Happy Birthday Syarah!

Happy birthday to my sister-in-law, Syarah (Tengku Aisyarah), who is celebrating her 35th birthday today..

Cubs Rap

Go Cubs Go

After 100 Years, it's Time....

Cubs swept series against Sox

My FAVORITE team, the Chicago Cubs swept the series against the Chicago White Sox this weekend, 3-0. They won 4-3 (Friday), 11-7 (Saturday) and 7-1 (Sunday). This makes their home win 32-8. Above is the song we sing every time they win...

GO CUBS GO!!!

Here in my home...

A friend forwarded me this YouTube video and I thought I'd post it here for everyone to see.

American Gangster

We rented this DVD the other day and just started watching it. In fact Jim is still watching it. I gave up about half an hour into the movie. There are a few famous actors in it, Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin...etc but somehow I'm just not into the movie.

It is based on a true story about a detective (Russell Crowe) in the 70's who brought down the druglord (Denzel Washington) who have been importing drugs from Thailand....That's about all I saw..he he he. So, I really don't have any opinion about this movie. Maybe I'm just tired and wasn't in the mood to watch the movie at the moment...I don't know. So, there you go...

Other movies I like by actors in this movie:
1) Anything by Denzel Washington
2) Gladiator - Russell Crowe
3) The Insider - Russell Crowe
4) A Beautiful Mind - Russell Crowe
5) LA Confidential - Russell Crowe
6) No Country for Old Men - Josh Brolin
7) Flirting with Disaster - Josh Brolin

All stressed out...

That's all I'm gonna say about that!

"Gone Baby Gone"

Jim & I just finished watching this movie on DVD today. We both liked the movie except for the ending...

The movie is about 2 Boston area private detectives, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck - yes younger brother to Ben Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan - yes younger sister to Bridgette Monaghan) who were hired by the aunt, Bea McCready, of missing 4 year old girl named Amanda McCready. Bea hired Patrick & Angie against her husband and the police wishes.

Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) was the chief police who heads the investigation, who himself had lost his 12 year old daughter due to kidnapping. He asked his 2 detectives in the case, Remy Bressart (Ed Harris) and Nick Pole (John Ashton) to cooperate with Patrick & Angie. The more Patrick & Angie investiges, the deeper they go into the world of drugs and conspiracies.

Like I said earlier, we liked this movie except for how it ended. All the actors were really good in it especially Casey Affleck. Oh btw, Ben Affleck directed this movie....

Other movies I like by actors in this movie:
1. "To Die For" - Casey Affleck
2. "Good Will Hunting" - Casey Affleck
3. "Ocean's Thirteen" - Casey Affleck
4. "Batman Begins" - Morgan Freeman
5. "Million Dollar Baby" - Morgan Freeman
6. "Bruce Almighty" - Morgan Freeman
7. "Amistad" - Morgan Freeman
8. "Se7en" - Morgan Freeman
9. "The Shawshank Redemption" - Morgan Freeman
10. "Driving Miss Daisy" - Morgan Freeman
11. "Nurse Betty" - Morgan Freeman
12. "Unforgiven" - Morgan Freeman
13. "A History of Violence" - Ed Harris
14. "The Truman Show" - Ed Harris
15. "Apollo 13" - Ed Harris
16. "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" - Michelle Monaghan
17. "Bourne Supremacy" - Michelle Monaghan
18. "Mr & Mrs Smith"- Michelle Monaghan

Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL DADS, GRANDPAS & UNCLE'S OUT THERE.

Friday 13th

HAVE A HAPPY & SAFE FRIDAY 13TH EVERYONE!!

Spoiler Alert: Giving Away the 20 Best Movie Twists

As most of you probably notice, I love watching movies especially the ones that have twisted endings. Some I watched just once and never watch again but thereare a few that I would watch over & over & over & over again. You get my point he he he. I've seen all of these movies at one point or another except for #20 on this list. I saw the article below on Yahoo & thought I'd share with you guys. Be warned that these are movie spoilers so if yu have not seen any of these movies, please do NOT read this blog!!


The Sixth Sense : Dr. Malcom Crowe is a child psychologist who tries to recover from a violent attack by treating a spooky kid who can see ghosts.
Spoiler : He's actually dead.






The Others : A woman who lives in a remote estate with her afflicted children starts seeing weird creepy things around the house.
Spoiler: They're actually dead.





Saw: Two guys trapped in a warehouse bathroom with a corpse on the floor, are forced to choose between their lives or their legs by the fiendishly inventive Jigsaw Killer.
Spoiler: The corpse is Not dead. He is the killer.





Citizen Kane: As famed billionair newspaperman, Charles Foster Kane lies dying in his mammoth estate, he croaks out one work: "Rosebud".
Spoiler: It's his sled.





The Empire Strikes Back: Luke Skywalker trains with Jedi Master Yodo to take on the tyrannical Darth Vader, who he's been told killed his father, Anakin.
Spoiler: Darth Vader is his father.





Soylent Green: In response to food shortages caused by over population, the government of the future has invented a revolutionary foodstuff called Soylent Green.
Spoiler: It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people.





Planet of the Apes: Astronaut George Taylor lands on a planet full of apes who enslaves him and force him to wear a loincloth.
Spoiler: It was Earth all along.





Basic Instinct: Catherine Trammell is accused of a murder that was committed in the same exact manner as one detailed in her bestselling book.
Spoiler: She did it.





The Crying Game: Fergus is an IRA agent who, after accidentally killing a British soldier seeks out and then falls in love with the dead guy's girlfriend.
Spoiler: She's a he.





Fight Club: An ordinary Joe meets Tyler Durden on a plane. Together they start a fight club that turns into a militia out to destroy all credit card companies.
Spoiler: He has split personality. He is Tyler Durden.





Primal Fear: Aaron is an abused alter boy accused of knocking off a priest. He convinces his lawyer and the court that his dissociative alter ego Roy did it.
Spoiler: He does not have a split personality. He's not Aaron.





No Way Out: When a Washington bigshot's mistress winds up dead, his other lover, a decorated Navy officer is suspected of being a KGB agent.
Spoiler: He is a KGB agent.





Psycho: Janet Leigh steals a bunch of money from a rich yokel, clears out of town and gets stabbed while taking a shower.
Spoiler: The killer is Norman Bates in a dress.





Dressed to Kill: A transvetite psychopath is running around New York city murdering lonely housewives.
Spoiler: The killer is Michael Caine in a dress.





12 Monkeys: James Cole, a prisoner in a post-apocalyptic world goes back in time to prevent a virus from wiping out the world population.
Spoiler: He fails.





Arlington Road: History professor Michael Faraday starts to believe his new neighbors are domestic terrorists planning to drive a car bomb into FBI headquarters.
Spoiler: He drives the bomb in himself.





The Sting: Two con men join up in an elaborate scam to extract some revenge from gangster Doyle Lennegan, but the FBI forces them to turn on one another.
Spoiler: Everyone, including the FBI, is in on it.





Chinatown: P.I. Jake Giddes gets hired to catch a married guy with a mystery blonde. When the guys is found dead, Jake tries to find out who set him up and falls for the victim's widow, Evelyn.
Spoiler: The blonde is Evelyn's daughter. She's her sister. She's her daughter.





The Usual Suspect: Small time criminal, Verbal Kint gets interrogated about a mysterious dockside massacre. He argues that the culprit is a shadowy figure of unspeakable evil, Keyser Soze.
Spoiler: Verbal is Soze.





Angel Heart: Detective Harry Angel is hired by creepy Louis Cyphe to find the missing Johnny Favorite. Harry goes to New Orleans, where everyone he talks to ends up dead.
Spoiler: Louis Cyphe is the Devil. Harry Angel killed everyone while possessed. Harry is Johnny Favorite. Johnny is going to Hell.

Summer

Summer is definitely here!! Currently at about 11:38 am (Arizona time) it is 86F (30C) and the high is supposed to be about 98F (37C) today. The weatherman is predicting the high of about 108F (42C) for this weekend. I know that I will be staying put in the house this weekend!

I guess that is one of the disadvantages of living in the desert. In the middle of summer, it can go up to about 117F (48C)! Sure that you've heard the saying, "It's so hot you can cook an egg on the pavement"? Well, you can do that here, I've done it. Couldn't believe my eyes when the egg cooked to a perfect "sunny side up" ("telur mata lembu") right on the sidewalk.

I sure am glad that there is hardly any humidity here. There is no way I can survive the heat AND the humidity. I do have to say that my miniature cactus are striving. They are definitely in their element. My annuals all died about a month ago when the temperature started rising.

Oh, I better get my car checked. Definitely do not want to break down while I'm running around doing my errands. With the high gas prices (US$4.13/gallon), I am glad I have the Yaris (Toyota). Before the Yaris, I drove a '94 Dodge Caravan with a kaput air conditioner... Can you imagine driving around in that clunker with no air, in the middle of the day in summer?? I did lose some weight from sweating.. he he he.

Anyways, here's wishing that everyone have a nice & safe summer!

Under The Tuscan Sun

I watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" on AMC (American Movie Classics -channel 43) over the weekend. The last time I saw this movie was when it came out on DVD a few years back.

The movie itself was okay but what I like the best was the Italian scenery. It is so beautiful over there in Tuscany. It reminds me of the time my family & I drove across Europe for our family vacation so many years ago.

It was in the summer of '89, and we were living in Holland then. My dad took 2 weeks off of work and we drove all over Europe. We went to Belgium, Germany, Liechenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia (this is before the civil war when there was still a Yugoslavia), Italy & France. We had so much fun camping by the freeway. At night, the girls (my mom, sister & myself) slept in the car while my dad & brother slept in the sleeping bags. It was a luxury for us to sleep in a hotel when we get into the bigger towns. I always look back to those memories with fondness...

Of all the countries he could visit, Jim wants to go to Italy the most. That is because he's half Italian and still have some family members in the southern part of Italy. He's never been there and I would like us to go there some dya. We were supposed to go to Italy for our 10th anniversary a couple of years ago but due to some unavoidable circumstances, the trip never materialized. Hopefully, with careful planning, we will be able to do so for our 15th anniversary... Insya allah.

Anyways, back to the movie. Rent it if you like romantic movies coupled with beautiful sceneries...

Other Italian scenery movies I like:
1. "The Talented Mr Ripley" - (Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gweneth Paltrow)
2. "Only You" - Marissa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr.
3. "Life is Beautiful" - Roberto Benigni

Lean on Me - Club Nouveau

*This was (and still is) one of my favorite songs while I was in high school ...

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain

We all have sorrow

But if we are wise

We know that there's always tomorrow

(Chorus)

Lean on me, when you're not strong

And I'll be your friend

I'll help you carry on

For it won't be long

'Til I'm gonna need

Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride

If I have things you need to borrow

For no one can fill those of your needs

That you don't let show

(Chorus)

If there us a load you have to bear

That you can't carry

I'm right up the road

I'll share your load

If you just call me

So just call on me brother, when you need a hand

We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you'd understand

We all need somebody to lean on

(Chorus)

Lean on me....

How dorky am I?

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Can you spot me in this picture? This was the Upper Six class of 1990 at The British School in The Netherlands taken just before we did our A-Levels examinations. Hemm, my secret crush is also in this picture... he he he. Never told him that I had a crush on him, so he never knew about it. Which one do you think he is? *wink*

P/S Thanks Dominic, for forwarding me this picture, I lost my copy amidst my moving around all these years. By the way, Dominic wasn't my secret crush though he is a very good friend. ;-)

"Seronok ke tinggal kat US?"

"Seronok ke tinggal kat US?" ("It is nice living in the US?"). That is one of the questions people (mostly Malaysians) would ask me when they find out that I live in America. I had this question asked by 3 different people over the weekend. And, my answer is always, "Yes and No". "Why?" you might ask... Well, here are my reasonings.

1. My hubby is American. When I took my marriage vows, I vowed to be with him (& he me) for better or worse, sickness or health, till death do us part. So, wherever my love is, there I will be. Another question people ask me is, "How does it feel to be married to a "Mat Salleh'?" Like any marriage, there are ups and downs. You take the good and the bad coz nobody is perfect. Gosh I know I have many faults of my own!!! Being married to Mat Salleh is no different than marrying any other races, may it be Melayu, Cina, India or whatever it is. You have to work at your marriage, there has to be give and take. Yes, I do admit that it might be a little difficult coz of the cultural differences but as long as you have the same values, cultural differences doesn't mean much.

2. I feel less awkward here. Because of my height (I'm 6 feet tall), I feel that I blend in better here. Here, I can find clothes and shoes that fit me. I don't have to go to the shoe cobbler or the tailor to have my shoes and clothes especially made for me like I do in Malaysia. I can walk tall and not have people stare at me or say something mean behind my back (oh you know who you are). Oh don't get me wrong, there are mean people here too but I get to be me.

3. Freedom... speech, religion, etc. I am free to think whatever I want and say it if I want to. I am me when I am here. I don't have to act or talk a certain way, the "accepted" way like I do in Malaysia.

4. I've become accustomed to things here. Having been in the US for 15 years now, I've become accustomed to how things are done.

5. I miss my family back in Malaysia. I wish that we live nearer (but not too close).

6. I miss Malaysian food. Yes I can get some of them here but there is nothing like eating my mom's cooking or the smell of satay being grilled.

7. During Ramadan and Aidil Fitri, there is nothing like the atmosphere you get in Malaysia. Here you wouldn't even know that it's Ramadan or Hari Raya.

So, there you go, the reasons for my saying, "Yes & No" when someone ask me, "Seronok ke tinggal kat US tu?".