Monday, February 28, 2011

BLACK SWAN, PERFECTION & ITS LIMITS

To those who have not watched the movie Black Swan and are interested in actually watching it, I would like to suggest that you take a step back and view this site again once the 10th post has been composed. Should you like to view my first to eighth post, I would be most delighted! :)

To those who are not familiar with the movie and are not interested in viewing it, click on this link which will lead you to the plot summary of the film.

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Now let us begin with its main character:

Nina

Nina (played by Natalie Portman) portrays the role of a very passionate and dedicated ballet dancer who seeks for the highest role in their latest production. The specific name of the role, I cannot recall. 

She eventually nabbed the character and had difficulty playing both the White and Black Swan. Nina had always been more of a White, rather than a Black Swan so the lack of perfection to portray the latter pressured her like crazy. 

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The Story:

As the scenes of the movie presented itself to its viewers, it was quite confusing at first as to why Nina began having visions of a darker (in terms of aura) version of her, followed by the appearance of long wounds on her back. 



I initially thought the movie I was watching was more magical than real. Hmm..

More visions occurred and more scratches were seen on Nina's back. The pressure to be perfect soon caught up with her one by one. 



Nina was obviously hallucinating and developing a split personality as Mai, who watched with me, would often say. 

Nina kept veering away from her pure and youthful self as the movie went on. She went on a crazy night out with one of her co-ballet dancers, began hurting her mom verbally and physically, as well as by doing other things she would never have done if she were her usual self. ( To keep this blog closer to being PG-13, I cannot specify the latter).  Haha



 Towards the end of the story, after all the imagining and stress from it all, Nina was totally consumed by her character. She eventually transformed herself to be more like the Black Swan rather than the White Swan.

Nina  


Nina internalized her character as much as (or probably even more than) Heath Ledger had when he portrayed the role of Joker. 

And just like the story she was a part of where in the Swan had turned White again then killed herself after being Black, Nina seemed to love the story too well that she unknowingly applied the story's conclusion to her own life......

Yeah, you name it.

Pahwww!  Bullseye. Paw Paw Ping Ping Toot!

Haha. 

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It turns out that there have been several really old school renditions of posters made for the same title. Here are two of them as follows:



Also, a book with the same title:



....and several posters made solely for this 2010 (turned 2011 in the Philippines) film:




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Conclusion:


To conclude this sort of "review", I must say that I found Black Swan to be a very interesting film. I now appreciate all the time and effort that ballerina's consume and do in order to secure their aim of a perfect (or at least near-perfect) performance. 

Kids, wait 5 to 10 more years to watch. :) 


Also, to those who have already seen the film, didn't your skin feel like goosebumps appeared as Nina pranced away as the Black Swan? Mine did.


Til next time!

Toodles!

CATHY

Photo credit: goooooogle!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

TO GO WITH PINK, RED OR PLUM-COLORED LIPSTICK?

I've never really been a make-up junky. I've always preferred checking out fashion, interior, disney or architectural blogs and sites over researching about make-up's or how to use them. 

On a daily basis, I prefer to go light by just applying toner, moisturizer then powder on my face. On a chappy lip day, I apply lip gloss or lip balm. 

I've always preferred going simple because I think its not the correct application of lipstick or blush that counts, but more of the over-all cleanliness and appearance of your face. There's no point in applying really expensive and pretty cosmetics on your face when even just your skin, you cannot take care of. 

Now that I'm 22, I've come to realize that it's time to explore the make-up industry further while still imploring my original philosophy on skin. Lately, I've been quite fixated on the idea of using lipstick on my plain face everyday. In fact, I spent like half an hour trying on various shades of lipstick in the mall yesterday..haha. My lips turned so red that even if I ate, drank or washed my face, the remnants of my "playing" was still visible. Haha.

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Agreeing to my personal idea of using lipstick was just apparently the first step because as soon as I saw the variety of colors that I had to pick from, I was like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??". Hahaha

It was too difficult to decide on what tone to use on a daily basis!

I personally do not like the idea of using nude tones on my lips so I basically have only 3 families to choose from: the Pink's, the Red's and the Plum's. 

The Plum-colored one's looked very ME but I'm not sure I want to scare the people I work with everyday.haha

To help me decide on what to choose, I've collated several pictures from each color family. Have fun checking them out too! I hope I can decide soon! :)

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Now let's start with the PINK FAMILY:





  




  



*****


The RED FAMILY: 














*****


Now for the PLUM FAMILY: 












After posting all these pictures, I still cannot decide what to use on a daily basis. I think I've scratched RED off from my list though. Red is just to bright and flashy for my taste. Pink-colored one's look safe for use on a daily basis but I really am sold by the vampy, scary yet non-flashy vibe of the plum-colored one's.

HMM! Well thats a step! Out for the Red's, in for the Pink's and Plum's! :) 

Sooooooooo..... Should my next blog be "OCHO: FINALLY DECIDE, THE PINK'S OR THE PLUM'S?"

HAHAHAHA!


Toodles!


CATHY



Photo credit: from the world wide web!  







Saturday, February 19, 2011

PRETTY, PRETTY KITCHENS, HOW I WISH I KNEW HOW TO COOK!

 To have a pretty kitchen may be the only way I can actually learn how to cook. Below are some of the kitchen styles I have in mind! :)


Feels so aerodynamic :))

Old school meets Modern

The play of various shades of brown may just do the trick! ;P

So artsy.... I love it!

Simple (check!) Pretty (check!)
A chandelier for additional glamour.....
So playful and cute :)
Shabby + Boldness + Modernity = :)
Black again! Nice!




 Toodles!


CATHY

Photo credit: Various sites from the internet! :)


Sabbatical

Currently pledged myself to a sabbatical away from certain things, work none the less but that aspect will have to  experience some delay....