Archives – April, 2009
I don’t know why. We had it fixed already last month. But our electricy connection is acting up again. It goes on and off. That’s merely the reason why I am up now. I was awaken by the warmth of the room. Good thing my computer battery is charged. I can at least use it. And of course, my wi-fi connection is from my neighbours. Good thing not all connections around this area is secured. Otherwise I won’t be able to get a connection.
My son is awake now. He is feeling so warm and he can’t go back to sleep. Maybe I put him on our wood flooring. It’s quite cooling there. Hopefully it gets fixed before hubby goes off. He’s going out of the country for 6 days.
April 19, 2009
That’s the latest in the tech world so far. And hubby desires to have one. He said it’s the best thing that ever happened to the latest gadgets so far. He loves the idea of connecting to the world through your fingertips. Not sure when he’s going to buy one for himself. Maybe when iPhone is on sale? You can find out more about iPhones here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TGQtk1iAQY
What about me? No. I am not so much into this phone stuff. I never had my own cellphone. Can you believe that? But of course, I need to have a computer at least. That’s where I connect with the world.
April 19, 2009
I’m not really sure how Score A works. But apparently, my brother-in-law is so sold out for it. He even asked my hubby to invest for it for our kids. He said that we could buy one package and that would cover one sibling. From the sound of it, Score A is very beneficial for kids, especially those who are in primary and secondary school.
My brother-in-law is very good in marketing. I’m sure that if he decides to sell insurance and what not, he would be very successful in this field. He has such a strong drive in selling. I’m sure that with his strong drive he could obtain an insurance lead.
I am saying that because hubby seems to believe him. Now hubby wants to know more. I hope that as he knows more, I would know more as well. It would be worth an investment if you know what you’re investing at, wouldn’t it?
April 18, 2009
I am currently reading The Zahir, a book by Paulo Coelho. This is the third book of Paulo’s that I’ve been reading.
The first one was Flow Like a River – something like that – Thoughts and Reflections by Paulo Coelho. Basically, it’s just a compilation of short stories he has encountered or heard from others, his thoughts and reflections.
The second one I read was The Alchemist. Will have to write a review about that book later.
For The Zahir, I’m still on chapter one.
This book is a story about Esther, his 4th wife, that is suddenly missing. He was under suspicion of her disappearance so he was detained. But his wife’s friend, who he slept with the night his wife disappeared, bailed him out.
Now he is recollecting Esther’s story.
Will get back here once I finish the book. I am quite bored. SO I don’t know when I’m gonna finish it.
I think I like books that are light and not profound.
Like the recent book I read, Shopaholic Ties the Know by Sophie Kinsella. I started reading at 7pm. I finished the book at 3am. I read the book for about 8 hours. LOL.
With Paulo’s writings, it takes a lot of thinking to do before you can get to another page. And I have underlined or bookmarked all the quotes that caught my attention. Did I just say I was bored with Paulo Coelho’s book? LOL.
I am probably confused because it’s like a total roundabout to read books (like Shopaholic then Paulo) like that.
April 14, 2009
And we thought that she has finally learned her lessons in The Confessions of a Shopaholic, didn’t we? Well, sorry to disappoint you… but her new career as a phone-in financial personal consultant and her trip to New York had her fell into greater debts.
This time, it is unstoppable. The only thing is, someone is interfering her privacy. Whoever that is sure wants her to be exposed.
Becky and Luke are in New York. Luke is working on setting up his branch in New York, big time. And she’s having offers to do television shows from left to right. She’s excited. He is anxious.
Apparently, Becky’s secret financial issues surfaces and it is all over the tabloid. Luke’s business isn’t going to happen. Becky’s relationship with Luke starts to change. Luke discovers her true self. He gets sour with her, leaving Luke staying at New York and Becky back to London. To Becky’s dismay, her slot at Morning Coffee is being replaced by her ex-colleague, Clare. She now doesn’t have a career and at the same time, full of debts. How is she going to pay her debts?
The she finds out that it was Alicia, Luke’s secretary, that is the culprit of their failure. Alicia tries to take away Bank of London is Brandon Communication’s backer because she wants to set up her own company. Apparently, it is her who exposes Becky’s financial troubles to the public. Becky then tells Luke’s friend, Mike, about her discovery. Mike tells Luke and Luke comes back to London to address the issue. The company is saved.
Becky now tries to sort out her problem. But she doesn’t have a job. So she auctions and sells her “assets” including the green scarf. She actually sold the green scarf for 200 pounds! (only to discover later that the two bidders that are bidding for the green scarf was Luke’s contacts).
She now has an offer to work in New York. But before she fllies to New York, she guested at Morning Coffee. The show expected her to confess her financial troubles, and they thought the program would be emotional having her tell everybody how she affected her family, friends, career, etc. But to everybody’s surprise, she told everybody how successful she was in overcoming her problem, paid off her debts and a new job offer in New York.
Somebody had tipped of Luke that she was leaving London for a job in New York. Luke left the important meeting he was having just to stop Rebecca from leaving him in London. He is back to London, actually, but he never contacted Rebecca. His excuse – his busy-ness with his business.
Becky doesn’t let him stop him. She flies to New York and applied at Barney’s as a personal shopper.
3 months later, Luke went to Barney’s to see her. He has now an office in New York! They now are back together.
_________
I get very mixed up with the story because as I am writing this, I just watched the movie, for the 2nd time. As I have blogged earlier, the movie was mixed up. I just realized that they made the movie out of two books. But still, the plot was different. I like the movie better than the book.
April 12, 2009
This movie is derived from a true story of the Duchess of Devonshire. It was year 177 when Georgianna Spencer, out of her obedience to her mother, married the Duke of Devonshire, i exchange of her producing an heir to the Duke.
She found then that her marriage was loveless and that the Duke, inspite of her being loyal and wanting to produce an heir, didn’t respect her. Instead, he made an affair with her friend Lady Bess, ending 3 of them living together in one house.
The Duchess became the fashion icon of England. She got herself involved in politics. This was where she met Charlie Grey again. She fell in love with him.
The Duchess made a deal with the Duke. She would give her blessing to his relationship with her friend, Lady Bess… and he would let her have a relationship with Charles Grey. He got furious and threatened to take her children away if she continues relationship with him.
She eventually produced a son and she was paid according to the negotiations that took place between her mother and the Duke before she married him.
She was left living with her husband (with her 4 children, 3 girls and one boy) and his mistress (who’s got 3 boys on her own) in the house until her death.
Georgianna, the Duchess of Devonshire was Keira Knightley.
The Duke of Devonshire was Ralph Fiennes.
Mr. Charles Grey was Dominic Cooper.
Elizabeth “Bess” Foster was Hayley Atwell.
Reflections:
It must be a struggle for her to see her husband and his mistress in the same roof… I wonder show she coped with it. She’s a total martyr. She could have gone off with Charlie Grey who eventually became a Prime Minister of England… but because of her children, she sacrificed herself and stayed on.
In this movie, and in the Duchess’ life, it takes sacrifice to be a mother and a Duchess.
April 9, 2009
I saw the movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic” today. Went to Sunway Pyramid for my of day off with a friend. The plot of the story in the movie was different from the book. Some characters were also mixed up… like Tarkie was Suze’s fiance in the movie but he was Suze’s cousin who’s got a crush on Rebecca Blomwood in the book.
Luke Brandon was Becca’s boss in the movie but he wasn’t in the book. Becca’s boss at Successful Saving was Phil. Derek Smeath didn’t humiliate Becca in public in the book. But I like her tag as a Girl in a Green Scarf in the movie. The irony of the story was that … she was a financial consultant journalist and yet she had big financial problems herself. But that’s the point of the story, wasn’t it?
In the book, her appearance in the “Morning Coffee” was a hit. She was humiliated by Derek Smeath in the book.
I enjoyed the movie more than I enjoyed the book. It was so hilarious in the book as well… but I laughed my head off watching the movie.
Confessions of a Shopaholic was acted by Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood and Hugh Dancy as Luke Brandon.
Isla Fisher was a great actor. I loved her acting here… like a real bewildered girl trying to avoid her financial problems.
A must see movie for those who are… well, Shopaholic.
April 8, 2009
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Title: Confessions of a Shopaholic
Synopsis: (source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/1876431-confessions-shopaholic/)
Confessions of a Shopaholic is Sophie Kinsella’s 7th book in a series about (you guessed it!) Shopaholics. She writes with omniscient insight into the addicted-to-shopping condition. Not only is there insight but there is wisdom and the babbling mind of a girl whose high on credit.
Rebecca Bloomwood can’t resist treating herself to a little something here and there. But when the bills start arriving on her doorstep, and at work, and at her mother’s house, she decides to take a little evasive action. Easing the guilt with a nice dinner out on the town and one of those pretty scarves in the window.
To top it off, her job involves writing articles for a magazine called Successful Savings. That’s right, she is a financial journalist hopping from one banking PR event to the next. She knows nothing about banking or money, she does admit and the PR events are useless because you can get all the information you need from the press release while you spend a luxurious hour sipping French Champagne.
In a job without true relevance to her life she finds meaning in clothes – DKNY, Prada, Gucci, Denny & George aaaah the list goes on. There is nothing she won’t buy. So with all this debt and the lack of any better job prospects Rebecca decides to Cut Back. And, when that doesn’t work she decides to Make More Money. Just her luck that whatever she does lands her in an even bigger mess than before. Even worse she’s sure Luke Brandon, the young hotshot at Brandon Communications can obviously see right through her pretend knowledge. But she’s got even bigger problems with the Bank Manager dogging her around town.
My reflections:
I couldn’t quite relate to Becky in terms of her impulses on shopping. In fact, her character really got on my nerves. I was wondering why she couldn’t stop shopping or giving herself a little treat here and there. It’s probably because I’m not a shopaholic. Not even a shopper. I know it sounds like unreal. Go ask my husband. He’s more of a shopper that I am.
And also, she’s the type that never knows how to say no… until she’s caught up with it. Then she would run away in a middle of situation. She becomes evasive.
Anyways, the thing that I can relate though is her addiction generally. Sometimes there are things we do out of impulses or addiction. We don’t think. We become a slave to it… like we are born to do that. And it’s hard to get away from it, until probably we can no longer function properly.
The moral of the story is that you should face your problems heads on… right at the slight hint of it. Don’t wait until it becomes so big you won’t have a control at it.
Anyways… I will have to see the movie. The synopsis of the movie is quite different from the book itself. So I’m interested to know.
Next book project: Shopaholic Takes Manhattan.
April 7, 2009
“Be careful what you ask God for because He might just give it to you.”
This is a Christian movie, focusing on issue about young woman called Lisa who prayed that her boyfriend be saved. God answered her prayers and when he was saved, she complained that he was too saved.
Her worries and fears stemmed out from her experience with her father then deceased who was a pastor. She been wanting his attention but her father was too busy doing the church works.
The lesson this movie gave me is that it is important to be doing God’s work… but spending quality time to norish your family, to give them attention, to love them is also very important. Otherwise we miss out the real purpose of why we became a Christian. God values the relationship and we must see to it that we value our relationships as well.
God is number one, family is second, ministry is work.
It’s amazing to see this kind of movie. There’s just a lot to learn.
Too Saved is a drama/romance movie acted by James J. Johnson and Lolita Clayton.
April 6, 2009
This is a sequel to Twilight series by Stephemie Meyer. This is like the dark hour for Bella as Edward leaves her to make her safe. Bella was depressed and for a few months she wasn’t talking to anyone.
Her father encourages her to mingle with her friends. To please her father, she goes out with Jessica. She does something that makes her adrenaline pump. She then discovers that when she does, she would hear Edwards voice.
She comes out hopeful.
She finds an old motorbike and takes it to Jacob Black for him to fix. She then builds relationship with Jacob Black. Jacob Black doesn’t know why she wants to fix the motorcycle though. When it was fix, she then uses it to make her adrenaline pump again. She then hears Edward’s voice again.
Her friendship with Jacob Black was blossoming until she discovers that he’s turning into a werewolf. But the friendship went on.
One day, she decided cliff jumping with Jacob Black.
At the same time, Alice Cullen (Edward’s sister who can read the future) sees her jumping off the cliff. She rushes to Forks to comfort Charlie, Bella’s father, only to realize that Bella didn’t die.
Rosalie tells Edward that Bella died. He goes to Italy to have the Volturri kill him. Alice sees this and both Alice and Bella rushed to Italy to save Edward.
The Cullens then moved back to Forks and Bella and Edward continues their love relationship without turning Bella into a Vampire.
Jane was introduced here as part of Volturi. I heard that Dakota Fanning is to act as Jane. Can’t wait to see the movie. But it will only be out on November 20, 2009.
New Moon to me was Twilight antidote. No romance. Just pure developing friendships with the Indies, especially Jacob Black.
I was of course really crazy about the other book, Twilight, because of the romantic effect. New moon got me interested in her friendship with Jacob Black. Others say New Moon was dragging, a bit boring. But it wasn’t for me. It was very interesting… Good read.
April 6, 2009
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