The Renovation: An update

Happy Boxing Day!

I wrote about repainting my room and workspace a while back. With my temporary job in the construction site coming to an end in another working day, The Renovation will start soon. Besides repainting the walls, I will give a facelift to my old study table and make two bedside rack-table hybrids (don't ask).

I made a digital copy of the graffiti for my bedroom last night. Inspired by a Nike water bottle, it will cover about a quarter of one wall. The wall has the same dark navy blue as the background of the below image. At the right to the graffiti will be the words "Baller's Delight".


For my workspace, I've not finalised the design of the graffiti, but here's the preliminary graphic. It is heavily influenced by a theme 2advanced Studio had a few years back. Notice the missing light grey compared to the one above. That's why it is not finalised.


Comments and suggestions are welcome. More updates coming (if I have the time, that is).

Merry Christmas~!

Movie: The Promise

I couldn't keep my final verdict of the movie for last. I have to say it here in the opening paragraph, because it's just amazing! I'm giving it 10-out-of-10.

The Promise certainly ranks high in my all-time favourites. The storyline, the characters, the beautiful sceneries, everything was great. The story is revolves around a girl, Qing Cheng (played by Cecilia Cheung), who when fatefully met a goddess while she was a child and offered two life choices, chose to live a materially fulfilled life. In return, she will never have her true love until all the cherry blossoms fell, the moon and sun appears side by side, the dead could live again and time could turn backwards.

The movie doesn't explore its various themes too deeply, and this is what makes it so likeable. A lot of the scenes do not exactly turn out as one would expect. In that sense, it is refreshingly entertaining and even funny at times. General Guang Ming and Wu Huan are the two "twisted" characters that you would learn to love.

Cecilia looks wonderful in traditional clothes, as much as she did in The Lion Roars. She did a good job portraying the sensual Qing Cheng. Nicholas Tse, on the other hand, showed that he is not just a handsome idol by giving a commendable performance playing the character of Wu Huan. Jang Dong-kun is Kunlun the slave, and it was said that he learnt Mandarin (he's a Korean) so that his part would be more realistic. And certainly not forgetting to mention Hiroyuki Sanada as General Guang Ming.

Directed by Chen Kaige, The Promise is the most expensive Chinese movie to-date. The money was certainly well spent. I strongly recommend everyone to watch the movie.





Official Site

Another journal entry

Shannon is back from Negeri Sembilan. Although Vincent is still stuck in Singapore, but with Shannon and Carl around is enough fun already. We had a '03 5 Science 1 gathering at the beach on Friday. Not everybody was there, but more than half turned up, mostly the ones from UMS. Had a lot of laughs that day. Annelly is finally heavy enough to withstand blowing wind, Paul is still the Einstein he was, and Lance remains the biggest of us all. Aleksteir, or Nunuk as we like to call him, was also present to my pleasant surprise.

Standing there staring at the beach, I realised I hadn't been there for ages! It's such a nice feeling to walk on the soft sand, the cool sea breeze blewing, the small waves rushing towards me. I made good use of the opportunity to re-experience it again, and the others did too. Sneakers off, roll up the jeans, head to the water. I can't wait for Pangkor Island this coming March. Dad's company have a time-share condominium there, so we'll stay overnight.

Pool was fun as well. Went to Bowlrama with Carl and Shannon. I have forgotten how interesting the place was -- the music, dim lighting, drinks and occasionally cute girls (even office ladies) playing. Should hang out there more often.

The other type of pool (swimming pool, that is) wasn't as fun. I found out how unfit I'm in it last night. I could swim, but got tired quickly and could hardly hold my breath under the surface. Ka Lik was worse -- he couldn't swim more than a few metres at a time. I thought he knew how to swim all this while. Apprently, he doesn't. It only took half an hour to make us put our clothes back and head to the basketball court -- now that's a place we're perfectly comfortable with. Lots of the usual guys were there. Some new ballers from Tenom have been playing here too. A week back, we lost all games to them. They're good, but if this evening doesn't rain, I'll kick their asses before they go back to Tenom. We do have some egos here. After all, this is Beverly Hills.

For the sake of interest and a demanding stomach, I will learn to cook. I'll be away from my mum soon, girls don't cook nowadays, and I'll most probably end up single for God-knows-how-long anyway. Time to find a manly apron...

By the way, I've got a date with Sue this evening. She's a junior of mine, one of those brave girls who initiated contact. Not that I'm into her though, I'm just interested in getting the photo we took together during graduation. Wish I'm not giving her any false hope by asking her out. I don't feel right at this moment. I'm just not comfortable going out with a girl I have no feeling for. *guilty* ... What if she tries to take the next step? Should I scream and run? *gulp*

Hahaha. I'm not that worried, really. I'll just pull out a few tricks from my own book, "How to Gently Breaks a Girl's Heart in 30 Seconds". Sorry, and thank you, but better kills off the feeling before it develops. It'll be much less painful now. I don't play the field and don't wish to hurt anyone. I'll just try to be as subtle as possible. Hope she gets the message.

Movie: King Kong

Basically, this is a re-make of the old movie. It runs over 3 hours, which is loooonnnnggg.

Maybe I was tired, maybe it was the noisy movie-goers, or maybe it was the cute girl who sat beside me that made me unable to concentrate on the movie. One minute I was immersed in it, the next I'm thinking about something else (or wasn't thinking at all). This must be one of the worst movie watching sessions I'd ever had. But the movie itself was nice.

To begin with, Naomi Watts (as Ann) was gorgeous. Beautiful, charming, and she ran around in her skimpy clothes a lot. No wonder King Kong fell for her (even literally... okay, no more spoiler).

The CG effects were great although the dinosaurs weren't as good-looking as those in Jurassic Park. The whole movie looked very real, especially King Kong himself. And King Kong isn't your typical beast -- he does has a sense of humour (go watch)! He possesses human qualities and fights like one (or maybe we fight like an ape).

As for the storyline, it didn't change much from the old one, with the major change being the existence of dinosaurs alongside our giant hairy cousin. The change made things fresh with the already proven and solid story of the love between a woman with an oversized gorilla.

A character that caught my attention was Carl. He is the epitome of people who are so obsessed with success that they'll do anything and everything to achieve it, but in the end success eluded them. Yet he is not a villain in this story. Actually no villains exist in the movie at all.

King Kong has quite some funny scenes, enough to help the audience relax after some frightening or heart-pounding actions. Some scenes were touching. The cute girl who sat beside me wept so much at one scene that her boyfriend (I suppose) said this trying to comfort her, "Stop crying... It's fake... It's only a story...".

Well, not the best line to say but that's how touching the scene was. Others in the audience were weeping too while I was trying not to laugh out at the cute girl.

So, the final verdict: King Kong is 8-out-of-10.

Free flights, anyone? Me!

In my previous post titled "A journal entry", I said something about AirAsia offering free tickets and travelling to Peninsular and told myself to stop dreaming. Well, guess what? I am going to West Malaysia under free AirAsia tickets. Come end of March, I'll be sunbathing at Pangkor Island, a shopping spree at Times Square and doing all the things I wrote. (Might not be able to find time to visit you though, Wil... It's ok isn't it?)

Sometimes, when the pieces fall together to their right place, a dream will be realised.

Only Ka Han is not going with us. She will be having her exam that time. But she planned for a June trip.

By the way, there are still free tickets. You could probably fly to KL from KK, then from KL to Bangkok, or KL to Jakarta, or KL to Johor, or from KK to Johor (then to Singapore by land transport), the possibilities are endless! All you have to pay is the RM 40 tax and fees charge per flight. The only problem you will face is AirAsia's busy server. I had problems with it too, but a cousin of mine works at a ticketing company, so everything's not a problem.

More blog post to come. Keep reading. Arigatou gozaimasu!

Movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

First thing first. And the first thing that struck me was that the CG effects are awesome!!! Do pay attention to the lion, Aslan. I would say Narnia beats the CG effects in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Second thing second. A Disney movie is a Disney movie. Feels a bit kiddy at certain points. There is a lack of depth, but I'm not complaining, this is after all a Disney stuff. It is made to be understandable by children.

Third thing third. Why did the war scene reminds me of The Last Samurai? Anyway, I liked the way the Witch used her swords. Looked so, well, like Chinese kung fu.

All in all, if you don't mind the lack of depth and the straighforward storyline, this is definitely an enjoyable magical escape that will make you open your grandparents' wardrobe with a sense of adventure.

P/s: Get to see Santa and lots of snow and ice. A perfect rev-up for Christmas!

A journal entry

Celebrated birthday two days back dining out with family. Full stomach. No cake this year. Had too much cake this year anyway. Wait... thinking back, I had my cake. Just before the school ended, my classmates did buy me a cake. Thanks a lot to them! And to the many friends who wished me through sms and Friendster testimonials, thanks again!

So now I really feel old, old as in having more responsibilities. I feel I had more pressure in making choices, what to take up and what to give up. I have to decide what I want to be and what needed to be done. I need to refine my plans for the future. Great challenges lie ahead, but sailing through the ocean of life, it's such a great feeling to know I'm captaining the ship, not drifting with the waves. The future sure looks bright here.

I'm just back from a night out. Watched The Chronicles of Narnia (which I will write about in the next post), strolled around the mall going in and out of shops, and played pool. A book fair is currently going on at Palm Square but I didn't find books on golf that I was looking for.

I want to take up golf, for a few reasons.
1. Want to play with Michelle Wie someday. She sure looks cute. Or Paula Creamer...
2. Basketball players all seem to retire and play golf...
3. I simply love to wack some white balls, then walk around the course looking for them and wack them again.

But not until I get a good book on golf.

For the foreseeable future, I'll read less books and watch more movies. Read too much for STPM anyway. So Perhaps Love, King Kong, The Promise, Memoirs of a Geisha, etc etc are all in my to-watch list. Must also check out The Godfather and Seven Samurai...

When my hunger for reading comes back, I'll read as much Drucker as I can. Read up college-level economics and finance. The classics. A few biographies here and there. Philosophy, especially Bertrand Russell's works. Hawking's works. My dose of The Edge and Fortune. Everything.

Charlene's into Multi Level Marketing right now. Making money. Travelling. Hmm... Sounds interesting. Might as well join her. Should go yamcha with her soon and find out more.

Hey, heard AirAsia is offering free* flights. Probably all taken up by now. I feel like going to Johore and visit my grandma's memorial for Ching Ming. Then kacau Ukiya at Singapore, make him introduce me to all his pretty Singaporean friends. Visit cute nieces Elise and Esther (not forgetting Bryant) and two nephews that I'm not sure what their names are (didn't I say I am old?). Oh ya, the grandaunts! Musn't forget to visit them (note: bring along oranges and apples). Oh my, they'll hug me like I'm still a small kid. Okay, wake up Kakeng. Don't dream too much.

I mentioned I played pool. Terrible. Haven't played for a long time. When Shannon's back next week, must play with him. Carl too.

I still can't complete any Sudoku... Darn. Must be due to lack of skills...

That's it. This post sounds more like a journal entry to me. Somewhat similar to Anne Frank's. Go read the book, The Diary of a Young Girl (also The Diary of Anne Frank).

Sunday Craps

Have been busy the last few days. Working. Painting.

I'm a painter at a construction site. Yes, construction site. Painting grills and other metal parts. Just like the Filipino coolies. Pretty odd job for someone like me, but I'm never conventional anyway.

The scorching sun has been unkind. I'm sun-burned. So I learnt one thing from the coolies: Wrap yourself with clothes like a ninja, cover everything. Gloves, cap, long-sleeved shirt, trousers... maybe even sunglasses. It would be hard to distinguish me from my "colleagues" now.

The great thing about being a construction worker is that it's quite macho actually. Makes you a tough guy. The bad thing is that it is tough. 9 hours a day, 6 days a week. All 9 hours are spent doing hard work. And there's nothing such as a half workday on Saturdays.

This job is only temporary though. Once we're done with the balconies and the steps, it's sayonara. I estimate it will take 2 more weeks... But my dad had hinted that he wants me to be supervising the drainage works after that. *sigh*

Birthday is just a few days away. It has little significance to myself so I don't care. Celebration of it is almost meaningless. I just want to thank my mum for the painful labour and my friends for remembering it. I'm not sure why, but I'm more happy celebrating people's birthdays than my own. Any idea why that happens?


Ah, I still remember something my class teacher Miss Aileen said to me, "A guy like you don't have to worry -- once you get into university, the girls there would be chasing you."

I could only laugh. What she said is true. I've had my share of girls taking initiatives. I must say that they're really courageous. But from observations, girls have a great sense of knowing whether a guy is into them or not. Once they sense the guy is not, they'll quickly pull out. And easily. Still on the subject of girls taking initiatives... Do guys like girls initiating contact? Yes! Guys have always been the initiator and it can get tiring after a while. So it's refreshing when the girls play the role.

Onto another subject. I will be re-painting my bedroom and work area. Going contemporary with fusion of basketball, hip hop and rides influences. There'll be some light graffiti as well. Hopefully I'll get it done by Christmas. Then I'll be re-working the koi pond for Chinese New Year.

Another subject. Sudoku, a type of puzzle, is in the limelight these days. I was planning to write about it but don't have the time. I really suggest everyone to try it. I'm learning myself. Check it out either on the Net or in The Star.

That's all the craps for today. Merry Christmas!