Review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

With so much hype surrounding this movie, I've decided to write my own review of it! I watched the movie at Kuching's Star Cineplex this Wednesday with a few course mates. After watching it, I can understand why this Michael Bay film is such a box office hit.

Unlike other action films, this one provides you with tonnes of action from the very beginning! The movie starts off with a narration by the great Optimus Prime himself about the history between Earth and the Transformers. Next we go to present day Shanghai and see Optimus and gang kick some Decepticon butt. The action goes on from here(I don't wanna spoil it).

The thing about this film is that it's not for those who want to catch an Oscar winning film(Oscar movies are boring anyway) but its for those who just wish to see lots of action, explosions, robots fighting each other and of course, Megan Fox! If that's what you want, you're in for a treat. For teenagers who're Transformers fans, this movie will definitely bring back those childhood memories of the cartoon series. The detailed transformation of every robot never failed to amaze me, especially when a few construction vehicles combine to form the giant Decepticon called the Devastator(with its huge testicles)!

Megan Fox aka Mikaela Banes is another big attraction of this film. She was truly amazing in the role! It didn't take long before she appeared and took my breath away. No wonder she's been voted as the hottest woman on Earth consecutively. Shia LaBeouf aka Sam Witwicky is one lucky man.

This movie is also a comedy of sorts. There are so many funny scenes in the movie. I loved the way Bumblebee express his feelings by using radio bits, especially the part when Sam told him not to follow him to college. And there was laughter throughout the hall when Bumblebee tortured Alice in the car. There are also hilarious moments from Agent Simmons, Leo, Major William Lennox, Robert Epps and Sam's mum! I'll never forget the conversation between the Major and William on the orange smoke(watch it and you'll know how funny it is). What's more, the Autobot twins-Skids and Mudflap will always be there to entertain you. I simply love 'em!

In every action scene, there'll always be lots of explosions. I really mean LOTS of it. Almost everything explodes in the movie, from buildings to fighter jets to aircraft carriers! The inventor of CGI should be credited for the wonderful scenes created in the film.

Now we go to the negatives of the movie. There aren't many actually. I find characters such as Leo and Sam's mum really annoying. Why in the world did they let Leo get more screentime than Ironhide? I would rather spend time watching robots fight than watching Sam's mum running like a mad woman at his college. Another thing is that I find the scene where Alice has a metal tail and tongue coming out from her body a little disturbing(well, maybe it's just me).

So, forget what the critics say about this movie. I'm giving it a 4.5 out of 5 because it really deserves it. Below are some pictures from the movie:

My house in ruins!

Behold...the ancient ruins of Stapok! Call the archaeologists! Nah...it's just my house being demolished for renovation. Not my WHOLE house actually. Just the front of the house to renovate the gate and car porch. My dad had always wanted a stainless steel gate. The pic below shows the debris of the roof of my car porch.

I pity my poor neighbour on the left side of my house who'll have to suffer because of this. Fortunately they're a nice family and are very tolerant. (It's a Malay family, so say NO to RACISM!) They'll have to make do without a fence and some debris on their side for at least 2 weeks. And the whole neighbourhood will also have to 'enjoy' all the pleasant noise coming from my house. I'm so sorry my beloved neighbours...
Pic below: My roofless car porch!

To be continued...

My first paycheck and new 'job'

Today I received the first pay of my life from College Sunway Kuching for helping out at the GRSS education fair 2 weeks ago. Although its just a mere Rm30, it still means a lot to me. After getting the money I went to meet Mr Johnny as I promised yesterday. I received an SMS from the college yesterday asking me to help the marketing people do some data entry stuff. At first I had no idea what the whole thing is about. This(pic below) is what I was given:

Now what I have to do is to key in the information of all the students on these forms into Microsoft Excel. The incentive for doing this is......Rm0.05 for every entry! So, let's say I do 1000 entries, and that translates into a mere Rm50! I accepted the job since I'm still free for this week(the final week of my holidays) and I only have to submit the work by the end of this month. Now I wonder when will I ever complete this job......

Preview of my new Proton Persona

Last Saturday morning I went to the Teras Beringin Proton 3S Centre(3rd Mile, next to Sunny Hill) with my dad to take a sneak peak at my new baby. The Persona my dad booked is a 1.6L(A) HL variant in tranquility black colour. Unfortunately this variant only comes with automatic transmission or I would've opted for a manual tranny for more power and fun. Plus a manual version would definitely be cheaper and have better fuel consumption. Its on-the-road price is exactly RM59,161 after deducting the RM500 discount given by Proton.

Under the hood of the Persona is a 1.6L 4 cylinder DOHC 16V Campro(S4PH) engine with Integrated Air Fuel Module(IAFM) that churns out 110bhp(82kw) at 6500rpm. Maximum torque on paper is 148Nm at 4000rpm. The price of the Persona has increased slightly since the IAFM version was introduced. The price of the BL and ML variants increased by RM500 while the HL increased by RM1000. The IAFM removes the infamous torque dip of the barebones Campro engine for better city driving. I'm not sure why the increase in price of the HL variant is RM500 more than the other variants since the changes are the same. Even Proton can't give a satisfying answer to this question. However, I read somewhere in a forum that Proton added more goodies into the HL version. I'll just have to wait to find out.

Exterior wise, the car looks really decent and doesn't lose out to other imported C-segment cars. Although it is practically a Gen-2 with a butt but its curves still give it a modern look. The metallic paint doesn't look cheap too. However, the head lamps are a little too small for a car this size and the rear cluster lights should have been upgraded since the Gen-2 has been around for 5 years. I'm not a fan of the crop circle tail lights since the Gen-2 was introduced. How I wish Proton would introduce LED tail lights like the ones sold at car accessories shops.

Now let's go on to its features. This car comes with power windows(front and rear), reverse sensors, hydraulic power steering, Macpherson strut for front suspension and multilink with stabilizer bar for rear suspension, 15" ventilated front disc brakes and a 2-DIN Blaupunkt radio and CD player with 2 speakers as standard for all variants. For the HL I get 2 SRS airbags with seatbelt pretensioners, ABS with EBD, 15" alloy wheels, front fog lamps, rear spoiler, electric remote trunk release, electric door mirrors, 15" solid rear disc brakes, GPS navigation system and a 2-DIN Blaupunkt radio and CD player with MP3 support and 4 speakers. It could've been better if this car comes with auto cruise. Proton's claims of a 430-litre boot is no joke as the boot is really BIG!

Next we move to the interior of the car. The dashboard is a little plasticky but it surely doesn't look cheap like in previous Proton cars(the original Gen-2 is the best example). The door panels have been redesigned to look more conventional. Front and rear headroom and legroom is decent like most cars in this segment. The interior still loses out to the Waja in terms of spaciousness eventhough it is wider than the Waja(some people say it is because the doors of the Persona are thicker than the Waja's). Another minus point is the steering wheel is a little too small and doesn't give a nice grip. The buttons of the audio system is also a little confusing and needs some getting used to. One thing I'd like to make clear is that claims that you can't see anything in the rear view mirror is completely untrue. These claims are probaly made by some people who never sat in the Persona before to convince you to buy the overpriced cars made by 'the other' national carmaker.

Overall, the Persona is a nice car at this price range. I believe many are wondering why I chose Proton. Well, the reason is simply because a non-national car with the same features would cost at least RM20k more! Plus, this car is jointly developed by Proton and Lotus. Even its ride and handling is tuned by Lotus(or as Proton claims). A car engineered with Lotus technology can't be that bad. I know Proton has a bad reputation for its quality issues(especially power windows problem) and many people are bashing them but those issues are only applicable to previous models such the 1st batch Waja and Gen-2. I found very few complaints in forums on new models such as the Persona and Saga.

And if anyone thinks that cars made by 'the other' national carmaker are cheap and of better quality than Proton, think again. You can buy a Saga 1.3L for the price you pay for their 1.0L kei car. And speaking of quality, most buyers thought that their connection with Daihatsu means quality. That's just perception, not a fact. After buying the 'rebadged Daihatsus', they will hide any quality issues they face with their car just to 'save face' and protect their resale value. I myself is driving a Kelisa and my dad used to have a Wira. Both have decent quality and never broke down before. So at most, Perodua's quality level is the same as Proton. No offence to any Perodua owners and fans out there. Just stating the facts here.

However, I'm not satisfied with how Proton market their products. They forced us to buy the GPS navigation system which we don't need for RM1400. They claimed that it came with the HL package and they could do nothing about it. In the end, we had no choice but to accept it. I'm really looking forward to taking delivery of the car. The standard procedures of my dad's government loan are delaying its delivery. I had to buy it to commute to college daily as both my parents drive to work. I'll write a complete review of its performance after driving it for some time. I never test drove one so I have no idea how it performs. So, will this be my first Lotus?

GRSS Education Fair!

It's been months since my last post. Well, the main reason for this long absence is because of my tight schedule before my exams on June 3-5. The other reason will probably be the lack of interesting things worth writing about. Now it's already the end of the 3rd week of my holidays. I'm so glad I finally have something to blog about.

This Wednesday and Thursday my college asked me to help out at their booth in the Green Road Education Fair. Gabriel and I were the only ex-Greenians in my class, so this explains why they only aksed the two of us to go. And I only found out on Wednesday morning that only one Sunway staff was going together with us, and guess what, she's a LECTURER because all the marketing people aren't around. When we arrived at the school hall, we discovered our booth is located in a 'strategic' position at the right end corner of the hall. What's worse is Sunway University College is just next to us. You can already predict they'll take away all the attention. Fortunately, they moved to another booth not long after the fair started because they whined that their booth is too 'unstrategic'.

So, we spend most of the Wednesday morning giving out brochures and 'forcing' passing students to fill up feedback forms. In return for their 'cooperation', we give them an EXCLUSIVE Sunway College Kuching pen! Yes, a PEN! On that day we still got some attention from students probably because they can't find the Sunway University College booth and thought that we are them! Sigh...

On Thursday things didn't go really well for us because Sunway University College moved back to their original location next to our booth because the other booth is now occupied. The attention they got was overwhelming that students just walk by our booth without even bothering to look at our booth. We ended up with so many extra brochures that I had to stick them to the windscreen of cars.

This is the first time I'm working in an education fair, so it's a new experience to me. Returning to my former school brings back all those memories. Got to meet some of my former teachers. Will definitely relish the opportunity to take part in a fair again, maybe in another school.

Earth Hour!

In December 2009 world leaders meet in Copenhagen to agree on a post-Kyoto policy for tackling climate change. One billion people voting with their light switch during Earth Hour will create a powerful mandate for our leaders to take strong and decisive action on climate change in Copenhagen.

So, for those who never turn on their television and have no idea what Earth Hour is, please switch off your lights on Saturday, March 28 from 8.30-9.30pm. VOTE Earth!

25 March-Group behaviour

Ah......finally found some time to update this blog. Had been very busy since the SPM results came out. Immediately after getting my results, I had to fill out all sorts of forms and get all sorts of documents ready to apply for a number of scholarships. Today I found out that I got selected for interview with JPA (Public Services Dept.) on 2/4 at Pustaka Negeri Sarawak at 2pm. Hope I'll get through.

So, today David teached us about group behaviour during T5 class. He talked about things like personality, perception etc. He told us how having the wrong perception can get us into trouble by telling us a story during his teenage years. Maybe I'll tell this sometime in the future.

We also learned about norms. One important thing we learnt today are the 3 norms of the class:

1. It is ok to talk in class while the lecturer is talking.
2. It is ok to eat during class.
3. It is ok to listen to music during class.

Cool eh? I bet you won't find this in any other college!