The Bourne Legacy

Not another sequel, you asked? Well, it is & be prepared as it's already an "It" trend in Tinseltown. So, how does this fare compared to the previous Bourne series? Gah, another comparison & I know...it's inevitable. I'd have to say The Bourne Legacy is by far the less exciting of the Bourne series. It's not like Jeremy Renner is less convincing as the next secret agent/tactical espionage. The whole film doesn't feel engaging enough. It must be the plot...somehow less intelligent (please don't hate me).

In short, this film is a spin-off whereby the timeline is concurrent with the incidents happening in The Bourne Ultimatum but based in a different location. Aaron Cross (Renner) is a member of the Operation Outcome, a program which enhances physical & mental abilities in field operations through pills. The public exposure of Treadstone Project & Operation Blackbriar by Jason Bourne's actions in Ultimatum has led to immediate closure of Operation Outcome - massacre of all parties involved.

Aaron faces life & death; struggling to survive from the assassination plan & also suffering from the side effects after lacking consumption of the "blue" pill, which boosts intelligence. He rescues Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weiz), sole survivor of Outcome's research team & pleads for her help to cure his condition.

The solid 2 hour movie doesn't seem to have much premise especially during the chasing scenes between the assassin & Aaron/Shearing felt like it's taking forever to come to an end. Draggy is the word. Frankly, I was whispering to WL & literally begging for it to be over for good. Worth the watch? It depends. Don't bother watching if you didn't watch the previous movies starring Matt Damon because that's how the Legacy's platform was built. To those who have loyally followed the series, watch this to add another title to your have-watched list. But beware, it's not that exciting.

Pic courtesy of MoviePosterDB.com

My first bikini

It's been a long, long time since I last put on a swimsuit; the last I recalled was during my childhood days when I used to play in children's pool at hotels during family holidays. Now that my family hardly spend holidays together & I never had the courage to sign up for swimming lessons probably due to aquaphobia, I really didn't see the need to get fitted in a new piece of swimwear as I grew older.

Recently, I've changed my mind & decided to buy some swimwear mainly because WL & I booked two island vacations for this year. I bought a 2-piece swimwear (a halter top & skirt bottom) which barely got wet in Bali because I was too chicken to take a dunk into the pool at night with WL (who swims at night anyway?). For the upcoming Krabi trip, we're expecting to get even wetter as the main activities involve island hopping, jungle trekking & soaking up in hot springs. I've concluded that one swimwear is not enough for all the wet activities so I took a bolder step & looked up on nice bikini designs online & retail.

Generally, bikinis made from good material do carry a hefty price tag especially brands like Rip Curl, Billabong, Roxy & Schwarzenbach come to mind. The Groupon offer on the Victoria's Secret bikini couldn't have appear at any better time than this & I quickly ordered one (silently praying that the smallest size will fit my skinny frame). The price is RM99 which is definitely cheaper than retail but I started to wonder if it's genuine. Oh well, screw it...I shouldn't be demanding more, right?

The bikini top is the Daisy Push-up Triangle Top design which comes with removable padding. Honestly, the padding doesn't give much push-up to small chest girls like me. As you can see below, the top looks perky because I've replaced it with a thicker padding. It has removable bow & ties at the neck as well as the back.

Moving on the bikini bottom, it has adjustable drawstring side ties with moderate back coverage. Thank God this one fits me well without much tightening needed.

There were 4 colours for sale - black, pink, purple & blue. I chose blue as it stands out more from the rest. So far so good; it does look original with its care label intact but I noticed some typo errors. Doesn't matter. All I care is I can't wait to wear it for my upcoming Krabi trip. =D

The Expendables 2

The action heroes of the heydays are back with a sequel, The Expendables 2 injected with more heart pumping action scenes & silly antics. What else can I say about the movie?

The action stars from the 1st instalment reprise their roles in this sequel with a new addition to team, Billy starring Liam Hemsworth. Both Bruce Willis & Arnold Schwarzenegger had more screen time than before so you'd be sure to have loads of fighting & gun shooting scenes.

In short, the Expendables team has been called upon for a mission which leads to a supposedly easy paycheck. When one of the members is murdered on the job, the team led by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is set to avenge their comrade in a deep enemy territory. Van Damme is the villain called Vilain (seriously...) is the enemy head with greed, power & devastation in his mind.

Basically, the story about the good going up against the evil is nothing new so don't get your hopes high that this sequel would be any different. In fact, I felt the storytelling is rather weak compared to the 1st movie as it focuses more on ensuring all the old action heroes are shown kicking enemies' asses. It was hilarious watching how they incorporated witty & cheesy dialogues with snippets of each actor's own actual biography. Chuck Norris also made an appearance & sure did made the movie more nutty than ever.

Watch this movie for its pure fun entertainment. The Expendables 2 was not intended to be a serious film, anyway. Bet that you'll have a good laugh watching it. =D


Pic courtesy of MoviePosterDB.com

L.Table, 1 Utama

WL & I were hanging out in 1 Utama after catching afternoon movie but we parted ways for a short while because I wanted to shop for some personal items while WL was desperately searching for a seat to rest his tired feet. Feeling a little hungry, I initially planned to buy a pastry from my favourite bakery, Lavender & leave for dinner elsewhere. I guessed my shopping took a little longer than expected *sheepish* & WL ended up inviting himself into the bistro inside the bakery, found a table & waited for my arrival.

In case you're wondering what's the name of this bistro, it's called L. Table under the Lavender Bakery group. L. Table at 1 Utama is the only outlet so far that is hidden behind the bakery which serves contemporary global cuisine. If you've ever purchased breads & pastries from this outlet, you'll immediately notice that the interior & ambience is different from Mid Valley's outlet. This one is posh & cosy to cater to the more affluent customers that patron the mall.

It was about 5pm when I got seated at the bistro. We weren't too keen on main courses & decided to order the Afternoon Tea Set. The tea set is nicely presented on an L-shaped platform, representing the bistro's identity.

Each tea set consists of 2 slices of squarely cut cakes, mini croissant, mini sandwiches, mini biscuits & raisin scone filled with cream. Customers are served with a choice of coffee or tea. The portion is not too dainty & it's absolutely perfect for 2 person who prefer something light in between meals.

Apparently the Afternoon Tea Set is a random daily selection from the bakery. Customers won't be able to choose nor have any slightest idea what will be served for that particular day. A pretty refreshing approach enabling customers to try a variety of breads & pastries without getting bored of the same flavours. That's when you plan to visit L. Table more frequently than I do.

The selection we had for the day - raspberry vanilla cake, tarte au citron cake, ham & cheese mini croissant, tuna & egg mini sandwiches, pineapple mini biscuits & raisin scone with cream. I shall start with the cakes; I love how the vanilla cake is soft & light but I'm not a big fan of the raspberry mousse for its sweetness & creamy texture. I prefer the tarte au citron cake (cool & tangy lemon custard on a buttery crisp base topped with creme fraiche) as it's generally lighter & slightly less sweet compared to the raspberry vanilla cake. Next, the dainty mini pineapple biscuits are not bad & the sweetness is on the right note. Mini sandwiches tasted good so there's not much to comment. According to WL, the raisin scone was way too sweet due to its cream. The good news is that the mini croissant was baked to perfection & tasted great.

We opt for rose tea drink since both of us are not that into coffee. The rose tea emits a fragrant scent & once sipped, the flavour has just the right amount of lightness unlike the stronger English Rose tea that I've consumed before. Tea is served in a tea pot & the quantity is sufficient for 2, no more no less. The Afternoon Tea Set costs RM28 which is pricey for the average person. On a personal note, neither WL nor I could afford this too often because we're more of a savvy spender on food. We are firm believers of price tag comes with portion in order for each dish to speak volume of its worthiness. Perhaps I'm rattling too much since the once-in-a-blue-moon indulgence doesn't do much harm, does it?

Address:

G213, Ground Floor

Promenade, 1 Utama Shopping Centre

47800 Petaling Jaya

Contact:

03-7728 6933

info@lavendergroup.com.my

Link:

http://www.lavender.com.my

Opening Hours:

Mondays to Fridays, 10:00am to 10:00pm

Saturdays to Sundays, 10:00am to 11:00pm

Off to Rio in 2016

For the past 2 weeks, I've been actively following the London Olympics while searching for jobs. As a result, my biological clock as gone wonky due to the 8 hours difference. Anyways, this Olympic Games sure is an interesting one - world records broken, scandals involving doping & match fixing, etc. Eighteen badminton players were disqualified for match fixing & was reportedly suspended from the sport for 2 years.

Despite all that, athletes like Michael Phelps made history by being the most decorated Olympian with 22 medals in which 18 are of gold medals. Usain Bolt, nicknamed "Lightning Bolt" became the first athlete in track & field to win gold medals in 100m & 200m for two consecutive Olympics. My favourite & one of the most beautiful sport, rhythmic gymnastics has its fair share of success story. Evgeniya Kanaeva representing Russian Federation is the first gymnast to defend the title of individual all-around Olympic champion. Watching her performing routine & scoring mostly 29 in 4 apparatus was absolutely amazing. Just look at her physique & beautiful posture~

 

Our Malaysian athletes managed to garner 2 medals - silver & bronze medal for Datuk Lee Chong Wei & Pandelela Rinong respectively. Datuk Lee did put up a good fight with his nemesis, Lin Dan to try clinch the gold medal but however still could not defeat the unbeatable, defending Olympic champion. Still, a silver medal is better than no medal; Datuk Lee made the country proud. Pandelela's bronze medal in the women's 10m platform diving event was a surprise win as competition was stiff. She made every Malaysian proud of her & crafted her name in history by being the nation's first female athlete to win a medal at the Olympics. Congratulations to the both of them for all their efforts to leave an impression in the world arena!

Nevertheless, all good things do come to an end. The 17-day event closed big bang finale which as quoted in Yahoo! Sports - the "symphony" of local flavours. Pyrotechnic firework displays lit up the London sky during the closing ceremony featuring several British stars - old & new. Just to name a few of them who performed include One Direction, Annie Lennox, George Michael, Jessie J, Taio Cruz, Spice Girls & more. Even supermodels Kate Moss & Naomi Campbell made an appearance strutting their stuff on the stage at the centre of the stadium.

The next Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. As part of the formality of each closing ceremony, a brief performance is showcased as a sneak preview to what to expect in the next 4 years. It sure is gonna be an exciting summer Olympics after catching a glimpse of the renowned samba dance by the Brazilian counterpart. I'm definitely looking forward to it~

 

Pics courtesy of Yahoo! Sports & Wikipedia

Total Recall

Total Recall is the remake of 1990 film of the same name loosely adapted from the 1966 short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale penned by Philip K. Dick. Whilst the 1990 version starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 2012 edition features Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale & Jessica Biel.

The story starts of at the end of 21st century in which Earth is divided into 2 territories - United Federation of Britain (UFB) & the Colony (Australia) after a chemical warfare caused colossal damage to other parts of the planet. A gravity elevator called "The Fall" was built to connect both territories, ferrying residents from the Colony to work in factories in UFB.

Factory worker, Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) who's married to Lori (Kate Beckinsale) is frustrated with his recurring dream of him as a secret agent struggling to escape with his female partner from being captured. Out of curiosity, he paid a visit to Rekall, a company which implants artificial memories; hoping to find out more about the dream. Things take a turn for the worse when Rekall employees were shot by SWAT team. Following that incident, his wife attempted to murder him & a start of a dog-cat chase in the entire movie.

The whole plot became more complicated when Douglas was actually an agent working for UFB Chancellor, Vilos Cohaagen but eventually defected to the Resistance movement. I shall not elaborate further as the plot had thicken & created much confusion. I did enjoy for the fact that it's still an action movie but however, the story just didn't stuck by my head; feeling rather dazed as soon as I left the cinema hall.

It wouldn't be fair for me to compare this movie with the 1990's version & make a judgement as I haven't watched the latter. Personally, watching the 2012's release is mind-boggling enough - what more doing a comparison? I'd have to rate this movie as so-so. I don't know where went wrong. Just didn't know...


Pic courtesy of MoviePosterDB.com

The Amazing Spider-man

Am I the only one who's not embarrassed to admit that I just watched The Amazing Spider-Man movie yesterday? Don't ask why it took me so long & it can be depressing just thinking about it. Now that I've FINALLY watched it before it leaves the cinema for good, here's my take on the movie.

This version is a reboot from the previous Spider-Man franchise directed by Sam Raimi with slight deviation to the plot. It is a tale of teenage Peter Parker - focusing on his family issues, relationship & how he became the wall-climbing superhero. So how did this movie starring Andrew Garfield fare against Tobey Maguire's portrayal of Peter Parker? Both did a great job in projecting the character in different age group effectively, I supposed as envisioned by the each director. Maguire & Garfield are both nerdy, which is good, just that the former seems to be more convincing at it because he's a natural dork (looks wise). Nevertheless, Garfield was fabulous being a shy & dorky but genius teenager despite his age at 27.

I have no issues with the castings as they are all generally well suited for their role. The problem here is how the story unfolds. The movie tends to drag on unnecessarily in certain scenes especially on how Peter is fumbling in his words when being around his first high school sweetheart, Gwen. While it did make sense to capture those emotions which happen during teenage years, I found it rather tacky & unsophisticated to be related to teens nowadays. Correct me if I'm wrong...or maybe I'm too old for the teen crushes & what not. To begin with, why place emphasis on teen angst & the idea of growing up? The movie somehow became too emotional & dark which is not the essence of Spider-Man.

I'm on the fence for this movie - it's kinda weak but still worth your time watching for its fair bit of entertainment value. Forgot to mention that the new suit looks awesome. Thumbs up for the costume designer! At least I've got  a new eye candy to look out for. Andrew Garfield's cuteness does grow into you as you watch on. *smiles*

Pic courtesy of MoviePosterDB.com