It's another Xmas come and gone. This year, I didn't get to enjoy Xmas as much as part of the celebration and Xmas feeling came from the present-buying, clothes-shopping and the totally freaked out feeling that you have left out presents for someone. Which is just next to the anxiety of being TOTALLY broke.
Hey, Merry Xmas!
All said and done, it is a very special for me, always. Ever since I met my wife, Xmas gave me a new meaning and when I had kids, it was in a totally different stratosphere all together. This year, we had a BBQ party for my family members who visited from Kuantan and Singapore. We had something like 20 people putting up for 2 nights in my house. I have yet to check which part of my house is broken from the mayhem!
Despite the hassle and inconvenience of having my home invaded, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I love having them around and they are a lot of fun. So the party was also a great success with really well BBQ'd lamb, chicken, prawns and squid, with the normal stuff like rice, desserts and our Malaysian favourite, cendol! I had a cendol machine at my party! Quite cool hor!
I didn't get to take many pics since the BBQ smoke made the pics very fuzzy. Either that, I am not very good with my camera. I was also very pleasantly surprised to see the lights along Sunway Resort Hotel. Though it was not better than Orchard Road, it was a marked improvement definitely. The decor at Mid-Valley, Sunway Pyramid, 1Utama and Pavilion was also very creative and very warm. I am kinda sorry that I didn't get to see KLCC's decor.
Anyway, this year, I was more caught up with work. Having just came back from our family holiday, I had some work to do and was working until late on Xmas eve and almost miss Xmas mass. I am glad, I was still able to make time for my family during Xmas.
In this time of nostalgia, I wish that the worst of your tomorrows is like the best of your yesterdays.
Merry Xmas and Happy New 2010!!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Avatar - 15 years in the making
This was a real interesting movie and it was reported to be in the making for 15 years. Reason being the technology was not available for James Cameron to realize his story. I think that is just horse shit. I think James Cameron just got lazy and probably forgot about it because the story line was so predictably...well predictable. It was probably the year's most predictable and readable movie. You just knew what was going to happen next.
The bad guys cutting down the forest over some rare and expensive resource. Hero sent in to win over the locals who don't want to have anything to do with these short-ass, weird coloured and dress-funny creatures from the skies. Hero is part of the whole program until he meets and falls in love with native who JUST happens to be the chief's daughter and promised to another really cool and can-kick-your-ass dude!
He then turns and tries to save the locals and you just know he will fight the bad guy and you just know they will win.
That is not to say, the movie is without it's moments. The concept of the new planet and its inhabitants alone is very creative. These 10-feet tall, blue creatures can connect with most beings and trees in their planet. It's like they have this USB port that connects their beings with their surrounding animals and trees. Pretty cool on that! All in all a very enjoyable movie. There is a 3D version but I am not sure if that's a good idea as there are lots of movements, flying, running through forest real fast and action fighting.
The animals that they thought up was also very cool and superbly interesting. At least for me....or I could be just easily amused. Most of the ground animals have 6 legs. I am not sure what is the problem that they evolved to 6 legs.
With 3D, you may just barf all over the seat in front of you and just provide them with a shampoo of semi-chewed pop corns and still fizzling coke. So be strong if you wanna 3D. Otherwise stick to the conventional baby.
The CGI rendition did not replace the acting. In fact, CGI only provided the make up but the actors still moved and acted using motion sensors that captured their movement. That made the CGI rendering very realistic. So tech wise, it was pretty impressive.
So saddle and ride into the world of Pandora and the Ormaticaya (spelled something like this).
The bad guys cutting down the forest over some rare and expensive resource. Hero sent in to win over the locals who don't want to have anything to do with these short-ass, weird coloured and dress-funny creatures from the skies. Hero is part of the whole program until he meets and falls in love with native who JUST happens to be the chief's daughter and promised to another really cool and can-kick-your-ass dude!
He then turns and tries to save the locals and you just know he will fight the bad guy and you just know they will win.
That is not to say, the movie is without it's moments. The concept of the new planet and its inhabitants alone is very creative. These 10-feet tall, blue creatures can connect with most beings and trees in their planet. It's like they have this USB port that connects their beings with their surrounding animals and trees. Pretty cool on that! All in all a very enjoyable movie. There is a 3D version but I am not sure if that's a good idea as there are lots of movements, flying, running through forest real fast and action fighting.
The animals that they thought up was also very cool and superbly interesting. At least for me....or I could be just easily amused. Most of the ground animals have 6 legs. I am not sure what is the problem that they evolved to 6 legs.
With 3D, you may just barf all over the seat in front of you and just provide them with a shampoo of semi-chewed pop corns and still fizzling coke. So be strong if you wanna 3D. Otherwise stick to the conventional baby.
The CGI rendition did not replace the acting. In fact, CGI only provided the make up but the actors still moved and acted using motion sensors that captured their movement. That made the CGI rendering very realistic. So tech wise, it was pretty impressive.
So saddle and ride into the world of Pandora and the Ormaticaya (spelled something like this).
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Retro Astro
This week's movie review takes us a little bit back to our childhood as we view the remake of a Japanese boy superhero, called Astro Boy. It started way back in the 50s and appeared in TV and print sometime in the 60s....which was WAYYYYYY before I was born. By the time I was reading and writing, the novelty kinda wore off.
Picture this. The superhero has hair combed as if it had horns, flew around topless (what is up with that???), had red boots and look suspiciously like a youth that is VERY confused about its gender. Is it a boy? Is it a girl? Why does it have fake long eyelashes?? Come on, it's supposed to Japanese and they are NOT supposed to have long eyelashes.
The movie was actually very enjoyable though superbly predictable. It had family values, it had heart, it had some light moments, some crying moments, fun for the whole family. It takes some time talking about the creation of Astro Boy and how he was trying to fit into a very weird future world. Seeing the best of the world and the worst of it and coming to terms with it.
Of course there's a bad guy and of course Astro Boy kicked some astro butt...literally. He has machine guns....on his butt!!! That I didn't remember.
I watched the show with my family and Mikey's 5 friends! Their seats were 2 rows from us, so that we don't inflict on our son the parent's curse of embarrassing him by breathing. So dutifully we sat far away and watched the show together. Our son is growing up..*sniff*.
Thank goodness he is not going to grow on Astro Boy and start running around the house topless with some cheap prostitute's red boots.
Picture this. The superhero has hair combed as if it had horns, flew around topless (what is up with that???), had red boots and look suspiciously like a youth that is VERY confused about its gender. Is it a boy? Is it a girl? Why does it have fake long eyelashes?? Come on, it's supposed to Japanese and they are NOT supposed to have long eyelashes.
The movie was actually very enjoyable though superbly predictable. It had family values, it had heart, it had some light moments, some crying moments, fun for the whole family. It takes some time talking about the creation of Astro Boy and how he was trying to fit into a very weird future world. Seeing the best of the world and the worst of it and coming to terms with it.
Of course there's a bad guy and of course Astro Boy kicked some astro butt...literally. He has machine guns....on his butt!!! That I didn't remember.
I watched the show with my family and Mikey's 5 friends! Their seats were 2 rows from us, so that we don't inflict on our son the parent's curse of embarrassing him by breathing. So dutifully we sat far away and watched the show together. Our son is growing up..*sniff*.
Thank goodness he is not going to grow on Astro Boy and start running around the house topless with some cheap prostitute's red boots.
It's 14 years on
Today 2nd Dec is my 14th wedding anniversary. Yep, it's been that long. So what's the secret to a Chindian's happy marriage? There are 4 aspects that I would recommend and do allow me to share our Chindian secret to the world as this is one of our legacy to civilization.
A wedding is a one day celebration but a marriage is supposed to be for a lifetime but Hollywood spoils it for us. In the movies, it makes it look as if it's all a fairy tale and every wedding will turn out as a happily ever after kinda thing. Just like Cinderella. Now, don't get me wrong. I am all for a happy ending and Cinderella type of story and many times it does happen. However, for every Cinderella story there are millions of normal marriages that needs to be worked on.
For a marriage to work, you gotta want it bad because it's going to put up a fight and no one really knows how it will end up. The person you have been dating can change after the wedding and it's not because they are some Transylvanian vampire or king size dick head (though there are these permutations as well). People evolve and change but the main thing to understand is that while you may have new expectations, your partner may not. Don't take anything for granted because you are NOT living a Hollywood life. Maybe that's why so many celebrity marriages don't work....too much acting.
It was quite stormy for us at the beginning too. I thought I was too young and felt pushed into it. Also I just expected everything to fall into place but it doesn't. You are two different people suddenly thrown into the mix. You have different preferences for simple things like toothpaste or broom types and that can spark a war of epic proportions!! You can trust me. I'm a Chindian.
So both of us had our fair share of issues and fights and wars and showing each other the I-ignore-you look and giving each other the cold treatment. You know what's the best part? Kissing and making up. That's right! I said it!
After some months of fighting, we took a weekend off and had a very long and heart-to-heart chat about our issues and why I was acting like the world's stupidest mule and why was she acting like a prize winning pain-in-the-ass. It turns out, we just thought things were supposed to work out and when it didn't we took it out on each other. So that was cleared and we settled down to start a family and things kinda took off from there. Even if you have everything figured out right to the tee, there are still no guarantees.
Of course, our families and friends were there to support and most of the time, they didn't know what they were supporting. They were just there to keep us company, laugh, give subtle opinions over issues they didn't know existed. Most of the time, their company gave us a lot of insight and help us see things from very different vantage points.
Then our God's gifts came and they helped keep the foundation strong. Our children have been a great source of joy, love and inspiration. Being a husband and then a father was a whole new dimension for me and I glad Melissa, Michael and Amanda are there for me and sticking by me despite my failings. If I had to do it all over again, I will not change a single thing.
So what is the secret to a happy Chindian marriage??
1. Pray together
At home or church. Go together.
2. Laughter. Lots and lots of laughter (not to the point of insanity of course).
Learn to laugh at each other's mistakes, quirks and weirdness.
3. Compromising
Not your principles but on your likes and wants. You win some and you lose some.
4. Always, always, always, always age faster than your wife.
Good luck to you and I will write about our 15th year anniversary.
A wedding is a one day celebration but a marriage is supposed to be for a lifetime but Hollywood spoils it for us. In the movies, it makes it look as if it's all a fairy tale and every wedding will turn out as a happily ever after kinda thing. Just like Cinderella. Now, don't get me wrong. I am all for a happy ending and Cinderella type of story and many times it does happen. However, for every Cinderella story there are millions of normal marriages that needs to be worked on.
For a marriage to work, you gotta want it bad because it's going to put up a fight and no one really knows how it will end up. The person you have been dating can change after the wedding and it's not because they are some Transylvanian vampire or king size dick head (though there are these permutations as well). People evolve and change but the main thing to understand is that while you may have new expectations, your partner may not. Don't take anything for granted because you are NOT living a Hollywood life. Maybe that's why so many celebrity marriages don't work....too much acting.
It was quite stormy for us at the beginning too. I thought I was too young and felt pushed into it. Also I just expected everything to fall into place but it doesn't. You are two different people suddenly thrown into the mix. You have different preferences for simple things like toothpaste or broom types and that can spark a war of epic proportions!! You can trust me. I'm a Chindian.
So both of us had our fair share of issues and fights and wars and showing each other the I-ignore-you look and giving each other the cold treatment. You know what's the best part? Kissing and making up. That's right! I said it!
After some months of fighting, we took a weekend off and had a very long and heart-to-heart chat about our issues and why I was acting like the world's stupidest mule and why was she acting like a prize winning pain-in-the-ass. It turns out, we just thought things were supposed to work out and when it didn't we took it out on each other. So that was cleared and we settled down to start a family and things kinda took off from there. Even if you have everything figured out right to the tee, there are still no guarantees.
Of course, our families and friends were there to support and most of the time, they didn't know what they were supporting. They were just there to keep us company, laugh, give subtle opinions over issues they didn't know existed. Most of the time, their company gave us a lot of insight and help us see things from very different vantage points.
Then our God's gifts came and they helped keep the foundation strong. Our children have been a great source of joy, love and inspiration. Being a husband and then a father was a whole new dimension for me and I glad Melissa, Michael and Amanda are there for me and sticking by me despite my failings. If I had to do it all over again, I will not change a single thing.
So what is the secret to a happy Chindian marriage??
1. Pray together
At home or church. Go together.
2. Laughter. Lots and lots of laughter (not to the point of insanity of course).
Learn to laugh at each other's mistakes, quirks and weirdness.
3. Compromising
Not your principles but on your likes and wants. You win some and you lose some.
4. Always, always, always, always age faster than your wife.
Good luck to you and I will write about our 15th year anniversary.
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