Bottled in Extreme Clarity

I dont know when was the last time I watched sooo much HBO, Cinemax and Star Movies offerings.

Today, I re-visited a few movies which I’d always thought was good. First was Flight of the Phoenix.

When that movie first arrived in the cinemas here, there hadnt been any big fancy promotions for it. One day, there wasnt any clue or hint it was coming and when I returned not very long after, there it was - an inconspicuous movie poster of Dennis Quaid, his crew and the Gobi desert sky.

There was another movie with a similar poster - “Sahara”- and even though Matthew Mc Connaughey beckoned with his flowing golden curly locks, I decided that the simple tale of stranded people in the Gobi desert, seemed more intriguing than (just another) story about treasure hunting.

Now, Flight of the Phoenix is one of the few good movies which I could watch over and over again. Memorable but abstract (maybe that’s why they are so good) quotes:

* All a man really needs in life is one thing - someone to love. If you can’t give him that, then give him something to hope for. If you can’t give him that…… then give him something to Do!

* Religion divides people. Belief unites them.

The movie after that was the comedic Rebound… (yes, another!) basketball game about how a coach returns to his roots and remembers what he loves about the game. I thought it was entertaining the first time I saw it, and did not mind the re-run.

Up next was Fantastic Four which my brother didnt want to watch.
“But there’s Jessica Alba, you idjut!”

Brother wanted to watch In Good Company… “Between Alba and Scarlett Johansson…… this one’s hotter!”
Ok, I agree… but I wasnt ready for another comedy and was hoping for a little comic book-type action.

Sigh. It’s Saturday and even though Ive put my work pile right where I can see it… I am so not ready to dive in. Not even toe-dip in. Heavens know I should. Running out of time.

….X-men that is. Curiousity was intrigued by rumours that Prof.X is still alive……watch the movie right to the end where Moira MacTaggart is tending the “man turned vegetable with consciousness” and suddenly she looks up and says “Charles?” or something to that effect.

And knowing Marvel comics its very possible he IS alive. They used the same premise when Xavier was in Cairo once, and even had his pockets picked by a very young Ororo who was a thief then trying to survive the streets. She was stopped in her tracks by Xavier but he was suddently aware of the presence of another powerful telepathic, criminal kingpin Amahl Farouk……

He and Xavier have a telepathic duel and Farouk loses…..but his consciousness still lived on. And found another body or shell to live in…eventually finding Shan/Karma, a rookie New Mutant member who was believed to have died in a battle, but actually was still living as Farouk’s prisoner in her own mind.

Hey, its not unexplored territory….Chucky the serial killer did it, Sauron of LOTR did it as well…so why the hell not Xavier??
Would the filmmakers let viewers in on Xavier surviving, and DARE not make a fourth instalment??

Oh the possibilities, if it were to be!!!!

Marvel prob. gave ideas for film to use existing story plots of X-men/New Mutant/X-Force/X-Factor series but only using a limited number of same characters ….. true Nightcrawler did not appear in part 3… The Beast and Angel did instead… making the appearance of Original X-Men somewhat complete…(even though Scott the idiot died…but we never actually saw that happen did we??) and X-factor characters as well ie. Leech, Rusty (the firemaker…i forget the name), and part of the original X-men crew (which made up part of the newer X-factor team). Confused yet?

Will the new mutants ever make an appearance? The film seemed to be set in classic X-men era (heck even Magneto’s costume was from that time adn Kitty Pryde was 14) but they introduced new X-factor characters…totally missing out the New Mutants (NM) era.
They may decide to go ahead with this and in the cartoon series style….. introduce the newer X-men members like Gambit etc etc. which i did not follow.

Seems a shame they always leave out NM. They had so much potential. Could it be because of Warlock?

If i had things my way….Id have Part 4 with NM…. the story plot? Oh something abt Illyana rasputin joining the school after being saved from Belasco. Xavier comes back and has to do battle with Proteus (his and Moira’s son). Orrrrrr He’ll encounter David Haller his other son with Gabrielle Haller who has multiple personalities (sound familiar?) Ohwhatfuuuunnnnnnnn!
Rogue MAY not appear in part 4 or she might cos the cure doesnt seem to be permanent..so she may get powers back…..

Late now…… nite nite…TBC

…. how time flies… soon it will June and we’ll only have six more months to go till another new year.

And Things are definitely picking up…. June and July are set to be jam-packed, even the previous week already was…. with a movie marathon of sorts - Over the hedge, da Vinci Code and X-Men3.

In a way maybe it was to prepare for the upcoming move. Housemate has already packed up her 14-inch television… about my only other source of entertainment besides the puter……. there goes my couch potato, McD-filled weekends in front of the idiot box…

In an ironic twist of events, visited friend who had the brilliant idea to cook dinner….so off we went grocery shopping ( i also had to get wedding gifts for Swedish friends who were hungry for Malaysian food) got home and cooked - fried chicken liver with chilli, kai lan with oyster sauce, clams with chinese wine, Codfo luncheon meat… and i had to resist opening a can of chili tuna.
After that we settled down to watch Formula One on TV….. what luck that this week’s circuit was Monaco… one of the more famouser racing tracks for F1…. and i did not regret watching it for one second. About 6-7 race cars were out due to engine overheating mostly… one of the more prominent drivers were Raikonnen and Webber who had been in front of the race pack at 2nd and 3rd position respectively… what a loss for them!!!

Bleeding Schuey, who had cheated the day before at the qualifiers started from behind and was even one lap down at one point till about the 60 plus laps then he overtook Alonso to race and catch up to 5th or 6th placing, just behind his former teammate Barrichello… even heard a story of how before Barrichello had braked before the finish line to let Michael overtake him and get first placing… after all Micheal was first driver mar…UNBELIEVABLE!

And Renault’s Alonso showed impeccable form leading all the way from start to finish, twas just unbelievable.. Our very own Petronas’ Heidfeld even managed to overtake Honda’s Button to get 8th placing… no mean feat at all! What an awesome race on one of the racing world’s most notorious circuits.
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Last Friday had gone for a work event and had a stupendous sort of rewarding time. In honour of World Cup 2006 a Quiz Trivia involving 12 teams was held.. with some awfully good luck (and frantic calls for answers) we managed to scrape through to the semi-finals. There we were pitted against 2nd placed team for a spot in the finals. The challenge involved a computer game of trying to make goals out of 5 tries, as well as saving goals made by the opponent team…. u can imagine there was a lot of guesswork and mind games to be done.

We made all five goals …BUT. could not manage to save any as well.. so it being a draw meant they went into the finals for a shot at a 26-inch LCD TV..SOB!

Pretty glad we managed a draw however… though i suspect if opponents had been peeps who knew me, they would have been able to guess direction of my goal kicks… cos they’d know how my “warped” and “twisted” mind works… *sNiCkEr*

At least for our joint third placing, we were rewarded with two goody bags and i opted for the electronic shaver (DUH!) and FIFA endorsed football ;D
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X-Men 3 ….what can i say?

Am i a Marvel comics fan? Id honestly say no, though i have to admit when i heard of plans to make the first X-Man movie, my heart sank. It hit rock bottom when i heard Halle Berry was to be Storm.. cos I saw her in a James Bond movie and SwordFish and was thoroughly unimpressed (what a hottie though!!!)…just not Ororo aka Storm material.
I was going frantic with the thought that a screen adaption of me beloved superheroes would never EVER hit the nail on the head…. leaving true-blue fans like me sorely overwhelmingly disappointed with a void of dissatisfaction that would never ever be sated.. how is the silver screen ever expected to capture the essence, atmoshpere that is so lovingly pencilled, inked, coloured and speech bubbled by artists and creators?
Wow, am i overdramatising here? YES, I AM.

More bitching later.

At last got to watch the movie and see for myself what the hyped up controversy is about. Never read the book after all.
Felt a tad disappointed that while he had a few original ideas.. the main one about the Priory of Sion or that Jesus is really a mortal and has a female descendant bla bla bla …were premises already suggested by another movie “DOGMA”.

That black comedy posed even more outragoeus theories ie. Jesus is a black dude, God is a “She”, there were 13 Apostles and not 12 and so on and so forth.
If Dan Brown wanted to rock the Catholic community.. i think he most definitely did, whilst upsetting a lot of uptight ones as well. I liked near the ending of the movie where Robert tells Sophie, his definition of faith - the only thing that matters is…what you believe.

If anything, the book was probably one of life’s ultimate test of faith. But then again, sometimes people are never satisfied that they themselves know what they know and believe what they believe - the rest of the world has to believe it too?

So, go ahead gawk and blink or get piously self-righteous and inflamed about what Danny boy suggests in his book…. but I enjoyed the movie immensely….though there were a few scenes which did not make sense.

ie. how did Silas escape his bondage in London? Did Remy help him? But why? Was Remy hoping to make a profit? Or did he last minute decide to turn traitor and side Silas when the monk was holding Sophie at knifepoint? Or was that simply his way of sort of placating the monk so that he could cart his master away to safety? But how could he be sure that Silas would fall for it? OR was wat really that happened was that it WAS a ruse to save his boss (or not) and when Silas assumed he was The Teacher, Remy guessed it cud have been his boss and decided to keep him alive to blackmail him (hence the handing over of cash, remember? and his promise to keep his secret to his grave). But waht reason did Remy have to even think his boss was the Teacher adn why ever should Teabing have admitted it? Cos Teabing was going to poison him anyway?
Could Teabing have orchestrated Silas’ escape? Naw… tat would defeat his objective. Did Remy look a little surprised when he walked into the Church? Or had HE been behind it all along? Why? And if not, then it STILL doesnt explain how Silas escaped?
Ah questions… questions…

See what you can do when you basically write a story involving an intricate hunt for “treasure”, but also throw into the mix a bunch of interesting characters, clever clever riddles and codes, and the all-important controversy that is guaranteed to catch the attention of the majority of the globe’s population in allllll manner of ways…

Saw Transporter 2 last nite…. directed by the same guy who made the “Fifth Element”, I think… which explained alot… the outrageous dressing, the outrageous kung-fu action moves which no one but Chinese Asians have always been able to do. Till now.

Matrix doesnt count for me, cos Keanu Reaves just didnt do it for me. Or maybe it was the shin-length overcoat

But watching Jason Statham execute all those amazing (albeit unbelievable but which LOOKED believable) moves in his tie and suit simply did wonders to me… Im starting to have a soft spot for bald guys….

That shiny pate, that steadfast chin…. and that accent…THAT ACCENT ….. Ay carumba!!!

I’d always wondered why my sister kept prawns in her aquarium of goldfish……. then after the long chinese new year hols… I found out.
There was not a single prawn in sight… I could not imagine how the gold fish (which arent very huge) managed to eat the biggest prawn which has to measure about 3 cm at least. Then I found out where they had gone…
“The commited kamikaze…. rather than be eaten they just jumped out of the aquarium,” said my sis.

Hmmmm.

Watching up Queer as folk can open up one’s mind to the possiblities that the person next to you may be homosexual. In the show…everyone certainly seemed to be. Even the most unlikely ones. Especially the most unlikely ones.

ie. the middle aged client whom brian has to service to win the account.
The seemingly mild mannered family man. The absolutely gorgeous but respectable chiropractor Dr David. More often than not gays/bis in the show were hot looking dudes who wore tight t-shirts (shiny ones were optional) and you’d see them at Babylon (this absolutely diviiiiiiiine gay bar),at the car showroom, the video store, the hospital etc.

Lesbians Ive met quite a few already… but gays are a whole new different ball game. What makes them tick? I can understand if anyone gets turned on by girls… ya gotta admit… the female form is much more pleasing to the eye than the male form. And then slowly..bit by bit… you get it… homosexuality is not just a sexual preference…its a whole LIFESTYLE.

Aside from those who werent afraid to show/express their preference/alternative lifestyles… there really was no way to know who was gay and who was not… and then of all folks.. peeps we’d met in real life… whom we had absolutely no reason to think were batting for the other side..gave us an unexpected surprise..

Fren: “OMG cat… H just kissed J! Look look look!”
Cat: *staring* But but but…. he’s just got a kid!
Fren: Look lar! They holding hands just now!
Cat: *Surprised into silence*

Hence one in a list of our new favourite past times - looking extra hard at people now. (Cos we’re such busybodies n have nothing better to do).. and cos it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase - Dont judge a book by its cover.

Its amazing what gems you will uncover when you try to see inside instead of just outside.

ALSO: watched Jet Li’s Fearless this afternoon… contrary to a review i read in the papers…the movie was superb as was jet li… tho they did lay it on rather thick with the patriotism bit.
A malay had also wandered in to watch the movie ….and when it finished..he was talking rather loud on his mobile phone. All the apparent message abt how chinese were a great race to have kicked western ass blablablablaaaaaaaaaa mustave struck a nerve. It was quite disturbing that he reacted the way he did.

I din think the movie was showing just the good side of the chinese race… it showed the bad as well. And basically not just the chinese can get a pointer or two from the character’s (which isn’t fictional by the way)example… everyone no matter what the colour of their skin or where they come from… could just try to be the best they can be.

There was a scene of jet li drinking tea with his japanese opponent-to-be, Tenaka..
Why differentiate teas when they are just meant to be enjoyed? Why separate leaves and grade them? he seemed to say.

BOO BOO.
Babies/toddlers being what they are, are an insatiable lot. “what will happen if i do this?” they seem to be thinking as they embark on their latest new big adventure which most times means more headache the peeps who have to watch over them.

Its not so bad if they wonder what will happen if they do “this”…its when they go “what about this? and THIS? and this? and tHiS? wheeeEEEeeeeee…. this is fUUUUUnnnnn!!!! Im gonna do it again!!!

Headache turns into permanent migraine. In most cases.. a problem with discipline. In a singular special case… my nephews.

SIGH.

Im traumatised… I just saw a baby still in side its mom’s tummy, kill himself by strangling on the umbilical cord.
Aston Kutcher in the movie, kept on going back to the past to rectify everything which would have an impact on his present.
This created a series of alternate present worlds for him.
The first is where he and his childhood sweetheart Kayli are abused by her father, his other friend Lenny unintentionally commits murder, and Tommy is particularly abusive as well. 13 years later…we are shown the consequences of it..

Then one day he discovers that he is able to somehow go back to a moment in time, a moment which was defining enough to drastically change the future.

It all digressed from there, cos each time someone didnt turn out so well he kept going back to try to make it all right. It came to the point where the only solution was that he did not exist.

Hence, baby killing itself. Good Gosh. I dun know if I will ever get over that one. But hey…everybody else lived happily ever after.

I just dun understand a few things about the story.
I dont know whether the cause for his blackouts were because he would return from the future to those instances or just coincidental.
Or wait… there was the time his dad tried to strangle him and it really was a consequence of his returning to the past to that moment. etc etc etc
Twas a nice, interesting movie which raises interesting questions.. but its flaws and big gaping holes were just too glaring.

The movie’s site (www.butterflyeffectmovie.com) posted some chaos theory and even invites visitors to send in their idea of chaos.

Here’s just one entry.

The butterfly effect describes infinite realities all with equal amounts of energy to account for such a process. Thus the total energy must be equal to zero (truth) therefore all else is a fraction of the zero (truth).

Each of these fractions describes a line in the total energy of the system. As humans we only have a limited number of variables (options) that govern which way the line may go. Positive (+) means real and negative (-) means imaginary.

Since there are a limited number of positive (+) variables (options) the total energy will take a shape on the whole, thus making deterministic chaos possible. Within all chaos there is a pattern to observe however slight, i.e., the vein distances and formation in your brain fully governs your personality (thought patterns), which made you the line you are today.

To observe the pattern you must know all of the (truths) fractions (each contain variables) of the total energy. Unfortunately this is not possible unless you are the total energy itself.

What you can observe is a river of fractions with the size of the river depending on the amount of (truths) fractions you know. And even seeing a river indicates you’re not part of the river locally.

Thus what you think may happen, and what you think may not happen, all while something else governs all of the maybes. For some, all we have is free thinking. Unfortunately with wisdom comes sorrow and with ignorance comes bliss.

–Victor A. Lopez, Houston Tx.

Have gotten Boo’s latest pics… she is a lovely lovely darling! She almost always wears shirts..but this one is full of little little blossoms.. sweet! This is the first time Im seeing Boo laugh with her eyes open… her big big eyes are all crinkly and lovely.

Been on a non-stop binge since last Wednesday…almost a week’s record, except that I’m breaking it today…. but happily continuing tomorrow…
Am almost finishing work up before I go on leave this Thursday(shant think anymore about it, I really need a break!!)… lots of things to look forward to - a spa massage, giant monopoly, mom’s home cooking, the nephews, drinking, drinking, partying and more drinking…

One of the other binges Ive had is over movies (and food) actually - have already seen…
* Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
* Chronicles of Narnia
* King Kong
* The Constant Gardener

The last movie is an investigative thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz… a total tear jerker, but a SUPERB tear jerker!!! Come to think of it, King Kong made me cry too, and I totally love the heroine… Naomi Watts.

Not too long ago, Boo’s dadda asked, “Was King Kong any good?”
Yes it was, I said.
“The heroine can be Athea when she reaches that age.” (Blonde hair and blue-green eyes, mar…)
“Hurrah,” said dadda.
“But you gotta ensure that she maintains a diet and also works out,” said I. (nudge!!)
“Ok,” complied dadda (NUDGE!!!!!)

Boo, Movies, Music and Happenings…….. that’s all I ever really need to blog about in Life.

Nothing else matters. Nothing else is worth writing and reading about.

Top Ten Movies to watch (or already have watched) 2005/early 2006*not in this order*
1. Happy Feet
2. Chronicles of Narnia
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
4. Pirates of the Carribean II
5. Sky High
etc Yikes…cant think of any more.

Narnia: Charming as hell.

Narnia was a very charming movie which cant be compared to the likes of LOTR. LOTR was an epic, very much capable of swaying the audiences through the whole spectrum of emotions via just its indescribable “vastness”.

Narnia stuck with the little little things, (not to say CG wasnt breathtaking, it was). But, the scene where Lucy first meets Tumnus the faun, stuck with me throughout the movie and for the first time in that movie, Lucy Pevensie shone and I understood why little Georgie Henley was chosen to play the role. Not to mention James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus.

I fell head over heels in love with the horny, bearded Tumnus. I have to admit, I started to curse my judgement when he led Lucy to his home and hid his door key with obvious devious intentions. By the time, Lucy was led to escape by Tumnus himself and gave her hanky to the faun, my little fickle heart reverted back to its original impression and i was moved to tears by the hoofed creature’s gratefulness to have met little human Lucy Pevensie.

Delightful creature…

I myself was thankful near the end.

Before battle we were at least spared the usual “la-di-da lets try to inspire the warriors” battle speech. Peter did manage a timely, well-placed and war-like sneer before it all started. There goes his boyish reputation… which is not necessarily a bad thing.

There’s something about my family and trilogies… Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings… if its a trilogy.. we would religiously follow and watch..as well as collect…..(Extended DVDs galore, maaaaaaannn!!!)
Star Wars is one of them… well, technically it isnt a trilogy.. more like two trilogies actually starting from Episode 4 all the way to Episode 6, and then about 2 decades later, Episode 1 to 3.
Batman has also begun to do this with the latest addition to the series..the back to origins “Batman Begins”.

The trilogy i enjoyed the most was LOTR though, except for the scenes between Sam and Frodo.

Yeck… Padme just kissed Anakin… ewwww.
Padme and Anakin, Queen Amidala and Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader… hot, mature chick and young bratty, obnoxious know-it-all.