5Sc1 CNY Gathering 2009

Finally, wrested my camera back from Rainbow... so, it's photo time! Well, as usual, during the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, the class 5 Science 1 of ACS class 1999 had a reunion lunch. Basically, for the past 10 gatherings, we had never been to the same restaurant to have our reunion lunch... mainly because we wanted to try all restaurants available in Kampar... and also there has never been a restaurant that deserve a second chance :P.

Anyway, from the 2 tables in year 2007, to 1 table of 12 people in year 2008, this year, only 9 people were able to make it... by "make it", I meant only 9 people of 5 Sc 1 class of 1999 had free time available to attend the annual reunion lunch. Others deemed that meeting their ex-classmates once a year as unimportant... or at least not as important as having a normal lunch with their parent, relatives, bfs, gfs whom they meet several times a year.

At this rate, I believe reunion lunch 2010 will be celebrated in a mamak stall with maybe 6 or 7 of us left. Well, enough of this ranting and let me present the report of the reunion 2009 of class 5 Sc 1 1999.

First dish served :P. Nuts!!! As usual, I am one of the few rare person who have the opportunity to taste this dish... (meaning others are fashionably late! :P)

And as usual, camwhoring by the gals :P

More camwhoring...

Finally, all people arrived (minus the FFK fella who did this on an annual basis) and we started off by mixing the "yee sang"

The final result of our thorough mixing of "yee sang". Apparently, the gals forgot to tell the waiter not to pour the whole bowl of oil onto it and thus more than half of it is thrown away... wasteful :P

Mixed platter... the pork ribs were quite nice!

First time we had shark fins soup for reunion lunch! Marking out elevated status eh? :P

Fishy...

Mushrooms, sea cucumber and vege... don't know whether good or not cause I don't like mushrooms and sea cucumber!!!

Steamed prawns still flooded with gravy... yucks...

Taking a break from taking pictures of food... the gals seemed to be satisfied with the food...

Dessert... iced longan... it's the last dish... but too lazy to put it as the last picture :P

Erm... "Ho Yip Fan" don't know how to translate...

Inside of the "Ho Yip Fan"

Finally, we are done, everyone seemed contend

The (shrinking) attendees of 2009 reunion lunch

Movie Review 17: All's Well End's Well 2009

Title: All's Well End's Well 2009

Director: Vincent Kok

Running Time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Well, after 12 years since the last 1997 movie, the movie makers made a comeback to cash in on the Chinese New Year. Truth to be told, my memories of the previous version of All's Well End's Well (AWEW) is quite muddy although I still remembered the one where Stephen Chow act as a lunatic brother who was trying to scare his brothers in cheating him on a lottery ticket.

Anyway, this movie is about Kei (Ronald Cheng) who asked Koo (Louis Koo), a love consultant to court his sister (Sandra Ng) in order to break the curse where if Kei's sister is unmarried, misfortune would befall on Kei's girlfriend.

Basically, it is mostly a "mou lei tau" comedy. Do not expect any brilliant jokes or wonderful script. However, I did have a good time when watching the movie. Sure, there are some parts where it's just lame (especially the beginning and the end), but you would find yourself genuinely laughing on and off throughout the movie. I think one of the best scene is where Sandra Ng's parents were attempting to purchase a spinster insurance for their daughter. I laughed really a lot at that scene, though my friends who watched with me beg to differ.

However, I think it is important to watch this movie in a filled cinema. It won't feel just as funny if the other movie patrons are not laughing along with you. So, catch this movie before the holidays are over (for students and those who took annual leaves lah).

Observation: Note Sandra Ng's moustache in the insurance scene :P

Bottomline: Nothing brilliant, but still a funny movie.

Bamboo Rating: 3.0 / 5.0

Psych the Psychiatric Duo

Recently, I found another new English tv series to dote on. It's called Psych. I'm not sure if anyone have heard about it but it's currently airing the third season overseas and the fourth season is in making. I have just finished the first season of this series.

Suffice to say, I was satisfied. Well, I have always been a sucker for fantasy and comedy type of series and this is one hell of a funny comedy. Basically, it is about Shawn Spencer (James Roday) whose superb observational skills allowed him to be employed by the Santa Babara, California Police Department (SBPD). He convinced other people that he is a psychic and while certain people in the police department are doubtful of his "psychic" abilities, they always turn to him when they hit a stumbling block in investigations. His best friend, Burton Guster (Dule Hill) was pulled into this and together, they made a really cute couple.

Basically, the script writers are the ones who should receive the highest commendation in their success in creating witty and charming characters together with interesting story lines. James Roday as Shawn Spencer, while I have to say did not make a really convincing psychic, is able to mesmerize me with his antics and acting skills. While his buddy Gus did not really make any real impact in most investigations, his serious demeanour with the combination of Shawn's almost suicidal characteristics are just a blast!

Occasionally, I did feel a little bit bored at Shawn's abilities. Basically, nothing ever escape him... it's as if he's untouchable... even more powerful than House! He is able to charm anyone into believing him, notice complicated crime scenes at a glance and is able to solve crimes in a very short time with limited amount of info.

However, I must stress again, that this series is a real good comedic relief. It is the perfect medicine for one who wanted to have a good laugh.

Movie Review 16: Outlander - Fighting Aliens with Swords

Title: Outlander

Director: Howard McCain

Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

Kainan's (James Caviezel) spaceship crashed into Earth during the Age of Vikings and brought with him a monster called Moorwen. Moorwen began its killing spree while Kainan attempted to band with the locals to trap and kill Moorwen.

Still remember the slew of aliens movies during the early 90s and late 80s? Well, it's something like that, only without the guns. The fact that Kainan is an alien too (humanoid alien) doesn't make much difference at all... well, except the fact he's the one who provide a far more superior metal for the locals to forge their swords. Don't be fooled by the official synopsis on "fusing advanced technology with the Viking's Iron Age weaponry". There's no technology whatsoever. There's a blaster gun early in the movie, but as in all movies of this kind, the hero lost it before he can even use it.

This movie reminded me of Beowulf, LOTR and Aliens related movies at the same time. Basically, it is not a very good movie... not even alien fans would like this kind of movie. While I supposed no one has ever made a movie with a plot like this, it's end effect isn't impressive. I would say if the director had stick to Viking vs Dragon or Current Age vs Aliens, he would have done better.

The actors themselves are not altogether terrible, just you would never remember their names (except for this one character called Boromir... strange how powerful JRR Tolkien's influence has on us).

Well, that's all that I can say about this movie, and if the length of my review is of any indication, you had better avoid it.

Observation: There's this scene where one of the Vikings fought the burning alien and the Viking did not catch fire even though he is soaked in whale's oil!

Bottomline: Negligible

Bamboo Ranking: 2.0 / 5.0

Things I Want to do in Year 2009

This is not a new year resolution. I hate new year resolutions. And there's this article that says new year resolutions actually will adversely affect one's psychology. Besides, if I want to change or do something, I usually do it right there and then... there's no point in waiting for new year to come to better oneself.

This is actually a long list of things that I wanted to do and by posting this online, my 'helpful' friends can stick their noses in my business and hopefully it would help me in achieving my objective. Well, that's what some highly paid doctor said... peers would help one to achieve greater heights!

Well, here are the things that I want to do:-

1. Lose 15kg by May 2009

Summary: Well, losing weight is sort of a really cliched thingy for me. Every year I vowed to do it and every year, I ended up getting heavier and heavier... and now that I've finally reached my 80's I hope that it's an enough drive for me to bust the fat!

Strategy: (a) Go green! I vow that I will become a vegetarian until I reach my target weight!... okay, maybe a nibble now and then :P.

(b) Exercise, exercise and exercise. Until my trip to Sabah last year, I have not exercise even a single day. My preparation to climb Mt. Kinabalu and participating in marathon run got my engines running. I'm now on a regular once a week hiking at a hill near my place. Will go to gym at least twice a week.

2. Relearn Mandarin

Summary: I have no idea why so many people are able to speak Mandarin fluently but unable to read or write. Me, I am able to speak terribly, read some simple words and write less than a hundred words... in other words, a half bucket of water (Cantonese translation)! Being one of the 5 international languages, if I am able to speak, write and read Mandarin fluently, I would then know 2 out of 5 of the international languages!

Strategy: (a) Read mandarin newspaper, listen to Mandarin music and watch lots of Taiwan Idol tv series! Having fun while learning is the way to go!

3. A book a month

Summary: It has been years since I have touched any reference books. Everytime I went back to hometown, I would enthusiastically take some of my reference books back so I can read them when I'm free. Alas, it turned out that I would rather sleep than open a book full of knowledge!

Strategy: (a) Stop buying novels and magazines. I am unable to eat alone without any reading material. So, hopefully, by starting to read, it would perk my interest again and start to actually read some useful stuff apart from those fantasy novels that have me dreaming all the time!

4. Finish the first book of my novel.

Summary: It has been three years since I started writing a novel... and I'm just in Chapter 2! Something must be done if I were to finish my trilogies before age of 30!

Strategy: (a) No writing, no games. Force myself to refrain from playing games unless I manage to procure at least one A4, 1.5 spacing, font 12 page filled with words. If i want to play games, I'll need to submit 1 page which will allow me to play for 1 hour.

5. Actually start to save money

Summary: I have been losing money since my graduation... meaning I now have less cash in bank compared to when I graduated. How is that even possible?

Strategy: (a) Follow the steps above. If I were to eat only greens, spend my free time reading reference books and writing my novel, I would be able to save lots of money which I suspected I spend most on food.

Three Polices in Four Days!

Yo, I'm back to the online community! Unfortunately, I left my camera in Rainbow's house so my report on my friend's wedding will have to wait.

Well, the most bizarre thing happened to me for the past four days. I have always been a law-abiding citizen and thus my encounters with the law enforcement side is minimal at best. However, I met with three different police for the past four days!

First, I had to meet with an uniformed officer to make a report on my missing passport. She was surprisingly chatty compared to my encounter with Prai police when I made a report on a car accident. This policewoman even complained to me that the server always break down and she always had to retype reports again and again :P. Anyway, the helped me rephrase the words in the report and she was occasionally dazzling me with her smile. (I'll make another post on what to do if you lose a passport later when I actually got one :P).

I also had the opportunity to see a lot, and I mean a lot of people being brought into the jail. Mostly are foreigners which I presume had no official papers to be in Malaysia. The police, however, in my opinion were to comfortable with them. They actually had their back faced to the prisoners without anyone else to look after them when he open the door to the jail! Sure, they couldn't have managed to escape the police station if they wanted to, but what if they grabbed a pair of scissors and held me hostage? I was just sitting several feet away from them!

After making the report and reaching home, I got a phone call from an investigating officer who wanted me to come for an 'interview' about my lost passport. I was expecting an interrogation but it turned out to be really an interview. She basically asked me about my family, my sister and stuff. Luckily she didn't ask which course my sister is studying as I had no idea :P. But she did ask me about the schools me and my sister study in, and the jobs I have done and so on. One thing I noticed is that they are not very well equipped. I was trying to hand a pen drive to her which contained my scan copy of the lost passport and she seemed to be unable to find a computer to access the files!

My final encounter is with a traffic police. I was caught in a speed trap! Here, I will put all the blame on my friends whom I took to Malacca with me to the wedding dinner. Basically, we had tight time constraint when we traveled to Malacca and thus my friends said that I can drive up to 120km/hr as the speed trap had a 10km/hr tolerance. I have always driven at 105km/hr maximum at all times. What they did not realize is that their assumption is based on the theory that the speed trap is in perfect condition. The tolerance is there for a reason and that is for when the speed trap itself is not accurate. Thus, if the speed trap measured 120km/hr when I was actually driving at 110km/hr, the police will note that I was still driving within limits because when he minus the 10km/hr tolerance, I'm still driving at 110km/hr. If I drive at 120km/hr, it is possible the speed trap will register 130km/hr (due to inaccuracy) and even with the 10km/hr adjustment, I will still be driving at 120km/hr!

Anyway,I got stopped the first time in the highway and I was damn scared. Then this police officer came up to me and told me that I was speeding and was driving at 120km/hr. I just smiled and neither nodded nor denying it because I had no idea what speed I was driving at that time :P. Anyway, he actually asked me if it is okay for him to give me a speeding ticket which is RM300! Is that normal? This is my first encounter so I don't know how to react. So I just nodded and he was asking me what is my job and where I'm heading and what's the load of luggage doing in the back of my car. He even asked me if I'm married and why I'm not married at 28 (he made a calculation mistake) when I said I'm still single!. Luckily he didn't check the luggage or he'll find loads of "DVDs" :P.

Well, the only thing left for me to do is to act innocent, which is of no difficulty at all :P. I gave him my most wide-eyed innocent look and the sweetest smile (a female might have a better result, I guess :P)... and he suddenly said he's going to let me go on a warning this time. I was shocked... and he had to repeat the statement again before I drove away from the other speed maniacs that were stopped by the side of the road!

Well, the moral of this story is that there is nothing to be afraid of the police as long as you're a law-abiding citizen like me!