A Mind of My Own

10 Promises to My Dog is a family movie that teaches about a dog’s unconditional love and support to his owner. Socks, the Golden Retriever, wandered into Akari’s house as a young puppy when she was 14 years old. His presence in the family brought about some relief when Akari’s mother passed away due to an illness.

I like this touching movie because of its simple message. Animals have only us for companionship when they are our pets. Be it dogs, cats or guinea pigs. They depend on us for food as they can’t hunt on their own. They remember what was done to them even if they can talk.

Dogs have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years and neglecting them over the years or even abusing them will make them be afraid of you and even hate you. Don’t forget, dogs are natural hunters and their sharp teeth do hurt. 10 Promises teaches about Socks being a therapy dog; there is a few scenes about how he does it simply by being there and playing the “See There” game.

I feel this is a touching movie as it reminds me of my lost pet. The tears refused to stop! I feel that it is a pity that people adopt just any pet thinking it’s cute or “KAWAII” and then abandon them on the streets after a few years. When a pet has been domesticated for a few years, the hunting skills don’t just magically appear so that they will survive in the cold streets.

Just like if you have been used to being served with food at home without cooking, you can’t just magically cook a great meal when you are living on your own, do you?

After watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona by Woody Allen, I have only one conclusion to make. Spain is vivacious. The people are passionate about art and enjoying the finer aspects of life. The beautiful buildings, streets and the lovely houses have made me want to visit Spain.

The movie is about Vicky and Cristina who were in Barcelona for a 2-month vacation. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) was to complete her thesis in Barcelona while Cristina (Scarlet Johansson) would tour by herself at times. During the art exhibition, both girls met Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who was recently divorced from a violent marriage. Cristina was instantly attracted to him and couldn’t help looking at him most of the time.

During dinner, Antonio approached them and proposed a weekend stay with just the three of them. Vicky was apprehensive but Cristina was raring to go. During the stay, Vicky was slowly charmed by Antonio but quickly regretted her passion.

As time went on, Cristina started to see more of Antonio and chaos began when the ex-wife, Marie Elena (Penelope Cruz) sought refuge with Antonio. The trio had problems at first as they were living in the same house but soon warmed up to each other.

I like the cute song that is being played during the start.

Trailer is embedded.

This would not have been made possible without Blog Aloud.

After watching Fool’s Gold, I wanted to visit the places where they have clear blue sea. And find a few treasures to auction off. With the sun pelting down and getting a tan, watching babes and hunks by the beach playing beach volleyball and the clear blue sea, it is heaven.

This movies stars Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson as a couple who renew their love for each other despite a divorce to find the Queen’s Dowry. Ah, the adventures begin. I find that Benjamin gets hit on the head almost every time he attempted to appease Big Bunny. Ouch. The most painful part I guess must be when his ex-wife knocked him out with an old man’s cane. That must have hurt a lot.

While some found this movie average, I found it quite funny. Since I have no previous movie with the leads in another movie, a comparison would be unfair. I went because DD passed to me a pair of free tickets he had won in a contest from The New Paper. The goodies were the same except with a pair of calendars.

This time, I don’t know how long we spent watching the ads. Managed to find someone who was available to watch it with me. Meet my new lover, HF. She enjoyed it too. Thanks, DD.

It’s true. Singapore is green with trees everywhere, and look! Even our face is green too! You see, we work like slave, end up all wounded, but no pay raise. Just look at the Face Green Green video.

[via Tomorrow]

With Christmas coming, the blogsphere won’t be complete without a Christmas-y meme, would it? I’m here writing the meme because I’m stuck at home with medicine infested blood besides being tagged by Modobs. I was so looking forward to joining the girls at the Christmas gift exchange too!

1. What do you really want for Christmas but you know nobody will get it for you?

Something shiny but then again, that shiny thing would be more suitable for Valentine’s day.

2. What do you not want for Christmas but you know that somebody will get it for you?

The heavy rain on Christmas.

3. When do you open your gifts (Christmas eve or Christmas morning)?

Erm, immediately. Unless it’s during a gift exchange, it’s after everyone has collected theirs.

4. Do you prefer gifts wrapped or in gift bags?

Wrapped. I like to keep the wrapping papers but these days, there is too liberal use of the scotch tape.

5. Did you re-gift anything this year?

No. I do it only if I hate that gift.

6. What’s your favourite Christmas movie?

I have one? Wait! I like Alvin and The Chipmunks


7. What’s your favourite Christmas TV special?

I forgot what’s often broadcast on TV. Oh, wait, I don’t watch TV much these days. I have movie marathons.

8. Do you like egg nog?

I prefer half-boiled eggs. Or eggs that are salty instead of sweet.

9. Real tree or fake tree, which do you prefer?

Fake trees. I don’t have to hurt the environment just to make the season feel Christmas-y.

10. Would you actually use one of those fireplace DVDs if you don’t have a fireplace?

Why would I waste my money on those?

11. Are you sick of Christmas music yet?

Not yet, but I’m sick as in having flu.

12. Are you getting up early to wait in line to do some Boxing Day shopping (Canada’s equivalent to Black Friday)?

Not even when it’s sales. Why waste my energy when there’s always someone waiting to step on my poor toes?

13. When was the last time you sat on Santa’s lap?

No such luck. My parents don’t believe in making us believe in Santa Claus.

Since a tag must be passed, I shall now tag DK, Kriscell, Lucretius, Xinyun, Nicole, Miss Loi and Sentosa Girl.

Oh, Merry Christmas everyone!

[via Flickr]

This month, I’ve watched more movies with DD than any other months. I’ve watched The Heartbreak Kid, 30 Days of Night, Alvin and The Chipmunks and National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets. All of these within 2 weeks. Whew. With all these shows being watched in the evenings, I’m falling sick. Oh and DK, your dear is sweet. Maybe I should have exposed you

Here’s a short video of Masi Oka (as Hiro Nakaruma) from TV drama series Heroes helping a tourist to take a photograph in Times Square. Haven’t managed to catch all the episodes from this series.

This video is shot by BuckShotWon, a.k.a. Adrian. This Adrian could be Adrian Pasdar the actor from Heroes. If it is, then “YATA!” as Hiro would have shouted.

[via Rinaz in Twitter]

DD bought 2 tickets from U Movies. The movie was Surf’s Up that I wanted to watch the other time. This outdoor screening event was organised by NTUC because U Movies is celebrating its 2nd anniversary. We were late in entering but the space was not fully filled up yet. I thought kiasu people would have choped the best spots by then. Since there were still good spots for placing the mat, we got one good position. Once settled down, I started taking note of the game stalls and food and beverages. The sun was out which I thought was a good sign. Boy, was I wrong.

DD went to get the drinks. I noticed the balloons. It was about 40 minutes later that another group arrived to place their mats in front of us. It was a big group. With a girl of about 8 years old. As with custom, kids are often given free balloons, she was no exception. The screen was on the left while the stage for lucky draw and launch of the U Wellness was on the right. A bright yellow balloon was tied up blocking one part of the stage. Great. Just. Great.

When it was around 6pm, a grandmother arrived and they placed a chair right in front of DD. His spot was a great spot for watching to movie, so they let her sit there in the chair. Thankfully, they didn’t stay for the movie. They left when the movie was in for 15 minutes. Basically, I was thinking that the people were there for the lucky draw and not for the movie. At around 8.45pm, some drops of rain fell upon us. Everyone started packing except for a handful who simply opened their umbrellas and continued watching. Our main concern was the lightning.

So, we hid under the shelter of the games stalls. After a while, DD went to check on the weather, the rain had stopped and we placed our mat in another spot that was nearer the screen. The one thing that stood out was the technical glitches. The salsa band was good but when the keyboard player played a certain key, the speakers had this loud tone that sounded like bass that was played awfully wrong. They had to stop mid-way and the salsa dancers were stunned. After a while, they tried again, the awful sound was still heard but less loudly.

There was the performances by the acrobats, aerobics, yoga, salsa dance and magic show by Kiki Tay. There were discounts and free massages from Spa @ Aranda, Cover Looks and Plush. It felt like family day. Maybe next time, I should get my family to attend such events.

All these time, the emcee and the music were blasting loudly. The whole event started at 4pm and ended at 9.30pm. Most of the people left after the lucky draw. Perhaps, the dragging part was the performances? I’m not saying they were lousy just that the time to wait for the show was too long. Ultimately, we didn’t win anything from the lucky draw. There was this number that was just 10 numbers before us and the person won something.

When the movie was playing into the last 15 minutes, the technical glitch monster struck again, this time, no sound. The uncle stopped it immediately to fix it. I was starting to wonder if it was a mistake to stay for the movie. However, we still stayed and watched till the end. While the female penguin was cute, so do the baby penguins, the lead, Cody, wasn’t cute. Except when he was standing next to his bigger sized brother.

The movie felt odd because it was done interview style which disrupted the flow, I felt. In addition, there were some scenes where it was dark and we could see nothing despite the night sky. Maybe they could have dimmed the stalls’ lights. Overall, the movie was not that great. Thankful that we didn’t watch at the cinema for more than $3.

At the end of this event, I wish that such events banned balloons because they block other people’s view of the stage and screen. Organisers, please, please, please, DON’T ever give out balloons. On the other hand, I might just bring something sharp and poke all those balloons. No wait, I can use scotch tape and attempt to detach from the balloon and the balloon will fly away. Or I can just cut off the string and it’ll fly away. Evil, sia.

Lazy to upload the photos. Will upload them once I get round to editing them to smaller bite sizes.

Update: More of the photos can be found at Flickr.

I have a meme about using US$1 million and sexy tutor, Miss Loi has done it. I’m still waiting for the rest. So, I should go and place a comment then. I’m so lazy, huh? Jian, you promised to do after you get well.
Understandably, this is a new blog site and .info sites have been used for splogs which means trouble for myself. There are some sites where my comments go through, some just got caught in spam. While I very much wished to link to Wikipedia, with the latest notice about this guy going around editing the information about Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore dollar, and other sites due to the rising fares, perhaps (?) to vent his frustrations, I link to other sites that are less prone to being defaced.

While it’s unfortunate that my site seems to be identified as a spam, I did try to get another domain but it’s been in use for quite some time, I can’t just point a gun at the owner to demand that it be sold to me. I had to settle for this.

I’m watching Surf’s Up tomorrow. Outdoors for the first time. Dear Mr Weatherman, please make it a good clear day tomorrow. Thank you. Been watching quite a few movies lately. My first time watching a movie twice in the same week was Ratatouille.

Finally, I’m going to Bali. Time to plan and pack.

This little kitty is cute but he loves to bite. Ouch. The name’s Sparta, reminds me of the movie 300.

Lyrics can be found at the original site.