Charmaine

I received a mail from one of my friends about a little girl named Charmaine. She is just 4 years old but suffering from stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a debilitating cancer that occurs in children. Doctors here have told that the chance of survival is only 10-20% but suggested the drugs that can give her a chance of survival to 40-50% are available in New York, US. However the treatment cost seems to be so high that the upfront deposit at one of the hospitals in New York even before the treatment begins is US$350,000 (SG$500,000).

I dont know who this little girl is.
I dont know who her parents are.
I dont even know any of her friends or relatives.
But I know the value of a life.

I know to an extent what a little girl is like.

I know to an extent how her parents undergo the pain.

What I'm doing or going to do is secondary. But what I request the readers is to do something that is possible at their level. A small effort from hundreds will contribute to a huge help.

Below is the link that is created by her friends and well wishers.

http://ourfeistyprincess.com/

TRANSFORMERS 2

finally booked the tickets. my god. never was it this difficult to book movie tickets online. this one was a quite different one. i was amazed to know that there are 15 shows on 3 screens between 6pm and 12am but no 2 seats together in a row (except one or two in the front). this is the first time i'm facing such a situation. there were other movies also before with so many shows but we used to get seats easily. but this one? shucks. but my expectations increased many folds. i started recalling the trailors. wow! it's gonna be a good one. went to the cinema, sat in our seats, watched the movie and came out of the hall.

so how was the movie? a sequel to 2007 TRANSFORMERS. directed by michael bay and jointly produced by michael bay and steven spielberg. the story is a common one. war between the good and the bad i.e autobots lead by optimus prime and decepticons lead by megatron. the usage of graphics were aplenty as expected. the action sequences between the machines are amazing. there are comic scenes also alongside the story. among interesting ones are from bumblebee, sam's mother, wheelie, leo, etc.. movie is not bad. i'm reminded of TERMINATOR 4 which i saw very recently. bit of dragging too. could have cut short the length.

MY OPINION - WORTH YOUR MONEY

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson, the king of pop, is no more now. He died of cardiac arrest yesterday. Like 100s of 1000s of fans, he was a favourite to me too. The first ever western pop singer that I heard in my life is him. (Boney-M was the only music band that I knew before Michael Jackson). It's in the early 90s that I first came across his album "Bad". I should say that only after that my liking towards western pop increased.

Mention the word dance, one will imagine Michael Jackson. Such was his talent. The famous moonwalk style was started from him. He popularised the break dance. He was no.1 in Billboard chart for nearly 14 times. His 80's "Thriller" album sold more than 100 million copies, highest of any albums ever. Seems he was the most successful music artiste only after Elvis, the Beatles and Mariah Carey.

He started dancing career at the young age with his 4 other brothers later to become a successful solo artist. It is said that his childhood life was very pathetic that he faced lots of abuses. He even cried in some interviews when spoke about his early age. Later as he grew to teenage, he got attracted to plastic surgery. He underwent lots of surgeries to his face, changing the colour of skin, shape of nose, lips, etc. There were some allegation against him in the child molestation case. Although the court acquitted him, criticisms & rumours were always there against him. He also had financial problems at the last age. In spite of all these, he was preparing hard to make a come back next month, July, with a grand world tour. His unfortune that he died before that.

Whatever may be, to me he was a legend of pop dance, a wonderful dancer, a very good musician and a fantastic entertainer. There's absolutely no doubt that the music world will miss him. May god rest him in peace.

Jai Ho Jackson!