Nothing To Say

Um. So this blog has been inactive for some time... Let's just try and catch up with what I've been up to recently.
I am currently revamping my Tumblrs, and will be adding new tumblogs and deleting some old tumblogs. So quite busy customising that.
I may be moving all my reviews to a new blog.
I am finishing up on the plot line for my book. But I won't say more than that.
I am co-writing the script for my school's drama team. The story is loosely based on the latest Wizard Of Oz film adaptation, Oz the Great and Powerful, which I watched on the 7th with Jun Qi.
Initially, I had my doubts but the movie turned out pretty good. *SPOILER ALERT*
The visual effects were stunning. The story was quite well-written. The music was done by Danny Elfman so yeah. The movie had a bit of a Tim Burton-y "Alice In Wonderland" feel to it. It started as a black-and-white before turning into full colour when Oscar went to Oz, reminiscent of the original Wizard Of Oz film. Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams were the Wicked Witch of the East (my least favourite character in all adaptations, including Wicked), and Glinda the Good, respectively. I think James Franco proved what a wonderful actor he is, he acted with two animated characters, and he did it really believably so I give him credit for that. My favourite was definitely Mila Kunis, wow. She had the most character development, from sweet/seductive girl to Wicked Witch. And her wicked laughter was the BEST.
But I still prefer Wicked, haha.

Oscar Noms Critique - Best Animated Feature

*WARNING: This is gonna be a long one.*

Firstly...

"Hi."

Secondly, I have a question for you. Do you have the same opinions as me? No?

If you do, great!

On the 10th of January 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards. As a teenager, I have only watched one of the films nominated for Best Picture, but on the other hand, I have seen all the films nominated for Best Animated Feature (and some animated films which weren't). Partly because you don't really need to think too much while watching an animated film, and partly because animation is my favourite movie genre.

As I have mentioned before in a previous post, I've watched both Pixar's Brave and Dreamworks' Rise Of The Guardians, and found Brave to be Pixar's most boring movie ever and Rise Of The Guardians to be the most beautiful film ever.

So the main topic for this post is: Why wasn't Rise Of The Guardians nominated for an Oscar? And why isn't it winning the awards that it has been nominated for?

Still Dream

(Note: No spoilers ahead.)
So, I watched Dreamworks Animation's Rise Of The Guardians today. I must say after watching the amazing trailer, I had REALLY high hopes for this film. I also had really high hopes for Pixar's Brave (one of my Oscar nomination favourites) which turned out to be a big disappointment.

To be honest, I was afraid that Rise Of The Guardians would be a letdown, and I was really hoping that this movie would get a Best Animated Feature Academy Award (that's the Oscars, BTW) nomination.

Well, after watching it, I must change that statement, I'm not hoping for an Oscar nomination for this movie. I am hoping for an Oscar WIN.

Yup, this movie was that amazing.

The beautiful storyline, the stellar voice cast, the goosebump-inducing music by the awesome Alexandre Desplat, the animation itself, everything was beautiful. (Also, the jokes were funny without being too American.) Though I must admit, some parts made me think of Peter Pan (both Disney animation and live action films). The Sandman, yetis, Easter eggs (and bunny), tiny elves, and baby tooth fairies were so adorable! And Jack Frost is the awesomest-cutest male animated character EVER. (Oh yeah, and no kissing!)

This is also the first movie that made me cry. But I wasn't crying because I felt sad. No, I was crying because I was happy. Yup, this film made me shed tears of pure joy. It made me believe once again in all the things I had forgotten, magic, imagination, wonder and hope. This is the most beautiful film I have ever seen, animated or live-action. Thank you, Dreamworks, for this amazing experience.

Watch it if you haven't yet!

Lastly, I shall end with my Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination predictions.

One website predicted Pixar's Brave (The Big Disappointment), Disney's Wreck-It-Ralph (Ew, No), Tim Burton's Frankenweenie (haven't watched it yet so I can't say anything about it), The Painting (never heard of it, so ditto), and ParaNorman (No way! Did anyone even watch this movie? Maybe I'm just being biased because I was annoyed with the trailer being used as a YouTube advertisement).
As possible spoilers, they listed Rise Of The Guardians (as you know, I disagree with this, see above), Hotel Transylvania (oh Gawd, no), Studio Ghibli's From Up on Poppy Hill (comment below), and The Lorax (no comment). I totally agree with their list of longer shots though.

So, here are my predictions:
1. Dreamworks Animation's Rise Of The Guardians (nuff said, literally)
2. Disney/Pixar's Brave (although I was disappointed, the only Pixar movie that wasn't nominated since this category's inception in 2001 was 2011's Cars 2, and I'm really not surprised)
3. Tim Burton's Frankenweenie (I'm being biased because it's Tim Burton)
4. The Lorax (it was a really cute movie, and compared to the other contenders, this is a better choice because it had a good environmental theme going on) if this doesn't get nominated, then probably Wreck-It-Ralph, cause people will be biased towards Disney.
5. Studio Ghibli's From Up On Poppy Hill (Being even more biased, but this was a really beautiful story. Unfortunately, unlike all the other films, it doesn't have a fantasy thing going on so some people may not appreciate it.)

One last thing, I BELIEVE!

Ok, I'm done. *satisfied grin*

(Note: No pics because I'm typing this on my iPod.)

Additional notes on Rise Of The Guardians (17th December 2012):
Ok, I do not appreciate the reviews given by the critics. THIS MOVIE WAS NOT MEANT TO BE SCRUTINISED TO PIECES BY ADULTS. It was meant to be enjoyed by children and to let them believe in things like imagination and magic which have been lost in this modern age of ours. SO STOP LOOKING AT IT LIKE AN ADULT, AND JUST TRY TO REDISCOVER THE CHILD IN YOU.
In other news, the movie has just won the Best Animated award at the Hollywood Film Festival, Audience Favourite Children's Film at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and Best Animated/Mixed Media Satellite Award.
Pending nominations:
1. Critic's Choice Awards for Best Animated Feature, other nominees: Brave (No), Frankenweenie, Madagascar 3 (NO.), ParaNorman (No.), and Wreck-It-Ralph (No.).
2. Annie Awards for ... a lot. The Annie Awards are solely dedicated to animation, so that explains it. Anyway, 8 nominations. Huzzah! But the nomination list for the main award, Best Animated Feature, is pretty crowded. Other nominees: Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (Aardman production), The Rabbi's Cat (It's French), and Wreck-It-Ralph. I think you should know how I feel about this by now.
3. Golden Globe Awards for Best Animated Feature Film, other nominees: Brave, Frankenweenie (Yet to have an opinion), Hotel Transylvania (Surely not), Wreck-It-Ralph (I'm beginning to see a pattern here...).
Random thought, I have never been this supportive of a Dreamworks movie before, except maybe How To Train Your Dragon. I was pretty biased towards Disney/Pixar.
Kay, I'm done.

You Can't Stop The Beat

So it's been almost a year since Hairspray, and I think it's about time I make this long overdue post. Oh well, better late than never?

Hairspray was something that could or could not have happened. It was something that would either inspire me, or crush my dreams. I regret nothing. I loved every second of being able to spend time with these wonderful people. Being inspired by these wonderful people. Crying, laughing, praying, dancing. I wouldn't change any of that for anything in the world.

Ok, let's start with the auditions. They were held in the black box theatre above City Ballet. We had to dance, sing two contrasting songs, and perform a monologue. I didn't do that well, but I asked Xavier and Sylvia for advice afterwards, which helped me a lot.

By some miracle (and a lot of pushing), I managed to weasel my way into the ensemble. First rehearsal, at first I couldn't go, but I managed to work my way around that too.

And then after that, well. . . I learnt how to sing and dance, and I had fun. :)

I'm really grateful for this experience, thanks to this, I think I'm a bit more confident than I was before. :)

"It was hell at the time, but after it was over, it was wonderful." ~ Billy Wilder

Regarding Something Completely Unrelated To Halloween

Today, I was supposed to participate in a public speaking competition, but in the end, I didn't. Read on. I'm somewhat disappointed that I did not get a chance to speak because I think I wrote a pretty good speech. Here it is:

Good morning honourable judges, teachers and all my fellow friends. The title of my speech is "the importance of being prepared". I am afraid that I have been pulled unwillingly to join this competition. Being the incredibly blur person that I am, I had no idea that the public speaking competition was today and so, I only prepared this speech 5 minutes ago. If I was more prepared by finding out beforehand when this competition was going to be held, I would not be in this awkward situation. Thus, I shall take this as a lesson so that next time, I will not be unprepared. Thank you.

Hmm, simple, short, sweet, and a bit tongue-in-the-cheek. I might have won.

Or not. On second thought, maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I didn't have to present it.

In other news, HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

The Indigo Waves

I watched a new Studio Ghibli movie today, it's called From Up On Poppy Hill. I love Studio Ghibli's animations, they are just as good as Disney's Pixar's animations. And the music is just so beautiful. My favourite Studio Ghibli movies are Howl's Moving Castle (my new URL is a reference to this movie), The Castle In The Sky, Spirited Away, and this one. :)

It's about this girl called Umi, her mother's away and her father died in the Korean War. (This movie is set in 1963, the year before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.) Every morning, she hoists these flags which signal "Safe Voyage", and though she doesn't know it, a guy called Shun, who passes by in his father's tug, always answers her. (Shun is from her school, so I suppose you can guess where this is going?)

Things get complicated when it appears that they might share the same father. (Of course they actually don't, but they don't find out until the end of the movie.)

Obviously, there is more to the story. But I'm not going to tell you. . . Yet. ;)

What I like about Studio Ghibli movies are: They can exhibit true love without having to have any love scenes (e.g. kissing). Somehow, it really makes the love between the characters real and pure. Which in my opinion, somehow makes them better than Disney. (No offense! I love Disney too!)

Shun's poem for her, which was published in their school newspaper. :)

How they first met:

Shun was asked by the student council president to jump off the roof of their clubhouse. (I still don't understand why.) The president is a pretty cool guy, unfortunately, he's not featured in this GIF.

Thankfully, the student council president made the boys remove the cover for a pool at the bottom before he told Shun to jump, so out of sheer dumb luck, Shun ended up in the pool.

Sweet scene from the movie. :)

Umi finds out that Shun helps out at the school newspaper, she agrees to help out too after the student council president offers to give her his usually-accurate forecasts for their next exam. (I know, how can you possibly refuse?!) She also learns that there are plans to demolish the clubhouse and she suggests that they clean it up to restore it to its former glory.

Because he's an awesomely smart genius and I like him, here's a GIF of Shiro standing on the roof and ordering everyone about like a boss. Say hi.

My favourite scenes from the movie. :

Shun catches Umi as they board the boat to find out the truth about Shun's father. :')

All in all, I thought this movie was simply...

Ditto.

The philosophy club guy read my mind. :)

Remembrances

Today, was my violin exam. Grade 8. Spent some time stressing over it. Not enough apparently.

Date: 1st August 2012 (Also first day of PMR trial.)

Time: 3.19 PM (it took about 25 minutes)

Location: Heritage Hotel

ABRSM. Examiner: B.N. (Will not share name here, but I memorized his name, where he's from, his wife's name, and his children's names. Just in case, he fails me...)

Pieces:

A. J.S. Bach Giga, 4th movt from Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Solo Violin, BMV 1004. (Which I played last.)

B. Schumann Allegretto: 2nd movt from Sonata in A minor, Op. 105.

C. John Williams Remembrances: from Three Pieces from Schindler's List (The composer also composed Hedwig's Theme.)

I think I did ok, pretty well. I won't say more than that. :)

After that, dad took me out for tea at Indulgence. Apparently, I "deserved it" after "all my hardwork" and "endless practices". Thanks, Dad. :)

Hibiscus macaroon and scarlett strawberry slush.

BEST. CROISSANT. EVER.

Awesome fluffy tiramisu.

Dad's latte.

Went to Jusco after that. Nothing to report. Except I saw this awesome bag, and I commented it to dad. ("That's a nice bag.") Apparently, I hardly see things I like, so I got this as an early Christmas present. (I think my dad is secretly pleased that I don't go shopping all the time. Also, this is the first time we went shopping for something that wasn't a book.) But yeah. Pretty memorable day. :)

The Amazing Turquoise Leather Shoulder Bag!

Note to people taking music exams: Pray to God or whoever it is you believe in the day before or on the day of your exam. Trust me, you won't feel as nervous as you normally would. To violin players, this helps take away your frustrations too. For some reason, violinists are more prone to frustration than pianist. But then again, it's not like you can throw a piano. (Not that I throw my violin, but still. . .)

(No photo of my violin because the photo is on my other computer, and that computer is acting up. Will update later.)

*IMPORTANT UPDATE (14th September 2012)*
And my results are. . . DISTINCTION (139)!!!!!!! *tosses glitter confetti in the air*

Harry approves.

Ginny approves.

*cue manga-style girly scream* KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!! XDD
Naturally, I'm EXTREMELY pleased and psyched. Even more so, cause I heard this examiner also failed a lot of people. (Yes, I'm a horrible human being. What else is new?) So I suppose he was pretty impressed?
I will admit:

Now I'm just DYING to see what's on the comments slip. *anticipated*