Production Design Meeting

Yesterday, my group had its meeting with two of the members from our DMAT group. The music composed for our video was not bad. We wound up the meeting in about 2-3 hours.

Then, we started discussion for our set design. We had to redo it. The clay stuck in between the vanguard sheets did not work. The sheets felt went and sunk in, causing our flats to be deformed. We decided to use different materials instead so we had to buy new ones. Hence, we dropped off all the materials and our bags at Oi Keat's hostel, ate our lunch and took a bus to IMM.

At IMM, we went to Daiso and Popular in search for our materials. It was a rather funny experience as we kept getting seperated while looking around and Kai An (aka An Zai) had to go around searching or call us back. He said he felt like a "nai ma" (nanny in Chinese). He was really high that day, saying things like material costs he will cover. His reason was that it's Christmas and time for giving. Some of us were a bit tired and he tried to get us into higher spirits.

Then, we went to Mini Toons. An Zai suggested we get handphone straps together. We chose the ones we wanted and he paid for all of them! Thanks for the gift, Shuai Ge! After that, we went back to Oi Keat's hostel and started doing work. We had an entertaining and smooth time doing work. It was partly due to music played while working and An Zai's entertaining jokes. I had an enjoyable time pretending that the wooden sticks were joss sticks and using them to "pray" to Suan Kai. It was around 7.30pm by the time we decided to wrap up and go home.

Below are the pictures for that day; note that the duck is An Zai's, black furry thingy is Oi Keat's, brown dog is Sam's, mini metal Sheep is Suan Kai's and the black coffin is mine:

Merry X'Mas!

Merry X'Mas people, 'tis the season to be jolly. Time to wine and dine. It's no exception for me as well. On the 24th December, eve of Christmas, I and 3 friends from the karate club went out to catch a movie and enjoy a dinner. Though it was a last minute gathering of human resources and the response was low, the outing was still enjoyable and fun.

At 6.30pm, I and Dennis Jr. (aka Gek Poh) met at The Cathay to get our tickets. Tickets for the movie, Bedtime Stories at 9.35pm was selling fast. Fortunately, we managed to escape sitting at the first row facing the screen. We chose the second row. Really hadn't a choice ...

Next, we hunted for places to eat at Plaza Singapura while waiting for Jin Hui and my good friend, Haoyu to arrive. By the way, Gek Poh is the one sitting beside me during dinner. Haoyu is the one with a shaved head that shouts out "I'm serving NS!". Jin Hui is the one in specs and looks a bit like Doppy from Snow White (to me). Surprisingly, we are the same group of people who watched the Thai movie, Chocolate after a friend's birthday a few months ago. We settled for Pizza Hut when everyone had arrived and had to wait for 45 minutes to be seated.

Gek Poh was hungry so we tried going to Carrefour to source for samples. They normally have bread samples but that night, there weren't any samples left. Hence, we bought sushi, squeezed a packet of popcorn into my bag to sneak in to the cinema, tasted wine samples before going back to Pizza Hut. I found a bottle of wine which I would like to have at the wine fair. I forgot its name but I'm attracted to its name. It's Deva (..sth) Solitude. Perfect for me!

Then, we had dinner at Pizza Hut. We ordered the Surprise (or was it "Christmas") Feast. Enough for 4 of us. It consisted of 4 glasses of Strawberry Jingle, Christmas Platter, Salad, Soup and two Pizzas; one of them being the Hawaiian Pizza and the other one I apparently did not notice the name. We rushed through dinner to make it in time for the movie as we wanted to watch trailers.

Bedtime Stories was really enjoyable and funny. The movie was picked by me to watch after getting a last minute call for a X'Mas gathering. What better way to spend X'Mas laughing over a comedy movie? Anyway, the 4 of us enjoyed ourselves and hope you folks out there enjoyed yourselves too. Merry X'Mas!

Favourite time of the year

X'Mas. My favourite time of the year. Compared to other festivals I celebrate, Christmas is my favourite time of the year. Ah ... the decorations (at Orchard, of course) ... the lights (again at Orchard) ... the atmosphere (besides Orchard the other shopping malls as well) ... the spirit of giving ... and of course, the spirit of spending (oiiee ...)

Decorations, lights and Christmas trees; I've seen them. Atmosphere; I feel that everytime I go to the malls at this time. Spirit of giving; I'm feeling it now. I would like to give a present to my good friend. Maybe a box of cookies. I was at Esplanade for the make-up session and my sis's friend mentioned about a shop selling nice cookies. I checked it out and they even provided tiny whole cookie samples! It was at the corner right beside the entrance to the taxi drop off stand.

I first tried a blueberry cookie which the sales girl recommended and promoted as their best sellers. It was nice, chewy and sweet but not too sweet; just right. Next, is the rose flavored cookie. The taste was light but the fragrance of the rose was evident. "Romantic" was the word which popped into my mind as a description for the taste. Too bad I hadn't enough money so I left, saying I'll come back near the X'mas time (which I would really do so). I wish to find one type of cookie suitable for a male (my good friend's male) and if possible, mint-flavored because it's his favourite flavor.

On the other hand, I spent money buying accessory for the second time. My first time was a ring from Perlini Silver for myself. This time, I found a earring I thought was quite cool and stylish and bought it. It was the kind of earring I was looking for like two, three years ago but was unsuccessful. It's silver thick width earring with a small vector design on it. And, I'm surprised my ear hole hasn't caved in after a few years of not wearing a earring.

In addition, I got a surprise today. I got two gifts. I thought it was something my dad bought which was a bit unusual. It turned out to be from my older half sis, Gail. She gave X'mas presents to all of us and birthday presents for me and my sis, Maria.

I got a white lady bag for my first X'mas present of the year. It's quite useful and convenient, considering its spacious interior; just how I like it.

My belated present was a box of GLOW by JLO. It's a set of perfume. There's 4 bottles- Glow, Miami Glow, Love at first Glow, Glow after Dark. Cool names, huh? And, though I'm not the type who's so girlish but I quite like this gift. It's the first time I received perfume and I quite like the fragrance. I'm gonna start using it except for the bottle of Love at first Glow and Miami Glow. Love at first Glow for a first date and Miami Glow for charming and seduction (if I can even pull that off) ... Heehee ...

Twilight review

As promised, here's my review of the movie, Twilight:

I feel that the movie is not bad. The visual effects were nice, especially at the scene where the bad vampire, James fights with Edward and later, the rest of the Cullen family join in. However, I think that scene, being the only scene full of action should have been extended longer.

The actors and actresses- Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) and Robert Pattison (Edward Cullen) fits the image of the characters of the novel nicely. The only thing lacking is the portrayal of the characters. When I read the novel, I felt that Edward was cautious around Bella but he oozes confidence when he talks. As for Bella, she can be a little shy, but when it comes to things that she cannot give way, she is stubborn and stands firm on her ground. In the movie, I did not see this coming out more strongly from the characters portrayed.

The dialogue and portrayal of other characters like Edward's family members can be funny at some part. One thing I feel should be further worked on is the dialogue. Many of the dialogues from the novel were cut short. There were long pauses between the characters' dialogues. I think they wanted to emphasis on the tension between the characters and their emotions. Hence, it gave me the feel of watching the movie, Brokeback Mountain. Both were similar in the way the movie is done. They were slow developing.

The trailer for the movie is exciting. The sound effects and music made it look exciting and something to look forward to. However, I think those exciting parts made the movie look less interesting when the audience watches it. I think they gave away too much exciting parts in the trailer.

Despite all that, I still enjoyed the movie. If I have a chance, I would like to watch it again. Afterall, it's a movie from the novel series I read. I hope and I think there will be a sequel to the movie. It's quite evident from the last scene in the movie where James's partner Victoria moves away from the window. She had been watching Edward and Bella dance. The scenes closes with her descending the stairs with a serious, grim, looks-like-gonna-get-revenge-soon face. Spoiler alert, ya?

I will recommend this movie to fans of the novels and those curious about why people are so "up" about the movie and the novels. It's a purely vampire romance movie with a teensy bit of action which increases in the subsequent novels. Not many boys are fans of romance but I'm sure their girlfriends will drag them with them. I hope everyone, including females and males, enjoys the movie and hopes for the best that there's a sequel and premieres early >.<

What I did last chalet

What I did last chalet:

Day 1:
Went to esplanade for town children (girls) make-up but did no make-up. The children had done some themselves with some touch-up from the parent volunteer who arrived early because of her performing children. Had pepperlunch dinner and fried mars bars from Chippy British Takeaway for dessert. Then, went to Downtown East where my family is staying at its chalets. Being tired and lazy, I lay down on my bed waiting for my siblings to get tired of playing Mortal Kombat on my malay cousin, Raffino's PS2. Finally, they went to bed and I can sleep ...

Day 2:
Played at the arcade in after lunch. Had fun playing the drum with jap music machine and a new machine which is like a japanese song jukebox. Failed miserably on the Dance Dance Revolution machine. In the evening, started bbq with my family. I did more bbq-ing so I think I could not work much of an appetite and ate little than I expected. Almost burned my thumb because of the lighter while lighting firestarters.

Food included in the bbq were sotong, chilli stingray, corn, chicken wings, sausages, crabsticks, prawns and beef patties (for making burgers). As for drinks, we bought 2 bottles of rootbeer, coffee packets and my dad had our unfinished bottle of red wine brought to the chalet. Raffino and my 2nd younger sister, Mariam, who I just call "Ayam" tried red wine for the first time. Both thought it tasted like medicine. They then tried mixing rootbeer with red wine to dilute the bitterness. I tried that concoction myself. I think it tastes better with the rootbeer. 1/2 rootbeer. 1/2 red wine. Alcoholic and sweet ...

Found out that Twilight sneaks in the Cathay cinema at Downtown East on that day. I booked tickets for a 1.40am screening. Then, played Motor Kombat and watch Raffino play Devil May Cry 3 while waiting for 1.40am to arrive. Devil May Cry looks interesting. I'll probably try watching the anime when I get back home.

As for how Twilight turned out for me, I'll elaborate in the next post.

Day 3:
Woke up real late. Was tired and sleepy from the previous night activities. Felt full easily after eating takoyaki that my mum bought for me while I was asleep. I guess part of the reason for feeling full easily was because of the red wine. I think I drank more red wine or should I say more alcoholic drink than any other time.

Was supposed to go bowling but there were like 21 people on the waiting list so we decided to go back to our rooms. While my lil' bro was swimming, or should I say floating with my dad, my aunt, Raffino, my two other sisters and me snuck out to eat waffles with ice-cream. Was supposed to play pool after that but I did not bring my IC. We could not play the arcade either because we did not bring our tapz card with us.

After dinner, we went to play the arcade while waiting for a bowling lane to be available for us. Got smses from Haoyu, asking if I want to watch "Bolt". Gonna get blanjah by him since I did not have not enough cash plus the fact he's using me as a human shield for certain reasons. Then, went bowling and I was winner for the first game. My cousin won the 2nd game. My 1st younger sister, Maria which I just call "Adek" won the 3rd and last game. I also finally got a strike at the last game.

And, now, I'm back in the room typing this post. Listened to Silverstein's "Rain Will Fall" for the second time. I quite like that song despite being new to this band's music. Finally, I'll end my post here and do something else. I'll probably sleep or something, since tomorrow I gotta check out by 10am and meet Haoyu at Bugis at 1.30pm. Zzzz ...

Ill in mind and body

Sick. Ill. Unwell. Feeble. Tired. Weary. Drained. Whatever. It just totals up to the fact that I'm down with a cold. My nose has been crying non-stop since Saturday. I've taken two small pills for cold and got knocked out since 1am last night, waking up at around 11.30am this morning. I was all groggy and my back ached like hell. And, that's ill in body.

As for ill in mind, I feel so despicable. I'm ashamed of myself. My pride. My ugliness. When I felt that I was stripped of the only ability I had, I felt so upset. I feel even more miserable when the other party was helping out of kindness and pureness. Torn between wanting to get angry at someone and reasoning with my mind's logic, I had to control myself and the bursting emotions. Urgh. I felt like crap ...

I need to be more reasonable and logical. I should learn to shut out unwanted emotions. A little unemotional I should be ...

PS. I'm in need of the third Kathy Reich's novel!! I finished both novels already. I'm hungry for the next one and I wanna find out if there's any progression between Tempe Brennan and Detective Andrew Ryan >.<

And, I've just found out my pri. 3 lil' bro is a masochistic. He says he doesn't consider my sister, Maria as a sister 'cos she keeps on kissing him. He says he hates that. And, I ask if he prefers me hitting his head -> (my fetish with young round heads) and his answer was positive. He enjoys gettin' hit on the head by me. He can sit and continue looking at the same yaoi manga page I read and asks me to go to the next page! -> either he turns homophobic or gay. I hope it's the latter ...

Reading Junkie

Been doing some reading since assignments were cleared up on Friday. I started with some light reading of yaoi doujinshis featuring Lelouche X Suzaku. <- Yes, people, finally you get to see my R-rated hobby featured on this blog.

Then, on hearing there was a book fair at Bras Besar Complex, selling second hand books, I went there during the weekends. I searched books after books for the title I was looking for. On the Saturday, before going to work, I went to Times and saw Kathy Reich's latest novel and felt like giving her a first novel, Deja Dead a try.

Who Kathy Reich is, you ask? She's the producer/creator behind my favourite American TV series, Bones. It features a female anthropologists, Dr Temperance Brennan and her "at-first-reluctant-for-her-to-be-involved" FBI partner, Seeley Booth. Together, they unearth bones, comb decomposed/mutilated bodies for clues, solve mysteries, get the bad guys and unearth more bones.

Back to the first novel, Deja Dead; I managed to find the very same book, still in good condition at the book fair priced at $1.00!! The retail price at normal book stores would be like $18-$25.00!! I also managed to get the second novel, Death Du Jour at the same price of $1.00!! Lucky me ...



And, now, I'm more than half way through with the first novel. I've been reading in between lessons and mrt rides. I'm trying to get my fast reading pace back. It's really been a while since I sat down to enjoy a nice book. Of course, not everyone would say this is a nice book, considering the fact that it's a mystery-thriller story with dismembered, mutilated corpses/bones and serial killings. I'd just described the features of the corpse found in the story to Suan Kai today and he told me to read a normal book.



If anyone wants to know the description of the corpse in the story, here's it: The female victim was beaten to death. Her belly was slit and her left breast had been sliced off and forced into her mouth. A metal statue had been rammed up her vagina. Whereas, in the other victims found, they had their wrists cut off and two of them had a plunger and a knife shoved up you-know-where while they were still conscious. Sounds sick, huh?

Well, I can cope with the detail imagination but not things like that shoved suddenly in front of my face, like one scene in the movie, Quarantine I watched with Zaidi. I was expecting the zombie and when it came out only when I let my guard down after waiting for it to appear for a while. That really took me by surprise and made me shout. Yes, shout. Not scream. And, I did not grab the arm of the person sitting beside me, if that's what anyone wanted to hear ... Heehee

Anyway, I can take it easy for a while now. Therefore, I'm gonna like sit back, relax, grab books after books and maintain a mode of Reading Junkie.