My Top 5

Just finished watching High Fidelity. I always love to watch such feel good and romantic movies. The main character Rob Gordon has a cute way to recall back his memories, listing everything in a Top 5, cronologically.

I'm going to make my own top 5s too.

Top 5 best romantic comedy movies:
1. Bridget Jone's Diary
2. The Holiday
3. Nottinghill
4. My Sassy Girl
5. High Fidelity (I can't think of another movie, so I had to put HF into the list but actually I don't really like this movie that much but the there's some scene that I really like, especially the proposal scene.)

Rob: I'm tired of the fantasy, because it doesn't really exist. And there are never really any surprises, and it never really...
Laura: Delivers?
Rob: Delivers. And I'm tired of it. And I'm tired of everything else for that matter. But I don't ever seem to get tired of you, so...



Top 5 romantic movies that made me cried:
1. A Walk To Remember
2. The Titanic (yala, I cried in this movie lar, lame hor -_-)
3. Days of Tomorrow (I hate to admit that I cried watching a Hong Kong movie....but this is good)
4. Windstruck (ppl said it's the prequel of My Sassy Girl but actually it's not)
5. .........(can't think of the fifth movie)

Dedicated to L

After writing the reviews for movies I'd watch during the first quarter of 2007, I had to write an entry dedicated to L from Death Note. Should have done this long time ago. ^__^

From Wikipedia :

L (エル, Eru)

L is the world's top-rated detective, tasked with tracking down and arresting Kira, and Light's nemesis. His disheveled appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. L has many quirks, such as sitting in an odd manner and snacking on sweets in the middle of meetings. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force his opponents, and on several occasions he has willingly disclosed several of his weaknesses to Kira at the risk of his own life in the hopes that he would lure him into a trap.

Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L in the movie.

Am I the only that think L in the movie was gothically handsome? While watching Death Note for the first time with my friends, I already openly declared my feeling towards him and Yokie and Nai Nai said I got weird taste. -_-
But he was smarter and better looking(IMO) than Light what. In fact, I prefer L in the movie more than L in the manga(because he died and lost to Light). Although L in the movie also died in the end but at least he out-smarted Light but with the cost of his own life, how sad.
And Kenichi Matsuyama played his role as L perfectly, as if he was just playing himself.....so well!

How sweeeetttttt......

I am so in love with the way L hold stuff. So cool leh....

This manga drawing of L on his bicycle reminds me of.....

Rukawa Kaede from Slamdunk but I can't find any picture of him on bicycle. But I remember reading the manga where Kaede was sleeping while riding his bike to school.

2007 Movie List (January-March)

This will be a list of movies I'd watched in cinema (and my reviews)...with updates as of today.

Hmmm.....seems like I watched too few movies in February and March but there were too few good movies available in Ipoh's TGV and GSC. Ipoh screen really sucks, bigtime. I wanted so much to watch Pursue Of Happiness and Dreamgirls. Sheesh.....

Total of 16 movies(including DVDs) I'd watch for the first quarter of 2007, the best movie so far is....
..
...
....
.....
none other than

BLOOD DIAMOND (won hands down.....by milesss)

March

• Pan's Labyrinth (DVD) : This movie was banned by Malaysia Cencorship Board. I had to watched this movie...first because it was on #50 on IMDB top 250, second because it was a foreign movie and third because Yokie was watching it on DVD while chatting MSN with me and keep saying how gory it was. From the summary, this was a fantasy+gore+drama genre, which really caught my attention. But it was not as gore as I thought it was, although there's a few bloody scene, for instant the scene with the rabbit hunter's face was smashed with a bottle and then the Kapitan's mouth slitted open....and became Kapitan aka The Joker. The creatures from Ofelia's fantasy were not that horrible also...even for the Pale Man. But it's the ambiguity of the story that hit the spot into the top 250 ranked movies, whether the labyrinth and all the fantasy was the young girl's imagination to escape from the bitter taste of war or was it real? The movie has a sad ending too, which makes you think hard, what really happen here? And let your bewildered imagination conclude the ending. Usually such movie will make you keep on thinking about this movie, even long after you'd left the cinema or switch off your DVD player. And of course this is nothing like Narnia and much better I would say.
  Rating : 3.5 out of 5
  

• The Departed (DVD) : Review for this movie will be short. The director Scorsese might be more famouse than Alex Mak (who first came out with Infernal Affairs) and TD got some big shot actors in it but it was nothing compare to IA. And I did not understand why the gwai-lous was so hyped about this mafia/gangster movie. They already had The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, Donnie Brasco and so many similar titles down the list. And yet, a remake of an Asian movie won Oscar awards? Last year was gay movie, this was another gangster movie....I guess the director should come out with another dinosaur chasing kids movie or ship sinking tragedy movie if they want to hit the easy jackpot with The Academy Board.
  Rating : 2.0 out of 5 (2.0 also because I give face to Mr. Scorsese only)
  

• 300 (16/Mar/07) : A very beautiful ancient war picture, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel. Every scene was composed and shot in such artfully beautiful. I believe there's much more blood than shown in the big screen and I'm suprise that the Malaysia Cencorship Board missed the almost naked oracle. -_-
  Anyway, this was a beautiful movie and nothing more than just beautiful...erm, maybe gory too and that's it. And I felt like watching a PC-game....spartan, persian...
  And ooo....not forgeting Faramir....oh Faramir.
  Rating : 3.5 out of 5
  
  
• Gridiron Gang (DVD) : Very inspiring true story about a courageous counsellor of a juvenile camp that teams up a group of underage convicts into a football heroes. The actual story was already so inspiring beautiful and this movie make it even more beautiful. The Rock proves to be not only a wrestler but also a promising actor.
  Rating : 5.0 out of 5 (Any movie that make me cry, I will instantly give it a 5!)
  

• The Haunted School (15/Mar/07) : This is what I mean with cheap HK production. There's nothing more I want to comment on this and I don't know why we went to watch this....I guess it's because the cinema was lack of good movie. I regretted that I did not choose Mukhsin over this, totally...>_< Rating : Does not deserve any rating at all.
  

• Protégé (04/Mar/07) : The first Hong Kong movie I'd watch this year and I catched it at Parade's GSC (despite the poor maintenance, the popcorn were tastier than TGV). After Infernal Affairs, this was the best HK movie I'd ever watch. It's odd that both movies has Andy Lau and he was real good being the baddy. Which brought much contrast to sissy Daniel who happens to be an undercover cops (why it always has to be an undercover cop??? Is there really so much handsome undercover cop around?). I used to like Daniel Wu a lot (mainly because of his pretty boy look) but this acting skills hasn't improve at all after so many years. And as he aged, he doesn't fit into the pretty boy category anymore, much towards sissy man. -_- If you don't believe me, you guys should go watch The Banquet, where he played the sissy version of Asian Prince Hamlet and you couldn't agree more. But overall, this is a very deep movie, way much too deep compare to the other cheap HK production. Although this was a fictitious movie about drug trafficking but the concept behind the script was indeed very true and it happens to the everyday life. It was really sad to see how drug can ruin one's life.
  Rating : 4 out of 5
  

February

• Ghostrider (17/Feb/07) : I watched this in a group of 30 ppl, all were Kin Fai's friends. It was a cinema gathering on CNY eve. Most ppl were disappointed with this but I did enjoy watching the CG and the comedy in this movie. What can you expect from a comic-based hero/anti-hero movie? This is like 100X better than Superman Returns,what (which I felt asleep halfway through). And I did not went into the cinema with any great expectation, that was why I found this movie pretty enjoyable. And Nicholas Cage was still maturely cute, what. haha. Hmm....I remember that I read somewhere that Mr. Cage is an avid comic book collector.
  Rating : 2.5 out of 5
  

• The Unseeable (10/Feb/07) : Thailand seems to lost touch with making a fairly good spooky horror movie. This is kinda slow and no spook factor at all. It's about a pregnant lady who's husband went missing, seek solace by living with her friend that worked in a huge mansion. And the rest is all about the haunted house.....which doesn't look so haunted. What I like most was the ending of this movie, the Sixth Sense-like ending. Personally, I prefer Korean horror movie anytime.
  Rating : 1 out of 5
  

JANUARY

• Death Note 2 (30/Jan/07) : Sequel to Death Note(which I watched with a awfully subtitled DVD). It's a brilliant movie, more about brains vs brain rather than just a freaky horror flick. It's fun to see how L and Light trying to out-smart each other. Talking about L(Ken'ichi Matsuyama), I am drooling all over with this cool lanky character and I am super glad that the ending of this movie is very different from the original manga. I already knew that in the manga, L lost to Light and hence is why I'm refusing to read the manga although it's much more detail and longer. However, the movie is as beautiful as it is. This is a success not every movie adapted from comic/manga/book can achieve.
  Rating : 3 out of 5
  

• The Holiday (26/Jan/07) : Yet another feel good Christmas festive movie. But why are we watching Christmas movie in January? (-__-) However, this was a very funny and romantic movie. And I really adore Black-Winslet couple in this movie. They should have more intimate scene together. They exploited the sex scene of the pretty boy and girl in this movie too much(Law-Diaz couple) but I still think the Black-Winslet couple is the more attractive pair.
  Rating : 3 out of 5
  

• Blood Diamond (19/Jan/07) : I don't know why other ppl under-rate this movie. This type of movie was on par with all the Oscar/Golden Globe/whatever award winning movies. I tried to recommend this to my colleagues but they already had this mindset that this is a boring war picture. But can't blame them, I don't expect much from this movie, especially with Leonardo. But I was wrong. This was the best movie I'd watch so far in TGV for 2006/2007. TGV should screen more movie like this. And Leonardo was not the Jack Dawson boy anymore. He grew fat and beard to look old and more sexy.
  Rating : 5 out of 5
  

• Sinking of Japan (12/Jan/07) : They never get tire of making a movie out from the same concept. And the audience never get tire of watching it (maybe some do). The concept, the backdrop, the people scattered everywhere and screaming scene and the ending...it was like a rerun of Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Days After Tomorrow and even Wars of The World. Talking about the ending, with disaster movie we can always expect(not just expect or guess...it's for sure!!) a touching heroic ending. But with Sinking of Japan, the suppose to be sad and heroic ending seems kinda cheesy. And they tried to add romance into the movie, to make it more tragic...which end up looking like double cheese burger. And then I really beh tahan the aneroxic actor, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi which looked like an aneroxic zombie throughout the movie.
  Rating : 1.0 out of 5
  

• The Return (11/Jan/07) : Hollywood should never ever produce another horror flick. And Sarah Michelle Gellar should guest star as a patient in one or two episode of Nip/Tuck due to her bad nose job. But honestly despite the cheesy scares, the plot was good. But if this was make with a Korean or Japanese production, it should score better. Not bad I would say.
  Rating : 2.5 out of 5
  

• The Guardian (07/Jan/07) : OMG OMG OMG, Kevin Costner. And this movie has nothing more to offer. Ashton Kucher tried real hard this time to salvage his acting career but he won't sink as long as he tag along as Moore's boy. Anyhow, this is a great tribute movie to the unsung heroes of the U.S. Coast Guard. And oh, movie endings nowadays are so predictable....or did I watch too many movies?
  Rating : 2.5 out of 5
  

• Night in the Museum (04/Jan/07) : This was a feel good Disney-like family movie, with moral values, comedies and good ending. Nothing can go wrong with movie like that. We just chill and relax and had a good laugh. But the bonus of this movie was Owen Wilson's uncredited Shanghai Noon reprise act.
  Rating : 2.5 out of 5
  

• Eragon (01/Jan/07) : No one can watch this movie without comparison to the Lord of The Ring trilogy and at the end of this movie everyone will expect Eragorn to follow suit in either making a sequel or even a trilogy. It's not fair if we compare because it's no where near to the standard of the LOTR trilogy. But stand alone this movie was kinda entertaining, major credit and only attraction from the dragon, Saphira. Other than that, there's nothing I like about this movie. The main cast of the movie, Eragon himself failed to deliver the hero out from the character. Edward Speleers tried so hard with the bambi-stare but even so, fail to ooze it out like Elijah Wood did in Frodo. Ooo..okok, no comparison with LOTR. But suprisingly, Eragon was a very first debut movie for Edward Speleers. Seems like director Stefen Fangmeier wanted to try new blood. But ironically, Eragon was also a debut directorial movie for Fangmeier. So, can't complain too much, so much first time for everyone. And also big applause for the dragon and the rest of the CG of this movie. But fans of the book will be very very....not just disappointed but even disgusted with this movie.
  Rating : 1.0 out of 5
  
  

I will keep this list updated from time to time. It will be a fun to read by the end of this year and suprise myself how much movies I'd watch in a year. ^_^

Ice Ice Baby

Another new hang out place at Ipoh. Something else, other than the blooming everywhere boring kopitiam.

Ice Ice Baby

They serves Hong Kong style desserts...something like Hui Lau Shan that's over-populated Hong Kong street. But at least that's something you don't see in Ipoh yet. I'm so sick of those kopitiam cafe everywhere.....all Oldtown Kopitiam and Kim Gary or Wong Kok Char Chan Teng wannabes.

Colourful menu.

Their menu is bigggggggg.

Sa-ba-yon. Weird name for a weird dish.

Their Crepe wrap is kinda good but weird, they put seaweed. >_<

Here's the star of the shop. The colourful dessert, which that had a weird name too.....Lou Yeah (spoil something....in cantonese slang but it actually has another meaning which is 'mix something').

I don't know where to start eating the Lou Yeah.

Let's start photo taking with this small strawberry. Hehe.

The arsenal fans was so lan-si just because his team scored against Man Utd. Ceh!

And for the first time in Ipoh, finally someone know how to serve cheese fondue. I'd been looking for this everywhere. I'd been waiting for ages to know what it taste like.

OMG. Finally, cheese fondue came to Ipoh.

OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm soooooo excited. >_< But...............
it doesnt taste as good as I thought. The cheese doesnt taste like cheese. I'm sure the REAL cheese fondue is nothing like this. Sheesh.

But overall, this is a place worth a hangout or two. Kinda expensive and the service was darn poor and waiters were inexperience....so it will just be a hang out or two and then I will still go back to the good ol' Oldtown Kopitiam. ^___^

2006 : In a glance

Here's a glance through memories in 2006

• First quarter of 2006 was tough. Been through a rocky relationship and made a decision to get out from all the struggling and suffering and start a new life. It was the most right and mature thing to do.
  
• Enjoyed the life of singledom (although only for a short while). Being single is free, relax, wild, fun and just about being and loving yourself. And I can do whatever I want.
  
• Found love, again. He is understanding, witty, smart, strong (and man), loving and just anything about him that I love and he completes me. (If he's reading this, he'll hidung kembang adi-_-)
  
• Re-kindle the friendship with my old schoolmate/best friends. I've found back my best friends. It's not easy to see each other like we used to because most of us are working in different states/places but we made effort to get together as often as we could, even if it's just a session of yumcha, shopping, or just laze around doing nothing at one of their house. All the moments with the girls are superbly fun! Who say I can't have love and friends? I am ashame of myself for being too tied up in my previous relationship and slack off in the friendship department.
  
• Traveling. I travelled the most in 2006. Been to KL, Penang, Genting, Kedah/Langkawi and even got my own passpart and the very first boarding stamp from Hong Kong. ^__^ Been to Penang all on my own for the PC Fair and stayed at Yokie's place. Been to KL and shopped like crazy with a bunch of my best friends. Been to Genting twice this year and both were mainly for watching football (with who else but dear football fanatic Fai). And then to Hong Kong with my colleague. And then wrapped up with a trip to Langkawi with my dear Fai. Best best best time of my life.
  
• Work. I can say it's very establish and start to get more comfortable with my late working hours and all the overloads. Luckily I'm car pooling with Fai now, so I don't feel so worry(esp when getting my car) when I work till 8 or 9pm.
  
• Watched the most movies in cinema. I went to cinema (mostly with Fai) almost every week. We were catching 3-5 movies every month.
  
• Made alot of different cheese cake. So, it's not just oreo cheesecake that I'm only good at. I can also make pandan cheese cake, poppyseed cheese cupcakes and black and white chocolate cheese cake. Hmm....seems like I did not just buy the recipe book for the yummilicious pictures but make some good use out from it. So, next year I will try more. Perhaps durian cheesecake? Hehe
• Had been hospitalized. Never been so sick. But was also an experience to be remember.
  

So, it seems like I'd been through thick and thin but yet, I proclaimed 2006 as the best year of my life.

Girls Night Out Was The Best Date

Sunday morning, erm...actually it's already 45minutes past 12. Watched 4 episodes of Sex And The City and added a bunch of auction items in Laundro. Well, seems like I'd made good use of my Sunday. And Kin Fai is still sleeping. Sheesh...lazy bum. While waiting for lunch (won't be so any sooner since mom is playing mahjong outside with dad and aunt Lian), I have the time and mood to blog a Sunday entry. In fact, I had been in good mood since yesterday (despite the stupid crazy man stalker yesterday at Parade, which I will write about later). Why the good mood? Because yesterday was the paycheck day and once again I feel like I'm safe, secured and complete. And nothing feels better than a girls night out shopping. YEE HAA.....

So we went to Parade. Exploring cute gift shops and looking for cheap trinkets. And look what I'd found (and seized and brought home)?

A red triangel. I got this for RM16.90. What a deal!

Now I have two triangels. Aren't them pretty? (sheesh, I got the rainbow color one at Genting for RM28).

And shoesssssssss.............and oh yes, it's about time.

Don't you say I overspent. I haven't been getting me poor self any shoes for the whole damn year (Nike doesn't count, I barely wore those-_-). And quite instantly I saw two pair that I felt in love at the first sight. RM82.40 was a darn good bargain for two pairs of beauty. Yokie was trying to look for shoes too. But she's darn too choosy. She wants cheap and she wants good quality and she wants good looking. It's almost as impossible as finding a good man.

And then I got this Malaysia travel guide book from Popular. I'm going to travel and eat throughout Malaysia. >_<

And that's where I met the crazy stalker. As I was browsing through the books in Popular, he was standing beside me and whispered eeriely, 'Miss, buy things ar?' I ignored him and went to another section, he was following me and stared pervertly. I'm not too worried at that moment because there's hell lot of people in Popular and he couldn't do anything other than channeling the pervert stares. Cautiously aware and checking his position from time to time, I paid my book and he even followed me to the counter. WTF? And by then, I started to feel the creeps. Girlnapping was like the latest trend, just in October alone, there's two girl who went missing, here in the safe and harmonious Ipoh town. And I went to alert Nai Nai, who was too indulge in her free reading. The pervert stalker was still waiting in front of Popular and now he saw that I was with another friend, which is even more 'delicious'. We jogged to the escalator. We had to climb three levels to the carpark and two flights of the escalators were not working. We had to ran and climb and laugh (partly because this is kinda exciting too) to Nai Nai's car. We were so out of breath. And laugh at this funny and yet, very dangerous situation. We were running like idiots at a shopping mall and I'm carrying two pairs of newly bought shoes, a heavy book and a triangel. And Kin Fai asked whether I took any picture of the stalker so he could send someone to whack him out. What? Like I'm going to camwhore with a pervert stalker. Although it will be a very blogable material.

Then we went to catch our breath at a Kopitiam opposite Nai Nai's place.

Which is called Old Ipoh Kopitiom.

There's really a lot of those Kopitiam concept cafe here, and I don't know who is the pioneer here. There's too many imitation and everything taste almost the same. And French Toast and White Coffee are compulsory in every menu of such Kopitiams. But this Old Ipoh Kopitiam serves a lot of food and other delicacies, they even have the cheese bake rice (which Oldtown Kopitiam don't even have,yet).

Nai Nai read my Malaysia tour guide book before I had the chance to flip through the pages. How dare she. >_< style="text-align: center;">I ordered this honey lemon drink, which doesn't taste as if its has added any honey. It's just the plain ol' lemon juice thing.

But I'm impressed with Nai Nai's three tier drink. It's the Sarawak Special. Basically, it's just gula melaka, milk and tea.

She had to stir it good before drinking.

10 minutes later, Nai Nai was still stirring....impatiently.

But she's happy with the special drink. And yea, it tasted good too.

Our itchy mouth need to chew something. So here's the pizza-toast.

And I'm happy too, enjoying my drink. ^__^

This Old Ipoh Kopitiam is way better than any other Kopitiam-like cafe and certainly better than Oldtown Kopitiam, because the service was good. The waiter was friendly and patient enough to introduce the food and specialty they have. But one thing is, they lack of the 'yumcha' ambience. There's not many people here, quiet is good so we can chat but too quiet is a turn-off too.

Name : Old Ipoh Kopitiam
Where is it? Opposite the Mushroom Food Court (Dung Gu Ting) and beside Wolley Food Court.

Well, now I guess I have to take my Sunday bath and then wait for my Sunday date call. ^_^

Cibailang.com

Cibailang.com was the new up and coming group blog, written and manage by a group of local ppl who call themselves cibaikias, tulanling, kengchau etcs. Despite their not-so creative nicks and overusing the word 'cibai', their post and pictures were really cracking up my stomach. Especially this one...



Want more senseless humour (there some with sense too)? Check out the cibai site. LOLed. Cibailang.com

I'm a Coffee Beaner

~ ~I'm a Coffee Beaner~ ~
Are you?

There's not much place we can hang out around Ipoh. Coffee Bean is one of the hippiest hang out spot, despite the expensive ice blended drinks. But the magazines there are pretty interesting. But trendy and low cost cafe are blooming everywhere in the town like mushrooms, however no other place can blend ice as good as them. And please don't compare them to ice kacang, you pay RM10 for your drink, you gotto pretend it's the best drink you'd ever had....
Well, I couldn't say I like the drinks very much....given I never take caffeinated drinks, but I don't know why I will end up once a while there, slurping through the straw.

And so, while waiting for the movie (The Wicker Man) to start at 9.45pm, we kill some time at Coffee Bean. He order his usual Mocha (or izzit Caramel or something -cino?) and me with my Berry'd Treasure, and a treat of Blueberry Cheesecake (which I am very confident that I can make a better one than this). Aaaa...I can see Kin Fai's belly. >__<

But wait a min....they having a new drink. Honey Dew!!!! Now one more flavour to choose between the limited choice of 5 uncaffeinated drinks. But I ordered before I saw this new drink....I pointed to the new drink on the poster and sulked like a kid.

But Mr. Barrister was kind enough to give us a free try on the look-like-very yummy drink. Which turned out to be kinda good.


Although we already have Starbucks, but I'm still a Coffee Beaner. See, I even have a Coffee Bean card which I don't even know how to use. I think I need to reload some money into the card before I can use it. But since it was given free, so what the heck. It is a sturdy card, who know when you might need it to break in some place. You know, like when ppl slice it through the door and then broke in and steal top secret documents. Kinda cool eh, especially if I did it with a Coffee Bean card.