Under the Bamboo Trees

Perth Trip Day 4 & 5

2011-06-08T07:00:00.000+08:00

And the 4th day was a day of beaches. There were stories on the beauty of the Australian beaches and so we made it into our itinerary.

Sample beach...

What was surprising to me was the availability of such things for people. If this were in Malaysia, the bags + the box would be long gone...

Beach 2...

Beach 3...

This is the AQWA... otherwise known to us as the underwater aquarium... did not go in... should have cancelled the dolphin event and go to this instead...

The Boulevard... quite famous woh...

Finally... had the first meal of the day, which was technically lunch... hot chocolate...

My friend had this BLTA... bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado...

Another view of BLTA...

Pizza... so so kua... don't really like the brown thingy... forgot what it's called... very sour...

I had pasta... quite nice... though my personal preference would be the cream based sauce... but this is the only pasta on the set lunch menu :(

Another friend has a lamb thingy...

After lunch, we went boat shopping...

But was quickly distracted by this Cold Rock ice-cream... over a thousand combinations woh... and the ice-cream were mixed with toppings of your choice on a slab of cold rock... true...

My ferrero rocher + honeycomb ice-cream..

And we notice this nice sign shows the distance to various major cities in the world... KL is in... unfortunately it's spelt wrongly :(

Continue boat shopping...

Boat shopping...

Autumn leaves...

Then, it's off to the beaches again... this time, it's beach for animals, not humans... in this case, it's a horse beach...

And a beach for dogs...

Too bad it was a cold day and there were no horses taking bath in the sea... it would've been a sight... the beach for animals is surprisingly in a very good state.

Dog beach is just next to the horse beach... and this dog came dangerously close to us... technically, the owner of the dog would have been fined since his dog crossed over to the horse's beach... I can't imagine the chaos if the dogs were chasing the horses in the water...

Some dogs in the dog beach... dog owners stayed on land...

At night, it's of to one of the posh place for dinner... Kaili's Market... you can buy the fish at the market next door and give it to the restaurant for them to cook for you... surcharges applicable of course....

Me with my hot chocolate... again...

My friend had a glass of Sprite... and he kept on complaining he's cold...

Another had tea... cute tea pieces...

I had this seafood chowder for starters... while the texture is creamy enough... the ingredients were not as nice as I had expected...

Don't remember what's the name of this dish... but it's the same fish that the penguins ate yesterday! Those were non-fried of course... it's quite nice... a little bit like ikan bilis... but a little bit more meat.

My main dish is the Rock Lobster! And frankly, it's overrated. This is only half lobster and it's AUS$34++ and I liked the cheese more than the lobster meat itself... still, it's an experience one should try... but I know enough that I will not order lobster in the near future... not that the lobster is not fresh... it is in fact, very fresh... I just think that it's same as an oversized prawn. :P

Another friend ordered grilled lobster...

And another ordered some indian food... which looks nicer than my "big prawn" :P

And another ordered burger... I think...

And this my dears, is my first proper breakfast in Australia... which is taken at the airport... in day 5 of Perth...

And thus ends my 4/5 day short trip to Perth. Total expenses, inclusive of air tickets, baggage, food, taxis, souvenirs ~RM3000++, which could have reach RM5000++ if I had to stay in a hotel... but then again, I don't think I would visit Australia if I had to spend RM2000++ on accomodation :P

Perth Trip Day 3

2011-06-05T16:34:00.000+08:00

Day 3 in Perth was particularly uneventful. The only event we had for the day was a trip to the Penguin Island to watch dolphins and penguins... there's sea lion watch too, but we did not opt for that package.

Breakfast... first time I had in Perth... was in McD... their breakfast set were slightly different from Malaysia's being that their sets mainly consists of pork bacon and the drink is cappuccino

Bacon burger! With avocado sauce too...

We reached the meeting point early in the morning... early being ~9am

And got on a boat that's surprisingly quite full despite it's Monday.

Then, for those who opted for the dolphin watch package, we were transfered to another boat...

This so-called swimming with the dolphins package does not guarantee a sighting of dolphins. We basically have to sail around and hope that we're lucky... that and plus the experience of the guides and the speaker that's immersed in water, letting out dolphin's sounds. So the pics caught were quite scarce... all pics of dolphins are caught by my friend.

Dolphin...

After about 2 hours (I think) of chasing dolphins, we were finally let off the Penguin Island. This island is a protected reserve... the guide said something about level 7 or something to that effect. Even the toilet is the natural ones... no water flush...

The island is a nesting ground for pelicans... and the female ones were quite protective of their nests... we were continuousness harried by this particularly annoying bird.

And the island is filled with them!

Close-up of the bird... I'm not sure if this is how female pelicans look like... or it's another bird altogether...

This is a pelican, but it's nowhere on the island...

Picture if the egg the birds were protecting...

The scenery is okay i supposed, if you can ignore the shit that's everywhere...

Next, we went into a showroom to watch penguins... which is rather disappointing...

Penguin swimming...

Penguin feeding...

In conclusion, I would not really recommend joining this adventure as the thrills are quite short and at a high price... to watch the penguins and dolphins, it was ~AUS$85... and it peaks more than AUS$100 if you want to watch the sea lion as well... at least for the sea lions, you watch it in the sea in a boat/ship that has a glass underbelly... the penguins watch was totally so "duh".

Anyhow, after this "adventure" we were back at home, do a little shopping to buy nougats and chocolates... and that is a must buy. However, I was in one shop that's selling 250g of nougats for AUS$27 while another shop that's selling 1kg nougat at the same price! Not sure if they accidentally put up the wrong price or what.

And oh, the supplements here are super cheap even after the currency conversion. So, if you have any vitamins, omega, calcium you want to buy, you can buy over here as well!

Well, that's all for a short uneventful third day in Perth.

Perth Trip Day 2

2011-05-28T11:17:00.000+08:00

Day 2... we woke up in the morning, have McD breakfast, which has much more variety than Malaysia... the pork bacon was just stupendous and there's avocado paste too.

Anyhow, our trip this morning was to the Caversham Wildlife Park... it's kind of like a zoo... I know... it seems "duh" to visit a zoo... but you can't visit Australia and not see it's local fauna.

It was Sunday... and there are still lots of car park spaces left... there are a lot of people, but it's just that there are a lot of car park spaces too... compared to Botanical Garden in Penang... it's heaven and earth...

Main entrance

The map...

There are special shows in the park too... mostly for children...

First area... I'm going to show some pics of the animals... but not all as it will take forever to load up that many pictures...

Australian King Parrot...

Bennetts Wallaby...

Spectacled Flying Fox...

Mountain Duck...

Little Corella...

Laughing Kookaburra...

Me feeding kangaroos... they are soooo fat... and they poop as they eat... ewww

Another kangaroo posing for pics...

Western Quoll's butt...

Some huge bird...

Nankeen Kestral

Next it's the Molly's farm where you'll have the "normal" animals... and this is llama...

Donkey...

Pig...

Monstrous pig... it's not obvious from this pic... but this pig is HUGE... i believe if you throw a child in there, it can just gobble it up...

We had some fun feeding the donkey... and this is him opening the mouth :P...

Me... friends with mountain goats...

Horsey...

Cow...

Doe?

I want a pony!!!

Mutated chicken?

Super huge camel...

Australia's lesser known local... hairy nose wombat...

Peacock...

Black Winged Stilt...

This is nothing like the pictures shown on the cage... so not sure what it's called...

Dingo... pure bred almost extinct... so sad...

And apparently, super dangerous... this is the only animal with electric fence...

Dingo... it looks more like a dog to me... but it's descended from Indian asian wolves...

Barn owls...

Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby...

Galah... most ideal pet... or so the sign says...

Gang-Gang Cockatoo...

Finally, reached the koalas! Can go in and touch them... but apparently they are extremely vicious... so only a selected few can be touched... and OMG... their coats are so soft... I so want to cuddle them... but the PIC says it's too stress for them to let us cuddle! They are already sleeping 20 hrs a day and they are still stressed? And it is illegal is several states in Australia to hold a koala! I've got a video posted in Facebook showing it in action...

Sleeping koala...

We were fortunate to arrive at a time where one of the koalas was superhyped (sugar rush maybe?). It was walking here and there, climbing the fence, jumping up and down and the PIC had to put it back to its place several times during the time we were there... and it was still walking around when we left the cage...

Koala eating... very picky eaters... will eat only 22 types of eucalyptus leaves...

After that, we went to Perth city center... and have food in the food court... really... if it were up to me, I'd be eating expensive day in day out... but of course, have to consider others mah... so I ended up selecting a pork roast... so-so only...

And a ferrero rocher ice-cream... not nice... has more ice than cream...

And one of the juice mix drinks called immune booster... available in Malaysia too...

Some pics of Perth buildings...

You know, it's a city center and yet there are still big spaces for you to walk... you won't feel packed and there's not loud, carbon monoxide emitting cars nearby... I really am amazed... nice place to retire to...

My friend introduced me to this bubble tea from utopia... and it really was nice... while available in Malaysia (not this brand)... it lacks the "tea" flavour... this one from Utopia is bursting with tea flavour...

Perth's famous bell tower from afar... it was tolling (ringing?) at that time and it was quite nice... not a super annoying loud noise I would expect...

This not seaside... it's the Swan river...

Some of the upscale houses in Perth... apparently, the price of a two storey house is the same as having a single storey with double the size... so many people build only single storey houses...

Next, it's park in the city... the Kings Park... this is it's various trails...

Kings Park entrance...

This park is right at the center of Perth... and many people actually come and take a walk here during lunch time on weekdays!

A memorial thingy...

Malaya is in here as well!

Memorial...

Perth city... I think :p

My first Panaroma shot...

Well maintained path...

Boabs... giants of the North... hey aren't we in the South?

Later that night, we went to the casino... it was really near my friend's place... this is the stadium across the casino... I mistaken it as the casino :P. Anyhow, compared to Genting, I preferred this casino... which is called Burswood Club. First, it has less people compared to Genting... this by no means meant that there are no people in this casino... it's just that the number of people is just nice. I can find place to sit in, especially those electronic roulette while if I were in Genting, I won't get a place for the whole night. I supposed that's the difference between Chinese and non-Chinese... also, one start difference is that the people here actually smiles and talks to you when you're gambling... while those giving out cards in Genting shows a really moody look to you and will never talk to you that just makes you want to strangle them :P

Well, that's all for day 2 in Perth!

Perth Trip Day 1

2011-05-21T11:10:00.000+08:00

So, after three years of not going anywhere, my friend and I decided on a short trip to Perth, Australia to visit another friend who has moved there. He has build a nice, cosy family over there and since that means free accommodation, transportation and guide, we jumped at this opportunity :P

We arrived in Perth early in the morning ~6am. After a short nap in my friend's house, we started on our trip in Perth.

First stop is the Fremantle market. I did not take any pictures in the market since I was still reeling from the fact I'm overseas (which is the first time without my parents)... so, I only have pictures of buildings. :P Anyhow, the stuff at Fremantle market are super cheap (not converting back to RM). My friend bought 10 koala bear key chains which costs only AUS$2... which means it's 20 cents per keychain! I did not buy it cause keychains are just sooooo common nowadays :P

Did you know that Burger King in Malaysia is called Hungry Jacks in Australia?

Fremantle port?

Some nice table carving at the side of the street

Can you imagine that this is the traffic near the market on a weekend? It's just amazing! Anywhere in Malaysia, it would be so packed with people and cars that you can't even breathe... and in Australia, there are plenty of legal parking spaces while in Malaysia, you can't even find illegal ones

Nice window?

Sample of car park signs. There are car parks for loading zone and car parks for different time zones... and the people actually follow the rules! They even have car parks in which one is supposed to park not more than a certain period of time, for example 1 hour and people really adhere to this rule while Malaysians would have hogged the parking space for the whole day.

After a nice walk in the market, we went to Cicerello's to have lunch. Apparently, this is one of the most famous restaurant in Fremantle.

And after you placed your order, you're given a beeper so that you can go back to your place to sit and enjoy the scenery and go to the counter to take the food when the food is ready.

Cappucino... AUS$4

Pasta... didn't try so no comment, but the person eating it says it's really nice...

Chilli mussels... my friend says it's really nice, but I beg to differ... the mussels taste strange and the bread were so hard that it can be described as "throw at a dog and it will die :P)

Another dish my friend is eating...

The dish that I ordered... Traditional Fish and Chips... and it's reeeaallly nice... the fish is crispy and soft at the same time (though since it's deep fried, it doesn't have much flavour) and the chips... OMG... the fries are just heavenly... unavailable anywhere in Malaysia... all for AUS$12.95

And there are a lot of birds around while you enjoy the seaside/port view. Not sure what bird it is... a seagull?

But if you're not careful, you'd be attacked... like this....

View of the boats parked at the port

A really fat bird with a piece of fries which is not afraid of humans...

Some of the real anchors on display at the roadside... in Malaysia, gone within a day since this metal would be worth real a lot in the black market.

Next stop, it's Supa Golf!!! It's similiar to real golf, but with oversized golf balls and oversized head...

Our gears...

Now you see it....

Now you don't... a sample of a professional pose...

Now you see it...

Now you don't... sample of a not so professional pose...

Before you know it, it was already dark... actually it was only ~6pm but it's like 8pm in Malaysia... well, it is autumn afterall, so days are becoming shorter. We stopped by this super huge place that sells all types of alcohols and this is what we came up with...

Super nice chips... must try

For dinner, we're having bbq... or grilling I supposed...

Food...

I'm not sure if it is psychology... or does everything tastes just nicer in Australia... this one seems to taste nicer than the ones found in Malaysia...

Sausages... done... crunchy on the outside, tasty in the inside....

What are those?

Maize lah... not as nice as those in Cameron Highlands without the 'starch'

Chicken wings...

Lamb rack...

Lamb patty...

My friend says this is the nicest beer he has ever drank... I did not try it... but you should take note of this when you're hunting for beer...

And thus, ends our first day in Perth... we did not really do much of anything... but it was supposed to be a leisure trip... I really hate holidays that ended up being even more tired than no holidays... and I had a really good sleep cause the temperature was ~18C which is absolutely fabulous... how I wish Malaysia has this kind of temperature... but then again, it would drive the air-cond makers out of business :P

Movie Review 44: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (pt1)

2010-11-18T07:00:00.002+08:00

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (pt.1)

Director: David Yates

Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes

Genre: Fantasy

In the second last installment of the movie series, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and friends are trying to find the remaining Horcruxes and destroying them if they are to have hope of defeating the great Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes)

I have been watching this movie series since it's first episode and even though I think the book 7 of the series quite enjoyable, I find the movie to be a dread.

There are, of course highlights during the 146 minutes of screen time... but the whole movie feels dragged out. I don't envy the director having to make a decision to whether film the seventh episode in 1 movie or 2... since if he filmed it in 1 movie, it will feel too rush and if he filmed it in 2, which is what he's doing, it will face the risk of feeling dragged out.

He could have introduced some exciting sub plots to the movie... something new and refreshing not available in the novel, but instead, he kept on adding unnecessary scenes. Several places that Harry Potter and friend traveled to are just a waste of time and the screens showing them walking alone, attempting to exhibit conflicting emotions are a bore.

And the storyline for this movie is extremely boring. It's all about emotions... very little action. The director should have lengthen the fight at the beginning of the movie... it was over before I was able to make out who's who.

I'll be expecting a much better movie for the second part. Unfortunately, this meant that one must watch the part 1 of the movie to make sense of the movie...

Observation: I still don't understand much on why Voldemort can't beat Harry when using other person's wand.I mean, a wand is afterall, a tool... sure, it will augment one's power, but surely Voldemort is much, much more powerful than Harry that he don't need to have the most powerful wand in order to just beat Harry!

Bottomline: If you're planning to watch the second part of the movie, you'll have to watch the first part, if not, you won't be able to make any sense out of it.

Bamboo Ranking: 2.5 / 5.0

Movie Review 43: Resident Evil: Afterlife

2010-09-12T09:52:00.002+08:00

Title: Resident Evil: Afterlife

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes

Genre: Horror, Action

This is the fourth instalment of the Resident Evil movie series and it starts off where the third instalment ended. The world is infected by a super virus which turns all infected humans into undead. Alice (Milla Jovovich) is one of the survivors of this apocalypse. She desperately searched for Arcadia… a place where there’s safety and is free from infection. This movie is loosely based on the Resident Evil game series.

This is the first decent film that I have watched since I started movie going two months ago. I have not watched any of the first three movies before so I had no idea what happened in the beginning of the movie. Despite that, my familiarity with the Resident Evil universe through the game series quickly caught me up to date to the developments. This film is only loosely based on the Resident Evil game series as the main character in the game is Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine while in this movie, Alice is the lead cast. Maybe Alice is a character in other version of the Resident Evil game series (e.g. Wii, PSP, GC, etc.)... I played only those on the PC and PS.

Anyhow, I think that Milla Jovovich, as a superhuman hard-ass chick I is pretty good… although losing her powers in the beginning should have resulted in her dead in the plane crash. As for the newcomer in the series, Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller), I think he’s pretty good as Chris Redfiled, although his screen time is really limited... would have like to have him having a bigger impact in the story development. In this film, his involvement doesn’t really change the story much. But I still really like his soulful eyes as in Prison Break, so I might be biased :P. And then, there’s a third character, which I presume exists in the previous series as well... Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) Chris’s little sister. I think she is by far the weakest character in the film... not that she’s very bad... just relatively the weakest one. It is quite obvious she is forcing emotions on her face which resulted in a very unnatural look.

As for the actions, they are pretty awesome... although those who watched the film previous instalment might find it to be the same bland thing if it’s the same. There’s one weak point though. I think the director uses too much slow motion in his action scenes. Slow motion actions are awesome when employed correctly. However, in this film... these slow motion scenes seemed like even longer than the normal motion action scenes (I feel only, I didn’t time them, okay). I think it would have been better if he could cut down on these slow motion scenes. On another point, I love the hammer/axe wielding executioner... he really is similiar to the one portrayed in RE5 of the game. And due to that, I think that he overshadows Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), who is the film’s main antagonist. The final fighting scene between Wesker and Alice/Chirs/Claire is a little bit anti-climatic... not much ooohs and ahhhs scenes.

Anyhow, I believe that after watching this film, it made me want to watch the first three instalment of the film as well. I hope that they do make a fifth instalment as the director said that he would include Leon Kennedy in the fifth film, which I hope has a bigger role to play than Chris in this film... it would be nice to put Leon and Chris together... although it might result in having too much characters in the film and it might cause underdeveloped characters.

Observation: How did Luther West (Boris Kodjoe), one of the survivors, survive being attack by a group of undead in the deep dark tunnel remains a real mystery.

Bottomline: A nicely depicted film which is based on a game... much, much better effort than the likes of Tekken and King of Fighters. This film shows that you do not need to strictly follow the game in order to be successful as it is sometimes impossible to cram all info from a game into a film.

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 42: The King of Fighters

2010-09-06T07:00:00.001+08:00

Title: The King of Fighters

Director: Gordon Chan

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Genre: Action

It was a time I (don't know what year it is) where a secret fighting tournament is being held in a next dimension to determine the next King of Fighters. All was going well, and in came Rugal (Ray Park) who stole three (actually two) sacred artifacts and made himself the lord the the other dimension. He forced people to fight in the tournament and kill them mercilessly... and the only hope the world has lies with Kyo Kusanagi (Sean Faris) who has absolutely no idea what is happening.

Sigh... I was expecting a good movie after several months of not reviewing a movie. First let's talk about the plot. The plot has absolutely nothing to do with the King of Fighters game series. It's just a group of random people fighting for a stupid title... there is even no mention of a prize! And boy oh boy, the plot holes are so evident that I don't even need to try. First, how on Earth did Rugal managed to single handedly enter a supposedly highly secured building without even a scathe through the front doors? He did not even try to hide at all! And that was before he got his hands on the artifacts, that means, he's at most just a decent fighter. Next, there's Kyo who claimed not to know anything about the sword, and hey presto, after a heart to heart with his dead father, he got the sword! And the name Rugal was mentioned several times in front of Kyo, before he chirped in "Hey, Rugal is the one who killed my father!" There is just no flow in the story... and the whole plot is ridiculously weak!

Next, it was the characters. Mai Shiranui (Maggie Q) is actually the lead cast in this movie... I never knew that. Anyway, her fighting scenes are okay, I supposed, but Rugal's and Kyo's and Iori (Will Yun Lee) are absolutely boring. Sean Faris is quite good in "Never Back Down" and it's sad to see him being relegated to a sword wielding maniac... and I still don't know whether he is supposedly being able to fight or not in the movie. First, he got his ass kicked by Mai and then he went sparring with Rugal and managed to hold his line for a long while. And the worst character of all is Rugal. Ray Park's portrayal of an evil overlord is just pathetic. Honestly, I found this Rugal to be a joker... and not the Batman Joker type joker.

This is by far the worst movie I have ever reviewed in 2010, and it is sad, because the cast is quite nice and the setting is good too... and I can't believe there is a fighting movie that's worse than Tekken! Fans or no fans, they won't like it at all.

Observation: Why did Terry stole someone's cap only to throw it away again in his next encounter?

Bottomline: Casts with high potential, but marred by disastrous script, direction and senseless plot!

Bamboo Ranking: 2.0 / 5.0

Super Bored...

2010-08-04T07:00:00.000+08:00

Nope, I'm not dead yet, even though this had been the longest time ever since I updated my blog. Well, a blog is about sharing new experiences and stuff... but these past few months, things have been having a robotic feeling to it.

Almost nothing ever changes... if I discounted the major problems I've been having with a project I've been working for two years and is on the verge of being a total failure. People have been hinting here and there why I'm the one designing for such a complicated project... sigh...

Anyhow, I don't think it is prudent to complain about work online... who know's who's out there watching. So, if I take work out of the equation, my life has been pretty stagnant. Monday to Friday, I'll have the same breakfast, have lunch at the same place and buy dinner from the same stall. Saturday and Sunday, I'll be at the shopping complex and even though I told myself to try new things, I always fall back on the safe and tried food before.

So, nothing new about food. And I have been playing the same games over and over again, and watching the same tv series again and again... since the previous season of tv series have all ended and is starting all over again only in August and September. I didn't even feel like watching movies, which I did for almost every week previously... so, no movie reviews.

Sigh... so I have nothing to write about... but I supposed things will be picking up again soon as the wedding season is in again... so there'll be lots of pictures!

Movie Review 41: Shrek Forever After

2010-05-29T07:00:00.002+08:00

Title: Shrek Forever After

Director: Mike Mitchell

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Genre: Animation, Comedy

Shrek (Mike Myers) is back again and this time, more unhappy than ever. He longed for the days where he was feared as an ogre and not just some tourist attraction. In came Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) who offered Shrek to experience the feeling of a true ogre for one day. Unknown to Shrek, the contract he signed was not what he seems as he found himself alone and without his friends. Shrek has only one day to set everything right or he will disappear forever!

A lot of people actually did not know that this is the fourth installment of the series. Frankly, even I thought that this is the third installment. Despite the not so rememberable third installment of the series, I assure you that this fourth and most probably the final chapter of Shrek series is one that you will remember.

However, this movie is not as joyful as the previous ones. It tends to have a darker mood and theme and the laughs are less frequent, although if and when they appear, you'll still have a good old laugh. The storyline is simple enough to understand and the acts (voiceovers) are still superb... although I still find myself to have a preference to Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas)... his "form" in this movie is just really belly shaking.

There's not much to tell as this is already the fourth in the series and still with the similiar casts as previous ones... you'll find Gingerbreadman, Three Blind Mice, Pinnochio, Big Bad Wolf and many other fairytale characters... all twisted for fun and to your liking. Ryan Seacrest have a minor role in this movie as well!

Observation: A tiny loophole in the storyline... if Shrek was not there to save Fiona, the fairy godmother's son is supposed to save her!

Bottomline: Recommended

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Efficiency of LHDN

2010-05-01T07:34:00.000+08:00

This is just unbelievable! I submitted my income tax forms last month... beginning of April, and three weeks later, I actually got the check for my extra payment of income tax due to the monthly scheduled tax deduction!

If this is not called efficiency, I don't know what it is! And that is one more reason why one should submit early... and also using the online submission forms. I still don't know why people like to submit as late as possible. Is it because of the interest rates? Or is it just out of spite?

I really don't think the government should specially extend their working hours into the midnight at the last day just so that all people can submit on time. Instead, they should just work regular time and for anyone who is a second late, they should be fined.

After that, no one would ever try to submit the income tax forms the last minute! Although an iron fist government is not the most popular thing and I don't really like that kind of government, sometimes, people are just like children. They need to be smacked and punished to behave.

We are always teaching our children to be punctual and follow house rules but the adult themselves can't even follow a simple deadline that was given a two months grace period. Something is really very wrong with our people!

KFC & McD Going Green... with different strategies

2010-04-02T07:00:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure if this is happening in other states as well, but I found out recently that McD and KFC have been participating in the "No Plastic Bags" campaign. It has started for quite some time, but since I haven't visited these two restaurants for the past few months, I was not aware of this.

Apparently, McD and KFC are not giving out plastic bags for Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. While I'm neutral towards these kind of campaigns, it is the differences on how these two restaurants tackle this matter that fascinates me.

For KFC, it's simple... they automatically charge you an extra RM0.20 every time you make an order on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They did not even bother to ask if one would want the plastic bag. They just add in 20 cents when they punch in the order.

For McDonald's instead of charging their customers, they replaced their plastic bags with paper bags. And if you order two or more drinks, they'll give you a cardboard coaster.

It is in my opinion that McDonald's strategy is of a better one. It reduces the use of plastics while not inconveniencing customers. While it is true that we can use shopping bags while shopping in supermarkets, I don't think that it is a viable option when shopping for food.

KFC's strategy is does not really help much in conserving plastics as they assume that each customer need plastic bags by automatically charging them.

So, conclusion? Support McDonald's! :P

Movie Review 40: Jeon Woo Chi: The Taoist Wizard

2010-03-30T07:00:00.002+08:00

Title: Jeon Woochi: The Taoist Wizard (known as "The Tao Fighter: Woochi" in Malaysia) (Korean)

Director: Choi Dong-Hun

Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Action

Woochi (Kang Dong-won) is a Tao wizard from the Chosun dynasty. However, he likes to play tricks on people who he thinks is corrupt and is in need of a good punishment. He accidentally came across a sacred relic that is searched by the demons of the underworld. Through deceit, the demons managed to get Woochi trapped into a scroll but not before Woochi snatched the sacred relic from the demon. Five centuries later, the world is embroiled with demons again and the only hope that the world has is Woochi.

It is my belief that Koreans make really good fantasy movies. Sure they make good love stories too, but whenever one director decided to make a movie that does not have love as the main theme, it amazes the world (yes, yes, I'm exaggerating!)

Anyhow, this movie is great. The fighting scenes, special effects are all top notch and is used in such a way that one doesn't feel over the top. Their wire works are excellent too, their "flying skills" are actually more graceful and natural than the Chinese ones.

The lead actor, Kang Dong-won is able to carry off his mischievous character convincingly. His antics are hilarious and I've seldom seen a male actor fighting in such a graceful way. The flapping of his robes, turning of the hand, stepping on the ground are all perfectly done that it really resemble the ways of the Koreans in the olden days.

The storyline is great, with a great twist in the middle (not a twist anymore if you've read my summary :P) and there're no boring, squishy love scenes! One little negative experience that I have is I have trouble in keeping up with the subtitles. The actors and actresses speak in great speed and the subtitles kept on changing every few seconds. I would have been better if the subtitles are actually in two lines instead of one. As such, I have to choose to either appreciate the movie without understanding what they are talking about or reading the subtitles but missing out the acting.

Anyhow, for those who do not mind reading subtitles and enjoy Korean styled action movies, this is the one you should go to! Unfortunately, it doesn't receive the acceptance it's supposed to have. There were only three other people in the cinema while I watched this!

Observation: I don't understand how Woochi claimed he cannot perform magic when he does not have his magical symbols but doesn't need use them when he perform his magic when he has them in his pouch.

Bottomline: Knowing Korean language would boost the experience with this great movie!

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Night at Malacca

2010-03-21T07:00:00.014+08:00

So, after attending my friend's wedding luncheon in Malacca, and dumping my super drunk friend in the toilet of our hotel room, my other university friends met up at night to relive the memories of our stay in Malacca 5 years ago.

First stop, is of course, the super famous... Sate Celup!

The price of these "Sate" has markedly increased... no thanks to the super rich university students spending like crazy!

Super thick and delicious gravy that we cooked our "Sate"in....

Next stop, is a shop that we haven't heard of during our uni life... however it is quite famous these few years... what is it famous for? Mille Crepe!

Strawberry Mille Crepe...

Cheese Mille Crepe... well, it's safe to say that this is not like any cake that you ever had before... the "thousand" layered cake feels really different when you put it in your mouth... a must try if you're in Malacca... near Mahkota Parade...

Then, we went and visit something new... the Menara Taming Sari... basically, it's just a circular tram that moves slowly up, enabling you to enjoy the night scenery of Malacca... RM12 per ride, I think... really not worth it :P

The other people who rode with me...

A photo of night scenery... yeah, it's not very clear... I'm taking picture in a moving vehicle at night... okay... maybe even SLR is not able to take good pictures in this situation... and I realized with horror that the street below us is super jammed! Apparently it happens every weekend from morning till night!

Our next trip is to eat dim sum which opens at night... however, after got caught in heavy traffic and frantic search, we found that it was closed... so, we just sit down in a nearby food stall and had a burger... the burger ayam special... nice!

After that, we stop by at another stall that opens late into the night... it's already midnight! This time, it's a stall famous for duck meat noodles... though the one in the picture is not a duck meat noodles... no idea what it is :P

Mango sago...

Chicken feet noodles...

It was about this time that my drunk friend woke up and calling me to asked what happened! We had a really fun time spinning tall tales about his drunken behaviour...

Unfortunately, I had to wash the hotel bathroom floor before I sleep and it was around 2am before I can finally rest!

The next morning, I realized something really nice in the bathroom...

The various flavours of body showers and even moisturizer! And they smelled really nice!

Well, staying in Malacca brought back some really fond memories... a life without worries and a life that the day began at night and ends when the sun comes up!

Kiat Soon's Wedding

2010-03-12T07:00:00.000+08:00

Ah, Malacca, how I missed you... the opportunity (or rather excuse) to visit Malacca came when one of my ex-coursemate held his wedding in Malacca. The wedding meal was a luncheon and it was held in Rennaissance Hotel.

I was figuring out on whether to take a bus or plane there when my friend offered to drive me there! Hurrah! We arrived at Malacca around before 12 and checked into the hotel room that was booked by the groom for us... which is a really fortunate matter (more on that later).

Anyhow, following are the pictures taken over there...

Ice goose... or is it a swan?

Top tier of the wedding cake...

Stage decoration...

Main table decoration

Another angle of the main table...

The one in the red box is fruit cake and the one in the yellow box is a customized chocolate... the pictures and words are white chocolate! Didn't managed to try them as it melted when I reached home :(

First dish... Rennaissance Five Treasure Hot & Cold Hors D'oeuvre Combination... surprisingly nice... I've never put much faith in hotel food, but this one is a real nice opener...

Braised Shark's Fin Soup with Crab Meat & Dried Scallops... fist time I see that the shark's fin come separately and was poured into the soup when served... but still, I think the starch / shark's fin ratio is too high :P

The band for the day... Rhumba Fusion Band... apparently quite famous in KL... visited their webpage and they performed for really a lot of events... got four of five of them with 3 of them singing alternately... and I think they are worth the fame... wonder how much they are charging :P

Roasted Crispy Chicken with Prawns Cracker... the chicken is too tender... prefer the prawn cracker :P

Steam Pomfret-Hong Kong Style... nothing special about it...

Champagne pouring ceremony...

Fried Prawns in Two Varieties... love especially the salad prawns...

Braised Sliced Pearl Abalone with Pacific Clams...

Steamed Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf...

Deep Fried Sesame Ball with Lotus Seed... nice!

Sweetened Red Bean Cream with Rice Dumpling... not your normal dessert...the Red Bean Cream is not really that nice, but at least it's special!

These two bottles were empty by the end of the lunch!

A group of drunkards drinking :P... notice the dark brown liquid... they are all alcohol... not even one single drop of tea... the bride's uncle who is drinking with us, checked every glass before drinking his own.

The guys... two of them are super drunk...:P

My day did not end there... my friend who brought me to Malacca was madly drunk. My other friends have to take him by each arm to take him back to his room up in the hotel (thankfully we decided to stay there)... and when he reached the bathroom he started vomiting... first in the toilet bowl, then the wash basin and finally on the floor! And he vomited from 3pm to 8pm! I didn't dare to take a nap and cannot go into the bathroom! And he was giving me this cold stare whenever I tried to guide him to his bed. So, I just check up on him now and then and just let him vomit all over the bathroom floor.

It was the first time I have to take care of a drunk all by myself and it was a really eye opening experience. My strategy is to leave him alone and just check up on him now and then to ensure he's still breathing :P. Anyhow, despite the rather unpleasant experience with my friend, I think it is still worth the trip to drive so far to Malacca (no I drive mah :P)

Movie Review 39: 14 Blades

2010-02-27T07:00:00.002+08:00

Title: 14 Blades

Director: Daniel Lee

Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes

Genre: Action

Even though this movie came out during CNY, it can't really be considered as a CNY movie since it has nothing to do with CNY and it is a pretty dark movie which is a total opposite to the spirit of CNY. Anyhow, after reading numerous movie reviews on the four main movies that came during CNY, I decided 14 Blades as it is the only one that has the least number of unfavourable review.

The movie was set in the Ming Dynasty and the story revolves around the Royal Guards of the emperor, which sort of act like the secret police/assassins. The leader of the Royal Guards, named Green Dragon (Donnie Yen) was ordered to kill an official and retrieve an important box. During the assassination attempt, Green Dragon found out what was in the box and with that knowledge, he had to rethink his loyalties and was soon the target for the rest of the Royal Guards and a super powerful woman assassin, Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui).

I did not regret my decision in watching 14 Blades as my first CNY movie. While it is quite disconcerting to see the lip movements not matching the voice (some actors spoke Mandarin only and had their voice dubbed), it turned out to be quite a good movie.

Of course, with Donnie Yen, there'll be lots of action sequences. Though Tuo Tuo's martial arts are really, really very fake (the person who make the CG should go for more training :P), I enjoyed Kate Tsui and Donnie Yen's showoff. Also, Wu Jun, acting as the Judge of Sands is quite convincing as a robber with principles. This is the second time I watched him on the silver screen and I think it is much better than the "Butterfly Lovers" movie, though I think he tried too hard on being a badass and it made him to be a little stiff in some scenes.

However, this movie could have been much, much better. First off, the dialogues did not flow smoothly. Sometimes the characters would say something unrelated all of a sudden and it is really noticeable. And then there's this leading actress, Zhao Wei as Qiao Hua. I can see no reason at all why she would fall head over heels in love with Green Dragon... it just doesn't make any sense at all... it's like she love Green Dragon only because he can fight very well... and that is really shallow.

Anyhow, though this is not a movie suitable for children, I believe it to be entertaining enough to be watched in cinema.

Observation: This movie shows how stupid people are in the olden days as it portrays the power of the imperial seal which would enable anyone, including one with an army obviously trying to conquer the country to pass through as long as the enemy have the imperial seal :P

Bottomline: Acceptable quality for a movie that came out during CNY.

Bamboo Ranking: 3.7 / 4.0

The Good Side of the Bank?

2010-02-25T07:00:00.000+08:00

I never thought I would say this, but I was pleasantly surprise in an encounter with my credit card bank... Direct Access. I received a phone call that day and I was thinking that it was another telemarketer from some insurance company saying that I'm the lucky few to be picked to get this really good policy.

I was tempted to say I was busy and never to call me ever again :P. But the good side of me managed to get a rein of my temper. This girl was actually from the Direct Access credit card center (not the "I got your info from the bank but actually work for insurance company") and she said that she noticed I have several credit cards with them and she was asking if I would like to cancel some of my credit cards!!!

I was stunned for a moment. I mean, these people are usually asking why I want to cancel the credit card... instead, she asked if I would like to cancel my credit card! Of course, it might be some hoax/fraud run by some really terrible people who want to siphon info of my credit card from me. But the questions she asked me while are confidential, should not be enough to do any permanent damage since they did not ask for password or access number... so I gave her the info she needed to "verify my status".

And the next day, my credit card was gone from the online bank account! This incident really showed me that there is goodness even in the devil's heart :P

Super Terrible Services at Kam Ling

2010-02-20T07:00:00.000+08:00

On the fourth day of CNY, I decided to give Kam Ling restaurant another try despite my really terrible experience a week ago. I wasn't really expecting top notch service and food since it's CNY and everyone is fine with eating terrible food, with cut throat price and dismal services.

One thing to take note of is that Kam Ling is willing to serve normal dishes during the CNY, unlike Jia Restaurant who demanded all its customers to select only the set lunch/dinner. However, the first hiccup of the day was the one writing down our orders said that we would have to wait for an hour for the dish to be served!

Resisting my urge to just walk away there and then, we continued our orders. The next thing was when our jug of tea was empty, we hailed down one of the Indian servers to refill our jug... and that was the last we heard of our jug. Throughout the whole meal, we were unable to locate our jug of tea and no one gave us any new jug of tea despite my numerous complaints.

And looking at the end of the restaurant, a group of servers would huddle together doing God knows what despite some tables do not have tea or utensils (chopsticks/bowls/plate) prepared.

Celery with camel meat...

Mini version of "bak choy"

Pork ribs...

I just had to take the photo of this bowl of rice. Notice anything wrong with it? I was annoyed by the grotesque looking shape of the rice. It was evident that the rice was slapped into the bowl with no regards to it's presentations... yes, I know, I know, I'm a perfectionist :P

Well, despite my complaints about the terrible service, the food this time was acceptable and the price was actually quite low (during CNY season)... the celery with camel meat was RM16, pork ribs was RM15 and "bak choy" was just RM6! However, the "yee sang" was sold at RM35 for half size! That is daylight robbery... Jia Restaurant was selling at RM25 and even the cafe we had our reunion lunch is selling "yee sang" at only RM28 for half size!

However, I still think that Kam Ling had better train their servers so as not to embarrass Kampar to outsiders. The level of service there was really unimaginably terrible.

The Jia Restaurant, despite it's highly priced dishes during the CNY season, is able to give top notch level of service and their serving speed has markedly improved since last year. I hope that Kam Ling will receive lots of complaints this year as Jia restaurant did last year so that Kam Ling can improve itself in the future. If they continue to provide this level of service, people would go to their restaurant only because there are no place at other restaurants and not because the customers want to!

CNY 2010 5Sc1 Gathering

2010-02-18T07:00:00.000+08:00

Well, the year 2010 is officially the most unsuccessful gathering since its inception in 2000. Most are either married or not free or overseas. However, it is strange to note that while I managed to get only 5 people to say yes to a gathering in a restaurant, when we decided to hold a small scale gathering in a cafe, the amount increased and later, when we continue the gathering at my house, it actually reached the magical number 10!

So, what went wrong? Is it that the others think it is a waste of money to eat at restaurants? Or our gathering lunch menu's price is too steep?

Anyhow, here are some pictures taken on that day... to lazy to do detailed introductions...

The 11am gang in the cafe...

The 12 noon gang in the cafe...

The gathering at my house... this picture did not show the whole gang lah :P...

Siew Ling mixing the "yee sang" with the looks of a profession... I just got the info from my parents that in the olden days (don't know how old), the mixing of "yee sang" is done by professionals with monthly salary over RM4k! Now, it's just some Indo or Indian mixing them :P... cut cost?

The "yee sang" ready to be mixed...

Our lunch... the prosperity pizza from Pizza Hut... the cheese at the sides are quite nice, but I don't think that the prawns are really mixing well with the pizza...

After lunch, we basically just laze around in the living room blasting with a/c... it wasn't really that cool since my mum forgot to put on the door curtain... but it still beats the sweltering heat outside...

Summary of 2010 gathering:-

1. People don't like to eat in restaurants (too expensive??)

2. People like to decide to come to gathering in the last minute

3. People don't read e-mails and all invitations to gathering must be done through phone

4. Married people don't go to gatherings the girls would be at their husband's house and the guys will be at their wife's house

Ling Siew's Wedding (night)

2010-02-12T07:00:00.064+08:00

My aunt made the declaration that the wedding dinner shall start on time... and she actually made it! Right at 7.30pm, which is the time stated in the invitation card, the bride and groom started their marching in procession! How I wish all wedding dinners are like that. But I guess my aunt has all the advantages. My cousin's house is in the housing estate next to the Grand Kampar Hotel (which is where the dinner is at) and the bride's family is staying right in the Grand Kampar Hotel... so, there is no reason for it to be late due to waiting for VIPs!

My mum has been really enthusiastic about this dinner. Mainly because she's meeting up with lots and lots of relatives on her side. She never really like my father's side family and vice versa :P Anyway, I am unsure how accurate her info is, since aunties' gossips are never reliable, but I was told that my aunt actually invited another chef from KL to prepare the wedding dinner... which is actually believable since my previous experience with Kampar Grand Hotel was not particularly enthusiastic. And here are the dishes... I think the guest chef only cook a few dishes lah...

Five Combination Platter... I'm glad this dish is not the one I tasted last time... this time, the dishes are of higher quality albeit still not really up to my standards :P

Oh yeah, this is the bride and groom's table... never seen such a big table!

The deco are quite lovely... the ceiling was filled with multicoloured helium filled balloons... the downside is that the balloons tend to get sucked into the air vents causing the atmosphere to be rather stuffy.

Ballerinas...

This is supposed to be the star dish of the night cause the guest chef is famous for making shark fin's soup!

This is the share of shark fins I got! So little but it's all just ingredients without the starch soup... but honestly I can't see/taste what the fuss is all about...

Steamed Pomfret fish.... quite nice, but it's just an ordinary dish...

The emcees for the night... as usual, the woman's voice overpowers that of the man... :P but their singing are quite nice without those ear jarring noise...

Drinking... aren't they afraid that they are drinking the soap bubbles? :P

The guess who's hand is your wife's game... sadly, my cousin failed miserably at this...

Sigh... how many times do I have to shout and complain that this herbal dish is more suitable by using duck instead of chicken!

Normal prawns...

Mushroom and broccoli...

Sticky rice...

Longan and kaya pau...

My nephew Shauun... the couples were not the happiest person that night :P

Basically, the food was so-so only loh... better than previous food served in the same hotel, but it's nothing to shout about. The only thing worth mentioning is the decoration. I think that it really is quite nice and it made a lot of children happy that night... all of them were clamoring for the balloons when the dinner ended... and since they were not tall enough, their parents have to take them up to get the balloons... it was really a sight to see!

Ling Siew's wedding (morning)

2010-02-09T07:00:00.002+08:00

This post is a little bit overdue as this event happened over three weeks ago. Anyhow, this time, it's about my cousin's wedding and I think this is the first time I have to go with the groom to get the bride... something that I did not look forward to :P. However, my cousin has a lot of other "brothers"... so it won't really affect me :P.

The groom having his breakfast...

My nephew Shaunn exercising after the breakfast in the gym room...

Groom ready to storm the bastille...

The groom's "brothers"...

The initial price demanded by the bridesmaid was extreme... but they would cross out one digit for every task that was completed successfully...

First one is to write "I Love (bride's name) forever" in Chinese and the guys can write one stroke for each sit-up... not as easy as it looks...

Then, the guys have to make a human sedan for the groom to sit on...

To hang up the words he had written... First task completed...

Then, it a test of knowledge as the guys were presented with papers containing incomplete Chinese idioms... and the guys were supposed to complete them... no challenge there... Second task completed...

The third task is a multiple choice quiz where the groom has to guess which eye/lips/face/fingers/toes belong to the bride...

Finally, they have to extract the key to the room from a huge block of ice...

And after the "big" ang pow, the two lovebirds are together...

Is the groom crying for help? :P

Can't resist taking the picture of my other nephew, Aiden who is Shaunn's little brother... so cute... and fat :P

Tea ceremony...

After a busy morning, my aunt, sister, cousin sister and baby nephew take a quick nap in my living room before continuing the dinner at night! My other cousin John, still have the energy to do his office work!

Mei Yee's Wedding

2010-02-06T00:44:00.000+08:00

It was a Friday wedding dinner... one of the first that I have. The Witch's wedding dinner was held at Kampar... my hometown, in a restaurant called Kam Ling. Kam Ling has a long standing history of being the most famous restaurant in Kampar (relatively :P) And due to the business we Kamparians give to Kam Ling, they build another three storey building as an extension to the existing restaurant. And the wedding dinner was held there...

My first step into this new building proves that it is... well, new... a pungent smell of newly coated paint attacked me. The wedding was held at the second floor and I had to take a lift the size of a "lif bomba" to reach there. Being new, the air-conditioning was blasting at full force and many of my friends were noting that it was extremely cold... luckily, the food that we were served were hot... or at least, they were supposed to be...

Table setting...

Stage setting...

Shiny ceiling lights...

Eight Happiness Dish... finally, the first dish was served after 45 minutes from the one stated in the invitation card... and unfortunately, it didn't give a very good impression. Except for the fried yam, everything else is average and some are even below average... most notably the prawns which were definitely not fresh...

The second dish (Shark Fin's Soup) was at least piping hot, but it tasted funny... also, it was served only after almost 30 minutes from the first dish...

Pomfret fish... this might actually be the best dish of the night...

Mushrooms, broccoli, etc...

Chicken... the dish itself was quite okay, but the dish was supposed to be eaten with the salt that came together with the dish... and the salt was terrible... it was too salty without any hint of other spices which it is supposed to have...

Prawns... again, although better than the prawns served in the first dish, it was not exactly what I would call fresh...

Sticky rice...

Pandan filled fried buns and longan dessert... the pandan filled fried buns were quite nice but the longan dessert is really terrible... this dessert is supposed to be very sweet... however, it acutally tasted bitter to me!

The duet by the bride and groom... they both were giving their best... however, their supposedly stunning performance was marred by the terrible acoustics of the wedding hall... sure, the louspeaker was loud enough, but the only word that I can hear clearly when the couples sang was the word "love". Other than that, the rest I heard were some alien language from an alien planet...

The cheering ceremony...

The three gals...

The four gals...

Gals... again

Mr. Hamdan looking all professional...

While I supposed I should not be writing such a demoralising post on the wedding dinner of one of my friends... I just could not hold myself back. I was bragging to all my (non-Kamparian) friends about the great food that Kampar serves and how our restaurants' food are several classes above all the five star hotels... and it turned out that the food served in Kam Ling can be ranked as the bottom three of all the food served in wedding dinners that I have ever attended.

I am extremely ashamed about this and I would not know how to answer my friends when they reveal me as a lying idiot. Besides the food, the services in Kam Ling was terrible and all the performances were watered down to downright hideous due to the clashing sound waves throughout the hall. People were just clapping to give face instead of clapping from the heart.

I have made my declaration to my friends that I would not attend their wedding dinners if they held it in Kam Ling in the future! Kam Ling has became too cocky due to our loyal support and they actually dared to serve me with a second (third rate even) rate food. The only redeeming point was that I was able to catch up with some friends which I have not seen for a very long time... and get first hand news on some coming weddings that I'm supposed to attend (which hopefully I'm invited)... so I need to save my annual leaves now...

Anyhow, to the loving couple... I wish them a lifelong of happiness and as I have always said... it is more important to have a happy marriage than a perfect wedding :P

Make Your Dreams Come True Day

2010-01-13T07:00:00.004+08:00

Did you know today is a "Make Your Dreams Come True Day"?

Yeah, I know it's a really obscure day that no one knows about... but it was here in my calendar which has every single celebration day in it from the famous Mother's Day to the unheard of Pharmacist's Day (which is yesterday). Unfortunately, a search in the internet while confirms the existence of the MYDCTD, did not result in any detailed information about this day... on how it come to be, where it started, etc... even the great and mighty Wikipedia did not produce any results! But then again, I think it's pretty much self-explanatory :P.

So, May All Your Dreams Come True!

Smaller Car, Cheaper Petrol...

2010-01-08T07:00:00.002+08:00

[“The bigger the engine, the higher petrol will cost,” Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said yesterday.] - From the Star

Muah hah hah hah... while my aunt was looking down on me 5 years ago when I decided to purchase a 1.0 Kelisa instead of 1.5 Proton, now who's laughing? Muah hah hah... but then again, I supposed she doesn't mind paying the extra money :P.

Read more here: Fuel price by car size - The Star

Movie Review 38: Sherlock Holmes

2009-12-29T07:00:00.000+08:00

Title: Sherlock Holmes

Director: Guy Ritchie

Running time: 2 hours 11 minutes

Genre: Mystery

Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Watson (Jude Law) managed to save a woman from being sacrificed in a dark magic ritual performed by Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). Lord Blackwood was subsequently hanged to death. However, Lord Blackwood seemed to have risen from the grave and possess magical powers beyond imagination and three more people were killed. Holmes and Watson must solve the mysteries behind these murders before Lord Blackwood come looking for them!

This is a rather different adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. While the Sherlock in this movie retain the crime solving abilities as in novels, this film adaptation of Sherlock is more eccentric... crazy even... and I think they managed to pull if off nicely. I had quite an amusing time watching this movie as it breaks my expectation of a mundane theory based crime solving activity. Instead, it is laden with action sequences that will drive you to the edge of your seats (okay, that's exaggerating a little :P)

Anyhow, the theory based fighting scenes which were then transformed into split second action is most innovative and it occurs twice only in the whole movie, which I think is the correct move... while entertaining, if this type of scenes were shown more would be boring.

The jokes were also something noteworthy to mention. Although I could see the joke coming miles away, both actors, (Robert and Jude) managed to present it in a convincing manner. None of the jokes seemed forced. I do, though have some problems understanding some of their conversations... some details were lost in the Malay language translation of the subtitles and the actors were talking too fast as certain points that I had trouble catching up.

I really think that this movie is worth one's money and it is a movie that is good enough for one to spend year end holidays on.

Observation: Watson's recoveries after the explosion were really unbelievable :P

Bottomline: Good movie to end the year 2009

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Malaysians Don't Work!

2009-12-28T17:08:00.001+08:00

I thought I was being smart for going to shopping complex to watch a movie on Monday, today. I thought that since it's a work day, I can stroll leisurely through the half deserted mall and pick the best spot to eat and get nice seats for movie.

To my absolute horror, there were car jam outside the shopping mall at 4pm, the car park lot was so full that I had to park quite a distance away from the entrance and the queue for the cinema was so long that it is not in between the predetermined lines anymore.

What happened? Malaysians no need to work one kah? Where does all these people come from? And these are not just some youngsters, but whole complete families... so, apparently a lot of people either take leave the same day I do or they are just too rich to work. If they take annual leaves, then what are they doing in the shopping mall? I mean, they could have been in the shopping mall during the weekends. They should not waste their precious few leaves to visit a place they could have done any other day!

Or maybe I'm one of the few who actually need to work to survive in the world :(

And there's this 'blind' aunty who refer me to as 'uncle'! Today just isn't my day.

Turtlish Connection Speed...

2009-12-26T07:51:00.001+08:00

Yeah, I know there's no such word as turtlish... just making it up okay... :P. Am celebrating Christmas back at hometown in Kampar and the internet speed is really horrendous. I sometimes go to Coffee Bean in the weekends and when I go there, I would utilise their wireless internet connection. There, when I download a file that's around 100MB, it would take me around an hour to finish.

But here, in Kampar, with wired connection, it took me two freaking hours to complete my download! I took my PS3 back to hometown to download the new game demos that have been popping up like crazy nowadays. The most popular ones are Bayonetta and Dante's Inferno... if you're not a gamer, you won't heard of it. The thing is, the demos are 1.6GB and 1.1GB respectively. And yes, it's legal okay :P. So, in order to download these two demos, I have to download for almost 24 hours! And it's hogging my line that I can't do Facebook or surf the internet comfortably :(

I do realise that Malaysia internet connection speed is still not mature yet... but my main gripe is that the internet connection speed in Coffee Bean is actually faster than the one in my home! How is that even possible?

Anyway, just wanna rant and rave for a while. Oh by the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Movie Review 37: Avatar

2009-12-20T07:00:00.001+08:00

Title: Avatar

Director: James Cameron

Running time: 2 hours 41 minutes

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action

Humans found a rare and precious metal called Unobtainium in a distant planet called Pandora, 4.3 light years from Earth. Unfortunately, a large deposit of this metal is at the bottom of a Na'vi colony, one of the residents of the Pandora. In order to gain their trust and to communicate with the Na'vi, scientists develop Avatars, genetically builts human-Na'vi hybrids. The humans would then link their minds with the Avatars and will take full control of their new body. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) are the few chosen to interact with the Na'vis. However, their time for peaceful reconciliation is running out as the army led by Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is bent on using extreme force to 'pursuade' the Na'vi to find somewhere else to live.

This is a good movie... unfortunately, since it is directed by The James Cameron, people have higher expectations on him, which made this into a mediocre movie. If this were directed by some unknown director, people would have given him the director of the year title. The movie is basically well-rounded, good storyline (although cliched), good characters, good 3D technology and good creativity.

However, if one were to dig deeper, this is actually a movie about self searching. It is about a human who find his true self in another form. Thus, it is supposed to be an emotional movie. In this area, this movie failed. There were multiple scenes where I expected myself to burst into tears because it has the perfect setting and perfect timing... however, the director (or the writers :P) failed to hit the right spots. For a movie supposedly filled with emotions, there were only two scenes that almost hit the right mark. I'm not sure if it's because of the main characters being animated subjects or because I was too busy reading the subtitles (yes, the Na'vi speak in another language, although they do speak English sometimes). And I must say I was surprised I didn't find any English subtitles when the Na'vi was speaking in their local language... instead it was translated into Malay subtitles... but it was quite accurate as far as I can tell.

The acting were superb... though I would say that it's more due to the superb crafting by the animator. Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), one of the Na'vi was really good in showing feral emotions of a local barbarian :P. Her screaming, screeching, hissing were all beautifully done that made you for the moment believed that this is a real character.

The graphics were of course very well done... although beautifully crafted graphics are quite a norm nowadays, but I must commend on the creativity of the graphics designer... the alien world is a sight to behold. I especially love the night time luminescence. If there were such a place on Earth, it would be the most popular tourist spot on Earth. The creatures of Pandora, although is obviously based on the creatures on Earth, is also beautifully done with some nice upgrades done on them. However, at times, it was obvious the sceneries were overlaid with actual forests and it makes a stark difference. The animated scenes were lush and colorful while the background, which is actual scene, is plain and unappetizing. They should have just created everything in the animator :P.

One of the thing that I don't understand is about the lenopteryx (Toruk). This creature is supposedly the most powerful (symbolically and physically) flying creature in Pandora. However, when flying next to a ikran, it is not that much bigger in size. I mean, two or three ikran would have easily overpowered this creature. There were quite a number of plot holes too which I shall not reveal here... you won't really notice them unless you have a keen eye like mine :P. However, I also like the concept of the mass neural network... basically, Pandora is a super big server and every life forms on it (plants and animals) have an USB port. The Na'vi can connect with this network by using their own personal USB :P

(spoilers start)

This is also one of the few rare movies that humans lost to aliens. And I really hate that. I have no qualms of humans losing to humans, but humans losing to aliens? And I really hate the main character for that since he is the turning point for human's loss... all for an alien girl... yuck! :P. And I have thought that the Na'vis would consummate their love by joining their neurons, instead it is still the good old human intercourse :P. And they could have improved the emotional moment by extending the scene on when Mother Nature herself took part in fighting off the invaders... the scene was so short, that it was over by the time the emotions started to build.

(spoilers end)

I think that this movie is worth your time to watch though I have figured out the storyline like 10 minutes into the movie, it is still has great entertaining value. It isn't as good as Titanic though... I know not all love Titanic, but it is arguably one of the most successful movie in the history of movie making. What makes Titanic successful are due to three things:- the forbidden love, three hour movie and Leornado DiCarprio. Avatar has forbidden love and it is also a three hour movie but it doesn't really have a character that teenage girls can moon over. And also, it is difficult for one to feel anything when the Avatar's forbidden love is about two aliens instead of two humans... and three hour movie nowadays is not really as rare as it was a decade ago. This movie would be successful, but unlike Titanic, if someone were to bring this movie up 10 years later, only the rare few would remember this movie.

Observation:If you watch the movie you'll notice an insect that will turn round and round (not just the wings but the whole body too!) when flying... while it looks beautiful, it is just impractical that the insect flies like that... how can it determine it's location when the whole world is spinning around?

Bottomline: It's worth a watch

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 36: The Storm Warriors

2009-12-14T07:00:00.003+08:00

Title: The Storm Warriors (風雲II)

Director: Danny Pang, Oxide Pang

Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Martial Arts

Ten years after the last installment movie called Storm Riders, the sequel, Storm Warriors emerged on the silver screen with its original main casts. This time, a new super powerful enemy came, called Lord Godless (Simon Yam) and his son Heartless (Nicholas Tse). They both managed to capture several powerful martial artists including Striding Cloud (Aaron Kwok) and Nameless (Kenny Ho). Whispering Wind (Ekin Cheng) came to rescue them and they managed to escape under the cover of the rest of martial artists who sacrificed themselves. In order to combat the invincible Lord Godless, Wind started to follow the path of evil while Cloud learn martial arts from Nameless.

Okay, I must say this out loud...this movie sucks! Even with the superb casts eg. Simon Yam, this movie sucks big time... and the Pangs (directors) had the nerve to say that the movie is very good. I should have watched the Princess and the Frog!

Sure, the graphics are okay, but it lack the sense of power. I would not say that the graphics are even beautiful... they are just above average. Even when Nameless, Wind and Cloud use their most powerful technique... gathering power and such, I just can't get the sense of power from their techniques, it looks just like swirling smoke and wind to me.

Next, is the acting skills... oh my God... they are just terrible... the conversations doesn't have a flow and the soundtrack is boring. And the romantic scenes are best is they do away with it. I don't feel anything at all when the gals died... not to mention that I have seen that scene coming several thousand miles away. Basically, the gals are really insignificant in the movie.

It's all just so cliche... I've figured out who is the final boss 20 minutes in the movie... no, it isn't Lord Godless, who is rather pathetic for a person who claimed to be invincible. I've never read the comic on this one, so maybe the director is trying to stick to the comic as much as possible. The directors also tried to mimic the effect of a comic book in fighting scenes and I think they failed miserably. Instead of awesomeness, I just can't help but laugh at the childish and amateurish executed scenes.

Generally, I love martial art movies especially those that shows ancient China... but this one, I'm sorryloh... it's really a crappy movie for one with such a big budget. And the ending... OMG what the heck is that? Let me ask you, if your best friend killed your girlfriend would you still sacrifice yourself to save him? I might still accept the 'saving' part, but sacrifice oneself to save the bastard who killed my gf? That just doesn't make any sense! :P... I know, I know, it's normal for this kind of stupid sacrifice in comic books... but the problem is, in the movie, it didn't give me enough reason to believe that the sacrifice is worth it while in comic books, I usually cried in these kind of flashbacks.

Observation: I still can't figure out why the weak point of Lord Godless is in the arm... I thought it was the fist/palm.

Bottomline: Find a better use of 2 hours.

Bamboo Ranking: 1.5 / 5.0

Inspirational Pictures... From Another Angle

2009-11-26T07:00:00.006+08:00

Too lazy to write... didn't watch any new movies recently anyway... New Moon, Mulan, Astro Boy... all crappy movies :P. And I'm playing this new game, Dragon Age: Origins that need me to play at least 6 times before seeing all available content in the game... and every playthrough is like around 50+ hours... this is one of the best pc game investment I have ever made... now in second playthrough...

Found these pictures in my junk mail folder... just wanna share...

It's choice not chance that determines your destiny... it's true... so we should not give any chance to anyone at all!

Nothing happens... but first a dream... if everything that I dream of has a possibility of coming true, I shudder at that thought... basically, I dreamt myself ruler of the world and everyone else is my super loyal slave :P

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things... sure, handphones 10 years ago were really monstrously big!

Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow... I can't help but laugh when looking at this picture... it's so true... when you jump over the fence into the cliff, surely the rest of your body will follow :P

Burn brightly without burning out... impossible... if the sun can burn itself out, who are we to compare ourselves to the great and mighty Sun?

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day, saying... "I will try again tomorrow."... well, I don't know about you, but hearing a quiet voice in my head is pretty scary... and definitely will not make me courageous.

It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life... that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself... this is what I have been preaching all along... everyone who help another is a selfish person... so, not helping anyone is my motto!

Keep your face to the sunshine and you will not see the shadows... sure, if everyone has really dark, burned faces (due to sunburn), you won't be able to differentiate shadows and faces :P... tell that to the girls who hide behind umbrellas!

The best sermons are lived, not preached... true, but humans are such generous animals... they have to share what they know and if others don't follow what they believe is right, then the others are wrong.

The heart that gives, gathers... erm... I think it should be the one who gets a heart, gathers :P

Find your joy, and... share it with others... duh, if I can find joy without sharing with others, why would I need to share with others?]

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there... ah, this is what my mum told me when I was little... we must continue to improve ourselves or we will be left behind... but then again, even if you are on the right track, and running, you still will get run over by those who step over you to win the race!

Laughter is an instant vacation... which is why I rarely take vacation... people spend thousands going to foreign soil while I just need a dvd to laugh myself into vacation!

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything... including falling in love? :P

The only things that stand between a person and what they want in life are the will to try it, and the faith to believe it's possible... I'm pretty sure that other than will and faith, other things that stand in between includes, time, death, luck, destiny, God, etc.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but the echoes are truly endless... I'm unsure it that meant the effect resulting from kind words are endless or people talking about it would be endless... either way, it's bad... it's bad for someone to want others to talk about the good deed they have done and it's bad that your actions (kind or otherwise) have infinite consequences since sooner all later, everything good will turn bad and vice versa...

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides... again... nobody ever heard of sunburn? I'm wilting like crazy under one sun... but two? No wonder I avoid this like a plague...

Change your thoughts and change your world... okay... I am the Master of the world and everyone will be my slave... waiting... waiting... waiting...

Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction... it's possible... but more than often, we will get lost forever!

I know, I know, I'm so sarcastic but all I said were true too :P

Movie Reiew 35: 2012

2009-11-15T07:00:00.003+08:00

Title: 2012

Director: Ronald Emmerich

Running time: 2 hours 38 minutes

Genre: Sci-fi

What would you do if the world is going to end in two days? Such is one of the themes explored in the movie... some would accept their fate, some would try to survive while some would die without knowing why. The reason behind the end of the world depicted in 2012 is too advanced for me to understand... it has something to do with shifting of Earth crust... in conclusion, the earth is restructuring it's surfaces... some land will rise, some will crack and some will just simply sink into the bottom of the ocean.

This movie focuses on the struggle of several characters... the intelligent geologist Adrian Helmsly (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is amongst the first to discover the shifting of Earth crust (apart from the Mayans and previous generations scientists) and later is the one who managed to increase the survivor numbers by several times more than previously arranged. Then, we have Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a divorcee, who do accidentally stumbled on the top-secret and will do anything to save his ex-wife, children and ex-wife's bf. These are the two group/individuals with the extra screen time... while others have a relatively short (living) time :P.

I think that this movie is quite nice. I don't like all those "end of the world" movies. Of course, the theme of this movie is nothing new... in the 90s, the end of the world is usually caused by aliens and demons, then meteors and nowadays, they blame on Mother Nature. And as with most other "end of world" movies (except alien types), the movie focuses on several groups of people who in some way connects with each other even though they don't know each other. I have always thought of this type of style as boring since there is too little character development and everything would feel so rushed.

And yes, this movie does feel rushed but not in a bad way. It started off slow, and then it's just one obstacle over another. The "apocalypse" scenes were quite nicely done... although I think that they are a little over the top... the almost-like atomic explosion of volcano is so surreal... beautiful but deadly... but hey, I've never seen a super major earthquake/volcano eruption before, so who am I to complain? But I just love what they have done to Hawaii... it's a perfect beauty. Though I must say that they miss out some details like... people. Sure, some people would pop up here and then during the earthquake... but I a lot of the buildings were void with people when one of the actor drove his car through buildings to escape the earthquake.

The 'ark' thingy is also a nice touch... it's much better and more plausible than 'spaceships'. However, I think the biggest weakness of this movie is the lack of inspiring emotions. Sure, there are great speeches and great emotional scenes, but I just can't feel it... I've never cried once during the movie... and those who know me know that I cry easily during emotional scenes or speeches. For example, when a son told his father that the end of the world is coming and that his father is going to die far, far away from his son, I just can't feel those "happy that his son will live, and don't you worry about me since I had a good long life" kind of feeling.

And the romantic scenes are just unromantic... I was rolling my eyes heavenward when the ex-wife was screaming/praying/hoping that her ex-husband (soon to be husband again) will resurface from the water... it was like, ugh... :P

Anyway, I still think that this is an enjoyable movie although the casts' acting skills really need some polishing... but the writers did a hell of a good job.

Observation: The communication system in India and US must be very good... people are using phones left and right even though the whole world is being torn apart by natural disasters. :P

Bottomline: If it's any indication, the cinema for this movie was fully booked throughout the day that I had to travel to a cinema 1 hour away from my house and had to watch a late night movie even though I had to work the very next day. I seriously never heard of this movie before this.

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Forgetful

2009-11-06T07:00:00.001+08:00

Apparently, kindness still exist in this forsaken land. Last two weeks, I used my ATM card to deposit some money... and I actually forgot to retrieve the card! It took a very long time for the card to be ejected out after I completed my transactions mah...

So, I actually left the ATM without the ATM card! And I realised that only two weeks later... and not by myself. I received a phone call from the bank saying that my card was found in the ATM! And I was telling the girl that I still have the card with me! So embarrassing... I immediately check my bank records and thankfully all the money (albeit very small amount) are still there! Still, since I left the card in Kampar, and the bank said they can't hold my card till the next time I go home, I had to cancel my card and the next time when I reapply for it, I have to pay RM12 :(.

Not that I'm not thankful, but why does it take the bank 2 weeks before calling me? :P

Movie Review 34: Inglourious Basterds

2009-11-01T07:00:00.000+08:00

Title: Inglourious Basterds

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Running time: 2 hours 32 minutes

Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama

Most of the time, I would not have watch a movie with such titles and the Nazi era thingy is really not my cup of tea. However, it was either watching a Michael Jackson movie, a Chinese poker game movie or this, so I chose the lesser of three evils :P.

What made me chose this movie is mainly the director, Quentin Tarantino and the name of Brad Pitt... and just to show how unpopular this movie is in Malaysia... for the first time, I had the cinema all by myself! Okay, initially, there were a couple but less then halfway through the movie, the left the cinema.

The story revolves in Nazi occupied France during the World War II. It started off with how a young Jewish refugee, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) witnessed the murder of her family by Colonel Hans Landa (Chirstoph Waltz). She escaped and several years later, an opportunity presents itself to her (Fredrick Zoller by Daniel Bruhl) which she starts plotting her vengeance. There were also another group of people who called themselves "the Basterds" led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who were plotting the assassination of the Nazis as well.

This movie might not go down well for a lot of people. First of all, it's gruesome... ever watched Kill Bill? Yup, it's on the level of gruesome though through the effort made by censors, it is less so. Anyway, for me, I think that this is a brilliant movie... in a twisted sort of way.

It doesn't revolve around the normal good vs bad kind of plot. You would be feeling bad when you see the 'bad guys' die in this movie... well, for some of them anyway. The director is able to express the reality of the war era in a very convincing manner. He constantly reminds us that there is such a thing called 'unreasonable' incidents. What I meant was there are a lot of scenes in which things happen for no reason at all. Bad things happen to the good and bad guys and good things happen to both too. I know this kind of thing happen in other movie as well, but it was presented in such a way that would really shake you to the core. It touches the core of humanity... and most people who watch it might not like to be reminded of their own true self throughout the movie. If this movie were to be shown during my college studying year, it would have made a fascinating discussion.

The storyline, although is simple, the director introduced a lot of plot twists inside to keep it going for two and half hours. There are not much of action since this is more of a brain over brawn kind of movie.

However, this movie is mostly using German as its main language... so, if you're not a subtitle reading kind of person, you might be put off by it. Also, it is a slow movie... again, if you're an action fan, it's not your movie. And since this movie touches on Jews and Nazis, it is important to have an open mind as well... though I would say that this advice is more applicable for Germans, French and Jews.

For me, I do not regret watching this movie... it's a soul touching movie... not your normal crying bucketful of love movie... I meant it is a movie that makes you think and reassess one self. And oh, by the way, this movie is fiction... you should not use this as a history lesson :P.

Trivia: Maggie Cheung is supposed to have a scene in the movie, but was deleted during the final cut :(... and no, the there is no typo in the title... the director purposely wrote it as such.

Bottomline: Not your everyday kind of movie... watch with an open mind.

Bamboo Ranking: 3.8 / 5.0

Dory's wedding

2009-10-28T07:00:00.001+08:00

Third wedding of the month and this time, it's in Ipoh. Now come to think of it, this is the first time I attended a wedding in Ipoh. Luckily, Doryfish gave me a super precise map to me and I was able to find the Overseas Restaurant without any problem... though I had some problem returning back to home, since some roads I took is a one way road :P.

The night did not go off very well for me. First, there's this super heavy rain while I was on my way to Ipoh. The last time I experienced such heavy rain was while I was in Shah Alam. The rain is so heavy that I can't see anything more than 5m away from me! And I almost took the wrong exit from the highway :P. Previously, the exit to Kinta City was the first exit after the toll booth... now, it's the second exit... luckily I noticed the road sign before making the turn!

The next thing that happened to me was that I entered the wrong wedding dinner! The person standing in the front door was inviting me in already before I managed to scan the name displayed in front. Then, she asked if I'm a friend of Vincent... well, I know Dory's husband, but not sure if he got English name or not... so I mentioned Dory's name and she nodded her head! So, she led me to this table where I recognized no one! I was already starting to think that Dory placed me with the unknowns from her department :P. Then, the reception person led me to the groom and I realized that this man does not look anything like Dory's husband! And the groom said that he don't know who I am! How embarrassing! Luckily, I still haven't handed over the ang pow!

You can't really blame me for walking into the wrong ballroom. Dory's side of the ballroom is very secluded ler. Have to walk past a dark alley one!

The stage setting...

Cute little presents... didn't manage to taste it... forgot to take it back :(, but everyone else at the table were unimpressed by the food that were wrapped inside :P

The menu...

Super lots of lights lighting up the stage...

The wedding dinner did not start without a hitch. Apparently, the wrong song was played during the bride and groom entry. And I think Dory mentioned that this mistake happened during the rehearsal. Besides, Dory is supposed to have arranged the songs in the right order... so the restaurant people just need to play from the top to bottom... how they managed to get it wrong, I have no idea! And usually, after the march in of the bride and groom, it's usually followed by the long speech about the bride and groom by the MC and after that, the first dish will be served. However, after the walk in, there was more 15 minutes of 'nothing happen' time before the first dish was served. Anyway, after the initial hiccup, everything went smoothly afterwards.

The first dish... hot and cold combination platter... I have to say that it is one of the best... the supposedly hot dish is hot and the cold dish is cold... unlike most of the previous ones, all also cold :P.

First time have second dish that is not a shark's fin soup... this is more like a mixed variety... almost like the "Buddha Leaping Over the Wall" thingy... go chicken, herbs, abalone, shark's fin and maybe sea cucumber kua... not very sure... since I just gulp down everything... also taste quite nice!

The prawns served were fresh too and the it was nicely done... very succulent... I actually had two prawns... I have never ate more than one in any wedding dinner.

The thousand level wedding cake... of course fake one ler :P... at first I thought it was champagne glasses... I was sitting at the far back end of the room and was too lazy to walk to the front. Though I don't know why half of the cake was covered with flowers... not enough to cover the whole of it? :P

It has been a really long time since my eyes ever feasted on this miracle dish! Beauty and sin in the same plate! Super crispy, super nice! Of course, the girls were all taking out the best part of the dish before eating it... how terrible!

The Three Treasures... guess what are they... this is supposed to be a nice dish... but compared to the other sinful dishes, it did not manage to show off it's glory loh :P

Sweet and Sour Deep Fried Fish... I think this is not the same dish as the one mentioned in the menu... but never mind! Super good, super nice and superbly done! Even with the gravy, the deep fried fish is still super crispy and the sweet and sour sauce is a perfect combination of sweet and sour!

Again, another dish well done... very tasty and very aromatic... definitely a must try!

Alas, the final dish is the one with the lowest score... the lotus seeds are still very hard... a good lotus seed soup is supposed to have soft lotus seed... the lotus paste pau is nice though...

Having wedding dinner at the Overseas Restaurant reinforced my belief that only a restaurant is able to cook up a nice mass dinner. Hotel food are good but only when it's an overpriced buffet or when ordered ala carte... they seemed to be unable to provide good food for mass dinner... or maybe it's the Chinese style dish that they are unable to excel in. Anyway, in conclusion, Chinese restaurants trumps hotels! They said that the ang pow for wedding dinner at hotel should be more than the one in restaurant... I say it should be the other way around... why are we giving more money for more terrible food? :P

The service at the Overseas Restaurant is very good too... my glass of drink never reach below the two third empty line... the kept on filling up my drink every chance they got... though I noticed that a lot of the waiters are very young... this waiter near my table looked so young that he could have passed off as a Form Three student :P

(At the request of the bride, I shall not post any pictures with the bride and the groom)

CK's wedding

2009-10-13T07:00:00.001+08:00

Attended second wedding meal this month... it was my colleague's and for the first time, I had a wedding lunch. I think having lunch instead of dinner is better in several ways. First, I personally preferred brightly lit rooms rather than rooms lit with 'romantic' yellow lights. Next, I'm partially blind at night, so driving at night is a really dangerous thing for me to do. Third, since I don't have air-cond in my room, enjoying lunch in an air-conditioned room is a brilliant idea!

Also, it has been quite some time since I last attended a wedding in a restaurant. The name of the restaurant is Sea Palace. Youngsters nowadays preferred hotels, which I really have no idea why. First, they are more expensive (mainly due to the red wine, I supposed) than restaurants and the food generally sucks... the only redeeming value in having wedding meals in hotel is that there would be an abundance of car parking lots.

Setting of the restaurant... simple and efficient... no menu though... so every meal is a surprise!

Cake and champagne... it's regrettable that I can't show the wedding photo slideshow... it was one of the best that I have seen so far...

Stage deco...

First meal, as usual, mixed platter... this one however, has four types only, which is the least types that I had in all the wedding dinners I have been to... however, apparently, less type means higher quality... the food is quite nice and still hot! And the one on the left is thin duck slices... very nice!

Shark's fin... this one though, is a little bit watery... I prefer a more gel like shark's fin soup...

Herbal chicken... again... though better than the one I had in Kampar, it still doesn't avoid the fact that chicken when cooked until so tender, will cause the meat to be rough and dry... a duck would have been a better substitute...

Prawns... a little bit tasteless, but it is quite fresh since the meat is still springy :P

Abalones, mushroom and vege... normal lah...

It's quite rare for a wedding meal to serve fish of any flavour other than steamed fish... this one, I think is nonya style fish... the gravy is quite nice... sour and spicy! The looks though, needs some improvement :P

Again, this is the first time I was served with such a small portion of rice. Usually, the fried rice (in this case, lotus leaf rice) served on the seventh meal is quite large... but I tell, you this dish is very good... and I usually don't like lotus leaf rice since I don't like the lotus leaf smell...

The emcee of the day... this one is much, much better than the one in Kampar... even though he sang songs in a deep baritone, it isn't uneasy to the ears... partly thanks to the good sound system... meaning they don't have oversized speakers placed all around the restaurant... it's just loud enough to fill the hall...

The groom who started with a glass half full of champagne and is still holding a glass half full of champagne even though he's more than halfway through the 'yam seng' table rounds :P

"Yam seng"...

Last dish, iced longan... nice!

The whole lunch lasted for 1 hour and 45 minutes (if counted from the first dish served)... which could have ended much, much earlier if not for the waiters waiting for the wedded couple to finish their rounds before serving the final dish.

Anyway, in conclusion, even though the food at the Sea Palace is nothing to shout about, it is generally above average and when compared to hotel food, it's like heaven and earth. So, conduct your weddings in restaurants ler :P... or maybe you should try the western style one... I never had a western style full course meal before lah :P

Car Accidents and Curiousity

2009-10-10T07:00:00.002+08:00

I was driving in my car yesterday listening to the radio when I heard something really funny and impossible.

There was a car accident in a highway and the lane where there's accident had car jam up till 1km distance. The lane on the other direction, which did not have car accident, has car jam up till 2km length because everyone is stopping to have a good view!

Humans never ceased to amaze me... if you want to help, then by all means, stop by the side of the road and help, but if you're not helping, you're just making it difficult for ambulances to reach the accident site! It is my theory that humans slow down to watch a car accident not only because they are curious but also to show concern. By slowing down, they are trying to say that they want to help but they can't since they have some other things better than to save a stranger. If you don't want to save someone, drive away and let others come and save them... there's no need to act all concern about it only to prevent others who wanted to help by jamming up the road... not to mention, it affected me as well as they make me stuck in a car jam that theoretically is not supposed to be there!

CF's wedding

2009-10-08T07:00:00.000+08:00

The month of October in year 2009 is officially the wedding month of the year. I was invited to attend to three weddings in a month! That is an unprecedented record!

This time around, it's my schoolmate's wedding Ms. Lim Chui Fun and she's marrying another senior from secondary school of mine too... though I found out about that only later that night :P The wedding dinner is carried out in the Grand Kampar Hotel! Never had wedding dinner there... it's the first big hotel in Kampar!

Center stage is rather small...

Cakes that we had because we were really hungry...

Some gal singing...

Table setting...

There is something common in between camwhoring and girls... :P

Five Seasons Hot and Cold Combination... which actually is all cold... I was expecting some piping hot food and it turned out to be some food left in the open for too long...

Shark's Fins Soup and Dried Scallops... which is okay, but the bowls that they gave to us is so big that Hamdan managed to fill up eight bowls only before running out of food... instead, he had to scoop the shark fins from previous bowls to fill up the ninth bowl... :P

Fresh Steamed Garoupa Fish... which has a rather dry and rough meat...

Steamed Chicken with Herbs... should have served duck instead of chicken... the chicken was too dry...

Taking a breather from food... presenting Siew Ling and May Foong...

Cake cutting ceremony...

Baked Prawns with Oats... I know the picture doesn't look nice. I wasn't using flash because the battery was running out... the prawns were edible, but I can't really taste the aroma of the oats...

Toasting ceremony... the spotlights on the stage made this picture look hideous...

Another one taken during dimmed lights...

The couples were asked by the MC to sing a song and their choice of the song was titled "We Don't Want to Sing"

Braised Mushroom with Broccoli... no comment... :P

The MC brought along a little girl to perform on stage... she's the only one who actually got applause after singing on stage...

What do you think this is? :P

Tadah! It's Lotus Leaf Fried Rice... the packaging looks nice... :P

Hamdam posing a super cool look...

Meow's pose...

A group of drunken people next table...

Final dish... Chinese Pancake and Lotus Seed Soup... actually, the best dish of the night!

For anyone interested in PMP...

In conclusion, I have expected better of the Grand Kampar Hotel... unless they pick up their cooking skills, they are gonna to lose to the great food served in restaurants around Kampar which have been here for decades!

There isn't many pictures on the wedded couple because my camera's batteries were dangerously low and Hamdan is really slow in giving me the pictures that he took using his super expensive SLR. I'll make sure to have my camera batteries fully charged in the second and third wedding dinner I'll be attending this month.

Movie Review 33: G-Force

2009-09-23T07:00:00.000+08:00

Title: G-Force

Director: Hoyt Yeatman

Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes

Genre: Comedy

This story revolves around a group of specially trained animals who are facing the danger of being shut down by the FBI for cost cutting measures. In order to win his superiors over, Ben (Zach Galifinakis) ordered his special animals to infiltrate the residence of a home electronics maker, Leonard Saber which is suspected to be involved with terrorism. The infiltration team consists of 3 guinea pigs Darwin (Sam Rockwell), Juarez (Penelope Cruz), Blaster (Tracy Morgan) and a mole (Nicholas Cage). I never realize that this movie has such a huge cast before writing this review! Anyway, as expected, something went wrong and they were shut down and they attempted to find the truth behind everything... duh...

This comedy is actually quite nice. There were numerous of good laughs throughout the movie and at the same time, there's still adequate action-oriented scenes. Unfortunately (for me), this movie might actually be targeting younger audiences as there were so much mushy conversations throughout... they'll talk about friendship, families and honour... which had me squirming in my seat as I can't really stand such "message to children" in a movie.

So, if you are expecting a mature kind of comedy, this is not the place... the 3 mice and a mole is a pretty giveaway that it's a movie for children. Anyway, I still think that it is an okay movie to bring your children to and if you're into a not so deep movie just for some quick laughs. And I supposed this is a good reason to watch a movie in 3D too... though I think that 3D movies have become quite common of late.

Observation: When Juarez mentioned she played the simulator for 200,000 hours, it meant that it's at least 23 years old, which is impossible as a guinea pig has a known maximum lifespan of 8 years. (from IMDB)

Bottomline: Children only

Bamboo Ranking: 2.7 / 5.0

Of Food and Presents

2009-09-11T07:00:00.001+08:00

Ah, one year has passed by and I'm celebrating my second birthday since I started blogging. My birthdays in the past has always been celebrated in somewhat muted manner. Celebrating in getting older is not something I will ever get used to in my current lifetime.

This year, I get to have a birthday lunch (first time, previously always dinner and supper) with my lunch mates. Doryfish suggested this restaurant called OXO... which according to her, was once so popular that you won't even be able to get menu to order things!

All of us ordered set lunches which we can select soup or salad, main course, dessert and tea or coffee.

Mushroom soup... acceptable

Salad... don't know what it taste like, but it seems to be same as the one in my main course and it doesn't taste nice loh...

Bread sticks... just crunchy... no taste at all

Dunno what it is... but it's so filled with sesame seeds that it's actually bitter!

Don't know exact name, but it consists of chicken and lamb... Doryfish claimed it's quite nice... but it's definitely filling!... RM22.90

Chicken thingy... this dish is quite nice, got a taste of it when KY generously offered a piece... should be tried... RM16.90

My order... the taste is not bad, but it's basically sandwich filled with chicken floss loh and the salad is not good and the potatoes have skin (which is normal, but I don't like those), and it's definitely not worth the price... RM22.90

The redeeming value of the set lunch :P... the cake is okay but the cookie is really nice loh... you just can't screw up with sweet things :P

Tea... none of us ordered coffee though...

Another photo of the dessert... this cake has a brownie on top!

My birthday card... it's been years since I last got one of them... not counting the one gave by my company of course, which brings me to the attention that I still haven't got my vouchers from my company this year lah... canceled due to cost down? Anyway, see the picture above, apparently, I'm loved a lot!

My birthday gift! Very nice! I'm always spending money to buy novels every month, so this is definitely the second most useful gift I've ever got... the most useful gift is of course hard, cold cash, which I get from my parents every year :P. Once when I was in my early teens, my relative gave me a book because she know that I love to read, but I never finish reading it because it's super boring... so, nice thinking guys and gals!

The guy next door...

The girls opposite the street...

The restaurant...

And then, night came and another friend come and asked me out for dinner! Never have I had lunch and dinner with friends on my birthday!

Of course, it was not really a birthday treat... it's more like catching up kind of dinner... we just had dinner in a food court. We ate from 9pm till almost 12 midnight! Well, that's because by 10.30 pm, when we finished our dinner, another friend came and join us for dinner... so, I had a really long dinner that night!

My laksa... how I missed you... okay, I could have eaten this anytime I want, but the nearest food court is 5km away from my house... why travel when I have a restaurant just across the street? :P

'Loh bak"... much, much better than the stupid, gross pasembur...

Oysters! See those oysters?

Herbal duck noodles... doesn't look very nice and it's put on top of a broken plastic basket... who uses that kind of tools for food?

My very shy friend...

And I got a free ticket from GSC! Okay, I have always got a free ticket from GSC on the month of my birthday, but I have never used it since it's applicable only for movies with asterisk which means movies that are already on the silver screen for more than a week and since I have always watched any new movies in the first week, I was unable to use it. This month I think there're quite a few movies I haven't watched that are with asterisk. Gonna to watch it this weekend.

Still waiting for the free KFC and McD vouchers from company and amazing cash from parents!

Ramadhan Craze... Again

2009-09-04T07:00:00.005+08:00

Too lazy to write a blog on this since I've already covered this last year. Just wanna show the food I had in Ramadhan Bazaar this year... don't worry, these are the pics of the food I bought from Ramadhan Bazaar for a total of 3 days... not one day :P.

Pasembur... worst food that I had there... it's not freshly fried like "Loh Bak" and the sauce is just terrible... threw away more than half and it cost me RM8! (This is not the pic of the pasembur I ate... it's so horrible that I forgot to take the picture!)

Murtabak... chicken wrapped in egg... what's so nice about that? But it is one of the most repetitive dishes sold in the bazaar... RM1.50 per piece...

Chicken Kebab... this one is slightly better than the previous 2 dishes, but just marginally... RM2.50 per piece...

Honey Chicken Rice... RM 3.5... not as good as I remembered last year...

Assortment of fried stuff (curry puff, fried popiah & sardine puff)... RM2 for 5 pieces... still heavenly...

Grilled fish... siakap... RM15... not good at all...

Satay... RM0.40 per piece... so so...

Fried sotong... RM2.50 per packet... not really that good, but always got throng of people lining up to buy it...

Ayam percik... ranges from RM1 to RM5... shown above is the RM2 per piece... still very nice, especially the gravy...

Chilli fried chicken rice... RM3.50 per packet... I didn't taste any chilli loh...

Assortment of 'kuih'... RM1.00 for 3 pieces... not really as good as I expected... I'm maturing, perhaps? :P

Nah, this is not bought from the Ramadhan Bazaar... just something I ate for dinner last weekend... and resulted me in having sore throat for 5 days (still having sore throat even now)... dun worry, it's not the A(H1N1) flu... no fever, no runny nose, no muscle pain... just pure sore throat :(

So, it turns out that the food at the Ramadhan Bazaar is not as good as I remembered them to be... it's either the quality of the food sold at that particular bazaar is declining or I'm maturing and thus these junk food no longer hold any influence over me!

Movie Review 32: On His Majesty's Secret Service

2009-08-31T07:00:00.000+08:00

Title: On His Majesty's Secret Service (大内密探灵灵狗)

Director: Wong Jing

Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Normally, I would not be watching such a movie, but it was a long weekend and there were no interesting movies that I like to watch... I was weighing between District 9 and this movie and finally go for a comedic movie just to have some laughs. Surprisingly, there were still more than 10 people watching this movie in the cinema,,, I was really afraid of watching this movie all alone... some spooky films come to my mind as I ponder this :P.

This movie is about a plot to assassinate the Emperor and it is the job of the 12 Royal Guards to protect him as they fend of various attempts and plots to overthrow the Emperor. Heading the 12 Royal Guards is the Royal Dog (Louis Koo)( the rest of the Guardians are named according to the 12 Chinese animal zodiac) and he is the only one who doesn't know martial arts. However, his scientific discoveries is more than enough to garner him as one of the Royal Guardians.

As you all know, a movie by Wong Jing is mostly comedic, B-grade comedy, to be exact. I had to admit that it is a really funny movie but it is the same kind of gross and meaningless (mou lei tau) comedy as with his other movies. You would be saying a lot of 'duh' throughout the movie. I think it would have gotten more favourable reception if it came during Chinese New Year.

This movie has a lot of cast members and a lot of them are veterans in the film industry. However, it is obvious that a lot of the non so familiar faces are from China as they were speaking in Mandarin (dubbed in Cantonese) throughout the movie and you can see the difference in lips movement compared to the dubbed Cantonese.

At first I thought that it would be similar to Stephen Chow's '008', but apart from the concept, it is in not that similar... I mean, in '008' Stephen Chow actually managed to learn one martial arts move while Louis Koo is totally non-martial type throughout the movie.

Anyway, this movie while funny, is not really worth the RM10 ticket price. Try to catch it in Astro or TV during Chinese New Year to have a good laugh.

Observation: The martial arts skill of Faithful (Barbie Hsu) throughout the movie is non-consistent... at one time she was on par with the main villain of the movie and at another time she was defeated by the main villain's underling

Bottomline: Funny but not worth the ticket price

Bamboo Ranking: 2.5 / 5.0