Hachiko – An Undying Loyalty

I was a bit reluctant about watching the movie, Hachiko – A Dog’s Story. First of all, I tend to avoid stories featuring animals as the main characters because they usually turn out really bad or really sad. Secondly, I had read the story of Hachiko, the faithful Akita Inu, a couple of years back before my first trip to Japan so I knew that this was not going to be a happy story. But.. I watched it anyway. And thoroughly enjoyed the show (though my eyes were hurting so much from all the crying).

It’s a really simple tale, based on a true story, about a dog’s loyalty to its owner. The trainer and director did a great job in capturing the essence of Hachi’s emotions and demonstrating the beautiful bond between dog and master (played by Richard Gere). The movie was deeply touching and I was bawling my eyes out continuously for the last half hour of the film. My husband, who suggested the film solely based on the poster (and not a man to cry at the movies) was also sobbing like a baby. Ha ha.

If you have pets or are into dogs, you and your kids (it’s a family-friendly film) could do worse than to catch Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (US title). It will make you wanna hug your pets tighter and appreciate them for the companionship they’ve given you. :)

Film Critic

Things I that annoy me in a movie:

• people brushing teeth without using toothpaste
• when someone or a group of people are singing to a song out loud, they will sing at half a beat slower than the singer in the song
• the scene where character A tries out a 32 different outfits at a dressing room until character B agrees on the perfect outfit, which will always be the very last one tried (never outfit number 2 or 4, or a combination of pieces from various outfits).

Things I like in a movie:

• moments of contemplative silence
• the sound of wooden floors creaking softly (but not in horror movies)
• unexpected, well-timed appearance of a cat (even in horror movies)

Sensory Candy Land

I’m gonna be blogging everyday this month! I’ve lost the momentum to blog following my month-long European trip in May so I’ve also signed up with NaBloPoMo, where you pledge to blog everyday for a month based on a suggested theme. September’s theme is “Beautiful”.

I love Septembers. It’s the start of the rainy season here. I have mentioned a couple of times  here about my love for rainy days. The day gets cooler, the colors of the leaves get more saturated and there’s a thick, fresh smell of evaporating grass perfume. Wait, did I just say grass perfume?

I see the world as a candy store of magical sensory experiences. Smells to be smelled, interesting textures to be caressed, poked and squeeze. The world is indeed a beautiful place.

One of my favorite sounds is the gentle clicking of Ricola breath mint boxes when you open/close them. I could go on an on opening and closing them. When I walk into a bookstore, it’s not just words and pictures that invites to be explored. Paper is one of my greatest weakness. The multitude of textures, the different smells when you browse through the pages, the feeling a certain tone of off-white gives me.

I had an interesting experience at the bookstore the other day. A book was inviting me into its pages (creamy and pockmarked with miniscule pits). Through experience, I can tell how a certain type of paper is going to smell like (No, no I don’t spend all my time smelling pages of books, I have a lot of common paper samples as a graphic designer) but this one was a mystery. So I decided to do the necessary — I drew my nose closer to the book and took a deep whiff somewhere between pages 100 and 165. The smell was a delicious combination of vanilla and grass perfume. I didn’t notice that someone was beside me until I closed the book, let out a very tiny, “mmmh” and smiled to myself. After getting giving me a derisive stare and unapproving sneer, the stranger walked away slightly disgusted. I looked at the rest of the folks in the bookstore. They were either grabbing something purposefully or reading the first few pages or blurbs at the back covers. I strolled to the kids section and was met with a boisterous littly boy negotiating with his mum about how he really wanted a book because some of pages are bouncy. A girl was seated on the floor touching a drawing of a colorful fairy, totally entranced.

Somewhere along the road to adulthood we lose this sense of wonder and delight in seeing normal things in a novel way. I’m glad I didn’t lose that gift because there’s just so much beauty all around just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. Why don’t you join in the fun some time?

PS: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie is coming out soon (I just love that title). Pancake rain sounds good in small doses.

Go Speed Racer, Go!
A movie, A queue and An Animal Doodle

Today, against the advice of nearly every single person I asked, I watched… Speed Racer. :D I chose it based purely on its “look”. And because I went with very low expectations, I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. [Read more....]

Entertain Me

Hello again. Are you feeling bored?
Here’s a short list of websites I visit to get my dose of entertainment:

Giant Step – is where I go to discover new artists. There are a lot of high-quality music tracks that you could listen for free here.

BBC Music – Informative site with a comprehensive guide to music.

Rotten Tomatoes – I wouldn’t watch a movie before checking out its Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Readprint – If you’re like me and like to seek entertainment within the pages of a book(or rather webpages of the internet) this website will be great for you. There’s a massive collection of classics that you can read online like Pride and Prejudice, The Animal Farm and the best of Shakespeare.

Youtube – But of course! I could waste hours jumping from one mindless video to another. It’s the best thing since sliced bread!

I am bored – The names says it all. Links to stuff to do when you are bored.

Nitrome – The cutest pixel games on the net. Warning: Be prepared to waste hours on this website.

Desert Island Entertainment

Desert Island Tuesday is inspired by Desert Island Discs. I imagine myself a castaway on a desert island and am allowed to have a few items with me, based on the theme for the week. This week theme is Entertainment.

Hello again from a warm, tropical island! I’ve been eating a lot of make-believe fish and rice the past week. The monkeys have been entertaining me with their silly tricks but I think I’m getting tired of the same routine. Luckily this week’s Entertainment week so I’m allowed to order a couple of discs online. My top 3 music albums and movies are listed below. Enjoy!

Albums

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles – Quintessential album with everything – catchy positivity(It’s Getting Better) and epic masterpiece (A Day in the Life)

The Great Escape by Blur – Full of happy tunes and sweet memories of my teen years

Life in Cartoon Motion by Mika – Love Today! Lollipop! Relax! Happy Ending! You can’t go wrong with this.

Movies

Amélie – Beautiful, triumphant, quirky, special, funny, charming. A feel-good movie I could just watch over and over again.

Lost in Translation – Loneliness. Strangers. Foreign country. Kinda like being on a desert island.

Labyrinth – David Bowie dancing his magic dance…in tights. INSTANT WIN?!!

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Dessert Island Dish