If only I am not tired

I wish... there is enough time to finish my work.
I wish... I am not the sort who needs a lot of sleep and I can chiong all the way till morning (while retaining my concentration) so that I can clear my backlog of work once and for all

I hate this feeling of always rushing to get work out on time.

I feel that the quality of my work suffers. I feel that I am not thinking deeply enough about some of the things that need to be done, resulting in sub-par work.

I feel that I need to be smarter, wiser and faster in my thought process, so that work can get done faster.

I wish I am more effective.

I think I shall go to bed now and live to chiong another day

Braun Buffel

For those who knew that I was "giving in" to society's pressure to buy myself a branded bag... you will be glad to know that I stuck to my guts.. sorta. I didn't buy the branded branded bag.. I bought a semi-branded bag.. *please refer to title*

That's right.. and I bought a wallet and card holder too. ALL AT.. 50%!! Darn, I love sales! hahaha... obviously my photography skills doesn't do justice to my bag.. its lovely!!

Anyway.. Since I had bothered to download photos from my phone... Tadah.. my cubicle in office now... methinks, I am not that into open concept office.. I still like the ones I had in my previous companies... beggar's can't be choosers.. I accept my fate lah.

and so... the score is 4-4

And so, I am left reeling after the draw with Arsenal yesterday... Had myself a 9am consultant presentation/conference, which means I am not able to watch the match (yes, I still have a rather practical streak in me,work comes first.) and got my friend to text me at 5am (he watched)... and another who IM-ed me saying... You better don't have a weak heart if you're a Pool fan.. and indeed... the rollercoaster of emotion from watching one match can really get that adrenalin pumping...

So at 5am.. *beep*.. looked at the score 4-4... Arshavin scored 4 times.. in my brain.. *what the F-ck*.. then went back to dreamland... morning broke.. quickly logged into soccernet to read what happened.. Sigh... Torres and Benayoung both scored 2 each in case you're wondering.

Anyway.. Man U now has 2 games in hand, and they are level on points with liverpool. they have 7 matches left, while Liverpool has 5. You do the maths..

We need a massive massive miracle.. oh please let them lose two games.. oh please let Liverpool win the rest... Oh please dun screw up.

GO PORTSMOUTH!!!!

Movie Review: The Story of Mr Sorry

Date: 17 April 2009
Time: 11:30 pm
Location: National Museum Gallery Theatre
Kaki: YD
Rating: 4 stars
Language: Korean, with Eng Subtitles

Synopsis:
A timid ear-cleaner discovers that there is dirt not just in the ears, but also in the souls of his colourful customers. A Korean animation film like no other, this is the surreal and twisted tale of an ear-cleaner who rises from obscurity to becoming an Ear Waxernator, a tour de force in the business of cochlear excavation, as a result of a bizarre scientific experiment. But he is also a brother looking for his older sister who left him as a child. The deeper Mr Sorry digs into the heads of his clients, the more he unwittingly learns about their hidden desires, and in the end, he discovers something shocking about his own self that changes him forever. Based on a short novel by singer Lee Jeok, The Story of Mr. Sorry is produced by the Korean Academy of Film Arts and is co-directed by Lee Sung Kang, who also directed the fantasy-animation, Yobi, the Five-Tailed Fox.

Review:
The movie was extremely interesting as the animation style was very unique. It was a mixture of mosaic and water colour. Just for the artwork, this movie would have caught my attention. The story was sufficiently fluid, so even though I was darn tired, I didn't really feel that I was going to fall asleep (although I admit to closing my eyes to rest for a while, but I had to open it again as I didn't understand Korean.

For me, it was interesting as while Mr Sorry was exploring the minds and thoughts of others, from our point of view, we were examining him. His stupidity about how the world works, how he is a loser, from start till end, and even his rather incestuous obsession with his sister. His naivety sets him on the road towards self destruction, a typical example of how a person who has low EQ and near to zero ability to live with the world around him. I mean, his closest friend is a spider! Anyhow, I was rather perturbed by the ending, as he only obtains release upon death, and he enters a world that is happy and beautiful (to him) again. I thought that was kinda silly, since it just means he goes back to the bubble that he lives in, once again estranged from reality.

But I have to warn you that as it was a film fest type of movie, it's rather slow. Sure, the story moves along, but it's somewhat slow-going, and it would be at odds with the other anime/cartoon you may have watched.

Well, it was most unfortunate that the movie happened to fall in the week where it was rather intense at work, resulting in my having had an average of about 3-4 hours of sleep per night (and we all know that I am the sort who needs plenty of rest).

So, I had a cancellation of a ktv session that Friday, and I recalled that I was supposed to meet another group of friends for dinner. So I thought, great, no clash, since the movie only starts 1130. What I didn't expect was me working till about 930, getting home about 1020, cuz I dropped by subway to pack a late dinner. And so, instead of having plenty of time to shower and laze before heading out to meet YD for the movie, I swallowed my dinner, took a quick shower, and took a cab to the museum for the movie.

And I wasn't much company since it was pretty much, meet at 1120 for 1130 movie, sit down, chatted a little bit with YD before the movie, then it was goodbye, and I am off after the movie.
Still, interesting movie, am glad to have watched it, depressing as it may have been. :P

Sudden Spike

there's been a sudden spike in my workload, resulting in me being torridly tired as I have been trying my best to clear.. to no avail.. methinks I shall head down to office this weekend, to try and clear as much as I can... I don't like work piling up on me like that. I don't sleep well, I overeat, I am tired... not good.

So.. tmr's the deadline, I shall try my best to rush everything out today.. hopefully... it will be done... and if possible, spirit and body prevails, I shall watch the Chelsea vs Liverpool match tonight...

Waiting for a miracle...

My Darling...

Omnia Skin - Bodyguardz

Oh! My friend just told me she has placed it into the post! :) Woo hoo!! So it should be in this coming week (I think)... and she didn't want me to pay her back for postage ><... nvm.. she gets a treat when she next visits us bk in SIN. :). So I spent US$29 in total.

It's a good protector for gadgets... BodyGuardz... I am currently using it for my iPod Classic. V satisfied with it. :) Will post more once I get the film and start using it. ;)

Post Edit:
Bah, it was good, but as usual, which is the problem with most protectors I think, the edges sorta stick out, so it wasn't the slick "finish" that I would have really wanted.

That and there are still some bubbles inside... well, it's supposed to disappear according to the instruction, so I shall be patient.. mebbe instead of 24 hours, it actually requires 48 hours. Anyhow, I recall most of the bubbles dd disappear from my ipod after a few days.. so I shall exercise patience... :P

Movie Review: Handsome Suit

Date: 10 April 2009
Time: 915 pm
Location: Golden Village Bishan
Kaki: JoC
Rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis: Let's be handsome! - Takuro Oki (played by Muga Tsukaji of the comedic duo DrunkDragon) is a 33-year-old single and gentle man. However, due to his appearance, he has never fall in love before. One day, he confesses his love to his pretty restaurants helper Hiroko but is rejected. The heart-broken Takuro goes shopping and by chance, comes into possession of a magical suit that makes its wearer incredibly good-looking, transforming ugly duckling into super gorgeous model. This magical suit is called Handsome Suit. Can the new Takuro win the heart of Hiroko now?

Review: Oh man... where to begin... funny, it's funny. Not AS funny as DMC (hence, minus half a star), but not that bad lah. OK to watch, with a typical "love yourself" message at the end of the movie. I wouldn't want to give the plot away too much, but I have to say, one-third through the show, I had already guessed at the twist. Hurhur... Director Lee watch too many movies.

Anyway, this was another predictable movie (In fact, name me a recent movie that you watched, which was unpredictable :P). BUT!!! Predictable movies are good too lah.. easy to watch... doesn't jolt you, follows standard formula... there was some joke about his Osaka accent, but as non-Japanese speaking folks, we wouldn't understand. It's abit like us adopting the M'sian accent in our movies... only the folks in the know would get the joke, for those who don't, it would be a case of catch no ball.

I wouldn't push this movie as hard as I did DMC, cuz I really found DMC hilarious.. but that could be cuz I am really really into slapstick humour. But for the crap movies out in cinemas these days.. this one not bad lah. Anyway, I generally like comedies, and I like Asian comedies, has a different flavour from the angmoh ones. :P

K K, enough crap. It's a funny Jap comedy, go watch if you're free. Ok to give it a miss if you're not, and I expect it will be out on cable in another 6 months, so wait for it if you're patient. :)

New Beginnings

In line with the fact that I have a new job, it would be a great idea to "pack" my blog, and refresh it with a brand new look! :)

Okay, I admit it.. it's cuz I have some work to do, and you know me, anytime I have work to do, I will find something more interesting to do, so that I am doing something else, and not my work. *get it?*

It's a syndrome that afflicts me constantly... this going into denial.. but hey, I really tried v hard to create a blog that is easy on the eyes, neat, with items that are easily found. I realise that most of my blog would fall under the "Random" Label.. but hey, I am watching Handsome Suit later on, so that's good right? It means there will be another movie review coming up.. as for Adventures of Super Dog.. well... Super Dog has shifted and is now back to being the guardian of my cubicle... well, maybe during my random inane moments in office, I will snap more pics.. :)

Eh, I even updated my profile leh... got a lot of heart hor? And I will try my best to post more pics to "beautify" the blog, but a bit troublesome lah. hahaha.

Movie Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic

Whereabouts?
GV Plaza Singapore
Timing?
840pm show. (have to say, GV have a very aggressive marketing team, as there are a lot of ads, quite irritating when I have to seat through it, but quite good when I am late for a movie)
Who With?
Ms Skycloud (tkts kindly sponsored by her as well, thanks pal!)
Rating?
3 stars
Synopsis?
In the glamorous world of New York City, Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is a fun-loving girl who is really good at shoppinga little too good, perhaps. She dreams of working for her favorite fashion magazine, but can't quite get her foot in the dooruntil ironically, she snags a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine published by the same company. As her dreams are finally coming true, she goes to ever more hilarious and extreme efforts to keep her past from ruining her future. Based on the novel by Sophia Kinsella.
(Source: Golden Village Website)

So moving on, thought I shd turn the order around, since it makes sense that you shd read the synopsis prior to reading my thoughts on whether it was enjoyable or not.

It was rather entertaining, a little better than Bride Wars (which, maybe cuz I have never entertained dreams of walking down the aisle) but pales in comparison to The Devil Wears Prada. It stands alone well, and it's a light take that would go well as a chick flick, and I have to say, a suitable movie for a weekday night. Doesn't get me thinking too much, doesn't kill much brain cells, had good company, had sinful makan at Long John's (what? I was stressed!).. all in all, go for it since there aren't that many great movies these days.

Hugh Dancy was quite cute in the show, if that's any comfort... tried to surf for more images of him, so I can post it, but didn't quite get v nice looking ones... so no go. Anyway, for his bio... He's dating Claire Danes.. wah.. mei nu leh!

And that's it from me folks... another long day at work for me tmr. Looooong...

Movie Review: Detroit Metal City

Went to catch the movie at Yishun (sometime back, date forgotten), with MLSA, who was kind enough to entertain me by driving all the way from the West to the North to catch the movie with me. Movie gets a 4-star rating from me.

And true enough, it was the kind that I liked. Stupid, entertaining, had me laughing, and interested enough to locate the anime on youtube, and I even contemplated buying the manga, except it was a TongLi version, and costs about 7.80. Given that the drawing style is not quite down my alley, I have given it a quick scan of the anime and manga, decided to give it a miss.. but you never know, if I had money to burn, I wouldn't mind reading it.., this is a hint for those who DO have the manga to lend it to me... haha!

This was a show I had been waiting for, as I love stupid movies like these. "L", also known as Ken'ichi Matsuyama, shows how talented he is, by looking and behaving nothing like the "L" we knew from Deathnote. His split personality within the movie was also dealt with quite well. Admittedly, there were parts of the movie that didn't quite gel, another typical trait of Japanese movies... it was believable since it is a manga/anime adaptation...

You should watch it after a hard day's work and all you want is to laugh and unwind.. it's not slapstick humour, it's just really very corny humour.. and if you're a guy reading this (I doubt there are.. but just in case), the lady interest is really quite pretty. Haha.. so eye candy for guys.. I love "L", but he's obviously not the best looking pebble on the beach. :)

Synopsis:
Souichi Negishi (Kenichi Matsuyama) is a conservative and pure-minded boy. He leaves his countryside home to go to Tokyo with a dream of becoming a fancy pop singer. In a twist of fate, he is forced to debut as a member of the satanic Death Metal band "Detroit Metal City" (DMC), whose trademark is an eccentric make-up and destructive performance.

Despite the intention of becoming a pop celebrity, he makes a triumphant debut as the Death Metal vocalist and the story hilariously describes the array of his woes until he finally faces off against the legendary and world-renowned Death Metal vocalist "Jack IL Dark" on the stage!
(Source: Golden Village Website)

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1142972/

Movie Review: Climber's High

Went to watch this at Cinema Europa over at Vivo City on Friday with YD, who is the constant source of me watching non-blockbuster movies... So, this was an multiple award winning Japanese Film, on the crash of JAL 123, resulting in the deaths of about 500 people... Movie gets a 3.5 star rating from me...

And the poignant moment that stood out most to me - when one of the local rescuers tell the reporter, we could have saved so much more, but the authorities refused to give the go-ahead as they were trying to keep the location a secret from the press. The stupidest reason for extra deaths - Bureacracy.

Since I went to watch the movie without any idea, not even knowing that the poster looks soo... shitty... I was pleasantly surprised. It was quite an OK film, full of gaps and inner-thoughts moments, which is the norm for Japanese film. It was watchable, interesting and fun to be thrown back into an era where there was no internet. Hmm...

The storyline does jump between timelines (think Cape No. 7), but after the first 2 jumps, you catch up and just go along with the plot. It's actually a nice change from standard Hollywood movies, where everything is carefully explained and no gaps in the storyline is allowed. Not that I don't like the "everything is nicely explained by the end of the movie" approach, it's just a nice change.

*Sidenote, you may wish to note that the HSBC Prepaid card doesn't apply to Cinema Europa movies*

Synopsis:
On August 12, 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123, crashed into the ridge of Mt Takamagahara, on Osutaka Ridge in Gunma Prefecture.

524 passengers turned to 4 survivors and 520 fatalities, making the accident the biggest single-plane accident in the world.

A roving reporter working for North Kanto newspaper name Kazumasa Yuki (starring Shinichi Tsutsumi) was preparing to climb Mt. Tanigawa with a colleague when the news of the crash got out.

In the ensuing excitement and chaos in the newsroom, Yuki is given the go-ahead to cover the story and receives tremendous pressure to beat out competing news organizations to the first with the scoop.

Not to be mistaken for a typical disaster flick, Climber's High takes a more respectful approach, and much of the films centers around Yuuki's difficulty balancing his duty as a reporter against the backdrop of such a staggering human tragedy and the subsequent conflicts with colleagues as he tries to deal with the event in the most journalistically responsible way possible.

Based on Hideo Yokoyama's best-selling novel, the film looks at the impact the country's worst airplane disaster had on a local newspaper as shock, excitement and chaos swirled around. What are news and a reporter? How should a man do his work and survive in a corporate hierarchy? What do family and friends mean to him? Climber's High is an intriguing story that will keep the audience on the edge of tension and reality.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1110240/