Review: Cars 2

Cars 2 is the sequel to Cars released in 2006. I did not managed to watch Cars when it was released so I would not be able to make a comparison between Cars and Cars 2. Thus, I will give my two cents' worth of how good I think Cars 2 is.

Cars 2 started its story where a spy, Leland Turbo (Jason Isaacs) has passed information to Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) about a sinister plot to sabotage the World Grand Prix in which to be held in Tokyo, Porto Corsa and London. Finn McMissile followed the information and found himself on an oil platform. The oil platform was overrun by a group of lemon makes of cars that were the ones plotting to sabotage the World Grand Prix. They were also responsible in killing Leland Turbo, crushing him into a compacted cube while revealing the very weapon to be used in sabotaging the upcoming race.

Meanwhile in Radiator Springs, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) has returned to the cheers and celebratory mood of his friends when he brought home the fourth Piston Cup he had won in the latest racing season. Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) was overjoyed to have his best friend back home, and so is Sally (Bonnie Hunt), McQueen's girlfriend.

McQueen and Sally went on a date at the bar in Wheel Well Motel the same evening he returned with Mater in tow masquerading as their waiter. While Mater was trying to get them drinks, he was distracted by the news item telecasting on TV announcing that the famed millionaire Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard) who has converted himself into an electric car has developed an alternative fuel source called Allinol. Axelrod also revealed he will be sponsoring the World Grand Prix. Axelrod in the same news item announced  that Francesco Bernoulli (John Tuturro) is interested to race McQueen in the World Grand Prix.

Bernoulli bragged about how he is a better racer than McQueen. Mater was offended by this remark about his best friend and thus, called up the TV station to defend McQueen as the best racer at all times. However, Bernoulli insulted Mater for being all starry-eyed over and hero-worshiping McQueen. This attracted the attention of McQueen and Sally as well as some of the patrons in the bar. Thus, McQueen decided to postpone his vacation plans and compete in the World Grand Prix.

The following scenes that ensued were similar to that of the story plots found in James Bond movies. McMissile and his partner Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) who are both British spies were assigned to put a stop to the sabotage on the World Grand Prix. Mater, having had a fall out with McQueen during the race was recruited by McMissile and Shiftwell through some turns of events that happened when Mater was at the airport taking a flight home to Radiator Springs.

Cars 2 is packed with lots of action as well as plenty of laughs throughout the story. It is indeed a very enjoyable movie and the cars that were featured I found them to be sexy and appealing just like real life makes of those cars. The characters must have been designed with 3D elements in mind that they actually look great even when shown on a normal cinema screen.

The celebrities who did the voice-overs for the respective characters delved well into them and made Cars 2 over all a very enjoyable movie. Not only that, they breathe unique personality into each of these characters, which makes them interesting to watch. I would rate Cars 2 4.5 stars as Pixar Animation Studios did a great job in creating this excellent sequel to Cars.

Noramfaizul Mohd. Nor - A tribute to a complete stranger

Dateline September 2, 2011 -  it was a extremely sad day for Malaysia, especially the media fraternity. Noramfaizul Mohd. Noor a camera man with the Malaysian national news agency BernamaTV was killed in line of duty while covering Kelab Putera 1Malaysia's humanitarian mission to assist the Somalis facing severe drought and famine, apart from the civil war in which has been raging  since 1992.

I do not know the the late Noramfaizul at all. I never knew he even existed at all, working tirelessly providing Malaysia with news, especially news from the international scene. I am writing this tribute as a complete stranger because his untimely death shocked me to the core, I could feel the sorrow and grief that only family members and people who are very close to the late Noramfaizul could feel. I felt and is still feeling the surreal reality that this unfortunate incident just had to take place, and in the midst of the on-going Aidilfitri celebrations in Malaysia too.

The late Noramfaizul's untimely death has made me realised that journalists are working virtually almost everyday throughout the year; they are the unsung heroes of the press industry of a country. In fact, they have very few holidays here in Malaysia with the exception of a few gazetted press holidays. Not to mention, the unavoidable life-threatening risks they have to face in reporting up-to-the-minute news everyday that often would go unnoticed by many of us, and we take them for granted.

We often praise most front liners working during public holidays, especially during major festivals - the army, navy, air force personnel, police, emergency response team, firefighters, doctors and nurses but we forget the other people like journalists and service industry personnel who also work during these holidays as well.

I think it is time for all of us to stop and think how lucky most of us are working in jobs that have mostly fixed working hours and days, not to mention many may be drawing relatively high salaries plus enviable benefits and perks as well. And that we should show due appreciation to people who are working in jobs many of us would rather not do, especially high risk jobs.

I salute the invaluable and selfless sacrifices the late Noramfaizul had done all this time while answering the call of duty regardless the time of the year, be it a weekday, weekend and even on public holidays. Not to mention giving up the indescribable amount of time he could have spent with his beloved family. He died doing what he did best and with much passion too, covering news from the conflict front in Somalia. However, I firmly believed he did not die in vain.

The late Noramfizul's act of bravery I hope will never fade into a distant and forgotten memory with time. The legacy and life's lessons as a journalist he had left behind should be put into practice by the media fraternity as well as by every ordinary person on the street.

To the late Noramfaizul, may your soul rest in eternal peace in the loving arms of God; and may God also Bless your entire family for the days to come and give them spiritual strength and the reason to carry on in living life to the fullest.

Michelle Yeoh - the true Malaysian iconic artiste

I was watching a special programme about Michelle Yeoh produced for the Bio channel for Astro TV on NTV7 on Thursday night, in conjunction with Malaysia's 54th Independence Day. It was a really an eye-opening experience getting to know Michelle Yeoh up close and personal.

The life story of Michelle Yeoh is somewhat very sketchy to me. However, I did know some bery basic facts about her - the desire to be a ballerina and that she was Miss Malaysia in 1983. What I did not know was that Yeoh has been very active in the movie and film industry in the 1990s. She only grabbed my attention when she acted in a James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997. Prior to this, I was never aware of her exploits in the movie and film industry, maybe because she was based in Hong Kong and that the movies she had acted in did not catch my attention then.

I think it was only that when her first foray into Hollywood acting in Tomorrow Never Dies propelled Yeoh into international stardom and recognition. Her subsequent Hollywood movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha were I think sealed her fate as a well-known international actress, although I did not watch those movies yet. However, I did manage to catch her in action in Tomorrow Never Dies.

After watching this special programme about Michelle Yeoh, I realised that she is a very special person in more ways than one. The main thing I admire about Yeoh is that her tenacity and focus in achieving her goals in life, and being a ballet student for many years gave her those very qualities to succeed in life. I feel a tinge of pride that ballet laid THE foundation for her career in acting, subsequently paving the way for her to international stardom.

The recognition she receives from the international film industry especially Hollywood bodes well for Malaysia. Like many other Malaysians who excel in their respective fields of expertise internationally, Michelle Yeoh is in a class of her own in which defines her to be the true Malaysian iconic artiste.