Maleficent

Maleficent explores the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the classic "Sleeping Beauty" and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone.

Manage to catch it after my jogging session today with my new toy (will review it later) . So here we are Maleficent, a fairytale story retold. I was in for a surprise on how well did Angelina Jolie portrayed Maleficent.



Story narrates by some lady which is quite important at the end for viewers to clearly understand why it is being retold. Firstly yes its Disney's Sleeping beauty movie  retold. Secondly, they can do what the hell they want with their fairytale franchise. I'm sure some viewers might "boo" and "hoo" on this new spin off for the fairytale of sleeping beauty.



Not many children today even know sleeping beauty, even those that know the story was from the 60" and we kinda outgrew they childhood Disney stories which I found it very suitable for an older age group of viewers to accept this retold story.



I did watch the classic Sleeping beauty and actually kinda like how Disney is directing this particular retelling of it's classic. It pretty much shows the softer side of maleficent well not quite soft but its like a crab metaphor, hard on the outside soft and mushy in the inside. Disney brilliantly portrayed the greed of mankind and their down spiral fall.



Sadly enough the Frozen trend did caught into this storyline as well, so without any spoilers... just go and watch it and be prepare for the unthinkable (girl power!).





Maleficent really makes you drawn into her personality like just being wicked enough by just giving a straight face on the camera but yet so enchanting and posh. You will actually felt more sympathy leaning towards maleficent throughout the show. Angelina Jolie is simply just too amazing to be looked at.. gosh :D that devilish look.... oh boy, her smirks and facial expression is just guilty-pleasure man..



The amazing fantasy scenic view of flora and fauna really captivated me where put me into a feeling of wanting to be in that land. Its like James Cameron's Avatar all over again...No musical singing, probably its live action, it would not be pretty appropriate due to its dark settings on most of the movie pacing.



Build up of the plots is pretty good with the finale of an action sequence of fire breathing dragon and a duel between maleficent with the king. I can say it was an a proper development of the whole story put together even tho its actually a different point of view of how Maleficent reactions Overall a very nicely live adaptation done by Disney and a good movie to be watched with good moral values to be taught to children (7.5/10)

Ippudo Ramen at Gardens Midvalley

Was kinda hungry so I was prying around Gardens Midvalley yesterday... suddenly the depths of my tummy was urging for the taste of ramen. Having passed by a few times the particular ramen shop, thought of giving it a go.



Heard this was kinda THE ramen shop to enjoy a good bowl... (Ippudo Ramen at Gardens Midvalley)

I wonder why waiters recently are being held by foreigners even the chefs behind the kitchen was foreigner as well. Anyway after being ushered to a table, I manage to try their all day happy hours (2 Sapporo + curry cheese Harumaki) together with an Akamaru Shinaji ramen.



Was very impressed with the Harumaki since its hot from the oven/microwave and furthermore its very cheesy! Manage to wash it down with the smooth taste of Sapporo beer. However the main course ramen was on the little spicy end. Having the hardness of the noodles at hard, it was just nice when it was soaked in the delicious spicy soup which got me hook for a little while which almost had me at the brim on my tummy for allotting the 2nd bottle of Sapporo.



Downside of the total eating experience was that the lean pork meat was kinda scarce in the ramen which kinda of a bummer... not sure other ramen dish offers over 2 slices of it, wished they would like add more into the ramen since it was kinda pricey. Also bowl was huge however content was not.



Ippudo Ramen at Gardens Midvalley might consider a place for a one time experience and would not be any time soon for a repeated visit. ( I still miss Menya Musashi at 1 Utama ). Damage was RM70++

Edge of Tomorrow

The epic action of "Edge of Tomorrow" unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world.

Just done getting the vibe from the movie, I must say a very well made movie except for the near ending where lazy script writing was at play.  Not to forget the similarity of the upcoming Call of Duty : Advance Warfare with all of that EXO-SUITS. Bloody hell Tom Cruise still looks young and respect to him to do all his stunts... kudos..



The story kicks off with Tom Cruise acting as Major Cage, a kinda PR for the military to seek fresh blood to join. However with turn of events, he was forced to be enrolled into the "Operation Drop fall" which is so called the final battle against the aliens however it was actually a suicide mission.  Best part was, Cage wasn't even battle train and throughout the battle he was trying to disengage safety lock of his weapon...  haha that was hilarious ! Turn of events made Mr. Cruise able to time-loop the day prior to the final battle. Talk about respawning in a game seesh...





In the 30 mins into the movie, Major Cage met Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt)  and it wasn't a smooth met up. I've chuckle when Rita used Cruise's extra battery when he saved her. During the course of his time-loop , a lot of fun scene of him getting trial and errors. The story really build up to both of the actors pretty well.



After an hour or so, I've pretty much feel so much attached to the main protagonist since he left with only one life after endless of respawning . But in the end I felt the script writer kinda much rushed the ending where it turned out to be a Happy ending. I would prefer to be likewise and more reasonable of both to be fallen heroes or pertaining the effects and made the old suspense of repeating the whole cycle over again.



Story has very strong character build up, and the pacing of the movie was pretty good, you get both drama & action here and there which a dash of dark humours at times.. Graphics was believable and sound effects as well as the aliens was good props.





Overall its a pretty decent sci-fi movie, I've yet to read through the manga version and might mis-judge this movie instead, however overall its pretty decent and worth your time to catch it! 8/10

Sundown Malaysia 2014 - Rebooting my running life

After much of hibernation since my last half marathon (Brooks 2014), I hereby declare of my returning for "bas sebelas" activites.(bus eleven, malay saying for legs) hence rebooting my running life at Sundown Malaysia 2014.




Over the past month or so, I've been weekly attending HCA Ultimate Frisbee . Well the itch for more outdoor activities just grew more within my body, soul and mind after a long slumber of being a couch potato since after my last marathon for this year with a resolution of quitting running and doing some gym workouts instead.

Willingly to ditch my resolution for 2014, I've come to my understanding that it is futile to resist what you always enjoyed doing throughout the years (running for me) therefore my journey of running starts again on May 2014 onwards.





So as a comeback, I've registered 3 night events for this year, probably maybe more in between depending on the open registration. 2 21k and 1 15k which will be reviewed in weeks to come. But one major event for the coming June would be the Sundown 2014 at Johor.



Date: 21 Jun 2014
Time: 8pm
Venue: Educity Sports Complex, Nusajaya, Johor Bahru, Johor
Categories & Distance: 12km and 21km



Goodies:






Contact: 03 79602325

Closing date: 19 May 2014

http://www.sundownmalaysia.com/

Yup, that's right.... Johor! I'm gonna take a flight there via KLIA 2 and partake in this 21k event and fly back the following day. Without much days left, I've started my training today.

Well my first training started yesterday so considering my pace and mileage is totally bad. But overall as you can see I've left no choice to train for this 4 weeks (give and take 3 weeks with rest in between)

Oh yea, purchase a new running shoe which will be coming very soon. So cannot wait for it since its my years of craving for this shoe *hint*hint* BOOST so stay tune for my trainings and other wacko stuff.

X-Men: Days of Future Past After Credit Scene

if you're already watched X-Men: Days Of Future Past, but you miss After Credit Scene, I shall present you the after credit scene. but right after my quick review on the movie.

The movie starts 50 years in the future, where X-men and the brotherhood join forces into fighting the last final battle against sentinels. Being said that, they send back Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back into his old body but with present memories and consciousness. Sending him back trying to alter the fate of mutants of a history gone sour. Very welcoming opening act where you get to see old x-men actors as well as the new ones...

The first few minutes was close enough to be an epic futile battle of mutants vs sentinels but they could do more with more mutants dishing out with the sentinels however it was quite satisfied overall, where you get to see (Kitty Pryde)Ellen Page, & (Blink) Fan Bing Bing screen time... yay!  (don't worry get to see them more at the near end too).  Honourable mentions is Storm! (Halle Berry)





The direction of the movie seems like a slaps of putty to cover up most of the potholes which leaves viewers a bit puzzle on the previous sequels and prequel. I must say it pretty nicely done if you are a keen follower of the movie franchise which kinda resolves on how they gonna tie up loose ends all X-men movies all together.



Most people may think that it's gonna be like another wolverine movie based on the trailers, but seriously it is totally not, considering a well made up plot line which ties to the comic series, the movie manage to usher Wolverine as a supporting role beside Magneto & Professor X. The movie focuses on the dilemma they are having since X-men First Class left off which I must say a brilliant story telling to correct the X-men movie universe in all angles.



also a lighter side of introduction of Quiksilver trying to bail out his soon to be revealed daddy, with a little hint of him mentioning his dad was also able to control metal. *hint hint*  Kinda like how they add little details to this movie which ties up most of the loose ends of x-men movie universe. A younger version of  stryker too! :D

in the end, I guess the director tried pretty hard to sum up that they felt sorry of kinda messing up X1, X2, X3 (mostly X3) and tries to correct it with this time paradox thingy (alternate universe of x-men) which I see far logical by any means.



A very well made up movie of the franchise which made stay on the edge of your seats to the very end of the movie. Overall I highly enjoyed the movie which kinda did justice in fixing up X-Men movie universe .. 8.5/10 Would gave 9 if the older x-men version would have longer epic battle scene.

and finally.......

X-Men: Days of Future Past After Credit Scene leads yet to another movie X-Men: Apocalypse. Which is an upcoming film and the eighth film in the X-Men film franchise. on May 2016



Not much detail has been shared yet, however it seems that the x-men franchise of previous and latest collided to made a proper reboot of the entire franchise. Hope this is done right.

Kingdom Under Fire II

Finally Kingdom Under Fire II has arrived in Open beta on Malaysia & Singapore Shores tomorrow! thanks to MMOGAsia.

Oh yea its releasing tomorrow 3PM +8GMT unfortunately its only open to Malaysia & Singapore, other countries might need to VPN tunnel / Proxy into the game. So what's this game all about? It is a mash up with RTS + RPG + MMO with excellent graphics detail and superb music score.

Played the first RTS game, it was very starcraft feel yet with heavy fantasy themed based build around it, way before Warcraft 3 existed :P ( was pretty an RTS era back those days) so jumping into KUF2 would be such an nostalgia feeling all over again.

Overall its like a Dynasty Warriors + Total Wars immersion and we will be talking about KUF2 :D being said that its worth to check it out since it is Free 2 play game. And it is very tame on lower spec PC rigs. So see you guys on the battle field!

Official Press Release

MMOG.asia, a leading publisher of online games based in Malaysia, announced the online publishing of the free-to-play, RTS-MMO hybrid game Kingdom Under Fire II. With a unique and impressive gameplay, Kingdom Under Fire II will give a new gaming experience to Malaysian and Singapore gamers with the 1st English Version globally.

“We are proud to add Kingdom Under Fire II to our online portfolio and believe it has huge potential to become one of our most played games. Kingdom Under Fire II boasts incredibly rich graphics and a spectacular gameplay experience combines 3 elements of gameplay in one game. Action, Adventure (RPG) and Strategy or so called AMMORTS-RPG (Action Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy-Role Playing Game.” says William Chan, CEO of MMOG.asia.

Kingdom Under Fire II requires a relatively low computer specification, suitable for middle-low computer specification. It runs well even with only Geforce 7600GT 256MB 128 bit. Blueside as the developer have put an uncompromising effort to make this possible in the purpose to satisfy all gamers so they will be able to play this cool game without a high-end computer.

Sejung Kim, the CEO of Blueside Inc., said :

“I am very happy to give you information about our first English service in Malaysia/Singapore. We are very happy to cooperate with MMOG.asia , premier and veteran Publisher in Malaysia and we all are very excited and also thrilled to show to Kingdom under fire2  for the first time to Malaysian/Singapore Gamers. We are also looking forward to meet our global fans in world-wide as soon as possible.”

Teaser Site: http://kuf2.mmog.asia Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/mmogasiakuf2 Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mycnxmovie Publisher: http://www.mmog.asia/

Direct Download : http://kuf2.mmog.asia/download/rcdn.php

Torrent : http://kuf2.mmog.asia/download/torrent.php

Godzilla 2014

Godzilla is a 2014 American science fiction monster film featuring the Japanese film monster of the same name in a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise which was screened on 15 May 2014 in Malaysia.

Windows Phone 8.1 Preview gets updates

Microsoft updates Windows Phone 8.1 Preview with bug fixes and battery life improvements today on 15 May 2014.

Coro Cantabil @ HCA 10 May 2014

Coro Cantabile is a Filipino Christian a cappella singing group comprised of people from different walks of life, coming together with one purpose: to create excellent music that uplifts the lives of those who hear it. They came down to Malaysia!

Over the weekend at Harvest Christian Assembly, there was a performance by Coro Cantabile all the way from Philippines. What they do I similar to a choir however without any music instruments, only via voices. For more information you could check them out at http://www.corocantabile.com/



Most of the team have regular day jobs ranging from financial institutes to even eye optician, yet they willing to undergo this outreach to touch lives of many others with their music.



During the whole event, I was so hoping they would spin-off an a cappella "Let it go" song from Frozen, but sadly that never came to reality... one can only dream~~

In the meanwhile here are some recording I've made from them, but of course watching them real live is far superior and excellent tune from their excellent presentation.

Appleseed Alpha Trailer

Considering a prequel / reboot for Appleseed franchise  is a welcoming addition which will be available on an Digital release on July 15 2014, while Blu-ray and DVD on July 22 2014.

Just recently, IGN has released a trailer for Appleseed Alpha Movie. It is a CGI animated action pack with totally seriousness just like from the creator Shirow Masamune for GITS (Ghost in the Shell).



The movie will be a so called reboot / prequel for the ever existing world of Appleseed where sets in the post-war setting the early days of female soldier Deunan and her cyborg partner, Briareos, as they embark on a whirlwind journey in search of the legendary city of Olympus.



With Aramaki Shinji directing it, who also directed Appleseed and Appleseed: Ex Machina we can say that this next movie will be at safe hands. Not to forget he did redeemed Starship Troopers with the fourth sequel in CGI.




As shown in the trailer the song would be futuristic WUBWUBWUB / tech /electro rock featuring international artist like Yasutaka Nakata (Capsule), Skrillex & Alvin Risk, Androp, DJ Fumiya (Rip Slyme), Passepied, Q;indivi+, tofubeats, AKLO, 80KIDZ, Nishi-ken, and Ram Rider. (kinda put off with dubstep tho)





Sony is at it again which will be release it on Blu-ray and DVD. But I am pretty sure another moo-lah making franchise for the big boys. 

Starship Troopers: Invasion