EmmaGoodEgg

Special Olympics Walkathon & Fun Carnival

The GoodEggs braved the blistering heat at noon last Sunday to partake in the merriment at the Special Olympics Carnival. The Carnival was held at Tasek Lama (translated into English as 'Old Lake'), a rather swell park right smack in the center of town that folks frequent every day to indulge in some exercise. I have not been to Tasek Lama for a few years since I don't exercise as much as I should (if I do, I tend to exercise my eyeballs) and was pleasantly surprised at how well the park is looking, with its walkways and wooden resting areas, and not to mention that gushing waterfall!

There was a walkathon at 7am that ended at Tasek Lama and the Carnival began. We missed the Walkathon, but RA made it and you can read his report here. Anak Brunei's report of the Carnival is here, and Maurina's blog report here.

I have some pictures.

The entrance to the Carnival.

There were tents that housed various games for the public to play.

Activities such as rock-climbing, toe-dipping and fox-flying at the 'Tasek' (lake) and waterfall area.

The Flying Fox!

Bobby and Zimmie bought some coupons and took part in the "Shoot The Football In The Mouth", but didn't manage to win prizes but instead rolled the football into the river.

Bobby saving the ball.

From left to right, girlie bloggers Atul, Anneesa, Maurina and Pynk spent the day doing good for the community.

If you are ready to Compete, Coach, Volunteer, or Donate, please contact:

Pengiran Datin Noraini, Program Board Chair
Adanan Bin Musim, Program National Director
Rose Lim, National Secretary

at

Special Olympics Brunei Darusalaam
Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam
Simpang 66-38-60, Kampong Bengkurong
BF 1920, Negara Brunei Darussalam

+673 265 5245
+673 265 6380 / 223 1846 (fax)
[email protected]

Her Name Is Dita.

I think 'Most Celebrated Burlesque Dancer In The World' must be one of the better jobs out there. Or maybe being illustrated by David Downton helps.

For the hard-working folks out there to beat the Monday morning blues, Dita Von Teese is always a good bet.

more at twiigs.com...

Let's Roll

Dear Inny-Pooh,

You're a year older today. Alas, no blings. Just something from YouTube (cos its really the neatest thing online isn't it?) to wish you Happy Birthday. I remember how you've always fancied Joey McIntyre during the years we listened to NKOTB. It is one of my fondest memories of you. Plus, bubble-gum idol Jordan Knight in overalls must be good for the soul.

Happy Birthday darling.

Love, Emma xx

Happy Mother's Day

The Death Rattle Of The Fourth Estate

I came across this feature in the Weekend BB and read it with incredulity.

It is amazing, in the light of how blogging has evolved, to find a feature like it in a daily newspaper. That page could have been put to better use, like highlighting the Fund Raising Event this Sunday for The Special Olympics Training Programme. Instead it seems to me like a desperate attempt by conservative journalists to survive Web 2.0 by making bloggers look like simpletons.

Nice try, but no bananas.

Cabin Fever

Day Four as One-Eyed Emma and I've been listening to this all day.

Now I want a dress like Diane Lane's red retro backless number so I can lip-synch the song on a stage.

Spiderman 3 - Emma's Point Of View

Last Sunday Bobby and I dragged our asses out of the Bungalow (and from slowly turning into our duvet cover from watching copious amounts of Supernatural Season 2 in bed) and drove out to the Empire Cinema. There we met Babs & MatBon and sat through two and a half hours of a movie that was filled to the brim, chockfull of tears, fights, dances, villains and plots, all tangled up (no pun intended).

But let's backtrack a bit.

I am not a die-hard Spidey fan. Even though I watched the Spiderman TV series faithfully when I was younger and had dreams of being bitten by a radioactive spider. What I remember most about the Spidey of the 70s was that Peter Parker was a geeky do-gooder with a retro brown bouffant. The extent of the crummy special effects was Spidey scaling up and down a horizontal brick wall, shot vertically.

With the new age Peter Parker/Spiderman, I thought Tobey Maguire was well casted as the geekoid with super powers. The upside down kiss between Spiderman and Mary Jane Watson in Spiderman 2 was THE kiss of the year. It was believable and elicited gentle phwooarghs. And then we come to the third Spidey instalment and the growing awkwardness between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst (who dated during the first Spiderman but broke up before the second) made watching their romance in the movie less believable.

The good part is that CGI is of course better than Spidey's yesteryears and on par with the first and second movie (although being an old fart, I felt sick at some of the faster fighting scenes).

The not so good parts are many. During the dance scenes, it was not funny seeing Tobey Maguire doing a cringe-worthy Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever. I wanted to root for the Sandman's villain with a soul but there was no meat in his sandy being. That another villain came so late in the movie made me say 'Nyeh?!' James DiFranco as Green Goblin Jr was wimpy assed at best. Why the hell did his faithful butler Bernard let everything go to shit before opening his mouth and telling the truth about who killed GG Jr's dad? There was another woman thrown into Spidey's web to form a love triangle but seriously, NO bitch fight? And why would one want to under-utilise Bryce Dallas Howard who is a pretty darn good actress.

Director Sam Raimi could have practised a little more restraint. Why not stick to one main villain, develop characters and concentrated on a badass script? Instead he crammed everything into one poor movie and turned Spiderman 3 into an overindulgent crybaby.

But hey don't mind me, Spiderman 3 has the current highest film opening in history, and I'm just a hormonal woman talking. Plus I would've been in a better mood if the Empire Cinema seat wasn't a bitch for my back.

See Ability...Not Disability

It's heartening to see how our society is developing into a more charitable one, rather than one that is always expecting a handout.

Find out more about this damn good cause by clicking right HERE.

One-Eyed Musings

Stuck at home and peering at everything using one eye has its ups and downs.

The Ups

1. Watching Channel 76 on Astro like a motherhumper. I love E! because you can watch it like a mindless zombie hooked on frivilous entertainment facts and not human blood. It makes me feel like I'm on holiday and reading light-readin' magazines like US Weekly. Except its available 24/7. I know how Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas's divorce papers look like 'cos I saw it on THS: Drew Barrymore (THS stands for True Hollywood Story for all you living without cable) and if that is not a completely mindless and frivilous fact, I don't know what is.
2. On MC and thankfully not suffering from an illness that could lead to death, but still not able to go to work is kinda like being on a well-deserved holiday 'cept you're stuck at home watching E!.
3. Being able to watch teenage son like a hawk ogre, because mocks are around the corner.
4. Pulling all the stops to make Willow love me more.

The Downs

1. Being One-Eyed Emma is no fun because your eye looks freaky, everything you see is wonky and since your depth of perception is impaired, you tend to break dishes.
2. Not being AT work, but still have to DO work suck eggs (but someone's gotta do it).
3. Just not used to being Ogre Mom, nor having teenage son witness transformation.
4. Willow still treats me with a certain degree of arrogance. Even after I feed her Bobby's Secret Stash For Willow, a can of Rabbit and Venison Gourment Cat Meal.

And to answer Miracle Max's question whether I would choose The Princess Bride or a Johnny Depp filled Pirates of the Caribbean, I'd have to say if not for the presence of simpering Kiera Knightly (whom I would gladly feed to the R.O.U.S. or Rodents of Unusual Size), there might have been a fight. There's just so much hotness one can realistically take.

Cartoon snagged from here.

The Dread (Pregnant) Pirate Roberts

It's Tuesday and I look a sight. Thanks to an eye patch over my left eye courtesy of Dr N and his army of assistants over at the Eye Clinic at RIPAS. The eye patch not looking quite as sexy as a black eye-patch pirate one I (or Bobby for that matter) had envisaged, but a white cup-like thing secured by some sticky tape. I scared young children, and did not illicit Va Va Va Vooms from strangers, when walking the halls of RIPAS trying hard not to bump into walls.

Like I said, I look a sight.

And because I have been having pirate thoughts all day, it is inevitable that my thoughts go to The Princess Bride, THE pirate movie of the century. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you had better go find a copy of the film and WATCH IT.

I came home for the holidays one day in 1987 and heard my father and sisters rave about this movie they watched on Vhs. The video was rented from Popeye. For those who remember, and I bet there are not many who don't, in the late 80s Popeye was THE video rental shop in Brunei. It was where we can get the latest pirated movies on Vhs cassette, kinda like the Kedai Komunis of the now. It was my holiday movie of 1987, and my sisters and I watched it incessantly over the years. So much so that we still pepper our lingo with memorable quotes from the movie.

If there was an occasion for a funny exotic accent, we'll break into "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." If we wanted to say something about marriage, we'll break into, "Mawage. Mawage is what keeps us together. Today." We are the Wyrd Sisters like that. The Princess Bride brings back great memories of sisterhood, and on a day when I am fumbling about silly, I wish my sisters were around.

The film, directed by Rob Reiner, is an adaptation of William Goldman's book The Princess Bride. The movie stars a young Robin Wright (before she added 'Penn' to her name) and Cary Elwes (I think the only other notable movie he did was Saw 1) as The Princess Bride and Wesley/The Dread Pirate Roberts, respectively. Even Andre the Giant (giant bad ass wrestler extraordinaire) had a part, as Fezzik the Giant. The movie has a fairy tale feel to it and superbly combines romance, adventure and comedy. After watching the debacle that is Spiderman 3 last weekend, I miss watching movies with scripts like The Princess Bride. Incidentally, I'll do an Emma's take on Spidey if I could get my act together since its taken me ages to write this post on account of being One-Eyed Emma.

For now, its for my sisters, with love.