So, 2012 is just around the corner and most of us are either making new year resolutions or reminiscing moments they had in 2011, good or bad... I don't always make new year resolutions but there are things I look forward to have or do next year... So, here is (sort of) my wish list~

The thing that's always been on my mind ever since I was in school is to own a really cool motorcycle... 

I dont really know much about superbikes and I certainly not into races... but it must be awesome to have this baby between my legs and just sprint pass by other vehicles like a boss... They see me rollin', they hatin'... 

However, as the man of the house, I have put my priorities first and delay the desire to buy a superbike... The best thing for me to do is first buy a car... Yeap, superbike's cool, but a car is more practical... Though bear this in mind that it's my goal to get it before I turn 30... Motivation!!!! 

People kept saying that with my paycheck, I'm able to afford more than a compact car... So, I'm taking their advice and now having my eyes set on Toyota Vios... 

At first, I did consider other options like Saga FLX and Mazda2... but after consulting some of my and wifey's friends, I arrived at the conclusion that Vios is a better pick mostly because it's a Toyota, it saves fuel, and it's bigger than Myvi Lagi Best... Besides, wifey dislikes Proton cars and Mazda2's spare parts are hard to get and expensive... 

Car owners and lovers, if u disagree, kindly leave a comment and suggest me some better picks... Less fuel consumption and good performance are the minimum criteria me and wifeyfey have in mind... We also opt for secondhand cars with good condition... We're being choosy but not too choosy at the same time... Well, we need to be choosy since a car is something that we'll use for years and years...

One thing that's bothering me is whether or not I can apply for a loan to buy a car as my status as an employee is still 'not permanent'... I'm under trial for a year before I get a permanent status a staff member... My colleagues said it depends on which bank I want to apply loan with... Some banks will accept it and others wont... We shall see how it is...

Since we're talking about big size loans here, I also would like to mention that I really really want to own a house... Even before marriage, I've always dream of having a house of my own where I can do whatever I want in it... My house will be a chamber of privacy... One shall not simply enter le house... I always imagine myself decorating the walls and choosing furniture at Ikea to match the carpet and I'm sounding a bit gay here... Now that I'm married, the need to have a house grows greater... My colleague told me that if I wanna buy cheap houses, I can always visit the nearest Pejabat Tanah Daerah or something... There are posters being put up there about house being auctioned by banks... Rumah Lelong... Hmm... I shall give it a try...

I'm not looking for a specific kind of house... Any kind will do... Even an apartment... Me and wifey believed that we can transform any house into a comfy home together with a bit of renovation and creativity... It will fun working on a project together...

Alright, the next thing that's on my list is a new handphone... The one I'm currently using is old and not user friendly... It's a Motorola L6... Hard to use and need time to get used to... Though I'm not quite sure which model to buy... I'm not looking for anything too fancy... I just want something with a good music player, awesome camera and has wi-fi... 

Samsung Galaxy Wonder seems like a good choice... My younger brother has it and by the looks of it, he's enjoying all the apps and functions... Though the idea of having the same phone as him somehow demotivates me from making that model as a must have item... I always want something different...

Therefore, I'm thinking of getting myself a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini... Is it a sound choice? Hmm... I shall do more research...

Actually, I'm not quite excited about phones... What I'm really excited about is getting a camera... Nikon 1 seems so irresistible to me after I saw an ad of it on TV... It looks slick and cool... However, a sales person at camera store convinced me and wifey that it's an awful choice... She recommended something far better which is the Olympus PEN Mini...

It's like a miniature DSLR camera complete with portable lenses and a picture editor... Meaning, it takes awesome pictures and u don't have to transfer ur pictures into ur computer to edit them... Instead, u can just edit using the camera... U can also add effects to ur pictures before snapping them by changing the settings... Quite awesome... I was drooling when the sales person gave us a demo... 

Above are all materialistic stuff... Heh, besides all of those, I also have the desire to get higher qualifications... I want to continue my study and get a Masters Degree and PhD... Like I said in my previous post, Changes in Life, I may not want to permanently stay in Terengganu... With better qualifications, it would be easier for me to make my way into local universities or maybe... foreign ones?? Hehe... It's not wrong to aim high right? 

I know it's quite contradicting with me getting a house part... Well, in my defense, It's been a plan of mine since I was in college to buy several houses and then rent it out to students :-P Yup, I wanna buy more than one house... If I can buy a row of houses, I shall make it a homestay... A good retirement plan huh?

So, those are among the things I want and look for to have or achieve not just next year, but also incoming years ahead... As time pass, maybe I'll add more to my list... 

Resolutions I have non... Only goals to conquer... Hmm... Are resolutions and goal the same thing? I'm not sure... but whatever...

Happy new year peeps... Have a great life ahead... Peace out

"A masterpiece"... I kept saying that in my head after watching the movie...

THE STORY

World's best detective, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.), was back on his quest to stop Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) from spreading chaos into the world by triggering World War... 

WHAT'S BRILLIANT?

Robert Downey Jr.

It's hard to deny the fact that Robert Downey Jr. is the best guy ever to play Holmes mostly because of his looks of arrogance and confidence... He's the best thing the script writers, Michele and Kieran Mulroney, could have as he execute every line with total brilliance of good acting... He also contributed most of the humor for the audience to loosen up and chuckle with all of the silly costumes and witty use of words...

Finally, my wife and I had set foot in one of the Mesra Mall's TVG Cinema halls for the first time yesterday just to watch Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol which was one of my most anticipated December movies... Overall, the cinema is not bad but they need to improve the picture because last night, it looked quite dim... As for the movie, I really had fun watching it not particularly because of Tom Cruise but it's because of my love towards exaggerated action sequences and explosion... When I say exaggerated, I really really mean it...

THE STORY

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) returned to the field to prevent a nuclear war from happening... However, in the process, he and his team was outsmarted by the enemy and thus blamed for the bombing of the Kremlin... IMF was disowned by the U.S Government and all agents were considered rouge and labelled as terrorists... Without backup and with limited resources, Ethan must find a way to clear the agency's name and stop the terror from happening...

THE PLUS POINTS

Action

Audience have been given the heads up on what to expect with this movie from the title... Mission IMPOSSIBLE... Yup, all of the action sequences in this movie are almost impossible to be performed in real life... Like I said, it's really really exaggerated... So, if u haven't watch it but intend to, abandon all logic and just be amazed at the explosion and running and jumping and fighting and falling... If u can just do that, u'll have the best action movie watching experience ever...

The most fun scene to watch was indeed the Burj Khalifa scene... It's not just nerve wrecking but it's also funny to see Ethan struggled to climb the glass panes of the tallest building in the world just to penetrate the building's server...

I was impressed by the sand storm chase scene... It was really engaging and in ended with a bang!! A high speed bang!!

Tom Cruise

I implied before that I'm not really a Cruise fan... I find that his expressions are freaky... It's like a mixture of fakeness and sarcasm... However, I would like to give him credit because he really got the body and stamina to perform in this kind of movie... Through out the movie, he was sprinting, climbing, engaging... it's like his energy's limitless... 

The Team

Jeremy Renner is one my favorite actors after watching him in The Hurt Locker and The Town... He's also starring in the upcoming Avengers movie next year as Hawkeye... In this movie, as Agent Brandt, he provided a bit of comedy with his lack of experience working with the Mission Impossible team... He was nervous and edgy and it was fun to see... Simon Pegg as Benji also contributed a bit of laughing moments with his amateurish attitude and bad humor... Lastly, Paula Patton as Jane is the less memorable member of the team as she's not as fun as the others... However, she did a good job during the seduction of the Indian billionaire... I really enjoyed that part... 

The Gadgets

The most amazing gadget of all is the one they use in the Kremlin... They duplicate the room's image and project it on a canvas... U'll know what I'm talking about if u've seen the movie... One more thing, the car!! The BMW car! Touch screen GPS and computer on the front mirror... Awesome!! There are so many cool gadgets in this movie and I would want u to know that all of them are under development... Yup, scientists are still developing every single one of it... So, maybe in the future, we all can be Ethan Hunt... :-P

THE MINUS POINTS

Logic

Jumping into the window but ended up banging head first on the frame... and no concussion? The explosion in Kremlin... mild concussion? The vertical fall of a car... where the hell is the concussion? Okey... maybe u can say that he was trained to take all of the damages... FUCK U!

Script

The characters would be more amusing and memorable if the script was done more nicely...

ALL IN ALL

To summarize, this movie is really fun to watch because of its high level action sequences and humor... To enjoy it, abandon your logic and just enjoy the thrill ride because it will take u to places u never ever have been before... 

3 out of 5 stars...

You know what made me feel good? To hear the Mission Impossible music in the background... I kept humming it after the movie...

Last week, I participated in a program named "Seiring Menuju Syurga" (SMS)... It was the first actual activity I took part in since I first entered Politeknik Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin last month... Before that, I spent most of my working hours surfing the net and playing games... 

Well, the program was basically a long (but fun) lecture on how to salvage your marriage or to make long lasting... At first, judging from the program title, I thought that it would be so lame... However, the lecturer was so loud and comical that I listened to him for 4 hours plus without having the tendency to fall asleep...

Let me enlighten u with one of the main points of the lecture with a true story told by the lecturer... 

"Once, there was a husband who was so eager to divorce his wife because he couldn't stand her anymore... Therefore, he went to a Tok Kadi who was one of his close friends to smooth out the process... But, the Tok Kadi was handling so many divorce cases and marriages at that moment and so, he would only be able to settle the husband's divorce file in a week's time... The husband was so frustrated at first but he finally agreed to wait... Before he went home, the Tok Kadi asked him to promise to do one thing... He asked the husband to treat his wife like a queen before he come again to settle his divorce file next week... The husband was reluctant but the Tok Kadi insisted... One week later, the Tok Kadi waited for the husband to come to his office but he never showed up... Therefore, he called the husband to check on him... He was surprised when the husband answered the call and told him that at the moment, he's at Langkawi with his wife, having their second honeymoon... He told the Tok Kadi that ever since he treated his wife like a queen, the wife has been treating him like a king..."

So, one of the points highlighted by the lecturer was "What u give, u get back"... If u treat ur spouse like shit, she/he will treat u like shit too and vice versa... 

Therefore, if ur marriage is not working out, instead of pointing fingers and blaming others, just look at yourself and search for ur own wrong doings... Before u try to change others, try to change your bad habits first... 

At first, I told myself that it's okey to miss this one because I'm not really a fan of the Shrek movie series... However, my wife was so eager to watch it and she's been wanting to see it for weeks... Therefore, we went to watch it last Friday... 

Puss in Boots turned out to be so damn entertaining and far better than Shrek... So glad I watched it!!

THE STORY

Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), tried to steal magical beans from an outlaw couple, Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) in order to get enough gold to clean back his tarnished name and regain his surrogate mother's trust... Joining him was Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis)... Their adventure was filled with engaging action and heart warming moments... It's indeed a journey you don't wanna miss!

WHAT'S GOOD?

Puss in Boots

In Shrek, despite being a minor character, Puss in Boots is indeed the audience's favorite... Puss almost steal the thunder from all of the main characters with his cuteness and charm being ironically combined... The blend of cuteness of a cat with the charm of Zorro is indeed a formula that works... People love the irony because it brings out the humor without having the character trying too hard to impress... Even with his stare, Puss is able to capture every single one of the audience... 

Putting in Antonio Banderas' voice into the character just adds up the effectiveness of the character... Banderas, the one who wore the mask of Zorro, has the charm of an outlaw and a powerful womanizer... He's perfect to voice up Puss...

Cats Doing Silly Stuff

Cat lovers! Rejoice! There are like hundreds of cats in this movie and all of them are super cute... 

Youtube has proven how much people love to see cats doing strange and silly stuff because they're cute and funny... For instance, the keyboard cat and the nyan cat... Well, in this movie, there are so many silly stuff they do... Dancing, playing music instruments, clapping, fighting, chasing lights and so much more... What I love to see the most is the dance fight between Puss and Kitty... It was hilarious!

This cat is funny... So kepoh! Haha!

Graphics

I don't think I need to explain this because from the past few years, the animation industry has been developing so much that most of the movie, especially from Pixar and Disney, are so impressive in terms of graphics... 

In this movie, the characters were perfectly made that sometimes I forgot that I'm actually watching a 3D cartoon... Of course, the graphics are not as real as the ones in Avatar but the lack of reality is good because the target audience is kids... I love the portrayal of Mother Goose especially before they reveal its true form... It looks scary!

The Movie References

Because Puss in Boots is like a parody of Zorro, this movie uses so many Zorro references... For example, the slashing of sword on a black canvas to make a symbol... 

Besides Zorro, the are other references from other movies like Fight Club... Did u notice?

ALL IN ALL

Puss in Boots is indeed better than Shrek because it's funnier and cuter... Thanks to the abundance of cuteness from the cats... It works mostly because of the effectiveness in terms of characters... Each of them is cute and unique in their own ways... 

3.5 out of 5 stars...

As most of u know, I got married last month and it was a huge step that I bravely took... but marriage is not the only life altering event that I had undergone... I also changed my job from being a part time full time (PTFT) lecturer at UiTM Alor Gajah to being a Pegawai Pendidikan Pengajian Tinggi at Politeknik Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin... The transfer also happened last month and therefore November was kinda a big month for me... 

I laughed at the fact that no matter how hard I tried to stay far away from home, at the end of the day, I ended up being home regardless... haha... Well, I don't actually hate being home... It's just that I would love to see new places... Places with malls and huge cinemas... I also laughed at the fact that I used to not want to leave home when I was in school and because of that, I rejected so many boarding schools offer... The irony is quite amusing... 

So, here I am, after 5 - 6 years being at Melaka, studying and working there, I'm now staying permanently at Terengganu... Hmm... The word "permanently" can easily be erased from here because who knows what will I up to in a couple of years... We'll see :-)

At the moment, I'm staying at my parents' house in Ketengah Jaya, Dungun, Terengganu and I'm so glad that my wife loves the house... All her life she sort of dreamed of staying in a wooden, kampung house... My parents' house is not entirely made of wood but she loves it nevertheless because the windows are beautiful and there are so many decorative plants... 

She mentioned to me a few times that she love Terengganu's atmosphere as it's completely different from Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Melaka... You see, KL and Melaka people are so tensed, they drive crazily... Whereas, Terengganu people are not so tensed because there are no traffic jams... Therefore, it's quite nice to drive... No rude drivers, no road bullies... Just smooth driving... 

Plus, there are so many greenery here... Terengganu government has loads of money but the development here is so slow... It's not a bad thing though as most forests are being left alone... If u come to Terengganu, u would want to expect blue skies and fresh air... Haaaa...

I haven't been exploring Terengganu for so long since I spent most of my past years being in Melaka and because of that, I wasn't aware of the development that has been happening around here... Last week, my wife and I went to the popular Mesra Mall at Kemasik, Kemaman and were indeed impressed to see Vincci, Carlo Rino, Famous Amos, Reject Shop, Starbucks, Secret Recipe, Burger Kind and so many other famous outlets there... The mall also has bowling alleys and TGV cinemas and also a futsal court... Cool huh?

As for work, I started last couple of weeks and so far, so good... My colleagues are very friendly and helpful... The Politeknik is also beautiful... It's located at the bottom of beautiful Bukit Bauk and therefore, the scenery is breathtaking... Even the water in the drains are crystal clear because all the trash and dirt are swept away by the water from the hill... Awesome... I love it here

Being at home is not as bad as I imagined before... My wife loves Terengganu and that makes me really really happy...