My coffee theory

Coffee or tea? I am a coffee lover but I think I am slowly accepting tea as well. I think I had my first actual cup of coffee when the first Starbucks ever in my home state opened nearby where I live. Actual cup meaning I actually finished the cup of coffee. Past cups that didn’t counted for me was because I was young and I just took a sachet of those instant coffees and mixed with too much water. The after 1 sip of the awfully bitter taste, I never drank the thing ever again. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t start drinking coffee because of the fame franchise being a stone’s throw away from my home. I always thought that coffee can keep one awake when they need to. For my case, it was exam week, I was on some last minute revising and I had to sacrifise my afternoon nap for studying.

I attended morning schools back in secondary school, so it meant having to wake it early in the morning and by noon, I would have felt god damn tired already. Furthermore, thanks to the “exciting” task of sitting at the desk and staring at a thick block of paper with black and white printing on it, which contents don’t make any sense at all, it was extremely hard to keep awake. Anyway, back to the coffee! I thought that drinking coffee could keep me awake. But it didn’t, I fell asleep at the desk anyway….hehehe….-v- years later I figure it must have been the full lunch I had before my revising session that made me ‘inevitably’ sleepy. (it was rice and carbs do make you sleepy!)

Then, came college and again, the old habit of doing work at the eleventh hour kicked in. I was seriously tired from classes and not having enough sleep, so I thought I drink some coffee. Well, I fell asleep next to the desk again. Is coffee that useless to keep us awake? Or am I strongly resistant to coffee? To disprove the latter, I actually felt more awake when I drank coffee after waking up in the morning or when i couldnt keep my eyes open anymore from stodgy classes.

After much trial and error, I have discovered that coffee only works when you are sleepy. For example, when you had a good night’s rest but when you wake up, you still feel like half asleep. Coffee will give you the jolt you need to be fully awake for the day! Whereas if you are tired, coffee will not work on you, in fact, it makes you even more sleepy, I think! When your body is already at the point of almost shutting down, no amount of coffee will restore back your energy. In Chinese belief, there are certain foods that are ‘hot’(brings heat to the body, ex: spices, lamb, red beans) and ‘cold’(cools the body, ex: mint, mung beans), coffee is ‘hot’ which tires your body even more, thus it makes you even more sleepy.

So, that is my theory! Don’t bother drinking coffee when you are too tired to work. Maybe get a short rest or if you have to, drink energy drinks (I never drink energy drinks before, I don’t know if it’ll be as useless as coffee). If you are just sleepy coz you still don’t feel like waking up, or your class is too boring for you to bear, then have a cup of brew!

Barcelonian charm

I have just watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona for the 4^th time. Yes, I am that free to watch the film again but actually the film itself is quite good and the more I watch it, the more I understand the ‘dark humour’ genre that director, Woody Allen is famous for. The 2008 film stars Scarlet Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Quite a star studded cast and as expected, performed well in the film.

I particularly liked Rebecca Hall who plays Vicky in the film. She is an English actress but takes on the role of an American girl who is sure about her life till her trip to Barcelona. She prefers to be with someone in a stable relationship and strong commitment. In the film, she is engaged to a businessman, Doug. She can pull off the American accent and delivers a performance that is good in the film. Since she is portraying a normal girl in everyday, I guess you don’t need much other than being natural. I have seen her in Dorian Gray, and in comparison, I do see a difference in the characters she portrays so, kudos to her.

Cristina on the other hand, played by Scarlet Johansson, is more of an artsy soul who seeks more adventurous romance. Quoted from the movie, she has reluctantly accepted that pain is a part of passion and that she is willing to accept it for love. She doesn’t know what she wants in love, only what she doesn’t want. I think that the roles that Scarlet chooses are normally in the same line, I saw her in Match Point, another Woody Allen film, so I couldn’t make a comparison. I had a friend said that she always looks moody and pretentious, with an artsy soul in her characters. I don’t see much diversity in her, so maybe she is.

One night, they met Juan Antonio, an artist played by Javier Bardem who invites them to Oviedo for the weekend. It is from that fateful weekend that Vicky and Cristina’s lives take a turn. Javier Bardem was exceptional in this one; he portrays a romantic who tries to live life to the fullest. He always says that life is short and that we must enjoy it. He is contend with life but has a troubled divorce with Penelope Cruz’s character Marie Elena. She is a gifted artist who is also eccentric. As he said, they were meant for each other and not meant for each other. They often had arguments and fights which eventually lead to a violent divorce. Penelope Cruz was also very good in this film. In fact, I think she won an Academy and BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actress and nominated in the same category in the Golden Globe.

Obviously, the setting of the film is in Barcelona, Aviles and Oviedo. I was so captivated by the charming places shown in the film. And like Cristina, I really liked the Spanish guitars and the places the little performances were held. In one scene, after dinner, Vicky and Antonio went to watch a man perform under a gazebo. He was sitting in the centre and was surrounded by his audience. Vines were hanging off the pillars and it was just so nice and romantic with the music playing softly in the air. The film also showed a lot of art and paintings which gave me idea that Spain is a beautiful place full of art and culture which I would love to immerse myself in. The weather shown is always sunny or windy where I can ride a bike beside vineyards or drink some coffee in a Spanish garden and capture my surroundings in paper. Then with the warm balmy nights, (I love how they describe their nights, ‘warm and balmy’)I can enjoy some wine and calming Spanish music. It’s very alluring and charming, the way Woody Allen showed a summer in Barcelona to us, and I really wanna travel there someday, thanks to this film!

Needless to say the actors are brilliant, the story about love and human relationships is ambiguous and interesting and the setting is captivating. The film has garnered a lot of excellent reviews so there is simply no reason to not watch the film!! Enjoy!

Check out the trailer here! Dont be mislead by the promiscuity of the trailer, i dont know why they wanna show it that way which just ruins a great film.

An ode to boredom

I am bored. I feel boring. Normally when people are in such a state, they start doing a string of activities that typically consist of watching movies, surfing for videos on youtube, chatting with some random stranger or just go out with friends. But what if you had nothing going on in facebook, no new movies to watch, nothing to watch on youtube and all your good for nothing friends aren’t available?? You just go to your blog and say that you are ‘bored’ then or you start texting a friend saying ‘hey, I am so bored now, what are you doing?’

The word ‘bored’ itself is so boring. People get it every time and its kinda boring to see already. Not only does the word get on your nerves but seeing the word could make you cringe as well. Sometimes when people see the word ‘bored’ or ‘boring’, they might even catch the deadly disease themselves. So in order to break that contagious cycle of boredom, I have decided t find a list of words that we can use when in boring circumstances! Why make ‘boring’ even more boring?

Now I have found that there are 3 categories of boredom:

1. Uninteresting, lacking in imagination

Example: The way American Idol contestants sing is so boring, all ballad-style high note screaming.

2. Feeling lifeless and irritated, usually referring to self

Example: I feel so fucking bored now -__-

3. feeling dull and spiritless, usually referring to other people/object/situation

Example: This class is so boring…. *falls asleep at table*

After some digging in the thesaurus, I have found some words that might be useful as a substitute for the ‘b’ word according to each category.

For CATEGORY 1:

• Arid
• Bromidic
• Ho hum
• Humdrum
• Platitudinous
• Insipid
• Stodgy
• Trite

For CATEGORY 2:

• Blah
• Torpid
• Drab
• Flat
• Somnolent
• In the pits

For CATEGORY 3:

• Blah
• Dingy
• Insipid
• Stodgy
• Flat
• Milk and water

So there you have it, a list of words to use when you are in the pits (just to be safe, go search up their meaning in a dictionary). Some are common, some have severity to them and some even sound so classy that when you say it, people would ask you ‘what?’ Maybe from there, you can start small conversations with people about your not-so-arid vocabulary. Who would thought ‘boring’ can be a bit interesting eh? ;D

The Tudors: It's good to be king

Being a period movie fan that I am, I have finally watched the Tudors! I have heard about this TV series from some time ago. It is about the highly fictional life of King Henry VIII during his reign in the Tudor dynasty. The series stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and is produced by Michael Hirst. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the lead character King Henry VIII, so it shouldn’t be hard for girls to resist watching the sexy Irish actor as the powerful King of England.

Each episode always starts with this line: you think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to the heart of a story, you have to go back to the beginning. And thus, we are taken on a wild ride through the roller coaster life of King Henry VIII.

As we know, King Henry VIII is known as a womanizer and has 6 wives in history. So, naturally this series would involve a lot of umm, steamy scenes ;) I am surprised by the boldness of this series coz they actually show umm, bare tops of the female characters. Usually for a long running tv series, they’d take the liberty of covering up the actresses. I wonder how people who watch the Tudors on tv watch those scenes coz the censoring department must have done quite a lot of cutting, I guess. Eh hem, moving on, I really liked the fact that each episode has a lot of small stories going on. Each royalty, lord, or duke in court has their own secret agendas going on. Most of them are for their own benefit of gaining power or overthrowing another authority, very very scandalous indeed! Each episode goes on for about 55 minutes, so there is A LOT to watch in 1 episode.

And you cant dismiss the fancy costumes and polite mannerisms back then. The way each person of a different rank bows to another and how they use eloquent words when speaking to each other is very charming to me. So for those who cant get enough of period English films, this tv series should flood you with your interest. ;) other than the very sexy Jonathan Rhys Meyers acting as he King himself, there are several other good looking actors like Henry Cavill (as 1st Duke of Suffolk) and the Chris Martin look-a-like, Kris Holden-Reid (as Sir William Compton)

I’ve only watched the 1^st season which is mostly about King Henry VIII’s fateful meeting with Anne Boleyn. The last episode ends with Henry seeking out Theologist scholars on his annulment with Queen Katherine. So it’s on the brink of Henry’s eventual break from the Church. I have seen the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” (starring Eric Bana, Scarlet Johansson & Natalie Portman) and obviously there is a big difference in the portrayal of Anne Boleyn’s character between these 2 shows. In The Other Boleyn Girl, Anne is seen as ambitious and is willing to go all out to gain power and be the Queen of England. While in the Tudors, Anne Boleyn (played by Natalie Dormer) seems to be simply following her father and uncle’s instructions to seduce the King for their own benefits. I personally prefer the aforementioned portrayal of Anne however it shouldn’t affect much to the quality of the series. Many people feel that the series don’t show accurate accounts in history and that King Henry is actually older and has grown fatter when he met Anne. But come on, the series must have some fictional factors and sex appeal in it to attract viewers. Let’s leave the actual storytelling to text books and documentaries. So Lords and Ladies, enjoy the series! *bows*

Check out the Tudors website if you wanna know more:

The Tudors

The Devil's Advocate

Today I woke up to a scorching day. I just got back from my hometown and I am on the last day of my holiday. Tomorrow I shall start a new semester and what ‘better’ way to start than having your 1^st class 9 in the morning with Malaysian studies. Ugh….. -___- anyway, I decided to just kick back and enjoy the day with a movie.

I found Devil’s advocate in my movie folder and decided to watch it since it starred Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron. Good cast, interesting title, it should be good. This was a 1997 film directed by Taylor Hackford.

It’s about a lawyer played by Keanu Reeves who is very successful, he never lost in a case before. His best case was defending a teacher who really was guilty of sexually harassing his student but managed to win the case. He caught the attention of a big law firm in New York and was offered a lucrative job there. He and his wife moved from his small town to the big apple. His boss, who is played by Al Pacino, sees highly of him and keeps on offering cases to him. He takes the jobs and always come out winning even though his clients were guilty; he managed to prove them otherwise. He sacrificed his conscience for the vanity of winning. While he was rising to success, his wife is suffering from their new environment and keeps hallucinating horrific images like losing her ovaries and seeing demonic faces. Keanu’s character thinks she is just having a hard time but actually, Al Pacino’s character who is also the devil, is playing with her mind. He actually is trying to get Keanu’s character to help him bring Apocalypse to the world, by creating the Antichrist. So, he gives Keanu opportunities/temptations to be successful in his career and destroys his family life.

Well, that’s the gist of the film. I find it funny that most of the films I watch Keanu act in, he is in a crisis that involves the devil. In this film, he is from Florida so he has a Southern accent. Quite ok for me, he could pull it off. Al Pacino’s portrayal of being the devil was excellent down right to the facial expression! He has a sort of slyness in his smile. In the movie, he told Keanu to hit them when they don’t see it coming. It means to stay low and let your enemies underestimate you. Then, counter them with your best shot. Just like his advice, he stays low with modest clothing and he travels by the subway when in reality, he is the owner of a big law firm and lives in a pent house apartment with a gigantic sculpture on his wall.

I quite like the theme of using 1 of the 7 sins, vanity in the story. Keanu’s character couldn’t afford to lose a case, he always want to win even if it means defending the guilty instead of the innocent, just as long as he is the champion. Vanity, as the movie goes is the devil’s favourite sin to play with anyway ;)

Check out the trailer below!

Professional impressions

Today i had a discovery, well actually i had the discovery a long time ago, since i first held my DSLR camera. i found that people naturally give into you if you were holding a DSLR camera. it's a camera that looks professional, works professional and gives you professional results (depending on how professional you use it of course!) ;)

Feeling guilty after munching down belly widening, cholesterol heightening and heart attack risk increasing snacks, i decided to go for an evening walk at the nearby park with my camera. i figure i'd do some close up flower photography while walking off the fat accumulated in my body ('yeah right' to the latter)

The park nearby is popular amongst joggers and kids and people who just like to spend their evenings outdoors. when i first walked over there, i was greeted with some stares at my camera which i held in hand. in their minds, they are thinking 'Wow, that's a fancy looking camera' i guess they were waiting for me to take their pictures?? Who doesnt like to be taken by a DSLR anyway right? for some, the only chance they see 1 is when they pay someone to take their family/wedding photos. There was even a guy who went 'Hey!' at me and gave me 2 victory hand poses. I was too slow to react to his gesture coz i thought it was someone i knew greeting me but it turned out he wanted me to take his picture. Oh well.....

I think that this phenomenon showed me how important professionalism is for first impressions. People see you the first time and what they can judge is your appearance first. What you are wearing to what you are holding, even what you are presenting. For example, people expected me to be a working photographer already when they see me with a DSLR when in fact, i am just a student, an amateur photographer in a stretch.

People favour professionalism in their first impressions. Who doesnt? I had a friend who once told me that he was walking around in the mall 1 day. He was holding a DSLR too and as he pointed to camera to take pictures of passersby, girls would actually smile and pose for him. He said if he was holding just a digital camera or a handphone, those people would have told him off! Hahahaha, so you can that it's quite true that people are a sucker to whatever seems professional.

First impressions are key to what people expect of you. this proves that you really need to justify their judgement of you by surpassing them or correcting them. When you are meeting someone for the first time, wear and act professionally. When you are presenting your work for the first time to someone, make sure everything is perfect and reflects what you want to show.

First bubble to the brew

After much delay, i have finally started my own blog. If you checked out my profile, i already have a number of blogs but all of them are for assignment purposes. so here i am, on my way to becoming a blogger. all my friends have 1 and they talk about a myriad of issues from personal experiences to outspoken opinions about general stuff. I find them all inspiring. According to my friend, i have so much to talk about that i "seriously should start a blog since i like to write and talk so much" haha, ok then, so here it is!

I am currently a student studying Creative Multimedia in Malaysia. I do a lot of graphic designing stuff and photography too! you can check out my facebook for my works. Whatever else you need to know about me, you will find out in the future from my blog posts, or again, you can check out 'Info' in my Facebook profile which no one really reads anymore.

Bubbles on the brew shows that i have a lot of words and stuff to talk about like the little bubbles you see on the foam of your coffee/in your soda/on your beer, whatever you are having in your cup. I tend to have a lot of nonsensical theories or down-right serious opinions, so i'll share them with you all in this blog! do excuse my usual typos which include mistyping 'the' as 'teh' (blame fast typing, dont we all have those words where we just cant type properly in sequence? ;) ) and not using capital letters when i should. oh, and i like to use puns! hahaha!!

So, that's about a decent length and content for a 1st post! Enjoy! :)