The 30-Day Photo Challenge

Day 30: A picture of someone you miss.

Mei-yin Gruber (girl in the background: Liiiiiiiiii), and my cousin Juliette.

On the left we have a Swedish/Chinese girl from London whose favourite response to things is: "It's so magical!" Only met her in August 2011, didn't get to meet her when she came back this year, but I really miss the quirkiness she brought to life.
On the right, we have me and my cousin Juliette swinging hands while walking down New York at Universal Studios Singapore. Another girl I can tell everything to. Unfortunately, I only get to see her once a year.


Day 29: A picture that can always make you smile.

Anime. (Top = Avatar: The Last Airbender, Left = Fairy Tail, Right = Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama, Bottom = Avatar: The Legend Of Korra.)

Whenever I have a bad day, or I feel upset, I just watch one of these 4 anime series. (Actually, Avatar is a Nickelodeon cartoon, but since it was inspired by Studio Ghibli animations, I shall call it an anime.) By the end of a single episode, I always find a smile on my face. :)


Day 28: A picture of something you're afraid of.

Dementors.

Well, not exactly Dementors in the literal sense. Just, depression, fear, pain, and suffering. That kind of thing.


Day 27: A picture of yourself and a family member.

My Mom.

The lass that birthed yours truly.


Day 26: A picture of something that means a lot to you.

Past birthday presents.

No other description available.

Day 25: A picture of your day.

Dawn.

Oh, you know, they're days.

Day 24: A picture of something you wish you could change.

The Stage.

I wish I could be even more self-confident and be better at performing in front of a large/live audience,



Day 23: A picture of your favourite book(s).

Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan (I also like the spin-off series, The Heroes Of Olympus), His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

As you can see, fantasy is my favourite genre. I love reading about and creating magical worlds and all of these books inspire me with every turn of a page.

Day 22: A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Studying and posing for the camera.

No joke, I really wish I could study better and look that good in a photo.


Day 21: A picture of something you wish you could forget.

RESTRICTED SECTION.

Unfortunately, you have reached the restricted section. Please scroll down.

Day 20: A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.

Paris, London, New York, Venice, Tokyo, The Sea.

For obvious reasons.


Day 19: A picture and a letter.

Amber and Shannon. :)

All those memories of those times we spent together, growing up together, etc. I miss them, love them, and cherish them. Thank you for those 10+ years of your friendship. I love being able to tell you both everything. Admittedly, we were growing apart for awhile, but thanks to this year's camp, I think we're back together. Mostly, anyway. ;)


Day 18: A picture of your biggest insecurity.

Me, Myself and I.

There are a lot of things about myself that I'm not secure about.


Day 17: A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

Strictly confidential.

The only thing I can tell you is, it's not a good thing.

Day 16: A picture of someone who inspires you.

Rachel Lee.

The most inspiring and amazing girl you'll ever meet. Seriously. Everything she says and does is pure inspiration.

Day 15: A picture of something you want to do before you die.

Visit Disneyland, swim with dolphins, surf.

Once again, for obvious reasons.

Day 14: A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.
When I actually find someone that fits this description, I shall put his/her picture here. But until then...

Day 13: A picture of your favourite band or artist.

Taylor Swift. :)

When I first heard "Love Story", I was feeling kind of hopeless. It was at night and I was sort of crying myself to sleep while listening to the radio. When I heard this song. Somehow, I felt hope. And this is still my favourite song. :)


Day 12: A picture of something you love.
Wow, where do I begin? Actually, I won't. ;)


Day 11: A picture of something you hate.

Kristen Stewart's portrayal of Bella Swan in Twilight.

Honestly, there would've been nothing wrong with the movies if it wasn't for her emotionless acting. Surely, as an actress, she is capable of more emotion?!


Day 10: A picture of the person you do the most fawked up things with.

The Junxster a.k.a. Teh Jun Qi.

I believe the photo is pretty self-explanatory. This is also the girl who knows me the best, and accepts me the most and doesn't (bother to) try to change me.


Day 9: A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

So Jun!

One of the best seniors you can ever find. Supportive, motivating, cute, and just plain awesome. One of the only few people who know how to make me feel good about myself. Thanks for all the comforting hugs, So Jun. :)


Day 8: A picture that makes you laugh.

My Tumblr, which has now moved to turquoiseleather.

Going on Tumblr, I normally see stuff that inspires me, or makes me laugh and smile.


Day 7: A picture of your most treasured item.

My violin.

This violin gave me my Distinction for Grade 8.


Day 6: A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.

Chloë Grace Moretz.

I honestly think she has the life. She has a lot of things going for her, and she's pretty talented too.


Day 5: A picture of your favourite memory.

Dreamworks Animation, Walt Disney classic, Harry Potter, Hairspray, IPOH.MY, Pixar, Walt Disney Pictures, WICKED.

Growing up watching Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks, what childhood memory doesn't consist watching one of those movies? Most of us 90's kids have literally grown up with Harry Potter, learning about friendship and courage in the face of adversity.

Last year, I had the amazing opportunity to perform in two productions. First was a school-based drama called IPOH.MY held in conjunction with KLPAC. The second was Hairspray, done with City Ballet, a musical. Both helped me learn more about the performing arts, helped me with my confidence, and with public speaking (somewhat, anyway).

Day 4: A picture of your night.

Scene from Peter Jackson's film, The Lovely Bones, starring Saoirse Ronan.

Oh, you know, I see dreams.



Day 3: A picture of the cast from your favourite show.

The Legend Of Korra, and SMASH!

Regarding The Legend Of Korra: I guess you can tell that I really love and adore this show. WELL HERE'S THE REASON WHY:  All the girls are really strong and brave and don't rely on anyone for anything. In my opinion, they are the true heroes of the show, and this time the Avatar is a girl which is pretty cool. It doesn't hurt that Mako (and Iroh, I suppose, what with his voice being the same as Zuko's in the original Avatar) is cute and Bolin is funny of course.
"It's the most moral, tried-and-true, beautiful tale. And it's such a good thing. Everyone in the world should watch it. Wars will STOP. If we just have every world conflict sit down, and like, have popcorn, and have a sleepover, and watch the entire thing of that show, we would all get along and it would be beautiful." ~ Darren Criss on Avatar.

Regarding SMASH: OK. For the sake of full disclosure, I would like to state that I am TEAM IVY. (She's the only blonde in the picture.) And I dislike Karen. Why do I like Ivy? She's probably the most disliked character in the whole show. I like her because I think she deserves the part more than Karen, and at least she doesn't run away from various problems. She reminds me of myself. Doing her best to achieve the very best, but constantly overlooked. Always pushed aside for someone else who's not better.

Day 2: A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Alice, Wen Yi and Me.

There is no one person that I have been friends with the longest. Our mothers put us together in Kindermusik. We've had a few disagreements, but we always made up afterwards. It will always be me, Wen Yi and Alice. Three of us together. :)


Day 1: A picture of yourself with ten facts.

The ukulele was an early Christmas present.

1. I play the violin.
2. I have an obsession with goosebump-inducing orchestral music.
3. I am obsessed with tying up my hair in the Katniss braid.
4.  I AM cynical, negative and pessimistic. But I try my best to be a nice person. If you're ok with that, maybe we'll get along.
5. I like action and fantasy movies more than romances.
6. I don't have tuition. None.
7. I write poems occasionally when I’m inspired.
8. Fandoms: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Disney, Studio Ghibli, The Hunger Games, Narnia, Inkheart, Avatar (The Nickelodeon cartoon, not the James Cameron film), Naruto, Pokemon and Fairy Tail! (I bet the last three came as a bit of shock?)
9. I love Taylor Swift.
10. I have a new hobby. Collecting stones/rocks/crystals/minerals. And I found one that is the size of the Philosopher’s Stone.

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. :)