Music Break

 

Do you know how in movies there always seems to be the perfect musical background at the right time? Well, if my life was a movie, I would definitely have Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna’s songs be part of my soundtrack. And I’m pretty sure that’s going to be a long list because I have a hard time choosing my favourite song from all of hers.

 

Talented singer-songwriters are not that common in the mainstream music nowadays; but then again, I wouldn’t exactly consider Yuna as part of what we call mainstream music. She has a certain indie vibe to her musical creations. Mix that with her lovely soothing voice and an adorably interesting personality (easily seen in interviews and her lyrics) and it won’t be hard to understand why she is such an unique presence on the music stage.

Her musical style and choices will probably turn you into a fan once you give her a chance. I mean, she even manages to make covers that feel like her own songs.This song below is a Nirvana cover.

 

I suggest you grab a cup of coffee and just enjoy listening to her songs…and maybe even vote for her for the Best Asia Act category over at 2012 MTV EMAs.

 

P.S. Can I just say how much I love her different takes on the hijab? She always wears colorful ones that complement her outfit or she even ties it with a bow. That’s quite adorable.

Sunny

        

Seven girls. One group that will last, as one of them says, “beyond their death”.

That’s what Sunny the movie is all about: Sunny the group, then and now. Back in the 1980’s and still stuck in the present.

The movie manages to capture the essence of a friendship between middle school girls that reunite later in life, when their leader dies. The friendship doesn’t. It is beautifully directed, as the scenes that show the past and those that show the present do not look mismatched; they shift smoothly and quite beautifully. It also has so many clichés but still captures them differently. Like the beautiful girl of the group, the “popular” one, is actually the silent one, that surprises when she proves to be a fighter when it comes to her friends. Or how much first love can hurt. Or the little ironies that are sprinkled all over the movie; how the “best” ones end up being in the worst state being one of them. I also love the subtle ways the movie shows how some relations (wife – husband, parents – daughter) work in nowadays’ Korea or how everyone’s addicted to dramas (the hospital scenes in the beginning really made me laugh).

Simply put, this movie is amazing. Breathtaking. It has so much of a plot and substance and does not fail in putting it together. And I love this. I also love how well matched the actresses are with their characters, which I adore. They play their roles so well, that I found myself crying towards the ened because they gathered as seven again only after the leader was gone. I mean, here we have the leader that acts as tough as a boy, but has the heart of a girl (Kang So-Ra plays young Ha Chun-Hwa, Jin Hee-Kyung plays mature Ha Chun-Hwa), the daughter of a teacher that could be called as “Queen of swearing” (Park Jin-Joo as the teen Hwang Jin-Hee, and Hong Jin-Hee as the mature one), the not-your-skinny-type of girl that can’t wait to get a double eyelid surgery ( Kim Min-Young and Ko Su-Hee play the young and not so young Kim Jang-Mi), the girl that dreams to be a writer, but proves to be quite the fighter as a teen(Nam Bo-Ra and Lee Yeon-Kyung play Seo Geum-Ok), the girl that lives her life as the pageant queen she will be one day (Ryoo Bok-Hee, played as a teen by Kim Bo-Mi and as a woman as Kim Sun-Kyung), the beautiful girl that everyone knows will become a model(Su-Ji, played by Min Hyo-Rin as a young girl – Su-Ji the woman only appears for the last couple of minutes in the movie and I’m not sure who plays her yet) and the newcomer, the girl from the countryside that lastly joins the band(Shim Eun-Kyung and Yoo Ho-Jeong play Lim Na-Mi in the two very different moments of her life) that put up with other bands of girls (ironically named “Girls’ Generation” – I doubt there’s any connection to this Girls’ Generation , but it’s not the only time the director uses popular band names nowadays in the movie, as the girls initially wanted their group name to be Wonder Girls). I admit it would have been interesting to see the WG vs. SNSD back in the 80’s as teen groups :)

And don’t get me started on the cinematic aspects of this movie or the fashion. It’s just…well, I’ll let you judge for yourself.

                                               

You can watch it (and I highly recommend you do so) with English subtitles here, here or here.

Photographs from here or screen caps of mine.

P.S. The soundtrack is also quite amazing!

Milestone

 

It hurts knowing how it will end at one point. Your birthday, a bad day, a long class at school, being stuck in the traffic jam, your childhood… everything has an end. I guess this is why they say we should enjoy each moment of our lives. It is true that we will never be younger than we are at this very moment. So why waste the moment? Might as well spread our wings, open our minds and just go wherever life will take us. Yet, rather than doing so, rather than listening to my instinct that always proved to be right, I do the exact opposite. I plan. I over think. I don’t just let life happen; I make sure what I want to happen will happen at one point or another. And in the rare moments that I just let it be, I feel complete for that moment. But the moment being nothing more than that, a future memory lost in my little treasure box deep in my heart, sooner or later the regrets sink in. And the what ifs…    

             

Is there any way to beautifully close a chapter in your life and move onto the next one? I sometimes wonder of how my parents were when they had my age. When they tell me pieces of their life back then, I can’t help but notice how something in them changes. How their eyes have a tiny sparkle of happiness mixed with sadness, even melancholia, how they no longer focus on me and just look into space, how they relive those moments when talking about them. I wonder if this is how I will end up like. Talking about the youth I’m supposed to live now to my future children. In a way, it sounds like the best plan for  life. I will have my family. And I will be a role model for my children, just like my parents are for me. And I will make sure my parents, grandparents’ stories will live on. But there’s the other way around: realizing I will lose something. A part of me. I guess that it all comes down to this, after all. You take something from life and have something be taken away from you.

          

The Little Things

 

                   “People shouldn’t dwell on the past. It’s enough to try your best in all that you’re doing now.”

                                                                                      - Aya, “1 Litre of Tears” (Japanese drama)

 

Trying your best in what I’m currently doing sure feels good. It keeps me focused, it keeps me motivated and it gives me a reason to get up from your bad each and every day, knowing that  I am about to change something. Something about me or something about the others, something about the world we live in…anything.

Yet it sometimes feels so nice looking back and only being filled with happy memories. I feel… complete at those times. Because it means I haven’t lived in vain. It means I created something, and even if it will only remain in my memory or my closest friend’s memories, it doesn’t mean it is nothing. It can turn out to be everything.

At the end of our lives, aren’t memories the only way to judge our way of living? Aren’t memories those that brighten our days and remind us of the good and the bad we were through, the friends that stayed by our side, the fears we overcome with small steps, the things we learnt, the small things that made our life not empty at all?…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

My past experiences are those who made me who I am. And I can only be happy for the recent ones, that only made my days better and heart filled with good feelings.

For lovely, crisp autumn days that I wish would never end. And the heart warming sound of stepping on to fallen leaves.

For joyful little girls that put a smile on your face only with their way of being all cute and beautiful and noisy and funny and extremely adorable and everything else that makes you all glow with happiness from a child’s simple gestures.

For weekend mornings spent with my family which should last an eternity and for school days that sometimes seem to never end…

For getting dressed up with no reason, getting compliments that suddenly increase your self esteem.

 

For getting to play with an adorable puppy (that shouldn’t be referred to as a puppy any longer) that simply won’t let you do anything without him because he just loves you too much and has to always be there for you( not that I mind him doing so).

For a bunch of pretty flowers and for late night study accompanied by too many cups of hot chocolate and rice&milk&cinnamon.

For finding beautiful poems to read an re-read, only to make me realize how far childhood seems to be and how adulthood knocks at my door, now with being eighteen and everything… (now, excuse me English speakers, but I couldn’t find a way to translate this poem without losing its meaning and harmony of words – I had to keep it in Romanian):

And, lastly, for a beautiful Korean song that manages to give me peace and tranquility every time I listen to it, while expressing some of my fears in beautiful written lyrics…

                    

 

Indeed, as someone recently said, autumn has been so good to me this far.