Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine (2007) surpassed my expectations.

It's one of those underhyped movies- beautifully made and presented with the viewers in mind.

The movie starts off showing a little girl, Olive, who dreams of becoming a beauty queen in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. Then there's Frank, her dysfunctional and suicidal gay uncle who seemed to be the only person getting along with her brother, Dwayne. Sworn to a vow of silence, Dwayne has not spoken in 9 months, wants to become a jet fighter, and as quote "hates everyone".

I love how Olive's mum is portrayed- the one who keeps her family together in one piece and encourages everyone to stick together when the going gets tough. Her dad on the other hand, is a motivational speaker on the verge of giving up. Olive's grandfather lits up the whole movie with his devil may care and live-as-if-today-is-your-very-last-day attitude.

This movie tells the story of a far from perfect family on the outside: insecure and on the brink of falling apart.. Yet it shows us why it didn't fall apart; all of them supported each other despite each other's shortcomings. Why I really loved this movie was because it succeeded in making me feel sorry and cringe for the characters when all hope was thought to be lost.

A must see for everyone, definitely in my list of the top 10 movies of the year.

Not making sense

Christchurch, oh Christchurch. The city of memories.

I stayed at my previous homestay for 4 days and 3 nights, more than enough to remind me of what it was like coming into a foreign country knowing only 2 people in a pool of 4 million strangers.

Carol and Margaret- the perfect homestay family for me. They took care of me, made sure I go to church and home groups, took me to uni when my alarm failed to wake me up. Tried to cook a Chinese meal on my first night there, a very good attempt in making me feel at home. Everything was great, and honestly, it was how I would want to spend the first year here.

Many would beg to differ. I dare to stay that almost half of Riccarton High student population consists of Malaysians. This is what I know, a group of form 5 leavers from Lodge or Green Road (with their parents holding PR) conveniently go to Ricc High, then either Otago or Canty uni. The keyword being "group". Going to movies would involve a GROUP of 30 of them, crammed into the same bus, the same cinema, and eventually the same flat next year.

My point is, they will forever stick to their own cliques. And when a new kid comes along, granted that he or she isn't very outgoing, lack of social life is doomed to happen to the poor kid.

Take Roy for example, the 20 year old guy from Hong Kong who's currently staying at my previous homestay. He's been in NZ for almost a year and the homestay for a month now, and all he ever answers to a question are "yes, yes" and a vigorous nod. Even when the same contradicting question is asked. Believe me, I tried talking to him in Mandarin, but to no avail. I don't know exactly how he lives his life, but I do know he goes straight back to his room after dinner (5.30pm), and stays in there except for a shower and the lights in his room goes off by 10pm. Doesn't seem to have any friends other than a guy who plays basketball with him on Fridays (according to Carol). Nope, I am NOT stalking him or anything like that.

It's sad when things like this happen. You want to help, but don't know how. You don't do anything, and end up feeling guilty or not being helpful enough. Either way, it's a lose-lose situation. The only solution is to hope that things do change for the better for him.

Things always change for the better. Keyword being "change". Change always involve denial, pain, then acceptance. Not always physical, but unavoidable nonetheless. I've been through that, and am glad that I did.

I'm sooooo glad that I decided to come to Dunedin.

A snow episode

Winter can be summed up in these 3 words: cold, wet, and white. Out of those 3, the last one appeals to me the most. =)

God saw that Dunedin people has been good, and He decided to sprinkle some white flakes down over the city of Dunedin early this morning. It wasn't that much, and the rain melted them before they even hit the ground, nonetheless it was enough to form a pretty white blanket on the streets, the mountains, and some lucky ones managed to land on people's faces. =P

The mini slumber party ended at around 2.30am after Shrek 2, and we rushed outside to greet the first few flakes. Went to the park nearby in hopes of seeing more snow, but instead we got the most beautiful view of falling snow.


It was 4am. At the edge of a park, the traffic lights change from red to green, as if the falling snow needed any direction on when to hit the solid ground. Upon the illumination by the street light, I can see hundreds, maybe thousands, of white flakes. It felt so surreal, and for me it seemed as if the stars were falling down from the galaxy. I close my eyes and let the flakes melt on my face, and just enjoyed the moment when everything felt so right.

All smiles =D

I always thought ice was soft and smooth. Note to self- it's HARD and painful when you're hit with snow that size.

Pancake junior; he looks so sad!

The morning after; Great King Street.

Hopefully the snowing spell would stop by tomorrow; don't want the bus trip to Christchurch to be delayed or any accidents happening.

Last but not least, happy mid winter Christmas!

Breakable

I've recently stumbled upon this singer/songwriter from New York- Ingrid Michaelson (myspace link here). I still don't get why people are so hyped up about Regina Spektor, (yes I have listened to her songs and I believe they are good and original), Ingrid's lyrics just speaks more to me I guess.

She became famous when her songs were featured on Grey's Anatomy, but that's not how I found out about her considering I prefer House over GA anytime. I've been browsing through some music blogs lately, and was surprised at the number of growing independent artists that probably produce songs that are 1000 times better than those overplayed commercial songs heard on the radio every day. Yeap, I'm a newly converted indie music fan. =P

I encourage you, whoever you are, to try listening to some indie music, trust me- it is worth it. Forget about the popular top 40 music on Hitz.fm (Msia) and Zedge/the Edge (NZ) for while; they won't go away. Take time to browse through a few myspace(s) featuring these "unknown" artists; you might be surprised at the quality and rawness (if that's even a word) of their songs.

Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?
Just a cage of rib bones and other various parts.
So it's fairly simple to cut right through the mess,
And to stop the muscle that makes us confess.

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.

You fasten my seatbelt because it is the law.
In your two ton death trap I finally saw.
A piece of love in your face that bathed me in regret.
Then you drove me to places I'll never forget.

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls-
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls-
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.

Breakable by Ingrid Michaelson.

a happily ever after

I thought I would miss blogging a little, but surprisingly, I missed it a LOT! =)

Exam season came and went so fast, it felt just like yesterday when it was microbiology exam when I thought it was a 2 hour exam instead of 3 hours. -___- Oh well, it's better than the other way round, right?

So mid winter break is here again. 3 whole weeks for me to laze around, catch up on beauty sleep, watch tv series, endless shopping (with a limit, of course), and time to experiment in making cakes/muffins!

Also, I've decided to (finally) make a short trip back to Christchurch. So many things to look forward to there: catching up friends, shopping, bubble tea (!!!), yummy Chinese food at great restaurants, the beautiful beaches... I'll be staying with my previous homestay family, kinda random but I figured it was the best way to spend time with Carol and Margaret again after so long.

Anyway, went to watch Shrek the Third just now at Rialto. I have to admit, the sound system is indeed better than at Hoyts. The seats felt the same to me, though. Out of 10, I'd rate it a 7.5. Some might rate it more (especially someone who laughed like a hyena throughout the whole movie)... Yes, it was hilarious and sort of original, but I felt that Arthur didn't have to be in the whole movie, and putting him in it just because someone was dating someone else that time pulled the originality rating down. On the contrary, there were some scenes that managed to get stuck in my mind: Rapunzel was actually bald, Snow White has a crush on one of the 7 dwarves (guess who?), and who could resist laughing at Puss making that innocent big eyes look when he was stuck in Donkey's body?

And of course, the one that is best NOT thought about... (I love this dialog, but didn't laugh as hard as it has appeared in the trailers, so the surprise was spoiled).

Prince Charming: You! You can't lie! Where is Shrek?
Pinocchio: Well, uh, I don't know where he's not.
Prince Charming: You don't know where Shrek is?
Pinocchio: On the contrary,
Prince Charming: So you do know where he is!
Pinocchio: I'm possibly more or less not definitely rejecting the idea that I undeniably
Prince Charming: Stop it!
Pinocchio: Do or do not know where he shouldn't probably be. If that indeed wasn't where he isn't!

And then, there were 3 little cute, errrrr green and healthy ogre babies. Somehow, I was hoping the babies to turn out as something totally different than what Shrek looks like :P