Yup, it's the first day of Chinese New Year, and the beginning of incessant gorging and weight-gaining. No wait, it actually started yesterday with reunion dinner. Gosh, I haven't had the courage to even step on the weighing scale these days!

Anyway, back from an entire day of house visiting and I'm drained, not only from the visiting but from the sinus attack which hit in the afternoon. My nose is now numb from all the sneezing and running. Nevetheless, I don't mind the activity cos ang pows notwithstanding, it's actually a nice thing to be able to meet up with relatives whom you haven't seen in almost a year or more and catch up with what exactly's going on in the family.

Am feeling very bloated thou. Last night's reunion dinner still hasn't digested.

Anyway, apart from the visiting and the flu, I did have some time to actually contribute 2 short reviews to Funn's website, namely reviews for American Psycho and The Machinist respectively. Funn also provided a cool link to a webpage which consists of some of the finest home-made fan videos of Christian Bale. Very professionally done. However, really, please dun let your parents watch these videos cos most of them contain some, errr... nudity, violence and that 3-letter word which is such a taboo in Asian societies. Click here to access!

Funn raised an interesting question which I have thought about when watching some movies with such scenes - is it that easy to strip off in front of the camera? Are the Westerners more comfortable with their own body that they can flaunt it? Well, I think basically the Western movie industry has reached a level of professionalism such that to them, stripping for the sake of achieving a good movie has become part and parcel of the job. I mean, of course there is a line between pornography and sex and nudity in certain movies, but I do have a feeling that film-makers are comfortable with that delineation and hence are more willing to experiment as long as they serve the story. I also believe that movie-goers in those parts of the world are in general definitely are more accepting of such scenes too, given their cultural background, as long as they tell a good story. Hence, to these actors it's probably is easier for them to strip in front of the camera, with some limitations, of course. And are Westerners more comfortable with their own body? I would say, YES.

What do u think? How well do us as Asians accept such scenes in movies?

Ok, gonna watch Anna and the King! Happy Chinese New Year everyone! May the new year be marked with prosperity, good fortune and good health!