Sunday, March 23, 2008

boo to all stoopid reality show

With the new season 8 on the roll.... I am loving CSI: Crime Scene Investigation even more.

Muachhh..... hahaha

Labels:

Posted by Ddee at 10:57 PM

| 1 guides for Eden  

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

shake it...groove it...smash it...

Latest addiction on my off-day:


America's Best Dance Crew
Twelve groups of dancers from across the country compete for the title of Best Dance Crew. Viewer votes determine which crews move on from week to week.

Haha...thanks to Jun, a fellow crew, who told me about this programme.

As everyone else is grooving and shaking their booties following Step Up 2 the Street movie... this is definitely a MUST watch!!




My faves dance crew are:


Kaba Modern
Their perfect isolated moves and consistent energy are just wondrous!
Love it more 'coz they're Asians... hee


JabbaWockeez
They're crazy, simple and creative. When they dance, they seem to be just having fun... so cool!
A mix of dancers from diverse background makes it even cooler :)

It's time to catch Step Up 2 the Street and follow this programme closely.

Labels: ,

Posted by Ddee at 1:46 AM

| 1 guides for Eden  

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

book junkie...

The book junkie finally has the time to get back to read some great books. Coupled with 3-day off, I did some lil book shopping with my Borders e-card *hahaha not bad. It was 'buy 3 pay 2' promotion. Lately, I am in love with true story or well.... not so much of a cliche fistion. So, here they are....

- Leila (finished) : true story of a Moroccan girl forced to get married.
- The Kita Runner (mid-way) : two-thumbs up for sure. Brilliant!!

Coming up:
- Shame
- Damaged
- Dear John

Married by Force
By Leila

Synopsis
"I was twenty years old and dreamed of marrying for love." Leila was born and brought up in France by Moroccan-born parents. But her romantic dreams were shattered when she was forced by her father to marry a man she'd never met, fifteen years older than her, and whose language she couldn't understand. The husband she didn't love beat her regularly in an attempt to force her into submission. But, with extraordinary courage, Leila fought back against the weight of family tradition to regain her liberty and dignity; and though it put her life in danger, she left her husband and later divorced him.



The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini

Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseini's deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amir's closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amir's father's servant and a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys.

Narrated by Amir, a 40-year-old novelist living in California, The Kite Runner tells the gripping story of a boyhood friendship destroyed by jealousy, fear, and the kind of ruthless evil that transcends mere politics. Running parallel to this personal narrative of loss and redemption is the story of modern Afghanistan and of Amir's equally guilt-ridden relationship with the war-torn city of his birth. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner begins in the final days of King Zahir Shah's 40-year reign and traces the country's fall from a secluded oasis to a tank-strewn battlefield controlled by the Russians and then the trigger-happy Taliban.

When Amir returns to Kabul to rescue Hassan's orphaned child, the personal and the political get tangled together in a plot that is as suspenseful as it is taut with feeling.
The son of an Afghan diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980, Hosseini combines the unflinching realism of a war correspondent with the satisfying emotional pull of master storytellers such as Rohinton Mistry. Like the kite that is its central image, the story line of this mesmerizing first novel occasionally dips and seems almost to dive to the ground. But Hosseini ultimately keeps everything airborne until his heartrending conclusion in an American picnic park.

Joanna Trollope, Books of the Year, The Observer
'My top fiction book of the year ... marvellous'



Dear John
By Nicholas Sparks

Synopsis
When John met Savannah, he knew he was ready to turn over a new leaf. Always the angry rebel, he had dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life. Then he meets Savannah. The attraction is mutual and quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah vowing to wait for John while he finishes his tour of duty. What neither realises is that 9/11 will change everything, prompting John to re-enlist and fulfil what he feels is his duty to his country and fellow soldiers. And, sadly, as so often happens when lovers are young and separations are long, Savannah falls in love with someone else. 'Dear John ...' the letter reads, and both their lives are changed for ever. Years later, when John returns to North Carolina, he must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still the only one for him. Now John must make the hardest decision of his life ...


Shame
By Jasvinder Sanghera

Reviews
The Sunday Times
'She tells her story with the pace and vivid turn of phrase of a true writer. An inspiring book.'
Lord Lester speaking in Parliamentary debate
'A vivid, honest and deeply moving narrative of despair, courage and hope.'



Damaged: The Heartbreaking True Story of a Forgotten Child
By Cathy Glass

Reviews
The Mirror
'Heartbreaking.'

Adoption-net
'Cannot fail to move those who read it.'
ps: Kinda miss flying....aihh...

Labels: ,

Posted by Ddee at 3:20 PM

| 0 guides for Eden  

Sunday, November 11, 2007

stardust - tristan

What a lucky 'star' - Claire Danes!!

I wish I was her for sure (and certainly so for many girls out there)!

Charlie Cox (Tristan) is surely the man in Stardust. He has won accolades from the critics for his acting, a new top-actor-to-be from UK. With his skills and looks, getting to the top won't be that far away. Geez..I like his 'boyish cuteness' yet he still looks man enough. Blame it to those sexy lips and locking gazes.

Darn....simply irresistible and sizzling hot ~

Can you say NO to him, ladies
Maybe I shall consider naming my lil boy 'Tristan' haha

Went to watch Stardust today without knowing what to expect. I didn't even know what the storyline is about. Some friends said it's a great movie. Yanna wanted to watch it too, so while we're loitering at City Square-Johor and couldn't find any better things to do, we decided to watch it.

Worth my every single cent!!

Superb movie! A-must-watch! A fairytale movie across boundaries and age! COOL with CAPITAL!

Seriously peeps...if you have yet to watch it, better go to the nearest cinema NOW! Don't even miss it!

It feels so rejuvenating to watch such a great movie again.... although I came home empty-handed from a supposedly Johor shopping spree ^^

PS: The website is soooo cool. But I wish there're more pictures inside. You can send a star for your friends :)

Labels: ,

Posted by Ddee at 12:08 AM

| 1 guides for Eden  

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Indonesian Arts Festival 2007

Just a simple one-word to describe IAF 07

PHENOMENAL!!!


From the opening dance, traditional folk songs that were modified into a more modern style, unbelivable beautiful Kecak dance, long-awaited Saman dance that allows me to put my hat off again *salute salute*, the band and the models, superbly hilarious skits, .... ....

TOMPI and Eka Mariana managed to entertain me whole night long. They're such a great entertainer and performer who know how to interact with the audience *applause*. Love it to the max!

To top it off... the sweet 'public proposal' of Tompi's guitarist to the pretty background singer *even from far away I can see she is gorgeous* by singing...Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You.... *duh.... mupeng mode deh* that made the girls went ga ga.

Simply put, I am PROUD to be an Indonesian.

Even Zack, a Vietnamnese friend, was WOW-ed by the show.

WOW
Too bad, I was so engrossed by the performances, I forgot to take pics

Labels: ,

Posted by Ddee at 9:15 PM

| 3 guides for Eden  

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

the FIVE people I will meet in heaven

I wonder who are the FIVE people I will meet in heaven.

I am glad I finally managed to get the book at quite a low $10 price although it is a second hand book. I also bought Freakonomics at the same price from the same guy. He will return to his home country soon and can't afford to bring all his books back.

So, I spent last week reading this book instead of studying for my papers *hah? what paper you say? yah I also think I don't have any papers -___-''
The story was written in an easily digestible style, and each chapter comes with a lesson. The same reason why I like JDorama. Some lessons are so taken for granted that we do not realize the values, and yet Mitch Albom managed to provoke me with this.

Do not continue reading if you have yet to read the book and plan to read it some time in the near future.

This is a spoiler k.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Obviously, you don't mind me spoiling some parts of the story.

Eddie is the main character and this book tells his journey in heaven, with a great capture of his past life and how the five characters he met might not necessarily someone he knows. This is the story... on how our lives entangled with others.

Lesson ONE from the Blue Man:

"My funeral," the Blue Man said. "Look at the mourners. Some did not even know me well, yet they came. Why? Did you ever wonder? Why people gather when others die? Why people feel they should?

"It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance being taken and being missed, lives are changed. ...

One withers, another grows. Birth and death are part of a whole.

"It is why we are drawn to babies..." And to funerals."

--And this Blue Man and Eddie do not know each other. Eddie was eight when the Blue Man died in a car accident.

"Strangers," the Blue Man said, " are just family you have yet to come to know."


Lesson TWO from the Captain:

"SACRIFICE," the Captain said. "You made one. I made one. We all make them. But you were angry over yours. You kept thinking about what you lost.

"You didn't get it. Sacrifice is part of life. It is supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.

...

"Sometimes when you sacrifice somehting precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."

Lesson THREE from the Pier's wife, Ruby:

"Learn this from me. Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.

"Forgive, Edward. Forgive. ...


Lesson FOUR from the wife, Marguerite:

"Lost love is still love, Eddie. It takes different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when thsoe senses weaken, anotehr heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. you hold it. You dance with it.

"Life has to end," she said. "Love doesn't."


Lesson FIVE from the little girl, Amy:

"I was sad because I didn't do anything with my life. I was nothing. I accomplished nothing. I was lost. I felt like I wasn't supposed to be there. "

"Supposed to be there," she said.

"Where? At Ruby Pier?"

She nodded.

"Fixing rides? That was my existence?," He blew a deep breathe. "Why?"

She tilted her head, as if it was obivious.

"Children," she said. "You keep them safe, you make good for me."

"Is where you supposed to be," she said, and then she touched his shirt patch with a a small laugh and added two words, "Eddie Main-ten-ance."

...

There was a pier filled with thousands of people, man and women, fathers and mothers and children - so many children- children from the past and the present, children who have not yet been born, side by side, hand in hand, in caps, in short pants, filling the boardwalk and the rides and the wooden platforms, sitting on each other's shoulders, sitting in each other's laps. They were there, or would be there, because of the simple mundane things Eddie had done in his life, the accidents he has prevented, the rides he had kept safe, the unnoticed turns he had affected every day. ...

***

Mitch Albom wrote this book in dedication to his beloved uncle, Edward Beitchman, whogave him the first concept of heaven. Every Thanksgiving, he always spoke of a night in the hospital when he awoke to see the souls of his departed loved ones sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for him.

Seriously a great book to read. Makes me appreciate what I have even more. And surely, things happen for a reason.

So now...next on my waitlist:
- Freakonomics
- Chicken Soup - 2 books *haven't finished ler..
- The boy called It *it's been so long since I try to borrow the book. Anyone?
- Tuesdays with Morrie *another book by Mitch Albom, who wrote about his Professor. Do you guys have this?
- Ukraine - the Bradt Guide *Thanks Lele for the book :)
- any good recommendation...??


****

Have yet to receive my letter till today. Afraid I may have to wait till Friday coz apparently the Embassy was closed for 4 days due to Easter.

Called the travel agent again, and the airline cancelled my flight for the third times *hahaha*. OK, final deadline is Friday, 12 noon to issue the ticket.

Hm...have filled in my Turkey and Czech visa application form. But the problem: Do I have time to apply for this? Turkey takes 3 days, Czech takes 5 days. Even if I pay more and go the 'Express' way for Ukraine... I don't have time to apply all three. How?

****

Oww yah, my super duper sincere gratitude to Lele, Won Jang *this time I got it right ^^, and my AIESEC in NTU members. You guys are amazingly sweet heh.

Lele... Y'know I'm gonna need the guide so much for my trip, and a cozy soft pillow to snuggle with. Accompanies by a sweet card *not shown in the pic*. To ce lei wor wahaha am blessed to have you as my roomie too.


A 'Thanks' card with messages from some of my members. Thanks much all....my journey won't be complete without your presence too. It's indeed great to be an LCP.


And not to be missed *although I have yet to take a pic with me wearing it*, THANKS MUCH Won for the @jacket. So sweet and thoughtful of you *yes, Ukraine is defintiely cooler than Singapore* to bring it over to India from Korea. Thanks Shub for bringing it back from India too.
Will post the pic as promised k.

Labels: , ,

Posted by Ddee at 7:16 PM

| 5 guides for Eden  

Monday, April 09, 2007

The Phantom of the Opera

My first time inside the Esplanade Theatre...

for the well-known Phantom of the Opera *yeah yeah...



Not allowed to take picture inside the Theatre. No food and drink also..so here it is..just my ticket haha

The set design and props were awesome. Can't believe how they changed the whole setting in a few seconds. The costumes were marvellous too...haha too bad we (Sharon, Phoebe and Imran) sat high up there, or else...I can see how good-looking Raoul and Phantom are *hahaha

Sorry for being super duper late yar....

Labels:

Posted by Ddee at 9:54 PM

| 0 guides for Eden