Katniss, Peeta And My Red Shoes

 

My mood is sullen and somber these past few days partly because I've been drinking too much soda and partly because of The Hunger Games.

And I've been berating myself for putting off reading it because it was made of all things awesome. I couldn't put the book down even if my life depended on it. 

I'm not really such a huge fan of blood and gore but I pulled myself away from my historicals to spend time with The Hunger Games. At first, I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of 12-18 year-olds killing each other for the sake of survival and/or fame. But the story was riveting and I found myself poring over the pages diligently.

 

So forgive my eye bags. I blame it on my Katniss-Peeta obsession.

Easy A

"Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason." Olive Pendergast, Easy A

 

You should know upfront that this is not a movie review. 

It's basically a page wherein I, Kathy, worshiper of chick flicks and/or movies that speak about the reality that is life thrown with a bit of romance, take the liberty of ogling the awesomeness that is Emma Stone.

Raise your hands if you have watched Easy A and fell in love with Olive Pendergast regardless of your gender preference.

At first I thought it was going to be another high school-themed movie. But leave it to Emma Stone to prove the crap out of us wrong. 

You will also love Olive's vocabulary which, despite its abundance of profanities, managed to amuse the quick-witted. She would have to take the long and winding road of uttering obscenities.

And that is not to mention her Literature teacher, Mr. Griffith

"I don't know what your generation's fascination is with documenting your every thought...but I can assure you, they're not all diamonds. "Roman is having an OK day, and bought a Coke Zero at the gas station. Raise the roof." Who gives a rat's ass?" - Mr. Griffith on Facebook, Easy A

I'm not sure if this is real but apparently, the USCCB also watched it and did a review:

“Negative portrayal of Christianity, including Catholicism, benign view of premarital sex and homosexuality, implied drug use, brief partial nudity, venereal disease theme, some sexual humor, at least 10 uses of profanity, much crude and crass language.”

—	USCCB on “Easy A,” rated O — morally offensive. THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS PROTECTS YOU FROM A VENEREAL DISEASE THEME.

This, along with the photos, were actually ripped from tumblr (click on the photos for the links, sort of my way of crediting them). And I did a double take and was like, USCCB has a tumblr?!?

I actually thought the movie was enlightening. If you get past the profanities and the "negative portrayal of Christianity", I would say that the plot is spot on in addressing the common concerns of adolescents when it comes to the grapevine.

Gossip. And how fast it can travel. And how it affects the quality of our lives. 

This movie actually shows us not to let the grapevine rule our lives. And it shows us how we can get out of it unscathed.

If you are feeling down and you think life is turning against you and the usual dependable people around you are not there, this movie is the perfect feel-good movie to watch.

Something Old. Something New.

Old photos. I recently discovered The CoffeeShop Blog while trying to look for tutorials on how to take pastel-colored photos. Someone from flickr suggested this blog. It contains a multitude of very useful, not to mention pretty, PS actions.

It is definitely good for people looking for easier ways to edit. And if you are anything like me who cannot take photos to save her life, this blog would be your saving grace.

So I played around a bit with some of my old photos. I had to test which actions work better on which type of photos. I tend to gravitate towards vintage-esque photos. So there you go.

There are actually a lot of people who hate using actions or using websites that does all the editing work for you. I have often wondered why. It makes short work of editing photos. And if the inability to exercise creativity is what bothers people, I don't think it does a lot in promoting it. Well, that's just me.


But if you like a bit of help making your photos closely resemble those taken by pros, using PS actions is the best way to go.

Oh btw, someone unfriended me on facebook. I know it happens to the best of us but this one is actually a bit disturbing because I am personally acquainted with the person. It makes me wonder what I did wrong. I'm starting to suspect that I'm posting way too many photos and blog alerts on facebook for the peace of mind of my FB friends.


I don't know why FB claims to connect people.

It does.

But in some way, the familiarty of it all and the penchant of people in documenting every single thing happening in their life can actually burn bridges. We even end up hating and labeling our friends.

I'm certain I'm labeled as "the girl who posts a lot of photos and is in a delusional state, thinking she is a model when in fact she is not". Oh well. That's the social networking scene for you.

But at the end of the day, they don't owe you an explanation and neither do you.