Christmas Wish List 2010

I went to town yesterday (October 27) and they have already started to put up Christmas lights on the streets. This morning Starbucks has also started to introduce their Christmas beverages and merchandises. So, in the spirit of things, I have decided to be kiasu as well and put up my wish list early this year, hang up my stocking, and hope that one of you stalkers readers out there is Santa a billionaire with a big heart, and make me a very happy man :)

1. iLife '11 and Snow Leopard bundle

You probably know by now that I am a Mac, not a PC. Well, I use PC at work, but for everything else, I have my iMac, iPad, and iPod. Last week Apple has just released their latest offering for 'fun' softwares, which includes upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie, and Garageband. Well, I don't really use Garageband, but I do use iPhoto and iMovie. It releases the inner movie director in me :P

Unfortunately, this version only works with the latest Mac OS, which is the Snow Leopard. So if I want to use this, I would have to buy the upgrade for Snow Leopard as well. Hmmm... evil, evil Apple! Now I have seen through your labirynth of upgrades! (but still hopelessly addicted to your products :P)

2. Playstation Move

Sony's answer to Nintendo Wii, this is one of the most anticipated gadget for gamers everywhere. Basically it allows you to control the game through body movements, thus giving parents one less reason NOT to let their kids play video games :P

Looking like a dildo flashlight with candy colored bulb at the end (it changes colors depending on the usage), I personally think it's a bit tacky, but hey, as long as it works fine.....

Currently there's not a lot of games available yet, and actually I don't have space to play.... yet, so I guess I can wait till next year to get this one.

3. Soulmate
Would be nice to have somebody who can cook, clean, do groceries and do household chores for me to love and to share my life with. As the song goes..... "a house is not a home when there's no one there to hold you tight, and no one there to kiss you goodnight..."

4. Bottega Veneta iPad case
Back to the material world, may I present to you the ultimate luxury in iPad casing. Many luxury brands have produced their own version (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, TODS, Chanel, Salvatore Ferragamo etc etc), but none looks as luxurious as this one. It is understated elegance at it's best.

Sadly, it does come with a hefty price tag of S$920. That's even more expensive than the iPad itself :P

So, anyone have any extra cash or girlfriend to spare, contact me and we can exchange Christmas gift this year (just let me rummage through my stuff first and see if I can find unopened gifts from last year so I don't have to buy anything )

Singapore Taxi Uncles

Lanjutan dari posting sebelumnya, topik kali ini adalah macam2 taxi uncles di Singapore. (memang ada juga sih yang auntie, tapi kayaknya 95% (or even more) supir taxi di sini cowok deh)

1. Talkative Uncle
Mayoritas taxi uncle masuk ke kategori ini sih. Biasanya dimulai dengan
     Uncle (U) : You're not local, ah? Where are you from?
     Me (M) : Indonesia
     U : Study here ah? 
     M : Working oredi..... (emang muka gua masih kayak anak kuliahan ya? senyam senyum sendiri)

Abis itu biasa ditanya udah berapa lama di sini, udah merit blom, bisa ngomong mandarin gak, kerja di mana, trus kalo dah tau kerja di multinational company, pasti ditanya gimana kerjanya enak gak dll dll. Pokoknya kalo dapet uncle tipe ini gak bosen deh di perjalanan, kecuali kalo emang lagi gak mood ngomong, capek juga jawabinnya.

2. Silent Uncle
Nah kalo tipe ini kebalikannya dari tipe sebelomnya. Pertama duduk kagak nanya tujuannya mau ke mana, trus kayak gak ada respons gitu dia tau tempatnya apa kagak. Kalo ditanya "Uncle, you know the place or not?", palingan cuma dijawab "Mmm". Mungkin si uncle lagi sariawan kali ye, males ngomong. Abis itu radio juga kagak dinyalain..... total silence. Pas sampe juga gak pake ngomong, cuma terima duit dan balikin doang.

3. Smelly Uncle

Not being racist, tapi biasanya ini kalo dapet unclenya yang dari Indihe atau Malay. Well, CinDar (cina daratan) juga sih. Anyway makanya penting deh selalu siap sedia anti bacterial lotion di tas =D

4. Radio Uncle
Paling enak kalo dapet uncle tipe ini. Perjalanan jadi gak berasa lama.... tau2 udah sampe hehe. Tapi kalo dapet yang radio classical music atau bollywood music sih pusing juga hahaha. Kadang2 ada juga uncle yang merangkap karaoke king...... ikutan nyanyi2, terutama kalo di radio pas lagi lagu jadoel (e.g : Elvis, Bee Gees).

5. Chinese Radio Uncle
Yang gua maksud di sini tuh stasiun radio yang isinya cuma ngomong2 doang..... mana gak mudeng ngomong apaan.... kayak semacem lecture keagamaan gitu deh...... Kalo dapet yang ini mendingan pasang iPod sendiri aja....

6. Gahment Uncle
Entah kenapa, banyak taxi uncle di sini yang gak suka sama pemerintah (gahment tuh bahasa kerennya Singlish-nya government). Jadi uncle yang tipe ini tuh suka ngomong sendiri complain2 tentang pemerintah. Walaupun lu udah pasang tampang cuek secuek cueknya juga dia teteppppp aja ngoceh tentang tuh gahment. Kayak waktu itu pernah sekali waktu ceritanya si uncle mau ngambil shortcut lewat jalan kecil, eh tiba2 jalannya udah ditutup karena ada konstruksi baru di sebelahnya.

    U : Eh??? How come like that ah?
    M : Don't know (don't really care too)
    U : Walauwe...... (insert hokkian curse words here)...... how can do like that??? Gahment ah..... anyhow change the road one.... people want to go there now must U-turn so far away you know! (insert more hokkian curse words here)
    M :  ....... (-_-)"

7. SIM nembak Uncle
Ini gak jelas unclenya belajar nyetir di mana. Sebenernya ada beberapa sub-kategori lagi sih..... ada yang gaya Crazy Taxi (inget gak game itu?), ada yang gak bisa bedain kiri kanan, ada yang pengen cepet tapi takut kena speed cameranya si gahment, jadi nyetirnya gasssss, lepas.... gassss, lepas...... yang ada guenya yang pusing @_@

8. Expressway Uncle
   M : Uncle, go to Orchard Road please
   U : OK. You want to go by CTE, PIE, SLE, BKE, or ECP? (itu semua nama2 expressway di Singapore)
   M : Up to you lah (ini yang supir taxi siapa sih???)

9. Handsfree Uncle
Uncle tipe ini selalu siap sedia dengan handsfree earpiecenya. Uncle ini tipenya pekerja keras, gak suka buang2 waktu, jadi dia multitasking antara nyetir taxi dan ngobrol sama istri/temen/simpenan di telpon. Biasanya sih diiringi dengan ringtone yang super kenceng dan norak (lagu2 chinese / english jadoel).
Kalo dapet yang tipe ini serasa lagi dengerin sinetron, tapi gak ada gambarnya hehe. Percakapannya biasa seputar makanan, atau ntar mau ketemu di mana, atau gosipin temen / selebritis.

So, next time you're in a taxi, identify the uncles by category..... bisa mix and match juga loh..... contoh : smelly talkative expressway uncle, atau gahment handsfree uncle hehehe. Try it, it's fun! ;-)

Transportasi di Singapura

Untuk teman2 yang berminat untuk berkunjung atau hijrah ke negara pulau yang super duper panas ini, kali ini gue bakal mengupas (emangnya buah??) tentang transportasi di Singapore.

Basically di Singapore ada 3 macem jenis transportasi, yaitu public transport (MRT / bus), taxi, dan tentu saja mobil pribadi. Nah ayo kita lihat plus dan minusnya masing2.....

1. Public transport

Pada tau dong yang namanya MRT? MRT itu singkatan dari Mass Rapid Transit. Ini adalah salah satu mode transportasi yang paling banyak dipake orang di SG. Liat aja tuh kalo pagi2 pas jam2 pergi kerja... wuihhh ramenya amit2 dah.... siap2 jadi sarden.... tapi masih mending sih kalo dibandingin Jepang (menghibur diri :P)

Pas pertama gue datang dulu taon 1998, MRT di Singapore cuma ada 2 line. Sekarang sudah ada 4 line.... Green (East West), Red (North South), Purple (North East), dan Yellow (Circle). Dan masih terus dibangun, jadi in the future bakal muncul line2 baru lagi.

Keuntungan naik MRT ya waktunya predictable, kecuali kalo ada kerusakan, tapi jarang banget sih. Minusnya ya kadang2 penuh sesak, dan juga rutenya terbatas dan kadang2 suka agak muter2. Kayak misalnya dari Orchard ke Queenstown, kalo naik MRT muter2 (about 20 minutes), padahal kalo naik bis sih deket (10-15 minutes).... (yaelah cuma beda 5 menit doang!)

Nah kalo naik bis..... untungnya itu most of the time lebih sepi dari MRT..... walaupun penuh tuh gak sampe sepenuh MRT deh..... dan juga rutenya lebih banyak. Tapiiii...... banyak minusnya juga. Pertama, ya lu gak tau busnya kapan bakal datang. Memang sekarang sudah banyak improvement..... di bus stop2 yang rame udah dipasangin digital screen untuk kasih tau bis nomer berapa bakal datang berapa menit lagi. Trus lu juga bisa pake handphone / bb / iPad buat cek jadwal. Tapi itu juga gak semua bus stop / bus ada datanya. Apalagi kalo weekend, bisnya malah lebih dikit...... bisa jamuran dah nunggu di bus stop.

Trus... kalau naik bis ya otomatis tergantung jalannya macet apa kagak. Banyak orang Indo yang mikir di SG kagak ada macet..... ya memang macetnya gak ada apa2nya sih kalo dibandingin Jakarta atau weekend di Bandung, tapi ya ada juga. Contohnya kalo dari Queenstown ke Orchard naik bis.... normal time kira2 10-15 menit, tapi kalo lagi macet bisa 30-40 menit.

2. TAXI

Untungnya naik taxi tuh cuma cepet doang. Kalo menurut gua sih banyakan minusnya deh.
- Mahalnya amit2 (kalo dibandingin sama naik public transport). Pertama duduk aja udah S$3.00. Blom kalo weekday peak hour (7-9.30am, 5-8pm) extra 35%. Midnight to 6am extra 50%. Naik di CBD (Central Business District) extra $3. Public holiday extra $1. Naik dari Changi extra $3 / $5 (tergantung waktu). Booking fee extra $3.50. Untuk keterangan lebih lengkap, silahkan klik disini.

- Sebenernya dibilang cepet kadang2 gak juga, soalnya kalo di tempat2 yang populer ya otomatis antrian taxinya juga panjang banget. So, including waiting time, bisa2 naik MRT atau bis lebih cepet.

- Taxi di sini tuh pada pinter2. Biasanya kalo udah deket2 jam 5pm atau jam 12 midnight, semua taxi pada ngilang. Soalnya mereka pengen dapet extra dari surchargenya. Ya iya lah, siapa sih yang gak suka duit??

- Supirnya kebanyakan aneh2..... hmmm kayaknya ntar gua bikin post tersendiri deh soal ini.

Kesimpulannya.... gua jarang naik taxi kecuali kalo bawa barang banyak dari airport, atau kalo dibayarin sama company :P


3. Mobil pribadi

Been there, done that. Juni 2008 gue beli mobil Mazda 3 di Singapore... something which seems right at that time, but it's probably not worth it. Waktu itu tempat tinggal gue gak deket MRT or bus stop, jadi rada2 ribet kalo mau pergi ke mana2. Kalo naik MRT/bus ke kantor 45 menit, kalo naik mobil cuma 15 menit. Tapi akhirnya setelah 2 tahun, gue jual lagi deh tuh mobil.

So, anyway..... kembali ke topik. Kali ini kita bahas minusnya dulu deh...
- Muahallll bok! Harga mobil di sini rata2 2x harga di Indo, or about 3x harga di Amrik / Aussie. Mazda 3 1.6L yang gue beli aja harga totalnya S$60,000. Of course lu bisa ambil loan up to 10 years, tapi tetep aje..... trus di sini tuh ada yang namanya COE (certificate of entitlement), yang cuma berlaku 10 taon. Jadi intinya dengan harga segitu tuh lu cuma berhak atas mobil itu selama 10 taon. At the end of the 10 years, either you scrap it or extend the COE, tapi mahalnya amit2.

- Selain harga mobilnya, tentu saja lu harus bayar road tax, insurance, maintenance, petrol, parking de el el. Parkiran di kantor gue tuh diitungnya per jam. Kalo lu parkir dari pagi ampe sore, per harinya tuh $22. @#$%^$#!!! (mendingan duitnya dipake buat makan di restoran kaleee)

- Cari parkir susah! Apalagi kalo di daerah rame kayak Orchard. Intinya kalo mau naik mobil mendingan ke daerah pinggiran yang relatif lebih sepi.

- Salah satu alasan gua jual mobil gua juga gara2 masalah tempat parkir di rumah. Apartment di Singapore kan ada 2 macem tuh..... government-owned (HDB) atau private (condo). Kalo condo ya enak, tempat parkirnya biasanya di basement atau ada gedung parkir sebelahnya, jadi kagak keujanan or kepanasan tuh mobil. Nah karena kemarin itu gua tinggalnya di HDB, ada 2 pilihan tempat parkir. Yang pertama itu gedung parkir, tapi letaknya agak jauh.... masih lebih cepet gua jalan ke MRT. Yang percis sebelah gedung gue itu outdoor carpark, dan di situ banyak pohon2 besar. Akhirnya yang ada tiap kali hujan mobil gue mandi daun2 kecil dan ranting2 pohon deh. Blom lagi kena eek burung...... T_T

Tapi ya tergantung situasi orang masing2..... gak selamanya punya mobil di Singapore tuh jelek.... kalo misalnya tempat kerja lu di ulu (pinggiran / in the middle of nowhere), then it makes sense to have a car, soalnya biasanya kalo di sana tempat parkirnya gratis, dan kalau naik public transport tuh ribet. Trus kalo punya anak kecil, ya of course it's more convenient.

Jadi, apa intinya dari semua ini? Gak ada sih, gue cuma iseng aja karena lagi nganggur di kantor hihihi.

Clover By The Park

Packing..... Done!

Moving..... Done!

Unpacking..... errr, in progress :P

Actually this time round I won't be doing too much unpacking, because as I mentioned before, I have actually bought my own place, but it's not gonna be ready until mid 2011. So, from now on, I will start posting ideas and adventures about the new place......

For your information (as if anyone really cares.... but hey, it's my blog! :P), the new place is called Clover By The Park, and it is located at Bishan area in sunny Singapore. You can find more info about it by clicking here.

that's not me, and the building is definitely not in the middle of a field.... there's lots of other buildings beside it

I have actually try to make a list of items that I need to buy / renovate when I move in to the new place.... it's a good exercise..... makes me realize how broke I will be what are the things I need vs want.

Everybody keeps telling me that I should buy cheap things first, and upgrade later to my dream stuff when I have the budget for it. But here's the dilemma with indonesian chinese asian mentality.... once you accumulate enough money to buy your dream stuff, you'll start thinking "hmmm perhaps I should put it in an investment to generate MORE money, or use it for something else (e.g travelling)..... plus there's nothing wrong with the current furniture". And then you will never buy the stuff that you wanted to buy in the first place.

Well, I'm no billionaire, but I believe everybody have their own interpretation of being excessive. I appreciate and respect everybody's opinion, but...... it's my money, my house and my rules.

Let the furniture hunt begins! :)

Mind Your Language #2

First of all, for my English speaking readers, sorry today I will be writing in Bahasa Indonesia :)

Tadi siang pas gue lagi makan McD tiba2 ada segerombolan anak TK digiring masuk sama gurunya. Lucu banget liatnya..... tapi kalo suruh gue yang jaga sih sori aja ye..... bisa2 gue pingsan ngejar sono ngejar sini :P

Anyway, gara2 liat anak2 TK itu gue jadi keingetan udah lama gak nulis tentang Mind Your Language. So.... here we go again kids.... welcome back to the class! :)

Topiknya sih masih sama, yaitu tentang kata2 yang sering salah ditulis.

1. Quite - Quiet

Kata2 ini dua2nya gak ada yang salah sih. Cuma artinya aja beda. Quiet itu artinya "diam, sunyi" (making no noise or sound, esp. no disturbing sound).

Example :

• Be quiet please! - Diam lu! Brisik aje! :P

Nah kalo quite itu artinya "agak / lumayan" (to a considerable extent or degree).

Example :

• It's quite hot in here - Di sini lumayan panas
• She's quite a hottie - Cakep juga tuh cewek

2. No One - None - noone

No one itu artinya "tak seorangpun"; which basically have the same meaning as nobody (hmmm jadi inget Wondergirls..... nobody nobody but you! hehe)

Kalo none itu artinya "tak satupun / gak ada" (no part; nothing)

Example :

• I tried to find a pretty girl at the office, but there is none - Gue coba cari cewek cakep di kantor, tapi gak ada.
• It's none of your business! - Bukan urusan lu!

Noone is an invalid English word. Penggunaannya harus dipisah (no one).

3. Dinner - Diner

Dinner ya artinya makan malam. Ini sih udah jelas, rasanya gak perlu dijelasin lagi deh.

Nah kalo diner.... dalam bahasa Inggris sendiri artinya bisa 2 macem :

• a person eating a meal, esp in a restaurant, OR....
• a small, informal, and usually inexpensive restaurant

So, inget ya kalo nulis sms / bbm jangan pelit2 ngetiknya..... kalo mau ngajakin makan tuh N-nya 2 hehehe.

4. Worth it - Worthed

Nahhh..... yang ini sih udah sering banget dah gua liat. Asalnya sih dari kata worth, yang artinya "nilai / harga" (having a value of, or equal in value to, as in money). Examples :

• This dress is worth $10.  - Baju ini harganya 10 dollar (murah amat ya? :P)
• I would like to buy $50 worth of food - Gue mau beli makanan yang harganya kira2 50 dollar.

Dari situ, penggunaannya mulai berkembang. Jadi misalnya kalo lu nonton film di bioskop, bayar $10. Trus lu merasa filmnya bagus. Trus lu bilang deh "I think the movie is worth the $10 that I paid". Artinya kan lu merasa filmnya bagus dan gak rugi bayar $10. Tapi kalo ngomong gitu kan panjang tuh kalimatnya, jadi biasa orang ngomongnya singkat aja "I think the movie is worth it". "IT" di sini itu artinya ya $10 yang lu bayar.

Contoh lain ya lu capek2 nanjak gunung buat liat pemandangan. Abis sampe di atas, ternyata pemandangannya mengecewakan. Trus lu bilang "I don't think the scenery is worth it". Di sini "IT" artinya usaha dan waktu yang lu pake buat nanjak ke atas.

Tapi gak tau kenapa temen2 gue tuh banyakkkkk banget yang suka pake kata "worthed", which is not a valid word (gak ada tuh di dictionary).

OK deh sekian dulu pelajaran hari ini. Untuk homework, silahkan liat post ini (tentang penggunaan bahasa Inggris yang baik dan benar juga), which I think it absolutely HILARIOUS!

Have a good weekend everyone :)

The Truth?

Inspired by this post by The Rabbit, and in a desperate attempt to attract more readers to my blog, I have decided to give my five cents worth of answers (cos two cents is so last year and fifty cents is a rapper ;-)

You can read about the background of the questions from the post. So click on it, dammit! 

But before I do that, perhaps I should make a quick intro of how I come to know about the post. One fine day I saw a post on facebook about this blog, which leads to this blog, which leads to this blog. Told ya it would be quick.

So, on to the questions......

1. What is your favorite word?

Being a shopaholic, it's probably SALE. But on a more serious note, I would say "balance". I like it because too much of something is never good, and neither is too little. 

2. What is your least favorite word?
SORRY. When it's said, it means that something bad has happened. Some people abuse the word by thinking they can get away with anything just by saying sorry, but I don't think so. The damage has been done, and even if you say you forgive the person, the memory can never be erased (until you get old and start forgetting things :P)

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
I'm happy and creative when I'm surrounded by happy things and people around me are happy. Happiness is contagious, but then again so is anger and sadness. 

4. What turns you off?
Stupidity. Ignorance. People who do not respect time.

5. What is your favorite curse word?
Shit. I say shit a lot without even realizing it. And I shit at least once a day, usually in the morning (OK a little too much info there.... )

6. What sound or noise do you love?
The sound of light rain tapping on the window (but only when I'm at home doing nothing.... I don't like it when I'm caught in the rain)

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
Justin Bieber. And Miley Cyrus.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Professional blogger (d'oh!), or a travel show host.

9. What profession would you not like to do?
Lawyer. I hate arguing.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Heyyyy! Wassup buddy? 

So there you go. If you decided to post your own answers, please leave a link in the comments..... and please link to the original post as well. Thanks! 

One Word

Having just watched Eat Pray Love, I was intrigued by one of the scenes in the movie. In that scene, the characters were asked to pick ONE word to describe themselves. For Elizabeth Gilbert (the main character of the movie), she stumbles at first, but finally finds her word at the end of her travels.

In the book, the word is antevasin, which is Sanskrit for “one who lives at the border.” But in the movie, it is attraversiamo, which is Italian for "to cross over". This word is also mentioned in the book, but not as "the" word. I'm not really sure why they change it.... I think the first word is better.

Which makes me wonder..... what is THE word for me? Well, I don't know any Sanskrit nor Italian, so here are some possible thoughts in English or Bahasa Indonesia :

• Fat
• Friendly (well, not really. I can be mean when I'm annoyed)
• Fun
• Creative
• Intelligent (starting to get a little too narcissistic... :P)
• Worldly
• Picky
• Sarcastic
• Konyol
• Cuek
• Explorer (emangnya gue Dora? Kayaknya lebih mirip Doraemon deh daripada Dora :P)

How the hell am I supposed to pick just ONE word? There's at least a quarter of million words (and growing) in the English language itself, and I don't think Bahasa Indonesia can ever be counted, with new (informal) words formed almost everyday  @_@

So, what do you think? (For those of you who know me) If you were to describe me, what would you say? And for everyone else, what's YOUR word?

Movie Review : Eat Pray Love

Eat Pray Love (EPL) is another movie adapted from a book (seriously, it's an epidemic now..... run for your life while you still can) by Elizabeth Gilbert . I haven't read the book yet, so I can't really comment about the differences. But all my friends who have read the book say that the book is not so good.

The story is about a successful writer who suddenly realized that she is not ready to settle down in her marriage (then why did you get married in the first place??? Women! *sigh*). So she ended her marriage and accidentally (yeah right) find a cute younger man that she screws likes. However, she still finds herself unhappy and so decided to took 1 year off to travel around the world and "find herself again". She decided that she would spend 4 months in Italy (EAT), 4 months in India (PRAY), and ended the year in Bali (LOVE). 

I have just found out that it is actually based on a true story. However, in real life, the trip was sponsored in return of her writing the book.

OK first of all, before I even begin to review the movie, take a closer look at this sentence : 4 months in Italy, 4 months in India, and ended the year in Bali. Notice anything stupid?? Well, for those of you who flunked geography in school, let me tell you Italy and India are countries, but (surprise surprise!! *rolls eyes*) Bali is NOT a country. It is an island located in the country INDONESIA. Seriously, how stupid can you be? Nevertheless, the movie still generates quite an interest for Bali, and ultimately Indonesia. So I guess it's not that bad. But please... get your facts right next time.

Now, on to the movie..... I think it should be called Eat Sleep Love rather than Eat Pray Love. Or better still, we can just skip the whole middle part and call it Eat Love :P. That way we can save about 30 minutes of movie time (btw the movie is quite long..... 2 hours and 20 minutes... but then again, I think it's kind of hard to document a year of life in 2 hours 20 minutes).

Anyway, the 'pray' part, where she travels to India, is just boring. She went to a kind of monastery where people chants, meditates and try to find their spirituality. Over there she met an old dude from Texas, who is just annoying and rude to everyone, especially her. I don't like this guy at all. Towards the end of her India trip, the old dude started crying and tells his story (why he ended up there blah blah blah). I think it's supposed to be an emotional scene, but sorry I just don't get it. I can't even understand what he's saying, and I almost fell asleep.

Also, the Italy and Bali scenes are beautiful and showcases the beauty of the places. It does make you want to go there someday. But in India, they are showing the dirtiness and crappiness of the places.

OK let's move on to the Bali scenes. Hadi Subiyanto, who plays Ketut Liyer (the 9th generation medicine man who prophesies about Liz's return to bali),  is quite funny and convincing as a medicine man who talks cryptically. But I doubt the audience can really understand what he's saying, especially with his thick Indonesian accent. Christine Hakim, who plays Wayan (Liz's friend while she was in Bali), is great for the role, except for the fact that she's not Balinese. But nobody really cares anyway, especially when they don't know where Bali really is :P

Liz's love interest is played by Javier Bardem (a.k.a Mr. Penelope Cruz). I don't know much about this guy before.... I don't think I have ever seen any of his movies. But suddenly here he is, and he will be guest starring on Glee as well. To be honest, I'm not really impressed by his acting in this movie. 

So, overall I think this movie is pretty to look at (Italy and Bali only, please), but the story doesn't have much depth into it. It's not really a comedy, nor it's a chick flick. Julia Robert shines (as always), but she's the only anchor to the whole movie. 

Key To My Heart

Short post today. Just wanted to share something strange....

As you all know, this weekend I will be moving to a new temporary place, and so I have start packing. I consider myself to be quite good at packing (i.e good at throwing stuff away), but there is a strange thing that happens everytime I move : the magically appearing keys.

EVERYTIME I move...... I always find strange keys which I have totally no idea what for. And I always leave them behind or throw them away, but somehow everytime I move, there they are again..... well, I wish one of them is the key to my soulmate's heart (all : AWWWWWW..... :P)

2010 TV Roundup part 3 - The Overrated

Like every other great stories out there (Lord of The Rings, the Millenium Trilogy, The Matrix, Spy Kids, etc), there's got to be a 3rd part to conclude and end it all off. So, in this post I will review shows that are overrated....

Cougar Town

It has been hailed as "the return of Courtney Cox to primetime television". Actually that's not entirely true, because she did try to make a comeback after Friends with a short-lived show in 2007 called Dirt. Does anybody remember that? I don't think so, since the show was buried in dirt (sorry, it was just too easy :P) after only 1 1/2 season.

In this show, Courtney plays Jules Cobb, a 40 something recently divorced woman who is trying to get back to the dating scene, which is filled with younger men, thus she is seen as a cougar that preys on young boys. Other supporting characters include her neighbor who is also recently divorced, but he's a man, so it's ok to date younger women (stereotypical.... *rolls eyes*). There's also her sarcastic best friend and her younger assistant who always bickers at every single little thing, and also her son and her ex-husband.

I watched a couple of episodes when it was showing on tv last year, and wasn't really impressed. I gave it another try this year, hoping it gets better, but sadly it doesn't do it for me. Even with Jennifer Aniston guest starring as Jules' shrink. The comedy just doesn't feel natural.... feels very very scripted. So..... NEXT!

Nikita

Maggie Q in skimpy, skin tight dresses kicking bad guys' asses every week? Sounds pretty good, right? Well, the concept is there, but the execution is not so good. The action scenes are not bad, but everything else is just boring. The story is predictable, and the conversations are as dry as a bone. (a little free english lesson there... ;-)

Shane West, in particular, is just terrible. He plays Nikita's ex-boss, who obviously still has feelings for her. The problem is that he only have 1 acting face, and it looks like he needs to poop real bad ALL THE TIME. Melinda Clarke, who plays Amanda, also only have 1 face : bitchy face. That's the face that she has been wearing ever since we first saw her on The O.C. (remember that show? I wonder what the other actors/actresses are doing.... we all know that Micha Barton has gone cuckoo......)

The only character that makes the show worth watching is Alex, played by Lyndsy Fonseca. She was a regular in Desperate Housewives for a while, and was last seen at the movie KickAss (although her performance was completely drowned by Hit Girl :P). She's young, beautiful, and have a decent acting skills. Let's hope this show won't ruin her career.

American Idol

Entering it's 10th season now, AI is still the undisputed champion when it comes to singing competition that sucks money out of advertisers faster than Carrie Underwood's albums topping the country charts.

After a disappointing ratings last year (well, who can blame it when there was no raw talent?), this year they are seriously revamping the show. Simon is out, Kara is out, even Ellen is out. The only original judge now is Randy Jackson, and the two new judges are Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. SERIOUSLY??? Well, I guess if you're trying to appeal more to the Latino market and the older generations, that's the only logical thing to do. Or... it's possible that the producers are just scared that J.Lo might crush them with her US$27million-dollar- insured ass, and Steven Tyler will scream until the glasses all shatters if they don't let them be the new judge.

So..... we'll see what happens next year and hopefully there's more Carrie/Lambert/Daughtry out there, and less Sanjaya/Kris Allen/Lee Dewyze please.........

Phew, I think that's a wrap for this year's TV! If you have any other opinions, put them in the comments! (most probably I'll just ignore it, but hey, it's your choice ;-)

2010 TV Roundup part 2 - The Others

Continuing the previous post, now I shall give my thoughts on the rest of the shows that I watch but not as "religiously".....

Desperate Housewives

Back for their 7th season, the housewives are back, and to be honest, it feels like they're trying a little too hard this season, and seems like the roles are just swapped between the 4 leading ladies.

Vanessa Williams joins the cast as Renée Perry, Lynette's old college friend who is going through a divorce and deciced to stay in Wisteria Lane for a while. I feel this character is introduced to try to fill in Edie Britt's shoes (and house). But it's just not the same without Edie.

Bree is the new Gaby, complete with a hot contractor that she just couldn't resist (played by Brian Austin Green, or more famously known as Mr. Megan Fox..... how the hell did that happen anyway??)

Gaby is now the new Bree, having to deal with the children issues.....

Susan is the new Lynette, with the money issues.....

Lynette is back to the Lynette of season 1, with the arrival of the new baby.

And to top it all off, Paul Young is back, bringing the series to a complete de ja vu experience.....

Well, perhaps it IS the intention of the producers to bring it to a complete circle, considering that this is the last year that all the 4 leading ladies are contracted to the show. We still don't know whether this will be the last season or not.....

Overall it's still an enjoyable show, but it just doesn't make me want to stay up late at night or wake up really early just to watch the latest episode.

No Ordinary Family

A new show with some familiar faces, the story revolves around a family that went on a trip and experienced a plane crash, and got superpowers when they get back home. Sounds familiar? It's kind of a mashup of The Incredibles / Fantastic Four / Heroes / X Men.

The father is played by Michael Chiklis. You might remember him as The Thing from the Fantastic Four movies, except in this show he doesn't have to wear the orange rock suit :P. His power is super strength (e.g : catching a bullet with bare hands, jumping really high and long, lifting a car).

The mother is played by Julie Benz. She's also a familiar face, having appeared in shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Desperate Housewives etc. Her power is being able to run fast (which also comes with fast metabolism and fast healing rate).

The daughter (Kay Panabaker, last seen on Fame [the movie]) is able to hear other people's thoughts, and the son is suddenly a super genius. He's played by James Bennett. I don't remember seeing him before, but apparently he is the young James T Kirk in the last Star Trek movie.

It's a promising new show (so far it's only 2 episodes). Currently the family is still trying to figure out their newfound powers, so there's still a lot to explore. The special effects are good.... very believeable. And, a good show is not complete without the bad guys, so there's some elements of that, too..... they're not the only ones with powers!

So, let's hope it gets better, and please don't follow the same pattern as Heroes, where it gets good and then very quickly gets boring and unfollowable.

The Amazing Race

If you have a huge amount of money, what would you do with it? Some people may say that they will buy a huge-ass house. Some might spend it on jewellry. Some will say they will donate to charity. But for me..... I would use it to travel around the world!!

I am fortunate enough to be able to see the world since I was quite young. My parents always took me and my brother to overseas countries at least once a year ever since I was in primary school. I love travelling, discovering new cultures, seeing new sights, opening up the mind and soul...... therefore, I've always loved watching The Amazing Race.

In case you don't know, basically it's a race between 11 teams (each consists of 2 people) to travel to various countries and do some challenges to win US$1 million! Wow, that's a lot of money haha. There are several others gameshow on television with the same amount of money (e.g : Survivor, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire), but sori sori sori jack (a la keong racun)...... I will NEVER EVER want to be a contestant on Survivor. No offense, but to me, it's a stupid stupid show. And the questions on who wants to be a millionaire are just too hard :P

Anyway, back to the show. Apart from the sights and sounds of different countries, the appeal of the show also comes from the personality of the contestants, of course! Sometimes I feel bad for some of the contestants, because the show only show snippets of the journey, and they purposely edit it to make the contestants look angry at each other, or just plain dumb etc etc. But hey, that's how you make money on TV!

One of the interesting team this year is Michael & Kevin, a.k.a "the asian team" (I know..... how much more stereotypical can you be? *rolls eyes*). Kevin is actually a well known YouTube personality Kevjumba. I have mentioned him in one of my earlier post. So, being Asian myself, of course I'm rooting for them, but chances are slim, especially when Michael (the dad) already said "my leg hurts" during last week's episode.

So, who do you think will win? Will it be the Gleeks? Or the beauty queens? Well, we'll just have to wait and see......

Pretty Little Liars

Have mentioned this show before briefly in an earlier post. Basically it's Desperate Housewives for teens. In the beginning, there were 5 girls who were really close to each other, but each with  their own lies and secrets. One night, suddenly the 'leader' of the pack (Allison) disappeared during a sleepover. After that, the remaining 4 girls drifted apart. One year later, Allison's body was found, which suddenly brought them back together, and they each receive mysterious messages from somebody with the initial "A". This "A" seems to know all of their secrets, and is threatening to expose them...

The show was originally only meant for summer, but since it got rave reviews and ratings, it has been renewed for the 2nd half of the season, and will continue in January 2011.

I guess we'll just have to wait till then to find out what happens to those bitches girls....

Wow that's quite a long post, yeah? Well, it ain't over till I say it's over...... stay tuned for the 3rd part of the post, where I'll be reviewing shows that are totally overrated....