Elsa Drawing

Part of my Disney Character Series!

My Comfort Food

A memory: It is 2006, and my brother has flown over from college in Korea to visit home. After days of patiently watching him sleep like the dead, he finally takes me to the movies like he promised he would. We walk to the local movie theater on Burrard Street in Vancouver, Canada. Mom has wrapped us in one more layer than necessary and we are both a little sweaty as we trek through the snowy streets. We enter the warm theater and immediately the bright concession stand lures me over. As I approach the stacks of candy and the popcorn machine pumping out fresh yellow popcorn, my brother whispers, “pick anything you want, just don’t tell mom.” I feel as though I’ve won the lottery. For the entirety of my life, I had been surviving under my mother’s whole wheat, brown rice, sugar-free reign over the household. But my brother was paying now. I get a pack of Sour Patch Kids, a box of M&Ms, a Medium size bag of popcorn gleaming with butter, and an apple juice on the side. As I sit with my arms full in the red velvet seats, I am as comfortable as I will ever be. I ask my brother if he wants some of my M&Ms and I am relieved when he says no. 

            After I fell in love with the concession stand at the movies, my brother dutifully took me to the cinema with every visit and allowed me to eat whatever my heart desired. The experiences, although they may not be filled with wholesome food, were ones like no other; they were truly the best kind of dinner and a show that I could imagine. Even now, as he approaches his thirties and I prepare to take on my final year of high school, I am stubborn in my dedication to movie theater junk food. I have come to incorporate my beloved cinema snacks into the changes in my life; whenever I move to a new neighborhood or city, my first order of business is to find a large movie theater with plenty of food for my brother and I to enjoy. Through all the moves, from Korea to Canada to America, knowing that my brother would take me on our secret binge of overpriced yet delicious movie snacks is what always seemed to tether me to some vague sense of security.

             A December or two ago, when my brother and I last went to the movies, I didn’t think about that snowy day and the experience that started our glorious tradition. But as I watched the cars whiz by and the heard explosions blast around me in the darkness of a new theater in a new city, I took solace in the fact that I was experiencing something familiar; that these short moments I spent with my brother were as gratifying as the snacks I got to eat while with him. 

Drawing of Orlando + Flynn Bloom

So I recently saw this photo of Orlando Bloom holding his son and I thought it was super cute! So since I haven't one a lot of realism in a while I decided to do a graphite sketch (: 

Giraffe Drawing!

Just thought I'd share a quick sketch of a giraffe that I did last night!
Hope you like it (:

Exciting News: You Are Special!

I have exciting news! So I recently entered a competition held by Cartoon Network. We were told to write a short story about anti-bullying and draw up a couple pages of storyboards to go with it. My story, called You are Special, was selected! 
After I received the good news, I proceeded to draw up over 70 pages of storyboards and write a full script. Cartoon Network then provided me with the amazing opportunity to voice some characters with my friends and even have some voice actors come in to work on this project. Tara Strong (voice of Bubbles from Powerpuff Girls) and Jeff Bennett (voice of Johnny Bravo) also were nice enough to come and work on my cartoon. 
Anyways, the link is below, and I hope you enjoy watching it! We all worked very hard on it! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SEP1oNcBVk

Thanks for watching!

Book Review #32 ~ The Alchemist

As much as I love reading, I have to say that the only reason that I read this book was because it was on my summer reading list. Although it was tedious to read at first, I thought that the book became increasingly interesting as I went on. So here goes:

The Alchemist ~ Paulo Coelho

The alchemist is a Fantasy novel by Paulo Coelho about a shepherd boy named Santiago who has a dream about finding treasure. He is compelled to follow his dream of finding hidden treasure among the pyramids in Egypt. This is all about trusting in the Soul of the World and believing that there are forces in the universe that want us to be happy. The soul of the world is a sort of spiritual unity that binds together everything in nature, from humans to even rocks. In order to find his happiness, Santiago first has to discover his personal legend (what he is meant to do in the world). In order to accomplish your personal legend, you have to learn to connect with the soul of the world. This is all about Santiago’s journey to pursue his personal legend and fulfill it. During Santiago’s travels, he meets an alchemist, who is a very rare being that knows how to turn any metals into gold. The alchemist is incredibly in touch with the soul of the world and nature around him. He gives Santiago advice on how to be courageous and trust his heart. One of the central themes of this book is the danger of fear. Fear comes up several times throughout his journey, and each time Santiago must put that aside in order to truly pursue his dreams. Fear is also a large issue in the Alchemist. The greatest obstacle that usually stands in Santiago’s way is his fear that something will go wrong. The author even includes a character in the book, the crystal merchant, who is deeply unhappy because he has allowed fear to stop him from achieving his dreams.Another theme in this book that comes up very often is achieving your dreams (personal legends). Dreams constantly come up throughout the book. Almost every character is following his or her dream, and the author is really encouraging the reader to follow his own dreams and to count on the universe to help them achieve their goals.There is also one other issue that comes up in the alchemist, and that is the issue of love and its importance compared to your personal legend. Santiago falls in love with a girl on his journey to find his treasure, and he really must battle with what is more important – continuing to work to fulfill his goals or stay with the girl that he loves.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the author’s style in this book. He uses very simple and easy to understand language and there’s not much that you have to sit and ponder over. He usually makes the messages he’s trying to get across very obvious. It is written almost like a biblical parable, and contains many simple yet very profound statements.Although the fact that The Alchemist is often on core reading lists might make readers veer away, it is definitely worth a read! 

Movie Review #7 ~ Argo

So as I mentioned earlier, I am always very late to catch up on things that people have seen or read a long while ago. Which explains why I only just saw the movie Argo. 
This movie opens in Iran at the United States embassy; it is being seized by violent Iranian protesters during the height of the Iranian Revolution. Meanwhile in America, the CIA is busy trying to get the Americans hiding in the Canadian ambassador's home back home to the good ol' USA. This is when Agent Tony Mendez comes in to save the day. They come up with a brilliant plan to sneak into Iran safely and sneak out with their lives. Within a matter of days, they come up with and publicize a fake movie, ARGO, that they will pretend to film in Iran in order to get the Americans out. As Agent Mendez risks his life and goes to Iran, they go through a series of turbulent events that make your heart race and your toes curl up. 
I thought that the movie was excellent. It was very good at making the audience hold their breaths as the characters overcame obstacle over obstacle. The actors were very well selected and the characters were portrayed quite well. The graphic scenes of the horrendous things going on in Iran at the time were very authentic and helped me to visualize just how terrifying it must have been for everybody. I do have a bone to pick with the plot of the movie itself, however. I do agree that coming up with the whole 'fake movie' idea was brilliant and pure genius, but honestly, the whole movie is simply them creating a fake movie, going to Iran, and getting the people out. Literally, that is all that happens in the movie. I understand completely that it was the whole intention of the movie, however I wished for a little more denouement. What happened to the movie, for example. But other than this, I thought it was definitely a movie worth watching; it was also quite informative and taught me quite a bit about what happened during the Iranian Revolution. 
P.S. I love you Ben Affleck (: