Movie: Marley and Me

I saw the movie "Marley and Me" a few days back and I have to say its really out of my expectation. I mean, its really good.

The thing is, I did not know about the book, nor did I have any rough idea on what is the movie about. For one thing, the cover picture implies that its just a romantic comedy. In a certain way, it is a romantic comedy but most of the part it isn't. Its more about the relationship between people and their dog(s).

The story circles around this newly married couple, moved to a new place and new jobs and all. In the beginning it was all fun but at that moment in time, the husband Grogan or something, is not ready to have a baby so he decides to get a puppy for the wife instead. Just to get her mind off the baby thing for a few years. So basically the story shows the progress of the guys life with the dog, eventually they did have kids and a better life. But all of it they shared it with the dog, named Marley.

Anyone who has every owed a dog will definitely be able to relate to this movie and really like it. Myself included. You can actually see and understand the unconditional love that your dog gives you that in most occasion, you tend to forget and neglect. Personally I think its a good movie for you to think about. And appreciate your pet. Not only dogs.

The reason? They die before you do. Yes! its shitty but that's the price you have to pay for their companionship. Towards the end of the movie, Marley died of old age. At that moment that cinema was in total silence, you know that everyone was heartbroken and many cried. I cried too. Its nothing to be ashamed about cause I had my share of dog companionship and I see my dog died too. And trust me, its really shitty. I have a couple of dogs now and one of them, his name is Peanut, he's really very old and will probably go off any time. So its even more shitty for me watching that movie.

So it does make you wanna appreciate the short time you have with them and of course give them the unconditional love that they gave you.

If you have a dog, I highly recommend you to watch the movie as you will definately appreciate it as much as I have. For those who have never had pets before, perhaps this movie will help understand why some people love their pets so much and are willing to sacrifice so much for them.

Today in History: Hiroshima Atomic Bombing

Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which was also the mark of the ending of WW2. As a results hundreds of thousands of people have died and suffered from the radiation of the bomb.

For some it was the right thing to do ... to be more accurate, it was the right thing to do at that moment in time ... However, war is never right... Killing is never right... but I do understand that it may be the right thing to do at that moment in time. Things or decisions would have been different now.

For some, it was not the right thing to do. It was too cruel. There has to be another way to end the war.

But who are we to judge. We were not in their shoes at that time. I wasn't even born yet. I guess we shouldn't get too uptight over the past but to learn from it. That's why we learn history. That's why we have these type of memorial dates. To remind us not to repeat the same mistake.

In any war, its always cruel. Perhaps we can never understand what our grandparents went through at that time but we can perhaps understand why the feel that way about the war. At time moment, was are being fought in other places like the middle east. Though it doesn't affect us directly but we can see the effects of it from a different point of view. Its just not right. However, the magnitude may not be as much as those who are affected directly. But then again, its not an excuse to forget.

After so many years, I guess the world is beginning to forget the importance of peace. The world is beginning to less appreciate peace. But I do hope we do not need another Hiroshima to remind us of peace.

雨 です か

今日やっと雨が降った。最近いつも暑いでしょう。たぶん今夏かもしれないし。でもマレーシアいつも夏じゃないか。

僕雨が好きです。天気が涼しいしときどき風があるし。いい感じでしょう。

でもだいたい人は雨が好きじゃない。たぶん嫌いかもしれない。

Haze-o-meter

Recently, there was a fuss about the return of the annual HAZE in KL and some parts of peninsula Malaysia. This time of the year, everyone is expecting it as its the yearly practice of the traditional farmers in Indonesia to burn up barren lands for farming purposes. Its actually a good way to cultivate the land as the burnt up ashes and all will act as fertilizers for the plants but of course the bad thing is the fire and smoke ... lots of smoke. As a result ... HAZE ...

anywaz... the haze issue has become such a norm recently that we have come to be prepared for it. Recently the DOE have been monitoring the air quality and also the so called "hot spots" in the country as well as Indonesia. Well, thats the scientific part of the measurement.

For ordinary people like us... we have the haze-o-meter. Actually its our nose, and maybe for some people, it would be their eyes. Usually as the air quality depreciates as the result of haze, some people will start to get nose irritation, sneezing and the accumulation of extra BOOGEY (stuffs in your nose)... haha...
Visibility will drop, and some may even have watery eyes as the result of the irritation.

In more serious cases like mine, you will have something called cynusitis (dunno how u spell it) ... its a more severe nose irritation.. well not actually the nose but its related i guess ... you see ... your nose is actually connected to a chamber above your eyebrow... the function i dunno .. just that its there and its connected ... people have cynus problems is because of the fluid from your nose moving to the chamber or something like that ... causing discomfort and all

During the haze .. air quality is bad, so the problem arises when there is an infection in the chamber because the dirt and floating around in the air. Thus causing the a really shitty headache .. specifically above the eyebrow ... and its really a shitty pain ... the pain can so bad that i had to take pain killers ... haha...

anywaz ... thats my version the the haze-o-meter ... as compared to the DOE's high tech gadgets ... haha

Japanese Flim Festival - Movie : Fourteen

This is a typical stunt that you should not pull if you cannot take the consequences.... haha...

Recently GSC had the Japanese Film Festival thing where they have a few seleceted japanese movies showing. Of course, since its a sponsored event, the tickets are cheap.. only RM5 as compared to your usual RM10...

anywaz ... as i was saying .. its a stunt as in i have no idea what the movie is about and its just a random selection... the movie was FOURTEEN ...

as the name and picture suggest.. its about the life and 14 year old students ... so i told myself ... should be an ok movie i guess ... worst case is that i probably just see lots of 14 years old girls in sailor uniform ... which is not bad actually ... hahaha ... and boy was i in for a surprise ...

the movie is basically about the problems faced by japanese 14 year olds .. in school and family ... at that age .. peer pressure ... education ... puberty .. everything bundled up ...

there is actually 2 parts in the story line ... one is the things affecting the current 14 year old students and the other is adults who are affected by the things that had happened when they were 14 ...

i agree that the idea of the story is good ... it does make you think of the importance of noticing these issues ... for those who have children reaching such an age ..

BUT ... the way the director put it ... seems more like a japanese horror movie ... a very ssssllllooooowwwww ... japanese horror movie ... seriously .. the movie is really draggy and at times... dunno whats the point of having certain scenes ... and it was not surprising that some of the audiences left half way through the show ...

i dun think words can actually decribe the movie ... well.. at least with my limited vocabulary ... but its just one of those movies that can be really difficult to digest ...

therefore ... be prepared if you want to watch this movie ... if u are brave enough ... if not i would recommend Ultraman Mebius and Ultraman Brothers ... its light and easy ... i think ...

the recent Bon Odori

OK... seems like its been a very very time since i've written something... really need to put more effort in it .. haha...

anywaz ... today its about the recent Bon Odori festival .. BO for short... ermm,... i think i'll stick with Bon Odori ... haha...

well... it was actually my first time going to the festival ... for those who do not have any idea what Bon Odori is... its actually a japanese festival and i think it has something like a ghost festival ... but anyway ... the one we have over here in Malaysia is of a much smaller scale and its not so much about the ghost festival but as a medium to understand more about the japanese culture....

basically there's lots of stalls selling japanese food and drinks .. and some u can't normally find around town ... although the price may be a little on the high side ... alcohol is cheaper though... haha... helped myself to a couple of japanese sake too... =)

of course the highlight of the event was the cultural dances ... some done by the japanese students over here or by the members of various japanese cultural clubs in the country... also there are sessions whereby visitor participation is welcomed ...

another highlight would be the people participating in the festival ... mostly are by standers like myself... haha... but some really put alot of effort in it ... i mean... they really dress up to the occasion .. in traditional japanese dresses... i know that these traditional dresses don't come cheap ... and of course japanese who are residing here would come in their traditional wear as well...

its good to see people willing to accept and understand other nations or races culture ... through understanding then u can really learn to respect the differences .. this is something the world is really lacking right now ... lots of dispute due to lack of understanding and all ... kinda sad when u think about it though ...

well... anywaz ... it was good fun ... an eye opener ... given that is was my first time going to such a festival ... perhaps next year i will be more prepared and can really enjoy the festival even more...

400,000 graduates choose to be unemployed

I just heard the news on radio that a total of 400,000 graduates choose to be unemployed. Meaning they do not want to get a job ... WOW! .. that's a lot of people ... then i realized no wonder i couldn't hire people these days .. because they do not want to work ... DUH!



well... they were discussions on the radio on why is this tragic thing happening... what has happened to the younger generations and all ... and personally i think its tragic ... and of course everyone is to take responsibility on this ... I dont feel that its 100% their fault that they have this mentality ... I think they should have the brains to think outside the box and realize that reality is the most cruel thing you can ever imagine ...

lets look at the factors

Amongst the reason discussed was that they are spoilt by the parents... to a certain extent this is very true ... these days the children tend to be more pampered and thus allowing them to do things that were seemed unimaginable many years back i.e. being a bump at home ... haha ... well... if you look at the ratio of children these days and also the quality of life ... you'll notice that most families these days are relative small in size ... with 2 to 3 kids. And parents these days can afford to "keep" one or two unemployed kids at home ... they do not need their children to bring money home.

Then there is education factor. Having a graduate degree these days is no more a big deal. Jobs that can bo done by someone with high school education, now require a graudate degree. In this sense, perhaps there is a certain degree of pride involve. Like I said... reality may not be as great as everyone has hoped it would be.

To make it worst, there is the exposure to loads of information provided by the internet ... you see cases where graduates earning millions through it or home based businesses.. Bill Gates didnt even graudate and yet he's one of the riches man in the world, creaters of Yahoo!, Google and Facebook are all billionaires in their 20s. I mean they are idols in this information age. Thus everyone wants to be like them... and like all cases they fail to see the millions of people who had failed miserably walking the same type of route ... Having ambition is a good thing ... I'm an ambitious person myself but ambition and ignorance are difficult to differentiate ... everyone wants to get rich fast... everyone wants to retire young... but bare in mind that there is only 1 Bill Gates ... what will happen to the remaining 399,999? and he is still working eventhough he doesn't need to ...

Of course this is not a Malaysian problem, other countries also have this issue. Countries like Japan, Korea and Hong Kong have been having these issues for many years. Younger generations prefer a more laid back lifestyle as compared to the working hectic life we are having now. However, they smart enough to realize that work is important. They may fancy the laidback life but also they work part time or free lance jobs for extra income. In terms of being ambitious they may not be all that great but at least they are contributing to the economy.

The solution? Well, there is no fool proof solution I guess. Its not that the country cannot provide jobs but its the workforce that are refusing to take up the job. It would take extreme factors like parents kicking out their children.. haha... not many things will make them change their mentality and contribute to the work force.

So don't start complaining when you see the numbers of foreign workers increasing cause somebody has to do the job. Somebody has to contribute to the economy and move the chain of workforces, that in return provide jobs for their parents who then provide food on their table. Something which they may think falls from the sky