BEST and WORST movie of 2010

Okay now I'm going to recap all those movies this year. It's been a long ride with much great movies, and also that bad dissapointing movies as well... Noted that I only reviewed the movies that I've watched this year, in my country. I'll not write a review about movies that has not been released here, and to which I haven't seen it.


I'm just going to be very quick on this one, starting with The WORST movies of 2010 that has 'burned' my cash and got me completely stoned after the credits rolled. Yeah, okay heregoes:


10. Gulliver's Travels
Watched it last week, and thought that THIS movie is the worst year end film I've ever watched. The acting is  bad, with a predictable storyline (I'm very well aware of the book, you see. But this comment is not just because of the book). The humor is dull and cheesy, the background music made it worse. Yes I admit the special effects is good, better than Narnia 3. But this movie only sell because of Jack Black's starred in it (and to be honest he didn't do so well either). So, no for this movie. It's just another excuse of Hollywood to made another movie based upon a book for their lack of ideas and creativity. Rate: 2/5


9. Clash of The Titans
Tired of seeing Sam Worthington being in a rebellious, patriotic character? Better skip this one. Rate: 2.5/5


8. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Another dissapointing movie of the year. One of the positive things is that I don't expect it to be so good either. The special effects are gone all the way back when I was in 1st grade. Rate: 2.5/5


7. The Last Airbender
Watched this on a flight back home from my trip to Seoul. I had nothing to comment on. It's all clear that this one really bad in every aspect anyone would expect inside a film. I definitely will not see any of Shyamalan's film from now on (except it does get a good reviews). Rate: 1/5


6. Sex and The City 2
Also watched it on the plane. It feels like watching Discovery Travel and Living at my cable TV. Rate: 1/5


5. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
I didn't watch it due to low ratings, yet my sister watched it and said that it was actually terrible. To cast Nicholas Cage in this kind of movie is the first mistake, well, to be honest, all of the cast for this movie seems wrong, and that what made this movie dull. Rate: 2/5


4. Killers
Ashton Kutcher is better of with some romantic comedy movies or maybe he should just go back directing his show Punk'd, than to play an assassin. Its so not him. Rate: 1/5


3. When In Rome
Bad directing, lack of chemistry, tasteless comedy. What more can you ask of a bad romance movie? Rate: 1/5


2. Skyline
(See the previous post)


1. Shrek Forever After
Too bad the ogre couldn't make it this time. This is the end of the ogre's tale and also the worst of the series. I think that Dreamworks just considered the profit more than the quality of the story, and so they had lost the very essence of Shrek itself. This movie failed in almost everything, from the lifeliness Shrek used to have in the first and second movie (no, not The Third, unfortunately no), the fresh humors. Watching it in 3D would be an awful mistake, because this movie is no other than Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (Walt Disney Pictures), which of course is not meant for cinemas.


The BEST of 2010:


10. Tron: Legacy
While all critics criticize this movie's plot and storyline which is unclear and has no relation to the prequel at all, I found this movie really entertaining. Of course I haven't watched Tron (1982), but I've seen the trailer and I think this one is much better. Better in the effects (of course), and Disney has also made a significant change of the aura in the movie itself. The 1982 verse is more of a goofy and filled with humor whereas Tron: Legacy is far more serious. Yes the plot and story is a little unclear and they should have elaborate more on Tron character (played by Bruce Boxleitner), and they should definitely cut the 'dinner scene' because it has nothing related to the movie at all (Roasted pig and asparagus?? Where did you plant or produce that inside a computer? Is Kevin Flynn a God now that he can actually create animals and trees?). Yet overall the visuals and the score soundtrack really kicks this movie with a great experience you've never seen before. It's one of the best movie of the year (according to me). The 3D effects is also do this film good although at some point I think that they can do better. Rate: 4/5


9. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1
(See the review on my previous post)


8. Iron Man 2
Jon Favreau has made the franchise even better, by delivering a sequel which can match the excitement of the first one. Rate: 4.5/5


7. Toy Story 3
Have I ever said that Pixar/Disney collaboration is a perfect match? No? Well now I said it. Rate: 4/5


6. How to Train Your Dragon
This movie is absolutely the closest rival to Pixar's animation since Shrek 2. Rate: 4.5/5


5. Salt
Yes, Angeline Jolie really is the BEST female hero in action films! Rate: 4.5/5


4. IP Man 2
Time for Asian movie to receive the honor. I love the first and I definitely love this sequel! Rate: 4/5


3. Step Up 3D
(See the review on my previous post)


2. The Social Network
(See the review on my previous post)


1. Inception
No doubt this movie is this year's gem! The actors and casts were perfectly chosen, the plot and story is strong and clear although some may find it confusing. With all those killer score written by Hans Zimmer, and stunning performances by all of the actors especially Tom Hardy, I'd find it difficult not to put it in the first place. Although some audiences still questioned the very end of the movie, yet for me that ending is perfect!! It allows you to think it through and watch it again. To be honest, I've watched it for 3 times now and I still cannot define the right answer to that question, and its ok. I'm satisfied no matter what the endings might be. Rate: 5/5


Notable mention: Tangled, Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Dear John, Alice in Wonderland.


I'm so dissapointed in not seeing Let Me In, Never Let Me Go, and Black Swan this year *sigh*. Hope I can see it next year when it has been released in my country. Sometimes movies take far too long to get here and I'd have to wait a decade to watch them.


That's a wrap for my reviews this year I think...


I hope you guys have a pleasant New Year Holiday!! God bless ^__^

Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Once again Harry Potter is the star of this month!! Yes, Harry Potter is finally here, and I watched it last Saturday (lucky enough to slip of those eager Potter fans out there and snatched a ticket...) I admit I've been waiting for so long for this movie ever since the teaser trailer for both Part 1 and Part 2 comes out. And according to what I got from the trailer was, FANTASTIC!! MUST-SEE movie of the year! Oh, I'm not forgetting other movies that I've been waiting for too, like, Tron Legacy for example? But let's not forgetting that Harry Potter really IS an epic!!

This is my favorite part!! :)

The story started where we left off last movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince... Remind you, SPOILER ALERT FOR YOU WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED HALF-BLOOD PRINCE! (For you who've watched Half-Blood Prince, you may proceed... :))

At Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore's dead, and Ministry of Magic is never been at stake... Both the wizarding world as well as muggle world are not safe... Snape is finally seen as a dark figure as he killed Dumbledore, and in this movie, Snape did appeared to be once again reunited with his former dark community, The Death Eaters... His allegiance by this time is obvious (or is it?). The readers of the books may have well known the ending to this mysterious man, but for you who are only as loyal as the movie audiences might have to wait until next year to reveal Snape's secret...

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are once again must face the peril and dangerous paths in front of them, as they travelled through forests and cities, to find Voldemort's precious souls which has been splitted to seven (or six) horcruxes... As for your information, horcruxes are the objects being made by killing someone, to gain some kind of 'permition' to split your soul into that object... So far its been said that Tom Riddle, a.k.a Voldemort has made 7 horcruxes including himself... What might be the last horcrux inside the book will stunned us all... I have read the books, right from the start til the end, and I have finished even before the sixth movie came along...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows brings you a very subtle ride from the beginning to the very end. The pace is slow at some point, and that is the difference of this film from the previous Potter movies which always in fast pace mode in order to capture the important moments inside the book... You won't find it in this installment... The pace is moderate to slow, and sometimes it dragged too much... Although many people claimed that this is the best Potter films ever made, I have to disagree on that. Not that this movie is not entertaining and not worth your two and a half hours time to watch, but the slow pace had almost made me feel...bored...

First of all, the tent scene is too much... Too much to elaborate on just normal and ordinary tents scene... Then, comes the part that I really liked from the book but the filmmakers just pass it out like nothing ever happened... There are parts on the book, the relationship and chemistry between Hermione and Ron for example, though it stated clearly in the movie, but the chemistry from the actors are not... Yes, Emma Watson made the perfect Hermione, and Rupert Grint made a perfect Ron, but their relationship is kind of flat. This is especially seen on the Malfoy's Manor scene...

The actors and actresses are all deliver pretty much the same performances, with an addition of Bill Nighy... I love Bill Nighy, but his role as Rufus Scrimgeour here cannot explore his character more... I wished he had a role that is much more important, because to 'hire' a very talented actor like Bill Nighy as Scrimgeour who only appeared in several scenes, means the waste of his talent as an actor...

The music is splendid! Alexandre Desplat really made this movie has a soul in it, like every other movies he's composing... You'll love what he had brought to The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and The Painted Veil...

Overall, this is just another Potter movie, except there are many ups and downs in this film, more than you expected... We, as the readers of the books, are challenged to compare the imaginations visualized inside our minds while reading the book, with the scenes on he big screen... I shall say, in visualizing the events on the book, this movie is on the TOP of the list... The downside is only the dragging side of too-many tents scenes, and the chemistry which does not work, and I cannot blame the actors for that matter, maybe it's just the way the filmmakers wants it. To set aside the romance for a full fiction adventure genre of movie...

Watch it or not?

Yes, definitely I recommend you to watch it! Although there are minor scenes, but Harry Potter is too epic to be forgotten on the list of movies you'd like to watch this year... Just enjoy the movie without any expectations, and you'll be fine...

Oh, and since this movie also comes from a book, and I know movies that originally adapted from books are not as good as the book itself... So take this advice, when you watch this movie, enjoy it as a movie, not as a movie adapted from a book, and you'll settled.

Rating: 4 out of 5... 

Movie Review: Megamind vs Skyline

Hmm, yeah I know the two movies above comes from a very different genre and target audience... Yet I'm going to give a quick review about it... I watched it last week by the way, and I was distracted the whole week with painting, yes, recently I draw... Again, after such a long time of resting my pencils and sketch book...

And today, I know I must catch up with all the movies I've watched, because I got a bigger movie to be reviewed... Yes, its HARRY POTTER and THE DEATHLY HALLOWS!!

But before I got to that one, I'll reviewed these two movies first...

Megamind:

A story about a villain who is actually an innocent (misguided by his past to be exact) and a lonely guy... Will Ferrell is the perfect choice for this character, he portrays the humor as well as the lonely and unwanted person that grows sympathy from the audiences. With a standard storyline, this movie can brought an entertaining visual of a villain who turned out better than he already is. Animation? Well, I think Dreamworks really working hard as they catch up with Pixar, which is of course far away on the top of the greatest animators' list. But the animation in this movie is not bad... It is still below How to Train Your Dragon but Dreamworks are working on it, and I'm sure of it, seeing their efforts from a tasteless and flat animated movie like Bee Movie, until they rise to this stage...

Yet, if I pictured Dreamworks and Pixar racing toward each other to be the best animator, I'd say Pixar still wins two laps... From the visuals, the story, plot, and perfect portions of each characters presented in each movie, the emotions, and even the choice of music along the film... (The music in this film is not bad at all by the way. Yep, it's Hans Zimmer who composed it and making this movie better in emotional aspect...)

Rating: 3.5 from 5

Skyline:

I'm sorry but I think this is the WORST movie I've watched this year... Not that I already enthused with the idea of this is going to be a good movie, no... Still I don't expect it to be so... Crappy... Readers, please don't get tricked by the good poster design up there. Yes, the poster design really can indicate whether the movie is good or bad in some movies, yet in this one, the fact is vice versa... From the story, the actors and actresses, the music, and even the visual effects is not properly managed...

The story is about the aliens that invaded the earth (a formula that is used in almost every single sci-fi movies...), about UFOs and that people started missing... So there are these people who are lucky enough to survive, only to let the time decide whether they really survived or they are just going to accept their fate and join the others that are already missing. 

The story is dull and filled with cliches here and there, surprising ending though... Yet the ending alone cannot save this movie from thumbs down... The acting is much worse.  The victims are just a bunch of people who have only one facial expression throughout the movie...  And just like a horror genre movies, the sheer luck survivals then started to gone missing one by one... To be exact, I take a look at my watch every time I can, and laugh in irony... This movie shouldn't be a comedy, yet it was! For me...

Okay here's the advice, you'd better go home, save your money, and watched The War of The Worlds for the thirtieth times or something, than to go and see this film... In fact the alien is similar, I do not know whether it is a coincidence or not...

Rating: 1 from 5 (Can I get a refund, please?)

Conclusion:

So, thinking of going to got to the movies this weekend? Well, I think that everybody is busy planning for Deathly Hallows this week, yes, they are the king of the box office... But if you'd like to see another title, or maybe just to save you from a dissapointment of not getting a ticket for Deathly Hallows, I recommend you to see Megamind... It worths your time and money, plusses good humor and entertaining in all aspects, whereas Skyline, they don't deserve BOTH!! Sorry... 

10 of My Favorite Things...

Good to be back on track... My works done (well, its not done yet, but I think I deserve a cool down for a sec...), tomorrow's a holiday... (Yippeee!!!), and tonight I'm going to watch more episodes of Vampire Diaries Season 1 on my DVD!! (All of the campus tasks had made me forget the episode... Uhh... I'm like 'Where was I left it?')


But first of all I intend to write this blog... I just had a thought in my mind the other day about The Favorite Things from The Sound of Music... You know? The movie? With Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer and those cute kids singing? (Speaking of Christopher Plummer, he did look handsome in that movie! And now he's a Grandpa!! :D)


So I just had this thought that I would like to share my favorite things...


I think this is going to be simple, and I'll make it as short as possible... (Anyway, these things are ONLY things that can be sensed by our senses, in the way that it is something 'real', can be touched, can be seen, etc etc...)


10. The smell of damp grass and air after a heavy rain...


9. The light blue sky without a cloud, or very few clouds... Along with a far and wide green meadow, or grassland.


8. The sound of bacon, or a ham, or sausages sizzled on the frying pan...


7. The silky white clean piece of paper with no single scratch on it... To sketch the papers alone is preferable though :)


6. Smooth and light silk dress... (Can't find a reason not to like it... :D)


5. Watching sad and deep storyline movies with sweet caramel popcorn in hand, feet on the couch...Crying not only because of the characters, but also of the acting accompanied by a great script...


4. Sitting alone in a windy day while watching people passing by, listening to some instrumental music.


3. The smell of old sheets of papers inside an old book, with all its crippled edge and yellowish papers...


2. Eating the 'Charms' out of "Kellogs Lucky Charms" cereal in the afternoon, as a snack rather than as a breakfast, NO milk added... Just plain cereals...


1. A light on the darkest nights, in forms of anything, candles, lightbulbs, anything...


Okay, thats all my favorite things... There are tons of other favorite things I'd like to share, but the page would not allow it... :) 
Anyway, spending my time thinking of these things made me appreciate more (and pay attention to details more) to the environment... Its good to look at every fragment that completed your life sometimes... Getting out of your routine, just feel what you have to feel at that time, and sensed using your five senses the beauty of life... That way you'll feel blessed and soon you'll find yourself appreciate your life more... :)

Today's Exhausting Marathon...

Phew, how I am very grateful that this day had FINALLY come to an end... Why? Well to explain it would be such a long story... Haha... I'll explain it anyways...

First of all, my business plan assignment... Finally wrapped up and although it is not ready yet, I'm happy and content with it... So happy that it is finally done, with our group efforts and all... This assignment has taken very much of my time, days and nights... I'm exhausted to the max, especially yesterday when my head started to 'scream' at me for sleeping out of normal schedule...So, yesterday I was making this assignment til past midnight, and going to sleep feeling unwell, my stomach full of gas, my head spins, and I haven't finished my assignment... I switched on the alarm on my cellphone, picking 5.30 am to wake up in the morning, in order to finish the task...

Too bad I cannot wake up the next day, my alarm rings, yes... But I guess I'm too sleepy to wake up, so I only consider myself as half awake, switched off the ring ring tone, then go back to my dream world (almost immediately). Then, when I woke up later, the sun had risen from her dark lair, the birds are all chirping noisily outside my bedroom... And the thought, okay, do I dare to look at the time? I grabbed my cell from the desk and... Yeah... Its already 6.30 am! I've overslept for one hour, and haven't finished my job, and the class started at 9.00... To top it all, my sister has a presentation this morning, and so she cannot be late for her 8.10 class... The journey from my house to campus takes about half an hour in a normal day, so I have to get there as soon as possible... Say, 7.30 am?

Shortly after I arrived, I was helped by one of my friend to finish the task... We finished doing what I should've done the night before, including printing it on campus... At 10.30! We missed class and thats too bad... Yet we saved the day! Hahaha...

So, my day continues from an exhaust mode to a drowsy mode... I got home at half past four, and found out that I got a Chinese Language Course, from my mother... Its so sudden, and although I've heard it before and had agreed to join the course, still it surprised me... A little... Before I go to the language course, I done my usual routine on Friday which is do some workout at home... What do they call it? Cardio?

It ends to now... The machine worked inside my body shouted to me to stop doing anything... And that is exactly what I would do now... Go to sleep is much easier when you are exhausted anyway... >__<

Today's mood: drained of energy...

Movie Review: The Social Network; Dear Facebook Addict (also former addicts), you should (all) watched...!

Finally! After a month of desperate waiting, the movie is finally reached my country! Thx to the distributors, they really had done a great job! (Not that they weren't doing a good job all this time... I'm just saying... You know... :D )

Yes, its Saturday Movie Night! Hmm, yes I know I have a good reason to stay at home this Saturday, what with all that assignments to finish... But unfortunately my mind belongs somewhere else, and I really need to refresh my mind a little... Just a little bit... It won't hurt... Right??

So I once again set off to the mall (and yes, in my town there is NO cinemas built as one building... All the cinemas are inside the malls... So, we are forced to go to the mall everytime we watched movie... How smart of the 'business folks' right? I mean you'd have to agree that that was slick... Forcing people to simultaneously enjoy shopping and other entertainment after watching movies...) on this ordinary day with my boy, to catch up where we left off in theaters... There's also Megamind 3D released on cinemas, and although I'm not a fan of Will Ferrell, I'd like to watch it, too... But remembering the fact that I've been waiting for this movie for too long, and based on the reviews and extremely satisfactory ratings, this movie has received ‘the winner’ rating, so I decided to see it right away...

The Social Network is a story of Facebook... I just wonder why it is not stated clearly in the title that this is a Facebook movie. Maybe they have to pay royalties to Zuckerberg for using the name... Ha!

Anyway, its a very entertaining movie... Regardless of its fictional story... Yes, it is fictional... Based on the novel by Ben Mezerich called The Accidental Billionaires... You don't believe me? Start Googling... :)

Even the poster is well-thought out... Well done!

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg, same 'berg' name... It's kind of odd right?), the founder of Facebook, is a computer nerd, lonely, and - slightly arrogant- student studied at Harvard... He happened to also be a genius, and can hacked other university homepages in just a few hours to get the students photos and connecting it to Facemash, a site he made where the students can choose between two photos of girls and pick one they think are more interesting. The site then brought trouble for him, but his talent then discovered and interests the twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and their partner Divya Narendra...

The three then decided to invite Zuckerberg and ask him to build them a website called HarvardConnection. This website idea is about the social network that brings exclusivity. Zuckerberg agreed to join the team. However, he then realized that he is capable of establishing the social network by himself (I don't know whether its his arrogance, or lack of idea... But later in the movie he will explain why he made the social network...). First he had to find a source of fund, in which he tried to reached for his best friend, a business majored and a jewish Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who's agreed to help and then made the CFO of TheFacebook...

Things roll by and he finally found Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who's interested in Zuckerberg's work on TheFacebook. Parker then tried to persuade him by feeding him imaginations of being big, to find investors and tried to be more serious about TheFacebook future... Soon Zuckerberg is lulled with all this dreams of being big and his new friend, started to forget who he was and more importantly, his friendship with Saverin... And to top it all, as the events roll by, Zuckerberg is facing two lawsuits from Winklevoss brothers and Divya, the other lawsuit is... Surprisingly, comes from Saverin.

Overall, the movie is a fast paced, forward-backward type. Here you can see the future, then some flashbacks of what happened earlier to explain the situations... Some scenes just gone 'blurry', the gap between scenes that are the future and the flashbacks are sometimes unclear, and you have to pay attention to the actors dialogue, or you'll never make it to the end of the movie... The point is, this movie is definitely not for someone slow in taking much information. Its fast, sharp lines and gradually heightened tense as the movie rolls by, pretty much explained the great quality of the script and the messages and information it provides the audiences.

This movie is one of the best movie I've seen this year, its new and fresh, with some great actors involved in it... The three leading stars (Eisenberg, Garfield, Timberlake) really gives the best performance on screen... and yet the screen-stealer is Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker... No no, not because he is hot and such... Its just that, he really nails it. I really just can’t picture him being an actor (regardless of a few films featuring him as a supporting role, like Alpha Dog for example...), and yet he's done an extremely great job of portraying the complicated character. Two thumbs up for JT!

Here is the resemblance to the 'real' people... I don't think Andrew (Garfield) is chosen based on the resemblance coz he doesn't look at all like Saverin... Maybe its his talent in acting that made him part of the brilliant casts in the movie.

The other actor who can receive recognition is Jesse Eisen-berg as Zucker-berg (Berg for Berg...), he expressed the feelings correctly of a loner and sometimes irritating, yet a genius boy of Harvard. Although maybe the real Zuckerberg wasn’t like anything he pictured on the screen, he portrayed the character just as needed in the movie. Well in that case, he can thank the scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin’s ability to sort the best words to deliver on the screen.

The third recognition would go to Garfield of course... I really think that he is going to be ‘the-next-big-thing’ of Hollywood, after seeing him act on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus... Although the films a ‘disaster’, still he can stand as an actor out of it. The other supporting roles also played a great part in making this movie as intense and great as it is. Armie Hammer who played both of the Winklevoss twins really showed his best efforts, and Max Minghella also had done a good job in portraying his character.

The conclusion is, this movie brings out the best performances by both actors and filmmakers. David Fincher has brought a very entertaining and strong plotted story to a well-deserved-Oscar movie. Despite of its fiction and drove past the reality that has been made up from the novel to ‘dramatize’ the true events. The point is, if you are looking for a good movie with a great degree of performance, a strong plot, fast-paced, with smart and long lines, you should definitely pick this movie...

However I suggest that after you watched the movie, you’d better spend your time googling for the real true story behind Facebook... Zuckerberg and such. Because the events are being made up in this movie (although some of it really is based on true events that has been changed a little...). 

Ah, this has been a very long review, and by far the longest review I’ve written in my blog... ;D

So now I’m going to continue my Facebook-ing activity if you don’t mind (YES I have a Facebook, anyway, who doesn’t these days??), and I’ll leave you for good by giving you the rating for the movie...

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars...

P.S: Don’t watch it alone, its better you bring some friends with you, so if you cannot catch up with the fast dialogue, you can ask your friend, and if she/he doesn’t understand it either, ask the other one, etc. And anyway, its a social network movie, maybe you can... ‘Invite’... your friends by writing on their... ‘Wall’... Okay okay I’m shutting my blog down now... Thanks for reading my awful-long-review btw...

^____^ ‘til next time!

This is... Halloween!

Happy Halloween's Day!

Maybe those words are the words you most heard today...Wherever you go, there're Halloweens Day signature... Starting from people dressed in spooky costume, pumpkin jack-o-lanterns and bats decorated on every display windows, and more... Treats??

Today my blog post is Halloween, and where did it came from, why is it named Halloween, and MANY more... All is about Halloween Halloween and Halloween! It's like Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas... "This is Halloween!"

Maybe some of you didn't know where the tradition of Halloween came from. Again, I will use my 'wiki-junkie' mode to enlighten you of the history... Forgive my wiki-addict, please ;)

Halloween is derived from All-Hallows-Eve, and first attested in the 16th century. It's the night before All Saints Day, a Christian holiday, and rooted as far as the Celtic Festival of Samhain several thousand years ago. All Saints Day is celebrated the next day, which means tomorrow, November 1st, to honor all the saints.

Halloween has long been thought of as a day when the dead can return to the earth, and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off these roaming ghosts (History.com).  To explain further about Halloween's history, you have to write at the least 3 pages, whereas now I only have a little more time to wrap this up, just 'til the end of Halloween tonight. (Yeah, I know I know... I may be late to post this, should've done it a few weeks back, but I just haven't think about it yet then...).

See, the Celts, who lived 2000 years ago and stayed in the areas nowadays known as Ireland, England, and France, was having a new year on November 1st instead of January 1st. This day then marked as the end of the summer (the end of 'light'), and the beginning of the cold winter season (the beginning of the 'dark'). The ancient Celts believed that on this particular day, the boundaries between the living world and the death became thin, therefore allowing spirits to pass through. This October 31st is often called Samhain (Samuin), the festival of the death returned to earth. I admit that this is a bit spooky.

Skipping to the 800s, Christianity then influenced this Celtics beliefs. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs (History.com). Pope's purpose at the time is believed today as an attempt to replace the death festival of Samhain to a related All Saints Day (a church holiday). All Saints Day is often know as All Hallows Eve, or All Hallows Even... Shorten the Hallow-even, minus the 'v', and you get the word. And so, Halloween was born. Ta-Da!

What activities people often do in Halloween? Be Spooky... To be exact... Think of spooky themes, wearing spooky costumes, telling spooky stories to friends, watching horror movies, anything that made your spine is tingling. (0__0)

What foods are typical with Halloween? The most popular is caramel apples! Yumm... Love to have that one. Anyway caramel apples are made by rolling apples on caramels. The other foods that also popular are candy corns (a triangular candy, usually in 3 colours: white, orange, and yellow), pumpkin-based foods like pumpkin breads, or recently, cupcakes with spooky theme made icing sugar on top.

The one thing that is very popular among kids are trick or treating. Kids will go around houses, knocking on doors in spooky costumes, asking for some candies or even... Money?? Well this is new. I suppose in the old days Halloween's Treats does not include money... Maybe the 'trend' is evolving after all those years. People get bored with just accepting candies, and that after Halloween  parents must forced their children to go to dentist (which is 'spooky' and caused horror to some children). Maybe, I don't know. Cause I live in a world where there is no 'trick or treat?' every end of October, so, I don't really grasp that idea. I mean, my country is celebrating Halloween but it is not a popular festival. Only some people responded to it, and me? Well, I myself never go to a Halloween Party. Yes, a party, its the closest they can get to Halloween in my country. I'm not a party-til-u-drop kind of person anyway.

So, back to the topic, what does this trick or treat tradition mean? Treat obviously means candies, but what is the ‘trick’? Trick means a ‘threat’, that if the people inside the houses will not give candies, the kids (inside spooky costumes), will do mischievous things.

There are so many other things that you can do on Halloween... Despite of the fact that in my country there is no specific celebration (which is rather sad, because I'd love to see myself in spooky costumes, lets say, like, witch costume? That'd be cool...), Halloween is a festival and celebration for people in all range of ages, from kids to adults. 

Coming back to me, umm... I don't have anything up and special to do this Halloween. I don't do trick or treating like bunch of children does, I don't do gothical makeups and wearing spooky costumes, I don't carve those pumpkins as much as I love jack-o-lanterns (though I feel uneasy of the name Jack, you know... Jack The Ripper?), and I obviously not watching (and not going to) horror movies (cause I dislike horror genre movies that cause me nightmares and insomnia...). So what do I do, honestly? Hmm, today is just like an ordinary day for me... Going out with my family, having a chat, dinner, just spending my quality time together... I think that would be Hallowe-en-ough for me... :D

What about you? Have you had your spookiest Halloween ever?

Have a great Halloween Evening! ^__^

Curious of Your Type of Personality? ? ?

Back home from a tiring day at campus... As always on Tuesday class, I got a finance class... Not my favorite subject, yet, I will try to love it. After all, finance was a major I'm interested in when I'm in high school. I think the quote "Learn to love what you do" will suffise... :)

Anyway, I'll take my time to write something about... No no, not finance... I'll write something about, say, psychology? Yes, I'll even babble about it... I love psychology. I think its great to learn personality to understand people better. From it, you can look into that person better, and understand why certain people act differently than others. Although I'm not majoring in the subject, I have an interest in it since I can remember, and even back then when I was a teen, psychology is one of my consideration subject to study in campus...^__^

The topic I would like to share today, is psychology from Myers-Briggs, which often known as MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). This type of psychological measure, was first founded by Carl Jung in his book Psychological Types in 1921 (Source: Wikipedia.com; yeah, I know, I'm a wiki-junkie... ;P).

So, this nowadays is commonly used to assess the psychological traits and behaviors of people. Though some may be against this and claiming that this assessment is not presenting an accurate data, but MBTI is widely used because others claimed that this assessment is more reliable than any other psychological instruments. And, it's true. In my opinion at least. I have done the test before, and though I'd done it on the internet, which for some, there's a little 'problem' going on the internet, such as unreliable sources, or 'generalization' problem, you name it. Yet, I found the result of my test though not completely and 100 % represent me, but still its true.

If you wanted to know what your behavior or trait is, just have a test yourself here: http://www.mypersonality.info/ . Honestly, I don't know how many of you have tried this test. You should be aware though that the test here are only references of who you are, and you should know too that the test may be more difficult for some people than others to interpret because it might have an implying meaning, so, just take your time to think it through yourself while you're filling the questionnaires.

Be sure after you take the test, take a look at your details of personality here: http://www.personalitypage.com/html/careers.html . Just click on your personality from that 16 categories, and voila! You've got... You!!

Source: http://www.coachingsystems.cz/mbti1_en.htm

So, what is MBTI exactly? I will give you the brief explanation. MBTI consists of 16 types, which grouped into 4 opposite pairs, and these 4 are often called dichotomies (shown in the picture above). As you see, all of it are opposites of one another. Extraversion personality are opposites of Introversion personality,  therefore these two won't clash one another. Either you are an extraversion, or introversion dominant, it cannot be both. Yes, it is possible to have both traits which is a 50:50 balance, but most people have one dominant side inside him/her. The rest possess the same principle, Sensing vs iNtuitive, Thinking vs Feeling, and Judging vs Perceiving. It's how much dominant of one versus the other that rule your world.

Extraversion and Introversion are both called as attitudes. Extraverted persons often centered their behavior externally, and therefore they are getting their energy from 'outside'. Extraversion often leads to action oriented people, it also contains interactions with other people, and other things we do outside ourselves. 

On the opposite, Introversion people centered their power from their internal world. Introverted persons are thought oriented, and spend much of their time organizing and creating ideas inside their mind, introspecting and doing much reflection towards him/herself. What's importance is how much time you spent between those attitudes. If you feel you spent much more time and getting energy more from outside, you are an extraverted person. But if you feel drained of energy just after you have a social gathering or meeting other people, and to be alone is what made you gain energy, then you are an Introverted person.

The second one is how you perceive information that is given to you. The way people get their information is divided by two, again, these two are opposites one another. Sensing and iNtuition. Sensing people usually takes and process the information in a concrete fashion. They pay attention to physical reality, what is real in front of them, and what is happening in the present. They take action based on accurate details and facts, and they don't trust intuition in making decisions. Trusts experiences more than anything else. What's important for Sensing people are accurate data, not an 'approximately' or 'probably' type of data.

On the other hand, iNtuitive people trusts information from abstract possibilities, paying much more attention to impressions, meanings, and patterns of the information they get. They learn by thinking a problem through, not by experiences. They are also interested in new things and possibilities, so they think of the future more often than to dwell the past or even the present. Tend to see the big picture of problems rather than details, and trust intuition in taking actions. What's important for them is to see things from different views and the possibilities of new ideas.

The third one is how you make decisions. Thinking and Feeling. Whether you like to put more weight in objective, based on logics and reasons (Thinking); or based on value systems of what you believe to be right, in personal concerns and the people involved (Feeling). Thinking people are more influenced by logical explanations in making decisions. They are not easily influenced by people, how much they love or liked that person to come into a decision. A thinker usually made decisions based on principles, rational, and impersonal manner. They see predefined rules of behavior as the measurement of how to weigh a decision, to be fair and just.

Feeling persons are more subjective in making each decisions. They tend to see people as individuals who need to be considered, empathizing on the situation, and harmony oriented. They also often concerned of what is best for all the people involved, and cared for each of the people in the situation. They see their own values to make a decision.

Finally, the fourth is Judging and Perceiving. These two represents how you like to live your life, what others wanted to see. Judging is more of an orderly, structured and organized person. Perceiving is more of a flexible, spontaneous, and adaptable person. Judging people are more satisfied when they are in control of  their own life, by making schedules for example, while Perceiving people tend to do things open-ended,  always open for possibilities of new things that might be happening along the way.

Okay, that wraps my blog post for today... I tried to make a simple explanation of these personalities. Wanted to learn it further? These references for further readings might do you good:

http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

http://www.personalitypage.com/html/four-prefs.html

http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

Have fun! ^__^

Movie Review: R.E.D

Another long week passed, and I'm at the end of the week... Why time rolled so fast? Its like running to catch up a train... As if Monday was only yesterday...

On this fine Saturday, as usual I do my 'routine'. Watching movies on cinemas. My family and I, we all love movies... By 'love', I meant we could watched just any movie which is being played in theaters. Regardless of genres (except horror and gory movies, I have a problem with nightmares after watching those genres...), plot, actors and actresses starred in it (although I despise Jen Aniston and therefore refused to watch her movies), not to mention the directors.

This sunny Saturday is not much different from the usuals. I went straight to cinemas in the mall located far south of the city, and queueing. I'm not having a particular movie I interested in the theaters (actually I was in a 'yeah-whatever-sort-of-mood'  today... For that matter I have my own reasons... I was hoping for "Hello Stranger" in Blitz and instead, I ended up in XXI).

R.E.D. Maybe you wonder what does that mean? If you've watched the movie you'll know what it means. No, its not a colour. Yes, its the colour of the movie poster, and yes, there is a RED colour stamped on the file in one of the scene, but no its not what that means. Thats what I thought too. At the first glance of the movie poster, I saw that red is the dominant colour, this is a Bruce Willis movie, and RED as the title... It soon came into my mind that this must be a very serious movie with all gory violence where blood splotched and spilled everywhere (and I said this because I haven't seen the trailer so I do not know what to expect... I did check on the ratings by the way... The ratings were good, surprisingly...)

Maybe that's why the beginning scene really surprised me... This is definitely NOT the type of movie I've previously predicted... With an addition of 'Summit Ent' logo and DC Comics logo in the beginning, I predicted this to be an independent movie (you know, Summit usually brought independent movies like Twilight, for example...) Yet it turns out my predictions all wrong!

This is definitely NOT and indie movie, NOT a 'serious' movie...I'm not saying this is a funny, cheap story with incompetent leading role film, but I don't expect it to be so 'funny' either... I mean, I get rid off  'funny' when it comes to Bruce Willis, because he's a hero in Die Hard series, and recently Surrogates... In both movies he played a complicated person with all its intrigues and conflicts, and I relate this to his character in each of the film he starred in. I thought old Bruce was the 'same old Bruce'... I was wrong. Entirely.

Bruce Willis is an ex-CIA agent named Frank Moses who has retired due to his age. In his retirement he was bored and unsatisfied with his present life. His boring and lonely days were filled by phone calls to a woman named Sarah, whom he called to complain about his missing retirement check. Frank and Sarah finally arranged to meet with each other after a series of phone calls, in which Frank is delighted about. But the night before he met Sarah, his house is raided with bullets by a bunch of hitmen. Knowing their obvious motive is to kill him, he set off to meet Sarah the following day as planned, only to finally held her captive in order to safe her life. He then seek out help from his friends, fellow CIA retirement Joe (Morgan Freeman), Victoria (Helen Mirren), and Marvin (John Malkovich). Together they tried to find the reasons why they are being targeted by killers. In their search for the truth, a young and ambitious CIA agent William Cooper, tried to bring in Frank and his colleagues and won't stop until he does.

This movie really surprised me with its good humour, an action movie packed with comedy. Think for a good first date movie? Well, this is for you. The story is light, funny, and the fighting scenes are not bad. Don't expect it to have a twist-ending, mind-boggling type of movie. As long as you came into the theaters with little expectations, this will be a good movie. The actors and actresses, well, need I say more? Bruce Willis no question is a top action movie star; Dame Helen Mirren who experienced more to drama genre than action, gave an extraordinary performance; Morgan Freeman also gave a great performance; but I think the scene stealer is John Malkovich who played a loony *slash* paranoid theorist which given LSD every day when he was in CIA. He was awesome and incredibly funny. There is not a single scene of him that didn't make me laugh. Even Mary-Louise Parker who played Sarah can brightened up the mood of the viewers every time she's onscreen.

The pace of the story is kept in moderate to fast speed. With a spark of humour now and then, and lots of toying with words, the script is well written. The chemistry between Willis and Parker is also 'cute' if I might add. They made a perfect couple in the movie, with Willis as Frank a badass secret agent, whereas in an opposite, the light-hearted Sarah. The story itself is well maintained and balanced throughout the movie. The actors and actresses are all given the perfect portion of their roles, when usually action movies are not emphasizing on characters and background stories.

Overall, this movie is a very entertaining, good humoured, filled with great casts (and also great performances), and basics of action movies including kicking and punching. This movie also made me realized that Dame Helen Mirren actually can do action movies, carry those big guns, threatening and plowing bad guys as though she has experienced it in her entire life. Two thumbs up for Robert Schwenke! I really enjoyed the movie, from the beginning to the part where the credits rolled...

The rating? Do I have to mention it? Hmm, 4.5 out of 5 stars...