Salam Ramadhan 1434!

Time flies and it's that time of the year again for Muslims to have their one month fasting in Ramadhan. Salam Ramadhan to all Muslims! I wish this holy month would treat you well and will give you all the energy to do your prayers, fasting, charity or any activities for Allah's blessings. And for those non-Muslims who are travelling especially to my home country Malaysia, this would be the perfect month to try all the local delicacies that's available. There's plenty to try, I guarantee you that. Have a blessing month everyone!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game ~ review

It is widely known that films based on video games are hardly successful at the box-office. The only one that is successful that I could think of is the Resident Evil film series which has now span 5 (soon to be 6) films. Even that series haven't been truly faithful to their source materials. But what about video games based on movies? I rarely played them and I hardly read anything about them but if this video game (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that is) is any indicator, then I would say that their fate is somewhat the same; not successful.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the video game, was released back in 2009 to coincide with the release of the movie. It was released on multiple platforms; PC, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, XBox 360 and mobile. The version I played and review here would be the PS2 version.

In short, the storyline followed much from the movie. It follows Harry and his friends in their sixth year in Hogwarts, and shows how Dumbledore prepares Harry to fight with Voldemort and how they work together to find the key in breaking Voldemort's defences. I noticed there are some things in the storyline doesn't really match from the movie but I'm not sure whether they are plot points from the novel that were left out from the movie or they are just things made up for the video games. But of course there are some plots that are made up for the video games but since I didn't read the book I can't point out which one. To be honest, plot is one of the thing that is not important in this game as I feel the whole point in it is to let gamers feel like they are truly attending school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Yuna new single I Wanna Go ~ Awesome stuff!

Yuna is a Malaysian-born singer-songwriter who is currently working hard to expand her career in the US and so far, I might say, she's doing pretty good although she still has a long way to go. For those of you who don't know, she's the voice behind The Croods soundtrack, Shine Your Way with Owl City. She was first known through MySpace and with a strong following, entered the Malaysian music industry and became popular with songs like Yang Sebenarnya, Penakut and Terukir di Bintang. And now she's promoting and performing her music in the US after signing with a music label there.

She had just released a new single called I Wanna Go. Although I was never really a fan of her songs before (I'm more in love with her voice than her songs), but I must say, I Wanna Go is a pretty solid song, and I like it! It has good, kind-of-happy beats and Yuna's voice works perfectly well with the melody. I hope this song will get her more fans and recognition because I really think she deserves it.

You can check out her music video for I Wanna Go here. Enjoy!

The Borrower Arrietty ~ review

 

I am a fan of Studio Ghibli animations after I watched Princess Mononoke when I was young, but of course at that time, I was not aware of the studio that made the film. Then years later I watched Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, which I feel are great animations for children and adults alike, and cemented my love and support for the Japanese studio. Although I didn't watch all the movies from them, but based from the few titles that I had watched, I could conclude that they really know how to make a high-quality animation movies.

The Borrower Arrietty (or The Secret World of Arrietty / Kari-gurashi no Arietti) is a 2010 Studio Ghibli's anime fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. It is based (I think loosely based) on the children books, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton. The film grossed more than USD100 million worldwide and received critical acclaimed from critics. The film is about one of the tiny people living under the floorboards of a house, Arrietty, and her friendship with a normal human boy, Sho.

Personally I think the plot is very entertaining, especially when it comes to the dynamic relationship between the young Borrower, Arrietty, and the human boy, Sho. They lived close to each other but they are worlds apart, and yet they have quite similar problems; Sho's life is restricted with his heart disease while Arrietty's life is confined due to her physical appearance. It's heart-warming to see how they rely and help each other despite their limitations. But the plot is very slow-paced which I would suggest for people not to watch this late at night, in which case you might dozed-off, which is unfortunate if you do because The Borrower Arrietty is a very good film. Although the plot is good, I feel that a lot more can be added (like more conflicts between the two protagonists' world) to make the plot richer and more engaging. Nevertheless, the story is still good as I think the studio purposely made this anime less on the action and more on the emotional journey of Arrietty and Sho.

The two characters who took centre stage in this anime are, of course, Arrietty and Sho, while the others are more on supporting roles, but I have to say that they are all well-designed not just in visuals but also in their personalities. They are all very likeable, eventhough some of the roles are not as stand-out as I would like them to be like Arrietty's father Pod and the lone, bow-wielding Borrower Spiller. The animals featured in the anime like Sho's cat Niya and the crow who flew into Sho's window are also likeable (and funny!). It is great to see that even a small character can have an impact on audience, which shows that every character is important no matter how small the role is.

The visual design for this movie is just amazing. The landscape and characters (like I mention before), are all well-designed and beautifully crafted. You can really see that every detail is taken care off, especially when the movie show scenes of the surrounding forest with the tall grasses, flowers, trees and insects. I also love the play of angles in one of the scene, where Arrietty join her father in the kitchen to find some stuffs that the family need, and the camera zoom in to show the kitchen's view from Arrietty's perspective. The scene together with the sound effects really made an impact on me and showed how different the world is from the view of a small being like Arrietty and her family.

Speaking of sound effects, the music for this animation suits with the theme of nature that prominently featured in the film with its dreamy and soothing sound. And even the sound effects without the music like the sound of rain and insects in the forest are a pleasant to listen to. As for the voice casts, since the version I watched was the Japanese version, the voice acting is quite good and sounded natural as any anime would with Japanese language. Mirai Shida, who voiced Arrietty, was a stand-out though and my favourite voice actor for this film. Other casts include Ryunosuke Kamiki as Sho, Tomokazu Miura (Pod, Arrietty's father), Shinobu Otake (Homily, Arrietty's mother), Keiko Takeshita (Sadako Maki, Sho's great aunt) and Kirin Kiki (Haru, the house caretaker).

As a conclusion, I really feel like The Borrower Arrietty is another great anime movie from Studio Ghibli. Although some parts of the story are a little bit slow, the overall plot is very entertaining with loveable characters, great visuals and beautiful music. A must see for fans of animations from Studio Ghibli, while for newcomers, I would suggest that you rent other films from the studio first like Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away before you watch this to really appreciate the kind of story-telling The Borrower Arrietty has to offer.

Images from Wikipedia and Yahoo! Movies.

America's Next Top Model Cycle 19: College Edition ~ favourite photos

StarWorld Asia had just finished airing Cycle 19 of America's Next Top Model which is the College Edition (we are a little bit behind). So I think this is the perfect time for me to feature my 10 favourite photos from Cycle 19 (in no particular order). Since this is the first time the girls have a chance to make a comeback into the competition after being eliminated based on fan's votes, so there are a lot of photos to choose from. To make things easier for me (because some of the girls took amazing photos while eliminated), I would only pick photos of the girls who were not eliminated during the photoshoot.

A word of caution though, I think a few photos in this post would be a bit inappropriate for minors. Parents, you've been warned. Now let's begin!

1) Leila - Waterfall warriors

I love Leila. I think she looks amazing in photos and this particular photo is one of her best, in my opinion at least. I don't know much about fashion, but looking at this photo makes me think that she's already a working model. Since I like her so much, you can expect to see more pictures of her in this post.

2) Nastasia - River raft love triangle

I think Nastasia is a beautiful person, but her photos can be a bit inconsistent. The photoshoot that she did with Rob Evans and a Jamaican male model here is definitely one of her best. She looks great, she's in control and she shines eventhough there are two other models in there. Although I'm surprised that she made it into the Top 4, this photo just proves to me that she deserved it.

3) Laura - Steampunk

Laura received high praise from the judges for this photo of her, and I cannot agree more with them. She looks great here, and I didn't even notice that there is an owl on her hand. She's one of the strongest and consistent girl in this cycle when it comes to photoshoot, and judging from this photo alone, you can tell that she's amazing.

4) Brittany - Apocalyptic zombies

Brittany looks like a sweet, cute girl but don't be fooled by her face. She can take strong pictures too, just like this one from episode 4 of cycle 19. I like this zombie picture of her because she doesn't look sweet and 'Disney' like she was always referred to. Although there is nothing wrong of looking sweet, but in this type of setting, I don't think sweet going to do you any good, so I'm glad Brittany pulled it off.

5) Leila - Cheerleaders

Another photo of Leila. As always, I love her because I think she photographed well. I like this photo with her legs positioned like that. It looks awkward and somehow it looks great. Ironically, this is the photo that got her eliminated. I missed this episode so I'm not sure why people aren't really feeling this photo like I did. Personally, I think this is one of the best photo from this episode.