French Class, Prince of Persia & the MRT

What do all of these things have in common? Nothing except three seperate experiences I had.

So French classes, huh? Yep. My wife and I had been wanting to do this for a while, especially since our daughter is learning French at school and we wanted to at least understand what she was learning and to participate with her. It would also help us if we travel to some parts of Europe (we have been wanting to go there for a while now). So we picked a class that my wife found on the Net.

Our teacher (for lack of a better word) is a cute half French half Italian blonde called Letizia. She made the two hours that we spent in class a fairly engaging experience. But what I found most surprising was this: She had been living in Singapore for around 7 years and had only started to pick up English after she moved here. That fact was so evident as she proceeded to talk Singlish through the entire conversation. While speaking French, her accent was like you would expect a French person's. But while conversing in Engish, she sounded as much like a Singaporean as anyone I know. The same expressions, the same gramatical constructions. I was quite surprised about this fact.

On to the Prince of Persia. As you might have noticed from a few of the posts, I am fairly engrossed in this game. Whenever possible, I try to complete at least a level in a day so that I can feel better (why else?)

Yesterday, I finally defeated the second monster, the one who moves really fast and the one you need to slow down time to fight with. It took a while (she's cheeky to kill, but I finally did it. Problem was...it took a while before I could save tha game (there was no water receptacle in sight for a while). So obviously my wife got pissed off about me spending a lot of time on the "stupid game" as she calls it. But that was not it. After playing the game for 45 minutes, I was completely drenched. My shorts were soaking wet and so was my t-shirt. I actually had to take a bath at 11 in the night before I could get into bed. How playing a video game could cause all of this...Go figure.

Then there's the MRT and the inevitable journeys one has to take when one travels in Singapore. Most of the time people don't bother with sitting down, even when there are seats available. And a lot of time, I have seen people offer their seats to people who need them. Today, I saw the opposite for the first time.

I was sitting in the MRT going towards office. There was one seat available across from me which had not been occupied despite there being more people in the train. At the next station, two people got on, both eyeing the same seat. The guy who entered from the door closer to the seat moved towards it and had even turned to sit down when the guy, who actually entered from the door further away from the seat, rushed up to it and slid into it from behind the other guy. This guy was left standing with a dumbstruck expression on his face. I'm sure he was experiencing something like this for the first time.

Three completely different experiences, but all in the span of 24 hours. Not a bad deal, huh?

Is he completely daft?

I'm not sure about most of you, but I deligently follow The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, one of the funniest and yet incisive political show in the US. While it comes on Comedy Central, the show has become a major success and is credited as being the reason for the Democrats regaining control of the Senate as well as the Congress in the US. It is also a multiple Emmy and Peabody award winning show.

It is mostly because of Stewart that I am paying a keen interest in what is happening in the Presidential campaigns in the US. Also I like Barack Obama a lot. And the affection is also thanks to The Daily Show (Obama came on the show and was probably one of the wittiest and most forthright politcians I have seen).

For a while, I could not see all the videos and so made it a point to go instead to iFilm, which is where a lot of The Daily Show videos are compiled. They are also neatly arranged by episode and so it's a great place to go to for these videos. Recently, I have noticed the sight slowing down and so have chosen to go to the mothership directly.

So every day, I go to the ComedyCentral website to see what Jon said last night. The best part of the site is that you can not only see last night's episode (in parts), but also parts of earlier episodes. So huge is the success of The Daily Show (and it' sister show The Colbert Report) that they have a seperate grouping in the Comedy Central video archives. Here you can see a lot of interviews Jon and Steven have conducted and with very influential people.

As I was sifting through the videos, I was listening to all the presidential candidate interviews that Jon has done. The most frequent on the show (from this lot) is John McCain. If you watch two of his earliest appearences, he starts both shows off with the same comment:

"What happened to the couch you had earlier?"

The first time, I can understand, but not after you come back again in another year and say the same thing. Is McCain completely daft? Some of his answers are also hilarious.

But fact still remains...He is the only Republican that Jon Stewart shows any respect towards. The rest of them are usually treated with utter disdain. Not that he spares the Democrats. They get chewed up as well. As he said during his interview on CNN's Crossfire (this episode that you HAVE TO watch):

"The absurdity of the system provides us with the best material. The only way it
would be hard for us to mock (the Democratic administration) is if their administration is less absurd than this one. But it will be hard to top this (the Republican Administration) one."

He makes watching news (even if it's fake news) worth watching.

The fat guy in the Arena is dead

Before you get flustered, nobody actually died. This is a game that I'm talking about.

I am, of course, talking about playing the Prince of Persia: Rival Swords game on my Wii. As most of you who have grown up playing PoP (one of the most engaging games to come out as I was growing up) would know, the game is more about discovering your way through the palace and fighting different types of palace guards and using different techniques to get to the Princess without getting killed. As you can see here, the graphics for the original game are not as cutting edge as the games that we see today, but you have to remember, this game came out around 15 years ago. Forget the internet, most people did not have computers where I grew up. Not only was this the only thing that we had at that time, this was way better than we expected to see on the tiny yellow phosporous monitors that we had in those days.

The Rival Swords version for the Wii does not disappoint. With the same discovery oriented layout, the game also has the advantages of motion sensitivity that the Wii offers. So now, you actually have to wave your hands in a sword fight and actually make a stabbing motion when you want to cling to something with your dagger. And the interface is as good as I would want it to be. I'm sure a lot of people want better graphics for their games, but since PoP is more of a "get to a point" kind of game, the graphics are not so much the key. And for me, the graphics are just fine.

So coming back to the fat guy in the arena. I was stuck on this level for a while. The fat guy is a huge monster who is a bit more difficult to kill. The voice in the Prince's head kept saying "Go for his eyes...he cannot kill you if he cannot see you". But I was having a lot of trouble timing my speedkills (I was swinging too quickly). So after a while, mostly by accident, I realized that I need to wait till the screen changes colour and the motion slows down a trifle. There is also the distinct blade flashing. So using all those, I managed to get both the eyes of the fatso and eventually brought him down to his knees. I then had a lot more trouble timing my final speed kills. By the time I finished with the guy, I was physically exhausted.

But now that he's gone, I have moved through the temple garden and onwards. In fact, I have come to the second of the horrible monsters which were created when the leading lady of the game (Kailina) was killed. This lady moves super fast and I need to accumulate enough sand credits so that I can use them to slow time down. Haven't got rid of her yet, but hopefully tonight I will dispose off her. I know I am closer to the end. And the game has been throughly enjoyable.

It'sbeen 9 days

For the first time in her life, my daughter has gone (by herself) on vacation to India. Sure, she's surrounded by people who she is comfortable with (my mom, my sister, my brother in law, my other little girl), but this is the first time in her life that she's staying without either of her parents with her. And from the looks of it, she's having a great time.

And we (my wife and I) are the ones having the trouble living without her at home.

She's out there having a whale of a time, what with going to a lot of parties, playing with a lot of kids her own age (something she does not get a lot here in Singapore), going to all the fun places with her little sister, watching plays. Boy, is she having a lot of fun!

And my wife and I are adjusing to a silent house, things to do by ourselves on the weekends and in general a lack of energy at home, mostly because of our little one. But we're really glad that she's going on this vacation by herself. One, because she'll have a good time and be engaged all the time with something to do. But second, and more important, she's grown up to handle herself. There aren't either of us there to take care of her every little thing. Nobody making her go and brush her teeth twice a day (though she still does that with us telling her to do it), nobody to tell her to behave (which she does without anyone telling her) and all the time in the world to do what SHE wants to do without being told. And that to me is the best vacation of all.

When we were dropping her to the airport, she was laughing and upbeat all the way through check in. Even when we stood with her in the queue to enter the immigration zone, she was having a lot of fun and smiling. Only when we stepped back saying that we could not go through with her beyond that point did it sink in for her that she was going by herself and that we were staying back. And that is when the tears started rolling.

So we got out of the queue, me carrying her in my arms in a bear hug and whispering words of encouragement and reminding her of how much fin she was going to have once she lands in India. People are waiting for you to get there, I reminded her. There was even a Princess Party organized in her honour. She didn't want to miss all of that, did she?

After the sobbing subsided and she was smiling again, we assured her that she had to only say that she was not having any fun any more and either of us would be there to pick her up and get her to Singapore. She had the final word. So she stepped through immigration, waved cheerfully at both of us and gave me a big thumbs up. It was only when she went out of sight did I realize that I had tears in my eyes as well.

It's an occupational hazard for me to travel and miss her when I'm not around. But that has been too few and far between since I moved here. By choice, I had wanted a local role so that I could compensate in some way for all the travel I had done when I was in India. Leaving her at the airport made me realize how much more closer we had grown these lat few years.

It was back to the office and most of the time I could not keep my mind on works as I looked, every now and then, at my watch to see if it was time for her flight to land. And finally when it did, I could hardly hear through the din that my daughters were creating in the car. My sister and my other daughter (she's technically my sister's, but she's practically my own) had come to pick her up and there was a lot of celebration happening. A few words reassuiring me that she was fine and that the flight was a pleasant one, and then she was gone.

And I ralized how my baby had grown up. And I was proud and scared at the same time. Proud of the fact that my seven year old was game enough to take care of herself, by herself, for almost a month. That she was mature enough to handle herself without her parents being around. That she was having fun.

Scared because I always worry about her. That I'll always worry about her. And I realized that I will feel exactly this way when she goes to study or gets married. I will be proud of her achievements, and scared out of my wits for her safety, worried for her happiness.

My wife routinely calls me "Father of the Bride", mainly to remind me that, no matter how open I am and how encouraging I am, I will always feel how a father feels about his daugher. Possessive!

For now, she's having bucket loads of fun. But I can tell that she misses us a lot. She does not say it (she's a lot like me in a lot of respects...what do you expect?), but I know from the questions and te responses. She'e having fun, so she does not want the vacation to end. But she wants to come back and so the vacation has to end. It's in those lines of conversation when I notice her emotions the most.

It's been 9 days since she's been on vacation. And it's not even half time yet.

I really miss her. A lot!

I think we're getting there

I have this habit of looking around the Net to see what's happening. One of the places I check from time to time is Google Labs since they have some cool stuff happening there all the time.

I had seen the music trend a while back, but just wanted to know what people (who are using the Music option in Google Talk) were listening to. Imagine my surprise when I saw a Hindi song at the bottom of the list. And here's the great part: It had moved down 9 places to land in at the 20th spot!

Here's proof of it.

It's just great to know that not only are my fellow Indians on the Net a lot, they are online, on Google Talk (which is just one of the chat services available) and on top of that are using something like iTunes to listen to music which is getting into the stats.

Way to go, India. And way to go, my fellow Indians.

Making History

Three sportsmen were on the verge of making history yesterday. Two of them managed it, one stopped short.

Roger Federer was looking to become the first man since the great Rod Laver to hold all four Tennis majors at the same time by winning the French Open title, completing a grand slam, something that has been done very rarely in tennis history (see the Wikipedia entry for more info).

Against him was the reigning French Open champion Rafael Nadal, the man who has become the undisputed king of clay. Federer last month ended Nadal's record breaking run of 81 consecutive wins on clay. Nadal was trying to become the first man since the great Bjorn Borg, and only the second man in history, to win three consecutive French Open titles.

Unrelated to tennis, but having a lot of hype and expectations on his side in the Formula 1 world, Lewis Hamilton was looking to win his first grand prix at the Canadian GP after he took pole position ahead of his team mate, Fernando Alonso. If he won, he would be the first Black driver in history to win a F1 GP (not to mention that there has been no Black F1 driver before him). Hamilton has already had a sizzling start to his F1 career as he has finished on the podium in all of the races so far. For a rookie, he has done exceptionally well.

So who would step into the annuls of history?

Nadal trumped Federer to stop the latter from making his Grand Slam and became only the second man in history to win three French Open titles in a row. To a large extent, I think Federer lost rather than Nadal won, something that you can see from the number of unforced errors Roger made during the match. At one point, he had converted only one break point out of a possible 17 while Nadal had converted 3 out of a possible 8. A dejected Roger stood by as Nadal made history on clay.

And Hamilton, taking full advantage of mistakes made by his team mate, convincingly won his first GP in Canada going from his first pole to his first win in a fabulous controlled drive. The great thing about this rookie is that he looks completely in control when he is driving on the edge, a Schumi-esque characteristic. Of course he has a long way to go to even be compared with the great Schumaker, but he is definately doing all the right things to get him into the comparisons.

For one, he definately made Alonso look like the rookie. Alonso made more mistakes and drove a lot more stupidly than Hamilton did. And this from a guy who is a two time World Champion. I think Alonso must be feeling like Fisichella last year. Fisi was in a championship winning car, but could not manage to make anything out of it. Alonso is in the same car as his rookie team mate, but is making too many mistakes for a world champion.

So for the first time, a rookie is leading the F1 world championship on his own. He goes into the next race with an 8 point cushion, mainly thanks to a lot of stupidity by all the people who are chasing him for the title. Both Ferraris disappointed with Massa the better of the two, but disqualified and The Retard (my nickname for Kimi Raikonnen) managing no better than 5th place (even though he had qualified higher.

So the history books have two new members. Personally, I wish Roger had gotten in as opposed to Nadal (I am a huge Federer fan), but then, maybe next year.

Being the bad man at home

We had gone into Borders to do some book shopping. My daughter especially was hunting for books to buy as part of her birthday gift stash, which she had carefully kept in the new Barbie Princess wallet that she had added to her collection of gifts. While we were all hunting for books (I can't step into Borders without buying one), my daughter was wandering all around in the kids section trying to lay her hands on the books that she wanted. She did not realize that she had left her purse lying around.

So after we finished picking up our books and were ready to pay and step out, she realized that her purse was missing. A frantic search ensued to no avail. The purse was missing and along with it, the birthday stash that she had accumulated. My baby was heart-broken. She went on saying that "How can people do this? It's not good to steal. It's not fair!" amidst huge sobs. The only thing I could do was to hold her close and try to calm her down, something which she steadfastly refused to do.

While she had lost the money to buy the books, she still wanted us to buy them for us. And that is where I put my foot down. I tried to explain to her, as patiently as I could, that while it was wrong on the part of the person who stole her purse, it was as much her mistake for keeping it lying around. Had she kept it with her, she would still have her wallet with its contents safe. Instead she had neither. And I kept on reminding her that if I bought the books for her, then it would be as if I lost the money. Cause she would get what she wants without understanding the loss or the mistake and therefore the reason to correct her behaviour.

Her mom, being like every other mom, chipped in saying that from now on, she would carry my daughter's purse. That to me is the opposite of the solution. Instead of making my daughter more responsible, that would mean that we shoulder her responsibilities and in the long term, make her a complete wimp who is dependant on her parents for every thing. I want my daughter to be strong and independant and be able to hold her head high while standing side by side with me, not cowering behind me. Thankfully, my wife understood this.

After a few sobs and a few more "It's not fair" statements, she eventually managed to calm down. We even had great fun at dinner.

Last evening, when I got back home, my daughter kept saying to my wife "Let's go". Without needing to ask where she was going, I asked her if she was taking her mom to buy herself a new wallet. One thing I appreciate about my daughter is the fact that while she did not want me to know, she would never lie to me. So I sat her down again and explained to her why she will not have a new wallet. I even gave her a scenario. I asked her to imagine that we leaving the car keys, a bunch of money and some shopping in our car and then the car getting stolen. Would we be able to go to the car dealer the next day and buy another car? Just cause we lost one?

"No," came the prompt answer. "A car is so expensive."

"So whose mistake was it that the car got stolen?"

"Our mistake."

"And whose mistake was it to leave the purse lying around?"

"Mine."

"So who should take responsibility for it?"

"I should."

"Who lost all the money?"

"I did."

"Did Pappi lose the money?"

"No."

"So should Pappi have to pay for something that he did not lose?"

"No."

I think, at that time, she really disliked me. I was putting a damper on everything she was saying. But I don't want her to grow with the notion that it's ok to lose something cause her parents are going to buy it for her anyways. While I want to give her everything I can in this world, I want her to grow up appreciating all of it and the value of it all, not in terms of money, but the effort that goes into earning it.

I don't like to be this person who is the "bad guy" at home, who puts a spoiler on things. But I think it is far more important for her to be a better person and not a pampered brat who gets what she wants just because she threw a tantrum or shed a few tears.

I hope she will appreciate it some day. I hope I'm doing the right thing.

Being a parent is like uncharted territory. Every single decision leads to a new path.

Eating your own words

If you follow the trials and tribulations of the England Football squad, you would know that Manager Steve McLaren kept David Beckham out of the squad almost as soon as he stepped in as Manager. And he kept him out for more than 11 months.

And what does he have to show for it? A dismal performance by the England team and a troubled place in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. And at a point where they needed to get wins in all their upcoming games.

So McLaren finally relented and recalled Beckham to the squad to play against Brazil in the friendly last week. And boy, did Becks show him! His trademark pinpoint accuracy pass led to England leading the match for most of the time (Brazil equalized in added time). Well, last night, he made two more passes, one to Peter Crouch and another to Michael Owen, to complete England's 3-0 win over Estonia.

In McLaren's own words:

'That's three of the four goals he's set up (in the last two games), and that's why he's in team. David Beckham is a very, very good player, and he deserves to be in team as he's shown in last two games.'

That is why Becks is Becks. People ignore his talent as a footballer because of his presence in the world of glamour. But nobody bailed England out - not Steven Gerrard, not Frank Lampard (who is largely a failure in an England jersey), not Wayne Rooney - and it took a Beckham to deliver the goods.

Way to go, Becks! Keep your head high...no matter what crap they spew.

This is what the music world has come to?

Michael Buble is being touted in adverts all around Singapore as the next phenomenon with some of his music playing in most elevators which have the advertising TVs places in them. While he sounds nice and genuine, he sounds an awful lot like the songs that my parent's generation used to listen to.

Sure, Robbie Williams has a number of songs of that kind, but not all of them. There are a lot of songs which are more modern and a pleasure to listen to. But most of the snippets that you will get to hear of Mr. Buble sound like they are from the 70s. If you ask people who listened to that kind of music, they would very much identify with it. If they didnt get to see him sing the songs, they would think this was actually music from their time and that he was an artist of their generation.

Now I have nothing against doing something like this, but I am just wondering where all the musical talent is going. Most of the songs are either getting remixed or someone is emulating a bygone generation. Where is the next generation of music? Where are all the melodies that used to pop up oh-so-regularly in the older days? Why are the newer songs sounding so much like the songs we heard more than two decades ago?

More and more often, I find myself listening to the older songs than the newer ones. Cause there are fewer songs now which I feel like listening to as often as these old gems.

That's a sad state to be in.

SHE-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?

I know a lot of people in Harry Potter refer to Lord Voldemort as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but to use a similar phrase for Paris Hilton?

This morning, CNN was reporting that Paris Hilton turned herself in for jail time that she is supposed to serve for violating probation for drunken driving (I think). Not that I am interested in what happens to Paris Hilton and the rest of the celebs. But what caught my eye was this particular way of refering to her.

CNN began by saying that Paris Hilton had turned herself in and for the rest of the news bulletin, they continued to refer to her as She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!

Now I may be way off the mark here, but she is far less intimidating (and a lot more irritating) than Lord Voldemort (though both seem to generate a lot of news, Paris in our Muggle world and Voldemort in the Magic world). I don't see any reason for calling her that. It just makes her even more irritating. She should be referred to as any other offender is referred to. So what if she is a high profile celeb.

15 "I'm a Mac - I'm a PC" ads in a row

Need I say more? :-)

Two stunners coming in the space of a month

Apple has started running ads in the US which end with this date...June 29th. That's when all hell will break loose and the world will clamour to get this sleek and beautiful piece of art, called the iPhone, in their hands. That's not to say that it is a crazy reaction. I myself am waiting for the beauty to arrive so that I can get it.

So high is the interest in the iPhone that my friend in the US was telling me of a rumour that got floated that the Valley Fair Mall in San Jose had an early shipment of the iPhones. People camped outside the mall from 5 in the morning until 10:30 when the mall opens, only to find out that it was a hoax.

So June 29th it is. Hope there are enough of them in the market so that I can pick one up.

If you haven't already heard of this wonder device or don't know what it is that is driving mobile manufacturers like Nokia and Motorola to assure their shareholders that their market position will not get affected "much" by the introduction of this fabulous device, you can check out the Apple Macworld keynote by Steve Jobs on YouTube (where else?) and see for yourself what a wonderful device it is.

So that's one stunner. The other?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book in the famous (and best selling) Harry Potter series will be released on the 21st of July this year. Sure it's been a couple of years since the last installment (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) came out and I think anyone who has read the Harry Potter series is just waiting to find out what happens in the end.

Now that Sirius (Harry's godfather) and Dumbledore (Hogwart's headmaster extraordinaire) are dead, we are also waiting to know if the next character to die in the final installment is Voldemort himself or not. In any case, I personally think the entire series is very well written and is really fun to read. Sure, it's gotten progressively darker, but that's to be expected given that the series started on a dark note...with the murder of Harry's parents leaving him as the Boy Who Lived. From then on, except for the Chamber of Secrets and Prizoner of Azkaban, one character has died in every installment (read Cedric Diggory, Sirius and then Dumbledore). I wonder who's next.

I think there is something special about the voices behind the veil in the Ministry of Magic. Something that will be highlighted in the book to be released. I am not sure what it will be, but I am sure it will play a fairly important part in Harry's education.

Becks back, Giggs gone

David Beckham made his return to the England squad in the friendly against Brazil last weekend. And he showed how wrong Steve McLaren (the England manager) was to leave him out of the squad. Personally I believe the reasons were more personal and had nothing to do with football whatsoever. But Becks was back with a commanding presence in midfield.

His pin-point accuracy delivery helped John Terry thump the ball into the back of the net to allow England to take the lead against a side that boasted of Ronhaldo, Kaka and Robinho as their attacking options.

After some eight substitutions (including Becks, John Terry, Joe Cole and a bunch of others), a fresh set of legs came onto the field which disturbed the momentum of the England side. Which Brazil took full advantage of. And equalized in stoppage time to end the game level.

Since it was a friendly, it's not a big deal. But it shows the amount od leverage the side has when Becks is delivering the ball into the box. Had he not performed well, it would have been the perfect reason for McLaren to give to keep him out for good. But after his performance in the game, there is no way in hell that he is going to be out of the squad.

On a completely different note, Ryan Giggs retired as a Welsh international after playing his last match against the Czech Republic. From now on, he is purely a Manchester United player. What does not change one bit is the fact that he is a fantastic player and leader. It is always a treat watching him make those runs down the flanks and deliver amazing balls into the box with his famous left foot.

A win and a loss for football in general, so a mixed weekend in sport.

Pro-er than a Pro

I'm talking about the Wii...again!

So I have the Wii Sports set of games that I got along with the Wii. Just to refresh your memory, the set has Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf and Boxing which allows you to have a great time with your motion sensitive Wii-mote. While we (my daughter, wife and I) all started with Bowling, I moved to Tennis as my favourite of the games. It took me a while to figure out how to time my shots for a ball moving on TV as opposed to actually hitting a real ball on a tennis court, but once I figured it out, I was all set.

The Wii Sports package has a points system which needs you to cross 1000 points to count as a Pro. What I have managed to do is go way, way beyond that level for tennis. I have - check this out - 2134 points. The highest ranked pro on the Wii is a programmed Mii called Elise who has 2000 points. She teams up with another with 1900 points for every game I play. Now here's the deal. Not only do I have to win everytime I play them, but I have to win convincingly to increase my points haul. So basically, I have to win by holding my serve convincingly and then breaking the opponent's serve convincingly. If I have to defend my serve for a couple of points, or if I take too long to break the opponents serve, I get points docked from my total even if I win in straight sets!

Be that as it may, my points have been above the 2000 point mark for a while and the graph that shows the progress of points is - as you might have guessed - literally off the charts.

So I guess I am the Roger Federer on the Wii (NOT!)

The best of the Part IIIs

I watched Shrek The Third last evening and thoroughly enjoyed it.

After the disasters that were Spiderman 3 (yeck) and Pirates III (double yeck...), Shrek the Third was a wonderful change. Sure all the usual suspects were there and the story was an extension of the last part, it was a movie that made you go "Aww" a few times and laugh a lot more often. I may not have been laughing my guts out, but at least I was not waiting for the movie to finish, something that I was doing all the time while watching both the Spiderman and Pirates installments.

The plot nicely starts where Shrek 2 left off. Shrek and Fiona are still in Far Far Away. The twist starts with the king, now a frog, dies (quite a funny sequence considering that the character is going to die). And that is the beginning of yet another quest for Shrek, with Donkey and Puss by his side.

Some really nice messages in the movie, something that my daughter could take back home. She is getting to an age where she has started noticing appearances and started to react to her own appearance. The message in the movie was heartwarming to say the least, and delivered in a nice and funny way. Sure it was not as funny as Shrek 2, but it was definately worth the ticket money.

PDI/Dreamworks has done it yet again. And they deserve all the success that goes with it. However, I am not sure there will be another Shrek installment. The story has run it's course and I don't think there is anything left in it to have another one.

Of course, that was true for Spiderman and Pirates two installments ago.