New DVD this week

1. Alias - Season 1

Sugar High

Was feeling sugar-deprived last night and decided to go to Starbucks. Of the limited choices of food at Kuantan's Starbucks, i ordered the Apple Crumble with whipped cream and (hold your breath) glazed with caramel. Dunno whether i was hungry or what, it was sinfully delicious! (Never mind it costs me sepuluh ringgit!)

Movie Marathon

Tonight i watched 3 movies; 1 at the cinema and 2 on DVDs.

Cars

As always, Pixar did not dissapoint me. Good storyline and superb CGI. Hailed as the best movie so far this summer by critics. Kinda agree with that, but i still prefer The Incredibles to this.

Rating: A-

Date Movie

Suprisingly short (clocked at 1 hour plus), this movie also fell short on my expectations. There are a few really funny scenes taking parody on romantic movies, but it did not match the 'classic' Scary Movie.

Rating: C+

Match Point

A disturbingly good movie which made me glued to the screen, starring Scarlett Johannsen (!) and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. You can say this movie combines sex, mystery, thriller, good writing and great performances.

Rating: A

Summer Movies

X-Men: The Last Stand

Enjoyed it overall. Though had mixed feelings about the deaths. Not actually happy that the main characters died. Brett Ratner did a good job in taking over from Bryan Singer. The film still has the same feel and look as the first two. Only wished that the new characters could be developed more. Here's hoping for another sequel!

Rating: A-

The Omen

Didn't actually remember the original. That said, i do feel sumwhat satisfied after watching the movie. Maybe because i practically jumped out of my seat in one of the scenes. It was a good scare. (the last time i terkejut like that was masa tengok Jurasic Park II). It managed to create a certain creepy mood. P.S: proud of the fact that i watched it on 06.06.06.

Rating: B

The Da Vinci Code

Having read the book, i find this movie: average. I don't think this movie will be able to stand by itself without the book. Ron Howard didn't actually do a great job in bringing the book to the screen. I find the movie lacked suspense and the story didn't focus on the 'sacred feminity' angle. Lets hope Angels and Demons will be better.

Rating: B

Arkham Horror

Played Amin's Arkham Horror board game last Friday nite...

"Huh?" Fit



Suren asking question#154 of the night.

This Week's New DVDs

1. Scary Movie 4
2. V for Vendetta

Pepsi Commercial

"Time of Your Life"

Change

My secondary school friend of whom I haven't been in contact with for ten years (!) IMed me yesterday. We chatted for quite sometime and reminisce of the good old times. I was laughing out loud when he said 'now when I see a picture of Garfield, it reminded me of you'. The thing is, when I was in primary school, I was - for a lack of better word - obsessed with the fat cartoon cat. I used to buy all sorts of Garfield stuff - you name it; key chains, mugs, etc - I got it. Now? Not so much. What got me thinking is how much actually have we changed for the past 10 years? I was reminded of the line uttered by Gwyneth Paltrow in Great Expectations which i love: "We are who we are, people don't change." But how true is it?

I sort of made a mental list of this and to me, the biggest change for me (besides physical) for the last ten years would be my habits, namely smoking. It shocked the hell out of my friend (not to mention my mother when she found out not too long ago). The history of my smoking is quite short. Since I picked up smoking during the years of my study at the university, I have no historic flashback stories of smoking in school toilets and such. Though my mother bugs me incessantly about quitting, I have no plans for changing that habit. As beautifully put by Carrie in Sex and the City, "smoking is the only thing that keeps me balanced".

But one thing for sure that haven't changed is my obsession with Mariah. And that, "obsession" would be an understatement.

Best nyer kereta baru...

(not mine... sigh)

People always leave...

don't they?

photo from www.punkndisorderly.com

My Seven Deadly Sins

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Medium
Lust:	High
Pride:	High

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

Song of the Week: Don't Cry Out Loud

I'm not a big fan of Diana Degarmo, but i like this version.

M:I:III

And so it begins. Summer movies season kicked off this year with Mission Impossible:III. Directed by the famous creator of Alias and Lost, J.J Abrams - he gave this movie a fresh take with a simple and not as 'complicated' storyline as the first or cheesy as the second. Actions are a plenty and it keeps you glued to the screen. You also get to see some new faces (Keri Russell,Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers) that contributes to Ethan's mission. But the 'star' of new faces is Hoffman - fresh from seeing him won the Oscar recently for best actor. An overall good popcorn movie.

Overall rating: B+

Come what may

OMG. Sooo looking forward to the long weekend. It has been a shitty day so far. Urgh.

The Wild

Watched The Wild last night. It is the latest Disney 3D animation movie featuring voices of Kiefer Sutherland, James Belushi and Janeane Garafalo. The story's about a group of animals in NY Zoo, headed by Samson the Lion (Kiefer) going out to an adventure, through New York City and ended up somewhere in Africa trying to save Samson's son. Wait... sounds like a plot of another cartoon: Madagascar! However, it was reported that Disney had been working on this movie for 9 years. I feel that The Wild is better than Dreamwork's Madagascar in terms of plot, jokes and character likeability.

The first 20 minutes of the movie did not grab my attention. But it progresses and the jokes gets better. Favourite character goes to Nigel the Koala as he delivers the best lines in the movie. The CGI is superb - you can actually see the details (the fur and such) and the lip-synching is almost perfect.

An overall enjoyable movie especially for kids, but i've seen better Disney movies (The Incredibles, Finding Nemo).

Just Like A Pill

"...where i can run, just as fast as i can, to middle of nowhere, to middle of my frustrated fears.."

New DVDs This Week

1. Underworld: Evolution
2. Jarhead
3. Casanova
4. Stay
5. The New World
6. Munich (Fala's)

You Drive Me Crazy!!

Was reading Reader's Digest (at work), and saw a survey in Asia on what irritate us most. Below are the findings on Asia's Top Irritations:

Bad Drivers: 86%
Queue-jumpers: 86%
Spitting in public (gross!): 84%
Poor services in shops/restaurants: 82%
People who drop litter: 79%
Poor personal hygiene(yuck!): 77%
Dog mess in street/park: 75%
People who swear: 74%
Noisy neighbours: 69%
Smoking in public places: 69%
Unpuctuality: 68%
Computer crashes: 66%
People talking loudly on mobile phones:66%
Crowded public transport: 60%
Telemarketers: 58%
Internet pop-up ads: 56%
Road works: 55%
People who don't say please/thanks: 49%
Automated telephone switchboards: 43%
Plastic wrapping you can't open: 40%

I kinda agree with the list. Other things that make me go nuts these days:
1. The question "bila nak kawin?" - enough already ppl!
2. The statement "you look fat"
3. The thought "i can't afford that" (sob, sob)

Gubra

Just finished watching Gubra with Fala, Fuad, Suren and Sani. It's a sort of a sequal to Sepet. We all agree that it's a good movie. Indeed, it's not a 'perfect' movie - you're somewhat left feeling wanting, but it's a brave effort by a Malaysian film maker. We especially like all the underlying messages on our current society. You have to watch to understand what i mean.

The five of us laughed the loudest in the cinema. There are plenty of funny moments - Pak Atan and Mak Inom doing macarena on the bed, Yam's comment on the ambulan service - however, my favourite part and i find the funniest is not even spoken in Malay. The part where the nurses spoke Tamil and made a small remark in the hospital after attending to Pak Atan. Nasib baik Suren was there to translate! Next time if i decide to watch again, i need to bring a Chinese friend to translate the Chinese dialogues.

To Fit: yes, it's true, you can see a guy's bare ass in the movie. I'm sure you will appreciate that.

p.s: Make sure you stay until the end of the credits.

Contra

Was really bored at the office today. After breakfast, i decided to go to the bank and pay my income tax. It was certainly sad to see my iPod dream going into flames; but you gotta do what you gotta do. My friend said it was 'patriotik' of me to go and pay the tax so early. When i think about it - paying your income tax is a patriotic thing to do. I mean, the money does go to the goverment, but the goverment will (should?) use the money to help other needy Malaysians and improve our way of life in terms of facilities and stuff. Isham keeps telling (lecturing?) me on how he understands the whole system works and we should not hesitate to pay our taxes. But then again, his income tax form always shows 'cukai terlebih bayar' and need not to pay anything upon submitting...