Ratatouille vs 881

Watched 2 movies during the last weekend, one was about a rat trying to be a cook, another was about 2 ladies trying to fulfill their dreams as Geitai singers (a.k.a stage singers).

Ok, I’ll comment on Ratatouille since I watched that first. An enjoyable cartoon, especially if you were to watch it with wine and food buffs, as there will be many special comments like:

“That is not Cheval Blanc loh… Look at the label, it’s Lafite loh?! Illustrator doesn’t know his wines man”

“Saffron is from Italy meh?”

For me, I HATE rats, although Remy (the main character) is quite cute, but no, no, no, no, no, can I relate to having rats in the kitchen. Not even after this show! I was literally cringing towards the end of the movie where there was this scene: kitchen was FULL of rats.

SO GROSS.

I still enjoy Finding Nemo the most; fish is definitely easier on the eye than rats. Note that: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Ratatouille are all by Pixar.

Next, 881 is a local production by a local director, Royston Tan. I watched this movie with my mum as this movie reaches out to the Hokkien speaking crowd. My mum enjoyed tremendously and cried buckets towards the end. Now, she is telling everyone (ie: my relatives and neighbors) to watch the show and my mum is now, a hard core Royston Fan.

Personally, this movie is a tad too cheesy for my taste and all those “special” effects are way too exaggerated. Nonetheless, I have to admit that those Hokkien songs are very touching indeed and I even teared a few times as well. This is a good movie to bring your parents and grandparents to watch especially if they can understand Hokkien. In fact, it seemed to me that up to 60% of that day’s movie crowd was about 55 years old and above.

Between Ratatouille and 881, I’ll prefer to pay for 881 since this is a local production and I firmly believe that all local artists deserve our support! As for Ratatouille, a DVD will be good enough. At least the rats don’t look so big…

Rose among the thorns

I’ve been hanging out with BF’s friends lately and most of them are really much older than us. I’ll say that on average, we are like 10 years younger, thus we are like the “kids” among the “uncles”…

Usually we will get together over wines and dinners, and these “uncles” are serious about their wines manz! I always learn so much from these “uncles”, be it about wines, about markets, about properties, about life… …

So much so that, I find some of my peers extremely boring and to a certain extend, childish.

I’m not trying to be snobbish here, just trying to justify to myself that I am NOT suffering from pre-mature aging! Just that I’ve been hanging around with too many old farts!

But seriously, I really like to listen to their experiences… there are important lessons to be learnt and hopefully, from their stories and experience, I can learn from their errors and not to commit the same mistakes. But at times, I feel that I am just a free loader, and felt like a bimbo. These gatherings usually make me feel a bit stupid.

Anyway, above is a picture taken at the Jade restaurant @ the forum. O yah, another point that I’ve noticed: very few lady drinkers…

Some of my pictures from Perth (Aug2007)

I just came back from Perth, Australia and it was one of my best holidays! Although most of my "happy times" were spent in Margaret River (3 hrs drive away from Perth) instead of Perth's Perth.

Totally unexpected.

Days before the trip, I thought I would be so bored that I would chew off my fingers. And the weather during our first two days didn't help as it was rainy, grey, cold and totally "london weather" - a.k.a sucky weather.

Thankfully, by the time we hit Margret, weather was really wonderful. Sunny, blue skies with the cold winds. Wah.... shiok. Natural air-con is the best!

So BF and I spent 4 days 3 nights in Margaret River and stayed at The Central Avenue Apt. Totally recommended! It was just really close to the main town, the apt was tastefully furnished, everything was new and fully equipped. Our daily routine included - wake up, go wine tasting, eat lunch, go wine tasting again, get high, drive back to our apt to cook dinner, drink even more wine and then knock out.

And that was like the most relaxing holiday ever! I guess being high most of the time kinda helped... ...

All in all, we had a great trip and BF is already planning another trip to Margaret River again in another few years' time. However, the next time round, we'll like to have another 2 mates to travel with us as that will be much. MUCH cheaper with the car rental and the apt.

O yah, hopefully they will be wine lovers too. =p

I feel lost without… Harry...

During the week when I was alone at home, dealing with pain and cough, there was only one guy who was keeping me company all those while… and that was Harry.

Harry Potter.

Yup, I am one of the grannies out there who actually reads Harry Potter. I read the first two books of Harry Potter and realised that the movies actually did quite a good job, thus for part 3, 4 and 5, I only watched the movies and saved on some time and money. Ha.

However, after watching Part 5 – “Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix” AND with the craze about the final book of “Harry Potter and the deathly hallows”, I simply HAD to read the last two books!

Thus, I started to hunt for book 6 – “Harry Potter and the half blood prince” and guess what? It was sold out everywhere! Getting desperate, I went online to the website of our National Library Board, found the book and reserved it for only S$1.50!

After two sleepless nights, I finished book 5 and practically ran to the nearest Popular Bookshop and bought Book 7.

Many of you should know by now that Harry Potter did NOT die and it was a happy ending after all. Although it was all cliché and predictable, I am really glad Harry defeated the Dark lord and lived to get married to Ginny. I got all warm and fuzzy at the part where Ron and Hermione’s children were kicking a rocket with Harry and Ginny’s kids…

Awww…

Now that I am done with the final book, I am a little lost and depressed. Even re-reading Lord of the Rings did not cheering me up. Hmmm, I have the urge to re-read book one – “Harry and the Philosopher’s Stone” and the whole series all over again!