Rotten Tomatoes gave it a paltry rating of 21% (at the time I'm writing this) but nevertheless, i watched this movie today with 3 of my friends, Kirsten, Sin Yee and Kok Weng, because we had no other movies to watched. Most of us have watched Tangled (Rapunzel) like two times already and other movies like Tron and Gulliver's Travels are definitely not worth re-watching. So you can say that I was quite expecting to doze off halfway in the cinema already, no thanks to the ratings given by Rotten Tomatoes.


After watching the movie, however, I must say that I quite enjoyed the movie, much to my relief and much to contrary of what I have expected of it.

I mean sure, the movie does not have a deep plot and complicated storyline like Inception, but I think the director did not have a thriller and action movie in mind when he made this film. The essence of the story, I think, lies in how realistic it is. A tourist, normal guy like you and me, goes on a vacation and suddenly got framed for a crime he did not commit. Of course, you would normally expect the main character  to become a sort of accidental hero who can wield massive firearms and guns down dozen of bad guys in storyline like this, which explains why some were disappointed with this movie. Because you'll be getting none of this in this movie. But that is what makes it fun to watch, for me, at least because come on, how many of us if thrown into such situation, would be able to become total bad-ass ourselves?

Aside from that, Johnny Depp also managed to deliver a convincing role of a tourist who really knows nothing. He can't hold a gun, only knows how to run and is blur most of the time. Which really gives you the perfect feeling that he's the unlucky guy who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And being the classic Johnny Depp, not only he delivered his role convincingly, he also managed to add some humor amidst his busy schedule of outrunning the bad guys.

And the acting of Angelina Jolie is also quite commendable in this film. Watching her in this movie kinda reminded me of Salt. She's cool, cunning and seductive at the same time. Too bad she looks like she's quite old already in this film.

My only complain is that the chemistry between the characters of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Well, the chemistry is just isn't there. Even if it is, it's so mild that I must have missed it. And you thought Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie can make a good couple. But it's a good try though, there are some funny scenes of them together but I guess Angelina Jolie can't quite forget Brad Pitt in this film. The scenes from Mr and Mrs Smith were much better compared to this.

Chemistry, where art thou?

All in all, it's a movie that is worth paying for in cinemas. Not many may enjoy the lack of action though -- if you want Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie to be blazing guns throughout the movie, this is not the movie for you because they did not even touch a gun once in the movie -- but I like the simplicity and the realism of the movie. The movie has also an interesting twist here and there which is quite unexpected but yet still believable (if you managed to get it, that is) so you will not get bored halfway through the movie. It gives you a quite different feel compared to the normal movie genre like this -- cause like I said, no accidental heroes -- and thanks to Johnny Depp, you can also expect some humor here and there. In short, I give it a 7/10.

If there's one thing that could send chills down every student's spine in NUS, it would be the CORS bidding date, or better known as the Centralised Online Undergraduates Registration System. Every semester without fail, NUS students have to camp in front of the computer, staring at the screen like how investors stare at the price of their stocks making sure that we are able to get the modules/subjects that we want to study for that particular semester.

In a nutshell, all undergraduates in NUS required to choose and bid for the subjects/modules (let's call them module from now onwards, shan't we, since it's the common name used by all NUS students) they want each semester through this online system called CORS. It's very much like an online auction system, actually, except the items up on offer are the modules that are offered by each faculty from NUS and you are bidding for the opportunity to study in that module because well, there are only so many students that a module can handle and that's why you need to bid for it.

Let's say I'm interested in taking this Japanese Language module offered by the Faculty of Arts and for this semester, they have a hundred vacancy for people wishing to learn basic Japanese language. But when I checked, I see that there's 200 people wanting to take the same module as me so how does the system decide whom to give the module to? That's where CORS come in. You decide how many points you want to throw in for that module out of the total points you have and if you happen to be in the Top 100 bidders, you get the module.

Of course, there's also the timetables, lecturers and pre-requisites that you need to worry about for each module, not to mention the points management and the modules that you need to get in order for you to graduate,  but you get the idea. Each NUS student is bound to undergo this system to secure their modules every semester, without fail. However, there are those with modules that are pre-allocated to them, but those people are mostly from faculties like Science or Engineering.

For an Arts student like me, sadly, each start of the semester is surely filled by the constant worry of "will I get the modules or not" and "will I get the same tutorial classes as my friend or not". They say it's part of the training to make Arts student more independent in time management and stuff, but I highly doubt it. I think it's part of NUS plans to turn us all into stock investors or auction house workers or just to torture us Arts students because it's everyone favorite past time anyway.

I still remember how blur I was when I first started using the CORS system during my first semester. By the end of my first CORS experience, I was stuck with an impossible timetable and a module which I have no idea how I got it in the first place called Information Systems something. I got a C+ for it which did not help my results really much and I was left with a paltry 100 points in total (most of my friends had an average of 400+) for my next semester's CORS.

Thankfully, the one thing good about CORS is that with time comes skills. After a few times spent trying to navigate my ways through all the modules info, timetable info and learning how to cheat people into not throwing so much points into the module I want, I must say that I'm not quite comfortable with using the CORS system now. Of course that doesn't mean I don't have to sit in front of the computer anymore like an investor, I still need to, just that now I don't get a churning stomach at the same time. Besides, I would much love going online rather than lining up long lines under the sun as some universities do. Can Facebook while bidding for your modules. Not bad.

They say that a perfect way to increase viewership of your blog is to organize a competition that is related to your blog. All you have to do is ask your readers to come up with something, say a blog post about why your blog is so good, and then give up a small prize that is somewhere between 100 to 200 dollars to keep people interested, and voila, people will be flocking to your blog in no time. It's easy, simple, a worthwhile investment in the long run and can produce sufficient cognitive dissonance in readers to create an internal motivation for them to like your blog too. It's like killing a dozen birds with one stone!

Which is why I've decided to organize one competition of my own! Since the number of readers in my blog have not gone anywhere but down, a competition organized through my blog should be enough to raise the number of readers of my blog to three digit numbers again. The only problem is well, being a not so rich blogger myself -- I'm only a student and not working -- coming up with an attractive prize may not be as easy as it seems. I've seen bloggers giving away free body products, keyboards, mouse and even cold hard cash before, but those are definitely no-no for me because my pockets are empty, honestly.

How about a kiss from the handsome blogger as a prize? No?

An autographed picture of me? No too?

Could a one day trip together with me to Bali worth it? Still a No?

Awhh... come on, I'm sure there could be some prize that I could give to you guys as presents. How about my collection of Crayon Shin Chan comic books? Yes? No?

Would it be better if I throw in my semi torn Doraemon comic books too? Still No?

Sigh. Seems like this plan is but a fail. How about you guys suggesting a prize that I could give to you? Something that does not require a lot of money? Yes? What? You're leaving? Hey, I'm just joking, I'll give out 10 dollars! Make that 10 dollars and 10 cents! Still no? Ouch.

Someone asked me a very weird question on Formspring recently. "why are you so wierd", the question goes. Well, ignoring the fact that he/she spelled weird wrongly (okay, maybe it's a typo but that doesn't mean you can't spell check your question?), forgot to use a capital W and a question mark, he/she also conveniently forgets to include his/her name (okay, maybe I am weird by being a grammar police here). But I guess that's the beauty of the internet, right? You can shoot whoever you want, spread lies and defame anyone while remaining anonymous and in my case, you can ask people why are they so weird.

Of course, being the handsome and kind blogger that I am, I will try to answer the question to the best that I can since the anonymous person (lets call him/her W, for weird) could well be one of my loyal readers, which is why W knows that I'm weird. Well, the only problem is that W did not specify what kind of weird that he/she is referring too. Is my laughter that's weird? My way of blogging? Or is it my looks? Or how I love to call myself handsome blogger all the time that's weird? 

Whatever the weirdness that W might be referring to, I admit that I can be quite weird sometimes, if by weird you mean being different from others and not being normal. Weird, after all, means being odd, eccentric and unconventional according to the folks at Oxford. (I would very much prefer the word unique, the meaning is roughly the same, but since the word weird is used, I might just stick with it)

So, why am I so weird?

Perhaps it's just the way I like to be different. Since young, I have this unexplainable tendency to want to do things differently from how others do it. I still remember that there was this colouring exercise that i had to do in kindergarten once, when everyone was colouring the letters in one colour, i chose to had my letters coloured in 3 shades of different colours. I got a pretty bad scolding from my teacher alright, asking why I couldn't just do things as how my friends do it and why I must always do things so differently. Perhaps she used the word weird too, but I couldn't really remember.

But the thing is, I love being different. I love going against the conventional ways of working and I love challenging authority. What's the point of living if all your life, you can only just stick to one way of thinking? That you have to do the same thing over and over again in the same way, look at things in only one perspective and everything is unchangeable? That would be quite boring, don't you think?

Besides, God made all of us in such a way that we are different from the person next to us. Wouldn't it be a little too wasteful if we were to let our distinct personalities overshadowed by our need to conform?

There you go. I hope that would suffice as an answer of why am I so weird to you, W. I would love to write an 1500 word essay to answer your question, being the weird guy I am, but then again, I wouldn't want you falling asleep halfway reading the essay. But then again, I might just do that if I'm not feeling weird today. And yes I know, I'm acting funny again. Bye.

Q: What could turn ya wonderful holiday back in your hometown instantly into one of the worst holiday ever?

A: A case of food poisoning, together with all the vomiting and diarrhea

I swear I'm never gonna eat any lamb chop again in Ipoh just because it's frigging cheap. Because the consequences suffered is so not worth the deal. And thanks to that lamb chop, I'm now confined in the house.

What better way to reflect on the year that is coming to an end than to use a nifty app to summarize all your Twitter and Facebook updates into one cool cloud? Here's my 2010, in Twitter and Facebook clouds:

I must say my Facebook life is definitely more colorful than my Twitter's, or perhaps it's because I started my Twitter account in May 2010. And from what I see, Facebook, love, sleep and handsome seems to dominate my life very much. Double like the handsome part :)

You could get your own 2010 cloud too at: http://2010.instatus.es ! Happy advanced new year people!

Woohoo... Merry Christmas everybody~! Especially to the handsome and pretty readers of LUKEYisHandsome.com! Seems like I will not be spending a boring Christmas night after all (thank the heavens). Right now I'm sitting inside a freaking huge K-Box room in Jaya Jusco, Ipoh that can house 20+ people, blogging while the rest of my church friends are belting out their favorite songs on top of their voices (yes, blogging in K-Box, hi-tech lea).

The room is so huge that they even have 2 computers here especially for handsome bloggers who do not know how to sing. Or read Chinese. Most of my close friends in Ipoh are Chinese educated anyway (I'm the odd one out being a banana) so whenever there's karaoke session, the songs that are mostly chosen will not surprisingly be Chinese songs. Which is why the computer seems like a blessing from heaven.

And the best thing, I don't have to pay. One of my friends from Church is treating us all, or rather the P&W team (i'm not in anymore since I'm now in NUS) and I just happen to be the guy who is lucky enough to be able to crash the party. The whole room costs about RM 400 something too, considering that tonight is Christmas night.

Alright, I guess that will be all for now amid the cries from my friends asking me not to be anti-social, so I'm just gonna go join them and try to make out those Chinese lyrics and produce a decent enough sounding song. 

Oh and not forgetting, Merry Christmas to you who happen to be reading this post here right now! Thanks for dropping by, I would love to give you all a Christmas present but since I'm not among one of the highest earning bloggers in Singapore (or Malaysia), this simple picture have to do!

Merry Christmas everybody!

It's Christmas night and while everyone is having plans like birthday party, Christmas party, family dinner and things of the sort, I'm kinda stuck wondering what should I do. Hmm... I could go sing karaoke, or I could stay at home cause' sadly not many of my friends are free. I think I should just kill a few zombies, defend the Ancient and save the world a few times. Yay to a geek life.

I realized that every single time I come back to my hometown, I would come up with a post of the list of things that I want to do. The problem is that well, the posts almost all look similar every single time I write it. I could almost picture people going, "Not again!" if I'm gonna do the same thing again so instead of what I want to do, I'm gonna write about what I don't want to do in Ipoh this time!

Top 1 on the list would be gaming!

If I'm gonna lock myself up away from civilization playing some random fantasy games, I might as well do it back in hostel. It is so much beneficial if I choose to go out, hang out with friends and family, socialize a bit rather than keep myself isolated. There's so much to catch up with friends anyway. And who would want to miss out on the good air and awesome food? (Gaming with buddies at a cyber cafe/LAN shop is an entirely different matter)

Gaming aside, another thing I would not want to be doing is eating fast food!

Seriously? In the land of fat beansprouts, white coffee, hor fun and food that do not taste bland? Who would NOT want to enjoy all the local delicacies? Besides, the fast food here is waaaaay to expensive compared to a delicious Maggie goreng and a cup of iced coffee added together, not to mention that they're more unhealthy. If I want fast food, I would have ate in NUS itself, along with the 20% student discount.

And of course, I wouldn't want to sleep late now, would I?

I've already been sleeping at ungodly hours back in SG and I certainly would not want to do the same while back in Ipoh. Need all the rest that I could get before heading back to the battlefield again. And who would want to sleep late with the air cond and comfy mattress? Not to mention having your mum to lecture you to sleep early.

And yeap, so there goes my Top 3 Not-To-Do list while I'm back here in Ipoh. There's still some that might have slipped my mind, but I thnk I'm gonna let it pass and take an early morning nap for now and get myself an awesome breakfast later. Toodles!

I must admit, I'm no big fan of Justin Bieber. In fact, I happened to be one of the people who don't understand how a boy who sings like a girl could get quite famous (yes, i'm a anti-Bieber) but when I heard this song called Pray by him, I was awed. Yes, the fact that his voice is not the girly one I used to hear in Baby did surprised me (so the inevitable voice change has finally dawned), but it's the lyrics of the song that made me like it so much. It's quite meaningful and deep and I believe that many would be moved by the lyrics too. And I must say that I will surely miss teasing his girly voice.

*****

Justin Bieber - Pray



I just cant sleep tonight.
Knowing that things aint right.
Its in the papers, its on the tv, its everywhere that I go.
Children are crying.
Soldiers are dying
Some people don't have a home
But I know there's sunshine behind that rain
I know there's good times behind that pain, hey
Can you tell me how I can make a change
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray

I lose my appetite, knowing kids starve tonight.
And when I sit up, cause my dinner is still on my plate.
Ooo I got a vision, to make a difference.
And its starting today.

Cause I know there's sunshine behind that rain
I know there's good times behind that pain, hey

Haven`t tell me how I can make a change
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
I close my eyes and I can see a better day

I close my eyes and pray
For the broken-hearted.
I pray for the life not started
I pray for all the ones not breathing.
I pray for all the souls in need.
I pray. Can you give em one today.
I just cant sleep tonight
Can someone tell how to make a change?

I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and I pray

I pray ..

I close my eyes and pray ..

*****



*****

I pray that Justin Bieber would keep that girly voice of his because without it, I can't make fun of it anymore!

Just kidding. Please don't kill me Bieber fans.

Eusoff Hall's Dance Production (DP) is perhaps one of the oldest and proudest tradition of Eusoff Hall, one of the halls of residence in National University of Singapore. Each year since 1991, students of  from various background and specialization come together to offer the public an unforgettable performance of drama and dance in an aim to raise money for charity.

This year (technically it's next year since it's 2011), Eusoff DP is set to return again with yet another unique and creative storyline alongside with original dances choreographed by Eusoffians themselves.

Named Til Death Do Us Part, the DP this year is a story of romance, jealousy and tragedy, revolving around a politician, loved and respected by his people, who suddenly dies of a mysterious cause. Foul play is suspected but who is the one that was responsible for his death? Is it his political rival who wants to remove him from power? Or is it his mistress, who do not wish for her secret to be revealed? Or could it be his wife who would want him dead for reasons of her own?

Follow Riley, an ambitious but bimbo reporter who cannot seem to keep his mouth closed whenever he is nervous and the inspector in their quest bring the killer of their beloved leader to justice. Comprising of superb acting by the cast, especially the humour delivered by Riley and the drama between the mistress and the wife, along with a mixture of various kind of dances to illustrate the mood of the story, Til Death Do Us Part is one dance production that you would not want to miss.

The dance production will be held on the 21st of January, 8pm at the University Cultural Center (UCC), NUS. Ticket prices ranges from 18 SGD, 20 SGD and 25 SGD. You might want to book early to avoid any disappointment. And that brings us to the reason to why I'm writing this post in the first place.

You see, I happen to be a dancer for this production and we're required to sell some tickets to help support this production. And even if you do not enjoy drama or dances, perhaps you could take this as an opportunity to give back to society as all the proceeds from Eusoff Hall's Dance Production for this year (Til Death Do Us Part) will go to Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF) to support their efforts. It's like one stone killing two birds. You'll get to experience a fun filled drama and do charity at the same time. How good is that?

So what are you waiting for? I have like ten tickets up for grabs and if you happen to be free on the 21st of January night, this is a really good way to spend your time. Do contact me at if you're interested in getting tickets to the dance production this year! You'll get to see a handsome blogger dancing!

One hour to the release of my exam results and already I'm feeling like this:

Well, at least I do not have to cut my nails for this week at least.

Confucius once remarked that all students have but two greatest fears in their life. One is the process of taking exams (and the few days behind it, or months, depending on when you choose to start panicking) and the other being the day when the results are released. Okay, I created that up, but I'm sure Confucius would say something like that if he had to sit for the numerous exams we have like O-Levels/SPM, A-Levels/STPM, PSLE/UPSR and the countless small exams in between. Heck, even those guys in ancient China had to take only one exam and they would be done with it. Sure the exam spans three days and you're not allowed to leave, but I would rather take it one shot rather than have it spread out all my entire life.

As for me, tomorrow will be the third time in this university where I will have to face the second fear that Confucius was talking about. The process of knowing your results. And despite my numerous bad experiences of getting exam results, my stomach still twist into knots every time I know my results are coming out.

Perhaps for me, the getting my exam grades are very much like the lottery results. You see, I'm one of the students who happens to have results fluctuating all the time. Which means that I'm not in the genius Albert Einstein group who undoubtedly have As plastered all over their results 110% of the time or the Ah Beng group who loves eggs very much. And most of the time, my efforts rarely translates into results. I could work like dog for one subject, expect to score at least a decent grade but end up with a big F on my paper and I could slack and do nothing but still end up with a grade that even astonishes myself. 

Which is why I say my exam results are like the lottery, because most of the time I will never know what I get until the actual date itself. My SPM and STPM results, for example, was like striking the 1 million dollar jackpot because i never expected such a good result.

Most of the time however, I will end up with something worse than I thought I would get, sadly. This is especially more so after I came to university. The fact that people here actually spend their nights in library to study does not help a guy like me who prefers saving humanity from a computer. If this trend continues, I could foresee me packing up my bags and having to leave university already.

But like it or not, I would have to still face tomorrow no matter how much I would want to just ignore it and brush it aside. I would choose to hide inside a cave if I can, but there are no caves in Singapore so that wouldn't be a very good idea too. And if it's any relief, almost all of the friends I know are also in the same state as me, with stomach going into knots too. Worrying too much won't change anything too.

So I guess I'll just have to take it easy and slowly when tomorrow comes. It's not the end of the world and it's just an exam results release date out of the so many millions I've been through. And like Confucius said, if you want to avoid the uncertainty of your exam results, you can always choose to study harder and make it into the geniuses gang or you could just give up and slip into the Ah Beng gang. Either way, it's much better than not knowing whether you will strike 4D, I mean 4As tomorrow.

Now if you would excuse me, there's a cave I need to find.

Note: This will be a quite emo and personal post so if you happen to be someone who dislike reading emo blog posts, you can still click the red x on the top right of your browser. I certainly would not want this blog post to affect how you would view me. However, I need to get this out one way or another, which is why I'm gonna rant here and give you a word of caution first.

*****

Since young, I have always wanted to be a leader, someone in position of authority. I dreamed of inspiring many with my leadership and how I would bring better changes to the world as a leader. Great leaders such as Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr were my role models. If given the chance, I wanted to leave my mark in the world just as they did. If given the chance, I would have wanted to change the lives of others for the better, just as they did. I wanted to be a leader as great as them. I thought I could and I believed that I can as long as I try hard enough.

Sadly, the experience for the past few months taught me otherwise.

To be honest, being a leader is nowhere near easy. Being a successful one is even harder. To be honest, I would think that scaling Mount Everest is a much easier task as compared to being a great leader.

A leader for start, has to possess a decent amount of good qualities. You have to be responsible, dedicated, detailed and caring at the same time. A leader must be able to see where he is going and is able to plan the direction of his team and be able to achieve them. A leader don't only talk about what he wants to achieve and what he is able to do but instead puts those in solid actions. And a leader basically gets things done, with style. Not to mention that a leader commands respect. He/She walks around with a dignified aura. To put is simply, a leader is no ordinary human being. Which is why they are leaders.

I on the other hand, sadly, has a bunch of qualities that direct polar opposites of what a leader should have. Being carefree, happy-go-lucky, spontaneous and taking things one at a time happens to be a few qualities that I've found out to be quite unsuitable in being a good leader. Being carefree, for example, basically means that you do not worry yourself too much with petty stuff and that doesn't quite sit well with being responsible. And when a leader is not responsible, a lot of shit can happen.

Taking things one at a time too can be quite disastrous. Some might say that it allows you to focus on a single task but when you have so many responsibilities on your shoulder, focusing on one aspect makes you unable to care about others and thus leading to more problems to crop up.

I guess now I know why some people say that leaders are born, not made, because to be one, you need certain inborn traits.

Well, I can either go back to being a normal follower and stop dreaming about being a world changing leader or I change myself to something I am not (which is definitely not easy) to be a successful leader. That, or I can be the first carefree, spontaneous and idiotic leader in the world. Tough choice.

I found this really awesome song called I've Had To Learn from Facebook just now. Okay, I did not find it literally, my friend shared it but still, it's counted as I half found it from my friend's profile! It's a song from the latest Korean musical, Tears of Heaven, which depicts the story of "a Korean soldier who is dispatched to Vietnam only to fall hopelessly in love with a Vietnamese woman and does everything in his power to help her." (source: http://www.hancinema.net/jyj-junsu-to-star-in-musical-tears-of-heaven--26575.html)

I don't know about you guys, but I do find myself repeating the song again and again in Youtube. The lyrics and the sheer majestic feeling of the music sorts of jump out to me. It's as though I can feel the pain and anguish that the singer is going through in the song. Which is why I liked the song. All the emotions sounded so real to me.

I don't know who sang this version, but I heard that Junsu will be singing this version in the musical (thanks to Vi for telling me) and I could foresee that it will become an instant hit on the web. Since I can't find any lyrics of this song on the web, I'm gonna transcribe the lyrics myself again in hopes of raising the readership of this blog like what happened when I did the same to the It's Only Just A Dream cover by Sam Tsui and Christina Grimmie. If you're gonna copy and paste it, I would appreciate some credits (I had to sit and decipher the words after all) and if there's anything wrong with the lyrics, do let me know. My ears tend to fail me sometimes.

Enough of me talking already, here's the song and the lyrics!

I've Had To Learn

Lyrics:

How can I tell you

How it feels to see

A country torn in half

Ripped apart by war

How can I tell you

How it feels not to know

Whether I'll see your face

If tomorrow ever comes

I've had to learn

Learn how to kill

Learn how to hate against my will

Learn how to fight

Shelter the weak from strong

Take from a boy
It's way to be(?)
It's inhuman to be me
I ask myself
Is this what it means to be a man

It's cause of love that I'm alive
Because of your love that I'm surviving
But what of these ghosts that I must carry to my grave

Din' he had a wife
Din' he had a dream
Someone who loved them like you loved me
Why do I have to take his last breath away

What if he thrived(?)
Each life that I take
What is the price that I must pay?
Tell me the cost, Because it's too late to turn back now

It's cause of love that I'm alive
Because of your love that I'll survive

But what of these ghosts that I must carry to my grave
 

I wasn't born

With a gun in my hand

But yet every soldier understands

When duty calls

It's somebody's freedom or your own

So you learn not to run

You learn not to cry

You learn how to aim your weapon high

and with them all

Never regretting what you're fighting for

Cause what you're fighting for

Is the one thing
You have left

I see a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong day ahead in front of me. Like it or not, there's this short from shooting that i must be at and it's from 9 am in the morning all the way to 8 pm at night. Talk about work dedication. (Speaking of which, the people in charge are not here yet, leaving me to wonder why on Earth did i bother to wake up an hour earlier. Where has all the punctuality gone too?)

And to make things worse, some people at some cosmos thing claims that a day is only gonna get longer thanks to some pull by the moon. Ugh. Thanks very much, Mr Moon. 

Oh well, on the bright side, I just have to survive one day of this short film shooting and I'm done. I'm not going to let work take away my rights of enjoying this holiday. And I certainly would not want to be dying of stress anytime soon.

I have a secret. I did not watch the movie Despicable Me when it was first released thinking that it's just another lame movie for small children. Yeah, that was the me trying to act macho, cool and all mature by branding the movie as a small kid movie just from the trailer.

However, thanks to 2 of my very insistent friends, I had the chance to laugh through the movie a few days ago and to be honest, I wouldn't mind watching it again just to see the antics of the minions and the three girls.

And if you're also a Despicable Me fan (like me), there's a few Despicable Me shorts on Youtube that is just as funny as the movie. You must watch the movie first though to roughly guess the what the shorts are about. Here are a few of them:

*****

Hope you had fun laughing cause I did. Now, to steal the moon!

I farking hate myself. 

I hate the fact that I'm such a stubborn guy who does not like to do things other than the way I want, even if that means risking the anger and unhappiness from others. 

I hate myself for not being able to be like most people who can accept decisions of others, even if they are not happy with it, just to make others happy.

I hate myself for constantly wanting the need of friendship but I myself are not willing to sacrifice my opinions on behalf of my friends.

I hate myself for being so selfish and I hate myself for being so different.

Why can't God just make us human in such a way that we do not need friendship or social contact to survive? And if he did made us in a way that we need social contact to survive, why must he made us so differently that we will have a clash of opinions when we do have social contact?

And I hate myself for asking all these stupid questions my entire life.

You know that you're once step closer in becoming a famous blogger when you Google search for your university's famous blogger and your blog appears second on the result.

I guess I am officially one of the famous blogger in NUS (National University of Singapore) now according to Google. Next up, I'm gonna conquer Singapore!

P/s: Just to clarify, i did not randomly go search for NUS's famous blogger out of nowhere, i just happened to do so when I saw that there were a few searches of "NUS famous blogger" landing on my blog based on Google's analytics. Just thought to see whether NUS has any famous bloggers, that's all.

The story goes that once upon a time, a geeky nerd who is quite socially challenged in real life decided to participate in a well renowned competition organized by the Standard Chartered Bank in hopes of scoring a 6 months internship job with the bank with a pay amounting to 30 000 SGD. 

The story goes on that much to his surprise, he'd actually made it into the Top 23 finalists out of the thousands of applicants out there alongside with the most awesome people he ever met. Of course, the nerd himself was quite intimidated by the sheer power brought into the competition by the others. While the other established a strong support base by creating Facebook pages, online competition diaries and supporting videos, all the nerd had done was written a few pathetic blog posts in response. So naturally he lost.

But it was still a good experience. Being a guy who can't even manage a sentence without stuttering in real life, making it to the Top 23 was quite an honour to him. The free iPod shuffle he got was also better than nothing.

And he thought the whole thing would be over by now. The judges had chosen the candidate for the World's Coolest Intern and he has return to the normal busy hostel life for now.

However, an email came to him yesterday. It was from Katherine Liew, the World's Coolest Intern herself, asking the Top 23 finalists to attend a conference organized by the Standard Chartered Breeze team. The aim of the conference was for the Top 23 to meet up with the judges and the Standard Chartered Breeze team itself to build networks and friendships, or so it says.

It would seem like an opportunity of a lifetime for most people. Meeting up with the awesome Top 23 finalists and the big shots of the Standard Chartered Bank itself. You'll get to know new people, build networks and who knows, maybe something good will spring up from there.

Well, the only problem is that as a nerd, he naturally avoids social situations. Especially those which you need to look good and act as if you know a lot of stuff. In his mind, he could already picture himself in a tuxedo, holding a wine glass with the CEO of the bank speaking to him about the current financial trends and the only financial trend he knows is in Maple Story. Not good.

Aside from that, he is also needed to "prepare a 3-minute video presentation on a topic" he thinks he "could teach the other applicants (and the world) about!". Doing a 3 minute video is fine but on a topic he could teach the world about? He basically has 0 standing talents, never cured a disease or win any Nobel prize before and even his blog is nowhere near good. So whatever he could teach the world about? Perhaps the title of the video is "How To Be Good At Nothing".

Another task would be to "pick an object that represents" him and be prepared to tell the reason why. Easier that the first task at least but still an impossible task for the nerd. Like I said, he can't even manage to speak a full sentence without stuttering and speaking in front of distinguished people? He would most probably faint and foam in the mouth.

*****

Which is why i'm still thinking on whether i should attend the conference on January the 7th. One side of me is urging me to go because it's an opportunity of the lifetime and only fools would miss it but another side of me is worried that among the Top 23 finalists there, I would be the worse of them all and I would make a fool out of myself. I guess I'd still be a fool either way.

Should I go or don't go?

Kurt uploaded another awesome piece of song today and for the first time, is not Sam Tsui singing but Kurt Schneider himself! And there was I wondering why all Kurt does is to just play the musical instruments all the time and not sing. There's also another guy too, harmonizing to Kurt and playing the drum in the video. He's called Jack Bruene.

Anyway, here's the video and lyrics:-

Lyrics:

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am 

*****

The song is shorter than the original song by Goo Goo Dolls, but it's still quite nice because of how Kurt and Jake gives it a more acoustic type of feeling. I must say though that this song is quite different from the other songs that Kurt produces with less emphasize on the singing but rather on the music itself.

If you've noticed, Kurt did not experience with different pitches and stuff like how Sam Tsui normally does, but I guess that this is just his style. The song is still nice and the lyrics are sweet, it's just a shame that there's no one for me to sing the song to.

On the other hand, where's Sam Tsui?

I've... been busy. Busy saying the world, that is. Which is why I hardly have anymore time to think of awesome blog posts to write (nobody reads them anyway) because most of my time are spent battling the forces of evil (in my case called the Darkspawn) before all is lost. Not to mention that there's this archdemon I have to defeat too and making sure that my two love interest do not tear each other apart in the process. I wonder how some people can have four wives and still live happily together when two is already such a headache to me.

And yes, i happened to be hooked on a computer game. It's called Dragon Age: Origins.

It's made by Bioware, the people behind another awesome game and trilogy, the Mass Effect series. Thanks to the awesome cut scenes, drama, storyline, gameplay and even the chance to bed one of your party members, I have been hooked on to this game ever since I picked it up. Games like this should come with a warning, you know. Something like, "Caution: May cause addiction".

One of the reasons that make this game so hard to put down is because of the open ended nature of the game itself. At the beginning of the game, you'll get to choose the race, background and class of your character, all would affect how the game will turn out in the ending. The choices you make as the game progress counts too. Like they say, you're the master of your destiny, on Dragon Age: Origins at least.

Another factor would be the intricate plot of the game alongside with the awesome cut scenes itself. The story of the game itself is filled with twists, deception, action and not forgetting love, in which as one of the Grey Wardens (the "chosen one", so to say), you'll have to decide the destiny of numerous conflicts that you'll come to encounter in the Dragon Age world. Would you choose to kill the tyrant that killed the king? Or would you choose to let him go out of compassion but risk the hatred of your best friend?

It's very much like watching action movies and drama, the only difference is that instead of Tom Cruise or Daniel Radcliffe, you're the main character.

Which explains why guys like me are suckers when it comes to game like this. I have already a few friends (female, of course) who asked me many times why can't i just stop playing this game every time they pass by my room. But when you're busy saving the world and everyone tells you you're the only hope, naturally you'll feel good and would want to continue on playing the game.

Games like this offers a sense of escapism to a world where we actually mean something to someone. It gives us the perception that we are actually powerful and we can change the world for the better. And of course, it gives us single guys the illusion that girls actually like us.

However, I don't deny the fact that excessive hours of gameplay are dangerous and there's a real life that we need to live in in which we're not the heroes, and that is why I'm not out back in the real world doing something productive like writing a blog post about the game I'm hooked upon and why games like this got us guys all crazy about it. Because all of us like to feel important sometimes, be it in game or not.

P/s: I hoped this blog post roughly explains to the girls out there why us guys like games so much!

We all understand that love is really important in our life and breaking up is one of the hardest things to face, especially if you're the one being dumped. No doubt the feeling that you're not wanted and loved anymore by the person whom you loved so much is quite hard to stomach. But does it mean that life as we know it ends? Is it worth sacrificing your life for it?

I was greeted today with the sad news of a suicide that happened in Malaysia a few days ago. A guy with the named Alviss Kong, aged 22, apparently committed suicide by jumping off a building after breaking up with his girlfriend of four months. The suicide immediately shocked the internet community and got so big that even a local Chinese newspaper picked up the story.

One of the reasons why this particular suicide garnered a much bigger attention compared to others happening everyday was because well, the internet played a part.

When Alviss first started his relationship with this girlfriend of his, he posted about it in his blog and declared how happy he was. He had confessed five times prior to being accepted but eventually, the girl accepted him. Of course, when you finally succeed at attaining something you have worked so hard to get, it's natural to be happy, evident from his blog postings:-

Aside from his blog post, another factor that fueled the popularity of this issue was his Facebook status update. Forty five minutes before he took the jump, he wrote that he was counting down to forty five minutes and asked what he should do in the meantime. When his sister asked him what was he up to, he said "I Love You" to his sister and later asked her to take care of his family for him. And of course his sister was freaked out and for a good reason it seems.

Forty five minutes later, the guy known as Alviss lies dead on the streets, having taken the jump.

The messages around the internet regarding this issue, being in Twitter, blogs and Facebook centered around three reactions, or three group of opinions, from what I could see.

The first was to blame Alviss himself. Many around the internet have accused him for being an idiot for going to such extreme just because of a break up. Some had even go so far to call him a pussy for being unable to face the breakup and chose the easy way out instead. There are even people who said that all this are just merely his acts of trying to gain attention and accuse him of being cruel himself because of the hurt and trauma that he would cause to his girlfriend and his family. In short, Alviss was to be blamed for the suicide and there should not be any sympathy given to him.

The second group of people, on the other hand, chooses to level accusations at his girlfriend. They accuse his girlfriend of being such a bitch for dumping a guy like him. Why do she even accept him in the first place if she was going to dump him later was the common question. To this group of people, girls like her should be punished because of breaking sincere hearts. Slut, whore and bitch are the recurring words thrown at her.

And there's the anti-suicide people who try to be neutral. "Let's not blame anyone", they say. In their blogs/Twitter/FB, all they talk about is how stupid suicide is and it should never be the option out without truly understanding the real factors that pushed Alviss to take the jump. "Call the suicide line for God's sake!"

Just who is right and who is wrong? Who are the ones that should be blamed for this unfortunate event? Is there anything we can do to prevent this from happening again? Why must stuff like this happen?

When it comes to situation like this, like it or not, there's no clear black and white answer. As much as we want the world to be fair and happy and put the blame on someone, sometimes we just gotta accept the fact that things like this happen. Despite how sad and wrong this suicide seems, I sincerely believe that no one should be blamed for this incident, no matter how much we want to scapegoat someone. It's not his girlfriend's fault because she chose to dump him, it's not his fault that he did not see other choices and it's not his family fault either for failing to protect him. There is simply no one clear answer to why all these happened. 

And judging is certainly not a way to make the situation any better.

Life goes on. The sun still shines. The birds still chirps.

And if we sincerely want to make this world a better place, treasure the life given to you. Never lose hope. And look out for each other. Don't forget those who are constantly around you that still believes in you. And never forget that there's someone above that you can talk to.

Rest in peace Alviss, no matter where your spirit might be. I hope you can find the happiness you are seeking for in the afterlife. RIP.

Desaru. Prior to going there for a holiday, i have known it as just another beach in Malaysia thanks to all the Geography lessons they forced us to take during secondary school. It's not as popular as other beaches like Pulau Redang and such but when my friend suggested that our clique go there for our post exam trip, we all said yes since it's quite near to Singapore.

Getting to Desaru is quite easy actually from Singapore, thanks to the numerous info on the internet. All you have to do is to take a bus, either a CW1 or 170 from the Kranji MRT station all the way to Larkin Terminal in Johor Bahru (JB) and then switch over to Mara Liner who has a direct bus to Desaru that is 100 km away.

The first thing that i noticed about Desaru when we first reached was its  remoteness. Unlike many other beaches that are tourist attractions that i've been before, Desaru looks very much like a village to me. There are only about 5 hotels operating along the beach of Desaru and the surrounding was covered by forests. Thanks to that, you can expect to see monkeys around regularly. There's even one that had the courage to walk across my shirt in the balcony.

Another thing that i have noticed was the cleanliness and beauty of Desaru itself. The beach was to my amazement quite clean and sandy. And the sea doesn't carry with it dirty stuff like rubbish every time a wave comes by. I think the beach itself is pretty undisturbed by humans which is why it's relatively clean of any waste. Compared to my previous experience of going to a so called beach in Sentosa, Singapore, i must say that a natural beach like Desaru beats Sentosa hands down any time of the day.

Walking down the awesome beach of Desaru

One downside of Desaru, however, was the lack of things to do there. I'm the type of guy that prefers a holiday that is filled with activities like enjoying the local wonders and attractions. Not very feasible if the place you're going is surrounded by forests. We did however, managed to get ourselves on a firefly watching cruise on our first night (no photo taking allowed!) and it was awesome. Seeing those blinking lights on the tree in pitch black darkness really makes you appreciate nature more. And it was kinda romantic too to be sitting on a boat traveling the river under the light of the moon only.

Another thing that we managed to do was to enjoy the local cuisine too. Since we're next to the beach, the trip would not be complete without eating seafood, right? We took a trip down to the nearest fishing village called Sungai Rengit which is about 20+ minutes of driving away to try out the famous seafood there. And i must say that the food is awesome. The one that i liked the most was the the salted egg crab that was so delicious that i can't resist licking the sauce off my finger. It was relatively cheap too for such nice seafood.

But aside from the firefly trip and the seafood tasting trip, i must say that the beach itself is the main attraction. We managed to spend almost half our second day doing various things on the beach like collecting seashells, crabs and rocks. Not to mention enjoying those huge mini tsunami waves that hits Desaru. I'll let the pictures talk for themselves.

What's a nice beach without a jumping picture?

Romantic right? XD

The waves here are so big you can make it look like some kung fu movie poster, if you time your shot right

Awesome rock formations

We also found quite a number of natural inhabitants on the beach itself. They include:-

Are they called clams?

A hermit crab

Another hermit crab

A small crab

A big crab

And even a turtle!


Whoops.

In short, Desaru is an awesome place to go if you're just looking for a place to chill and enjoy the sea breeze. And I definitely had a lot of fun with my friends. And i definitely would not mind going there again. The trip was just simply aweseome.