it's bye bye psych. finally. not that i dislike psych or anything, but it's just that i think i'm not cut out for it. at all. mcq paper was ok. i misread 3 questions unfortunately, in my haste, so had a couple of marks deducted. in addition, there were some "controversial" questions, and the oxford textbook of psychiatry was read out to show what would the "model" answers be. uh. somehow i would prefer that such questions not come out in an mcq paper, because it forces us into a corner. i mean, why not ask it in the form of an essay question? mcqs should test clear cut stuff, and not trick us into picking the "wrong" answer.

clinical test was all right. got a delusional patient who was a little withdrawn. was asked about treatment, which no one was, so it's either a good or bad thing. hmmm.

[spoilers]

went to watch casino royale after the test! it's not bad, fairly edgy but with your usual dose of bond action and love scenes. daniel craig is a little too chunky for my liking, but i felt he showed the brashness and vulnerability needed at the right time and with just the right amount. the stunts were excellent, and i particularly like the chase sequence in the beginning. the reviews all say that this movie shows a softer side of bond, the one who actually cares about the women he dates, but we never quite dwell on the poignant scenes long enough to feel it. there is one scene where eva green, as bond girl vesper lind, leans over and whispers, "you can have me any way you want," and bond replies that he always thought she loathed him and so on. really felt that the "emotional" scenes were either too short or too contrived, or maybe i was just expecting the grittiness of batman begins. heh. the movie was a little too choppy as well, and you get the feeling you're going from one bond adventure to the next, and that all of them are just vaguely tied up to the terrorist plot. some historical "inaccuracies" too - m talks about 9/11, which means that the past twenty or so bond adventures all happened in the past 5 years!

[/spoilers]

but i nitpick. mads mikkelsen is deliciously evil as bad guy le chiffre, and judy dench is reliably good as m. the locations are absolutely beautiful and made me want to go backpacking in europe again. it was also a brilliant idea to have that catch me if you can-looking opening credits animation. the movie is over two and a half hours long and packs enough destruction and death-defying stunts to keep most people happy. daniel craig effectively silences his critics with a respectable performance, and he'll probably turn in many more in the years to come.

and now i must comment on the behaviour of the couple sitting behind us during the movie. girl loves ramming her shoes into the seat in front of her, and guy shows off his knowledge of casinos by announcing the value of each chip whenever it's shown. glares and shushing don't work at all. why do these people come to the cinema at all? why don't they install a movie theatre system in their flat so that she can wear down the points of her shoe and he can say " two hundred thousand!" or " five hundred thousand!" as loudly as he wants? i'm not blind; the chip is eight feet wide on the screen so i don't need someone to tell me what it is, thank you very much. ugh.

what could be worse? ah yes - shallowness. few things irk me more than this, and i want nothing to do with it.