A Magical Evening with Glenn Gary

Over the weekend, I surprised Uncle & Auntie, Arul and Janeni to a magic show in celebration of their 21^st wedding anniversary.

We went to The Parlor Magic Show by the famous magician Glenn Gary at the Westin City Center Hotel in Washington, DC. The unique part of the whole show, it is limited to per reservation basis, hence, you can expect a smaller crowd, more of a personalized attention and audience participation.

A quick bio about the magician (extracted from his webpage): Glenn is a masterful magician who performs sophisticated, classical, state-of-the-art sleight of hand conjuring and mind boggling feats of magic. Glenn has been a student of magic since the 10th grade, when he discovered magic while working at a theatre. One week’s salary was spent to place his first order for magic tricks. His mother was furious with him for spending all his money on what she called junk. Within a year, Glenn was performing his first amateur show and his magic career took off. He was awarded twice as the “Best Manipulation Act” and “Best Act of Competition” by his peers, fellow magicians themselves.

And I truly agree to that! He was simply magnificent; he made sure each and every audience member had their equal share of participation in his tricks. As part of the anniversary gift, he asked Auntie to tear a huge paper into pieces and he magically turned it into a cute little hat for her.

Each of his act just mesmerized us, being the act of disappearing egg in a bag, the never ending handkerchief joke, the bunny family (although it was a little sad that there were no real bunny used), the ripped...or maybe not newspaper trick, the disappearing $100 bill act or even the linked chains trick. Even his white pigeon Toby (or shall I say pigeons) was very well trained to participate in Glenn’s tricks.

I must say I was stunned with his grand finale act of the "floating deck card box”or the show-stopping act as his critics call it, an original masterpiece originated by Glenn himself. According to Glenn the pixie dusts made the box to fly. I would never know what is the logic or magic behind it, but it was truly Magical!

Glenn Gary’s website : http://www.glenngary.com/index.htm

Glenn's Blog: http://glenngary.blog.com/

R.I.P Brownie! The greatest bunny ever!

I totally agree to the fact that sometimes you never realize how precious your loved ones are till they are gone. We recently lost one of our “siblings, nephew, grandson”, our pet rabbit.

Brownie Palaniandy aka Chipo-Chan aka Mrs.Moi aka Bunny (I always thought he was suffering from multiple personality syndrome), passed away peacefully on Saturday March 13^th, 2010 at about 12:20 pm. He belonged to Rana and Kanna Palaniandy.

He was infact the greatest bunny ever lived! He exceeded 3 years from th regular bunny’s life span of just 5-6 years. According to the our Vet, Brownie must have been at least 70 years old in human life. We got him about 8 years ago an elderly woman as she was no longer able to take care of him.

The final rites were performed according to the Hindu rituals, he was wrapped in a silk cloth, placed in a small box and buried in about 3-4 feet hole. It was the cutest little funeral service that I have ever seen!

Even though it has been almost 2 days now, we still talk about him and feel an empty presence at home. Brownie,we will definitely remember the times where Rana was chewed up for not letting you to watch TV with her, the times where you pooped all around the house that too on the new carpet!, the time where you freaked us out by shivering in the cold, your “play dead” drama with Kanna, the times where you will be sliding around the house, the time where Arul almost grilled you, the times where instead of exploring the outdoors you will just sleep lazily under the tree, and many more moments.

Brownie you will be truly missed! You will always be in our hearts. R.I.P.

Feel the Rain

Reminds me of the song by Natasha Bedingfield “Feel the rain on your skin as no one else can feel it for you”.

For some reason watching the weather changes is really interesting, from 3-4 months pure bitter cold months with monstrous piles of snow, we finally saw some sunshine and the weather was in 60s last weekend. Then came another change in the weather pattern, rain just rain almost 2-4 inches. As much as I have missed the sun, I did miss the rain too! (The strange part is we do have month longs of monsoon season in Malaysia but it never really bumped into me the beauty of rain till recently)

I am kind of lost of words to describe the experience of rain, it really has a very different feeling (some might say it feels like falling in love again), a little cold and each rain drop not only gives you the chill but also the tickles sometime!

You might have go out and feel the rain on your own skin to comprehend what I’m saying, till then I'm going to look a big puddle of water to jump in!

Alice in Wonderland in 3D

I had the privilege of going for the preview of the much anticipated Disney movie, Alice in Wonderland in 3D by Tim Burton. Wow! A tale that I loved reading in my childhood and it really does make a distinction when you add life to the characters, that also in 3D. (Sometimes I do feel that I look like blind mice with those big 3D glasses, but hey I’m not alone)

This story revolves around a now-grown Alice, who has forgotten all about the Wonderland and the characters takes her through a series of event that links her dreams and her childhood memories being the young Alice. She was fated to come to the Wonderland as she is the only champion that could slay Jabberwocky on Frabjous Day. The dragon belongs to the Queen of Spades, who destroyed the White Queens kingdom in order to take over the throne.

My favorite character from this film would be The Mad Hatter, not only because he was played by Johnny Depp, but purely because his wacky personality shed some hilarity to the story. I had the opportunity to take a picture with an artist portraying as the Mad Hatter at the theater. The always mischievous Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) didn’t had much of a role to play on the reel life, however the award should go to the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) for the Best Villain. She is a hilarious yet an evil villain with a big blown-up head and hated her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). The main lead, Alice (Mia Wasikowska), should have been given a little more weight , as she is always either nervous or crying and her pale complexion didn’t help much either in bringing out the adorable yet adventurous Alice that we all have read about.

Thumbs up to the production team for the outstanding work on the liveliness of the animations, the animated characters looked just like the real-life ones without a blemish. The blue caterpillar Twedelum, the time keeper White Rabbit and Bayard the dog, looked just like any real animals and these added the excitement to the movie besides it being projected in 3D.

One small thing to note, they had used the British English instead of the American English. These not only made it difficult to hear the dialogues as the sounds kind of echoed but it also reminded me of movies such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Overall Alice in Wonderland sure did bring back my childhood bedtime stories, but only this time in 3D and I was able to avoid the teacup thrown by the March Hare.

Official website: http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/

Poster source : http://schofizzymoviereview.blogspot.com/2009/11/poster-3-alice-in-wonderland.html

A mind blogging question

I was recently reading the status updates of my friends in Facebook and there's this one that caught my eye and without delay my thinking light started to flicker.

"If you found out you only had 6 months to live...what would you change about your life? What would you do differently?

This question really linked very well to my blog theme: Live as if you were to die tomorrow.

What a happenstance (I love this word, its synonym to coincidence)! Hmmm...but what and how would I change about my life, I never really had paid any attention about that till...today maybe?.
These are the things that I might do if I was given only 6 months to live:

1. Acceptance
Then start to whine, curse, shout, get angry and cry as much as I can till there are no more tears left. I need to be prepared emotionally and mentally 1st so that I can be strong and move on to the next item on the list.

2. My own version of "bucket-list"
I got this inspiration from the movie The Bucket-List acted by 2 legendary actors Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman.
My Favorite Quote from the movie is “We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round”

3. I quit!
After 6 months they would definitely need to find a replacement, furthermore having a job might restrict me in fulfilling my bucket-list.

4. Paid for
Pre-arrange my funeral arrangements and maybe get it all paid and taken for, so that my family would not need to be troubled about it when the time comes.

5. Quality Time
Spend time with each of my family member and friends. Recollection of the good & bad times that we had shared and telling each one of them how they were significant in my life.

6. “Fat Tuesday” everyday
Eat food or delicacies that I have always longed for and don't even have the guts to eat before. The best part I don’t even have to worry about gaining weight or even the amount of calories intake.

7. Around the world
Travel to places that I have always wanted to go to, it might be a short trip, but that's ok. (I’m counting my days anyhow). Just like Queen Latifah in The Last Holidays.

8. Me,Myself & I
Write an autobiography of myself, everyone needs a little “The Life of ….” memoirs. This way I would still hold a place in my family tree for the future generations. Or at least do a voice recording; so that my family will be still able remember me and my voice.

9. Dear Loved Ones
Write a couple of letters to the people that I love, I prefer the traditional way: paper and pen.

10. Fear Factor.... NOT
Do bizarre things or even extreme adventures (well... I'm going to die in 6 months anyway, so what does it matter if it happens earlier, and that also while I'm either skydiving or swimming with the sharks. That's why this was placed the last on my list.)

Last but not least, I would do something (I'm not sure what it would be yet), that I would be remembered for but not regretted by. Something that would be beneficial to others.

I know it is easier to be said then to be done, that's why I have already started making and checking off my list by starting to look up at the sky and feel the sunshine on my skin (Just like the song "Feel the rain on your skin, no else can feel it for you" - by Natasha Bedingfield)

or at least the chill from the winter snow for now!

Live as if you were to die tomorrow!

Watch Natasha Bedingfield "Feel the Rain on Your Skin" : http://www.youtube.com

My Name is ...Khan

There are only 2 types of film in the movie world..the good one and the bad one. My Name is Khan is definitely the outstanding one!

I’m not going reiterate the plot of the stories, there are many exceptional movie critics that have done so by giving their opinions in the form of review. I in being different and write things that I have observed & learned from the movie.

I know we might have heard of all the preaching’s either from our parents, society and religion; however for some reason it sounds better and gives a noteworthy feeling since it is coming from Shah Rukh Khan. Only if life was just like a movie....

I loved the movie right from the story plot, to the songs, to the cinematography, to the excellent portrayal of the characters (especially Shah Rukh as an Asperger Syndrome man and Kajol as a Mom who fights all the odds inorder to seek justice for her son’s death due to racial tension). This is not your regular boy meets girl-fall in love-family objects- couple elope- dancing around trees- family heals & accepts- everyone lived happily ever after, type of Bollywood movie.

This movie was produced and taken to a whole new bold level of movie-making with a very strong motive and a message that everyone is equal despite neither his religion, faith nor his surname. Some extraordinary talents with a brilliant production team were in hands to construct this movie equivalent to any Hollywood production. It’s a movie loaded with essence of love, joy, laughter, friendships, relationships, faith, religion, society’s ignorance, vision, and will power.

My Name is Khan surely does proofs that your name doesn’t reflect who you are nor the religion you believe in, it only shows the origin of where you are from. It’s the humanitarian value, love and doing good deeds that show who you are. You are only a man if you are a human first inside out. Religion should not be the wall of hatred but the bond and the path of love between two hearts. Relative and relationships doesn’t have to be made only via blood bonds but is also made possible via pure friendships.

Just like what Rizwan Khan’s (character played by Shah Rukh) Ammi (mother) said “There are only 2 types of people in this world. A good one that does good deeds and a bad one that does evil. No one else.”

Khudafiz (Greetings).

Official website: http://www.mynameiskhan.co.in/
Please feel free to read the review at : http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/review/11915.html
Listen to the soul-touching songs at : http://www.in.com/music/my-name-is-khan/songs-74235.html

4x4 Suzuki Crossover SX4 experience

I have learned and experienced something that could really be a life saver! The type of car that you drive not only shows your personality but could be your safety too.

Uncle & I decided to venture out in the icy and heavy snow downfall to get some Buffalo Wings to celebrate Auntie's birthday. (Please bear in mind that we already had a winter storm blizzard that left us with 28 inches of snow and the road have yet to be plowed). Although Auntie had warned us that the roads were bad on her way back home, we being the "Champions" decided to go anyway taking an alternate route.

We drove Arul's new car the Suzuki Crossover SX4, all wheel drive, all the way to College Park, MD (its about 25 minutes from home). It was a metallic Jade Green. We have not driven this car in any snow conditions from the time of purchase, this was the perfect time to test drive it.

I have never felt so much in control driving in snow conditions before. The car really had a very very good traction, while driving on icy roads. At one point, we hit a lane that was nothing but just black ice, and I could see all the cars were sliding off the lane.

But thanks to my guardian angel, good grip of the steering and breaking techniques, and of course to the good traction system on Suzuki, we managed to maneuver the lane just fine, although the car did slide to the edge a couple of times.

I could really feel Uncle's lungs coming out through his mouth throughout this entire adventure. Thank GOD and to the makers of Suzuki that we made it home safe. No heart feelings to Toyota, but we did wanted to get the Prius at one time to be green conscious, sadly now it has some problems.

Unfortunately, we did not get any Buffalo Wings for dinner, as we were stuck in that traffic for almost 2 hours, with cars barely moving and I had to turn around to head home as the snow was falling really hard and we didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

However Tacos with left over fillings from Sunday's Super Bowl did fill our tummys up.

Tonite's experience would be something that I will never ever forget and it sure does gets crossed out in my bucket list for : driving safe under extreme conditions.

Vroomm..Vroommm..