Magika and the secret of Avatar

Tadik gi preview for filem Magika, the star studded musical from KRU Studios.

Pas finished my errands and all (and sempat wat shopping - Dolce & Gabbana be thy name), popped by Cineleisure to check out the much hyped movie.

And the verdict?

Honestly, it's going to be hard since a lot of comparisons will made against Alice In Wonderland, which is coming out in 3D and will have Johnny Depp.

Magika, not very imaginatively named, has Mawi.

Erm... but kena puji because of several reasons. So sebelom sesi carotan, mai aku bagi pujian dulu what I liked about the film which I think will help sell it.

Obviously first thing is the whole line-up of big names involved. Mawi, Ziana Zain, Ning Baizura, Sharifah Amani, Sharifah Aleya, Vanida Imran, Nabil, Diana Danielle, Adibah Noor, Aznil Nawawi, Datuk Jalaludin Hassan, Marsha Milan Londoh... so many. Pening nak namakan sorang-sorang.

Tarikan Magika gak will be because of the local references. Vee jadik Mahsuri, Marsha jadik Puteri Santubong, Mawi as Badang... you get the idea. So it's our own Alice In Wonderland where many of the characters are popular names in our own local folklore.

And Edry in the director's chair, aku kena puji.

After the horror of Cicakman 2 : Planet Hitam (bosan), Jin Nott (muntah darah)... aku tak tengok My Spy so takleh komen - it's nice to see finally that Kru are back on track with Magika.

It's wholesome family entertainment, and quite enjoyable.

Now the bad parts. The script walaopon holds promise wasn't executed to its full potential. The songs were mostly forgettable (I only seriously loved M. Nasir sebagai Naga Tasik Cini) and the lyrics were patchy, repetitive and tangkap muat.

Camera angles were dodgy and acting overall was not up to par.

And I know this is going to sound silly, but as much as I like Diana Danielle, she needed to wax her upper lip in the movie. Da berkumis da... to the point in the romantic scene with Mawi, aku rasa cam tengok Brokeback Mountain da.

Tapi kan, having said that, I would actually recommend people to watch Magika sebab it's worth the RM10 or so you're going to pay to watch.

No regrets, pasti.

Especially kalao ko nak bak anak ke anak buah ke anak sedara. Pacing of the film tak macam Jin Notti yang you wonder when the hell it's going to end.

Final verdict - Magika, a good watch and one of those few movies yang cater to a lot of people. It's not quite musical contoh, but it is a very good start for me to come up with more along the genre.

Kudos to KRU for it (susah aku nak cakap nih.. dan mesti ada yang tak caya)

Anyway... ni some pics from tadik of some of the cast members yang sempat aku snap. Susah nak amik banyak pic sebab asik dok borak ngan Vee, Shidi, Nani and Gavin (oops! - borak ngan Nani usik Gavin je adalah).

So for those of you who want to get a feel of what the movie is like, here's the trailer.

Now enjoy the pics...

Nani and Gavin - so sweet (matilah Nani carot aku pasnih!)

Marsha - sexxxxaaaaaaaay!

Vee and Shidi - the coolest couple I know

Pak Nil - happy and bubbly as always

Ning flashing those pearly whites

Kak Vee pon nak camwhore ngan Mawi - heh!

On his own - tak nampak Ekin in sight

Kesian Ziana - tangan luka dua belah (and peha as well as perot sikit) sebab kena air panas masa bancuh air bagi minum pagi anak-anak katanya...

Divaaaaaaa!!!! Me love Adibah Noor!

Nak banyakkan pics lagik but malas. Anyway... the title of this entry mentions the secret of Avatar. You wanna know what it is?

Here's what I saw in Cineleisure. Some of you who have gone there may have seen this....

But did you take a closer look?

Matilah!!!!!!! Upskirting gituh! Gelak cam babun jap. Aduh... lawak bodoh. Had an informal meeting after it was all over, which ended VERY late. Ni baru sampai umah nih.

Nampaknya for 2010, ramai kawan da bukak company sendiri. Semua dapat gabung networking. I like! Nak pose Adam dan Stacy la... bergabungggggg malaaatopppppppp!!!!

Eh nak tido la... berat da mata.

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Lock, stock.. and 10,000 reasons to be happy

Ok, this is going to be quite a loaded entry, so sit back, relax, dan korek pusat ketika membaca entry nih.

Malam tadi pengumuman pengetua, pengacara dan tenaga pengajar Akademi Fantasia.

As I share the announcements, ni beberapa komen aku sebagai peminat Akademi Fantasia dari musim pertama. Bear with me.

Let's start with pengetua untuk AF8.

Norman Abdul Halim. Otherwise big boss man of KRU and the businessman. Also the person I said would head Akademi Fantasia from the end of December da - for those of you who read my column in the The Malay Mail.

Aku sebenarnya tak nak komen panjang sangat Norman ni. He has the skills, but my only concern is he will stress to much on the need for for the necessary commercial appeal sampai lupa how to guide these kids into being artistes in all sense of the word.

Still... giving him benefit of the doubt.. mana tau kan. He couldn't do worse than what we've seen in eight seasons, so let's hope he exceeds expectations.

Next - guru vokal teknikal, Siti Hajar.

Da enam musim Siti Hajar da ajar... perlu ke pertikaikan. Undoubtedly a regular for a reason - simply being she gets the job done, plus it is interesting to always follow her classes. Cuma sayang takde geng in Syafie this year. Mintak mintak tahun ni takde la bangang yang start speku kata tenaga pengajar bias cam dia dan kak Fati kena last year. Bodoh tol... gosip beragenda sangat.

Moving on... guru vokal persembahan, Adnan Abu Hassan.

Tak silap aku da lima musim. Abang Dee memang has the ears for it. Berapa ramai diva hari ni yang discovery dia, so again, tak perlu dipertikaikan.

Moving on guru drama baru, Que Haidar dan guru tari, Linda Jasmine.

Merasalah 2 for 1 package. Takde maknanya... they're only the second couple to be in the Akademi together and I think Que deserves a break.

Dia memang a good dramatic character actor and I am kind of interested to see how he will teach. Just because he hasn't done it doesn't mean he can't.

As for Linda, tiga bulan pas bersalin dia da menyandang tugasan nih, kena puji la. Hope she brings something new and fresh to the performances and makes it more interesting that ever.

Next, counsellor and English teacher, Fatimah Abu Bakar.

Kak Fati kira sesuai la for this post, and like Linda, da tujuh musim in total wat Akademi Fantasia. Memang veteran abih bab AF nih. No questions need be asked about her ability.

And then there's the pengacara.

Of course happiness and applause all round sebab as I said, the two new hosts will be Sarimah Ibrahim (alamak.. tak sempat snappy pic sebab dok gosip je... sorry babe, kang kita lepak I snappy), and Jimmy Shanley.

Bab Sarimah memang happy gila sebab dia more than layak, in fact we've been waiting for her to get the job since Aznil stepped out.

As for Jimmy, dia ni untested so don't know how he'll do. And besides dia tak penah live hosting so kena tengok.

Ok, so it's going to be a shared responsibility. How? Here are more changes.

Sarimah akan start by hosting Tirai Akademi Fantasia. Jimmy akan hos kan Diari Akademi Fantasia. Konsert lak akan menjadi tugas dikongsi mereka berdua, dan Debaran Akademi Fantasia akan di jaga oleh Sarimah.

What is Debaran.... kejap ek dik non. I'll get to that in a while.

Konsep tahun ni, 2 in 1, so kongsi tugas. I don't really see the need for it, and I think ni da lari dari konsep Akademi Fantasia - as we know it, so I'm not favourable to the idea.

Why don't they trust a woman to be in charge of the show? Too risky ke? We've seen Sarimah do The Biggest Loser Asia and it's no problem for her. We've also seen her handle two years of Diari Akademi Fantasia and many awards shows - no problem there either.

So why? Demi perubahan? Entahlah... tapi memang aku tak setuju. Some things about Akademi Fantasia TAK PATUT diubah.

It's not about resisting changes, just some changes are not necessary for the sake of changes.

Period.

And here's how Akademi Fantasia will be presented.

Pada 13hb Mac, Tirai Akademi Fantasia pada jam 9 malam, Tirai akan memperkenalkan barisan pelajar as a sort of prelude. Don't know how they'll do it, but dalam sejam setengah, both Sarimah dan Jimmy akan hos.

Diari AF lak akan dihos oleh Jimmy, bermula 15hb Mac.

Ni yang pening sikit. Diari akan ditayangkan jam 7.30pm. Erm... don't people have things to do then? Waktu tak kena sangat. Nak early dinner, nak semayang, nak tuisyen, nak balik rumah dari kerja. Banyak alasan kenapa time slot ni tak kena.

Pastu setengah jam je tiap hari. Erm... boring! Kalao editing meletop ok la.. which will be left to be seen.

Moving on...

Konsert AF akan ada dua pengacara in Sarimah dan Jimmy kongsi tugas. Tiap Sabtu bermula 9 malam dari Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil, bermula 20hb Mac.

Ok.. ni perubahan yang aku rasa tak perlu gak.

Pada penghujung konsert, undian TAK AKAN ditutup, dan tiada penyingkiran.

Instead, konsep feeling fotostat Idol, hari Ahad esoknya, akan ada Debaran Akademi Fantasia jam 9 malam nak umumkan siapa yang tersingkir yang akan di hoskan oleh Sarimah. I hate this most - the fact they split the program in two.

Idol started this, and I don't see why Akademi Fantasia kena ikut. Peminat AF ni lain... kenapa nak tiru? Feeling Sehati Berdansa? Perlu ke? Aku serious rasa cam ni soal rating sangat plus soal perah undian gila-gila. Kononnya memberikan masa orang nak evaluate.. but seriously.

And setengah jam je... so cam no build up or suspense on Saturday, pastu Ahad , ala ala quickie and it's over (very the get it over quick).

As a fan of Akademi Fantasia, I think this sucks... but entah la. Program orang biarlah. Kalao tak suka jangan tengok. Tapi serious, aku rasa cam perah sangat. Chances are, I'm not going to vote sebab it comes across as a lame effort to capitalise on votes sangat.

So there you have it. Aku kurang rasa debaran Akademi Fantasia kali ni, unlike every year, and it's simply because aku rasa da lari sangat AF dari asal usul ketika program ni diperkenalkan. Again, changes for the sake of changes are not worth it... but entah la.. tengok je la camna.

Anyway, since tahun ni aku tak terlibat - dan bebudak bukan anak murid aku cam musim lepas, rasanya patut tak aku all out carot agik. Ke nak maintain polite gituh. Let me know.

Ok la.. nanti aku story lebih pasal Akademi Fantasia.

Ni cita lain. Remember I told you guys about the Power Over Cervical Cancer Campaign a week or so ago? You ladies da amik the online risk assessment test tak? Kalao lom - then do your bit for yourself and others. It takes only seminit dua for you to take the test, find out how much you know about cervical cancer. KLIK SINI tuk amik ujian mudah nih.

Sarimah is also duta tuk kempen ni.. along with someone else familiar. Aku la... This is from The Star on Monday (click on the pic to enlarge it and to read).

And guess who was on the cover of the Utusan pull out semalam? Sekali with other blog ambassadors? Again, klik pada gambar tuk besarkan.

Bangga aku for such a worthy cause. Aku dan kak Mah serta kengkawan lain memang sokong kempen ni tuk tujuan menyedarkan kaum Hawa tuk realise the threat of cervical cancer and to hopefully spread the word so korang leh equip yourself with the power of knowledge to prevent yourself from being a statistic.

Remember... everyone always thinks it's someone else. That someone could be you.

So CLICK HERE to find out more. To the ladies, do it, and spread the word. To the guys, pass it on to a relative, a friend... you may just help them from going through a lot of unnecessary suffering.. or worse.

Ok la.. esok blog agik. Aku nak sambung tido. baru abih keja sikit nih. Night (or morning) to all of you.

PS - Got a few more pics of Kris Allen to share. Next entry je la ek.

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Akademi Fantasia 8

Auditions are beginning.

It's open to Malaysians and Singaporeans.

The age limit is the same.

Norman Abdul Halim of KRU may be the next principal. Eh???

Ni la berita aku dapat semalam. Here's the full article which you can read by CLICKING HERE.

Aku dapat dua agik nama selain nama Norman, tapi dengar memang dia favourite wat skang la.

Dengar gak, KRU tengah deal ngan Astro Entertainment Sdn Bhd, kisahnya tuk jaga kerjaya bebudak Akademi Fantasia dari segi kelolaan rakaman and everything related. How true is that?

Again, read the full story I got, by CLICKING HERE and check back for more updates.

Anyway, sapa nak tau pasal ujibakat, can check out the full details in the same story.

Aduh... nak abihkan keja agik. Badan letih pas work out pagik tadi. Ngantuk pon ada. Be posting more soon.

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The blueblood of Sakais

Semalam gi GSC MidValley Megamall nak layan Duyung at the gala premiere of the film which opens March 6, kalau tak silap aku. Tuh dia si Norman, head honcho of KRU films berdebar debar menunggu reaksi orang towards the film. I've seen the trailers and it looks interesting, but the actual hasil entah camna.

It was packed because apparently the screening termasuk some 1,000 peminat yang menang tiket nak layan the premiere skali. Wow. Chaotic siot!

Tapi yang pentingnya, invitation kol 8 malam. Screening of the actual movie is 9.30pm. What the... dah ler ramai ramai rush nak be there by 7pm sebab takot sangkut the Friday jam... akibatnya dok berejam tunggu.

Sambil sambil tuh, layan ler amik pics of the... erm... festivities. Meka try to change the entrance of GSC into this underwater themed area, which was... erm... decent.

Ushers pakai beach wear and wet suits with flippers and goggles and all. Tapi the amusing part was erm... the merman yang diangkat masuk. Merasalah duyung jantan tuh. Then later joined by duyung female lak.





Ramai yang mrembes ler tengok dua ekor duyung nih. Erm... aku rasa cam dua orang model yang separa dikapankan oleh kain glitter jer sambil diikat dua bantal kat kaki jerk. Heh. Besides that is one fish that looks rather masin for me. Matilah kena maki ngan Ayu pasnih! Ampun, gurl!

Moved into the holding area to hang out with friends to chit chat and catch up. So took a few more shots.

"Ingat aku tak nampak ko nak snap pic aku?? Ko nak apa hah???" Yasmin Hani pose ayu... heh!


Maya Karin a little more prepared nak kena papparazi ngan aku.



After we were allowed to go into the hall to endure several speeches and such, the movie pun started. So how was it? Erm...it was.. "SOKONG FILEM BUATAN TEMPATAN!"

What? Oh... how was the movie. well... put it this way lah ek. If you love Razak Mohaideen's films selama nih, this is the best with the amount of budget that they put in. What did I think of it? Kalao betul betul - erm... I won't say anything nasty about the film lah. No, I won't mention skrip terlalu simple, gaping holes in the plotline, the boring direction, the kayu lakonan or even the bad costumes.

I will say that... erm... the soundtrack was nice.

Cuma sedih sikit sebab Maya didn't have enough depth in her character for her to act out the mystical mermaid. She appeared as a dizzy fish jerk yang speaking ala Indonesian with a little Sabahan accent thrown in.

Apek's character was just himself, Hani was a little amateurish (I blame the director for this) and Awie was just irritating. Sayang because these are good actors and actresses. Tapi tu la... bab filem nih, kekadang lakonan seseorang bergantung a lot to the director. Kalao hampeh... hampeh la teruih.

All in all - it was like an expensive (and yet looking cheap) version of a pementasan drama which was Little Mermaid-esque with the theme yang layak tuk Hari Penyampaian Hadiah Sekolah Menengah Kampung Pelir Hitam (tuh diah!!!... sempena nak mai Akademi Fantasia...da kuar nama vogue tuh!)

But all in all - still, I think my expectations were too high kot. Secara am nya aku rasa filem ni ramai akan suka - though again like I said, kalao ko tak minat hasil Razak Mohaideen selama nih, don't bother la kan.

If you have RM10 or so (depending kalao murah lagik tiket korang beli tuk show tu that amount la) to spare... erm... check out the film. But check out other review tuk get a better picture of how the film is. Aku rasa mabuk laut lak pas tengok filem nih.

Barisan pelakon Duyung


Something familiar about this picture... the way they pose... Maya Karin nampak cam Hayden @ Claire in Heroes lak.


Tuh dia... the cast of Heroes gituh punya pose


Abihnya, we kumpul in the lobby area. Masa tuh nak set plan nak lepak... Samuel was at the screening too so dok tanya dia dan Rizki apa plan of party gituh. Borak ngan Faz on the phone, and then set jumpa. Juan ikot skali satu keta ngan aku dan Boo. Pas lepak... ramai ramai ke supper.

Merasalah berangan kan... valueables dalam keta ko include a Gucci, and ipod and two Nokias tak? Very the brand sensitive perompak ok!


This is how you do your eyes ladies, for a night out... Faz looking sweet as she is. Samuel lak ala candid. Heh.. no posed shots for those of you yang nak tengok sweet pics.

To Sammy, have a safe trip back to Jakarta. Rizki, thanks for joining us and making it fun. Nanti balik KL lepak agik ek. Seronok kengkawan yang leh masuk satu pala.

Aduh... slept the whole day puas puas siot. Tido sebelom 7 pagik (niat nak update tapi tertido lak, leh?) and woke up 4pm! Amik ko!

Damn... tak sempat ke Pencarian Hero Remaja walau da plan sebab dijemput. Tapi jap lagik nak ke Pelita lepak ngan Juan dan bebudak Hero Remaja. Takper la... hina hina mamak pon... kita semua seronok. Bokan nak lepak tempat orang kerabat yang molot kurang ajar dan berangan (menci tol some members of a certain Royal famly yang tunjuk perangai cam sakai - da kertu nak mampos layak dok rumah jaga cucu jer tapi feeling melalak nak attention pakai cam hooker with make up to match).

But that's another story of an incident yang jadik smalam - that won't make it here. Yes, let's reside in a beautiful world where people like that don't exist by ignoring them.

Yawn... nak mandi sat and make my way. Have a fun weekend all, and be safe ok...

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Dugong

Today started pretty ok sebab cukup tido and all. Been retraining myself to get enough sleep, so not doing too many late nights as before. Susah wo nak reprogram your body after you so used to thinking that 2am isn't late and that sleeping when the sun is coming up is pretty normal - and you're not a freaking vampire.

Anyways, got up and sped to Hartamas for my assignment. Ada event Ikon. First time aku ke the venue in Bar Savanh at CoChine. Wow... me likey. Have always like the IndoChine feel and ambience, and this outlet was no different.

Check out the pics.





Love the decor!!! Especially the bar area with the aquarium theme. Even bilik air pon camtuh. You have to see it for yourselves. Can I have my future home done that way?

Going back to Ikon, for the second season ni senarai peserta yang diumumkan akan ambil bahagian to compete tuk wakili Malaysia.

Ikon Malaysia (Solo)
Bob (AF)
Khai (AF)
Mila (AF)
Faizal (AF)
Noryn Aziz
Juwita Suwito
Liza Hanim
Farah Asyikin
Farawahida
Zehra Zambri

Ikon Malaysia (Group)
6ixth Sense
Aboi
Kluk Kluk Adventure
Deja Voodoo Spells
SilentScream
The Fabulous Cats
New Boyz
AlamBand
Khalifah
Dragon Red

Shocked? Erm... no komen pasal sapa yang akan bertanding. Pepandai ler. But aku bangga someone like Bob and bands like AlamBand and The Fabulous Cats are competing as they're going to add some quality and maybe a little difference with their individual styles to the competition.

Speaing of shocking, how about this?



Dari pesen rambut straighten, iron dan sebagainya tuk meluruskan rambut, diperkenalkan mini Afro Khai! Pas abih and had a bite in Bar Savanh, hopped over to Gardens in MidValley. First time langkah sini. Love it! Nice, spacey, with some pretty interesting outlets. Tapi paling besh sebab baru agik, quite empty for now.



Destination - GSC baru kat sana. Tuk pelancaran novel dan soundtrack filem Duyung. Enjoy the pics jer ek... nothing much nak ulas, though had a fun time catching up. Nak wat video ngan Maya, tapi dia rushing appointment Loreal, so nanti jer ek.






Over and done with, rushed over to the office after an attempt to do some work in izzi. Got quite a bit of work done, and had a meeting that left me in a mood that was pretty foul. Yawn...oh well. Then got a little good news to cap it off.

Pretty rollrcoaster day of emotions. No biggie.

Some sleep will fix all that...

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