Scarface Movie Review

My dad recently bought the DVD for Scarface two days ago. When I saw that famous black and white DVD cover, I smiled with joy.

This film was rated as one of the greatest gangster movies of all time if not one of the greatest movies of all time. With Al Pacino (Godfather series, Carlito's Way) in the lead role as Cuban Drug lord Tony Montana, the film looks promising.

Pacino looked very different in this film compared to The Godfather as he looked tanned, scruffy and who can forget, he has a scar on his face. Pacino also spoke in Cuban dialect with a rough and aggressive voice opposed to the calm and sinister voice of Michael Corleone.

The film's atmosphere is very GTA-ish and very similar to GTA: Vice City. They wear the same clothes, drive Cadillacs, do drugs etc. Needless to say GTA: Vice City is inspired by Scarface as stated in Wikipedia.

Despite the legendary status and popularity of the film, I was kinda disappointed with Scarface. It is more colorful and varied than the dark atmosphere of The Godfather but it lacks the drama that The Godfather displayed so elegantly. Long story short, Scarface is a 100% slab of dirty action with minimal drama. The film is also kinda draggy with too many sub-plots. Despite the fact that I was disappointed, Al Pacino gives a memorable performance as usual.

While some of the scenes from Scarface are lame and full of lame jokes, the other scenes will wanna make you applause!!! Some of the scenes include....

- The famous chainsaw torture scene.

- The part where Tony Montana and Manny Ray execute their former boss Frank Lopez who tried to have Montana killed. The irony of the scene is once Lopez's bodyguards abandon him to Montana, he begs for mercy and kisses Montana's feet.

- Who can forget, Tony Montana grabs a M4A1 equipped with grenade launcher and screams "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" before blasting Alejandro Sosa's gunmen into smithereens with a M4A1 equipped with a M203 Grenade Launcher. Montana proceeds to gun down dozens of Sosa's gunmen before being killed. Despite this scene being less than 2 minutes long, it remains one of the most memorable scene in motion picture history. This scene is also the highlight of the film.


Despite it's awesome legacy and popularity, I was kinda disappointed with Scarface although it proves to be a good gangster movie in it's own right. Definitely not as good as The Godfather but better than Righteous Kill(a film starring both Corleone's Robert De Niro and Al Pacino). GTA fans will enjoy it no doubt.

I'll give it 6 out of 10.

Poem for school magazine...

I was tasked to write a poem to be published in the school magazine... Let me know what you think...

Memories make life worth living for,
Some so good you will ask for more,
Some so bad you feel lower than the floor,
New experiences you never felt before,
Remains your heart till it beats no more,

Memories are like an open book,
Every nook and cranny there is something good to look,
We will love the good ones that we took,
Memories are like good recipes we love to cook,
Some memories will stick on us like a fishing hook,

Memories and experience can be used as tools,
People who are depressed in life are not cool,
People who don’t enjoy life are fools,
He who never enjoys life is worse than mules,
Because happiness is one of the golden rules,

Happy memories determine life’s intensity,
Your life can be either a dull desert or a bright city,
Some fools hate life they descend into insanity,
For all they see in life is calamity,
For such blind people what a pity,

Life is better if it’s positive so focus on fun,
Relax yourself by looking at the sun,
Go get high when you run,
Be happy because it’s a warm gun,
You look back satisfied when your time is done,

Life is comforting like the breeze that blow,
It is as beautiful as the pure white snow,
As significant as the stars that glow,
Life is a candle we must now blow,
Because the candle gives the light we must follow,

I might edit it in the future...

A Day Of Fatigue and Dissapointment...

OK... Today was the day for the Annual Parliamentary Bla Bla Bla Debate Competition...

First there was a assembly which roasted us in the sun as usual. Then we went to discuss about the debate stuff. I was tasked to observe our opponents and lots of lame shit came up.

Due to the fact that SMK Bandar was quite weak, we couldn't make the most of our chances. I wrote down some of the opponents traits and characteristics and other shit.

Then we went for recess and I received my writable CD's to burn during Jumble Sale. They said the customers had to choose the CD's already available. I said we should let customers choose their songs mana tahu someone want's to listen to Guns N' Roses.

I even suggested ROCK CD's at discounted price. HAHA but those pop-lovers objected. Lame. Then I went to Bilik Akses and helped Henna with her essay that was going to be published in the school magazine. It wasn't on Grammer mistakes but rather on "sentence enhancements". However her English higher than mine so I gave 2-3 phrases only.

I suddenly thought it was a good idea to write my own story for the school magazine. I typed down a draft involving the mafioso and his son. It is what I say a combination between The Godfather and The Last Don both written by Mario Puzo. But such a complex story would take a long time to tell. It was also kinda lame compared to the genius of Mario Puzo.

Then came the debate. Our team started smoothly by answering POI's accurately. When the CHWS came, we were pissed of because.
- There was supposed to be only 5 team members. CHWS had 7. WTF!
- The one to deliver the replying speech is the 2nd speaker, CHWS asked their 3rd speaker to deliver instead. Damn!

The CHWS team were talking cock the whole way. Their statements sometimes implifying that they agree with SMKSS and most of their points ran off course. Looked like we had a good chance to win despite the odds. Worst of all, POI's brought by the SMKSS team were not answered to be denied rudely or postponed till it was forgotten.

Guess what! The CHWS won. What is this madness? And the best speaker went to 1 American I dunno. The funny thing is she started her speech stating that she was the government in fact WE are the government. HAHA! What a joke, the best speaker couldn't know whose side she's on...

Our 3rd speaker Theva was devastated. I joked reciting Tom Hagen's lines from The Godfather Part II ..."This house owes us an apology Mr Speaker"... but I did it quietly so no one would notice. Then Willert came in looking rather moody and emo and he ignored me. Hey it's cool for me because he had a rough time.

I went back to class to see my class empty. I ran to the Physics and Chemistry lab to see if anyone was there but they were both empty. Then Mr TTS came and asked his usual cynical questions so I ran away. The library was empty either. I sat in my class alone and even the birds entered the class not knowing I was inside. I tried to catch one but failed.

Went home, told dad about the debate and wished him HAPPY FATHER'S DAY. I ate some good lunch and slept like a pig. I went to the computer to upload on Facebook and search for the usual stuff.

I learnt that Morgan Freeman molested his granddaughter. Then I was watching Al Pacino's video from Dog Day Afternoon. The famous "Attica! Attica!" scene. I thought of the movie as a very good plot. I had this crazy idea to use Dog Day Afternoon as a basis for my school magazine essay, replacing the Mafia story.

i took a Facebook quiz to see how gangster i am. I got 96% so I'm qualified to join the Corleone family...LOL... Now I'm finishing this post. I'm treating my family dinner in conjunction of Father's Day then got TTT later.

Bye now...

Left 4 Dead 2

The trailer for Left 4 Dead 2....

Scorpion Feeding...

Now I'm able to require good pictures of my scorpion eating because now the prey is a green grasshopper I caught in my house opposed to brown crickets...




This time I used a different method to feed the scorpion. I used a pair of pliers to grab the grasshopper by the wing and pushed it into the scorpion's mouth. This is the technique used by exotic pet owners in the USA as demonstrated in many YouTube videos.

The scorpion only grabbed after a few attempts much to my relief. I guess it was hungry after 3 days without food which is not unusual. As usual it didn't sting the grasshopper and ate it head first. Unlike the cricket, the grasshopper died quickly.

Then I saw a piece of cricket leg full of maggots in the enclosure. I read that these maggots are able to kill tarantulas so I removed them. The scorpion ate everything including the grasshopper's wings. All that's left is a small piece of leg that I removed quickly to avoid maggot infestation.

I was lucky to find a grasshopper in my compound. I don't know if I can rely on freshly caught insects instead of purchased crickets for my pet.

Difficult To Draw!!!

I've been trying to draw Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather for many weeks. Today alone, I sketched up to 5-6 failed portraits... Darn it...

When drawing Don Michael Corleone, the drawing looks like half Michael Corleone and half Antonio "Scarface" Montana. To all non gangster movie fans, Scarface and Michael Corleone are played by the same actor which is Al Pacino.

Scorpion Feeding...

When it comes to exotic pets, you know the animal is comfortable in the new environment if it eats. My scorpion ate this morning I mean early morning about 3AM. If your pet doesn't eat, you better release it before it dies but if it eats, VOILA! your money is well spent...

I was observing from my bed. My pet crawled to the water dish for a drink then entered it's flowerpot burrow. Then it stayed still with it's tail raised up and claws spread. That is a signal "Waiter! Where's my food".

There was already 2 crickets in the enclosure but it didn't notice. I dropped one more and the bug crawled into the burrow, right into the lion's den. At first nothing happened so I was kinda pissed of. Then I heard some noise. The two bugs brawled. The brawl was so big that the flowerpot came off, giving me a clear view. And I was relieved because it shows that my new pet is adapting well.

I didn't see the scorpion stinging the cricket. Maybe it didn't sting because the cricket was small compared to itself and small enough to be restrained with it's claws. i guess venom was precious and reserved for big meals like mice, lizards, frogs or bigger bugs.

The poor cricket was eaten alive and head first. Even after half of the head was gone, it was still struggling. I observed the scorpion's mouth and it was the ugliest mouth I've ever seen...LOL... It was like a second pair of claws in the mouth. It rips food into smaller pieces for the inner mouth parts to swallow. EWWW....

The scorpion's mouth...

Similar mouth parts right?

By the time the cricket's thorax was gone, the prey stopped moving. Then it continued eating. I tried taking photos but the colour of the cricket is same with the clour of the soil and rocks... BROWN... it's meant to camoflauge....

The dinner took at least 45 minutes. LONG EH? But it's definitely better to hear my accounts teacher bragging and nagging why my English is A1 and my accounts failed... Damn! And it's more fun than any lame experiment carried out in the school lab.

My New Pet....

I went to KL again. And I brought home a new pet... Guess what? It ain't a dog, kitten, bird, fish or rodent...


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An ARACHNID..... A scorpion....

I've been thinking of buying a tarantula for years now. But tarantulas are way more expensive and I'm a noob bug owner. So I opted for a scorpion instead because it's not very expensive and it's more hardy. And tarantulas can run faster than scorpions so who knows what happens if it escapes...

It is at least 4.5 inches long and it doesn't eat very often. One cricket will be good for 4-5 days. To save money I'll have to go out and catch bigs, lizards or frogs instead of buying crickets.

To arachnaphobic people(people who are scared of scorpions and spiders), It is possible to put the scorpion onto my hand if it is in the mood. If it's bo mood, it'll curl up it's tail and stinger and spread it's claws.


In it's enclosure...

Outside it's enclosure. The next picture will knock your socks off...



TAA DAAA!!!!!!

Call me crazy if you want....

Why Did The Stadium Fall?

Due to the fact that the world's government has the tendency to spread lies in order to cover up the truth, the collapse of the KT stadium is no exception...

They said it was an unstable structure, low quality material and other "in-the-box" remarks. Lame...

What if we think out of the box...

Maybe? Possibly? I don't know...

Random sketches...

I shot photos of some of the sketches in my notebook... Most of them are sketches of terminator robots...

There are many sketched but only a few I really put effort into them... I first sketched my favourite rock guitarists...

Slash drawing...

Buckethead drawing...


Due to the recent hype of Terminator Salvation, drawing the cyborgs hit my mind. My sketches are always based on the latest movies example when Transformers was out I drew Transformers and during The Dark Knight, I draw lots and lots of Joker and a little bit of Batman...
I drew this last week at school. In a funny way it looked more like Clint Eastwood than Arnold Schwarzenegger...

I went to the ICT room at school for some internet pictures and I drew a rough sketch of a terminator(T-800 from Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day) although it lacks certain details.

This one was done at Chemistry tution at TTT and it was on my chemistry book. This one I designed myself but it was based on the big brutish T-600 terminator from Terminator Salvation. I knew I had to do more....


I went home straight away draw a more accurate and detailed T-600 Terminator. Knowing the previous T-800 I sketched wasn't detailed enough, it got better...

A more detailed T-800 but the lower jaw is too big. I drew a big lower jaw because Arnold Schwarzenegger has a big chin HAHAHA...

Of all terminator drawings, I still can't draw the famous half man half machine face in which half of the face is Arnold Schwhatever... and another half is the robot skull...

It kinda looks like this....


So when Tranformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen comes out, you'll know what to expect... LOL...

The Long Holiday Part 2: KL Trip

Okay, the main reason for this trip is to attend my the wedding of the daughter-of-my-dad's-friend.

Still exhausted from the Redang trip, i slept 80% of the drive to Kuantan. There we ate a dim sum dinner and watched some TV. I slept quickly because I haven't slept enough during the camp.

The next day we were off to KL. Me, my sis and my mum went to KLCC while my dad went to check in the hotel. My mum said watching a movie was impossible due to inadequate time. I was lucky to get a ticket for Terminator Salvation. Which brings us to movie review number 1.
The movie had brought a lot of promise and potential. The critics either gave it a negative or mix response while fans gave it a positive review. My brother Jimbo said it was awesome. So I had to see for myself.

The Good Stuff of Terminator: Salvation.
- AWESOME! special effects.
- Plenty of scenes which show naked(without the skin) T-600 and T-800 endoskeleton.
- Gives the fans the highly anticipated Post-Apocalyptic setting.
- A good cast unlike Star Trek. Christian Bale as John Connor.
- One of the best scenes in the entire series. The T-800 goes after John Connor and Marcus Wright.

The Flaws of Terminator Salvation.
- No Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although there's a CGI Arnold face.
- Predictable plot.
- Lame dialogue.
- The concept of Marcus Wright being a endoskeleton robot with human heart and brain is kinda stupid.

- Many scenes in Terminator Salvation is similar to scenes in previous Terminator movies.
* There's a scene where the T-800 gets a molten metal bath(In Terminator 2, the T-1000 falls into a vat of hot metal and dies) but survives.

* Moments later, T-800 gets a bath of industrial coolant aka liquid nitrogen(Also in Terminator 2 The T-1000 crashes his liquid nitrogen truck and gets frozen.)

* The line "Come with me if you want to live."

* The line "I'll Be Back" is spoken by John Connor.

* A damaged T-600 who has lost it's legs crawls after John Connor(In Terminator a T-800 damaged in the same way crawls after Sarah Connor.)

* In Terminator, The T-800 chases Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese in an industrial factory. In Terminator Salvation John Connor and Kyle Reese are pursued by a Terminator in a Terminator making factory.

However, the appearance of the T-800 makes the film worth watching. Although we get a glimpse of the CGI Arnold Schwarzenegger, the T-800 skin is burned off after a minute.

I hoped Terminator Salvation could bring back the franchise to the quality of the first and second film after a disappointing Terminator 3 but it failed. It was a little bit better than Terminator 3 compared to Terminator and Terminator 2, it sucks. Kinda like how you compare The Godfather Part III with the first two movies. I give it a 5.5/10.

I then ate a Beef Sandwich for lunch and we went to that wedding. It was a Malay wedding held in a Putrajaya Convention Centre. Sounds big! Yea, the grandest Malay wedding I ever attended. But there was not enough food unlike Chinese dinners. We needed supper after the dinner so we went for Imbi Road Hokkien mee.

The next day, we went to Pavillion. We went to get some movie tickets and my friend works there. We chose Night At The Museum 2.
There the strangest thing happened. My friend said he would give the tickets for free. Me and sis got into some good seats. Even the drink and popcorn was free... WOW!... The movie was good but the first Night at the Museum was much better. But it wasn't all that dissapointing because I never had big expectations for this one unlike Terminator Salvation. I rate it 5.5/10. It was full of laughter and fun but the lack of involvement from characters from the first film brought it down.

There was a scene where the evil pharoah was recruiting bad guys. He already had Mafia Kingpin Al Capone, Napoleon Bonaparte and Ivan The Terrible. he rejected Oscar Grouch(From Sesame Street) and Darth Vader. The pharoah heared Darth Vader's iconic breathing and called him an asmathic. Vader then tried to force choke the pharoah but failed. He's just a wax figure.

The Jonas Brothers made a fairly entertaining appearance as 3 cupid fairies who are always singing. The first time I enjoyed anything regarding the Jonas Brothers.

After the show ended I went book-hunting at Times Pavillion. There was a discount on Angels and Demons but I couldn't be bothered. I looked into some Stephen King and Tom Clancy but most of all I was looking forward to add into my collection of Godfather novels and found just the thing....
The original The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo. This was the first of 4 Godfather novels and is definitely the best novel in the series.

That brings my Godfather collection to 3 out of 4 books.

Knowing I can't collect the 50++ Star Wars novels out there, I think I might have a complete Godfather collection in the near future. That's an offer I can't refuse. LOL.

The Long Holiday Part 1: Redang Camp

Ok so I joined the ELS summer camp. We gathered at the school bla bla bla bla bla.

Reached the island and took a long painful hike to the "pusat ko-ko". We ate lunch and it sucked but someone bought in some bak chang which the boys really appreciated. We got our bags frisked bla bla bla and entered our room. Dirty, full of dust and the mattresses were smelly and full of holes. I had a feeling like "I didn't really sign up for this" because I was hoping to join a bad ass camp that could kick start my holidays.

Then there was some kinda water confidence. I could not even lie on my back to relax watching the clear blue skies as there was always someone to splash at me. DANG! That night someone broke my guitar string so the only song I could play with my guitar is the power-chord-based GNR song "Dead Horse".

Then we needed to design our flags. I gave out a few ideas including a logo similar to the album cover of "It's 5 o Clock Somewhere" by Slash Snakepit. I finally setteled on a pirate doing the hula dance with a flower necklace, grass skirt and coconut bra. I added a Slash skeleton crunching his Les Paul.

There was an old saying "When the lights go out, the mice will play". This happened to us on the first night. Some of us had a Chinese karaoke, some laughed loudly and Arul, William and Asyraf built an army observational post. Armed with nothing but their will and flashlights, their mission: to see if any of the boys ahead of them did something naughty. One of the boys scratched his bird then they yelled " 'anonymous' garu p**** ". Then they played a weird sex audio and laughed and laughed. By this time the camp official got tired and barged into our room. Through my observation, his face was full of anger like a dragon awakened from a 2000 year hibernation.

The next morning, we woke up to find our feet to be freezing. After a horrible first day, I thought the second day to be full of promise. We then hopped of to Pulau Pinang but we didn't find any char kway teow. We saw fish and hot babes in bikinis LOL. We then did the traditional feed-the-fish with-bread thingy. I learned a new technique, stuffing your bread in a bottle and squeeze em out slowly. It was here I got nipped by a parrot fish. I also saw some giant clams, a deflated puffer fish/blow fish and the infamous trigger fish. There were some stone fish so I kept my feet up. Then there was a group of silly form 5 girls who were scared of fish. WHAT THE HECK? So I disturbed by putting bread in the middle of their circle. They screamed like in the Jaws movie but that was a 25-feet man-eating Great White Shark, these were 4-8 inch long cute colourful fish. Damn they need an education on marine life.

Then Willert sorta panicked as vigorously as those silly fish-phobia girls. He said he had a cramp. I reeled him in like a lifeguard...CHEH... Sohor banyok. I got him to relax by singing the Discovery Channel song "Boom-De-Ya-Da". The song fitted with the moment as we were in a place to show that the world is truly awesome. We sang the regular nature themed verses such as "I Love the fishes" or "I Love the Oceans" and I think it was Arul coming in with "I Love Bikini Girls" LOL.

After some good lunch, we went to Marine Park. Due to the cramp I had during the water confidence, I hurried to the shallows not wanting to drown. The deeper water 6 feet deep was full of corals but no fish. The shallows were much more interesting. There was a clown fish and anemone in water shallow enough for me to stand. I thought the clownfish to be the Ocellaris clownfish that we saw in Pixar's Finding Nemo. My favourite species is Ocellaris because I dislike the fat and dull one striped body of yellowtail or two band clownfish. Now I knew how Nemo got kidnap because as I was enjoying myself observing them, one of them got pissed off and swam straight at me in a pattern that says SHOO! SHOO! It flicked it's tail the same way we flick our hands to shoo people. The longer I stayed, the more closer it came. It came to at least 5 inches from my face. I thought, if I caught this fish and put it into an aquarium, will a pelican ith a mouth full of water and fish fly into my window.HAHA.

Next we went to the Laguna area at late noon. I and Willert went to the Pasir Panjang aka Tanjong Tengah area to see my favourite marine animal THE SHARKS! I remember venturing into this area with my dad when I was a small kid and those baby sharks were everywhere. But times have changed. We had to look hard for em so their numbers probably decreased. The good thing was there were no jellyfish like those days when I went with my dad. The sharks usually swam in groups of 2-5 sharks. Some fools forgotten their mask and grabbed others but eventually went to get their own. Due to my marine knowledge(Cheh.. sohor lagi), I told them not to spread your arms out when the shark approaches because it scares them. It may cause the sharks to flee and spoil everyone elses fun or lead the shark to bite you. I remember Michelle was friggin annoying due to impatience of seeing some sharks. The sharks were Blacktip sharks(Carcharhinus limbatus) and it's status was "near threatened" like many shark species. The babies were at least 3-4 feet long and were perfect replicas of their adults that can grow to 9 feet maximum. This particular shark eats mostly fish. I can describe the sharks as very elegant and beautiful. They never displayed their sharp teeth unlike the nasty evil grin of the dangerous Great White Shark. They were calm, minding their own business unlike the artificial shark in Jaws which kept nipping of human limbs. This are real sharks, not animatronics created by Steven Spielberg. My dad also told me bigger adults 6-7 feet long can be found in deeper waters in Redang. Blacktip sharks are also known to engage in asexual reproduction altough this is one in a million.

OK enough of sharks. We were supposed to have a barbecue and Pirates night but the electricity went down so Pirate Night had to be cancelled but I didn't give a damn about Pirate Night, I wanted my barbecue food. The food was AWESOME but I preferred last year's barbecue in Cheneh. That night was kinda quiet with me chatting with Willert and Choon Khai while reading Godfather: The Lost Years. When everyone else slept, I exchanged jokes with Asyraf and Arul for a while then we slept like pigs.

The next day kinda sucked. We woke up to the sound of Tay Vivian aka The Angry Pikachu screaming. GOSH! She's worse than my mother. The activity was fun though frustrating with me swimming with makeshift rafts. Due to lack of preparation, my raft busted. I grabbed the bucket from Willert and hurried back. I came in second behind William(Sukma swimmer) and was battling nausea and was forced to eat raw eggs. A combination of disgusting food, exhausted body and nausea proved too much for a couch potato for me and I vomited. Then I was mad, I yelled and cursed I don't know why.

We then went back and bathed, packed up and left Redang BLA BLA BLA BLA.

Reached home, bathed, used computer for a while and slept on my computer desk. My mom asked me to sleep somewhere else. Went downstairs to sleep for 30 minutes than I was whisked off. We were going to Kuantan then to KL.

How good the camp is? Depends on how you look at it. The snorkeling trips and your exposure to nature's magic is OUT OF THIS WORLD while the dorm's condition, canteen food and most of the group activities kinda sucked(no offense AJK's but nobody's perfect). If you keep bragging and bragging, the camp will suck but if you relax and look back at your memories full of fishes, splashed and water, the camp is reasonably good. Thank you ELS.


Photos....
Gay version of Titanic...

Crystal Clear Water...
I am Sand Man...
The most notorious Oceanic predator who ever swam the oceans. Willert the Doink(Homo Sapiens)
A group of lousy sea monkeys...

Don't play play... You may be looking at the SLASH or Steve Vai of the next generation....

Beautiful... The world is awesome... BOOM-DE-YA-DA!!!

The approaching storm on our last day...

To be continued to part 2: KL Trip, Terminator Salvation and Night At The Museum 2 Movie Reviews.