Monthly Archives: December 2011

In My Hands Today…

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Solo – Rana Dasgupta

A blind chemist lives alone in Sofia. He is old – he has witnessed a whole century of Bulgarian war and setback – and the years have proved a disappointment. Wondering if he has anything to leave the world, he immerses himself in a spectacular reimagining of his life.

Set in a country that has belonged sometimes to Asia and sometimes to Europe, Solo is a book about lost roots, broken traditions and wasted human endeavours – and the exquisite ways in which human beings overcome them.

Holiday Packing

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So we’re down to the one-week countdown for our trip. Our helper V left last night and it’s just going to be the four of us till we leave next Monday. Since I do not have any more leave from work, I’ll be going in to work the rest of the week with S staying at home to be with BB & GG. Luckily, I have some time off due to me, so I’ll be coming home earlier (at lunch time) on Thursday and Friday. The children are spending their time today at their grandparents place, so that’s taken care off. GG & BB are super excited that from noon on Friday I’ll be with them 24/7 till the morning of the 3rd, when we have to go back to school/work.

Most of the shopping (aka lists that need to be purchased) have been done. S pulled down the luggage yesterday so our guest room now resembles a hotel – suitcases, both belonging to V and us, plastic bags full of stuff waiting to be packed and other assorted stuff that needs to either go into a closet or out of the house.

My packing style is making lists. I love making lists and so will usually make a couple of lists for each trip that we make. This year I found an iPhone app uPackingListFree that will do that for me.

What I usually do is pack my clothes and other things which I will not be using from that point on till the destination. I usually overpack and over the days between the time I start packing till we leave, I will keep refining my items till such time I am satisfied that I’ve got exactly what we need.

Now that we’re at the one-week mark, I think I will start the packing process from Wednesday. I’ll keep you updated…

P.S: WordPress just informed me that this is my 150th post! So woohoo to me!!

In My Hands Today…

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The Rome Prophecy – Jon Trace

A white-knuckle thriller in the dark heart of Rome

A woman has been arrested on the streets of Rome. She’s young. She’s beautiful. She’s covered in blood. And she claims to be an ancient prophet on the run from a mighty power that centuries ago brought the eternal city to its knees.

Ex-priest Tom Shaman teams up with a headstrong policewoman to unravel the mystery. But within Rome’s churches and corridors of power, stealthy enemies are conspiring against them. And someone is re-enacting sinster legends from the city’s bloody past…

Loaded with action that rockets from gothic plazas through majestic cathedrals and into the vast catacombs lurking beneath the city, this electrifying thriller will dazzle fans of Dan Brown and Chris Kuzneski.

Puss in Boots – Movie Review

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I just realized what a boring life I live, when the highlight of my week is looking forward to Friday evening, so that I can sleep in over the weekend! Gosh! My life also does not give me any material for my blog, unlike the other parenting blogs I come across.

So what do I write about today? I know, let me review Puss in boots which we caught at a matinee last week. We saw the 10:30 show at the Cathay cinema in Causeway Point. If you are a Passion Card member, note, you get the tickets at S$7 with a small popcorn for two tickets purchased. This took care of the popcorn that BB & GG expect when they go to the theatre. Since we were going back home for lunch straight after the movie, I didn’t want them to eat anything else which can spoil their apetite later.

Set in the western town of San Ricardo, Puss in Boots tells the prequel story of the character in the Shrek movies. Voiced by Antonio Banderas, this Spanish speaking kitty wears heels, is a lady killer and is an outlaw. He has been searching for the magic beans which he learns is with Jack and Jill. He goes to their hotel room and tries to steal the beans but is thwarted by another cat who soon escapes the place. Following her to a cat traven, they have a dance-off cum fight, where he finds out that he is actually Kitty Softpaws, the softest paws any kitty has. At the same time, he also learns that his estranged childhood friend Humpty Alexander Dumpty is behind this meeting and wants the help of Puss to find the magic seed which has been his childhood dream.

So Puss, Kitty and Humpty plan and steal the magic beans. They plant it and go to the giant’s castle in the sky and find the golden eggs. When they realize the eggs are too heavy to carry, they carry the goosling which lays the eggs, eluding the terror which guards the goose and the eggs. Once back on earth while celebrating their victory, Jack and Jill catch up with them and hit Puss and decamp with everything – Humpty, Kitty and the goose.

On awakening, Puss tracks them back to San Ricardo and learns that all this was a plot by Humpty to take revenge on Puss for abandoning him when Humpty’s heist when they were children went wrong. Kitty was also on this plot. Puss then turns himself to the authorities and is put in jail where he meets the real Jack and realizes that the Terror is in fact the mother of the goosling who will stop at nothing to get her child back. Kitty helps Puss break out of prison to try and stop the Terror from demolishing the town. In the fracas, Humpty gives up his life so that Puss can save the goosling and when his shell cracks, he is found to be golden!

The verdict – the kids both GG, BB and all the rest in the theatre loved the movie. I was not sure what was there that made the censors put a PG classification, guess the slightly adult theme and fights was the answer. All in all, a movie worth watching, atleast once!