Christmas Ravings

This is my first post about Christmas... and this is the first time I'll not be celebrating Christmas with any friends since secondary school. Whatever it is that I did in primary school, I can't remember :P.

When I was in secondary school, I celebrate Christmas eve with a group of friends in church. Yup, that's right, I'm not a Christian but I go to church... it's not exactly shocking. I was there to celebrate with my friends and also pay my respects to another religion (I'll make another post on my views on religion another time). Being there will at least infect you with the Christmas spirit. Everyone who attended the church will be in great spirits (otherwise how could they have sung scores of songs for several hours straight? :P) After the event ended, my friends and I would just sit in front of the church, hanging out (at that time, mamak stalls were rare and unpopular).

When I was in university, of course I celebrate Christmas eve with my uni friends... which unfortunately, they did the same thing every year. First, they'll go to Kampung Portugis in Melaka to watch other people's nicely decorated house and for countdown. After that, we'll go to some pub and drink till senseless. For me, that will be the only time in the whole year where I drink alcohol. It's expensive, bitter and makes you feel queasy... no idea why anyone would want that.

Even when I started working in Selangor, I would travel back to Melaka every year to do the same thing again with them. However, this year, my Melaka friends have all moved out and is spread all over Malaysia. And those that I am working with or stay in the same state is already packed and prepared to leave for hometown or overseas before Christmas eve.

The reason I will not go back home on Christmas eve is to avoid massive jam. I don't know why some people would be willing to sit in a car several hours waiting for the cars in front of them to move. Me, I would do almost anything to avoid a jam. Previous years, I avoid jams for CNY, Christmas and any other celebration by taking an extra day of leave. For Christmas, I would usually take one day leave for Christmas eve and another on Boxing Day. Since this year I had to take leave up until New Year, I figured it's best not to take any additional leaves.

And hence, I have to celebrate Christmas eve alone. Of course, I don't really need to celebrate it alone. Across Malaysia, there'll be numerous countdown celebrations and all I have to do is just blend in. Christmas countdown is one of the few events where most people don't mind you shouting along with them.

But then again, being a person who hate car jams and dislike traveling, I won't be going to such packed, hot and noisy place. Instead, I prefer to have peace and quiet... it is supposed to be a peaceful night (Cantonese translation :P).

I'll just get some chips, soft drinks and maybe pizza and then get into a movie marathon... it has been a long time since I've watched DVD movies... and there's a backlog of pc games that I'm supposed to have finished by now. Besides, I'll need to sleep early so I can travel back home at 4.30 am to reach home in time to have breakfast with my parents... and then I can sleep the whole day in an air-conditioned room! Ah, air-condition... one of the best creation made by mankind ever!

Well, that's all folks, I might not be able to update the blog until 5th Jan 2009... I'll try to update it in some Internet cafe somewhere but no promises as I'm sure that you'll have other interesting things to do other than reading my blog.

So, Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year! (yes, I changed the words on purpose :P)

Movie Review 15: Yes Man, the ultimate power of YES!

Title: Yes Man

Director: Peyton Reed

Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Did you know that when you call someone a Yes Man in Malaysia, it's considered one of the vilest statement one can make to another? In offices, there're bound to be some who are considered by their colleagues as Yes Man. This means that this particular person will say yes to his superiors no matter what. In turn, whatever things he says yes to his boss, will have to be carried out by his subordinates and thus a Yes Man boss in one of the most hated person in the office, second only to backstabbers and surprisingly is considered worse than 'Tai Chi masters.' Of course, nowadays, it is rare to have a Yes Man superior if they are not backed by at least some kind of proficiency. When backed by some proficiency however, his climb up the corporate ladder would be fast.

Okay, what I said above has nothing to do with this movie... just want to write something to make this blog longer :P.

After a long absence from the silver screen (this year's production being only the voice over in Horton Hears a Who), he made a comeback in the comedy genre... I'm talking about Jim Carrey!

I have always thought that Jim Carrey is one of the most successful comedians and I had a really good time with his whole slew of humorous movies such as Liar Liar, Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber, etc., etc. When he moved away from the comedy stream and into a more serious tone such as The Truman Show, I was saddened but nonetheless, impressed. It was a stunning masterpiece, of which I used as one of my essays in Film Analysis in my English class in college.

Back to the movie... Yes Man talks about Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) whom I suspect due to his divorce with his wife, became a person who shun responsibility and social life. Then, one of his friend introduced him to this seminar who taught him the power of YES! He was forced to make a covenant that he has to say yes to everything or bad luck will befall him... and hence, the beginning of the amazing power of YES!

Well, anyone with a lick of sense should know that saying yes to everything is just disaster. I will not spoil the end for you (which I don't think is a spoiler anyway), but Carl was mysteriously lucky when he began his very first yes in taking a homeless guy up the hill, where after some 'incident', he met the love of his life.

To say that this is a very funny movie would cause other readers who read this blog to throw rotten tomatoes at me. There are some sections of the movie where it's just gross, and I hate the gross kind of funny. Fortunately, most of the other hilarious part of the film is executed beautifully.

While this might not be the best work done by Jim Carrey, it is nevertheless timely since most of us are onset by demoralizing situations and it is a good movie to raise your spirits just in time for Christmas and New Year Holidays.

Observation: Based on a biographical book written by Danny Wallace, a British author, producer, and journalist who spent six months answering "yes" to any given question or proposal and recording the results. (Taken from IMDB)

Bottomline: Good pre-Christmas movie

Bamboo Ranking: 3.3 / 5.0

Wedding dinners - then and now

The Chinese called getting a wedding invitation as a red bomb... and I believe it is meant to be insulting. How you call something a bomb and not being insulting? I for one, do not understand the whole fiasco in receiving invitations.

I mean, when you get invited to a marriage dinner, it meant that they at least remembered your name when preparing the long lists of family, family's friends, relatives, etc. Thus, I was puzzled when people shuddered or joked about it when they received an invitation. Further questioning revealed that they deemed getting an invitation card as equivalent to extortion of money!

Why on Earth would anyone think that? Traveling back to the olden days, giving red packets filled with money by attendees of dinner to the couples are a form of blessing and well-wishing. It sort of meant the attendee is in approval of their marriage and wish them to have good long years ahead of them.

Unfortunately, somewhere down the road, being a Chinese trademark, someone figured out a way to make money out of it. It is generally considered rude if you get your invitation and not attending the dinner. If you are busy, you're supposed to send in a gift (usually red packet) for the couple. Thus, some despicable husband/wife/family/relatives thought of inviting everyone including those that they do not even remember the name of!

And thus began the aversion of getting wedding invitations. Which was understandable... if you're getting invited to a dinner of someone that you barely know of! However, the same complainants are being invited by their (supposedly) good friends. And yet, they would be complaining and stuff. I supposed it is generally regarded that someone is uncool or insane if they do not complain when getting an invitation to a wedding dinner.

Of course, those who held wedding are not blameless too. The first time that I was invited to a wedding dinner, I had what my Malay teacher said a 'cultural shock'. I knew that my parents would prepare a red packet for couples whenever they attended a wedding dinner... but I have always thought that it's sort of voluntary. I mean, you invited me to a dinner... it's not a movie or circus where I have to pay for admission!

Imagine my surprise (yes, I don't have any street smarts) when my friends who came with me told me that I'm supposed to prepare a red packet to give to the couple. And there is even a standard price too! What has the world come to? The acceptable amount of money that one is supposed to put in the red packet is determined by the place/state the dinner is in... it is also based on whether the dinner is in a hotel or in a restaurant... also if no alcohol is served in the wedding dinner, the market price is supposed to drop drastically! I attended this non-alcoholic dinner where my friends actually revised the amount in the red packet when they found out about it! And oh, we're supposed to write our name at the back of the red packet so that they will know who paid less and who paid more! Ugh! My friends kept on telling me that it's the custom, but the problem is that this very practice violates the spirit of the custom that we're supposed to uphold. 

Some of my friends said that the couple would go bankrupt if they held the wedding dinner and invited us for free. However, one must ask why do you need so many people to attend your dinner in the first place? For me, I don't see any reason of even inviting some of my relatives that I have not spoken more than ten sentences for the past 20 years. And I fail to see the need to invite your colleagues who can barely utter your full name!

I do not mind giving red packets to couple because as I said earlier, it's a form of blessing and well-wishing. And if I attended the wedding, then it meant that I am really just trying to wish the couple well and not because I had to. However it really irked me as to how commercialized this has become. I attended one wedding where there's this receptionist (formed with the bride's friends) who will check your name against a list and then give me the seat number only when I presented them the red packet! I did not even get to pass on some well wishes to the couple!

If I were to hold a wedding dinner (which, by the way is... never!) I would not be accepting red packets... and yes, that meant that my spending would be more, but I see it as a good opportunity to trim the guest list down to a precious few. Why would you want to invite someone and then talk not more than a sentence during dinner? Through this, I would be able to really talk with those few who I treasured the most, making them as a memorable part of my wedding instead of thinking back and not remembering who attended my wedding and who did not. I would also not serve alcohol in the dinner. Afterall, if I'm not taking money from you, you can't complain what I decide to serve or not to serve :P. 

I could never find out the relation of alcohol with wedding dinner... my friends said that drinking alcohol will make people happier... duh, if you're not happy enough for me and need booze to create some artificial happiness, don't come to my wedding dinner! Besides, I see nothing happy about watching my guest raving, ranting and singing all through the dinner. Also, I'm sure my wife would prefer a sober husband rather than a smelly, vomiting and babbling stranger when she retire for the night. Besides, being drunk in front of your wife/husband is the worst possible image you could show to them and who knows what secrets you might spill out during that time (eg. calling out another person's name who is not your wife/husband, parents or dog again and again is a sure way to have a one-night marriage):P.

It is really a waste that such a beautiful (supposedly) once in a lifetime event turned out to be such demoralizing and ugly thing just because a few people made a bad impression. I guess it really is true that a drop of colouring will destroy a whole bowl of milk (taken from a Malay proverb).

Movie Review 14: The Day the Earth Stood Still... Aliens, Evironment, blah, blah, blah

Title: The Day the Earth Stood Still

Director: Scott Derrickson

Running Time: 1 hour 44 minutes

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

I have been craning my neck for this movie. I mean, it's Keanu! Who doesn't like Keanu? Boyish looks, innocent face and those blank but cute expressions... I'm talking on behalf of the girls, okay... I have this one friend who like Keanu so much that she actually attempted to watch this movie at the first week of its screening! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's big... she usually watch movies at the very last moment... the time where only a selected few cinema is still showing that particular movie.

Well, enough blabbering... let's talk about the movie. It is good to see an escape to those terrorist-themed movies... I mean, there's only THAT many ways you can shoot someone, you know. Anyway, this movie's plot is nothing new. It talks about an alien, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) being sent to Earth to monitor the humans and to decide whether to "save the Earth from humans". Predictably, he announced that humans are a destructive a species and should be purged to allow the Earth to regenerate and to be repopulated. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), a famed astrobiologist, with her stepson attempted to sway Klaatu from his decision.

Even before watching the movie, I already know what would be the ending of the movie... of course the power of human compassion and love wins. It doesn't matter that the Earth is dying, and it doesn't matter that more than 50% of the Earth's population is fighting against one another... as long as there is a tiny spark of love left, it will be alright. Just in case you didn't realise it, I'm being sarcastic here.

So, does knowing the storyline before watching it make the movie terrible? Well, astoundingly, no. While this movie will not last even a year in our minds, it is still executed nicely. The plot is thin but you won't feel bored throughout the movie and there are no squeamish love scenes in this movie which seemed to be available in any type of movies; romance, horror, thriller, action, comedy and even animation!

Keanu once again nailed the character with stunning effect. Generally, his acting skills are not considered brilliant. However, his semi-wooden face is perfect for roles like aliens, robots, clones... all the hi-tech expressionless roles. Hope to see more of him in the future.

There's also something that I realised in the movie. The ability of the US government to allow such demeaning movies to be screened is admirable. When you watch this movie, you'd be laughing at how stupid they are at reacting to their encounter with unknown beings. Just a side note, I think there's a law that says that it is illegal for a common citizen with no approval to contact with alien life forms too!

I supposed that apart from the environmental message that the film is trying to send, it is also trying to say that technology would be our ultimate unmaking. He repeatedly shows how all our technologies are used against us when the US is battling one single automaton.

Well, it a movie with Keanu, message on environment and technology and alien technology! What's not to like?

Observation: When the automaton is purging the life on Earth with its tiny critters, Keanu's clothes are surprisingly resistant to it even though it managed to disintegrate a stadium in seconds.

Bottomline: A surprisingly simple but enjoyable movie

Bamboo Ranking: 3.8 / 5.0

Movie Review 13: Body of Lies - Unending story of terrorism

Title: Body of Lies

Director: Ridley Scott

Running time: 2 hours 8 minutes

Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller

With American Gangster and Gladiator in the director's pocket, I would have expected a far better work this. This movie was my first choice in the week of long holidays. Of course, I chose this movie not because of the director, but because of Leonardo DiCaprio. His superb work in Blood Diamond, The Aviator and Catch Me If You Can have made me sitting at the edge of my seat, expecting another dazzling display.

Needless to say, I was disappointed. Of course, if doesn't have much to do with Leonardo's acting skills but the story line. Since 2000, there has been a slew of movies about terrorism... and frankly, I'm quite sick with that.

This movie is about Roger Ferris (Leonardo), a CIA operative who is trying to track down a terrorist Al Salim in Iraq. Together with his handler, Ed Hoffman (Russel Crowe), they hatch plans to snare the evading terrorist. Well, basically that's the whole plot!

I do not know if the director is trying to show off American technology or trying to unsettle us... but the wide usage of satellite to track someone is really unsettling... I have always thought of it as a myth... sure a satellite can show where a person is in a general area, but the degree of precision and clarity shown in the movie meant that there really is nowhere to hide.

Also, ease of Roger to use the identity of an innocent architect in his plans to lure Al Salim out from his hiding place is frightening. I mean, it could be any one of us... and you won't know what happened until a group of terrorist kidnap you and attempt to get information out of you.

Anyway, this movie is pretty easy to understand so there'll be no brain-racking while you're watching the movie. Unfortunately, it sort of meant that this movie felt like being dragged too long (which being 2 hours, felt really quite long). In conclusion, this is definitely not the best work presented by Ridley or Leonardo.

Observation: When the trucks are driving in circles, kicking up the sand to prevent the satellite from watching them, what makes them able to determine the correct direction to leave the circle? (They are trying to smuggle Roger to their hiding place, but the truck with Roger in it has to drive in the correct direction when it leaves the circle and I don't think it's possible to see which direction it is heading, with all the sand flying around.)

Bottomline: Won't hurt to give this a miss.

Bamboo Ranking: 3.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 12: Transporter 3... where writers should be sacked, staked and burned

Title: Transporter 3

Director: Olivier Megaton

Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Genre: Action, Thriller

Okay, so I'm a little bit biased... I hated Transporter and Transporter 2. So, when I watched Transporter 3, I went in as a skeptic... and came out as one pissed off cinema patron. It's like at this age and time, how can anyone make such a terrible, terrible movie... even home videos are sometimes much better than this.

Sure, it has all the things that 'should' make bloodthirsty humans crave for... nice car, nice fighting moves, nice kabooms... but the very fundamentals of the movie is missing... and that is speech. Yup, and hence the title.

Well, the story this time is about a company who is threatening a minister by kidnapping his daughter and force the minister to sign some documents that would allow the company to dump several shipments of wastes in the country... and the 'Transporter, Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is forcibly employed to transport some goods. Just like every villain, they try to kill everyone when the job is finished... well, almost finished anyway and it's payback time.

Well, the kabooms and speed car chases are okay, I supposed... but then again, this is the age where we have seen tonnes of movies like this... if this movie came out a decade earlier, it would have garnered good reviews... however, now it's just all same old, same old.

As I said earlier, the fundamentals of this movie is missing. The characters' lines are just terrible and catastrophic. Half of the time, I just can't make out what are they saying and the other half, the jokes just fall flat on the floor... splat! I don't know if they have a faulty mike or the characters are the ones making the lines, but this might be the only movie that I watched in cinema where I actually felt sleepy. Even that disastrous "Bridge to Terabithia" did not make me want to leave the cinema before the movie ends.

Jason Statham as Frank Martin... the Transporter is okay I supposed... though this movie sort of focus on him breaking the rules that he made for himself... yeah, that's a 'big surprise'. However, the one single character that I think might burn forever in my mind is Natalya Rudakova as Valentina Vasilev... the damsel in distress. If you are looking for a benchmark to call a woman a bitch, that's the one you should look for. Her body language. her face (which is terrible looking, by the way), her speech all of them make me just want to slap her crazy. If I were Frank, I seriously would just leave her by the side of the road and drive away... that, of course is before Frank realised her importance.

In summary, do not watch this movie... not even for the actions... it might just get the worst movie of the year award.

Observation: I thought that it is impossible to smash a car window under water... but it seems that Frank has super strength.

Bottomline: Avoid at all costs

Bambooo Ranking: 2.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 11: Bolt the Krypto wannabe

Title: Bolt

Director: Chris Williams & Byron Howard

Running Time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Genre: Animation

To tell the truth, this movie is not my first choice when I was presented with various new movies during the long holidays. However, due to time factor, I was forced to choose this movie. Of course, this doesn't mean that it is a bad movie. I am always a sucker for animation... especially those of comedy genre.

Anyway, it would have been better if I hadn't read the sypnosis of the movie since it sort of make the beginning of the movie to be quite cliched. As a result, I was not impressed with the introduction of the movie.

However, when the main plot really started, the fun begins. It is not exactly funny all the way, by the jokes are neatly spaced in between actions and plot. I have always thought that when a dog is tilting its head, it's sort of just looking at us and thinking "What the hell is this human trying to tell me?" However, after watching the movie, only I know that it is a way of begging. I thought that begging was defined by a dog sitting on its hind legs and raising its front paws. See? At least this movie would make you a better dog owner! :P

Anyway, for those who didn't know it, Bolt (John Travolta) is a movie dog who apparently thought that the dangers he faced in the movie is real. Thus, when he was mistakenly transported out of the filming place, he attempted to save his owner whom he thought was abducted by the "Man with a green eye". Along the way, he met with a declawed cat, Mittens (Susie Essan) and Rhino (Mark Walton), a tv-obsessed hamster who apparently can run faster than a car in his ball. Together, they traveled back to the movie location, while Bolt realised his 'super powers' are all fake. Well, I supposed you can guess what happens in the end... afterall, it's a children movie.

That said, it does have its touching moments... I think I cried (again) at several touching scences. So, it's touching, funny and adventurous... enough said.

Observation: Rhino was actually able to chase up a speeding truck to bust Bolt out of his jail... how is that possible?

Bottomline: Again, a nice family movie if you have children with you... or is a dog lover.

Bamboo Ranking: 3.5 / 5.0

Update - Lost Passport

Ugh.. it has been forever since my last update. Was busy searching for my passport. Yup, I have now officially lost my passport.

I searched in my current room and went back hometown last week to overturn my house to look for it and nada, zip, nothing! I think I lost it when I moved to my current room during the month of June. I remembered putting my passport inside a 2008 calendar... I supposed I might have thrown it away when I was clearing away my stuff when moving out of the apartment.

Sigh... now I have to go to the police station and make a report... which is troublesome and embarrassing at the same time! The only silver lining is that my passport is supposed to be valid until January 2009 only anyway so if I renew it now I would not lose out too much of the unused months.

However, I'll be fined for losing my passport... not to mention I need to pay to have my police report printed out too! Well, does anyone have any idea what is the fine for losing a passport? I searched online and did not find any info on this. Would different reasons for losing the passport result in different amount of fine? I am still thinking how I should make the report :P

It's so embarrassing to tell them that I lost it when clearing out my old stuff... I'm not sure if they'll even believe me! I can't say someone broke into my house and stole it since if I did that, I'll have to cook up some insane story about missing tv, laptop, etc. since it is impossible for a burglar to break into a house to steal a passport and nothing else. 

I can't say I lost it to a snatch thief because it is also unbelievable that a local would be toting around with a passport in his bag!

Well, I supposed honesty is the best policy. Sigh... I hope that the fine is not too much... need money to buy my Christmas presents! :P

Sea, Forest and Food

You know, this might be the post with most pictures up to date. I could have posted it in different posts... but too lazy to do that :P.

Anyway, there's this one Saturday where Witch and I, together with her colleague went out to have a one day trip on the outside. The main objective was to show Witch's colleague, who is from Germany around. His name is Marcin, by the way.

We started off at 11am... a little bit late for my taste... but it was a stroke of fortune that Witch decided to start off that late because apparently Marcin just got off a 3 hour phone call at 6am!!!

Anyway, we decided to have brunch at this dim sum restaurant called "Chong Wah's Kitchen" (translated version... dunno what's the official name :P). We selected our orders and the we were served this "appetizer" that we did not order... sort of like peanuts served at restaurants during dinner.

The "appetizer"... raw beans mixed with chilli

Since dim sum is famous for its "expensive but not filling" food, Witch ordered fried radish... which was quite nice... and the radish is cut into perfect cubes... unlike the ones that you buy from the night market which is of unrecognizable shapes.

Being in a dim sum restaurant, one of course must try the shrimp dumpling... and the shrimp was fresh and sweet

This is ordered by Marcin... which is a fried spring roll with mango and cheese... who doesn't like cheese?

Some prawn stuffed fried spring roll



I must say that this is one of the best dish that morning... the egg tart was just fabulous... albeit a little bit small... but it was hot, sweet and crunchy at the same time... must try


Shanghai Dumpling... not very good... doesn't have soup in it


Of course, one must have the BBQ pork bun too...

Which is nice too... except for the part where the filling is not as much as it could have been...


This one ordered by Marcin too... had no idea what to call them... I know it's available in Melaka too... maybe it's a Hokkien thingy?

This is what the inside looked like... doesn't look appetizing, but it actually tasted quite nice...

"Siew Mai" pork dumpling with prawn on top!

After filling our tummies, it's time for some activities! Our first stop is at the beach! It was quite deserted... which is strange since it's a weekend... but that means you can play all the water sports that you want without worrying about the swimmers!

Parasailing... not for me... afraid of heights



Apparently, you can have the guide to parasail with you!

First time I see a horsey in a beach...

A lot of horsies...

But Marcin was not interested in all those... he more interested in Jet Skis!

And he's attempting to coerce Witch to join him...

Which he succeeded...

The Witch putting on a brave face :P

The guide explaining on how to use the jet ski... actually, it's not that difficult being you have to twist the handle to speed and untwist it to stop... the only difficulty is that there is no brake whatsoever... which might be a little bit dangerous in a crowded beach...

And they are ready to go...

Speeding off into the unknown...

A superbly clear picture captured by my super camera when they are speeding out in the sea... picture taken at 10X zoom...

I just sat there reading a nice novel since I did not bring any change of clothes... and after that I had foot reflexology! No pain... except for the part when he rub at the side of my feet... and when I was at home, I looked closely and saw that he was rubbing across my big green vein!

Anyway, after all these, Marcin suggested that we play beach ball... the only problem being that we did not have any beach ball with us. So we ended up buying a small ball and just play by the side of the beach... and we were really terrible at it... I ended up picking up the ball more than actually playing it.

After the tiring sport, we decided to sit down and have a refreshing drink... Witch and Marcin had a coconut...

While I had orange juice...

It was deserted....

We sat next to this pond which would have looked nice if it does not have a big motor in it...

Next, we went to a place of tranquil... green grass, trees and chirping birds everywhere...

Except for the moment when this monkey tried to attack the Witch... :p

We went to another park and there is this guideline to what your heart beat rate should be when exercising...

Marcin trying out one of the various equipments available on the park... this one need you to swing your body side to side... very good to destroy the love handles...

Various amount of exercising equipments

After a tiring walk in the park, we had dinner at a Taiwanese shop... and I ordered Spicy Noodles... well, the Spicy Noodles are not spicy enough for my taste... but the side dishes are quite nice especially the light chocolate flavoured pudding...

We ordered fried dumplings as a side dish... Sakae's Gyoza is better

Witch ordered braised pork set...

Marcin ordered grilled fish... dunno what fish :P

But the main reason we came to this Taiwanese shop was for the bubble tea or pearl milk tea! Marcin think that it's fabulous... I can understand the feeling. Back in the early days when this is introduced in Malaysia, it was like the latest craze... everyone wants it and every shop would be selling it... it had been years since my last pearl milk drink... i prefer the sago drink that is sold at RM0.50 at stalls :P

After the dinner, we went to have a walk at the night market... and it was a bad move... walking the night market reminded me of the various sinful food that I have not eaten for the past few months... fried bananas, keropok ikan, apam balik, cendol, etc... I think I might be visiting this night market very frequently in the future...

I was tired, but amazingly, I still have some endurance left to play pc games until 1am when I reached home! :P

Movie Review 10: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Title: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Director: Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath

Running Time: 1 hour 19 minutes

Genre: Animation

This time, the movie talks about the adventure of Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo in Africa (Jada Pinkett Smith).Most of the time, I did not pay any attention to the voice over casts... however when I was watching this movie, I was 99% sure that the giraffe was David Schwimmer... see if you can identify his voice.

Anyway, the movie was off to a rocky start. It started off by talking about the history of Alex the Lion... and I thought that it was Alex who has given birth to a child... I know the name was given to the lion but I did not remember that the lion in the first instalment of Madagascar was called Alex mah.

Anyway, when I finally found out that it was actually sort of a flashback and when they return to the present, the fun and adventure starts... and it started off big! If you have watched the sneak peaks, you would know about this too... penguins flying an aeroplane! It was really fun and even hilarious when they execute their plans in waylaying tourists of a reserve park... the coordination, action and slow-mos are to kill for.

And I actually cried in the movie... I know, I know... I cry easily... but I find the movie quite touching in some sections... and it follows the Matrix's explaination of cause and consequences as the main problem faced by the animals in the park was due to the penguins.

As to whether the first instalment is better or the second, I have no idea... mainly because I have forgotten most of the movie in the first instalment... except penguins hijacking the ship part. It was rather short and was over before you knew it and there are more than few cliches in the movie... but who cares?

The penguins are again the ones with the best lines and actions... though that penguin-doll thing is getting rather old. However, I'd say that Melman has his moments too.

Well, in conclusion, it is a fun movie and if you are feeling down for some reason, this is a reason that will brighten your day!

Observation: Have you ever wondered why people/monsters in animation almost never skin their food and rather cook them alive with hair, skin and innards over the fire?

Bottomline: A fun movie for all ages.

Bamboo ranking: 3.5 / 5.0

Fun Run 2008 - Making the impossible possible...

16/11/2008 (Sunday)

0500: My handphone alarm rang... actually, I was awake before it started to ring... didn't sleep much... no thanks to my neighbour's car alarm which went off around 1am.

0520: Tried my newly bought muesli breakfast... took one bite and threw the rest away... how can anyone eat that kind of stuff? Opted for energy filled Snickers instead (the fun size... not the normal size one)

0535: Almost rammed my car into a roadblock... the notice said that the road would be opened from 4:30 am onwards! Great, now I have to park my car even further away...

0550: Finally found an empty space for me to park my car in... and I had to walk several kilometres away to reach the starting point... I supposed it is intentional... to force the participants to warm up adequately before the official run.

0615: Arrived at the starting point and registered myself... which basically meant exchanging my registration card with a yellow wrist band. Tried to look for my friends... but can't find them. Listen to the great music I downloaded to my brand new super handphone...

0630: Suddenly, there was a bang and people were shouting. I saw the crowd which consists of masses of orange clad clones moving forward. The marathon has already started... and I didn't even realise it. Saw a clown giving out yellow digi balloons... tried to get one but was elbowed away by screaming girls... ah well...

0635: The crowd is not moving! My goal was to complete the 10km track within 90 minutes... and I have barely moved 100 metres in 5 minutes! Move away, slow turtles... honk... honk...

0640: Finally, the road widens and the losers started to drop behind... now I can start to run... I will run like a wind... as light as feather... as fast as lightning... as steady as storm... and woe to anyone who get in my way!!!

0650: Next time, I must be in the pole position when the marathon starts. No matter how hard I run, there is always someone in front of me... and walking too! A simple 10km marathon is now increased to 15km marathon since I had to run zig zag to avoid those road hoggers who walk in a straight horizontal line as if they owned the road. I had to scan to my left or right whenever I wanted to pass someone in front of me since I don't want anyone who is running behind me to slam into me when I swerve to the right or left. It's almost like car driving... only without the rear and side mirrors.

0655: This is impossible... I am already out of breath and I still haven't reached the bridge yet! I've completed less than a quarter of the trek and 25 minutes have passed by... which meant that I have only 20 minutes to reach the turning point... which is halfway of the marathon. I looked back and was relieved that I am still considered to be in the front half of the group... must not let anyone pass by me.

0700: Argh! The road narrowed again and I have to walk beside those uncompetitive morons! This lane is usually jammed too during after work hours... and now it is like 15-20 lanes of cars driving at the same time into a road made for two cars... further up, the two lane road narrowed to one lane making matters worse.

0705: Finally reached the main road of the bridge and I'm waaayyy behind schedule. I looked ahead and to my horror, I saw an endless wave of orange in front of me... right up to the edge of my vision! OMG... how far is halfway? Why are there no markers? My lips are parched and I desperately need water... where are those water stations that are dotted all over the map?

0710: I look across the bridge and did not see anyone there... basically, if the turning point is near, then there should be someone running in the opposite track... and having no one meant that the turning point is still bloody far away! There are also occasional vans which drove past us... mostly those who packed up their stations and is leaving... and those stupid, stupid runners actually run after the vans. It's like those irresponsible drivers who drive behind the ambulances in order to get to their destination faster since the lane used by the ambulance is definitely the fastest lane... hello... that was a car following an ambulance... haven't you heard of exhaust fumes before... I couldn't help but snicker when the moronic runners who ran behind the vans coughed and wheezed before they finally keep themselves away from the van's exhaust pipe.

0715: I need to stop... no... I must not stop... I have to stop... no... I cannot... oh... there's someone running in the opposite track... what are you smiling at, bugger? You want me to come over and give you a piece of my mind huh? Huh? By now, I had to resort to one of the most powerful mind technique ever invented by humans... sure I still have a few techniques created by immortals themselves... but I reserve those for life and death occasion... anyway, this method is developed by CIA... Central Intelligence Agency... yup... western stuff. Basically, you have to separate your mind from the reality... which normally is dangerous but since the track is pretty much straightforward, it should be okay. It is used by spies who are captured by the enemies and forgot to wear their poison tooth to prevent their enemies from extracting confidential information. There's this one spy who was caught and in order to withstand the pain inflicted by his captors, he imagined himself catching fish... yup, that's right... he took himself to a faraway island and catch numerous fishes on his little boat... catching and releasing them back into the lake... all the while the black thundering clouds gathered around the lake... as long as he kept on catching the fish, the storm will not come over the lake... once he step off the lake, the darkness would swallow him whole... what's my dream?... well, I'll have to kill you if I tell you that :P

0720: I think I'm starting to get a blister... I can feel my feet starting to hurt and the muscles turning into mush... OMG... where is the f****** turning point? It also suddenly struck me that this is the time where diseases are transmitted easily... SARS, which was popular last time, is transmitted through bodily fluids too... and there are numerous people who have contacted me bodily when they ran past me... in fact, the air is so thick with their sweat that even diseases that cannot be transmitted through air can do so now...

0725: Just in front of me, there are some people giving out something from their boxes... is that water? Yay!... and he gave me an orange wrist band... I was too disappointed to even rejoice the fact that I have reached the turning point.

0730: Passed by the section where the top half of the divider is missing (not intentionally)... and I saw that there are still a lot more people coming up from the bridge... I can't help but feel smug about it :P

0735: The strangest thing happened to me... my shoulder blades actually felt sore! How is that possible? It's not like I'm holding on to anything at all and I did not swing my hands in large angles that some people do... it was so sore that I couldn't even lift my arms while running... imagine running with hands on the side... I felt like Mr. Bean... and I'm feeling pain in my tibia! Yup, that's right, most people would have sore thigh muscles or calf muscles but I actually have pain in the tibia... well, I guess that makes me special, doesn't it.

0745: Well, my 17 songs from Westlife had just finished... changed it to Clay Aiken... did you know that eyebrows sweat too? And in front of me, there's this guy which those long almost shoulder length wavy hair and his hair was actually bouncing airily while he ran! I look around and saw that others hair were already matted with sweat and this guy is not sweating at all! I supposed this is not International Marathon but Intergalactic Marathon.

0750: I can actually feel heat from the soles of my shoes... it's like the rubber is actually burning! Even with Clay Aiken singing inside my head, it was still quite a boring run... and as an engineer, my mind started to wander to engineering direction... did you know that initially I was able to run non-stop for 15 minutes straight and walk (brisk walk of around 5 km/hr) for 5-10 minutes before starting to run again... now I can run a maximum of 10 seconds before slowing down to walk for 15 minutes before running again... I shall call it the Bamboo's Reduction Theorem... BRT...

0755: Finally, I'm off the bridge and in the main road! Tried to run again but there is this excruciating pain in my stomach whenever my flabby stomach started to bounce about. It even tingles when I reduce myself to brisk walking... my legs are sore but I keep on telling myself that the pain in my midsection is actually a good thing... meaning that my stomach has run out of things to eat and is finally starting to work on the fat!... the greater the pain, the more fat it will bust! Come on, give me more pain!

0800: Finally! A marker of some sort... and there's still 1km left! Well, my plan to reach the destination in 90 minutes did not work... but the official time limit is 120 minutes... so that means I have 30 minutes to walk for 1km... even crawling could have done that...

0805: 500 metres left

0810: 300 metres left... is it my imagination or my speed had decreased dramatically? I thought people usually will achieve greater speed when nearing the finishing point.

0815: Tada... the finishing line... and there is someone giving out the certificate of participation... I hurried over and get mine... as soon as I got my certificate, my legs started to buckle... had to hold on to a railing to prevent myself from falling down onto the road... I look at the certificate again... and I felt just so happy! I have made the impossible, possible! And Clay Aiken hasn't even finish his 15 songs... and the battery used was less than a quarter of the total battery... less than one-eighth actually... my super perfect handphone :P

I'm sorry if the pictures are not clear... it's taken with a 1.5MP handphone camera which does not have flash at 6:30 in the morning... so you'll have to forgive me on the quality... anyway... this is the swarm of people when the marathon started.


More unclear pictures of the orange swarm...

There's this child who is carrying two water filled 1.5 liters bottle while running... definitely not human... and yup, that's someone who is walking in the opposite direction... in search of her friends kua... they are in front, dear :P


This picture is taken in my returning trip... the sky has brighten and the picture I took look much better... if you look at the top, on the right hand side of the bridge, there are still lots of people who have not reached the turning point... losers... muah... hah... hah... hah... :P

Proof of my participation... Bamboo the Great... sounds nice... doesn't it?

Phone Drama

Well, since I don't have anything to write much lately, I decided to buy a new handphone just to blog about it... :P... of course not lah... are you nuts? It's not as if Sony Ericsson is paying me to blog about their phones.

My dear old phone Motorola E398 had been with me for more than 3 and half years and finally he is unable to serve me anymore even though I have been extremely careful with him. Well, I have dropped him twice during those 43 months... but still, I dare say that my treatment of my phone is above average compared to those who drop their phone in toilet, in the drain, into a puddle of water, into the fire, etc etc etc.

I still remember clearly getting him from my aunt. As a non-working citizen back then in year 2005, I had no handphone and had not possess any mobile phones even though during that time, even primary school students have these gadgets. I was not ashamed... in fact, being the only one without handphone in university made you stand out. Besides, the probability of someone looking for me is higher than me looking for someone. They all know where I live and so, if they want to copy my homework, they better get their asses to my house instead of asking me through the phone, draining my battery power and phone life.

Then, I got my first job and my aunt decided it's high time I join the mindless society which cannot survive even an hour without looking at their phones wondering why it hadn't rang or why someone did not sms them. With great reluctance, I accepted the gift. Initially, she even suggested getting a postpaid... I vehemently declined... which turned out to be a good choice. Getting a fixed line, even in those packages, one would need to spend a minimum of RM50... (don't know price got drop or not now)... but basically, I spend less than RM30 for two months... which makes my prepaid credit accumulating to incredulous amounts. As I have said before, the probability of someone looking for me is higher than me them :P.

Anyway, while the phone cameras broke through the 1MP and lines went 3G with super thin phones and radio phones, I was contend with my clunky, 0.5MP, no radio, terrible music and super slow online connection phone. I mean, even if I did use my phone, which is rarely, I would use it for sms or phone calls only... I did not bother myself with the phone's other functions. Every now and then, I would find myself staring at a new icon in the phone which I have no idea what it does.

My Motorola E398

Well, I supposed I shouldn't feel too sad. According to a research, people who are in their 20s to 30s, they would change their phones on an average of every 12 months... that's for Malaysians... Japanese actually change their phones every 3-6 months! Either their phones' quality are really terrible or handphones over there are damn cheap!

Well, a few days ago, I was charging my phone and a friend called me. I picked it up and there was no voice at the other end of the line. So, I hung up the phone and called him back... same thing again... no voice even though it was picked up. I sms him and told him something wrong... maybe line not clear. Then, I checked the settings and it occured to me that the buttons are not giving off any sounds when I press them. I went to the multimedia files and play a song and no sound came out!!! So, I check the volume of my phone and when I press the button, it gave out some sound. Confused, just then my friend sms me back and I realised that I can hear the sms arrival sound. After a few hours of searching through the settings, I came to the conclusion that while the phone will ring when someone call me, I can't play any music files and no one is able to hear me talking through the phone.

I immediately went to some mobile phone shops and ask them to check it out for me and they tell me that I have to take it to the official service center for repairs. Well, I did not know that since this is the first time I took it for repairs... and it was far, far away... it was late and so I decided to go during the weekend... oh, by the way, it was Monday.

Anyway, on Tuesday, I found that the control button is not working in the up direction and later that day, my phone kept telling me to insert my sim card even though it was right in there! It's like every single problem is hitting me at the same time! Fed-up, I decided to research for a new phone... afterall, it would cost me money to get my Motorola fixed since it's not under warranty anymore.

And my friend suggested W350i... I have never use Sony Ericsson before but their designs are quite nice. As for Motorola, I was researching on W388... which is damn cheap. It doesn't have bluetooth and it has a crappy camera, but it's cheap!!! Anyway, after comparing the two, I decided to go with Sony Ericsson since I thought it's time for me to try something new... and the reviews online were generally good.

One must understand that I suck at bargaining. Even though I was in sales line for a year and know some of their underhanded tricks, I almost always fall for their traps. And this person offered my W350i for a bloody RM490! He kept on saying that he'll give me 1GB memory which to my memory was not that expensive. I did research online and it was said that the phone can be bought at RM400 for a 512MB memory. RM90 for exchanging 512MB for 1GB? No thanks.

I just kept on showing a very reluctant face and kept on looking at those cheap phones (RM200++) and he actually reduced it to RM440 without me saying anything! Well, I'm not sure if I got it cheap or expensive... with the latter being of higher probability, but I am satisfied.

It is really sleek looking... thin, elegant and light. One bad point is that the camera doesn't have flash... ah well, I'll just take pictures with my super camera lah! I connected online and it says that there is an upgrade patch to the software... I downloaded it to my phone and voila... it doesn't work anymore.

Apparently after 'upgrading' my software, the phone was sim locked. The phone is initially not supposed to be used in this country and thus it need an unlocking code to unlock it and the upgrage patch has reset the system! Argh... why does this happen to me? Luckily I'm staying near to the place where I purchase the phone and thus it was not too much of hassle to visit them again. So, they sort of reformat my phone and unlock it again... (not sure working or not since I have to leave my phone with them to do the 'reformat')

Anyway, enough ranting... following are the pictures I took before my new phone broke down...

The whole package... mike, earphone, charger, data cable and of course, the phone itself. The salesperson also gave me a phone cover and a screen cover... which makes my absolutely fabulous handphone looking impossibly horrendous... and the 1GB memory inside... he also gave me a Digi sim card with RM5 in it, which if I want to use it, I have to load RM10 first...

Handphone close up... the buttons came in orange, purple and white. I asked for white but apparently sold out d... and since the normal version is orange, I took the purple... it won't do to have a phone that look the same as everyone's else :P

The inside... it's an old school flip cover... I supposed the cover would be easily damaged... but then again, I'm a very careful owner. :P

I hope I can get my handphone fixed soon... I wonder if it can be used as a substitute to ipod for my marathon...

Movie Review 9: Quantum of Solace... a rampaging double 0

Title: Quantum of Solace

Director: Marc Forster

Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes

Genre: Thriller, Adventure

Well, it's a movie that started off with a bang... or several bangs... or more accurately, started off with rat-tat-tat and then bang, bang, bang :P. If you do not know that this movie is about the famed 007, James Bond, then you are not of Earth. I have never really been a fan of Bond movies. I remembered watching Dr. No... or was it Dr. Zero?... when I was young... I was promised a great movie by my father... and he got very worked up about that hair sticking onto a drawer to find out if someone opened it... if he had stuck it with a glue, it would have been more believable... he just stuck his hair using his saliva... it would have dropped off when it dried... also, I was too young to understand the complicated plot in Bond movies... needless to say, I was bored to death.

Then, came Pierce Brosnan... and I watched just to give my support to Michelle Yeoh since it was like the biggest news back then. And then came Daniel Craig... and I was impressed with his work in Casino Royale... and two years later, came the Quantum of Solace.

If you asked me what it is about... I'll have to say I'm not quite sure. It has got something to do with the death of the Bond girl in the first movie, Vesper. I think he was trying to locate the people responsible for her death... right up to the one on top. It turned out to be related to an organisation that even the famed CIA doesn't know about. And somehow, he got Dominic Greene (Mathieu Almaric) in his radar and he began to hunt him down. As with all villains, he is planning for something that would shift the power of the world and it's up to Bond to stop him... can Bond place his loyalty to country and job before his thrist for vengeance? Watch the movie... I'm not revealing anything... since I have been receiving lots of complaints that I always reveal things I shouldn't have in my blog about movies.

Anyway, I must say that I was not disappointed in this movie. There is almost no boring moment in the movie at all... though Bond did make other agents look like a fool with his ability to get out of every possible trap, shit and precarious situation. Then, there're the Bond girls... I think it's a norm that there are always 2 Bond girls in Bond movies... one would be from the government side and another would be of a more shady background.

This time round however, the Bond girl from the government side, Fields (Gemma Arterton) had a rather minimal compared to the other one Camille (Olga Kurylenko)... but this is the start of the string of unlucky women who got tied up with Bond... whom mostly would have a bad ending. I was, however a little bit surprised that Bond actually did not sleep with Camille. :P

And oh, I loved the computer/table! I know that it's nothing new, but it really did look impressive... I wonder when it would be available in the market. However, the impressive communicating and data revealing technology is pretty much the only gadgets that Bond has at his disposal... I hope there'll be more gadgets to see in the future.

Well, since I don't think there's much plot in the movie, there's nothing left for me to comment about. The actors and actresses did a really good job... and the writers and director should be complimented as well. However, I expect to see more of this mysterious group in the future since this wasn't quite wrapped up yet... so, go and watch it! You'll not be disappointed.

Observation: Somehow, Bond's car, boat and plane is able to withstand more punishment than his enemies' even though Bond just scavenged them from the street and his enemies have more advanced models.

Bottomline: Why are you still reading this? Go out and watch it!

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

First Blind, Then Deaf

Sigh, this body of mine is getting worse everyday. Previously, I talked about how I had problems with my eyesight and today, I found out that I'm partially deaf! Now I know why when everyone at my age is enjoying music while I thought of them as just loud gibberish. And why I can't listen clear enough when watching tv series if there're no subtitles.

My lunch buddies were talking about ringtones that were set into a certain frequencies and that older people won't be able to hear them. Actually, it isn't really anything new. I remembered watching this Hong Kong tv series by Bobby Au that mentioned this too. Basically, younger people are able to listen to higher frequencies while the older ones would have a lower frequency hearing range. Which is one of the reason the elderly do not like the latest pop music. They would not be able to enjoy the full quality of a high quality CD music because they can only listen to a limited range of the frequencies emitted by the CD player.

I should not have been so busybody. Curious, I googled for these frequency hearing test and I found several. However, I found this one test which indicated the frequency range that a person of certain age should be able to hear. You can find it here: http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/

However, I must warn all who visit this website that I will not be held liable if you fell into a depressing state... just like me. Sigh... my maximum hearing frequency is actually 15kHz!!! That's for those at 39 years old... my hearing capability is actually more than a decade older!!!

Argh... isn't it enough that my eyesight is so poor that I'm almost blind and I look old with my poor complexion? Now my hearing too???!!!! What did I do to receive such punishment????!!!! I have always dislike loud music. I rarely listen using earphones and I started to use handphones only 3 years ago and I use it rarely too.

So, why did my hearing deteriorate so much? This is unacceptable. I demand an explaination!!! Hmmm.... or maybe the classifications are wrong? Well, you guys take the test and then tell me how it is. Maybe my hearing is actually the best amongst others... that just make my day! :P