I'm gonna wreck it!!

Following date night at Trattoria Italian Kitchen (which was a trendy restaurant with mediocre food at its best, but good ambiance if you enjoy the lively night life!) we had a movie date on Sunday afternoon! Tien's been wanting to see Wreck it Ralph since the previews came out. I was someone intrigued but only because I wanted to see all the old school game characters. We had no idea what the movie was going to be about, and surprisingly it was a beautiful film about overcoming challenges and friendship beyond borders! It was quite enjoyable! It took my mind off the stressful things lately! Hopefully things turn around and we can all get back to normal...that's all we want, is normal!

Cargo + Weekend at Granville Island

Cargo is a 2009 Swiss production. We watched this on Netflix about 2-3 weeks ago. At first we were drawn to this particular movie because it reminded me of Sunshine (2007 British Science Fiction film) The whole big spaceship in the endless space and the people on board starts to go crazy?! I am a closet sci-fi geek. Anyway! Cargo had that same feel, so we watched it!

Not to give anything away, this is the gist of the movie. A crew is set out for a 8 year voyage to transport some cargo to some planet's orbit station! At this point, Earth was inhabitable, and many people have moved to a new planet, Rhea. The main character is a doctor who boards this 8 year cargo voyage to make enough money to buy a Visa to Rhea, where her sister lives. The journey is smooth until something eerie starts happening on the ship! The rest is for you to find out... :)


[REC], is a Spanish horror film, also available on Netflix! I am a big fan of Spanish horror films, Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage, are amongst my top horror favourite! [REC] might be amongst the top 5! The movie is filmed using shaky camera style, which causes motion sickness, not my favourite. Although I believe this type of shaky cam does add to the scary aspect. I was most impressed with how many of the shots were a one continuous take (mind that they could have had many takes, but it was still nonetheless impressive) Another thing about shaky cam style, is the lack of music! Usually scary movies have suspenseful music that help s you anticipate the AHHHS. This is straight up REAL STUFF. I felt really immersed, as if I was in the movie! The synopsis of the movie is a tv show that is filming a day with firefighters, and is caught in some firefighting business! In the middle of the night, fire department gets a call to a building, regarding some screaming. Once they've entered the building, no one gets out. Everyone is confused and scared, what is going on?! Cops and authority quarantine the building without telling them anything. People are dying....?!? WATCH IT. There is also an American adaptation, Quarantine, I have yet to see it.

On to less scarier things, we visited Granville island over the weekend, and it was nice weather and Vancouver is just absolutely stunning!




The summer is ALMoST over, so go outside, and get dirty!

if you love something, let it go....

So we've all heard of this quote, in its many forms.

If you love something, let it go, and if it comes back to you, that's how you know, it's yours forever.

If you love somebody, let them go. If they come back to you then they're yours forever, if they don't return, then they were never yours to begin with

Anyway, if this quote was to be applied to relationships, it doesn't make much sense to me. If you truly loved someone, but they didn't love you back, and felt the need to leave you, and later decides that their decision was wrong, and came back to you, would you really want them back?

I am not usually a cynic, but this quote is weird. HAHA. If you have to let someone go, then it obviously wasn't meant to be from the start! Don't take them back!!!

On to some other note. Saw several movies over the past weeks.

Bridesmaid

Hangover

Hangover 2

We're on a comedy streak! If you're into HAHA movies, then go see these. Bridesmaid was pretty funny, although the main character was annoying at times and irritated me quite often. Hangover 1 was hilarious! Part 2 is the exact same thing as the first, but not as funny! All in all, easy movies to watch :)



Also, if you haven't heard the best song of the century, it is "We are the three best friends that anyone could have."

Check here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op-4iqRCDV4M

Source Code

Source Code ★★★ ½ ☆
I know I haven't done any movie reviews since No Strings Attached. Here's a movie I saw a few weeks ago. Source Code: starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan. The basic storyline is, a soldier is on a mission to find out the bomber of a Chicago Train. Although everyone on the train is already dead, the soldier is under some new military technology that allowed him to go back to 8 minutes before the train exploded as one of the passengers, and find out what happened. It is like a type of time traveling but not. The concept of the movie derives from the idea of computer programming, source code, where programmers can essentially understand and modify the program. To put it in simple terms, an iphone app is a program that runs on the iphone, but to understand how it works and to modify this app, one would need to use the source code and change the coding.

Like the app, the soldier needs to go back to the event, and try to figure out who's the bomber, where's the bomb, and so forth. I will not spoil the ending for people who have yet to see this movie, but I have to say the movie was pretty entertaining but I wished the ending was better executed with thorough explanation and justification, because it didn't seem legitimate.

Academy Award 2011

Last night the Oscar winners of 2011 were revealed! I feared that I was going to miss the epic 3 hour award ceremony due to a lack of PVR, but good thing Tien had old school VCR. So we watched it on good old VHS. Here's a recap of the important stuff.

Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Actress: Natalie Portman
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo

Although Leo wasn't nominated for his sexy role in Inception, the movie took home 4 golden boys :) YAY!

Next year Leo, next year!!

P.S. I think I look like Helena Bonham Carter, because she looks like my aunt, and I look like my aunt. I will find a photo that does me justice!



The following is to bash a Korean popstar. Her name is G.NA, she held a concert last night at the Bell Performance centre. The event promised those who purchased the VIP package that there would be a meet and greet with the star, also autographed photos and personal picture time with G.NA. To everyone's disappointment, the meet and greet was pushed back till the end of the concert, and then by the end of the concert they informed the ticket holders that there would be no signatures, no meet and greet, no personal picture time, only group photos taken by the staff.

WTF. If you cannot deliver your promises, then don't make them at all. You're forever in my bad books G.NA. What a scam! Scamming people of expensive ticket packages and no meet and greet! Even though I did not attend the event myself, but my brother did, and people were furious! You just lost some fans and reputation G.NA.

HATING ON G.NA~!!!!

Romantic Comedy

We saw No strings attached with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. I was infatuated with Natalie Portman after her dark performance in Black Swan. Here's a more light-hearted movie, about 2 people who use each other for sex, but the inevitable happens, they fall in love with each other.

The movie was quite enjoyable with a punchline here and there from the supporting actors, but towards the end of the movie, it just leaves you empty and dumbfounded. Dumbfounded in the worse possible way. You're thinking..huh? How the hell does this love-hate relationship always works out in people's situations? This doesn't parallel with real life.

So, we had a realization that why romantic comedies are so successful, because they appeal to a certain group of people. Here's a list of different genre of romantic comedy.

The Love-Hate relationship
synopsis: Two people obviously hate each other, but is forced to work together/be of proximity, and suddenly finds each other's annoying habits sexy and adorable. Falls in love despite all the hate and animosity towards each other just minutes ago.
audience: The single people who purposely annoys their secret crush. This type of movies gives them hope that it will eventually work out!
real-life application: The 5th grader who pulls on his classmate's hair and pushes her in the sandbox.
verdict: This doesn't really work.
applicable movies: The Ugly Truth, Life as We Know It, What Happens in Vegas, Pride and Prejudice

The Cinderella story
synopsis: A person (usually female) comes from a less than wealthy situation, and suddenly comes into some wealth, and meets the love of their life. (Or meets Price Charming and becomes RICH!) Totally life changing!
audience: All the girls who have been fed the Prince Charming story!
real-life application: Sugarbabies.com
verdict: It is hard not to be blinded by your bling, Prince Charming!
applicable movies: Maid in Manhattan, Cinderella, What a Girl Wants,

The ugly duckling
synopsis: An unattractive person gets a makeover or becomes popular, and suddenly everyone is drooling over her, including her crush for centuries. Looks really are important!
audience: People who's self esteem is low, and hopes a makeover is all they need to find true love.
real-life application: Slather on pounds of makeup to cover the insecurities!
verdict: Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, it is in the makeup bag.
applicable movies: She's All That, Princess Diaries, Never Been Kissed

Other categories include:

The cold feet: Days before the wedding, the bride/groom has doubts about the marriage, or someone is trying to sabotage the wedding!
ex: My Best Friend's Wedding, Made of Honor, The Wedding Planner

The my-best-friend-was-always-my-true-love-and-I-didn't-realize-it-until-a-bad-breakup
(I think the category speaks for itself)

The loner: Who is always unsuccessful in finding love, or maintaining a relationship, suddenly falls for someone who is not their type! Horray!

And the list goes on and on :)

I love romantic comedies, especially to kill time! But sometimes, these movies are so far off the planet earth, it makes you wanna blast an AK47 at the television.

The King's Speech + Food Challenge

Colin Firth does not fail us!!! He was awesome in this movie :)
Loved Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice back in the days, and now, he is impressive as a King who overcomes his speech impediment. Truly touching movie about King George the VI who is put into the throne unwillingly, but turns out to be a great leader. The movie displayed how friendship can grow from the most uncommon circumstances, and the power true friendships can provide. The story is an inspiration about overcoming our worst fears and facing our obligations like a real man, or rather, like a king!

We are rooting for Colin Firth as Best Actor for the Academy Awards :)

Here's my list of hopefuls
Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Actress: Natalie Portman (Although I haven't seen the other chicks..I should..)
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams (I liked her, but I think Melissa Leo might have done a better performance in The Fighter)

Best Picture: Inception (Because I love Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Nolan!!! But I think it might be The King's Speech or 127 hours, cuz they are true stories. BOO)

Also on the blog today! I made a couple of dishes over the week, and I shall be uploading pictures + recipes by this weekend. Here's a list of dishes I've made so far

Rigatoni Pomodoro ★★★☆☆
Attempts: 2
This is a relatively easy dish, can't really go wrong with pasta and cheese :)

Eggplant Parmesan ★☆☆☆☆
Attempts: 1
It was a fail! The eggplant was still somewhat undercooked :(

Spinach Soup + Mushroom ★★★★☆
Attempts: 2
Pretty easy again, blend up the spinach and stir in chopped mushrooms. Yum

Chinese braised green beans ★★☆☆☆
Attempts: 1
Need to get the right beans, and cook for a longer duration, and add more salt!

Vegetarian fried rice with mushrooms + cabbage ★★★☆☆
Attempts: Too many
Every time the fried rice tastes different! haha, perhaps cook with Jasmine rice next try.

Farfalle Alfredo + Wild Mushroom + Shanghai bokchoy! ★★★☆☆
Attempts: A few
Alfredo with mushroom is a no-fail strategy! Slow cook the mushrooms to bring out sweetness. Add butter for more flavour.

Movies to watch before the big date Feb 27th!

So they announced the nominations for Oscars today! I am stoked this year, because Leonardo DiCaprio made a movie! Inception might be a contender, but least likely to be best lead actor. :( That's ok LEO there's still next year!!

A couple of notable things in the nominations. The King's speech swept 12 nominations, followed by 10 nominations for True Grit, 8 for Social Media and 8 for Inception. Can you believe Christopher Nolan didn't get nominated for best director?! WHAT THE HELL?

Anyway, I am watching the King's Speech tomorrow night! YAY.

I'm hoping to watch the following soon

127 Hours

Blue Valentine

Rabbit Hole

The Kind's Speech

The Social Media ( I don't really want to see it, but it got so many awards at the Golden Globes.)

Morning Glory

Eat, Pray, Love (Just because the book was so slow and dreadful.)


Also, some exciting stuff in the cinemas!!

If you haven't read the book, Water for Elephant, it is time to do so!!!
The book is about a traveling circus! All the fun Carnies have :)
Also, some paraelle to biblical references, and a reflection of the depression times.

wait for it...wait for it...!! A film adaptation for the book! Staring Reese Witherspoon and Rpatz~!

We do everyday like Sunday.

Since the Oscar nominations are in tomorrow, I have to start watching some contenders! We saw Fighter last week, this week it was the much anticipated Black Swan.

If you haven't seen the movie, here's the dealio. Nina (Natalie Portman) plays the perfectionist ballerina, who is denied the role of Swan Queen, because she is too perfect, and only suited to play White Swan. Lily (Mila Kunis) is a more passionate dancer, that display potential for the sensual Black Swan. When the two compete for the role of Swan Queen, Nina finds a dark side of herself..

The movie is thrilling! Displaying an array of psychological stuff! The struggles of an artist, the obsession of perfection, the fear of being replaced by your double. Other notable psychological concepts, lack of social interaction, extremely protective and controlling mother, symptoms of delusion and Morgellons (a condition involving scratching of the skin, biting, skin lesions, and a belief that fibers are embedded under the skin.. etc.) Also, there is some graphic girl on girl action, perhaps a search of her sexual orientation.

I would give this movie the thumbs up! I enjoy seeing character development that eventually conquers! The movies keeps you guessing, if it is all Nina's hallucination, or was she simply a victim of unfortunate events? I felt that the movie gave a sympathetic angle to Nina's life, allowing the audience to feel for her.


My favourite part of the movie..so cool

On to happier things!
The weekend started off early, 11am brunch date at White Spot. Had a veggie egg benedict. Tasty!


Then we went to Aberdeen for a haircut! Also to buy ingredients for my next dish! Braised green beans! Here's us dorking out at Aberdeen centre with all the Chinese New Year festivities.



Dinner was at 4Stones in Richmond, on Westminster Road. I had the wonton noodle soup!


After dinner was Black Swan! Pretty eventful day, I'd say!

TiMER

What I watched last week on Netflix.com

TiMER, is a sci-fi-romantic-comedy about a device that counts down to the moment you meet your soulmate. The main character, Oona, is fast approaching 30 years of age, and her TiMER is still blank, meaning her soulmate has not yet been equipped with a TiMER.
She is in distress, because she's beginning to believe that she'll never find her soulmate. Meanwhile, she meets a cashier boy, and they start to develop a relationship, despite the fact he is TiMER-less. Cashier boy reminds Oona to live in the present. Just as Oona begins to doubt the effectiveness of TiMER, her TiMER goes off, and she's to meet her soulmate the next day. You can watch the rest of the movie to find out what happens!

The movie really brought many aspects of "love" into the equation. Do you believe in destined soulmates? Do you believe that love is what you make of it? Do you believe that one can be in love more than once? Do you believe that there is one person who is most compatible with you, and you'll learn to love them in the long run? Does love discriminate? All in all, a real good chill movie to watch on a Wednesday afternoon.

Weekend Movie Marathon

Chilling in Spain for film promotion!

The Green Hornet!
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, not sure if it is because I am biased towards Jay Chou!! It was all in all a really entertaining movie with classic slapstick comdey, and your typical easy to laugh punchlines! Jay Chou's english is also superb! As for storyline, like any superhero storyline, bad guys DIE, good guys WIN!

I would recommend the movie, because I love Jay.



The Fighter
Based on the true story of boxer Micky Ward and his brother Dickie Eklund. This is a boy-film, but I did enjoy the shirtless Mark Wahlberg! He's so swole! It had some pretty inspirational moments. Mark Wahlberg did a good job displaying one's dedication and passion to the sport. Also, I never really liked Christian Bale, but got to say, he plays a great crack addict!!


Movie directed by Drew Barrymore!

Whip It
Ellen Page plays a lost little girl who finds confidence and joy in roller derby! YAY. ROLLER DERBY! It is roller skates gone wild. We saw it on netflix and it was pretty enjoyable. Some funny parts, some touching moments, a relaxing film to watch with a tad of action in the rollerskating rink!

*We're suppose to watch Black Swan! It keeps getting pushed back...maybe it is not meant to be...

P.S. More movies to watch before the Oscar catches up to me! Did anyone watch the Golden Globes? I didn't, because it is not the Oscar.

An Education

Since Tien got an account at Netflix.ca, I've been blessed with hundreds of movie choices! Today I picked An Education!

Story takes place in 1960 London, with impeccable taste for fashion.
This movie is an adaption of British Journalist, Lynn Barber's memoir. It depicts a young bright 16 year old girl, Jenny, who is pursuing education at an all-girl prep school, and aiming for Oxford University. While she is bored with the relentless and seemingly meaningless school life, she meets an older man, who seduces her with his charm and luxe lifestyle. She soon learns that his lifestyle is a work of con, and is involved in shady business. She learns to accept his dubious work, and doubts an Oxford education would ever be useful. She throws away her education, and accepts a marriage proposal from the older man. Should you want to know how this story ends, please watch the movie! hahaha! No spoiler here :)

The movie was great, I really liked the 1960's fashion and elegance everyone had about themselves. The main actress, Carey Mulligan, is said to channel the great Audrey Hepburn in both elegance and talent. After watching the movie, the lesson that should be learned is, "All that glitter is not gold." Though...those glitter should be diamonds!!

Lynn Barber was once naive and fell for a conman, who deceived her as well as her family. Life's a big lesson, and lesson learned!

Check out some wardrobe from the film.

Up in the air

Finally saw the movie. It was okay. Nothing SUPER about it. I really need a full-time chiropractor to fix my neck, it is tense again. Starting this week I will exercise more often! Although this weekend I will be away at a shoe show doing business! Wish me luck :)

I finally bought some sensible soles today! OMG you have no idea what comfortable shoes are until you try them on. I am flabbergasted! I never thought shoes could do so much! I will continue to buy more shoes hahaahahaha. That goes without saying.

I know the coming weeks are going to be extremely busy....perhaps I might sneak in a mini getaway in May...? Oh please oh please

Hunnie, take me on a trip please! :)

Movie List

Here are a couple of movies I would like to get my hands on!

SHUTTER ISLAND

I cannot wait for this epic film of the year! Hopefully we will see this film as an Oscar nomination!

Valentine's Day

You can never have enough romantic comedies, especially one with multiple big stars!

Cop Out

Tracy Morgan?! Bruce Willis?! HAHAHAHHA YES MUST SEE

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Even though the name sounds lame, it should be good entertainment.


Quote of the day:
"Don't do business in your room, unless it's monkey business" - Kristie Alley

I ♥ Leonardo DiCaprio

Shutter Island
From Oscar®-winning director Martin Scorsese, “Shutter Island” is the story of two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island’s fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

Genre:Drama
Director:Martin Scorsese
Cast:Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, Max von Sydow

Oh, how wonderful. A drama with the sexiest man alive, with crazy people on a beautiful island. Sounds like a movie for me! Let's anticipate the coming of this masterpiece in October 2009 :)