Love Actually

On a lazy Boxing Day, what else is there to do with your friends but veg out and catch an old feel-good movie? And nothing fits the holiday season as perfectly as does Love Actually - with its quaint, charming portrayals of love in all its various guises.

Sometimes we tend to associate love only with the one shared between a pair of lovers but I think that's where we sell it short. In fact this sweet movie shows us that love does occur in the oddest places - between a doting stepfather and his son, between siblings, between best friends, between colleagues and even oddly enough, between an aging rock star and his faithful manager. There are quiet moments when it gets a tad sentimental - perhaps even a little too schmaltzy for the more macho guys amongst us but hell, I still love it.

My ISO : Fuck. Not again!
Paul : You didn't complain last year.
My ISO : ( waggling his eyebrows lasciviously ) I wanted some sugar.
Paul : Not getting it this year.
My ISO : That shirt I gave you cost a bomb.
Paul : Thanks very much. Now, eat your candy and shut up.

Perhaps it really is the umpteenth time I've seen the movie since I actually had my ISO complaining when I placed the disc in the player but hell, it's Christmas. There's certainly no better time to get all gooey and mushy, is there? And there's always the meltingly gorgeous Rodrigo Santoro for the prerequisite male eye-candy.


Rodrigo taking some time off

So my surprisingly obliging ISO provided the prerequisite alcohol ( in the morning, how decadent! ) and the gripes while I stuffed him full with my remaining Turkish Delight, then sighed and sobbed all over my delicate Turkish cushion covers. Still, in spite of his vehement complaints, I saw him flick away a manly tear when love didn't exactly go the way it should. :)