2012

I had been waiting for this film, counting down for a week when I thought it was just right amount of time to be excited of the film. I have always been a fan of natural disaster film. I don't know why, and neither am I interested to explain. Something about how the earth opens up and fury and anger of the mother nature terrifies me and I like it when the special effect catch the moments well. So, yes, I love The Day After Tomorrow, Dante's Peak, Armageddon, Twister and more. They were really good.

To know that the producers of this film are the same as The Day After Tomorrow is almost like an assurance that the film would be as exciting and good. So, I got my ticket early.. way before tickets are announced to be sold out, and only leaving front row seats.



Even the trailer was terrific, making audience with great expectation and excitement.

The special effects were good. I have to give the movie that. And that was what I was paying to watch. I mean, the special effects are the actual actor of the show. And of course, good stories and believable plots should be good too, except that I am not feeling them for this film.

I like John Cusack. I have liked this actor since.. I don't know when. I don't really recall his films right now, other than Must Love Dogs. But as much as I had wanted to see him in a believable reluctant hero spot, I was not. He was not supposed to outshine the film, and he did not. But neither should he had to struggle to convince me that he was a true hero inside. I was not feeling it for him. Neither did I care if he had lived or died, unlike Dennis Quaid or Jake Gyllenhaall in The Day After Tomorrow.

Maybe.. just maybe it was because I did not like the role he was playing - Jackson Curtis. Jackson Curtis is the divorced dad, who is struggling to prove that he is very much the good dad he believes himself to be. So, he takes his two young kids to a campsite in Yellowstone. There, although the place is already sealed off, with warning, he climbs over the fence, bringing his children to the 'no entry' zone. Not only that, he walks his children to the dried spot of the lake, which has mysterious steams oozing out, as well as corpse of a deer. Such a loving father.

And then of course later on, as he rushes to find an important map, he has to bring his daughter along, instead leaving her with the mother near the important vehicle to fly away with - the plane. And leave the kid in the van when an earthquake could have separated the child from him?

And what's with the kids and their inability to stick to a spot? After a wasted time explanation to the boy that he has to stay behind to take care of the sister, the boy still swims away to find his father.. irritating.. as irritating as the screaming little witch girl (Dakota Fanning) in Tom Cruise's War of the World. Just like that movie, I was screaming in my mind - Die you, kid. Die!

And then, the stupid speech. You know.. with only 14 minutes to go.. when people are already panic about survival, the director allows the speech of mankind and not. Damn. It was crap. Come on. Tsunami is coming. There's no time for a great speech of good humanitarian value and all that shit.

As well as Jackson's moment with his kid and the kiss for the ex-wife. Damn it! People are going to die. Stop being horny for the ex.

And then, as the door was shut eventually, the people in the ship did not even cheer for that their lives are already saved. Nope. They wait. They wait for some man - in this case, Jackson Curtis (whom they have no idea who he is, nor what he is doing in screen or that room) to merge from the water, and then they cheer. They cheer for a man they don't even know. No, they do not cheer when they are safe. They cheer for some seemingly unrelated event.

And really, I hate Woody Harrelson. I would have loved the volcano special effect at Yellowstone, but Woody spoils it for me.

Name Me a Name

I have always thought it is sweet of Americans to name their newborns after someone dear to their hearts. Like you know, little Sue is named after Aunt Sue who passed away 3 months ago. Or little Peter is named after Grandpa Peter, who passed away years ago. Bless his soul, after being run down by a car when he was out for a walk.

Apparently such practice is not allowed in the traditional Chinese custom. It is considered bad luck to name a newborn after a departed relative. It is like putting a curse on the newborn. I have seen how the elders in the family have to do their homework in recalling the names of all their cousins, uncles, aunties, brothers or sisters, just to make sure that the name Mei Hwa was not taken up years ago, by a bad luck aunt who died choking on fishbone, or an Ah Kow who had passed away a decade ago, falling into the drain due to bad street lighting.

It's a no-no thing. :(

Bra

I overheard my mom talking to my Tua Ee (Big Aunt) recently on the phone. My mom said that she would be busy later.. heading out to throw her undergarment to the sea.

My thoughts went on to think how in the world my mom, who's known to have weak knees, gonna ride her motorbike all the way to the sealine to throw her undergarment.

I know, you may be thinking - undergarment? Sea?

Apparently, yes.

It's a belief among certain Chinese that throwing undergarment to the garbage bin would be an inappropriate way to dispose off one's personal items, when they are no longer usable. They should be a proper way to get rid of them, and I think, my mom thinks that this is a way to return them to Earth, away from any perverts' touch or anything...

I asked her how she was going to do it, since that the nearest sea line would be perhaps 30 minutes to an hour ride away. She told me that when she said that she was throwing them to the sea, it did not mean so. It meant throwing to a rushing stream that would lead the undergarments to the sea.

I said - huh?

Mom said that she found a drain where the water was rushing fast. It was near a Tua Pek Kong's hut. I asked her if she was really going to throw such a thing near Tua Pek Kong? She giggled. I know.. it would be a distance away, but the water in the drain there was rushing fast enough to be considered as a stream.

Mom said that throwing such undergarments away, in a plastic bag, with name written, plus birthdate - Chinese birthdate and not the English one, with a clip of hair and nails, would ensure that bad luck is washed away.

So... if my state is flooded with my mom's undergarment, please do not blame me. I won't stand in my mom's way to uphold the tradition.

;p Hahaha...