._.

I'm back in Singapore...

:D

:( :(

Last Time Before I Say Goodbye..

Hello! Let me start reviewing some movies first :D

Zodiac (7.5 stars out of 10)
This movie is brilliant. It's well above my expectation. Knowing how the original case turns out, i thought that the movie would have a horrible ending. In the end, the directors pulls of the ending with a great style. I love the cinematography of this picture too. It creates a very bleak and tense atmosphere. It's a great thing that I'll be able to catch this movie once again in my flight to US. Can't wait to study it properly this time :) Oh on the last note, I thought Mark Ruffalo's acting is damn good (better than my handsome even haha). There's one scene particularly in which he successfully make me pity him haha. Jake is hot (of course, especially as the movie progresses towards the ending), but nothing beats Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey's acting, who is able to potray casualness and seriousness at the same time in his character and makes him look endearing despite his beards and old look *cough cough to someone*. Great movie.


Shrek 3 (6.0 stars out of 10)
Another three-quel. Though this is not as bad as Pirates (maybe it's because of it's shorter duration. 2 Shrek watchings= 1 Pirates watching). Some of the jokes are funny. But there is generally a lack of funny jokes in the movie. Most of the jokes are plain, or not funny at all. The only scene which really cracks me up is related to Snow White, because it reminds me of a friend of mine who told me that she is very disturbed by Snow White's singing in the original cartoon. Haha. The story really lacks ingredient. They should have come up with a more elaborate, creative storyline! I really hope that this will be the last Shrek installment. If there is another one, I won't be watching it.


Oceans 13 (8.0 stars out of 10)
I can't stop laughing when watching this show. It is so much better than I expected (especially after watching Oceans 12, which is a total letdown). I love the Oprah joke, though I think the 2nd part of the joke is funnier. George Clooney is charming as usual. And great cast chemistry in this movie. Al Pacino's character is kind of limited. But who cares? Prior to watching this movie, I read about reviews lauding this movie's cinematography, and I certainly have to agree with that. There are some unconventional ways of shooting. I'm going to watch this movie again to study it. This is the best summer movies for 2007 so far and the best three-quel so far (we shall see if Bourne Ultimatum can beat this). Go and catch it if you haven't :)


This is my last entry before heading to Washington tomorrow. 715 am flight tomorrow morning bleh. Though it's later than the other group hahaha. I hope everything works out well, and that I'll enjoy myself in US. I'll only be back on 23 June. So yeah.

Until the next entry :) Take good care of yourself (and don't forget to study, since I won't have much opportunity to revise there). Let me warn you, if anyone said "I don't have time to study during the holiday" when the school reopens and when the person has 4 week holiday, well I don't know what I'll do haha. I've warned you.

So take good care of yourself :)

Cheers and best regards, Olivia

Batam: 1

I love how sometimes we don't have to see people's expression to know roughly how they're feeling :)

Darth Vader + Statue of Liberty

Hahaha, this is what you would get if you mixed Darth Vader with Statue of Liberty. This sculpture is part of the Vader project art exhibit, which involves influential underground artists making their own intepretation of the famous Vader helmet. The exhibition is being held in Los Angeles.

You can read an article on the exhibition here

More pictures of Darth Vader (in different reincarnations) here

Photo taken from here

Come to the dark side....

Transformer Newest Trailer - Looks VERY exciting

This trailer looks very exciting! I never expected myself to be quite interested in Transformers movie haha. Be prepared to be transformed :) Enjoy the trailer.

Forgot to say..

Forever 21 Sale is SOOO disappointing. So little things for sooo much publicity :(

Can't wait for Mango and Zara Sale haha. Though I think Mango sale will be more exciting and crazy (if you've never been to Mango first day sale, you don't know the experience of real sale, people!)

Cheers.

It Won't Be Soon Before Long

Hey everyone. Let me update you on some movies that I've caught the past 2 weeks.

28 Weeks Later
This is really beyond my expectation. I watched the first one (28 Days Later), and didn't really fancy it. So, when the good reviews started appearing for this movie, I was curious about it. So I decided to watch it (not forgetting to pull someone along haha). Anyway, let me warn you the movie started brilliantly, I think it's the best way that the movie could be started. The movie really keeps you on the edge of the seat most of the time. My heart felt weird after watching the show haha :S Hmm, London looks damn freaky without people! I think the Rage virus (which is the zombie virus) is the worst way for the world to end :( The only annoyance to this movie is about the father (highlight to see spoiler) Although he had become a zombie, he kept following his children, which doesn't make sense (end of spoiler). Anyway, 7.5 stars out of 10 for this movie.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley
The wind may shake the barley. But it fails to shake my heart! :( This movie is very disappointing for me. I found it too monotonous. I have really high expectation going to this movie screening, because it won last year's Cannes Festival. The story is quite predictable, and I found it too heavy for me. I dozed off in the middle of it for about 15 minutes haha. It doesn't help that Picturehouse doesn't allow food inside, so yeah. So, 4 stars out of 10 for this movie.

Pirates of the Carribean: At the World's End
Looking at the trailer of the movie a month ago, I had really low expectation on this movie. And then the bad reviews started pouring in. But oh well, it's a blockbuster movie, which is the kind of movie you just have to see haha (unless you really don't want to see it). So anyway, the movie as I expected turned out so so. Thankfully I didn't fall asleep. It was 2 1/2 hours long O_O The ending is very lame and stupid. Some scenes are very draggy. The characters have too many agendas of their own. I hope they would just stop at Pirates no. 3, and not make no. 4. Cause I think it'll be disastrous! So, 6 stars out of 10 for thie movie.

4 more days to Batam, 13 more days to US :)

Oi!

Topshop sale up to 50% nowww. Haha. I went to check it out today, but the sale section was too jumbled up, so I decided to come back again tomorrow. Sadly, the top which I've been wanting to buy is not on sale :( However, there are some other interesting tops which I saw to them, and their price have really gone down O_O

I went to check out Kate Moss Topshop line too. It's very disappointing so far. The dresses which I like are not in yet I guess. I guess I will have to wait for some time.

I saw this very nice shirt dress today in Gap haha. It's white colour. Ehmm.. about $120 something. Haha. I was thinking of waiting until my US trip. Fingers crossed I'll have the chance to do some shopping there haha.

Hmm today I realised two things:
1. Window shopping makes me happy
2. If Mango goes on sale tomorrow, I'll go bankrupt haha. So many nice things!

I'm going to sleep early today. Hopefully my flu will get cured by Monday :D Can't wait to be fully fit once again.

This year has been quite tough compared to other years. And I know it'll be tougher after the June holiday, after my 'honeymoon period'. I can't stop cursing already.

Cheers, Olivia.

P.S. I'm not going for Christina Aguilera's concert.

Inspiration

Some random pictures from Vanity Fair's 2006: the Year in Photos portfolio which I really like. Do check out the rest of the pictures at
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2006/12/yearinphotos_portfolio200612

The next pictures are taken from Vanity Fair's First Impressions: Fifteen Years of Vanities Discoveries at http://www.vanityfair.com/fame/features/2006/12/van_retro_slide0612.

I especially love the Keira Knightley picture (I seriously think it looks so much better from the Vogue's Wizard of Oz spread! :D). Enjoy the pictures!

Error Avoided

There's something wrong with my "Create Post" page in my blogger home. The font, text, picture buttons etc are all over the place. Thankfully I found a handy solution from the Blogger Help Group haha.

So anyway, my US visa application has been granted :D So.. here I come GYLC! Haha. Well it's not that easy. You see, the SQ flight to New York is fully booked :( So I've booked United Airlines just in case my waiting list for SQ doesn't get confirmed.

I watched Spiderman over the weekend. Well, what do I think of it? "It's like that lorrr." Hahaha how badly do I feel like saying that. It's satisfactory. No wow factors that will make you want to watch it again. And the ending is tooooo drama. There are too many characters, which makes it hard for the movie to develop the back stories of the new characters. For example, the movie could have just done without Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn actually. Their characters are very minor in this movie. One last thing that bothers me is that... there is so little Venom! Like what the heck. So much hype over Venom, and he only appeared for like 15 minutes :( Overall, I'll give the movie 6.5 stars out of 10. Spiderman 3 could have been a sooo much better sequel.

Hmm Tobey Maguire somewhat reminds me Milo Ventimiglia of Heroes. You know, Peter? :D Peter Petrelli is so hot *sighsss*. But NOT Nathan Petrelli. Whom I found very very very very very very very very very ugly.


I'll most probably be watching 28 Weeks Later and The Wind That Shakes Barley this week. You may ask why would I want to watch 28 Weeks Later. Well the ratings have been surprisingly good, and it's written that it's so much better than the first one (28 Days Later) which I found so-so. So, of course I want to watch it (no, I'm not going to watch it because of Cilian Murphy).


Can't wait for weekend (though it's only monday). Sigh :) Did anyone check out last Thursday's Urban? What a coincidence really.

Olivia

Fashion Rip Off

I've got nothing to do, so I should post you some interesting fashion news. Take a look at the fashion copies. It's quite interesting.

Hmm now Diane Von Furstenberg is suing Forever 21 for copying the former's Cerisier Shift Dress. Here's the side by side comparison.

The left side is Diane's dress, while the right side is Forever 21's. Very closed eh? So high street fashion, is it a blessing or a curse?

Source of pictures:
http://www.invademycloset.com/shopblog/2007/03/21_burning_ques.html
http://shesabetty.typepad.com/shes_a_betty_single_girl_/2007/04/diane_von_furst.html

Gone For A While

Hellow. Sorry for the lack of updates! Life has been pretty stressful unfortunately. First it's the Batam trip thing (which is torturous to handle as the deadline approaches) and then there's some problem with my family going on (which is a sudden thing). Sometimes the pain was just unbearable that, yup, I have to shed some tears (well so far it's been 2-3 times this year) at home. I guess it's good to let go off the pain, rather than having it welling up inside you.

So let me talk of some good things now. I've finally received my paycheck for the freelance photography job I had. $300! Ka-Ching! Hahaha. So happy! It's my first paycheck. Hope many more will come in the future. And 2 weeks ago I've finally got the booklet for GYLC preparation. Now I have to apply for my visa. Wish me luck :)

I watched Phantom of the Opera two days ago, and it was quite brilliant. Except for the singing whose words you cannot decipher occasionally haha, especially 1-2 of the female leads. Other than that, brilliant. The set is amazing.... jaw-droppingly good. The costumes are well-designed and intricate as well. I must say that watching the theatre version of the play is so much more interesting and engaging than watching the movie haha. After watching Opera, I'm more motivated to go and watch Sir Ian McKellen's performance which will happen in July. Now that I got a nice view of how the theatre hall looks like, I kind of know better which seats will be good to get for the performance.

After watching Phantom of the Opera, Stephanie and I went to Glutton's Bay besides the Esplanade. Since I only ate a small Chicken Pao for dinner that night (due to time constraint), I was ravenous after the performance. So I ate Mee Soto, which is good! Seriously good, not good because of my hunger. Then I ate Kaya Fondue, which is fantastic fantastic and fantastic idea for dessert! It's very good. If you have the chance, please go and try it!

Another of my Charles and Keith sandals has retired :( That's 3 pairs of broken sandals this year, which is a record.

I passed my NAPFA today! Yay! Hmm in my school we have to get at least Silver to be considered passed. I almost got bronze, which is not good, because of Standing Broad Jump. I hate Standing Broad Jump because you feel a lot of pressure casted by the watching eyes of your friends, and because there is a high tendency of falling, which happened to me on my first attempt (I'm nursing blue black on both of my knees). Nevertheless, the main thing is that I passed! :D No more NAPFA test in my life muahaha.

I haven't watched Spiderman. But I heard it's not that good. I think I'll only watch it in 2 weeks time. Well better late than never.

Okie, that's all for now :)

P.S. I still can't believe Edward Norton is going to be Hulk. At least Liv Tyler as the love interest will be a good choice. Another thing, for Time Traveler's Wife, it's been confirmed that the couple will be played by Rachel Mcadams... and Eric Bana O_O What an awkward pairing. I never imagined Eric Bana as Henry. I have always imagined Henry as geeky sweet haha.

P.P.S. Zara's dresses and shoes are soooooooooooo adorable! Too bad I can't afford all of them. Shall wait for sale.. and shall start saving up.

This Year's Such a Rollercoaster Ride.

:( :( :( I got C for PW. Like what the heck :( :( :( I put in so much effort into it... and I'm rewarded with C. I'm guess I was really unlucky to get that supervising tutor of mine. Totally useless.. and the person makes you think as if you're doing fine... when actually the person doesn't know what the person was doing. Even though the person tend to write more comments on my works compared to others', I realised now that they were still pretty useless too.

Anyway, I must overcome this sadness and move on with my life! Well, I gorged myself with Ben and Jerry's yesterday. I'm pretty sad that my weight now is 67 kg :( normally it's 65 kg. Soooo... I shall start doing my routine night exercise again (which includes a lot of crunches). Eh I read somewhere that actually it's more effective to exercise at nights, which is rather coincidental haha. Interesting huh.

My freelance photography job is coming to an end. I just have to send them an invoice and high resolution pictures. I'll write how much I'll get soon :) Anyway, I'd really want to save up this money for GYLC. Since I still have the feeling that I won't get much sponsorship (though I haven't started writing sponsorship appeal letter for GYLC ^^'). Speaking of sponsorship, the sponsorship appeal letters for the Batam Trip had been sent to some places, and two had got back to us. One says no (in a nice way), the other's answer was rather vague. "We had started processing your request". Hmm.... hopefully that means good.

This year is such a bipolar year. When it's good... it's really good. When it's bad... it's really horrendous. My Mom told me that a person born with Snake horoscope face lots of obstacles in the year of Pig. Haaaaaaa. I guess that explains some of the things that have happened so far. There are a few points this year where I just felt like crying like crazy. Whether it's about school stress or about friendships, well it happens sometimes. I guess it's good to let off the emotions if you can't take it anymore.

Last weekend, I finally watched Lost In Translation (again). Contrary to someone's belief, I fell in love with it all over again. It's sooooo beautiful and such a creative film! I noted a lot of technical and actors' expression now that I watched it again. I'm happy that I've chosen the correct movie to start with my movie studies :) One thing that really amazes me about this film is how the director can convey intimacy between Bill Murray's and Scarlett Johansson's characters, who really have a platonic friendship between them. This is especially conveyed in this scene, which is one of my favourite:

Notice that Scarlett's leaning her feet against Bill Murray, while Bill Murray is touching her feet, showing some sense of closeness and friendship between them.

I watched "The Namesake" on Thursday. It was fine until the last 3/4 of the show, where it became very very very very very draggy (until 4 people left the theatre halfway). It's like, "Oh the movie is gonna end." And it doesn't. Then again, "Oh the movie is gonna end." And it doesn't again. This goes on until I gave up wishing the movie is ending haha. One question that left me pondering too is what's the moral of the story? I mean yes, it's mainly about the understanding of the choice of the name of one of the characters. But is that all? Anyway, other than that, the movie is extremely visually appealing. Maybe I shall revisit the movie to study its technical aspects. However, my favourite scene of the movie is when the lady puts herself into the shoes of a prospective bride, who lives in America. I think that scene really speaks volume, despite not having any word uttered. Without the draggy ending, this movie would've been a fantastic one. 6.5 stars out of 10.

I'll write again soon :)

Olivia's Secret Window

Crisis Over..

Ha! I thought this week of mine is gonna be filled with troubles and problems and so will be tight.

No 1. The crisis on Tuesday has been solved. I've talked to the person.. and at least hinted to the person about it haha.

No 2. No more Drama commitments! I did sewing on Tuesday and Wednesday till 9.30 pm and 6.30 pm respectively. Helped to go and buy some of the stuff too.

No 3. I thought I'll be miss a part of Topshop fashion show today, since it commenced at 5 and I finished school at 4.30 pm. Fortunately, it started late (at 5.45 to be precisely) haha. It's my first time attending fashion show. I thought the materials for the clothes are rather plain. Not much pattern :( After the show, we went to the party at Topshop Wisma. I didn't know what to get to spend my S$10. In the end, I bought this nice butterfly ring for $16 ($6 minus the voucher). Thankfully I didn't really spend much in Topshop, because later when I went to Forever 21, there are some tops which I really like :) I'm still deciding which one to get... One is blue colour with flower pattern, the other is this dress which really reminds me of one of Topshop clothes O__O Haha.

Going to sleep now. Sigh, why must someone rent out Lost In Translation when I want it? :(

At last I've paid for GYLC tuition fees! Yayyy. Waiting for acceptance and application letter for visa application haha.

Cheers :)

P.S. I think my iPod's battery has spoiled.

Explained.

Oh my gawd. I've just received a sms that almost make me want to throw my phone against the wall. I guess I'm reaching my limit.

=( I'm feeling sad.

=(

Close we used to be,
But you drifted away from me.
Could not be as close as before,
The awkward silence when it's just two of us now.

I want to say that
I don't know you now,
But part of me still wants to hold on
and revive this friendship
Make it everlasting I'll try...

You may call me selfish,
For wanting you for myself,
But I never wanted you for myself,
Now you keep ignoring me.

Don't you know it bother me
To see you ignoring me
What's with the everlasting promise
We made a year ago.

Please tell me you're not aware of the pain
you're causing me
Cause if you do I'll be so hurt
Too hard to forgive you
I've learnt from someone in the past,
I promise I wouldn't let you feel lonely,
even if you keep ignoring me.

Brokebag

My brown bag broke today :(

What's with the list of broken things this year?

7 Days to April.

Let's have a proper blog entry. So.. my terms are over! :D Which means I can afford to shake legs for a while haha, well at least study-wise. Drama costume is starting on Monday. Though the girl in charge said she'll allow us to bring the clothes home to sew on other days besides Tuesdays or Wednesday, it remains to be seen if she sticks with her words (cause well, for drama sometimes things doesn't go as what you heard of them). Anyway, I think my upcoming week will be supremely packed. I need to start shooting proper abstract shots! Shall start tomorrow (cross my fingers that the weather will be good). I'm going to start catching up on my Maths too haha.

Anyway, on Thursday after my final paper, me and a group of friends went town and watched Music and Lyrics. Hahaha, the show is surprisingly very amusing! Never expected it to be that funny. The movie's theme song is sooo brainwashing ("But 'PoP!' goes my heart..."). Even though the ending is predictable, I thoroughly enjoy the show. Well, it's good to watch such feel good movies from time to time :) The chemistry between Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymoore is great, and the movie is filled with witty lines and jokes haha. Drew Barrymoore is so pretty in the show. Wouldn't mind watching it again on DVD. 7.5 out of 10 stars.

Oh ya, I found out that Children of Men DVD had been released!! Yayyy!

Huh, there's something wrong with my Windows Media Player. It would no longer play torrent for no clear reason. So now I'm using DivX to watch torrent. If there's no torrent, I'll feel quite sad cause then I can't do Heroes or Ugly Betty or Desperate Housewives marathon :(

Oh ya, I broke my 2nd sandal in a month today. Oh my gawd. You know after I broke a Charles and Keith sandal, my Mom said, "Haha, URS sandal is more durable I guess." And today it broke haha. Though I've worn the URS sandals for 1 years now, while I bought Charles and Keith sandal on November. I so need to find a new pair of flat sandals :( My search in Charles and Keith and URS just now yielded no result, instead there's a pair of shoes in Charles and Keith which I'm thinking of getting. Meanwhile, I have to find a new pair of flat sandals! So, today was the first ever time I walk around Orchard Road with slippers haha. Thanks Steph, without that pair of slippers I'd have been walking Orchard Road barefoot.

Later.

Supposedly

I'm supposed to be watching "Lost in Translation" now. I've been wanting to watch it again for quite some time....

Sadly, the DVD can't work. Ha. Ha. Haaaaa. Whyyyy?

So much for kidnapping it from my brother's DVD collection haha.

I want to start filling up my sketchbook...