Movie Review: 2012 (spoilers alert!)

Movie Review: 2012

First impression: A whole piece of land with cars, houses, buildings and highways was lifted and broken apart, slowly plunging into the ocean like a ship going under. This is a disaster movie with nothing good except CG.

Why one would watch it: Roland Emmerich, Jerry Bruckheimer, Danny Glover, John Cusack. Whichever floats your boat.

What to keep an eye out for:
A lot of deaths. A whole lot of it. From massive destructions of the most awesomest kind! Which makes it real fun to watch.

Spoiler alert (please do not read further if you intend to watch the movie):

Last warning!

Consider the movie spoiled:

Out of 6 billion people, I think less than 0.1% survived the world in Roland Emmerich's 2012. That's pretty much the highest movie casualty of all time. Apart from this I think the movie did justice to the whole end-of-the-world thing.

First things first, it is the end of the world. As in the whole world, not just the United States *grins*. God knows how many times Americans try to label their land as the world by itself in almost all the disaster movies ever done.

Hence, the need to get many other nations involved in the movie to make it believable. So we have the astrophysicist scientist from India who discovered the beginning of the end of the world, China which provided the space, manpower and materials to build the Arks that are needed to save the world, Russian and Arab customers that bought their places in the Arks at ($1 billion euro per head. Is that even a number?), the French that saved valuable art pieces from the time of the Renaissance, Tibetans who talked on the peaks of mountains, two African Americans who were heroes in their own right in the movie and the Cape of Good Hope in Africa as the starting point of the regeneration of the human species. In the movie, there were English dialogues, Chinese, French, Indian and even Tibetan.

I loved it.

The casting is also quite impressive.

Danny Glover (of Lethal weapon 1 to 4, Mel Gibson's partner in crime) as the U.S. President, Chiwetel Ejiofor (of American Gangsters) as a brilliant young scientist who highlighted the problem to the US govt, John Cusack (no intro needed), a writer of a book which served as a red herring, with Amanda Peet (who looks a lot like Linda Hamilton) as a divorced couple on the run with their two children, Oliver Platt (of Lake Placid) who did a great job at being the biggest jackass of all time, Thandie Newton (of Mission Impossible) as the President's daughter, Woody Harrelson who did a stunning job as Charlie Gone-Loco, the conspiracy-theory DJ, Patrick Bauchau (of The Pretender fame) as the director of the Louvre museum, Chin Han (of Dark Knight Hong Kong triad lord Lau) who is a chinese national and welder who worked on the Arks, and Jimi Mistry (of EastEnders fame) as the brilliant Indian scientist who started this all back in 2009... in the film.

Casting aside, the movie does great in the computer graphics department, having destroyed Yellowstone, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the White House, St Peter's Basilica and the Sistine chapel, Hawaii and not to mention having relocated the South Pole.

As for the annihilation sector, to sum it up, I think the director told the graphic artists to 'keep no prisoners'.

There were instances in the movie where you and your humanity are tested. Tears will fall, numerous times throughout the two and a half hours. There were a couple of areas where a quick run at humour is greatly appreciated by the audience. But ultimately, it is the clinging of Hope that the storyline presented to the audience that truly captivated me. Heroism is also well-portrayed throughout the movie, almost as much as selfishness is. And I should not forget, the lingering question in everyone's mind, "If this is truly the end of the world, what would you have done towards the end?"

After the movie:

At the end of it, the movie leaves one thinking, if 2012 is really the end of the world as we know it, will we have acted like the people in this stunning movie? Would we have acted worse, or would we have done one better than they? I sincerely hope that we will never find out.

But you have GOT to watch the movie. It's a blast!

VALUE YOUR LIFE, DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE.

Less than a month ago, I wrote about 5 Things You Need to Know while Driving.

This morning I read about a terrible outcome from texting while driving. Read the letter below and I know you believe me when I say Javen here is lucky to be alive.

---

The Star Online > Focus

Tuesday November 10, 2009

VALUE YOUR LIFE, DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE

REFERRING to the article “Don’t text and drive” (Sunday Star, Nov 8), I strongly urge drivers, whether experienced or just beginners, not to use the mobile phone while driving, especially texting. I met with an accident not long ago because I was texting while driving.

I lost control of the car, and it went straight into a dead end and hit a concrete wall. I suffered a broken bone on my shoulder and a swelling in my brain which, luckily enough, was not serious. And the car? It is a complete wreck now.

It all happened in a split second, and for the sake of a 10-sen message, it almost cost me my life.

If you think you are a driver experienced enough to be able to avoid this, think again. Accidents don’t discriminate. I have been driving for more than 10 years but a 10-sen message has cost me dearly.

Do not multi-task while you are behind the wheel. Concentrate on your driving and value your life and that of others.

JAVEN,
Kuala Lumpur.

---

RIHANNA OPENING UP AND SURVIVING WITHOUT HIM

Nine months ago, the entertainment industry shook us with the story of a woman being beaten and abused by a man inside his car. She left to seek help from the police.

The next day, news came out that it was Rihanna and Chris Brown.

A few more days later, photos of her battered face and swollen lips circulated the Internet. There was major uproar; some people said some things, people were horrified, concerts were cancelled and then...

Rihanna went back to Chris.

Six months ago, I posted something in the likes of Rihanna making a big mistake by following her heart instead of her common sense, and the implications on girls everywhere, who look up to her. Read the post here.

Love can make us do really stupid things. But what happens when what you do can lead to someone being killed? Can you live with it? Thank goodness Rihanna can't and won't.

Here are some of the excerpts from her interview on ABC's Good Morning America which made news all over again.

"She explained: 'When I realised that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I couldn't be held responsible for telling them "go back""

'Even if Chris never hit me again who is to say their boyfriends won't. Who is to say that they won't kill these girls?

'I just didn't realise how much of an impact I could have on these girls' lives until this happened. It was a wake-up call for me...

'Especially when I took myself out of that situation and I'll say that to any young girl who is going through domestic violence.

'"F" love. Come out of the situation and look at it third person and for what it really is, then make your decision because love is so blind.'

Well said, girl. So proud of her. It's a step towards growing up.

Which is more than what I can say for Chris Brown.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING CHECKUPS

First checkup: Confirmation of pregnancy and heartbeat
Your first checkup would usually be for the confirmation of a pregnancy. This can occur in two ways. One is a test with a pregnancy kit. The second is with an ultrasound scan. Usually the ultrasound scan is done after confirmation with a positive result from the pregnancy kit and is in turn used to confirm the presence of a beating heart.

Below 8 weeks (sometimes 10 wks) you may need a full bladder for the ultrasound scan. This is to pinpoint the location of the uterus so that the doctor will know where to point the transducer (that’s the thing that they ‘scroll’ all over your abdomen to ‘see’ or scan for the embryo).

If you are too early, the embryo may not turn up on the scan. Then, the doctor or sonographer will suggest one of two things: to have a transvaginal scan or to wait for a few weeks more until the embryo is big enough to see.

Note that at 8 weeks a typical embryo is only about half an inch to three-quarters of an inch big.

During my own scans, my pregnancy was confirmed at 6 weeks with a kit at the doctors. I went for a scan but my doctor couldn’t see the baby yet and so she asked me to wait for a couple of weeks as according to her the transvaginal scan is ‘not very comfortable’. So I waited about two weeks for the embryo to reach 8 weeks and went back. Another doctor was working at the time and she immediately arranged for me to get a transvaginal scan… which was really not comfortable, believe me.

But I did get to see my baby for the first time. So it was worth it.


Periodical checkups: Charting the development of the baby
In the first trimester (first three months) the baby is known as an embryo, From the fourth month onwards, it is known as the foetus until birth. The development of the baby is charted against the statistics of other babies.

Some of the measurements taken during the monthly checkups are:
• the crown-rump length of the baby*
• the circumference of the head
• the circumference of the abdomen (tummy)
• the length of the femur (in the second trimester when bones are more pronounced)

*The crown-rump length is the length of from the baby’s head to
its bum bum (bottom), as this is the position readily assumed
by the baby inside the confined space of the womb.
Source: fetal.com

During checkups the doctor may also monitor the heartbeat (sometimes with a Doppler scanner to ensure that there are no irregularities in the heartbeat), check on the gut, heart, brain, the development of the backbone and how active your baby is.

During the scan, the doctor will also check on the availability of the amniotic fluid inside the womb. Too much or too little of the amnion fluid may be of concern but always check with your doctor if anything worries you.

The doctor will also need to chart your blood pressure, check your urine for the presence of protein or glucose and take measurements of your weight. The height taken is only a one-time thing.

Tests and perpetuating the fear of needles
Amniocentesis and Down Syndrome check.
Around week 15 to week 20, you doctor may ask you if you want to screen for Down syndrome. You doctor will show you statistics that show the probability that your baby has it depending on your age and other indications during the scans or based on the results of your urine tests. This is currently done through amniocentesis: the fluid inside the womb is taken out with a syringe for testing. The results will only be available in a week or two.

I did not opt for mine as I was not in the high-risk group (mother being 35 years old or older) and I do not like the idea of having a syringe poked into my womb.

Checking for diabetes
Around Week 24 you will be submitted to a glucose tolerance test. You will need to fast from 10 pm or midnight the day before, go to the clinic and have your blood taken, then drink an extremely sweet drink, wait for two hours then have your blood taken again. This test is really important to ensure that you are not diabetic during or due to the pregnancy.

I was diagnosed to have gestational diabetes when I ‘failed’ this test. The glucose levels in my blood were in the ‘impaired’ zone, which means that I am diabetic but it can still be controlled through my diet. A more serious case would need control through medication and is not healthy for the pregnant mother or for the baby.

Since I was diagnosed with GD, I have to take glucose tests every month in which I have my arm jabbed four times a day, three times before meals and once before bedtime. For most this would perpetuate a lifelong fear of needles. For me, I’ve grown accustomed to it. The matter was worsened by the fact that most of the poking were done on my left arm, as my right arm does not have veins pronounced enough for them to draw blood from.

Imagine having been poked by 28 needles through the whole pregnancy, four of which was caused by a botched test. I don’t want to talk about that.

I've had enough of you to last a lifetime!

Other things to look out for
By the time your foetus reaches 7 months, he or she will be around 1.5 kg. In the last three months, you will experience, have or see more weight gain, stretch marks, cravings, cramps, fatigue, difficulty in breathing, constant toilet trips (including in the middle of nights) and more checkups. The checkups will go from once every four weeks to once every two weeks to once every week.

The foetus is sometimes more vulnerable during the last trimester as many things may go wrong. It is extremely important that you watch your diet during this time as some research show that what you eat during the final months of the pregnancy will lead to having a hypersensitive baby with allergies.

Weight gain and size development of the baby is also crucial at this juncture. In almost all the cases of pregnancies around me, the foetuses were found to have stop growing near the 8th month. I have a friend who has to deliver one month early because the baby has stopped growing since the 7th month. The baby’s weight during birth barely reached 2.5 kg.

Weight gain in the baby does not rely solely on the mother’s food intake during the last trimester. You can keep eating and eating but it may not go into your baby for reasons that even doctors do not understand. However, if weight gain in the baby seems to balloon out of control, this is also reason for worry as cases of stillbirth are linked to foetuses being overweight. I have another friend whose sister in law lost her baby due to this. The heart stopped at the 7-month mark. This will be very traumatic for the mother so take heed and be cautious about your eating habits during the last trimester.

Conclusion and disclaimer (as usual):
Exercise, eat healthily, be safe, go slow, listen to advice from other mothers, communicate with your doctor, be watchful, savour the nine months and wait eagerly for the arrival of our baby because believe me, it will come to an end eventually (even though you feel like this will go on forever =)) and you will have a new beginning!

As usual, here comes the disclaimer. I am not a doctor, a practitioner, a nurse, a medical lecturer, a gynaecologist not even a medic student. I am a woman, a mother, a wife, once-pregnant-now-free and a blogger who just loves to dissipate information. The things I write here, I will tell my sister, my daughter or my female friends who are pregnant. Hence, I find them fit to put here to share.

However, do understand that everything is different for everyone and you should not take the information here word-for-word. Talk to your doctor or do your own research. Make educated choices and informed decisions for yourself and for your baby.

Lastly, congrats on your pregnancy and I pray that all will go well for you and your baby.

BRITANNIA WOMEN AND CHILDREN SPECIALIST CENTRE

Awhile back I wrote about Britannia Kajang, the specialist delivery centre for women and children. I forgot to write about the Cheras branch, or more precisely, I forgot to give the map or instructions to get there. So if you haven't seen this link or don't need to...

here is the wikimapia map to Britannia's Cheras branch. It is easier to get to than the one in Kajang, hence I did not make a map for it. If you have GPS, you can get the coordinates from googlemaps.

If you don't... you can always get yourself to Alam Damai, Jusco Cheras Selatan, Carrefour Cheras Selatan or Connaught's Giant (there is a backroad that leads into Alam Damai) and take it from there.

1 Follow the Pustaka Rakyat bookstore signboard to get to Pustaka Rakyat. Next to Pustaka Rakyat is the Bandar Damai Perdana Balai Polis. The station is on one end of the whole shoplot. Britannia is on the other end.

2 Find SJKC Connaught 2. It's in the same vicinity.

3 Find Nyonya Kopitiam. It's two blocks behind Nyonya Kopitiam.

Good luck finding the place and good luck with the pregnancy.

THE LINK BETWEEN PREGNANCY DIETS AND BABY ALLERGIES

My niece was born 6 weeks after my daughter. She has a beautiful face, compared to my daughter’s but she is now suffering from a mild form of eczema, a skin condition also known as atopic dermatitis. It is a form of inherited allergy. In some cases, the eczema develops into asthma. Luckily, in my niece’s case, it is confined to dry skin and occasional rashes on her cheeks.

According to some sites like babycenter, the allergic reaction is triggered by allergens in the baby’s diet. If you breastfeed, the reaction may be triggered through the food you take, transferred to your baby through breast milk. The allergic reaction may also be exacerbated by irritants like soap, lotions and detergents, or even by heat.

Apart from the rashes and her dry skin, my niece also is easily irritable, does not sleep for long and cries a lot due to her skin problem. Thus, this takes a toll on the mother and the babysitter as well. The babysitter asks that the mother switch to a soy-based milk to reduce the allergic reactions. It worked for awhile.

Then, my sister in law (the mother) took my niece to see a skin specialist. All this while she has always taken her to child specialists, until a friend of hers introduced her to this doctor at Taman Segar. He told her that this might be due to the diet she took when she was pregnant. The culprits identified: fresh milk and mangoes. Yes, of all things, mangoes, the fruit, may be a cause to this hypersensitive skin problem. He promptly gave her a list of things that the daughter must avoid to prevent repercussions.

He also gave her some medication which I think could be steroids that may help reduce the rashes. She is also advised to reduce the use of soap when she bathes her daughter (warm water will do) and the lotions she use on her daughter’s skin must be for sensitive skin. This lotion is available at pharmacies, although a it is advisable to get a prescription for it first.

Since my sister in law has just started this this past weekend, we shall see if my niece’s condition recovers or not.

Strangely enough, this also happened to the daughters of one ex-colleague of mine, who has two daughters and one son. Both daughters suffer from eczema, the older one until she was 7 months old and the younger one, having a worse case, still suffers occasional bouts of rashes and itchiness whenever she takes the wrong food.

The son does not exhibit any such conditions and has shown no clear signs of having any allergies at the moment. I sincerely hope it stays that way.

So if you hear of old wives’ tales that you should not eat certain foods during pregnancy, take heed. You need not follow through with all of them, but take most in moderation instead of submitting all out to the cravings. It’s true that you are what you eat, but in this case your baby becomes whatever it is that you eat during pregnancy.


Disclaimer: I usually suggest to friends of mine to seek second opinions from physicians and specialists, when dealing with issues regarding the health of children. As such, I also ask that you do your own research, ask around and consult your physicians before making any decisions based on what you read here. This is as much a disclaimer as it is a point to ensure that whatever decisions you make for our children is made from an educated standpoint. Make well-informed decisions for your child.