Sunday, February 18, 2007

Reunited and we feel so good

If any of you were out late at night yesterday watching a movie somewhere in Penang, you might have noticed an extremely rowdy motley crew ranging from tweenage to kadults in the famed back benches raising a helluva ruckus. Popcorn tossing, candy pelting and petty name calling seems the norm for these barbaric scoundrels but thank goodness, these little heathenish hooligans managed to calm down before the movie started.

Hell I'd have called the police on them! Unfortunately ( much to my everlasting embarassment ) I'm part of that heathenish gang.

Over in our family, we don't ascribe to many of the old-fashioned notions held by other households but we do follow one simple tradition, that is to remain awake till the wee hours of the morning the night before Chinese New Year. Not sure how my cousins and I were conned years back by some conniving elderly relative but for the past decade or so, it's been a sacred yearly tradition to break out the ang pow bank ( hence the need for a banker ) to purchase tickets for our midnight movie marathon.

So after the regular reunion dinner, it's off in a cavalcade of cars to the nearest cineplex. Usually end up struggling to maintain my sanity through whatever unintelligible rubbish the evil moviemakers have cobbled up together for the festive occasion. For the past years, I've sat through numerous mindless Chow Sing Chi fanfests to the Godawful-get-me-out-of-the-cinema-now Himalaya Singh - and now to the slightly more palatable Lady Iron Chef.

You can see how I end up tossing popcorn at my cousins to keep myself amused. Just because I'm one of the eldest doesn't mean I have to maintain dignified decorum, does it?

And then thank God we go for supper where I usually drown myself in endless jugs of saccharine-sweet teh tarik to rid my mind of whatever sickening movie-trash I've been subjected to ( tortured with, more like ). Then over mountains of chappati, we start gossiping yet again - yeah, this family really lives on gossip fodder.

Man aat rest
Is it morning yet...

So does it surprise anyone that we're usually all mindlessly groggy in the morning till irrevocably woken up by the deafening cymbals and drums of the approaching lions? :)

16 comments:

Sue said...

What does the character tattooed on the model's body say?

Anonymous said...

Kung hei fat choi! Did i get that right?

Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy said...

Sounds like fun. All that popcorn throwing. We spent ours shuttling between my partner's Mum's place in Bangsar and my Mum's place in PJ.

But we sat up till the wee hours shooting the breeze on a very breezy verandah surrounded by candles. Really comforting.

Nigel

savante said...

Can't really see clearly but I beieve it's the chinese word for prosperity, sue.

You got it right, mark! Same to you!

Ah, shooting the breeze sounds wonderful, nige. Sounds like you had quite a nice new year too.

Paul

Sam said...

Any movie will do eh? Kesian...

Anonymous said...

Oops, that was me.

Anonymous said...

Iron Lady Chef!? Eeeewww...

Ghost Rider's just as eeeewww BTW.

Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy said...

Still having a great new year Paul. Catching up with friends and taking a breather. The festive season stretches from Raya to CNY for me and it's insanely busy till CNY Eve. Then heave a sigh of relief and things go back to a more manageable pace. :-)

Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy said...

And Paul, just for Sue, that word near Leandro Okabe's luscious obliques is "Fook" or as you so accurately put it, the chinese word for Prosperity.

;-)

AD said...

Happy Chinese New Year Paul!

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year Paul... I was re-reading 'The New Year' las night. I couldn't make it to Chinatown (Asian District) in Seattle yesterday and really wanted too. I miss being part of that with my friends on the East Coast and doing all the family things with them.

My own family doesn't understand my affinity for the Asian culture. Well, I at least had good dreams of James and John and lion dancers.

TJay

hrugaar said...

What I want to know is... did grandma go with you to the cinema? ;oP

Iron Lady Chef? LOL!

snowdrop said...

happy new year, paul! i'd have thought you'd be spending it a bit further south?

hrugaar said...

BTW, the guy in that photo is seriously sexy. Yum. ;oP

savante said...

Yes, any movie, sam and dan. Sigh.

You must be glad to have this long break for a while :) And you're right, nige, it's fook!

Thanks, ad!

Hey, I miss that story already, tjay. Will go back to the boys soon.

Nah, ru, grandma thinks we're rowdy heathens too :P

Did that and came back south, snowdrop.

Paul

Anonymous said...

Hello docter....No, I was in Penang but didn't see u in the cinema.

Found your place by accident and wow, quite amazed at your site....