enhanced by the alien costume.
When distributed at a typical thickness over Brock's body, the symbiote was capable of absorbing bullets from small-arms weapons firing conventional ammunition. The symbiote is however particularly vulnerable to both sonic and heat-based attacks (both factors leading to the symbiote's downfall in the movie). Also the symbiote has the power to blend in with the background.

Although it had not been fully explained, Venom is immune against Ghost Rider's Penance Stare.

We will miss you greatly! :-(

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANDREA

Ok ok, so now I haf time to upload pictures here... it's abt 48 hours since Miss April had resigned, and seeing her desk empty today is starting to bring tears to my eyes. But ah well, at least Im glad I brought along my camera on the day itself... and ermmm, Ayu seems to be stealing the spotlight. Still, we all enjoyed ousrselves during the 1.5 hr party...

'Babies' in attendance...

The guys: myself, Xiaowei, Haphiz, Zaki, Hakim, Zack, Lincoln, James, Shalehan, Darham, Danial

The girls: Ami, Cheryl, Kim, Jade, Ayu, Ain, Izzati, Rashida, Amber

While I can understand that a certain Miss A is unable to attend due to sick leave, and Miss/Mr I/E is close to getting FIRED (nuff said), I am very angry and unhappy with TWO classmates who dont even give a damn to attend. They may be student councillors, but they don't seem to be taking their studies seriously... their negligence towards their own studies have caused them to be alienated from the majority of us; even the teachers seemed to have given up trying to tell them to hand in their assignments. They are... NINATRIE AND ILLI.

Spider-Man 3... a definite MUST-WATCH!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON
WAHAHAHAHA!!! What can I say... the movie ROCKED!!!

I went to meet up with Wandi at Khatib MRT station at around , and together we took a train to Woodlands MRT station... meeting up with Wandi's old schoolmate Jeff there outside Causeway Point and trying to buy tickets for the show... only to find out that ALL TIX FOR THE AFTERNOON SHOWS WERE SOLD OUT. So we decided to try our luck at Yishun Cineplex... indeed we managed to get 3 tickets for the 1820 hrs show, and we had lunch at KFC soon after. We hung around Popular for abt 30 minutes, played at the LAN center for 2 hours, went for early dinner at a Halal food center, then headed back to the cineplex... (many many smiles!!)

I shan't provide any spoilers abt the filmhere... except to say that there won't be any disappointing scene, except maybe the fact that Venom appears only in the last part of the film (even worse, he appears for only one night in the film timeline, though Topher Grace does get sufficient screentime prior to the merger with the symbiote). The themes on forgiveness and revenge, as well as the never-ending battle between good and evil (be it with one self or with an adversary), have been strongly portrayed here. Even Aunt May gets to provide words of wisdom to Peter (whose secret identity she may have known from the second film, though this was never really made explicit)...

1) "Revenge is like a poison... it can take us over... and before you know it, it can turn you into something ugly."

2) "You start by doing the hardest thing... you forgive yourself. I know you're a good person, and that you will find the way to make things right."

It's amazing how Sam Raimi could cram so many sub-plots into 2.75 hrs and yet manage toj keep the story on track... messy yes it may be, but all these stories make good storytelling. Also, a big thumbs up for the animation process on Sandman's rebirth... indeed that was a very difficult thing to do, mixing various kinds of sand particles and requiring Thomas Haden Church to feel a little limp and disjointed when he emerges from the test site. And what do we know abt Harry Osborn learning the truth behind his father's demise? It's always a good thing to have a faithful butler as an observant witness (though it would have been better for good ol Bernard to tell the truth a little earlier).

Most importantly, I like how Sam Raimi cleverly exploits Peter's weaker side after he puts on the black symbiote suit... while the black goo makes him faster, stronger and more lethal, it also corrupts his ego greatly... turning him into a flashy and arrogant brat who cares only for himself and hurts those he loves dearly. This dreadful theme on battling the forces of darkness is really quite similar to the fall of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 3... except that Peter manages to come to his senses before it's too late (and the conversion from good to evil as seen in Brock, who was already quite a tortred soul, is more subtle and not so complicating). And geting rid of the symbiote in a church with your arch-nemesis (whose future you had destroyed by getting him fired and stealing his girlfriend) inside is definitely not the best idea.

So good this film is... I am definitely going to wach it again sometime next week!! :-)