Bad Superhero Movies?

Nowadays movies about superheroes are dominating the film industry. Think about it, just last year there were five big budget superhero movies: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, Dredd and The Dark Knight Rises.

Back in the late 1970s and 1980s, there was a sudden demand for superhero movies after the success of Superman in 1978. Hollywood was churning up all the superhero they could make with the technology they had at the time. Many masterpieces were created like Batman (1989), Robocop (1987),  and The Swamp Thing (1982).

Then came the 1990s when superhero movies started to get stale. Every film studio were still trying to push out as many superhero movies as they can no matter how bad the stories were. So here are some of those bad superhero movies back in the 90s in chronological order.

Before I go on, I have to clarify that these movies I included are based on comic books or manga, so movies like Darkman (1990) will not be included. (On a side note, Darkman is a good movie, go watch it!)

#1: The Guyver (1991)
I have a feeling nobody knows about this obscure superhero movie, or even the source material it was based on. The movie and its title character was a Japanese manga called 強殖装甲ガイバー, translated to English as Bio Booster Armor Guyver.

It is about a normal guy who gets a biomechanical armor that gives him enhanced capabilities to fight mutants, or Zoanoids, as they are called in the manga. It is a typical hero story that should have been an average superhero movie but one of the many flaws is the overall cheap look of both the Zoanoids and the Guyver costume. Not to mention the biggest disappointment when we find out that Mark Hamill is not the Guyver, the poster was just a big fat lie. *This film has a sequel that is much better than the first movie*

#2: Tank Girl (1995)
I have not heard of this comic book series before but based on the movie, it is one of the weirdest post-apocalyptic stories I have ever encountered. This British comic has its main character living in a tank, travelling around with a mutant kangaroo-human boyfriend in a Mad Max 2 styled world.

This movie actually had a shot of being a good movie with a great cast like Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell and great effects by the great Stan Winston. Unfortunately it did very badly in the box office, so bad that it only grossed $4 million on a $25 million budget. If you like a cheesy action movie with random dance routines and comic styled still graphics in a live movie, this is a movie for you.

#3: Barb Wire (1996)
Remember a time when Pamela Anderson was hot? Yup! It was the 90s and she was the hottest lifeguard on  the hit show Baywatch. She was given many choices to star in blockbusters and she ended up with this comic book movie.

As many critics have pointed out, this movie lacks originality since it borrows the exact same plot as Casablanca, set in 2017 post apocalyptic world. Some might enjoy it if it was executed well, but the acting in this movie is so wooden that I bet nobody was looking at the actor's faces. One redeeming factor is that the movie has some decent action sequences said to be done by Pam Anderson herself. Let's move on, Babe!

#4: The Phantom (1996)
I watched this movie quite a long time ago on TV thinking it was The Phantom of the Opera from the TV guide. As it was playing I realised that the main character was the weird jungle guy in spandex riding a horse I always see in the newspaper comic strips. I have never read The Phantom on the newspapers because like the Spider Man comic strips, they were connected everyday and I did not want to read four panels and wait a whole day for the next four.

This movie was ambitious for putting the main character in the exact same purple outfit in the comic book while still trying to match the awesomeness of Indiana Jones. To my surprise, this was the first superhero movie that followed its comic book costume almost perfectly, but it is not a complement in anyway since it looks weird.

#5: Steel (1997)
This was probably the last of the bad superhero movies of the 90s. Like Pam Anderson, Shaq O'Neal was one of those celebrities who tried many times in the movie industry but did not go very far. This was the last movie where he played the main character and he was nominated for a Razzie for it, that says a lot about this movie.

Notice the difference between the comic book and the real life version? After watching the movie, I had a feeling the film makers were trying to make the character more realistic and down to Earth but that back fired on the whole premise. In all respects, Shaq is a horrible actor and that ruined the film's overall mood too. Imagine this guy being compared along side other non-superhuman heroes like Batman and Iron Man... I think you get what I mean.

Of course that was only the 90s, who knows how many bad superhero movies were made in the last decade and more to come in the future... Does Catwoman (2004) starring Halle Berry ring a bell? Hopefully film makers start to understand that not all graphic art can be transferred to live action successfully.

lalanandaFRY
19/3/13

Dumbed Down Facebook

How often do you log into Facebook, check some notifications, reply to friend requests and slowly scroll down the latest status updates? Weekly? Daily? Hourly?

Recently... or maybe over the past year or so, I noticed a couple of trends while "facebook-ing" which were annoying then and has since been getting more and more common. I am not sure whether you are one of those who enjoy these trends, but i seriously hope I am not the only one.

#1: Politics
I was chatting with a friend a while ago and our conversation suddenly switched to politics. I personally dislike talking about politics in public because I believe everybody is entitled to their own opinion and people who talk to me about politics tend to be evangelistic. Naturally, these topic appears on Facebook too.

Why bother placing these pages/photos/updates? Are you trying to educate us or something? And for those who enjoy sharing photos and articles (sham or not), please note that we voters know what we want and who we think can provides a better service. So please stop posting these updates and do something more useful!

#2: Too much to say
Is it just me or are there a bunch of people who like to update their status so often that you feel bad for knowing too much? I remember one day loading my homepage only to find more than 10 status updates back to back from the same person. Initially I thought it was an error but later found that it was just a long story. If you are one of these people currently reading my blog, let me introduce you to two revolutionary ways to express yourself when 1 or 2 status updates are not sufficient, it is called TWITTER and BLOG!!! You might think it is cute that your friends care about what you think, but trust me, most of us only read the first few. By the time we start scrolling down to find more, we will definitely stop reading.

#3: Words of Wisdom
Just try scrolling down your Facebook news feed, the thing you will find the most are random words of wisdom which are strategically placed in the middle of an unrelated panorama or abstract art. What do these things even mean? I understand those who post religious pictures or pictures of places they have checked-in, but why suddenly quote great people like Mahatma Gandhi or Abraham Lincoln. Let me show you how I see it:

I know, it is that ridiculous... but true! muahahahaha!

#4: Camwhores/selcas
There is always a limit to everything, except camwhore-ing. I have to admit that I like to have my picture taken whenever I am visiting a new place or trying something new, but some people just don't know when to stop.

I have friends in Facebook I don't see often in person and I still get tired of seeing their face after scrolling through tonnes of self taken pictures in toilets, car parks and the worst of all, in front of the computer. Are there actually an audience for these syok sendiri people?

#5: Game Requests
I used to play Facebook games too. I understand how addictive it can be for so many people who like clicking on cute characters and playing simple puzzle games. But after playing for a while, you will find yourself running out of lives or hearts or something that restricts you from going on. So how do you get those extra lives? Go invite your friends to play, spam their status updates and notifications.

I thought I was the only one without a life? Don't get me wrong, I am not against Facebook gaming in anyway. I just want to tell you guys out there to stop when you run out of lives for the day, to know your limits and do something else while you wait for more lives.

The list can actually go on much longer.

• Notice those Facebook users who add you but refuse to show you how they look like and use unrecognizable usernames, can you at least show yourself and your name?
• How about those who complain about their day but refuses to tell more when people show their concern?
• Too many #blablabla and @blablabla from Twitter!
• Do anyone believe in those chain letters where you may "die" if you don't repost a certain story or message?
• Keep you business dealings to your workplace or a dedicated company Facebook page, stop promotting your product/service, if we are interested we know how to look for you.

And probably the most annoying ones are those

#6 Facebook Scams
You might think that in this day and age, most people are careful not to trust everything on the internet. However some of these can be too tempting to click such as item giveaways and fake links to outrageous videos which end up being scams. It is interesting to see how many people actually falling for these obvious traps even after warnings posted by other victims. Like this post and win a brand new iPad? Yea right!

Some of these do minimal damage such as crowding your news feed while others could hack your Facebook account, causing unauthorised updating of status, stealing photos for misuse and also getting assess to other private and confidential information. The simplest way to avoid these is not to click on any ridiculously generous links or videos with weird comments. It works for me all the time...

Facebook is a wonderful virtual playground, there are friendly children who interact with you as usual and others who just want to spoil your playtime. That's life...

lalanandaFRY
11/3/13

H&N: Exams

I wonder whether anyone out there love exams? We have to face it a couple of times in our life time and I don't think anyone can deny that it is stressful if we care about the results. Remember a time when we were kids and exams were like any other day of school? Those days are long gone...

It has been 6 years since I left school, 5 years since pre-U and almost 1 year since university days and I am still having the same fear of exams. I am sure you know how it feels. My random panic attacks, unsettling insomnia and lack of concentration is back!

As a PRP, we have to sit for a Forensic exam, or Peperiksaan Perundangan Farmasi during our provisional year to meet the requirements for registration as a pharmacist. In essence, the exam will assess our understanding of certain acts and regulations pertaining to our profession. For most PRPs who graduated from local universities, this exam would be a revision of laws previously lectured and tested in modules. On the contrary, the laws I studied during my 3rd and 4th year were from the MEP and Medicines Act 1968, a.k.a. UK legal system.

So this brings me back to the same situation I encountered during my first year in university. I was a double maths student during pre-U and did not study Biology since Form 5. My batchmates around me were mostly Biology students from either SAM or A-levels and were leaps ahead of me in terms of prior understanding of "basic" anatomy and bodily functions. I have to admit that I struggled quite a bit and barely made it to the next semester.

Why do I always have to be the underdog? Exam sucks, life sucks... face it!

lalanandaFRY

8/3/13

H&N February

Some say time flies when we are having fun. In just a blink of an eye, I have been a PRP for more than 50 days. One day I was that new dude who couldn't find my way to my work place in the huge hospital, then now I am getting my first paycheck and soon starting to have shifts and lunch calls.

How am I coping in this working environment? I wouldn't say I am the worst example, but I sometimes feel that getting used to certain departments can be slightly challenging with sharper learning curves. To be honest, I find outpatient pharmacy somewhat enjoyable. I don't know whether it is the job itself, the setting or the people I worked with there. Maybe it is the satisfaction that I get when I am actually assisting the patient in managing their illnesses.

I am currently new to the drug monitoring department and am still getting used to the working procedures. I must say that it has its own charm and pays off seeing patients get well when doctors who follow our recommendations. In a way, it is like saving the patient's life.

I think I am starting to understand the motivation in working people. It is not always about the money, but the contentment that we get whenever we are making a difference in someone else's life. A job is like a cup and life is the water it contains. The beauty of the cup does not change the water in it, but the satisfaction we get when sipping from a beautiful cup makes the water taste better than it actually is.

Unless you are looking for the holy grail *Indiana Jones reference*... lol

lalanandaFRY
28/2/13

H&N: Trek-hibition

*Disclaimer: Some of the pictures you are about to see were taken where photographs were not allowed by the organizers, so if you are offended by these things, do not proceed beyond the SPOILER ALERT.

The Chinese New Year holiday was a week ago. I took a weeks worth of leave and returned home to celebrate this wonderful event with my family. So as usual my uncle's family would come over to my house to have reunion dinner the day before CNY. So what does that have to do with this post? I'll come to that now...

During my family reunion dinner, my uncle and cousin mentioned about a Star Trek exhibition held at the Pusat Sains Negara (National Science Center) that they were going very soon. If you did not know already, I am a huge Star Trek fan. Without hesitation, I searched the web for all information about this exhibition and found that it was the first ever official Star Trek Exhibition ever held in Asia, practically at my door step! But the problem was that there wasn't any appropriate time to visit the exhibition .

The awesome thing was that my dad was also very interested in this event and we somehow squeezed some time during the "hectic" CNY visiting period towards the end of the holiday for a short visit before I traveled back to Kuantan for work. One thing I realized then was that I have never been to this science center before this, so I guess Star Trek give me reason to pursue "Science"...lol

Never expect to see "Selamat Datang" and Star Trek in the same photo.

If you are interested already, these are some details you might want to know:
Venue: Pusat Sains Negara, Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Opening Times: 9am - 5am Saturday - Thursday even during public holidays (Closed on Fridays)
Ticket Price: RM20 (Adult), RM10 (Children/18+ Students), RM5 (School Groups)

Anyway, back to the exhibition. Or I mean before entering it, because the Science Center itself was decorated with awesome Star Trek banners, stickers and posters. While walking towards the exhibition, you might notice many trivia questions printed on insignia shaped stickers guiding visitors to the venue. So if you haven't been doing your revision, those will start your hype again.

SPOILER ALERT!!!
When entering, the first thing we noticed was a small station dedicated to photograph souvenirs where visitors were allowed to get their photographs taken by the official photographers at 3 specific sets (TOS captain's chair, TNG Enterprise Bridge and Transporter from the 2009 Star Trek). Obviously they would cost a few bucks, but for fans, this is definitely a fantastic souvenir... in essence, I didn't get them.

Yup! That's the bridge I am talking about!

Before coming this exhibition, I have seen almost all the Star Trek episodes from every series and all 11 movies multiple times, so seeing it right in front of my eyes somehow makes it feel a little too real. Don't get me wrong, I love the feeling, just that sometimes fantasy worlds and sci-fi are just meant to be imaginary. If you are interested in props and models, check out the Beyond The Final Frontier documentary below.

The detail in many of the costumes on display were really beautiful and really invoke that nostalgia feeling of the movies and episodes. And after walking through the whole exhibition, the final room contains a detailed 7m enormous model of the original Enterprise as seen in the first 3 movies. I was in awe when I saw that model and comparing it with my crappy unfinished RM99 TOS Enterprise model at home.

To finish it off, at the end of the exhibition is a Star Trek store, if you can call it that. To most Star Trek fans who can afford fancy merchandise and souvenirs, the store would be the best place to purchase those uniforms, keychains and magnets. Believe it or not, this is the worst souvenir store I have ever seen in my life. There were hardly anything worth buying and the number of items are pitiful to say the least. So don't bother visiting if all you want is some souvenirs, you are better off getting them from Ebay. Come to think of it, the store may have got those from Ebay as well.

Wow... just wow!!!

Overall the exhibition was not spectacular in any way but still passable. If you are a Star Trek fan from this region, just drop by the science center before the end of March. You may regret passing this opportunity.

lalanandaFRY
23/2/13