It's been so long since I updated the blog. Anyway, here's something worth applying for - A lucky draw!
twoChois' 13th Book Review Luck draw begins! And it's a book for beginners and intermediate learners of Korean.
About the book
Title: 2000 Essential Korean words for Beginners.
Authors : Ahn Seol-hee, Min Jin-young, Kim Min-sung
Book page : 504 pages ; Supplement : MP3 CD
For more information about the Lucky draw, go here.
So.. It’s Valentine’s Day. Love is in the air. ‘Tis the
season of luuurve. Time for those mushy
lines, those red roses, red balloons, red velvet sponges.
Little did that 3rd century saint know, that a thousand
years later his birthday would be looked forward to by couples to ‘officially’
shower each other with unconditional love (whatever THAT’s supposed to mean),
buy each other presents and get drunk and make out like love-struck teenagers.
It’s cute, though. In a
so-superficial-that-one-has-to-learn-to-ignore-the-artificialness-of-it-all-and-go-with-the-flow
way. Which, coming to think of it, isn’t all that bad. I mean, it’s un-cerebral to
actually look forward to one particular day in a year to show how much you love
someone; but if you look at it with a broader perspective, it’s a tried and
tested formula to renew a relationship of that much talked about ‘oomph’.
Over the years, it has come to be a tradition to observe; an
occasion to channel your attention, thoughtfulness, and creativity into making
this one day special for that special someone, letting them know how much they
mean to you, and how wrong your life would’ve been without them, yada yada. For
example, couples who’ve been together for a considerably long amount of time
may need to reignite that not-exactly-overrated spark in a relationship. And
when better than an internationally renowned, widely accepted day to do so?
But what annoys me is that people take this ‘License to be mushy
for a day’ thing a tad too far and do crazy, majorly insane things, push their
luck and ruin it for themselves instead. The trick, I think, is to be subtle.
Keep it simple- for, nowhere is it stipulated that in order to be romantic, you
need to go all out and order three hundred red roses and fifty canary cages and
a boat ride thrown in for good measure. Keeping the drama to a minimum doesn’t reek
of desperateness, and when the day’s over, you have your dignity intact. You
ask someone out, there’re two possible outcomes- they either say yes, or they
say no, and in the case of the latter, you move on and not brood. Okay, maybe
you could brood a little, but that’s not to be overdone either.
Of late, with the flourish of social networking sites and
various phone apps, there has been a paradigm shift on love. People go about
posting hearts on each others’ walls; twelve year olds declare themselves to be
‘forever’ relationships, the word ‘love’ is indiscriminately being used
everywhere- so much so, that it sometimes makes me want to cry.
I am no cynic. But it is deeply disconcerting when someone
claims to be in love KNOWING they aren’t. Just to get some extra ‘ooh’s and
‘aah’s. It is a pure, sacred emotion,
NOT to be used as a cover for some cheap two week fling, not to be tainted, but
respected for what it is, because when misrepresented, it can cause a lot of
crazy misunderstandings. The people
concerned -gender irrespective- can be lulled into a false sense of security
and they’ll land on their backside. By the time it is all over, they’d’ve
spiralled into an abyss of darkness so scary, so deep, it would've caused more
damage than they signed up for. Surely they’d’ve assessed that there’d be some
butt-hurt involved, yeah? *exhales* Man, I feel like an evil minx now. xD
Anyway. The point is, stick to what you believe in. If you’re into that mushy
poetry and over the top sky-writing and floating candles, go all in. If it
makes you happy, that is. And for those who like to keep the theatrics to the
minimum, a quiet night with dinner and music may be the perfect thing for you.
Now, coming to the single ladies- this is a brilliant day
for you. :D Clear your schedules, stock up on that comfort food, and put on
your best PJs, ‘cause there’s going to be some major chick-flicks and Castle
marathons all day. <3 Now WHAT could be better than that?! Hahaa.
Oh. And the single
boys who’ve nothing better to do can watch the match or something. Nothing on?
You can join us in our chick-flick marathon. Not too into rom-coms? Take a
hike! ;D
This was the topic my beloved Amethyst asked me to write on.
And I thought, why not. If I can write about kidnappings,
child marriage, train stations, and smuggled tortoises, then why not about a
multi-billion dollar food industry? Bring.it.on.
The term junk-food, according to Wikipedia, was coined circa
1972, and it means food that is low in nutrition and packed with saturated fats
and carbohydrates.
Food that the likes of Adam Ritchie lurve, and food that the
upper-middle-class-I’m-too-vegan-for-my-shoes- kitty-party-type DIKHNEE aunties
abhor.
We see tonnes of write-ups on the subject, most of them on
the not-so-positive note. Often along the lines of ‘city kids giving in to the
fast-food trap’ or ‘seven year old suffers cardiac arrest due to obesity’.
I know, there is a plethora of words to choose from, to describe
the trend- the picking up something for dinner while heading home ‘cause you’re
too tired to rustle up a decent nutritious meal after an exhausting day at work
trend. Unhealthy, probably being the most direct.
But. Have we stopped for a minute and thought about the
light-hearted-ness of it all? I am by no means, advocating the practice of gluttonously
devouring un-godly amounts of fat and meat and carbs at un-godly hours, of
course.. But the culture that has come
to be, with modern fast-food at the center of the table. Quite literally.
Imagine. What would your average rave party be like, with pot roast and
Yorkshire pudding and roast turkey? I, for one, imagine Jeeves standing at the
doors and butler-ing around all my teenage friends, much to their mortification.
Or your glitzy glammy all-girl sleepover, for
that matter, with ginger tea and masala dosa for dinner? They’re not completely
crazy ideas, coming to think of it, but those
affairs wouldn’t just be the same without the usual kegs of beer and
finger food and ketchup spilling on the carpet and wraps and pizza and coke and
tubs of ice cream now, would they? Or imagine, waking up in the middle of the
night and craving for a mid-night snack. What would your mind immediately think
of? Ahot cup o’ noodles, or to go through an elaborate (not to mention painful)
heating up the tava, rubbing an onion on, and ladling out dosa batter on the
griddle? At 2 am in the morning, huh? Oh, let’s not even get started on the
chutney. *Shudder*
My, my. I pride my planet on its ability to have become a
melting pot of traditions (Pardon the bluntness), cultures (pardon the
reverberation), flavours, dimensions, cheeses, herbs, and wines. *drooool* An alternate universe would’ve been trauma,
given the times we live in. Tantrum-y
teens missing their burgers and
root beer, torturous toddlers wanting their lollies, uptight yippees without
their diet cokes and Subways.. Ugh. One post apocalypse sight it would’ve been.
So folks, thank your stars and take a generous bite off that fritter, for, we
live in hard times when happiness is got with the execution of a man who
doesn’t know half of us exist, so we will have to make do with the little
pleasures life throws our way- like that oh-so-yummy mayonnaise and lettuce
sandwich, or that de-freakin’-licious vada pav you just polished off. Stop
being a pig and stop cribbing about how you’re ‘letting go of yourself’.
So work out, eat right, and pig out at regular intervals.
Remember, little pleasures. Don’t fuss about how your skin’ll have a breakout
or how you aren’t going to fit into last birthday’s jeans.
<PLAY ME!
Okay, so I've watched so many Korean dramas and I thought I should make a list of my top 15 dramas till now. I'll review one drama in each post.
“I… am someone who knows the power of Twitter. Go home and ask your your daughter about the power of Twitter. All it takes is a single post. And also, drop the habit of making others kneel. Their knees will hurt. Don’t be like this…" – Jae Hee
Note: This is a spoiler-free zone.
My initial reactions were when I saw the lead cast: Omo! Shi Yoon's in it! Flower Boy next door introduced me to him. The female lead looks really old. They probably won't look good with each other. I know it's a horrible reason, but it was this that put me off from watching this drama for so long.
After I started watching the drama: This shit is awesome! :O Why haven't I watched this drama before?! The leads are perfect for each other! And Shi Yoon's character is so different from that of FBND; so mature! I love the female lead...yadda yadda.
And I ended up watching the entire drama in one go.
Review: I thought it would be another light-hearted, baseless drama but that wasn't the case even though the beginning of this drama was a little slow. What I loved about this drama was its extremely original story-line and it's non-cliche-ness. It's a drama about a young but tough female police officer, Cha Bong Soon who suffers from depression but is in denial of that fact. The synopsis isn't lying when it says that she is a peculiar woman who defies the rigid social hierarchy and rails against it. As fate has it, she meets our male lead, Seo Jae Hee who happens to be the son of a multi-millionaire but whom she mistakenly thinks is a part time job worker who delivers things to people. Then, later on she sees him working as a parking attendant while on duty and initially believes to be so until a little later in the drama when she finds out his true identity and trust me when I say she isn't very pleased with her findings.
But it's too late. She's already in love with him. x-D
So, slowly the romance between the two characters develops and they have to overcome so many misunderstandings and face so many obstacles including the usual evil, bitchy and obsessive second female lead(Park Hwa Young) that Asian Korean dramas are so famous for and of course, she's in luuuurve with the male lead( and has a sob story of her own). I could never sympathize with her and never got around liking her anyway. She deserved what she got but I did feel sorry for her son.
Park Hwa Young's son.
“You are beautiful. So beautiful that I just want to run off with you." – Jae Hee
The kisses in this drama by the way, are awesome! xD
-
-
-
- Rated R
*I can be cute when I want to* - Bong Soon
Other characters I really liked:
Park Tae Hwa: He's the psychologist(doctor). Oh my god, he was just way too amusing! The way he talks, the way he analyzes things in his own weird-funny way and most of all, the way he gets Cha Bong Soon to admit her problems on her own!
Kim Dal: She's the step-sister of Cha Bong Soon and even though I really disliked her initially for being so vain and money-minded AND for messing up Bong Soon and Jae Hee's relationship, I figured she wasn't all that bad. She got really caring towards the end and tried to make amends at least. Also, I loved the cute chemistry between her and Park Tae Hwa.
Jo Ma Roo: He's the most adorable character, ever! :3 He is such a sweet, endearing and caring person and it would have been so awesome if he had a romance of his own too. He followed Bong Soon like a lost puppy calling her 누나( Noona) . Ha! He's too naive and silly to be a police officer though! <3 Here's a funny scene of him.
I can't give write much without giving out any spoilers, so I'll end here. BUT what matters most is that they had a HAPPY ENDING after all the angst and drama. :D
I wonder why
they call it the writer’s block. It’s not like a part of your brain’s being clogged
with last night’s pasta or anything. You’re just being plain lazy. And when
your friend living 701 kilometers away asks you to write something, even the
most mundane things, like that frayed piece of thread from my skirt hanging
below my ankle right now, seems extraordinarily interesting. Anyway, coming to
the point. The article. Amethyst’s been bugging me day in, and day out, to do
something productive. Before I could think of a witty retort, as to why I am
unable to produce an article so interesting, so engaging that she’ll begin
respecting me more, she flies off to some Godforsaken place filled with tigers,
‘faaaaaar from civilization’, as she puts it. Meanwhile, I’m fighting the urge
to stop eating all the baked goodies I’m making for this new-year’s get
together. Bingeing, they call it. I can’t explain why, but no amount of sugar
rush seems to help these days.
THE HUNGER GAMES REVIEW: 'In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts.Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.
Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.' I gotta tell you, I did have apprehensions about the Hunger Games in the beginning. Come on! Don't tell me you didn't think it was about FOOD!( I realized what it was later on, thankfully). I first learnt about the Hunger Games from my friend. She gave me a brief description of the story and quite honestly, it didn't sound all that appealing. It was still the time when I was obsessing over Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and Naruto and I didn't want to leave the shiny, happy, sparkly worlds of Greek Mythology, Hogwarts and ninjas to a barbaric, depressing, dystopia. Hell, I didn't even know the meaning of the word until The Hunger Games. So, what did I do? I ignored my friend's suggestion and went back to my darling Wimpy Kid. Then my sister ordered the Hunger Games trilogy (I still suspect it was for the cover) online, ergo, I actually had to give it a try whether I liked it or not. So, on the morning of the first day of my Dussehra break, I started reading the Hunger Games.
I started reading...
And reading....
AND Reading......
Finally...
OH MY FREAKING GOD! I LOVE IT! SUZANNE COLLINS IS GENIUS! ASABHFFBEKJFBEKFB....ABUSER OF CAPSLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, really. I loved every, infinitesimal second of it. I finished the first book in a day and the rest of the trilogy during the remaining part of the vacation and then spent the next two consecutive nights thinking about what would happen in Catching Fire and Mockingjay. The Hunger Games is one of those rare breeds of books whose story line is so gripping that it is simply un-put-down-able. You cannot stop reading it until you finish and even after you finish, you can't stop thinking about it. The characters and the character development is such a pleasure to read, the plot is simply superb and the writing style (although I had a few qualms about the first person-present tense in the beginning, not being very used to it) is simple and blunt, yet has an elegance to it. I, for one, found the division of the story into three parts to be apt and perfect with a cliffhanger at the end of every book(excluding the last one of course). The Hunger Games is part suspense, part adventure, part philosophy and even part romance. It's the whole freaking package! The plot- The plot was so unique, so original and so...well, shocking. The continuous twists and Katniss' fight for survival made the book not boring for even a second. The descriptions were so visual, it was almost like a screenplay. I could picture everything that Suzanne described most vividly. ... Well, most of them anyway.
Most of all, I loved Katniss' way of thinking. Her blunt, surly way of looking at things was far better than being stuck in Bella's sappy head in Twilight any day( Excuse me for comparing THG and Twilight. I know they're in completely different leagues). War and the fights in general weren't described as sleek or smooth or sexy but were explained vividly and properly, like how they would happen in real life. The Hunger Games was ugly, blunt, bloody, brutal, barbaric and so very real. It was funny how sometimes, major shocking news was delivered so obtusely (for example, the aftermath of the Games in both 'Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire".) while Suzanne Collins paid so much attention to the minute details like contrasting the food in the Capitol to those in the Seam. WARNING: The rest of the review contains some major spoilers if you still haven't read the book(s). If you don't want your reading experience to be spoiled, beware. You've been warned. Turn away while you still can. The Characters- Katniss is an inspiration. Period. She is badass, independent, strong, fierce and deadly and is what every girl should aim to be. She is a survivor (literally) and *spoiler alert* Rue's death bringing her human side out was beautiful. Katniss is so amazing that she makes people fall in love with her without even trying( And NO! She isn't a Mary Sue). Okay, so the Hunger Games has a love triangle. So what? That isn't the central dilemma anyway.
Now, about the next main character. Peeta Mellark. I absolutely loved Peeta. There's just something about him and his unconditional love and his kindness that is so endearing unlike all those other jealous, masochistic, arrogant male leads that are all the rage nowadays( 50 Shades of Shit Grey, anyone?). I really liked how Katniss and Peeta's relationship developed over the books.
Anywaaay, most of the other main characters came out in the later books but all of the characters left a deep impression on me. I fell in love with Finnick, Cinna and Boggs. Like everybody else, some of the character deaths were so shocking that I had to reread to make sure it wasn't a misprint. Then I proceeded to cry like a baby and didn't touch the book for a few hours out of spite. *Spoiler Alert* Finnick's death killed me. Killed me.
On a more serious note, the Hunger Games is nothing but Suzanne Collin's take on the violence in wars mixed with reality shows in a brutal, harsh, futuristic world( aka Dystopia). The Hunger Games made me cry, made me laugh, made me marvel in its epic-ness but it also made me think about the violence, war and destruction in today's world and how we might be leading our world into an even worse future. We need change and we need it now. And the Hunger Games not only imparts this message but arouses it.
So that's that. My review of The Hunger Games (which my sister has been badgering me to write for a week). I rate the Hunger Games 5/5 and I encourage anybody out there who has had stupid, precursory assumptions like mine, to get rid of them and pick up their copy of TheHunger Games immediately. And believe me, when you finally put it down, you won't think the same way.
And like Effie Trinket says, 'May the odds be ever in your favor.'
Thanks for sticking with me for so long and sorry if I spoiled anything but really....
Finally, after watching The Hunger Games, there is something I desperately want to do. THIS--->
"Doing nothing is very hard to do. You never know when you're finished."
-Leslie Nielsen.
Here's the proof of our retarded-ness. We were simply lying around jobless doing nothing(while we should've been studying with sobriety) when we suddenly came up with the idea of putting our madness on paper. Or in this case, in print.
Short stories, as far as they go, are self-sufficient. They don't seem deficient of anything, whatever be the genre. Be it an ominous Roald Dahl, or a warm and humorous R.K. Narayan. Here's a concoction of Amethyst's and Meera's ever so conflicting take on life, with a dash of randomness. To back up this piece we came up with, is a little story on how the story( Article?) came into existence:
A bored Amethyst pings an ever so lost Meera, who, obvously, is drowning her sullen cynicism in a pot of -yes- coffee. And just then.. when we were on the verge of a genius breakthrough-cum-pulitzer-winning-marvel, Meera's internet goes kaput. Just like that. Enough to send Meera into raging fumes.
For, after over a blooming (strictly metaphorical, and a little sarcastic, even) month of what can only be called writer's block, and a serious case of the Lazy Bum, we decided to muster up every last ounce of our will power, creativity and sanity, channeling it into what one can only call a productive piece of thought provoking, yet brainless literature, bordering in on existential nihilism.
To sum it up, this entire piece was what we had as a 'conversation' on Skype( The different coloured sentences indicating Meera's and Amethyst's views) . Ah, if only we could insert our never ending remarks as well, it would have been perfect. No fretting though. Sit back and enjoy. =D
Travelling can be a pain sometimes.But I still like
travelling. The reason being, as sickening as it could get, there're always new
things to see. And new people to meet.
One day, when I was on a train to Palette
Town (oh yeah), I saw this incredible sight. There was a person near a lamp post wearing a T-Shirt that read 'I can give a headache to an aspirin' and holding out a torch.And that sight- of the man holding the torch set off a chain of thoughts in my mind; one of the reasons I absolutely cherish travelling.
Knowing different
cultures, meeting different people and looking at life from a different
perspective. And then.. I thought. What would life be, if there was monotony-
with no natural selection to divide society!How boring and uninteresting it would be if we
all had the same thoughts, did the same things and liked the same kind of
people; hell, human kind wouldn't even have developed with no originality or
creativity.
Monotony, like
self-pity- I realize- is only the next worse thing in the world.You know
exactly what will happen when because you can easily read your peers' minds and
in the process you don't look forward to future or living life at all. Life,
much like a chick-flick, is a sugar-coated whodunit.And life somehow is
related to travel it seems - an average human living up to the age of 80, it
seems, would have at least travelled 108,131 miles(may or may not be true).
One thing that could make the world a happier place, is
coffee.. That, however, does not in any way 'reduce' one's life expectancy-
only fills the world with energized people, leaving them happier. And the other
being travel - sometimes when we absolutely need to get away from our lives and
reality, travelling allows us to have a
sense of escapism just like books and movies; we involve ourselves in other
peoples' lives and their stories and forget our problems for a while.
Coffee, much like travel, is a getaway for many- it creates
that much needed illusion of inter-dimensional travel, freeing one of their
worries, albeit temporary.But then again if we really wanted to 'travel'
inter-dimensionally and soar in the air, we could always do psychedelics - a
euphemistic term for drugs.
Having said that, we don't really see a workaholic couple
doping themselves every morning at the breakfast table, before kissing each
other goodbye for the day and running off to work.So, coffee in a way, wins I suppose and
like someone once said - 'Happiness is a cup of coffee and a really good book'. So go make some nice, hot coffee and head to the nearest library.
So, moral of the story, you ask? Go make some nice coffee, and head to the nearest library( It accounts for travel, no?). And if possible, on the way, try to meet some weird and eccentric people who can prove their originality to you( Preferably wearing a T-shirt that reads ' Come say Hi to me, you suckers!).
Song Credits: Cruel and beautiful world - By Group Love
