i'm so inspired by blair waldorf to try cycling again. kind of embarrassing, but i never graduated from my training wheels. i just kept falling and eventually i gave up. i love this outfit (although i've been told it's ugly).  the canary yellow blouse, the fizzy orange shorts, that shiny bike with it's proud wicker basket... so cute. 

the only thing i would change in this picture are probably the shorts. cute as they are, shorts were the reason i gave up cycling altogether. the gashes on my knees could've been so easily avoided had i made a sartorial switch and simply put on some pants. but what a super-cute bike right?

so i looked it up and found that there are even more of these bikes in various styles and colours!

i really should be sleeping but about 1.5 hours ago, i decided that my room needed a good spring cleaning. i get into these moods where i suddenly feel like i need to clean my room and rid it of rubbish and general irrelevance. the mantra in these times is "everything must go". i like these moods because it's only then that i'm at my most decisive - because most of the time, i can't shake my indifference. and each time i dump something into the designated trash bag i feel relieved. and then it gets very addictive. i usually regret throwing stuff away days or weeks later when i've had time to settle back into my routines. but i like to think very optimistically about it...i tell myself nothing is really worth keeping except money in the bank. for me, less is really more. my parents are the opposite. which is why i prefer to do these BIG clean-ups when they're not around, otherwise they'll tell me to keep this and that. they come from the school of thought where everything owned is everything earned. but my brain can't take too much organising. it's either find a place for it or throw it away. in this aspect, i'm certain there are no gray areas. there's this organisational guru that i watched on oprah (just that one time) who is really amazing. his name is peter walsh. i actually taped that show and took notes. they are pearls of wisdom, trust me.

if we wanted to get really psychoanalytical, i actually like these cleanups because it gives me the illusion that i'm managing my life better. i like to think that it's true.

i watched Wristcutters over the weekend and now i can't stop gushing about it. it's set in an afterlife where everybody is dead  - it's a place for people who've committed suicide - and everything looks and feels empty (the barren landscapes, the emotionally devoid atmosphere etc). basically it follows Patrick Fugit's character Zia searching for his girlfriend after he learns that she too has killed herself. Zia's Russian friend who comes along is really hilarious. it’s a very offbeat kind of humour, very refreshing and just...out there. the ending was a little weak, but what i liked was the very natural, seamless acting and overall, it did a good job of making the absurd feel very normal and believable, just a stranger other reality. go watch it if you want something dark, funny and endearing.

and i promise i'm not being biased about it because of Patrick Fugit. i think I’ve reached new levels of obsession with Patrick Fugit - one that’s crossed the Alan Davies threshold, unfortunately. i think he’s such a good, natural actor. even in situations where he plays a not-so-nice guy, he brings a certain tenderness to the role that's very humanising. and it helps that he's incredibly adorable. i think it’s sad that he’s so under-rated but I guess…he likes it this way? *dreamy sigh* i’m definitely going to buy this DVD.

another good one was Lars and The Real Girl. it's a less conventional love story, but pretty interesting.

based on ballroom_pink's post and selections...here's a little bit about my icons.

Comment on this post. I will choose seven userpics from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are using them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so others can play along.



Currently my default, this was a Kate Spade ad i found in a copy of Vogue two years ago. Back then, i was into whimsical pictures of people floating/jumping...anything so long as they were in motion. I loved it so much, I tore the ad out, pasted it in my journal and made the website shots into icons. This, unfortunately, is all that remains from that period.



Jenny and Blake. is there a musical couple more adorable than these two? Definitely. But they wouldn't compare to these two...what can I say? I love them both. The colours were what drew me to this picture. It seems to be a thing for me - pictures of Jenny and Blake sharing a mic and singing. I used to make jokes like "what...mic shortage?" For me, this is a case of two people who're really at they're at their best when they're working together.

when V (in V for Vendetta) set his plans in motion, he sounded Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture. Agnes de Mille, whose dancing career ensured that her everyday movements were punctuated with music, had a different answer. she said, “No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.”

and me, i lean towards the latter. i'm at that stage where my life-affirming decisions are being made. for some reason i expected some form of grandiose gestures to accompany these decisions. the ceremonial soundtrack for my serenity, perhaps. but sometimes, the heaviest decisions are the most muted.

in real life, it's never that pretty; it's a different  aesthetic.

(undrum to muted da)

this scene from 'the king' is one of the best (if not the best) that i've seen on screen. whether this intense moment is sickening or endearing is debatable, but it's undoubtedly beautiful. to me, its wonderful execution is a simple, humane response to the moral and ethical questions of faith, redemption and love that are posed throughout the movie.

below are my other favourite movie moments whose common bind is their almost uncanny ability to recognise the sheer intensity of moments.

i think i've revealed far too much in these entries. i don't think i know how to reserve some things for myself when i start blabbing. and i feel the way i've been going at it, it's only going to serve as a disadvantage to me.

so it's a friends-only affair from here on out.

stolen from stereogum.com who stole it from Inside the Actors Studio:

10 Questions

1. What is your favorite word?
irony

2. What is your least favorite word?
protrude

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
finding some sort of truth

4. What turns you off?
when something doesn't feel true

5. What is your favorite curse word?
shit

6. What sound or noise do you love?
raindrops

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
the sound of violence

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
doctor

9. What profession would you not like to do?
circus act

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you
arrive at the Pearly Gates?
"MY LOVE, WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU! COME ON IN."

now your turn! come on, you KNOW you wanna do it! don't forget to share with me if you do it! :D

what do you call a series of repeated coincidences?
kismet? fate? serendipity? life?

"nature's joke" sums it up for me. seriously, whatever it is that's pulling the strings...has an interesting sense of humour. well this time, i'm not falling prey.

For those that believe no explanation is necessary.
For those who do not, none will suffice.
- Joseph Dunninger

and so now, what?

can someone tell me when is it fate and when is it your own doing?

in success, how much of it is your own effort and how much of it is the helping hand of chance?
or the reverse: in failure, how much of it is your own fault and how much of it is the predestined cross to your name?

it just doesn't make sense to me.