Pirated Gems

You know how it is with my family: we'd head to the nearby pirated DVD store to get our usual deal - 3 DVDs for RM20.

Everytime we go there, mum gets Chinese period movies/Muay Thai action flicks/Hong Kong thrillers etc.

Sister gets war movies like Platoon, Flags of Our Fathers, We Were Soldiers, or political documentaries like Fahrenheit 9/11, The 11th Hour...

I usually get nothing. Out of the 3 DVDs, there's a high probability that none was chosen by me.

On the rare occasion when I get to pick, I'd go for Festival Shorts or Breakout Indie Features or Cultural Docu-dramas or Foreign Award-winners or Classic Westerns or Sci-fi Experimentals. Yes, the pirated DVD store which is staffed with 4-feet tall illiterates absent-mindedly shelving away kinky Taiwanese porn DVDs, has an array of cinema gems. Bright, shining, slightly muddled and dusty, cinema gems.

For almost a year I valiantly campaigned for my take-home movie of my dreams, but to no absolute avail. It's an Academy-award nominated documentary feature and Festival favorite, but will they listen? No.



Then finally my sister said "Arh just give it a try the cover looks promising" and left it sitting on our coffee table for days while the family watched 8-mile and Infernal Affairs.

Sis and I finally got to watching it. Just hours ago on a cool Monday night.

It truly is an undiscovered gem stashed between layers of plastic Porn and junk like stuff made by the Wayans brothers (no offense).

Will be updating with extras about stuff I stumbled upon while watching War/Dance.

Something About Etymology...

The word ever-famous with sophisticated gastronomy enthusiasts and teeny-bopper food fetishists is au gratin

its meaning often overlooked

when the Americans attribute it to mean 'the crust of bread and cheese' as from the derived term of 'le gratin' meaning the 'higher crust of society'

au gratin is simply, a potato dish covered with bread crusts and cheese.

why they make its meaning so obscure i have no idea why.

its supposed to mean 'to scrape the pan', but i believe there is no real explanation since it was simply named. by the Americans.