The Cloud Atlas - Liam Callanan

Category: Book

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Liam Callanan

It is the mid 1940s, set against the magnificent backdrop of Alaska during the days where the World War II is waning. The Cloud Atlas is an enthralling debut novel, a story of adventure and awakening—and of an eighteen year old soldier, trained under bomb disposal on an extraordinary, top-secret mission…and found a world that would haunt him forever.

At first I thought this was the famed "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell, but a few chapters went by, with the same setting and I knew this wasn't Mitchell's. I finished the book, only because it was interesting and I was already halfway the book when I realized it's not Mitchell's. [yes, it was an ebook I got somewhere. only because I couldn't find a copy of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas in the bookstores!!]

With all the references to shamans, magic, palm reading, astrology, tuunraq, balloons containing bombs and the impending war.... its a dazzling unique love story, or this enchantment of the 18 year old soldier with the Yup'ik woman named Lily. It's also a good look of Alaska and it's culture.

A literary art piece. Lovely all on it's own. 

Photo Source: Good Reads

Rurouni Kenshin - 2012

Original Title:  Meiji kenkaku roman tan

Category: Movie

Genre: Action

Director: Keishi Ohtomo

Writer: Nobuhiro Watsuki, Kiyomi Fujii

Producer: C&I Entertainment, IMJ Entertainment, RoC Works Co. and more

Cast: Sato Takeru,Emi Takei, Yu Aoi, Teruyuki Kagawa and more

Tagline:

When the Bakumatsu war ended in 1868, former assassin Kenshin Himura disappears and promises to defend those who need without killing and became a wanderer throughout Japan with a sword that has an inverted blade during the transition of the samurai age to the New Age. Kenshin comes across the idealistic Kaoru Kamiya and began helping her. Meanwhile a killer "Battosai" is murdering police officers and various innocent individuals leaving messages attached to their bodies.


Oro. Ororo. What a funny term for "aguy" or "ouch" it is. (Well, I think it's his own expression of "ouch") Haha.

What?? Sato Takeru is hereeee? After watching Bloody Monday, i find him... being the lead role in this movie!!!

Wala na. Crush ko na sya. Totoo! HAHA. Let's see, i bet he'll do well, as I fit him, Skylar and Miura (Bloody Monday).

It's not that gory, well... uhmmm... some parts are. But, it's actually a good one as it brings life to Samurai X the infamous anime. This was one of the animes I used to watch back in the old days. Boohoo. And was delighted to see it now "live" and what better than a promising actor as the lead? Haha. Okay. Enough about Sato Takeru.

It has good cinematography and an excellent choreography on the fight scenes. To die hard fans of Samurai X (the manga) there might be a few changes as his character or personality was slightly turned to emo-ish and reflective. A tweaking done by the makers of this film, which is actually good.

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Jemima J - Jane Green

Category: Book

Genre: Chick Literature

Author: Jane Green


Jemima Jones is an overweight writer for a small-circulation newspaper, Kilburn Herald in England, who is hopelessly in love with his handsome colleague Ben Williams who later became her friend. She has two social-climbing roommates who gets to treat her as a maid rather than a friend.



It's a good enough light read. It's about re-invention and finding oneself. It's almost similar to the film called A Cinderella Pact. It's one of the books that comes out as a "comfort read". Nothing memorable or notable, just enough to get you through the night/day? :) But, it's a good one.

Photo Source: Book Space

Cloud Atlas - 2012

Category: Movie

Genre: Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi

Director: Tom Tyker, Andy Wachowski

Writer: David Mitchell, Lana Wachowski

Producer:
 
Cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgees, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, James D'Arcy, Xun Zhou, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, Robert Fyfe, Martin Wuttke and more

Tagline: Everything Is Connected

This film is based on a novel by David Mitchell. It's an exploration of how each action of individual lives impacts one another in the past, present and future. Everything is indeed connected in this film.


It has been quiet sometime that I have waited to watch this film. When I saw the trailer... all i can say was: "I should not miss this! and I know this film will be epic!" True enough, it is indeed considered an epic... and one of the best films in 2012! It was even considered ambitious because the novel is supposed to be "unfilmable". But, they did it!!

I watched this with my whole family.

You should not blink when you are watching this. Each scene is equally important as it weaves through the whole story. Six stories are being interwoven to create the whole magical tapestry that is Cloud Atlas.  This film will take you anywhere, and you will find yourself in unexpected scenes, oftentimes delving to deja-vu.

It is visually stunning, the make-up were good although I'm sure the make-up artists had their own challenging moments by changing an actor's features to fit a certain race, age and era.

It was quiet gory, well not exactly too much, just a few disturbing scenes. The love affair between Somni and Keanu was the one I liked best. There's something about being protected... that makes me go ... swoonybeanoo.

Also, the musical score is one of the best. I loved the Cloud Atlas sextet.  As I am writing this the soundtrack is actually playing at the background.

Cloud Atlas is something different among other movies. It emanates creativity and a whole range of imagination. It's epic, and even layered and you'd be expecting most people to watch it again over and over. :) (I still have to read the novel though.. our local bookstores ran out of it... even before the movie was released. Gah! Maybe im settling with an ebook or whatever. )

Photo Source: David Belbin

The Red Tent - Anita Diamant

Category: Books

Genre :Historical Fiction

Author: Anita Diamant

In the Bible, Dinah's life only hinted a brief and violent detour in the book of Genesis. This exquisite novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob.


One of the best novels about the feminine I've ever read. Although, it's pretty much a historical fiction, you can't help but consider that, maybe just maybe it can be true.

It fills you with love and can sometimes crush your heart as what Dinah has to go through... ahhh i love it. I had my bouts of crying and most of the time wonder of the olden times as I read and devour the book. I enjoyed the often mystical way of passing on the tradition about womanhood. Anita Diamant is also a very good story teller and I love how she strings the words and stories.

Photo Source: Sluiternation

The Help - 2011

Category: Movie

Genre: Drama

Director: Tate Taylor

Writer: Tate Taylor, Kathyrn Stockett

Producer: Dreamworks SKG, Reliance Entertainment, Participant Media

Cast: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Howard, Jessica Chastain, Cicely Tyson

Tagline: Change begins with a whisper.

Skeeter (Emma Stone) an aspiring writer and a southern society girl during the civil rights movement (1960s), set in Mississipi decides to write a book detailing the African-American maids' point of view about the white families that they work with and the hardship that they all go through on a day to day basis.


It's a very moving story about racism and the challenges about the "colored" maids in the past. I love the story. Simple but moving.  I like Emma Stone! All the acting in the film were all superb!
It's a beautiful film, one that is made realistic and able to depict what happened in the 1960s. It has a bit of funny moments included and can make you cry in some. Definitely, an Oscar worthy film. :)

Photo Source: Studio Briefing

Work of the Angels - Kat Goldring

Category: Book

Genre: Mystery

Author: Kat Goldring

It's a mystery book about a curious death in the small town



I love how this book manages to mix modern mystery, romance with a dash of Native American Indian and Celtic Traditions and also Witchcraft and some metaphysical aspects.

I fancied the title, and so I bought it. I have a thing of buying titles with: angels, love or fairy tales on it, sometimes to the point of not checking the back cover of what it is about.

Anyhoo, little did I know, this book is the third of it's series. But, good thing it's a mystery series, so every book will have a new thing and you don't need to really read the previous books since you will just be updated.

So, why am I sharing this? :) To put it simply.. I'm crushing on a book character! Oh dear. My love life is becoming pathetic what with me having so many crushes na. Anyway, doesn't matter. Something new will always be exciting!

Kat really placed the character of Quannah well. Yup. Quannah, he is a modern guy with a North American Indian descent. And in the book he plays the role of a detective or investigator in a small town with Irish and North America Indian traditions that are still strong. He goes out with a woman named Willi who is a curious middle aged woman, an educator and sometimes end up getting in trouble with curiosity. She has a curious mix of Irish and North American Indian blood.

Now, I've a third major book character crush! His Name is Quannah. Awww. I can only imagine having a guy I can call... Lassiter lovingly one day! hahahaha.

In Time - 2011

Category: Movie

Genre: Sci-Fi

Director: Andrew Niccol

Writer: Andrew Niccol

Producer: Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures

Cast: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Shyloh Oostwald, Johnny Galecki, Colin McGurk, Olivia Wilde, Will Harris, Michael William Freeman, Jesse Lee Soffer and more



Tagline: Time Is Power. / His crime wasn't stealing time. He was giving it away.

In a future where TIME has become the ultimate currency. A person stops aging at 25, but: a person is genetically-engineered to live only one more year, unless one can buy his/her way out of it. The rich "earns" decades at a time, becoming essentially immortal. A man who was "rich"


It's a unique film. Well, at least the concept. However the storyline is somewhat similar to Robin Hood meeting Wall Street. It's about a system collapsing where power and money is kept to a few. Quite dramatic in some moments. It could have been improved though... acting, chemistry and lines....

Network - 1976

Category: Movie

Genre: Classic

Director: Sidney Lumet

Writer: Paddy Chayefsky

Producer: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), United Artists and more

Cast: Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, Arthur Brughardt, Bill Burrows, John Carpenter, Jordan Charney and more

Tagline: Prepare yourself for a perfectly outrageous motion picture!

The corporate structure of the UBS Television network is changing. Meanwhile, Howard Beale, the aging news anchor of UBS, is losing his once strong ratings share and so UBS decides to fire him. Beale reacts to it in an unexpected way which affected the ratings of the network.

Saw a trailer of this movie over youtube, actually a clip and i found it interesting and decided to check it out. Indeed it is a classic. It deals with the subject of television and programming and how it is far becoming a source of mass madness. Also it is also how TV networks are working right now....

Its also an answer to the question of: "How can one individual influence society when the individual is influenced by society itself."

It is tricky right? :)

Classic and needs creative thinking whenever you watch this film. I love the script! :)


LINES I LIKE...

Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"


Max Schumacher: You need me. You need me badly. Because I'm your last contact with human reality. I love you. And that painful, decaying love is the only thing between you and the shrieking nothingness you live the rest of the day.
 Diana Christensen: Then, don't leave me.
 Max Schumacher: It's too late, Diana. There's nothing left in you that I can live with. You're one of Howard's humanoids. If I stay with you, I'll be destroyed. Like Howard Beale was destroyed. Like Laureen Hobbs was destroyed. Like everything you and the institution of television touch is destroyed. You're television incarnate, Diana. Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer. And the daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split seconds and instant replays. You're madness, Diana. Virulent madness. And everything you touch dies with you. But not me. Not as long as I can feel pleasure, and pain... and love.
Max Schumacher: And it's a happy ending: Wayward husband comes to his senses, returns to his wife, with whom he has established a long and sustaining love. Heartless young woman left alone in her arctic desolation. Music up with a swell; final commercial. And here are a few scenes from next week's show.

Star Dancer - Beth Webb

Category: Book

Genre: Teens Fiction

Author: Beth Webb

When magic meets destiny. 15 year old Tegen was declared the Star Dancer, whom everybody talked about. The baby who was born on the night of when the stars danced. However it took a long time for their community especially the druids to accept Tegen because she is just a normal girl. The druids were expecting a boy. Then came the challenges as she was given no choice but to learn and work with real magic when the prophesy about evil was about to happen.

REVIEW:

This book is geared for young adults. And it has every reason to. It has witchcraft and goddess in every page. I enjoyed it. Particularly the rituals of the druids and the talk about North, East, West and South spirits. I enjoyed the whole concept of it and it was like being lost in another fantasy world that could be just real....

Quotes:

No demon can ever have the last laugh when a soul's intention are good. Remember that. It is important.

Remember, child, when the world looks as if it is falling apart; all manner of things shall be well.

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Category: Books

Genre: Classic

Author: Jane Austen

Mr. Henry Dashwood died and left all of his money and estate to his first wife's son John Dashwood. His second wife and three daughters were left with no permanent home and in reduced circumstances and so they were invited to stay with their distant relations at Barton Park. and will journey to a foreign land to start all over again.

This was probably the longest read ever!!! Haha. Aside from being busy... I kind of think this is a long ardous read. I enjoyed her Pride & Prejudice but this one was, let's just say, I wasn't that interested with the way storyline happened.

Quotes:

Elinor: After all that is bewitching in the idea of a sigle and constant attachment and all that can be said of one's happiness depnding entirely on any particular person, it is not meant - it is not fit - it is not possible that it should be so.

Leap Year - 2010

Category: Movie

Genre: Chick Flick / Romance / Comedy

Writer: Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont

Director: Anand Tucker

Producer: Universal Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Birnbaum/Barber

Tagline: Anna planned to propose to her boyfriend on February 29th. This is not her boyfriend.

Cast: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow, Noel O'Donovan, Tony Rohr, Pat Lahfan, Alan Devlin and more.

Anna Brady (Amy Adams) is a busy, goal oriented modern woman who managed to make elaborate plans to travel to Dublin, Ireland and propose to her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) on February 29 (Leap Day) which is an Irish tradition. However there were setbacks and challenges she has to overcome before reaching her boyfriend on time.

It's a fun, light movie. Which is how chick flicks are supposed to be. The endearment, "bub" reminds me of Logan(Hugh Jackman) of X-Men. I like the accent. This movie introduces us to a unique Irish tradition during Leap Year. This is also a great blend of romance and comedy....

I have a crush on Matthew Goode... so yeah.. this is a heads up for me. I enjoyed Amy Adams during Enchanted that its really great to see her again here. :) Her charm and bubbly self never ceases to make me smile and laugh. I seem to like movies with settings as the countryside or Europe. So.. yeah its a good mix of all those. :)

Karate Kid - 2010

Category: Movie

Genre: Action / Drama

Director: Harald Zwart

Writer: Christopher Murphey, Robert Mark Kamen

Producer: Columbia Pictures, China Film Group, Jerry Weintraub Productions

Tagline: A Challenge He Never Imagined. A Teacher He Never Expected.

Cast: Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P. Henson, Wenwen Han, Rongguang Yu, Zhensu Wu and more.

This is a remake of 1984 "Karate Kid". This is about 12 -yr old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) who used to live in Detroit, but then his mother's work made him move to China. He then meets a maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) who teaches him the real value of "Kung-Fu".

They changed some of the scenes in this one. The original setting if I can remember was in America but this time they made it in China where Kung Fu is known by everyone. (yes Karate and Kung Fu is different but they wanted to not lose the essence that it's a remake.)

The chemistry that Smith and Chan has actually made the film great. The message was clearer this time.

Movie Quotes I Like:

Dre Parker: So what are we learning today?
Mr. Han: Chi. Internal energy. The essence of life. It moves inside of us. It flows through our bodies. Give us power from within.
Dre Parker: I get it. Like the Force in Star Wars. You're Yoda and I'm like... I'm like a Jedi.

Mr. Han: Being still and doing nothing are two very different things.

Dre Parker: I thought you were just a maintenance man.
Mr. Han: You think only with your eyes, so you are easy to fool.

Dre Parker: How'd you do that out there? You, like, didn't even punch them. They beat each other up.
Mr. Han: When fighting angry, blind men, best to just stay out of the way.

The Covenant by James A. Michener

Overview and Review of The Covenant by James A. Michener

Category: Books

Genre: Fiction

Author: James A. Michener

Page Count: 1235 pages.

A long saga of families of different descent.

• Nxumulo’s from the Zulu clan (blacks), who are inhabitants of a peaceful village unchanged for centuries until Dutch settlers intertwined with them.
• Tha Java-born Van Doorn’s who were separated into two clans. The Trianorn Van Doorn and the Boer (Voortrekkers) Van Doorn.
• Saltwoods of Salisbury, England… who were wealthy spice merchants, missionaries, and settlers of South Africa… and later a Saltwood from America.

This is about how South Africa came to be where different people fought for the land.

The Dutch settlers who came to be the Boers led by the Van Doorns fought against the English when they were oppressed, fought against the Xhosa’s (black tribe), and later the whole black colony.

First part talks pretty much about slavery. The Boers always believed that they were brought by God in covenant to keep the place away from other people (English, Blacks and Coloureds) and defend it no matter what like the Israelites. They believe their society should be in order, and that certain people, like whites were to rule and others like the blacks were to serve and be slaves forever. Things gradually change… views…. from farming to mining to sports to diamonds and more.

Opinion: I have sided from one family to another most of the time because as new generations their ways and beliefs does not change while the world does…. and some are not applicable to the present life they have. The Dutch here were pretty much racists and even thought those Hottentots and Bushmen (they killed ALL the bushmen) were not humans. Tsk…. Tsk.. My heart ached for the unjust ways of treating the blacks and coloureds in the end…. *sigh*

Sukob - 2006

OVERVIEW and SUMMARY of Sukob

Category: Movie

Genre: Horror

Running Time: 105 mins.

Director: Chito Rono

Producer: Charo Santos Concio

Sandy (Kris Aquino) and Dale (Wendell Ramos) are overseas workers who went back to the Philippines to get married. Most of the people in their hometown, specially their parents are so keen not to break all the superstitious beliefs about getting married. Don’t do this and Don’t do that…… ever since they arrived.

A day before they were married, Sandy found out what happened to her neighbor Helen who died and Helen’s husband before that. It is said,Helen broke one of the superstition because she got married within a year her father died.

Now, it is Sandy’s turn to panic…. because there were signs already that her wedding was one with a curse.

There are two stories actually in the movie. Two women getting married. One living in a province…… and one about Sandy.

Sukob is basically a story about superstitions believed by the locals about getting married.

Unlike other Pinoy horror films…. Sukob succeeded as a horror-film. It is actually well-done, that is - if you compare it to other Pinoy-horror films. I like how the two stories of the women getting married was placed sequentially.

The ending was a bit hanging, like most horror films… and it is soo unlike a Pinoy to have those kind of endings…

I like how Claudine and Kris acted. Magaling!