Entertainment – Page 23

Final Fantasy Distant Worlds Was Awesome

April 1, 2012August 22, 2013Entertainment, Music1 Comment

Last night I went to see an orchestra play music my favourite series of video games Final Fantasy. The tickets were a birthday present from my boyfriend. It’s one thing to hear the music in game, but it’s a completely different experience to see it all live. The composer Nobuo Uematsu was even in attendance.

–random video of a similar performance

They have a different orchestra for every location they play in; probably because it’s not financially viable to fly 70 people everywhere. It was conducted by the famous Arnie Roth who conducts mostly video game concerts. How do I make that a real career? Video game footage synced perfectly with each piece they played and I’m pretty curious as to how they did it. It is an amazing spectacle. I should have taken a camera, but I am really glad I didn’t because I wasn’t distracted by anything while I was taking it all in.

They played all my favourite songs (even the Chocobo theme) and ended with an epic singalong to SE-PHI-ROTH. It was one of my favourite nights in a long time!

Side note: My back tattoo seems to match the Distance Worlds logo.. sort of.

Why The Hunger Games is Less Retarded Than Twilight

March 30, 2012April 15, 2012Books, Entertainment, Movies5 Comments

I never jumped on the Twilight bandwagon, maybe because it’s semi-embarrassing to be associated with it. Also, I was never really that into the cliche idea of vampires and werewolves. Even if The Hunger Games shares similarities to Japanese movie Battle Royale and Steven King’s Running Man there are more reasons to love this new novel-turned-movie franchise.

I didn’t have to force my boyfriend to go see it. Like I had mentioned, The Hunger Games is less embarrassing and I didn’t have a problem convincing my boyfriend to go see it. Although there is the love triangle involved, the idea of a “chick flick” is masked with the idea of kids killing each other off.

Katniss Everdeen is way cooler than Bella Swan. Katniss is pretty bad-ass, a rebel that started a revolution. She is well loved and doesn’t want to commit to either man. Bella’s just some “average girl” in which anybody can take her place (that was the point right?), but Katniss has heart, character and history. I don’t want to be in Katniss’ shoes, but I want to read about adventure. I enjoyed her fearlessness and her independence. The National Review once said that Bella gets what she wants eventually “by giving up her identity and throwing away nearly everything in life that matters” I don’t really care much for Bella’s story and the fact that she will end up marrying and having a vampire baby.

The Hunger Games mocks our obsession with reality television. Whether or not it was intentional, The Hunger Games mocks our own society. If we’ve gone to extremes of making such things as Teen Mom a hit, what’s in the future of reality television? Will we have our own version of the Hunger Games? I don’t think Twilight makes us think about society in any way, unless it’s maybe that boy down the road is a vampire.

I sort of want a Mockingjay pin. I usually don’t like movie paraphernalia, but if it’s a token of being a rebel. Something like Edward’s face on my wall would be much more embarrassing.

In 3 not-so-long books, Suzanne Collins created a complicated world and it’s movie marketing campaign ingeniously created a tour of it’s Capitol. It didn’t rely on hot men, (although Gale and Peetah’s portrayal is not bad), or overly CG’d girls. You can see every imperfection on Jenniffer Lawrence, but that didn’t matter. I loved the cliffhangers in the end of every chapter of Suzanne Collin’s books. They were intelligently thought out but the only thing that makes Twilight books look smart is the intimidating size of their hardcovers.

Surviving Music Festivals

March 26, 2012Life, MusicLeave a Comment

Random photo of me and Montreal's Honheehonhee

Canadian Music Week was keeping me busy last week, hence the lack of blog posts. This year, I didn’t want to bother any of my Toronto friends with crashing on their couches so I commuted back and forth. I was kind of like Cinderella, disappearing to catch the last bus at 1:20am. I’m pretty exhausted but here is how I survived the past week.

Continue reading ➞ Surviving Music Festivals

30 Day Practise Challenge: Half-Way Point

January 17, 2012February 1, 201230 Day Challenge, Education, Life, MusicLeave a Comment

Only half the month has passed and I have already failed. My excuse, I didn’t feel very well. Whether that is true or not I used to be able to go to class with a fever, so not practicing because of a stomach cramp seemed so trivial. There has also been days where I did in fact challenge, but they didn’t last my original guidelines of an hour. The puppy would be too distracting, my iPad ran out of battery etc.

I should have some sort of failing the challenge, but having to blog about it is punishment itself. I failed.

However, I will keep going at it. I was not neccessarily out to just do this for 30 days, but to hopefully build better lifetime habits. I don’t want to forget how to play piano. As I get older and busier, I want to know how to be able to schedule time for the keys. I’ve decided in my lifetime I’m going to learn Chopin’s entire repertoire and Bach’s WTC amongst other pieces.

This has not only been a return to a skill but a return to having an outlet to relax and speak some emotion non-verbally. Not only will this happen this month, but it will be a part of future months to come.

Resolutions are Stupid

January 1, 2012February 1, 201230 Day Challenge, Life, MusicLeave a Comment

Happy new year!

A new year is time to reflect on the year before; the trials, the happiness and the newly discovered. It’s a time to put behind certain things and start with a clean slate. For most of us, we make promises to ourselves, most of which we won’t keep in the form of resolutions. Many of these resolution’s often don’t make it to the end of the month.

This year, I’m not out to make these promises to myself.

Continue reading ➞ Resolutions are Stupid

No, I Don’t Want To Hear Your Sob Story

December 13, 2011December 13, 2011Life, TV1 Comment

I don’t know what it is with television, especially reality TV shows that are competitions. X Factor, American Idol, even the various things on the FOOD NETWORK. Why is it that the person with the best SOB story always wins?.

Continue reading ➞ No, I Don’t Want To Hear Your Sob Story

The Evolution of Useful Things

December 2, 2011April 15, 2012Books, Entertainment, Life, Technology, World4 Comments

I love reading and I tend to read a lot of non-fiction among fiction. I also have a fascination with cognitive science, the human mind and why things happen. So naturally when I stumbled on Henry Petroski’s The Evolution of Useful Things it was quite intriguing.

The book dove into the fascinating world of how normal household items became the way they are today. He talked about such things as forks, pins, paper clips and zippers which we don’t normally think much about. There’s even parts on pop cans and the wrapper for your McDonald hamburgers.

Continue reading ➞ The Evolution of Useful Things

How to Avoid Carpal Tunnel as a Musician

November 3, 2011Health, Life, Music1 Comment

I’ve been a musician all my life, but I didn’t start to have problems until I started hard 4 hour practicing when I was in university. At the end of my university journey I was experiencing pains in my middle finger and wrists. All those nights practicing passages and octaves 100 times had put a tole to the health of my limbs. I’ve done some therapy and research, and here are some tricks I have been using to prevent some of the pain of repetitive activities. Most of these can be applied if you spend too much time on the computer as well.

Continue reading ➞ How to Avoid Carpal Tunnel as a Musician

You Are Never To Old For An Imagination

August 30, 2011Education, Life, TVLeave a Comment

I’m the last person in the world to probably act my age. If you meet me I’m both the most hard-working and motivated person you’ll ever meet, but at the same time the most strange and silly if you get close enough. I’ll also probably look like I’m 15 til I’m 40.

What triggered this fascination for imagination was the cartoon Adventure Time, which I didn’t know was more than just a viral pilot episode. The cartoon has some of the most ridiculously adorable and imaginative characters and plots. I showed an episode to some of my friends, but they were not into it. They thought it too random, but isn’t that the point?

In a fast-paced technology world we live in today, I sometimes like to wonder if old-school imagination still exists. I’m an odd one who doodles and writes stories and things on my spare time, but where do other people have an outlet for imagination?

Continue reading ➞ You Are Never To Old For An Imagination

Sometimes You Need Time Apart From Something to Miss It

July 30, 2011July 30, 2011Life, Music3 Comments

If you were some how misled here and think this is some relationship article look away now. I’m far over my breakup that happened 3 months ago.

Since I was around 5 or 6, I played the piano. I know I’m Asian but it was never something I felt like I was forced to do. I had thoroughly enjoyed it from the beginning. Me and my sister both played but she wasn’t nearly as patient enough to continue and after grade 8 we were allowed to quit if we felt like it. I continued. Hell, I had to fight my parents to let me pursue it as a degree in grade 12 when everyone else was applying to be on their way to be a businessman, doctor or scientist. I just wanted to make music. I practiced 3-4 hours a day to make the auditions. I got into Laurier and skipped my Western audition when I was accepted into my first first pick of schools, University of Toronto.

Continue reading ➞ Sometimes You Need Time Apart From Something to Miss It