How to spend a Saturday...

...and spent RM38.20 (USD11.23) in parking fees.

Was parked at the Suria KLCC which is the mall right under the Kuala Lumpur Twin Tower from 8am until 10.30pm last Saturday. There were 3 events that I attended although only planned for 1 event there and another event at another place.

I was really there as a driver for my wife and supposed to spend my time writing my books. That was it. Then saw a few bloggers whom I knew and decided to join in. That was the MySimplified Community Meet-Up (full post later).

Then decided to go to PC Fair with Serge a.k.a. Dustyhawk, a blogger friend (which I also will dedicate a post to).

Then a friend offered my wife and I tickets to High School Musical : Summer Celebration for free (I'll explained why we went thought we are NOT fans in another post).

In between these events, we did went for a massage at a nearby hotel as the other theater show that we wanted to watch (which has Niki Cheong's acting in Swimming Instructor - a mature audience theater show and is still on until 13th December 2009 at KLPac)

After the High School Musical show, we caught up with the friend's life at a nearby cafe.

That is how you spend your Saturday at one of the most expensive property in town and pay a very high parking fee. Which I can get at a better price and at a better space (jockey parking at a nearby hotel), if I had knowm that it will cost me that much...

New Moon is just a fad

Was given free tickets to watch New Moon, thanks to Project 500 which tried to get people to test their product and used the tickets as our reward for doing as such. A letdown of a reward, if you ask me. Not really impressed with this whole Twilight franchise. I rather stick to Harry Potter, though have not read Book 6 and 7. Watched all the released film and think they have done a great adaptation with the books. Ironically, Edward Cullen is in one of the Harry Potter movie before he became a bloodsucking creature.

I think the Twilight crowd are more infatuated with the actors in the movies than the storyline itself. That were what the filmakers were banking in and it worked. The audience really love the two movies for the lovey doveyness that you fill and not the story which are nothing new in the vampire myth (except for the skin shining like diamond thingy, which I find is quite ridiculous).

I still think the definitive vampire movie is Dracula with Oldman and Winona in it. You need that much blood to make a vampire movie real. Not some poster boys looking like they were going to break into a song at any moment.

Anyway, if I really want to pass judgment, I should be reading the books. Not watch the movies.

Found these stacked in my business partner room.

Maybe I'll glance through them. That is if I really have nothing to read.

Flirting is Cheating?

Watched Glee just now and one Mrs Schuster said "Flirting is Cheating".

My wife asked me"Did you hear that honey?"

Hmmm... I tend to disagree (but didn't bother at that moment as I was engrossed with the show). Of course those who has commitment shouldn't flirt as you may not know where that will lead but you do flirt a lot if you even deal with any other human.

I mean, when you want something from someone, in order for you to get what you want, either to ask a waiter to hurry up with your order or to ask someone to change a tyre for you or even if you want that last piece of whatever you need at the store. It is just human nature.

Where you take the flirting....

Now, that is another matter altogether...

Taman Pertanian Malaysia a.k.a. Bukit Cerakah revisted

It seems that one of the most popular search which leads to this blog is my entry about a Sunday I spent exploring the adjacent agricultural park adjacent to my housing estate. That was nearly one whole year ago and to tell you the truth, I have again take for granted how easy for me to go there that I have never been there since then. It is just 5 kilometers from my house but I only enjoy the agricultural park known as Taman Pertanian Malaysia or Malaysia Agricultural Park or Botanical Garden or its original name Bukit Cerakah. All are valid names depending on who you talk to. You can read my entry about my long ago trip there here.

I actually receive a few inquiries about how does one get to the place. If you ask me how to get there in public transport, tough luck. Never had to use one going back to my house. Been living there for nearly 5 years but there is always a car which will send me back home. However, I can give you the link to the map of the area, thanks to Google. I am embedding the Google map search just down below :

View Larger Map

 If you look at the map, you can see my housing estate, Bukit Bandaraya just below the Taman Pertanian Malaysia. It was embroiled in  a controversy in 2006 when some claimed that it encroached on the forest reserve of the agricultural park. And I did mentioned in my blog post, I am living among the native of the area which is more hospitable to us than us being towards them.

So, just ask any taxi driver to take you to Taman Pertanian Malaysia and I don't think anyone in Shah Alam will not know the way. There are signboards showing you the way in most Shah Alam exit, either if you use the Federal Highway or the North Klang Valley Expressway which is actually adjacent to my housing estate and Bukit Cerakah but there is no exit from it. So, go into Shah Alam city centre, look out for signboards and the nearest landmark is the Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Selangor (SUK) building on top of the hill and the Chief Minister (Menteri Besar) of Selangor official resident.

If you are taking a bus, use the bus to Section 8, Shah Alam, which again you can see below the map. You must get down in Section 8 and walk nearly 5 kilometer more before you reach the Agricultural Park.

I will try to get more information in this one week or two as my public service duty to the Malaysian public. I owe this to my friend Ratty in the USA who is an avid fan of nature. You can find more information in these sites :

1) Malaysia vacation guide

2) Sky Tres adventure

Tease...

Was watching Glee just now (am a bit late in catching the bug but Episode 3 and 4 were hilarious and the songs were a real trip down memory lane). There was a scene where the cheerleaders were washing cars in their bikinis.

My wife who was watching with me suddenly said :

"The idea is to tease, not to give"

It was mentioned in the first episode of Glee by the Celibacy Club President.

Tell me about it....

I am sorry but I can't appreciate Karaoke, the film

I just came back from a movie which received a rave review (according to its poster) entitled Karaoke. It is a Malaysian film which is being shown under a limited run, ending tomorrow. It is shown only in one cinema for one whole week. It has been shown under the GSC International screening category as it has been making rounds in Toronto International Film Festival and Cannes. As I am a sucker for film which is under the radar or what people will call cerebral movie or better yet, independent film, I was really keen to watch it.

Some of my favourite indie films are The Live of Others, The Piano and Priceless. A German movie, an Australian epic saga and a French film. They are as eclectic as they can be. I also love an unreleased film called Gadoh! ("Fight!"), which I did a review and you can access it here. I also love to death the melancholic Japanese movie entitled Departure that my wife and I have the CD for the movie and if we want to relax ourselves, we played the CD over and over.

I need to establish this as I just can't relate to the movie just now. There were too many empty spaces in the movie and although I got the message of a story about a boy who returned home to help his mother in her karaoke after he finished getting his college degree, it was a torture. They lived in a palm oil estate and the people there have to work hard to make a living. The place where they escape their everyday toil was trough the karaoke centre.

But why was there so many wasteful reels of unrelated panorama or even sheer act of nothingness.

The made especially for the movie soundtrack, in the form of karaoke songs, by Shanon Shah were good.

The people were first class actors.

But, I just don't get the film.

With all due respect to the newly discovered filmmaker, which the poster claimed as first rate.

Zombieland!

Advertlets is giving away movie tickets to the movie Zombieland! If you are a moviegoer, I bet you have seen the trailer to this movie which is about two different people having to team up and kill zombies. Imagine 28 Days Later or 28 Weeks Later but with fun characters. And one of them is Woody Harrelson. Yes, the Woody Harrelson who stole the show in 2012 and of Cheers fame. He is the badass in Zombieland.

If you are not an Advertlets blogger, tough luck as they are giving away tickets for the movie to those who signed up with them. The link to their offer is here - Advertlets presents : Zombieland movie tickets.

What you have to do is tell them how much you want to see Zombieland. As for me, I would eat my own hand to get movie tickets to watch it. You do know that zombie even eat their own kind? Or they are far worse than a vampire as in they do not have any brain at all.

After watching Shawn of the Dead, the movie about 2 friends who ran to their local pub when their town is infested by zombies, I am itching for something in the similar vein. I bet Zombieland is the one to fulfill my craving.

Here is the trailer of the movie :

p/s : Doesn't the poster looks old school?

G-string

As a man, do you know that you need not fold a g-string before you put it away?

Before I was married, I never knew this.

My Spy : Malaysia version of James Bond

Thanks to Adverlets and Josh Lim, last Friday, I was invited to a movie premiere of the Malaysian version of spy movie  called My Spy. This 5th production of a local production powerhouse of KRU Studio, which also produced Cicakman, is the epitome of how Malaysia secret agents work in the environment of mixed collaboration.

Where usually a Malaysian production will show either in Malay, Chinese or Tamil, My Spy transcends the racial barrier and is presented in Malay and Chinese. There are various races in various characters in the movie too. The film did try to put a Malaysian flavor into it and there are various local issues which it tries to address.

With the backdrop of the beautiful island of Langkawi, My Spy brings forth the story of 2 bumbling spies, played by AC Mizal and Harun Salim Bachik, where they were appointed by a Datin played by Maria Farida. She suspected her husband Dato O. They are rivals in the spy game where the movie start of with them trying to outdo each other in solving cases.

The cast which include Hannah Tan, Carmen Soo and Daphne Iking were directed by the affable Afdlin Shauki. Afdlin did make an appearance in the form of his voice for the car of the spy-inventor Harun Salim Bachik.

The movie is passable as a light fare and has its moments. Though you may want to compare it with American action movies, My Spy can stand on its own as a milestone for local Malaysia film. It was partly sponsored by Celcom and Perodua. You do see their product placement in the movie though it did not hurt the storyline.

The cast, director and producer

The babes, Daphne Iking and Hannah Tan

Dato' O played by Ridzuan Hashim

It will open in cinema nationwide this coming 3rd December. Go and watch a good local production...

The Climb....

Was forced with a daunting task of climbing stairs this morning after stopping my exercise regime so many times. Then I remembered the climb that we had to do on Eiffel Tower as we did not want to wait our turn on the elevator. So, we climbed.

We were so tired and had to rest a few times.

Then, a very old lady and an elderly gentlemen bypassed us. They were moving faster to the top than us!

Since then, every time we climb something tall, we always make a reference to that time. When someone who seems not as fit as us beating us on the climb to the top...

Managed to queue only halfway

Smiling but was actually tired...