Bubblegum

So I just finished watching another korean drama, Bubblegum. There were only 16 episodes, but I took super long to finish watching it because there was Christmas, New Year, and I'm currently doing my short postings (read : supposedly busy posting) now. I nominated three dramas after watching Boys Over Flowers. The nominees were - Oh My Venus (kdrama), Bubblegum (kdrama), Scarlet Heart (Chinese). I watched the first episode of each, and Bubblegum totally impressed me. 

The main plot is about two people who have known each other for most of their life. They lived like siblings, but suddenly they have feelings for each other. The main guy is Park Ri Hwan, and the girl is Haeng Ah. Haeng Ah was adopted by Ri Hwan's mother, but they knew each other before that. Ri Hwan's mother fell in love with Haeng Ah's Father, after separtion with their spouses respectively. There were no scenes or story attributed to them in the drama, about the spouses that left the families (Ri Hwan's father and Haeng Ah's mother). 

The conflict of the story is that, Ri Hwan's Mother develops Alzheimers, and she opposes their relationship. Superficially, it is because she feels that Haeng Ah is unable to take care of Ri Hwan when he eventually develops Alzheimers when he is old, because Haeng Ah lacks the protective nature in her. All these while, Ri Hwan was more protective of Haeng Ah. Plus, Haeng Ah doesn't have a family of her own, so she wouldn't have support when things get tough in the future. The underlying reason to why Ri Hwan's mother doesn't really like Haeng Ah is because, she loved Haeng Ah's father, and he promised her that if she could wait a little longer, they could eventually be together. However, he died before that became true. So she sees him in Haeng Ah, and she does not have faith in her. 

Things get really tough, and Haeng Ah's best friend also convinces Ri Hwan to break off the relationship because the future seems dark for Haeng Ah. Mind you, all these is based off a 50% chance of Ri Hwan developing Alzheimers. Ri Hwan has his moment, and does the usual "fake break-up" thing. However, Haeng Ah doesn't give up. She promises that she will be more independent - she will learn how to drive, she will get over her hospital phobia (all so that she could be prepared for when Ri Hwan develops the disease). After much assurance from Haeng Ah that she can do this, and she can be there for him, Ri Hwan goes back to her. It also took some perspective renewal moments by their family physician/psychiatrist (I'm not too sure what he is). Ri Hwan's mother's condition worsens, but she has a great family surrounding her. In the subplots, there are two other love stories, that I won't really be discussing, but they were cute nevertheless. 

The main thing that I love about this drama is the chemistry between Ri Hwan and Haeng Ah. It almost feels like they are lovers in real life. The way they hold each other and kiss, its too real. I've watched a substantial number of dramas, but I've never seen something like this before, not even in movies of other languages. There are other love stories I enjoyed, but most of the time, it was because of the plot itself, not because I liked the couple. But this drama is completely different. It has set a new standard of love dramas for me. Between them both, Haeng Ah's acting was on point, I really enjoyed it at all moments. Her smile and tears were near perfect, not forgetting that she is a real beauty. 

On top of that, there weren't any of those rich guy-poor girl complexes. Both of them have stable jobs, and they fell in love merely by caring for each other, and not having to solve any monetary issues. Parents opposing the relationship was present, however the scenes were not overdone. There weren't any moments where the evil-kdrama-mother hires some hitman to go kill that guy/girl or hire some third party to sabotage the relationship. In fact, I feel that this drama was very realistic and no scene was overly dramatic. Perhaps usually its called "drama" for a reason, but I really liked how normal this story was. The more relatable it is, the better. Over-dramatization can be either funny or just purely annoying. 

My Favorite Scene

Basically, the above is my favorite scene in the drama. Actually there were many "moments" of them fighting/loving each other that was totally heart-warming and tear-jerking, but this one was just rewind-worthy. I've never actually watched a love drama and rewind part of it to re-watch it. The screenshot I took doesn't aptly described what happen, because I don't really want to spoil the fun (although most of my posts contains spoilers), but this scene is in episode 8. So if you're watching it, you can anticipate something amazing then. 

The main characters

This is the family Ri Hwan's mother had. Besides them trying to be cute, I think this is a really nice picture :) The drama doesn't only focus on the love story. The Alzheimer part of it stressed the importance of having a family to be always there for you. Ri Hwan's mother said, 

"...people who wont tire easily and will stick by him even if they do tire out. Those who will be bonded to him even in death. Even if they want to throw him out secretly in the middle of the night; people whose relationship keep them from doing so. Most people call that family, don't they? Wanting to throw away, but not being able to."

Final Scene

"If the bubble pops, then you can just blow another one. The small happiness that you feel when you chew a bubblegum; it's not any different from any other kind of happiness" - Bubblegum 2015

Boys Over Flowers

So my last post here was 11th November? Omg. I read one novel in between, which was Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. However, I'm not going to blog about it. Mainly because I can't remember much about it, and I don't think I'm going to continue the trilogy. Plus I'm in Korean drama mode now, and when I'm in such a mood, novels do no good. I can only do one thing at a time. Well, this post is going to be about Boys Over Flower, which I finished watching about two weeks ago, but postponed (procrastinated) this post till now. Leggo. 

Firstly, I have to mention, this is the second time I'm watching Lee Min Ho in a school-type of series, where he is just too old for that role. In The Heirs, it was bad enough. Although he was younger in BOF, but I guess his face is the matured type, so he just doesn't fit here. Having said that, his acting is fine, so it wasn't too bad either. I shall talk about the characters first, before focusing on the plot. Actually, I won't be focusing on the plot. I'll be talking about, which guy actually deserves her, and the reason to why I think so. 

Yi-Jung. So for me this is the best looking member of F4. But, his acting was bad. The happy parts were okay, but he couldn't pull of the depressive phase. Plus, I totally couldn't get why he suddenly started thinking about his past, when from the beginning of the drama, the only depressed person was Ji-Hoo, or so they portrayed. Either I can't remember where was the trigger, or there wasn't one. 

 

Ku Hye-Sun (Geum Jan-Di). She acted in Blood, which I watched a couple of months ago. In Blood she was super annoying with her long hair. Here however, I kinda liked her acting. Although her crying scenes were forced, but overall, she was less annoying and wayyy more pretty with her short hair. Her smile is just super charming! 

Kim Hyun-Joong. So he actually can't play the violin, but he tried la HAHAHA. Anyway, for me, his best is still Inspiring Generation. He has that depressed look, but at the same time, if you noticed, he has a pretty nice smile as well. I'm not sure why the directors are misplacing his talent. They keep giving him the depressed roles for love stories. Wae? He was depressed in Inspiring Generation as well, but it suited him there. Its totally not suitable for chirpy love stories like this especially. 

Now, basically Jun-Pyo (Lee Min Ho) and Ji Hoo (Hyun Joong) loves her, and Jan-Di loves Jun-Pyo (sadly). I think Ji Hoo should be the one that gets the girl. He cares for her. Maybe Jun-Pyo does as well. But, I don't give marks for effort. Ji-Hoo gets it right. He's always there especially when she needs someone. That's something that was never done by Jun-Pyo, which is just being there for her. That's very important for me I guess. Not being there emotionally, every single time, is a big time failure for me. Plus, Jun-Pyo is so dramatic and confused at times. I know its tough, but people who can't make decisions annoy me. He can either choose his empire and or her, but he's standing on the fence and that's just irritating. 

The only thing that I'd praise Jun-Pyo was how he cared for her family. That's something I rarely see in other korean dramas, and also for myself. Most of the time, I only think about the person I care about. I don't go to the extent of caring for their family members. Perhaps, that should be the way, because the other factors also contribute to the happiness of your loved one, and taking care of those factors also show that you care for that person.

One more thing about this drama, was the love triangle didn't get overly intense. Yes, their friendship was threatened because of a girl, and there were some "competitions" as well, but at no point I felt, that it was getting out of hand. There was one scene where Jun-Pyo will ask Ji-Hoo to punch him, and he will say that, there was a point in time where he felt Ji-Hoo would have been better for Jan-Di. Well, I agree with him. Definitely Ji-Hoo is better for her, and the fact that he feels that way, just shows that he isn't doing enough for her, and yet he doesn't actually do anything about it. 

Perhaps I'm so bitter about the fact that Jun-Pyo won, is because I don't believe in that passionate love anymore. Your passion may not be the right choice, and the right choice may not be something you're passionate about. I feel the love Jun-Pyo and Jan-Di had was merely passionate, and not so much on whether they matched each other. Passionate love is like a bonfire. At first it burns fast and bright and super hot, however it takes a lot of effort and you constantly need to replace the firewood. At any one point you get tired, the fire will go out, even before the rain comes. I feel that what Jan-Di and Ji-Hoo had was something much better, something much mature. Its simple, effortless, but difficult to obtain. Its not easy to find someone that you can just blend in and feel comfortable with. Some would think that what Jan-Di had for Ji-Hoo is not called love, but for me I do consider it as love. Probably because my terms are different. 

Either way, I totally enjoyed the drama, not forgetting the soundtracks for this drama were amazing. I'm still listening to it now, as I am typing this post. There were some scenes I just burst out laughing. Some kdramas just know how to be extremely dramatic, and I love how every time she sees any one of the other characters in the drama, she is so shocked to see them, and she goes "Sunbae?" - like she hasn't seen them in a 100 years. 

This is my most most most favorite scene, I just wanted the drama to end here. Even if it was fake, it was sweet :) I'm watching Bubblegum now. I'm sure I'll be blogging about that soon, the story is picking up its pace. See ya!

Picoult, Despain, Gerritsen

 

So back to books. I've read three books already but I've been procrastinating to blog about it. I shall start with My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This is my fourth Picoult book. Anyway, the plot isn't too complex. Basically, these two parents had a kid with leukemia, and in order to provide genetically matching blood or marrow and whatnot, they genetically engineered another kid. This engineered kid, files a lawsuit against her parents, because apparently when she is required to donate a kidney to her dying sister, it becomes too much for her to handle so she flips. However, at the end, we learn that its her dying sister's final wish - that the engineered kid shouldn't donate her kidney, so that she could die. The leukemic kid was suffering too much, she just wanted to die. 

The story was written in multiple POV's. Picoult's fashion, just like she did in Leaving Time. All the characters took turns to speak their mind. Although sometimes its hard to keep up, but its okay for me. I can enjoy it. For me, if the engineered kid filed a lawsuit based on the initial claim (that she just can't continue being a default donor without proper consent), I would have loved the story more. Its because I would look at that kid as being really mature, and doing what most kids cannot do, which is to fight for themselves. However, that turned out to be a cliche as it was the dying girl's wish to die a dignified death. 

It all became too perfect, when the engineered kid got into a car crash, in a way that only resulted in brain death, which made her a perfect candidate for kidney donation. Her leukemic sister needed a kidney - how convenient. In the end, the sister with the rare leukemia survived with the kidney. The ending was just too perfect. I enjoyed the journey. I always do with Picoult's novels. The endings doesn't necessarily impress me, except for the case of Leaving Time. All her novels are thought provoking. I kind of imagine myself in both the situations of the dying kid, and the genetically engineered kid, and in both situations, life sucks. I watched the movie after reading the book, and the movie was even more of a cliche because the leukemic kid just died instead. Nevermind. 

This was the next book I read. It's actually a trilogy, and this is the first book. I doubt I'm going to continue with the other two books though. I actually started the second book, when someone on Dayre recommended me Die Again by Tess Gerritsen. Usually, when I put a book down, its really hard to pick it up again. Plus my exam is on wednesday next week, which makes tomorrow less than a week I have till exam. Novels isn't the thing I should be doing now. Oh well.

This novel is about a guy who is a werewolf (Daniel), and this girl (Grace) who adores this guy. After some fallout, this guy left town, to explore himself and his wolf. Years later, he returns, and this girl is still crazy over him. Apparently, there's a cure to this wolf thing. It has to be someone with no predatory intent, but true love to stab the wolf (in the wolf state, not the human state) in the chest, directly injuring the heart with a silver weapon. Conflict of the story is that, Grace's brother was bitten by Daniel sometime before the fallout many years ago. So the brother is in fact a wolf too. The thing about the transformation of wolf in this book is similar to The Vampire Diaries, where you need to make a kill to complete the transition. It takes time for the wolf to come in control, so the brother has been killing some people in town without realizing when the wolf takes over.

Somehow, (to cut the story short), the brother bit her sister, Grace, while Grace stabbed the silver knife into Wolf Daniel's heart. So basically, Daniel is now cured. Grace becomes a wolf because her brother bit her before she did the stab, which makes Daniel's kill her first blood to complete her transformation. Her brother is now still unconscious about the fact that he is a werewolf and tries to keep Grace away from Daniel. There was romance in the book. Mostly about kissing and knees getting weak while kissing. Its all sweet, but whether I would enjoy it or not really depends on my mood. I was reading it because I had nothing else to read. That's why I abandoned it when I had another recommendation HAHA. Perhaps I might continue the second book in the trilogy after exams, who knows?

Okay next. This book I started last night, and finished it about an hour ago. It was just amazing. I couldn't put it down, except to sleep yesterday night HAHAHA. I didn't know the author, but now I do and apparently she is a physician. There was a dual storyline, until the meeting point somewhere around the climax. The first storyline was happening six years ago. 7 people trapped in a safari, and they were dying one by one, leaving one survivor and of course the killer itself. The second storyline was about two murders, and an ongoing investigation. Eventually both story lines meet, and the murders are tied up to each other. 

The serial killer turns out to be a person who takes on different identities, and instead of hunting animals, he hunts humans. He puts them in a hunting circumstance, and its just downright horrifying. He feels the power of being a predator. The novel didn't go into the psychological aspects of serial killers. It was basically a police investigation finding a criminal. There was quite extensive research on Felidae (cat family) for this novel and how they hunt. It was enjoyable and a really fun read. The serial killer has been doing this for years now. The only mistake he made was assuming, the survivor would not have survived the safari alone for two weeks. Along with some photo taking mistakes, he realized he needed to cover his tracks, and to do so, he committed another two murders that stirred up everything. It's a higly recommended read, and in fact there's a whole series of books that Gerritsen wrote. I'm sure I'm going to explore more of it.

 

"I’m alive merely because I was too terrified to die..... 

I will always be that cracked porcelain doll."

 

Spectre 007

I watched Spectre last Friday, and read the review on Vox on Saturday and basically, everything I want to say is there. Honestly, I think we have seen it all. How much can action movies impress us these days? If you think about it, action movies revolves only around a few things - pendrives, saving girls, defusing bombs or stopping nuclear warfare. The plot of action movies don't run too far from these themes. When there's nothing much to comment on the plot, we focus on other factors in the movie to compliment. 

Firstly, Bond is known for his 'player' attitude. So basically, this has been screwed up since Casino Royale. Craig had a 'real' love and he's still hung up on her. I think his liquor preference has been addressed elsewhere too. Not forgetting his action skills became more 'human' ever since Craig signed the contract. I'm okay with all of these to be honest. Like all Bond movies, the beginning of the movie can be separated into three parts - the gunshot and blood entrance, viewed through a gun barrel, then comes the opening action scene, and then comes the very sexy introduction of names with a theme song. There were goosebumps-inducing octopi this time, coupled with Sam Smith's Writing's On The Wall. I was okay with the song, but not the octopus. At first it felt artistic, but the octopus didn't go away and it started to get annoying. 

The opening action scene was magnificent - the one where there's a death day parade in Mexico. I liked that, and there was less talking, and it was slightly comedic. After that, it just basically went downhill. I didn't really sink into the movie, and felt like the movie didn't actually hold a proper plot and I kept feeling, has the real conflict of the movie kicked in? The plot was rather simple, which is to stop a kind of global surveillance that takes over the double-O program. I think I have to give Christoph Waltz some credit here. 

Christoph Waltz

I loved this guy's acting since Inglorious Basterds, not forgetting Django Unchained. He is just a natural when taking on a villain role. He speaks calmly and it sounds like a badass. Although, if you watched Spectre, the part when Bond's bomb watch exploded near him, worked against his benefit (the whole scene just made him lose his coolness), but I think overall he did well. What else do I remember about Spectre? Car chase! I loved the car chase. These were the cars used in the movie. My favorite car was used by the villain instead HAHA.

Aston Martin DB10 & Jaguar C-X75

Honestly, I think the car chase action in Spectre did much better than Fast & Furious. It was more logical, exciting, cool, fast, and elegant. About the love story in this movie, it was so superficial that I didn't feel anything at all. He just made a promise to a guy to protect his daughter and suddenly shes the love of his life and he starts being all heroic about it. The destruction of the villain base was impressively short. Just took a gigantic blast and the whole place went down. Since this movie is new and I'm blogging about it, I cant really include screenshots.

Anyway, there was a scene, where Mr.Hinx was introducing himself, and he smacked the previous leader's head on the table. Well, seriously? that move is totally owened by Joker in The Dark Knight. Although this scene in Spectre did not involve a disappearing-pen-magic-trick. This head smash move was pulled off so well by The Joker, I don't think anyone should attempt it again, ever.

Joker's Magic Trick

Also, the ultimatum given by the villain (Christoph Waltz) to Bond was so lame. Save the girl or save yourself? Seriously? It's not even a difficult choice to make. It would be difficult, only if you're the most un-gentlemen and cowardly guy on earth. Again, I shall make a reference to The Dark Knight. Joker's ultimatum for Batman was much much better. Harvey or Rachel. Love or Duty. That's more like it - a tough choice. 

The last thing I'm going to mention about Spectre is, how much alike it is with Totally Spies, the cartoon. If you watched Totally Spies, you would know that, for every mission they get, they are given weapons so specific that it will come in handy only for that mission. Its not like a gun, which is multipurpose, and you can shoot anything, irrelevant of the drama you're stuck in. We are talking about some laser lipstick that cut through doors and it so happen, in that mission they (Totally Spies) would get stuck in a really thick metal-door room, where this laser can cut through it. Kinda same thing happened here. He received a watch-bomb. So happened, he got restrained on a futuristic lobotomy machine, where he could remove his watch and pass it to his girlfriend to slide it towards to villain (but not to throw is at his face) before it explodes. How convenient.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, because I was in a good mood I think. You could read the review on Vox to see the full crucifixion of the movie HAHA.

Our Times

It's been awhile since I blogged here. Mostly its because I haven't been watching any epic movies, and I've literally stopped exploring mind-boggling movies. Wanna know what I've been watching lately? Greys Anatomy. Any free time I have, its just an episode or two of Greys. So I have nothing much to blog about. I read a book though - Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, but I totally forgot to blog about it, mostly because I mentioned a few things on Dayre on the day I finished reading it, and then I felt satisfied about how much I talked about it HAHA. Anyway, yesterday I watched this new Taiwanese love story. I kinda only got to know about it a week or so before the movie was released, but apparently many others were waiting for the movie for quite some time already. Plus the theme song for the movie was released for quite some time (of which I'm super hooked to).

The plot isn't really all that complex, although its not entirely a cliche. Usually its a triangle, but this one is a square? So there's Lin (the nobody girl), MinMin (the popular girl), TaiYu (the gangster guy), and OuYang (the popular guy). The popular guy and girl get together (?kinda). Obviously Lin adores OuYang - like all other girls in the school, and the gangster likes MinMin. So the gangster teams up with Lin in order to break up the popular couple so that they have a chance to be with whoever they like, respectively. However (as we all can see it from a hundred miles away), the romance between the gangster and Lin develops unexpectedly (the characters wasn't expecting I mean). 

Due to some accident-causing-curse-chain-letter, gangsterism and a stroke of bad luck, the gangster develops a ?clot in his brain. He had to go for his brain surgery in US, and of course he hid that fact from Lin. The surgical problem coupled with the fact that he thought the person Lin truly likes is OuYang led him to do what all dumb guys at that age do - The noble break up. Then he disappeared - only to return years later, while fulfilling his promise to her about the Andy Lau concert. 

 Before I give my honest opinion of the movie, I shall give a few awards HAHAHA. 

Shooting star scene

So basically, the scene above was the Best Scene for me. It was really sweet, and they both look really happy being by each others side.

 

The Noble BreakUp

The scene above is the scene with the Best Acting from Lin. He smiling-yet-crying face was epic, and she pulled it off really well - until she had that epic fall and stopped him from running after her. That part I just wanted to burst out laughing.

The orange sweater girl

So the girl in the orange sweater, I can't find her online, and I have no idea who she is. The cast list is not complete on websites, but she is the Prettiest Girl in the movie, for me. Why isn't she the main actress? HAHAHA 

Honestly, I really enjoyed the movie. It was sweet, and some parts were funny - and of course my date for the movie contributed most of the enjoyment. However, as usual, I am able to pick up the most negative parts in the sweetest bowl of sugar. The ending of course. It just suggests that people cannot move on, and that really sucks so bad. Its like she is living her life paralyzed by her previous love, and it obviously affected her current relationship badly. She chucked the current guy effortlessly I think HAHA. But I think people move on. People can move on. We have to, and I'd like to believe its possible. Because in real life no one comes back to you many years later in a concert-dream-fulfilling manner. Even by the time they do, the damage has been done. 

Triangle

 

Okay I just watched this movie. I hate the tagline on this image, but I couldn't find a better image, so whatever. I shall split my discussion into two parts. The loops within the cruise and the ending discussion. I will try my very best, not to confuse myself at the very least. To figure this out, I had to draw the timeline multiple times to explain it to myself. Unfortunately, its too ugly for me to post it here. I hope you understand a timeline explanation in words. Good luck!

So, at any one time, there are actually three versions of Jess. I shall categorize them as - Newcomer, Remainder, and Fail-safe (the one with the mask). So here it goes. Every time a newcomer comes, the newcomer kills the failsafe. Then, shift all roles. There is a new newcomer, and previous newcomer becomes a remainder, and the previous remainder becomes the new failsafe. 

The remainder is always the one who is watching the battle between the newcomer and the failsafe and the remainder has a choice to intervene. If the remainder intervenes in the ballroom, the murders turns out to be the one in the room (where Jess stabs them vigorously). If the remainder does not, the murders are the one in the theater (the one where shotguns are used). Whatever the choice the remainder makes, the failsafe realizes that the only choice there is, is to kill the others and die by the new Jess' hands, in order to escape the ship. So the remainder's choice is irrelevant. That's why I named it failsafe, coz the murders will still take place. Two possibilities, with the same end. 

Now when the failsafe dies, she comes off the island, and runs back home (wow, cool). She then sees the violent version of herself, abusing the son verbally and physically. I shall label them as Dress and Cardigan (Because the violent-self was wearing a dress and the escapee was wearing a cardigan). Cardigan kills Dress, then she wraps Dress in a bag, and takes the son along in the car, to the Triangle (after looking at the note on the fridge, like in the beginning of the movie). Along the way, Cardigan hits a bird (its possible to kill a bird while driving, I've done it). The son starts freaking out and Cardigan promises to bury the bird. When she takes the bird off the road to dump it at the side, she sees plenty of other dead birds there - which means even this has happened many times. After that, the son is still freaking out due to the blood on the windscreen, and due to the distraction from the son, they collide with an oncoming bus. 

This is where is gets really confusing. The crowd attends to the Dress, and her son, but Cardigan is only seen talking to a cab driver that asks whether she needs a ride. She then says she needs to go to the harbour. The big question now is, is Cardigan alive or dead after the accident? Is she really there? 

My take on the ending is, Cardigan is real once she makes it off the Triangle. This is proven by physical proof such as she is able to ring the doorbell and interact with her son. Also, there are many dead birds at the side of the road, indicating its real and it has happened many times. Unfortunately, Dress or Cardigan you can't cheat death, as suggested by the quick philosophy discussion they were having about the ship's name, Aeolus. You can go look up the Greek mythology behind it, because I'm not going to. Cardigan is only real within the time span of after escaping Triangle and before the car-bus collision. That's why nobody attended to her except the afterlife-like cab-driver. She then tries to cheat death and save her son by going on Triangle, to return back in time. Unfortunately, she and her son is dead, and there is nothing anyone can do about it, just like the cab-driver told her. 

For the limbo to start, there is a version where there is only Dress and her son in the car, and they meet with an accident for the first time. If you want, you could go back to the side of the road and calculate how many birds where there at the side - that would give you the number of times her soul has looped back in time, killed her violent self, tries to run off with her son - only to meet with the same accident again. Life sucks.

The only bit of a problem - If she got onto Triangle with her memory intact, at which point did she forget it in order to experience a déjà vu instead of a real memory? Because if she is going on Triangle for the sole purpose of traveling back in time, she shouldn't be so shocked when she saw the storm coming. To let my mind at peace, I'm just going to assume she lost her memory while sleeping in Triangle (the part where Heather comes to offer her champagne), because after that she wakes up all blur. All time travel movies have problems, because they aren't suppose to exist. Reality stand on logic, if time travel exists, reality will disintegrate. Leaving the physics aside, this is just a sad story of a mother trying her best to take care of her son (maybe autistic). She is obviously frustrated with her life. She then meets with an accident, and spends her eternity coming back to save his life, to no avail. I enjoyed this movie! Especially in trying to figure out the loops. See ya!

Sweet

So I just finished reading this book, Sweet by Emmy Laybourne. Saw the recommendation from GoodReads. Some of the reviews there said that the story is very creepy, however it did not pass the threshold of creepy for me. Its a really simple story. Theres a villain who wants to destroy the world and to balance the equation, there's a someone to save the day. In this case, there's more than someone. Actually, the entire time I was reading this book, I was thinking of a Totally Spies episode I watched as a kid. In that episode, celebrities get kidnapped in a plane that flies so fast around the world, it turns the world backwards and subsequently reverses time. Also, the plane has no plans to land. However, in this story, the villain basically wanted to localize all fat and lazy people and kill them all before proceeding to a wider scale of killing all fat people on planet earth.

In the picture is Clover, being exited about Blinkjet - the cruise plane. Well, since I remember this episode so clearly, I could only picture everyone excited to be on the cruise (in the novel), to be as excited as Clover here in Totally Spies.

Anyway, back to the novel. The villain's dad created a drink called Pipop. Its kinda like a soft-drink containing a lot of sugar. People started drinking it, and the drink became famous. However, people who got fat started blaming him for creating that drink in the first place, and causing them to be fat. Hence the son (the Villain, Almstead) creates a diet sweetener. This sweetener allows you to lose weight. So, you can basically eat anything, and while on this sweetener, you will only lose weight. This sweetener is called Solu. Unfortunately, Solu turns out to be an addictive drug, that causes people to lose weight too fast and get addicted to it. Their addiction is so great that when they were deprived of Solu, they started to kill and drink the blood of others who have ingested the drug. 

Who saves the day? The girl who was seasick (caused her not to eat anything), and also a guy who had a personal trainer for his body image. His trainer controlled his food and he laid off desserts, long enough to find out the problem with it. Also, the crew of the ship weren't allowed to have Solu. The story was fast moving, so the love story cultured between them didn't evoke much feelings in me, but it was still acceptable. Yeah, I'm totally okay with suddenly finding yourself kissing a guy in your closet, just a couple of days after meeting him, although you have seen him on television before. 

Almstead planned to kill all these fat celebrities on the ship. This cruise was set to sail for 6 days, and on the sixth day, Solu was to be sold to the country and the rest of the world. Almstead planned to fake his death by exploding the ship, and then watch the cannibalism/vampirism situation in the world from the private island he bought. However, Laurel (the girl), came up with the plan of attracting the bunch of hungry zombies in withdrawal, by pouring a drink diluted with Solu on Almstead's head. Apparently, these addicts can smell Solu from a mile away. They barge into his office and tear him apart - because everyone wants their own share. Tom breaks his ankle in the mess. 

Fast forward a little, the crew escapes on life rafts, and Tom & Laurel volunteered to blow up the ship to attract attention (Helicopters maybe), and hoping they will be able to tell the world from their video recording that Solu is bad for them. However, in a last struggle, Tom loses consciousness leaving Laurel alone. Laurel finds one last raft and puts him on it while she goes to blow up the bom Almstead planned to detonate. However, when she does it, she realizes it has a 60 seconds countdown. She jumps off the cruise ship and swims hard towards Tom, now approx 100m from the ship. 

The ship explodes and both of them get sucked in the explosion vortex and they lose consciousness. They survive the blast and they were brought to a hospital of unknown location. The nurses were speaking in Spanish. Tom and Laurel wake up and they watch the news. The news reader mentions that Solu is bad, but the reader also exclaims that she is already on her third dose of Solu, and she was feeling fantastic! Tom & Laurel were too late. The villain wins this time. Thank god for that. For once, the villain did it right, although no entirely, because he died. Well, I guess in that world, all the fat people are going to die. The description in this story wasn't very good, or perhaps you could say my imagination is not that good. Either way, images weren't painted on my mind that well. The story was fast moving, and that's another thing I liked about this novel. Otherwise, its just a typical villain-hero story with not much of a twist. See ya!