Jeannette Is: Thinking she's very cultured

In my head, prelims ended on monday, and it's been a non-stop film watching book reading time for me. It's time this has to stop so I can go back to my A levels preparation (36 days to go?!).
Before that, I decided I need some closure in the form of this blogpost (despite my very obscure blog), then maybe I will start studying tonight (or read Persuasion)//

Essentially, from monday, I've watched one movie each day. So, recap:

1. Casablanca
2. Vertigo
3. Moonrise Kingdom
4. Maze Runner 

And, read this stunner of a book:

1. North and South By Elizabeth Gaskell

There are major feels for each and every one of them. really.

Casablanca kind of surprised me, because for the longest time, I thought it was going to be this 3 hour movie about crime and ruthless men? (Echoing gone with the wind, which tbh was extremely annoying at times). Instead, the short 1+ hours went by extremely pleasantly, and it was a much lighter movie than previously expected. The highlight was definitely Dooley Wilson, as Sam, the piano-player in Rick's, who reminded me of louis armstrong with perhaps less of that crazed look. The entire cast was awesome, and all the side characters were intriguing ESPECIALLY Captain Renault, who plays the selfish corrupt captain of police in Casablanca. The love story ensues and this is one love triangle I could actually tolerate and even enjoy (which is a rare feat).

"Here's looking at you, kid"

Vertigo, aha, voted best film of all time (recently). James Stewart is my absolute favourite actor, a stunner. He's the most gentlemanly quirky gangly awkward ksjdlakslkajddajkldaljkdajkl give me one. There's just this way he speaks, that is so charming to me, and I just wish he were still alive. All his movies i've watched so far have quickly shot up to the best movies i've ever watched, and this is no exception. James Stewart singularly held up this movie, though the suspense did not grip me much as i expected, the ending was indeed unexpected.  

I really think what draws me to these more classic films is that things are not just spelt out. You are made to recollect the film on your part, such that you really must pay close attention and be IN the film. And the acting was really important then, because they didn't have cgi to rely on back then.  and though the effects in vertigo do seem silly now, but were probably a feat just 50 ish years ago. 

Back to James Stewart,

just. 

argh. 

this is It's a Wonderful Life

best

ever. 

haha moonrise kingdom next. I initially refused to watch it because the trailer made me think this movie was some child porn or something, and i just refuse to see the innocence of childhood being tainted in any way (be it very real), i can't deal with that. But when it randomly played on FOX movies channel, i guess there was no way i could pass it up. This movie really only interested me in the last half an hour, and there were some real lol moments for me, whilst the first half, which showed these neurotic children just didn't sit well with me (probably because of its reality, yes). The ending was expected for me, but the process AHAHA yeah well this movie was fun and dark at the same time. (i really don't think I should have let my siblings watch this with me, but they watched Grand Budapest Hotel, and I was allowed to watch moulin rouge when I was young, so I'm guessing there is little censorship in the household)(of course i screamed for them to cover their eyes in the weird parts, I'm a good sister). 

MAZE RUNNER wheeeheeee what a fun movie. Watched it in the cinema as part of the really fun 24 hours of post-prelims enjoyment (shortlived its ending in a few minutes)(note practically half of the hwach J2 population was there which was awkward and interesting heh heh). Action non-stop, hot (greasy hehehehe) boys galore, what more can a girl ask for (: 

As you can see all level-headedness is gone when i go to fangirl mode. 

heheheheheheheh

FANGIRL MODE: EXTREME for North & South (a novel which i took a whole 3 days to finish reading, which is probably the second longest time i've taken to finish a novel i truly enjoyed after the hobbit, which was a month-long adventure). What can I say i'm a sucker for victorian romances. A gentleman, no, a true man is impossible to find, a rarity back in the days, and all but extinct now. So i guess all us girls can do is relish in the fantasy and descriptions/portrayal of such. 

“I take it that “gentleman” is a term that only describes a person in his relation to others; but when we speak of him as “a man” , we consider him not merely with regard to his fellow men, but in relation to himself, - to life – to time – to eternity. A cast-away lonely as Robinson Crusoe- a prisoner immured in a dungeon for life – nay, even a saint in Patmos, has his endurance, his strength, his faith, best described by being spoken of as “a man”. I am rather weary of this word “ gentlemanly” which seems to me to be often inappropriately used, and often too with such exaggerated distortion of meaning, while the full simplicity of the noun “man”, and the adjective “manly” are unacknowledged.” ― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

Seriously I'm so sick of angsty YA romances where the girl is depressed and the guy is some hormonal badboy alpha male (albeit i like em bad boys ahehehehe). But really, I'm so tired of it, dystopian romances also, just stop it. Yes i spent 3 days reading this and there was not a single kissing scene and in the entire book they, what, touched a maximum of 3 times or something. So this book probably spoke to me more intimately because of my own  (im not a creep) (and altogether inexistent) love-life. Our Mr. Thornton spends the entire 500 pages with only the memory of margeret's arms around his neck ONCE to fuel his passions. 

You see, in this book true love did not need to be displayed through fierce passionate descriptive scenes. and was more slow broiling which, come on, is way more romantic. Just like Casablanca finally let me enjoy a love triangle, North & South again let me enjoy a love that was not but all too apparent from the beginning stages. Romance (novels) is done right when is does not centre singularly on the relationship and its associated trials. I also loved the religious discourse, and refined calculated manner in which they spoke. haha i sometimes we all spoke like that, then we would be more keen to analyse and understand one person aside from their speech. It was definitely hard to decipher the language because of its roundabout and formal manner, and yet, again i enjoyed it so. Because at least i can work my brain whilst reading, and i found myself rereading paragraphs multiple times to fully understand the brevity of those words. (which is very rare for me, and explains why I took so long to read it)

anyways

i'm a sucker for romances like these. So tender and soft (:

“One word more. You look as if you thought it tainted you to beloved by me. You cannot avoid it. Nay, I, if I would, cannotcleanse you from it. But I would not, if I could. I have neverloved any woman before: my life has been too busy, my thoughtstoo much absorbed with other things. Now I love, and will love.But do not be afraid of too much expression on my part.” ― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

guess who ate at the sushi bar again today. Double lunch because i also ate at saveur before heading to the sushi bar for seconds.

time to study?

x,

Jeannette

06-15/07/14 Latvia: WCG2014

Because Claire asked me to do a blogpost on the Choir trip (glad to know i at least have one fan :))

ok
Sitting here eating my handful of pine nuts i don't really know what to say about this trip. Honestly, I was majorly dreading this trip (anyone who was around me during this period should know), because I'm just such an awkward kid. Of course, I'm not saying there weren't moments where I was extremely awkward during this trip, but for the first time ever, I actually felt something greater than the music. Maybe it's far too late for these feels now, but it really was the best way to end this 1.5 years in rioHC.

The road towards WCG was certainly rocky, and took a great toll on my at any least, and often i found myself just detaching myself from choir outside of practice times. I'm not sure why I'm being so candid in this post but not many are going to read it anyways right!

Landing in Riga, Latvia, i had but one mission: find the riga t-shirt and try to enjoy choir as best as possible. Landing back in Singapore i'm glad to say i've gained much more than i was gunning for. (aha have low expectations so you always come back brimming with contentment)

Day 1: (including flights)

The transit flight from Helsinki to Riga was on a external propeller plane, which was pretty exciting.

Landed in Riga to find that half of our luggages didn't make it on the connecting flight! (what ensued was 2 days of rationing supplies and the primitive finger toothbrush technique) (at least for me)

Latvia has really awesome Wifi. Meaning they have Wifi almost EVERYWHERE. Its amazing. Thank you Lattelecom (note: it's Lat Telecom, i thought it was Latte Le Com haha)

For the first day, we went on a brief city tour stopping at the tallest building in Riga, which turns out to be only 15 stories high! This is pretty amazing because the low-lying buildings means that we have a mostly unobstructed view of the sky. We also noticed many clouds actually look like those we usually draw in diagrams, with the flat bottom that you don't see in the usual cumulonimbus clouds in tropical Singapore (:

Then we went on a walking tour around Old Riga which would be the main area we were going around during the WCG. The Art Noveau buildings which characterised many of the Latvian architecture were stunning, coupled with the cobblestone pavements and the 360 sky, was so charming. A highlight was the Riga Dome which is this magnificent church with lovely stained glass windows and a large pipe organ. (the stained glass windows can't compare with the likes of those in Notre Dame and the like, but it was beautiful all the same)

Heading back to the hotel, we knew that would be the first and last day of "freedom" before we started to prepare for WCG in Latvia.

Also, went to the supermarket to find that some of the food was pretty cheap (so i got excited cause one of my favourite things to do in other countries is loot the supermarkets). MUAHAHAHAHA it was great.

Day 2:

• We practiced outside under the trees. The greenery in Latvia is very natural (quite unlike the perfectly manicured greenery in Singapore). I love the grass in temperature countries, its fine and thin, and feels like carpet grass. The soil is not as wet and sticky as well so it was easier to lie on the grass.
• Good breakfast that included smoked salmon, cheese, bread and onions, which may not have been a good choice breath-wise...

Day 3:

• Official start of the WCG journey. From this day onwards we had to take public transport everywhere, and though I moaned about it, and it was so difficult to manage for the leaders (i sympathise), was a very interesting experience which thankfully helped us to save on our expenses. 
• Embarked on the 10-20 minute walk from the bus stop to Riga's olympic sport stadium where we would have all our meals for the next few days. Lunch and dinner usually consisted of steamed potatoes, a meat, a salad, and a mixed vegetable soup which we had to queue up to get (often for long periods of time due to the many people there!).
• What made the walks bearable was passing by Laima Chocolate factories, where the scent of chocolate would permeate the air and...sigh... i wish I could've bottled the scent up. 
• Opening Ceremony of the World Choir Games, which was a pretty big deal. Got really good seats right next to the stage, I'm a lucky duck like that. 

Day 4-5:

• Celebration Concert.
• Mixed Youth Category.
• Sacred with Accompaniment Category. 

These two days consisted of the most memorable parts of the trip, the situations of which I think would take up way too much time to put down in words. Lessons on focus, on determination, on perseverance and resilience, as well as the importance of having conviction in life are all lessons I have to continue working hard on.

Day 6:
Awards Ceremony.
Ohmy that was some tense and exciting stuff! We were all herded into Arena Riga once again to get our results, and the atmosphere was crazy especially with the South African choirs. (Half the time I was like: please, PLEASE let me be South African rn). The way they sang their anthem, and cheered loudly for basically any African choir was kjdsjlsfsfjlkfs.

I swear the anticipation made my heart race as we sat there just hoping, praying we would reach the >80 points range. I think the worst/funniest part was having Bohan sit next to me during the award ceremony. (That boy almost gave me a heart attack with his extreme panicking and almost squeezed my hand off) The results were honestly above my expectations after the competition, and for that I thank God.

Day 7- return:
equal voices awards ceremony which was equally exciting, World cup, some shopping (I'm an impulse buyer don't let me near sales items or anything that has a one digit price tag). 

haha got lazy.

In the end I really did learn a lot in this trip. I've always found school trips such amazing experiences. The sec one trip to Beijing was a taste of freedom, ROCs3 to Taiwan was pure fun (and i think gave me my best friend (': ), OCIP Nepal was totally inspiring, and this trip certainly was one of reflection if anything.

OK THAT'S IT
signing offfff,
x

p.s. sorry too lazy to even upload pictures/steal from facebook

It always rains on a Good Friday!

Crystal told me it always rains on a Good Friday, and it sure does! 

Maybe it's the skies' way of reminding us of the significance of today, but no, the light should shine shouldn't it, so we are reminded of hope. "Hope strengthens. Fear kills." So i hope the heavy raindrops have pounded away the dust, the grime, the morose, and tomorrow the sun will emerge brighter than ever. 

Luke 23:46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Today's sermon was about letting being willing to let go of our problems/suffrage, which is of course easier said than done. 

It was a queer Good Friday today, as I visited three different places of worship, and went to the crematorium. (Though the two temples i visited in chinatown were more like tourist attractions) Ran through the rain multiple times to get to Maxwell Food centre, and then rushing back to Chinatown MRT by myself alas getting drenched, lost, and all around pissy. 

On the train to Chinatown, I got extremely freaked out by this doll a girl was playing with. Toys for kids these days are seriously screwed up. This doll looked like a bratz doll but was blue, and cried tears of blood and fiery red hair with rainbow highlights and two horns (i mean ears?) sticking out. And if that doesn't sound weird enough, the girl basically stripped the doll and put a plasticine dress on it, and ripped off the dolls' feet? I couldn't help but stare as the girl kept playing with the dolls' hair, just like how we would a barbie, all in all getting very worried for this generation. Is this the type of mass-produced toys of late? I don't even dare to google photos of the doll to show you because all i can think of is typing "blue doll" or "doll with blood tears", and we all know how screwed up google images can get. Why are we all worried about how barbie dolls project an incorrect ideal of a woman's body to young girls, when there is preposterous, might i even say demonic, doll being mass-produced for little children of this generation? This seems to me like a much greater problem right here. What the balls manufacturers, I'm truly disturbed. 

Sorry I had to get that out of the way, this post was supposed to be happy and about good food. We can get back to that topic again. 

Went to Sushi Bar (at Far East Plaza) today, and the food was so fresh! There was a long queue even half-an-hour before the restaurant opened, which i guess is testament to how good the sushi is there. The dishes are simple, not extremely inventive, but decent enough that I can understand the hype. 

Scallop Carpaccio

Salmon Aburi Roll (Best)

Sirloin Steak (100g)

Then Crystal's post sums up the next part of the day! Checkit here:

http://skihippost.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/18-04-14/

Then i rushed to Aljunied --> Mount Vernon Crematorium, where we started to stalk gurkha's. Stalked gurkhas barbecueing, stalked gurkhas running (they were everywhere! (:), stalked gurkhas playing soccer. 

Since it's still close to qing ming period, there were a lot of people there burning paper money and paying their respects to the departed. 

(overexposed)

Imagine white ash wafting along the breeze, drifting upwards like upside down snow in this backdrop. 

Ended the day watching videos of times past (aka 90's and early 00's). 

I have one thing to say. Don't believe the bullshit people tell you about how blood is thicker than water, that you're never alone because you have your family, that your family will always be there supporting you and will never give up on you. If you think that you start taking them for granted. No, your family has NO OBLIGATION to love you, but they still do, and this love can just as easily be shifted, so never ever think otherwise. Treasure every second they hold you, every second they beam proudly at you, every moment spent. 

Kids, if you have grandparents that raised you, go to them, knock on their door or give tham a call. Don't wait until they are halfway across the continent, across the damn freaking ocean before you regret not cherishing them, because by then they stop unconditionally loving you. Don't wait until things are "awkward"(or so you think)(you know its a problem when you are awkward with your family). Don't for once think that their love is forever because only God's love is forever, everything else is a gift. Once you lose it you lose it, this love can just as easily shift to another family, because after all, family is not just blood. Learn from me folks, don't be afraid to make that emotional connection, stop making surface relationships with people you see everyday/year/month. 

If you ever wanted to reconnect with your relative, or anyone really, do it now.

 (i don't even take my own advice)

On a happy note, i love love love the vamps.

this post is as messed up as my trains of thought

HAHA

x

wern

Best Trip Ever; Taipei/Osaka/Kyoto

Where jeannette attempts at creating an instantly popular video documenting her trip to Taipei, Osaka, and Kyoto during the December holidays.

Travelling with the family is always the best, and travelling with the extended family is even better. It was quite difficult making and filming this video mostly because we forgot about it for extended periods of time during the trip! So most areas featured were all visited in the span of around 3 days where we remembered and thus spam video-ed everywhere we went.

The process was undoubtedly memorable, as the three of us shameless tourists (and a brother) went to iconic destinations and made a fool of ourselves... All for the sake of becoming internet famous! At first we wanted to dance to "the Fox", but it was waaay too difficult for us amateurs, so of course we had to do a One Direction song (:

Some of the attractions shown include: Taipei's Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall, Universal Studios Osaka and the surrounding region a.k.a. the aquarium and the boat charter, Kyoto Station, Fushimi Inari, etc...

It was quite time-consuming editing the video, because too often our timing was completely off the beat of the song and such, and working on a limited amount of footage meant i had to find weird ways of filling space (e.g. the part with the animals "dancing" HAHA hope you got that). In the end i got quite lazy, and for some reason when converting the video to mov. format, the ending got quite screwed up, and some portions of the video has the "slo-mo" sound effect and the like, but let's just overlook all of that.

///Maybe I'll do a photo blog on the highlights of the trip because though the trip had its highs and lows, we did end up with some amazing photos////

Step #1 to becoming internet famous: Make a music video

(taking baby steps to becoming a successful video editor)

ttfn,

wern

Thoughts from Films: Clementines

I've recently watched "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" during the March Holidays because I couldn't just bring myself to study 24/7 then entire holiday could I! 

I was so inspired by these two films because they really took me out of the sometimes mindless,"feel good" videos i've been watching of late *coughs korean dramas coughs*.

Thoughts from Films...
I thought I could share my thoughts on these two films together because they do have some similarities (if you try hard and dig deep), because, at the core, these films were about a fresh start, the power of memories, of living your life to the fullest, to take a chance on love and life, and of course... clementines!

(clementines in) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I guess some might say Walter Mitty was quite flawed in it's story, or the effects, or that it just wasn't as introspective as it sought out to be. Yes, it might be outrageous, and the focus on the romance was really distracting and pointless, but the beauty of the locations shown and it's amazing soundtrack just about made up for it!

What this film did was make it okay to daydream, because if Walter Mitty and his outrageous daydreams can make it, you can too. So i guess what the film lacked in story it made up in heart, and in the visuals.

I have a new item on my bucket list which is to learn to longboard and then board down a long winding road surrounded with lush green hills in greenland because greenland. (Or because i lifted that directly form the movie yes.)

(Adam Scott's Beard)

(clementines in) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

"I don’t need nice. I don’t need myself to be it and I don’t need anybody else to be it at me."

 - don't assign me yours."

This is a movie you love to quote from. It's basically like the crazy, confused girl's version of mean girls (there i said it). I always found myself unwilling to watch the movie because i disliked kate winslet, and comeon, Jim Carrey in a serious movie? But this movie definitely deserves the watch, a thousand times definitely, a i-stayed-up-till-2am-to-watch-you definitely.

Jim Carey really is sooo understated as an actor and we probably forget that because all his outrageous roles like Count Olaf, the creep from the mask, really "outshines" his performance as Joel Barish. So yay for Jim Carey, i followed him on twitter. 

KATE WINSLET IS AN AMAZING WOMAN. I have no idea why i disliked her so much before. Okay it was probably because i hated Rose in Titanic (whiny bitch). Kate Winslet is such a mature and again diverse actor, because being able to so fully channel the eccentric, carefree, impulsive Clementine Krucyznski? is a feat of its own. Thank you for bringing Clementine into our screen and our hearts <3 

I think trying to explain all this movie is about would probably give me a headache and concurrently feel self-conscious about how shallow I am, and it probably wouldn't end pretty so in summary: Eternal Sunshine is about a couple who, after meeting a rough patch(es), went to erase their memory of each other, and all they (and we) learn from in the process, which is a lot. What a slipshod attempt of summarising the plot i'm sorry. 

So let's just give some adjectives to describe it;
- Romantic drama
- Slash psycho-thriller (yes i got legit scared at points)
- Creepy Elijah Wood
- Cute Bruce Banner
- a tolerable kirsten dunst.
- about memory, about loneliness, about treasuring what you have, about making do. 
- completely aww-worthy balanced with truckloads of reality

I'm sorry if i came off sorta nutso,

x,

wern

MG Funfair '14 (II)

Spot claire!
Candid shot but glamorous as always!

Sucked that we wanted to eat a lot (liwen dedicated 20 just for food!) but all the stores were sold out?!?!!!! We walk to the mudpies, sold out. Ice cream, sold out. Satay, long queue. Lasagna, sold out. Smoothie, sold out.
什么屎 HAHA.

Eventually i ate a ramly burger (5), mashed potatoes (2), Gula Melaka ice cream (3) and got myself somue green tea (price: no idea i was too thirsty to care).

Loved sitting at the quandrangle and people watching, which is always the best recreational activity there is. Which is also how we spotted the cute boy (also there were many really cute kids) with the gigantic pink bear waiting for his girlfriend - hence the name of post- AND THERE WAS A SLIGHT DRIZZLE AND OHMY HALLELUJAH and then A SHORT SHOWER YAY EVEN BETTER- and then the girl appeared and it was all very cute.

~Oh young love~


How we hoboed at the quadrangle. Note mess.


Loved singing along to songs with this bunch wheeheee.


Particularly unglamorous.



The process of being caught creepily taking photos of the cleaning help stomping on trash.


Pedo-paradise right here.

And here.

And here.

And here.


In other news here's claire and i with the pencil girl!





HAHAHAHA. Scary evolution.


Then we ended up hoboing at the KAP cold storage for one last time :'''(

And with that we wrap up the day.
EXCEPT. Melly then came to my house and prevented me from bathing and stole my food and discussed men. Which is a huge yay for friendships! I foresee an overload of melly this holiday.

X
Signing off

Waiting for rain in this drought | MG Funfair '14

As I sit alone in the sanctuary half an hour early for service ... I thought i'd just give a round-up of yesterdays funfair!



We immediately started camwhoring because that's how we roll.



Mandatory creepy photo of the kids at "rest adventure'. Yes, there were tiny kids half my size traipsing on that lil' above air obstacle course. It was the best.


Of course we had to lose Sarah within the first ten minutes of being there.


Chrome is your best friend.


Liwen tackling a nacho.

Our sole purpose in the funfair was of course, to eat. Because no way were we spending our already limited amount of coupons (i only had $10 :/) on games (no skill whatsoever).


Being an extra in the prefect photo because im awkward like that.

Ramly burgers look dangerous with the meat patty that basically looks red and raw. But it doesn't taste too bad. Whilst queueing for some ramly we encountered creepy girls who spotted our claire. "OMG thats Claire Gan" "that's Claire Gan?" "Yes that's Claire Gan, she's so cute" being awkward me i obviously looked right at them and gave awah my friendship with claire, hence we couldn't get any more information about just how popular claire was. HAHA. Those kids were younger than us!

oh 10 minutes to service time to stop...
stay tuned for more!