Cuci the Musical- Istana Budaya, 6 November 2009

If you haven’t watched Cuci the Musical then you should! I managed to catch the show yesterday at Istana Budaya and I enjoyed myself tremendously. The show was absolutely hilarious and had me in stitches and tears the whole night. I did think that some parts of the show was unnecessary and made it a tad draggy but other than that the show was excellent.

The casting was great and you could see the actors had chemistry on stage and they were having fun doing the show. AC Mizal was my favourite and Hans Isaac absolutely suprise me with his singing. Afdlin, Awie and Vanida were great as expected. It was an excellent, excellent show and an absolutely MUST SEE!

We're Married!

This announcement is two weeks late but we finally did it, we're finally married! After all the stress and chaos and months of preparation; it paid off and we had a beautiful wedding. We had a mix of Malay and Chinese culture in the wedding ceremony and it was really great. I'm hoping to post some of the pictures once the photographers are done with the final touches. Hubs and I had a wonderful time and we're glad that those important to us attended our wedding and we thank God that everything ran smoothly. Can't wait for the pictures to be ready!

Ariel

It’s been five years since the Change: cars stopped, lights went out, electrical items just cease to function and magical creatures appear and roam the earth. Pete Garey a survivor of the Change wonders the deserted streets alone until he encounters an injured unicorn he calls Ariel. Through their travels together they start to form a special bond. Unicorns are highly priced for their magic and due to Ariel’s magical possessions both Pete and Ariel are hunted by a necromancer from New York City.

I didn’t exactly enjoy reading Ariel but I did appreciate the special bond that exists between Pete and Ariel which kept me wanting to read more. The overall storyline is revealed in a slow pace and at times I felt that certain pages seem to drag on unnecessarily but I have to say that the author manages to combine both science fiction and fantasy successfully. What got me about the book was that you didn’t know why the Change happened, why magical creatures appeared and also the ending… I didn’t like the ending….At ALL.

I’m still curious as to why the Change happened and might pick up Elegy Beach which is the sequel to Ariel targeted for release in November 2009. Hopefully the sequel will have more answers.

Kenny & the Dragon

Kenny and the Dragon is a heart warming story about friendship between Kenny the Rabbit and Grahame the Dragon who share the same interest despite their differences. However when the local villagers are made aware of the presence of a dragon within their countryside, they panic.

Unfortunately for Kenny, his other good friend George who is a bookstore owner and a retired knight has been dispatched by the King to slay and save the village from the dragon whom they believe is a threat to their community. Kenny is now caught in between two friends and frantically tries to find a way to save his friendship with both George and Grahame as well as trying to keep Grahame from the being slayed.

I absolutely love, love, love this book! I love the simplicity of the story and the strong message on friendship and how negative beliefs or prejudice can effect the nicest of beings. Kenny and the Dragon is a suitable read for both the young and old. The adventure is exciting and the characters are absolutely lovable. Its a light read and the drawings included in the book are just so cute. Definitely a recommended read and I'm keeping this to read to my kids someday!

100 Mile Fitness Challenge Update (12- 18 Oct)

Sometime back, I decided to take part in Trish’s 100 Mile Fitness Challenge. Last week I kick started the challenge with some exercises and I thought it’d be nice to share with everyone how I’ve been doing on a weekly basis.

Here's what I did last week:

Date	Type of Exercise	Miles Collected
Monday, 12 Oct	Treadmill	1 mile
Tuesday, 13 Oct	Swimming	1 mile
Wednesday, 14 Oct	Swimming	1 mile
Friday, 15 Oct	Treadmill	1 mile
	Total	4 miles

I’m also on a personal mission to quit smoking. I think I’m doing well so far. I haven’t had a cigarette for more than one week. It’s been tough especially when you're used to one pack a day but I really do feel better now and the exercising helps.

In the past, people have told me that I looked haggard and I had really bad dark circles under my eyes but lately everyone says that I look better and healthier. My only problem is I eat… A LOT! I just hope that I don’t gain too much weight or I won’t be able to fit into my wedding dress this weekend!

Anyway, if you'd like to find out how other participants are doing in the challenge, please visit the official site here.

Vampire Diaries: The Awakening & The Struggle

I don’t know how and why I’ve never heard of Vampire Diaries before until recently when I noticed it as a trending topic on Twitter. The TV series had taken off in the US and I think just about everyone I was connected to from the US was raving about it. Then I found out that My Friend Amy was hosting the Vampire Diaries Reading Challenge and I thought I should join in to see what the hype was all about.

Vampire Diaries is a young adult novel which was originally published in 1991. I read a comment somewhere (can't remember where) that Vampire Diaries is the original Twilight and I can understand how that comment came about. There are some similarities based on the premise of girl falls in love with good vampire. However, unlike Twilight I didn’t find Elena as annoying as Bella :)

I absolutely love Stefan’s character…BIG SURPRISE! I always fall for the same type of characters; brooding, mysterious, heroic vamps. I found Elena’s character to be spoilt and can be quite bitchy but she also came across as independent, confident and knew clearly what she wanted and how she was going to get it thus why she wasn't as annoying to me as Bella was when I was reading Twilight.

Anyway, the storyline itself was entertaining. There was enough mystery, excitement and activities that kept me wanting to read on. I absolutely enjoyed reading this book and have the next instalment to the series ‘The Fury & Dark Reunion’ on my TBR pile already.

I’m also going to catch the first series of Vampire Diaries soon. Hope I’ll enjoy it as much as the book.

Zombie Blondes

The first time I read about Zombie Blondes was through reviews by The Book Smugglers and Becky’s Book Reviews. Shortly after, I found the book at Kinokuniya with a 20% off discount on the book so I decided to get myself a copy.

Zombie Blondes is about Hannah, a teenage girl who moves from one town to another every time her father faces financial difficulties. Moving so many times has made her sort of an expert in identifying who the cool crowd is in her new school. Like any teenage girl, she wants to be part of the cool, popular crowd (who happen to be cheerleaders of course) but this time she’s been given an opportunity to join them… the only thing is the cool chicks are zombies!

The plot was predictable; teenager moves into new town and wants to be part of popular group the only difference is there’s zombies involved. I didn’t really enjoy the book but I did like how it picked up towards the end and I also liked the ending. In between, it was really just an okay read. The only other problem I had with the book was that there was no explanation on how the town’s occupants became zombies so I wish the author would have elaborated a bit more on that.

Overall, Zombie Blondes is an easy read, nothing complicated, a bit predictable but still enjoyable.

Ps- I forgot to mention, I absolutely love the book cover.