Not only Ostriches Do it!

What a wonderful photo. It screams out at you in the face!

The message-The denial syndrome.

Believe me, that has always been a problem with Malaysian society. When there is a problem, they will deny it at the first instance. No exception. We are ostriches with our heads in the sand.

When can Malaysia mature into a truly civil society that can come out clean on the greater issues and happenings confronting Malaysian society?

Another generation?

Solid Gold

Watching old movies is fun!

Believe me, they are so much fun to watch especially at this age. Some of the movies are at least thirty to 60 years old.

I sat through a few goldy oldies some seasons back.

Groundhog Day-wonderful movie and one of the best role to showcase the beauty and sexiness of Andie Macdowell. Such joy!

Cat Ballou-see the youthful Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin having the fun of their lives. Marvin went to win the best actor award in this movie. As for Fonda, isn't she heavenly?

Prime Cut-another Marvin movie this time showcasing an innocent young Sissy Spacek in the buff. Exciting but be careful when you eat the next sausage-you may never know what you're eating.

Julius Caesar-a classic Shakespearean play where Brando sparked as Mark Anthony. John Gielgud and James Mason gave awe-inspiring performances too!

Ferris Beuller's Day Off - A flighty movie showing the early days of Matthew Broderick and Mia Sara. Mia Sara is mesmerisingly charming. Now we know why we need to preserve youth. If only Mia will always be Mia as in this movie-never aging a day! Fun movie and a romp around Chicago in a day!

Happy Gilmore- Adam Sandler and a satire on golf versus ice hockey. Fun movie!

Gigi- Leslie Caron in her best role. Songs are wonderful especially Thank Heaven for Little Girls.

Thomas Crown Affair- A classic involving a cat and mouse between Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway-Cool and entertaining. Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!!!

In the Heat of the Night-Bigotry in the racist South. Steiger versus Poitier in a small town of Sparta. All because of a girl that went nudie in the heat of the night! Wonderful music by the fabulous Ray Charles!

These days we would give an arm and a leg just to watch truly good old movies.

Cheating the Gods!

These days,its not only the Ah Longs that are in the act.

Fruit sellers are up to their tricks as well.

The law of the jungle has really come down hard upon society in these lean times. The dark side of their characters are being 'illuminated".

Overheard at a coffee shop.

On special occasions, the Chinese community in Malaysia will hold prayers for their deities, particularly on the 15th day of the new moons. They will buy fruits as offerings to the gods.

On such days, the fruit sellers will gang up and sell the 'ugliest and almost rotting' fruits to the buyers. They placed the good fruits on top of the heap and when a customer comes calling, they will choose good ones and mixed with a few bad ones. They continue with this foul act in spite of receiving complaints.

When you are in a monopoly or in a monopolistic position, you call the shots.

So, customers are cowed to buy the fruits if they are in desperate need of them.

As they say, what goes around, comes around.

In this case,I believe the gods will soon be angry with these profiteering cheats.

So they better watch out for the wrath of the gods will soon be on them!

Defeatists,Apologists and Queers

I sometimes wonder.

Why are artists and poets not considered as 'mainstream people'?

Are they weird,queer or what?

Take the following cases.

John Keats killed himself after being spurned by a lover. Yet he wrote one of the greatest poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn"-where we find the oft quoted line,"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

There there is that great artist-Vincent Van Gogh-with his overflowing talent in creating art pieces-of which "Starry,starry Night" was the epitome of his work. Yet, he went mad, cut off his ear, used some of his blood to paint and finally shot himself in the heart and perished.

Then we have William Shakespeare-wasn't it possible that he was a gay in those bygone days, falling in love with a young man which he so affectionately put into lines in Sonnet 18??

They were defeatists,possibly queer in their own way.

But the world,similarly, is one big funny farm. Sadly, we are apologists and suckers for art. We posthumously recognised these talented people ages after they have gone from this earth. Their art pieces are worth millions these days, a testimony of what is their real worth in the world of art.

It's rather strange that oftentimes we recognised talent too late to reward them in their own times. Most artists were destitute at their death.

How sad!

Look for the Roots

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. observed that 'a word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary in colour and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used".

Winston Churchill added that 'words are the only things which last forever."

A word indeed vary greatly according to circumstances and the time in which it is used. The embodiment of a living thought derives from a root-word, in which a thought was initially expressed, and that root-word, by a Darwinian process of evolution, spawned other words based on the same kernel of thought.

To discover root-words, etymologists study words from different languages having a common meaning called cognates and work backward by deduction. For example:words beginning with tri which include trinity, triangle, triathlon, triceratops, triplet and trivia among others. The common root for these words would appear to be Greek and Latin.

Just like geneticists studying DNA samples try to find a common ancestor, etymologists search for the true source of the word-the ultimate root word called an etymon, a word or morpheme where compounds and derivatives are formed.

It is great when you actually stumbled on to something revealing.

An Irish Joke

Let us have some harmless fun.

The story of a Parish Boy's Confession

'Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl'.

The priest asks, 'Is that you, Kennie?'

'Yes, Father, it is.'

'And who was the girl you were with?'

'I can't tell you, Father, I don't want to ruin her reputation.'

'Well, Kennie, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later, so you may as well tell me now. Was it Mary Allen?'

'I cannot say.' 'Was it Tess Hillary?'

'I'll never tell.'

'Was it Marilyn Simpson?'

'I'm sorry, but I cannot name her.'

'Was it Nellie O' Hare?'

'My lips are sealed.'

'Was it then Sophie Cassie?'

'Please, Father, I cannot tell you.'

The priest sighs in frustration. 'You're very tight lipped Kennie, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself.'

Kennie walks back to his pew, and his friend Jojo slides over and whispers, 'What'd you get?'

'4 Months holiday and five good leads'.

Worthless Mutiny

Mutiny on the Bounty, the latter version starring Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard, Richard Harris and Tarita is wonderfully woven to emotively graft you to the pulse of the voyage of the Bounty,the anxiety for mutiny and the arson and sinking of the Bounty.

Apparently,a re-look ar the naval archives found the movie has overtly over-painted the cruelty of Captain Bligh over the treatment of his crew. He was actually more lenient than most captains of the day.

Brando, as the more disturbed second-in-command, finally took over the ship after being angered by a series of corporal punishment meted out by the high-handed and tyrannical Bligh,which caused death to members of the crew. He was portrayed as more human and caring as contrast to Bligh's iron fist command of the Bounty and its crew.

A wonderful movie with great biting dialogue, it effectively captures the mood and effervescence of the South Seas as well as the spontaneous and friendly nature of Tahitian society. Tarita provided appealing eye candy and in actual life married Brando for many years before divorcing him.

I belief the ending where Fletcher was burned to death was chosen to be a more dramatic and fitting ending to reflect the man. In real life he was killed on the Pitcairn Islands by unhappy natives over his leadership.

Great movie. I really enjoyed it.