Potpourri

So, just thought I should be random again and put together a collection of pictures and thoughts.

It's really a small world after all. Like, even though I'm in a rather random place in the States, I can still find Malaysians.

Pictures on totally unrelated stuff.
Cravings... well, it'd been a hot Summer so far.... So, it's only fair to cool down with some ice-cream/sorbet...

The house-warming gift from my cousin. The one that survived the 500+ miles journey.
Also, the care package from my uncle and aunt.

Old and new... Identical model, different color. Bought the new one from Amazon at a much cheaper price than the old one, like 40% of what I paid for the old one. Anyway, I've clocked 450 miles on the old one thus far, so, it's time to ease into the new one.

Been catching quite a number of movies lately as well. Well, actually, just two. Hellboy last weekend, and The Dark Knight yesterday. Both movies were pretty good, of course, with The latter trumping the former. Another movie this coming weekend? Maybe not. I think it's my very first, in 23 years, to go to the cinema on back to back weekends.

More details about yesterday's trip to Boston next time.

Of Movies and Books...

So, I was saying my Christmas break, or to be politically correct, my Winter holiday was spent eating, drinking, relaxing... by watching movies and reading..

So, movies & DVD I watched over the summer (in no particular rank and order):
1) Mary Poppins
2) The Sound of Music
3) Santa Claus is Coming to Town
4) Frosty the Snow Man
5) The Namesake
6) The Simpsons Movie
7) Saturday Night Live dvd
8) Ratatouille

and drumroll... last but definitely not least...
9) Barbie as Island Princess (my niece made her daddy and I sat through with her...) Little girls and Barbies... to keep my niece occupied, all you need to do is put on a Barbie movie, and she'll be as happy as a little girl, oh wait, she's a little girl... But, good for her parents, they are really strict on how much TV she can watch a day...

Books...
1) I Am America (and so can You)
2) What is Religion (still reading... as I told my cousin I'll be taking a class on Asian Religion, he went through his stash of books (a really huge stash) and found me that book on Swami

Product Placement...

So, I went to watch Transformers this afternoon. After a really long wait, since I saw the movie trailer last summer, I think July 2006. The very first teaser, where it virtually revealed nothing from the plot, but the Mars rover 13 second view. Then, earlier this year, another trailer showed more scenes from the movies, which was mind-blowing robot-to-robot action, great effects, great CGI. AWESOME.

Also, it was weird to have an 'all-American' movie to be premiered elsewhere a week earlier than in the states. I mean, it's not fair for my brother to watch it twice in Malaysia, before I have the chance to watch it this afternoon. But well, I think it's because they want to cash in internationally, before the pirates can cash away some of their revenue. It's all about the money.

So, I went to look for this cinema, I set off 40 minutes before the show time, giving myself a good 20 minutes pocket (for getting lost, and well, traffic, or queue for tickets). I overshot like a mile or two, when I finally found the turn, I was led, by google map, to go through a hill, and through 2 residential streets, through a rocky trail, and a factory block, before reaching the Showcase Cinema North Worcester. I was really surprised how Google Map manage to find such a route for me.

So, I enjoyed the movie a lot. But, the product placements in the movie is really, too much. The cars are just too American. And on top of that, placement is not enough. They reinforced a brand by mentioning it, and saying its origin. Yes, I know Nokia is Finnish. So, that's my only complain about the movie. I think the graphics are amazing, especially the way they transform and all. I'm not going to question the plot, and logic of the movie because, it's a sci-fi movie, and it's gonna make it much longer if they were gonna make everything logical. So, give sci-fi movie a break if you think they need more connections and bridge everywhere. Go back and watch it again, and try to save some room for your own imagination. :P

Surprisingly, the cinema was really empty, it was less than 10% filled. Maybe is the location of the cinema? I like it. No need to queue that long for tix for a new(6th day showing) and biggest summer blockbuster (so far). And it's only $7.25 (before 6pm).

But, I think I'll go for another cinema theater next time. It has more stores and all beside the cinema complex, so, I can have a nice meal and shop for stuff before and after the movie.

Also, the first trailer during the show this afternoon was rather cool too. It's still an untitled project, where the trailer showed "blurry camera seeing destruction wreaked on New York City, with the Woolworth Building blowing up and the severed head of the Statue of Liberty falling onto the streets" link (provided by IMDB). And it's directed by JJ Abrams. So, shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully.

So, what's my next movie, I don't know. Adam Sandler's new comedy, don't think so, I'm too cheap for comedy :P. Evening? By the same author who wrote The Hour? Don't think so too. And thanks Tremayne for that amazing movie. Harry Potter? Maybe, maybe not. Any recommendations?

What a day of doing absolutely nothing

Yup, that title is absolutely right. But, well, I need my rest too. So, on Friday, we went out for a good lunch to celebrate Dave's birthday. We went to Ruby Tuesday, where I had a jumbo lump crab burger. Sweetness... After work, I went to gym for a quick run, but, after entering the locker room, I found out that I forgot my workout clothes, I did laundry, and forgot to put a set of new one in my gym bag, so, damn, I had to drive back to my sublet, to get a change of clothes.

As I had been going to the gym everyday since I started my internship last Monday, I never had to face the rush hour traffic before. It was pretty bad for traffic but not that bad for a rush hour traffic. Instead of the usual 12 minutes back, it took me about 30 minutes, which wasn't that bad I supposed.

So, it took me an hour to get back... I did an interval training, running the treadmill at various speed, running and sprinting intervals... So, after that and a short shower, I rushed back to my place to reheat my dinner, and fed the cats, check on the batteries (still doing fine), then, left my apartment at about 7pm, for my colleague, Katie's place at Rhode Island, about 40 miles away.

After getting on to Route 146, it was all good, the traffic was alright, and I was at her place about 45 minutes later, (fortunately, didn't get lost too badly)... So, after waited for 15 minutes for another colleague to come, we left in 2 cars for the drive-in on route 146, about 15 minutes away. It was an interesting experience, watching movies in an old-school drive-in theater. We saw Ocean 13 and Live Free or Die Hard, 2 movies, for $20 a car load. So, it was all good. To listen to the movie, we tuned in to a frequency. Actually, there were 3 screens going on at the same time, the other 2 showing, Rat-a-2-lee & Shrek 3, and Evan Almighty & something. The movies were pretty OK. Nothing great.

Can't wait to catch transformers though... Will only be out this Wednesday, 4th of July. Not sure if I'm gonna watch it on that day, but will definitely go catch it.

So, after the movie, it was about 1am, and I drove back, and reached my place at about 2.30am as there was construction and all going on, and I got lost following the detour, and it was dark, and I couldn't really navigate that well, I didn't even know the place.

So, the next morning, woke up feeling pretty good, went to the gym again for my TB (total body) workout. With SB(stability ball) and DB (dumb bells)... well, just felt like throwing in some jargons and all. So, after all that, went back to my place for lunch, and, after about 2pm, I set off for Boston, MA. It was about an hour drive, and I got lost again as usual, but after a phone call, I found Grace's place, and I met Ray finally. So, they brought me around Boston, tour-guided me and all. And they were so into photography, and I was the 'model' of the day, so, I'll put some up when I get them.
After all that, we had dinner at Chinatown, and the food was great. Lobster, clams, black-pepper pork, and salted-fish with chicken tofu claypot.

And after that, we went back to their apartment, chatted awhile more, and I went back to my place at about 9.30pm, reaching at about 10.20pm. And the batteries were dead!! I changed it to the backup batteries right away, and in the process of changing, there were some serious sparks, but it was alright. Also, I gave Ted a call to inform him about it, and charged the batteries up.

Woke up this morning, it was alright, and, I did totally nothing for the rest of the day, other than, online and chat, and that's about it...but, it's all good, I had 7 hours of sleep, + 2 hours of nap... which was great!

So, that's pretty much my 2nd weekend here. Wait, actually, I did some online research about probable trip, maybe a whale watching trip sometime when I go to Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod, MA.