Ola Bola

Dear Diary,

Kita menang sama-sama, kita kalah sama-sama
You will believe again

Quoted from Ola Bola

Traditional Dances at Altinocak Restaurant, Cappadocia, Turkey, Nov 2012

Dear Diary,

Our fifth day in Turkey was pack with activities from early morning up until middle of the night. After a pit stop at Pasabag Valley for taking pictures, we went back to our hotel, refreshed ourselves, dined scrumptious buffet dinner then we gathered at the lobby for another activity. Remember our lunch at an underground cave restaurant, Altinocak Restaurant. That night after dinner, we went to the restaurant again. This time not for culinary experience but for cultural and folklore shows.

Light refreshments of mixed nuts, fresh fruits and Turkish Delights were served to us. From the listed shows, I was looking forward to watching Sufi whirling and belly dancing. Whirling dance was the first performance. There were two male dancers. One of them looked very deep in trance. It seemed as if he was hypnotized and was in another realm. It was surreal. For more in depth info, please click here.

Next, we enjoyed several upbeat traditional dances. The performances were lively and pleasurable.

As the night grew longer, our eyes were droopier. We were up from before dawn and we were dead tired! Furthermore, the kids started to act up. In the middle of the show, all of us unanimously agreed to call it a day. We longed for our beds and rests.

By going back early, we didn’t get to watch belly dancing though. Lucky, I already watched it at Colossae Spa & Thermal Hotel in Pamukkale.

Because You Loved Me

Dear Diary,

BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME

by Celine Dion

For all those times you stood by me

For all the truth that you made me see

For all the joy you brought to my life

For all the wrong that you made right

For every dream you made come true

For all the love I found in you

I'll be forever thankful baby

You're the one who held me up

Never let me fall

You're the one who saw me through

Through it all

You were my strength when I was weak

You were my voice when I couldn't speak

You were my eyes when I couldn't see

You saw the best there was in me

Lifted me up when I couldn't reach

You gave me faith coz you believe

I'm everything I am

Because you loved me

You gave me wings and made me fly

You touched my hand I could touch the sky

I lost my faith, you gave it back to me

You said no star was out of reach

You stood by me and I stood tall

I had your love I had it all

I'm grateful for each day you gave me

Maybe you don't know that much

But I know this much is true

I was blessed because I was loved by you

You were my strength when I was weak

You were my voice when I couldn't speak

You were my eyes when I couldn't see

You saw the best there was in me

Lifted me up when I couldn't reach

You gave me faith coz you believed

I'm everything I am

Because you loved me

You were always there for me

The tender wind that carried me

A light in the dark shining your love into my life

You've been my inspiration

Through the lies you were the truth

My world is a better place because of you

You were my strength when I was weak

You were my voice when I couldn't speak

You were my eyes when I couldn't see

You saw the best there was in me

Lifted me up when I couldn't reach

You gave me faith coz you believed

I'm everything I am

Because you loved me

I'm everything I am

Because you loved me

Hero

Dear Diary,

Specially for my babies..... THERE'S A HERO LIES IN YOU

HERO

~ by Mariah Carey ~

There's a hero

If you look inside your heart

You don't have to be afraid

Of what you are

There's an answer

If you reach into your soul

And the sorrow that you know

Will melt away

(chorus)

And then a hero comes along

With the strength to carry on

 And you cast your fears aside

And you know you can survive

So when you feel like hope is gone

Look inside you and be strong

And you finally see the truth

That a hero lies in you

It's a long road

And you face the world alone

No one reaches out a hand

 For you to hold

You can find love

If you search within yourself

And the emptiness you felt

Will disappear

(chorus)

Lord knows

Dreams are hard to follow

But don't let anyone tear them away

Hold on

There will be tomorrow

In time you'll find the way

(chorus)

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Dear Diary,

If you want to chase your stress away and forget about worldly matters for a while, you should watch Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. This movie is super duper hilarious!!!!! I was laughing my heart out all throughout the film. Yes, the entire length of the film! Though it’s a cartoon movie, surprisingly we adults can enjoy it too. This fast paced action packed comedy will definitely leave you breathless and make you sit on the edge of your seat.

Another plus point for Madagascar 3 is its string of melodious songs. Each song composed is in synced with scenes on silver screen. Not only the songs are catchy but they’re also in harmony with the scenes being portrayed.

Madagascar 3 is an animation film directed by Eric Darnell, Conrad Vernon and Tom McGrath. Famous actors who lend their voices are Ben Stiller (Alex the Lion), Chris Rock (Marty the Zebra), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria the Hippo) and David Schwimmer (Melman the Giraffe). The four buddies along with several other friends traveled throughout Europe with a traveling circus in their attempt to go back to their home, Central Park Zoo. Somehow, they ran into some problems with a French official who is determined to catch them. Along the way, they forged strong friendship with the circus animals.

GSC Tropicana City Mall

Watching this movie brought back memories of outings with my parents and siblings to circus in a tent just like the one which the Madagascar buddies joined.

* Source Yahoo!Movies

Snow White & The Huntsman

Dear Diary,

When I was a little girl, I read both local and foreign fairy tales. I am familiar with stories of Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, Badang, Sinbad, Aladdin, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, etc. One of the princess fairy tales is Snow White. I bet most of us know the story very well.

Many months back, I got the chance to catch an adult and more serious version of our childhood Snow White tale. The movie entitled Snow White & The Huntsman, is directed by Rupert Sanders and starred by Kristen Stewart (Snow White), Chris Hemsworth (The Huntsman) and Charlize Theron (Queen Ravenna).

The film possesses the same storyline but with some modern twists. There’s The Queen who hates Snow White and there’s also The Huntsman who was hired by The Queen to kill Snow White. To spice up the story, there’re dwarves, poisoned apple and prince charming too.

As we all already know, The Huntsman didn’t kill Snow White. She lives. BUT she doesn’t just accept whatever life has for her. Snow White fought back instead. The Huntsman who is supposed to be her killer, becomes her mentor. Together, they wage a war against Ravenna.

In my humble opinion, there’re certain parts of the movie that I felt a bit boring and dragging too long. Maybe it’s just me. Well, I don’t really like Kristen Stewart’s way of acting. On the contrary, Charlize Theron plays her role superbly.

I strongly feel that Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) is far more beautiful than Snow White (Kristen Stewart).  I fall in love with Chris Hemsworth when he was Thor for the first time, now I fall in love again with him as The Huntsman.

* Sourced from Yahoo!Movies

Marvel's The Avengers

Dear Diary,

On the fateful day of street demonstration Bersih 3.0, we went for a movie at e@Curve. We’ve set our eyes on Marvel’s The Avengers. There were several shows for the film and all of them were sold out! Fortunately, we managed to grab our tickets.

Marvel’s The Avengers is a superhero action movie directed by Joss Whedon. An all star casts of Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawk Eye), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) is more than a good enough reason to attract moviegoers.

Earth is under threat from impending war initiated by Loki, Thor’s stepbrother. He’s jealous of Thor and full of vengeance because he cannot become king. So, he planned to invade Earth by raising an army named Cauthari. He came down to Earth from another realm and stole Tessaract (an energy source). He started working using the energy source to open up a gateway portal for his alien army to attack our planet.

Nick Fury assembled a group of freaks or people with special gifts to fight Loki. These special people, named Avengers, are Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawk Eye and The Incredible Hulk. Each has his or her own character with special talents. Iron Man is a stuck up filthy rich businessman, Hulk is an intelligent introvert scientist who can turn into a ferocious beast, Thor is a skillful suave warrior, Captain America is a naive old-fashioned hero, Hawk Eye is a quiet accurate archer and last but not least Black Widow is a gorgeous sexy moderator.

In the beginning, all of them cannot get along. They like to boast and pick fights. They want fame and put themselves above everyone else. Each has their own agenda. Semua nak tunjuk hero! Bersatu teguh, bercerai roboh. After a good push from Nick Fury, they start to bond and cooperate. Together they are able to face whatever hurdles that stand in their way to save the world. When they team up and combine forces, they can easily overtake the enemy.

Best! Best! Best!!!! What more can I say? Memang puas hati la tengok filem ni. Imran and Zarra were overexcited. Siap berangan sorang jadi Iron Man sorang jadi Hawk Eye. Mama lak dok angau kat Thor :-)

* Sourced from Yahoo!Movies

Battleship

Dear Diary,

At last, I’m done with raya stories. Let’s continue where we left off, shall we? Oh dear, I have so many overdue entries to be posted.

During the new Agong’s installation holiday in April, we went for a movie treat. Hubby chose to watch Battleship. I was skeptical at first because I thought it’s gonna be another typical alien invasion movie. Boy, I was totally wrong!

Battleship is a war action movie and yes it has aliens in it. But it’s definitely not another stereotype alien movie. The movie is directed by Peter Berg and starred by Taylor Kitsch (Lieutenant Alex Hopper), Alexandra Skarsgad (Commander Stone Hopper), Rihanna (Petty Officer Cora ‘Weps’ Raikes), Brooklyn Decker (Sam Shane), Tadanobu Asano (Captain Yugi Nagata) and Liam Neeson (Admiral Shane).

Although alien existence is still unknown for sure, this film is realistically believable. Both sides of the war fight to outdo each other in showing prowess in tactical intelligence. All humans on Earth regardless of background work hand in hand to evade world invasion from an outside force. Ironically, in this movie Japan cooperates with USA against global enemy. Japan even shares its trade secrets and war tactics. How bizarre given both nations’ history!

Aliens, as always, are equipped with very smart advanced technology. Their “army” destroys anything that poses as a threat but spares anything that is harmless. Their sophisticated technology can detect which is which.

In my opinion, for this type of movie in order to enjoy maximum satisfaction, it should be watched at a cinema. In a cinema hall, you’d be more engrossed in the storyline with the help of good sound system that enhances your movie experience. Unless you own a mini theater or have cool sound system at home that is.

Source from here