Immortals:this film destine to be mortal, and fatal

I love 300. I saw from the trailer that Immortals would be in 300 leagues. I was sooooo wrong.

First the story. Evil king wanted to find a bow to release the Titans, so he can control human, and wage war with the Greek Gods. In the process, he basically torture people in order to locate the bow. He also killed our Hero's mother. He became reluctant hero, saved a virgin oracle whom basically is the only one who can locate the bow. Evil king got the bow, release the Titans. Gods came and fight. Hero kills evil King. THE END.

... so I wished. The acting was bearable actually. Mickey Rourke was really chilling as Hyperion, the evil king. The protagonist also was quite good, he really reminds me of superman. The action was not too bad. More or less like 300.

BUT, the downfall......

the dialogue: cheesy, so cheesy that Pizza Hut 7 cheese pizza will pale in comparison. Everyone wanted to sound so philosophical that it become unreal.

the casting: I really love Zeus. With the moustach, he really looked "gaya", but casting Athena was ridiculous. He was supposed to be her father, but they look more like a pair of lovers...Euuuuu

the story: the hole in the whole story is so big that even a camel could not plug it. What was Hyperion building that he needed slave? He just wanted the bow. Why when Zeus battle the Titans, he only bring a few Gods: even those who go into gang fights know that strength is in numbers. (he should learn more from young and dangerous movie). why would He even bother to fight when in the end, he just pull the plug and buried the Titans? Why would the sidekick so loyal to the Hero? Why would the Helenites listen to him when they first see him?

the action: it looks ok at one point. 300 makes it looks stylish. But here, the slo-mo was overused that it became tedious.

the costume: I know the costume basically wanted to show the abds for others to see, but some of the Gods costume was ridiculous. Greek God which looks like a cock? Priestess who wore spring onion on her head? The head of Greek council who dress like a stage magician? come on....

only a guys whom had never watched 300 may enjoy this. Otherwise, just give it a miss.

ratings: 2 poink!

comments: illogical, cheesy. the only reason to watch this is most of the guys run around half naked, so one could enjoy ga-ga over their 6 packs abdomen.

Dubliners Cafe: nice halal outing

Wehad actually passed by this shop many times. Those who knows me well will know that the main reason I always give this place a pass is I always go for

pork chop. But since today, I felt like giving the oink a rest, wife and me decided to pay this joint a visit.

Dubliners cafe, situated in Greentown business square, within stone throw distance from YeOlde English. Look for the old Oldtown Kopitiam site, opposite an empty space now used as car park, it is in the middle of the row of shops. The restaurant is there for quite some time, which is a good sign, considering across the road, there are restaurant which kept changing names.

This restaurant had all the deco as a contemporary cafe, hinting western food served. The interior is rather comfortable. Service is good, with a few young Malay chaps running the whole show. The joint is open for both lunch and dinner.

Food: you guess it. Halal western food. The range is rather good and diversify, from the usual chicken chop to chicken kiev; from pasta to fried rice. There is even a tinge of thai with somtam. There are pies and lasagna as well. First is my selectoin of Dubliners chicken chop (RM10.80). I thought dish with the restaurant name will sort of be the chef's recommendation. The chicken was not too huge, grilled with "special" sauce which is based on black pepper sauce. There are few pieces of vege on top, which is a nice idea. However, the taste, although being special sauce, is not so special to me, it just taste like black pepper sauce though not as strong. It was bit on the bland side as well. Lasagna (RM10.50) was ok to me though. I would expect it to be more cheesy, but for those who is not crazy about the yellow milk product, I guess the amount was just nice. The meat inside was nicely done. I had to admit that I have not tried many lasagna before, but I certainly taste better.

I would never say the food here is not good, in fact, it is up to par and better than most psedo-western kopitiam style western food. But I had higher expectation here, and the taste came back bit bland.

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: food here is actually alrite, average, but above all, it is halal, so it is accessible to everyone.

Dubliners Cafe

7, Persiaran Greentown 8

Greentown Business Centre

Ipoh

016-6283470

Hong Kong + Macau: out of this world scenery

To celebrate Malaysia Day, me and wife decided to spend it in HongKong. Irony. The real thing is that I was attending official function there, so wife decided to might as well make it into our trip. It was bit rush since I am attending events in the morning and afternoon. We were only able to run around in late afternoon or evening but as long as planning is good, we manage to cover most of the place we intended to.

Day 1: central, sheungwan + peak

Arriving in the late afternoon, we immediate start our trip after checking into our hotel. Leaving the hotel at about 4, we had the whole day to go around. Taking trip on star ferry, it was a ride to remember. Hitting on central, just walk around. Initially we wanted to follow the heritage trail recommended by HK tourism, but we found that it was bit long. Walking to sheungwan and turning back to central again, we pass by hollywood road and SOHO. We even manage to grab a light dinner by a rather famous roadside stall for wantan mee. Yup, the wantan mee is really good. Then we walked all the way to tram station and took the tram up the peak. Remember to visit Madam Tussaud wax museum, although the ticket price was bit steep, it was worth it. The horror house did gave me nightmares for the coming few nights. View from the sky terrace alone was worth the ride up. However, the place is so packed that one need to be bit rough to get a place to enjoy the view. Our initial plan was to take the ting-ting tram down in central but we were too tired to do so.

Day 2: lantau island, avenue of star, symphony of lights and all the night market

We manage to start our day 2 journey in late afternoon so we decided to travel to tungchung and pay a visit to NgoPing 360 where PoLin monastery and the big Buddha awaits. It was rather nice cable car ride up. We were not keen on Disneyland at all since we seldom hear any good review of the place so we decided to give it a miss. We still manage to visit Citygate outlet but were unable to buy anything. Both of us are kiam ayway. Hitting back to Kowloon at 8, just in time for symphony of lights at avenue of stars. The building across in HK island lights up to designated music and the sight was something to behold. Ending that show, we paid all the famous night market a visit. We were bit late to Apliu street to buy electronic goods, but still made it in time to Tungchoi and Saiyeungchoi street. We end our journey to Temple street. The night market here is not much different from the ones here in Malaysia, so it was bit of letdown. The food was not so much different and lacks the variation one would find in Taiwan night market.

Day 3: Macau

This had been a adventurous decision. Going to Macau at noon, the first stop was to Ruins of St Paul and all the nearby heritage buildings. We underestimate the whole journey, we should had allocated more time for this. We had to rush through the museum and buy some famous biscuit back home. We still manage to visit Venetia at night to find Lord Stow's Portuguese egg tart. It was nice, but definitely not worth the journey from Macau town to Venetian.

Day 4: epilogue

We initially plan to visit Wongtaishin before leaving, but we were so tired from all the running for the past 3 days that we abandon the idea. We simply went around our hotel area for dimsum, but fate had it, the restaurant we chosen, despite fair review online, did not impress us at all.

Overall, I would agree that HongKong is impressive but one need not spend too many days here. On the other hand, I would like to spend more time in Macau but just unable to . Food there also were bit different and probably more impressive.

Ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: be kiasu again, do visit so you can tell people I've been to HK and Macau. But both of us enjoy Taipei more.

Chooi Yue DimSum: rare hidden gem

It had been a while since I last update the blog. I still had not finish with HongKong and Macau photos yet. And to note that the dimsum I had in HongKong was bit disappointing. It was not bad either, it could be just that dimsum here is getting better in comparison. Recently while bringing my dad for followup I found one rare dimsum gem around in Ipoh.

Inside Ipoh Garden South, behind Pantai Hospital, is this new dimsum joint. Though the area is not too big, but the amount of shops and the one way street may make the search bit difficult. If anyone know BeeGaik, this restaurant is just across the street, in the corner. Just look for the new ChooiYue signboard.

Arriving on saturday morning, there is quite a lot of patrons in the shop enjoying their breakfast. We were lucky to find an empty seat so there was our start of dimsum adventure here. The deco is simply, typical of street style dimsum shop rather than the posh ones like FooShan. Service was swift, with few waitress running around inviting you to order the dimsum which they are carrying. Once the dimsum was placed on the table, the waitress will make the necessary marking on your receipt, and once finished, the boss will calculate the whole payment. Typical dimsum style. I just love the authenticity of it.

Now, the most important thing. The dimsum itself. First thing that reach our table is the deep fried ones. It was surprisingly good. It was just crispy. The oil used was fresh, therefore there was no weird taste of the usual oil which was used for frying repeatedly. The prawn used is rather fresh and one can actually taste the prawn rather than just pork. The mayo used was bit letdown though, but did not affect the taste of the deep fried dimsum. Next was the fishball. Typically good. It still did not have the fresh taste of fish but the consistency is rather "bouncy" which just taste good in the mouth. The steam siumai was rather good. My wife was impressed with it, though I preferred it with more pork. Not the best I ever had. The chucheongfun was one of the better ones, though it was bit too thick in consistency. However, the soya sauce which sort of flooded the chucheongfun was brilliantly done, simply lift the taste to a different level. Next was lomaikai, which my dad simply love. Much glutinous rice was used, unlike most joint which would mix it. Therefore, the consistency was rather different, leaning towards the usual rice we had for normal meal, not so much sticky at all. The taste was great. Yam pie or wukok was good and freshly fried, therefore was simply great. The fillings was tasty, with the taste of chasiew simply irresistible.

Pricing is reasonable, unlike the posh dimsum restaurant which charges a arm and leg for one simple dish of dimsum. An average dimsum cost about RM 2.40-Rm 3.60 and overall, we spent RM24 for 3 person inclusive of tea, dimsum, chucheongfun and lomaikai. Very reasonable indeed.

It was simply nice, unexpectedly, since this was the first dimsum after I came back from HongKong. The only regret was we did not taste hakao/ prawn dumpling since it was so popular that everytime the steam dimsum reach our table, hakao was just finished. I would come back again definitely.

ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: top of the list for street dimsum. challenger for the rest of those posh dimsum restaurant.

Chooi Yue DimSum

2, Tingkat Taman Ipoh 12,

Taman Ipoh Selatan,

Ipoh

016-5345965

Johnny English Reborn: Bean version of Bond

Once a Bean, always a Bean. In his interview, Rowan Atkinson said that Johnny English is different from Mr Bean. After finishing the movie, it is definitely wrong, it is still Mr Bean working as a spy in this movie. The difference is at least he speaks here.

The movie is a stand alone movie, so one do not need to watch the first movie. Johnny English (JE) is basically a bumbling English spy agent from MI7, dishonorably discharge after a mission went wrong. However, he was recalled back to foil a plan to assassinate the Chinese Premier. After finishing the whole movie, it is still not explained why the informant insist on speaking to him which is essential to start the whole movie.

Acting is up to par, as expected from Atkinson. No matter how hard he tried, he still act, talk behave like Mr Bean. His gesture which is normally funny, still is a reminiscent of Bean. It had been a long time since X File, but watching Gillian Anderson on the silver screen is still a joy. Rosamund Pike have her presence felt, playing JE's love interest, but the chemistry is still missing and unbelievable.

Action is lacking, then again, this is not a true spy movie. The jokes, well, luckily is not toilet humour. There are some dry English humour, which is rather witty. There is also some slapstick jokes here and there. However, as much as the jokes are there, there are also quiet some gap which is rather dry and humourless. The parody of action sequence in the beginning of the movie is rather funny and genius.

In the end, it was not as bad as I thought. It is still far from rolling-on-the-floor-laughter, but it does guarantee to bring some smile to you face.

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: Mr Bean is still funnier, but for a light movie, this do not disappoint. Just do not have too high a expectation.

Nasi Lemak 2.0: a really Malaysian Chinese comedy

Recently there was an article in The Star discussing the local Chinese comedy which is dominated by the Singaporean. To ensure that the movies will make profit here as well, most of the background of the movie is rather neutral, neither Malaysian nor Singaporean, which would benefit as well for the viewers from the 2 countries. Namewee's maiden movie effort, on the other hand, is purely a Malaysian Chinese comedy, there is so much reference to the local senarios that sometimes even a Singaporean may not get the joke.

Nasi Lemak 2.0 is a cheap movie, that is with limited budget. And it shows. However, there are so many cameo appearance that probably they did it for the price of friendship. It is still a Malaysian chinese movies, as it is made more for the chinese audience. Therefore it is not exactly an 1Malaysian movie per se. (anyway, I totally agree with The Star review, why cant people just refer it as a MALAYSIAN movie, why everytime must be 1Malaysia this, 1Malaysia that...)

The story is rather simple, and so many similarities with Stephen Chow's God of Cookery. Namewee is a graduate from China Institute of Culinary, open his own chinese restaurant but due to his refusal to blend in with the local cuisine, his restaurant is basically empty. In the process of helping Karen Kong, he was involved in a cooking competition. Karen's father is involved in a struggle for her family restaurant against her aunt. Both of them embarked on a journey to learn to make nasi lemak, in the process, learn more about their culture. Meeting Baba Nyonya to learn sambal, Dato Arumugam to lean curry, and Afdlin Shauki to learn.... I dont know what he learn there except that having 4 wives is blissful. And of course, in the end he sort of won the competition-la.

First, the script is rather good. However, we kept being reminded that we are one in diversity, and the message of unity was sort of shoved down our throat every 15 minutes. Too obvious, like Jack neo's earlier work. The acting was alrite, considering that Namewee is playing himself. Like how you would expect to see him in his youtube ranting. Karen Kong however, surprise, have a certain talent in playing her character of a kind hearted girl. The irony of it, both of them were famous because of youtube: Karen for her self made singing-while-playing-piano video (hey, I was one of the earlier people who followed her on youtube); Namewee for his great anti-establishment politically incorrect song.

The jokes? some are quiet lame, I still have nightmare recalling the belly of a certain dark colour man whom the face we never see. Some are rather vulgar (the villain of the show is call LAN QIAO, understand, LANQIAO?) , bordering perverted. (how the perpetual action mimicking masturbation was used more than once). Some, on the other hand was genius. Although it is a movie of unity in diversity, there are LOTS of jokes with reference to the political scene. "it may look like me, sound like me, but is not me" quotes to the reference of political parties in the judging scene. Even the action involving certain ancient weapon was shown here. It was fun trying to spot all these reference, and it sort of involving the whole cinema as someone who suddenly shouted out when he/she finally got the jokes. And, if you are a Namewee fan like me, there are more reference to himself, especially the video of him complaining after a blackout. Of course, there are the usual reference to typical Malaysian from the amazing facebook usage, our rubbish throwing habit, our beloved national car with the window issues but air-con that bring north pole to malaysia, and our manglish.

It had been a fun ride. Namewee has proved to us, he is able to laugh at himself, and still stand firm. He tried, real hard to make us believe that we can be one in our diversity, but yet poke fun at the political scene which also tried hard to make us believe in the same thing. It brings to one thing, we can be one in our diversity, sometimes, it is the politicking, despite what their unity slogan is, that drives us apart.

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: it is still far from perfect, but since I am a Namewee's fan, this is still a great movie made under a small budget, without any assistance from the government. The song, is bordering great, cant imagine they really did a Indian Chinese song...

ps. trivial fact, Namewee did have a documentary in youtube before he got famous, about his hometown Muar, so he is not exactly new in movie making.

Chinese Street (Tang Ren Jie): dessert without the sweet moment

I always lament that there is no dessert shop in Ipoh compare to Klang Valley. A place where you can get decent peanut paste or sesame paste (fasenghu or jimahu). There is plenty at least in Klang Valley that really serve decent good dessert.

Walking in De Garden, we came across this shop on the ground floor that boast about their dessert. IF anyone still do not know where De Garden is, it is not somewhere near DR Park or Polo Ground in Ipoh. Basically it is the complex across JJ near Ipoh Garden side of town.

The shop is rather small, with only one shop lot, compare to others. There is only this young man manning the tables, and he is really accommodating even though there are plenty of other patrons. The shop literally meant Chinese Street or Tang Ren Jie. Must be good place for dessert, we thought.

The menu is simple, 2 pages of dessert, from the paste, to the steam dessert, to the boiled dessert (leong sui). Minimal light food for selection is also there. Good selection. Seldom had we seen such large selection of dessert. And the pattern of the food is just nice to eat with desert. Food such as pao, tart and sweet dessert is always there.

Then the dessert came. OUCH. We were expecting much more. First, the peanut paste (jimahu) (RM3.90). There was lots of clump inside there. The smoothness was bit "artificial". I highly suspect that this was not cooked in the kitchen with peanut but was mixed with hot water with the fast cooked version in packets. Either that, or it is not cooked well. Like those fast cooked powder version, it lacked the aroma of peanut. However, this was only my suspicion. Nothing substantiated. Second was my steamed milk with ginger (RM5.90). I had never tried steamed milk before, so I cant really comment much. It taste like a taufuha with heavy full cream milk smell. However, once mixed, I cant taste the ginger at all. Might as well, just order the plain one, cheaper still. My wife was not so keen on it, but I like the taste. Saving grace in a sense.

Overall, we do not have much choice here. Given the environment and the air con, this is still a decent place for dessert, just do not expect the dessert to be excellent.

ratings: 2 poink!

comments: low poink for the fatal way of cooking peanut paste. Had not try other dessert so cant comment much-la.

TangRenJie

GR-2, De Garden,

No 3, Persiaran Medan Ipoh,

Medan Ipoh, Ipoh.

05-5487300

open whole day