Puss in Boots: nice family outing, if you have kids

I am always a fan of Shrek, and that includes all character inside the show, minus Donkey. Naturally, that would compel me to watch the newest spin off which is Puss in Boots. Coming from Dreamworks, I would expect it to be on par with Shrek at least. The trailer, seems to be promising as well.



So, my wife and I step into the cinema with high hopes. One third of the cinema were children, but luckily they were well behaved throughout the show, making the experience of watching movie with kids bearable.



The story is simple, Puss met his old friend Humpty Dumpty and they enlist Kitty Softpaw to steal magic beans from Jack and Jill. With the beans, as expected, they climb up to the sky to visit Giant's castle to steal the magic goose which lays golden eggs. (spoiler ahead). It all ended up as Humpty's elaborated plan for revenge from Puss and their childhood village. I would not spoil the movie by revealing the ending but one would have guess Humpty would come back to his senses.



Animation? Good, as expected from Dreamwork. Not groundbreaking, and did not manage to catch the 3D version, but good.
Voiceover? Top notched, as expected from Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.
Story? family oriented. No excessive violence, sex or anything that will spoil the 8 years old



So, what is the problem. Actually none. The whole movie felt like it was made for the 8 years old, sterile. Action is there, but nowadays action is in most movies that nothing stand out. The jokes are rather bland, more suited for children rather than adults. The sense of adventure is also rather mild, being the journey to Giant's castle the only thing that stand out. It was also not as touching as UP, so it did not have any moment for adults. The only near hit was when Puss and Humpty recalled back their childhood dream of stealing the magic goose.

In conclusion, it is a very nice movie for a family outing with kids. Otherwise, do not expect much from it, and probably will enjoy it more. It is not a movie that will get you talking about it after the show, or something that I will remember 2 weeks down the road.

ratings: 3 poink!
comments: nice movie, but lack the impact to adults.
comments: got kids, watch. otherwise, you may have other choice.

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