Sunday, July 13, 2014

The Bridge.

Alan had seen this view before. He'd loved this view every time he did. The view from the Helix bridge summed up his entire love life.

To the right near the Esplanade theatres is where he had first met his wife. They both enjoyed the concert performance that evening with their friends. Alan and she stayed back for a few drinks. Their conversations revealed that both were orphans who had worked hard to succeed in life. There was a mutual admiration which turned into affection.

The Promontory to the far left was where they had enjoyed the fireworks in the Bay Area on one of their earlier dates. He remembered that the place was packed with people and that gave all the more reason for her to stay really close to him. They walked back home that night and were walking around through the next morning. That was when he realised how much he loved her.

Towards the left behind him was the giant carrousel, the Singapore Flyer, where he had popped the question to her. The setup was planned by him with close friends present while he went down on one knee and asked her to spend her entire life with him. Her answer had been a resounding Yes! Her tears had been those of absolute joy that evening.

To the right behind the theatres he saw the plush Mandarin Oriental where they had their wedding reception. With only their friends in attendance they had a small intimate affair. He remembered the crazy photos they had taken that evening. Even when she was making funny faces, his wife looked gorgeous.

Their favourite Italian restaurant was at the centre of this view. The last time they were there was to celebrate their wedding anniversary. He remembered they had shared a sinful dessert at the end of their meal, compliments of the restaurant. She looked radiant that evening!

Yes, his life with his wife was almost summed up entirely with the view that lay before his eyes as he stood on the Helix bridge.

But that life was now only a memory. His wife had passed away last week. He lost her in a car accident. Alan had been devastated since then. But now he was calm as he stood their admiring the view. He had walked down from his office to the bridge after a day's work and was still in his business suit.

Alan stood their motionless as he saw his life with her flash before his eyes. After what seemed an eternity to casual observers, Alan moved to take support of the railing of the bridge as he lifted himself up.

It is then that people around Alan noticed a handcuff around his left hand chaining him to the briefcase he was carrying. They realised what he was about to do. But before anyone could react, Alan had already taken the plunge into the Singapore river below and was propelled all the way to the floor due to the weight of the stuffed briefcase. An hour later when his body was recovered, his life was long gone.

Earlier that day Alan had decided to end his life. But wanted to have one last glimpse of all the places where he had enjoyed a happy life with his now late wife. He left a simple note on his work desk which read -

"Headed to The Bridge, one last time."

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Shingeki no Kyojin

Thought I'd post a random update on what's got me excited recently. Last week I got hooked onto a pretty popular anime called Attack on Titan. For those of you familiar with Reddit, 9gag and the Internet in general have probably seen references to this anime for a while now.

Well last weekend I began binge watching season 1 of the anime and I have to admit I am now a fan of the series eagerly awaiting season 2. So impatient was I that I ended up reading the original manga on which the series is based to see how the story progresses!

The story is set in a post apocalyptic world where humans are living within the confines of fifty feet walls protected from the menace of mindless humanoid giants, called titans. After a century of peace suddenly one day a titan taller than the walls suddenly appears and kicks a hole into the outermost wall allowing the other titans to breach into the human city. What follows is humanity's battle for survival against the renewed threat of the titans along with many other internal struggles.

Although there are certain central characters to the story, there are a lot of secondary characters that are introduced in subsequent episodes of the anime who begin to gain significant importance in terms of the overall story arc.

Like most manga/anime the series isn't necessarily targeted at young minds as there is plenty of gore and violence to make a grown adult flinch. If you're not comfortable with grotesque images of disproportionate giants who eat humans and some really freaky monstrous ones, this anime/manga isn't for you! 

The original manga, on which which the anime show is based, is still being written in chapters. So there are a LOT of plots and subplots that are still waiting resolution. And of course there is the big mystery urrounding the origin of the titans themselves, although there have been some pretty substantial theories stated within the manga. 

And now thanks to this one particuar anime/manga I have been turned on to the entire genre. Downloaded a tablet app to read the COLOSSAL  collection of manga available and also started adding Anime series to my Netflix queue. If you like complex story lines and are especially partial to the animated/ comic book medium, manga and anime may just be your thing!

Oh and if you're wondering about the title of this post, that's the original Japanese title of the manga and the anime