i heart disney/pixar

for hakuna matata.
(there is no Pixar here, but there is Disney)

for helping me remember to swim.
(there is no Disney here, but hello Pixar:))

and for everything Wall-e does.

big smiles all around :)

cause you make me smile
even just for a while

when i'm not spending my time annoying people by asking them if they require assistance in mauling the blender boxes, or dodging receipt rolls serving as canons in the War between Virgin music and Small Appliances, or making up price stickers for Vidal Sassoon hairdryers, Meng Han, and Messaoud ($79.95, $50.00, and $2.00 respectively)...

i am watching movies.

been doing a bit of a catchup on the movies that i've been meaning to watch for a while, courtesy of Video Ezy ($1.95 rentals Mon-Thurs; $2.95 for new releases).
yeah, my life alternates between work and watching DVDs at home.

so just quickly...

Jason Bourne is one of the coolest action heroes EVER (it's probably between him and Det. John McClane). i am gushing. Bruce Willis has that whole "i don't give a shit"cool factor going for him, but Matt Damon is amazingly clever and resourceful despite being constantly on the run. he fights with pens, with books, tricks people with fans... i loved it.

it's better than twelve, not as smooth as eleven, but it's as witty as any. the little one liners are enough to keep you amused, and the plan complex enough to keep you entertained throughout the movie.

that and Linus's nose, of course.

been wanting to watch this one for a while, and finally got to it. it's about racial discrimination, and almost every character is played by a famous actor/actress. i think the idea of the movie was that all the things you do, all the people you meet, will eventually crash together with - presumably - some sort of tragic result.

it doesn't quite hit home, but there ARE some ironies in it that leave you things to think about... and the film is mostly just heartbreakingly honest about human relationships in a racially diverse world.

a film from Danny Boyle, this is about a crew of 8 who are on a mission to save the dying sun. they run into problems on the way - rather cliched ones too - but it's all done brilliantly, and doesn't get old or lame.

sci-fi isn't usually my thing, but this film was actually really good. it sorta morphed from clever science and impressive CGI to mindless bloody action with a twist of horror about three quarters of the way through... but i still really liked the ending.


and for something totally different...


we watched Enchanted at the movies, and i had a stupid smile plastered on my face the whole way. it's one of those ridiculously feel good movies with a soundtrack that gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
it's very sweet though... even if the formula gets a bit old.

the cinema was PACKED with children. little children. most under the age of 12. they liked to laugh loudly.

typical kids' movie that brought us back quite a few years with the song "witch doctor" (ooh ee ooh ah ah, ting tang walla walla bing bang!!). the chipmunks are so cute... especially Theodore, the little fat one.

i think i have an affinity for little fat things.

i'll have to write up a movie list, otherwise i'll never watch everything i want to.

so continues my lifelessness.

the most stupid thing i've done in a while

...after trying to close a ladder while standing underneath it.

went to watch I Am Legend, Beowulf and 1408 on friday night/saturday morning.
20 bucks for three movies was worth it, even if it did mean i didn't get to sleep the entire night.

kinda a dumb thing to do when you have to work at 7 o'clock the next morning tho.

anyway, moving on.

i thought this was a pretty good movie. we missed a bit of the start though, and i think that might have been rather important, but nevermind.

a virus that was supposed to be a cure for cancer ends up turning people into hairless blood-sucking creatures allergic to UV. (they never actually said "vampires" in the movie, but it sounds familiar, no?)

Will Smith is brilliant as Dr. Robert Neville, a scientist working to find a cure for this virus who is, as far as he knows, the last man on earth. with only his german shepherd - Samantha - and a bunch of mannequins at a video store for company, Neville struggles not only with finding a cure for the virus, but with his own frustrations and loneliness.

ok, there are obviously some plot holes, but it's generally a very entertaining movie; not too fast paced, funny, intense, and at times, rather heartbreaking. the shots of a jungle-esque Manhattan are really nice too.

but don't think. just don't think while you're watching the movie. don't ask why. just watch. and enjoy.

typical heroic ending tho, and thanks to a certain ABC i was spoiled about an hour before i went to watch it.
SPOILER: "he kamikaze-ed his ass". end of spoiler.

but you are reminded once again of just how fantastic an actor Will Smith is. what the movie lacks in plot and coherence, he makes up for in character. he makes an otherwise ordinary monster-filled action flick worth watching, especially if you haven't read the book (which i haven't).



this was interesting.

it's based on an old scandinavian tale about a man who kills a monster and becomes a king.
apparently.
i'm not really sure. i'm just regurgitating what my friend told me.

it's an animated flick, but ohmygoodness everything looks so real. everything. even angelina jolie looks real, albeit a little waxy. you get a few odd moments where you sorta think "real people don't quite scratch their backs like THAT", but otherwise, the animators did a great job (and the scenery is fantastic).

i quite liked it, but Beowulf (the character, played by Ray Winstone)... man, that guy has a seriously huge ego. Oedipus complex to the max. he's got an annoying "I am Beowulf, hear me roar" thing going on.
unlike I Am Legend, if you actually stop to think for a while, you realise that Beowulf is as much about human nature as it is about killing monsters. it explores particularly how vulnerable people are to greed and power... and also how useless men are in the face of angelina jolie.
it feels a little like the producers concentrated more on the animation than the characters, but there is a storyline that holds its own very well. and i think the only reason i liked it was because of that storyline. it's very english lit.

the only thing i sorta regret about this movie is that i didn't see it in 3D.

and beowulf needs to stuff a sock in it.
although to be fair, he does become a "changed man" towards the end of the movie.


the most unsatisfying of the three movies - and not just because it came after two good ones.
maybe a little bit because i was sleepy.

credit needs to be given to the first half tho, which was actually pretty good because it really was creepy and scary (that clock radio is the most disturbing unanimated object i have seen in a while).
it's creepy more because of the way it messes with the mind than with straight out horror. john cusack is good at the whole acting thing - one minute sceptical, the next totally freaked out; going crazy one moment, completely relieved the next.

it would have been a good movie had the vibe of first hour been kept up throughout. unfortunately, halfway through, it just gets stupid. it's as if the writers ran out of material, and just decided to pad it up with half-arsed scares. and the whole pretend-he-gets-out-when-he-really-doesn't-haha-ilaughatyou thing doesn't really work. everything after that point feels draggy and becomes a chore.

it was a little like I Am Legend in that one man show way, and John Cusack, to his credit, does really well. but the whole thing becomes sort of a joke to me after the first hour.

not bad if you want to be disturbed. but totally forgettable.


working a ten hour shift after a movie marathon takes it's toll, and i slept 14 hours straight from 7 o'clock last night. it was an accident. mom tried to wake me up around ten, apparently, but i didn't even stir. that sofabed can be pretty comfortable.

we haven't moved them yet.

Brother Bear

we watched Brother Bear on TV just now.

i've seen it once before, and thought it was a pretty good film, but it's amazing how you can see so much more once you get a bit older.


there was this one scene in the film where Kenai, a human who was turned into a bear, and Koda, a real bear cub, were looking at ancient cave paintings. one of them depicted a huge scary-looking bear and a man pointing a spear at the bear. then Koda, the real bear, says:

"Those monsters are real scary...
especially with their sticks."

and that line, to me, is the point where you realize that good and bad are relative to where you are standing. light and shadow depend on the time of day, where you are, and what's around you. in the film, man thinks the bears are monsters, so they attack them. but to the bears, the men are the real monsters.

it's really just a very simplistic way of showing that there are always two sides to a struggle. you could write a whole essay on this, but basically, it all comes down to perspective. it all does in the end.
there's this one word in English that i really, really hate...

context.

you have to talk about how a person's context influences their values and attitudes and therefore guides them in shaping an understanding of the text in every single lit essay you do, and it's really annoying cause sometimes you just don't want to.

but i guess there's a reason they make you do that, because it teaches you to pick up things like this. it teaches you that everybody has different values, different beliefs, different priorities, and that it all makes a difference to the way they think. like how some people want to marry harry potter, but others think he takes himself just a little too seriously to be likable.

personally, i believe harry potter is just a character from a book.

but we digress.

we just always see things the way we want to, and somehow fail to consider the other side of the story. or maybe it's just that we refuse to. i don't know. but really, just put yourself in someone else's shoes and try to see what it's like for them.

heck, somewhere in the middle of watching that movie, i considered turning vegetarian.

how did tristan's hair get longer when the captain was cutting it shorter?

watched Stardust with the sister and the cousins yesterday.

it was funny, sweet, surprising, surreal...

altogether very nicely done, but still lacking the magic of Gaiman's storytelling.

i thought the cast was pretty good... and i will never, ever be able to look at Robert de Niro in the same way EVER again. michelle pfeiffer gave me goosebumps - her evilness! not HER her!!

it didn't follow the book exactly; elaborated more on some points and totally discarded others. but they didn't screw it up, and the ending was sweet but not terribly corny. i think i still prefer the book, but the movie was really not bad at all.



i was so bored, i joined Facebook.
crap.


HY: be wary of any sentence that involves "you" and "feel"
me: what about "how do you feel" when someone is sick?
HY: actually, i think it's only when "feel" comes before "you".

*pause*

HY: especially "i feel you"

bahahahahahahaha. i just found that incredibly funny.

a little about a lot

this is about a week's worth of blogging condensed into a third-rate post that really won't make for a particularly fulfilling read. don't say i didn't warn you.


i finished reading Arthur Golden's Memoirs of A Geisha on sunday. there was this huge hype about what an epic tale it is, and how brilliant it is and everything. but i've got mixed feelings about it. i have to say, the novel kept me riveted not because it had a particularly fantastical storyline, but because of the detail with which Golden describes the culture and traditions of the geisha of Japan. he describes details of people, places, and events in a way so explicit that you feel as if you are there, with everything going on around you.

of course, not everything he writes about has been described accurately. it is still, above all, a work of fiction and the author obviously twisted and exaggerated some little details to make it a more entertaining read. but towards the end i only read it cause i'd read most of it, might as well finish.

bleh. sayuri, the main character, isn't very likable to me. i didn't like the way the novel ended at all. all that uncertainty and painful build up for a half-arsed fairytale-ish ending.


monday night: a team of IMC-ers trouped up to Wooroloo(??) prison farm somewhere up north to share the love with the prisoners there. the people are actually just a few really decent guys who made a mistake in their life, and just happened to be caught for it. a lot of them are nicer than some people i know -____-

it was nice to see some of them really enjoying themselves, and even asking after we'd done the first song "are youse guys gonna do that again?" all in all, i think everyone got something good out of it. props to rick for running it, and to everyone else for doing a great job.

the car rides there and back were pretty alright too. on the way back, i put on the mask i used for the sketch, and told sean to turn around. i was in black, so all he saw was this white ghostly face floating in the dark, and he got so scared. then we all started playing with the masks and scaring the crap out of him. josh did this thing with his jacket that was so creepy... i got a bit freaked out even tho i knew it was just him. fun fun fun XD. and the jokes were really lame too.


JoRach's Java is the most lovable golden retriever i have ever met. she's a little on the playful side, but amazingly endearing. she's got these long, limp eyebrows over melt-worthy eyes that rick said he could fix with a pair of giant gardening scissors XD. rachel was not amused.


Matthew Vaughn's screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Stardust came out yesterday. i absolutely loved the book, and i want to see this movie. Neil Gaiman himself seems pretty happy with it, but Mr. Gaiman is such a nice person, i'm sure he wouldn't say anything bad about the movie even if it was hell crap.the previews don't look like the movie follows the book very much, but previews are always misleading. i'm quite happy with the casting tho, except i've never seen charlie cox in anything so i can't really say. still, he's playing tristan, the male lead, so i guess he should be alright for the role. i really hope it's not a disappointment.


i watched Pan's Labyrinth today, which i've been wanting to see for a while, but have not gotten the chance to till this afternoon. it is... fantastic. brilliantly violent, breathtakingly surreal, and hauntingly beautiful.it is a fairytale, but not one for children; i repeat, not for children (rated MA15+ man... don't play play). the characters are well portrayed, the setting is magical, the camera work is nicely done (i especially liked the transitions between scenes), and the storyline is absolutely fantastic.

guillermo del toro manages to turn what is essentially a simple story about a child's imagination into something richly dark, dangerously revealing, and utterly enchanting. if you're not squeamish, and have a slightly unhealthy interest in the morbid, then it's a good watch. leaves you something to think about.


i'm so tired -_________-

i want to be a camaro

transformers was SO BLOODY COOL!!!



you have to watch it.
who cares if what little plot there is has holes, the special effects and robots more than make up for it.
cheng loon described it in one sentence: it's a very enjoyable and bad movie.


church camp tomorrow.
i don't think i have enough food to bring.

killing time

was reading a post on andrew's blog when i thought it sounded awfully familiar. like, seriously familiar. like something my brain would come up with. then i got to the bottom, and totally cracked up. too good, man. you have to read it.



the little Me to You bear that i bought on sale and love so much.
but i bought it for wendy's birthday, and it killed me to put it in that little bag with flowers and give it to her. well, almost killed me.

said moey: why don't you just keep it, if you like it so much?
said kim: because it's Me to You, not Me to Me.

the lameness is spreading.

"sooner or later, television will have more resolution than real life"

KNJ
wise friend, a.k.a tofu.

i watched the first Death Note movie yesterday, and i quite liked it. it's clever, though there are a few plot holes and it ends just a little bit too neatly, but it makes me want to watch the second movie. which i will get around to once i'm OVER THE STUPID EPW AND PERIOD ZERO.

i like Death Note because it's terrible and original and because the character L is just so fun to watch.

and moey likes it because of this:

Hikari Mitsushima as Sayu

...as well as all the other girls in the movie. funny how all the females involved in the story just happen to be so attractive, huh.


four papers back, one to go. i hope it doesn't disappoint.



[edit] SOMEONE is dissatisfied that no picture of Misa Misa from death note appeared here.

this is the other reason people watch the movies.

i need tissues

i promised myself i would do some work tonight, but i can't. i'm just too tired. i would go to sleep now, except i've just had a big bowl of porridge and to sleep right after eating is bad for digestion or whatever.

instead, i am blogging.

we were talking about the exam period today, and emily was saying how she didn't go online for the entire two weeks. mo and i looked at each other, then smiled because we were pretty much perpetually online.

em: yea loh!! you know, i went on kim's blog the other day, and i realized that SHE STILL BLOGGED EVERY DAY DURING THE EXAMS.
me: no i didn't!! i only blogged about every other day.
em: still.. i didn't even go online. you should have been studying man!!

i stress to the point where i can't even eat, and i still blog. the sun could blow up and i'd probably find a way to blog. i seriously need to get a life, or at least leech off somebody else's.

oh, i got a pay rise. makes me happy.

watched spiderman 3 on sunday afternoon. it was pretty good. i love how peter parker is SOOOOO dorky, but him thinking he's so cool just makes you cringe. there were parts in the middle where i thought that it could honestly move a lot faster, but the ending wasn't bad, and topher grace was a good Venom. sandman was pretty cool too.

finished watching casino royale as well. i had to cover my eyes at the sicko torture scene, but i really liked the movie overall. i like daniel craig a lot more than pierce brosnan, maybe because he's more ordinary, more human. or maybe just because i just didn't like pierce brosnan. and daniel craig is so cool in the last scene. nice to hear the classic "the name's bond, james bond" at the end, as opposed to at the start.

blogger won't upload my pictures and i have a headache that makes me wish i'd be less stubborn and swallow a tablet-ful of paracetamol. mo's a neurofen boy, i'm a panadol person.

my eyes hurt. the orange lights on the taskbar won't stop blinking. have to do something about that.

6.5 hours a night just isn't enough.

TMNT

i went to watch teenage mutant ninja turtles, the movie, last night.

the original cartoon was way before my time, but i remember watching it on astro when i was a little kid. and i loved it XD.

so they're back; leaner, meaner, and in 3-D!!!


this movie was well done, i thought. they didn't bring in the original bad guy [shredder? stretcher? smeller?], but the other characters were there. i totally don't remember casey and april o'connor, and the foot soldiers don't ring a bell in my memory at all.

the only thing i remember clearly is michaelangelo eating pizza. another thing is that THE TURTLES USED TO BE FAT. well, not fat. but definitely chubby. it's not the same to have skinny turtles with bulging muscles. sigh.

the movie focuses a lot on the brotherly bonds of the turtles. sure, there's action and the bad guys get their butts kicked, but the main theme is the teamwork between the turtles [although we remarked afterwards "how come we didn't see them fighting TOGETHER?"]

but there were action scenes in there that i really liked. you can tell the CG nerds behind this one really had a lot of fun putting it together. i really liked the little bit where mikey skateboarded his way through the underground sewers, and my favourite fight was the one between raph and leo [might have spoilt this for some of you].



raphael, leonardo, michaelangelo and donnatello in their 3-dimensional glory.

cheng loon has this theory that michaelangelo might be an illegitimate child because his eyes are different from the others. while raph, don and leo have slit-ish eyes, mikey has round-ish ones... AND he has blue eyes!!!

rick was saying before the movie started how which turtle you liked best says a lot about the kind of person you are. you see, leo's the perfectionist, the leader; don's the smart geeky one; mikey's the playful idiot; and raph's the mega buff hothead. rick's theory is beautifully demonstrated by the fact that he liked leo, jane liked don, and i liked mikey [after watching this movie through eyes 8 years older, i still like mikey].

if you think you've outgrown the turtle fandom that gripped you as a little kid, you're probably right. but i reckon this movie is still worth watching. entertainment value. and mikey gets the dumbest lines XD.

X3

...had the same effect on me as ice age 2 did.



it's fun to watch, but you don't come away a better person.

it focuses more on the action than anything else. most of the characters barely speak two words throughout the entire movie. some are just there to die.

but man, is it cool. you want special effects with gore and exploding people? this is the movie to watch.

props to the special effects. props to the fights.

props to the dude with the WHITE WINGS!!!

damn, i want wings like that.

if i had wings i would fly

cause all that i need, You are

and if the world caved in around me

to You i'd still hold on

cause You're all that i believe

You're the one that created me

Jesus, because of You

i'm free

acorns and fluff

ice age 2: the meltdown

feel good, family fun - good laughs in there. reminded me how childish i really am. i found every little thing funny. the six year olds in front of me did too.


i can relate to this little guy really well. i mean, the lengths to which i would go for food....... ah.. better not elaborate on that one. this little... err.. squirrel-like creature appears in more scenes this time round. typically, he brings about a lot of chaos BUT is also the ultimate hero in the end. won't tell you how.


and these little guys are the naughtiest little buggers around. they're so small and fast, and they get squash themselves EVERYWHERE. they're possums, btw, something which i did not know. i thought they were... mutated rats at first.

March of the Penguins:

you have to watch this. it's seriously good. of course, you feel like an asshole of a human being after watching these awesome creatures living in their totally uncompromising habitat and putting their lives at risk JUST TO HAVE A BABY.

do you guys know how smart penguins are? not only do they have an amazing sense of direction, they have IMMENSE patience [something SERIOUSLY lacking in a lot of people], and they know how to love, and they have a sense of dedication and commitment [in a way].


they're responsible too. every year, they march a LONG way to get to the breeding ground. the details of their journey are truly amazing, btw, and.. ok.. it's just REALLY COOL.

apparently, when penguins pair up, they pair up. they don't cheat on one another. well, at least for a year, cause the next year they changes mates. and oh man, you see the penguins and their eggs/chicks, when the small ones die, you can see how sad they are. and it's just.. so sad?



seriously, you should watch it.

penguins recognize each other through the sound of their cries. first thing i thought was: "where are their ears?'

8.50 tuesdays

that's right, and i'm taking FULL ADVANTAGE OF IT. hoyts, here i come!

so what am i seeing? well, gonna see Ice Age 2 first, in the afternoon. everyone [i know who's seen it] says this is really good. then i'm gonna see March of the Penguins.


yeah, i'm actually going to see a documentary. i feel smart.


i'll come back raving, and guess what? the blog's gonna be full of pictures. i can feel it. but 7 hours at garden city. not too keen on that, OH WELL.

sigh~ the things i do to see penguins.

happy rainbows

"your creativity is limited only by your imagination"

mr. john nettleton

i heard on the radio the other day that schools are teaching the students a new and improved version of 'baa baa black sheep'. you'll never guess. it is now...

baa baa rainbow sheep
have you any wool?

another point for multiculturalism.
i'll leave you to ponder that on your own.

we finished watching the black and white version of 'lord of the flies' today. let me first say, karina is not the person to go watch an action film with. i swear, she probably cried in fear while watching finding nemo [btw, you know, it was rated PG because "some scenes may frighten you children"].

anyway, 'lord of the flies' is one of those horribly REAL movies. like, it has ISSUES. real ones. i don't know how to say it. hmm... it's a metaphor of society as a whole. and NO, for those of you who have never read the book or seen the film [i.e. a lot of you], it is NOTHING like 'lord of the rings'.

sadly, that's what i used to think it was about.

WARNING: i mean no offence by the following. i hope no one else ever reads this.
so how do we do a character analysis of the movie? jack - liken to hitler/mussolini. sam n' eric - all those people that just do what they say. piggy - the ones that didn't.

ALRIGHT. i'm gonna go to youth now. bye.