Constable Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a hard-core cop in London, whose job is pretty much his life, but he founds that he has been "promoted-demoted" to serve in the small village of Sandford, populated by sweet and too-relaxed people. His partner Danny Butterman, a local, is his antithesis - an obese cop who dreams of the action he watches in American movies. The job is killer-boring until a series of apparently accidental deaths start to happen.
Think "Midsummer Murders" mixed with "Die Hard", add lots of spoof-like moments, parody acting, crazy twists and turns (although the mystery is not as predictable as you might think), and, more importantly, lots of English wittiness.
It is the settings, the dialogues, the script (by director Wright and actor-writer Pegg), the humour, how well (un)matched the characters are, and the great performances of the all-star English cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Steve Coogan, and Martin Freeman among others.
One of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. Unpretentious. Fresh. Entertaining - A comedy that actually makes you laugh. Bingo!
The Mood of Love, called in Chinese "The Flourishing days" or "the Age of Blossoms", is a stylish sophisticated movie about the golden era of Hong Kong in the 1950s and the tricky paths of love. This is the prequel to Kar Wai Wong' 2046.
Journalist Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung) rents a room in an block of apartments, next door to secretary So Lai-zhen (Maggie Cheung), who moves in the same day. Although both are married, we never see their partners, but soon we learn that they were having an affair and have escaped together. The abandoned couple wonders how that romance started and developed, and try to re-enact the paths that brought their ex-partners together.
This is a movie about how important timing is in love, to be ready to accept love and be loved, and movie about silent secrets. A movie about being unloved despite loving. This is a slow cooking romance with a traditional courtship with barely any flesh or sex on display (just one of the bonus images in the DVD show something), still it has a great sensuality. Dialogues are less important than glances, body language, touch and old courtship codes are.
Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung have a great chemistry in camera and this is very important in a movie like this, that relies on physical attraction, unspoken and understated gestures to develop the romance. All the supporting actors are fine in their respective characters.
As all Wong's movies, the visual style is stunning, with intense yummy warm colours, luscious personal characterisation, decoration and attention to the detail, from the music to the dresses, from the food to the attitudes of the characters. The Hong Kong and Singapore of the 1850s is magnificently brought to life here. The cinematography is full of artistry. The music is beautiful, a mix of Latin-American boleros repetitively sang by Nat King Cole, which were very trendy in Hong Kong and Singapore at the time, mixed with some Chinese classical pieces. The music truly helps to build the mood of the movie.
Food is very important in this movie. In fact, Kar Wai Wong, intended to focus on that, and call it Three Stories About Food, but ended just focusing on the story A Story About Food, which is the one in this movie. You will notice how important are local eateries in the movie, both as a way of socialising, meeting new people, and eating. Moreover, many of the dishes prepared and mentioned in the film are seasonal, related to specific periods of the calendar, and therefore they act as a culinary almanac of the movie. This is very difficult to notice if you don't know much about Chinese culinary culture.
One of those movies that really gets under your skin, and stays with you for a long time, despite its apparent simplicity. A classic romance movie that men will love to watch, too. Beware, this is a slow movie. Be patient and you'll be rewarded.
Grand class
Corner Beaufort St & Vincent St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 9227 1910
Facebook
Hours:
Mon-Thu 7:00 - 19:00
Sat-Sun 8:00 - 17:00
Veggie Mama is a cute small vegetarian café-restaurant that stands out for its wonderful vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free food. Anything on display looks yummy and fresh. Everything I tried tasted great, and the portion sizes were decent. I am not a vegetarian, but I do love vegetarian food, especially if it is well cooked, fresh and tasty, and Veggie Mama has it all. I missed some well-cooked winter dishes, but I was there at an odd time of the day and most of their hot dishes were gone, so that might be the reason.
THE PLACE - The ambience is quiet, relaxed, the decor clean and functional, and the layout cozy and welcoming with three different areas of privacy, lovely traditional wooden furniture and cushioned wall benches, plus the free Wi-Fi and daily newspapers. Really nice.
One thing that Veggie Mama needs to change -they should, they must, ohhh super-mega-please!- is the music. Music creates the ambience of a place - or destroys it. I thought I was going to have an indigestion with that cheesy music for the grannies of the world they were playing. I am not saying that you should play Yoko Ono's, you know, but something that goes well with the vibe and name of the place. Veggie Mama resonates with... perhaps, World Music, or Indie intimate music. I am a bit fussy with regards to Music in restaurants and cafés - I prefer having nothing playing than having something that distresses my stomach and my ears.
THE FOOD - All the
food on display looks terrific, fresh and yummy. I am always hesitant
to eat at salad bars, because most salad bars or cafés with salads look
like a nest of unhealthy dying plants. However, at Veggie Mama, salads
not only look fresh, they look popping colourful and bright.
The polenta and the
chickpeas patties were yummy, especially the first, and the two salads
that I chose were great, especially the cabbage and cranberries one. The
watermelon juice was also great.
The serving sizes are considerable, and
I usually leave happy as toddler after feeding time.
THE
COFFEE - Their coffee was disappointly bland, and they should change
the beans or mix they use. Moreover, the coffee cup was small. What's
the matter with cafes being so mean with their cup sizes, eh?!
THE PRICING - The pricing for dining in is OK, especially because their serving are generous. However, they are not for take away - 11$ for a container of take-away kale salad is abusive, especially because I bought it at the end of the day, when the waitresses were cleaning before closing down. Do they grow their kale in Armani pots? Next time, I am going to leave their take-way salad away for me, take myself to the supermarket, grab a whole kale, and prepare the salad myself. I mean, it is not rocket science, is kale science.
UPDATE
I was pleasantly surprised at finding great background music, very much Indie, intimate and inviting to stay. I thought to myself, are they reading my reviews? The service was friendly, and the experience one to replay.
I will come back.
Food 8/10
Coffee 6/10
Atmosphere - Ambience 6.5/10
Layout 8/10
Service 6.5/10
Pricing 7/10
Overall = 7.5
Shop H16, Hay St Level
Carillon City Arcade
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9321 5853
http://www.citygems.com.au/
Opening hours
Monday-Thursday: 9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday: 9:30am - 7:30pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday: 12:00pm - 5:00pm
City Gems is a gem on its own - a humble but noticeable mini-shop in the Carillon Arcade that has been catering for unique Venetian glass (now rarely seen), nice pieces of silver, resin, and local designers jewellery for quite a few years. They were the first to cater for Venetian glass pieces in Perth, but in the last two years or so they have decided to cater the ubiquitous fashion for the masses Pandora, which is surely more profitable than the local designers' pieces. Still, City Gems has a good eye to bring to their window unique colourful pieces in different materials, colours and styles. They will will satisfy the Indie in you if you also have a colourful creative personality infused in a bit of "poshness". Have a look at their website to get an idea. If you like what you see, run to the real shop and try their "thingies:: http://www.cityge...
The staff are very friendly, and they don't get crossed if you try gazillion things and don't buy anything, I know because I do so sometimes. However, most of the time, it is love at first sight for me as it takes me a second to buy one of their pieces.
The prices are moderate, and the compliments you get are guaranteed. I have been getting compliments on my pieces for years.
The shop has a loyalty/reward points system that gives you discounts if you are a regular, which is very nice. We love discounts, don't we?
UPDATE
They don't cater from Pandora any longer, and have replaced it with Chamellia, which has very similar silver beds and charms.
They've also added some fun watches by Morellato to their collection, some authentic Venetian glass items, and Mexican dry flowers pendants.
Brands Polli and Parfait mien are the only Australian-made around, together with some isolated silver earrings, and some of the old art-glass pendants and earrings.
The price of a real good quality pair of earrings can go from 20 something dollars to 100, but can buy something beautiful for 40-70 dollars, and it is classy and will withstand the pass of time and go with everything you wear. Their silver is good quality and much cheaper than in other shops around, where prices are impossible.
Some of the fancier staff can be pricey, and not that classy, still so very artsy, and will get you lot of compliments and looks.
Their point reward system really saves you lots of money, if you like their stuff, as they do, and go there often. They also have private offers for their registered customers, and will email you with special events just for you.
To be honest, I cannot pass by the shop without buying something, so I try to avoid it as much as a I can.
429 Fitzgerald St
North Perth Western Australia 6006
(08) 9328 4839
http://auspost.com.au/index.html
Hours:
Mon-Fri 9:00 - 17:00
Sat 9:00 - 12:30
This tiny branch of Australia Post offers the usual services you find at any branch, plus a basic selection of office and fancy supplies. Two things stand out for me in the Post Office branch in Fitzgerald St in North Perth. The first is that they are open on Saturdays, which is always great for any person with a tight work schedule during week days. The second one, is that the office is family operated, and they are a bunch of very kind, friendly and welcoming people, fast at attending long cues.
Cnr Vincent And William St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au/Home
Hyde Park is one of my secret public spaces in Perth. I have a deep personal energetic connection with the place and I have always believed that this place has some real magic going on there, and that my stay in this city is interconnected with the life of the park.
The park is almost in the heart of the city, so there is no excuse not to take a stroll and have a look, especially on weekdays when the crowds are elsewhere, and its magic is, well, more magical.
Why I do love Hyde Park? It must be the magnificence of the trees, the symmetry of the ponds, the orientation of the park and the way the light walks through the leaves at certain times of the day, the ever-changing colours of the place, the circular walking/jogging track, the beauty of it, the size of it, the black swans, the ibises, the ducks and ducklings, and other funny birds that call HP home. One of the things I love the most it is that it is both a private place and a community area that holds private weddings, concerts and community events.
Who goes there? The regular daily walkers and joggers are joined by couples, specially those in their first relaxing dates (take me there on a date!), or looking for a quiet place to hug and kiss, couples on picnic dates, heavy drinkers, the mentally anxious type, kids learning to ride their bikes, dog walkers, kids playing in the playground areas, bird watchers, photography lovers, passers-by, I-want-to-take-a-beer-on-my own sort of people, book-readers, thoughts-munchers, Ta-chi devotes, dancers practising their routines, jugglers, Gothic tribes, wedding-goers, parents of the world, and so on. A colourful tapestry of specimens of the human species.
The only thing I don't really like is the fact that you can be in your own mystic or lay personal trance, in one of those moments of inner bliss and ethereal mood I am sometimes while at HP, and the smell of sausage barbecuing hits my nostrils from the public BB areas. I love free BBs and I do eat sausages but, dear sausageers of the world, there is something anti-trance, anti-relaxing, anti-sexy, anti-sensual, anti-spiritual, anti-natural about the smell of a fatty sausage in the middle of a natural setting, especially in a small park as this one.
Cyclists, please, notice that there are signs asking you to dismount when entering the Park all around the Park. I have no problem with bikers riding at all, but I do have a problem when they are in a hurry and ring to you so you move out of your way, or ride dangerously. Sweetie, I am walking, so it is you who is out out the way and should move your muscley bottom out of my sight. Understood?
Hotel Sentral
30 Jalan Thambypillai
Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur 50470,
Malaysia
http://www.hotelsentral.com.my/
Tel No: 603-2272-6000
Fax No: 603-2272-6099
Email: hskl@hotelsentral.com.my
The hotel is centrally located, at 2 minutes from the monorail, 7 minutes walking distance from KL Sentral Station and the Skybus/Airbus buses to the LCCT Airport, with plenty of local cheap eateries in the same street.
This is not a fancy
hotel, still a good and comfortable one. The room is basic,
still clean, with a decent set of amenities in the bathroom, coffee
facilities, and anything that you can need for a short stay or
overnight. Free wi-fi and free buffet breakfast included! The staff were lovely, very helpful and friendly.
My room was a bit small, but this is not a problem for me, me being small. However, it could be a problem if you are travelling with your partner or you are big.
On the down side, the safety box and the fridge were not working. However, the staff offered me to take my valuables downstairs and to put it in the hotel's safe, which was great, while I was away wandering around the city.
There were a few local eateries in the same street, those not frequented by Westerners, which are always a hit with me.
Stayed December 2011
