It’s not that I mind watching romance comedy genre but I just don’t often head down specially to watch them. Most of the time I spend my money on heavy effects film. Since my sister said it was nice and the trailers looked interesting, I decided to watch this and it’s a good thing I did. It’s one of the few romance comedy that I really really enjoyed.

The plot is typical and very predictable. Even if I were to type the story out, I don’t think it’d be that big a spoiler Most people should already have guessed the storyline just by watching the trailers alone. What made this movie really stand out however wasn’t the story, partly it’s the romance but mostly it was the comedy. Sexist jokes are not new but the way it’s presented here made it enjoyable. The beginning is a little slow but once Gerard Butler appeared, the pace picked up and my friends and I couldn’t stop laughing through the show.

I’d especially recommend this film to friends that have the tendency to control their partners. Hello, you know who you are. Stop smiling. Just go watch it. Let’s see if you can handle the truth.

Being hailed all over the world as the most addictive game on facebook, Packrat’s influences were horribly damaging. I got hooked back onto it 9 days before my exams all because I discovered that I could actually combine lower level cards to create rare high level items. This was a crucial key to the game. Avoid compounding the cards and it will be impossible to finish any set unless you are an extremely lucky person. If you are one of the blessed souls, I suggest you stop playing and start buying 4D instead.

Previously, I stupidly vaulted multiple low level stuff or random rares that I salvaged from the rats; Then lost interest since it was so frustrating to finish any one set until that fateful discovery which almost ruined my examinations. Packrat is a greed based collection game where the objective is to steal and vault pretty cards and complete sets. A simple enough concept, yet so fatally addictive.

There are a few ways to play the game. The first is FFA (Free For All) which was how the game was originally designed to be played. Competitive style forces the players to lock their items and break locks of their fellow packrats in order to steal and complete their sets. I, for one, absolutely hate this method of playing.

The second most popular is Co-op (Cooperative) where minor communities are formed and help is given freely within the group to aid “members” in completing their sets. Some FFA players join under the cover of being Co-op and unscrupulously rob their friends blind. I’ve seen so many complaints on the forums. So far the solution is to create blacklists and swap them among the communities to deter such “crimes”.

The third style is what I’m going for - Hermit. I basically have very few friends. Anyone who does a FFA with me without warning is automatically being defriended. No offense to real life contacts I’ve deleted but there’s always friendster if you still want to stay connected.

Upon completion of any set, the player will receive a “Feat of Wonder” card. My very first set I completed was Ancient Realms which, not surprisingly, is my favourite.

The Feats of Wonder text were interesting to read. So far, Sugar Rush is the funniest:

Flapjickety! No more low-fat, low-cal, sugar-free desserts for you! Congrats on finishing the Sugar Rush collection. Grab a big spoon and a bowl of your favourite ice cream, sit back, and admire your shiny new “I’m an Anti-Dentite” card.

For newbies, here’s some useful resources for the game:

Card Recipes and Guides
Trading Post - Specifically for Retired Sets
General Trading Post - Found within the app itself

Enjoy!

As a sucker for the fantasy movies, this was put onto my to-watch list. Unexpectedly, among the choices of fellow movie-goers, I ended up watching it with Vincent - someone who isn’t into forking money out for LOTR, Harry Potter and the like. What’s even more surprising was that he said he actually enjoyed the movie. This just declared Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian safe to watch with non-fans of the genre.

In the first hour of the show, I was afraid that he’d fall asleep like he jokingly declared he would. The general public should find the front part slow while it was building up the background story and plot. It was almost disconnected from the first one but I actually enjoyed the initial plot development. Then again, a movie is already moving much faster and more visually interesting to me than reading my paper bound Dragonlance chronicles.

The movie opened with scenes in Narnia where the son of a ruthless Lord was born, prompting him to order the execution of the puppet heir Caspian. The ever alert tutor saves Caspian, helps him escape and hands him a relic that summons the four protagonists from the first movie back. The general outline of the story is predictable so I shan’t waste time typing the obvious. One part of the plot I don’t get is the scene where Lucy asked why didn’t Aslan appear and fight with them to which he replied, “The same things never happen twice.” The same scene was shown again during the final battle. I guess that means it was important or had a message which I completely did not get. I’m still scratching my head trying to understand that part till now. It almost seemed redundant.

Personally, I’ve never watched the first movie because it was reviewed to be a children’s movie which usually translated to simple plots like “The Water Horse” (which by the way bored me out of my mind). The second movie was said to be for people preferred a darker and older story.

I’ve read that battle scenes are nothing new and very similar to the first movie. but there are at least two distinct parts that made me go “LOTR rip off”. I suppose these were in the original C.S. Lewis book. For one of them, a particular water-based effect was done miles better in LOTR. But for the other one, I preferred this film for having more believable or realistic behaviours.

Cast wise, they weren’t bad except for Anna Popplewell. The older female lead identified as Susan (or Phyllis if she prefers) looked really bored and monotonous throughout the entire movie no matter what she does. Be it flirting with Caspian or sinking arrows into enemies, she was effortless at maintaining a “Let’s get this scene over with” tone and expression. I was almost cheering when she rejected Caspian (still expressionless) and said she’ll never be coming back to Narnia again. Oh yeah!

The movie spends quite a bit of time on characters. The two characters that caught most of my interest is perhaps Edmund and ‘DLF’. Edmund speaks little but does more as directly opposed to his older but more immature brother. I just love ‘DLF’ for his scathing sarcasm delivered by the grumpiest face in all of Narnia.

What made this movie good for the general public is the humour. It made this movie even more enjoyable to watch. I’d say Stardust and CoN:PC are comparable in terms of that. If fantasy types don’t turn you off, please go and watch this. Despite the high predictability, the show is still good to watch. I may be bias but even Vincent said it was worth his money.

Ratings: 7.5/10

Mother’s Day just passed. Usually every year it’d be quite boring. We just give a small gift or a token and do the pleasantries and that would be it.

This year, I happen to be feeling kind of loaded. Just thought it’d be nice to treat my parents for once. I usually get forced to "treat" them which defeats the very purpose of a treat. It’s the very first time I did this willingly, possibly because my parents have been overwhelmingly nice these past few months. Yes, both my parents. The treat was switched to commerating Parents’ Day instead since I’m treating both.

My parents are kind of picky with food so I had to choose something that I’m confident they’ll like and yet not blow a hole in my pocket. The final venue chosen was Manhatten Fish Market at Plaza Singapura. I tried to make a reservation but they told me that it’s full. Instead, I was told I would be put on the waiting list. My father made my mother drive us to town and it’s supposed to be Mother’s Day.

When I arrived, there was NO crowd at all. It’s only half filled. And my name wasn’t even on the list. We still got seats of course. I took the grilled fish of the day and my sister took what looked like fish and chips with rice. My fish was dory while hers was pallock (spelt like this?) . I recommended my parents their signature dish - seafood platter for two. They later commented that it was more for three. All of us also added the side set, consisting of a soup of the day and a huge glass of ice tea.

My sister’s and mine came first and we immediately dug in. I love their garlic sauce. Both our dishes had that. Actually, most of MFM’s dishes uses a lot of garlic. Even their rice is a blend of garlic and butter. I like my food with a lot garlic so I’m definitely not complaining. MFM have a custom of flaming their prawns in front of the customers. Unfortunately when my parent’s order came, the waitress who did the flaming decided to do it behind them. They couldn’t really see. That was a horrible choice of position - a complete waste of time and showmanship.

The platter consists of batter-covered fish and mussels, fried calamari, flame-grilled prawns with garlic rice and fries. Their favourite part of the platter were the prawns and the fish. They especially liked the sauce on the prawns. At first we thought the sauce was cheese but found that it wasn’t. We’re still not sure what it is. The fish was smooth and the batter was crispy and nice. They said it was akin to Long John Silvers which I disagree. MFM is so much better. The calamari was pretty much left alone though. Fries too but that was because they were full already. I took most of their garlic rice. My dish had too little rice. Luckily, I was able to supplant that with theirs. My parents liked the food said they wouldn’t mind coming again.

Oh! We were also given free coasters and my mother had some… paper stand resembling a photo frame which instead of a photo, has a decorative paper that describes Mother’s Day. That’s as close as I can describe it.

Then we took some lousy quality pictures with our handphones since everyone forgot to bring the digital camera. More or less it was quite fun and everyone was happy. My wallet unfortunately took a $100 hit, well worth the price for the food and laughter.

Being a huge fan of Theme Hospital, I had mixed feelings when I heard of Hospital Tycoon. Sure, the graphics look good, but the overwhelming success of Theme Hospital are big shoes to fill. There will be comparisons, afterall they are hospital based tycoon games.

After many months of delay, I finally got Hospital Tycoon installed. Installation was smooth, the game took rather long to load but it was still alright. After the usual film sequences, I was taken to the menu which looked cute and fun. So far so good. Then it went straight to hell.

There were two modes - story mode and sandbox. I picked story mode since the game didn’t look complex. The first scenario was practically idiot proof but I managed to run into problems. So much for addressing me as manager of the hospital. I can’t command my doctors to do what I hired them for. They’ll only treat patients when they feel like it. Instead, I am somehow given power over relationships between my staff. If my staff is to run on AI, at least make it smarter. While my doctor is kissing his nurse, his patient is dying right outside his room. In the end I failed the level since the patient died.

Dumb staff AI aside, the patient AI is not much better. The receptionist could only register patients one at a time so while she was occupied, they’d do things like use a magazine stand. I placed two near the receptionist and another two across the room. I deduced that the fourth and furthest stand must be holding porn magazines because all the patients refuse to go to the other three nearer stands. Also, even if patients are 1% away from death, they sometimes prefer to stand then to choose an empty seat one tile beside them.

In the entire story mode, you get to run three hospitals, four times each. Story mode was such that there are four scenarios for each hospital and each time it was a progression of the plot from the previous scenario. What gets on my nerves is that after I complete a scenario, the hospital “resets” with all the rooms I added gone. Instead, I get a pre-determined template of the developer’s idea of how the hospital should be for that scenario. Granted it makes the story’s movie sequence accurate but this is a tycoon game. The interference is really annoying.

Enough of hospital administration. What’s a tycoon game without money? As far as money management go, it is rather poor. I command over 20 staff sometimes but I can’t see their wages. There’s no financial chart. As a result, I have a rather vague idea of my finances. Then again, the money making aspect of this game is too simple. All I have to do is to walk off to make coffee and return. And if I still do not have enough money, I just need to wait even more.

The game does still have a few saving graces. I like the idea of the story mode. It’s the only reason why I played finish all 12 scenarios. Hospital Tycoon inherits Theme Hospital’s winning humour. Diseases and treatment methods are as good and as hilarious. I like watching the skeleton (it’s a room decor item) do funny poses when no one is in the room. I really like the graphics. They make the game look really cute and fun.

Hospital Tycoon reeks of rushed development. It’s a real pity. I felt that it could have been a great game if they throw in more stuff, fix the bugs and come up with a better AI. The game is too simple. In short, it’s disappointing.