an affair to remember

Does this ever happen in real life? I really love this scene. I've laughed at movie dramas partly because it was a way of disconnecting myself from the sadness. Also, I am biased towards comedies and wit and sarcasm. But this one is different...it is sacred cow...no one ever laughs at this.

water onslaught

This was one of our favourites when we were growing up - Gladys Knight and the Pips singing "Neither one of us". It sort of exemplified our teenage angst, "cry me a river" kind of emotional pining.
The current weather is so gloomy that it has given us an excuse to mope. The rains are falling and the sun has not fully peeked through for two weeks(?)now. I could go on and on listening to "I always get caught in the rain" by Dionne Warwick, "Wind beneath my wings" by Bette, etc. Meanwhile I can hear the tortured "eewwws" dotting the background.

85 the new 55

Ever heard of shifting retirement ages? It is likely to happen now that the global economic recession is officially declared. I and colleagues in the workplace are wondering whether our retirement will come close to 60 or will it stretch to the 90's. LOL...we are going to see us wobbling with our laptops and our walking sticks as well. The proverbial nest eggs are shrinking and the prospects of Riviera style holidays are fast fading. Well meaning people are asking us to plan resources to get us to age 100...and prepare to work until 98??

Photo by Flickr

breaking barriers

yzma, catwoman, eartha

Eartha Kitt had been always my favourite gal. She was one of those who defied conventions. Also, talent oozed from her. Remember the Batman on TV we used to watch? Catwoman was Eartha Kitt. Years later, she was Yzma (her voice), the villainess in The Emperor's New Groove. I laughed at this:

Yzma: Tell us where the talking llama is and we'll burn your house to the ground.
Kronk: Don't you mean "or"?
Yzma: [sighs] Tell us where the talking llama is *or* we'll burn your house to the ground.
Chaca: Well, which one is it? That seems like a pretty crucial conjunction.

I agreed with this review of her: "Yzma was Eartha Kitt and Eartha Kitt was Yzma".

She died last Christmas Day and I am going to miss that "voice", sultry, wicked and witchy.

bag lady and stilletos

Writing about stilletos surely would bring out a google ad on Sex and the City...and the Sarah Jessica Parker bag lady comment. She, as Carrie Bradshaw said "I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes!"


photo by: flickr

one stilleto at a time

This is reality stuff - women earn less than men over their lifetimes and live longer. They are more likely to spend their golden years in poverty. Take a glance around and you know what I mean. Of course, we don't see bag ladies (homeless women who carry their belongings in shopping bags) in Brunei but we see some reduction in quality of life when a woman is widowed or divorced. It is a lesson to learn.

Women need to learn as early as possible that real life has no prince valiants to save them from poverty. Women should know the basics: spend less than you earn; pay yourself first. Know the virtues of an emergency fund; don't be debt-ridden; use your credit cards responsibly; have a moratorium on clothes-buying now and then and of course, as they say, "one stilleto at a time". Then, perhaps we will never worry about being bag ladies.

photo by: flickr