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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Dear John the movie



I watched this show this afternoon. I got the DVD from my uncle. I mean he gave it to me. I have some other shows but I thought I needed a boost of love in this loneliness at this moment of my life.

I thought it was quite old because I got it from him quite long ago. It shows that it was released this year. Not that old though :)

It was quite nice. But I didn't like Amanda. I'd prefer someone prettier =X
Channing Tatum is kinda hot xD

I got this from Wikipedia. It's very long and detailed. Couldn't bother much to edit ;P



John Tyree (Channing Tatum), a young Sergeant from the Army Special Forces, is lying on the ground in his combat gear with multiple gunshot wounds on his body. Coins begin to fall over him as he recalls a childhood trip to the U.S. Mint

He goes on to compare himself to a coin in the United States Military and states that the last thing he thought about before he blacked out, was "You."

In 2001, John is on leave when he meets Savannah Lynn Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), a college student on spring break. In a matter of days, Savannah and John fall in love. John meets Savannah's family as well as her neighbor, Tim Wheddon (Henry Thomas) and Tim's autistic son, Alan (Braeden Reed), who looks up to Savannah.

Savannah meets and befriends John's father (Richard Jenkins), a reclusive man who is only interested in his coin collection. John tells Savannah that his father has always been obsessed with coins and has not been much of a father to John, whose mother is not in the picture. Savannah mentions to John that his father, like Alan, may have autism. 

This upsets John, who believes Savannah is calling his father retarded. He is so caught up in his anger that he gets into a fight with Savannah's rich neighbor, Randy (Scott Porter), accidentally punching Tim in the process. John apologizes to Tim the next day and leaves Savannah a note, seeking her forgiveness before his leave comes to an end. 

Savannah gets the note, and they spend one last day together. John returns to the Army and he and Savannah begin a long-distance relationship through handwritten letters. John believes this year will be his final year of enlistment but, following the September 11 attacks, is torn between returning home and his sense of duty. 

He is given a weekend off, which he spends with Savannah and her family as well as with his father. He asks Savannah for her opinion on whether or not he should re-enlist, and she tells him to do what he feels is right. Like the rest of the soldiers in his unit, John chooses to re-enlist.

Over the next two years, John faces dangerous missions and begins to live almost entirely for Savannah's letters. John and Savannah find themselves drifting apart. Finally, Savannah, sad but resigned, sends John a Dear John letter, informing him that she has become engaged to someone else. 

John, deeply depressed and frustrated by the news, believes she is engaged to Randy. On a mission, he enters a dangerous area and is shot several times by an enemy, which bridges back to the first scene of the movie. 

After recovering from his wounds John's Captain suggests that he go home and spend time with his father but, still upset about Savannah, John chooses to re-enlist again. He decides that he will make a career out of the Army and stay enlisted for as long as possible.

For the next four years, John, trying to mend his broken heart over Savannah, takes part in many missions with his new unit, spanning from the early years of the invasion of Iraq to the current resurgent conflicts in Afghanistan. 

While waiting to receive orders on his unit's next deployment at their regional operations base in Qatar, John is informed that he is being sent home for the first time in six years, because his father is dying. When John arrives at the hospital, the doctor informs him that his father suffered a severe stroke and was not found until days later. 

John feels guilt that if he had been there, the outcome for his father would have been better. The doctor assures him that his presence and quicker medical attention would have done little to help his father due to the severity of the stroke. John spends the last few days of his father's life by his side and writes him a letter. 

His father has difficulty opening it, so John reads it to him. It is then that the viewers find out that John's speech at the beginning of the film addressed his father, not Savannah. He tells the story of the first mule coin that he found and how it brought father and son to a shared passion of coin collecting. They connect in a tearful moment, and his father dies soon thereafter.

John goes to see Savannah. He discovers that she married Tim, not her rich friend. Savannah tells him Tim has cancer and is not allowed to leave the hospital. She says that the only way he can come home is by having an experimental drug that they cannot afford. John visits Tim in the hospital, where Tim apologizes to John. 

He confesses that he has always loved Savannah and that he is happy because his son Alan will always have someone to care for him. Tim also admits that Savannah still loves John. While he wishes that she loved him the same way, he accepts what can never be. 
Late that evening, after reconnecting with Savannah, John finally says goodbye to her, forcing Savannah to acknowledge that she has lost John, bringing her to tears.

John sells his father's coin collection, though he keeps the very first mule coin that was the key element to their bond when he was a boy. He anonymously donates the money from the sale to finance Tim's drug. The next scene shows John back with his unit, using the mule coin in a coin toss with his fellow soldiers. John then gets an unexpected letter from Savannah. 

She writes about how she received an anonymous donation to help Tim with his treatment to buy him time to say goodbye and thanks him for doing so. Tim died after two months. She expresses that she still wonders where John is and what he is going through, but she accepts that she lost the right to know a long time ago.

Moved by Savannah's letter, John gets a new lease on life and decides to leave the Army after his current tour. In the last scene of the film, John walks a bicycle down a block in an American town and stops to chain it up. At that moment, Savannah in a nearby cafe turns to spot him. John turns, and they lock eyes through the cafe's glass window. Savannah exits the cafe, and they embrace with passion.





I hope the ending'd be better than this...









Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Retreat?


I don't really grasp the meaning of retreat. I always thought it was a time to get out of the house for at least one day and have lotsa fun. But it seems that retreat has to a time of silence too...


The front view of the reception of the resort.

[Photo by: Alfred C.]


We took sometime to visit the place and it's not that bad. 
Despite it's distance to get from places to places =.=


[Photo by: Alfred C.]


All we can see around the resort are flowers...

[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]


and trees...
[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]


and not to forgot: Fruits!

[Photo by: Alfred C.]


Thank God chalets existed. But they're far from the conference room too =[
My Chalet: C3!

[Photo by: Alfred C.]



Then we saw this unique creation of God. 
It has a few layers of skin and each skin has different colors. 
Wow!

[Photo by: Alfred C.]

And of course. We got to play. In the beginning, 
we were just going up and down the see-saw.

[Photo by: Alfred C.]

P/S: Chien Li the poser! xD

[Photo by: Alfred C.]

Then, I screamed my way down and they decided to try balancing the see-saw.

[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]

Which worked. For 1 second may be? =P

[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]

Chien Li was still posing!

Then, we proceeded to experience flying fox. 
The mosquitoes were so annoying!

[Photo by: Susie P.]

No pictures of us doing flying fox though =[



What could/did we do at night? 

[Photo by: Alfred C.]

Barbecue of course! 

[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]



The dark wasn't something to stop us from snapping pictures!





Next stop?? Chien Li's chalet! C4!

[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]


[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]

Card games!

[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]

I don't know how. Adrian and Wilfred started fighting. 
Though there's an age gap, but they looked almost the same size! >__<

[Photo by: Daniel F.]

Both of them seemed to enjoy the fight though. 



Gotta act crazy sometimes xD

[Photo by: Ben'JazZ xD]

Next morning! Sunday service. 
Worship was well and this! Retreat's worship team!



Then, we had fruit tasting "session". LOL







We went home. Last dinner together.


Before.
[Photo by: Daniel F.]

After.
[Photo by: Daniel F.]

Bye bye! come again next year! >__<



Thursday, August 12, 2010

whatsoever

SPM is coming. Real.Soon. 
What? Trials are very important.
What? You need 6 A's minimum to get a freaking scholarship. Sigh.


I'll try to try my best. Gahh...










xD

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Homo sapiens? Homosexuals?

Time for bloggie! Wanted to post about a lot of things but procrastinations ruled over.  
For a start, I just wanna say that homosexuals aka gay are really horrible. Holding hands in public, arm on shoulder, waist to head, leaning on the shoulder. Disgusting much?!


Well, why? 

Unfortunately, there is not yet a conclusive study which tell us exactly what causes homosexuality. In studies with twins, researchers have found that far more of them are likely to share the same sexuality than with siblings that do not share the same DNA; however, the number falls short of 100%. 
These results show that there is a high correlation with a person's genetic makeup and their sexuality. Neurologically speaking, gay men tend to have brains similar in structure and function to that of straight women, and lesbians tend to have brains similar to straight men. Certain neurological responses, like the startle response, also show this correlation. The same is also present in other species (yes, many animals exibit bisexual or even primarily homosexual behavior.) 
There have been other trends documented, such as the fact that the more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he will identify as gay, and this is true even when the boy is not raised with his older brothers. Gay men are also more likely to be left-handed. 
The ratio of the length of the index finger to the ring finger, which is caused by hormones in utero and does not change as one grows older, also shows correlations between gay men and straight women, and lesbians and straight men. Some theories include that the hormonal balance of the womb, which influences sex development (whether or not the child is a boy or girl or intersex), influences a child's predisposition to a certain sexual orientation.
All credible scientific organizations state that sexual orientation is influenced by biological factors and environmental factors (scientifically speaking, the hormonal environment of the womb is considered an "environmental factor'), and that it cannot be changed, as it is innate and set at birth.
So "nature" determines one's overall predisposition to a certain orientation, but "nurture" (the environment and experiences of one after birth) may influence other aspects of one's sexual preference, like ideal traits in a partner, fetishes, etc. However, this is a highly complex question, and there is still much more research to be done. Scientific studies on different aspects of this question are being released all the time in journals.
As far as why homosexuality is a healthy trait for a species (and is thus encountered in nearly every animal species on our planet), there are several theories, but to make this point I need to clarify the different between a survival behavior and a cultural behavior.
For instance, in current United States culture one of the largest causes of teen suicide is the hatred and rejection shown to homosexuals. This is a cultural behavior. The current United States culture chooses to show disdain and pass judgment on people who have a sexuality outside the cultural norm. This results in some teenage homosexuals committing suicide. 
Homosexual behavior in a society that has not condemned or sanctioned sexual behavior is considered normal and entertaining. This is still true in some modern countries and tribes, but the culture that most people will be familiar with is that of the ancient Romans and Greeks. 
The Greeks believed that men who were in love would fight more fiercely for one another and honored their love in poems and theater. The most famous of these pairings was between Patroclus and Achilles in Homer's Illiad. 
Their culture believed that love was plural and that a man should love his wife and his friends. By their standards, someone who was only interested in women or only interested in men would be strange (though not despised).
So the scientific explanation may simply be as simple as this: Our bodies have evolved to give us pleasurable feelings when we enact the act of reproduction whether it be to reproduce or not. Therefore, the scientific explanation for homosexual behavior is the same reason for heterosexual behavior or masturbation. . . it feels good. 
That is not a flippant or intentinally funny answer either. Most human behavior can be reduced to two main goals: avoiding pain and seeking pleasure.
As with all aspects of human nature, the origin of homosexual behavior must stem from evolution. Evolution leads to instinct, which in turn leads to the experiences of pleasure (to encourage us to do things) and pain (to ensure we do not harm ourselves). 


Although homosexual behavior has been observed among many species of animal, it is primarily (if not exclusively) found among social animals. So it fair to assume that being a social animal allows for homosexuality to exist as others within social groups as others can continue the species' survival. Within social groups there can be diversity, and this diversity can boost a species' survival. 

Human sexuality differs also from, say, a dog. A male dog would not be aroused by a female bitch unless she is in 'heat'. Humans do not follow this pattern of behavior as straight men may find women attractive even when they are not ovulating at the time.


 In fact, only three species on Earth have heterosexual sex outside the 'optimum' period for reproduction: chimpanzees, dolphins and humans; these three species are often regarded as the most 'intelligent' species on the planet. This indicates that some time in our evolutionary past a 'break' occured between sex and reproduction and this proved, from an evolutionary point of view, highly successful. 

So it is possible to see that homosexuality was part of a broader evolutionary past and this led to the richness of diversity of human nature today, of which one of the results was homosexuality. 




if you wonder, I'll tell you that I didn't finish reading this whole article >__<
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_scientific_explanation_for_homosexual_behavior


Just wanna say: I don't like gays. Yucks! 


*No offence intended if you're a gay* =P