Heath Ledger owns The Dark Knight and goes out with a bang.

Let's put a smile on that face! And here we...go!

Pretty much the whole 2008 awaits this masterpiece, despite a load of superhero movies that came out including Ironman, Hulk and such. The year is also a mediocre one for movies to be honest, with sudden lack of quality "indie" titles and instead steady glut of popcorn blockbusters. However TDK is a must watch for even serious fans of celluloid. The late Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker has even been compared to Marlon Brando and it wasn't just his demise that deliberately hyped the movie, the hype is light years beyond what you will see on the screen the minute Ledger's Joker appears. Ever since I've watched it, his performance continues to haunt, intrigued and glued in my mind. Only Al Pacino's Micheal Corleone, Tony Montana or De Niro's Travis Bickle has given similar treatment to me. Ledger doesn't even need to stretch his character to a role of caricature or over-the-top exaggeration, all he need to do was to simply have fun.

Joker isn't simply amoral. To even call him an epitome of evil is an understatement. Even Mephistopheles looked like Christ next to him. Money as motivation? He torches half a billion dollars of banknotes without battling an eyelid, and does not have a tormented history to justify his actions (Joker has two extremely contradicted stories of how he got his scar on the face). Joker is simply chaos. Carving a smile (literally) on someone's face is his bread and butter, complete mayhem, anarchy and destruction is his Nirvana. The only way to take him down is to play his game, what irony. And in the beginning when Christopher Nolan casted a guy famous for being a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain for Joker, nobody has a clue how he alone will ultimately be the one-man magnet for the sequel to Batman Begins.

It is not to say the rest is insignificant. Without Ledger, TDK could still stand on its own and become one of summer's great blockbusters. Christopher and his brother Jonathan took a comic book material and turned it into a complex study of morality equal inspired by likes of Macbeth, exploring arguments about vigilantism, revenge, Kantian morality and free will. But they need a force so sinister that it ultimately affects all the characters involved in it and force them to play out all their cards. And Heath Ledger became a miracle that Christopher Nolan needs in this movie.

Even though this is a one-man show like Brian De Palma's Scarface, the rest of the casting is virtually perfect and played their roles well. Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent character is stunning with his cocksure arrogance and his later Two Face role seething with unsatiable lust for vengence. Maggie Gyllenhaal was a wise choice to replace Katie Holmes playing Rachel Dawes, displaying more depth as a woman torn between her new boyfriend Harvey Dent and her old feelings for Bruce Wayne and not being mere typical damsel-in-distress character. Gary Oldman's role of Liutenent Gordon is remarkably restraint but with integrity and grit. Micheal Caine's role as Alfred is irreplacably charming, having great chemistry with Bale's Bruce Wayne and even Morgan Freeman made full use of his Lucius Fox character, who could only be given a few chances for moments of brilliance (the scene where a staff of Wayne Industries tried to blackmail him is brilliant). Christian Bale is the perfect Bruce Wayne but his Batman is the only flaw which his exaggerated gruff attempt gets annoying after a while.

Some will not agree by my choice of words about Heath Ledger being the one-man centerpiece of TDK, "tonight's entertainment" but undoubtedly his performance flashes out all vital ingredients that makes TDK be called "greatest superhero movie ever" or even "the movie of 21st century - period". This epic of the masterpiece is so, I doubt Nolan or even Scorsese himself could top this one. I would not be surprised if Nolan quits his Batman franchise for good, it is that damned good.

Lame piece o crap

The 1st one with The Rock was a thoroughly enjoyable shit. Especially with Christopher Walken as the baddie. Well, not "Walkenesque" enough but still awesome. And why someone bother re-casting Kevin Sorbo (of Hercules TV series wor) in a direct-to-DVD sequel? I don't understand why people make these lame-o dump-straight-to-video/DVD shit, maybe there's not enough movies to rent at video stores I suppose.

People only will watch this shit if they have NOTHING to do getting stuck in middle of night can't sleep. Looks like this was the only thing to watch when I got struck by flu and can't sleep. Or if they're Kevin Sorbo fans. WTF, I don't get how Kevin Sorbo can have "fans". Yeah he's buff and decent looking but has personality of *gasp* toilet paper. By comparison Keanu Reeves looked like fucking Marlon Brando. Thats how lame Kevin Sorbo is.

His acting in this film is so nonchalant its unbelievable. The emotion of angst compared with Charles Bronson's Death Wish character is like distance from the Sun to Pluto. With Sorbo it's just "Hey, look at me I'm an angry man wanna kick ass". Even when he visited a girl who got raped by the main villain's gang, all he could do was "It's ok" with a deadpan look. Jesus, no surprise if the girl slits her throat when he leaves the room.

It doesn't helped by a script written by someone who probably just started his class in script-writing college. The guy who played Harvey looks quite fucking mean and you would want to punch him in the face (which is a GOOD compliment for a villian) but imagine the script so stilted the best he can do is scream "SHUT UP" when provoked. And the action sucked too. The director must've thought, hey tons of explosions and everybody would go a-ga-ga. Gimme a break. The main climax is such a non-climax. So Sorbo and Harvey settles for a cowboy-style shootout which is so freakin lame since we know who's gonna die.

This movie isn't as huge abomination as Ecks vs Sever (big fucking eewwwww at that name) or any Uwe Boll movies, but after watching it you thought watching a dart olympics on a sport's channel is a time better spent.

Yay I bought a book.

I have to make a confession. I seldom, really seldom buy books. Mostly because everytime I have spare cash I divert them on CDs, whether by Karajan, Bernstein, Furtwangler, Mahler, etc. You can count the number of book in my "library" with fingers on your two lil' hands. That includes complete Harry Potter collections, Lord of the Rings paperback (way before the overrated movie trilogy came out) and some bargain non-fiction biographies. However on trip to yesterday's bookfare, I plunked out RM 30 for this:
































After discount la, duh.

I have to admit, those blardy gibberish from critics who praised this book suckered me into buying this; "It reads like a part from War and Peace". I've reached Part III and it's pretty good so far. This is NON-FICTION so everything that occured is real.

Hitler broke off a truce he brokered with Stalin about staying away from Russia and launched the Operation Barbossa which backfired and became turning point which leads to Axis downfall in Europe. The vastness of Russian terrain, unpredictable and terrifying weather conditions plus serious tactical mismanagement due to huge part played by Hitler's greed in trying to conquer Caucasian oilfields lead to the German's collapse in Stalingrad. While great credit must be given to Russians for their unflinching spirit in defeating the enemy, the Red Curtain side aren't perfect with Stalin being no different than Hitler due to his paranoia and indecisiveness. A blueprint recovered from a German commander whose plane was shot down and contained vital plans was dismissed as forgery by the Great Commander himself, thinking it is a plan to confuse his troops. Countless Russian lives were lost under Stalin's directory to punish "deserters, cowards and traitors" by his own secret police NKVD regime and even worst, all Soviet prisoners of war captured by Germans when recovered were sent straight to Gulag because to Stalin they were traitors to the Motherland.

The battle of Stalingrad became the bloodiest battle in history with estimate loss of 1.5 million lives due to callous disregard of military and civilian lives. A massive german bombardment virtually flattened the city in a most horrible carnage since bombing of Guernica during Spanish Civil War. The Red Army were so reckless in their pursuit of vengence that an unarmed battalion were forced straight into German slaughter despite lack of ammunitions.

Grim and terror in war did produce some humourous moments recounted in the book. In early stages of Operation Barbossa, the Germans were ambushed by kamikaze dogs carrying bombs and anti-tank mines trained by Russians to fetch food underneath advancing tanks. In midst of brutal winter during the advance, a disillusioned German wrote a spoof "There will be no Christmas this year because Joseph has been called up to join the Army, Mary had joined the Red Cross, Baby Jesus and other children had been sent to countryside (to avoid bombing); the Three Wise Men could not get visas because they lacked proof of Aryan origin; there will be no star because of blackout; the shephards has been made into sentries and angels has become Blitzmaden (telephone operators). Only a donkey is left and one cannot celebrate Christmas with just a donkey".

The author also provided maps for referencing and illustrated photographs taken during that period. So far this have proven to be a fascinating read.

Sudden Impact always Made My Day

I fucking love Hollywood. Back in the 80s when its cool shit to say Hollywood rocks (unlike today with overdosage of Adam Sandler movies and other garbage). This movie has typical Hollywood-ish elements; two-dimensional characters, kick-ass one liners, and realism you can dump off at your closet. This is the fourth Dirty Harry outing by Clint Eastwood but as a renowned critic put it, Harry Callahan would've been sacked or even prosecuted for being a "walking combat zone" throughout the first three movies. You see for the police force, Harry is a walking migraine for his superiors, constantly killing somebody at least once a few days, a popular fodder for the press and dish loads of damage to San Francisco Police Dept's PR image. Harry busts criminals by his way, what means necessary and costing the police force tons of cash in damages of public property and in every film his partner either gets injured and pulls out or gets killed in action. If your bank or liqour store gets robbed, expect Harry to bust an automobile crashing through your premises to cite an example.

Of all five Dirty Harry movies, this is probably most entertaining and most violent of all that Eastwood starred in. It has the most brilliant and wittiest dialogue and one-liners that borders on ownage. Ironically I failed to neglect saying this is THE only Dirty Harry movie with a bulldog as his sidekick (and thankfully never got killed) instead of an accompanying detective. Need I also mention that part of fun of watching Dirty Harry series is watching baddies attempting to kill Harry himself only to get themselves pWNed? (not to mention being part of casualty statistic as usual).

The premise of this movie is simple. Jennifer Spencer is a murderer-vigilante (played by Eastwood's then-girlfriend Sondra Locke) who kills participants in an incident 10 years earlier where she and her sister were gang-raped. Her poor sister is currently vegitative and Spencer is making a living as an artist. And its business for usual for Harry Callahan as a suspect he busted goes away scot free after a judge decided the evidence that Harry obtained against him was illegal. Afterwards, Harry attends a mobster's granddaughter's wedding party and pissed him off so much he suffered heart attack. Then as usual, Harry's superiors went ballistics ordering him off to few days leave then subsequently sent him on an assignment outside SF for being "walking combat zone" while the mobsters' goons started to hunt for his ass. Oh boy, the fun.

Dispatched on an assigment in San Paolo to investigate the ongoing murder case, Harry received a bulldog named Meathead who becomes his sidekick throughout the movie. Thanks to Meathead he bumped into Ms Spencer herself, unbeknown to Harry himself a murderer and of course they got into some lil' romance and stuff. Meanwhile Chief of San Paolo police finds Harry the same pain in the ass and duh, vice-versa.












I'll get those scumbags to suck some fishheads, then blow their balls off I promise.



The first hour of the film is riotious fun while the next hour turned into nail-biting suspense. Again the fun involves Harry's notorious one-liners. When his suspect made fun of Harry inside an elevator after being acquitted, he retailiated with the "dog-shit" quote. A famous eatery robbery-turns hostage scene has the "Make my day" quotes. And while interrogating a woman in a fish market, he nonchantly told her brothers who wanted to bust him "suck some fishheads". Watch out also for one of the most despicable female villains ever in cinematic history, being responsible for luring Ms Spencer into the gang-rape, has this evil cacophonic laugh and disgustingly bisexual. She even tries to seduce Harry which resulted her getting pWNed by Harry's usual sarcastic lips.

The film reaches a suspenseful climax and a satisfying showdown(which doesn't occur without an unfortunate BIG plot hole. Does Harry Callahan possess ESP skills?!). Thankfully it wasn't as freaking tame as Magnum Force and The Enforcer which these showdowns were pretty much anti-climatic. It's my favorite Dirty Harry film which I would happily watch dozens of times to come.

So Sufiah is whorin' and she's enjoying it. Good for her.

I could not figure out how from being aghast and shocked few days ago until I just accepted the "fate" that befell child prodigy Sufiah Yusoff...um Shilpa Lee.

So the cat's out of the bag that she's been whorin' for at least 130 pounds a frickin night and she's enjoying it.

"My clients love the fact that I can stimulate their minds AND their bodies," she boasts in a shockingly frank interview with the News of the World.

Her mom who is a devout Muslim woman must've gone apeshit to know her lil' girl been sleeping around with men not only for money, but for fun.

If you think she's still doing it out of desperation and lashing at her tortorous past, well you're dead wrong.

"People think escorting is sleazy and terrible but I don't see it like that," she says. "I've always had a high sex drive—and now I'm getting all the sex I want—and guys are much better in bed with an escort than a girlfriend.
"I have men who are thrilled about my passion for mathematics. In fact one made me recite equations while he pleasured me, then I gave him oral sex while he chatted about algebra. It drove him wild."

Sufiah isn't abducted and forced to whore out of her free will. In fact she'd rather continuing bonking random strangers than doing typical white-collar work which probably bores the bejesus out of her. "I don't want to take anything away from people who do jobs like that but it's not for me. I have a nice life. I don't want for anything."

Over here in Bolehland, "Selamatkan Sufiah" campaign has been latched out in order to save a supposedly fucked up child prodigy driven to desperation by her control-freak dad. Funny thing is she's a Brit, not even holding dual-citizenship for Malaysian PR. They want to save her coz; a) she's a former child prodigy and b)she's born Muslim.

Good news for um...Shilpa Lee is that those pious, holier-than-thou busybodies can't do jack shit since she is bound by British laws and therefore she is untouchable. I'm neutral regarding the oldest profession in this planet but it's damn obvious there are folks who wants to "save" her because a Muslim-born and an Oxford educated former child prodigy being a hooker is just plain "wrong".

Worse comes to worse Shilpa Lee will contract some deadly STD or even AIDS and die a lonely death. But the choice is entirely hers. Meanwhile we have better things in Bolehland to do such as "SELAMATKAN SHARLINIE" which is 1000x more important than trying to persuade a British Muslim to ditch a lucrative "dream" job.

No more politics for now.

So I have yet to post feedback regarding the great "tsunami" that happened on March 8. Pretty much everybody's sentiments:

- UMNO can stop shoving keris around since Malays have started to grow up. Don't call those who vote for DAP traitors! It's pot calling kettle black shit especially for mamaks and wannabe immigrants like Khir Toyol (who's a Javanese) and Zainuddin Maidin (they call him mamak so definitely he's from india)

- The Barisan Rakyat has TONS of work to do. We all know how easily the pendulum swings after such massive victory (eg from "Reformasi" 1999 to 2004) Stop the infighting and power bickering shit (esp the Perak MP fiasco)

- It's funny how MCA accuses DAP of being power hungry when few days later I think MCA has to eat it's own words. Pot calling kettle black too har har. Shahidan Kassim disrespected the Perlis Sultan by saying that the person who replaces him as Perlis MP is the "Opposition". Also after Cabinet line-up announced two ministers refused their posts because they think they deserve better! And worse; Mahathir's son Muhriz' letter asking Pak Lah to resign. Who's gloating now?

- The mainstream media are getting "neutral" but still MSMs like NST and The Star are licking BN's arse while Utusan is guilty of spreading UMNO fascism and discord amongst Malaysians. The Sun still rules. It's funny how some journalists are clever in their "chamaleon"-like attitude like The Star's Wong Chun Wai >_>

For days after days I've kept reading analysis after analysis about the elections in newspapers till today. Enuff is enuff la, move on to other crap ok. Liek if Obama can be Democratic nominee for President this coming September =P

Election times are here

Malas updating blog, since wasted so much time at Facebook group; "Deny Barisan National 2/3rds majority" and Malaysiakini.com, which is now free for viewing for a week.

So have I registered as a voter? Yes sirreee. So which constituency am I and who are the candidates? I'm based in Selayang constituency and the candidates are; Lee Li Yew (BN-MCA), William Leong (PKR) and Koh Swe Yong (PRM).

There is no question who am I voting. Even if I have no clue of the candidate of my choice. Except he was a lawyer (quote from NST) helping residents in the area opposing the high-tension national grid line running from Bukit Tarek in Rawang to Chubadak in Kuala Lumpur.

Will post updates in future. Keep this page bookmarked.