The Lake House

The Lake House is basically about well, a lake house, which two occupants who lived there 2 years apart found that they could, miraculaously exchange letters between themselves through the house little mail box. Inevitably, they both found themselves falling in love with each other.

The movie begins with Kate (Sandra Bullock) moving out of the lake house in 2006 just as Alex (Keanu Reeves) was moving into the house in 2004. Before she left, Kate left a note in the mailbox, requesting any new tenant to forward her letters to her new address.The note is then found by Alex, 2 years earlier. It didn't take them long before they realised they are communicating across time and continue their correspondence as pen friends. Alex would then also met Kate, before she moves into the lake house and realised he really has fallen in love with her, at about the same time, 2 years later that Kate remembered back the same meeting. But when he failed to turned up for an agreed meet up 2 years later, Kate give up on that romance without giving him a break or trying to find out what happened. It was very obvious to me that in an accident scene in the beginning of the movie, Alex was the victim. The only reason he did not show up was because he died. Unfortunately, Kate only found that out another 2 years later. Wouldn't that make it 2008 then? The film even take us into the future.

The spoiler being, Kate found out that Alex got killed in 2006, shortly after their correspondence began because she has told him where she would be the Valentine of that year. Alex attempted to look for her there and met with a fatal car accident. 2 years later, she would find out about the accident and rushed to the lake house to forward a warning to Alex. The question then remain if Alex would find the letter in time before he set out to look for her. Knowing Hollywood, the studio probably film a version of each ending, one where he lives and one where he died. Obviously, screen test shows the more popular ending is he lived so he was saved from that accident and meet up with Kate 2 years later.

Do we feel sorry for Alex waiting so faithfully, 4 years in total, to reunite with Kate? Do we get frustrated at Kate for letting go too early or not trying to find Alex? Do we jump for joy when Alex avoided the accident because Kate's letter reached him through time, on time?

Unfortunately, interesting as the story is, we were not moved by any of the event. Although the plot was interesting, the movie failed to make us feel. Maybe the characters were just too nice, you know, the kind of people we can really grow fond of after we know them for a couple of years? Unfortunately, we only have less than a couple of hours so we never really grow to care aout them. Too bad.

Saying thanks with your hand.

Seeing a lady driver having difficulty coming out of a junction, I slowed down and let her passed. She raised her hand in gratitude, except she is not very good with hand signal. Her hand was raised with her palm facing herself, thus making it looked like she is gesturing in offense instead of gratitude. Well, I was pretty sure she really meant to thanks me.

She is not the only one though. I know of people who refrained from giving similar hand sign because they realised they are doing it wrong. To these people, I can only advise; Show your palm.

Whether you are trying to thank a driver who just let you pass or apologising for say, slamming your brake too suddenly, just show your palm. It is the guaranteed way to send the right message. Afterall, you do not want other to think you are blaming them when you are only trying to thank them, right? Oh, if it's to a driver behind you and you can't turn around, just keep your eyes on the road and raise your hand as if taking an oath. We'll get the meaning. Simple, right?

Show your palm and you can't go wrong!
Well, just be careful not to overdo it la.

This community message is brought to you by pencilmanlives.blogspot.com

I will follow you...

Anybody have not seen the recent Digi advertisement, with all those yellow teletubbies- like characters running around? It’s impossible to miss. Maxis may dominates the market but Digi rules the media exposure.
It’s really quite catchy. Played to the song ‘I will follow you’, these characters just follow people around, listening to their phone calls, reading their sms, (tried) following them into toilets etc. Supposedly representing the Digi service, they are really trying to say that Digi will faithfully be by the users’ side every time and everywhere. Except of course when their service is down or when user don’t get good enough coverage but they don’t mention about those. That’s advertisement for you.
Actually, I kinda like the advertisement, even though I don’t like Teletubbies. It’s funny, I almost always like the advertisement for the competitors of whatever I am supporting, although apparently, I am not easily swayed. Supported FedEx, coz I had a good time working for them but always find DHL ads funnier and UPS’s “Synchronized Dance” very classy. OK lah… FedEx’s “Stepping Stone” is quite a surprise delight as well.
Back to Digi, the ad has stop running. Maybe some people find it freaky but Digi is already on a new campaign. The ‘Hello’ ad however, lacks the creativity and energy of their earlier advertisement campaigns.
They also made a mistake with one short variation in between these two ads. After the deadline to register prepaid numbers in Malaysia, they have one where a new user registered and 2 of these ‘teletubbies’ characters fighting to follow this new user. Maybe they are trying to tell us they are very eager to serve us and that they have more than enough resources for their client but why didn’t anyone else in the ad has a yellow guys beside them? Digi unwittingly just told Malaysian that noone is using their service. Talk about giving the wrong impression. Digi probably realized this and that is why this campaign was so shortlived, and why the new ad seems a bit like a rush job. Love them or loathe them, we probably seen the last of those eternally cheerful, forever grinning yellow fellas.
For the record, I use 012, and before that, 017. Had I known Maxis will take over the 017 number, I would not have given up my 017-8880800 number. Damn waste but a.d.a.m. back then sucks. Oh well...

Pain & Pleasure

One of the belief that Anthony Robbins taught was that our lives are controlled by 2 powerful force- PAIN and PLEASURE. Likewise, the changes we made in our lives are motivated either by our need to avoid pain or our desire to obtain pleasure.

In my "complicated" past, I have use the above unwittingly to avoid the pain of the live I was living and each time, a little difference presented itself. I was satisfied with the changes even though I realised my core problem is not solved yet.

Recently, all these leftover problem came back to haunt me. I may have miraculously secured a decent-paying job in a multi-nasional company but how far am I from the lives I wanted for myself? Driven by desire for pleasure this time, I found that what would please me is financial freedom and time for myself to do the things I enjoyed. A little luxury is most welcomed, it's been wanting in the past. I also want to be able to pamper a loved one, to let her know I am capable of taking good care of her.

I left my safe job last year for another in sales line. Though I shamelessly lauded myself for the courage to leave the security of that job, I must admit that I was really hasty and ill-prepared. Aside from a freelance project I managed to obscured, I have pretty much failed to achieve all that I have set out for. And once again, I found myself wounded from the pain of failure and rejection.

This year, pain will be my friend as I use the force from the need to avoid pain to change my lives once and for all. I may not always make the right decision, I amy face failure again, but the most important thing is to pick myself up each time I fall, preferable much more quicker than I used to. And stay focused.