Film Recommendations : Feb 2015

My school never lets me get away with wasting my winter break not studying. Although I have been busy with my loads of homework I never ever let myself go to sleep without watching a movie or read a book! Maybe it has been a bad(?) habit for me but who knows?

1. The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)

I loved the father of the protagonist. He reminded me of my aunt who raised me up. Heartwarming movie.

2. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

I remembered having nightmares of this movie and watching it again now still makes me.

3.Love, Rosie (2015)

Not the typical “‘I’m in love with my boyfriend what am I gonna do” movies out there. Based on the Novel ‘Where rainbows end’.

4.Imitation Game (2015)

Cumberbatch & Kiera Knightly.

5. The Physician (2013)

Historically inaccurate but very beautiful and interesting. I didn’t realize it was quite a long film.

What Languages can you speak?

I’ve finally decided to hit the go button on learning a new language. I have learned 4 languages growing up and I know them all by heart. & I wanted to add some up this year.

I’ve always been interested in different cultures and tribes of the world especially the languages they each speak. Its like a secret code of a person who is from a foreign land. They open and close their mouth and the sound that comes out with it can only be decoded of a person who can speak it. The beauty of language can never die in me.

I have also been fascinated by the different polygot in the world. For example Tim Doner, a 16 year old who can speak over 20 languages and was discovered when he posted himself showing his talent on youtube. He gave a wonderful speech in his TEDxTeen talk about the language barrier of the world, its understanding and his way of learning a new language. In his talk, he left an inspiring message “You can translate words easily but you can’t quite translate meaning”. That made me more inspired to learn a new language!

Currently I am learning Japanese at school and studying Spanish by myself. Although I am in my senior year in Korea which is tough due to college preparations I am hoping that I will be making another place in my heart for new codes.

Goodluck to me!

P.S. If you can speak other languages, feel free to comment your insights, share your culture and give tips on learning a language! ThankYou!

The Awaited comeback

One of my favorite author Harper Lee will be releasing her second sequel for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird this July. I have seen a lot of issues with the releasing of this book but I hope everything goes smooth.

The novel follows an adult Scout Finch who travels from New York to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch, twenty years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird. According to the publisher, Scout “is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.”^[3]Go Set a Watchman includes many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird.

For almost 50 years Harper Lee has remained low profile despite of the fame for her first novel and people are expecting big for the next one. But I won’t be disappointed or anything about the novel because just by Harper’s reappearance in the literary world I am very pleased.

Naughts & Crosses – Malorie Blackman

 Rating : 3.0/5

What if the society of the past that we used to know is turned upside down? Sephy, a dark skinned girl who belongs to the cross society is fond of her childhood friend Callum. But Callum belongs to the whites, the naughts. They eventually fall in love but tragedy happens and believe that maybe in the end they can be free and fight the system.

I was having a hard time imagining the black as the powerful and the white people as the slaves.Not that I am a racist or against any culture but I have been watching a lot of movies reading a lot books about the history of how fair skinned people are set to rule. It has been planted on my head for so long and I am thankful that this book maybe brought my perspective another light. We can be stereotypes in so many ways but we just haven’t realized it yet. And another thing I thought while reading this book was either black or white, when blinded by power, you will make sure nobody can take it from you.

Maybe I have expected too much in this novel that it was just a good read for me. No feelings were rising after I finished this book. I have seen a lot of booktubers and reviews recommending this book so tried to give it a go. I don’t regret reading this but I wanted more. The story ended just like you were about to get a good sneeze. Overall the book was fast paced, the plot was good . I will be reading the next series ‘The Knife Edge'(I won’t be reading the 1.5 and 1.6) because I’m very curious on what will happen since the ending was unsatisfying.