Month: November 2018

Hana Yori Dango Final

Here’s what happened here. Been trying for days to find a fast streaming site for this movie but to no avail. I even got irritated with my husband accusing him of over-using the internet we weren’t even able to watch the movie for a few minutes straight, haha. But that’s not the problem actually, the site is slow for wifi connection because when I tried to open the site in my office, to my surprise it played clear and straight without any interruption. The problem: I couldn’t watch continuously during work (well, of course!) so I happened to watch parts by parts whenever I’m free but without the husband, lol.

While watching the film, I noticed that some parts of the movie were shown on the Meteor Garden 2018 (Chinese version) like when Domyouji and Makino passed out inside the plane (from the spiked champagne the flight attendant served them) and woke up on the deserted Survival Island, but all with a different plot and twist.

To begin with, The film revolves around Domyouji and Makino’s engagement. At their parent’s formal meeting to discuss the wedding,  Domyouji’s mother presented Makino a Tiara (The smile of Venus) as a gift which symbolizes an endless love for the owner and her partner.

While inside the hotel, Domyouji and Makino are about to kiss when suddenly an unidentified stranger breaks the glass window, enters the room and stole the Tiara. Domyouji runs after the thief all throughout the hotel but the thief manages to escape. Much more to their surprise when they went back inside the hotel room, they find the glass window already fixed and that no one in the hotel seems to notice as if nothing happened earlier despite all the chaos and commotion they made while running after the stranger.

This is where the story begins. To find the Tiara. They travelled overseas to Las Vegas, and then to Hongkong just to get back the Tiara at all cost and later found themselves on a deserted Island, stayed there for more than a month without anything but to rely on their ability and skills to live and survive testing their patience if they would give up on each other which they all passed eventually that made them even stronger (though Makino’s starting to doubt him at the beginning) until the helicopter arrives to pick them up.

It is later revealed that this whole thing is just a plot by their family and everyone is involved in the scheme (this explains why the remaining F3 seems to have not been worrying too much) to ensure that they would be happy for the rest of their married life.

Then they got married in one of the best and memorable wedding ever attended by everyone. Then the movie jumps forward to a year later, they are back on the same uninhabited island and while writing the word “Love” on the beach, talking about their dreams, Makino pointed her hand to her stomach (a baby on the way) and says that it has come true. Overjoyed, Domyouji puts his ear to Makino’s stomach and carries Makino.

End of story.

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My thoughts about it? I liked the simple plot of the movie.  This is all about Domyouji and Makino without any other added subplot/irrelevant twists and turns or dramas in between.

Fast-phased with no dull moment. The almost 2 hr movie seems like just a thirty-minute series.

Domyouji, of course, is still cute as always on his bad-boy effect image. His loud voice, occasional grumpiness, and funny antics made this film more interesting.

Makino is on her usual innocence and funny personality.

Hanazawa Rui is exceptionally handsome in this movie, btw. His looks definitely mature a lot in here, and the same goes for the two other F4 members, Nishikado Shoujiro & Mimasaka Akira.

Overall, I love the movie!

PS. I also watch the very first Hana Yori Dango Film 1995 (that’s how I’m crazy about it right now, haha!) It isn’t as great as the succeeding versions, not even close, but what do you expect from the movie done in 1995 btw? 

Bohemian Rhapsody Film

Finally, The Long wait is over. Bohemian Rhapsody, the biographical film about the British Rock band Queen is now showing in Cinemas.  The story about Queen,  their Music and the extraordinary life of the Band Lead Singer- Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara in real life), on and off the stage life,  his drug addiction, his gay-life, exploited by the wrong crowd and friends and his battle after being diagnosed with AIDS infection.

My thoughts about it? Although it has been observed that a one and a half hour film wouldn’t be able to tackle and compress Freddie’s colorful life, only on limited measures since it fails to elaborate much of Freddie’s life and times and his sexuality. It feels like the story is being told in a fast-forward mode that the audience was completely left out disappointingly, wanting to explore more all the highlights of his story in a much more detailed manner.

I like the portrayal of almost every one of the cast. Rami Malek impersonation of Mercury is terrific. Although his transformation is slightly exaggerated particularly those dental prosthetics (that made him look a little bit like a rat)  and his accent is quite a little bit over-do. But then, he totally nailed how he deploys every move, even a snap of the finger,  the energy, and flamboyance of Mercury.

Gwilym Lee as Bryan May, (Oh well, I think Gwilym Lee is a much better Bryan May than Bryan May is Bryan May), Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, and Joseph Mazzelo as John Deacon looks similarly the same and did a great job on their portrayals as well, no doubt about that.

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Overall, It’s a great movie, great cast, something worth to watch because of everyone’s superb performance although some are entirely superficial. Rami Malek does a brilliant job and the film entirely relied on his portrayal. A masterpiece though it wasn’t written accurately.

Mercury is a Legend. Whether or not it is accurately told, the performance itself did well. The Live aid part (the highlight of the movie) actually made me believe that I’m watching it for real. 

Not to mention that for some reason, I felt sad when I re-watched the QUEEN Live Aid performance again that made me want to cry. Just by watching him perform that day, regardless of his illness, the high energy is actually heartbreaking.

Freddie Mercury and Queen indeed are one of the most beloved performers in the planet. They reached unparallel success during their time, and one of the GREATEST ROCK BAND IN HISTORY.

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Queen is definitely the Best Entertainer of all time! And yeah, I’ve always admired Queen for the longest time now…

5 Stars 🙂

QUEEN LIVE AID PERFORMANCE 1985

Benefits of Daily Workout

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For the past few years, I happened to do a regular workout as one way of pampering myself.

Yes, you heard me right, this is one effective way of pampering yourself, splurging on heavy eating (Aww, No ways!) and other material things are not the only way to pamper ourselves. 

The usuals, I do facial and body scrubs and hot oils on weekends, long sleeps, long shower, full rest, running on evenings, and a lot of walking. I also consider writing as a form of escape and another way of relaxation.

I happened to motivate my husband RJ to do the same thing with me as well, but during his lazy times, he would only come and wait for me at the park entrance gate.

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Here are some Benefits of Regular Excercise:

1. IMPROVE MY MOOD- Whenever I’m exasperated with my husband (haha!), taking an hour walk or run will definitely uplift my mood. Regular walking actually improves our nervous system and decrease our mood swings, anger, tantrums, and hostility. Yet it’s true that dark chocolate actually reduces a bad mood on a rough day, but walking is a zero-calorie strategy with the same impact.

2. REGULATES BLOOD PRESSURE/IMPROVES CIRCULATION/REDUCES RISKS OF DIABETES/STRENGTHENS BONES AND MUSCLES/IMPROVES DIGESTION- I guess we all know that regular workout will also improve our health, improve our intelligence and reduces the risk of health-related diseases and boost our immune system.

3. WEIGHT LOSS- This is for all the people out there who are very cautious about their figure. But for me, I run to become fit and not to lose weight, rather, to guard my health in check and improve my mood.

4. DELAYS AGING- That’s more like it. Studies show that people who walk at least 30 minutes a day, live longer than those who don’t. Not to mention that our skin will be visibly lighter and younger even without using artificial enhancement.

5. REDUCES STRESS- When feeling sad or irritated, or stress at work, upset about anything,  walking can help you reduce the stress.

You need a few basic things to walk. Here’s the list:

  • Walking shoes
  • Comfortable clothes
  • A bottle of water and an energy bar for long walks.
  • Motivation- Have someone to walk with you, a friend, a partner, or a dog.

When you start walking on a regular routine, you are more likely to continue what you are doing and chances are, you will get new ideas of healthy behaviors and advance to the next level.

By doing this, I also get a  full clear mind to think, concentrate, decide, and manage things properly. My Rational thinking gets the best of me to minimize mistakes in everything.

Start walking, now. 🙂

How to Live a Happy Life

Okay, we get it, no matter what our age is, what is our current status in life, how much money we have saved, our marital status, our accomplishments,  each and every one of us wants to live a productive, successful, happy and peaceful life.

As we get older, we tend to realize that Money can’t buy happiness, not always. More often, the best things in life are always free.

Happiness starts from ourselves. Happiness starts with the basic things in life that we do from our usual routine.

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1. Respect-  Find respect from yourself first. Be good about yourself and the things you do. Do not ask for respect. Some people will, some others won’t, but the thing here is if you know that you are doing what is right, what is best, what is acceptable then that’s the best respect you could ever get.

2. Respect others- Respect people like how you would like to be respected because respect is reflected. Stop being a “narcissist” that everything should only revolve around you. Have a genuine interest in other people’s lives, and not only about you. Be a good person, Be truthful, be transparent, be caring. 

3. Self-confidence- Believe in your self. Lack of self-confidence is one of the obstacles to living a happy life. But then, there’s a huge difference between being confident to being a  total narcissist. 

A woman who retains a genuine self-confidence doesn’t show -off every little detail of her life in public, rather, does her thing privately without the intention to attract audiences.

4. Commit yourself- No matter what you do, you have to give it to your best shot. Commit yourself. By giving your 100%,  you will always find new ways to improve and more chance to enhance and develop yourself.

Commit yourself to only one. This is also one important factor to live a happy life.

To be honest, you don’t cheat anyone by chance, you cheat them by your own choice. This act of dishonesty to gain something for your own advantage.

Whether a friend, a colleague, a family, a relationship.

And more often, a person who engages themselves to cheat is always the one to regret later on.

5. Be grateful. Big or small accomplishments. Be grateful, even just for the air we breathe.

6. Seek and give kindness to everyone-  Not everyone is perfect. All of us can be good in one thing and bad on the other thing. It’s just a matter of appreciation. 

7. Balance Lifestyle-  Everyone needs some time away. Definitely, any personal issues may get to your nerves that might affect your productivity. Spend some time away from work. Occasional travel is an option.

8. Don’t hold grudges-  Holding grudges for a very long time definitely may block yourself from being happy. Life surely is better without keeping pain in our hearts. Learn to forget. We may not always forgive, but at least we could forget.

9. Live. We cannot change the past and more so we have no hold of the future. Just live today. Enjoy and be thankful for everything we’ve got.

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10. And lastly, what else do you need if you’ve got all the simplest but the best things in life that would make anyone happy? A faithful partner in life who’s there with you to achieve your dreams, looking  forward to the future  with the same goal, same priorities, and same outlook,  a family who will always be there at your side, few real good friends in good times and bad times, health, career, silence, privacy, a roof above our head, food in our table, air to breathe and a life that Our Almighty God has given us.

Reasons to Keep your Private Life, PRIVATE

Well, seriously, a private life is a happy life. With Modern technology fast approaching these days, and with the news spreads quickly through the internet, for the private and public individual, keeping a private life is a little bit difficult more than the previous days. 

Rather, should I say, it’s quite flattering that everyone has genuine interests to know each other’s whereabouts, what we do, what we work, what we share,  what is our recent relationship, how do we live and a lot more personal stuff?

More so, we add fuel to these ourselves by also sharing information about our personal stuff over the social media.

To be honest, it isn’t bad to share a few of our selected issues in social media, this is also one good way for everyone to know that we are still existing.

Not to mention that this is one of the easy ways to keep in touch with our family and long-lost friends.

But then, over-doing it by keeping your  daily life open in the public is 100% “MUST NOT.”

It’s still better to keep our life away from the limelight. That way, we will also minimize third-party to butt-in our personal struggles.

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Reasons why?

1. A private life is a happy life- In the sense that we do not have to engage ourselves with all the unnecessary dramas, chaos, and gossips that has nothing to do with our lives or to people/things that are none of our business. Moreover,  our daily life would not be totally exposed to everyone and be the target of anyone’s gossip.

2. We do not keep our life open for everyone to see. To live in private. Love in private. Keep everything we do in private. Then we could also manage our losses in private and rebuild ourselves in private.

3. Nothing good will ever come out by sharing our sentiments in public. Sharing our recent heartbreak, swearings, bad-mouthing, hatreds will only lose our dignity. We are on the losing end,  the fact that we won’t be able to get any sincere sympathy from random people, rather, we would only give people them the opportunity to dig in and add salt to our injury.

How we do it?

1. Be boring- Definitely. If you don’t want people to know every little detail about you, BORE THEM TO DEATH. Do not provide information every single thing you do and will do in your life. Be a mystery. 

A person who retains a sense of mystery doesn’t engage in gossip, quietly progresses & does their thing without the need for an audience.

2. Oversharing –  Cmon, some people do this to gather some attention. –> this is why they labeled it as “Narcissist”–  a person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves. They want to be the center of attraction.

Sometimes I wonder why some people love to post everything on social media, from their injured toe to the faces inside the casket of their family who recently passed away, including their current thoughts, what to buy, what to eat, show off every little thing, talk about people, and a lot more non sense that shouldn’t be posted anyway?

3. We have to limit what we share- As we cannot totally ban ourselves from social media and the internet, we could at least limit what we share and save some private stuff to yourself.

I myself don’t consider myself unplugged from the social media. I consider myself private, but I do share some of my personal stuff in my own way.

It ’s only about setting your boundaries to a certain level.

Finding your way of sharing without having to feel like you are totally outcasted.

4. Keep a low key Life- By keeping a low key life and limiting information about ourselves, we also minimize other people the power to define who we are. We have to stop treating people like we owe them any explanations or details of what’s the latest issue in our life.

Sometimes we post things with the intention to spread our sentiments in order to reach our target.

5. Being confidential or off-the-record isn’t bad. It’s not because all your accomplishments are not posted on social media means it’s nothing. 

It’s not a sign of unhappiness. It’s just a sign of confidence and REAL contentment.