Pandas and Rainbows

     

             Have you ever been into a vacation where you just felt so bored and felt like doing nothing at all? Well, that's the kind of Christmas vacation I had and it only gave me stress with a capital S. And now, I have to cram my blog posts because of PROCRASTINATION!!! Anyhow, I missed putting up a blog post so I knew I just had to make one right away.

             Before I formally begin with my blog post let me greet you guys A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS and, of course, A HAPPY NEW YEAR! The holidays make me L-A-Z-Y.

    

                  This photo shoot actually happened weekssssss ago and I just felt lazy ( this word will appear several times in this post) to create a post. Anyway, I love this shoot because we didn't expect to have such a lovely background- the dark skies... It showed a perfect contrast with what I'm wearing.

              

            I got the shirt from Artwork. It's a local store where you get really cool and cheap shirts with artsy and creative prints. I have 3 shirts from the store and I wear it most of the time coz it's comfy to wear especially in a hot or rather tropical country like the Philippines.

                     Now here's another work of art! My DIY shorts! I became fond of making DIY shorts for some unknown reason. Lol. But the fact still remains that I am in love with shorts!!!!!

                      If you're asking where I got the Aztec print espadrillas, the answer is Topman. I got it for my birthday last June. Anyway, that's it for this blog post. 'Til the next one...if I don't get lazy!

When Bloggers Unite

“Spending all your savings (down to the last cent) for BU4. Going out with that golden bag with a smile on your face. Waiting for BU5!”

-ME 

            What happens when bloggers get contained in one room with all their garments for sale? A fashionable outbreak of ravenous fans ready to lap anyone who comes in their way- that’s what!

            Last Saturday, December 15, 2012, was the first day of the much-awaited Blogger’s United 4 at the World Trade Center. This event is a part of the World Bazaar Festival which runs from December 7-23. What makes me happier though is that I was able to go, together with my cousin and sister, for the first time and to be honest it was some overwhelming experience! We got there at 10:15 and almost everything was gone. The stalls of the bloggers was completely ransacked that it amazes me how I was still able to buy some stuffs. Anyway, we wandered for almost 5 hours (that’s until 3 P.M.) and only got a hold of that fact after we left the tent. Fun truly makes the time fly fast and makes you dizzy and cray afterwards. You’ll end up wanting for more as if the things you bought were not enough!!!

            Besides the great steals, I got to meet awesome and awe-inspiring bloggers during BU4. They’re all lovely, stylish and to top it all, approachable. I actually felt intimidated when I asked for a picture with them but I guess it was worth it! There’s Lissa Kahayon, Patricia Prieto, Vernice Ensiso, Bjorn, Aivan Magno, Hezron Peralta, and so on and so forth. And of course, my idol, David Guison.

            This is just one of the many stuffs I bought. Worth it!

            Walking out with the golden bag on my hand… All I could utter was… “ I can’t wait for BU5!” 

What To Expect In An Unexpected Journey

"Bilbo Baggins, I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure."       

            To all Lord of the Rings fans, it is just about time to get out your holes and take a journey once more into Middle Earth as Bilbo Baggins, hobbit, has been chosen to join Gandalf the Grey and 12 other dwarves in a quest neither Bilbo nor you will ever forget.

            

            Let me get this straight, I’m not a LOTR fan at all. I’ve read the trilogy and find Tolkien’s style quite unusual but that’s about it. I also remember how my brothers teased me that I looked like Gollum. Anyway I haven’t read The Hobbit, but was planning to, when the news that it will hit the big screen came to my knowing. To make the story short, I was not able to read it-fortunately! It made my anticipation for the movie even greater!

          

         The Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey is the prequel to the trilogy. It basically revolves around the story of Bilbo Baggins who takes an adventure to help his new-found friends and how he had on his hands the ring that he passed on to Frodo. After counting many years, The Hobbit was finally decided to be brought to life with the craftsmanship of award-winning director Peter Jackson who directed the LOTR trilogy.

           With all the buzz of excitement, everyone wants to know whether it’s greater or simply trying to make the same legacy that its predecessors made. And I am most-convinced to tell you that this film will bag awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing to name a few. The film took a different path, compared to the three previous films, which will absolutely take the audience by surprise.

           The film, which runs for 3 hours, was not purely drama and adventure plus awesome visual effects as others expected it to be. It had a comic tone in it which makes the movie lighter and more appealing to all sorts of audience compared to the trilogy. The adventure part is played very well, shifting from one place to another while constantly trying to develop suspense with all the battles happening. I also like how it started with the present and used flashback as its plot device as Bilbo tried to recollect and narrate what happened in the past. I would say that the intro, although quite long, perfectly established the foundation of the entire film.

            

               The Lord of the Rings trilogy won several awards because of its amazing visual effects and that was on 2002. 10 years ago!!!! Showcasing its much-boasted graphics, the film proved why Jackson and the LOTR franchise was truly a success! The movie tried 48 frames per second and it was a marvel to look at because you could see different things happening on the screen. Another key feature of the film is the CGI most especially on the schizophrenic Gollum. If you found the making of Gollum quite astonishing wait ‘til you see him on this film. Thanks to modern technology, Gollum still had that perfect mouth synching and all and even better! 

            

                Furthermore, some had doubts whether the film could pull it off again now that there’s a new set of characters. Not to worry you’ll see familiar faces like Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White, Lady Galadriel and so on. But the real challenge was enticing the audience to welcome the new characters which mostly included dwarves and orcs. It was a fresh sight with all those jolly dwarves. Andy Serkis, who plays as Smeagle/Gollum, deserves to be nominated or even awarded for his remarkable performance.

            

                 The first thing I felt was that the movie was quite dragging in the start. There were also a handful of dead and boring scenes. In addition to that, the characters were not as established as I expected. You would remember some names and faces because that “some” were the only ones given the chance on the limelight.

            

               But as a whole, I’d say that the film is almost perfect. That is why I’d give it a 9 out of 10. Now it’s time to sing that dwarf-song again…“Far over the misty mountains…”

            

Everything is Connected

 “Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb we are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime and every kindness we birth our future.” 

            Cloud Atlas at last! This is a film worthy, not just for Oscar nominations but awards as well. Although not everyone may appreciate it, I’m sure every moviegoer would like to know what the film is all about. And to those complaining how movies these days lack imagination and creativity here’s why you should give this movie a try.  Action, romance (even bromance), comedy, sci-fi, adventure all rolled into one!

            David Mitchell’s novel, which bears the same title as the film’s, was finally brought to life by the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix) and Tykwer (Run Lola Run).  The book which was thought to be unfilmable turned out to be an over-the-top motion picture. 

   

          As the film revolves in six different epochs, the film ambitiously tried to depict what each era would like to show. From costume, makeup, prosthetics and backdrops, I would say the movie went overboard and accomplished what they would like to convey. 

            We’ve all seen movies that involve the past, present and future and even reincarnations, but we’ve not seen a movie that involves six different eras and so twisted a plot until Cloud Atlas. The movie begins with the voyage of a certain lawyer named Ewing (Jim Sturgess) on the Pacific on the 1800s where he writes a journal about his adventures. In the 1930s, this journal was read by Frobisher (Ben Wishaw), a homosexual composer who sends letters to his lover. These letters are read in the 1970s, as his lover becomes a nuclear scientist with a deep and deadly secret and so on and so forth. The movie basically establishes that everyone is connected in one way or the other.

            Although the film is divided into different parts, unlike the book (where one story is finished before going to the next), the editing of the film was effective but in some way disorienting. It was baffling in a way that you had to take time to think what era you are on and what’s going on in the scene if it were not for the narrations-which seemed too much for me. They could’ve lessened the narrations and focused on building the scenes more efficiently.

            One more thing I noticed is that they showed how everyone was connected and quite focused on that aspect on the whole film that it fell short in bringing and prolonging the thrill and suspense.

       

              The cast, which includes Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, and Ben Wishaw, had to play multiple roles in the film. What makes it more intriguing is that the actors played their characters well and was covered with loads of makeup that you don’t realize that it’s them until the credits are shown in the end. You would either get surprised or frustrated that you didn’t notice them in the film. The movie also presents inspiring characters such as Tom Hank’s who, from a greedy killer, turned into a selfless hero as the story evolves. As to the visual effects, knowing the Wachowski’s, it definitely displayed bravura.

            

           Cloud Atlas is a film that presents how the past, present and future is wonderfully weaved. A film that explores the possibility of life and love, shared in different eras with people from different walks of life- breaking the boundaries of time and space.

        

                  I’ll give the film an 8.5 out of 10.

Sherlock The Great

 

Have you watched the film Sherlock Holmes? Here’s a better question. Have you read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book and tried to imagine Sherlock Holmes without imagining Robert Downey Jr.? If not, then good heavens I’m not alone!

I have recently (if November is considered recent) borrowed my friend’s first volume of the complete novels and stories of Sherlock Holmes and I have to admit-it’s a classic for a reason. Not only because it’s been written ages ago that’s why it’s considered classic but because it has been written excellently.

If you plan to read the book, here are some key points to remember:

1) Sherlock Holmes is not who you think he is. Everyone knows that Mr. Holmes is the most unusual detective who uses the science of deduction in forming his conclusions but not everyone knows how peculiar he can get. He is a man who considers the brain of a man to be an empty attic, and one has to stock it with such furniture as he pleases. A fool, according to Sherlock Holmes, would take in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might prove useful to him get crowded out or jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. On the other hand, the skillful workman is very careful into what he takes into his brain-attic. It is a common mistake as well to think that this little room is elastic. That is why Mr. Holmes, in contrast to what others believe, has his limitations too to the point that he doesn’t know or even care to know the Solar System. He plays violin pretty well and knows a good lot about sensational literature. On the type of cases he handles, he goes for small than big ones because he believes that there lie greater mysteries in those cases. He is the laziest arse you could ever meet but the most energetic when he finds a case of his utmost interest.

2) There is a sidekick. If Batman has Robin, Sherlock Holmes has Dr. John Watson. The book uses the third person in the character of Dr. Watson who narrates the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He begins with how he met Sherlock Holmes, how he met his wife (thanks to Sherlock Holmes in The Sign Of Four) and how they shared many adventures together-solving cases and unraveling the truth. Although he finds Sherlock Holmes very trying and bizarre at times he was able to make a good acquaintance out of him. All throughout the book, Dr. Watson was there trying to break a case with his friend Holmes, jotting down these little escapades (which Sherlock Holmes criticizes) and always willing to lend a hand to his dear friend.

3) Bring a dictionary. I don’t know with you but I needed to look on the dictionary once in a while because of some highfaluting and curious words that Sir Doyle used. Although I know the words, I still had to look for their meanings. The author made use of words in such a creative manner where the reader can either be flabbergasted or demented. This is not meant to scare you but to encourage you. The more you read such classics, the more words add to your vocabulary. The more words you add to your vocabulary, the more you get better in the four macro-skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening).

4) It will blow your mind. Every single story is well-plotted. The stories, as promised by Sherlock Holmes, are not your usual ones. The book covers a great deal of literary genre-suspense, comedy and even romance (though Sherlock Holmes is not really a romanticist). For that reason, you wouldn’t find the book dull and lifeless. The more you dig deeper on the cases, the more you want hooked to them. As a reader, you would like to solve the case on your own trying to make out something out of the clues given out before Sherlock Holmes reveals the solution behind the problem. Yet what’s more interesting is that it doesn’t only point out the “greatness” of Holmes but his weaknesses as well and how he loses in some of the cases. This just shows that even The Great Sherlock Holmes has his Waterloo. I’d say the book is not merely for reading’s sake but it will also put your thinking and reasoning skills to the test. As you read, you would ask questions like, “How in the world did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made that story?” or “Why is Sherlock Holmes awesome?”. 

5) You will hunger for more. After reading the first volume, you would feel how the public demanded Doyle to ingeniously bring back to life Sherlock Holmes after killing him in “His Last Bow”. As soon as you finish Volume 1 you would be so eager to read Volume 2 as if the first volume was not enough. The book gives you a lot of nail-biting scenes where you just can’t drop the book and stop reading. 

 

The book speaks for itself. It’s a classic beyond a shadow of a doubt and it should be read by everyone. After all, The Great Sherlock Holmes who lives down yonder Baker Street could be of assistance to your hard-pressed spirits.