Magazines

You can tell a lot from a person just by the type of magazine they read. Magazines have this unique feature where it is made for specialised audience. For example, a person on the tube reading a trade magazine on the way home. You could probably tell that he (assuming it's a he) is a person from the business trade. Or maybe a person reading a Home and Garden magazine. You could tell that he (assuming again) likes to know about home decor or has just moved into a new house and is looking for ideas to vamp up his house. A person reading a car magazine would definitely be someone who is interested to know about cars and the latest cars that are out.

The magazine I read on the other hand is really a typical, girl magazine.

Seventeen.

The thing that has me gushing about this magazine is the fact that it's only RM6 and you get so much information from it. Every issue has four sections fashion, beauty, celebrity gossip and a special section which varies every month.

The fashion section has all the fashion products of course. Most of the products featured are affordable for students. Everyone knows students are on tight budgets and what makes a girl happier than to buy something affordable that she absolutely loves?

It also teaches me how to make one piece of clothing work with different looks. It inspires me to think out of the box and be creative with the clothes I have. If I had to rush somewhere after my classes, I would not have to go home to change into a new outfit but instead just do a little bit of changes to my outfit or do my hair up in a different style just to make me look less like a Uni student and more like I'm on a day out. Little changes like that bring a huge difference to your outfit. The upside is you get to save so much time (from the traffic we get in KL) and there's less laundry to wash.

The next section is the beauty section which has self care tips. Again in this section there are beauty products that are advertised which are affordable and do the job. There are a few pages which teach you how to do your make up or hairstyles. I guess this section kind of helps me boost my confidence around people because I feel presentable when I'm dressed up. Also, it helps me take care of myself.

Then comes the celebrity section where they interview a few celebrities each month. I do not really pay much attention to this section unless it features a celebrity that I'm a fan of. Also at the end of the celebrity section they have the latest recommended movie that's screening in the cinema, a list of good books and latest music hits. It keeps me up to date with the entertainment world and provides a conversational currency when I'm talking to my friends because most of them are concert goers and are up to date with the music industry.

Also, in every issue of the Seventeen magazine there is a DIY section which I am a huge fan of. I love making my own things and doing arts and craft. I like having my own customised things so most of the time I would take the idea and put some innovation into it to make my very own customised shirt,bag etc.

The special varies within every issue. This month's issue had a college survival guide which I found very useful. It had on the go food to stock up on if you are in a rush, tips on what to to bring to your new place and it's
more. Information like this helps
save a lot of time for me and it makes sure I am well prepared.

Just like any other girl magazine, it has quizzes and advise for your social life. Personally, I think quizzes are put in magazines because most girls are very indecisive and confused. Taking some of this quizzes could set their mind on the right track and help them find out more about themselves.

That's what I get beyond the magazine itself.

Video recording

This week we were assigned a group video presentation assignment. We are required to make a 10 minute comedy drama.

We were shown videos made by our seniors. Personally, I think some of them have done a very good job considering that they were amateurs.
My favourite was the video entitled 'You left me'. It was about a boy who left his girlfriends because of things he did wrong and his girlfriends are haunting him.

I think the video was very well and cleverly filmed. Instead of using an external microphone to film the whole talking process of the video, they had used a voice over method. It was filmed in a way that it was the main character's flashback on his life. That added a sad, sort of empty feeling to the video. It was as if the character was full of regret and remorse.

The camera angles used were appropriate as well. I loved how the camera was focused on the faces of his ex- girlfriends when they told their story. Their expressions were vacant as they told their story, which made the scene so haunting and eerie.

Also, the scene where the main character was having dinner with his girlfriend. The ghost of his girlfriends past starts haunting him. The ex girlfriend was shown to be beside his girlfriend but only he could see her spirit. This scene was acted very well, you could see his face turn pale and scared.

Another good video was the one about cyber bullying. The story revolves around a girl named Ariel. She is new to the school and has a best friend who is bullied a lot. There are three antagonists in this video. They are three mean girls. Ariel starts to get nasty comments on her pictures. She's upset and thinks that the mean girls were behind all of it. The video ends with a girl typing all those nasty comments but her face was not shown, leaving just a tattoo of the infinity sign on the back of her neck as a clue for the audience. It creates suspense and mystery at the end of the video to keep the audience waiting for the next episode or sequel to find out what happens.

Newspaper

My newspaper lecture taught me a lot of things about the newspaper that I didn't know. Who knew that it would be so difficult to produce a paper. I think only a minority of us would actually appreciate how the paper is made.

The journalists goes out to get information for their stories, writes them, hands it in to be edited by the editor. When all the stories are in, it is arranged in the layout before it is sent to the press to be printed and then only distributed to the news vendors. All this, just for a days paper and it gets read once by a person or numerous people before it is chucked away to be forgotten. All that for a one time use. Is it worth it?

Newspapers are not very popular among youths today. I personally do not read the paper anymore. It seems like an old thing to do. With all the new technology and flashy gadgets we are able to get news just a click away. It's free, easy, time saving and eco-friendly (no wasted papers) provided that you have internet access.

 Gone are the days where someone's elbow is in your face while you are on the bus or LRT home just because he/she is reading the newspaper or waking up in the morning to find that your paper was ruined by the rain while it was laying on the floor of your porch. Newspapers are now on the go, or shall i say e-news. Whip out your smartphones and download apps or surf the internet for an online news update.

Be it citizen journalists speaking or professional journalist speaking in cyberspace, you get your news from all types of sources. It allows you to make your own perceptions of situations instead of sugar coated news from just one source.

Don't say the Taboo!

In our replacement lecture today we played the game called called Taboo. It is basically like charades but instead of actions we use words. It seemed like most of us were having fun guessing what our classmate was trying to explain to us without saying the word. Each of us had a turn at being the teller while the rest guessed.

Which brought me to think more about the board game. It makes you think on the spot. You have only one minute to help your friends guess as many words as possible. Some of us were so nervous we were lost for words, some accidentally said the taboo words but it was a challenge for our minds.

I find that the trick is to be calm. Imagine that there isn't a timer ticking, that there wasn't a room of yelling people trying to guess the answer, just you giving people ideas and gists of the word. I guess to play this game as a teller, you have to think quickly and explain yourself clearly.

Being a guesser is much simpler, it requires fast thinking and trying to interpret what the teller tells you. Your mind immediately thinks of anything that's related to the explanation you just heard. Could it be this or that or something else? But then, you're just yelling out all the answers just to see if it's right.

Overall, I think this board game stimulates your mind to think faster and at the same time improves your creativity as you have to think of different ways to describe a word without saying the taboo words.

Delicatessen- a movie review

During our 4pm - 7pm class on a Friday, our lecturer showed us a french film named Delicatessen. It directed by Marc Caro, cartoonist and Jean-Pierre Jeunet filmed in 1991. Delicatessen was their first feature film. This film is a black comedy, meaning humour which arises from something cynical and skepticism. 

The film was recorded in a run down apartment building with a butcher's shop on the ground floor owned by the landlord, Clapet (Jean- Clayde Deyfrus). He pays the postman to advertise a vacancy for a handyman, also a way to lure victims to be murdered and sold as meat to overcome the food shortage France was facing. Louison (Dominique Pinon), an ex-clown took the job as the handy man. He proved to be a efficient handyman as fixed up the  Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), Clapet's daughter soon develops feelings for Louison which makes Clapet more than willing to make Louison his next victim. Julie, descends into the sewers to the Trologistes, a group of vegetarian French rebels, to seek help to rescue Louison. The way Clapet acts shows that he loves his daughter and this is proven more when he talks to his wife about Julie refusing to talk to him because the was going to murder Louison.

The film features different families living in one apartment building with Clapet as their leader. Clapet is portrayed as a very stern man who is actually very loving towards his daughter. He buys sweets for her which are very expensive due to the post apocalyptic situation they are in. He is terrified of the idea that Louison is going to take his daughter away from him, leading him to try to murder Louison as the next victim for meat. His tenants fear that they maybe next in line if there was no other victim to feed the other tenants with meat.

Louison who is the main character is a quirky fellow. He was an entertaining character to watch. He was a vegetarian and was disgusted that people could practice cannibalism. He was a good maintanence man who was liked by all the tenants.

The film portrays cannibalism to be acceptable in the group of people living in the apartment. My opinion is, why practice cannibalism? They could just be vegetarians like Louison. It is shown that Clapet has many bags of corn in his cellar. That would be enough to feed everyone for a long time. Could humans be so desperate for meat that they are willing to kill other humans for it? And if they could, how will they live with themselves knowing that they had murdered and eaten the meat of their own species?

Marcel, the middle aged lady who always hears voices in her head convincing her that the after world was a better place compared to the world she was living in. Maybe she felt so guilty for practicing cannibalism that she started to believe she should leave the world. Her attempts in suicide usually end in a comical manner.

Genre

We all know genre means a kind of music. The very word itself means 'kind' in French. There are many genres such as country, jazz, pop, hip hop and so on.

A genre of music that I am a huge fan of which is written by Coldplay is alternative rock. I have never listened to Coldplay music in my life but one day, I walked into my apartment after getting home for the university to the song "Gravity". Instantly, a sense of calmness washed over me. I felt so relaxed. I think it is great music to play when you are just laying down after a long day of work or when you are on a road trip. It's slow pace makes you feel, floaty and dreamy. This type of music is the best for when you're at home alone and need something to fill up the silence in the house.

The main stream music now, is mostly club songs and dubstep music, which in my opinion should only be played in clubs. There is a time and place for each type of music. Music influences how you do things. For example, when you're working out in the gym it would be easier when you listen to upbeat music. The fast beat influence the way you do things. It is proven in research that people who listen to upbeat music tend to drive faster while listening to it. We tend to keep up with the pace of the music. If we are working out, it increases the intensity and speed of your work out.

Burlesque

Hello blogosphere.

Today I'll be giving a review about the film, Burlesque.

Burlesque is a film filled with drama, musicals and romance. It features Christina Aguilera as Ali, a small town girl from Iowa who who sets off for LA to follow her dreams. She stumbles upon a dying club along sunset strip and was instantly taken in by the performance on stage. She manages to land herself a job as a cocktail waitress in the club. She amazes the club owner, Tess (Cher) with her talent during the auditions for a new dancer. With Ali's career setting off she starts getting some 'man attention' from a member of the club. It surfaces her housemates unknown feelings about her.

What really got me into this film was at first, the outrageous costumes it had. As I am a person who is into the dance art, I love watching dance films. Usually a dance film is all about hip hop, break dance and street dancing, but this film wasn't like the norm. It's about a dance art named Burlesque. Burlesque shows incorporated elaborate sets, gorgeous costumes, mood music and dramatic lighting. Novelty acts were often included, such as fire eaters, contortonists and other circus performers. Pastiche, parody and wit, accompanied with dancing girls, chason singers, comedians mime artists made up the typical American Burlesque show.The popular burlesque show of the early 20th century eventually evovled into striptease which became the primary focus by the 1930s, heralding the end of Burlesque and teh birth of striptease.

The dances was a mix of Burlesque with a modern twist to it. It was funny and entertaining.  The music played in the film was jazzy and had a broadway musical feel. It's jazzy music makes the dances feel nothing like a striptease but more of a beautiful art.

Christina Aguilera in 'I'm a good girl'