Movie Review #2 ~ The Artist

So I've been searching on the internet to look for some good movies to watch, and The Artist is what came up the most. It was obviously a very promising movie, for it won countless numbers of awards, and I'd heard the name of the movie several times. So it was The Artist that I decided to watch. And boy was it a good thing I did.The movie is a silent, black and white movie, which matches the time setting; 1927. But it being silent and black and white doesn't keep it from enthralling its viewers and watching with smiles plastered on their faces. It begins with silent movie star George Valentin, who is on top of the world. He is a well known celebrity. When a fangirl Peppy Miller literally bumps into him, she makes the most of it and poses in front of the flashing cameras, eventually planting a kiss on his cheek. This inspires Peppy to be an extra in George's next movie, and slowly begins to work her way up the industry and becomes a very successful actor herself. This is the time when the movie industry figures out a way to include audio into the films, thus producing "Talkies." Peppy makes her way into the Talkies, becoming a big hit, while George the silent movie star resists the entire notion of talking pictures. So as the talkies play a big part in making Peppy more and more famous, it turns George's world upside down.
This was a beautiful movie. It's fairly hard for a black and white, silent movie to be so gripping and so wonderfully played out. Although many movies that I've seen are slightly boring at the beginning, no such thing happens in The Artist. It has you laughing from the very beginning all the way until the end. The actors are simply marvelous at what they do. Every expression is worth treasuring. All I can say is that this movie was by far one of the best I've ever seen; It'd probably take a place next to The Sound of Music. Definitely watch this movie. I guarantee that you'll love it.

Movie Review #1 ~ War Horse

Yes, that's right, now I'm doing movie reviews as well. You see, I realized that I've seen so many great movies, and it seems that it's a shame not to share these great movies with you guys. So as you know, I've been sick for a couple days, and when you're sick and it's spring break, there's really not much to do but sit around and watch stuff. So that's basially what I did!
I watched Steven Spielberg's War Horse today, and it was spectacular. I loved every minute of it. Especially since I have always had a love for horses, it was a movie not to be missed. The movie's protagonist is Albert, a teenager whose father buys a horse to help plow their fields. Of course, he becomes extremely attatched to the horse, and the horse to him. Albert puts all his effort into training his horse, whom he names Joey. They spend such good times bonding together, but to Albert's dismay, his father sells the horse to the military, struggling to make ends meet. Albert is devastated. From here, Joey makes his way between both sides of the war, through the countryside and the city. Although Joey journeys through all places you would think possible, he thankfully remains in good hands the entire time. All this time, however, Albert has not let a moment pass without Joey crossing his mind. The movie unravels a very exciting and enveloping plot as Albert tries not to lose the hope of being reunited with Joey once more.

Wow. This was all I could say after I watched the movie. It was simply a breathtaking movie, and I've gotta say, there's a reason that this movie won an inredible 5 Tonys and the Best Picture Acadamy Award. The movie was actually really emotional, making you sit on the edge of your seat throughout the entire movie. It is simply gripping; I don't know how I can give it a higher praise. If you ever get a chance, definitely look up Steven Spielberg's War Horse. It's definitely worth watching, and easily takes a place in my list of top ten best movies.

Sick. Again.

Yes, unfortunately I am sick again. It seems as though my cold is always just waiting to pounce on me during breaks from school, when I am supposed to be out having fun instead of lying helplessly in a bed covered in tissues. I was sick on winter break, and now I'm sick on spring break. *sigh* just my luck. Oh, and speaking of luck, I've had a lot of it! Except it's been bad. If you just read my previous post, you would know. You see, my heating just went out yesterday, and to make things even worse, I got sick. I was pretty glad that we had another warm house to come home to, but of course, there was a problem with that too. To make things a little clearer...

We live in a rental apartment complex, so the manager isn't like the entire owner of the building. Apparantly a person from the main rental place comes a couple times every year to check on things, but in our rental complex, nobody ever came to check, according to our manager. Until today. And when the person who came to check saw our sleeping bags on the floor of the empty apartment (yes we left them there because we were going to go right back after eating here in our cold house) she got kind of angry and told us to get out immediately. So basically we were kicked out of the warm house.

Now we really have to brave it out with lots of blankets.

And of course, on top of all that, I'm sick. I realized that I forgot how much I hated being sick...
I'm sticking it out with some help from advil.
I'm still worried about how I'm going to sleep tonight, since I'm always really cold when I'm sick and the house being cold will just make it worse...
So that is basically the bad news that I have today. And I guess the moral of the day today is be thankful for your health... And heating.

Our Heating is Broken...

Today we woke up on St. Patricks day with not much luck. It has been the coldest day since we moved to L.A., and our heating system conveniently decided to break down when we needed it most. So we were braving it out, wearing parkas and thick fluffy robes, when the manager of our apartment complex explained that the heating system people would not be working again until Monday. It was pretty serious now, because it was raining and really quite miserable outside, and the temperature inside was about the same. We started worrying about how we were going to sleep at night because the temperature was sure to drop lower. My parents started talking about getting a hotel room, but when my dad and the manager talked about it, he let us sleep in an empty house with heating that was not broken. We were so relieved that we wouldn't have to sleep in our igloo of a house, and so we packed up our sleeping bags and pillows (and of course, being the overpacking people we are, a whole trunkload of other stuff) and marched proudly over to the other warm house.

Oh boy, it was so nice and warm. I gotta say, wearing parkas in your house can get a little bit uncomfortable...

Anyways, you don't know how glad I am that we get to sleep in a warm, toasty house while it's pouring rain outside! There's another thing that I take for granted but realize am extremely thankful for once I'm deprived of it. Heating.
Moral of the day: Don't take your heating for granted!

Book Review # 24 ~ Jacob Have I Loved

Louise has always come in second place to her twin sister Caroline. She has almost always despised her sister for taking what seems like everything away from her. Caroline has always had the spotlight, even at birth. Her sister is the center of attention; her beauty, talents, and angelic voice causes everybody to bow down at her feet. Everybody new her name on the small island that they lived on. The relationship between the sisters is not what you would call picture perfect. Louise refuses to become closer with her sister, for she does not want anything to do with her. Caroline tends to tease Louise quite a bit, and although her intentions are not bad, things are misunderstood. And so, as the two grow up, they also grow apart. Louise has let everything slide. She didn't complain a single word when Caroline got everything that she wanted. She didn't retort in the slightest bit when Caroline took something of hers. But she drew the line when Caroline captured the attention of her old friends and drew them away from Louise. That was one thing that she did not want to share. After a few more years of enduring everything that she felt was being done to her, Louise concludes that she must leave the small island of Rass. She tries to run from her sister's admirers and hopes to forget about all the unfortunate events that happened to her as she goes in search of new dreams, new hopes, and an entirely new life.

Wow. This book was one of the most emotional ones I have ever read. I could feel the anger that Louise felt when things seemed to turn against her. It wasn't difficult to imagine how touchy the situation itself was. I've got to say, it's not exactly a happy book. I'm not one to read books that are not happy in an obvious way, however this one was worth reading at least once. I'm not 100% sure exactly who I would recommend this book to, since somebody like me, one who doesn't read these kinds of books, enjoyed it quite a bit... So I'm just going to put it out there and say that you should just borrow it from a library or buy it in the bookstore, bring it home, and give it a try. The book itself is running all over the scale of emotions, so do expect some very distinct ups and downs in the story! Have fun reading!

The Getty

Today, with my cousin and my parents, we went to The Getty Center. For those of you who don't know what the Getty Center is, it's basically a very big art gallery with some of the world's most famous paintings, sculptures, and photographs.

It was actually a pretty cool place, especially for me since I had never been to an art gallery this big filled with famous paintings before. (I have only been to the small art gallery in Vancouver.)

I was quite thrilled to see one of my favorite paintings, the Dancer Taking a Bow (or The Prima Ballerina) by Edgar Degas.

Although I was particularly interested in the paintings and the sculptures, there was also a lot of extremely intricate furniture from Europe, from all the time periods between 1500 and 1800. They were actually quite interesting, and it was actually really fun to spot the tiny little faces and other details on the desks or the jugs or the cabinets. There were all kinds of furniture that looked so fancy they belonged at a fine palace. The fabrics of the furniture looked like they took years to make. They were all such majestic looking colors; it reminded me very much of Marie Antoinette. Seeing all of this furniture helped me to imagine how where she lived was a very grand place indeed. The Getty had a bed so big that I was led to believe that king size beds were made in early France.

The Getty center itself was actually a great work of art. The architecture of the building was really quite modern and simple, but in a very sophisticated way, if that makes any sense to you at all. The entire building was done in marble and other rock, making it look quite like no other building. I really like the way it looked.

One thing I noticed was that there was a whole lot of security in the building. There was a security officer in almost every single room. They watched you like a hawk while you went around the room, and if the tip of your jacket touched a square inch of a table that was holding up a sculpture or something, they would come over and sternly tell you to step back. I understand that something catastrophic could probably happen if they didn't do this, but I personally find it the slightest bit annoying. You're trying to get a closer look at the sculpture (that is in a glass case, by the way) and the secutirty guard rushes over and pulls you back, gesturing with his or her hands how far you have to stay from the artwork. So you nod your head and have to apologize and state that you understand and then apologize again. I guess that they're so bored staring at people looking at stuff all they that they do the only thing they were meant to do extremely well.

All in all, I was really glad that I got the chance to visit The Getty, for I really did have a splendid time there; it is definitely a place worth going. Maybe when you fellow readers go, you'll see some paintings that you recognize too!

Anyways, bye bye until next time, and thank you for tuning in!

Universal Studios!

Today, I got the wonderful privilidge of going to Universal Studios in Hollywood with my cousin and her friend. I was absolutely ecstatic because I hadn't seen my cousin since 2002, when I was still a toddler. It was great to see her again and be able to go have fun together there!

I hadn't been to Universal Studios for a few years, so I thought it would be fun to see things again, since we lived only 10 miutes away from the amusement park.
Everything seemed to be pretty much the same as before except for the fact that they added the King Kong 3D experience to the tram tour; however, it was still like going for the first time. I still had a great time watching all the shows, posing with all the characters, laughing at oh so many things, and screaming 'till my throat hurt on the rides.
My cousin and her friend were so incredibly nice to me, although I was probably at least the slightest bit annoying being ten years younger and tagging along on their fun trip, but I have to say that despite it all, we had loads and loads of fun. The two of them were always looking out for me and making sure that I wasn't a third wheel. They included me in their very interesting conversations and got my opinion on everything in the park before going on the things that they wanted to go on. I was so happy that they were so O.K. with me going with them to Universal!!
Now to comment on Universal Studios itself; I was kind of surprised that there were only 3 rides that you could actually go on; The Simpsons, Jurassic Park, and The Mummy. Not that I'm complaining or anything-I was simply expecting just a little bit more. The rides were all very fun though, and they all had lots of cool effects that they put in and each one got different screams out of me one way or another!
What Universal Studios didn't have in rides they made up for in shows. There were around 6 or 7 shows to watch, plus the tram tour. They were all really cool things that I had never seen anywhere else before; they had everything from 4D to special effects performances. There was wide varieties of shows, and I could easily say that I enjoyed each and every one of them. They were all very cool and creative in their own ways!!
I would definitely recommend that you all visit Universal Studios when you have the chance, because I guaruntee that you will have a wonderful time there; it's tons of fun!
Anyways, I feel so blessed to be able to go to Universal Studios without having to fly halfway around the world or anything; I'm so thankful!!
Thank you for tuning in once again everyone, and I'll see you next time!