Lobster's Favorite Things : Nightwatch

It's like Oprah's only I'm not giving it out .

This is my favorite book. It is Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, as you can see. This book is wonderful and very delicious when eaten with fruit spread. Yes, that's a rubber band holding the book together. It started falling apart 1 year ago. You know, when you get to certain age you just let yourself go. There's only so much abuse you can take. Let it go, just let it go... . I'm gonna start my geekspeek now so you may want to step back.
I love this book more than I do my brother. I love it because Vimes kicks ass in this. I love it because you get to see Reg, Nobby, Colon, the ladies of negotiable affections, young Sam Vimes and mostly Vetinari when they were younger. The only way they could make this better is if they had more Carrot. That'll be awesome. More Carrot. It helps your night vision, you know, carrots. Also, this is when Sam gets little Sam. Wow. My favorite part of the book is A) when the committee of the The Glorious People's Republic of Treacle Mines Road were discussing what they want to put on their new crest (Truth! Justice! Reasonably Priced Love! Freedom! And a hard-boiled egg) B) the ingenious way Keel dismantled all attacks on the barricade. C) any scene with Mossy Lawn or Vetinari D)Night Watchman's oath

It's more than a Discworld book. You'd notice societal implication and political nuances in it. It is a Ankh Morpork history happening and it adds depth to all the other books in the series. On top of the drama and suspense of the plot and colorful characters. Pratchett is a bloody genius, by Io! This book is witty, mind boggling, fucking well written, entertaining and most of all, funny. There are jokes that you wont get the first time around but will make you snort out rice through your nose the next time you read. It's not a book. It's an evolution, in a handy paperback shape. I always bring a book when I go anywhere and this book is my most oft travel companion. Would explain the dragged-behind-a-garbage-truck look.

So there. The thing I love most in this world. This book. Can you tell?

Stay tune for the next installment of Nella's Favorite Things. la la tu tu tu la la laa (theme song)

Hungover

Went to a wedding last night at the JW Marriot. It was my first Chinese Wedding and I had crazy fun. Crazy. Fun. Between the 7-course French gourmet dinner and the open bar and good live band music and the endless (endless!) YaaaaaaAAAaaaAAAmmmm SeeEEEEnnNNGGGgg toasting to the bride and the groom (and to the families and the guests and friends), I enjoyed myself tremendously. It was a tad long winded but the company was awesome and the ballroom looked amazing as did the happy couple; Alesia and Julian. The event ended at midnight and it was more than torture for me to wake up this Monday morning to go to work.
Here are some super crappy pictures of the whole shindig. It was taken on my Motorola just so you know.
Monday was invented so that we have something definite to hate. Groan. Hold head.

By the by; I have 4 ex classmates who are preggers right now. Fatin, Anne, Irmazian and Afzan. Afzan got married last November. As happy as I am for them (delirious), I still think .. you know what, nevermind. I am happy for them and let's just leave it at that, shall we. Congrats, you fertile lot!

Sappy

I never imagined I'd know it for myself. My heart... It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it's trying to escape because it doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange - no feats. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine.

Just finished watching Stardust for the nth time and feeling the fuzzies. I like the sheer fluffiness of the lines above. I could almost forgive them for not giving Yvein any eyebrows and asking her to imitate a bobble head when delivering these lines. Almost, but no cigar. Sigh.

Waiting for My Godot

My life, lately has been ridiculously lame. I wake up, drive to work, eat lunch, drive back from work, have dinner with the family and go to bed. Repeat ad tedium. Sometime, if I think I can stand the excitement, I play Scrabble, Monopoly or Boggle. Mostly Scrabble with myself. Nothing else. Just sheer repetition one long day after another. It's driving me nuts.
It's been almost 3 months since I've been anywhere (Taiping) and 6 months (SIX!!) since my last overseas trip. It's almost unnatural. We Shuhaimes aren't meant to stay in one place for so long. It's genetically coded for us to ever so often grab our passport and a suitcase (or in my case, a backpack) and just head off into the sunset wherever the wind might take us.
When flipping through the channel last night I came across an ancient Craig David video clip on a beach and the overwhelming urge to just drive to the nearest beach was terrifying. And I don't even like Craig David. I'm a fairly impulsive being and at that moment I just felt I missed the beach so much and also I'm maddeningly bored of being stationary, I was so damn close to grabbing my car keys and going off at 3 am to Port Dickson. But apparently I still had some resemblance of self control. That and because the gate keys were with Dad.
I need to get out of this place. The thing is, I'm farking broke (January 2008 is stupid expensive and it just wont end). I'm just afraid one day I get into the car and the next thing you know I've driven all the way to Hanoi without me realizing it. And smeared all over my hood are pieces of rainforest trees, a monk, two buffalo, a straw purse, landmines and whats left of a Thai cooking oil smuggler. Which is not possible, of course but all the same, worrying. Worrying because I just might snap and do something as stupid. Not possible because Dad keeps my passport with the gate keys.
Right now, excitement is like Godot. I am waiting for him but he's not coming.

Star Light, Star Bright

Isn't this movie just simply gorgeous? I heart Gaiman to the power of infinity(I love his American Gods and Good Omen) but I haven't read Stardust yet. I was going to, then the movie came out and I still haven't read it. Anyways..
Watched the movie, loved it and am all over it.
Brings back memories of watching the Princess Bride (my sister's all-time favorite movie) speaking of which, is probably one of the more funny movie ever made, methinks. It was ages ago when I last saw it but I still remember the movie (Princess Bride) is hilarious. Great movie, that. Classic, even. Oh Westley..
Back to Stardust. I know Gaiman wrote the book and Jonathan Ross (Jowaton Woss)'s wife co-wrote the screenplay. I didn't watch it when it came out in the cinema because..I don't know why. But I didn't and I'm sorry for that (but thank God for p2p! Yeah, I am cheap. Don't judge).
So I watched it last night and I absofarkinglutely love it.
Claire Danes was delightful, most of the time she doesn't look her 53 age at all. Snort. Tristan was a welcome fresh face (nothing worse than to have some assembly line Hollywood play him. So that's a disaster well dodged) and Pfeiffer (spelling?) was good, as usual. (Although her hag-act have nothing on what I imagine Granny Weatherwax's could be. But then you'd would call me too exacting.) The Mister Al Pacino was tad disappointing, I felt. He fell into the well-oiled trap of stereotyping the whoopsies, as they put it. He overacted a little (sacrilege!)and went for the generic ensemble of a flamboyant fruit. He was basically a flaming pineapple on a purple unicorn. But still great altogether. Ricky Gervais was a wonderful surprise as was Peter O Toole and Rupert Everett, however brief their screen time was. And I discovered the delicious actor who played young Dunstan Thorn (Ben Barnes) who is also going to be Prince Caspian. Yay. And I never imagine I would see the day that I could watch Sienna Miller and not hurl myself sick. Who woulda thunk.
I love the beautiful locations, resplendent costumes, witty banters and the overall great directions this movie has. The special effects were seamless and the editing flawless. The characters were very believable which is a big challenge for a fantasy novel adapted movie. And despite the predictable storyline, Stardust really commandeered respect by showcasing Gaiman's masterful, ingenious and fanciful albeit dark storytelling style.
My favorite part of the movie was the seven ghostly apparitions of Stormhold's former princes. Sheer comic.
So, great movie, yeah. It's definitely going to be on my Best Movies of All Time list. And I'm also going to go excavate our Princess Bride VHS tape, unearth the video player from the bowels of Unused Applicants that is 4 miles under the Mariana trench and watch that movie again.
Or, I could always p2p it. Oh, the joy technology brings.

Nhu Ya

How was your new year?

Mine was celebrated according to tradition i.e. I was sleeping and oblivious to anything.
Ho ho.

Celebrated my mom's birthday the next day.

Order was restored after the party. Only the 2 balloons remained as a testament to the festivity that was once held there.

Went to Ed's for some scrumptious dinner Reena and Ulfah scraped up on Saturday. Great food, great (albeit slightly mental) company and great view. Fireworks picture above is taken from Ed's balcony last year. Amazing view of KL from his place. Lucky bastard.

Ed and his marvelous brownie concoction. This was desert, of course. No one cared to stop eating during dinner long enough to take any pictures. Food was go-Ud. Also, that's Reena, kitchen goddess.

Camwhores, Ulfah and I. Our impression of a goldfish. Not too bad at all.
We look high don't we? It was probably the brownies. Ahem.

Been spending quite some time with a lot of my friends recently (and I'm glad) but not with this group of retardos I know. Kinda miss them. Oh well.