.: Books I've Read For 2012 :.

So I've decided to list down a list of books I've read this year to just keep record and see if reading 50+ books a year is really achievable (as so one of my besties asked the other day).

1) Keeping Faith (Jodi Picoult)

2) Mercy (Jodi Picoult)

3) A Lost Wife's Tale (Marion McGilvary)

4) Before I Knew You (Amanda Brookfield)
5) How To Become A Millionaire Landlord (Azizi Ali)
6) The Watchman (Robert Crais)
7) The Closers (Michael Connelly)
8) Bed of Roses (Nora Roberts)
9) Danger In A Red Dress (Christina Dodd)
10) The Butterfly Cabinet (Bernie McGill)
11) Chasing Darkness (Robert Crais)
12) They Found Him Dead (Georgette Heyer)
13) Three Times A Lady (Sarah Webb)
14) Animal People (Charlotte Wood)
15) Catillion (Georgette Heyer)
16) Where The Love Gets In (Tara Heavey)
17) 44 Scotland Street (Alexander McCall Smith)
18) Blood Vines (Erica Spindler)
19) Gone Baby Gone (Dennis Lehane)
20) Still Life (Louise Penny)
21) Compulsion (Hilary Norman)
22) Deadly Kin (Tom Eslick)
23) Home From Home (Carol Smith)
24) Watch Me Die (Erica Spindler)
25) Got You Back (Jane Fallon)
26) Something From Tiffany's (Melissa Hill)
27) No Place For A Woman (Donna Hay)
28) Once A Thief (Kay Hooper)
29) Sing You Home (Jodi Picoult)
30) The Partner (John Grisham)
31) Hurting Distance (Sophie Hannah)
32) A French Affair (Susan Lewis)
33) Girl With A Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)
34) Death Toll (Jim Kelly)
35) It Had To Be You (Sarah Webb)
36) Treachery in Death (J.D. Robb)
37) Where Rainbows End (Cecilia Ahern)
38) Happy Ever After? (Patricia Scanlan)
39) The Best Of Me (Nicholas Sparks)
40) Bones To Ashes (Kathy Reichs)
41) Tough Customer (Sandra Brown)
42) How To Win Any Arguement (Robert Mayer)
43) Young Sherlock Holmes : Red Leech (Andrew Lane)
44) The Other Half Lives (Sophie Hannah)
45) The One I Love (Anna McPartlin)
46) A Different Kind Of Beauty (Sylvia McNicoll)
47) WTF? 23 Properties By 30 (Faizul Ridzuan)
48) Matters Of Life & Death (Bernard MacLaverty)
49) The Summons (John Grisham)
50) The Lovely Bones (Alice Seabold)
51) Truth Or Dare (Jayne Ann Krentz)
52) What The Nanny Saw (Fiona Neill)

As of July 2012, I am still way behind on my 50 books per annum target. Will need to catch up if I wanna achieve this goal.

As of August 8th, I have only achieved 50% of my targeted read for the year.

It's already beginning of Sept and I still have 20 odds book to go! But I'm gettin my momentum back! :)

Another 10 weeks left to year end, but 14 books (including 2 read-in-progress). Gotta keep it up! :)

A book and a half to complete in three days! #missionpossible #challengeaccepted #52booksin52weeks

A couple of hours before the stroke of midnight, I've officially completed my #52booksin52weeks challange! #selffive #patsback #proudofmyself #missionaccomplish #newyearsresolution :)

 

.: Contest-Junkie Anonymous :.

Hi. My name is Kathlynn. I am a contest junkie. I can’t help it. I really can’t. It’s the thrill of getting an email to inform that I have won something. Or that adrenaline-rush when scrolling down the Winner’s list to see my name there.

I really, really am addicted to contests and freebies.

Help!

List of things I have won during the past two years since I started becoming a contest addict:

1) From Nuffnang
- Double passes to Orphan
- Double passes to any movie - DiGi contest (I choose The Ugly Truth)
- Double passes to Surrogates
- Double passes to Law Abiding Citizen
- Double passes to Phobia 2
- Double passes to Ninja Assasin
- Double passes to New Moon (thanks to Yin)
- Double passes to Avatar (thanks to Yin)
- Double passes to Paranormal Activity 
- Double passes to Valentines Day
- Double passes to Karate Kid
- Double passes to Eclipse (thanks to Tammie)
- Double passes to Going The Distance
- Double passes to The American (gave away to my brother)
- Double passes to The Social Network 
- Double passes to God Of Carnage 
- Double passes to Hoodwinked Too : Good Vs Evil
- Double passes to Super 8 (didn't redeem coz I was not well! Damn, heard it was an awesome movie!)
- Double passes to The Adventures of TinTin (3D) 
- Double passes to Prometheus
- Double passes to The Possession

2) From another online contest site
- Double passes to Cold Prey 2 (which I didn’t redeem coz the only screening left at that time was in Johor)
- Double passes to The Time Traveller’s Wife + the novel
- Double passes to Love Happens
- Double passes to The Princess & The Frog
- Double passes to Sherlock Holmes (giving away, coz I'm attending another one)
- Double passes to Did You Hear About The Morgans
- Eight in-season passes (sweet!) - which expired before I could redeem! Damn!
- Double passes to Clash of the Titans
- Double passes to Date Night
- Double passes to When In Rome
- Double passes to I Hate Valentine's Day (did not redeem)
- Double passes to A Nightmare On Elm Street 
- Four passes to The Switch
- Double in-season passes to Next Three Days (didn't manage to redeem as I had work to do)
- Double passes to The Green Hornet (didn't redeem coz I didn't even remember entering this contest. Too late *sobs*)
- Double passes to Burlesque
- Double passes to The Rite 
- Four passes to X-Men : First Class
- Four passes to Green Lantern (via Benedict)
- Four passes to Mr Popper
- Two passes to In Time
- Two passes to The Darkest Hour (didn't redeem) 
- Double in-season passes to Wrath of The Titans
- Four passes to What To Expect When You're Expecting (thanks to Yin)
- Double passes to Skyfall 
- Double passes to Upside Down (thanks to Yin)

3) Other free stuffs
- Free birthday pass from GSC (so I manage to catch 2012) 
- Purse hook (from AliceWonders.com Got Boobies? contest)
- Hi-5 Surprise contest (won on behalf of my colleague's daughter)
- Free KFC, A&W, Pizza Hut, Rasamas meals at various occasions
- Free petrol @ Petronas
- Honeymoon trip for two to Bali (Waka De Umi)
- A dress for Irenelim Fashion 
- Free cooking classes by Nineteen Culinary Studio 
- Free make up lesson (thanks to Jessying, but didn't have time to redeem *sobs*)
- Jaya Jusco shopping vouchers 
- Cufflinks (from Cuffz)
- Esmeria Organic Skincare Set (thanks to Plusizekitten)
- A pair of Nose wedges (thanks to Shelbybaby)
- 120 BH Cosmetic Palette (thanks to Donna Dell)
- Scrabble pendant (thanks to Simple Reviews)
- Bisou Jumbo Cupcake (thanks to TOKL)
- Free beauty products and such for review purposes
- Six tickets to catch Magical Musical at Sunway (thanks to Mix.FM)
- Two tickets to catch Kings & Queen of Comedy Asia 2 (thanks to MyDKualaLumpur)
- Four tickets to catch Aladdin Musical (thanks to Mix.FM)
- Skin UV White (thanks to Miss Sunshine)
- A book Animal People (thanks to GoingKookies)
- RM15 cash voucher (thanks to Popcorn)
- A wedding garter (thanks to WDW Blogs for Brides)
- A zipper bracelet (thanks to Michelle Soleil)
- Some eyeliner & eyeshadows (thanks to Pinkbox Makeup)
- RM100 shopping voucher (thanks to TheStar)
- Four passes to Titanic 3D (thanks to Capital FM)
- Pizza Hut vouchers (thanks to Audrey FourFeetNine)
- PJ Laugh Fest 2012 (thanks to JayaOne)
- Four passes to Madagascar 3D (thanks to Capital FM)
- Four passes to Hotel Transylvania (thanks to Hitz.FM)
- A bottle of Escada Especially Escada perfume (thanks to Capital FM)
- A bottle of Chloe perfume (thanks to Malaysian Women Weekly)

 

I mean, it’s mostly movie passes and minor stuff like that, so it’s not like it’s that big of a value, unlike those out there who have won laptops and handphones (the biggest would have to be the honeymoon trip to Bali) and etc.

But you can’t blame me for the thrills I get from winning these lil prize can you? *wink*

.: Run :.

#run365

.: Series of Series in 2012 :.

Fun fact : I have watched close to 250 episodes in aggregate of TV series this year. That is approximately 140 hours or 6 solid days! :)

I am crazy like that! :)

 

#suits #HIMYM #glee #criminalminds #bigbangtheory #sherlocks #newgirl #prettylittleliars

.: December Movie Marathon :.

So, December is probably the month that I have watched the most movie, and definitely the month where I paid the most for the movies I have watched (as opposed to the ones I won).

So, here’s a summary of the December flicks:

The Hobbits : An Unexpected Journey

I suppose this is one of the highly anticipated movies of the year, next to The Dark Knight Rises. Being a fan of Peter Jackson’s LOTR Trilogy, I could hardly give this a miss, so I dragged the poor Husband (whom, I swear, is the only man alive that has not watched LOTR!) to catch this movie with me at Citta Mall’s MBO*. I was forewarned that the movie, to some, it seems to be a letdown, I suppose this is especially when you have an epic movie like LOTR to meet up to. I personally enjoyed it, and the Husband somewhat didn’t hate it (win!). It’s true that it does not have the WOW factor that was projected by LOTR, but the Hobbits is one of the better movies this year!

Les Miserables

This is a movie where you either love or hate; as oppose to being neutral. The movie is based on a musical which is in turn based on a book written by Victor Hugo in French, with a cast like Russell “Gladiator” Crowe, Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried. I personally find the singing less impressive, it was good, but somewhat lacking the strong vocals one would get if watching, say, a Broadway production. Nonetheless, it tugs one emotional string, and as I tried to hold back my tears at a couple of scenes, some cinema-goers beside me weren’t as shy, taking out tissues after tissues to wipe dry their tears. I must really take my hats off to Hugh Jackman for a wonderful performance as Jean Valjean! IMHO, he deserves the win for Golden Globe Award for this (this movie has four nominations, by the way!)

Life Of Pi

Directed by Ang Lee and also having three nominations at the Golden Globe, this movie is another adaption of a novel by Yann Martel, a Canadian Man Booker Prize Award winner for said novel. At surface level, it’s a remarkable story of an Indian boy, named after a swimming pool in France, travelling in a Japanese ship to Canada. Escaping the storm in a small lifeboat, the story continues with the journey of Pi and a Bengal tiger with an Englishman name, Richard Parker. At a deeper level, the movie’s central theme subtly threads around religion and faith of mankind in God. Something to think about. When Pi asked writer of the two stories told, and which did he prefer, the writer replied “The one with the tiger. That’s the better story.” To which Pi replied “Thank you. And so it goes with God”, summing up the entire novel/movie.

Upside Down

In one sentence, loved the concept (of a world where dual gravity exist) but hated the storytelling. A supposedly love story, but the romance was somewhat underdeveloped and underplayed and seriously lack chemistry (hate it when that happens in a romance movie!). The storyline was all over the place, switching from one to another, it was just plain confusing and frustrating. The graphic was great, and the night scenes of the two worlds are beautiful, but, unfortunately was not enough to save the movie. I would give this movie a miss, given the aplenty choice of movies to catch this year end!

*MBO Citta Mall is my new favourite place to catch a movie, namely because
(i) it is not so crowded (one can get decent seats for an over-the-counter ticket purchase for the latest movie (and the cinema is a quarter occupied),
(ii) parking aplenty (no need to go round and round in circles fighting over parking spots) and it’s free (for now)!
(iii) air-cond is just nice for my liking, not too hot, but not freezer cold
(iv) new amenities!

For showtime details, check out Cinema Online website here!

.: Day 4 : Phuket :.

As we didn't have any activities planned up on Day 4, we decided to laze around in bed longer.

We stuffed ourselves to a hearty breakfast at the hotel, again a decent buffet spread. I had some coco puff cereals with cold milk, because I can't remember the last time I had soggy coco puffs (jus the way I like it!) :)

We went back to our room again and laze around for a bit, with the windows open so we can enjoy the sea breeze. The husband took a snooze while I decided to get another massage (you can never get enough of massages I tell you!). He refuses to join me as he finds massage stressful because it's ticklish (weirdo!). It was good, but unfortunately, not as good as the first time as this one was done but an older lady (which at first I thought was a good thing since older equals more experienced, but I suppose I was wrong).

It was already almost lunchtime when we decided to again go down town by the hotel shuttle. We walked for a bit, had some street food, then headed back at 3pm. We decided to go for a swim and it was good as we had the whole pool to ourselves! The joy of going on a holiday during off peak period! We took a walk at the beach, watched some locals fishing for crabs (with their bare hands, mind you) and then went back to our room to shower.

We were already dressed up and ready when our driver picked us up for the FantaSea Show at Kamala, which is approximately 20 mins from our hotel. As we arrived at the most raved-about place in Phuket, we were plesantly surprise to see that it was a sort-off mini theme park. Kids would have appreciated and enjoyed this place more, but we were thrilled nonetheless to be walking through carnival-like the place. Was particularly attracted by the white tigers, tho it's abit sad to see them caged out like that. There were elephants ride as well, but the husband and I decided to give it a skip. The Kinaree buffet was absolutely worth it (it's optional as part of the entrance ticket - but I recommend you to take it as its really value-for-money). It was very well organised, and the variety was aplenty. Again, a tad bit disappointed that there were not as much variety of Thai food as I'd like it to be, unfortunately. We manage to take a peek at the VIP buffet which has additional seafood spread, for a higher price of course. Didn't seem worth the extra money, but hey, I'm a bit bias coz I'm not a big fan of seafood anyways.

As we enter, we had to deposit our camera (including camera-phone) at the counter. I was actually quite amazed at the crowd control, and everything happened so efficiently and organised like clockwork. Imagine, there are a crowd of about 1,000+ people at the very least? We decided to upgrade to VIP seats (earlier during the purchase of the tickets), as we made the booking last minute, but if you already intend to go for this show & could pin down exactly which day, it's advisable to buy the tickets at least 3 days in advance if you want a good non-VIP seat. However, no regrets for the VIP seats as it was worth every penny.

The show was absolutely spectacular. I was blown-away by the beautiful colours of the costume, the lightings, the sounds, the music, the children and animal co-ordinations everything! Spoiler alert : If you think that everything happens on the stage, you are wrong! There are performance, left, right, center & top! Yes, the acrobats at the top were the most entertaining, I was literally awed by them! Ok, I know I am quite easily impressed, but still… And we had a lil surprise during the show. One of the elephants pooped *lol* But that was quickly swept off, and as they say - the show must go on.

When the show ended, there was huge amount of people going out to collect their deposited camera. We had to wait quite abit, but again, impressed with the effeciency of the staff. The show ended at close to about 10pm. And because the night is still young, we decided to explore our last night in Patong town again. We went to another club at Bangla Street, but the performance was a quite disappointing as compared to the first one we went to. It was funny tho, to see some drunk American boys stripping along as the did a pole dance. Yes, they went stark naked! So my second experience at a strip club. Perhaps will bring the girls to these places for the hen's night (girlies, pls get married soon, I am so looking forward for your hen's night!)

We took a tuk-tuk back home at about 1ish, leaving behind a still very-wide-awake and very-alive Patong town.

.: Give A Little Love :.