Merry making with Mary or marry her?

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn:

Not the marrying kind? 

In the traditional Indian society, wedding is considered as a panacea to all social woes. Son loafing around aimlessly? Son does not take things seriously? Son very irresponsible and childish? Get him married, everything will sort out itself, they would say.
Rodney Dangerfield, on the other hand said something to the effect of 'Once I got into this institution called marriage, I stayed institutionalised!'
Call me old fashioned but I have been brought up to think that people declared their private intentions publicly before they get cozy privately. Or at least that was how it was portrayed to be.
Being privy to being a confidant of people's after hours' activities and private lives, I know that that is never the case, maybe of late or perhaps all the time just that people were discrete about it. People do not need that piece of paper to approve their biological urges. After all it is only natural. The birds and the bees do it, "why can't we?", they would say!
Then why have the paper, pomp and announcement at all? Well, the wife can change her name especially if her maiden name is tainted with a criminal record. The children can have a surname and the wife and kids can have a legitimate claim on the property if there is any.
Who needs the licence anyway?

Seize the day, Carpe diem!

You think you have got it made. You think you are perfect. That is what everyone aims for. And we all yearn to be THE one. Many want to leave their legacy behind, something for their descendants to feel proud of. Mythology repeatedly told over time from ear to ear over the years, got spiced up and snowballed to portray infallible characters, invincible, just, powerful and elevated to demi-God and God statuses.

As usual, my mind got thinking...
That could explain the many 'great' men (mahaans) and avatars of God who had graced and walked the land we stand on. Not to belittle the great deeds that they had done, there must be blemishes in their otherwise pristine time on Earth.

When Robin William passed on recently, the internet and social media were fluff with a flurry of messages praising him to high heaven. Many thanked him for the comedy and making the world a happier place. One even praised him in his role as a motivating teacher in 'Dead Poets Society'. If not for that film, he would not enjoy literature that much and pursued that line of career. Some highlighted the pathetic and helpless situation of being trapped in the world of the black dog. Despite duelling with manic depressive illness for a good part of his adult life, he still managed to live a full life.

The passing of an individual is always remembered by the good deeds done by them. The public generally likes to put a lid on their shortcomings, thankfully so. Maybe not for all- Hitler, Stalin, Atilla the Hun etcetera.

Wikipedia checkup did show a few unsavoury conducts by the actor exhibited. Besides his substance addiction which could be attributed to his illness, he had been the cause of his own marital disharmony. Imagine, how a pregnant wife would feel when your husband is sued by his extramarital tryst sues him for infecting her with herpes!

Despite all his shortcomings, he must have been good in other ways. He still has a cordial relationship with his daughter and a string of grieving fans. Rest in peace.
Life is a symphony with crescendos and fortissimos. The joy of music that emanates is precisely from these troughs and ploughs of notes.

A hunting they will go!

Good Will Hunting, 1997 Drama

An old write up. As a farewell to an extremely talented artiste who, despite his inner demons and the dark shadows of the black dog that haunted a good portion of his life, still came out tops as a world class entertainer. For the children of the 70s and 80s, Robin Williams was just part of our exposure to the world of comedy, starting with 'Mork and Mindy' to 'Mrs Doubtfire' to 'Good Will Hunting' to 'Dead Poet's Society' to 'Jumanji' and beyond. RIP.

This multiple award winning film is a heart wrenching saga of a gifted individual trapped in the conundrum of poverty, unsavoury upbringing and living environment that stunts his personal development.
It is set in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston where Will Hunting (Matt Damon), the protagonist is a janitor. He is also a prodigy who has a photographic memory who enjoys reading and learning multiple subjects. Unfortunately, his fate of being born in a dysfunctional to an alcoholic abusive father erased the chances of his ability being discovered and nurtured. He is living in the wrong side of the city, moving with simple minded friends who are more interested in getting drunk and bedding girls. Will had got into the wrong side of the law on numeral occasions.
Professor Gerald Lambeau is a mathematics professor who enjoys pasting difficult mind boggling mathematics questions on the board in the corridors for his students to solve. Will, the janitor, is found to be solving these extremely difficult questions and Professor decides to go on a crusade to turn Will useful for the world to benefit from his Godly gift.
As Will is behind bars when the good Professor found him, he made a deal with the presiding judge to be his guarantor and engage a therapist for the young man to reform. Professor discovers his true genius in solving Mathematic equations but prove too cocky and slippery to the liking of many regular psychiatrists.
Finally, the Professor approaches his old roommate, Dr Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), a psychology lecturer in a community college. He has his own baggage. 2 years after losing his wife to cancer, he is still living in her memory and shuns fame and limelight. Sean agrees to counsel Will, after realizing that Will and he had similar family background. After a couple of stormy sessions, he managed to have a breakthrough, talking about common interest like baseball and the demise of his wife.
In the meantime, in midst of his work in MIT and therapy sessions, Will is romantically linked with a rich MIT student, Skylar, who is studying to be a doctor. Will’s tumultuous childhood impedes his commitment to a steady long term relationship with her. The Professor’s numerous attempts to get Will into a permanent job proved futile due to Will’s disinterest. He does not see the meaning of doing all these but rather enjoys his time with his simple minded friends. It came to a point that he leaves therapy sessions, ends his romantic relationship and be absent from his MIT work.
It is when he started working as a construction worker that his friend (Ben Affleck) realizes that he has an asset that is enviable. His friend confides that he is jealous of Will’s ability and would trade places with anytime to enjoy the good life.
Will returns to a ground breaking therapy where the therapist and patient discover that they were both victims of child abuse. Will starts his new job and drives to California to rekindle his lost romance in Skylar.
‘Good Will Hunting’ tells us how a child with improper upbringing fails to achieve his true potential. Like Mozart and Einstein, children with special gifts need to be discovered and encouraged. If everyday living is a struggle, their interest would be channeled negatively through defence mechanisms that focus on short term enjoyment and escapism. The world would be at a loss of these geniuses. It is not a matter of telling these prodigies of their shortcomings and making them realize of their assets, they need to be tackled appropriately. Change must come from within themselves. No amount of nagging and pushing is going to turn the other side.

Mud in the face, big disgrace...

Welcome to New York (French-English; 2014)


I cannot fathom why the doyen, Gérard Depardieu, the name who is synonymous with modern contemporary French cinema would stoop so low as to appear in a meaningless movie like this one.
It is no secret that it is a thinly veiled saga of the defamed ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. There are too many similarities between the two to deny.
If one were to think that the film was made to highlight how he was framed, or show another version of how it have happened or how the whole fracas affected his career or his nomination of Presidency, you are in for a surprise.
It depicts none of those.
As you are aware, this high flying big gun with a soft spot for the fairer sex was to go for Presidency of France. The fact that the the accusation of rape by a chamber-maid in a New York so near before the win event screamed to high heavens of conspiracy theories. However, the film depicted none of the above. In short it was a pure meaningless graphic display of warped deviant show of lust and its varieties. The actual story only picked up towards the second half of show, that too in a wishy-washy malaise fashion.
It paints DSK as a remorseless sloppy oversized man way past his prime who thinks that everything can be bought with money. Everybody else is a persona non grata, the only important thing to him seem to be luring females and fulfilling his lust.
Jacqueline Bisset plays the role of his wife, Monique, whose is fed-up with his antics. She is more worried of how that snafu would jeopardise her advancement in her career as she is all too familiar with his skirt chasing habit.
The film is extremely draggy detailing all irrelevant detail including a full monty strip search of Depardieu in prison. After living in exile in Russia after tax problems in his native country France, perhaps he does not care much about French cinema and it is pay back time!
The French cinema has 'self censored' itself by not screening it in its theatres. The producers may have a hard time defending against the many legal suits that the Strauss-Kahn family is soon to file.

Shortcomings and trimmings...

Unless you have living in shell away from the evils of social media, you should be aware of the brouhaha of late of the cyber display of the advertisement publicizing '2014 Penang's International Nude Sports'. Let us leave the merits and appropriateness of flaunting one's modesty for others to judge to theologians and esteemed philosophers to argue it out. I was  particularly intrigued by some of the comments posted by supposedly learned members of the public. Some criticized not because of their brazen differing morality standards but rather because they were not impressed with what they saw. They commented that it is an embarrassment when they exhibit their seemingly unimpressive bodies, visually unappealing.
We, as a society, seem to have brain washed into believing that the human body is supposed to look like what is seen on the celluloid screens of Hollywood and Bollywood. Anything disproportionate to that standard is unacceptable. Period. Not fit to be recorded.
Welcome to the real world. Yes, the human body is not meant to be in perfect symmetry. Yes, it is meant to sag, have unsightly blemishes, cellulite, wrinkles and scars. Yes, life goes on after mastectomy, double mastectomy and disfigurement of birth defect or burns. Yes, they also come in various shades - white, pink, yellow ochre, shades of brown and ebony. There is no need to feel green or feel blue. Only the yellow will chicken out with reality.
For your information, most Hollywood stars have than one double - one for each part of close-up shots of their body part. A Malaysian had the dubious honour of having his calf used as 'leg double' of Brad Pitt's puny ones, unbefitting of the role of Achilles that he played in the 2004 movie, 'Troy'!

We run for our suppers!

Energizer Night Run 2014

Kuala Lumpur

Ambil selfie dulu! Pre-Run

We just signed for the jest of it. The distance was about the same as our weekly Sunday morning runs and we avoided all the stresses and the preparations doing it. We did not have have leave our homes 2 hours before the event, crack our brains of where to park our vehicles, the waiting, listening to all the public service announcements and meaningless VIP speeches of self glorification. 20 minutes after leaving our homes and we would be on road with our hearts pumping and minds awoken by the adrenaline filled juices. In 2 hours, we would have completed the run and would be seated at our favourite thosai joint indulging in sinless food.
Then why sign up for this 15,000 strong night run at all? Especially after a long day's work and enduring the whole day's humid conditions our tropical humid city. It was all as a prelude and excuse of meeting up for a post run night out!
After the last Energizer fiasco in Sepang two years previously, we were expecting much. With such a big turnout and the  venue being right in the smack of the city and narrow roads, logistics was not going to be easy.
The wait at Dataran Merdeka which seem like eternity finally came to an end at 8pm, so we thought. No, they were still with their upbeat music with their DJ with the mike obviously too close for comfort to his gap was still ranting motivational grunts to get the crowd spirited. Then just when you thought it was over - a speech, a never ending one where the speaker got the Mayor's name wrong! Then the fireworks where everyone had to strain their neck to watch. Then the horn blew. A good 3 minutes elapsed before we could pass the starting mat. After what seem like eternity, the crowd came to a standstill trying to traverse a tunnel. "A tunnel again?" screamed a runner who was almost at standstill after being caught in a near stampede situation in the Sepang F1 circuit tunnel!
It took almost 3km along Jalan Kuching for the crowd to ease. The geniuses amongst the runners decided to look cool by annoyingly placing their headlamps on the arms and backs posing a great annoyance as it irritantly flashed in a stroboscopic manner on others. Luckily none of them had stroboscopic light induced seizures!
The roads were less crowded as we headed towards Bukit Tunku at Jalan Duta. Thanks to the organisers who thought that closing half of the narrow road and using another quarter to distribute drink added to the obstacle. And some of the novice runners who thought that it was their birthright to stop at will in the middle of the road and show public display of their affection by hanging on to the hand of their loved for life did not make it easier on the knees which had to endure the frequent change of force, speed and direction of forces ponded upon them.
There was not a single moment in the run that I felt that visibility was an issue. With adequate street lighting, nobody needed to grope in the dark. That is why none of my friends in the running group donned any.
The long ordeal came to an end back at Dataran Merdeka. After cooling down, we were headed for our late supper, the highlight of the day.
Lesson of the day: No more of this short hype-filled glorified night runs!

Sing for one's supper
Work for one's pay or reward, as in entertaining visiting scientists is part of the job; you know I have to sing for my supper. This metaphoric term alludes to wandering minstrels who performed in taverns and were paid with a meal. First recorded in 1609, it gained currency with the familiar nursery rhyme, "Little Tommy Tucker, sings for his supper" (c. 1744).

Living doll

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Story, Production, Director: Wes Anderson

As in Wes Anderson's previous offerings, this one is a wee bit awkward. Awkward because the props appear as if they are off a toy set and its characters look like the are living dolls acting out various roles. Put in elements of nostalgia, setting of a pre-WW2 Continental Europe fictitious country, with the memory of ethics of service above self of the bygone era, loyalty, camaraderie and a tussle over a will of a dead mysterious frequent visitor to the 5-star hotel is a good ingredient for an interesting watch. Of course, the eye candy of  the beautiful computer graphic imagery helped.
Grand Budapest in the 80s was a run down hotel which had seen better times. The grandiose of the hotel is told through the eyes of a mysterious frequent occupant as narrated to the author. The mystery man actually started off as a bell boy, Zero, working directly under auspices of the flamboyant chief concierge, Monsieur H. Gustave.

Monsieur H. Gastave 

Gustave goes the extra mile to please his affluent clients who frequent the hotel, especially the rich, old, insecure and blonde ladies. So when one such client dies in mysterious circumstances and he is mentioned as the sole heir in the will, the relatives and police naturally get hot on his trail. Zero gets roped in the escapade. It narrates how they (gustave and Zero) dodge their perpetrators to a happy ending... Perhaps not so happy.
As in most of Anderson's films, you either love it or loathe it. As for me, it did not leave me that much of an impression, unlike to the person who recommended it to me. Sure, it has some poignant points of the nostalgia of time gone by but then.. let bygones be bygones.