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27/11/2005

Ultraman crazy!!



This is going to be a short blog entry today but I am tired (and broke) of paying $26.00 for one small ULtraman figurine after another. Todate, we have about 20 or so Ultramans in their various heroid poses. That's $520 down the drain in case you don't have a calculator with you! Although he is hilarious, Jared is an Ultraman fanatic who tells me that he wants to ‘dream’ about Ultraman before he goes to sleep.


These Ultraman people are smart too….as if one Ultraman is not enough…they have Ultraman Cosmos, Ultraman King, Ultraman Leo, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Gaia, Ultraman Agul, Ultraman Chaos, Ultraman Nice (what a sissy Ultraman name!!), Ultraman Powered (I am quite proud of myself for remembering all those names. I didn't make them up...these Ultramans are for real...as real asn Ultraman can be)….and now….I feel compelled to create my own one….


Ultraman Jared. Oh, he’s going to hate me for putting his picture on Ultraman AND publishing it on the web…but he’s only 3, so, let him hate me when he’s 30 and suffering from the same problem I am now.

I hate Ultraman but I kiss the ground Jared walks on.

Marsha
www.marshamaung.com

17:40 Posted in Blog , Family , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

26/11/2005

There's so little to Chicken Little



Go in with no hope and you’ll come out happy. That’s how I would review Chicken Little. From the first acorn on, you know it’s going to be acorn after acorn of dumb excuses. Oh sure, this is Disney’s first (and hopefully last) fully computer-animated full feature film…but frankly, who gives a CLUCK?


Viewers, first, buy movie tickets to watch the movie and second, to be amazed at how many feathers there are on that little hero-chick. He’s cute, by the way, but his voice ain’t. It’s my personal opinion that his voice does not go with his face…or is it the other way around? Forgive my ignorance. I am still living in the Nemo-and-Dad era…not that it was anything to get all ruffled up about, either. But there was more meat to that bone than Chicken Little.


Chicken Little, from the fall of the first acorn, was mistaken for lying. He thought the sky was falling (which was a half truth, it wasn’t the sky that was falling, it was a piece of the door from an alien space craft). Or did I give too much away? Oh, never mind, you can read this movie, Chicken Little, like an open book with a magnifying glass, anyway. His dad, (come to think of it, I don’t even know Chicken Little’s dad’s name) is a single Chicken after this wifey died and has problems relating to and understanding his son. Sounds familiar? Yeah, it might take a few ‘blurp’ ‘blurp’ to jolt your memory. But yeah, you’ve got it.


Glenn Whipp of Los Angeles Daily News said that while Chicken Little was not PAINFUL to watch, it was totally UNNECESSARY! How true, how true. Couldn’t have said it better myself.


The last I heard, there were a lot of high tech programs and softwares developed and used to emulate muscle movement. And fine, to be fair, the movement was rather flawless…as flawless as chicken movements can be.


If you think adults won’t enjoy the Chicken Little because our minds are tainted with reality, you’re wrong again! I took the whole troop of sons, nephews and nieces along for the show and one of them even yawned at me….”Is it OVER yet?” and my son, Joshua, said halfway through the show…”Mom, I think this is kind of boring!”


And ever since watching the show, unlike after watching Madagascar, there was not a whisper about ‘Chicken Little’ heard in the house. After Nemo and Madagascar, we had to drag our kids away from the vast choices of merchandizes from the movie…from cornflakes to pencils. With Chicken Little, they don’t even remember watching the show.


THAT’s how forgettable the show is.


Recommendation: For people aged between 1 month to 99 years old, DON’T waste your time and money! Watch Madagascar reruns, instead.

18:15 Posted in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

25/11/2005

Kitchen Confidential:: Book Review

What? Full star ratings?
I would never have bought this book without knowing its contents. As a graphic designer, I tell you the cover sucks. But the content rocks! If not for the fact that my well-read sister-in-law passed the book to me as part of our ‘book exchange’ program, I would have never had the chance to flip through the pages and be so entertained in such an unrestrained manner! And I am stingy about giving full stars for a book because I believe there’s always room for improvement but…for Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, he has given me every reason and more to say a ‘hundred thumbs up’.


Background on Anthony Bourdain
For those who don’t yet know, Anthony Bourdain is a chef and his show called ‘No Reservations’ is currently (as of 2005, I think) being aired on Travel Channel. For Malaysians, I think you can catch it on Discovery, Astro. Based on this best-selling book, he’s even got a comedy series out produced by Fox. THAT’s how hilarious and side-splitting this book can be.


However, for those who don’t have the stomach for fart jokes, sex jokes and lurid  suggestions of acts so dirty and unrestrained it makes Michael Jackson sound original, don’t read it. Yes, it’s a culinary adventure to be remembered and yes, every single page is absolutely hilarious. But it’s also filled with bad language, drugs and alcohol, sex and other unimaginable things we, normal people don’t but kitchen chefs do. Like slicing their own fingers off when they’re rushing a dish out. Ew!


By the way, you can read about the author’s visit to Malaysia here, http://travel.discovery.com/fansites/bourdain/take/malays....


The unbelievable characters
By virtue of the fact that he got his book published and movie published, we can be quite sure that every single character written about in the book is as real as the steak in front of you in a restaurant. But they are absolutely unbelievable and in fact, they are so real that you can imagine what they are like in real life. His teachers and mentors, namely Chef Bernard (the military trainer and teacher in chef school), BigFoot his mentor (whose advice and teachings he remembers till today), Steven (the guy who called a fellow kitchen staff in the middle of sex), Adam-real-last-name-unknown (the guy who was continuously late and showed tardiness in everything that he did, came and went as he liked and have a love-hate relationship with Bourdain throughout the book….they were all a bunch of lunatics. And common people love reading about lunatics like them.


The dream, the fall, the dumps and the rise to fame
He started off with a dream…or more like a piece of oyster he thought he was going to choke on! But from that first oyster on, he found his dream and it was FOOD. Through school and through training, he fought to find a purpose and once he did, he went through hell just to be good at what he is good at today. He went from peeling prawns, washing dishes, waiting on tables, cutting up vegetables and meat, ordering food, surpervising others, went back to waiting at tables, cutting vegetables and meat, supervising others to owning his own joint. He went up only to come down hard.
He laced his adventure with accounts of how the kitchen crew hung around the back of the kitchen drinking like they had no tomorrow to putting things into their noses. And the men’s room, the locker room….I wouldn’t want to be there. He talks about language problems (because most kitchen crews are foreigners) and how he learnt to adapt to those languages (really funny!). He learnt about different characters and how to find people who are loyal….and then how even loyal people can bail out on you. he talks about how to identify a rotting restaurant…and one that was already rotting by the time they hit the drawing board.


Wildly entertaining
That’s how I would describe this book because it’s a page turner without talking about aliens, abduction, murder, autopsies, car bombs, hijacking of plans, rape, etc. If you’re at all serious about reading, you just HAVE TO add this to your bookshelves.

18:50 Posted in Books | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this

24/11/2005

I'm crawling

I am crawling towards my destination. My destination is 50,000 words....only about 1/2 the number of words in a normal novel...and here I am, fingers cramped and mind totally blank.

I've come so close to giving up. And yet, I am only 8000 words away from where I end this pain. This was a challenge that I was confident in when I first started. Like everything else in life, when I want to do something, I will give it everything I've got. But November and December are busy months for me because everyone's got new financial budgets and there's lot of promo to do and all that and I leave the novel in the nest for sometime...one day...two days...three days...and blast it. I am 4,800 words behind.

Now, there's only 4 more days to go and I have to write at least 1,900 words a day to see the finish line. I don't know. I am not confident. But I will give it everything I've got to see this damn stupid thing I've started to the end.

For those who are wondering what in the blinking hell I am talking about, visit www.nanowrimo.org for more info and you'll understand.

It's 6 in the morning now and I need.....a new cup of coffee.

Marsha
www.marshamaung.com

22:35 Posted in Blog , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this