Fancy a corpse for a bride?? - Return of Master Burton!!

After watching The Corpse Bride recently, I could not have felt all the more relieved for my favourite director Tim Burton . The depressive slump of quality of his recent projects is finally over with the fantastic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride.

Corpse Bride is a tale set in the depressing, repressful and stiff 19th Century - a tale of a love triangle that transcends the realm of the living into the realm of the dead. Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp, Burton's fave actor and so is mine ^_^), son of wealthy fish merchants looking to be elevated to the heights of society with the marriage, is set to be betrothed to Victoria Everglot (sweet Emily Watson) , whose former classy family is out of cash and out of luck and is looking at the marriage to get them out of the rut. Talk about the irony of things! Victor is madly insecure and downright frightened by the marriage prospects while Victoria was hopeful and sad... until she hears Victor playing sweet, lovely music on the piano in her home.

Victor too, falls for Victoria, but that doesn't stop him from getting the jitters about marriage. He fouled up his marriage vows so badly during the rehearsal that the Pastor (the unmistakeable low, gruff voice of Christopher Lee) issued a stern warning to Victor that he get his vows right or else there won't be a marriage. Out he ran from the Everglot Manor like a frightened little pup and he began to wander about trying to get his vows right. Deeper and deeper into the dark, dank woods he goes until, when he finally got his vows right, he just HAD to slip the ring onto a root - unfortunately for Victor, it was much more than a root.

The root was but the finger of Emily The Corspe Bride (Helena Bonham Carter sounds like she's having fun) who has been waiting ever since the day she died for her 'one true love' to set her free. And Victor's it! I must say, if The Corpse Bride were a live-action film, I would certainly wet my pants at the 'resurrected' scene of the Corpse Bride rising from the earth. That was just scary and definitely understood why Victor ran helter-skelter for his life. I would too, if I were in his shoes. And so, Victor ends up getting caught in a life and death tug -of-war between two women and must decide who he really loves and wants to spend the rest of his life with.

While Corpse Bride is not as energetic and colourful and the animation not as supreme as Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton's finest animated work that put stop-motion claymation back into the limelight, Corpse Bride is still a very entertaining movie that really delivers the laughs - that is if you could stomach some of the queasy, icky stuff that was shown in the scenes depicting the Land of the Dead.

That aside, there are two things that I just love about The Corpse Bride. One is how Burton paints a stark contrast between the land of the living and the land of the dead. It's so striking that one could not have missed it. The land of the living, with its dark, grey hues and tones presents to us a depressing and at times, suffocating world where everyone has to be prim and proper. In contrast, the land of the dead - with its beautiful and colourful list of characters - comes across as a place to be merry... full of...um..er... well... just full of life. Ironic isn't it? But how seemingly true it must be to some people amongst us who thought that death's nothing but a party. What little colour left in the land of the living is the little blue butterfly that symbolises everything that life should be - free, unshackled by the norms and rules of a strict society. It is all the more poignant in the scene where Victor releases the blue butterfly from its captivity - seemingly to tell us that he longs to be just as free as the butterfly.

The second thing that I like about it is, of course, the humour and Burton rose to the occassion - poking fun at everything living and dead, no skulls unturned and no bones left unscattered. But I just have to mention three funny scenes that still stayed in mind long after I saw the movie. First, was when Emily sought the aid of Elder Gutknecht (one of my fave characters because of some of the one liners he uttered, voiced by Tony Award-winning Michael Gough, who was born in Malaysia in 1917!!!) to help them return to the Land of the Living. Puzzled and curious, the good elder quipped, "Why go up there when people are dying to get down here?" was just laugh out loud funny. The other two funny scenes worthy of mention happened when the dead returned to the Land of the Living to witness Emily's wedding to Victor. It showed how people alive and well react to the sudden appearance of the ghosties. One shows the innocence of a child who recognises his dead grandpa, but the way it was shown made it out as if the ghosts intended to kidnap the boy for dinner! But the best one had to be the feisty old lady reunited with his long dead husband... with Burton paying homage to Gone with the Wind with the line made famous by Clark Gable - "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!" - complete with the same pose and big kiss!

There are other funny moments for everyone and while the scare factor is minimal, the fun factor is high up. Though this may be an animation, its best that parents watch this with their kids and be prepared to answer tough questions about life and death!

All in all, I am really happy with The Corpse Bride and the fun I had watching it. It's certainly much more watchable than the cringe-worthy The Big Fish and the bad turkey Planet of the Apes. Here's to hoping for more good stuff from the guru of all things gothic, macabre and dark - Tim Burton!!

Six days to go to NaNoWriMo 2005!!!

Hey, people!
You know, I've been stalling for far too long now. So, I decided today 'aw what the heck, might as well give it a go!' And now I am officially participating in the NaNoWriMo Writing Challenge 2005! Gosh, can't believe it but I am actually really going to go for it! Wow!

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMO is the acronym for National Novel Writing Month where participants force themselves to write 50,000 words (175 pages or so) of a novel, whatever kind of novel, from November 1 to November 30. Yes, to finish writing a novel in just 30 days! Sounds crazy? You might think so, bt I think its great to challenge yourself to see if you have the staying power to actually write a novel. This will be a sought of testing ground for me to test my passion for the written art form. I've always wanted to write a novel but have been putting off due to laziness and just plain don't know where to start. November 2005 is as good a time as any to get started.

So, hope you guys and gals can lend your support and encourage me whenever you see me around, k. I definitely need that extra push! ^_^ For more info on NaNoWriMo, go here ===> http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Here's to a new novel in the making! ^_^

Philip

I'm Speechless... Stunned... Shocked...Infuriated... Just Freaking Damned Pissed OFF!!!

If you think this is another one of my stupid rant about how stupid my life is and all that, before you begin to even roll your eyes and chastise me for my ineptness and stupidity - hear me out for a while cos that not what this is all about.

It's 9.30am in the morning. I've just completed my my morning routine and was just sitting down to enjoy a hearty breakfast of wan tan mee when out of the corner of my eye, I saw today's newspaper with a big front page pic of a cute little baby smiling at the camera. So I edged closer to the newspaper on the table and read the caption - and that's what got me all riled up - the baby was a victim of damn irresponsible parents who zipped the baby up in a sports bag and left him for dead in a garbage dump site!!!!!

The shock! The horror! How terrible! God, I wish I could get the necks of the parents around my paws and choked the breath out of them! How could they do this to their own flesh and blood! The baby boy's umbilical cord was still attached and that says something - the boy was just born and dumped as it is! So unimaginably cruel, heartless and... and... God, I'm out of adjectives to describe this unspeakable act of evil! Reading about it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth! If it weren't for two kind hearted souls who happened to stop by the dumping ground, the baby would have lost its precious life! My gratitude goes out to the two men who rescued the baby and did the right thing!

Sadly, this is not the first case recently. For the past couple of months, cases of baby dumping has significantly increased. This month itself, there were three other cases, two on the same day! Oct 8, a baby was found dead after being dumped in a dustbin in a toilet cubicle. Oct 10, a baby suffocated to death in a plastic bag and another was found with a swollen eye and a lot of mosquito and ant bite in a cardboard box! All in all, the newspaper recorded 9 cases of baby dumping this year alone! I cannot begin to describe the vile and evil people that perpetrated these heinous crimes! Even a tiger would not hurt its own cub, what more we humans blessed with the gift of knowing what is right and what is wrong!

This is so sad I just feel like tearing up. How could the mothers of these babies sleep peacefully at night without a single thought for their babies? If you don't want your babies, don't dump them! Give it away! Give it up for adoption! Spare the child the penalty of your own fault! I know the mothers could have been underaged or even rape victims and I understand the shame and embarrassment that will result from having an unwanted pregnancy, but the baby is innocent of everything! The baby should be given the right to live!

It is clear that we have learnt nothing at all. Malaysians are still just as clueless in how to solve its social ills. We are still not able to educate our people on the right thing to do. Its a great shame really. A great shame that a society of educated people can act so ruthlessly and heartlessly like this. And this coming after only three days of the passing of Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood, the champion and the epitome of the strength of Malaysian women. How Datin would weep if she was alive and read about these cases of baby dumping.

I'm out of words to say about this issue. One thing is clear, I will not rest on my laurels - I will forge on to ensure that the young generation will not commit this heartless act in the future. I will play my part in instilling moral values in our young and every sensible minded Malaysian ought to be doing the same!

What a LLLLOOOOONNNNGGG Day!

It's half past midnight. And I'm still wide awake typing this from my laptop. I'm in my room right now. All is quiet in the house. 'xcept for the crickets macking a racket outside.

It's just me and mom in the house tonight. Dad's staying overnight at the hospital for some heart tests after complaining of heart problems. Hope its not too serious. We're already running dry and if he needs a bypass, we'll have to break the bank to settle the hospital bills.

Or, we could just let the insurance guys deal with it.

Anyways, it's been a very loooonnnnggg day as I said. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. Time seems to crawl by the second every day to me... god, can't wait for the day to be over and here I am can't sleep. My day's not over yet till I lay down and close my eyes.

So what's keeping me up?

A lot of things.

Finances. The future. My family. My life. My friends. My dreams. You know, the usual humdrum of things that pierces deep into the dark, tortured recesses of my mind. Not that I'm on the verge of insanity nor am I starting to hear voices or anything. Just that I've got sooooo many things to think about and to settle.

As much as I try to stay upbeat and be my happy-go-lucky cheerful self, deep down I am tortured. Tormented. Frustrated. Disappointed. At what? At me. At my life. It's just not going the way I had hoped it would be. And what the heck am I doing about it?

Nothing!

It figures. Its my fault and my own doing. Wish I could be more confident and more resilient. Gotta shut out the crticisms and discouragements from some people. Its no good wallowing in them. That'll be emotional suicide. No, I gotta pick myself up again and try it all over.

Yeah... thats it - I gotta rise up like the phoenix and meet life head on! Tomorrow's a brand new day of brand new opportunities. Like Robin Williams said in Dead Poets Society "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys!" Thats what I gotta do. Sure, it'll be just another long, long, long day but I gotta give it a shot. Who knows what the future may hold for me tomorrow? Whatever it is, may it be good.

Thanks for listening y'all. Usually I ain't this depressing. Just gotta unload some emotional baggage before I turn in for the night. It's already 1am. Do really hope things will brighten up some. I sure need it.

Cheers and may your days to come be as colourful as the rainbow! (Jeez, thats just so lame!) At least, may it be better than mind!

Public is at fault of the dengue cases

I would like to comment on the latest outbreak of dengue that is causing much panic among the pubic in several states.

Malaysians have been struck by sporadic dengue outbreaks over the course of the last decade. The nation has gone from strength to strength and yet, we are still not able to prevent such outbreak of diseases. This really says a lot about the effectiveness of the Health Ministry in handling such outbreaks. The Ministry should be more pro-active and vigilant in identifying the causes of the outbreaks and nip it in the bud as soon as possible!

Unfortunately, the Ministry shouldn’t really be faulted entirely as it is the onus of the public to maintain the health, cleanliness and hygiene of our environment. The dengue outbreak happened because we let it happen with our Third World mentality! How often have we seen rubbish strewn all over the place behind alleys, in rivers and drains? Because of the irresponsible acts of some citizens, the rest of the country had to suffer. It is typical for Malaysians to be prodded into doing something when a crisis hits. We should shed this attitude and identify the causes in advance, then take preventive measures to correct the problem.

I appeal to my fellow citizens to please, please be mindful of our nation’s well-being and that of its people! With so many outbreaks of diseases happening around the world, it is time we take up arms and be vigilant against anything that will result in an epidemic in our country! With bird flu within range of our country, it will only be a matter of time before another full-scale epidemic hits our shores. This is but a lull before the storm.