Christmas is in town!!

Hey people! It's been a while. I wanted to use this opportunity to reminisce about some of the old days and get into Christmas spirit :D

In the Arab world in general and specifically Egypt, Christmas is a holiday for the Christians and that's it! But, in the last couple of years for some reason some Muslims buy little trees and enjoy decorating them as well. I think it's fine if you're enjoying it, but it shouldn't go beyond that, just remember who you are and what you believe in. Anyway as for me I enjoy the general atmosphere worldwide during these days and wouldn't mind having a little fun while it lasts :D

So here's how I know it's Christmas time:

1- Almost every app or website will decorate their logo with Santa's hat

Android Santa!

Angry birds in a snowy world

Talking Tom family with Santa :D

VLC logo with Santa's hat

2- Most stores in the street have Christmas trees and have these cool designs on their windows ^_^ I'm a fan of Nola's cupcakes because their decorations are so cool, especially on such occasions so I look forward to see what they come up with each year.

3- When they start showing Christmas related movies on TV especially home alone! It's just pure Christmas!

One of the most enjoyable Christmas themed family movies

4- Red, gold and green pop up everywhere :D

5- I start remembering this scene from Mean girls movie :D

6- These songs!

The most famous of them all!

My uncle and cousins always sang this :D

One of my favorite movies ever!

I found this by complete coincidence and I fell in love.

P.S. I've watched Thalia's Mexican soap opera Rosalinda growing up making this song more special and perfect for me with Micheal's amazing voice :D

Well, that's what I remember for now so enjoy your holidays and merry Christmas :D

The Princess and the Pilot

  

Type: Animated Movie

Genre: Adventure, Military, Romance, Shounen

Producer: Madhouse

Duration: 1hr. 40min.

Plot Summary:

      Charles Karino is a mercenary pilot. Though he earned himself the title of the best pilot in San Maltilia, he's always bullied by some of his comrades, and he's looked down upon by high ranks in the Levamme military; that goes back to the fact that he's a Bestado. Bestado are mixed-bloods born of Levamme and Amatsukami, Levamme's sworn enemies, and they are considered the lowest of the low.

      Juana Del Moral is the heiress of the Del Moral mansion. She was proposed to by the prince of Levamme, who promised to end the war with Amatsukami in a year and marry her. A year went by and the war didn't end. One day the Amatsukami target the Del Moral mansion with the aim of killing the future princess and lowering the morale of the Levamme forces. However, Juana survives the attack, but the prince give orders that she shall be brought to the capital for her safety.

     After having their elite force, assigned with escorting the princess, beaten up by the Amatsukami, the Levamme military resolves to assigning the mercenary pilot Charles Karino with the mission.

And so, the pilot and the princess start their perilous and eventful flight across the ocean to the capital.

Review:

         The princess and the pilot is a good movie but not exceptional, however, it's fairly enjoyable.

Story: The story is fine not very original, and the plot is kind of predictable; however, it has other advantages that cover for that.

Art: It's the best thing about the movie. It's very neat and kind of charming. I liked how the characters looked and the landscape. The animation was good, and the battle scenes are well made.

Soundtrack: It went well with the general atmosphere of the movie but it's not very memorable, didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Characters: I don't know about this one. :D

Maybe the characters are not that original, but I liked Karino. I actually had a bit of a crush on him. He might seem to be someone with a week personality, letting himself be bullied but not objecting. However, I thought it was the entire opposite. He's not wasting his energy on fruitless dispute. As long as he can fly, nothing else matters. Also, I thought he'd fall in love with the beautiful princess at first glance, and that kind of thing, but he was very composed and rational; the princess who did surprise me, too, by her clumsiness, in spite of her graceful outlook. The two of the made a very nice duo.

           In conclusion, The Pilot and the Princess is a decent movie with an average story, beautiful art and likable characters. If Hayao Miyazaki movies didn't exist, I would have rated it higher, but they can't be unseen, and my standards have gotten significantly high so it's a 7.5/10.

That's all for now! Ja na! ^_^

Movie of the day

So I've heard about this movie a couple of times and I was intrigued to know why it took 12 years in the making. Also the poster is just beautiful! So far I'm optimistic and can see potential in it.

Here are some info before we start in case you don't want to see the minute by minute review :D

Movie: Boyhood
Genre: Drama
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Lorelie Linklater
Release date: August, 2014
IMDB rating: 8.4/10
Rotten tomatoes rating: 99%
Plot: Boyhood is simply a journey through life. It follows Mason throughout his life from the age of 5 till 18. We watch how life can change a person, form our characters and define our paths.
My rating: 9/10

So here I am starting a new kind of posts, writing this review while watching the movie giving you step by step how I feel, this could have spoilers so be careful :D

One minute in: Ooooh! Coldplay's yellow. I love this song! great start (Y) (Y)
The boy is soo cute ^_^
Four minutes: Harry Potter! This is getting more appealing :D
Aw! Poor mother, but a good one.

Six minutes: What an annoying sister I wanted her to stop too!

Sixteen minutes: So far so good. Ethan Hawke looks really young and skinny here :D
Twenty-two minutes: I like the fact that he's talking politics with his children, my father always did that with me :) He's not the perfect father and clearly he's making mistakes, but I'd give him a chance.
Twenty-six: Wow! So fast, a stepfather, well they seem happy.
Thirty minutes: Oh this is soo cool! A Harry Potter book release event. I wish we had those here in Egypt!

Forty minutes: Well, it seems things are getting more real. The stepfather has some control issues and the father feels like a lazy guy, I hope he's not living off something illegal.
Forty-six minutes: I'm starting to dislike the stepfather, he can be mean sometimes.
Forty-nine: Aw! Adorable when that classmate told Mason he looks "kewl" :D

Fifty-two: Gasps! I was freaked out!!! I now Officially hate the stepfather! Divorce him, get the kids and leave!

Fifty seven: Take all of them! Why would she take only her kids, I wouldn't leave any child with that man! I hope they'll be okay.
An hour, eleven minutes: I really like the father, he's cool and he wants to be involved in his children's lives. I absolutely love the camping trip! Heart-warming.

An hour, twenty two minutes: Mason hanging out with the wrong crowd. I don't like this, Those kids look suspicious and I'm almost sure something bad is about to happen.
Well thank God nothing happened :D
An hour thirty one minutes: This is nice and cool. Each parent has a partner and they all seem to get along well.
Side note: Mason's hair is too long!

An hour, forty six minutes: I can totally relate to that lost phase, I'm kind of still there. You try to figure out what you want to do, how you'll contribute to this world and where to leave your footprints.
Two hours, two minutes: Thinking about deactivating his Facebook profile. I've wanted to do that for such a long time and I've tried once not to be on FB for a couple of days and it felt relieving. But the issue is that sometimes, it's my only way to contact some people and since I'm unemployed at the moment this is how I waste my time. I'd love to take a break for a while , but I'm sure I won't be able to totally give it up!

Two hours, twelve minutes: I really like that little chat with his teacher, you do find your people in college ^_^ And I was excited for Mason to finally start his true journey :D
Two hours, twenty one minutes: Mason's finally out of high school and his graduation party is very nice. I was smiling the whole time :)

Two hours, thirty minutes: I love that! We can actually see the work of fate in action, how a simple act of pure kindness and care changed someone's life. Thank you for that moment!
Two hours, thirty four minutes: Mason really looks a lot like his father, how could they predict that from casting the child actor!! Oh and I like that song he's playing in the car :D

Two hours, forty minutes: The end of the movie! I liked that ending scene and I kept thinking Mason should have brought his camera the scenery is amazing!

Stop skipping here! :D

This is were I tell you my final verdict.
Review: I absolutely loved the movie! It's nothing major, no superheroes, no technology and yet it managed to leave a mark in me.
It is such a refreshing breeze in the middle of all the technology driven, war themed movies (I love those, don't get me wrong). It is simply a movie about people and life experience.
I have to applaud the cast and crew for their huge patience and hard work, I can't imagine working on a project for twelve years without running around telling everyone about it :D and also the fear of the unknown, anything could have happened during those 12 years ending this movie.
The cast was very good, they performed great performances especially Ellar Coltrane as Mason. You could feel they all felt like a family even if they only met a couple of weeks every year. It was very cool watching the characters age on camera and Mason managed to transform from a beautiful boy to a handsome young man.

The cinematography is nice, nothing fancy following the simple yet compelling theme of the movie.
The soundtracks were really good. You could here the progress in music along with watching the characters grow.

Finally, I don't know if this movie would appeal to everyone, some may find it boring, others would be like me enjoying the change. The movie was criticized for receiving golden globes nomination instead of blockbusters and high-priced movies, but I think they deserve a little nod of appreciation for sticking with this movie for 12 years. I'd name an award for them "Best loyal cast and crew" :D

Can you keep a secret?

      I was on a Classics streak, with my reading, ending with The Picture of Dorian Gray. That's when I decided, that was it for classics. The Picture of Dorian Gray was dark enough to bring me to that decision. I went back to contemporary, and started reading Dean Koontz's Life Expectancy which sounded interesting from the description. Well, it wasn't bad, but not what I was expecting, that's apart from the fact that it wasn't any less dark than The picture of Dorian Gray, so I decided to stop. I needed something light-hearted and refreshing, and instantly Sophie Kinsella came to mind. It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, my cousin bought me "Can you keep a secret?" as a birthday present, and I couldn't be more grateful. The book was over in a couple of days, and I haven't laughed that much since long.

      My experience with Sophie Kinsella was limited to the Shopaholic series, which is cool. However, Rebecca Bloomwood tends to get on my nerves with her naive and troublesome attitude. It is part of the fun but it's very exhausting. However, Can you keep a secret? Came to be a favorite of mine, beating the shopaholic series for that reason. Emma Corrigan wasn't as silly as Rebecca. She had her mistakes, but at least lying the most stupid lies and falling in trouble, wasn't one of them, or at least she didn't have the option. So what's the story about?

      Emma Corrigan, a marketing assistant for Panther cola, was on her way back from the US to the UK after her first business meeting, which went wrong. Emma is afraid of flying, and as to how lucky she is, the plane run into turbulence, and she assumes that she is going to die. That's when she goes on a roll, spilling all her secrets to the passenger, next to her, on the plane; all kinds of secrets. Finally, Emma arrives at the UK safely. Embarrassed she is, indeed, about the incident, but she forgets about it. She's not going to see the guy again, after all. What does it matter if a complete stranger knows your secrets? But that's where she was wrong. Once back to work, Emma finds herself encountering the stranger who knows all her secrets again. That's not all of it, the stranger turns out to be the owner of Panther-Cola, which makes him, actually, her boss. So, how does that influence Emma's personal life and career from that point? 

      "Can you keep a secret?" was definitely the funniest Chick-lit novel I've read so far. I laughed out loud at so many parts, that my parent started to think something was wrong with my head. Emma's narration is absolutely hilarious, beside the loads of comical moments. I won't deny that I felt many similarities between the Shopaholic books and "Can you keep a secret?". They had similar atmosphere, naturally since it's the same author. There were some similar character even if the roles were different. Jack and Luke felt alike, though Luke is still my favorite and Emma had a bit of Rebecca's goofiness; but all of that didn't really matter. It didn't make the book any less fun; and honestly, when it comes to this genre, I don't seek originality. As long as I am enjoying reading it, it's fine.

        To sum up , "Can you keep a secret?" was a good book for a light fast read, a break between heavy exhausting books.. 

The promise I broke! - Life of an unemployed architect!

      I remember that, on a former post, we promised that no day would pass without at least a new post. That teaches me if anything to never make promises again! It’s not like that I am bored with the blog or anything. It's just that there's nothing new to write about! (Well, that was a complete lie). Let's see, it's not like that I have watched a new Japanese drama, and read three new books, or watched a new anime movie since then. Okay! I admit it! I am bored! Nothing can make me say I want to go back to the never ending Architectural Design or Building Construction lectures. Nothing, absolutely, can make me say I want to go back to those sleepless nights. I remember those days with a shudder! However, unemployed life is boring too. It makes you start to think about your purpose in life and if you're any good or of any use, and the answer you come to is "No!"

   








       The thing is I thought once I am done with college, a door to all my dreams will open. I can learn and do everything else I wanted to, since architecture was not exactly part of the plan. It's just something that happened and I don't know to the moment if I should regret it or not. I am one of those who believes that everything happens for a reason, and I'm still waiting for that reason.  And, it's not like architecture and college were the end of the world. I can still learn new stuff, right? The possibility is there, the motive is there and the capability is there, but the will went somewhere far and never came back.

      I discovered the MOOC thing a month ago or even before that, and I thought that was it! I can learn anything, get an exam and even a certificate, from home. It's not like I'm not bored with the comfort of home already, but I don't drive, and where I live and in this lovely country of ours, Taxis are my only option and they suck! They cost way too much, and that without the driver deciding to mess with the meter and having you pay the double, or pretend that it's not working and asks for whatever he pleases. There was that taxi that switched off the meter right before I get to my destination and asked for the double! :D See! Life is amazing when you have to use taxis for transportation. It gives you all kinds of surprises. Of course, the very awkward conversation you might get into are bonus. That's apart from the fact that they are not exactly safe. Many people reported being robbed by taxi drivers, that's apart from the kidnapping which is an option. Oh! And I forgot to mention that they don't take you wherever you want, they take you wherever they want. If your way to your destination is known to have some troublesome traffic, then your chances with finding a taxi driver that would give you the pleasure of giving you a ride are close to zero. We live in a lovely country indeed!

   

       I think that more than explained why I'd rather learn from home. It didn't work though and I have no idea why, or maybe I have. You cannot work from home! Home is for lazing around and self-indulgence. That's all there is to it.

      That's a part of the busy life I've been living in since I graduated!

      Since, I brought myself to write all that, then maybe I'll write about some of the new stuff I've watched and read. Wait for them in the next posts!

Heavy rain!

Type: PS3 game
Published by: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developed by: Quantic Dream
Release date: February, 2010
ESRB rating: M for mature
I'm not a gamer, but I like to enjoy some good games along the way :D And thanks to my brother I was introduced to this masterpiece!
Heavy rain is one of the best games I've ever played. The proof is, here we are 5 years later and I still remember it ^_^
My gaming experience: Heavy rain is a unique gaming experience, it introduced the concept of interactive games where you get to decide how the story unfolds.
Let's start at the very beginning, I liked that when the game was installing at first, it gives you something to do. You find inside the CD's box a little piece of paper with writings on it, during the loading you are given instructions on how to fold the paper to create the origami figure that will prove to be a master player in our game.

When the game starts, you may find it a bit slow. But this slow game-play is for you to get used to the controls and it somehow feels like the calm before the storm :D
I liked Ethan's house a lot and it looked so cheerful and bright with all those balloons and stuff. And I instantly felt connected to him when I knew he was an architect :D I only found his work space after the third time playing the game and I was glad I finally did, it was cool watching him do that drawing in mere seconds like magic!

The mall! From here the journey starts, and the scene at the end of it is devastating, It really got to me that first time :')
The story progress is very compelling and the game keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has all the ups and downs of a well executed movie, you empathize with the characters and are intrigued to find the origami killer.
What makes the game more interesting is that you get to play with four characters. Ethan, the struggling father who searches for his kidnapped son, Norman Jayden is an FBI profiler who was assigned to assist the police in the origami killer investigation, Scott Shelby formally a police officer and now a private investigator who works on a origami killer case and finally Madison Page a photojournalist who got caught up in the case.

I loved playing with all characters, but I think my favorite were Norman and Ethan. Norman's ARI was so cool and it felt like entering a whole different dimension and Ethan, I just couldn't help but feel sorry for him all the time, I honestly wanted him to be happy again. Having Madison was a nice change from all those male characters :D

One awesome thing about the game is the fact that even if you die, the game still goes on! Yes main characters can be killed off and you'll miss some of their game-play, but you get to see that your decisions really do affect the game.

The twists and surprises are refreshing to the game, ensuring that once the action starts you won't have dull moments. I applaud the writers for that. The cinematography and art direction was really good and perfect for mood setting. The soundtrack is beautiful and complements the game well.
After finishing the game the first time, I wanted to play again and again to see all the endings and collect more trophies :D Yes, I love collecting trophies!

When an update for the game was made, so you could play with the new PlayStation move I just had to play it again! It took time to get used to the move, but after that it felt really nice and the move allowed for more involvement with the game.

Verdict: Finally, This is definitely one of my favorites games, I give it 9/10. Also I'm glad people saw that too. It received positive reviews and was crowned game of the year multiple times.