Unfinished

Alex has a very strange habit. He loves watching movies. But he can happily stop the movie halfway, or even with only 10 minutes left for that matter, to take a nap, read a magazine in the loo, or worse, swap DVDs!

I don't understand this at all. At one time, quite a few years back in fact, he was watching Meet Joe Black starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. He got sleepy towards the end. Having seen the movie prior, I told him there were only a few minutes left and that he should just finish watching it. But no, Mr Sleepy Head couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and decided to abandon the movie. The next day, a thief broke into his apartment and stole a few items, including the Meet Joe Black VCD! And no, till today Alex never saw the ending of the story.

That incident didn't teach him the joy or importance of watching a movie from the start to the end within one sitting, though. He still "breaks" his movies, all the time. Most annoying. And last night, we rented The Wickerman with Nicholas Cage in the lead role. I no longer have a stomach for horror movies and simply loathe watching a scary show all by myself, especially at night. So I was glad to have a partner watching with me.

I should've known. At 10.30pm, he started yawning and we were only half way through the movie. I wasn't that keen on the movie at first but slowly got hooked and I wanted to know what happened next. But Alex loudly excused himself, leaving me alone with The Wickerman. Truth be told, it wasn't that scary but I was just too chicken to watch it without another person next to me. So I abandoned it as well.

No more horror flicks for me. Waste of time and kills the fun if I have to watch it with the only other adult in the house!

Britney's Defender

Normally, I wouldn't bother wasting my time or blog space to talk about the likes of Britney Spears and those in the same league - Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Lindsay Lohan, etc. But this time, I thought it might be fun to poke fun at her and one of her most loyal fans.

By now, most of us would have heard or seen Britney's disasterous live performance at the MTV Music Video Awards last Sunday. Though scantily clad, she failed to wow audiences worldwide. Well, naturally, people were dumbstruck by her appearance but unfortunately not the way she had anticipated.

Sporting a little pot belly, she was quite a joke to look at. I don't mean to be cruel but if you're a celebrity and you want to flaunt it in front of thousands of people, you should at least have the decency to make sure you don't repel those very same people. I am sure most people gawked at her during the performance not because she looked like a goddess, but more so because they couldn't believe the once svelte and toned Britney looked like she had just pigged out big time before taking to the stage.

Not surprisingly, harsh criticisms became her constant companions the few days that followed her performance. Some people said she should be put away somewhere safe for others! Seems like the whole world has abandoned her. In the midst of this however, one fan came to her defence.

Meet Chris Crocker, Britney's superfan who posted a video on YouTube pleading people to leave Britney alone! That is so hilarious. He seems genuinely upset and choking while making his infamous plea. I don't know if this kid is vying for some free publicity himself but he's quite well-known now. And his very emotional stunt has apparently generated other spoofs, including one supposedly from his own father!

After what Crocker did, I doubt people would leave Britney alone. Too priceless to be left alone, for the wrong reasons, of course!

Paperback Heroes

Like thousands of women, I'm a sucker for trashy love stories, particularly historical romances set in the Regency and Victorian eras. The funny thing is, I never paid these types of novels much attention until my sister shoved one of her books to me.

(Hui Yin has always been the reader in the family. She never leaves home without a book or two. And sometimes, she reads two books simultaneously!

And she is nuts about historical romances.)

Sure, I spent a fair amount of time reading Mills & Boon stuff during my teens. But I outgrew those (she is still at it, though) and went on to more "serious" and "intelligent" stuff - non-fictions like biographies, real-life crime stories as well as murder mysteries and sci-fi fantasies. And I absolutely had no interest in reading any historical romance novels, until about 2 years ago.

And I've been hooked since. Most of the stories are silly to begin with - titled, dashing and wickedly handsome aristocrats who would move mountains and swim the seven seas to be with their lovely (and often in distress) damsels. There would be conflicts, scandals and even tragedies before they could find true love with each other. And of course, the besotted lovers would live happily ever after.

Predictable? Absolutely. Waste of time? Not entirely.

You see, the words are usually written so beautifully. Even when the characters quarrel, they do so with so much finesse and grace. Check this out:

"If your carriage had been moving at any speed above an almost imperceptible crawl, madam, it would not have posed a reckless endangerment to serious, responsible travellers who would really prefer to get somewhere by the end of a day instead of spending eternity on one stretch of road." - Lucius Marshall, Viscount Sinclair in Simply Unforgettable

Or this:

"A woman can use charms and looks for three things. She can go into the theatre, she can become a man's mistress or she can marry. As for me, I have no inclination or talent for acting and no wish to shame my family by entering into an illicit relationship. My only choice is marriage. That, I suppose, is what it means for a woman to be a survivor." - Elizabeth Hotchkiss in How To Marry A Marquis

Classy, no? I absolutely adore this kind of language (of course the book titles are often really no brainers). Which explains why I'm so besotted with Hugh Jackman's Leopold in Kate & Leopold! Leopold talks like that - and he's tall, dark and handsome! Ha ha.

Well, there's nothing wrong with indulging in a little fantasy, as silly as it sounds. After all, grown men the world over are obsessed with their comics. At least I don't need to look at pages of drawings to read my books. That's for kids, isn't it?

Now, That's Magic

I finally watched The Prestige. Bought the DVD on sale. And it's really worth it. To sum it up, it is brilliant.

Of course, me being an idiot, I had to spoil my fun at least 10-fold by reading the plot and story before watching the movie first. Yeah, stupid me. For some reason, I'm always partial to spoilers. I couldn't wait for the real thing, so I looked for an alternative. You can find almost anything on the Internet these days.

The turns and twists of the story are amazing. Hats off to the author of the original novel, Christopher Priest, as well as Christopher and Jonathan Nolan who expertly adapted the novel for the big screen. It's astounding how creative and imaginative some people can be. Makes me feel extremely inadequate sometimes.

The casting, directing and acting were superb. It is a star-studded cast, with my favourites Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale playing the lead roles of Robert Angier and Alfred Borden respectively. Yeah, Wolverine and Batman are both in the movie!

Well, actually, they played more than one role each. Jackman is dashing and charismatic as the showman magician. He is also quite effective playing a perpetually imbibed actor hired to be his double in his act. Bale's performance too is unblemished. He is unrecognisable in his other role as Fallon, Borden's loyal illusion engineer. And David Bowie - well, I wouldn't know Tesla is Bowie if I hadn't seen the credits!

It was a thrill watching the 2 leads trying to outdo and sabotage each other (I was so mesmerised I didn't touch my favourite potato chips, not even once, and that says a lot!). But what heavy prices they had to pay!

Now I can't wait to get my hands on the novel. Meantime, I will just watch the movie a few more times. Of course, the extras on the DVD will certainly be a bonus for me.

Art House Movie Conundrum

As much as I love movies, I am never into art house movies. Never was, never will. They are just too "deep" for me.

Good old Bala used to ask me to check out free art house movie screenings in KL back in our reporter days at The Sun. He meant well, always willing to share what he perceived as great things with his pals (still does), including moi. I tagged along a couple of times, and each time I came out feeling like an idiot!

While everyone else gushed over a particular film, my mind went blank. What the heck was the movie about? I didn't get it. Either I was profoundly stupid or everyone else feigned cleverness. And if someone happened to ask "So what do you think of the show?", I would produce a safe answer - "It was err, interesting," and quickly walked away before he or she asked another question that was even harder to answer.

Here in Melbourne, the video stores are filled with a huge range of art house movies from around the world. For reasons best known to himself, Alex recently picked one called "Irreversible" starring Monica Bellucci from the shelf.

If you've seen it, you'll know how graphic the violent scenes are and how weird it is - it actually starts from the end and keeps going backwards chronologically. I was totally confused and it took me a while to realise the strange sequence. Watching it really drained me. But I must say, each chapter (about 15 minutes) is only one take, with no cuts in between - pretty impressive acting.

Still, impressive or not, art house movies are certainly not my cup of tea. I don't want to tax my brain when I'm watching a movie. I just want to laugh, get some cheap thrills or marvel at beautiful things. Yeah, that's shallow, I know. But that's just me.

Age Of Love

I can't believe I just spent the last hour watching a really dumb show - Mark What's His Name Age Of Love. You know, one of those so-called reality shows in which one guy gets to be intimate with a bevy of hot babes and then eventually chooses one to be his "mate".

Well, this one is kind of "special" because the catch here is someone quite famous - a world-class tennis pro. Can never pronounce or spell this Mark guy's surname but that's not the point here. Anyway, it boggles the mind that someone already rich and famous is subjecting himself to this kind of humiliation and stupidity.

There are 2 groups of women here - the old cows (40-somethings but still look gorgeous thanks to various kinds of enhancements) and the young chicks (well, they look kind of fake too). And as usual, you see claws coming out (Wolverine would've been proud) when there are a group of women vying for the attention of one man . There are backstabbers, conspirators and traitors. I wonder how these people can be in the same room for more than half an hour. All the hatred, jealousy and ill feelings floating in the apartment they share must be very bad for their mental health! Well, that is assuming all this is real and not staged, of course.

But I must say, it was kind of entertaining in a sick and twisted way. I mean, I watched the WHOLE episode. Total waste of time. I have better things to do next week.

Movie Night

Tuesday. My favourite day. Why? Because of cheap video rentals on Tuesdays. Yep, it's my movie day.

Going to the cinema is an expensive affair here. When we watched Transformers a couple of months back, it cost us a bomb - AU$16 per adult ticket! Renting DVDs is a much cheaper alternative. And there are quite a few options too.

At Video Buster, you can rent a DVD for only AU$1 on Tuesdays and have it for a week. Of course for new releases, the rental period may be limited. Another good place to go is Video EZY. Gosh, they have everything and a lot of new movies. They even sell ex-rental DVDs at crazy prices. Its rental charges are higher than Video Buster's. Still, it's a lot cheaper than going to the cinema.

Renting DVD is really worth it. The kids truly make the best of it, watching their kiddie shows at least 7 times before returning the DVDs!

And another plus - all DVDs are original and uncensored. If you don't like something, don't watch it. The movie rating is clearly printed on the cover. Read carefully before renting.

Well, gotta go. Have to catch my Ocean's Twelve now. I know it's an old movie but I didn't get to see it when it was first released. So it's a treat for me tonight.

Musicals And Plays

If you love musicals and plays, Melbourne is a good place to live in. There are so many such performances throughout the year.

Now, I have NEVER been to a musical or play, although I did try to catch some at the Istana Budaya in KL a couple of times. Somehow, I never did manage to attend any. I wonder if I would take a liking to them if I did.

Anyway, there are plenty here. Everywhere you go, you can see posters and advertisements announcing plays or musicals by school kids, drama school students or professional actors, singers and musicians.

They start them young here. In schools, music lessons are part of the curiculum. And many kids attend extra music or drama classes after school. And guess what? They are encouraged to perform before an audience, for instance, during the school assembly. I have attended Joshua's school assembly a few times and each time, there will be a couple of students invited to play a musical instrument for everyone in the hall. And they are pretty good. I'm certaint there will be plays and other performances at certain times of the year.

And of course, the pros are at it too. Melbourne being some sort of a centre of performing arts, you'll be able to catch well-known actors and musicians strutting their stuff on stage too. Hugh Jackman was here last year doing his The Boy From OZ tour. Too bad I hadn't arrived here yet. I would have loved to see Wolverine sing and dance on stage. Weird image. But he must have been darn good to earn a Tony Award for his role as Peter Allen in the musical.

Well, maybe next time ...

Trashy Trivia

Sometimes, I amaze myself with the amount of trash that I know.

Just the other day, I turned on the TV and there were flashes of well-known celebrity faces. And I could name EACH and EVERYONE of them. Nicole, Hugh, Cate, Keanu, Julia, Mischa, Matt, Brad, Uma, Kylie, Heath, Scarlett, Elijah, etc. If there were a test on "Spot The Celeb", I will pass with flying colours, unlike a certain driving test in which I had to sit for FIVE times before passing.

Alex, seated next to me, was impressed. He coulndn't name a single one of the stars. Can't blame him, though. He's into Cantonese movies, not Hollywood fares, although he seems to start developing an appetite for movies from the West. Well, living in Australia does that to you.

Anyway, it isn't just famous faces that I recognise and know. I have a knack of identifying a movie by seeing clips of it even though I've never seen that particular movie before. And when it comes to my favourite stars, what I know is even scarier.

I don't know why my brain is so darn good at absorbing nonsence info like that. But I have a sneaky suspicion I'm not in anyway unique. Millions of others are probably like me. Sad but true - our brains are not being put to good use. Sigh ...

Proudly Australian

Back in Malaysia, we have this "Beli Barangan Buatan Malaysia" campaign. Buy local, support local goods. Apparently, there is a similar thing in Australia. You'll see the label "Proudly Australian" in many locally produced and manufactured goods.

It's hardly surprising since the market here too has been inundated with goods "Made In China". The funny thing is, even the "Made In China" products here are better than those seen in Malaysia.

Anyway, it's not just locally grown and manufactured goods that are the pride of Australians. They have another kind of goods and exports that they are immensely proud of - movie exports.

Yep, just look at Nicole Kidman. She is BIG here. I had no idea until I got here. You can find pictures and news bits about her in EVERY issue of the tabloid magazines here. Every move she makes, every statement she issues, every man she is seen with, etc, are all documented meticulously. Good thing she doesn't live in Australia. She would've been hounded by the paparazzi all year round. Wait, maybe that's why she doesn't live here.

And of course, there is the multi-talented Hugh Jackman too. I never thought much of him until I saw Kate & Leopold, in which he played a poor nobleman from 1876 transported to the 20th century. The movie sank but Jackman as Leopold truly shone. Leopold and Wolverine were as similar as black and white. That was when I realised this guy CAN actually act. And to my utter surprise, I later found out he actually had a stage and musical background. Wolverine in musicals?? Yeah, his range is that amazing. Needless to say, I'm a big - and perhaps a bit obsessed fan - now. Yeah, my desktop wallpaper features Leopold. Gorgeous. Ha ha.

And there are others too - Cate Blanchett, Russel Crowe, Naomi Watts, Heath Ledger, Julian McMahon, etc. And I just read that many Australian TV actors are also in the running for various awards in the Emmys.

Watch out Hollywood. Aussiewood will rule someday!

Posh In LA

Let's get one thing straight first. I am NOT a big fan of the Beckhams but I've gotta say this - they, especially the pouty half of the duo, sure know how to make a spectacle of themselves. So when the new reality TV show starring Mrs Beckham herself made its debut last night over Channel 9, I just had to catch it.

For the uninitiated, I'm referring to Victoria Beckham: Coming To America. The first episode showed how the former Posh Spice first arrived in LA ahead of her family "to find a house, a school and a manicurist"!

Boy, it was a circus! Honestly, it was so hilarious I don't think any of it was real. Half of it was probably staged. Still it had me in stitches in no time! And Victoria wasn't all that bad. I mean, she at least had the grace to poke fun at herself. Of course, she poked fun at others too. If you haven't seen it, you should check out the part where she accepted an invitiation by some ageing LA socialites to a tea party. Gosh, those women were so scary that Victoria actually looked normal!

And naturally, everywhere she went, she was trailed by the paparazzi. At one point, she dropped in a sex shop and got a blow-up doll, dressed it up as Posh and used it as a decoy for the circus to follow.

Oh, another part I found hilarious was during an earthquake demo provided by a so-called earthquake specialist (California is prone to such natural catastrophe after all). As instructed, she ducked under the table with her butt sticking out. She was wearing something really short and she promptly shouted , "Can you see my knickers??!"

And guess who she brought along on her trip? Her hairstylist and her make-up artist! Over-indulgent? Most definitely but if you have that kind of money to blow it, why the heck not?

Heroes Vs X-Men

The only TV series that I'd been watching - Heroes - finished its first season last Wednesday. Cool show, I quite like it, and I especially like Hiro (played by Masi Oka). He's cute, no? And quite likely the soul of the series.

I don't know about others but I can't help comparing these Heroes with the mutant X-Men. Heroes, of course, seem more earthly - at least they look more human although they come with various superpowers that rival those of the X-Men.

Claire for instance, can regenerate tissue immediately whenever she gets hurt. So can Wolverine (though they look nothing alike!). Too bad she doesn't have claws.

Parkman can read other people's thoughts. Pretty much like Prof Xavier and Jean Grey. Too bad he can't fling people around with his thoughts.

Peter Petrelli can absorp other Heroes' abilities. Rogue has something similar since she too can temporarily absorp the powers of others through direct skin contact. Luckily Peter doesn't suck the life out of others.

Nikki/Jessica has superhuman strength. So do quite a number of X-Men. Too bad she has a spilt personality.

DL can walk through walls. This ability has been seen in the X-Men movies. There's also a character that morphs in Heroes, like Mystique does.

Heroes and X-Men. They both rock. But one shudders to think if either is real!