Roz, my succulent little garden snail

a bump into nani at the stairs kat college after class tadi led to us gallavanting off to pyramid to catch a movie. we originally wanted to watch mukhsin, but when we found out neither of us had watch 300 yet, we decided to watch that instead.

300. whatever you've heard about the movie is pretty much true. Great graphics, a little bit of a mystical/fantasy aura to it, very nicely done, and tons of half naked guys with six-packs running around everywhere, woot! it's no wonder that iranians are mad about it though. the movie's portrayal of the persians was just plain freaky.

Anyways, i'm itching to type, so thought i'd post a commentary about the 10 movies that I think are great. i'm definitely not a movie buff, there are tons of movies i should watch but haven't, and i'm not particularly good at analysing plots or performances or whatnot. but still, just wanted to mention some movies that are pleasurable to watch. the type of movies yang no matter how many times they show it on astro, you'd still watch them over and over again. let's see if we have any in common, yeah?

in no particular order:

1.My Little Bride

Back in school, i had caught on to the korean movie fever(thanx to sal, aiman, anna, chim and the rest,heh). i don't keep up with korean movies anymore, but back then i came across this movie, and bought the vcd. one word to describe it. SWEET!(as in the cutesy-girlie sweet, not the sweet like how ashton kutcher said it in 'dude, where's my car?). I just find it such a charming(if a bit illogical) movie. Moon Geun-yeong was the epitome of cute.


2.Finding Nemo

I defy anyone not to like this movie. How can you NOT like it? it's hilarious. Finding nemo, in my opinion may be one of the best childrens' movie EVER(is this too strong a statement?).


3.The Italian Job

I've never watched the original one, the one starring michael caine made in the sixties tu, so i can't really compare and determine which one is better. But either way, i think the movie is fun. i guess it's just average in terms of plot, nothing specacular about it ke ape, but i enjoy it immensely. i find it tons more entertaining than other movies that are similar, like ocean's twelve, for example.


4.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

One of those rare movies where jim carrey acts normal. The soundtrack rocks. i like this one because honestly, who wouldn't want to forget someone and erase them out of their life at some point?


5.Alice in Wonderland

'"The time has come", the walrus said, "to talk of many things. of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings"...(the last part i forgot/couldn't understand). There are a few adaptations of the story, but i like the disney animation best. I like how there are biscuits and sweets that can make you really tall or really small. plus, a sly fat purple-striped tabby is always interesting.


6.Pride and Prejudice

This movie appeals to my secret, deeply hidden, rarely seen(or so i'd like to think) jiwang side, heh :p Besides the fact that everyone's accent is lovely, i guess it's interesting because it manages to give a prim and proper yet touching portrayal of the classic tale of falling in love surprisingly with the person you thought you hated. sountrack is brilliant.


7.Dracula:Dead and Loving It

funny,funny,funny! Watch it, if you've yet to do so. Full of obvious and blatant humour(what else can you expect from Leslie Nielson?), this one memang rocks my socks off.

funny scenes:
1.Renfield: [running after Dracula]Master!MASTER!......I mean, mister,mister!
2.Jonathan Harker:[talking about Lucy, who got bitten by Dracula] She's alive??'
Van Helsing: She is Nosferatu.
Jonathan Harker: She's Italian??

Heh. maybe only those who have watched the movie will get why it's funny.


8.Amelie

Kakak's favourite movie, kalau tak silap. i haven't watched it in quite a while, so i've forgotten a chunk of scenes, but the movie really is lovely. Audrey Tautou plays her part superbly, and Mathieu kassovitz is cute. i completely encourage anyone who hasn't watched it yet to do so. It's poignant!


9. Back to the Future(all three installations)

Christopher lloyd and Michael J Fox are the perfect combination. Don't need words to describe it.


10.Monsters, Inc.

The other best kids' movie besides finding nemo. I dig the originality of the movie(in terms of the whole monster-in-the-cupboard adjoined to a whole monster city concept and using screams as an energy source, etc). Billy crystal was fab.

Mike Wazowski: Roz, my tender oozing blossom, you're looking fabulous today. Is that a new haircut? tell me it's a new haircut. It's got to be a new haircut. New makeup? you had a lift? You had a tuck? You had something? Something has been inserted in you that makes you look like a....listen, i need a favor.

So there you go. Movies i would very much like to watch but haven't had the chance to do so:
1. The Breakfast Club
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Kill Bill
4. Lost in Translation
5. The Godfather

Any other movie that should be added to the list?

Shiny, shimmery, splendid

i went to the UK edufair on saturday, spent about half an hour there. the rest of the afternoon was spent accompanying my classmate Chris on a shopping/browsing expedition. You may think this sounds perfectly ordinary, but trust me, it isn't. Have you ever went shopping with a guy whom is on first-name terms with all the salesgirls at the Chanel and Dior counters in KLCC? It was an experience to remember. there i was, fumbling through the price tags, internally reminding myself not to shriek in disbelief at the expensiveness of everything, while he was going in an out of changing rooms and lamenting the fact he didn't bring enough cash to buy the exquisite(and jaw-droppingly mahal) jacket,etc. ahah, i had fun though.

So anyway, the real highlight of my weekend was on sunday night. i went to the '3 diva' concert at bukit jalil. Diyana won two tickets for it(through a question and SLOGAN contest, fuh. slogan contests are so demotivating for me) and she invited me along! that, i must mention here, was a tremendously nice gesture, and i am VERY happy and grateful for it. THANX AGAIN DIYANA!!(if you're reading this). it was my first ever concert, i might add.

For those who may be out of touch with what's going on(ahem,cue aussie or other overseas students,heh), the 3 diva concert was a gig given by kris dayanti, ruth sahanaya and titi dj.

I must honestly say, i didn't know any songs by titi dj, and by kris dayanti and ruth sahanaya pon tahu yang famous je la. but seriously, the concert was great. you have to respect their voices. true divas, man. they blended together perfectly. harmonies were no problem for them. Plus, the arrangment of the orchestra was terrific la.


A lupe-nak-pasang-flash, not to mention senget pic of me and dirs. i still like it. we're both smiling good :)

We were sitting on the upper tier of the stadium, so it was quite a distance from the stage, but at least we were seated in a position directly in front of centre stage. plus, they all wore really shimmery costumes, so we had no problem spotting them :p


The only slack thing were the malaysian performers. dayang was good vocal wise, but i don't think nurul or that other woman sang that well. plus, their outfits were too much. nurul wore some backless short number, that other woman wore some kind of multi-coloured toga wrapped around her diagonally, while dayang wore what frankly looked to me like pajamas(albeit a sexy one) made with labuci. geez.

but still. For a first concert, i think '3 diva' was a really good one.

Concerts i will try my darndest to find the money and the company to go to if these people ever decide to come here:
1. John Mayer
2. Kings of convenience
3. the fray
4. Louis XIV(though i doubt very much if they'll ever come)

Heavy

Doc Emmett Brown: "1.21 GIGAWATTS?!1.21 gigawatts!"

Marty: "What the hell's a gigawatt?!!"

*******************************

watched 'Back to the Future' again. How can you not love it?

So anyway. I'm home alone for the next couple days, my parents and my brother went on vacation. I nobly opted not to join for the sake of not missing class. Drats. on the bright side, mom stocked up the pantry and fridge with lots and lots of frozen pizza, maggi goreng, instant chicken chop, fresh bannanas, crackers, cereal, boxes of brahims', seafood spread, bread, oldtown hazelnut white coffee and other delectables for me to gorge on. yummy.

Random staff i want to ramble about. Did you read in the papers about the girl who was rumored to have scored 19A1s(but didn't)had actually wrote two books about her 'success' even BEFORE she got her results? Pfft. Kudos to her for getting 18As, with 14A1s that includes all pure science subjects(damn terrer wei), but still. Pfft.

Did you read about the legal dispute between the publishing house and the author who had written the book for Mawi's now famous ex-fiancee, called 'Catatan Duka Diana Naim'?

Catatan Duka Diana Naim? ape BENDE ni?

In my opinion, this whole mawi/diana naim thingie is ridiculous. I have no right to judge, but i personally quite dislike mawi for his actions of just dumping his fiancee, and at the same time, i dislike this Diana Naim person because i think she's taking a little too much advantage of the 'injustice' that's supposedly been done to her. But that's just my opinion. Either way, the whole affair has been blown out of proportion, and everyone should just shut up about it, and start being concerned with more important affairs, like how muslims, MUSLIMS, in the yala province in Thailand shot a vanload of buddhists execution style. That's just not right.

And yet newspapers(especially malay ones with sudut hiburan or whatnot) still love to wash other peoples' linen in the gossip columns. and why is that? because tons of malays out there still love to just lap it all up.

I have said a few times before to some people that i deteste typical malay mentality. but now, as i ponder this, i ask myself, what exactly IS typical malay mentality? what are the characteristics of people who possess this mentality?

All this while, i had a picture in my head of a typical malay person. A person who goes and watch SENARIO tapings, or goes to akademi fantasia concerts. Someone who enjoys watching yusoff haslam movies and goes to karnival sure heboh every year. The person who spends practically their WHOLE life surrounded by malays ONLY, and rarely if not never attempt to actually make friends with non-malays. To them, non-malays should adapt to the ways of malays, and not vice versa. A person who doesn't read ANY books except those novels by Alaf 21 or comics. A person who doesn't attempt to read newspapers and doesn't know at least the gist of current issues but instead is busy screaming whenever mawi comes on tv.

I spent 5 years in school in a batch that was 100% malay, and no offense to anyone whatsoever, but when i think back on those 5 years, a large chunk of it is recalled with either shame, venom, or a lot of hate. I developed the impression that 90% of the guys at my school had typical malay mentality. the type of mentality yang membuatkan dieorg slambe badak gune language that was purely ugly and disgusting, to anyone, even girls. to them, they had the frickin' right to say ANYTHING they wanted, and my God, were they ego like hell or what. they wouldn't hesitate to embarass a girl or insult her to the max if it meant saving their own face. They made shameful, hurtful remarks about anyone and didn't even have the damn dignity to at least keep it to themselves.

And the girls? for me, the girls(myself included) just subjected ourselves to the boys' way of thinking. none of us, save for a few ,dared to be different, to be bold or more daring or retaliate. at school, we had a lot of muhasabah diri. A LOT. each time involved us being reminded that we should work hard, treasure the sacrifices our parents have made for us, and be a better person. Ok, fair enough. we all need to be reminded of our faith and our duty to Allah, as well as to our parents. But there was this one time, during a muhasabah diri, a senior pulled me over to a corner and asked nicely if i had ever felt like my prayers weren't answered by God. I obediently answered yes. And she answered, 'nak tahu kenape? sebab adik tak pakai tudung'.

I don't think you guys would understand, but let me just tell you why her question angered me. it wasn't because i was rebellious to the fact she wanted me to wear a tudung, no, not that at all. i was just pissed off by the way she did it. Who is she to know why or why not God answers or doesn't answer my prayers? but still. i try to remind myself that she was just trying to give me advice the most effective and nicest way she could think of. She just didn't have the tact to phrase is it in a better way.

Ah. i'm going off on a tangent here. sorry. Anyway, back to my point. hmm. what exactly IS my point? i'm not exactly sure myself.

I just feel like sometimes, when i look at some malays, i can't help but feel like they, or maybe me myself, come from a different planet. i tend to pass judgement on some malay people and brand them as having typical malay mentality even without knowing them properly first.

racism is considered evil, senseless, and stupid. how about discrimination against your own race?

sparks

Taking my cue from Aijud,(hark the orange blog!), i decided it was time to change the colours for my own blog. Hope it actually looks ok, i'm quite crappy when it comes to matching colours nicely. Yet another awesome way to waste time.

my ideas for blogging, if before were quite abundant and ever flowing(i had lotsa stuff to babble about,heh), are now gradually drying up. I find that any idea for a post seems either too self-centred, petty, artificial, or just plain stupid. I want to blog, but dread thinking up the content.

In fact, i'm currently starting to detest practically anything i write. Whether it's for my blog or for GP class(bagi yg tak tahu, GP class is considered my english class. We don't learn normal stuff like grammar or comprehension or whatnot, but instead we discuss current issues and write essays), i teeter precariously towards hate whenever i (reluctantly) read over what i've written.

I absolutely DID NOT want to read the essays i had written for a recent GP test, and with good reason, i tell you. Every sentence seems immature, unlearned, and sometimes even pathetic. Aisy. I'm supposed to be constructing clear sentences that are concise, knowledgeable, and straight to the point. I'm supposed to write like an A level student.

I'm still writing like a high school student. I still crap around on a point for 10 sentences when i could have explained it with just one.

Back in sekolah menengah, i was quite confident(ahem, vanity alert,sorry) with my writing. Not saying my essays were spectacular ke ape la, but i was pretty sure my compositions met the requirements for getting an A.

But here in college, it's a whole different ballgame. and i keep striking out. or i hit the ball but can't run fast enough to get to first base safely(my ballgames take on the form of baseball :P).Suddenly my writing skills are just not adequate enough. And i'm TRYING to improve with each test, but i still can't seem to be able to think and express logical evaluations for the topic i'm writing on!It's frustrating, oh yes it is. I've yet to get an A for GP. Bloody hell. How come kakak could get an A? wait, don't answer that.

Aisy. pushing that aside, i went to a birthday get together today. it was fun :) i won't babble about it much, but it involved birthday boy being dragged by the shirt(as he pulled on someone ELSE'S shirt in an unsuccessful attempt to save himself) and pushed into the pool. priceless.

Music recommendations(for all the imaginary people who actually take heed of my suggestions):
1. the stills - of montreal. Love the beat and the guitars. Lyrics make no sense at all.
2. cold war kids - hang me up to dry. the video was featured on youtube, maybe it's still there. the singer's voice rests on a fine line between uniquness and just plain screeching when it hits the high parts, u decide. The bass line is addictive, even though it's just a couple of notes.
3.coldplay - sparks. for good ol' beautiful, sad music.

And for a little bit of nostalgic cheer:

a box of secrets

It started with the magnetic mini-notice board mom bought me from ikea. It's finally up above my table, mr.Lo (the handyman) came over and drilled all the necessary holes and whatnot to put it up. I had stuck a list of maths formulae and a couple of pictures on it, but besides that, it was pretty bare. so last night i spent some time rummaging around the room for things to decorate my board with.

That was when i suddenly remembered the box that i keep in my bedside table cupboard. It's been ages since i looked through it. So i went and took it out, set it on my bed, and started going through the contents. The box is an old shoebox from when my mom bought her sneakers(circa 1997 or 1998, i think). I swiped the box from my mom mase tu and started storing everything i considered 'important' in it. I still do.

Practically every birthday card i've received is in there. Letters sent to me from friends. Letters i wrote but never sent. Every diary i've had since stadard 3. Pictures that mean something to me. Emails from special friends i had printed out, because i loved them so much and so i printed and brought them to asrama to me, since we didn't have much chance of going online there. My form 4 results slip. A few messages i got from those request thingies we had at school. My sekolah rendah nametags. My tunas puteri badge. My gigi susu(yeah, i kept 3 of them in a jewellery case. weird,yes). The speech i had to give out during sekolah rendah as KP sempena the retirement our my Guru Besar. My standard 6 choral speaking poem.

To say that this box is valuable to me would be an understatement.

So i spent my time going through eveything again, one by one. Ahah, it was bloody fun and sad at the same time. Seeing these things make you recollect and reminisce and think about what has happened since the moment you put it in the box. I found a card someone had sent me via post for my birthday, and i practically gasped, because i had completely forgotten about it. and yet there it was. That card brought back memories of me being happy as a clam when i received it, happy because that particular person had sent it.

I reread my old diaries, and some parts made me laugh out loud in disbelief at my childishness and immaturity. I was melodaramatic even when i was 9. I used code names for my crushes, and now i can't even remember who they really were. In my standard 5 diary, i wrote about my classmates and gossiped about who liked who and penned(or tried to) poems and mispelled dozens of words,plus, my writing was still atrocious. I reread in my first diary the fact that my very first email was created on january 6th,1999, and my password was 'diary', while the answer for the question in case i forgot my password was 'pistachio almond'.

And then there were the things that made me sad. My exam results during form 4 that showed that i still wasn't getting a grip on add maths or physics. The birthday card from someone who signed it as 'your best friend', and then a year later wasn't. The letters i wrote to my imaginary friend during form 2(i couldn't have had imaginary conversations, that would have just freaked everyone out, so i wrote letters) that talked about me feeling depressed and sad, and just wanting to bail out.

I reread all my diaries, and i've come to a conclusion. Our insecurities stay the same. Over the years we might change and mature or develope a different personality from when we were younger, but i think the things that make us insecure, the core of our sadness, remains the same. All of my past diaries, and even the journal i own now, have the same underlying theme when it comes to the sad parts.

When you read the wrtings of your younger self, you can't help but feel affection for the person she was and exasperation at the mistakes she's done, and you feel heart-breakingly sad for the problems she's going through and the insecurities she has. sometimes you want to reach out in time and knock some sense into her head and stop her from doing something stupid, and sometimes you just want to hug her and wipe her tears and tell her it's going to be ok, because you know that no one else will.

This box holds proof that i was happy or sad at some point in my life. If there's a fire (God forbid), i'm going to save it first,heh.

On a different note, i'm reading kazuo ishiguro's 'never let me go'. brilliant! reminds me of 'the giver'. as for music, for anyone who trusts my taste, i highly recommend 'illegal tender' by the band Louis XIV, and also 'look after you' by the fray.

Happy March!if i recall correctly, this is the month of a lot of birthdays.