MYC! - Sing Thy Hearts Out!

After yesterday's entry about the tragic butchery of a well-loved pop song, I suppose that it's time to delve into more serious stuff. Well, if you call karaoke serious stuff, that is.

The merry gang at MYC! had our annual karaoke singfest yesterday (25th August) and boy oh boy, there was an abundance of hidden talents just waiting to be discovered. Carpooling our way to Neway Karaoke Box in 1Utama in the afternoon, we spent the next four/five, or to some, six hours doing what is a merge of vocal warm-ups and competitive singing. So the game plan was as such: there were five categories - best female, best male, best MYC staff, best intern and best duet.

Here are the photos of the prima donnas of the night:

Her sweet and breezy voice rocks!

Cover model, aspiring singer...dude! (His promise to treat us [me] something sweet never materialized)

Best MYC! staff. That was a no-brainer...right?

This pint-sized has powerful vocals.

This is what a three-way handshake looks like.

If 'Love Story' Was a Horror Movie

If Taylor Swift's song Love Story was something out of a bad B-grade horror movie, the lyrics would probably be something like this:

                                                   Video taken from here

I was so freaked out, when I first saw you, I close my eyes and the nightmare starts

I'm standing there alone in the crowd, you were everywhere

See the lights, see the party, the ballgowns

I see you make your way through the crowd coming towards me

Little did I know

That you were watching me, trying to get close

And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet"

And I was crying on the staircase begging you "please just go!" and I said

* "Stalker freak just go, and please leave me the hell alone

   I have no choice, all there's left to do is run

   You're not a prince and I'm not a princess

   You're just confused, crazy and obsessed."

So I sneaked out of the room to avoid you, I kept quiet 'cause I'd be dead if you knew

I close my eyes to escape this nightmare for a little while.

'Cause you're a stalker freak, i was your latest victim

My daddy said to "stay away from Juliet"

But I was everything to you 'though i was begging you to leave me alone and I said

(Repeat *)

Someone please save me and try to get me outta here

This part is difficult but he's coming for the kill

I'm so afraid I won't make it out of this mess, he is so confused, thinks I'm his princess.

I got tired of waiting, wondering if help is ever coming around

I feel like surrendering, when i met you on the outskirts of town and I said

"Oh please just spare me I'm not running anymore

I keep running but you're always right behind, is this in my head? I don't know what to think."

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a gun

And said "marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone

I love you and that's all I really know

I've kidnapped your dad, go pick out a white dress - It's our love story baby just say yes."

P/S: I emphasise once more the words bad B-grade horror movie. But I kinda fail as a songwriter  *rolls eyes*

The Best Romantic Comedies, Like, Ever!

It is with great pleasure that I revisit the realm of romantic comedies to come up with a list of the best rom-coms, like, ever. And believe me, it's not easy to narrow it down to a meager FIVE from three-thousand-seven-hundred-and...oh, I don't know, I lost count. 

Also, a nod of acknowledgement to those who'd contributed to the list in any possible way (you know who you are).

Photo taken from here

She's the Man - Based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, She's the Man stars Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum (in his pre-G.I. Joe days). Viola Hastings is a high school soccer player at Cornwall. When the female soccer team at her school gets the ax, she requests to join the boy's soccer team but she is rejected (by the boy's team's coach) and ridiculed by her goalie (ex) boyfriend Justin (Robert Hoffman). What does a girl do to seek retribution from being discriminated/humiliated but to join the soccer team at Illyria? She accomplishes the feat by impersonating her twin brother Sebastian (who leaves at the beginning of the movie for a music competition in London with his band). However, Viola soon finds herself falling for Duke (Tatum), team Illyria's striker who is also her/Sebastian's roomie. And then, there's trouble in the form of Justin, Monique (the real Sebastian's flaky bimbo girlfriend) and Olivia (whom Duke has a crush on). And through all this, Duke has no idea whatsoever that 'Sebastian' isn't really Sebastian but Viola in disguise. Oh the merry mess!
Memorable line - "Girls with a$$es like mine don't talk to guys with faces like yours" - Monique Valentine *chortles*

Photo taken from here

The Proposal - Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock! What's there not to like! Bullock plays Margaret, an uptight executive editor-in-chief for a book-publishing company while Reynolds plays Andrew, her assistant. However, one day, she is informed that she is about to be deported back to Canada due to an expired visa. To avoid deportation, Margaret forced Andrew to marry her...which he agrees, under the condition that she promises to give him a promotion. A visit to the Immigration office to settle the matter causes an INS agent becomes suspicious and announces that they would be asked questions about each other separately and if their answers do not match, Margaret would be deported and Andrew sent to jail. To make matters worse, Andrew has to fly home to Alaska for his grandmother's 90th birthday with Margaret in tow. As expected, family dynamics as well as lots of mayhem soon ensue.

Memorable scene - Definitely Margaret's encounter with Gammy (Andrew's grandmother) in the woods. Gammy does some dodgy tribal dance to the rhythm of some rap music and ropes Margaret in to join her. Utterly hilarious.

Photo taken from here

Just Go With It - Everybody is always pretending to be somebody they are not just to impress  somebody, and this notion is at the core of the movie. Adam Sandler plays Danny Maccabee, a successful (and single!) plastic surgeon who pretends to be stuck in an unhappy marriage to woo unsuspecting women. The only one who is aware of his shenanigans is Katherine, his office manager (played by Jennifer Aniston). When he meets and falls for a sixth grade math teacher, Palmer, Katherine finds herself an unwilling partner in crime as she is forced to play multiple characters to help Danny win Palmer. And then, just as other romantic comedies go, soon brews mutual attraction, then the usual boy-decides-to-marry-another, girl-leaves-heartbroken, then boy-decides-to-not-to-marry-another-after-the-momentous-epiphany-that-he-loves-girl, then boy and girl meet again, get married and live happily ever after. If only real life was this simple, right?
Memorable scene - The entire movie's hilarious, so deciding on just one is difficult. Well, one of my favourites is the part where Katherine forces Danny's cousin Eddie, to invite Palmer to dinner (so that Katherine and Danny could join Katherine's acquaintance Devlin for dinner). When Eddie asks what is he going to say to her all night, Katherine says "you spout crazy nonsense for hours in Eurotrashanese [...]". Eddie grudgingly agrees and asks if he does good, can he sleep in the bed with her. Katherine says (with much bewilderment) "No! Why! You've got a great private room!" And then the camera pans to the toilet, where the bathtub is set up like a bed with a pillow and comforter.

Photo taken from here

You've Got Mail - Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks! Pairing up for the third time since Joe Versus the Volcano in 1990 and Sleepless in Seattle in 1993, You've Got Mail follows the story of Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly. Both frequent the same coffee shop, shop at the same place, and even own competing bookstores - the former runs a chain of mega bookstores and the latter, the owner of a small, independently-owned bookstore. They are actually business rivals in real life (Joe's decision to open a new branch of his 'Foxbooks' risks putting Kathleen's small bookstore out of business), although, unbeknownst to them, they have been corresponding with each other over the internet for quite some time, both unaware of each other's identity (Joe uses the screen name 'NY152' while Kathleen uses the name 'Shopgirl'). They tell each other everything about their lives, including their private feelings, which gradually turn into affection for one another. But hey, what happens when identities are finally revealed?

Note - All this corresponding with a stranger and falling for her/him thing only works in movies, however. Rarely in real life would you find someone who is actually who she/he says he is and not some hamsap stalker or deranged lunatic.

Photo taken from here

(500) Days of Summer - One of the most awesome romantic comedies ever, (500) Days of Summer stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The movie employs a non-linear storyline, or in other words, the story jumps from past to present on a frequent basis, so I suppose that this could get rather hairy sometimes, although it's really worth it in the end. Anyway, it tells of Tom, an aspiring architect working as a greeting card writer and his almost-manic scrutiny of his failed relationship with a girl named Summer (Deschanel). It is just his pure dumb luck, I guess, that he falls for a girl who thinks that true love belongs only in fairytales. However, the movie's cute, indie, kitschy and goes against almost all the other stereotypical romantic comedies that Hollywood seems to offer to the masses these days.

Memorable line: "It's love, not Santa Claus," says a bewildered Tom to Summer, who scoffs at the idea of love.

P/S: Numerous friends told me that About A Boy is pretty awesome too, but it stars Hugh Grant. That should tell you about the type of movie this is  *shudders*

But hey, I'm just being my normal biased self here, so feel free to check out the aforesaid movie  :)

Funny Things Caught on T-Shirts

This is no longer the era of t-shirts that read 'Winnie the Pooh' or 'Mickey Mouse' that are usually accompanied by sad imitations of the aforementioned cartoon characters that your mother buys from pasar pagi. Oh, don't get me wrong, these still exist, just overtaken by customized t-shirts that people tend to go for these days. Tees are now accompanied by carefully-chosen words that reflect the wearer's personality, among many other things, spruced up by glitter and diamante.

Apart from the more random ones like 'I *heart* my boyfriend' and 'Baseball Buddies', here are 5 sayings on personalized tees that really stood out:

1. Money Talks. Mine Always Says 'Goodbye'.

(saw this on a guy walking with his girlfriend at Sunway Pyramid. Both of them were loaded with shopping bags, I might add!)

2. Fat people are harder to kidnap.

(on the t-shirt of a friend. And yeah, he's a big guy. With lots of bling)

3. Don't Curse.

(seen on a guy at a football game - seriously, 'curse' and 'football game' belong in the same universe laa)

4. It's Not PMS, It's Just You (with an arrow pointing to the left).

(good words to wear when you're feeling absolutely b*tchy)

5. I'm not following you. I'm following the smell of coffee.

(perfect for stalkers who need an excuse)

A Local Guide to Creepy What-nots

So, when hearing horror stories from your friends (either around the campfire sharing s'mores or at the mamak going through glasses of teh tarik), surely you tend to get a lot of advice about what to do and what not to do. Of course, there are some silly ones, but still, they kinda make sense when you take a minute to think about them. Well, here's five of my favorite eerie do's and don'ts, although I claim no knowledge of their origins.

P/S: This is supposed to be a fun article - I'm not seeking to make fun of anybody's beliefs or religions. Ergo, if you're feeling a bit pantang talking about ghosties and what-nots, JUST MOVE ON ALREADY. 

Photo taken from here

1. Now here's something you hear a lot - don't stand at the corner of the lift. Apparently it is said that spirits like to lurk there (this is exemplified in various horror movies regardless Western or Asian. Imagine this: some poor unsuspecting soul enters the lift and presses the button. Then (s)he sees, from her/his peripheral vision, a dark shadow - usually the apparition of a long-haired woman in white or a child bouncing a ball or an old couple who bare their gums at you).
2. This is for the Chinese people out there who subscribe to the practices associated with the Hungry Ghost Festival (this is a lengthier and more formal way of saying 'celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival'; the last time I used the word 'celebrating' alongside the said festival, a friend retorted "it's not a happy occasion, thus not a celebration"). So anyway, it is said that once you start offering food during this day you will need to keep up with it. They say that the same spirits would come looking for you again the following year. 
3. Karak Highway, the place of many eerie sightings. Some people claim that the so-called sightings are merely products of one's overworked imagination and all that, but some are convinced that the highway's really haunted. The verdict, I'd say, is still out there. But just to be on a safe side, make sure your phone's battery is always fully/half-charged and make sure your car's in tip-top condition.
4. If you hear anything odd when you're alone (either at home or at the office), do not call out or even worse, ask "is anybody there?" It is said that the spirits might be just horsing around and by calling out you're actually acknowledging their existence and in the process, they would only be too happy to keep bugging you.
5. When you drive along a lonely road at night, don't stop to pick up beautiful ladies dressed in white (for obvious reasons). Ladies, even if the man at the roadside is a hottie, stopping the car is not advisable. 

Standing Still and Looking Pretty

For as long as anybody could remember, there has always been this avid fascination with Hollywood movies, no matter how poorly-received they turn out to be. What was once the most important in any movie (the storyline) has taken the back seat to make room for A-list actors/actresses with too much botox and zero acting abilities. Surely deep down you agree? Ever go and watch a movie and think to yourself, "God this man/woman can't act!"?

Well, there you go: gorgeous people with no acting chops.

1. Kristen Stewart - So what she's the actress everybody's raving about? In case you didn't know, past movie credits include Panic Room, Zathura and heaven forbid, The Twilight Saga. When I first heard she was playing Bella Swan, the protagonist from my then-favourite set of books, I almost wept. Seriously, anybody who'd suffered through the past three movies (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) would know what I mean. She just walks around looking mopey and emotionless, and when, in any of the aforementioned three movies, she is being attacked by the baddie, you almost want to cheer. For the bad guy.
2. Arnold Schwarzenegger - He has to be in the list. The former bodybuilder/model/governor of California, his more well-known roles include Conan in the '80s and, of course, the Terminator series. His bulging muscles, I'd like to think, make up for his lack of facial expressions and acting skills. The only plus is that his Austrian accent has mellowed down since his Conan days (it was Bad back then - with a capital 'B')
3. Jessica Simpson - She should've just stuck to singing. Or rather, whatever it was she did at the start of her career before she and Nick Lachey split up. At least there had been some semblance of a real singer. And then, post-Nick Lachey, there was The Dukes of Hazzard and Blonde Ambition which cemented her status as a ditzy blonde bimbo with breathy vocals and all that. Afterwards, there was her foray into Country Music *coughs* And oh, if you must know, there was also her famous 'chicken or fish' comment on The Newlyweds.
4. Robert Pattinson - 'Model, singer, actor', reads his resume. He had a small part as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire before he clinched the role of Edward Cullen, the sparkly pretty-boy vampire who spends most of his time being broody and who falls in love with a mortal teenager (played by Kristen Stewart). Since then he was in Remember Me and Water for Elephants. Let's just face it, though, he's actually too pretty for rugged roles, and people seem to know him more as 'Edward Cullen' than his real name.
5.  Megan Fox - A male friend of mine was horrified that I hated Megan Fox in the first two Transformers movies as well as Jennifer's Body. From a guy's point of view, she's eye candy, all pouty-lipped and buxom-y. But if you'd noticed, she rarely does anything of significance except to stand still and look pretty. Real acting, I should remind you, is performing in a way that you capture the imagination of the audience. Real acting is like Casablanca or The Godfather - you empathize with the character, you relate to them, you weep a little (drooling over Ms. Fox doesn't count).  So yah, acting-wise, she fails on all counts. Obviously. 

Of Rom-coms and Sappy Disasters

When I hear the word 'romantic comedies' (rom-coms), the first name that pops into my mind is Hugh Grant (this is neither a compliment nor an insult). I shudder, truly. Being an international star for the past fifteen years, the man goes through nothing but romantic comedies. In fact, he's famous for them. OK lar, it isn't really fair to say all this guy does is rom-com (he did play a doctor in Extreme Measures, but it was received with mixed reviews). So, that movie aside, I sincerely believe that he could do rom-coms effortlessly, even in his sleep.

That's why this is a list of his more bearable movies (I said bearable, not acceptable or entertaining). I watched them once and refused to watch them again for fear of getting sucked back into mushy-dom.

Photo taken from here

Four Weddings and a Funeral - Wikipedia described Hugh's character as a "debonair but faux-pas-prone Englishman" and I couldn't agree more. Because the whole movie's literally about four weddings and a funeral, all he ever wears are suits. Ugly, totally unimaginative suits. Anyway, the movie is about Charles (Hugh's character) and an American woman (played by Andie MacDowell) who bumps into each other at four weddings and a funeral. But yes, Hugh has also been described as "endearingly awkward" in the movie. I mean, is he anything but?

Photo taken from here

Mickey Blue Eyes - Same old, same old, but with an extra twist: gangsters! But Hugh plays the kind of character you'd expect him to play - British and stylish with not a hair out of place and eyes like a lost puppy. This time he plays an auctioneer who proposes to his girlfriend only to be turned down. It turns out that his girlfriend's family is deeply involved in a mafia crime family and she doesn't want him to get sucked into a life of crime. Amidst all the fumbling and bumbling, count on his character to get involved with a serious crime that brings the FBI to his doorstep. It's more crime-comedy than rom-com, and Hugh Grant in crime-comedy is like oil and water, isn't it?

Photo taken from here

Music and Lyrics - Yet another romantic comedy. So Hugh is a former pop music idol who belonged in the fictional 80's band PoP! His career has since then nosedived and now now he earns a living singing his old hits to his middle-aged fans. This is the part where I roll my eyes. What's with Hugh Grant and middle-aged women! His voice being...OK is his only saving grace, methinks. But really, as rom-coms go, boy falls for girl, girl leaves boy, boy projects his puppy-eyed stare onto our side of the idiot box (that makes women go all warm and fuzzy and mushy), then boy gets back together with girl lives happily ever after

*heavy sighs*

Photo taken from here

Notting Hill - OK, this rom-com I kinda like. But really, the character Hugh plays (Will Thacker) is so stereotypical I want to smack the director over the head: he's British, he owns a bookstore and he's the awkward and bumbling type. But Julia Roberts is a nice addition - she plays a Hollywood actress who goes into his bookstore to get a book and they find themselves attracted to one another. However, I must say that I draw the line at cheesy phrases like "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy asking him to love her". Absolutely puke-inducing.

Photo taken from here

Two Weeks Notice - This is a typical Hugh Grant sort of movie, where he plays an "immature billionaire real estate tycoon", a greedy and reckless lout of a playboy (adjective overload, sorry). Sandra Bullock, on the other hand, is a liberal lawyer specializing in environmental law. In exchange for his word to protect the Coney Island community center she agrees to work for him as his Chief Counsel. But again, the storyline is as predictable as my pinkie finger, but I ran out of the more bearable Hugh Grant movies and after much contemplating, I decided on this.

*Sighs* Well, if you'd noticed, Hugh Grant only ever plays two types of characters in his very impressive span of fifteen years as a Hollywood star - the bumbling English idiot or the suave businessman who is also a jerk.

Don't get me wrong, though - I have no qualms against these kind of characters, but Hugh, please go get yourself killed or chopped to pieces (in the movies) already! (It might also give your career the boost it sadly needs right now)