Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Bodyguards and Assassins

Wow. I liked this movie. It's one of a very few Chinese movies I watched in the cinema and I really liked it. Usually, I skipped most of the Chinese movies because it's most likely gangster flicks, slapstick comedies, or martial arts movies. While this is mainly a action/martial art movie, there's a whole new thing in it. There's characters that I actually liked and cared about.


Featuring who's who in the Chinese entertainment industry such as Tony Leung Ka Fai, Eric Tsang, Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Leon Lai, Fan Bingbing, Wang Xueqi, and so many more, it's one heck of an epic film. Besides the superstars in the movie, it also had the largest set in the Chinese entertainment history. According to what I read, they built a replica of Hong Kong in the 1900 for the film.

It tells a tale of 6 noble person who sacrificed their lives to protect Dr Sun in Hong Kong from the assassins sent by the Qing Dynasty during the early days of China. The theme of sacrificing for your country is hard to miss. I mean, almost all who die in the movie were doing it for their country, in one way or another. It was heart-wrenching to watch one by one died in the movie. And add to the fact that this is based on true historical event is even more hard for us to not to acknowledge that China been through a lot to get to the stage they're in right now. It's a great learning experience for me, knowing another piece of Chinese history. Glad that I went for the movie.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Resolution: Reviewed

Looking back at the resolution I made way back in December last year was a joke. I don't remember much of it already so I have to refer back to the post when I'm writing now so this just show how 'successful' my resolutions are. So, here's goes...

  1. Cut down TV/movie time ==> *smile sheepishly* failed miserably...in the beginning of the year, there's still some attempt to it but by February or March, totally forgotten about it...
  2. Learn something new ==> hmm, I learned a bit of Japanese, learned how to roller skate (how fun), can swim 'move' at water now, albeit very cacat...are these counted???
  3. Cut off/reduce intake of junk food and carbonated drinks ==> semi-successful I would said for I'm not really hook to it anyway...
  4. Start exercising ==> haha, also semi-successful I think for I did pick up jogging last semester and I should start again with the new semester...
  5. Get into Dean List ==> done that...2nd semester...
  6. Start living actively ==> I forgotten what is this all about when I first came out with it so just scrap this off...hehe
  7. Be charitable ==> err, failed
  8. Appreciate and love people around me ==> don't think that I should be judging myself on this...
  9. Be more sociable ==> consider a success gua...
  10. Change myself ==> err..........a bit gua.....
I learned my lesson. Next time, make some more realistic resolution. Haha.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Boredom...

So, total rambling again...

Back in USM already...with nothing better to do...facing my laptop when I (almost) finished unpacking my stuffs, reading blogs after blogs...no one to MSN with too...

Went with family shopping in Penang in the afternoon after I took my key from the hostel office...bought new shirts and jeans...had Haagen Daaz thanks to my sister who forced me into 'belanja-ing' her...

Stupid local unis...dunno why so early start sem...at least let us finish the new year celebration before dragging us back lar...not like there's a lot of classes being held in the first week itself...some of the lecturers were still on vacation...

Think most likely gonna go back once at January before the CNY break...no, for sure will go back since my mom 'insisted' already...

Wonder how to spend the New Year here........till now...

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Little Sister's Graduation Dance

Last Wednesday, my baby sister was performing at Glamour Square Complex for the kindergarten graduation ceremony. She just involved in one dance instead of a few like some of the kids. Maybe she's just not so talented. Hehe. Here's the video, after so many times of failed attempts of uploading it.



Me and my sister


My sister with her friends

Friday, December 25, 2009

KL Shopping Spree

Merry Christmas!!!

Just came back from one day trip with family to KL. When people goes to KL, mostly they had just one thing in their minds; shop. And that's what we did. Shop, shop, shop. We did a lot of Christmas shopping, or more precisely, Chinese New Year shopping. We went with nothing and came back with bags and bags. There's so many stalls on discount we just simply went crazy. At least my sister did. Hehe. Anyway, that's all for now.

Going back Penang this Sunday for new semester.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Avatar

Yesterday, me and a bunch of friends went to watch Avatar, the much hyped about movie by James Cameron, the director of Titanic. Since there's no 3D screening in Ipoh, we had to resolve to the normal screening.


Clocking at about 2 hours and 45 minutes, the movie is indeed a visual feast to the eyes. All the hulas about how breath-taking those CGIs are are all true. It does not look weird, those aliens and the surroundings in Pandora, the aliens' planet.

The gist of the story. Humans were sent to Pandora for unobtanium, a precious mineral. To gain their trusts, one of them (Sam Worthington) infiltrated into the natives but he ended up falling in love with one of them and helped them fought back.

A lot of $$$ were spent on the movie and you can see it with your own eyes. According to Cameron, he spent almost 12 years waiting for technology to catch up, so that he could bring his vision to screen. Like I said, the visuals were awesome, but the story was rather common. Nothing special. In fact, it's rather predictable. But it's still quite entertaining. For me, it's just another movie with great special effects. And the Oscars buzz the movie is generating, for me, is exaggerated.

After movie, we went to karaoke to surprise Ann Li with a birthday celebration. Or belated birthday, to be exact. All had fun.

Group photos

Sunday, December 20, 2009

I'm Back From Malacca!

A very frustrated, tiring, and slightly boring trip. Frustrated due to the rainy weather we gotten ourselves when we reached Malacca and the heavy traffics when in highway and in Malacca. Tiring because we began the trip at around 7am and I did most of the drivings. Boring, well, all the usual tourist spots around Malacca I had already been there myself when I was with my friends, so for this particular trip, I was the tour guide to my family. A very funny thing considering I'm not based in Malacca and with just two trips, I already know roughly the roads there.

When we reached Malacca, rain was pouring in a weird pattern; drizzle for a while, then heavy, then drizzle. You get the drill. Besides that, there's the traffic jams everywhere we went. So not nice. When we managed to reach Jonker Street, it had succumbed to just a slight drizzle so we walked around. Not much to do for me since I had already been there far too many time in just a short span of time. Since I'm the unofficial tour guide, I just brought them to places when I've been before and had the foods which I eaten before. We had chicken rice ball at the same stall I'd been the last time for lunch (Dad: "char dou sei!" or suck in Cantonese) and satay celup for dinner (Dad: "hou mm wai sun" or unhygienic in Cantonese) and the same Jonker Stall 88 for assam laksa and chendols for lunch the following day. With rain, our activities were limited to just shopping at Dataran Pahlawan and later, at Jonker Walk night market at night.

Being the driver for my family can be a very uncomfortable situation. When I was took over the driving halfway at highway from Dad, Mom somehow appointed herself as my speed alarm. Whenever I was reaching 120km/h, she would voiced it out like my faithful alarm clock. "120! 120! Time to slow down! Time to slow down!". At least I survived the ordeal.

Very few photos were taken since I already...Well, you know. Luckily, the best thing about this trip is the all-expenses paid. I didn't spend a single dimes on anything...well, except for the three cloths I bought. Other than that, practically, it's a cost-free trip. So, that's all for now.

This is the only family shot I had taken, well, without me...

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Oh, No...

Malacca o Malacca

I'm about to start my journey to Malacca...AGAIN, for the third time within few weeks. I'm so gonna sick of Malacca already. This time though, is with my family and it's all-expenses paid trip! Haha, I'm gonna eat what I had yet to eat when I was at Malacca last time due to financial situation now that it's not my $$$ I'm using anymore. XD. Gotta go.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Rambling About Musical..

Warning: Pure Rambling Ahead!

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
That's the quote featured in one of my all time favourite movie, Moulin Rouge!, and as if to prove what a big fan I am, I had the original VCD and the pirated DVD bought few years back and the downloaded version in my laptop, all had been played at least once. And yesterday night, around 1+ am, out of boredom, I on my laptop and played it for, like, the umpteen time. OK, not the whole movie, just snippets of it where there's songs in it.

The beautiful love story of Christian and Satine

In case you have no idea what Moulin Rouge! is, it tells the story of a young poet/writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor), who falls in love with a Moulin Rouge cabaret actress and courtesan, Satine (Nicole Kidman). It is a beautiful movie filled with wonderful music, all of which were mash-ups of contemporary songs. The movie was the one that introduced me to the wonderful world of musical, minus those Disney's classic animations like The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and so on which I also loved, by the way.

The main couple from Hairspray

After Moulin Rouge!, I searched high and low for musical movies and found Chicago, Rent, Across the Universe, Mamma Mia! and many more. Another musical adaptation that I loved is Hairspray. Another movie that I had watched quite a few times, it is so much fun to watch, you feels happier after watching it. But don't let those fluffy moments and the addictive songs fool you for it is a very subtle movie, one that deals with discrimination and racial segregation.

Besides the big screen, the idiot box itself also had musical in the form of Glee, one of my current favourite new TV series. It tells the story of a bunch of misfit kids in Glee Club, all working and fighting the differences between them for Sectional. It's fun, it's hilarious, and it's absolutely addictive. Oh, yea, and the songs, fantastic. I could watched over and over again. In fact, I had been watching it some so many times.

I'm officially a Gleek!

The point is, inside my external, there are TONNES of movies and series remained untouched, yet, I kept watching those favourites of mine. Is it the familiarities of the movies that kept me watching them? I mean, I almost had the lines from Moulin Rouge! imprinted in my mind. Or is it just that I simply enjoy it too much that I won't even get sick of it? Don't care. I just keep watching it whenever, wherever I want.

When I get to go New York, I won't miss the chance of going to watch at least one musical at Broadway. I still remembered that there's the staging of Beauty and the Beast the musical early back this year (is it?) in KL but did not go for it. Singapore seems to be the love of musical productions with Mamma Mia! and Phantom of the Opera being staged few years back. Let's hope that more and more musicals would come to our shores.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

1 Year Old!

Happy Birthday, dear old bloggie! It's already 1 year since I last started this blog. I still remember the doubt in me on how long can this little side project lasted. Well, it never occur to me to reach the big number 1.


I guess I really hooked to the beauty of blogging. Anyway, nothing much to say than just happy birthday!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Princess And The Frog

It's been so long since Walt Disney had chunked out a hand-drawn animation. The last 2D animation out in the cinema by Disney studio was that critically and commercially flopped Home Range. I did not watch that film and was not interested at all in it. So, when news that there'll be a brand new 2D animation coming out this year, I was delighted for, while I do really loved those beautiful and wonderful Pixar movies, I begin to miss those animations like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, and so on.

The new animation from Disney studio

So, yesterday, with a bunch of friends, we went to watch Princess and the Frog, the new hand-drawn animation by Disney studio. The movie tells the story of Tiana, a feisty waitress working very hard to make her dream comes true, that is to open up a restaurant. All the adventures began when she was turned into a frog for kissing one (Prince Naveen) that was under voodoo spell. So, both of them went to find a cure for their current situations.

Of course, like those classic Disney animations, the movie was also filled with beautiful songs that bound to get you hooked. And the animations. After so many CGI animation, hand-drawn one is truly freshness to the eyes. Storywise, while there's the promised happily-ever-after, there's still something new to it. There's the little twist to the classic tale of Princess and the Frog that gives the movie some bang to it. All in all, a wonderful movie that worth every cents.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

My Sister's Graduation Photo

Look at my sister!


Look at her! So cute and adorable, holding that fake graduation certificate. It was so perfect, the photo.

And here's her class photo. Can you spot her???? Haha...

After her exam (kindergartens these days are scary...), her graduation performances will be next. Can't wait for it!!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

My First Cheque From Nuffnang!

Finally, my cheque from Nuffnang had arrived this morning. After waiting for more than 1 month since I checked out the money, it's finally here! Thanks, Nuffnang!!!

My first payment

Hopefully, more yet to come....XD

ps - Pix of Segamat, Johor, were uploaded. Click here for the (very little) pictures and here to the adventures.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Family Trips Around Perak

So, after all the excitement and fun during the Seremban - Malacca trip, I finally came back home on the 26th Nov around late afternoon. I thought that I could get some rest to fix my still-upset stomach but somehow, my parents had planned to go to Cameron Highland tomorrow, 27th Nov, since it was a public holiday and all. Barely settled down and off I went again for a 1 day trip.

Basically, there's nothing much about Cameron Highland than its chilled weather, beautiful flowers and fresh vegetables, tea leaves, and strawberries. Yes, Cameron is quite known for its strawberries, even though most of it are not sweet but rather sour. The weather was rather hot when we began our trip, roughly an hour plus of car ride from Ipoh, but when we reached Tanah Rata, dark clouds started to gather, and within seconds, rain began pouring down.

My dad was holding the camera...

With rain, everything turned harder as we can't get down from our car and walked around the farms and markets. When the pourings reduced to just drizzle, we made a stop and basked in the beauty of the flowers and cool weather. Around 4pm, we began heading down.

Then, on the 29th Nov, since my dad had a wedding dinner (or more like lunch since it began at 2pm) at Teluk Intan, the whole family tagged along, not to the dinner, but to Teluk Intan. He brought us to Bagan Datoh, a small town near Teluk Intan, for seafood lunch before he went to the dinner and leaved us wandering around town for 2 hours.


Teluk Intan is just a small town with all the usual charms of a small town. Nothing special, really, except for the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan, the local version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. If I remembered correctly, the tower was first built as a water tank, but somehow, the structure or the land the building was on, gave way to the pressure, causing it to slightly leaned to the side. Now, its main function is just the landmark of Teluk Intan.

The so-called Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan

Besides the tower, Teluk Intan is quite famous for its unique Chee Cheong Fun (no idea what its name in English). Commonly known as the Teluk Intan-styled Chee Cheong Fun, it had dried shrimps and other stuffs which I don't know what it was in it, making it a delicious delicacy. As my father now based at Teluk Intan, whenever he comes back, he would tapao the chee cheong fun for us to dig in as supper.

When the dinner was over with his face all red from all the alcohols he consumed, we began heading back home. That's how the weekend was spent.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Seremban - Malacca Trip (Part 3)

Continued from Part 1 and Part 2...

24 Nov 09
After breakfast (herbal roasted duck rice) at the area near UTeM, the remaining four of us started driving back to Seremban, though, pulling a stop at Port Dickson first. We first thought of going to the TDDM Museum (Military Museum) but when we reached there, it was closed. Apparently, it only opened from Wednesday till Sunday, from 10.00am to 5.00pm. Bummer!

Then, we stopped by a Chinese temple for some sight-seeing before we continued our journey to some nice beach on Port Dickson. Halfway on the trip, we found an ostrich farm and thought of entering, but with the rather high entrance fee, it doesn't seem to worth it, so we moved on with the journey.


After some time, we reached the Tanjung Tuan Recreational Forest where we tried to reach the Tanjung Tuan lighthouse. The lighthouse was located at the inside of the forest, so we all walked to it. Not really a long distance walk and when we reached the lighthouse, we found out that we needed permission to enter the building. What a stroke of bad luck! But, the climb up was not worth for nothing as the view up there was breath-taking. We thought of staying up there till sunset but with about 3 more hours before the sun met the horizontal line, we had nothing to do to pass the time, so we scrap the plan. Oh, yea, there's quite a lot of monkeys around the area, too.

The view from up there...

By the time we came down from the forest, we drove to a decent-looking beach to bask in the beauty of the sunset, but the presence of so many clouds made it impossible to capture just the sun alone sinking down. By the time the sun had vanished from the sky, we drove back home and had some home-cooked dinner and rest.

25 Nov 09
Bad luck continued, especially for me. I woke up with an upset stomach refused to get better until today. From diarhoea, it evolved further, giving me a fever later the the afternoon, but, we still continued with our trip. After breakfast, we went to Wu Gong San (Centipede Mountain) to visit the Chinese temple. Then, she brought us around Seremban, introducing to us places where she and her gangs used to hang out.

After that, she brought us to Sri Menanti to look at the famous Minangkabau palace which was turned into a museum. The entrance is free so we entered and have a look at the structure of the palace. By now, my body was getting feverish and somehow, the tour guide herself was also getting a bit nausea. At first, we thought of heading to the waterfall at the Hutan Lipur Recreational Park and we did get there, but we didn't climb up for a closer look at the waterfall.

I finally succumbed to my sickness and we headed back to rest. It was such an embarassing thing to do, getting sick while on vacation. I used the remaining of the day to get myself up and going before I headed back home tomorrow.

That's the end of my Seremban - Malacca trip. Too bad that my body was not at its best on the last two days, making me unable to enjoy the trip to the blast.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Seremban - Malacca Trip (Part 2)

Continued from part 1...

22 Nov 09
So, we embarked on a trip to Malacca with Xiang Yi's two other friends. Before we start our journey, we went to have our breakfast, a locally famous chicken rice shop in Seremban. Rather different from the usual roasted chicken. Delicious. After that, off we go!

We went through the old road instead of highway as there's more sight-seeings to be done through old road. Halfway of the journey, we stopped by Wet World Resort Pedas Hot Spring. We thought of going for the hot spring but the entrance fee was rather taxing as it included the water theme park, so we forfeited it. We continued our journey to Malacca.

The journey lasted at least an hour plus before we reached our destination. We parked the car somewhere around Jonker Walk and started walking around Jonker Walk. The beauty of Malacca can't be fully absorbed in just a day. We walked past those antique houses and shops while searching for a place to reside for the two nights.

The three girls kept making references on places where the Singapore TV series, 'The Little Nyonya', were featured. The show, about the life of Baba Nyonya, was mainly filmed in Malacca, known for the Baba Nyonya cultures. Since both of us guys had yet to watch the show, we just took in whatever was mentioned.

When we were a little tired, we entered the same food stall, Jonker Dessert 88, that I entered last Thursday when I went to Malacca with another bunch of friends. The chendols were so delicious I had chendol-carving for the whole trip in Malacca. I even had the same chendol at the same stall on the next day!

Look at the line...

Then, we went to the Stadhuys building, a must stop when you were in Malacca. Then, the same A' Famosa Port at the St Paul hill. Same old, same old. When it's about time for dinner, we went back to Jonker Walk for the night market. We stopped at a food stall known for its laksa. Almost everywhere in Malacca and Penang are famous for the laksa and chendols. This time, the laksa tasted like the one in Penang. For drink, chendol again.


After that, we went to Eye On Malaysia to bask in the night view of Malacca. When onboard, I was a little disappointed as the night view of Malacca was nothing special. In fact, compared to the first time I rode it, which on in the afternoon, the view is much more better as you can see better of the places around Malacca. Then, we went back to the hotel to rest.

23 Nov 09
Once everything done, we went to UTeM to drop off Xiang Yi's friend's stuffs as he has activities during the semester break. Then, all of us went back to Jonker Walk for the famous Hainan Chicken Rice Ball. There was a queue waiting outside the stall as people were lining up to taste the delicious food. It was worth the queue as the food there was really nice.

Then, we went to the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum for more in-depth exposure on the Baba Nyonya cultures. It was quite a learning experience, to have a look at the traditional furnitures, the beautiful clothings, and the unique architectures. They have a tour guide for us to follow and explain to us the heritage but we did not follow her as that day was crowded with schoolchildren, a mark of school holidays.

Around 7++pm, we took the river cruise around Malacca before we went to the Portugal Settlement to have our seafood dinner. Quite nice, I would said, if only the crabs were much less salty. That's the wrap for the day.

ps - Due to my laziness to continue further, the last few days will be continued next post. XD

pps - The Penang trip's photos are uploaded! Click here for the story and here for the photos.