Movie 2010.01.21 - The Hangover

Been meaning to watch this movie. The trailer seems interesting enough. Bachelor's party in Las Vegas goes wrong. The morning after, you've got a trashed hotel suite, a missing groom, a missing tooth, a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet, a missing Mercedes, and a stolen police car.

As the day progresses, things went from bad to worse. Turns out one of them married a stripper in a chapel during the night. Some gangsters bash up their stolen police car. They got arrested by the police, and were tasered by kids. A butt-naked Chinese guy jumps out of the trunk of the Mercedes and whacks them all with a crowbar. Mike Tyson demands his tiger back - to be delivered to his house. The Chinese guy and his goons ram their Mercedes with an Escalade and demands $80,000 in exchange for Doug, the groom. Hostage was released, but it was the wrong Doug.

By the time the movie ended, everybody got their happy ending. Maybe except for Melissa, the domineering girlfriend. All you need to know is that Doug was trapped on the roof of Caesar's Palace all this time. All I want to know is how did the chicken got into the suite?

First eBay Sales Ever

Took advantage of eBay's free-listing-fees promo post-NY, and put up a few bargains last week. Today I'm reaping the fruits of my efforts.

First few days of the auction were tough because one of the conditions is that you had to list at $0.99. Days would go by with no bites whatsoever. Then a few watchers, but no bidders. Then one or two bidders, but the bid seems to be stuck at $1 or so. I mean, guys, these are brand-new Swatches we're talking about! Few hours to go, the bids start coming in. The hammer falls, SOLD!

I bought these Swatches a couple of years ago, but never got the time (get it?) to wear them, as I have a few other Swatches I'm rotating. IIRC, I bought them for around US$20+. The automatic Numé-Rotation (SAM107) with see-through front and back sold for $31, while the Extra-Thin (GK326PACK) that comes in special foil packaging sold for $21.50. Not too shabby.

My white Nokia AC-1A compact travel charger with retractable cord sold for $0.99, which is a pity, but what can you do? The postage of $5.70 costs more than the item. The other black charger didn't even get one bid.

With eBay, you gotta know what to sell and when to sell. Try not to end the auction in the middle of the night because by then most of your bidders are asleep. This sounds obvious, but don't sell something you don't want to buy yourself. I'm currently trying to sell some audio CDs and Xbox and PS2 games. Very little interest. I reckon some guy's gonna snag some real bargains here - $0.99 item price with $3 handling and postage.

Movie 2010.01.17 - Tai-Pan

I've had this movie for years now, but only had the time to watch it today. Have read the book a couple of times already though.

This being a 1986 movie, the effects and cinematography is not that good. Actually, the copy I got is downright fuzzy, but the plot is as good as ever. It's probably too much to cover in 2 hours, so I suggest you read James Clavell's book if some parts are unclear.

James Clavell fans ought to know that the ending was cut short in the movie, right after Dirk Struan duels with Tyler Brock and goes back to his drenched mansion to comfort May-May.

Thar's Gold in Dem Thar Garage Sales!

I have to admit, I quite like the random garage sales. You never know what you'll find. This morning, our neighbor in Viking held one, and what did we find:

• baby/children's books (3 for $1)
• seat cushions (6 for $7)
• Marvel Heroes POG Game
• Tupperware 950ml collapsible bowls
• Read-along CDs with booklets
• etc.

The other time we were driving along Burwood Road, and we saw this household having a garage sale. Found this charger which worked with my sister's dying TomTom One, which extended its lifespan a couple more years.

Movie 2010.01.16 - Avatar

Definitely not the best or "awesomest" movie of all time, as most people have been saying. I mean, the alien landscapes and creatures are quite magnificent, specially on 3D, but the storyline's been done quite a number of times already. Pocahontas, anyone?

With Avatar, the setting is on an alien planet called Pandora, and the locals are called the Na'vi. The humans come along to mine the place for Unobtainium. The locals don't want to budge, so humans in Na'vi avatars go into the community to befriend them and convince them to relocate. Diplomacy takes too long, so the military types bring out the big guns. The human ambassadors take the side of the Na'vi and leads them to fight back. Against all odds, the locals win the war, and the bad humans are forced to go back to Earth.

I Saved Ninjatown!

After months and months of playing, I finally finished Ninjatown on Nintendo DS. Actually, this is the first game I ever finished on the DS. Took a while because I don't really get to play that much. Plus the fact that Mr. Demon and his minions are not that easy to defeat. (No easy mode for me.)

Created by Shawn Smith of Shawnimals fame, Ninjatown is a defense strategy game. The bad guys move through a section of the town. You construct ninja huts along their path, from which different types of ninjas will emerge to engage the enemies. For every enemy that crosses the town, one life is taken out of your 10 lives. For every enemy that you defeat, you gain ninja star cookies, which you can use to build new huts or upgrade existing ones. You also earn Happiness points, which you can use to execute special moves. The ones I usually use is the magnifying glass to burn the enemies or blowing into the mic to "push" enemies to a certain direction.

After going through so many levels, the last stage wasn't as difficult as I expected. Remember to make use of the lava ninjas (once unlocked). These guys strike hard, but are not hardy, so construct modifier buildings to increase their range and regeneration. Took down the Boss even before he got to the middle of the map. Yeah!

By the way, the PS3 Singstar microphones came in today. Just need to download more Singstar songs and videos and let Ultrastar Deluxe work its magic on the Windows laptop. I'll probably test my new(ly bought) refurbished Xbox on the weekend.

Movie 2010.01.13 - Star Trek

Watching Star Trek the movie is like having a reunion (in the past). You get to see all the characters when they were young and how they started out in the Federation. There's Kirk and McCoy, Spock and Uhura, and Sulu and Scotty, played by Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, and Simon Pegg, respectively.

The plot gets a bit confusing because there's some time travel and alternate timelines involved. Basically, Romulan Nero is out to get Spock because he promised to save Romulus from a nearby star going supernova, but was too late to do so. Sucked into the resulting blackhole, Nero's mining ship is transported to the past where it encounters USS Kelvin. In a fit of rage, Nero fires on Kelvin, forcing George Kirk (Jame's father) to embark on a kamikaze mission to let the evacuation shuttles to escape safely. With George killed, we get a new timeline/storyline.

A few years later, we see the gang aboard Starship Enterprise. They engage Nero's mining ship. Captain Pike got hostaged by the Romulans. Vulcan was destroyed by Nero, but not before the gang rescued some of the elders. Young Kirk was marooned on a nearby planet. There was munity on the bridge. Captain Kirk defeated the Romulans. Young Spock met with Ambassador Spock. And they're off to another Federation mission.

Cheapo at DFO

Hit the Bankstown Markets early in the morning in search of a spare tyre (and wheel). My brother was tipped off that he might find his stolen spare tyre there. Saw this wooden rocking chair that I really wanted. Ought to be really handy when the wife gets bigger. The asking price is $30. CHEAP! We're not leaving yet, so we decided to buy it when we're about to leave. We didn't find any tyres. Got back to the seller, and guess what? Somebody has already put a deposit on the rocking chair. The lady was willing to give the chair to us, if the buyer still didn't show up after 15 minutes (on top of the 30 minutes already passed). Too bad, she showed up on time and finalized the purchase. Moral lesson to self: If you see something you like, buy it immediately.

Where else to get good bargains? DFO. Puma was having a 40% storewide sale. The wife got herself a white shoulder bag, while I got a new pair of Puma Scattista Lo Speed Racer sneakers. Puma specially created these shoes to tie in with the Speed Racer. The Scattista Lo Speed Racer M5 (white) is modeled after Speed Racer's car, the iconic Mach 5. while the Scattista Lo Speed Racer X9 (black) reflects the film's mysterious character, Racer X. Both racing sneakers incorporate Puma's UNI construction in which the shoe's upper is sewn directly onto the sole, providing stability, weight reduction and and good fit. Guess which one I bought?

Would've gone on to Ikea after dinner at Phoenix for more shopping. Too bad it closes early during weekends.

Sydney Festival First Night

It's HOT, HOT, HOT! Not the festival itself, but the weather. It was so hot, we didn't even wanna step out. The Festival First Night actually started at 2pm at Hyde Park, but we waited until 8:30pm when things have cooled down a bit before we left the house. Walking from Wynyward to Martin Place, you see all this huge mass of people just wandering about. Most of them are teenagers, and a bit too excited for my liking.

Well, the wife can't walk far, and we have no intention of staying long in the CBD. So the plan is to head to Circular Quay first to take pictures of the Bridge with the yin-yang sign. Then to Macquarie Street for the Light Walk. Back to Hyde Park to see whatever performances are on, then home. Got to Circular Quay, no yin-yang sign on the Bridge. I guess the city is intensifying its efforts to go green and cut power consumption. Macquarie Street - no special lighting on the building facades. We did catch a Scottish band performance in front of The Mint. We noticed a sign saying that The Domain is already closed. I still don't understand why so many people want to see Al Green. At Hyde Park, there's just too many people about. Some of the kids are starting to get rowdy, so we decided to call it a (Festival First) Night.