Sin City - Las Vegas!

Deep in the Nevada desert lies Sin City - Las Vegas!

Vegas never sleeps and welcomes anyone and everyone ...

... with a host of activities especially its casinos where gamblers can gamble all day and night long ...

Another attraction in Vegas is Caesar's Palace ...

Caesar's Palace is named after Julius Caesar, a famous dictator of the Roman Republic whose words: Veni, Vedi, Vinci (I came, I saw, I conquered) is probably the hope of all casino goers in Caesar's Palace - to conquer the casino table and win lotsa $$$.

Apart from its casinos, Caesar's Palace also has many superstars performing shows. Looking at its website, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart and Shania Twain are currently performing there.

Do you know that Malaysian diva, Anita Sarawak also performed in Caesar's Palace before?

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Last Tuesday I went to watch The Lone Ranger with Larry simply because Johnny Depp is one of his favourite actors.

Halfway through the movie, the screen went black but the sound was still working. After two attempts at repairing the movie reel (I assume it's a movie reel), we were still looking at a black screen. So we decided to get a refund on our tickets which TGV KLCC gladly did. 

Since I didn't watch the movie in totality, I don't think I'll watch it again because I'd need to watch the first half all over again, hahaha. I think I'll watch Pacific Rim or The Wolverine instead.

Note: The fridge magnets displayed in this entry were picked up by Art the Fridge Magnet Fairy who was in Sin City and The Lone Star State recently for work.

Film Location: Ipoh for Lust, Caution

Ipoh was the one of the film locations for Lust, Caution, a movie about a group of university students who planned to kill a special agent by using an attractive young woman to seduce him into a trap.

The movie featured 2 of the biggest stars in the Far East - Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Wang Lee Hom. Academy Award winning director, Ang Lee directed the movie.

During a trip to Ipoh, our host brought us to the location where the movie was partially filmed.

Hearing that an international film maker and actors were in town, some of the Ipoh-mari fellas (translation: guys who come from Ipoh) waited at the location hoping to catch a glimpse of their idol.

They also said that Ang Lee filmed late into the night because of the many retakes in the name of perfection. I guess it's because of habits like this that won him the 2010 Best Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain, which btw is banned in Malaysia.

Anyway, this is where filming took place in Ipoh for Lust, Caution. Too bad the place has been demolished.

The building that used to stand here was one of the the film locations for Lust, Caution.

Petra and the Movies

You must be wondering why did I name this blog post "Petra and the Movies".

Well, for starts, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was partly filmed in Petra.

And recently, even Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was also filmed there.

Those 2 movies probably created more awareness about this ancient Nabatean city. But what catapulted its popularity is because Petra has been voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007. So everyone wants to see a world wonder since the previous seven wonders (with the exception of the Pyramids at Giza) has all been destroyed one way or another.

Now coming back to the movies. Since Petra has Indy to thank for letting the world know of its existence, the people pay homage to Indy by naming their shops after him a.k.a. jumping on the business bandwagon. Take a look at these shops:

They even sell hats ala Indy for visitors who want to feel like the famous archeologist approaching the Treasury:

I didn't see anyone wearing any of these hats in Petra though. Maybe they didn't want the other visitors to laugh at them.

And amidst all the hype about Indy, the people have not forgotten to pay homage to other movies as well, like the most popular ship:

But my all time favourite has got to be this:

Guess who? Captain Jack Sparrow on a camel - in Petra!

If you don't know who Captain Jack Sparrow is, you must either:

1) not love movies; or

2) you were living on Planet Mars for the past decade

So now you know why I named this blog post "Petra and the Movies".

If you visit Petra, remember to keep your eyes open and notice all these popular movies, characters and memorabilia. They are all around you; you just need to be observant.

What a Movie Experience!

Yesterday I went to TGV KLCC to watch The Time Traveller's Wife.

Since it was a Wednesday, I thought all tickets were RM7.00 each. See, see price already increase to RM8.00, WTH!

I was early so I browsed around in Isetan while waiting for the movie to start. Saw a lovely zebra print legging that costs RM39.20 after discount. But didn't buy cause got so many other expenses this month and the next.

Soon it was showtime and to my dismay the rows of seats were so close to each other I could hardly get to my seat which was about 5 seats in. Must make a mental note that Cinema No. 12 in TGV KLCC is super small only a hobbit could go in.

Since The Time Traveller's Wife was already ending its run, that was the only screening for the day. So I thought there'll only be a handful of people in the cinema and I could spread myself out over 2 seats. Alas, it was not the case - half the hall was filled! So much for high hopes!

When the trailers were playing, a guy in a baseball cap came and sat on my left. And then a plump guy plonked himself on my right. Since when did single guys come to watch a soppy, romantic movie like The Time Traveller's Wife??? Times sure are a changing, man!!!

The plump guy was coughing throughout the movie I was afraid his phlegm and spittle might end up in my Coke which was on the drinks holder beside the seat.

And because the bugger was plump, coupled with the narrow space between the rows of seats, he sat with his legs terkang-kang. Whenever I reached for my Coke, my hand would brush against the side of his thigh. He must either be enjoying himself or thinking I was trying to molest him, WTF!

That was not the end of my movie ordeal.

About 15 minutes into the movie, a fat broad came and wanted to get to her seat right in the middle! The fellas sitting at the end ignored her because I guess they knew how terrible it is to get in. And so the fat broad raised her voice, "I need to get in!"

So everyone had to make way for Ms Humpty Dumpty. Since I am rather petite, I just lifted my legs into a croching position. Otherwise I could have sworn her butt cheeks would have slapped me in the face as she waddled her way in. Yes, the rows of seats were that close and she was that fat!

The lead character in The Time Traveller's Wife is called Henry, played by Eric Bana. Halfway through the movie I realised that Mr Bana also played King Henry VIII in The Other Boleyn Girl. How come Eric Bana's character all named Henry, one?

I was amazed I could connect the dots about such nonsensical information. Maybe because surrounded by single men watching soppy, romantic movies and almost got slapped by the butt cheeks of a fat broad must have taken its toil on my psychological well-being.

And to end my entire movie ordeal, The Time Traveller's Wife sucked big time. I've not read the book, so I don't know whether the book is better than the movie. But whatever it is, I still think the movie sucked big time.

Transformers - Less Than Meets The Eye

I managed to get not-so-great seats to watch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen at GSC Pavilion last Wednesday.

After controlling my bladder throughout the 2.5 hour movie because I didn't want to miss a single scene, these are my comments about the movie.

Complicated Visuals

I can’t see where Optimus Prime’s eyes, nose, mouth and body parts are because the visuals are too complicated and the scenes changed too fast.

Keep things simple, man!

Steps to Transform

How many steps does it take for an Autobot or Decepticon to transform?

From the Transformers: Generation 1 cartoon series (my fav), my guess is an average of 5 steps.

In Michael Bay’s life-action version, I think it's an average of 10 steps. Ten steps to me is one step too many. By the time an Autobot transformed, the Decepticon would have whipped his arse.

Confusing Battle Scenes

During the battle scenes, I couldn't tell an Autobot apart from a Decepticon. This is because the movie was too fast moving.

Now I know why my sister's friend watched the movie 4 times.

Egypt

Did you know that for the Egypt scenes, the movie was shot in Cairo and Luxor (about 325 km apart), but made to look like it all happened at the Pyramids in Cairo?

I know cause I recognised the places, having been to Egypt a couple of years back.

I don't know bout you, but I don't like watching movies where the location is distorted.

It's like when Hollywood conveniently placed the Petronas Twin Towers along the Malacca river in the 1999 movie, Entrapment. How Malaysians crinched at that.

Now all the poor Transformers fans are going to visit the Pyramids in Cairo hoping to see the temples in the Valley of the King which are actually located in Luxor.

Autobots Battle Decepticons in Kuala Lumpur

If there is gonna be a third Transformers movie, I hope Michael Bay would consider using KL as one of the locations.

Imagine Optimus Prime shooting the crap out of Megatron while partially destroying the Petronas Twin Towers. Imagine Autobots engaging in gunfire with Decepticons on Jalan Ampang. Wouldn’t that be nice for a change?

I hope ...

Note: Julie has been a Transformers fan ever since she was a kid growing up in the 80’s. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee kept her entertained every week while mum took care of younger sister.

Dr Manhattan and His Glory

Pic from the Internet.

I knew next to nuts about Watchmen before the movie hit our theatres. In my opinion, Watchmen do not enjoy the popularity of other comic superheroes like Superman, Spiderman and Batman, and I wonder why.

Initially I thought it's just another comic book super hero movie. But after reading a Watchmen movie review in the papers that gave it a high rating, I decided that I’m gonna watch it.

The writer who wrote the review also said that the Watchmen graphic novel is superb and that I won’t be disappointed if I read it. So I hit the stores to look for a copy. Being a comic book virgin, I didn’t even know what a graphic novel was! Unfortunately all the bookstores I went to did not have a copy - all sold out. All the other comic fans must have beat me to it!

My motivation to watch Watchmen (I love the way “watch Watchmen” sounds together) also stemmed from a colleague who told me that one of the characters – Dr Manhattan is naked most of the time in the graphic novel. We’re talking about full frontal nudity here, folks … hmmm …

But in the movie, the great censorship board that is greater than Dr Manhattan himself blurred out his vitals. I guess they felt Malaysian audiences can’t handle a blue dick.

In the 2 hours 40 minute long movie, Dr Manhattan sometimes wore undies and also a suit. What I’m thinking is that if Dr Manhattan could wear proper clothing, why does he need to be naked most of the time? Can’t he wear spandex like most of the other comic book super heroes? Maybe it’s the creator’s strategy to attract female and gay fans ;-) But then again, maybe it’s because of Dr Manhattan’s nudity that makes him different. And it is this difference, apart from how he came to be, his intelligent and deep dialogue as well as his infinite powers that makes him the great Dr Manhattan.

Why I Won't Do An MBA

There was once I asked my god daughter if she was interested in doing an MBA. She said "definitely not". She came to that decision after having close encounters with an MBA grad whose realm of knowledge consists of handbags, handbags and only handbags.

I used to have a deep yearning to study for an MBA. I thought having an MBA would open career opportunities for me. I also bought books on MBA and spoke to many MBA students to learn from their experiences.

As I grew older, my interest in doing an MBA started to lapse. This is because of my own experiences with many MBA graduates who did not live up to their name of MBA grad.

I personally know of MBA grads holding senior positions in big corporations who:

• Thinks that a Six Sigma Black Belt is a martial arts qualification.


• Argues that in accounting, if the actual amount spent is higher than the amount budgetted, it would be a positive (+) sign instead of a negative (-) sign. OMG!!!
  
  
• Have never heard of Blue Ocean Strategy.

• Is in-charge of Corporate Social Responsibility but doesn't know what's 'OKU'.
  


• Consistently copies what other departments and companies are doing in related areas of work.
  


• Speaks like an uneducated person.

(I could go on and on ... but it would only embarass MBA grads everywhere.)

I wonder what did they learn in the 2 years or so studyng for their MBA. Did they use the time to play marbles?

On the other hand I personally know of many non-MBA graduates who have made a mark for themselves in the corporate world without having an MBA tucked under their belt. They are intelligent, well read and matured in their thoughts and actions. Kind of reminds me of the movie Good Will Hunting (look below for a brilliant dialogue from the movie about acquiring knowledge without having formal education).

I'm not saying that doing an MBA is a bad thing and that all MBA graduates are ignorant. It all depends on how the student uses the opportunity to learn as much as possible and make him/herself a more knowledgeable and better person during their MBA studies.

And more importantly to always keep abreast with current affairs by reading, reading and reading after graduating. Learning is something you do from womb to tomb.

At this point in life, I feel that it's not having an MBA that matters, but how interested I am in acquiring knowledge. And I can do all that through many avenues like reading, surfing the internet, attending courses, exchanging ideas with friends, etc.

But also at the end of the day, to climb the corporate ladder, it's not what you know, but who you know that counts.

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Brilliant Dialogue from Good Will Hunting


Chuckie: All right, are we gonna have a problem?

Clark: There's no problem. I was just hoping you could give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the early colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War the economic modalities, especially of the southern colonies could most aptly be characterized as agrarian pre-capitalist and...

Will: [interrupting] Of course that's your contention. You're a first year grad student. You just got finished some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison prob’ly, you’re gonna be convinced of that until next month when you get to James Lemon, then you’re gonna be talkin’ about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year, you’re gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin’ about you know, the Pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.

Clark: [taken aback] Well, as a matter of fact, I won't, because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of--

Will: ..."Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth..." You got that from "Work in Essex County," Page 98, right? Yeah I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us- you have any thoughts of- of your own on this matter? Or do - is that your thing, you come into a bar, you read some obscure passage and then you pretend - you pawn it off as your own - your own idea just to impress some girls? Embarrass my friend?
[Clark is stunned]

Will: See the sad thing about a guy like you, is in about 50 years you’re gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One, don't do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.

Clark: Yeah, but I will have a degree, and you'll be serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.

Will: [smiles] Yeah, maybe. But at least I won't be unoriginal.

Mamma Mia! - Don't Miss It

After my entry on The Other Boleyn Girl, this is another movie entry and I hope I won’t bore you to death.

My sister won tickets to the preview screening of Mamma Mia! courtesy of Her World magazine. So she dragged me along with two of her colleagues to GSC 1 Utama for the screening last week.

I watched the movie with no expectations at all. I didn’t read any reviews prior to the screening because reviews can screw up your mind with preconceived expectations. And you know what … I loved Mamma Mia!

It was a feel good movie with awesome scenery of that lovely Greek island, hot guys with hot bods and lots of singing and dancing. If you’re an Abba fan, I bet you’ll love the movie as much as I did.

When Voulez-Vous came on, I almost stood up and danced in the cinema. I bet the guy beside me must have been annoyed with me tapping my feet and grooving in the seat :-)

I know the audience felt the same way as I did because they clapped at the end of the movie.

The Other Boleyn Girl: Recognising George Boleyn

I watched The Other Boleyn Girl twice – once at the cinema with a friend and another time with my mum on DVD.

Both times my movie partners couldn’t understand the most crucial and dark twist in the movie. Don’t read on if you don’t want a spoiler, and don’t say I didn’t warn you …

The scene I’m talking about is the scene where Anne had a miscarriage and asked her brother George to sleep with her in the hope that she’ll conceive and that the king will not know that his wife had miscarried.

Now both ladies whom I watched the movie with didn’t understand that part. My friend asked me why I was making the tsk tsk sound. When I explained to her, she said “Sei lor … how come like that one …?”

When that scene came on while I watched with my mum, I saw a blank expression on her face and I knew she didn’t understand what was going on either.

I asked my mum what she didn’t understand and she said she couldn’t recognise the guy whom Anne was asking to sleep with. I wondered how that could have happened when poor George was quite a prominent character in the movie, with a considerable number of scenes. In other words, you couldn’t have overlooked him.

Only then did I realize that they cannot tell one Mat Salleh apart from the other. You see, the movie had quite a number of male Mat Sallehs apart from George. And to the Asian eyes, all Mat Sallehs look alike. Could it be because all the men in the movie looked alike in their costumes? :-) Thank God one Boleyn sister was black haired and the other blond!

To me, the dialogue was brilliant. I loved the choice and flow of words as well as the development of the story, not to mention the rich and elegant costumes of that era.

But sadly my movie partners missed out on the development of the story because they couldn't tell one Mat Salleh apart from the other.

Chinese Mummy

I watched The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor yesterday at KLCC. Wanted to utilise the promotion at TGV where all tickets are RM7 on Wednesdays, hehehe.

Here are my observations and thoughts on the movie - from a layperson's perspective:

1) Michelle Yeoh, sorry Datuk Michelle Yeoh's acting was like kayu.

2) Brendan Fraser has a body to die for.

3) They should not have cast the following:

• Jet Li as Emperor Han. I think they should have got a more vicious looking evil emperor. I'm sure the casting fellas could have found another more vicious looking Chinaman. Maybe they didn't look in Pandamaran and Jinjang. Imagine if they had cast Jackie Chan as Emperor Han ...

• Maria Bello as Evelyn O'Connell. Somehow I still prefer Rachel Weitz. It's a pity she was pregnant when they filmed this movie. Otherwise her spunk and kick-ass attitude would have made the movie so much better.

4) Why did Lin summon the Yeti snowmen after all the carnage and gunfire? She could have done it at the beginning to save all the trouble. But then again it's a Hollywood production where gunfire and carnage are key selling points for a blockbuster.

5) Brendan Fraser has a body to die for. Did I write that already?

6) When Zi Juan died, I definitely knew they will show her reunited with General Ming in the afterlife. It's an unspoken 'rule' in movies that lovers must always, always end up together; unless they are Romeo & Juliet.

7) Emperor Han's ability to change into a three-headed dragon and a creature that looks like that creature from Lord of the Rings is totally, utterly, stupid and should not have been written into the script at all. I think the producers just wanted to show off their CGI skills.

8) Luke Ford who played Alex O'Connell looks a bit like Chris O' Donnell, remember him? Name also sounds the same.

9) Brendan Fraser has a body to die for ... Again ?!

10) Why did Zi Juan read the curse on Emperor Han in sanskrit but brought the army of dead Chinamen back to life in English? In fact, why did she speak Mandarin when Emperor Han was ruler circa 53 A.D. and then speak English in 1947? Living in Shangri-La for 2,000 years must have given her ample time to pick-up the language.

11) I think there will be another sequel to this Mummy franchise, because the movie ended with Jonathan Carnahan leaving the Imhotep nightclub for Peru. Will we see the O'Connell's battle Inca mummies next? I'd rather watch my mummy prepare dinner at home.

From a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being the best, I would rate this movie a 6. The previous two Mummy movies were much better.

My last thoughts - Let mummies remain where they are supposed to be - in Egypt, motherland of mummies. Don't make a movie on Chinese mummies, or Inca mummies or whatever mummy cause it's not authentic and might not able to engage viewers.

Luckily it was only RM7.