Let me just clarify before I start with my review on the adapted graphic novel version of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button originally by F. Scott Fitzgerald that I have not yet watched the movie! So if you HAVE watched it and is going to COMMENT here (or talk to me in one form or another..) PLEASE PLEASE don't ruin it for me! This review is on the graphic novel adaption and that is all we'll discuss!


Naggings aside, this graphic novel adapted by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, illustrated by Kevin Cornell, portrays Button's curious life in an alluring picturesque imagery with the original text of sir Fitzgerald.
For those who had not heard, watched its movie adaption or have read the original text or just do not know who is this Benjamin Button fellow and is curious on why the heck he is curious in the first place, allow me to explain...
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a story abouta man who ages in the reverse order. Naturally, as we grow older, we become old hags basically. Button on the other hand grows young. It is a satirical story with classy humour on society in the 1860s to 1930s. Cleverly written, we follow Button's life on how he comes to fit in with others his chronological age. Take a gander at the front page of the graphic novel. You can understand the challenges he faces.

This graphic novels can work in both ways. One way is the enhancement of the experience of living and breathing with our procrastinator Benjamin button as he grows young. this works mainly for those who have already read the orginal text. Another is the drawing sensation of its sepia charming imagery to the curious story of button for those who are virgins to button's epic legend.

I like to draw your attention to the facial expressions of the characters in particular. their sunken eyes, grey hollow faces and blankness gives extra "oomphh" to their character and and their emotions. Simplistically it is generally a " -_- " kind of face but within its context guided by Fizgerald's original text, the deepr meanings of their deepest thoughts and feelings are perfectly illustrated. It captures the moment panel by panel with such appeal you feel like you don't even NEED to watch the epic movie adaption.

The downsides, I cannot really think of any. Curious isn't it?
I give this graphic novel adaption a good 4.8 curiously curious buttons out of 5.Read more...

Read more...

One Piece is one super duper anime with a groovy soundtrack. TVXQ/DBSK/Tohoshinki is one super duper korean boyband. Put them together and you get some pretty super duper songs. Yay for my diverse vocabulary. Anyway for those who didn't know, the one piece songs; Asu wa Kurukara and We Are remake are by TVXQ. Watch them if you like but in this post I am going to be talking about their latest song, Share The World.

Share The World is the latest opening song for One Piece and is the next japanese song to be released by TVXQ. After listening to it a couple of times, I'd say it is a great, upbeat song suitable for One Piece. It has that believing and adventure feel to it typical of One Piece. I predict another number 1 single if they're not up against any tough competition. However I can't say the same about the music video. As much as I love these boys I would have to say the video sucked. It was too corny and looked like some low budget video lacking creativity. They have made much better music videos in the past so I don't know what went wrong here or who they pissed off. I can see what they were trying to achieve with the video but really all it's good for is LOL material. The only good thing about the video is that they look handsome but that is all. I think the One Piece opening video is so much better then the actual video. One Piece always has good openings and endings and this one is no exception.

Here are the videos for you guys to compare:





Read more...

I came across 'A Load Of old Bones: An Unfortunate Murder' by Suzette A.Hill randomly in footscray library and was immediately amused by the front cover (I mean it's a cat and dog looking at a leg sticking out of the ground for God's sake). There were a few positive comments on the cover so I decided to give the book a read. Fortunately I really enjoyed this book.

The story is told from the point of view of three characters; Maurice the cat, Bouncer the dog and Reverend Francis Oughterard (F.O). You'd probably find that odd especially since there are talking animals involved but hey that's what made the book even more delightful. The story is set in 1957 in a quiet, little village where F.O is in charge of the parish there. The peace is disrupted when an unexpected murder occurs which turns the lives of those three characters upside down especially F.O in more ways than you would have thought. The three characters come to live together at first to F.O's annoyance, however what he doesn't realise is that they are more clever then he thought and are the ones protecting his ass and theirs too. I tried to write that without revealing too much.

At first it was a bit difficult to understand since it's written in a kind of old fashioned style with lots of fancy words but I got used to it all after awhile. The book is full of wit that would keep you amused. There are a few twists here and there so it's not one of those predictable stories. It's really different to any book I have read which is a nice change. It is strange but in a good way.

I give this book 4.2/5 old bones. Apparently there is a sequel to this which I will try to get my hands on.Read more...

Dear readers, we haven't forgotten about vampires have we? I know Young Dracula may be too childish for you, the teen vampire genre too trashy and you'd rather stake yourself than get through Bram Stoker. The answer lies in Elizabeth Kostova's elegantly written The Historian. It is a very long book but the kind you want to continue for much longer. It is a very well researched book, seeped in vampire lore and history. It'll take you from modern day Oxford to the Ottoman Empire and Transylvania, all described vividly enough to make you want to go visit the places. The historical perspective on vampires is very interesting and fuses the novel with some real meat.

The scholarly overtones with many references to libraries, various librarians, ancient documents and classic languages such as sanskrit, latin and greek renders the vampire legend very real and very chilling. The presence of Dracula looms broodingly as the main character, a teenage girl, slowly uncovers the secrets.  The plot is too complicated to try and summarise but you'd rather discover it for yourself, wouldn't you?

Readers who enjoy vampires, mystery, historical, gothic, horror or something fantastic to lounge about reading for hours during holidays won't be disappointed. 

There are no repetitious descriptions of hot-guy-vampires. Indeed, this literary thriller may require some brain activity and garlic garlands against the undead.

(Feel free to borrow from me and pass on.) Read more...

Note: I am not a hardcore dragon ball fan now, I was when I was younger (like any other highly hormonic growing teenage boy, I enjoyed watching bulky sweaty anime men train and fight). So the following review is based on my views as a half-ass fan. Enjoy!

How to begin? As everyone knows, this movie is not exactly best film of the year. My partner in crime and I ventured in the theater, knowing not to expect much, as so to prevent later disappointment and tears. We were ‘right on’ (groovy…?).

The story is loosely based on the original Dragon Ball story, merging the first dragon ball hunting saga with the King Piccolo saga together as one convenient anecdote. The setting looks to be like a modern ‘white’ society, with geeky Goku (Justin Chatwin) having problems fitting in his school, when suddenly, he is burdened to save the world from King Piccolo, an evil Namek, whose goal is to collect all dragon balls in order to “take my (his) vengeance upon the Earth”.

The movie was, for my taste, too lame and corny. There was too much emphasis on rebuilding the typical ultimate hero-like character, and not nearly enough effort to capture Goku’s free spirited story (“Far too much dancing and not nearly as enough prancing!” – Mr. Burns) Typical equals: “5000 years ago, an evil was locked away (blah)…you are destined to save the world (blah)…you are the destined warrior (blah)…”

King Piccolo’s makeup and costume was sickening, so was Goku’s trademark orange martial arts outfit. No need for explanations.

The fights scenes were ok though, where the lameness did help (for this particular type of movie), including good (and unintentionally funny!) slomo punches and impact scenes. The visual effects of the ‘ki’ energy weren’t that great though. Instead of taking a solid and luminous form as in the anime, the ki were presented as gaseous and misty. This didn’t look too great and impressive, compare to the anime at least, especially in the fight scenes where they are just throwing feeble-looking vapours at each other (fart much Goku?).

As mentioned above, we watched this film with minimum expectations, and surprisingly, it worked. It was quite enjoyable (and as said, unintentionally funny), but definitely not memorable. The best bits in the movie were the ones that probably included the cleavage-d exhibitionist Chi Chi (Jamie Chung), and the fobby and perverted Master Roshi (Yun-Fat Chow). As you can see, their descriptive verbs explains why.

In conclusion, the movie was not an evolution. Overall, I would rate this movie 3/7 dragon balls. Yes, the rating is out of the odd number 7, because there are 7 dragon balls in the movie, get it? (Kaka, I’m hilarious!) Read more...

The writing style of this novel is poor, as is this review! The Bride Stripped Bare conveys a story about a woman who believes that her husband is cheating on her, yet unable to leave because of her financial dependency on the cheating scum (I have no sympathy for people who cheat nor those who stay with cheaters). Through her struggles to accept what her husband has done, she seeks revenge by running around and sleeping with a bunch of people...yeah...i know...what a way to get revenge!

Some critics of The Bride Stripped Bare would say that this novel is about the liberation of sexuality for women, others (myself included) would say that this novel is borderline soft-core pornography for the chick-lit genre. Having said that i thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it was definitely a page turner. The scenes in the novel are rather explicit and graphical, so do not read if you feel uncomfortable about this kind of thing. The way the author describes the scenes are rather blunt yet descriptive, and you can definitely learn a few things from this novel!

I think this could be a novel for both genders, as there is a section in the novel called, "what we like, what we don't like and what we love". Yes, it's about what most women do and do not like in bed! So all males should definitely read it!

A lesson that I've taken from reading this novel is to never be financially dependent on anyone other than my parents! Even though that isn't the moral of the story (I'm not even sure if this novel intended a moral, it was marketed as a novel about the exploration of sexual desire). Another marketing gimmick that this novel had attached to itself, was that the author published the novel under anonymous. I suppose it was to create a mysterious bubble around this novel, and it worked! It gained a lot of publicity and eventually the author was ousted by media. It made it hard for me to find the book when it was recommended by a friend though!

I suggest listening to Not Fair by Lily Allen, not only is it an awesome song but reminds me of the character Cole (Cheating Husband).

(NOTE: It's been a few years since I've read this novel and this review is based on what I remember...which isn't much!) Read more...

Say what you will, this looks amazing...

Are we allowed to review trailers? Because seriously, this is a good trailer. The film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are has been in the works for quite some time now. And they've had issues, sure, but don't we all? Originally shot in Australia, late '06, and slated for an '08 release, it's been delayed, delayed, almost done!, delayed. And it was not so long ago that Warners' studio chief had to defend the film, after reports that a number of children were brought to tears during test screenings (not that I'd see that as a bad thing): "We obviously still have a challenge on our hands. But I wouldn't call it a problem, simply a challenge. No one wants to turn this into a bland, sanitized studio movie. This is a very special piece of material and we're just trying to get it right." At last, it seems like they've got things back on track.

The film is being directed by Spike Jonze, a man responsible for some wonderfully bizzare creations. He also co-wrote the screenplay with a familiar face, Dave Eggers. But on to the trailer, which is beautiful even without the context. I really don't think I can adequately describe how gorgeous this looks. Just get a load of the awesome Arcade Fire song they've used ("Wake Up"). The book, the filmmakers, the music; they've got me sold. Let's just hope the movie meets my hype... So go on, have a look:


This could very well be a new favorite thing of mine, alongside certain staple gun threatening girls and that bit in Daft Punk's Digital Love that goes "Why don't you play the gaaammee?"Read more...

Straylight Run is an indie rock band originating from Long Island, New York; a place where other infamous bands such as Taking Back Sunday and Brand New have emerged. Band members include John Nolan on Vocals/Guitar/Keyboard, Shaun Cooper on Bass Guitar, and Will Noon on Drums.

As part of touring around Australia with the Soundwave Festival, the various genre of bands
all played warm-up side shows the night before hitting the main stages at each of the states. While in Melbourne, Straylight Run played at the Next! at Colonial Hotel, corner of King and Lonsdale St, along with Jaguar Love and Minus the Bear.

Now, my companions that night included (by their blog IDs) Chicken, Patrick, Chau! and Veeble; a bunch of crazy hooligan friends I picked up around my first year of university. Actually, change of plans, I seem to have writers block, so from now on, I’m just going to write as I talk…no more structured sentences! (Thanks Chicken!)

Ok, so here’s the story, we were in the city at about 6pm, and the show was scheduled to start at 9pm, so we had a good 3 hours to eat and bum (As in laze around! Don’t think dirty!! O_O).
In the end we ate at the Nandos along King St, and guess who came in! Straylight Run themselves!! My body almost died from sheer shock and happiness! I was just going to hide and spy on them for a while, but luckily my companions had more sense than me to convince me to talk and get photos with them, we did, and now I cherish these photos more than table tennis balls!

Anywhoooo, we got in the place at about 9pm. Next! is a nicely designed place, a darkish atmosphere with a light red glow theme (sorry I don’t remember much more!). The small stage was, of course, the central point for the venue, with various balconies and reserved places to view the performance.

The show started on time with Jaguar Love performing first, no offence, but they sounded horrible. With only two members, an OKish guitarist (using a Gibson SG guitar) and a crazy frizzball vocalist (with a cat’s screech for a voice), plus a tape for backup drums and sync, the whole thing sounded like a very loud and noisy mess…

Next, Straylight Run! They performed an array of old and new songs. Let me also note, that Will Noon is a mad drummer (in a good sense!) He really rips those drums like no tomorrow!
Starting off with Wait and Watch, they immediately captured my attention with its mixture of a melodic piano tune and thudding drum and bass beats, followed by a more heavier and aggressive chorus bellowing “I’m gonna wait and watch the world die!”
Mistakes We Knew We Were Making had a similar format, but with its chorus being a bit more cheery (poppy?) and less demanding. This was the song when I forgot about all my troubles. The lines “So we bottle and shelve, all our regrets…” and onwards really made me feel at bliss, and temporary shielded me from the issues and problems I was experiencing at the time…Thanks Straylight Run! =)
Around the middle of the set, they played a new song, I think it was called I Do, but definitely not sure! Being the incurable nature of a live performance, it was hard to process and understand the new song completely, but it sounded like it had something to do with marrying someone?
Existentialism on Prom Night needs to be mentioned, as it is mine and Chicken’s song. Not much to note about this particular performance, except that without former member, Michelle Nolan’s guitar strums, it sounded very empty and naked, not that I’m complaining! I quite like this broken down version!
They finished off with an emotionally high Hands in the Sky, which I felt left a very foreboding and hollow feeling in the air, constantly echoing “…they’ll tell you when they’re hungry again… they’ll tell you when they’re hungry again… they’ll tell you when they’re hungry again…” A good mysterious and sense-hungry impression to leave on the audience!

Well, we left after their performance, we didn’t wait to watch Minus the Bear (personally, I didn’t want to risk another Jaguar Love like performance).

We all got home safely and that’s the end! I realise that I wrote too much! So if you read up to here, thanks for bearing to read all this nonsense! Really appreciated! I am definitely not a writer, nor do I particularly enjoy writing, so please don’t criticise my review too badly!

I would give Straylight Run’s side-show a whooping 5/5 ducks! They performed perfectly and well! Not relying on bopping heads and hardcore ‘rocking out’ like some other idiotic bands out there! Now, off to get Roast duck on my next outing! YUM!

Trung!Read more...

I have it in my hand, sitting, as the Earth clings to me with fear. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I glean from the jacket. His name is Dave Eggers, it's about him. My first few movements, callow trepid steps, the peek under book's cover, the eyes which widen at the sight; and it's coming. Nighttime, darkness and I'm flicking through it. While fireflies, they'd skip across the surface of each turning page; illuminate lines for me. Then a mighty gale, it comes to sweep us away, me and my hardbound friend. I watch on helplessly as pages whoosh by, turning vigorously, and I have to hold onto my hat and scarf so that they won't fly away. My eyes, my dazzling dancing eyes, dashing madly, back and forward, left to right then miraculously back at left again, trying to keep up. Until, as sudden as it had started, the wind dies, and all but a single page remains. All but an inky half filled page – evaporating! Line by line, letter by letter, going, going, oh it's gone!

...(Confess confess, to nonsense.)

I am not an avid reader. Last year I read one book. The year prior to that: none. This year, I am handed a hardcover by someone dear - a hefty, four hundred page tome - and I set about reading it with fears of half-finishing. Within a week fears vanish...

Awash with humor, poignancy, gimmickry, motley bindings of adjective effortlessness and ever growing self-referentiality: Eggers' memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, indeed, bears no misnomer. It is steeped in detail: the title could, alone, be kept afloat simply by weight of ideas. And for the most part, the experimentation is not only impressive, it is genius, genre-breaking prose.

Within the first few pages, Eggers has already modestly, or in some cases, honestly, outlined pages and chapters not worth reading, has told us that some of the events of the book have been fictionalized or chronologically rearranged (being his right as an American), and has shared disapproval over our abandonment of Pluto: "[the author] wishes, on the basis of his own casual research and faith, to reassert Pluto's planethood. Why did we do this to Pluto? We had it good with Pluto."

The story moves quickly. For all the tragic elements here: the sudden deaths of loved ones, the raising of a younger brother, and solipsistic struggle; the memoir is, more often than not, blithe, irreverent, and wonderfully truthful. What Eggers deems "The Painfully, Endlessly, Self-Conscious Book Aspect", that being, sections of the book in which he is all too aware it is being read, is all too conscious of what the reader is thinking, is not accustomed to any 'fourth wall', are simply sublime. Great artistic liberties are taken, characters, as it were, break character, igniting otherwise common exchanges. Eggers' device is gratuitous, often revelatory: at one instance, cheekily concluding that those who are not self-obsessed, that do not find themselves interesting enough to obsess over, mustn’t be very interesting people.

And as the book culminates through its final manic-depressive gasps, we see that for all Eggers' self-destructive magic, it is his relationship with younger brother Toph that provides grounding for his most compelling emotional clinches. It's an adventure through a majestic and surreal, sun-drenched, and utterly unadulterated youth. A place where time shrinks and stretches, where the Californian shoreline extends forever, where the worth of an apartment is dictated solely by its containing stretches of polished floorboard – area fit for sliding across whilst wearing woolen socks.

In shorts, there's a lot to like about this book. In pants (terrible!), I probably should have said that to begin with. That probably would have been a lot less painful for the both of us. In fact, you're probably very annoyed with me, especially if you had bothered to read this far. Will redemption be granted if I offer gifts? And what if said gifts aren't tangible?

I grant you (and this book) 4/5 ducks! Quack! (Don't eat them)... (Seriously, don't!!)Read more...