Babel

Last weekend, Baby and I went to watch what seemed like a promising show with 7 Academy Award nominations – Babel. Yeah, starring Brad Pitt – Baby’s idol. And true to its award nominations, the show was pretty good. The movie initially seemed like 4 unrelated stories being told in one movie, with a somewhat abrupt ending. However, at the end of it, it makes you think and reflect for awhile before you get the so-called ‘moral of the story’. It’s a cool movie and I highly recommend it. I give it 4 out of 5 popcorns! Here’s a sypnosis of it:

In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out - detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple’s frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo. Separated by clashing cultures and sprawling distances, each of these four disparate groups of people are nevertheless hurtling towards a shared destiny of isolation and grief. In the course of just a few days, they will each face the dizzying sensation of becoming profoundly lost - lost in the desert, lost to the world, lost to themselves - as they are pushed to the farthest edges of confusion and fear, as well as to the very depths of connection and love.

Starting with a tragedy that strikes a married couple on vacation, Babel interweaves four stories that are set in 4 different countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Mexico, and Japan) and in 5 different languages. Im particularly amazed at how a seemingly isolated event can affect lives on the other side of the globe. It showed the inter-connectedness of the world and portrayed humanity’s mutual dependency.

Another thing that intrigued me was how they drew a link to the bible with regards to the Tower of Babel. According to the narrative in Genesis Chapter 11 of the Bible, the Tower of Babel was a tower built by a united humanity to reach the heavens. God, observing the unity of humanity in the construction, resolves to destroy the tower and confuse the previously uniform language of humanity, thereby preventing any such future efforts. An interpretive account of the story explains the tower's destruction in terms of humankind's deficiency in comparison to God: within a Judeo-Christian framework, humankind is considered to be an inherently flawed creation dependent on a perfect being for its existence, and thus the construction of the tower is a potentially hubristic act of defiance towards the God who created them. As a result, this story is sometimes used within a Judeo-Christian context to explain the existence of many different languages and races.

The story found in Genesis 11:1-9 is as follows:
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children builded. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel (confusion); because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Watch it! Be do beware of gross images e.g. girl stripping totally naked with saggy boobs and a weird looking bush, and forcing herself onto a handsome and very reluctant guy, old sweaty ppl making out passionately, bloody and grotesque sewing of a wound – just to name a few. Have fun watching!

Hello Kitty Strawberry Cake!

Wow!I would LURVE to have this cake for my birthday! With all my fave stuff - lotsa yummilicious strawberries on top and my fave Hello Kitty character... n what more, Hello Kitty is dressed as a Princess! But the cake content must be strawberry shortcake or Haagen Daz strawberry ice-cream cake though...Yay! I wonder where i can buy this cake...hmmm...Will anyone bake me this? Hehe...*hint hint to my friends who can bake*

My Poor Wardrobe!..and Clothes!

Oopsie! My wardrobe is seriously overloaded!I have the biggest wardrobe in my family. No kidding man. But guess what happened today? It fell apart! hahhaha! k..i guess that's too kua zhang. But anyway, my wardrobe is the sliding door type, with 2 sides.


N in one side of the door, the main pole where my clothes are being hung on ...DROPPED! Nothing broke though. It kinda just gave way and dropped. My clothes are too heavy! After fixing the pole in place, I had a hard time trying to put everything back up on the pole! My arms were kinda aching after that...no kidding! N my wardobe is so full that my ironed clothes esp my cotton shirts, are kinda squashed n crumpled after i hang them up.

I had such a shock at first coz when i slide the door open, the door got jammed halfway! Coz the hangers got stuck. The whoel pole and ALL my clothes tumbled down onto another pile of clothes folded neatly on the shelf underneath. Lucky my wardrobe din break or spoil or smthg. Else i'll be very sad. I like e design of my wardrobe.

Shucks, I just went shopping last week and bought 2 GG>5 tops, and a pair of Marks n Spencer shoes. I also bought some tops from Mango, Guess and Miss Selfridge in the previous 2 weeks! I think i shud stop shopping.....my wardrobe is so full that it is protesting alry. Sobz =(

I think i should buy an extension wardrobe. Hahahaha!

Happy New Year!

It feels as if 2006 has just zoomed by...it has been not too bad a year. I just hope the years get better as i get older.

As the years go by, i hope be:
1. Richer (seems possible if i work hard enuff)
2. Happier (seems possible with the right mindset)
3. Prettier (wahaha! ermz...soon, i'll no longer be one of the sweet young things in the office. Only possible of i get richer n spend lots of money on beauty care)
4. Slimmer (as opposed to FATTER! most ppl put on weight as they age into the obasan stage dun they?)
5. Sexier (wahahah! That will prolly only happen if im Christy Chung or Kylie Minogue. Shucks.)
6. More successful (I'd better be!)

My New Year Resolutions!
1. Be Punctual!
Yes yes..i know im The Late Princess (I noe some Late Queens! So im still considered Princess status ok!)

This seems like a super tough feat! I have been late ALL my life since my dad stopped fetching me to school and all around =( Parents, bf, frens, team leader, boss etc all have said a thing or two (some said many!) about my tardiness. My poor Baby always have to wait super long for me to get ready to go out..coz im always so SLOW...dilly-dally-ing away.

Ever since i started work, it has been a norm for me to reach my office around 9.10am to 9.15am. But in the last 2 to 3 months, I have been reaching my office at 9.20am - 9.25am! Getting worse!

SO! From 2007! I MUST make it a point to be punctual! If not, the MAXIMUM allowance that can be granted to myself for being late is 10mins! So I shud report to work punctually at 9am every morning! And the latest time that i can reach my office is 9.10am! (i think i really need the allowance of 10 mins. At least for the beginning...!)

I reached my office at about 9.18am today. Wahaha! I will try harder tomorrow! Ganbate!

2. Be less short-tempered
Oops...im guilty of that especially when things dun go my way or when i dun get what i want. It din used to be so bad. My temper was generally still ok in the past i think. But this year is one of the worst since my JC days. Sometimes I make my parents and Baby get realli exasperated. Coz when things dun go as i want them to, i get realli pissed off and i'll be huffing n puffing away and picking fault at every little thing and scolding everybody. Oopsie!

N when i make Baby angry sometimes...i get angry at him instead n scold him for being angry w me. So Baby gets upset. =( My parents also told Baby to teach me to control my temper when i get mad! I think I became lidat partly due to stress at the workplace. I go bonkers when im super stressed up and I hate it when things aint perfect and up to my expectations.

So I promised Baby that I shall not get so worked up over small little things anymore! I must learn to take things easy and adopt a more optimistic and happy-go-lucky attitude! Yay!

I shall keep my new year resolution to just two. Becoz these 2 alone are already real toughies for me! I must work hard to be a better person with a better future in 2007 and beyond! Yay!...just hope my enthusiasm lasts...haha.