The Happiness of Kati

Brief synopsis: Kati, who lives with her maternal grandparents, finds out that her mother is suffering from an incurable illness. During summer, her grandparents take Kati to see her mother, who has only a few days left. There, she learns why her mother had to leave her to be reared by her grandparents and about her mother's past.



The movie can be cut into three parts: Kati's life with her grandparents, her reunion with her mother and finally, her life after mother's death. The first 30 or 40 minutes of the movie introduces the viewers to Kati, her grandparents, her friends and her life in the province of Ayutthaya. During these, the viewers are treated to provincial life that are lacking to city residents through many beautiful scenery and shots. Another cute part of the movie involves Kati and her friends; whether it's the naivete of the kids or the fear of the bully at the school - these scenes will bring smile to your face.



Then, we move on to the second part of the movie. The scene shifts to interaction between Kati and her mother. There, she found out things about her mother and eventually, how to cope with her mother's death. Now, comes my complaint - where the first part contains some humorous scenes, the second part will try audience's patience. The problem may lies in the fact that Kati's mother, who is suffering from an illness, is immobile and she comes off as a stick figure. So, she sits there, turns her head, smiles and whenever she talks, she still has on a wooden expression that I just feel Kati would be better off talking to a tree. And, I think this is the biggest failing of the film. Whereas I should be sobbing, feeling sorry for Kati, I found myself looking at the watch, bored out of my mind.


The final part is about 30 minutes and it deals with Kati after her mother's death. She finds out about her father (well, sort of), about her mother's past (some of it anyway) and finally, her reunion with her grandparents. These parts are refreshing - though some of the parts can be deleted without affecting the overall movie.

And that is my problem with the movie. The movie religiously sticks to the book and as we all know, that is not necessarily good. No addition, no deletion and this makes the movie predictable for those who have read the book and a bit confusing for those who have not read the book. For example, Aunt Da and Uncle Kunn: people who have not read the book will have no idea how they become close to Kati's mother.

Overall, the movie has its moment, coming mainly from the first part of the movie. It bogs down in the second half, but picks up slightly in the final stage. What I like the most about this movie are: the scenery of the provincial life, the dialogue between Kati and her friends and Kati's grandparents, who in my opinion, are the best grandparents on screen, and the acting of all the children in this film.

What I don't like are: the acting of Kati's mother (sorry, but I think she tries too hard that it comes out flaky), the slowness of the movie particularly in the second part and the movie faithfulness to the book. I was also annoyed by the occasional written message about her mom every time the movie shifts scenes. It acts like a title chapter, but since this is not a book, I find it awkward in a movie. It disrupts the flow and rather than letting the audience finds out about Kati's mother (or her lack of appearance), we are told by a one liner every now and then.


Having said all of these, the movie is not hopeless. It is a good movie, but not a great movie. And more importantly, this is actually a feel good movie - you won't come out crying. Kati's life is not sad by any means. She has a loving grandparents and her mother's friends. She survives most of her childhood without her mom, so you wouldn't expect her to breakdown after her mom's death; you will love Kati's grandparents and, eventually, Kati's hair cut :).

Happy Father's Day

Today is father's day in Thailand so I thought I write a little about my father.

When asked to describe my father, first thing that comes to my mind is hard working. My dad never took a day off work if he didn't have to - and by that I mean, if he didn't have to go do his civil or juristic duty. Illness had never prevented my father from going to work. Two more words describe my dad: staunch republican and devoted Redskin's fan. So, in short, my dad and I have nothing in common.

Because I would often lie on the couch and read books, my dad had great expectation for me. His thesis was that successful people are curious about everything. So, him seeing me, lying on a couch reading books often pleased him - surely thinking that his youngest child would amount to something in the future.

Alas, with my lack of ambition coupled with introvert personality, I've never turn out what he had hoped I would become. Much to his dismay, I announced that I would major in fine art in college. "Why don't you study something that would make money?" He would often said to me. Or "Why don't you take a class in computer - that's the future...what's the point of taking ancient history?"

No wonder we became more estranged as years gone by.

About four years ago, on a rare occasion, my father called me. I just changed my job - to something that is non art or history related - and I found myself lost, hating my job, hating my boss, not having any friends. I'd told him about my miseries and anxieties. After listening to my rambling, my dad, in a calm voice, said "Look...you've got two arms, two legs and one head just like them. You may not be as smart as them, but they hired you, right? So, all you've got to do is work harder than them and everything will be okay. And if push comes to shove, you can always paint for a living." He ended the conversation by telling me to make more friends -- connection is everything.

Four years later, no, dad, I have never become a painter, my friends are still few, I stink at making connection, I prefer to read history rather than marketing books, and I still work just as hard as before, but I'm kinda happy this way.

Tolstoy and Anna Karenina

Following Clifton Fadiman's book, The Lifetime Reading Plan, I picked up Anna Karenina off my shelf (it's been sitting there for a long time). Why? Just because I have heard many people say that this is the best novel of all time (of course, some might say it's War and Peace - also by Tolstoy. Imagine that! Two books that you written are on the greatest of all time list)

So, I vowed to not only finish Anna, but to read every single word of it. And not just read, but understand every sentences. If it is unclear, I'd read it again and again until I feel I have understood the meaning of it. So, all in all, I've read ever word that makes up 790 odd pages of this novel (my patience ran out for the last 30 pages of the book). For two weeks, it's Anna by my side - I read the book during lunch time, traffic, before going to bed, in the bathroom, etc. In short, Anna occupied every single moment of my free time.

Overall, I like the book up until when Anna commits suicide. I could care less about Levin and his religious angst that makes up the last 30 pages of the novel. But, for all the life of me, I really don't feel emotionally connected to any of the characters.

I find Anna to be shallow, stupid and self centered. Levin and his angst towards everything annoys me. Kitty I find to be a goodie two shoe that she makes me nauseous. Vronsky, I feel sorry for him at the end because he really came to love Anna. The only character that I like is Stiva and his flirtatious, noncommittal attitude.

What I like most about this novel is the beautiful Tolstoyian sentences. I read somewhere that Tolstoy is like a painter. First, he sketches the painting then he fills in the details. As a result, reading this novel, we get a sweeping scenes of 19th century Russian society, the lives they lead, the activities, the customs...

So, on to the next book on Fadiman's list: Bleak House by Dickens...it's winter, it's depressing, daylights are short, nights are long.

A Nation of Elitists

As I was reading an article in NY Times today I was struck by the growing concern of our dire education system (by our I mean American). Apparently, even Bill Gates is appalled at our public education, especially in the math & science department, when compared to the likes of other Western European nations.

Well, I knew our public education is in a sorry ass state when the ability to speak clearly and intelligently or think critically is being viewed as elitist. How did we get to this stage? My guess would be around 2004 when Bush pointed to Kerry and labeled him an elitist. Or was it in 2000, when he pointed to Gore and called him an elitist.

When I was in high school, those qualities were the most prized. I remembered spent countless hours reading books after books trying to come up with well supported evidence for my essays. I spent days organizing and perfecting my thoughts/arguments before I wrote them down on papers for assignments. My English classes were either about parsing sentences or discussing classics such as Dickens, Austen, or Camus.

I remembered spending days learning how to break down the molecular structure of key elements (like that will come in handy in my everyday life) or trying to keep up with whatever my math teachers were trying to teach.

I didn't enjoy high school because of the rigorous curricula, but I wouldn't have traded them for anything easier. Because, in the end, I truly believe that learning is supposed to be difficult...it takes hard work and dedication to learn things that are worth knowing.

In today's education, teachers/parents/kids have this mentality that too much hard work prevents learning. They want everything to be easy for kids - no homework more play time, replace Shakespeare with Dan Brown (ARGH!!!), if it can't be googled, then let's skip the research process (what about going to the library and searching the catalogue?).

And we wonder why American kids lag behind other developed countries.

So, I say, let's bring back the 'elitist' mentality and forget about the 'average American' mumbled jumbled crap. After all, haven't we suffered enough during the eight years of Bush administration? I wouldn't mind having an elitist president for a change - at least he speaks good, understandable English (even if I had to look up some words in the dictionary).

I'd rather be viewed as a nation of elitists rather than a nation of fools.

Thoughts on life

When things enter your life, you have to be prepared when they depart...

oh, but it is so so hard. The dead do not mourn - it's the people that are left behind - it's them that have to pick up the pieces and move on.

And don't they know...don't they know that once their miseries are over...the others have just begun theirs...

Was it Homer who once said that human beings are the most unfortunate creatures in the world? We were created to love, to feel, to become attached and when we are most at our happiest, Fate looked down upon us and snatched it all away leaving only grief and sorrow...

Maybe the ancient Greeks had it right...one shouldn't become too attached to things; the Gods do have wicked sense of humor.

รัก...รักเธอจนหมดของหัวใจ ซึ่งเรานั้นเก็บไว้ข้างใน เธอได้ยินมั้ยคนดี...

Hua Hin, Thailand

Hua Hin, company trip, October 23 - 25.

Sunrise...after an hour of waiting and setting up, the long awaited sunrise came and gone within five minutes. This is the only shot I could snapped. By the time I moved my tripod/camera to another location, the dark blue sky with streaks of orange was gone.



Nighttime - view from the resort balcony

Too bad the pool was closed - it would be pretty romantic to swim under the moonlight - even when swimming alone.



The architecture of this resort is really beautiful especially the shadows created by bright sunlight.



Fireworks - our last night so let's have some fun. I don't think fireworks is illegal in Thailand, is it?

Seeking Courage and Thunder Road

I often wonder what it would be like to be able to say things that are on my mind without having to care about other people's feelings. I am often in awe of those people who are able to articulate their thoughts in a well spoken words.

I, however, have come to a conclusion that I lack these qualities: I can't put my thoughts into comprehensible sentences nor am I able to speak my mind freely. As a result, I've ended up agonizing over my incompetence, replaying the same scenes in my mind over and over again.

Once again today I had an opportunity to point out problems, but, instead of blurting them out, I chose the roundabout route, which, in the end came out to nothing. Not only that, but as a result of my indecision, I didn't help anybody.

You can hide 'neath your covers/And study your pain/
Make crosses from your lovers/Throw roses in the rain/Waste your summer praying in vain/For a savior to rise from these streets -- Thunder Road