...2008 here we come!!

Haha, guess I've to drag my thailand post to next yr liao, when I really have nothing to do then I'll try finishing it. Which is not now! I'm rushing out this last post of the year 'cos I want to make some New Year resolutions, and I have to go out soon!

I know.. it's a bit the 老土 but I don't care =P 我是Ahpek what!

Firstly, some chores to complete; which means some photos to upload.

Celebrated the very belated birthdays of Zirong, Weilong and Yoketeng's on 29th dec. It's a surprise. Sorry ah jm, didn't really handle the cake thing properly but what the heck, you didn't get the candles right too =P haha kk jk.. most importantly I think they really liked the presents =)

Here are the pics.

Making a wish...... is weilong praying??

Blowing that ONE candle!

Opening the presents! I seriously dunno what was yoketeng saying..

Okay.. ytday, which was 30th dec, we had our annual family x'mas celebrations. Had lesser presents these year for some unforeseen circumstances. But anw, I still like them =)


A Gap T-shirt.. Famous Amos cookies.. $20 Isetan voucher.. and two cool rubik's cube! One 4x4 and one a pyramid. Like, wow. The pyramid I think can only be found in Japan.

Okok, time for a quick New Year Resolutions. Gotta rush!

1) Be more determined in the stuff I do. Don't be so lazy.

2) Keep fit to fall sick less often. Really troublesome to fall sick.

3) Accept the army as it is. Anyway, it's just 11months more!!!

4) Meet up with friends more often.

5) Maintain good relationship with family members. People, this is really important, especially when you're growing up.

6) Tidy up my room! (But not really a priority) But hey hey, refer to resolution #1.

7) Pick up more skills. Preferably photoshop.

8) Watch more movies.. wahaha.

9) Go for more concerts.. if there's a good deal. Wang Lee Hom's one this year was really good.

10) Wish well for all my loved ones. That's you!

Take care, peeps! (Man, I really rushed this through, going for countdown. Happy new year in advance!)

Quite a Sian-ded Christmas

I know the year hasn't come to an end, but here's a pre-resolutions list (actually, it's more like a mini To-Do List)

1) Finish the post on my Trip to Thailand! Too many great photos, too little time.

2) Keep Fit to Stop Falling Sick. It sucks to be sick during this period of time, seriously. And I can't keep going to the doc 'cos firstly, very ex consultation fee during hols ($28 just to literally see the doc) and I got Live Range on 26th and 27th dec, which is partly why it's a sian-ded x'mas. Besides, I've turned down four Kbox outings (two of which with the same ppl) because my cough is letting me down! Urgh.

3) And seriously, get well soon before the New Year's Eve weekend. Although I doubt it, since I'll be outfield on 26th and 27th. Ahhhhhhhh.

Because of that, didn't really feel Christmas-y this Christmas. But Lamerz had great fun on the eve. Firstly, we watched a great movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets (maybe review later).

Then... Exchanging presents (I got a pair of red decorative firecrackers for my gift exchange, can you believe it. All thanks to zhiwei. But it's useful lah.. one less decoration for my parents to buy for CNY); eating at Waraku @ Central, clarke quay; taking some nice photos (which you'll see later); and of course, being Lamerz, mahjong from 1am to 6am, Christmas morning.

Seriously, I think we should do something more festive next year =P

And yes, do something relatively different for New Year's Eve.

Here are the pics.......

The food we ate @ Waraku. (From top) Some delicious baked cheese creamy potato thingy; Ocha a.k.a green tea; and my Tonkotsu Ramen which is ramen in pork-based soup.

Trying to take a photo ourselves VERSUS Simply asking someone to take for us. The result? One spastic photo VERSUS a well-taken one.

The xmas tree at Central: Day vs Night. The one at night sure looks more stunning.

我们不是F4...

The space beside serkun can be used to photoshop zhiwei and gera's face in.

Okay, the last picture abit extra but don't you think the winnie the pooh looks strangely cute? The piglet and pooh belongs to the long-time-pooh-fan peijun =) Lol I'm sure yeewen is going to laugh her head off at this pic. And the above 3 are Lamerz taking with the same 'pj-room-backdrop'. Must find different angle next time le.

~
Lazy to review National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Suffice to say, it's entertaining stuff and very engaging. A lighter and more-fun version than The Da Vinci Code. According to the end of the movie, can't wait for part3 (what the heck is pg47!?) I give it WooooW (3.5/5)

Bleah. Been thinking about it more and more these days. Bother.

Don't bother 'bout that sentence. Just some random thought; I'm sure you guys have those sudden flashes of thoughts too. =) =P

Merry Christmas and take care, peeps!

i'm rudolf the Red-Nose reindeer

It sucks to be sick. Can't do the things I want to do.

Utterubbish!!

There's too many photos!! I haven't completed the uploading of the photos from my Thailand trip and now I'm here uploading the pics I took from the Utterubbish exhibition I went with Geraldine and Yeewen last sunday.

But what the heck, the pictures we took were damn stupid and funny, so I guess it's worth uploading as well. Anw, I've got MC for tomorrow 'cos of my 2 big ulcers on my lip. Eating and laughing has now become a chore =X

The exhibition was quirky and insightful - mainly focuses on using recycled materials as exhibits. But it's very interesting. (Koped a bit of free stuff too - but gera and yw koped more than me) *Shakes head* Those two s'porean aunties =P

Me squatting beside a pile of (artistic) trash.

I don't know what they're so happy about. It's utterubbish!

It's teaching you to Use Less materials to save the Earth. I'm not useless k! =P

I think it's just an excuse for people to dumb rubbish on the floor.

If only you can read those words on the pictures. All of them are photos posted by bloggers, along with their comments. All of them contain the words "I feel...", which makes the hundreds of photos so special.

They are motion-sensor lights that will light-up once people are moving in the room. We had to wave our hands about insanely before quickly snapping the picture. The lights depict the Japanese cherry blossom flowers, and are made from recycled materials.

This is a makeshift cardboard toilet from Japan. You place a plastic bag over the cardboard, and after doing your *ah-hem* 'big business', you just wrap it up and throw it away. Ingenious? I say weird. And gross.

Don't worry; I didn't creep into the girl's toilet to take this. The sink is an exhibit, and it teaches us how to save water, and use less handsoap with the small black stopper at its neck so you won't dispense too much. Yeewen is reading about it.

The various states of the plastic bottle. Use Less.


The following are all actual usuable chairs that are recycled from everyday items!

Made from a bathtub...

Made with newspaper...

Inspired by a sheep... baaa...

Made from wooden cardboards. Oh man, I think this is a nice photo =P

I know this chair made of wiremesh isn't that appealing, but geraldine could at least shown some interest right... ok I asked her to do that. haha =P

The legs are made from tree trunks. Another good photo. Oh man, I should volunteer to photograph for Ikea....

This is such a surreal photo! Can you spot geraldine with the long-brown scarf? She seemed to blend in right? She's hidden under the orange cone =P

These lamps are made from bottle caps. Damn pretty right?

Not the girls. The trash bins...

The cushions are fitted with black shirts. Doesn't it look freaky?

The letter-boxes is a wallpaper, but the Pizza Hut leaflet is real! Tells you to stop printing so much leaflets that are a waste of paper and put a strain on the environment..

Geraldine trying to be cheeky. I've no idea what the poster means; it was just a great photo opportunity

The stick-man means that it is up to us to save the world from environmental destruction. For the three of us, it just means taking stupid photos.

The boxing bag is made of recycled paper. If you're wondering why I look so retarded on the left... it's because yeewen accidentally captured that shot while gera flung one bag at me. Inspiring? Embarrassing.

HAHAHA.

Christmas came early in the form of three weird elves.


This is the last photo I'm uploading. It's a scary reminder for us to save our environment. Look carefully in that picture and you can see the fierce face of a man embedded in the cow's body. Talk about freaky.

Okay, that's all for today. It's already 215am. And my ulcer is feeling better, although it still looks gross. =X

Happy Hari Raya Haji.

Take care, peeps!

3 Continents. 3 Blockbusters.

This must've been the longest break I've had between two posts man. I've been so busy after coming back from thailand; and the post I'm doing about Koh Samui is still under construction - there's just too many photos!

Anyway, back to the topic. The 3 continents I'm referring to are America (North), Asia and Europe. And the 3 blockbusters are respectively: Heroes, Warlords and The Golden Compass.

Got a secret to reveal to you guys: I bought the entire f1rst season of Heroes from Thailand =x I shall not further elaborate the legitimacy of the subject, but that's not the point. The point is, Heroes is a ffrreakin' good TV show!

I give it WooooW (4.0/5)

Synopsis: Ordinary people discovering they have extraordinary powers. Like flying (a congressman), bending space and time (the funny and cute Japanese guy), mind-reading (a policeman) and even physical indestructability (a cheerleader). Sounds X-men cool? It's cooler than X-men; simply because it's set in a realistic everyday world. The bunch of 'superheroes' (careful, come are evil) are linked together by a plot that seems to thicken only as the series advances.

Plus Points: I've not finished the whole series but until where I've watched, it's good enough. The producers make the heroes' powers entirely believable, and given the freedom of time in a TV series, the characters are meticulously developed, which is very watchable. The initial storyline (which involves almost every character) of a painter who can paint the future is gripping enough. And Hiro Yakomura, that guy who've become famous for his "Ya-taaaaa!!" line is a hoot to watch.

Flaws: Premise can be quite implausible sometimes; but it's not much of a problem. Once you ignore it, this series will grip you and never let go.

FInal Say: One word: Addictive.

Season 2 of Heroes is already airing in the U.S. but it's been cut-short because of the stupid Writers' Guild of America strike. Many popular american shows like Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey's Anatomy are also suspended because of it. Let's hope it ends soon. Just pay the writers more and freakin' get on with the entertainment! =P


Let's move on to the continent of Asia! 投名状 a.k.a The Warlords (co-produced by S'pore's very own Raintree Pictures) is a mega-asian-blockbuster starring mega-asian-stars Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. With big names like this, you'd think the movie would be a spectacle. Well, for me, I guess that statement is half-right.

I give it WooooW (3.5/5)

Synopsis: Set in China, 1892, Warlords tells the true-story of the assination of General Pang (Jet Li). It starts off as the three men (with Andy Lau and Takeshi) form a blood-bond (投名状) and sworn into brotherhood. But as war rages and the egocentric General Pang starts to clash with second-brother Andy in terms of ideas, the relationship is strained. The young and naive Takeshi is caught between the feud of the two and decides to take matters into his own hands.

Plus Points: The battle scenes here are a spectacle to behold. Fungi and Ser Kun have compared it to those of 300 - less stylised, of course, but equally violent. The film succeeds best at capturing the flavour of the time, be it the grief and greyness of the poor peasants, or the grandeur and glory of imperial Beijing. Jet Li's anguished and power-crazy performance here is also stellar.

Flaws: Quite a lot, sad to say. The sub-plot of a woman entangled between Jet and Andy is ridiculous to say the least, and the initially thrilling movie degerates into a overly-dramatic (and tiresome) final act, where so many characters are being killed off for the sake of being killed off.

Final Say: A very good war epic that suffers because of a restricted storyline. All the money went into the sets (and of course, for hiring Jet Li).


Last but definitely not the least, the movie based on the much-loved and critically-acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass hails all the way from the UK. I've bought the books! But more about that later. The movie adaptation is simply fantastic.

I give it WooooW (4.0/5)

Synopsis: Lyra (Dakota Richards) is the chosen girl with an althiometer, a golden compass which tells the truth. After the kidnap of her dear friend by the Gobblers (a mysterious bunch of scientists who steals kids and bring them to the North for horrifying experiments), Lyra sets off on a quest to rescue the children. With the aid of Gyptians (sea-dwellers), an armoured bear (voiced by Ian McKellen aka Prof Dumbledore) and a hundred-year-old witch (a good-looking Eva Green), she must overcome the Gobblers-evil-in-charge, Mrs Coulter (a terrifying Nicole Kidman).

Plus Points: Where do I start? The book itself is a great fantasy classic, and it is certainly a technical feat to bring it to life on-screen. But with the help of the studio that brought us the formidable adaptation of Lord of the Rings, the movie excels. The daemons (animal representations of a human soul; pronounced dee-mons) are a wonder to watch, and the CGI snow bears (including the climactic showdown) are so realistically-drawn it's unbelievable. Dakota is effectively spunky as the young female lead, and Nicole Kidman is perfect for the icy-villainous role.

Flaws: As always, a movie-adaptation of a book always suffer having to 'touch-and-go' on the characterisation. Because I'm reading the book, it's obvious that Daniel Craig's character as Lord Asriel is not completely flashed-out, and Eva Green's turn as the head-witch was dreadfully under-used. Although we can't blame the producers for keeping the movie within watchable length, I'd still think the audience wouldn't mind sitting an extra half hour or so if the movie was more detailed in that part.

Final Say: A superior film from an even more superior book. Thoroughly enjoyable and spell-binding.



This is my collection of His Dark Materials trilogy written by a fantasy-master Philip Pullman. As you can see, The Golden Compass is actually based on Northern Lights. But I'm sure if the movie was titled as such, there would not be enough people interested in it to make it a mega-blockbuster. Anyway, the second and third titles are The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass respectively, which I've not read yet. This trilogy won many awards worldwide, and from what I've read so far, Harry Potter cannot be compared to this very imaginative writer. Really captivating. But don't worry, Harry Potter is still good lah.

Alright, damn tired. Didn't have enough sleep for many nights le.

Gonna be really busy for the coming months. What with live range and overseas exercises (Thailand again).

Meanwhile, take care, peeps!