Little Stories 223 : My Awan kena sawan 2

Read previous post here.

Yeap, my cat knows how to be all dramatic.

When we went to Japan several weeks ago we sent Awan (my now old cat) to a pet's boarding in Ampang.

This time, we were ready. I asked Aja to borrow a portable cage for Awan so it should be easier to bring her into the car (there were several complicated incidents before). It wasn't that hard to put her into a cage because she trusted me, but once she was inside - she started to give her deep-throat-weird miaows. We got ready, Af drove the car, Aja lead the way, while my little sister and I sat at the back to keep her calm.

After Af put the cage inside the dark car in the parking lot and we sat next to the cage, her cage suddenly shook so hard. I thought she was trying to find ways to escape and when I saw her through the cage's door, I saw Awan was having a seizure. I forgot what I did, I think I shouted saying "Awan is having a seizure!", everyone in the car saw that and waited. Until her body stopped contracting and she slowly regained consciousness again; drowsy eyes, weak legs, drooling saliva, and she accidentally peed in the cage this time. Oh, poor Awan, she must be feeling awful and ashamed. 

She was silent afterwards, all through the 40 minutes car rides. I kept talking with her because she knew my voice - I FELT AWFUL FOR HAVING TO DO THIS. She just kept silent, stared at me in her now wet cage and didn't even cleaned herself up (not even her drooling saliva). It was like I betrayed her T^T

When we arrived at the pet's boarding and put her inside one of the cage, she just stared and sat down silently. She almost never see any cats most of her life and suddenly she was in a room filled with all the cats in their own cage. I think she was shocked and scared. But we had to leave her.

Fast forward to weeks later, Aja took her out from the pet's boarding and brought her home.
No sign of third seizure this time. Aja said she was calmer.

Note : She had 2 seizures in her life under my care and both times when we had to take her out. I don't think there's any medical conditions that I should worry about her. She's just too afraid of going out to see the real world, sometimes she can't control it. Just terrified, thus the seizure =.=

Osaka - Kyoto 3 : The Days, the Activities, and the Places

So like I mentioned in the previous post, we went to Japan for 14 - days : many days spent in Osaka, 3 days in Kyoto and 1 day in Nara. How did we planned out the days? We actually planned the night before, every night after dinner we'll have a small gathering to discuss the plan for the next day. It's a bit hard to schedule it properly because we don't know how long we will take on each places, or how far each places were located, so we just have a rough idea of what we are going to do. That way it won't be like a rush tour, we were trying not to do the tour hopping thing, instead, we waited for the right moment to let everyone finish up what they wanted to do (or tried to-lah, at least).

Susah betul jadi planner and trying to make everyone happy =.='

Here's our rough schedule :

• Day 1 : Arrival, check-in at Namba near Dotonbori
• Day 2 : Kyoto ( Day 1 Kansai Thru Pass ) 
• Gion-Shijo
• Arashiyama
• Day 3 : Osaka
• Tennoji Zoo (supposed to be our resting day after the extreme 12 km one-shot, Kyoto exploration the day before so I suggested we spend the day at the zoo) 
• Shiseiki Alley
• Day 4 : Exploring Osaka ( Day 1 Osaka Amazing Pass )
• Osaka Castle, 
• Museum of History
• Museum of Housing & Living
• Ferris wheel ride at HEP5
• Joypolice ride *not recommended
• The top of Tsutenkaku Tower for a sunset view
• Day 5 : Exploring Osaka ( Day 2 Osaka Amazing Pass ) 
• Osaka Science Museum
• Kaiyukan Aquarium
• Tempozan Pier and Marketplace
• Tempozan Ferris Wheel ride
• Day 6 : A whole day with Ishijima Sensei in Namba
• Day 7 : Resting day, but we explored Dotonbori at night, we found Mithilia restaurant at Dotonbori for dinner
• Day 8 : Kyoto ( Day 2 Kansai Thru Pass) 
• Nishiki Market
• Fushimi Inari + hiked to the top of Mount Inari
• Day 9 : Check out day, we spent the day waiting for our other Airbnb check-in time because the bag was super heavy - we found the Honolu Ramen near Namba City - highly recommended
• Day 10 : Nara 
• Deer Park,
• Kohfukuji Temple
• Yoshikien Garden 
• we found Naramichi Jinnayah halal ramen *not recommended
• Day 11 : Expo' 70, Bampaku-kinen Koen & Expo' City (Osaka Unlimited Pass)- we found Soba Dining - recommended
• Day 12 : Exploring Kyoto one final time (Osaka-Kyoto Keihan Pass) 
• Shimogamo Shrine
• Kyoto Imperial Castle
• Kyoto Manga Museum
• Day 13 : Check-out day, exploring Namba and slept at the airport - dinner at U-don, KIX - highly recommended :D
• Day 14 : Flight home

Images were shared in my Instagram multiple images by days during my stay. I don't really feel happy sharing images in this blog anymore, knowing the ugly auto-compression Blogger uses that I don't like. 

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So as you can see, our days were packed with activities and each place wasn't near to one another. We had to do a lot of walking. 123km in 14-days means we walked around 8-10km per days, almost every day. By evening, our feet usually ached/sprained so we had to soak our feet in an icy-cold water bucket to let it heal faster for the next day activity. It was that tough, I soaked at least 3-4 times in those 2 weeks. We usually walked for the whole day, with a short rest for lite lunch and tea-time and train rides. Kesian ma :D I already told her, we are a bit hard-core in exploring but she insisted in following so sometimes she complained - we let her rest in several resting spots (like cafes with wifi) so she'll get the heat and wifi and she'll be happy (lol).

The reason I tried to put all activities as much as we can is because honestly, I have a lot of places in mind that I want to go to in this world and I'm not sure when I'll reach this part of Japan again. So I really wanted to cram every single things inside, plus this was a family trip so I hardly got my silent moments where I can reach out to the solidarity of new places. The feeling was different than all my previous trips, but the experience was still nice :)

Movie : Logan vs Last of Us

We watched Logan right after we were back from Japan (of course). Af has been waiting to watch it because the trailer was nice and he loves Logan - a bit farther off than normal superhero movies, while I love older men = Logan is an older man = watching Logan means watching a cool older man (hah-hah-hah). But I don't really like a super-heroes movie, except as dark as this one.

My thoughts after we watched the movie :

• The movie is almost exactly like the Last of Us, a game Af played for several weeks, almost 2 years ago - I sat watching the whole gameplay because it was that engaging T^T
• So I can't stop to compare the similarities, it reminds me back to the game because I loved the game. I cried twice watching the game, and I cried twice watching the movie T^T Old men and children's tears are my weakness. 
• If I can't stop comparing with Last of Us, that means I already put a standard, and if I already put a standard that means I will decide on which movie/game was the better one. Last of Us WON - even though Af said it is not a contest :D 
• Laura looked a lot like Kendall Jenner when she was young.
• Still loving Joel more than Logan. The character development in Last of Us was super strong because the game took longer to finish :

This was a trailer for the first Last of Us in 2013 and for the second Last of Us trailer in 2016, so exciting! I can't wait for another good game to watch. The latest trailer threw audiences in a lot of speculations (!) but I didn't want to read any of those write-ups because I want to watch Af play it like watching a movie again :

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I think the whole gaming community agrees with this similarity (especially the father figure x child relationship), so I found a lot of memes, fanart, and comparison photos online (I copied from their shared link, so you can get the sources by clicking it on the images ) :

Osaka - Kyoto 2 : The Tourist Passes

In this trip, we played tourist - I wanted my family to experience everything Osaka & Kyoto got to offer without thinking too much about the money - because Japan can be a bit expensive if you don't plan it properly. So by the time we reached the airport that morning, I searched for a tourist information center to choose which passes we might need in our trip. It was a long discussion in a long queue, and my siblings gave me the power to decide on which passes to buy. So we bought this passes in the first week when we arrived :

Osaka Amazing Pass ( 2 days - 3,000 yen ) Where to buy ? *****

The pass to go to all the visitor's attraction in Osaka and the train/subway rides. It was a value for money, thank God we bought it because we didn't have to pay most of the ticket fees afterwards. By the second day pass usage, we already almost finish up all the listed places, we tried everything they offered because we already paid the super-discounted price. I urge you to buy this if you are exploring Osaka. We went to the castle, to the Tsutenkaku Tower, twice on different ferris wheel ride, awesome museums, discounted huge Kaiyukan aquarium, the zoo, etc. Too bad we didn't have more time for a cruise ride - I think that's the only thing we missed from the guide book. 

Kansai Thru Pass ( 2 days - 4,000 yen )  Where to buy ? **

A pass to use all the train, subways and buses in Kansai (Osaka - Kyoto - Nara - Hyogo - Wakayama - Shiga ). You'll get a guide book, map and coupons. But we just went to Kyoto twice, because we didn't cover most of the Kyoto parts we wanted on the first day. If I knew we didn't have time to explore the other part of Kansai, I would have bought the Keihan 2-days Osaka-Kyoto pass for only 1,000yen.

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After my family went back to Malaysia, we went to Nara without any passes and I spent over 1,600 for return train ticket (which was too expensive - almost 3 times more without any passes). So the day after, we searched for a tourist information center to buy more passes for our remaining days. We still wanted to go to Bampaku-koen, outskirt of Osaka and another one-time exploration in Kyoto. So we bought :

Osaka-Kyoto Sightseeing Pass ( 1 day - 700 yen ) ****

When you buy the pass, you'll get a book of coupons you can use. So you still need to pay to enter certain places but with discounted prices and free gifts. It is way cheaper than buying without any passes that might reach at least twice the price. We went to Kyoto again for the third time and it rained (ha-ha).

Osaka Unlimited Pass ( 1 day - 500 yen ) ***

We bought it because we wanted to visit our final spot and that is Bampakukinen-Koen where Expo' 70 is located. It was quite a long ride as well and without passes, it might be a bit pricy, so after we discussed with the lady at the tourist counter, we just bought the Osaka Unlimited Pass. But we had to add more fees afterwards because to go to Bampakukinen-koen, we need to change to a monorail that was not listed in the pass. This pass is useful if you want to travel in main parts in Osaka - not including any free passes, just discounted coupons.

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So plan properly! They have a looooot of passes to offer, almost every major train line got their own passes that you can buy from. If you are planning on a 1-week trip, for example : maybe you can allocate 2 days for Osaka, 2 days for Kyoto, 1 day for USJ and 1 day for Nara. So for every day you want to explore on certain area, you can buy the passes to get a great discounted price. What you can do is allocate at least 10,000 yen for all the passes to buy at the airport when you arrive there - make an initial plan beforehand and show to the tourist center people, ask for their opinion and choose wisely :D

Note : We didn't go to USJ as my brother and Aja wanted because I'm not so much of a theme-park person. So they probably sulking over it because I managed to drag them along to the huge Kaiyukan Aquarium and Tennoji Zoo, but not USJ :D But I tried soooo much to keep everything under budget and tried not to make any of the family members feel like they are on a tight money budgeting because some of them only brought RM 500 to spend in Japan la weyy =.= How to survive that. 

Osaka - Kyoto 1 : Post-Japan in Words

The reason I was unavailable for the past 2 weeks was because I went to Japan (again), this time to Osaka - Kyoto - Nara. This can be counted as my third Japan trip, if I exclude the time when I was growing up in the country : I grew up in Hokkaido, I visited Fukuoka for a student exchange program in 2000, I visited Tokyo with Af in 2015.

Why Japan, again?

I actually went to Singapore and Indonesia last year, the feeling wasn't as much exciting as we hoped it would be. We are already in love with Japan since our previous escapism so going to a place that I know we'll surely love is fair for both of us. We did gave a chance to travel to other countries during the gap between Tokyo and this trip.

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Pre-planning :
We planned since early 2016 - after a discussion with my family, and we booked the flight ticket on July 2016, so it was a long-awaited trip for all of us =.=' I gave such a long gap so everyone can collect money for the family trip. Airbnb apartment were booked in early 2017, around 3 months before our flight date.

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Differences between this trip and the Tokiyo trip :

• This was a semi-family trip, because Ma was complaining about our trip to Tokyo - that I didn't let her tag along. So this time I did asked everyone to follow us on our Japan trip, but they had a 9-days trip with us while we extended to 14-days. Family trip is different than our usual travel escapisms.
• We went to Tokyo during a transition to Autumn, so it was a bit rainy and the weather was breezy nice - *the big flood in different prefecture was alarmingly scary though. In this trip, it was a transition from winter to spring, so it was cold. Most days was below 10ºc , some places were icy-windy. I don't like winter, never did.
• I brought more money in this trip because we were staying longer than before. In the Tokyo trip, I spent around RM 1,000 during our stay - each day was recorded. In this trip, it's hard to keep track money especially if you are bringing your family members along and 'belanja2'ing others. So I spent around RM 1,500 in this trip but I can't really put in detail like I did before.  
• I doodled in my book almost every day : on things we did, places we went and foods we ate. Compared to my previous trip in which I didn't do the drawing straight away, this time I followed my Bromo & Beijing trip. It is way easier to make a travelogue when you already have something fresh doodled in your book as a record.

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How much we walked?

If you are an iPhone user, there's a feature in Health that you can use to track your steps automatically without turning on any app. It is just there, tracking your steps and that's my favorite free embedded feature in iPhone :D By clicking on the app : Health > Activity, you can see how much we walk + run for the day, and how many steps we took. So that's how I keep track of my walking distance in Japan.

• 27/2 : 6.5 km ( Arrival day )
• 28/2 : 12.4 km ( to Kyoto )
• 1/3 : 8.3 km ( to Tennoji Zoo & Shiseiki Alley )
• 2/3 : 11.7 km ( Exploring Osaka )
• 3/3 : 8.8 km ( Exploring Osaka )
• 4/3 : 10.2 km ( A day with Ishijima Sensei & Dotonbori )
• 5/3 : 5.3 km ( Rest-day & Dotonbori Street )
• 6/3 : 11 km ( to Nishiki Market & Fushimi Inari, Kyoto )
• 7/3 : 7.7 km ( Check-out, Namba Walk, and check-in )
• 8/3 : 10.4 km ( to Nara )
• 9/3 : 11.1 km ( to Expo City, Bampaku-Koen )
• 10/3 : 11.1 km ( to Kyoto )
• 11/3 : 8.7 km ( Check-out day & Namba )
• 12/3 : 3.9 km ( Departure day )
• Total : 123 km, not counting the last day.

Many days in Osaka, 3 days in Kyoto and 1 day in Nara. 

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Return flight ticket :

Like I mentioned above, we bought the ticket over half a year before during Airasia promotion including chosen seat and insurance. The flight was over 7 hours and I didn't bring books - can you imagine that?

Money : RM 794 each person

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Accommodation :

We booked for 2 apartments - 1 with the whole family, and another 1 after the whole family went back home to Malaysia, so we searched for a smaller place to stay.

Airbnb 1 : Namba apartment (wifi) : RM 272 per person, total was RM 1908 for 8 nights

Airbnb 2 : Sembayashi Loft (wifi + bicycle) : RM 229 per person, total was RM 457 for 4 nights

Total : RM 500 per person for 14-days trip (last day were spent sleeping at the airport)

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Camera :

Oh, I finally upgraded. Remember I used to use the iPhone 4S since 2011 and it was slowly dying - I suffered the phone's weak battery, frequent blackouts and so many issues. Before the trip, I went to the bank and took out my savings to buy a new iPhone SE. I did consider to buy other than Apple product though, for so many months, it was almost become a joke between us. But a love is still a love, I'm an Apple user, I'll know I won't feel the same as before if I change to other devices. So I bought it and I'm super happy with my decision now (as I look back to the moment when I was deciding). This is the only device I used to take photos, nice ones, if you agree with my Instagram posts :D I brought along my Lumix but didn't even use it. 

So, one device it is : iPhone SE.

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Useful stuffs :

• Learn about their tourist passes offer because they are super convenient and a super value for money. There are so many passes to buy from the Tourist Information Center at the airport (be ready for a long queue) or in Shinsaibashi if you are already in the city. Read here for the passes we bought.
• Know your budget. My budget was RM 1,500 but I brought RM 2,000 for emergency usage. We activated the debit card use outside of the country (just in case). 
• Halal foods 101 : take the pamphlet at the airport (with all reachable listed restaurant in Kansai area), OkashiChecker to check ingredients in kombini foods (especially snacks and chocolates - hope they will add more into their database when I visit Japan again), Citymaps to download offline maps of the cities I wanted to travel to (and they have Halal food spots!).
• I always use Airbnb to book apartments online - never tried hotels or backpackers hostel, just affordable small apartment to live in a house like a local, cook, and free bicycle (+pocket wifi).

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People :

We are just a bit too reserved to mingle around with other travelers or even locals, can't seem to grab the idea of being friendly whenever I travel just because I was travelling - we are both introverts and aren't good with new people. So I don't mind being quiet because we are quiet-beings whenever we are with strangers. Not like unfriendly-kind-of-way, just quiet and won't simply chat with random people without any strong reason. Just pure introverts by heart. So not chatting with people all through our travels doesn't seem odd, because we just don't do it here, ditto anywhere else.

Japan is a great place to feel isolated and we can get the quietness we longed for because they are as reserved as most introverts. Plus, all introverts love other introverts - they give the right amount of space :D 

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Note :
It will going to be a super long series like my previous Tokiyo Trip - because I'm detailed as that :D But I will also post other stuffs as well alongside of the escapism stories. Hopefully this written travelogue will help any first-timers/planners that are planning on going to Japan soon.

Little Things 233 : Over Coffee

For the past several weeks, I’ve been coming really early to the office, (at least an hour before my office opens) because my sister is currently out-stationed all over the country and Af had to go to work early + I still don't drive to work. 

So I stayed at mamaks and Subway (most of the time) to finish up my travelogue draft before coming in to work. Today, I wanted something different because I’m bored of the cheap sweet instant white coffee at Subway and I definitely can't consume anymore of Mamak’s Nescafe with exaggerated condensed milk after-taste. Like I’ve said because, my taste towards sweet things really changed over these few years. If it’s not because I’m getting old, I don’t know how to explain this bittersweet taste I’m looking for instead of all things sweet and sugary.
Anyone over 30 agrees with me? 

Anyhow, so I went to the famous overpriced cafe at my office - that I use to think of as one-kind of wealth & luxury that I would want to achieve (Note : If I can go to this cafe everyday without worrying about spending it over coffee, that means I reached my comfortable phase - kind of thing) Lololol. 

But I got old.
And I got over the overpriced coffee.
Funny how time changes things.

Little Things 232 : This thing called Love

You know what makes me move forward and never stop illustrating since I was 13 ?
LOVE

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Yeap, that love that keep me waking up early in the morning just to draw, or stay up late at night. The strength, that energy, that passion come from my love for the things that I can illustrate and I can appreciate. The title that I can hold on to because I know almost everyday of my adult life were spent on creating this sparks that fulfil me. Thank you my Patrons for believing and supporting in me, it's love guys, LOOOOOVE, and I love you guys. 

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I was a bitchy friend - I guess I still am. I can't change this, it's who I am. I don't make friends much, I get too attached and hurt and in weird situation all the time if I get close to someone. I have some issues guys, so I chose to not make any friends. 

But I'll try to be the best illustrator/designer I can possible be.

Sticker : New sticker + Mini Gift-away

I ordered my old sticker to be printed on a die-cut sticker sheets. So I don't have to hand-cut it anymore - time matters, I want to achieve some small goals this year and it takes more than half a year to complete. I don't have enough time to : work at Fin, do my on-going freelance work, finish up my personal travelogue and take care of my little online business. 

So I sent time to be printed and die-cut. Now you can get it in mini version for your planner, waterproof and matt-laminated, plus cheaper than the ones before. They are now up in my Etsy (international). Locals can buy from me via email or go to Salt x Paper (but it's in KK) :D

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Gift-away's How to :

1. Share this post to your blog/instagram/twitter/facebook and comment below to inform that you are participating in this gift-away. Plus, tag your crafter lover friends !
2. Each share will count as 1 submission - because I will also run this gift-away in facebook and instagram as well. So you can enter as many times as you want.
3. Winner will be selected by random name generator on the 24th February 2016.

Winner : There are 10 sets of Made by Hands sticker sheet to gift-away. 

Note : Anyone can participate in this gift-away.
Good luck !

Movie : Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Captain Fantastic & Split

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 ? :

and :
Hunt for Wilderpeople (2016)

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

Mini Escapism : Melaka

I got a 5 days fully sponsored trip to Melaka by Lejen Komik & Tourim Melaka - for my next freelance project this year *which I'm currently working on. I don't want to spoil the story-telling and energy in writing it all down in this blog :F  Let's just wait for the book shall we ♥

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