Elliott Smith - Needle in the Hay

A beautiful sad song. Elliott Smith is an extremely talented singer-songwriter. I first heard his song on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack and ever since I've associated him with tragic folk ballads.

Anyway I got to know this song through Sad Kermit, who did a rather good cover of it:

wat i missed..

The history boys came back from their Southeast Asian tour and I was shocked to hear that they did not catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Apparently there's a new pricing for viewing the sunrise that I didn't encounter when I was there. The Angkor Wat is replete with cosmological meaning and its builders intended for the sun to rise directly behind it. It was a pity I missed it too. I had everything arranged; the tutuk driver came to pick me up at 5am but alas, it was an overcast morning and I my stomach was troubling me, probably from overeating the night before, and I stayed in the hotel puking and passing diarrhoea that morning. :(

erm.. ayat ayat cinta..

On what would otherwise be a dreary day of job interview, i went out for dinner and a movie with angela. she wasn't as quiet as she was the last time we went out and she still giggles like a schoolgirl which i found rather cute and she brightened my day. The sashimi at Akashi Paragon was delicious! It was soft and had a tinge of sweetness. Delicious. The restaurant is a little pricey though, but i didn't mind as i haven't been out in a long time. i didn't even know the link between citylink and suntec was complete until yesterday.

After dinner we went to catch the Indonesian movie, Ayat Ayat Cinta. Of course, it was the smart lass's choice; i had suggested Indy Jones. Her other choice was a movie called Angel, a polar opposite of Cinta. Angel is a movie set in Edwardian England, and is rated M18 with many sensuous scenes from what i see in the trailer. Cinta is about an Fahri, an Indonesian graduate student at the esteemed Al Azhar university in Cario, who's never had physical contact with a woman except his mother and relatives.

After the movie, angela remarked how 'powerful' and 'touching' the movie was, while i had question marks swarming in my head. At least we agreed on the parts where the corny music and the dramatic scenes felt so painfully artificial and cheesy. Probably I don't understand Islam culture at all, especially regarding its views on the issues of women and polygamy, which were dealt with in the movie. What baffles me is that the women in the movie actually wanted to marry that guy when he is already married to a woman he loves. I think the movie questions the existence of love in polygamy as well, but it conveniently kills off the second wife and leaves its audience with a 'happy' couple. It was a strange movie for me, albeit rather well-acclaimed and being a positive portrayal of Islam that has no terrorists in it.