I need to get some fucking friends!

Yup, those words came out from Peter Klaven's mouth (played by Paul Rudd). In "I Love You, Man", he just proposed Zooey (Rashida Jones) and planning to have a wedding reception. Now the problem is, Peter has been a 'girl friend' type = dun have guy buddies. Meaning, he doesn't have a best man to accompany him through the aisle later on. Afterwards, he tries hard to get a new buddy by many ways before the D-day, and during the search, it seems that he finally gets a perfect guy, Sydney (Peter Segel). Although, this new buddy has changed Peter gradually in some kind of guy friendship which he's never been experienced before (mind you, most of his friends are girls). Little by little, Peter realized that having a 'boy friend' becomes so exciting, although the payoff will be the jealousy and less time for her wife-soon to be Zooey.

That's the brief story of this movie, which is kind a refreshment, since it's been a while I've seen a romantic-comedy, well, in guy's perspective. In the end, I enjoyed this movie a lot, cause I think the content is unique, refreshing, and entertaining. The whole cast were giving me lots of laugh, from Peter's Dad (J.K Simmons), brother (Adam Sandberg, from SNL), and we're even entertained by Jon Favreau, the "Iron Man" director himself, plays as one of Zooey's friend husband. Oh yeah, not to mention Lou Ferrigno, Mr. Hulk, playing as himself.

For your infos, some of the jokes are quite abusive, or even sexually related (no wonder it's been given an R rating). Usually, I don't get the R-rating jokes (mostly offended somehow), but they turned out pretty well, and they went along with the overall plotline. It's a good movie to watch for couples. It's not a chick movie or whatsoever, and I'm sure guys will like it as well as I enjoy it.

My Rating : 8/10

Share on Facebook

Bye Bye, Blackbird

The year was 1995, I was just 13, and there was this movie called "Heat", where Robert De Niro and Al Pacino played cat and mouse (cops and cons). Back then, I knew that they were A-list actors, or can even be recalled as the living legends. Until now, "Heat" was the best ever crime/heist saga ever filmed, and Michael Mann was on the director's seat. Mann was quite popular with producing and directing "Miami Vice" episodes in the late 80's (he also directed the movie with the same title, but that it was bombed), means that he was already familiar with creating crime story which reveal the 'black' within the 'white' and vice versa (the cops are bad, the cons are good people). Watching Michael Mann's movie means you gotta prepare for long conversations, thrilling action scenes without any music in the background, an in-depth characterization of each main actors, and last but not least, a great shooting scenes complete with magnificent sound effects.

The legendary 10-min coffee shop scene in "Heat"

Then, we are at 14 years ahead, the year is 2009, and we have "PUBLIC ENEMIES", another typical story ala "Heat", with different settings, and different A-list actors. You got Johny Depp and Christian Bale, whoa, let me repeat that again...DEPP and BALE !!! How cool was that? Both are in their prime moments, and finally we can see Depp playing a 'normal' human character.

STORY

In the action-thriller Public Enemies, Michael Mann directs Depp and Bal, along with Oscar winner Marion Cotillard in the story of legendary Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger (Depp)—the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoover’s fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public.

No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone—from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression.

CAST

Unlike "Heat", where both De Niro and Pacino get their portion equally, in "Public Enemies", I felt Depp got all the attention, especially until half the movie and towards the end, while Bale only got 1/4 of the main portion. Nevertheless, they only talked to each other only for 5 minutes with dull conversation (no other movie beats the 10 minutes Coffee Shop scene in "Heat", where that's the only moment where De Niro and Pacino met).

Johnny Depp, as always, performs a cool character with flamboyant style and playboy appearance (at least until he gets really messed up with Purvis). It's nice to see him fully frontal as normal character (mind you, he will play another weirdo, Mad Hatter in the upcoming Tim Burton's Alice). Too bad his potrayal of Dillinger is not as depth as I hope so, because the story starts when he's already established himself as the bank robber along with his old friends (we don't know how he become a con, how he meets his gang, etc). But, since the movie is already running 2 hours time, I guess Mann has to cut it down to this period only.

On the other side, Christian Bale's role is not as exposed as Dillinger's. He always comes clean, with neat suit and hair, focusing only catch Dillinger and the gang. We know nothing this person himself, family, background, or anything personal. My point is, if only he can get the same portion as Pacino had in "Heat", perhaps it will end up nicely (unless we want MORE Depp than Bale).

But, in my opinion, the star of the movie is Cotillard, who potrays Dillinger's love partner, Billie. She always steals the scenes everytime she shows up. From the beginning, she shows the strong character of Billie with her undenying love toward Dillinger (if you watch the interrogation scene with 'fat boy', you'll get what I mean). In short, her appearances make the movie become more fresh. Yup, she's the scene stealer alright. Oh yeah, if you look closely, you'll see Diana Krall singing "Bye Bye, BlackBird".

Other casts are notably okay, from Billy Crudup, Channing Tatum (I even forgot he also plays a role), Giovanni Ribisi, until the little surprise cameo by Lee Lee Sobieski in the latest part.

MEMORABLE SCENES

The opening jail breakout scene.

Dillinger meet Billie.

Dillinger visits the Police Station.

Billie's interrogation.

The midnight forest house raid.

Dillinger's last word.

FINAL VERDICT

Frankly, "Public Enemies" still can't be compared with "Heat" in term of the quality and the character depth. But nevertheless, I felt refreshed by this kind movie, in spite of the cinema attacks by superheroes, giant robots, wizards, and animations. So, it's a good change for a while, although some people might find this is a boringggg movie, especially at 1/2 half of the movie. If you don't mind with all long conversations, combined with good shooting scenes (believe me, the bullet sound and the holes are looks so real), you'll enjoy it. But, if you sleep even while you're watching Harry Potter, better save your money then.

MY RATINGS : 7.5/10

Share on Facebook

Man Utd ASIA TOUR - KL

By the time I wrote this, Man Utd has already cancelled their tour to Jakarta as the result of the another terrorist bombing. Deep inside, I felt very lucky since I chose to watch them at KL, but on the other hand, I felt sad and sorry for the Indonesian fans, because this chance won't come easily even for the next decade.

Watching Man Utd live match is perhaps one of my biggest dream which I'm trying my best to make it come true. Nevertheless, just like my sis said, even watching them not at Old Trafford can be considered as 'small dream' comes true. Can't agree more !!! Just like watching Coldplay live concert back few months ago, this experience was unforgettable. The difference is that, now I'm able to bring Suri with me, along with my high school bud and his girlfriend. Correct me if I'm wrong, on this rare occasion, the more the merrier (well, the girls won't mind, since they have someone to accompany them now).

So, in brief, I can say that the trip to KL this time was both exciting and exhausting. This time, we went by plane instead of bus (upgrade the transport), and stayed at cheap and 'so-so' hotel (degrade the accommodation, ha3). The event was held for two days, where on Friday was the training session, and the Saturday was the match against the Malaysia XI.

Only for this event, I brought my 2 Man Utd jersey (08/09 away blue, and 07/08 away white) and some t-shirts with Man Utd attributes. Too bad I didn't bring the Red one, cause I left it back at Jakarta. Nevertheless, I'm ready for the match !

First time we went to the stadium, we got 'robbed' or 'kena tipu' by a cab driver. In the beginning, he charged us RM30, then because of the traffic jam, later on he asked for additional fare. Then I asked how much, and he said "Up to you". Okay then, I offered him RM5 more...and u know his reply? "Make it RM40". Asshole, lucky there were 4 of us.

Actually, the training sessions was dull, the exciting thing was that we were able to see the Man Utd players on field with our own eyes (even I have to use binoculars to see them clearly). Well, in my experience, this the closest I can get to them, along with other 50.000 spectators.

There's a funny story after the training session when we want to go back to our hotel. We had to walk to the nearest mall to avoid the traffic jam, so it's easier for us to stop any taxi. Well, eventually, we had to wait for almost an hour, until we can grab one. Now, after 4 times I came to KL, this is the first I took a ride in taxi who had....wait for it....his METER ON !!! Yeah, and it only cost us RM16 to go back in spite of the traffic jam. Lucky for us, the cab driver was kindly enough to offer us the service for the Saturday match (cost us RM18 one way). I'll surely contact him again next time I visit KL.

The next day was more exciting, cause I was gonna watch, for the first time, a live Man Utd match! We arrived at the stadium around 2.30PM, and there was already a massive crowd gathering outside the entrance gate, and yes, most of them were 'RED'. Thanks to my buddy, Adrianto, who bought the ticket, the chose a perfect seat and a nice view toward the field.

After waiting for 2 hours plus, the players entered the field for warming up. Only Vidic, Rafael, Hargreaves, Park, Valencia, and Obertan were missed out the tour. For starting line up, Fergie put Rooney + Berba upfront, then Nani on the left wing, Gibson on the right, plus Scholes and Anderson holding the Mid field, added with the back four, Ferdinand, Evans, O'Shea, and Evra. Means that Fergie was using the traditional 4-4-2, and put Rooney back to his natural position.

To be frank, I'm expecting a dull match, since this is only a warm up match practice for Fergie's men. But it turned out to offer some surprises. Rooney opened up the goal at 9th minute, and gave assist to Nani to score later on. It should be an easy winning, but the home team had different idea (well, thanks to both Man Utd goalkeepers). Yahya managed to score two fluke goals, one near the 1st half added time (lob over Van Der Sar), and the 2nd after substitute Ben Foster made a horrendous error after receiving a backpass.

The match reached 80th minute, and Fergie had used Owen, Giggs, Brown, Fabio, and Macheda, signalling the attacking approach. The high moment of the match was when Owen scored on his debut, on the 80th minute, and gave Man Utd 3-2 win. Not bad for the injury prone player, and I'm looking forward to see him in action for the new season.

It was a memorable time, and exhausting either. We got back to the hotel, had dinner at Jalan Alor for the 2nd night in the row, took a hot bath, and went to sleep with excited feeling. I'm looking forward to watch them live back in their homeground, Old Trafford, perhaps someday in the not to distant future.

Glory glory Man united,

Glory glory Man united,

Glory glory Man united,

As the reds go marching on on on !!!

PS: Through this post, I want to give my condolences for all the Jakarta bombing victims, and for all the Man Utd supporters who were not able to see the match. Let's kick out the terrorists, and hope they all burn in hell!!!

Once again I must ask too much of you, Harry

I managed to get the tickets on the premiere day of the 6^th installments of Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince. I was really eager to catch this one (I even listened to the audio book just to remember the story line), added with so many positive reviews (thanks joblo.com) and mouth to mouth comments, all thes e things even made me dead curious to watch it.

Therefore, I got the tickets for the 9.50 PM show, and in the next morning, I got to wake up early in the morning to catch the flight to KL for the Man Utd Asia Tour...what a whacky nite. I’ll save the story about the KL trip later on. Now, let’s review Hogwarts’ kids in action.

In short, it's the best Potter movie so far, and also the darkest one, which I like it a lot, means it shows the maturity of the whole series, along with growth of the Hogwarts' kids. David Yates successfully translates the book (which I find a little bit boring) into a tremendous movie with some modifications here and there (and they work well). Again, you will see that many scenes from the book was cut down or even changed, which I don't mind at all, cause I enjoyed this 2-hour plus show.

The strong emphasis on this 6th year is put into the teenage love story, and the whole casts are able to deliver a magnificent performance as highly infatuated teenagers with curiosity of their own feelings. Although, the dark story as the background where the real identity of the Dark Lord Voldermort himself was explained bit by bit with the rise of the Dark Army emerging, and all of these concluded with a horrific ending (I bet you all know what I mean). Well, I'm not going to write the story here, since all of you must've been known the story (or even watch it).

From all the cast, I believe Rupert Grint was outstanding, getting better in each new movie, while as Emma Watson is getting hotter! Other thing I've noticed that this is the best Alan Rickman (Snape) perfomance in the whole series, although I felt that he's rather underused. Also, glad to see Bonnie Wright (Ginny) gets more scenes than previous ones (whoa, she's so tall !!!). Too bad we didn't get any of Oldman (Sirius) and Fiennes (Voldermort) in this one. Jim Broadbent as the newest addition of the series, was perfect potraying Slughorn, an ex-Slytherin who got a comeback call from Dumbledore to teach again.

Thumbs up for David Yates, whom I recall the perfect person to hold the director's seat for the last 4 Potter film. It seems he really understand and able to grasp the basic concept of Potter's world and its storyline, especially toward the end of the series, where it's getting darker and intense.

This flick is not just the best of the series, but also (in subjective manner) tie up with Star Trek as the best 2009 summer movie. Can't wait for the latest 2 installments.

My Rating 9/10 --> 1 additional points for both Hermione and Ginny for being hot!

Share on Facebook

Marcel Ignatius, B.Arch, Msc (Building Science)

Yup, I’m graduated from my master degree, which means I’m entitled of the additional 3 letters for my name. Apart from that, I got myself also a gold medal as the best building science student, which surprised me as well. I always think that my Serbian friend, Sava, who will be the strongest candidate to obtain the gold medal. Well, not just he was always several steps ahead of me, but he’s also efficient in time management, stay at the library everyday (dunno how many books he has read), his presentations are always top notch, either the layouts or the materials, and many else. I’m grateful enough since we’re always in the same group on every module. It’s like a whip at my ass everytime he gets his jobs done, “Damn, I should work harder”. In the end, I'm surprisingly happy to receive the golden snitch!!! Nevertheless, happy to make my parents proud !!!

My mum and dad came to Singapore on 30^th June, and my commencement day was at 13^th July, means that they spent 2 weeks at my place, which is good. My mum,as usual, did all the cleaning, clothes washing, and helped preparing breakfast. I’m really happy to see them attending my commencement day, see they were smiling all day long on that particular occassion, and thanks to the VIP invitation, they sat at the front row.

I also invited my hunny, Vivi with Chris, along with Agus to add the crowd (and helped bringing my things...he3). Well, since Chris was there, they did some experimenting with photo taking, which end up nicely. Damn, he’s a good choreographer, might as well a good guy to take care my pre-wed pics (I received many comments saying that my graduation pics looks like pre-wed...funny). Another plus thing, it’s glad to have many people attendting the ceremony. Thanks a lot guys.

Other than my own ‘crew’, it was a memorable moment to have a small reunion with my classmates. Erna, Margie, Ros, Aning, Laura, Kee, Phillip, etc....they all are damn funny . Too bad we’ve finished our study since we were starting to get close at the end of the last semester. But nevertheless, we’re planning to hangout again near the future.

To end the perfect day, we had dinner also at the SUN Bistro, a nice restaurant with affordable price, which also comes with a excellent service. This perfect moment was just the beginning of my magnificent 2 weeks.

REGRET

Maybe I've forgotten the name and the address
Of everyone I've ever known
It's nothing I regret
Save it for another day
It's the school exam and the kids have run away

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain of my wounded heart

I was upset you see
Almost all the time
You used to be a stranger
Now you are mine

I wouldn't even trust you
I've not got much to give
We're dealing in the limits
And we don't know who with
You may think that I'm out of hand
That I'm naive, I'll understand
On this occasion, it's not true
Look at me, I'm not you

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain of my wounded heart

I was a short fuse
Burning all the time
You were a complete stranger
Now you are mine

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain about my wounded heart

Just wait till tomorrow
I guess that's what they all say
Just before they fall apart

Notes:

This is one of my favourite song by New Order, I've been listening to them since I was junior high, and it was taken from the album "Republic". Other notable songs which I often listen to are "Bizzarre Love Triangle", "Krafty", and "True Faith". the band was once considered as the main influence of the 90's brit rock bands (i.e Oasis). Check the link below for the youtube video.

Transformers 2 is just overrated!!!

Oh well, here comes the supposedly should have been the biggest summer blockbuster of the 2009. Michael Bay with the robots are back, and they deliver a non-stop action sequences along with giant robots wrestle altogether, and I bet chicks hate that !!!

In short, based on my subjective judgement, this movie was not as good as I expected. Perhaps my expectation was to high? I think my biggest dissapoinment was that TF2 will be the "Dark Knight" of 2009...too bad Michael Bay sits as the director...guess my expectation from him to deliver a big movie with quality scenario...was way TOO HIGH !!! I grow up with Michael Bay, and worship some of his action movies (THE ROCK was his best one, BAD BOYS came in 2nd). He has been successfully satisfied the audiences with the big bang scenes in each film, while on the other department (quote: STORY) has been become more and more mindless.

THE BAD:

I my opinion, to enjoy a movie, whether it is a big budget, indie, romance, action, etc...it should have good plot which I can enjoy following it through. Now, TF2 not just have a terrible script, but also too many holes in the plot (I believe you can google them for more details). The first TF was good, I like it, and enjoy watching it all over again. Perhaps the first has the element of 'surprise', since we were dead curious to see how the robots could make into the big screen in Bay's hands. Now, when the 2nd was made, I assume Bay only has 1 thing in mind....let's make this BIGGER, which comes to my conclusion where TF2 is not just BIG, but also TOO LONG, and TOO MUCH.

The college scenes should have been cut down, Sam's mum was just terribly annoying (this also goes to his roommate), too many Decepticons (I dun even get all their names), terrible plots (travelling around Egypt become so 'easy', the Allspark on Mikaela's bag was pretty damn useless, the military were damn stupid, and suddenly Bumblebee couldn't speak again?), Autobots heaven, etc etc...

And also, Megan Fox...oh my oh my, this foxy was primarily used only for showing cleavage and wearing tight clothes with jeans (her memorable quotes: SAAAMMMMMMM). This girl was underused in the story line, and overused in exposing his...ups...her sensuality (I still need to clarify this boy or girl thing).

THE GOOD:

Action scenes, robots transforming, everyone are hitting and shooting each other, Optimus became so powerful, added with 2 blades in his hands, Bumblebee was also get more fighting scenes, you got destruction everywhere, and all of these things has made me thinking, how the the hell they do it? Yeah, maybe they deserve to get an Oscar for Visual Effects. I was thrilled and enjoyed most of the action scenes, it's like your childhood dream comes to life (yeah, I grew up where all the kids movies related to giants robots).

Useless, but still damn hot!

THE CAST:

From all the utterly useless human cast, I gave thumbs up for Shia Lebouf. I think his performance was the best among the other cast, and much better than his Indy son's character. While the Tyerese Gibson and Josh Duhamel should have been given larger role. I'm glad John Turturro was less irritating, but he's still annoying though.

My Rating : 6.5/10