Movie Spree

Have been on a movie watching spree the whole week. I almost forgot that I do blog about the movies I watched. So, I shouldn't cease doing it, just so I can keep an account of what I've watched in my entire life. I am also amazed at how some dedicated souls out there who uploaded the movies I enjoyed greatly in YouTube for pathetic souls like me who wants to reminisce those days when I used to watch them. Just to name a few from YouTube, they are mainly chinese films like God of Gamblers (starring Chow Yun-Fatt), Treasure Hunt (also starring Chow Yun-Fatt), Shanghai Grand (starring Leslie Cheung), Farewell, My Concubine (Leslie Cheung) and as of this evening, The Joy Luck Club (starring many but not exceedingly well-known actresses and actors, except Vivian Wu and Russell Wong).

The movies that we borrowed from the rental place were as below:
1. Jasmine Women starring Zhang Zhi Yi and Joan Chen.

You can sort know what to expect from Zhang ZhiYi's movie. Her acting is pretty much the same. I'm not saying it's not good, it's brilliant, in fact. I just find it a little lacklustre because all the roles she's played so far, shows the strong-willed, stubborn, independent, vengeful side of her. Any movies you watch of her, it must be one of these character or something similar. Same goes to Joan Chen, although I would prefer her to Zhang ZhiYi. Joan is an amazing actress, and for people who doesnt appreciate the art of acting (like my husband) would mock her movies. In fact, the roles she's been playing thus far, were not all easy roles. They are pretty hard roles to exhibit. But the outcome is the same as Zhang ZhiYi, after a while, you would sort of expect the same look, same stare, and same conceitful facial expression. Unless you are not bored with them yet, then you can watch this movie. It's a story about four generational family saga of which history sort of repeats itself between the mother and daughter in every generation. Not a very fancy movie but alright to watch.

2. Beowulf starring Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winston, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright Penn and John Malkovich.

This is a motion capture film and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie until it came to the ending. Perhaps, I'm one who always expects a good or at least what I perceive as a reasonable ending, this movie didn't do that for me. It just totally put me off.. well, if you haven't watch the movie, you should. Be forewarned, it is quite gory!

3. The Holiday starring Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jack Black.

This.. this... is a must watch for all you romantic suckers out there! My, I've been trying so hard to come up with a better word than "suckers" but I don't know any. By the way, I'm trying to be more gentle and demure with the language I use nowadays(anyway, that's a whole new story to tell, next time yea!). It's a pleasant and enjoyable movie and for those who counter this, get a life!! It's just a MOVIE!! Ahem... excuse me.. My reason for liking this movie is mainly because of Jude Law and Cameron Diaz. Jude Law is a heartthrob. This is the sort of guy, you try your utmost not to fall for, knowing he will break your heart eventually, yet you still fall for him. Cameron is good in this show. Not crazy like most other films, at least this one shows a better side of her that is no ugly grins from her huge mouth.
Good ending, just like the way I like it and the setting is in Christmas time, winter time.. my favourite time for a romantic movie!

4. A love song for Bobby Long starring Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta.

Didn't really expect much from the movie except for good acting by SJ and JT. As the movie goes along, the ending is quite expected, very typical asian movie plot.

I guess I have to stop for now. It's getting late and I'm getting sleepy. Goodnite!

Reminiscing the Day!

I must be so free. I have nothing to do at the moment that I am playing with this site. Husband was amused by it too. Haha.. =) This is to cheer myself up after a long day! As my title goes, reminiscing dreams... that's my leisure pursuit..

Lesson learnt the hard way

I mentioned I will be having a garage sale. Well, the garage sale was this morning, and I would have to say, it went just ok. Had to wake up early to prepare and set up my "stall". Since I don't really have a garage, I had to bring all my goods to the nearby park and sell it there. I had to abide to the rules that I cannot obstruck pedestrians' pathway, so I tried to set up my stuffs as conveniently as possible on the kerb for pedestrians. Although I think I have lots of items to be sold, to many others, my items are really sap sap sui (literal translation: nothing huge). My items include clothings (lots of them), some cooking utensils, bags, shoes, jewelleries, a bedcover and etc. This is just to give you a rough picture of some of the items I was selling.

So I started out early, went around putting up posters. As this was a community initiative program which the council organised, I didn't have to go around advertising my garage sale. My posters are more for directing people to come to my garage sale. So, after that part's done, I woke hubby up to help me move all the goods to the nearby park. I must say, it was tough for him. Poor hubby, had to wake up early and help me move everything while I set up and arrange the items on the ground. Anyway, to cut the long story short, my position of holding the garage sale wasn't the most strategic. There were barely many people passing by, although a few did come, thanks to the advertisement in the local newspaper.

In all, I am most proud of myself for picking up the courage to hold a garage sale. It involved a lot of work and I was exhausted by the end of it. The preparation leading to the garage sale also took much effort. It wasn't easy doing it, especially all alone. Hubby was good enough to help me but he's not the kind who will meet people and sell them stuffs. I didn't earn as much as I would like. Clothings didn't sell as well as I thought, most probably due to one huge problem; Andrew and I are both small framed. Who would fit into our clothes?? Hence, I will donate all the clothes to Salvation Army.

One valuable lesson I learnt from today is to NEVER collect and/or buy anything that will eventually end up being a clutter. Although it's easier said that done, people will inevitably succumb to temptation. So, I can only try to be extremely aware and careful of what I buy in the future, only things I need, not want. Even if it's a want, I will make sure it's in good use. Otherwise, everything else is a total WASTE of money. Imagine, if I didn't buy and collect all those stuffs, I would have been at least several hundred bucks richer than I am today. A total waste of money and time and effort when we misuse our money in the wrong way.

Feeling domesticated?

I was craving for curry puffs, and I sort of know how to make it. My aunts showed me how when they came to Sydney to visit me couple of years ago. Somehow, the instructions were quite vague to me now as I have misplaced the recipe. Anyway, I searched for curry puff recipe and hoped it would be a good authentic malaysian curry puff. Thank goodness I found the webpage and noted down the recipe. I was so keen to try it out this long weekend.

It's Friday today and it's the start of the long weekend. In fact, it's ANZAC day and all Australians are supposed to celebrate today. However, it really has nothing to do with me, hence it's a good day to stay at home and make my curry puffs.

Took me the whole morning to make the curry puffs. The photo that came with the recipe looked good. But somehow, mine didn't turn out like that. It was supposed to have some wavy-like pattern on the outside, as the dough consisted of both oil dough and water dough. They were supposed to wrap together with the filling inside. Filling was easy to make but not the dough. If I had the mould for the curry puffs, it would take me much faster to finish the job. So I had to seal the side of the puffs into an scallop design by hand, and of course, it wasn't sealed properly (inexperience) hence, some of the filling came out when I baked it.

Still, I am pleased with myself for attempting to make curry puffs.

On the other hand, Andrew is a much better cook than me. These were our dinners for the past couple of days. I felt that I had to take some pictures to keep the fond memories of him cooking for us..

We had lamb cutlet on Wednesday night and it was really good. Not the best cut of lamb, but it was cooked medium well. The meat was really tender. Doesn't it look professionally served?

We had seafood pasta last night. This is one of his forte as well.

Garage Sale this Saturday!

I'm having a garage sale this Saturday. Not that I have lots to sell but rather they are all clutters I want to get rid off. They consist of clothes (majority), some old cooking utensils, shoes.. etc. Not alot, but will be selling them at an almost giveaway price.

I once heard over the radio when the host was asking if the co-host is a hoarder or chucker. I pondered over it, and I realized, I have changed. I used to be a hoarder but I am more of a chucker now. My husband, on the other hand is a hoarder, unless I give him good reasons to chuck things away. My mum is a hoarder, a big time hoarder, but gradually I believe she is getting better over these years because she's started donating the unwanted and unused stuffs to people who needs it more, like the saying goes, one man's trash is another's treasure. I am definitely a chucker now, but having said that, I am quite greedy. I want to make sure I don't lose out. I would like to gain some profit by at least trying to sell them, especially those that still have monetary value. However, I can be generous if I want, although rarely. Am I very business-minded? Or is there another word to describe someone like me? Eeshh.. not a very good trait.. must change, must change..