Music/Movies

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Does a soundtrack make or break a movie, no matter how good the movie is? Not sure myself, but I’ve come to realise that the movies I list as my favourites all have elements of music in them, more than just the soundtrack. In fact, you could almost say they are musicals. Firstly, the is the magnificent Phantom of The Opera. If there’s one thing that fascinates me more than music, its multi-talented individuals, in this case, its actors/actresses who can also carry a tune quite impressively.

Among my other favourites are Les Choristes, Paris je t’aime, Corpse Bride, August Rush, and In America. Not your typical blockbuster line up, thats for sure. But the melodies that these movies weave together with their stories makes them that much more memorable. Music has an inexplicable way to it, to touch you in places you never thought you had, drawing out forgotten emotions and pricking life back into a lifeless being. It paints a picture full of a thousand rainbows for you to immerse yourself in, even if you aren’t a synesthete. Bad reviews aside, a movie that I’ve been dying to watch is Across the Universe – only because it features some of my favourite songs.

Recently I was reminded of the quiet awesomeness that is Iron and Wine while doing some research about the movie Twilight. Teenage vampire love stories are quite far from palatable to me, but on account of the magnificent “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” suggested by actress Kristen Stewart (who plays Bella Swan) I am actually considering watching it. Only for the end song lol!

I’m not happy with this blog. Thinking of redoing it somehow. For starters, there’s a lot of real wasted space, and it takes forever to load. And school starts too soon…

Back to square one

by with No Comment eventsfamilymoviestechnology

Went out yesterday to buy a new camera since our old one got stolen. My dad had already picked one out, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3, which was almost similar to our old one, but still different.

My older brother told me to research other cameras as well. So I did and ended up with several options, the most promising one was the Canon Powershot A580. Both of the cameras were for RM799.00. Finally got out of the house at 3.30pm, and went off to Times Square to park. My brother wanted to go to Low Yat but I preferred looking around in Times Square First. After browsing around for ages we actually made up our minds around 5 separate times.

1. A really cool Panasonic , can’t remember the model, for RM999, but later we found out it didn’t come with a battery or memory card

2. A Sony Cybershot for RM899, but that didn’t come with a memory card either.

3. A Nikon P60 – never really in my eyes but my sister seemed to like it.

4. A Canon Powershot A590IS for RM850

5. Finally just went for the original Panasonic my dad told us to buy…

Here is a side-by-side comparison of those cameras.

Watched Hancock afterwards. Don’t know what to say about the movie. It was weird…

totally unrelated – an interesting post

Choices

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Watched “The Incredible Hulk” today, at the insistence of my brothers, coupled with the refusal of my sister to sit through “Kung-Fu Panda” and the lack of anything else to watch. The movie was LOUD. Had to stick my fingers in my ears more than several times. The only saving grace was Edward Norton, who I like anyway. Liv Tyler, oh my god, breathy voice is annoying!

Tomorrow I have so many things/places/events lined up that I need to choose from:

Urbanscapes
RA FlashMob
Butterfly Park with Nada and Sumeyra
Watch “Wanted” with Aziza
Go Out with Ayesha (can be combied with aziza)
Help my brother with his gift shopping
Accompany my other brother to some Post Grad education Fair in KLCC – can be combined with gift shopping with lil bro..
Stay at home and clear out my messy room

Honestly don’t know which one i will pick..(or can actually go to..)

In a land far, far away…..

by with No Comment eventsfriendsmovies

T watched the second installment of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince caspian, today. it was ok..some parts were good, some ok, some…cliched, it was after all a disney movie. i was given the feeling it was meant to be an emotional journey for the characters, but the only part in which they really succeeded in thoroughly portraying these emotions was their sense of desperate longing for narnia, how they missed it and their sadness in knowing that it was all temporary.

The Brazilian word ‘saudades’ is described as “it is a deep feeling of longing for someone or someplace, which is very sweet but also tinged with an inescapable sadness” (definition provided years ago by Antonio Carlos Jobim). It is this feeling that i so very often feel, and this movie captured that feeling very subtly, from beginning to the end.

The end credit song by regina spektor perfectly captures the mood, and was such a great way to end an otherwise just ok movie. it was like a wonderful surprise present. my sister andi were sitting there, thinking, we know that voice. we love that voice. yea for regina! in most of the other emotional scenes i was just an observer, and once or twice actually burst out laughing…more later

p/s: go listen to the song – its called “the call”
Regina Spektor – The Call

hmm so far i have edited this post 4 times…and i expect to do more soon. i guess its a testament to the movie, it made me think about stuff…

the movie marathon-ing

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So far in the holidays i have watched:

The Spiderwick Chronicles – better than i expected from a nickelodeon movie

The Jane Austen Book Club – hmmm….it was interesting i guess

27 Dresses – james marsden!! – what more can i say?

Win a Date with Tad hamilton – topher!!!

Becoming Jane – did not live up to my expectations. it was just ok

In America – loved this movie!!

Catch Me If You Can – it was based on a true story, mustve been some kinda life!

The Kite Runner – Great Great movie

Anna and The King – lotsa malay actors in this movie. therefore their accents were malay, not thai. looool tom felton as a kid is exactly the same

Juno – eccentric, funny goodness, just the way i like it

The Bourne Identity – the book was better but more confusing…

movies i have lined up:
the bourne supremacy
the bourne ultimatum
the wind that shakes the barley
crash

what else is there to do? i finished reading all my new books and also my new magazines. like the day i bought them.

warm ears and rollicking tummies

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I’ve been very jumpy and nervous all week long, well last week since its monday. even today. i had to present my project and i wasn’t really prepared, i knew what i wanted to say but i didn’t get a chance to rehearse all of it in my head or arrange all the points into a nice flowing explanation. ah anyway. the lecturers said my design was good, and they seemed to really like it, so thats a relief.this is my project. for more pictures go to my facebook account.my stomach gets all giddy when i’m nervous. i also seem to smile a really wide cheesy beam when i’m nervous presenting stuff.

i watched atonement on friday even though i was supposed to be working on my project>_>. but in lieu of the events of the day i felt i deserved a break and it was so worth it, the movie was really really good! i don’t like keira knightly but saoirse ronan and james mcavoy were brilliant. ilham was going on and on about her james, but i was really impressed by saoirse, she’s really good for someone so young and very pretty in a light, watery blue eyed way. even though the movie was slow it added to the whole feel, kinda artsy and emotional. one of the parts which impressed me most was the scene at the beach, it was like a whole 4.5 minutes of winding through the beach in a single shot, no cuts. that was some feat. according to imdb.com it took under 5 takes, so its even more impressive they were able to synchronise everything. if you’ve watched it then you know how difficult that must’ve been.

on saturday after watching the movie we had another adventure, this time involving aziza’s padlock v3.0. see, aziza had a padlock, the supposedly super security ones. but then for some reason it refused to open so she couldn’t lock her wardrobe. so she bought a new one, and happily padlocked her wardrobe shut. then she realised she lost the keys. so she had to call the technician to cut it open. the next day she buys a new padlock and locks the wardrobe and goes to class. upon returning, though, she tries to open the padlock but something inside it cracks so she can’t get it open. so i ask my dad if he can borrow a metal clipper thingy and bring it when hes picking me up. he says he can, but that it is huge and that he’d have to go up into the girls’ hostel to clip it. i say never mind, just bring it we can at least try. and when he brings it, its huge!i mean, its gotta be 1 meter long and is heavy. but the three of us (me, mom and zah) manage to clip that darn padlock open. Yaaay!!

i’m so shy its embarrassing. geez. my ears get all warm and my body feels warm one second, and cold the next…

maymuna aka nuna aka munmun is super cute!!!