And it's a rainy day...

Wednesday, December 06, 2006 / 1:35 PM

Pyaar

Bila bila kiranya diriku perlu
Hari yang murung
Terdengar nada yang riang ria
Sekali suara meyakinkan jiwa
Kaku langkah mengaguminya
Kaku menerimanya

- Zainal Abidin's "Iklas Tapi Jauh" -

Ever since the middle of this year, I've been gazing at the wrap-around posters on the pillars at KL Sentral, depicting 5 couples, and the cheesy taglines aka "Unggul", "Tulus", "Romantis". I wasn't sure what it was actually for, although, since TiviTiga have been using this venue to promote its offerings, i thought it might be a high profile Cerekarama or something. What caught my eyes were not Sharifah Amani, but more of Rashidi Ishak, Fatimah Abu Bakar and of course, Pierre Andre.

Later I found out that it was an early promo for the movie "Cinta", and due to these 3 personalities, I decided to catch this movie. But you know how I am with movies right? Boleh kira on one hand how many movies I've said I wanted to watch and did. However, I was lucky this time as my dentist and her posse was adamant about watching, and dragging a bunch of people along with them. And, I was very, very glad I went along.

Ok, this is not a cue for a movie review, but whaddahell, I want to tell, so I will.

I suppose by now practically everyone knows that its a movie about 5 different couples, who's life might be intertwined with each other. Well, for those not in the know, they're all stories about couples in love, but merely, love in different forms, I suppose *God, the L-Word is going to be spattered everywhere in this post*. I'm not going through the movie, as I recommmend everyone, cynical or otherwise, to watch it. It me feel like the world is cantik, and I'd like to think that everyone else who went had that feeling too. Well, its prolly due to the great, festive-season-ads-like cinematography tho. Just my 2 cents worth. Btw, it's soo not Love Actually ok. I should know, that being one of my favourite movies ever.

I memang love Datuk Rahim Razali's (RR) work. In this movie, he reminded me of my unconventional boss, calm, witty and charming. Fatimah Abu Bakar (FAB) is great in her role. Actually, I'm not even sure if she's acting or if she's actually like that at home in her sarong, but it was so bersahaja. The loghat Utara, the spontaneous dialogue, the expressions on her face; btw, both of them have the best lines...trust me. Go listen. Especially the one that goes something like " sehari bersama orang yang kita sayang, lagi bermakna daripada seumur hidup dengan orang yang kita tak cinta". Or something like that. Very, very endearing, and dignified performances from the two.

Rashidi Ishak and Rita Rudaini's story is heartfelt, although I suppose his character is a wee bit cheesy. I mean, I would soo dismiss a character like that in life, the poor thing hehe. But again, great performance from him that of course, eclipsed Rita's and even, nearly eclipsed Eizlan's. But his emotions seemed really raw, and yes the score from the movie really plays a huge part ,rising during the darkest moment of his life. And the tiny actress who played his daughter? Amazingly superb. Macam tak berlakon. Lovely. Ooh, and i love the last bit of their story. Watch out for it.

Eizlan Yusof's and Fasha Sandha's bit is not very interesting to me. It's prolly just cliche or I dunno, seemed like a fluffy filler for the movie. I mean, how would you know how to dress up like that when asked out for dinner? I suppose the only thing that interests me about their story is the fact that I once bumped into him in KL Sentral, and he was wearing one of the outfit he wore in the movie, so it must have been during the filming of the movie!! heeeee :)

what next? ooh, Nanu Baharuddin and Que Haidar's performance. Not bad, considering I don't quite like both of them, but convincing and I loved that poem she wrote for him.."Adik jangan takut gelap, sebab kakak ada lilin.." Very sweet, and the twist at the end seemed like the most suitable ending. Didn't get a good look at who played her love interest, altho I thought he looked like IdrisJala hehe. Loved her outfits btw. The dude who played his rock kapak friend was hilarious too.

Finally, the cutesy love story between Sharifah Amani and Pierre Andre. My grouse is that she's too whiny, and he doesn't have enough lines. As a matter of fact, I think his character needed to be developed and fleshed out. Grr. Such a waste of a pretty face and that super cute "ssshh" he has to his ass, err, i mean s. The dude who played her love interest was so not convincing, and I dunno laa, their story more or less didn't have the effect that I thought I would do to me. And she going sekejap saya, sekejap kita, was pretty annoying actually.

All in all, twas a good and entertaining movie. Scenery was nice, cosmopolitan as only a KL-ite would know. Lovely, lovely soundtrack, very effective in creating the mood of the story. The expressions on the faces of the characters played as much role as their script. Some might claim that its not realistic enough, but I say, kalo korang nak tengok realistic, go and watch Bersamamu ok. This is a freaking movie, its aim is to entertain. Think of all the people in India who crowd into the movie theatres to enjoy a few long hours of singing, dancing and unbelievable dialogues to escape their dreary life.

Watch the movie. It's lovely. Support la barangan buatan Malaysia. Especially a gem like this.

Speaking of barangan buatan Malaysia, am I the last person in Klang Valley who've just discovered William's? Thought half of Klang Valley was there supping with me last night. Him and his posse is a performance not to be missed too. I love how he just hollers out the ingredients, and next thing you know? There's a steaming plate of Carbonara on your table. Genius. Just tell him what u feel like eating, and he'll dress it up as pseudo-Italian thingy that will wipe off your hunger, trust me. Oh, and try out the Apple Assam Boi too. Yums.

I can't wait to try out the roti canai wrap thingy and the baked macaroni and cheese...

Monday, December 04, 2006 / 12:00 PM

"Kadang-kadang orang yang paling kita sayang adalah orang yang paling susah kita nak sayang.."

Malam bulan dipagar bintang
Makin indah jika dipandang
Bagai gadis beri senyuman
Pada bujang idaman

- P. Ramlee & Saloma's "Malam Bulan Dipagar Bintang" -

The only downside to this otherwise groovalicious pc i have is not being able to view my Frienster pages. Tsk. Hence, I don't know what' going on up there, if anyone's left me more wedding invites or if that sweetie managed to take a look at my profile. Kidding. Unfortunately, this means I've prolly missed a few birthday notices. Apologies all around.

Plus, my handphones in its last days, which results in the screen being blank all the time. Therefore I have not been able to read smses, compose them, and i'll be answering my calls with a cautious "Hello" as I can't tell who's calling.

The invitation came innocently enough.."Nak join treasure hunt tak dgn kitorang?" says my senior colleague..hell, yeah!! So that's what I did the whole Saturday *grins* I've always wanted to try out one of these hunts, but never having the right amount of guts or moolah, so when they told me our Sports Club will be sponsoring us on this hunt, I quickly booked my place in the cute car up there. The best part was, we'd be travelling all the way to PD! I was with my driver, Mike, and two jolly but seriously competitive senior lady colleagues. The thing is, none of us have ever entered a hunt before ngeh ngeh.

They flagged us off from DH after a hearty breakfast. Unfortunately, since we were kinda late, my yummy looking kopi-o suam left my table even before I could taste it..dang! We were given 35 clues to solve, answers in the form of signages or businesses along the way, 3 treasures to be handed in and to answer a mission which is a tricky bit of calculation.

The first check point was at Starbucks UpTown, and we spent some time there looking for about 5 clues. However, since its like our first time, I think we spent a tad too long a time looking for the answers, the questions were tricky!!! Either that, or our vision just seemed to failed us that morning hehe. Ok laa, admittedly, we didn't know what we were looking for haha! Which resulted in us feeling down and inferior.

It was in Puchong that we picked up our pace, and managed to score some answers we thought was right *turns out they weren't actually..cheh!* Some were pretty obvious, some were really, really tricky. After about an hour in Puchong, we zoomed off to Seremban, as the hunt continued there. Unfortunately, the highway was pretty jammed, and we were all squirming in the car since we have about only 2 hours left and half of the clues have not been solved. Plus, we could only make out 2 out of 3 of our treasures!

We employed a tactic of parking our car and walking up and down the street to look for the answers, but upon arriving in Seremban, we just decided to zoom up and down, saves time that way *something we found out only later! grr* After Seremban, we zoomed off to PD, along a narrow road with large, slow lorries ahead of us. We managed to arrive in time I think, at our last chekcpoint, a famous O&G's training centre, with a gorgeous view. This despite, taking detours, and doubling back to check up on spellings of places. We only managed to hand in 2 out of 3 of or treasures, but we did solved our mission, thank God. Those questions we couldn't aswer, we just bantai put down names of shops we managed to see along the way hehe.

It was a fun outing! I had cool car partners, and there were loadsa laughs along the way. And the way we tried to write an answer, while pointing at the wrong building, to throw off other competitors, trying not to run after the car once obtaining an answer, and best of all, when we psycho-ed other cars by following them closely from behind! Well, they did that first, and my paranoid senior was like, are they just following us, or are they actually reading the tulips correctly?? *tulips are what they call the directions*

We, of course, didn't win anything, but it was a great experience. After lunch, we troop down to the pasar malam in PD town, bought some satays, apam baliks and laksas, dragged a tent to the beach and had a small picnic, watching the sunset. That was so so nice. I managed to take a look at the ocean and had a tiny finger dip :) Although, after several discussions that afternoon, I think I'm itching to organise a trip to Redang la pulak...who wants to come? hehe...I was so pooped that evening as I went back to my hometown, that even the antics of my cutest nephew didn't manage to amuse me, as I fell asleep, sprawled on my aunt's couch.

And the weekend was topped with the icing of Nani's wedding on Sunday night: Good food, beautiful people.. life's good ;)


Wednesday, December 06, 2006 / 1:35 PM Pyaar *Bila bila kiranya diriku perlu* *Hari yang murung* *Terdengar nada yang riang ria* *Sekali suara meyakinkan jiwa* *Kaku langkah mengaguminya* *Kaku menerimanya* *- Zainal Abidin's "Iklas Tapi Jauh" -* Ever since the middle of this year, I've been gazing at the wrap-around posters on the pillars at KL Sentral, depicting 5 couples, and the cheesy taglines aka "Unggul", "Tulus", "Romantis". I wasn't sure what it was actually for, although, since TiviTiga have been using this venue to promote its offerings, i thought it might be a high profile Cerekarama or something. What caught my eyes were not Sharifah Amani, but more of Rashidi Ishak, Fatimah Abu Bakar and of course, Pierre Andre. Later I found out that it was an early promo for the movie "Cinta", and due to these 3 personalities, I decided to catch this movie. But you know how I am with movies right? Boleh kira on one hand how many movies I've said I wanted to watch and did. However, I was lucky this time as my dentist and her posse was adamant about watching, and dragging a bunch of people along with them. And, I was very, very glad I went along. Ok, this is not a cue for a movie review, but whaddahell, I want to tell, so I will. I suppose by now practically everyone knows that its a movie about 5 different couples, who's life might be intertwined with each other. Well, for those not in the know, they're all stories about couples in love, but merely, love in different forms, I suppose God, the L-Word is going to be spattered everywhere in this post. I'm not going through the movie, as I recommmend everyone, cynical or otherwise, to watch it. It me feel like the world is cantik, and I'd like to think that everyone else who went had that feeling too. Well, its prolly due to the great, festive-season-ads-like cinematography tho. Just my 2 cents worth. Btw, it's soo not Love Actually ok. I should know, that being one of my favourite movies ever. I memang love Datuk Rahim Razali's (RR) work. In this movie, he reminded me of my unconventional boss, calm, witty and charming. Fatimah Abu Bakar (FAB) is great in her role. Actually, I'm not even sure if she's acting or if she's actually like that at home in her sarong, but it was so bersahaja. The loghat Utara, the spontaneous dialogue, the expressions on her face; btw, both of them have the best lines...trust me. Go listen. Especially the one that goes something like " sehari bersama orang yang kita sayang, lagi bermakna daripada seumur hidup dengan orang yang kita tak cinta". Or something like that. Very, very endearing, and dignified performances from the two. Rashidi Ishak and Rita Rudaini's story is heartfelt, although I suppose his character is a wee bit cheesy. I mean, I would soo dismiss a character like that in life, the poor thing hehe. But again, great performance from him that of course, eclipsed Rita's and even, nearly eclipsed Eizlan's. But his emotions seemed really raw, and yes the score from the movie really plays a huge part ,rising during the darkest moment of his life. And the tiny actress who played his daughter? Amazingly superb. Macam tak berlakon. Lovely. Ooh, and i love the last bit of their story. Watch out for it. Eizlan Yusof's and Fasha Sandha's bit is not very interesting to me. It's prolly just cliche or I dunno, seemed like a fluffy filler for the movie. I mean, how would you know how to dress up like that when asked out for dinner? I suppose the only thing that interests me about their story is the fact that I once bumped into him in KL Sentral, and he was wearing one of the outfit he wore in the movie, so it must have been during the filming of the movie!! heeeee :) what next? ooh, Nanu Baharuddin and Que Haidar's performance. Not bad, considering I don't quite like both of them, but convincing and I loved that poem she wrote for him.."Adik jangan takut gelap, sebab kakak ada lilin.." Very sweet, and the twist at the end seemed like the most suitable ending. Didn't get a good look at who played her love interest, altho I thought he looked like IdrisJala hehe. Loved her outfits btw. The dude who played his rock kapak friend was hilarious too. Finally, the cutesy love story between Sharifah Amani and Pierre Andre. My grouse is that she's too whiny, and he doesn't have enough lines. As a matter of fact, I think his character needed to be developed and fleshed out. Grr. Such a waste of a pretty face and that super cute "ssshh" he has to his ass, err, i mean s. The dude who played her love interest was so not convincing, and I dunno laa, their story more or less didn't have the effect that I thought I would do to me. And she going sekejap saya, sekejap kita, was pretty annoying actually. All in all, twas a good and entertaining movie. Scenery was nice, cosmopolitan as only a KL-ite would know. Lovely, lovely soundtrack, very effective in creating the mood of the story. The expressions on the faces of the characters played as much role as their script. Some might claim that its not realistic enough, but I say, kalo korang nak tengok realistic, go and watch Bersamamu ok. This is a freaking movie, its aim is to entertain. Think of all the people in India who crowd into the movie theatres to enjoy a few long hours of singing, dancing and unbelievable dialogues to escape their dreary life. Watch the movie. It's lovely. Support la barangan buatan Malaysia. Especially a gem like this. Speaking of barangan buatan Malaysia, am I the last person in Klang Valley who've just discovered William's? Thought half of Klang Valley was there supping with me last night. Him and his posse is a performance not to be missed too. I love how he just hollers out the ingredients, and next thing you know? There's a steaming plate of Carbonara on your table. Genius. Just tell him what u feel like eating, and he'll dress it up as pseudo-Italian thingy that will wipe off your hunger, trust me. Oh, and try out the Apple Assam Boi too. Yums. I can't wait to try out the roti canai wrap thingy and the baked macaroni and cheese... \| Monday, December 04, 2006 / 12:00 PM "Kadang-kadang orang yang paling kita sayang adalah orang yang paling susah kita nak sayang.." *Malam bulan dipagar bintang* *Makin indah jika dipandang* *Bagai gadis beri senyuman* *Pada bujang idaman* *- P. Ramlee & Saloma's "Malam Bulan Dipagar Bintang" -* The only downside to this otherwise groovalicious pc i have is not being able to view my Frienster pages. Tsk. Hence, I don't know what' going on up there, if anyone's left me more wedding invites or if that sweetie managed to take a look at my profile. Kidding. Unfortunately, this means I've prolly missed a few birthday notices. Apologies all around. Plus, my handphones in its last days, which results in the screen being blank all the time. Therefore I have not been able to read smses, compose them, and i'll be answering my calls with a cautious "Hello" as I can't tell who's calling. The invitation came innocently enough.."Nak join treasure hunt tak dgn kitorang?" says my senior colleague..hell, yeah!! So that's what I did the whole Saturday grins I've always wanted to try out one of these hunts, but never having the right amount of guts or moolah, so when they told me our Sports Club will be sponsoring us on this hunt, I quickly booked my place in the cute car up there. The best part was, we'd be travelling all the way to PD! I was with my driver, Mike, and two jolly but seriously competitive senior lady colleagues. The thing is, none of us have ever entered a hunt before ngeh ngeh. They flagged us off from DH after a hearty breakfast. Unfortunately, since we were kinda late, my yummy looking kopi-o suam left my table even before I could taste it..dang! We were given 35 clues to solve, answers in the form of signages or businesses along the way, 3 treasures to be handed in and to answer a mission which is a tricky bit of calculation. The first check point was at Starbucks UpTown, and we spent some time there looking for about 5 clues. However, since its like our first time, I think we spent a tad too long a time looking for the answers, the questions were tricky!!! Either that, or our vision just seemed to failed us that morning hehe. Ok laa, admittedly, we didn't know what we were looking for haha! Which resulted in us feeling down and inferior. It was in Puchong that we picked up our pace, and managed to score some answers we thought was right turns out they weren't actually..cheh! Some were pretty obvious, some were really, really tricky. After about an hour in Puchong, we zoomed off to Seremban, as the hunt continued there. Unfortunately, the highway was pretty jammed, and we were all squirming in the car since we have about only 2 hours left and half of the clues have not been solved. Plus, we could only make out 2 out of 3 of our treasures! We employed a tactic of parking our car and walking up and down the street to look for the answers, but upon arriving in Seremban, we just decided to zoom up and down, saves time that way something we found out only later! grr After Seremban, we zoomed off to PD, along a narrow road with large, slow lorries ahead of us. We managed to arrive in time I think, at our last chekcpoint, a famous O&G's training centre, with a gorgeous view. This despite, taking detours, and doubling back to check up on spellings of places. We only managed to hand in 2 out of 3 of or treasures, but we did solved our mission, thank God. Those questions we couldn't aswer, we just bantai put down names of shops we managed to see along the way hehe. It was a fun outing! I had cool car partners, and there were loadsa laughs along the way. And the way we tried to write an answer, while pointing at the wrong building, to throw off other competitors, trying not to run after the car once obtaining an answer, and best of all, when we psycho-ed other cars by following them closely from behind! Well, they did that first, and my paranoid senior was like, are they just following us, or are they actually reading the tulips correctly?? tulips are what they call the directions We, of course, didn't win anything, but it was a great experience. After lunch, we troop down to the pasar malam in PD town, bought some satays, apam baliks and laksas, dragged a tent to the beach and had a small picnic, watching the sunset. That was so so nice. I managed to take a look at the ocean and had a tiny finger dip :) Although, after several discussions that afternoon, I think I'm itching to organise a trip to Redang la pulak...who wants to come? hehe...I was so pooped that evening as I went back to my hometown, that even the antics of my cutest nephew didn't manage to amuse me, as I fell asleep, sprawled on my aunt's couch. And the weekend was topped with the icing of Nani's wedding on Sunday night: Good food, beautiful people.. life's good ;) \|	Confessions We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Journals aFToTz Nonz Amy I.R.A Prof Idlan Leen Sabbs Safurah & Ilish Nads Faren Ninie Kak Yong Huda Cik Kieli Diva Deen Kak Ngah Dilla KOwnz Azures Najah Nasseri Elisa Taufik Yameentos Magic Freshness Factor 5000 Experiences April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 March 2007 April 2007 July 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 March 2012 April 2012 August 2012 Credits Design & Layout: Naziz Inspiration: Liz Lubowitz Counter