With all the raving I did in the last post, I forgot to mention my trip to JB and the acquisition of a new movie. :p

First up, my family made one of their monthly trips to JB for haircuts, groceries, pizza, and DVDs. Pirated lah, then? :p

Despite several cleanups in Holiday Plaza, it still remains the place for anyone to get the latest movie DVDs. You walk into the place and the first thing that strikes you.... Is a young chinese male, asking you, "(In Chinese) BOss! Boss! You want movie? Latest movie? Very cheap! Come in and take a look!"

Even if you ignore him, you walk on further.... and you realise that half the shops on the basement level are pirated vendors, all selling the same DVD titles. Anime, English movie, Chinese movie, Hongkong drama serial, Taiwanese drama serial, Japanese, Korean... You watch it, they probably have it somewhere here.

Eventually, by listening to some little instinctual voice inside his head, my dad decides on a shop. We stand at the shopfront at first, looking at the movies, while the guy at the shopfront promotes his wares. "(In Chinese again) BOss! You wanna watch good movie? Latest movies?"

"(In hokkien) You only got these ah?" asks Dad.

"(Back in hokkien) Got some more, got some more, you come in here." At which point, after ascertaining that we were potential paying customers ( as opposed to potential undercover cops coming to bust their asses ) he slides a portion of the backwall to one side, and we are led into an inner room, which is lined wall to wall ceiling to floor with DVDs.

Whoa.

We peruse, we make enquiries, ( "Polar express good or not?" "Boss, don wan lah, that one is shot in cinema one. Not good" ) we bargain ( "2 DVDs how much?" "Boss, you buy 3, I give you for RM20" "Gimme cheaper price for 2 lah." "Cannot lah, boss." ) And finally, we make our purchase. ( "Thank you ah, boss, thank you!" )

Incidentally, the movies my dad chose, Chronicles of Riddick and Garfield, sucked, according to him anyway. :p Which makes me thankful that I chose..... Delovely.

Delovely is lovely. Ok, bad pun. But really, it is. The movie tells the story of Cole Porter, a composer in the days of black and white movies, when Hollywood actually produced talented actors who could sing, dance and act at once. Kidding. :p I just said that because I donno what time frame the movie takes place in... haha...

So interestingly enough, Porter happens to be gay. And also married to the attractive Linda Lee Thomas. *wink wink* The movie thus tracks their..... interesting..... marriage throughout its course, and how the couple deal with Cole's homosexual philandering, the loss of his leg, and eventually Linda's death.

Of course, Porter being a composer, the story is interposed with many of the songs he composed, and it becomes sorta a musical. The songs are sung by many leading singers, including Robbie Williams, Alanis Morrisette and Mario Frangoulis. ( I donno how many of you know the last name, but I downloaded his last album, and boy, he's good! )

In short, watching Delovely is like inhaling a mixture of jazzy broadway, red wine and cigarette smoke. Hmmm.... a comfortable mixture. :) If you have the chance, get the movie!

( Either that or make an appointment with me and I'll hold a screening in my house. :P )