2010 is a defining year for me in many ways. In work, personal achievements and at home. The moment that scares me the more than ants in my pants is that from home. 2010 marks the year my son officially becomes a teenager. He turns 13. Though he is a late bloomer physically since he is shorter than his friends, a lot skinnier and under weight, he makes up for it in his thinking, actions and mannerisms.
While old folks like my mom would prefer that kids are round, fat and red cheeked, my son has decided that he is not going to take after me. He is small for his age and is very disadvantaged in sports. He doesn't have natural sporting talents like his cousin or particularly hard working and clever in his studies. His is at best above average and tends to be more careless and bored. He is not musically inclined and there doesn't seem to be any raw talent there.
In other words, he is a very normal, blend-in-the-crowd, not outstanding kid. But Mikey strikes you in other areas. His eyes for one. He is more caring, more observant and more street wise than I give him credit for. Even when he was younger, he will look after classmates who were weaker, slower or smaller in size. He makes sure that they are able to lift their bags seeing that the Chinese school education system, not only prepares you for government exams but also prepares you for a life as a Sherpa in the Himalayas.
Recently when he was playing badminton with his cousins, his younger cousin broke his glasses and had to play without them. Aaron was miserable as he couldn't see properly and was complaining that he had problems playing. He kept losing to the older boys badly and was miserable. So when it was Mike's turn to play Aaron, in solidarity with his cousin, Mike took off his glasses. Seeing that his vision was worst off, Mikey was on the losing end most of the time but he didn't mind. For that fleeting moment, it made someone else happy.
But above all, I enjoy Mikey's sense of humour tremendously. He is very quick and sharp. In this area and I am proud to say, comes mainly from me. His one-liners are witty, quick, funny and most of the time unexpected. I am quite happy to see his guitar is improving and he has really taken to the habit of reading.
So why is this scary?
I am afraid of losing him. Not physically but mentally. I lost my father when I reached my teens. We were close until my teens and that is when we grew apart. My dad wanted to maintain that father authority which was how he was brought up. Something like out of the Indian movie. Since I was as stubborn as he was, we just grew apart. Eventually when I was older, our chemistry clicked again and not too long after, he passed away. I miss him so.....and I lost so much time. I don't want that to happen with my kids.
So as Mikey become the first to reach teens, my fear and anxiety is at boiling point. Anxious because he is going to be an adult. He will start getting curious about himself, his body, the other sex, hormonal changes, smugness, attitude, party going, piercing, body tattoo, alcohol, smoking, drugs, petty theft, grand theft auto, gangster, organized crime, lawyer, politician, AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!
SLAAAAAAP!!! Thanks I needed that.
Will all that quality go away? Will he have friends that will support him and build their characters together? Will he stay firm and steadfast to good moral values? Will he be responsible in his actions? Will he stay religious and love God? What are his friends like? When the time comes, will I give him the right answers to "THE" questions? Will he meet the right girl that will complement him? Someone that makes his heart light and stomach knotted and knees weak? Someone who will love him and support him?
Will he be rich? Be a movie star or a famous sports personality or a famous singer? Will he give his father some of his millions and take care of him in his old age? Will he buy me a Porsche and a yacht in the south of France? If he doesn't, will I kick his ass???
My teens were very tough because we were poor and we had the challenge of a bigot and racist family. We overcame that but I grew up fast and left my childhood behind. All said, I was blessed with loving parents and a positive outlook in life, even though we were poor. It would have been a lot better if I found a way to communicate with my dad. When I got married, he told me that he never thought I could plan my wedding day well and pull it off. That's because he never saw me grow up to someone who can. I don't want that to happen between me and my kids. I pray to God every night, that He keeps my eyes, ears and heart open to my kids so that I am there for them and that I grow together with them.
Goodness knows I am still a kid trying to have a childhood I didn't really have. Good to know I have family who will help me raise my kids right. My bro Jude, cousins KLY, Mooi CC, Kwein CC and even Sow Yee (yes even her!). Of course their spouses like my sis-in-law and bros-in-law. All of Melissa's families, even the crazy ones because no matter how they feel about me, I know they love my kids. Of course there are many other family members that I can call upon and I thank God for all of them.
So, it's time to be a cool dad and a friend to my kids. It's bed time and I have to read to them. Geez, if I am this anxious about my son, not sure what's going to happen when my girl hit teens in 4 years.....OHMIGAWD!!!!!!!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
When a toy is more human
It's official. I have found the most heart warming, humourous cartoon of 2010. May even be the most heart warming movie of 2010. That is of course you are not a big fan of those tear jerkers where the whole family dies and everyone is so heartbroken that they would take 2 forks and do a "Kassim Selamat" (ie poke both their eyeballs with it). And then these shows will go on to win Oscars. That's why I don't watch award nominated movies....except Star Wars. I am of course talking about Toy Story.
So this is the 3rd part of the Toy Story franchise and it looks like the final part. In the end it was difficult to say goodbye. Toy Story was our imagination or at least mine, come to life. I always thought that when we all go to sleep, my toys will get together, pop out the plastic coke and just chill out. I use to imagine what they will say about me and because of that, I took real good care of my toys until my brother, Jude-the-Destroyer a.k.a. Judezilla came along and became a one-drooler demolition machine.
I loved the Toy Story movies which put together creativity, child-like imagination, the importance of a family and looking at the big picture. It's not always about you and many times what we do affects those around us in ways we don't understand. But if we take the time to look inward and be more aware of our surroundings, you will realise that we have a bunch of toys that can talk!!! Remember the first part, when the toys got together to teach Sid the bully a lesson in playing nice with the toys? And he ran???? I would have taken those toys and opened up a circus that would have made me gazillions!!
I digress (not for the first time).
Buzz learnt about not being a toy in part 1 and became friends with the toys around him. He was still a cool space toy. Even though he was Andy's favourite for a while, he and Woody learnt to be best buds. In Part 2, Woody discovers a way to stay alive forever, living an empty life in a museum display. At first he wants that as he fears Andy will not play with him anymore and he will be thrown away. Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!! We were then introduced to Jessie and Bullseye.
Part 3, they had to deal with Andy finally growing up and going to college. As any kid would be (though a teenager would rather drive hot spikes into his anus than admit it) hard press to let go of their toys. They were their childhood, memories and innocence. When you can imagine without limits. As we grow up, reality limits our imagination. Our toys remind us of that time and we do miss it.
Despite all that, Woody remains resolute and he still keeps the faith with Andy. At the same time, he was not going to abandon his friends and family. The other toys get accidentally thrown out and it's Woody Time to get his friends back and to ensure they understand the importance of staying together.
It was a brilliant end to this story and franchise. This movie made me laugh (wait till you see what Buzz can do), made me excited, panicky, worried and made me cry (yeah I cried my eyes out...what about IT?!!). It has everything and I have a feeling my Mandy may not want to throw any of her toys from now on.
You must watch this. It's a Chindian 5-star! So you know it will be excellent! I gotta go clean my toys and say good night. Yeah, I still have some of my old toys!! Don't want them waking up and start gossiping about me.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Maybe you can hire....the A-Team
If you have a problem and no one can solve it and if you can find them, maybe you can hire......the A-team.
That was the premise of the 80s show A-Team and like all good Hollywood producers, they decided to take a perfectly great TV show from the past and turn it into......a throughly enjoyable movie on the silver screen. It was a good movie. My only problem was to see a very serious Liam Neeson take on the role from a very jovial and cheeky George Peppard. Also in my humble opinion, BA Baracus can only be played by Mr. T. Jessica Biel was a nice touch though not really necessary and the other 2 characters were ok.
However, they managed to keep the spirit of the show which was humourous, clever and had good excitement. There were some good moments and Murdock character was true to its crazy self. Dirk Benedict as "Face" would always be the right type cast but this new guy (whatever his name is) was not too bad.
I was very skeptical about this movie especially having a very childhood defining moment with the TV show and I didn't want any 2-bit, slap on movie production to kill it. However, it was the school holidays and I didn't know which show to watch. Of all that was available that we hadn't watch yet, this was best available.
But we were pleasantly surprised. My kids who have never heard of this TV show were impressed with it and enjoyed it thoroughly. Then again when u have a late puberty spouting 13 year old and a dreamer of a 9 year old, you don't expect record breaking thoughts from them.
Still it was well worth the time. I won't give much away but the whole works were there. The "I love it when a plan comes together" and "I pity the fool". It also explains BA's fear of flying and how they got out of prison and were on the run. It was quite clever the way it was stitched together. Also like in the TV show, no one gets killed. That part, I never understood. Maybe censors in the 80s can't see blood. All the same, make a bee line for it and have a good time watching the A-Team.
Friday, June 4, 2010
How to save Malaysia from bankruptcy?
In recent event pertaining to Malaysia, we were told the country had to cut down on it's subsidies else Malaysia would be bankrupt by 2019. Now that statement was quite bewildering for us money-sucking laymen. Now why is this? After all, we are an oil producing country that is charging the citizen very high premium compared to other oil producing countries. We are coming off a very strong GDP growth, highest in 10 years. We look to be headed towards those pre-currency crisis days of 97. Our foreign reserves have never been higher and we are doing extremely well against major currencies. So what seems to be the problem?
Maybe this Chindian is too layman and giving a very simplistic view. So let's here your views out there. Write in, be bold. Tell us how to save money for the country. Let's take a look at how a country typically makes money.
1. Taxes from personal and companies
2. Foreign investments
3. Corporatization
4. Taxes from sales of imported goods
5. Natural resources
6. Services revenue
7. Creating more jobs so that more taxes can be collected and earning power increases to increase corp taxes.
So from these areas, what can we do. Here are some of my views.
1. We should not cut EVERY subsidy. Some should be cut. For example, those favouring only one race. We should have funds to help the poor regardless of race and not just one race. We have this one race people earning hundreds of thousands a month and still getting study loans (which they don't pay), farming subsidy, small businesses subsidy, etc.
Cut out the subsidies to the rich and favouring only 1 race. Go by salary.
2. Study loan defaulters
- those defaulters should be taken to jail and declared a bankrupt. Treat them like any bank loan defaulters. If still persists, use jail terms.
- get better collaterals or guarantors
- like hire purchase, hold back their degrees until they pay.
3. Get corporates like Tenaga and Telekom to share the burden. Don't just leave it to Petronas. On that note, get Petronas to shell out more. Where are all the billions of profits going? These are profits not revenue. If the government corporatizes, doesn't that mean the profits belong to the government? Doesn't that in turn mean, it belongs to us?
4. Tenders
- Any Malaysian company can participate and will be based on merits
- No more middle men to siphon money for their own use
- No more inflated prices to pay off contacts and people in power
- Let's follow China. Corrupted people will be shot and the bullet billed to their families. All these after we confiscate their property.
5. Mega projects
- These are fine as long as they benefit the public. Follow rule 4 in tendering.
- F1, Putrajaya, KLIA are fine. Concrete gates across highways like that bordering Selangor and KL are pure bullshit.
6. Royal family
- Just what exactly does the royal families do? Besides beating people up in, inbreeding and have high profile affairs to over-compensate. Granted I am generalizing. I do very high respects for the Perak royal family, Kedah and the current Selangor Sultan. But they got to do more. We are spending millions a month on them and they have to find ways to give it back. I would want to see these royal families take the initiative to kick start this.
7. Prison inmates
- Let's get them to do free labour so that we save on the cost of hiring foreigners. Invest in ankle bracelets so that we can track their whereabouts.
- Constructions - building or roads.
- Parliament
- Debt collectors - this way we get rid of the Ah Long problem as well.
- Trash collectors, road sweepers, McDonald's cleaning crew, etc.
8. GLC bailouts
- Get a corp team which the right qualifications to work on getting the right partner for Proton, instead of this mis-managed company bleeding us dry. Get a foreign CEO like what Nissan did to turn it around. After all Perodua is doing extremely well.
- Sell off companies under PNB, PUNB, Khazanah or any other investment arm of UMNO that is not profitable for more than 3 years.
9. Additional taxes
- Restaurants who hire foreigners that can't speak the language : 10% tax
- People who park their cars wantonly with no consideration of those around them
: 20% tax and taken out to be flogged
- Law enforcers who commit crime and corruption : 50% tax and placed in prison population of molesters and rapist.
- Lawyers : 20% for being lawyers
- Certain races of people who are eligible for taxes but not collected either due to cronyism or just laziness : confiscate property.
- People who can't control their children but still take them out to public places like restaurants or airplanes while their children scream, poop and create a massice public nuisance : 35% tax, their children be given to military school for 3 months and the parents be strapped to straight jackets while listening to Donny and Marie Osmond songs all day. If they like Donny and Marie, then ACDC.
- people who smoke in public, non-designated areas : 20% tax and an additional does of cancer cells.
- Smokes in air-conditioning places or toilets : 50% tax and to contribute monthly to save cancer patients.
- Cigar smokers : 40% tax
- Companies who employ telemarketeers that call you regarding something you didn't sign up for : 60% tax and tied up to a chair and kicked down the stairs.
These are just some GREAT ideas but I know you have more. Send them to me either via this page or at apd15@hotmail.com and I will post your suggestions.
The country needs you! Step up now and do your part! Ask not "What can my country do for me" but ask "why the hell are we going bankrupt??".
Maybe this Chindian is too layman and giving a very simplistic view. So let's here your views out there. Write in, be bold. Tell us how to save money for the country. Let's take a look at how a country typically makes money.
1. Taxes from personal and companies
2. Foreign investments
3. Corporatization
4. Taxes from sales of imported goods
5. Natural resources
6. Services revenue
7. Creating more jobs so that more taxes can be collected and earning power increases to increase corp taxes.
So from these areas, what can we do. Here are some of my views.
1. We should not cut EVERY subsidy. Some should be cut. For example, those favouring only one race. We should have funds to help the poor regardless of race and not just one race. We have this one race people earning hundreds of thousands a month and still getting study loans (which they don't pay), farming subsidy, small businesses subsidy, etc.
Cut out the subsidies to the rich and favouring only 1 race. Go by salary.
2. Study loan defaulters
- those defaulters should be taken to jail and declared a bankrupt. Treat them like any bank loan defaulters. If still persists, use jail terms.
- get better collaterals or guarantors
- like hire purchase, hold back their degrees until they pay.
3. Get corporates like Tenaga and Telekom to share the burden. Don't just leave it to Petronas. On that note, get Petronas to shell out more. Where are all the billions of profits going? These are profits not revenue. If the government corporatizes, doesn't that mean the profits belong to the government? Doesn't that in turn mean, it belongs to us?
4. Tenders
- Any Malaysian company can participate and will be based on merits
- No more middle men to siphon money for their own use
- No more inflated prices to pay off contacts and people in power
- Let's follow China. Corrupted people will be shot and the bullet billed to their families. All these after we confiscate their property.
5. Mega projects
- These are fine as long as they benefit the public. Follow rule 4 in tendering.
- F1, Putrajaya, KLIA are fine. Concrete gates across highways like that bordering Selangor and KL are pure bullshit.
6. Royal family
- Just what exactly does the royal families do? Besides beating people up in, inbreeding and have high profile affairs to over-compensate. Granted I am generalizing. I do very high respects for the Perak royal family, Kedah and the current Selangor Sultan. But they got to do more. We are spending millions a month on them and they have to find ways to give it back. I would want to see these royal families take the initiative to kick start this.
7. Prison inmates
- Let's get them to do free labour so that we save on the cost of hiring foreigners. Invest in ankle bracelets so that we can track their whereabouts.
- Constructions - building or roads.
- Parliament
- Debt collectors - this way we get rid of the Ah Long problem as well.
- Trash collectors, road sweepers, McDonald's cleaning crew, etc.
8. GLC bailouts
- Get a corp team which the right qualifications to work on getting the right partner for Proton, instead of this mis-managed company bleeding us dry. Get a foreign CEO like what Nissan did to turn it around. After all Perodua is doing extremely well.
- Sell off companies under PNB, PUNB, Khazanah or any other investment arm of UMNO that is not profitable for more than 3 years.
9. Additional taxes
- Restaurants who hire foreigners that can't speak the language : 10% tax
- People who park their cars wantonly with no consideration of those around them
: 20% tax and taken out to be flogged
- Law enforcers who commit crime and corruption : 50% tax and placed in prison population of molesters and rapist.
- Lawyers : 20% for being lawyers
- Certain races of people who are eligible for taxes but not collected either due to cronyism or just laziness : confiscate property.
- People who can't control their children but still take them out to public places like restaurants or airplanes while their children scream, poop and create a massice public nuisance : 35% tax, their children be given to military school for 3 months and the parents be strapped to straight jackets while listening to Donny and Marie Osmond songs all day. If they like Donny and Marie, then ACDC.
- people who smoke in public, non-designated areas : 20% tax and an additional does of cancer cells.
- Smokes in air-conditioning places or toilets : 50% tax and to contribute monthly to save cancer patients.
- Cigar smokers : 40% tax
- Companies who employ telemarketeers that call you regarding something you didn't sign up for : 60% tax and tied up to a chair and kicked down the stairs.
These are just some GREAT ideas but I know you have more. Send them to me either via this page or at apd15@hotmail.com and I will post your suggestions.
The country needs you! Step up now and do your part! Ask not "What can my country do for me" but ask "why the hell are we going bankrupt??".
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
A brief overview of the Land of Oz
So after 2 consecutive annual trips to Australia, where we spent a minimum of 8-10 days and about pretty much all our retirement fund, I can say I am somewhat of an authority on Australia and Australians. The key word being somewhat which is this case means as knowledgeable as a turkey looking at the space shuttle. Still I spent many hours close quarters with them. Our first trip in 2008 was to Gold Coast and last year to Melbourne.
To sum it up, Gold Coast was quite monotonous. Theme parks, souvenir shops, touristy places and predominantly Australian residents. Foreigners were mainly Chinese descent. Some years back during our first trip here, it was mainly Japanese. How things have changed. The Japanese stores were more elegant and stuck up. They didn't entertain you if you weren't Japanese. Either that they didn't speak much English. These shops closed early. and after 9, only the pubs were open.
With the Chinese stores, we had all kinds of crap being sold. Cheap knock-offs being sold at higher price. More crappy Chinese restaurants, selling crappy Chinese food because the Aussie don't know any better. They were cold and unfriendly and not in the mood to help you. In contrast the Aussie were great. I found them more warm, more approachable and genuinely ready to help. It also helped that the so-called menial jobs like sweeping the streets or clearing the tables were done by Aussies and not foreigners. Because of that, they do a much better job because of their pride to keep their country clean and respectable for the tourist.
The folks at the theme parks were very friendly to us. Maybe we guys had 6 kids running around us. That always garners sympathy. Tips for single guys, look helpless around kids. Women can't help but sympathize. If you can sell it that you are a struggling single parent, you are in baby! But the Gold Coast didn't have much other than the theme parks and the Australian Zoo. Everything was quite monotonous. It was also difficult to come by good Asian food which we only found on the last day. We found a Malaysian restaurant which was pretty decent.
Whereas in Melbourne, being the 2nd largest city, the variety was very obvious. We were also very fortunate that my sis-in-law got us to stay in South Yarra which we were told to be a chic area. There were a lot more Asians here. Mostly look to be Vietnamese and Malaysians. In contrast the Aussies here were not as friendly. They were cold and look at us as if we didn't belong.
There was a day when the weather was about 41-42 degrees and we happened to be downtown which was good and bad. Good because there were buildings where we can duck in and bad because downtown is always hotter. We lost my cousin for a while and I decided to go look for him. Phone reception was bad too. Instead of taking the whole troop, we walked into a camera shop called Michael's and just stood around in the comfort of the air-conditioning. The shop assistants came up to us asking us if they can help us and we said we needed to get out of the sun for the kids. The first 2 guys were not happy, hemmed and hawed until a 3rd guy came along and said with a big smile "Sure, come on in" and took the kids to the sitting area.
There were more things to do in Melbourne. There was the sea, the steam train, Grampiens National Park, Great Ocean Road, wild seals, penguins, dolphins, platypus and winged spawn of Satan, the birds at the sanctuary. Though all these didn't even come close to the Australian Zoo but these were most wild. There was a really interesting chocolate factory, a maze garden, 12 Apostles and lot and lots of Malaysian restaurants.
The weather was also crazy in Melbourne. Most days it was in the low 20s and one day it was suddenly 42 degrees. In Brisbane, on our first day, there was a wicked thunderstorm where billboards were torn down. After that, it was sunny as hell. So weather can be a bit flaky. Aussie food is pretty much like American food. Cold cuts, spaghetti, soup, steak, bread, sausages and let's not forget the damn fries!
There isn't something that is uniquely theirs. I find that very sad. Malaysians food is made up of the 3 main races' food but we have made it ours and many dishes are uniquely Malaysian (no matter what the damn Singaporeans say! Can you imagine saying Bak Kut Teh and Nasi Lemak came from Singapore? The only thing Singapore contributed is smugness and a whole lot of insecurity). I digress.
But there are Aussies who are hard at work and you can hardly find foreigners doing cleaning jobs. Most of them are professionals or criminals. I, on the other hand, enjoyed both my trips. Maybe as a Chindian, I am able to filter out the cultural crap. Both more importantly, I am a firm believer the company is more important than the place we go to. Both times, my family were with me and we went with my cousins' family who are families that has almost every characteristics conceivable (except homicidal psycho. That's not visible yet).
So, I will definitely recommend it and I know you will enjoy it too. Maybe one day, when we have recovered the blood we sold to finance the last trip is replenished, we can make a trip to Sydney. G'day mate!
To sum it up, Gold Coast was quite monotonous. Theme parks, souvenir shops, touristy places and predominantly Australian residents. Foreigners were mainly Chinese descent. Some years back during our first trip here, it was mainly Japanese. How things have changed. The Japanese stores were more elegant and stuck up. They didn't entertain you if you weren't Japanese. Either that they didn't speak much English. These shops closed early. and after 9, only the pubs were open.
With the Chinese stores, we had all kinds of crap being sold. Cheap knock-offs being sold at higher price. More crappy Chinese restaurants, selling crappy Chinese food because the Aussie don't know any better. They were cold and unfriendly and not in the mood to help you. In contrast the Aussie were great. I found them more warm, more approachable and genuinely ready to help. It also helped that the so-called menial jobs like sweeping the streets or clearing the tables were done by Aussies and not foreigners. Because of that, they do a much better job because of their pride to keep their country clean and respectable for the tourist.
The folks at the theme parks were very friendly to us. Maybe we guys had 6 kids running around us. That always garners sympathy. Tips for single guys, look helpless around kids. Women can't help but sympathize. If you can sell it that you are a struggling single parent, you are in baby! But the Gold Coast didn't have much other than the theme parks and the Australian Zoo. Everything was quite monotonous. It was also difficult to come by good Asian food which we only found on the last day. We found a Malaysian restaurant which was pretty decent.
Whereas in Melbourne, being the 2nd largest city, the variety was very obvious. We were also very fortunate that my sis-in-law got us to stay in South Yarra which we were told to be a chic area. There were a lot more Asians here. Mostly look to be Vietnamese and Malaysians. In contrast the Aussies here were not as friendly. They were cold and look at us as if we didn't belong.
There was a day when the weather was about 41-42 degrees and we happened to be downtown which was good and bad. Good because there were buildings where we can duck in and bad because downtown is always hotter. We lost my cousin for a while and I decided to go look for him. Phone reception was bad too. Instead of taking the whole troop, we walked into a camera shop called Michael's and just stood around in the comfort of the air-conditioning. The shop assistants came up to us asking us if they can help us and we said we needed to get out of the sun for the kids. The first 2 guys were not happy, hemmed and hawed until a 3rd guy came along and said with a big smile "Sure, come on in" and took the kids to the sitting area.
There were more things to do in Melbourne. There was the sea, the steam train, Grampiens National Park, Great Ocean Road, wild seals, penguins, dolphins, platypus and winged spawn of Satan, the birds at the sanctuary. Though all these didn't even come close to the Australian Zoo but these were most wild. There was a really interesting chocolate factory, a maze garden, 12 Apostles and lot and lots of Malaysian restaurants.
The weather was also crazy in Melbourne. Most days it was in the low 20s and one day it was suddenly 42 degrees. In Brisbane, on our first day, there was a wicked thunderstorm where billboards were torn down. After that, it was sunny as hell. So weather can be a bit flaky. Aussie food is pretty much like American food. Cold cuts, spaghetti, soup, steak, bread, sausages and let's not forget the damn fries!
There isn't something that is uniquely theirs. I find that very sad. Malaysians food is made up of the 3 main races' food but we have made it ours and many dishes are uniquely Malaysian (no matter what the damn Singaporeans say! Can you imagine saying Bak Kut Teh and Nasi Lemak came from Singapore? The only thing Singapore contributed is smugness and a whole lot of insecurity). I digress.
But there are Aussies who are hard at work and you can hardly find foreigners doing cleaning jobs. Most of them are professionals or criminals. I, on the other hand, enjoyed both my trips. Maybe as a Chindian, I am able to filter out the cultural crap. Both more importantly, I am a firm believer the company is more important than the place we go to. Both times, my family were with me and we went with my cousins' family who are families that has almost every characteristics conceivable (except homicidal psycho. That's not visible yet).
So, I will definitely recommend it and I know you will enjoy it too. Maybe one day, when we have recovered the blood we sold to finance the last trip is replenished, we can make a trip to Sydney. G'day mate!
Prince of Persia - Computer game movie??
This sounds like a desperate attempt to get an action movie gig under Jake Gyllenhall's CV. For goodness sake, he stared in "Broke back mountain" as one of them gay cowboys (I think). So how butch can he get? Some folks aren't meant to play action heroes or heroes at all. Like Justin Timberlake or any members of Westlife. People like that play sensitive, crying, chic flicks where the pretty boys are good for.
Prince of Persia is set at a time where pretty boys are traveling through the digestive systems of wolves. It is also a depiction of one of the more successful, battle harden, authoritative, organized and cruel empires. Rulers and key people were warriors, brave and smart. All of which pretty boys are not. Jake Gyllenhall is one of them. That's why he is successful as the geeky, whinny, smart student in "The Day After Tomorrow".
So anyway, here I go, throughly have a super low expectation of a movie made out of a computer game. We all saw what happened to "Tomb Raider". Thank god for Angelina Jolie, else no one would have watched it. The heroine in this movie is a reputedly beautiful princess played by Gemma Atherton which looks more like one of the castle servants or a supporting cast then a courages and gorgeous princess. They should have gotten Scarlett Johansson for this. Even Kate Beckinsdale or Jessica Alba.
From the moment the movie started, all my flustered feelings just melted. The movie was fast moving, well crafted for a low budget movie and the story line was surprisingly captivating. It was simple, didn't try to do too much but enough to be exciting. In short, it was Awesome!!! It was a heck lot better than "Clash of the TIT-ans".
The story revolves around Dastan, a street rat that stands up to the king's guards who were punishing a homeless boy. The king saved him and took him back to the palace to raise him as his own son with his 2 sons. Prince Dastan grows up to be a cliche prince that is humble, witty, always looking for trouble and has no qualms breaking the rules.
However, his father was assassinated and he was blamed. As he works to clear his name, he comes upon a mystical dagger that will turn back time if it is filled with mystical sand. So using the dagger to prove his innocence and to find the truth, he makes friends and of course wins the princess. The chemistry with the princess was not too bad and as a movie cliche, of course they were fighting initially but they learn to fall in love with each other.
I throughly recommend this movie and you should download it and even buy an original DVD. Hurry, hurry coz the Sands of Time are slipping!
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