I Bare Witness to this Historical Event!

No, it's not the day when Burberry decided to use checkers for its brand trademark.

I am a girl. No, that's an understatement. I am a girl's girl. I can watch Friends repeatedly over pizza, and I like clothes, drama series and hot guys. Basically I am like you, and if you're not this girl then I'd bet you know one of these girls in your lifetime. Yes, I am that.

Now let me tell you about this HISTORICAL EVENT of mine. I live with a father and two brothers, which means that in our DVD collection at home there is a good mixture of romance comedies and kick ass action movies. One day a few years ago the men in the house watched a martial arts film. Yikes, a martial arts film. I took no notice of the movie and carried on with my life. Now I have just graduated and unimployed. I spend my days drifting around the house, looking through photo albums, sorting out the tupperware in the cabinets (yes, I was that bored people) and re-watching all those collection of my movies. At some point there was nothing left to do. Literally nothing left to do. I had washed all the bathrooms in the house. I had woken up, ate, slept, ate and slept again, but the boredom was like a huge blade poking at my pelvis. I looked around. Hmm, those action movies dusting away in the drawers don't look too bad...

I watched Ong Bak, a Thai movie by a male subject I have never heard before, Tony Jaa. And dayum! Martial arts movies have not been this good since, I daresay ever! Of course, I have yet to watch any Bruce Lee movies, but dude, who is this Tony Jaa person?? Helped by the mighty power of Google, I discovered that this guy, this Tony Jaa, this head-kicking-chest-elbowing-mind-boggling-punch-swinging man is actually the rising star of this generation's brand of martial arts actors, specialising in Muay Thai which is a form of Thaland martial arts.

I couldn't get enough, so in the same day I managed to watch all three of Tony Jaa's existing movies;
1. Ong Bak
2. Ong Bak 2
3. The Protector (aka Tom Yum Goong)
Okay, now where do I start with this guy? Oh, and he's not cute, by the way. Not to my taste I mean. But he makes it up by kicking lots of asses in style! He uses no computer or CGI tricks, and no strings. All those flying right on top of people's heads and elbowing their skulls were real! And that ripped physique as a result of practicing martial arts all his life - let's just say it makes Robert Pattinson look like a sissy and all those men buffing up in gyms look like amateurs.

All the storylines pretty much sucked. In the protector, for instance, Tony Jaa loves his elephants. Bad guys steal his elephants. Tony Jaa finds them and breaks their faces (very important lesson here, folks. Don't fuck with this guy's elephants!). Then for the fun of it Tony Jaa beats the shitload out of those bad guys. Cliche, cliche. In one of those movies there were even no subtitles, so I didn't understand a single doing of Thailand language in there. But seriously, who cares? This guy appears on screen and I can actually, yes this is true, feel the adrenaline rushing through me, just because I am excited to see him kick some ass. I watched the whole movie without subtitles, and still by the end of it I felt exhausted just by watching him show Spiderman, 'This is how we do it baby. CGI and computer tricks are only for wusses'.



And so, I have witnessed the historical event of the birth and rise of the next martial arts star who will do Asian proud. You heard it here first. And I am now fully converted from the girl who watches the Shopaholic to anxiously waiting for the next Tony Jaa film (Ong Bak 3, coming on Dec 2009. See? That's another clue. If they keep making sequel after sequel, you know what that means. It has to be good). And here's some advice. Even if you hate martial arts movies, and have no interest in some action packed films, give it a try. Come on, girls. It's not all about the shopping bags.

Slumdog Millionaire - A Million Dollar Love Story

What is it about good love stories that make you feel oh so warm and fuzzy inside? I don't really like the cliched Hollywood romance movies - they are so predictable, packed with lame jokes and cheesy lines. I don't like cheesy lines. Romance, for me, is not about what you say, it's about what you do. Anyone can produce a cheesy line. All those 'your eyes are like the sparkling starts on the sky' and the 'Oh Romeo, Romeo' crap doesn't make me melt, they make me irk. But when you do something, something unmistakeable not cheesy yet has the word 'love' stamped all over it, now that, ladies and gentlemen, now that is what I am looking for.

I watched Slumdog Millionaire because Rotten Tomatoes movie review said that it was a 'modern fairytale' and 'surprisingly refreshing'. And I love movies. I watch all kinds of movies from action to drama to indie to cross-culutural ones. Movies have this power of transporting your mind into a completely different world. And for Slumdog Millionaire, my oh my. I did not think any of the boys were cute or any of the girls are pretty, which are usually the reasons most people would want to see a movie, but the film just sucks you in, into this world where the hero does not look like an underwear model and the heroine does not wear designer shoes and sips cofee in the mornings.

It's not your typical movie, and what I wouldn't give to watch something original for a change. It's basically about a Muslim Indian boy who went through poverty and the begging industry, and participated in 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' in India just because he knew the girl he loved would be watching him. I mean, the way he was always looking out for her and trying to save her even though he couldn't - I WANT A BOYFRIEND LIKE THAT!! And the best thing was they were seperated for years because of the whole poverty thing, but he never stopped looking for her. A big fat W-O-W.

In the beginning, when they showed his living environment as a slumdog, it actually made me feel like I could not wait to adopt a kid from India. The director did not design the film to be sad and sympethatic, he directed it in a matter-of-fact manner, which is good becuase it reminds us that stories doesn't just happen in New York City, it happens anywhere in the world where humans live.

There was one distinct moment in the middle of the movie when the boy was waiting for the girl at the crowded train station, and when she looked up to see him on the upper floor. Sigh. They did not say a word to each other and only smiled, and that is an exact example of what I meant when I say that it's not about what you say, it's about what you do. They said nothing but you know right there that this is one hell of a beautiful scene. And the ending was just purr-fect.

So kudos to the guy who made this movie. I love it. It's different and authentic, and believe you me, since the 21 November until today I have watched no less than 60 movies, and this is one ranks real high.