Lost in The Focault's Pendulum

For several weeks now I have been reading The Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. It's a diabolical book. I would describe it as The Davinci Code written by/for nerds on crack.
The beginning shows promise, drawing you in, then the middle part just throws at you all sorts of stuff about the Templars, the occult, obscure references to secret societies. There is a murder, which led the protagonists (3 editors at a publishing firm that had been looking at works from scholars writing about the Templars, whom they call the Diabolicals. I agree.) to believe there is a secret plan involved and there are people who are making sure the plan remains a secret. So they embark on uncovering The Plan. They researched and consulted and hypothesised, and concluded that The Plan was to control the world (what else) by controlling telluric currents, which controls how the earth behaves. To control the current, the 'King of The World' needs to find out where the Umbilicus Telluris, the command centre of the earth. The Plan, is elaborate, it spans 600 hundred years involving 36 'invisible' agents every 120 years which they suspect is disguised as the Templars quest to find the Holy Grail, which is actually to finally locate the Umbilicus. But how do they locate it, and how do they keep it a secret from everyone else? They must use some kind of secret map and secret way to identify the location. That's where it get's interesting.

From Chapter 82:
"A map? But a map would be marked with an X at the point of the Umbilicus. Whoever held the peace with the X would know everything and not need the other pieces. No; it had to be more involved. We racked our brains for several days, until Blbo decided to resort to Abulafia [their computer]. And the reply was:

Guillaume Postel dies in 1581. Bacon is Viscount St. Albans. In the Conservatoire is Focault's Pendulum.

The time had come to find a function for the Pendulum.

[they read texts about Templars and the church and Galileo etc]

"All right, let's assume the Templars used the Pendulum to indicate the Umbilicus. Instead of the labyrinth, which is after all, an absttract scheme, on the floor you put the map of the world. The point marked by the tip of the pendulum at a given hour is the point that marks the Umbilicus. But which Pendulum?"
"The place is beyond discussion: Saint-Martin-des-Champs, the Refuge"
"Yes," Belbo replied, " but let's supposed that at the stroke of midnight the Pendulum swings from Copenhagen to Capetown. Where is the Umbilicus? In Denmark or in South Africa?"
"A good observation," I said. "But our Diabolical tells us also that in Chartres there is a fissure in a stained-glass window of the choir, and at a given hour of the day a sunbeam enters through the crack and always hits the same place, always the same stone on the floor. I don't remember the conclusion he draws fro this, but in any event it's a great secret. So here's the mechanism: in the choir of Saint-Martin there is a window that has an uncolored spot near the juncture of two lead cames. It was carefully calculated, and probably for 600 years someone has always taken care to keep it as is. At sunrise on a given day of the year ..."
"... which can only be the dawn of June 24, Saint John's day, feast of the summer solstice ..."
"... yes, on that day and at that hour, the first pure ray of sun that comes through the windows strikes the floor beneath the Pendulum, and the pendulum's intersection of the ray at that instant is the precise point on the map where the Umbilicus is to be found!"

When I read this part, the first image that came into my mind was this one:


The pendulum at The Dharma Lampost station in Lost.

I googled and discovered that apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so too.
Who would wanna bet that the writers in Lost had read The Focault's Pendulum?
No wonder the show was so good. They are DIABOLICAL!!

So diabolical that I had to categorize this post under both Literary and Transmission Jam.

One hundred and twenty seven

127 hours

-Contains spoilers-

I haven't read the book "Between A Rock and A Hard Place" by Aron Ralston, so I am basing my conclusions solely based on watching the movie.

From what I gathered, Aron Ralston started out as someone who thinks that he is self-sufficient and almost omnipotent. He lives alone, doesn't return his mom's phone calls, he doesn't tell his colleagues where he's going, he just takes a drive off into the canyons of Utah for a hike and climb to Big John canyon, with just a pack filled with a climbing kit, a made in china multi-purpose tool (pliers, short knife and a shorter knife), a bottle of water, some munchies, a still camera and a video recorder. In fact he was so confident of himself that he even brags a bit about making it to the canyon with a shorter time than anyone else.

God had other plans for him though.

While climbing down one crevice (don't ask me why, maybe he was trying to get across it? Maybe he just wanted to challenge himself? *shrug*), he slipped, knocked over a boulder while he was going down and that boulder pinned his right hand to the canyon wall. Unable to move, Aron spent 127 hours trying out several ways to set himself free. Unable to move, Aron also spent 127 hours reflecting upon his life and how he had spent it. The realization that he is literally all alone, that no one knows where he is and no one would come looking for him anytime soon and that by the time they did he would probably be dead, made him almost ready to give up on his life.

Dehydration getting the better of him after a few days without food and resorting to him drinking his own pee made him see visions, and in one, he saw himself playing with a little boy, which he concluded to be his son. That vision gave him the courage to do the inevitable - cut off his own right hand to set himself free.

That scene is excruciating to watch, to say the least. It only lasted for perhaps 10 minutes, but in my opinion, it must be one of the most powerful moments in the movie. To see Aron so determined to live, almost giving up at one point but finally motivated to continue with what he started was an epiphany to me. It's like a metaphor to life, really. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of yourself, to do or experience something that you might not really like, just to set the rest of yourself free and come out a better person.

I think this was the lesson that God was trying to teach Aron. He didn't get the lesson when his girlfriend left him for being selfish or something (I don't really get why, but that's what I figured). So God had to teach it to him the hard way.
So Aron came out of that crack on the earth surface, a better man. Less a hand, but more of a person. More humble, more appreciative of the human connection.

I think if Aron believed in Allah and had seen the blessing Allah had given him, just as I had seen it, it would have made him a really good muslim :)

"Allah is Al-Jabbar, the compeller. He compels you to His will and you cannot resist Him. His will is, however, decreed with great wisdom, knowledge, justice and compassion, so you can be assured that it is for your own good, to make you a better person in this life and the next" - the gist of a lecture on Names of Allah - Al-Jabbar

Wallahu-a'lam.

The Curious Case of Casey James

If you haven't been watching Amer1can Id0l Season 9, and do not know who Casey James is, please go ahead and google.

Casey did not have a good start on American Idol. During his audition in Denver, Simon said he didn't have a good voice, Kara thought he did, Posh Spice made him untie his ponytail and said he had a 'good look', and I think Randy had to say yes because the 2 lady judges got him (Casey, not Randy) to take off his shirt.
So you would be forgiven if you thought he was just the male version of the bikini-girl.

During Hollywood week though, he wow-ed everyone with his bluesy voice and guitar playing. Suffice to say he got through to Top24. First week, he made all the girls swoon with his rendition of 'Heaven' in a white cowboy shirt, and he continued to do so, week after week, culminating into the emotionally electrifying performance of 'Jealous Guy' during Lennon-McCartney week.
Tall and lanky in tight jeans and cowboy boots, with his flowy blonde hair and shiny smile, he would surely be a favourite among the ladies. His talents are nothing to be scoffed at either. Randy called him "the best guitar player this show has ever seen". But is he good enough to win American Idol?
If the past 2 weeks' performance is anything to go by, I think not.

Contrary to popular belief, Amer1can Id0l is not merely a singing competition. Looking at past winners, you will notice that they had more than a good voice and star quality. They had talent in turning any song into their own and making us believe that it is their own. Doing that is not as easy as it looks or sound. You have to pick a song that you not only can perform well, but that you believe in, so that when you perform it, you perform it with your heart and soul, and audiences will not only enjoy it, but they will believe in it.

Take David Cook for instance. Every single week, irregardless of whether it's his 'genre' or not, he manages to pick a song that he can work with and that he can sing with all his heart, and you can see it in his eyes when he does put his soul in it. That's how he made Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" become a David Cook song, and not a Mariah song.

Has Casey James done that? Maybe on a few of the weeks. Several times, he has chosen songs that were kinda obscure, so no one could really tell. His latest performance of "Don't Stop" was perhaps his most disappointing because, even though I hate using this Simon Cowell catch-phrase, it sounded very karaoke. There was nothing unique, nothing that was identifiably 'Casey' in it. I have an inkling that Casey might be a little scared and is playing it very safe. He would rather choose songs that he knows he can perform well, than choosing songs that he believes in with all his heart but is a little difficult to pull off.

Everyone knows 'playing it safe' will not cut it anymore. Not after they've seen Adam Lambert. I'm not saying Casey needs to start wearing eye make up and trade his jeans for leather pants, but he really needs to realize that after people have been wow-ed week after week by Adam Lambert's ever changing persona and passionate performances, it would be what everyone expects from future Id0l contestants. It's not enough to entertain. They want to be knocked off their seats. Casey doesn't even dance when he plays fast songs (probably the most 'passionate' thing he ever did was roughly pull out the amp jack out of his guitar at the end of a song). He needs to be more rawkin'!

Comparing Casey James to Crystal Bowersox, I think MamaSox has a better chance at being the Id0l this year. We see her changing things up week after week. We see her baring her soul week after week. Her emotionally charged rendition of 'People Get Ready' brought me to tears.
I think, if Casey really wants to win , or at least wants show the audience all he's got, next week (if he's still around), he needs to put down the guitar. Pick up a tamborine or something. Pick a song he believes in, then sing it with all his heart.
And for gawds sakes, move around a little!

Good Luck, Casey!

La Dolce Vita

I've been watching this Korean Drama Series on mysoju.
It's about a housewife (Hye Jin), who upon discovering that her husband is having a long-standing affair with a younger woman, decided to go to Hokkaido, initially to kill herself. There, she is relentlessly pursued by a younger man (Jun Soo), who made it his mission to save her life, whilst in turn, saving himself. As the story progresses, I watched who these two people were prior to the trip, how that few weeks in Hokkaido absolutely turned their lives upside down, and how they worked on living on with their lives. It's a love story and psychological drama all rolled into one. I found it quite intriguing.

From an ahjumma (makcik) point of view though, I was thinking, wahhh this must be the ultimate fantasy for a housewife lah kan? I mean, even though the housewife acts all aloof and reluctant when seduced by this younger man, you know deep inside she's really very flattered. It's Lee Dong Wook, siut. It's no wonder why this drama was so popular.

Jun Soo's (Lee Dong Wook) character was very interesting. Being so used to watching one-dimensional characters on TV, initially I didnt know what to make of him. Is he a psycho? Why is he pursuing this older woman with such passion and determination? He definitely had demons and a sordid and tragic past. He seems to be looking for a mother figure, or something. Maybe he's just out for revenge. One thing for sure, he definitely knows how to capture Hye Jin's heart (and the viewers'!).

This series is also different from other Korean series I've watched (though I haven't watched many) in terms of public display of affection. Most Korean series I've watched only implied sexual tensions and at most would show closed-mouth kissing scenes, usually towards the end where the boy finally gets the girl. But this one had kissing *and* bedroom scenes as early as the third episode. Nothing expicit lah of course, they were all very arty and respectful, but I must say they were quite sensuous and must've caused quite a sensation with the very conservative viewers in South Korea. Incidently, I think the most sensuous scene of all occured when the two were fully clothed, and they were only touching their faces. (Episode 16, if you're going to look for it. Tee hee).

Aside from Lee Dong Wook's success in showing his range of acting capabilities in this drama, I also began to realize another reason why I liked watching him so much. He so reminds me of Taufik. I mean, he is pale, thin, tall and in this series, rides a CBR. How crazy is that lah.
After every episode I watch, I couldn't wait for my husband to get home. Macam nak terkam aje. ha ha ha.
(Please dont get me wrong. Lee Dong Wook reminds me of Taufik ya, not the other way round. I dont think of LDW when I look at Taufik. Anyways, I think Taufik is way hotter. tee hee. )

Unfortunately, there are some episodes missing on mysoju. So I'm kinda 'lost' in certain story lines in the drama. I hope I can get a DVD of this drama when I get home. Ada tak?

Killer Among Us

Yesterday I caught Larry King Live and the topic was 'A Killer Among Us', discussing about how sociopaths and psychopaths think and how difficult it is to understand and identify them before they start killing people.
Suddenly one of the members of the panel came up with this gem:
"In fact, the most dangerous psychopath is the one that appeared on this show, and I'm talking about M@hmoud Ahmadenij@d ... wants to destroy Israel, etc etc."
(or something to that effect).

I am not a supporter nor fan of Ahmadinej@d, but mister member of the panel sir, should I point out to you that Ahmadinej@d has not started any wars and has not directly caused deaths of any citizens from his own country or another country, but I can't say the same about your former president.
If you put your former president against the same standards, who's the psychopath?

The Fountain, and death.

After receiving news of the passing of a young man yesterday, I needed distraction.
I dont know why the news affected me so, since I dont really know him. Perhaps the thought of the loss that his family is feeling reminded me of my own loss.
I tried sewing. An online quiz gave me relief, for a short time. I made chicken soup for dinner, and made a spicy chilli+soy sauce to go with it, but that reminded me of Lollies, which in turn reminded me of the boy and the grief the family must be going through.
I decided to watch TV and discovered The Fountain was on. Surely Hugh Jackman and the always beautiful Rachel Weisz would be able to cheer me up?
This movie started off really confusing, but I kept on watching believing it is going to be a love story with a happy ending and I was going to emerge warm and fuzzy at the end.
This movie was really really really sad.
I kept crying and crying, even long after the movie was over. Even when I didnt understand the ending.
I tried to sleep but I continued thinking about the scenes in the movie. The sense of love, of loss , of extreme grief, of loyalty, of tenacity, of what you would do for love that was potrayed in the movie really affected me. Perhaps more so with the current news still lingering in my mind.
I finally slept, and couldnt remember what I dreamt of.
When I woke up though, I had a sense of peace.

I think I know now.

Death is inevitable. No matter how much you try to avoid it, no matter how much you try to prolong your time (or somebody else's time), you will, eventually, face death.
This does not mean you should stop trying to prolong life, it only means that you need not fear death so much so that you stop living.
And when death does come (to you or your loved one), and you suffer the loss, we need not fear the loss, because it is not the end.
Death is not the end of the person.
The end of the life does not signify the end of the loving.
Thus we should not wallow in grief or regret, because it does nothing to the dead, nor the living.
Continue loving, and continue living.

Knowing this, I am ready to let go.
I love you. I am ready to let go now.

The Kite Runner

I caught this movie 45 minutes into because I was busy with something else. By the time I watched, the childhood bits were already over. It did not stop me from crying at a few scenes further on in the movie, and I was crying more than 5 minutes after the credits have rolled.

If you have not read the book yet, this story is about Amir, a boy from a well-to-do, well-respected family in Kabul, who has a lifelong bestfriend in Hassan, a servant's son. On the surface, Amir's life is all hunky dory but inside he is a little turbulant, and he is riddled with a guilt that he carries to his adulthood. Hassan, on the other hand, looks like he has a hard life, rife with tragedy, but as evident from his letter to Amir at one point, you will see that his soul is very much at peace. They seperated ways when Hassan moved away and Amir has to flee Kabul when the russians took over afghanistan, but they were destined to be reunited (in a way) later in their life.

I guess it helped that I have read the book, because I knew what was going on in Amir's mind. Taufik, who have not read the book, found the movie slow and had trouble following the conversations because he had to weave in and out between listening to english and reading the subtitles. I had to explain things to him a few times. This did not deter him from watching the movie from start to finish, and I guess he did enjoy it.

The acting were also okay. It helped that I didnt know any of the actors. :)

The cinematography is quite good too. Very nice kite scenes.
You could see the stark difference between Kabul before the russian occupation and after. There are a few violently shocking scenes though (like when someone got publicly punished for adultery). And please be aware that the story does touch on a few adult subject matter like fidelity and child abuse. So, be discreet when watching with children.

All in all, an enjoyable movie. If you liked the book, I would recommend watching this. They stayed quite true to the book, with a few omissions for brevity.

Riding Alone ... , Stardust and Holiday

Here are a few of the movies I caught on TV last few weeks:

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
Happened by accident. I was flipping the channels and saw this movie just started. It piqued my interest and kept me hooked for the duration of the movie. Very interesting storyline, very interesting actors. I love watching foreign films coz they are not tainted by the tabloid, and you dont have to suspend your belief. You just watch it and enjoy it. I cried at the weirdest moments in this movie. I cannot look at a boat whistle without thinking about the father. And I so wanna watch a chinese opera before I die.

Stardust
Been waiting to watch this coz I loved the book so much. Maybe coz I've read the book, I was a bit bored and impatient with the first twenty minutes when they were sorta introducing everyone. I know the ending is all a little corny and dickens-like, but the journey getting there is a lot of fun!
I love claire danes.

The Holiday
Corny corny corny, but interesting. Good light entertainment for when you're bored. My favourite bit was when Amanda (Cameorn Diaz) called out for Graham (Jude law) and he came out with wiping the tears out of his eyes. I really believed him. Good acting at that point :)
And I have always loved Jack Black. Even when he was only in his underwear in Orange COunty.

A Mighty Heart

Do you remember that song "Video killed the Radio star"?
hm.. maybe you're not that old.
Aaaanyways.
I think Tabloid Killed the Movie Star.

So I watched A Mighty Heart yesterday.
It is actually a very powerful story about the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. But I had trouble suspending my belief for a few moments and feeling sympathy for his wife because I kept thinking about her frolicking around in a trishaw with Brad Pitt.
I managed to do that only at 2 points in the movie -
When she sms-ed "I love you" to him, in the middle of the night, even though she doesnt know if he'll get it.
When she screamed in grief after receiving the news (I had to actually mute my TV because it was too excrutiatingly painful to hear)
I cried both times.

I dont know, if it were not Angelina Jolie, I think I could've absorbed the movie better, but if it were not Angelina Jolie, would this movie get as much attention/promotion as it did?

I think this is why I like actors like Christian Bale and (uhm.. I'm trying to think of an actress that I like that is not over-exposed in the tabloids...) .. Selma Blair. You don't know what's going on with them in real life, so when they play a character on screen, they become believable as that character on screen. When they kiss their on-screen partner, you dont think about their off-screen partner being jealous.
Think about those years when tabloids barely existed. We believed Rock Hudson really loved Doris Day. We believed Cary Grant really loved Audrey Hepburn. We believed James Dean was really a rebel without a cause. We believed John Travolta was a struggling dancer or a teenager with an identity crisis. We believed C. Thomas Howell had big brothers as good looking as Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe.
Now with the onslaught of too much information (on paper, on TV, on-line) about actors off-screen, it is becoming quite difficult to believe them when they are on-screen.

Anyways.
I liked A Mighty Heart. It is a good movie. I would buy and read the book if I have the chance, but I dont know if my heart is mighty enough to endure what she's gone through, even through empathy.

I want to watch this

I want to watch this, but I'm not a resident of the U.S. or Canada.



How now brown cow?

this made me cry

In other news, I cried, like a pregnant woman with raging hormones, watching this:

simply beautiful.

I don't care if he wins or not, he totally rawks!

if i knew how to, I'd play this song over pictures/videos of babies looking at their moms.

AI7 Top 12 girls

aiyoh so sorry.
Thursday is a weekend over here and weekends are usually busy for me. I only managed to watch the repeat of the show and even then I missed the first 2 girls.

So this will be really short:
I thought Alaina's version of Love You More was a better one compared to Chikezie's but I found she shouted too much.
Amanda Overmier is so awesome. I never knew anyone who could use 'even-keeled' in a sentence. I loved he quick comeback to Simon's comments too. But I thought the lead guitar overshadowed her singing at certain moments.
Amy Davis sounded a little pitchy and whiny.
I preferred David Cook's version of Happy Together than Brooke White's.
Alexandrea sounds and look professional and so did Ramiel Malubay, though ramiel was a little theatrical. She's so cute though what's with the hair??
Kady Malloy has a good voice but she looked kinda crossed eyed most of the time.
And I love love loved Asiah Epperson's voice even though she's kinda gedik at times. I thought Shayesha mercado tends to over-shout her singing, and Carly ... like Michael Johns.. is waaaay too professional to be amateur.

Who I think will be out:
based on what I managed to see, Amy Davis and Kady Malloy.

we'll see !

AI7 Top 12 boys

Here we go again...
I thought that after 6 years of watching this show, the contestants would know by now that to win, you have to shine and show that you're special. You have to wow and just vocal acrobatics wont cut it. And song choice is SO very very important.

David Hernandez sang Midnight Hour, and I thought that though he has a good voice, I found his performence uninspiring.
Chikezie sang a diana ross song that goes "love you more today than tomorrow" and I'm afraid I liked Diana's version better. It had more punch. He got quite good towards the end of the song though.
I really really liked David Cook's version of Happy Together. It was rawkin!
I think Jason Yeager has an awesome voice and I could hear him singing this song on some children's animated movie soundtrack, but i dont know.. it was kinda bleagh.
Robbie Carrico, who sang One is the Loneliest number looked more like a rocker than david cook, but I think his performence missed the mark. I totally understand what Simon meant about not being convinced about his 'rawkness'.
David Archuletta was cute as always singing Shop Around. It was obvious that he stole the audience's heart tonight. I really liked that he always looked so comfortable and sound so passionate. My throat hurts everytime I hear him sing though.. like his stressing it a bit or something.
I think Danny Noriega made a bad decision by singing Jailhouse Rock tonight. He did more shouting than singing, and somehow I got the impression that he was channeling more of a queen than a king. *double snap*
Luke Menard, the carpet cleaner, sang Echoes of My Mind and was very very very weak, IMHO.
Colton Berry (I always find blonde lashes a little freaky) did Elvis more justice with his performence of suspicious minds, but I thought he was just okay.
Garret Hailey (from a place called 'Elida'!) was a little boring with a really slow version of Breaking Up is hard to do.
I remember Jason Castro from the auditions because of his dreadlocks, but I didnt remember that he was *that* dreamy! Oh. My. God! This guy is , like , *sigh* *swoon*! How appropriate that he sang "What a day for a day dream". I thought his syncopation of the high note (which randy said was off key) was so endearing. Gosh this guy is shy but charismatic, tender yet bad boy in his jeans and those blue eyes!!! I want him to win.
Michael Johns sorta paled in comparison to Jason.. he delivered Light My Fire well, but knowing that he's not really an amateur sorta dimmed my admiration for him.. :P

Who I think will be out:
Garret Hailey, Luke Menard
also in trouble but I hope wont go: Jason Yeager, David Hernandez, Robbie Carrico

Castro Castro Castro!!!

The L0st R00m

You can tell that nothing exciting is happening in my life when I put up a lot of Transmission Jams.
My current viewing obsession (aside from Amer1can Id0l) is this sci-fi series The L0st R00m.
I usually avoid watching series because as I mentioned before, I can get quite obsessive and would get easily frustrated when I miss episodes and such. This one I stumbled upon when there was nothing else to watch one night. Lucky (or Unlucky) for me, they were showing the first episode, and watching the first episode is usually a sure fire method to get me caught in watching the next and the next and the next.
I found the series to be extremely intriguing. It's fantastical and conspiratol elements reminds me of X-f1les, but instead of random unrelated extraordinary phenomenons, this series revolves around a 'magical' room and the objects that came from it.

FBI Detective Joe Miller stumbled upon a key that could open any door and lead him to the 'l0st r00m'. From this room, he can go anywhere he can imagine. He and his daughter, Anna, also discovers that the room 'resets' everytime the door is opened/closed, anything inside the room that was not originally in the room and is not holding the key would dissapear. They also discover that a lot of people want the key, and that there are many other objects from the room that has their own 'powers', like a pen that microwaves people, a nail file that makes you go to sleep, a bus ticket that instantly sends you to the middle of nowhere (or so we thought), a comb that temporarily stops time, a clock box that stops decaying, a deck of cards that makes you crazy, etc etc. There are some people who think that the objects are from God and builds religions and organizations around the objects and makes it their sole purpose in life to retrieve all of them.
Joe got himself immersed into this mess when during a tussle with a 'bad' guy who wanted the key, Anna ran into the room without the key and the door was closed, resetting the room. This series revolve around Joe's effort in getting his daughter back, but to do that he needs to decipher the room, the objects in it and what happened to make the room and the objects in it so powerful.

Watch the trailer here:


This series have made me glued to the edge of my seat for a whole hour in a day, and wondering around the house in anticipation for the next episode for the rest of the hours and days.
If you're into fast paced sci-fi series, I would recommend it. If you're not or wouldnt want to be sucked into its vortex, be forewarned.

Cl0verfield

Someone YM-ed me and asked whether I've seen Cl0verfield. Apparently that someone have forgotten that I live in a kingdom that does not have public movie theatres.
Curious, I g00gled the title and found the official site and watched the trailer. All I can say is "WOW!".
I also went to Cl0verfield's imdbpage. Reading the user comments were very interesting indeed (Watch out for spoilers though).
The movie looks exciting and awesome, but I get motion sick very easily so I don't think I'll be able to watch this movie on the big screen. I'll just wait for the DVD to come out and watch it on a small screen.
If you have seen this movie or is planning to, can you tell me if it's appropriate for kids? It's rated PG-13, but I just want to make sure my kids won't have nightmares or something. Just to give you an inkling of what I'm worried about, they watched Transformers and they're okay with it, but I didn't let them watch Ap0calypto or horror movies like The Grudg3 or The R1ng (even I dont watch those movies). They even covered their eyes when V0ldermort came back to life in The G0blet of Fire.
This movie was released in US theaters yesterday.

Hantu Korea

Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for the past three days. I was held hostage by hantu korea (korean ghost). It came in a pack of four dvds, labelled 'My Girl'. I spent three whole days watching all four of them (that's 16 hours, my friends).
teruk betul penangan drama korea nih.
It was all out of curiosity at first. I caught Madam Y on-line in the middle of one night, and found out she was not working, but actually watching korean dramas. She passionately recommended that I watched My Girl. Even gave me the Yewtoob urls for it. A few weeks ago, I saw that a friend had the MyGirl box set, so I borrowed it from her. I started watching it on saturday afternoon, and I could not stop!!
haiyoh!! Tengok sampai tak ingat nak masak lunch untuk budak2!
Best jugaklah cerita MyGirl nih. The drama was not bad. It is a romantic comedy. The girl was cute and a little crazy, the guy very serious and uptight. Mushy and dramatic moments later in the episodes were interlaced with comic relief from smaller supportive characters. A lot of funny moments which got me cackling with laughter, terkekek-kekek. It is always fun watching romance develop but I lose interest once the guy gets the girl and all the swooning and mushy-mushy stuff starts. Thankfully the tear-inducing bits of the drama was all in the later episodes so i endured them jus to see how it all ends.
It also helped that the main male character resembled Taufik a bit. Thin, lanky, serious at work and very stingy. oh and of course, very easy on the eyes :) tee hee.
One thing I noticed that was really cute about the koreans is how innocent and naively the are about public displays of affection. If this was a 'western' tv show, the characters would be making out or even hitting the sack the moment they proclaim their love for each other. The couple in this drama kissed only 3 times (yes I counted), and the rest of the time they'd shyly hold hands. Even then, the kissing is very juvenile, tight lipped and not sensual at all. The girl's simple act of putting her head on the guy's shoulder was surrounded with romantic tinkling of piano keys and blurring of images. so cute.
tee hee. Maybe I'm only surprised because I watch too much american tv shows. tee hee.
anyways.
I have another korean drama to go through, called 'Stained Glass'. I need to remind myself to pace it this time. I can always pause or stop and watch it bit by bit.

G1rls G0ne W1ld, Ir@qi Style

If there are any niqab w(f)earing women who read my blog, please forgive me if you are offended.
I just thought this was really funny.

Finn Finish First in Formula One

Before I post the peanut sauce recipe, I would like to express my jubilations for what hapenned in Brazil yesterday.

I had actually lost hope towards the end of the season. I thought "Maybe next year". But then China happened.. and I actually thought it was going to be Alonso again. But then yesterday.. dayummmm. What a race what a race!!
Even though it was expected that Massa would give way to Kimi, I still had heart palpitations and whooped in pleasure when Kimi passed him coming out of the final pit stop.
Yay for Kimi!!!

tee hee!

The Returner

I updated Izani's blog with his 13th Month Progress today.
Do check it out if you're interested.
I included videos of him walking and talking. well, at least of him trying to.

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Moving on from one cutie boy to another..
Last night I caught The Returner or The Ritana.
I've heard of this movie before, but didnt recognize it the first few minutes. Until they cut to the scene where this guy in a black leather trenchcoat started shooting people and then they slowly revealed his face.
I had to stifle a shriek of delight!
Takeshi Kaneshiro woo hoo!!!


Picture from www.henshionline.com
*ehem*
aaaaanyways.
Storyline-wise, I thought it was pretty okay. Typical sci-fi anime kinda stuff. Girl travels from the future to save the world and gets reluctant cute bad guy to help her.
But the execution, man.. it was superb.
There was a bit of CGI used (very nice) and I think animatronix for the aliens (which looked kinda lame to me) and there was a lot of good framing of live action stuff. There was a lot of matrix-like slow-mo shots, but not to the extent of it looking like The Matrix, even though Takeshi did wear a long black leather trenchcoat with black shirt and pants for almost the whole movie. (very nice look. I'm seriously thinking of getting my husband an outfit like this. tee hee)
There were scenes that I could definitely see in a hand-drawn anime, like that scene in the rain (I wont tell you what scene, coz it'd spoil the movie for you).
And this scene...


Yummy picture from www.moviezilla.org
... just brings back a lot of memories of zaman bercinta with Taufik.. ;)
*sigh*

p/s oLaB, gewe demo ado macae meh-meh dio ni dok?
p/p/s somehow the girl reminds me of nutty. entah apsal lah...

Watching TV

Hey hey..!
Now I can watch malaysian TV from my home!
Thanx to this bit of news that I got from my friend Ellie (Thanx kak ellie!!)
So I subscribed to WorldIP.TV and am now watching Buletin Utama (the nightly news bulletin show).
wah, sekarang heboh pasal orang my@nmar pulak ke?? kenapa lah suka sangat menakut-nakutkan orang...

anyways. another thing to keep me in front of the computer.
tee hee.

p/s too bad they don't have astro.. kalau tidak, boleh lah aku tengok akademi fantasia...