BeerStyle

Forget about America’s bland lagers and discover its amazing craft brews. BeerStyle stocks beer from Stone Brewing Co., Flying Dog and Southern Tier, and delivers boozy goodness right to your doorstep. Visit www.drinkbetterbeer.net for more information. 1 Fishery Port Rd. (open Saturdays only, selected beers available), 9297-3023.

East of Avalon

If the name doesn’t sound fantastic enough, wait till you see their array of English ales and ciders. Brews from Wychwood, Marston’s, Ringwood, Fuller’s and Duchy Originals are on hand, along with a full range of Weston’s and Brothers ciders. 281 Joo Chiat Rd., 6440-0504.

Magma

Sure, you know your Erdingers and your Paulaners, but Germany has much more to offer, including the intriguing Neuzeller Klosterbräu Anti-Aging Beer and Berliner Kindl, a sour, mid-strength beer served with flavored syrup. 2-4 Bukit Pasoh Rd., 6221-0634.

Meidi-Ya

The one-stop shop for everything Japanese has recently added beer from Nippon to the equation. Not Sapporo and Asahi mind you, but varieties of Hitachino Nest Beer and Umenishiki Beer. #B1-50 Liang Court Shopping Centre, 177 River Valley Rd., 6339-1111.

Wine Connection

As the name suggests, they specialize in wine, but also stock a range of hard-to-find Belgian beers. Look out for Floreffe (Blonde, Brune and Triple), Hopus and Blanche de Bruxelles. 41 Cuppage Rd., 6836-9069.

I grew up in Malacca, my family moved there when I was four or five. We lived in this shophouse on Jonker Street and I was the baby of the family for a while. We had this kind of dungeon at the back which doubled up as a toilet; when you went into it, you never knew if you were going to come out.

My downfall began when I discovered the wonderful world of girls through a secondary school production of the musical Oliver. At the auditions there were 17-year-old girls just flouncing around in all their pubescent glory and from then on, I was hooked.

I’ve been an actor for 18 years now and it’s a pretty silly occupation when you think about it. The whole notion of pretending to be someone else, speaking somebody else’s lines and getting paid for it is ridiculous.

It’s a misconception that actors choose all their roles and productions. A lot of the time, there’s no choice. We’re doing this for a living to feed our families. Sometimes you just have to take a job and try to imbue it with some semblance of credibility and dignity. If you have a script that’s a pile of s**t, no one can save it.

To be involved in the creative process from the start, to be involved in coming up with the story, the characters, and the script is very liberating. It’s being able to find a voice for yourself as an individual.

The theater scene has been very vibrant in the past year, with theater groups producing more and more varied works, but it’s still hard for the scene as a whole to really “grow” if arts funding keeps getting cut year after year. It’s really been a case of same s**t, different year.

It would make a world of difference to fledgling companies to be able to sustain themselves financially with some dignity, and keep producing work with integrity and consistency. If only the declaration that Singapore is an “arts hub” was actually supported by a viable infrastructure that justifies it.

There is the time and place for fun-filled, feel-good fluff, but theater is also so much more than that. The challenge is to make people choose to come to the theater for intellectual stimulation—without being pretentious—and an emotional experience—without being wanky.

I am proud to say that I learned my so-called craft on the stage and I would go so far as to say an actor hasn’t tasted what it really feels like to act unless they go on stage.

How do I want to be remembered? I don’t know. Without Tracie and my boys, I’d be nothing. My two boys are the production that I’m proudest of; it’s corny perhaps, but they are. If anything, I’d like to be remembered for being their father.

I’ve always been terrified of being stuck in a rut. When you’re stuck, you start looking back and reminiscing and there’s something icky about that. Keep on moving, keep on moving forward, otherwise you’ll die. I’m like a shark; you stay still, you die!

The Fighter
Opens Jan 6
Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale get the year off to a start with a stirring boxing biopic that will uppercut your heart. The Fighter is the true story of “Irish” Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his half brother Dicky Eklund (Bale). Eklund, the elder of the two was a working class hero until a crushing defeat at the hands of Sugar Ray Leonard. After spiraling into a word of addiction and vice, Eklund finds redemption as Ward’s trainer. Nominated for Best Motion Picture—Drama, Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Drama and Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture—Drama at the Golden Globe Awards.

Love & Other Drugs
Opens Jan 6
Fans of Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal won’t want to miss this one. After their last stint together in Brokeback Mountain where they shared a quickie sex scene on the backseat of a truck, the duo have a go at it again pretty much everywhere in this daring romantic comedy. Hathway plays a free-spirited artist who meets her match in a Viagra salesman (Gyllenhaal) as they journey in and out (pun intended) of love. Nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globe Awards.

Burlesque
Opens Jan 13
Ali (Christina Aguilera) is a small-town girl who wants to make it big in Los Angeles. Joining up with a flagging burlesque club with the help of her mentor Tess (Cher), she just might make it. So what if the film has been receiving negative reviews? For better or for worse, we want to see Cher in all her botoxed, nipped and tucked glory act as a role model for Christina Aguilera as she “WHOAAHOOAHOAHs” her way to glory. Nominated for Best Motion Picture­­—Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globe Awards.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Opens Jan 17
After clinching the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, we’ll finally get a chance to experience Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s far-out masterpiece. As the title character Uncle Boonmee nears the end of his life, he begins to revisit his past lives in search of the reason for his illness. In his presence are his loved ones, including the ghost of his wife and a monkey version of his lost son. Bold, bizarre and breathtaking.

127 Hours
Opens Jan 23
After making the world swoon for everything Indian with Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle is back with a true story about a man trapped between a rock and a hard place (seriously, that was the title of the book it’s based on). Aron Ralston (James Franco) is hiking in Utah one day in 2003 when he gets trapped under a falling boulder. For five days, Ralston is stuck, and he begins to reflect on his life, before making an extremely difficult (and excruciating) decision. Nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Drama and Best Screenplay at the Golden Globe Awards.

The Green Hornet
Opens Feb 2
Just when you thought Jay Chou wouldn’t be getting any more boosts to his ego, he takes up the reins of Bruce Lee’s Kato in the big screen adaptation of The Green Hornet. Britt Reid (Seth Rogan) is a lackadaisical playboy who benefits from the wealth of his newspaper baron father. When his father dies, he inherits his empire and realizes he’s wasting his potential. Teaming up with an employee, Kato (Chou), they fight the gangs of the city led by Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz, better known as the Jew hunter Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds).

The King’s Speech
Opens Feb 10
Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush star in the story of King George VI and his struggles with stammering. With the death of King George V (Michael Gambon) and the abdication of King Edward VII (Guy Pearce), Prince Albert of York (Firth) becomes heir to the throne. With the world plunging into war, the Empire needs a leader, and the newly crowned King George VI seeks help from speech therapist Lionel Logue (Rush). Nominated in literally all major categories (Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay) at a host of awards ceremonies, Firth has already picked up four awards for his performance.

The Kids Are All Right
Opens Feb 24
Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Anette Benning) are a mature lesbian couple who have each conceived a child through the same anonymous sperm donor. Their kids Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska) are now young adults, and independently, they contact their biological father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Complications ensue, not limited to Jules commencing an affair with Paul. Nominated for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy, Best Actress in a Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay at the Golden Globe Awards.

True Grit
Opens Feb 24
The always excellent Coen Brothers’ latest offering is an adaptation of a 1968 novel of the same name. A teenage girl, Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), seeks vengeance for her father’s death and she convinces the alcoholic U.S. Marhsal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to help her track the murderer down. Done in the classic Western style, True Grit the novel was previously adapted in 1969 in a film starring John Wayne.

Black Swan
Opens Feb 27
Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) returns to his roots with a psychological thriller. After auditioning for the lead role in a production of the ballet Swan Lake, two competing dancers, Nina (Natalie Portman) and Lily (Mila Kunis), strike a twisted friendship. Swan Lake is a production which requires a graceful White Swan and a sensual Black Swan; roles which fit Nina and Lily respectively. As the season progresses, Nina embraces her dark side, and loses sight of reality. Nominated for Best Motion Picture­—Drama, Best Director and Best Actress in a Motion Picture—Drama at the Golden Globe Awards.

Never Let Me Go
Opens Mar 17
Based on the 2005 dystopian novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go charts the lives of Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightly) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), and the eventual love triangle which develops between them. The three spend their childhood together in a boarding school, but they eventually realize their fate. This is a world where humans are cloned to be harvested for organs.