Glorified Blades

Believe it or not, I did manage to catch blades of glory on friday at klcc. I had seen a trailer of it on a news channel (?!?) a long time ago and was determined to catch it in the cinemas. Unfortunately the majority of reactions I got when I expressed my interest in the movie were "eww, why ?!?!" and "god, it looks sick".

I must say that this is by far the most Nacho Libre-like movie I've watched so far but trust me when I say that it is better than Nacho. The combination of sick twisted laughter with a weird sense of gay competition between Jimmy MacElroy played by Jon Heder and Chazz Michael Michaels played by Will Ferrell. Almost classic story of two enemies becoming team mates after they both get banned from men's figure skating as a result of their own actions.

There was generally something funny to laugh about every five minutes or so throughout the whole movie. What would you expect with such a hilarious cast. Who could forget Jon Heder on Napoleon's Dynamite. Another movie with a great production team who could crack out such lame stuff. There was this short part showing some dangerous kick-ass skating move being performed in North Korea which I found rather cool. Blek

Blades of Glory is a MTV Movies production apparently. Never heard of MTV Movies but are there any other movies they've produced ?? Pretty sure there are more movies like this to 'entertain' us.

Overall Rating : 3 / 5

-adios y hasta luego

Welcome to TEMASIK

I am very sure every football fan in Malaysia knows of the ongoing row between the AFC and well Manchester United since like half of Malaysia is filled with MU fans. This is all because MU's tour match in KL clashes with that AFC Cup which I've never even heard off. I guess AFC realises how unknown their 'Cup' is that they dare not face the competition from MU. Come on, no one I know would actually bother watching unless they hear that Malaysia plays Japan or something.

AFC wants MU reschedule their tour but MU won't budge even after a meeting a few weeks ago. Even PM Badawi wants the match to go on because of the VMY 2007 campaign. The match is of national interest and it was organised by Tourism Malaysia so AFC have no business at all to bother. Even Khairy Jamaluddin has expressed his support for the match to go on.

Imagine how shocked I was to find some of the comments of these damn unopen-minded jakun malaysians in the papers on why the MU match should be cancelled. Just comes to show how some malaysians still have this fucked up kampung mentality ..

• How can Manchester United get us the Merdeka feeling? Looks like we still love the people who colonised us
• We got Merdeka from England 1957. We r Asians. Don't support them again. Our future with AFC.

Football is about uniting the world and it has nothing to do with supporting your past colonial leaders .. Vision 2020 ain't gonna work with you jakuns around ..

This comes kind of late but I watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3 at Times Square aka. lala-land last Saturday. Wanted to catch it on Friday at KLCC but no one wanted to tag along.

I must mention that Saturday made me hate Times Square even more. There was this fucked up lala-convention to promote some taiwan tv show with that lesbo-like S.H.E. woman and some fahrenheit guy. The whole entrance was filled with these *insert word* people. Just looking at the way they dress and talk makes me wanna puke. Borders seems to be the only place to regain a touch of the real word in that dreadful mall.

1st things first, I was kind of shocked at first to find out that Pirates 3 was almost three hours long but then again it's worth it considering it cost me Rm 11 for a ticket. Two and a half hours for the second installment was long enough that I was holding my bladder to the max throughout the movie.

There had been many mixed reactions about this movie but personally I found it nice. It may have been rather draggy at certain parts but Jack Sparrow's lame yet spontaneous acting can definitely overcome any boredom whatsoever. Pirates is one of the few series-like movies which have to be watched from the start. If not, you'll just end up dozing off like my sis's friends sitting next to me . Haha

I must add that the animators involved in the production have done a pretty good job with special mention for the various fight scenes. Coolest being the part where two ships were sucked into the whirlpool of water. The topsy-turvy way of getting out of Davy Jones Locker was something interesting too. I must say that they could have done something better when Calypso reappeared bcoz I found that a little crappy. Who could forget the part where Will proposed to Elizabeth and well the way they were unofficially married.

The idea of the Brethren Court was plain cool. Its like a United Nations for pirates. The location of the fourth meeting was another fascinating animated one with odd looking structures and lights. The Mistress Cheng there was very freaky (chinese female pirate lord) while the indian pirate lord was just strange. There was a Spanish one too , Villanueva !!

I found the ending to the movie so-so. I think it would be difficult for the producers to create another sequel with such an ending. Elizabeth and Will evolving from being lovers to pirate lords ain't very appealing to viewers in my opinion. It was a relief to see that the 'fish-people' in the Flying Dutchman had transformed back to normal humans.

Chow Yun Fatt was very lame at the beginning with all the "more steam" parts. Plus, what kind of pirate lord resides in some stinky old bathhouse filled with low-class pirates. "Welcome to Singapore" was even worse. Since when did Singapore which is supposed to be Temasik become a pirate 'hub'. Why not something like "Welcome to Larut" .. fine, that's even lamer. The movie's depiction of Singapore was one hell of a under-statement though.

Something many of us including myself didn't know was that there was actually a scene after all the credits where they showed Will and Elizabeth reuniting 'after 10 years' with their apparent son which was strangely the little boy whom was about to be hanged when he started summoning for the Brethren Court .. my sis only bothered telling me after the movie ended ,, arghh

Overall Rating : 3.5/5

I still want to catch a few more movies during the holidays ie.

1. Blades of Glory
2. Shrek 3
3. Ocean's Thirteen
4. The Last Mimzy
5. Fantastic Four 2
   

-adios y hasta luego-

Ne me quitte pas

Have you seen the mukhsin ad they run on local tv? Heard the french that plays in the end? Well, I happen to like it without bothering to understand it. The song's called 'ne me quitte pas' and that was the version sang by nina simone surprisingly coz it the voice in the song was very manly.

The add. maths project we have to do for SPM is just bloody pathetic. It is just a bunch of repeating crap on calculating lengths, widths and areas of sheep pens ! I don' think farmers would be using graphs or differentiation to determine measurements for their pens. Then again, 3/4 of the stuff learn in add maths doesn't seem related at all to daily life. Imagine using progressions to like find out how much fruit you'll eat next. What crap am I talking about.

Exam marks have so far been OK. No failures so far. It was a definite pass for moral =) and well i got 66 for my first accounts paper ever. All my science subjects are in the 60-65 range. At least, my parents won't get called for an exclusive parent-teacher meet.

I can't wait to catch these two movies in the cinema.

1. Pan's Labyrinth --> why must crappy m'sia make it 18PL =(

2. An Inconvenient Truth --> Al Gore global warming documentary seen by Brandon to contain elements of political propaganda

I'm supposed to go for the PBSM-Scouts camp in school over the weekends but i've been excused. All thanks to Qing Ming on Sunday. Looks like its gonna be fun though. On a brighter side, it means that i'll be able to attend the edu uk expo in klcc convention centre on saturday.

-adios-

Let's Start Over

I can't believe I haven't blogged once this whole week. The holidays come but my blog isn't updated. At least I am now .. at the very end of a one week holiday. Truthfully, it's been a very unproductive holiday.

Not much work done nor did I manage to collect any cash like I did during chinese new year. I have to admit that this one-week holiday was already kind of filled even before it started. Add. maths project, moral essays, ICT projects, choir practice, arrangement of the school library. I have barely done any work and I just finished my ICT stuff a while ago. It's due tomorrow or 30 marks will be gone from my exam marks. I couldn't do any of the add. maths stuff so nothing could be done about that.

When it comes to moral, I keep telling myself that I can write one damn essay in an hour but everytime I think of doing it, I'll end up doing something else. Just hate moral. From the subject, to the exams and down to that stupid doraemon teaching. God knows if she failed me in moral again.

However, I did go out a few times this week. Went for the University of London thing in mandarin oriental last sunday. Went to school on monday and times square after that. Managed to even watch the ex-form 5s scream happily over their SPM results. I went to times square again on wednesday since my sis was going. Bought some books in borders and watched a movie! Hate the lala people there though.

You wouldn't believe me but I actually watched Mukhsin. I don't care whether its a Malay film but people said its nice and they even won that award in the Berlinale. I would recommend everyone out there who preferably is malaysian to watch it.

Being true to its tagline "everyone has a first love story to tell", it tells of the not so puppy love that blossoms between 12-year old Mukhsin and 10-year old Orked. The character of Orked appears yet again in this Yasmin Ahmad production for the last time but going back into her childhood love. No gangsters, no pirated VCD peddlers, just pure childhood cinta sejati.

On an interesting note, Orked being a Malay girl happens to study in a Chinese school. Another common touch there by Yasmin Ahmad which more or less represents an image of multi-racial Malaysia. Orked being Chinese educated still speaks very fluent English and BM having a English educated mum and a malay speaking dad. There was also a comback of Ng Chee Siong as Jason in Sepet in one of the scenes.

Minus the lovey-doviness (if that's how u spell it), the movie also includes a few comedic scenes which coincide with the malaysian way of life. This movie uniquely slips in other elements not entirely related to the main theme without making it too obvious. In my opinion, Yasmin Ahmad and crew made an excellent choice of filming in Sekinchan, Kuala Selangor with its vast green paddy fields as well as blue skies. It would without doubt enthrall audiences particularly those overseas.

Indeed this movie is heart wrenching not in a 'a walk to remember' way but still worth a tear parrticularly towards the end where Mukhsin tries to hold back his tears in the midst of trying to make Orked speak to him before he left. You cannot help but feel sad for such a character rough and innocent but yet so compassionate.

I wouldn't mind making every malaysian watch mukhsin but then where is the freedom of choice. Go watch it but try avoiding times square for you will 100% be watching the movie in a hall filled with jakun malays. Try mid valley or klcc.

Berlinale jury’s citation: “A wonderful, almost magical atmosphere, enhanced by a striking soundtrack, poetic images of the closeness of a family and community. Witty script combined with well-rounded and humorous characters. All this in a story of a friendship that dared not cross into love, and a love for which friendship is no longer enough.”

Overall Rating : 4.5/5