Watchmen

I am happy to say that I finally ended my personal record of longest time of not going to a cinema of 4 months has finally cracked and there’s no better movie than this to crack it. Yeah, I haven’t watched a movie since after my finals last semester. Or a bit after that... Who’s counting?

Anyways, as most fanboys would know, this movie is based on, and I quote, one of the most celebrated graphic novels in the history of comicdom. I can see why. I have personally never read the comic but listening to some people talk about and reading the synopsis off Wiki is proof enough for me. Watchmen features a conspiracy, an alternate reality, warped personas and such complex characters that just blows your mind. I would have to say that they did a great casting job on this one. I somehow see the pattern here, sometimes you have a story so great that needs to be told, it’d be suicidal to get mega stars to get in your movie ‘cause it’ll most likely ruin your movie with their overwhelming star power and the attention gets drawn to the wrong places.

I will not spoil the story for you guys but for those that are familiar with the Watchmen series, you know how this’s going to go and they have kept it pretty loyal to the tome.

Well, this is the 1st time I’m watching a movie in Australia and there’s only one difference... No censors. It’s a great feeling to watch a movie that was not handled by the physically challenged members of the M’sian censorship board. Zero censorship, titties, dongs, sex scenes and all. Yes, even kissing scenes! Geez... cutting kissing scenes, now there’s a historic 1st right there. So yeah... the movie was totally uncensored, sex scenes between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre all there. Unfortunately, even Dr Manhattan’s shlong was all there as well. Every time the dude walks into the screen, I just cringe ‘cause the dude’s junk is just all over the damn place. I seriously wonder how the M’sian censors dealt with that. Seriously, for those of you that have watched Watchmen and are reading this, tell me how this was handled! I seriously hope they didn’t chop bloody chunks off the movie but knowing those idiots... they probably did just that with raging bravado.

The complex histories of the characters are just amazing. I have to admit that I instantly became a fan of Rorshach, that madman. He’s just one freakin’ motherfucking badass. Nite Owl was kinda cool ‘cause he definitely got the whole Batman vibe going. Ozymandias... he’s gay right? Comedian’s just one bastard... I couldn’t find a redeeming point in him even after he started crying in front of his enemy. Dr Manhattan... well, he’s just way too powerful and too detached from the world. Silk Spectre... yeah, she’s alright.

I definitely enjoyed this movie a lot. Loads of trademark Zack Snyder direction there, the guts and all that junk. In case you are wondering, yeah, same dude who did 300. Yeah. Guts and everything. You should check out the way Dr Manhattan kills his enemies, it’s just... *splat*

Ol’ Spiky’s Rating: 4.75/5 Still not perfect yet but it’s definitely a bloody good movie. Check it out at all costs. This movie can count as the opening salvo for summer blockbusters to come.

Alright, it’s summer time again! Well, at least in countries on the north side of the hemisphere. For us here it’s gonna be winter soon and now, autumn is already a bitch. Sure you don’t sweat but it’s cold as hell. So, alright, here’s my checklist of must watch movies!

- Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
- Fast and Furious
- Wolverine
- Star Trek

Yeah, I know there’re a lot more movies... I might watch G.I Joe. Dragonball... I think it’s going to be a flop. A huge, huge flop for sure. This is the movie that’s gonna be losing out because of the purists.

Anyways, I think that’s that. Gonna talk about the Moomba Waterfest next post. Stay tuned. Peace out y’all

To Pay the Price

Anyways, on Sunday I went to the city again, without Kang Wei this time to meet up with Wai Chien, old time friend all the way back from CIMP. She’s studying in Monash Clayton right now, under a exchange student programme. We met up at the Flinders’ Station and went on to Chinatown, again... 2 weekends in a row I’ve been there now to get some lunch. I wanted to find back that psuedo Shanghainese restaurant that I went to with KW, Tommy and the rest of them the previous day but I forgot which alley it was in. Eventually I stumbled into a familiar restaurant which was the place that I was to on my 1st weekend. Hehehehe... Funny how things turn out.

Ate whatever they had served there and had a good long talk about how the education system in M’sia has gotten even more fucked up. Or rather, how much more pressure parents are putting children through even when they’re in kindergarten. It seems they’ve upped the curve and pushed primary school subjects down into the kindergarten level. Damn man, I was learning my ABCs and 123s when I was kindergarten... Now these kids are doing double digit addition and grammar, punctation and all that shit. It’s just pure bullshit, man. Are we trying to make a generation of super geniuses here? Seriously, now the kids deserve more downtime than ever. They’re seriously earning every hour of TV and computer gaming time with this studying bullshit that’s going on.

After that, I took her to Waterfront Mall for that marble slab ice cream. It’s called Rock Mountain over here but it’s just plain called Marble Slab back in Dubai. Didn’t get a chance to try in Dubai but I guess it’s about the same over here. After getting some ice-cream we went over to the pier to check out the view. Woah man... It was my lucky day. There was a car show over there, showcasing old classics from USA, customized and so on. Here’s a sample of what I saw, the rest are on my Facebook page, which I think most people have already seen...

The Lady Luck motif is seriously impressive



Reminded me a lot of the Ecto 1 and Adam West's Batmobile!



Yeah, it still needs to get cranked



Wicked paint job, don't you agree?



Insane engine mods on an old classic



Now that's teaching an old dog new tricks, eh?



One of the newer Corvettes on display



Kick-ass sound system in the trunk



Old school hearse, available to rent for special funerals, for real



A li'l tombstone explaining the history of this ride

After that we bounced back to Flinders’ Station and we went our seperate ways home. My place is closer but Clayton’s a real bitch to travel to. Anyways.. that’s done with that day. I finally survived a week without incident! No losing keys, nothing. Tight...

Well, this week’s strike is off ‘cause negotiations are actually going on. Good for the lecturers, half good and bad for us for obvious reasons. Anyways... the weather here’s always an issue. It’s below 20 degrees for the past 2 days. Freakin’ shitty Melbourne weather but listening to Denise talk about Ireland’s weather makes me feel warm already. No wonder the Irish drink so bloody much.

A’ite then... Got nothing much to talk about. Oh, read about the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricketeers in Pakistan. Damn shame. Finished about half of Lego Batman... leaving just the villian missions left only. I have half a mind to go resell this back to the place I bought it and get my next game at half price, but what should I get next? Ah phooey... Whatever, I’ll keep this. This’s a nice game anyways.

Peace out y’all.

So Far So Good

Written: Saturday, 28.2.2009

Alright... so far here in Melbourne, the weather’s been fluctuating like insanity. Usually in M’sia you only get one kind, hot, wet and annoying at times. It got the warmest on Friday and today it reduced once more, like about 10 degrees tops! I think I’ve gotten used to it ‘cause I didn’t really mind the weather today.

Well, 1st of all, I’ve completed my 1st week of classes but not without any funny incidents though. Well, let’s see... I met a Serbian chick, Tanya. Nice girl. Hey guys, bohot garam yaaarrr... Also met this chick, Vanessa, mainland Chinese chick. Passed her my number. Some people call this working fast. I call this luck. Whatever it is... Got quite a few things other than chicks on this section. Alright, let’s see, locked myself out of the house for the 1st time and it’s not even been a month since I’ve been here. Smashing. Huge fiasco that was. I just kept thinking to myself what an idiotic fuck I was but eventually I settled down and saw the humour in the situation. First, I tried asking my neighbours for their keys because everyones keys can open the main doors so what’s the chance that some keys can open multiple doors? The last door to my apartment’s left was the first place I knocked on because I actually heard someone close the fridge, which is really close to the door. Funnily enough, a Chinese chick with some rather nice assets in a skimpy little negligee opened the door. I forgot for awhile why I was there but eventually picked my tongue off the floor. She was a no-go though. So, took the train past sundown for the 1st time all the way to Blackburn where my uncle was to crash there for the night. Next morning, me and couz went to get the spare at the agency. Problem solved right there.

Other issue regarding uni are that VU’s suffering from the economy crisis as well and they’re cutting 270 personnel from admin staff to lecturers so the people here are having a strike, 3 weeks in a row, 2 days per week so it wouldn’t impact the students as well. It seems that 2 of VU’s campuses, one in Melton and another in Sunbury has been closed down already. Huge bummer, dude. So, yeah, I have 2 lecturers that haven’t said shit, 1 that is totally against it and another that’s all for it. I don’t understand the one that’s against it. He’s gonna get axed as well but he’s against it... Normally people are either for it, or just don’t give a shit. This dude’s obviously been hitting the bong one too many times man. Well, the lecturer that’s concerned about it are urging us to show our support by turning up during those strike days. I just arrived in this country and it may be my uni, but I’ve never loved VU because of the pricks at Malaysia. But I haven’t grown fond of this VU yet and I sure as hell not gonna sacrifice time for something that I just got to know. So yeah, it’s just not my fight until it starts giving me trouble.

Well... that’s pretty much how to sum up the whole of this week. Today me and Kang Wei went to meet some more of his high school friends. One of the chicks from last week sans the sister and two more dudes, one was Tommy which I think I’ve seen in either CIMP or VU. We went to another restaurant in an alley in Chinatown once more. Had dumplings once more... Damn man, that shit... is the bomb. Just can’t get enough of fried dumplings or steamed dumplings man... Shanghainese food! Man, I’m being such a yellow person. I can’t believe it, of all places I’ve found my inner yellow man and I found my inner brown man in Malaysia. How ironic is that?

After that we went to JB Hi-Fi (did I spell that right?), some franchise that specializes in computer wares, games, music CDs, MP3 playes, iPods, gaming consoles and the like. Kang Wei wanted to buy an iPod. Alright, I’ve never owned an iPod of any kind (cue applause) and have always used my phone as my MP3 player. Here’s my opening on the topic of the worldwide phenomena known as the iPod, it’s the world’s most common and overated product with the best marketing team. Now, here’s a rant that’s been probably locked away for a long time in the back of my head. Now, see here. Tell me what an iPod does. It plays music. Sure, it’s got that nifty screen, arrange your music, playlists, adjust the equalizer and other versions, even watch videos. So, yeah, tell me. Mainly... an iPod’s function is to listen to music. So does it make it sound any better? Perhaps. How much better? Not that much, you say. Interesting. So yeah, why the fuck do people buy iPods? Sure, it’s sleek and beautiful but is it worth like, a 1000 ringgits? If it can suck my dick, yeah, I’d pay that. Yeah, the langauage’s a bit harsher than usual ‘cause it’s the only way to get the point across sometimes. So, seriously, tell me, honestly. What does your iPod do that’s worth that much? And which form of mental sickness did you pick up that compelled you to even buy the iPod. No, tell me, seriously.

Alright, rant done. *phew*

After convincing Kang Wei with a partial version of my rant up there, he settled on a normal Sony MP3 player. Good lad. After that, these dudes checked out some special Chinese shop that sold Asian shows. I wasn’t too interested so I stepped out for a breather. We headed off to one of the sports equipment shopping districts to look at basketballs and basketball shoes ‘cause the crew that I hang with now is more inclined towards basketball. Damn.

And then I saw this futsal ball...

I suddenly felt this wave over me that just made me realize how much I miss playing futsal with these dudes. I miss Rushdi performing acts of pure insanity with the ball, Rikaz just fumbling around, Rahul losing his head at times, Zabrin ripping a hole into the net, Shakir cutting someone and well, most likely tapping the ball in a bit too softly, Raashid just doing his thang and Nizmi crashing into the side netting everytime he ran down a flank with the ball. I miss Piumi, Nix and Nabila sometimes being at the sidelines too. I miss FUTSAL!!!

These dudes met someone that they knew at the shop, huge coincedence. After scouting the shop, we went over to St. Kilda’s place and that place was CHOOIIYYY~... The sun was nice and warm and a rather strong sea breeze was just hammering the place. Took a few places of the place as well...

Spotted this fella just chilling at the beach



See those little parachutes?



Little pier right there



Just to prove I was there! And also that Kang Wei's a bad photographer!



Me and Kang Wei at St.Kilda's Pier



Me, further down the pier



The right side of the beach



Waves aren't strong enough, see?



Down the other side of the pier



Loads of people just walking about and fishing on the pier



The St. Kilda Pier Kiosk

There were dudes uh... shit, I forgot the name. You know, using those parachutes to surf. Parasurf? I have no idea... Anyways, the wind was hammering us all the way down the pier and all along the beach. The waves here weren’t hard enough to surf so these dudes have to resort to this instead. Saw a chick sunbathing topless for the first time. Regrettably also saw a dude, which was being pointed out by his possibly drunk friends, that he was wearing a thong. Now I have to gouge my eyes out and wash them in industrial grade bleach. We walked all the way to the end of the pier but didn’t turn into the yacht parking area and walked back and turned into the right side of the bea ch. There was a little cafe there pumping some music, a few families, couples and just groups of people just either sunbathing, playing in the water or just playing. Further down the boardwalk, there was this chick that was sunbathing topless. I’ve already anticipated this mentally so I didn’t have to pick my tongue of the ground. On the way to catch the tram back to Flinder’s Station, we stopped by Luna Park, the park that Jillian and Wai Chien had told me about going to during Monash’s O-week events. It’s a seriously small place with roughly 10 rides tops. You just pay 37 bucks and it’s unlimited rides. There’s no entry fee, you just walk in and the ticket counter is right in the middle. No idea if there’re actually guards on every ride that check if you got a ticket, though. But honestly, I wouldn’t pay above 20 bucks for a place like this. The rides are limited and the rollercoaster’s lower than my house!

Anyways, straight after that we dashed off to the tram and Tommy went off first and me and Kang Wei left at Flinder’s Station. As usual it would be a short ride back to Footscray but there was some delay to the train coming and in between there was some delay as well. Reached Footscray soon enough and I got off the tram first as it stops at my place 1st before KW’s.
Well, that’s pretty much it. Today I’m going into the city again to meet Wai Chien after a long time. A’ite then. Peace out y’all!