All Tangled Up

★ ★ ★ ★
Length: 1hr 40mins
Rated: PG
Sypnosis: A smart, modern revamp of the classic Rapunzel fairytale - complete with the world's most kick ass chameleon sidekick and the next best weapon to a stiletto: The Saucepan.

My excuse is, I have an 8-year old sister. And ok, I'm a sucker for happy endings. But I think for the first time ever, Disney did a pretty good job of fooling me into thinking they were ditching their standard happily-ever-after ending for their last ever (sob!) fairytale (but we'll get to that later.)

I loved the animation, it was absolutely stunning (especially's Rapunzel's huge green eyes!) The new tweaks to this classic fairytale were great, what with the not-so-princely Wanted thief Flynn Rider unexpectedly stumbling across Rapunzel's hiding place and being subsequently assaulted with a saucepan, a complete transformation of the evil witch/mother model, and a central theme running more on the lines of chasing after one's dreams rather than the usual damsel-meets-prince-charming stereotype.

It was a real winner with my sister, so grab your nearest kid and swing by the movie theatre - Tangled is sure to guarantee many laughs, a few tears, and one hell of a good time!

P.S. Re: What I said earlier, I read in The West magazine that apparently Disney will not be producing any more of it's well-loved fairytales, as it believes they're no longer what audiences are looking for. However, after Tangled's success, perhaps they'll have a change of heart?

Much love,

Ngoc

The Atrium at Burswood

Image Sources: Google Images (Unfortunately we only managed to take two photos, neither of which are particularly charming ;D)

On Sunday night, I booked in a dinner session at The Atrium to celebrate my parents' birthdays (yes, they have the same birthday, only a year apart. What are the chances of that? :D) There was, unfortunately, a slight mishap with the booking, whereby the guy who answered my phone call mistook my moving the booking from 6pm on Monday to 6.45pm on Sunday for a re-location to 6.45pm Monday. Slighty embarrassing, and definitely annoying for the people behind us, but so obviously not my fault that they gave us a table after my dad pulled off his 'I'm not very impressed' act. Despite that, we were immediately head over heels in love with the place! The setting was stunning - the restaurant is closed off from the rest of the building however there is no low roof so the only covering is the amazingly high ceilings of the Burswood dome which gives the buffet restaurant a very warm yet at the same time open atmosphere.

I will say one thing - the first thing you'll notice is how much food there is. And the stunning desserts will definitely catch your eye! After sitting down with our first plate of food, we'd already concluded there was no way anyone could try all the dishes in one outing, even if you only got a spoonful of each. The dessert bar was like a whole meal in itself, and would definitely give Miss Maud a run for its money!

To be completely honest, I would suck as a food critic. I think most things taste nice, even as someone else is complaining that it's underseasoned, or too tough etc etc. I'm not a fussy eater. But I can tell when I've tasted something exceptional, something you wouldn't find in just any restaurant and certainly very rarely in the humble household kitchen. And I am not exaggerating when I say every dish I tasted that night was fantastic. Delicious, scrumptious and all those other delectable syllables. So much so that we've already saved a date for our next outing.

This time, though, I'll be triple checking the booking, since double checking didn't work last time!

Service: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Food: 9/10

And 10/10 for variety of food, too! :D It is quite a pricey feed, but it's one of those rare occasions when you come out feeling that every cent you swiped off your savings card was worth it. I'd definitely recommend this place without a second's hesitation!

Take care,

Ngoc

A day on Rottnest

I am officially ashamed to say that I have never set foot outside of this lovely little corner of the world in which I was born and raised. Unless you count the occasional visit to Mandurah and Fremantle, which I really don't. I have never gone anywhere overseas except for Vietnam and the Singapore and Malaysian airports xD It's pretty sad, actually. Buuuuuttt these Christmas holidays my parents booked us a trip to Rotto for the day and back. Initally we were going to stay for a couple of days but people were telling us you can explore the entire island in just one day. 

For the sporty types, it makes for a great day. Rent a bike, grab a helmet, slap on the sunscreen and GO GO GO! I haven't ridden a bike in ages, but it felt really good, even though it was 40C back on the mainland and the seats were really, really hard. 

The highlights of the day? Everyone letting me lead the way, and then my promptly getting us all lost; finding a dead snake on the road (which I suppose wasn't really a highlight) and screaming bloody murder; crashing outside the convenience store with ice-screams after biking through the scorching heat up a hill, riding the opposite way to every other sane being on the island and then belatedly realising it was because we were riding up several kms of treeless hills; getting back to the jetty and buying lemon sorbet which was like trying to eat a whole bucket of sour worms all at once; and finally deciding to ease myself into the freezing waters which became a complete waste of time when I tripped on some seaweed and came crashing down. Oh, and of course, trying to change into my swimmers in the toilet whilst juggling my undergarments, belt and dry clothes. All in all, a great day. And as a bonus, I discovered that Powerade is really, really good when you're dying under the hot sun and severely dehydrated. Isotonic, indeed. :)

Next up, we're thinking of going to Albany/Margaret River/Moore River/Denmark for a couple of days or possibly The Maze in Joondalup for one day in the coming New Year's holidays. Looking forward to it! Anyone have any suggestions for somewhere nice to go this Easter? :)

Take care,

Ngoc

Megamind's Megabucks



Image source: Google Images

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2

Length: 1hr 35min

Rated: PG

Sypnosis: When Megamind kills off the city's favourite hero, Metro Man - much to the surprise of everyone, including himself, he suddenly finds that having everything he wants isn't so much fun when no one's trying to fight him for it. Naturally, he devises an ingenious plan using the deceased Metro Man's DNA to create and train a new hero to fight against him. Unfortunately, when his DIY-hero strays from the plan, and the situation is further complicated by an unexpected romance and a fallout with his best-fish, Minion, Megamind finds himself having to decide whose side he was really cut out to fight for.

Ok, so I promised a review of Megamind in my last post. I actually wanted to share my first experience with Boxing Day Sales today/what I got for Christmas yesterday, but I really can't be bothered uploading the photos now so that can wait for later :)


I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, even though we missed the opening few scenes trying to sneak in some popcorn and ice-creams, and even though I was really confused as I thought we were seeing Megamind II (there isn't one. That was just me being a retard because I saw adverts for Megamind a millenium ago featuring Metro Man saving the city, and then I saw the recent ads featuring Megamind wanting to become a good guy so I got a bit confuzzled :P)


I loved the storyline, and I loved the characters. I loved EVERYTHING! There were laughs all the way through to the very end and even though I suppose the essence of the plotline has been done before, I really don't think you feel that way coming out of the movie. It wasn't just another kids holiday movie to me, there was something very endearing about the characters and the exploration of what was going behind the facade that people had built up for them which made it thoroughly plausible and extremely enjoyable to watch. And I loved the fact that an unlikely hero saves the day in the end. All in all, it was an excellent film and I definitely recommend everyone to see it these holidays, if you can find a little kid to rent for the day. If not, I really do think everyone in the theatre will be too engrossed in the screen to care that you'll be the oldest person there aside from the pensioners taking their grandkids.


Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!


Take care,


Ngoc

Le Grand Opening

Image Source: Google Images

And, in celebration of the fact that I passed my exams and will live to see another day in the Pharmacy lab, I hereby unveil my new blog!!! *cue trumpet blaring, cheering etc. etc.*

Well...not really. The truth is, it was supposed to be a great deal grander, this 'opening ceremony' of mine, because I had originally planned on moving from my modest livejournal account back to webs/freewebs where I last ended my graphic designing journey. The idea was that I'd be able to design my own layouts, plus manage and organise all my pages by myself. Sounded like a fantastic plan and I was really overly excited about it, until just recently when I realised that because webs.com is more a place for budding graphic designers to showcase their many photoshop-related skills, it really isn't very blogger-friendly. Aaaand consequently, I'd pretty much be cut off from all the blogging community, which didn't sound very appealing.

And then, lo and behold, I discovered blogspot.com and decided to give it a shot (why not? I have accounts on pretty much every other blogging website :P) and discovered you can customize your own layouts in a way that no other free blog (that I've discovered) can. Which brings us here. And exactly what is 'here'?

Here is where I impart my opinion about books I have read, movies I have seen and products I have tried and tested. Here is where I translate the lyrics to songs that I feel people might be able to appreciate more if they actually understood what the lyrics meant. And here is where I dump everything that happens in between all that :)

So, if you do stumble across my blog by accident, I'm hoping it offers you Something - whether it be help in deciding on a movie for Chick Flick night with the girls, or a surprising read to add to your booklist, or even just another song to add to your playlist.

I was going to add in my thoughts on the new kids/family movie Megamind, but I think this post has been long enough, so maybe next time :)

Until then, take care!

- Ngoc

A little bit of lovin'

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