I Am Number Four: Not A Four-Star to Me

Salam ukhuwwah fillah...


So, I went to watch I Am Number Four (IAN4). Location: GSC Alamanda.


I was there on the dot; took a few minutes for the ticket, lining up for popcorn and drink (compulsory) and I went right in just seconds before the movie started.

I was thinking to watch No Strings Attached at first, but I changed my mind due to the following reasons :

1) The movie (IAN4) poster was the first thing that I saw when I got there
2) I remembered having Alex Pettyfer's poster back at home (okay, he's cute)
3) I thought Michael Bay is the director, but it turns out that he's the producer. The real director of IAN4 is D.J Caruso (who the hell is this guy?) But somehow, considering the impact that Transformers gave me, I was kinda expecting the same thing for IAN4
4) I was craving for some popcorn for so long, any movie will do
5) I don't wanna watch Kembar Siang

All seats were full. I was lucky enough to get the very last seat at the top. Well, I don't mind. As long as I can enjoy the movie without having to sit next to a noisy bunch of idiots or an uninvited movie critic, I am all good.

The first 10 minutes of the movie was lame. I'd say the screen was a little bit too dark (it might be Caruso's intention to not revealing too much of action for a start). There was this anonymous creature attacking and killing two guys. One was trying to escape and ran through the forest (I thought it was Pandora - Avatar) but he was killed anyway.

The plot shifted to a bunch of partying teens on the beach. Daniel Jones (Alex Pettyfer) was showing his cool riding on the jet ski with some stunts. Lalalaaa... he's cute lalalaaa then it came to the part when he received a warning sign. He had a blue light coming out from his leg (why on the leg? Why??) He had another scar; of which a sign that Number 3 was dead; and he will be the next. The audience went "oohhh...so, he is Number Four..." and came to the understanding of the whole incident. Daniel ran away. I hate this part. It was when the character started to tell a long history of his being. I call it a lazy story-telling. A good director has to think of some other ways to inform the back story rather than having the character telling it all. Boring.

Okay. So, Number Four is an alien - a handsome one - from planet Lorien. He and Henri (the guardian) came to Earth after their planet was destroyed and they needed to hide away from the Morgadorians who hunt and kill The Garde - consists of nine teenage Loriens with special legacies and power.

Daniel constantly changed his name and also moved from one place to another to keep himself safe from the Morgs. When he moved in Ohio, he was known as John Smith. Trying to make a life like a normal kid, he went to high school and fell in love (woohoo!). He met Sarah Hart (this is no you, Cik Maisarah Atan...hehe!) and instantly liked her. So did she. I like her character (Dianna Agron) whom is calm, sweet, old-fashioned and most importantly, she's a photographer!

John started to develop more of his powers - light coming out from his hands, he became resistance to heat and fire, but unfortunately every time he did, he was in school. The people around him began to feel curious about him including Sam Goode (Callan McAuliffe), the school freak who believed in aliens. This guy reminds me of Kurt Hummel in Glee - but Kurt is way 'pussier' than Sam is. LOL.

The plot came to the peak when the Morgs finally spotted John. There were tonnes of action - boom here and bang there, but I must say John wasn't the ultimate hero because there came Number Six (Teresa Palmer) saving him. She was way cooler than John - she killed all the Morgs in seconds while John is hiding with Sarah behind the wall. Oops...

Okay, too much on the plot already. Long story short, they managed to fight the Morgs and it was all happy ending. John and Number Six together with Sam moved to a safer place because the Morgs will never stop searching for them. John promised Sarah that he'll come back and find her... lalalalaaa kiss... and the end.

Here goes some trivia:

1) After some research, the movie was actually made based on a novel written by Pittacus Lore. But comparing the two, the movie was more compact and not so lengthy.

2) The movie does not portray Emily, Sarah's best friend and the revelation of John's power was spread through the papers - not shown in the movie.

3) The most sad parts were when Henri died and Bernie Kosar, the dog returned to John wounded - he transformed (Transformers too?) into a beast fighting over the unknown deadly creature of the Morgs. I cried, well, just a little. But the dog's transformation reminds me of Milo in The Mask when he tried putting on the cursed mask. The CGI-fx was kinda fake and it made it look hilarious, but, what the heck. Pettyfer looks cuter, and that is all that matters. Haha!

4) The best line ever was when Number Six asked John to re-charge her - she's draining out of energy. When he's done, Number Six smiled and said, "Red Bulls are for pussies." LOL!

5) John still had the time to go to the school (WTF?) with Sarah when the Morgs were so near to get him. I think that was so helpless romantic (PUKE!). The enemy was going to kill you in no time and you could still spare a few minutes with your girlfriend looking at some photos? Amaigadddd...

6) The deadly creature of the Morgs look like a retarded lizard. You know, it is not-so-scary. It gives me the same idea of the monster in Clash of The Titans. Try to think of something deadlier lah, weyh... Think more creatively. (no worries, the director doesn't read my blog)

7) There might be a sequel made after IAN4 since the novel was followed by another book - The Power of Six. For that, we will have to wait and see.

Over all, this movie did not give me much surprise. The plot is very predictable, the Morgs' look (the gills and the bald head) were something I've seen before. Nothing much surprising. Therefore, this movie isn't a four star to me (though, I still think Pettyfer is cute.) Okay, I said that for the third time.

I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Soup of the Day

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that
everything happens for a reason."

Thanks for the beautiful words, Albert.

~0^_^0~

Kemahiran Bertimbang Rasa

Salam ukhuwwah fillah...

Hari-hari saya naik train pergi ke tempat kerja. Hari-hari saya berdiri sepanjang perjalanan hinggalah tiba ke stesen akhir tempat saya perlu turun. Boleh dikira berapa kali saja saya pernah duduk, jarang sangat. Perjalanan ke ofis saya setiap hari bukanlah dekat, makan masa sejam juga tambah tolak masa menunggu dan berjalan kaki. Letih? Tak kisah, sebab saya seronok. Payah? Mungkin, bagi orang yang dah biasa selesa dan tak sanggup berpeluh. Tapi, saya tidak. Saya okey saja melalui rutin yang sama setiap hari. At least, dapat segarkan mata tengok pemandangan pagi, gelagat orang ramai dan jejaka-jejaka kacak. Eh? Hehe...

Terpaksa berdiri, perjalanan jauh dan mengambil masa lama, ini semua tak jadi masalah, sebab saya orang muda. Tapi, saya paling tak suka bila keadaan ini berlaku. Setiap kali seorang pakcik/makcik/atuk/nenek (pendek kata, orang tua) melangkah masuk ke dalam train yang penuh semua tempat duduknya, tiada seorang pun di kalangan orang muda (yang sedang enak duduk belaka) sudi bangun dan beri tempat duduk mereka kepada orang tua yang lebih memerlukan. Macam buat-buat tak nampak, selamba saja orang-orang muda ni duduk selesa.

Saya paling sedih lihat keadaan macam ni, sebab bila tengok makcik-makcik berusia terpaksa berdiri terhuyung-hayang, kadang-kadang terketar-ketar lututnya dan bawa barang banyak pula, tiada lain yang saya ingat, saya mesti terbayangkan emak saya. Sedih. Rasa macam nak marah pun ada, tapi tak terkeluar suara nak menegur orang-orang muda yang tak ada sivik itu. Saya bukan pengawas dalam train itu. Mungkin esok kalau benda ni terjadi lagi depan mata, saya akan beranikan diri tegur mereka supaya bangun beri seat mereka kepada orang-orang tua. Insya Allah.

Benda ni tak perlu diajar kat sekolah. Masing-masing boleh berfikir dan kemahiran bertimbang rasa ni datang sendiri, asalkan hati kita baik dan prihatin dengan keperluan orang lain. Bukan susah pun.

Isn't Friendship A Type of Relationship Too?

According to a post here (thank you so much, Sarah), it says so. Even if I go Google-ing for the definition of friendship, here's what comes out.

What? Oh, you never Google for it before? You know, you should! It helps you to understand better. Maybe, it can also help you mend what's broken.

No worries, I'll lend you a hand.

Here are all the links. With complete explanation of what friendship really means. You can click on the sources, they're all links to the full web page.


E-zine : "Friendship is a personal relationship shared between each friend for the welfare of other, in other words, it is the relationship of trust, faith and concern for each other feelings. It is a relationship of mutual caring and intimacy among one another. A friend is one who knows you as a person and regards you for what you are and not what he or she is looking in a good friend. Best friend is one who accepts the good as well bad qualities of his friend and also takes an initiative in correcting and mending them. Friendship is a distinctive kind of concern for your friend, it is a relationship of immense faith and love for each other.

(I intentionally copy-pasted the full article, coz it makes me feel warm reading it over and over again. I hope you read it too.)

Friendship is all about how much you care and understand each other. It is a pure relationship, which would make your friend smile, feel good as to how much you love him and care for him. It is all about talking, listening and building up a strong relationship loyalty among each other. It is string of love which develops gradually with each others involvement. In certain cases friendship may not last for a longer period and might end up or lose its prime importance of love and regard for each other. There are some friendships which might end with unresolved conflicts and tiffs which means that these type of relationship were not so strong that could hold on their own in adversity and bad times. Friendship is not about merry-making and fun it involves equal loyalty from both the partners.

It should be understood that not all friends are best friends. One might come across numerous number of friends in his life but there are very few who will be their during your ups and down. How one should recognize your best friend the one who will understand your strengths and shortcomings and would be with you in all your good and bad phases of life.

A true friendship does not consist of a huge number of friends you keep but it is valued by its worth and capability to hold you and stand by you in all phases of life.That said finding a best friend from among your friends is the hardest task to do. A lot of people say that the best friends automatically come closer from among a group of friends and you will never have to make an extra effort to do find one. That is how the strong bond between true friends is formed.


You can also find it in Wikipedia. Oh, this is sweet. Wiki provides the longest definition with examples and also very fine details.

And this last but not least, from Mwolk.com. It is also as sweet.


So, after all that we shared today, isn't it clear and obvious that friendship (too) is a bond between two friends (or more)?

I haven't come to the understanding of how to not having a bond (ikatan) in friendship. To me, not having a bond (Parti Perikatan kah... atau apa-apa perikatan lah...) is not having the value of true and sincere friendship. I don't get it if anyone thinks that the beautiful bond of friendship is somewhat a burden (beban/kongkongan/ke-terikat-an). It's something you treasure, for the whole time of your life.

Do not get me wrong. I mean no offense. This is an honest sharing. Bear with it if you feel upset because of this post. I'm truly sorry, from the deepest bottom of my heart.

I love all my friends.

I love you.



=)

So, What's The Plan Now?

Many asked me before, what does 'Mapieceofart' stand for?

"Is it some combination of your name?"
"A band that you like?"
"Someone you adore?"

I don't answer.
You figure it out yourselves, people.

Those who understand me would simply say,
"It's my-piece-of-art. What is so hard about it?"

Those who don't understand me would say,
"Mapie-ceo FART."
Stressing the 'Fart' part.
Some would even call me 'Mapie' for short.

What the heck?

Obviously they don't understand it.
And directly I could judge, they don't understand me.
They never gonna be a good friend to me.

A good friend understands easily. No need to explain things.
They just do.

So, why My-Piece-Of-Art?

I blog mostly about me. Things I like, things that happen in my everyday life, things I don't agree with, it can be somewhat a journal of my love experience, sadness, my poems collection, movie reviews, it's all random.

It's my piece of art. It's about my life. My life is an art. A beautiful art.

I had once written down this dilemma in a post previously, of what I should really write in this blog. It has been three years now but I still can't decide. I just write about everything. In random. Is it compulsory to have a certain theme/genre for your blog?

A few days back had been one of those emotional times of my life. I was not really sad. I didn't cry. I was just upset. So, I ended it, right there. I had enough. It is about time for me to step up and think about what I should do for myself and stop thinking about others. They don't care about me. I'm effin' sick of people using me. And I got nothing in return.

So what's the plan now?

Will we or won't we?

So what's the deal now?

Should we or shouldn't we?

Empty is what you find in here.

Empty is what you are.

Sepolta Viva

I love music.

Classical, modern, pop, nasyid, hardcore, hip hop.

You name it.

I love it all.

And when I do, I just do. Without any reasons.

So, if you ask me why I like this song so much, I don't have the answer.

I just can share it with you.

Hoping that you can feel the 'feel' it gave me.



Enjoy.


=)





*If you are wondering what's the meaning behind the title of this song, it's 'buried alive'.