Masterchef Malaysia All Stars ~ 1st impression

Tonight is the premiere of Masterchef Malaysia All Stars on Astro Ria (ASTRO Malaysia Channel 104) and here's what I think about the TV show after watching its 1st episode.

Basically this All Stars season of Masterchef Malaysia gathers back some of the memorable contestants from Masterchef Malaysia season 1 and 2, and also Masterchef Selebriti Malaysia season 1 and 2. So it means some contestants from the original version of the show will compete alongside their celebrity counterpart from the celebrity edition of the show. Although some celebrity contestants can be larger-than-life in terms of their personality, but I think the contestants from the original version of the show should not have a problem competing with them as this is a cooking competition (not a popularity contest!) and they have their own talents as well when it comes to cooking. This is not to say that the celebrities have no talent in cooking as these crop of contestants had proved themselves before that they can definitely cook and be a tough competitor.

Some of my favourite contestants that had come back for this All Stars season are Brian, Imelda, Zamil, Celina Khor, Ary Malik and Sharifah Shahora. Although I'm a fan of the TV show, but I must admit that I didn't really watch season 2 and Celebrity season 1 of the show hence I am not really familiar with some of the contestants. But I am looking forward to watch the rest of this season as it seems that they have an interesting batch of contestants here.

For this first episode, the contestants had to prepare the same dish that got them eliminated in their previous season. It was an interesting twist as we can see how the contestants had to improvise their dish and make it a better dish than before. Raja Azmi won this round and was excluded from taking part in the next round which is the Invention Test. She were given a chance to pick two other contestants to sit out from the Invention Test and she chose Ah Hong and Karl Shafek. In the Invention Test, the remaining had to cook any type of dish but only using six ingredients. Shahriah and Celina Khor had been declared winners for this round with their dishes while six contestants will have to face Elimination Round in the next episode.

Overall, it was a fun episode and definitely got me interested to continue watching the show. And the crop of interesting contestants with their funny comments also add flavours to the show and make it even more exciting. As this is an All Stars season, I expect the challenges would be far more difficult compared to previous seasons with a few interesting twist along the way. Hopefully this will be another fantastic season for the popular cooking competition.

Image from Masterchef Malaysia website.

Septimus Heap Book Three: Physik ~ review

Title: Septimus Heap : Physik

Author: Angie Sage
Illustrator: Mark Zug
ISBN: ISBN 0060577371

Warning! This review might contain spoilers. If you don't like spoilers, please leave this post right away.

Physik is the third entry in the Septimus Heap book series by Angie Sage. The book once again featured Septimus Heap as the Apprentice of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and Jenna the queenling of the Castle, who both would meet a new enemy in the form of Queen Etheldredda, a former queen of the Castle 500 years ago. Joining in their adventure would be Septimus's big brother Nicko, a young trader from the Northern Countries named Snorri Snorrelssen, Septimus's friend Wolf Boy, and Septimus' pet dragon Spit Fyre. As the spirit of Queen Etheldredda was accidentally released by Septimus's father, Silas Heap, she had planned to take over the Castle and sent Septimus back in time with the help of her son, Marcellus Pye. It is now up to Jenna and the others to save Septimus and the Castle from the grip of the evil Queen.

Magyk, the first book in the series, is still is one of my favourite children's novel that I have on my book shelf right now but I thought the second book, Flyte, while is still good, didnt't quite live up to the first book. So what about this third book in the series? In my opinion, the plot for Physik is entertaining with new twist and new characters. The author also included time travel in the plot which makes it even more interesting as I always love time travel-related stories in books and movies. Although I think the plot is good, it can get tricky sometimes when it comes to story with time travel and I feel the plot for Physik was hurt by it a bit. But it might be me being picky about it as it was the details such as the Glasses of Time that I'm complaining about and not the main story of Septimus, Jenna and the others travel back in time to 500 years prior. So readers do not have to worry about getting confused of the plot as it is actually the small details that I'm worrying about. But it might be good if the author did tight it up a bit as it might get frustrating to readers like me who are worrying about tiny details in the plot.

Studio Ghibli anime films ~ Films I had watched

I think most of the anime fans had heard the news about Hayao Miyazaki retiring from making any more films. So it means that the recently released The Wind Rises would be his last film. For those who didn't know, Hayao Miyazaki is one of the founder of Studio Ghibli, a respected animation studio from Japan that had produced many great anime films such as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo and My Neighbor Totoro.

Although I love the works of the studio, I must admit that I didn't watch every one of them, in fact I had only watched 5 films. But that is enough to convince me that the studio is one of the great animation studio in the world because of their high quality anime films. In a way to honour the announcement of Hayao Miyazaki's retirement, let me introduce you (at least to those who are not familiar with the works from the studio) to the five films produced by Studio Ghibli that I had watched. Enjoy!

1) The Cat Returns

Out of the five films, I have to say that this is my least favourite film from the studio. Nevertheless, I found the story to be quite charming. The Cat Returns tell a story about a girl named Haru who were taken to the Cat Kingdom to marry a cat prince after she saved him from being hit by a moving vehicle. The characters in the movie, especially the cats, are very cute and although I feel the story could have been longer, it still offers an exciting journey into a fantasy world ruled by cats.

2) The Borrower Arrietty

Released in Japan in 2010 to much positive reviews, The Borrower Arrietty tells a story about a group of tiny people living under the floor of a house and live their lives by borrowing items from humans. Based on children's books called The Borrowers by an English author Mary Norton, the film was praised for its animation and music. I love the animation too and the different view of the world seeing from the point of views of Arrietty. You can check out more of my comments about the film in my review here.

3) Princess Mononoke

This would be the 1st film from the studio that I had watched, and it was such an amazing film. Princess Mononoke is an epic fantasy adventure film released back in 1997 and regarded as one of the film from Studio Ghibli that garnered worlwide attention. It was such a rich, fantastical and at the same time, serious film that made me realised at that time that animation was not just for children. The film is about the struggle between the spirit of the forest and the humans of a town who had been consuming the resources of the forest. Loved by critics, the film had also made into various top movie list.

K-pop group ~ Introducing Tiny-G

Tiny-G is a South Korean four-member girl group which debut in 2012 from the music label GNG Productions. Consists of J.Min, Mint (she's originally from Thailand by the way), Do Hee and Myeong Ji, the group first debut with their self-titled single around August 2012. Before their debut though, they made an appearance on a TV show called Show Champion and performed a song made for them by singer Park Jae-Bum and actress Lee Si-Young titled Polaris (the song were given to them through another TV show, Her Lyrics His Music). So far in 2013, they had released another two singles; Minimanimo back in January and Miss You in October.

I started to notice this group through their Minimanimo single when I found their music video on Youtube. I instantly attracted to the song because of the catchy beat and cute image of the members. Although I felt their debut single was not as strong as I hoped it would be, it was still interesting to see the strong image that they originally begin with. Their debut music video also show-off their good dancing skills which get me impressed. Their latest single Miss You, another track with an addictive beat, cemented my love for the group and proved to me that this is a group to be reckon with despite their small physical appearance (suits with the group's name, which referred them as 'tiny giants').

If you haven't check them out, you can do so by clicking the link below for the music videos of their singles in Youtube. Have fun!

Tiny-G MV
Minimanimo MV
Miss You MV

Images from Tiny-G official blog.

Hell Girl: Three Vessels ~ review

Animax Asia had just recently finished airing the third season of Hell Girl anime series called Hell Girl: Three Vessels (known in Japan as Jigoku Shōjo Mitsuganae). The anime is about a girl named Enma Ai and her assistants who run a supernatural system that allows people to send other people to Hell through Hell Correspondence website. As with previous two seasons, this season also see each episode follows different people who are having difficult time with other people that eventually lead them to use the Hell Correspondence website. This season also introduces a new main character named Yuzuki Mikage who has a strong connection with Enma Ai due to being possessed by her.

Before I start reviewing the anime series, let me start by saying that this season had long been overdue. I remember the channel aired season 1 and season 2 years ago, and only now they decided to air the third season. I'm not sure what are the problems they are having that made it delayed but I am glad that they decided to air it anyway eventhough it had originally aired in Japan back in 2008 (that's almost 5 years apart). As one of the anime series fan, Hell Girl: Three Vessels is certainly on my watch list.

Let's start with the plot. Basically this season also follows what the past two seasons had established where each episode is like a short story featuring characters that are involved with the Hell Correspondence website. So usually you would have the predator who would usually ended up being sent to Hell, and the victim who is the person who use the Hell Correspondence website (it can be the other way around where the victim is the one sent to Hell). Although I did missed a few episodes, but those that I've watched definitely have good stories. The stories are deep and give you something to think about, and that's what I like about the anime series where it raised discussions among the viewers. Although I didn't quite like some of the punishment scenes (where the characters were tortured before being sent to Hell) that have comedic elements in it as I think it was a bit unfitting for the serious tone of the dilemma that the characters faced, overall the story of each episode are really well done. My favourite episode is the second-to-last episode of the season (episode 25) that featured the backstory of the new main character, Yuzuki Mikage. It was a sad and emotional episode that answers a lot of questions that had been raised about the character's involvement with Enma Ai.