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Thursday, June 30, 2005

War Of The Worlds - Review (No Spoilers, Guaranteed)



























I grew up admiring Steven Spielberg (just his work and nothing else), whether when he was in the director’s chair or just as a producer. However, when he made Close Encounter of the Third Kind and E.T., I was still too young to appreciate them.

My likings on all things aliens and alien invasion started when a TV series called WOTW, also based on H.G. Wells book, was aired some time in the late 80’s. Ever since, shows like The X-Files, Roswell and Taken and movies of the same genre like The Thing, Alien series, Signs, Men In Black (the first), ID4 and many others, become my favourites. So, when I heard that Spielberg teams up with Tom Cruise in making the WOTW movie, my 'adrenalien' is all pumped up.

By end of today (30 June 2005), I will have watched the movie three times already. Yesterday, I took leave just to celebrate its release and out of feeling a bit stressed out over a few things (I think), I decided to watch the movie back to back. (The third time will be today)

My, it was a good decision and very much well worth it. As suspected, the story is well-and-fast paced. This is nothing like Independence Day. This is a movie with characters, and strong ones, even if they appear briefly. You know how sometimes film makers like to make love stories, set in some shady background. Good examples are Titanic (the maiden voyage is the background) and Pearl Harbour (set during the World War II).

WOTW is also a love story - love from a father to his children, love between siblings and love among mankind. And the story is set during an alien invasion. Once again, Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Tim Robbins show enough credentials to their characters. We can feel the pains and worries that Ray (Cruise) feel while trying to save his children, the fear that terrorises Rachel (Fanning) and the anguish that takes over Mr. Robbin's character. Despite being a movie laden with special effects, the human elements are visibly shown.

Now let's talk about the special effects. All I can say is that, I found myself scaling every inch of the screen, not wanting to miss anything when the Tripods (and its crew) are attacking. The camera movement is also very engaging, especially the 360 degree-view of the van which Ray and family are in, during their attempt to escape at the highway.

THIS IS DEFINITELY THE BEST MOVIE OF 2005, SO FAR......and because of that, I'd like to share photos from the movie (above). Enjoy!!

posted by The Pisces Man @ 9:51 am 0 people talked at The Boulevard

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Damn it, damn it…..

Over almost the past two weeks, the gym that I go to had been closed. They put up a notice that said, “TECHNICAL ERROR.” I didn’t like the sound of that….and a couple of days ago, the management of the building officially said; they have locked and taken over the premise due to long outstanding rental problem. Therefore, the gym is most likely won't re-open after all. There are a lot of disgruntled users (including myself) over what will happen to our money?

Actually, money is not the main thing that really pisses me off. In a previous post, I shared with you how I was following this one fitness programme at the gym, to the extent that I drew out the exercises routines myself. But while I’m all energetic to look and be healthy, this happens.

This is just so typical. I remember at school, I once asked a so-called friend to teach me how to play tennis. And this ‘friend’ answered, “There will be a lot of people watching.” What the hell was that supposed to mean? So, what was I, some fucking weird unknown animal? (Syukran, if you are reading this, I have something to confess…the reason that I didn’t attend your wedding was because, apart from you and a couple other friends, I don’t really care about what happens to the rest of ex-school mates. I don’t really want to meet them again ….ever!)

Then there was this person A, whom I asked to teach me play chess. And person A asked back, whether I knew the movements of the pieces. When I said no, person A replied, “If that’s the case, then sorry, I can’t help you. It’s very difficult.” Shouldn’t the right answer be, “Try to observe how people play first or read from books, then come back to me,” or “Come, I show you everything,” instead of totally blew me off. What? Did person A happen to know everything about chess naturally, like right from the moment he was born?

I remember when I secretly bought 5 or 6 books on sports and games but I ended torching them all to ashes. This is because it was all theory and rules and I didn’t fully understand most parts of them. It was quite stressful to just read them, without practising them.

Then recently, I joined a boxing class. I made that decision because, I thought in order to be protective (now that I am becoming a husband soon), I need to know how to protect. After all, it’s good exercises! But, just when I was all pumped up in learning boxing and even did own practices at home, the class got cancelled - due to that stupid gym’s management issues.

Now, the whole gym is no longer in operation. So, what am I supposed to do with all those sketches and articles on exercises? Burn them all as well?

Maybe I was destined to be the weak, slob and good-for-nothing person anyway. So why bother to change, right? I just can't do this alone...that's all...

You might think that what an angry man I am today. But isn’t one of the purposes of having a blog, is so that you’ll be able to express your feelings? In other words, be able to say “DAMN IT, DAMN IT” out loud and let the whole world know about it…..

posted by The Pisces Man @ 11:48 am 4 people talked at The Boulevard

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Between longing and not being grateful

It is in human nature of not feeling (easily) satisfied with what we have and acquire. But there is a difference between longing for something or someone and not being grateful with what we already have.

Like for example, parents who hardly make ends meet, would long for more money so that they can no longer be in debt and their family can live comfortably. They have money, but they long for more. But how? They long for the promotion or the raise or winning the competition that offers $ 1 million as the first prize. Or, maybe they do have their own financial plans of getting ahead. Perhaps writing and publishing a book, opening a restaurant or be a financial consultant by selling insurance products.

Or how about, a single father who raises his daughter to be the best that she can be. He pours all his love and attention to his ‘pumpkin’ hoping that it is enough. But what if it’s not enough? What if she still longs for the mother that she never had, the attention that she rightly deserved?

It is all right and natural to long for something or someone. It usually happens when a certain need is not (fully) fulfilled. It does not mean that we are greedy and not being thankful to God. Longing for something or someone keeps us alive and willing to fight to move one. In some ways, it keeps us happy. But longing for them obsessively can tear us apart from the inside. It will make us very unhappy.

However, it is NOT right and NOT natural to be greedy and never ever satisfied with what we have. Usually in such cases, elements of evil are involved. We’ve heard cases of happily married men who still chase after prostitutes and mistresses, or even resort to raping innocent women. Or how about Mr. Wealthy who is lucky enough to build his fortune, still wanting to accumulate more for his own good. He never wants to part some of his wealth for the good of his community. He’s even willing to get involved in some illegal transactions just so that the figures in his bank accounts keep increasing.

So, who are you?

posted by The Pisces Man @ 8:00 pm 1 people talked at The Boulevard

What’s Going On In There?

There is a local saying that pretty much goes like this, “Our hair is identical black, but one can never tell what goes on in our heads.” Of course, nowadays, that is half true. Malaysians can also have hairs of different colours, either from own colouring or as a result of a mixed marriage. But the other half is still very true today, and forever will be. We can never tell what goes on in another person’s head, let alone other people knowing what we are thinking.

True, adults have more problems compared to children and teenagers. But adults have better knowledge and experiences in easing their burdens, hopefully the right way. You know how experts always encourage parents/guardians to tap on their children’s potential, right from their early start. But unfortunately, sometimes parents/guardians concentrate so much on this aspect, they forget to uncover another aspect which is equally important; i.e. their problems and issues.

A lot of things can go on in a child’s or a teenager’s mind. Underneath that cute, good looking, chubby, scrawny, innocent or wild exterior, things can get pretty messy in ‘there’. A child may admire a political figure, a famous scientist or an athlete and aim to become one. But a child can also wish for a ‘figure’ who is missing in his/her life and start to manifest how the ‘figure’ will be like. But the thing is, this ‘figure’ may or may not come true in the child’s life.

A child may be influenced to do good deeds, but a child can also be talked into doing vices. A child may have the goals to live on, but a child can also feel so lost and be thinking about suicide; wanting to end it all. As dark as it can be, this is a brutal truth. Before becoming an adult, children go through a very fragile state especially when they are teenagers. We’ve heard cases of someone who comes from a wrecked family but turns out fine as an adult. But someone who comes from an average family may take the wrong path, later in his life.

So, have you dug deeper into your child’s mind?

© Copyright Abdun N.A. - Malaysia; Monday 14/04/03; 08:24pm (modified from my Toastmasters speech)

posted by The Pisces Man @ 6:00 pm 0 people talked at The Boulevard

‘Web’ in the ‘Ocean’

In one scene from the first Spider-Man movie, Peter Parker said to Mary Jane that, “Sometimes you know people…you just see what’s coming for them.”

Peter Parker may know Mary Jane well enough. But how close or well enough do you know your spouse, your children, your parents, your siblings or your own best friend? I read or heard from somewhere that everyone has his/her own dark secrets? Is this true, does it actually apply to everybody?

Whatever it is, Peter Parker may be a super hero but he was wrong about one thing. You may know what’s coming for someone, but you can never know another person a 100% sure, regardless of who the person is. We can try our best but our differences, makes us unique. This is where trust and honesty come to play.

So, what is it that you have been hiding? Perhaps something untoward happened to you in the past that only a small group of people, or just you alone know? If the latter were the case, what would you do about it? Perhaps you are thinking, there is only one person that you can share it with. Or…..maybe you try to toss it away and pretend it never happened? Heck, you’ve been living with it your whole life; you might as well take it to the grave with you.

In the Titanic movie, Rose Dawson confessed that, “A woman’s heart is as deep as the deepest ocean.” However, I do think that a man’s heart is deeper than the deepest ocean, perhaps further down to the earth’s core level. This is because men don’t talk like women do. They normally just keep quiet.

What if almost everything that has happened in your life up to this point is the result of that one fateful day or days or because of that one little secret or secrets? After all, Rose Dawson’s life did take its twist and turn after that 3-day-and-3-night journey on that giant ship…..

posted by The Pisces Man @ 4:00 pm 0 people talked at The Boulevard

O’ Share

I watched a TV show called Mark O’Shea’s Great Adventure the other day. Mark is a scientist, a TV host and also an adventurer. He travels the whole world in search of (mostly endangered) species, catch them on camera and by hand (or using a safe trap) for research and preservation or just to study their natural habitat and stuffs.

The great thing about this show is that some of the species have never been properly documented and their very existence is also arguable. This is because Mark’s search is based on the encounters of the locals or some ‘ancient’ documents wrote by an ‘historian’. And usually (I do miss the show sometimes), his quest proves successful. Go watch the show!! If you are lucky, you’ll be a witness to the first official confirmation that a particular species does exist.

And ohhh….by the way, Mark O’Shea is NOTHING like that over-reacting, loud and boring Mr. Crocodile, Mr Steve Irwin (or whatever his name is).

Ok, here’s the reason I am posting this message. In one of the episodes, he uttered something that I will remember maybe, for the rest of my life, and maybe I will pass it on to my future children (and grandchildren?). He said, during the time when Mark was deciding his next course of action after school, his dad once told him “Make sure you really think it through about who you want to be in your life, because the decision affects the rest of your life.” So, basically Mark’s dad gave him a total freedom of what career he wanted to pursue.

I was lucky because my parents once said the same thing. Unfortunately, if only I knew what was the right one for me? I let that opportunity slipped by, because I didn’t know what I wanted to become or which course was the right thing for me. In the end, I took something what the world wanted me to, what the world thought this would be the ‘hot’ career of the future. I took….engineering.

I don’t (fully) regret I chose that course. After all, the degree got me my current job (which still, in a way, involves with engineering). I regard it as part of the process in life, that gets me to where I am today and where I’ll be. And during this process, I learn this lesson, learn that lesson, meet this person, meet that person, know these people, know those people, see these places and see those places.

But I do regret the fact that the world is so materialistic. People judge us on how big our car is, what clothes are we wearing, is our cheque fat enough, is our house grand enough, so on, so forth. Therefore, we always succumb to the pressure of getting that big $ sign, even if it means we are doing something that we feel so miserable of doing.

Why can’t we do something that we really have passion in? Although the pay may not be that great, but we are happy and who knows, maybe that great financial reward will come true after all, and in a very satisfying way. Look at Mark O’Shea as an example; he enjoys what he is doing and gets paid handsomely in the process.

Most likely, I will give the same advice (as Mark’s dad did) to my children (and grandchildren?). It doesn’t matter if they choose an unpopular course in college. As long as it’s not against our religion, our culture and our laws, then they will get my consent. And if no bodies want to sponsor their course, then I will do so myself! (Insha’ Allah).

posted by The Pisces Man @ 2:15 pm 1 people talked at The Boulevard

1, 3, Hill

One Tree Hill is a hit TV show from Warner Bros., which is already in the middle of the second season (as aired in Malaysia).

Basically, the story revolves around Lucas and Nathan Scott, who shares the same biological father, but hardly gets along. Karen Roe (Lucas' mother) is pursuing her education after sacrificing all that for her ex-husband, Dan Scott. She and her lecturer is currently an item and she once had a complex relationship with Keith (Dan's brother).

Keith is quite close with Lucas, compared to Nathan. He once slept with Deb (Nathan's mother), and caused Dan a heart attack. Dan is a manipulative father, brother, husband and person. Almost everyone whom ever crossed paths with him, must have been hurt by him, one way or another. It is also the reason why Nathan had acquired a court order to keep both of his parents away from him.

Nathan marries Haley even though they know they are still in high school. But Haley leaves him because she is chasing after her dream and is now performing with Michelle Branch (the singer) on a tour.

Lucas had a complicated history with two gorgeous girls, which nearly broke apart the friendship between the girls; Brooke and Peyton (my favourite). Now, they all remain friends, although Lucas just realised that Brooke is the girl for him. Unfortunately, Brooke already has a new boyfriend. Brooke is also still trying to adapt to the fact that her parents had gone bankrupt.

Peyton is a very lonely girl, who has lost her mother, and father is never around. She's currently having a relationship with Jake, who already has a child from a previous relatioship with an older girl.

Sounds complicated? Not really...I just love the series...a lot! Every week, about 3 to 5 minutes before it ends, it will show how each of these characters intertwine with each other in different scenes, for one final moment (of that particular episode), with some nice catchy song playing in the background. Try to imagine, like the end of a book chapter. It hangs just nice to make you feel excited and impatient at the same time, to know what will happen next.

This series is NOT a chick flick, and far from being a teenager flick, or even a soap! And should you worry that it has some heavy sexual content, well, it's not (it's very mild, actually). And thanks to our censorship, it is practically clean.

Teenagers will love this series, for it basically represents them and their feelings. Parents will love the series, so that they can have some ideas about teenagers these days and what might go on in their heads. Those who are in neither of the categories will love the series, for sheer enjoyment and its well-scripted plots.

The theme song is by Gavin DeGraw. I just love the lyrics that goes like this:
I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately
All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind
I'm tired of looking 'round rooms wondering what I gotta do
Or who I'm supposed to be
I don't want to be anything other than me

posted by The Pisces Man @ 2:00 pm 0 people talked at The Boulevard

The War Continues

War of the Worlds is indeed my most anticipated movie this year. Other people may eagerly waited for Star Wars 3, but not for me...it's definitely WOTW. For Star Wars (all the episodes)...watching them is fun. But then, the fun dies rather quickly and doesn't last too long to actually make me a fanatic of the premise. Well, I don't think I should force myself to be a die-hard Star Wars fan just because so many people out there are, am I right?

Back to WOTW, as of today, I have tracked down from the net, 7 trailers (2 of which are for the Japanese market), 11 TV spots and 3 clips of the WOTW movie. The best sources would be from http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=5952, http://www.movieweb.com/movies/film.php?2660 and http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/waroftheworlds/. Go check them out, dudes!!

Arguably, the trailers and TV spots for WOTW are some of the best around, ever. They sure promise you a few things about the movie:
1. it is laden with amazing special effects (Industrial Light and Magic is behind it);
2. great storyline (a story about a father who struggles to save his family during an invasion is very touching);
3. top notch performances (heck, judging from the all-star cast, especially Tom Cruise. In my opinion, Mr Cruise is a great actor who has more than just a good look. In fact, he should have won the two Oscars that he got nominated before); and
4. it will surely be one of the best this year, since it is helmed by Spielberg and his team.

Let’s just hope that I'm not mistaken...One more week to go....Peace to the world!!!

posted by The Pisces Man @ 1:00 pm 0 people talked at The Boulevard

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Smith, the Interpreter....Begins....(Spoilers ahead)

Here, I'd like to review 3 movies - Mr & Mrs. Smith, The Interpreter and Batman Begins.

For Mr(s) Smith, I don't really understand how come so many good reviews are given for this movie. Ok, it starred two hot actors but then....that's about it.... As you might already know, the movie is about two assassins from different agencies who get married to each other without knowing the real respective spouse's career. So, when both of them is assigned to eliminate this one dude, their secrets unrevealed when they crossed each other's paths. As a consequence, they are both assigned to kill each other out, but who gets to who first? Soon enough, when they failed to carry their task, their agencies call all other assasins to kill them both.

Here's the thing, the target is actually a bait, so that this married couple will find out their own secret identities, and will begin a cat-and-cat game. The reason for sending a bait is because, their agencies think that them marrying to each other, is just bad for business. But the thing is, if that's their (the agencies) main reason, why not just send someone to do it quietly, while they haven't discovered their identities yet.....in other words, while they both have their pants down or something? Why should use a bait? Of course by doing so, Mr & Mrs Smith will both be alert of the impending danger and will arm themselves with weapons and tactics. Obviously, the people who ran the agencies are a bunch of idiots!

Towards the end of the movie, so many assasins are after them and they create a lot of attention in doing so - the car chase sequence, the explosion of their house and the mall and plenty of gunfire. These people are not from the SWAT team for crying out loud, they are assassins...they should carry their task quietly and professionally. As suspected, both Mr & Mrs Smith escaped unscathed. It also seems that the agencies have to shut down their businesses since all their assassins are in body bags (and judging from how Mr & Mrs Smith can happily consult a marriage counsellor about their marriage problems). Overall, I'd give this movie a big D.

The Interpreter is one of the few serious summer movies out there this year, when all other movies are more into action, special effects and commercial values. So, it is understandable that not many buzz goes around this movie. But it doesn't mean that it should be tossed out!

The movie is about Ms Silvia Broome (the lovely Nicole Kidman), a U.N. interpreter, who inadvertently overhears a death threat in 'Ku' language (fictional) against an African head of state (fictional) scheduled to address the United Nation's General Assembly. She's soon become a target of the assassins as well. In her desperate attempt to save her life and to thwart the plot...she has to get someone to believe her (since she herself has some shady background back when she was still in South Africa). Then there is Tobin Keller (Sean Penn), the federal agent who's in charge in protecting her; who not only want to foil the plot, but also help Ms Broome comes to terms with her past grievances (and liking her so much in the process).

There is good chemistry shared between the two main cast. Storywise - not bad, acting - close to superb (you can't expect less from these big names) and the special effect (on the bus explosion) is quite convincing. Go see this movie if you love Kidman and Penn and if you enjoy a political thriller.

Everything has a beginning.....in the first Batman (with Michael Keaton donning the bat suit), not much was explored on his origins. But in Batman Begins, the movie traces back to when Bruce Wayne falls into the bat cave, the story behind his parents' death outside the theater, how Bruce transforms the bat cave into his cave, etc etc. If Tobey Maguire is Spider-man, then Christian Bale is Batman. Cillian Murphy is also splendid as the Scarecrow and Michael Caine as Alfred. As for soon-to-be Mrs Tom Cruise (Katie Holmes), well, she's just there. Perhaps Mr Cruise can give her some acting lessons eh....?

posted by The Pisces Man @ 11:02 pm 1 people talked at The Boulevard

War Of The Worlds Trailers

I enjoy watching movie trailers especially if the movies are the much anticipated ones. For most trailers, watching them once is enough and after a while, they can easily be forgotten. But for some few, I just love them very much. Not enough with watching them at the cinemas or on tv, I will search and download them from the net, save them to my PC and even 'burn' them on discs, to be played on my DVD player.

I just enjoy watching them over and over again, to the extent that I can remember the sequences of scenes in the trailers, the script uttered by the actors and the music background. A trailer like this is like another movie on its own, with 'storyline' and continuity, without giving too much away on the 'real' movie itself.

So far, examples of such trailers are trailers for LOTR 1, 2, 3; Spider-man (2 trailers) and Spider-man 2 (2 trailers).

Today, I would like to recommend you to view the four trailers of the War Of The Worlds (WOTW) movie. The movie is soon to be released on 29 June 2005. It starred Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto and directed by Steven Spielberg. The best website for you to view those trailers is at http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/waroftheworlds. As for the movie's official website, it is at http://www.waroftheworlds.com/.

The first trailer was released months ago - more like a preview of a preview. It shows 'humans going to and fro about their globe, confident of their empire over this world. But then, our world is being watched by intelligents greater than our own, who regarded our planet with envious eyes'. As soon as the commentator finishes his words, the trailer shows a housing community. Each household seems to have been awaken from their night sleep, by some thunderous sounds and flashes of yellowish fiery lights in the sky.

Then, all of a sudden, come this giant 'bomb', destroying them all...Cool!

The second trailer is slightly longer than the first. Ray (Cruise) advises Rachel (Fanning) of what NOT to do while they are fleeing from their house. In another scene, it shows how Ray screams for his son's life, most probably because a giant fireball is coming towards them. At the end of the trailer, we get to see a glimpse of the alien, while Ray and Rachel are hiding at one corner in a barn.

The third trailer had just been released to the public. If you've been watching any movies lately and you arrived early at the cinemas, chances are you could have seen this third trailer before your movies begin. The trailer starts off with a scene showing Ray's shift, working at a port in New York has just ended (so we know what Ray's job is). Then, there's this pregnant wife with another man (we can guess who the father of the baby is), one teenage son and a little girl. So, we can imply that Ray is a divorcee with two kids, who is rather lousy at keeping his words, at least to his ex-wife.

Judging from the trailer, we can safely assume that Ray is a happy-go-lucky but caring dad. But when lightnings hit repeatedly behind their house, things take turn for the worse. The aliens are attacking. Watch the amazing sequences when the bridge and the highway behind their house break apart and topple, bringing together all the vehicles down with them. Cool.......!!!

In the last and longest running trailer of the four, we know from Robbie (Ray's son) that the lightnings hit 26 times in Lincoln (I think) Avenue. Watch how the road where the lightnings hit, somehow move and shake before caving in. We are also introduced to the character played by Tim Robbins, who seems to know a little something about the aliens and is also well armed. He takes shelter in the same barn where Ray and Rachel are hiding (in the second trailer), but no sights of Robbie or Ray's wife there. Can this mean they are dead? Or Robbie decides to join the army and fight after all? Also, when Ray screams for Rachel at the end of the trailer (while Rachel is looking up, probably at the alien's spaceship), can this mean that Rachel will be abducted?

All in all, the music arrangements in the trailers are engaging (each has a different one, although slightly) and the editings are brilliantly done. I should say the trailers for WOTW have made it to my list as some of the best trailers around, joining the LOTR and Spider-man trailers. CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MOVIE TO BE RELEASED!!!!

posted by The Pisces Man @ 9:25 am 17 people talked at The Boulevard

Friday, June 03, 2005

Happy Birthday Mak

Today - 3rd of June is Mother's Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAK!!! MAY YOU LIVE LONG, HAVE STRONGER 'IMAN', HAPPY, HEALTHY AND WEALTHY. ALSO, MAY WE BE IN HEAVEN SO THAT WE CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER, ALL THE TIME WITH NO WORRIES WHATSOEVER (since it's rather impossible for us to do so on earth).......YOU, ME, THE REST OF THE FAMILIES, RELATIVES AND OUR BELOVED FRIENDS.....IN HEAVEN, INSHA' ALLAH.

Look forward to your next year's birthday and many more years to come....

posted by The Pisces Man @ 4:56 pm 0 people talked at The Boulevard