The Road through my Fucked Up Life.

Road paved on 1:42 AM |

Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire Review

Okay, I'm supposed to be studying, but instead I thought I should just blog about the latest Harry Potter movie.

The whole journey started when I won four tickets to the Malaysian Premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (GoF). I woke up on that Thursday in a daze, switch on the radio and the cue to call came on at that time. So with a shrug I trudged downstairs, picked up the phone and called, and got through on the first try. (You must be the fifth caller thru.)

DJ: So, you must be a big fan of Harry Potter?
Me: Erm... not really.
DJ: *stun for a minute* Oh... but you want to see the movie?
Me: Yup.
DJ: And so you must answer this question bla bla bla...
Me: Sure.
DJ: Which school Viktor Krum came from?
Me: Durmstrang.
DJ: Good... bla bla bla bla... And since you called during the Bonus Hour you get an exclusive Harry Potter notebook.
Me: Sure.
DJ: And now to win a replica of the triwizard cup, you have to create a spell.
Me: Erm... mammary bigulus.

It's blardy 10 in the morning. I was still in a daze. I sounded stiff and sleepy on radio. The first thing that came to my mind was big breast. Well, if the spell exist, Harry can use it on Ginny. (I resent that coupling)

After much publicising of the tickets I wanted to give away (be the fifth commentor through on the previous post and you would have won that tic but no one did), four people finally went for the premier.
1. Me
2. Richard
3. YeePei
4. Grace

Richard: The three of you together seemed very familiar.

So after lecture, we went to MidValley, where we got our tickets (which is so so cool) and had dinner, went bookshopping before entering the cinema where they checked our bags and confiscate our handphones before letting us in.

Girl in MPH: Mana dia dapat buku itu ah? (refering to the notebook I was holding)


157 minutes later, I emerged from the cinema dully UNimpressed. Sheesh.

Yee Pei: The movie is good, but not good.

To have Quidditch World Cup erased from the movie is a crime,
TO spoil the Triwizard Tournament is a bigger crime!!!

You guys should have read the book by now (if you haven't read it, I don't know you guys), so spoilers for the movie is no spoiler at all. But best I reserve so discretion and warn you guys.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Go NO further if you are not prepared for the consequences.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

And for those who wants to forego the warning, this review is my personal one and may not cater to you. (I am a severe critic when it comes to movies that came from books). I hated Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a lot of people did. I don't really like the latest movie, but hell, I never did like the movie series. It is too overly franchised and this is exploited by the movie.

The movie started exactly like the book. (Anticipation now high). After the whole first chapter (plus some changes in scenes), the screen jumped swiftly to Harry Potter in the burrow and from there, rolled downwards, jumped up a bit and then continued downwards.

The first part of the movie was draggy, nothing important was happening, but somehow it took up so much time with irrelevant scenes.

After first 20 minutes - YeeP: I feel like sleeping.

Towards the end (the awe-spiring third task), the scenes began to rush through. It's like how you do an exam, you lag at the beginning and when the time's almost up, you rush through your work and in the end screwed it up real bad.

Scenes are changed, suspenses built but not delivered. Interesting scenes were taken away, more interesting scenes changed beyond recognition. Scenes that are not really important are placed in, scenes not from the book were added.


Let's go bit by bit, shall we?

BIG PICTURE
Somehow Hogwarts had changed from the first movie. Remember I complained about big picture and minor details in my POA review. Well, Mike managed to deliver this quite nicely. We get a lovely sight of the empty Gryffindor common room, we have a lovely view of the Owlery. But Hogwarts seemed to have changed somehow. The land seemed really different from the previous movies, where suddenly there are more waterfalls and bigger lakes and higher mountains. Maybe I'm just too minute.

But again I feel Mike put in some relevant scenes (like the overdramatic fight between Harry and the Dragon) where better could have been done. The 1st task seemed to take up more screentime than the more important 3rd task. Actually other than that, I can't think of anything else. Haha...

Ah yes, the dancing class by Mconagall. Funny, but irrelevant.
Bumbling, babbling bunch of babboons. (Try saying that 5 times)

But taking away scenes is the one that I cannot forgive him for.

EXPECTATIONS DASHED
1. Quidditch World Cup
What you saw in the trailer is you get of the World Cup. I went in expecting so see Krum prowess on the broomstick. But what I get is just his boasting. They built up all this hype, the screaming, the huge stadium, the players swooping into the stadium. And I was there in my seat, waiting for the game to begin and when Crouch declared the game on, it is over. What the FUCK!!!!
Yup, that's it, no game was played. It was like having a sweet removed from your mouth just as you were getting to the good part. How we know the Irish won the world cup? By reading the book and listening to the dialogues of in between.

2. Learning spells to use and using em.
Come one man, Hogwarts is a school of magic. And I haven't learn any spells lately. In the task, only 3 different spells were used. Come on, there is a whole range of spells to use. And the best you can come up with is Reducto?

3. 1st Task
You seriously don't know how the other champions did if you did not read the book. Because it just showed Harry's trial and there is no annoucement or explanation on how the others did. I expected to at least see the other champions trying to fight off their dragons, but ilek, nilch, nothing.

4. The 3rd Task
What do you guys know about the 3rd task? It's going through a maze and getting the Triwizard cup in the centre. Never mind that the maze is a huge (in the book it's only the size of the Quidditch Field), the only scary thing in it is hedges that closes up on you and grabs you and rolled you up. Where is the sphinx? Where are the monsters and the Boggart!!! Sheesh! There was just a lot alot of running and huffing and panting and lots and lots of trees trying to kill our Champions.

5. Rita Skeeter
Where is the nosy little bitch when we wanted her. She was only present in the movie two times before the first task and after that, no more... no sign of her nor that crazy quill of hers. Nothing at all. What the hell??? I was looking forward to seeing her smearing Hermy's name, to seeing Hermy catching her in bug form. But nothing, ilek, nilch.

6. The ressurection of Voldermort.
This fell short so badly. Again, so much suspense was built. The return of the Death Eaters, the big showdown between Voldermort and Potter. I expected the Death Eaters to come crawling back to the Dark Lord, trembling with fear and awe. But sorry, I don't get that feeling of awe and fear that was supposed to have. The Dark Lord was too sneering and insulting to exude much awe. The only scary thing he did was a few hand movements that somehow frightened the Death Eaters (strange). And the big showdown? Voldermort cast TWO death curse. Harry countered with ONE spell before the whole light sabre thing happened. Where was the huge battle? Nilch, ilek, nothing.

7. Others
No Snuffles, no Dementors coming in to kill Barty Crouch Jr. Where are the House Elves and SPEW?


CHARACTER'S PORTRAYAL
What can I say?

The Trio
I'm so tired of reviewing about them. Harry and Ron are fine, nothing to say. But Hermione, that's a different story.
Richard: Her estrogen level has increased.
She was too pretty to start with. The real Hermy should have bushy hair and bucktooth. And only during the ball does she become beautiful. Especially the part where she walks down the stairway and everyone turned to see and gawk and proclaimed that she is beautiful, I saw no difference other than she was wearing a dress.

Cho Chang
Katie Leung as Cho Chang is stiff. Ok, I tot she was Singaporean. Apparently I'm wrong. Born bred in Scotland, she still have the typical non-European accent. (It sounded fake to me). But she can't act, seriously. Thank God she had little screentime.

Viktor Krum
The real Krum has a huge nose like a bird and is bowlegged and the only thing he is good for is being on the broomstick. But the movie Viktor Krum, he is hot, hot, hot. He is so macho and good looking. I don't usually go head over heels for characters on movies, but Stanislav Ianevski is different. He is hot.

Fleur Delacour
She was different from what I've imagined from the book. From the book, she was some giggly girl who prances around and disses everyone else around her. But in this movie, she was an elegant Champion who is upright and stiff and elegant at the same time. But too bad she has too little screen time and with the whole sexist outlook where the girl-champion seemed to be losing out to the guys, it is too bad.

Cedric Diggory
The all around good guy. I found him irritating, but he's ok afterall.

Mad-Eye Moody
Excellent protrayal of a raving psychopath. But he was still not how I imagined him. He was not grumpy enough and he was too fat. Bleah.

Dumbledore
The new Dumbledore seemed more human and less invincible as he was before. Personally I like him better when he seemed more invincible and his humour are more subtle, not like this. But I can't complain. And I won't.

Sirius Black
The only protrayal that he had was being embers of a dying fire. I expected his whole face to emerge from the fireflames, not some CG animations. Sheesh.

Voldermort
I love Ralph Finnes, but his acting of the Voldermort was seriously layered with alot alot of makeup. And he seemed pathetic. But after sometime, he was not so bad.


COOL HIGHLIGHTS that I like
1. The Entrance of the foreign students - love it.
2. The Yule Ball - interestingly done.

Seriously, I can't think of any other thing. Even the DADA class fell short.


CONCLUSION?
The damn movie which left me unsatisfied (quote: like after sex with a misinformed labrador), which I was so hyped up about. They fail to provide the connection that would bring this movie forward to the fifth (ie Barty Crouch wasn't killed before he revealed that Voldermort is back). If you haven't read the book, you won't understand what the hell is happening.

The only cool thing about that movie is the cool tickets I've won. It is super cool with 3D features and all!! Woohoo!!

Our advice to the future audiences:
1. Read the book before you enter. But when you enter the cinema, forget about the book.
2. Don't have high expectations.
3. Look at the big picture - don't obsess over the minutiae.
4. Remember that they are stuffing 700 over pages of a book into 157 minutes.
5. It is better than the 3rd movie, best among the four, but still below expectations.
6. It's not worth paying RM30 for the premier tickets, but having free tickets is not bad.

Any tortures not involving pain, humiliation, or stickiness?
- Guybrush Threepwood, Curse of Monkey Island

We passed by on 1:42 AM |

Road paved on 2:48 AM |

Book Tag -

I got tagged by Kanishah. Thanks mate, needed something to get my mind of the stupid lecture notes.

1) Total number of books you own

No idea.... too many to count. I've been collecting since I was two years old (books from the days of my parents excluded). Let's try to do some maths:
School books (about 20 per year?) = 11 x 20 = 220
College books (only 3) = 3
Medical books (Marieb, Snell, Dorlands, PapaPatho) = 4
Others = countless
Manga = Lagi countless.

Last I check, my manga collection is worth RM2,500, that's excluding the 80gigs of Manga I burnt into CDs. My book of fiction is gonna worth more, but I gave up counting after Form 5 (when my collection began to grow exponentially. So I'll probably say my whole book shelf would worth around RM7,000-10,000 (very lil IMHO).

Books I don't own, I borrow. (It's cheaper, *grin*)


2) The last book you bought

That would be a manga titled Dan Detective School Vol 14.
But if a book as in a book, that would be Stephen King's Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah.


3) The last book you read

Reread Everworld 1-12.
Lecture notes and Papa Patho do not count. BLEAH!!!


4) Five books that mean a lot to me

BIBLE - NKJV by God. My bible given to me when I was just a kid in Sunday School. It is like a talisman to me. That book signifies my faith and the word of my God. BIBLE = Basic Intruction Before Leaving Earth.

Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. This book brought back fond memories. I first read in 1994/5, recommended to me by my pastor. I've fallen in love with Aslan since then. I named my teddy bears Aslan, I named my Sim City Narnia... I was all over the book. And reading that book, especially The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, it gave me a new perspective of God and His death and resurrection.

The Elenium Trilogy by David Eddings. It was first lent to me by Kanishah which was the book that got me hooked to the fantasy genre (Enid Blyton do not count). I love Sparhawk and his horse.

The Land of Far Beyond by Enid Blyton. I love that book. I love that book. I love that book. What else can I say? It's about three kids trying to make their way from the City of Turmoil to the Kingdom of Love carrying burden of sins on their back. I got the book when I was kid and was touched by it. You must read it to understand what I'm saying. It's a very different look on how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven where the Prince of Love will remove your burden and you live within the Kingdom for all eternity in happiness.

I can't think of number FIVE. There are a few contenders for it: The Kamasutra by Vastayana (I've been trying to get my hand on it for so long and I did), The Cult, the Triad, and Inspector King by Timothy King (my first book that my friends went all excited about just because it has sex scenes *roll eyes*), The Celestial Zone (a complete set of manga I can't find in Malaysia), or Sailormoon (my first manga), Stephen King's Dark Tower Series (I'm awed by the way a fantasy book can roll out that way, super cool books) or The Hannibal Trilogy by Thomas Harris (I want to grow up to be like Dr. Hannibal Lecter) or 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade (it opened the world of Sadism to me). But in the end, I'm going to settle for something similar:

Human Anatomy and Physiology by Elaine N. Marieb. What can I say? That was the first book I bought to show that I am a medical student, not like I've used it or anything.


5) Tag five people and have them fill this out on their blogs

To make sure the tags do not go to waste, I'll tag 5 friends I know who read things other than medical books.
Grace Chew
Song Yee Pei
Wilfred Chin
Chan Yean Koon
Can't think of anyone else. I will just choose Adeline Gong. I wonder what she reads.

[edit] I'll tag Sarah Sheena instead of Agong, since the Gongster claims to have done it before and Sheena wanted to try it out (refer to comments). So here you go, Sheena. Tag, you're IT.


Tag's over. Going back to lecture notes of Haematology and Pre-Tests. Fuck.

PS: This is my 100th Post... wow, that took long enough.

I wield a pen mightier than the sharpest sword.
- Laguna Loire, Final Fantasy VIII

We passed by on 2:48 AM |

Road paved on 9:30 PM |

Ramblings of the Captain

It is a slow day, a quiet lazy afternoon when it is too hot to do anything, and too early to laze about. In the cool relief of the bar, the jukebox plays an old tune of the yesteryears. A single fan rotates slowly, throwing a slow moving shadow across the floor.

A lone man sits at the corner of the bar, half hidden in the shadows, nursing a glass of vodka rum, puffing on a cigarette. The bartender stands behind the bar, wiping down the glasses and goblets, paying no heed the man. A good bartender knows when to ignore his customer and when to befriend them, and this bartender is a good man if he will say so himself.

Outside, the summer afternoon sun beats down terribly on the land. Nothing moves, safe for an occasional person walking down the street, hurrying on their business, never stopping to enjoy the lull of the afternoon. Zeus, a mongrel lies under the shadow of the bar, its hind leg sometimes twitching as it dreamt its little doggy dreams. A crow squawked at a distance, bearing a strange premonition to the land.

Another figure approached the quiet bar, pushing open the door to throw a long winged shadow across the empty bar. She gazes around and takes a seat by the bar. The bartender replaces the glass he is wiping and smiles enigmatically. She is his usual customer, and he is always happy to serve her, though he will never show it.

"I will like a Johnnie Walker Red Label on the rocks."

And she knows what to order best, he has to give her that. He serves her the drink and returns to the lone man to refill his glass.

It is a slow day indeed.

But day will give way to night and as the day slowly comes to an end, people start appearing from the shadows, gathering around to celebrate the night to come. The band kicks up a song, the dead place comes to life as the people arrive, pockets jiggling with gold of the day and ready to spend.

And the bartender starts his work for the night.

Very soon, the quiet bar transforms like magic into a place of wonder. Delicious smell permeates the bar as dinners are prepared, dinners of steak, burgers, pork, fish… Men and women gather round, drinking and talking, making noise in general. On the other side of the bar, families sit together having dinner, children screaming, parents scolding. Friends come together, teasing and joking, making lots of noise and having fun.

There is an ambience of fun and friendliness.

As the night drifts on, the land begins its rest for the day. Families return to their warm cozy homes, with a nice fireplace and their family pet. But the night is still young for many. As the rest of the world begins its preparation for the sleep to come, the bar remains rowdy and raucous. A different crowd begins drifting in, the unruly crowd of guys and gals. The band plays on, heartened and cheered on by the crowd, demanding more fun. Boisterous males show off their masculinity, sultry females strut their stuff on the tables. Young males chase after voluptuous young females who tempt them.

"Hey Walter, another round of drinks for the whole house!"

And the crowd demands for more, pounding on the tables for drinks. The bartender works efficiently, the drinks flow non-stop for the night. Challenges are thrown around, insults and cat-calling make up for most of the din. Occasionally an unfortunate soul incites the wrath of a drunkard who rises in a daze, seeking for a fight. And still the crowd demands for further amusements.

But as the night deepens, rowdiness gives way to weariness and loneliness. Youngsters stagger out of the bar with their friends, drunk and eager for more fun out there, under the stars. The band packs up to go home, but still some customers linger on, nursing their drinks solemnly, enjoying the quiet that was left behind.

As the day finally closes the curtain of dusk, and the stars appear on the dark cloak of Night, in a little corner of the empire, the little bar sighs in contentment of the day. Its warm lights beckon lonely wanderers to seek comfort within its homely halls, inviting the sick and weary to leave their burdens at its doorsteps and enjoy the remains of the night.

Couples wander in, hand in hand, to have a quiet time together. The usual customers walk in, heavy smiles on their face as if the burden of the world weighted down on their shoulders.

"Walter, be a good man and keep my glass full for the night. It's been hell today."

The bartender nods as he sets a glass of Bourbon in front of the man. The second half of his night has begun and he goes about serving his customers with the same enigmatic smile he serves other customers.

Drunken men mumbled in the deep of their sleep, stretched across tables. Lonely women whisper empty promises into the ears of lonely men who seek for comfort in a woman’s arms tonight. Sitting by the fireplace, couples share their dreams together, radiating their love for one another. There is nostalgia in the air, people sitting and watching light shimmering in their drink, thinking back to the days gone by.

A solo saxophone serenades the night, and the good bartender continues his work until the stars return to the Heavens and the night goes to sleep.


This is a bar that I've been visiting and more frequently during the 1 week Raya break. What can I say, I got bored of studying. And this place has cool people that I can interact with without talking about my studies (which is really bad).

To quote myself: Who gives a fuck about EoS?

I've decided to hang around the net for a little while and rant abit on what have been doing.

Taking a book out of Agong's post, I'm going to type whatever went through my mind today.

Designs for Convo Mag... damn so dead la.

Who to choose for Romancing Saga? Is Gray good enough? Stupid dinosaurs.

Hmm... iBook G4 sounds so tempting. Will get Dad to choose that just to spite Microsoft.

When is Rand going to grow up?!!

Shit, 4 more weeks to Eos. Fuck la.

I'm bored, let's think up constitutions for the Debate Club.

Movies to watch: Hmm... Harry Potter looks good. Narnia is next.

Damn, Desperate Housewives S206 still no trackers.

Yay! Episode 6 of Commander-in-Chief. President Mackenzie reminds me of Sheena.

Endon and that Ting lady has died so long ago, but I still see condolences printed in papers. Why?

Harry Potter's out on 17th, I wonder who wants to go watch BEFORE Eos.

Nicol David is ranked 3rd, I haven't seen her play before on TV at all.

I studied CVS, Endo and Renal and Respi and cannot remember anything from a few hours ago. I'm dead.

Some dumbass does not know that Harry Potter is from Hogwarts.

I need a faster USB port. Wonder should I just buy a new computer.

I have a crazy family who goes out mamak at 2 in the morning.

Radiata Stories damn tough la... should I choose Human Side or Non-human?

The soundtrack for HP and GOF seems interesting. Different from the previous movies.

I'm hungry. Let's eat fish and chips tonight.

Must study!! Promised God to study dee... ... later la...

US troops should just stay put in US and stay there.

Let me roll in bed for a while more.

When is my PSP coming??!!

Convo mag, should it be done in Illustrator or Photoshop? Haven't get colour coordination from TJ.

Google Earth is super cool. I can see Adeline's house! And Richard's! And Jody's! Where's my house?

I sound very stiff on radio, must be the morning time.

Where should we go for holiday while waiting for our results?

I feel like having Haagen Daaz Belgian chocolate ice-cream.

My cow in Harvest Moon is dying in calf-birth. Where to find fodder in Winter???

Imagine a very handsome young man with long platinum blond hair tied neatly at the base of his neck, wearing a tuxedo and holding a single blood red rose. His silvery blue eyes gleamed and he gives you a cynical smirk, his long canine protruding slightly from the corner of his mouth. Hmmm... sounds interesting.

Should I blog about this? See first la.

My Bull in Harvest Moon likes it when I milk it. *grin*

My PS2 is my best friend. Only he understands my obsessive need to play everyday.

What is haemopoiesis? It is the process of formation and developement of blood cells. (YES!!! I finally memorised it.)

New theory I came up with: If Bill Gates stole ideas to create the XBox and some other crap he created, it is possible that Window's software is not originally his too.

Hands itchy to write a sin. Who is next?

Another 10 minutes of sleep, ZZZZZZZzzzzz....

Let's go to Genting right after our EoS.

Should Yean Koon be Shi Ching's first love? Hmmm... strange, but plausible. If Sien Hui marry Shi Ching, what would happen Elena? No, cannot let them marry...

My visual association cortex for colour is not functioning well.

Naruto and Bleach new chapter. Set, download again.

My dad is a fan of Harry Potter. *shivers*

Stupid Abarat2. Wasted half and hour trying to find it. Going to reserve it.

I have 1 more ticket to HP premier. Be the fifth commentor thru if you want it.

What is 3 phases of CML, or is that CLL? Hmm... later la.

Being an assassin is an interesting job. I won't mind, if I get to kill the examiners for Osce.

I just finished replaying FFVII (still the best FF).

I want to go diving!!!

I'm too lazy to study. Ok, let's blog.

So that's basically what's been going on through my mind lately. And not surprising, not many thoughts of EOS. If I am to word Richard's thoughts, it would be like:

Damn stress!!!

ARGH!!! Two more hours left to finish this stack of lectures.

Tomorrow must finish GI.

No time to eat, must study.

EOS in 41,760 minutes time!! (countdowning)

AiYA!!! I forgot to study something. Where's my notes!! Where's my notes!!!

Die la!!! I forgot definition of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Mustn't think of watching TV. Must study.

EOS in 32 days!!!

etc. etc. etc.

Don't laugh. I bet almost everyone of you would be thinking the same thing every minute every day.

Ok, enough of rambling. I'm off to study.

Hai Liang: This is not like you, Elena. Don't study. Have faith.

Sure, I have faith, so I am just going to study and let God deal with the things I have studied but forgotten. Argh!!! Don't forget, funeral's at 10.00am 24th Dec.

I'm off! At least I have Harry Potter to look forward to. 5 more weeks to EoS, 6 more systems to go. Ganbate!!! And readers, please pray for your captain. She goes down, the plane goes down too.

Something big's going on outside,
and we're all too smashed to do anything about it...
- Drunken Junon Resident

We passed by on 9:30 PM |