Malay chick-lits

I was never a fan of Malay books all these years. The last book I read was Bukit Kepong & Konserto Terakhir in preparation for SPM exam. Even then, I didn't finish the book & ended up reading the summarised version with ready-made exam questions. It takes a lot of effort to appreciate Malay literature, what more with an uninviting & poorly designed book cover.

Until recently while shopping with WL for his niece's birthday gift, I chanced upon a corner at MPH displaying chick-lit books written by local authors. Little did I expect that their cover designs have improved tremendously over the years. It's not like that the designers have any sense of originality to their designs as most of the designs are copied in a similar fashion from English chick-lit books. Well, at least they have a sense of creativity to actually copy someone better... =P

Tempted, I bought one of the book titled Renda Labuci Biru. If you observe carefully, the cover has been treated with matt finishing & the book title is embossed with spot UV. Now that is quite pretty for a Malay book cover.

On the inside front & back cover, there're images that can be cut out to be used as bookmark.

The book even has border designs in every page! Now that's tacky. -.-"

Nevertheless, the book seemed interesting cuz it has diagrams & images which are relevant to the storyline. I haven't had the time to read yet but I'm guessing the storyline will be a typical one. Will update this space soonest & I shall have my verdict.

Plate to pixel

When MPH sent its usual weekly newsletters on online promotions, I caught sight of their 25% discounts on all photography related books. Curious, I clicked the link which led to several photography books for sale. Upon seeing a book on food photograhy, I was interested to purchase immediately. The book retails at RM95.80 but customers enjoy 25% off for online purchase. I decided to try my luck searching for it at BookXcess, hoping that I would get even cheaper price than RM71.85 but to no avail cuz it's a newly published book (May 2011). One glance at Kinokuniya's site shows the same retail price too.

With that in mind, I didn't think twice about placing order right away. Surprisingly, the book was delivered the next day which I thought would take up 3-5 days as stated in their site due to stock availability.

The exhilaration of touching a brand new book delivered to your doorstep is indescribable. =D

What the book thrives & lacks at the same time is the simplistic style of writing by the author who is both photographer & food stylist. I like how the book was written with a personal touch...not too formal & with minimal complicated jargons. Due to some absence of jargons & less straightforward phrases, the book tend to be a little lengthy & long-winded.

I'd have to admit the food pictures are gorgeous.

Draggy & long-winded the paragraphs may be, it still has pretty good explanations on camera gears & tips on how to DIY your soft box.

Sad to say, I haven't own a DSLR yet to experiment any of the tips in the book. I'm hoping to get it soon in October (*fingers crossed*). Will keep this page updated once I get started with my photography journey. Yippee! =)

Game of Thrones

Most of you have heard (or may not) the upcoming mini series called Games of Thrones which will be aired next week, 28 August on HBO. Games of Thrones is adapted from the first book of popular fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice & Fire by George R. R. Martin.

I haven't read the book yet but after watching sneak preview on HBO, the series seems very exciting. It's an epic tale of kingdoms & war in the Medieval era. It may sound like another Lord of the Rings story but I beg to differ. This series is focused on the human elements sans the magical elements such as wizardry & evil powers, you name it. It's perhaps more brutal & violent in some ways cuz it reveals the dark side of humanity - sex, incestation & slavery.

I supposed all those violent & explicit scenes will never make it pass our censorship board but hopefully the main scenes are still kept to avoid chopping off the plot. Game of Thrones will premier on 28 August at 10pm with 2 episodes back-to-back & do catch upcoming episodes every Sunday at the same time. The series will last for 10 episodes for Season 1. I definitely can't wait~ =D

Books, books & more books

Oh dear...I bought 4 books the last round & only managed to read 2 books. I still have 2 more to go & yet, I bought another 3 books from BookXcess. My bookshelf is so gonna pile up. -.-"

Who wouldn't be tempted to buy a 3-in-1 book set at only RM39.90? It's even cheaper than buying at RM17.90 each. BookXcess is evil! XD

Girl meets vampire

I was pretty excited when I heard about the movie Twilight coming to the silver screen. Reason being the trailer looks promising (typical...) & it's gonna be another saga adapted from the bestselling books. Part of the excitement probably came from the press as I found that the good, clean-cut hottie who played Cedric Diggory in two Potter movies was casted as the male protagonist in the upcoming vampire movie. Besides, the casts - Robert Pattinson & Kirsten Stewart playing Edward & Bella respectively seem to look like they're having lots of chemistry here. What can be more romantic than a forbidden love between a mortal & an immortal vampire? ^^ The poster looks so hauntingly beautiful.

Honestly, I haven't read the book yet though I bought it two months ago. I knew that the book should be really good considering the fact that it has established a global cult consisting mainly teenage girls & young women alike. Furthermore, the movie was apparently touted the next big thing after Harry Potter since tales about the wizard boy is coming to an end real soon. Therefore, I'd rather be mesmerised/impressed/bored by the movie first before I'm being drawn into the mystical world of Twilight. It's just that...you know how good books are ruined by poorly adapted films. There you are highly anticipating the movie to be equally or almost as good as the print but turned out awfully disappointing. Just like Da Vinci Code.

The movie? I was right, after all. I wasn't impressed with the movie so to speak. It was slow but the slowness does have its advantage. Most of the scenes between Bella & Edward were pretty romantic. The closeup shots of Bella & Edward staring intently at each other further heightened the love tension. And it definitely pulls every girl's heart strings. The movie has celebrated the beauty of almost-kissing shots between the star-crossed lovers. That's how the movie was beautifully done in that aspect of romance. Otherwise, the action scenes while playing baseball seems a little tacky - reminding me of those poor CGI in vampire TV sitcoms.

New Moon is due for release next year & I'm definitely looking forward to it. Despite the less impressive first movie, it had spur me to follow the saga. I'm gonna start reading the first book real soon. Anyways, which girl wouldn't wanna imagine having a love relationship with a mysterious, handsome vampire? XD

Yesterday's karaoke session was fun. What's more exciting than singing your heart with a bunch of girls who are 4 years your junior? XD I had no one to go with, sad to say. It's expected of an introvert like me. Let's see, the last time I went to karaoke was 3 years ago. LOL. To some people, going for karaoke is like their weekly routine. It's no wonder they can sing so well. Guess it's a cheaper alternative for vocal training instead of signing up for vocal training classes.

Since the girls (including me) know nothing about Chinese, we sang lots of English oldies. Like lots of them ^^. Ranging from Bohemian Rhapsody, How Deep Is Your Love to the latest Apologize by Timbaland feat. OneRepublic. We did add a few Japanese songs to pump in some variety cuz me & one of my sis' friend do know how to read hiragana.

After 2 long hours of singing, we decided to hit the bookstore. Coincidentally, Borders is having anniversary sale which means all full priced books are entitled 15% off. How cool is that? XD Initially, I was really tempted to grab 4 books but had to drop the idea cuz the total amount ain't easy on the pocket *sighs*. Finally, I settled for 2 books while sis got one for herself. There goes RM80+ worth of books~

My books ^^

What's better than indulging in my favourite apple cheese slice cake for the 2nd time in a week? ^^ It's expensive but I guess it wouldn't hurt as long as it makes me happy. Remind me to not eat it again this Friday. No more Secret Recipe or I'll be extremely broke. XD

I always have weakness for any apple desserts XD

Tadaa! What do you guys think about my skin? Pretty cute, isn't it? ^^ Took me quite some time to come across this skin to replace my old one. I made quite a number of adjustments just to make sure it appears nicely on my wide screen monitor. Boy, it was tedious since I know nuts about Java script & my HTML knowledge is rather limited. At least I managed to get the look I want. Hehe.

As usual, I suck at designing something on my own so I took someone else's creation but with credits of course. I guess I'll be using this skin for quite some time. Not that I won't go look for more beautiful ones but the moment, I really adore this skin. So, bear with the pink colour ok XD. I bet you all noticed that I revert back to my old cbox. Fyi, it's only temporary cuz my flashbox ain't working properly the other day. It's up & running now so go on & spam it. You have my permission~ XD Just keep it alive, that's all I ask from all of you.

College officially started yesterday but nothing much happened, really. Btw, this is a short semester so I suppose I have to work a little harder than usual to cope with 2 lengthy subjects. *sighs* I never like short semester due to the enormous amount of stress. I love the long breaks though. My first trip to the library for this semester had resulted in me borrowing a novel to read. Yup, I got myself Memoirs of a Geisha to read since I'm rather bored of facing the computer every day. Besides, I'm curious how much the movie differed from the book. Seems like I missed out a lot of details from the book when I watched the movie.

Remember the book Confessions of a Shopaholic that I mentioned about a month ago? Honestly, I never had the chance to finish it due to assignments. So, I'm determined to borrow it again & continue where I stop. Lets just hope that I finish these 2 books in time before my assignments keep flowing in. I heard the first assignment will be uploaded by this week -_-". Argh!

Pride & Prejudice

After watching the movie Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet, I couldn't help feeling curious about the novel & decided to google about it. All this while, I'm aware that the book of similar title was written by the renowned Jane Austen who also wrote Sense & Sensibility. Surprised I was when I found out that the book was written in the 1800s! No wonder the language is so rich & refined.

The story is pretty interesting as it highlights on Mr Darcy's pride, Elizabeth Bennet's prejudice towards him & how it led to conflicts which prevented them from confessing their love for each other. Sad to say, I found the movie quite a rush as it struggled to keep up with the time frame in the novel & compressed it into a solid 2 hour film. It would make more sense to read the book to capture the full details of the story & fill up the gaps left by the movie.

Nevertheless, I was impressed that the movie managed to keep me entertained all the time. It doesn't matter if the pace was too fast. The simplicity is good enough for me to fully grasp the story. I love the show, really! Y'all should watch it ^^. Warning: Not recommended to audiences who dislike romantic movies.