This is the place where I put my random thoughts that I like to share with you all. It's also a place where I could post about things that interest me such as movies, TV shows, Games and just anything that's part of the Pop culture that I find necessary to post about.
Cookie Monster is hands down my favourite...Happy 40th anniversary 'Sesame Street' thanks for all the memories http://tinyurl.com/yjrd7d2 days ago
Had McDonald, 'Canterbury Grill' Lamb Doner, bottles of coke...now finishing the night with shisha and a horror movie..f***ing healthy day!! 2 days ago
...but I fell asleep. And the fact that the lecture was about 'Sleep and Dreaming' didn't help :-P 3 days ago
went to a lecture for the first time in 2 weeks... 3 days ago
A young charismatic politician versus an old but experienced War hero.
Yeah, I try to avoid politics in this blog but I need to say something about this historic election. I’m not American but you gotta admit, American politics affects the whole world, period! I remember back in 2004 when everyone who were against the war in Iraq were rallying behind John Kerry to defeat Bush in the election. I was one of those Kerry supporters and I remember how we spent the entire computer class talking about politics and constantly refresh the election page only to be disappointed to see Bush leading every minute (our computer teacher actually had the election update on the projector for all of us to see). Kerry’s defeat was disappointing but it was a short lived disappointment because I realize that he wasn’t that great. I do think he’s better than Bush but I wasn’t really that excited about him.
Which brings us to here now with Obama vs McCain. I knew that an African American named Obama was running for president but I was supporting Hillary and thought that the she was the clear candidate for the democratic party. Then Obama starts making those speeches and impressing a lot of people however, despite all that, I still think that he wasn’t ready. He’s a good speaker and charismatic but deep inside I thought that he’s like one of those people who just know how to bullshit with their sweet talk and stuff. Basically, the idealism that he generated were too much for me I guess probably ever since September 11, I just have a pessimistic view on world politics. But shit man, as the election got nearer, how much I want Obama to win this election grew. He will be making history if he wins….no, he’s not just going to make history because he will be the first black president…no…we’re beyond that now. He successfully broke racial boundaries and he is the best chance we got on at least bringing back some hope to politics. Sorry Stallone, I’m a big fan but the right character for the right script is Obama not McCain. So yeah, Obama ftw
ok, it’s 2.30 in the morning here so I’m off to bed now. Probably find out who wins tomorrow morning Just imagine if McCain-Palin wins…lol…this post will definitely look silly
Holy F***!! George Lucas is planning to remake Episode IV, V & VI to make them look like the prequels. Yup that’s right, a CGI galore of the original trilogy!! WTF Lucas!! And wait till you hear the cast:
Shia LaBeouf as Luke Skywalker!!
Colin Farrell as Han Solo & Keira Knightley as Princess Leia. WTF!!
The remake of ’Episode IV: A New Hope’ is scheduled to be released around 2010 with the remake of ‘Empire Strikes Back’ & ‘Return of the Jedi’ in 2013 & 2016 according to Swedish newspaper, Yad Sloof Lirpa.
I first found out about Arthur C. Clarke when I read about his predictions for the 21st century in an issue of Asiaweek published in 1999 (can be read here). I remember going through this short lived science fiction phase where I would start reading any book relating to space exploration.
Some say his greatest contribution to the world was popularising the idea of geostationary satellites for telecommunication. Some say it’s his short story, The Sentinel which he later developed, with the help from Stanley Kubrick, into a movie called 2001: Space Odyssey, a work widely accepted as one of the greatest Sci Fi movie. For me, his greatest contribution is just the way he asked us to ponder on the big questions. Are we alone? What is humanity’s place in the universe? I guess that’s why I liked 2001: Space Odyssey & Rendezvous with Rama more than their respective sequels because there was a sense of mystery on those two stories.
Former President of Indonesia passed away today due to organ failure. Yes, two posts about deaths back to back.
For most people, it is easy to label Suharto as a ruthless dictator who illegitimately took over power, ordered the killing of a lot of people (officially termed as a communist purge) and pursued acts of nepotism or corruption. I remember when I was in 9th grade, we had this Fascism project for History class where we had to choose one dictator from the modern era and make a presentation about him. I refused to do the obvious ones like Hitler, Pol Pot and Kim Il Jong so I decided to choose Suharto because Indonesia is close to my country, Brunei. Yes, I picked him simply because I was lazy not because I truly believe he was a genuine evil dictator.
After the presentation, my friend asked me a question of why he hasn’t been sentenced to jail or executed. In a typical High-school-9th-grader-amateur-lazy-ass-presentation-answer, I simply told him that he’s old and people don’t want to hurt him. LOL But what I should have said was that when you compare his reign and the post-Suharto age of Indonesia, the later have been politically turbulent. Despite the way many human rights groups or pro democracy groups heavily criticised him, you gotta give him credit for establishing political stability which allowed for economic progress; a feat that isn’t quite easy to achieve for a large country with diverse groups of people. In a long run, he did Indonesia a big favour by pulling the country out of poverty.
Rest in Peace Suharto. May your soul be blessed. Amin.
PS. I did get a fairly good grade on the presentation though.
Heath Ledger was found dead in his Lower Manhattan apartment on Tuesday. He was 28. The Australian-born actor was nominated for an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. In 2005, he met Michelle Williams during the filming of the drama. The two had lived in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda, but split up last year.
Ledger was found by a housekeeper who had gone to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse in the Soho apartment, according to New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne. “Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed,” Browne said, “This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet.” The medical examiner’s office planned an autopsy on Wednesday, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.
He was declared dead at about 3:30 p.m., Browne said.
So how does this affect the production of The Dark Knight and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus? Harry from AICN reports that Heath has finished his work as the Joker and as for the later, we don’t know yet because it’s still in production.
Looking forward to Heath Ledger’s final performance as the Joker
Nader Talebzadeh, an Iranian director, made an Islamic version of the life of Jesus Christ or as we Muslims called him, Prophet Isa. The movie entitled “Jesus, The Spirit of God” is aimed to “make a bridge between Christianity and Islam, to open the door for dialogue since there is much common ground between Islam and Christianity,” the director told AFP. I haven’t seen this movie but I know several things that probably be in this movie:
He was a prophet, not the ’son of God’
He is among the many prophets that has been sent by Allah with Muhammad being the final one.
Jesus/Isa prophecised the coming of Prophet Muhammad.
According to the Quran, he called him ‘Ahmad‘. Some Muslim scholars also believe that the word ‘paraclete‘ from the Gospel of John refers to Muhammad. Lastly, Jesus’ prophecy about Muhammad is recounted in the Gospel of Barnabas, an apocryphal Gospel.
Crucifixion of Jesus/Isa never happened He was raised to heaven where he waits till the end of days in which he returns to defeat Dajjal/Antichrist. According to Islamic beliefs, they crucified the wrong person. Some say it was a body double and some say it was Judas whose likeness was divinely changed to Jesus.
What do I think about this whole movie thing? Nah, I’m not into it. Sure I’m a Muslim and I do believe in the Islamic version of Jesus but I don’t think a movie should necessarily be made to make that point. I’m not disgusted by it, no no, so don’t expect me to go crazy rioting on the street burning stuff. I’m civilized, only dumbasses do that and it’s a shame that only dumbasses get on TV LOL
Hmm..there’s also another thing that kinda bugs me. Here’s a quote from AFP:
“The director is also keen to emphasise the links between Jesus and one of the most important figures in Shiite Islam, the Imam Mahdi, said to have disappeared 12 centuries ago but whose “return” to earth has been a key tenet of the Ahmadinejad presidency.”
“Iran has tens of thousands of its own Christians who are guaranteed religious freedoms under the constitution — mainly Armenians, though their numbers have fallen sharply since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Every Christmas, Ahmadinejad and other officials lose no time in sending greetings to Christian leaders including the pope on what they describe as the “auspicious birthday of Jesus Christ, Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH).”
In this year’s message, Ahmadinejad said that “peace, friendship and justice will be attained wherever the guidelines of Jesus Christ (PBUH) are realised in the world.”
Shiite Muslims, the majority in Iran, believe Jesus will accompany the Imam Mahdi when he reappears in a future apocalypse to save the world.
And Talebzadeh said the TV version of his film will further explore the links between Jesus and the Mahdi — whose return Ahmadinejad has said his government, which came to power in 2005, is working to hasten.
Shiites believe the Mahdi’s reappearance will usher in a new era of peace and harmony.
“We Muslims pray for the ‘Return’ (of Imam Mahdi) and Jesus is part of the return and the end of time,” Talebzadeh said.
“Should we, as artists, stand idle until that time? Don’t we have to make an effort?”
[emphasis added]
Let me get this straight, this movie is aimed to helped bridge the gap between Christians and Muslims so that we can get along by the time Jesus comes back during the end of times? The end of times in which Ahmadinejad’s government is ‘working to hasten‘?
You know, I knew someone who’s an atheist and he told me that world politics is getting more secular or realist everyday. MY ASS! Religious extremism is on the rise and it’s political influence continues to grow. And before you guys go, “yeah Islamic fundamentalism is a problem” Right Wing Christian ideology is getting stronger in the US and will probably (most say it has) influence foreign policies. What’s even worse is that there are elements of apocalyptic thinking from both sides. In other words, foreign policies aimed to trigger prophecised chain of events; ‘Political Metanarrative’
Damn, two things I didn’t really want to talk about in my blog were religion and politics. And here I am putting those two things together in a single post. WTF I’ll try not to do these types of post again Hehe. Go read my Dragon Ball movie post instead, it’s been getting many hits. LOL
The sequel (actually it’s a prequel) to the critically acclaimed and blockbuster hit Korean monster movie, The Host is in works. According to Scifi Japan, the story is set in 2003 during the restoration of Cheonggyecheon/Cheonggye Stream, ‘a creek running through the downtown of Seoul that leads to the Han River.’
The movie is said to fill in the gap between the prologue and the events of the first movie. The prologue is the memorable scene in the beginning with the jackass American ordering the clueless Korean to dump all those toxic chemicals into the riverHeheh…easily the best opening of a monster movie. Simple and effective.
Now the first movie was more of a socio-political commentary that touches on things like US government’s involvement (Agent Yellow and Agent Orange anyone?) and the memories of the those frequent Korean youth protesters (embodied by the main character’s unemployed college graduate brother). Now the sequel/prequel is doing the same thing again but this time the target is far closer to home. The setting of the movie revolves around the restoration of the Cheonggye Stream in 2003 which really took place. It was initiated by the mayor who’s now the president, Lee Myung-bak. But the restoration have met criticism as well. As stated in SciFiJapan:
Many merchants, including street vendors who had long-established business near Cheonggyecheon had to be relocated and there were several complications related to compensation for them. And the current stream of Cheonggyecheon is not from the upper stream, but water supply facilities. These are the reasons why many, including environmentalists and scholars, accuse the restoration of being nothing but a waste of taxes and a demonstration of Lee Myung-bak’s hubrice.
This is sure going to be a controversial movie now that the guy responsible for the restoration is the new President of South Korea.
I love the first movie. It’s a beautiful movie so I’m not sure if the sequel can top the first one. The only way this one can be good is that they don’t try so hard to imitate the first one. Take what’s good about the first movie and expand it. From what I read, I think that’s what they’re trying to do. Here’s what the scriptwriter, comic artist Kang Full said about the new movie.
“I wanted to maintain the grace of the original film and to overcome the difficulties and limitations a sequel could have. And I wish to show more action with multiple monsters.”
Multiple monsters? More Action? Sounds like their taking the ‘James Cameron route‘. Ridley Scott’s Alien was a classic atmospheric horror film while Cameron made a heart pumping action movie with the sequel, Aliens. So yeah, I have high hopes for this sequel or prequel or whatever it is.
Speaking of Aliens, note the early conceptual art of Host 2 reminds me of the Ripley powerloader vs Alien Queen.
The Host 2 begins shooting this summer and is expected to be released in 2009. In the meantime, catch another monster movie from JJ Abrams called Cloverfield.
Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m just going to put images that pops into my head when I think of 2007. Random and not in any order. Doing this as I go along.
Well, actually there’s a lot of stuff I remember from 2007 and I’m too lazy to find all the images. Hehe
We all know what happened to Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan. It’s such a tragic event in Pakistan. Things went from bad to worse over there. I feel sorry for the Pakistanis who hoped for a brighter new year with the upcoming elections only for those hopes to be shot down literally. A bitter end of an already tumultuous year.
This reminds me of the time when I was an idealistic young teenager. While every kid were busy with their Pokemon, I was hyped about the first Korean summit between Kim Dae Jung & Kim Jong Il. While everyone was singing their favourite songs when they go for a shower, I was busy thinking about how peace could be achieved in the middle east as I take my shower. When everyone else was talking about how Iraq is going to usher American’s colonialism in middle east, I had hopes that the Americans would guide Iraq to stand on her feet and then leave her alone as quickly as possible.
But nop….people get killed, bombs blown up, threats made by one country to another. I used to read the middle east section of the newspaper and be up to date on the events there. Now, all I do is just read movie reviews and comic strips.
Recently, I saw this documentary about the fall of the Berlin wall. Very symbolic and emotional. I wish I could be there. It happened at November 1989, I was born in February that same year. I just wish that all of us can break the wall that you can see below.
It might be the first step towards a better world. And that ladies and gentlemen, is one of the last few optimism or hope left in me.
