I don't really know what triggered this post but I suppose it's seeing how some people can still be happy happy pseudo muchloves after what they have done-- hurt, bitch and backstab people. It reminds me of one of Jolene's entries about how cheating guys can still turn out to be good guys to their other friends, and regardless of how morally wrong she thought of their behaviour, they CAN still leave the impression that they are nice guys. But not me. Those people I was referring to in my first sentence, they are only nice to people of the same inconsiderate kind, only pretending to be civil when they need to use you. What they did, I have lost all respect for them and that twinge of contempt is what is left. It's always one thing to wish that bad things will happen to other people, but it's another altogether when you set out to actually hurt people you don't even know well enough.

I put on an exterior when I see any of them, I guess that's part and parcel of the real world, pretense to 'get along and avoid unnecessary conflict'. But that twinge, despisement still resurface. Like I said, one thing to wish for... ...

I'll be glad when they're gone.

I've neglected my blog for so long. There's so many things I should've blogged about but I'm down with the holiday lazing around bug!

So far I've been home twice. Before and after the Langkawi trip. And then after Christmas. Things I've bought on shopping trips back home:


1. Black and gold heels from NOSE (RM24.95)


2. Yellow polka dotted spaghetti top and brown spaghetti top from T:JOUE (RM 12 + RM 15)


3. Flowery Kimono like top from D&D (RM 29.90)


4. White bag from Curve Flea Market (RM 25)


5. Flower clips from Curve Flea Market (3 for RM10!)


6. Black long sleeved cardigan from random shop in Times Square (RM 29.90)


7. White shorts from random shop in Times Square (RM25)


8. Black and silver heels from JOOOI (RM 25)


9. Black tube from Fortune (RM 4.90)


10. Black starry set from Pierre Cardin (RM 19)


Argh you do the math. But the new Pyramid is now my fave place to shop! =)


The movies I've watched:




Warlords: One of the first Chinese epic movies I've watched in the cinema. (watched Curse of the Golden Flower, Banquet on pirated DVD and Feng Yun on TV which is a really long time ago). At first I thought it was rather well made but then it became too dreary for me, and especially with the redundant female character: so happy to see her killed. Muahaha. All through I was also wondering why Jet Li is in the film: Wasn't Fearless supposed to be his last film? Anyway his facial expression almost always involves twitching/quivering/trembling. Takeshi reminds me so much of Orlando Bloom (especially when asking the soldiers to kill the 3000 citizens) and somehow his lines are always repetitive. (struggling to beat someone up when down is also such a role Orlando will go for!) As for Andy Lau, his acting characteristic is rather inscrutable for me, which my friend quipped that this shows he's a good actor. Perhaps.







Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: As most film adaptations go, this unfortunately fell into the category where the book was so much better. However, one must commend the director for braving an attempt to project the description of smells into visual effects. Albeit the film did cut down some rather draggy parts in the book, it just fails to translate the elaborate descriptions, the essence of the book into film. Read the novel instead!







Ratatouille: Rewatched. Still enjoyable the second time round. Humorous and touching. Skinner is like a cross between Gollum and Jaafar (from Aladdin). I teared up again when Colette saw the Anyone Can Cook motto inside a glass display, and also when Anton Ego had his childhood memory. I love the French theme song.







Hotel Rwanda: Brilliant film. It succeeds in evoking emotions without being over the top like most films dealing with heavy themes tend to be. There is violence shown but not too explicitly that the viewers become desensitised to it. (Apocalypto, Passion of the Christ, anyone?) You really feel and root for the characters and thus the film keeps you on the edge of your seat, hoping for the best.








Lust, Caution: I personally didn't think too much of the film. I just realised how rapid Chinese can be, without English subtitles, I believe some things got lost in translation. However, I had hoped that I could still understand the film by just looking at the emotions portrayed by the actors, however I felt that the female lead's expression can be a tad misleading at times. When she tries to look seductive, she looks sleepy instead to me. The film is rather like the style of Brokeback Mountain. Subtle, other than the raw sex scenes. But at the end of the day, I didn't have great impressions of either film.








21 grams: Wonderful piece of work. I was interested in this film since the scenes are not in chronological order, neither is it in reverse chronological order like another brilliant film Memento. Instead, they are fragments that just come together beautifully in the end when everything falls into place. At first I was tense in figuring out which scene came before or after one another, but as the movie unfolds, I just got caught up in the powerful performances and scenes just naturally revealed themselves to me. Highly recommended!

The books I've read:

Life of Pi: A great story of courage and hope amongst desolation and despair of a boy surviving on a life raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Early reminiscince of childhood had moments of humour. Check out the chapter on 'interfaith dialogue'. The story then plunges into survival mode after a tragic accident at sea. A mind-bending twist at the end, I was simply blown away at the parallels it drew.

Middlesex: Easily one of my favourite books of all time. The novel is highly engaging with details that do not weigh the book down but elevates illustrations of characters, times and places. I was simply drawn in and lost in the worlds it depicted: The anguish of the invasion at Smyrna, the hard life at Detroit, the status mobility to Grosse Pointe and most of all, the voice of Cal, formerly Calliope, the anchor of the story about a hermaphrodite and her connections to the family tree and the world.