Great awaits

I was chatting with a college friend on MSN this afternoon when she gave me a link to an upcoming movie by Tim Burton. Being a big fan of his 'Nightmare Before Christmas', of course I took a look.

YouTube - Coraline (2009) - Trailer #2 [HD QUALITY]

Coraline, a movie by Focus Features and Laika seems like a pretty picture to begins with... that is until you get to the middle of the trailer. Some kid who thinks the world isn't enough and finds a new dimension, only to have her dreams turn evil. Although as I found out it wasn't by Tim Burton, it was however directed by the same Henry Selick that did NBC. Animation wise, it was so smooth that at first I thought it was made in 3D. Definitely a good show to catch, no matter how much it reminds me of a lighter 'Pan's Labyrinth'

It's almost Christmas, time to dish out the comedies. So I went over to check the other large animation production houses; namely Walt Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks.

I can't say I remember the last movie by Disney, but I think the last one I watched was 'Enchanted', which was nice. But now there's Bolt

Apple - Trailers - Bolt - Trailer

Cute, alternate reality inside the mind of a dog, an innocent cat and a fantasizing hamster. Being in a movie, Bolt the main character thinks what happens behind the camera is real. Soon enough he escapes the confines of the set and is off to save his little miss. What he doesn't realize is that his super powers don't work outside the screen. Definitely a funny to watch since it involves inconvenient innocence and cute realization of one's position.

In the recent movie with 'Wall.E', Pixar reached beyond their normally grounded routine and flew off into space, and in their next movie it seems they haven't quite come back down to Earth.

Apple - UP

In their coming feature length animation, 'UP', Carl Fredriksen a 78 year old man who feels life has passed him by is given a boost to rekindle his want to explore the world by a young boy named Russell. He takes off his own around-the-world trip in a very unexpected manner (or manor). With little enough imagination, one can see how this would be an entertaining movie, however it would be no loss to see Pixars view on it as it is rolled out on the big screen on the 29th of March 2009.

On the other hand, Dreamworks seems to be keeping with their quaky styles and story telling. In their new movie slated to come out ALSO on March 2009, is a funny but different version of the cliche city-in-need-of-saving therefore superheroes-are-born. Dreamworks love for throwing norms in the opposite direction is shown once again in this feature.

YouTube - Monsters vs Aliens trailer

Imagine 'Monsters Inc.' and 'Kungfu Panda' in a larger group (I would say 'The Incredibles' but it might be suicide to mix the production houses up). Which now that I have a chance, would like to mention that Dreamworks seems to have a liking for tubby characters, seeing as they have had so much practice with the 3 installations of 'Shrek' and Po from 'Kungfu Panda'. They haven't pulled out of it by introducing Insectorsaurous(sp?) and Bob(who doesn't have a brain) in this movie. I'm already looking forward to this.

2009 also announces the screening of 6th book 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' in July. Something to look forward to, only to be picked apart being compared to the novel.

Apple - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Trailer 3a

Watching the trailer made me feel the need to read Rowlings 6th book again. Not because I want to compare, but because I cant for the life of me remember half of the scenes that happen in the trailer(Ok, so maybe that means compare too). This is something odd for Potter books as I usually remember whats in or not in the book. Which either means my memory bank is crap, or that the movie's being distinctly different again. Someone watch it and confirm with me?

So, perusing the Apple movies I also caught sight of this movie:

Apple - Inkheart - Trailer 2a

Which sad to say I regret not buying the book before the eventual price-hike-because-it's-a-dang-blockbuster. Inkheart is the first edition of a trilogy by Cornelia Funke, where the characters find they can make stories come to life just by reading it out loud. Good grief, that's something I've dreamed of doing since a whole lot of years before. The trailer looks very promising though in that case I'm prepared to find the movie a bit less thrilling than the trailer.... The only itch about the movie is that Brendan Fraser plays the dad. He's a good actor no doubt about that, it's just that I feel he doesn't have the face for it, not after 'Bedazzled'. Maybe Ewan McGregor? But that's just my opinion.

Next up is another book-to-movie feature. This one's a little closer in date coming out 6 days before Christmas.

Apple - The Tale of Despereaux - Trailer - Medium

Pronounced 'des-pa-roe', it's a tale about a mouse, a princess, soup and the turn of the tide written by Kate DiCamillo. Although not made by any of the animation company favourites, it looks nice enough. A little different from the more recent cooking rat animation but just about as fun. This is another book which I had refrained and regret from buying. I was drawn to the book before by its charming cover design which I think anyone would fall for. Voice over for this movie is as charming as its character Despereaux who is, despite all, a gentleman.

So saying, those are the movie I'm looking forward to the most in the wonderful medley of movie chaos. Of course there will be movies to see such as 'Australia', 'Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa', 'Seven Pounds' (Will Smith), 'Angels and Demons', 'Yes Man' (Jim Carrey), 'Marley and Me', 'Transporter3' and 'Pink Panther 2' (not that I'll watch the last two). I'm so looking forward to getting the pir- I mean, seeing these movies on screen.

As you can tell, I'm not really into blow-it-up movies or scary ones. Else I'd be reviewing movies like 'Quantum of Solace' and 'The Alphabet Killer'... whatever they seem to be. Hah.

Thanks for reading.

Oh and I enjoyed 'The Bucket List' and 'What Happens in Vegas', and have taken a liking to songs by Mika.

-D-

Boredom

It's been 5 weeks since I submitted my Major Project and today the school is going to screen it at ACMI, Federation Square. This would be the only chance in the near future that my project will get to be screened openly because it is an interactive. However I've yet to make it available online because I've fallen into a sort of lethargy.

And I have to say that there are certain things I would like to say that I can't because my little brother happily informed my parents about this blog. So now it's a controlled blog. Shad, we're in the same boat now, row man! ROW!

But in any case...

My cousin and cousin-in-law are building a house using a mass-builder. It's something like, they have certain plans you can choose from and certain stuff (doors, bricks, windows, tiles) that you can choose from, but they'll build it on your land. I find it interesting because although you might not get 100% the house you dreamed off, it would be at least 70% your choice. So I tagged along for the choosing of the building blocks of the house. (Pun, no?)

Surprising, or unsurprisingly enough, Metricon (mass-builder) was full of woman consultants. We saw only 1 guy consultant... and he was handling carpets. And I found out how exhausting it could be to match a whole house of colours. Granted we worked through it all one by one; brick, roof, gutter, awning, weatherboard, garage door, windows, window frames, door handles, toilet bowls, bath tubs, shower cubicles, taps, sinks, mirrors, shower heads, kitchen bench tops, splash walls, feature walls, normal walls, drawer and cupboard handles, toilet sink tops, cupboard colours, kicker colours, carpet types and colours, shutters, blinds, stairs, front slope thingy.... My goodness I didn't even know you could choose for half of these before yesterday. It took about 4 hours for all that, and they haven't even chosen tiles! If I ever buy land in the future, I'm probably going to make sure there's a working house on it. And do renovations. Or I might just get an apartment.

Not that I'm complaining. No. It was just that there were so many choices that when asked for an opinion, I kind of reverted back to logic rather than taste to help them choose. It's a good thing that my cousins had certain likes and dislikes. Else we'd have been stumped for longer maybe. It's a good thing the interior consultant we met were supportive. By the end of that me and my cousin were quite stoned. Went home to sleep.

Also, I helped my uncle push my aunts car out of the driveway and onto the road and on the driveway again because the battery was dead. Unfortunately it was no Kancil.

I want to start cold calling for work... but since im planning to go back in January I'm not sure if employees want a 1 month-er. Maybe I'll try. Wish me luck~

-D-

P.S. Whee for weird green layouts... -_-

Hi

Sorry, just some photos that weren't uploaded a while back. I'm more than a little depressed today hence the lack of commentary. Hope everyone else is doing well.






Thanks guys for all this!

-D-

Pictures!

It's the fourth of November. Melbourne Cup Day. Means according to my friend, most of the shops will be closed



But it's a great day anyway ^_^


Pictures!

Here's my lunch from some time ago, when projects still needed handing in.

The end result of 6 months of hard work. My apologies to those at home, there seems to be a problem downloading it off the net. I will try to make it available soon.

My room, finally cleaned after so long... I washed all of my clothes and sheets on the same day.And this is as clean as my desk will ever be, I guess. It's cluttered now...

Birthday Cards!

You insane people sending cards all the way from Malaysia so that I can has ripping time!

This one's from Marina. Still happy with the cow shots you took when you were here, eh? ;)I has a holy cow now :D Thanks Marina! A little hard to read, but I sure felt the thought that counted!

This is from Esther! Truthfully speaking, I was confused for the first 3 seconds of opening the envelope. And then there was awesomenessThanks Esther for all the wonderful heave-ho on the ego ;D

All this thanks to Memory Lane~

And proof of what a beautiful day is~

So to everyone for your wishes!

Mum and Dad
Dyl-boi
Charlene
Marina
Esther
Amy
Bel
Crys
Jo (I'll still wait for your card to arrive)
Satya
BK
Mary
Peter
Nat
Everyone else
My awesome housemates who bought me a cake!
My secret

Thank you all! I love!

-D-

21 Years Alive

It's today, it's today
It's finally here
Too far, too long
Now finally, too near

Years ago, to this very day
A simpleton was born
Not too far away

The time has come
The time to pass
The 21st year
The very last

Oh youth has still so much to say
But that which is here
Will not wait another day!

---

Hurrah for absolutely mind-blowing, awesomely-weird, badly-written, riddle-like poems to kick-start 21 years alive!!! (And lets not forget the over-use of the ever helpful dash[-])

As over-rated as it is, everyone goes through it at a point in their lives. Or rather a date in their lives. And now it's my turn. Oh horror, oh shame. Oh darn I'm so far away from the people who've known me all my life.... So much for getting my head pushed into cake. (Seriously, you know I'm joking about the cake part, right? Right? Oh dear.)

Now, if I were surrounded by those said people, a blog about my birthday would not have survived it's initial round of thanks. And most of you would have turned away by then. But then again, I would have had serious fun. Can't have the whole cake dear, you'll get a stomach ache. In a rhetorical way.

So to start of, I want to thank my parents for conceiving me and my mum for eventually giving birth to me, for bringing me up in a home I could be happy in, for all the spoils and scolding, for the lectures and nurtures and for being who you are. I really hope the relationship between you both will strengthen, even in this day and age as I believe what you have always told me; that it is never too late to change.

My dearly departed, unacquainted, paternal parents whom married despite their communication barrier and which grandfather traveled all the way from China. My lovely and well missed maternal grandparents who were half the hand of bringing my brother and I up to be who we are now. I hope you both are well. Grandma, I hope you are still fit enough to potter around your garden though I wish you'd find time to relax more. Grandpa, and I mean this is the best way possible, 4D is not the answer.

My brother, Daryl, the best in the world I could wish for. You always been there for me (partially because I'm always tagging alongside your shadow). Thanks for sticking up for me, for helping me grow, for giving me a shove through my emo years. Mostly for putting up with my tantrums, my tears, my maniacal laughter and sad humor. For being who you are and able to stand by me since you were a year old, I have endless gratitude to you.

To my smaller brother, Dylan, it is nothing new that you've been a pain in the rear since I don't know when. But then again, with pain we grow. I've always known that I have a temperament. Horrible as it is, if you weren't around, it probably would have grown into something unmanageable. I'm glad that I have at least someone to coddle a little, and hope to goodness that you will get through that phase you are going through now.

To my aunts and uncles, thanks for all the great times. May they keep on rolling. Disagreements or not, we are still family. I know I have little right to say this but, keep in touch. To my cousins on my moms side, Wei Soon, Chuen, Charlene, Joshua, Joel, Samuel, Caleb, little Nathan. The elder ones I'm happy to have spent my childhood with, the youngsters I hope and wish for all the best. May we meet again soon enough.
My cousins on my dads side, I'm very sorry I don't remember a lot of you, haven't met a few. Jie Hwan San, Jie Hsu San, Jie Amy, Wei Ling, Fiona, Cindy, Ivan, Edwin, Victor, Sharon, Wendy. I know there are so many more. To those I've have the opportunity to know over again in Melbourne, thank you so much for taking care of me, even when I was like a stranger to you. Of course not to forget the other halves of the couples Yih Seng Koko, Eugene, Andre, Leo, you are all good in your own way.

To my friends all the way from primary; Marina, Sally, Crystal, Justin, Satya and Sathya, Razin and Rashad, Padma, Jun Ching, Farahiyah, Farah Munji, Joel,... too many more to remember. Secondary school; Esther, Belvinder, Josephine, Amy, Raymond, TBK, Satpal, everyone in Science 1 and 2. People who left. People who came back. Friends who packed lunches with me. Everyone whom I had to collect money from during those five years. Yeah, I took your money cause I care *evil grin*
You have all played a part in who I am now. I remember falling a sleep in class in standard 2. I remember eating food during recess under the mango tree because the canteen was too far. I remember the poor kedongdong tree being de-leafed. I remember teachers, not their names. I remember the BCG jab, man that hurt. I remember my mothers challenge, and the teacher telling me I got straight A's for UPSR. I remember Farah crying.
I remember being afraid of meeting new people in secondary. I remember forgetting Jo's name. I remember fun. I remember pride. I remember crying after receiving my PMR results. I remember changing classes, increasing friends. I remember getting to know the twins more. I remember our unhappiness at being unable to create our class magazine. I remember Browser. I remember SPM. Sweaty palms and cold feelings. Ideas, theories, memos, swirling in our head. Additional math on my birthday. The rush of warmth at the final call of the paper. Dreaded moments before the slip. Disappointment, relief, humble pride roiled into one feeling of receiving the results.

I was reminded of the awesome party we won from faking a paper in Form 2. The Cyclone lives on! With weird comics backing it up :)

Many of you know little about what happened during my 3 years at college. I was my first step out of my seemingly large comfort zone. I met people, learned new things. Found happy moments, sad episodes, all wiped a way in a blink, only to come rushing back stronger than the wave it was. 3 years of endurance, one of hope, one of stability, and one overwhelmed. I've become sharper, more refined in a way that I cannot express how glad I am to have those who still stand around me.

In my seven months in Melbourne, I have found a plaster for my wound. I have found something else to include in the scrapbook of my life. I have found a secret. I have found that I cannot repay what I have been shown, but I hope in the very least I'm doing my part for the life and living of someone else. I want to start by giving thanks.
Thank you for reading this far. For those of you not mentioned, I am terribly sorry for not having the best of memories. It might seem a little anti-climax at this point, but I am still alive so this experience will still go on. It's all about me, all about you.

I live, I learn, I love.

I am 21.

-D-