A lil' of Rest

Had finish my first exam on Saturday. Hence, have a lil of time to get slow. Hehe...coz next paper will be on 27th, so read some notes per day, by that time, sure will finish read all the notes. So the plan is like this: do revision during the day time, and watch movie at the night time. So, I've been watching some movies since yesterday, and here is it:

街霸！GTR (in Mandarin)

Drift GTR. (in English)

It's a Japanese film, and it goes like this: A young street racer Renn has just defeted a red 180SX on the mountain pass. A moment later, he found that the tires of his GTR were stolen by a famous tire stealing gang! Renn challenged the daughter of the gang’s boss. However, the daughter asked him to do a favor after she lost the race. 

*It's not up-to-my-standard's movie, probably the filming skills are still not up to the Hollywood standard. I don't feel any excitment, the adrenalin flowing thing like I watched Fast and Furious or Death Race during the so call car battle scenes. And I felt a bit bored with the car battle scenes. There is 1 scene where 2 cars were battling, but it doesn't show any special manoeuvre or drifting in that 2++ minutes scene, and others are not soo good or too bad. It's just so-so. For me, those movies 'bout car which doesn't make my adrenalin flowing, it's just way too bad. 

Death Proof

The Plot:

Three friends – Arlene, Shanna and radio disc jockey "Jungle Julia" Lucai– are driving down Colorado Street in Austin, Texas to celebrate Jungle Julia's birthday, unknowingly followed by a man in a souped-up 1970 Chevy Nova. While drinking at Güero's Taco Bar, Jungle Julia reveals that she made a radio announcement earlier that morning, offering a free lap dance from Arlene in return for calling her Butterfly, buying her a drink and reciting a segment of the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". As the night goes on, the girls run into Pam, a childhood adversary of Jungle Julia's, who is being studied by Stuntman Mike, a stunt double for Hollywood action films. He spends the night flirting with the women, working his way up to Arlene, who realizes that he's been following them all day but accepts his excuse because of his charm. After giving Mike the lap dance, Arlene finally leaves with Jungle Julia, Shanna, and their marijuana dealer, Lanna Frank.

Stuntman Mike agrees to give Pam a ride home in his car and stays sober all night. Up to this point Stuntman Mike seems to be a normal guy, and when Pam is presented with a plexi-glass sealed passenger seat with no seatbelt, he simply explains that the camera is sometimes set up in that area and assures her that his car is "death proof". It's at this moment, Stuntman Mike looks directly into the camera, and grins from ear to ear, foreshadowing the mayhem to come. In the car, he asks for directions, and when Pam says right he sighs and says they're going left, and he wished she had said left so she wouldn't get scared right away. He reveals himself to be a sadist, and begins to ride at extreme speeds and swerve the car around, thrashing Pam around the box. She pleads with Mike to let her out of the car, but Mike ignores her and informs her that the car is only death proof for the driver "to get the benefit of it honey, you really need to be sittin' in my seat". He then slams on the brake, causing her to smash her face on the dashboard, killing her. Then it's "time to find me my other girlfriends", and he tosses his voyeur photographs of the girls out the window so the police don't find evidence of premeditation. Mike then chases after the other four girls. Finding their car on an empty road, he speeds past them and spins his car around. He proceeds to race at the girls' car head-on at full speed with his headlights off, and turns them back on at the last moment. Mike crashes into them, killing them.

At the hospital, it is revealed that Mike suffered only minor injuries. Because the girls were driving while intoxicated and Mike had not consumed any alcohol or marijuana, he is cleared of all criminal charges (Pam's death is likely attributed to the collision), angering Texas Ranger Earl McGraw, who knows the stuntman is guilty, but decides not to investigate due to the lack of evidence and energy he thinks could be better spent elsewhere, such as following the Nascar circuit. He vows to bring him down next time he does it in Texas, however due to barriers in cross-state police communication, Mike is soon in Tennessee looking for victims again without fear of being caught.

Fourteen months later, Lee Montgomery, Abernathy Ross, and Kim Mathisare traveling through Lebanon, Tennessee and stop at a convenience store where Mike has stationed himself. When Kim goes inside, Lee moves into the driver's seat and starts listening to her iPod with Abernathy still trying to sleep in the backseat. Mike then gets out of his car and begins playing with Abernathy's bare feet which are hanging out of the car window. When she wakes up, Mike pretends he bumped into her while looking for his car keys. He gets into his car and takes off. Abernathy catches one last glimpse of Mike's car speeding off, which the other two don't notice, before the three depart. The trio pick up their friend, stuntwoman Zoë Bell, at the airport, who informs them she wants to test-drive a classic white 1970 Dodge Challenger. Later, she reveals her true motives: she wants to play a game called "Ship's Mast," in which she will hang onto the car's hood with two belts while someone else drives at high speeds. When the girls reach the barn where the Dodge is being sold, Kim reluctantly agrees to help with the stunt and Abernathy tags along, while Lee finds herself left behind to placate the car's owner, Jasper.

During this game, Mike arrives suddenly, and targets them with his 1969 Dodge Charger, repeatedly crashing into them, and eventually Zoë is thrown from the hood. Kim, who carries a gun f or protection, shoots Mike in the left arm, causing him to flee. Zoë, due to her training and agility, is unharmed except for a "bruise on her bum." The three girls decide to take revenge against th

eir attacker. At this point the character roles abruptly switch, as Stuntman Mike becomes hysterical. His intended victims, on the other hand, become enraged in their pursuit, jeering and laughing at their foe's efforts. Stuntman Mike's injury forces him to stop and attempt to tend to his wound. In doing so, he releases his safety harness. Kim crashes into the back of his Charger and Zoë attacks him with a pipe, but Mike flees again without refastening his harness. An extended chase scene follows; just when he thinks he has escaped, the pursuing vehicle blindsides him and he crashes to a stop, breaking his right arm. Screaming in pain, he is hauled out of the car and the three women administer a vicious beating. Stuntman Mike is knocked to the ground, and the women leap in celebration, caught in a midair freeze-frame as the film ends. After a moment of credits, the film returns to show Abernathy delivering an axe-kick to Mike, crushing his head with her boot.

*I felt like vomitting upon seeing Stuntman Mike killed his first victim. There are bloods everywhere at the passenger seat, well, not really a seat, as it doesn't have a proper place to sit. It's only a small seat, like a bicycle seat. It will reallly unsafety if there is a Stuntman Mike in reality. He's a physco-mad-crazy-siao-whatever you wanna name it-person, killing all those harmless young women, in his special design car. Aikss...feel like vomiting again! 

WALL-E

Guess many had watch this. It's just that I'm just a lil late. Hehe...coz I'm not a movie maniac-whatever movie is released, just sapu and go to watch! I'm quite selective, though. Coz $$ is a problem! Anyway, now I also have a chance to watch it, not too late, right? Well, actually, WALL-E is a good movie, it's reflects what people have forget all this while: our responsible to mother earth and feelings to each other. We are not machines, we are human who have feelings and brain to think wisely. Even robots like WALL-E and Eve have feelings to each other. Why can't we? So, will the real Human out there please stand up?

The Queen

The Plot:

The film begins on the eve of the 1997 British general election, which saw Tony Blair elected as the United Kingdom's first Labour Party Prime Minister in 18 years. While posing for an official portrait, the Queen talks with the artist and expresses her regret about not being allowed to vote. She is slightly wary of the new prime minister and his pledge to "modernise" the country, but Blair promises to respect the independence of the Royal Family. When Blair visits Buckingham Palace to kiss hands, the Queen follows custom and asks him to form a Government in her name.

Three months later, during a visit to Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car accident in the Pont de l'Almatunnel. Blair's director of communications, Alastair Campbell, immediately prepares a speech in which he describes her as "the people's princess." Blair gives the speech the next morning and the phrase catches on immediately. Over the next few days, the British people erupt in an outpouring of grief, as millions flock toBuckingham and Kensington palaces to leave floral tributes and notes.

Meanwhile, the Royal Family are still on holiday at Balmoral Castle, the Queen's estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Diana's death immediately sparks division among senior members of the family. The Queen observes that, since Diana divorced from Charles, Prince of Wales a year earlier, she is no longer a member of the Royal Family. Consequently, she insists that the funeral arrangements are a "private affair" and are best left to the princess' own family, the Spencers. A visibly grief stricken Prince Charles, however, argues that the mother of a future King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland cannot be dismissed so lightly. Following her mother's suggestion, the Queen eventually sanctions the use of an aircraft of the Royal Flight to bring Diana's body back to Britain. Charles ensures that his ex-wife's coffin is draped with a Royal Standard instead of remaining a "wooden crate."

In London, the bouquets begin to pile up along the palace railings, forcing the changing of the guard to use another gate. Meanwhile, British tabloids become increasingly inflammatory about the lack of any statement by the Royal Family. Prince Charles, during a brief conversation with Blair and later through back-channel contacts, leaves no doubt that he shares the Prime Minister's views about the need for a more public expression of grief. As the Queen's ratings plummet, Blair's popularity rises sharply, to the delight of the Prime Minister's Anti-Monarchist advisers and his wife, Cherie.

Blair, however, does not share these sentiments. Despite not concurring with the Queen's course of action, he admires her and tells his wife that a Republican Britain is a ludicrous idea. Later on, he angrily denounces the anti-royal disdain of his Labour advisors and accuses Diana of having tried to destroy everything which the monarchy stands for. After days of building pressure, Blair calls the Queen at Balmoral and urgently recommends a course of action he believes is needed to retain (or regain) the public's confidence in the monarchy. These measures include attending a public funeral for Diana at Westminster Abbey, flying a Union Jack at half mast over Buckingham Palace (an unprecedented step in four centuries of royal protocol), and speaking to the nation about Diana's legacy in a live, televised address from the palace.

Blair's recommendations outrage the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother. Philip is also surprised that Elton John is asked to attend and sing a song (Candle in the Wind) in Diana's honour. They view such steps as an undignified surrender to public hysteria, created by the tabloids, that will eventually calm down when the public comes to its senses. The Queen seems more concerned about this and although she shares their feelings, she begins to have doubts as she closely follows the news coverage. Speaking with her mother, the Queen muses that there has been some shift in public values, that perhaps she should step aside and hand over the monarchy to the next generation. Her mother dismisses these ideas, however, saying that she is one of the greatest assets the monarchy has ever had, adding, "The real problem will come when you leave." The Queen Mother also reminds her daughter of the promise she made in Cape Town, South Africa, on April 21, 1947, her 21st birthday, in which she promised that her "whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong ..."

Later at Balmoral, Philip attempts to distract his grandsons from their mother's death by taking them deer stalking. While venturing out alone in her Land Rover, the Queen damages her vehicle while fording a river and has to call for assistance. While waiting, she weeps in frustration but then catches sight of the majestic Red Deer stag which her grandsons have been stalking. Hearing a distant gunshot, she shoos the animal away. Later that day, the Queen decides to carry out the recommendations of Blair. While preparing to leave for London, she is horrified to learn that the stag has been killed on a neighbouring estate, by a visiting stockbroker. She visits the estate where the stag is being dressed and expresses dismay at the amateurish way it was hunted.

In the film's climax, the Royal Family returns to London and inspect the floral tributes. The Queen also goes on live television to speak about Diana's life and legacy, even going so far as calling her "an exceptional and gifted human being." Two months later, Blair comes to the palace for a weekly meeting. The Queen has regained her popularity but believes she will never quite fully recover from "that week." She cautions Blair that one day he too will find that public opinion can rapidly turn against him. She declares, however, that times have changed and that the monarchy must "modernise." When Blair suggests that he can help with this, she responds, "Don't get ahead of yourself Prime Minister. Remember, I'm supposed to be the one advising you".

*It's a 2006 film, and I think it doesn't released here in Malaysia. But if it did released, it won't released in every cinema, probably just released in International Screening's categories. At first, I thought it was about Queen Elizabeth's story, you know, her backgorund, how and when she become the queen, what's her achievement, etc. But only after watching the movie, I reliased it was about how the queen cope with the death of Princess Diana, the same year when Tony Blair was elected as Prime Minister. It was the first time the British governed by Labour Party. While the queen is still being conservative, the people actually are changing. At first, the queen take Diana's death as something private, but Diana is not only for the royal family (as in the young princes' mother), but she is also for the people around the world. The queen doesn't see it this way, and thought that all these frenzy things (people mourn in front of Buckingham Palace, crying, grieving, waiting for the funeral, etc) will just go away as time goes by, hence making no statements regarding Diana's death or doing anything about the funeral. But what the queen doesn't think of was this makes people feel that the royal does not respect Diana (well, it seems so. Wouldn't you do something if your ex-daughther in-law who gave birth to your grandchildren had passed away? Does it mean that you shouldn't do anything as she's your ex-daughther in-law?). But, in the end, the queen did make something, like  make amends for what the royals should have done earlier, for the sake of the monarchy. Times have changed, and the monarchy must "modernise". I cried a lot upon seeing the part of the death of Diana, as I trully adore and love her. And I felt sad when I heard the news in year 1997. It was my second sad news in a month. My grandpa had passed away in July, before the death of Princess Diana on 31st August. At that time, I was only 10 years old. I don't really know the real sad feeling. My grandpa's death was my first time in encountering a funeral, and I don't really know how the feeling it should be. I was young at that time. But now when I recalled back at that moments, I do get sad. It's a human cycle. People born, grow up, and die. No more, no less.

Study...

'Honeymoon' time is over. Started to do revision days ago. Well, only for the 1st paper that is going to be examine on this Saturday. And then there are 9 days break before the next paper and then continue with the last paper on 28th April. It's a long period between each papers, thus I started revise a little bit late. Hmm...it's not hard to do revision, but hell, still doesn't like to do this stuff! Might not blog for some time, as I won't be doing any other things except revision. I don't know why all the major papers have to be at the end of the exam period. I hate to be the last person to go back home. While others are enjoying holidays, I still haven't start exam. Sien. Btw, I prefer courseworks more than exams. I really prefer coursework based more than exam based!

Fast & Furious 4

Plot

After a successful run of hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic, Dominic Toretto has become an international criminal. Under increasing pressure from the local police, Dom's partner Han (from the third film) decides to flee to Tokyo. Dom tries to convince Letty to run away again with him to another country. She refuses, and so he leaves her. (The prologue ends here.)

Some time later, Letty is found to have been shot dead in her wrecked car. Dom returns to the scene of her murder just outside of L.A.. There, he discovers traces of nitromethane, which allows him to lead a personal investigation up to a certain David Park, who had purchased the nitromethane for the driver who killed Letty. Park is coerced into helping Dom get a spot in a street race, arranged by Ramon Campos, where he will supposedly find Letty's killer.

Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner, now an FBI agent, is assigned to track down a notorious drug lord named Arturo Braga. Brian's investigation also leads him to David Park. He arrives at Park's apartment while Dom is still interrogating him. At the FBI bureau, Park also tells Brian that the aforementioned street race grants the winner a spot on the team that traffics heroin across the United States-Mexico border for Braga. Dom and Brian participate in the race, and Dom wins. Having lost the race, Brian uses his position at the FBI to wrongfully arrest Dwight Mueller, another of Braga's drivers, in order to usurp Mueller's spot on the team. Ramon Campos, Braga's right hand man, invites the drivers to a party, where Dom ends up in a confrontation with a driver called Fenix, and Brian looks for signs of Braga.

The next day, the team's drivers and their cars are smuggled into Mexico to receive the heroin which they are to import across the border at night. They are to meet with Fenix en route and pass through a path of tunnels to evade the surveillance systems used to monitor the borders. Gisele, Braga's liason, gives Dom a subtle warning in the form of the Spanish phrase "vaya con Dios". After the run, Dom realizes that the drivers are routinely shot and killed after each import job, to avoid having to pay them. Letty, having been in the same situation, was the only driver to get away when they shot her team. The ensuing pursuit led to her car crash and getting shot. Now, just before shooting Brian and Dom, Fenix admits with no remorse that he killed Letty. Suddenly, the cars behind them explode due to sabotage by Dom, who had anticipated the betrayal. Brian uses this diversion to hijack one of the Hummers carrying the heroin, and escape the gunfire with Dom.

Back in L.A., they hide the Hummer in the LAPD impound lot, and Brian claims that Dom now owes him a "10-second car", echoing Dom's line from the first movie. Dom smashes the window of an impounded Subaru Impreza WRX STi, which he "gives" to Brian. They go to the Torrettos' house, where Dom learns that Brian had been contacted by Letty, who had agreed to infiltrate Braga's organization to collect information in exchange for clemency for Dom, so that he could return home to her in LA. This is how she had ended up being one of the drivers for the Braga import job which led to her death. Mia forgives Brian for his past betrayal five years earlier.

The next day, he tells his superiors about his plan to lure Braga into a trap, offering him his heroin back in exchange for $6 million, which Braga is to deliver himself. However, Brian requests that the FBI pardon Dom before proceeding with the plan. Campos agrees to Brian's deal, not knowing that the FBI is poised to arrest Braga at the exchange site. However, the FBI only succeeds in apprehending Braga's decoy, realizing too late that Campos is the real Braga. Because of this error, Braga is able to evade capture and flees to Mexico, out of the FBI's jurisdiction.

Brian and Dom head after Braga on their own, and find him in a cathedral in Mexico praying for salvation. They kidnap him, but are soon chased by Braga's henchmen, to the underground tunnels where Dom's Dodge Charger crashes. Once on the U.S. side of the border, an injured Brian is about to be shot by Fenix when Dom suddenly arrives, driving a henchman's car straight into Fenix, killing him. Braga is finally apprehended by the FBI, and despite the promised clemency clause, so is Dom.

Brian appeals to the courts, but Dom is sentenced to "25 years to life without the possibility of early parole." The movie concludes with Dom being transported in a prison bus on a desert highway to the Lompoc Penitentiary, when Brian appears, driving Dom's repaired Charger, along with Mia, Tego and Rico in two other stealthy black cars for an interception.

*It's hard to fight with temptation, thus can't help myself to go to cinema and watch this movie. Love the cool cars they drove in the movie! And I felt 'crush' when those cars being crushed! It's a common storyline, what else can be the storyline when it revolves around bad guys, cops and nice cars? But the difference is the way they 'potrayed' the cars. Not very very very special, but it's just different from the normal way, like driving in a straight line or in a busy street. It's definetly got something different here.

Fast!!!!

I can't believe I just spent 3 days to finish 4 books!!! Yep...the 4 books that I've just bought 3 days ago. I just can't resist myself from touching those books...can't control, though. And those books really attract me to continue reading it. Spent days and nights reading, reading and reading, and finally finish reading today. Felt happy upon finishing the books, as I can't stand it not knowing what is the conclusion of the story. And I like those stories with a happy ending. Hahaha.....here are the synopsis of the novels. I won't spill too much of the stories, if any of you are interested wth the stories, go and get the books!

Twilight is about a girl name Isabella Swan who moved to Forks and met a vampire name Edward Cullen, and fall in love with him. This novel is mostly centered around Bella and Edward, how Bella found out he is a vampire, and how they go on with the human-vampire relationship. Of course, there are scenes about how they develop the feelings to each other. All other Cullen's family, Edward's 'adopted' parents and his siblings are close with Bella, as they already think Bella as one of their family members (well, except 1 of the sister, though). The Cullens@vampires are different from other vampires. They are so called the 'vegetarian', as they depend on animal's blood, not human's blood. Its a time frame that make them control of not taking human blood. The climax is when another coven of vampire came to Forks, and James was intrigued by the Cullens' relationship with a human. That's why he wants to hunt Bella. Unfortunately, the Cullens' family overpowered him.

New Moon is about a group of werewolves, 1 of whom happended to be Bella's friend, Jacob Black, who will turn out to be her best friend after this. Things happend between Bella and Edward during Bella's 18th birthday, when 1 of Edward's brother, who still can't control himself, attacked Bella when she cut her finger upon opening a present. Hence, the Cullens moved out of Forks, 'for the sake of Bella's safety'. Bella was all alone upon Edward's departure, and thus formed a close relationship with Jacob. Bella was protected by the werewolves when Victoria, a mate of James came for a revenge of his death. And some miscommunications leads Edward to believe to Bella has died. Distraught by the news, he went to Italy to provoke the Volturi, the peace-keeping vampires who are able to kill him. But Bella flied to Italy just in time to save Edward, but was caution by the Volturi that human who knows of the existence of vampires must either be killed or changed into vampire.

Eclipse is about a bunch of new born's vampires who was created by Victoria, to get a revenge on Bella. These bunch of vampires started their thirst for blood in Seatle, where many unsolved murdered cases happended. In this book also revealed that the werewolves and vampires can cooperate. Previously, or should I said, technically, werewolves and vampires can't be together, together in the sense that close by each other. Though these 2 groups stay at a same place, they did divided their territory. But for the sake of everyone, literally all the humans in Forks, the werewolves and the Cullens (hence the vampires), they merge together to get rid of the new born vampire who came for revenge, as ordered by Victoria. Of course, Victoria did show up and, of course, wanted Bella so much, as Edward took her James away from her. Thus, Victoria thinks it's fair and square if she took away Bella from Edward. But in this epsiode also, Bella found out who she really love the most. No confusing there, eh Bella?

And Breaking Dawn, well, from it's name, you'll now its the end of the story. The book is divided into 3 parts, 1st part from Bella, 2nd part from Jacob and the last part from Bella's. I'll make it short here. Bella is pregnant with Edward's child, but its not a normal human child. It's a mixture of human and vampire. Hence, there are many consequences. No one, I mean among the Cullens had encountered with this type of pregnancy (might said vampires can't get pregnant?), and they wouldn't know whether the fetus will claim any harm, if it is born. It's not that only the Cullens are being cautions about the pregnancy, the werewolves also are concern. And after the birth of the child, the Volturi came to 'check' whether the new born are a 'immortal child' (a child who has been turned into a vampire) or not, as they heard from another vampire. But in the end, it is an ending that I like so much!

If you notice the titles, it has much to do with the phenomena between night and morning. I guess the titles suit the stories, as these stories only suits to happend at these particular times. All in all, it's a different kind of love story, a real different type, though.