Don't Go Breaking My Heart

I'm a big fan of romance movies, especially mature ones. This is the first time I am watching a Hong Kong romance film and I have to say, I really enjoyed this. After watching both Western and Asian romance films, I have a preference towards Asian romance films because probably I can relate more to it or in a way, love portrayed is much more sincere, realistic and real. Western films have the tendency of too much sex without the substance.

This is a review based on a Hong-Kong romantic movie. I may have to warn you first, this review may contain spoilers, not suitable for reading if you're looking for recommendations.

Yen (Gao Yuanyuan) is an analyst in an investment bank whom is from Suzhou, China that came to Hong Kong 7 years ago with her boyfriend. However, the boyfriend left her and married another woman. Just when she thought she was really becoming lonely, she met two men. One, Sean(Louis Koo) who is of high ranking in an investment company who works in an office opposite the building she is working. He noticed her long time ago, when he was captivated by her beauty and was attracted to her high energy (positivity, hyperness). He put up paper signs to attract her attention and soon, they started communicating through showing paper signs. Sometimes, he amused her with some lame magic tricks. One day, he finally asked her out by using paper signs and he blew it by going out with another woman.

The woman Sean went out with instead

Yen, being mad at Sean

Yen also met Kevin,whom she mistaken as a beggar and gave him all her ex-boyfriend's stuff. Kevin was actually a very talented architect whom was in a phase of losing himself, so he walked around drinking and not grooming himself properly. They went out for a drink and he told her about his story and she told him hers. He encouraged her to cut her hair (her ex-boyfriend loved her long hair, so just cut the hair for a change) and wear brighter outfits to the office(usually dark colors are encouraged in banks).

Yen, when she was about to wave goodbye to Kevin after a day's out

Yen, gave a frog to Kevin

They somehow lost contact. Yen also had stopped contacting Sean after he blew her off.

Three years later, Sean became Yen's boss and soon tried to woo her again but unfortunately, he found not womanizing a very difficult task. In a scene, Yen mentioned "I love this man very much but it is very difficult to love this person." She also met Kevin, the talented architect whom has finally done some shaving, and indeed, he looked dashing. Three years ago, when Yen met Kevin, she gave him a frog and Kevin used the frog as his motivation to build his career again. Kevin could not forget Yen, the woman who encouraged, motivated and inspired him to start all over again. And thus, Yen was stuck in a love triangle.

If you watched the whole movie, you can see that the person that Yen truly loves is Sean, the womanizer. But in the end, she chose Kevin. Why?

This is only my justification. You can agree with me if you think you have watched the movie and you think it makes sense or do provide some input on your opinion, it would open my eyes and mind to a different point of view.

Sean is a womanizer. Have you ever had this relationship? The love-hate relationship? One moment you're so in love, the next moment you find yourself arguing amongst yourselves. The arguments happen due to the conflicts; "I love you, I know somehow you're not right for me, or I'm afraid that you would hurt me in the future but I want to make things work."The conflict I am referring to is the conflict of desire. Sean knew that Yen was the girl of his dreams, but he couldn't stop being charming to other women, it's just simply HIM. Yen loves him but she knew he was not right for her.

I once said that, "The more you hurt the person, the more the person loves you and couldn't get you off his/her mind."

That is why even when she was with Kevin, whom built a building inspired by her, she still thinks of Sean. She calls Sean a cheater, a player but the moment she watched the sunrise with Kevin, she actually had fell in love with him. She was confused and felt she was no different than Sean.

Sean approached Kevin and had a fight with him, thinking Kevin has slept with Yen(which they did not, they only watched the sunrise). In the fight, the frog that Yen gave to Kevin was smashed to death. The frog which motivated Kevin to start all over again. Sean left Kevin apologetically. Kevin kneeled down, looking at the dead frog, felt as if his source of motivation and happiness was crushed. Yen got to know about it, called Kevin, cried and said how sorry she was regarding the death of the frog.

Kevin came to Yen. While they were in tears, they hugged and shared a kiss.

Sean has lost to Kevin in this round because he fought with him and caused the death of the frog. Women don't like men who fight. It just showed how immature they can be. An immature person is not suitable to get married to. I believed that apart from the feelings she had for Kevin, she kissed him also out of sympathy. (Typical woman nature, tend to sympathize with others)

Sean tried to win her back by asking the waiter to pass her a menu which contain a wedding ring. He also called her and asked her to look outside the hotel (she was having dinner in the hotel with her parents, Sean, and Sean's parents) where he painted "Marry Me, <3 on some white cloth. She was surprised, she loved him but she just didn't know how much he loved her.

Kevin whom immediately noticed there were something wrong, countered back. He told Yen that she has to choose somehow, this chasing game cannot go on forever. He got down on one knee and proposed to her. She looked outside, on the building he built for her, there were lights blinking "Marry Me." The one that Sean painted seem pathetic in comparison to Kevin's building of lights.

She picked Kevin in the end. No, it's not because of the fancy lights. As referred to the title of the movie, "Don't go breaking my heart," she picked someone who would very least likely break her heart. The way a woman makes decision is rather different from men, a woman thinks a lot, about the future etc. The man relied a lot on feelings to decide a woman is the one or not. Although there are evidence she loved Sean more, she picked Kevin, someone who is truly sincere and can be relied on. She picked the "good" one.

In the movie, I found Kevin to be very attractive. He didn't used much of sweet words, more of the action kind, which is really cute. Although yes, Sean was charming and good-looking but such man will only appear as a phase to girls/women (the heart-breaking phase; everyone goes through that). Daniel Wu, the actor who played Kevin, I found his character which did not show too much expression; -attractive and non-pretentious.

So, in conclusion, men; if you want to win a lady's heart, continue being the "good" guy. No bad words, bad habits, no pushing the woman to make decision and continue going lengths for her.

For woman, just be yourself, someone is going to find you, chase you and love you the way you are. There is no need to try too hard to win a man's heart. A man's mind works rather differently, he rather do the chase and be challenged than to have things come too easy. If he found himself going crazy lengths for you, he can be certain that you might be the one.

I find this movie very meaningful. Would put it second after "500 days of Summer." I love to write a review on that movie, but someday, perhaps, someday. :)

Favourite Sex and The City Quotes

“Money is power. Sex is power. Therefore, getting money for sex is simply an exchange of power.” - Samantha

“TREY! I'm tired of being married to your penis. I'm a person! And this is supposed to be a relationship! And I am DONE walking on eggshells. Ooooooo, don't talk about moving in, in front of the penis cause it might go soft. And, and the penis likes this and the penis doesn't like that and THE PENIS WANTS TO BE MEASURED!”- Charlotte

‎"Honey, before you buy the car you take it for a test drive!"- Samantha

"Maybe there are no right moments, right guys, right answers...maybe you just have to say whats in your heart!”

“I’ve spent $40,000 on shoes and I have no place to live?! I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes."

“The only thing I've ever successfully made in the kitchen is a mess. And several small fires".

“Sometimes second chances work out even better than the first because you learn from your mistakes.”

“After he left, I cried for a week, and then I realised I do have faith. Faith in myself, faith that I would one day meet someone... who would be sure that I was the one.”

“ I'm looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love.”

“Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free til they find someone just as wild to run with them.”

"It's infuriating! Women sit around obsessing about what went wrong over and over again, and men just say "alrighty" and move on."

“When you're young, your whole life is about the pursuit of fun. Then, you grow up and learn to be cautious. You could break a bone or a heart. You look before you leap and sometimes you don't leap at all because there's not always someone there to catch you. And in life, there's no safety net. When did it stop being fun and start being scary?”

“I will never be the woman with the perfect hair, who can wear white and not spill on it.”

“But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.”

“I had often fantasized about running into my ex and his wife. But in those fantasies, I was running over them with a truck.”

“The only thing worse than a liar is a bad liar.”

“I love you, but I love myself more.”

“Women don't care. We care about nice arms, great eyes, a big dick... I've never once heard a woman say: "He had such a big full scrotum.”

“Carrie: I just love Sleeping Beauty! The music, the sets, the costumes. It's so romantic!
Stanford: You only like it because she sleeps for a hundred years and doesn't age.”

“My Zen teacher also said: the only way to true happiness is to live in the moment and not worry about the future. Of course, he died penniless and single.”

“Don’t laugh but maybe we can be each other’s soulmates”

“People go to casinos for the same reason they go on blind dates- hoping to win the jackpot.”

‎"The good ones screw you, the bad ones screw you, and the rest don't know how to screw you."

Adjustment Bureau

This is one movie in which I watched with the hot Hazel May Chan. It was a random spontaneous outing, out of the blue.

This is a thriller film starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. The main reason why Hazel and I watched this movie was because of the pretty Emily Blunt. I was captivated by her in her 2009 movie: The Young Victoria.

David Norris (Matt Damon) is a young, charismatic politician running for the United States Senates. He met Elise (Emily Blunt) in the male's toilet while rehearsing his speech for where he lost for the election in the early lead. Emily Blunt encouraged him to be more original and honest in his speech. Being immediately attracted to each other, they shared a kiss.

After getting inspired by the mysterious woman, David gave a very honest speech which won the people's heart and was made favourite among the politicians. He then met Elise again at the bus and she gave him his number.

However, there's this thing, called the Adjustment Bureau that came to him and claimed that they are responsible to guide his life according to the "plan", which means that his life was planned as a successful politician and Elise must not get in the way.

Being rebellious and having deep feelings for Elise, he tried to make things go his way, as he wanted to make his life uncharted.

This is the most interesting part of the movie.

Have you ever felt instant attraction to someone and instantly know you guys were meant to be?

Have you ever believed that life is pre-destined and there's nothing much you can do about it?

If you didn't like what was planned, would you risk it all to go against life and to get what you wanted and what you believed in?

Here are the ratings:

Actor performances: 7/10. (Considering Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in it, what else can we say?)

Movie plot: 6/10 (Wouldn't say the plot was good, due to some unrealistic moments in the movie, eg; suddenly kissing a stranger in the toilet)

Entertaining level: 6.5 (The movie message is good but a little more humour can add some spice)

Overall rating : 6.5/10

To watch or Not : Watch it. Although I believed some people may not understand the movie, especially seafood girls and guys. Emily's laughter was contagious and somehow it's fun to watch how David went against the bureau.

Burlesque

Burlesque

What makes this movie interesting to watch is probably the appearance of Cher and Christina Aguilera. The storyline goes like this:

Ali (Christina Aguilera) is a waitress who leaves Iowa to pursue her dreams in Los Angeles.

She came across this burlesque bar and was immediately attracted by the concept. She wanted to perform on stage and go extra lengths to pursue the boss, Tes (Cher) to accept her.

It's wonderful hearing Cher and Christina Aguilera sing, with the dances and all, makes it really entertaining. This is Christina's Aguilera's first movie, although it may be considered as her first movie flop, she nailed the character somehow. The appearance of Kristen Bell (finally saw her in dark brunette than her usual blonde character and Cam Gigandet makes the movie a little more appealing to watch.

Do you recognize Cam Gigandet in other movies?

Yeah. Twilight. Didn't think he was hot in Twilight though.

Here are the ratings:

Actor performances: 6/10. (I wouldn't give high marks for this, because basically Christina is just being herself in this movie. Nothing special and fascinating.)

Movie plot: 5/10. Predictable.

Entertaining level: 7.5/10

Overall rating : 7/10

To watch or Not : Watch it. Very entertaining performances. Lots of hot chicks and Cam's body to drool over although the plot isn't interesting.

Black Swan

I watched 3 movies for the past week and would like to write a review on it.

Here you go....

Black Swan

Black Swan is psychological thriller with beautiful portrayal of the art of ballet dancing.

This movie is about Nina Sayers who dances for a prestigious ballet company who lives with her overbearing mother, a failed dancer and amateur artist. She was offered the lead role for the upcoming performance by her company which requires her to play "White Swan" and "Black Swan'.

The beauty of ballet is that stories are being portrayed through dancing and music. In this case, "White Swan" who is under a curse needs to find love in order to be free from the curse. She fell love with a prince but her evil twin, "Black Swan" seduces him and eventually the prince fell for her. Being depressed, White Swan committed suicide and found freedom in death. (Does this storyline seem familiar to you? The Little Mermaid.)

So, Nina (Natalie Portman) was the perfect fit to play the role of White Swan with her rigid techniques. Being a perfectionist, her moves are always perfect. But in order to play Black Swan, she has to release her much darker side; seductive and sensual.

Being pressured by her boss, very protective mother and constantly feared that a colleague is trying to steal the lead role from her, she goes through a very personal and traumatic psychological roller coaster.

Bipolar disorders are rather common in movies. What would make me impressed is the performance of Natalie Portman, whom trained and workout for 5 hrs a day for 6 months in order to get the body and muscle tone of a professional dancer's. Clearly impressive, and she got me fooled into believing she's actually a ballet dancer. (I'm not an expert in ballet but I don't think it's easy to play one when you're not)

Here are the ratings:

Actor performances: 9/10

Movie plot: 7/10

Entertaining level: 5/10

Overall rating : 6.5/10

To Watch Or Not : Unless you're a female or someone who enjoys psychological thriller or appreciate art, do not watch this movie because of its slow-pacing. You might actually get bored or not understand at all.

Every movie has its underlying meaning and message to portray. In this case, probably they're trying to say don't overwork yourself, you might go crazy. I completely disagree, going to extra lengths to bring out the best results in oneself is what makes you ahead and stands out from the others. Nina may rather die than to fail in achieving what she wants to achieve. I would do same, life is short, let's just give it one big shot and have no regrets later on.

In the last part of the movie, Nina whispers "I felt it. Perfect. I was Perfect."

Marley & Me

I watched this show just now on Astro. I know, old show but it's something that I didn't managed to watch last time.

Dogs. Never really have much thoughts on them. Do not know much significance and importance of them neither. My dad loves dogs. But he is always too irresponsible to take care of them.

He brought several dogs home before and then gave them away.

It's like bringing back toys and to take them away later.

It was more of a burden actually, cleaning their poo and buying their food.

But there is this particular dog my dad brought back. It was the dog we last had too.

It was a cross breed between a golden retriever and a chow chow.

Father chow chow. But mother golden retriever.

So it has face of a father, nose like the mother.

Legs also like a golden retriever's.

Tail very cute, like a bouquet of flowers.

I find it very cute.

Like a hybrid of bear and lion.

It was very temperamental and shy.

It doesn't simply bark at people, unlike the previous dogs.

It somehow managed to know which are strangers and not.

Other dogs will be bark at the garbage men or postmen.

But this dog....very chilled. Just sit and stare.

Everytime when I come home from school, it will rush to me and hump my legs.

Whenever it wants to poo, it will make some noises so we will take him out for a walk to poo.

Every morning, when it will start making noise.

My dad will be too lazy to take him out.

Sometimes, he will get mad and just shut the front glass door and let it whine.

Then, I will have to force myself to get up and take it out for a walk.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention its name.

"Lui" or 錢 which means "money" in Hokkien.

So whenever we call him, it's like calling money to come over.

Although it's cute, I still find it a burden or rather troublesome.

But there is one day, I feel rather..... I just wanted someone to hug.

So I call it over and put my arms over it.

It didn't move. It looked like it kinda enjoyed me hugging it.

So cute.

I took a toy stick, waved it at him. He stood up with its tail wagging excitedly.

I threw the toy stick, thinking that he will bring it back to me, like what all golden retrievers would do.

But unfortunately, this dog is plain weird. It picked up the stick and ran away.

I had to chase him to get back the stick.

Oh yeah, as he grew, he became heavier.

Whenever I took him out for a walk, when it ran, I have to follow it because it was too heavy.

Sometimes I just purposely stood there, trying to show him some authority.

But he was too strong for me.

Nothing special, actually. Isn't that what usually people experienced when they have dogs?

There's this one scene that caught my attention.

My mom was a babysitter and we had this little girl, about 1 yr old plus. She can walk and talk.

Very cute girl.

She got so used to see us calling "Lui" over so she tried calling one day.

Lui came over and poked his head through my front door fence. (what do you call door with holes?)

She would attempted to touch it, reaching out her little hands to touch its nose.

Then, tried to grab its fur on its head.

She squealed excitedly and pull back her hands.

Then, she laughed and jumped like a silly girl.

Then, she reached out her hands to touch it again.

Lui just sat there, blinking, letting her do whatever she wants.

That suddenly made me feel that it was so human.

It didn't seem like an animal, which would bite or lick given an opportunity.

It just seem......to understand.

And I thought animals can't think or rationalize.

It just seem amazing to me.

Watching her play with the dog.

Even with the doors opened.

It just sat there, as if like protecting her and letting her do whatever she wants.

We gave him away in the end.

It was a good dog, but we couldn't afford the time to take care of him.

He deserved a better owner.

I actually saw tears in my sister's eyes when we gave him away.

She is not the type to express her feelings or cry.

I guess he did meant something to her.

Last time, I would purposely drove over to the new owner's house with a snack for him.

He came excitedly when I called out to him.

Then, I would touch it and watch him for awhile.

When I was about to leave, it started whining. As if it was crying.

As I drove off, I can still hear him barking and whining.

As if saying, "Don't leave me alone here. Take me back. I miss you."

I stopped visiting him.

Because it made me feel sad.

It made my eyes watery whenever I leave him.

He is a good dog.

And he deserves a better owner than me and my family.

Did you notice that sometimes I use "he" instead of "it"?

Because there is some sense of humanity in that dog.

He seem to have emotions and feelings too, just like us humans.

I am sure most of you have your own stories to tell, if you have a dog.

How you got it, what it did, how it ran away or how it died.

I've got a good friend, Charisse, who cannot seem to get over her dog tat ran away.

Even a new one cannot replace or help her overcome her longingness for the previous one.

She couldn't feel or show much affection towards the new one.

I guess the old one stole her heart and ran away.

Marley & Me was a nice movie.

Horrible dog but it was the best dog the couple ever had.

The movie ended with Marley dying of old age.

Owning a dog always end with sadness, because dogs don't live as long as humans do.

I guess things do come and go.

Happiness is only for rent, I suppose. Not for sale.

God gave us good things and only to take them back in the end.

I am not sure why.

But I guess the only thing we can do is to appreciate what we have now, while it's still there.

And have no regrets later when it comes to an end.

I shall end this post with a quote from the main character from the movie.

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not"

Going The Distance

I love my day today!!

I went yoga in the morning...and this yoga master was talking about happiness and life. He said that being happy or upset is a personal choice, not largely influenced by the things that are happening to us. What he said reminds me of the movie i watched yesterday, "He's Just Not Into You." It's about different relationships of different people.

And then after that, I went out with Jonathan to Mid Valley. We had lunch at this nice Taiwanese restaurant in The Gardens. I love the fried oyster (it's actually one of my favourite foods, it has been ages since I have eaten it!) and the fish dishes; miso lemon dunno what fish & the tomato egg fish fillets. I tried the watermelon milk drink, and surprisingly, it tasted good too. The bill amounted to RM99.25, which i thought was rather expensive for two persons. We shopped for his mother's birthday present. Fast shopping it was. I also tried 3 swimsuits but never bought any of them due to several reasons.

And the best part is the movie!

I have always wanted to watch this movie since I first saw the trailer.

It's about Erin, an intern working at a newspaper company and has 6 weeks left to fly back to San Francisco to complete her studies. She met Garrett at the bar, whose girlfriend has just dumped him. They hit it off right away but made it clear that it would only last as long as Erin is still here in New York. But when it is time for her to leave, it was clear that they still want to see each other again. This was more than just a fling, they would probably be right for each other.

I know that this whole theme for the movie was about the possibilities of a long distance relationship. But I liked this movie for a different reason. It's about the character, Erin, she reminds me so much of myself! Let me list it down :

• She is always happy and optimistic
• She is clumsy with her food
• She is bad in geography
• She tells funny sexual jokes/crap
• She doesn't like blubber. Haha... Poor Garrett for trying to keep fit.
• She isn't afraid of showing affection
• She likes to look at her man, like he's surreal. Like it's hard to believe you could find someone to love, and loves you as well.
• She loves writing, like I do. I always wanted to be a journalist.
• She has sacrificed her studies and work for her previous relationship, which shows her commitment in making things work. I have done the same, as relationship is more important to me than anything else, although I always seem like a workaholic. But anyway, she vowed herself never to make the same mistake again. Same here.
• She hates conflicts and hardly gets angry. After an argument, she crawls back to her man and apologizes, whether she is right or wrong. But in reality, I did that and of course, that's why I am always being taken for granted.
• She likes to ask many random questions. Like when she asked Garrett what he thinks about children, what's his favourite food, how would he like to die and some other weird stuff. If you know me and if you really notice, I tend to ask alot about these. It was lovely of Garrett to answer all those questions willingly and wittily.

There may be some other things that I could have missed out but the point is that, I could be myself and still, one day, I will meet someone who would really love and appreciate me for who I am. There is no need for me to change myself to suit the needs of others. It is possible that one day, I would find this person who would talk and laugh all day with me. We would be so happy without bothering the little stuff because we knew each other so well. He would carry me on the beach and we can make out until the sun sets or when the sun rises. We will make love for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He gets my silly sexual jokes and surprises me always. I love surprises!

After my 6 year long relationship, I was single. I felt empty. I thought all I need was just a caring guy to fill the emptiness. When I entered another relationship, I felt empty too, during the 4 days of minimal communication. I felt empty regardless I was single or not. I have learnt that happiness is not about finding the right person to have a relationship with, it comes from within. I am pretty, intelligent and independent. There is no reason for me to find another who would "complete" my soul. I am so young, only at 20, there is no rush for me to commit so fast. It would be wonderful if I could be with someone who would hold my hand while walking throughout this life and laugh at all the amazing things. We would be amazing.

I am a happy person. I avoid negative energy which would destroy me. And I always deserve to be happy. I am not going to change anything of myself for anybody.

And lastly,

Jonathan, thank you for taking me out.

You're my favourite and most consistent date.

Gorgeous Anna is lucky to have you. Please help me to thank her for her concern. She's a wonderful person, and we both know it.

26 March

I've watched Benjamin Button just now.

Benjamin Button: I was thinking how nothing lasts, and what a shame that is.
Daisy: Some things last.

Benjamin Button: Your life is defined by its opportunities... even the ones you miss.

Daisy: Would you still love me if I were old and saggy?
Benjamin Button: Would you still love ME if I were young and had acne? When I'm afraid of what's under the bed? Or if I end up wetting the bed?

Daisy: Sleep with me.
Benjamin Button: Absolutely.

Benjamin Button: It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you.

Benjamin Button: [Voice over; letter to his daughter] For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

Mrs. Maple: Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?