I've read couple books about wars. Mostly about World War II. Aside the fact that they're all fiction, those books show a glimpse of heartaches of the people involved. What was the purpose of war itself, I guess I could never understand. More like a sick game for terribily sick minds. I don't know how could men ever find this twisted idea of massacre as a way to gaining/maintaining world peace.
The Street of A Thosand Blossoms was a beautiful story about how Japanese cope during and after World War II. How was it like having your life turned upside down in one night? Having not the slightest to really understand the situation you're in.
The story is about Claire Paddleton, an English woman, who lived in HongKong because her husband was transferred there. Long story short, she soon began to develop an affair with a chauffeur of the rich family she's working on. This affair then led to the unrevealing of tragedies during the invation of Japan to HongKong.
I can see a little bit clearer of why HongKong loaths Japan. It's only friction of the whole war thing, and it's already unforgivably cruel. And to think that HongKong was invaded only because it was a British colony... I wonder if the Queen could sleep soundly at night during this period. So many people had to suffer and struggle, all because of one man say: "Let's bring this on!"
Who is the moron who said 'don't ask your country what it can do for you, but ask yourself what you can do for your country' anyway? Geez, some of us just want to live in peace and enjoy life as it is.
Anyway, back to the book. The writing style is too much American-like, in my opinion. A tiny-weeny intriguing as it's supposed to be a story about the affair of England and China. I don't do well with movies. My definition of good movie goes around 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'Sex and The City'. But I'm really into books. And this one is a highly recommended.
I just watched The Invention of Lying and couldn't help myself but thinking that it was actually a man's disbelief in the existance of God and happy end. I guess it went deeper than just a comedy.
This movie basically about a man who had ability to lie when everyone else did not. Hell, they didn't even have the word 'lie' in their dictionary. It was a place when what came out from one's mouth was more believable than computer's data.
There's no 'I love you' when you don't really mean it. No 'it's not you, it's me'. In fact, Jen Garner in this movie said blatantly that she wanted to be married only with handsomely rich guys so she could breed to genetically-excellent offsprings.
This was this scene, where Mark's mom was dying and she looked very distress on the prospect of living in non-existance for eternity. Then Mark said, thanks to his lying ability, that she wouldn't. She would go to a place where there is no sadness, no pain. A place when you finally would meet again with those ones you loved. A peaceful place where everybody would get a mansion of their own.
A place we know as heaven. But of course, in this alternate world the concept 'heaven' and 'hell' did not exist. Because no one was able to tell lies.
The 10 amendments did not exist. God, or 'man in the sky' as he called it, did not exist. They were created by Mark, the only guy who could lie.
I don't think this movie was about opposing the existance of God, though. Simply to state that people somehow need lies. To give them hope that there would, eventually, be a happy end. To protect them from the harsh of reality. To tell that fat boy with snub nose that there was indeed something good in him. Then, who knows, maybe lies do come true.
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…Devy watched too much Asian Food Channel in Sunday morning. She apparently did not take it for granted when her parents left home for a big family gathering, leaving behind their curious yet not-so-much-a-cooking-material daughter.
I looked upon some Rachael Ray’s and AFC’s recipes. I settled on chicken and began to read. But then we didn’t have some of those ingredients at home, like tequila and never-heard-about-it herbs. So I decided to improvise.
I honestly didn’t know what I was going to cook. I took chicken breast and prawn out of the refrigerator. And I remembered I read something about lemon juice on Rachael Ray’s recipe. But since we didn’t have it at home, I went outside and pick a fresh lemon from the house yard. Yeah. That kind of made me feels like I was living in a country side. Oh, and the bright side of me-picking-lemon-all-by-myself-for-the-first-time was that I finally realized that lemon plant does have thorns all over the twigs! How cool… I thought only roses have thorns.
Back to the cooking thing. I then put the prawns and chickens in a bowl, squeezed the lemon and -for some strange prophecy- poured cinnamon powder over the meals. Mean while, I thought that I would need some vegetables and found organic carrots and frozen vegetables in the refrigerator.
I like the feeling when I just put whatever things on the frying pan. And I’m not quite sure of what I was cooking but… at least it was edible. *grin*
Note: My sister also ate it and she said it was fine. So no, it wasn’t poisonous.
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