H A P P Y * N E W * Y E A R

Simon Birch: A Movie and a Memory Revisited

A few days ago I watched Simon Birch. A warm and funny movie that will surely let a hard-hearted viewer let out a good laugh and maybe spill some tears from those dried-up tearducts. This movie was said to be loosely based from a novel by John Irving. The last time I saw this film, it was with the orchestra people during our summercamp. Every day, after lunch, there was always a film-shown and everyone would be huddled inside the Mozart room, lights out, eyes glued to the screen laughing over slapsticks or be at awe with every Karl von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic performances or warm with every heart-rending scenes, like this movie. I remember crying over the last part. And I still do.  No-one inside the room at that time was dry-eyed and I dont see any difference this time when I watched it with a friend. That was as more than 10 years ago, probably the summer of 1998.

 ( I saw this disc while I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a Christmas Holiday)

A Year-end List

Here is a list of books I've read (fully-read, half-read or merely skimmed through) in the year 2010.

Hanif Kureishi

 *The Buddha of Suburbia

 *Intimacy

Muriel Barbery

 *The Elegance of the Hedgehog
 *Gourmet Rhapsody
Haruki Murakami
 *Kafka on Shore
Junot Diaz
 * The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Lorrie Moore

 *A Gate at the Staircase

Andrew Clements
 *Things Hoped For
Miguel Syjuco
 *Illustrado
Paolo Giordano
 *The Solitude of Prime Numbers
Adam Haslett

 *You Are Not a Stranger Here

Aravind Adiga

 *White Tiger

Edith Hamilton

 *Greek Mythology

Charles Dickens

 *A Christmas Carol

Malcolm Gladwell

 *What The Dog Saw

I will soon have a wall full of books. :-)