Rising Above Charity Campaign

This has been a hectic week. We were involved in the shoot of this charity campaign called Rising Above at Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC). Though it was their first attempt, but I thought it was quite a good effort. It was also a tie in with the premiere of this local film entitled The Red Kebaya, which is in cinemas at the moment. We were at BSC to shoot the charity dinner, which featured quite a few singers like M Nasir, Nora, Ferhad and others. They even auctioned a ride with renowned Malaysian F1 racer Alex Yoong at the Sepang International Circuit - all these for a good cause. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and felt great to be able to be a part of such interesting and meaningful event.

A trip to the past

After almost 8 hours of drive, what passed us by were granite caves, vast green padi fields, small kampong houses and later on, a familiar small town of Kota Bharu re-emerged. It is as if all those memories of where I grew up all came flooding into my head all at once. I was immediately excited at the prospect of exploring again. Meeting grandma gave me much relief as I could see that she is still very strong and alert - almost looked like how I had remembered her when I was very young. Left home for so many years, this time back home was mainly to celebrate her 80th birthday. I was determined to rediscover the whole town, to rekindle my memories of this place that is alien to some. Meeting old friends, sight seeing, visiting the temples, the beach, the infamous market, watching the people, living the lives that they have been living really amazed me. I became a tourist in my hometown, as if visiting for the very first time. I have long pulled myself away. I felt I did not belong here anymore every time I headed home during the semester break. This time, apart from having built some new buildings here and there, everything else looked and felt the same. I felt as though this place is in a hypnotic state, and I had fallen into a trance. I took a sip from a glass of the past, poured from the bottle of history. It tasted a strange combination of bitter sweet. My biggest reward of the trip was that I met up with my old English tuition teacher and my old neighbour and school friends. All of them remained unscarred by the passage of time. They hardly aged much and exude the same simplicity and warmth. They glowed with certain contentment. I was only glad that I had made this trip back home for it made me realize where I truly belong – to treasure my past and to embrace the future of a hustle bustle city life where I now called home.

The Two Superheroes

Patrick's Cousin, Justin came over to our place for a visit the other day, after his Australia trip. He brought along a small present each for the two boys - a superman blue t-shirt. It made them so excited that both Ryan and Aidan decided to put them on to sleep that night. Since then, they have grown attached to it. Such a simple gift, yet it brings so much joy to the boys. Ryan and Aidan are very much into movies and entertainment. I guess we influenced them a great deal. In fact, they loved the animation, Flushed Away a lot. Ryan said that it is better than Open Season. I didn't watch that one, so I don't really know (the grand parents took them there). But I am glad that they are growing up enjoying their time spent with us, the family and with each other.

The Long Forgotten Journey

Home town is a distant memory now that my parents are both in KL. It was like that since I "moved" out of Kota Bharu, Kelantan for studies in USM, Penang more than 10 years ago. Whenever it is time to go back for the semester break, I would somehow feel strange to leave the campus for I have somehow developed this indescribable attachment towards this beautiful small island. A place that I have spent most of my time growing up has become less familiar to me each time I went back, as if each layer of memories of the town has been peeled away, by the hands of time, little by little. Faces become strangers, places turn grey in the mind, names of streets become merely broken sentences that need to be completed. Nonetheless, there were selected memories where I could not seem to erase - the field where I had to run across to reach home everyday after school, the aromatic nasi dagang (rice) and ayam percik (chicken) that is uniquely Kelantan, the flood that hit our old wooden house each year in December (where the whole town folks came out to celebrate and play), the beaches, the nearby waterfalls, my beloved old school, and surprisingly, so much more...now they have decided to gradually flood my mind again. I can't wait to go back home, to where I was brought up, to a place where most outsiders would ask me the strangest question, "Can you buy pork in Kelantan market?" Kelantan remains a mystery to many.

SILK (2006)

Do you believe in ghost? Not sure but I think it does exist for I believe human has energy and I think after we die, this energy remains while your body decays. I like to believe that Ghosts are all these energies that are left behind on this earth. I like this film for it approaches the subject matter of the existence of ghost/ spirits, whichever one likes to call them, quite scientifically. Yet, it does not lose the charm of anchoring some of the emotions of a few important characters. Of all, Chang Chen's character, Tung is the most well developed. He plays this sharp officer pretty well. I also find the subtlety of his relationship with Jia Wei, played by Karena Lam particularly intriguing. Too bad, Hashimoto, played by Yasuke Eguichi started off pretty promising but ended up not great at all in the end. I could not empathise with him and his intention to kill himself. Though there are flaws in the story itself, essentially, it is quite an entertaining horror film. It anchors it down with the relationship between the boy and his love for his mother, a parallel to Tung's and his comatose mother. Quite some eerie moments in this Taiwanese thriller film of director Su Chao-bin, but it is also a sad one too.

Fan Fan One To One

This was a simple yet heartwarming gesture by Patrick. He bought me this album titled One to One recently. At first, I didn't think much of the album for it did not impress me like some other albums. After subsequent listening, I began to fall in love with a few tracks. It has that naive and straightforwardness kind of approach in her voice (though not a very good range). It felt as though I have traveled back in time. It gives me the feeling of lost young memories - sweet teenage dreams, the scent of innocence in the air, yet lingers with the bitterness of harmless angst and a mixture of indescribable confusions of being young. Wonderfully delicious.

A Bright and Colourful Mid Autumn (Mooncake) Festival

Last Friday was the actual mooncake festival but we stayed home and it started raining quite heavily close to midnight. Though we could not celebrate on the actual day, our family planned a gathering and dinner over at my sister's place in Cheras for the next night. My mum cooked her signature dish - dry chicken curry and I cooked chicken parmesan with basil sauce and "pulut hitam" (black gluttonous rice sweet dessert) and my sister contributed some other dishes as well. As usual, everybody gladly "sapu" my mum's delicious chicken! I was glad that my brother, Kenny who is now working in Singapore managed to make it back here for the dinner with his wife, Lynn. After dinner, the kids took their respective tang longs and we walked around the housing area and went to join the mooncake festivity at the park. It was really a happening occasion. Loads of families with their kids came out and celebrate. Lights and "tang long" (Chinese lanterns) were beautifully lit and decorated around the park. Kids running around, playing swings in the dark. It was truly a memorable sight.

The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Directed by David Frunkel
Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Adrian Grenier, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker

Patrick came back the other day and said that I have to watch this film. So, we made arrangements and swapped schedule, he took over taking care of the boys for me to go watch the film. From the opening montage of different girls getting ready for work in their respective apartments in the morning, I already had a funny feeling that I would love the film. As usual, I would never miss a film that stars Meryl Streep. I think she is one of the most talented female actors alive in Hollywood. She plays the role of Miranda, the editor-in-chief of a famous fashion magazine, Runway. Her sharp, icy, vicious, ambitious and feared by all her staff in the office kind of personality made you believe that she embodies quite a lot of female bosses out there in the corporate world these days. Anne Hathaway is pretty good in this as well. You could believe her transformation from an "ugly duckling" to a "beautiful high profile" corporate assistant. The film tackles the issues of how most female working women are generally being misunderstood and stereotyped in the demanding work environment in quite a subtle yet effective way. It does not preach but merely lets the audience realized that it is tough to strike a balance between the two worlds. You hate Miranda throughout the film but you would surely feel for her in the one scene where she reveals how vulnerable it is to keep a marriage together, but then she quickly switches back to her "boss" mode that split second. Great acting! I love Stanley Tucci who plays Nigel in the film too. I really love the montage of Anne all dressed up pretty to go to work, walking on the streets in the morning, really cool editing there. At the end, it is the choices we make in life that make us who we really are. Do we really have a choice, I believe to a certain extend, we do. Are we the devil in disguise? Are we superficial in anyway? All men and women are...

Aidan's wild idea of a birthday song!

I did not expect something like this but Aidan came up with it one afternoon while playing by himself. Sometimes, it's funny how kids conjure up things to entertain themselves! He drew the sketches on the paper himself.

Almost the End and the Beginning Of

When the kindergarten announced that we had to pay RM40 for a photo session, I was quite taken aback for it is quite costly for a kindergarten graduation photo shoot but as always, like most parents, we would want our child to experience what other kids are experiencing and rather not let him feel as though he is left out of all the fun. So, we agreed to go ahead with it in the last minute. So, after paying this morning, I helped the teacher dressed all the children up for a photo shoot. It turned out that Ryan's class is quite an active bunch of kids who are almost excited about anything. I am not too sure how the actual photos of Ryan will turn out later but at least, he was having fun all dressed up and had a blast with the rest of his classmates. This is almost the end of his kindergarten year and he will be embarking on a much greater challenge next year - standard one at a local Chinese school which is famous for tonnes of homework and very strict teachers, like most other Chinese schools around. Let's just hope that he would be able to adjust well to all the changes that he is about to dive into!