The End Is The Begining Is The End

So, it ended. After more than 3 years, it ended. And the way it ends, pretty nice.

I always think, if this world is going to be destroyed, Armageddon arrives, wouldn't it be cool if I'm here to witness it? Wouldn't it be cool for die the every same day, same time the Earth collapse? Well, the planet still have many years to live, but not KL CSO.

Tomorrow, March 31st 2009 will mark the end of the Great KL CSO. We will be replaced by some cheap labour new talent in China. It will be my every last day with Lenovo, being the victim of this mindless painful restructuring. So, the very last day of mine will be the very last day of the department, and most of the colleague as well.

I think I like it this way better, at least I won't feel the loneliness when leaving alone, like all those who have resigned to venture into new opportunity before this. At the last, day, having busy packing and settling some documentation, at the strike of 5, leaving the office alone, although a few close friends may see you off...somehow I think it will be a lonely walk.

But now it's different. The whole bloody department is going. Where we mourn of the lost of one colleague when he or she resign, now we all celebrate our final hours together and no matter how gray the future maybe, how bad the new job will be, how exciting the next role is, we know, that somewhere someone you know, is experiencing the exact same thing you are having, and to survive, we will live through any difficulty.

At the last minutes, I got an offer and accept it. It offer a lot less than I have now, but looking back, what I have currently is actually rather extraordinary. It was a sudden leap, and if it was increasing as per standard pace, the offer I get now is actually an improvement. Thinking like this, although in future I may not live exactly as now (cut down on toys) but at least I still have something. The offer is not entirely bad though.

Of course, being a greedy evil lad, I am always open and eager to get better job. But until then, I see no harm taking this. At this time, getting a job is a blessing. At least I'm not a PhD trying to get a cleaner's job.

Like I always advice; don't think of what you don't have and couldn't get, focus on what you already have. Cherish what we have now, there's a reason why fate give it to us.

Transformers - Decepticon - Brawl

Well, think this will be the last toys for this two months. Here, the Decepticon Brawl. An evil robot disguise as a battle tank.

This is a Deluxe figure, not the Leader class one, but the detailing is good enough.

Even in close up.

The red transparent thingy is a launchable war head or missile or whatever you call it.

Brawl, the robot mode.

But the idea having a canon attached to the arm, like Megatron ler.

He suppose to be evil, but look the least evil of all movie Decepticon. Even Ironhide looks more evil.

Brawl in action...

Transformers - Decepticons - Barricade and Blackout

Having collected most of the voyager and deluxe class of movie Autobots (except for the vastly available Optimus Prime and the fatty Jazz), I now shift the focus to the movie Decepticons. And the Decepticons are all badass cool machine.

Barricade is the first Transformers that actually speaks in the film, he takes the form of a police car, a form usually associated with the Autobots Prowl in the G1 incarnation.

The police car is a sleek one, our local police car using those milo can rubbish is just a disgrace. Police car should be cool, so it can be respectable, intimidating and looks more confidence. Barricade comes with a simple Frenzy figure hidden behind the front bumper.

The robot mode looks like an easy Transformation. It is, but just that my toys has some rather loose joints. So, I find it hard to pose him.

But overall, it is a cool robot. Uglier than he's alt mode, but serves it purpose. What can be more scary than a protective police car transforms into an ugly bad robot?

Being a Decepticons police car robot, it has the persona of a typical movie bad cop.

There's no Automorph in the figure, but it has a punching gimmick in the right arm. A bit lackluster, but we can't expect Automorph in a rather simple transformation toy.

Next we have the first Trasnformers we see in the movie. The deceptive, brutal and efficient Blackout!

Taking form of a military used helicopter, somehow from the alt mode, we may think it is an Autobots.

Like Barricade, its pet comes a long with him. A simple looking non-transformable Scorponok.

Being the tallest Voyager toy, it somehow looks more majestic and elegant than the Decepticons leader.

Initial plan to have this as Soundwave, but ultimately decide not to include Soundwave in the movie, which is good. Blackout is a good figure, but his fate is not justified to be Soundwave.

It is a handsome toy, one of the best in the movie line, definitely the best in the Decepticons fracture.

His tail in the robot mode can be detached and mount on shoulder and hand to be used as weapon.

It is enjoyable to pose him. He is a stable figure for any pose.

Both Decepticons in their alt forms.

Close up on Blackout.

Close up on Barricade.

Interestingly, out of six vehicle Decepticons in the movie, four has name starting with "B" - Blackout, Barricade, Brawl and Bonecrusher (wrongly named as Devastator in the movie's caption)

Review : Black Christmas (1974)

Another gift from the great Internet, the Canadian horror film - 1974's Black Christmas. Great horror, must not miss!

Pictured: Prey

The plot can be summarised with one of its rename - Stranger In The House, which means, there is a stranger in the house. Catch is, you don't know it, and it is killing the tenant. Simple ay? Some psycho get into attic of a sorority house as his base and start killing the tenant there after some sick phone call he made prior to the killing. Since the killing happens around Christmas night, thus, the film is called Black Christmas, and none of the leads are black.

We have the 70s Louis Lane before she got into Hollywood and eventually got mad.

Well, the interesting part is, the viewers already know the killer is in the house all the while, so the suspense is how will the characters in the movie learn about it, and what will be the reaction. Although the method is relatively old fashioned, but we are teased with a few red herrings through out the films until the climax where the nice pretty survivor (at least until the credit roles) learn the shocking truth that the killer is with them all the while.

John Saxon, remember him? Nancy's father in Nightmare of Elm Street. Still playing a police, this time a smart one, the believer.

And who is the killer? No fancy name like Leatherface or Pinhead or Lecter. He is simply known as Billy, and even this is what we deduce it to be. He does not have special gimmicks on how he looks. No mask, no weird costume, no favourite method of killing. In fact other than his jeans and clothes, we only manage to see his hands, and one of his eyes. Most of the scene with him are shot from his POV, which is the most interesting part of this movie.

No blood, but horrible enough, especially when its rocking on the chair.

The film has a balance between drama and action. The plot may look slow paced, but it serves it purpose. If only the phone call scenes can be made better, like in Japanese horror, but then, it was the 70s, the Ring hasn't even out yet. Not only we can't see how the killer looks like, the obscene phone calls he made is rather blurry, not those deep voice trying-to-play-game like voice as in Scream series.

Obviously this gorgeous lady is the survivor.

While all those stabbing and slitting are not explicitly shown, but the out come is shocking enough with the make up effect. Sometimes, even if you gut out a person it may not look scary when you gutting him, most of the time it is the finish product that is stomach twitching.

Your room is not the safest place...

Again, although it's a teen slasher horror, and all happens in a sorority house for ladies, there is no nudity and it is good, so we can focus of their expression rather than their breasts! Still, horror in the 70s never fail to give us some haunting and traumatic images~!

The killer, Billy. The only part of his face we got to see in the entire movie.

Review : The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

The wonders of internet is we are able o search and download classic movies that are otherwise damn fucking hard to find elsewhere.

Despite it has a remake several years before the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre released on 1974 does not enjoy a reissue in DVD in Malaysia, and I have difficulty finding a stand alone DVD for it in the great DVD shop in Amcorp. Thus, I resolve to the only gift God has given us in the post modernism era - Internet, and bittorrent.

So the story is simple, a group of friends travelling to Texas and ends up being murdered by a group of cannibals. At the end, only one girl survives (the prettiest and nicest one in the group, usually).

Although plot is simple, the film is better than any other modern slasher, in fact, being released before the Mike Myer movies, this film has set a few genre convention for slasher horror.

And no, that is not Prof Xavier in his youth

The director make use of a lot of fast cut, extreme close up to build up and express then tension. He doesn't even bother to came out with a rational for all the madness. The killer is not as stylish. He is a little bit fat and clumsy, but this only makes it more real and horrifying.

Leatherface, not as glamorous as Jason, or Mike or Freddy, but deadly nevertheless.

Unlike most of horror film, surprisingly this has almost no nudity, so, sex is not exploited, but violence does, not in a abundant way like nowadays slashers, where they define human anatomy has skin and rose syrup only. Blood only appears if it should, and the effect of it is marvellous.

You can stare at the painted white William Shatner's mask for hours, but I bet you can stand 5 minutes of this one.

The bloody face of the main protagonist is even more scary than the killer, and the most creepy moment is not the killing, but at the end, where the survivor ride of in a hysterical laugh, suggesting that she might have gone mad after all the trauma.

Free? Save? Or worse?

Diu betul~

Diu, just when I decided to bed, blackout~!
Started around 11pm, no sign of progress yet.
Damn, wtf with the bloodsucking company?
No power, no air cond or fan or little lamp.
Diu, how can I sleep?
I still got a job interview tomorrow ler.
Fuck TNB~!

Transformers - Movie Ratchet

So this is the Movie Ratchet. In the movie it is green, a rather vibrant green and this one that I have is a repaint version with a more ambulance like shade and more G1 inspired coloring.

Like almost all movie figure, the alt mode really looks authentic. Sometimes I am torn between letting them stay in robot mode or alt mode. Although this ambulance looks cool it is actually the only earth vehicle mode in the movie that is completely made up, not referring to any existing vehicle or concept car.

Green works good in movie, but I still prefer to own a white Ratchet.

The robot mode if one of the steadiest figure from the movie. It is also the least to looks like a movie figure. The blocky feel it has looks very un-movie like. And the face, it looks old. I remember in G1 cartoon he looks younger than Ironhide. While Ironhide is a warrior, he is the doctor who usually works with Wheeljack in the HQ.

He looks old, more like a seng-se than a doctor.

Being bulky and steady, it is rather hard to pose him. His better pose are those that does not suggest action.

Ironhide, the black one, kill and fight. Ratchet the white one, save and repair.

But he is taller and bigger than the fighter Ironhide, rather ironic.

For movie Autobots, just missing Jazz and Optimus Prime. But Jazz movie figure is rather rare, and it is fat. Wonder will I regret if get it. Prime however, vastly available.

Autobots, Transform!

Review: Watchmen

Who watch the Watchmen? I did. After a couple of fail attempt to watch it with a friend, I decided to take a day off and watch this must watch movie for me. Yeah, watch it alone, so what?

This is Alan Moore's writing with Dave Gibbon's art cinematic but unfilmable graphic novel, brought into life action by director Zack Snyder, the one who brought us 300. While 300 is based on a Frank Miller comic that has less detail drawings and less complicated plot, how good is Snyder in tackling Moore's masterpiece?

Just imagine the original being a tree, and the movie trimmed it to make it still looks like the original tree, but yet it is not hard to spot the difference.

For a start the original line up of the contemporary hero has seven characters. In the movie, Captain Metropolis has been eliminated. He does not have an important role in the comic anyway. His role in the plot has been to a certain extend, fill by Ozymandias.

Original comic with Captain Metropolis in red.

No such loser here.

Costumes look cooler.

Running for 162 minutes, close to three hours the director tried to be as faithful as the source work. He goes to the extent of using the comic as the main source of storyboard. Apart from some more realistic and aesthetic alteration of the costumes, nothing much has change in terms of the look. Just that being a comic, the source has more vibrant color which can't be realistically replicated in the real world. Thus, in the comic, you can feel it's the 80s but the movie is rather timeless.

Movie To Comic Comparison: The Comedian's Fall

The comic is rather mundane, the reading experience is not controlled by the usual 7 panel per page but all are made up of 9 same size panels and the action depicted in the comic has a bit of manga style. It has a lot of monologues from the characters, narration and it certainly does not have half a dozen of thought balloons.

Movie To Comic Comparison: The Riot of Police Strike

In short the it takes a long time to finish the book and most of the main characters are given ample exposure to reveal their back story, their mentality and thus we are more sympathetic to them. This, is something rather hard to achieve in movie. Those interesting side story, the mysterious disappearance of the writers, the black boy reading pirate theme comics in the newsstand as well as all those random chit-chats are all gone.

Movie To Comic Comparison: Rorschach's Escape

So, for those who read the comic before, this almost 3 hours long movie is like a combination of various clips for the comic. If all panels and side stories are made in to film and not omitted or presented in video form like the comic Tales of the Black Freighter and documentary / book Under the Hood this movie is just like a overlong trailer.

Movie To Comic Comparison: Archie's Flight

Despite of its length and a tiring watching experience, I left the theater hoping that I get more. There is a lot of things missing. Things other than the story and writing that made the comic so fun to read and reread.

Movie To Comic Comparison: Mars

There's quite a number of changes as well, in terms of plot, of scene and even the order of event. The comic starts with the police investigation of The Comedian's death but the film explains how he died in the beginning. This, while is more dramatic, does not creates the same impact as the original order. All those 'cinematic' elements in the comic that is praise by all are omitted. What the filmmaker use is only the framing of a shot.

Movie To Comic Comparison: Ressurection of Dr. Manhattan

If it really a 100% faithful to the panels, then the first scene must be something like this:

Ext, night:

Extreme close up of The Comedian's badge lying on pool of blood from a bird's eye view. Rorschach's journal begins. Camera slowly zoom out, revealing a cleaner trying to wash away the blood, and Walter Kovacs walks by with his "The End Is Nigh" sign. Zoom out continues and stop when the detective's head is visible. He is looking out through the broken window. We can see the street is busy below and the blood still visible as tiny red spot.

Detective:
Hmm..That's quite a drop.

Movie To Comic Comparison: Vietnam War - The Comedian

Watchmen is a journey that I believe all emotion, drama, tension and plot have the be build and reveal slowly. Like drinking Chinese tea. A sip at a time and indulge in the complexity of its taste.

Although this trimmed version end up longer than most movie, but I can't help but to think the pacing is still a bit fast.

Movie To Comic Comparison: Vietnam War - Dr. Manhattan

Overall, it is still a very good and powerful comic book movie. While not as powerful as The Dark Knight, but it has its own place. It will be a treat to the fans of the original comic, far better than 300 which is nothing that mindless slashing, where a 70s slasher thriller is far more fun.

For those who never read the source material before, you must be warned that this is not the usual superhero movie like Batman, Superman, Spiderman flicks. It is NOT The Dark Knight with popular well known characters where you can get your mindset tuned in and grasp the character in short time. All those characters in Watchmen, although inspired by some old superheros, but they are still purely original.

So don't go to this film thinking to watch some mind blowing special effect fighting with evil villain trying to take over the world. Watch is as a drama, with elements of science fiction and action will be better. Overall, this is a good film, must watch film in 2009.

For me, I'm sure going to get the companion DVD set to released when the film is in theater, just hope that they won't reissue them with the film's DVD in an ultimate pack or something. Ha~