So brought my grandpa and my god mother to GSC Midvalley to watch the Red Cliff.

Result? I guess due to the cultural shock (he last watched movie back in 70's) he said he can't stand the sound system in the cinema - he said his heart was almost "boomed" by the sound.

He said he prefer funny movies like Stephen Chow's.

So all in all, I've done my best... even though he didn't really like it - but my point is that he should come out more often, especially at this age.

Fortunately, my god mother is ok with the movie and arrangement :)

One of my fans said that lately my post has not been inspirational.

Therefore I thought of showing a black humour of mine.

I hope you enjoy.

*Due to the lame quality of the video uploaded to YouTube, I've decided to let my fans download the smooth version ... HERE

This is last year's drama.

But I watched it lately.

I find the story is interesting: the newbie police would like to solve the mystery, the assitant professor at the university is interested to understand how did the mystery happened scientifically - so he investigated and explained the situation in scientific way.

The story is of course more interesting than what I had written above. It involved some "ghost" and horror moment.

The linkage of the characters featured in the drama:


The drama is of course not a boring ones at all. The character of the policewoman and the asst. professor is quite a contrast, but they need each other in a way (though it's the policewoman who needs him more) hence, creating some funny moment as well.

Rating: 9/10

P/S: While finding some info about this drama, I only got to know that this drama has won:
55th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Drama
55th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Actor - Fukuyama Masaharu
55th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress - Shibasaki Kou
55th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Script - Fukuda Yasushi
55th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Director
55th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Theme Song

In Thailand, there's a secondary school offering transsexual toilet for the students.

I didn't know that transsexual is acceptable in high school level in Thailand.

Maybe I'm just too conservative.

Full article via BBC

Just hours after I whined about the life without internet...

THE MISERY IS SOLVED!!!

I've signed up with Izzi.

Thanks to their quick and professional test + try before you buy service.

They gave me the extended antenna due to the weak coverage in my area.

Total: RM874 for one year.

This concludes one thing: human can do anything efficiently under desperation.

So now I can surf without any problem!!!

The return of DSK!

Ever since moving into new house, things changed.

Now I have my own room (more privacy, which could also mean less communication with others)
Nearer distance to my office (haha, it's a plus I'm sure) by 2km

And

LOSS OF INTERNET!!!

The day I went to terminate the phone line service at my old house, requesting for transfer, the service desk fella told me... 12 only available.

From her look, from her expression I know for damn sure it's not gonna be 12th of August.

The fact is, DECEMBER!

God knows if there's delay, and it's only the phone line service (dial up, no?). On top of that I'd need to apply for the broadband service.

Again, God knows if there's availability issue again...

Right now, I'm in desperation of getting internet service.

The only viable solution is those 3G.

Celcom - has download quota and it's not cheap
Maxis - I applied it earlier this year, and the service is just so so and the price is slightly higher than average. (And I haven't got my deposit back!)
Izzi - It sounds like a good deal but I haven't got any test done so far (i.e. not sure about the coverage)
U Mobile - I could only surf in my room, near the window, wirh near hourly disconnection due to weak signal. Requires you to buy a modem that costs RM750 -_-

So, most likely I'll stick to Izzi, and worst come to worst, Maxis.

Ever since the general election 2008, the dramatic story (with multiple parties and different sub chapters) has never ceased.

It seems like more and more ugly (or rather, the uncovered) truth were discovered to the public.

Many would agree that this will not help the economy.

A lot more would agree that the current Malaysian politic is a joke.

But what really matters is, after the worst, the good will come - you'll feel the news is full of ugly truth, but at least, now the people know and it should at least help to get the (corrupted) politician to behave.

The sunshine will come after the stormy rain and the spring is right after the winter.

This is the rule that has never changed.

So I've bought the ticket.

With two persons extra, I think can possibly convince my stubborn grandpa to watch the movie - my god mother as well as my uncle.

What my uncle said was not bad "count me in too, it's been a while since I last watch movie with my father"

It's grandson + god mother + uncle vs grandpa

If he's willing to watch it'll be considered a milestone - for a 75 year old man, I think he should really start to enjoy life - rather than sitting in the house doing nothing (he didn't even subscribe Astro)

Sweater is needed as well ;)

Verdict: This is easily the best superhero movie to date, as well as potentially best movie of the year. Worth every penny to watch it in cinema. (yes, all of the movie pirate supporters out there!)

2 and half hours is a long duration for a movie.

You'll make the audience yawning, feeling impatient towards the end or feeling that the director is wasting your time.

All those are exceptions with The Dark Knight.

Great storyline, great character building and great acting from all of the stars.

It's amazing because to write a script for an action movie which is this long, plus the fact that it doesn't have storyline that is directly usable/adaptable like Lord of the Rings - big applause for the script writers!

Some say the death of Heath Ledger made the movie a hype. But I dare say he's the most psychotic supervillain you can have in a superhero movie.

The joker reminds me of Dr Hannibal Lecter (the villain in The Silence of the Lamb), and joker is even worse than that.

The reason he chose knife over the gun, the way he made people work (directly and indirectly) for him, the plot he used to make two ships of people to fight against each other, psychologically - are all too crazy and too realistic in life.

The joker tested the humanity to the limit.

The joker outshine Batman.

I wonder if the script writer are psychotic too.

This movie made itself a totally different league from the original Batman series and it deserves at least an academy award. It's definitely a movie not to be missed this year.

Rating: 10/10

P/S: R.I.P Heath Ledger

Verdict: Great fantasy about the underworld. Forgivable "Impossibly-fictionized" case.

Yes. This movie is impossibly-ficitionized. But the funny script, back-to-back action (I kinda regret I didn't watch the 3D version) made the movie kinda forgivable.

Else, travelling on the sea with sea water more than 100 Celsius, getting back to land with mega fountain and unknown oxygen supply in the underground are unforgivable :)

Rating: 5.5/10

HOW TO CONVINCE MY GRANDPA TO WATCH RED CLIFF??

My grandpa is a thrifty man.

I know his life experience made him to be as such.

He worked hard since young. He arrived here from China when he's 6.

Then, he worked and made a comfortable family. Then, he suffered from bankruptcy because he was a guarantor and his friend fled to overseas, leaving 1 million RM of debt back in 80's.

And etc.

So, when you ask him to spend on something, he'll complain about it.

Last time we brought him to Cameron Highland 2 days 1 night trip. He complained that we should save the $$$.

OK, all I wanna say is that, according to my uncle, he has not been to cinema since 70's.

That's something like 30 years apart.

He's 75 years old now. I believe he should start enjoying his life.

I've already used one of the tactic, I'm also inviting my god mother to go along - and asked her to convince him.

But failed so far.

So how?

Right... rather than letting the rice well cooked or smelly cooked, I've decided to make it as preserved rice.

Simple - there's always a multiple route to a destination.

Therefore, similar like the previous job, I'll find a way to learn - it might again be a unique experience, additional + extra stress and shit, but it's O.K. - I believe I can learn even more when one is under such condition.

That's better than letting the fate of rice being put in someone's hand and with no clue on what will happen.

Thinking positively, well, I can get three weeks off (though with some occasion return to work) which is not bad. At least that's what I think.

Btw, preserved rice reminds me of glutinous chicken rice.

I guess I'm hungry now.

Now this is something to cheer about: last week, with consistency as well as unspoken "teamwork"... we made it with 16 minutes.

2 minutes improvement from last week and 1 and half minutes improvement of our best time so far.

Things will only get better. We all agree with that.

It's a speechless one.

Due to a lot of traffic and stuff... we only made it with 18 minutes to climb up and down the hill.

This happened two weeks ago

Hey all, I'm back again.


The Max Clean 9 turned out to be a good skin whitening product. My skin is now whitier, firmer and brighter.


Just take a look at the picture before I took my long hesitated shower.


Btw, like Trevor, I went thru some sissy programme. Colleen help me to become a "two-face", in respond to the overwhelming Batman: The Dark Knight movie.


Look, my right eye with cool eye lashes.

This reminds me of my sister, Francisca, currently staying in Sarah's house.

I wonder how is she now.

Mind to tell me more, Sarah?

So Trevor found my relative featured in the IKEA Malaysia survey.

I hope he's doing fine

At Carrefour Kepong, this is what I found:

The twin pack of Old Town 3 in 1 White Coffee is more expensive thank 2 x single pack of the same thing.

It's RM2.41 more expensive.

Make sense? Definitely not!

Therefore, watch out when getting bulk purchase at Carrefour.

I saw a Jusco promotion the other day, this new fruit juice is selling at 2 X 1.5L for RM10.50
As I'm craving for fruit juice lately, I tried.

The taste? Hmm, something like the F&N carbonated Orange juice - it's too sweet.

My sister didn't quite like it so end up I was the one finishing them.

First bottle was like... 1 litre consumed in 45 minutes. End up I had two purge on that Saturday itself.

Second bottle... 1.5 litre consumed in 1 hour. End up I had three purge on last Tuesday.

I won't recommend this fruit juice but well, sounds like, in a way, my 3KG weight loss programme has some hope revived now.

That's very sissy of me, isn't it?

There are some shortcut doors at Ikea, which helps impatient people to skip all the winding roads.

So there was one day, the impatient us (me and Colleen) opened one of the doors.

Over the other side had some children playing, but apparently they were stunned that the door is "openable" and after we rushed out, some of them went and "check out" the "world at the other side"

Funny about children's imagination.

But children's fantasy is always cool and something inspirational.

Two days in a row (last Saturday and Sunday), I ate ice cream. That's not good for my 3KG weight loss programme.

So I tried the gelati, as suggested by Agatha.



Result .. not bad! The taste is rich and refreshing (I tried Mango and Orange+Pineapple)

But I still love the chocolate flavour better.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Sunday, after the lunch session with Justin at Italianese (did I just mention the 3KG programme, Trevor the sissy?) we tried Lecka-lecka.


To be honest, it's my first time eating Lecka Lecka.

Comment? No bad. The taste is good and the price is slightly cheaper than Gelato Fruity.

Again, the taste is still some distance from Bud's Chocolate Lava Chips ice cream. (it's still available in my fridge)

3KG, did I just mention that?

Rating: 3/5

After watching The Dark Knight at Cineplex Damansara, me and Justin went to try a new restaurant at The Curve - Just Dessert.

Justin tried a type of chicken rice while I tried the porridge as well as the honeydew dessert.

Food wise... so so.


The dessert... ok lah.

Perhaps that's why the restaurant name - Just Dessert

I dunno what's the name of this food, because I saw it from a Japanese drama - and I don't know Japanese.


Material:
i) Katsuobushi (Dried fish flakes)
ii) Green Tea
iii) Miso

I learned this from a Japanese drama - Osen.

With simple and easily obtained material, here we go:



1) Put miso into the bowl (small bowl, which is slightly larger than the miso soup bowl you usually get in Jap restaurant)
2) Add the dried fish flakes into the bowl
3) Pour the hot green tea into the bowl, stir till the miso is dissolved.
4) Enjoy!



However, I've FAILED

I re-watched the drama (it's featured on episode #6) and found the things I should do better next time:

1) The amount of miso is at least twice than I put!
2) The dried fish flakes was like... thrice the amount I put!
3) They stir the miso with chopstick!! No wonder I had problem dissolving the miso with the teaspoon -_-

On top of that, I think the quality of the dried fish flakes are not so good. I'll shop for a better
version (since I can't read Japanese, I can only judge by... price -_- )

Stay tuned.

I'm reading a column by a Sin Chew Daily's columnist 鄭丁賢

Read and try to answer it. I'm sure you'll enjoy :-) [this is only applicable if you do follow the latest politic series in Malaysia]

Original link here

1. DNA的有效期多久？

A. 一天
B. 一年
C. 10年
D. 永遠

2. 為什麼要新的DNA？

A. 舊的過了有效期
B. 舊的不見了
C. 舊的不知怎麼用
D. 舊的是別人的

3. 法定宣誓書有什麼作用？

A. 相信的人就相信，不相信的人可以不相信
B. 看警方相不相信
C. 沒有作用
D. 要看是第一份還是第二份

4. 發表法定宣誓書的後果

A. 被提控
B. 被保護
C. 失蹤
D. 度長假

5. 大馬最高風險的行業

A. 政治人物
B. 偵探
C. 部落客　
D. 攝影記者

6. 為什麼提前逮捕安華？

A. 安華準備逃走
B. 警察趕著吃午飯
C. 趕著請安華吃咖哩飯
D. 路上大塞車

7. 大塞車是什麼原因？

A. 要大家改乘電動火車和輕快鐵
B. 國油盈利激增，要大家幫忙消費
C. 證明塞車時，進口車和國產車一樣慢
D. 證明警方有做事

8. 大塞車時，駕車人在想什麼？

A. 下次不敢再開車
B. 體諒警方工作辛苦
C. 參加示威
D. 希望大選快點來到

9. 觀看安華和沙比里辯論時的感想

A. 體諒油價上漲的苦衷
B. 終於明白為什麼油價不應該上漲
C. 說話時要注意口德
D. 說話時要注意口水

10. 看完沙比里和安華辯論之後的感想

A. 好勇
B. 好慘　
C. 再見，部長
D. 為什麼政府不徵召馬哈迪上陣

11. 孩子問什麼是“雞姦”，應該由誰解答？

A. 家長　
B. 警察
C. 總檢察長
D. 教育部長

12. 孩子問什麼是“雞姦”，顯示

A. 他可以做警察
B. 他可以做檢察司
C. 他可以從政
D. 他注定是馬來西亞人

Verdict: The Chinese movie that is very much needed for this very moment.

This is without doubt the best Chinese movie since Infernal Affair trilogy.

The director has good selection of the actors (especially Cao Cao and Guan Yu), which fit the characters.

The movie successfully brings one of the most interesting story in Three Kingdoms to life - it is action-packed and the CG successfully created the grand view of the troops (though one may argue it's too much)

You may notice that there are some differences between the film and the novel, for example: the use of Eight Tiagrams Formation - it wasn't in used in the battle of Red Cliff, but a battle long after this - but hey, this scene satisfied fans of Guan Yu and Zhao Yun. It also enhance the "grandness" of Red Cliff.

I enjoyed the 2 hours and 8 minutes (in fact it's lesser than that, thanks to the censorship) of all the actions and plots.

But hold your breath, this is just the first installment.

(Overall) Rating: 8.5/10
(Chinese movie) Rating: 9.5/10

P/S: Lesser rating for "overall rating" because the subtitle is changing too fast - unfriendly for non Chinese literate.
P/S #2: I thought the movie is convincingly split into two episode - both the comercial as well as storyline requirement. Perhaps I should hold this comment until I've seen the second installment
P/S #3: Thanks to Ron for treating me this movie

Verdict: The long-lived superheros that is a pity that i) can't get together. ii) can't please us much either

Now this is something like Wanted. In fact, I'd put The Jumper, Wanted and Hancock in same category - impossibly-fictionized.

Hancock is too invincible that it's unconvincing - in fact, the world won't need police, firefighter and armed forces if we have Hancock.

And how about that - Hancock will handle the north hemisphere and his "technically wife" will handle the south hemisphere.

With such a superhero, I have every worry that they may one day become supervillain.

Rating: 5.5/10

Verdict: Worth a watch to have some good laugh.

I love the cool portrayal of Steve Carell. He made good contrast with everybody else in the movie.

It's a story that you can sort of expect in typical movie, but still, they can make you laugh about.

It's a bit of James Bond, a bit of Johnny English - but I'd say it's a nice blend of both.

I guess I'm giving it quite a good rating because I was quite stressed out with work during that time.

Rating: 7/10

Verdict: Cool visual effects that can make several "WOW", but exaggerate storyline is not my personal cup of tea.

There's some (weird) criteria of mine, about the fiction movie: it must be near-achievable in real life (or in near future) but if it's more than that, I'd consider it as "impossibly-fictionized"

Instant example of good fiction movie would be Batman Begins, Batman: The Dark Knight and Iron Man.

Instant example of bad fiction movie would be this one.

The curving bullet is too much to accept - you know it's damn impossible, even with latest technology etc. (Oh I haven't mentioned the round-trip bullet by Angelina Jolie at the end)

But the movie is visually awesome. I've no doubt about that.

Rating: 6.5/10

Verdict: Great attempt, but the storyline is something that you can get from last year's movie.

Some movie is better kept originally planned. This movie is one of the best example.

The fact that, having the fourth installment, fortified with some unrealistic script and also a son by accident - made the movie quite uncool and too apparent that they're not done with the fourth installment.

Some of the unrealistic scenes:

1) Hiding in a fridge can save one from being grilled by nuclear bomb + radiation.
2) The magnetic power is powerful enough to attract the gun powder, but not even a piece of the metal of the vehicle
3) Indy's son can swing here and there, and finally swing into Indy's moving car, which he has no idea where it was initially.
4) Resurrection of the alien, by putting a head to the body -_-
5) Subsequently, the fly-back of the UFO to their homeland, creating big cyclone (or whatever) did not affect Indy's group of people (and they're watching the great view as well without much worries)

The movie's popularity is mainly assisted by the fame of the previous three classic installment. And I suspect many people gave it good rating because of the "revival of the classic"

Rating: 6/10

It's more than half year since I last visited grandpa's apartment in Genting.

This will be considered the real chillout in my long leave so far.

But DSK's life... means still have to have something related with computer - my grandpa's house has internet connection.

So here I go - the blogathon!!!!!

It'll be mostly focusing on the movie reviews - yup, I've watched almost all the English movie available at cinema now.

Showing off? I'm a movie freak, I thought I've told you.

The fact is, no one cared about my whereabout.

Or perhaps, the picture shown wasn't clear enough that I'm "drown"

Btw, I'd had taken my bath 2 weeks ago, after 1 year plus of hesitation.



I'm also aware that my friend (Flocke) in Germany enjoys playing with water.


Again, it's different case because we are different kind of bear.

Picture speaks a Thousand Words

So talked to the manager.

I talked about the career path, about the more focused job scope and also the plan to move to SG.

Basically, the conclusion is "nasi belum masak lagi" (The rice is not cooked yet)

Career path wise.. the mentor selection was that... he's letting me to choose a person whom we know each other, but he's not aware that he'll be my mentor -_-

Focused job scope wise... he mentioned that until the project is over, I can be more focused on my job - windows administration and websphere administration.

Moving to Singapore wise - now this is the new sentence of the day "nasi belum masak lagi"

He mentioned that the department is still in the process of stabilising. And also that I need to have my skills more "cooked" (matured)

So, nasi belum masak, takde orang nak (there's no people would want the uncooked rice)

It would also mean that until the project is over, I still need to "cook" 3 roles at the same time...

Conclusion again:

- No movement to Singapore yet (due to $$$, job availability etc)
- No focused job scope yet
- Wait till I smell the rice is cooked.

Now that the project is stabilising, finally I've time to think about what I really want in my career :)

Working on multiple roles is nice - in terms of experience gaining.

But in the middle (i.e. early of this year) I've already found myself lost of focus - I don't know which role should I excel.

Suggestion was to talk to my boss - to be fair, he's the first person who should know my intention so that he can make necessary arrangement.

Let's see what's the outcome later.

Me and Wei Han managed to climb up and down the small little hill in FRIM for 17 Minutes 31 seconds!

The big improvement over the last round (21 minutes 15 seconds) was because we took no rest.

Things will only go better. If we can finish the next round in 17 Minutes 30 seconds is considered improvement you know :P

But I guess 17 Minutes is kinda feasible :-)

First, Trevor and Colleen made me to look like a dumbass in the picture...

Then, they made me acting like a dog. Just watch the video.



Bummer. Hmmmph.

There's a new restaurant near my new house.


Maybe it's new. The food is fresh and juicy - for example the salmon sushi


My sis' udon (the taste is more delicious than the look)


BBQ Asparagus-pork


Felt good about the sushi, so we ordered again.


We tried the tepanyaki chicken set... not bad as well.

Price is reasonable. Food are nice. Good atmosphere.

Rating: 7/10

To get there:

Yokotaya Overseas Sdn Bhd

C-G-10, Jalan Metro Perdana 3,
Taman Usahawan Kepong,
52100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-6252 7305

The Narnia series is a bit like LoTR Triology. Though the latter is way better.

Narnia is absolutely suitable for kids.

The first episode amazed me - because you can't see blood spilling - in the war scene.

The same happened for the second installment.

The storyline is kinda smooth but nothing really surprising.

It's a kid movie after all - no harm to watch it.

Rating: 5.5/10

Some little ambition here - cut 3KG in a month.

My weight machine reads 79KG.

Therefore, on 31st July 2008 - it should read no more than 76KG

Feasible?

I'm not sure. Cos I've not got full series of plan, but some identified are:

1) Take dinner before 8PM
2) In the office, try to use the stair instead of lift
3) Some sit up everyday
4) Try to use more public transport (so that I stand and walk more)
5) Try to eat less ice cream (I wonder if i can)

6) Live the life as normal, but buy the solution as seen on TV, on 29th July 2008 : "It's amazing, I've lost 5KG in just two days, thank God XXXXXX has this solution that really helps me. I'm now more confident than ever"

7) Go to FRIM or Jalan Gasing at least once in the weekend.

There are few typo that we need to be aware:

1) 10 Years ASSiversary - it's 10 Years ANNiversary

2) When people say "I love to surf internet" and seek for your opinion, if your answer is yes, please say "So do I"

Not "So do me"

3) Sodo Mee - there's no such new noodle in the market, even though the rumour suggests there is

4) Sudomee - It's sudoku, the popular logic-based numeric puzzle.