Currently. 03.20.2017

Weekends are usually cut in two, for chores at home and then spending time unwinding. This is a glimpse of what I do on weekends based on my ever changing moods….

Movies: Moana and Death Note

Moana fills up my dose of adventure and mythical wonder pre-weekend. It’s fun and I like the catchy music. My favourite soundtracks are the Ancestor’s Song and the Shiny because of the beats to them. Well here’s a weekend story. I went to town to have a haircut and my pedicure in the afternoon, thinking that I can catch the weekend screening at 3PM. Turns out, the Beauty and the Beast 3 PM slot was sold out even if they were already showing in three cinemas and so we had to settle for Death Note instead. As for Death Note, it’s not what I was expecting being a fan of the original anime. However, there were twists nearing the end so I’m still pacified.

Food:

•         Double beef burger patty at Pepper Lunch
•          Kani Salad
•          Buko Pie
•          Lengua Estofado
•          Fried Lumpia
•         Spring Rolls

Gardening: Succulents Blooming

This weekend, I was simply staring at my Huernia, urging it to bloom faster. On a Sunny Sunday morning, it did. It’s one of the beautiful and cherished blooms I have.

Music: Joshua Bell

I just can’t stop listening to Joshua Bell on Spotify. From morning, to afternoon and evenings, it’s Joshua Bell’s violin Brahms. But I know after this, I’ll finally go back to Bach again.

Skincare:

Now that summer’s here, I have to stock up on summer skincare routine. My current favourite is Mary Kay’s Botanical Effects Evolution. This skincare routine is easy, simple and the whole set smells like citrusy grapefruit. I adore it. I’ve made a wise decision to stock up on SPF earlier this year and it’s such a smart investment for the summer. Now I’m looking at a hydrating mist for all those summer activities to moisturize the skin and an after sun.

Grateful For:

•  Savings in the bank
•  Potted garden that gives me simple joys every week
• Pocket fragrance
• Gold travel accessories

Random Thoughts and Ideas in My Messy Head

•          Summer travel
•          New things to learn
•          Comfy summer outfits
•          Saving more money
•          Capsule wardrobe
•          Clean room
•          Organize makeup
•          Black pumps for office
•          Galaxy washi
•          Branding for coffee shop 

My Eyes Are Getting Smaller- Arguing Over Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Photo from wildlandfireleadership.blogspot.com

One reason why I don't want to share rooms with anyone is because I value sleep. I love my sleep. I need sleep. Especially if I want to wake up motivated and rested for the next working day.

Last night my Sis was already in bed when she woke me up with a question, as if it were a matter of life and death, only to find out if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was in Saving Private Ryan (1998) together with Tom Hanks. I said no, it was Vin Diesel. (I know for sure because I am a huge fan of Vin Diesel, I have a crush on him ever since he became triple X.)

She insisted no, it was The Rock. I said no, it was Vin Diesel. I should know because I follow Vin Diesel and most of his movies, yeah, you too Jason Statham and Ethan Hawke, I am watching you!

So it took her about half an hour to realize and admit it, yeah it was Vin Diesel. You should know my Sis, she wants to win possibly every argument.

Now that she succeeded in waking me up, I went to tossing and turning my way back to sleep. This was a really unfortunate time to stay awake because of the red alert status in our area too. I could really use as much sleep as I could get in order to stay awake at work.

Now that I am at work, I feel my head becoming heavier and heavier and my eyes are becoming smaller and smaller. I already have small Chinese eyes and now the most that they resemble are tiny, little slits. I am now depending on caffeine to keep me awake until lunch.

Scary Movie This Week: Rosemary's Baby

Since it's Halloween this week, and I am looking forward to some alone time, Papa will probably be joining me when I watch this, so I can prepare the caramel popcorn, soda and gummy worms in that plastic cauldron container of ours.

So...

I will be kicking off my slippers and put the speakers on in full volume while watching Rosemary's Baby (1968). I first saw this when I was 10 and didn't really understand it, and my memory is kinda fuzzy. But I will be able to enjoy some quiet time this week and I could scream my ass off when the scary scenes roll in.

Movie Posters 

I particularly like old, vintage posters and this one really does it for me, part of the 1968 release.

This one is a more recent poster, but still, the chilly feeling of the movie stays. 

Synopsis

A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors, habits and occurrences. When the young wife becomes pregnant mysteriously, paranoia and delusions over the safety of her unborn child begins to take over her mind and her life. (imdb.com)

Scenes from the Movie 

Facts

Film Director Roman Polanski suffered the art inspiring real-life tragedy as his wife Sharon Tate was stabbed to death by the Manson Family while she was pregnant. The film's composer died of a brain clot, similar to a character in the film's predicament, just as soon as the film was done. 

I don't know about you, but I think it is included as one of the cursed movies of the century. I read it somewhere, can't remember though.

And I could write about the whole movie and its highlights soon after I empty the popcorn tub. 

What else will you be doing this week? 

Leave a comment below!

Movie Review: One For The Money

~Contains spoilers~

Movie Poster One For The Money

I didn't really realize that the movie was another chick flick until my movie companion lightly commented on it. I didn't know what to expect since it's a movie based on a book written by Janet Evanovich. Now let's see, I haven't really read any Evanovich books, so maybe I could give this movie a chance. 

Heigl goes brunette in One For The  Money

Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) is a smart brunette and a former lingerie sales representative from a department store who finds herself deep in bills to pay and yes, quite jobless. She hears about a job during dinner with her family and heads on to her cousins' retrieving agency only to find out that the filing job is no longer available and the only job there is (and with good pay too), is that of retrieving suspects and those who have skipped bail. It's not an easy job but she works hard and depends on her logic, common sense and connects with people from her community to see herself through. She also acquires impressive skills like picking a lock, shooting a gun, and arguing with a former cop known as Morelli she is now after who is also a prime suspect. With continued encounters, she also tries to determine whether he is innocent. 

Dialogue

Most of the characters have an accent to show their Jersey roots, in the part of town showing diverse mixture of Italian, Afro and Mexican-American. Heigl here develops a way of speaking that only Italian-Americans do. Pay attention to the street lingo...

Inexperienced Plum gets intimidated by Morelli

What could they be looking at?

Characters

Standout characters are the hookers, Ranger, and of course, Morelli. Stephanie's character development is evident from the beginning of the movie where she is a clueless, desperate sales lady who is out of a job, to a streetwise, novice bounty hunter in the end. 

Plot

I found the plot interesting for a chick flick, and I found it admirable that a woman like Stephanie Plum keeps focus on her job, turning her prime suspect in while scoring some much needed reward on the side. 

There were sexy, steamy scenes and the viewer could tell there was tension building up between Plum and Morelli. However, it's managed to be a wholesome story. 

The Verdict 3/5

It's a chick flick with some detective thrill in it. 

It was a funny movie, but Plum maintains a sweetheart aura about her until the end, and I was honestly hoping for a more badass, sexy Plum. It's an okay movie all in all. 

 Plum with a smaller bang-bang, listen to Ranger drool over a bigger, more powerful bang-bang

Heigl as streetwise and smart ass bounty hunter Plum 

Plum after the car she was supposed to drive blew up with Police in her parking lot. 

The Little Mermaid Last Song Syndrome, Why Doesn't Disney Make Catchy Songs Like These Anymore?

"Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun"

"The sea weed is always greener, in somebody else's lake, you dream about going up there but that is a big mistake"

I watched the Little Mermaid again last night with the kids, for the hundredth time since its release in 1989. And I woke up singing the tunes to Kiss The Girl while getting ready for work this morning, from the shower, to breakfast, to the ride to town. Yeah, why doesn't Disney make catchy songs like those anymore? "Go on and kiss the girl, whoow whow... Shalalala my oh, my, (forgot what goes here) nanananah nah why oh why, go on and kiss the girl"

It's embarrassing for me to admit that while I was having dinner at my godfather's house when I was only seven in Cagayan de Oro, I grabbed the fork and combed my hair with it. My Mom had her eyes wide open, and Papa was explaining that I was imitating what I saw at the movie. I was holding the dinglehopper in my left hand and lowered it next to my plate. Where's Sebastian? Oh yeah, one summer we went to the beach in Opol, and found a tiny white crab. I insisted on bringing him home because he was Sebastian. We housed him in a silver mixing bowl, to my mother's dismay and I put in sand and water for him. He disappeared the next day. He must have sneaked out to the river nearby and left a little princess wondering what happened to him. Either that or Papa just hid the fact that he died. I would never know what happened to my white Sebastian.

That time it was still in betamax. Later on, my parents acquired a VHS player, but didn't have a rewinder yet, so it was my uncle whose arms were beat from rewinding with a ballpen or pencil, a heavy VHS, my own copy of The Little Mermaid.

Never mind my parents, adults had to go to work, and I had my VHS of Little Mermaid to attend to. At least five times a day. Before and after nap time in the morning, afternoon, and before bedtime.

And yesterday, it was Little Mermaid again with the kids, for summer. "Under the sea, lalalala. Under the sea, darling it's better, down here it's greener, take it from me, eeeee..."

Who in the world doesn't love The Little Mermaid? Ursula is a better villain compared to Morgana, the sea witch who appears in the second part of the story. Ariel already has a daughter in it.

I didn't enjoy the second part when it came out as much as I did in my kindergarten years. I've honestly developed a sense of critiquing to what I see on television since those dinglehopper days.

War Horse

Directed by Steven Spielberg

How far will you go to fulfill a promise?

Saw this movie with Papa last weekend, running at about two hours. With the advancement of "borrowing" movies these days, it's easy to go on a movie marathon on weekends with the family without having to spend on pirated DVDs which have bad screen resolutions. I don't like watching movies and having to shell out good money and force myself to finish watching a movie that's just cam ripped. I can stall myself to wait for clear copies that are available to be ripped right from a website I've been patronizing. And I don't like going to the movies with my friends who always show up late, then we miss the first part of the story. By the time we find our seats, we're harassing each other :"Bakit ganun? Bakit galit sya dun? Ano'ng nangyari? Ano daw?" And a ticket costs almost a hundred bucks, (only in Zamboanga?) and the whole packaging comes with it. If you're lucky you get to avoid cinemas with poor air conditioning, bad odor, toilets with vandalism of crazy people with cellphone numbers since 1997 and stale popcorn. Papa is a better companion when it comes to movies. He talks after the credits roll in. =) 

So here, it's the dawn of the First World War and Devon, England is a wide sprawling town of greenery and agriculture. Albert admires a thoroughbred foal from a distance, and is overjoyed when his father comes home from an auction with it. Albert names the foal Joey and devotes his days to taming and training the foal, and teaching him how to plow a field, in order to raise money for the land's rent that is due. 

Together, man and beast go through ups and downs as they wrestle with odds and ends just by toiling in a farm. But when the nation enters into war, the two are separated and Albert promises to bring back Joey to his home. 

It takes years, and the Joey develops a relationship with different kinds of people during the war. It is a story of fulfilling promises and striving to be independent in times of uncertainties and challenges. 

It's an inspiring story about perseverance, hope and peace. 

What are your must-see movies for 2012? Share your rants and raves! =) 

Best Movie Posters of 2011

Quite busy right now, but there's something I want to share with the rest of you art-loving people. Here is a list of the best movie posters of last year, and I'm dumping them here. I am swamped with writing tasks, being the conclusion of the SOCA here, and upcoming productions lined up until kingdom come.

I'm longing for a vacation, but the Vigan trip with L won't be until June, and I still have to save a huge portion, so I'm depriving myself from further purchases because I have to prove myself as frugal. Yay.

Cat Run: The poster is an example of creative graphic work. (I didn't go for the movie) 

The pink font is sexy and perky set against a dark-themed background. It's simple. And the movie has Ryan Gosling in it! 

Nice layers of shadows for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If I were teaching a Science class about the umbra and penumbra, I will be bringing this movie poster as a visual aid. 

Apart from good reviews, the blacks in this poster makes Lisbeth Salander's face blend well in the background. Simple font, three themed font colors, dragon doesn't overdo the whole negative space. 

  

An adult version of an Agatha Christie movie, if there was one, this is the Swedish version of the movie which came out a few years ago. Still convincing. 

Daring take for whoever designed this vintage-y poster of Hobo with a Shotgun. Was this how movie posters were designed back then? Collage-like appeal did good to the eyes.

Gosling-Clooney: This is outstanding. Need I say more?

Again, shadows. Effective typography with the font and negative space is well utilized. 

For some movie posters, "posters say it all about the movie". This fits well. Simple yet effective. 

In this case, the lower portion of the grid makes good attention-grabbing. The upper portion of the grid is well utilized with a good logo-ish title. 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Shadows, Again

Pooh and the Gang. Just a date, nothing more. 

So there, the best. I didn't bother putting up the worst. 

Hi ho, hi ho. And off to write I go....