Merdeka

Happy 51st birthday, Malaysia!!!

Happy Birthday Riz & Hazel

Happy belated birthdays to my brother-in-law, Riz (Tarkriz Kamil) and my cousin, Hazel (Raja Hazlyn) who both celebrated their 34th birthdays on August 28th.

Ramadan

"Into the Wild"

We saw "Into the Wild" last night and thought it was really good. It is based on a true story about Christopher McCandles (Emile Hirsch), who right after graduating from Emory College in 1990, left all of his worldly possessions and embarked on a journey of self discovery. His aim was to eventually go to Alaska and along the way he met an assortment of characters who shaped his life. Despite having survived the winter in Alaska, his plan hit a snag when the river he crossed during winter is now a torrent rapid in the spring, thus trapping him. The movie is really awesome!!! Watch it!!

"Smart People"

Jim & I saw "Smart People" on Sunday and we both really liked it. It is about Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid), who is a widower, an indifference father who is also a pompous professor of English Lit at Carnegie Mellon. A seizure and a fall had him going to the ER and there he met one of his former students, Dr Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) whom he starts to date, much to the horror of his daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page). Lawrence's "loser" brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) moved in to help around the house. The movie shows that sometimes the smartest people don't quite get it all together. It was a cute movie and I would recommend you watch it.

Other movies I recommend by actors in this movie:
1) Hard Candy - Ellen Page
2) Juno - Ellen Page
3) Spanglish - Thomas Haden Church
4) Sideways - Thomas Haden Church
5) The Family Stone - Sarah Jessica Parker
6) The First Wives Club - Sarah Jessica Parker
7) Ed Wood - Sarah Jessica Parker
8) Honeymoon in Vegas - Sarah Jessica Parker
9) In Good Company - Dennis Quaid
10) The Rookie - Dennis Quaid
11) Frequency - Dennis Quaid

5 Years ago

5 years ago today at about 3:30am, Malaysian time, I lost my mom, Raja Hajjah Hairul Nisha bt Raja Haji Hussein. I can't believe that it has been that long since she's been gone. Time flew so fast that it felt like yesterday.

I think it has been a little harder for me to accept that she is gone because I live so far away from home. I am not constantly reminded that she is gone. That doesn't mean that I don't miss her. I miss her lots!!! I still, on occassions, would pick up my phone wanting to dial my parents' house. But then I remembered that she's gone and the house is no longer ours.

Anyways, I miss you mummy.... (I better stop here before I start blubbering)

Eastern Promises

Jim & I just finished watching "Eastern Promises" and I definitely recommend this movie. It is about a midwife/nurse, Anna (Naomi Watts) who works in a hospital when a pregnant Russian teenager, Tatiana came bleeding. She wasn't able to save the teenager but the baby girl survived. Anna finds Tatiana's diary written in Russian language in her belongings and decided to find her family to deliver the baby. She brings the diary home and ask her uncle Stepan (who is Russian) to translate the document. Stepan refuses, but Anna finds a card of a restaurant owned by the Russian, Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) inside the diary and she visits the old man trying to find a lead to contact Tatiana's family. When she mentions the existence of the diary, Semyon immediately offers to translate the document. However, Stepan translates part of the diary and Anna discovers that Semyon and his sick son Kirill had raped Tatiana when she was fourteen years old and forced her to work as prostitute in a brothel of their own. Further, Semyon is the dangerous boss of the Russian mafia "Vory v Zakone", jeopardizing the safety of Anna and her family. Meanwhile, Semyon's driver Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) gets close to Kirill and Semyon, climbing positions in the criminal organization, but he helps Anna, her family and the baby.

The movie is very good though there are quite a few violent scenes in it. Definitely not a movie for kids to watch. Do see it if you can.

Other movies by actors in this movie that I recommend watching:
1) A History of Violence - Viggo Mortensen
2) Lord of the Rings (all 3 movies) - Viggo Mortensen
3) King Kong - Naomi Watts
4) 21 Grams - Naomi Watts
5) 12 Angry Men - Armin Mueller-Stahl