I found out that Netflix has a new plan called Mobile for only RM17. I have used Netflix before and it cost RM35 for Basic, RM45 Standard and RM55 Premium a month.
But now with the Mobile plan, it's only half the price of Basic but I can't cast it to the TV. And that's the only difference between Mobile and Basic. Other than that, it's exactly the same.
My hubby wasn't keen on it and since I watch most of my shows on my Tablet anyway, I thought it would be worth a try.
So I'm subscribing it for a month. Yeah, looks like I'm back to watching TV.
It is a very nice and cooling Saturday today. The weather is at about 25C and everyone in the Klang Valley is wishing the weather will be like this every day.
I drove my son to Midvalley Megamall to meet his friend and I had a nice time myself walking around and finally reading and having coffee alfresco in Starbucks.
We have the day off today and for someone who never ever take a nap, I was napping away in the afternoon, and in the heat too, and thankfully I didn't get a headache as a result like I usually do after I sleep in the afternoon.
I know I am a late comer when it comes to the Downton Abbey TV drama series that lasted from 2010 to 2015.
I have tried watching it before and I remember the first few scenes quite well about the death of the heirs in the sinking of the Titanic, and an introduction to the parallel lives of the family and their whole horde of maids, butler, valet and footmen.
I am now midway through its second season in iFlix and I am seriously hooked.
I do not have any favourite characters at the moment, but I have one character I love to hate, Sarah O'Brien, brilliantly portrayed by Siobhan Finneran.
I find that the characters in Downton Abbey are all very, very interesting, very well played and well developed. Everyone of them tells a story.
And I find O'Brien's character very interesting indeed. You would call her a baddie but there are so many layers that you can see in her. She is loyal but yet selfish, clever but conniving, hardworking but calculating. And so far she keeps getting away with all her ill-doing.
I think she will be around for three seasons but she has already caused so much trouble, and not for herself but for others. It's interesting that she does feel guilty about what she does to protect herself but she does not seem to learn from it.
I suppose people who are self-centered, those who do not not have a single cell of benevolence in their hearts will not see that they need to do anything good to others but to do whatever it takes to benefit and protect themselves.
But it's fortunate that such people will not be able to continue like that for too long.
After three days, I'm calling it quits. Pokemon Go, that is.
I just wanted to see what the craze is all about and after three days, I felt it wasn't worth my time. I want to have a better use of my time and attention, especially my attention.
I did notice that I thought about it a lot, everywhere I go, wondering if there's a Pokemon or a Pokestop.
With that, I'm done with it.
So let's just say: been there done that, move on. There are just too many better and more useful things to do.
Let me first rant a bit. I am not very happy with the latest Season 9 of the Doctor Who series. I fell asleep halfway today watching the first episode, and it is very rare thing for me to do that while watching TV. Then I sort of half-watched the subsequent episodes including the absolutely boring Zygon Invasion and the so ridiculous Sleep No More. The only ones which were a bit more interesting were The Girl Who Died and The Girl Who Lived. I have three more episodes to go and I'm not sure when I will get the mood to watch them.
My Top-3 Doctor Who Episodes
Anyway this is what I want to blog about today: of all the 2005-reboot season episodes of Doctor Who, I have my top 3 here, which I would like share with you. I have included short clips below. If you have not watched this sci-fi series before, do watch these clips, or at least the third one; seriously, it's really really good.
The Empty Child (2005)
Starring Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Richard Wilson, Florence Hoath
This episode is an eerie one but so eerie it's so good. It is set in London in 1941, during the Second World War. The story goes around a boy who wears a gas mask. Anyone who touches him will have gas masks grow out of their faces. And he goes around asking people "Are you my mommy?", which became an iconic phrase in Doctor Whodom.
Blink (2007)
Starring David Tennant, Carey Mulligan, Freema Agyeman
This episode surely sits on the No.1 position in all best-episode lists out there, being one of the best time travel story of all times. The plot knits itself very well together and for a time travel story it actually make sense. And it involves the really heart-stopping Weeping Angels who would come after you when you blink or close your eyes. Watch the clip above and notice the Weeping Angels changing their positions as the scene progresses. And as you watch it, don't blink!
Vincent and the Doctor (2010)
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Tony Curran, Bill Nighy
And of all my three favourite episodes, I can watch this one over and over and over again. The colours, the emotions, the warmth, the art, it's just so fantastic. Tony Curran played fabulously as Van Gogh and Bill Nighy was just too precious as an art expert. Watching this makes me happy. If I had a tired and depressing day, this would be one of the things that lift up my spirits, and yet not running away from the reality of life, just as it was sadly with Van Gogh. "Every life is a pile of good things and bad things. Good things don't always soften the bad things but vice versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant."
I had a lovely weekend of cooking and eating and TV. Bliss!
I made dry curry chicken and watched the entire season 1 of Fresh Off the Boat. Totally hilarious. I then started watching Mr Selfridge. Very interesting series.
And why does this blogpost sound like a Facebook post. Looks like I have finally been Facebooked. Bad.
We got for ourselves a Chromecast adapter on Sunday but it did not work. It started ok but when I wanted to stream a movie it wouldn't connect to my phone and then all it casted onto the TV was alternating green screen and black. We got it changed yesterday but it was the same. It gets connected for about 10 minutes and then it will be disconnected. Nothing we do will reconnect it, even switching it on and off.
My husband had been at it for hours trying to get it to work till he was just too frustrated. Arrgghh!!!
pearlie
P/S 27/1/2016: my hubby finally managed to get it to work. I don't know what adjustments he did, but it works...so far so good. I just feel that for this branded product, it should work better.
It's a public holiday today and I was out practically the whole day, which is unusual. What I usually do during off-days is to stay home and just rest, but I will end up watching TV the whole day and really regret it. But I'm glad it was not so today.
For one, we went shopping! I seldom go shopping with my husband--it's not a preferred activity for him--but we were at 3 shopping malls in one day! For very, very specific purposes though. We were at KLCC to get the ChromeCast adapter replaced. The one we bought yesterday was not working. (It is still not working but that is a different story.) Then we were at Low Yat Plaza. My husband wanted to get some cables and a new tempered glass protector for his phone. We had lunch there. We then decided to go to Sunway Pyramid because I wanted to get an air fryer. I know, there are nearer electrical stores around but I was more used to Sunway Pyramid and what more, we got a good deal and lots of free gifts from our purchase in the Aeon outlet there.
And two, I again had an amazing choir practice on Handel's Messiah led by Chi Hoe Mak. It was just fun and I had a great time singing together.
I returned to the gym. Finally. I have not been going since October last year. I know I need to every morning but I kept snuggling deeper into bed. But I finally went this morning. Yay!!! But now I need a compelling reason for me to get up early every day to go to the gym. What shall it be?
I watched iFlix for free today. And will be so for the rest of the year. My colleague told me about it being free for Unifi subscribers. I could not get in my TV, will try to figure that out in the next few days, but I got it without effort in my iPad. All I did was download the app, make sure I'm connected to my Wi-Fi when I opened it and I got connected free automatically. And apparently, I only need to do that for the first sign in using my Unifi account, after which I will be able to use it free even if I'm not in my own Wi-Fi environment.
It's a good day. Simple, but good. And it's the small things in life that I need to learn to appreciate, and be contented with what I already have.
I had a really nice time being out with my hubby and son today. We were at the bookstore, a place I haven't been in quite awhile. But since my son, who is still a print book person, wanted to go get some books, off we went to our favorite bookstore, Kinokuniya. I really missed browsing in bookstores.
Kinokuniya, KLCC, the best bookstore by far in Kuala Lumpur
One of my favourite aisle in the store. The other favourite is the Popular Science aisle.
These books caught my interest. The funny thing was, what I had with me when I left the bookstore were snapshots of the books I wanted. Back then, I would have walked out with a huge bag of books and a couple or more hundred ringgit poorer.
Anyway, I've enjoyed the visit so much I should come visit once every two or three months.
Someone Like You by Roald Dahl I tonight I have all of Roald Dahl's book but looks like I missed this one, or did I?
Phishing for Phools, The Economics of Manipulation and Deception by George A. Akerlof & Robert J. Shiller I do get attracted to interesting popular economics-themed books. Maybe it's because even though I studied economics, I still find there's so much I don't know.
Me, Myself, and Why, Searching for the Science of Self by Jennifer Ouellette I'm currently very interested in studying consciousness - why is there me? Why am I not you, him or her?
The Universe Inside You, The Extreme Science of the Human Body by Brian Clegg Ever since I've taken the course on psychology in Coursera, and my catching up on episodes of House M.D., this topic of the human body draws my interest.
Jeremy & Amy, The Extraordinary True Story of One Man and His Orang-utan by Jeremy Keeling I thought it's time I needed a good feel-good story. This may fit the bill.
The Soul of an Octopus, A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery Octopuses intrigue me, and what more now that they're connected to the topic of consciousness.
The Diet Myth, The Real Science Behind What We Eat by Tim Spector Interesting topic, but would it be a good idea to know so much. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
I took time to check out some places we can go for a short holiday with my parents and we thought of going to Ipoh. At first, I thought we could just be thrifty and book a budget hotel in town. We've stayed in Ritz Garden Ipoh before and found it decent and thought we book rooms there.
But no. My dad wanted a better hotel. His philosophy? If he doesn't enjoy life now, when can he do so? :)
And so we booked an apartment in this award winning hotel and we are certainly looking forward now to our short holiday.
My hubby suggested that we go to Atria for lunch today. I thought to myself, why does that place sound so familiar and yet I can't place it at all in my mind what and where it is.
It was only when we got there that I realized it is the good old shopping complex that I used to go to back on those days for get-togethers with my old friends.
And how different it is now. It was apparently under massive renovations since it closed for business back in 2008. It was reopened in May this year.
It has changed so much it is unrecognizable, and it no longer bring back any of those good old memories.
I am not really a superheroes fan but I grew up with Superman and Batman movies, and I like them. Marvel came with Spider-Man and I was just okay with it. But soon I was into X-Men and The Avengers.
And when it comes to the female leads, I am definite for Marvel. I simply could not stand the female leads in DC and I couldn't agree more with this writer when he said the scriptwriters could have done better and develop better characters rather than those that are "narcissistic, vindictive, incredibly self-righteous, and sometimes passive-aggressive," like that of Iris in Flash, Lana in Superman and Laurel in Arrow. Especially Iris in Flash...urgh...
I caught up with this TV series, Daredevil, recently and I have enjoyed it. I read somewhere that we are at the Platinum Age of Television - there is just too much good TV to watch. I hope I don't waste it all on TV though.
