"Slappin da bass, man!"

Woohoo! What a rolicking two weeks after my job contract ended :X

Watched 3 movies. All were average, or above-average. Shall start-off with Pearlyn's KTV birthday celebration. (Photos courtesy of Pearlyn's HP)

Us singing 听妈妈的话 by Jay Chou.

Happy birthday, Pearlyn! My jacket is not your present! Lol.

Cheryl's contribution. Would you care to clarify what on earth is this!? HAHA.
~

Okay, the first movie review for this post. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
I give the movie:





Although the above poster rocks, the movie didn't really rock as much as I expected.

Not really a continuation of the first movie, T2 did bring back Megatron, though, but he's more of a sub-character to give way for the bigger, meaner, The Fallen. The titular villain is trying to eradicate the last of the Primes (you know, Optimus Prime) so that he can activate this gigantic machine hidden somewhere on Earth to destroy our Sun to harness some energy power source for the survival of their Decepticons race.

Of course, without our Sun, you know what will happen, and it is up to our hero, Sam (Shia Lebeouf) and his hot girlfriend (Megan Fox, who appears solely to add sex appeal to the picture) to locate the said machine before The Fallen does.

Amidst all these plots, there's the usual cheesy robot humour and metallic action to appease fanboys. Clocking in at two and a half hour (one hour too-long for me), the effects displayed in this movie are what's worth watching. The animators must have a hard-time morphing the robots from sleek cars to lean-mean fighting machines, and for the price of your ticket, the fighting scenes and some of the set pieces are well-worth.

FINAL SAY: Enough robotic action to please the fans, but letdown by bad pacing and plot. But, that's the whole point of some blockbusters anyway.
~


Everybody's 21st! (GYPS)

Yep, I forgot whose idea was it, but it sure is fun having a Primary School get-together to celebrate everybody's 21st birthday!

Kick-started it at SMU's Settlers' Cafe with Liangwei, wenj, val and van, with Shawn 客船-ing for awhile.
(Photos courtesy of Liang Wei and Vanessa)

Me explaining the rules of the 'Hanging Monkey' game.

Careful! Don't let the monkeys fall down!

Vanessa attempting an unglam shot of me again...

...and succeeded.

And our damn-powerful Jenga playing skills... let the pictures speak for themselves...
Relax, girl, it's only the start of the game!

The crazy tower is beginning to show...

I don't think praying helps much...

*Stunned*

"Are you kidding me??"

Attempting the final stunt..

Nearly...

...there.

Playing this iPhone game on wenj's phone. He had to put his hands below in case his precious phone drops :X

Then it was off to my house for steamboat!

Looks absolutely delicioussss...

Don't worry, I washed my hands!

开动了!

Then it was time for Guitar Heroes World Tour!

"Slappin' da bass, man!" You'll know why I keep saying this later.

You can imagine how disastrous it was for some first-timers..

"Ah si wa wu jit ba ban..."

Then it was cake-cutting time. Bringin' out the delicious durian cake from Jalan Kayu!!
I can almost smell the durian now..

Happy birthday to US! =)
~

And here's the next movie review, for I Love You, Man.
I give the movie:





As far as good comedies go, there's actually a new sub-genre for this category, and it's called a bro-mance flick. This movie twicks one of Hollywood's most bankable romantic formulas and I'm glad to say, it absolutely worked.

Peter (the fantastic Paul Rudd) has just proposed to his girlfriend. And during wedding preparations, his fiancee discovers that Peter doesn't have a good man-buddy to accompany him at the aisle. You see, Peter is more of a 'girlfriends' kinda guy - he is perfectly straight - but has failed to secure strong male friendships in the past. After a series of disastrous man-dates (awkward but stupendously hilarious), in comes Sydney (Jason Segel is a hoot), the complete character-opposite of Peter, who shows potential of becoming Peter's best-bud for his wedding task.

I Love You, Man works well with this weird but amusing setting of the anxiety of trying to find a male-buddy even though Peter is decidedly approaching middle-aged. And witnessing the bonding of the awkward and confused Peter with the brash and loud attitude of Sydney through rock jamming sessions is so endearingly funny, these two characters' electrifying chemistry alone carry the show.

Of course, kudos to a bevy of funny supporting casts. And here's presenting to you one of the funniest scenes from the movie, where Peter is trying to get his fiancee to be interested in a rock song he digs. Peter mutters the already-classic line of "Slappin' da bass, man!" with absolute hilarity:



FINAL SAY: Filled with laugh-out-loud situations and side-splitting one-liners, this is where Hollywood comedies should be heading to. Seeing that I watched it with a female friend and she totally enjoyed it, this movie is evidently for both genders.
~


And the final movie review is probably apt, since the world is still reeling from the shock of MJ's passing.

But firstly, take a look at this MJ report by AP and try to spot Yee Wen with her Singaporean friends being interviewed outside the Mann's Chinese Theatre in LA. Cool stuff!! :D (at time: 1:00 onwards in the background)



Here's the review of Departures.
I give the movie:





There you go, my second 5-star review of the year besides The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. If you realise by now, I kinda give high ratings to those movies that talk about life and in this instance, death, in particular.

Departures (winner of this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Film) is about a failed cellist who moves back to his hometown with his wife in rural Japan, and taking up a job as an encoffinment (aka nokan) in a company that specialises in cleansing, donning-on make-up and dressing-up the deceased for their final 'journey'.

As morbid and sometimes frightening as it might sound, this profession is part of Japan's rich cultural heritage. Seeing the character painstakingly go through each and every minute detail in dressing up the corpse, and the care and respect taken to dress-up each deceased beautifully is painful but at the same time, heartbreakingly poetic to watch.

Each family has its own story to tell. And the film portrays each funeral in its most honest happiness, or for some, misery, leaving the audience in laughter and simultaneously in tears. When the story finally comes to a wrap with a heart-aching plot surrounding the main character, the audience is already swept up by the meticulously-crafted and moving storyline, only to be touched once again by this masterpiece of a film.

FINAL SAY: Funny and a profoundly moving film at the same time - this tale is an ode to family life, and how each of us copes with the inevitable situation of death. Laugh and cry along with it. Then, contemplate. Highly-recommended.
~

Communication Studies Orientation Camp next week. So fast!

Take care, peeps!

Movie Magic

I guess most of you all have received the invite.

Erm.. is my theme really very challenging? Just wear something that represents the movies okay already. One small accessory also can. Don't have to dress like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie. But if you think you can pull it off, go ahead. =P

So far, 45 people are turning up, and a few others pending. Really quite excited 'bout it. But now there's one small hiccup. The bigger function room is holding an AGM on the exact same day. Although it starts at 2pm, don't really know when it will end. Hope it'll end just in time for the party!

Might be roping in someone to be an emcee. But must confirm first. Get ready for a movie-themed night! (=

And, on that topic, caught X-Men Origins: Wolverine over the weekend.

I give the movie:





It's a great movie to look at, no doubt. What it lacks in character development, it compensates with cool action sequences that befits a summer blockbuster. But that said, Wolverine is just a solid back-story about how the super-strong mutant got his tough body and memory lapse of the past. All the characters which appear on the poster are memorable only for the brief moments they appear on-screen, and none of them were given the space to be as memorable as the titular hero.

FINAL SAY: While thousands of fan-boys worldwide are still crying foul over the underused and miscast fan-favourite Gambit, this movie is still popcorn-worthy.
~

And decided to introduce some songs:

1) The Show by Lenka - although it's last year's song, but this gem is still quite a discovery for me recently. Light and not migraine-inducing like most of the music today.

2) Not Fair by Lily Allen - I still can't figure out the lyrics! Weird. But the rhythm is still sticky and groovy.

3) I Told You So by Carrie Underwood ft Randy Travis - fell in love with this song after their debut performance on American Idol. Beautiful melody; a heartfelt, simple love song.

4) Touch My Hand by David Archuleta - also caught my attention when he performed on the recent Idol stage, this is a departure from his usual pop ballads. Something slightly different, and different in a good way.

5) Crazier by Taylor Swift - this talented lass just keeps gettin' better! She didn't win a recent Best Country Album for nothing. This melancholic song is one of her best to date.

Okay, need to start really drafting out a plan for the 21st.

Take care, peeps!

Yes, I've Conformed.

[ this is post #110. Which means the next post will be the 111th, which means... it'll be my ORD post. *jumps for joy* 7 more days to my pink ic!! ]

It sucks not updating my posts for so long because I was trying to reserve post no.111 for 11th Nov. So get ready for a long post!

But anyway, yes, I've conformed. I've got Facebook.
That was my first status update when I set-up my account last Monday. "Wilson Ng is conforming with Facebook." And yup, that's my "staring into space" (as quoted by Gladys Heng) display pic. I've since changed it. (see widget on sidebar)

Besides the reason that I want to conform (I mean, who doesn't have Facebook nowadays? I get this a lot before), I've learnt that it's a hassle-free way to keep in contact with people you've forgotten (oops). And it's heartening to know that they still remember you!

But OMG. There's TWO Bala Murugans. And to think that he accepted all our photo tags! LOL. Bernard, I think you should ask him about it. Stop stealing friends. Hahaha.
~

Yay, I can FINALLY review movies again! Don't worry, there's only two this time.

Firstly, Tropic Thunder.

Hilarious, No-Holds-Barred Satire
Star-Power:



Is this really what the critics are calling the 'Best Comedy of the Year'? This may very well be. Out of the slew of different comedies that came out this year (the risque Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the spy-spoof and very funny Get Smart, the physical comedy The House Bunny, just to name a few) this movie certainly steals the thunder, pardon the pun.

Firstly, get ready for this, we have mega-stars acting as mega-stars, in a Hollywood movie making a Hollywood movie. Confused yet? Don't be. Simply put, Stiller, Black and Downey Jr are making fun of the very industry that feeds them.

But Hell, did they do it brilliantly.

Suffice to say, they're spoofing the absurd decadence of those impossibly-paid Hollywood mega-actors these days, and throwing in a few blockbusters-worth of spectacular explosions and out-of-this-world movie sets. The effect is very often rewarding, and of course, very funny.

FINAL SAY: Watch out for Tom Cruise's scene-stealing cameo. You won't believe it.
~

Up next, High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

High School Naivete
Star-Power:



Is it really the end of the road for Zac Efron and Co.? Yes for the present cast, but No for the franchaise. Rumours have it that HSM4 is in the works, and it will feature the new actors being introduced in Part 3 - the annoying 'Rocket Man' and the equally annoying British lass who plays Sharpay's assistant.

But let's get back to this movie. I have to declare something first: I like musicals. I count last year's Hairspray and Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! as two of my favourites. So, for HSM3, a teenage (a word no longer associated with me) musical, I nearly gave it a 3.5-star (don't gasp).

If you saw the movie, I think you will somewhat agree with me. Firstly, the talent of the cast is undeniable. They can sing and dance and still look so fabulous. And their so freakin' young! Secondly, some of the musical numbers (particularly the one where they prepare for prom) nearly worths a weekday ticket price.

But the problem I have? The actors seem too big for their roles. Which I feel is the same problem that will plague the final three Harry Potter movies. And also, there's so little drama!

FINAL SAY: Just too much innocence, that's all. But if you sit-back and enjoy it as a musical, chances are, you'll like it.
~

And.... here's my new phone!
I think I can sell this picture to Nokia as catalogue picture for this phone. Haha, ok jk.

Ok, I know. You have the same question. Why did I get a NON-camera phone even though I'm going to ORD in like 7days?
Ans: Because I already have a good-enough digicam and this phone is affordable AND it's really quite a good phone.

There you go. I really like my phone =)
~

Okay, just fyi, I'm already preparing my 111th post. Watch out for that next Tuesday (11/11/2008).

Take care, peeps!

(MY) PRIDE!

This post has 3 parts and it's all about the word: PRIDE.
~

PART 1:
Firstly, hands-up those who missed the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony? You OUGHT TO BE SHOT!!

Directed by acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou, there's only one way to describe it: Epic, Majestic and Stunningly Beautiful. One word: WOW.

Here's what you missed, damn it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDY1Ha83M8

Being the most expensive Olympics ever made (US$60 Billion), watching the astounding opening ceremony will make you feel the pride that you're a Chinese. Good job, Beijing!!
~

Part 2:
Watched the NDP Parade 08 (s'pore's pride) @ my grandma's house - it's a family tradition. However, this year, I was playing mahjong while watching. Mwahaha. After watching Beijing's Ceremony, S'pore's one seemed like, er, child's play.

Those are the smoke-streaks from the jets that flew past. My grandma stays on the 19th floor @ Toa Payoh, that's why I can see it.

Those are actually the fireworks. Damn puny right. It was too far away.

And this is my cousin, Russell, playing bowling on the Wii. It's actually very fun!

~

Part 3:
Went to the Botanic Gardens with Kim on sunday for a photography trip. Actually it's just him wanting to try out his newly-purchased Olympus DSLR and I wanted to play with it. But in the end, I was too caught up trying to take my own pictures.

These are pictures from my own (comparitively lousy) $250 Nikon point-and-shoot digicam, and I'm proud of them!

Creating depth of field: blur, sharp, blur. Can you see the ant? Zoooom in...

Ta-dah! The ant's backside =x

Taking a photo of a person taking a photo of a wedding couple.

Lily - complete with water droplets on the petals.

SOC low-rope =x

Bird of Paradise - with the Symphony Stage at the background.

Pardon me, artistic black-and-white shot.

I don't know the name but it's a common and beautiful flower.

Malaysia's national flower, the hibiscus.

Some strange red mini dragonfly. Taking this insect up-close made me perspire like mad. But it was worth it.

Day moon.

And.. here comes two of the BEST PICTURES I've taken so far in my life:

I'm DAMN PROUD of these two pics!!

All those photographs above really pushed the limits of my small and relatively low-end digi-cam. Which makes me seriously consider a DSLR now.. but it's going to set me back at least $2000. Been hearing a lot of recommendations already.. still going to check it out at the upcoming IT show =))
~

Baoyuan, hannah and zirong came over for mahjong on monday. Went to catch The Love Guru with them. It's surprisingly funny!

I give the movie:



Mike Myers' comedy is funnier than Adam Sandler's. This guru owns Zohan, I tell you. I've never laughed so hard in the theatres since Get Smart, and it's a good thing. His brand of wordplay (BIBLE = Basic Information Before Leaving Earth) is hilarious; Justin Timberlake hams it up effectively as a guy with er, huge package; and Jessica Alba never looked lovelier.
FINAL SAY: Really, really funny, although it's decidedly stupid and crass. But it's not as bad as Zohan. Give this Guru a chance.
~

And one last thing before I forget...

The second teaser!

=P

Take care, peeps!