http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343660/

I am a fan of Adam Sandler. He has brought a great many o comedies to my life and although he has strayed away from comedies in his more recent years he still tends to make tolerable movies to watch, with the exception of Funny People, that movie was a shithole. But with that one exception he has usually produced beyond tolerable movie quality.

Now what I loved about this movie was the concept behind the characters. I espically liked the role of Lucy Whitmore, played by Drew Barrymore. She was in an accident and she only remembers day to day. Every day is literally the same day for her and each time she wakes up she forgets what happened the previous day. So when Adam Sandler hits on her one day and tries to pick it up the next, Drew Barrymore straight up attacks him because she doesn’t remember him. Too bad Adam Sandler made a bet that he could take her out on a date.

And the story only gets better from the concept alone. One thing that really threw me off was that Lucy’s brother was played by Sean Astin aka Sam-mother-fucking Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings. It totally threw me off, yet I thought that was the only movie he was ever in. But after looking at his page on IMDB he has actually been in quite a bit of things since LOTR, but still seeing him like I did in this film totally threw me off and I kept on thinking of Clerks 2 whenever I saw him in a scene.

All in all this entire movie was good, not great, but it was well worth my time to see it. I recommend it to anyone who wants a feel good movie, but if you are feeling down and out then it’s probably best to avoid this film.

Base Score = 6
+1 for Adam Sandler
+1 for an interesting character flaw that played out nicely
+1 for Sam
-1 for getting a little slow after the half-way mark
-1 for jumping to the end to quick
= 7/10

So, I was out the other day, and overheard someone going on about couples in literature that had changed romance and relationships as we know it. Too true, and a very interesting topic. It got me thinking about the couples on TV and in movies that had influences ME, and came up with the following list. This is probably very generational, but hey.

1) Bella Swan and Edward Cullen from the Twilight Saga movies and books – Now, everyone knows Twilight. And most women who have seen the movies and/or read the books, just melt at the idea of Edward Cullen. Sure he’s a vampire, but he is also dark and tormented, which women invariably love. (Maybe we all wish for the challenge of being able to soothe his pain? I know I do!) Plus he is an utter gentleman who never deviates from loving Bella, a girl who is, even in her own words, ordinary. Their relationship is deep, full of pain and temptation, with both of them only wishing for a life with each other. This is the kind of relationship most women dream about – complicated, loyal, complete. So it probably wouldn’t work in real life, but thats not the point now, is it? 

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen

2) Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from the TV and movie phenomenon The X-Files – Now these two characters played on the edge of innuendo for eight seasons before their first “real kiss” (they almost kiss in the first X-Files movie, but Scully is stung by an genetically modified bee before their lips could lock) let fans finally see their favourite characters move towards the relationship they were born to have. Two complete opposites – Mulder the believer in the unexplained and Scully the scientist the believer in cold, hard fact – they weren’t really suited to being partnered together in the FBI, and yet found an even ground where they balanced each other out. Their deep trust in each other, their respect and friendship, strengthens their characters bond over the years. Each continuously saves the other from peril and death, and despite many disagreements and varying beliefs, never turn their backs on each other. The romantic angle is built up excruciatingly slowly over the seasons, never blatant, but always there enough through furtive looks and body language. Theirs is a relationship of utter truth and trust, of danger and respect. 

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully

3) Ross Geller and Rachel Green from the hit TV show Friends – Here is a couple that truly shaped a generation. The up and down relationship between Ross and Rachel is well known to all. Ross’ character always held a flame for Rachel from their High School days, and ten years later when they come to be in the same group of friends, that spark is still there. Over the many seasons you see Ross and Rachel fall in love, fight, get jealous, go on a break and ultimately break up. They both go on to date other people, but with at least one of them still nursing strong feelings for the other at any given time. They struggle with letting the other move on, Ross even getting married to another woman at one point much to Rachels heartbreak, but he stuffs it up at the alter by mistakenly naming Rachel in his vows as opposed to his wife-to-be. They go through copious amounts of real-life situations together, as well as the ludicrous, but always come through it with a strong sense of friendship, respect and ultimately, love. By the last episode of the last season, Ross and Rachel have come to find they cannot live without the other. (Which is great because by then they have a kid together, from a passionate “one more time”) A modern, deprecating look at love in this day and age – along with being hilariously rediculous!

Ross Geller and Rachel Green

4) Max Evans and Liz Parker from the TV show Roswell – Not everyone was a fan of Roswell, but I certainly was. It focused on Roswell, New Mexico (you know, where the 1947 UFO crash was supposed to have happened and the US government covered it up?) and three aliens that came down with the UFO. Crashing to earth in the guise of kids, the show opens on them as teenagers who have been adopted into the human world. Max is the unofficial leader of this band of aliens, whose goal is solely to find out where they came from and why they ended up on earth. Liz is a popular, sweet High School student who one day see’s Max for what he is when he saves her from being shot in a freak accident. Liz and Max quickly fall hopelessly in love with each other, both fascinated by the other to the extreme. Liz (and eventually some of her human friends) helps Max and the others search for the answers they need, cementing her place in his life. There is nothing they wont do for each other, despite their obvious differences. It’s a deep, very sweet, one of a kind type relationship. In a way doomed, but also pregnant with possibilities.

Max Evans and Liz Parker

5) Buffy Anne Summers and Angel (aka Angelus) from the award winning TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer (and the Spinoff Angel) – Buffy and Angel is one of the most heartbreaking unions ever created for TV, in my opinion. Buffy, a vampire slayer, and Angel, the vampire with a soul, have obvious complications from the start. Despite their deep and honest love for each other, they face both disgust from those around them, and danger due to who and what they are. They “meet” in season one, and go on to fall hopelessly for each other, despite their better judgement. By season two, Angel loses his soul when his curse is lifted due to one moment of happiness – a night in Buffy’s arms. He turns evil, and starts killing the people Buffy cares about and wreaking havoc on the town in general. He tries to end the world and Buffy is forced to kill him and send him into a hell dimension to stop this from happening, causing her to break down. Angel returns in season three by The Powers That Be, but after tortuous months trying to be with Buffy but unable to “Be” with Buffy, Angel leaves Sunnydale to start a new life in LA. But over all of the Buffy seasons and the Angel (spinoff) seasons, neither of them ever finds love again quite like what they had. They both take on partners, but it always comes back to wanting to be with each other. It is true love, dark and filled with pain, and given up due to their responsibilities to keep others safe. It doesn’t have a happy ending as they never really let go of each other, never truly move on, and so are forever doomed to be detached to whomever they are with in the meantime. But ahhh… So sexy!

Buffy Summers and Angel

6) Marge and Homer Simpson from the animated TV show The Simpsons – Okay okay, they aren’t “real people”, but they are an extremely famous TV couple, are they not? Their marriage is one of uneven footing, with Marge being attractive and sensible, and Homer being a bit of a lovable, idiotic slob. Homer creates more trouble than he is worth, throwing the Simpson family often into upheaval (losing the house, getting fired from his job, gambling away all of their money etc) but Marge ALWAYS stands by him. She gets frustrated, she gets upset and worried – sometimes gets even! – but she always supports Homer and helps him get them back on track. They love each other, and Homer often reminds himself how very lucky he is to have Marge as his wife, and Marge is constantly having to remember that her love for him is more important than the amount of crap he creates for her. Great, hilarious couple. It may be a cartoon, but I think their relationship is quite poignant. 

Marge and Homer Simpson

7) Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big from the TV series (and recently, box office movie) Sex and the City – The relationship between Carrie and Big is one many can relate to. Both with their twenties long behind them, they face all the pressures of life – careers, ex’s, their expectations of relationships – which invariably get between them. Their relationship is realistic in the sense that despite the fact their feelings for each other are true and passionate, they often let everything else come in the way. Dramatic, filled with hurt and betrayal, their relationship is one that seemingly should work, but never does. Of course, everyone around them pushes them to move on, get away from each other and find happiness with more appropriate people. This works on and off over the series many seasons, but inevitably they end up back in each others arms. Their relationship isn’t perfect, their characters are flawed and often selfish, but at the end of the day they love each other. They like each other. By the end of the last episode of the last season, the two of them deicide that being together is the only thing that really matters – even if it is going to be a lifetime of hard work! This relationship is a great example of modern day couples facing the stresses of work, money, appearance and acceptance – all the while getting older!

Carrie Bradshaw and Mr Big

8 ) Henry Roth and Lucy Whitmore from the movie 50 First Dates – This is a comedy, and not even a particularly big budget film. Henry is a laid back, commitment-phobic ladies man who is quite happy being a bachelor and living on the beautiful Island of Hawaii. That is, until he meets Lucy by chance one day in a diner. Lucy is beautiful and quirky, funny and sweet – and he falls for her almost immediately. But then he finds out the horrible truth about her – years before she was in a terrible car accident and suffered a serious head injury, and every day she wakes up she thinks it is the day before the accident, and every night her memory resets itself and she forgets everything she did that day and starts again. Obviously, a relationship with Lucy would seem impossible, especially for a guy who has never been in a serious relationship with anyone. But the absolute beauty of this movie is the journey Henry goes through as he falls more and more in love with Lucy and decides no matter how hard it got, just being with her was worth it. So every day, he sets about making her fall in love with him all over again. He creates albums,videos and diaries of their times together, puts this woman above his own wants and needs for the first time in his life. Lucy, on the other hand, struggles every day with new and fresh guilt, with confusion, but ultimately falls in love with him by the end of each day. This is a uniquely sad and equally funny movie that tugs at your heartstrings. 

Henry Roth and Lucy Whitmore

9)  Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman and Johnny Castle from the movie Dirty Dancing – Dirty Dancing is one of those iconic movies that everybody has seen and almost everyone loves. It’s set in the 1960’s, and Baby and her family arrive at a resort in upstate New York’s Catskill Mountains for a holiday. Baby is an ambitious, intelligent and slightly bookish 17 year old with aspirations to join the Peace Corps before marrying a Doctor just like her Father. To kill time at the resort, she starts a few dance classes and finds she has an interest in it. And then she meets Johnny, one of the resorts dance instructors. He is gorgeous, he is sexy, and he dances like no one she has ever seen before. In the repressed 1960’s, Baby has never witnessed the dirty style dancing that Johnny does, but she is drawn to him and to his dancing style. They are thrown together as dance partners due to Baby trying to help another resort worker, and from there an impossible romance blossoms. They dance, and you can see the passion flaring between them. They talk, and Baby’s eyes are opened to a much harsher world than she has ever known, while Johnny is suddenly hopeful at a future, pushed by Baby. Their love is one that struggles with their differing socioeconomic groups, with their varying views on the wold and people as a whole, but their love is so pure it washes everything else aside. It is a coming of age love, and a beautiful one at that.

Frances "Baby" Houseman and Johnny Castle

10) Sam Wheat and Molly Jensen from the movie Ghost – Another famous flick, and if you haven’t watched it your life is most certainly lacking. Sam and Molly are a couple that are happy and have just moved in together. While Molly is openly in love with Sam, Sam is still a little bit reserved and hasn’t quite worked up to the “I love you” bit yet, and instead replies “Ditto” whenever she says it. While walking home together one night from the theatre, they are accosted in a dark alleyway and Sam is shot and killed. Obviously, this puts an early end to their relationship, and Molly is devastated. Sam, on the other hand, becomes a ghost and chooses to stay as an earth-bound spirit rather than moving on because he can’t yet let go of Molly. As he watches over her, he also starts to piece together that his murder didn’t happen by chance and that now Molly is in danger too. He finds a woman that can see and hear him in his new form and begs for her help him save Molly from an untimely end. He does everything he possibly can, and runs the gamut of emotions, to keep the woman he loves safe. By the end of the movie there is no question how very much he loves Molly, and their connection is beautiful, epic and worth a bit of a cry. They really are soulmates.

Sam Wheat and Molly Jensen

So, there you have it! My top ten screen-based romances. Hopefully you learned something, or at the very least went “Awwwwwwww”

With Beneath The Surface reaching 1k downloads, Ant stuck to his word and let loose of a new XV/Seven record for us.

DOWNLOAD: XV – 50 First Dates

NOA.

1. Wayne Wonder – Hold Me Now
2. 311 – Love Song
3. Seal – Lips Like Sugar ft Mikey Drea
4. Wyclef Jean – Your Love ft Eve
5. Ziggy Marley – Drive
6. Will.I.Am and Fergie – True
7. Elan Atias – Slave to Love
8. UB40 – Every Breath You Take
9. Mark McGrath – Ghost in You
10. Dryden Mitchell – Friday Im in Love
11. Nicole Kea – Breakfast in Bed
12. Jason Mraz – I Melt With You
13. Adam Sandler – Forgetful Lucy
14. Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Filme: Como se Fosse a Primeira Vez (50 First Dates)
Download: 4 shared

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long
And wouldn’t it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong
You know it’s gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together”

(Wouldn’t It Be Nice - Beach Boys)

Em Como Se Fosse a Primeira vez (50 First Dates), Henry Roth, interpretado por Adam Sandler, é um solteirão que não quer assumir compromissos. Vive no Havaí, onde trabalha como veterinário, em um aquário, cuidando de morsas e outros seres marinhos, e é famoso pelo grande número de turistas que conquista – sua maior especialidade é mentir para conhecer as mulheres que visitam a região e sumir da vida delas quando as férias chegam ao fim.

Mas sua vida muda completamente quando encontra Lucy (Drew Barrymore) no café local. Henry logo percebe que não está diante de apenas mais uma missão de seduzir e abandonar: primeiro, porque ela não é turista; e segundo, porque Henry parece ter visto algo mais nela. A primeira abordagem é um sucesso – os waffles do café da manhã dela e as mãos dele cheirando a peixe se tornam o elo da conversa -, mas no dia seguinte a jovem moça age como se nunca o tivesse visto antes.

Logo Henry descobre que Lucy sofreu um grave acidente que tirou sua memória de curta duração, ou seja, ela se esquece dos fatos recentes durante a noite e passa a viver sempre o mesmo dia. Dessa forma, ignorando sua própria regra de não namorar garotas da cidade e esquecendo o seu lado Don Juan, Henry sente-se apaixonado e percebe que será obrigado a conquistar Lucy, dia após dia, para ficar ao seu lado. E para isso, não mede esforços e vive muitas loucuras.

Mas nem tudo sai como planejado. O jovem veterinário tem o sonho de navegar para o Alasca para estudar a vida submarina das morsas, mas com as conquistas diárias, precisa abandonar o seu plano. Lucy, percebendo o esforço de seu ‘namorado’, resolve acabar o relacionamento com o rapaz. Apaga-o de seus diários e passa a viver como se ele nunca tivesse aparecido em sua vida.

Dessa forma, Henry pode viajar (mesmo com o coração partido) e Lucy passa a ensinar arte – sua profissão antes do acidente que a deixou sem memória – na clínica médica que recebe tratamento. Só que o amor acaba sendo mais forte e os dois vão descobrir isso, de alguma maneira.

O final do filme, obviamente, emociona os mais românticos e mostra que o amor – independente de todos os problemas – consegue sobreviver quando é realmente verdadeiro. Pode ser clichê sim, mas este longa-metragem tem muitos aspectos positivos. Reúne dois ótimos atores (Drew Barrymore e Adam Sandler), tem bons diálogos (ingrediente essencial para o gênero comédia-romântica) e participações bem especiais, como no caso de Rob Schneider, no papel de um velho havaiano muito bobo e, às vezes, engraçado.

Para encerrar, há dois personagens fofíssimos: o pingüim e a morsa. Um mais engraçado que o outro… A-DO-RO!

Lucy: “Nothing beats a first kiss”
Henry: “That’s what I’ve heard.”

Good, old-fashioned romantic comedies are a rare commodity these days. There was a time when romantic comedies consisted of equally smart men and women and their trials with love. These films not only were entertaining but also had something to say about relationships that everyone could relate to or ponder upon as time went by. However, most these decade do not achieve these.

These decade romantic comedies fell under two categories. One is the “bromantic comedy” that deals with men’s love trials. This category produced a few great movies, three of which are on the list (or four if you look at my number four as one). The other is the “Matthew McCounaghey romatic comedy” which consits of a beautiful woman who can have any man she wants but falls for the irresponsible, immature, shirtless, man who she swore never to love.

Finding 10 films that lived up to the standards of those romantic comedies of the past, or some original ones. However, I was able to do it. The list consists of foreign films, animated film, bromances, period pieces, and possibly-dramatic-but-ultimately-funny films. The one thing they have in common is that I, and hopefully others, will enjoy them for many years to come.

Here are my picks for the 10 best romantic comedies of the decade:

10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Nicholas Stroller, 2008

Guy gets dumped, his life is shattered, goes on vacation, possibly find a new woman to love, his girlfriend is also vacationing in the same place and staying in the same hotel. Hilarity ensues. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a break-up movie where the guy is the oen affected the most by the event. Thanks to a great script by Jason Segel (who also stars), good direction by Nicholas Stroller, and great supporting performances form Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russel Brand, and Bill Hader, this movies is hilarious throughout and touching despite some of the gross-out comedy. Every character that is supposed to be likeable is, and those who are not are, which something that most romantic comedies fail to achieve. It also made me crave for “Dracula: The Musical.” Good job everyone, especially Jason Segel.

9. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen, 2008

Some people don’t consider this a comedy because it takes a serious look at the relationships of the characters in the movie, but since it has some hilarious moments I do consider it one (after all, it won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy). Combined with those hilarious moments are realistic looks at how love affects people. There’s Vicky (Rebecca Hall) who’s engaged and falls for the dreamy Spanish painter, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) but has trouble with herself because she wants to stay faithful. There’s Crisitina (Scarlett Johansson) who just wants to have fun and ends up with Juan Antonio, but can’t help but feel jealous when his ex-wife Maria Elena (gets back into his life). The honesty and humor found in Woody Allen’s script (his best this decade) and direction, with great performances from the entire cast, great music, and cinematography, makes this movie a satyisfying experience.

8. 50 First Dates

Peter Segal, 2004

Chemistry between the leads goes a long way when making a romantic comedy. 50 First Dates has a lot of that. While it has many aspects of a typical Adams Sandler comedy (the humor, the supporting cast, etc.) the story is not something that he had done in his comedies at that point. It is a sweet story about a man falling in love who can’t possibly love him back and trying make things work. The movie works because of that, and the aforementioned chemistry between Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and some of the humor, although low-brow, manages to enhance the movie.

7. Something’s Gotta Give

Nancy Meyers, 2003

On the page it seems like any other comedy involving older people, meaning characters either too sour or too quirky that border on annoying. However, the finished product is not. Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton do wonders with the weak script that was given to them. The line delivery, their take on the characters, make for a more enjoyable movie than it should have been. Nancy Meyer’s work as a director is better than her script. The direction is not too stylish, nor does it feel amateurish, again like most romantic comedies these days. And I liked that it ended in an ambiguous note, leaving the audience to decide whether they want to give these two characters a happy ending or not.

6.  Pride & Prejudice

Joe Wright, 2005

My review says it all

5. WALL-E

Andrew Stanton, 2008

Because of it’s ambition to tell a story in a different way than most animated movies, people seem to focus on this movie being a deep study of the loss of humanity and where the world will be in a few years. While it is that, people tend to forget that it is first and foremost a romance. The movie is about WALL-E, who has live alone for as long as he knows, falling in love with the hard-to-get to EVE and the lengths he’ll go to make her fall in love with him. Communicating with only a few bleeps and click, these robots have more personality than most humans in almost every movie in the last few years. That last scene is what romantic comedies are all about, and Hollywood doesn’t seem to grasp that idea.

4. Definitely, Maybe

Adam Brooks, 2008

My love for this movie even surprises me because it has one of my biggest pet peeves in movies, self-awareness. There is a lot of that during the 90s flashbacks, which make up more than half of the movie. However, the reason I love it is because of the story. I like the way in which it is told like a mystery although we already know what the outcome will be. Another reason why I like this so much is because of the cast. Ryan Reynolds is charming, as always, Rachel Weiz and Elizabeth Banks do good jobs in roles that did not demand it, and Isla Fisher gives one of my favorite supporting performances of the decade. It might be a personal thing, but I just love this movie.

3. Amélie

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001

Although it has a fairly simple story (girl likes to help other, but doesn’t help herself) it is more about what happens in the screen, the little moments, and the journey towards that incredible ending. Word can’t describe how amazing the movie is. One has to watch it to truly understand all the praise it has received.

2. Waitress

Adrienne Shelly, 2007

This is one of the movies that after I watched it I felt like everything was alright. It does not have the typical rom-com ending, but it is the only way it could have ended. Sure, it is tough to watch at times but the climax makes it all worthwhile. Keri Russel (in an Oscar-worthy performance) gives one of my favorite performances of the decade as Jenna, a waitress who makes the most delicious pies, but is in a bad relationship and is expecting a baby she doesn’t want. There are also some great supporting performances by Nathan Fillion, Jeremy Siston, Andy Griffith (who deserved an Oscar nominatin as well), and Adrienne Shelly (whose script for this is among my favorites of the decade)

1. Love Actually

Richard Curtis, 2003

The DVD cover of this movie proclaims that it is “The Ultimate Romantic Comedy.” I was skeptical about this until I actually saw it. This movie is ensemble piece, featuring fine performances from the entire cast. Although there are a lot of stories going on, it feels like I knew every character well enough to care about their relationships. Like I said, every actor here is at the top of their game (especially Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, and Alan Rickman), and they are only helped by Richard Curtis’ great script.

There you have it, these are my picks for the best romantic comedie of the decade. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment about my picks.

Boy, has it been a crazy month!

Just when I thought to myself, “Right, no more changes, yay!” a major one happens. I finally got the date, venue, almost everything nailed down. There was just this little problem with registration.

See, Mr. Panda is Singaporean while I hail from Sabah, East Malaysia. We were going to register on the same day we have our church wedding in Sabah. But we didn’t count on how TOUGH it was to get a foreigner registered in Malaysia! He and I would have had to fly down on a weekday (when government offices are open) to settle everything. And Mr. Panda & I are both desperately short on leave.

So the long and the short of it is, we might have to forego the romance of getting married on the same day, and register in Singapore first (where it’s really easy!) get our certificate, bring it to Sabah and be married by our Pastor with the cert already signed. 

The good thing about this unexpected outcome? Mr. Panda’s parents and relatives can have a “Singaporean” event. They’ve been so sweet (come January, I’m going to have the BEST mother in law in the world!) and were happy for us to do the wedding in Sabah even though traditionally the bride should be marrying in the groom’s country. We wanted a destination vibe in beautiful natural surroundings, and they agreed with everything. So this registration thing is a great opportunity to have a local event, albeit a simple and small one. I definitely don’t want to make a big deal out of it because (a) if I made too much of a production out of it, I’d feel like I’m marrying twice and it may take away from the church wedding, which is the most meaningful part of the wedding to me; and (b) we never budgeted for this extra event! And let me tell ya, this well is running BONE dry!!

So…how do I make this an intimate, romantic, understated, CHEAP event for 65 pax? How do I make this meaningful and yet sufficiently different enough from our actual church wedding that I won’t feel like we’re marrying twice?

Enter…our condo function room! 

I’m blessed enough to stay in The Sail @ Marina Bay. And the function room here is on the 44th floor overlooking the entire Marina Bay. At night, the city lights light up the dark and it’s all pretty and glittery. The carpeted floors, understated decor, dimmer lights, and three sides of glass windows make it an easy and unique venue. Best of all, only residents can use the room, which means it won’t be a very common venue for solemnization (or, as the natives call it, “ROM”, which is short for “registration of marriage”.)

Here are some pictures of the room in its bare bone state, taken at 10.45pm last night! The first shot is with the lights at full blast.

MORE lights:

I know it looks a bit like a seminar room, eh? Flowers will take care of that problem! Hey, the venue is free ok!

I plan to remove all the tables, and do a theater style set-up with 60 covered chairs and a centre aisle with a white rose petals delineating the “lines” of the aisle, and random hurricane lamps and candles dotting the way here and there. (Flowers by The Red Petals). Sort of like this picture below, except I won’t be covering the whole aisle with petals…too expensive!

i’ll put a solemnization table with a low floral centrepiece and candles. At the back would be five small, high, bistro-style table-sets supplied by our caterer, Orange Clove. (Babyduck says the food is delish; anything Babyduck says is delish, WILL be delish. That is the law of the universe!) They’ll also set up a decorated buffet line. Guests will be expected to mingle, relax, no stuffy sit-down dinner here!

I plan to put little candles everywhere and dim all the lights so that you get a dreamy glittery, twinkly glow on the inside, to match the glittering city-lights on the outside. And also to make it look less like a nice conference room. Lighting is everything: free Bridezilla tip there.

Oh, the dimmer isn’t on here either:

The last shot is rather blurry, but you can see the pretty view from the windows. 

Come to think of it, I don’t have ANY shots with the dimmer on. Hmmm. Well y’all will just have to use your imagination!

The thing is, if I were to have the solemnisation at a Chinese restaurant somewhere, say Tung Lok, my guests would be assured of a very good meal and the price would’ve been about the same as having a buffet dinner at our function room, and having to rent table cloth, chairs, two service staff, etc. But Mr. Panda thinks it’s just more special in the event room of the condo. Less commuting for us. Besides, we have to put down “solemnisation venue address” in the e-form when applying for our marriage cert. Do we really want the cert to say “Tung Lok Chinese Restaurant”? Call me a snob, but I’d much rather the venue bits say “The Sail @ Marina Bay”. 

I so wish it would say, “Wesley Church” though.

Anyway in order for it not to feel like a proper wedding, Mr. Panda & I will walk in together, informally, hand in hand, to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. That was our chosen song when I we first had the idea to have an island wedding (which was scrapped unfortunately. Sigh.) In the church wedding, my parents will walk me down the aisle to something more reverent, played by a string quartet. 

The moment we get to the table, we get straight into the paperwork. And then we’ll get David Blakely, our marriage counselor and a member of the pastoral team at Wesley Methodist Church to say a prayer, and then it’s straight into the tea ceremony for the groom’s side. We decided to do that here in Singapore to avoid a jam-packed day in Sabah, but mostly because I wanted his family to have their own day, on their own home soil, and wherein all of his relatives can participate, and not just those who can fly to Sabah.

So here we are, the list so far:

Date for ROM: 23 Jan 2010

Venue: The Sail @ Marina Bay

Guests: ALL of Mr. Panda’s relatives and just my Mom, Babyduck & Dan Dan, MAYBE my sister Ning, and another two good friends. This is all about him; and the room can’t take any more people.

My dress for ROM: JCrew Goddess dress, as seen here. 

Colour scheme: White/cream and green. (You’re welcome, Mr. Panda). White roses and candles everywhere. With one notable exception. I get to indulge my love for yam roses…so my posy will be made out of yam roses and so will the blossoms in my hair!

Music/Vibe: The best of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, jazz, praise and worship songs! (Must make Mr. Panda do a mixed CD)

Food and set-up: Orange Clove

Flowers: The Red Petals

Invitations: Vivienne from MadeVivLove

The only thing left to wonder about is photography. Initially I wanted Babyduck to do it, because she’s so talented! But I just don’t feel comfortable asking such a dear sister to work on my day, when she really should be enjoying herself as one of the guests. Just not right. Any photos she takes will have to be “pleasure” photos (oh gosh, that sounds bad. But you know what I mean!) and I don’t want her to feel under pressure in any way. It feels too much like I’m exploiting a friend. Brrrr!

Guess maybe I’m now on the lookout for a photog who can take my ROM pictures for less than SGD500 bucks! No album required, just edited images in CD, for 4 hours’ work! ANYONE??

I admit, I’m very behind in my reading of The Present Moment, but I am working to catch up.

!!!!Warning:  Movie Spoiler Alert!!!!

The 9/6 essay made me think of the movie 50 First Dates where the female lead has brain damage from an accident resulting in an inability to make new memories.  Every day, she wakes up and it’s the same day over and over because those around her protect her from what’s happened.  Enter the love interest.  She gets to fall in love with him over and over again every day.  He’s new to her every day.  By the end of the movie, they are married with a young daughter, living on a boat somewhere.  Every single day that she wakes up, it’s to a new world.  She gets to rediscover her husband and daughter and world every day.

Though I’d never want to live under those conditions, the idea of finding in love with my friends, my cats, and the things around as though they were new every day IS appealing.  I manage this to a certain extent through holding onto the feelings of abundance.  I look at my apartment, the things I have, my cats, my friends, my life and feel joyous and abundant – and in order to do that, sometimes, it requires me to see it all with new eyes.  I don’t always accomplish it, but I try really hard.

And when I fall in love again, I hope I can remember this essay, and this movie.  I think it would be incredible to endeavor to see a love partner and the world you create together as new and fall in love again and again.

- Catherine

There’s just something so sweet and endearing about 50 First Dates that I love to re-watch it every now and then.  If you haven’t seen it yet, the main storyline is about a gal and a guy falling in love (nothing new there!) but the guy, played by Adam Sandler, has to repeatedly make Drew Barrymore fall in love with him every day.  She has a memory issue, and every morning is a new beginning of a new life for her.  I love how he gets to meet her for the first time, every day.  Or how he makes her laugh in new ways, or gets many first kisses, or is easily forgiven because she has forgotten the dumb thing he did from the day before.  This guy has to try so hard every day to make her fall in love with him.

The romantic in me thinks that’s sweet:  to have someone in my life try so hard to get my attention and keep it, to be wanted and loved and admired, and sought after… (sigh)…makes a gal feel pretty loved, if only she could realize how hard the other is seeking her attentions, her reciprocal attentions.  But then I started thinking, “Isn’t this exactly what God wants of us?!  Doesn’t He try to extract my smile first thing in the morning, if only I open my eyes to His beautiful raspberry lemonade sunrise?  Doesn’t he wait for the perfect opportunity to make His presence known to me?  Doesn’t He wine and dine me, forgive me, give me a white-washed room each day to begin anew?  Doesn’t God just wait for my consent to take me on a First Date with Him?”

Each morning when I wake and as I go about my daily life, there’s God waiting for me to acknowledge His presence, His attentions to love me and make me fall in love with Him.  Every day can be a first date with God.  Only He isn’t limited to the number 50.

I had some good responses to my earlier post, and I’m going to assume they were because of the cinema visit, not the couple having sex in it, and tell you about other cinema visits. Until a year or so ago, we never went to the cinema unless we had free tickets, but our local paper, The Stockport Express, stopped offering them, so we had to resort to Orange Wednesday (241). Sadly, The Stockport Express is no longer our local paper, having been forced to relocate its office to the mother ship in Manchester, after hundreds of years (or possibly hundreds of months; I wasn’t paying attention because I was scouring the paper for offers of free cinema tickets) at the same premises. I’m not saying you can chart the paper’s financial decline from the day the people of Stockport had to start spending their hard-earned dosh on cinema tickets instead of newspapers, but I can do the maths as well as anyone who failed it at O Level….

There was the time we went to see 50 First Dates. By ‘we’ I mean me and Tory Boy and five of his friends, for his fourteenth birthday. I was ordered to sit at the back, alone, and not acknowledge any teenage boys I might know personally. This gave me the opportunity to watch – and hear – a girl three rows in front, who had a mobile that kept going off. After the fourth time she decided to mute it, but we all knew when she got her calls because she kept getting up and sneaking noisily out of the cinema to carry on conversations so short she’d finished by the time she got to the door and was going back to her seat when it would presumably ring again, because she would swing around to go out again, finish, and swing back. We were all dizzy from watching her but no-one had the bottle to tell her to sit down or get lost. She looked mean. The only other disturbance was when two lads came in about fifteen minutes after the start of the film. They were as quiet as mice, even when they were escorted out thirty minutes later for not paying to be there. Still, it was better than the first time Tory Boy was allowed to go to the cinema with just his friends, and was mugged.

I paid full price for the boys and me to see Revenge of the Sith when it came out. Definitely the best of the first trilogy. Or is it the second trilogy?
I’m always confused because the second trilogy came first and the first trilogy came second; or is the first trilogy the second trilogy and the second trilogy the first trilogy? And don’t you wonder if the Ewoks were modelled on George Lucas? He certainly looks like a large one in the interview that precedes the first trilogy (which is the second) in my first-ever issued video of the first (or second) Star Wars Trilogy.

It killed me to pay full price for cinema tickets. You could hear my purse groaning as it disgorged the £11.50. I should have paid an extra 50p for a family ticket and grabbed a kid off the street. I hate paying full price for anything. Not enough to haggle, of course; that would be embarrassing. That’s the Hub’s department. We were at a boot sale once and I bought a denim jacket for 50p (the Hub having knocked them down from a £1); I tried it on for fit and said, ‘Oh, I might as well wear it.’ It then occurred to me that I ought to wash it first but I was embarrassed that I might embarrass the seller by inadvertently accusing them of being dirty flea-carriers although of course I would never have bought it if that was the case but I then had to wear what might have been a dirty flea-carrying denim jacket rather than embarrass a complete stranger and myself.

Sometimes, the problems arise before we even get to the cinema. There was the time Spud Bud was going to see Madagascar with Spud’s Friend and Spud’s Friend’s Mother. He had a tantrum because he didn’t want cereal for breakfast, and then had another tantrum because I gave in and made toast for him and he felt he ought to have been force-fed the cereal if I was any sort of mother at all (not his actual words, but I could interpret his glares). He then took himself off to bed to punish himself for being naughty, and I had to insist that he get up to go out to the cinema. If he doesn’t buy a hairshirt by the time he’s fifteen I’ll be very surprised.

Just occasionally, the embarrassing things happen elsewhere, like the the time I saw an RSC production of Les Liasons Dangereuse in Johannesburg about nine years ago. A very good friend treated me and another friend of hers to tickets. It was absolutely brilliant, had the original ending and was only slightly spoiled by the other friend whose name escapes me, saying of the John Malkovich character (can’t remember his name now; Vicomte de something) in what she imagined was a whisper, but as the theatre was almost empty and we were sat on the front row must have been audible to the cast who, thankfully, manfully ignored her, ‘ Don’t you think he is HUGELY f***able?’

My suggestion: if you want to enjoy a film, don’t go to the cinema with me or any member my family.

© Tilly Bud and The Laughing Housewife, 2009

Sometimes I think writers are some of the most ignorant people on the face of the earth. Do they think before they print or say half of the garbage spew to the masses? Before I head off into my latest tirade, maybe I should give you a little background on what’s bugging me.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a devoted Chris Vernon Show listener. When 3 o’clock hits, my radio is tuned to 730 Fox Sports so I can hear what Verno is going to say next. Each Tuesday Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer comes on Verno’s show and gives his top 5 movies, based on what’s big at the box office. Last week Herrington was on vacation so he had his colleague Greg Akers fill in for him, which was cool because it’s always nice to have a fresh perspective on a broad topic such as movies. Anyway, the whole build up was how Akers was going to do a list Herrington would never do…Adam Sandler movies. Talk about being ecstatic, I’m a huge Adam Sandler fan. There are very few of his movies I haven’t seen. So here I was prepared to call in and thank Akers for spicing of the movies segment, when he dropped a list that made Jessica Simpson seem like a Rhodes Scholar.

 ***Caution…the following list may cause loss of appetite, uncontrollable rage blackouts, and emotional and physical distress upon those around you. Proceed at your own risk.***

 Akers’ list

5. Airheads

4. Happy Gilmore

3. Spanglish

2. The Wedding Singer

1. Punch Drunk Love

I’ll give you a minute to calm down before I continue. 

Are you good now? I know I’m not. Why do you think it took me a week to blog about it? It’s Punch Drunk Love for crying out loud. Did he stay awake thru the entire movie? Yes, Sandler showed his versatility in this role. But couldn’t the same thing be said about Reign on Me or the 3^rd movie on the list, Spanglish? Just because the man portrays characters that don’t fit the image we have of him, doesn’t make that role better than his previous ones.

Since Greg Akers doesn’t want to provide us with a list we can be proud of, I say we come up with our own. 

5. Happy Gilmore

4. Eight Crazy Nights

3. The Wedding Singer

2. The Waterboy

1. 50 First Dates

That’s my list…what’s yours? Hit me up on twitter or leave a comment with your top 5 Adam Sandler movies.

I think one of my pitfalls in the world of love is I expect way too much, and I think the majority of women do. And I blame this on romantic comedies and Mr. Darcy. 

It’s true. I have being watching films all of my life, it’s what I study at university and it’s going to be part of my future career somehow. I have established that watching a romantic comedy, or a rom-com as they are more popularly known, has killed romance rather than in any way complimented it or improved it.

So Elizabeth Bennet taught us to be head strong, feminist and rude to men as in a roundabout way this will make them fall madly in love with us and instantly propose.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding teaches women that in your 30’s when you’re still single and dress like your mother that some lipstick and a new hair-do will make a man walking past your window fall in love with you, CONVERT his religion for you and then you’ll live happily ever after.

She’s All That again makes it known that a haircut, make up and a short dress will make the most popular guy in school fall in love you, the geek and the nobody.

Bridget Jones’ Diary, 10 Things I Hate About You, Love Actually, The Holiday, A Cinderella Story, Maid in Manhattan, Shopgirl, When Harry Met Sally, The Jane Austen Book Club, 50 First Dates, 13 Going on 30, America’s Sweethearts, Runaway Bride, Practical Magic, Pretty Woman, The Notebook, First Daughter, Notting Hill, I could go on forever …

Each of these films demonstrate head over heels romance. And that’s exactly where us women go – head over heels and flat on our face. Because whilst we women are watching these films, reading these books and absorbing them – falling in love with the leading man because of charm and wit, men are in the pubs watching the football (sorry for being so generalised with that but that’s life) not knowing that these pedestals are being built up to such an unreasonable height that that can’t be noticed in their shadow, never mind actually climb on to them.

So seriously, I think that I have been damaged. Damaged by the unrealistic portrayal of men, love and relationships by the Hollywood Box Office. I expect a man to be charming, to pursue me, to flatter me, to fight for me, to say the right things, to worship the ground I walk on, to stay with me forever… etc etc etc. But I think that is asking a bit too much? Finding a man like this is like finding a needle in a haystack. Almost impossible. 

I think film studios should challenge themselves to shoot films which are true representations of life and not this classic Hollywood, sweep-me-off-of-my feet fantasy.

Wow, I’ve had over a thousand views of my blog! That’s incredible. Thanks for the support. Lets forget about the fact that I’ve had this blog since 2007.

Well it was something like a beautiful day in Stuttgart yesterday. Just kidding, I wouldn’t know. I stayed up until 4am and then slept in until 4:50pm when I was woken up. But somehow last night I went to bed at 1am. Of course this morning I woke up at 5:30am. Great! Its pretty chilly today, about 55 degrees F but at least its not raining. I watched 50 First Dates (always surprises me that its a good movie, not just decent). Then I went for a bike ride to check out the town. Pretty cool I think. I took some video:

I also saw a very “safe” park

If you can’t tell, there are a lot of things to tilt on. I remember all the good times I had on the merry-go-round back in elementary school. When I left, they took it out. But seriously that’s where we’d play every day. Those things are so dangerous (I guess) but kids need the opportunity to get hurt. I never fell off the thing. I think it probably helped me with my balance.

A couple views of this cool, white building.

And the proverbial smart car

Then later that day, we went to an art museum called Staatsgalerie (State Art Gallery).

It was pretty cool. They had Picasso, Pissaro, Jackson Pollack, Andy Warhol, Degas, Madrian, and lots of German artists too. Also, a lot of Swabian ones. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Swabia is a historic region in southwestern Germany, including what is now the southern portion of Baden-Württemberg Land (state) and the southwestern part of Bavaria Land in Germany, as well as eastern Switzerland and Alsace. The Suebi are one of the five original tribes of Germany. Here in Stuttgart, you will often find Swabian dishes at restaurants. This tradition adds a different element to visiting Stuttgart than other Germany cities.

In the front of the museum, we saw this guy:

Relative!

And in the parking garage we saw this cool bottle/light display:

Iata ca am decis sa inchidem voturile pe twitter pentru primul nostru top interactiv legat de cele mai bune comedii.Nu vom putem realiza un top 5 in ordinea numarului de voturi din motive ca fiecare a propus ce a apreciat mai mult, asa ca vom face o lista mai mare (evident ordonata tot dupa voturi). Iata ca din incercarea unui top am obtinut o lista si poate ca nu ar fi rau ca si pe viitor sa facem asa ceva pentru alte genuri ale cinematografiei.

Dupe ce am scris toate comediile, am ajuns la concluzia ca este o lista foarte luuuuunga asa ca avem pentru urmatorii 2-3 ani la ce sa ne uitam. De asemenea nici un film nu s-a repetat mai mult de 2 ori, asa ca nu pot intelege decat ca nu exista intr-adevar cea mai buna comedie, ci cea mai buna comedie pentru tine. Va multumim tuturor celor care ati votat pe twitter sau prin intermediul site-ului (multumirile speciale se vor gasi in partea de jos a listei )!

Oricum lista ramane deschisa, asa ca daca postati comentariu, lista se va actualiza.

Iata ce ati hotarat:

• Hot Fuzz
• Shaun of the Dead
• Meet the Fockers
• Tropic Thunder
• The Hangover
• Jeux d’enfants
• What Happens in Vegas
• Shrek
• Madagascar 2
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights
• Yes Man
• Clerks
• Amelie
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
• Burn after Reading
• The Pink Panther
• The Mask
• American Pie
• Tais Toi
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Zoolander
• Matilda
• Extras
• Anything Else
• Envy
• 17 Again
• Nacho libre
• School of rock
• Dumb & Dumber
• Ratatouille
• Anger Management
• Duplex
• Bruce Almighty
• Night at the Museum
• Night at the Museum 2
• Death at a Funeral
• Get Smart
• The 40 Year Old Virgin
• Knocked Up
• Some Like It Hot
• Buffalo Soldiers
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• In Bruges
• Trainspotting
• Love Actually
• Snatch
• Juno
• Pineapple Express
• Wayne’s World
• The Producers
• The Apartment (1960)
• The Wedding Crashers
• You don’t mess with Zohan
• Liar, Liar
• 50 First Dates
• The Animal
• Wall-E
• Step Brothers
• Ice Age
• Sex Is Zero
• Zack and Miri Make a Porn
• Blue Streak
• Gone Fishin
• Guess Who
• The Proposal
• Hitch
• Rush Hour
• Hancock
• How High
• Trapped in Paradise
• The Heartbreak Kid
• Click
• Anger Management
• The Bucket List
• Deuce Bigalow – Male Gigolo

_____________

Special thanks for voting and not ignoring us to: rasemanju, andrei_haret, bluelle, catalina, jazzinside, margo_374, dexterstat, ymadi, twittbunny, juliusmad, Ralucius, CinnamonAnna, alexoiu, si multi altii pe care i-am uitat.

Radu D.

I went to the doctor today for my annual check-up. I had to get a chicken pox vaccine and now, of course, my arm is sore. I think part of the soreness comes from my believing it to be sore, sort of a more extreme case of soreness derived by the soreness dreamed up in my head… if that makes sense. I’m sure there’s a word for it. I’m sure I’ve heard said word before.

Other than the chicken pox shot and doctor and all, I knit quite a bit while watching 50 First Dates. I’m not done yet.

I also made five dozen snickerdoodles with Emma. They turned out pretty swell.

Come to think of it, I think I’ll be participating in a Sock Knit & Crochet Along on Ravelry in the Teen Knitting & Crochet group. I just decided that. I’ll use the sock yarn my mom gave me awhile back. Hopefully I’ll finish these socks, unlike a certain other pair that is about 75% done and has been for months and months…

I’ll get started on that now, actually. Goodbye.

(as like some other days, I might not post tomorrow because of the Donnie Darko viewing at Rachel’s house)

Hab hier ein paar neue Trailer alter Filme, wodurch sich die Handlung ein kleinwenig ändert!

1.  Mrs. Doubtfire als Psychothriller

2. The Shining als romantische Komödie

3. Matrix als Liebesfilm

Danke an Nils, der hat mir Mrs. Doubtfire geschickt, den Rest hab ich bei Youtube gefunden. Aber auf der nächsten Seite gibts noch mehr…

4. You’ve Got Mail

5. The Big Lebowski

6 .Little Miss Sunshine

7. Home Alone

8. 50 First Dates

9. Top Gun

Das sind dann soweit alle, die ich gut fand !

Twenty six hours of flying time has left me tired, but more cinematically up to date than I was. I enjoyed a wide selection of fare and offer my critiques up to you here:-

1. Revolutionary Road – Wow: this is a stagey little fucker. Kate Winslet must have given Sam Mendes the blow job of his life when he finally caved and offered her the female lead in this little number, because it has got “Best Actress Nomination” written all over it. Simmering resentment, rage, explosive anger, mental illness and soul-draining sadness – she gets to do it all. To be fair, she does it very well too (not as well as Kristin Scott Thomas does all this and more in “I Have Loved You So Long” – but that performance is in a different league to pretty much everything I have seen recently), and she is (as the fanfare reminded us) reunited to very good effect with Leonardo diCaprio, whom I thought was rather better, reacting with baffled, wounded despair and then anger to his beloved wife’s disappearance into this vengeful bitch. Not exactly a case of “Pass the Butterkist, Roger – it’s going to be a laugh-fest”, and certainly not one to watch with your other half – but very “accomplished”.
2. “The Reader” - Having seen her in “Revolutionary Road”, I was keen to see the film for which Winslet DID win her Oscar – and I love the Bernard Schlink novel. I’m amazed. Winslet is fine in it, but not extraordinary (and she is hampered by some truly AWFUL “old age” make-up in the final section of the piece). I wondered if maybe Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant had got it right when they had her observe in “Extras” that one gets an Oscar when one does a Holocaust film – but then it struck me: it is in “The Reader” NOT “Revolutionary Road” that Kate shows us her vagina, thus instantly rendering her portrayal starkly moving, devoid of vanity, honest and searing: all Oscar shoo-in terms. The screenplay was ordinary, the direction was uninspired, and there was also Ralph Fiennes doing his “Man straining to have a shit” face that features in so many of his “serious roles”.
3. “He’s Just Not That Into You”  - Look: I needed some light relief after the two above, and ti was this or “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. It was shit.
4. “The Forty Year-Old Virgin” - Brilliant. Utterly, utterly, utterly brilliant.
5. “50 First Dates” – Me As A Protestant is a huge Adam Sandler fan, and whilst I don’t appreciate everything in the same vein and extent that he does, I thought I’d give it a go (I have no idea if this is one of the Sandler oeuvre that he is either fond or dismissive of). I found it almost unbearably moving. It’s a far-fetched story about a man who falls in love with a woman whom an accident has left with her long-term memory entirely intact, but unable to remember anything that happened in the last 24 hours – so she forgets him every morning. It’s a beautiful story of unconditional love, sacrifice and faith. And it made me cry, which is disgusting.
6. “Watchmen” - Shit. Leaden, awful, unimaginative shit.
7. “Pan’s Labyrinth” – As brilliant as “Watchmen” was shit. Stunning.

Also on offer were: “Coraline” and “The Wrestler”, but seeing as the children, and Wife have (respectively) voiced a desire to see those, I left it until our happy reunion.