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advertisements are gravely misleading

December 21, 2009 By 14 Comments

Blogging about The Storm Warriors II reminded me of something that greatly gets on my nerves.

For as long as I can remember (which is not much), there has always been a KFC ad right before the movie starts. It is the most captivating ad on the cinema screen as it always makes me long for KFC to go with the movie. So I don’t understand why KFC pays so much money for the slot but doesn’t come up with mini KFC counters next to the GSC ones. The aroma would affect other cinema-goers? Fuck that shit. Am I given the option to object to people chomping through their popcorn and assorted snacks as if a volcano would erupt in the middle of the cinema hall if they stopped chomping and krunching with their mouths open?

That is besides the point. I want to talk about the KFC ad where the child tries to make the mother happy by helping her dad to prepare a home cooked meal. So she goes to the fridge to get the eggs. Then she walks over to the kitchen counter where her dad was staring at a cookbook, because you need to go through an entire thesis in order to make omelettes. By the time she reaches her dad, she has broken the entire pile of eggs. Her mother comes home and sees the mess. Then she takes them all out to KFC.

What.The.Fuck.

I know my mother reads my blog. She would agree with me that if I did that when I was a kid, I would have been punished. Be treated to a feast of KFC after all that mess? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YAH RIGHT. HELLO WHICH PLANET ARE YOU FROM??? YOU WANT TO EAT KFC AR, YOU WANT TO EAT THE ROTAN FIRST OR NOT?!?!?!?!?

Just saying.

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i am pro-homosexuality, and i think wind & cloud should just get it on already

December 21, 2009 By 15 Comments

Note: This is a rant and contains spoilers.

The Storm Warriors

So I watched The Storm Warriors II at TCM yesterday with ST, Kim, KY, Horng and Sotong. I’d wanted to catch this one ever since I saw the trailer which was pretty good. The first movie was quite decent too. So sat down in the cinema hall, movie trailer, advertisement, movie trailer, advertisement, advertisement, KFC advertisement, movie began, watch watch watch…

What.The.Fuck.

I can summarise the movie into this equation: Great special effects + damn lame storyline + damn lame posing + kindergarten acting + unbelievably stupid script + what the hell why did they slow-mo everything?!? + waste of good actors = The Storm Warriors II.

Fans of the comic book would appreciate this movie? Yah whatever, eat my shoe. I’m a huge fan of Tolkien’s LOTR and I’d be seriously pissed off if the movie trilogy strictly adhered to the books. Sure, you’d be able to see Tom Bombadil on screen, but that means you’d need to block out 10 weeks of your life to watch the whole damn thing.

Everybody was just cashing paychecks. Simon Yam looked damn stupid. They could have replaced Nicholas Tse with some unknown and it wouldn’t have mattered. Whoever played Lord Wicked failed big time. Hello, you need someone with a booming voice to play that role. Kenny Ho as Nameless didn’t have enough presence. But his disfigured disciple was good.

And the women… omaigod… they rank among the top most annoying bitches in Hong Kong cinema history.

As for Wind and Cloud, I know they are supposed to be damn cool with their long wispy hair and lean muscular bodies. But every other scene of them slow-mo was damn too much lah! Turn this way must slow-mo. Turn that way must slow-mo. Bring down the blade to attack the other got at least 5 slow-mo shots.

And the prolonged looks of hurt and despair omaigod…

Then at the last part where Cloud jumped down the cliff and Wind recovered the good side of himself. Damn sad that Cloud didn’t kill him as he’d told him to. After all that damn powerful martial arts and bloody fighting kling kling klang klang here and there, stupid Wind cannot get out of his Nightmare’s (Second Dream) grip. Wah lau that made me so mad.

Great CGI effects though.

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a taste of festivities @ the westin kl

December 15, 2009 By 9 Comments

Yoke May invited me to sample The Westin KL‘s festive menu for Christmas and New Year. I brought Horng along because I thought he needed some cheering up. You know, something about 4 car tyres, a steering wheel and gear knob stolen… :P

We were running a little late because Horng had to drop his car off at TCM for mandi bunga. I thought it was going to be a party of sorts (like a large group of people hanging around) so our tardiness would not be noticed. Turned out it was a dinner for 12 or 14 people, including personnels from The Westin KL. Gulp.. sorry, heh.

First, a glass (which turned to a few) of really good red wine. Then the food came…

A Taste of Festivities @ The Westin KL - Delectables

From The Living Room: A plate with salmon with preserved lemon salsa, hiramasa kingfish with jalapeno and mustard miso and tuna with goats cheese, crisp capers, mirin and soy. Horng had mine as well because me + raw food = doesn’t gel. He really liked it, especially the tuna.

From EEST: A hot bar plate with oxtail ‘siu long bao’, salted egg dumpling ‘wu gok’ with Portugese curried scallop (awesomely delicious!) and chikuteh in parchment (rich herbal taste).

From PREGO: Roast black cod with fennel and kalamanta olives (lots of onions hence very fragrant), pumpkin and mascarpone ravioli, sage butter and vincotto sauce, grilled squid with tonnato sauce (perfectly cooked, one of my favs) and red wine braised beef cheek with parmesan polenta. Holy smokes, the beef cheek was intensely superb, almost melted in my mouth and was most heavenly!

A Taste of Festivities @ The Westin KL - Hot Pot

One of EEST’s offerings is the BBQ and hot pot buffet, available for RM169++ per person. Five broth choices available: lemon grass and galangal, superior broth with ginseng root, Hanoi “pho”, miso and wakame and asam pedas. Being Malaysians and unfortunately in possession of a limited stomach space, both me and Horng went for the asam pedas soup (the spiciness was very stim). Items on the buffet line are duck and mandarin zest lollipop, beef sirloin and enoki roll , foie gras wanton black cod, lemon grass and tiger prawns satay, edamame tofu, baby asparagus, wild mushrooms, snow pea sprouts and assorted Asian greens. You also get to squeeze your own squid noodle (as modelled by Yoke May in the photo collage above) which we did not do because we are a bunch of lazy…

A Taste of Festivities @ The Westin KL - Turducken

The main course was from PREGO, something which I was looking forward to (and the only reason I decided to go all the way to KL on a weekday after work ;) ). The TURDUCKEN!!!

A turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken, with shrimp dressing inside the chicken, andouille sausage dressing between the chicken and the duck, and cornbread dressing between the duck and turkey, with sweet potato and roast eggplant gravy. Wasn’t that a mouthful? What a novelty! You do need everything together as the dressings were delicious. Lots of gravy too because the combination just works that way.

A Taste of Festivities @ The Westin KL - Dessert

As for desserts, there was plenty to choose from. Christmas almond stolen, minced pies, cupcakes, tiramisu, cookies, rocky road bread pudding, Christmas pudding in brandy sauce, cookies, candies, chocolate mousse meringue trifle… I’ve no idea where they will serve the rocky road bread pudding, but it was the best dessert I’ve had in a while. So I had two… Would have gone for my third if I didn’t know anyone there…

Had a very delightful time. We were seated next to Din and his wife, Su who were most amiable dinner companions. Found out that they are regulars at The Westin KL’s Prego, dining there as often as 3 times a week! Now I understand why lah…

The festive menu is available for Christmas eve and Christmas Day, as well as New Year’s eve and New Year’s Day. You get can more information at http://westindining.com.my or call them at +603-27738338.

Since Yoke May asked me so nicely (ahem), I would like to also mention that The Westin KL’s Christmas charity campaign is Spark a New Beginning in aid of the Agathians Shelter. They are looking to acquire a second home for the shelter’s children and would need at least RM55,000 to fund the new home’s basic necessities.

To support this heart warming cause, purchase a bauble or a lollipop to dress our live Christmas Tree at the lobby for only RM 50. You will be eligible to win a renewing one-night weekend getaway in the Chairman Suite @ The Westin Kuala Lumpur. Draw date: 2 January, 2010. Catch the Christmas and New Year’s Eve shoutouts on MIX fm throughout December and stand a chance to win exciting prizes!

Thanks for having us :)

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what’s in a name?

December 10, 2009 By 17 Comments

One of the absolutely worst things about me is that I have difficulty remembering names. It’s a horrible place to be, especially if you are at a social function and you somewhat know you’ve met him or her before, yet you can’t recall his or her name to save your life (or face).

I know all the theoretical tricks of memorising names. There was a part about this in one of Dale Carnegie’s books where a dude endeared himself by remembering EVERYONE’s names. He did that by muttering the other person’s name to himself a few times, and/or write down the name followed by an association, e.g. interested in fishing. I’m so terrible at this that I can’t even remember who the dude was.

Trust me, I’ve tried. Unfortunately it’s a bit difficult because sometimes I don’t see the person until a few months later, or even a year or two after our first meeting. By then my memory capacity would have already been loaded and reloaded hundreds of times. See lah, all those vitamin and memory enhancement stuff that you are supposed to eat before your exams in school that your mothers force you to swallow down even though they may taste like the foulest things on earth? My mother never gave me any of that so I’m putting all the blame on her. Makes life easier :D

So mom, it’s really all your fault that I can’t remember people’s names. Me being overweight? Your fault too! Bwahahahahaha!

Seriously (as if I’m anything but), it takes a few times of meeting up and talking in real life for me to get your name right. I know it’s a disrespectful thing not to know your name and I’m really sorry about it. I’m trying, I’m trying…

Sometimes I try the old trick of trying to get the other person to say his or her name first so I would appear as if I know who they are. It goes like this…

Person A: Hey Suanie how are you?
Me: Hey!! Nice meeting you again!
Person A: Yah bla bla bla yadda yadda…
Me: Oh.. erm, hey have you met So-and-So?
Person A: Hello So-and-So, I am This-and-That.
Me: Yeah I met This-and-That at [insert function name here].

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t especially if Person A does not take the initiative to reveal his or her own name first! Then what do you do? Act dumb la. Don’t tsk me, I’m sure you all have done it before!

I am still reeling from the embarrassment of an incident that happened a couple of months ago. I was at a play and was hanging out with the cast afterwards. One of the cast members came to me and said hi. I know I’ve met her before, I just can’t remember her name! Terrible kan, especially seeing her on stage earlier.

So I tried to zig-zag a bit until she caught me…

Her: You don’t remember me ah Suanie?? I met you with so-and-so at this-and-that! I am [insert her name here].
Me: [red-faced in embarrassment] I know who you are!! Great job with the play!
Her: -_^

Die.

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how a bimmer saved my life… twice

December 8, 2009 By 19 Comments

Last weekend I went on a BMW road trip together with a few bloggers. My driving partner was Michael and we had an absolutely wonderful time on the road. For the first leg of the journey, we took turns on a BMW 5 series. Coming back was on a BMW 3 series, as we swapped with other drivers.

Suanie in a BMW 5 series

Of course the 3 series was lighter and more agile than the 5. There were some adjustments to be made after driving the 5 series the day before. To cut a long story short, Michael had to slam down hard on the brakes on two separate occasions. We were THIS <----> close to the car in front of us. Fortunately the brakes were more than responsive not to cause any damage to the cars nor to the drivers and passengers. Actually it was damn fantastic lor. I thought we were really going to crash. But no, not even a slight scratch.

Michael driving a BMW

I’ll blog more on the trip soon. Just thought I had to get that down, and to ask if anyone has RM300k ++ to spare for Charity Suanie To Get A BMW.

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