Movie: The Hobbit- The Desolation of Smaug

My most anticipated movie of the year: The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug

The second installation of the three part movie series, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug picks up where the first part left off, and tells of their journey to The Lonely Mountain.

As usual of the whole LOTR empire, there are many stunning shots, which look even better in 3D. I love that it opens with prologue explaining how this quest began in the first place. It extends the story beyond simply a bunch of dwarves going on an impossible quest, I actually recognize being in the Middle Earth in this movie, as compared to their first one. 

As a fan myself, that was really important, because Middle Earth is like this parallel universe where I sometimes live at, and watching this movie and recognizing the characters and history reference makes the story comes alive. 

Erebor, or The Lonely Mountain, was such a glorious sight to behold! It is not only a place of dragon and treasures. It's a place of historical and cultural significance to the Dwarves of Durin's Folk. It's their pride and their home. (I wished they could have shown more of Mirkwood though. )

Of course, The Desolation of Smaug would not be complete without Smaug. (I still think it's a weird name for a dragon btw, sounds like the name for a conman or something) And of course, the fire-breathing dragon loves riddles. Next thing you know, it's gonna break into a song together with the Orcs and He Who Must Not Be Named oops wrong universe The One (a.k.a. Sauron)

As for the other characters, I am glad that the Company are given more attention so that their personalities are more than just "The Company", Huffington Post wrote about the dwarves earlier this year. 

Orlando Bloom is back as Legolas with his killer arrow-shooting skill. Seriously, if you paid enough attention, you can see Legolas shooting the Orcs who are standing like 5cm from him using arrows. Perhaps he receive star points with his Daddy King if he combo kill them. My roomie said that Orlando Bloom looks totally different from when he starred in the LOTR. What do you think? (Looks like normal aging to me.)

Ed Sheeran, one of my favourite artist currently, sings the OST for Desolation of Smaug. 

But honestly though, nothing beats The Lonely Mountain song from Unexpected Journey.

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Uber: The new car service in Kuala Lumpur

Uber- more than your regular taxis

Uber is a new car service recently launched in Malaysia. I tried out their service for the first time last night after going for The Hobbit's premiere (more on that later!), and according to our super-friendly driver, they have only started for around one month. Find out more about their company here and here. 

What really sets Uber apart from other taxis, or car-hiring service, is the user experience and great customer service. Everything happens real-time and is so hassle-free, I can tell that a lot of thoughts go into their customer experience team, making sure that you would not need to worry about a single thing, they will pay attention to all the small details in advance for you. 

So I received a promotion code to try out their service for free a while ago and did not have the chance to use it until last night. Like any other apps, you simple download it and sign up, the only significant difference is the need for a credit card. So make sure you have one (=^ェ^=)

Upon successful sign-up, I received an SMS and an email simultaneously. Which is kinda cool, and the message was crafted in a very friendly tone, making you feel welcomed and all. Below is the simple steps of summon your very own one-time chauffeur: 

GPS map is used for setting a pickup location. Press a button and voila! You have summon your very own magical chariot. Actually, this is the part of Uber I like best, what happened was that, once you booked your ride, you immediately get all kinds of information, including: estimated cost, estimated time of arrival, driver's photo, driver's phone number. 

I think they do not have many drivers currently, as we would have to wait for quite some time before our car arrived. We waited for around 15 minutes if I am not mistaken ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯ It was the longest I have ever waited for a booked cab. 

Anyways, our driver arrived in a Toyota Camry after 15 minutes and was quite friendly and polite, which made me less upset afterward. ( It helps that I was in a good mood after a good movie, haha.)

So anyway, we arrived home safe and sound ( It can be quite dangerous for two short girls to travel late night in Kuala Lumpur.) And I was pleasantly surprised to find in my inbox soon afterwards a receipt with complete details of my journey. Really like this as it can be used as a reference next time I wanna use their service again. Also included was a link in case you left anything on the car, quite thoughtful, eh?

Here's my receipt :)

In summary, here are the pros and cons of Uber:

Pros

• Easy and hassle-free. If you have internet on your smartphone then you are good to go.
• Reputable and safe. Hey you only got one life ok?
• Comfortable and swag. (This is also my criteria for a good pair of shoes (ˆڡˆ)v )
• Very good user experience. I mentioned this before, and personally, this is a very important criteria for me when choosing any service.

Cons

• Expensive. I mean, if you insist on comparing this to the subpar public transport system here in KL then fine, yes it is expensive. Base fare is RM7, with additional RM0.30 per minute and RM2 every km
• You might need to wait for quite a while depending on where their available driver is ┐( ˘_˘)┌
• Only available for people with a data plan, a smartphone, and a credit card. But I don't think this is an issue as they have a very specific target audience. 

Lat but not least, here's a goodie for you!

Simply key in the promo code below when booking your ride and receive RM30 off your first ride ◉‿◉

kz47p

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Product Review: Hado Labo Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Make-Up Remover

原本是想写 篇中文post的。搞了老半天，没搞懂以上的标题改怎么翻译。(－‸ლ)

总而言之，就是想介绍这个我用了几个月的卸妆水。还记得 N年前，刚开始手痒学化妆的时候，都是用婴儿油卸妆的。当时的逻辑很简单，便宜就可以了。哈哈。今年开始用这款卸妆水。一个字- 赞！

我本身不常化浓妆，所以用这个刚刚好，如果是化夸张艳妆的话就需要多花点心思了。哈哈哈哈！卸完妆后皮肤不会感觉greasy or tight。而且效果很好，用清水洗过后就白白净净了，不会导致毛孔诸塞。而且价格也很大众化哦！

哈哈没看过这么短的product review 吧？keke 因为是 5-minute blog challenge (ノ・∀・)ノ

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