The Housemaid (2010) !~!~!

This month is really movie month - where a number of my favorite actors and actresses comes into scene :)

On Monday, at work, my mind kept wandering to the movie- screening at night : My Housemaid ( a Korean Movie)played by one of my favorite actress Jeon Do-yeon - Sponsored by OMY.SG and also Reebonz ( Can't thank you all enough )Also, this film was directed by Im Sang-Soo ( who is famous for controversial themes).



My Housemaid is a remake of the 1960 black-and-white classic, following similar storyline but with different methods of portraying the emotions surging in each of them.



The plot revolves around (Eun-yi "Jeon Do-yeon"),who was hired as a nanny for an upper-class family , the Hoon Family. The Hoons ( Wife Hae-ra "Seo Woo" and Husband Master Hoon "Lee Jeong Jae") seems to be the couple one would yearn to be - riches, beautiful children, living the life - but like many instances, a pregnant wife worst fear in her 9 months of pregnancy : a husband who cannot control his 'nature' and 'needs' and finds another women. And to make things worse, The handsome composer Hoon satisfies his desires in the nanny hired and gets her pregnant.The other nanny "Yoon Yeo-Jeong" exposes the truth however to realise that it was a big mistake to do that. But, because of money, all things can be settled. The mother-in-law "Park Ji-Yeong" devises evil schemes to induce miscarriage and when all does not go according to plan, she does it by force - where she instigates an abortion - leaving Eunyi no choice at all. And with such circumstances, Revenge ensues...........

What remains etch in my memory are the following scenes



- Master Hoon coming to the nanny room and starts touching her - in lust and desire; where in the scene before, the pregnant wife though being so pregnant still 'rides' him and does 'sexual' service ( Oral service) for him ----> Really. How could he?



- The mother-in-law telling the daughter : Every rich man will have a fling, just close your eyes and pretend it doesnt happen, think about your children's future, -----> how reality bites. Would you leave him or stay for the riches?

- The daughter tells the nanny " I saw my grandmother push you" and the nanny tells the girl " no, it was by accident" --------> thats why they always say children knows best. Adults always attempt to decieve themselves to make it better but children always say what they feel or see.

Personally though I had expected much more from the movie itself ( especially the ending) , I can say that this film is far beyond the level of satisfactory. Its way above average.

1. The actors and actresses - even the daughter - was amazing.
You could see their soul while acting where the mixture of their raw pain and their desires - was captured in many of the scenes.

2. The scenes that speaks of the strong theme of dominance and manipulation and sexuality and social status
Reflects the world in reality - where at times we cannot help but sigh at how power or riches does bring one forward - where at times we see men falling to their nature causing their wife to suffer all for that short moment of time - where at times we see how desires take over someone and that which causes one to lose one's self - where in moments, all we see is our satisfaction and what should be ours is ours - where it seems everyone want to just take and not give and will protect themselves eventually. ---------------------- Sounds depressing hmm.. (haha)

I would strongly recommend this show - especially if you are a person like me, who loves prominent themes and make you reflect on certain issues in life



Note: A number of photos have been taken from Han Cinema.

Introducing the actor and actresses

Dia De Muertos

On 30.10.2010 Together with My Mexican friends, while everyone was celebrating Halloween, we , together with fellow couchsurfers, were celebrating Dia de Muertos :)

Our Mexican friend Karina, The Chef

Who served us the food she cooked :)

Ceviche

Mole ( Brought from Mexico)

Arroz con Leche ( Rice with Milk)

And also the Jamaica Drink (Hibiscus Tea) which was so refreshing

I miss Horcharta (Rice drink)

Her HDB neighbor also came to join in the fun with his 'Satan' image and tried to kill us all. hahahahaha..


They started the night by bringing out the Ukuleles accompanied by a guitar for the song " Bendita Tu Luz" by Mana



Here's the version by the original version ( with Eng sub for understanding)


Next we prepared for our night walk to our friends' place.



What a fun night! :)

The next time, a Salsa dancing night too maybe. hahahahaha.. I miss dancing Salsa through the night :)

P.S Cafe at Palais

Had a Brunch gathering with SMU Besties at P.S Cafe - and I must say the place was lovely! The cakes were yummy! So satisfying!
We went to the outlet at Palais (390 Orchard Road Level 2).
As reservations can't be made, the waiting time for brunch was about half an hour for a group of 4.
Note: Brunch on the Weekends 930am - 5pm (Last Order 4pm)

The cakes that greeted my eyes and made my mouth water
- Dont you want to try EVERYTHING?




Moving in, you are amazed by how spacious and open it feels - with the usage of glass panels, plants and the design of the chairs and tables. And with families gathered , expats gathered and friends gathered, it felt like a big gathering. So soothing and reassuring.





We quickly settled down in the place. However with everything sounding so delicious and all, it was really hard time deciding what to eat.

We eventually decide on.....

For me:) P.S Breakfast Stack - Tomato Coddled Egg on Homemade Zucchini & Parmesan Bread with Roasted Portobello & Chargrilled Asparagus, Hollandaise Sauce & Wildrockets. It was yummy and healthy and very filling.
The vegetables (where the Asparagus were well-grilled and had a smoking flavor) were a very good appetizer to start with. - while the sauce whetted your appetite for more of the food.
And for the Portobello mushroom, it was juicy and infused with herbs.
The Homemade Zucchini & Parmesan Bread, is soft and fragrant. The bread has a crispy crust and it is eggy but not soggy. There are some mixed zucchini , mashed parmesan cheese and herbs mixed together in the bread.

Cipto had the Eggs Benedict.
It had eggs poached close to perfection, with a slice of ham under it set on an English Muffin. On top of all this, was the generous giving of vegetables with the Hollandaise Sauce.



And for Sarah, Ling and DW
They decided on the P.S Big Bacon and Eggs.
There was also sausages in it that were so juicy and yummy.



The drinks also had a good presentation. I like the peace and lemon tea.



And of course to end off our meal, we had to have the cake!
After a long deliberation, we decide to go for the


The cake was huge! Even with 5 of us, we were unable to finish up the whole cake!


The next time I am going to bring my parents there! Its so nice. If I had the money, I'd will be there every week! P.S Cafe- I'll be there soon! :)

And I wanna try this cake next! :) Looks nice right? :)


Thanks to my besties for the introduction. Strive on! Will always be praying for you all :) Love you lots :)

RED! Movie Premiere

With the movie starting at 7.15pm, I was already excited at 6.30pm as the movie had my favorite actor Morgan Freeman. I have always like him especially through the movie Kiss The Girls and Along came a Spider which came from the adaption of the author James Patterson Book.


RED is an action film with many instances of comedy and hilarious actions and phrases. One phrase that summarises it all " RED= Retired Extemely Dangerous!" hahahahahahahahaha

Red is the story of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a former CIA agent, who was asked to retire and now he lives a quiet life, where he is in love with a call center lady Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker)who has always been trying to find the right man but could never find one . That is until the day a hi-tech assassin shows up intent on killing Frank and all that is important to him. So he escapes and quickly goes to her house to protect her. Frank reassembles his old team (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich- A conspiracy Theorist and Helen Mirren - the specialist who kills people) in a last ditch effort to survive. (Just thinking of them makes me double in laughter) - Also in the midst of all this, rekindled love lines etc makes the movie touching while being so funny. At the same time, I also like the plot of the story where it trails the reason for the killings which makes it easy to follow and digest.



Summarise in another website:
The film is handled in a stylistically whimsical, breezy fashion by director Scwentke. There is an overabundance of violence, but it is depicted with enough gleeful abandon to be supremely entertaining. Physics is defied, grenades are like baseballs, and empty casings pile up on all sides as the film cuts in and out of bullet time. The end result is an exhilarating display that avoids being exhausting.



Its my first time seeing Morgan Freeman in a comedy and I can say its a successful one. The movie theatre was ringing with laughter and everyone had smiles on their faces when they left the movie theatre.



Special Thanks to Omy.SG for being the supplier to my dose of laughter and joy for the night :)

Last but not least, Morgan Freeman keep it up!

YWLC Leadership Development 30.10.2010

Last Saturday ( 30 Oct ) I attended the YWLC leadership development workshop - which had talks on certain issues we women face in the corporate world and even in life at times. - Certainly enriching!



What is YWLC ?
In an effort to create a pipeline of women leaders and more opportunities for young women with leadership potential in Singapore, the Young Women's Leadership Connection (YWLC) was conceptualized by Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua, Minister (Prime Minister's Office) and Second Minister for Finance and Transport, and UBS Singapore. This initiative was launched in 2008 to serve as a mentorship, enrichment, networking and community engagement platform for young women leaders at the university-to-work stage of their lives.

In February 2010, the YWLC, led by its pioneer Executive Committee, was officially constituted under the People's Association network of community organisations. The society continues to further its goal of grooming young women leaders for Singapore, and structures its programmes and activities around 4 core pillars - Enrichment, Networking, Mentorship and Community. YWLC hopes to be a platform for young women leaders to connect and to find guidance, community engagement and personal development opportunities, and perhaps most importantly, friendships.



YWLC Leadership Development started with Ms Saw (CEO of SMRT) sharing her experiences with us - answering issues that ranged from working well with colleagues to management of people - which was very apt with women of different ages in the workshop some fresh out of university to some already in the working world management level. A key phrase that rings in my mind till date " You have to work on your strengths and work even harder on your weakness. Practice makes that weakness less of a weakness."



Following that, we had Prof Jayanth from NUS to share with us the positions of influence. How to not get easily swayed by influences around us and always be aware of the invisible influences that persists in the environment. At that same time, teaching us the concept of influence - where we watched a movie that narrates how 1 person of the whole jury thinks that the prisoner is not guilty. He asks the reason of the why each thinks the prisoner is guilty and refutes it by evidence and justification. Eventually, you will see that many people in the world go by the majority, it is not that they think the prisoner is guilty but thinks it is the safer choice to follow since if the verdict is wrong, he is not the only one to blame. How true it is - Don't you think so? Who dares to stand against the tide where we fear the tide may swallow us up - Do you dare to be the one that stands out among the crowd?



Next, we had Prof Eugene Tan from SMU to share with us gender issues at work place - where people voice out that discrimation is evident in certain jobs where for example, engineering seems to favor males being in the job than female, where nursing seems to accept more female than male and so on. And also in high level management positions, it always seems a male is more favored. Other than gender issues, age issues also arised. Where in a number of industries it seems one have to be of a certain age to be matched to a certain title - And many of us felt strongly about this issue - where some mentioned that their age issue made them have to work even harder to get acceptance for their efforts, where sometimes clients favor people who are older as it is matched up with years of experience. What say you?



Lastly we had the sharing from Norma Sit ( CEO of Foundation of the Future) where it gave us an opportunity to think about what makes us happy in life, what we are currently doing and how we see ourselves@ 50 years old. Then aligning our personal goals to what we can do for the world - how we understand certain issues that are evolving such as climate change, poverty, income gap - and how we can contribute. I felt that it was a very nice transition as personally I believe strongly that since the world has provided you with resources and all and its time we should also provide back for the world.





To mark the end of the programme, we had dinner with Ms Lim Hwee Hua ( Minister, Prime Minister's Office & Second Minister for Finance and Transport, Chair of YWLC Council of Advisors) at a splendid place called SpaBoutique at 6 Nassim Road. The place design makes you feel like you are in Bali - with a swimming pool ( for skinny dipping? - kidding) and beds align for your spa treatment and a bar beside for chilling. And the spaciousness with trees all around and away from all the traffic with the colonial atomosphere - a retreat venue to be considered.






This event was fantastic! A well-spent day :)