Bad haircut: An analysis

Definition
A bad haircut is a visible mark of failure on your hair that put you in misery, devastation and deep regret.

An illustration
I rarely change my hair, but when I do, my hair sucks!
Two days ago, I entrusted my hair to my sister -  a high school student who is really passionate about beatifying. It's not that I am too mean to go to the hairdresser's but I totally have faith in her and wanna give her a chance to practice her skill. She promised me a stunning refreshing look in the kawaii style often seen in Japanese manga. How could I say "no"? T_T
After working with my hair for a while, she said: "You know what, sis? Often, when an unprofessional hairdresser messed up with his customer's hair, he would look really awkward and bewildered, but a pro will simply go on without saying a word".
"Is there any chance that you've just made an inerasable mistake?", I asked skeptically.
"Not really", she shrugged.
When it was done, I looked at myself in the mirror: "Not bad".

The "true color" of the haircut didn't really show until the next day when I went to class. Well, you know, sometimes, you are not the one who makes the right judgement about yourself, especially about your look. Entering the class, I expected the class to turn around and look at me then ask me where I've got this beautiful haircut. But no one seemed to give a shit about my presence, let alone my hair. When I seated myself, there was a voice: "Oh, you have a haircut? Why?"
That moment my heart broke a little. My close friend finally arrived but when she came up to me, this is what she said: "This hairdo is not as good as your previous one".

I came home upset and angry.
"Nobody likes my new hair. They say it's a failure. It's all your fault!", I shouted at my sister.
She, with her eyes sticking to the computer screen, replied: "Then you can have your hair cut again".
That afternoon, I went to the hairdresser's and here's what I got: "Truth be told, I can do nothing to fix your hair. The only way is to wait until it grows longer".
I almost burst to tears. With such crappy hair, I can't meet anybody. Everyone will laugh at me.
Returning home, I locked myself in and started sobbing. Nothing wrecks me as a bad haircut does. It's like having an unsuccessful plastic surgery and you ended up looking like a monster.

The effect of a bad haircut
Of course it turns you into a laughable, ridiculous creature in people's eyes. Your image degrades and as a result, you feel less confident, you don't want to go out often.
The situation can be worse if you are having a crush on someone and trying so hard to get his attention. Boom! Now you just want to stay well clear of that special someone or if you happen to run into him, you wish there were a crack on the ground so that you could sink into the earth.

On the bright side...
Take this chance to filter your friendlist on Facebook, seriously! Just selfie and put it up as your profile pic. That way, you can piss off unwanted followers and fake friends. Cool, huh? ;)
I intended to straighten my hair right after I had my hair cut. So a plus point of having this bad haircut is that I can postpone straightening my hair (because obviously, my hair is now way too short to straighten). My family is pro-classic and worships natural beauty, so in such a family, straightening your hair is like losing your first kiss(?!?) I mean it has to happen eventually but it is a big moment for me and I am not quite ready for it.

So much rambling for a trivial incident. I rest my case and cross my fingers hoping that my hair will grow as fast as possible.

Summer '13

Summer time’s over. I guess a lot of you have gone on exciting trips to the beach, to the mountain or whatever wonderland of your own. I had my journey too. Actually, it’s a long one and not over yet. I’ve been through Lemonade Lake, Chocolate Mountains, Minty Meadow, Salty Canyon, visited Candy Town  and Peppermint Palace, just to name a few. LOL, now you know what I mean, right? I am on Candy Crush Saga (CCS). I spent almost 3 months of my summer for this game, managed to reach level 140 and I am not sure I’m gonna stop. CCS is way too popular on Facebook. When I played some first levels, I couldn’t believe this game was a real phenomenon that engages millions of monthly players. It was just the old concept of Jewel wrapped in a new look. But as I played on, I found myself automatically addicted to it. Playing CCS was supposed to be the first thing I did in the morning after waking up; even when I closed my eyes, all I could visualize is colorful candies stripping, exploding; all I could hear in my head are: “Sweet”, “Delicious”, “Divine”, … I was obsessed!

My current crush ;)

What I want to say in this blog is not how addicted I am to CCS, but rather some interesting unusual thoughts I have about this game. CCS somehow possesses many qualities of my dream work, i.e. I’m gonna make a comparison between CCS and work.   

The first quality lies in goals. In CCS, there are hundreds of levels, each of which has a specific goal. It’s what keeps you going and achieving. When you work, you need to know what you want to/must achieve. The power of goals should never be underestimated.

Secondly, think about what engages you in CCS. In working, you need the same thing to keep the bond between you and your job.

i) Interesting and changing activities: CCS is fun to play because it can become really challenging and it offers a wide range of tasks, from clearing jelly, moving ingredients to the bottom, collecting orders, to getting X points in Y seconds/moves… In a similar way, we don’t want to do the same boring job every day. If we aren’t lucky enough to get an exciting job, we at least need a breath of fresh air now and then.

ii) Progress: In CCS, once you complete a level, you move on to the next and go a little further in your saga. You like the feeling of accomplishment, don’t you? In a work, we love to see things done and progress, too.

iii) Bonus: In CCS, often when you’ve just unlocked a new episode, you will be given a useful booster. I always enjoy this special gift, not because it helped me out a lot, but because I feel content when rewarded with something.  The same method of motivation can be applied to work. A job would be more attractive if you know you can draw something from it ;)

The next important characteristic that a workplace should have is the motivating environment. CCS gives me a sense of solidarity and emulation, both of which are crucial to development. Solidarity is when we send lives, extra moves and ticket pass to our CCS friends while emulation is when we strive to overtake our friends in the CCS adventure. It’s bittersweet to be in glory one day then wake up the next morning just to find out we have already been left behind! An ideal working environment needs to comprise co-operative yet competitive colleagues so that we are always propelled into exertion. CCS has taught me well about “give and take”.

After sometime, I’ve drawn some lessons for myself as to how to succeed in CCS. I think these elements of success are also true to your professional life:

i) To start with, just follow the rules. For almost a third of CCS levels, it works! You just need to keep in mind which ingredients make which combination and how that combination would help you clear the candies. For most entry-level employees, I believe the process is somewhat similar. Doing what you are told to and respecting the rules, you are playing it safe.

However, there are times everything is not so easy to work out. Then you have to try something different.

ii) Plan your moves. When I first play CCS, I didn’t really think it was a brain game because I literally swapped two candies randomly and still nailed it. But there came a day I was stuck in a level and couldn’t play the random game anymore. This was when I decided to start planning my moves. Of course I couldn’t calculate all my moves, but planning did help me pass that level. The further I go in CCS, the more I realize the importance of using your brain instead of relying on some kind of luck to put you through difficulty.

iii) “Failure is the mother of success”, what an old saying, but it’s always true. You have to try and try again before achieving something. Sometimes, I spent nearly a week to pass a level. I played it again like 30 times per day, which makes over a hundred times per week. But I am glad I didn’t give up.

When I started writing this, I admit it was for fun and I would use it as an argument to make excuses for my lazy bygone summer days spent on games and all. But it turns out that when I look deep below the surface, I discover things that really make sense. CCS is not a merely entertaining, time - wasting, famous-by-chance game but a platform where you come, play and learn.

Just Like Heaven (2005) Review

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Director: Mark Waters

Actors: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo

Yet another Rom-Com. But out of thousands of Rom-Coms (most of which are just average) ever produced by Hollywood, this one definitely deserves its own foothold. When I saw the actors, I gotta feeling that this was gonna be a tender, sweet romance. Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo are both adored by their genuine acting with no trace of overdoing.

In terms of plot, this film is just a familiar story about a spirit roaming on Earth or in other words, getting stuck between earth and sky [1].This spirit is a young single workaholic. Elizabeth had worked like 26 hours back-to-back at the hospital just before an accident on her drive home that put her in a coma. Her spirit was separated from her body and totally unaware of the person she used to be. She kept living in her now-for-rent apartment until David, a landscape architect appeared. He was somehow among very few that could see her. They had sometime fighting over the ownership of the apartment, but then sat back together and tried to recover her memory. In a very natural way, that single lady and that widower fell in love. Of course, there was something happening along the way that challenged them but without fail, they overcame it with a touch of magic that we often see in fairy tales.

What I love about this movie is its pure love with no need to cram some kind of sexuality to attract viewers. It offers both entertaining sights and moving scenes – a pleasure to watch. In this film, comedy and romance are perfectly blended. The film needs not to bring on obscene language or over-ridiculousness to get us to laugh, nor does it make people feel like they are watching a cheesy chick flick. And don’t we forget to mention the fantasy elements: from the movie title “Just Like Heaven”, the stunning garden to the miraculous way Elizabeth was brought back to life. There was a little surprise at the end when Elizabeth revived but forgot all her time with David. At that point, my heart sank a little bit but you know, Mark Ruffalo always plays such a nice guy that no one wants to see him end up being alone. 

(Just to my own liking) Allow me to cite this line from the movie (Elizabeth to David): “You are not dumb, David, just a little crazy. Cute. Lazy”.

As an inevitable happy ending for a Rom-Com, Elizabeth remembered everything and the lovely couple was back together after all.

Talking about supporting roles, I must say I love them all, from sister Abby, her ex-boyfriend JJ to the freaky man from the bookshop, Darryl [2]. Every of them fits in the flow of the film and brings us some very funny pleasant moments.

As a closing, I highly recommend this film to those who enjoy romance. Soon enough, you will find yourself landing from heaven after finishing this film ;)

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[1] The film’s Russian title is "Between the Sky and Earth"

[2] The actor who played this role, Jon Heder, was nominated for the Teen Choice Award’s  “Movies - Choice Actor: Comedy”.

Faces In The Crowd (2011) Review

Director: Julien Magnat

Actors: Milla Jovovich, Julian Mcmahon, David Atrakchi.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Sidenote: I have to forewarn you that I’ve never been and never will be a good critic, largely because I have such a short-term memory and I am kinda slow in connecting the dots. Anyway, this is the first time I've had a crack at writing movie review. So, may we say it’s worth a shot to read a newbie's work? ;))

Oh, and this is the movie link for those who don't watch it yet : http://ffilms.org/faces-in-the-crowd-2011/
The review below contains a lot of spoilers, so please make sure you watched the film first.

When I first decided to watch “Faces in the crowd”, I honestly admit that it was because I saw this movie title in Julian Mcmahon’s filmography and that was inducing enough to make me jump right into the search (although the film’s overall rate on IMDb is only 5.5). Right now when I am sitting down to write this review, I can safely say that it is not for hailing Julian or something but seriously to comment on the film itself. So here we go…

The film opens in a way that is really to my liking – it gives us a little time to get acquainted with the main characters and quickly unveils the main plot. Anna was diagnosed “prosopagnosia” or “face blindness” after the survival from a serial killer’s attack. The killer may be around her anytime without her perception. In fact, the whole film revolves around the scenes where Anna lived in terror, disturbance and her own obsession with the killer. The film’s rhythm is just appropriate – neither too quick nor too slow – so that viewers can  keep track of what’s happening.

Actually, the face blindness idea is pretty good and it creates a necessary confusion and complexity to keep the viewers curious and engaged. One thrilling but funny-as-it-turned-out episode is when Anna didn’t recognize her dad and took him for the murder after her. The film uses face-changing technique to its advantage to somehow distract viewers, thus hides the real face of the killer. Even I myself had difficulty recognizing characters sometimes. 

Also, this face blindness issue gives us food for thoughts, which was delivered by a character named Dr. Langenkamp. She helped Anna struggle with the latter’s problem by learning distinctive marks to tell people apart. I find it interesting and cute how Anna used the cravat as a tip to recognize her boyfriend Bryce. Back to my point, Dr. Langenkamp appeared to remind not only Anna, but also everybody that we are so used to recognizing people by their faces that we almost overlook other features that can help distinguish one from another. It may be people’s gestures, their mannerisms, or as Dr. Langenkamp said, the “melody” that you can hum to and “sing at the top of your voice”. By the way, I wonder why the writer didn't let Anna recognize people by their voices. It is the first thing that a person with facial recognition problem should think of! There is a saying of Dr. Langenkamp that I like very much. That is: “Out of a thousand faces, one might miraculously linger”. This was better enlightened when Anna burst out in surprise on recognizing Kerrest’s face (the only face she could recognize, actually).

The plot is logically developed and details used to support it are quite believable. The serial killer’s moves are clear as the story goes from the death of one of Anna’s best friends – Francine to the manipulated meeting between Anna and Bryce. In my mind, from the beginning of the movie, there emerged 4 suspects:

- Kerrest

- Lanyon

- Bryce: the suspicion was cleared out after the DNA result came out suggesting that he wasn’t the murder.

- Some man on the street à this option sounds the most irrational because if the murder were a total stranger, the film would be a huge disappointment.

So the investigation was left with two police officers! The face-changing technique once again tangled me and I decided to wait for the real murder to show up (at least that way I can enjoy the sentimental moments till the end of the film ;P) And the truth about the serial killer proved me right. He is Lanyon, the quiet but dangerous police buddy of Kerrest. He was well-disguised but the movie itself from the beginning had already revealed a hint about his suspicious mental background. Like any other horror-thriller, here we have a chasing scene between the murder and the victim. Well, I must say David Atrakchi did a not bad job. And his lines are somewhat poignant and creepy-sounded, like: “This, Anna, is why I like blades so much” [when Anna’s gun ran out of charges], or the sentence he said to Kerrest [just a minute before Anna learned that Kerrest had been accidentally shot by her]: “I guess you will never take her to the police ball”.

Anna, the leading role, appeared as a beautiful and gentle teacher, but became extremely vulnerable after the attack. This image shows us a totally different Milla Jovovich - worlds apart from her tough personality in Resident Evil. She expressed well the confused, frustrated and insecure feeling of a woman under constant threats and meanwhile struggling with her own syndrome. She played a lovely role but I still think her character needs a little more profound affection when it comes to love. As in here, I see almost no true chemistry between Anna and Kerrest. 

About Kerrest, my favorite character for you-know-why, he appeared with an impression of a cold and rude man (by the way he shouted at Anna) and he was even suspicious after he met with the hobo shortly before the latter’s death. But his good nature gradually unfolded as he was the one that Anna would always turn to when she was in danger, and there was “something” between them. The romance bloomed when they were in Koel Island but just save that part for those who are greatly interested in romance :P The tragic part when Kerrest came to rescue Anna from his evil colleague is quite remarkable. He died with his eyes open. Rain poured down on his face, wiping out the blood… But his perpetual image seems to pass on to his little daughter with Anna.

The ending warms our hearts with the bright, peaceful scene in Koel Island, where Anna and her daughter lead a happy life. And the last line goes: “And just when I thought I’d lost everything, I found a face, one face in which I can always read,…love”. Truth be told, I don’t quite believe this line came out of Anna’s mouth, who had a short-lived unremarkable romance.

In one word, the movie has some necessary merits of its genres – sentimental, thrilling and fascinating. The cast are quite good and the script is well-written. I barely have a complaint about it but others may ask for more. It’s up to each person. For all I’ve watched, I would give this movie a 8/10 (don’t be surprised, I am usually that generous in rating ;)) And once again, Julian didn’t let me down after all :))

And if you want to look at this film from a bit different viewpoint, you can try this review: http://www.28dayslateranalysis.com/2011/10/faces-in-crowd-and-laughing-at-kismet.html

It's by far the most acceptable review according to me. One thing is it doesn't belittle this movie like some others. Another thing is it has a neutral perspective which I can possibly embrace.

P.S. I would be very glad to read your reviews if you've got any :)

Truly Enjoyable Time (T.E.T)

My family actually planned for an unusual Tet Holiday this year. Normally, we would stay at home like many other families, make a special Last Year meal, wait for New Year’s Eve then pay visits to relatives the following days. But the trend is that more and more families are travelling abroad during Tet Holiday. So somehow my parents have disposition to have itchy feet and explore new land. The last time I heard them discussing on this, I caught some key words like “Thailand”, “cheap ticket price”, “shopping”… I was actually dreaming of my first overseas journey ever.

I am literally amazed at how it is possible that in virtually any situation of our life are there buts. We were excitedly looking forward to our a-different-Tet, BUT the flight ticket to Thailand went up by nearly 25%. So we all accepted to enjoy a traditional Tet at home. You can say I am not a traditional type, in fact, I find the old same way celebrating Tet rather boring but custom is kinda hard-and-fast rule and you have no other choice but conform to it.

In general, although we often have 2-3 weeks off for Tet Holiday,  Tet is intense during 4 important days: from the last day of the old year (which is called 29 or 30 Tet) to the third day of the new year (3 Tet). Basically, it’s like: tell me about those 4 days and I’ll get the whole picture of your Tet Holiday :)

I spent several days before 29 Tet tidying up the house. This work is supposed to be the most arduous and tiring among all Tet activities as a result of me “letting the house be” all year long with a little flick-off-dust once in a while. However, to my surprise, this year, I find the clean-up thing quite easy and agreeable (compared to previous years). Besides, I followed the advice from “How to save an hour everyday” and courageously threw away some rarely-used and inutile stuff, which helps my room far from being a pigsty =))

Flashback #1: In 2010, my house needed some repair right before Tet. As you can possibly imagine, after the repair was done, paint marks, brick debris and dusts left everywhere in the house and the yearly cleaning activity became more challenging than ever!

29 Tet

Morning, my parents were both on duty at their offices so my sister and I had a “duty-free” morning :P All we did was watching movies online until we were “summoned” for a year-end lunch at my uncle’s house next door :D

Not until afternoon did we really get down to work. I helped my parents prepare food to make offerings to our ancestors. The cooking process went on smoothly given my fish-sauce-splash fault not counting :P

Flashback #2: Life could be either easier or harder if you had a know-how-to-cook father but one thing I can be sure of is there are indeed more voices in the kitchen. My parents hardly agree on how to cook a specific dish; therefore a little fuss is no surprise. Sometimes, this got on my nerves and ruined the holiday atmosphere but not this year fortunately :) 

I sat down with my family to dinner then watched the end-of-year comedy show, which gave us all a good laugh. Unlike recent years, I didn’t feel like celebrating Tet on Facebook at all. I just wanna glance through the news feed, ‘like’ some things and post a status or two wishing tout le monde a happy Tet holiday.

Flashback #3: Over the past 2 or 3 years, I would always be online until New Year’s Eve, write a long status wishing everybody a happy new year, then post on each of my close friends’ walls saying a just-for-you message which never repeats itself every year.

This year I am fed up with this activity and find it not rewarding enough so I decided to spend the last 15 minutes of the last year writing my “2012 report” summarizing all memorable events and making several resolutions which are hopefully more feasible and realizable than last year’s. In the meantime, outside, the firework show had started.

 It was almost 1 am in the first morning of Year of Snake and I closed my eyes, falling asleep…

1 Tet

I went to my dad’s home village (not far from Hanoi) along with my dad and my uncle’s family. I slept most of the time on the car. Every time I opened my eyes, I looked out the window and enjoyed the tranquil scenery along the road with green fields and very little traffic, which you don’t often see in everyday life. Having parked our car in a yard, we headed to the nearby pagoda, did some ritual activities then went on to visit our relatives. They all welcomed us with a warm and cheerful attitude. Stopping by at each house, we were treated to many kinds of sweets, cookies and tea. That’s one of the things I love about country people.

2 Tet

It’s time for maternal relatives :) My family rode to my grandma’s house. On the way, we passed by Sword Lake. It always looks so beautiful during these days with thousands of flowers arranged in different shapes and letters. A few people were walking on the lake shore. Some were taking photos. Oh, mentioning photos, I forgot the camera at home :(

We arrived at my grandma’s house but it seemed that almost everyone had gone to the countryside. There were only my two aunts. Auntie has just had a baby so she had to stay at home taking care of the baby girl. The baby looks way too cute and pretty. She didn’t cry at all, she just lay sleeping and sometimes opened her big eyes looking at us curiously :3 We stayed for the lunch then went on to visit some other relatives. We also went to a pagoda where my grandma’s uncle, who was also the supreme bonze, is buried.

On the way home, we spotted a super funny scene. A man was literally riding a…dog on his motorbike (not to the dog meat specialty restaurant of course!). The dog “sat” still on the motorbike (in a very human-like posture), being as docile as an obedient child. What a unique entertaining sight!

Late that night, at about 9p.m, my doorbell rang and we’d got a special guest – my 14-year-old cousin. She stayed with us for a night so that my parents would ride her with us to the Temple of Literature the next morning, as we promised to her mother. The girl takes a keen interest in books so she spent the whole night reading and reading before falling asleep by the books.

3 Tet

We set off to Temple of Literature and Quoc Tu Giam – the first university in Vietnam. Many students strongly believe that visiting this place at the beginning of the new year will bring a lot of luck to their studies that year. I do, too. That’s why I am here with my sister and my cousin. We went to all altar rooms and watched traditional scholars performing calligraphy. I even considered taking a calligraphy course once but I never made it.

I backed home, had lunch and watched US Masterchef season 3 on TV. This was the first time I’d watched this show. It was more interesting than I thought. I soon realized there was a Vietnamese contestant in this show. She is Christine Ha, who won the Masterchef title in the end.

In the afternoon, we prepared a hearty meal to offer to my uncle’s family (kinda reciprocation to his year-end lunch the other day) and my cousin’s family who would also come over to pick her up. When we set the table for dinner, it was such a huge meal with delicious dishes which I am sure will please even the most fastidious guest. After the dinner, I am mainly responsible for clearing up the table and washing the dishes. You can tell how hard the task is from the meal’s size I mention above. Fortunately, I got great assistance from my mom and my sister :D

A travel-abroad dream shattered but a lot more joy unfolded. I’ve drawn some conclusions about this Tet holiday which may be true to many others :P

Plus points:

+ Long holiday, a valuable break from all kinds of responsibilities and duties. You can also take advantage of this plenty leisure time to pursue your hobbies, or to hang out with friends…

+ Yummy food

+ Nice weather

+ A “bailout” just-in-time =)) (from lucky money, you know ;)

Minus points:

- Gained weights

- A developed fear of returning to work/school (it does take a lot of courage to walk up to your desk again and open the textbooks, I guarantee)

- Uh oh, my mind’s gone blank, maybe Tet is so wonderful that I can’t even point out one more disadvantage of it

Even though Tet may seem like a traditional holiday that grows so colorless to certain people that they try to find a way to ‘flee’ abroad, it remains an indispensable feature of Vietnamese culture and should be preserved forevermore. When I look back on my four Tet days, they are certainly not new and memorable experience, I may forget about them after sometime but what stays is the spirit that it passed to me, a truly enjoyable time in its own way, something you can only have once every year so hold on to it and treasure it at least as long as you are on your homeland.