A for Effort

Fridays are for staying in and watching a good movie.

After a week of busy working and all the stress, I prefer just putting on something cozy and watching a movie on my couch.. NOT. But thats what happened last friday.

"Nightcrawler"

I think I'm getting old since a plan at home sounds more appealing to me than going out getting hammered.

On friday, we were home trying to decide what to watch while popping some pop-corn. Not the microwave kind, real legit popcorn made in a pan. Delish! 

I've heard about Nightcrawler after the Oscar Nominees were revealed. Some people were pretty upset that Jake Gyllenhaal was not nominated with his performance in Nightcrawler. And I totally agreed after watching it.

Lou Bloom ( played by Gyllenhaal) is a young driven man desperate for work, finds the most thrilling job as a Crime Journalıst. As a freelance cameraman, he listens the police radios to go to crash scenes, fires, murders and other mayhem grounds. Being a workaholic (worst I've seen), he goes overboard to search for the most revealing footage of accidents and sell them to Nina - local TV news host-.

The plot story is not a typical one that you see in every thriller, crime movie. The effort and time put in the research the writer has put is obvious and well recognized. Dan Gilroy not only wrote the screenplay, but also directed it.

I was sitting in the edge of the coach, stuffing my face with popcorn while watching it. Hope it'll give you the same effect.


ENJOY

xoxo

Rushing or Dragging

I think at one point in our lives, we all tried playing an instrument or two. 

I was playing the piano and guitar. 

I loved playing the piano but was kinda pushed into playing the guitar cause my older brother was. I played for years, but like any other teenager (or most), I got sick of it and boycotted it and just continued with my vocal classes. Alone. By myself. Cause no one would listen to me. 

(No hard feeling mom and dad, I turned out great.)

"Whiplash"

Last week my dad had a minor eye surgery, and as his biological daughter, I went over to take care of him and help him out. Little did I know, he already had the evening planned to watch the -recently announced Oscar nominee- Whiplash. 

Luckily I was already super eager to watch it.

Andrew, first year music student in one of the best music conservatory, gets picked to play the drums in the schools best jazz band. The band is led by the most recognized teacher who uses fear as the key to push his students to success.

An example of how much you have to work and sacrifice to get what you want. Nothing comes easy and nothing is forever. Whiplash is proof for hard work paying off. Purely, you only have to stay sane and not over do it.

Miles Teller as Andrew has this unique facial features that is so comforting and sincere. It seems like acting comes so easy to him, so subtle but perfect. J. K. Simmons also performed an acting of a life time. Nomination for the -Best Supporting Actor- will for sure scare the crap out of his competitors.

The movie is basically between the two actors. Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle, a 30 years old.

"There are no two words in English Language more harmful than 

GOOD JOB."

ENJOY

xoxo

P.S Go follow the blogs Instagram Account: @awkward.monster

Free Tilly

I'm very mad.

I'm mad at the fact that there are still people around wearing blinkers so they don't have to face the reality. 

When I was a little girl, I was the type of kid that would chase after frogs, catch them, and take it to the school to show it to her friends. True Story. The time when I was in India (around the age of 8), I was the one running after monkeys and jumping on the elephants. 

 I can't stand animal cruelty for the sake of it. I'm not a vegetarian, but nor do I wear fur. I don't and I won't. Take note future Hubby!

"Blackfish"

It's a documentary on orcas -killer whales- in water parks and the danger its causing for humans, other whales and themselves.

So many interviews with former instructors, performers and fishers has been made to show the world the barest- most direct story of the captive animals.

It is the story of Tilikum, the deadliest orca in the business with killing the most performers, working in SeaWorld. He's the father of many other whales in many attraction parks around the world.

"Never capture what you can't control."

SeaWorld

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite and her crew did an amazing job finding former employees in the business and families of the deceased.

Blackfish is a wake up call for the people who were not aware how *excuse my language* FUCKED UP this whole thing is.

It's never too late to take action and to share your knowledge with the others. 

Confront those who still goes to such parks to swim with the dolphins.

Check out the link below to see how you can help and the organizations supporting animal freedom.

http://blackfishmovie.com/Take-Action

xx

Food vs Food

Food.

I.

Love.

You.

If we didn't have taste buds, and were only eating to survive, would it still count as living?

My love for food has been my best friend and my worst enemy. Food has that affect. If something tastes amazing, go ahead and enjoy. But if you enjoy it too much, the scale will probably not be on your side. 

(let's be real)

2 weeks ago I went to Barcelona to visit my friends. And with all the luck I have, it was raining. On the other hand, it was the perfect weather to go to the movies. After an intense Trailer watching on Youtube, we found the one.

"The Hundred-Foot Journey"

The story is about an Indian Family -The Kadams- moving in a small town in Southern France to open a restaurant. Because that wasn't hard enough for them, they have to suffer from their Michelin Starred Neighbor. The story continues with Kadam family's chef, Hassan's incredible cooking journey and the never ending dialog between the rivalry neighbors. 

Oscar-winner Helen Mirren with her exquisite acting along side Om Puri. Most of the actors/ actresses to me are not known. Maybe because its most of theirs first American Movie. Considering they're French and Indian.

Originally a book written by Richard C. Morais, it was executed beautifully.

Directed by the great Swedish Lasse Hallström. Produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey !!!!

Excuse me but if this isn't good enough to watch it, I don't know what is.

Go see it with your family, go see it with your friend, go see it with your partner. It addresses to everyone.

ENJOY

xx

Picture Perfect

I was Youtube-ing the other day, and some how ended up on the documentary part of it. So happy I did and so happy to be able to write about it.

"Born Into Brothels"

Getting the chance to live abroad for a quiet a long time, I got to meet incredible people around the world. The different cultures and beliefs were the two things that mesmerized me the most. Especially the Hindu religion. 

They believe; if you were to born as a cleaners son, you WILL be a cleaner. End of story. Your destiny was written long before you were born.

The name of the movie scared me a little, but after seeing the poster for it, I decided to give it a shot. 

The documentary is narrated by the Director / Writer of the story, Zana Briski. Zana is a photographer and is especially interested in the lifes on women in the Red Light District of Sonagchi, Calcutta, INDIA.

Imagine a building complex just for prostitues, illegal alcohol, drugs and gambling. 

While Zana was living in Sonagchi (yes, she moved into the complex), she starts providing cameras for the children of the prostitutes and gives them photography classes. It's amazing how you can help them connect with the world and with each other through art. 

Very funny and amazing kids indeed.

These Kids!!

This humorous and heartfelt story portrays the power of art and the courage of those willing to chage their own lives.

Oh, and, did I mention it won the Oscars for The Best Documentary in 2005? Because it did.

I was super excited to write about this movies, so please please watch it. You can also find out more about what Zana and her others calleagues are doing if you click here.

ENJOY

xoxo

S.H.O.T.G.U.N.

I don't think it's nice to go through other peoples belongings, unless you find something very good.

"C.R.A.Z.Y."

I was in my brothers room the other day, going through his PS3 games to give it to my cousin. While I was at it, I also went through his DVD's (sorryyyy). I found this DVD with a bright color which caught my attention.

It was sitting in my room for a while, until me and my friend decided to have a movie night.

It's a Canadian film from the French side, Quebec. It's a story of a family, with 5 sons.Yes, 5 kids PLUS all of them are boys and all have very different characteristics.
The story is narrated by one of the boys, Zac. The 4th child, and a huge admiration to his father. Only when the father sees Zac (when he was 4-5 years old) wearing his mothers cloths and playing with his younger brother that their relationship goes downfall. A hero figure must have a normal kid.

C.R.A.Z.Y. takes place in the 60's and 70's, when the music was AH-mazing, and homophobia was at it's peak.

Not only it is hard living in a house with high testesteron levels, it is incredible difficult accepting your true self, and your true desires. 

The execution of love in the movie is best described as; beautiful and mad. 

2 hours of an emotional rollercoaster. Perfectly directed (and co-written) by Jean-Marc Vallée.

ENJOY

xoxo

Salut Mikael!

I love French. Anything French is good and you know it.

French Fries, French History, French Fashion, French Kiss, French Art, French Movies, ...

"Tomboy"

I changed 3 schools and 1 country between 1st and 12th grades. Which was crazy.

 First time was when I finished 4th grade. I think it was the hardest since I was pretty young, and my life was all about my friends.

I was feeling very scared, thinking how in the world was I going to fit in with the kids in the new school? Thanks to my delirious self, that never was a problem, I jumped right in.

Although Laure approached a different way. 

After her family moved to a different neighborhood, she had the entire summer to hang out with the kids from the area, and start the new year in a new school with them. 

The story begins when she introduces herself as a boy, Mikael.

Dressing like a boy, acting like a boy, looking like a boy is so much easier when you're 10 years old. 

Being the new kid, spending the entire summer with "his" buddies, playing and laughing around also brings some attention from the girls of the block.

woof! Look at those eyes!

It's not only hard pretending, but knowing your lie will be out once the school starts.

Great movie written and directed by Céline Sciamma. Loving her name (hihihi).

A must see;

ENJOY

xoxo

Challenge Accepted?

CALM YOUR HORSES, I AM BACK.

Woooowww, what a busy year ( it's been 10 friggin months since my last post, kill me) I had. Full of hatred from you guys I am assuming.

I graduated, presented my awesome thesis, moved back to Istanbul, started working and all. So now I'm a grown-up, better start acting like one also.

BUT, I promprom I will write more often. And I keep my promproms.

"Saam Gaang Yi" / "Three...Extremes"

Okay, here we go.

I don't remember how I heard about the "Three...Extremes", but I still carry the effect it had on me. The names is literal, its made up of Three different, EXTREME movies. Three different directors from Three different Asian Countries; Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. 

"Dumplings" , "Cut" , "Box"

Honestly, as I mentioned many times on my older posts, I can't watch horror movies. But "Dumpling" was one of these things that it tortures you, yet you can stop staring at it. It was directed by Fruit Chan.

 Mrs. Li -a thirthysomething- is a former actress with a womenizer husband. One day, she goes to visit Aunt Mei, who makes the most expensive dumplings in Hong Kong which has rejuvenating powers. She digs in it although she knows about the unpleasant main ingredient.

I get nauseous just remembering about it.

"Cut" and "Box" I have to be honest about. I did not watch them. I did NOT accept the challenge. Even though it has been couple of years since I watched Bumpling, I always had this on the back of my mind;

"If this is the first one out of three, I don't think I can continue on."

Looks delish, right?

Let's see if you will complete the challenge and watch all three of them. 

Here is a little taste of it;

I'm sorry this is the movie I choose to do my come back with, but it had to be legendary.

ENJOY

xoxo

Love, Love, Love

I'm going to Istanbul for the weekend! 

I've missed my family so much, it will be a great break from all the studying. Mostly what I'll do is; sit back, relax, eat and go to a wedding!

"Across the Universe"

I'm actually going for the purpose of my friends wedding. He'll be the first person among my friends to get married, so it makes this wedding three times more exciting. I'll be dancing like crazy to celebrate the night and probably will cry the next day because my feet will be sore.

I've choose this movie because we are all about the love this week. I wanted to at least share some of that love with you! 

I am a HUGE fan of "The Beatles" and have almost all their songs on my ITunes. In 2008, I was in a small city called Winnipeg in Canada for a month as an exchange student. There I've met a lot of cool, different people. One day we went to a DVD store to check it out and I came across with this movie. When my friends realized I haven't seen it, they made me buy it and watch it. ASAP. I thank them so much for that. A great storyline of the movie with amazingly covered Beatles songs. All night after watching the movie, I was singing the songs. All night long. I feel horrible for my roommates at that time.

A love story between a rich American girl and a poor British boy. You might say it's too typical, but it really isn't. There aren't any crazy parents trying to stop them falling in love. Movie shows how beautiful love is and all the different ways to show your passion. Starring the handsome Jim Sturgess and also Evan Rachel Wood.

Everyone should have this in their movie collection and the soundtracks on their ITunes!

ENJOY!

xoxo

Every Creature Deserves Love

Welcome back to ME.

I've been a bad bad girl by not updating. But I think it's a good way to prove that I'm not a sit-at-home nerd. My break was AHmazing, and now I'm back in Barcelona for my university. 

"Born to be Wild"

The flight from Istanbul to Barcelona is around 3 to 3.20 hours. Its a good amount of time to watch movies, eat and sleep. With my personel screen to choose from, I managed to pick which ever I wanted to see.

I've been in love with animal since I was a baby girl. All of them. When I saw the animal documentary on the selection from the plane, I had to go for it. 

The documentary is 40 minutes long. Short and sweet. It sets in two different locations; Malaysia and Kenya. 2 different stories that has so much things in common; care for animals. The movie starts with an elephant orphanage in Kenya. While I was watching it, it seemed so familiar. Maybe because I HAVE BEEN THERE! I have visited that orphanage when I was volunteer working in Kenya (2009)! And of course I cried when I realized that. The second location in Malaysia is an orphanage for orangutans. Beautiful, clever and funny animals. And I haven't even told you the best part, it is narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Both organizations are run by women. Strong women. DR. Mary Galdikas for orangutan.org
&
Daphne Sheldrick for sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

I know how you guys are. No photo, didn't happen. So here is a picture of me in the elephant orphanage, posing with a baby rhino!

Hope you'll be as touched as I was! It's a documentary that is NOT boring at all. So give it a chance to surprise you.

xoxo

Kings of the TV

My first review on Television Shows!

Hurray!!

A little update on my busy life; I finished my internship! I had a great one that lasted for a month, and now its time to chillax. Next week I'll be attending a wedding in Madrid, and who knows, maybe I'll even upload a picture of me and my friends for the first time on my blog!

Television Shows. Unfortunately, in our time, it is VERY difficult to find a good one worth spending your time on. You should be happy you found out about this blog, because I have an amazing one that I discovered this year. I hope most of you are already a fan.

"Game of Thrones"

A T.V. series that is based on a book. How grateful I an that they didn't make a movie out of it, but a series. Why? Because this way it lasts longer and I can enjoy it more and more each time! 

It takes place in the Medieval times.How fabulous. Kingdoms, lords, ladies, swords, wine, warriors and their suspiciously good looking hairs. It is a British production so everyone is obviously British. Which makes it even better, because the British accent just makes everything seem more realistic. According to me, the series' about noblety. Families fighting for the throne!

he is so big!

If you haven't heard about it, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING? And if did, but haven't seen it, now it is your chance! Each episode is like a movie, around 50 minutes. But I assure you, you'd wish them to be even longer.

ENJOY

xoxo

The Glorious 60's

Sometimes I ask myself; how would it be if I lived in the 60's?

Probably nothing crazy would happen. BUT, if i was in UK... I would not be responsable for my acts.

"Pirate Radio"

a.k.a.

"The Boat That Rocked"

If I had to describe this movie in one sentence, that would be; Great acting meets great music. In my opinion, 60's changed the revolution of music. Added a whole new dimension to it! 

Rock n roll, for me, evolved in the UK. I know it was found in The States, but still! The Beatles, Teddy Boy, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Who and many many more amazing bands are from United Kingdom.

So why am I talking about music in a movie blog? Because this movie is all about it! It's about a pirate radio station in the middle of the sea, on a boat, forecasting rock n roll music. In those days, it was considered as bad influence on people, so they banned it. Can you believe it? Niether can I. We see only one American here, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Everyone else is British, since its a movie from Britain. I'm positive you'll know the actors once you see them, but if I tell you their names now, you probably won't recognize.

Reminds you of a famous album cover? I hope so! 

Your laughter is guaranteed. And also singing along. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Let me know what you thought about it and which song was your favorite!

ENJOY

Oh Kevin...NO!

Summer Lovin'!

So, I'm still in Barcelona, but no, not working on that tan. I'm actually working in a company as an intern.  It's going great! I think thats a good enough excuse for not have been keeping up with my posts, but I am back now and will update as often as I can!

"We Need to Talk About Kevin"

Amazing movie and amazing acting! Honestly, Tilda Swinton, she is incredible! She always appeared a little odd to me, until now. For a while, I was sure she was an Oscar nominee. I don't even think the judges saw the movie. Can't wait to see more acting of her. Ezra Miller -Kevin- was unbelievable. Someone to play such role like that needs a pure talent. And he has got it! 

The movie is OBVIOUSLY about Kevin. He is an odd kid that always had a difficult connection with his mother. He always does strange things, but the last thing he does was never ever crossed anyones mind. A dark and twisted movie. It's creepily superb.

I watched it with my mother, and in the end we had different opinions by the mothers behaviour. If you have already seen it, what did you think about it? If you haven't seen it, watch it and leave your comments in the comment section!

"He is just a sweet little boy."

How to Live Your Life

I'm super excited about this post.

Last night, a cute cute friend invited me and another friend over for a dinner + movie night. After having a healthy meal, we sat on her cozy couch to watch a french movie. I love international movies, but last night, I just did not feel like reading all these subtitles! But let me tell you, it was worth 100 times. 

" Intouchables"

It is already in my top 10 favorites. I felt so many emotions while watching it, its ridiculous. Of course I loved it because it was also based on a true story, and as I mentioned before, I have a thing for those kind of films.

It is about a black man from the ghettos of Paris applying for a job just to get welfare payments. The job he applies is for care-taking of a neck-to-toe paralyzed man. The movie starts when he gets hired and how he changes both their life by not pitying Phillipe ( paralyzed man) and helping him to live his life.

It's a comedy- drama, just how I like it. I laughed so much watching it, I cried. And of course I also cried because how touching it was ( hahaha like always!).

I don't care what you have to do, but find a way to watch it! It is still in the theaters in some countries. If not, download it, buy it, rent it or do something else, but WATCH IT. It is beautiful.

And here is a picture of the real people that the movie is based on! 

Abdel Sellou & Philippe Pozzo di Borgo 

Enjoy and let me know how you like it!

xoxo

Anything for Music

Don't hate me! I have an excuse for my long absence.

I had my finals and of course I was stuck at home with my Redbull's and trashy food. But since I am done, I am BACK! Hurray!

I have a great movie suggestion for y'all, and I'm pretty sure you have not heard about it.

"For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story"

I have seen this a while ago on T.V in Turkey. I don't think you have seen it, because, it was a TV movie. It never aired in the theaters! Such a bummer because I really enjoyed watching it. I have a passion for movies that are based on true stories. I really get into it and get influenced by it. 

Arturo Sandoval is a trumpet player from Cuba. It shows his great love for jazz and his family. The movie is up until they defect to the U.S. Given the fact that Andy Garcia is also from Cuba, makes it all more real. I think that is a great reason he really fitted in the role.

Arturo Sandoval himself & Andy Garcia

Just a pre-warning, the trailer seems very cheesy. What did you expect? Its a HBO film, they like to make it look like that. But I hope by now I got your trust in my taste, and you will like it.

Hope you will enjoy it!

xoxo