The Croods

"The Croods" first caught my attention when my daughter started screaming about it (yes, literally screaming out loud that she wants to watch it).
On how she came about to know the movie was another mystery.
Apparently, she was taken in by the advertisement for it on her Poptropica page that she got hooked on ever since she read "Diary of a Wimpy Kid".  Hence our discussion on the vicious circle of marketing.
When I wiki-ed the movie, it said that it was made in 3D and so I unconsciously murmured my thought out loud, "If it's made in 3D, then we have to see it in 3D...".
Brilliant!  She heard it clear enough and sealed the agreement.
Where did kids nowadays learn how to negotiate?

The Croods are not that crude after all, if you don't count the moment where the story clearly shows the difference between how Guy (the modern-ish man) eats his dinner (as a prisoner) and how the Croods eat theirs.

These Croods are the perfect example of most old fashioned Asian families.  Sticking together, kids will grow up to continue their parent's legacy, work in their family business, marry off to a guy of the father's taste, yada yada yada.
I laughed so hard because of this parallel to most modern Asian families.  That apparently seems so crude, haha.

The funniest lines that really tickled me, came from Grug (Nicholas Cage):
"Fear has kept us alive, so, never not be afraid, be really afraid!".
Then later towards the end of the movie, it was hashed and changed to this:
"Don't be afraid!".

Other lines also came from Grug:
"New is bad!"
"Stick to routine!"
Now, this is funny since my daughter, being in the spectrum, hates exactly what Grug hates.  She even pointed out to Sandy's (the baby Crood) behaviour, "Hey, that's what I do!".  Sandy must be in the spectrum, too!  Ha ha.

The Crood's world came crushing down as the shift of the world's plane was happening to their part of the world.  Striking parallel to the recent end of the world 21.12.12 Mayan prophecy.  That was crude interpretation, people!  LOL.
No, I'm telling you, it was for real, only that 21.12.12 was the beginning of the end and we haven't got to the end of the end.  See the movie, you'll understand.

My take on this movie is that these pre-historic people are the representation of us as sleepers.  We have been forced to always be afraid because of circumstances and had never been allowed outside of our 'designated' territory, without having to bear the consequences of being labelled.  It's as if there's an unseen barrier of tradition, culture, religion etc, that prevents us from feeling 'alive' instead of just living.
Then the modern-ish prehistoric man is the representation of us that wants to be awaken.  The promise of a better tomorrow that keeps us going for uncharted territories.  Gaining survival skills as we learn each day disregarding the unseen barrier mentioned above.  Taking a leap of faith, trusting in our intuition.  Yes, easier written than done.

A cute conversation that speaks more than it really seems:
Guy (Ryan Reynolds):  "Ok, now you can look.  I call them: Shoes."
Eep (Emma Stone):  "AAAAAHHHHHH!!!  I love them.  Where are my feet? (looks around, worried)".

What makes you think that something unseen, makes it non existing?

Disclosure: I don't own the picture of "The Croods" above.

Doodles Now

Now that she's connected online, she always checks whether her doodles are up on the blog.
I'm pretty slow on things and I'm starting to suspect that I'm also with her, right up there in the spectrum.

Not sure what's up with the bunny ears???

Can you see the angel and devil on each shoulder?  Pretty tiny though.

The Art of Cantonese Opera

The thing I like most about travelling is that sometimes you encounter an unexpected exhibition in the places you pass through.

Have you ever watched a Cantonese Opera?  Yes, one of those nasal high pitched singing that's been around for centuries in China?
Did  you know that if one of the character started spinning his/her head round and round (like headbanging in a heavy metal concert, but 360 degrees spin), it means that he/she has gone mad.
There are many other specific gestures in a classic Chinese opera that signifies a certain mood or status.  Very interesting topic which happened to intrigue my little daughter.
So while she was enjoying the interactive video show of these different gestures, I took a few snapshots.

Haiku

As my third grader is learning about Haiku (poem made out ouf 5 - 7 - 5 syllables format), I attempted one myself:

"The innate knowing.

Connecting with higher self.

Awakened body."

Here's her take on Haiku:

"I smell a rodent.
Stink and hiding in my cup.
Scream, shout, out the door."

Mr. Stupid

Mr.Stupid drives a European car, Audi, BMW and the likes.

Mr.Stupid thinks when he succeeds in this project, he'll reward himself with an upgrade of the car, the watch, the house, the wife (?).

Mr.Stupid knows he cannot upgrade the wife, but perhaps instead of flowers, next time is a bank account to let her do botox, vitamin C injection, and the likes.

Mr.Stupid gets upset when his ego is bruised by some old friend that identifies his fears and insecurities.

Mr.Stupid calls everyone friends because he might need them later on down the rosy lane of his prestigious life.  Plus it shows his flexibility to be able to be "friends" without prejudice, so he thought.

Mr.Stupid worries when someone remarked his shiny new watch, "Oh, it's just a Rolex.".  He thought to himself, "Didn't she knows how hard I had to work for this Rolex?".

Mr.Stupid is frustrated when work is not working out right while his relationship is non existence at all, that's OK for him, because what matters is MONEY, right?

Mr.Stupid is so proud of himself that he talks endlessly about his achievements, goals and what's more to come out of him in the future, because what matters is his own FAME, right?

Mr.Stupid disregard those who talks to him about reflecting upon himself and his actions.  Instead, he replies, "What do you really want from me?"

Mr.Stupid is happy to walk around everyday being asleep and is afraid to be awaken.  Because clinging to his Zegna suits, Rolex watch, his model wife, his perfect kids, feels better to him than anything else he can think of.

==========================================
For my male readers, please change Mr.Stupid to Miss.Stupid and change the branded goods names accordingly to your preference.

Disclaimer:
I am not addressing anyone specific and Mr/Miss Stupid is a fictitious character that represent something that's unseen.  Your consciousness.
The branded goods I mentioned above, is randomly picked and has no significant affiliation towards the brand itself and I have no intention to defame or undermine the brand itself.

Global Meditation 20 March 2013

After the amazing experience last year at the Global Meditation 12 December 2012, I invite all the readers here to join many others, everywhere around the world for another mass meditation on 20th March 2013.

Here's the link for the guided meditation from 12.12.12 and the invitation for this year's:

The Master Shift

Meditation is free, it can be done anywhere, in any condition you might be in and it doesn't matter what race/religion/beliefs you hold at all.  

See you all in the soul realm :)

The Man Who Quit Money

Recently, I've been told by people I knew that I've changed completely.
Despite all the unfortunate things that's been happening in my life for the past decade, they said that it's unbelievable how I smile sincerely and even laugh happily, too.
They asked me how in the world I can still do that, when to their eyes, I'm living such a phooey life (dejected, rejected and judged by society).

If you want to know the whole story, commission me to write you a book.  Perhaps sequels?
However, it is really so simple, too.  I can describe it in a sentence.  Where's the sentence you might ask?  Well, ask me :)

One aspect of it, I felt in this article, courtesy of the Daily Mail, UK:
"The Man Who Quit Money"

Although that is not all there is to it but it is certainly part and parcel of the answer to their questions.

Take this simple picture:

For some of you, it will just be a picture of leaves taken by a camera phone and won't even capture your attention when scanning through my blog entries.
But to my daughter, this picture immediately puts a smile on her because she remembers that day when she found this unusual orange black spider that was spinning web on its prey and was probably about to eat it for lunch.

You see, everyone of us view things differently.  Even a mother and her daughter will have different views on the same thing.
When the right to judge is in the hands of the person living the reality, the world will change, surely.

The Caterpillar

Look what we found on our rock last weekend!   

City folks like us finds much excitement in simple things like watching this hairy not so little creature wriggle.

New Year: 2013

The New Year kicked off with an adventure to a cove.
Very nice place to retire in, only if you have all the money in the world, but then again, if you are loaded, you won't choose this place because it's very hot and humid, you can hardly breathe outdoor.

We arrived at night (6 hours delay by a low cost carrier plane) to this sight outside of our room.  Excellent!  Can't wait for the morning.

 The view from our room is just as breathtaking as the view from the other venues we visited.

Opening my eyes after meditating.  Magical!

 

So now you guessed where we went?

 My knees were tight, I wonder why!  We're so high up above a suspended bridge around a really tall man made trees.

  The old area (persumably, since I'm not from here).

 The new area.  Heavily feng shui-ed to bring in luck to the country (totally!  I paid a lot for these rides).

 Sunset view on the new area.

Till next time, can't wait for more adventure.

Learning Mandarin

The teacher specifically requested that the population of people in the practice book needs to be controlled.

I don't see any control being exercised at all. They are everywhere and many of them, too!

Poking Facebook

With any new tools, one can get overly obsessive to the point of ROFL.
Remember the first tool on Facebook when it was first launched?
"The Pokes".
Guess it didn't take long for her to find that out.

Definitely, stop poking and do your work!!!

Cloud Atlas

Do you believe in fate/destiny/chance/meant to be/written in the stars? How you define it, is really trivial. It is how you embody it that makes it YOUR reality.

I'm so excited to read this and believe it or not, I wasn't looking for this book nor was I expecting anything in terms of books to read. It was literally shown in front of me inside the sale basket!

Learning Mandarin

Every time she comes back home from her Mandarin class, I check what new vocabularies she learnt.  I know most Chinese speaking children are probably onto their thousandth vocabs by her age, but I'm not in any hurry at all.  Hey, we have a lifetime of learning opportunity, everyone at their own pace thank you.

I'm no tiger moms and I see no point in trying to push your child to do the things they don't want because they came here with their own plus and minuses that is essential for their own mission.

Lets take a look at this week's vocabularies.

Pretty self explanatory, non?

Artsy Fancy

After the excitement of making a witch's hat, she decided to use the remaining cardboard to make some delightful art work.

The fancy fan & the metallic ghoul 

Glamour Witch Hat

Another year has passed in the witch's year.  Halloween is the witch's new year.  Originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when people make bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.  Over the centuries it has become a secular event characterised by candies and costumes.

Although there's no walkabout for this little girl, we made a project to make a glamorous witch's hat.

Ingredients:
- black cardboard
- clear tape
- glue gun
- paints (we had some glow in the dark, metallic, and glittered paint)
- black mesh fabric, ribbons

Method:
This is probably not the best way, but it works for a one off hat.
Take the diameter of the child's head.  Draw a larger one outside depending how droopy you want the hat.
Make flaps so you can just tape them to the cone later.

Cut half a circle, the radius should be how high you want the hat to be.

 Tape the middle of the half circle which will be the point of the hat, this is to prevent it from ripping when you start twisting to make the cone.

 Working from inside, start joining the flap to the half circle, easier to use the tape rather than the glue gun.

 Voila, the finished hat base.

Next is the fun part, embellishment time!

Excuse the chocolate eggs and periodic table, lol.

Glue the ribbons and the fabric onto the hat, then paint....

 Let it dry....

All set to go.

How do you like my witch hat?  Glamorous, non?

"Hmm, it does look like how I imagined it would be...only better."

Blessed be everybody...

Sweet Spot Coffee

SSC got into big trouble because they have a cute assistant but she has a loud shrill voice and when somebody walks past she'll say "Free lemonade for you!".

Kane Chronicles

Her obsession with anything ancient Egyptian, lead us to purchase these Rick Riordan trilogy.

Fingers cross they are as good as The Percy Jackson and Olympian series.

I wrote this entry, this morning, hoping that the 400+ pages long novels would last for months, oh how wrong was I.  She chewed through the book like yummy chocolates and got to the end by 4pm.  

I think she mastered skim reading....fyi, I only got up to chapter 4 in an hour's time.

Postcard from NZ

It is the season of change again and here is another postcard from ever changing face of nature in New Zealand.

"Spring rain has been in abundance; dark, rolling masses unfolding from the west and the cold that often comes with it..the storms of change, strong winds and battering rains but it's a time of change for all living things isn't it? 

Two blackbirds are mating in my garden now unperturbed by it all it would seem and yesterday a tired pigeon came into the shelter of my garage to die in a warm corner of its choosing but I foolishly sent it back outside before I realised what it really wanted.  It's lack of energy to escape was my clue and I didn't read it well. 
Story of my life it would seem. I don't read clues.

The pale-eyed, grey clad armies of winter huddle around now smokeless fires ushering in the triumphant, blazing reds and golds and brilliant greens of spring.  

Truly every season is wonderful and you and I are still above the ground to see them.  How lovely for us both."

Indeed, every changes brings their own loveliness.  Even the slightest shift in one mind's paradigm can bring out the brightest light from within.
More of this to come later, but now, lets thank the season of change.