I happened to take a peek at my blog
this morning, and I realized that I’m now at 10,000+ pageviews! Wow! :D Maybe
that’s not a big accomplishment, considering, but I’m proud of my progress and
I’m very happy to know that others are visiting my site and reading my posts. I
love sharing my thoughts, and knowing that there are people who like to read
those thoughts certainly mollifies me as a blogger, artist, and writer.
So I just wanted to take a moment to
say THANK YOU to all of my readers—new, old, and passersby! I will continue to
write… in hopes that more and more people will read.
Last night, I had the immense pleasure
of attending a midnight showing of the third and final installment of the
beloved Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.
You know me. I am the very epitome of a fangirl. I spent several hours after the film spazzing
about this and that and everything beyond and in-between. Smaug’s siege and destruction. The battle scenes. The one-on-ones. The wraiths.
Elrond. Everything about Thranduil. Bard.
Legolas (despite the fact that he is a sassypants show-off like his
father). Those rams large enough to ride
on up the side of a mountain. Kiliel (I
SHIP IT). Bilbo's little nose twitch thing. And lots of other things that
aren’t coming to my mind as I write this.
Pretty much the whole movie. It’s
been a while, oddly enough, since I so heavily abused caps lock, exclamation points,
and nonsensical emoticons.
After my inner (and outer…) fangirl
calmed down to a stable state, however, I realized what my true emotions were
in regards to the film.
Tauriel: ‘…Why does it hurt so much?’
Thranduil: ‘Because it was real.’
I have ventured to many distant
lands. Each one has a special place in my
heart and mind that is a permanent part of my being. Middle Earth holds some of my particularly
fondest memories.
The point is that TheBattle of Five Armies,
another end to another fantastic adventure, will continue to haunt me with
sentimentality and nostalgia for many years to come.
When The Return of the King released, I was still quite young and a bit naïve
in the ways of the world, but now that I’m an adult and am burdened with my
cares and experiences, I’ve learned to value these childhood fantasies and to approach
them in a very different way than I did before.
The wonderful thing is, that I can always relive them.
“There
and back again.”
As I mentioned in my previous post, I tend
to judge films very subjectively. That’s
just how I am. I wouldn’t necessarily
call myself my Tolkien purist, but I am in agreement that this movie is in no
way perfect in relation to the book. There are so
many things that I could pick at and whine about, but honestly, this movie was
so epic that I feel like I can overlook those things quite easily, for the most
part. There are several things that
I wish weren’t left out and certain things that I would change if I could, but
that’s not what this post is about so I won’t go there. The book is the book and the movie is the movie.
This movie made me feel so...inspired.
As an artist and a writer, this is a most beautiful feeling. Battle
of the Five Armies was entertaining from start to finish, with nonstop
action and continuous development of both character and story. I’m quite surprised, honestly, how much was
covered in just two hours and a half. I
am impressed.
It goes without saying that this is
something very near and dear to me. What
I have been able to articulate and put together to form this blog post barely
scratches the surface of my thoughts on this topic. There is so much more that could be said.
“To these memories I will hold
With your blessing I will go
To turn at last to paths that lead home
And though where the road then takes me
I cannot tell
We came all this way
But now comes the day
To bid you farewell.”
—“The Last Goodbye,” Billy Boyd
Despite previously declaring that Battle of the Five Armies would be his
last film within the Tolkien universe, director Peter Jackson recently stated
that he would “probably” be up for another journey in Middle Earth. Mr. Jackson, I’d definitely be up for that,
too.
So is this really the last goodbye?
Personally, I’m going to hope that this
isn’t the case. I think that the greatest stories are the ones that are
never-ending; the ones that will forever be immortalized within the hearts of
those who believe that there are much higher things in this existence, even if some of those things are just in our imaginations.
Hello again~
Well. November flew right by due
to my sky-high pile of projects… and December certainly snuck up on me. I can hardly believe that Christmas is in two
weeks! *flails* I’ve only just started gift shopping!
…But anyway. Before it’s too late, I wanted to post some favorites from last
month. Because I was so busy, I didn’t
keep a list like I usually do, so I’ve just covered a few of the basics for
November.
Music
Kyuhyun – At Gwanghwamun
As elaborated upon in my previous post, Cho
Kyuhyun, my favorite South Korean vocalist (and quite possibly my favorite
vocalist of all time), released his first album At Gwanghwamun, during the month of November. I managed to snag a copy of it as an early
Christmas present to myself, and I have to say that I am impressed—and very
much in love with this album.
You
have heard me talk about Kyuhyun’s voice before. It’s just beautiful. There are no words that can do it
justice. This album perfectly highlights
everything that I love about his warm, distinctive vocals. His voice was definitely made for the ballads
that make up most of this album, but Kyu hints at his versatility with the fun,
folk-like track “Flying, Deep In The Night.”
I
love all of the tracks on this album, but if I had to pick a favorite, “Eternal
Sunshine” would be the easy choice. This
absolutely gorgeous song was composed by Japanese pianist Yiruma, who also plays
the instrument in the song. …Oh
goodness. I cried when I heard this song
for the first time because it is musical perfection.
The
jacket design for this album is beautiful, too!
It’s simple yet elegant. The
theme is autumn, and I have to say that the photoshoot is one of the best that
I’ve seen in Asian music, at least in my opinion.
But
ya’ll know that I’m totally not biased.
Film
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I
“Are you
Are you
Coming to the tree?
Where I told you to run, so we’d both be free?
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.”
—“The Hanging Tree”
If it’s one aspect of film—or any type
of entertainment, really—that I particularly enjoy, it’s how likely I am to
think about it over and over again even long after the viewing experience. I find that if a movie or book continues to
“haunt” me, that work has succeeded in its mission of making an impression on
my mind.
Mockingjay Part I is definitely one of
these works. I’ve heard mixed reviews on
it, but based on my personal response, I think it’s a fine film. It’s deep, fascinating, and eerily
beautiful. It’s a movie with a lot to
say about society and the human condition.
But that is a whole another blog post in itself, and I’m too lazy to go
there. Ha ha ha.
What
impressed me most about this movie was how it dealt with the incredibly dense
storyline of the Mockingjay book
almost effortlessly. It explains
everything well without being too explicit.
It leaves what should be left to the minds of those in the
audience. I have to admit that the first
time I read the book, I got about halfway through before I realized that I had
no idea what was going on, so I went back to page one! As I said, the film adaptation clarified the
complex events in an effective manner.
Product
CéraVe Renewing SA Lotion
As the winter chill has crept in and
settled, my problem skin has been demanding even more care. During this time of the year, it is of the
utmost importance that I keep my psoriasis in check. One product that I acquired recently was this
lotion from dermatologist-based brand CéraVe.
It’s a salicylic acid (SA) lotion and according to the packaging it
“provides patented controlled release of ingredients to help exfoliate, soften,
and smooth extremely dry, rough, and bumpy skin.” I’ve recently started a healthier diet with
exercise and out of all the products that I’m currently using to help ease my
external psoriasis symptoms, this one has helped the most to prevent scaling,
calm redness, and heal my patches. I apply
it three times daily: after cleansing in the morning, when I get home from work
in the afternoon, and at night right before I go to bed. It has worked wonders for me!
Book
Handling the
Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist
This was a novel that I had to read for
my “Monsters in Literature” course this past term, and I have to say, out of
all the books I’ve read this year, this one disturbed me the most. And by disturbed I mean that the story broke
the monotony of my normal reading material in an abrupt and unorthodox way.
What’s
it about? Zombies. No, don’t make that
face. And forget about what modern
entertainment has told you about zombies.
Handling the Undead is very,
very different, and would probably shock a follower of series such as The Walking Dead.
The
crux is that Lindqvist takes quite the opposite approach to the undead, which
he calls the “reliving.” Instead of
portraying the reliving as violent and terrifying, the author chooses to
emphasize their human value and focuses on the individual emotion of and
interpersonal relationships between their still-living family, friends, and
neighbors. The three main storylines
take place parallel to each other and at several points they do intersect, but
each character in the story stands for different things and thus has differing
motives for doing what they choose to do in regards to the reliving. They are written in a very thoughtful,
intelligent manner.
Bottom
line: the novel is dark, brooding, and eerily fascinating. You’ll never forget this one. Because of the subject matter, though, this
book certainly isn’t for everyone. Read
up on it and decide for yourself.
That's right, Super Junior's Cho Kyuhyun, a.k.a., quite possibly my favorite vocalist, is making his solo debut with a mini album and a concert! Words cannot describe my joy and excitement at hearing this news. Even now, about a week later, I simply cannot even begin to articulate my feelings. I fell in love with Kyuhyun's warm, clear voice a year ago, and I was surprised that he didn't already have several solo albums.
His first album, titled 'At Gwanghwamun' is set to be released on November 13th, 2014. The album will feature 7 tracks, with compositions by pianist Yiruma and TVXQ's Shim Changmin. The theme is autumn, which evokes thoughts of calm contemplation, gentle breezes, and falling leaves of every color. You can click on the picture on the right (above) to view the album tracklist. I expect that most of the tracks will be comparable to Kyuhyun's preexisting song, "Late Autumn," (2011) which was the result of a collaboration with fellow musician Yoon Jong Shin.
And here are more shots from the album's gorgeous photoshoot~
It seems as though Kyuhyun and I have a lot in common, hahaha. There's the obvious things like our love of music smarts, and good looks *snark* but also: gaming is one of our favorite hobbies, we eat maybe a little too much, we're only slightly evil, and we both have a thing for Loki and the fall season. x') My ramblings aside...I'm beyond thrilled for and proud of Kyuhyun, and I eagerly await his upcoming solo debut~!
I’m going to attempt to make these posts a little more
aesthetically appealing! Let me know how
you like (or don’t like, ha ha ha) the new layout! :D
Film
Saving
Mr. Banks
I had one of those “oh, that looks interesting, but I don’t
feel like watching it right now” sort of relationships with this movie before I
had seen it. I’m not sure why,
honestly. I knew that it was about Mary
Poppins and it had Emma Thompson in it.
Intriguing enough, right? The
rest was a mystery to me, and I have to say “the rest” really surprised
me. I was not expecting so much
drama.
Anyway,
finally, after months of dragging on this backburner relationship, my best
friends sat me down and made me watch Saving
Mr. Banks.
The
feels. Oh, the feels. I cried so hard
at the ending, ha ha. This is a
beautiful, thought-provoking, incredibly well-made film. The acting is phenomenal and the story is
very poignant and alive. After recently
watching it for the second time, my opinion hasn’t changed. As a writer and Disney-lover, this one will
stay with me for a very long time.
Book
“The
Art of Writing Poetry” by William Packard
One of the means by which I’ve been able to ease myself back
into writing mode is poetry. Usually I
write a one-page free verse or a haiku, depending on how lazy I am that day. Thanks to this nifty little poetry handbook,
however, I’ve been exploring new territory within this exciting genre. Ballads, sestinas, and villanelles—oh my. I picked up this gem at a thrift store!
Music
Sky
Sailing – An Airplane Carried Me to Bed
(album)
Super
Junior – Raining Spell for Love, Evanesce, Islands
Okay so this month, I have quite a few music favorites that
I absolutely must share. Sorry, I’m
going to break the rules a little bit and share more than one, ha ha ha. During my Resonant Song hiatus, I acquired
several new albums, including Sky Sailing (Owl City’s Adam Young)’s An Airplane Carried Me to Bed, and Super
Junior’s latest album, This is Love.
Beginning
with Sky Sailing, I can’t believe that I hadn’t bought this album earlier. I LOVE Owl City, particular his older stuff
(Ocean Eyes = quite possibly my favorite album ever), and AACMtB is the very
epitome of why I love Adam Young.
Beautiful, unique, very listenable tunes paired with meaningful lyrics
and Adam’s peacefully melancholic voice.
I fell in love all over again. My
favorite tracks on the album are Take Me
Somewhere Nice, Captains of the Sky, and Brielle.
What
blew me so far away with Super Junior’s This
is Love album (repackage of their previous Mamacita album) is, once again, the versatility of this incredible
group. The songs range from super catchy
dance beats and One Direction-esque pop (Too
Many Beautiful Girls. You know you
thought of that, too, so don’t go there) to gut-wrenching ballads and sweet,
sexy R&B sound. Out of the thirteen
tracks, there are maybe two or three that I didn’t particularly care for, but
that’s because they are just OK. All the
others are fantastic! The three that I
picked for this blog post are the ones that I like best, Islands being my favorite song on the album. Yes, it’s a ballad.
I’m sorry, I can’t help myself. cx
Give it a
listen~!
Product
Etude
House Aloe Moistfull skincare set
With winter
just on the horizon, I’ve certainly braced myself and my super-sensitive skin
for the cold and dry weather that is bound to come. I’ve officially gone into cold-weather-mode
with my skincare routine, and I’ve added a few new products to the mix in hopes
that I can rid myself of my psoriasis once and for all.
One
ingredient which I’ve noticed really helps calm my skin is aloe. I’ve been doing a lot of research in regards
to which products would work better with my very specific skin conditions. I’ve used Etude House products in the past,
both in the makeup and skincare categories, and they’ve performed wonderfully
and never irritated my skin. So when I
found out about the brand’s “Moistfull” skincare products, naturally, I was
intrigued. There are several types, but
obviously I narrowed it down to the aloe set pretty easily.
The three products
I purchased were the First Essence, the Soothing Gel, and the Soothing
Cream. I’m not entirely sold on the
essence just yet (it doesn’t seem to do anything except smell nice), but the
gel and cream are great. I wear the gel
under my makeup in the daytime, and I use the cream at night. Both after cleansing with my DHC oil, of
course. The Moistfull products, true to
their name, really help keep my skin soft and more receptive to whatever I put
over it. The “soothing” aspect is
spot-on as well. Just minutes after
applying, my skin is less red and irritated, even after exfoliating, which I
find impressive. Many products are quite
uncomfortable to apply after exfoliation.
I’d give
the Soothing Gel and Soothing Cream four stars!
Makeup
Wet
‘n’ Wild matte black eyeshadow single
This one seems pretty basic, but man, has little eyeshadow
single has changed my everyday makeup routine.
A lot of people tell me that I do eyeliner really well, but I WILL TELL
YOU ALL THAT I HATE DOING EYELINER, LIKE ASDFGHJKLK. NOPE.
Ahem. Many days would pass where I wouldn’t even
wear any eyeliner because I was simply too lazy or didn’t have enough
time. …Okay, okay. That was almost every day. My eyeliner of choice is Milani’s EyeTech Extreme
liquid pen liner, but honestly, it takes a long time to get those perfect
wings. Not happening on a daily basis.
Anyway, the
point that I’m trying to make here is that there are far easier way to apply
eyeliner, especially if you’re pressed for time. Get an eyeliner brush, a bit of water, and a
good matte black eyeshadow, and you’re good to go. And it doesn’t have to be MAC’s Carbon.
This eyeshadow
single from Wet n Wild’s Color Icon collection cost me like, one dollar, and it
does the job perfectly fine. Yay.
Event
K
+ 1st grade field trip to Detering Orchard
Finally, my favorite event for the month of October. This was an incredibly easy one. In the first week of the month, I had the
opportunity to accompany the kindergarten and first grade classes on a field
trip to a local orchard, where they could pick apples and pumpkins, pet goats,
drink cider, and all sorts of other fun stuff.
I always enjoyed field trips, so I was happy to comply.
The day
ended up being like little autumn vacation.
The weather was gorgeous. The
kids were so happy and enthusiastic. The
cider was delicious and browsing through the stands was lovely. I even went home with a few apples and a
handsome little pumpkin—all handpicked by yours truly.
Being a
teacher constantly reminds me that we have to be grateful for the little things
in our lives, not just the big things.
The little things are often what can give us the most joy, if we only
open our eyes and our hearts to the possibilities that are waiting for us
everywhere.
Okay, two things: 1. The end of October totally snuck-up on me. That was was one of the craziest weeks I've had since the girls' camp this past summer. 2. I think that I've pretty much failed NaNoWriMo, LOL. How is it already the 4th? If I had actually been participating in NaNoWriMo, I would have written roughly 5000 words of my novel. Siiiigh. Life can really be annoying sometimes. Anyway, regardless of that, I'm still going to try and write every day during this month of November. Who knows, maybe I'll get caught up I strongly doubt it though and end up writing a good novel. But at this point, I'm not going to get anybody's hopes up, especially mine. I'm frustrated with my lack of time these past few days to devote to writing, but it's over and done. All I can do is keep calm and write on. That aside, I am not a total failure! I did manage to get Writerlyup and and running. :-) Here's a preview!
I still need to add an about page, registration instructions, and work out a few kinks in the system, but I'm happy with the site so far. I think that it's going to be a fun little community and I'm looking forward to working as administrator on this new project. Hopefully, it will be beneficial to anyone and everyone who joins. And that's about it for today. October favorites soon to follow~
Hello, everyone! I apologize for my lack of posts! School and work have bitten me in the behind
and I haven’t had any extra time to devote to my blog. :-( I tried for a while
there to keep up with my Monthly Favorites posts, but that was
short-lived. Ha ha ha. Oh well.
But anyway, I’m back now! :D We’ll see how long I stick
around this time. Recently, I’ve decided that I will be participating in National Novel Writing Monthagain this
year. I skipped last year because of
bitter frustrations that I was still experiencing over my 2012 NaNoWriMo
project, Fleur Valse. I think I’m ready to give it another go.
As for my new novel’s storyline, I’m still trying to choose
between several options that I’ve come up with.
All of them are fantasy, not surprisingly. :P Some are dystopian, others
are…well, not dystopian, ha ha ha. I’m
starting afresh, that’s the only thing I’m certain of. New world, new characters. No returning to old, failed
projects. I’m going to try something
different and see how it compares to my other attempts. I think that a huge part of the reason why my
past two NaNoWriMo projects have failed is because I’ve tried to write novels
that I’ve come up with way beforehand, and the result is that I end up getting
incredibly frustrated when things don’t turn out how I intended them to. One month simply isn’t enough time to write a
complex book, especially within the fantasy genre!
Plans? What
plans? Nope! I’m not
writing out a detailed description of every character, scene, and chapter
like I did back in 2012. I learned the
hard way that this sort of planning quickly becomes a to-do list, and nobody
likes to do chores.
I’m going to go with the flow. Take each chapter as it comes. I’m going to let my words pour forth at their
own pace and not worry about the details.
That’s what editing is for!
So most of my prep, so to speak, is comprised of copious
amounts of fine coffee and tea along with a few simple writing exercises and
brainstorming for ideas. All of this is
to help ease myself back into writing mode.
I’ve been terribly unproductive as of late (as you all know, why am I
telling you this), and I want to avoid a reality shock, for lack of a
better term.
This brings us to my “Big Announcement.” For the benefit of
myself and my peers, I have created a private, online writing community called Writerly, which, if all goes well, will officially launch
on November 1st, 2014. But another blog post will follow on that~ I
hope that it will prove to be successful for its members in receiving feedback
and critique from fellow writers, and also (of course) to have fun sharing
ideas and inspiration. :-)
Next week, I will post a preview of the site!
That aside, I encourage all of my writer friends to give
NaNoWriMo a try. Come join in on the fun.
As you all have noticed, Resonant Songhas had a bit of a makeover! It's still a work-in-progress, but I'm really loving the starry theme.
I've shed my childhood screen name, Aianarie, and will now be known here on my blog as A. M. Wied; artist, writer, and nerd extraordinaire.
New blog posts soon to follow!
Hope you all are having a fantastic summer so far! With just these last few days of August left,
we need to soak up as much of the sunshine and free time that we can get. Many more memories are yet to be made!
I apologize that this post is so ridiculously late (again), but here
we go with another round of Monthly Favorites!
I’m going to start off with something a little different: a
favoriteactivity. And that would be thrifting. Since the
beginning of July I’ve gone pretty much every weekend. I’ve scored all sorts of items; loads of
clothing, gifts for friends, coffee mugs, books, etc. Every trip is a new adventure with new
discoveries. I haven’t gone shopping
anywhere save Salvation Army, Goodwill, and St. Vincent de Paul’s in a long
while. Honestly, I don’t think I ever
will unless of course I’m looking for something specific, because I have a
pretty solid wardrobe now, I think.
Hahaha! This way I’ll have extra
money for video games and…stuff.
Favorite songs for July are all under the category of Chinese ballads. Ya’ll already know that I’m obsessively
into Asian music: k-pop, j-pop, c-pop…hahaha.
They’re not very original or specific with their music genres. While the all that pop is fun and catchy, my
musical heart truly resides wherever there are ethereal vocals and harmonic
sound. Compared and contrasted to Korean
and Japanese, the Chinese language is fascinating. Pronunciation is somewhat phonetic, but the
articulation of each individual word is quite precise and it goes without
saying that I find it really interesting! I often get mesmerized listening to
Chinese people speak, let alone sing.
Have a listen to Zhang Li Yin’s Agape,and Wu Yi Fan (former EXO member
Kris)’s Time Boils the Rain.
Beautiful, right? I would love to learn both of these pieces on the piano...if only I was that talented.
Sigh. X'D
Finally, my food pick is chicken. I know, I know—I’m being really general this time around.
X’) Especially the chicken-strip-basket-from-Dairy-Queen kind of chicken. I’ve eaten so much chicken in the past month
prepared in a variety of different ways.
Fried, broiled, grilled, marinated in yummy Filipino adobo sauce…I’m
getting hungry just thinking about all this food! Chicken is certainly a
delicious canvas for many beautiful flavors.
And that's it for this month! I'll be back in a week or two with my August Favorites, hehe! 'Til then~~~
My goodness! It’s July
ALREADY? (*cough* the end of July… *cough*)
The merry month of May flew right by.
But now that I look back, it was quite a busy month indeed. My mum’s birthday, Mother’s Day, May
Crowning, First Communions, end of the school year for me as a teacher, many
babysitting jobs—I’ve certainly been a busy bee.
Aaaand, the allergies.
They came, they saw, and they
conquered.One of the reasons why this post is so ridiculously late.
June went by just as quickly. With Father’s Day, my birthday, girls’ camp,
and my Cali trip, the days have just been flying by! I can’t keep up, but I’ve been having so much
fun that I really can’t complain. *^_^*
Alright, enough idle chitchat!
FAVORITES~
Let’s change things up a bit and start this monthly favorites
post off with food. During May I was a
bit obsessed with Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos. These are…amazing. I love all kinds of spicy food, but I have an
issue with the regular Flamin’ Hot Cheetos because those are just spicy and
have no flavor other than spicy. The
jalapeño versions are delicious! I
craved sushi for most of June. Specifically, the yummy crab tempura rolls from Sushi
Island herein Eugene. Yum.
As for drinks, I’ve been very into milk tea! It’s sweet and
refreshing—perfect for summer. Seldom
has a day gone by when I didn’t fix myself up a glass. There are many different methods and recipes
for making this popular Asian treat, so I’ve done a bit of experimenting until
I found one that I liked. As of right
now, this is the one!
MILK TEA
Ingredients
a pot of strong brewed tea
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
a can of evaporated milk, chilled
Directions
1. Brew your tea
according to package instructions. Make
it on the strong side. Cool to room
temperature. You can use any kind of tea
you want! My favorites are Builder’s and
matcha.
2. Make simple syrup:
Stir together sugar and water in a small pot and bring to boiling. Boil for 5 minutes while stirring and then
remove from heat. Let cool to room
temperature. Syrup will thicken
slightly.
3. For one glass of
milk tea: Measure about 2 tablespoons (more or less to suit your taste) of
simple syrup into a tall glass. Add 1
cup of the cooled tea. Add desired
amount of chilled milk.
4. Enjoy~! ^^
Tips
Add strawberry, raspberry, vanilla, or any other
drink/coffee syrup in place of the simple syrup to make flavored milk tea. You can also add tapioca pearls (you can find
these at any Asian grocery) to make bubble tea.
I also have a two beauty products to share with ya’ll this
month. The first is a hair product that I’ve
been wanting to try for a while now but never got around to purchasing it. Needless to say, it’s a fantastic product,
and I will definitely be repurchasing this one.
Dream Curls Curl-Perfecting Spray
by John Frieda. I’m not a fan of heavy hair products such
as creams or mousse, so I was on the market to find something that would
enhance my naturally curly hair without weighing it down. This stuff is perfection. One of these days I won’t be lazy, and I’ll take
some before and after pics to share with you guys. lol
The second product is a hand cream: Vaseline Intensive Care Healthy Hands Essentials Moisturizing
Lotion. Whew, long name. I had this lying around forever (so long that
I’m not even sure if stores still sell it, haha!) and finally decided to start
using it about two months ago because I was noticing that my hands were getting
quite dry, and my nails were breaking a lot.
I’ve experienced a huge difference
with this product. Because I’m always
getting my hands into something and having to wash to them, the lotion hasn’t
really helped with my dry hands, but my nails are so much more strong and
healthy than they were before. A product
like this is a must-have for people like me who constantly wear nail polish. Sometimes we forget how much polishes and
removers such as acetone strip and expose our nails to damage. I’ll be buying more of the lotion when I run
out!
Song of the month! Miracles
in December [Chinese version]by
EXO.
Yes, yes, Christmas in July. This
is a legitimate thing, at least for me.
X’D At this point in the year, I’m already longing for winter and
Christmas to be here again. Don’t mind
me. Hehehe. Anyway, this gorgeous ballad takes me to the
fairy tale land within a snow globe, full of dreams and hopes and memories.
Siiiigh.
But It’s
summerrrrrrrr! (obligatory Olaf solo)
Finally, a film favorite for the month of May. I saw quite a few this time around, so I had
to think about it for a second. Edge of Tomorrow was much better than I
expected, and Transformers: Age of
Extinction was far worse! Sorry, Han Geng, your 45 seconds of screen
time weren’t enough to redeem such a cheesy, superficial film.
Hands down, my favorite film for May/June is The
Amazing Spiderman 2. Holy
guacamole on a toasted flour tortilla.
AS IF CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 DIDN’T GIVE ME ENOUGH MARVEL UNIVERSE FEELS. I can’t even with this movie. Nope.
NOPE. It was, true to its name,
amazing, but I will no doubt go crazy as a result of all these awesome
superhero movies. ;__; I sincerely
apologize, but I really can’t say anything else about this without writing a
dissertation. I shall spare you that!
And that’s it for May/June! July Favorites soon to follow,
LOL!
Hello, my sweet music notes! Alleluia
to our risen King! I hope you all have
been having a very holy and blessed Easter season. Mine has been nothing short of beautiful.
I’m going to be honest: I’ve been so distracted lately that I nearly
forgot about writing this blog post. Now
that Lent is over and I’m out of school for the summer, I’ve been overwhelmed
with the amount of things that I can do!
Hahaha. Sorry this post is a bit
later than usual!
Anyway—my favorites for the month of April. Here we go~!
Let us begin with a film, shall we?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Omg you guys. This movie gave me
so many feels. I can’t even begin to
articulate. I’ll begin by saying that it
is a great movie and I really enjoyed
it. So much action! I was literally on the edge of my seat two or
three times. But I’m just a comic
book nerd like that. If you haven’t
seen it yet, definitely GO SEE IT. LIKE
SOON.
I can’t really say much about it without spoilers, but wow, the
storyline was quite unexpected. In a
good way, mind you. I just wasn’t
expecting it to be so intense and multi-faceted.
Let’s just say that The Winter Soldier makes me very excited—and curious—about
the upcoming Marvel Universe films, particularly Avengers: Age of Ultron.
My music feature for this month goes to three-man Korean band Lunafly, composed of members Sam, Teo,
and Yun. The leader, Sam Carter, is
half-Korean, half-British, and has a wonderfully clear voice. He also plays guitar, as does Yun. Yun is my bias (favorite member) for this group. He has a lovely personality, and his voice is
so warm and versatile. He plays keyboards for the group. Teo is on percussion most of the
time. Most of their stuff is vocal and
acoustic, which ya’ll know I really like.
Believe it or not, I didn’t find them from listening to k-pop. I was actually on YouTube looking for new
covers of Pink’s Just Give Me a Reason, which is one of my favorite songs to
sing. :-) All three members of Lunafly
speak English (Sam, being British, is fluent; Yun and Teo have pretty good pronunciation for a second language!), and they have many American pop (a-pop? lol) covers on their
channel. Their JGMaR is stunning. I love it!
I have consumed so much food mostly dessert since Easter! My food favorites for this month are Japanese
candy and snacks, which I have been acquiring in packages from my dear friend,
and from my local Asian grocery. Lots of
Almond Crush Pocky! ♥ But my favorite is a new discovery called Chococonesby Japanese snack company Meiji.
So yummy and addicting! I can
easily eat a whole box to myself during a single sitting.
I’m also back to my games! Been
playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf,
and I finally made some progress in The
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD. I
got it as a Christmas gift and have only played it once. That’s ridiculous. XD But
my favorite game for the past month isSuper
Mario 64. I bought it on the Wii’s
Virtual Console. This game, like many
others on the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube, brings back so many fond memories for
me. Things that were tucked away in my
heart and mind—brought back to life through a video game controller.
