Portobello

Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London, England. it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London’s notable street markets, known for its second-hand clothes and antiques.

media

Latest Film: Memento

Anastasiia and I saw this last night and were mindfucked; I got especially lost because the black and white scenes were overlapping with the colored scenes and I just didn’t know what was going on anymore.

See this if you liked Inception and Shutter Island. I kind of guessed the ending from the beginning because his other films give hints as to the kind of director he is and what stories he likes.

Also, the leading lady (Carrie-Anne Moss), bears a striking resemblance to Marion Cotillard (the lead actress in Inception). I guess we all know Christopher Nolan’s type of lady:

Slumber Party

Last night, my officemates and I had a sleepover at my place… haha! It was like a summer camp complete with a cook out: Anastasiia made the famous Ukranian buckwheat (brought by her mother all the way from Eastern Europe) + Pork Stroganoff -

while Juanka cooked Sopa Negra, a Costa Rican Black Bean Soup, extremely filling and tasty + vegetarian:

Daniel made this fantastic uber-rich no-bake Oreo cheesecake that fattened me up for the next couple of weeks or so

and then we watched an extremely mature and profound German film:

The Lives of Others won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film had earlier won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards – including those for best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor – after setting a new record with 11 nominations. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Golden Globe Awards.

Unlike many of its sort, Das Leben Der Anderen gave us hope in humanity (and second chances) despite its seemingly unconquerable evils. I’ll leave it at that, I suppose, and strongly recommend you to see it.

x

A photo of Adrian and I, from the days when it was still cold in Hong Kong (taken last February). I can hardly believe it ever was, now, and it will all be forgotten in the next 6 months of scorching heat.

I am now on my 5th day of yoga class in 1 week, and my body hurts from it, but I’m scheduled to go for around four more classes later, tomorrow, on Sunday, and next week. A theory popped into my mind as we were doing a hip-opening pose yesterday - flexibility and muscle control from yoga probably helps a lot in childbirth. Which leads me to be determined to be able to do many different kinds of body contortions and become a full-fledged yogi by the time I am married. Given my terror of the said prospect, this idea sort of gives me hope that I will be able to cope with the unavoidable pain that might be written into my destiny, to put it dramatically. 

Also, I saw this film a couple of nights back:

I have this horrible habit of reading the endings of books before I decide to read them, this obsessive quality in me that is desperate to be assured that everything will be alright in the end - and because I was afraid the film would end badly, I read the synopsis in advance to brace myself for what was to come. 

But I obviously won’t spoil it for you now. 

The film, as I later found out, was based on an autobiographical article by a British journalist. It was nominated for three Academy Awards in 2009 including Best Picture and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan. 

It was actually an amazing film, down to earth but encompassing many pertinent issues; I found the lead character’s dilemma particularly relevant despite the difference in setting (the film was set in 1961 London). The same question persists until today, I believe, on the real value of education and what it really means (does it defeat its original purpose?) and what it is all for.

joyceraboca:

Hi Mama,

I’m so sorry I rarely gave you Mother’s Day cards or flowers… I promise you that I’ll always give you flowers from now on and I promise that I will act as you would want me to.

I know you’re happy now, though! And I hope you’re proud of me and Yeni :)

Love, your Honey daughter,
Joyce 

I wish I could write something positive and happy, but it was the last thing, really, from what actually transpired:

The reality hit me this afternoon that this is basically what is left of my relationship with my mother, and I broke down alone on a bench along Chatham Road South, bitterly weeping and realizing how even after two years, the pain has not gone, along with the uncertainty that it ever will…

I would do anything to go back in time and make things right.

Snapshot of Impy and I during the boat trip earlier today at Sai Kung in Hong Kong. I know I was being such a downer, but I couldn’t bring myself to swim in the sea knowing that the toilets of all the boats in the area - including ours - directly flushed into the waters… Although I think I swallowed sea water when I finally brought myself to banana boat DX

Today definitely wasn’t the best day to boat trip for me as I got home at 4am this morning drunk, slept for two hours, and dragged myself to Sai Kung Pier with Juanka and a gigantic hangover. I don’t know how I managed not to puke taking the minibus and train at 9am with what seemed like Thor’s hammer pounding in my head. I tried to force Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream down my throat as soon as I woke up, somehow thinking that this would help… I’m not sure if it did, but thankfully, the hangover dissipated when I got on the boat. 

Next boat trip (next weekend), I promise not to drink the night before so my throat won’t reject alcohol the day itself and I can be happily drunk by the time the clock strikes 4! :))

classics

As advised by Mrs. Townsend, I borrowed two Academy-Award Winning films over the last week to enrich my film education (and to give advance warning, I won’t censor myself with my reactions, I may sound slightly stupid):

Legends of the Fall

starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins (I had no idea it was him until I read the DVD cover in the end. Anthony Hopkins was YOUNG once upon a time, and not freaky-looking… even when he was supposed to be ‘old’ in the film, it still didn’t look like him!).

The film was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Sound, and won the category for Best Cinematography.

Honestly, though, if you want to be depressed and see a movie where almost everything that can possibly go wrong, goes wrong… or if you want to educate yourself on what kind of man NOT to marry (read: Brad Pitt’s character, a barbarian named Tristan who screwed over his lover Susannah after stealing her from his two brothers by leaving her to wait for him while he had orgies in Africa and Asia with various exotic women), then you should see this film.

Kidding aside, obviously as it has done so well in the Awards, it’s worth seeing.

Out of Africa

Starring a young Meryll Streep and Robert Redford (who already looked old even in the 80’s), this film is a true story based on a Danish writer named Karen Blixen who tried to grow coffee in Africa in the early 1900’s. This film received 28 film awards, including seven Academy Awards.

Important lesson I learned from this film: Learn how to walk away when you need to.

x

I am now officially an actress. Does anyone want my autograph? Haha.

PS. Annoyingly, I never even got to see a single episode of this..