Click on the pictures to enlarge
A person sent me the message above on Facebook encouraging me to fight with other riders... I'm not sure whether the riders she meant are "rempits" or fellow Japanese superheros, Kamen Riders... Is this a calling for me to join the world of experienced riders? I'm so confused by this...
Truthfully, I cannot recall who the hell she is... She's not even a friend on Facebook... This makes me even more confused...
No mutual friends... I can't even recall having any connections with people from SMK SERI AMAN and UTM... Hmmm... Confused... Confused...
When I think about it, her words are similar to the lines uttered by comic book characters... Though, usually, this kind of encouragement you give to those who are about to compete in a race... I don't ever wanna enter any races... I just use my motorcycle to get to work and places of interest...
The more I think about it, the more confused I got...
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I felt the urge to watch this movie because one of my colleague gave me copies of the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies... After seeing all three, I surely wouldn't want to miss the fourth and latest one... So, instead of waiting a few months for the DVD release, it would be more convenient for me to watch it in the cinema while it is still showing...
THE STORY
The famous pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, had emerged from his hideout again and this time with a new treasure in mind - The Fountain of Youth... However, he's not the only one in search of the fountain as the royals of Spain, fearsome Blackbeard, and Captain Barbossa also had their eyes on the precious 'treasure'... Well, not all of them were in pursuit of immortality gained from drinking the water... They all had their own agenda that was revealed after they reached the fountain...
THE GOOD
Mermaids
The scene that I enjoyed the most in this movie is when the mermaids first appeared... Charming, graceful and beautiful at first but in reality, they were really deadly... Unexpectedly, they had the ability to be so ruthless and powerful as they ripped apart ships and feed on the humans... I loved to see how they jumped out of the water to catch their prey... Totally awesome...
THE BAD
Too Much Luck
I hate it when a significant character in a movie gets too lucky... I didn't really favor watching Jack Sparrow managed to escape every time he got caught... During the coconut tree scene, why weren't there any guards on watch of Jack Sparrow and Barbossa? Besides that, in the scene of Jack Sparrow trying to escape the guards after being held for an interview with London royalty, it was so easy of him to obtain his sword and gun back... I found the fact that he always easily succeeded in escaping made the movie less enjoyable and logical to watch...
Action
All the gun fights and sword duels were just ordinary... Well, the formula worked in the first movie but as more and more series being made, the action sequence are now quite lame... The producers need to come up with something new if they are planning on making another one in the future or else, Pirates of the Caribbean shall lose its audience...
The producers seemed to not successfully manipulate the fearsome status of Blackbeard properly... Instead of showing him being fearless and all mighty in battle, they just showed him burning an innocent slave... I personally think that it would be better if the producers made a scene where Blackbeard battle a royalty ship and sink it with his fire breathing ship... That would be awesome...
Dragged on story
Some scenes are irrelevant and unnecessary... For instance, the scene when Jack Sparrow learned that there was an imposter of him and tried to confront him/her... However, later on, there was no follow up on the scene... The matter of the person impersonating him just vanished... It seemed like the producers were trying so hard to make the movie longer...
ALL IN ALL
I think that Pirates of Caribbean has lost its charm in this new one... There's nothing new being shown... Jack Sparrow is still the same as ever... No new action sequence... Besides that, I don't really feel entertained with the jokes and comedic elements portrayed in the movie... There's so much cliche in it!! Seriously, if the producers want the next movie to be a success, they need to come up with something new...
However, this movie is still a good watch if u feel like wanting to past the time... What I mean is, despite my negativity towards it, some scenes are worth to be credited such as the mermaid scene... I loved how they portrayed the mermaids and I was so glad that there were no male mermaids...
This movie is not bad... Rather, it's just mediocre...
2.5 out of 5 stars...
Last week, I went to Tesco near my house to buy a raincoat because I've been riding my motorcycle to work often lately and I'm worried that I would be soaked if suddenly rain comes pouring while I'm riding... I went around the store a few times in various sections and I couldn't find what I was looking for... Therefore, I went to one of the staff and asked, "Bang, baju hujan kat mana?"...
At first, he stared at me like he had no clue what I was talking about... Then, he asked me to follow him... He led to the men's clothing section... "Pakaian lelaki semua ada kat sini...", he said before leaving me...
After a few seconds of pondering, I thought, maybe that guy wasn't kidding... So, I roamed around the clothing section looking for a raincoat... I searched the whole section... I found no raincoat... I tried looking for another Tesco staff and found a woman... Since she seemed like a senior staff, I thought maybe she would know where the raincoats were...
"Kak... baju hujan kat mana?", I asked politely...
She smiled at me and was silent for a moment... I thought she was trying to process my question... Then, she replied... "Baju t-shirt band Hujan?"
........
I explained to her that I was actually looking for a raincoat... The one that is used during rainy days... She giggled and let out a long "Laaaaaaaaaa...." and "Akak ingatkan baju penyanyi Hujan tu......."...
She took me around the clothing section and after a few minutes, she told me that they don't sell raincoats... Funny I always thought they have everything in Tesco...
After that, I went to the nearest 7 Eleven and they too didn't sell raincoats...
"It's cop-killer VS killer-cop"
Who won? If u can answer that, u've already known the ending of the movie...
THE STORY
Brant (Jason Statham), though being a cop, did not prefer to use hand cuffs when dealing with thugs... Instead, he'd normally use whatever weapon suitable for beating and break every bone they have... Because of that, he was a media sensation and his police precinct suffered severe bad publicity... He was on the verge of getting fired... That was until a series of murder on cops happened... Brant, being a tough cop, was chosen to be the one handling the case... Thus, a deadly game of chase happened between him and the murder suspect... The most cunning shall be the one who lives in the end...
THE POSITIVE SIDE
The Story
I personally think that the concept of the story is quite interesting and intriguing... It reminds me of the plot of the epic movie The Dark Knight which is a mind-blowing game of chase between Batman and the Joker... Why did he kill those cops? What motive did he have? Who shall outsmart who first? These kinds of questions kinda make the movie interesting to watch...
THE NEGATIVE SIDE
The Reveal
The identity of the murderer and his motives were revealed too soon and thus lowering the impact as the plot didn't have enough time to build tension... Before the audience had the time to feel the suspense and thrill of not knowing who the psycho murderer was and what his next move would be, his identity was discovered in an unclever kind of way...
I enjoyed watching this chase scene... However, it ended plainly...
I expected a showdown between these two...
No Ass Kicking Statham
Rumors had it that Statham is venturing into other types of movies besides action and Blitz is one of his first attempts on doing that... However, I think Statham should just stick to action because he seriously could not act... In Blitz, yes, Statham did beat up some thugs but the action just happen in less than a minute... The rest of the movie only showed Statham's failed attempts in being a good detective... Statham not beating up people in the coolest way possible is so plain and boring...
ALL IN ALL
Even though Jason Statham is the main cast, this movie is disappointingly not an action movie... Rather, it's a cop thriller... A plain and boring one... Though the story concept is intriguing, the plot didn't allow it to build up more tension and thus spoiling the movie... A decent and satisfactory amount of action should save this movie but clearly the producers are not clever enough to fully manipulate Statham's true potential...
2.5 out of 5 stars...
"In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!!"
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!!"
THE STORY
However, being a mere human with an attitude, Hal was not trusted by other members of the Green Lantern Corp... Other Lanterns believed that he wouldn't be able to live up to Abin Sur's soaring reputation as one of the guardians of the universe... Hal, though shaken at first, later on manned up in order to defend earth from Parallax that was going after Abin Sur's power ring...
The strongest Green Lantern, Abin Sur, had fallen under the surprise attack of his arc nemesis, Parallax, that he had imprisoned years before it escaped... Though badly wounded, before he died, he managed to escape the Parallax's attack and headed to earth for the selection of the one who's worthy of wearing his power ring... Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynold) was chosen by the ring to be the heir of Abin Sur's power and because of that, he must bear the responsibility of guarding the earth from any threat...
However, being a mere human with an attitude, Hal was not trusted by other members of the Green Lantern Corp... Other Lanterns believed that he wouldn't be able to live up to Abin Sur's soaring reputation as one of the guardians of the universe... Hal, though shaken at first, later on manned up in order to defend earth from Parallax that was going after Abin Sur's power ring...
THE AWESOME FACTORS
CGI and costume
The cost for making and promoting this movie is $300 Million (more expensive than The Dark Knight and the upcoming Iron Man 3) and I could guess that a large percentage of that sum went to the process of making the Computer Generated Image (CGI) effects... Heck, even the costumes are fully computer generated... No wonder it cost so much... Well, as a result, this movie looks awesome...
Humor
Besides clever jokes in the script, a few scenes such as the part when Hal brought out a green chainsaw and a machine gun during his power training also won a few laughs from the audience... The funniest would be the part when Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), Hal's love interest, discovered his true identity despite him wearing a mask...
Ryan Reynolds
His greatly sculptured body is not the only thing that was mesmerizing in the movie... His acting is also superb... I guess he has the talent to become a superhero since he was also brilliant acting as Deadpool in X-Men Origin: Wolverine...
THE LESS AWESOME FACTORS
The Story
Since the movie is the first ever, the story revolves around on the introduction of the Green Lantern Corp. and the development of Hal Jordan from a punk who always messes things up into a respected Green Lantern which is typical for a superhero movie (the movie Thor kinda has similar story)... Furthermore, the story could be a bit confusing for those who could not keep up with the comic book terms such the power of the will VS fear, the battery, yellow ring and so on because there are so many things that needed to be introduced in the Green Lantern world...
Blake Lively
I was expecting more (in terms of acting and appearance) from Blake Lively since she's one of the main casts and a rising young Hollywood star...
ALL IN ALL
Because of the mediocre story line and the flooding of CGI effects, most critics refer this movie as too cartoonish and thus, concluding that it is unworthy to watch... However, in my point of view, this movie is kinda awesome... The fact that it has more appeal to me might be because of my love towards the comic books and animated series... It's like watching a more realistic Green Lantern cartoon... Therefore, I think that this movie will be better accepted among young audience since they are more into comic books and cartoons...
Besides that, the charm also comes from Ryan Reynolds where as a good actor, he successful portrayed humor, sympathy, lost of hope and determination...
Despite all the bashing from movie critics, I still had a great time watching it... It was so entertaining for me that I even thought of watching the movie again while watching half of it...
3 out of 5 stars...
Yes folks, there might be a sequel... In case u didn't know, there was a short clip of Sinestro wearing the yellow ring that was forged originally to fight Parallax after the end credit...
Meet Kitty... The Taiwan weather girl... Watch the video and tell me, what's the weather...
It's like a rain of annoyingly cute Asian poses...
Well, at least it's better than Malaysia's paint ads weather reports...
Sometimes it feels weird that I have hair on my fingers...
The thing that excited me the most about this movie is the fact that J.J Abram is the director and one of the producers... I've been a fan of his work since I saw the movie Cloverfield (one of my favorites) back in 2002 and the latest and awesome Star Trek (2009)... I somehow convinced myself that Super 8 is going to be one massive disaster movie, just like Cloverfield... Well, I thought wrong... It's not actually a full disaster movie... It's a classic family entertainment...
THE STORY
In the summer of 1979, while making a super 8 movie, a group of school kids - Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), Alice (Elle Fanning), Charles, Preston, Martin and Tom, witnessed a horrifying train crash near a small town in Ohio... The train was a property of the U.S Air Force where it was carrying a top secret and highly dangerous cargo... After the train crash, mysterious disappearances and strange events started to happen, forcing a local deputy sheriff, who is also Joe's father, to investigate and reveal the truth...
THE POSITIVE SIDE
The Kids
The charm of this movie is brought out by the child actors who are also among the main casts... Their presence toned down the horror factor and seriousness of the movie because they are all damn funny and thus reassuring the audience that Super 8 is not a total disaster movie but instead, like I said before, it's a classic movie made mostly for family entertainment...
Kudos to Elle Fanning, sister to the famous Dakota Fanning for the effective acting... She successfully portrayed her emotions well according to the scenes... I shall say she's pretty talented, like her sister... Joel Courtney also did a great job as the lead where he managed to carry his role as a rebellious yet soft-hearted teenager...
The Classic Element
The reason for me repeatedly saying that this movie is a classic is just not because of the time and place setting, props and costume... Instead, it is also because of how the movie is made... The pace, the shots, the scenes, the story... They all reminded me of the movie E.T... This is most probably because of the influence from Steven Spielberg, who is one of the producers for Super 8... Rather than focusing on the destruction, the movie is more towards the emotional side - the strengthening of bonds between children and parents, sending the poor mistreated alien home and a bit of some puppy love moments...
Some people, especially the young ones who are so used to modern styles of movies, might disagree with me when I say that the classic element is a plus... I'm pretty sure that many of the audience think that the movie's good but it seemed to lack something...
THE NEGATIVE SIDE
"We Expected More"
Yes, I repeat, most audience might be satisfied with the movie but they would also agree that it lacks something... That something would be the massive destruction caused by modern warfare... The movie lacks the thrills and excitement of modern disaster movies... Younger audience must be expecting that the movie would be more like Cloverfield or Battle: Los Angeles - full with destruction and chaos... They would have expected that the alien would be bigger and meaner, destroying most parts of the small town during its rampage and ended up being blown up into pieces by the military using awesome fire power - thus leading to a satisfying amount of CGI effects...
But no, there was no massive destruction... No jets dropping tones of bombs onto the alien... No fire breathing monsters...
ALL IN ALL
If u haven't seen Super 8 and planning to watch it over the weekend, dont expect it to be as destructive as Godzilla, Cloverfield or Battle: Los Angeles... Rather, u should expect it to be more like the movie E.T - touching, emotional and funny... Suitable to be watched with the whole family~
3 out 5 stars...
Since I don't have a TV, my source for animated entertainment is mainly Youtube... Therefore, through out this several months, I've been browsing through numerous channels in order to find the most interesting and worthy for me to subscribe...
Here's one of the most interesting for me... PrankvsPrank or PVP
The channel is about one crazy couple, Jesse and Jeanna, having a prank war on each other...
I have to say, if I had a girlfriend like Jeanna (or a boyfriend like Jesse), I wouldn't be able to sleep at night... Even if I slept, I would make sure one of my eyes is opened... It's like every time one of them let his/her guard down, he/she will be in for a bad surprise... For example, check out the video below...
The most interesting part of their videos is how they react to each prank... Some pranks brought out tears like the one below...
The pranks must have strengthened the bond between them as they look so happy together... You can check out how good they get along with each other after those mean pranks and curses in their second channel - BFvsGF...
I shared the prank video to my girlfriend to cheer her up... but then I kinda regretted it because she kinda like to prank people herself... I remember how she seldom hid behind doors and jumped out on me... That's why I always check behind the door as I entered the house... I'm worried that she would get some ideas from PVP guys... Erkk...
Make sure u check out other videos of PVP to see more of their prank wars... Bam!!
The most interesting part of their videos is how they react to each prank... Some pranks brought out tears like the one below...
Some brought out rage...
Some are really really painful... It's like life threatening painful
While others are just funny and creative...
The pranks must have strengthened the bond between them as they look so happy together... You can check out how good they get along with each other after those mean pranks and curses in their second channel - BFvsGF...
I shared the prank video to my girlfriend to cheer her up... but then I kinda regretted it because she kinda like to prank people herself... I remember how she seldom hid behind doors and jumped out on me... That's why I always check behind the door as I entered the house... I'm worried that she would get some ideas from PVP guys... Erkk...
Make sure u check out other videos of PVP to see more of their prank wars... Bam!!
The moment seemed perfectly sentimental - sitting on an office chair beside a window, watching the sunset while listening to Avril Lavigne's Goodbye... It almost made me cry... Well, the situation was not the contributor to my teary left eye but instead, it was the various thoughts that crossed my head as I watched the scene outside of the window getting dimmer... and dimmer...
The first thought was the fact that I would most probably be leaving the place soon... or later... When and where to? I didn't even know since the decision is not mine to make... I've been at this place for more than 6 years... The thought of letting go of most of the things I'm familiar with seemed so hard for me... The people, the environment, the place, the memories... Wow... It would be such a huge step... To put all of my belongings into boxes, travel to the new destination that I would refer to as my new home, meet new people (the most difficult thing to do), adapt to the new environment... Huge step indeed...
The scariest thought of all was about the long distance relationship with my girl... Even after only a few days being apart, I've felt the bursting feeling on loneliness... The past bad moments of being away from each other for quite some time were telling me that I should be concerned... It's not about a matter of trust or loyalty... It's more about boredom... Conversing via the phone or texting is definitely not my forte... I'm afraid that I would bore her with my lame and brief set of words... I would prefer talking with her in person... "I shall go and visit her often"... I was determined...
Before I could think further, Ridhwan showed up and took a seat near me... The small cubicle we've been spending most of our time while at work seemed so welcoming... Though it's not comfortable since that small space is shared by many, we still come for we feel it is the only place we feel a sense of belonging... I thought that after my girlfriend, Ridhwan would be the next person I'm gonna miss after I leave... On the day when we received our degrees, I wanted to say to him, "We started this together, we ended this together..."... He's the first person I made friends with upon coming to the university and now he's like a brother to me... Even after graduation, we're still together until this very moment... I appreciate everything he had done to me and I wondered if I would ever find a friend like him at the next place I'm gonna be settling at...
Though I'm quite hesitant about moving out, I too wished that those Kementerian people would assign my posting a.s.a.p... It's because I wanna move on with my life... Now I'm like hanging on a fence waiting to fall on either a field of green grass or hard ground... I want to be on one of those side and start figuring out what plans to take for my own self development and my future... Since I don't have a choice (actually I do but it shall cost me), just send me already!
Lately, I've been immersing myself with Avril Lavigne's fourth and latest studio album, Goodbye Lullaby...
As mentioned in one of my previous posts, I've been a fan of Avril since the release of her first hit single, Complicated, from her very first album, Let Go, in 2002... Through out the years, I cannot deny that because of her change in style from rock to slutty, my support for her was going up and down the hill but her fourth album somehow brought me back the strong feeling of admiration towards her...
Believe me when I say my eyes were teary after I found out that she wouldn't be coming to Malaysia for her 2011 Asia tour... She's definitely on the top of my list of people I must see performing on stage before I die besides Hayley Williams of Paramore and the guys from My Chemical Romance...
Here is the track list of Goodbye Lullaby
Believe me when I say my eyes were teary after I found out that she wouldn't be coming to Malaysia for her 2011 Asia tour... She's definitely on the top of my list of people I must see performing on stage before I die besides Hayley Williams of Paramore and the guys from My Chemical Romance...
Here is the track list of Goodbye Lullaby
| 1. | "Black Star" | |||
| 2. | "What the Hell" | |||
| 3. | "Push" | |||
| 4. | "Wish You Were Here" | |||
| 5. | "Smile" | |||
| 6. | "Stop Standing There" | |||
| 7. | "I Love You" | |||
| 8. | "Everybody Hurts" | |||
| 9. | "Not Enough" | |||
| 10. | "4 Real" | |||
| 11. | "Darlin" | |||
| 12. | "Remember When" | |||
| 13. | "Goodbye" | |||
| 14. | "Alice" (extended version) |
Most of the songs are filled with wonderful piano sound... For example, try listening to the first track, Black Star, which is quite short but elaborated in terms of the lyrics... It serves as a great introduction to the whole album as it prepares fellow listeners on what to expect from the most of the songs...
"Black Star" is actually the name of fragrance by Avril Lavigne...
Next on the list is the first single of the album, What the Hell... When I first listened to the track on the radio, I had some doubts about how great the whole album would be... I thought that it would be as cheerleader-ish kinda album like The Best Damn Thing... Therefore, I tend to be a bit skeptical... However, the song grew into me and I found myself liking it more than I thought I could...
As u can see in the video, there are so many product placements of Avril's fragrance and clothing line, Abbey Dawn... One thing I must say is her acting as a girly girl kinda suck... Though I appreciate her effort of showing off an amount of her skin... She's so cute and petite... Kinda my type... Teehee...
What the Hell is like the more rebellious sister to Avril's Girlfriend of the third album, The Best Damn Thing... It has that bitchy tone but the lyrics are more towards I couldn't care less kinda attitude... However, even though it's the first single, the song doesn't represent the whole album at all because other tracks are more sappy and lovey dovey kind of songs - hence the name Goodbye Lullaby...
The third track, Push, brings back the pace brought by Black Star as the tune set the audience into ballad mode... Basically, all of the tracks inside the album except What the Hell are ballads... However, each one of them is unique from each other...
I Love You is a very simple and direct love song with a slow rhythm whereas, Smile - the second single, is a bit fast paced and strong...
The strong point of this album certainly doesn't lie on the lyrics, but more on Avril's amazing vocal and the wonderful sounds of piano and acoustic instrument... I adore Avril's ability to sing different types of tones and levels of pitch and combine them to create a wonderful symphony of her voice... Besides that, I love the part when she sorta yodel at the end of certain lines in most of her songs... So pump up the volume to the max when u're listening to the songs and try to focus on Avril's combination of tones and the wonderful beat of the drums, piano and guitar...
All in all, I'm very satisfied with this album... It strengthen my believe that Avril is simply amazing in terms of her singing and song writing...
For more insight on the album, click here...
As u can see in the video, there are so many product placements of Avril's fragrance and clothing line, Abbey Dawn... One thing I must say is her acting as a girly girl kinda suck... Though I appreciate her effort of showing off an amount of her skin... She's so cute and petite... Kinda my type... Teehee...
What the Hell is like the more rebellious sister to Avril's Girlfriend of the third album, The Best Damn Thing... It has that bitchy tone but the lyrics are more towards I couldn't care less kinda attitude... However, even though it's the first single, the song doesn't represent the whole album at all because other tracks are more sappy and lovey dovey kind of songs - hence the name Goodbye Lullaby...
The third track, Push, brings back the pace brought by Black Star as the tune set the audience into ballad mode... Basically, all of the tracks inside the album except What the Hell are ballads... However, each one of them is unique from each other...
I Love You is a very simple and direct love song with a slow rhythm whereas, Smile - the second single, is a bit fast paced and strong...
Stop Standing There is positively groovy... Wish You Were Here is kinda slow and emotional... Goodbye has its own sentimental values... and the list goes on... Each track has its own special features in terms of the lyrics, beat, music and style of singing...
All in all, I'm very satisfied with this album... It strengthen my believe that Avril is simply amazing in terms of her singing and song writing...
For more insight on the album, click here...
