MOVIE REVIEW - "ESCAPE PLAN"

[a movie watched on 12th October]

This was an old story being retold in a new movie - how prisoners planned to escape from jail, hence the title. Of course, the heroes would always succeed in doing that - no matter how sophisticated and modern the prison is. One reason why this movie is interesting: two veteran actors starring as the main roles (or could it be the other one was only playing the supporting role?). Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger looked old but of course they were strong enough to have numerous fights and eventually, escape from hell. If I were to rate the level of violence for this movie in the continuum of 1 to 10, I would award 6.5. In other words, the fighting actions would be tolerable for younger viewers. So you can watch kids, my recommendation. I am sure you have all seen worse than this.

THE LAST TIME WATCHING A MOVIE AT GSC PELANGI LEISURE MALL

12th October ~ I neither bowl nor smoke sisha, and I don't sing in karaoke but I watch movies, once in a while. My favourite cinema was situated at Pelangi Leisure Mall, the oldest cineplex in Johor Bahru town. A few reasons why I liked the place: (1) It was near my house so I could just drive there anytime I wanted when the urge to watch a movie arose - even at 12:00 a.m. on my own, without being accompanied by anybody; (2) The parking fare was cheap - it was just RM1 per entry and at one time it was free of charge, or if people went out late after watching a midnight, the parking booth where we should be paying for the parking would already be closed and we just drove off like that.

Unfortunately, the place was getting too old to compete with other new and modern cinemas around town. People had turned away to other places to watch movies and the cineplex in Pelangi Leisure Mall had to be closed down on the 17th October. 

The last movie outing here on the 12th of October was to bid "goodbye" to this place where I had watched numerous movies: English, Malay and Chinese. What is going to happen next, I do not know. Is it closed for renovation and upgrading, or will it be closed forever?

For one thing, I am going to miss this place, a lot. Thank you GSC Pelangi Leisure Mall for all the fun, good time.

HI-TEA FOR ANGKLUNG GROUP AT MUTIARA HOTEL

26th October ~ The plan to have a hi-tea session angklung was finally executed today. As I was the one in power (ha.. ha..) I chose my favourite venue for hi-tea: Mutiara Hotel Johor Bahru. One simple reason: the food was good. I was the one to arrive earlier so while waiting for the busload of people to arrive, I had the chance to take photos of the place and what more. there were not many people at that time.

The activity started after they were all seated at their tables and given the shortest briefing ever. I thought these people could sit and eat-all-they could for a longer period of time, but I better let them off before they started to lie down on the floor.

Before going back, we had the exchange-the-gifts session among the members of the group, just for the fun of it. They looked happy.

I would like to thank the parents of one of the group members for contributing some money for the hi-tea, which was something really unexpected. May Allah repay your kindness and generosity.


Also, thank you to all the Angklung Group members for the time and I hope that you had enjoyed the food and the company of friends as well. For the fifth formers who will be leaving school real soon, thanks a lot for the commitment and contribution given for the group and don't forget us here once you have left.

As for the others, we still need to work harder next year because we will need to recruit new members which means more intensive practice. And at the same time, you will all have to think of activities to raise funds if you want to have another hi-tea for the group.

ATTENDING THE ANNUAL MEETING, FOR THE LAST TIME

I was away for five days, from the 21st to the 25th of October, attending an annual meeting for the 15th time. (Now you can all guess my real age.)Nevertheless, this could be the last formal meeting of its kind for everyone in this big group so it was sad as we might not be able to see each other again after this.

The meeting was held in Empress Hotel in Sepang. The positive point of this venue was the food was good. On the other hand, people did not know where to go especially when they had their free time in the evening.

my ex-coursemate from college

people from Johor

the smaller discussion group

I must say I have enjoyed myself tremendously to contribute to this job every year. Actually, the fun part was to make new friends and to meet old friends, especially people in my own smaller group. In fact, I could say, everybody was looking forward to this annual affair. I had also met one friend whom had been my loyal roommate every year without fail.

Whatever is going to happen next, we do not have any idea but I do hope the friendship among people who have been involved in this formal gathering will continue to flourish.

SUNDAY IS ATTEND-A-WEDDING DAY

Actually I attended two wedding receptions today. The first one was of a many-doors-away neighbour and the one I am going to highlight was of a family friend. I arrived a bit too early so I waited for the arrival of the bridegroom, something which I rarely do. It was a wedding of someone whom I have known she was still a baby and now she has become someone's wife already.

The event was held on the ground floor of the flat and the guests of multicultural society could be seen mingling around and enjoying the food.

laksa Johor

lempeng with sambal

Other than the compulsory "nasi minyak/briyani", to my delight, I could choose something else . "Laksa johor" (a local dish - spaghetti with thick fish gravy and other ingredients) was also served to the guests. One more type of special food was the "lempeng" (traditional pancake) which was fresh from the pan and could be eaten with "sambal" (meshed chilli).

negotiation taking place

It is a local practice here, when the bridegroom arrive, he has to go face multiple "barricades". In order to pass through these obstacles, he would have to pay a small sum of money, something like the payment for toll, before he would be allowed to sit together with the bride.

kompang group

silat to welcome the bridegroom

second barricade

third barricade

the last one

united finally

with the parents and siblings

Wishing Radiah and Rudy a blessed and joyous marriage life ahead of them and I am expecting to see more people when the family comes visiting for Eid.

A SMALL GATHERING WITH OLD FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE

24th October - A group of people from UPM TESL batch 1993 got together in Sepang for a mini gathering. Although the meeting was held outside Kuala Lumpur this time, we still managed to gather a few people who were staying nearby like Puan Wendy Chan (who had come earlier the day before to see us), Puan Maizurfidar Anom Abdullah and Puan Siti Rohani Awang, while Puan Zanariah Abdul Shukor had to travel further to our meeting place.

Wendy, being a local, took us this one eating place named "Aunty Aini's Garden Cafe". As usual, the session was started by one of the things we could do well: posing for the cameras.

We all liked the place very much. Everybody decided to go slightly western for this brief rendezvous and the food was good. Too bad we could not stay that long but we were glad that we could meet and chat with each other. I think we should organize a gathering for the group by December, we should be celebrating our 20th convocation anniversary this year.

the friendly Kak Aini, the owner of the restaurant

Thanks a lot to all my friends who had spent their precious time to come to see me and Hanita Kassim when we were in Sepang. I am looking forward to meeting you all again in the near future.

By the way, I was just told by my friend, Kak Aini had appeared with the chef from hell, Ramsay Gordon, in one of his programmes and I managed to find the video on youtube.