I know the Golden Globes Awards for this year is already over but I still want to squuueeeeeaaaaaaalll all over the fact that The Grand Budapest Hotel won the Best Picture, Musical or Comedy award!!!!!!!!

I love that little piece of whimsical madness so much, I really want it to win aaaaall the awards and receive aaaaall the recognition and accolades it deserves. I mean, just watch its trailer!

Come on now - does that trailer look delightfully fun or does that trailer look delightfully fun?

In case it isn't obvious from the trailer, this movie is about the life of a head concierge who teams up with one of his staff to prove his innocence after he is framed for murder. Aku febret tau cerita cerita gini.

I think the reason why I enjoyed this movie so much is because it has all the elements that I look for when I want to watch a movie: dark humour, quirky characters, gorgeous props and sets from another era, flamboyant wardrobe, witty dialogue, a little bit of suspense to make me want to sit tight to find out what happens next and next and next, all bundled up in a simple yet intriguing storyline - who dunnit?

Its star-studded cast also helps! I love when movies have more than 10 A-listed actors in its ensemble hehe. But even with all the star power, I know some people might find this movie a little too "indie" lah, too "quirky" lah, or too "artsy" lah for their taste tapi tu... dorang punya pasal and dorang punya loss lah. I really don't think that is the case, though, I'm a regular non-hipster non-indie 9-to-6 office worker and I enjoyed this very much lor. Just need to appreciate quirkiness a little more haha.

Super cannot wait for the Oscars award show on 22 February 2015 now to see whether The Grand Budapest will win their Best Picture pulak!!!!! Lagi lagi Neil Patrick Harris will be its host for the very first time and he is seriously the bomb dot com when it comes to hosting award shows (after Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, of course, THOSE TWO ARE MY QUEENS)

I have 4 weekends left to try and watch the rest of the nominees - I want to watch Selma, The Theory of Everything, Birdman, Boyhood, above anything else - but for now, I know I want The Grand Budapest Hotel to win awards in the following categories: Best Picture (of course), Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Make-up & Styling and Best Production Design. Mari kita lihat siapa yang kena!

Parkland

Last weekend, 51 years ago, something happened that would change the course of American history and would remain as one of the most riveting tragedies (or conspiracies, if you're into that kind of thing) of all time: the assassination of President John F Kennedy.

My fascination with this subject matter has been on and off over the years - something somewhere will reignite my interest and I will obsessively read about it all over again, even when there are no new facts to be examined. Now I'm thinking of re-watching 'Parkland', a movie which was released during its 50th anniversary last year. The plot summarized by Wikipedia:

Parkland weaves together the perspectives of a handful of ordinary individuals suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances: the young doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital; Dallas’s chief of the Secret Service; an unwitting cameraman who captured what became the most famous home movie in history; the FBI agents who were visited by Lee Harvey Oswald before the shooting; the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald, left to deal with his shattered family; and JFK’s security team, witnesses to both the president’s death and Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s rise to power.

Online reviews for the movie are so-so at best but personally, I quite liked it... maybe because I have a skewed interest in the assassination and its aftermath?

I think it's always tricky to create a movie based on something that everyone already knows the ending to, so the challenge is in trying to build the tension towards the ending... which the movie does pretty well, or is at least good enough for me. The movie is interlaced with actual footage from the event too! I like lah that sort of detail so don't mind me, please. Hehe.

If all of that does not spark any interest in you to watch the movie... ZAC EFRON IS IN THE CAST LAH HOW CAN YOU NOT TENGOK?! Haha! Honestly I wasn't a fan of Zac Efron when he was still a floppy-haired fetus in High School Musical (2006) but he caught my eye when he was in Hairspray (2007) and then officially sealed my love for him when he became a very convincing and charming delivery boy in New Year's Eve (2011). He is so yummy!!! If he was halal, mesti ZAC Butchery would've put him in their menu, mashaAllah banyak beristighfar sis. 

Saliheen and I are taking a break from running home-related errands this weekend so I'm hoping to squeeze in some time to watch/re-watch some movies, including Parkland (He still hasn't watched it wtf)

Let me know if y'all have movie recommendations too! I particularly enjoy movies with dark humour, movies with quirky characters like The Grand Budapest Hotel or those based on history or true stories like Dallas Buyers Club, Hotel Rwanda or Argo (even if they've been embellished by Hollywood)

It's Okay, Roommate

I've never really blogged in detail about my pet obsessions subjects like pop culture, the Youtube community and shows with specific audiences like the Korean variety show 'Roommate', for e.g., and it is mostly because I don't think people who read this blog would be interested to read that kind of stuff. 

But with the new blog layout, I've decided to also adopt a "new way" of writing for my blog, which is to no longer blog about what I think other people would want to read, but to blog more about stuff that I love and topics I want to blog about, which includes - you guessed it - Korean variety shows like 'Roommate'!

I don't know if I can keep this up but with Roommate S2 (which is now rebranded as 'It's Okay, Roommate') being more interesting and funnier than Roommate S1, I think I'll start posting my thoughts after I watch each episode every Tuesday on KShowOnline. You can click here to watch the episodes if you're interested!