Under the stars

Under the Banyan Tree: Open Air Cinema

The National Museum, riding high on its new makeover, did a great job with this public movie screening! I never got to go to the Stella Artois Starlight Cinema, but I guess is much better. The location, on the grounds of the National Musuem is beautiful. On one side you have your stately National Musuem, on the other, greenery and the rather nostalgic Banyan Tree (which I did not take a photograph of!). CJ had this really sweet story about the Banyan Tree thinking that all of us moviegoers actually came to look at it, and feeling less lonely.

CJ and I were there on Friday night, the opening night when they played Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the Audrey Hepburn classic. I love love love Audrey. Sure, the only movie I’ve watched was Roman Holiday (Gregory Peck!!!) where I thought she was absolutely beautiful and quirky and the love story between her and Gregory Peck is so so innocent and sweet, and made me wish I was a princess and I fell in love with a common man but I cannot be with him and it will be heartbreaking and romantic and I will remember this for the rest of my life. Erm… I lost track. Oh, I did not watch a lot of her movies but I do have a lot of photos! Ha.

The thing is – I have never heard of anybody saying anything bad about Audrey or not liking her. And do you know she once said she never thought she was pretty, and that she thought she had a weird face.

Weird face!

This photograph might be the world’s most beautiful picture ever – Grace Kelly with Audrey Hepburn!

(Btw I saw a photo of she-who-shall-not-be-named-on-my-blog Hilton posing as Audrey and I threw up a bit in my mouth)

I was slightly disappointed that I did not win the Border’s voucher. If they had asked who designed the black dress she wore in the opening (and I feel that is a very important question!) I’m sure I would have won. Ha! Cause I don’t think anyone else in the audience would know. *arrogant*. (It’s Givenchy.)

Anyway, it was fun! The movie was good (although CJ and I thought Holly would eventually dump Paul because he is just not exciting enough (me) / she is a screwed up character (CJ)). The ending wasn’t that great, I thought they should have stuck to the book’s original ending which was so much more thought provoking.

CJ brought a (bed)sheet which was waterproof … and a pillow! We thought we’d win for most well prepared moviegoers but the group in front of us had 2 bottles of wine, wine glasses, pâté, sushi and even a whole bag of ice for the wine. They win. But I think we win for most comfortable seating! Haha. We had enough space to lie down with pillows! So I think we win x2. Haha!

And he was wearing my favourite shirt of his

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE!!!

Da da da da da da daaaa da

We watched it! We loved it!

(No spoilers in this post, but I will reveal some amusing parts of the music)

Right from the beginning – Wiggum comes out and sings the 20th Century Fox theme music, to the blatant advertising – ‘Remember to watch XXX on Fox 8, yes, we advertise in movies now!’, to the music – ‘Spiderpig, spider pig, does whatever spiderpig does’, to the moving – Marge taping the goodbye message over her wedding video, to celebrity cameos – Tom Hanks! and Arnold S.

It was great! Every moment of it. Especially the ending, please stay a bit and watch the credits until you see the important message Maggie says.

I was a bit disappointed there were so few of Homer’s usual utterance ‘Mmmmm… (insert random edible item here)’. There was only 1, I think? ‘Mmmm… floor popcorn’. Hahaha!

Btw, stroke of genius from the folks on Harper’s Bazaar… Simpsons in Couture! Together with Linda E.!

You can find more, just google Simpsons and Harper’s

Corniest endorsement ever

Ever since Cheryl pointed out Rihanna’s Umbrella to me (Why… Cheryl why…) it has been stuck in my head. Especially the really stupid lyrics that go ‘ella ella ella eh eh eh’. But it’s so catchy – I do like the rest of the song actually, I thought the lyrics are really nice, except for the ella part. Oh and I thought the MTV was beyond stupid.

Anyway, guess what’s new!

Rihanna Umbrellas!

Wow! What a marketing genius! What will they think of next? I can see it already. Scores of young girls (and several boys lurking inconspiciously) furiously clicking on the website trying to get the exclusive umbrella with RIHANNA printed all over it. Really. And look! There’s even one at the low price of 50USD! Gosh, what a bargain.

Madness

I dug up this old post that I have not published, and added on to it, new movies I have watched (mostly with CJ)

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen for your fortnightly dose of movie reviews, based on what ChrisssC has watched. Contingent also on whether she remembers watching it.

Borat

Enough said.

Snowcake was moving, but not maudlin. Reminds me of Transamerica but more… gritty? I’m not sure what the correct word is. Alan Rickman was excellent, but I thought Sigourney Weaver was the real standout. CJ and I really liked ‘Notteru Ondo’ which was played in the movie, but it is so hard to find! And I’m not even talking about illegal downloads – it’s by The Drifters but I can’t find it on any of their CDs!

IndianMovie – CJ thought it would be fun to catch an indian movie. We were quite excited (actually I was like ‘are you serious?!’) until we went to the counter and when CJ asked her ‘Are there subtitles?’, she said ‘No’. Still. She recommended us a movie, and we could follow the plot quite competently And do you know they have intervals, like in plays? That was really cool.

Charlotte’s Web – Okay, Dakota Fanning is adorable! I think there is always something quite magical about watching a movie adaptation of a book you read when you were a child. Though to be honest, I didn’t feel like it was a special as when you read it as a kid. The movie is alright, entertaining at least.

Stranger Than Fiction – Love this movie! Waited so long for it to come out in Asia. And even then the distribution was limited. It is about this author who is writing a book about this character, and it turns out that there is acutally this character in real life! So she is actually writing about his life. And what she narrates, it will happen in his life. Emma Thompson was great as the author, very interesting and complex character. Ending was a bit dragged out I think.

Eragon – Bah.

The Pursuit of Happyness – The trailers were good, but after watching the movie, I found it a little harder to have sympathy for Will Smith’s character. And more sympathy for Thandie Newton’s character. He was less of a father, than a character who strives really hard to achieve his dreams. The writing could be better.

Death Note 2 – Nice, but a bit too long. A lot of twists at the end, so much so I kinda lost it. But it was an interesting take on how power corrupts.

Night at the Museum – Love this movie! I love anything with Ben Stiller in it (Zoolander, Dodgeball, Meet the Parents) and this was no difference. This is just the feel good type of movie impossible for anyone to find fault with, I guess.

200 Pounds Beauty – Already blogged about it

The Illusionist – Alright. Actually I think Jessica Biel is overated. Edward Norton is excellent. But forgettable film, really. Nice twist at the end.

Epic Movie – I can’t remember anything about it actually. After searching it on IMDB, I realised it was because it was based on Narnia, and I didn’t watch it.

Music and Lyrics – Was great! I thought the chemistry between them was so good and I always liked Drew Barrymore. The comedic timing between the both of them was really good, and I thought the Autopsy song was hilarious. However, do you know that actually Hugh Grant was quite unfriendly on the set?? Huh. Kind of spoils the mood of the movie.

Ghost Rider – Blah. Have I mentioned I think Eva Mendes is overrated? Poor plot also. Great company.

Wild Hogs – Loved this movie! Especially the scene in the forest when the 4 guys woke up in the morning and they encounter the gay policeman. It was hilarious! I want to watch it over and over again!! Also, I expected to find John Travolta annoying, but he wasn’t! And Martin Lawerence was so funny.

300 – Already blogged about it

TMNT – Cute, I liked it. Kind of like a darker version of what we watched during childhood days. Could be better, but overall very safe and likeable film. Didn’t make as big of a splash as I thought it would. My favourite turtle is still Michaelangelo! Pizza!

Blades of Glory – We waited and waited for this movie! CJ and I saw it on Apple Trailers and it looked so good. Napolean Dynamite guy was so funny, especially his peacock moves. Hehe. I thought the movie was great, and if I bought the dvd I would fast forward through the korean video scenes. That was really scary.

Next – Blah. Have I stated how I think Jessical Biel is… oh wait I have? She’s hot but why the sudden love affair with her? Okay. I know Nicolas Cage can do better he just has to stop acting in so so movies!! (I liked Con Air) The ending was weak.

Spider-man 3 – Okay. My first Spider-man film actually. Very sad when James Franco died cause he was so cute! I liked it when I watch movie adaptations of comic books and CJ tells me of the background of the characters – like erm… you know, some people have motivations behind the things they do, and what are the background of the other characters and what happens to them in the end (ie Gwen Stacy)

Shrek the Third -Not bad. I only especially enjoyed the part where all the princesses gathered and you could find out who’s who. Haha! A pushy Snow White was hilarious.

Pirates of the Caribbean : At World’s End – I kinda lost interest in POTC since the 2nd series. Liked the first, but that’s about it. The third was a tad too long and draggy. And was I the only one who found it annoying every cinema was harping on Chow Yun Fatt’s ‘Welcome to Singapore’? Please la, it’s only one sentence. I don’t really know what year it’s supposed to be set in but the whole oriental + slavery bit was overkill.

Fantastic 4 : Rise of the Silver Surfer – Like I’ve said, I loved movies which are adaptations from comics. The history of the Silver Surfer, his motivations, and who eventually takes his place – was it Frankie Raye?.

I keep having an idea that Galactus was this Michelin Man type character -

But found out he was more like

Which doesn’t make any sense because if he devours worlds, won’t he be rounder?

Transformers – Already blogged about it

Ocean’s Thirteen – Great! I want to watch Ocean’s 11 and 12 now. I heard compared to 11 and 12, 13 wasn’t as good. I loved O13, loved how the infiltrated the place and how the whole operation went down. And oh, well, George Clooney… *eyes glazes over*

Live Free Die Hard 4.0 – I liked it better than I thought I would. CJ told me about the rest of the Die Hard plots and I think they should be quite good as well! Always had a crush on Bruce Willis (since Armageddon… you know, the whole ‘let me sacrifice myself’ thing is so hot). I thought several stunts in the movie was so cool! Especially the one where he uses the car to hit the helicopter.

Harry Potter : Order of the Phoenix – It’s alright. First Potter movie and never read the book. I wasn’t expecting much. It was okay, I told CJ I didn’t want to watch it as I thought it would be a waste of money as I won’t enjoy it. It wasn’t half bad. I liked watching the kids practice spells.

Coming up… The Simpsons Movie!!! I can’t wait.

Harlequinn girls

What a day on Friday!

Started at 8 where I met a recruiter – no chance for negotiation. ‘Confirmed at 8, see you tomorrow’. Another issue I didn’t have a choice on , or apparently didn’t have a choice on, was to take the CFA Level 1. To the uninitiated, CFA means Chartered Financial Analyst (NOT like you thought, the Cat Fanciers Society, although you could be a chartered financial analyst and be a cat fancier I suppose), and it’s a self study program for people who want to go into investment banking.

‘Investment banking’ appears in my blog! Shock and horror!

I thought it would have been nice if I went down to Chocolate N’ Spice (this place that apparently sells cheap but really delish muffins) to get some muffins for the office, but I was running late. I still want to go down and try it one day!

Today we had lunch at Ling Zhi, cause one of the colleagues is vegetarian. It actually is quite yummy, although wah lau, to substitute for meat do they put in peanuts?!?! Peanuts in every single dish I eat (ok not really, more like 40% of the food I eat).

It’s nice cause the entire week had lunch treats from people from the department. Erm, this Raku ninja restaurant (? The one at City Link) and Wasabi Bistro. Everyone had this Beauty Ladies set thingy at WB and special ordered ‘Kumi’ which is really really delicious! It’s like takopachi (the little round balls thingy) but much much more light and filled with crab meat. Yummy.

Kumi

L had already asked me to go back on the Osim Triathlon event to help out, and you know me. I am always accomodating when people ask me to do stuff so I said yes without even thinking. Sigh. I have a golf tournament on that day too (I’m not playing… working with the event company). How??!?!!

Anyway, something quite amusing happened on Thursday/Friday.  I sent S an  unsolicited resume about a month back. He was very polite over the phone so I thought perhaps I could just put his CV through to my boss. Anyway, there was a new opening, so my boss dug that old CV out and asked me if I remember anything about that guy. I couldn’t, so I told her I’ll give him a call to suss out his interest level.

To cut a long story short, after S interviewed him on Friday, she walked into the office laughing. ‘You have an admirer! He wants to say hello to you!’ So ya la, I went and say hello cause it’s the polite thing to do. But wah, now he emails me and asks if I would like to meet up for coffee so we can chat about GS (and advertising cause he used to be in advertising). Anyhoo, I was only there for about a month so what do I know. Haha.

Finish line

Gonna be a short post, wanted to just pen (key? board? finger?) down some thoughts.

Ending this Friday, colleagues were very nice, with treats to lunch (I haven’t spent anything on lunch this week!!!)

Also…

I got my license!!!!!!!!!!!

*Squeal*

*Runs over to cross it off my wishlist*

Sianz2

Sorry I really can’t be bothered to come up with a more interesting title.

It seems like every single issue or job I am handling has to give me an obstacle to test how I deal with them.

Seriously this week has been quite lousy. From Monday onwards. I’m not looking for superfantastic days — just normal, uneventful ones would do. :/

Update – ARGH I should not go shopping when I am in the ‘anything will do, I just need to buy something’ mood. I ended up with a dress which is honestly quite nice and casaul like. Comparing to my wardrobe, I have 3 other dresses which are around the same style, length and colour.

So lucky and I don’t know it

:(

I am so moronic I forgot about my driving lesson last night.

50 bucks.

I can’t get another lesson so close to the test.

How?

I hate wasting money.

Loss of innocence

It wasn’t that long ago, when I was idolising Jordan Knight (of NKOTB fame, which was a huge boyband before Take That even – his solo effort did not do that well though) that I thought his song ‘Give it to you’ was so cool.  Especially this line -

Anyone can make you sweat, but I can keep you wet

‘Wow!’ My teenage self thought ‘He’s so cool. A normal cute guy makes you so nervous you sweat a little. But with him, he’s so cool, so you sweat all the time – hence wet. Although that was a strange way to put it, because really, who likes to be so sweaty all the time, that your clothing becomes wet?

How stupid I was when I was younger.