Not dead, but Othello is

Really felt like posting an entry, since

1. have not posted a review post in forever
2. just went to watch an awesome modern-day Thai adaptation of Othello
3. the last post was about Same's sinuses (?!)

Things that have happened since:

1. graduated HS
2. finished a semester of university
3. wrote, like, 20k in essays
4. been conscious at 5 am (and did not like it) 
5. replaced old iPhone with Galaxy Note 10.1

Anyway, a 25-baht motorcycle ride away from my house is Democrazy Theatre. It seats around maaaybe 50 people, and the actors act right in front of you for maximum immersion. Anyone who complains that there is no good theatre in Bangkok, I will drag you there (I have to take you, since it's in a very secretive location, very easy to miss). 

Anyway, the army setting in the original Shakespearean version is converted to Lumphini FC, where the soldiers are football players. Othello is อ๊อต, Desdemona is โมนา, Iago is โก๊, etc. About 160 costumes were used, all of them very Bangkok-current and good to look at.

All in all, a very เข้มข้น performance, and Iago is the best villain ever. So manipulative.  Very panicked and stressed during this scene:

For Shakespeare, I try to watch rather than read it, since a play is made to be watched first and foremost, no? This adaptation's modernization and tradaption (a word I learned in Theatre Appreciation Class- a play that is both a translation and adaptation) really helped to make otHello seem like a very plausible Bangkok situation.

Democrazy's next performance will be in 2013. Will definitely go to it. 480B is nothing.

On a completely unrelated note, I opened a new Instagram shop in order to help my parents sell Scholl Sandals. Check it out! Maybe will rename the shop to "Mind's Scholarship Fund"...hahaha.

Same's Sinuses

Whenever Same speaks it's like phlegm is clogging up his lungs, throat, and nose in one gross tower of น้ำมูก. 

I usually have no idea what he is saying. And he knows shockingly little on basic household remedies. He thinks brewing a cup of tea is sorcery. It's like he's a caveman, or something.

If he doesn't do what I say he's gonna be a gross pimply phelgmy student in TU/Washington, seriously. Can't have anyone I know deteriorate to that state, man. Do all of these for a month, yo.

1. Eat an ascending number of chilies in ส้มตำ. Start with 2, eat 3 tomorrow, work your way up to 10 and stay there. When eating ส้มตำ nothing should be left on the plate, not even the spicy-ass water.
2. ต้มยำ: Nothing edible should be left in the bowl. The ขิง that is left, put in mouth and อม them until they lose flavor. May feel like torture. Deal with it. Optional: eat the bay leaves.
3. In short, finish everything when eating ยำs, ตำs, or แกงs. All dat lemongrass. Try to get to the point where you want to cry because of the spiciness. That just means it's working. 
4. When eating fruit, do it the Thai way. Use all of the น้ำพริก and เกลือ and all that. Don't be a farang-tongued sissy. 
5. When at a Japanese restaurant, no wasabi or pink ginger can be left. 
6. Brew instant sugarless ginger tea. If you no can find it in TOPS then just buy ginger, boil, peel, and suck on it 24-7. (Don't need to boil if don't want to. But that would be weird.)
7. Drink only room to hot water. No cold water. Don't chew ice. Don't eat sweet or sticky stuff. aka No soda, ชานม, schoolgirlish snacks, etc. 
8. If stuff is too spicy, no cold water or soda. Milk/small candy/fruit will work.
9. Steam your sinuses. Boil hot water and pour in bowl. Put slices of ginger/lemongrass/other pungent herbs in bowl. Put your face over it, few inches above the water. Put towel over head so you're in a tent. This will steam your friggin sinuses to the max. Do not peek out of the tent unless needed. Try to last for at least 5 minutes (playing a long song is a good timer).
          - (This is obvious but needs to be said. Take off glasses/contacts while doing this. Idiot.)
          - Maple can use cucumber/lime to steam away pimples. 
10. If nose runs during the night or when you wake up, sleep without air con. Yep. It's not that difficult. People take naps during the day all the time. What are fans and windows for, dude. Last for at least a month and there'll be a noticeable difference. 
11. Your "default face": 

• Should not have your mouth and gums all hanging open. Where do you think germs enter into your throat, idiot. Close mouth, press lips together if needed, but don't grind your teeth. That way, you can breathe using only your nose, which is the correct way to do so.
• When talking:
• Air should hit ceiling of the mouth, not under the tongue like you are doing now.
• Sound should come out of mouth, not nose.
• Lips should actually form the words. 
• Practice with A-E-I-O-U. 
• R-r-round tones. A= jaw drops. E= show teeth. I= jaw drops more than A. O= jaw drops and lips form a circle. U= the '3' face. 
• (Usually you keep your lips still and mumble some crap. Sentences don't always have to start with "Same," which sounds like "Sabe." Most of the time I don't even know what you're talking about. I just pretend to listen and say "เออๆ". Don't worry I do this to other non-articulators too.)
• Watch The King's Speech and do whatever Geoffrey Rush tell you to do. 

And for cautionary measures: twss. 

Rose's Literary Influence

Yep, this is my first blog post in four months. Sorry about that, Rose.

Been really busy with a lot of Senior year stuff. But since the college app is handed in and the school musical practices haven't started on Saturdays (yet) I thought I'd finally post what people (ie. Rose and Joyce) keep nagging me about. :D Spoilers ahead.

A Rose montage is necessary

Rose's Literary Influence (complete with quotes from the muse herself)
So a lot of the things I've been reading/watching over the past several months has been because of Rose.

Rose, my soft-haired little British friend.

After sharing a bucket of KFC and watching The Office webisodes (we had an argument because she thinks Kevin is "cute" and that Creed is a "stupid creep,"), we watched Never Let Me Go. I was really impressed that they could compress such a flashforward-y, time-skip-py book into a good-length movie that included all of the essential scenes. All three leads were well casted--Keira was mean enough, Carey was sad-eyed, and Andrew Garfield played a great kiddish Tommy. And in the end, when (spoiler) Carey is standing at the fence, the clones-have-souls thing really made me tear up. Even with Rose there.

Rose: (during movie): "Wait. Are they robots? Are they clones? Scientifically engineered, though, right?" 

(when I'm crying): "Are you crying?!" 

(after the movie, to Liz): "...And at the end, it's so weird, because she's waiting for the fence for the dead guy to come back. And Mind cried!"

...I swear these are exact quotes. :P

Anyway, Rose liked it enough to read the whole book, and her reply to it seems pretty positive, so I guess that's good. 

Then, driven by curiosity of people hugging this 

book to their chest declaring it the best book ever written, I decide to borrow Rose's dog-eared copy that she got for her 14th birthday and read it. It is my first Christian romance book. And to be honest I had to deflect my immediate "ugh face" so that I could read it objectively. Liz said that I had to get rid of that attitude because if I didn't, I would just make fun of it, which, I quote, "I am not allowed to." (Which I was not going to do anyway, LIZ :P.) Anyway, I read it and it was a page-turner, as far as novels go. I made sure to thank Miss Talbot very nicely for letting me borrow it.

Rose: "Did you cry? I didn't cry either. I never got why she had to strip naked in the end."


And just this week, Rose got me onto the

bandwagon. Still climbing on though, since I only finished the first book. Popular adventure fiction is always fun to read (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc). How it focused on surviving also reminded me somewhat of Hatchet. And I watched the trailer before reading, so reading was like watching my version of the movie. Kind of a creativity-destroyer, but whatever. Will start on the next book after I finish this blog post. I haven't had a spaz-session with Rose yet, but she did say

(to a group) "Have any of y'all read the Hunger Games?" SQUEEE!!
(I was confused because she's British but she said "y'all" )

And to finish off, make sure to visit my sister's friend's super-cute style blog.

I hope to dig up some blackmail material for the next post. Until next time! Maybe I'll do a Joyce post.

Pastel Covers: Chick/Mainstream Lit

Today I feel so irritated, that the fan whirring is too loud and every single little sound (ie. scraping of photos hanging on the wall) annoys me. So I thought I'd take this mood and put it to good use. Time for a chick/mainstream lit blog.
 (I've been trying to read more chick/mainstream lit, or books with pastel-colored covers. Because other girls read them and I thought I'd try to read normal for once, instead of just books published by Penguin, or something. I don't remember what my reasoning was)

Order from worst to best.

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
Nope. Nope. Can't get through it. No matter how many girls squeal and touch their heart and while saying, "Mind, you have to read this it is the best book ever it touched my heart I cried and cried blah blah nyeh nyeh" I can't finish the thing.

Nope. Not gonna. Nope.

It's just--as you can see in the favorites post, this kind of book is just not my type. And maybe it's the writing style. It just reminds me of Twitter's quoters. You know. @Teenagelove or @Quotesforgirls or whatever middle school girls like to retweet.

(To be fair, I am in a bad mood today. And it's probably not as bad as I make it out to be, it's just that I've read so much better things. AND I already watched the awkward movie version. Why did they get Gerald Butler, the 300 guy, to be the husband? Lol.)

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
This is not a bad book. This was actually quite enjoyable. Let's see, what happened? Out-of-luck working woman has fun adventures with her great-aunt's ghost, a flapper from the 20's. A light, easy read, especially since flappers are cool.


Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
Everyone was reading a Nicholas Sparks, so I decided to try one.

I was curious (and skeptical) about all the glowing reviews:  "Ohhh I cried out my eyes out at the end! and my heart was touched so much it explains feeeeelings so well! I was sad for a week."

My reaction:
I did not cry. The feelings were explained. I was sad for maybe five minutes at the end.

Others' reaction to my reaction:
YOU callous thing you didn't really read it did you? What is your heart MADE of did you not UNDERSTAND the book

See, it is books like these that make me feel like a Mr. Bennett. "Lol, you silly girls."

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Oooh! I liked this one. Not really a romance book, more like a family drama/historical book. Learned a fair bit about the Siege of Leningrad. I cried when ____ dies due to war-caused poverty/hardship. Which is, you know, the saddest kind of hardship. NO NO except for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_(2004_film)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Mika gave it to me as a birthday present.
I just finished reading it a couple hours ago. Haven't watched the movie yet.
Wow. I must say, I am very, very impressed.

Now, THIS book can describe feelings. (It was part of the book's job, since SPOILER he had to show that the characters had souls.)
And although it took me a while to be all "OHH OHHHHH this is SCIENCE FICTION written like a person narrating the past like a drama/romance" it was a very profound book. Has a slow mood to it, like you are wading backward through honey (weird simile). Makes you think about the time you have, how much of it you spent innocent, and what you should do with the rest.

Thanks for the lovely present. :)



On a lighter note, if you are in the Bangkok area for Nov. 22-23, come to my high school's production of Pride and Prejudice. (2 P.M. on Nov 22 and at 7 P.M. on the 23rd.) Now I know that the people that read this blog probably already know about/are in the play, but the past 3 sentences were an excuse needed to lead up to the poster. (And if I have a duty to promote something, I will advertise it avidly.)


DRUMROLL

 LOOK GUYS LOOK its the poster.
It's also on a tarp 3 stories high in front of my school.
And on hundreds of pieces of 3.5X5 paper.
ELIZABETH here is played by the lovely ROSE TALBOT, an up-and-coming British stage actress. Look out for her further works as Hero in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Woah. Double take.

Here is an extra shot for you. Feel free to use it for your wallpaper. I know I'm using it for mine.

Until next time (which will be after the play, when there will be more blackmail material updates) ! I feel so mean

Too soon to be excited

So I was Googling upcoming movies. And I know it is too soon to be excited for 2012 movies, but

http://www.movieinsider.com/m5625/the-great-gatsby/
GREAT GATSBY REMAKE!
Leonardo DiCaprio ... Jay Gatsby
Tobey Maguire ... Nick Carraway
Carey Mulligan ... Daisy Buchanan
Isla Fisher ... Myrtle
Elizabeth Debicki ... Jordan Baker
Joel Edgerton ... Tom Buchanan 

Leo is perfect for Gatsby, and Isla for Myrtle. And even though Tobey is super annoying in Spiderman, I'm sure he'll make a great (albeit slightly dunce-ish) Nick. I can't really picture Carey Mulligan as Daisy, even though she was great in Pride and Prejudice (I haven't seen Never Let Me Go yet). 

No, wait.  I can picture it now. I am so excited. 

YES.

http://www.movieinsider.com/m5680/the-raven/

I had an emo stage where I really liked Edgar Allan Poe poems. So I am excited for this. Also, John Cusack is kinda cute.

John Cusack ... Edgar Allan Poe 
Luke Evans ... Detective
Alice Eve ... Fiancee

Wait, he has a goatee? Meeeh. :/ But you have to admit, he does look a lot like Poe now.

Best for last:

LES MIZ REMAKE! 

http://www.movieinsider.com/m8831/les-miserables/
Hugh Jackman ... Jean Valjean
Russell Crowe ... Inspector Javert
Anne Hathaway ... Fantine
Eddie Redmayne ... Marius

Now I don't normally like Anne Hathaway, but since Fantine is supposed to be naive but lovable bimbo that everyone pities, I'm thinking she'll do fine. Hugh Jackman is great, and not because of Wolverine (go see The Fountain, which I should have included in my favorites post. I'll write about it here, then.)

The Fountain (2006)

First heard about it while I was editing a friend's essay for her university class in Philosophy and Logic.

Trailer here, because the plot's a little hard to explain. (Three of the same guy but in different time periods search for immortality?)

YouTube highest rated comment: 
Best Hugh Jackman ever. I wish he was known for this instead of Wolverine. 

The uplifting soundtrack is great for making boring work seem more dramatic and exciting, too. 

Where was I? Oh, right, Les Miz. I'm sure Russell Crowe will do fine, and I looked up Eddie Redmayne, and it looks like he has the right amount of fop with a a hint of douche to be Marius. Hohoho, I should get that phrase patented. 

WAIT STOP

Directed by:	Tom Hooper

TOM HOOPER? OF KING'S SPEECH?

*spaz*

HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO WAIT UNTIL

In Movie Theaters:	December 7, 2012

AND NOT ONLY THAT, THIS IS A 

Genres:	Musical Adaptation

Wow, I am so excited. Woah. Woah. What. Woah. 

PARANOID PARROT

This is the best I can do with Windows Movie Maker on a 10-year old XP okay? Okay.

Book Haul

School is cancelled tomorrow because of flooding, so I opted for blogging instead of doing real work. (shrug)

Went to the annual Book Expo 2011 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center yesterday. Been going to these since I was a kid. They made me as excited as when Scholastic book deliveries came to our school. Heh.

Anyway, the three books on the left are what I got from the fair, and the five on the right are what I am currently reading/plan to read.