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Seoul Vibe

Korean Movie, Year: 2022

In the days leading up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a ragtag team of drivers and mechanics goes undercover to dismantle a massive money-laundering ring that could jeapordise the whole event.

Set in 1988, this Korean action comedy follows a blithe driving team that goes undercover with holdovers from the old military leadership.

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Cafe Minamdang

Korean Show, Year:

Cafe Minamdang started out a high-spirited shaman-procedural comedy but made an unconvincing swerve into psychological thriller territory.

Nam Han-joon (Seo In-guk) is a former criminal profiler who pretends to be a shaman to swindle people out of money and uses Cafe Minamdang as his headquarters of operation. He has a gift for reading people’s facial expressions and body language to appear like the spirit is speaking to him, and leans on his little sister Nam Hye-joon (Kang Mi-na), an expert hacker, to solidify his claims. As he’s investigating a hit-and-run case involving one of his client’s husbands, he is introduced to Detective Han Jae-hee (Oh Yeon-seo), forming a slight crush on her while she investigates him, setting up a cat-and-mouse game for the series.

I became totally obsessed with getting a similar shaman's fan.

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Another Self

Turkish Show, Year: 2022

The show revolves around 3 close friends who set off on a trip to Ayvalik, a place where all 3 find their lives changed forever. You see, Sevgi has cancer and the idea of this journey is to seek alternate treatment from a spiritual guru known as Zamar. Joining her is surgeon Ada and Instagram influencer and proud mother, Leyla.

We get to learn another aspect of healing through introspection which can lead one to its past self, even generational hurt.

Leyla’s drama mostly stems from her troublesome husband, Erdem. After plunging the family into financial dire straits and leaving Leyla to pick up the pieces, she tries her best to save face and do what’s right for her son. But when Erdem leaves and their relationship seems to be over, can a romance be salvaged between them? Or are there new bachelors waiting in the wings?

Finally, Sevgi goes through quite the transformation across the season. Although she still has issues of her own – namely from her relationship with mother Muko – her journey is one of spiritual enlightenment, understanding and living with her present and facing the demons of her past.

Their banter, various quips and simple but effective “girls stick together through thick and thin” mantra makes this a really relatable series.

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As The Crow Flies

Turkish show, Year: 2022

A young fan insinuates herself into a veteran anchor's newsroom but soon confronts the dark side of ambition, envy and the desire to be seen as they strive to reach the top of the newsroom.

From the moment As The Crow Flies starts and you see Lale and Asli, you know that this is more of a stalker story than literally anything else. The series, which talks about the obsession and career-driven life of the newer generation, takes Asli as the protagonist to deliver those problematic ideals while Lale is the already-successful and highly regarded journalist from the previous generation.

It’s clearly, as the series will remind you many times, a fight between the hunter and the hunted – the prey and the predator. 

I get blind ambition can break even the best of people, but Asli is just a different breed of person altogether. It’s not so much the ambition part that makes her feel almost psychopathic, but the fact that she lies, deceives and manipulates people so deftly that it becomes a “human” problem instead of a generational problem.

I don’t think I’ll comment on how much it brings the truth behind the field of journalism but it definitely does give you food for thought when it comes to social media and its dark corners… and well, into the mind of a very disturbed individual. As I mentioned above, social media is also one of the driving factors of the series and considering today’s world, it’s evident how much impact it has on people’s day to day lives. 

As The Crow Fies is hypnotic and regardless of its less obvious moments and tension-rising scenes, the series is hard to stop watching.

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Backstreet Rookie

KDrama, Year 2020

I was browsing Netflix to find a show that can bring some seretonin into my system during my sickness phase and I came across this show. It was only when I started watching it that I saw my favorite k-drama actor Ji Chang Wook is playing a major role in the show. Enough to make this show worth watching, although there is more to that. This is a thoroughly enjoyable series highly recommended for all.

Ji Chang Wook plays Choi Dae Hyun. He’s a kind and awkward sort of guy who runs a convenience store. When he needs help at the store, he ends up hiring a woman he briefly encountered in his past that has a major crush on him.

Kim Yoo Jung is Jung Saet Byul. She is a confident and feisty woman with great fighting skills. She only has eyes for Dae Hyun and gets a job working at his convenience store just to be near him.

Backstreet Rookie is a fluffy romantic comedy. Not a whole lot happens, but we do get several relationship journeys in the midst of the comedy.

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Vincenzo

Korean Drama (2021) Rate: 10/10

This show is bold and dares to try new things. It keeps you hooked up till the end and it's an absolutely absorbing ride all along. Can't get enough of Vicenzo. I wish there were more seasons. the one who shines the brightest, is Song Joong Ki, as our titular antihero. So much matter-of-fact, cool badassery, served up with a side of comedy; I just couldn’t look away.

Vincenzo is an interesting Korean drama, one that’s essentially the sum of two parts. The first presents a gritty, gangster-esque thriller, complete with hand to hand combat, shootouts and tense stand-offs between characters. The other is a more straight forward law drama, sprinkling in bites of slapstick humour and a colourful ensemble of supporting characters.

Vicenzo Cassano is an Italian concierge. The story essentially sees Vincenzo evading the authorities but on the hunt for a lucrative stash of gold, hidden below an indifferent apartment complex called Geumga Plaza. Only, it’s easier said than done to retrieve the goods. With pressure sensitive timers and very few ways to break in, Vincenzo finds himself entangled with the residents in a bid to try and break out the gold.

What follows from here is a bitter feud that grips the 20 episode series, with Vincenzo begrudgingly (and then willingly) fighting for the residents while trying to protect his assets. When Babel group make things personal, Vincenzo lashes out with all the fury of the Mafia man that he is, raining hell down on his enemies. The only trouble is, the enemy he faces is pure evil.

To complicate maters further, the Geumga Plaza residents find themselves caught in a difficult housing dispute with Babel Group, a nasty and ruthless organization fronted by the maniacal mind of its Chairman, Jang.

What follows from here is a bitter feud that grips the 20 episode series, with Vincenzo begrudgingly (and then willingly) fighting for the residents while trying to protect his assets. When Babel group make things personal, Vincenzo lashes out with all the fury of the Mafia man that he is, raining hell down on his enemies. The only trouble is, the enemy he faces is pure evil.

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Persuasion (2022)

Genre: Romance, Drama Based on Jane Austen's novel of the same name.

Persuasion centers on Anne Elliott (Dakota Johnson), an unconforming woman with modern sensibilities, living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy.

Eight years after Anne Elliot was persuaded not to marry a dashing man of humble origins, they meet again. Will she seize her second chance at true love? After years of longing and regret, all she wants is to get her life back on track. Anne quickly felt butterflies in her stomach as her old fling walks by. He walked back into her life out of the blue and at the most awkward and funny moment when she was making fun of him as a sailor and they at once noticed each other's years of changes.

Anne (Dakota Johnson) was re-imagined to be a lot more impertinent and awkward than the protagonist of the source material–with a greater taste for alcohol too. She meets and falls in love with Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis) at the age of 19, only for her mentor, Lady Russell to persuade her to give him up. Back then, Wentworth had no fortune to recommend him. Now, eight years have passed. Wentworth is a rich captain in the Royal Navy, and Anne is as lovelorn as ever–but he hasn’t forgotten her rejection. This new take on Anne Elliot works in some ways. Johnson is charming, likable, and relatable to this day and age.

Ever since, she’s regretted letting her mentor persuade her away from him. When Anne and Wentworth reunite, she’s penniless and love-struck. He, however, is a rich captain–and he holds a grudge. Eight years later, the Elliot family (Anne, her father, and her sister) face mountains of debt due to the spending habits of Anne’s vain father, Sir Walter Elliot. Debt collectors arrive and seize all of their possessions, forcing them to move to Bath. Anne, while visiting her sister Mary in Uppercross, sees Frederick Wentworth for the first time in eight years. Things have changed, however. He’s a wealthy captain now, and he acts coldly towards Anne, having long held a grudge against her rejection of him. However, the fact that he acted protective toward Anne and he offered his friendship to her shows the lingering love factor deep inside him. Eventually, he left a note telling her how he never stopped loving her all these years and the movie ends with the two love birds' reunion.

Excerpt of the note: 'Dear Anne, I can listen no longer in silence. Anne, you pierce my soul. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I am half agony, half hope.  ...... For you alone I think and plan. But of course you have not seen this. How could you? Because your love has not lasted as long as mine. Anne, I have loved no one but you. And I don’t think I ever will. I have thought many times about how to tell you this, but the pain of a love unrequited rendered me silent. Tell me not that I am too late. My love for you has never faltered.'

Persuasion (2022) borrows several themes from Jane Austen’s novel: the absurdity of social class barriers, unjust gender roles, and learning from one’s past mistakes.

A significant difference is seen in the two endings, however. The ending of the book has Anne and Wentworth married, but implies that Anne will struggle due to Wentworth’s profession, especially if he is called to serve in a future war.

The 2022 movie ends on a lighter note, attempting a more blatantly feminist message. Early in the film, Wentworth says to Anne that the gender roles forced upon their society are unfair–after all, she’d make a great admiral. In the end, she gets to go to sea with her husband. The last scene implies that they will travel widely together, just like Admiral Croft and his wife.

Reflective quotes: Anne Elliott:- 'It's okay to find love on your terms, however unorthodox. Don't let anyone tell you how to live. Or who to love.' 'Nobody tells you when you’re young that life keeps going. It keeps going whether you approve of the progression or not. And, eventually, you find yourself wondering, “How did I end up here?”

'The truest evidence of an inferior mind is to allow oneself to be persuaded away from one’s deepest convictions.' - Frederick Wentworth

Marriage is transactional for women. Our basic security is on the line. - Lady Rusell

Anne Elliot: My idea of good company, Mr. Elliott, is the fellowship of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation and liberality of ideas. That is what I call good company.

Mr. Elliot: That is not good company, that is the best.

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STRANGER THINGS

Genre: Thriller

S1:

A spooky shot of 80s nostalgia straight to your heart. A masterclass in storytelling and atmosphere, with an outstanding and intriguing cast and mysteries galore.

The indefatigable 12-year-old protagonists on their bikes are straight out of Spielberg – especially when they find Eleven, an almost-mute girl with large eyes and strange powers who they have to hide in the basement and who gradually learns by their example what friendship and loyalty mean.

The rest is Stephen King. A faceless, straggly-limbed embodiment of evil stalks their little land, roused by blood and teenage sexual activity. It is being hunted by a malevolent doctor and is stoppable only by telekinetic powers emanating from unlikely places.

[Nancy x Steve] Both Nancy and Steve realize that they don’t need the validation or acceptance of their peers to do the right thing, but they each reach this development on their own—not one or the other, or both together. Just like real teenagers, they had to make realizations about themselves on their own before they could commit to a relationship.

S2:

Once more in the upside down. This sophomore season balances moments of humor and a nostalgic sweetness against a growing horror.

S1 Recap: Mike, Lucas, and Dustin successfully brought their friend Will back from the alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. Unfortunately, their psychic friend and ex-government lab rat Eleven vanishes while protecting her friends from the monstrous Demogorgon, leaving audiences to wonder if she died or was sucked into the Upside Down. Life seems to return to normal for the young heroes — however, Will coughs up a black, worm-like creature into his sink, indicating that he’s not out of the woods yet and he is still having visions of the Upside Down and eventually get possessed later.

Season 2 introduces us to some new crazy creatures in the Upside Down: Demodogs and the sinister shadowy Mind Flayer. Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) and Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) also arrive on the scene.

Later on in the series, Eleven rediscovers her “sister” 008, Kali, who has similar psionic powers that are more telepathic. Kali teaches Eleven to master her powers before sending her back to her friends.

An emotional reunion ensues when Mike and Eleven reunite. Finally, Eleven successfully close the gate. Her epic effort to not just close the gate but hold off the Mind Flayer shows how powerful she really is.

S3:

Season 3 kicks off in 1984, when Soviet scientists are trying to force open a gate to the Upside Down. After the latest attempt fails, a Soviet general demands a gate be successfully operational in one year’s time.

The action then shifts to 1985, when, thousands of miles away, the new Starcourt Mall is upending the economy of Hawkins, Indiana. Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) are now a couple, much to the dismay of Hopper (David Harbour), who has become a father figure to Eleven. And they’re not the only ones with a newfound love connection: Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) has set up a radio tower to keep in touch with his summer-camp girlfriend. In so doing, however, Dustin picks up a Russian transmission, which he brings to Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke), who is Steve’s coworker at Scoops Ahoy, the Starcourt Mall ice cream parlor.

In season three, Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery), the older step-brother of Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) was possessed by the Mind Flayer and eventually lose his life.

Foiling the Soviet scheme didn’t come without a price. ce. Thanks to interference by assassin Gregori, Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour)’s plan to blow up the Russian lab gate-opening machine left Hopper inside the chamber with the bomb. Realising that the choice came down to saving Hopper or saving the world, he bravely told Joyce to go ahead, and sacrificed himself. Joyce blew up the machine, which closed the inter-dimensional gate and – so she thought – killed Hopper.

S4:

It’s been three years since we last saw Netflix’s megahit horror series, but in Hawkins, Ind., only six months have passed and the monsters are still around.

Back in Hawkins, Ind., the town that sits over the Upside Down — the literal home of other-dimensional monsters and the metaphorical receptacle for the stereotypically middle-American sorrows and regrets that the monsters exploit — the remaining characters begin to detect the emergence of the latest creature. Drawn, once again, from the lore of Dungeons & Dragons, it’s a humanoid with a passing resemblance to a “Star Trek” Borg queen and a habit of levitating teenagers before cracking all their limbs. The supernatural being preys on the kids’ worst memories, turning the main story into one about childhoods torn up by trauma. It can even be read as an allegory for teen suicide.

One of the first season’s best ideas, in which a 12-year-old trapped in an alternate dimension used his family’s Christmas lights to communicate, is consciously recycled.

Things become even more spread out when a rescue mission is mounted for Jim Hopper (David Harbour), the former police chief and Eleven’s adoptive father, who survived Season 3’s cataclysmic finale and is in a Soviet prison.

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Never Have I Ever (2020)

'The Mindy Project' written by Mindy Kaling

The show could be riotously funny, but it was also trying to be a romantic comedy and a character study of a woman struggling to grow up without losing the things that were uniquely her.

Never Have I Ever shares narrative DNA with lots of other teen stories (including Netflix’s own movies like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Kissing Booth), but it’s also smartly informed by Devi’s status as a first-generation Indian-American daughter of immigrant parents. The tension between Devi’s desire to assimilate and her mother’s more traditionalist leanings underlines everything, and makes the usual tropes about love triangles(*), wild parties, and painful misunderstandings feel brand new again.

“You know you sound like a sociopath, right?” Devi — a sophomore outcast still reeling from the death of her father Mohan (Sendhil Ramamurthy), and only just recovered from the paralysis she suffered in that tragedy’s wake — has just laid out her elaborate plan for her and her friends to acquire boyfriends, lose their virginity, and become popular. In a nutshell, just another girl going through her teens phase. The show is pleasantly surprising, and very satisfying to watch throughout.

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REBEL (2021)

A show loosely based on real-life rebel Erin Brockovich (who serves as producer on the show). Katey Sagal plays Annie “Rebel” Bello, a vocal warrior for justice who struggles to balance her complicated personal life and standing up for those in need.

Rebel isn’t an attorney, but she knows lots of attorneys, including Julian Cruz (Andy Garcia), husband to Rebel’s deceased best friend, who has her on retainer to do whatever it is that she does. she’s just a dogged activist who alternates between regular episodic assistant to individual underdogs and season-long crusader against big corporations — in this case a medical company refusing to take responsibility for faulty heart valves.

Rebel lives in a Los Angeles in which basically everybody seems to be either her ex-husband or one of her children, and no matter how acrimonious the breakup everybody is always happy to assist her, after an exasperated harumph of, “That’s just Rebel being Rebel!”

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"Avant toi" par Jojo Meyes

~ Des histoires sentimentales ne sont pas tout à fait mes préférées mais j'ai fait une exception pour ce bouquin. Etant une grande admiratrice de Emilia Clark ce qui m'a d'abord sollicitée de regarder le film. Étant très passionnée du film, j'ai précipitée à chercher le copie du livre. J'ai été très touchée par son contenu; La rencontre entre un homme tétraplégique et une femme plein de vie. La vision d'un homme diminué voulant mourir et celle d'une femme battante. Will a tout pour être heureux et le rester. Mais malgré tout l'amour, tout l'argent du monde, rien ne remplacera le manque qu'il ressent tous les jours. Le deuil de son ancienne vie est impossible à faire. Il ne peut faire que deux choses: insuffler à Louisa le même désir de vivre, de découvrir le monde et de croquer la vie à pleines dents qu'il a ressenti jadis et mourir entouré de sa famille. ~

Citations 1: Outre les craintes évidentes pour l'avenir et les fins de mois, le chômage avait le don de vous faire sentir inutile et de vous donner la désagréable impression de ne pas être à votre place.

Citations 2: Vous êtes terriblement snob, Clark. — Quoi ? Moi ? — Vous vous privez de tout un tas d'expériences, simplement parce ce que vous décrétez que « ce n'est pas votre genre ». — Mais c'est le cas. — Et comment le savez-vous ? Vous n'avez rien fait. Vous n'êtes jamais allée nulle part. Comment pouvez-vous avoir la moindre idée de qui vous êtes ? Comment une personne telle que lui pouvait avoir la moindre idée de ce que cela signifiait d'être moi ? J'ai presque été fâchée qu'il s'obstine à ne pas le comprendre. — Allez-y. Ouvrez-vous un peu l'esprit. — Non. — Et pourquoi ça ? — Parce que je serais mal à l'aise. J'aurais l'impression... J'aurais l'impression que tout le monde saurait. — Qui ? Saurait quoi ? — Que tout le monde autour saurait que je ne suis pas à ma place.

Citations 3: Si vous portez une robe comme celle-ci, il faut le faire avec confiance. Vous devez vous glisser dedans et l'habiter à la fois physiquement et psychiquement.

Citations 4: Dans le travail d'aide-soignant, le pire n'est pas ce qu'on pourrait croire. Ce n'est pas d'avoir à soulever le corps ou à le nettoyer. Ce ne sont pas non plus les médicaments, les compresses et l'odeur de désinfectant – certes distante, mais toujours perceptible. Ni que la plupart des gens pensent qu'on fait ce boulot parce qu'on n'est pas assez intelligent pour prétendre à autre chose. Non, le pire, c'est que, quand on passe la journée dans une très grande proximité avec quelqu'un, il n'y a aucun moyen d'échapper aux humeurs de l'autre. Ni même à ses propres états d'âme.

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DYSTOPIAN: HUNGER GAMES/DIVERGENT/MAZE RUNNER

Dystopian fictions depict a negative view of "the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction”. Susan Collin's Hunger Games, Veronica Roth's Divergent series and James Dashner's Maze Runner series are popular dystopian science-fictions which consist of a few similar concepts and they really are amazing novels to dig into. I much prefer to read books before watching the film adaptation so that I can imagine and creatively picture the characters and events. Dystopian worlds have existed in all sorts of forms - whether we look at Narnia under the White Witch or George Orwell's Animal Farm or Frank Herbert's Dune - but these science fiction dystopians are a new twist on the genre.

A few glaring similarities between HG & Divergent:

One guy character who is so incredibly perfect you wonder where they make these men. (Peeta, Four) Check. One main female character who emerges as a leader and grieves for the losses she has suffered as a result of War. (Katniss, Tris) Check. The main guy is subjected to some treatment which makes him think that his female love interest is his enemy. (Peeta is implanted with fake memories, Four is injected with simulation serum) Check. The people are divided into different sections and each section's population acts in a particular way or engages in a specific profession. (Districts, Factions) Check. We can find young protagonists who are pitted against each other in winner-take-all battles to the death which reflect to what adolescence have turned into. If you spend your early teens being told that your future depends on how well you do on your exams and on effectively simulating the appearance of a socially, politically, and artistically engaged super-being.... well, you have no problem identifying with youngish heroes who must emit a constant stream of miraculous exploits or be crushed. HUNGER GAMES

The Capitol is the cruel Government of the twelve districts of Panem which holds a tournament every year called the Hunger Games. Each of the country's 12 districts must offer one girl and one boy between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death on live TV. Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl from District 12, volunteers to take her younger sister Primrose's spot in the tournament. From her district, she's joined by Peeta Mellark. In the second book, Catching Fire, the Capitol are furious at Katniss for starting a second rebellion, so they create a special version of the Hunger Games for all the previous victors, which means that she and Peeta must return. During these games, they create a team of victors, who manage to destroy the arena and escape to District Thirteen, which most people thought did not exist. However, the Capitol capture Peeta, and they destroy District Twelve. The last book, Mockingjay tells the story of Katniss leading the revolution. They rescue Peeta, but he has been tortured and now he hates and fears Katniss. A team of rebels including Peeta and Katniss then go on a mission to assassinate President Snow in the Capitol, but Katniss' sister Primrose is killed by a bomb. Katniss later discovers that the president of the rebels made this bomb, so she kills her own president in place of Snow. She then returns to her home, District Twelve, to try to recover with Peeta. At the end of the book we see them married with two children.

DIVERGENT

When I first read Divergent, I was so awed that it got me hooked straightaway and I finished it in less than 24 hours. The story revolves around a young girl name Beatrice, aged sixteen, who lives in a divided society where people are split into five factions according to their personal qualities. The factions are Dauntless (the brave), Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the intelligent), and each individual must choose a faction at the age of 16. 'Abnegation fulfills the need for selfless leaders in government; Candor provides trustworthy and sound leaders in law; Erudite supplies intelligent teachers and researchers; Amity gives understanding counselors and caretakers; and Dauntless provides protection from threats both within and without.' Her aptitude test result is Divergent which apparently means that she possess multiple personality traits. She eventually choose Dauntless during the Choosing Ceremony and strive to be a member of that faction, otherwise she'll turn out to be a factionless, in complete isolation and in abject poverty which sounds like a fate worse than death. Once, she entered into the Dauntless faction, she changed her name to Tris. Divergent reflects the contemporary division of our society and also all those who find it difficult to fit in, can also relate. I wonder what would have been my aptitude test and which faction I would ultimately choose and came to the conclusion that Candor and Amity suit me best.

'We Will Rock You' style:

Clap, clap, stomp. Clap, clap, stomp. Clap, clap, stomp. Clap, clap, stomp.

We are, we are DAUNTLESS

We are, we are DAUNTLESS

Beatrice, Now called Tris, Made a big change

Playing on the trains, She became a Dauntless one day

She's got mud on her face

A parental disgrace

Now she'll be kickin your ass all over the place

Singin'

We are, we are DIVERGENT

We are, we are DIVERGENT

Tobias is a Dauntless, Divergent

Shoutin' to them all, We can take on the world today

Erudite got blood on their face

We'll put them in their place

Into the past, out of our Fear Landscapes

Singin'

We are, we are INSURGENT

We are, we are INSURGENT

The simulation training is really fascinating. 'The simulation stimulate the amygdale which is responsible for processing fear, induce a hallucination based on fear, and then transmit the data to a computer to be processed and observed.'  'Learning how to think in the midst of fear is a lesson that everyone needs to learn.' 'It's basically a struggle between your thalamus, which is producing fear, and your frontal lobe, which makes decisions. But the simulation is all in your head, so even though you feel like someone is doing it to you, it's just you, doing it to yourself.'  The less number of fears you've got and the less time you take to confront your fear, the most successful you are. This also left me wondering about the numerous fears I'll face if ever I'd taken part in such simulation.

The last book, Allegiant, revealed blatant truths about the world Tris was living in which boost up my excitement but that did not last longer. The fun and laughter is over. I remember finding myself staring blankly in disbelief as it was an ending I absolutely didn't see coming and to be honest, I find the main character's sacrifice comes off as utterly meaningless. As it turns out, the world has apparently been so full of assholes that the government decided to eliminate the genes in citizens that caused dishonestly, selfishness, cowardice, stupidity, and aggression. Unfortunately, this backfired and just created more assholes that were more asshole-y than before, that is genetic damaged people. Hence, the government constructs gigantic city-sized behavioural experiments all across the country and get volunteers who had their genes screwed with to have their memories wiped and stick them into a city and force them to choose a faction. Eventually these people will reproduce enough times until they finally manage to have "genetically pure" (a.k.a. Divergent) babies that are free from messed up genes. The story shifted from the old unresolved conflict between the factionless and the factions to a whole new conflict between the genetically pure and the genetically damaged people. Much time and energy are spent fighting for something that isn't really a problem for the most probable reason: they have been taught that it is a problem.

MAZE RUNNER

The story starts off with a boy named Thomas who find himself in a strange place called the Glade where there are other guys known as Gladers. Outside the glade is a maze which has to be solved for the Gladers to be out. There is one threat stopping them from figuring out the maze, one threat stopping them from going out at night and from going too far into the maze, horrific animals that go by the names of grievers which are giant bug-like creatures. Many of them lost their lives fighting grievers and finding their way back, but eventually the rest of them made it till the end only to discover that they are all suffering from the most horrible disease known to mankind called The Flare.

 In the second book, The Scorch Trials, some of the boys discover another group of girls who also underwent the same experiment. Solving the maze was supposed to be the end but instead of freedom the Gladers find themselves faced with another trial. Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, much of the earth is a wasteland. They met Cranks who are people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim... and meal. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks.

In the last book, The Death Cure, we learn more about the Flare. The Flare virus was engineered by the founder of World In Catastrophe Kill-zone Experiment Department (WICKED) in an attempt to control the human population because there was so many people dying, the founder says that the virus was supposed to wear off after a while but the virus got out of control and now only the immunes can stop it before the virus kills all of the human species. Nothing mentions on how the immunes were suddenly 'immune' to the virus, and the number of them is massive, it is like as if it is an experiment to see who is strong enough to withstand the heat, this basically indicates that if they can survive the Flare virus, they can survive the heat, but that got out of control so they are now killing and experimenting on the immunes.

In the end, everyone goes through the Flat Trans, and on the other side is a paradise. Like a legit paradise with green everywhere and an ocean and everything. So, eventually the Gladers really made it and are free. But that's not really the end. We get another epilogue with a memorandum from Chancellor Paige. In her memorandum, she says that the paradise for Thomas and the 200 or so Immunes was WICKED's Plan B. Once their Plan A had been ruined, they decided the only way to save the human race was to get a bunch of immune people to start civilization all over again; to do this, she made Brenda and Jorge help Thomas make it to paradise. In the end, WICKED does end up saving the human race, despite the awful crimes they've committed against humanity.

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Millennium's Epic Trilogy

The first book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a mystery. The second one The Girl Who Played with Fire is a thriller. The third one The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest is a courtroom drama.

The first book starts off as an investigation of a 40-year old disappearance of a teenage heiress, but gradually morphs into a tale of serial murder and corporate trickery spanning several continents and later takes in complicated international financial fraud and the buried evil past of a wealthy Swedish industrial family.

The second one focuses more about the protagonist Lisbeth Salander. We learn quite a bit about the fascinating and horrific back-story that led to Salander developing her unique, defensive, prickly personality.

Don't ever fight with Lisbeth Salander. Her attitude towards the rest of the world is that if someone threatens her with a gun, she'll get a bigger gun.

Investigative part of the third novel displays all the pieces being brought together by teams of people. Some working for Salander's release and some working to make sure she never sees the light of day. I found it all very real, very interesting as if I were directly involved in the process. The trial is absolutely terrific.

No matter which way you look at it, this work will have to define as one of the most wrathful outcries against society's attitude towards women. The entire story is about the enormous acts of cruelty committed against women and the absolute indifference to it by everyone who is supposed to care.

Larsson determinedly exposes the unlikable aspects of society - misogyny and adherence to judgmental standards and gender norms that are ever-present even in the European paradise of Sweden. The surface mystery is just that - a plot device, an excuse to get a new angle on Larsson's favorite topic. We see the various shades and sides of hatred towards women, especially if they try to get out of the bounds that society neatly places for them. This is reflected first and foremost in the awful treatment that Salander receives, but also in the treatment of Lisbeth's mother, Sonia Bodig, and the helpless and easily ignored by the society victims of sex trafficking.

Salander is such a compelling character. She is the outcast that women are when we fight back. She operates on her own terms, beholden to no one except to herself, vicious to her enemies, yet intensely vulnerable.

My only qualm about the books, a small one, was the characterization. The character of Mikael Blomkvist smelled of a male wish fulfillment fantasy, the one where a man is adored by all women, gets laid all the time and always gets lauded for his stellar bedroom skills. Lisbeth Salander also felt a little shaky and I thought Asperger's Syndrome didn't quite account for her strange personality. I thought her antisocial behavior was inconsistent.

What I've learned from Millennium's trilogy by Stieg Larsson:

All rapists and violent sex offenders should have these words tattooed on their stomachs: "I AM A SADISTIC PIG, A PERVERT AND A RAPIST". The tattoo should be done by an amateur and not be removable even by laser. Repeat offenders will be tattooed on their foreheads. It is recommended that the subject be tasered first before undergoing this involuntary procedure.    “Statistics showed that the absolute majority of people who harassed women were men.” a taser (a 50,000 volts jolt to the crotch will incapacitate even the burliest of men). "Men could be as big as a house and made of granite, but they all had balls in the same place". A crucial fact to remember in a fight, especially if you are fighting a 300 pounds, six foot six giant with hands as big as frying pans. You can use duct tapes to close up serious wounds; they keep the blood in and the germs out. You can live on Billy's Pan Pizza for days on end and STILL look like an anorexic teenager. Asperger's Syndrome may give you the idea that a T-shirt that says 'I'M AN ALIEN' is acceptable office wear, but also photographic memory and phenomenal mathematical ability. A cigarette case is a useful tool for digging yourself out of a grave. "There were not so many physical threats that could not be countered with a decent hammer". Buy a good-sized one from the hardware store and keep it in your bag always.

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Essentialism

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

The way of the Essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better. It means pursuing it in a disciplined way. It is about pausing constantly to ask, “Am I investing in the right activities?” It’s a method for making the tough trade-off between lots of good things and a few really great things.

The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. We need space to escape in order to discern the essential few from the trivial many. Unfortunately in our time-starved era we don’t get that space by default but by design. 

As Peter Drucker said, “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. Substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”

Priority ought to be singular, not numbered. 

The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple “first” things.

“Most creative individuals find out early what their best rhythms are for sleeping, eating, and working, and abide by them even when it is tempting to do otherwise. 

“They wear clothes that are comfortable, they interact only with people they find congenial, they do only things they think are important. Of course, such idiosyncrasies are not endearing to those they have to deal with.… But personalizing patterns of action helps to free the mind from the expectations that make demands on attention and allows intense concentration on matters that count.”

LIFE IS AVAILABLE ONLY IN THE PRESENT MOMENT. IF YOU ABANDON THE PRESENT MOMENT YOU CANNOT LIVE THE MOMENTS OF YOUR DAILY LIFE DEEPLY. - Thich Nhat Hanh

It’s natural and human to obsess over past mistakes or feel stress about what may be ahead of us. Yet every second spent worrying about a past or future moment distracts us from what is important in the here and now.

The ancient Greeks had two words for time. The first was chronos. The second was kairos. The Greek god Chronos was imagined as an elderly, gray-haired man, and his name connotes the literal ticking clock, the chronological time, the kind we measure (and race about trying to use efficiently). Kairos is different. While it is difficult to translate precisely, it refers to time that is opportune, right, different. Chronos is quantitative; kairos is qualitative. The latter is experienced only when we are fully in the moment—when we exist in the now.

Of course, we learn from the past and can imagine the future. Yet only in the here and now can we actually execute on the things that really matter.

To experience life in kairos, not just chronos. To focus on the things that are truly important—not yesterday or tomorrow, but right now.

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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson (2016)

‘True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving.’ (p.32)

Manson's best ideas aren’t hidden amongst pages and pages of high-minded prose or onerous self-indulgence. He says it right to your face and observes your reaction with a raucous laugh followed by a comforting pat on the back.

All that fixation on positivity and self-help advises 'only serves to remind us over and over again of what we are not, of what we lack, of what we should have been but failed to be.' Our crisis is no longer material; it’s existential, it’s spiritual. We have so much fucking stuff and so many opportunities that we don’t even know what to give a fuck about anymore.

Giving a fuck about more stuff is good for business. And while there’s nothing wrong with good business, the problem is that giving too many fucks is bad for your mental health. It causes you to become overly attached to the superficial and fake, to dedicate your life to chasing a mirage of happiness and satisfaction. The key to a good life is not giving a fuck about more; it’s giving a fuck about less, giving a fuck about only what is true and immediate and important. These moments of non-fuckery are the moments that most define our lives.

The old saying goes that no matter where you go, there you are. Well, the same is true for adversity and failure. No matter where you go, there’s a five-hundred-pound load of shit waiting for you. And that’s perfectly fine. The point isn’t to get away from the shit. The point is to find the shit you enjoy dealing with.

 “every person can be extraordinary and achieve greatness” stuff is basically just jerking off your ego. It’s a message that tastes good going down, but in reality is nothing more than empty calories that make you emotionally fat and bloated, the proverbial Big Mac for your heart and your brain.

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BECOMING

Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)

“It’s not getting back on track, it’s creating my next track. I’m figuring out what do I want to do, what do I care about? It takes time to process your life and figure out what it means,” she tells a roundtable group.

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. Becoming is the memoir of former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama, published in 2018. Described by the author as a deeply personal experience, the book talks about her roots and how she found her voice, as well as her time in the White House, her public health campaign, and her role as a mother.

'What make you more than a stat, more than just a number [GPA]. It is only when you see yourself as such. Asking yourself 'who are you', 'what brings you joy', what are the things you mostly care about'.

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PADDINGTON

[2 movies] Genre:

'Harry Potter' producer David Heyman scores again with a bright, breezy big-screen debut for the beloved literary bear. - Variety

After some clumsy and calamitous antics while adjusting to life in proper civilization, some of which are more amusing than others, Paddington seems to settle in and find a rhythm.

The little bear soon find himself as a member of the Brown family.

In the second installment, he goes on a quest to find his aunt's birthday gift during which he got entangled into a theft incident and thrown into prison. The prison scenes are my favorite one. I love how he innocently transform the dull environment into joyfully blossoming one instilling care and consideration into everyone's heart. He finally evades from the prison with the help of a group of prisoners and joined the Brown family to prove his innocence.

This movie totally instills love and care into one's heart while it makes you believe in goodness and kindness.