Similar to how I give props to certain iPhone apps that I like, I thought it would be nice to do the same for people on Twitter. You know, like a Five Friday Friends to Follow, but all I’ve got is three people LOL.
@Shakestweetz – Melissa McEwan: The premier lady of righteous progressive awesome, she runs the blog Shakesville as well, which is my favourite community for feminist sanity.
@cleolinda – Cleolinda Jones: The premier lady of pop culture geekery. I’ve been following her LJ for years so it was only natural to follow her over to Twitter as well.
@antoniaZ – Antonia Zerbisias: she calls herself an ecofeminist and I think the term is a good fit; my favourite columnist for the Toronto Star, she brings the leftist awesome with a Canadian twist.
Dec 18, 2012
Nov 29, 2012
Bleep Bloop
I think it's about time I once again shared the apps that I'm currently in love with!
Puzzle Craft – This game actually costs money but it was free one weekend so I downloaded it. Basically it’s Farmville meets Bejewled LOL. You have to play two kinds of matching games that grant you resources to grow your own little personalized village. It’s not very difficult, the sounds and music are wonderful, plus it’s a creative idea.
Songza – I’m pretty sure everyone and their dogs has this app by now. The premise is that you can find free musical playlists customized based on what you’re currently doing or what mood you’re in. You can find pretty much any kind of music, from 70’s blues to classic Bollywood to the latest progressive trance. A wonderful resource to discover new music or just set the mood.
Tweegram – Sometimes I don’t want to Instagram a photo, I want to Instagram a quote. When I do I turn to Tweegram, which allows you to type the text, give it a pretty background, and then import to Instagram (or Twitter/Facebook directly if that’s what you want). It’s convenient and the free backgrounds are rather nice; the app definitely fulfills my very particular needs. ;)
Houzz – So you’ve bought a house but need design inspiration, what do you do? Download this app and let the inspiration and pretty designs carry you away! Scroll through thousands of photos of bedrooms and kitchens, or search for that perfect oak headboard you’ve been hankering for. If you sign up with Houzz, you can even save your favourite photos.
Cinemagram – It’s like Instagram but with 2 seconds of animation. Take a video and then highlight what parts of the video you want to keep the animation going and which parts you want to stay static. This tweaking allows for all sorts of interesting/wacky/freaky video to be created, plus you can add filters to give it that hipster look LOL.
Puzzle Craft – This game actually costs money but it was free one weekend so I downloaded it. Basically it’s Farmville meets Bejewled LOL. You have to play two kinds of matching games that grant you resources to grow your own little personalized village. It’s not very difficult, the sounds and music are wonderful, plus it’s a creative idea.Songza – I’m pretty sure everyone and their dogs has this app by now. The premise is that you can find free musical playlists customized based on what you’re currently doing or what mood you’re in. You can find pretty much any kind of music, from 70’s blues to classic Bollywood to the latest progressive trance. A wonderful resource to discover new music or just set the mood.Tweegram – Sometimes I don’t want to Instagram a photo, I want to Instagram a quote. When I do I turn to Tweegram, which allows you to type the text, give it a pretty background, and then import to Instagram (or Twitter/Facebook directly if that’s what you want). It’s convenient and the free backgrounds are rather nice; the app definitely fulfills my very particular needs. ;)Houzz – So you’ve bought a house but need design inspiration, what do you do? Download this app and let the inspiration and pretty designs carry you away! Scroll through thousands of photos of bedrooms and kitchens, or search for that perfect oak headboard you’ve been hankering for. If you sign up with Houzz, you can even save your favourite photos.Cinemagram – It’s like Instagram but with 2 seconds of animation. Take a video and then highlight what parts of the video you want to keep the animation going and which parts you want to stay static. This tweaking allows for all sorts of interesting/wacky/freaky video to be created, plus you can add filters to give it that hipster look LOL.Nov 28, 2012
I Dreamed A Dream Of Asian Sensations
I know, it’s been a while. But I needed a place to blab about this hilarious dream I had last night.
In my dream, my sister and I somehow won a contest where we could tag along with CL from the Kpop group 2NE1 while she travelled to various young girl’s houses all over South Korea in an attempt to find the group’s fourth member as part of reality show. Yes, for some reason my dream took place in the early 2000’s but me and my sister were our current age. The group only consisted of Minzy, CL, and Park Bom, no Dara yet, so technically I already knew the outcome haha. We were on this tour bus with CL and 10 other excited Korean fangirls who also won the contest, when we pull up to this huge mansion. An older man answers the door and he’s like “oh you must be here for my son... G-Dragon.” LMAO 4EVER.
Anyway Ji-yong aka G-Dragon swags downstairs to meet CL and there’s friendly hugs and he’s like “yo girl, I found the perfect fourth member for 2NE1, lemme get on the bus and direct you to her house, I’mma give her a call and let her know you’re coming with your fans and cameras.” So he gets on the bus with us all and there’s so much Korean being spoken that me and my sister are kind of lost, but everyone is being really cute and perky so we’re enjoying ourselves regardless haha.
We get to Dara’s house and GD does the introductions between her and CL as we all cram into her living room. We can tell she’s nervous but she just sits down at a piano and starts playing AND singing at the same time. It’s some Korean song but about two lines in, me and my sister give each other a look that says “wait, why do I know this tune?” In fact I start humming along and all the Korean fangirls are giving me weird looks like “how does this Indian Canadian girl know this?” Anyway, CL is clearly impressed with Dara’s singing and after she’s done they just start chatting like they’re old friends and then CL points out that I was humming along with the song, so me and my sister are like “we know this song! There’s an English version! Maybe you guys stole it?” and the conversation continues in stilted English and we’re talking about how both Korea and India have a history of stealing popular English tunes and inserting their own words, hahaha!
Then CL invites Dara to come on the bus with us back to Seoul and on the way we stop at a wildlife preserve and GD ends up wrestling an alligator. The end. :D
In my dream, my sister and I somehow won a contest where we could tag along with CL from the Kpop group 2NE1 while she travelled to various young girl’s houses all over South Korea in an attempt to find the group’s fourth member as part of reality show. Yes, for some reason my dream took place in the early 2000’s but me and my sister were our current age. The group only consisted of Minzy, CL, and Park Bom, no Dara yet, so technically I already knew the outcome haha. We were on this tour bus with CL and 10 other excited Korean fangirls who also won the contest, when we pull up to this huge mansion. An older man answers the door and he’s like “oh you must be here for my son... G-Dragon.” LMAO 4EVER.
Anyway Ji-yong aka G-Dragon swags downstairs to meet CL and there’s friendly hugs and he’s like “yo girl, I found the perfect fourth member for 2NE1, lemme get on the bus and direct you to her house, I’mma give her a call and let her know you’re coming with your fans and cameras.” So he gets on the bus with us all and there’s so much Korean being spoken that me and my sister are kind of lost, but everyone is being really cute and perky so we’re enjoying ourselves regardless haha.
We get to Dara’s house and GD does the introductions between her and CL as we all cram into her living room. We can tell she’s nervous but she just sits down at a piano and starts playing AND singing at the same time. It’s some Korean song but about two lines in, me and my sister give each other a look that says “wait, why do I know this tune?” In fact I start humming along and all the Korean fangirls are giving me weird looks like “how does this Indian Canadian girl know this?” Anyway, CL is clearly impressed with Dara’s singing and after she’s done they just start chatting like they’re old friends and then CL points out that I was humming along with the song, so me and my sister are like “we know this song! There’s an English version! Maybe you guys stole it?” and the conversation continues in stilted English and we’re talking about how both Korea and India have a history of stealing popular English tunes and inserting their own words, hahaha!
Then CL invites Dara to come on the bus with us back to Seoul and on the way we stop at a wildlife preserve and GD ends up wrestling an alligator. The end. :D
Feb 8, 2012
The Love Keeps Growing
Time for me to share my favourite iPhone apps of the moment.
1. KingCamera – This app has some of the best filters ever. Not only can you tweak things like contrast, saturation, etc. but there's pre-set gradients and overlay layers and stuff I don’t even know how to explain, all I know is that it makes my photos look PRETTEH. ;) I've had compliments quite a few of my creations with this app and that really says it all.
2. Frametastic – This is an app that allows you to stick multiple photos within various frame setups, which is especially nice if you don't want to spam your feed with a ton of really similar photos. I've been using this app in conjunction with Instagram a lot when I'm taking photos of my nails; I take one pic with flash and one without, but instead of posting both I just combine them together in one frame, then add a filter in Instagram and voila!
3. Forestville - My current game obsession! It's basically a spin-off of Farmville; you have to discover different species of animals and build a forest town by farming and building businesses. It's strangely addictive and incredibly cute, very kid friendly. My only major complaint with the game is that it's MASSIVELY GLITCHY. I can't even remember how many times I've been in the middle of restocking my shops when the game shuts down or gets stuck in a loop. So beware!
4. EEBA - The acronym stands for the Easy Envelope Budget Aid. It's an app that lets you set up your monthly (or weekly) budget, and then tracks how much you spend and how much money is left in your allocation as time goes by. Incredibly powerful and quite nifty! I haven't quite gotten into the nitty gritty of this app simply because I have an Excel spreadsheet I use for this stuff, but I can see right away how fantastic the app would be for those in need of a good tracking system.
5. Meernotes - A very simple app, but the best things in life are simple aren't they? This is basically a diary app; you choose your font and just start typing. The app also allows you to sort what you right into different coloured tabs, and if you want you can have multiple notebooks for multiple writings. Great for jotting down thoughts that come by, I can really see myself using this if I get back into writing my novel.
1. KingCamera – This app has some of the best filters ever. Not only can you tweak things like contrast, saturation, etc. but there's pre-set gradients and overlay layers and stuff I don’t even know how to explain, all I know is that it makes my photos look PRETTEH. ;) I've had compliments quite a few of my creations with this app and that really says it all.2. Frametastic – This is an app that allows you to stick multiple photos within various frame setups, which is especially nice if you don't want to spam your feed with a ton of really similar photos. I've been using this app in conjunction with Instagram a lot when I'm taking photos of my nails; I take one pic with flash and one without, but instead of posting both I just combine them together in one frame, then add a filter in Instagram and voila!3. Forestville - My current game obsession! It's basically a spin-off of Farmville; you have to discover different species of animals and build a forest town by farming and building businesses. It's strangely addictive and incredibly cute, very kid friendly. My only major complaint with the game is that it's MASSIVELY GLITCHY. I can't even remember how many times I've been in the middle of restocking my shops when the game shuts down or gets stuck in a loop. So beware!4. EEBA - The acronym stands for the Easy Envelope Budget Aid. It's an app that lets you set up your monthly (or weekly) budget, and then tracks how much you spend and how much money is left in your allocation as time goes by. Incredibly powerful and quite nifty! I haven't quite gotten into the nitty gritty of this app simply because I have an Excel spreadsheet I use for this stuff, but I can see right away how fantastic the app would be for those in need of a good tracking system.5. Meernotes - A very simple app, but the best things in life are simple aren't they? This is basically a diary app; you choose your font and just start typing. The app also allows you to sort what you right into different coloured tabs, and if you want you can have multiple notebooks for multiple writings. Great for jotting down thoughts that come by, I can really see myself using this if I get back into writing my novel.Feb 5, 2012
Bollywood Movie Review: Agneepath (2012)
I don't usually watch Bollywood movies and have a whole lot to say about them, but for some reason my brain can't stop thinking about this movie. To start off, let me say that I liked it. It wasn't particularly spectacular or mind-blowing but I did find the movie to be enjoyable. Then again, I haven't seen the original Amitabh version, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. ;)
If you don't want to be spoiled for the rest of the movie then I would suggest not reading forward! It's pretty long review too. Apparently I had more thoughts than I originally realized.
You could tell just by watching this movie that it was a remake of a 70s Amitabh movie, simply by virtue of the story/plot as well as Hrithik's acting method... STOIC VENGEFUL YOUNG MAN. Of course, Hrithik being Hrithik he also showed emotion as only he can: with those wonderfully wounded soulful eyes of his. Ahem. But I digress. Yes, great emotionality, especially anything concerning his family. The scene where he sits outside his mother's house wolfing down her food and confesses to Kaali that he's been waiting 15 years for his mother to love him is quite the tear-jerker. Hrithik does a great job of balancing Vijay's cold-hearted killing with the love he has for those close to him.
"I may be a stoic killer, but wait till you see me dance!"
Priyanka was enjoyable in the role of Kaali. She kept the peace and cheered Vijay up, and the audience laughed their assess off when she preened like a peacock or yapped away. I think she looked fantastic and her outfits were all pretty as well. The picturization for Gun Gun Guna was one of the best parts of the movie; I definitely wouldn't mind having it on a song DVD. And to be honest, when she suddenly died I was really sad, mostly because I thought: "she died before consummating her marriage with the hotness of Vijay? THERE IS NO HUMANITY!" :P But after the movie I watched the picturization for "O Saiyan" (which was cut from our version of the movie) and realized that they had consummated the relationship, so I was satisfied, hahaha.
"Pay no attention to my extremely botoxed lips!"
But without a doubt, the movie belonged to Sanjay Dutt. He was pure nightmare fuel as Kancha, a heartless monster who used the Bhagavad Gita to explain and rationalize his lack of morals. O_o That was one of the most interesting aspects of the movie actually, just seeing how the unquestioningly evil villain could twist Krishna's words about removing desire and attachment to attain bliss and enlightenment into a rationale for unchecked profiteering, power, and cruelty. Kancha was absolutely wacked out of his gourd and I still sort of don't believe that Vijay could have killed him because DID YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT GUY?
"We wants more cocaine, preciousssss..."
This review wouldn't be complete without mention of the songs, specifically Katrina Kaif's item number "Chikni Chameli". In my opinion: a big fat meh. The dancing wasn't that great and I don't even really like the song all that much. I feel like the combination of Katrina dancing for a song sung by Shreya didn't give the song that low-down dirrrty factor they were going for. Katrina does great item numbers, but she has a certain amount of sexy class when she does them. And Shreya's voice was just somehow too innocent sounding for a hot item number. I find it interesting that in this movie Shreya did a typical Sunidhi song and Sunidhi did a typically Shreya song (Gun Gun Guna).
"What I am doing in this movie? Even I don't know."
While we're on the topic of the songs, I just want to say that I really liked the song "Shah Ka Rutba", it's a great qawali and quite catchy. Actually, it's interesting that there's one mega-Muslim song (Shah Ka Rutba) and one mega-Hindu song (Deva Shree Ganesha) in the movie.
Some final thoughts. It was interesting to see Rishi Kapoor in such a horrible role, he played a great villain... I still haven't recovered from how he was trafficking those poor young girls, so disgusting! The movie had some great shots that I'd love to turn into desktop wallpaper too; the one that sticks out in my mind is when Lala is in the hospital and Vijay comes back to the head-quaters to sit in Lala's seat. The background is a dark green and there's a rich maroon blanket draped over the chair and the spotlight hits Hrithik just right... *_*
Alright, enough my gushing! As far as criticisms go, the one thing that I couldn't ignore is that movie has a very dated plot, but it's a remake so you can't really help that. It's a very long movie, almost three hours, and the first half seemed to drag a bit more than the second half. It was also quite a melodramatic movie, but again I sort of knew it was coming because Karan Johar directed it. ;)
Overall, I'd give this movie an 8.0/10. Solid movie with good songs and some awesome acting, just remember that you will basically be watching an overwrought 70s remake. ;)
If you don't want to be spoiled for the rest of the movie then I would suggest not reading forward! It's pretty long review too. Apparently I had more thoughts than I originally realized.
You could tell just by watching this movie that it was a remake of a 70s Amitabh movie, simply by virtue of the story/plot as well as Hrithik's acting method... STOIC VENGEFUL YOUNG MAN. Of course, Hrithik being Hrithik he also showed emotion as only he can: with those wonderfully wounded soulful eyes of his. Ahem. But I digress. Yes, great emotionality, especially anything concerning his family. The scene where he sits outside his mother's house wolfing down her food and confesses to Kaali that he's been waiting 15 years for his mother to love him is quite the tear-jerker. Hrithik does a great job of balancing Vijay's cold-hearted killing with the love he has for those close to him.
"I may be a stoic killer, but wait till you see me dance!"
Priyanka was enjoyable in the role of Kaali. She kept the peace and cheered Vijay up, and the audience laughed their assess off when she preened like a peacock or yapped away. I think she looked fantastic and her outfits were all pretty as well. The picturization for Gun Gun Guna was one of the best parts of the movie; I definitely wouldn't mind having it on a song DVD. And to be honest, when she suddenly died I was really sad, mostly because I thought: "she died before consummating her marriage with the hotness of Vijay? THERE IS NO HUMANITY!" :P But after the movie I watched the picturization for "O Saiyan" (which was cut from our version of the movie) and realized that they had consummated the relationship, so I was satisfied, hahaha.
"Pay no attention to my extremely botoxed lips!"
But without a doubt, the movie belonged to Sanjay Dutt. He was pure nightmare fuel as Kancha, a heartless monster who used the Bhagavad Gita to explain and rationalize his lack of morals. O_o That was one of the most interesting aspects of the movie actually, just seeing how the unquestioningly evil villain could twist Krishna's words about removing desire and attachment to attain bliss and enlightenment into a rationale for unchecked profiteering, power, and cruelty. Kancha was absolutely wacked out of his gourd and I still sort of don't believe that Vijay could have killed him because DID YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT GUY?
"We wants more cocaine, preciousssss..."
This review wouldn't be complete without mention of the songs, specifically Katrina Kaif's item number "Chikni Chameli". In my opinion: a big fat meh. The dancing wasn't that great and I don't even really like the song all that much. I feel like the combination of Katrina dancing for a song sung by Shreya didn't give the song that low-down dirrrty factor they were going for. Katrina does great item numbers, but she has a certain amount of sexy class when she does them. And Shreya's voice was just somehow too innocent sounding for a hot item number. I find it interesting that in this movie Shreya did a typical Sunidhi song and Sunidhi did a typically Shreya song (Gun Gun Guna).
"What I am doing in this movie? Even I don't know."
While we're on the topic of the songs, I just want to say that I really liked the song "Shah Ka Rutba", it's a great qawali and quite catchy. Actually, it's interesting that there's one mega-Muslim song (Shah Ka Rutba) and one mega-Hindu song (Deva Shree Ganesha) in the movie.
Some final thoughts. It was interesting to see Rishi Kapoor in such a horrible role, he played a great villain... I still haven't recovered from how he was trafficking those poor young girls, so disgusting! The movie had some great shots that I'd love to turn into desktop wallpaper too; the one that sticks out in my mind is when Lala is in the hospital and Vijay comes back to the head-quaters to sit in Lala's seat. The background is a dark green and there's a rich maroon blanket draped over the chair and the spotlight hits Hrithik just right... *_*
Alright, enough my gushing! As far as criticisms go, the one thing that I couldn't ignore is that movie has a very dated plot, but it's a remake so you can't really help that. It's a very long movie, almost three hours, and the first half seemed to drag a bit more than the second half. It was also quite a melodramatic movie, but again I sort of knew it was coming because Karan Johar directed it. ;)
Overall, I'd give this movie an 8.0/10. Solid movie with good songs and some awesome acting, just remember that you will basically be watching an overwrought 70s remake. ;)
Jan 2, 2012
Ring It In
Happy New Year! I hope everyone celebrated in their own appropriate way, whether it was a quiet night at home, a rocking dance club, or in my case a house party that featured a room where everyone was playing Rockband and a room where everyone was watching K-Pop videos on YouTube. :D
As it were, I have once again fallen down the K-Pop rabbit hole and have a few very lovely videos to share. Two are done in a very sleek, muted style while the other two are in a bright and boppy style. Love them all!
1. Girls' Generation (SNSD) - Gee
2. Brown Eyed Girls' - Abracadabra
3. HyunA - Bubble Pop!
4. HyunA & HyunSeung - Trouble Maker
Bonus music commentary: I saw Jessie J's new video Domino and it's like... dude are you sure someone didn't switch the audio out for a Katy Perry song?! WTF LOL.
As it were, I have once again fallen down the K-Pop rabbit hole and have a few very lovely videos to share. Two are done in a very sleek, muted style while the other two are in a bright and boppy style. Love them all!
1. Girls' Generation (SNSD) - Gee
2. Brown Eyed Girls' - Abracadabra
3. HyunA - Bubble Pop!
4. HyunA & HyunSeung - Trouble Maker
Bonus music commentary: I saw Jessie J's new video Domino and it's like... dude are you sure someone didn't switch the audio out for a Katy Perry song?! WTF LOL.
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