Well, I've been thinking (okay, more of being encouraged - Thanks Patrick! - and THEN thinking) about starting another blog just for my reviews and what not. Reason being that, since I'm looking into writing jobs ATM (cross fingers that I'll be successful!) it would be good to let people know of my review blogs. Sort of a 'Here's what I can do' blog. And if you read it, it won't be interspersed with many of my rantings, depressing or hyper =P

 

And so, long story short, I've created a new blog...and after looking for quite a few hours on a template (I'm lousy at designing, so might as well let the pros do their work! heh!) I THINK I've found something that suits me =) So, from here on out, all those reviews and opinions go to my new blog: ~ Come Rayne Or Shine ~  and this shall be the go-to for my 'other stuff'. LOL!

Speaking of chuffiness (if there's such a word!), it's been a while since I've gotten my new iPhone, and so I wanted to show what my phone looked like...heh! Sorry if it feels like I'm boasting, but I do really like this phone no matter who bashed it and stuff. It's my number one phone for the moment, so I'm putting it here in case I forget how lucky I was to get the phone! LOL!

And some of my applications in the phone! I used a 5-icon dock and 5-icon board to fit more of them in. Heh! Having a 32GB phone really is cool, coz it's like neverending of space! I've put in hundreds of apps, music, and a few videos, and I think it only reaches less than 10GB of space. o.O"

The other thing that I liked about the iPhone was the camera =) Granted, it's no match for even my cheap-ish compact digital camera, but it's definitely a convenience to have for the times that I forgot to bring the camera along. =) And 3MP is still good for blogging photos! Case in point: a couple of weeks ago, I went to this nice restaurant in Kuchai Entrepreneurs' Park with my family for noodles, and it happened that it was recommended by Ho Chak! I forgot my camera (naturally)...so here are the photos taken with my iPhone:

 

Name of the restaurant...=) Forgot to take a photo of their shop signboard, so I guess napkin will do =P

 

My sister's order: Mushroom chicken feet noodles! She liked the noodles as well, but according to her, the taste wasn't as good as Mom's dish! heh! It's so true...I have the best chef in Malaysia staying at home with me. All the things she cooks - even how bad she claims it to be - ALWAYS tastes good! Someday I'll blog about her cooking...*grins*

 

Okay, normally I try not to use HBO words in whatever I do, but sometimes...HBO words are kind of apt to be used in certain situations. Case in point: now.

I just got back from a meeting with the boss about my performance/yearly appraisal. Forget the fact that it was conducted too late (all the way in February, when it was told that due to a streamlining of the company's process, appraisals are done in January); or that I have to keep reminding the HR department that my appraisal is LATE. Apparently, there has been another 'streamline' in their process of evaluating people. It is a point-based system where they give points for whatever criterias HR uses for evaluation, and the tally of these points determine your performance for the year. No complaints about that...I feel my performance has been good the past year (save for that dratted fall and absence of 2 months...but otherwise, still kind of good).

The complaint of mine was...the effin' increment! In my first year of appraisal, there has been quite a big increment in terms of percentage-wise (around 30-40%!) from my monthly salary. Granted, my salary at the time had been super low, so of course it's a significant increase. Naturally, one would estimate that in the second year of appraisal, there should be somewhat that kind of increase right? (given that my current salary is STILL much, MUCH lower than what any other company pays for what I'm doing) And so, I waited with bated breath to see if it's worth another year of my services...

Guess what? According to their 'formula' of calculation, my performance has been deemed 'GOOD'...and so, I get a 'very good increment' (according to my boss) of:

*DRUM ROLL*

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A WHOPPING 7%!

Wow....what can I say right? Seven. Effin'. Percent. And that's for 2 years of working (almost) my butt off. Way to go for motivation...now I'm just super pumped to 'contribute even more to the company's success'! *rolls eyes* Forget all the crap that says I'm 'good raw material that needs to be polished'...what do we (well, I mostly I guess) work so hard for? To get enough money to sustain oneself! As it is, I barely have enough to sustain myself...there was NO WAY I could ever get a car (let alone a house) with this f****** salary; don't even get me started on savings (I have none...go figure), and with this inflation of prices and all, it just gives me more reason to leave!

I seriously do not believe in the 'we work not for the money, but for our interest' crap. Reality always kicks in no matter what we do, and more often than not...it kicks us in the nuts. HARD. And so, here goes another kicker for me. Need to find new job. PRONTO. Any recommendations? I'm seriously open to suggestions.

Yikes, two months into the new year, and I've already broken my resolution (err...wish). LOL! Oh well, I'm hoping to rectify it real soon *crosses fingers*

Managed to do another review on the movie 'Valentine's Day', and watched 'Legion' also. Since it's been so late after 'Legion', I think I'll just sum it up in a few words: It wasn't as nice as it was hyped out to be, in my opinion. I think some of the best scenes were shown in the trailer itself (which is a bummer!); Paul Bettany was a great actor, but sadly underused in his character of the arch angel, Michael. There was no real story-line, and I find it real ironic that an angel knows what God needs and wants -____-" Hello? God is all-knowing??! Anyways, to put it bluntly, not something I'd recommend to watch in the cinemas. It's probably better to watch it at home.

'Valentine's Day' on the other hand, was SWELL!! My *ahem* official review here: http://www.cinema.com.my/movies/movie_contents.aspx?search=2010.6230.valentinesday.11653

Great casting, good comedic elements to break up the overly sweet theme of the movie; not to mention all the hunky dudes cast (McDreamy, McSteamy from Grey's Anatomy, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Topher Grace and Taylor Lautner...need I saw more? *wink*) In short, I can't rave more about the movie...go watch it!

Okay, okay...I babbled too much. This post is supposed to be about 'Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief'! Went to watch it last week with a bunch of good friends. Didn't quite meet what I thought it would be, but it wasn't as bad either.

My good friend mentioned that it was so much different from the book  version, so I guess I have to read it to see how different it was from the movie. But, looking at the movie alone, it wasn't half bad. Okay, it had some similarities with Harry Potter (3 students going out on an adventure, breaking many many rules as they go along; big bad fight at the climax of the movie; the 3 became best friends after that. Oh, not to mention the same director from the first two HP movies...heck, I even thought the musical score was similar too >.<")...and it kind of bugged me a little that Percy (played by Logan Lerman) is a Zac Efron lookalike (remake of High School Musical, anyone?), but other than that, not too bad.

The story is about Percy Jackson finding out he's a demigod (half mortal, half Greek God...apparently, Greek Gods like to come down to Earth every now and then to 'hook up' with mortals, but are not allowed to meet with their offspring. How convenient would that be, eh?) and someone has framed him for stealing Zeus' precious lightning bolt. So, he gets rescued by his good friend Grover (who turns out to be a mythical creature himself, and throws a whole dimension of WTF in your face in his revealing) to a place called Camp Half Breed...oops, I mean Camp Half-Blood (creative name, isn't it?) where Percy finds refuge and subsequently sets out to find who the heck stole Zeus' bloody bolt (not in their words, anyway). On their quest, they met up with many mythical beings, like the famous Medusa (played by Uma Thurman...I can see why they chose her for Medusa. GORGEOUS eyes!), Hydra, and Persephone...heck, even the Hell Hounds made an appearance!

The ending is quite predictable...don't want to spoil your fun on it *wink* But some of the effects were quite impressive, like the regrowing of the Hydra's heads. It is after all, directed by one of the HP series's directors, so one should expect no less =) Story-wise, it had a good plot...I just didn't like the climax and ending, which seems a bit too rushed compared to the way they slowly (and nicely) build up the events leading to the climax. Time constraint maybe. Casting was good; they threw in some famous names amidst the new leads...Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd, Steve Coogan and Sean Bean did a great job with their characters, although I think I would prefer them to be less...how do I say it? WEIRD. Maybe it's the dialogue or something, but it's very jarring to see Zeus and Hades as a Jesus lookalike and a faded out rockstar wannabe respectively. Trying too hard to make it more current for the masses, I guess...*shrugs*

All in all, it was kind of lame in some parts, but it also has its funny and cool moments...my venture would be that it's catered more for young adults (read: teenie boppers who have crushes on Zac Efron). So, if you have a 14-year-old sister, bring her to watch this one...I think she'll fall in love with Percy in no time flat. *wink* Let's just hope he doesn't pull a Daniel Radcliffe and does an 'Equus' production in the future too..