Why So Serious?

Imagine a guy forcefully grabbing you by your neck and then pulling you closer until your face is just inches away from his.
Imagine him with a face of an innocent mime, except that the make up is worn out & messy and the face is full of scars.
Imagine him talking in a voice that holds all the rage and grudge deep inside, telling you how his sadistic dad carved the long scars either side of his lips just so he will smile forever.
Then imagine him sticking a knife deep between your lips, asking;
WHY SO SERIOUS?!

Erghh, tried my best there. I was trying to capture the creepiness of The Joker in the Dark Knight. Definately not my best work...

Anyway, do you remember how annoying Joker can get in the previous Batman movies and cartoons? Well he is not annoying anymore, he is downright scary!

I watched The Dark Knight last night and it was awesome! Even the high expectation I had for the movie didn’t ruin it. It was truly awesome! To think that someone can take a cartoon character and then make a deep tight movie out of it is just amazing. I think Spiderman started the trend of adding more human value to a superhero, but this version of Batman just took it to another level altogether.

The directing, acting, script and plot were all worthy of a good proper character based movie. The fight scenes, the special effects and CGIs were all worthy of a summer ‘kick-ass’ blockbuster movie. And Christopher Nolan managed to combine both qualities with aplomb. Well done!

I’m not going to talk about the movie in great details, I’m not up to it right now. All I can say is go watch it. BY FAR the best movie I’ve watched this year!

Agriculture?

My dad had a surprise for me; he had a proposal.

Basically, he wanted me to join him in this project of fish farming. This is one of those initiatives taken by our ever-helpful government to help people start their own business.

“Adik takde duit la ayah”, I told my dad.

Quickly my dad said, “jangan risau, diaorang akan bagi modal. Modal tu dah termasuk gaji. Dalam 4 bulan kita dah boleh jual ikan tu & boleh terus dapat untung.”

Tempting…

When I asked my dad what fish this is, he told me he only calls it ‘ikan bodoh’.

“Kenapa nama dia ikan bodoh?” I asked, laughing.

“Sebab ikan tu kalau kita pergi dekat pun dia tak akan lari. Jadi senang nak tangkap. Ikan tu bodohla” explained my dad.

My dad said this is for export, especially to Japan. We only need to worry about taking care of the fish, other things including buyers and export arrangements are already in place. Then I asked my dad where are we going to do this, do we have to find a place somewhere to dig up pools?

“Tak payah,” said my dad, getting excited because I’m showing interest. “Kat sini kan banyak rumah2 kosong. Diaorang akan cari tempat untuk kita, cari rumah kosong. Ikan ni bela dalam tangki je, dalam rumah. Tak payah nak berpanas. Tak payah susah2 cari tanah nak buat kolam. Semuanya akan disediakan.”

Before I could tell him that I know next to zero about fish, he said,
“Nanti diaorang akan bagi latihan. Akan ada kursus, seminar untuk ajar kita cara nak bela ikan ni. Semua ni free. Kerja kita cuma jaga ikan tu je.”

Oh wow, ‘diaorang’ are REALLY eager to help!

I stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking…

“Ayah memang betul2 nak buat ni. Sementara ayah boleh dapatkan tempat untuk kita baik kita join. Diaorang cuma akan pilih 50 orang untuk projek ni.”

My dad went on and on about the positives of this project, trying to convince me to join him. He didn’t actually say it, but from the way he said it, he really wanted to do this and he wanted me to join him; and if I’m not joining he is not going to either. Dang, talking about pressure!

Then he dropped the bomb.

“Projek ni fulltime, tak boleh buat part-time. Jadi adik kena berhenti kerja. Jangan risau, pulangan dia lumayan. Kena berani la sikit.”

EEEEK!!!

Quit my job?!
Throw away the security of monthly income?!
WTF!!!

What am I going to do?

I HAVE NEVER EVEN GONE FISHING BEFORE!!!

Summer Movies 2008

“You’re a movie slut,” said a friend to me.
Hmm, I’m not really. It’s just this past few months I’ve been going to the movie a lot. I need something to do to fill my time. Since I’m not that adventurous, watching movies seems to be the safe option.

Every year Hollywood will focus on the summer as it is their most bankable season. They market this part of the year as ‘Summer movies’ time, taking advantage of the holiday. So they packed all the fun, easygoing, light entertainment movie during it. It’s working well for me as football is in hibernation, so movies as replacement to football make a lot of sense.

I can’t really remember every movie that I have watch so far but what I can say is it hasn’t been up to the expectation. The number of times I walked out of the cinema thinking ‘wow that was worth RM50 I spent tonight’ was far in between. And so far only 1 movie that I can classed as an instant classic, and even then I’m a little bit bias for a reason I’m going to tell later.

In my head I categorised movies into 4;
1- Instant Classic
2- Really good and worth my RM50
3- Just okay
4- Crap

‘Instant' Classic movie
So far it is only Ironman. Robert Downey Jr was really good plus a comeback by Gwyneth, good funny script, great CGI, great action sequence etc2. I think Robert Downey Jr really nailed ‘Tony Stark’ character. Anyway, I wouldn’t have put it under instant classic movie normally but I have a very good reason in doing so.
It was because she said 'Ironman' reminds her of me!!! Woohoo! I'm a superhero! **smug, evil proud laugh, smug**

Really Good movie
I have 3 movies under this one;
1- What happened in Vegas – really good romantic comedy for me. I laughed from start to finish. Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz worked well together.
2- KungFu Panda – I’m so glad that I watched this movie. John Black was excellent, and it was refreshing to see an animation moving away from depending on cute lovable character.
3- Drillbit Taylor – now not many will know about this movie. And maybe watching it with low expectation helped a bit. If anything watching the fat kid alone was worth the time. The fat kid in that movie reminded me of the fat kid in ‘Superbad’.

Just Okay movie
Lots of movies under this one.
1- Made of Honor - corny
2- Hancock – V disappointing
3- Hulk – better than I thought it would be
4- Forbidden Kingdom – good to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li together
5- 21
6- Fool’s Gold – Kate Hudson is not that cute anymore :-(
7- Hellboy – a lot better than I expected actually. Would have made the ‘Really Good’ movie if it didn’t drag a little in the middle part of the story.
8- Street King – ‘The Shield’ wannabe. Never ever try to copy the excellent ‘Shield’ because you will look stupid. Don’t even try it!

Crap movie
1- Indiana Jones – really really very utterly disappointing! Shia Lebouf has never ever been that bad. Harrison Ford in that movie was a poor man’s Tommy Lee Jones. The script and action was corny, stupid and predictable. I shook my head at least 3 times while watching it. During the ridiculous monkey tarzan scene, not only I shook my head, I slapped my forehead really hard, had my face in my hands and let out a very loud sigh. I even felt embarrassed watching it!
2- That Kevin Bacon movie – I can’t even remember the title as it was just terrible!

So the movies have not been that good so far, only 1 classic. I’m sure I forgot to mention a few other movies but I just can’t think anymore. The memory of Indiana Jones ruined it all.

However, tomorrow I’m going to see a movie that I have really high hope for. From what I’ve heard so far it is going to be an instant classic. Step up The Dark Night!

Oh and also I wanna watch Zohan. Hope Adam Sandler got it right….

Working at GUP

Things are getting from bad to worse at GUP, where I work. From bad to worse?!! Hahaha! Even saying that makes me feel guilty. Things are more like getting from ‘worse x 1 million’ to ‘worse x 1 billion’! There, that is more accurate. I even think that statement is a little bit soft…..

I need to leave. Sigh, another understatement. I should have left months ago, or at least plan my leaving seriously. All I did was complain and whine to my friends and family about GUP. I have told them that I need to leave but I’m still here. It has been 13 months now. And the initial plan was to leave once I past my one-year. I haven’t even updated my resume yet. Shame on me!

Why is it so hard to leave? Well the biggest reason is I’m scared. Scared to even send in my resume. My Guardian Angel kept forwarding job ads to me in hope I will tell her, “Hey I have updated my resume & I’m going to apply for one of the jobs that u forwarded me. Can you please vet through it?” That’s all that she expects from me but no, nothing. I shamelessly ask her to keep sending me job ads and she is doing just that. She sent me lots of it. There was this one time when she said “I’m seriously going to hurt you if you don’t apply for this job.” But still nothing!

I was saying that I’m scared to leave. Why? Well I feel that right now I know nothing about my work. Everything that I learned from the Hell’s Hole (please refer to ‘My Guardian Angel’ entry, thank you) has somehow vaporised from my brain. I remember when I first joined GUP, we had an event immediately and we had to get the media and I was really up for it. “Well what are we waiting for, lets do it,” I said. Now however I’m not even sure how to start doing that. For the event that we were supposed to have this coming August (got postponed, what do you expect, it’s GUP), I looked for a way out of it. I insisted that we used a PR company so I don’t have to deal with the media. Can you see the difference?

Looking at the requirements in job ads is enough to scare me from applying. The most persuasive and welcoming of job ads will have only five lines of requirements, and most of the time I’m only confidence of doing one of them. So just forget the intimidating ones where the requirements are two pages long.

Another reason that I’m still at GUP is because I have become a lazy bum. I tried to deny it before, blaming my colleagues and my boss for not doing anything for GUP but now it’s just blatantly obvious. There are lots of pending work (I’m not going to list them here) and I just ignore them; and guess what, no one is asking about them. At work all I do is FB-ing and chatting. Sweet life isn’t it, getting paid to chat and sit on your butt all day. Not only that, I can come to work anytime I want and leave work at 5pm (office hours supposed to end at 630pm). Lunch is 4 hours for us, and I can wear whatever I want to the office.

To leave GUP is to leave all that. Am I willing to do it?

Well I have to. I pride myself for getting back on my feet after the pathetic 4 years. I pride myself of being good at what I do. I’m proud of the education I received from Hell’s Hole. The experience I had there though terrible, it was priceless. No other workplace that I know so far can even come close to that place. I cannot let GUP destroy all that. I have to leave…

Yes, leaving I am!

***Note – the writer’s thoughts and emotions as portrayed above were true at the time of publishing. Any change or inconsistency found afterwards should not be used against and/or to mock, tease or ridicule the writer. Please take note. Thank you ;-)

The Pretty Sun and The Lil Plant

Try reading this one using the same tone & style as that narrator from Desperate Housewives
The Pretty Sun is back. The Pretty Sun is shining again bringing yet another promise to The Lil Plant. Will The Pretty Sun stay long? Or will The Pretty Sun be gone soon? The Lil Plant can only hope for a lasting sunshine. After all The Lil Plant has no right to expect anything from The Pretty Sun. With or without The Pretty Sun, life will go on for The Lil Plant, though admittedly without The Pretty Sun life will be bleak. Life will loose its charm.

If The Pretty Sun decided to leave, the empty space that The Pretty Sun left will be replaced by a dark gloomy storm. The Lil Plant is used to the storm by now but make no mistake, being used to it does not mean The Lil Plant wont suffer. The storm will hurt The Lil Plant, the storm will make The Lil Plant weep but life must go on.

The Lil Plant is ready. No matter what The Pretty Sun does, stay or be gone, The Lil Plant has promised to stay strong. No hatred, just anguish. And The Lil Plant has decided no matter what happened, The Lil Plant would be there for The Pretty Sun.

“Don’t be stupid!”, the brain tells The Lil Plant, but the heart is telling The Lil Plant to hang in there. “It is about time,” the heart says, “for The Lil Plant to make sacrifice. Sacrifice in a real sense. Stop expecting anything but give everything to The Pretty Sun. This is not about The Lil Plant, this is about The Pretty Sun. If The Pretty Sun is happy, The Pretty Sun will shine. Although the shine may not be for The Lil Plant, it will be worth it. Let The Pretty Sun shines for whoever because that’s what The Pretty Sun deserves. Making The Pretty Sun happy should make The Lil Plant happy as well.”

So The Lil Plant listens to the heart even if it meant The Lil Plant had to be alone in the dark gloomy storm. If that’s what The Pretty Sun wanted, that’s what The Pretty Sun gets. If The Pretty Sun be gone and came back a thousand times after this, The Lil Plant will just let it be. Nothing will change from The Lil Plant side, after all The Lil Plant is not going anywhere. The Lil Plant will always be there, waiting for The Pretty Sun to be back.

Little price to pay, as long as The Pretty Sun is shining forever….