Kal El

Nope Kal El has not stopped blogging - the Closure message posted about a mogth ago was just a beginning to some changes I'm making in my blogging career.

In order to be in a more positive note, I have decided to change the blog address which previously has the word 'death' permanently stuck to it, to a more positive and hopefully a more hopeful sounding blog title - Kal El's Wishing Well. Please redirect to http://www.mywishwell.blogspot.com from now onwards.

I have enjoyed writing and will continue writing, reviewing and ranting about the pleasurable and not so pleasurable life of mine.

Again, thanks for visiting and may our friendship continue hereafter... Let me welcome you to Kal El's Wishing Well.

Love always,
Kal El

Announcing the closure of Kal El. The blog will remain at this addreas
as long as blogger permits. Thank you for your friendship. May God
bless.

salam and regards,
Kal El

Sent from my iPhone

Ekekekek jangan takut tengok gambar-gambar ni... Makanan ni bukannya benda lain hehehehe. Ni lah scrambled egg versi Kal El. Tengok mak KN buat hari tu memang sedap so Kal El cuba la... selalu gak buat cam ni dulu tapi Kal El tak letak satu benda - kicap.


Mengikut resipi mak KN letak kicap... so telur, bawang dihiris besar-besar dan kicap. Tu je... Sebenarnya Scrambled Egg ni berbagai versi, kalau arwah mak Kal El dulu suka letak fresh milk, memang lembut lemak berkrim heheheh.

Apa yang kuning tu? Aaaa... tu ler mustard. Kal El memang suka sangat dengan mustard. Kalau boleh makan nasik ngan mustard Kal El dah buat dah... kui kui kui... jemput makan...

We have just watched this movie last night - a remake of the Korean The Uninvited: Tale of Two Sisters (well, I haven't watched the Korean original though), this is the kind of movies I like - with a twist at the very end that makes me think of "Oh that's why lah", "Oh no wonder lah" "Patut lah..." until the very next day. I always find writers who are able to twist the ending brilliant! One dissapointment though - I know that this is a psycho-thriller rather than horror - but I was kind of expecting earie looking ghosts or at least some gory scenes that would make me puke or at least want to puke. Well, I am satisfied with the movie - not having watched the original Korean version makes it even more thrilling (ye lah tak tau ending dia macamana kan?).


In short I like movies that make me think especially after it has ended. That way I would remember the movie till the end of my life. My favourite scene? Of course the part where Anna was in her room the night her boyfriend came and crack, his backbone broke... twisted man!

The story is basically and mainly about guilt thus the aparations and storyline. Watch it then you'll know.

Here's the synopsis from imdb.com:

Anna, a beautiful teen girl (Emily Browning) is being released from a mental hospital. A therapist advises Anna to 'finish things that she has started', implying be productive and positive going forward. We learn Anna recently has lost her invalid mother in a fire, causing her breakdown.


She returns to her New England mansion along the shoreline. Her father (David Straitharn) introduces his new girlfriend To Anna's distress it is Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), the former at-home-nurse for her sick mother. Her mother had been housed in the family boathouse, and died when it burned down. It has now been restored, distressing Anna. We meet Anna's older sister Alex, and Matt, who makes out with Anna that night. He has something to tell Anna about the fire, but is stopped by Rachel's arrival. Meanwhile Rachel continues to try to befriend the girls, as they all fake their smiles.


Anna that night has a vision (we dont see her as asleep) of the grotesque burned corpse of her mother warning her about Rachel, by pointing in her direction, with a bell around the wrist she used to summon help when she was alive. Anna tells her sister the next day about the warning. Her sister says it was not a nightmare, "you looked awake". They plan to snoop around about who Rachel really is or wants.


In town Anna has a vision of three ghostly children in a diner (appears to be another vision). She finds Matt, who agrees to tell Anna more about the fire when they are alone that night. Back home, Alex and Anna rummage through Rachel's belongings find different ID cards, call past employers, and google Rachel's name. All of this calls her identity into question. Anna confronts Rachel, implying she is an imposter. Rachel threatens she will just tell her dad she is having mental problems again. The sisters agree more evidence is needed before telling their dad, who announced Rachel is actually his fiancée.


That night in her room Matt is about to tell Anna about the fire. Instead he turns into some kind of creature with a broken back, similar to what Anna saw resembling her mother. He says her mother tried to warn him but he didnt listen. We see that it is actually daylight when Anna leaves her room. Offshore police boats dredge up Matt's body. The Sheriff says Matt broke his back in an accident while coming to see Anna, and he knows how she must feel, so he can talk to him about anything. Later Anna shows Alex claw marks on arms as they talk in front of the bathroom mirror, as proof it was not a dream. They talk in the bathroom in many scenes, presumably to avoid Rachel.


At Matt's funeral, Anna sees the same ghostly children. They lead her to their graves in the woods. She googles the names on the family plot. Their teen nanny, who fell in love with their father, stabbed them to death some years ago. Anna concludes the teen nanny is Rachel, who now repeats the pattern of murdering their mother to be with their father, and they are to die next. A photo mother who was killed by the nanny shows her pearls, like the ones Rachel wears all the time.

Anna confronts Rachel and steals the pearls as her proof of the past murders. Rachel tries to inject Anna from her nursing supplies. Before Anna escapes to town, she sees Alex is injected and sedated on the ground. She goes to the Sheriff with her story about the murdering nanny. He seems to recall the story, and asks her to wait there while he helps Alex. Only he returns with Rachel, who injects her saying "its ok Im a nurse" and she is taken back home. While being put to bed by Rachel, Anna sees Alex sneak up behind Rachel, before Anna passes out.


Anna awakens and finds Alex standing outside covered in blood with a knife, saying, "There was no other way". We see Rachel's bloody corpse in a trash bin. When her dad returns, he yells at Anna "what did you do!" Anna says it was Alex had to do it, as the sisters hold hands. Her dad says, "Anna, you know Alex is dead. She died in the fire." This is the flashpoint of the movie. We now see Anna alone covered in blood, holding the knife, not her sister's hand.

Several prior scenes now replay, but now show Anna always alone, talking to herself, implying a psychotic hallucination. This was hinted when Anna talks to her sister as they face the bathroom mirror. When people do this, it looks like they are talking to their reflection. Also, no one addressed Alex directly, but the direction is incoherent anyway.


Now by flashback we see what happened in the fire. Anna saw her dad having sex with Rachel while her mom was bedridden in the boathouse. She seemed to be carting kerosene from the boathouse to burn the main house down with her dad/Rachel inside. She accidentally spilled kerosene, killing her mom and sister instead. Then she was put in the mental ward.

As Anna is being driven away in the squad car, she looks placidly back at her dad. The sheriff mentions the name in Anna's murdering nanny story to her dad. He says it was never Rachel's name, but Rachel did change her name to avoid a stalking ex boyfriend. Neither mentions anything about a murdering nanny story.


Some time later at the mental ward, a contented looking Anna colors and tells her therapist "I did what you said. I finished what I started." We see that Anna's cellmate has the teen nanny's name and carries pearls. This implies the nanny story was also a delusion, since the Sheriff never repeated it when he asked her dad about Rachel's name change.

Proud to announce that I am a proud owner of this amazing DVD - I have the audio CD as well and also proud to say that I was at the concert - LIVE! Huhuhuhh bestnye - another Sheila Majid in my collection - thanks KN (ahahah sapa lagi yang rajin kasi Kal El hadiah-hadiah ni kan?? Love you dear!

Dedicated to all Mummies on this Mother's Day hehehe... sounds familiar ha kids?

Bagi anak-anak yang masih mempunyai seseorang yang bergelar ibu, tunjukkanlah rasa kasih sayang yang lebih padanya pada hari ini. Kal El pasti bukan hadiah istimewa atau yang mahal yang sang ibu nantikan tapi hanyalah masa yang diluangkan untuknya pada hari ini. Bagi yang jauh, telefonlah ibu anda dan spend a little more to speak to her longer today. Kita tidak tahu bila ibu kita akan pergi meninggalkan kita buat selamanya.

Bagi yang sudah tidak beribu seperti Kal El, perbanyakkanlah doa untuknya pada hari ini terutamanya. Ingatlah setiap detik mesra dan bahagia dan juga pengorbanan ibu anda untuk anda selama ini. Tapi alhamdulillah walaupun ibu kandung Kal El telah tiada, Kal El masih punya ibu saudara yang amat Kal El sayang dan hargai yang turut telah banyak berkorban untuk Kal El dan keluarga sepanjang Kal El di muka dunia ini. Untuk Ka'ngah, Selamat Hari Ibu dan untuk Mak di Shah Alam, Kal El ucapkan Salam Sayang dan terima kasih kerana mengizinkan Kal El menumpang kasih sayang selama 7 tahun ini. Untuk Along, kakak Kal El, seorang ibu tunggal, tabahkanlah hati dan kuatkanlah semangat. Kal El doakan agar kalian bahagia dunia dan akhirat. Amin.

Another ex colleague at the Blood Sucking Sicko Company got married in December - I couldn't go to his wedding as I was in the hospital. Also got this photo from someone's facebook. Congratulations Ijam and Safiah (both were ex colleague of mine) - Moga bahagia selamanya sehingga ke anak, cucu, cicit dan seterusnya...

An ex offie mate kat Blood Sucking Sicko Company got married sometime last year and baru sekarang dapat get hold of her wedding picture from facebook. Congratulations Jemah. Moga happy selalu!

I have just gotten myself a new gadget - a Hard Drive Dock! Reason for buying this gadget? Hehehe I somehow lost the Western Digital MyBook adapter (entah tertinggal kat mana entah) and needed fast access to my files. Since none of the shop sells the adapter for MyBook, the cheapest and most practical solution would be this fantastic Vantec Nextar Hard Drive Dock. Amazing! Now instead of having one external hard disks, I could have a few - wah lau wei! (Tapi kan at the expense of my WD MyBook la... takpe, jumpa adapter nanti I'll replace the HD in the poor MyBook hehehe)

Here's a description of the product from DealsDirect.com

The Vantec Nexstar® Hard Drive Dock is a complete and easy way to add or swap hard drives to your computer. It gives you the flexibility of connecting any SATA I/II hard drive to your computer via USB 2.0 connection without opening up your computer case or installing into an enclosure. Simply just insert any 2.5" or 3.5" SATA I/II hard drive into the NexStar Hard Drive Dock and you are ready to transfer, copy, or backup files. Quick and easy, the Vantec Nexstar Hard Drive Dock is the perfect solution to access your hard drive in seconds.


Features

• Install and Access Hard Drive in Seconds
• Simple to Use Design; No Need to Add Enclosure or Open Case
• Eject Button for Easy Removal of Hard Drive
• Supports 2.5"/3.5" SATA I/II Hard Drive up to 1.5TB
• Add Storage to Any System with USB
• Plug & Play
• Attractive Blue LED Power & HD Activity Light
• Transfer Rates Up to 480Mbps w/USB 2.0


Specifications

• Model: NST-D100S2
• Device Support: SATA I/II Hard Drive
• Device Size: 2.5” or 3.5” Hard Drive
• Internal Interface: SATA
• External Interface: USB 2.0
• HD Capacity: Up to 1.5TB
• Power Supply: Dual 5V/12V 2A
• Material: Plastic
• Dimension: 136x83x87 mm

System Requirements

• Intel Pentium II 350 MHz Compatible or Mac G3 Processor & Greater
• Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista or Mac OS 8.6 & Greater
• USB-Equipped System
• For USB 2.0 Speeds, the System Must Support USB 2.0 Specifications

Another restaurant we recently tried at Jusco Setiawangsa/Au3 was Boston. This restaurant serves mainly western food and some Asian cuisine as well. The place looked posh but it was affordable with nice ambiance and free WiFi (all of the restaurants there provides free WiFi)

I've always liked it when restaurants serve my drinks in jar like glasses - like at Road House Grill, Boston serves their drinks in similar jars - it makes the drink look just tempting, yes? The drink above came in a lunch set that I ordered. It was Chicken Cordon Blue that came with a bowl of Musrhroom Soup, Garlic Bread and the unidentifiable drink above .

Chicken Cordon Blue, Garlic Bread and the cold and tasteless Mushroom Soup

While the Chicken Cordon Blue tasted just OK (I think Secret Recipe's better), I really despised the Mushroom Soup - it was tasteless and cold - as though it was prepared last night and they didn't even bother to reheat. Disappointing! The garlic bread was good though.

Baked Rice in Cheese

KN would always love anything with cheese on it so that's the Baked Rice in Cheese served and according to KN it did not taste good as well.

Fried Wanton with Prawn

And we ordered this fried wanton - it was nice but a no-no for me as there was a gigantic piece of prawn in each of them - I was a little furious but didn't make noise because I didn't think the description on the menu had the word 'PRAWN' in it - so since KN couldn't eat that much, it went to waste.

An American Werewolf in Paris is not a sequel to the classic An American Werewolf in London movie. Although they may fall in the same An American Werewolf Series but this rather 'modern' werewolf was not well accepted by fans in general. In this movie werewolves had the choice of turning into one at any point of time with help from a serum - so there goes the trademark for werewolf movies - the moon - the full moon.

Unlike in An American Werewolf in London, the Paris counterpart did not have that umph in it - the scene where werewolf lovers get their kick from - the transformation scene. I think this is because a different technology was used in making the transformation in this movie compared to the real hard work the guys had to go through in An American Werewolf in London. I do feel that computerised horror flicks or CGI created horror characters, whatever you may call it are just unrealistic and it limits the creativity of the film maker, unlike when they had to physically put make up on actors to make them look scary.

Having said all that I still enjoyed the movie (and yes, I've watched it a million times!)

The following is from Wikipedia:

An American Werewolf in Paris is a1997 horror/comedy about werewolves . It was directed by Anthony Waller and starred Tom Everett Scott and Julie Delpy. It follows the general concept of the1981 film An American Werewolf in London .

The title of this film has a bit of history; when production of the original London film ran into trouble with British Equity, director John Landis, having scouted locations in Paris, considered moving the production to France and changing the title of his film to An American Werewolf in Paris.

The Plot

In the opening scene, a man is seen under attack, almost managing an escape from the Parisian sewers before an unseen creature pulls him back. Meanwhile, tourist Andy McDermott is seeing the sights of Paris with his friends Brad and Chris. When Serafine Pigot leaps off the Eiffel Tower just before Andy is about to do a bungee-jump, he executes a mid-air rescue. She vanishes into the night, leaving Andy intrigued — and also unaware that she is the offspring of the couple seen 16 years ago in the earlier film.

Andy tracks her down and asks her for a date. They attend a night club called "Club de la Lune" (literally translating to "Club of the Moon"). It was called like that, because that night was a full moon in the sky. The owners of the club were actually members of a werewolves's society, which wanted to kill and eat all the guests. Serafine told Andy to run away (in that scene, Serafine is seen transforming into a werewolf). When Andy is running it is seen a werewolf chasing him and when Andy is about to escape, it bites him and Andy faints. The next day, he wakes up in Serafine's bed . When he awakens, he has toothmarks on his leg and is informed that he's making a transformation into a werewolf, confirmed by his sudden taste for raw steaks. Serafine explains that her stepfather (seen in the film's opening scene) has been working on a drug to control her werewolf transformations. The real cure lay in killing and eating the heart of the werewolf that bit him.

An American Werewolf in Paris was poorly received by most critics. The review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes lists the film as "rotten", with only 10% of reviews positive based on nation and worldwide ratings. Unlike An American Werewolf in London, which had Oscar-winning special make-up effects by Rick Baker, Paris relied heavily on CGI for its transformation effects and chase sequences, a common point of derision from most critics. According to box-office sales and online reviews, this sequel proved to be much less successful than the first film.

This movie is an ultimate Werewolf classic - I've watched it a million times and I am still amazed at the technology back then. My favourite part vote goes to the transformation scene where David (the main actor) turned into a werewolf - I'd say there isn't any werewolf movies so far that could match the transformation as it was shown in An American Werewolf in London. It was so life-like that until now I wish I could turn into a werewolf myself. Silly me... See the transformation sequence in the photos below and look at David's facial expressions - it looked as if he was really in great pain - very realistic indeed! A masterpiece! (Warning - some people might get offended due to the obscene nature of some of the photos)

Err just pretend you didn't see what you think you saw - 18SX kejap!

I was in standard 1 when this movie was released and this was one of the first horror flicks that I fell in love with - of course an influence from my late mother - Thank you mummy! An American Werewolf in London is the kind of horror movie/thriller that you could watch over and over again without getting bored, believe me. After more than 20 years, I still love this movie.

The following is from Wikipedia -

An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 American-British comedy/horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It starsDavid Naughton, Griffin Dunne, and Jenny Agutter. This movie won the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and an Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. The film was one of three high-profile werewolf films released in 1981, alongside The Howling and Wolfen . Over the years, the film has accumulated a cult following and has been referred to as a cult classic.

The film was followed by a 1997 sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, which featured a completely different cast and none of the original crew.

The Plot

Two American college students, David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) , are backpacking across the Yorkshire moors when they are attacked by a large, unknown animal. Jack is killed, but David survives the mauling and is taken to a hospital in London. When he wakes up three weeks later, he does not remember what happened and is told of his friend's death. Things get stranger when he is visited by Jack's ghost , which takes the distressing form of a reanimated corpse, who explains that they had been attacked by a werewolf , suggesting that David himself is now a werewolf. Jack urges David to kill himself before the next full moon, not only because Jack is cursed to exist in a state of living death for as long as the bloodline of the werewolf that attacked them survives, but also to prevent David from inflicting the same fate on his eventual victims.

Upon his release from the hospital, David moves in with the pretty young nurse , Alex Price (Jenner Agutter) , who grew infatuated with him in the hospital. He then stays in Alex's London apartment. When the full moon rises, as Jack had warned, he turns into a werewolf. In this form, David prowls the street and subways of the city, and slaughters six innocent Londoners. When he wakes in the morning, he is naked on the floor of the wolf cage at th zoo , with no memory of his nocturnal lupine adventures, and not at all attacked by the resident wolves.

David eventually realizes that Jack was right about everything and that he is responsible for the murders of the night before. Despite being in an advanced stage of decay, Jack returns for another visit, this time accompanied by David's victims from the previous night. They all insist that he commit suicide before turning into a werewolf again. David fails to do so, and consequently, he turns into a werewolf again and goes on another killing spree. Following a chase through London, he is cornered in an alley by the police when Alex arrives to calm him down by telling him that she loves him. Though apparently temporarily softened, he is shot and killed when he lunges forward, returning to human form in front of a grieving Alex as he dies.

Here's a video of the transformation from YouTube - mind the French dubbing ya!