Fairy Tales are back in fashion!

I watched the Cinderella Man starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zelwegger yesterday. Over the past 4 months, I’ve watched a series of lousy movies from trashy War of The Worlds to The Island (what was it about again?) to stupid Ring 2 (absolute waste of $) and loads of others including The Myth. I was starting to lose faith in the blockbuster industry when I decided to give it another try with the Cinderella Man (choice was this or Flightplan). I have no regrets watching it. Would have watched it again. It is brilliant.
For some boxing idiot like myself, the movie featured enough in-the-ring scenes to keep the suspense going and play up the emotions with the slow-motioned punches, but it wasn’t like a documentary of butchering (blunt style). Braddock’s struggle to keep food on the table and his young family together seemed very real.
The movie captured the essence of a family, how love and sacrifice are always a package; it was heartbreaking to see the children go hungry and fall sick, heartwarming to see their joy and gratefulness in staying together as a family. James Braddock’s story is indeed very inspiring. His endurance in the boxing ring despite his injuries and then proceeding to win the matches only reinforces the fact that with perseverance, we can achieve what we strive for.
Of course, as a medical student when I saw him take those blows at his chest, flanks, head, I was thinking to myself ‘Wow, splenic rupture, liver trauma, rib fracture, haemothorax, kidney trauma, concussion, contusion, extradural haemorrhage, etc…yada-yada-yada.’ I’m sure he suffered a great deal of injuries, but still lived until his seventies. Amazing!
Anyway, this movie is a must-watch, I recommend it to everyone planning on a movie in the near future.

The Myth – basic anatomy

During the debates training camp held over the weekend, our coordinator cum trainer cum coolie aka Swee Kheng suggested we go out for a movie. Getting to Midvalley itself was a feat – 18 of us cramped into a Myvi, Kenari and Kancil (Thank God we’re slim! Well, not quite…) and braved the PJ-KL traffic on the Federal Highway to get to Midvalley. Deciding on which movie to watch wasn’t so difficult. Daddy Sweeks took the majority’s vote and we bought 18 tickets for The Myth. Jackie Chan was too difficult to resist, apparently.
Personally, I had high expectations of the show, since it has had lots of publicity, the trailer seemed very good (Terra-Cotta Warrior and picturesque scenes and sexy Mallika Sherawat dancing in very revealing tops), and well, I am a sucker for Jackie Chan stunts.

Sadly, the show was a disappointment. The acting was bad. Almost every actor put up a performance fit for the fireplace (wooden). Jackie Chan’s performance wasn’t too bad but it was rather irritating to hear him call Tony Leung ‘William’ before starting every sentence, and likewise, loads of ‘Jack’s were sprinkled like pepper throughout the show. The Korean actress (can’t remember her name)…well, gotta give her credit for the Mandarin but what a dull character. None of her parts actually brought life to the movie. Mallika Sherawat’s role, on the other hand, was very colourful. (We saw her change clothes ala Bollywood, from an orange saree by the riverside to a skimpy white tube for yoga, then a turquoise saree at the market to a firy red lenga/saree at the blink of an eye for dancing, later to be stripped off item by item at the rat glue factory where eventually, her top comes off as well, and finally, a yellow saree for her goodbye with Jackie) Give credit to the fashion designer for her display of spectacular sarees, but Mallika’s excessive fleshion show was definitely a turn-off.

Throughout the movie, I had no idea what his dreams were getting at. Bad enough I had to read the subtitles to follow the movie, I didn’t even know if he was Chinese, Korean or Japanese! Of course, my answers were answered later in the show when he brought the Concubine to the Great Wall of Chine and I thought to myself ‘Oh rite, he’s a Chinese general!’ The development of the story was rather slow, the way it skipped from past to present was confusing and pointless. I had no idea the dreams were leading to the burial place of Shih Huang Ti!

I felt that this show is an insult to the burial place of the emperor. After all these years, the fact that the emperor’s final resting place remains undiscovered only makes it more appealing and mystifying. To find the burial place in a huge cave where meteorite makes it suspended in thin air… (the scriptwriter has fantastic imagination) simply destroys the magnetism of Xi’an. Worst thing was that at the end of it all, the mausoleum crumbles into pieces, reducing glory into a heap of ruins.

And what happens to Jack? He writes a book about his adventure, and closes the chapter in his life. Huh?

All in all, it’s like what my senior/friend Ai Huey said,
‘The myth remains a myth.’

Youthful Flavours

Older women with younger men, and I’m not talking about The Man From Elysian Fields. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher got married recently. I think it’s a great match. He is gorgeous, and so is she. Surely they have great potential in making beautiful babies. So what if he is 27 and she is 42? We have seen numerous old men with young brides, and that has never been a problem.

On a personal note, majority of the cute guys I see are younger, and they are simply more interesting. I just realized that one of my younger friend looks like my old secondary school crush (now I know why I’m always looking at him). Another guy whom I know is so quiet I simply can’t stop teasing him. No, I’m not a pedophile. It so happens that these guys are interesting and fun to be with and of course, younger than me.

Just a note to all my younger friends, don’t run away from me the next time you see me. I’m not into virgins.

Freedom Fighter

I watched the Iron Jawed Angels yesterday afternoon. This movie featured the plight of Alice Paul and the suffragette movement of America in early 20th century. It made me realize just how much these courageous women had sacrificed to be regarded as equals in a society dominated by men. Some died of exhaustion while campaigning for their cause, others arrested with false charges because the authority just wanted to pack them up in jail. Hunger strike in jail followed by gruesome force-feeding. It is very inspiring how these women’s perseverance earned them their liberty.

In debates, we talk about freedom and rights but we should all ask ourselves just how much we understand it. I think it’s very important that we understand such concepts because with understanding comes belief, and when we believe, we can be convincing.

So, going back to freedom and rights, most of us take our liberty for granted. We live in a democratic country (almost) and thus, have no problems in voting rights and a chance to education. Many of us are complacent because the fight was already fought, and won. Supposed if we still had to fight for democracy and equal rights, would we have been so passionate as our predecessors?

camping at PD

About 2 months ago, I tagged along Aspirasi (uni's students' association) to Port Dickson for a camp. I expected lots of outdoor activities, kinda like those team-building exercises at Outward Bound School. We stayed at the Marina World Resort, a complex of apartments overlooking a bay. The view was fantastic from where I was staying (15th floor).
The weekend was spent doing nothing, quite frankly. We had a simulation session of a university elections and I quite lost with the process of registration, nomination, campaigning, etc. The great part about the camp was that I escaped the horrendous KL haze. We spent some time climbing a hill to a very old lighthouse, seeing monkeys on the way. Did some kayaking, got some tan, ate a lot of food, slept the rest of the time. Quite fun.
Marina World is a really nice place to stay. The apartment I was in had 2 rooms, a kitchen and a living area. I had a room to myself, the privacy was great and I loved the air-conditioning.

I thought I preferred the mountains, but I love the sea-breeze and the sight of iridescent water.

This place really isn't a bad place for a weekend vacation.