Thursday, November 23, 2006

Shaken and Stirred

Went to watch the new James Bond movie Casino Royale after work on Tuesday. We decided to try out the Cineleisure mainly because the scheduled screening time was at 7 pm [thus allowing us to perform prayers first], plus we'd never been there before. We were caught in the daily November Rain and the jam that resulted but still managed to reach the place in time to collect the pre-booked tickets [collection must be done an hour before show time! And so we killed time by walking to The Curve and IKEA; I can do a real quickie window Shopping]. The place was ok, the plus point is that the prayer rooms are located very near to the theatres so we didn’t have to Rush Rush through prayers for the movie and even managed to catch some trailers too [Déjà vu looks like it's worth watching].

The movie was good and the company too; and yes, we all have to shift our paradigm some time and adapt ourselves to a blond Bond [so it might as well be now] - not that I had any issue with his hair colour. I especially like the part when the bartender asks Bond if he prefers his martini shaken or stirred and he replies, ‘Do I look like I give a damn?’. I much prefer the first Bond girl but alas her character was killed too soon. Personally, I’d also much prefer less violent scenes in movies but I suppose it wouldn’t be a James Bond movie then. OK, OK, some people may find them mild. And the movie was, among others, shot at my two favourite places in the world - Venice and Lake Como in Italy. [For more info on the movie, go here].

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I was a little late in leaving The Office Yesterday and when I got home at 7 pm, I found a ripped plastic bag on my porch, yes, just like previously but this time it was black viscous substance instead. It smelled Toxic. Fortunately, Aunty was still nearby and I ran to her and asked her to stay a while with me. I was a bit shaken then. Second time in less than a month! How very irritating and annoying!!! Grrr...


I tried to wash it off but, again, it was a futile effort. Worse, this time it was black substance and the stain left of the splashed substance looks simply awful. OK, I was close to tears and I wondered who could be so mean, vicious, spiteful, malicious and evil to do that to me. Why, Why, Why? I tried to call on my next door neighbour but because it was Maghrib, no one came to the door and I didn’t try again later.




[The yellowish stain is the earlier paraffin stain]


It saddens me that there are evil people out there. I don’t know any but some evil character seems to know me to have made me his/her target and this has somewhat shaken my trust in humankind.

Cooking was understandably the last thing on my mind after that and my substitute dinner was cheese and crackers and miso soup. Yea, yea, I know, what a combination [West meets East, eh]. It spoilt my weight regain programme of course so I hope the perpetrator was happy. Strewth!

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Belated footie footnote: Arsenal shook off a shaky start to come back from a goal down to beat Hamburg 3-1 late Tuesday [for full report, go here]. It makes me wonder how Arsenal only managed a draw with Newcastle last weekend and lost to West Ham previously. I guess it’s equally puzzling how Liverpool manage to do so well at the Champions League level and yet perform poorly at the Premier League.