Change

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go. things go wrong so you can appreciate them, when they're right.& sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

-Marilyn Monroe

Fast 5 & The Lost Bladesman

We sneaked out. :P

We caught the lost bladesman only because it was dirt cheap; I would have paid a single cent more to watch an extrapolated portion of history which wasn't even entirely factual. Guan Yunchang, or affectionately known as Guan Yu, was one of the most revered figures during the Warring Period in China. Don't ask me anything more, because my knowledge of Chinese history is... only that much. The last time we watched Donnie Yen on the silver screen in The Legend of the Fist, I didn't remember him with so much facial hair. The martial arts choreography wasn't that fantastic this time either. Would pale in comparison to all the other Donnie Yen movies I've seen so far.

Then the car aficionado in me was let loose in Fast & Furious 5.

The fact that I don't know where to start gushing from totally proves this movie's point of stealing the limelight from the other F&F movies. The cast, the cars, the ass-kicking women, the outrageous heists... I could write an entire thesis out of this franchise. This movie, which is supposed to sit right before Tokyo Drift and after F&F 4, tells the story of Dom Toretto and ex-cop Brian O'Conner fleeing to Rio De Janeiro after a heist to break Toretto out of a life sentence. They then plan out the biggest heist, their last route to freedom, by roping in their buds in the line. I'll stop here so I don't spoil too much of the movie. But I just have to go into the cars. Look out for the Koenigsegg CCX (driven by the 2 braggarts who claimed theirs as one of the four ever produced), the Dodge Charger (the police cars), the Nissan GTR (O'Connor's honeymoon car), the LFA (Han's babe magnet), the Ducati street racer bike (ridden by Gal Gadot), the movie's signature blue 1966 Ford GT40, the Porsche GT3-RS, and many many many more cars. (FYI: The GT3 was a replica by the production crew, who couldn't get Porsche to lend them one to smash.)

Tazzie in 4 days!

Movie: Thor

We were late; we seldom watched movies that have been released for more than one week. But it couldn't be helped, since Jack and I were busy with our examinations (of which his just ended today, congratulations darlin'). What better way to celebrate?

Thor was naturally on our post-exam die-die-must-watch list. Natalie Portman, I swear, wasn't the main reason. Neither was it Chris Hemsworth's Calvin Klein-ish physique.

Perhaps I was too spoilt by Jon Favreau's Iron Man, to the extent that anything lesser simply wouldn't hit that sweet spot. Thor, unfortunately, fell short just by a teeny weeny bit, largely because of the clichéd superhero plot. The saving grace came in the form of beautifully-done CG, as well as apt sprinkles of humor to soften the violent scenes. But the script writers will have to work on linking the various Marvel comic-adapted films, such as explaining certain terms that appear across all Marvel stories, since they all lead up to The Avengers, a movie depicting the congregation of Marvel's superheroes to defend the good together. I was lucky enough to have Jack explain certain characters and their significance in the following films.

Bye, Semester 8

Goodbye, Semester 8. You've been the bugbear in my otherwise normal life, and I'm just glad to have gotten rid of you.

This semester was a constant war raged against myself in almost every way. I was constantly spanning the boundaries (spoken with true PR gusto), pushing against my invisible glass ceiling and combating recurring bouts of self-doubt. Jack had to keep telling me that I was doing fine; that I was stretching myself was too much, spreading out those braincells too thinly over my commitments. I don't know if it's true; you know that "you reap what you sow" has been disproven times over, so I'm just playing up the malicious skeptic within me to ensure I try not to fall too much behind. I remember consulting some of my project mates, questioning them to the extent of irritation about my work attitude and quality. They replied in the same manner as Jack, constantly telling me to chill and have a little more faith in myself.

Oh well.

And this semester I made a whole ton of friends I never knew would change the ill-defined concept of "coursemates" in my dictionary; I never really forged a bond close enough with most of my project mates, despite the fact that we spend entire semesters slogging over projects together. The honours year's boys and girls didn't allow history to repeat, though. They made me feel at ease yet competitive at the same time, and the adrenaline rush derived from working with these outstanding people was strangely addictive. Hopefully the next batch of honours students (technically my juniors) would be equally competitive and competent fighters.

And some space here to those who love me so much more than I can ever imagine. Mum, who's always calling to check that I've eaten when I have to work late in school; Dad, who's always on MSN and ready to spring an IM on me to do an inventory check of the family members; Jack, whose unconditional love comes in the forms of homecooked dinners, hugs, kisses and everything else I could ever ask for. I hope life would allow me enough time to reciprocate the love I've been showered with.

To sidetrack, did I mention how evil Apple Inc. is? After selling gazillions of black iPhone 4s, they decided to release the iPhone in WHITE!

If you're ogling, you're probably normal. It's a limited edition color and Apple said the white darling was released later because it was "harder to make". I wonder how much harder.

Apparently it was enough to get me all hot and bothered, to the extent that I actually called Singtel up to ask them how much I would need to pay should I upgrade my plan (currently at 12 months). The pricetag is $780. -_-'' I could buy 3 Longchamps with that money.

Then RIM decided it should tease me a little too, by announcing the upcoming release of the touch Blackberry Bold. Looks and feels like a Blackberry Bold, except it looks more anorexic and comes with a touch screen. Enough to set off those sirens in my head.

The price of the BB is still unconfirmed, since I haven't gotten any updates from the local retailers. If it costs just a teeny bit less than the iPhone, I'm bagging this black beauty when it's released. White is overrated.

10 days to Tazzie!

Sungha Jung - Just the way you are

Can I hire this amazing guy to play at my wedding?