I don’t usually share this kind of thing, kan. For years, I couldn’t consume anything “enjoyable” in any form. Then this month, I found myself actually having fun watching not one but two light series. Maybe I’m healing and moving on. Maybe I’m slowly shedding off my gloomy skin and taking more steps toward enjoying life again. Kalau tak semua nk serius black, letih dah la.
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The Summer I Turned Pretty:
So, did you finish watching TSITP? I did. And was the finale what I expected? Yes, because I knew the endgame would be exactly that sooner or later. What else would you expect from a YA series, kan? At first, we all started watching just to fill the time (back in 2022). Slowly, the whole world split into camps: Team Conrad, Team Jeremiah, or Team never bothered to know who those two siblings are.
What fascinated me was how a YA series, meant for teens and young adults managed to hook us millennials into layan-ing it week after week. I wasn’t alone. The whole world tuned in every Wednesday to see what would happen next. And here we are, millennials in our 30s and 40s, screaming at Belly for all her stupid decisions. I still don’t understand how we got here.
So I asked ChatGPT: why?
It answered: TSITP is nostalgia therapy. That’s why millennials and older Gen Z are showing up for it—it’s not just Belly’s story, it’s a mirror for our past selves. It’s closer to a coming-of-age melodrama than a rom-com. TSITP is basically a 2020s re-skin. It hits the same emotional nerve: messy love triangles, beach houses, the feeling of being 16 and thinking every heartbreak is the end of the world.
It is different than the other Jenny Han's YA series (you know which one), it was light, fluffy, and feels like a YA rom-com. TSITP is layered with angst, family drama, divorce, death, grief, betrayal, identity shifts. It’s heavier, more layered, less about the teenage fantasy and more about the messy reality of growing up.
And I guess, we all had those messiness in our teen/early adulthood kan, kan, kan. So we understand those stupid decisions, or immaturity, or blindness towards what's obvious, we understood the drama, the need to make these mistakes, the time needed to grow. Macam tu lah.
Tsk, tsk.
Also, I only subbed to Prime to watch the whole series. Already unsubscribed.
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Glass Heart:
2 years ago, I had First Love. I’m a sucker for eye-candy J-dramas, and I’d been waiting for another one. This year, we got Glass Heart. Great cast (seriously, a very attractive bunch), cinematic aesthetic worth studying, and music that made every episode a treat. I had a lovely time watching this :)
But, I have to admi, the shōjo filter and those too-perfect Japanese moments made me cringe a little. Kuat berangan orang Jepun ni. They really love that trope of the innocent girl surrounded by abang-abang, kan? I even asked Sofi which band member she liked most. She said the drummer. Ok lah, still innocent.
And get this, they’re even on Spotify as a real band (Tenblank). The final episode, which turned into a full concert, was epic. I watched that one with Sofi.
I watched Past Lives recently and it left me in awe.
The heartfelt beauty, the warmth, the slowness of life, the innocence of childhood, the meticulous details, the unspoken feelings that go beyond time.
Past Lives follows these 2 characters: Nae Young (now Nora Moon) and her childhood best friend Hae Sung, for over 24 years. They were close friends when they were 12 in Korea, then Nora immigrated to Canada, they met again online when they were 24, had a long-distance relationship but then decided to stop talking to each other, and they were reunited again in NY when they were 36. Nora is married to Arthur and Hae Sung just ended a relationship with her then-girlfriend.
It is a beautiful movie, about life in general and I love basic mundane stories about life. You can feel the heaviness of this past that they clung to. It's a story about love but without the fireworks and the fairy tale. It is bittersweet and real. I love the depiction of mature adult relationships between Hae Sung - Nora - Arthur.
Kudos to Celine Song, for her first directorial debut film.
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*with spoiler moving forward*
From other people's articles that summed up the message of the movie:
The film's message is that fate doesn't gift a fairytale relationship to everyone and that distance and circumstances change everything in a relationship. They realize that their relationship isn't meant to be even though they believe in the idea of in-yeon or destiny.
Even though they are strongly attracted to each other, they both want different lives and have different goals, she chooses reality instead of a dream even though it is painful for her. They have changed and they are not the same person anymore. They clung to an idea of each other, the one left in the past, they were looking to rekindle the innocence of first love. But finally, Nora chooses Arthur, the one she had built her life with in NY, she chooses the present time.
I mean, the options are either Nora to move to Korea or Hae Sung to move to NY, both clearly are not what they want, and they would hate themselves if they sacrifice their lives for the other. It is the most rational thing to do, this 'adulting' kan. In a fairy tale fiction, they would probably be together without the film showing the messes that they will create along the way because of their decision.
I love this line: "You had to leave because you're you, and the reason I liked you is because you're you, and who you are is someone who leaves."
I love the composition, it is visually beautiful, the script is excellent, and the characters' chemistry is undeniable. Love it I love it!
You can't no longer buy Kindle 10th gen from Kindle Malaysia but they now offer this new basic Kindle 11th gen (2022) version instead or Kindle Paperwhite 5 (2021) (11th Gen). You can probably buy cheaper ones from other shops (but I can't say, I bought mine from Kindle Malaysia because they were trustworthy and their support team is reliable). Please do some research if you want to buy from other sellers ya.
Here I made a comparison between these current 2 models in 2023:
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With ads/without ads:
What's the difference between 'with ads' and 'without ads'? Just that during the Kindle is idle (while not used on lock screen), it will show a promo picture of books, that's it. Not annoying, not intrusive, just like a poster of books that's it. So, for me, I don't have any problem with the ads (except when it shows some hunky-body duds in random romance book ads). It looks something like this:
With casing/without casing:
If you buy the casing from Kindle Malaysia (+add on), it will be a little bit expensive. You can buy it anywhere from Shopee instead. More options and much cheaper, the one I bought is around RM 35 and it works fine until now.
The "free 1 million Kindle eBooks from Reader Library for 6 months" offer: Well, none of the books listed were interesting enough for me so I didn't even take advantage of that. Mostly classics lit, and already free on public domain books.
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My thoughts on my Kindle:
Mine is Kindle 10th Gen (2019) -
I bought my Kindle for RM 495 in Dec 2021 (now the new Kindle starts from RM 650). It is 6”, with a 167 ppi screen, and weighs 174g. The storage is only 8 GB but that can store up to 2 thousand books (I think it’s more than enough) plus they offer cloud storage on Amazon. If you only read half an hour per day, the battery can last up to a month. But nowadays my battery can only last around 2-3 weeks, even less if I listen to an audiobook. I can’t play audiobooks on the device itself but I need to connect it to any Bluetooth earphone or speaker.
It is light and small enough for me. I can even put it in my back-pocket jeans or a small handbag. I love the size, it takes so little space in my life. The battery lasts long too, easy to travel and I can bring bookstores everywhere (which is always nice, but not money-wise lah). Oh, Amazon also always offers cheaper digital books and books on promos. I bought a lot of cheap books for $0.99 - $1.99. It is also so easy to buy a book, just one-click when you already linked it with your debit/credit card (Sofi accidentally bought so many books in the past) but canceling and getting the refund is easy enough, just make sure you don't turn off the email notification.
My Kindle vs the latest Kindle: double the storage, higher resolution, slightly lighter, with adjustable temperature light and improved battery life.
Should you buy it? It depends, if you really want an e-reader, basic Kindle is a really good choice. I've never tried or compared it with other e-readers except for iPad so I can't say much about the comparison. I didn't like reading on iPad (it makes my eyes hurt). Reading on Kindle is just like reading on paper, less strain on the eyes, no glare, and you don't have to wear blue-light glasses.
Sure, it is not the same as physical books - I know! But it is a good option when you are deprived of good books, physical books are crazy expensive nowadays. Not every one can spend RM 50 - RM 80 on each latest fiction, and at an obsessive reader's rate, imagine how much we need to spend each month just to entertain our curious minds? So e-books it is.
Oh yes, I know it is not my birthday yet, but you can always always always buy me a book gift card - here's my email: azreen0301@gmail.com :D Book fairy please bring me more books. Thank you for your time and happy weekend!
I got my acupressure mat around 2 years ago as my birthday present from my little sister. I requested it. I asked for the one that Anzen sold, it was the one that I found that is visually appealing but it was a bit more expensive than other acupressure mats in the market.
Acupressure mat therapy involves stimulating pressure points on the body, it got little spikes but they shouldn't puncture your skin if properly used. It can help with tight muscles, neck-shoulder-back pain, headache, relieving anxiety, stress, or tension - because it calms you. It increases blood flow, improves blood circulation, and releases endorphins (the happy hormone) as a response to prickly pain.
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The one that I have :
The cover is made of premium cotton linen: hypoallergenic, moisture and dust-mite resistant. It is also antibacterial and 100% biodegradable. The pillow inserts are buckwheat husks, and the inner cushions are made with 100% eco-friendly coconut coir. Should be able to last 20 years.
But Anzen no longer sells this acupressure mat (website pun dah down, tah apa jadi).
The ones that you can find online are so colourful and not that visually appealing (*okay at least for me, if you don't mind colourful spikes then you are good to go). This is the closest that I found, but you do your own research ya.
I used it throughout the phase where I was often in pain due to neck, shoulder, or back strain every so often in 2021. Before that, I spent thousands on chiro and physio sessions. I stopped going to these sessions a month after I got the mat. I know it doesn't sound convincing here but this actually worked for me. Every time a strain starts to form or I feel anxiety accumulating, I would lie on the bed for 20 minutes. Then it gets better.
What happens *to me during the 20 min session :
I lie down on the mat on bare skin. Cover my eyes and my upper body because it gets cold.
The first 5 minutes is the grounding phase, where I try to maintain a calm breathing technique, if I'm not calm enough my body will be tense, and laying on the prickly things will be painful. So I need to calm down. Need to be consciously pushing yourself to a calm state, or you'll be uncomfortable during the whole session (no phone, no audiobooks, no chatting).
After I survive the 5 mins, I will feel my back heating up. I guess the blood flow improves. I will have a serene and calm feeling. I usually fall asleep. No more tingling or prickly sensations.
Then my 20 mins is up and my alarm will ring.
I roll to my side and contemplate my life.
No lie, you will feel the warmth spreads on your back and the serene feeling is surprisingly very calming.
Results may be different for each person, but it works for me and as someone in my 30s, I use this to maintain my physical and mental well-being. It works in calming my anxiety, in calming my tense muscles, and in avoiding strains. I use it for the past 2 years as my go-to solution every time I feel my muscle tensed up.
I always always always recommend acupressure mats to people complaining about recurring back/neck pain because muscles when it is tense and not treated, it will become strained and so painful you'd be crying for pain medication. So to avoid that, just do proper body maintenance.
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Not suitable for :
pregnant people
use after a big meal
long sleep
if you have an open wound
if you are using blood pressure medication
if you have any concerning medical conditions, please refer your doctor.
Duration (don't do all in one session):
Back: 20 mins
Neck & shoulder: 10 mins
Belly: 5 mins
Feet: 2 mins
Note: If you are up for a holistic alternative medicine approach, this is your cue to try an acupressure mat. I'm just tired of painkillers and paying thousands for chiro/physio sessions. So I found an alternative that works for me. It's been 2 years and I'm glad I tried this. Hope this helps !
I finished Andor. I waited for a year for the release and subscribed to Hotstar just to watch the whole series - love it. Although I'm not into sci-fiction that much, I was intrigued by Rogue One from the start (it is the only movie in the Star Wars franchise that I watched more than once). Well, I am probably biased because I love Diego Luna. Finding out that he got his own back story was an excitement that I can't hide, and this whole writing is probably biased towards him playing Andor.
But, hear me out.
Warning - Spoilers ahead **
1. Andor and Rogue One weren't stories about superheroes/superpowers, this is a story of normal flawed people (and I really don't like superheroes' stories). These are normal people that are trying to make a change. This is the story of Andor, a thief, a refugee, an outcast, an accidental murderer (?) - that decides to become a revolutionary and joins the Rebellion.
The Star Wars franchise itself is based on a political theme of resistance and oppression. About fighting the big battle, the rakyat vs the oppressed totalitarianism, about making sacrifices and believing in a cause. At this age, Andor is relatable. A lone survivalist that decides to become an activist. If we scratch the Star Wars layer aside, you can see a normal battle we see in our own country. Also, it shows the consequences of inaction when dealing with a regime. Do you choose not to participate? Do you choose not to pick a side?
Even though it is one of the Star Wars movies, there's hardly any mention of Jedi (which I appreciate). I can't connect well with special people (with superpowers, with connections, with evil money), Andor feels more relatable, just a mere human being. It felt fresh compared to all other Star Wars movies.
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2. The script for Andor (the series) is amazing, you can get a lot of strong beautiful quotes from the series. You need to watch it to understand what I mean by this. At times it might feel a bit too scripted but the characters did them so well, it was just nice.
Have you read/heard Nemik's manifesto?
Nemik is a rebel and he wrote his thoughts on Imperial oppression and the need for rebellion, this was his manifesto :
There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many.
One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try."
I mean, this is a manifesto for us, for the ordinary people.
Not like the one that Yoda passed to Luke :
Can you see the difference? Luke gets the burden of his responsibility on his shoulder alone, he can't 'try', he is special, and it is expected of him to 'do'. But in Nemik's manifesto, it's for the normal people, for us, the small beings, for each individual that can make a difference, make a change. We need to 'try'. Andor came out right before the 2022 election, and it correlates well. We are still not over the GE 14 political fiasco and I know almost everyone remembers that well. If we want to make a change, try, even how small.
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And how about Luthen's words when asked about sacrifice?
"I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!"
"And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude". Oh my, this is an explosion to the ears.Will never have a mirror because he is too ashamed to look at what he has done, or an audience or light of gratitude, because everything he does, he does it in secret. He is the two-faced spy.
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This is like reading a passage from a book, words by Kleya Marki:
I don't have lately. I have always. I have a constant blur of plates spinning and knives on the floor, and needy, panicked faces at the window, of which you are but one of many.
A constant blur of plates spinning and knives on the floor, and needy, panicked faces at the window, of which you are but one of many?
"Constant blur of plates" - like juggling balls, spinning plates needs constant movement and precision to avoid them crashing own, "knives on the floor" - the need to be careful, to constantly watch your step, "panicked faces at the window, of which you are but one of many" - there are many things on her mind to worry about. This is a gem!
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This is Kino Loy's words of strength :
.."There is one way out. Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill! You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us. There are 5,000 of us. If we can fight half as hard as we've been working, we will be home in no time. One way out! One way out! One way out!"
And Maarva's final speech? :
.."There is a wound that won't heal at the center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow, and now it's here. It's here, and it's not visiting anymore. It wants to stay. The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness, it is never more alive than when we sleep. It's easy for the dead to tell you to fight, and maybe it's true, maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it's too late. But I'll tell you this... If I could do it again, I'd wake up early and be fighting these b*stards from the start. Fight the Empire!
This is top-notch scriptwriting.
I'm in awe of the proses mostly because I love how beautiful spoken/written languages can be in conveying a message. In this case, this might relate to my own personal love of words as a reader/listener of a story. If I noticed such things in a movie, that probably means they put extra effort in the script-writing to make someone like me notice this (because I usually do multiple things when I watch something, not 100% commit to only watching it).
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3. Complex and growing characters.
The characters are complex, they have multiple facets of personalities, morally grey, and their development slowly grows with the story.
Cassian Andor starts off the series as a thief and he accidentally murders 2 guards, then becomes a fugitive. He doesn't care about anything bigger than his life and his close circle. As the series progress, we can see his personal development. There was incident upon incident to make him realize the need to step up and be reborn. Even after the robbery in Aldhani takes place, even after he is stuck in the prison in Narkina 5, he then decides to change in the end. After a defeat. A death. A reminder.
Syril Karn is an odd character worth mentioning as well. An ambitious inspector with a strong need to accomplish something, his need to impress, and his obsession with trying to do something right (right in his case doesn't always mean right to everyone else). He takes his duty very seriously, he loves order, discipline, and justice. Remember the one mention about his tailored uniform to fit his body right and added pockets? Who would put such detail into creating a character? I laughed at this scene when I saw it, because we can see how anal he is about everything (an anal-retentive person is a person who pays such attention to detail that it becomes an obsession and may be an annoyance to others). Aside from that, we can see why he is like that after the Ferrix incident when he is fired from his job and returns home. A nice side story to see when he is home with his mother (it all makes sense !).
Almost every character in this series is morally grey characters: Andor, Syril, Dedra, Luthen, Maarva, and Mon Mothma. We can't decide whether they are purely evil or purely good. The heroes that would cross the line for the greater good (even by deciding to sacrifice 50 people in order to send a bigger message), or seemingly villains of the story but with a strong point that they are holding on to (like Syril and Dedra - I think they really believe in being in the right place, just doing their job, a bit too obsessively), are they in the evil side? Andor himself is a thief and fugitive, when he decides to pick a side, does this means he is now on the good side? Luthen sacrifices people for a greater message, does this mean he is on the good side?
These are all moral questions worth debating.
Who decides what is good and what is evil when we are fighting a big battle? Isn't both sides will do something that crosses the line? In Andor, we don't only see the bigger evil power lurking at every side controlling the lives of the universe, we also see the people trapped in the situation - the political side (Mon Mothma), in their job (Dedra and Syril). These people on the seemingly evil side believe they are on the right side. Is Dedra truly evil because of her dedication to her work?
I appreciate them making each character with their own little story to make sense of everything, to humanize them. Nicely progressed character development. What makes good character development good? They have backstories, goals, flaws, personalities, world views, personal traits, values, and beliefs. I think Andor hits that part well.
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It's a bit weird for me to post this on my 36th birthday, but here it is, finally finished this post after 2 weeks of drafting it. A short review of 3 things that I want to mention about Andor: the relatable political wars between the rakyat and the oppressed government, the beautiful script-writing, and the fictional morally grey characters with complex & growing development. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I'm glad I ended 2022 with a great story.
Here is the official trailer :
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And the small downside :
Half of the early part of the series is slow, the characters are slowly developed and it was a bit boring. Nothing much really happens. The next half is good and strong. I didn't know it was separated into 3 chapters (1-3, 4-6, 7-9) when I first watched it, if I'd known from the start, maybe I expect the pace better. I think I was bored for the first 5 episodes.
Right after I got my payment this month I made an online order from Bookxcess !
I ordered more picture books for Sofi since she started another phase of flipping-through all her picture books all day (especially before sleep at night). She flips-through it all repeatedly, even though she hasn't started talking yet (she is now 1 yr 4 mo). But she always push the books in my face so I could act / sing / read out for her - repeatedly as well. I would try to enjoy this repetition as much and as patient as I can before she starts to read them all by herself ok :F
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These are all the books from the latest order :
These are all her worn-out books since the last book haul :
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About the order :
It only took around 12 hours for the books to arrive, I was a bit surprised by how fast it was for the order to be processed and arrived. I fully recommend buying from Bookxcessonline.
So their latest offer (for Dec 2020) is free shipping with the minimum purchase of RM 80, and you can get a lot of picture books from Bookxcess with RM 80 :D I bought 5 books :
4 picture books (Rm 15 - RM 18 each) - these are hard cover, fully coloured, picture books
1 non-fiction (RM 19.90) - Achtung Baby by Sara Zaske
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All the books from Bookxcess :
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How to choose books for baby/toddler (below 2 yrs old) :
Start with picture books
Books related to their familiar nursery rhymes
Hard cover with hard-cardboard / fabric pages (no papers yet)
Easy to relate - animals, normal items in the house, transportation
Sofi loves nursery rhymes : Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Your Boat, Old McDonald.
So even if you have picture books with animals in it (and not nursery rhymes), you can point to the animals and sing the nursery rhymes yourself (like pointing to the monkey for "5 little jumping monkeys", ducks for "5 little ducks", cows for "Old McDonald", shark for "Baby Shark" etc. She expects me to sing whenever she points something to me.
I'm surprised by her interest in books - I thought it would be much complicated compared to toys.
PS : I started reading to her when she was 3 months old, and she started showing interest in the books by herself by 9 months - but no more reading to her, she got no patience for that, only songs and sounds nowadays.
We watched Isle of Dogs, directed by one of my favorite director : Wes Anderson last weekend. Af'd been anticipating the movie for awhile. I wasn't. Although I love Wes Anderson's movies, I do not like stop-motion. So the movie was not in my list and I just watched it to accompany Af.
After the movie :
Booooy, I was wrong (*Like I was wrong when I decided to not watch Kubo and the Two Strings).
I loved it so much. I cried at least twice.
There were 2 things that I just can't 'tahan' : Animals and kids. Combination of both always make me bawl. Things I love about the movie :
The whole aesthetic values : colours, design, frame shots, fonts
The detailing of unique characters : "Oracle" because she can 'see' the future just by actually understanding how TV the works, the gossiper "Duke" although we don't see male gossiper in real life that much, "Chief" that was always there with the pack even though he refused to follow the boy "Atari", so it was so much fun to see him everywhere in frames always a bit farther than the pack.
Everything looked staged : organized and structured, as usual. Eye-gasm for OCD-ed eyes.
A relationship between animals and a boy T^T
OmyGOD the cottons for cloud and smoke.
I love everything - if you have never watched any of Wes Anderson movies, what are you waiting for? Please start now and binge on everything he directed and produced - even short stories and ads are worth you time.
Image credit to The Bearded Trio blog
Questions :
Do you think we can have a relationship/bonding with cats as strong as with dogs? Dogs seem to understand human and I always feel intrigued and awed by that. I wonder whether Awan even care about me after 7 years together T^T Noooo, Awaaan.
How can someone be this detailed ? Such dedication bothers me a lot :
I watched 2 movies that touched me to the core last month - or maybe because I was having a PMS and that lead to constant crying over every single sad things in my life. I chose these 2 movies in the same week because I was ridiculously unstable emotionally and I wanted a good cry. Have you ever felt like that? - Wanted a good cry I mean. Sometimes I do and that happens usually in the same phase in each predictable week in a month. The week when women get a thorough cleanse physically and emotionally - a week after that, we will feel like we can conquer the world !
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The movie :
So if you are in love and you are still afraid with the idea of letting go/saying good bye - here are some movies that you should watch. Just to give you a head start in thinking about the topic that you are so afraid to face.
I know about A Ghost Story since last year, but I was reluctant to watch it. Even Af watched it several months before I did. After I watched the trailer, I felt like I can predict the story and I was not ready for it. It felt like a huge similarity between us and the characters in the movie. So I didn't want to feel that much. I am so in love and I just wasn't ready.
But after 3 months of waiting, I finally watched it,
A Ghost Story (2017) :
I love the unspoken silence and the music and the pain.
You need to be very patient, because it is a very slow-paced movie. It is a ghost story, but it is not a typical ghost stories with jump-scares and creepy moments. I loved it because I love how simple the movie is, but it captured the bigger message and human emotions. You can feel just by watching, it can test how observant we can be when we have to, even without any conversations. Feelings passed from one scene to the other without dialogues. I found it intriguing.
This movie is for people who are comfortable with silence and slow-paced reality. It is also for people who are in love and people who are trying to understand, or at least for those who are not afraid to feel sad and melancholic.
I freakin' love the song ♥ :
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& Irreplaceable You (2018)
This was just a random Netflix featured movie that I found when I was packing stuffs for the day. It is also brought the theme of : Being in Love and Having to Say Goodbye ♥ It wasn't as powerful as 'A Ghost Story' but it was painful nonetheless. I'm not sure whether I want to be the one who leave or who has to leave.
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Being in love teaches me this, that something so beautiful and so pure can be so painful and so heart-breaking. I'm thankful for this God's given chance that is given to me, for letting me feel this beauty in life that I've never felt before. Even though it puts me in a very vulnerable position. I guess in life, for us to have something great and beautiful, we must balance it with the sides that we are not ready to face. Like the risk of losing it, the pain and the heart-breaks.
But we just have to deal with it.
It's the yin to the yang, the light to the dark ♥
Note : My mom mentioned about how morbid I can be at times :F I noticed that too, but I feel like talking about death is really important in relationship (because every single person on earth will face it eventually). Even though we try to not think about it, it is still as real as facing tomorrow. So why be afraid of something that real ?
It is not a proper review, I just want to mention about an interactive comic that I found last night in my App Store : Florencebecause it was so nice.Unfortunately, it is only available for iOS users guyyys ♥
I bought the comic for RM 12.90, reminiscing the time when I did my own interactive comic for my final year project (don't ask to see it because it was REALLY bad). 9 years ago, there weren't as many samples available in the market so it was hard to explain to lecturers about my FYproject. I was the only one that chose to make an interactive comic, so even the lecturers didn't have any references to compare me to other projects (which was a bonus point for me).
So I was excited to see this app and I chose to buy it right-away ( I was too curious to read/feel/try - even though I wanted to buy other mobile app too at the same time : Old Man's Journey (let's wait until I have an iPad).
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This is a story about 25-year old Florence and her first love, it was launched during Valentine last month. So it is still pretty fresh in the oven. It was made by the lead designer of Monument Valley (so no wonder it was beautiful), developed by Mountains x Annapurna.
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There are several chapters in different phases of Florence's life. User's will have to play around with the items in the screen to read/watch the story. They are only simple stuffs like clicking, swiping, moving certain items, but users still need to do something to continue with the story.
Even though it is not for children, I'm curious to see how children reacts to this app (as an experiment, I will let Af's little cousin to try it later). Oh, and there are hardly any words - just visuals and sounds. Sounds interesting ?
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I think because of the storyline and theme, it relates to female audience than male audience (most games in the market focus on themes like strategy, wars, cars, sports, domination, battle) - which for me, I feel a bit blergh - boring. I needed themes that are more relatable to me, and I'm not interested in the overly imaginative world. Even though people do play games to leave the real world. Hm.
So, I feel like something as simple as this is exciting. The app is already featured on the "Editor's Choice" - I hope the market will grow and developers will realize that there are a huge market in this theme. (After all, women's population outgrow men - imagine if we can attract women to be more tech-savvy and play more games / read more digital comics ). Ha.
The downside is I think it is too short.
I needed more :F To be fair, for them it is just a $3 digital comic, for us - it is RM 13. Ha. But I appreciate the effort, so I don't mind spending money on a good stuff.
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I hope there will be more comics like this in the future - I'm up for digital books and comics (I already started to sell and donate my unused books, to minimize my collection. I keep on thinking about the dying polar bear).
And I didn't know Ken Wong could draw this good ! :F
I've been watching a lot of movies while I was doing my works. Among all the movies I watched in January, here are some movies worth mention :
Captain Fantastic (2016) :
It is about a couple that chose to live in the wilderness and they raised their 6 children outside of the modern world. These children were home-schooled, trained to be fit, think critically and live independently among what's being naturally provided by the mother-nature. They need to plant their own veggies, pick chicken's egg in the morning, hunt for food in the forest, learn everything provided by their parents, find their own entertainment eg : play instrument for mini concert, and such.
Almost everything I ever wanted : except for the wilderness thing which I'm not so fond of. Well this movie show both pros and cons of wanting to live independently away from the modern world, of being too obsessive in trying to create what-so-called a 'better' live.
It's an opinionated movie, in showing us the good and bad of both worlds.
I agree on some matters and I disagree on some others. Af and I both concluded that we need both world to live in. Not too obsessed with consumerism in this capitalist world and not too obsessed in trying to live outside of it too.
Maybe for me, yes to :
country living outside of modern world,
fit and active lifestyle,
home-school and teach critical thinking,
healthy & organic foods,
buying only things needed
it's okay to choose a different way of living
don't lie to children
But not so okay with :
Avoiding modern medical treatment
Not going to public school (this is where we learn to live with the people)
Thinking how other people choose to live is bad if it's different from us
I think what's important is balance.
But things I definitely agree on :
Stop eating unhealthy foods,
stop buying things you don't actually need,
the vast importance of read - learn and think.
Note : They used Sigur Rós songs for the soundtrack - even our song ❤And the director didn't produce so many works as well : Face/Off(1997), American Psycho (2000), and The Aviator (2004). He has been away for awhile before coming up with Captain Fantastic.
Here, watch the trailer, tell me what you think ? :
It's about a problematic orphan city boy was being sent to his new foster parents, that lived far out-skirt of town. Halfway through the story, they were stranded in the wilderness. The town-folks and the people from the orphanage speculated that his foster father kidnapped him/the boy ran from his foster family- so the whole town went out to hunt them down. It is a fun-family movie with a bit of comedy even in such a gloomy topic.
I really love the unique story-telling style, it reminds me so much of Wes Anderson. Taika Waititi is a New Zealand film director, actor and a comedian - so I've never seen his other works before. Plus it was innocently funny, in a very light way - not exaggerated like most comedy movies I avoid.
Note : Wilderpeople is a not even a word in the dictionary, he made it up - so cute.
And I found out that the director directs the upcoming one of the big movie franchise Thor : Ragnarok (2017). So I better suggest you guys to watch this one first.
and of course, the latest movie I watched at the cinema : Split (2016)
The movie is directed by the famous director M. Night Shyamalan - the one that created famous 'The Sixth Sense' (1999). Af likes the director (must-see movie) and I like the topic (Mental Illness - Multiple Personalities) so we went out to the cinema to watch the movie a week after it went out. But boy - it was quite hard to find the cinema that shows the movie at the right time and right place. I think it wasn't as commercialized as Resident Evil or other CNY movies.
Af taught me how to appreciate movie, not only about the story and the actor/actresses but along with the director, writer, cinematography, music, colour, shots and such. All the things that makes a movie complete. He really likes those things, so I'm learning a lot from him.
I don't want to spoil too much of the movie, because it was pretty straight forward and easy to predict. Just watch :D
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Whole movie list I watched in January :
Hunt for Wilderpeople (2016) - Taika Waititi
Captain Fantastic (2016) directed by Matt Ross
Proof (2005) directed by John Madden
Interview with the Vampire (1994) directed by Neil Jordan
Split (2017) directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Good Will Hunting (1997) directed by Gus Van Sant
Ouija : Origin of Evil (2016) directed by Mike Flanagan
Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) directed by Anthony Minghella
I think I took around 3 weeks with iFlix to finish up all 4 seasons of 'Scandal' by Shonda Rhimes.
I never thought I would enjoy politic/mystery/thriller series these days :F Look how grown-up I am now, I no longer have any patient to watch superpower/fantasy/sci-fiction series or even movies. I've been living in my own world for almost 30 years, now I'm just starting to catch up on the world's issue :F Just because I feel intrigued to know.
I did try to watch Once and The Magician over the weekend, both attempts failed. I sat there watching the series, did somethings else at the same time, and forgetting that I was watching the series. When did I became too hard to be impressed by fictions?
Note : Also watched Miss Peregrine's & the Peculiar Children last weekend with my family when we were celebrating Ma's birthday and I didn't like it :F I'm so sad.
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I listened to Nicholas Sparks' audio book - The Wedding last week, it took 3 working days. The book is a sequel to the famous 'The Notebook" - featuring non-other-than Ryan Gosling as Noah and Rachel McAdams as Allie, that once brought me to tears. But the sequel was boring :F It was about an old couple that was about to celebrate their 30 years of marriage, they were Noah & Allie's daughter. They were having relationship difficulties, lost it's 'sparks' after so many years of being together. Compared to all the drama and emotional rollercoaster that Jodi Picoult can write in her books, Nicholas Sparks lost all his 'sparks' to me a long time ago :F
I no longer feel his writing worth my time. This too, saddens me.
Also another 2 additions in my weekly audio books are Roald Dahl's books : "Danny, the champion of the world" and "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" - all in one working day, because the stories weren't that long. I loooove Roald's books, currently listening to "Matilda" - with the story-telling version from Kate Winslet. I personally suggest all parents to read-along Roald Dahl's books with your children. I'm reading the ones that I never read before and re-reading the old ones.
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While on physical books, I managed to finish reading "The Life of a Stupid Man" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Personally loved the first short story he wrote in the beginning of the book. I didn't know him as a writer, I just bought the Penguin book that costed RM 6 and the book was small and light enough to always be in my bag for emergency reading time.
Read this and I found out that he killed himself at 35, before publishing the book with 51 tiny stories, some were as short as in one-paragraph and a bit confusing. He was having a depression :( Here are some of his quotes :
He wanted to live life so intensely that he could die at any moment without regrets.
Do I still love this woman? he asked himself. He was in the habit of observing himself so closely that the answer came as a surprise to him: I do.
Currently reading "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez & still on "The Graveyard Boy" by Neil Gaiman because I left it in the car.
Note : I'm catching up to finish my 29 books-goal for this year :F
I woke up at 6.15 am, much later than I planned the previous night. I was having vertigo for the pass 5 days so I decided to meet a doctor last night just to get some advise on the matter because I was planning to start my running training soon. It's almost around 1 month before my 21km run. But the doctor advised me to just stay at home and rest for a few more days before I start my training. Just to avoid any accident :o
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Anyway, I wanted to post some items that I bought from Public Garden's event at Singapore that I joined last 2 weekends. This sticker set were made by Naela Ali, an Indonesian illustrator that I've been stalking from her IG. She uses water colour as her main medium - and I like her soft subtle way of colouring things. The ones that I never wanted to try because it isn't really my style, but still things that are awfully nice to see and collect! :D I personally like the japanese foods sets from her illustration. Not quite liking the style of her other illustrations like cats and people and random shots, so I just purchased this set only.
This sticker pack costed $10 - converted into RM is around RM 30.
That means this is the most expensive item I bought in Singapore during my trip :D
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I tried several times to repost these images, but blogger seems to auto-compress all images and I can't get sharp images. So I'm a bit annoyed. I managed to post it into my pinterest and copy the image's link to repost half of the images. While another half are still a bit blurry :
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She hand-cut these stickers, but unlike my OCD-ed cut with exact spacing between all items and their borders, these are more messy. Some I can't even ignore - like the ChocoBaby box and Milk Bottle with a cat cartoon on it? *see image below. Af might roll his eyes over my OCD-ness, but well you have no idea how people like us feel about this yo :D
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Anyway, these sticker pack is my favorite so far :
Note : I did bought this pack from his boyfriend *I assumed it was his boyfriend, because she was entertaining other customers when I went to her booth on the last day. Didn't found any courage to ask for her autograph tho :D
Again like all my previous trip, I make a shared wishlist with Af on nice and affordable places to stay during our Surabaya Trip using Airbnb. I found this nice looking hostel with a really affordable price for our short stay in Surabaya for our first and last day. Our stay in Bromo was not so nice compared to in Surabaya, so I just want to write about this place in particular.
It is located not far from the Juanda Airport so it is easy for us to go to when we first arrive and before we headed to Bromo the next day, and also on the last day when we arrived back from Bromo and our flight is scheduled for the early morning on the next day. We didn't have to rush things.
Note :
You probably should search for a place nearer to the main city of Surabaya if you like to go to malls and bus stations because the hostel is located around 30-40 minutes taxi/Uber ride to the city. Definitely recommend the place if you are choosing for a short stay not far from the airport. I personally like Kamariska Hostel's hospitality and atmosphere, it was also super affordable ♥
Kamariska Hostel consep is London Style, near from international airport juanda surabaya so confortable for a budget travellers for transit. Our facilities are lounge, pantry or public kitchen, din...
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Pro :
Near the airport, suitable for people waiting for their next scheduled flight
Quite affordable, roughly around RM55 for 2 people per night
New, clean and well-designed London theme hostel
The upper-level lounge is a nice place to relax and socialize
Food stalls in front of the hostel
Indomarket *mini market* just 3-mins from the Hostel
I found great books at KL Sentral : 3 books for RM 25, the shop is located at the old Chicken Rice Shop restaurant near Chatime :
1. Purple Cow : Transform your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin. He is a brilliant marketing writer.
2. Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman
I posted the commencement speech given by him in this previous post. I love the speech, I found it inspiring, right straight to the heart. So when I found several of these books at the shop, I bought one for my personal keeping. I wish every creative person own this book, so they can read it every now and then.
3. The Drowned Book : The Book by Bahauddhin, The Father of Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks. I love finding good books in random places. Only one look at the book's spine, I took it out and realized that I found another book translated by Coleman Barks - this time the work of Rumi's father, his teaching.
The first book I found was 2 years ago at Kinokuniya before I went to my part time work. At that time I was in the beginning of learning about Persian poetry and spiritualism. The book was a bit expensive for me, but I bought it nonetheless thinking that I might enjoy it. I ignored the book after I finished reading it because I found Coleman a bit annoying for my liking. So after a while, finding another book translated by him about a subject non other than another Persian writer is a bit surprising. And I believe in sign. Plus I just recently read The 40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak that touched about the same subject as well. So it's like a random fate, and I don't mind spending RM 8.90 in a book :D
Siblings ! :
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These days :
Since I work at home doing freelance, I found myself too busy for books. I didn't buy any new books for awhile now. The last book I read 2 months back is Elif Shafak's The Architect's Apprentice, and I'm still in the 1/3 of the book. I'm also re-reading Murakami's Hear the Wind Sing - *the first novella he wrote on and off while having lunch or waiting for Af from work.
But last weekend, we went back to Raub for the labour's day holiday. I brought back the book I received from Riley Fizan : Bintang Hati Saya last year and determined to finish it during the holiday. I actually got the book for awhile now, but my brother borrowed it and never return it back. I saw the book on his shelves 2 weeks ago and finally took it back. It has been awhile since I last read books written in Bahasa :D
For the little present, I owe you a review, Riley Fizan :)
From the note you wrote to me about the character being born inspired a little by me, I can't stop from making a comparison with myself personally. Things that reminds me of myself : she loves to write, loves astronomy and she's stubborn :D But she's brave and she cares for people, whereas I'm far from that. She's also lazy, always distracted and had difficulties in all her subjects while I was a super nerd who studies all the time when I was a student and I'm workaholic :D
I alsofound a nice coincidence : 'Hakimi' was a name I always use in all my cerpen when I grew up. It has always been my favorite name - I think there were 3 of my cerpen with 'Hakimi' as the main character and I never told anyone except for my brother who reads all my writings. 'Adam' is a name I keep in my fiction name-list. 'Harris' was also a family name I used in one of the unfinished cerpen when I was in school. Plus, astronomy was my obsession all through my teenage year, I kept all articles about astronomy and printed images of space and auroras, kept them all in a big file of nerdiness - just so :D
I never thought the story ended that way though. I never saw that coming - that left me quite surprised, I even summarized it all to Af on the way back home from Raub. Kudos for that - *I wouldn't write what happened in the book here, that would be a spoiler to the whole novella kan. Af said the twist was impressive, normally people choose to write cheesy love stories that we can kinda guess the ending, but not this one. I just wish there are more personal thoughts and feelings expressed in the story so I can really get to know the character and relate to each of them :)
Do I want a sequel? I think a prequel to Hakimi's life before meeting Adriyana is quite a nice story. Especially because you left him with so much mysteries :D
