A Pleasant-er Surprise

Wow, we're page rank 1 today! Can't believe it. Must be the changes and upgrades we've been making to the blog. Adding more book reviews soon.

What a Surprise... A Pleasant One Too

May I just say wow... My book blog is on page 4 on Google search. Maybe this doesn't seem so overwhelming. But this is page 4 out of over 820 million other hits AND it is contending with the hits from 'All Creatures Great and Small' by James Herriot which is what it's named after as it is one of my favorite books of all time. Also, the search results are not based on the actual phrase which makes it even more amazing. Can't believe it! Truth be told... I'm not sure how it even got there... Click the image below to find out more about page rank. There's a really good article about it from smashing magazine.com

Ip Man

For those of you who know me well, you would know very well that I don't understand nor speak a word of Chinese. So you can imagine what happens when the subtitles in a Chinese movie are inaccurate - to say the least. Yes, do remind me never to get the early, closely original edition of a Chinese movie.

I didn't understand a word of what was going on! It was incredibly frustrating because the subtitles in English were a direct translation of the Cantonese dialogue and, at other times, it differed vastly from the original meaning. For example, 'wong suk' was translated directly to 'prosperity uncle' and 'tai kor' was translated to 'Kayu' which left me wondering what was going on in the translator's minds...

However, I feel that the lack of subtitles allowed me to appreciate the movie a whole lot more than I thought it would. It made me think and observe even more than I usually would when watching a movie. Because I didn't get the dialogue served up to me on a plate, I had to really observe the acting and subtext and also analyze the structure of the plot to understand what was going on.

And you know what? I really, really enjoyed the movie. The plot and characters were 3-dimensional unlike a lot of the kung fu movies we get these days. The visuals were well-thought out (remember the feather duster?) and the acting was spot on and I say this with certainty because I could still follow the story without understanding the dialogue. Yes, Donnie Yen truly outdid himself in this one... I see them sweeping the awards for this one.

I found out towards the end of the movie that this was based on a true story. I think that the film makers and especially the script writer did justice to it. The humourous moments were very well scattered in the movie keeping it light where it needed to be. And the rest of the time? Why, you'd spend most of it on the edge of your seat gasping at the plight of Ip Man and also gawking at the precision of his kicks and punches - frightening, yet beautiful.

It made me think about and admire those people who stand up for what's right even though they know it may cost them their lives. However, Ip Man had one thing that made him sure of himself in the face of adversity - his skill in kung fu. I think that's how regular people achieve greatness. I would be so lucky to even find the one thing I can be sure of in life.

This was certainly a tale from Chinese history worth telling to the world.

TIT BITS: I've just discovered that the screen play was written by Edmond Wong who, incidentally, also wrote the screen play for Dragon Tiger Gate. Also, according to Wikipedia, there's going to be a sequel portraying Ip Man's life in Hong Kong and that either Jay Chou [???] or Aaron Kwok is being considered for the role of Bruce Lee.

Tutorials, and More Tutorials

NO I am not attending them. I don't fly off till the 11th of February anyway... I'm just here killing time during my fourth and final babysit- I mean, tutorial watch for today. Ha! Ha! Ha! I'm just relieving Teacher Shyam today who's feeling rather unwell. I can tell you for a fact that the hall is super noisy! I'm having trouble hearing myself think.


But I'm having a ball of a time watching them practice their skit for their history lesson after this. I just had a pregnant guy collapse in front of me after giving birth. XD So funny! And one group has just discovered that I am covertly taking pictures of them practicing. They're a cute bunch though. I must admit that I am pretty darn jealous as well. Wish I had that much fun learning history in school.

Before this tutorial, I was suffering from a severe bout of boredom since my laptop could not establish a connection to the internet and it certainly didn't occur to me to bring something should the internet not work. Fortunately, I'm a very resourceful person and so, managed to find something to do to beat the boredom.


The nice part about sitting here and observing the students is that they all have smiles on their faces! That's really awesome. We've had parents come tell us that they now don't have to wrestle their kids out of bed just to get them to school. They're waking up all by themselves. I'm envious of that too. =p

Feeling the Shackles

I wonder if anybody has ever felt as though life was overwhelming because I certainly am feeling that way now just thinking about what lies in store in my future. Just when you think that it's too much too soon, somebody like Mr. Obama shows up and floors you. Bad enough that there's too much on your plate - look at him!

Has anyone been reading the newspapers lately? Have you seen the expectations people are piling on him? And forget the U.S, all around the world people are hoping he will aid or bring change to their countries. The pressure is immense. He may as well have been elected the Ruler of the World if that were the case.

But I digress, my point is that I'm just amazed at the things people can do - the mountains they are able to carry and move. I can't imagine being in his shoes right now... it's just too overwhelming! But it does make me feel that my problems are smaller and more manageable and I hope that I will be able to rise to the occasion and deal with it well.

The most important thing I believe, is to believe in yourself and what you're doing and to trust yourself to see you through life (mostly unscathed).