Two Poems

These are the two poems feature in the movie “In Her Shoes”… I loved them so much I decided to put up the complete versions…

One Art

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

– Elizabeth Bishop –

I Carry Your Heart With Me

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)

I am never without it

(anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

– EE Cummings –

In Her Shoes

A VERY VERY good movie… loved it… Starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley Maclaine… The story tells of two sisters who are almost totally opposites… Rose (Collette) the elder one is a serious, hardworking lawyer and Maggie (Diaz) is a party-going, unemployed bum… The only thing that the two sisters have in common besides their last name is their shoe size… Having no place to stay Maggie crashes at Rose’s place… that is until Rose returns home one day only to catch Maggie sleeping with her boyfriend Jim… Outraged, she kicks Maggie out… Having no place to… Maggie decides to go to Miami where her grandmother Ella, whom she just found out was actually still alive and has been trying to be in contact with her, lives… Meanwhile, Rose quits her job and starts a dog walking service and the guy whom she never thought of going out with before, Simon, has expressed his interest… Back in Miami… Maggie who initially just wants a place to stay now finds herself bonding with her grandmother slowly but surely and also with the other seniors (they live in a retirement center) and now works there as a nurse and begins to start a personal shopper business… Rose is now engaged to Simon and realizes that Maggie is no where to be found… She silently worries about Maggie having no one to talk to because she does not want to worry her father and she does not want Simon to know anything about Maggie… Things get bad and she is now so unhappy that Simon knows something is wrong… At a party, Rose meets Jim again and finally unloads her worries on him… Simon sees them and is disappointed that she would tell Jim and not him what was wrong… He breaks off the engagement… When she got back to her place she receives a letter from Ella… who wrote letter to her without Maggie’s knowledge… Shocked with the news of her grandmother being alive… she heads off to Miami… Arriving in Miami and not knowing Maggie was there… she got another shock when Maggie answers the door… Still unforgiving towards Maggie she refuses to believe Maggie has changed… but when Maggie shows her around the place she realizes that she has indeed changed… Ella then talks to them about their mother and for the first time Maggie realizes that their mother did not die of an accident but committed suicide… Rose realizes that she just can’t stay mad at Maggie… they were sisters after all and Maggie was her bestfriend… She tells Maggie about her broken engagement with Simon… Maggie decides to do something about it… Simon arrives and patches things with Rose… They go back to Philadelphia for their wedding… and everything comes together there…

The best part of the movie was really the end… but what I thought really great about the movie was that the characters growth throughout the journey of the movie… and the characters were just so different from when they first started… and the story of family, love, friendship… all that told in such a realistic, totally believable way that it really touches you… Of course a great story can only be great if fueled by excellent performances and indeed we were given outstanding performances by Toni and Cameron… Seriously the movie just catches your heart… Everyone should definitely watch it… You might even learn something from it… Also you might want to get the book of which this movie is based on… by author Jennifer Weiner… Once again… GREAT movie… Cheers…

Domino

Directed by Tony Scott… you can expect this movie to be action filled and story telling with loads of attitude… Keira Knightley stars as main character Domino Harvey whom even though born into the privileged life of Hollywood and 90210 chose to give it up and instead became a bounty hunter… Based on a true story by the way… The movie itself was intense… with Domino being the story teller narrating her story to a criminal psychologist… Very fast moving and keeps the audience on their toes… I think Keira’s performance in the movie was excellent… Very witty and portrayed ample attitude… loved it… But I think not everyone would enjoy the movie… very gangster… But I rather enjoyed it… though sometimes I get quite lost with what’s going on…

The Beginning of The End…

Today is the first day of SWATVAC!!! The pressure is on… exams are a week away and I just can’t wait for it to be over… And… to day is the last day before daylight saving… man oh man… which officially signals the beginning of the end for the year of 2005… Of course Halloween is around the corner as well… So fun times ahead!!! Fingers crossed… ;p

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

I’ve been waiting for this movie for quite some time now… for reasons that (a) it is one of my all time favourite stories, (b) I’m a fan of Keira Knightley (Yes I am… Please forgive me…) and (c) I’m keen on comparing it to the older 5 part series with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

First I would like to start off by saying that I am rather disappointed by the movie… I was really looking forward to it but the movie did not deliver… So unless you’re a movie buff or you particularly like one of the actors… it certainly won’t be your cup-a-tea… The main feature of the movie is fast paced story telling so as to not bored the audience to sleep and it may very well have happened with poor performances from most of the cast… more on that… This is done by swift movements of the cameras and fast paced conversations… I dare say that the casting for the movie was poorly done… Don’t get me wrong there are a few known names amongst them Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike (Bond Girl), Jena Malone, Judi Dench, and of course our dear friend Miss Knightley… but they were just not very convincing besides Donald Sutherland who plays Mr. Bennet, and even though Keira Knightley did an exceptional job at holding up the main role of Elizabeth Bennet, she was just way too skinny and not plain looking enough (and not forgetting she flashes her all-too-well-known grin too often)… However these are the two people who held up the movie… The role of Mr. Darcy was played by Matthew MacFadyen whom I’ve never heard of before (have you?) lacked the charm to play the role I would say but he is rather “dashing” so I’m willing to over-look that… Simon Woods who plays Mr. Bingley was the worst… I really did not like the way he portrayed his character… There is one aspect which I think this 2005 version did better than the 1995 one… I think the chemistry between Elizabeth and Darcy was better in this one… Otherwise the 1995 one is a much better choice is you want to skip the reading part and head straight for the video…

Alternatively for a more lighthearted, slightly altered and bedazzled version of the story… you should try Bride and Prejudice… which stars Bollywood superstar and “The Most Beautiful Woman In The World” Aishwarya Rai and super cute Martin Henderson… You’ll definitely get a laugh out of this version plus the extra entertainment of it being a Bollywood style musical… I highly recommend it… Cheers…

Housemate Wanted

Hahaha… I really really need a housemate for next year… so I’m advertising in my blog… Don’t think many people read it though… Anyway if you’ll be studying in Melbourne (UniMelb or RMIT would be suitable) and you need a housemate please contact me… a.s.a.p. would be nice… or if you know anyone who needs a housemate… refer them to me… Hahaha…

Breeding Racism

I was going through the papers today and came by a rather “interesting” article… I’m pretty sure you have never heard of the following pair of twin maybe unless you are a RACIST white living in America!!! Well anyway it’s about this pair of 13-year-old “white” American twins named Lynx and Lamb Gaede… and they are rather Mary-Kate and Ashley looking but trust me when I say they will do more harm to the world than the Olson twins can ever do… and this is because this pair of twins preach pro-racism… more specifically they are Neo-Nazi whose parents are… ahem… coincidentally pro-racist people… wahey… what about that… They are actually a music act who performs at pro-racism (pro-white) gatherings to attract people… Well part of my research in writing this entry was to get some samples of their songs and let me just tell you… their performances might just have the opposite effect… THEY CAN’T SING… seriously… I mean hey I’m no pro but I’m pretty sure they suck… maybe it’s their braces inhibiting proper pronunciation and pitching… but their songs really gave me a headache… and their ability to play the guitar and violin are something left much to be desired… For purposes of NOT promoting them I shall not disclose their group name and song titles… Which brings me to another thought… I wonder if they actually know what they are singing about… because there is one song where they are talking about their children being proud… erm… ok if they have children at their age… wow… And if you are wondering… Yes they are home-schooled… I don’t think they’d last a day in a proper school… they’d probably be either (a) beaten up by the other kids, (b) kicked out of school straight away anyway, or (c) sent to the psychiatric ward… It’s rather sad really… we’ll never know if they really chose this idealism at their own will or it was just too embedded into their brains… One thing we do know is they themselves chose to promote this “evil”…

Growing up in a multi-cultural country… I really don’t understand what’s all the fuss about the whites and blacks (no offense to anyone… I’m not sure what they are preferred to be called… African-Americans?)… If I’m not wrong the whites are the ones who brought the Africans over to America… ahem… Is it really so difficult to see beyond the colour of the skin? I mean come on our skin isn’t that thick anyway… rip it off and we all have the same stuff underneath… and in fact even the skin is the same substance anyway… just some are more sensitive to the light than others… So basically we are all the same… The only thing that makes us different is our mind and soul… so I say this… our colour does not make us evil… but rather we choose to be… Are you?!

Australian Idol: Final 6

Motown week!!! Well… it was another great week… with the exception of Lee Harding who sang Michael Jackson’s Ben… nice song but not for Lee… he had really bad pitching problems… Daniel Spillane had a great night where he was said to have “found himself”… and he really did… Emily scored another touchdown from Mark and from all that’s been happening she might just win AuI…!!!!

A really close call I would say since all the finalist that are left are great musicians in their own right… and it’s all down to their fan base… Bottom three were Anne, Daniel and Dan… Dan was sent back to safety right after being sent to the bottom 3… So it was down to Anne and Daniel… Who is your guess?? Well the answer is Anne!! I guess she just didn’t have a large enough fan base… sad really… she was really good… So 5 are left… It’s a fight to the finish… Until next week… Cheers…!!