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Last year (2015), I did a “Back to the Future” Trilogy Movie Marathon with my kids. Given that Doc, Marty and Jennifer travelled from 1985 to 2015 in the “Back to the Future II”, I’d thought it would be fun for them to watch what a movie made in 1989 predicted their present world would be like. And of course, whilst we were at it, why not do the whole trilogy as a movie marathon?

It was a blast – the kids loved the trilogy.

In the same year, I also did Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins, Annie (1982), Grease, Galaxy Quest (you can tell I am a geek, no?), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, 50 First Dates and 阿郎的故事 (All About Ah Long) which starred a dashing Chow Yun Fatt who was a rising young star in Hong Kong at the time.

More recently, when the kids wanted to watch “Star Wars – The Force Awakens” when it was released at the end of 2015, I decided it made no sense to do so unless they have watched Epsiodes 1 to 6 first. I started them on Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) which they enjoyed very much but stopped at Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back because my kids freaked out a little (better not push it right?).

Anyways, reflecting back, it made me realise that unless there was divine intervention from their dear mother, my kids would eventually grow up missing out on a whole era of great movies and films I grew up with – many of these do not feature high on the holiday re-runs list.

So here is a list of movies (in no particular order) that I think they should not miss growing up that will be coming soon to a home theatre near you (some might take a little while longer to,  waiting till my girls to come of age. Some are really old might actually require a fair bit of hunting down). And in a few year’s time, there will be a new list with movies like the Godfather series, the James Bond films, Kill Bill, Kick Ass and Deadpool, 300, Philadelphia, Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Aliens, Hotel Rawanda and Schindler’s List.

Any you would add to the list?

• The Wizard of Oz
• An American Tale
• 101 Dalmatians (the original Disney cartoon)
• Peter Pan (the original Disney cartoon)
• ET
• Parent Trap (1961 version, before Lindsey Lohan was born)
• Jason and the Argonauts
• Ben Hur
• Singing in the Rain
• Indiana Jones Trilogy
• Star Wars Episodes I-IX
• Star Trek  Series
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Battlestar Galatica
• Starship Troopers
• The original Superman
• Rocky
• Terminator
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Die Hard Series
• Sleepless in Seattle
• You’ve Got Mail
• Life is Beautiful
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Look Who’s Talking
• Police Academy
• Love Actually
• Tron
• Dead Poet’s Society
• Annie Hall
• My Fair Lady
• Roman Holiday
• Somewhere in Time
• Top Hat
• Charlie Chaplin’s movies
• Cinema Paradiso
• The Wedding Singer
• Charlie’s Angels
• Once Upon a Time in China (Jet Li movies)
• Hero (英雄)
• Infernal Affairs I and II (the original Hong Kong version, not the Hollywood one)
• Fearless (Jet Li)
• Police Story (Jackie Chan)
• Ip Man series
• A Better Tomorrow I and II (Chow Yun Fatt)

On 11 February, I decided to come out of my social hermitage and to start tweeting/posting/blogging again after a hiatus of 1.5 to 3 years (depending on which social media you were referring to – and people tagging me in their photos was not counted!).

And so I broke my social silence with a tweet that I thought would be lost in the deep space of social media given the number of updates and notifications that everyone seems inundated with on a daily basis – what more in the midst of Chinese New Year when everyone is sending each other greetings and posting pictures of family reunions, friends’ gatherings and all the glorious hot pots, lo-hei etc. that is so much a part of the season.

I was wrong.

The number of “likes” and “comments” I have received over the past few days to that tweet which was reposted on FB has totally taken me by surprise. There were so many affirmative and encouraging comments, it was like everyone has been waiting for me to rejoin the party that is the celebration of life and ready to clap me on the back when I do.

So thank you my dear friends for throwing me the best coming out party ever on social – I am glad to be in such wonderful company and I am glad to be alive and I am glad to be back! Life’s great!

Here’s a simple and fun home improvement project that’s great with the kids!

Ingredients:

• Fujifilm Instax Camera and Film
• 3M Command Hooks (clear mini hook)
• Twine
• Mini wooden pegs
• A wall
• Family and Fun Occasions
• Trigger happy kids

Instructions:

• Arm trigger happy kids with Fujifilm Instax Camera and Film
• Fold the armed trigger happy kids into family and fun occasions
• Let the mixture combine – happy photos should result
• Gather and curate the photos
• Stick 3M hooks on the selected wall – give the hooks an hour to set
• Tie twine on the hooks
• Arm trigger happy kids with photos and pegs
• Sit back, relax and enjoy watching kids hang up the photos
• In a few minutes, you will have a happy wall of happy photos and happy kids who will constantly be rearranging the photos and hanging up new ones.
• Add more hooks and twine when kids run out of “twine space”.

Riding the MRT to work this morning, I decided to stop playing with the Apps on my smart phone and instead, to people watch my fellow commuters jammed in with me in the morning rush hour.

The predictable thing I noticed was of course how many people were hunched over their smart phones or phablets, playing games, watching movies or TV dramas, or catching up on Facebook.

Less obvious perhaps was that not a single person who was tethered to their devices around me was smiling or laughing. Most looked bored or wore a plain neutral blank look on their faces. Assuming that they had freely chosen their entertainment to tie them over a functional commute, I would have thought to see an occasional smile break across an otherwise placid face. And those who were catching up on Facebook were just as leaden. Surely, if you were reading about the exploits of a dear friend, it would light up your morning just a little? Or were the posts sadly those of peripheral acquaintances that were so mundane as to be non-existential (much like this blog some of you might say)?

Ironically, whilst we have more entertainment at our fingertips, we are increasingly bored and lonely. Games, movies, TV dramas and social media serve less to delight and more as a protective shield and to encase us in an anonymous cocoon so that we do not need to look up and acknowledge the existence of our neighbors or to have our neighbors acknowledge us.

If this is what it means to exist in a world of devices and cloud and technology, it makes me think of what Pico Iyer had written in his piece for the New York Times called the Joy of Quiet. Certainly, I’m going to unplug myself during my daily commute and dare to look people in the eye and smile. Call it my social experiment but let’s see how many people will have the courage to smile back and how many will fail and look away into the safe embrace of their devices.

Driving home on Sunday afternoon, we spotted a driver in a blue Honda that had stopped at the traffic light. The driver’s window was wound down and a dog had it’s head out enjoying the sun. 

When the light turned green, guess what? The driver drove off, with the dog still on his lap between him and the steering wheel, with the dog’s head still sticking out of the driver’s window, enjoying the breeze while blocking the wing mirror!

Unbelievable! What a crazy, dangerous and irresponsible driver! I was so shocked, I didn’t manage to whip out my phone to record the episode down. I have nothing against dogs and in fact, I do love them very much. However, this dog owner went too far – compromising road safety for himself, his pet and other road users. I will be keeping my eye out for him as I have a feeling he might live around my neighbourhood. Next time, I will be ready to catch him in action.