The Chinatown at Yaowarat is a rather old town, and as it's name implies, was set up by Chinese traders during the Sukhothai era. There're several advantages when bunking in this area. Mainly you have easy access to street food, there're plenty of places to shop (as long as you're not looking for stuff like real Gucci or Prada) and some of the locals here speak Mandarin.

Satu patah haram Thai pun I tak paham... tapi this place looks Chinese enuf for me...

Plenty of open markets sprouting out at every nook and crany around Yaowarat.

If electricians had nightmares, this would probably be it...

You won't go hungry here...

Or here...

Or here...

as long as you still have several baht in your pocket.

The place never sleeps even during the night.

I finally understood why pimpra held this place with such high regards. Although 4 days is too short a duration to really explore Bangkok, I could see why ppl continue to flock here despite the current political unrest. The Thais are some of the friendliest and polite ppl I have come across. The language is intriguing, and I totally fell in love with the way they went about with their daily lives; which is so much more carefree than us uptight kiasu/kiasi M'sians.

But not everything is rosy and cool. The traffic is horrible, all the taxi drivers drive like my colleague (little pony => tailgater extraordinaire) and the tuk tuks are murder on 3 wheels. Despite the cons, this is a beautiful place. I was thinking of wrapping everything up in one post, but I finally gave up since there was so much to cover during the 4 day trip. Will be looking forward to spread things out into several different  posts; i.e. food, places, and mabbe a ping pong or two thrown in for good measure...  ;)

I'm gonna make this short and sweet.

Tropic Thunder? Yeah, was so lookin forward to this movie since I saw the trailer some donkey years ago. Why? Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr is in it. Wot's even better? Robert Downey is in black face. Woohooo!!! Tat's equivalent to ISA type material over here in Bolehland. Every muthafarker is raving about his groundbreaking performance online, praising it to the heavens. As such, I ended up having Everest-ish expectations.

The movie revolves around a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film when their fed-up writer and director decides to drop them in the middle of the Vietnamese jungle, forcing them to portray their roles without the comforts of a film set. As expected, all hell breaks loose, and these jokers ended up getting more than they bargained for.

Honestly, what do I think of the movie?

I think it's over-rated... and over-hyped. Jack Black, was a huge pain in the butt. It's painful watching him in this movie. Stiller? This was an average performance at best. Robert Downey? He's cool, but I expected a little more out of him. All he did was stand around, spewing out all these one liners in Jive talk. Truth be told, I had a hard time trying to laugh at the jokes in this movie.

There were a few brilliant moments here and there, but these were hard to come by. Which wasn't enough to make me trully enjoy Tropic Thunder. If these was one saving grace, it was something, or rather someone I totally didn't expect.

Tom Cruise's cameo.

Of all the people in the world, he was the last person I expected to make me laugh. Coz I hated him after his Oprah fiasco. But it was sheer genius for him to play the uncredited character, Les Grossman; who's the foul-mouthed executive behind Tropic Thunder. It took me halfway into the movie before I realized... "Damn... this fat-ass looks kinda familiar... OMG... OMG... it's MUTHAFARKING CRUISE!!!"

A little creepy though... but simply brilliant.

But overall, I could only give this movie 2 outta 5 stars.

So there.

I will fucking massacre you!

It has been a really long time since I watched a back to basics type Hong Kong Kung Fu flick. The last time I truly enjoyed myself with something from this genre was way back in 1992, when Once Upon A Time In China II was screening on the silver screen. I would consider that one of the best examples of a great kung fu flick. Although Jet Li was great as the legendary Wong Fei Hung, it was actually Donnie Yen's performance which caught my attention as the evil Manchu general. There were some epic fights in that movie, which I've haven't seen equalled of late.

So when my younger sis came home for the weekend, and asked if I wanted to catch this movie, I immediately said yes. After all, Ip Man (imho... a more accurate spelling in English would be Yip Mun) has Donnie Yen in the title role. The film focuses on events surrounding Ip Man that took place in Foshan between the 1930s to 1940s during the Japanese occupation of China. The depiction of Foshan was authentic enough to fool your mind into thinking you've been transported back into the 1930s.

To be honest, the plot for this movie is rather thin, banking mostly on Chinese patriotism. However, you could see the passion in the eyes of most of the main characters, which made Ip Man really enjoyable. But it was Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi who really elevated this film from mediocrity. The fight scenes are some of the best I've seen, and it shows since it was choreographed by an old hand; Sammo Hung. This is best illustrated when you could see the sharp contrast between Jin Shan Zhao's heavy-handed looking northern boxing style against the smooth, elegant Wing Chun style used by Ip Man during the early parts of the movie.

The main point is, the fights in Ip Man looks, feels and IS real. None of those fake wire-fu acrobatic nonsense Hollywood is so fond of nowadays. Every punch is a solid blow, and according to the net, Donnie Yen was hurt several times during the course of filming, even to a point whereby he couldn't even lift his shoulder. This speaks volumes to the dedication put in by the production team in ensuring authentic and satisfyingly real fight scenes.

If there was one complaint I have about the movie, it's a minor one. The script writers made Ip Man's character a little bit 'overpowered' when it comes to the fights. He doesn't seem to face any resistance throughout the movie and easily whacked the living daylights out of any opponents he faced. Doesn't matter if it were 10 creeps simultaneously, or even the Japanese general Miura at the end of the movie. However, thankfully, the movie nicely weaved in some touching human moments with the numerous fight sequences, so you don't really feel this shortcoming.

Overall, I would rate Ip Man as one of the better Kung Fu flicks of late. Donnie Yen really shines in this movie, and I'm hoping he'll get more meaty roles like this in future. Definitely worth a watch.

Ip Man rawks...  ;)

Yesterday, during lunchtime, the little pony, the sunshine, the ikan bakar and myself felt a little itchy after a meal of yong tau hu. Since the Honda distributor was only a stone's throw from where we were, I drove the bestets over to have a look at the latest Honda City 2009; which was launched sometime ago in Thailand (we M'sians are always a neglected lot... :P ).

I was never really a fan of the fourth generation flowerhorn City; which sold like hot papadams over here in nasi kandar land. It had that love it or hate it kinda look, but there were never any doubts that the interior was leaps and bounds better than the competition. Add in the super frugal iDSI engine plus the buttery smooth CVT transmission, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why it was a winner.

The newest incarnation of the City thankfully threw the flowerhorn concept out of the window, and adopted a new design philosophy called the "Arrowshoot" form. I hav no idea what the fark that means, but it sure as heck look much better than it's predesessor.

The Honda designer for this new City seemed to have enjoyed Michael Bay's Transformers so much, he decided to pay homage to Optimus Prime by grafting his mug onto the front of the City.

Works well enough for me though... it looks badass.

The back was a little bit confusing though. It had hints of the old Toyota Vios, and also I dare say a bit of German's finest, the beemer 3 series. Still, the whole exterior package looks good.

The doors slam with a thud; but not as solidly reassuring as I would have liked it. But this can't be faulted since the City is after all an entry level offering from Honda.

I'm glad Honda decided to drop the damn beige theme for the interior. And all black interior looks so much better. Unfortunately, when I felt the fabric used for the seats, there seems to be a slight drop in terms of quality. The old City's seats felt more upmarket compared to this one.

The steering incorporated the new design cues which first saw light on the new Civic. Which looks absolutely smashing, and felt even better when you place your hands on it. No complaints here.

The dashboard was a little bit of a letdown after all the hoop-la. It was downright sipek plain and boring. But, you can't fault it in terms of clarity, and it should do it's job well, conveying info to the driver.

One of the most pleasant suprises was Honda's decision to include USB connectivity to it's built-in audio headunit. The USB connector is neatly stored in the front cupholder compartment, and allows you to connect any external MP3 player/iPOD to the headunit. Coolness.

Unfortunately, another small dissapointment; no climate control.

Pop open the hood and there're more suprises in store for the potential buyer.

The biggest being Honda's decision to drop the iDSI version of the engine. In it's place is a newly revised unit, incorporating iVTEC technology instead. Which is great since it now pushes out a stonking 120 ponies from the dinky 1.5litre displacement. Unfortunately, Honda also dropped the awesome CVT transmission (ok... awesome might be pushing it...). In it's place, is a regular torque converter type transmission, although it does pack in a class leading 5 gears. Transmission losses should be higher though...

Paddle shift is available in the 1.5E... woot!

My fellow Ah Bengs... rejoice!!!

A quick look under the bonnet shows something interesting. Looks like Honda might have skimped a little on the insulation. How much engine noise creeping into the cabin is going to be a question mark. I can't validate this since I did not go for a test drive this time round.

If you're planning to get this new City, do have a look at it in person. My opinions are solely based on what I saw and felt. Which could differ from person to person.

But one thing is for sure.

This car is gonna sell faster than a freshly baked batch of Rotiboy.

It's nice to know, when you're facing crappy days... there're plenty of gwailo ricer jakuns like these on youtube, who could easily help brighten your day...  ;)

During season 1... the protagonist, Setsuna, get's a shitload of air time, the coolest mech, and several armadas of useless enemy mobile suits to slaughter.

In spite of this, he... who's blessed with the charisma of a boulder lying at a landslide site somewhere along Balik Pulau, still manages to outshine every other character simply because he has the best one liners... at times even out one-lining the Governator.

He's so cool... he doesn't even addresses himself by his own name... prefering to refer himself as a freakin 57.2 tonne mobile suit instead.

i.e.

fuuuuiyooooooooooooo...

If I was a chick... I would probably go...

Unfortunately, In season 2... if this soul-less Kurgis brat were to try the same type  of nonsense...

...there's now a whole new team of androgenous kathoey-s with names far fruitier than Boy George, who could teach this knockoff spawn of Domo-kun a thing or two about class...

Ppl who address themselves as...

oh tat's sooooo yooooooou...

ah... it almost even rhymes... you sly tease...

omg... tat's just orgasmically fantastic!

oh... this is too much... pls stop... no more... I beseech you...

by the greatness of the Red Power Ranger... oh... I'm arriving...!!!

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Done.

 Completo.

Here's the photoshoot.

I decided not to use the lightbox this time. Went with a black background plus a mirror base instead.

Enjoy  ;)

Front, with weapons.

The bigass GN Blade.

Aerial shot.

One of the biggest difference from the plain vanilla Exia, the thrusters.

Torso shot.

Leg thrusters unveiled.

Frontal pose.

Pseudo Gundam Wing pose... hahaha...

**decals are recycled from MG Aile Strike and Shin Musha leftovers, so purists... don't flame me... thanks.

Colors Used :

• Tamiya TS-18 (Metallic Red)
• Tamiya TS-19 (Metallic Blue)
• Tamiya TS-20 (Metallic Green)
• Tamiya TS-38 (Gunmetal)
• Tamiya TS-42 (Light Gunmetal)
• Tamiya TS-45 (Pearl White)
• Tamiya TS-47 (Chrome Yellow)