SLOW

It's been quite some time since I last updated the blog here... Must be a kind of burn out I think, since I was handling another blog site for my office too... (as if i did a lot there pun =.=)

Anyways, tried to write some things later here but surprisingly received a mind block there? Me? Mind block?!?!
WEll, i do get those at times... but nowadays, blogging is like writing poem without a muse... the emptiness... loneliness.... so artsy :p

well, what had happened then within these 2 weeks? (surprised that only 2 weeks passed)

Went to Tropicana Mall once for lunch by myself (YES. ALL BY. MYSELF. BOO HOO)As I headed back I saw an advert that wrote of a miniatures shop that just opened on the first floor of the mall. Curious, I went to see it.
By gosh, the shop sells miniatures made of hard resins, bronze and pewters. And boy, they are seriously gorgeous!!!! U remember the dragon minis and toys that D and D/ McFarlane is selling nowadays in hobby/toy shops? The ones here are seriously better!
The shop's named One Legend shop, and it sells miniatures of not only fantasy (dragons, faeries) but also from Egypt, 3kingdoms fiction, greek gods, medieval knights and so forth. The prices ain't really too high also.







Secondly,my kids graduated!! :) :(
It all happened last Friday. My kids and some others graduated for their certificate and will start their first year in Uni sometime this year.. It was a small celebration, with the staffs and parents coming to the convocation. About 15 of them graduated, including my 5 kids there.


Nerissa and I

Sam and the other girls after graduation

From left: Anna, Jia, Ash and Fairuz

Abu and Jia

someone had too much to drink apparently

Sam with a tie on head... don ask why...

Everyone did the face after a boring sitting. Guess who won...

Ash showing her bored side

"meh. how come i have to take with him?"

Lui Lui!!!

Anyways, these were some of the pics taken then. Well, kids. Congrats!!! Happy graduating and I hope for the best for all of u wherever u go..

Sob sob!!!!
*Lonely....*

Movies and their nuinsances

Movies of 2009. All I can say is just, WAH!!!!

The number of movies and their variety increased within the decade with the introduction of Comic/Fictional books adaptation as well as the introduction of asian movies, especially in the horror genre and action genre.
Now, adaptations from books has already been done before, but the adaptations from comics, or graphic novels were a novelty at that time. Movies such as X-Men (I,II,III), Hulk (Ang Lee) and Punisher, as well as 300, Sin City revived the movie industry very much, with the advancement of CGI technology. Now we can see super-powered humans using super powers like laser eyes (Cyclops), giant (Hulk), camouflage (Mystique, Psylocke) with such realism that it seriously began to attract people again to the cinemas.
Apart from the graphic novels, CGI technology advancement also enabled effects that couldn't be done last time do-able now. This included the effects of "magic" found only in the minds of fantasy readers last time, being abled to be pictured onto the silver screen. With such technology, many fantasy books were adapted as well (remember LOTR?). Such books included the massively popular Harry Potter series, Narnia chronicles, Eragon, Dark Is Rising, and so forth.
Even TV series were irrevocably changed from 2000 till now. Series like X Files that were so scarce and others with good plots came in abundance. The series included LOST, GOSSIP GIRLS, DEXTER, HOUSE, MONK, and so forth...
Asian countries on the other hand, contributed alot to the hollywood industry both directly and indirectly as well. Horror movies from Japan, Korea and Thailand were both imported into U.S. and adapted as well into hollywood (watered down though) versions. These movies included Ringu (RING), Ju-On (GRUDGE), One Missed Call, Shutter (Shutter), The eye and others more. With the introduction of Asian movies, these Asian actors/actresses received their (justly) credits, some becoming part of hollywood movie acting crews as well. They included action stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Zhang Zi Yi, Michelle Yeoh (our own !!! :) )as well as others.

Enough of the decade's commentary. I feel like a movie critic now...
Anyways, as I said, year 2009 ain't different from the others before it. In fact, there were more "effects" ladden movies than before if I'm not wrong. I can't say that I've seen all movies that came out, but I do know that I saw most of the main ones... Here are some of them that are to be mentioned, be it worthy or not.

The Proposal
This romance comedy has all of the romance comedies before it, the plot, the humour, the plot... But it stuck into my mind because of the casting. Both main casts, the ageing Sandra Bullock of Speed/While U Were Sleeping fame and Ryan Reynolds of Van Vilder/2 Guys, A Girl fame actually had chemistry going between them in the movie. They are helped by quite a number of veteran actors/actresses as well. The humour therefore seemed more realistic compared to other romedies (YES... MY OWN WORD).
Did I mention Sandra Bullock?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The earliest "Summer Blockbuster", this movie kinda blockbusted to me instead. The effects were as good as expected, and Hugh Jackman is inside it. Coupled by the fact that it was about his past, where u can see the beginnings of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds again) and Sabretooth (forgot his name, good acting though); the action unfortunately couldn't hide the fact that the plot was weak, compared to even the weakest X Men movie (X Men III). This movie is mentioned because it's an X men movie still, and it has mutants, like GAMBIT :p

UP

Trust PIXAR to create wonderful and beautiful movies as well as good storylines. Up actually started on a sad note, where we see how the old man came to be, before setting up to a good 80+ minutes CGI animations.
The boy is cute, the dog is cuter, the bird is cutest.
Oh, not to mention a gorgeous short animation before preluding the movie. Still bring smiles to me everytime I remember about the clouds :)

Alien Vs Monsters
2009 provided quite a number of animations, such as Up, princess and meatballs. Another one that stood out for me that year was Alien Vs. Monsters. A parody of sorts, the animation starred many voice-talents including the ever pretty Reese Witherspoon, High Laurie, Seth Rogen as a group of monsters- YUP... Monsters - that was taken and kept by the U.S. government to fight off alien invasions. Simple plotline, nothing as deep as Up.
The thing that attracted me to this show was (apart from Reese's voice) the monsters. They are a hoot as they seriously parody the monsters from occult movies of the 60s/70s. These monsters included the 40ft woman, the blob and the lagoon beast. Young uns' may not know, but these parodies are well worth the cartoon versions :p


Terminator Salvation
What can I say about this movie? Bale, Worthington, the machines, gosh. THE MACHINES!!!!!


Transformers 2
People say it's all because of Eva Mendez in hot pants... I say it's the decepticons... Constructicons (b4 merge) to be exact!!!!
And the *clang clang*


Harry Potter and the Half blood prince
We get to see Dumbledore die (U all should KNOW BY NOW), destruction of the "hocrux", romance (squel, girls..) and Hermione!!!!



Avatar
If u don mind going trough the gruelling slow first 1 1/2 haours of the movie, the show is good towards the end. Plot is actually engaging in a way, as director knows how to make good story... And Sam Worthington is there again... He's seriously turning out to be a good actor from down under...

GI JOE
The toys are back on the action screen!!! Take that, Thundercats!!!
And the baroness.... ooh...la...la...


9
This animation was a surprise movie for me, as it wasn't shown in Malaysia at all. I got the trailer thnx to Youtube, and was hooked onto it. When I saw the show, it was like watching Final Fantasy Spirits Within - epic in a way... Directed by the russian guy who directed Night watch, Day watch and Wanted, 9 is a good show.


Star Trek
WHoosh... This is my favourite. I've never really like star trek, except for voyager series. But this show put the stars in star trek wei. With a story that started the thing yet manages to make it into a whole new timeline, it is THE MOVIE by far...
Seeing Spock talking to Spock was good too.


New Moon
Just to mention. Gals swoon around this movie, either supporting the dead hero or the beast hero. For me neither. I like it for the posters it came with...


Sherlock Holmes
This movie came out at the end of December, and my, it's worth it... Truth to say, I felt a bit apprehensive intially when I saw the trailer. Downey as Holmes?!?!?!
And I saw the movie... BAM!!!! Fantastic!!! Can't say brilliant though, as Holmes to me shouldn't be a fighter, according to his literature...
But the movie was wonderfully done, with all the cast having chemistry around each other. Jude Law, Rachel McAdams and the villain too (Prince Septimus of Stardust) played very well here.
And the promotional posters!!!

2009 is past

well, starting the new year with working tomorrow, and I can't bloody sleep.
Since it's that way, my as well jot down some things that's been in my mind.

Apart from the events in Malaysia in the past 2009, that year brought out quite a number of events in the entertainment industry of the world too.

one of the biggest event, both surprising and shocking, had to be the death of Michael Jackson. Died on the 26ht June of apparent cardiac arrest,51 years-old Michael was pronounced dead by the time he was rushed to the hospital.

His death left millions of fans mourning like no one's business (although none committed suicide, like what Kurt Cobain's death did) around the world. His funeral was a world wide affair, its ceremony televised live around the world, with guest artists performing (singing, telling stories, crying). It was also the first time we got to see his 3 children on stage.
Incidentally, Michael's death got everyone buying up his albums again, therefore skyrocketing his album sales after so long. This in fact, boost up his finance by quite a degree, as he was reportedly to be in debt (for his ranch) before this.
Currently, his children are in custody with Michael's mum.

Scarcely few days apart, another artist died - Farrah Fawcett. The 62-years old iconic actress of the hit 70s show Charlie's Angels succumbed to cancer. Her death, mourned by many wasn't really given its credits, due to the larger hype around Jackson's death instead.

Not only these 2 artist, but many more died in 2009. The notable included:

Stephen Gately- gay singer from Boyzone died of natural causes (it seems though that he died choked up on his own vomit) in Spain, after a night with his bf. Died at the age of 33.

Brittany Murphy - the co-star of the cult favourite Clueless died of cardiac arrest in late December, triggering a shock throughout hte acting community. Aged 32.

Andrew Martin - the WWE wrestler who died from an accidental overdose of oxycodone. It was later determined by forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu that Martin had severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy, an Alzheimer's-like form of brain damage that fellow pro wrestler Chris Benoit was found to be suffering from shortly after his death in 2007.

Dom Deluise - the comedian who was a regular in many of Mel Brooks's movies. I know... u kids are going who??? But trust me, he's a good comedian.

Jett Travolta - the untimely and unfortunate tragic death of the son of John Travolta kinda opened questions as to this kid's condition. It was known that he suffered from Kawasaki's disease (rare genetic disorder), the father denied that Jett was autistic though. He died at the fragile age of 16 on January 2 in their parents' holiday house due to an epileptic seizure.

Natasha Richardson - the wife of actor Liam Neeson. Natasha died of an tragic accident during a ski trip when she received a fatal head trauma. She passed away after a 2days coma. She was known to portray some good roles, I remembered her in Maid in Manhattan and the Parent trap notably...

These deaths are seriously tragic this year, as all of them were accidental and sudden. RIP to all of them...