Movie: The Tourist

Sorry peeps.  I know I've been missing from this blog for a lil bit and I'd like to start off by wishing everyone an amazing 2011!!  *smiles*

Anyways, it's been awhile since I talked about a movie (I think).  Haha.  The latest movie my family and I went to see was The Tourist starring the incredibly talented Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.

Image from byterology.com

What Is It About?

The story is basically about the pursuit of Scotland Yard for the elusive Alexander Pearce who owes the government a whopping GBP 744 million in back taxes.  They kept an eye on Elise (Angelina Jolie) awaiting Pearce to contact her in hopes of a chance for them to nab him.  Taking a cue from the instructions in his note to her, Elise hops on a train from Paris to Venice and becomes friendly with an American tourist on the train, Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp), a Maths teacher to throw the Yard off the chase.  A lot of chasing and action ensued especially since Reginal Shaw (Steven Berkoff) enters the picture to retrieve the cash swindled/stolen by Pearce whilst acting as his personal finance advisor.

My Thoughts

The movie started out allowing the audience to try and figure out what was going on before unfolding the storyline bit by bit.  The script was intelligent, witty and littered with humor which was delivered beautifully by the cast.  I enjoy movies that keeps you interested throughout the entire film and ones that makes you not expect the ending.  This was one of those movies.  Johnny Depp was brilliant in embodying his character's vulnerability.  Angelina's performance was superb in showcasing the different layers and roles of her on-screen persona.  The chemistry between these two power A-listers was undeniable, I'm surprised this is their first movie together.  Bravo to Quentin Tarantino and his cast and crew.

Have you seen the movie yet?  What are your thoughts on the film?

La Fuente on a Sunday...

So honestly this isn't the first trip to La Fuente - Tapas Y Bebidas (literally The Source - Food & Drinks), 1Borneo.  Today was our second time there.

We had absolutely no intention of going to 1Borneo today but after remembering there was a small property fair there ending today (this was during a morning birthday party), we decided that it would be our next stop.  There were some interesting properties in the market (read: RM1+ million penthouse duplex with private rooftop garden at Puncak Luyang) including an amazing steal of a property in Menggatal (940 and/or 965 sq ft 3r+3b apartment units for under RM200k).

Anyways, after the fair, we decided it would be nice to catch a movie and off we hopped to the cinema and bought tickets to see Alpha & Omega's 3.50pm show.  Cute animated wolf story with some beautiful howling "music".  Storyline is pretty predictable but a nice light-hearted show nonetheless.

Ah yes, getting back to La Fuente (yes, it's obviously a Spanish restaurant), behold our meals:

Ceaser's Salad

- lettuce, croutons, chicken, mushroom

Cream Based Mushroom & Chicken Ham Penne

(The Spanish name was a tad too long for me to remember)

Beef Ribeye

- with sauteed vege, mashed potato & (blue?) cheese sauce

Roast Chicken

Chicken Tikka

My verdict?  I was delighted to find that the Ceaser's Salad was actually quite nice although I do enjoy my lettuce to be little more bite sized (no matter, I'll just tear them apart).  Croutons were definitely a nice touch to the salad (can you tell that I have absolutely no idea what goes into a regular Ceaser's salad?).  My first dining experience here I'd gotten the Salmon fillet dish and that was yummy (I might be biased because I love salmon).  This time around I decided to change it up and go for penne.  A lil odd considering I'm eating Italian in a Spanish restaurant.  No big surprise in taste here though.  My brothers all had different dishes: Beef Ribeye (which was ordered well done but came medium rare), Roast Chicken (with a sauce I haven't the slightest clue what it is) and Chicken Tikka (an Indian dish in a Spanish eatery?  And it had bones!!).

Just a quick post on today's endeavours.  Til next time!

Couldn't resist...

No More Boredom... Please?

Was so excited to meet up with an old classmate last Thursday.  She was in town for a week on work vacation.  Another classmate of ours who works in 1Borneo set up the whole thing which was awesome.  It was nice to sit and chat over dinner.  Really nice catching up.  I was getting my glasses upgraded (new prescriptions) so it worked out pretty well.

Last Friday only myself, one of my brothers and the maid were left home (til Sunday afternoon).  I initially thought that it would be great to finally get some peace and quiet around the house and get some overdue things done once and for all.

Wow.  Was I wrong.  Started out Friday night with a trip to 1Borneo to accompany my brother.  Well there wasn't much of the night left when we roamed there (8pm).  Anyways, headed home and I spent the entire night catching up on Glee episodes.  LOL!!  Talk about being "productive".

Side Note: I do love Rachel and Jesse together even though Jesse was there to kinda seduce Rachel under her mum's instructions.  He is kinda falling for her and OMG his voice is much better than Finn's and he knows what he wants where as Finn is like the grass in the wind if you catch my drift.

Last Saturday by far was the MOST unproductive day in my entire life.  And I was bored to looney-ville.  I thought about going out but I had nowhere to go or at least no where I wanted to go.  Anyways, was waiting for my BFF to drop by after work that afternoon.  I was practically restless.  Watched Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 and Clueless on HBO HD and sometime after that I fell asleep and woke up to Giuliana & Bill on E! (I think).

That night was apparently the final concert for Akademi Fantasia 8 and I basically missed the entire season altogether.  LOL!!  My mum and I used to follow the show religiously in the past but the appeal has pretty much simmered down and I've personally lost interest.  Good thing the maid brought it to my attention that the final concert was gonna be on.  I'm impressed with Adira's performance of her song "Ku Ada Kamu" not because she was a Sabahan but because when she sang that song, it gave me a tingly feeling (you know the kind when someone sings a song really well with enough passion and soul). Check out below for the music video for her song and see for yourself.

Adira AF8 - Ku Ada Kamu

Courtesy of perekacerita's YouTube channel

I was tweeting about the concert the entire night and commenting on each performance giving my honest unbiased opinion.  I knew Adira would not be crowned the winner but what's important was she gave the best performance that night that it didn't even matter if she came in 1st or 2nd.  Anyways, with Shahir's good looks, and a gazillion female voters, it was clearly obvious who would win the votes.  I do think that Maulana did a better job than Shahir though.  Anyways, you can read my comments from that night on my Twitter.

So yea.  That was my Saturday night.  Haha.  Beyond a doubt boring and I was extremely restless to get out of the house (but didn't).  I didn't feel like doing anything else except go out too else I would've been able to do some clearing up or something at home.  Geez.  I hope I won't be facing that kinda day again ever.

Sunday (today), I got up earlier and got ready to go out.  Haha.  I'm so weird.  Since we were planning to watch Robin Hood at night, I went off to Centre Point to get us tickets.  It's always best to get tickets for the night earlier in the day.  More seat choices.  Anyways, I decided to wear a simple short knit dress (camisole underneath to cover up some cleavage. LOL!) and a matching waisted belt and paired that with a simple faux gold charm bracelet, my dual tone diamante dial Fossil watch and a pair of nude/black peep toe heels (my fave!).  I like to not just dress up but play around with make up on Sundays (or on holidays in general) since I don't get a lot of opportunities for that when I'm at work.  It just feels weird to be all dolled up at work somehow.  Maybe it's cos I work in an engineering/telecommunication based industry?  Makes me kinda wished I worked for a fashion or beauty magazine.  *sigh*  Or maybe I should start one?  Now there's a thought.  So nothing fancy, I had on BB cream as my foundation, did my brows, lined my upper lashline with a bit of a wing, mascara, coral blush, raspberry lipsticks and warmed my face with a bronzer.  Sounds like a lot but it's a simple look really.

Anyways, oddly enough I have no idea why there was this girl walking pass me and she kept staring at me (either it was my waisted belt or my non-flat stomach).  Then I also noticed a few other heads turning my way which I find to be rather uncomfortable.  I wasn't even decked to the nines or anything like that.  Heck, I even kept my hair straight (just used a volumizing mousse to the roots for a bit of lift).  After getting the tickets and Yoyo, I headed home.  Since I still had time before the airport pick up, I rushed to film a long planned collective haul and product review for my beauty blog.  Was planning to use my Canon camera to film but the video function didn't have auto focus which was a bummer.  It's great for vlogging though.  So I had to use the JVC camcorder which works great and had a flip screen so I could see myself too.  I love using the JVC.  Problem is it records into .mod files which isn't compatible with most video editing softwares (like Movie Maker, iMovie, Adobe Premier, etc).  It's supposed to work with Cyberlink's Power Director but I don't really like using that particular software.  After some trial and error in converting the files perfectly with FormatFactory, I managed to get it in .avi which has better compatibility.  Gonna be editing the footage soon.

So for Robin Hood, I was surprised that I actually liked it really.  I'm not a big fan of Russell Crowe or his works.  And wasn't too excited with him being cast as Robin.  Fortunately, he did an amazing job as Robin and the movie was a great introduction to how Robin Hood came to be.  Somehow every time I think about Robin Hood, I am reminded of the comedy version of it, "Men In Tights".  If you've never seen it, I'd seriously suggest that you do.  Hilarious.

Oh and yes, my office laptop is finally being switched to a new (actually 2nd hand) one.  Bye bye Dell, hello Lenovo.  The Lenovo was distributed in the company only a few months back so I have absolutely no idea how it became so disgusting.  Or maybe that's just me.  I cleaned the monitor, keyboard, chassis (including all the nooks and crannys) and disinfected it with some alcohol that my supervisor says smells like his lecturer's perfume.  No the alcohol didn't harm the laptop.  Now just to transfer my files and update my Outlook with my Archive folders.

Hopefully tomorrow I get to carry all my stuff from the office in the city to the other office that I'm moving to.  I love how I feel my colleagues there are like family.  Makes going to work less stressful and me more productive.

New Moon presents... Jacob Black

New Moon Trailer #3 from clevvertv
Link to above trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs79_5n848Q

It's officially been a week since watching New Moon.  And yet the whole Team Edward vs Team Jacob hype has anything but died down.  Honestly, despite my love for movies, only a handful tempts me to watch it again at the cinema.  While the first movie from the Twilight Saga didn't have such effect on me, New Moon did.  I left 1Borneo with a desire to go back and get me another ticket.

Twilight was more of a boy meets girl story.  How they met, how they attracted each other and an introduction to the Cullen clan.  Taking off of that platform, the second installment introduced audiences to Jacob Black and the Quileute tribe as well as the vampire "royalty/enforcers", the Volturi family.

In the first movie, I'd have to say I was a little confused at the Edward-Jacob relationship.  Why they seemed to have a mutual dislike for one another.  Having not read the book series, I just figured the tribe was guided by wolf spirits as is in certain Native American cultures.  Guess I wasn't too far off the mark there.  After all, vampires and werewolves are essentially cousins.

Jacob (Taylor Lautner) served as delicious eye candy on screen with his charming good looks and well toned body.  I read that Taylor had to start working out right after shooting Twilight for that dramatic transformation.  He bulked up but not too much.  Just right.  Hence the massive support for Team Jacob I believe.  The rest of the wolfpack were almost equally drool-worthy as well.  I feel I must add that the CGI for the wolves transformation and build was beautifully done.  The wolves although incredibly huge were absolutely gorgeous.  But then again, I could be biased, I love wolves.

Apart from the introductions, this time round, the story focuses on the relationship between Bella (Kirsten Stewart) and Edward (the love of her life) as well as Bella and Jacob (the dependable best friend).  Maybe I was a tad bit nervous at the thought of reviewing the movie that the emotions from the early parts of the movie didn't quite grip me.  However, after deeply immersing myself in the story, the dynamics of the emotions portrayed by the characters came through.  In short, Bella was on an emotional roller coaster from start to end.

I actually feel sorry for Jacob in the movie because he keeps trying to win Bella's heart but she has practically given her soul to Edward (Robert Pattinson).  The typical best friend in love dilemma.  And I love that in the movie you do get to see how deep the connection between both Bella and Edward is and how much Edward means to Bella and vice versa.  In a way it is reminiscent of the Shakespeare classic Romeo and Juliet which was ironically also featured briefly in the beginning of the movie.

I found the Volturi somewhat amusing despite their extremely brief appearance towards the end of the movie.  I was looking forward to seeing Dakota Fanning's performance as Jane but it was rather disappointing as there isn't much of her to see.  Maybe in the follow up?  Aro (Michael Sheen) seemed oddly gleeful and fascinated at Bella's abilities which is unusual for humans.  Despite yearning for a taste of Bella, he does find her to be a form of entertainment in a weird way.  Thank you Alice (Ashley Greene) for saving the day.

There is one noticeable part that annoyed me in the movie.  The camera angles in certain scenes.  After Edward left, Bella sat by her window in a daze staring out as the months passed.  The camera encircling her during that scene was just a bit much.  We were barely a quarter way into the movie and I was already developing a headache from the camera going round and round for too long.

The script was pleasantly romantic, witty and nicely written.  I love that a bit of humour was injected into the lines which made for a rather entertaining listen as well.

No guys, this movie isn't just about hot guys with their shirts off or pale romantic vampires.  This time round the movie has a lot to do with heart, friendship, love and devotion.  It is not an action/thriller/horror flick (read: 2012, Ninja Assassin) and would require tapping into the sentimental side you never knew you had.

At the end of the movie, the audience were left with a brilliant cliffhanger which resulted in a feeling of restlessness and anticipation for the third installment to the Saga, Eclipse, coming to cinemas next year.

new moon... here i come!!

it's been ages since i've stepped foot in the cinema for a good movie considering the circumstances that be. but... a little bird dropped a note in facebook and i tried my luck.  today, i've just got a wonderful e-mail from miss bobidom informing me that i was one of the lucky winners to go see new moon this friday!!

*bursting with joy.. in silence* *grins*

NEW MOON HERE I COME!!

it's just perfect timing that they're showing the first from the saga -- twilight -- on astro which i had just watched *again* with my mum on star movies. now watching new moon would be a much more, erm, fluid experience.  *smiles*

thanks to the body shop for the movie tickets!! weeee....

goodbye june, hello july...

well, it's the end of june already. can't believe we're already halfway through 2009. how time flies. tomorrow we'll be going into the second half of the year and there's still a lot to be done!!

since last friday, it seems the whole world is fixated on the death of the king of pop and it's practically in every newspaper, blog, facebook, twitter, etc. you name it! despite a whole lot of controversies, allegations, speculations and such surrounding his life *when he was alive* it is undeniable that he had made a significant mark in the music industry globally. they didn't call him the king of pop for nothing. he was idolized by millions and it didn't really matter if you were a fan of the man or not, you have to admit that he was one of a kind and help shape and inspire a whole lot of today's artists. personally i wasn't quite a fan of the whole thriller-billy jean-beat it phase. i've always been more of a ballad person i guess. haha. mushy. my personal faves were "i want you back", "ben", "heal the world", "you are not alone".. haha. you catch my drift. obviously his demised stunned the world and even today there are controversies surrounding his passing. drug addiction and what really caused his death. in my humble opinion, we should just let him rest in peace. remember him for the good things and not for wacko jacko.

although i've never actually watched the original charlie's angels series, i'm sure folks of that generation are not only saddened by the passing of the king of pop, but also of farah fawcett. once a beautiful angel on the small screen whose sense of style and fashion were emulated just as jennifer aniston was in the friends era. she passed at the age of 62 after her 3 year long battle with cancer.

last sunday my family and i manage to make it to the cinemas for transformers 2: revenge of the fallen. it's been awhile since we've been out to the movies. hehe. being an 80s kid, i absolutely loved transformers. back then the graphics were still hand drawn *compared to today's computer drawn versions* and then eventually evolved to beast wars *seeing optimus prime as a purple ape/gorilla*. the first movie was entertaining. filled with all the action associated with transformers. and then came the sophomore movie which got a lot of hype *even during filming* with box offices pushing eager audiences to later showings cos all the earlier shows were full. growball had at least 4 cinemas dedicated to the movie with 24 shows a day and 1borneo's gsc had 3 cinemas showing the much anticipated movie *all packed*. so what did i thought of the movie? i've heard a lot of peeps raving about the movie and of course those who think that it was a bit over-rated. personally? i LOVED it. i HEART transformers. haha. seriously, i didn't even notice that i'd been in the cinema for 2.5 hours. shia was hot, megan was hot, josh duhamel was hot. ooo. and of course optimus prime and bumble bee were uber HOT! haha. my mum said maybe i should get the optimus prime and bumble bee figurine from toys r us and put it in my room so i can look at it all day. *haha. funny mum*

so anyways, i haven't been able to add more stuff to trove these couple of weeks but i'm planning on getting more stuff uploaded this week. lots of things to do. with another project in the making, i'm excited all over again. haha! did i mention trove is on facebook as well?


my babe, mama girl, will be dropping by this weekend for her company family day. haven't seen her since... since... since... sometime in the 2nd half of last year?!?!?! or was it the 1st half??! well, it's been way too long. hopefully will be able to meet up when she's in town. yay!! the little miss nyn is planning on coming back so that's exciting as well. shimz hunny, when are you coming here?!? hehe. miss them all!!

LOL!!

as a child i've always watched a lot of tv. if you're an 80s kid, then you must remember cartoons like he-man and the masters of the universe, she-ra, jem and the holograms, transformers, woody woodpecker, smurfs, teenage mutant ninja turtle and more. another one of the many cartoon series i used to watch was of course, pink panther -- albeit a rather mute pink panther those days.

so today, after a filling lunch at dream food in palm square (yummy dory nizakana with garlic rice) with the whole family, we went to watch the pink panther 2 at 2.55pm.

when the first pink panther movie came out, my stomach hurt from laughing so much just watching the trailer on tv. so you can imagine my anticipation to watch the movie itself. needless to say, i found it as hilarious as the trailer if not more.

second time around i didn't get to see the trailer. in fact, i didn't even realize it was already in cinemas. *shocked* anyways, the entire audience in hall 6 was laughing out loud throughout the whole movie. despite his obvious stupidity (or so it seems), inspector jacques clouseau is an extremely entertaining officer/detective with unorthodox methods of deduction. ponton has a much less prominent presence in this sequel compared to its predecessor however but is still an important character in the movie. andy garcia, alfred molina, aishwarya rai bachchan and the lesser known yuki matsuzaki work well together forming the rest of the "dream team". it is interesting to see how clouseau's alternative point of view and outrageously funny antics actually helps solve the whole puzzle at the end of the day. watch the movie. you'll not regret it.

on another note, bit3lips was on again this weekend with their 'sawan 4 fashion extended' garage sale. i couldn't make it yesterday and after a long day today could only make it there around 8pm or so. being in the xl size range at the moment, most of the stuff that i was interested in were either a size s or m. stumbled on a few pieces from my own collection as well. lol! after browsing through the goods, i bought a simple giordano pink floral button-down shirt short sleeve shirt to wear casually. it's not my usual size (it's an l) but i figured if it's a bit tight, i could always take out all the darts to make it a straight cut shirt. haha!!