Sunday, April 30, 2006

My first clubbing experience

Last Saturday Tim came from Singapore for a visit, and asked to stay overnight at Sun's. So I went to Wangsa Maju to meet up with them. Being a clubber ever since working in S'pore, he wanted to visit Zouk here, so I also went with him-lah, together with Sun and Frankie. (Surprise! Sun going clubbing!!!)

The day before I had to call up Darrent to ask for some info on Zouk, as this is me first time going clubbing.

We had dinner at BRJ before leaving, and that's when Chelsea scored against MU just 5 minutes into the match. Later I learnt that MU went on to lose 3-0.

Anyway, we took a cab there and arrived at about 8.45pm, but the place wasn't opened 'til 10. Bummer. Rookie mistake. So we just hang out at KLCC for the next hour to kill time.

When we came back we bought the wrong ticket into Zouk (Trance area) when we actually wanted to hang out at the Velvet Underground (RnB area). Rookie mistake again. Added another RM25 to get into VU...but we still got the extra drink coupons from Zouk, haha...next time can exploit this loophole for more free drinks......

I think we were the second group there, and the dance hall wasn't warmed up until almost 12am. Until then we just made ourselves drunk with vodka and whiskey, and of course indulge in the obligatory 'sightseeing'. :P

At first I was quite reluctant to dance, coz only a group of five really hot girls was dancing and, you know, just the two of us going out there is really a big hint that we were 'girl hungry' (for male clubbers, who isn't?)...But later I got high enough, and I just didn't give a damn about girls anymore, i just lost myself in the music (yeah right...) and keep bopping my head and shaking my ass......

Frankie joined us after about 30 minutes, but Sun was still sitting there alone drinking vodka. Guess you can't really change an introvert. After all, the only reason he went there was to experience the mood. Tim nearly duped him into going a night club to lap dance with PR women......

My biggest mistake of the night was not making my move when this really great looking girl in a tight dress keeps looking at me while dancing, or else I would've got a dance partner liao...damn......that girl was so hot......

We danced until around 3am before heading back home. All in all, it was quite an experience for me. I'll definitely wanna try it out again. But this not something I can do every month like Tim. Maybe once every 3 months. I can stand the alcohol, and even the loud music, my only complaint is that I've inhaled more second-hand smoke there than the past 21 years combined......

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Stupid, pesky flies!

For the past few days, my house was suddenly swarmed with flies, especially in the kitchen area. But today, inexplicably, the amount has tripled, quadrupled, I dunno......there was like a hundred flies flying in the house!!! Kitchen, rooms, hall, even the front door area where we keep the shoes!

ARGGHH!!!! I'M STILL ITCHING AND HAVING GOOSEBUMPS THINKING ABOUT IT!!!!

I've just spend the last hour killing like what seems to be 30 fucking flies...and me, being the sadistic one, arranged them in a pattern of 6 X 5 on the floor...ugh, it's like laying dead human bodies, only tinier by a million times......

Gross......

And now, I'm blogging about it...ahaha...this is the life of a slacker at home......

Just a thought at wedding

2 weeks ago during the mamak session I had this conversation with my friend from secondary...we were having a discussions about whether weddings should be held by having a big dinner (the typical Chinese wedding) or just having a simple affair. Taking into account the cost of living, the dude preferred to have his wedding as a buffet with some close relatives. I had the same thought.

You know how the typical Chinese wedding ceremony play out right? Big restaurants, noisy music, lots and lots of relatives and cousins from both sides of the parents some of whom you hardly know or recognize, the late guests arrivals, and that annoying woman (the Tai Kam Cheh) who keeps talking and talking and dunno when to shut up as though she was the main attraction of the night instead of the bride and groom....

Yeah, that kind of wedding is not my type......

For me, a small and simple ceremony with some very close friends and relatives is all I ask for...not too high profile...my mom, on the other hand, would like to invite a lot of relatives and friends, but without the Tai Kam Cheh of course.

I read in the papers there's this couple in Singapore who spend like RM700,000 on their wedding. SIAO! That kind of money can buy a bungalow liao! If they are super rich then I got nothing to say-lah, who cares right......but for normal people this is already an astronomical sum.

A few of my former colleagues were also married, some for 2 years already, and they still haven't have a proper ceremony yet because of financial problem. Mind you, both husband and wife are high income software engineers.

IMO, wedding is just a ceremony to celebrate the joy and wonder of marriage, but it doesn't need to be exaggerated. A lot of things can be simple, especially in times like these where everything is going up in price except the very thing that you rely on: Your salary.

It seems weird to talk about marriage and wedding at this point in my life, but hey, it's just a thought.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Da Vinci Code is dope!

Yes! Finally, I've finished reading The Da Vinci Code, after one week......yeah yeah, I'm a slow reader, I don't frequently read, and I can't be like some of my friends who went through the novel in just one night. The book's out for about 3 years now I think, and the movie is coming out soon, so I told myself that I had to read it before watching the movie, seeing as the buzz and hype is neverending...

The book didn't disappoint. The first few chapters are slow, building up the mystery and leading into the climax in the last few chapters, which is simply "unputdownable".

It's really an exhilirating thriller with some twist on Christianity, secret societies, hidden messages in famous paintings and the likes. Now I understand the controversy surrounding it. Devout Christians definitely will not like it (unless they treat it as purely fiction). I think I'm going to have goosebumps the next time I look at The Last Supper.

Damn it, now I'll have to get those other Dan Brown thrillers. Can't resist it.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Review: Walk The Line


"There are a few notable remakes last year, King Kong, Pride and Prejudice, Walk The Line...uh, Ray, with white people." So says Jon Stewart at the Oscars.

Another biopic on a music legend like Ray, this time focusing on Johnny Cash, played by Joaquin Phoenix. It follows the usual biopic routine, namely from zero to hero, from nobody to somebody, from auditions to making it big, drug addiction, coming clean and making it even bigger...yadda yadda yadda......

Comparison to Ray is inevitable. Compared with the Ray Charles chronicle, this film is smoother in flow, and more cohesive IMO (Ray was too long and had some over indulgence in music).

I've never heard any of Cash's music, even my dad wasn't familiar with it......but they are all country and some are quite good in the film...you'll dig this if you dig country......

Joaquin Phoenix is good, considering that he did all the actual singing (the resemblence is almost uncanny). Reese Witherspoon is energetic and fun to watch, especially during on stage performing.....

Watch out for "cameos" from Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley. :P

A healthy 8 out of 10.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Take it easy, man!

Besides Kelly Clarkson's Because of You which is stuck in my head for quite a while (gotta love that song, man...), The Eagles' Take It Easy also keeps playing in my head after I took out that Eagles Hell Freezes Over DVD and play it over and over and over and over.......

It's got a good country twang to it, and it's great for clap alongs. Yeah yeah, I know, I'm the guy who listens to 70s country song by a bunch of aging 50 year olds, instead of 20 something Chinese R'n'B crooners who all sound the same......

Unfortunately I don't have a link to the song, so try download or whatever. (that is, if ur interested...)

Here's the lyrics: (Other people also post song lyrics, so why not me?)

Well, I'm running down the road
Tryin' to loosen my load
I've got seven women on my mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she's a friend of mine

Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
And take it easy

Well, I'm a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford
slowin' down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me
We may lose and we may win though
We will never be here again
So open up, I'm climbin' in,
So take it easy

Well I'm running down the road
trying to loosen my load,
got a world of trouble on my mind
Lookin' for a lover who won't blow my cover,
she's so hard to find

Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own
Wheels make you crazy
Come on baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me, oh oh oh
Oh we got it easy
We oughta take it easy


Emotioneering™

Finally bought The Da Vinci Code at MPH, taking advantage of the one week 20% discount sale. Haven't read it though, coz' I'm still on the last 100 pages of Creating Emotions in Games (borrowed from college library), by a guy named David Freeman who specializes in story writing in games. His techniques of "Emotioneering™" aims to make gamers emotionally involved during gameplay, cool.

Now, whenever I watch a TV series or movie (and playing games, of course), I find myself analyzing the symbols, character traits and dialogues and how they make me involved. It's really neat when you're figuring these tiny details that normally goes over your head without noticing it.

Hey, I'm in the field of programming, who knows one day I'll work on games......

A lttle indulgence here: some games that really touched and made me sad include Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon, Indigo Prophecy (really cool game) and Final Fantasy IX...

Mom's birthday was yesterday, went to Secret Recipe with Dad to get a marble cheese cake for her, that small cake cost a hefty RM65......what the heck, it's a once in a year thing......

Note to self:
quickly decide which subject to drop for LJMU top-up programme. Aih, real headache problem.

Review: Chasing Amy


I bought this title last August...only watched it last week......yeah, I'm slow in doing things...that's why the late update in this blog.......been watching DVDs all day long for the last few weeks, it's the only thing I do other than the chores and online-ing....got more reviews coming......

Anyway, back to the movie. This is the third film in director Kevin Smith's New Jersey trilogy (others are Clerks and Mallrats), so called because all of them take place in New Jersey (well duh...).

Basically, the plot has Ben Affleck and Jason Lee as comic artists. The Ben character then meets and falls in love with fellow artist Joey Lauren Adams. Only thing is she's a lesbian. So begins his "quest" to win her heart. Of course there's much more going on, but I'm lazy... :P

Yeah. Twisted. And absurd too.

This movie is really, and I mean REALLY funny as hell! The dialogue is full of sex and gay issues and orgy, race joke and some really cool and hilarious monologues (my favourite) involving comic books, Star Wars and other pop cultures. It's like Tarantino stuff, only without the violence. It's kinda offensive for those who can't take it, but it feels so realistic -- almost like watching ourselves talk in real life (yeah, the sex part).

Check out some of my favourites:

"You got cracker farm boy Luke Skywalker, Nazi poster boy, blond hair, blue eyes. And then you got Darth Vader, the blackest brother in the galaxy."

"Archie was the bitch and Jughead was the butch. That's why he was always going around wearing that crown-looking hat... he was the king of queen Archie's world."

Really gay and lesbian thing going on here. Hey, don't misunderstand, I'm cool with that -- just not with them liking me...but that's another topic......

I always thought Ben Affleck was better doing rom-coms and small budget art house than action movies, like in Good Will Hunting and Changing Lanes. He feels natural here. And the lead actress Joey Lauren Adams is so adorable and with that distinctive voice and personality you couldn't help but really like her. The ongoing romance is genuine, and it's one of the most best portrayed rom-rom I've seen. Watch for the long scene when he confesses to her even with the knowledge that she likes women.

Bottomline:
good acting, amazingly funny dialogue, some interesting camera angles and editing, and a great character chemistry make this a must watch. A 9 out of 10 from me.