My First Impression of Love Next Door Kdrama

 

Finally, the Kdrama that I've been looking forward to has finally been released. Jung Hae In and Jung So Min are coincidentally both my ultimate favourite actors in the Kdrama industry and the casting director might have just read my mind by pairing them up in this series. 

I would say that the premise of this drama - which is about the love-hate relationship between two childhood friends, or more accurately, frenemies - is something typical in the Kdrama scene. However, the scriptwriter must have added a twist by making both of them very successful in their respective fields, and having both mothers being good friends who like to compete with each other. 

I would say the premise reminds me a bit of Welcome to Samdalri with all this childhood friends theme and with the leading lady being away from home and the male lead being successful in his hometown but I hope this is where the similarities end. 

Dialogues are quite lengthy as the characters are chatty but good thing so far is that this part makes it seem realistic and shows you the dynamics between the characters. Chemistry between Seung Hyo (Hae In) and Seok Ryu (So Min) are just exceptional and natural that I am convinced that they are friends in real life lol. 

So far, I think this series looks promising. The bit about quitting your job without any backup plan just seems so relatable. Career break. When you hit your 30s, which is supposed to be your career peak era. 

Hope the subsequent episodes won't disappoint. 

To Watch or Not to Watch? Miss Night and Day

 

When I first came across this new Kdrama on Netflix, I was completely hooked. The plot seems interesting, the dialogues are funny and the casting is great! It has a combination of mystery and comedy (which reminds me of another Kdrama from Netflix, Behind Your Touch.) 

My favourite among the three main casts is Lee Jung-eun, the actress who portrays the older Lee Mi Jin. This endearing ahjumma appeared in many hit Kdramas, such as When the Camellia Blooms, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and Daily Dose of Sunshine. 

I initially liked the fact that this drama is made up many interesting supporting characters, such as Lee Mi Jin's parents, portrayed by Jung Young-Joo and Jung Suk-Yong; Mi Jin's bestie who is an influencer who is portrayed by Kim A-Young; and the Kpop sensation, Ko Won, who is played by Baek Seo-Hoo. 

However, as the series progressed, to be honest, I could not help it but to be a bit bored with the slow pace of young Lee Mi Jin's scenes with the leading actor. Like, why are you so boring and awkward when you are with the guy that you like, Mi Jin? Initially, the chemistry was great but as it went on, I felt that they both kinda lost that chemistry? It was quite draggy at some points that I had to change the playback speed so that I could watch Lee Jung-eun's scene. For me, the scriptwriter could not be consistent in engaging the audience especially when it comes to Mi Jin's parts. It fell into the long list of Kdramas that I felt was interesting at first, but fell flat towards the end. I haven't even watched the ending even though it was already aired on Netflix as it has failed to hook me and arouse my curiosity. I think it should have been a 12-episode drama instead of 16.

In the midst of watching this drama, I could finish watching Daily Dose of Sunshine and Little Women and currently, I might finish The Green Mother's Club before dragging myself to finish the last 4 episodes of Miss Night and Day. 

Then again, I could be wrong. But for sure, I think, this is a light-hearted drama series which is watchable but you can speed up or skip some episodes and you won't miss much. 

Watching this drama is comparable to having a crush on someone who gives you a good first impression but fails to consistently live up to your expectations afterward.

My verdict? I would give it a B-, which is a 6 out of 10. 

Thank God for YouTube!

*Trying to remove rust from the blog* 

Guess I will be updating this blog on a yearly basis.

Colleagues/Friends are probably visiting another countries and doing something productive during the break while yours truly is savouring her home life. 

Been hooked on to Youtube and been streaming videos there.

From music videos, recipes, to some enlightening videos, you name it, I've watched it. 

 I would like to highlight this one amazingly talented Youtuber, Daniela Andrade. Maybe some of you have known her, but for those who haven't, you will be awed by her rendition of La Vie En Rose.  

A picture tells a thousand words, so I guess you have to multiply that one thousand with the duration of the video when it comes to watching a video? 

It is as good as Tracy's (from How I Met Your Mother) version , and I kinda prefer her rendition. Very soothing la her voice. 

Oh oh and I chanced upon this video of Sara and Bani's cover of Aubrey by Bread. Sara is one personality that I find charming. She and Bani really make a cute couple. ;)

 

Besides these two videos on music covers, there are some really enlightening videos on Youtube as well.

There was one tweethandle on Twitter who actually recommended this Youtube channel - The School of Life - and guess what, I found the videos really thought-provoking. I mean the videos posted by this channel mostly revolved around philosophy, psychology, history and some other topics along those lines. I guess it is because the founder of this channel, Alain de Botton is a philosopher. I like the fact that he turned all these big topics into something digestible and relatable to the bigger audience who might have no background knowledge in the things he discussed. Although he did get negative reviews, his channel is worth watching. I particularly like these two videos.

Who Am I - a video which discusses on what is your essence, or in other words, the things or qualities that make you, you. Is it your ability to dance, your appearance, your memory, or how you react to situations? 

Ha, intrigued already? Click on this video to find out more. 

Status Anxiety - a video which I think most millennials can relate to. Click, click!

There is one other Youtube channel worth checking out too - CrashCourse. Really useful for students who need to comprehend some lecture notes which are too long-winded.

Lastly, enjoy! Make sure you prepare coffee and snacks while streaming - you will be glued to the screen of your computer for hours. ;)

Updates

Omg I can't believe this blog has been on a hiatus for lol like... one year plus?

Well, i won't give reasons that i am too busy to blog, cause i used to be busy too when i was still studying, yet I was able to blog. It is all about making time and having the mojo to do it. 

Or perhaps it is because i have a new platform to ramble (dayre, fyi, which was on a hiatus for quite sometime too until recently lol). 

Oh well, this year has almost come to an end, and you know what, I kinda love 2015 so far because it is the year I made a few changes to my life. 

First, I moved to a new apartment. Lol. Although this apartment is not as nice as my previous one, I like the area cause it is near to Amway, Starbucks, Gurney Paragon and just a 15-minute drive from my workplace which saves me a lot of time. Just that I can't really cook at home cause, well, the kitchen isn't hygenic. I have to cook using my microwave oven for every single meal I have at home. 

Well, nothing is perfect right? Lol. At least the flaws of staying in this apartment is something that I am able to tolerate.

 Next... well I really love this one. I bought Juneer! (Fyi, Juneer is my car, whom i finally bought after suggestions and pesters from people around me! lol.) 

It wasn't an overnight decision to buy Juneer though it seems that way cause I never really told my friends that I wanted to buy a car. I wanted to win a car initially lol but with my luck with contests and lucky draws recently, I thought it was unwise to wait any longer lol so voila, I had Juneer. 

Although there are so many responsibilities and expenses that come together with the purchase of Juneer, well, to reflect, it is worth it cause right now I get to save time and I can also bring my family (come December), friends and relatives around when they come for a visit. Of course, I have to manage my finance now that i have a new baby to take care of.

Oh apart from these two big changes, i have registered for a gym membership. Lol i know right. I wasn't a gym maniac back then but because I got a really good deal, I signed up for it. And honestly, i never regretted my decision even once cause it kinda discipline me to a certain extent. I do hope this membership will help me to endure the other thing that I signed up for this year, which is lol Penang bridge full marathon (42 km man... I am not sure how i am going to survive, but well, since i paid for the registration already, i have to go for it). 

I guess these are the updates that I have so far. Will update this blog again another year? :P Ciao. 

For Now

I have never thought that I would end up doing what I am doing right now, you know, educating these youngsters as a profession. I was scared of speaking in public, speaking in front of audience in formal language, and I hated routine. I hated doing homework, but now I have to mark them, which is a lot more tedious than doing homework. When you signed up for this kind of profession, you know that you have to be more hardworking than you were as a student.

 Ironic, right?

 But then again, I am someone who always force myself to love what I loathe, and now as it turns out, I believe I love what I used to loathe.

As the Malay saying goes, Tak kenal maka tak cinta. I thought I loathe teaching because I thought I knew what it was like to become a teacher just because I was surrounded by teachers when growing up. Being a teacher for me was worse than being a student due to the heavy workload. Little did I know, I only knew what teaching is once I involved myself first hand in this profession, teaching the subject that I like. 

I love what I am doing now, seriously.

It was all thanks to that feeling you get...

* when you see your student paying attention to whatever things that you say (sometimes thoughtlessly).

* when your student greeted you sheepishly with a smile when running into you like you are one hell of a celebrity. 

* when seeing your students improve their writing and grammar after your serious warning. 

For now, this is what I am going to focus doing.

Later, maybe, maybe, que sera sera, I will make room for other passion that I have. 

Guilt Trip

It's a chain of unfortunate events.

And thus, the self-esteem that she had been building all this while had gone up in smoke, just in a few minutes, one day, when she entertained anxious parents and their beloved child who were fed with wrong information as she continued to blab thoughtlessly. 

Yesiamsoguiltyrightnowtotheextentofventingalltheseoutinmyblogwhichhasbeenonahiatustilltodayohpleasefiremeifthatistheonlywaytomakemefeelbetter

Local Romance

How did you spend your Valentine's Day?

Dinner with your someone-someone? Hang out with friends? Visiting on 5th day of CNY? Movies with family? Or in front of the laptop like foreveralone me? 

Well for the foreveraloners like me, the consolation would be to watch romantic movies (so that the movies could raise the bar of real life romance and made me have higher expectations and eventually become single for the rest of my life) with a 200g bar of chocolate at my hand. But nope, I did not watch any romantic movie on Valentine's Day. In fact I watched the romantic comedy movie the day before Valentine's. 

When it comes to romantic comedies, all the Hollywood movies like Just Like Heaven, Maid in Manhattan, Pretty Woman, The Ugly Truth, What Women Want, etc would surely cross our mind. I think Hollywood romance comedies are much overrated at some point (except for Just Like Heaven and The Ugly Truth which were very nice). So I opted for local movies instead, or specifically telemovie. 

Guess what telemovie I watched? Cik Paris Diva Kampung! Lol. 

This is a simple film with funny scripts and comical characters - and the thing that I liked the most in this telemovie was Liyana's portrayal of the main character, Zulaikha. She really portrayed the role of a spoilt brat very well until you would think that she is as divalicious as Paris in real life. 

Zulaikha (right) and her BFF Sara (Amirah Nadia) arrived at Mersing, a village somwhere in Johor. 

To summarize it briefly (with no spoiler), this movie is basically about a spoiled rich girl named Zulaikha and her BFF spending two weeks in a Malay village in Mersing just to prove to her fiancee that she is not a spoiled brat (sounds familiar? Remember The Simple Life Reality Show by Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie? That was where Zulaikha got her inspiratoin lol!)  While at the kampung, she captured the attention of a humble young man named Sufian (Izzue Islam) who eventually became her friend. Can they be together - an urban spoilt rich brat and a humble village orphan? 

Izzue Islam as Sufian. He is kinda cute but for some reason, people dubbed him as Malaysian Johnny Depp. What do you think? 

It has a simple storyline but the acting and the dialogues are very amusing. The portrayal of Sara, Zulaikha's BFF by Amirah Nadia is also very convincing. The way she speaks, ugh, gedik sesangat but very funny and amusing that I could not help but to laugh everytime she opens her mouth. If you are looking for some light-hearted local movie then you can definitely watch this. 

It is no box office but it definitely can entertain you. :)

Photos courtesy of Google Image. 

Dramaniac - Rooftop Prince!

You want drama? Check.

Comedy? Check.

Romance? Check.

Suspence? Check.

Original storyline? Check.

This Korean drama series indeed has it all.

Yeap, it's Rooftop Prince y'all!

Starring Park Yoo-Chun as Lee Gak/Tae Yong and Han Ji Min as Bu Yong/Park Ha. Photo grabbed from blogspot.

This drama is one of the rare series that could play with my emotions, causing me to laugh, tear up, angry and also made me think - all at the same time. It seriously got me glued to my laptop from the first episode to the last - and I finished this 20-episode-drama in just two days plus, while at the same time still maintaining my daily regular 3pm's Legacy (Filipino series) and 7pm's Beauty Knows No Pain (Hong Kong drama). I am such a dramaniac now, but my biggest obsession was towards this drama out of the three, and I almost give up watching the other two tv dramas just because I wanted to speed up knowing the ending to this series.

  

This story somewhat reminds me of "Bawang Merah, Bawang Putih" - perhaps Korean version - but it is definitely and obviously more interesting than that. It is like a mixture of everything - sibling jealousy, reincarnation, memory lost, property fighting among family members, etc. That is what that makes this story not cliche like most of the dramas on tv nowadays.

 And guess what, I found a new child idol. Tadaa!  



Her name is Jun Min Seo and she is playing the character of young Bu Yong/ young Park Ha.
Picture grabbed from blogspot. 

This child actress is very natural and sweet in her acting. She is so adorable that I could become a lesbian paedophile! She portrayed young Bu Yong/ young Park Ha so well. Okay, before I digress with more stories on this little girl, here is an introduction to this romantic/melodrama/suspence/comedy drama series.

The story started with the setting of about 300 years ago, during the Joseon dynasty, where the crown prince woke up from his sleep realizing that his wife, the crown princess, had disappeared, and he looked around the palace for her. 

Prince Lee Gak woke up to find his princess disappeared. Photo grabbed from blogspot. 

While searching, his guards came and informed him that his crown princess was dead - her body was found floating in the palace's garden pond with her body facing downwards. 

Crown Princess's body found facing downwards in the palace's garden pond. Image grabbed from  blogspot. 

Then the audience were brought back to the past, about two decades ago from the current setting to the prince's childhood.



A scene of young Lee Gak having conversation with the King.  Image grabbed from  blogspot. 



The childhood story started with young (perhaps 5 to 6 years old) Prince Lee Gak being asked by the King, his father, on what kind of lady he wanted as his wife, since the officials in the palace had asked him to pick his crown princess. In answer to his father's question, he said he wanted to beautiful wife that will make him want to see her everyday.  



Then the audience were brought to the story of two sisters, Hwa Yong and Bu Yong. As the elder and the more vain sister, Hwa Yong was confident she would be representing her household for the crown princess selection, however, their father decided to put Bu Yong's name on the crown princess application instead. While ironing the skirt for Bu Yong's selection day, which would be the day after tomorrow, an 'accident' occured - the hot iron on Hwa Yong's hand fell on Bu Yong's left cheek, causing her to be scarred for the rest of her life.

Hwa Yong (in pink) with younger sister, Bu Yong (in yellow and green). Image grabbed from  blogspot.

Due to the scar on her face, Bu Yong's initial application was replaced by Hwa Yong's name instead. And of course, Hwa Yong was chosen because the two sisters are very beautiful in their own rights. While Hwa Yong got to parade her beauty especially since she was the crown princess, Bu Yong on the other hand, had to hide her scar using the cloth as depicted in the picture below.                                      

Bu Yong (face covered) with her sister, Hwa Yong, the crown princess. Image grabbed from blogspot.

As the crown princess's sister, Bu Yong would always chaperon both Princess Hwa Yong and Prince Lee Gak during their outing and during a number of occasions, such as a walk in the garden. Bu Yong had good embroidery skill, thus she always made nice handkerchief  for the crown prince, but Hwa Yong would be the one who got all the credits for Bu Yong's embroidery skills because Hwa Yong lied to the crown prince that it was her who made it. Bu Yong loved the crown prince in silence and due to her ill fate, she could not become his wife, however, she was contented just by loving him from afar. 



Ok, back to the current problem at hand. Grieving over his dead crown princess, the crown prince was certain that it was a murder case and was determined to solve it. He recruited three civilians, each with their own talent, into his investigation team. Man Bong was a scholar, a genius which previously solved a murder case, Yong Seoul, the second member, a very talented swordsman and was hired as the prince's bodyguard and last but not least, Chi Son, who was a very resourceful information seeker - he knew about all gossips in town and the palace. These three civilians were eventually dubbed as Lee Gak's Plus Three.

From left, Chi Son, Man Bong, Prince Lee Gak (in black) and Yong Seoul. Image grabbed from  blogspot.

One fateful night, while the four of them were trying to look for the house of a witness, they were ambushed in the middle of the woods and were chased by the attackers. They rode their horses at a gallop to escape from the attackers and while riding their horses at full speed, they reached a cliff. Left with no choice,  the prince and his Plus Three prompted the horses until they leapt to the opposite cliff (as shown in the picture below). The horses landed safely on the opposite cliff but the riders were not. 

The prince and his Plus Three plus their horses leapt to the opposite cliff.  Image grabbed from  blogspot.

The four riders (Prince Lee Gak and his Plus Three), on the other hand, fell....jeng jeng jeng...to another era -which is 300 years later. They landed on Park Ha's living room, which was located on the rooftop of a rented house. Thus, the the name of the series.

Park Ha was frightened to have four weird dressing men appearing suddenly at her living room but this first meeting between them would eventually lead to a lot of other happenings - be it sweet, funny or bitter due to the clash of two different era.

So for those who assume that this drama series only revolves around the Joseon era, you are wrong. Actually it revolves around modern Korea 90% of the series and only 10% of it brought you back to the Joseon era over 300 years ago. 

This is all I can reveal for now because I do not want to spoil the rest of the storyline for you.

To find out about the rest of the subsequent incidences, do watch this series. It is supernice!

4.5 stars out of 5 stars.

Who should watch it?

You, you and you!

PS: For the sake of watching these series, I spent two days locked in my apartment like a caveman and I woke up the next day with puffy eyes because I cried... watching the drama's ending the night before. Gosh, I seriously need to put a temporary stop on watching Korean drama at the moment. But I will always try to watch the recap of this drama lol! And I think Park Yoon Chun looked better in Joseon costume, so I like it better when he becomes the prince than when he becomes Tae Yong because when he became Lee Gak in the traditional Korean costume, he reminds me of Jet Lee (my all time favourite Chinese actor) especially when he smiles cheekily *blush*.  So peeps, why wait. Enjoy! ;)  



You Made Me Sinned

They smiled at you, approached you, convinced you that they were doing a survey and they just needed approximately 10 minutes of your time. Although you were in a hurry, they were still eager and determined, assuring you that you have nothing to lose listening to them.

 

I beg to differ, people. First you will lose your time. Secondly, you will lose your temper, which means you would add in another additional sin of cursing them inside your mind and also under your breath.

 

So, who are 'they' that I am referring to???

 

It all started with my experience last year end. During the month of November. My hectic month, fyi.

I just came back from the library - fatigue was the only appropriate word to describe my condition at the time. After having a late dinner at about 9.30 pm at Bali Bali, I walked back to my apartment. On the journey back home, out of the blue, there were two students of different sexes who were still walking looked at me and approached me. I was like, shit, I am in a hurry. Can't you notice that I am like walking 90km/h now?

 

After stopping me,they told me that they were doing a survey and they needed about 10 minutes of my time. I was like ok, so they needed to do a survey, so I just responded to them. As a student myself, I knew how it felt to be going around looking for candidates to fill out a survey form.

 

But the thing was, they asked me to watch a video. I was like "how long is this video? Because I am in a hury. I just came back from library and I am very, very tired." Still insisting, they assured me that it would not take a long time. I was like, okayyy.

 

Then I watched a video about how this one religion, have spread around the world and were shown with the feedback of the public to this religion, where there were quite a number of people are conforming themselves to this belief. The two students were telling me about 'Heavenly Mother'. Using the logic of their religion's teaching, and their own interpretation of the Bible, they told me that all the creatures in the earth are created with partners, with two sexes. One male, one female. So they told me, how could you believe that there is only one God, male, and there is no female God, whom they deemed as "Heavenly Mother."

 

The reason and the point of this post is not that I am going to degrade their belief, or their determination to preach. I do not care that they want to proceed with their stance in the notion about the existence of Heavenly Mother, but the thing is, when they tried to challenge my belief, I was bothered. I do not like people challenging my belief, despite my insufficient knowledge in the religious doctrines and my infrequent bible reading. 

 

The moment I heard the guy preacher told me "How can you only believe there is only God the Father?" my temper was rising. Then they continued speaking, adding on and on about their religion, and it felt like bullets coming out of their mouth.

Bullet 2: "Actually the Sabbath day is on Saturday, it is not on Sunday."

Bullet 3: "Actually we consume to Holy communion only during the Passover, and not on other Masses."

Bullet 4: "If you look at the Bible verse here, here, here, bla bla bla.. etc..."

 

Hey hey stop there.

 

Putting my best diplomatic and matter-of-factly look, I told them "Actually we also have Masses on Saturday. If you think Sunday is the wrong day, then I just go to Saturday Mass lo." Case closed. No point in arguing with them, because earlier when I asked them "how you can be so sure this is the message in the Bible, that is your interpretation, etc," they would not listen.

 

Then I told them I AM IN A HURRY, I AM VERY BUSY and then I just asked them to give me a youtube link of their video and I would watch it at my own convenient time. And I pretended to be curious in what they were preaching and told them I would ask my church's PRIEST about this.

 

They looked kinda scared at the mentioning of PRIEST so I justified my intention of seeking a priest's opinion because priests are the ones with adequate knowledge about this theological matter, therefore I have to ask the expert's opinion though. *innocent face*

 

And again, I want to state that, I am not degrading their religion or their belief, it is just that the way they preached annoyed me. Unfortunately, they did not bother me only once, but TWICE. Second time was at my home, when I was in a hurry to submit my draft to my supervisor. They were knocking on my gate for a very long time. I was actually hiding in the house, thinking that it was a salesman, but when I finally gave up and opened it, there they were. That same eager but tactless preachers. They, who did not learn Psychology of attracting people to your religion yet eagerly persuading, or more accurately, enforcing people to join them.

 

Well, boys and girls, here's a little advice in preaching.

 

Preach by example, not by mouth.

 

If you're this aggressive, even when you sell me Amway (a brand that I trust and consume) I would not buy it from you.

 

Enough said.

 

 

 

 

The After-Effect

I can finally say...

 

I am free!!!

 

Yeay?

 

After all the troubles I went through this afternoon at the printing shop, spending more than 2 hours correcting the margin on the soft-copy version of my thesis.

 

It was four when I submitted my thesis at the Humanity's office, getting a look of disapproval from the receptionist.

 

"What, still got 30 minutes leh," I argued in my mind.

 

But that was over.

 

Now I felt somewhat... liberated? Not really.

 

Ironically, I felt like there was something holding me back, something pulling me from embracing this newfound freedom that I have.

 

No, it is not the coming Viva. It was the thesis itself who spoke to me

 

"You did not put in your best when working on me~!"

 

Yeah, thesis, indeed I did not.

 

Reading back my thesis, grammatical-wise, it was readable, thanks to my eagle-eyed proofreader sister, but the contents itself, I felt like it was lack of something.

 

Citations, arguments, etc.

 

(for juniors, always remember to argue why, why, why, you are doing what you are doing, and include support from citations and reliable sources okay, and DO NOT DO it at the LAST MINUTE~)

 

Only at the 11th hour I was putting in 101%.

 

Before that, as usual, I was in my own dreamland, frozen time machine where I kept thinking there would still be enough time to proceed on with what I delayed.

 

But no, time was never enough.

 

But it was not time which was my enemy. Time I had plenty.

 

It was the inspirations, that I was lack of when I still had plenty of time. And they only came out from their hiding places at the last minute. 

 

 

So yeah. The after-effect of this thesis submission is, I am still unrest.

Not at peace with myself. Not forgiving myself for not doing my best.

 

Let's just hope this lesson will enforce me to be more productive in the future.

 

Amen?

 

Cruel to be Kind

I was having my lunch alone at KFC Komtar last Friday, ordered a snack plate and found an open air seat. Yeah, there's a new KFC opening in town, located at Pacific Komtar.

 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a stranger appeared and stood beside my table. The stranger looked like a tomboy, or a pengkid to be exact. She was asking for food from me, specifically one chicken.

I was in a very good mood that time, kind of empathetic too, because I was doing a thesis on empathetic behaviour so there I was, trying to practice what I was basically preaching myself.  So as impulsive as I was during situations like these, I grabbed one of my two chickens, wrapped it in a tissue and handed it to her.

A few minutes later, out of the blue, the KFC Supervisor came out and asked her to leave, and told me that the stranger had been disturbing customers for a lot of times.

"That person is just 20 year old, still young," the supervisor told me, "and already disturbing people and doing this."

"We don't want to entertain her because it will show as if we are encouraging her," she added.

I was surprised, and a little guilty too.

The Supervisor came and handed me a new chicken which I didn't request for.

I guess sometimes, we must not let empathy gets the best of us. Sometimes, we gotta think in the long run. If we keep lending a hand to help this kind of person, when are they going to help themselves?

If they never stop getting help, they will never start to help themselves.

Notetoself: Gotta be selective when helping people in the future. If they are healthy and young, they should not this kind of sympathy from us. And don't feel guilty when you are being cruel for the sake of the person's own good.

Movie-Maddening Mode

Watching movies can be named as my main activities during these past few weeks starting from the beginning of Raya holidays. I've watched a mixture of newly-released movies and also old movies.

These are the list:
(Watched in cinema)
1) Paranorman (Personal Rating: 4 thumbs up)
2) The Expendables (Personal Rating: 4 thumbs up)
3) Premium Rush (Personal Rating: 3 thumbs up)
4) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (Personal Rating: 3 1/2 thumbs up)
5) The Dinosaur Project (No thumb up at all... :P)

(Watched in downloaded version in laptop)
6) Accepted  (3 1/2 thumbs up)
7) Batman Begins   (4 1/2 thumbs up)
8) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  (4 thumbs up)
9) Doraemon movie  (4 thumbs up)

For this post, I am going to give my two cents about three movies, The Expendables 2, Batman Begins and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. These three movies are action movies but with different focuses and approaches.

 

First, I am going to talk about The Expendables which I watched at GSC cinema at Gurney Plaza. Honestly, I did not have any background knowledge about this movie as I did not follow the previous Expendables. However, it is quite easy to catch up with the plot as it wasn't that complicated. Overall, I think Expendables is a comedy action movie - light, fun to watch as you can see most of the familiar faces in action movies reunited in this movie. There's a new addition to the Expendables clan here though, if you noticed (of course you'll notice him cause he's the hottie in the clan) Liam Hemswroth who in actual life is the fiancee of lucky Miley Cyrus. However, when the movie ended, I am quite surprised to see a few of the audience in the cinema fell asleep. Either because the movie ended near midnight or because these audience are not into action movie. My guy friends who were with me said these audience were sleeping (which majority consisted of female) because girls are not really into action movies but they made me an exception because to them, I am like a guy to them (seriously?). A true lady (like me, ahem) can also actually accept the so-called guy movies. If you like The Avengers and X-Men, you will probably like this movie because of the genre it portrayed. It is action movie with comedy but not a really deep message compared to the Batman trilogy which I am going to talk about in the next paragraph.

(Personal Rating: 4 thumbs up)

 

 

Although I have a crush on Christian Bale, that is not the main reason why I like Batman. I loveeee Batman trilogy because of the actions, the storyline and the brilliant message in it. The message was deep, the dialogue was brilliant, there were a few meaningful quotes that you can find in this movie. The one that I recently watched was Batman Begins. One of the quotes that was memorable and significant here was "It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you,"  a saying which I quoted from Rachel's character (played by Katie Holmes). It was a movie full of sarcasm and irony of life. I started my craze on this movie after watching The Dark Knight and more engaged to it after The Dark Knight Rises. Ironically, I watched Batman Begins last. Batman Begins's storyline is not depicted in a chronological manner. It was filled with flashbacks. Compared to Tim Burton's version of Batman, I prefer Christopher Nolan's Batman more as he gives more personality to Bruce Wayne - a true hero that doesn't really care about the fame of being one and really protective of his loved ones.

(Personal Rating: 4 1/2 thumbs up)

 

 

 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a movie rich in Chinese culture and martial arts. From my perspective, this movie focuses into the Chinese martial arts skill more than the storyline itself because for each of the kungfu action scene, the scene was shown for quite a long time in the movie. The message that I can get from this movie is the fight for freedom and equality for the women in the olden days as portrayed by Zhang Zi Yi's character - who was forced to be married to a man whom she doesn't love, and martial arts is not gender-based, whether you are a man or a lady, as long as you're determined enough to practice the skills, you will become good at it just like what was portrayed by Zi Yi and Michelle Yeoh's characters in this movie. However, I do not really get the real focus of this story, whether it is on Chow Yun Fatt's character or on Zhang Zi Yi but I personally guess the real main character of this story is Zhang Zi Yi. She is a mix between good and bad, she has a conflict within herself in deciding which is the right thing or the wrong thing, thus the stealing and returning of the sword. It is a movie worth watching especially if you're into martial arts and Chinese culture.

(Personal Rating: 4 thumbs up)

 

 

Till then. Bye.

This Always Happened to Me...

Rage comic about kempunan waffles... (click on picture to enlarge)

Have this ever happened to you?

Oh by the way, you can make your own rage comic here.

This one was created during my last Chinese New Year holiday based on a true story. :(

Have fun creating your own rage comic ;)

Facing Reality

Jobs Vacancy. 

I'm sensitive to these two words nowadays. Oh, make it four.

 Part-time job vacancy. 

Initially, last semester, Matthlessa (not real name) and I vowed to find a part-time job to cover our daily expenses but here we are - still part-timeless. Erm, to be honest, I wasn't completely jobless the last semester - I did some translation work under my sister's supervisor but that was it. After that, nada. Due to the lack of motivation from myself and also the restriction from my faculty, I resorted to becoming a housewife whenever I have a free time because since the beginning of this year, my schedule is unpredictable. Seems like I have no control over my time at all. At the moment that I thought I would be free, suddenly assignments and tasks came running after me, and ironically, during the times that I thought I would be superbusy, I found myself lazing around the house - to the extent of taking a sweet long afternoon nap. 

  

 So last night, I got a call from Alvin (not real name) who is going to stay over for the semester break telling me that he got a feedback from a job he was looking for. He went to Starbucks at Komtar Area, got himself an interview on the spot, and voila,  and is now crossing fingers to get a positive feedback. After listening to his story, the desire to find a part-time job came gushing back at me and I am back putting this 'job-searching' radar on. I hope I have the motivation like him and Claire (not real name) to find a part-time job.

 However, I am not sure how my schedule would be this holiday so I think I would opt for finding a part-time job which can give me freedom to adjust the schedule or a part-time with a fixed schedule but only require me to work during the weekend. 

Ideally, I would like to work in places like a bakery especially King's Confectionery which is located at Tesco Sungai Dua because I am familiar with the cakes there. I can definitely attend to the customers' enqueries regarding the contents and flavours of the cakes mmmmmm...

My favourite cake from King's Bakery. Mango flavour with Vanilla cake. Mmmmm... Credits to Claire Marie for the photo.

 My other desire was to work at the Queensbay GSC cinema (for the sole purpose of getting free tickets and hopefully free popcorns too*winks*) but compared to the bakery, for this second desire, I have transport difficulty. Oh-ho! 

There goes my working desire.

But for now, what I need to do is to find the topic for my research, consult a supervisor, do something for another project, then after estimating how my schedule will be like, I can definitely start to activate my part-time job-hunting. And oh, I love Baskin Robbins too. If only they have vacancy during the 31st, huh? 

i beg to differ...

Do you agree or disagree with the message in the picture above? ;)

I bet most of you are familiar with the picture above. Let me guess... You've seen it from your facebook newsfeed shared by your friends or acquaintances, right? Or you might be one of them who had shared it?  Oh-ho! No offense, peeps. The first time I saw this picture, I didn't give it much thoughts. Was being oblivious to it back then. However, when I kept seeing this post on facebook, I began to spare a thought for the message in this picture. This picture is depicting that the big supermarket owners do not need your money as much as the fruit sellers on the street. How true is this notion?

It may be true in certain cases but not all. To me, this picture is spreading a generalized notion. And generalization is usually unfair. 

Back in my hometown, my neighbour is a fruit seller at the market - and he is not as pathetic as depicted on the picture above. He can afford to buy a car without government loan (unlike my parents who needed it) and his income exceeded RM3000 permonth. Yes, I am aware that he can afford to live this way because a lot of people buy from his stall. Hence, another reason that this picture is not needed - consumers need not have picture like this to tell them where they should shop for their groceries. If you sell something of quality, I do not think the consumers would prefer to buy second class quality from the supermarket with just a few ringgits or cents difference over your goods. I know I am using only one example but if you have a background check on the fruit sellers around, you might be surprised to find out the actual amount of money they earned. Oh, and don't get me wrong... I am not asking you guys to boycott the street sellers in reverse -  I am just pointing out that the message in this picture is unfair and generalized. 

"Hey, we need income too!" -->  the voices of the supermarket workers were silenced in the previous message picture.

 

Let's put it this way. If you want to boycott the big supermarket just because you want to channel your money as 'charity' to the needy as reckoned in the first picture above, you are being ignorant too because your act of charity may defeat its own purpose. Just so you know, the big supermarkets are the sources of incomes for the supermarkets' workers. These workers, I can assure you they are the neediest of all. Most of them do not own a farm, orchard, garden or even a backyard to plant the fruits and veggies like most of the fruit sellers do. They depend wholly on the supermarket to earn a living. So, just imagine... what will the future holds for them if you start boycotting the supermarket to help the street sellers? They could be sacked to save the company's budget! They will have to find a new job, or left on the streets - but without fruits and veggies to sell!

And another thing - what's up with the statement 'they spend their money on cars and trips abroad?' Sounds like an overstatement to me. Have it ever occur to you (this question is for the person who came up with the message) that the trips abroad are for business purposes, and not just merely for luxurious lifestyle? Well, I know, the rich and famous always spend a lot of money, but isn't it better that way than for them to keep that money to themselves and stop the cycle of money? Oh I know this previous statement is irrelevant to the issue at hand but.. Okay. Another question: What makes you think that these supermarket owners do not donate or contribute to any charitable organization? I do not deny the possibility of these people to spend their money unwisely, but not each and everyone of the rich businessman are like that. The thing is... I want to point out the generalized notion in the message of this first picture. The message in this picture is just too shallow for me to follow.

And most importantly, we are free to choose where our money goes. It's consumer's democracy no?

Topeng Rambut Avocado Buatan Sendiri :Sesi DIY bersama Mad Maureen

"Avocado tak ada nama Melayu eh?"

Itulah pertanyaan pertama aku semasa menulis blog ini.

UPDATED: Sebenarnya, avocado ada nama Melayu --> Alpukat. Baru nak ingat nak guna google translate (-_-"). Tapi kurang glamour so kita tetap dengan penggunaan avocado dalam blog post ini. Sekian. 

Belakangan ini, masalah rambut aku semakin kritikal. Jika dulu, aku dapat menyelesaikan masalah rambut aku dengan hanya mencuci rambut menggunakan syampu biasa  dan selepas itu, voila, rambut menjadi lembut dan bersinar, kini tidak lagi semudah itu. Sebaliknya, kondisi rambut aku menjadi semakin teruk selepas pencucian. Aneh tetapi benar.

Kondisi rambut aku belakangan ini: Rambut sentiasa gugur, kalau tak pun patah. Kering. Hujung rambut bercabang (bukan bercabang dua je, bercabang tiga, empat pun ada!). Kulit kepala pula penuh dengan kelemumur. Ini yang bikin stress ni!

Untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini, jika berpandukan mentaliti aku sebelum ini - daripada aku menyelesaikan masalah rambut ini sendiri, aku hendak serahkan kerja penyelesaian masalah rambut ini kepada pakar rambut di salun. "Serahkan pada yang pakar." Begitulah slogan iklan Harpic yang begitu mempengaruhi mentaliti aku.

Iklan Harpic yang epic tu, masih ingat ke? Selalu kat tv time kita kecik-kecik dulu.

 Oleh itu, aku nekad untuk melawat salun rambut seberang rumah selepas aku habis exam. Nekad la katakan. Siap janji dengan kawan lagi dan membayangkan kepala kitorang sama-sama diurut oleh pekerja di situ. Aku mula nak kira-kira bajet; biasanya kalau kat salun hometown aku, harga nak buat rawatan kulit kepala tu biasanya dalam kira-kira RM30 - RM60.  Kalau kat Penang ni, tak pasti lah. Masa tu, aku dah memang nekad untuk membuat rawatan rambut di salun.

Tapi... syukurlah aku  fikir dua kali. 

Hendak dijadikan cerita, pada malam selepas exam tu, aku pun melayari youtube. Dah tak busy la katakan.

 Terdetik hati untuk mengeyoutube video berkaitan dengan penjagaan rambut. 

"Hmm, aku dah free ni, aku tak payah bergantung sangat dengan pekerja salun untuk menjaga rambut aku Biar aku cari sendiri penyelesaiannya." Begitulah monolog dalaman aku ketika sibuk mencari tips penjagaan rambut melalui youtube. Biarlah aku sendiri cari iktiar dulu. Takkan nak tunggu rambut tinggal sehelai dua helai kat kepala baru nak beriktiar kan? 

Cari punya cari, akhirnya aku terjumpa channel ni kat youtube.

Bubzbeauty

(your answer to your hair problem is just one click away wee hooo~!) 

Ada banyak tips dari para youtuber yang lain tapi aku pilih cara Bubzbeauty sebab cara yang dia ajar tu senang, jelas dan bahan-bahannya asian-friendly (maksudnya boleh didapati di negara-negara Asia) berbanding dengan beberapa tips youtubers dari Barat. 

Okay. Panjangnya aku bercerita. Long story short, aku pun ikuti tips dia dengan versi aku sendiri di bawah. Jika komputer anda tidak dapat log on to youtube (ahem!) dan jika anda punya line slow nak buffer youtube channel tu, jangan risau. Aku ada menyediakan langkah-langkah yang diajar oleh Bubzbeauty tapi versi Mad Maureen untuk anda!

Pertama, anda kena sediakan bahan-bahan ni semua. Tiga bahan je.Tak banyak. Buah avocado, telur dan minyak zaitun (olive oil).

Telur ayam, minyak zaitun (jenama apa tak kisahlah), dan yang penting sekali, avocado.

1) Avocado. Yang penting, avocado ada. Nak tau khasiat avocado dengan lebih mendalam, sila layari laman web ini. Ha... Bercakap tentang avocado, anda kena pandai memilih buah ini. Anda kena pilih avocado yang benar-benar masak... Kalau tak, anda terpaksa guna lesung batu untuk menumbuk avocado tu sehingga hancur. Merana tau. Avocado yang masak akan berwarna seperti ini.

contoh warna buah avocado yang sudah masak

 

Anda boleh terus gunakan garpu untuk menghancurkan isi avocado tersebut (jika avocado yang anda pilih betul-betul masak). Macam mana nak pilih avocado yang benar-benar masak? Ha... Macam ni. First, anda tengok warna kulit avocado tu. Kalau hijau gila, maksudnya masih muda la tu. Kalau ada warna perang (brown) sikit-sikit, ha... mungkin masaklah tu. Untuk lebih meyakinkan diri anda, cuba anda tekan avocado tu sikit. (Amaran: Jangan tekan sampai penyek). Kalau kulitnya tak keras, masak lettew. Harga avocado yang ada di Tesco ialah RM4.99 buat masa ini. Kiranya, masih lagi lebih murah berbanding rawatan rambut di salun. Lagipun untuk satu hair mask, anda hanya perlukan separuh avocado. Jadi separuh lagi boleh digunakan untuk bad hair day yang akan datang. Berbaloi kan.

2) Kuning telur. Kuning telur ni dapat membaiki cabang rambut selain mengilatkan rambut. Kuning telur kaya dengan protein dan dapat membaiki rambut anda yang rosak. Untuk keterangan lanjut tentang khasiat kuning telur (dalam bahasa Inggeris), anda boleh rujuk laman web ini -->  http://www.dailyglow.com/articles/43/hair-care-through-egg.html

Kuning telur. Telur ini dibeli dari Tesco dengan harga yang murah. Dalam RM6 je untuk satu set 36 biji, peeps!

3) Minyak zaitun (Olive oil) Minyak zaitun ni, seperti kuning telur, dapat mengilatkan rambut. Selain itu, ia baik untuk menghindarkan kutu rambut, kelemumur dan juga rambut gugur. Untuk keterangan yang lebih terperinci tentang khasiat minyak zaitun, sila klik laman web ini. http://www.iheartoliveoil.com/about-olive-oil/olive-oil-for-skin-body-hair

Minyak zaitun yang dibeli dari Kedai Maju Jaya setahun yang lalu. Sekian.

Setelah menyediakan ketiga-tiga bahan ini, marilah kita mulakan aktiviti menyediakan bahan untuk topeng rambut avocado weee hoo! Okay, mula-mula buah avocado yang dibeli itu dibelah dua dengan menggunakan pisau.

Ambil salah satu bahagian daripada buah avocado yang dibelah tersebut, dan bahagian yang satu lagi dibiarkan untuk kegunaan masa akan datang. Gunakan sudu untuk keluarkan isi avocado tersebut. Biji avocado yang besar tu buang tepi ya. Jangan nak campurkan bersama.

Setelah mengeluarkan semua isi avocado tu dan letak dalam mangkuk, next step, gunakan garpu untuk menghancurkan isi avocado tersebut. Penyekkan dan hancurkan sehingga semua isi halus dengan sekata.

Jika avocado cukup masak, memang senang untuk menghaluskannya menggunakan garpu. Kalau tidak, terpaksa gunakan lesung batu. (-_-")

Apabila sudah cukup halus, masukkan kuning telur ke dalam mangkuk berisi avocado tersebut dan kacau dengan sekata. Apabila dah sekata, masukkan dua sudu besar minyak zaitun ke dalam ramuan tersebut. Campurkan dan kacau sehingga sekata.

Masukkan kira-kira dua sudu besar minyak zaitun.

Begitulah sahaja caranya untuk menyediakan topeng rambut @ hair mask ini. Senang kan? Yang penting, anda kenalah sabar. Lepas tu, semasa membubuh ramuan tersebut pada rambut, jangan lupa sediakan tuala dan plastik ya. Aku telah menggunakan plastik biasa untuk menutup rambut setelah selesai menyadurkan topeng rambut avocado ini.

 Biarkan selama sekurang-kurangnya setengah jam atau berjam-jam. Lagi lama lagi bagus. Kalau dapat, biarkan semalaman. Tidur terus dengan topeng dan plastik pada rambut anda.

Jadi, kesimpulan di sini ialah, jangan serahkan semua kerja kepada pakar jika anda masih mampu melakukannya sendiri. Dengan usaha mengeyoutube, menggoogle, menyopping, dan membuatnya sendiri, anda dapat menjimatkan masa selain menambahkan pengetahuan. Lagipun bahan-bahan ni lebih organik dan lebih sihat. Jika anda pergi salun, anda ingat, sekali je dah cukup? Kena follow-up segala dan dengar pekerja salun bercerita tentang kebaikan produknya dan sehingga anda membeli produk itu, mereka takkan diam. Hah! Kalau anda tak nak lalui itu semua, apa lagi, cubalah tips ini sendiri! :D

Ingatlah bahawa kecantikan bermula dengan kesihatan. Jika anda sihat, anda bukan sahaja akan cantik dari segi luaran tetapi kesihatan yang membawa kepada kepositifan akan mencantikkan anda secara dalaman juga. Do try this at home (or hostel!) :D

Pemerhatian: Walaupun rambut aku tak berubah 180 darjah selepas menggunakan topeng rambut ini, namun kelemumur aku dah berkurangan secara drastik. Rambut lebih lembap sedikit berbanding dulu. Itu baru cuba tiga kali. Kalau dah dijadikan habit, moga-moga rambut akan jadi semakin sihat dan berkilat. Selain daripada topeng rambut, anda kerapkanlah memakan makanan berkhasiat untuk rambut seperti lobak merah, kacang, ikan (ikan salmon terutamanya) dan minum susu dengan kerap untuk menguatkan lagi struktur rambut anda. Sekian.


Nota tambahan: Hari ini, aku pertama kali melawat blog Joshua. Anda yang lain bolehlah melawat blog beliau. Cekidaut!