I hope to visit the Char Kway Teow stall at Bukit Merah Hawker Centre soon, especially after reading ieatishootipost's recommendation!

Now, on to the movie. Having read the review in 8days magazine, I thought "Let Me In" was more of a thriller than a horror flick as the review seemingly focused more on the bond between an ostracized little boy who was a victim of bullying at school and a 12-year old female vampire. How terrifying could a 12 year old child vampire be right?


I was wrong. I ended up watching the movie through my fingers, my palms cupping the cheeks of my face. Admittedly, I am not the bravest of souls, but the drastic contrast between the demure, innocent 12-year old child and her transformation into a hideous blood sucking monster was too shocking.

On one hand, she was the reliable child-like confidante to a fellow 12 year old boy, but on the other hand, she was also a blood curdling menace who looks nothing like a 12 year old at the sight of blood.

One of the most frightening scenes was at an isolated underpass, where she lay in ambush in complete darkness, pretending to be injured and begging an unsuspecting jogger to carry her before attacking him. The scene was so gory it still makes me think twice about helping children in need!

The gore, the blood gushing down her fangs and her blood-soaked clothes (so unglamorous!!) sent shivers down my spine. These elements were ubiquitous throughout the movie. I wondered why she didn't have the finesse of the vampires in Twilight and could never seem to clean up after herself. She always had blood dripping from her mouth, her clothes and the rest of her body!

I honestly couldn't understand why the little boy never once flinched when she wrapped her bloody hands and body around him! I swear I would've died on the spot if someone did that to me.

Savage aside, the plot was very novel as it explored the psychological struggles, loneliness and trauma that a viciously bullied child would typically experience. The male lead was driven to desperation (omg his only friend was a vampire!) and the female vampire became his only companion for the rest of his life. The boy got himself a companion and life-time protection from bullies while the girl vampire got herself a slave to hunt down innocent human beings for their blood.

I don't know how to explain this, but the film was touching yet inexplicably disturbing at the same time. I'll rate this 4/5.

Go watch it if you haven't already done so. I bet you would have sleepless nights thereafter. ;)

We had a wonderful stay at K+K Maria Theresia Hotel and I would recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Vienna. Most European hotels, even the 4 star ones, can be pretty poorly furnished and shabby, but K+K Maria Theresia is definitely a 4-star hotel by international standards. It also provides free internet access, which is rarely found in most European hotels. :)


Back to the main purpose of this post. I absolutely adore going to museums, but I was rather disappointed with the collections showcased in the Museum of Fine Arts, a highly acclaimed museum that houses the art collections of the Habsburgs family.

Blame it on my limited knowledge of European art, but I could hardly recognize any of the paintings I saw, much less the names of the artists. Most of the paintings were painted by Flemish painter Bruegel in the 1500s, whom I honestly don't give a hoot about. I much prefer the museums in Italy and France which boast extensive art collections of Monet, Raphael, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Degas and Michelangelo.


The only noteworthy paintings here were the Raphael's "Madonna in the Meadow" (top left pic of collage) and the Infanta paintings by Velazquez, namely "Las Meninas". This painting and other paintings of Infanta Margarita (not the alcoholic drink haha!) were later reinterpreted by Picasso.





Fortunately, the Albertina museum was Vienna's saving grace, to me at least. There were two interesting roving exhibitions going on at that time, namely "Michelangelo. The drawings of a genius" which featured early drawings of Michelangelo and "Picasso: Peace & Freedom" which showcased the artist's politically charged paintings.


I have never seen Picasso's actual works up close and personal, so this was an eye-opening experience for me. On display here was Picasso's famous painting, Guernica, which was commonly thought to be a symbol of the artist's protest against fascism. Contrary to popular belief, no one really knows its true symbolism and meaning.

I guess part of Picasso's appeal lies in his enigmatic paintings which are always subject to interpretation. When asked to explain Guernica, Picasso replied "It isn't up to the painter to define the symbols. Otherwise it would be better if he wrote them out in so many words! The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they understand them."


I didn't take a photo of Guernica, but I did capture a snapshot of Picasso's second most important political painting, The Charnel House (top right pic in collage) is said to commemorate the Republicans of Spain who were sacrificed during the second world war. The other two paintings in the collage were reinterpretations of Valazquez's Infanta Margarita (bottom left) and Bologna's Rape of the Sabine women (bottom right).

The Picasso exhibition left me feeling fulfilled and satisfied. I wanted to catch this exhibition at the Lourve in Jan 2009 but the queue was so incredibly long it was really quite impossible for me to wait in line. This exhibition will be on till Jan 2011, so if you're heading to Vienna any time soon, be sure to catch it!

The Alpenzoo, otherwise known as the Alpine Zoo, is one of the most popular attractions in Innsbruck. It is the highest zoo in Europe and houses many animals that are indigenous to the Alps.

It is closely located to the Nordkette cable railway and you can easily make your way to the zoo after visiting the Seegrube and Halfelaka mountatins via the Nordpark Railway Station, an architectural marvel in its own right. We alighted at Station Hungerburg and took a short walk to the zoo.

It was an interesting experience as there were so many animals that we have never seen in tropical climates.

JW was especially excited to see two animals. The first was the bison, because it is a symbol of power.

The second was the moose, because having read numerous Archie comic books during his childhood, JW's idea of what a moose represents has been deeply influenced by Big Moose, the dumb guy in the comic. JW thinks that the moose is a hilarious animal because to him, it is a symbol of stupidity.

This is what Big Moose looks like (this was the dumbest pic I could find on the internet):


And this is what Wikipedia has to say about him (yes, I do credit my sources when I actually use them...):

"It is often said that he (Big Moose) consistently scores straight F's (which, at one point, he thought meant Fantastic)"

To the kind-hearted souls, you would probably think he has a positive outlook in life (I mean who would think that an F grade stands for Fantastic?!). To the rest of us, he is the epitome of himbo-ness. All brawns and no brains, but very amusing nonetheless.

My girlfriend Jun just returned from Paris with a beautiful LV Trevi (including dust bag) for sale at S$2,000.

She has too many bags to go around, so if you're keen to give this bag a new home, do drop me an email at regina.chow@gmail.com! - SOLD-