10:40 p.m. - 2002-03-12
smashing pumpkins provide the mood
Smashing pumpkins provide the mood.
Intro:
A room in a flat. It is night-time.
Exterior camera view looking into room: Weak flourescent light bounces off the walls of the room out through the doorway, becoming a soft glow of white light with fuzzy edges and
A boy sitting on his bed strumming an electric guitar, as a wall of noise begins in the background and his movements are slow and each strum is contemplative, a blank look in his eyes, faraway, staring at a mechanical dancing flower, waving from side to side, opening and closing its petals with a big smile.
�I want to hear what�s above the noise.�
Camera view zooms� into the heart of the flower�. the millions of atomic pollen grains exploding as the noise explodes like the guitar cable pulled out in a swift jerk and electrons pour out from the opening of the amplifier jack into the abyss. Suddenly everything miniature is amplified.
Scene 1:
Two guys walking down Orchardroad in the afternoon, walking and talking to each other.
�Oh hurry up.� he says, matter of factly, signalling the end, �I got to go home now, the truman show is showing on channel 5.�
� Wah lau eh, such a stupid show.�
�It�s my favourite, it�s the only thing in this world that makes me happy.�
Scene 2:
A trendy girl in a white blouse and knee length a-skirt is walking the aisles of a trendy breadshop like breadtalk.
Scene 3:
A guy playing street fighter alone in a deserted video arcade.
Akuma kills ryu with sky.
�it�s the only thing in this world that makes me happy.�
Scene 4:
Girl walking home. Girl washing her makeup off at the sink under the orange bulblight.
Scene 5:
The two guys continue walking.
� Fuck lah, we just came, now want to go back.�
� I also dunno why we bothered to come here. Fuck. Ar�. let�s go play arcade. I want to play bomberman. It�s the only thing in this world that�s worth being happy.�
They walk up the steps of poor-overcommercialised-and-want-to-die planet hollywood and enter the video arcade.
It is deserted except for one guy playing street fighter.
�You go play your stupid bomberman, I challenge him.�
The other guy shrugs and goes off to his machine.
Scene 6:
Girl changes to a t-shirt and goes to the living room with a sandwich in hand. She sits next to her father and mother on the old sofa and stare together with them at the tv screen showing the truman show. They laugh.
Scene 7:
Two guys sitting side by side at a machine in the arcade. Akuma guy shakes his head in disbelief and slots a coin into the machine.
He loses again, scowls and scolds his character lying on the pixelated ground.
� ka-nina lah, puah chee-bye!�
he stands up and scolds more vulgarities at the machine and the accompanying hand gestures.
� na bu eh chee-bye!�
He slams his fist on the buttons and stomp off.
The other guy smiles sheepishly at the retreating figure and twists his joystick and taps a few buttons.
Scene 8:
Camera view on the guy playing bomberman.
He is staring intently at the screen, the changing lights of video graphics reflecting off his glasses.
�I was feeling sad for all the usual reasons that day, every mechanical day that I wake up with a dread knowing that every night I would go to sleep with the same dread too. Sometimes I know I can be invisible to everyone and conversations can fly past me. I feel like an ant. Then, just now, K just told me that truman show is on, I feel like rushing home to watch it knowing the amount of happiness it can bring me. I know all these is stupid. My happy things are trivial. no, I am starting to take all these trivial little things to build my own castle of happiness. it will be a big one with many rooms and many things that are not just memories of the past.
( His mouth doesn�t move. we do not know if this is his monologue or is it the guitar guy�s.)
Scene 9:
Boy puts guitar down, walks out of the room, out of the house, silent, staring forward, perfect picture as he pauses near the parapet of the corridoor and stares at the street lamps. Then he continues walking towards the lift. He enters and punches 1 and the doors close. Before the lift can go down, the doors open again, the boy is perturbed and he looks outside the lift, left and right: noone. Assured, he leans against the back of the lift and closes his eyes as the lift doors start to close again. Just as the doors slam to a close, a packet of explosive bubble-pack which can be bought for 40 cents from the mama shop is thrown into the lift. The doors slam shut as the boy opens his eyes slowly and a look of surprise spreads across his face as he stares at the ballooning packet, swelling incredibly.
Camera view : (close up on packet) slow motion�.as the plastic packet explodes. bursting foamin gases and acidic liquid flying in all directions.
view of video screen:
bomberman gets himself trapped between a box and his own bomb. Bomb explodes and bomberman gets burnt to a blackened crisp and falls down on all fours and twitches.
Voice-over: �I am sick of brooding about it all. It�s time to get on with life.�
Back to view of girl and family:
the light from the tv set reflecting against them.
they laugh.
the end.
