Bridesmaid's dresses

Yesterday, I went to try out bridesmaid's dresses at Marina Square as my mother's side cousin is getting married. Not many choices to choose from as it comes with the whole package.
The dress is white, with a ribbon, very simple. Not forgetting, it's also tube which means no straps.
This is my 1st time wearing a tube dress so it feels weird and I kinda wonder if it will come loose. I'm not very comfortable wearing tubes in general.
There was this other lady trying out wedding and evening gowns and every one of them was so beautiful.
After that, my mother and I were joined by my father and brothers. We went for an early dinner at Dome. The food is not very nice but so expensive. I bought a wallet at The Wallet Shop and got a jacket at Fox. My brother or rather my parents were looking for clothes for him to wear during the wedding.
That's about it.
School's starting tomorrow at 2pm. Coincidentally, my father will be leaving for Philippines that day too and coming back on Wednesday. Which means that on Tuesday, I have to wake up very early and go to school myself.

Meeting with friend

Went out with my primary school friend today. It's been such a long, long time since we saw each other.
Met up at Orchard MRT and had lunch together. It's a good thing we went out today because my holidays are coming to an end. Her promos are just over though. We exchanged news about our JC and Poly and talked about life in general.
After that, we went to Borders at Wheelock Place. It's great to be among so many books. Took time browsing and finally bought one novel, Highland Knight by Cindy Miles. I can't seem to find the other books that I want though. Thought Borders should be well-stocked with books... Maybe my expectations are just too high? Oh well, think I'll visit it again during Christmas season.
Then, we went to Far East Plaza and window-shopped. It's really tiring to just walk around. My feet were killing me and my shoulders ached from whatever stress I put on them.
We parted our ways as she was meeting another friend.
It's fun today, just meeting up with an old friend. Hoping to meet up again soon, during the December holidays.

Rumoured NM movie with my thoughts

Thought I'd give my opinion, about the rumoured New Moon movie.
Here: http://themovie-fanatic.com/exclusive_articles/film_focus/new_moon_twilightsequel/

Summit Entertainment should definitely filmed New Moon as a movie seeing as Twilight is going to be a big success. Without saying, Eclipse should definitely be included. It's my favourite book in the saga and it will be great to watch with all those emotions floating around, intimacy to a new level and not forgetting the battle at the end where enemies became allies. I'm not too sure about Breaking Dawn though. There are just too many things that will not do justice to the book. Read it and you will know what they are. If Breaking Dawn is made into a movie, there may be scenes that people will not quite accept especially those who are new or not fans of Twilight saga.

Back to the point about New Moon, it's a "hard" book to read, too much emotions. Separation does not do Bella or Edward any good. Majority of the book is about the relationship of Bella and Jacob with Edward returning near the end. New Moon is my least favourite with the exception of Bella and Edward's reunion. Every time I read the book, I will only read that part. But, there's much potential for New Moon being showed as a movie. For instance, we can see what separation does to Bella and Edward whereas in the book, we only saw Bella's point of view. The Volturi scene in Italy will be "fun" (in a weird sort of way) to watch.

However, Summit should be filming them soon or back-to-back because that's when they will be riding high on the waves of success. Also, the actors/actresses are going to get older every year. Not a good idea to wait for too long as vampires aren't supposed to age at all.
Besides, which fan wants to wait for ages to watch a sequel? Like Harry Potter HBP, Warner Bros' not wise to put off the movie to 2009 summer when it's suppose to debut on November 21st 2008.

As a Twilight fan, I, of course, have high expectations for the movie as well. I, like most fans, are protective of the world created by Stephenie Meyer and would not like to see it being made into a laughing stock or scoff at by other people. I know that movie is entirely different to a book but I can't help feeling that way. Typical people will group the saga together with the movie. If the movie is not successful, people who are new will not and may not read the books.

I don't know if I wrote it in here before, but I chanced upon Twilight in a special way. I was randomly picking books in the library back in 2006 and found it accidentally. I was attracted to the book's glossy black cover and after reading the tiny excerpt, borrowed it. From then on, I was and still am a fan of Twilight saga. During that time, Stephenie Meyer and Twilight was still relatively unknown, at least in Singapore. It's a good and bad thing about her being now a worldwide best selling author. Bad in a way that it's too publicise and that special connection with the books is lost somewhat.

To conclude, indeed, even if Twilight the movie and the movies to come are not that successful in terms of filming, I'll still watch them loyally like what I did with Harry Potter. That's right, I fall in the "typical people" category. Not proud of that fact though.

Timetable

School starts on Monday. Got my timetable and am quite pleased with it in general. Thursdays will be quite tedious though, until 7pm due to the French CDS I'm taking. But, there's a long break before the lecture starts, sooo, what am I going to do during that few hours of break?
There are 3 days in which my classes will end at 4pm, that's what I'm pleased about. However, I think there's only a short few weeks that I can fully enjoy going home early as I'm sure we'll be burdened will projects soon. The mere thought of projects makes me sigh.
Speaking of French, I'm a little apprehensive about it. It's an entirely new thing to me, of course. Then there's the whole going-to-class thing. Ok, I have to admit I have no idea where the classroom is. Even during semester 1, I would go to classes with friends, most of the time. This time though, at least that's what I think, I'll be going to French tutorial on my own. We'll see...
Going to work hard, especially for French.
Till then

Twilight Trailer 2

Have I mention how much I love Twilight's latest trailer? I've watched it for 5 times and counting and still can't enough of it.
How am I going to survive this few months before the movie is released in Singapore? Reading all those comments about the trailer makes me feel like part of this worldwide fan-group, what with most of them squealing and swooning. Besides, it's not just the girls that are all hype-up about this, even guys read, watch and love the Twilight saga.
Definitely must-watch!

HD version from myspace: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44287812

Youtube version:


P.S: Myspace version is recommended, much clearer and everything.

Twilight Posters

Poster 1 (When you can live forever, What do you live for?)

Poster 2 (Nothing will be the same)

Poster wise, I like the 1st one better. The second poster is the newest though I do not know which they will use.
Don't comment on the guy's (Edward) face because that's what he is supposed to look like. He's a vampire.

I wanted to post this entry together with the previous entry but the pictures can't be placed there.

Twilight Trailer

Yay! Twilight latest and final trailer is out. I don't think there's much changes to it compare to the previous version. No wonder it looks the same to me, that trailer haven't change at all when I 1st post this...Sorry
Now, it's countdown to the day Twilight the movie comes to Singapore! The latest trailer is just beautiful! I'm so excited for it! December 18th 2008 just seem so far away compare to the release date (November 21st) in US.

Do check it out here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M6kcVYod4w

Twilight all the way! The most-anticipated movie of the year.

Typically, movies based on books aren't very good and they don't seem to do the books justice. One good example is Harry Potter series, it was a downward slide from book 3 onwards. I was so upset by it because PoA is my favourite.

In my opinion, I will give Twilight the movie a chance. I will definitely watch it in December but it still remains to be seen if I really like the movie. There are already scenes in it that I'm not too please about. What's with the 'spider monkey' comment anyway? And then there's the tree-scaling scene. I don't think I can bear to watch them making a fool out of a really good book. One thing to note, vampires can climb trees but that scene is not suppose to be in the movie at all. There's no such scene in the book. I'm one of the many fans who are not happy about that.

I know for a fact that there can be no exact replica from the book to a movie. Either the book is too long like Harry Potter and Twilight or some scenes in a book are just too boring for a film.

All I can hope is that not too many original scenes will be cut away and replace by "action-packed" scenarios or one of those scenes that they put in to make it "interesting". Most of the time, it will be counter-productive. Fans will not like it and people who watch just the movie may think what a joke it is and not read the books at all.

Still, movies based on books are great in general because they appeal to the masses who are "too busy" to read a book. In a book, one have to imagine the scenarios which the characters are in. Sometimes, it is really hard to do that even if you have an active imagination. That's when the movie comes in. You will then have that "Eureka!" moment.

Spirited Away by Cindy Miles is one of the many books I want to watch as a movie. I think it will be sweet and beautiful to see the whole novel comes to life.

One tip, always read the book 1st, then go watch the movie. One will know what they have been missing all these time and find out that perhaps books are greater than movies or vice versa.

Holidays & school

Added as of 11.16am : http://www.twilightthemovie.com/ecard_widget/index.html
See the latest twilight trailer here. I wanted to put the whole widget on the blog, but it don't seems to display.
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So, holidays are coming to an end.
Don’t feel to go back to school. C’mon, who does? I’m not that kind of person who loves school.
Anyway, this holiday has been great so far, but of course, I’ve been doing the things I like: reading, surfing the net, sleeping. Nothing else, is that fun or what?
My parents did not pressure me, much. I felt a little guilty too.
Here is a list of the pros and cons of a long holiday VS school:
1. Schooling gives me a sense of direction and goals whereas during the holidays, I’m just floating around like a jellyfish, going where the waves carry me.
2. I have friends to talk to at school whereas during holidays, I mostly stay at home and read, sleep and surf the net which is fine by me.
3. School makes me feel like sleepy all day long but during holidays, I can do without afternoon naps.
4. I don’t have time for anything else in school term but during holidays, I can read and use the computer extravagantly.

Come to think of it, after today, no more extravagant use of laptop because PSLEs are over and my brother can use the computer. Since the hard drive is still not fixed, he will be using my laptop.

Sure sure, I still can read albeit how minimal but I don’t like that. Reading is about savouring it in one go. Taking days to read is just not my style. So, after next week when I return the books, I’ll not be borrowing books soon. I’ll be too tired to read and furthermore, the library nearest to me is closed for renovations. Come November though, the new library will be located at NorthPoint (I can visit it anytime on my way back from school which is wonderful)

Ever since I started going to school so many years back, I’ve been complaining. Don’t be mistaken though, I may not love it but there’s a certain affection there, especially during my upper secondary years.
It seems not too long ago when we had the O levels... I really missed those days.

Problem with Hotmail

I don't know what's happening but there's something seriously wrong. All my Hotmail accounts don't work. I mean ALL!
So, yesterday, just like any other day, I logged in my Hotmail. When I clicked to view one of the e-mails, I can't do it, as in, click but nothing happens. Then I went to send an e-mail, still it didn't work. Every other function is working fine, I think. Today, the same problem still persists.
It's driving me crazy. I can't live for the fact that something important to me is not right. I'll fret about it until the problem is solved.
I used my temporary Yahoo mail account to send an e-mail to Windows Live support. Not too bad, quite efficient in their service. I tried the tips, download Windows Live Beta and all that but it's still the same. I don't know if I make the problem worst by doing all those things.
I thought maybe it's the problem with Windows Live. However, I used my father's laptop to test and everything is fine there! This means that there's something wrong with my laptop, again?! Please...Don't do this to me....
I really don't know what to do... All my e-mails are there. Of course, I can easily create another e-mail in Yahoo or some other place but "old habits are hard to change" and I don't like changes.
Hopefully, everything will be back to normal soon, or else I think I'll change my e-mail account.
Lets wait and see.

Celebration

Yesterday, to celebrate grandfather's birthday, the whole family went to VivoCity's Bosses for dinner. Bosses is great, (direct translation to English from its Chinese name is Black Society). This is the 3rd or 4th time we went to eat there. I think it was nearing 8pm before we started eating.
Actually, they wanted to go Sushi Tei but the queue was so long. There was so many people in Vivo on a Friday night. Everywhere on the roads, you can see traffic jams. Even tables in Bosses were almost occupied.
After dinner, we went Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for drinks. It was about 11+pm when we parted. Almost all the shops were closed save a few.
Till then

Wuthering Heights book review

This book is unlike other books I've read before. At least, there's a happy ending in the end with Heathcliff's death and Cathy Linton marrying her cousin Hareton Earnshaw.

I can't sympathise Heathcliff at all. He was a evil, wicked man leading a half-crazed life since Catherine's death, torturing everyone he had a grudge against, even the next generation.

To turn Hareton Earnshaw into a downtrodden, illiterate servant who has to work in his own house without pay, abused his wife, abused his sickly son (Linton) and forced him to marry his cousin, Cathy Linton whom he kidnapped to secure his hold on her estate, etc.

I'm almost glad Heathcliff died.

Of course, some people may sympathise Heathcliff because his love for Catherine was "pure" and was haunted by her since her death. He had asked to be buried next to Catherine.

Almost all characters are dead in the story : Catherine Earnshaw/Linton & Edgar Linton, Hindley Earnshaw & his wife, Isabella Linton (Heathcliff's wife), Linton Heathcliff.

This book can be recommended as it's a classic. But if one is into "happily after" stories, then maybe this book isn't suitable. There are too many moments that you will feel so unjustified for the characters who was abused by Heathcliff.

I only read this book because of references made in Eclipse and am intrigued by the plot. A good enough book for all.

Mama Mia, The Movie review

Watched Mama Mia, The Movie today. It was great and lovely!
It can be considered a musical as there were singing in the film, like Grease or High School Musical. One must go and catch it! Critics says the West End stage musical version is better, I wouldn't know though, I've never catch the stage musical before. I hope to do so in the future.
ABBA was involved in the development of the show (stage musical) from the beginning. It tells the tale of a young girl who is getting married on a Greek Island and wanted her father to walk her down the aisle. But, after reading her mother's diary, she discovered she has 3 possible fathers. She then secretly invited them to the wedding to discover which of them is her father. Not all things go according to plan though. What's result is a musical comedy everyone will love.
I'm a fan of ABBA and have listened to their songs before. I'm surprised to find some songs that I had not heard before. My favourites now includes 'Our last summer', 'Lay all your love on me', 'Slipping through my fingers' amid others.
Quite a lot of songs are played in the movie. My favourite scenes have to be the "mass dances" the actors and actresses are in. It's just so magical and beautiful when lots of people are dancing as one like 'Voulez-Vous' and 'Dancing Queen'.
I've to admit not all the singing was great as they are actors/actresses afterall. The original (ABBA) is always the best. But, after listening to 'Our last summer' from both parties, I feel that the movie version is better. The other songs are sung better by ABBA.
Ahh, I want to watch it again! You won't get tired of it. Maybe, I'll get the VCD or DVD when it's out.
Cheers

World economy plunging

The world's economy is not at all good. After US lawmakers rejected the plan to bail out the financial system, the stock markets were hit badly. Apparently, some Asian and Europe markets recovered somewhat. Bailout Plan B is needed.
It's very worrying, since Singapore and majority of the countries depend very much on US. If anything happens, we will all be hit. People will get retrenched, businesses will drop badly, the list goes on. Nobody can escape.
Many people were hopeful that the bailout would be passed and thus help pick up the market but now, everything is back to square one. Needless to say, many US citizens were not happy about the bailout. The US$ 700 billion bail is their taxed money after all. They rather the government help the people than help the banks.
It's very overwhelming to read pages and pages of analysis about the delicate situation.
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I'm halfway through Wuthering Heights. After finishing it, I'll post my remarks and book review on the blog. I won't be posting all the books I read here, of course. Only those that can be share, will be shared here.

Spirited Away book review

I've just fall in love with the novel, Spirited Away by Cindy Miles!

It is classified under paranormal romance.

The novel is, oh, so nice and sweet. I highly recommend it to anyone who love a good romance story. The plot is very nicely written and quite engaging too.

It tells the tale of the ghost of a 13th century knight (who was murdered in his keep) who falls in love with the 21st century female forensic archaeologist he paid to solve a mystery. Read the excerpt here : http://www.cindy-miles.com/spirited_away.html

I'm looking forward to reading other Cindy Miles' novels. But, that can be a little difficult as I'm relying on the library for them. Unless, I buy them...which is alright except that I don't think Popular bookstores will have any stock...

Anyway, it has become my new favourite! At the same time, I'm reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It's because that part of the book was use in Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer that I'm reading it. I'm curious about the plot.

Off to more reading

P.S I'll introduce more novels here next time.

Singapore F1 Grand Prix

Yesterday's F1 night race was just spectacular! The street circuit was lighted up so brightly that from an aerial view, you can easily spot it.
No rain but the temperature and humidity was quite high. Many unexpected things happened, be they good or bad.
With the night scene of Marina Bay as backdrop (which was really beautiful), this Grand Prix was said to be the best, rivalling that of Monaco.
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Hot favourites to win this Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen crashed out with just Lewis Hamilton making his way to the podium in 3rd place. In the end, Renault's Fernando Alonso won and Williams' Nico Rosberg was second.
Felipe Massa was leading when he went for his pit-stop. There, he lost precious time because of a pretty bad mistake by the Ferrari team. From then on, he was trailing behind.
My favourite, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was doing quite well during the entire race when with just 4 laps to go, he crashed into a barrier. Ferrari crashed out. How disappointing...
There was once or twice when the safety car came out because of the crashes, I do not know much about that rule though.
Racers who retired were Toyota's Jarno Trulli, Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr, Red Bull's Mark Webber, Force India's Adrian Sutil and Honda's Rubens Barrichello. I have to say Mark Webber was really unfortunate, 3 days on the circuit, 3 days of mistakes and crashes.
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Next year, F1 will be back in Singapore seeing as Singapore has signed a 5-year contact. Can't wait.

P.S : Contrary to popular belief, F1 is not just about modified cars zipping around the circuit 61 times. One needs the concentration, skills and luck. Mistakes made last night shows that anything can happen. You may be leading at 1st, but no one knows the results until the last moment. No wonder there are so many fans out there.

F1 fever in Singapore

My perspective of the F1 race has changed. As the days go closer to the big night tonight, my interest for it has piqued. Reading all those articles about F1 and witnessing it on TV, it makes me sort of proud to be a Singaporean, seeing as the world's 1st night race was held in Singapore. I like to read all those positive comments and praises by tourists and racers alike. I supposed it makes the whole thing more real.
I'm not a F1 fanatic, merely someone who is newly converted, after watching the qualifying round yesterday. It's hard not to join in the fever afterall. The whole family has plans at 7.30pm tonight to watch the race on TV.
Don't forget to catch the race live as it may be one's only chance to watch it on Channel 5.
It's a bit disappointing though that brands like Porsche, Lotus and Lamborghini are not taking part. I've always love those cars.

Banners done by me

Disclaimer: Quotes are taken from Eclipse and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I have no claim over the pictures except for the 1st where it is stated that the photo belongs to me. The banners are done by me and are not supposed to be re-post without permission. (The least one can do is to credit me)
This is what I've been doing the past few days. It took me ages, by trial and error, to come up with these. They are the best I can do, at least for now. I am quite happy with the way they turn out. I really admired those people who can do animated banners and avatars. In case you are wondering, the interest started when I joined www.twilightlexiconblog.com. After seeing those beautiful banners and avatars, I wanted one myself but do not want to take others' work, so...

-Banner 1-

-Banner 2-

-Banner 3 (using as avatar)-

F1 is coming to Town

In just 3 days time, F1's first ever night race will be held in Singapore!
I've have not much interest in F1 and I think most Singaporeans are like me. There's a newspaper article about "Pride in F1 race missing". I agree with what the reporter writes. Maybe it's because F1 is an 'high-end' and expensive sport or some people just have no interest and think that it has nothing to do with them...
I do like watch to pit stops during the race and the modified cars are just, wow. That's about it, I guess.

Choices

Choices, choices.
Life is full of choices.
Anyway, yesterday, after much considerations (not), I chose Introduction to French and World Issues. Don't ask why because there won't be a fixed reason. To me, it's the heart that matters. My heart is already made up when I 1st saw this subject, it's just that I care for people's opinion more than mine so that's why I took such a long time to decide.
It's always the same, a good example would be my choice of poly. I can make up all sorts of reasons to pacify myself and others but the truth is, my heart is already set upon it. No amount of reasoning can make me change my mind unless...then again will have enough reasons not to choose that. (Who am I trying to kid anyway? I'm just in denial)
The next big choice is during November, where I'll decide which diploma I want to go. Business?, Logistics? or Marketing? I know I won't choose marketing so it boils down to either business or logistics.
I follow my heart and feelings more than my brain. Not sure if its a good thing or bad.

Murders & tainted milk

How terribly exciting...
There had been a case of multiple murders near where I lived. The case happened at Yishun Block 349 while I lived at Block 350.

Apparently, it occurred at midnight yesterday. But this morning, my father reported to us that the whole area was cornered off and police and reporters alike were still there. When I went out this afternoon, police car and private cars were still there.

It was only then I knew that this was not a simple case of someone dying. 3 females were murdered and 1 injured. All were reportedly from China. The suspect was caught on the spot but seems that he was not the only murderer. http://news.sg.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1684997

And another thing, the whole China tainted milk powder fiasco is escalating.
Melamine was apparently added into milk powder in China.

How bad can these people go? I don't understand at all. 4 babies were dead because of this with hundreds more hospitalised with kidney stones. Don't they have 1 drop of compassion and corporate social responsibility in them? They should be made to drink the tainted milk instead...
Now, not only is powdered milk produced in China affected, even food items made from milk and "fresh" milk were hit too. China-produced ice-cream brand and fresh milk were removed from shelves indefinitely. But, of course, Singapore did not import the milk powder and certain brands of fresh milk. However, that did not stop the authorities from carrying out checks on other brands of ice-cream and chocolates that are quite popular in Singapore.

Since both food items required milk to make, it is worrying that these manufacturers will obtain their milk sources from China as it will be cheaper. The problem is you don't know where is the milk is from when you consume an ice-cream. Due to today's borderless companies, you don't know at all where different ingredients are from. The brand itself may be trusted, but the ingredients are a different thing all together.

I personally have a weakness for chocolates and ice-cream. The brands I support and consume are mostly from the Western countries. I hold a certain belief that expensive means it's good and safe to a certain extent. That's selective perception and it may be my downfall but up till now, I still trust certain brand more than others. Don't we all?

Like my father says, consume everything in moderate quantities and don't just stick to one brand of food item, it may lessen one chances of getting affected.

In my opinion, settle down in a countryside, buy a few acres of land, rear cattle and poultry and grow your own vegetables and fruits. That's what I call safe and reliable.

Oh my god, what had the world become?!