Books galore!

Right, I've decided to add a 'new' segment to my blog, which is actually inspired from the normal, la-dee-da, boring book reviews you see in the papers, online, etc etc... But mine will be different, and definitely more interesting! I mean, like look who'll be writing them right? That's interesting already in itself! Muahahahaha! E-lane Alert, eh triShie? So yeah, I'll be reviewing stuff that I find interesting, or stuff that I like, and this isn't necessarily limited down to books too... If you check out my previous entries labelled Reviews, you'll note that I've been reviewing other things as well. Yeah. How cool is that?

So recently, I finished this book:

I know most of you would probably dismiss it as a children's book, and you're right, it is a children's book. So I enjoy reading them, so what? You've got something against childrens' books? You read them before though, didn't you? So there. But anyway, I watched the movie (yeah the one with Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy) and I really loved the movie, each part of it! So I was dead set on getting the book, when I eventually found out that the movie was based on a book. So I waited 2 years, and I had to fly to KL to find it, and I dished out quite a bit of moolah for it, and when I eventually got down to reading it, I was disappointed. Kinda. 'Cos the plot in the book is vastly different from what you see in the movie. So I was rather disappointed. But then, it's kinda like having 2 different stories now... So that's good, too. But I still prefer the movie.

See how interesting my review is? Right. And to make you all even more happy, I'll include some pics from the movie to help me explain the plot of the movie. By the way, do pardon the rather sarcastic comments.

This is Eleanor. Eleanor of Frell. But please don't call her Eleanor... Call her Ella. Ella Enchanted sounds nicer than Eleanor Enchanted, or so think the producers of this movie. Notice how pretty she is. Notice the big brown eyes. Notice the ruby red lips. Notice the pale pink blush. Notice the long lush locks. They had to make sure Ella was really pretty, to make sure the Prince (there's always a Prince in these kinda movies) would fall in love with her, and not all the other 20,000 single women in the Kingdom (there's always a Kingdom in these kinda movies).

A long, long, long, long time ago, when Ella was born, a fairy (yes, there's always a fairy too) gave her a birthday present - the Gift of Obedience. This meant that Ella would always be obedient, and everything everyone told her, she would do... Notice how subtly they've inserted the conflict of the movie? Obedience versus disobedience, like wow.

This is Lucinda, the fairy who gave Ella her present. Guess what? No prizes for guessing - Ella doesn't like being obedient. So here's where the plot of the movie is based on: the search for Lucinda, so that she can remove the 'present'.

Remember Ella? I'm sure you do. This is Ella. See how hardworking and studious she is? She's reading her homework in the Big Bad Forest (there's always a Big Bad Forest in these kinda movies). She doesn't care if the Forest Elves (there's always an Elf or two in these kinda movies) think she's a bore. She doesn't care if the Ogres (there's always an Ogre or two in these kinda movies) think she's a nerd. She just wants to finish her reading assignment, regardless of what the entire Hollywood population think of her...

... because one of Ella's secret talents is kungfu. She holds a Black Belt (the heroines in these kinda movies always have a secret talent, some are even lucky enough to have a superpower), and she kungfus any Ogre who dares to call her a nerd. As far as I know, most Ogres these days don't call anyone 'nerd' anymore. Y'know, just in case.

Remember the Prince? This is the Prince. This is a bad picture of the Prince. He doesn't like it either. See his pout? He thinks it's a bad picture too. The Prince is not happy with this picture. Never mind. The Prince is not writing this blog entry. I am. The Prince's name is Charmont. But please don't call him that. Call him Char. Prince Char sounds more charming than Prince Mont, or Prince Monty, or Prince Charmont, or so the producers of this movie think.

See the girls, the shrieking girls? They are Ella's Stepsisters (there's always one, usually two Stepsisters in these kinda movies), and they really really really really have a thing for Prince Char. In fact, the 20,000 girls in the Kingdom have a thing for Char. In fact, they all want to marry him. Except Ella. Poor Prince Char. He doesn't want the 20,000 girls who want him. He just wants the one girl who doesn't want him.

So what does Prince Char do to win Ella's love? He joins her on a wild goose chase to find Lucinda. And to cut a potentially long story short, they live happily ever after. Go watch the movie to fill in the missing details. Most of what I've written are spoofs of the actual story, so go watch the movie to get the real story. Or read the book. Then you'll get two real stories. If you like, go watch Ever After. It's another one of those kinda movies.

Cheers.

Terrible assignment over! What a relief!

I don't think I've ever spent this much effort or time on a single assignment before, unless you count the play I did way back in the first semester of my freshman year. Man, that was a fun one to do. But anyway, the assignment that I've just completed (like about 2 days ago) took up approximately 4 days to complete. And by 4 days, I mean like several hours spent at one go just typing and tweaking stuff on my laptop. I had relatively little sleep these 4 days of assignment-doing, and I even had to move into my room in my college in UNIMAS to save time and discuss the assignment with my other groupmates. But in the end it all paid off. At 10.30 pm on Monday night, we sent it in to be printed out. And then me and 3 friends cum groupmates cum housemates cum coursemates had a pig-out-food-session at the nearby Siang Siang foodcourt. Man, did we eat that night. It was like the culmination of all the stress and hard work combined into one meal. Of course, it didn't help that the only meal we'd had the entire day was lunch. But yes, it's over, it really finally is. And I am relieved. It wasn't terrible in the sense of horrifying, but more like in terms of the effort and work we had to put in. But then again, some parties might tell me that's included in the life of a university student.

Other than assignment talk, I must also announce that I've finally moved back into my room in the college. It's funny here. I mean like, why would they call our accommodations building a 'college'? Correct me if I'm wrong (and I know I'm not) but don't they usually mean a place of tertiary studies when they use the word 'college'? Shouldn't they change the name to 'hostel', or 'block', or something else in that direction? I'm rather confused. But anyway, back to the topic at hand. Yes, after almost an entire semester of driving to and fro up the roads of Kuching to UNIMAS and all that, I have finally moved into my room. I only stayed for one night though. I'm currently back in my own house again, typing this out on the trusty computer downstairs. But I'll be moving back in again tomorrow. It's real convenient this way, not to mention a lot of fun if you've got great housemates and friends. Up here, it's like every meal is an adventure. We go food-hunting, looking for new spots or new foods. So far we've literally charted out the food hotspots in this area... I have a room all to myself, and I'll try to post some pictures up in the next entry, okay?

That's it for now.

Cheers.

3 weeks to the anticipated study break!

Just got back from having dinner with a couple of my coursemated at Hornbill Steamboat. Yeah, that's like the 'cool' spot where the TESLians of UNIMAS hang out... The time passed so fast while I was there! And I think I'm getting better at cooking stuff on the steamboat-grill thingy. Muahahahaha! Last night was also something of a food fiesta. Some of us uni-folk were invited for this dinner function thingy held at the Holiday Inn. So I went, yeah. I mean like, how often do I get the opportunity to have dinner at a hotel? Yeah I know it sounds pathetic, but that's the way I work people.

Tomorrow is gonna be another long day for me in campus. My class starts at 8am, and it'll be my turn to do a spot of microteaching tomorrow. Sigh. I'm busy looking for some posters online for that. Let's hope I get adequate sleep tonight. And today I actually managed to sweep my room in the college. I haven't been staying there at all this semester, but I thought well, the room looks pretty good, and maybe I might stay there sometime. We'll see how it goes.

Cheers.

After a real long time...

... I'm finally back here blogging again. I know, it's the same old excuses - assignments, exams, no time, blah blah blah - but seriously, life is kinda busy at the moment, and yeah, well... I just had no time.

Study break is about 2 or 3 weeks away (the sooner the better, study break = holiday!), which means my final exams will be approximately, er, one month away. You guys might think I'm crazy for looking so eagerly forward to the coming exams, but lemme clarify. In fact, scrap that thought, I don't even need to clarify. All I need to say is one sentence:

After the final exams come 2 whole months of holidays!

See? Are you jumping up and down in glee now? Muahahahaha! Oh, I am so looking forward to the exams...

Cheers.

Memoirs of CNY 2007

Okay, Chinese New Year for me this year was interesting. Firstly, because I had this camera to snap pictures with. I spent a lot of time, standing under the stars, waiting to catch that perfect fireworks picture... I think I failed. So then I moved on to other subjects... I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best of photographers, but I consider it more along the lines of er... Recording. Yeah, that's it. Recording my life, and the quirks I see around me each day. So here they are:

Whoa, like... Check out the psychedelic colours on the left! It's like what someone on drugs would see or something... I believe this one was taken like, when it started to drizzle or something. I remember getting wet... Not too drenched, but wet enough to almost get me sick. Boy, what an experience, huh?







I think this one was one of the prettier ones... I mean, like my buddy Trish says, you can actually see everything clearly you know? And there's two of them bursting there... So pretty!










Now this one's here my personal favourite... I like that red burst of fireworks, and the way it lights up the background, and with the silhouette of the tree, and part of the house... It just makes for a lovely picture, y'know?

And what would Chinese New Year be without the delectable goodies? Yummy! You know the new fad, where you go to every house and they serve you like these little pieces of seaweed fried between popiah skins? Man, I love those! Must have polished off like one entire bottle on my own!

This is what happens when a lot of people visit you during CNY. Firstly, you end up with lotsa shoes, slippers, boots, sandals, terompah Jepun, etc etc at your doorstep...

... Secondly, you end up having to eat outside in the garden, alone, because there isn't enough place for you on the table... Or rather, in my situation, I preferred to sit outside under the moon and the stars and enjoy my dinner under the showering rays of fireworks!














And finally... This is what the pressure of CNY does to a person - makes the worst slob on the planet clean up her room spick and span, 'just in case' some friends decide to pay a 'surprise' visit... But of course, this isn't all of my room. It's just the door area! Heehee!









And that concludes this year's edition of 'Memoirs of CNY'... Tune in again next year, same time, same place for the next edition! Muahahahaha!

The Reason

Okay. This is gonna sound rather lame I know, but I'm gonna say it anyway. The reason why I've not been blogging in the past one week or so is because I haven't come online in that duration. Yeah, and of course, without the Internet, how am I supposed to blog eh? And I know some of you (yes, you know who you are!) were so glad that I haven't been able to blog... So Trish, if you're reading this, this is just to let you know that the blogging monster is back, which means the fire extinguisher you hit me with just didn't work! Muahahahaha!

So yes. The main reason for all this blogless-ness is because of the toot-ing assignments that I've been trying to complete. And of course, all the busy busy social network thingy we call CNY house visitations. Yes.

Well, the midterm holiday break is now over, and sigh, that means the final exams are, as usual, just around the corner. Man, how many times do I have to write about them dreadful torture techniques eh?

That's it from me for now. Yes. I know Trish is happy at the shortness of this entry. *grins*

Cheers!