Archive for May, 2008

Are you a Horror movie fan? Do you like to watch blood curling movies with lots of gory scenes and lots of scare factor? I am a horror movie fan but I haven’t watched one in years. I think they seem to be making them scarier and more and more spooky these days. The horror movies of the old days seem meek and tame in comparison.

If you like scary movies, then you’d want to check out Frontier(s) which is out in select US theaters on May 9.  Be warned that this movie is not for the faint hearted and definitely not for children since it is unrated and uncut. Just watching the trailer spooked me big time. I normally enjoy horror movies but this one looks a bit too scary for me. Its got a lot of sadistic gore and violence. I’m afraid I can’t stomach it. I’m getting chicken hearted in my old age but I can imagine that the true horror movie fans will enjoy this.

Its about a couple of young thugs on the run from a bold heist who hides out in a seemingly peaceful inn not realising that they have stumbled into something more terrifying than anything they could ever imagine.

If you are not chicken hearted like me you can make a beeline to the theater but if you don’t think you can handle it on the big screen, you can always wait for the DVD release which is just 4 days later on May 13th. Then you can watch it at home curled up in your own bed with pillows at hand to cover your face when necessary. But I’m not sure if you would be able to sleep afterwards!

 

Remember I wrote about the upmarket Gurney Drive in KL at The Gardens, Mid Valley? Well recently we took Dad there to savour some of his favourite Penang food and were pleasantly surprised to see that the prices had been revised downwards.

The first time I went there most of the hawker foods were priced at RM15 per plate. This time I saw that most of them were priced around RM12.50++ for large portions and RM8++ for small or single portions. They are smart to reduce the price in this manner. Previously the single portion costs RM15 and there were no large or small portions. 

Lets compare. In our previous visit we ordered Sar Hor Fun, Ark Tui Mee Suah, Satay (One Dozen) and Prawn Omellette plus warm water all round. The meal came up to a whopping RM70 plus.

This time round we ordered Sar Hor Fun, Penang Hokkien Char, Koay Teow Th’ng, Curry Mee, Penang Chee Cheong Fun (which is very different from the KL variety in case you don’t know), Lobak, Chendol and Bor Bor Cha Cha. The meal came up to RM60 plus.  We got much more food than the previous visit plus dessert too at a lesser price. It is still expensive but not exorbitant like before.

And its great to see a price reduction somewhere with prices rising everywhere. Even my wholemeal bread costs about 20 cents a piece now!

With prices coming down to about the same as what you would get at a food court, it is much more reasonable now. This place looks very much like a food court actually but you don’t go to the individual stalls to order. You order from a menu and the food is served to you like a restaurant.  The food plus which place or road it comes from in Penang is listed beside it ie whether it comes from Pulau Tikus or Green Lane or whatever road. Apparently 16 cooks were brought here specially. There is no need for self service. So with better service and about the same prices as most food courts makes it worth a visit now compared to previously.

Before we left, hubby pointed to the pile of stones at the signage outside and told Dad that they had been brought in from Gurney Drive, Penang. That made Dad smile. And that makes it even more worth the visit. Its hard to get Dad to smile these days. Most days he is rather quiet and answers in monosyllabus.

I don’t have pictures but if you want to see pictures and read more about the Gurney Drive in KL at The Gardens, Mid Valley, you can go here.

Yup! These things can only happen to me. The first time I want to hire a maid, she fails her medical and gets sent back.

Now, the first time I use a cash deposit machine. It eats up my money!

I had keyed in my account number, slipped in my dollar notes and then a message came on, something about a mechanical error and next thing I knew, the machine read “This machine is out of service.” OMG! Its not a cash deposit machine. Its a money guzzling monster and it ate my money!

There was no bank staff or even a guard around who could help. Fortunately there was a good samaritan using the next machine who looked for the bank’s telephone number on her receipt slip and gave that to me to call. So sweet of her. She could have just ”pretend dunno” and walked out but she didn’t. There are still nice people around.

It was Sunday evening but the number was a customer service number so fortunately there was someone who could take my call. The customer rept told me that she would do up a report for me and send that to her HQ. Later on when the bank branch does the reconciliation with the HQ they would be able to trace the transaction and credit the money into my account if there is no discrepancy. I gave them my location, time of banking, amount, account number and some other verication of identity. I was told it will take 3-7 days for the issue to be resolved. Phew! Hopefully there is no discrepancy and thank goodness I didn’t kick the machine. Hahaha.

So, the next time if the same thing happens to you, take note of the time and call the bank immediately so they can trace your money back to you.