Joker's Dark Night

A new image of the Joker from 'The Dark Knight', the sequel to Chrisopher Nolan's 'Batman Begins' popped up online a few days ago. Here it is:


Looks pretty darn creepy. I like!!!

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Official Poster

The official poster for 'Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' has arrived and it's a kick-in-the-butt cool. Seeing it is giving me goose-bumps already, can't wait for the release in May 22!!!

The artwork is from long-time colaborator Mr. Drew Struzan, which had work done for films like 'Star Wars', 'Back to the Future' trilogy, and of course, 'Indiana Jones' trilogy. Click here for his website and check out his portfolio of artwork coolness.

Go Speed Racer Go!!! Speed Racer Photos & Trailer

I've never been a fan of 'Speed Racer', for me it's strictly 'Transformers', 'G.I. Joe', 'Silverhawks', 'M.A.S.K.' (remember that one? It's the one with the characters, when wears a mask, the vehicle that they have transforms into fighting machines!), and loads of other cartoons that I watch religiously, but never 'Speed Racer'. I guess it was the overly simple animation that was to blame. And the generation gap between this cartoon when it was popular and my childhood. Whatever. Anyway, Hollywood is making its version of this massively popular cartoon (surprise surprise) with the Wachowski Brothers attached to it (the 'Matrix Trilogy') and Emile Hirsch as Speed Racer and Chistina Ricci as the love interest. Other stars include John Goodman, Susan Surandon & Matthew Fox.

It is based on an iconic Japanese animated series called 'Mach GoGoGo' which made its original run in the 1960's, chronicling the ambitions of a young race car driver as he chases racing glory with his state-of-the-art car named 'Mach 5' which was created by his father.

According to Wikipedia:

" Along with 'Astro Boy', 'Space Ace' & 'Gigantor', 'Speed Racer' was one of the earliest anime to ever become popular outside of Japan, specifically the United States. With fast paced storylines, manga-like attributes, and distinct Japanese animation, it developed a substantial fanbase starting with its debut with the U.S.in 1968 and with Melbourne in 1969 (1). The series may seem outdated when compared to the sleeker, faster-paced anime produced today, but Speed Racer still contributes to the early foundation of Japanese animation. It is also the most steadfast anime in the racing genre, though other manga/anime series arose in the genre as well such as 'Initial D' and 'Wangan Midnight'."

Whoa. Anyway, the Hollywood version is almost finished with a scheduled 9th May 2008 release. Fans, hang on to your racing boots, it ain't that far away. Here are a bunch of exclusive photos released all over the net:

And here's the trailer:

Looks overly colorful to me and way too cartoon-ish. But it's the Warchowski Brothers we are talking about here. They can't suck, can they? (note: 'Matrix Revolutions'. Oh God.)

Secret Recipe's 10th Birthday Celebration Offer

I'm going off-track here abit from my movie blitz to bring you some yummy news. You know how much I like offers and promos, so here's one that everyone can consider: it is 'Secret Recipe's 10th Birthday Celebration Promo (they are that old already?!). On the 10th Dec, at 10am onwards and at selected 10 outlets, 'Secret Recipe' is offering a free whole cake when you purchase 1 whole yummy cake !!! It's darn useful when you have a party scheduled that day. If not, well, unless you have a personal ambition to rot all your teeth away in the shortest of time, here's your best oppurtunity to do so. Enjoy!!!

Participating outlets are:

1.) Rohas Perkasa, Jln P. Ramlee
2.) Jln Bukit Bintang
3.) Menara Standard Chartered
4.) Sogo KL, Ground Floor
5.) Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Jln Tun Mohd Fuad 1
6.) Sunway Pyramid
7.) Subang Parade
8.) SACC Mall (Shah Alam City Center)
9.) Alamanda Shopping Center (Putrajaya)
10.) SS2 PJ, Jln SS2/75

Review: Hitman

Here’s a quick review of a movie that I saw on Wednesday night. ‘Hitman’. All I can say is, “MAN, what a hit. NOT”. There’s totally nothing in it whatsoever, except for loads of blood, guns, explosions, a naked Russian chick that flashes her bod very frequently, and a few decent kills. I mean, remember Vin Diesel’s ‘xXx’? It was totally brainless and filled with over-the-top action. Yet, ‘xXx’ still managed to pull it off and still managed to get decent marks for its coolness with its sole dependability on Vin Diesel. But ‘Hitman’, with the lead star being Timothy Olyphant, he did not give you a sense of badass-ness when he appears on screen, or makes you go “whoa, respect” when he makes a kill. No. When you see Timothy as ‘Hitman’, immediately you will think of a bald cancer patient with nice tailored suits and with a knack to kill people. That’s Timothy. And with that, the movie failed to launch from the first minute of this film. I got nothing against Timothy, he is a good actor with fine work done in the TV series ‘Deadwood’. But I guess this movie suffered from a bad case of mis-casting as Timothy Olyphant is way too dynamic and has way too varied facial expressions in his acting palette, that when he is ‘Hitman’, he gave confusing portrayals to the viewers. Should we feel sad for ‘Hitman’, should we feel glad? Is he an all-out badass or an assassin with a heart? All this signals are not clear throughout the course of the movie and much of this mess falls on the lap of the director, Mr. Xavier Gens. My opinion of him is that he does not bother greatly about the emotional side of the character but concentrates heavily on the action. And yet, with the character of ‘Hitman’, he should do exactly the opposite. By going along with Timothy Olyphant as ‘Hitman’, a non-badass with a heart and soul, then the emotional side of him should be portrayed much more clearly than the action. If indeed ‘Hitman’ is a total all-out-badass, then action outweighs the emotions and clearly Timothy is not your guy and hence, the whole movie is mis-placed and mis-potrayed to the viewer. When this happens, no matter how big or grand the action is, the movie will suck and it did suck from the very moment it started.

I’m not even going to bother about the storyline because it is not even there. The acting is rubbish and I feel sad that this piece of work by Timothy had caused a big blemish to his portfolio of work. The action, even with much effort from the director, is sadly mundane and serves nothing to awe you in any way. Everything feels like an ordinary TV episode of any action series you may see on a regular week night. Everything is all wrong with this movie, and that is what you get for making an adaptation just for the sake of adapting it (‘Hitman’ is adapted from a popular video game). Except for some nice blood spattering on walls when bullets hit bad guys, I recommended you give this a miss. A hit this is not.

Verdict: 5 / 10

Reviewed by: Raymond Choy

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Tell me about it!!!

Indiana Jones New Movie Photos

Might have seen these photo already since its been spreading like wild-fire across the net. But I’m gonna post it anyway, ‘cause it looks too darn cool. It’s photo grabs from the latest Indy flick, “Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, with Harrison Ford looking exactly like he has been since the last Indy movie which was what, 20 years ago??? (feels like it anyway). Amazing. Looks cool, I just hope he doesn’t move and fights like my grandpa. But who am I kidding, it’s freakin’ Harrison “True American Hero” Ford. In a coffin and he will still be kickin’ sweet bad-ass.

Left: 1989 in "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade". Right: 2007 in "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". The similarity is amazingly remarkable.

Indy with his trademark pistol & whip. I'm feeling nostalgic already.

With Shia LeBoeuf. The next in-line to the mantle?

In the office & feeling darn tired...

Just imagine: you are at the office, you are really tired and really want a quick rest. You lower your head onto your workstation and rest your eyes for that quick few seconds. But seconds turn into minutes. And worst yet, your boss walks by and catches you red-handed sleeping at your desk. What would you do??? Here are 5 things you can say:

5.) They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen.

4.) This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time management course you sent me to.

3.) Raise your head and shout out load: “where’s that damn file??!!”

2.) Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you put your ear down real close?

And the number one excuse to say when caught napping at your work desk:

1.) Raise your head real slowly and say, “….in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Movie Updates

I’ve got a few movie info that’s been circulating around the net recently which I found very, very cool. First off, the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight finally gets its teaser poster. Premiering in the summer of 2008, this looks like another gem of a movie by Christopher Nolan. Check it out below:

Below are some promo shots of Batman and his latest nemesis in 'Dark Knight', The Joker. These photos are apparently leaked without the approval of the distributors:

Christian Bale as Batman, Heth Ledger as The Joker.

Next off, Star Trek. As some might already know, JJ Abrams (Alias, MI3) is re-booting the Star Trek franchise next year with Zachary Quinto (Sylar in ‘Heroes’ TV series) as Spock. Interesting choice eh? But what’s interesting is that an apparent LEAKED image of the new Enterprise starship slipped into the net. The question is, if this image for real? Or is it some fanboy hoax? But in the meantime, embrace the coolness that is NCC-1701 a.k.a. Starship Enterprise.

The NCC-1701. For real?

Now for some news on the latest addition to the already milked-dry franchise called The Terminator. It is confirmed that Christian Bale (Batman) will star as John Connor, a very contral character in the Terminator universe, in 'Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins'. So will Arnold Schwarzenegger make an appearance since he has gone all political in California? Apparently, he will. God provide us salvation from this. This movie will cost a reported US 150 million and above. Salvation indeed.

As for the Golden Compass, you might have noticed this movie as it is being heavily advertised all over the place. Good or bad, you decide but where’s a link where it help you decide whether to spend RM 10 on it or not. It features the first 10 minutes of the ‘Golden Compass’. Enjoy. Click here to be re-directed to the Yahoo Movies.

Of offers & Promotions

Some of my favourite Dim Sums at 'Tai Thong'.

Weekend of 24th & 25th November.

Saturday

I always fall for offers or promotions. I don’t know why. It’s like I’m a fly and whenever I see light, I tend to go near them. And at times (at most times anyway), my fly escapades ends up being pretty darn messy. Like being zapped by those purple-lighted bug killers in fly-infested restaurants, my money in my wallet just gets zapped away from these offers or promos. I mean, these things are supposed to help you save money right, but I end up spending more instead. Oh well. It’s for the fun of it I suppose, and last weekend there were heaps of offers to take pleasure from.

The weekend started off with Dim Sum at 'Tai Thong Restaurants’. If you didn’t know it already, ‘Tai Thong’ was offering nearly 50% discounts on their Dim Sum menu for nearly the whole year through, which makes most of the items RM 2.80 or RM 3.80. After discount, the price is almost equivalent to street-level Dim Sum parlors, so why not envelop yourself in a cozy environment and enjoy some seriously good Chinese Tea with heaps of fine Dim Sum to choose from? Plenty of other dishes such as the ‘Chee Cheong Fun’ and ‘Char Siew Pau’ were present, all at discounted rates. The quality of service were impressive as well (I went to the ‘Tai Thong’ in KL’s Wisma Selangor Dredging, situated in it the British Council). All in all, 7 baskets of Dim Sum with Chinese Tea for 2, plus tax took me for close to RM 25. Not bad eh. It’s recommended if you like Dim Sum in a restaurant environment at a very reasonable price.

After this scrumptious breakfast (I normally don’t eat breakfast), I continued my promo voyage to Pavillion’s ‘Coffee Bean’ and checked out its ‘Buy 1 Ice Blended get another for free’ promo. Offered only to ‘Citibank’ credit card holders to all CB branches (that’s what I was told by the cashier anyway), the offer had a slight catch: the free Ice-Blended only come in flavors of Green Tea and Mango. HMmmmm, I knew it was too good to be true. Well, it was free so can’t complain that much. Bill came out to RM 13 for 2 Ice-Blendeds. Verdict: Recommended only if someone in your group likes Ice Blended Mango or Green Tea.

After the refreshment, GSC Pavillion were having a pre-opening promo whereby patrons with GSC coupons that can be found virtually everywhere lately in newspapers, websites, flyers, etc, can enjoy free movie screening at GSC’s latest addition to its bulging fleet of cinemas in Malaysia. I heard the next addition will be in The Gardens, Mid Valley. Look out for promos similar to this soon. However, only old movies were offered free screenings (there’s always a catch isn’t it?) and notable movies were Transformers, Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Ratatouille, Secret (the Jay Chou movie) and others I don’t remember. I caught ‘Secret’, which is no secret that I really wanted to see it but never had the chance. In the end, it was a satisfactory movie that is a lot smarter than first thought…

Thanks to 'Saimatkong' for this grab!!!

After the movie, it was already dinner time and thus proceeded to my regular joint for 50% discounted dinners: ‘Izzi Restaurant’ along Jalan Sultan Ismail. ‘Izzi’ gives 50% discount to most of the major credit cards in Malaysia, as long as if you can spend RM 100 and above in a single receipt. Honestly speaking, it is well worth your effort to splurge on the menu because what you can’t finish on the table you can always take-away. So, ‘ta-pau’ for your mum and dad at home or make someone happy by bringing food to their door at half the price!!! Discount applies to all dishes except for dessert (which is not that impressive a list to choose from anyway). Food is mostly Italian fare, i.e. pizza, pasta and spaghetti, although a list of Asian dishes can be found (i.e. 'char kuey teow', chicken rice, etc, which believe me, is not recommended). Our bill after discount stood at almost RM 50 and with 4 persons that night, each person just needed to fork out RM 12.50 for 2 large pizzas, 2 pastas, 2 lasagnas, 1 spaghetti and 4 bottom-less Coke drinks. It is recommended to those wanting to senselessly & sinfully fill up their bodies with food at a very bargain basement price.

After stuffing ourselves silly, we took a walk along Star Hill and lo and behold, ‘Lecka Lecka’ was just around the corner. As I’m pitifully weak in running away from offers, I remembered that anyone with a ‘HSBC’ credit card can enjoy 30% off their ice-creams, and I took advantage of my good memory & duly had a triple-scooper that amassed a cost of approximately RM 7 (usual price I heard was around RM 10). The flavors were pretty good (Macadamia, Cookies & Cream & Oreo) although I find the ice-cream tend to melt pretty darn fast, even in an air-con environment. Too much water content in the ice-creams perhaps? Who knows, but at 30% off it’s well worth the effort. Recommended for ice-cream likeys and likey a nice and cozy out-door environment (facing the LV boutique, no less).

Well, you would think that the day is over but it is not. Haha, since my stomach was filled with stuff, we walked around the BB area and ended up in Isetan. At first glance at my surrounding and immediately spotted a 50% off sign for all Sushi & Sashimi. Brilliant!!! I always love sushi. I grabbed a small bucket load of sashimi at RM 10, packed to the brim with sashimi it can feed a cat for weeks. Recommended if the sushi or sashimi can be finished by the next day (for freshness reasons).

Sunday


Well, now you will think the promo escapades are over. Think again. Refreshed from a night’s rest, the journey continues at the ‘Curve’. If you didn’t know, ‘Cineleisure Damansara’ is having these whacky sales whereby all of the shops in 'Cineleisure' are slashing their prices. And some of the slashes are pretty darn major. Check out ‘Genki Sushi’’s bento set, where originally at RM 30, this baby is coming at you for only RM 6.90. Kid you not, it’ a good deal and the food is pretty darn good too. It’s not hotel standard of course, but for RM 6.90 for a bento set, you can’t really complain much can you?

Other stuff you can check out are:

- 50% off (weekdays)* @ FourSkin for all T-Shirts & Flip Flops.

- 20 & off (weekdays)* @ Midori

- 10 % off for all Nike normal priced items.

- 15% off for Adidas normal priced item, above RM 100.

- 30% off for Hair Coloring @ S'Pro Hairdressing.

- RM 45.90 fpr Wagyu Beef Set @ Satsuma (normal price RM 110)

- RM 6.90 for Salmon Teppanyaki @ Mr. Teppanyaki (normal price RM 14.90)

- RM 39.90 for Beef Ribs @ Tony Roma's (normal price RM 48.90)

* for weekends discounts differ.

* coupons can be collected at information counter at Cineleisure Damansara. While stocks last.

* loads for offers and discounts up for grabs!!!

I spent the entire day there splashing my dosh on these offers. And now I’m broke. Crap. Looks like it’s Maggie mee for the rest of the week days I guess. No more Coffee Bean for days. Bosss!!! teh tarik satu kurang manis!!!

Of Annie's Wedding Dinner & An Orchestra

Weekend of 17th & 18th November

Saturday


This weekend I celebrated with many other friends a wedding that was to be celebrated sooner or later. It was Annie’s wedding dinner held at her home, although not grand (but the actual wedding dinner at her husband’s hometown will be grand, I’m sure), the atmosphere and food was fantastic and it befitted a bride that is just as fantastic, in terms of beauty, charm and personality. That night, Annie was the pearl in the ocean among a sea of people, dressed in a green dress with hints of peacock feathers that befitted her elegance that night. Just like a peacock in full feathery bloom, she was a beauty in full glamorous poise and attraction. Her efforts to impress were not in vain, that is for sure.

With her husband in tow, they complemented each other like the stars in a night sky. It is a marriage made in heaven, and I believe without doubt it will stay that way until time passes no more. There shall (and most realistically) be bumps and rough seas thoroughly the course of their matrimonial journey, but through patience, understanding and love, passing through the hard times will only make them stronger, and the love for each other will only be much more deeper.

I hope and wish to the both of you, the best and most rewarding of married times. Congratulations!

Abit more photos are available by clicking here!!!

Sunday

It seems my recent good fortunes are continuing to prosper. Last Friday I got a call from a friend of mine and she invited me to the ‘Cadaques Orchestra’, brought to us by Toyota from the ‘Toyota Classics’ series held at Shah Alam. Not being a big fan of classical music, I nearly said an emphatic ‘No’ to her until she suddenly mentioned that the tickets were free. I made an abrupt U-turn and accepted her fine offer with gleeful arms and gladly fetched her to the Shah Alam Auditorium. Joined by SL, we attended the event in full formal wear and embraced the characteristic passion and flair of the Spanish Zarzuela music for an unforgettable 2 hours and more.

With conductor Pablo Gonzalez, tenor Francisco Vas and special guest performer Sean Ghazi, it was an evening of sheer musical class and a performance befitting a King. Yes, even our Agong was there. But sad to say, the venue did not fit the standard of music on offer that night, as the ‘Auditorium Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam’ was in a dilapidated state and the air-conditioning was no exception. The guests were all in evening gowns and suits. Just imagine the discomfort of everyone from the warm conditions.

But the event was for charity, so I guess the discomfort was for a good cause. I hope. Anyway, the night of formality was not without its funny moments. I caught an uncle, a few rows in front of me falling asleep!!! His head was dropping sideways almost to a 90 degree angle and was this close to falling sideways to the person beside him. And another funny thing is, the person beside him was trying to dodge his head by shouldering him away!!! And yet that guy was still asleep. That’s the magic of classical music, I guess.

Getting ready to enter the concert!!!

I noticed a few pretty ladies around the auditorium as well, so pretty in fact, there was one lady that I swear resembled Angelina Jolie!!! She was tall, slim, and elegant. When walking, one can feel she possess an aura of sexiness only sexy ladies can own (haha!). I was so tempted to ask for a picture with her (or an autograph. Or a drink with her. Or a night out. Anything) until something out of my wildest imagination could not possibly create happened….she scratched her armpits. 3 times. Oh good lord in heaven, why did this mismatch of beauty and brains occurred. Such a waste of sexiness, ‘cause there isn’t enough of it in this world you know that….

Anyway, putting my misadventures in an auditorium aside (and I had quite a few in my time), the energy-filled ‘Cadaques Orchestra’ performed a wide-range of tunes in-line with the Zarzuela spirit (Zarzuela, according to Wikipedia, “is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance. The name derives from a Royal hunting lodge, the ‘Palacio de la Zarzuela’ near Madrid, where this type of entertainment was first presented”). The lists of compositions performed are as follows:

1.) R.Chapi
Prelude to La Revoltrosa

2.) J. Serrano
“Te quiero morena” from El trust de los tenorios”

3.) F. Chueca
Prelude to El bateo

4.) A. Soriano
“Suena guitarrico mio” from El guitarrico

5.) J. Guerreros
“Fiel espada triunfadora” from El huesped del sevillano”

6.) G. Gimenez
“Intermedio” from La boda de Luis Alonso

7.) A. Lara
“Granada”

Intermission

8.) R. Chapi
Prelude to El tambor de granaderos

9.) R. Soutullo & J. Vert
“Bella enamorada” from El ultimo romantico”

10.) P. Sorozabal
“No puede ser Esa mujer es buena” from La taberna del Puerto

11.) F. Chueca
Prelude to Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente

12.) M. Torroba
“De este apacible rincon de Madrid” from Luisa Fernanda.

13.) Sean Ghazi
“Semalam”
“I Have Dreamed”
“Getaran Jiwa”


Well, Sean Ghali was a nice surprise, I didn't know we had a singer like him!!! I gotta check out his new album some day.

Anyway, here are some of the photos from the event!!!

On a side note, during the morning I went to 1 Utama to watch ‘Beowulf’ (great movie, the review in previous blog) and right after I came out from the cinema, suddenly a very tiny guy but very ‘leng cai’ and ‘yeng’ guy walked past right in front of me, accompanied by security guards and all. At first glance, I instantly knew who he was. It was Daniel Lee, the winner from Malaysian Idol (Season 2 I think). I could not get out my cam-phone out on time to catch a quickie photo with him (even though the guards will not let me), I caught a few photos of him while performing on stage at ‘1U’. He is soooooo tiny looking, but his voice is like a boom-box. What a talent. Apparently he said that this will be his last promo gig in the Klang Valley or Malaysia (I didn’t hear it properly haha, sorry). So, very sad for the Klang Valley fans. I guess he will be moving up to Taiwan where his prospect would be better? Anyway, he stayed to sign autographs and all that, but I got his autograph already hehe. An auntie of mine gave me Daniel’s signed CD of his latest album ‘Unaviodable’. Check it out!!!: