Boleyn and the Chipmunks

No, that's not the name of a new show, or a new band. It's just shorter (and much sweeter) than saying "I watched The Other Boleyn Girl and Alvin and the Chipmunks two nights ago". Which I did.

The Other Boleyn Girl was pretty interesting, though I thought the two actresses (Scarlett and Natalie) should have switched their roles. The movie's basically about the entire Boleyn family, and how their greedy ambitions finally ruined them. Of course, the two Boleyn girls are the main characters, but then again, I think all that death and destruction should be shared equally amongst the entire family, excepting the mother and brother. For those of you who know the Anne Boleyn story, you know this movie is a period piece about ancient English times. No point spoiling the fun for you though, so I'll just say that Anne Boleyn's daughter became Queen Elizabeth. Wouldn't it be fun to flash a message on the cinema screen after this movie is over, saying something like "For the sequel of this movie, kindly proceed to watch Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett". Then at least the audience wouldn't be left with this horrible feeling of suspense.

I watched Alvin and the Chipmunks next, and I was quite disappointed with the way the chipmunks were drawn. But this was only at the start, and I kinda got used to their looks after a while. What I'm wondering though, is how they managed to change Jesse McCartney's voice to Theodore's? Maybe they forced the voice actors to inhale lots of helium gas before they recorded the movie. That would probably mean inhaling lots of helium gas, seeing how the movie's about an hour and a half long. It's a good plot though, as we get to see how the chipmunks ended up living with Dave. Jason Lee was pretty good, Alvin wasn't given as much screen time as in the cartoons. Here, the attention falls mainly on Theodore, who really is a very adorable chipmunk. Remember what I said about getting my own chipmunk? Well, even better if they can sing in three-part harmony.

Last night I finally got around to watching some Bleach episodes. About a year ago I started this addiction to Youtube, and most of my time was spent on watching Bleach. Then I grew some extra brain cells and came up with the bright idea of getting the episodes from my coursemates. I did, but I never managed to find the time to watch them, not until last night. So today, I'm going to continue watching more Bleach episodes. I think I'm in Season 4 now, but it's getting a little draggy. I think the previous seasons were more exciting, but we'll see how the season progresses. I've got such a long way to go to Season 8, but I'll try my best.

Well, that's it for today. I wanted to post this yesterday, but then somehow, in some strange way, I got sidetracked by the television. So here's an advice for all serious bloggers out there: trash your TV. As always, cheers!

Mini Movie Marathon

It's Day 3 into my 2-week long study break, and boy, has it been a well-deserved break. This semester has been everything short of plain torture, so I thought I would help my brain recover its original tin kosong status by watching something that really wouldn't involve any brain cells - I decided to spend the next few days catching up with the present by watching some movies!

So this project (which I'm calling my Mini Movie Marathon) started last night with a Disney movie that I've been wanting to watch for a very long time now - Enchanted! How best can I describe this movie? It's like, have you ever watched a movie and wished you'd written the script, or read a book and wished you'd thought of it first? Well yeah, this was what this movie was to me. And I must say, this movie lived up to all my expectations, maybe even more. I think the perfect actors were found for the roles, and really they were all superb. It's really very hard to pinpoint who did a better job, what with Amy Adams perfectly incorporating all the quintessential Disney princess mannerisms - check out how she moves her arms, her wide-eyed stares, and twirling and dancing - and James Marsden (aka Cyclops) really made a good Disney prince. Although really I can't quite recall all the other Prince Charmings being so, er, bimbo-ish. And Patrick Dempsey was simply fabulous. Grey's Anatomy doesn't do him any justice, but this movie really did reveal his suitability as a reluctant romantic hero kinda guy. I say from now on, just put him in this kind of romantic comedy movies. He really is very good. I think the character who stole the scene everytime he appeared was the chipmunk though. Pip (the chipmunk) is really too hilarious for words. Adorable, too. Where can I get a chipmunk of my own? The facial expressions he uses, the little game of charades... I want my own chipmunk. I really liked how the Disney-style cartoon was used at the start and end of the movie too. I think I even foresee a Disney animation spin-off in the making. The songs are really sweet and memorable, two of my favourites being True Love's Kiss and So Close. The first I like because it really is styled in the traditional Disney movie soundtrack way, and the second I like because... Look, Jon McLaughlin has a superb voice, and he can make any song sound good, even better if it happens to be a really romantic love song. It helped that I watched him performing it at the last Oscars. I think he has lots of leading man potential. If I were a Disney movie director I'd cast him in the very next one. I liked the way the movie spoofed off a lot of the Disney movies as well. There are references to so many old Disney cartoons that really, watching Enchanted is like watching little snippets of them all at once. I even managed to find a website that lists out the many similarities between this movie and the other Disney cartoons.

Then the Mini Movie Marathon continued this morning with me watching the first three episodes of Heroes Season 3. I only have one word to say - superb. Okay, I have more to say, and here it is: I think the pilot this time is much, much better than that of Season 2. So many twists, so many little surprises. I was really quite upset when Season 2 was cut short, what with the writers' strike and all, so I was really happy when I found out there would be a Season 3. I wouldn't write much, because I don't wanna reveal any spoilers. All I'll say is that in this season, the baddies aren't necessarily all that bad, and the goodies aren't that good either. Next came Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which I've also wanted to watch. I think this one is actually better than the first, but maybe that's because they've got elves (not the nice, pretty, LOTR ones) and other mythical-looking creatures. Although I must say watching Prince Nuada fight is like watching a Jackie Chan or Jet Li martial arts movie. So familiar, especially the part where he bangs the spear on the floor. I found the most touching scene to be the one with the Forest Elemental, and it was really quite sad to see it die. In fact, I think the movie has an underlying eco-friendly theme, something akin to nature conservation and all. You can almost see the whole movie as symbolizing the lost of nature at the hands of man's modernizing and urbanizing ways. Especially the part where Prince Nuada says something about the Forest Elemental being the last of its kind. Really sad.

Well, that's all I'll say for this post. I think I've said more than enough. I'm looking forward to later, when I'll watch more movies. So till tomorrow, this is cheers and goodbye.

Colours of Autumn

Well, I've changed my blog template again. This time I've chosen something to suit the lovely months of autumn. And yes, I do realize there's no such thing as autumn where I am, but that doesn't mean I can't dream of it. I've always liked autumn the best, so when I saw this blog template I thought the colours were just perfect. I've changed the music too, so now it's playing a couple of songs from the soundtrack of one of my favourite anime's at the moment, Honey and Clover. I do seriously think this anime has got one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. There are so many more beautiful songs, and there's just no way to play them all here, so I selected two of the calmer, more wistful sounding ones. And I suppose that's it from me today. You'll hear from me real soon, what with my study break here! Cheers!

Finally... FYP Part 1

I finally finished the first part of my FYP.

I'm so happy I could scream.

Now I can sleep.

Lazy lazy...

Yes, I know I've probably said this more times than anyone else in the blogging world, but I'll say it again anyway: I know I haven't been blogging in a while, but it's all because of my terribly heavy workload. Hey, at least I've come up with just as many different ways to say it, right?

How long has it been anyway, since my last post? Oh yes, I can just see the previous post to answer that. Truth be told, this has been the worst semester ever. I mean, seriously. The work we've had to do is just so much, it's almost unbelievable. And everyone says my degree would be no sweat. Yeah right. Wake up, dear world. My coursemates and I, we've more or less come to the conclusion that a TESL degree is one of the hardest degrees in the world. Maybe even the hardest, if you're judging by the amount of assignments that keeps pouring in. And today, I've managed to scrap a little time aside for my dear old blog, simply because there'll be no class on Monday, the coming week is the last week, and we're down to just the FYP defense session, the actual FYP itself, and one last Readers' Theatre. So relatively speaking, we're having it light this coming week.

Speaking of my dear old blog, I think it's time for a change. Again. I'm just not liking the whole layout of it. Even though it did take a week of tweaking with all the html stuff (which I sorely lack knowledge of), and even though it'll probably pain me to press the delete button. But now, I think I'll just go for something a little simpler, maybe even a little more brighter. We'll scout around, but then again, scouting needs time, and plenty of it, which unfortunately, I have little of. Wow, 5 commas in that sentence. What's happening to me?

That's it. Enough of all the whining and complaining. Gimme a week more, and perhaps you'll see a happier, brighter, more relaxed blog. And me too, of course.

Cheers!