by witsandnuts on June 30, 2008
Dementors: They sense and feed on the positive emotions of human beings, forcing them to relive their worst memories. The very presence of a dementor makes the surrounding atmosphere grow cold and dark, and the effects are cumulative with the number of dementors present. (Source)
Dementorous: Evil; intent on making others unhappy or draining a mood. Word history: From JK Rowling’s Harry Potter. A dementor who sucked out your soul and everything you ever thought that you had to do with being happy. (Source)
Well, dementors are everywhere. In different forms, in different colors. I think that it depends on how you take in the occurrences in your daily life. Everyday I got to meet different challenges, but I must say that today I definitely met a dementor. Heck, @!*#! Kidding, I didn’t say bad words. I am (still) surprised I kept my tact. Really, patience is a virtue. I thought I was going to cry. Of course, not infront of the dementor. I sure wished I did cry to let it out. Truth is I hardly cry, so maybe it was not worth my tears.
So what to do if you do meet a dementor?
(a) Be patient.
(b) Remain tactful. You’ll amaze and thank yourself in the long run.
(c) Cry if you must, but not in a dementor’s face. There’s nothing wrong with crying, I was very willing to burst out my tears, crying will not make me less of a person. It just didn’t come out.
(d) Call a friend to lend his/her ears and shoulders to you (mushy, but go on if you must)!
(e) Evaluate what actually happened. You know yourself and you are wise/mature enough to dissect the harsh truths (learn from it) and myth (deadma! ignore!) in the dementor’s words.
(f) Life goes on. 
(g) Remember this little trivia : One way to shield oneself from dementors is to use the difficult Patronus Charm. What is that charm? In layman’s term, it is something to combat the dementor’s influence. Well, you don’t have to be a wizard. Just keep the positivity, ok?
And in case you have been ‘poisoned’, err, affected by the dementor, eat chocolates. In relation to the Patronus Charm from Harry Potter, chocolates are effective first aid to mild cases of contact with a dementor. Weheheehee. Now I’m reaching for a bite of choco.
Don’t worry about meeting a dementor, we need one to make us better.
Popularity: 2%
by witsandnuts on June 28, 2008
I thought I would be watching a film in UAE for the first time when When Love Begins and Caregiver were shown, but no. Bad reviews. I had hoped for Sex and the City to come, but no. Close to impossible to be aired here probably for being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of UAE. So finally, I catched Kung Fu Panda and experienced being inside one of the cinemas in Abu Dhabi. First hand observations:
- You can’t get in once the film started rolling. We’ve got the tickets before 1pm and next screening was at 2pm (as printed on our ticket). In the Philippines, you’ll be allowed to get inside even at the middle of the showing.
- Same ticket fare whether you’d be seating in the balcony or orchestra. Tip: Be punctual.
- The usual cheese and salty popcorns flavors, nachos and sodas as cinema ‘buddies’. No hotdogs though. But I had chocolates and Filipino chicharons as ‘extra baggage’, which I didn’t get to eat inside because the cheese flavored popcorn and sodas we got were enough.
- Credit cards are accepted. Is it also implemented in the Philippines by now?
- And to top it all, be careful with cinema promos. Glad that we didn’t pay out cash yet, we noticed HSBC’s promo of buy 1 take 1 cinema ticket. How cool is that?!
Well, I am not from HSBC. Whatever marketing strategy it is, go grab it. Promo runs until January 2009. So probably, I would be encouraged and looking forward to catching more films in the big screen.
Popularity: 4%
by witsandnuts on June 27, 2008
Photo source.
I mentioned a number of times that I rarely watch films in the cinema. It’s not primarily because of raving reviews but the thought of that sometimes kiddie films are more worthwatching than other genres that I catched Kung Fu Panda today. Momentarily a lot of reviews, which on purpose I didn’t read any so not to spoil my watching, have been made and I just want to share about some of the points that did struck me. Some of these I can relate to because they happened to me or to the people around me at one point:
- Po Panda did not let go of his dream. I had a dream profession but I never had the courage to pursue. But I have long realized that I am destined to be what I am doing right now.
- Grand Master Oogway told Po Panda, when he was discouraged, “Yesterday is history, future is a mystery, and today is a GIFT that’s why it’s called the PRESENT”.
- A warrior never quits. Despite the obvious dislike of Master Shifu and the Furious Five (well-trained students of the master), Po Panda remained determined to learn Kung Fu.
- Positivity, good sense of humor, striking the tummy could do wonders. Po Panda kept his optimism in 90% of the film, blended with his cheerfulness and innocence and his yummy noodles (with care, no secret ingredient!) paved the way to the hearts of the other Kung Fu students.
- Humility prevails. It’s very hard to keep your feet on the ground.
- There’s no big secret to succeed. You just have to accept yourself and keep on believing that you can do it.
- Food is a very good motivation. Since Po Panda loves to eat, Master Shifu used food to motivate him to learn Kung Fu effectively. Whew, I remember those times when I ‘deprived’ myself of my favorite eats when I did not reach my short-term goals (e.g. not beating the deadline, etc.) or I do set an imaginary condition that I need to finish a report before I can take my lunch (which resulted to a 3pm lunch) or dinner (almost midnight snack, you guessed so) . Well, you may find it bizarre and surprising, but I do this because this works for me. Of course, without compromising (hopefully) any health issues. Find out what motivates you.
- As reiterated by the Grand Master and Master Shifu to Po Panda, “There are no accidents.” Everything happens for a reason, right?
Movies like Kung Fu Panda is definitely a film packed with much positivity. Good news, with the strong box office performance of the film, production of the first sequel is in-progress.
Popularity: 1%
by witsandnuts on June 27, 2008
Second to mojos, I’ve always preferred to have KFC’s and Wendy’s fries in the Philippines. But since KFC’s fries here is not as good back home, I just settled with Mc Donald’s. Until last week New York Fries (NYF) saved my day. Back home it seems to be costly, maybe it’s to recover the franchising cost. While here it is reasonably priced, limited choices in flavors though: chicken, beef and nachos. Anyhow, nachos would do with a beef hotdog + mustard sauce.
Popularity: 1%
by witsandnuts on June 25, 2008
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness . It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.
(Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist, founder of Analytic Psychology)
Popularity: 1%
i can still be updated about your goings-on 
On 24th of August, this is how the UAE reporters put it.
We CAN always rebuild
Pasalubong from Malaysia
Bukit Bintang
Mini Malaysia
