I want to win tickets to Larry Crowne and Lulla Man!

First of, I just wanna say that this post is specifically written to win me some free tickets from Adverlets... *crossing fingers*





If I could get a second chance, what would I have done differently in high school? Hmm, lessee... what would I do differently... I probably would have tried getting past my body issues and self esteem issues. Just to be comfortable in my own skin. I think that was one of the worst times in my life, the uncomfortableness and the feeling of being left out coz I was different than the rest of the cookie cutter clan. Other than that, nothing else I would've done differently.

How do you rekindle a dying relationship? This is tricky. Coz I haven't really been in a long term relationship and most of them died instantly. No such concept as 'dying'... huhu. Anyway, I guess I would just have a talk with the partner. Long and deep. Air everything out. Weigh in the pros and cons, and then decide on a course of action. Hmm, sounds like the dying relationship is gonna die huh? :)

Review - The Other Guys

I got chosen for the free tickets to watch the preview of The Other Guys via Advertlets --> http://www.advertlets.com/weblog/2010/09/10/advertlets-presents-the-other-guys-preview-screening-this-12th-october-2010/

Had the hardest time trying to figure out what to write. Even contemplated not going at one point. Yup, that was how hard the topic was... anyway, finally got down to it and this is the product of it --> http://moviewritings.blogspot.com/2010/09/other-guys-preview-screening-by-sony.html

Hopefully it would be good enough to get me tickets... and I got the email like Monday nite from Jason, telling me I got the tickets. Yay!

So I set out looking for a friend to go with me to the preview. Was quite hard. Not a lot of people were available and/or free to go. In the end, my colleague saved the day and we went to Midvalley together. Had dinner at Sushi King. It's RM2 per plate week! Yum!

Okay, so the movie... I had very low expectations of the movie. Mostly because of Will Ferrell. He is not funny to me. Quite annoying. In most of his movies.

But it turned out quite well. Will Ferrell was not annoying. Much. But the movie's quite good, with some crazy one-liners and pop culture references. It's not as fast-paced as a cop movie but since the title is The Other Guys, so it was okay that the movie was not rock 'em sock 'em blow 'em up style.

However, Mark Wahlberg was being the annoying one. God, he was overacting a bit. Now I see what people were talking about. That he does overact here and there. His face was in a constant state of "I'm constipated". Reminds me of The Happening... sigh...

On a different note, it's nice to see Vince from Will & Grace and also Michael Keaton. Looks so aged... nice supporting with the funny TLC references...

Oh, forgot to mention... when I was queueing up to get the tickets, they told me I won something, like the last time... I won Nightmare on Elm Street t-shirt... I was excited... but then, he said I did not win anything... April Fool's came a bit too early... :(

But then, after the movie's finished, Josh from Advertlets got up and presented the winning blog posts with presents... I was not bitter, I kinda had to pee... but then I heard my name called! What the... woah... hehehhe... this is what I got:

I placed second! So unexpected! Thanks to Sony and Advertlets.

P/S - Was disappointed You Again got canceled... I love Kristen Bell...

The Other Guys Preview Screening by Sony Pictures and Advertlets

I have been thinking really hard about this. How do outcasts stand out? By definition alone, they should not stand out. Not really anyway. People notice outcasts but choose to not acknowledge them.

But lately, you can see that outcasts or the other guys have been standing out.

The best example I could think of... are from the movies or TV series. More and more shows now are made with nerds and geeks either as the lead or as one of the sidekicks. Chuck, The Big Bang Theory and countless cop shows like CSI or Bones. They all feature one outcast or another and they all play important roles to the storylines.

I have to admit that I am one of those nerds. Shy wallflower types that nobody would notice. Yup, I am sooooo The Other Guys. If the normal guys aren't around or busy, then only I'd come into the picture. Socially or at work, it's all the same.

But this ain't a pity party. I am okay with it. Some people are not that nice anyway. Hehehe.

Lately though, I have been singled out a lot. Like somehow I've stood out amongst the outcasts. Am not sure how, but people found out about my blogs. Okay, so I put my blogs at my facebook profile. How was I supposed to know people would read...

So now, this wallflower who used to coast on by without so much of a whimper... is a copywriter at work... thanks to his nerdy skills... and people come up to me with a lot of questions and asking help with scripts and stuff...

Don't get me wrong. I am still one of The Other Guys for sure... nobody bothers to include me in any of their plans... but they'd wanna join me for whatever it is that I am up to... weird eh?

Anyway, guess that's one of the advantages of being The Other Guys. You're kinda free to do whatever you want, however you want it, whenever you want it. You are not confined to other people's time, or interests or quirks.

And for the most part, people still leave you alone, which is exactly what I like. I mean, you can go off without people asking for you or wondering where you've gone off to.

For me, that's the best part of being one who doesn't fit in or an outcast.

And no, I am not gonna go all 'Carrie' on you normal folks at the preview... :)





For bloggers who wish to join this competition or wanna see the preview with the Advertlets team, go here --> http://www.advertlets.com/weblog/2010/09/10/advertlets-presents-the-other-guys-preview-screening-this-12th-october-2010/

Review - Legend of the Guardians

First of all, thank you to Advertlets for inviting me to the preview of Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. Really appreciate it... They even asked me if I was coming to the preview of The Other Guys... haven't had time to do the write up, hopefully I'd get it done soon... :)

Anyway, on to the review... (go to my pal's blog for his take on the movie...)

First of... this movie sounded like it was an Aussie/NZ project or at the very least The Association of Actors with Accents.... hehe, not that it's a bad thing coz it made the owls have regal air or a bit dignified... in any event, the movie boasts the who's who in the industry... talents like Ryan Kwanten of True Blood, Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush and Helen Mirren, Sam Neill and fantasy movie staples Hugo Weaving and David Wenham.

The movie is directed by Zack Snyder. Yup, the guy that directed 300. So that's why the movie has all of the war fight slow-mo move.

To tell you the truth, I have not heard of this movie before or bothered to google it before watching. I only watched the trailer at Advertlets website. So I did not know whose voice goes where and all that...

At first glance, the movie is great. Nice animation work. Nice graphics and rendering. Or is it coloring. Either way, it's all nice.

Even the story was great. But then, when you really look at it, you notice things. Not that it's all bad mind you...

The movie is suffering from M Night Shyamalan Syndrome (MNSS). It's a disease where a story that's really big and needed all kinds of exposition and back stories but can only be told in one hour or less so it's boiled down to the simplest points and everything was rushed through so that all it's points were told.

Yup, MNSS. If you watch Lady in the Water or The Last Airbender, then you'd understand what I mean. It's like taking The Lord of the Rings trilogy and boiling it down to a two hour movie.

Guardians started out with a nice view and then a majestic owl flying and hunting. Then it arrived home to feed it to its young. The owlets were playing roles from a legend they'd heard from the parents. Somehow or rather the owlets got captured when they fell from the tree and was taken to a far off place where they were forced to be either slaves or soldiers. One of them escaped and flew away to find the Guardians to help rescue everybody and bring the evil owls down.

That's basically the story. It felt a bit rushed. The legend was told once during the role playing and then... BOOM! They're transported right into the legend. But we don't really know it's the legend until after the owlets were told to go get help from The Guardians.

The Guardians were found without much hassle. Scouts were sent. Owlets were trained. Big battle ensued. Dust settled. We see the winner. And of course, there's a hint of a second movie. See? Rushed.

But the quirky supporting characters kinda elevated the movie a bit, providing some of the funnier moments, despite the seriousness of their quests.

Like I said, this movie is like The Lord of the Rings boiled down... not that it's bad. It's quite good. But I can't imagine bringing children to watch this because the battle scenes were quite graphic and the scare/thrill factor was quite high. Either way, despite the shortcomings and the MNSS, this movie is better than anything *cough* The Last Airbender *cough* that we've seen this summer.

Preview

Legends of the Guardians at Pavilion 8pm, thanks to Advertlets... see you there! :)

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole Movie Screening by Advertlets & Warner Bros.

My fave owl is the snowy owl... because? Well, look at it...

It's so pretty and mysterious... okay, okay, it's the more famous of the other owls... coz of it's starring role in all of the Harry Potter movies... yup, that's right... Hedwig's a Snowy Owl...

See? Pretty... and famous... hehehe

Advertlets is gonna have a screening of Legends of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole on the 20th of September... and I wanna go see it... for those of you who also want the exclusive tix, go here --> http://www.advertlets.com/weblog/2010/09/06/advertlets-presents-legend-of-the-guardians-the-owls-of-gahoole-movie-screening-in-3d-this-20th-september-2010/

... and see if you guys can get in on the bandwagon as well... by the way, Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin to everyone... :)

A Nightmare On Elm Street

Yesterday, a colleague and me went to see this movie...

Yup, the infamous Freddy Krueger in a modern retelling of the slasher flick, brought to us by Advertlets...

Held at GSC Midvalley (along with other media (Cinema Online, The Star etc) screenings)

We got there quite early. We left the office at about 7.15. We got to Midvalley at 7.30. Nice eh?

So we went straight to GSC to check out the thingy. There was already a long line but when investigated upon, it turned out to be the lines for Cinema Online. So I looked around and saw the Advertlets booth, closer to the concession stand. Unfortunately, it was empty. We're early. So we decided to go for dinner first.

Aren't these salmon scrumptious? *drools*

So close to 8 o'clock, I made a dash to GSC, leaving my colleague still scarfing down sushi... *envious*

Finally, there are people there... I had thought that maybe we missed the ticket redemption time... *phew*

There were only a few people in front of me but the waiting took almost forever. Come on people! Move it! The sushi ain't gonna wait for me! Sigh...

When I get closer to the front, I found out what the delay was... some people were negotiating to sit together with their other friends while some of them were negotiating about tickets? I did not really get the gist of that conversation coz I was fuming mad (and hungry). One more minute of waiting and I'd throw a hissy fit right there and then. Luckily, I did not have to wait another minute. I told the Advertlets guys my name and they said my blog name, even without looking at the list. Wow! That was a nice feeling. So I was not mad anymore. Hehhehe...

Then she (didn't catch her name) told me I'd won a t-shirt! Yay! But they said they'd give it to me in the screening hall... okay I guess... so the other guy (also did not get his name) asked me if I wanted A or B... woah, that's like the back of the hall... cool beans... I asked for A... of course...

Then I rushed back to Sushi King, where my colleague has eaten half of the Kaiten Belt... but I was too excited/nervous/giddy from finding out I won something and that people knows of me/my blog and that I got nice seats so I only ate a couple of plates more and we were gone...

Our seats in the back

Our vantage point... nice eh? Complete with Angels in the air, probably to protect us from Freddy...

Wow, this post is getting to be long... maybe I should keep the review short...

Freddy Krueger was a childhood nightmare, so to speak... this new Freddy isn't as scary or creepy as the original Freddy but the new Freddy has a malevolent aura that the old Freddy doesn't... this one made Robert Englund's Freddy looked a bit campy... huhuhu...

Not much to say about the storylines... ya know, kids sleep, meet Freddy, scream lungs out, slashing, dead... the usual...

But I gotta say the movie is creepy and quite suspenseful... not really scary as we've seen the movie/villain before but nice nonetheless...

Now, I don't exactly remember the original movie since it was years ago since I last saw it and I'd imagine there were a few tweaks here and there that are a bit different... I think...

And of course, the movie had to end on a cliffhanger... which we knew was coming but overall, I'd say good effort indeed :)

Thanks Advertlets! I am glad I participated in the contest...

P/S - I never got that prize... dunno what happened... maybe we came in too late to the screening hall and missed the prize giving ceremony... :(

Elm Street

Media: Advertlets Blog Network

Date: 11 May, Tuesday

Time: 8 pm

Venue: GSC Mid Valley, Hall 3 (170 seats)

http://www.advertlets.com/weblog/2010/04/11/advertlets-presents-a-nightmare-on-elm-street-special-screening-this-5th-may-2010/

See you guys there!

Nightmare

I woke up with a start.

Immediately, I grabbed the torchlight I kept next to my bed and hefted it as though it was a weapon. I looked around and scanned the room. The only other person in that room was my roommate Lee and he was sound asleep. In fact, he was snoring lightly.

I envied him.

I tried getting back to sleep but it was no use. There was no way I could fall back to sleep now. It was 4 in the morning. I sighed out loud. This was the fourth time in a row that I had the nightmares.

Getting up, I wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. I then realized that he was drenched in sweat and that my T-shirt was soaked through. I took off his tee and chucked it in the hamper. I grabbed my towel and went outside to the toilet.

I opened the door to the toilet. It was pitch black inside. Still reeling from the shock of the nightmare, I hesitated getting in immediately. I felt my way along the inside wall to find the light switch. As soon as I found it, I flipped it and the lights came on.

I glanced inside the cold toilet, and then I glanced around in the hallway. Satisfied that there was no one around, I went inside one of the cubicles and did my business. When I was done, I flushed and went out to wash my hands. All of a sudden, the toilet door slammed shu.

I jumped out of my skin. My heart was pounding so hard, it could break my chest.

Cursing under my breath, I splashed cold water on my face and started to leave. Just as I was about to reach the door, I heard noises coming from one of the cubicles.

A sense of dread filled my soul.

I had not heard anybody coming in. Every fiber of my being screamed for me to run for the safety of my room but curiosity got the better of me. I tentatively glanced over my shoulder, slowly turning my body around.

I got on my hands and knees and looked under the cubicle doors for signs of other people in there. However, all I could see were the floors and the toilet bowls. Still not satisfied, I got up and pushed open the door to the first cubicle. It swung open.

Empty.

I repeated the process until I was down to the last two cubicles. I pressed the door to the one nearest to me. It was locked. I could hear some sort of noise coming from within.

A sudden charge filled me. I would not cower away. I kicked the door in and it almost flew off of its hinges. However, that cubicle was totally empty. I opened the door to the last cubicle and it was also empty.

Laughing at my own paranoia and silliness, I shut the cubicle door and turned around. I went to the faucets to wash my face again. The cold water felt good against my skin. I wiped my face and thought about going for some sort of sleep therapy or something.

As soon as I was done wiping his face, I saw it in the mirror. A vampire from my nightmare was right behind him. I gasped slightly and turned to face the vampire. However, there was no vampire to be seen.

I freaked and ran out as fast as I could. However, just before I reached the door, I saw the vampire in the mirror again.

“Leaving so soon?”

My feet halted and turned into lead. I could not move an inch.

“But we’ve barely gotten to know one another…”

I turned around slowly. In my peripheral vision, I could make out the shape of a person standing at the other end of the room. My heart was beating a mile a minute and adrenaline was pumping in my veins. Sweat tricked down from my forehead.

I had never been scared in all my life, yet I found the situation a bit exciting. I had never realized that I was such a daredevil. As soon as I had turned around completely, I braced myself for an attack. However, none came.

I was all alone in the cold room. I looked around. Sighing, I realized that the lack of sleep must be getting to me. Just before I was about to head back out the door, a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind.

I woke up screaming. It was a nightmare. Thank God.

So, now that there's a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie coming, those nightmares would seem tame now wouldn't it? :P

http://www.advertlets.com/weblog/2010/04/11/advertlets-presents-a-nightmare-on-elm-street-special-screening-this-5th-may-2010