Up : Life is An Adventure

Last weekend, I went and watched the digital 3D animation Up. I knew it was from Pixar so I knew it would be good, at least to the eyes. So, wearing 3D glasses and armed with a soda and popcorn on my lap, I happily munched away the whole movie.

The story started with a boy and a girl who love adventure and were so engrossed with a famous explorer who had traveled a distant but colossal waterfall, Paradise Falls, in the deep forests of South America.

They shared a dream of traveling there and probably building their dream house right on top of that magnificent waterfall. They got married, wasn’t lucky to have a child, got busy with life. But at the back of their mind, the dream was still there.

They grew up together, grew old together. Until the wife died and what’s left was a widower, with an unfulfilled dream and a promise to his wife that he will bring her to their dream. The whole thing was so beautifully made and in a span of a few minutes, I am already so into it, touched by their story. And to think, it had just started.

So there he was, Mr. Frederickson, an old grumpy widower, alone and missing his loved one, and pretty much bored with life. Here comes Russell, a boy scout who had all the badges he have except one, the one needed for him to assist an elderly. He offers his help to the old guy, who doesn’t need it.

Due to some altercation between Mr. Frederickson and the real estate developers who wanted his house, he was ordered to demolish his place and be sent to a retirement home. When they were about to pick him up, unbeknownst to everyone, and being a balloon salesman that he is, he hooked up thousands of balloons to his house and planned to fly it and the memories of his wife to Paradise Falls.

He was surprised when he found out that the little boy scout, Russell, was hanging outside his door. So having no choice at all, Mr. Frederickson traveled all the way to Paradise Falls with Russell in tow.

I will not tell the whole story of adventure hat goes with their journey. I must say, you need to watch it yourself. I just wanted to give you guys a hint or the plot if you will.

Only that Mr. Frederickson was so obsessed with fulfilling his promise to his wife no matter what the cost. In the end, he was able to do it, land their home on top of the falls only to realize one thing.

When he grabbed his wife’s adventure book, he saw new things that he haven’t seen before. There were pictures of him and his wife all throughout their lives… so happy and yet so complete. And a handwritten note from her that goes something like this…

“Thank you for the adventure… go find a new one.”

It may sound anticlimactic, but it really wasn’t. The note just made Mr. Frederickson, the grumpy old man that he is, to once again embrace adventure and life as it truly is.

The whole movie made me happy and sad.

Sad because the life Mr. Frederickson and his wife shared was a life that is truly blessed, that with all the complexities of it, they were just simple people with simple dreams. They don’t have much but they do have each other, always. And loosing the other made one incomplete. I thought of myself. It is the truth and a big possibility that your loved ones might go before you, yet it is still hard to imagine yourself old, alone.

But I was also happy that it showed another truth about life. That it is about adventure and to really appreciate and enjoy it, we must embrace it with open hearts and minds and face it head-on.

April Top Entredroppers

While I am not that quite active on this site, i am happy that my entredroppers were.

So it is but right to give them recognition and complimentary backlinks for dropping away those credits and bringing in the extra traffic.

I promise that I will post some more reviews in the coming days. Am also reading quite a few number of books that I can't wait to share.

And movies that I've watched that really were good enough to merit a review.

For now, here's my Top Entredroppers for the month of April: Thank you guys!

Youth Care
Toltec Insights
Are You Hungry?
Blogs with Wings
Ghosting Miranda II
Entrecard SEO
Cats Who Twitter
Angels on Your Shoulder
A Happy Hippy Mom
I Am Buraot

The Appeal: Surprisingly Unappealing

I admit I haven't had a Grisham novel for quite a while. I was busy reading bits and pieces of everything on the internet and theoretical physics books lately that I haven't had a real novel for a while.

Then when I was shopping for some new Harry Potter books for my daughter's collection, I saw it on the shelves... two new John Grisham novels.

I decided right there and then that however busy I may be, I will try not to miss my time to read a novel again. I bought Grisham's The Appeal, saved the newer novel The Associate for later reading, and an autobiography book of Pablo Neruda.

Regret was the first thing I felt when I opened the first few pages of The Appeal. The copy I got wasn't what I would have wanted. It was a bigger print that was intended, I would assume, for folks who have bad eyesight. It was just too big for me. I also realized that since I have my own Grisham collection of First Edition novels, I should have bought a first edition as well.

I should have seen the sign.

The plot was typical of Grisham's, which would have loved by his loyal fans like me anyway. The plot reads like his previous works of fiction where the common man got entangled in a legal dispute with the Big Corporations, just like we saw in The Rainmaker, Runaway Jury and others.

Here, the whole town and its people were on the brink of collapse due to contaminated water that according to the plaintiff, was polluted by toxics dumped by a giant chemical company.

Forefront is the case of a widow who lost a husband and a son to cancer. She is represented by a local husband and wife law firm, the Paytons, who are now on the brink of bankruptcy. Fighting a case this big against Big Money is just too big for a small town firm. But the prospects are huge.

This case serves as a floodgate for all other cases in town where lots of residents have succumbed to or are fighting cancer. Winning this case means huge money, city-wide clean-up, and endless clients for all the ambulance chasers in town.

But the conclusion of the story is a little bit anti-climactic. I guess here Grisham tried to make the end contrary to most of his fiction novels where the common people, the underrepresented, and the oppressed eventually prevails. The portrayal of Carl Trudeau, who owns the chemical company, and his wife makes me think of Bonfire of the Vanities.

I was waiting for the final pages on the appeal process to see where the giveaway might come, the point where I can see the victim, represented by her now-almost bankrupt lawyers would prevail.

I waited. But it didn't come. I was bummed out.

But it also shows that reality does bite. In some parts of the United States, the judicial system is tainted with politics that self-interests, lobbyists, and Big Money can, in a way unclear to some, buy themselves their own judge.

And well, that is just too bad. That makes for the book too.

Not Done Yet

Okay. I decided, finally, not to delete this site.

This was my first blog. This is where I met my first online friends, made my first buck. But I am quite busy running two sites so I had to put this on the back burner for quite a while.

And since I am not giving up this site, I am re-formatting my other blogs including this one. I am keeping this mainly as a review site.

Raves and reviews for most things that I love. The books, music, movies, gizmos, and yes, other blogs.

Right now, I am still reading two of the latest John Grisham novels and I am very excited to do a review for you guys.

I still am currently doing a line-up for other things that would go next. So see you in a couple of days.