i'll tell u one thing: advertisement works. well, at least it works on me i guess - after being constantly bombarded with the stupid KFC popcorn chicken shaker ads, i finally caved and actually went out of my way to get to a KFC after work to get myself a pack, just to try if its really as good as the ad says. conclusion: its sucked. i mean, not that i didnt know that already.. i mean its exactly the same concept that the failed mcdonalds offering: mcshaker fries or something like that (which incidently i also tried and hated!). for those of u who are going like "what in the world is he talkin about..". i'll explain: the concept it simple, u put some seasoning, ie ajinomoto (think the mamee powder) into a container and u place the chicken popcorn into a cup with a dome lid and shake it to even out the seasoning. in short, wat u get is extremely salty pieces of chicken (i'm still thirsty now even after drinking uncountable litres of water..), so if you havent tried it.. DON'T! take my word for it.. its sucks. however, the regular popcorn chicken is alright i guess.

anyway, on a separate note .. i cant believe i actually sat thru the entire "the making of ms india" on starworld earlier. i have no idea wat was the whole aim of the show. i mean, it did show how they were selected and stuff (i watched abit here and there so i wasnt really following the earlier part of the show..), so anyway the point that the whole show drove down was that the whole damned pageant was set up. i mean, it was so obvious that one of the contestants (neha or something like that..) was a favourite from the start - she was given the central role in the opening parade, the most solo time throughout the pageant.. stuff like that. so basically i felt that the only thing that the show proved was that it was sooOOOoo set up. i guess the winner must be some mistress or gf to one of the indian mafia dudes or something.. its all about who u know i guess.. (or in most cases, who u're humping.. hehe)

just had dinner at chandelier in taman seputih, some place by federal highway which is opposite midvalley for those who've never heard of it. well, all i can say is that the food is DAMN expensive there. i mean a grilled fish (mind u, it wasnt one of those bourgeosie fishes, rather those quite ciplak variants), some fried lala and some el cheapo otak otak with some drinks cost me like rm100! well, i have to admit that the ambience of that place is really nice, although its open air and all, but its still pretty comfortable cos there're many trees around. a nice quiet place to have drinks and chat, but definitely not to dine. however, i did notice that they had a big bbq pit going and probably the bbq-ed chicken, lamb and stuff would be nice but i din really think i was worth it paying that kinda money for just bbq-ed food. however, after having the fish, i did kinda regret not just calling for the bbq-ed food. i mean how wrong can u go with wings and satay rite? obviously this was after tasting the horrible tasting lala, which was rejected the 1st time around for being super fishy. even when it came the 2nd time around, although it wasnt as smelly as the 1st, it still wasnt nice.

ah well, in all fairness their beer was alright, although their wine did taste a lil dodgy (as if it was watered down already..). however wat was interesting is that dunhill had this 'tobacco experience' thing going on whereby they would make a cigarrette for u on the spot according to watever u wanted. it was interesting to see how the made a cigarrette from this handy lil gadget thing .. (which would make many stoner-rastas' lives soooOOOOoo much easier should they get their hands on one). i didnt enjoy the cigarrette too much though, cos basically wat they made me was a dunhill lights, and i didnt really like it..

so anyway, needless to say i dont think i'll be paying chandeliers a visit anytime soon.. well, maybe i would consider if it was jus for some drinks, but dinner is definitely a no-no.

boring-ness maximus

sigh.. i'm bored. theres's just nothing interesting to do these days. even though its the weekends, but somehow i just can't quite enjoy it cos there's that looming dread that monday is coming again - add together the fact that i have to work halfdays on saturdays, meaning that i only have a 1 1/2 day weekend, which sucks.

well anyway the reason for the communication blackout the past week or so is cos (well, u guessed it..) my streamyx connection went kaput again. i've said it before but i'm gonna say it again, tmnet sucks! when i called them to see wats wrong with my streamyx (it wasnt working for a few days), their answer was simply "ermm.. dunno la". when asked if it was possible to check wats wrong, the reply was "but then i have to walk to the computer and check". sighh.. well, dont wanna bitch too much about it but since its working already i'll just leave it at that with the sentiment that tmnet sucks. not only they're not as fast as they put themselves out to be, their service sucks too.

on a different note (i should've done this like way earlier): a big shoutout to Dee.. CONGRATS ON UR GRADUATION DEE!! (or should i say DOCTOR Dee). although i alwiz knew u could do it, i'm proud of ya all the same. respect.

here's another shot of some characters in the incredibles: (from top to bottom, left to right..) elastigirl, mr. incredible, dash, violet, edna (she's funny..), syndrome, frozone, mirage and mr. incredible's alter ego bob paar's boss, huph.

the incredibles

what can i say..? i think this movie is a masterpiece - i loved it! move over superman and all u other super what-nots, here come the incredibles! i feel that my commenting on it won't do it much justice and therefore i strongly urge those of u haven't seen it to go watch it now! highly recommended and i personally feel that this is one of pixar's finest to date!

now since i got nothing better to say, i shall comment on something that has been bugging me lots off late: "cinemetiquette".

as u all know i've been watching quite a number of movies lately and for some reason i always seem to be seated next to the weird ppl - by weird i mean sometimes obnoxious, sometimes inconsiderate, but mostly plain annoying..

now hear me out: most of the time there'd be this guy who just can't sit with his legs close. i mean i'm not asking u to cross ur leg like a gal or anything, but if ur legs are coming into MY space, to the extend that i have to shift my sitting position just to accomodate ur "invasion", i guess thats just plain rude innit? and its not as if i do not make my disatisfaction known (subtly of cos.. by ahems and staring at his knees and back at him), but of cos the only thing that exceeds these ppl's inconsideration is their cluelessness.. *sigh*

another problem is also ppl who "pile-drive" the seats in front (ie shake their legs, causing the front seats to also feel the vibration). however, this seemed to hv decreased off late, probably owed to the nokia ad they show at the beginning of every movie.

the other day while i was watching 'the grudge', there was this guy and his companion (i can't quite tell if its his gf or his MOM.. so i'd rather not say, haha), who were talking at the top of their voices. at 1st it when it was during the ads and trailers i guess its excusable (though still annoying..) but i'd let it go being the nice guy i am. but if it goes on thruout the movie, its just plain rude. i mean this guy was like "woooo.. scary" "woooo.. scared leh?" to his companion and she was like hitting him and saying "stop it.." bla bla bla.. then they can actually comment on the show and stuff (all at a very audible tone to most of the cinema). good thing the show started getting really scary and i think it affected him somewhat cos not only he got really quiet after awhile, he also gave me back my "legroom". haha..

then yesterday during the incredibles there was this chick sitting next to me who was soooooo amused by the show. i mean she was laughing at every single thing, commenting at every single thing, "oooo.. that boy is so clever!!" "hahahahahahaa.. so cute/funny!!". okay, i have to admit that this one is more amusing that annoying at times, especially then whenever she laughs, not only its loud, but she also claps her hands and sometimes hits at her bf. now at that point in time i really can't tell for sure if i was laughing at the show or at her peculiar antics.

ah well, sometimes i wonder.. m i just unlucky getting placed next to this ppl or are the general movie watching crowd of malaysia just like that? maybe the cinemas should increase the number of the couple seats so at least there's a buffer space between me and the annoying masses - or hourdes/herds if its more appropriate =)

jus comparing the jappo and english version posters is enough to tell which one of the 2 is creepier.. dont u agree..?

ju-on: the grudge

"when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born. The curse gathers in that place of death. Those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury.."

omg.. freaky innit? well, the reason to why i suddenly brought up ju-on was cos i just watched the english remake of it - the grudge starring sarah michelle gellar, bill pullman and gang. in case any of u haven't watched ju-on yet, and are contemplating watching the grudge instead.. i'd recommend watching the original 1st. i guarantee it'd scare the shit outta you (well, at least i was scared witless..). just to illustrate exactly how freaked i was with ju-on, i think i watched it almost a year ago and i still have not gathered enough courage to watch the 2nd part (yep, there's ju-on 2 already).

so anyway why then did i bother to watch 'the grudge' yesterday? simply put, i dont read movie sypnoses before choosing movies. *Sigh* wat can i say? lesson learnt. when the movie started, i was like "hmm.. this scene looks familiar." suddenly it hit me, holy crap! this is ju-0n! and u know wat the worst part is? i've always knew that "ju-on" meant "the grudge" in japanese, it just didn't occur to me at that time. stress stress stress stress..

however, i have to say that watching a horror flick that u already know wats coming up next doesnt make it so scary.. hehe. and plus the fact that the "americanized" version just isn't as freaky compared to the dark and gloomy setting of the original jap version. however, that doesn't mean i didnt get goosebumps (lots of them) watching the english version. but then again, just looking at the movie poster for ju-on is good enough to gimme the shivers..

Sea monkeys ..



sea monkeys .. remember them? well, wat happened was that i was browsing thru the toys section (which happens to be my fave dept of all..), when i came across sea monkeys! i cant believe they're selling it again. well, i can't remember how much they were selling it for last time (i think i actually had a set.. dont think it worked out though), but they're selling pretty advanced stuff now.. bigger aquariums with fancy accessories for like rm99.90. thats not the worst part .. i was actually contemplating buying one set just for the fun of it. hehe, however .. before actually making the decision to get it, i spotted some transformers .. which so happens was also rm99.90 and i was like "hey, better get this rite?". then i'll spot something else.. and then something else..

well, jus for ur information.. this happens everytime i walk into a toy section.. i just want to get everything i get my hands on. that little child in me still hasnt had enough i guess..

oh yah, if u were wondering wat did i get in the end .. zilch. kim came and whisked me away. hey, there's nothing wrong with liking toys ok..? especially since i can actually afford it now =)

oh, incidently the sea monkey ad at the top of this post is an old-skool ad from when i was little .. just wondering if anyone remembers it like i do..?

Calvin's day-out

i had a pretty good day today. despite beginning my day only after lunch, it was alright. it all started out with a nice lunch at Oh-sushi midvalley. i like the food there - not only its relatively affordable, its also pretty good. i especially like their cha-han (jap fried rice). now before u jump on me and say "wat?! u go to a jap restaurant to eat fried rice?!", hear me out. its pretty good ok? its cos i was so bored of always eating the same tempura bento etc, when i decided to just give their fried rice a try and boy was i surprised. i've been hooked ever since!

well, after that i watched sharks tale. it was a miracle i actually got tickets in midvalley on a public holiday i tell you. at 1st was ready to watch gold-class (which are 35 bucks a seat) cos all they had was seats 3rd row from the screen (aka neckache/headache seats) for the regular cinemas, when i asked dont u have any better seats? they were like no, unless u want the "couple seats" which are 2 bucks more expensive per seat. it seats right at the back of the cinema and is 2 standalone seats with plusher cushioning. i was like like duh.. i'll take it (12 bucks vs 35 bucks.. wad'ya think?). so anyway to cut the long story short.. now that i've experienced the couple seats, there's no turning back to the normal seats. try it and you'll understand what i'm talking about. now maybe i'll seriously consider trying goldclass next.. hmm, but at 35 bucks a pop it'd better be a really long movie.. haha

after the movie we headed out to changkat bukit bintang for dinner. didnt really have anything in mind so just parked the car and walked around to see wats interesting. the 1st place we came to this french restaurant (cant remember the name, starts with "b" i think) but nothing on the menu looked ermm.. interesting. i dont eat escargots and other weird garden stuff (haha..) so we decided to pass. well, then we decided on this german place deutches haus or something like that. the food was so so.. but the beer was pretty expensive. i tried the german beer they had on the tap (marsel or something like that..) and it cost me 27 bucks a pint. priceyyy.. good experience, wont be back anytime soon.

all in all a fun day.. kinda overspent, but hey.. alil luxury once in a while won't hurt right? =)

Happy Deepavali!

well, here it is deepavali's here and i got the day off! hoo-rah! but the odd thing is that i actually do not have any indian friends to wish or visit. hmm.. well, there's always hari raya next week. on the other hand, i don't have any malay friends either.. sigh. ah well, chinese new year it is then.. =)

conned .. and extremely pissed about it!

as if its not bad enough i'm not feeling well today, i was conned into attending a direct-selling sales pitch thingie. how this happened was an old colleague called me up to meet up for a drink (note that she's old and married so me having an ulterior motive for having a drink with her is totally out of the question..). so anyway, got to the rendezvous point and there she was with her husband (who was clad in suit and tie!!), and almost immediately started with the typical would u like to be ur own boss and earn up to rm10k a month? i knew i was had.. (in hindsight, i should've bolted for the exit right there and then). so anyway i thought i didnt want to be rude or anything so lets just play along and see wat she has to say .. bla bla bla bla bla .. so in a nutshell it was some stupid direct selling pyramid scheme shit which promises rm10k a month in 2 years - which apparently is emphasized to be a CONSERVATIVE number, so the actual no should be way higher than that.. my my my. do i really look THAT stupid to u?

so anyway, i respect the fact that there're many ppl that dumb .. no wait, lemme rephrase that.. i respect the fact that YOU'RE that dumb to actually subscribe to this stupid bullshit and are willing to try to make a fast buck out of these schemes (by you, i mean my ex-colleague). i mean, if there aren't any stupid ppl in this world, how do smart ppl (such as moi) stand out in the crowd right? heh heh..

HOWEVER, what i can't stand about all this is that the fundamental concept of direct selling is to take advantage of ur frens' trust and push the very fabric of that pathetic thing u call a frenship as far as u can just for the sake of ur quest for riches (which is probably never gonna materialize from this dumb scheme anyway). i'm sure many will revert by saying that sometimes when ppl come across a good thing u'd want to introduce it to ur frens right? i say that's not the case for direct selling, because as long as you dont bring anyone under your network, ur chance for the big bucks are practically zilch. so in reality when they say "i want to introduce to you a good thing" actually means "you look gullible and therefore i want to profit off you, sucker".

its a sad, sad world when ppl resort to taking advantage of their frens.

*cough cough* *sniff sniff* =(

sigh.. i hate being sick. i don't know why but for some reason i seem to have gotten worst today - in addition to the sniffles and cough, i now have an extremely bad tummy ache. can't quite place wats wrong with my tummy, but it feels like gastric. *sob* i just hope i feel better tomorrow else i'm gonna hv to take a day off .. hmm, come to think of it that ain't too bad an idea eh..? =)