Friday, July 23, 2010 Letters To Juliet - The Movie Posted by juphelia at 01:44

When I first came across this show, I thought I must watch it because it has a Shakespearean theme. For those not in the know, Shakespeare is my favorite writer of all time! Whenever I need some inspiration, I always look through his works and I will perk up.

"Romeo and Juliet" is my utmost favorite and I always wish I can go to Verona. Imagine how romantic it will be if someone proposes to me while I am at Juliet's balcony in Verona under the moonlight! That would be the perfect proposal!

In any case, Letters To Juliet is set in Italy (where else?). It is based on a true event in Verona where many broken hearted, confused and lost women from all over the world go to Juliet's house and write heartfelt letters, pouring out their souls and asking for advise.

The writing letters part is true but whether the letters actually get answered in reality, I am not sure. In the show, at the end of everyday, someone will collect the letters and there will be a team who call themselves "Secretaries of Juliet" who sits down for a few hours daily answering and replying the letters and actually sending them out.

How wonderful it is! Maybe the reason so many people believe in writing letters to Juliet is because the letters actually get answered? If I am to pour out my soul and stick a letter on the wall of Juliet's house in Verona, I would think it is just that. But if the letter gets answered, I will be totally ecstatic and over the moon!

That is the power of writing letters. Nowadays with the advanced technology, no one bothers writing letters anymore. They rather send an email, text message or instant chat.

Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought writing letters beat everything else. It adds the personal touch, which the impersonal email, texts or instant chats simply do not cut it.

Gone are those days where we write letters to our friends living overseas and waited expectantly for their replies and we were so excited whenever we received a reply. I used to be the one checking the mailbox everyday, wondering if any of my pen pals wrote me a letter.

Now with emails, instant chats and social network portals, keeping in touch with each other is just a click away. It conveniences everyone, but as a result, we have become impersonal. We rely too much on technology that we have forgotten how to actually socialise - calling someone to talk, writing letters with a personal touch to share your happenings.

How I wish my guy is the type to write letters! I do not mean emailing a love letter or poem, or putting up on his blog as a dedication. I mean a real letter written by ink on sheets of paper sealed with a kiss in an envelope. That would mean so much more to me!

So instead of emailing, why not pick up a pen and some paper and actually write a letter to someone we know?

Monday, May 31, 2010 Sex And The City II - The Movie Posted by juphelia at 22:27

This show never lets me down, as always. Somehow this show draws an appeal, not because of the artistes. In fact, none of the actors and actresses in the show are my favourites. That is not to say they cannot act. Each one acted well and brought out the character.

But it is not the actors and actresses that draw me to the show, as I have mentioned. Yet this is one of my favourite series and the movies are one of my favourite movies (including this latest one).

The greatest appeal of the show is the glamorous setting. It is set in New York City itself, the city of glamour, designer fashion and stylish people. And the fashions. I always wondered where did the four ladies get their clothes? How could they afford it?

One is a writer married to a man who can give her a penthouse as a wedding gift, with a fabulous walk-in wardrobe full of shoes. One is a top notch lawyer. One owns a public relations company. One is a goody-two-shoes whose only dream in life is to have a happy family.

As unlikely as all four are and as different their personalities are, all four are best friends and never let each other down. They are always there for each other no matter what happens. They are all beautiful yet highly successful women in their own right yet at the same time share a common bonding which their men do not get.

And the clothes. Where did they get their threads? I will give anything to be able to carry off their poise, style and sophistication! Imagine me wearing those threads and I am positive I will definitely look much better because wearing those give me a kind of confidence that will let me ooze sex appeal! The right threads definitely speak wonders!

I hope there will be a third movie coming. Meanwhile I will try to source for some of those fine threads worn by the ladies. Hopefully I can get something at a bargain!

Saturday, February 13, 2010 Valentine's Day - The Movie Posted by juphelia at 21:06

Following the likes of Love Actually, Valentine's Day is another show featuring different vignettes centred on the theme of love. While Love Actually is on the lives and loves of some Londonites around the Chrismas season, Valentine's Day is on the lives and loves of some Los Angelites on that one day.

In a month, I cried while watching two shows. One was Hachiko, and the other one was Valentine's Day. The loves in the show is just so sweet, heartwarming and romantic - loving someone means accepting the whole of the person, good and bad, as well as someone you can spend the rest of your life with is actually someone who is your best friend whom you like a lot and actually grow to love.

It is another feel-good show that gives the audience a warm feeling all over. Not a typical romantic comedy yet it epitomizes love in its true essence.

Which is why I cried. But between Love Actually and Valentine's Day, somehow I still prefer Love Actually!

Monday, January 18, 2010 New York, I Love You - The Movie Posted by juphelia at 16:39

It started with Paris, the city of love. Or maybe way back in Britain, where Love Actually actually began.

In the modern days of fast paced rat race and an individualistic society, does love actually still exist?

I did not watch Paris, I Love You, or Paris, Je'Taime. But New York, I Love You gives people the hope that love actually is all around, just like in Love Actually.

The show features eleven segments, all taken around New York City. Love developing from a one night stand, love from business liaison, objects of desires, love between a middle-aged couple, and the mist touching of all, the love between an old couple, still holding hands and kissing on their sixty-third anniversary. These and all are intertwined in the city called New York.

This is a pretty refreshing show as compared to the run-of-the-mill romantic comedies or sappy dramatic love stories. At least it shows the various aspects of love in a more realistic way - that it is not a bed of roses, and it requires compromise, tolerance and sacrifice. And that is what love is about!

Monday, January 11, 2010 Did You Hear About The Morgans? - The Movie Posted by juphelia at 09:48

Last weekend I watched two shows about couples and relationships. The first was Did You Hear About The Morgans? on Friday night and the second was It's Complicated yesterday afternoon.

Did You Hear About The Morgans? featured a typical high-flying New York couple who have successful jobs and busy lives.

The movie started as them being separated. Due to them witnessing a murder, they were whisked away to this small Western town as protected witnesses.

Of course the guy was trying to chase his wife back but she found it hard to trust him again. But after living in close proximity for a week, she found that her feelings towards him might not have disintegrated.

After numerous quarrels, arguments and whatnots, they concluded that for things to work out, they have to manage their expectations and not expect too much from each other.

That was when their protector finally could not take it anymore and told them off, by saying that both have to expect everything from each other because marriage itself does not make any sense, so they just have to f*** all rules and make it work! Well said!

This is a good show for couples, as throughout the show there are elements of what commitment to a relationship is like. I believe anyone will be able to relate to it!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 The Ugly Truth - The Movie Posted by juphelia at 11:51

I went for a premier of "The Ugly Truth" movie last night. The movie is really hilarious! It is the ugly truth and the truth hurts! What was stated in the show about men seem really true! Like men like women who are not controlling, who do not criticise or tell them what to do, who let men be in control of the relationship.

No wonder someone like me is still unattached, because I talk too much, I say it as it is, even to the extent of constructive criticism, I like to be in control as in I like to know where we are going in the relationship instead of living each day as it comes. I have lived enough of "each day as it came" and that feeling was not good at all as it made me very insecure and adverse to my own self-esteem.

Women, on the other hand, also have a checklist of what they want the men to be. He must be dashing, high-flier, charming, romantic, etc. But the last scene of the show is really good. The message is that for a woman, no matter how a guy fulfils everything in her checklist, if in the end she has to always pretend to be someone she is not just to snag the guy, then it is not worth it.

And for a man, no matter how controlling, talkative, neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, perfectionist the woman is (qualities which are sure to turn men off), at the end of the day, if he cannot help falling in love with her, all those qualities do not matter in the end.

Moral of the story - People can have a checklist of what they like and what they do not like, but when they really fall for someone, even if the someone is totally out of their criteria, at the end of the day, nothing really matters because they have no idea why they fall for each other but still cannot help falling for each other. How sweet! And that is love!

Friday, May 30, 2008 Sex And The City Posted by juphelia at 11:47

When I was younger, my parents used to restrict me from watching television. So in order to keep myself updated with sitcoms and serials, I had to beg my friends to help tape down the shows I liked. Like almost any typical person, I grow up on American serials.

My favourite program back in my primary school days was "Sesame Street", like just any kid around the world. Those puppets were really cute and endearing! Who can forget Oscar, Cookie Monster, Elmo (my personal favourite), Big Bird and that elephant (whom I can never remember the name), not to mention that tomato and banana who were staying together.

Then more American shows started coming. There was "Party of Five", "Dharma and Greg", "Mad About You", "Dawson's Creek", but I was not that interested in these shows. The ones my classmates were raving about were "Twin Peaks", "Northern Exposure", "Melrose Place", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "Beverly Hills 90210" and the most famous cartoon series of all time, "The Simpsons".

90210 was the hottest craze then. It spawned a series of clothing line and books. I felt left out whenever my classmates were talking about the show, so I sneaked a peek whenever I could. I started liking that show too, because I was envious over why school students in America could have so much freedom whereas I felt like a prisoner then. I had my classmate tape for me whenever she watched the show. And I read all the books in the series.

Later, I had more chances of watching television, because I could always go over to my ex's place to watch. He and I liked the same kind of shows, so he would always tape "The X-Files", "ER" and "Ally McBeal", then we would just hang out at his place, snacking and watching the tapes at the same time.

After that in my adulthood, there was a period of time when reality TV was the craze. So I tried to catch every season of Amazing Race and American Idol whenever I could. Not to mention "Charmed". In recent years, there are "Desperate Housewives" and "Heroes", which I never had the chance to watch, but plan to get the VCDs once they are out.

It was also in later years that I fell in love with "FRIENDS" (still my ultimate favourite) and "Sex And The City", the former because my youngest brother bought the entire set of all ten seasons, the latter was introduced by my mum's cousin who loves the show. I had watched "Sex And The City" on and off during the years they were showing, but it was after my relative who lent me the DVD of the entire first season that I started to really like the show.

So I plan to get the VCD of the entire series of all the seasons for "Sex And The City". What is there not to like about the show? Some may argue that it is a somewhat bimbotic show where the women talk about nothing but fashion and men, but honestly, that is what typical girls will talk about. Just like typical guys talking about army and girls.

The situations are really real. Problems in love, friendships that survive through ups and downs. The movie did justice to the series. It is a somewhat continuation of the series, yet at the same time bringing the entire show to a closure, with a feel-good feeling.

Not to mention the beautiful wedding that was supposed to be held at the New York Public Library building, the to-die-for Vivienne Westwood gown, and the book entitled "Love Letters Of Great Men", which convinces me to find and get that book, especially after Carrie read out the excerpt from Beethoven (and I always thought he was only capable of writing intense music!).

My favourite part of the show is the wedding with Mr Big right at the end. It was really a simple wedding, just an exchange of vows at City Hall with only the two of them, no one else. She had on just a business suit as her wedding gown. And then lunch with her closest friends. But that was also the most beautiful and touching part of the show, because after everything, they really wanted to be together. So who said one needs a big wedding bash to make things beautiful?

My favourite character is Charlotte. She is someone simple, traditional and just wants a complete family, someone who is faithful to her loved one and her friends. Somehow I can relate to that. My second favourite character is Carrie, who, despite being modern, independent and smart, all her rationality gets thrown out in the face of love. And that is how loving someone should be like - the ability to forgive and start over, despite hurts and disappointments.

Monday, September 5, 2005 Television / Movie Fest! Posted by juphelia at 01:27

I had a VCD / DVD Marathon earlier on. It is such a bliss staying home with nothing to do sometimes. Finally I can catch up on all the shows and movies I have been accumulating but have not had the time to watch. I started to indulge in TV and VCD watching to get my mind off the frustrations and worries of the past few days. Thus I turned into a couch potato and started snacking on durian chips and finished up half a box of Ferrero Rochers as well.

First on my list was the Hong Kong serial "Angels of Mission", which I started watching on Friday. It was a twenty-parter. I wanted to stay up the whole night to finish, but by the time it was 5:00am on Sunday morning, my eyes finally closed and I had to finish watching the last four episodes in the afternoon. The show is on the Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU) of HKSAR Police Force. The main characters are three female police officers who have to deal with terrorists, bomb threats and cope with their own tumultuous love lives at the same time.

Next was "Sleepless in Seattle". I have been wanting to watch this show for ages after I heard the song, and when I realise it is starring Tom Hanks. I first watched this show when my friend taped for me on cable back in 1999 or so, and now that I am watching it again, it still brings tears in my eyes, especially what Tom Hanks said about "You know the feelings are real, as they come just like magic." I love the part especially when they met each other at the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day at the end of the show. Such a tear-jerking moment. This is what love should be - magic. I know too well the feelings just come all of a sudden without warning.

The third show was "Untold Scandal", a Korean period movie on dangerous liaisons. I get to drool at my idol Bae Yong Jun on screen the whole time throughout! Although I still prefer him with the golden streaks in his floppy hair, spectacles and long winter coat in "Winter Sonata". He is just so suave and charming! He still looks better in contemporary gear rather than period costumes. Now I cannot wait for his new movie to start screening in October.

I wanted to watch "Shall We Dance?" as well, starring the ever-suave Richard Gere, but my eyes cannot take it anymore. I need to sleep since my eyes are watering already. My body is probably telling me something. Thus I have to save Richard Gere to tomorrow (hopefully I will not be too shagged from work).

Meanwhile, I will sleep with hopefully nice dreams of my idol Bae Yong Jun. A bout of Brad Pitt, Legolas or Christian Bale in his batsuit will not matter too. :-p Good night!