Plastic surgery

I have several books at the moment that I have started on. It will take a long time before I finish reading a complete book. Meanwhile I have been reading random stories from women's magazines as time-fillers and I came across this first-person account by a woman who related her story anonymously in one of these magazines and the story, if it was true, is really a sad one.

This woman underwent plastic surgery because she did not like her looks she was born with. After the cosmetic transformation, she became good looking and attracted the attention of a man whom whe married after 5 months of courtship. All went well until she gave birth to her baby. Her husband was horrified that the baby was in his view ugly because it had unflattering features. The woman then confessed to her husband about her plastic surgery. He was furious and he was disgusted with her because he felt that he had been deceived into the marriage.

From then on he rejected her and their child but did not divorce her because of his religion. Her marriage deteriorated and she lived in misery because she was ignored by her husband. She could not tell her parents for she did not want to burden them with her problems.

I am disgusted as well. Not with this poor woman whom some would consider vain and insecure. I sympathise with her and admired her determination to do something about herself through plastic surgery so that she could get on with her life.

It is easy for us to say that ugly people (like Ugly Betty perhaps) have made good with their life despite their looks and that a woman should not resort to plastic surgery to change what she was born with. It is easy to say because we are not that particular person. Whatever she has done could not be undone.

I realised that people will have different views from mine in the way they view this woman. Some will sympathise with her and some will say that she should have told her husband the truth before she married him. Honesty is the best policy in any situation. However the issue is not about honesty. What is done cannot be undone. She withheld the information because in her judgment it was the best thing she could have done in the naive belief that it would not have mattered to him. It was an assumption she made and that perhaps was her mistake. The question is whether the husband should treat her so badly after he found out?

Alex

Last night there was a documentary on Channel U about the life of a boy, Alex, who grew up in an unhappy home because his parents were always quarrelling and taking out their frustration on him.

The documentary traced his life from the time he was about nine when he fell into bad company till the present day. Scenes from the past were re-enacted by actors but the narration that threaded the chronological segments of his life was done by Alex who has now turned over a new leaf.

He had vandalised property, shoplifted, smoked and took drugs. When he was caught for having drugs in his possession, he was sent to a Boy's Home where he had to kick his drug addiction doing cold turkey. It was tough for him and he learned that despite his parents' treatment of him in the past, they and his sister were the only people in the world who stood by him, encouraged him and helped him to regain his self-worth.

Through the help of a social worker he picked himself up, went back to school and topped his cohort in the final-year examinations and he gives talks to students in his school, telling them about this past and motivating them to do good with their lives.

This first-person account account is touching and seeing a real person who is unafraid to reveal his past misdeeds talking about his dreams and aspirations make this documentary one that is deserving of special mention for the way it was made. I do not know how kids who are at risk view Alex. Do they dismiss him as uncool because he turned good? Maybe.

Having watched Alex's story on TV, I am glad that he told it unashamedly and I hope that he continues to be a positive influence on the lives of those who have for various reasons fallen by the wayside and who reject and are rejected by people around them. I hope that teenagers who happened to have watched this documentary will empathise with Alex and learn from him that though it may take tremendous effort to change, it takes only determination to do so.

Just Follow Law - A Jack Neo Movie

I watched this movie with my kids after having had dinner at Swenson's in February around Chinese New Year. This is a made-in-Singapore movie by Jack Neo for Singaporeans to laugh at themselves. He makes a movie in time for release every year during Chinese New Year and though he may not be known internationally we really need a great local talent like him to make us realise that when we have dreams, we should go all out to make them come true.

He pokes fun at people from all stratas of society and uses dialects so liberally that we can literally roll off our chairs (for those who understand like the older folks, moi included) and those who roll off a second later after reading the sub-titles (my kids).This time it's a movie about the civil service and all its red-tapes, endless meetings, ridiculous bureaucratic practices and civil servant bosses. The scenes were representative of the typical civil service operation magnified many times for that hilarious effect.

Especially classic was the depiction of the emails shooting around the departments, laterally and vertically till someone got 'killed' in the end. That was my favourite segment of the movie.Apart from the humour that was quite slapstick in parts, there was the typical Jack Neo moralising on filial piety, parental love and the need to make something with your life. I hope my kids were moved by these segments.

The TV magazine gave it a two star rating. I think they are just jealous of this super-talented guy who has endeared himself to us masses with his frank and brutal portrayals of how life is in Singapore, expressing what Singaporeans feel deep inside. I give him a 4 star. He missed perfection by one star because there were parts that were a little draggy.

The male and female leads were wonderful in their own ways - superb because they are already established stars in their own right. However, I really love all the supporting cast - they were really a scream, each and every one of them - the auntie cleaner/dancers, the technicians, the "cheapest-quote" pyrotechics contractor who literally set the stage on fire, the 'kia-see' (afraid to die) CEO, the suffering minister, the very pregnant supervisor whose job was to doggedly carry out orders without question, the Tamil-spewing security guard who in just a few appearances gave us much insight about what makes him tick.

Special mention goes to his boss and the two bootlickers who plotted to put a more capable colleague down so they would look good in front of the big boss.

We must also not forget the 'professional medium' and his sidekick who worked their backs off to help solve the problem in the movie and failing to achieve success offered the services of more powerful deities for additional fees.Also deserving of accolades were the actors who played an assortment of civil servants whose common key performance indicator seemed to be the rate and speed they passed enquiries from the public from one statutory board to another using very officious tones and expressions. They made great impressions even though each one had appeared for less than a minute's duration on the screen.

I particularly liked the dialect-speaking mum whom I can relate to because she is just a simple, bothersome mum whose only fault was that she loved her daughter so much. Makes me think of my mum because I am like her daughter in some ways. You have to be a mum and have much love for your kids to be able to think of your own mum and feel the love that you never felt was there before. Have I mentioned all? Yes, I think I have and they are really unforgettable performances. Kudos!When the movie ended and the lights came on, it was back to real life.

The VCD and DVD of this movie is out in the shops so get a copy so that you can watch it when you are in need of a good laugh now and then.