Dum vita est, spes est.

Alright, i'm just gonna do a short update on my current job-seeking, as of the moment. I was pretty excited today, as shortly after i sent out my resume to two potential employers, i received a phone call from one of them - Recruit Express. Normally, Recruit Express wouldn't be the employer; they're like an agency that helps companies source out potential candidates. But in my case, i wasn't so sure - I was applying to be a Temporary Consultant. Basically, the job scope would be to interview to job-seekers and match them to the clients, in addition to the regular office admin stuff, i suppose. *Wow, sounds like something i'd LURRVE to do* And so in the sweltering heat at 2 plus, all decked in my interview executive wear (which i've decided, would be my best chance to nail this interview and also to cover up my tattoos), minus my ear piercings, I went for the interview at Ngee Ann city. And omgosh, today was my second time there - to Recruit Express - but yet somehow i still manage to get lost there, while going to the offices. I simply couldn't find the right elevator. Oh yeah, in front of the plaza, coincidentally, i saw one of the girls from PJC whom i've had a huge crush on. I still remember her name - first name only though - and she looked chic and all dressed up AND with her boyfriend. a new one though, a different one from when she was in PJC. OK, thing was, i didn't notice her until she was like two metres from me, but on the other hand, she didn't seem to notice me. Oh well.

I would have to say the interview went superbly well. at least IMO. i was nervous and all, not because I naturally will, but coz' i was so intend on saying what I PLANNED. i actually did a script as to what i would say during the interview. Yep, in a way, i was lying. about many things. but i shall not delve into it much. Ok, the thing is, just before this post, i went back to check on the Job post by Recruit Express ( i had no idea why i did though), only this time round i couldn't find it. i clicked on the exact link in the HISTORY tabs, only to find it replaced by another post, by the SAME CONSULTANT. for what reason? i've no idea. what i do know is that normally they do not edit nor delete nor replace their posts i.e. the posts stay there for months. Why i'm so psyched and excited by this is, hopefully, no one is applying for that post anymore (or should i say able to) and at last count, the consultant said only one other person has applied. And hopefully, she was impressed by all my lies that i will be able to get the job. Cheers ~~

Top Reasons to Watch Movies in 2009

1) Fast & Furious (Mar 27 / April 3 - CANADA / U.S.)

Wow. I've always been a fan of The Fast and The Furious, and 2 Fast 2 Furious, with the original cast of Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez. And when Tokyo Drift came out, I was like "WHAT>!?!" How glad was I when i learnt that the original cast are going to reprise their roles in a 4th sequel. Hopefully, this is not the last though; it shouldn't be. Fans of flashy cars, turbo-charged, adrenaline-pumped high-speed racing will definitely love this installment. I know I will.

Brian's R34 Skyline GT-R and Subaru Impreza WRX




Dom's 1970 Chevelle SS



Some other flashy cars from the movie:




The HOT Paul Walker in a still from the movie:



The Theatrical Posters for movie:




2) Terminator Salvation - May 21, 2009

I've always loved the 1st and 2nd Terminator Movies and i think it's definitely the right move to make the 4th Terminator movie a sequel to the first two. I think this is going to be one of my favourite Terminator movie ever: 1) Christian Bale as John Connor? Hell yeah. I've loved him since Rescue Dawn. He was pretty much amazing in it. 2) Linda Hamilton aka the ORIGINAL BONA FIDE Sarah Connor - narrating? This is double orgasm. She may be too old to do action films, but to hear her voice again in this movie, is a fitting tribute to her touching portrayal of Sarah Connor in the previous T-films.

The Theatrical Posters for Terminator: Salvation
(I like the first one better though)

The Actors in Terminator: Salvation
Christian Bale as John Connor
Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright (a decommissioned Terminator)

3) Transformers - Revenge of The Fallen - June 24, 2009

This has got to be one of the most anticipated movie of the year but out of the three, I don't really feel anything for this - it doesn't have any of my favourite actors in it, nor was i a big Fan of Transformers as a child. And considering the jerky camera movements and barely distinguishable action/fight scenes of the first Transformers movie, i don't really know what to expect from this sequel. Well, i'm definitely glad Megan Fox is going to be back for some eye-candy, but hopefully, this time around, we'll be able to enjoy the action scenes more clearly.

The Theatrical Poster:



Being the Transformers non-fan that i am, i can't tell whether this is a autobot or a decepticon...



This is EXACTLY what i mean by a "barely distinguishable" action scene: Most of the times, the action scenes are just a jumbled mess of metal. sometimes, i don't even know who is fighting who.



OMG~~ Wonder why Megan Fox is crying here~ Hopefully Shia LaBeouf gets killed off here. =)

Run Babies run ~~~

I getting all Hot N Cold...

Nope. I'm not grovving to Katy Perry but I'm feeling Hot N Cold. Literally. and I'm gonna blame it all the weather. So these couple of days i 'm in my tank top, since it's so damn hot in the day. but then, it'll be like all cold all of a sudden. and before you Know it, it'll be freakin' hot again. either my body system is all screwed up or our earth is.

Damn. I'm bored to hell at home. Meanwhile, i've been trying to find work but up till now, there's been no luck. Wow, i mean, i really did learn a lot just going through the process of job searching. I'm planning to do a full blog post just based on that only. But I think i'm only going to do after i've landed a job. And i've got a LOT to share, man. Meanwhile, a lot of stuff have happened these couple of days.

First things first, BoA's Debut English album came out on Tues, March 17. Yeshh!!!! I wanted to do a post immediately after listening to it on that day, a first-hand review, but procrastinated. but anyway, i'm going to do that later on. First, let me get to American Idol.

These week was Grand Ole Opry week. Ok, actually i learnt about this week's theme from rickey.org quite some time ago.... or was it votefortheworst.com... can't remember for the life of me. these two sites are so similar. Ok, my first reaction was WTF was "Grand Ole Opry"?!?! but then i looked at the songlist... Martina McBride... Carrie Underwood... Garth Brooks... and after reading some of the comments by visitors, i realised it was country, which in American Idol history, it hasn't come down too good many times before. However, surprising, the performance night wasn't too bad. No one did particularly bad, though there were a couple or so standouts, such Kris Allen's and Matt Giraud's. Matt's cover of Carrie Underwood's So Small was particularly memorable and emotion-invoking. His bluezy, smoky, rough coverage contrasted with Carrie's silky vocals. Whenever a performance cause the hair on my body to stand on ends, i would know that it's a great performance. and matt's So Small did just that.

Here is his Studio recording of So Small:

Now the frustrating part. Dirty Diana a.k.a Alexis Grace got the lowest votes for the rendition of Dolly Parton's Jolene. Now the EVEN MORE frustrating part: the Judges mentioned right before Alexis sang for her life, that she was the one (between her and Michael Sarver) the judges would consider saving using the Judge's Save. That got Alexis' hope and you could see while she sang, she was on the verge of tears, desperation, her voice was breaking. She really wanted it bad. And I thought she would deserve another chance. After all that, the judges REFUSED to save her, with Simon putting it simply: It was good, it just wasn't good enough, EFFECTIVELY dashing her dreams. WTF! ok, she had a bad performance (and it wasn't that bad actually) but i think she has one of the most promising potential among the top 11, and she didn't deserve to go home just yet. f*ck, she will not even get the chance to go on the AMI summer tour because she's not part of the top 10. WHAT?!?! first Joanna Pacitti got axed from the Top 36 and now Alexis Grace?! Man, i'm not watching this show anymore (the thought of seeing Danny Gokey every week turns me off)... ok, i'm just kidding.

Next, seeing how there isn't many reviews for BoA's new english debut out there, i'm going to do one.

Tracklist:
1) I Did it for Love (ft. Sean Garrett)
2) Energetic
3) Did Ya
4) Look who's talking
5) Eat you up
6) Obsessed
7) Touched
8) Scream
9) Girl on Top
10) Dress Off
11) Hypnotic Dancefloor

My First Listen Impression: Not Good. i would give it a 3/5 rating. BUT considering that i'm a HUGE BoA fan, i'm going to be srsly biased here. OK, on first listen, it just wasn't working for me, as an entire album packaging. sure, there were some standout tracks, but the entire album just doesn't cut it. I've been listening to American pop music for quite some time now and when i first considered the idea of the american public listening to this album and getting to know this artiste, BoA, just based on this one album, i don't think it's going to make any big impression on them. Furthermore, in comparison to some pretty strong recent American pop artistes i.e. Britney Spears, Rihanna, BoA would really pale out.

Now the Second Impressions: (after listening to it more)
1)I Did it for Love
I've loved this track right from the start that it was released. There's really nothing much to comment on this track really. Brilliant. Dance. Track. I still can't figure out whether this is the second single or Look Who's Talking is. But if i were to choose, this would definitely be a stronger second single.

2)Energetic
the title of this track caught my attention, considering how i like grovvy tracks and Lady GaGa's Just Dance and Poker Face immediately came to my mind. course, that was before i listened to it. really great as well.

4) Look Who's Talking
One of the standout tracks. Courtesy of Ms. Britney Bitch herself. she co-wrote this song. of course, it feels very britney-ish. especially in the chorus. think Circus or If U Seek Amy.

7) Touched
this isn't a standout nor is it one of my fave. in fact, i quite hate this song, due to the fact that BoA didn't actually really sing the chorus, if i'm not wrong. At first, i was shocked when i heard this song, because it didn't feel like BoA at all (after listening to her for 8 years now since her Jap debut, i would definitely know) I was positive she didn't sang that song. when i listened closely, i realised the chorus was sung by background singers (most probably) and BoA was doing all these vocal theatrics (as i would like to call it). So, in a way, the roles were switched and i didnt like it. This is one of the controversial songs for me, in a way.

8) Scream
Ok, by the time you reach this track, if you listened to it in chronological order, you would probably realise that she sounds slightly different on every single track (thx to the vocal tweaking), every single track FEELS (i'm not saying SOUND) the same and you can't really tell what the heck BoA's singing (hey, she's Korean, but really, who will care to listen to the words?). Although i have to give her credit for the tremendous improvement in her English. So in a way, what i'm trying to say is that Scream just feels like the other songs on this album, but nonetheless, i quite like this track.

9) Girls on Top
I was quite a fan of the Korean album with the same name, due to the fact at that time, BoA broke away from her squeaky clean image as this silky hair lass and following her My Name album, she continued to give this edgy, rock-ish, dancey look which reflected in her music as well. So i was particular glad to hear that this american version didn't butchered the original song. in fact, it sounded great and better, i would say. i was worried i would be a little squeamish to hear her sing one of her old songs in English, but it wasn't as bad as i initially thought it would be.

10) Dress Off
~ so all u wanna do is take my Dress Off ~ take my dress offfff ~ dress offff ~ offfff ~
one of my FAVE tracks in this entire album, mainly because of it's ADdictive, Catchy, Grovvy, Electrosynth sound. LUrves it. and considering that the lyrics are so flirty and dirrty, it's no surprise it's gonna be one of my faves.

My Final Verdict: 4/5
on my fourth or fifth run through the album, i can't believe that BoA actually just sang an ENTIRE album in English AND it actually sounds AWESOME. it's not like those previous English covers of her own songs, where u will get squeamish listening to how bad her English sounds. Ok, considering that I can get over how MUCH they tweaked Britney's voice in Circus, I am definitely lurving this album right here. Of course, the comparison is there, BoA has long been hailed as Asia's Britney. In the past, i couldn't see the similarities but now i Do. Hello? Bloodshy & Avant were one of the producers on Britney's Circus and by recruiting them to produce on THIS album, we couldn't make them sound more similar. In fact, BoA SOUNDS so much like Britney on this album on SO MANY tracks. But if it's a sure-formulae to success and they want to reproduce it on BoA, i certainly wish her the best. Depending on how the critics see it, they could churn out either very positive reviews or pan her down. (again, it's whether they will compare her to Britney's Circus) I've always liked BoA for her dance tracks, her energy in her dancing and her unique voice. So in this album, i'm getting only the first two. I don't really know whether to love or hate the vocoder in the album because it took away the voice that I lurved so much since ID; Peace B.

Remember to grab your copy. It's worth it.

AMI Top 13 Performs and Conspiracy Theories...

Alrite, so, it's that time of the year again, when I get to enjoy my dose of AMI. after all the crazy-shit funny auditions of course. This year's a Top 13, as compared to the previous years' Top12 and a new twist this year is the Judge's Veto - i.e. to say That means if someone is sent home whom the judges think should stay, they can have the power to keep them there. (no one is voted off that week but the following week, two goes home)

As said by Ryan:
“The judges can save one contestant from elimination just once. Once they’ve used the save, they cannot use it again the entire season. The week they use the save, no one will be eliminated but the next week, two will go.”

wow. first a top 13. then two goes home for the first episode. now this. anyway here are my last night's favourites: (in order of preference)

Michael Sarver - You are not alone
- Great ballady song. I didn't know if the original was as ballady as his', but i'm a sucker for ballads.



Alexis Grace - Dirty Diana
- It's was not over the top as Simon had put it to be. I didn't think that she got the credit she deserve for her performance though. Or maybe it was over the top but i liked it...



Kris Allen - Remember the time
- OMG. i thought that he sucked last night. ok, maybe it wasn't as bad as i put it to be... but in the middle when he got too excited, he was like all over the place. i'm only putting his performance here because i like him. i don't think he's going to make it far though, even with all his screaming female fans.



Allison Iraheta - Give in to Me
- Great Rocker chick with a great rock performance. She's like an ugly duckling turning into a swan. i don't think she has marketability potential though.



P.S. : Stop supporting Danny 'douchebag' Gokey. He's pimping his deadwife to further his stay on AMI and getting sympathy votes. so what if he can sing? he's got no market appeal whatsoever. period.

Now, the fun part. since who knows when, there's been like conspiracy theories floating around regarding AMI. now, here's one that caught my attention recently - The Red Lights Theory. So here's the thing: During performance night, whoever's performance got the Red lights flashing in their's, it means that judges want them gone. So going by last night's performances, Jorge, Kris, Allison and Jasmine got the red light treatment.

At first, i was a bit fascinated by this theory as it definitely got me interested and left me pondering. but in the end my conclusion: it's most likely false.

Why? from what i've seen on AMI since the start of Season8, Simon has always thought that Jasmine has got marketability and compared Allison to when Kelly Clarkson was in the same stage in the competition. Furthermore, Jasmine was saved by the Judges, first by putting her into the wildcard round, then putting her through to the Top 13 (even though IMO, other more qualified contestants such as Ricky Brady failed to do so) So, to support the Red Light Theory would be to say that the judges wanted Jasmine gone in less than even a week, which is highly contradictory.

Of course, i'm only elaborating on Jasmine here but there's also Allison. Though i wouldn't say the same for Jorge, who doesn't have the appeal to cut a record, even though he has the chops.

All in all: i think the lights just add to the dramatic effect of their stage presence. that's all...

It's Almost Here

I've supported her since she debut with the album, Listen to my Heart. From the smooth silky hair girl to the sultry mature singer that she is today, I think that BoA's one of the most hardworking Asian singers out there. Sure, she's the result of a combination of smart marketing from SM Entertainment, lots of make-up and styling and great dance choreography, it's easy to neglect the fact that she's a pretty decent singer with a easily recognised voice that differentiates her from other singers.



Hot off her eponymous U.S. debut album, I Did It for Love, is a sure-winner over Eat You Up. This song features Sean Garrett, whom i best remember in Enrique Iglesias's Away. Freakin' catchy, a great electro sound (thanks to her using a vocoder), and a hot, sexy image in the MV. this song is a definite hit in the clubs, even before the remixes start to appear.





Her us debut album is slated to be released on MARCH 17. MARK THAT ON YOUR CALENDER! Be sure to pre-order your copy from Amazon or iTunes, or from your local music store.

Finally, here's a teaser for her I Did It for Love MV.

Music for the Soul

I've always said - if you want to enjoy both visual fulfillment and great music at the same time, watch either Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice, or even better, both. Which, by the way, I do. Talk about emotional overload here. And how glad was I when I heard these two pieces of music on Episode 12 of Season 2 of Private Practice - Homeward Bound. We first hear the first piece of great music when Charlotte was about the pull the plug on her dying father - this one is Don't Give Up by Clare Reynolds.



The second one is at the end of the episode, when Charlotte and Cooper were on the plane, and Charlotte just cuddles in Cooper's arm and weeps. As well as the Addison thingy of course. This one is Devil's Thunder by Rachael Cantu. Enjoy.

A Song about Pimps & Ho's

There. Taraji P. Henson said it. That's what this song is all about. Pretty catchy, u gotta admit it. and can u imagine it though, It's Hard out Here for a Pimp, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2005? this is sung by Three 6 Mafia and my favourite lady, Taraji P. Henson. Enjoy.

Movie Reviews

Over the past couple of days, I've watched quite a number of films and some of them were pretty darn good. Here's my two cents worth on them:

The first one i watched was Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, which serves as a prequel to Underworld 1. Considering how shiteous the first flick was, I must say that this third installment was pretty ok to me. The thing was, throughout the film, i find the female lead to be quite familiar, though i couldn't quite pin-point where i saw her before. and i wasn't sure whether she was the same chick in Underworld 1. After doing a little research, i realised she was the detective Kit McGraw in Nip/Tuck, who had an incestuous relationship with her brother, who didn't have a penis. Ahhh. No wonder. Here's Rhona Mitra (Sonja in U3) and Kate Beckinsale (Selene in U1):

*they look quite similar in the film*

The next film i'm going to talk about is a huge favourite of mine: Burn after Reading. Funny title; not the kind i would go watch just based on the title. First, here's the theatrical poster:

Witty. Clever. Great Fun to watch. It brings up a lot of topics about people in a very real environment. E.g. Insecurities, Sense of deluded importance, Affairs, Divorce. The film is so named cos the film is centred around a disk of apparently "classified" information that the characters played by Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand discovered. Special mention include George Clooney and Frances McDormand as Linda. George Clooney was particularly hilarious.

I'm a sucker for horror flicks and even though i'll hide behind my pillow and my legs will turn into jelly whenever i watch 'em, i simply can't resist them. which brings me to this double bundle of joy: Kill Theory and The midnight Meat Train.



I don't think Kill Theory has been released in Singapore yet, and i doubt it ever will. I could just sum it up in a sentence: Typical high school students meets serial killer horror flick. Nothing fancy. Pretty average actors. OK script. The 'twist' at the end was ok also... But here's the thing: it's pretty gory. which going by the theatrical poster, i could understand. but it's just that nowadays, more and more 'horror' flicks are becoming 'gore'y, including the next one i'm going to talk about: The Midnight Meat Train.

OK, let me make this very clear. This HORROR flick is 10 times more GORE-Y than Kill Theory. yup. which as u can see from the stills above. for me, the above scenes were one of the scariest. Dead naked bodies hanging from the hand rails on Butcher hooks in a train. yup. in the beginning first few kill scenes, it was pretty artsy, as well as right in your face GORE. slowly, it began to feel like a thriller, with the conspiracy thingy and i pretty like the cinematography. And the ending was pretty good as well. Though it's pretty far-fetched from reality, as like Hey, what are the odds of getting butchered to death in a railway train in today? but hey, it's fantasy horror flick after all. i had great fun watching it and scared myself to shits.



And currently showing in Singapore is the feel-good comedy, Role Models. Surprisingly, this wasn't produced by Judd Apatow. and just knowing Sean William Scott is in it is enough to rush down to the cinemas to catch it. He WAS funny in it, no doubt, but somehow i felt that his performance in it was restrained, held back. not the kind of outright-in-your-face, Sean William Scott-esque funny. feel very scripted. Sure, this is feel-good comedy, about Sean William Scott and Paul Judd doing community as guidance adults for the 'Littles', who wanted nothing more than to finish their hours as quickly as possible, only to come out at the end to have learnt some much from the 'littles'. However, this flick doesn't feel a single bit cheesy and off-the-mill funny. it is seriously funny. and the poster above is pretty kick-ass.

Thought i would post a very meaningful quote from Taraji P. Henson (Queenie in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button):

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody is watching




Left: Taraji P. Henson all glammed up Right: Taraji as Queenie in TCCOBB

Although the original quote was from either Mark Twain or Satchel Paige, depending on the sources, and it goes something like this (once again, differents sources will quote it differently):

Dance like nobody's watching;
love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening;
live like it's heaven on earth

Depending on how u want to interpret it, you can rearrange it anyway u want, the last phrase being the most important one to you.

**on another note: i decided i'm not going to let old fuddy-duddies who do nothing but fail people all day determine whether i can drive or not.

Next time... watch it.

Man, i simply feel like killing someone right now. Someone in particular. that someone - motorcyclist - who ZOOMED past my car while i switching lane and was on a FREAKIN' TRAFFIC POLICE DRIVING TEST just now. and guess what? yes, i FAILED. surprise surprise. based on my experience in military driving, from the moment that MUTHA-FUCKER sped up right after completing his u-turn and sped past my vehicle, and the tester was like 'woah!', i knew on the spot i failed immediately. Knew it. there's a lot of different way to look at this. before that, here's the facts: i checked the rear view mirror, clear, then i checked my blind spot. and there he was, speeding right past my vehicle. but the problem was i having a tendency to turn as i checked. so in a way, it was my fault. i'll admit it. but then, i'm on a freakin TP test. can't u just let me? is it that hard? can't u see my left signal light? KNN. second thing: when i checked my rear view mirror, it was clear: i.e. to say that MUTHA-FUCKER was from the u-turn and immediately after exiting, he sped up, even though he could jolly well see i wanted to change lane. KNN. Hope u rot in hell.

the frustrating thing was that was the final part of the test. to keep left after the u-turn. that's it. imo, everything i did was perfect until then, and i felt that the tester was going to let me pass (cos he didn't do much clicking on the board --->not too many mistakes) but then, immediately after that MUTHA-FUCKER sped past my car, the tester was like quickly clicking on his electronic board (i swear to god that one incident made him penalise me a lot more than i deserve) and when i got back my scoresheet, MAN, I got 32 freakin' points. 32! i bet almost all of it was checked after that motorcyclist incident.

the main gripe i have about failing is not about having to go for more lessons and a retest, but the money and the fact that the next re-test will be like 6 weeks later. and while it sucks to know other people who passed and u didn't. like that lady i was talking to while in the holding room. she was like " Oh, i don't know lah, that outside road one i srsly don't know..." and i was like thinking "great.... that means she passed." but at least i knew one other guy failed too (cos he left immediately w/o going to the TP counter) but i was one of the first back, some i don't know much about the rest thou. and i guessed that a few of them were on their second tries or more. AND guess what? that makes me feel a lot better!!! AHAHA. i know i'm evil. but whatever.

and the tester said i was "very agressive " when it comes to changing lanes.... hmmm. that's the thing. some instructors like to be more safe, while some like u to take every opportunity u got when it comes to lane-changing. so i feel as if i can never satisfy everyone. whether i take the 'aggressive' route or 'safe' route. not that u don't do safety checks when u go aggressive, of course. u know what i mean.

and i don't know whether i should cover up my tattoo on my right forearm with some concealer or not and take my diamond ear-stud i wore today. i think i should make myself look more goody-two-shoes more? and i kinda came to a conclusion that for my next test, i'm gonna put on a SOUR-PUSS face throughout everything. it kinda makes me channel all my inner rage towards doing better, and i think i'll do better. l o l .. .

arghhh.. another two hundred plus gone. great.