Transformer Dark of the Moon: please stop spoiling Transformer name....

Michael Bay is obviously laughing on his way to the bank. This is definitely one movie that even if you love it or hate it, you will still watch it. Rotten Tomatoes website and The Star newspaper both rated it very low. It should be a warning, yet I still insisted to watch it.

Transformer 3: Dark of the Moon. They are still cashing on the franchise. After the first 2 movies, I had learnt my lesson, not to pay to watch it again. No, I did not buy the pirated pasar malam version. Since I had free tickets, might as well watch it. Since it is supposedly THE summer movie of this year.

Story is simple. And typically full of holes that made the local government building developer look down in shame (our building is full of leaks anyway). Autobots (the good robot) found ancient spaceship in moon and rescue an old leaser, Sentinel Prime. (spoiler alert) He betray the good guys and then collect some device to build a huge transporter to transport Cybertron to earth. He plan to enslave all humankind and be the master.. blah, blah, blah. Autobots fight back and won the battle. The end.

The good things: the action is way better than the past 2 movies. While in the past, the action just seems to be flashes of lights to induce seizure, the action this time is more define, and really looks like robots fighting.

The bad things: now this is a long list.

The girl is just an added character there as a vase. If you imagine her as a vase, you can see Sam is carrying her around while dodging fires, running etc. I dont blame her acting skill, her role required none.

The story: recycled, predictable, except for the part where Sentinel Prime betray the good guys.

The robot design: I had to complain this. I really hate what they did to the robots. They are supposedly to be robots. ROBOTS!!! clean, mechanical being. Here, they are design more like mechanical organic being. Think all the aliens in the past few invasion movies. Even District 9 alien look like the Decepticons.

The action: they really humanize the robots. Fine. Then they had the good guys kill like bad guys. No mercy. Even when Megatron call for truce, Prime went on to MURDER him. Then he went over to MURDER Sentinel. Come on, he is suppose to be the good guys.

The accuracy: lets not come to this side. They basically tore the whole franchise apart.

Copycat: I would not say so though. But with so many invasion movies around, they do look the same to each other, dont you think so? The closest is Battle LA, which the finale is for them to shoot down a small item (cant remember what though)

In the end, do I enjoy the show? 2 half hour seems so long. However, when I forget that this is Transformer, but just another action movie, I sort of look past the flaws and begin to enjoy bit and pieces of the show.

ratings: 2 poink!

comments: IF they dont say this is Transformer, but just another alien vs alien movie with human running here and there, probably this would be a much better movie.

Delight Cafe: Huge portion fit for a giant

It is 9pm and we had not yet have our dinner yet. Drove around Greentown, and beside the old spot of Kopitiam, is Delight Cafe. I recalled coming here once, and our stomach is growling, so eating here seems to be a wise choice.

Decoration is simple, the seats rather spacious. The only thing that seems to stand out is the board holding the name of shop in Chinese, literally translated as "Old Place" Service is rather nice, especially there is not many people in the shop.

Menu is typically kopitiam style. The usual chop and rice, oriental dish, with pasta. No surprise there. There is even some light dessert, snacks, and ice creams to choose from.

First is the tomyam seafood noodle. Typically tomyam, with adequate sour taste, though I would prefer it bit hotter. With few fish cake and prawns, it is priced at Rm 6.90, so I would not expect much there. Cheese backed rice with chicken was nice on the first few bites. For RM 12.90, the dish basically overflow with cheese, with generous helping of chicken thigh. However, the chicken was not diced, but in big piece, so it was rather difficult to eat. It was not marinated nicely though, however, the ri

ce was fried before baking with cheese, making it one of the better ones. The similarity of the 2 dishes is both of the portion is TOO BIG. Imagine for a big eater like me also find it difficult to finish it. I am a sucker for cheese, so I had to finish it even it cost me my life.

It was a fine dining experience at the end, but on hindsight, I prefer my dish to be more bite-size.

Rating: 3 poink!

comments: share the meal. Probably it will taste btter.

Delight Cafe

Greentown Business Centre

05-2412363

Hot and Roll: surprisingly nice light food

Rushing for time, got only 10 minutes to grab a fast bite before Harry Potter movie start. So where to get some real fast food in Ipoh Parade. Was actually thinking of buying some food in the near deserted food court but Ipoh Parade top floor food court did not impress much. However, one of the stall stand out. Top floor, at one end of the small food court, is this stall busy with patrons.

Hot & roll, I suspect this is a franchise of sort, though cant recall bump into this stall anywhere else. The range of food here is rather special. Fusion in real sense. Innovative to certain extent. The menu is simple, using crispy roll, capati or roti paratha as a base, add in some real good filling such as cheese, chicken, beef, floss etc, and you have a nice fusion fast food. Within 5 minutes, you would get the order even if you are not the only patrons there.

Cost bout RM 2.90- 4.20, depending on the filling you would want, it come across quite nice. Wife ordered a ham and cheese with roti pratha. The roti did felt bit not fresh, obvious that it was frozen before. However, the filling was generous with ham and cheese. One can actually felt the cheese in every bite. Overall, it was quite nice for a quick bite though the price is bit on the expensive side. For similar price, I would get a full bowl of noodle or rice. I would definitely come back again to taste the others...hmmm.. the satay and BBQ chicken looks good....

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: for quick bite, this sit at one of the top place. If not rush, better go somewhere else.

Harry Potter: Deathly Hallow Part II: fit for finale

Finally at last, spanning 10 years, Harry Potter franchise had finally come to an end. First, I had to admit, I am not a HP fan at all. But my wife is, so there is no escaping to watch this movie in the first instance in the cinema.

Despite that, I manage to catch all the movies before this, although sporadically. Frankly, I hated the first one, Sorcerer Stone which is basically kiddy movies, much like Sesame Street made into movie. The rest of the movies plays a part in leading to the final ones, some better than the others. The last one before this, Part 1, was let down, started off with a bang (love the part where all the good guys outrunning the evil team, all dressed as Harry Potter) and the rest of the movie is an anticlimax.

So, I started this film with not much anticipation. Wife told me the whole story when the book was launch (I was too lazy to read anyway), so I sort of know how will it end. It picked up where the last movie end, Harry and gang continue to look for Hocrux, which is Voldermont soul broke into pieces. They found it, including discovering the last piece, which may be surprise to some, and destroy every piece, in the nick of time. Happy ending. The end.

Acting was good all round, as expected since everyone reprise their role, and been playing them for the past 10 years. The story was good as well. The movie did the book justice, according to wife. The build up to the battle in Hogwart was good. However, I find that the movie climax too early as I take the battle as sort of climax of the show. Then again, wife describe that the battle was sort of in the mid of the book. Forgivable. However, I felt the show became soapy after that. I was expecting the battle to be much more vicious, more action also. The script could explore how few of the character died, such as (spoiler ahead) one of the twin and the werewolves couple. Then again, wife also said that the book did not explore how they died, they just did. And of course, Voldermont was not evil enough. He just look like a bald fella who was angry he lost his hair.

Overall, I do think it is a good movie, none the less. However, it would only be excellent to few groups:

1. Harry Potter fans ( who basically read all the books)

2. someone who had just finish HP movies marathon

3. someone who brought along someone from group 1 & 2 to the show so that they can explain the background to the show. (like me, least wife explain some of the background to the story)

ratings: 4 poink for the 3 groups above, otherwise, you would be lost half way into the movie, so 3 half poink

comments: I finally understand why Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 92%...

Folie-folie cafe & grill: decent, but not briliant

It is wife birthday, we decided to eat out. At first we went to Macoy, but it is opening only at 6pm, we were lazy to wait around. Since we had not try Folie Folie yet, so we decided to give it a try.

Situated behind Ipoh Hospital, at the corner bungalow, look for

Pakeeza and just drive along the street. It is a big white bungalow with huge parking areas around. However, it shares the same building with a club and a pub, which we accidentally enter. Paiseh!

First, the cafe and grill is the nicely decorated, one can have the option of eating inside or out in the open. It did not matter much. There is even a small corner for the band to play, just not very sure when do they sing. Since we were the first couple there, service was fast, even though the waiter who served us is new and nearly took the wrong order, his colleague is fast enough to rectify the error.

The menu is leaning towards western, with few local oriental delight such as laksa and rice. The normal grilled chicken, steak, fish chips are there with pasta. There is even bit of Mexican food here as well. We decided to eat something heavy, I ordered grilled chicken steak with garlic sauce (RM15.80). First, the chicken portion is rather small, however, after finishing the large portion of fries which comes with it, certainly it is enough to feed my hunger. The taste is good, though the meat is too dry, not juicy enough. The taste also lack of herbs which I would expect since Tammys kitchen. Wife ordered quasadilla (RM 14.50), which was rather nice. The chicken and the cheese was plenty, simply better than the ones in Davids Diner. To top it up, we shared a mocktail, lemon breeze (RM 6.30) which was surprisingly nice with tinge of lemon with peppermint.

Overall, the dinner was rather decent, the place is comfortable, but still far from perfect.

Ratings: 3 poink!

Comments: no worry in finding parking; that is one big plus point, however, total tax is 11% which is rather steep if you ask me.

Folie-Folie Cafe & Grill

116, Jalan Raja Musa Aziz,

Ipoh

05-2553733

Bali: not everyone's cup of tea

Finally, I had finished editing the photos, the photobook, and find the time to update on the journey to Bali. It was rather rushed, since we only decided to go after the final exam in May, so the whole trip was planned in less than 2 weeks. Of course, the ticket and hotel stay will not be exactly the cheapest, however, we still believe in cost effectiveness, so we did pamper ourselves for this trip.

Here is the travel itinerary for those who is interested, and some comments on the travel. It is a 5 days 4 nights trip, which to our opinion, should cover most of the things. We only concentrate on central and south Bali, where the tourist activities is focus on. We also travel free and easy style, and move around in our own pace. Instead of trying to cover everything in the short period, we take our time to enjoy each visit, and never tire ourselves out. So, you would find that we did not pack our days with activities, but instead spend quite some time in between visit to rest in hotel/ resort.

Day 1: arrived in Bali in afternoon, took airport cab to Ubud, which in central Bali. Check into Biyukukung Resort and Spa, rest, and walk around Ubud in the evening. The resort is nice, overlooking a paddy field, simply gorgeous. Tried the famous dirty duck as well. We should have watched a dance at night, but we were tired, so end up in hotel resting. Ubud is full of dance in various small temples all within walking distance, nearly on daily basis. However, each temple had a specific day for dance, so need to do some research and walking.

Day 2: Got ourselves a driver for the day. Plenty of them around the street, just need to negotiate the correct price. Went to see Barong dance (worth it!), Paddy field terrace ( not bad, just a few minutes stop), coffee plantation (to make the driver happy), Gunung Batur (active volcano, NEVER eat here as the food is below average and price sky high), Holy Spring temple, Goa Gajah and ended with the driver dropping us in Monkey Forest, Ubud. After that, we simply walk back to hotel. Took a rest, dinner, and spend the night watching Kecak Dance, which was nice. With the fire dance as well, the dance should be watched at night. If we manage to watch Barong on first night, probably we can squeeze another temple on the itinerary. Doesnt matter, as after today, most of the temple do not differ much already.

Day 3: Took some time to Ubud market to shop, ideal place for souveniors. Lunch in Ibu Oka for babi guling. Check out, find ourselves a driver again and had a road trip to Kuta-Legian-Seminyak. Stop in Tanah Lot temple, best time to hit at late evening. Then Uluwatu. But be careful of the rogue monkeys. We got ourselves robbed by the monkeys 3 times. End the night with Jimbaran dinner. Advisable to come here for dinner during sunset, as it is relaxing to eat watching the sun sink on the beach. Check into Seminyak hotel: Villa Diana. Location is bit far from the beach, but still have roadside stall withing walking distance.

Day 4: whole day at the beach. We start with Seminyak, Legian, and finally to Kuta beach. Personally, I do not like it much in Kuta part as I find it too crowded and the people too intimidating at times. Afternoon nap, and dinner near the beach again. Lots of activities to watch.

Day 5: bid goodbye to Bali, and fly back to Malaysia! Home Sweet Home.

It cost us bout RM 1000 each for the whole trip including flight, food, and accomodation. We did stay at decent hotels, not exactly the budget ones, so it cost us bit there.

Overall, it was a nice trip, but it felt that everything cost us money there, so it was not exactly as cheap as people think it is. We still prefer Taipei as the whole place is rather travel friendly there. At least, we can tell people we had been to Bali now.

Ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: nice place to pamper yourselves though not exactly our cup of tea. By the end of the whole trip, our mind are full of temple.

Pasir Pinji local burger delight!

What would you think when someone mentioned burger? Most of the time will be the burger of MacD. Some will think of the more expensive ones in Burger King. My own personal choice will be the roadside stalls, namely Ramly's Burger and its cousins. Very seldom you would find some other different ones, the last time we had one was the QQ pork burger which was rather a disaster. Also, sometimes, you would rarely get some different ones like Ninja Joes (i really miss Joes, that is why so many reference to it).

Imagine my surprise that there is this long running burger stall in Pasir Pinji selling pork burger. Wow. I must try it at once.

Deep in Pasir Pinji, just opposite Tuck Kee, beside the ChoyLeeFutt kungfu centre, is this small hut, manned by what I presume is husband and wife. Business is always brisk. You would not miss the stall as long as you find Tuck Kee because it is the only stall around that corner.

Both the pair is fast and systematic in taking order, and preparing the food. Beware though, sometimes, there is so many patrons there that one may need to wait for a while. The menu is geared towards western/ burger with oriental twist. Both chicken, beef and PORK burger. Fish burger too. Fries. Sandwiches. Basically that covers everything. Typically, one can add eggs or cheese or even double the meat patty in each burger. So far, so good. Like a typical burger stall.

Now, the food. Side dishes is ok. Tried the fries. Thanks to the oil paper, the fries is not so oily, making it one of the better ones. However, wife had been spoiling me with baked fries at home which tasted better. Then came the main heroes, the burgers. Each of the burger is prepared differently though. The pork and chicken burger is deep fried. Obviously it is home made making the taste different from the usual ones. The pork is still my favourite, since the patty is rather meaty, more like mince pork chop, nicely marinated oriental style. Simply nice! The chicken patty is made the same way too, I suppose. since it carry the same style as pork patty. The patty is obviously carry fresh chicken taste, compare to the patties sold in hypermarket. The beef patty is prepared the usual way, grilled. Tasted the same as the usual burger stall, I strongly believed it is Ramly or at least one of his distant cousin. Add egg and it really complete the package. Each burger is served with few slice of onion: really either 1-2 slice only. I am not a fan of onion so fine with me. Top it up with lots and lots of cucumber, which I do prefer over cabbage or other vege on top of my burger. Add bit of mayo, chili + tomato sauce and voila! Chinese oriental burger is served. Did not tried the fish burger so cant comment on that.

The taste? Pork burger is simply out of this world, simply because of the patty. Simply nice. The sauce and everything else on top of the patty is average tops. The bread is nice with lots of sesame but uncle really press it flat while cooking making it look like sandwich at one point. I still miss Joe's sauce on top of pork burger. The chicken burger is rather nice too, thanks to the patty but IMHO, still cant beat the pork though I do know friends who think it is simply awesome. The beef? better buy it in any burger stall near you.

Verdict? I had been here 2 weeks in a row. That would explain everything.

Ratings: 4 poink for the pork burger, 3 half for the chicken, 3 for the fries, 2half for the beef.

comments: decent and valiant effort. one of the better pork burger around if not the best in Ipoh.