The Great Gatsby - A Review

Alright I just really wanted to get this off my chest. And you should remember that this is only MY opinion. If you have any other opinions, well that's yours. So I really wanted to watch this movie ever since I heard it was coming out because I have studied parts of this novel before in my high school. I did not read the entire book I admit, but I read enough to know that it's an early 90s movie.

True enough, I checked Wiki and the whole story was set in the summer of 1922. What I don't get is why this movie kept playing weird songs which are not even close to the era. I did not have to be a musical genius to tell that the songs are friggin from the wrong era.

And then I found out why I felt that way, most of the songs played in the movie were by JayZ.

Come one. You wanna use rap music in the early 90s then don't choose somebody who only started writing rap music in the late 90s, and early 20s which people like us from twentieth century know.

Plus, I did a little research and rap music was only born in the 1970s.

Seriously, do you think that those people who were rich and living in aristocracy around that era would listen to anything 'street' like? NO of course not. Even Jazz was not accepted among the upper class then. To even begin with, rap did not exist in the 1920s at all!

And worse of all, some people who have not even watched the film came up to me and asked me not to  simply judge if I did not know how to enjoy a movie.

Geez, if all critics enjoyed every single movie produced, I think they would have already gone bankrupt. In fact I don't even think the word 'critic' would have existed!

Back to the movie, the visual effects in The Great Gatsby can be easily seen as 'trying too hard' in my opinion. When I watched the first half of the movie, I realised that hey, the way this show was directed was very familiar. The bright wild colours, the sudden bursts of energy.Then I realised where I've seen these similar visually colourful concepts before.

It was Moulin Rouge.

And yes, indeed both Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby were by the same director - Baz Luhrmann.

I have to admit I loved Moulin Rouge so much more compared to The Great Gatsby. It somehow seemed more original, and it was truly a visual feast.

Yes, some of the scenes were beautiful in The Great Gatsby. Like this part where the curtains flowed  through the room and everything was captured with such grace in the camera.

However, alot of the scenes in The Great Gatsby were not developed well enough to touch the audience's mind and heart. For instance, it was the passion between Daisy and Gatsby throughout the movie which was completely a mess. Daisy just seemed scared everytime she was with Gatsby. It was as though she did everything for Gatsby out of fear, not love.

Most of the cast were alright I guess. Leonardo diCaprio was full of emotion and I felt he did a fair share on his part. He was cool and charming when he had to be, and scary and intimidating when he was supposed to be (he loses his temper in one part). Daisy was played by Carey Mulligan, and her acting seemed pretty flat to me. As I said, she looked scared most of the times. LOL. I mean if that was how she was supposed to be then... okaaaay, whatever pleases you. But cmon girl, that was the man you are supposedly to be in love with, and have been separated through war. On top of that, the man you're now married to does not even give a shit about you, so can you just look like you've never known love in your life before and make this look like the best thing that's ever happened to you (while it lasts) so that the audience can at least relate to both of you??

Ok I'm mad at Daisy/Carey Mulligan.

Tobey Maguire played the role Nick Carraway, and he did a pretty good job. He as well had emotion and emotion is important alright. His facial expressions showed what was going on in his mind and his narration was expressive enough to help audiences relate to what he was feeling. And yes in the end I did feel disgust on the society they were living in, like how Nick Carraway was disgusted by it. That was the only message in my opinion that was delivered well.

There are a lot of mixed reviews for this movie, like IMDB rated it a 7.5/10 while Rotten Tomatoes deemed it rotten at 49%, where the average rating was 5.8/10.

So if you are a big fan of the book or have been waiting for this movie to come out since forever, don't let my review bring your spirits down. Go ahead watch it, and then form your own opinion. 

There ain't no right or wrong :)

Just Keep Calm & Let The Wind Be

It's finally finally finally my holidays!

So I went to Setia City Mall yesterday to catch The Great Gatsby. One of the perks of Setia City Mall is that, it's somehow really calming to go to.

I don't know why. LOL

Plus their cinema is GSC, which means cheaper tickets. :DD 

Alright personally I never liked TGV although it's super cool now with their TGV Club, BeaniePlex and all that other cool shit, cuz how many people are rich enough to spend on that seriously?

To have the luxury of getting to sit and be served in a place that looks like an exclusive club just to catch a movie.

To me, being able to sit in a clean cinema to enjoy a movie is luxurious enough! I don't need y'all expensive beanies to rest my ass on. Lol.

What I care about is this word : CHEAP.

I just can't express my love for cheap things. And TGV is waaaaay overrated. They charge you like RM 12 plus in Sunway Pyramid. I know that in GSC there's signature class and all that as well, but it has always been slightly cheaper than TGV. For instance, mine was just RM 9 for The Great Gatsby yesterday.

Alright enough of monetary issues. Heck I'm not even working yet and I'm such a cheapo.

I had lunch at Carl's Junior, because we were all craving for their salsa LOL. And furthermore, we did not want to go for McD's again. Since every single time I hung out with my friends when I was in Primary 6, the usual hang out or meet up spot would be McD's.

Sometimes I think the reason why students go to McD's is because they are either just too lazy to scout for other foods or they just don't have the money to do so. For my case, we were all too lazy to think of anything else when we were 12.  Good times though haha.

And this was what we did while waiting for our burgers.

We ate the salsa dip with the diced veggies. Alone.

Without the fries.

I decided to try something a little different on this faithful day, which was their low carb charboiled chicken. Cuz I was in need of getting rid of my chubbs :(

When the burger came, it turned out like this.

There were no carbs to even begin with -.- 

Ok maybe some in the mayo, but that's it

I seriously thought they were gonna give like maybe less Mayo and probably a nice wholemeal pita or something like that.

Not stinge on my sandwich.

How can this even be called a burger? Might as well call it a salad. Charboiled Chicken Salad Uncut version.

But it tasted quite nice... while it lasted. My tummy was still grumbling after I finished it up. I'm the type of person who needs carbs in my life or I cant get full unless I'm served a King's portion of meat and veggies. 

What the rest of the table ordered. Superstar Double Cheese (something like that).

It was obviously better than mine, with a double patty and wth cheaper too. 

I really did not know it costed so much to use leafs to sandwich my 'burger'. *pouts*

What happened to our burgers after the first few bites.

Decided to use a spoon to eat it up. 

Then we walked around and went to HnM. My new fav clothing store. I love everything there. From their ladies to their kids and guys apparels as well. Everything seemed like it was especially designed to please me and only me. 

Vain moment aside, this was what I bought.

 Plus it was the last piece left. Hehe steal!!

 Got my first Venti at 50% off. 

Apparently every weekday from 5-7pm, Starbucks is having this offer.

Haha this is starting to sound like a cheapskate post. Oh well. Price does matter

 Wanted to use my book voucher, and I came across this.

Like whoa seriously, there's a book on how to fold airplanes.

Ootd :)

The Night Gets Even Better

Then we spent the night filming a music cover on Daylight. How ironic right. LOL

And as you can guess we 'Syoked Sendiri' after we finished filming. All the secret ambition of becoming a model in us came to life.

Oh and I realised I can never be a photographer. Since I'm only good in adding filters to photos after it is taken. 

I can't set the lighting in my camera properly for nuts.

The jakun behind wanted to draw a smiley face on top of them.

But it failed sadly haha.

Then he wanted to look like Gandalf.

 I'm gonna break this guitar!

Will post the video of the cover once Marcus is done editting with it. 

So stay tuned!

Chic POP Street Market @ Jaya One

My friends were all excited about this event called Chic Pop at Jaya One. And I did not have a single clue on what was it till I reached there. Plus I did not even know where Jaya One was located at (I live pretty far away from this area).

Thank God Gillian was there to guide me and not to mention, my GPS as well.

We reached there pretty late at about 2.30 in the afternoon, cuz Gil had class and exams earlier. Yes on a Saturday morning. 

Malaysia Boleh LOL. 

We decided to park at Jaya One's basement zone instead of using the valet service where you can just park your car right outside the building and walk in. Cuz it was just too darn expensive and your car would have to stay under the hot sun while you shop under the hot sun. I mean where's the benefit in this service?

How wrong was I.

The basement was uber confusing. It was like a maze. Inside a maze. Like Block A and Block D had no relation whatsoever. Usually it's in one row and near each other right? 

But nooooooo, all the zones were in opposite directions.

And this is where phones with cameras come in handy.

Ok maybe it was just my sense of direction. But be my guest to challenge yourself by parking there one day and then look for where you park after 4 hours.

Chic POP was basically like a bazaar of blogshops all in one place. So instead of shopping online, you get to see and touch all their items and even bargain for the prices to go lower.

It was really crowded.

 The little boy stoning at my camera was probably thinking: What weirdo is this taking pictures in the middle of the street.

 Clothes!!!

But unfortunately by the time Gil and I reached, most of it were sold out.

We missed lots of nice pieces :(

But again, I can't imagine how much we would have spent if we did came in the morning, finding so many nice stuffs.

So everything sold out was actually a blessing in disguise I guess. Heh

This looked interesting haha.

How creative right.

They even had cool vintage looking posters (ignoring SpongeBob) you could buy to decorate your room.

 Mauricia, Gillian and I.

Oh and half way walking we saw the Ryan and Natalie from Hitz.FM! They were filming there to promote this event.

I was watching them set up together with my friends, waiting patiently to get my picture taken with Natalie after she was done (how often do you get to bump into celebrities on the street, let alone our local celebs). Suddenly, they asked for volunteers to win RM50.

Nobody volunteered.

Everyone was shy haha. They picked a girl nearby and then they started to look in the direction where my friends and I were standing.
And they picked my friend, Aaron.

We were so excited for him, and wanted to be there to show our support till the end. However, they took quite long and we were drawn to the other shops nearby. And so we drifted away.

When we came back, instead of winning RM50, he actually won an additional RM 50 cash.

And that was when I thought to myself, I was like at the right place, right moment, but wrong gender. Damn.

Life really has to rub it in my face for being a girl, on top of the fact that I actually wished I was a boy ever since I was 5. Yes I think being a boy carries more benefits. Plus guys these days can actually accessorize, dress up and even wear make up. I don't see a point of being a girl anymore.

All that were once rightfully ours are now the guys' as well.

Anyways I finally got to take a picture with Natalie! *giggles*

Aaron took the picture for us, and funnily he took it twice but both times it was either me or Gil who wasn't ready. Plus the wind was really bitchy that day.

Only blowing onto our faces when we were taking photos and not when we were walking around under the hot sun -.-

Tada! My shopping haul for the day.

 But the leopard print tank was free from buying the pink crop top.

It looks little here but the amount spent was NOT little. Haha

And when I came back I regretted not buying a few more items. I'm so greedy lol.

Dinner

 Went to an open house for dinner. 

Free food yaaaay!

 Checking out the house.

 The owner said he did not own a tortoise,

and this little boy here was just found swimming in their pond one day.

 His neighbour. I envy such passion.

 The 'open house' was held on their playground.

 They even hired an emcee. 

 My plate. 

The catering was pretty awesome. They served chicken, lamb, venison and salmon.

 Venison.

Oh and a huge roast pig. Roast pork for everyone!

I want this caterer like seriously man if I ever have a function next time.

So this basically summed up my whole Saturday.

And .......

I'm hungry now. So I shall go hunt for food.

:D