Conjuring 2: haunted house with a story

I wasnt that impress with the first Conjuring. It was too run-of-the-mill for me, though I do agree that James Wan used all the trick in the book near to perfection to his advantage. All the scare tactic, sudden noise, play of shadow, but somehow I find it... bit soul-less. I am so glad to say that Conjuring 2 is the opposite, it impressed with me a lot!


The plot centred around the Enfield haunting, where a poor English family was disturbed by a grumpy old ghost which seems to want them out of his house badly. Imagine children being moved in sleep, furniture moves on its own, and weird sounds at night. As usual, Ed and Lorraine Warren were asked by the church to observed the authenticity of the haunting before deciding to be involved. It is fairly similar to the first movie setting.


The first half of the film appeared rather sterile. The tricks were good, though, as if entering a haunted house in a carnival. Clever use of camera angle plus sound and shadow makes you sit on the edge of the seat, contemplating whether to close your eyes or not. However, it does appeared harmless in the first half, as the ghost appeared to be a haunted old man who just want the family to move out of his Enfield house. The middle of the film set real mood of the show, centering on the relationship of the Warrens, the sufferings of the family haunted by the ghost, and the climax of the show did the movie justice... things were not what it seems in the begining.



The character portrayed well, the effect not so cheesy (except for the stick man which resemble Nightmare before Christmas), the scare works efficiently... there is little to fault in this film. The emotion is done so well here, which was evidently missing in the first film. Scare, tears, and relief at the end... Conjuring 2 manage so many things so well that it is one of the films which outshine the originals. Oh, by the way, did I mentioned that the story was based on a real event?

ratings: 4 poink~!
comments: extra poink for a Malaysian borned director....though still yet to beat my all time favourite in Emily Rose.

Hello Elvis: great place to hang out

I had lost track of all the new makan place around in Ipoh, with all the new boutique eateries, dessert huts mushrooming everywhere. So, thanks to a good friend who recommended a new dessert place, we ventured into Ipoh town at night to look for this gelato dessert.

Hello Elvis is situated along the main road heading from new town to old town section of Ipoh. Just keep on the left side, drive slower after the junction towards UTC (do not turn in, just go straight) and you would not miss the bright sign along the row of old shops. Stepping into the shop, with the minimalist design with some tributes for the king of rock and roll, I still do not understand why there are equal amount of tributes to the Beatles. Do not be mistaken, I like dining here. It is spacious, the design is comfortable, yet retaining the traditional feel of the shop. Service is at the counter where we ordered our gelato.

There are other offerings, but of course, we came here for the gelato. It is funny that I still do not know truly how to appreciate gelato. Yes, we know that Italian frozen dessert is suppose to have lower content of fat, but it actually felt like eating froyo.  There are lots of selection of gelato here, each with its quirky names and descriptions. Since Lyn is drawn to chocolate, she chose " I dream of Choco" (RM8.50), which is rich with chocolate gelato. The focus is definitely the chocolate gelato with minimal accompanying tit bits. I, on the other hand, followed the chef's recommendation and went for " Curious Churros" (RM9.50). Initially I had no idea what is churros, and I ended up surprise with the orang putih style chakui. Surprisingly, the fried pastry with sugar sprinkle actually tasted very nicely with the gelato. The pastry gave the substance which the gelato may lack because of the low fat content.

All the gelato are served in a taller cup, filled with dried ice to give the smoky presentation. Gimmicky, I prefer my dessert to be more straight forward. The real amount of the dessert is only half the cup of the whole presentation. Before anyone can complain, I actually can understand, since gelato is not cheap to begin with. Do not expect the usual day to day ice cream which we scoop out from the tub which we bought in our nearest hypermarket. But does this mean I really like it? I still am undecided whether would it swing me to become a gelato fan. The place is comfortable, but sometimes, I do prefer scoops of ice cream with a heavy dose of nuts. But Hello Elvis would definitely be a healthier alternative to consider when I need a break from the fattening dessert.

rating: 3 poink~!
comment: extra poink since there is still dessert under RM10, although the amount is not huge.

Hello Elvis
124, Jalan Sultan Iskandar
Ipoh