A Mind of My Own

Having seen the preview of Up by Pixar, DD and I were anticipating for it since the GPS dropped out of the sky by Russell. However, I didn’t expect the unbelievably cute clouds making babies of both animals and humans to be carried out by their storks to the respective homes. It was called Partly Cloudy as a short film just before Up was to be shown.

I love the poor cloud who was tasked with making the other kinds of animals from shark to porcupines to rams. He was really happy with his creations but when his stork arrived, the poor stork was abused by the babies’ natural instincts. Despite the abuse, the stork still loved his cloud and it showcased the strong friendship bonds between the two of them.

Up is about this old man who finally decided to take an adventure in his house literally. I just want to put a disclaimer, helium filled balloons can’t really carry a house no matter how many of them are tied to the chimney. What really touched was the meaning behind this whole adventure. We should grab hold of every chance that we have in life as we may not get a second chance again.

This movie may make the adults who understand the meaning behind the scenes cry while making the kids confused as to why their parents were wailing their hearts out. After watching this movie, I demand that someone create a real collar that allows the dogs to be able to talk.

I am rather surprised at my year end daily outings.

25th Dec 2008 – Spent the day with DD and watched Ip Man with his friends.

26th Dec 2008 – Spent the afternoon walking selected areas of Suntec and Marina Square looking for maternity clothes for SH.

27th Dec 2008 – Spent the evening attending an ex-polymate’s baby’s naming ceremony. I got lost as the door number was totally wrong. Had to ask for the actual one since I didn’t note it down in the Facebook message.

28th Dec 2008 – Spent the morning with HF and DD at Woodlands library as he needed her help with accounting assignment. Spent the rest of the day at my place and subsequently to the huge Jurong Point. Unable to complete the tour with the new wing. It now stretches across the length of the MRT station.

29th Dec 2008 – Spent the evening with SH, AY and LP at Jurong Point catching up with each other’s lives. Gossiping included. LP will be booking her wedding in Jan 2010. Not me.

30th Dec 2008 – Spent the evening watching The Duchess with HF.

31st Dec 2008 – Perhaps spend the day with DD. Countdown not included.

I hope 2009 will bring forth new ventures for myself and hopefully be half as successful as Paddy

The hair piled up high and ringlets to set off the face. The corsets and huge dresses to make the women look more feminine. The scandal surrounding the Duchess of Devonshire. All these into a book and finally into a movie. The Duchess is about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire whose life was mixed with a love triangle between her best friend and husband, Duke of Devonshire and her affair with Charles Grey, the future Prime Minister.

Her love of gambling and politics not withstanding, she was also known for her fashionable gowns and dresses. Watching the movie makes me realise that women in the eighteen century and earlier have no authority to divorce their unfaithful husbands. The Duke was happily galavanting with other women and even fathered a daughter while blatantly telling his wife to look after the orphaned girl he had fathered with a maid who passed away.

Ralph Fiennes portrayed the cold husband who loved his wife but unable to express his feelings that she craved for. Keira Knightly has yet again portrayed a woman in such times who would rebel against the conventional thinking that women are to stay loyal to their husbands no matter what and give an heir. I still remember her character in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Being part of the royal family isn’t all about glamour. It’s about being discreet when you realised that you are stuck in a loveless marriage. Being a Duchess meant all her movements were being published in the newspapers for all to read. While I can understand that men in those times aren’t that verbal or even non-verbal with their affections to their wives, I couldn’t stand it when the gallivanting Duke dared to demand loyalty and an heir from his wife.

Women in those times had to bear with such insults and have since come a long way. By the way, Keira Knightly sheds it all for certain parts of the scenes and this movie is rated M18. Quite a few bare skins are shown. However, why the males show only their top halves while the females show all?

Tickets to the movie was from InCinemas.

Having read Journey to The Centre of The Earth years ago, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the movie. However, it really wasn’t based on the book, just snippets of it. It’s about a professor whose brother was missing years ago and when he was in charge of taking care of his nephew, he found an old book of the same title. His brother had often been fascinated with it and wrote notes in it.

My favourite scene.

Intrigued by the consistency of the notes that his brother had made, Professor Anderson and his nephew embarked on a journey for the time of their lifes. This movie came to life when I watched it in 3D. There were some scenes that I grabbed hold of DD’s hand tightly.

Quotes

Trevor: What are you doing?
Sean: I am Googling at 30 thousand feet.
Trevor: Are you supposed to be doing that?
Sean: Welcome to the 21st century.

The problem with watching 3D movies is that when you exit from the cinema, your vision is slightly blurred from the strain. However, the movie ticket per person is expensive, S$13! Overall, the movie was presented in a humourous way. Is it me or is Brendan Fraser getting erm, more horizontal?

I must be crazy but who can say no to a movie that is half the price you will be paying for in Singapore? Economy is going down and my pocket is shrinking. Watching a movie in Singapore is getting more expensive with each month. As if I am watching them at the cinemas everyday.

Since DD will be free only this week, I felt that a trip to JB would be nice and perhaps we could catch a movie or two. We managed to watch Twilight and Bolt. I saw one scene in Twilight that was obvious cut off and the flow wasn’t there anymore. A pity since I wanted to know why the swoon-worthy Edward Cullen was flying off from Isabella Swan. Oh dear, am I giving away too much?

As for Bolt, it was really a show for kids since it tells of how a dog truly believes in his owner so much that he even believes in his powers. I like the part when he discovered that he was hungry. I think I am giving away too much.

After watching two movies, I realised that Edward Cullen in Twilight doesn’t make my heart pulpate unlike my teenage years. Oh crap! I am getting old!

After watching Twilight, there was some time left to have some late lunch. 4pm for a lunch is really late. Thinking that Sushi King at City Square was having a discount for showing the Cathay ticket stubs, we decided to have our meal there. Unfortunately, the promotion was over. To ensure our eyes weren’t deceiving us when we saw the poster at the box office, we checked and found the poster gone. *&@$*@YHE@*U

Should have gone to the slightly more expensive Japanese restaurant just next to Sushi King since it looked like the food would be fresh. Sushi King doesn’t have exactly quality fresh food. For dinner after watching Bolt, we decided to have cheesecake at Secret Recipe. Yogurt Cheese was sweet and sour at the same time.

Lemon Cheese was lemony sour while New York Cheese tasted of Oreo chocolate since the base was made from chocolate. I was rather disappointed that the staff wasn’t that fluent in English. Meaning, I should go learn Bahasa Melayu soon. Except, where the heck do I even try to find someone I can converse with regularly?

Eventually, our trip to Johore Bahru ended. However, with the same amount of money spent there and in Singapore, we got to eat more and watch more movies.

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.

We were young once. We want to show the world that we are no longer kids and want them to acknowledge our presence. In our own ways, we wore Armani, Burberry or Moschino apparel, carried Issey Miyaki or Guess bags, and even perfume to school. We wanted to show them that we are capable of making decisions for ourselves and didn’t need any babysitter every minute.

Image via Wikipedia

The boys would show off their powers by joining the big brothers who would say, “I look after you. Nobody bully my brother one!” They would often skip classes and sit at the coffeeshops or void decks and check out the pretty girls by wolf-whistling.

As time went by, they would get bolder, from stealing food to money. Each time, they weren’t caught, they broaden their “rewards”. The boys would also go to discos and Fire Disco was a popular place for seeing them dancing and playing with the girls.

The girls, on the other hand, would dress up and try to wear the shortest skirt that is allowed to school. Some would pull down the tucked in blouses as tight as possible into the skirt to show off their curves. Others would attempt to hide their hair highlights.

Yet other girls would continue wearing that threadbare blouse to show off what they were wearing inside. Or maybe it wasn’t to show off what they were wearing inside.

Those were The Days. I had the pleasure of viewing a Boi Kwong film made just for remembering those days. It is based on a true story about himself and his younger brother. It was a misguided attempt to ensure that his beloved brother would be protected that he pulled him into his world.

The movie captured the vulnerability of teenage years and their impression of being protected by the big brothers. Fighting and staring were often part of their lives. During the 1980s and early 90s, carrying parangs was part of protecting one’s life and to attack the enemy.

The Days opens on 11 Sept, 2008. The movie is just 100 minutes long due to cuts as it contains vulgar languages that were limited to the famous “Your father”. It’s a pity as I have heard far more colourful words being sprouted during my teenage years.

Stay tuned after the credits have rolled. To catch that handsome Zi Long a.k.a. Tai Zi, the cast will be at the stated places.

I have only one question for the director. How come Tai Zi wasn’t at the Cinema Europa one?

PS: This was made possible by GV Blog Aloud session. Thanks!

Image via Wikipedia

This is a call out for Royston Tan and Eric Khoo fans. GV has an event called “Local Producer’s Acclaimed Films”. One is the screening of Eric Khoo’s past movies (Be With Me and Mee Pok Man) on Friday, 22 August 2008, 7pm and the other are Roystan Tan’s past movies (881 and 4:30) on Friday, 29 August 2008, 7pm. Both sessions are priced at $18 each with free flow of popcorn and drink. Tickets can be purchased on the GV website or at the box office at GV Grand, Plaza Singapura.

Image via Wikipedia

Remember

Venue: GV Grand and GV Plaza

Date: 22 Aug 2008
Time: 7pm
Movie: Be With Me and Mee Pok Man

Date: 29 Aug 2008
Time: 7pm
Movie: 881 and 4:30

Having followed Sheylara’s blog for quite some time, I was happy that free tickets were going to be redeemed for the lucky bloggers who email her the details. DD read about it first since my RSS Reader didn’t update her new posts.

Thus, I sent her an email about my interest and surprise of all surprises, I got my free tickets to Money No Enough 2. A lady who is the contact for the event called me in the afternoon, a day before the actual movie and we spoke for a while. Nice lady.

I waited for the email for details. With the details, I proceeded to the place for collection. I was way too early since I had sent in my brother’s mobile for repair. Strangely, the huge group I saw were mostly queuing for the counter to buy popcorn and tickets.

I saw a table with the huge poster but the person to collect from wasn’t sitting at that place. Instead they were standing. I must say, they prefer to be close to the bloggers rather than just sit at the table and mark the tickets as collected. I’m impressed with the personal approach.

DD finally arrived because his training ended late. We rushed into the cinema and got our seats. Good seats. Thank you Sheylara. The show started on time without any pre-movie advertisements. I love it! Unfortunately, DD missed the first 2 minutes of the show because he needed to buy popcorn for me. I was hoping he would be back soon.

The movie’s main theme is about filial piety and I love the way it is being portrayed. Families with more than one sibling and the gap between rich and poor were shown with clarity. It also spoke of how a mother would give away her savings even if they were meant for her coffin to her children. A mother who doesn’t differentiate between loving a child more than the other.

The common quarrels between siblings is often about money after they started working. They will argue who earns more and should pay more for looking after the parents while neglecting the parents’ feelings. Parents may dote on one child more than the others but there are parents who won’t hesitate to help their children in whatever way they can without being biased.

This movie is a touching story about a family who learns filial piety and money values. A movie made from the heart. This heart part is from his speech.

After the movie, Director Neo arrived to speak about his experiences with the making of the movie. He gave a deeper insight of how budget works and thus, without speaking directly, it explained the constant reminders of the sponsors’ products which marred the movie’s flow to some people who would have preferred a visual reference instead of talking about it constantly.

I didn’t ask any questions because I have absolutely no idea what to ask. A few people asked about a sequel, whether his future movies would consist of more CGI and why he took so long to make the sequel. A lively session, I must say.

Finally, I would like to thank Sheylara and Blog Aloud for the chance to watch the movie and meet Director Neo.

I have been freed from the routine job. Perhaps I have reached my ends of the what one might call the boredom of routine job. It hadn’t been that routine but I needed a change of scope that I craved for. I wanted to do something else but there just wasn’t any slot for me at the time.

I was in my first job for 4 years. Hanging on because I was still studying for a degree that isn’t recognised in the end. I had the chance to shift my scope there. I had a chance to expand my knowledge at my second job. There I was so focused in that I got so wounded up due to the demands there. There wasn’t any change of job scope that was possible as there were more talents in the HQ.

After all these years, I am realising that I am looking for an ideal job. My criteria is:

• Allowing me to work from any time as long as I can produce results.
• Allowing me to work from anywhere.
• Paying me enough for my bills and insurance and enough to save up for retirement.

Perhaps what I need isn’t a job. All I need is to have a few roles or skills to juggle with so that I won’t be looking around every 18 months.

Since my last day at work was on a Thursday, I had an event to attend on Friday, the bag competition. On Saturday, I stayed at home scheduling my posts for my blogs. Sunday, I went out. Monday, I stayed at home to source for more money making schemes and I went to watch Hellboy 2 with DD on Tuesday.

Today, I will pick up the cosmetics from Pure Luxe from HY. I have activities on Friday and Saturday although I’m wondering if I have any activities on Thursday.

I have been thinking about the bags I have just bought. I think I would like to sell the black bag. It looks so odd when I hold it. The photo was taken by me, the background has been photoshopped out.