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Believe in Dreams


About two weeks back, I got a chance to finally see these two incredible movies based on true stories. Being a real-life movie junkie, I was thrilled to watch it and even more so after I had done both of them. Just don't ask me how I managed to get hold of them okay *wink*. Hint: Technology.

I started off with Julie & Julia, a movie about a woman named Julie Powell (played by the incredibly talented Amy Adams) who started a blog back in 2002 with a very specific mission - she wanted to try each and every single 524 recipe in the famous cooking book of American cooking legend, Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) in 365 days a.k.a a year.

She was not a stay-at-home wife. She has a full time day job in the civil service, helping those affected in the 9/11 attacks regarding their insurance claims. Yes, she's a wife and has a cat. Yet, she wanted to do something more. She wanted to prove to people that she was more than just a poor 30-year-old woman, sitting in a cubicle handling complains. She decided to challenge herself, above all especially after not being able to complete the book she was working on with no publishers willing to publish it.

Being an avid fan of Julia Child, whom she never met even until Child passed away in 2004 at the age of 91, she decided to cook. She decided to try all 524 recipes in Julia Child's famous cooking book 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' in a year and blog everything about it.

So she did it. She tried every single one of it. Her mom called her many times asking her to abandon the 'silly' project and she got no comments whatsoever for the first few weeks but she was so persistent.

The most inspiring part is that, of course, her effort paid off. People started to pay attention to her. Housewives all around the world (or her readers) could easily relate to her way of writing when she confessed everything about it through her blog including her meltdowns, the blowups she had with her husband due to rising tensions, her failure at some of the recipes and others. Interviews started pouring in, she landed numerous book deals and people easily loved her.

Wasn't that something? Don't you feel how things would have changed should she stopped in the middle and abandon the whole thing by giving in to the people who had said she wouldn't make it? Things would have changed significantly. Very significantly.

How many times in life have you ever felt that way? Like you've found the niche of what you should've been doing but you didn't because people around you told you that you couldn't? Well, I don't know about you but speaking for myself, I've encountered those times before and regretfully, I gave in.

But not anymore I hope. This living example is truly an eye opener if you happened to be in the same boat as me. I must say, Meryl Streep did an amazing impersonation of the late Julia Child. After all, it's Meryl Streep. Need an elaboration? Don't think so.

Then came movie number two - The Blind Side. Another movie based on a true story. Another great selection for a true-story junkie like me. Another piece that almost made me cry. Almost - because I'm a tough cookie *ehem*.

This one is great because if you're like me, avoiding the newspapers everyday because you can't stand how cruel the world is, this movie should lift you up. It shows you there are still some good people around, doing good things to other less fortunate people. And these good people are rich too - that's what makes this movie interesting.

Sandra Bullock plays a rich, rich interior designer Leigh Ann Tuohy and wife to the 85 Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut chain owner living in Memphis, who saw a homeless African American boy wandering around on one night and decided to offer him a place to sleep for the night. The boy, Michael Oher goes to the same school as her kids but the only black student there and have slow learning ability in classroom.

However, out of the classroom, he has a gift. He's an excellent American football player due to his extraordinary abilities and great physique. On top of that, his greatest gift is by bringing more joy and happiness to the Tuohy household. They bonded so well, he called Mr and Mrs Tuohy as her Mama and Papa, which later became his legal guardian and stayed with them as his family. He's now an offensive tackle for Baltimore Ravens in National Football League, NFL.

This makes you think, how one person's fate can flip just like that. This world could use more people like those Tuohys and everything would be just fine.

No need telling you more about it. Go and see both of the movies for yourself and be inspired. You'll be entertained, yes, but in a larger scale, it would leave a great mark on your life - a positive one. My bet is on Sandra Bullock triumphing over Meryl Streep in this year's Oscars for Best Actress.

PS: Can you believe Sandra Bullock is 45 this year? Holy mackerel. She doesn't look a day over 30.


Comments

-farra- said…
kye!!!i like Julie & Julia but I LURVE the blind side. i like meryl streep but her character in J&J annoying gile.haha.so i want sandra bullock to win the oscar too!!!!
Khairizan Y. said…
yayyy!!! 2 thumbs and 2 toes up for sandra bullock and the blind side. its a brilliant movie, don't you think? it's not really a tearjerker but i kinda made you think about what family really is and moved you