Ever HAd?

My legs are still sore.. in fact.. i think they’ve gotten worse… you know things are bad when u can’t even walk up or down the staircase…

I’m hopped up on Neurofen… and to Evie’s and Des’ suggestion.. a layer of traditional chinese ointment.. hell.. I’ve even slapped on those burning hot plasters…. I want my mobility back that desperately… 

My venture into Metros this weekend is looking pretty grim… if there is any venture to be had… time will tell… like in the next 48 or so hours..

I just read Aidis’ Blog on the 50 cent concert… Dude! that chick was just standing next to you? damn….

I’m making it my mission to go for Snoop Dog’s concert… AND the after party if there is one…

Think I’ll go to the gym now… :p

Despite being the apparent gym junkie that I am.. there’s one thing I’ve never liked working on….

My legs.

Like most people in the gym…(and yes.. there’re loads of them..) I find working out the legs boring… yes.. it’s challenging when you do a squat or a leg press with the appropriate weight… but I fail to feel that ‘pump’ factor you get when you bench press or do a bicep curl with a barbell… it just doesn’t do it..

My reasoning for not doing legs is this… I do cardio.. I do 20-30 minutes of intensive but at specific interval running on the treadmill… If I’m up to it.. I’ll probably throw in 5-10 minutes of skipping.. (which is usually never…).. that’s sorta utilising your leg muscles, right?

Unfortunately… No.. it doesn’t utilise the whole leg… and it’s been encouraged amongst the gymming community to work out the legs in addition to the rest of the body to promote a ’systematic release of Growth Hormones needed to build muscle’ …

Point taken… (Besides.. I’ve seen a guy walking into the gym with a well developed chest and biceps… but has legs that could give Lara Flynn Boyle a run for her money… )

So yesterday at the gym… I thought.. why not..? I could start it out b4 I go into working out my back.. So I do 3 sets of weighted squats (which is like the leg equivalent of the almight bench press), 3 sets of 45 degree leg presses and 3 sets calf raises.. as expected… challenging… but lacking that ‘pump’..  but the workout was done.. so I proceeded to do my back..

This morning I woke up… my legs felt ok… I figured the L-glutamine supplement was working.. but then… as the hours passed as I was at work.. I started to feel some serious discomfort in thighs… this went on until i couldn’t even squat down to pick up a pen… (and this seriously doesn’t help when your work locker’s at the bottom…)… 

Right now… my legs are seriously sore… this makes walking to the bus stop a bit of a problem..

Think I’m gonne skip cardio today…. :p

This isn’t really a blog update.. this is more of a fan’s tribute to one of HK’s better movie outings. Rather than post this up in the review section of Friendster.. I’d rather keep it simple..

SPL has been on nearly every other HK martial arts fan’s radar for nearly a year… there were claims of the return to the good old HK actions days of inventive fighting choreography, hardboiled and gritty plots and gun blazing aplenty, all made famous by the likes of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, John Woo and Chow Yun Fatt. The initial buzz was promising as well… the pairing up of the venerable large one of the former 3 Dragons of HK, Sammo Hung ( The other 2 being Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao) with veteran actor Simon Yam Tak Wah ( of The Mission fame) and martial arts superstar Donnie Yen seemed like a match made in martial arts cinema heaven. Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung are no strangers to international audience having strutted their kung fu in a number of American movies and series (Martial Law, Blade 2, Shanghai Knights etc.) and they’re even more of a legend in their own rights in their hometown of Hong Kong.

HK cinema was pretty much in a slump during the turn of the new century. Gone were the days of slick kung fu and HK wackiness to be replaced by a blowout of CGI-bloated, EEG pretty face farces. Although we were treated to classics like the character driven, minimalism of those Infernal Affairs movies as well as heart-wrenching art movies like In the Mood for Love, sadly things were never really the same. Jackie Chan tried to bring us back to the good old days with his EEG-laced New Police Story but there was a lack of cinema spark despite his best efforts.

Which brings us to the movie in question: SPL

SPL was picked to represent HK at the Toronto International Film Festival and there were whisperings of standing ovations and champagne bottle pops! around. So were the rumours true?

Were the buzzes and the initial positive thumbs-up all that it’s cracked up to be? Or were they just the ramblings of self-delusional HK cinema fans who needed to justify the purpose of their hope for the revival of HK martial arts cinema?

Thank the Gods… this movie rocks!

SPL refers to the 3 stars of Chinese Astrology that is represented by the 3 main actors. Collision with one another is meant to either create a good life with one another or open up a-huge-can-of-FUBAR (f**ked-up-beyond-all-recognition, incase u didn’t watch Tango & Cash :p).  And since this is a HK action movie in the theme of gangster-vs-cops… thankfully it’s the latter. The story revolves around Simon Yam’s character, Detective Chan who’s got a huge grudge against crime boss  Po (Sammo Hung). Basically 3 years ago, Detective Chan was responsible for the protection of a witness that would’ve indicted Po for his crimes. Being the resourceful crime boss that he is, Po instructs his top hitman Jet (played with sadistic flair by former wushu champion Wu Jing) to arrange an accident for the witness. As a result, both witness and his wife get killed leaving their daughter in the care of Detective Chan with a tumour in his brain. Cut the long story short.. Chan’s out for Po’s blood and he’s running out of time. Po’s not the forgiving one either as Chan keeps pissing him off for busting his balls every chance he’s got.

Cut to 3 years later… Chan’s grudge is still as strong as ever and he’s only got 3 more days to retirement. He makes a decision to cross a few lines to nail Po with his loyal men under his command. Enter Detective Ma (Donnie Yen), a righteous, committed, master kung fu cop who’s due to take over Chan’s unit. This put both cops at odds with one another due to their clashing methods. Basically, everyone’s got a grudge against someone and when u throw in 3 highly trained martial artists and a lot of morality-crossings… thing’s are gonna get messy.

Director Wilson Yip deals with the material well and he brings a stylish, noir-ish world to contrast well with the abundant ass-kicking going on. His subtle tactics are there with the greyer-than-grey characterisation that he’s famous for.. where the cops are bad-asses but still righteously cool, where the bad guys are brutal but still human. This is punctuated even more by the score of the movie which indicates that when things go down.. they do so with blairing french horns.

Then there’s the action which is where SPL remains undefeated so far in the year. The fighting sequences are fast but intensely brutal with enough body-slamming and bone-crunching to satiate any martial arts fan’s appetite. The knife-vs-baton fighting sequence between Donnie Yen and Wu Jing hands-down are the highlight of the movie. It feels less like a choreographed sequence and more like 2 masters really going at it at each other. Both are observing each other’s moves and responding accordingly. Rumour has it that Director Wilson Yip told both stars to just go at it instead of meticulously choreographing the whole thing.

The fight between Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen proves that both men are still in top form. While belief should be suspended for some of the sequences, this should hardly hurt the movie which so far delivers something those Matrix movies couldn’t.. hardcore, brutal, believable(almost) and inventive action sequences. Not since the classic Iron Monkey (or if you must… Ong Bak) has there been such an enthralling mixture of martial arts moves. This is a movie where the main stars are the real deal, authentic martial artists and not CGI and wire-enhanced fakes that truly contributes to the realness of the fighting sequences.

While not a perfect movie, it certainly deserves a place on every martial arts fan’s top 15 movie list. We don’t  get many movies like this anymore and it might be a while before we get another one. So my suggestion? Enjoy this movie to it’s fullest because it’s all we’ve got for now.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars. :D      

I don’t get many days like this.. in fact… they’re so rare that it makes you want to relive it over and over again.. guess it just makes it much much more memorable.. I don’t get many days when I wake up in the morning.. feeling just so completely lighthearted.. where the memories of the nite before just brings a smile to my face… where I can breath a sigh of contentment that even knowing that my work shift completely sucks this week and that my back is hurtin’ like a bitch at the moment….. it can’t deter me from wiping that smile of my face… 

The reason for my out-of-character bliss? The most simple answer…

I Had a Good night..

I know from my recent posts about my escapades in metros seem to indicate that I have fun nearly every weekend… which is true.. I do.. but I don’t wake up every Sunday morning with this feeling of bliss… that is a rarity.. I usually spend most Sundays trying to deal with a hungover stomach.. (which is where the green tea come in…)..

First of all.. the background..

On Tuesday.. I got a call from Tim after gym..

Tim: Hey Jules, what’re you doing Friday and Sat night?

Me: Erm.. should be nothing.. what’s going on?

Tim: So,, you’re free?

Me: Yeah.. should be..

Tim (talking to Adrian in the background): Ok.. sign him up..

Me: Sign me up for what?!?

TIm: Nothing..

Me: Huh? What is it?

Tim: You’ll find out soon..

On Thursday morning.. just before heading off to work.. I checked out Adrian’s Blog to find out that I’ve been signed up with him, TIm and Vince to be male escorts for models in a modelling competition at a Chung Wah function called ‘Miss Chinatown WA Modelling Competition’..

So.. yup.. I got jipped into becoming the model’s bitch for the night..

On Friday.. Rachel (one of the contestants) drives us up to Balcatta for rehearsal.. Our job was simple enough… Just escort the contestants in an elegant way to the stage.. simple job.. although being there for more than 4 hours seemed a tad wasteful..

The next night.. we were dapperly dressed with attitude in our suits… we had to make do a bit since most of us couldn’t fit into them anymore.. (the metabolism slows down when u get older… ) …  in fact.. we were much more better dressed than the audience (but definitely not better than the contestants..:)) …

The night went pretty well though.. although we saw this ‘woman’ on one of the intermission dancing sessions…

She.Had.Muscles. That woman.. was freakishly buffed.. We agreed that she was definitely a lesbian… and we were pretty sure she wasn’t the bitch in the relationship..

AS Adrian commented..

Adrian: Omg.. she’s got shoulders that are wider than ours.. 

And Me

Me: Dude… those aren’t tits man… those are pecs…

That was pretty much the only major development during the function.. The contestants were pretty cool to let us take some pimpin’ pictures with them…

My only comment about the contests though… the scoring system is the most retarded ever.. They get 4-5 judges.. then get an average.. then calculate the median.. we were like.. wtf?!? No wonder the friggin contest dragged on forever..

The segments were divided into Evening Wear, Swim Wear.. and finally Cheong Sam..

I thought the Cheong Sam segment was the best.. that is what I call traditional elegance..

ANyway.. after escorting them off for the final time.. we changed and got the hell out of there… ! Straight to Metros! Where the fun begins..

And it was an awesome nite! An old mate of ours from high school joins us there.. Kee Ong..

And to make the night better, Chi Sun and Vernon show up as well..

Old friends… how we’ve all come a looong way since high school.. made different choices.. regretted some.. but made do with others.. We are who we are today because of them.. and most of us are now Men because of the those choices and the people we surround ourselves with..

After round after round of Vodka redbulls, a shot of B151, a shot of Sambuca.. (that how u spell it TIm?).. and countless other drinks..  the alcohol started to hit… bout bloody time as well…  the dancing carried on..

and more friends started arriving..

Ming, Jane.. and Lianna.. Adrienne and YW, Meifania..

the nite kept getting better. (although the B151 was still burning..).. 

and yes… there were a moment or 2.. where I was me-ing.. but somehow.. it felt different this time.. it was a teasing match.. but at the same time.. felt more connective? If only it was possible to translate them into words (either that or I have a really sucky vocab..).. words were exchanged.. glances were given and returned… *sigh*..

and during my occupation.. Nami, Honey and the guys were having fun on their own.. haha.. I heard the stories later.. I gotta say.. you guys crack me up.. (which reminds me.. Honey.. I need to get some photos of your camera too!)..

After ways were parted.. we came upon our usual spot… Billy Lees.. although appetites were indeed small.. (I blame that on the Hot & Sour soup, FA!).. haha.. j/k.. . we soon left Northbridge… we sent Nami home.. and sang Usher’s ‘Let it Burn’.. it seemed like the nite was definitely over…..

Or was it?

Adrian drove down Canning Hwy.. for some retarded reason.. Freeway South was clossed from 2 am onwards… We saw the cop lights.. the Booze bus was there…  we tried to take a detour to avoid them.. but.. cops were stationed there as well… they asked Adrian to blow[ ] into the breathlyzer… hearts were beating… then the copper says..

Cop: Sir, you’re definitely over..

That was when I thought that the nite was gonna end in a sucky way.. the female cop drove Aids’ care to a nearby parking lot.. me, Vince and TIm stayed there whilst Adrian walked to the Booze bus.. we were cursing under our breaths.. muttering that if only we stayed longer at the restaurant.. we would have avoided them.. or if a car had driven in front of us.. we would have gotten off scot-free… etc. we made plans to split the fine 4-ways.. and we saw other people walking back to their cars from the booze bus.. one of them cursing furiously for the fine he got.. or the points taken away.. I don’t know.. we were more concern about Adrian..

Then TIm asks one of the officers to test him.. since one of us had to drive Aids’ car home.. and I was pretty sure I was over the limit.. Tim was tested… and the cop says..

Cop: You’ve barely drunk anything..

Wtf ? that was kinda weird cos Tim had heaps more to drink than Adrian.. must’ve been his cold…

30 minutes later.. Adrian walks out of the Booze bus..

Me: So how bad is it?

Adrian: Didn’t get charged…

Me, TIm & Vince: WHat?!?

Adrian: Apparently I was only 0.002 over the limit.. so they let me off without a fine..

Smiles and laughs broke through.. and turned out it was going to be a good night.. on the way back to Vince’s place.. we still had smiles etched on our tired faces.. how Lady Luck had shone on us..

From when I slept in my own bed till I woke up the next morning today.. throughout the whole day.. I was in a  good mood..

I wished i had more days like this..

Sorry for the delay of the long-awaited, eagerly anticipated (:p) premiere of part 2 of the ‘Recap’ post.. but here it is.. it’s gonna be a short one though.. i’m much more eager to blog about last nite…

The day started out like a bad day… I had to work… on a Saturday… and instead of the normal half day.. .I had to do a full-day cos the damn machine was being a total biiiaaattcchhh.. I mean.. people tell me.. ‘think about the overtime money!!’  but sometimes… it really isn’t about the money.. after working 8 hours a day for 5 friggin days in a row.. u tend to appreciate your weekends a bit more.. but anyway… being what happen the nite before. (see previous post for details..).. I wasn’t in a particularly good mood..

Hence, my apprehension to hit the metros scene again on Sat.. but I’m sure glad I did… the music was awesome! The crowd was good..the eye candy was excellent (Koreans man!.. Leonn.. you better get your ass back here soon!)  the alcohol flow was fantastic..! And yes.. there were bouts of me-ing.. and guys.. I’m not pissed off that u posted  up the photos… but those were rrreeeaaallly bbbaaadddd pictures! I gotta retain some form of dignity.. :p. haha… the nite ended typically at Billy Lees… and then me, YW, TIm and Nami… sat outside Tim’s car and just chatted bout life and relationships… till dawn.. we had to.. since technically we were still a bit drunk…

Long story short.. I crashed at TIm’s that morning… and in my normal Sunday fashion… woke up.. drove home… showered.. .changed.. and slept again..

*sigh*… the life of deranged adults in their 20s… muaahahah… as long as the memories are good… :D..

Btw Nami… I downloaded Kumi Koda’s video.. ‘Shake It’.. already… hahah.. damn… that’s a fine looking Jap…

P.S.. we also saw Adrian’s sis (who’s my bros age btw..) at the club… *sigh*.. time is telling me something…

Why is it that I only seem to write about my escapades at Metros in this blog spot? This has got to be saying something about the current state of my life.. not that I’m complaining or anything.. but seriously… I need to fill snippets of other stuff other than my misadventures at metros..

Anyway… to recap…

WEnt to that CNY function I mentioned in my last blog.. man.. that nite sucked big time.. (Don’t worry Aidis.. it’s not majorly about the function..).. first of all.. we met at Vince’s to down a few shots b4 headin out… ( Thank God that Absinth bottle is finished!).. Think it was around 10-ish.. and we seemed to be the only patrons there.. so we left for Bubble Tea and Gelare’s b4 going back to Metros thinking that it only can get better… not for me unfortunately..

I sidetracked to meet an old workmate.. used to be an old drinking partner.. he brought his brother along.. (well.. his half-bro at least.. from his dad’s 2nd or 3rd marriage to an Asian woman.. ) .. We had small talk.. chat a little.. a few laughs like old times.. he wanted to go to Metros as well.. then he asks me to lend my driver’s license to his bro to get it.. I refused at first.. I told him this:-

Me: Dude, it’s not gonna work.. your bro looks nothing like me..

WM: Yes it will.. you’ve already got the stamp and you’ve got similar eyes..

Me: No, we don’t..

WM: We gotta go in big groups.. they only get to look at the eyes at that point..

Anyway.. cut long story short.. I finally relented (Although I still have no idea why ).. I went in first… the guy’s bro followed … I waited for them next to the bar… then I started getting worried.. I called him up and asked what the hell’s going on? where are they? Then he gives me this news..

WM: Jules, we have a problem..

Turns out.. the bouncer didn’t buy it (not really that surprising..) and he confiscated my license.. and I was really pissed off.. add more to the fact that I had to call WM up to find out about it.. And he walks out to the entrance with a beer bottle in his hand.. well.. I’m glad you’re having a fucking good time.. 

What escalated my temper was when the bouncer gave us the ultimatum to either leave the club or stay on.. you had the audacity to be whimsical and funny about it… to take out a coin and flip for it? That was not helping! How can u lose all matter of seriousness when it’s your fault that I nearly lost my license? And u think that by asking me to call it was lightening the mood? Damn it! Grow up man!! If you think I’m still pissed off.. You’re goddamn rite I am!

I got my license back that nite.. no thanks to you.. I had to get the cops involved.. and the fact that the DJ that nite was a total blip with his mixing hardly helped with the mood.. (wtf was with the Mortal Kombat thing?!?).. See Aidis’ Blog for more details on that..

ANyway… the nite ended ok… thanks to the guys for seriously turning my frown upside down..  Cheers Guys!

Part 2 coming up…

This was a phone conversation I had with Tim on Tuesday after gym …

ME: Hey man.. DId you call me?

Tim: Yeah.. you coming to Gelare’s for ice cream?

Me: ERm.. probably not.. gotta be up by 5.. work at 7…

Tim: Boo..

Me: Yeah I know.. it’s gay… I’ll catch up with you guys this weekend though..

Tim: Oh yeah.. this weekend… there’s a CNY function at Metros this Friday.. You comin’?

Me: A function at Metros? On a friday?

Tim: Yeah..

Me: How much is the ticket?

Tim: Bout $16.75

Me: Hmm… yeah.. why not… could be fun..

Tim: Ok.. good… cos we got you a ticket anyway…

Me: You what?!?!

Tim: Nothing..

Me: -_-

On another note.. I think I’m gonna start writing movie reviews here on this blog instead of the review section on friendster… keeps things simple and at least I get to put more entries here…

Best to the land of dreams (and nightmares) now.. morning shifts sucks a tonne of crap..

Looking forward to the function tomorrow… *sigh*