Stirling Chronicles: September 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Epilogue : Exodus

One million fifty-one thousand, two hundred minutes

One million fifty-one thousand moments so dear

One million fifty-one thousand, two hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure two years?

(adapted from Seasons of Love – OST Rent)

Well, my friends, after 2 years, the time has finally come. Next month the lease at my current place is expiring, and we have decided not to renew it because it is too damn expensive. So that means that I will have to move…. again. That means sorting, packing, moving, and unpacking. YAY! (that is sarcasm, in case you didn’t notice).

But….. this will be the 2^nd last time I am moving around…. YAY! (this time it’s a real yay =D)

Why, one might ask? Because….. I am actually in the process of buying my own house (well, technically not a house, but more like an apartment). But it’s not gonna be ready until April / May next year.

Oh I’m gonna miss this place….. lots of things have happened here… some good, some not so good, but overall it’s memorable. Actually this place is one of the places where I have stayed the longest…… let’s recap where I have lived and how many times I have moved in the past 12 years……

*Time*	*Place*	*City*
Jul 1998 - May 1999	NTU Hall of Residence 8, block 41, level 3	Singapore
Jun 1999 - Nov 2000	Jurong West St 91 (forgot the block and unit number)	Singapore
Nov 2000 - May 2001	NTU Hall of Residence 9	Singapore
Jun 2001 - May 2002	NTU Hall of Residence 9 (different room)	Singapore
Jun 2002 - Jun 2004	Northvale condominium block 69, Choa Chu Kang	Singapore
Jul 2004 - Nov 2004	Melbourne City	Melbourne
Dec 2004 - Dec 2005	St Kilda Rd, South Melbourne	Melbourne
Feb 2006 - May 2006	Conference Centre, BLCU	Beijing
Jul 2006 - Dec 2006	Conference Centre, BLCU (different room)	Beijing
Jan 2007 - Feb 2007	232 Bishan St 22	Singapore
Mar 2007 - Oct 2007	Geylang Lor 27A (forgot condo name and unit number) --> bad memories there	Singapore
Nov 2007 - Sep 2008	7 Normanton Park	Singapore
Oct 2008 - Sep 2010	181 Stirling Rd	Singapore
Oct 2010 - Apr 2011	596B Ang Mo Kio St 52	Singapore
May 2011 - ??	6 Bishan St 25 (Clover By The Park)	Singapore

So, overall I have moved house about 14 times…… nomaden banget gak sih??? :P

Anyway, it’s not the end of the world. Life goes on (hopefully for the better), and here’s something to commemorate my time in Stirling....

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Combo Review : The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor)

Ever since I got my iPad last month, I have been trying to maximize using it (biar gak berasa rugi gitu loh). One of the application that I have been using quite a bit is iBooks, which is a fantastic e-reader. I really love the built in features, such as auto orientation, the option to change font type and size, sephia mode, and not forgetting the built in dictionary. So while reading, if you don’t know the meaning of any word, you can just tap on it and the dictionary definition will pop up. NICE! :)

Anyway, the first book that I load into the application is “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”. It is a fiction novel by Swedish author / journalist Stieg Larsson. There are 2 other books in the series, making it a trilogy, often called the Millenium Trilogy (which refers to the publication company that the main character worked in)

Honestly I haven’t heard much of this book and author until recently. It turns out that the author is actually deceased in 2004, and he was more of a politican rather than a fiction novel writer. The books were written in his past time, and he only wrote them for himself. He did not attempt to publish it until shortly before his death. That is why the first book was only published in 2005, one year after his death. It become an international phenomenon, and by March 2010, the series have sold 27 million copies in more than 40 countries. He is also the first author to sell more than one million e-books on Amazon.com.

Anyway, enough with the introduction. Let’s get on to the book review….

The two main characters in the book is a journalist named Mikael Blomkvist, and a peculiar girl named Lisbeth Salander. At the beginning of the book they are two strangers, and I feel like I’m reading two different story, jumping back and forth between one another, and I must admit the first few chapters of the book was quite boring. But, looking back now, it does provide key background information that helps you to understand why the characters behave in a certain way later in the story.

Anyway the main plot revolves around the disappearance (and possible murder) of a young girl (Harriet Vanger) that happened 40 years ago in an isolated island at northen Sweden. Harriet is the niece of a very powerful and successful businessman named Henrik Vanger, previously head of the Vanger corporation. He is now a retiree and have passed on the corporation to Martin Vanger, his nephew (and also Harriet’s brother). There are also other characters, mainly from the Vanger clan.

Henrik asked Mikael to help him with the investigation, but before he does that, he asked Lisbeth (who is a part time private investigator) to do a background check on Mikael. Lisbeth became aware of Harriet’s case and was intrigued. And so she did some investigation on her own. In the middle of the book, Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s paths crossed again, and they combine their efforts and in the end managed to solve the mystery. Along the way they uncovered some terrible secrets involving rapes and murders. I won’t spoil too much of the story here. Pokoknya seru deh! :)

Overall I think it’s a great book with gripping storyline. As mentioned, the beginning was quite slow, but as I get into the main storyline, I’m totally hooked. Now I can’t wait to start reading the 2nd book “The Girl Who Played With Fire”.

OK now moving on to the film review…..

Following the success of the book, it was adapted to a film Män som hatar kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women), released in 2009. The main story is the same as the book (ya iya lah, masa beda? Hehehe). The main characters were played by Swedish actors and actresses, with Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist, and Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander.

There have been many movies that are adapted from books, and most of them failed miserably. The problem with this kind of movies is always the same : if you read the book first, then you will feel that there is a lot of scenes missing (it’s difficult to cram 600 pages into 2 hours of movie). But if you don’t read the book first, you would probably be confused by the characters, because the movie skips the introductions and often goes straight into the main plot.

Here’s my thoughts of the film adaptation : (WARNING : SPOILERS AHEAD)

It’s nice to finally have a visual of the scenery, although it’s not as pretty as I imagined it would be.
Noomi Rapace is perfect in portraying Lisbeth, while I think Michael Nyqvist is just OK. I imagined Mikael Blomkvist to be more handsome and not so fat :P
Harriett Vanger is just as I imagined, but my imagination of the other characters are way off (Martin Vanger, Erika Berger, Cecilia Vanger). I imagined that they are good looking people, and not so old.
The “torture chamber” is also not like what I imagined at all. I thought it is a dark and dirty dungeon, but in the movie it is an all white room with bright lights (reminds me of an operating theatre in hospitals).
As expected, a lot of the side stories are changed or not even mentioned, which includes

o Blomkvist relationships with Erika Berger and Cecilia Vanger. I guess with all the violence in the story, adding adultery and casual sex partners was a little too much, even for Swedish people.

                o The cover up (in the book, only Henrik, Frode, Mikael and Lisbeth know that he is actually working on Harriet’s case. They told everyone else that Mikael is working on a biography for Henrik, which is a perfect cover up for allowing Mikael to ask everybody about their past)

                o How Henrik convinced Mikael to work for him (in the book, at first Mikael was not interested to work on the case, but Henrik promised him some key information that can clear Mikael’s name in exchange for the work). In the film, Mikael suddenly agreed to work on the case, which is a bit weird, in my opinion.

                o How Mikael discovered the connection between the writing in Harriet’s diary with the bible passages.

o The timeline is changed quite a bit (in the book, Mikael went to jail in the middle of the investigation, but in the film he went after the case is finished).

But anyway, overall I think it’s a good movie. Now we just have to wait for the Hollywood adaptation of the movie. The main characters will be played by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara; and the movie will be released in December 2011 (gile lama ajeeee…)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Stats

OK don't laugh, tapi gue baru tau di blogger bisa liat statistics blog (e.g : ada berapa pageview, dari negara mana aja, etc etc) #kampungdehah

Trus ada satu yang menarik nih..... which is Search Keywords. Jadi ada orang yang search kata2 ini trus jadi nge-link ke blog ini.....
So, skrg gua kasih comment2 gua nih ye...

1. akhir cerita inception
Since I think by now kebanyakan orang udah pada nonton kali ye, so nih gue kasih tau deh akhirannya. Akhirannya gak jelas si Leo berhasil keluar dari limbo apa kagak. Dari teori2 yang gua berseliweran di internet sih banyak yang bilang itu reality soalnya di scene terakhir dia kagak pake wedding ring. Selama film katanya sih kalo pas mimpi, dia pake ring. Pas reality dia gak pake ring. Gue males nonton lagi sih, so kalo ada yang bisa confirm, tolong kasih tau ya hehehe.

2. akhir cerita memento
Well gua gak inget detailsnya, tapi yang jelas scene terakhir sama opening scenenya tuh sama. Jadi film ini tuh diceritain dari belakang ke awal. Susah dijelaskan deh..... nonton aja kalo mau tau :P

3. baju yang pas dipakai ke singapura
Sesuai dengan postingan gua ttg Singapura, ya jelas kalo ke sini cocoknya pake t shirt, celana pendek, dan sendal. Eh tapi kalo mau ke kasino harus agak rapi-an dikit sih. Shorts and slippers not allowed.

4. cerita bikin ngantuk
Ini apa hubungannya sama blog gue ya? Apa mungkin maksudnya cerita2 gua bikin ngantuk??? Hmmm....

5. káli diána stirlingben
Errr...... apa pula ini?

6. living in seoul
Wah kalo tinggal di Seoul sih gue blom pernah ya.... cuma pernah liburan sekali ama business trip sekali.

7. toko havaianas di singapore
Toko pertama yang bring in havaianas di Singapore itu New Urban Male (http://www.newurbanmale.com/). Mereka gak cuma jual havaianas, tapi banyak brand2 lain juga. Outletnya banyak di mana2.... trus belakangan muncul yang namanya Havaianas Store. Ini khusus jualan sendal havaianas doag. So far baru ada 2 outlet di ION Orchard, sama di Raffles City mall.

8. yang lagi sale di singapore
Well, as I mentioned before...... yang lagi SALE di Singapore ya banyak. Anytime you come, PASTI deh ada sale. Oh ya, dan belakangan ini, since gua udah mulai memperhatikan dunia interior design, what I've noticed is..... yang namanya furniture tuh SALE ALL THE TIME. Salah satu alasannya ya seperti yang gua pernah mention juga..... orang kan beli furniture gak sering.... sebenernya kita juga gak tau itu harga sale apa harga asli.....

OK deh sekian dulu comment stats kali ini. I think I will make this a regular post hehehe..... seru juga :P

Sunday, September 19, 2010

MTV Video Music Awards 2010

OK so I know that the 2010 MTV VMA is like soooo last week, but I haven’t got the chance to watch the entire thing, and have just downloaded it last night. Plus I’ve always wanted to try something new….. live blogging an award show! So here we go…

00:00

Eminem!!! I must admit I’ve never been a big fan before, but I really really like his new album and songs. He’s singing ‘Not Afraid’ to open the show. Great performance ☺

02:50

RIHANNA! What the f**k is she wearing?? Something that resembles a wedding dress badly done…. Makes her look short. Hate the red hair, too…..

05:00

Lameeee opening skit by the host, Chelsea Handler. I don’t really know much about her…. I think she has her own talk show, but this opening skit is pretty lame.

Trying to imitate Lady Gaga? I think you’re trying too hard, girl….. btw love Lady G’s dress and white hair!! ☺

She mentioned that it’s the first time in 16 years that the VMAs is hosted by a woman. Well, maybe there’s a good reason behind it…… that’s because you suck, Chelsea!

15:20

Lady G wins the first award of the night….. Best Female Video of the Year for “Bad Romance”. Well, d’oh!

Love love loveeee the dress, and the shoes, and even the headpiece. I think they’re all from the late Alexander McQueen. Too bad he’s gone.

17:00

Another lame skit by Chelsea, now involving Ke$ha…. NEXT!

19:00

Cast of Jackass 3D on stage presenting Best Rock Video. Well I only know Paramore and 30 Seconds to Mars. And the winner is…. WTF?? Why is that guy taking off all his clothes on stage? Whatever…… Jackasses! :P

Oh the winner is 30 Seconds to Mars (not that I really care anyway)

23:00

Kim Kardashian introducing Justin Bieber performance…… fast forward, fast forward, skip, skip….. NEXT!

30:00

Usher performance. COOOOLLL!! LOVE the lasers and the lights play! (click link below for video stream)

Usher - DJ Got Us Fallin In Love/ OMG - Medley (Live)

35:00

Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj presenting Best Male Video. My God, that’s a huge ASS, Nicki girl! Winner is Eminem, but he’s not around. I guess his motto is SMP (sudah manggung pulang :P)

39:00

Florence and The Machine performance. Who the hell are they? Or is it just a woman? OK I have to admit it’s a bit strange at first, but it gets better….. oh wow! Love the song and the performance!

44:00

Is that Pharrel? And is that Christina Millian? Well, don’t really care….

47:30

Cast of GLEE!! Great suit/tracksuit fusion, Sue Sylvester! And the Best Pop Video is…… Lady G!!! Bad Romance!!

OK the dress is good but a bit too much. If you need two men to help you walk in that dress, that’s a bit too much. OK at least she admits that the dress is too heavy and she didn’t expect to win. LOL.