Glory glory Man United!
Apr 30, 2008 News Breaks
Woot! I tried to stay up to catch it, watched a bit then found myself failing so didn’t watch the game. Read the Yahoo! play by play thingy this morning though - how exciting!
And Paul Scholes’ goal - woah! That’s vintage Scholesey!
BRING ON CHELSEA OR LIVERPOOL!
Tags: football, manchester united, soccer
Iron Man rocks ass!
Apr 30, 2008 Events
Well, okay, so it’s not like Academy Award winning but heck, Robert Downey Jr was so good that he might just get a nomination.
It was two hours of pure joy for me. I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant - I mean edgy Robbie Jr playing a superhero? Come on, even you guys thought the same thing didn’t you?
Yup, the movie was as good as the trailer promised.
So yes, I had passes to the premiere and I was super uber excited. I’m not a big fan of Marvel comics (I’m a DC boy, folks) but it’s Iron Man, baby! And it’s great ‘cos the movie only opens in the US on May 2nd.
Who would have thought that a superhero movie could be this good? And I thought Spider-Man was brilliant.
First things first - Robert Downey Jr. was impeccable as billionaire Tony Stark turned Iron Man. This is a method actor at his best, Viggo Mortenson would not have been able to do a better job. In fact, for the whole time the movie was on, I didn’t realise at all that it was the former druggie Emmy award-winning actor acting.
Talking about timing, you know how it feels when you never look at your watch because you’re just so enthralled? Well, Iron Man was just that. The movie had the right amount of drama, wit and action - all enough to keep viewers right on the edge of the seat. In fact, it was so well-paced that I was suprised that it was almost midnight by the time I had left the cinema (movie started just before 10).
* SPOILER BEGINS*
The story in itself was solid. Tony Stark is a billionaire creator of weapons of mass destructions (and a playboy at that) who heads into Afghanistan to launch his one-shot takes all new weapon. As he heads back to base (naturally, he works closely with the US Army), he is kidnapped by war-mongering turban wearing people.
Except they are not interested in money, they want him to build him that big, new weapon of his.
Trapped in a cave with a translator (a doctor who kept him alive from the bombings), he created the first version of what would be Iron Man - a large bullet-proof armour-like suit with the ability to fly. It’s a hastily made suit so it doesn’t last very long and so, Stark powers the flying capability and jets out of danger.
Knowing who his weapons are being used by (terrorists, of course), Stark becomes a changed man except that he now feels compelled to destroy all his weapons in the wrong hands. The new Iron Man emerges and woah, what a beauty!
So, fight fight fight, yadah yadah yadah (a bit of romance in between) and suddenly, he finds out that his partner was behind his kidnap (was actually meant to be an assassination) and in on the sales of weapons to terrorists. To be able to hold off Iron Man, the partner creates an even larger version of Iron Man (the first version Stark created looks like a mini-me to this one) and the two fight.
Guess who wins?
* SPOILER ENDS*
The effects were amazing, and the story flowed so well. What I liked most was that the story revolved around Tony Stark more than it did Iron Man, which totally makes sense considering that Stark is one of the few superheros (well, before last year’s Marvel fiasco where secret identities, including Spider-Man’s was revealed) who do not hide behind a mask.
The story felt very honest, and while I am not an expert on this particular comic, I felt it was very true to the legend that is Iron Man.
Not a superhero movie fan? Fear not. Iron Man has something for everyone. It’s intelligent writing, great acting and wonderful effects, all of which put together, created one heck of a show. Don’t miss it.
DBKL Officer? How rude!
Apr 26, 2008 Rantings
I was playing tennis this morning (yes, laugh all you want) when a guy, maybe in his early 40s, in a uniform came storming onto the court.
I turned to my friend and asked him if it was the same guy as last week. He said yes.
You see, last week, I had to leave tennis earlier than my friends due to a workshop I was attending. So happens that the receipt for the court I had booked was with me. Apparently, this man - the same one - stormed onto the court and in a very rude way, told my friends that they had not paid for the court.
My friends of course objected and he asked them (rather ordered them) to produce a receipt. Obviously they couldn’t. So they called me, and I gave them the receipt number. Even though he was mistaken, he accused them instead of playing over the time we had paid for. It was a measly 10 minutes and there wasn’t even anyone playing after us.
I’m not sure if it’s because of what happened last week, but today, he spoke (rather shouted) at everyone on the four courts except us. Only one had over-played their time. So he took the guy over (another friend of mine) to pay for the extra 40 minutes he had paid. Sensing that we better do the same, my friend followed them to pay for another hour to, lest we be shouted at for no apparent reason.
The Bangsar Sports Complex is run by DBKL and while I’m not great friends with the people in the office, they have always seemed friendly and polite enough. So when I was told of the incident last week, I was kind of surprised.
As I was walking out today, I saw the man in uniform. He was sitting on a small table under the staircase. Which leads me to suspect one thing: he was just the security guard (I will go back tomorrow and confirm this).
Okay, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he has been assigned to check for players who were playing over the limit. But if so, why did he have to be so aggressive and verbally attack the players when all he had to do was politely ask to see the receipts?
Secondly, if indeed he was tasked to check all receipts, why didn’t he ask us for ours today?
And finally, how come he brought my friend to the gym to pay the extra hour (RM5) and only gave us a RM2 receipt used for the gym. Are they even authorised to take our money? Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen to the RM3 that is unaccounted for?
That biadap attitude, really got to me. Surely, one has more respect for a fellow human being? Hadn’t someone once say something about not doing unto others what you wouldn’t want done unto you?
If it happens again, I might just go and lodge a report. I’m not sure if they accept “Kurang ajar official” as grounds for report. And I’m not even sure who to report to. The guy in the office? The people at the DBKL building? The City Grandfather (Datuk Bandar)?
Didn’t the Opposition MPs run on a platform about cleaning out the mess in gov’t bodies or something like that? Since KL is essentially an opposition ’state’, maybe they can do something about it.
Hmm … will local council elections eradicate this sort of behaviour I wonder? Curious …
Ah, and the rantings have begun. :)
Pearl of the Orient
Apr 25, 2008 Trips
Off topic: I can’t believe that Carly was voted off AI over the disasters that was Jason Castro and, one of my favs, Brook. Sigh.
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And on to the post …
So I started writing this last night. Then I just got tired and gave up. I had woken up at 6am to head over to Penang for work. Last time I was there was two years ago, for work as well, and the nature of the work meant I gave to explore a lot of the nook and corners. I really enjoyed it.
This time, I got to see some stuff as well (but what was more interesting is that how people are still talking about politics, more than a month after the elections. Everyone I met brought it up - and I’ve only known them for a couple of minutes!).
Of course, I also got see some things I never would have thought I’d see otherwise. Thanks Vicky for driving us around.
The Masjid Kapitan Keling was gorgeous in the inside. We met with the chairman of the mosque who showed us around and told us a little bit about the history of the 200-odd years old place of worship and the Indian-Muslim community who lived in the surrounding area. I took a few shows on my trusted iPhone and so the picture quality isn’t great, but this is the one I liked best.
I also visited the famed clan jetty (so famous that I didn’t know about it until a few days prior to my arrival - shy only). The jetties belong to various clans (each have their own) and I visited two - the Chew Jetty and the Lim Jetty. Language was a fucking major problem - they couldn’t speak Cantonese, only Hokkien and Mandarin. At least now I know that being Hokkien by birth doesn’t help me understand the dialect, and taking Mandarin classes last year paid off (I understood 3% of what they were saying).
Of course, what is Penang without its food. I didn’t take any pictures ‘cos I was too busy eating. But we had prawn mee (which wasn’t so yummy) near the jetty, then had Assam Laksa near Bukit Bendera (which I also didn’t really enjoy). Later at night, we had Char Kuay Teow (which was too spicy so I didn’t enjoy it). It cost RM6, the most expensive I’ve ever paid for CKT.
Then we noticed the next stall selling dessert and had a lin chee kang thing, which I loved, loved, loved! And then we noticed the stall next to it selling this chicken feet in gravy, which was yummy, yumm, yummy (although we had no extra plates so we did like the locals and spit the bones onto the table - quite very the gross). Then for breakfast we had wan tan mee, and lobak (which was piping hot - so delish I can still taste it in my mouth).
Okay, enough about food. What I love most about Penang though is its heritage (from the mosque, to the jetty, to the food). Sure, sure, we all crack jokes about them being Islanders and all but IMHO, the city looks so much better than Malacca, which makes me sad. I love Malacca so much (consider it my hometown) but the development there leaves a lot to be desired. The old shophouses in Penang actually look like old shophouses. If I wanted to use a really weird analogy, I’d say Penang is like Sophia Lauren, and Malacca is Joan Collins.
But it’s not just the buildings though. For example, the shots below I took from my hotel room (zoon lens rocks!).
Reminds me a bit of a Lat cartoon. Just a really big house with a big garden and the kids kept running up to this guy (father, uncle?) to be swung abouts. They didn’t have a swing set, or a pool (though the size of the property sure could fit one), just a lot of laughter and fun.
Okay, so maybe this doesn’t actually say anything about my point of loving Penang’s heritage but I just loved watching them (yes, the voyeur is emerging). Oh, and those of you who are observant will notice that the pictures are not in order (the girl in pink is testament to that). I was too malas to sort it out properly in Photoshop.
Just a liability claim. Necessary, like everything else in life.
Tags: kapitan keling, mosque, penang, pulau pinang
Bangsat
Apr 23, 2008 Performing Arts
I went to watch a play tonight called RACE. The directors and some of the playwrights and actors are friends of mine, written a couple of other and features some of my friends as well. I didn’t stay long after the show so if I didn’t see you, I’ll say hi here. Er, HI!
The show opened tonight at KLpac and will run until April 27. Catch it if you can. It’s a collection of four pieces of short plays all formulated based on the word - you guessed it - race. Ooohhhh … loaded. :)
Naturally, each playwright interpreted the word differently. After all, it is quite a clever play (no pun intended) on the word.
So … since it’s almost bedtime and I was busy playing Text Twist on Facebook, I thought I’d celebrate the competitiveness the word allows, and race against time to see how many things I can think off related to race in 5 minutes. The time now is 11.45pm. Let the race begin!
F1, 100 metres dash, kieren cycling, front crawl, breast stroke.
Dan lain-lain, Chinese, Indian, Malay, Kadazan, Dusun, Iban, Melanau … Singaporean?
Faster, run, hurry, cepat. Lumba! Pecut! Rush. Pedaling. Compete.
Alan Wu, Zab, Phil Keoghan, Team Guido.
Pit stop.
Mat rempit, taxi drivers, Mum. Speeding. Saman. Accidents?
Siapa cepat, dia dapat. Step on it. Fai tit!
Time’s running out. She’s dying. Is there no cure?
What’s the rush. Lambat lah.
Terminator. Aliens. Alf? Around the world in 80 days.
Freedom.
Government forms. Skin colour. Black, white, brown, orange, yellow. Michael Jackson macam mana?
Finish line. Dah sampai? Johan.
11.50pm.
Interesting exercise. I will read this again tomorrow and see what it all means. As for the show, I’m not going to review it. I missed the first piece but I was entertained by the rest. Some good directing, some good acting, and some nice writing. I might pop by again to watch it.
Oh, as for the title of this post, go watch the show and you’ll get it. I think.
