On All of Me

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Perhaps, one of the most beautiful songs I've ever listened to. The video is amazing as well.

P.s: I may or may not have shed a few tears the first time I saw this video. *snff* *sniff*

On Driving People Crazy

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If you're keen on driving people crazy, do one thing ... BE HAPPY! :) Have a lovely day, guys.

On Wolf Hall

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I might be a bit obsessed with Tudor history. Wait...did I say "might" and "a bit"? LOL! What a joke. Alright, let's do that again. My name is Dupe and I am very obsessed with Tudor history (Yes, that's more like it!).

Anyway, my friend, Zara, lent me this book. So excited! I'll be reading it every chance I get (seeing as I have a load of other work to do). About to start it now. Will do a review when I'm done.

Tada!

On Genie the Wild Child

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We talked briefly about the case of "Genie" in my Media Discourse class and I decided to look it up after. I came across some other cases of feral children like Victor (a child who lived his entire childhood alone and was later found in filth) and Oxana Malaya, a Ukrainian girl who was raised by dogs.

The story of Genie is quite striking because unlike the other two, she actually lived in a house with her parents. However, they decided to lock her up in a room - in complete isolation. Since she barely had any human contact, she did not learn how to speak and so, did not acquire any first language. She was usually tied to a toilet and her arms and legs were left immobilised. Her parents never even bothered to potty train her, and so, when she was found at the age of 13 years and 7 months, she was still in diapers.

She had a characteristic "bunny walk" and she often spat and clawed at herself. While doing all these, she never made a sound, which led to the conclusion that she was most likely beaten by her parents when she made sounds and had subsequently learnt to avoid making any noises. She however started to make progress until the research funding was pulled.

She moved from foster home to foster home until she was finally taken back by her mother, who realised that it was too difficult to take care of her, and then sent her back to where? You guessed right...more foster homes. She experienced severe abuse and regressed into silence.

These days, Genie, who is about 55 or 56 years old now, is in an unnamed private facility for mentally underdeveloped adults.

Poor Genie.

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On Vaneza's Awesome Birthday Dinner

There're some downsides to living in a small town, such as not having a train station or any proper places to shop. Perhaps, one of the saddest things is that there aren't a variety of restaurants (because, yes. I am a food lover). 

The other half of my music band from karaoke night celebrated her birthday today (actually, she's been celebrating it for a month now. What an opportunist!). As with most birthdays, we wanted to have a lovely birthday dinner. Problem: no restaurants to accommodate us. The first one we went to asked us to come back in an hour and frankly, we were too hungry for that, and my reaction was:

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Anyway, we finally found one Indian restaurant. Now, I'm not a big fan of Indian food because I always seem to get sick from eating it. But since the birthday girl is a big Indian food fan, we had to oblige. 

The food turned out surprisingly good (probably because I only ordered the naan bread and butter to be safe). The waiter was also very chatty. I mean, we gave him a 5p tip and he said it was nothing. LOL! Also, when we asked him for free dessert for the birthday girl, he told us to bring ours tomorrow so we could share with the restaurant! 

Overall, the night was good. I left my friends to get some work done but I heard they got into some drama with the bouncer at the next place they went. Well, that will be a story for another day.

On the Blonde Angel: An Update

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So, I blogged about Little Maria a few days back. Well, good news! Her birth mother has been found. Actually, I'm not very sure that this is good news. After DNA samples were collected from the actual birth parents, they fled for fear of being arrested. 

During her interview, she claimed she had to leave Maria in Greece because she didn't have enough money to pay for the child's birth certificate (whatever that means). She can't even remember the date she gave birth to the child. She only recalls that it's sometime in the last four years. There're some very annoying quotes from her interview like: 

"I left my daughter with my roommate. She is also in Roma. When I left Maria, I asked the woman to send her to Bulgaria. But she hasn't. I cannot remember her name. It was four years ago."

And: 

"I don't have any money to call the woman in Greece anymore so I stopped trying to get in touch with her."

Oh, and a quote from Maria's father too: 

"I can't remember all my children's names because there are so many of them." 

Seriously, are you kidding me?! I mean, I'm not here to pass any judgement to the birth parents or anything but why bring more children into the world if you can't even manage the ones you have? 

Poor Maria...it's hard to believe that she's even better off with the family who treated her like a dancing bear. 

On the Sparrow Face

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You think you know all about selfies? Forget about the duck face and pouting. There's a new way to distort your face when taking pictures. It's call the sparrow face.

Basically, what you need to do is make sure your eyes are wide open, then slightly part your lips. It's already popular in places like Japan. What are you waiting for? Do not be left behind.

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Disclaimer: I have not been paid by the Japanese to promote this trend.

On the African-Themed Party

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Some girl had her 21st birthday party a little while ago and decided to do an African-themed birthday party, so everyone was supposed to come in dressed as someone from Africa (or an animal, as you will see in the pictures below). I personally don't think these kids meant any harm, but I would say most of these costumes and paintings are quite tasteless. 

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Quite disturbing. 

On the Blonde Angel

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Seriously, the world is a sick place. These two monsters abducted a little girl, Maria, some years ago and have been using her to make money for themselves. The charity organisation she lives with right now says she was being treated like a "dancing bear" by her abductors who have been posing by her parents. She is being taken care of right now and hopefully, they find her birth parents soon.

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On Wrecking Ball

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Currently at the top of my playlist. Not a big fan of Miley Cyrus and her recent antics but this song is beyond amazing!

On Villains: Spencer Matthews

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He's one of the characters of the scripted-reality series, Made in Chelsea. The series follows a group of wealthy 20-somethings who live in...guess where? Yes, Chelsea. I mostly watch the show for the drama and entertainment, because, who doesn't love a bit of Drama and entertainment every now and then?

The characters are usually shown having parties, shopping for designer clothes, buying custom-made perfumes, having parties...you get the idea. They spend their time doing rich-kid things and it's always fun to watch. One other thing they spend their time doing is getting into relationships, and of course, breaking up.

Of course, Spencer Matthews happens to be one of these characters. I generally love everyone on the show (especially Mark Francis ...OMG!!!!). I think I despise just one of the characters -  Spencer Matthews. He's probably one of the most arrogant, selfish, and vile bullies to ever appear on reality tv. He treats people like crap and then, struts around like he owns the place. Most times, when he appears on my screen, I always want to break my tv or laptop screen (But then, I think: "Who would buy me a new one?" So I stop myself from damaging my gadgets.)

You know the most hilarious part of this show? (and possibly my favourite scene!). Just watch:

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"ARE YOU TAKING THE PISS? YOU MUST BE TAKING THE ABSOLUTE PISS." Hahaha. What a moron.

On Villains: The Joker

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Seriously, I know this is going to sound weird because I'm not even sure you're supposed to have a favourite villain but I do. I'm not such a big fan of DC Comics but I do manage to watch most of the movies that are based on them. I'm a huge fan of The Joker from The Batman series, particularly the one Christopher Nolan one.

This one is brilliantly portrayed by the late Heath Ledger. The Joker is Batman's archenemy and a psychopathic serial killer. His main aim in life is to frustrate Batman's life and the lives of those in authority. To be honest, I'm not even sure if I love The Joker because of how interesting I find him or because of how unbelievably awesome Heath Ledger's performance is in this movie.

He definitely stole the show in this movie. Of course, it goes without saying that I think you should see this movie if you haven't.

Here's a clip I found on youtube of some of The Joker's best quotes:

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Enjoy.

On Australia

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No, I have not just come back from Australia. In fact, I have never been but I would so much love to visit. I hear they have friendly people and beautiful lands. I hear there are lots of nice places to visit and tons of lovely kangaroos to look at (and tell me, who doesn't want to see kangaroos?) I also hear that it takes about 23 hours to fly there from the UK. So, if anyone has a teleportation device, get in touch with me please, will you?

On My Quote of The Week

Seriously, you should say this to yourself everyday. 

On The Daily Mail: An Outrage

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I would like you to do a little test before you read on. Go on then, give it click and see what it says.

If you have been reading my blog (and I hope you have), then, you must at least have an idea of how much I do not like The Daily Mail (and I say that with the utmost leniency!). I'm quite sure I'm not the only one who harbours these feelings. I think there might even be a Facebook support group for people who hate The Daily Mail, but you did not hear that from me.

Why do I dislike them so much? Because they are a set of intolerant and sexist bullies who, sometimes, make me give up hope on humanity. They are either telling you that you're too ugly, or too fat. Or too rich or too poor. There's just always something. I have never seen so much hatred for women, not thin people, immigrants, the poor, homosexuals, old people, Muslims, pregnant women and catholic priests, celebrities, etc. In fact, just think of any category of people. The Daily Mail should be very ashamed of themselves. They are a group of trolls who need to be sent on exile.

The Daily Mail certainly hates me. I fit the profile - female, black, foreigner, Catholic, student. Guess what? I hate them too.

On Bravery

I did something brave last night! I didn't go to war or anything but I did something I would never have done in a million years - I sang in front of people! Okay, maybe I wasn't that brave because I did have to go up there with one of my mates from uni, Vaneza...but the point is, I did it.

I was complaining to my lecturer, Roger, that I was running out of things to put on my blog and he said to live a little. 

"Say yes when you're asked to do stuff. You'll find out that there'll always be something to write about..." 

Turns out our voices were that good that we got a good cheering on and free drinks to go with that. 

I'm beginning to think we might actually be music stars. Watch out, we might just do a music tour at a concert near you! 

 

Aaaaand thanks to Kevin for the awesome shots!

On Blurry Lines and How To Make Them Straight

"I hate these blurred lines. I know you want it."

Just listening to the first few seconds of Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines makes me want to break into a dance. The tune is so catchy and like with most songs, I've never even bothered to look closely at the lyrics and find out what the song actually means, because, who does that? No one, really. It wasn't until I came across this article that I looked up the lyrics, and I have to say that I was somewhat disturbed. Because quite a number of blogs have addressed this issue, I will not dissect these lyrics as I would have wanted to for fear of being redundant. However, I found some very powerful images on the internet (love how you can find just about anything on the internet!) and because I'm so nice, I will leave them with you. To me, these images show what Mr Thicke is expressly saying in his song...

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There are no blurred lines. There is "yes" and then, there is "no". Do yourself a favour...if someone does not tell you "yes", then the person does not mean yes. Keep your gift of clairvoyance in your pockets and do not ever let it out, at least not in cases like these. Make those blurry lines straight.

Did I mention what Mr Thicke said in an interview? He said: "What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I've never gotten to do that before. I've always respected women."

Oh, don't get so mad. He said it was a joke!

On Staying Hungry and Foolish

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I remember watching a speech Steve Jobs gave at a graduation ceremony at Stanford University (You most likely know who Steve Jobs is, unless you live in a cave. And if you do live in a cave, I can't help but wonder how you have internet access to read this piece. But that's a discussion we will have some other time). In his address, he talks about three lessons he learnt from life.

About connecting the dots: He talks about the time he dropped out from university and did not know what to do with his life. He was not able to connect the dots. It was later in life that he realised that there were reasons for these events happening. He explained: "...you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life".

About love and loss: He talks about getting fired from his company, Apple, and having to start another company. He became a beginner again. He had to start from scratch. But in the end, it was worth it because he was able to expand this company into several companies, he met the woman who would become his wife, and Apple ended up buying his company. All the wonderful ideas he was able to develop at his company are still what are being used by Apple up until today. He explains: "Sometimes, life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith...You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill up a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

On Death: He quotes something he read earlier when he was 17: "If you live each day as if it were your last, someday, you'll most certainly be right." He talks about how he had cancer a year earlier and how scared he was of death. It made him realise something -  that time is limited and that there is no point waiting for tomorrow to get things done. There is no point wasting your time living someone else's life. Live for yourself. Do what you love. Be happy. In the final moments of his speech, he talks about a publication which he used to read. On their final issue, they put a photo on the back cover which had a photograph of an early morning road. But it wasn't the picture that struck him, it was what was written beneath it. It said: "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." 

Steve Jobs died of six years after he gave this speech but this  will be one of those things that will continue to have an impact on people, hundreds of years to come. For some reason, every time I read or listen to it, it leaves me somewhat teary-eyed. I am so grateful for Steve Jobs' life and the lives of millions of people he touched. Learn from this. Live life wonderfully and try to be the best you can be in every aspect of your life. Cut off people from your life if they are toxic to you and have faith in yourself. Never settle for less.

I better round this post up. I have a lot of things I need to get done - two of them being: staying hungry and staying foolish. I hope you include these in the list of things you have to do. 

On Desiderata

My dad sent me this poem some years ago. I still read it almost everyday, and in my kindness, I have decided to share it with you. I find that following these rules has made my life much easier.

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On My Favourite Song of the Week

Doesn't everyone just love Coldplay? They're unarguably the best band ever (Did you just disagree with me? Well, it doesn't matter). This one is called "Swallowed in the Sea"

Source: Marleeta Smith

The lyrics are so amazing. I must have listened to it at least a hundred times this week.

On the Most Beautiful Woman in Britain

On rare occasions, I like to read really horrible tabloid news. Well, not on rare occasions, but I had to say that, for fear of being judged. Anyway, I came across this article sometime last year. Basically, this woman, Samantha Brick, talks about how she gets special treatment because of how beautiful and attractive she is (poor her!). She wants you to know that she is by no means "smug". In fact, she wants us to feel sorry for her because her female friends have had her cut off from their lives due to the fact that they are threatened that she might steal their men from them.

Just a picture of the woman in question before we continue:

Source: The Daily Mail Online

Okay, one more:

Source: The Daily Mail Online

And a video of her (not) bragging about how attractive she is: 

Source: ITV1 

You get the idea. The entire article sounds like a joke. Someone in the comments section rightly asked if the article was a joke for April Fools' Day. And as if the article was not enough, she needed to be heard on national television.

If this is a publicity stunt merely trying to get a reaction from people, then kudos to her. Job well done. If. however, she genuinely believes all the things she has written and said, then I don't really know what to say. 

On the Kardashians

For someone who is not related to or even friends with them, I probably know more about the Kardashians than I should. What? Can you blame me? They are ALWAYS in the news. They're an interesting set of fame-hungry, camera-loving people who live in a surreal world of designer bags and mansions. They're an addiction - a guilty pleasure. In the unlikely event that you have never heard about the Kardashians, then do some research.


They're either getting married:

Credit: ABCNews

Or getting divorced:

Credit: HollywoodLife 

Or getting separated:

Credit: HollyscoopTV

Or confronting a "h8r" 

Credit: mrbearduck4

Or making Asian girls cry

Credit: Jessica Sinclair

Blah blah blah. The list could go on. I just don't understand what the obsession with them is. Every single thing they do is news. They've basically taken over the media, not just in the US, but in the UK as well. You have no idea how embarrassing The Daily Mail's obsession with them is.

It might sound like I'm complaining. Well, I'm not. We all need some entertainment from time-to-time, don't we? And who could say no to a set of people who have willingly volunteered to entertain us? Certainly not I.

On Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

"Before embarking on a journey of Revenge, dig two graves" 

Poor Sweeney Todd...if only he had gotten the memo. Or maybe he got the memo and chose to ignore it. Maybe he didn't think it applied to him. Perhaps, he was so driven by his desire to revenge that he could not think straight. He needed to cleanse the town. He needed to teach them all a lesson. 

By no means am I a movie critic. In fact, I am very far from it. Sometimes, I watch movies and I don't even understand what the hell I just watched and I am left helpless. (Side-eyeing you, Shutter Island). So, this is not a critique of the movie. It is not an expert opinion either. This is me telling you why I love this movie so much and why you should watch it if you haven't. And why you should watch it again and again, if you have. 

The story of Sweeney Todd first appears in A String of Pearls. He has been portrayed a lot of times in numerous musicals and films. Tim Burton's movie where Sweeney Todd is brilliantly portrayed by Johnny Depp, is my favourite. In the movie, we see how Sweeney Todd becomes a heartless serial killer in order to get his revenge. In Todd's defence, his family is unjustly taken away from him fifteen years earlier, after he is falsely and unlawfully charged with crimes he did not commit. This entire plan is orchestrated by the evil and tyrannous Judge Turpin, who had had his eyes on Mr Todd's wife.

Sweeney returns to town and sets up a barber shop. However, he doesn't just cut the hair and shave beards of his unsuspecting customers, he slices their throats as well and then, sends the bodies downstairs to his trusted friend, Mrs Lovett, who uses them to make pies. Now, Mrs Lovett was once known to bake the worst pies in London and she hardly ever had any customers. Ironically, once she starts to use human flesh as stuffing for her pies, customers come trickling down.

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I might be a bit biased because I'm in love with Helena Bonham Carter, but she does put out a stellar performance as Mrs Lovett. I particularly love her singing and facial expressions throughout. Alan Rickman (as Judge Turpin) is also not one to miss. And for my fellow Harry Potter fans out there, you get to see Professor Snape without his jet black weave (Hahaha. Did I just say 'weave'?) 

I'm sure it's probably obvious how this film ends but it's still worth watching. Oh, and did I mention that it's a musical? Well, it is. If you love musicals, then this is the one for you. If, on the other hand, the thought of The Sound of Music and West Side Story makes you want to slice someone's throat (and possibly use the body for the purpose of making pies), then stay far far away from this movie...I will not be held accountable for your crimes. 

On Walter White, Good and Evil, and Karma

I don't know how to feel about writing my first blog post. I mean, I have written a lot of things in the past but I hardly ever show anyone. I usually delete or shred them into a thousand pieces. I'm not sure if it's caused by my lack of confidence in my writing or just the sheer will to delete and tear things up. Anyway, here I am - blogging, finally. (To be frank, I probably would not have made this post if it was not a compulsory exercise in my Reporting class). I will be posting everyday about everything and anything. Alright, then...let's get cracking.

If you have never seen an episode of the recently concluded television series, Breaking Bad, then I would like to offer you my deepest condolences. You have no idea what you've been missing. And for your benefit, I will give a brief plot. The story is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's about an extremely gifted chemist and chemistry high school teacher, Walter White, who is diagnosed with lung cancer. After being told that the tumour was inoperable, he decides to go into the production of crystal meth with a former student of his. His intention is to pay for his chemo treatments, as well as leave enough money for his family in the event that he should die.

Someone joked that if this series was set in the UK, there probably would be no story because, well, the NHS would pay for his treatments and poor Mr White wouldn't forced to commit crime.  I guess we would never know, would we? Because this story is not set in the UK. It is set in New Mexico. It is set in a place where, if you have an illness and cannot pay for it, you are basically sentenced to death. Walter White is a victim of this society.

Things, however, get out of hand. It is not just the simple case of Walter making meth and selling to a group of addicted buyers. As time goes by, we see that he gets more invested in it. He gets mixed with the wrong crowd. He has business deals with dangerous people - people who threaten his life and the life of his entire family. He commits crimes in order to ensure self preservation. He kills people, he tricks people, he lies to his family, he does a lot of horrible and unthinkable things. Even after he has more than enough money to take care of his family, he still cannot back down of the business of meth making and distribution. His product has a signature blue colour and is almost 100% pure. This makes him so popular that his clients want to know who he is. No one really knows who this famous Heisenberg (which is an alias he gives himself) really is.

I know, I know....he is not such a victim, you might say. But it is easier to condemn and rebuke someone when we have never walked in the person's shoes, isn't it? I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is: What would we do if we were in Walter White's shoes? How many times have we been faced with moral dilemma and had to pick one of two horrible choices. Should he leave his family bankrupt after his death? Or should he commit crimes to ensure the financial safety of his family? Should he let the drug lords harm his wife and children? Or should he kill them before they get to his family? Now, I am by no means making up excuses for what he did because, let's face it, he hurt a lot of people along the way. But the answer to whether he is a hero or villain is not exactly black and white. There are so many layers to intercept in this instance. 

For me, Walter White is a tragic hero. At the beginning of the season, we see him, a not-so-wealthy chemistry teacher, who is dedicated to teaching. He lives in a modest house. I remember from the first episode that the water heating does not even work. Yet, he seems comfortable with his family and life. We learn later on that he is an overqualified chemistry teacher and that he is in fact a genius. I say he is a tragic hero because, beneath it all, he is a good man. Walter White reminds me of a Shakespearean tragic hero like Hamlet or Othello, who are both protagonists, but still have numerous flaws that lead to their downfall. For Mr White, it is his pride and his inability to back down even when he knows he should. (Okay! And maybe a bit of narcissism...but does that not fall under pride?)

In the final episode, he is finally able to be honest with his wife. We agree that he started out with good intentions. Seems ironic doesn't it? - committing crimes with good intentions. Anyway, he tells his wife why he really did what he did and why he could not stop: 

"I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was...I was alive." 


He gives her the closure that she deserves, and at the time, he sheds more light on the reasons for his actions. In the end, Walter White dies. Alone. His children will end up hating him for being a criminal mastermind, his entire family will hate him, the world will remember him as a crook who put his family at risk just because of a few millions of dollars...and so on. Then, there are those people, like me, who will always sympathise with him - because not everything is black and white.

I guess he achieves one of the most important things he wants to achieve, which is to leave enough money for his family, which he does through their family friends. Perhaps, the biggest lesson to be learnt here is that there is always a consequence for each action. I love how, in this show, no one gets away with whatever evil they have done. There is always some sort of karma. As the creator of the show rightly puts it; 

"If there's a greater lesson to breaking bad, it's that actions have consequences. If religion is a reaction of man, and nothing more, it seems to me that it represents a human desire for wrongdoers to be punished." 


I love how the series ends with Badfinger's song titled Baby Blue. The lyrics go something like "Guess I got what I deserve...". Everyone gets what they deserve in this series. Walter dying is some sort of liberation, not just for himself, but for his family and the entire town. All the people who were involved in crime either get killed or have their lives so destroyed that they would probably rather be dead.

Personally, I did not want Walter to die. I wanted him to be cured of his cancer and live happily ever after with his family, and all his sins forgotten. Yes...yes! I watched too much Disney as a kid (and I still do). Maybe it's a good thing I'm not a writer for a famous television series. Thank God for little favours.