Sucker Punch (and some small notes of updates from my life)

What’s not to like about Sucker Punch? From the attention-grabbing movie title, to girls clad in Pussycat Doll outfits, samurai monsters, dragons and steampunk-honestly even the nerd in me was pretty blown away by the trailer when I first saw it.

I really like the whole feminism thing the movie had-girl power, guys. Plus, there was a faint trace of steampunk influence amidst the whole Nazi onslaught. (Not fond of the Nazi bit, but hey, pop culture ahoy everyone) I’ve liked steampunk for quite some time but didn’t know the right term to call it exactly. There aren’t many movies with said culture, so why not?

So I had a lot of high hopes for this film-that is until I sat through it with my sister a week ago. While she liked it, I had second thoughts about it…

Zack Snyder is an awesome director hands down, no question. While I did not watch 300, some have pointed out that Sucker Punch is the female’s answer to 300. You be the judge of that. While the special effects and battle scenes are to-die-for (maybe literally) there’s a really big hole in the entire plot that had me frowning throughout the movie. Yes, my brows were knotted together most of the time. It wasn’t because the girls were hot, or the action was too blah.

In this age of incredible technology where computers can take you just about anywhere and 3D is about to evolve to 4D, everyone seems to get carried away with it and ignore the base of what really holds the movie together-the story. Didn’t we have a taste of that-plenty of times to count? Remember Avatar (the blue aliens, the airbender one was an equal fiasco but more on casting)? Transformers 2 (oh dear that was a nightmare) and the one that I’ll always use as a comparison: Harry Potter 3 to the present Potter film? Even as a Potter fan, I express my heavy disappointment in the Harry Potter film adaptations.

Sucker Punch probably tried to be Inception and Shutter Island at the same time by going all dream-related as well as playing the insanity card. Suddenly there’s a spark of interest of the use of lobotomy (and asylums) in movies, and I bet I’m just contributing to the search results of the said medical field. Someone should just write a coherent article for the general public. Honestly, the trailer was a tad bit confusing, shifting from the asylum scene to a dance-room and then to the full-blown fantasy world with dragons and machine guns. I actually had to dig up the synopsis-and that was probably a foreshadowing of what I’m about to see.

I hate Deviantart.

Okay, perhaps ‘hate’ is too heavy a word to be used. In fact, in most occasions I find myself over-exaggerating the words in describing how I’m really feeling at the moment.

I don’t hate the website, more of… ‘dislike’ I would say.

The most logical question/reaction would be: “Oh no! Why would you? It’s a good site with talented artists!”

Once I again, I’ve no beef against anyone there. I’ve a couple of reasons why, which I will elaborate in further detail in a moment.

-Still not enough self-confidence, yes still.

-Not sure why but the internet connection at home refuses to load the page most of the time.

-Drama. Hell yeah.

Wow, only three reasons. But for me, they’re valid enough.

Rock bottom self esteem.

I did not talk about this on my blog, but a year ago I was facing some pretty tough hurdles, mentally. It was the first time I felt truly intimidated by the top students’ work in class and the constant comparisons my group would get against the other group. I’m not going to admit that it was far from encouraging because every semester I would be faced with a subject whose difficulty level is equivalent to wrestling a Siberian Tiger. Ahh… the memories of acrylic painting and how could I forget concept art? I don’t loathe doing it but I certainly couldn’t make it work for me. There was too much pressure to succeed back then-all in all amidst the stress it was a somewhat bleak period in my life.

Naturally, some of my classmates have a DA account. Call me silly, but back then I was mighty shaken by looking at their amazing works, and shrinking back into my shell due to unable to provide such a standard myself.

Today, things are better. I will not say that I’ve rid myself entirely of that feeling, but it is easier for me to feel good about myself and believe that I probably have some talent in me (somewhere). It took me a long time to realize that, doubled with efforts from friends and the most unlikely sources. At times I still surprise myself with my own abilities which I never admitted to until now. So yes, I feel that occasional pinch of anxiety while looking at my peers’ work, but it has lessened considerably as I continue to find myself as a person and an individual.

Although I still have yet to upload a single speck of artwork to my DA page-er there’s only writings there for the time being, and yes I do have an account-I hope that one day I will be finally encouraged to do so.

Damn, I feel like I’m writing a self-help column. But it is utmost relieving to finally open up about things which I’ve shied from before.

 

The internet. I cannot haz.

While much better off people than us are happily basking in the glory that is UniFi (expensive as heck but apparently you see results) the not-so-better-off people like my entire house is stuck with the standard package for our internet speed. 88 bucks for 1 MB of speed. So folks, if you want to download a movie with that amount of power, it’s going to be a long day.

But, it would seem that 1 MB is more tolerable in some areas if compared to ours. I think it’s probably due to the number of people using the internet. Since I live smack centre in the city… well. You win something and lose something, huh.

And I notice that I’ve trouble loading certain pages, like DA and Etsy at times. Especially Deviantart. Back then when I used to be considerably active, loading a page in the site will either take forever, fail to open, fail to load properly or the server drops the connection. And refreshing will yield the same result so it makes me want to hurl something at the wall-not my laptop in case you’re wondering.

So, after cussing the connection internally for a brief moment, I simply gave up and moved on to another thing instead.

Voila.

 

I ran out of popcorn.

Probably not the best thing ever, but I notice that dramas can easily unfold in the comments section of DA; okay not just this site, but just about anywhere. Plus, some people like to make a mountain out of a molehill even when the situation is far from dire.

One example would be the holier-than-thou Twilight fanatics, or the haters who lack logic, which basically makes them on the same level as the Twihards, really. If they can’t hold a rational discussion about why they hate Twilight, refrain from bashing/flaming nonsense. People will just think of you as an immature netizen.

This reminds me of the pages in Yahoo, which I constantly read daily, from celebrity gossip to political matters. Not trying to sound smart or anything but yes, I do read stuff related to the US government from time to time. At the moment, none though.

Yahoo should seriously consider installing some sort of firewall or just a spam blocker in the comment box because there’s just too many arguments between readers about unrelated issues, people who just have to spew a racial slur, or others who leave rude, mean and unhelpful comments. Then why are you reading/commenting if you are so negative about it? It’s such an annoying thing to do, having to leaf through all the garbage to find something coherent and constructive.

Please, people. Cut the drama. The world has more going on than your meager and unimportant squabbles if compared to world famine and natural disasters.

If you don’t like it, don’t read/look, or just leave a comment stating your reasons and opinions in a mature and calm manner, if you want to be taken seriously, that is.

Apologize for the long post. But blogging makes me feel relaxed, therapeutic. Just like drinking tea.

I’m thinking of doing an entry related to Black Butler. Not going to leak any details about it, but once I’m done exhausting my brain from all things BB, stay tune for that said post.

 

Busy holiday coming up!

One of my friends is in Bangkok while the other is probably enjoying in Singapore right now. I’m so jealous of them!

I’m already seeing the workload piling up for this holiday-in a way, I’m not as peeved as I was in college, in fact I’m a tad bit excited to be starting on them. It’s a different thing to be working on something that you have your entire (well at least it’s mostly your own) input in it, no holds barred. It takes a bit of getting used to but it feels great! I wonder how many times have I abused that sentence.

Meeting Ilina on Monday-very excited for that! Haven’t met her in ages so a catch up is in order.

I also have to fix up my ‘portfolio’ site a little now that I’m keeping the blog up and running. More designing to do!

And seriously, I ain’t complaining. (;

Happy Holidays everyone!

Half-hearted update on my life.

Hello, apologies for not blogging as frequently as promised. Been busy with many things. I swear that I’m currently drafting an entry about food-just haven’t gotten the proper time to edit it nicely for posting. When I’m free I’m either too tired, or there’s something more pressing that I’ve to tend to.

No movies until Black Swan I suppose. I don’t think The Green Hornet is any good-superhero movies seem to meet their downfall this way…  Well at least most of them.

Events this weekend:

Chic Pop Market @ Jaya One

It’s organized by Tongue in Chic, and if you’ve checked out their online store you would have a rough idea of the goodies being sold tomorrow! I absolutely love the vendors’ stuff. (:

KLpac opening day @ KLpac, Sentul

Everything performing arts related would be here. I’ve been there a few times for Urbanscapes and for some shows. Free workshops abound, plus a surprise from the ex-cast of Kaki Blue!

Ok how lazy is this post. But I’ve to go, so until then. (:

The end of another chapter

Well, not officially yet, to be exact. But once again I must stress upon how time flies by when you’re paying it the least attention. I was barely aware of the passage of time last semester, merely intent upon my work and letting the days tick by. To be short, I was really oblivious, and hey presto, I’m at the middle of the semester, and suddenly that said semester is now over. This year has been especially hectic for me. Work and work and work. Kinda literally no play at all. Well I had my breaks and good times, but mostly it has been a tiring year so far. At times when I’m having a homework-free day, my thoughts wander involuntarily to my work at home.

I’m glad that I’m graduating soon. I feel excited to actually work and gain some good experience. Since I’ve never worked before. Seriously.

Visited KLCC with Hwee Lynn today. I think that the pianos are marvelous-and pricey. But to hear the melody from the keys are pretty rewarding, don’t you think? And crowded book fair was crowded. I can barely take a step back without treading on another person’s foot. All in all, not a favorite place to hang around at. It was reminiscent of the PC Fair-which was just as huge and stuffy. Things are definitely overpriced here-particularly books. I believe that one of the reasons people here don’t read much is due to the incredibly high prices of books. The taxes imposed upon them is quite unbelievable! I can only ogle at other countries as their books are affordable there…

Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam airs tonight. Well Hwee Lynn and Victoria are watching, haha. Anyone else tuned to the Disney Channel tonight?

On another hand, Kuroshitsuji 2 ends in 2 more episodes. Don’t ask me how I figured it out; I simply happen to remember irrelevant things, my bad. (: I haven’t been keeping up with this season apart from skimming through discussions and reading the key events-some which transpired to be truly odd, amusing, disturbing and full of fanservice. Everyone’s into fanservice nowadays, just ask the people of Twilight. Jacob Black can take off his shirt and Edward can uh… (?) to boost ratings.

My semester starts again tomorrow. Lets hope the workload doesn’t increase further than last semester.

On a parting note, Dexter is awesome.

Holiday rambles (and song talk)

I’m one happy girl. Because I’ve Dexter Season 2 to keep me occupied (and assignments as well). I suppose I should make a public blog post here or none one would bother stopping by at all. Still, one has to keep her privacy once in a while…

Hwee Lynn and I’ve been catching up a lot lately and I love every moment of it! It’s been seven years since we met each other when we’re 13, and although our first meeting is rather blurry in my mind, high school was great because of you. It pays to have an awesome friend like you, and it shows. (:

We decided to kill time before our movie Vampire Sucks (which on the other hand, rocked) and visited a few shops, including Machines just to plug in my iPhone and enjoy free battery charge and to amp some of my songs through the awesome dock. It seems that most Apple accessories come with a killer price tag-for us students it’s almost suicidal. We also stopped by a piano store, just to admire the gorgeous pianos on sale. Most of them got pretty close to our college fees, no kidding. There was one that simply exceeded it by ten grand, haha. Grand piano, what’d you expect? Still, it was pretty breathtaking to view a piano in such close proximity, let alone touch it and jam the keys, at least that’s what I did. It was much, much more worth it to play it, and that was what Hwee Lynn did.

If only the other people in the shop weren’t playing the guitars and drums etc; they sort of disrupted the atmosphere a little, lol. Final Fantasy songs are amazing! I only have one on my playlist, Eternal Memories of Lights and Waves. Beautiful, beautiful music. Do learn how to play the entire song! (:

I feel so proud that I’ve a friend who can play the piano. I would love to learn it as well, but alas for me it is too late now. And I prefer that the money go into my university funding instead.

So… here are some songs which I would love to see being played (major hint HAHA) (: because they’re just so great and deserved to be translated into simple piano.

1. Can You Feel The Love Tonight, Elton John

Because I love old songs, and that song is really nice. Lame reasoning, but you get the drift. It’s a classic!

2. Life Is Like a Boat, Rie Fu

I really like this song, ever since I heard it. Whether was it because I’d somehow connected with it, I don’t know. Her voice is great, and the melody is wonderful.

3. At The Beginning, Richard Marx and Donna Lewis

Anastasia was a very intriguing show back then, because there was quite a lot of speculation surrounding her and her family etc. Not to mention a really interesting historical background about them as well. I actually read their entire Wiki page (nerd moment). And this song kinda transcends time, if you know what I mean.

4. Drink Up Me Hearties, Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer, you make my world go round. At least my musical world. And Pirates remain one of my favorites. How can anyone resist the theme song that embodies the whole film franchise? Although the pianist at this link is rather terrifying…

5. Bird, Matsushita Yuya

For some reason, I’m oddly pulled towards this song, and it’s not because of his voice. Sounds even better without him singing but- Let’s just say it was the slow but mesmerizing piano intro. I’m a sucker for piano medleys. And suddenly I’m thinking of purity rings and the Jonas Brothers.

And… that’s all that came to mind. Unless anyone’s interested in the scores from Twilight (ducks from flying books). But frankly, the music isn’t all that bad.

We’ll be a dream

Oh, I can’t believe my luck!

I’ve gotten first place in my college’s essay competition! Things can’t be any better. I won an iPod Shuffle and a limited design T shirt. But I’m more thrilled that I won. Really.

You can click here to read my winning entry. : >

Lets make this clear

I’ve been converted into a Glee fan! Kudos to Yi Ming and my cousin who watches almost every American hit TV series before it even comes to our country. I don’t know how you do it, but thanks. Without you, I’d probably never hear of anime like Naruto and Bleach or even Darker Than Black.

Glee is a great show. It’s like High School Musical, only less gay because there’s no Zac Efron. So, if you’ve the time, do check it out! It’s such an optimistic show-and I need some positiveness in my life. I even watch ‘depressing’ shows like crime and investigation stuff. Fail. I’m a real sucker for crime novels and shows, but I would never, ever be a forensic scientist in real life. As life art college isn’t stressful enough!

My parents suggested that I work first, after my diploma, then only move on to my degree. I’m not saying it was a bad choice, but maybe I’ve too stop thinking about learning like some maniac all the time. It’s almost compulsive! I’m no geek, just someone with a desire to learn things way more different than what I’m doing now. For a person who has been cooped up as long as I can remember, I’ve always dreamt of studying abroad. What a childish dream, but then anyone can hope I suppose. If working can give me some experience, why not, I suppose? I wonder how would it be like. Reading books and watching TV has given me too many wacky/scary impressions of interning.

I just hope to survive, and enjoy myself in the process.

I shouldn’t be blogging now, I know. Should be doing my work-self discipline fail. I’m also torn between writing my story as well. So many distractions, even at home! And not to mention I’ve to work on Jason’s birthday present for tomorrow. O_o Busyyyy. I don’t even know what to draw yet. Sigh. But I have a vague idea.

Off to complete my homework now!

Improvements, and many thank yous

I’m beginning to think that working hard really pays off-not that I’ve been slacking before, but then I suppose it helps to have a teensy bit of optimism in mind while doing things. At least, I’m trying this semester. But so far (yes, I shall note that) the subjects I’ve been fearing are turning out manageable. I’m able to cope and keep myself afloat above the waves, at least.

It’s only the end of our third week, but I feel like half the semester has flown by. Time really does goes in a jiffy. Especially when we’re busy with work. I was pleasantly surprised at today’s class. I told myself that I would be content as long as I don’t hear the dreaded word ‘incomplete’ from my lecturer-a huge fiasco last semester that still haunts me. I remember it clearly and I also know what triggered it-it’s been lying low lately and I prefer to keep it that way. I’ve yet to pick up enough courage to end things and speak out, but then I’m a huge coward. It’s not my nature to do such as well. In life I’m raised to follow instructions-and accomplish things with mishaps along the way. That’s how my life is as I remembered.

I just want this year to be a much better year than the last. I don’t think I’ve fully gotten over the past’s incidents, and it’s not easy. Right now everything is stable. Calm, stagnant, but I know that it could happen anytime. I just want to pass through my semesters and graduate without a speck on my record. And after that, who knows? Frankly I think that I’m not ready for the working life at all. I feel that something is missing, and I’ve yet to find the nugget that solves the question. Now I sound like I’m talking in riddles.

Hearing good stuff is a sign that I’m (slowly) improving. That’s good, and any small compliment that comes my way, I’ll take it and work my way up slowly. I’m not crazy awesome-although sometimes I wished I was. Everyone wants what they can’t have.

It’s Jason’s birthday this Saturday! Now my weekend is totally jam packed with activities. ): It’s like everything is impossible to tweak, so I guess I’m full for this weekend.

Zhenyu, you dweeb, I shall say it again, haha. You certainly got the (desired?) reaction out of me by deceiving me into clicking that link. After awhile, the whole ordeal is pretty hilarious, if you look at it on the bright side. I have great friends, need I say more? (:

Kitsune, thank you very much for simply being there. Though the gap of the internet (and oceans and continents) divide us apart, I felt that I’ve known you since I found your blog. You’re willing to hear me out even though we’re miles away, and I can’t thank you enough for that. Maybe you ought to find new ways to threaten Sebastian, you know how fast he becomes numb to these simple tortures, haha. I always look forward to chatting with you, and you’re one of my few readers of this blog. So again, thank you.

Hwee Lynn and Norah, you guys are awesome too. Can’t summarize the awesomeness into words because that would just null the great energy of it. (: To put it this way, I’m glad that I’ve you guys as my friend. You have absolutely no idea.

Here ends my update. Have to wake up early tomorrow to meet friends in college. Assignments, need I say more?

Once more, thank you. Have a great weekend!

It loaded! Well too late anyway.

It’s 10pm and I’m heading off to bed in half an hour’s time.

I had a great semester break. There was the Langkawi trip, and my first plane ride ever. Definitely an experience at 19. For me at least. Saw Avatar in 3D. And Sherlock Holmes. Love. Went to three shopping malls on three consecutive days. Whew. Got some great news, and now I’ll hope that this year will be much better than the last.

I’m rather worried about tomorrow’s class, but then it’ll eventually come to pass. I’m scared of the unknown. I admit that.

Eventually, I just want to be happy. Crappy update, but then, it’s the least I could manage now haha.

Off to brave Monday!