Where to start?

Jeez. I have so much in my head that I wanna blog out, but I don't think I'll be able to do it all in one post.

Okay, so first things first. I went to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian yesterday afternoon with my folks. My bro went to see it before me, and according to him it wasn't as "epic" as the first one, so I walked into the cinema with pretty low expectations. However, I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint.

To me, it was quite true to the book and taking into consideration the time limitations of a movie, it was actually pretty good. All the important parts were there, and the battle scenes were awesome. Ah~ The joys of having CG special effects. I have to admit though, the ambush during the night where they were forced to flee and leave behind their comrades had me a bit teary-eyed.



Strangely enough, I've had this weird list in my head ever since watching the movie and honestly, if I don't get it down in print soon my head is gonna explode. So here it is...

Who I Would Like To Be In The Movie And The Reason(s) Why:

• Prince Caspian - I get to witness fairytales come true (OMG! A talking badger!) and blow a magic horn to summon help from another world (or time period, depending on how you look at it). Oh, and I get to rule Narnia after those meddling kids go back home. *grins*
• High King Peter - Because I get to lord it all over the others and scream "For Narnia!" and "For Aslan!" in both movies. *another grin*
• King Edward - Because I can always manage to make Peter speechless. And save his butt on several occasions. *smirks*
  
• Aslan - A roar works wonders. Long dormant trees wake up, the river god swallows the baddies, and people either cheer for joy or cower in fear. Oh, and being a big lion already intimidates most people.
• Queen Lucy - Haha~ I come to the rescue along with Aslan! Whoever said that I was imagining things?
  
• Queen Susan - I get to kiss Caspian. He's pretty hot. *winks*
  
• A centaur - Centaurs are kinda cool. And those claymores look pretty lethal. Not to mention they're respected everywhere they go.
• Reepicheep the mouse - I get to be the tiny hero of the movie. Although it gets pretty stale hearing "You're a mouse!" from countless clueless humans, I still get the satisfaction of saying "You people have no imagination." and then slashing them in the face. Fiesty, I say.
• Trumpkin the dwarf - I get a weird nickname from Their Majesties: D.L.F. (Dear Little Friend) They're all actually really nice kids, especially Lucy.
  
• Minotaur - Ah... The bravery and sacrifice of the minotaur who held up the gates so that everyone could escape. *salutes*
• Griffin - In the first movie, they carried rocks to crush the enemy. This time around, they transport the troops. Now how cool is that?

That's about it. The list in my head, I mean. Phew, it's such a relief to get it out of my head now. *facepalms* No, I'm not crazy. Seriously, I'm not. I'm just a little unwell. XD

2 Davids and no Goliath !

Wheeee~ I'm so happy! The 2 Davids are the top 2 finalists, just as I expected! ^^

Aren't they just awesome? Good looks, even greater vocals. *luvs* I like David Archuleta 'coz he has that cute boy-next-door look, while David Cook totally blows me away with his rocker image. And don't forget, both of them have really good voices (otherwise how'd they get so far in Idol, duh!).

So anyway, I'll be waiting with bated breath for the finals next week. *fangirl squeal* I'm still not sure I want which David to win. Oh wait, I am pretty sure I know. *keeps it secret - winks* Either way, I don't really mind. (Do I? Hmm....) Both of them are already idols in my heart! XD

Going All Classical

Whoever said Japanese animation is bad should be drawn, quartered, sliced and diced into tiny little pieces.
Along with the idiot(s) who designed the Midvalley Megamall carpark [but that's another story].

I recently finished watching "La Corda d'Oro 金色のコルダ" (The Golden String) and I must say... I totally loved it! Bishies and shoujo-ness aside, it really made me appreciate and see classical music in a whole new light. Apart from the obvious attraction of cute guys playing various musical instruments, the part at the end of each episode also provides viewers with quirky facts about famous musicians like Bach, Mozart and Liszt to name a few, not to mention interesting information concerning musical terms and instruments.

So anyway, here I am, listening to classical music while typing this post. (FYI, it's Schubert's Ave Maria.) A few hours of searching yielded quite a collection of beautiful classical pieces, including...

• Gossec - Gavotte in D Major (My fave!)
• Schubert - Ave Maria
• Debussy - Clair de Lune
• Tchaikovsky - Waltz of the Flowers
• Pachelbel - Canon in D Major (Also a favourite)
  
• Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
• Strauss - The Blue Danube
• Beethoven - Fur Elise
• Beethoven - Minuet in G
  
• Chopin - Nocturne No. 2
• Elgar - Salut d'amour, Opus. 12 (Another favourite ^^)
  
• Wagner - Brautchor

...just to name a few. Yay! Now I can look at classical albums without going "Huh? O_o" Yup, I really gotta thank La Corda d'Oro for stirring up my interest in classical music. =)



There's a totally fangurl-ish reason why F.J. Gossec's Gavotte in D Major is my favourite melody. It's because it always reminds me of Hihara-senpai and Kaho-chan's first duet together in the school courtyard (at the beginning of episode 3). And then there's their second duet at the park in the special 26th episode. The music is very lively and cheeky; it really makes you feel that life is about being happy and carefree. That's also the reason why my favourite in the anime is Kazuki Hihara - his personality is exactly like the Gavotte: friendly, cheerful and always ready to smile and laugh. When he's upset or unhappy(episode 17), it's like the sun has gone behind a cloud. T_T

Obviously, I am all for the HiharaXKahoko pairing, as opposed to the usual LenXKaho pairing most people seem to love. Oh well. At least this means less people fighting over Hihara, which is a good thing I guess. =P

Sweet! ^o^

Oh, and if you're interested in other La Corda d'Oro posts, do check out Scrumptious' La Corda d'Oro post. It's absolutely full of goodies! ^^

Blog Probation Is Over !

Okay, okay, so the so-called "blog probation" was self-inflicted. Who cares?

Well, my verdict is.... *drum roll*

I love

AND

....therefore, I'll be keeping them both! =P

Malaysian Petroleum Club (MPC)

For more updates on the MPC, visit my new blog: Winter Blossoms

"What, and where, is the Malaysian Petroleum Club?" you ask.

Well, it's an exclusive, by-invitation-only club where the members are made up of people from the oil and gas industry. My dad used to be in that particular industry before he retired, and he still gets to keep his MPC membership. (Hooray!) Which means I get to enjoy the magnificent view of my beloved Kuala Lumpur spread out before me, complete with the KLCC park fountain and fairy lights of the city, every time we go there for dinner. ^^ Oh, did I mention that the club is located at the skybridge (42nd floor) of the Petronas Twin Towers?

Well, once you've been verified by the security at the entrance, you have to pass through the metal detector. (It wasn't there before the 911 incident.) After that, you take the elevator to the 42nd floor (there are only 2 buttons anyway - M and 42). After less than 2 minutes in the elevator, during which your ears go "pop" as the pressure decreases, the doors finally open to reveal big floor-to-ceiling glass windows showcasing the splendid KL city view by night. =) Turn to the left, and you'll see a big golden plaque on the wall with the words "Malaysian Petroleum Club" on it.

Let's just say that if you aren't used to fancy Renaissance-style furnishings and gold-plated stuff, it might be rather overwhelming. It's like walking into a private 5-star hotel's lobby. (I still get pretty awed every time I go there.) Straight ahead a spiral staircase leads down to the coffeehouse, while a left turn leads you to the lounge area and bar. You can also find a reading room that looks exactly like everyone's idea of it - black leather sofas, a big leather captain's chair, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, watercolour landscapes and and several decorative ships in bottles. My goodness, it's the perfect place to do some quiet reading uninterrupted. *drool*

Even the washroom is so pretty and clean. There's a small vase of fresh flowers on the sink, a pile of napkins in a straw basket and a laundry basket to throw your used napkins.

So after having dinner at the coffeehouse (the salmon was perfect!), we went around to the skybridge side to see if the doors were open. I really love walking around the skybridge at night - the city lights twinkling down below are so pretty and you get to have the whole bridge to yourself! *grins and winks* I was kinda amused to see this sign though...

"Please be informed that skybridge leg painting is in progress." Leg?! -lol-

It was raining that day so i guess either they finished it early or had to wait till the next day to continue with the "skybridge leg painting". Haha~

Raindrops. It actually looked like it was snowing because the raindrops were falling down and the spotlights below lit them up and made them look like snow. So pretty! ^^ Oh, and the ring of lights there is actually from the KLCC Park's fountain. =)

I didn't take that many photos there. *looks sheepish* I'll try to get more the next time I go there though! XD

Last but not least... a pic of me and my 2nd bro at the skybridge! (So blur... *swt*)

Vampirish Nights

Well, my latest craze is Hino Matsuri's "Vampire Knight". It's an ongoing series which has apparently taken the manga and anime world by storm this year. And yours truly is definitely going along for the ride - blood, fangs and all.

The series starts with a little girl who is lost in the snow and has no recollection of her past. A rogue vampire sees her and intends to suck her blood, but is killed by another vampire before being able to do so. With bloodstained hands, he then reaches out to the little girl. Even though she is terrified by the attack on her, she trustingly puts her small, mittened hand into his outstretched one and he holds her close in a tight embrace...

Fast forward to the present day. Cross Academy prefect Yuuki Cross is once again trying (and failing) to push away the hordes of Day Class students - the majority of which are girls - from the gates of the Moon Dorm, where the Night Class students reside. The gate opens and a group of gorgeous people walk out - they are the Night Class students.

Yuuki is promptly stampeded by the fangirls and falls on her bottom. A concerned voice asks her "Yuuki.. Are you okay?" A young man wearing the white uniform of the Night Class reaches out to help her up and she has a flashback of the incident that happened 10 years ago.

This is Kuran Kaname - Leader of the Moon Dorm and vampire extraordinaire. He was the vampire who saved little Yuuki in the snowstorm 10 years ago and is her secret crush. Just as he fondles Yuuki's head affectionately, a hand grabs Kaname's arm and pulls it away. This is Kiryuu Zero, another school prefect like Yuuki.

To the Day Class students, the two prefects are just students who take care of disciplinary matters in the academy, but in reality, their jobs are much more important than that. They are the school Guardians, responsible for keeping the Day Class and Night Class away from each other, guarding the school from danger, and also to prevent the truth from leaking out that the Night Class students are actually vampires.

Vampires have been very popular lately in works of fiction. It's not hard to see why. Vampires nowadays are depicted as unnaturally beautiful beings who have superior abilities compared to normal people - perfect predators. Of course, we mustn't forget the detail that they live off fresh blood, particularly that of humans.

And since we're still on the subject of vampires, my all time favourite vampire novel is "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. They're making it into a movie! I really, really hope they don't mess it up like other novel adaptations.

Anyway, I've finished reading all the available chapters (39 chapters and counting!) of the Vampire Knight manga online at OneManga today. So far there are only 4 episodes of the anime available. Character development is pretty smooth and detailed, while the plot is very intriguing with lots of twists and turns. Courage, loyalty, romance, power, conspiracies and even a little bit of incest can be found in this dark yet fascinating story. There's even some lighthearted comedy thrown in, although it is noticeably reduced in later chapters as the story progresses.

Well, it's up to you to decide...

Do you want to descend into the darkness of eternal night?