itsrainin9

Twilight: the movie we love to hate, and would never dare admit watching it for fear of losing street cred. I watched it. And cringed every other scene when I wasn’t laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

A quick disclaimer before my friends break off ties with me for watching Breaking Dawn. I’d read that:

1. Kristen Stewart had said that the wedding scene was “very, very emotional” for her.
2. Stephanie Meyer claimed that the birth was so emotional that “people shed a bunch of tears during filming“.

Naturally, I had to see if what the heck they were talking about. And well… first thoughts after watching?

I am never, ever, ever going to have kids. #scarred4lyfe

You know, I think this might just be Stephanie Meyer’s dastardly plan.

Create the most blood-curdling childbirth scene you can while maintaining a PG-13 rating and warn horny adolescents from unprotected sex. Or dissuade people from having children, because they’re demons that eat you up from within.

Your pubescent teen doesn’t want to or is too lazy to use protection? Terrify them during sex-ed with this: “Do you really want to suffer a horrifying childbirth like Bella?”

It doesn’t even matter that logically, vampires are dead and thus their sperm should be, as well. Edward defies all rules with his 100-year-old wonder sperm. Want a vampire baby? 1 session is all it takes and you’ll see results in 14 days!

As to the most anticipated deflowering of the century: Well, I thought we’d get more, but apparently they went for the ‘less is more’ approach, so use your imagination. I’m not sure if I’m thankful or disappointed. On one hand, I wanted to see the dirty, but…. I might have gagged if I had to go through a whole sequence of let’s-bone-Bella.

Okay. I’ll try to be objective now and balance the above with things I liked.

1. It’s not the director and crew’s fault. The story just CMI.
2. I really liked the dream wedding sequence… The costuming and set design looked good.
3. The open back of Bella’s real wedding gown was lovely. The front was weird, though. Criss-crossing at her nipples? Awkward, bro.
4. Bella’s dad. Fatherly love coming through in his speech:
   “I know Edward will be a good husband… (beat) Because I’m a cop. I know things. (beat) And if he doesn’t, I know how to use a gun. (beat) And chase a person to the ends of the earth.” LOL.
5. The font they used for the credits. Oh god I love the font. So beautiful. So neat. So crisp. So READABLE. Unlike Drive‘s cursive font which was totally WTF.
6. And Seth the werewolf. What a cute kid – I want to pinch his cheeks and give him a noogie……………I know. It doesn’t make sense.

So. Should you watch it, or not? I don’t know. I’d say no, but this is one of those movies people watch to stay ‘culturally relevant’. Even if they do so to hate on it.

Rating:  

117 mins. Thriller. And currently showing everywhere.

So… Rania is back with a new dancey mix produced by the Brave Brothers, called PopPopPop. Generally, I’m a fan of what the Brave Brothers have done: cue hits like Man Man Ha Ni (만만하니) and Binguel Binguel (빙글빙글) with U-KISS. But this is a really strange song. I can’t decide if I like it or not.

And I’d really like to like them, but my face cringes into the “oh god what is this bad taste in my mouth” when I watch them dancing.

I’m all for sexy, but this time, it’s neither here not there. Cue some hip gyrations hidden by weird blouses and sort-of spanking but not on the ass. Make up your mind, girl! What are you going for? At least in Dr. Feel Good, it was all out sexy.

Plus the production values were there, at least. It looked good, scandalous though it might be. This time, however, it feels like their budget has been cut. The video is so generic you could paste any other rookie group into it and it would “work” just as well. All you need is a dance choreo, and you can start shooting. Where’s the flavour? What differentiates them from other groups now?

Rating:  

So… 12 weeks of school just flew by in an instant. And here I am, left with one more month to go before the semester ends.

School’s been great. It’s everything I dreamed of. I love learning new stuff about things I like, so Chapman has been quite an eye opener. We have to write a script every week, watch movies in class before dissecting them, budget finances for productions and well, there’s more – but I love it.

I have a core group of people whom I hang out with, and I’ve also made new friends. The lecturers are not only heavyweights in the industry, they’re also really fun teachers and I like learning from them.

I think the smaller class size also helps a lot. I’m getting better at being more outgoing, but my nature by default is still that of an introvert (though less so, nowadays), which means I’m crap at groups. (And still am.)

And that’s about it. I just wanted to do a quick reflection about Chapman, and if you’re wondering if this is the way to go, here’s what I think:

Nay if you’re just doing this for a degree.

You’ll simply be miserable, and will probably decide to quit a few weeks in. Go and waste your time on something else if a paper is what you’re chasing.

Absolutely if you’re passionate about filmmaking.

You must have passion/interest, or you’ll just be wasting your time. I have no background or experience in production other than a couple of shoots, but I think I’m doing pretty okay. It also helps that I’ve become more vocal about asking for help when I need it, so my experience so far has been very good. Heh. School is awesome.

‘Course, you can disagree, but that’s your choice. Hope you had a nice weekend!

[Image courtesy of paul (dex)]

Got some new notebooks off Gmarket called Whitelines, and so far it’s okay. Interesting concept of using white lines instead of the standard black so that when you photocopy your notes, it’ll show up without any lines on it.

Fun, but I’m not sure if I need that feature. In any case, it’s a bargain at $1.90, so I’ll continue trying it out. Heh.

Yes! The trailer for The Hunger Games is finally out! I loved reading the books, so I was rather worried when they said they were going to adapt it into a movie, because many have tried… only to fail.

But this trailer looks rather good, actually. I got shivers up my spine while watching it – ohhhhh boy am I excited.

First thought: Where is Peeta? And who’s that random bloke I keep seeing?!

Um… yeah.

I honestly thought he was some guy who’d hopped on the train. I had to rewatch it quite a couple of times before I finally realised who he was. I feel kinda bad for saying this, but he pales in comparison to Gale (Liam Hemsworth). And this is coming from a gal who prefers blondes.

Hair colour aside, the star of the show, Jennifer Lawrence, seems to be able to embody Katniss rather well, eh? It’s been a while since I read the Hunger Games, so I might be getting the feel all wrong, but she’s got this kinda badass, serious feel that I like.

Random thoughts:

• I like the sets we’ve seen thus far, but shouldn’t it be grittier in some parts like the mining town?
• The female announcer vaguely reminds me of Umbridge (that cow).
• I can’t wait to see what the insanely outlandish Capitol will look like. Lionsgate, you’re such a tease.
• They didn’t show anything after the Tributes’ mad dash into the forest. Intentional, I’m sure.

I can’t wait till March.

PS: More stills available after the jump - 

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I’m not sure what started the decline into this mad mess we’ve made. Was there a deciding factor? Or was it just an amalgamation of several factors that’s led us to where we are today? Read the rest of this entry »

I hadn’t planned on watching You Are the Apple of My Eye (那些年，我们一起追的女孩), but I’m glad I did because this was incredibly awesome.

The movie, directed by Giddens Ko based on his semi-autobiographical novel, The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years, is about five boys and the girl whom they all had a crush on. It starts off in 2004, where we’re introduced to Ko Ching-Teng (Ko Chen-Tung), who’s getting ready for a wedding.

Whose wedding is it? We don’t know because we immediately flashback 10 years when Ching-Teng, the mischievous protagonist of the story, ends up sitting in front of goody-two-shoes Shen Chia-yi (Michelle Chen) after he gets caught for jacking off with a classmate (appropriately nicknamed ‘Boner’) in class.

Boys. Read the rest of this entry »