Ah Balling shifting after all...

awww... so in the end the stall is shifting to Ghim Moh food center after all... guess business is not as good as it used to be ever since it shifted to this new site. Thankfully the nice Penang Char Kway Teow is not moving away.

Movie Review backlog Pack 1: Made of Honor, Definitely Maybe, Bride Wars

not that the shows all belong to a certain category, but as you would have noticed by now, I'm quite into action flicks so as my interest in reviewing them with higher priority. Now, some non-action flicks which one of them has become one of my favorite shows of all time!

1. Made of Honor (main lead Patrick Dempsey)

i did not think the male and female leads look dreamy actually, considering you are expecting a 'dreamy' film (from the show title and the trailer). Understand from some that Patrick Dempsey happens to fall under this category from his role in ER... (don't understand). :-s
Plot-wise, i guess the quirk 'you do not know how something (or someone) is important to you until you lose it (or them) is the backbone of this story. The male-female best-friends-forever kind-of thing? Doesn't work in this movie.
In conclusion, a happy ending!
RPR: 6.5/10 - some of the scenes were shot in Scotland. Niceee~

2. Definitely, Maybe (main lead Ryan Reynolds)


was recommended to watch this movie by Mr. SKY (his initials, not his actual name). Having common tastes, i decided to go for this show just one week after watching Made of Honor. Definitely, Maybe was definitely less publicised over here than Made of Honor.
the story is about a divorcee dad telling his daughter (in the very cute form of Abigail Breslin) his love story in order for her to identify with who the mom is, amongst the ladies mentioned.
there were 2 heart-warming parts where: (1) the dad comforted the daughter in response to her empathatic exclaimation that nothing good happened out of these relationships; he simply replied 'you happened'. (2) the daughter, after spontaneously saying that his dad is a 'slut' for being involved with so many women, and while the dad was walking away, she said 'but i still love you'.
not exact words from the show, but you gotta give the show some credit for making me remember this. I watched this show back in 2009!
RPR: 9.5/10 - watching the show the second time didn't work for me though.

3. Bride Wars (main leads Anne Hathaway, Kate Hudson)


a really, really chick-flick, i would call this show. I cannot believe i sat through the entire show and in the end found some topics to discuss on.
plot revolves around 2 good friends in the form of a blonde (Kate Hudson) vs. a brunette (Anne Hathaway) who always wanted to hold their wedding at this particular place in town. Ends up, due to a screw-up by their wedding planner, theirs fall on the same day, same time (well at least it's not so cliche as 'with the same guy')! so it's all-out between the 2 BFFs to fight between who would hold the wedding of the century.
eventually, the plot takes an unexpected twist (at least for me) which left a bitter after-taste for me (about the twist but not the movie). Good one, i suppose. Very few movies would leave me like this (both the 'unexpected' twist and the bitter after-taste). So i would say the movie's not bad at all (if you can sit through it).
RPR: 7.5/10

P.S.: Oh, before i forget, movie posters in this blog's courtesy of the respective internet webpages.

the greenhorn(net)

this show is so. boring. period. I mean, some of the jokes were ok (coming from Seth Rogen) and the duo did create some spark when "bickering" but other than that, it seems to spoil my childhood memories of Kato being cool and the main character being the main character.

car's cool. Gadget's cool. Villian's weird (you may remember Christopher Waltz as the villian as well from 'Inglorious Basterds'). Cameron Diaz's aged. The same scene that have worked in 'The Mask' more than 10 years ago is no longer...

if you have nothing to watch during the weekends, yup, you should choose some DVD rentals to watch. This show? Wait for the TV release.

RPR: 4/10 - And what's with Seth Rogen's "grunting" kind-of voice when he's getting excited??? Doesn't work well for a hero.

Trip Review: Vienna, Austria

seriously i was not amazed by Vienna's airport when i first stepped out of the plane. nevertheless, as this was my first time in Europe for a holiday, i was ready for nasty surprises which thankfully none turned up. The airport was not magnificient but not exactly clean either. But, the weather was cool in October so i felt better than i ever was back in my country.

over the next few days, i was delighted to find out that the transport system in Vienna was actually quite established and convenient to travel around the city with. During my 3 days' stay i did not have to take any buses at all (in fact, we avoided them after hearing about pickpocketting in Eastern Europe was a prevalent crime) to get around key attractions. Of course some places we went on a half-day guided tour so there's pretty much nothing to complain about; except that people in this city does not seem to observe punctuality very well. But i do like the fact that there's not much people in the streets at all.

food is not as expensive as you would think, but probably because i had some expectations of paying around EUR10 for a meal or so then.

the thing i liked most in Vienna were the cafes all around the city centres. The feeling when you step inside some (e.g. Hotel Sacher, Mozart Cafe) were like you stepping into the actual scenes of a movie. And not to mention the coffee and pastries there were no mediocre fare either. Nicee~

the museums around makes the scenary looks better even. Loved the Musuem of Natural History here.

the thing i did not like about most probably would be that the people here are not always friendly to you, especially if you do not speak in their langauge, or 'cos you are Asian. Dunno, but maybe it's just me. However, compared to Prague (my 2nd stop), Vienna was mild...

Eastern Europe... 1st stop: Vienna, Austria

i just love this city...





... the (huge) Pork Schniztel...





... the (spicy) Mozart kaffe...



... the ORIGINAL Sacher cake! And not forgetting the sights...




... le (magnifique) Vienna State Opera House...


... the (more-oustanding-than-Smithsonian) Musuem of Natural History (exhibits in English language!)...





... the (royal) Salzburg Palace...














... and the (tranquil) Cistercian Monastery of Heiligenkreuz (Holy Cross).

just some of the amazing sights to behold during my stay there. Hope i would be able to return to this city someday.

当敌人倒下的时候，请给他。。。天王椅 (来喘口气）！否则，我睡不着！

what's more appealing to Andy Lau's fans than an 5-min long MTV featuring Andy Lau? A 130 mins movie featuring Andy Lau of course!
no, seriously, would i say this movie is good?
it leaves kind of a cheesey after-taste from featuring a lot on Andy Lau and his 内心戏, but unfortunately the film cuts were done pretty badly in my opinion to not protray effectively the misery he had to bear with the demise of his daughter. Can't really blame the Heavenly King on this; his acting skills are still superb, but too bad the movie just showed a tad too much of him. Nevertheless, who's complaining about him constantly bearing his ever-charming smile throughout the scenes?
the most touching scene in this movie in my opinion is the part where the young monks brought out food and water (and an expected good-smashing-session giver Jackie Chan) for the soldiers besieging the temple.
go see it!
RPR: 7.5/10

我能打一百个！！！

quite a while since i last updated my blog... been real lazy for my own good. haha~ this show would be one of my fave action-cum-chinese-martial arts movie. Of course, credit must go to Donnie Yen, who was also the martial arts director for this flick.
Other than the action scenes, the plot is quite thin, but, can hold on its own. A superhero-theme in the early years of republican China? Cool~ except that the outfit seems too close to Kato of Green Hornet fame. Who knows... maybe Donnie Yen was also competing with Jay Chou for this role in the big screen Green Hornet movie (to be reviewed later on in my blog) then?
my fave scene was one part in the dojo when Chen Zhen literally 'kicked a guy away'.
is Chen Zhen really so powerful? What do you think... he survived an entire firing squad! So... are, you, kidding???
RPR: 8/10 (for the fighting scenes, man!)

oh, and by the way, a Happy Rabbit Year to all!!! Let's not be busy until we 吐 in the 兔 year.