That method actor

“An actor is at most a poet and at least, an entertainer.”

Marlon Brando

Everyone thinks it's unhealthy to have crushes on much older or god forbid, deceased dudes. Honestly tho, between men like Marlon Brando/Paul Newman, or perpetually prepubescent boys like Beiber, who would you pick? Thought so.

Tributes & a Reality Check

Writing posts and reminiscing about Europe is all well and fine, but I thought it would be good to talk about real-time stuff for a bit. Life, unfortunately, does go on. Uni life starts next week and I have no idea how I should feel about that. Mostly, ambivalent. Anyway.

Besides watching lots of The Office & basically bumming around a lot at home, I've been catching up with old friends through lunch dates and movies and sleepovers. Which is nice :) Caught Bridesmaids, which was so hilarious even though it got so much bad press here in Singapore (Sure, The Hangover is fine but when women do it...)

Finally managed to watch the final installment of the HP series today! It was wonderful, except for the bit at the end when all of them returned as middle-age versions of themselves. Drawn-on crows feet does not make Emma Watson an old lady, just saying.

It's more than amazing to see how these characters and the actors themselves have grown; more so because we have grown up with the books and the movies. I remember receiving the first four novels as a gift from an aunt in the late 1990s, who had bought the set abroad and sent it back to Singapore, where it wasn't popular yet. From then on, it's just been one long, wizardry craze. Reading the subsequent novels in single sittings, doing HP trivia with friends, or watching the movies with the same friends and crying our eyes out. Or worst of all, remembering the feeling I had, upon not receiving my Hogwarts notification when I was 11.

Harry Potter has and continues to be a great part of my childhood and without doubt, millions of children and teenagers across the globe today. As J.K. Rowling said in her speech at the premiere, the legend that is Harry Potter does not end with this movie, but lives on in readers' hearts forever.

It's been a great ride, potter heads! Mischief managed :)

The European Experience: Part 3

The Anne Frank HouseAmsterdam

The Jewish Memorial
Berlin

'Dear Father! I am saying goodbye to you before I die. We would so love to live, but they won't let us and we will die. I am so scared of this death, because the small children are thrown alive into this pit. Goodbye forever. I kiss you tenderly. Your J.'

31st July 1942

Note written by a young child to her father

I am sitting here in bed, thinking of words to describe the feeling I first had whilst exploring the Secret Annex and while visiting the Jewish memorial. The truth is... I can't. I can only say that being able to feel a fraction of what these Jewish people must have felt at that time, the fear and the persecution, was a profound and intense experience. Learning of the generosity of people like Victor Kugler & the other helpers, the maturity of a young girl, reading stories and anecdotes from victims of WW2... It's something that can't be put into words.

In the movie Schindler's List, a Jewish woman being transported to a concentration camp sums up her emotions and humankind's insatiable hunger for life by saying 'One day alive is still a day more'. To be able to go out and feel the sunshine on your face (no matter how humid and scorching Singapore heat is) becomes special. Having a simple meal, being able to read books or go anywhere you want... all of these experiences becomes privileges. It reminded me of the importance of learning from our past to prevent us from making mistakes in the future, and of being grateful for even the smallest of things :)

The European Experience: Part 2

Frigidarium & assorted gelato places
Rome

Needless to say, at a reasonable price of two Euros a cone, gelato became a big part of our staple diet in Rome, along with plates of hearty pasta & pizza. I dare say we ate it everyday; even twice on some. Hey, it was hot!

Thanks to our friendly hotel concierge's tourist tip, we walked across Central Rome to find the so-called, 'secretly' best gelato the city, Frigidarium! Located along Via del Governo Vecchio (which is one of Rome's many tiny, cobbled streets), we found a quaint Gelateria at the corner of an intersection, right next to a family-run pizza place and an Irish bar.

Like any other gelato store in Italy, the store front hasthin wafer cones stacked on top of each other and tubs of creamy galore: pistachio, kiwi, straciatella, mint, strawberry swirl, peach... and let's not forget their signature namesake Frigidarium flavour, made of a combination of caramel, chocolate and cookies! Lastly, have it your way with either a squirt of fresh cream or a generous Viennese chocolate dip.

Well, it's safe to say that it's impossible to count calories in a city with such excellent ice-cream. Live a little, have a cone! Or two.

;)

The European Experience: Part 1

Shakespeare & Company
Paris

Weave through the masses of Korean tourists, stacks of new-releases & up the narrow stairwell, and you will find the magical world that is Shakespeare & Company. It is all that a literature lover could dream of; translucent in dream-like quality. Ridiculous as it may seem, stepping into this tiny English bookstore in Paris felt like it was the entire reason I was in Europe; the endpoint of the crossing of continents.

There were tiny, handwritten notes everywhere; stuffed in between wood cracks or strung across walls, left by inspired travelers. It is amazing that ordinary people like you and me can leave our mark where revolutionary writers once lived and breathed and wrote: the likes of Fitzgerald, Joyce, Hemingway, Burroughs... the list goes on.

Perhaps one of the most wonderful things about Shakespeare & Co. is the civility it inspires in people. It seems that everyone is able to sense the magic that is happening in this two-level antiquarian bookstore: even young children or usually-noisy teenagers are quelled the minute they enter. It is as if a pin-drop could shatter the beatific atmosphere. Seeing a queer combination of young girls, children and old men sitting in plush chairs and quietly enjoying the dusty tomes of Sylvia Beach's private library... well, it was a lovely sensation trickling down my spine. I could have stayed forever.



So I bought some A.S. Byatt, a Pablo Neruda poetry medley and a French story collection, to name a few: a burden that Luki unfortunately bore all the way back to Singapore. It's not usually a good idea to buy massive novels whilst backpacking across Europe, but for this, you'll have to make an exception :)

Some days you feel like jazz.

Stitched Up - Herbie Hancock & John Mayer
Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darin
Dream A Little Dream - Laura Fygi
Hell No - Sondre Lerche & Regina Spektor
Cheek to Cheek - Fred Astaire
Why I Am - Dave Matthews Band
The Very Thought of You - Ella Fitzgerald
Tout Deucement - Feist
Spain - Chick Corea
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Pointless Nostalgic - Jamie Cullum
The Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra
Fly Me to the Moon - Julie London

______________________________________________

Coming home to an armful of university letters, tuition problems and a thousand responsibilities wasn't the greatest feeling. But well, sometimes, all you need are friends, a couple of movies and great music to make you feel better.

Watermelon man, anyone?

The Fiesta

'My soul is an empty carousel at sunset.'

Pablo Neruda

Desperately, missing Europe.

A roman holiday

It was two days ago and we had seen the Trevi fontana, the Spanish Steps, the bridge of Angels and St Peter's Square. We had a dinner of exquisite pasta, prosciutto pizza & tender beef goulash; polishing off with thin cones of kiwi and strawberry Gelati. Sitting at the very top of the palace steps, I watched the sunset over the beautiful city of Rome, in the silent company of two friends, and wrote postcards to home from faraway.

It was the most amazing feeling. I am grateful, and happy to be here, alive & experiencing.



Ciao Bella !

Location:Via Cernaia,Rome,Italy