Whee! Take me! Take me!
I recieved this email today *smirk* :

FROM:MRS. M SESE-SEKO

DEAR FRIEND,

I AM MRS. SESE-SEKO WIDOW OF LATE PRESIDENT MOBUTU
SESE-SEKO OF ZAIRE? NOW KNOWN AS DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF CONGO (DRC). I AM MOVED TO WRITE YOU THIS LETTER,
THIS WAS IN CONFIDENCE CONSIDERING MY PRESENT
CIRCUMSTANCE AND SITUATION.

I ESCAPED ALONG WITH MY HUSBAND AND TWO OF OUR SONS
MICHAEL KONGOLO AND BASHER OUT OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
CONGO (DRC) TO ABIDJAN, COTE D'IVOIRE WHERE MY FAMILY
AND I SETTLED, WHILE WE LATER MOVED TO SETTLED IN
MORROCO WHERE MY HUSBAND LATER DIED OF CANCER
DISEASE. HOWEVER DUE TO THIS SITUATION WE DECIDED TO
CHANGED MOST OF MY HUSBAND'S BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
DEPOSITED IN SWISS BANK AND OTHER COUNTRIES INTO OTHER
FORMS OF MONEY CODED FOR SAFE PURPOSE BECAUSE THE NEW
HEAD OF STATE OF (DR) MR LAURENT KABILA HAS MADE
ARRANGEMENT WITH THE SWISS GOVERNMENT AND OTHER
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TO FREEZE ALL MY LATE HUSBAND'S
TREASURES DEPOSITED IN SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. HENCE
MY CHILDREN AND I DECIDED LAYING LOW IN AFRICA TO
STUDY THE SITUATION TILL WHEN THINGS GETS BETTER,
LIKE NOW THAT PRESIDENT KABILA IS DEAD AND THE SON
TAKING OVER (JOSEPH KABILA). ONE OF MY LATE HUSBAND'S
CHATEAUX IN SOUTHERN FRANCE WAS CONFISCATED BY THE
FRENCH GOVERNMENT, AND AS SUCH I HAD TO CHANGE MY
IDENTITY SO THAT MY INVESTMENT WILL NOT BE TRACED AND
CONFISCATED. I HAVE DEPOSITED THE SUM OF EIHGTEEN
MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS(US$18,000,000,00.) WITH A
SECURITY COMPANY , FOR SAFEKEEPING. THE FUNDS ARE
SECURITY CODED TO PREVENT THEM FROM KNOWING THE
CONTENT. WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO IS TO INDICATE YOUR
INTEREST THAT YOU WILL ASSIST US BY RECEIVING
THE MONEY ON OUR BEHALF.ACKNOWLEDGE THIS MESSAGE, SO
THAT I CAN INTRODUCE YOU TO MY SON (KONGOLO ) WHO HAS
THE OUT MODALITIES FOR THE CLAIM OF THE SAID FUNDS. I
WANT YOU TO ASSIST IN INVESTING THIS MONEY, BUT
I WILL NOT WANT MY IDENTITY REVEALED. I WILL ALSO WANT
TO BUY PROPERTIES AND STOCK IN MULTI-NATIONAL OMPANIES
AND TO ENGAGE IN OTHER SAFE AND NON-SPECULATIVE
INVESTMENTS. MAY I AT THIS POINT EMPHASISE THE HIGH
LEVEL OF CONFIDENTIALITY,WHICH THIS BUSINESS DEMANDS,
AND HOPE YOU WILL NOT BETRAY THE TRUST AND CONFIDENCE,
WHICH I REPOSE IN YOU. IN CONCLUSION,IF YOU WANT
TO ASSIST US , MY SON SHALL PUT YOU IN THE PICTURE OF
THE BUSINESS,TELL YOU WHERE THE FUNDS ARE CURRENTLY
BEING MAINTAINED AND ALSO DISCUSS OTHER MODALITIES
INCLUDING REMUNERATION FOR YOUR SERVICES.

FOR THIS REASON KINDLY FURNISH US YOUR CONTACT
INFORMATION, AND YOUR PERSONAL TELEPHONE AND FAX
NUMBER FOR VALIDATION PROCESSES.

BEST REGARDS,

MRS M. SESE SEKO

In the Mood for Love
I just watched Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love. This is a two hour long film of sepia tinted longing, with Zhau Xun's music playing in the background, fleeting looks, long lingering gazes, with the perfect languid form of Maggie Cheung's Su Li-zhen, and the noble yet oh so human Chow Mo-wan brilliantly rendered by Leung Chui Wai. Wong Kar Wai is in his element here with the early 60s Shanghai setting.

The story spans nearly a decade, from the first time the two meet fleetingly in a hallway, through months of polite greeting, years of anguish while their respective spouses have an affair, till at last their lives part. Never to meet again.

Through it all, Li-zhen and Mo-wan are the epitome of courtesy and grace. They yearn to reach out to comfort each other, perhaps, but end up seeking solace in each other's silence. She sits on his bed as he writes his columns, eyes meet for the briefest fleeting moment, and then the moment passes. He sees her in the rain and stands with her under a small canvas canopy for shelter. They stand very close, barely touching. But not close for idle gossip to smear their well protected and pristine reputation.

In the Mood for Love - con't
The painful longing and delicately mannered emotional sparring left my heart aching and so drained. I screamed for her to make the first move. I wished he had the strength to push away social taboos. Just the slightest sign from Li-zhen would have given Mo-wan the... but no.

Chinese poems add even more poignant pauses in the show,
It is a restless moment,
She has kept her head lowered...
to give him a chance to come closer.
But he could not, for lack of courage.
She turns and walks away.

This film is visually stunning, and Wong Kar Wai's brilliant evocation of romantic longing, with minimal dialogue, and so aching, painfully sad, fleeting moments in time, and subtle signs so easily missed, makes In the Mood for Love a masterpiece I will always remember with bittersweet memories of my own ultimately shallow 2 decades of life.

He remembers those vanished years.
As though looking though a dusty window pane,
the past is something he could see,
but not touch.
And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct.

Scully : Maybe he faked his own death.
Mulder : You know how difficult it is to fake your own death? Only one person has done it.
Scully : (beat)
Mulder : (with twitching upper lip) Elvis.

(Mulder reaches out and touches some slime on a wall)
Scully : (sniffing) Oh my god, Mulder, I think its BILE.
Mulder : (deadpan) Is there any way I can get this off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior?
(beat)