Giving Your Everything

A rich multi-millionaire walks into a church one day, sits down and says to the man beside him, "12 years ago, I was sitting on this same seat with only a dollar left in my pocket, and I put everything I had into the offering bag. When I walked out the church that day, I met a man who signed me a million-dollar business deal, which had made me the successful person I am today."

The second man replied, "That's a great story. But would you put everything you have today into that same offering bag?"

Would YOU?

NEW Blog Title!

I finally decided to change my blog title and tagline after weeks of procrastination. I could have said that I've been busy with my new job, but that would just be me giving lame excuses.

Thanks, Nick and Klieo for the feedback to my proposal.

Anyway, do leave some comments on whether you like or dislike the new change.

On a side note, here's a picture of me 'skydiving' without a parachute.

"Hooray!"

Yea, yea, I know I'm lame. You don't have to point out the obvious.

Of Love And Poetry

I used to think that love makes the best poets out of the most ordinary people;
But it was not long after I met you, that I realised that true love makes the dumbest of people out of the best poets.

Here's to us.

Reaching Out

Photo from Truth Finder

You can't help those who don't want to be helped, but you could at least reach out a hand and hope that they grab on eventually.

-RC-

The Bridge

I discovered this short movie quite awhile back and have already shared this movie with quite a few people. The title of the movie in Polish, Most, translated to English would mean The Bridge.

This movie is adapted from a true story about a man named John Griffith, who was a railroad bridgemaster. Although the characters in the movie do not directly portray the actual story about this person, it is adapted from the famous story which was inspired by this man's life.

In the 1930’s John worked as the controller of a huge railroad bridge across the Mississippi River. Every day at certain scheduled times the huge bridge was raised so that barges and other ships might make their way down the river. And according to a schedule, John would lower the bridge so that the freight and passenger trains could rush across.

In the summer of 1937, John Griffith took his then eight-year-old son with him to work for the first time. The boy was excited to watch the big railroad bridge and the trains & boats, and also to see the control house with all kinds of levers over which his daddy had absolute control.

His father took him to an observation deck so that he could watch the boats and trains go by. At noon John put the bridge up to let some ships go by since there would not be a train coming for awhile. He made his way to the observation deck where the two of them had lunch.

Just as John was telling a long story about the trains & boats, he was startled by the shrieking of a train whistle in the distance. He quickly looked at his watch and noticed that it was 1:07.

In the midst of his story telling he had forgotten that the passenger train - the express for Memphis with 400 passengers on board - would soon be roaring across that bridge.

Without panic but very quickly he leaped from the observation deck and ran back to the control tower. He placed his hand upon the massive iron controls and started to close the bridge. But before pulling the lever, he glanced down beneath the bridge to see if there were any ships beneath it.

There a sight caught his eye that made nearly made his heart stop.

His son had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the huge gears that operate the bridge. Though the boy was still alive and conscious, his left leg was caught in the cogs of the main gears! John knew that if he pulled that lever his son would be crushed.

His eyes filled with tears of panic, and his head was spinning. What he could do was to take a rope, rush to the observation tower, tie it and lower himself into the gear box, free his son, bring him back up to the observation deck, and make his way quickly back to the control tower to lower the bridge.

But no sooner had he thought it, than he knew there was no way he could do it in time for the train.

Again, closer than ever, the train whistle sounded. He could hear the wheels clicking over the tracks and the puffing of the engine.

But that was his son!

Yet there were 400 passengers on that train which was roaring toward the bridge. But John Griffith was a father and that was his boy!

He knew what he had to do so he buried his head in his left arm and pulled the master lever.

That massive bridge lowered into place just as the Memphis Express roared across the Mississippi.

When he lifted his head with his face smeared with tears, he looked into the passing windows of the train.

There were businessmen casually reading their afternoon papers, uniformed conductors looking at their large vest-pocket watches, well-dressed ladies in the dining car sipping coffee, and children pushing long spoons into the dishes of ice cream.

No one looked at the control house and no one looked at the great gear box.

With wrenching agony, John Griffith cried out at the train, "I sacrificed my son for you! Don't you care?" But nobody heard. They never even looked up from their newspapers, watches, coffee and ice cream.

In the same way, the Son of God has been sacrificed so that we might have eternal life.

Will we look up from our newspapers, watches, coffee and ice cream?

Taken from http://www.goarch.org/

Here's a fan-made video adapted from the original movie:

Random Banter

hooraymydarlingisbackinpenangforgoodandigettospendmoretimewithherandmakeupforthefourmonthswewereapartandifeellikehoppingupanddownlikealittlekidcozmydarlingisbackkkkkkk!

=)

Movie Review: Mary & Max (2009)

MOVIE TITLE: Mary & Max
YEAR: 2009
GENRE: Animation/Drama

I wonder if any of you have heard of this movie before called "Mary & Max". If I recall correctly, I don't remember ever seeing this film in local cinemas, nor have I heard about it until I spotted it sitting untouched in a friend's external hard drive. He told me that he'd never seen it yet, but I copied it into my own, out of curiosity.

The film managed to take me by surprise, as I didn't have high expectations for it. If you know me well, very few animated films have managed to impress me, and I am very proud to say that this one has!

Based on a true story, our little tale unfolds in 1976, in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, where an estranged 8-year-old girl named Mary Daisy Dinkle, who lived with her emotionally absent father and alcoholic mother with a tendency for shoplifting. Being friendless and completely naive, she decided to randomly pick out a name from the New York phone book and write to the address. Scrolling through the long list of names in the directory, she decided to write to "M. Horowitz". M. Horowitz, or Max, as she learns later on, was an equally estranged man, with Asperger's Syndrome, a condition that renders him unable to physically express his own emotions, as well as perceive emotional facial ques of others. Thus begins a unique correspondence of letters between the two, but not without interruption by several incidences and misunderstandings along the way.

The juxtaposition of monotonous dialogues and narration, as well as the monochromatic colour scheme throughout the whole movie, with a vast array of emotions and symbiotically colourful personality of the characters combined (ironically) truly makes the film an immensely enjoyable one for the literature and art fans alike. And the fact that a monotonous and monochromatic film which features lifeless works of clay is able to stir emotions of the viewers (well, me at least) in such a manner makes the film a true work of art.

The movie will take you through the life of both Mary and Max as two unique individuals, from Mary's naive and querulous thoughts as a child through her ups and downs as she matures into a woman, to Max's monotonous expressions of his experience in life as a social outcast, and his rigid mundane daily endeavours. A truly insightful watch for the viewer seeking artistic and mental stimulation. But be warned, that the movie is not made for every random movie buff. No, this movie is for but the faint of heart, not because of the graphic explicitness (which it has none, if you discount the one scene where Max visualizes himself naked on a desert island; hey, it's just clay anyway), but because of the monotonous 'emo' theme throughout the movie may come as a huge bore to the common movie goer. Yup, you heard me, the movie is "very the emo," and the director, Adam Eliot beautifully brings the viewers into the climax of emo-ness when (SPOILER ALERT!) someone tries to kill him/herself. Truly, the makers of this movies should be crowned geniuses together with the likes of the Wall-E people for successfully drawing out raw human emotions from lifeless patches of clay.

Final words, I would so recommend this movie to all lovers of literature, theatre, fine arts, and art in general. Definitely earns a spot in the list of movies I deem worth watching over and over again.


RATINGS:
Rotten Tomatoes: 90% on the Tomatometer
My Rating: 8.5/10

Here's the trailer:

Don't let the trailer fool you. Take my word for it, it's super emo, unlike what the trailer portrays.