Something Rotten

The other night, I had a good conversation with my dear friend. We were talking about the country education system. It always sadden me whenever the education topic came up, because I've been so let down by it since a few years ago, and I'm not always so proud of it.

Thinking that since I had no choice but to got myself wrapped up in it, my own generation-to-be will also become the victims under it, if I'm not fully aware from now on.

It's not about regurgitating of facts in all school levels that bothers me, because the world education system seems to work that way. What is disheartened is how the government brings down the standard, way too low, like there's almost no value in it...And then you thought "I'll never bring up even a fairly wise child!"

It's not a matter of choice. In this country, we don't have much options and opportunities. Students procrastinate is a norm; last minute studies is a ritual in every semester; and we only hope for the mercy of educators not to fail us. Or else, even at higher school level, we look forward to the last few weeks of examination questions, literally. We grasp on and cram for examination questions, we only truly learn in the study week. The result is, we don't really gain much.

Whenever the dubious glory comes, I question myself if it's truly authentic. I believe in my degree of capability when I put my answers on the answer sheets. How deeply I learn and how much is retain in my memory to lay out my answers in the exam. I have more faith in myself than the grade tells me on the paper. You know it the moment they take down the standard when you know your inability to answer the question doesn't hold the candle to the flying colors that you never attempt to achieve. So the grade doesn't tell you much of how well you understand the subjects. It plainly implies how putrid the system is!

In the final analysis, the end-product - the workforce - is being said working quality is questionable, whether we're genuine college graduates. Fact is, the low quality products we are. 

Since I have more faith in myself than the government tells me what grade I belong to, I'd rather take my babies and start a home school instead! It's not a trend, it's just an alternative.

So don't you try to flaunt at me how high grade you get, what a shame for you! Don't you even mention it!

Last Man Standing

No, this is not about Bruce Willis action film.

This time, it won't be deja vu all over again. I have positive feelings about this rendezvous. I'm so upbeat that I can't even sleep well through the nights. I know it's amazing. I have no doubts at all. Not at all. The differences are visible. Lightning won't strike twice, right? I hope I'm not that lucky. 

Because I can see your anticipation. Our longings for each other. Your comical expressions.

That makes me laugh.

You're the man who keep his both feet on the ground, not too much expectations. You're simple, follow the flow where life may take you. Maybe that's all I need, the whole of which I call security. I'm on board with you.

Nice to meet you, I'm Yen...

Blindness

I got myself a new pair of eyes today.

I've been half-blind since I was 10 years old and lost sight of myself far away from the mirror. Today, I experimented something I've never experienced before. I stood tall and stared straight into the dusty long mirror. How I clearly look like, from head to toe, from a distant.

Gosh, you're right. How clearly I see myself today after such a long decade. I'm pretty. I am slim. I got mono-eyelids. I never feel this pretty inside.

Soon, you'll see.

Friend, Dammit Old Flame

Go to bed pass 11 o'clock, I bound to get sleepless. I'm getting old. So I have to have a little chat with you. To tell you that my body is beyond my age.

I always like you. You know I do. You are my sanctuary. I've put on a new skin for you, I hope you like it. Yes, it's Mary and Jack's. Mary and Jack Pickford's, they say. Something new is always refreshing, isn't it?

Something alien I heard first time in my life. Maybe I didn't have a friend from the city to tell me because I was from the suburb. I never saw skyscrapers before my eyes. When I told them I was from the suburb, their eyes and mouths almost dropped to the floor, said they pegged me for being city girl. I don't look a bit like the small-town damsel. I took it as compliment. Twice.

Before I came here, I had high hope from the suburb. I thought city girls' English must be well-spoken and well-used in their dailies. I thought I would meet like-minded people, who would acquaint herself in English with me, that meeting a well-spoken English roomie mustn't a hardship. That I'd meet my prospective lifetime friend.

One true friend. One would be enough. True enough to the fact that we hide no secrets, we laugh to the very silly trivia, and would accept each other's quirks and twists. You may have big circle of friends, but true friend of one or a few will be suffice. I'd be more treasure one or a few than a big or a few big circles of friends.

My friend, I founded you 2 years ago. And I haven't even called you my friend. Now, you become important.

Yes, to be frank with you, I'm a bit disappointed. The big city is not like what I'd expected. I thought somehow, there were someone I'd look up to, but no worries, instead, it has given me an opportunity to acquaint myself better than yesteryear.

Friend, I'll always on the lookout in search of my like-minded friend. You will always have me. I want you to remember that.

***

You had a pair of crystal eyes. They were green. A pair that never got old. I was mesmerizing. I almost got sucked into those.

Things I recognized, but never acknowledged.

Your personalities: You never talked to me. You only questioned. Selfish. Bad intentions. Small-minded. Took me for granted. You hated my hair, my sandals, my country, its people, the mall, the hotel, the movie, my puffy dress. Worst of all, you lied and cheated.

You only smiled once when you watched the monkeys. I failed that.

So I never be your wife. You'd be my worse nightmare husband. You'll only be left behind.

Super dumbass! Asshole!

The Help

If you think I blog too much about movies lately, sorry to say, those movies are too great I don't want you to miss. They just keep on feeding me food for thought.

I used to come across this movie advert so many times that I never bothered how good it was. I couldn't even stand the hype around it. After the semester lessons about conflicts, racism, gender and whole lots of other social inequalities, those reminded me about the movie. So I decided to watch it.

The movie is sets in the 1960s in Jackson town, Mississippi, tells about racism between colored people and the whites. The main point is related to a would-be writer, Skeeter Phelan who writes a book secretly about the racism and unequal treatments of the black people on their sides of perspective.  So she convinces two black housekeepers, Aibileen and Minny, and then following a dozen other more housemaids together to work on her book. Skeeter wants the maids to reveal anonymously about their hardships routinely inflicted on them by the wealthy white families whose food they cook and the children they raise - thereby winning them a valuable step towards true racial equality and her a big fat publishing deal.  

One example of discrimination we can see through out the movie is Hilly Holbrook's ongoing campaign for the town's maids to use separate bathrooms from their employers because the fear of the blacks to pass on diseases. However, there was one hilarious scene which really drew a deep impression on me when Minny tried to get even with her employer. As she was found out by her employer Hilly Holbrooks, of she using the in-house bathroom had landed her fired, Minny baked a chocolate pie with feces in it as her fake apology. Hilly was so indulged in the pie and even gave praise the pie Minny made before she finally told by Minny that the pie was made from her own feces. Then Hilly felt the content of the bowels came back up in her throat (nauseous!). HA HA!

The Intouchables

is so touchable.

My friend, Vincent recommended me the film. I'd guarantee that you'll love the film and it won't waste your time.

I totally got blew away by the relationship of these two contrasted characters - the aristocrat, Philippe and the new caretaker, Driss who lives in the ghetto. Their friendship is both heartwarming and touching from the way they spend time together. It was so beautifully and well-filmed.

On my part, I think I have something to argue about. Well, I just refer what I've learned in class. The movie was actually based on a true story and if we notice at the end of the film, they introduce the real-life persons involved and Driss was not even black. If we go back to the content of the movie, the duo do spend time a lot of going here and there, making fun of each other, especially Driss who has the comical characters. If we try to imagine using a white guy to replace black Driss, maybe the effect won't be as good as using black, that would be tasteless. That, go back to stereotypes.

If you want to read about the reviews and the bits of the story, this one reflects the French society based on the film and this is more professional reviews, both written waay better than me. Oh, the movie is in French by the way.

Night Fall (大追捕)

Prior to the movie viewing, I didn't read its plot. I only took a glimpse of its photos gallery and I thought this could be something good. The photos were a good giveaway that Nick Cheung （张家辉） was going to be the bad guy in the film and I hadn't seen him as the antagonist for so long since Secret of The Heart (天地豪情), so I was pretty anticipated for his role in it. The movie was almost 2 hours long but not a scene in it that bored me.

WARNING: if you don't want to know the juicy details of the film, you might not want to read on.

Through out the flick, especially at the start of the movie, you might mistakenly assume he is the bad guy, and frankly, I thought the film totally fooled me at the first place, especially at the first scene where he was trying to beat the hell out of those guys, or slayed them in cold blood. I thought, 'wow, he is going to be the cruel killer and this is going to be another good horror'. And I thought he must be the perverted psycho killer. In spite of that, he was total the opposite. All this time, he planted all the evidence directly so it pointed to him just for the intention to protect his daughter's crime which of course was an accident.

The film was actually full of suspense and quite of twists and turns with all the investigations by Officer Lam (任达华飾). However, there was a plot hole where all the cops and investigators proved to be so lame that they only found out Wang's (Nick Cheung) residence in the middle of the movie. What take them so long to locate his residence? I thought the cops knew better than me when they brought him into his first interrogation.

Nick Cheung's and Yam's (任达华) ages were evident in the movie. It's a letdown because they are talented actors and now it's their times to take on the father's role in movies. All in all, this movie was not a disappointment, although Nick Cheung wasn't the bad guy that I expected earlier. The story was wholly tragic and sheer accident. Nobody killed everyone.

It actually quite moving at the end though.

Major Deal

I keep telling myself that I'm not interested in economy, much less in politic. But somehow, they are kind of a must-know topic for a journalist since it involves the lives of the people in every society, and nation. Though I know I can always write about something that interests me.

There are people out there trying to promote the unworthiness of journalism. They are trying to bring me down, implying I should think twice, that somehow, I'm making the wrong decision - I shouldn't go into the major course. They started to say how I would be screwed over by my superior because I shouldn't write something, or that I should write something, that it's a dying industry. They really have that kind of nerve to tell me what is wrong and right, bad and good, when they have no idea about any field, even themselves have no absolute idea of what major to take, which is pitiful to know.

Sometimes, people really have narrow perspective and limited vision to their surroundings. Everyone is talking about globalization. That the world is connected and has turned into a small village. That we can go anywhere and know what our neighbors are up to. I have the mindset to look at the big picture, I could take my trade and craft to anywhere in the world. Our career may start here, but if we are visionary enough and far-sighted, we know the world has no boundaries, our world is still big. If we look at the world map, Malaysia is just teeny-weeny, a drop in the ocean.

People focus too much on what they want. Sometimes we just have to take one or two steps back and reflect, what we don't want when we're clueless of what we want. If you are still in doubt, just cross off what you don't want, and you'll come to the right one.

I made my decision few years ago. So whatever they throw at me, I'll only stand my ground.

Maybe they should stop thinking at all cost and get off the fence. Stop being paranoid. It's disgusting, I'm getting sick of it.