Who cares, you say. Well I do. Cause they bloody woke me up from my blogging slumber. You see, the thing is, I come here to vent my absolute delirious anger at something usually not because it is bad. Well, okay, because something’s bad, but what’s worse is when something COULD have been good, or WAS good, until they completely screw everything up & turn everything in the complete opposite direction.

Like when fresh milk goes bad. Or when Katy Perry married Russell Brand. Or when Selena Gomez hooked-up with that Bieber lesbian.

Or my exhaustive vent about In Time.

Now Glee, one of my favourite series which I still religiously tune into week in & week out regardless of its continuing f**k-ups, has just successfully entered my hall of shame.

What were they thinking with Season 3′s Episode 10?

It started so well. First, Helen Mirren’s imperious voice-overs for Becky was, well for the lack of a better word, Queenly. It’s Helen Mirren, people!

The girls nailed an emotional, heart-felt “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face”.

Emma had loads of screen time, even surprising us all with a song, & her tearful, honest plead to Will was just endearing. There’s nothing I don’t love about Jayma Mays.

Rachel was outstanding in an epic rendition of “Without You”, turning Guetta+Usher’s whiny crap into a power ballad. I mean, this was not typical Rachel-Berry-good, it was really really REALLY mind-f**king-blowing good – the best from Rachel this season thus far. Hell, the best solo Glee performance yet.

& of course, we have this hilariously awesome moment of Sue to remember for the rest of the season.

Then it all went to hell at the pool.

How long have we all waited for this glorious moment of Will finally proposing to the delightful Emma. & of all the songs, they chose that noise-pollution garbage “We Found Love” by Rihanna.

In a synchronized swimming performance.

Oh the horror of this mighty f**k-up. I mean, who found what shitty love in what f**king hopeless place? Who? What? Where?

& in the mean time, Rory’s still popping up here & there without any real purpose or presence.

& where the hell’s my beloved Quinn Fabray?

What nonsense is next huh?! Glee in 3D?! Oh wait, they already did that…

Anyway, I stumbled upon this picture from Dianna Agron’s twitter.

Well aren’t these two a sight! I’m sure Quinn can easily “straight”en out Blaine. Why don’t they write that down for her plot, since they are disgracefully wasting Quinn anyway.

In the mean time, another musical series is coming. I’ve seen the first episode of Smash.

& all I can say is, Katharine McPhee looks smoking hot & sounds amazing. Always knew those pair of…uh, lungs…were under-utilized all this while.

She joins my list of There-are-so-many-hot-women-on-TV-these-days consisting of Dianna Agron, Emily VanCamp, Kaley Cuoco, the Deschanel sisters, Leighton Meester, the Dunphy sisters, & the entire main ensemble of Pretty Little Liars.

He’s gonna be driving the gorgeous new Aventador in next year’s The Dark Knight Rises.

Mr. Wayne’s will come in black, naturally.

& now I have one too!!!

Only mine happens to be the cheapest Lamborghini you can get your hands on. But it does come in the same glossy bold orange finishing! Kakakakaka.

Still, it’s every boy’s wish to own one of those outrageously exotic Italian rides, so let this be the first step towards…the continuance of dreaming about my dream.

12. inches owned, a couple of meters more to go!

Orange, yellow, red…am I having some kind of personal crisis I’m not aware of?

Read Part I, Part II, or Part III.

Then, someone’s cellphone starts ringing. Oops, he forgets to silent his phone, so the whole room hears a hilarious Russell Peters shout “Be A Man!”, then switching to “Somebody gonna get hurt real bad tonight” blaring out of those miserable iPhone 4 ass speakers. Bam! Tension’s gone. Everyone snorts. “Shit that ringtone’s funny. This dude’s wacked awesome!”, you’d think.

Same situation, instead this time it starts with the “Everyday I’m shuffling” of LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem”. Immediately this goes into your mind – “Oh, pretty cool song. Probably would bump into him in Zouk on Fridays.”

Imagine the same situation again. Now you hear a baby giggling uncontrollably. You go “awww…so cute.”

Last case scenario. Any song cut from that insufferable kid named Bieber. “*explitives* LOSER” flies straight through your mind. Right?

Suffice to say a ringtone, or any type of notification blaring from your phone inadvertently subjects you to some sort of judgement of your own personality by those unfortunate enough to have experienced the decibels. A quick browse through CLEO & online sources & here I’ve done a quick 5 minute summary (quoting from the sources & adding a lil of  my own words too) of the types of ringtones & what they say about oneself. So, which are you?

Oh yea, on a totally unrelated but still related topic, I’m just going to be posting images of Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2011′s backstage moments in random in this article. Simply because my mind keeps switching back to those leggy stunners, aren’t they much more interesting anyway?

Back to the list. Here goes!

1. Silent

You are probably the strong & silent type, in addition super-considerate above all else that your personal calls do not bother anyone. Which probably means you are a workaholic.

2. Default (a.k.a. those Nokia tones)

Either you are too busy for your own good, or this reveals your inability to keep up & master technology. Oi don’t know how to change ringtone kah?!

3. Animal Sounds

You’re a prankster who loves those dumbfounded looks on people when they hear the mating sounds of a group of horny monkeys. Or, you’re into bestiality.

4. Chart toppers

You see life as a popularity contest & yourself as a social butterfly. Popular jams have mass appeal & as much as you don’t admit or would like to pretend otherwise, you like to be liked.

5. Hip-Hop, R&B with some Obscenity Thrown In

You are those with some passive aggressive social issues who love putting on a swagger, often seen talking or tweeting about the week’s shenanigans. Boss probably won’t be able to take you seriously when Akon whines about “wanting to fark you” from time to time. You may also need counseling in your near future.

6. Heavy Rock or Pop

You’re on the nervous side, you like the big city, and you just hate feeling trapped. You tend to move quickly, but don’t always consider the consequences. You drive a sports car or a funky truck, and you drive it pretty fast.

7. Movie or TV Themes

You most likely do not have enough drama or challenges in your own life. Or you are running away from your own life.

8. Country, Soft Rock or Oldies

You’re a romantic—a nostalgic, with a keen sense of rhythm. You like to dance (or would like dancing if you’d ever bothered to learn). You would rather be a follower than a leader, and you are charitable.

9. Jazz

You are an explorer, both anxious to try new things but with a little patience thrown in.

10. Classical Music

You’re a genius with impeccable tastes! Or that’s what you’d like people to think. You aren’t fooling anyone into thinking that you’re a connoisseur of the finer things in life.

11. Custom-made ringtones

You have a unique personality, an entrepreneur of originality. You don’t follow the crowd, but dance to your own drummer. It is also highly likely you are mostly a swaggering egoistic leader with big balls.

12. Themes from either Sesame Street, Star Wars or ICQ

You think you are all retro, vintage coolness, but you are just a Big Bang geek. Not a bad thing though, you may have a Penny waiting for you somewhere out there.

13. You Change Your Ringtone A Lot

You have Attention Deficit Disorder. Fickle, undependable & bored easily. At work, you’re that dude that always checks out early, & in life, you’re that dude that goes through a woman a day (or attempts, & fails miserably, to do so)

14. Justin Bieber

You’re a loser who does not belong on this planet. (fine, I made this one up completely on my own)

So! Let’s see what my current diagnosis is.

1. Main general ringtone: Coldplay feat. Rihanna’s “Princess in China”, which I personally rearranged heavily to fuse only the best parts together. A yet-to-be released-on-the-radio track that is a curious concoction of modern pop between 2 unlikely artists, which falls somewhere in the likes of no. 13 & 6…I’m a swaggering egoistic unique leader with big balls who drives a sports car or a funky truck.

Dang, so close.

2. Personal favourite contact ringtone: Santana+Mercedes with Glee’s version of “Someone Like You/Rumour Has It”. Um, a little bit of no. 4, 6 & 7? I’m a social butterfly that drives a funky truck running away from my own life. Har har.

3. SMS ringtone 1: StarCraft Terran Command going “Bleep! Nuclear launch detected…”. Nerd alert!

4. SMS ringtone 2: Coldplay’s “Life in Technicolor II (Prospekt’s March)”. I seem to own many funky trucks.

What’s yours? Stop cheating, & don’t you even dare change that Bieber ringtone of yours…(insert violent evil laugh here).

This is just bonkers.

It’s the time of the year again! Christmas is coming, sales are everywhere, shoppers going bonkers swiping their credit cards as if everything on sale is for free.

& also, I heard Heaven had a recent temporary shortage of Angels because they sent their front-line stunners down to Earth to strut their thang in Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2011.

I won’t lie, I have not been watching the secrets of Victoria on the runway annually since the excellent 2006 edition. I recall that year as being the last of the best, because everything went downhill after that. 2006 was Gisele’s final year as an Angel. She was my favourite, an epitome of elegance, strength & stunning glamour all in one, & the last “true supermodel” (she’s not the highest paid supermodel since 2004 for nothing right?). Miranda Kerr, an excellent replacement, succeeded her in 2007. The 2006 show also had Timberlake as the music artist accompaniment, who proved to be surprisingly effective in line with the show’s themes.

Years on, I sort of lost interest, only browsing through the shows as the lingerie got more ridiculous, the “extra clothing” & wings got even more monstrously elaborate (I thought this was about the lingerie? Less cloth please!) & the music artists, from Will.i.am, to Usher & Katy Perry, were pretty mundane. I also did not agree with how all this additional distractions were slowly taking away some of the spotlight from the Angels themselves.

Thankfully, in my humble inexperienced opinion, this year they finally got it right. Or at least regained some of the past rights.

Now the thing about a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is that it really isn’t about typical fashion is it? There’s no ANTM drama & bitchiness, no pouty models freaking out or pulling another’s hair, no Tyra mail, no gay dudes trying to hog all the cameras. Instead what you get is closer to this quote I sourced from somewhere online – “These dream creatures actually smile. And wink, wave, dance and blow kisses while wearing next-to-nothing lingerie. The VS models are impossibly leggy, rail-skinny yet voluptuously curvy with pretty faces and big, wide smiles.”.

I won’t go on a review rampage of the show from a fashion angle obviously, simply because I know nuts about that. All I know is I thoroughly enjoyed the stunning Angels, the good music & the whole entertainment on display. & these are 8 bloody damn good reasons I truly appreciated this year’s extravaganza, & 4 that made me sort of puke.

1. Alessandra Ambrosio – undisputed Goddess of the night; simply outstanding!

Alessandra was it: the STAR. She certainly did not get the overall better outfits, yet she was beyond jaw-dropping gorgeous this time around. She brought what you would call the X-factor to the show, the A to the Angel, the A to her Alessandra…you get the idea. She worked the fan, the tutu, & not forgetting the heaviest bloody wings ever created for VS, still she was most charismatic & dazzling! Her 30-pound-winged outfit on the top picture above was the best of the night, perfectly captured during her slow-mo shot coupled with Rihanna’s “California King Bed” chorus. That, ladies & gentlemen, is how you capture an EPIC moment. A truly spectacular job, Alessandra.

2. Adriana Lima was all powerrrrrrrrr

Talk about the right energy. Adriana, as always, had the most powerful, dominating presence & walk. No one, not even Wonder Woman herself, could have worked a superheroine outfit like that any better than Adriana. Now when you put Adriana side by side with Alessandra letting loose at the final walk…you just entered Brazilian heaven sans Gisele. Sexayyyyyyyyy.

This is a little too much beauty & love for me to handle

3. Miranda Kerr still has an insanely beautiful smile

Miranda…sigh, ain’t no words left for her. Not so sure about the aquatic 2.5 million bra, ’cause just like Orlando Bloom, I was completely zoning on that insanely cute face of her all the time. Now why are all the hottest this year all moms?!

4. Okay okay, some of the other Angels/models were drool-worthy too

It was obvious Alessandra, Adriana & Miranda were a class (or a cloud?) above the rest of the Angels. However, I would single out a very molten-hot Candice Swanepoel & Doutzen Kroes as the other Angels who delivered. What’s good this year was how the models seemed to really have a good time, the outfits they wore were generally interesting & pretty awesome, all-in-all redeeming some of the spark that was glaringly missing from the previous years. But notice that experience does show: while Alessandra, Adriana & Miranda looked so comfortable swaggering down the runway looking like they were having the time of their lives (almost over-enjoying themselves in fact), the younger ones still looked a little tight & too controlled.

5. I absolutely loved the slow-mo shots

Yes, epic shot of the night

A really nice addition to allow us to “wooooo” at the slowed-down flawlessness of the models in all their glory, which got slightly over-used as the show went on however. But the good overshadowed the bad, just like every of Alessandra & Miranda’s ravishing end-of-the-catwalk shots, & even the Kanye+Jay-Z “hand-bouncing” the crowd sequence. The Adam Levine kiss on Anne V slow-mo was just crap though (har har).

6. The focus was on the Angels/models

The Angels are the stars, & anyone who would argue against that is either stupidly mad or madly stupid. Let me express my absolute gratitude that the general focus were maintained, most deservingly, on the leggy beauties. All the behind-the-scenes & in-between takes were about the Angels themselves. How wonderful it is to just watch & listen to these beautiful creatures of the Earth, clad in their VS pink robes, blabbering in their ultra-attractive varying accents about their past, their superhero powers dreams, their childhood pictures, glossing over each other, looking & sounding really smart. Sure, it may be too sugary & all but who the fark cares. It beats the previous years where they did things like interviewing celebrities on why they were attending the show. Now that, I mean – who the fark cares?

7. The music was Top 40 material, good & effective

Unlike previous years where they did not even bother to at least try to match the music with the themes, this year not only were the music chart-topping material, they went really well with the different themes of the show. Ballet dancers+piano music was a nice touch as the opening introduction…then Bam! You have Taylor Momsen purring to “Make Me Wanna Die” to great effect.  Most of the music were top notch stuff (I said most, but we will get to that later). Kanye did not disappoint with “Stronger”, a song he intended to perform in 2007. On paper this might have seen like a dated choice but this is Kanye, & he worked it. He of course reappeared again with Jay-Z to the bouncing delight of the crowd. The in-between takes scenes even had songs from Florence+The Machine & Coldplay.

8. Sui He & Liu Wen – Asian awesomeness on display

Hurray for Asian power! Sui He especially looked amazing & was a runway sweetheart by all means. Both of them did all of us real proud leading the Asian representation in this year’s show.

But again, what do I know about fashion? Nothing. I just know how to appreciate beautiful women. At least I hope I do. & I know how to criticize too. Here comes the bad bits:

1. The younger crop of girls were just not up-to-par

Only Kanye seemed interested

There was always something extra special about a VS Angel. Look at the likes of Gisele, Heidi, Tyra, Karolina, & current ones like Alessandra, Adriana & Miranda. Aside from that supreme aura of invisibility these legends seem to have, they also know how to look equally as incredibly fit & voluptuously slim at the same time. The younger girls this year however were all skin & bones, looking just sweet & pretty without much depth beyond that. New girl Karlie’s extremely skinny look pretty much summed it up. Alessandra, Adriana & Miranda need to give some lessons to this crop. But heck, what do I know about this right? Maybe you need to be a mom to reach that level of hotness…

2. Maroon 5 & Adam Levine sucked

The music had two sore points. One of them was Maroon’s mediocre live performance (the 2nd is point no.3). Adam Levine didn’t even sound like he was trying to do his best singing, instead just seemed mostly like he was just waiting to publicly show his affection for Anne V. Yea yea, we all know you have a supermodel girlfriend, we know we are not as fortunate as your tattooed ass, you really didn’t need to make it all about you did ya now?

3. Nicki Minaj, bleh

Well, I never fancied her anyway. But she repeated one mistake that hogged many of the previous years’ shows, when the music artists tried to take over the stage with a whole battalion of dancers that were a big farking distraction to the models walking down the runway. While the whole PINK section this year was pretty much a Minaj section & her “Super Bass” was undoubtedly catchy enough, there were just too many colours & dancers that gave me nothing but an eye-sore.

4. What? No Rosie?

I do not know why she did not walk, maybe she was too busy saving that pussyboy ass of Shia, or donning a Burberry trench coat. Whatever the reason, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s imperious pout & attitude would have capped off 2011′s edition quite nicely.

So, 8 vs 4. Safe to say, this year they indeed got it right.

Yes, I’ll see you next year girls!

The best 10 years (the books, 1997 – 2007) & another 10 years in between (the movies, 2001 – 2011) of my life.

Taken from http://9gag.com

Honestly, who can blame them? Presenting, the hottest mama in the history of mankind.

In case you are wondering…

Today I saw a girl in the train,

A girl so flawless she would turn all straight women gay;

I know I would probably never see her again,

So I’m left with only a spellbinding memory of today.

Train rides are usually experienced in pain & with disdain,

But today’s just completely made my day;

So here I am writing this down with only 1 question in my brain,

Where were my balls when I needed them to seize the moment & have my way?

- an original crap written on a Tuesday morning, inspired completely by you, the one with the sparkly eyes, voluptous lips, plastic spectacles, shoulder-length hair, red dotted top & black Zara knee-length skirt -

Image posted strictly for visual purposes & has does not reflect any actual reality. It is the first image to pop up if you Google “the girl in the train”.

This has certainly been Adele’s year. Her songs, her vocals, her live performances – all out of this world. Then came Emily Luther & Charlie Puth to blow me away by providing a stunning alternative duet version that equaled Adele’s original.

Now, coinciding with Adele announcing my favourite track from her, “Set the Fire to the Rain”, as the 3rd single, lightning has struck twice – because Glee just shocked my balls by producing what is quite possibly the best mash-up – hell dare I say it – musical number, ever. “Rumour Has It” & “Someone Like You”. Genius. Genius genius genius!

Now that’s a bold statement. The episode’s not even out yet, but the timing just seems so right. So. damn. right. Santana is just killing it. Great choreography. My previous favourite mash-ups were unsurprisingly “I Feel Pretty/Unpretty” (where Quinn completely owned the song & outshone, believe it or not, Rachel Berry) & “Anywhere You Want It/Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’” (how did they not win it with this?).

But there’s not even a single doubt that this is just a class above everything else.

Glee Season 3 has been solid so far. I’m liking where this is going.

Now once a full mp3 track is available for download, I’m raping my iTunes replay button.

1. My overwhelming euphoria at the glorious, spectacular Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part II & X-Men: First Class

2. My grateful relief at the polished Captain America & Thor

3. My gleeful surprise at Rise of the Planet of the Apes & Bridesmaids

4. My wide-eyed wtf-is-this-shit face at The Green Lantern

5. My overblown ears as a result of Transformers: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Is Hotter Than Megan Fox

6. My delirious mental condition at The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’s mind-f**king (eyeball-f**king too) trailer

7. My busted stomach from all the laughter at Obedient Wives Club news clip on YouTube.

(No, I’m not going to taint my blog with any images related to that garbage)

So when I finally decide to express myself about a certain movie in what is my 100th blog post, it surely means that the movie either granted me a whole majestic moment of epiphany, close to converting me into a new religion, featured a mighty hot chick, or totally pissed me off.

Unfortunately, In Time gave me the latter.

Let’s see what was in this movie.

Firstly, Amanda Seyfried in a killer hairdo, with killer eyes. She didn’t even need to show off her best curves, just a tease was sufficient.

Secondly, I’m quite sure this is the MILF movie of the year. All the mothers were hot. If Olivia Wilde was anyone’s mother, everyone would have been a motherf**ker.

From left – Grandma, mom & daughter. I can’t even begin to share what’s going on in my mind & pants just looking at this image.

Next, you have Cillian Murphy as the Timekeeper. He’s not exactly the villain, but Murphy played this character with such ambiguous coolness a whole new TV series could have been made out of him.

Right. 3 absolutely amazing things going on there, & I haven’t even touched on the brilliant concept of this movie. The near future where humans either die or go Forever 25, time as currency, & Justin Timberlake is still alive. A plot that shouts heaven for sci-fi fans. This could have been the next The Matrix, the next The Fifth Element, the next District 9, the next Blade Runner, the next Dark City. But noooooooo, this will now be known as just another movie that featured the curly-haired boy from ‘N Sync.

Look, I put no blame on Timberlake. Frankly he did nothing offensively wrong here, he was quite harmless.

What pisses me so much is the fact that In Time could have been the next ground-breaking sci-fi movie of our generation. But instead of developing its potentially rich concept & the enigmatic character of Timekeeper in Cillian Murphy, it chooses to be mediocre by wasting precious time on an unengaging Timberlake & a misfiring romance.

Well…at least Seyfried looked absolutely delicious.

Oh Sea here I come!

Well it has taken a little longer than I would normally take, but it’s here now.

& the court has granted the 1st child custody to the other half.

Fruit massacre!

Read Part I & II.

THEY’RE NEEEEWWWWW!!!!

THEY’RE COOOMMIINNGGGG!!!!

Just in case you are figuring out what an Idiot Box refers to in today’s age, it’s illegal downloading+a laptop.

The good days – when in the midst of duty, beauty is able to be appreciated.

The worsening days – when you just wish you could go back home at the end of the day.

& with the end of the year looming, the worst has yet to arrive.

Right at this juncture, it just happens that both of us are in the middle of the seas, performing our respective duties to our nation (& our own well-being) in our own roles. Oddly enough, both of us are actually geographically closer to each other right now than we would be when we return to land to our respective regional offices.

“No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it. After all, you can’t have a light without a dark to stick it in.“

When you speak of French actresses, you’d probably think Audrey Tautou. Or maybe to some extent, Carla Bruni.

I think of Cotillard. Oh the wonderful, exceptional talents of Marion Cotillard. She’s the one who seems to possess the gift of stealing every scene she is in, the one that shines above the rest, the one that is just simply pure, raw, beautiful talent.

Lilly Bertineau in Taxi, 1998

Sophie Kowalsky in Love Me If You Dare, 2003

Josephine Bloom in my favourite movie of all-time, Big Fish, 2003

Alice in Ma vie en l’air, 2005

Isabelle Kruger/Alice in The Black Box, 2005

Fanny Chenal in A Good Year, 2006

Finally, & most deservingly, with her Oscar in 2008 for La Vie en Rose, 2007

Billie Frechette in Public Enemies, 2009

Marie Vallières de Beaumont in The Last Flight, 2009

Luisa Contini in Nine, 2009

The absolutely frightening Mal in Inception, 2010

Marie in Little White Lies, 2010

Adriana in Midnight In Paris, 2011

Dr. Leonora Orantes in Contagion, 2011

& soon, Miranda Tate in The Dark Knight Rises, 2012

Don’t even get me started with that ridiculously sexy, endearing accent of hers.

I don’t know this could have happened, but Emily, Spencer, Aria & Hanna just found themselves a spot each in my hall of fame.

Okay, maybe just Spencer & Hanna – they are the only interesting ones really.

Pretty, pretty please.

I love driving. Especially driving for – or with – my better half, & a good road mix-tape.

I have an insanely awesome bunch of friends. The tipsy after-shots Kledang dim sum session was just one of those times you are glad you have such fantastic bros (& sis) to hang out with. Besides the fact that having dim sum when you are high is already awesome enough.

A drive down to Ipoh for me was always going to be about the brilliant food. & to journey down memory lane, recollecting some of the most nostalgic locations & experiences from university life spent there. What I was reminded of from the last weekend is – what are such experiences without company; without someone to share them with?

Whether it’s your better half or your friends, indeed happiness is only real when shared.

& yes, I think we all truly miss our lives as students. Working really kinda sucks whichever way you see it.

But still, I keep following every episode like a fool. I still love it like a dumbass. Why? QUINN FABRAY. One, the Quinn+Santana+Brittany trio are surely shaping into a favourite among my female ensemble (still way short of the One Tree Hill trio of Peyton+Haley+Brooke of course). Two, I still cling on to the hope that there will be another good episode since Furt. Three, why, the music obviously. It’s really always the music isn’t it?

It’s time to vote people. If Brittana does not work out…

Would you go for a Quinntana?

Or a Quinntany? Shit that hair is hot.

Answer – neither. I want a threesome in Season 3!

So, Glee has just wrapped up Season 2 with an episode that doesn’t feel like a finale, but I guess it’s Season 1′s fault for setting the bar so high with that climatic combo of New Directions’ Journey medley & Vocal Adrenaline’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”+Quinn’s delivery. Once again however – even with Quinn’s superb hair cut – New Directions lost, this time ranking 12th in the nationals. They blame the kiss, I blame the poor original duet by Rachel & Finn. But hey, just like the lovable (& now, smart?) Brittany said, we have another year together with the people we love, so let’s move on shall we?

Let’s get another thing out of the way. None of the Season 2′s music comes quite close to Season 1′s epicness. Still, music is still music. I’ve done this pointless list for pointlessness for Season 1 (+ 3 songs for Season 2) before here, so in line with that, these are what I personally feel are the best 25 performances in Season 2. Drum rolls…again.

25. “Landslide” by Holly Holiday, Santana & Brittany (S2E15 – Sexy)

My list kicks off with a love-hate song. This quiet, stripped-down performance was gorgeous. The only problem is, what is Gwyneth Paltrow doing barging in the middle annoyingly singing the lead, ruining this..um, “lebanese” love song? This really should have been a Santana-Brittany duet. Ahhhh, the frustration hurts!

24. “One of Us” by New Directions (S2E3 – Grilled Cheesus)

A very very tricky episode on religion was concluded very appropriately with Joan Osborne’s “One Of Us”, reflecting Glee’s tackling of  religion in a gentle & open-minded way. I only wished they made it longer on the show.

23. “Tik Tok” by Brittany & New Directions (S2E14 – Blame It on the Alcohol)

What? Brittany’s vocals were heavily auto-tuned? Sounds exactly the same with Kei-dollarsign-a’s original? I have no idea what you are talking about, my mind went blank the moment my eyes were hypnotized completely by Brittany’s choreography execution. Those shoulder humpings. The split. Everything was sublime…up till the throwing up of course.

22. “Welcome Christmas” by New Directions (S2E10 – A Very Glee Christmas)

So heart-warming, even Sue could not resist. Now that’s saying something. With Becky closing the sequence with some “it’s beaauttifull~” sigh-words, & the surprise gift for Artie, you have yourself a merry episode. Ok I still can’t get over the fact that they intentionally left this song out of the Christmas album, instead selling it as a single. Where’s the spirit of giving eh?

21. “Thriller/Heads Will Roll” by New Directions & McKinley High Titans (S2E11 – The Sue Sylvester Shuffle)

Whoever decided on mashing these two tracks up deserves a colossal hug from Lauren Zizes. Dig the whole costume & performance setup too. Michael wouldn’t have complained for sure.

20. “Isn’t She Lovely” by Artie with Finn, Sam, Puck & Mike (S2E20 – Prom Queen)

So what if this song was about a baby. When sung so sweetly by Artie for a girl so endearing like Brittany, this becomes top 20 material. It gets better when the guys join in to support Artie. This is old-school bro style. Brittany’s smitten reaction sealed this for me.

19. “Get It Right & Loser Like Me” by New Directions (S2E16 – Original Song)

Being Glee’s first foray into their own original music, at a stage like Regionals, it’s an accomplishment enough that the tracks didn’t suck. “Loser Like Me” was harmless bubblegum pop, & in “Get It Right”, you can’t go wrong with a power ballad sung almost too easily by Rachel. The reality is, competition song choices are supposed to blow your mind, not just sound average. Fortunately in some way, after their Nationals originals, you will feel this was way better. However, compared to Rachel’s solo stunner at Sectionals & the epic medley at Regionals last season, this is really miles off. Heck, you know something’s wrong when the best things from this season’s competitions are not the songs, but those enduring moments of Rachel & Kurt supporting each other from the stands for each other’s performances respectively.

18. “Just The Way You Are” by Finn & New Directions (S2E8 – Furt)

This episode was about Finn’s redemption in some ways, & he really shone through with moments like this. An odd choice of song as a dedication to Kurt, but still, who are we to complain when there’s just so much to love about everything in this performance, & episode as a whole, topped off with a special moment when a radiant Rachel pushed Kurt into Finn’s hands.

17. “Telephone” by Sunshine & Rachel (S2E1 – Audition)

The first of many toilet dates/duels between the two, this set the bar really high when Rachel decided to take on Sunshine with a Gaga number. Their facial expressions during the square-off were just top-notch stuff, culminating with Coach Sue storming in to stop everything with a bang…or rather, a “shut up!”.

16. “Stop! In the Name of Love/Free Your Mind” by New Directions Dudes (S2E6 – Never Been Kissed)

I always like it when Glee does mash-ups, & just like in Season 1, the mash-ups by genders did not disappoint (even without any performance-enhancing drugs this time around). The guys however scored big time here – they had every of the girls screaming & Beiste smiling at the end.

15. “Forget You” by Holly Holiday & New Directions (S2E7 – The Substitute)

Ahhhh, Gwyneth Gwyneth. This track made it to 15 simply because she completely surprised me with this. Extra points given because the whole Glee club chipped in to make this an extremely joyful sing-&-dance-along performance. Now if only Gwyneth stuck with this & didn’t continue to sing like another 1000 songs on the show, even daring to attempt Adele along the way.

14. “Raise Your Glass” by The Warblers (S2E16 – Original Song)

They f*cked the whole Kurt-Blaine first duet by choosing Hey Monday’s “Candles” (come on, that is so NOT the song for them!!!). I still cringe at the very thought of the whole fiasco. So, thank God when Blaine kicked The Warblers back into gear with this energetic Pink number. “Teenage Dreams” introduced us to Darren Criss, “Raise Your Glass” confirmed that he is a star.

13. “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again” by Kurt & Rachel (S2E4 – Duets)

Rachel & Kurt together really is the mother of all duets. They don’t always bounce off each other so effortlessly (listen to their unspectacular “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”), but here, the two were just so natural that I felt like I was just seeing a Lea Michelle & Chris Colfer performance. Shucks, they got carried away with themselves, & yes, I got carried along too.

12. “Don’t You Want Me” by Blaine & Rachel (S2E14 – Blame It on the Alcohol)

Put the lead singers from opposing schools together, & a 80′s track modernized with synthesized beats, & you get a show-stopper. Make Blaine go all drunk & goofy-faced, & have Rachel prancing violently around in a horrendous-looking dress, & you get a surprisingly superb cover. Of course, it also helps that Blaine & Rachel share some awesome chemistry, vocally & physically.

11. “Valerie” by Santana, Brittany, Mike & New Directions (S2E9 – Special Education)

There are 3 things that were truly signified for the rest of the season in this particular number; 1 – Santana owned the season & Winehouse with her vocals. 2 – Brittany owned the season & the stage with her stunning dance moves. & 3 – you can never go wrong with a Mike Chang dance number too. Seeing Brittany & Mike flipping off each other on stage is almost better than a Brittany-Santana sex scene (I said ALMOST), & Santana nailed it with her raspy, edgy chops to save their Sectionals after Sam-Quinn’s feeble opener.

10. “Friday” by Puck, Sam & Artie (S2E20 – Prom Queen)

Now you know what happens when an excruciating, horribly-written song is done by Glee with less sound engineering – a really good song! They actually successfully gave enough credit to Rebecca Black’s original & mocked it simultaneously. It’s so brilliant that you could be forgiven for thinking that Black’s version was a parody of this instead. Besides, there are too many classic, memorable scenes in between this song – Santana’s animated expressions throughout, the crowd doing all the “Yeah!”s, the cute choreography, Brittany dry-humping a shocked Mike – but above all else, Puck’s “Whoa, WTF, seriously?” face expression when Sam sang about “tomorrow is Saturday, & Sunday comes afterwards” just killed it for me.

9. “River Deep, Mountain High” by Mercedes & Santana (S2E4 – Duets)

Santana & Mercedes, now what took them so long to put these two together? The two looked like they were having the f*cking time of their lives, singing the shit out of Ike & Tina Turner’s classic. You’d be left breathless & all sweaty after this fiery performance!

8. “Sing!” by Mike & Tina (S2E4 – Duets)

Mike Chang needs no auto-tune in this, winning everybody’s hearts with such an appropriately honest performance about not being able to sing. Of course, who better to complement him but Tina. Talk about playing to each other’s strengths! Hilarious & sweet at the same time, this was the true winner of the duets competition. This was no. 24 in my previous list.

7. “Sing” by New Directions & Sue Sylvester (S2E13 – Comeback)

I know I’m gonna get some real flak by saying this, but this MCR chorus anthem would have always sounded better with a full choir rather than just Gerard Way’s solo vocals. Glee really nailed this with their blazing energy & effort put into each line, & not even Coach Sue oddly appearing alongside New Directions & a misguided choice of outfits could stop this from becoming the epic anthem that it is. Not with Rachel looking freakishly possessed like that.

6. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by Kurt (S2E3 – Grilled Cheesus)

Tissues out. Beautiful, melancholic, & sensitively performed by Kurt, this could make any grown man tear up. Interface it with flashback scenes of a young Kurt with his dad & at his mom’s funeral & you’ve got one of those rare Glee jackpot moments. I couldn’t believe the young kid in the video was not Chris Colfer as a child! This was Kurt’s Golden Globe moment, & he seized it, & totally owned it.

5. “Teenage Dream” by The Warblers (S2E6 – Never Been Kissed)

The song that introduced us to those way-too-happy-&-gay-looking dudes of Dalton High, & the unstoppable charm of Darren Criss, who’s Blaine is actually that happy & gay. Strangely though, I don’t enjoy the song as much in its full single form compared to their shorter cut in the show. Still, the way they turned Katy Perry’s dull original into a sparkling refreshing cover deserves accolades. Quite the stroke of brilliance, really.

4. “For Good” by Rachel & Kurt (S2E22 – New York)

Can I just state the obvious? The best chance of winning any competition for New Directions is not another bloody Rachel+Finn duet, it’s putting Kurt with Rachel! These two are obviously the best match-up in New Directions! Are they all pucking blind (I mean deaf)?! Anyway, this was the sole winning moment in the season finale. It was just simply great to see Rachel & Kurt singing another Wicked epic, especially on an actual Broadway stage, hinting ever so obviously that the two are destined for so much greater things ahead. The moment Kurt starts singing, I had chills, & the closing was just incredible. This was the closest they ever got to their defining “Defying Gravity” spectacular.

3. “I Feel Pretty/Unpretty” by Quinn & Rachel (S2E18 – Born This Way)

The first duet between Quinn & Rachel turns out to be one heck of a genius stroke. It’s not easy to place Quinn’s vocals, which I call oddly-sweet, while my better half just labels it a stuck-nose voice. But TLC’s number (with a little help from West Side Story) served as the perfect platform suited for Quinn’s understated vocal uniqueness & Rachel’s brilliant restraint on her part. Yes Lea Michelle, I actually prefer you in this controlled, constraint mode; it resulted in the most outstanding duet performance of the season. Well, what are the odds that this is the best mash-up by Glee too, with the song’s lyrics providing personal meaning to Quinn & Rachel’s opposing side of their stories. Quinn’s “oh oh oh ohhh..” in the bridge still gives me goose bumps. FYI this is the most played-&-replayed Glee track on my iTunes. Fact.

2. “Dog Days Are Over” by Tina, Mercedes & New Directions (S2E9 – Special Education)

Glee’s first step into the indie world, & what better choice than Florence & the Machine. There are just so many great things about this performance. I always love it when the solos go to Tina, & she really seized it. Alongside her, Mercedes is as dependable as always. Then you have the whole New Directions crew jumping in & raising the roof with such enthusiastic, energetic, heart-felt singing. Now that’s the truly great thing when these things happen; when New Directions goes berserk & lets everything out – no robotic choreography, no audience being forced to clap, no Finn being forced to dance – just the members joining hands doing what they love most. After all the drama in this episode, the dog days may not have been over for them, but it was just a triumphant way of closing with this exceptional performance.

1. “Marry You” by New Directions (S2E8 – Furt)

This is no.1 simply because there was completely nothing missing in this, everything was perfect to the detail. Every Glee member took turns & had the chance to shine, Quinn outshone everyone with a flawlessly sweet section, the song choice was a fresh Bruno Mars track, the whole dance routine was adorable, the girls looked beyond beautiful in their red dresses, & I just love Kurt’s dad & Finn’s mom. Everyone was jovial & honestly, there was so much drama in Season 2, it’s just a relief that for once we could see New Directions truly having fun while performing a number with no pressure or burden hinging on their shoulders. Indeed, they really did look like they were having a jolly good time didn’t they? This momentous scene in Furt capped their best performance of the season in what was also among the season’s best episode (along with E18 – Born This Way & E20 – Prom Queen). You know they did their job well when you can’t even walk into a wedding without thinking about Glee!

Honourable mentions that didn’t make the cut are the awesome flash mob to the tune of “Barbra Streisand”, & of course, the hilarious but actually brilliant “My Headband”, “My Cup” & “Trouty Mouth”.

To compare this list with KV’s 1st Glee Hit List, click here.

Temptation is bad. Temptation is bad. Temptation is…

I come back on land & my heart just aches when such shots greet me.

The new hairdo is just murdering me. Brutally.

What do you think…should I officially seek help?

& I loooooooveee it! Amazing.

This 1st released photo is by Tyler Shields, who had this to say: “She has been waiting a long time to cut that hair so it was amazing to witness it. There is just something magical about shooting this girl, wait until you see what’s next!”

To top it off, Dianna Agron deservingly nabbed “Sexiest Smile” in Victoria Secret’s What is Sexy 2011 list. Double hurrah!

This, I Like.

This, I Love.

Although my preference is & has always been brunettes, everyone knows I’m totally into Quinn. She’s my no.1 blonde, as you can clearly read here in There’s Just Something About Q. In Glee & outside (Amber Heard is a close 2nd at the moment). But while she had a great plot in Season 1, clearly the writers have embarassingly destroyed any character development Quinn had in Season 2 (still goes around the school looking nothing less stunning though). Thankfully, the 2nd blonde in Glee has managed to step up.

Brittany Susan Pierce, you are undisputedly Season 2′s outstanding Glee character. Brittany has had numerous defining moments; from owning the dance floor through Britney’s & Kei$ha’s numbers to being a hottie who shines with superb dressing outfits. However, she will forever be known best for her klutzy, delightful deadpanness & her outrageous WTFF one-liners. There’s never going to be another such a lovable dumb blonde. With that in mind, I’ve compiled 66 of my favourite Brittany lines & moments to date, in no particular order of preference or episode. Get your Santana-WTF face on.

1. “Did you know dolphins are just gay sharks”

2. “I’ve lived my entire life in Britney’s shadow and I will never be as talented or famous. I hope you all respect that I want Glee Club to remain a place where I, Brittany S. Pierce, can escape the torment of Britney Spears.”

3. “I’m pretty sure my cat is reading my diary.”

4. “I’m Mike Chang”

5. “People think I went on vacation, but actually I spent all summer lost in the sewers”

6. “Coach Beiste didn’t touch my boobs. Truth is, I sort of want to touch her boobs.”

7. (After seeing Santana & Quinn fight) “Stop the Violence”

8. Will: “What’s a ballad?” Brittany: “It’s a male duck”

9. “Because my name is also Brittany Spears. My middle name is Susan, my last name is Pierce. That makes me Brittany S. Pierce, Brittany Spears.”

10. (After Rachel uses a metaphor of not strangling a little bird, but letting it fly, to describe her relationship to Finn) “Finn can fly?”

11. “I don’t brush my teeth, I rinse my mouth with soda after I eat. I was pretty sure Dr. Pepper was a dentist.”

12. “I thought heart attacks were from loving too much.”

13. (On Jesse) “Mr.Schue, is he your son?”

14. (To Santana) “I’m mad at you … but you’re still so hot.”

15. (On why she likes Mr. Schue) “Mr. Schue taught me the second half of the alphabet. I stopped after M and N. I thought they sounded too similar and got frustrated.”

16. (Points to breasts, shakes fingers – “no” – at Santana)

17. (Gives a t-shirt to Santana with ‘Lebanese’ written on it – instead of ‘Lesbian’)

18. “If we lose, we should throw possums.”

19. “Puck’s like the dumbest person on the planet, and that’s coming from me.”

20. (Looking at Jacob Ben Israel’s afro) “It looks like a Jewish cloud”

21. Will: “What’s a duet?” Brittany: “It’s a blanket.”

22. “I’m paralyzed with fear. I’ve been here since second period. I really need to pee.”

23. Will: “Who is Christopher Cross?” Brittany: “He discovered America”

24. “The key is to use your curling iron in the bathtub to keep you from being burnt.”

25. “I wore a tank top today because I thought it was summer. Nobody ever taught me how to read a calendar.”

26. (After Brittany announces she’s expecting a baby) Will: “Wait. Brittany have you been to a doctor yet? That’s the only way to be sure.” Brittany: “I don’t need to go to a doctor. I just need to look outside my window. Three days ago, a stork built its nest on top of my garage. I’m not stupid. I’m pretty sure it was getting ready to bring my baby.”

27. (On the counselor) “She is the one they made me talk to when they found out I was keeping the bird in my locker”

28. (Mr Schue writes ‘Love’ on white board) “Ok guys I have one word for you” Brittany: “Is it love? I’m totally gonna graduate now!”

29. “Is God an evil dwarf?”

30. Rachel: “I want my allowance back!” Brittany: “You can’t. My uncle lost his job and he couldn’t afford food for his goat, so I spent the money on it. Well, sorta. The goat just ate the money.”

31. “Sometimes I forget my middle name.”

32. “It’s the Glee club with the football team… it’s like a double rainbow. A zombie double rainbow.”

33. Quinn: “There’s a fair amount of the pot calling the kettle black now.” Brittany: “That’s so racist.”

34. “Did you get a leg transplant?”

35. Will: “What’s a ballad?” Brittany: “It’s a male duck.”

36. (Will then pulls out a hat) Brittany: “I bet the duck’s in the hat.”

37. Brittany: “I really like when we make out and stuff.” Santana: “Which isn’t cheating because?” Brittany: “The plumbing’s different.”

38. “Most teachers think that by cutting class, I might improve my grades.”

39. “Rachel, I’m gonna give you some tough love right now. You’re not a trendsetter. When people look at you, they don’t see what you’re wearing, they see a cat getting its temperature taken, and then they hear it screaming.”

40. Will: “Who can tell us what an anthem is?” Brittany: “The bottom of an ant’s pant.” Will: “So close.”

41. “I don’t wanna die yet. At least not until One Tree Hill gets canceled.”

42. “Remember: even the smallest envelope is heavy for an elf.”

43. “Last year I left my stocking up over Christmas vacation and an entire family of mice starting living in it. Their Christmas gift to each other was rabies.”

44. Artie: “We all know you can do it.” Brittany: “I know that I can’t. Just like I know the cricket that reads to me at night is totally stealing my jewelry.”

45. (On tater tots) “They look like deep fried deep poop.”

46. Kurt: “What are you going as for Halloween?” Brittany: “I’m going as a peanut allergy”

47. Artie: “I thought I was over someone, but I still think I have feelings for them.” Brittany: “The Clintons?”

48. Tina: “Last week we were too sexy, this week we’re too religious — we can’t win.” Brittany: “Now I know how Miley feels like.”

49. “Whenever I pray, I fall asleep.”

50. “Please don’t pull out all my teeth. I’ll look like an adult baby, but with boobs.”

51. Mr. Hummel: “If things get serious, use protection.” Brittany to Kurt: “Does he mean like a burglar alarm?”

52. “You’re pretty much the only guy in this school I haven’t made out with because I thought you were capital G gay. But now that I know you’re not, having a perfect record would mean a lot to me. Let me know if you wanna tap this.”

53. “I’ve been here since first period. I had a cold and I took all my antibiotics at the same time and I forgot how to leave.”

54. “I don’t know how to turn on a computer.”

55. “The way to get a man to follow you forever, take his virginity. Madonna wrote a song about it.”

56. “When I pulled my hamstring, I went to a ‘massage-onist’ (misogynist).”

57. Brittany: “You’re a really good dancer.” Finn: “Thanks, but my feet weren’t really dancing.” Brittany: “That was the best part.”

58. Santana: “Having sex is not dating.” Brittany: “If it were Santana and I would be dating.”

59. Mr. Schue: “Brittany, take it away.” Brittany: “Take what away?”

60. Rachel: “Where’s Quinn?” Brittany: “Probably down at the mall looking for elastic waist pants.”

61. “So, Hairography. It works best when you pretend like you’re getting tasered. So you just move your head around and pretend like you’re spazzing and stuff. You guys, it’s like cool epilepsy.”

62. “Your hands are really soft. Seriously, they feel like a baby. Now I know what it’s like to date a baby.”

63. Carl: “I will put you under anesthesia, you won’t feel a thing.” Brittany: “Like roofies?”

64. “Someday, I’m gonna go to Paris and visit the oeuvre.”

65. Santana: “Everyone knows my job here is to look hot.” Quinn: “My baby hormones make me moody.” Brittany: “There’s so many words!”

66. “I’m more talented than all of you. I see that now. It’s Brittany…(pauses) bitches.”

So if you think reading these make you snort like mad, you should watch her execute those lines in her trademark deadpan nature. Oh don’t we all just looooove her!

References: http://glee.wikia.com/

I am in awe of Kate Middleton. In one day, she was just, simply, unblemished classiness defined.

Poised.

Elegant.

& most significantly, radiant.

She was, for that one day at least, a picture of perfection.

She did it.

Okay I’m getting way over my head now. It is obviously not. But boy were they not joking when the posters claimed that “you will be unprepared”. If you follow this blog you would know that the author is inherently guilty of excessively-promoting & overly-anticipating this movie since  Gawd-knows-when. Yes, I totally got sucker punched – but even more by its unbelievable soundtrack. But let’s leave that to a later part of this.

PART I: THE MOVIE

Firstly, permit yours truly to just dive in straight to the fact that Sucker-Punch-is-the-most-visually-stunning-gloriously-exploitative-mess-of-a-movie-I’ve-ever-had-the-gleeful-opportunity-to-enjoy. (Breathe, breathe…)

It is every fanboy’s wettest of wet dreams & most fantastic of fantasies. You’ve got 5 women executing sublime moves & blasting bullets in clothes that are barely clothes. You’ve got snarling oversized samurai warriors zombies, dragons straight out of Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, Nazi cyborgs, a giant Bunny robot driven by an Asian hottie while still chomping on her lollipop, & shiny robot soldiers.

What is there possibly not to salivate over?

This will give your brain & senses an exhilarating yet exhausting endurance run like you probably never quite experienced before. The first 10 minutes feels like a long MTV video with a slick rendition of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”, but it was so engrossing. In fact, the last time I felt this stimulated by a movie opening scene was The Social Network. You are either going to just love it, or completely hate it. But if there’s one thing everyone will agree, it will be about how astonishing the visual thrills are. & nobody’s gonna complain about the girls. These are not your typical bombshells, for there is an enormous amount of talent in the acting arsenal in the likes of Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone & Emily Browning, who were all outstanding. Then you have the veteran, imposing elegance of a Swarovski-earring-wearing Carla Cugino, with Oscar Isaac in excellent bad-ass form as Blue.

Oh, remember the part about what is there possibly not to salivate over? I’ve got one. Vanessa Hudgens. Bleh. She was the sole sore point in this big screen roller-coaster. For that, I’m eternally grateful that they didn’t decide to pollute the soundtrack with her lack-of-vocals.

Now about the plot. Hmmmm, now this is going to be a tricky one. I don’t know whether if this is just me, but all the beautiful, adrenaline-rushing effects didn’t quite hide the fact that the storyline was actually quite deep & emotional! Yes you read me right. Critics will disagree, I’m very sure, but I actually felt there was something in the plot, & emotional (the last word in the dictionary I would have expected to be associated with Sucker Punch) it was! The story was presented amongst sequences of imaginary, completely outrageous, bamboozling action scenes that added no concrete plot value whatsoever, amassing in the most spectacular mess you’ve ever seen. & that’s a good thing by the way.

Leaving me breathless from all the euphoria is one thing, but sticking deep questions into my head is actually flabbergasting. What was real? Was the whole whorehouse world another layer, & the battle scenes a dream within a dream Inception-style? Were the 5 girls just a representation of characters in one single girl? Did Rocket’s death symbolize something deeper that was related to Baby Doll’s sister’s death? Was Baby Doll dancing actually something else in the real world that was more traumatizing? What was Vanessa Hudgens bloody doing in this movie? Why is Rosmah’s hair getting bigger & bigger? Ahhh, questions questions.

My favourite characters: Rocket & Sweet Pea!

I am at a complete loss of superlatives to lavish upon this movie; what I’m gonna say is just dive into the hall & enjoy this entertainment blockbuster, this is 300 with boobs. I’m a fan of Digital 2D now, so I’m going to have to say that it is mandatory for this movie in particular, so you will walk out of the hall like you’ve just got brain-electrocuted & delightfully-lobotomized. Or like you’ve just been force-fed with more weed than you could ever imagine.

PART II: THE MUSIC

This is the part where I got totally sucker punched. In the balls.

I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I declare the 9-song compilation, which is a remix of classics, one of the best soundtrack in the 25 years of my life. & trust me, my ears have heard a lot. You see, film music & soundtracks used to be just a sidekick to the main show. Slowly it became a crucial anatomy of a movie, sometimes even turning out to be bigger than the movie it was supposed to be accompanying. There are soundtracks that go well with the movie, where a good one will remind you of the scenes in the movie, & there are other soundtracks that stand well on its on. Sucker Punch’s is one of those rare gems that does both extraordinarily well.

The director himself has his imprints all over this with the roaring mash-ups & savagely-synthesized rock feel of the tracks. But you know what’s even more astounding? My favourite tracks, 3 of them in fact, were sung by Miss Baby Doll, Emily Browning herself. Now this is beyond spectacular. Kicking the album (& the movie) off is a haunting remix of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” that played throughout the sensational slow-mo opening sequence of the movie, a version I reckon will even send Marilyn Manson to delirium heaven. Having the actual main actress singing melancholics of “Asleep” & “Where is My Mind?” during those more emotional scenes produced results that I’m very sure even director Zack Snyder couldn’t possibly visualize. There I was thinking that there is another indie artist to be discovered, only to read in utter bewilderment the name Emily Browning in the singing credits. While being the most delicate & muted tracks in the album, the enchanting vulnerability Browning gives to “Asleep” & “Where is My Mind” actually produces the most intensely orgasmic results. ORGASMIC, that’s the word!

You also have the haunting vocals of Bjork & Emiliana Torrini, which adds a whole different dimension, & everything culminates quite nicely with “Love is in the Air” by Carla Cugino & Oscar Isaacs, just like in the credits. My favourite track has to be “Where Is My Mind” which pairs Yoav with Browning. Carla Azar’s “Tomorrow Never Knows” is starting to get heavy play on my iTunes as well – the interesting last quarter that hops into symphonic strings before resuming its rock anthem is quite genius.

This is one soundtrack that is destined for greatness. If the movie does not turn out to be a cult classic, this soundtrack will, if, that is, it already hasn’t.

PART III: THE GIRLS, & OTHERS

Now comes an interesting section. We all love the 5 girls – that’s the main 4 with Carla Cugino, not Vanessa Hudgens – keep up with me will you. Did you know that Amanda Seyfried, Emma Stone & Evan Rachel Wood were actually the first choices for the role Baby Doll, Amber & Rocket respectively? Let’s see how they measure up against the final chosen ones.

Baby Doll: Emily Browning vs Amanda Seyfried

Hmmm, both have that big-eyed cute effect. While admittedly, Seyfried has enough curves to make the movie feel like Pamela Anderson directed it, I actually loved the steely vulnerability Browning brought to Baby Doll. But what clearly proved Browning is a clear winner would be the undiscovered talent she had in her stunning vocals. So it’s Browning for me, wise decision Mr. Snyder!

Amber: Jamie Chung vs Emma Stone

Looks vs Zesty Talent. Chung’s Amber had not much to do aside from looking ridiculously hot sucking a lollipop & lording the skies in a bunny robot & big-ass planes, so Jamie Chung for that matter scorched that part. But it’s hard to resist imagining what an always-exciting Emma Stone could have brought to the table, especially after seeing her in Super Bad, Zombieland & her epic turn in Easy A. I think she would have totally evoke a whole different fiery dimension into the role of Amber, so my vote goes to Emma.

Rocket: Jena Malone vs Evan Rachel Wood

Shit, this is the hardest to judge. Malone’s Rocket was my favourite babe among all, she was just so feisty & adorably pixie-ish as the younger sister to Sweet Pea. Evan Rachel Wood on the other hand has one of the sweetest gorgeous characteristics around, & she does seem spot-on as Abbie Cornish’s younger sister. Personally, Rachel Wood is my favourite over Malone. But you know how this could have been perfect? Evan Rachel Wood as Rocket, & since Malone is just so versatile, she would have made a sublime Blondie, simply because Vanessa Hudgens should never have been considered at all.

“Who honors those we love for the very life we live? Who sends monsters to kill us, and at the same time, things that will never die. Who teaches us whats real, and how to laugh at lies. Who decides why we live, and what we’ll die to defend. Who trains us, and who holds the key to set us free. It’s you. You have all the weapons you need. Now fight!”

But to do it with zero words (excluding singing) is just genuinely astonishing.

That’s Rinko Kikuchi’s hilarious role as Bang Bang for you.

The Brothers Bloom may have been out since 2008, but thanks to Star Movies’ trend of repeating the same movies again & again over a period of months, combined with the fact that I frequent hotels with the room TV as sole company far too often, I think I have seen it  in at least 10 of my stays around.

& Bang Bang’s delightful character has never failed to make my day.

& looking supremely fine.

Boy has she come a long way from the petite girl who appeared on YouTube with a big voice, sitting crossed-legged wrapped around in a blanket, singing “Pressure” by the side of the road.

Of course, I have nothing against the whole event either, thinking of it as a rather nice & interesting thing to do. If you wanna do it, then join it, if you think it’s for hippies, then you may continue that dumb Sex & the City DVD of yours. After all, everyone on the entire planet doing something in unison for 60 minutes is harmless, instead it’s a nice touch. Nice. Yup, I can’t think of any other word but nice. Nice, just like the No Pants Day in New York kinda nice.

This year however, they’ve pulled out the big guns in promoting Earth Hour.

They’ve pulled out Miranda Kerr. As ambassador.

Now this is just plain cheating. How the hell are we suppose to say no then?

=)

Earth Hour 2011. 26th March, 8.30pm. No, I’m not promoting Earth Hour, I’m just endorsing Miranda Kerr.

Now just imagine if New York’s No Pants Day organizers make Miranda their ambassador…

Alien stuck on Earth with protector. Alien happens to be a really kayu Alex Pussyfer but at least knows how to count up to four. Bad bald dudes with fake face tattoos called Mongolians (wait, that sounds wrong, was it Mogadorians? Mangodurians? Mocha Frappucinos?) going after him. Alien dude trying to fit into high school. Alien dude doesn’t quite hit it off with school bully, instead befriends nerd. Alien dude starts shooting lights out of his hands & jumping around waterfall cliffs without getting wet. Alien dude falls for a stunner who happens to be a loner (completely unreal!).

Okay, that also happens to be an impossibly sweet Dianna Agron.

Things only start to pick up when Number Six blazes in & whallops the Mongolians or Mangodurians.

My cinema hall audience erupted into applause after her fight scene. Everyone actually clapped hands, how cool is that! The last time I was in the hall & a movie evoked such response was for Batman Begins.

Can’t help it, a fiery Teresa Palmer was just way too awesome, executing slick moves with such attitude that could easily put Summer Glau’s similarly ass-whooping Cameron in The Sarah Connor Chronicles into the shade. By now I had trouble dividing my focus between the two blondes of Agron & Palmer, especially with Pussyfer’s No. 4 annoyingly appearing all the time. I mean, why are they even bothering to show him? Why are we still following his story? What? You mean this movie is not called I Am Number Six? Or I Am Hot Photographer Chick? Owh…

The following action scenes were pretty neat, I have to say. Throw in a valiant dog into the mix to “awwweeeeee” the teenage girls in the audience, & two mutated monsters which looked like offsprings belonging to the Cloverfield monster after it had intercourse with flying squirrels from Earth, & you have a very fun 2nd half. Oh, that’s also when Alien dude learns he is Son Goku, Luke Skywalker & Justin Bieber in one, knowing how to (1) “kame hame haaaa!!!” single handed style, (2) use the force to lift skirts – I mean, cars – as well as (3) causing No. 6 to achieve a sort of orgasmic seizure with his hands. Weeee.

“Redbull is for pussies”, she purrs in her Australian accent. Well, it’s a damn good thing I take Livita then.

No. 6 saving No. 4′s sorry ass in a rather suggestive, seductive pose. You gotta admit, she’s got style.

I Am Number Four may have been corny & unmemorable most of the time, but I can’t say I didn’t have a bloody entertaining time. Guilty as charged.

The brunettes may have won the battle, but I certainly had a jolly blonde weekend.

I almost forgot, to top off the cheesiness factor, Alien dude happens to be born with the OneGina disease. Riiiigggghhhhhhhhtttttt, “we only fall in love once” is a little too much for me to bear.

I am in the mood. It’s one of those days where my hormones are just jumping off the walls to “Like A G6″ or something. You have been fairly warned.

Let me break it down for you. I have 12 actresses in mind when I think of the biggest ones to look out for in 2011. What I’m going to do is split them into two teams & pit their potentials against each other. 6 blondes versus 6 brunettes; let the hair-pulling begin!

TEAM BLONDE 2011

Leader: Amber Heard

Have you seen The Stepfather? Or And Soon The Darkness? Or her legendary scenes in The Informers? If you haven’t, you better. She is without doubt the most ridiculously mind-blowing blonde ever shaped into a two-piece tiny bikini. Prepare tissues, not for tears you dumbass, for the blood that’s gonna be shooting violently out of your nostrils. After this early-year’s Drive Angry 3D (Heard in 3D, woot!), try not to completely dry up all your juices so you can also catch her seducing Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary.

Blonde 1: Dianna Agron

Putting her lovely Quinn Fabray aside, she’s starting to get some silver screen time with I Am Number Four (which also has a kick-ass-looking Teresa Palmer) & The Hunters, as well as I’ve-yet-to-see small roles in The Romantics & Burlesque. Screw this, I want to be her Number One & Number Last – her beauty is just out of this world.

Blonde 2: Emily Browning

As tirelessly promoted twice in this blog, Sucker Punch has a truck load of wild sexiness. The idea of seeing the luscious-lipped, adorable, doll-like Browning go berserk as a gun-wielding Japanese-mini-skirted blonde is akin to intense foreplay before you see her getting it on with the other 4 female ball-busters! She also has the advantage of “The Cheerleader Effect” (refer Barney from HIMYM) with such a band of babes sharing screen time with her, but will face stiff competition from the ruthless-looking Abbie Cornish & a scorching Jamie Chung . This is shamelessly a real man’s fantasy, so remind me to bring along my inhaler into the hall.

Blonde 3: Jennifer Lawrence

I very much doubt anyone would be watching her in X-Men: First Class for her proven acting chops. Anyways, if that blue suit over-ugly-fies her & her curves,  her next role alongside Mel Gibson in Jodie Foster’s The Beaver should be interesting (no, that title does not refer to any part of Lawrence’s anatomy, you dirty wanker). If that bombs, we can always fall back on the other X-Men: First Class chicks, Rose Byrne & January Jones.

Blonde 4: Blake Lively

Technically she’s a brunette in The Green Horn-, oops..Lantern, but we know her best as the blondie named Serena with legs that go on forever, so indulge me will ya. Besides, what’s more important is a female pilot with knockers such as hers is always worth checking out. Ryan Reynolds would be the perfect judge, since he did ditch Scarlett Johansson for greener pastures, so to speak.

Blonde 5: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Regardless whether she makes or breaks it, she has already hit big-time for being known as the model Michael Bay selected to replace Megan Fox’s slow-motion cleavage in Transformers 3: Bulan Sangat Gelap. First impression-wise however, I barely batted an eyelid.

TEAM BRUNETTE 2011

Leader: Natalie Portman

While she conquered 2010 with one single insane performance in Black Swan, 2011 has her as an endearing sexed-up doctor in No Strings Attached, wearing a medieval thong in Your Highness, & in a sexy scientist coat (probably) in Thor. Massively talented, lovely, hardworking & has her fun side. What’s there not to love about Portman?

Brunette 1: Emily Blunt

There’s just something incredibly, incredibly lovable about Blunt. The pout, those deep eyes, that bloody endearing, distinctive accent. Every inch of her oozes with dazzling elegance in the The Adjustment Bureau trailer (frankly, I don’t think she has ever looked better). &, she was so good she made Gulliver’s Travels almost bearable. Her princess was really quite a hoot!

Brunette 2: Mila Kunis

Kunis defines the term intoxicating beauty & this year she’s going to be Friends With Benefits with Justin Timberlake. Can you blame Timberlake for looking like a complete doofus here? Hell I would sell my cows & goats to have Mila as my FWB. Her bed-wrestling-making-out scene with Natalie Portman in Black Swan was the reason for 60% of male orgasms in 2010 (the other 40% was due to Amber Heard’s bikini & Anne Hathaway’s boobs). Hang on, both Mila & Natalie are playing friends-with-benefits roles this year…bless them. On another note, an equally fabulous Emma Stone also appears in Friends With Benefits, but she’s a red-head & is disqualified from both teams.

Brunette 3: Olivia Wilde

Those eyeeesss, aahhhhhhhh. Look at those eyeeesssssss. Damn. I’m betting all my goats that she will bring peace between the Cowboys & Aliens at the end of the movie, or wipe them all out with her death rays shooting out Cyclops-style. It should be quite a year for her eyeballs as she will also star in the sci-fi Now, & comedic ventures in Butter & The Change-Up.

Brunette 4: Rooney Mara

Just waiting for this girl to explode. Initial hype & impressions from David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo are ravishing & extremely promising, so this movie could very well define Mara’s career. Wait, the hair looks black…or is it super dark brown? Oh who cares! Perhaps I should relabel this battle Team Gold vs Team Dark next time around.

Brunette 5: Jamie Chung

Jamie to Team Brunette is what Amber Heard is to Team Blonde, the ultimate epitome of hotness. She’ll have our balls in a twist in Sucker Punch & will knock a teeth or two out  in The Hangover 2. The poster above of her with a lollipop is already forcing guys to, um, stand up straight & pay attention.

The final count…

Team Blonde: Hotness = 22/30. Talent = 16.5 /30. Grand Total = 38.5/60.

Team Brunette: Hotness = 23/30. Talent = 22.5/30. Grand Total = 45.5/60.

While in terms of hotness Team Blonde takes an early lead thanks mainly to the exemplary leadership of Amber Heard (like I said, did you watch The Stepfather? I mean…HOLY COW!), they have 2 weak links. One, in the rather impact-less Blake Lively. Two, in Huntington-Whiteley they have a risk that might even end up as the biggest disaster in 2011. Besides, the accumulative big screen star power of Team Blonde is dim & untested at best. I’m surprised & really thought they would have at least edge out Team Brunette in the hotness count, but with too many fillers, I guess Heard & Agron just couldn’t save the day.

Team Brunette has way too much exciting talent in Portman, Blunt & Mara, coupled with an overdose concoction of sexiness in Wilde & Chung, with Kunis right in the middle bringing balance to the force by being outstanding at both factors. While Team Blonde is filled with yet-to-be-proven potentials still awaiting the chance to be unleashed, Team Brunette relies on a well-proven track record, the exceptional award-winning star power of team leader Portman, the stupendously all-round Kunis, & with each individuality complementing each other without a single weak link in the team. Yes, this team has just the right mix of potential in beauty & substance for 2011, lightening up the path of glory towards an undisputed, devastating victory.

Sooooo…Team Brunette wins this mindless face-off & has the edge on potential to kick-ass in 2011!

BRUNETTES TOTALLY OWNING, HELL YEAH!

& I wonder why I am in Engineering…

“She has supernatural beauty.”

I whole-heartedly raise my glass in complete, hopeless agreement to every of the 4 words uttered.

She has made me fall in love. Again.

& again.

aaannnd again.

All that, in one single episode.

So tell me, how could you possibly not fall heads over heels for her?

I need a doctor…call me a doctor…

+  +  +  +  +  +  +

On a different note, or rather, a different kind of obsession…

4.3″ Super Amoled Plus. Orion 1GHz dual-core processor. 1GB RAM.

All within a grasp of 8.49mm.

Read the first takes here.

I remember back in 2006, when this blissful, heavenly voice featured in the chorus of Fort Minor’s “Where’d You Go” was first blessed upon my ears, & I went “Who is THAT?”

Fort Minor feat. Holly Brook – Where’d You Go, from the video

Then I heard “What I Wouldn’t Give” on some TV episode. & I went, “it’s gotta be that chick again!”

It soon brought me to Holly Brook Hafermann.

I still remember the conversation I had with Chris that time.

Chris: “If you could download any album now, which would it be?”

KV: “Holly Brook’s.”

Chris: “Really?”

Next day, thanks to him, I had the gloriously poignant, massively under-rated “Like Blood Like Honey” on my iTunes. Do read how I shared the joy in my previous blog here.

4-5 years on & another EP album (“O’ Dark: Thirty”) in 2010, & now she’s everywhere. With a different name.

All her featured & writing credits. Last image above is a video snap of her side project in Deep Deep Sleep’s “Erase You”.

& with a Grammy performance like that with Eminem yesterday, this should be a good year for her. Fan base is already spiking after that stellar show-stealer.

Dear Skylar, I love all this behind-the-scenes-in-the-shadows work. Now, would you please record another solo album for us? I’ve waited too long for another “Like Blood Like Honey”.

A duet with Hayley Williams would be kinda spectacular too, if it’s not asking for too much.

“I said, you men should listen to us more!”

“Hey dear, I’m feeling horny…”

“You may be white but you ain’t pure.”

“It’s amazing how much our neck needs to bend so I can kiss you…”

“Man you need a good shave…”

“Yellow & green makes two of us!”

“You don’t have to pretend to kiss my forehead, just say you want me to suck your tits next time k?”

“Let’s do tongue!”

“Man you’re horny.”

“Stop it Jack Black!”

“I’m just so tired of how many times we need to pose like this so that photographers can snap & use our picture as heart-shaped illusions on those damned Valentine’s cards & shit…”

“I would swim the English channel to get to you, I would climb Everest, I would run across the Sahara, I would…stretch my neck across this wooden wall.”

“Look into my eyes…& you will find, what you mean to me.”

“Who said rubbing our long shafts on each other was gay?”

When movie trailers totally do not paint the right picture of the actual movie. When posters look totally misleading. In short, when the marketing team suck big time.

It happened to me with Bridge To Terabithia, years back. A trailer that made the movie into a Narnia-lookalike B-grade kiddy movie with really poor fantasy CGI & a very cute Zooey Deschanel as the hot music teacher.

That startling, moving movie, which really was about a coming-of-age mature tale of two lonely children & a very cute Zooey Deschanel as the hot music teacher, left me almost in tears.

Well, this instance repeated itself tonight.

Monsters. With a title like that, you already expect the worst, so I can’t blame you. The embarrassingly misleading trailers would confirm your worse fears. This is Skyline all over again. A Cloverfield/District 9 wannabe. & are those giant octopus aliens? Uh oh. Another mindless alien disaster movie.

WRONG.

Watch it without expecting anything whatsoever, like I did, & the undeniable impact will stay with you. This is a simple love story of two people under extraordinary circumstances. This is a poignant humanity tale told with a post-alien-invasion backdrop. This is Lost In Translation + After Sunset with a little of War of the Worlds serving as the backdrop. This, is just raw beauty.

Let you on another killer trivia: The filming was shot with 2 people using off-the-shelf cameras, with only 2 paid actors. The rest are extras acting on the fly, with on-site real-life situations manipulated into scenes. Budget? $15k. It’s amazing enough this film even existed.

Anyway, while you ponder on your Bucket List before you die in 1 year’s time, here’s my 15 most anticipated & must-watch movies for the year 2011, in an un-particular order.

Sucker Punch

Babes babes babes, & an overload of babes with big guns & kick-ass acrobatic chops. Gotta be the guiltiest of all guilty pleasures.

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2

For me, the strongest reason to watch this is seeing Emma, Daniel & Rupert on the screen as our beloved trio for the last time.

Super 8

JJ Abrams – checked. Spielberg – checked. Killer trailer that reveals absolutely nothing – checked. Uncontrolled hysteric anticipation – checked checked checked!

Contagion

Something about a virus, but it’s the stellar cast (Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne) & Soderbergh as director that really really intrigues me.

Captain America: The First Avenger

The jury’s still out on Chris Evans. I really hope I don’t get confused in the cinema waiting for him to “flame on!” or expecting Jessica Alba to pop out.

Battle: Lost Angeles

While it looks at first take like a real B-grade stinker that might rival last year’s Skyline, the name Aaron Eckhart carries some weight. Worst case scenario, maybe I’d end up having a good bloody laugh, just like the hilarious romp that was Skyline. Okay okay, I’m a sucker for disaster movies.

Cowboys & Aliens

The title immediately rings “Stinkers!!!”, the trailer did not help (unless you count the audience giggling), but Jon Favreau & Spielberg are behind this, & you get to see James Bond, Han Solo & the best thing about Tron Legacy – the eyes & booday of Olivia Wilde, all together on the big screen.

The Hangover 2

Haha, the guys are coming back! The first was so original & outrageously awesome, you can only hope the sequel does not go down the American Pie dozens-of-B-grade-sequels route.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Never read the auhor’s post-death books, nor the Swedish original. But I’ve always been a fan of director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network), & I think the ever-talented Rooney Mara (looking superb above) was the most outstanding among all the brilliant things about The Social Network.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Regardless how exhausting, ridiculous & noisy it’s potentially going to be, I’d be a big fat liar if I said I wasn’t going to watch this on the silver screen.

X-Men: First Class

James McAvoy as the young Charles Xavier? Wow, I didn’t see that. What I want to see though, & what I’m already imagining uncontrollably, is Jennifer Lawrence (a blonde Mystique) all blue & naked. Seriously, think about it.

Sherlock Holmes 2

The first one was so entertaining & fun a sequel couldn’t possibly hurt. Besides, it’s Robert Downey Jr playing Robert Downey Jr with an accent. But no Rachel McAdams this time…rats.

Your Highness

2010 was Natalie Portman’s year, & it sure looks like she’s going to be unstoppable in 2011 too. It’s really nice to see she can let loose once in a while (she should be really interesting in No Strings Attached too!). Oh, there’s James Franco! & Zooey Deschanel! One can only hope this will turn out to be A Knight’s Tale + Pineapple Express.

The Adjustment Bureau

The lovely Emily Blunt is one of my favourites, & Matt Damon has always made solid choices.

Red Riding Hood

Amanda Seyfried’s boobs have deservingly taken out the “Little” from the movie title. I don’t know why I want to watch this especially since this comes “from the director of (insert big groan) Twilight”, but I suspect it has something to do with Gary Oldman.

& here are 10 notable misses of Movies-Everyone-Else-is-Anticipating-but-I’m-Like-Duh:

1. The Green Lantern

2. Twilight: The Final Battle to Decide Whether Taylor Lautner or Robert Pattinson is Hotter

3. Thor

4. The Smurfs

5. Scream 4

6. Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides

7. Fast Five

8. Rise of the Apes (oh dear me)

9. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (oh dear Lord)

10. Drive Angry 3D (on second thought, I’d watch anything with Amber Heard in it).

Hang on a sec, if everything ends come 2012, does that mean I won’t be able to see Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises? Aw man…

2004, Purpledoor Festival

2005, when “All We Know is Falling” arrived

2006, slowly their fan base grows bigger with frequent touring

2007, the Riot year

2008, The Final Riot

2009, in the studio

2010, MTV Video Music Awards

Today.

Enough of all the complications & chaos. I love their music, & that’s all that really matters.

So, bye guys!

Things will never be the same, yes. But it’s time to move on.

“At this moment, there are 6,470,818,671 people in the world.
Some are running scared.
Some are coming home.
Some tell lies to make it through the day.
Others are just now facing the truth.
Some are evil men, that war with good.
And some are good, struggling with evil.
6 billion people in the world.
6 billion souls.
And sometimes, all you need is one.”

- Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, One Tree Hill Season 3 Episode 1, aired on October 5th, 2005 -

Nothing beats starting a new year by rewarding your better half with something she has been deserving of for a long time now.

& all I got is the bill. In this envelope.

1. Appoint Daphne Iking as my Deputy, & Marion Caunter my PA. What? A leader is nothing without the team behind him.

2. Scrap the entire 1Malaysia Tower project & use the money to pay Daft Punk to reinvent the music of Negaraku.

3. & if there was leftover money, I’d pay Kimi Raikonnen to come over & appoint him Pengarah JPJ.

4. Ban people from bringing children or babies into bars, or fathers (& mothers) from smoking in public right beside their babies/child. Come on people.

5. Invite Paramore & Katy Perry into my Putrajaya office. & all you rakyat too. We are so gonna have a rockstar party there, & thus bring some life to Putrajaya.

6. Stay away from Mongolian women, especially those who happen to have “Altantuyaa” in their names.

7. Not marry someone who has the tendency to play with C4 explosives.

8. Send my children to Hogwarts.

9. Ban all Justin Bieber & Miley Cyrus music from the local radio airwaves.

10. Hannah Tan is my Home Minister. She’ll keep the peace & the naughty boys at bay for sure.

11. Call Hillary Clinton to tell her “Ma’am, I like you – but I like your husband more”.

12. Call Obama every evening & ask him “Hey, so how much more screwed-up is your country today?”

13. Send a postcard to George Bush with only one word on it – “WANKER!”

14. Send a vulgar sms to Silvio Berlusconi.

15. Local Censorship Board – off you go.

16. & with that, put “Californication” on RTM1.

17. Ban all 3D movies from cinemas. For eternity.

18. Award Datukship to Carmen Soo.

19. Give Malaysian citizenship to Katy Perry & Russell Brand! Just because I can. Now wouldn’t that be grand.

20. Make international artists’ concerts a monthly affair, & ensure Lady Gaga is on the list. Come come Coldplay, Muse, Paramore (again & again!), Lifehouse, Metallica, Radiohead, Sara, Ingrid…

21. MIC new president – Russell Peters in da house!

22. Make El Regina Tajuddin or Leong Mun Yee my Youth & Sports Minister.

23. Add Samy on Facebook so I can show my utmost gratitude towards him with a wall post – “Thanks macha…for stepping down. Regards, PM.”

24. Create a “Minister for Magic” post, who will take care of the welfare of all “Muggles” in this beloved country. & the post goes to…Emma Watson. Gotta get her a Malaysian citizenship first though.

25. Namewee, I’m making you Minister in my new Music Ministry.

26. Give the Health Minister post back to Chua Soi Lek. Hey, you gotta give some credit to the man’s health.

27. Crack down on the number of foreigners entering our country. I want my wantan mee or chicken rice made & served by locals once in a while, thank you very much.

28. Too bloody many Old Town White Coffees. Chop chop.

29. Give a public holiday to every of Nicol David & Lee Chong Wei’s international victories.

30. Ask Nurul Izzah Anwar out for a date on the pretext of forging closer ties among opposing parties.

31. Demand Glee to give me a guest spot as Quinn Fabray’s one night stand. My scenes would naturally involve alot of making-out with Dianna Agron.

32. Replace daily prime time news with David Letterman.

33. Rename Ron 95 as Ron 1Malaysia, & Ron 97 as Ron-Takde-MyKad.

34. Finally get to ask Proton “What in the bloody hell were you thinking when you made Proton Juara & Proton Tiara?!”

35. Still thinking what I should do with that Proton Inspira thingy.

36. Taxes…hmm. *Cracks knuckles*

37. Tolls too. I think you know where they are going.

38. Enforce a law on swimming pool attire – only proper swimming trunks, swimsuits or bikinis are allowed, anything else is considered illegal laundry in the pool.

39. Well, I always wanted to go to Space…

40. & finally, I would of course have to end global warming, support charities, increase minimum wages, increase petrol subsidies, support world peace, improve public transportation, better the economy, lower automobile sales taxes, harsher penalties for child rapists, drunk drivers, & other typical assholes, increase government transparency in all crap, & all the other usual yada yada yada hogwash.

Disclaimer: The fact that I have to put a disclaimer (& unless you are just really dumb or can’t understand English) should clearly indicate that this post is pure bullshit & not ISA-worthy.

Flaring after successful start-up, Resak Platform. Taken on the last moments of 2010, raw & unedited, minutes prior to midnight.

“New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; & yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.” – Hamilton Wright Mabie, 1845-1916

This is my winter song.
December never felt so wrong,
cause you’re not where you belong
inside my arms.

This is my winter song to you.
The storm is coming soon
it rolls in from the sea
My love a beacon in the night.
My words will be your light
to carry you to me.

Is love alive?

Is love alive?

“Winter Song” by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson, 2008

Blessed Christmas. A Happy New Year. Peace out all. =)

…but it’s not all gloomy =)

“Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun & the rain to make its colours appear.”

Some say that a laugh is a smile that bursts.

Well this gorgeous shot just kick-started & made my day, among other things.

=)

Dianna Agron & Jessica Szohr – Op Ad Campaign: Rock Your Shine, March 2010

Now, 2010 is left with one more cinematic must-watch! (& no, it’s not Narnia)

The big question left really is…

…will it be as groundbreaking as the ravishing Olivia Wilde? =)

Today finds me sitting wondering what on earth is Glee Season 2 all about. Is there a story somewhere there? Sure, Episode 8 was a refreshing rebound, but still, I think they were supposed to be focusing on seriously winning sectionals & regionals for this season, but guest stars are threatening to take over the show. Not enough with pushing aside the Glee members, they even tried to get the ever-lovely Gwyneth Paltrow to attempt to replace Mr. Schuester! You see, it’s been 8 episodes in so far for Season 2 & not a single background storyline is in sight. Heck, at this point in Season 1, they already reached the point of Quinn’s pregnancy going public dramatically among others.

Greetings earthlings, it’s that time of the month again, no not that time, but the time for me to compile pointless list of my favourite pointless something-somethings for my own pointless personal fun of pointlessness. I think you get my point.

This time it is going to be about Glee. See, what I’m going to do is to share with you’all my personal extremely-biased list of 25 of the best performances from the series to date, which means from Season 1 all the way to one third of Season 2. Drum rolls please.

25. “Loser” by Puck, Finn, Sandy, Howard, Terri & the Sheets-n-Things employees (S1E21 – Funk)

This was so quick but absolutely fun. Face it, Puck rapping with a guitar makes a killer move, & when the whole gang of random people just jumped in for the chorus, it was hilarious!

24. “Sing!” by Mike & Tina (S2E4 – Duets)

Only 3 entries from Season 2 made it into this list thus far, & one of it is this delightful surprise from Mike & Tina. This is what I would call a true duet – bringing out the best through each other’s strengths & weaknesses. The attempt is sweet & an absolute joy to watch. Quinn & Sam’s lovely duet may have been chosen as the winner, but it was Mike & Tina’s episode-stealer that remained most memorable. Loved how it totally caught everyone off guard.

23. “I Say A Little Prayer” by Quinn, Santana & Brittany (S1E2 – Showmance)

There was no way Mr. Schuester could have denied entry to the Glee club for the 3 Cheerios with such a seductive, tantalizing performance like that. The swaying, the oh-so-cute put-on-my-make-up choreography, & with Quinn looking like that…hmm, no way in hell.

22. “Like A Prayer” by New Directions (S1E15 – The Power of Madonna)

This was always going to be a hit episode when the Queen of Pop took center stage (especially channeled hilariously through coach Sue Sylvester), but the closing performance with the whole choir was just tremendous. What was extra special was when the solo batons were passed to Finn, Kurt & Mercedes – it reached heavenly proportions. Okay I admit, Kurt’s small part stole the show.

21. “Alone” by April Rhodes & Will Schuester (S1E5 – The Rhodes Not Taken)

If there was an award for best guest star of Season 1, it would go to Kristin Chenoweth hands-down. She’s like a small ball of boundless zany energy. Besides, if you can pull-off this legendary number by Heart, it was a sure win. Mr. Schuester’s vocals did pretty well to blend in too by the way.

20. “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” by Kurt, Tina, Brittany, & the McKinley High football team (S1E4 – Preggers)

While I almost fell off my chair when this episode started without warning with the sight of Kurt, Tina & Brittany in body-tight suits attempting to pull-off Beyonce’s ball-busting dance moves, I was laughing (in a good way) by the end when the whole football team used these moves to win the game. Hilarious & effective.

19. “Sweet Caroline” by Puck & New Directions (S1E8 – Mash-Up)

I think this was the first solo by Puck, & shit was it a surprise. Not the fact that a Neil Diamond classic is being sung by a mohawk punk, just surprised that it was that good. As previously admitted, the Puck-with-a-guitar angle is a real lady-killer.

18. “Last Name” by April & New Directions (S1E5 – The Rhodes Not Taken)

Here comes Kristin Chenoweth again to save the team after the overbearing Rachel abandoned them for greener pastures. Besides, I like the whole cowboy costume & choreography. I loved this performance more than “Somebody to Love” that followed, especially after they gave Rachel center stage again right after she came back. Bleh.

17. “Teenage Dream” by Dalton Academy (S2E6 – Never Been Kissed)

The 2nd entry from Season 2 is from the Dalton boys & Kurt’s new muse, Blaine. The moves were cute, but the a cappella  (no matter how heavily engineered) arrangement elevated Katy Perry’s dull song to almost-great levels. Loving it!

16. “Keep Holding On” by New Directions (S1E7 – Throwdown)

Who would have ever thought an Avril Lavigne song could be this emotional. With Quinn’s pregnancy blown wide-open to the school, the team rallied behind Quinn through this song. This was the most difficult to place in the list because musically this arrangement was a mess. However, Quinn’s complication that was channeled through the song & the emotions evoked made it perfectly beautiful. Ending the song with Quinn’s literally breathtaking exhales was genius.

15. “Lean On Me” by New Directions (S1E10 – Ballad)

This was a perfect example of exactly what we loved about Glee – when it was still all about heart, the storyline drove & expressed the songs that were performed; not the other way round like in Season 2. After the emotional heart-wrenching scene between Quinn & her parents, fellow Glee members gathered to perform Bill Wither’s uplifting classic to let Quinn & Finn know they always have Glee club to depend on. While musically it was really good, what made it extraordinary was seeing everyone coming together with such passion. Plus, a smiling teary-eyed Quinn never looked more lovely & radiant. Teehee~this list is seriously looking more & more biased!

14. “Gold Digger” by Mr. Schuester & New Directions (S1E2 – Showmance)

Sometimes the best performances are during rehearsals, especially performed with such natural fun. The moment Mercedes kick-started it diva-style, I already had my head bopping to it. Whatever Mr. Schue slightly lacks in rap, he makes it up with his smooth dance moves. Miles better than Kanye’s, not even the awkward gamboling of Finn could distract us from this gem.

13. “Marry You” by New Directions (S2E8 – Furt)

Yes, this is the last-minute addition in this list which forced itself straight into no. 13. This episode was a back-to-form rebound of sorts for Season 2 with some drama substance (Kurt’s bullying, Sue’s mom). Not all was gloomy as the wedding offered the chance for New Directions to remind us they know how to show us a good time. Bruno Mars’ “Marry You” was a refreshing choice as the uplifting walk-down-the-aisle performance, & the whole routine was adorable & zesty! Plus, the girls were alluring in their red dresses – Santana looked dangerously sexy, Quinn’s sweetness was demure, & Rachel for the first time in some time was not annoying & actually looked rather pretty! Overall, this is by far the best performance & the best episode of Season 2 as of now.

12. “Papa Don’t Preach” by Quinn & Puck (S1E11 – Hairography)

Rarely given the chance to shine on her own, the acoustic move pairing Quinn’s rather peculiar-sweet vocals with Puck’s guitar was surprisingly awesome in the most subtle way, but Puck & the 3 horny kids weren’t the only ones who couldn’t take their eyeballs off Quinn’s sexy moves. & to think she can achieve such feverish level of hotness while she was already pregnant & in one of those loose pregnant-women tops. No I’m not as biased as you think I am, this was actually superb. Sing it again!

11. “Poker Face” by Rachel & her mom, Shelby (S1E20 – Theatricality)

The acoustic version done by Gaga on one of her best tracks is covered almost perfectly by Lea Michelle & another good guest star choice, Idina Menzel. The whole Gaga episode was fantastic & this track, done accompanied only by Brad on the piano was a luminous breather. The diva pairing of mom & daughter had just the right amount of sentimentality balanced with vocal prowess.

10. “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Vocal Adrenaline (S1E22 – Journey)

We finally arrive at the top 10, & again it kicks off with a competitor. First of all, I utterly can’t stand Jesse’s screeching vocals & his asking-to-be-punched expression. Casting that aside, Vocal Adrenaline performed this was such gusto & elaborate arrangements you could hardly blink. Interlacing the god-like Queen anthem melody & lyrics perfectly with Quinn’s painful baby delivery experience was intense, climatic & exhilarating stuff. Top-notch.

9. “Bad Romance” by New Directions females…& Kurt (S1E20 – Theatricality)

This was easy. The Glee females, all dressed up in Gaga attire, & Kurt team up to cover the definitive Gaga number. Enough said. Nice to see Santana being given the chance to kick some vocal ass too – especially when she totally nailed it.

8. “Take A Bow” by Rachel, Mercedes & Tina (S1E2 – Showmance)

Remember back when Rachel was still not that annoying & we haven’t had the chance to get tired of her? Well, this performance would be the perfect reminder. Lea channeled teenage love & anguish through this number flawlessly, setting this miles above Rihanna’s effort, both emotionally & vocally. You could almost feel the pain Rachel felt after seeing Finn getting back together with Quinn just after he kissed Rachel. Aww, the sweet painful teenage crush.

7.  “Imagine” by New Directions (S1E11 – Hairography)

After the mad “hairography” performance by the “hairy” New Directions members, the deaf glee club members performed John Lennon’s “Imagine” with sign languages & “talking” by the lead. Feeling foolish, Mercedes & New Directions joins in mid-way & together they finish off the song with both singing & sign language. Damn this almost felt like a cheap shot, & you could also view it from another angle where New Directions blatantly butted-in & stole the show, which I’m sure wasn’t the intention of the Glee camp. Anyway, I felt it was poignant & it almost could have left me with a little tingle of tears in me eyes.

6. “Don’t Rain On My Parade” by Rachel (S1E13 – Sectionals)

Just when all hopes were lost, we finally realize how important Rachel is when she steps up to steal the show. Say what you like, her solo performance was more than a kick-off, it was vocally mind-blowing. So much so it totally overwhelmed the whole team’s performance of  “You Can’t Always Get  What You Want” after that. Too bad, it was really like The Rachel Berry Sectionals Show rather than New Directions winning it. Rachel’s star never shined so bright.

5. “The Journey Medley” by New Directions (S1E22 – Journey)

I’m referring to the whole Regionals performance of course, that first had Finn & Rachel doing “Faithfully”, before the whole gang knocked up a couple of gears with the energetic mash-up of “Any Way You Want It” & “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’” before ending most appropriately with “Don’t Stop Believin’”, the one that started it all. I loved the fact that they gave Puck & Santana a section of the solos. What sets this apart from Vocal Adrenaline’s more elaborate & choreographed-to-every-detail winning performance was the heart & passion pouring through New Directions as they performed, especially relatable since we have been with them throughout their entire journey till Regionals. Not as great as the the mid-season finale, but still, this was classic Glee stuff.

4. “My Life Would Suck Without You” by New Directions (S1E13 – Sectionals)

What made the mid-season finale the better “finale” was not their Sectionals performance, but this dedication to Mr. Schue from the Glee club members. Performed with amazing exuberance & enthusiasm, the Glee members showed selected sequences of previously performed moves from the first half of the season songs, making this a wonderful half-season recap as much as a show of their love for Mr. Schue. It also reminded us of what a terrific season Glee has been, & a promise of more to come.

3. “True Colours” by New Directions (S1E11 – Hairography)

Episode 11 was a fairly weak episode, but it had 3 outstanding songs, & this was the best of the lot. I loved the sweet simplicity of it, having the members sitting down in plain casual multi-coloured tees, singing about honesty & togetherness in diversity. Especially with so much drama going behind in the story at that point. Besides, Tina gets the solo, which is an extra sweet bonus. Yes, simple is sometimes better.

2. “Defying Gravity” by Kurt & Rachel (S1E9 – Wheels)

The ultimate Glee diva showdown between the unbelievable vocals of Kurt vs the impressive range of Rachel, the song choice could not have been more spot-on. On an emotional level we were definitely rooting for Kurt, but you can’t deny the prowess Rachel had shown. Having Kurt ending by going intentionally off-tune was a real dramatic kick, which left it with a more resonating affecting end.

1. “Don’t Stop Believin’” by New Directions (S1E1 – Pilot)

Well, was there any doubt of which track would reign supreme? It was always going to be very first performance by the  6 original core members of New Directions (don’t forget Artie who was on guitars!) singing in front of an empty auditorium before Mr. Schue came in. It was the perfect song choice about hope & not giving up, just when Glee Club looked doomed from the start & Mr. Schue was on his way out. I don’t care how overplayed it is by now, this is the song started everything, inspired all, & pretty much defined everything Glee was all about.

Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa…

Ladies & gentlemen, we finally have a true vampire romance movie.

It’s slow. Real slow. So slow it eases you into the beautiful story, feeling every single tingle & twitch that goes with the eerie atmosphere & accompanying music, shifting your view everytime the camera turns whether when Owen spins around to see Abby in the face for the first time, or when the car the “father” was maneuvering crashes & flips, or when the characters’ view gets blurred. You experience every second of its suspense, every snowdrop, & every blood spilled. & that’s the beauty of Let Me In.

“I’m a lot stronger than you think I am.”

“I told you we couldn’t be friends.”

It offers nothing new in the vampire romance storyline. The odd pairing. The lonely figure. The blood. But it’s the way the story gets to its destination that sets Let Me In miles apart. The journey is so compelling & moving, ending with a complete breathtaking (& gory) finale.

The cast is strong, & director Mat Reeves knows it – the mom never gets her face shown, & the neighbours get little screen time. Chloe Moretze continues her hot streak from Hit Girl as a…well, kick-ass vampire, playing the role with a strange demure endearment you can’t help but sympathize & fall for her. Richard Jenkins as the father/guardian probably deserves special mention for his rather extraordinary contribution.

“I just know that this is what happens when you don’t invite me in.”

A beautiful, haunting, classy masterpiece, this is. It’s a rare piece of film achievement when a movie can leave us with creepy sadness simultaneously with such innocent sweetness. Was it really a happy ending, or a looming, dark, almost-unimaginable future?

Intrigued? Go watch it.

Now time to get my hands on the Swedish original, & even the book perhaps.

“Dear Owen, I am in the bathroom. Please do not come in. Do you want to hang out with me again tonight? I really like you. Love, Abby.”

Open your mind.

You will be unprepared.”

Holy Molly Awesome Possum. Now this looks like a whole load of fun.

Emily Browning (since when did she grow up?!). Abbie Cornish. Jamie Chung. Jena Malone. Vanessa Hudgens (huh?). & the ever-scorching hotness of Carla Cugino.

Check out the trailer here. For the moment it looks like a video-game movie about an asylum for the criminally hot filled with mayhem of tight leather, thighs, guns & explosions. Like Alice in Wonderland with Guns. Lots of it.

Anyway, just seeing Jamie Chung in that Bunny Robot is enough justification to watch this romp.

March 2011 is so gonna be fuuuunnn. Hopefully this shit from Zack Snyder will make more sense by then.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to “OPEN my eyes”. Big big.

P/S: Evan Rachel Wood should have replaced Hudgens.

Since I’m still having massive difficulty overcoming my depression & post-trauma of missing Paramore’s concert that was held at my own backyard-country because I was away at sea (especially after noticing that it looked better & had a longer track list compared to their Singapore gig), I thought it was appropriate to vent out a self-serving pointless (or it may be un-pointless, depending on what & who) Top Ten list of Paramore records that must be heard live. & mind you this list is force-ranked – in case you are clueless, Paramore are phenomenal live, & Hayley – exceptional. But what fun would redundantly listing all their songs be, let me try to squeeze ten out & see how it looks. So here goes.

1. Let The Flames Begin

As if the original song wasn’t already aggressive enough, the live version has the most ridiculously amazing intro & outro. With Josh & Taylor grinding the guitars before Zac hammers his drums for the intro, to Hayley going berserk in the “Father, I am ready” outro, this song could not have been more appropriately titled. This, live, brings you to a whole different dimension. Extraordinary, insane stuff.

2. My Heart

This is the ultimate live acoustic song for true fans that were there from album one – we know it, & we know who we are. When Hayley sings her heart out to us with just acoustic guitars accompanying her, I feel the sincerity & the exclusiveness, something only loyal fans since the early days of their journey (when Hayley still had no make-up but looked ever so sweet, & Josh was still using a Yamaha APX) can relate to. Yup, in other words, harsh as it is, it always sounds like Hayley is not singing to those Post-Twilight fans. Oh, going live means sans the studio screaming is an extra bonus.

3. Brick By Boring Brick

Messy, confusing lyrics & melodies but with power-packed fun layered with some of the most interesting riffs, it’s an extra bonus to see & join Hayley & co to the “bada ba bada ba bada bada ba ba bada ba ba”s, ending with the bang-est of all “ba”!

4. The Only Exception

This song grew on me really really slow, I’d be honest. But in Singapore, this song brought me close to nirvana proportions. The perfect “darken-the-stadium-light-up-your-handphone-and-sneak-a-kiss-on-your-loved-ones” song, this is one live track any fan & non-fan can sing along to. I mean, the chorus lyrics do not get any easier than this. &, it just shows that Hayley does not need to reach for the peak of her vocals all the time to be just as mesmerizing (just like her show-stealing feature in “Airplanes”).

5. Misery Business

I love the lyrics, I love the energy, & I love the adrenaline rush of this, even more live! It’s the track that really got them off anyway, so it would be a sin to not include it here.

6. Crushcrushcrush

This is strangely a little understated rock-wise, & it takes a little time to grow on you, but the bridge is too catchy. Once Hayley starts with the “Let’s see those rock horns!”…euphoria. Goes really well pure acoustic too.

7. When It Rains

This is another track that was just waiting to be done acoustic live. My favourite was one they did at an open park stage, with light-blue-top Hayley on keyboards, Josh on acoustic guitar, with back-up from Jeremy & Taylor halfway. Hayley sang perfectly, & when the video cut to some shots of the couples in the crowd kissing & hugging each other, this became a real classic to me.

8. Pressure

This is pure classic mainstream rock from the very beginnings of Paramore. Heavy enough for the masses, yet brilliant when done amateur acoustic (clue: watch back the video where they recorded just by the street of passing cars)

9. For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic

Probably the track that offers the most catchy melody & chord progressions, & hearing all those delivered live the way Paramore does it is just sublime.

10. That’s What You Get

The last to go into the Top 10 was a hard choice, it was between “All I Wanted”, “Careful” & this. But “That’s What You Get” remains one of the best tracks ever recorded from Paramore & is my all-time favourite. You’re gonna have a riot (or hard time) jumping to the  majority of the syncopated rhythm, but the chorus & bridge just screams for a sing-along don’t they?

Okay, I had hoped doing this would make me feel better.

It failed.

I am officially depressed.

Gonna scream my lungs & balls off at the sea tonight.

There’s the music of course. The cheerful vibrant mood & the harmless fun. Who can deny the awesomeness of Coach Sue Sylvester? Or Mr. Schuester’s suaveness & moves? Or Puck’s massive egoistic charm?

Sure, the 2nd season has nothing to shout about so far. The covers & remixes (or lack of) are getting a little too unoriginal & just seems to just be there for the sake of being there. Example? Look at how Lea Michelle butchered & excessively wailed through “The Only Exception”. As a matter of fact, there have been only 3 noteworthy things to remember so far. First, the cute but saucy toilet-duet (or should I say duel) of “Telephone” where a refreshing Charice kicked Lea’s butt, followed by an all-guns-blazing Brittany channeling Britney Spears & looking remarkably hot doing that.

&, the return of the ever-gorgeous Quinn Celeste Fabray.

I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again – to me, Quinn Fabray is the ultimate blonde, & the ultimate cheerleader. Yes, Miss overbearing-sulky Hayden Panettiere, Dianna Agron’s Quinn is who I’d really call a friggin’ hot cheerleading captain.

Quinn is someone whose beauty & attractiveness is vastly under-rated from pictures & stills. She’s someone you need to embrace when in motion. From dancing & looking ridiculously stunning in “Say A Little Prayer For You”, to when she pranced around singing “Papa Don’t Preach” (HOTTTT) with Puck, I was hopelessly owned.

Sure, she looks hot among many other things, but her evil death stares are on a whole different level. That single ruthless stare is equally as malevolent as it is wickedly seductive.

When Quinn shot that dazzling smile of hers, rainbows parted the skies, & our hearts melted with sprinkles of warmth. Her laughs would create male orgasms across the planet.

Just when you thought Quinn couldn’t get any more interesting, a shock twist in the 1st half of Season 1 in which she got pregnant was thrown at us. Agron soften our hearts with an incredibly poignant potrayal of Quinn’s fragile conflicted side. Now that’s just a killer – we all love to see the gentle frail side of a queen bee bitch, especially played with such aplomb by Agron. That heart-wrenching scene between Quinn & her parents was particularly memorable.

& it’s not just that. She’s got a cute unique voice (not her best but still, cute), her moves are always an extra joy to watch & her stage personality is always always memorable despite limited screen time. Remember those last few breaths of hers in “Keep Holding On”? They left me…well, breathless. & ooohh..she totally rocked the Gaga look!

Preggers but still bloody hot, lol.

So now that she’s gone through all the downs of Season 1, it is awesome & satisfying to see Quinn Fabray back in total mojo control as the Cheerios captain!

Strangely, I seem to be the only male representative who is totally smitten by Quinn’s allure & individuality. My bros keep saying I’m over-rating her, & even more baffling, I have many female friends who are instead on my side! Guys, what’s there not to like? She blazes with molten hot sexiness, demure beauty & eternal sweetness! She’s the most ruthless yet endearing (oxymoron alert!) bitch ever seen on screen! She’s like hot muffins but completely made out of muffin tops! She’s like an overdose of Häagen-Dazs! She would turn Kurt straight if it were in the real world!

Now, before you start thinking I’ve gone a little bonkers & am beginning to sound like I’m spreading some blonde-female-worshiping-religious-fanaticism-version of Robbert-Pattinson-mania, my whole point here is simple – I want more solos & screen time for Agron’s Quinn. Sure, Lea Michelle’s vocal range is vast, but I’ve had just about enough of the over-wailing & over-the-top facial expressions. The upcoming episode 4 duet between Quinn & the new kid looks really promising (man it was sweet), so it does look like New Directions is pointing in the right direction.

Till then, I’m just gonna sit here & fantasize about being Puck when Quinn mischievously cracked an egg on his head, which then erupted into a real messy baking mêlée.

Craaaaccckk! Yummy.

Or I’d settle with Quinn fretting my chords on the guitar…

“Lucky” is an understatement.

Sigh.

I’d add “through these women” to the end of that sentence.

Brooke Fraser

Holly Brook

Ingrid Michaelson

Priscilla Ahn

Sarah McLachlan

KT Tunstall

Mindy Smith

Lea Salonga

Lisa Hannigan

Alicia Keys

Sara Bareilles

Hayley Williams

For their voice, their talent & their pure music, I am forever grateful.

& people actually listen to rubbish like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Sean Kingston, Jonah Brothers, etc…

Say whooooaaaaaat?!

It’s official :

Paramore in KL, 19.10.2010, National Stadium Bukit Jalil.

Now the only thing is, based on the initial nightmare I experienced in Singapore, I think I’m getting too old for the “mosh pit”.

Personally, as always, I would have really gone bonkers if they decided for an intimate acoustic showcase like this:

It just never happens in our country does it? But hey, everyone, you better get your big fat asses down there on that day. Except “Twilight-Paramore” fans, ngahahaha.

This year’s already looking up =).

Oh, I hope this time Josh doesn’t fong fei kei & they bring along better merchandise tees.

I can’t believe it has been 9 years since the 1st movie was released, & 13 years since the 1st book.

Been through alot with these guys.

Since the very beginning…

It feels exciting, yet saddening too…

“But he was home. Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here…”

So after years of sticking with flips & candybars, years with Sony Ericsson for that matter, & years of denying my ego the pleasure & gratification it does not deserve, my needs & requirements finally outweighed my economic principles. & here are the nominees.

My first choice based on looks. Absolutely loved the executive design, & there’s also the little angel in my left ear who kept encouraging desperately my loyalty to SE. But with a embarassing TFT display & an Android 1.6 without multitouch, it’s like Jessica Alba with the intelligence/personality of Miley Cyrus.

 Probably the only phone outside the Apple clan that comes close in terms of functionality, but does not look as smart as it is. Okay, I’m being polite, it looks hideous. It’s like Donald Trump’s brains with…well, Donald Trump’s hair.

 Like the intial impression of the solid looks & feel, but the slide-out keypad touch is a nightmare, & well, it’s Motorola.  It’s like Obama running out of steam. Anyway this was never in my consideration, I just thought a variety in brands included would project the image of an impartial & healthy technical commercial selection process.

 Blackberrys, sigh. All work & no play makes KV a bloody-stressed-up-bonkering-screw-everything-&-oh-my-life-sucks-dull boy. Applaudable attempt with the Torch, but it’s like Arnold Schwarzenegger the Terminator trying to mix it up with Robin Williams but ends up as Arnold Schwarzenegger the Governer of California.

 I would be a fool to deny the allure & cool-factor of the iPhone 4. Looks absolutely awesome, but the wait is too long here & it will probably be overpriced. Besides, every single penis, boob & vagina will be carrying one the moment it pops out here. The reception-antenna problem is annoying & frankly, a whole pile of horse shit. It’s like buying a Ferrari without a steering wheel. It’s like Scarlett without her Johanssons. Really, it’s simply like…well, Megan Fox…Taylor Swift…

& the winner is…

I really did hate the brand. I really wanted to not like this phone, & go for the xPeria, or wait for the iPhone. But put the Galaxy S side by side with any other pretenders, & the Super Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode, with it’s ridiculously vibrant & vivacious display, will overwhelm & blow you in the face so much it’s utterly stunning. Blazing fast, nicely thin, it’s a complete iPhone-celup but with steroids. Besides, with Maxis offering it at RM1699 (as opposed to an average RM2.4 – 2.5k outside for the AP set), the generosity & kindness showered upon my wallet is a welcome bonus.

It goes without saying that the Galaxy S is an awesome phone, simply because not even the ugly sight of the brand name splashed across the top center of the phone front could stop me from gobbling this up.

Unbelievable. It’s like Kevin buying a Samsung.

I’ll get straight to the point. YES – Inception is the movie of the year.

Christopher Nolan can do no wrong! Inception may be a bigger-budget summer blockbuster for Nolan, yet it is so deliciously befuddling, multi-dimensionally compelling & thrilling it may be the most intelligent summer blockbuster you would ever lay your eyes on.

“What’s the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. Which is why I have to steal it.”

From the moment the first few gorgeous posters appeared to the awesome trailers (& the instantly recognizable Zimmer thumping scores accompanying them), Inception was my 2010 most anticipated movie. & bless Ellen Page’s cute voice for, like The Dark Knight, the immense expectations are surpassed. This is a movie that warrants at least 2 or 3 viewings (I’m in the midst of planning for my 3rd round). Trust me; my 2nd viewing was like a whole new experience.

“I would hate to see you out of control.”

Inception conceptualizes the idea of a dream within a dream within a dream with limbo somewhere down there, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Dom Cobb, an extractor who leads a team consisting of a point man, forger, architect & chemist (oh, & a tourist) facing an incredibly complex challenge to perform inception instead. There, one sentence to summarize the movie, you’re not getting any more because you gotta catch the movie. Give me a billion sentences to write & I’d still fail to justify a proper synopsis on the depth & brilliance of Inception.

“You create the world of the dream. We bring the subject into that dream and fill it with their sub-conscious.”

Straight to the good parts. In this growing trend of CGI & 3D mayhem being unleashed, Nolan sticks with realism. Nolan wastes no time & throws you head-long into the thick of the action right from the start. He keeps the audience befuddled but does not insult our intelligence at any point, keeping us captivated enough to remain focused on what’s going on before unleashing the euphoric chaos of the inception mission. This is edge-of-your-seat & blink-&-you-miss-everything stuff man. Some of the action scenes may draw comparisons to The Matrix, but I’m telling you, the zero-gravity section is on a whole new level & has Nolan going gung-ho-all-cylinders-firing. I loved it.

“See dreams, they feel real while we’re in them right? Its only when we wake up then we realize that something was actually strange.”

The ensemble cast is nothing short of spectacular. First of all, Marion Cotillard deserves every single award in the planet for what is one of the most haunting, heart-wrenching, & ultimately outstanding performance as Mal, the dead projected wife of Cobb that appears to scare the shit out of us & mess up everything. Despite having  only a small share of screen time, her appearance is the most effective of all. DiCaprio continues his intense-damaged leading role from Shutter Island & is as satisfyingly impressive as ever. Ellen Page is never more lovely & spot-on as Ariadne while Joseph Gordon-Levitt surprises with his delightful serious role as Arthur. Newcomer Tom Hardy provides the suave comic & one-man-show element, rounded up by Nolan’s favourites, Michael Caine & Cillian Murphy. My only grouse would be on Ken Watanabe. Yes, he has the presence & charisma, but his Japanese accent is so thick that I could barely hear what he was saying, & in a movie like this where the dialogue is so pivotal, it is a crucial flaw.

“You’re waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You can’t be sure where it will take you. But it doesn’t matter – because we’ll be together.”

& what’s a great movie without an effective score? My firm favourite, Hans Zimmer, shines yet again, providing some of the most dramatic scores that combines electronic synthesis with an accompanying smaller scaled symphony that makes your heart race to the pace of the scenes. From the Sherlock-Holmes-inspired “Mombassa” to the beautiful “Time”, I have to say this for Zimmer too: he can do no wrong! Note however that I still think Hemsey’s awesome trailer music was so outstanding it puts Zimmer’s work in the shadow.

So finally, I can carry a satisfied smile at this year’s summer, thanks to Nolan. Inception is innovative, smart & respects the intelligence of its audience; it is as challenging & stunning as it is rewarding to us. It’s not as complex as Memento, & Nolan seems to be having more fun with this than The Prestige. Add in an impeccable ensemble cast, an exceptionally stunning performance by Marion Cotillard, & Zimmer’s  contribution, & what you get is something more spectacular & mind-blowing than you & I could ever hope for.

& regardless whether you think it was a masterpiece or a pile of messy shit, forgettable is not a word for it – it will definitely keep you talking long after you’ve left the hall. The discussions are endless; I especially like the theories discussed here. Check it out.

FYI, Inception is currently rated 9.3 on IMDB (Top 250: #3) & 86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

KV thinks Hayley & Rihanna brings an extra edge to what are probably the best collaborations of the year with B.o.B. & Eminem. Oh, & Amber Heard is yummy!

Uh oh.

My heart is screaming: Screw iPhones & Blackberrys!

Latest update: KV ultimately decided to reach for the stars of Galaxy S rather than settle for the lack of x-factor-ness of the xPeria

But just 5 days in for a pit stop in KL, & my heart & head & balls are screaming to get away for a break from KL!

So, just like back in those days in UTP when you felt like you are completely abandoned, lost & isolated in the gettos of Tronoh, we made the decision to execute Project: Ipoh Revisit. The goal? To conduct quality inspection on favourite makan places that were frequented & discovered back in uni days, in 1.5 days.

In actual fact, this revisit was long planned ever since we felt our feet drag away upon graduation, leaving behind the “old town”ess of Ipoh & the delightful stomach wonders this town offered. We just felt like we couldn’t wait anymore & decided to make it a spur-of-the-moment adventure. So we came up with a list of all the favourite mouth-watering food locations we always went to, & crammed all of them absurdly into the 1.5 days we had in hand. The only thing that was gonna stop us from devouring all in the “impossible” list was our lack of fitness & aging stomach.

Turns out these 2 factors were more than apparent during this trip. But let’s not lose focus here.

:: MOB TO IPOH ::

So, checklist needs to first be…well, checked. Empty stomachs – check. The best company in the world – triple-check. Comfortable clothes a.k.a. Quicksilver boardpants – check. Shades – check. Money – duh. Car in good condition – chec…oops, had to service the car in the morning before we departed. Uh oh, that’s gonna lose us a couple of hours of precious food-time! No worry, mintak extension sikit…catch-up plan is to drive faster lo.

& along for the journey, for the very first time, is the my newly purchased compact ultra-zoom Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ8!

I may be small but I can zoom your ass off

This dude is coming along for the ride to provide some visuals. At 12.1mpxls, 12x optical zoom & 16x digital zoom, this dude burned me for RM1180 together with an 8gb memory card.

Saturday morning, off we departed from the concretes of KL into the uneven ridiculously bumpy highway towards Ipoh.

:: UNPLANNED APPETIZER ::

As usual, we made a stop at the rather-packed Tapah rest house for bladder pressure release, but due to the blistering afternoon heat blessed upon us by the fireballness of the sun, the sight of Baskin Robbins hollering to us “What’s Your Favorite Flava?” was irresistible. So, first consumption of the day goes to Strawberry Cheesecake &…I forgot what was the other scoop she chose, but it’s something that is associated with chocolate & nuts.

What’s your favorite flava? Lai lai

Strawberry cheesecake…the best flavour by BR. Anyway, this tastes better than it looks, trust me. Total damage – RM14 something.

Before long, the familiar sights of Ipoh soon dawned upon us.

You know you are reaching when you see sights of caves!

Macam Sepet kan?

:: BRUNCH ::

First official Ipoh stop: Under the Tree! Okay, actually I have no idea what this shop is actually named but they sell stuff like fried beancurds & “yong tou fus” & stuff parked under a tree, so people seem to call it under the tree & we kinda stuck with it.

See the tree on the right? You gotta believe us that there is something about this place, seeing that we are willing to eat hot shit under a hot tree shading us from the hot sun

The freshest crispiest beancurds ever, these are fantastic. You may whallop the stuff just like that, or get a bowl of curry & choose to do the following: dip & eat, or soak & eat. Amount spent for this – RM6.90 (with dry noodles)

The mix-pork-internals porridge (that’s the best I can do with my translation, sorry) goes only for RM2.40 here, which is pretty good. But I still think Pusing’s the best

The drinks here are kinda at rip-off price, but we usually go for the Red Bean ice. Do note that next door to this tree-stall is another food court that has more structural concrete & integrity to it, & apparently they sell the same supplied “yong tou fu”s & all there too. However we still prefer the authentic feel of consuming fantastic sizzling fried beancurds under a tree.

Next on the impossible itinerary is a pit stop at this little shop called Funny Mountain for Tou Fu Fa & soya bean!

You may eat while sitting on the limited small benches & stools, or you may line your cars up & they will attend to you in the comfort of your car. For environmental & traffic purposes, I encourage you to just park your damn car & walk a little up the mountain that’s funny, you big fat cows

She claims it’s the best tou fu fa in the planet! (I really hope my translation isn’t as horrendous as it looks to me)

Now we had to find some time to waste while awaiting our stomach to complete its cycle of digestion & for our appetite to recover for the next meal, so we went to the most generally popular hangout place in Ipoh…Kinta City Jusco. Lolz.

Okay, we had no idea what to do aside from getting bored by the sight of similar-styled chicks & wankers, so it wasn’t long before we were spotted lining up for movie tickets. Since Toy Story 3 was full (aik, Ipoh ahbengsahlians watch Toy Story wan ka!), the only acceptable movie that had ticks was the Cruise-Diaz Knight & Day. I’m glad I decided this post was not going to touch on movie reviews…cause I myself was struggling to keep my night away from my day throughout the movie.

:: DINNER ::

Anyway, it was time for my personal main agenda for the whole revisit, the ridiculously delicious Pan Mee at Gunung Rapat!

Only now I realized this shop’s called Restoran Chung Wah

Don’t ask me for directions to this place cause I have no idea how to explain it in detail. Back in uni days we just said it was “somewhere near Suet Yeng’s house”. Now the thing I need to warn you guys about this place is, the food is great, but you gotta be prepared to wait for it. The usual timeline for the food to come is 30 minutes. Some of my friends even walked away after an hour of waiting. But us? We love this place, so it just had to be in the list. The uncle usually starts cooking at 6pm, so try to come at a suitable time, if not you are not gonna get a place to sit, or you might be waiting till 11. Oh, try to sit outside if you can get a place, cause the inside’s gonna get your ass baked to perfection before the food arrives.

Alan told us last time the standard waiting time is 30 minutes upon delivery of chopsticks

You may choose from the soup version…

But this is the real killer. Dry pan mee that comes with killer ikan bilis. Don’t fret, they also give you a bowl of soup with vegetables, meat balls & pork that’s so tender it’ll make you cry

Time to mix up the sauce that’s hidden underneath the noodles

Ready to be eaten! All this for RM3.20 per person – the serving’s a healthy portion I’m telling you!

I seriously do not know how to explain to you how amazing this pan mee is. The sauce is not salty, the soup has a lot of garlic but the taste is so neutral. It’s practically tasteless, so why the hell does it still taste so good? I’m no food expert, but I believe this boils down to the texture of the noodles. Guess this kind of explains why the uncle takes so long to prepare them. In this corner shop, aside from the pan mee there are also 2 other stalls. I suspect the stall that sells fried stuff (chicken, sausages, that kinda snacks) makes loads of profit from people who are too hungry while waiting for the pan mee.

Full & satisfied, there were 2 more spots to hit before bed, but we needed a rest so we decided to check into Impiana Casuarina first. Thanks to our big green company & corporate rates, the two of us have enjoyed the likes of Mandarin Oriental & Awana far too much we found ourselves unwilling to go any lower than Casuarina or Syuen in Ipoh. How times have changed. This is not a good thing!

:: SUPPER ::

The alarm to our snoozing rang at about 10pm. Grumpy & sleepy, we told ourselves that the impossible list is not impossible, so we freshened ourselves in a jiff & jetted off to supper locations. First up, Indulgence.

Don’t go to this place on Valentine’s. It’s madness, I heard. Like Puduraya

Now this place is cosy & really perfect for a long chat, but the meals are a little too pricey for what they offer, so I wouldn’t really recommend their main meals. The desserts however, are a different story. To be exact, we were only there for the Ultimate Brownie. No, I’m not exaggerating, that’s what they really named it. There are many brownies & cakes on display, but we only wanted one, we wanted the ultimate one.

It’s cosy I’m telling you. Lots of cushions like Delicious

Hold on a sec, WTF is this? The serving of the Ultimate Brownie this time around was absolutely pathetic. Back a few years, they served it all warm without the top being melted off. This time however, it looks like something that came out of the waiter’s ass

Thankfully it still tasted as lusciously good as ever. We ordered a 2nd one, however this time we made sure it bore more similarity to the previous ones we loved, so we demanded from the waiter to accompany the brownie with loads of warm chocolate syrup & cream with chocolate powder. They used to decorate the syrups nicely too, this time around the serving & decoration is just plan disappointing. Didn’t anyone tell them that in these kinda places, the food’s gotta look as good as it tastes too?

This is what I usually order, Choco Mellow! Hot chocolate with a marshmellow & chocolate sliced rolls to fool around with. This goes for RM15, while the brownies cost RM7 each

I kid you not when I claim that Indulgence’s Ultimate brownie is the best brownie in Malaysia. Though these little desirable brownies have failed to meet the ecstasy I felt devouring them the very first time years ago, I always leave the Indulgence bungalow satisfied & my teeth a little more magnetic to ants.

Then it was time for the real supper. No Ipoh trip is complete without Lou Wong Taugeh Chicken!

Those guys who work here are pretty noisy & horny by the way

1 person tauge & noodles + 2 person chicken portion goes for around RM14

Best accompanied with my favourite, dry hor fun, you may also choose soup hor fun or chicken rice. Opposite Lou Wong is Onn Kee, which also serves taugeh chicken. They are good too, but I’ve always preferred the extra oiliness & saltiness in Lou Wong’s recipe.

Feeling all bloated & unhealthy, it was time to hit the pillows & rejuvenate for tomorrow.

:: BREAKFAST ::

Day 2 morning found us dragging our feet unwillingly towards the dullness of Casuarina’s buffet breakfast spread. If we had a choice we would gone to Kledang for the dim sum, but since this was included in our bill…well, cuba dulu lo.

What do you see?

Let’s just say the buffet spread did not feel like a spread, more like a splat. Not many choices, & the eggs (scrambled, mata kerbau) tasted suspiciously funny.

:: LUNCH ::

The thought of having lunch at one of our favourite spots kept us alive. Nam Heong here we come!

Now the locals have told us that Nam Heong & the opposite shops are the original shops way back in those days that made white coffee popular. The place is usually packed, so be prepared to share tables with strangers or sit at the back alleys

In our opinion, Nam Heong’s white coffee is a little milkier while the opposite shop’s white coffee has a thicker coffee taste. An iced glass serving goes for RM1.50, or you can tapao for RM1.70 each

But the real reason we always come back to Nam Heong is not only for the white coffee, but the food they offer here. I personally adore the Char Kuey Tiau. But the serving’s very small, so you may want to decide on the “big” option

Nam Heong’s dim sum, though offering very few choices, is delectable. My better half loves those egg tarts…

…& these little buggers. Unfortunately I have no idea how to translate what they are called into Roman letters

That boy on the right has grown up! He used to be this short little rascal who cheekily took orders for kuey tiau & gave me a face when I ordered wrongly last time

Word of advice, you may want to watch where you park your car & where you walk when you come to Nam Heong. Lots of birds happily ready to deploy bombs around the area

That place certainly brought the smile back to our faces.

:: DEMOB & RETURN TO PURGATORY ::

It wasn’t long before we realized we could not check the other spots in our impossible list, as we had to snap back to reality & drive back to face the Mondayness of work. Among the missed spots include our favourite late night dim sum in Kledang, Bercham steam boat & grill, fish head noodles, salted chicken, Menglembu honey chicken, Pusing kuihs & mix-pork-internals porridge, & Starbucks…joking.

I wish we could just make a U-turn

Total amount spent on all the food? RM110. That’s 1.5 days worth of Ipoh food equivalent to a Chili’s meal for two. Interesting…especially when you gotta note that we didn’t really go for a completely budget-food-trip (almost half of that RM110 is contributed by Indulgence & Baskin desserts) so you can about see what the rest is worth.

The revisit project was exhausting, but absolutely satisfying, memorable & worth-it. All in all, the food still tasted as good as ever, exactly as we remembered & wanted to remember them (minus the disappointing service at Indulgence). Left us a little bloated & reeling from indigestion though, haha. In a way, I’ve gotta say I owe UTP a big thanks for this. Because if my university was not located in such a bloody forsaken spot surrounded by trees, monkeys, wild boars & cows, I would not have been introduced to the many small delights of Ipoh.

& honestly, thank God for the wonderful food offerings of Ipoh, because during the many times I’ve been in Ipoh in the past 5 years, I felt like shooting the person who claimed “Ipoh chicks are freaking hot” in the balls.

Last of all, I leave you with a word of advice if you are to give the best makan places of Ipoh a try. Bring lots of tissues (cause none of the above places offer any except Indulgence), & be prepared to sweat!

Finally. We both agree on something. =)

Sometimes, it really is amazing, almost absurdly, how fast this thingy called time passes by.

You start off with seconds, then minutes, then before you know it you start counting hours & days.

Then, a year. Years.

Then wham. It’s the next phase of the one life we have.

Congratulations, DavMich.

You are going to be the first of many in the next few years within this phase, but thanks for the benchmark! =)

“If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.”

]]> http://kvwong.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/it-is-about-time/feed/ 2 KV Convocation Wedding http://kvwong.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/every_boy_needs_a_to/ http://kvwong.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/every_boy_needs_a_to/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:27:05 +0000 KV http://kvwong.wordpress.com/?p=902 ]]>

“There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”

* * * * * * *

A toy is defined as something you play with. & I’m not discussing anything remotely close to what males usually play with upon puberty, so let’s cleanse our minds please.

One of my first toys was a yellow model car that you could actually sit in & “cycle” around the house (see figure below to get an idea). I was about 1 that time. Then I became obsessed with those little green soldier figures you see in Toy Story. I too had a particular fetish for bulldozers & tractor models, before moving on to “accelerating” tiny car models around imaginary tracks, complete with the closest imitation to Ferrari revs I could muster with my tiny inexperienced lungs back then.

Vroom vroom. Colours are for display only & may vary from actual model.

How times have changed. The definition of toys, for this generation, has widened.

When most people started having electronic toys (i.e. cellphones & playstations), I was one of those, fortunately in many ways, who were protected from such technologies, thanks to higher powers (haha). Instead I stuck loyal to my most dependable toys; the piano, the guitar, & occasionally the violin (only because playing the violin alone can be quite depressing at times). Not your most conventional toys; you actually gotta work hard rather than simply toy around with them. If not, well, just imagine the violin being played the very first time. The sound would cure constipation.

But how long could you avoid being sucked into the world of the latest gadgets & technologies? During the period when my ambition was to marry a hot air stewardess, toy-wise I couldn’t resist the iPod Nano the second it came out, & I remain with it despite many generations  of Nanos later. Now, while I try hard to not get distracted by iPhones & HTCs & whatever kinds of berries out there, there will come a day when my work & personal needs necessitate a venture into such electronic “assistants”. Indeed, while the “woody” pianos, acoustic guitars & violins remain irreplaceable, you can’t say the same for the poor typewriters. Now, even fixed line phones are a thing of the past.

So today, from the big yellow plastic cycle-able car model 23 years ago, I’m pleased to announce the latest addition to my toy list…

Audi R8 5.2L V10, topping at 518 bhp & 530Nm torque, with a 0-100kph time of 3.9s.

Riiiggghhhttt.

At the risk of subjecting myself to a massive anti-climatic potong-stimness of herculean proportions, I am actually referring to my Asus A42Jr notebook.

Why an Anus you say? I mean Asus.

Well for starters, getting a new lappie was never in my 2010 resolutions. My previous Acer, which drained me of 5.2k (man,those were the days), had served me exceptionally well (by usual Acer standards) for 5 solid years, handling all my gaming (physical & mentally), CAD, MatLab & Ansys requirements, before its motherboard fried end of last year. I then borrowed temporarily my mom’s new HP Compaq, which deprived me of my usual games due to its miserable lack of a dedicated graphics card. As if lady luck was not on my side, a calamity occurred a few weeks back when its LCD panel cracked. So yea, fark you HP. For 5 years I’ve subjected my old Acer LCD to much more gory & violent  unnatural acts that involved loads of pressure, impacts, black coffee, vanilla coke & even drops of my roommate’s pet iguana’s urine, yet nothing has ever happened to it. This brand new Compaq – I don’t even really know what happened aside from the fact that I closed the lid, & the LCD later awakens with multiple coloured lines in spider-web form. So yea, double-fark you HP. Make that upside-down too. Because HP/Compaq makes pussy notebooks.

Okay, before any of you guys start getting any ideas of how to sue me for brand defamation, I’m just letting off steam here, so let me off the hook will ya.

Thus off I go searching for a compatible budget notebook. This time, I was only willing to invest half of the 5.2k I spent for my previous Acer, since that amount was adequate to get a decent notebook with a sufficient graphics card. Yea, this time it’s all about budget! If it would have been about style, I would have gotten a Macbook Pro, if money was not an issue, I would have gotten maybe an Alienware. Nevertheless, I’m not too brand conscious, so as to be expected, when doing a comparison solely based on specs+value-for-money package, Acer always comes out tops. The first model that caught my eye was the 4736G, but I soon found out it was too popular, & the model ran it’s course, to be replaced by the equally attractive 4740G. This gives an i5-430M processor, with 2G DDR3 of RAM, a 500GB hard disk & a GeForce G310M card, all packaged for RM2499. So, while I flirted with the idea of Dell’s Studio 14 (with a customization peaking at RM3600), I made up my mind. Digital Mall, here I come.

Acer Aspire 4740G

With Alan & Kianu assigned as my wing-men, we surveyed the mall only to find out that, well, 4740G was too popular as well (& apparently there was a shipping issue), so gotta wait for new stock to come. What is with Acer & Malaysians?! That was when, the anus, in the form of an Asus, caught my eye. Talk about pulling something out of your arse.

Asus A42Jr

Basic specs:

As far as I know this model arrived here around February 2010 & was sold out too, before this new stock arrived recently. I was mildly impressed at first look, & it seemed to meet all of my requirements. As compared to the 4740G (aside from the fact that Acer’s cheaper) basically it’s a slight step-down CPU-wise, with an i3-350M compared to Acer’s i5-430M. I’m still a little muddy on this new Intel branding of these latest-released i3 & i5 cores (as well as the previous original i5 & i7 cores), but I know the i3 does not support turbo-boosting as opposed to the i5 cores. On the graphics side, though a class lower, the ATI HD 5470 scores a little higher on the 3D Mark 06 average score as compared to the GeForce G310M (4028 & 3567 respectively), & the ATI does come with a higher dedicated 1G of RAM, so that should do the job. I’ve run 3DMark05 on my notebook & it gave a 6421 rating the first time. Both compared graphics cards are entry-level, & I’m not asking for much in this department anyway. I immediately bought another 2G Kingston stick to upgrade my RAM to 4G, so the total price swiped was RM2859. Good thing is Asus includes a 2-year Global Warranty compared to the standard 1-year period by other manufacturers, so that’s a plus point.

3D Mark Ratings: ATI Radeon HD 5470 (left) & Nvidia GeForce G310M (right)

However what surprised me the most was its design; it looks sublime-slick. I love the streamlined patterns on its LCD back. Though it weighs heavier than I would have preferred, it is definitely thinner than the bulky Acer 4740G or the ugly Studio 14. I too adore the spacious feel of the “chiclet” keyboard, though the “originals” from the Vaios & Apples, or even the HPs, seem sturdier. In terms of construction, the 42Jr humbles the miserable 4740G for sure, but that’s nothing really to shout about, since Acer’s built is always questionable. Oh, the Asus model comes in a 15-inch (A52JR) too, with the exact same specs for the same price, but these days mobility is of additional concern for me, so a 14-inch serves me well enough.

I’ve never really been taken by Asus, but from the minimal knowledge I have I know they manufacture a lot of their own hardware. What surprises me was, through a brief look-about online, I discovered several 09/10 articles that statistically compared the reliability of notebook brands based on malfunction rates of samples taken. Asus came out top as the most reliable manufacturer, followed by Toshiba, Sony & Apple. Dell stood somewhere in the middle, with HP (hahahaa, pussies!), Gateway, Acer & Lenovo most unreliable. I pray these statistics are not over-optimistic, & will reflect the true nature of my own notebook’s life.

Source: Warranty firm SquareTrade

So far the lappie has surpased my initial expectations. The Altec Lansing in-built speakers suck balls, but it’s not like I ever use them anyway. Just to be safe, I’ve gotten myself an external USB keyboard to suppress my suspicion of the “chiclet” keyboard’s survival rate subjected to intense Fifa physical torture.

So yea, my latest addition to my toy list is a new notebook. An Asus, surprisingly. This type of toy, a notebook, has been the most depended-on toy in my university life. Haven’t you heard? We UTPians wake up & power up our computers before we brush our teeth, that’s assuming we actually off our computers before we go to sleep the night before, or that we actually brush our teeth at all. For the past few months, I’ve experienced the extreme trauma of not waking up to an adequate notebook, a void that was not able to be filled by my other toys (guitar…& fantasies about hot stewardesses). So I guess it’s not just about having a toy, is it?

Yes, every boy needs a toy, but we need the right toy too.

Unless you are Tiger Woods. Hmm hmm.

KV’s previously-temporary ambition to marry a hot air stewardess has been challenged numerous times over the years, but KV remains steadfast. Put that hot air stewardess in an Audi R8 V10…now that’s what I call a fantasy.

I didn’t bring in a decent camera to Paramore’s concert, but these gorgeous pictures by Aloysius Lim (Warner Music) do absolute justice. Check out the rest & the review at blog.mtvasia.com.

Paramore, Live in Singapore 2010!

HELL YEAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Sigh.

I miss Hayley.

“& I’m on my way to believing…”

There is a lot to say about Singapore. The horrible pushing. Falling. The pushing again. Uncivilized locals. Lost shoes. Bent spectacles. Horrendous sound system. The wtf-is-she-trying-to-do lead singer from the opening band. Absence of Josh. The shockingly short performance. & one particular hilarious loser.

Still.

Paramore was utterly breathtaking.

Those moments during “The Only Exception” & “Brick by Boring Brick” will forever hold a special place in my memory, my heart.

(..even ridiculously behind an iron mask, she still looks awesome!)

All pictures courtesy of paramore.net & blog.mtvasia.com.

I’ll start with the one who brings karaoke to a whole new level.

Taylor Swift – 8 Grammy Nominations. 4 Grammys. & she can’t even sing in tune.

Look, let me first say I really really REALLY want to NOT hate her. To be honest, I have not much against her, I find her pretty sweet (to the point of being a little annoyingly fake) but ultimately, negligible. I’ve refrained very much from completely blowing my top on her songwriting skills attempts for months now, while continuing to snort in silence at her live performances. Now however, seems like the about-time moment to let loose some of my long-suppressed Cowellness. It only took me this long to confirm that Taylor Swift can’t sing because the last time I saw her live, it was a duet with Miley Cyrus. Alongside a constipated-walrus-on-helium-sounding Cyrus, Swift actually seemed good. Go figure.

Stevie thinking whatthehellamIdoinghere

Let’s just focus on her utterly embarrassing Grammy performance. To put it plainly, she was off-key, she was struggling, & she completely tanked. & I don’t mean there were moments of it, it was the entire excruciating 3-song live session. Randy would have said “pitchy”, Paula would have muttered sheepishly “I think you look really gorgeous today” (which I would beg to differ, I would give it to Swift’s Taylor Koa) & Cowell, on a good day that is, would rate it as “nauseating, utter rubbish & a complete mess”. Yes, the legendary Stevie Nicks was the completely wrong pairing as well, but nothing could have been more annoyingly obvious than Swift’s shocking lack of vocal ability. Yup, I said shocking, even more shocking than Katy Perry’s cleavage.

Seriously?!

Even her onstage antics were a little too desperate for me. No Miss Swift, you can’t always get away by flashing your dazzling smile & that cutesy “humble” look.

Believe me, we are as OMG as you are, Taylor

Now before all you Swiftards start defending her by saying she’s really “young”, & she is ” a great songwriter”, or that she is “the most honest writer of recent times” or whatever other crap you can muster, let me just say one thing: She won 4 f-ing Grammys, so singing A LITTLE in tune live is a minimum requirement. After all, it’s the least she could do seeing that her songs are harmless forgettable tunes with naive lyrics. She’s 20, not some 11-year-old pre-puberty blondie. & yes, though she does write from the heart, let’s be frank here, her lyrics are amateurish at best. Stating that she is a talented writer is like claiming that Katy Perry has small boobs. I have to admit, Swift’s record sales & popularity justifies her great success, especially in 2009. Her melodies are easy on the ears & bubble-gummish, but seriously, Album of the Year? Her collection of repertoires is more HARMLESS than FEARLESS.

Right, I sound extremely pompous now, so let me bring myself back to earth a little. Taylor Swift is the kinda girl your mom & dad would not just love, but would encourage you to adore. She’s really quite harmless, & she warrants her radio-overplaying periods. I do not mind even in the slightest having someone like Swift around on the airwaves & on the tube, especially when she is as delightfully easy-on-the-eyes as Swift is. I haven’t forgotten that credit is due for her brave performance right after being dissed onstage by Kanye. But 4 Grammys? Let’s face it, Lady Gaga‘s monstrously fantastic album deserves everything more than Swift, & truth be told I don’t even believe Swift deserved most of the nominations. Besides, Carrie Underwood beats Swift anytime as the artist who does the country-pop crossover better, aside from the glaring fact that Underwood’s vocals are tremendous (& personally, Underwood’s much cuter too). Thankfully though, Beyoncé won enough that night so there was no need for another “charitable” display.

Cause we all know a lot of people would gladly do a Kanye if they could after that Grammy night.

By the way, now that we’ve established Swift’s performance as the worse of Grammy night (& probably of the century), my favourites of the night were Green Day‘s passionate kick-ass “21 Guns” with American Idiot & the very much under-rated Pink in complete glittering form. & let’s all stand up for Kings of Leon‘s deserving “Use Somebody” Grammy win!

Right then, enough about Taylor Swift’s karaoke session & Katy Perry’s assets. A lot has been said about The Blind Side, an inspiring but sometimes a-little-too-good-to-be-true based-on-a-true-story movie about a black man’s journey to the summit of American football, mainly because Sandra Bullock gave a performance that was so good I could almost cry for her. But unfortunately, being the man that I am, what stayed in my mind even more was…

Can you all say WHOA WHOA WOW…

Uh oh!

Lily Jane Collins. She’s Sandra Bullock’s daughter in the movie. This chick is certified drop dead hot. Those eyes, coupled with those eyebrows, man…that could melt me in an instant’s instant. Hell I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hundred bones & cracking a couple of shoulder blades on the pitch for her. Kicks Swift’s “sweetness” out of the window anytime man. She’s Phil Collins’ daughter, & ladies & gentlemen, she slots into my young favourites’ list alongside AnnaSophia Robb & Dakota Fanning, etc etc, easily.

& in line with the topic of stunning gorgeous women, I think many of you have noticed Burberry‘s latest 09/10 ad campaigns (they’ve been up for quite a while). I know I did, honestly, how could I possibly not, with Emma Watson growing into such a hottie like that? I mean, no offense to Hermione Jane Granger, but look at what the Potter movies have been holding back on Emma!

These behind-the-scenes shots are even better!

Uh oh!

Are you salivating yet fellow wankers? If you’re not, then it’s high time to reset your polar coordinates to the north pole, if you get what I mean.

Latest entry into ‘Word of Advice Before Entering My Country’: “Hold on to your panties!”

So here they are – the songs that I have fond memories of, songs that I love replaying, songs that, well, I absolutely adore. They might not necessarily be the best songs of the century per say, but these are songs that I somehow always play & replay over the years – they are certainly the most significant songs to me, personally. There’s a boyband track, a girlband track & even a 60′s track, so yea, talk about standing the test of time. (Oh, they are ordered by the year they were released) Here goes!

1. The Sounds of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel (1965)

2. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen (1975)

3. Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson (1988)

4. Unbelievable – EMF (1990)

5. Hold On – Wilson Phillips (1990)

6. Everything I Do (I Do It For You) – Bryan Adams (1991)

7. Creep – Radiohead (1992)

8. Nothing Else Matters – Metallica (1992)

9. Hero – Mariah Carey (1993)

10. Return to Innocence – Enigma (1994)

11. Runaway – The Corrs (1995)

12. I Believe – Blessid Union of Souls (1995)

13. When Love & Hate Collide – Def Leppard (1995)

14. Anywhere Is – Enya (1995)

15. Ironic – Alanis Morissette (1995)

16. A Different Beat – Boyzone (1996)

17. Good Riddance (Time of your Life) – Green Day (1997)

18. Say You Do – Ultra (1998)

19. Here With Me – Dido (1998)

20. Iris – The Goo Goo Dolls (1998)

21. Two Beds & a Coffee Machine – Savage Garden (1999)

22. The Prayer – Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli (1999)

23. Everything – Lifehouse (2000)

24. Drops of Jupiter – Train (2001)

25. Edge of the Ocean – Ivy (2001)

26. I’m With You – Avril Lavigne (2002)

27. Lose Yourself – Eminem (2002)

28. Numb – Linkin Park (2003)

29. Bring Me to Life – Evanescence feat. Paul McCoy (2003)

30. Session – Linkin Park (2003)

31. Twenty-Four – Switchfoot (2003)

32. Pieces – Sum 41 (2004)

33. One Moment More – Mindy Smith (2004)

34. All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers (2004)

35. Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand (2004)

36. 23 – Jimmy Eat World (2004)

37. Hide & Seek – Imogen Heap (2005)

38. Fix You – Coldplay (2005)

39. Dark Blue – Jack’s Mannequin (2005)

40. Look After You – The Fray (2005)

41. Black Horse & the Cherry Tree – KT Tunstall (2005)

42. Map of the Problematique – Muse (2006)

43. 9 Crimes – Damien Rice (2006)

44. Make This Go On Forever – Snow Patrol (2006)

45. Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol (2006)

46. Heavy – Holly Brook (2006)

47. That’s What You Get – Paramore (2007)

48. Stronger – Kanye West feat. Daft Punk (2007)

49. Over It – Katharine McPhee (2007)

50. Umbrella – Rihanna feat. Jay-Z (2007)

51. Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová (2007)

52. Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love – Coldplay (2008)

53. Lost! (Acoustic) – Coldplay (2008)

54. Broken – Lifehouse (2008)

55. Time to Pretend – MGMT (2008)

There you go, I couldn’t think of a 56th song, so somehow, it ended up at 55, which is in the middle of a middle or something like that. A weird list that surprised even me upon compiling it, but if you have not heard of any of the above, do go ahead & try. Who knows, you might just get hooked onto them as much as I did. After all, it took me 24 years to discover these songs; now you can take less than 5 hours =).

PARAMORE BLOODY ROCKING IT OUT LIVE. IN BLOODY SINGAPORE. ON BLOODY MARCH 7TH, 2010.

That’s f-ing right. Sometimes, dreams do come true eh.

Sometimes, you just gotta love Singapore. Because Malaysia would have banned Hayley for her hair colour or something.

So come March, it’s hello Miss Hayley Williams, good bye my virginity.

This is not a love story, it is a story about love; so the movie’s tagline quips.

& it exceeded my already-brimming expectations by a mile. Make that ten. Nah, a million miles.

Left me all fuzzy, warm, & humbled by its simple charm.

& Zooey Deschanel? Simply perfect. The only Summer imaginable.

Okay, I said near-perfect. So there was one slight disappointment. Autumn.

A cameo from Rachel McAdams or Amy Adams as Autumn would have made my day.

I mean, the (near) top of the world…

Yay…?

Nay…?

Hmmm… =)

Let’s just get one thing out of the way: Brand New Eyes is not better than RIOT!, nor is it as good as RIOT!.

But it does not disappoint. Oh hell no.

Apparently title-written in all-lower-cased for a reason (‘brand new eyes’ as opposed to the shouting upper-cased ‘RIOT!’), Paramore‘s 3rd album has been long-awaited by us fans, with ludicrously high expectations to meet after the monstrous success of their previous album, RIOT! & all the Twilight-huha over “Decode”. As a fan, I find writing a justified review a tough attempt. As much as I want to proudly declare it as “THIS IS DA SHIT!”, the honest fact is, it is not. But do not fret, all my fellow Paramore fans (& for those ignorant ones who have yet to receive the gift of appreciation of this band), for Brand New Eyes still is, at the end of the day, a must-have.

The moment the 1st track, “Careful”, hits you full in the face you will smile in relief – oh yea, Paramore has not lost any mojo all right. Downright catchy, melodious & aggressive, with some rather neat instrumental riffs, it kicks off the album nicely. The momentum is continued with the boundless energy of “Ignorance”. Though it follows the same aggressive punch formulae of previous hits “Emergency” & “Misery Business”, after a couple of listens, I have to admit the 3-part strong sequences used (also for other tracks in this album) of verse>pre-chorus>chorus become a little tiresome, especially without any particularly memorable melodies. Nevertheless, “Ignorance” has Hayley jumping out & kicking your ass off the floor to start head-banging. “Playing God”, the 3rd track, is pop-easy on the ears (but with some rather confrontational lyrics though!). Track 4, “Brick by Boring Brick” followed subsequently by “Turn It Off” are the most radio-ready tracks, seeing Paramore at its endearing pop-rock best.

The problem is, with the album starting off quite brilliantly (& safe, which is not entirely bad) with the first 5 tracks, things go downhill after that. Paramore slows things down with the odd-one-out acoustic “The Only Exception”, & I’ve never thought any Paramore song could put me to sleep & sound almost uninspired, but here it is. It does not get better when tracks 7 to 9 follow, because I felt I was listening to the same song over again for 3 times. It  does not help that these 3 tracks used the same tonic chord. Quite frankly, this resulting sequence of tracks 6-9 is the sort of thing all original-CD buyers (especially long before the illegal downloading era began) feared the most – purchasing a CD that is half-filled with awesome tracks, & the other half muddled with fillers.

Another acoustic track, “Misguided Ghosts” fills slot no.10, & though it did not lift my mood after the dreaded tracks 6-9, at first listen it sounded like Paramore was trying something different too hard. In fact, it doesn’t even sound Paramore-ish, more like something an under-rated indie artist would do. Given a few more listens, the sensitive poignancy of the song surprisingly grew on me, & the subdued guitar progressions that complemented each other were quite beautiful.

All is forgiven when the final track, “All I Wanted” arrives. I almost cried in relief! Paramore is back! “All I Wanted” is almost epic-like, closing the album in the most glorious of ways, not unlike what “My Heart” did for All We Know is Falling.

For me, Paramore stands out among the other bands for some particular reasons: They sound phenomenal live or acoustic, & Hayley Nichole Williams – unbelievable vocals & hotness. Well, you will be glad to know Hayley not only sounds spectacular in this album, miraculously, she seems to be getting even better! Which seems to be a rather unfortunate thing; the undeniable fact that this album showcases the unstoppable talent of Hayley, while her bandmates look set to continue playing the supporting role. Not necessarily such a bad thing, because Josh, Zac, Jeremy & Taylor are  really perfect behind Hayley. Notably, Zac tries really hard this time with more authoritative, almost individualistic drumming, but it’s really no fault of the guys that they get overwhelmed by Hayley’s vocal range & power. She is just that good.

You did not hear me wrong, she really does sound like she’s got the biggest balls in the band.

Yup, that one is on her way to being the ultimate frontwoman. She completely blows us away, singing her heart out track after track. I love the chilling brilliance of her vocals even during the low quiet parts of “Brick by Boring Brick” & the 1st chorus of “All I Wanted”, all the way to the climax of “All I Wanted”, when all the instruments die out for her to hit the final chorus in full glory. If you want a prime example of Hayley’s breathtaking vocal prowess, that 8-second ecstasy is the one for you. I bet the members of the Facebook group ‘When Hayley Williams sings those high notes, I cream… seriously’ would be bloody damn proud.

On another note, the sound recording for this album, just like RIOT!, is almost flawless, coming off as very polished, almost too much. One thing I did not enjoy however was the amount of vocal layering (or whatever you call it) used notably during choruses. Hayley has a standout voice & layering her vocals to 3-5 Hayleys at one go just mutes the full experience. The songwriting has glaringly matured. The tracks are filled with pretty aggressive, cynical & brutally personal lyrics, most of them blatantly relating to all the almost-broke-up drama the band was undergoing while undertaking this album.

Alas, Brand New Eyes is really a neat album, but not enough to substantiate the full potential of Paramore. It lacks the outstanding endearing melodies of “Misery Business” & “That’s What You Get“ & is halfway drowned by a couple of fillers, but significantly displays a more mature growth of Hayley & her bandmates. & all this while Hayley seems to be getting hotter than ever! Like I said, the album still manages not to disappoint. In fact, more importantly, this record not only justifies Paramore’s sky-rocketing rise, it shows that Paramore is certainly special (credit enormously to Hayley) & has an enormous load of potential & talent still waiting to be unleashed.

In other words, Brand New Eyes has Paramore saying “Hey, we are back!!! We are not just passing by, we are here to stay. & you know what? You have not bloody seen the best of us, yet.”

So while I struggle to construct words to conclude this latest Paramore effort, I came across this review on 411mania.com which had this to say: “Paramore is a band that realize they’ve a chance to make it and they’re looking to make the most of it with Brand New Eyes, & they’ve just a smidgen more ambition away from doing just that. Quite simply, it’s just a question of whether the boys have the balls to join Hayley on their inevitable ascent further up the pop rock ladder.”

Say what you like, but you can’t deny it really is all, ALL, about Hayley Williams. At this rate, only a sore throat could stop her.

Best tracks: “Brick by Boring Brick”, “Turn It Off”, “All I Wanted”, & “Careful”

Local films & advertisements will never be the same again.

Sepet, 2004

Talentime, 2009

Param’s Bicycle, Merdeka 2003

Tan Hong Ming in Love, Merdeka 2007

“Our children are colour blind. Shouldn’t we keep them that way?”

We all knew from the beginning no Potter movie could ever, EVER, come close to matching the ultimate experience of the Potter books. I only hoped that any of the movies could at least make an enjoyable cinema spectacle, or do some justice to the awesome world & plot Rowling created by transferring a little magic to the people who had not the chance to experience the books.

When Sorcerer’s Stone was made into a film, people complained it was way too kiddish & long. I adored the wonderful  choices of Rupert Grint & Emma Watson, as well as most of the rest of the primary cast, but cringed at Radcliffe. (Of course, I didn’t know at that time Radcliffe would require more than 3 movies to finally learn how to act)

Next was Chamber of Secrets, to which everyone agreed was better than the 1st, but still, too tailored for kids.

Then aboard came Alfonso Cuaron to make what is my favourite Potter movie, Prisoner of Azkaban. Thrilling & faithful to what was probably the best plot twist of all the books, only the casting of Gambon as Dumbledore laid a sole sour note on otherwise pretty much the definitive Potter movie.

Goblet of Fire was proof that a brilliant plot from one of the best books does not necessarily translate into a good movie. It was quite the Bollywood-ish mess, with a completely destroyed Yule Ball depiction & an embarassingly worsening mis-potrayal of the very much beloved Dumbledore (not forgetting Cho Chang).

Order of the Phoenix took the best aspects of its respective book & turned out to be quite excellent, though not without flaws. Gary Oldman, Evanna Lynch, Helena Bonham Carter & Imelda Staunton were terrific in their roles, easily slotting Phoenix alongside Azkaban as the best Potter bigscreen adaptations to date.

Now, we arrive at Half-Blood Prince. Come to think of it, there’s really not much to complain from apart from the plot holes & drastic changes, so what made it such an unsatisfying experience? The whole movie was quite beautifully made on screen, along with stellar acting. It did have its engaging & chilling moments, so why did I left the hall feeling like it was the slowest unhappening movie ever?

Yes, every Potter fan is not going to stop grumbling about the many changes & left-outs of the book’s complicated plot, from the roles of Dobby & Kreacher to the Gaunts memory. I didn’t actually feel too bad about those, understanding that condensing the books to fit a film is required, but admittedly, this movie has strayed so far from the books it begs the big question of how the movies are going to bring a justified closure to the Potter journey in Deathly Hallows Part I & II. The humour was aplenty & quite brilliant, but over-switching between all those subplots & the more crucial main story of the Horcruxes, Voldemort’s past & Malfoy’s plan made it quite confusing, losing all sense of urgency & significance of the final build-up towards Deathly Hallows. Despite a handful of scenes that were brilliantly executed (such as Katie Bell being poisoned), addition of new scenes & the exclusion of the roles of Fleur, Bill & Scrimgeour were questionable, while Neville as well as Tonks were wasted (especially Tena’s Tonks, who made such an interesting presence in Order of the Phoenix). Yes, most of the crucial scenes were polished & beautifully done, but honestly, all sense of suspense & build-up were lost all the way towards the end, culminating in a non-climatic way. Dumbledore’s death felt hollow on screen, & Snape being revealed as the Half-blood Prince, & more importantly, as a pivotal ambiguous character, did not have its predicted impact.

Of course, despite all this, it’s still freaking way better than Twilight. Romance included.

But enough about that, if I were to continue debating about the plot I could construct a whole thesis out of it. There’s also not much to shout about Nicholas Hooper’s scores, notably since I felt the best moments of the film happened to have no background music. Quite frankly, the later Potter film scores have never been the same since John Williams left. Now I’m going to have to give it to the spectacular performance of the cast that made the movie a much more bearable experience. The main trio have outdone themselves yet again, bringing Harry, Ron & Hermione’s maturing lifes to screen amazingly. Radcliffe, I must admit, was quite awesome in that Felix Felicis scene. Watson & Grint were simply perfect during those romantic scenes, & Lynch continues her stellar quirkiness. Helena Bonham Carter was incredibly seductive, newcomer Jessie Cave was a perfect & hilarious Lavender, & Rickman gave an impeccable performance as Snape. Gambon does improve, but still does not channel Dumbledore’s aura in any way. Oh, don’t forget both the actors who played the young & teenage Tom Marvolo Riddle; those were chillingly engaging performances! I would especially like to remark upon the intensed captivating Tom Felton as Malfoy, which without doubt is the outstanding performance in the movie. Finally, he gets the screen time he deserves!

Of course, getting more screen time is not always a good thing, as Bonnie Wright displayed. Throughout all the Potter movies, the castings have rarely been wrong, rather more astonishingly spot-on (think Ron, Hermione, Snape, McGonagall, Hagrid, Malfoy, Lupin, Sirius, Trelawney, Umbridge, Luna, the Weasley twins, etc), with the exception of Gambon’s Dumbledore & now more glaringly, Wright’s Ginny Weasley. Wright lacks so much of the feisy personality Ginny is known for, instead giving us a mundane & unflattering Ginny.

At this rate, they should really just do all of us a favour by making Harry go get it on with Hermione or even Luna, seeing that they are way more interesting & share much more chemistry together in the movies.

KV is finally beginning to bang his head to the tunes of Paramore’s “Ignorance”.

Read KV’s review on Order of the Phoenix here.

Sorry Mr. Brown for taking this long, I am deeply ashamed & regret this very much. But more about that later.

I’m baaaacccck from Bali with me UTP bros & sistas. We fought valiantly against the swines & all the As & Hs & Ns & 1s, we wore sarongs, we discovered that anything that had land space qualifies as a road in Bali, we witnessed the overpopulation of motorcycles, & we discovered we were naturally talented in swallowing Kuta waves rather than surfing. Especially Suet Yeng, to whom I had to play Baywatch saviour to keep her from overdosing herself with salt water.

The closest we ever got to successfully standing on the board at Kuta beach

I would have loved to say Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was totally awesome but who am I kidding? It was one heck of an unbalanced movie, so thankfully I checked my brain at the cinema doors. I had no idea what the plot was all about frankly - something about Megatron working under The Fallen, a big gun that would shoot the sun or something hidden in the pyramids, & Megan Fox working in a bengkel – it was just plain ridiculous, but really who cares since we were there to see the robots & outrageous action-packed almost-pornographic shots of Megan Fox CGI spectacles. Minus the irritating twin Autobots (which the Devastator should have easily tapao’ed) & the many additional generic pointless Decepticons (& WHAT THE F**K WAS THAT DECEPTICON CHICK ALL ABOUT?! Tiba-tiba felt like Species pulak), Bay did not disappoint when it comes to cool robot action. The Optimus action scene in the mountains in the middle of the movie reigned supreme & was the spectacular moment of the film, it left me completely breathless. Bay really shouldn’t have attempted to do so much & draw out so many unnecessary scenes that just seemed to go on & on. Shia did a commendable job by the way, holding his own against the mighty presence of the robots.

Optimus giving some serious prime ass whooping in the mountains

With this holidays completing its first month, I have been catching up with the one favourite thing I last religiously did with the last Potter book – reading. I finally, finally, gave a chance to Dan Brown, & first started off with Da Vinci, & now I’ve also completed Angels & Demons followed subsequently by Deception Point. I must say, regardless whether factual or not, Dan Brown sure knows a whole load of shit & is exceptionally gifted in creating outrageously superb plots, though I was occasionally tired by the sudden flashbacks & some overdrawn descriptive points of Angels & Demons as well as Deception Point. The Brown books could not however match my feverish fetish for Potter, but it would be unfair to compare Potter against the Dan Brown novels, due to their different writing styles & plot structure. Let’s just put it this way; I enjoyed tremendously the intelligence & thrill of Dan Brown, but I skipped meals, sleep & toilet trips for Potter. Nevertheless, I would not hesitate at the least to give a two-thumbs-two-toes-up & rate The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons & Deception Point as must-reads.

Now, I am one of those who unashamedly watched the movie version of Angels & Demons before reading the book, so I did enjoy the movie, but now after reading the book, I realize why many of Dan Brown fans are unhappy with how Ron Howard tremendously simplified the plot (almost completely taking away the science aspect & role of the book) & only concentrating on the battle against the Vatican. The many layers & complexities of all of Dan Brown’s stories are one of the best things about the novels, & more notably for Angels & Demons, since this particular book is where Dan Brown first attempts at intertwining science with controversial religious plots. Keeping faithful with the book would have given the Camerlengo’s role much more crucial resonance & substance on the big screen. 

Speaking of which, guilty of the sin of watching both Ron Howard’s big screen adaptations before reading Dan Brown, I robbed myself of the powerful exhilaration I would have experienced facing Dan Brown’s plot twists in Da Vinci & Angels head-on first time, & I only have myself to blame for not giving a chance to Dan Brown up till now. Anyway, just like Sir Ian McKellen in Da Vinci (as Sir Leigh Teabing), I admired the inspired choice of the brilliant Ewan McGregor as Camerlengo Ventresca/McKenna. Tom Hanks is definitely not the Langdon I imagined from the books, but at least I enjoyed Audrey Tatou (as Sophie Neveu) much more than Ayelet Zurer’s disappointing role as Vittoria Vetra. The one thing I truly was fascinated from the Angels & Demons movie, however, was how the grand sequence of the Camerlengo saving Vatican from the antimatter explosion was visually depicted. It was quite breathtaking on screen.

Ewan McGregor was brilliant!

& again, because I watched both the movie versions of both Da Vinci & Angels before reading them, resulting in me imagining the respective movie characters in their roles when reading, I could not help but do the same for Deception Point. Of course there’s no Deception Point movie (yet, I guess?), but I couldn’t restrain myself from imagining particular actors/actresses playing the characters in the movie as I read. Interestingly though, from the moment Rachel Sexton (what an irresistable name!) appeared in the first few pages, the first actress that came into mind was relatively unknown Rachel Nichols, & I seriously do not know why! Call it male intuition? Anyway, you can see her in previous movies like Charlie Wilson’s War & P2 or in the coming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, since you probably do not know who I’m talking about.

Which begs a rather intriguing but insignificant question, who would be suitable to play the roles of the characters in Deception Point should there be a big screen adaptation in the future? Now, I figure the probability of a Deception Point movie is much less compared to the likelihood of Dan Brown’s soon-to-be-released The Lost Symbol being made a movie first, keeping in mind how we love the controversial Vatican & religious scandals as opposed to the government conspiracies of Deception Point, but what the hell, it’s the holidays for me. Oh, I’m going to take Rachel Nichols out of my mind for a more realistic choice (even though she stubbornly stucked in my mind all throughout my reading). Here’s KV playing director, for pointless fun.

Rachel Nichols, Bryce Dallas Howard, Evangeline Lilly & Jennifer Garner

This all-star cast is nuts, but Deception Point would make quite a kick-ass movie. Besides, who could possibly resist such a movie of which its protagonist carries a name like Rachel SEXTON?

So, anyone wanna lend me a copy of Digital Fortress? & by September, The Lost Symbol?

“Gettting older lah, I’m mellowing down. When you reach my age, you will soften too.” So he said. “Nahh, no way!”, I bellowed. Never, I thought in my head, Avril Lavigne was the softest I could imagine ever reaching, but never wimpy-Westlife-fy-soft! N-E-V-E-R!

Now, I apparently should eat my words. Because I actually thought the Hannah Montana movie did not suck. WHAT?! I hear you.

Saving Miley/Hannah for later, let me see, the signs of me growing older characteristically were popping up as my years of university life reached its end. I discovered my machoism did have its rather sensitive side when I almost, I said ALMOST, ended up with tears welling up in my eye sockets when watching the heart-wrenching story of Grace is Gone. Then, worse, my so-called machoism totally gave way in Bridge To Terabithia, because when AnnaSophia Robb’s enchanting Leslie Burke died, there I was in a minimal yet existing amount of tears, clutching tightly my pillow. Shit. Damn you, AnnaSophia. Why did you have make Leslie so darn lovable?

I think a more obvious sign, quite a crowning moment of mellowness glory, is when I started to obliviously play, then replay afew couple of times more, a Westlife song, “Us Against the World”. I’ve never accepted any Westlife song in my playlist since the brilliant “Flying Without Wings”, let alone replay a HidupSelatan track quite a number of times. I remember that jackass Felix laughing his ass shit off when he hanged out in my room & heard my iTunes playing Westlife. So, with my bro’s words years back coming back to bite my ass, the thought of me apparently, finally, getting a little “softer” with age hit me.

Sure, my favourite is still the awesome punkness of Paramore, I still love Lifehouse (though they have mellowed down too) & Muse’s head-banging “A Map of Problematique” is at the top of my iTunes play count along with Coldplay’s “Lovers in Japan”, but the fact that I was listening to Westlife more than just a couple of times, almost instinctively & without realization, means something. Sure, I maintained some level of my machoism enjoying super-macho movies like 300 & the ka-boomness of Terminator Salvation. But I also very much loved the blissful romantic cheese that is The Notebook.

Since I have watched every other summer movie, & Monsters vs Aliens was full, she pulled me to watch The Hannah Montana Movie, featuring the girl with the shitty yucky vocals, Miley Cyrus.

To be frank, it was obviously a movie for Montana fans, & I was wa-a-ay too macho (so I thought) for Hannah-who?-Montana, but I was surprised, almost shocked, to find that my mellowness level has shot down so much that I actually thought the movie did not suck. The hip-hop “Hoedown Throwdown” moment was infectiously enjoyable, & “The Climb” finale scene was surprisingly quite fitting, though the execution of some snippets could have been better. I mean, did they really need to show Travis grinning at Miley like, a million times again & again? Yes, the acting chops of Billy Ray Cyrus were horrible to watch, & the plot is silly (about rediscovering her true Miley self, only to go back to being Hannah Montana, wtf?) but no one really cares since her fans will eat it up anyway. The fact is Miley Cyrus, as much as I dislike her, actually is quite endearing as a likeable Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana. This movie only cements my belief that she should really just stick to acting, since she sings like a constipated walrus on helium.

Not that the movie was not forgettable, it was, even with some cute cameos from Tyra Banks & Taylor Swift (& her even more beautiful Taylor Koa). But yeah, the Hannah Montana movie did not suck. Leslie Burke. Westlife. The Notebook. Hannah Montana.

“Getting older lah, I’m mellowing down…”

Boom clap. Boom de clap de clap. Pop it, lock it, polka dot it. Countrify then hip-hop it. Put your hawk in the sky move side to side. Jump to the left, stick it, glide!

Terminator Salvation, I guess, pretty much scored in terms of being an edge-of-your-seats action-packed bazooka-ish-filled 2 hours extravaganza. & they left it there.

Me & Bryce, we gonna stick with this expression for the whole movie, yeah. Not like we’ve got much else to do anyway, eh?

Some pretty slick & fantastic action scenes that then were overwhelmed by the overboard noise decibels & number of big-ass explosions left me rather breathless & tired, but nevertheless midly entertained. Still, 2 of my favourites, Christian Bale & the supremely-talented Bryce Dallas Howard, were brutally underutilized, with zero character development, & McG deserves the death penalty for that, if not for the LOL-CGI-Arnold or the laughable ridiculous ending to the storyline. In a nutshell, it went from boom-boom-pow!!! to bleh.

Pushing blockbusters aside, I finally watched Memento afew weeks back, which was a storytelling masterpiece by the Nolan brothers yet again, while Emily Blunt shines in The Young Victoria. Another riveting political fest came in the form of Frost/Nixon, which had some of the most dramatically captivating acting performances from the cast.

& after more than a month of a constant weekly dosage of summer blockbuster releases, what has stayed in my mind the most?

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Something-ians-wtf-ever.

Me likes me women feisty!

I must reiterate that the only reason to watch this weaker sequel is the ever-delightful Amy Adams as an awesomely feisty Amelia Earhart with a sparkling screen presence & that distracting curvature of her bloody cute butt. But in that final scene, when the “modern” bespectacled-long-haired Amy Adams appeared in front of this wanker called Ben Stiller, with the wonderful surprise of Coldplay’s “Life in Technicolor” playing in the background, all combined to serve us quite possibly the most memorable scene of the summer, for me at least. The perfect song used perfectly in a perfect scene with the perfect sweetheart that is Amy Adams. With the perfect cute bum.

Should have called it the Amy Adams show, or even the Amy Adams Butt Show, rather than Battle of the Something-ians-wtf-ever.

Who cares who won? It was not the huge upset everyone thinks it was, come on, Adam does not deserve to win any more than Kris. It was basically choosing between his over-the-top wailing or Kris Allen’s limited vocal abilities, & the quality of this season is nothing compared to the awesome Season 7. What matters is the final results episode being kick-ass, & boy it was, I have got to admit! Really a total reverse of the performance episode, & who do we have to thank for a memorable end to Season 8? David Cook & Kara DioGuardi, & not forgetting Carrie Underwood’s very-welcomed presence & appearances throughout the season. So here’s a quick recap of what I thought was some of the best, worst & just plain memorable from a riveting suspiciously-conspired “ding-dong” Season 8.

Best Idol Performances:

Best Guest Performances:

Best Duet Performances:

Most Shitty Performance:

Best Vocals, what AI is really supposed to be about:

Best Guest Mentor:

Cutest Idol:

Idols that should have gone home much earlier:

Idol that went home too early:

Best Idol Studio Recorded Version:

Best Season 8 Moment:

Most Excruciating Things you must try to forget from Season 8:

Now I’m off to rewatch David Cook’s heart-felt performance in the fantastic finale results episode again…no harm dropping by for a short sneak peek at DioGuardi’s bikini bod too…

Ladies & fellow wankers, these are the few final weeks & days before my university life comes to an end, assuming everything goes according to plan of course. I have many things to be extremely pissed about, even more to reminisce of, & only a handful to be happy about.

Let me just get one thing out of my system. The last few weeks of academic education just before the finals hit us usually corresponds to the many deadlines of semester-long projects of our various courses, or in other words, stress time for me as I assume my normal additional role of chief editor of group project reports & presentations. If I were to express myself here just a couple of weeks back, I could safely argue that perhaps only 10 percent of that entry would consist of non-expletive vocabulary (perhaps only for transition & sentence structure purposes). The amount of exasperation, disappointment & lost of respect for particular team members in some particular group projects I suffered was mounting dangerously towards blatant fury levels. Some were downright lazy, some did not have any common sense, some I had always thought to be high-scoring hardworking ones but turned out to be unashamedly irresponsible, some were stupid, & some were stupid but think themselves to be someone of Einstein blood with Obama authority. Hey, I myself admit I am a lazy son of a bitch when it comes to studies but at least I am responsible & do not go near fucking up other people’s work. Thank God for the dependable excellent members. Well, fortunately perhaps, I never got to finish that entry, owing a thanks to the shitty speed (or lack of any connection whatsoever) of my TECHNOLOGY university’s internet.

So out with that, let’s move on.

The American Idol finale was a total let-down wasn’t it? The most disappointing top two among what was initially looking like a promising top 5, with the consistently annoying & self-indulgent Adam Lambert & mundane weak Kris Allen giving performances not fit for an AI finale. Which kinda only reinforced my belief that Gokey should have been on the stage that night to tapao all of them kao kao, with Iraheta deserving 2nd spot. Booo.

So, very much out with that!

When it comes to phones, this bloke over here always stuck with all-round functionality, practicality, price range & a simple but must-be-stylish looks. From my first Moto C350, I ventured into Sony Ericsson’s T630, going on to valiantly protect my loyalty with Sony through the K700 & the K750. During internship back in 2008, I finally got tired of all the functions offered in a phone that I rarely & sometimes never use anyway. I had my iPod for music, & I had her Canon for photographing, so it was back to the basics of phone calling & messaging. So what to spend on then? Why not the sleek refined killer looks of the Motorola RAZR2 V9 Black? Adding into the whole feel was that curious tiny sensation of flipping a phone to receive or end calls. So, out went half of my internship savings for the V9 (with the other half going to my LL16 guitar).

& out went half of my internship investment in barely 10 months when my V9 was stolen just a week ago from my hostel room. French. United. Connection. Kingdom. Oh the anguish. Blatant fury levels came barging through all over again.

To cut the story short, I have resorted back to my old preferences of functionality, & more importantly this time around, price limits considering I am not ready to approach another heartache of losing a 1.4k phone again. So I’ve settled with SE’s T700 with an insanely awesome price of 600 bucks, reconciliating with Sony. This is my first below-1k phone, & honestly I am so far very much enjoying myself with the all-round functions, awesome phone interface & more importantly the simple underrated but stylish executive slim design of the T700. SE have really came out with an impressive T-Series reboot model here; don’t forget its fantastic price tag too.

Comparing my new phone to the old stolen one, it is like losing Jessica Alba & getting a brand new Anne Hathaway. Sort of. & me really likes Hathaway.

So you see, just as I started, I indeed have many things to be extremely pissed about, even more to reminisce of, & only a handful to be happy about.

The happy things? Too personal to relate here, but trust me, they are worth it. =)

PPPPPIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!

Frankly, I have no idea how to construct a Formula One car sound with roman letters, but it sure was mind-blowing!

It all started when Ed the Meche Nerd & I the Meche Stud formed a partnership to participate in UTP’s Formula One Innovative Design Contest. What we had to do was to come up with our own conceptual design of a Formula One car using a design engineering software (CATIA/AutoCAD) & justify our design innovations. So, deciding to go all-out in our creative flair (since Ed is a CATIA maestro, making it a software-design reality would be quite possible) while taking a heck load of liberties with FiA’s rules & regulations, we designed with implementation of some radical concepts such as a covered driver cockpit, lowered engine air intake, oval sidepods, extended rear side bodies that sweep above the rear wheels, a 3-blade 2008-inspired front wing, & we topped it all off with a split rear wing, all in the name of aerodynamics – minimizing drag, increasing downforce, reducing rear turbulence – & more importantly, innovation. Our Formula One concept car was given the name The Stingray.

What Mr. Nerd & Mr. Stud we weren’t prepared for was actually qualifying for the final top 3 teams. Or that we had to present a formal technical presentation in UTP’s Chancellor Hall in the final. Or, even more significant, that the judges who would be evaluating us in the final are Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsports Director), Peter Sauber (Sauber Team Principal), & (are you ready for this) the BMW Sauber F1 drivers themselves, Robert Kubica & Nick Heidfeld.

Robert Kubica & Nick Heidfeld during the autograph session at UTP Complex

Yup, in case you have not read it from the papers, the BMW Sauber F1 team dropped by UTP during the week leading up to Sepang for a Formula One-filled day of activities, coordinated by Petronas Motorsports & UTP. & one of the activities were the presentations by the finalists of the Innovative Design contest.

Introducing our concept design

Presenting at the Chancellor’s Hall in front of the crowd & the panel of judges

Explaining how we tackled the surface pressure analysis factor into our design

We ended up as 2nd place winners. I think we presented well that day (based on feedback, since we had reporters & students coming up to us personally telling how impressed they were with our design & presentation), & the judges were not too hard on us (questions came from Heidfeld & Theissen, who commented that we were being very adventurous, haha). It was an exceptionally humbling experience, being my first technical presentation in front of the mighty BMW Sauber F1 bosses & drivers; yet what an opportunity it was! & me having to orally present in the intimidating Chancellor’s Hall was daunting yet memorable, & surprisingly I was not exactly nervous, so it was a first sign of how beneficial the PCS course was!

All the winners with (from left) our Rector, Theissen, Sauber, Kubica & Heidfeld

Supporters, thank you very much!

Posing with UTP Rector, Datuk Dr. Zainal, & our mock ticket

Wait till you read what we won as prizes each. Sepang F1 Grandstand Diamond Corporate Platform tickets worth RM1950 each, a RM600 BMW Sauber F1 sling bag (ridiculously, & suspiciously, overpriced), & accomodation at Hotel Maya KL with certain meals provided from Thursday to Monday! Pretty awesome for what only started as a little creative afterthought eh?

So on Thursday, off the top 5 winners went on a fully-sponsored KL/Sepang tour trip that was jointly sponsored by ESPN & Petronas. We the UTP design winners were joined in the group by other contest winners from Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan & Indonesia, though their contest was not a design competition, rather a guess-the-champion kinda contest. But just like them, I was taking this trip as a welcomed honeymoon break from UTP life.

Yawning before departure. Mak cik cleaner not coming along for the ride

First thing upon reaching KL, check into a 5-star hotel

With the most bubbly, fantastic, open-minded chaperone you can ever get, Miss Suhana

This was taken during the 1st night buffet welcome dinner at the hotel, which was impeccable – huge oysters, sushis, sirloin steaks, marshmallows & berries dipped in chocolate fountain, topped off with Haagen-Dasz

More sponsored goodies!

With Jacinth & Juliana, our tour group coordinators from Leo Burnett, at the KLCC sky bridge

At Menara KL with Pearl & Kiddick from Thailand

The whole group – big hearty thanks to ESPN & Petronas from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia & Taiwan!

Marching towards Sepang, Qualifying Day

A wet Race Day: BMW Sauber supporters for the day. Petronas, please ignore the red bags

Would have very much preferred to join these guys: the prancing horse of Scuderia Ferrari has always been in my heart since I was a kid

Couldn’t resist a Ferrari polo tee, RM300 hangus. Ed also puchased one though he wasn’t a Ferrari fan at all, damn potong stim for loyal fans like I

Having corporate platform ticks allows you a free Golf GTi ride from the gate to the grandstands

With my old Mercedes-Benz Malaysia colleagues, Anida & Liz, at the Mercedes-Benz booth. How I miss them, such delightful colleagues they were during my internship there

Anida: “Tahun nih got your McLaren SLR kat display!”

Pictures like these make me feel tall & huge.

Juliana & Jacinth showing who’s behind all this

The F1 drivers performing their publicity duties. Apologies to Petronas, Kubica & Heidfeld, for I was cheering for Raikkonen

The gorgeous M-Benz AMG safety & medic cars. I was drooling at the SL63 AMG, that babe purred like no other

If cars are not your thing, there are always the local women to oggle at

But if local women are not your cup of tea, salivate at imported babes then

The teams setting up at the grid for the formation lap. Thank you Kimi for qualifying P7, for you were directly in front of us! Watching the extremely thorough Ferrari engineers & crew working was an inspirational moment

1 of the main reasons I was looking forward to, seeing my idol – Michael Schumacher, the only driver who was as mean as the machine he drove. He waved back at us when I joined the crowd in hollering his name. The sore throat was worth it, could have died a happy man that day.

It’s Kimi Raikkonen! Looking as oblivious-to-the-crowd as ever

He didn’t even look remotely interested in shaking Najib’s hand, it was quite obvious Kimi did not give a shit

When the race started, let’s just say…thank God for those ear plugs

20 V8 engines rumbling together waiting for the red lights to go off, & screaming away towards the first corner…the sound was so unbelievable I could have shat, or shitted…whatever, in my pants. The sound itself was worth the admission price. You have got to hear it LIVE

Button in his overperforming Brawn GP

A lying arrogant wanker called Hamilton in his underperforming McLaren

You would have known by now that the race was later red-flagged because of the rain & looming darkness

Which led to rather bizarre scenes

A picture-perfect moment of the BMW Sauber crew packing up in the pits after the race

1 of the disadvantages of watching an actual Grand Prix live is that we totally had no idea what the hell was happening, & amongst the confusion, the rather horrible commentary (or rather, mumbling) over the grandstand speakers did not help. However, putting aside the red flag & the wait & all, the race was a sublime strategic face-off coupled with spellbinding tactical brilliance, with half of the racing done in the pits. Absolutely insane stuff, & it would have been perfect if the race was eventually restarted, but well, we can’t have it all.

After the race, we had free admission to the Jamiroquai after-race concert held at the helipad area just beside the race track. Corporate hospitality was again being blessed upon us as we had a special viewing stage for corporate ticket holders, along with free food & flow of drinks, beer & wine included. Incredibly, not even the constant downpour could dampen the crowd’s spirits, & Jamiroquai was pretty much in their element. Even though their songs sounded pretty much the same,  they certainly brought the funk to Sepang. The muddy grounds were not very kind to my Porsches though.

View from the corporate stage, Jamiroquai strutting their stuff onstage

Eventually, all good things come to an end, & we discovered that the end of our honeymoon break arrived only too soon on Monday.

Miss Suhana doing her last jig (hangover from Jamiroquai the night before) before returning to her daily executive responsibilities in UTP

Departure back to Tronoh. Rats.

& after 5 days of 5-star treatment, I have to start getting used to the idea of not waking up in the morning to a hot shower & buffet breakfast.

Thanks all for the gorgeous pictures, especially to the DSLRs of Cem & Saf!