Countdown

I'm having a feedback session with DrO later this evening. It was scheduled for tomorrow, but she's bring this forward 'cause she wants to take a short break from work. This is good because once the assessment of my performance is done, there wouldn't be any reason left to stay here. This is assuming that she gives me a positive report, of course. The only reason to stay back after that would be to get more experience on the ward and to study hard, but this close to the hols? Nah... I think not... All I need to do is convince Helen that it's ok, 'cause she's blessed/cursed with a higher level of conscience than I have.

Having Jaja over the weekend was great. We had a nice lunch at Pani's (ciabatta stuffed with crab meant and a panna cotta), after which we spent a considerable amount of time surveying the various period clothing stores. She's got a thing for stores that sell items from 60s-70s, and I found it quite enjoyable browsing through them as well. Naturally, I visited Forbidden Planet and picked up something, this time it was the latest issue of Fables.

On Saturday, I came across 2 works of art that were (in my humble opinion) pretty outstanding. I took Jaja to the Baltic Mill, and the one exhibition that really impressed me was REIN - Is That All? by 2 Finnish artists, Veli Grano and Tuovi Hippelainen. Instead of me babbling on about it, I'd recommend visiting the link above to have a better idea of what it's all about. The second bit of art was Kill Bill 2, which we watched later on that night. Not as many folks appreciated it as compared to the first movie, but I'm a sucker for subtleties, which are abundant in the sequel. It might not be as gory and action-packed as the first movie, but it definitely makes up in other departments - the dialogues and cinematography particularly stand out.

The batch of final year medics had their photographs taken yesterday at King James's Hall, the site of our impending graduation. It's nowhere as wonderful and pleasing to the eye as the Royal Albert Hall (damn those Imperial College grads!) or the venues in Cambridge or Edinburgh (the McEwen's Hall if I remember correctly, and I usually don't) but it's not too bad. The main reason I went was to have my photograph taken (duh!) along with those I consider to be close friends. But as usual, I didn't look forward to mingling around with medicky types for long periods of time. Too pretentious for me. I tried to convince Jaja to come along with me, and I wanted to sneak her into the photography session as well, but she was more comfortable with the idea of being warmly wrapped up in front of my telly, watching a couple of movies.

One of the movies she watched was The Passion of the Christ. It's supposed to be showing in selected cinemas in M'sia over Christmas, I think. The only downside is that it's only going to be screened to christians and not to the general public. Although christians will be affected more by the movie (just as Malcolm X affects muslims differently and Kundun affects Buddhists differently), I think the movie can be appreciated by all walks of society. Except by little 8-year-old kids who probably won't be able to stand the sight of all that blood.

This movie has been infamous for 2 reasons - violence and anti-semitism. But it's a great movie nonetheless, and it's brilliantly shot. There are some scenes reminiscent of Renaissance paintings, the score is haunting, and the performances are strong and hard-hitting - Caviezel particularly projects formidable strength, veiled by unease and pain. This movie probably should win the Oscar for Best Movie, but might have difficulty doing so if for its notoriety.

The violence bit... well, let's just this is not the movie you'd want to take your girl out for on a first date (unless you both have a penchant for S&M, and since this blog is read by only a few of my friends, I hope this does not apply to you). But as violent as it is, I think it's made with justification, as compared to the mindless brain-scattering gunshots that you might see in Schwarzeneggar movies (Then again, maybe I've just been desensatized after watching too many gory movies). After all, the purpose of the movie is to illustrate the length and breadth that this prophet and his mother went through for their beliefs, and conversely, it illustrates the extent certain individuals will go to when confronted with ideas that are tantamount to blasphemy, or ideas that will upset the status quo. And it is in this point that the accusations of anti-semitism become voraciously loud.

But I don't see the point behind it. Every single major religion in this world has had some of its followers been responsible for justifying (what is in essence unholy) deaths at some point or another. To claim that something did not happen because it casts a dark light over a group of individuals is plain silly. We are not going to say that World War 2 never happened and stop reminding the Germans of what they did, are we? Then again, I'm no expert in the history of religion and I'll leave the debate to people who (think) they know what they're talking about. What we have to take into mind is that the movie is the interpretation of the last 12 hours of Jesus by Mel Gibson as he perceives it from the Bible, nothing more, nothing less. Nobody is being forced to follow any teachings and it should be watched with an open, critical mind.

At this point in time, Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' is playing in mind, and that song is dedicated to my sweetie.