The Nature of The Ghost

Yesterday, after being pretty antisocial for almost two weeks (blame it on mid terms, assignments and PMS), I finally went out with other people other than KayKay! I'm pretty impressed with myself.

So I dragged KayKay with me off to Cineleisure to watch Disney's A Christmas Carol with Ca-Ren, who we just met on that day itself, and KhaiSim, who I haven't seen in ages. KayKay shy, didn't talk much. Haha! I have almost never seen that side of her before.

KayKay picked KhaiSim and I up after class, and off we went to the Curve. Along the way, I guess the heat plus the rocking motion of the car plus her utter lack of sleep, KhaiSim fell asleep and looked like the Japanese ghost in Ringu. You know... With the hair covering the face and the head nodding up and down like a psycho ranger. Haha! Damn funny. I wanted to take a picture of her, but then she woke up.

Damn.

But I was thinking, imagine if it was at night and she tumpang-ed our car and we forgot that she was there, then if we suddenly turn behind to look at the passenger seat and saw her sitting there looking like she's a ghost or something, it would scare the frickin' crap out of us!! Probably get into another accident.

Mahahahaha okay not funny. The accident bit. But the rest is funny, so laugh!

Anyway, we got to the Curve in plenty of time, so we decided to walk-walk first before Ca-Ren came. Actually, KayKay and I went walking about, KhaiSim just followed us around. Poor thing. She looked pretty much bored out of her mind. Until we got to Ikea, that is! I swear, that girl lives to eat.

So then we had a lot of food blablabla, finally got to the movie like, two minutes before it started.

As you can see, the graphics are very detailed.

We watched it in 3D, which was a very good call, even though it was slightly more expensive. Rm17, but so much more worth it than the crap GSC MidValley tried to pass off as 3D. The next time I wanna watch something in 3D, I'm heading off to Cineliesure.

A pretty dark and twisted tale for Disney to dish out, but since they were staying close to Dicken's original story, I guess that's how it would pan out. I don't think it would be wise to let kids watch this movie without parental supervision though, because it's actually very very morbid. It's a morbid cartoon! Haha. It disguises itself up with animations and big googly eyes (hello, Tiny Tim) but it is, at it's core, a very adult movie which deals with cruelty, repentance and death.

All the darkness, however, is made up for with the warm, fuzzy feelings at the end of the movie. I'm pretty sure everyone already knows how this story plays out, what with it being made into soooo many versions, the dumbest being Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. God!

Anyway. There's this last part of the movie that's pretty funny, but no one laughed! I hate that. Bah! Scrooge said something (I'm not gonna say what lah, go watch it yourself) and I guess by that time everyone's heads were already spinning from all the 3D induced headaches that they weren't really paying attention to the movie anymore and they totally missed the punch-line! So there I was, laughing on my own. The rest of the people only joined in three seconds later.

Maybe they were laughing at me lah.

Ode to Summer

Today, I went all the way to KLCC at 10.30am to catch (500) Days of Summer with KhaiSim. BTW, thanks loads KhaiSim for inviting me along to catch this movie. I love it soooo much. The cinema was practically empty.

The weird part of this movie is that the events in the movie are not shown chronically. Instead, it jumps around the 500 days when Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was in love with Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Sure, it would require slightly more attention to keep track with what's happening, but it's not that bad because it goes from present time when Tom is broken up over Summer, and back to a flashback where we see how Tom falls for Summer and that continues on till it catches up to the current timeline. Gosh. That DOES sound confusing. But it's not, really. I think the point of this time traveling is to paint a sharper contrast of the before and after.

"This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know upfront, this is not a love story."

So the movie opens with a mildly destructive Tom smashing plates one by one in a rather catatonic state in his kitchen. Naturally, his guy friends freak out and call his little sister, Rachel (Chloe Moretz) who seems to know a lot about women and their emotional highs and lows for such a young kid. He tells his friends and Rachel that he does not want to get over Summer, but he wants her back.

He begins to recount how he met her. It started out with Summer being Tom's boss' assistant. Although Tom was attracted to her, he decided that she would not be worth his time based on the gossip fed to him by McKenzie, his friend and also co-worker. However, after learning that Summer is also into The Smiths, he becomes convinced that she is "the one". McKenzie took pity on Tom's pathetic attempts to try to get close to Summer and organizes a karaoke night which the whole office, including Summer, is attending.

A tipsy McKenzie asked Summer about her views on love, to which Summer said that love isn't real. Ever the optimist, Tom argued that it is. Finally, they agreed to disagree. McKenzie drank even more and becomes so drunk that Summer and Tom had to help him get into a cab. McKenzie then spilled the beans to Summer, telling her that Tom likes her. Tom denied it at first, then eventually admitted that he does, but only "as friends". Summer's response? "Very interesting."

Eventually though, they start spending a lot of time together and Summer's walls slowly came down as she opened up to Tom. We learn about Summer's past, and also why Tom, who studied to be an architect instead becomes a greeting card writer at Card Company. One scene I find really funny is how they emulated a married couple while using the furniture on display at Ikea (IKEA!!) as props. It was at this point in the story when Summer made it clear to Tom that all she wanted is a casual relationship. However, Tom tried to convince himself that that's all he wants too when it's so clear that he thinks that they could be more. Summer then seduced the poor guy by lying down on his bed sans clothes and offering herself to him. This is what I call "mind fucking". Girls are excellent at it.

The next day, Tom wakes up on top of the world. And in a weird but delightful twist, the movie draws from Disney movie Enchanted with some synchronized dancing in a park. A little out of place, but very enjoyable.

However, bit by bit, Summer began distancing herself from Tom. Things are starting to go downhill and eventually got to the point where Tom got into a small fight with a random guy in a bar over Summer. Summer got pissed off at Tom and told him that he does not need get into fights over her because, after all, they are "just friends". This made Tom very very mad because he thinks that everything that they have done (hanging out all the time, swapping stories, shower sex etc) proved that they are, indeed, in a relationship. Tom left Summer in a huff but finds her on his doorstep later, where they kissed and made up. After a couple of weeks of strained happiness, Summer goes on to break up with Tom over pancakes.

A couple of months later, he bumped into Summer again on the way to a coworker's wedding.

They had a nice weekend together, and Summer invites him to a party she's hosting. Tom builds up his hopes, only to have them dashed when he finds out that the party he's at was Summer's engagement party. Heartbroken, he became a social recluse for five days, hanging out only with alcohol and Twinkies. How very pathetic.

He finally pulled himself together and got to work, just in time for the office's weekly presentation. After sitting quietly for a while, Tom came to the conclusion that everything he believed about love, fate and relationships was wrong, and that all the Card Company does is create lies for their customers to put into their mouths. He then proceeded to quit his job.

Tom fell into depression again, but slowly snapped out of it when, under the coaching of Rachel, he recalled the bad moments he's had with Summer. Tom found a new perspective and started to actively pursue his architecture dream. However, after getting shot down by like a million of them, an even more depressed Tom went off to his favourite hang out spot and bumped into Summer there. They have some sort of closure, and Tom realized that he has to let go of Summer and get on with his life.

Aaaaaand then at a job interview, he met a girl named Autumn. Oh all names.

I really like this movie, I do. I think it's one of the best rom-com movies to hit our shores this year. I mean, based purely on entertainment purposes, The Proposal was much funnier, but in a slapstick way. (500) dished out their humor in a more quiet, satirical way. There are some laugh out loud moments (where, again, I was the only one laughing WTF), but those are far and few between. Most of their humor makes the audience work to get it. Maybe that's why no one laughed. HAH!

Aside from that, one thing I loved about this movie is that it portrays love in such a realistic light. I mean, come on! How many of us would end up falling in love with someone who we initially hated? It's like, the minority. Like what Justin Long said in He's Just Not That Into You, we would like to believe that these things do happen, no matter how rare, but you are not the exception.

But this movie... It shows the reality of love. How it's not easy, how it's so hard to get over someone, how women play men, how women can be evil conniving bitches, how thin the line between love and hate can be. That's how love is! It's not all giggles and roses. I guess maybe I like this movie so much is partly because it does not try to mince what it's trying to say, and that losing someone you love sucks but eventually you'll get better.

And that, no matter what, having a 20-20 hindsight helps a lot. Seeing a person's flaws amidst the good qualities that they have makes them more real, and instead of putting them on a pedestal and idolizing them, seeing them as human somehow makes it all better. I don't know, that's what I think. And I love how they don't slap on a tonne of makeup to try to make their actors look perfect. It's such a real movie. Like, this could be happening to you, or maybe your next door neighbor. I dunno..

I guess the point of the story is that while it's fine to believe in fate and love, we shouldn't have our heads in the clouds all the time. Reality interferes, the other person might not love you as much as you love them. I also think what Summer said about coincidence and the way people think about love being a more pivotal role in our lives. I've always had that school of thought, instead of the whole destiny thing. It's always decisions and coincidence that sets us on a certain path in life. But who's to say that fate doesn't exist? Maybe the people who believe in God would say yeah, fate and destiny exists. But for me, I think that we all make decisions through a series of thoughts, and when those decisions cross paths with someone else', it's just a coincidence. What we do after that, again, relies on the individual's personality and perspectives, which falls under the school of thought.

Do I make sense? Oh, and the soundtrack is fucking awesome. How often do we get indie music in a mainstream movie? Wait, is this an indie movie? Because if it is, it would explain a lot.

All in all, I would give this movie a 4.5/5, because although Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tom) tries to be all adorable like Paul Rudd, he fails. Paul Rudd is the king of dorky cute guys. Yeah, that was just a stupid excuse not to give it a 5/5 because, I dunno, no one's perfect. Even though this one came pretty damn close.

I May Be Rude But I'm The Truth

Watched The Ugly Truth before my mid terms today. Hehehe. WHUT? I studied the entire weekend before this.

It was a pretty good movie. I liked it.

The weird part was bumping into KM, NakedMoleNat and KimHan in the movie theater during the credit rolls.

The movie was very predictable, but it's silly fun so that's alright. I liked this one more than Gamer, another Gerard Butler flick that came out on the same day. I'd give this one a 3.5/5, purely for it's entertainment factor.

Games You Play

Caught Gamer after work on Friday.

As most of everyone knows, Gamer is about a world in the future (2034, to be exact) where technology has far surpassed what we have today. In that world, mind-control games are the new Facebook.

The movie starts of with a rather happy view of a bunch of people all gathered in a park of some sort, all doing all sorts of things. The awesome (or maybe, not really) part is that they're all dressed in really bright, eye catching funky costumes and wigs. It looks like a really bad versions of the Sims. I don't know why, but I kept sniggering when they show scenes during Society game play with weird people doing funny things. Unfortunately, I was the only one laughing when a priest happily ran across the screen, holding on to a bunch of colorful balloons. What's up with everyone, lost their sense of humor or something?

But yeah, the movie also shows how people exploit this to make their avatars to whatever they want. In short, they live their lives through them, doing things that they usually wouldn't do. Sometimes it's sadistic, sometimes it's just plain sick and creepy.

Well, along to Society, the company who introduced all these mind games also have another more brutal, very much more violent counterpart called Slayers. With a name like that, you pretty much know what to expect. Gamers who are rich enough can control a death-row inmate from prison in some sort of modern day death match. It's like back in Rome, the last man standing gets to go free. But in this case, it's only after an inmate manages to survive all 30 rounds, they would win their freedom.

We get introduced to Kable (Gerard Butler) who we learn has survived 27 rounds so far, so he only needs to not die for three more sessions and he walks a free man. Of course, on the way to winning his freedom back, Kable partakes in a lot of very graphic violence, with bodies being blown up and limbs flying every which way and blood splattering everywhere.

The mastermind behind all these? Billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall).

While doing an interview on the Gina Parker Smith (Kyra Sedgewick) show on the controversies of his Slayer and Society games, a virus hacks into the broadcasting system and plays a warning message from an elusive rebel group, Humanz. The leader of the Humanz groups is simply known as Humanz Brother (Ludacris).

Humanz Brother also contacts Simon (Logan Lerman), the 17 year old rich kid who controls Kable and informs him of the conspiracy behind Castle and helps him modify the controls he has over Kable. Once unable to communicate with Kable, Simon could talk to him now when he is in the battlefield. Which actually pissed Kable off a little. Plus, it was against the rules.

After the battle, as Kable rests in his solitary cell, he gets a visit from a mysterious woman who warns him that Castle is out to get him. A soldier with his own free will still intact is being sanctioned to hunt Kable down and terminate him. The reason for all this bloodshed? Kable knows something Castle is trying to hide. So to get rid of the threat, Castle is literally going to get rid of Kable. Yeah yeah, so predictable. So she tells him that he needs to escape, in which Kable replies that he wants her to help him get drunk.

In the supposed final round of the game, an intoxicated Kable realizes that he's no longer under the control of Simon. The Humanz got Simon to relinquish his control over Kable so that he can act on his own, and not be handicapped by the "ping", a delay in the transmission of signals from the player to the prisoner in the game. It would be the only way he can survive the round, what with the crazed killer trying to take him out.

So Kable finds his way to a restricted area and finds a shiny truck. Making do with the lack of fuel, Kable uses his own alcohol-laced puke and pee as fuel for the truck. Gross, but apparently effective. After a lot of blazing guns and flying limbs, Kable manages to break out of the game zone.

He runs into Trace (Alison Lohman), who brings him to Humanz headquarters, where the techie boy, Humanz Dude (Aaron Yoo) explains the whole hoo-hah on how they managed to override Castle's programming chip that was installed in Kable's head. Humanz Brother also gives Kable instructions on where to find his wife, Angie.

Kable finds Angie (Amber Valetta) in her controlled state. It's very gross, because the person who controls her is this big fat obese (yes I know they're the same) sweaty pervert who lives his life vivaciously through Angie. He makes her do disgusting stuff like hit on Rick Rape (Milo Ventimiglia in a very body hugging latex outfit). This is a classic example of a LOSER.

So anyway, Kable finds her about to do the nasty-nasty (doggy style some more) with Rick and proceeds to pound on him before killing a whole bunch of other people and escaping with Amber. He brings her back to the Humanz headquarters where Humanz Dude works his magic to bring her back to the land of thinking.

The Humanz then explores Kable's mind, and we find out why he was sentenced for first degree murder. Kable was once a soldier who was working on a future cellular control project. Along with his friend, Kable was one of the first ones to receive the cell transplant. However, in an experiment on free will, Castle made Kable kill his friend. Ta-da! That's how he ended up in prison.

So after all that, Kable and Angie decide that they want to get their daughter back. Unfortunately, their daughter is now with a "very reliable foster family", who turns out to be none other than Castle. So Kable infiltrates Castle's home in a bid to get his daughter back and complete his family once and for all.

At the mansion, Kable is greeted by a singing and dancing Castle, who gets several prisoners do partake in a jazzy song and dance number. Now we're talking about big burly men, hardened criminals doing the jazz fingers. Highly unlikely if it's voluntary. I guess Castle was demonstrating how much control he has over the minds of the prisoners. It also sets up for the next revelation.

Of course, after the inevitable villain pep talk, Castle orders his men to kill Kable. But being the champ of the super violent Slayer, Kable takes them all out in no time at all. Castle, being the cocky asshole he is, reveals to Kable that he too has the transplant, only that unlike Kable's, his transmits signals instead of receives them. Just to proof that he is the Alpha dog, Castle dares Kable to hurt him. However, Kable kind of just freezes there, inches away from Castle. Castle then proceeds to beat the hell out of Kable. It's pretty pathetic how he has to reduce Kable into an android before being able to beat on him.

Then, he brings Kable's daughter and Angie out and orders him to kill the girl. Unbeknown to Castle, the Humanz have infiltrated their firewall and the entire confrontation was being broadcast all over the world. Just as Kable was losing the battle of wills, Simon got back online and managed to regain some control over Kable's actions again. With Simon helping him, Kable managed to trick Castle into imagining being stabbed in the stomach. Of course, once Castle thought of it, the cells automatically transmitted the signal to Kable's mind, letting him plunge the knife into Castle.

Then, Kable gets Castle's techie guys to release them all from the cell's control. They relent, and the movie ends. BAM!

A very abrupt ending, plus the movie was only an hour and a half. A little on the short side, but just as well, because although the movie pumps in a lot of juice, what with the sci-fi and the action, it ends up as merely trying too hard. So much so that, the attempt comes off as pathetic. The whole "prisoners being forced to kill each other in a game" angle had already been played out in the Jason Statham movie Death Race, so it's nothing new there. And the humans controlling other humans part, I'm also pretty sure has been worked out in so many other movies as well. Therefore, a not very original movie.

Gamer gets a 1.5/5. Not worth watching in the cinemas, I think. The DVD would suffice.

Beth

Watched I Love You, Beth Cooper with Alison and Pong the other day when I was in Penang. I know right, go all the way to Penang to watch a movie. But Alison wanted to hang out, and it has been ages since I've seen my cousins, so yeah, sacrifice one day of sightseeing to so watch a movie.

When I was in KL and catching movies whenever I had the free time, I saw the trailer for this movie a couple of times and was pretty intrigued. The trailer was funny, albeit a little predictable. But I did want to watch it, it just wasn't at the top of my list. I picked Up! over this movie. Haha.

Because I've already watched most of the recent movies (the result of being on holiday), I Love You Beth Cooper seemed to be the most obvious choice of movie for all of us. Except for one thing: The people at GSC Gurney really mean it when they say that a movie is not for those under 18. Apparently they would refuse entry to those who are underage if they're trying to get into a movie with an 18PL rating. And apparently, Alison has tried sneaking in before, and failing.

The people here at GSC really couldn't care less even if a seven year old were to watch an 18PL movie. Actually, they don't even look at our tickets. All they do is reach their hands out for our tickets, tear off half of the ticket, return the stubs to us and with an "Enjoy your movie!" they wave us off.

Yeah, KL is definitely better than Penang, in terms of entertainment.

So when we decided to watch this movie, Alison was all worried that they won't let her in to watch it. But then one of us hatched this brilliant plan of hiding Alison among us (because she's tiny!) and just walk in all together. That's how desperate we were to watch a movie. It's so boring at Gurney Plaza. Seriously.

And we managed to get in! They didn't even bother to look at our tickets la. I think they only check properly if all the people going in look seriously underage. Like Alison. Poor thing! The cinema was so empty. I know why. Cuz the movie wasn't that excellent after all.

It starts off with Denis Cooverman announcing his love to head cheerleader Beth Cooper in his valedictorian speech. Along the way, he inadvertently ran his mouth on his classmates. The jock being such a bully because he was loved a little too much (geddit?) when he was a kid, or the stuck up rich girl, or his best friend, Rich, who should really come out of the closet, or older army men who should grow up and get a proper grown up girlfriend instead of hanging out at their old high school, and dating the head cheerleader.

Naturally, it causes chaos. But Beth thought it was cute, although Kevin (aforementioned creepy army dude) is livid and wants to squash Denis. However, Denis makes up a story of having a raging graduation party at his house later in the evening and invites Beth.

Then Denis' parents leave him alone at home so that he can enjoy his graduation party. But before leaving, Cooverman Sr gives this embarrassing speech about how the boys should get laid and that he has condoms on his side table. Makes me glad my parent are no where near being that liberal.

But as time ticks by and no one shows out, we confirm what we already know. Denis and Rich are social pariahs. But thennnn a little blue car comes crazily up Denis' street, and Beth flanked by Cammy and Treece arrive at Denis' dead party.

The boys try to impress the girls by bringing out the champagne that Mr Cooverman left for them and Rich goes even further by claiming that the champagne that they have is Kristal champagne.

Just as things start to become less lame and Rich brings out the condoms, Beth's insane psycho army boyfriend Kevin shows up in a Hummer (Hummer!) and wrecks his entire house in his quest to squash Denis. I liked how all three of the army men moved in complete synchronicity, like they're some sort of android or something. Funny!

Then Beth and her friends aka The Trinity help Denis and Rich escape from the army robots, they decided to go to the woods and drink a little. However, being high school graduates, they're underage and therefore, not allowed to buy alcohol. I, on the other hand, am legal and can buy drinks! I know it's not related, but I'm legal I'm legal I'm legal! Yeah, I haven't gotten off that horse yet.

So then Beth offers to give the dude working at the counter a lil something-something in exchange for selling them the beer. And Denis' perception of Beth is completely shattered because to him, Beth is like some sort of perfect cheerleader but now he gets to see the ugly side of her and he's clearly trying to sort out what he feels.

They head to Old Tabacco Road where Denis and Beth talk about why he fell for her. Reason: she's pretty and he got fantasized so much about her that he made her up to be some sort of perfect girl in his head.

And Cammy, Treece and Rich went off to tip cows. I don't understand this cow tipping thing. I mean, I don't see the draw. See, it's supposedly very easy to tip cows over because they sleep upright and are stupid. But! Lots of really smart people have looked into this myth, and busted it. It's only possible to tip over a cow if the cow just stands there and allows you to tip it over. I mean, think about it: If someone comes up to you and started pushing against you, would you just stand there and take it? Hell no! You would try to regain your footing, push back or even just outright attack them. So you think the cows would just stand there? Most probably they'll headbutt you. And they have big heads. That's gotta hurt.

Or if you're unlucky like Rich, Cammy and Treese, you step in cow pies. So after being forced to leave his new Gene Kelly-esque shoes behind (I mean, who would want to ferry around a guy who smells literally like shit??) the five of them leave to go to the stuck-up rich girl, Valli Wooly's party. They meet Kevin there again and he proceeds to beat Denis up in the most humiliating way ever: In accordance to the music's beats.

Then Beth comes to the rescue, crashing Kevin's Hummer into the side of Valli's house.

After that, they break into the school. The Trinity perform a cheer routine for Denis, and Rich joins in. It's not really wise to cheer when you're trying to convince everyone that you're straight. Someone should really tell that to Rich. They then head to the shower, where Denis again encounters Kevin. However, this time Rich comes to the rescue and they have this weird wet towel fight. The flashback scene is funny, Rich gets bullied by a bunch of kids whacking him with wet towels, so from then on, he practices fighting with wet towels. Aim, accuracy, force executed, pain levels and all that, I guess.

They then go to Beth's father's cabin where Treece and Cammy try to prove that Rich is gay, and Rich refuses to admit that he's gay, which results in a threesome. Beth and Denis, however, just sit outside and watch the sun rise. This is where the movie rapidly goes downhill because Malaysia's censorship board cut out a lot of things, and I'm pretty sure there's an alternative ending, and we got the lame end of the movie.

It's very disappointing. When I first saw the trailer, I actually thought that this could be a fun movie. Turns out, the movie was too ambitious and tried to put on too many things, which just leads to a whole mess of a movie.

I guess I'll give it a 2/5. Don't bother watching it in the cinemas. Save your money for something like Gamer, which I'm pretty sure will not have a lot of story, but a lot of action. Yay!

Decent Days and Nights

I actually don't remember when was the last time I went out with a really good friend and just had plain silly fun. Most of the time I'd be going out with a bunch of them and the fun feels diluted somehow.

So anyway, it started off with me getting two movie premiere tickets to District 9. Since my first choice was working that night, and my second choice is in Singapore to catch Lady GaGa (bitch, I hate you YiMing) and I was too damn lazy to think of any more people to invite along, I did the lazy thing and posted a very public invitation on Facebook. So that's how I ended up going out with Siok on a Wednesday night.

The movie only starts at 9.30pm, but we heard that The All American Rejects would be paying Laundry Bar a visit, part of DiGi's promotional tactics for their new music thingy-thing. See, I already forgot what it's called. But it has something to do with unlimited song downloads for only Rm5 per month. A bit unbelievable riiiight. I wonder what the catch is. But they also offer chances to catch bands like Black Eyed Peas in concert. And all you have to do sign up for it (I think).

So we all went to Laundry in hopes of seeing AAR live. Well, Siok and I weren't exactly invited, but we really wanted to see AAR, so we put on our poker faces and registered anyhow. And we also got a DiGi goodie pack for that! See, if you got muka tebal, you get things. If you've got no balls, you don't get things. So we followed KhaiSim and ShaunLiew (I know him from working at that godforsaken place, Italiannies) into Laundry. They actually got invited. Bleh.

Siok and I decided that we should plant our asses inside of Laundry, so that the chances of us getting found out that we snuck in would be lower. I mean, I couldn't really be bothered, but Siok was like "I don't want to be caught, okay!" Paranoid android.

Anyway, we met up with LouisYap and Dila inside and we actually got a pretty good seat. Sure, we couldn't really see the stage when all the tall people with their DSLRs and flash guns stand right in front to snap pictures of the DiGi dude introducing their new service, but it's alright! Because we were only there for AAR.

I mean, truth to be told, I don't think any one of us were really listening to him. See, they had free food for us. And it's not cheapo food like the fried bee hoon or whatever that we usually get at events. Oh no, it's DiGi y'know. They've got enough money to have enough food from Italiannies to feed almost 75 people. And they've also got my favourite: Stuffed Mushrooms!

I fucking love stuffed mushrooms. They're like, my favourite food from Italiannies. I love it so much that once, my bro and I went to Italiannies for dinner, and all we had was one picollo carbonara (or in other words, carbonara for one) and one abonanzza stuffed mushrooms (or in other words, stuffed mushrooms for four to six people). Hah! And that was enough to fill our tummies. Mmm I love stuffed mushrooms.

Apparently Siok had never had them, and when she ate them she was like "Hey, this isn't bad! It's actually pretty good!" And we loved it so much that we made ShaunLiew get more food for us. And while we were munching on our dinner, Caprice (he's a local artist) put on a show. It's like his version of Akon's song. That Na Na Na song. I forgot what it's called. Haha. But he was really good. For those of you who didn't know, this is how he looks like:

Not too bad, I think. Although he does have a pretty weird habit of sticking out his tongue.. But he did put on a good show. YOU GO GLENN COCO! It's an inside joke. If your name is not TeoYiMing then you won't understand.

So then we impatiently waited for the AAR to arrive, but when it got close to 8pm, KhaiSim and I left to get our District 9 tickets and left Siok with ShaunLiew. Their job is to call us when AAR arrives.

BUT SADLY!!! They didn't come.

I am very disappointed. So was Siok. So with heavy hearts, we went to Cineleisure. I know they've changed the name to something stupid like e@Curve or something like that, but I'm gonna stick to Cineleisure. Why change it anyway? It was perfectly fine. Pfft.

And at Cineleisure, we bumped into Victoria and her mom! So cute la Vic, bringing her mom to watch a movie. I don't know, the idea is just feels so strangely alien to me. I'm just not that close to my mom. I don't even remember the last time I watched a movie with my mom! Probably never. I do know when was the last time I watched a movie with my dad though. I think it was Alien vs Predator, whenever that came out.

So after getting our free tickets, KhaiSim and Vic had this idea of playing pool. ShaunLiew, Siok and I made our way to the pool place, only to realize that KhaiSim and Vic were missing. Turns out, we left them way back at the cinema, where they "got distracted" by the dodgeball game on the ground floor. What a bunch of ADD kiddos they are.

Does anyone realize that Cineleisure is really hot? I hate it.

Oh, and I got a really interesting call from the aforementioned godforsaken place. Apparently, they're so short of staff that they want the people who formerly worked there to go back to work for them. And I told them no way in hell I would go back to work at that incredibly tasking job and running hot plates of food back and forth for only Rm5 an hour. And then she was like "Oh, noooo we're not paying you five dollars an hour. It's seven lah! Or if you're really good, we might even pay you eight dollars." And at this point I went "Ohh really?" I'm ashamed to say I was quite tempted. Because it does pay more than my current job. Plus, they said if I really wanted to, I could just work weekends, from 6pm till 11pm.

But then my common sense kicked in. Do I really want to work at such a stressful job for a Rm2 increase in pay? And plus, if I do work there, I'll probably be annoyed till death by him. I really cannot stand the guy. Is a Rm2 increase really worth my sanity? So not! And my mom also doesn't think that I should go back to them because I think I really complained a lot back when I worked there, so she could get the gist of the job. She knows it's tough and she probably thinks that they underpay and overwork us. Which I kind of have to agree. Plus, I really liked working there last time because of the people there, and now that they're all gone, I kind of don't really care much for Italiannies anymore. And plus their food is getting worse and worse, so what's the point, really?

I kind of think my mom really hates me working there. She was all "Don't need lah. It's only two dollars right? Tell them if they want you to work they have to pay you eight dollars an hour. At least." So I said something along the lines of how I would only work there if they wanted me for Independence Day, with double of that Rm8 pay and my mom's eyes literally gleamed and she was all "YA you tell them that! Think they can work you all so hard and just give you five dollars meh. They think you guys are what, their slaves ah?!" Well technically, Ma, slaves don't get paid.

My mom has something against that place. Haha. So funny.

Wow, I really got distracted there.

Um yeah, so Siok and I left early to get popcorn and drinks for the movie, only to realize that the movie starts at 9.30pm, instead of 9pm. I totally misread the time. So Siok and I grabbed our popcorn and watched the dodgeball players on the ground floor. And then I think one of us dropped a popcorn and it went over the railing and drifted down down down like snow! I think we were both kind of on a little endorphin trip and found everything funny. And we started tossing small bits of popcorn over. Even Vic found it hysterical. Especially when it landed on the judges' table and they didn't even notice.

I'm laughing again just thinking about it.

And then off we went to watch District 9. Vic's mom gave us face masks in case of H1N1. I can't stop stressing how cute it is that Vic brought her mom to watch a movie with her! And Aunty gave us masks too. Vic's mom is cool. She sat through District 9.

Now, what can I say about District 9....

I really, really, really can't believe I watched this movie. Seriously. It's so effing gory. They blow up humans and aliens like it's nothing, really. Then bits and pieces splat onto the screen and you get to see drippy blood. Fucking gross.

Siok and I were cringing pretty much throughout the entire movie. It's such a sadistic movie. But sometimes it can be funny, especially the "doggy style with the demon" comment.

Oh and they call the aliens "prawns". It's a derogatory term, like "nigga" or "chink". But honestly, the aliens look more like cockroaches.

So, bottom line is this: I HATE THIS MOVIE AND AM NEVER GONNA WATCH IT AGAIN. I really wouldn't recommend anyone to watch it, unless you like seeing blood and gory and pain and death.

Also, one thing I don't understand is why all the aliens are like brownish, but Christopher and eventually Wikus (oops, spoiled it there!) are green. What's up with that?

Verdict: 1.5/5
Props for humor, and the thinly veiled political undercurrent of the movie. And also, for the realism of fiction. Oh, and also, much thanks to Nuffnang who gave me tickets. Awesome.

But I really had fun hanging out with Siok. The girl is insane, but in a good way.

PS: Fucking a lot of spelling error in this post. What is happening to my English?!

Turning Japanese

I went to watch GI JOE again today. That's how much I love that frickin' movie! I only just watched it last Thursday, and then five days later, I'm watching it again. Weird thing is, there are more people today than on the first day's screening. What's up with that?!

Before the movie, we went for Japanese again. I swear, KayKay and I have been having so much Japanese that I think I'm gonna go on a Japanese sabbatical soon. But to my defense, I've been trying out places that I've never been to before. First we went to Yo! Sushi at Midvalley Megamall, then to Sushi Zanmai and then today to Sakae Sushi. Yes, I've never been to Sushi Zanmai or Sakae Sushi prior to this week. Sue me! I still prefer Sushi King to Sushi Zanmai or Sakae Sushi. I just feel like they have a really limited menu, and it just ain't that good! But Yo! Sushi was pretty good. I wouldn't mind going back there again, only the prices are a little exorbitant. Will only go there if I'm craving for really good unagi.

Anyway, after the movie, we hung around the mall without really a plan for anything. I was supposed to go in for work, but I wasn't sure cuz they didn't say that I was supposed to, so I just blew them off. I feel so bad! I'm so not up for the employee of the year award anymore.

So then while having my second lunch (HEY I only had like, four pieces of sushi for lunch okay!), KayKay got this brilliant idea of watching another movie. At first I was like "Whaaaaat??" cuz I've never done that before and plus, we've pretty much watched every blockbuster there is out there. But KayKay wanted to watch The Proposal, and since I had nothing to do anyway, I went along with her plans. Didn't really feel like going home.

I think everyone pretty much knows how this movie goes. Bitch of a boss from Canada about to be deported, gets her assistant to marry her in a desperate attempt to get a green card. Obviously, the smart people at Immigration know about this loophole, so they have to do this test thingy. Which gets the whole we-have-to-pretend-that-we're-really-in-love ball rolling.

The movie is super predictable, but to be honest, I actually enjoyed it a lot. I do like chick flicks, but I don't really see the point of catching them in the cinemas. I can't say that I think that this movie is worth the Rm9 ticket, but it's not too bad.

It's a Sandra Bullock movie! There will be funny parts, a turning point where the characters heads finally catch up to their hearts, a tear-jerker, then the happily ever after. It's a tried and tested formula. But it seems to work, cuz a lot of people seem to like it. And it made KayKay cry! Hahaha. Oh wow, I'm a mean person.

I will give it a 3.25/5. Not too bad a movie, but I wouldn't really recommend anyone to watch it in the cinemas. Now GI JOE is another story....

Joey

I hate it when the plans I meticulously made are disrupted. I really do. I mean, it's not so bad if it's something like "I wanted to eat McDonalds, but the line is too long and I'm too hungry to queue up so I had KFC instead." but something like "Oh, I need you to cancel all your plans for the rest of the day because I need you here right now."

Usually, and if I was as tired as I was on Friday, I would have just told the person to fuck off and leave me alone. But since the said person is my new boss, I had no choice but to cancel my plans for the rest of the day (which revolved around lazing in bed watching Charlie's Angels and sleeping) to go in and work on my rest day.

But because I'm a little selfish, I told her I could only come in at 3pm because I've already made plans for the day. And off I went to catch GI JOE. Did you know that GI JOE is an abbreviation of Government Issue Joint Operating Entity? Bet you didn't! Cuz I didn't.

I've heard about this movie about four months ago. Back then, when KayKay said that she wanted to catch it in the cinemas, I was like "Meh." I just didn't get the whole GI JOE thing. I thought it was like a male version of Barbie.

Well, forgive me if I didn't grow up in the 80s! I know nothing about this franchise.

But anyway, after watching the trailer online, and seeing the Eiffel Tower crumble to the ground after being eaten by the nanomites, I was like "HELL YEAH I gotta watch this!"

So being the kiasu bitches that we are, KayKay and I both decided to catch the movie on the first day itself before we both have to head off to work. It's quite a sad predicament, seeing as how we have to squeeze in a movie before rushing off to our respective work places. But then again, I bet that's how working life is. I mean, the most part of a weekday would be occupied by work, then when you get off from work, you'll be so tired that all you want to do is stay home and rest. Wow. Being grown up really sucks. Why are all the kids in such a hurry to grow up? If I could, I would want to stay 21 forever. I think I've said that before..

Anyway.

So like I did when I went to watch Star Wars, I had no expectations for this movie because I had no idea what it was all about. However, I did have one pretty high expectation, which was Channing Tatum. I am ashamed to say that I wanted to watch this movie (initially) because Channing Tatum was in it.

I missed out the first part of the movie because we just only got into the 11am showing. But it had something to do with a disfiguration and a mask.

Then came the nice part (read: Channing Tatum came on). It all started out with the inventor of the nanomites, McCullen giving a presentation on how destructive his weaponary can be, and convincing the hotshots to buy it from him.

And from there, Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) are put in charge of a team that is given the task of delivering the nanomites. I expected lots of action in this movie, but one thing I did not really expect was the humor in it. Sure, it's not the dark, sarcastic humor that I appreciate, but the kind of ribbing only guys can do with their best friends. In other words, cheap humor.

So halfway during their journey, they get attacked by this group of people with super advanced weapons. Lots of stuff being blown apart, lots of shouting. You get the picture.

Duke realizes that the girl leading the attack is none other than his old flame, Ana (Sienna Miller, but I couldn't even recognize her). Only that she's not sweet anymore, but lethal instead. So after having their asses saved by some team of super secret agents, Duke and Ripcord are brought back to the JOE's headquarters somewhere in the dessert, where they are given this intense training session to prove that they can join the JOE's.

And ooh there's this scene where Duke and Ripcord are working out and they take off their shirts and you get to see how built exactly they are. But anyway.

They figure out where the baddies are planning to release the nanomites (in Paris, DUH) and race over there to try to stop them from destroying Paris. Of course, as we all know from the trailer, they failed. But along the way to failure, they sure had a lot of fun trying to save Paris.

Honestly, I think this Paris scene is enough to make it up for the Rm26 that we paid for our tickets. I spotted a Porsche in the Paris scene. Try seeing if you can!

The unrecognizable (for me, at least) Sienna Miller as the Baroness, aka Ana.

Ohh, (SPOILER) and in some very unimaginative turn of events, we find out that McCullen is actually a greedy lil boy who sells his weapons to both sides. You know, like a double agent?

And (STILL SPOILING IT FOR YOU!) Ana works for him, as well as being his lover. It's very messed up. I certainly didn't see this twist in the plot, so I'm not gonna spoil it for you. But it involves nanomites, again.

But anyway, what happens is, there are a lot of things being blown up, a lot of people getting sliced apart, a lot of guns being shots, a lot of shouting and screaming and a whole chaotic fight scene towards the end.

Of course, being a movie that already has a pretty big fanbase (the old people from the 80s, ha-ha), it had to explain to the new fans the background of their characters. From what I know so far, they changed the story of both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. There are a whole bunch of other characters as well, just not interesting enough for me to remember them.

However, being a good guys versus bad guys movie, it has to end with the good guys kicking the bad guys' butts and the boy getting the girl in the end.

See, good guys kicking the bad guys' butts. Ohh there's a twist here too, but because it's kind of unexpected (well, I didn't see it.) I won't say it, but it explains the rise of the Cobra, hence the title of the movie.

Also, there is a role by Victoria Secret model Karolina Kurkova in the movie. She plays one of the technicians who work under the JOE's. I didn't realize it was her until the credits started rolling and by then it was already too late and honestly, I couldn't remember seeing her in the movie. But I think she was the one who died. Oops, spoiler. Pfft.

Heavy Duty, Breaker, Duke, General Hawk, Ripcord, Scarlet and Snake Eyes.

Awesome movie, this GI JOE. I don't really know why, but I really really love this movie. Maybe as much as Transformers 2.

Rating: 4.25/5
Points taken off the scarce plot and the sometimes cheesy dialogue, as well as the predictableness of the movie. I feel like the sake of this movie is just to blow up lots of stuff, crush Paris for a change (instead of poor NY), show off cool weapons, throw about some good looking actors, and use some above average CGI. So if you don't think much and just watch it as it is, then this movie is gold.