Sold

Amy put up an ad on a buy and sell site this morning. This evening I showed our car to our potential buyer and it's sold.

The buyer is coming to pick up the vehicle tomorrow.

The first car that I have owned for 14 years will start a new life tomorrow. It's a small, plain, korean car that carried me places. It's does not look any special. Still, I am getting a bit sentimental and I start missing it already.

Marriage

Joe got married in the spring and divorced in 7 days. I didn't attend but I heard it was quite an expensive wedding.

I wonder how something like this can happen today.

The whole world is tied together by information. We are suffocated by the overwhelming of details. We never stop sending, receiving, and collecting information regardless of its relevancy. Good or bad, we can round up information on things on this universe of nothingness with no effort at all.

Joe have known this girl for ages. I naturally supposed they have at least used their time to talk. I certainly hope both of the parties anticipated that some of their needs would be met through this marriage. This is not any kind of traditional arranged marriage, and I cannot see any surprises coming in the first seven days at this age.

This world is not make of straight lines only, people are not always rational, and things can be misinterpreted/ misleading. Maybe the purpose of this marriage was not intended to unite the ones who are tying the knot while the real McCoy was standing in as an audience. Sometimes we just don't know what the true value of something until we lost it or close to losing it. In this story, we may find a happy ending somewhere outside of the frame.

Lesson learned - buying cars

I am just so used to buying from the big supermarket, when all the items are selling at a listed price. For the regular masses, there is no bargain, just a buy or not decision.

Cars are big price-tag items. Buying cars is a different game, it's still preserve some of the traditions of the old industry. Where price negotiation is going on between the sellers and the buyer. While different from buying a house, the seller in most cases are big car dealers.

I hate buying cars. I felt I am always paying too much. I bought my first car over 10 years ago. I just purchased another car yesterday. And I made the same old mistakes once again. Guess it's time to write down what I learn from the lesson. To get a better deal on a car.

1. Don't trust the salesman.
They pretend to be friendly, but the fact it no matter how sincere they look, they are not your friend. They don't know you or anything about you to start with. They say they try to find you the best deal but in reality, they are just trying to sell you something. They work for the dealership and that pays their bill.

2. Do your research.
Compare reviews and find the best car that's suitable for you. Call around and see how much your friends paid for the same model. That can be your starting point. There are also paid services on the Internet that gives you the invoice price of the vehicle.

3. Read between the lines.
When the salesman said, " We only make $800 on this vehicle, the best I have seen was $400 off.." It means you can at least get $400 discount on this vehicle, and likely $800. The '$400 ' is the number they give to manage your initial your initial expectation.

4. Allow more time for negotiation.
Negotiation takes time. So allow plenty of it, never do it in a rush. Take your time and relax, give yourself some breaks in between if need to.

5. The negotiation.
Start with the invoice price and negotiate up. Not down from the MSRP. Don't close the deal until you are satisfied with it. If you get to the point when price can't be moved any further, try ask for accessories. Don't start putting in the accessories until the there are no room for moving the price.

6. Prepare to walk.
In most cases, there should be more than 1 dealership in town. You can always walk away from the negotiation if it doesn't favor you. In case you can't find a better deal elsewhere, ask for how long would the dealership honor their offers.

Insider never see the whole picture as well as an outsider does. Once I signed the paper, everything became clear and came into places. The puzzle was solved. I immediate saw what I should have done but did not. I am intending to write this as outsider to insider me who plan to buy another car in the future.

Price prevails, and it's almost impossible to find the best deal. Hope my experience this time can help us all find a better deal for next time.

After this our exile

Patrick Tam is one of the most important new wave HK director from the eighties. The sword, and Nomad were both innovative and influential and helped to shaped the movies in these genres.

My personal favorite of Tam is always Final victory. I bet there was no one else who could convince Tsui Hark to play a serious triad role. And it was surprisingly believable. It's also Wong Kar Wai's debut as a screenplay writer. (Wong wrote half the movie)

I am one of those who said early Wong Kar Wai was influenced by Tam. Tam was even the editor of Days of being wild, most of Ashes of time, and part of Mongkok Carmen. It not hard to trace shadows of Tam in these movies. (perhaps it's the rhythm through the edits)

Tam had not been directing for a long time. This time he's pairing up with two of the most underated actors, Aaron Kwok and Charlie Yeung. I certainly had high hopes for Fu zi, aka After this our exile. Maybe I was expecting too much, Fu zi was disappointing.

An outstanding drama requires a good plot and good acting. The acting in this movie is definitely lacking. No matter how bad Aaron's haircut was, he just didn't look Malaysian enough. Charlie Yeung was dried and drained like a typical HK zombie OL. By the end of the movie, I could only hear the echoing of 'boyl'. I didn't see much character development here, the writer played gods and kept worsening the misfortune faced by the two. Dreaming that would seek some sympathy from the audience. However, all were too artificial, the story did not touch me in most cases, and I could care less about any of the characters.

The ending was clean, but at the same time a bit too fulfilling. I was not sure how I should feel, just awkward. Photography composition of the movie was beautiful, even the pace was a bit sluggish. I am hopeful that Tam can make another good movie when he found a good script.

Children of men

Are we talking about Jesus and hope?

I had mixed feelings on this mashup of Blade runner, Brazil, 1984, Saving private Ryan, 28 days later, .... Of course, the first complain was the lack or originality. Almost every scenes were seen somewhere else before.

The plot was so familiar and it's like a murder by number deal after all the main characters were introduced. Okay, there were a few twists, but the story was just so linear that the characters are almost paper flat.

I was a Clive Owen fan after BMW's the Hire. And I liked his acting, if any, in this movie. Michael Caine indeed shined. And the other supporting acts (even of the small roles)were outstanding. Partly because of the washed-out documentary treatment of the film giving some depth to the picture, partly because of the superb acting, I enjoyed watching this movie.

Alfonso Cuarón was a great director, and Y tu mamá también was a masterpiece. Children of men was a compilation of works about the dark future and it lacked the context of being a unique experience.

3 wishes

Jeannie has 3 little wishes. She wants a husband, a house full of things with a big kitchen, and two kids. She wants a family of her own.

One day her wishes were answered.

She met a guy at work. This guy asked her for a date. She decided he was the right person and she married him right after.

Jeannie's husband moved into Jeannie's place after they married. Soon they had a baby boy. Jeannie thought the house did not had enough space for her son. Asked some renovators to develop the basement in their house like their next door neighbor did.

The house was filled with things that Jeannie always wanted. While there were things she got, there were still things that she must have to fulfill her life. She wanted another baby to complete her picture of a family. And she gave birth to a girl not long after she made her decision.

For a family of four, the current house was not sufficient, she thought. Also, Jeannie wanted her husband to pick a home with her together. They sold their old house and built a bigger one with a big kitchen that Jeannie could showcase her fine cooking in a new neighborhood.

On a bright sunny day. Jeannie placed 2 chairs at their front lawn. She brought a camera on a tripod. She got everything in place. She then called her family out. They all got into position as she wanted. Within seconds, a picture was taken. This was the picture-perfect image she always had in her mind. Without paying much attention. a tear rolled down her rosy cheeks, it was the happiest day of her life .