Concerts

My first ever concert is the concert by Lee Hom. I think he's still new that time with his new recording company, Sony. The concert was held in PWTC backed by the KL Orchestra and it's good showcase of his talent. He even restaged his final year graduation piece and enrolled a KL gal to perform with him.

My 2nd concert is David Tao which I attended with my sister in Stadium Merdeka and it's a blast! Then I attended Siti Nurhaliza's concert in KK Likas Stadium courtesy of Maxis Hotlink and she's brilliant. Nice powerful vocal Datin Siti.

Other concert I wish to attend? Faye Wong, Jackie Cheung, Sandy Lam (yeah....I'm the old generation), Eason, Karen, Cheer Chen and Michael Buble. Well.... if Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughn still alive.... I dun mind.....

What to do when you are under the weather?

The answer to the above question is.... blogging. It's raining in the morning here in KK. A long delayed post of the old stuff I unearthed in my room.... Upon taking pics of them, I threw them away...

My trainee card and also safety and health personal passport during my stint as industrial trainee in Shell. Brought back memory of staying with the Kab family in Miri and also the housemates there..... Pat, Kat, Justin, Chee Haw and Bala... and other trainee, e.g. Kitty, Chek Tang, Ngui, David, etc... Time do flies and Miri always held a special place in my heart...

The saving grace for poor student like me, GRADS. Confirmed flight at 25% discount and stand-by seat at 50%.

The student card when I was in USM. I like the baldy look I sported during the 2nd year. Easily maintained because riding on motor with helmet didn't do much justification of having a sophisticated hairstyle, not to mention with the enormous size of my head (the one with brain inside), it's almost impossible to don some fabulous hairstyle, hence "botak" seems the right way to go. Hm... uni time... such a nice time with some sweet memory, spent in the ulu town of Tronoh, Perak for the first 2 years of undergraduate and then another year in Transkrian/Parit Buntar. Miss you guys and gals......

Another memorable phase in my life, the real freedom and independence from home as I spent my form 6 in Kota Kinabalu. Stayed in a hostel with some quirky and fun character, made up of nice fond memories.

Boring and too-self-righteous period of my life, spending the priced years of secondary school time being a school-prefect and other politically-correct activities. Missed out the rebellious years of my years though never regret spending majority of my time in Red Crescent activities with a group of really good friends.

A testament of my book-wormish style and lilfe in general. I have 4 library cards which enables me to borrow 8 books which I can finish in just a day or so. Definitely a regular visitor to the town library knowing every single librarian there. Pathetic huh?

The name tag of my proud Red Crescent uniform. Lots of my life experience came from the 5 years of involvement.

Warm Springs

Brilliantly helmed by Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon of Sex and the City fame. The story is about the struggle of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Branagh) before he went on to win the US presidential post for 3 terms and his wive, Eleanor (Nixon) who's instrumental in his life's story.

Great casting with Branagh and Nixon (a good departure from her role Miranda in SATC series) and Kathy Bates joining the plot at the later stage. HBO nailed it again this time.

The Flight That Fought Back - United 93

Watched the Discovery offering this morning. My heart sank. My feeling tanked. My mind numbed. It's amazing how the family members of the passengers on the United 93 flight braved themselves and came forward to tell their stories. Bravery.

Though some fraction of the society may dismissed this as some propaganda to provoke the emotions and stirred up the "oh-the-war-is-needed-to-end-terrorism" sentiments, I chose to ignore that and focus on the passengers of the flight instead. Like what one of the family member said during the show, they were fighting for their going back to their family, for their promises to their families etc, not really the will to prevent the flight to crash to Capitol Building as it was speculated.

My condolence to the family members of the passengers of United 93.

Now I am waiting anxiously for the release of United 93 movie which was already shown. Filtering out the 911 sentiments, I think we can take the movie as it is and dismissed any speculations on the propaganda thingy, which is inevitable. Hmm.... very oxymoronic right?

God Bless.

Fair?

Scene 1
KT told the media that some abuse of the fund allocated to some schools may happened. HH attacked him in response to that, with personal attack remark such as his lone ranger way in his own party and saying KT trying to become the race hero.

Ending
KT have to apologize and his immediate boss came up with an official statement saying KT made mistake as his remark to media is deemed to be disrespect to government servants.

Scene 2
JK said his own people were being sidelined in the development in state P because state P is not headed by people his own race. And he also said that other race, C in particular will take advantage if his own party is weak.

Ending
JK being asked to apologize but he refused to and seems like his bosses were at his back.

MY QUESTION
Is this fair? Who is trying to play with race card here? Who's being arrogant here?

I'm clueless and deeply disappointed. What a way to celebrate Malaysia day this coming September 16?

Second Chance

It's always a joy to watch a movie with no expectations and it turns out to be a good one. Second Chance is one. Cleverly playing with the theme of church and religion, the plot is not heavy and "hard-sell" kinda gospel movie but personally I think the plot and scenario it depicts is universal in nature, and it happens in other religion too. Again, RM5 is just too cheap for a good movie. Well, I'm not justifying my purchase this way but I don't think I can ever get a chance to watch this in any other way. Again, kudos to those pira%$ with taste!

Riding the Bus with My Sister (2005)

I watched this inspiring story on Hallmark Channel 10. I know Hallmark is known for some warm and inspiring TV shows. This TV movie is directed by Anjelica Huston, famous for her role in The Addam's Family Value movie. When I decided to blog about this nice movie and trying to search the ever-dependable IMDB site for a poster of it, only then I know there's no poster in IMDB site.

Wonderful casting; Andie MacDowell as the title character and Rosie O'Donnell as the "sister" is superb! The movie was actually based on a novel and I guess the author is MacDowell's character herself. If you enjoy Sean Penn's performance in "I Am Sam", then you'll enjoy this. O'Donnell is brilliant and her portrayal is to-the-point without overly dramatise the mentally-challenged character which is so easy to be overdone. Can't compare much to her other movies as I only remember her role in A League of Their Own. Not familiar with MacDowell's movies; the notable one is "Four Wedding and A Funeral".

Go watch the re-run in Hallmark. It's a refreshing watch in the middle of stashes of tonnes of reality-supernatural TV series.

McDull - Spring Field Flower Flower Schoolmate Reunion

Finally I managed to watch this movie after I found a way to re-tune the my DVD player. For those who is not a great fan of McDull, this latest offering with cartoon character and real actors may irritate them more. The story line is absurd and fly horse walk empty. However, I recommend this as the movie has many messages it wish to convey desperately. With so many stars as extras, it's a treat to those who grow up on a steady diet of HK entertainment scene. For me, I'm tickled by Sandra Ng's multiple characters as waitresses in different type of restaurants. Of course not forgetting Anthony Wong as the sailor and also the headmaster for the cartoon character. Enjoy!

My Sis Convo

Long delayed post. Taken during my sister's convocation. So, wish my sister all the best in her search of her new life.

Imaginary Heroes

Helmed by Sigourney Weaver, Imaginary Heroes is so-so to me. Saving grace is... yeah Sigourney Weaver though I think she can do better with a better script. Other casts are pretty unknown except for Jeff Bridges who played her ignorant husband and her daughter played by the effective Michelle Williams. But for RM5, it's quite a good deal.

Can't think of any memorable quote or thought-provoking scenes so I gotta go making up my own imaginary heroes.....

Oh... glad that my movie bug is back. Welcome back my friend!

Movie Quote

Taken from some movie I watched :

God gave us alcohol.
It's a social lubricant; makes us guys braver and gals looser.

Coincidence?

Watching Fried Green Tomatoes (FGT) and Friends with Money(FwM) back-to-back, there's a similar scene.

You waited for a carpark space and patiently waiting for a car who want to leave only to learn that another *&^%ing car slipped in and got it. This a perfect scene to portray an outburst of long-submerged anger and frustration, Frances McDormand in FwM and Kathy Bates in FGT.

Did you have the same experience before?

Fried Green Tomatoes

OK... before I watched this, just by looking at the cover, I guess it's another "Steel Magnolia"-ish kind of movie but it's not.

It's a movie with simple story adapted from a novel whose author also penned the screenplay for the movie. It's a story about a 83 years old lady in an old folks home and a middle-aged woman. The old woman played by Jessica Tandy tells a captivating story to Evelyn, the middle-aged woman played by Kathy Bates. It's the tried-and-tested formula whereby at the end you will find the story told was actually the story of the story-teller herself only revealed at the end of the movie. Nice.

Casting wise... another grouping of acting gems. Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy? No questions asked. Just recall Driving Miss Daisy and Misery anyone??? Then the two Mary's who played the younger character in the stories told, Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker were brilliant too. Chris O'Donnell had a short cameo.

Idgie : I feel better now.

Evelyn : Good.

Idgie : I feel better 'cause all these people'll live as long as you remember 'em...... You reminded me about what the most important thing in life is. Do you know what I think it is?

Evelyn : No, ma'am.

Idgie : friends........ best friends.

To all my friends, who you know who you are.... it's great to have you in my life!

Godfather I

The reasons?

1. Marlon Brando
2. Al Pacino
3. Italian Mafia
4. the unrecognizable Diane Keaton
5. the hauntingly beautiful theme song
6. the sexy Italian language

There's no doubt that Infernal Affairs is the recent best HK movies that ever produced but I can't help but to compare with this Coppola's classic. Now, I'm searching for Part II, purportedly the best sequel ever made.

OK... a detour here.... someone told me that the Infernal Affairs Hollywood remake by Scorcese is crappy. Hmm...... guess nothing beats Eric Tsang and Anthony Wong though they have Martin Sheen as one of them and I forgot the other one. And Leonardo as Tony Leung's character??? I'm very much reserved...........

Friends with Money

Haven't really like Jennifer Aniston's movies except Derailed with Clive Owen. Another one added in my list now is Friends with Money (FwM). I guess in a movie, the group of cast indeed pays important role in one's performance. In FwM, you have Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack, what a cast right?

Not the first time to watch McDormand though I am still searching for her Oscar winning effort, Fargo and she's brilliant. Her character is a bit like Felicity Huffman's character in Desperate Housewives. And Keener is a joy to watch and gotta keep my eyes open for her work from now on. And of course, Cusack too.

When I Am Down and Low.............

........... I will need a dose of laugh!
And my dose of laugh comes in form of stupid funny movie, i.e. the HK slapstick movie, Eagle Shooting Heroes. The cast is superb and it's almost impossible to gather such a credible and expensive cast, i.e. Leslie Cheung, both Tony Leung (Kar Fai and Chiu Wai), Maggie Cheung, Karina Lau, Kenny B, Joey Wong, Jackie Cheung, Brigette Lin and Veronica Yip.

The story or rather the characters mentioned were loosely based on the famous chinese martial art novel by 金庸, 射雕英雄传. It's damn funny; Maggie Cheung with her way of utterring her last 2 words in her dialogue after a 2-second pause, Tony Leung Chiu Wai with his swollen "Angelina-Jolie's lips", Karina Lau as the ham sap 周伯通, Jackie and Joey as the love-struck 表哥表妹, Tony Leung Kar Wai with her singing stint almost at the end of the movie, Veronica Yip with her 潮洲腔 and tonnes of funny scenes.

Enjoy......haha............................

I will introduce another comedy flick which was also serves as my comedic dose next time... 92 黑玫瑰对黑玫瑰.

How Malaysian Am I? Part 2

(Referring to previous post)

OK.... so now I'm officially 47% UNMALAYSIAN according to Kenny Sia. The verdict is out and I'm as Malaysian as Michelle Yeoh, which means that I'm as patriotic as going all out to persuade my lifetime partner to PURCHASE an ISLAND in my own home country, and refusing to become a typical "flower vase" in an international sexist movie franchise with a gwai-lo hero (which coincidentally what my partner is)! How about that? Not as bad right? SO, am I patriotic?

As I am writing this, I'm wondering why there's only one house with the Sabah and Malaysia state flag flying along the stretch of the street I'm staying now? I'm also wondering why the so-called favourite child of the nation can blurt out something insensitive to the other "less-majority" ethnic group only being blamed for his youth and inexperience while another decent local actress who chose to speak in a so-called colonist language was being blasted with accusation of being unpatriotic, menderhaka etc etc.......

Also I'm puzzled by the fact that the police forces, who claimed that they were seriously understaffed, still afford to send some troupes to attend the "super-wedding" of the year of our local songstress while the streets and cities were traumatically attacked by hordes of snatch thieves and other criminals. Not forget to mention the never-ending mind-blowing feats of records breaking which consists of acts such as, "the event where most people danced", "the biggest Malaysian flag made by 10 cent coins, used newspaper, beads etc etc......"

With only around 4 more days around, I wish Malaysia a 43th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (For those who object, please get back your Sejarah textbook and search for the year when Malaysia was formed)

How Malaysian Am I?

Congratulations Tan Cher Kian, you are 47% not Malaysian.

That means you're as Malaysian as...

Michelle Yeoh!

How Un-Malaysian Are You?

Home

Home - Michael Buble

Another summer day

Has come and gone away

In Paris and Rome

But I wanna go home

Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by

A million people I

Still feel all alone

I just wanna go home

Oh I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you

Each one a line or two“I’m fine baby, how are you?”

Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough

My words were cold and flat

And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane

Another sunny place

I’m lucky I know

But I wanna go home

Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home

I’m just too far from where you are

I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life

It’s like I just stepped outside

When everything was going right

And I know just why you could not

Come along with me

But this was not your dream

But you always believe in me

Another winter day has come

And gone away

And even Paris and Rome

And I wanna go home

Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by

A million people I

Still feel alone

Oh, let go home

Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home

’ve had my run

Baby, I’m done

I gotta go home

Let me go home

It will all right

I’ll be home tonight

I’m coming back home

Remember I heard the song for the first time over the radio while driving and snap.... love it straight away. Buble was more known to sing the American standard and I think Home is his first original tune and being away from my hometown working alone in KL at that time seems to seal the relevance to me.

And now watching Buble's show in Starworld and heard the song again, after continuous weeks of outstation and some emotional roller coasters events surrounding my rather bland and mundane life, my mind went into working mode again. How should you define your "HOME" now? You can name your shabby shack where you sleep after hours of work as home; some workaholics who feel less homely may call their offices as home; some says it's where their hearts lie in, which for that matter, the heart of their partners; or your family. We work in different places nowadays. We might not be working in where we was born or growing up so that's why we have hometown but then again, where's our home?

Was there a song called Love Should've Brought You Home?

I guess it's where the love is ~ OUR HOME

Auspicious Day?

Chinese like the number 8.
Not me... this year...

I wonder how long will the hurt stays? Time will heal I hope...