Is the world coming to an end?

I watched the preview of 2012 today and boy, was I scared to death throughout the whole movie! Why? My mind was thinking about whether the myth is TRUE. And whether the Mayan's calculations are in fact accurate. Well, obviously the movie did captivate and moved me. The whole visuals (despite the over-reliance on CGI) were pretty realistic and it showed the impacts such as building collapsing, tidal waves, volcano eruptions...etc. It was mind-blowing!

As I was working on my real review of the movie, I came across a website http://www.december212012.com/ and, it was a website on the prediction! It did give me goosebumps especially when there's a countdown timer stating how many days, hours, minutes and seconds we have left for 21.12.2012. And since it's 11.35pm right now, well, we have exactly 1136 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes left! Great.. does that mean I won't be able to get married and have kids? I would only be 26 by then.. But, one thing I'm curious about the countdown.. would it imply to my time zone or another? Cause Malaysia is about 12 hours ahead of the States you know. And since we all know that the end of days = Earth destroyed into little pieces at once, then would I gain a few more hours if I flew to the States?

But don't you worry about me.. I'm not a whole believer on that. I do trust that the end of days will occur on a Friday.. like what Islam states. Yes, I know 21.12.2012 is on a Friday but, nobody knows when exactly the world will come to an end. It could be this coming Friday, probably the next.. It's a secret that God has kept from us. He only gives hints - like wars, global warming...

Back to the movie, I think 2012 is probably the best disaster movie that Roland Emmerich has ever directed. Yes, I've watched his previous directions including Stargate, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and Indepedence Day.. why? Cause I think it scared the shit of all of those who watched it just now. What does bother me in this movie is that, it showed on how rich and powerful people are the ones that will survive. If you don't have any money to buy a seat in the Ark (the ship that will save those in it from the disaster), then goodbye! Oh, and you need a plane as well.. to fly to China where the Ark is being built.

Senario The Movie Ep. 2: The Beach Boys

Yes, I watched Senario's latest flick recently during its preview. It's coming to you next Thursday (Nov 19) incase if you're wondering..

Senario has been in this industry for ages.... I can't remember when I first saw them but I think it was during my primary school years. At the time, they were new.. still fresh, funny.. and whatever silly jokes that they made, I would laugh out loud. I even went to see their performance at one of the hotels in Terengganu when we went back to my dad's hometown. And yes, I enjoyed it...

The first two movies that enjoyed was the one where they worked at a funfair and the other was the one with the roti canai scene.. I can't recall what the titles were. But they were both hilarious back then.. Next they acted in other Senario movies including Lang Buana which until now I have yet to watch.. or not.. donno...

In this latest flick, it's the continuation of the first episode and probably the rest.. where this time the boys have partners! Yes, the ladies! In all of their movies, they are always single.. So I guess that's one interesting point in this movie. Another would probably be the Kelantanese/Thai speaking girl whom falls in love with Wahid. Most of the time she speaks of the language which I hardly understood (I had to read the subtitles!) and one ok-lah kelakar lah jugak part was when she spoke in Thai and Wahid had to remind her that Senario is a Malay movie.

In addition, Lan Pet Pet as an aerobic instructor was funny as well.. but the scene was so short that I didn't get the chance to giggle.

What was bothering me in the movie was Azlee's ability to cross his eyes... Well, everyone knows that he could do that.. and that he has been doing that probably in all of his movies (correction, the Senario movies that I watched). It was too excessive and it was no longer funny.. And as for Lan Pet Pet, I am fascinated with his ability to create so many sounds with his lips but this time it was very excessive as well and probably in all scenes, he would do it! From the usual trumpet sound to plane crash..

The story telling was interesting.. the whole situation where the boys wanted to go for holiday but ended up helping the resort owner attract guests.. but the dialogs were a bit dull.. and not so funny.. throughout the movie I could count how many times I made a small giggle because it was truly funny - five times?

Anyway, overall, I would give it a 5 over 10.. It wasn't that intriguing compared to the first two Senario movies. I guess I am no longer their target audience.. it's time for the new kids to enjoy..

A little insight on the upcoming movie, Planet 51

So, Planet 51 is coming out soon... Malaysia: Nov 19..

Well, it's an animated alien action comedy that revolves around an astronaut named Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker (voice by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) who lands on Planet 51 from Earth thinking that he is the first person to step foot on it.
To his surprise, he finds a planet that is inhabited by little green aliens and whose only fear is that it will be invaded by aliens such as Chuck!
Now that the aliens are panicking, with the help of his robot companion "Rover" and his new friend Lem (voice by Justin Long) Chuck has to go back to his ship in less than 72 hours before it flies back to Earth without him.
The problem is, the alien armies has surrounded the ship! This is where the action begins....

What do I think about it?
To compare with Pixar and DreamWorks production, Planet 51 produced by Ilion Animations Studios did a great job in terms of visuals and the characters created are interesting. The colours and details shown in the movie are breathtaking as well!
But personally, it's a tad draggy for an animation.. and the story telling was a bit boring... Halfway I wanted to doze off (which never happened)! Not to be rude or anything but it was too typical..
As for those who lended their voice in the movie, The Rock as Chuck, well, since I'm so used to watching him as a black-haired-guy, this time, seeing him as an animation character with blonde hair, didn't feel right.. The rest was alright.. Justin Long, Jessica Biel..
I think it's actually Ilion Animations Studios' first creation. They are from Spain by the way... but if it is their first creation, then I definitely salute them eventhough the story telling part was quite dull. This is due to the beautiful visuals and due to me thinking that it was another Pixar/DreamWorks creation. Because I've been fooled, I would like to give this movie a 6.5 over 10.

I know I have a sucky review.. I can't comment much as this movie is yet to be released next week and my real review in the papers won't be out until next Thursday!

The All American Rejects concert

THE ALL AMERICAN REJECTS

Voila! The signatures by yours truly, The All American Rejects when they came down to Malaysia for the DiGi Live concert. Tyson drew the AAR logo in the middle by the way. Pretty sweet of him!

I managed to do a one-on-one interview with Tyson and Nick hours before the concert. Nick was definitely the talkative and bubbly one compared to Tyson.. but Tyson definitely knows how to communicate with his fans when he's on stage.

Altogether the bands sang 14 songs that night.. it was amazing.. I think way better than Good Charlotte's concert when DiGi brought them as well. The hilarious thing about the concert that night was seeing the 15k crowd sardined at the Car Park A, Bukit Jalil for hours! Imagine the pamphlet stating the concert starts at 6pm but instead, the American rock band showed up at 9.30pm! That's like 3 1/2 hours! Thank God for the very-minimal-people at the Media & VIP platform. Or else, I would probably be squeezed to death!

This is what I meant by 'sardined'...

God sent me two angels..

On Monday, after I went for an interview - somewhere.. not a job interview.. something else. I decided to go back home after the Assistant Editor of Entertainment Desk at New Straits Times gave me the permission to take a day off. Afterall, it was already almost 2pm and I only had 3 hours left to work so I guess it was no point to drive all the way to Bangsar which would take about 30minutes or less. Depending on the traffic and which route I decided to take..

Anyway, as I reached home, I decided to take a short nap. Well, not really a short nap.. I set my alarm - 5.30pm. As I closed my eyes for less than an hour, someone called. I wanted to ignore at first but it could be an important call so I decided to pick it up.

The dialog below are not the exact words. I couldn't remember wholly what I said:
"Hello?" I said.
"Hello? Elena? This is ----- from -----. I was at ----- just now." she said.
"Oh, hi!" I replied.
Then she introduced herself as my late mother's bestfriend.
I became silent....
.....
She said that she was my late mother's housemate back in the 80s. Before my mother got married. She was very close to my mother..
As she started to explain how she knew my mother, my tears started to drop..

Imagine not meeting someone 'new' that knows your mother well for quite some time? Imagine not listening to new things about your mum for quite some time?

I don't know if she'd notice the change of my voice but seriously, I cried a lot till my nose became blocked.
She told me that my mother's other friend was there (the place I went earlier that day). She said she felt like she wanted to hug me but didn't want people to think that something was going on between us..
I didn't recognize her.. I'm not sure whether I've met her before. But she surely knew my mother well.. And I'm so blessed that God gave me the opportunity to get to know her and my mother's other friend even if it wasn't official.
I texted her yesterday.. confirming her sirname as I spotted her name in my mother's old phone book.. for those who don't know, my mother passed away 11 years ago due to brain haemorrhage when my family and I was living in Hong Kong. I was only 12 at the time.
She replied, "yes, that's my name." And her text continued with: "I felt so blessed that Allah gave me the chance to see you from a distance. And that smile really reminds me of your mum. Dia memang murah senyum and cepat mesra. Hati dia baik, suka tolong orang and sabar ..... and a few other things... and she ended with Nanti kita jumpa ya!"
I havent' stopped reading the text eversince.. the words are beautiful..

This afternoon, she called again.. and talked about my late mother and her work.. And again, I wanted to cry but I was about to enter the NST building so I decided to contain it. About an hour later, the other lady called.. and we spoke about my mother, the tragic incident.. a bit of my current life.. seriously, it was wonderful despite me trying to hold my tears. By then I was at my desk working on a story but I had to leave the table as I knew that I would shed some tears.

So far this week, I've never felt so happy in my entire life.. God has awarded me two beautiful people in my life and I will definitely appreciate them and be in contact at all times.. They are part of my life.. my history.. my mother's life.. her history.. Every single details they know are valuable at this point.

I can't wait to meet them both.. They want to see me after Raya as they want to invite me for lunch.. I can't wait for that.. I'm definitely looking forward to meet them and share stories about my mother..

Thank you Allah..

My first weird job interview

The clock indicated '9:00am' and it was time for me to go for my first job interview at Karisma Publications. One of the local publishing company here in Malaysia. I only applied for the job - Editorial Assitant just for the sake of applying. I think I've heard about the company but never have encountered any books published by the company. So yeah, I did some research prior to the interview.

So I was there at 9am sharp. I pressed the door bell and a lady opened the door. I sat there at the waiting room dressed sharply with a folder with my transcripts and certificates in one hand. I was prepared to answer questions and ask them questions on the salary and benefits. A lady came up to me and asked me to sit in a meeting room. She was the editor dressed in a baju kurung and wearing a tudung. I salam-ed her to show respect and she asked me to sit down and handed me a paper.

When I looked at the paper, it said ujian = test. The editor said that 'ada ujian sahaja. dah habis buat, boleh balik.' In my heart I was like 'ohh....okayyyy......'

The first question asked me to edit a rather long text using the copyediting symbols. I couldn't remember the whole symbols as the last time I studied copyediting was in part 3.. or was it part 4? And now I just finished my part 6. Two semesters = a year. Anyway, the text was in Malay and everything looked right. Like the word di dalam, di antara... Are they supposed to be a word or two? Yes, the Malay language is my weakest link.. Since I couldn't remember all of the words and the text was tough (it was on history) I just did a few slashes on words that I thought was not needed and did a double underline on letters that was supposed to be in small or big capital... i guess that's about it.. If I'm not mistaken, the marks for this is over 10. And I think I probably scored 3 or 4 tops. I bet my former copyediting lecturer would be devastated if she knew about this. lol.

So the next section was the translation section. The second text of the exam was in english and I had to translate it in Malay. And yes it was tough indeed! It was on Islamic history with words like Ikhwan al-Muslimin (of course you don't need to translate that) but trust me.. history words are mind-boggling. I was too shocked that I had to do the test to the extent my brain could not function properly. I was like.. 'what am I doing?' I wrote and scribbled whatever I could think of and proceeded to the third section.

The third section - translation from Malay to English. I think I did okay with this part. Yes, just okay. There were some Malay words that I didn't understand so I just wrote whatever my head could interpret. Again, if my translation lecturer knows about this, she'll be devastated as well. I could score as I've learnt this before but, I wasn't prepared to face any tests. Especially during a job interview.

Here comes the worst section of all.... translation from Malay to............. Jawi! Yes Jawi. The last time I wrote in Jawi was probably during high school... I think. I think the text was so tough! It talked about Malaysia and it's 50th celebration I think... How do you write 50 in jawi? At that moment I only remembered number 1, 2 and 3.. and I assumed 5 was the shape of an onion and I couldn't remember how to write '0' so I did the onion shape on the right and 0 on the left. I bet if the editor marks the paper, she'll be shaking her head. Not that I am buta jawi. I can read it but not write it in one sentence. Only alphabet by alphabet.

The next section asked me why I wanted to be an editor and what contributions can the editors make... in Malay.

Oh by the way, the editor did come and see me during the third section and asked 'dah habis ke?' I really thought that I could take my own sweet time. But then I realized that in the first page it said that I had to do the test under 1 1/2 hours and I think I did way over the time. lol.

It was bad.... I'm not surprised if I don't get the job. But I don't really intend to work there anyway cause my dad wants me to work elsewhere like Petronas. Somewhere that gives you many benefits. And yes, he is right..

Oh my dear head..

I've been waking up with a throbbing head lately... probably due to the heavy load of thinking the past couple of weeks. I have so many things to think of and due to this, I can't seem to keep everything on track.. I just finished my Asian Politics test which was a very scare for me due to me knowing very little on politics and general knowledge. Thank goodness it's over and whether I did well, not to the extent that I am very pleased as others had higher marks. But anyway, what's done, is done..

Next is my very huge task which is making the 20th colloquium happen. It's this coming Saturday by the way.. and I have yet to think and conduct so many things. Thank goodness for the people around me who are busy helping me out.. I was rather afraid when no one started doing anything two weeks ago.. but, everything is in order.. the team managed to get 3 speakers, the banners and posters are up, the invitation letters has been distributed and the goodies for the goodie bag is in process of purchase and searching for sponsorships. So what am I worried to the extent that my head is throbbing really hard? The fact that I am the project manager and I've never actually had the opportunity to organize a somewhat big event in my faculty, that's the reason! This is something new.. of course that I am grateful and pleased that I was chosen to lead the team but I'm curious what others think of me? I hope they don't think I'm pushy nor too relax?

I wanted to keep things cool as we are all grown up and we are university students so our brains are well developed. I hope my interpretations are true..well, so far, yes :-)

Once that's done, I have so many other big projects for other subjects like the French dialogue video for my French class, the investigative video for my investigative reporting subject, 3 articles on economic crisis, a research for my mass media and society class... oh and the report and presentation on interpersonal relationships for my interpersonal communication class.. The list goes on and on but the ones that I have mentioned are the critical ones..

It's 7.30pm right now and I have to now baby sit my little brother Eshan while my parents has gone to a tahlil just infront of our house.. he wants pizza so I'll probably bring him to the one in Tesco in a short while..

it's already March!! @#$%

Uh Oh.. It's already March and that means..... the Colloquium is just around the corner! (28th March) and the worst part is that, my team and I are just about to start searching for the place and speakers for the event. I was appointed as the director for the talk but of course, having the designation means nothing as everyone must work together and equally as this is part of our Magazine Production subject. I've already made my 0wn checklist last week.. every little detail I've typed them down.. (i hope!). Just so that I would not forget.. (double I hope!). Farhana, the secretary for the talk has been helping me out with the letters and also following me to FTMSK, APB and Engineering faculty to book three different 'halls' to do the event. Thank you Farhana as things would be in slight delay if you weren't around..

Right now I'm just checking out the upcoming assignments that I have to get done. A lot.. but I am not in the mood to do any of them at the moment as this upcoming talk is making my heart beat really fast. I'm nervous that things would not go as smooth as I am expecting it to be.. I'm afraid that there wouldn't be any speakers that would want to be one of the speakers.. (3 in total).

I vow to myself that I would get everything done this week.. the most important thing is - the place and speakers.

3 years :)

25th of February is one of the dates that I must not forget. It's the date that Azmin (or better known as Min) and I got to know each other. We've been course mates for almost 5 years now but it was 3 years ago that we got to know each other more in-depth. It's not the date that we became an item. That's on the 10th of June.

On this very date onwards, I got to know him more.. his character.. what he enjoys.. what he dislikes.. Of course I only knew his existence during my 2nd semester and he said he already spotted me during the 1st semester but, I'm thankful that I did.

Min has been so nice to me for the past years. I've been depending on him ever since and for some, I know they would advice not to but in this case, I'll take any chances. He fits perfectly in my life. The great quality I like about him is that he is very patient with me especially if I forget things especially the roads! ;)

Of course, he is definitely loving and caring. It seems that my family is comfortable with him around as well which is a plus. The best part of course is that he never says "no" when I invite him for a movie date. I'm a movie-o-holic so every now and then I feel that watching a movie is a must do thing. I've once dragged him to watch High School Musical 3. I know it wasn't his cup of tea but like I said, he never says no.

I don't know how things will be in the next few years.. whether we'll end up getting married or not. But I do hope and pray that we do as he's the best thing that has ever happened to me..

This is a picture during the early days we got to know each other. Min looks very different compared to now. I look very much the same. Haha.

This is him (present). Hehe. He's a very good guy if you're interpreting this picture wrongly. ;) I was just fooling around with his dslr camera while waiting for Joanne Kam at a gym. I had to interview her for the Staying Fit & Fabulous section for NST – Life & Times paper.

Oh, boy...

 

I've got a lot of negative assumptions on me lately.. Although I've never actually heard any of them but the body language of a person can reflect what the person thinks of another. Yes.. I've tried to act normally this term. Be kind, nice, friendly and helpful.. not because I have to.. but because I want to. But I guess back stabbing is in some people's system?

Oh Gosh..

Gosh.. I have so many work to get done this term and everything is in project form! Colloquium and the Sasaran Magazine for Magazine Production subject, the community project and research for Mass Media & Society, the French dialogue video, the broadcast reporting for Investigative Reporting... a lot more actually! Oh crap...