Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (released in the United States and Canada as Nanny McPhee Returns) is a 2010 family film. It is a sequel to the 2005 film Nanny McPhee. 

Plot

On a farm in Britain during World War II, Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is driven to her wits' end by her hectic life. Between trying to keep the family farm up and running and her job in the village shop, aided by the elderly and partly blind Mrs. Docherty (Maggie Smith), she also has three boisterous children to look after, Norman (Asa Butterfield), Megsie (Lil Woods) and Vincent (Oscar Steer). All of this she has to do while her husband is away at war. So when her children's two spoiled cousins, Cyril (Eros Vlahos) and Celia (Rosie Taylor-Ritson) Gray are sent to live on their farm and another war is being fought between the two sets of children, she is in need of a little magic. She hears a mysterious voice telling her that she needs Nanny McPhee and, to her astonishment, Nanny McPhee appears on her doorstep one stormy night.

Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) arrives to take matters into her own hands. At first, the children do not listen and carry on fighting, but she calmly bangs her stick, causing them to start hurting themselves, and Vincent to break things with his cricket bat. Eventually, they apologize, and the two groups learn to tolerate each other. Nanny McPhee then teaches them another lesson and punishes them, to share, by forcing the older boys to share their bed with a goat, the girls with the family cow, and Vincent with a baby elephant, making them realize sharing with one another wasn't so bad and start acting kinder to one another. For instance, Megsie gives Celia some of her best clothing when the ones she brings are ruined, which had made her resort to wearing their mother's wedding dress. Meanwhile, Isabel's brother-in-law Uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans) has gambled away the farm and is being chased down by two hit women. He desperately attempts to make Isabel sell her half of the farm, using an array of schemes. These include digging a hole so that the family piglets can escape, but by working together, the children manage to round them up in time.

Mrs. Green takes all the children on a picnic during which an ARP Warden, Mr. Docherty (Sam Kelly), warns them all about bombs and how he imagines a pilot might accidentally release his bomb in the remote area in which the family lives. At the end of the picnic Uncle Phil delivers a telegram saying that Rory Green has been "killed in action" in the war. Isabel believes the telegram, along with everybody else. But Norman does not, and says that he has a feeling "in his bones" that his father is not dead. He tells this to Cyril, who at first says it is just because he is upset, but then agrees to help Norman determine the truth. They realise that Cyril's father, Lord Gray (Ralph Fiennes), a high-ranking figure in the War Office can find out for himself what has happened to Rory. So they manage to get Nanny McPhee to take them to London on her motorcycle.

Upon arrival in London, Nanny McPhee uses her status in the army to get the boys access to the War Office, where they meet Lord Grey. At first he scoffs at Norman when he tells him about his disbelief of his father's death, but after Cyril angrily informs his father that he knows that his parents are getting a divorce, he gives in and goes to check on Rory's status. While he is gone, Cyril tells Norman that he and Celia have been sent away because their parents will be splitting up, and not because of the bombs, and he is unsure where he and Celia will have to live. Norman tells Cyril that he and Celia are welcome to live on the farm with the Greens, to his delight. Lord Grey returns and informs them that Rory is not listed as killed in action, as the telegram had stated, but missing in action, and that there is no record of a telegram ever having been sent to Isabel.

The boys then leave and Norman works out that the telegram brought to his mother by Uncle Phil was in fact a fraud to get Isabel to sell the farm. While the boys are at the War Office, Megsie, Celia and Vincent are trying to stop Isabel from signing the papers and selling the farm. When their own efforts fail, Megsie calls to Nanny McPhee for help, who hears her plea and summons a baby Elephant to stall for time. Just as Isabel is about to sign the papers, an enemy plane flies overhead. The pilot sneezes twice, and on the third sneeze, a huge bomb is dropped, but does not explode and is sticking out of the barley field. When Nanny McPhee returns with Norman and Cyril, thanks to the Nanny's magic, the children go out to watch Mr. Docherty dismantle the bomb, but he falls from the ladder and faints, and Megsie takes over. She succeeds with the help of the other children and Nanny McPhee's putty eating bird, Mr. Edelweiss. Nanny McPhee then helps to harvest the barley and saves Phil from the hit women, with a little magic, and she and Mrs. Docherty watch the family celebrate.

During their conversation, Mrs. Docherty says to Mr. Docherty that Nanny McPhee hates goodbyes and that she remembers from when she was young. She then takes out a rattle, revealing that she is baby Aggie from the first film. As Nanny McPhee walks away from the now happy family, true to her statement "When you need me, but do not want me, I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go", the children and Isabel chase after her, determined to prove they still need her. However, they discover that they in fact do not, as they round a bend to see that their father is descending from the hill, passing Nanny McPhee along the way. Rory Green (Ewan McGregor), in army uniform and with an injured arm, runs to the arms of his children and wife and rejoices in the discovering that after leaving three children to go to war, he has returned to find five. As Nanny McPhee watches the reunion, now a beautiful woman, she forgives Mr. Edelweiss and allows him to perch on her shoulder as they leave into the distance leading to another sequel.

Nanny McPhee's five lessons

In addition to emphasizing discipline, manners and accepting the consequences of one's actions, Nanny McPhee has five very important base lessons to teach — each of which correspond to her various unattractive physical attributes: gray hair, two large moles, a unibrow, and a snaggle-tooth protruding over her bottom lip, all of which give her the appearance of a stereotypical witch. Nanny is as ugly as the children are naughty, so whenever a lesson is learned, one of her disfigurements vanishes. When all five lessons are learned, Nanny McPhee transforms from ugly to beautiful.

• Lesson #1: To stop fighting - Upper wart disappears
• Lesson #2: To share - Lower wart disappear
• Lesson #3: To work together - Unibrow disappears
• Lesson #4: To be brave - Hair changes from gray to brown
• Lesson #5: To have faith - Snaggle tooth disappears

Nanny McPhee's Medals

• Courage
• Kindness
• Resolve
• Imagination
• Enthusiasm
• Basketwork
• Leap of Faith

(Copied & Edited from Wikipedia)

I still prefer Nanny McPhee Part 1. Maybe the kids are cuter in part 1 or the story is too similar?! How about you? The funny part of Part 2 is the animation they have for the animal. The pigs are so cute! Haha!

Nanny McPhee

Plot

In 19th century England, widower and undertaker 41-year-old Cedric Brown (Colin Firth) has seven children: 11-year-old Simon (Thomas Sangster), 10-year-old Tora (Eliza Bennett), 9-year-old Lily (Jennifer Rae Daykin), 8-year-old Eric (Raphaël Coleman), 7-year-old Sebastian (Samuel Honywood), 5-year-old Christianna (Holly Gibbs) and 1-year-old Agatha (Hebe and Zinnia Barnes). He loves his children very much, but spends little time with them, unable to handle raising them all on his own, after their mother died.
The children have had a series of seventeen nannies, whom they systematically drive out; it is a point of pride for them to get rid of each nanny as fast as possible. They also terrorize the cook, Mrs. Blatherwick (Imelda Staunton) but are cared for and loved by Evangeline (Kelly Macdonald) the young scullery maid.

Cedric attempts to hire another nanny from the agency that sent the past seventeen nannies, but the agency refuses him, as the children have sent the past nannies away, terrorized. Desperate to find another nanny, Cedric heeds the advice of a mysterious voice from the house, which says, "the person you need is Nanny McPhee." After a series of mysterious events, an unusual and hideous woman named Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) arrives at Brown home, introducing herself as a "government nanny". By using magic to force the children to destroy the kitchen (almost boiling Aggie in the process), she teaches them to go to bed when they're told. In similar fashions, with discipline and magic, she transforms the family's lives. In the process, she herself transforms from ugly to beautiful. The children, led by Simon, attempt to play their tricks on her, but gradually start to respect her and ask her for advice. They change into responsible people, helping their hapless father in solving the family problems, and making Nanny McPhee less and less needed.

The family is financially supported by the late Mrs. Brown's Aunt, Lady Adelaide Stitch (Angela Lansbury). Though she is acting in concern for the well-being of her family, Lady Adelaide is the source of major conflicts in the Browns' lives. In conjunction with her support for the family, Lady Adelaide demands custody over one of the children in order to ensure their continued education and proper upbringing in society. She initially chooses Christianna to go with her, but as the children - and Cedric himself - loathe the idea of parting with one of the siblings, Simon offers up Evangeline in Chrissy's place. Adelaide agrees, assuming that she is one of the daughters, and adopts Evangeline as her own. Both Evangeline's desire to be properly educated, as well as Adelaide's latest contractual stipulation, are satisfied by the act of trickery.

Lady Adelaide also demands that Cedric remarry within the month, threatening to cut off the family's allowance if he fails to do so. Desperate to keep his family together and prevent losing his house, Cedric turns to the vulgar Mrs. Selma Quickly (Celia Imrie), local widow of three husbands with garish taste in clothing. Based on the image of stepmothers in fairy tales, the children assume that stepmothers are all cruel (case in point: Lady Tremaine from Cinderella), and attempt to sabotage a visit from Mrs. Quickly. However, their tricks backfire and Mrs. Quickly initially assumes that Mr. Brown is keener on her than he actually is.
During the tea party, Mr. Brown's endeavors to protect Mrs. Quickly from his children result in him throwing himself on top of her, pulling her to the floor and burying his face in her cleavage. Nevertheless, Mrs. Quickly - ignorant of the children's pranks - is happy with all this provided that she gets a proposal. However, when his proposal is ruined by more pranks, she leaves angrily and refuses to see him again. After the truth of their father's situation is explained to the children, they agree to the marriage, and appease Mrs. Quickly by confessing they were to blame for the disturbance of her visit, and lure her with promises of Aunt Adelaide's wealth.

On the day of the wedding, the children discover that Mrs. Quickly is as conniving and cruel as they had feared, when she breaks Aggie's rattle - the last thing they had to remind them of their mother. When everyone is gathered for the wedding, the children disturb the ceremony by pretending a swarm of bees has been attracted to Quickly's flowered hat. Things quickly get out of hand, as the priest is allergic to bees, resulting in a food fight. Cedric realizes that both he and his children truly dislike his wife-to-be, and joins in the disruption of the ceremony. Angered, Mrs. Quickly puts an end to the wedding and storms off.

Just as it seems that Adelaide's marriage deadline has passed without result, Simon realizes that his father could still marry Evangeline, to whom he has demonstrated something of an attraction, and vice versa. Although both Cedric and Evangeline attempt to deny it, due to the inevitable breaking of class boundaries such a marriage would cause, they finally admit their love for each other.

Nanny McPhee taps her magic staff one last time, and provides a perfect backdrop for Cedric's marriage to Evangeline by creating a beautiful snowstorm, transforming Evangeline's dress and fulfilling Mrs. Blatherwick's declarations that "it'll be snowing in August before this family is straightened out!" Aunt Adelaide's demand is satisfied, and all of the family's problems are solved. Aggie's rattle is fixed.

Nanny McPhee's five lessons

In addition to emphasizing discipline, manners and accepting the consequences of one's actions, Nanny McPhee has five very important base lessons to teach — each of which correspond to her various unattractive physical attributes: gray hair, two large moles, a unibrow, and a snaggle-tooth protruding over her bottom lip, all of which give her the appearance of a stereotypical witch. Nanny McPhee is as ugly as the children are naughty, so whenever a lesson is learned, one of her disfigurements vanishes. When all five lessons are learned, Nanny McPhee transforms from ugly and old to young and beautiful. According to one of the special bonus features, her weight gradually goes away, with it completely vanishing once they learn their sixth lesson.

• First lesson - To go to bed when they are told (and stop fighting) - Hair goes from gray to brown
• Second lesson - To get up when they are told - Upper wart disappears
• Third lesson - To get dressed when they are told - Lower wart disappears
• Fourth lesson - To listen (and say thank you and please) - Uni-brow disappears
• Fifth lesson - To do as they are told - Snaggle tooth disappears

Nanny McPhee's Motto

Nanny McPhee operates according to the children's behaviour. When she is introduced she mentions this statement to the children, "when you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go". (copied & edited from Wikipedia)

I like this movie very much. Although my hubby said that this is a children's movie, I feel that it is more likely a family movie. ^^ Well, I prefer to watch movies that can cheer me up, not 'haunted' me for days & nights like 'Orphan' (a movie which I will review later).


I love the kids in this movie. They are so lovely and cute. If you have such naughty kids at home, you should feel relief as they are smart & creative. Hahaha!

Ah Tao Bak Kut Teh, Miri

I went to try out the Ah Tao bak kut teh this afternoon. This place has been opened since December 2010 in Miri but I only managed to find out this place and dropped by to try it now. I heard that the boss had learned some skills from his previous employer in KL (not franchise though) and now opened one at his hometown. Please correct me if I'm wrong. ^^

This family business is quite good. For me, I love the bak kut teh! The price is reasonable and the services are not bad. I feel so surprised that they are very generous in their dishes. The ingredients they added are so much, you will wonder how come you can never finish eating the ingredients in the soup though your garlic rice has finished.

Well, if you are a vegetarian or you don't feel like eating bak kut teh, no worries. You can order other dishes as well. The menu includes soup noodles, fried kway teow, stir-fry vegetable, fried rice, seafood, mixed vegetable rice, etc. Special order can be prepared if needed too. ^^

Highly recommended!

 This shop is situated next to Telang Usan Hotel, near to Seahorse roundabout.

Contact Number : 0168781638  for reservation.

Operates daily, off on Tuesday. 

I wish

This is an email forwarded by my hubby to me. I would like to share with you. I have no idea who is the write but I really appreciate the great reminder for all of us. Hope you enjoy it too!



For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five: 

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it. 

2. I wish I didn't work so hard
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle. 

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win. 

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying. It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships. 

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Skin79~Sue Hydrating Cream

Skin79~Sue Hydrating Cream (50g)

Cream that feels as through it melts onto the skin to simultaneously supply abundant moisture and nutrition to rough and tired skin to help maintain skin that is smooth and resilient.

Direction:
Apply proper amount to the entire face and evenly spread it at the last step of basic caring.

Retail: RM105
Member: RM95