The weekend that has just been was pretty darn good.  Saturday we all trundled around to Surej’ house for Arjun’s 4th birthday party. A nice time, not too riotous at all (unexpected).  I didn’t get any photos this time, but will see if we can get some from Surej.  Kyle got all upset about something (god knows) at the cake-cutting time and refused to put in an appearance. He wouldn’t even come out to EAT some cake!! So anyway, later, after a nice spread (thai green curry, pineapple rice, mee goreng, tandoori chicken, naan and a selection of kueh), we decided to get the kids to sleep so we (the adults) could watch some movies. 

First up was Superhero Movie or some such name.  Forgettable parody of various superhero flicks a la Scary Movie et al.  Quite funny but nothing that would stick in the memory or leave much of an impression.

Next flick was a Thai “horror” film called House of Haunted.  Yes, I confirm no typo. It was a very odd movie, indeed.  Storyline in a nutshell: youngish playboy-type Thai man and his girlfriend/wife discover they they own an old deserted house (maybe it was willed to them) out of Bangkok, on a canal and pretty ulu / they plan to renovate and turn it into a summer house with all the mod-cons, very nice nice / house is unfortunately haunted by the spirit of the previous owner / workmen get spooked and ultimately go to the nearby temple where the buddhist priest (monk?) tells them the story of what happened.  So, it seems that the former owner was a woman, a classical Thai dance teacher who ran a dance school at the house.  She passes away and hands the house and the school to her very talented daughter to manage, along with an oath that the daughter will continue to run the school and continue to love Thai culture and history (the cultural themes run strong in this movie!!). The daughter is unfortunate in love and marries a bad man who drinks and smokes away all their money. He then sells most of their furnishings, the school loses its reputation and parents pull their daughters out of the school, which is then left with only 3 students, who are orphans and have nowhere else to go. Meanwhile, the husband borrows money from the local bigwig to support his habits. And borrows more money and more…The bigwig wants to buy the land from the daughter but she is honour-bound to fulfil her mother’s wishes and continue the dance school, so she refuses his offer, which pisses him off intensely. He puts the screws on the husband, and ultimately the husband agrees to let the bigwig sleep with his wife (i.e. the daughter) in lieu of repayment of debts. After this happens, the daughter hangs herself and the 3 orphans (hugely devoted to the daughter) take their lives by poison. The husband goes mad but stays in the house as a caretaker-of-sorts.  The daughter and the 3 orhpans’ spirits remain in the house and scare the crap out of anyone who subsequently bought the house or tried to change it in anyway.  So, back to the current day, the playboy-type and his girl ultimately decide to convert the house into a museum of Thai dance and culture and the spirits are presumably happy. 

Seems it is even on YouTube (part 1 is here): 

 

Not a bad movie by any means. Not at all scary though, so avoid if you’re into scare-fests. But, man, is it slow-moving! The dance scenes are long. Very long. Unnecessarily LONG!! Sumathi timed it at one point and there was an unbroken 10 minute sequence of the daughter and the 3 orphans dancing with no other dialogue or anything. Just slow music and the very intricate dancing with lots of hand gestures and head/hip shifts. 10 minutes!!! Haha crazy.  And plenty of blatant pushes for Thai culture (I expect that the film received some funding from the Thai Culture Ministry or something like that!). Anyway, not a bad movie, just very meandering and slow.

Sunday was Theini’s birthday and she bought us all lunch at Breeks Cafe in Woodlands. Western menu mostly. Big portions, nice food. Ate too much. Nice time all round.

In the evening, Shanthi and I went to the movies and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner). Very forgettable movie. Predictable story- line of playboy-type guy (hey, there’s a theme here) being made to reconcile with his previous ill-treatment if women in general, and of Jennifer Garner’s character specifically. Quite funny but overall forgettable.  There was one nice scene though, where the young brother defends his playboy brother. Now that was a touching dialogue.

That’s all for now. Peace.