I'm Alive!

I'm alive!


*crickets chirp*


^_^;;;

It's been awhile since my last 'real' entry - between work, play, and being really lazy busy - I took a bit of an impromptu sabbatical.  But I feel much more refreshed now and I must say that I have definitely missed blogging - there's nothing quite like plastering one's life on the the net to get the blood pumping ;) I haven't been reading comments or reading my usual blogs but I look forward to catching up on that (famous last words) :}   I have such a ridiculous backlog of reviews/photos and judging by the rate that I am writing my Korea Trip 2010 posts (yes, 2010, not 2011), lord knows when I'm gonna be able to get all of them done -_-;;

ANYWAY.  How has everyone beeeeennnn?

As for me, I just finished watching the Swedish film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and it was pretty good!  I liked the book a lot and I'm glad they didn't lose the gritty, dark atmosphere in the movie.  The chick, Noomi Rapace, who played Lisbeth Salander was ON POINT - she looked and acted just like I imagined :D!


 
They did chop out some of the juicy bits, mostly Blomkvist's playboy-ing antics but they kept fairly close to the original story so yah!   The editing was a little choppy but I thought overall it was a nice take on the book.  Rapace is going to be in Sherlock Holmes: Book of Shadows (US release this weekend!) too and I can totally see her fitting into the gritty, rough world of the first SH so that should be exciting! Per Hollywood's love of remaking things that ain't broke - there is an American version of TGWTDT (...that's a lot 'T's) coming out too.  Daniel Craig is playing Blomkvist, a role I think he'll fit into quite well actually.  I'm curious to know how much Hollywood is going to water down the many acts of violence towards women in the book tho - I hope they stay as dark as the Swedish film and book - after all the original title of the book is "Men Who Hate Women."



Another flick I recently watched was Horrible Bosses.  My take?

1.) Jason Bateman is definitely Hollywood's new "not-conventionally-hot-but-still-attractive-nice-super sweet-guy you wanna bang for some reason" star.   He's just so fun to watch on screen :}  I must watch The Change Up coming out with Ryan Reynolds AND Jason Bateman -- gosh so much cute/hotness I don't know if I could take it!
2.) Jennifer Aniston = smoking hot as a brunette and I like seeing her acting the "bad girl" for once!  Pretty interesting nudge at how sexual harassment can go both ways.  It's very true to life in how guys/people in general seem to think a dude could never actually be harassed by a hot chick.   In fact, I believe the opinion usually is "You're so lucky to have a hot nympho throwing herself at you."  I think JA did a pretty good job is being both extremely hot yet totally insane and creepy. 
3.) Kevin Spacey quite possibly stole the spotlight from Jason Bateman.   Definitely the definition of the worst boss in the world.  God he was cool.
4.) Colin Farrell...omg...he's almost unrecognizable.  Hideous - which was awesome xD  His comb-over was excellenttttt.
5.) Jamie Fox - always colorful and cool but definitely not his best character I think.  He got kind of lost among all the other greats in this movie I think.

The other people were rather lukewarm compared to the rest of the star-studded cast.   But whatever, it was a fun movie and an amusing satire of today's workers in this crappy economy.   The premise, despite being played out to the extreme, strikes home.  I recommend :)



Last thing in this utterly random post: 2NE1's new song Ugly!  They were a little heavy on the slo-mo and the MV was a little boring...but I think the sad atmosphere fits the lyrics.  Not my favorite 2NE1 song tho fo sho.

Unsurprisingly, there's been a lot of whining about the full English hook -- but I like it!  I'm almost phobic about English in Kpop songs too.  YG Ent isn't that bad and JYP Ent (of course) is flawless but SM Ent seems to make it their business to butcher the English language often enough for 3 entertainment companies put together.   In any case, since 2NE1 are YG and CL and Park Bom are native English speakers, thankfully the English is flawless if not a little depressing:


I think I’m ugly
And nobody wants to love me
Just like her I wanna be pretty
I wanna be pretty
Don’t lie to my face tellin’
me I’m pretty
I think I’m ugly
And nobody wants to love me
Just like her I wanna be pretty
I wanna be pretty
Don’t lie to my face cuz I know
I’m ugly


- Full lyrics & Credits to Sovikpop

My thoughts:
I see a lot of hate about how sucky the hook is and how it doesn't "mesh" with the rest of the song lyrically.  I'm guessing that's because the lyrics make you feel uncomfortable.   The words run counter to what everyone preaches - "girls should embrace their looks/no plastic surgery/don't be shallow" - but the fact is that those words are simply ideals.  The reality is that every girl (and boy!) no matter how conventionally pretty, has once felt "ugly."  It's life to have ups and downs and it's human nature to long for more than what you have.

I don't think this song is meant to be overtly girl-power-ish but it still ultimately is because it's about how every girl has once felt "ugly."  Acknowledging the occasional (or constant) feeling of inadequacy over one's looks is the first step to addressing why you feel that way and eventually accepting who you are both on the inside and outside.  I don't think this song is meant to preach as much as simply acknowledge that "feeling ugly" is universal and to remind us that even in our darkest thoughts we are not alone. 

And who's looking for glow-in-the-dark paint now? CUZ I KNOW AM.

*yawn*

Also I finally installed Disqus!  After much debating between CommentLuv and Disqus, I have settled for the latter.  Now I can actually reply to comments in threaded form and you guys can leave more comments *nudgenudge* ^_~