A Prayer For The Helpless

A prayer for all the animals who have fallen into the hands of demons with the face of human. A prayer for all the animals that have died a merciless and unnecessary death under the hands of the human-disguised demons who tortured and killed these poor animals for reasons unfathomable. A prayer for all the dogs, cats and all other animals who have died a cruel death under human greed. It’s like a disease that won’t stop spreading even no matter how hard you pray and wish under a shooting star.
I just want animal abuse to be stopped. Please, everytime I see or hear about animals cruelty it kills a little bit of anything that’s left in me. I just want it all to end. I just want it stopped. I just want that stray dog in the streets to roam freely without anyone throwing a rock or splashing hot water on him or burning him alive. What did he ever do to you? I just want that cat to sleep on top the garbage bin lid peacefully without anyone grabbing it by it’s neck and slamming it to the wall. What did she ever do to you? I just want that kitten and puppy be rescued by someone kind and not be stoned to death or be stomped on repeatedly or have it’s neck tied and have it dragged 100 miles on the street enduring a slow painful death. What did those poor baby ever did to you? I don’t want wolves be shot to death repeatedly and have their skin removed and let their litter young of starvation. I don’t want that baby elephant and baby rhinocerous and baby tiger to watch his mother be murdered in front of him and have only her lifeless remains as a memory.
I don’t want any of these so will someone please STOP? JUST STOP. I DON’T, I CAN’T.
Are we humans so base and carnal that we have to these things to validate our position as predators on top of the food chain?
I will gladly endure an eternity in hell if that what it takes for all of this to stop.

Ijime ~ Igarashi Kaoru

Ijime. It literally means Bully in Japanese. Which incidentally is the original title of this manga.

The picture is the Malay-language illustrated of the Malaysian version of the design. 

In Malaysian language, Bully is spelled Buli and has the same meaning.

My guess is that this is a fairly new manga since it's yet to become popular. From my internet browsing, there is little information about this very wonderful manga. I believe an OVA have also been produced.

The basic storyline is this. Each chapters in each volume of Ijime is about the bullied, the bully and the one witnessing bully.

It is mostly set in junior high all-girls school. The mangaka beautifully illustrated the many situational perspective of bully cases.

My guess for the reason why the mangaka chose to use bullying among girls as the main atmosphere and overtone is because girls use a different kind of bully. Namely mental abuse and verbal abuse.

We girls can sometimes be so vile and vicious. It is easy to take down a girl. Just say something that will lower her self-esteem and you win tenfold. A girl's emotion and self-image is a fragile thing - and who knows it best but girls themselves?

Often times, it can a good tool of empowerment. In many cases, a powerful weapon of destruction.

The manga explores and illustrates the many forms of bullying:

a) Ostracism - it is when a victim is singled out. She is ignored, taunted. Many times, her peers think it's a fun game to play on the victim.

b) Physical - this is kinda rare but extremely severe. It involves beating up, cutting up hair, injuring the victim in any form with clear intention to hurt the victim.

c) Verbal abuse - this involves name-calling that intents to put down the victim, make the victim feel bad about themselves and the core reason for countless suicides.

d) Murder - this is the most severe form of all. It really needs no explanation. But in the manga, a few popular girls locked up the victim in the school storage and she was found dead the next morning from suffocation. Another time, this girl was taunted and bullied to the point that she committed suicide. This is also murder, mind you.

On a more personal note, as I read this manga a lot of it stuck deeply to my heart as I was also a victim.

AND A BULLY.

As I read this manga, there were parts of the story where I cried because I was in the exact same situation and I cried like a motherfucking bitch. I also cried that because I was also a victim, I displaced my anger and helplessness by bullying another poor girl.

I hated the fact that I should have known better not to have been the low-life that was my bully. But no, I was the exact same low-life. I should have known better not to have inflict the kind of hurt and pain I received to someone else. I should have helped instead of passing on the 'Bully Legacy'.

But it's too late now, is it?
The girl I bullied probably will never forgive me. Just like how I never actually forgave my bully. It's an endless vicious cycle.

It also made me realize the one bullies is often times victims themselves.

Which is why this book is amazing. In the sense that it teaches the victim to stand up for herself and to show the bully what she's doing to this other person.

I just have one question to ask bullies: does it make you feel strong and powerful to hurt others? Does it make you feel good to see others in pain? As the victim, I felt terrible and thanks to you - I attempted suicide many times. Up till my college years, I was still bullied. Verbally.

But remember this: people who bully others... usually have nothing in their life.

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

See the old guy at the back? He is Tenzin, Aang youngest son - he is also an Airbender.

I have just finished watching the Avatar: The Last Airbender on a 3-day marathon. Don't get me wrong, it's not a rewatch - those 3 days ago was when I first started watching it.

Im 22 years old. So welcome me to the fandom, maybe?

Words cannot explain how much I loved the whole storyline. Everything about Avatar : TLA was PERFECTION.

The animation? Pure beauty. Storyline? Fantastic. Character development? Wonderful.

My original plan was to watch Legend of Korra. But I thought since this is a spin-off of the previous installment I should watch the first one before getting a headstart on Korra.

Thanks to Tumblr and their generous supply of gifs, screenshots, memes and the inevitable fanfic/fanart: my interest have been piqued.

I started to watch the first 2 episodes(an hour long) online and finished watching them a few minutes ago.

I have to say...Korra is PROMISING.

I can already foresee a great potential for this cartoon to be fantastic. Please don't compare it with Avatar: TLA. Legend of Korra deserves it's own recognition.

Despite the fact that Korra's been receiving some bashing from faithful fans that it didn't liven up to Avatar: TLA standards. Calm yo' tits. Like seriously. The makers put so much into making this don't bash it because it didn't satiate your own headcannons.

I especially like the characters for this film. You know what? I'm too excited to write down a proper lengthy essay on why I like it so I'll just make a list.

A) The protagonist is a lot like me. In a creepy way, she is my mirror image. After watching the pilot episodes I had a shiver run down my spine because her very being is my embodiment. Does that even make any sense? She even speaks like me!

B) The animation. My goodness the animation is pure beauty. The animation is pure anime: the movement fluidity of the animation, the clearcut lines, the fine exquisite movements...I have only seen it in Jyu-Oh-Sei. And I love the quiet, mature setting and overall tone of it. Even the atmosphere feels like you're in the Jyu-Oh-Sei planet.

C) The soundtracks. The choice of music is pure acid. Have you listened to the ending theme? DIVINE! Here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AVSJJgFfLU

D) The opening sequence where all the avatar's display their bending starting from Kiyoshi, Roku, Aang and Korra. In my honest opinion it wasn't as epic as Avatar: TLA as it was rather stale to me. But Legend of Korra compensated that through it's divine erhu-based music.

E) I will admit that knowing Korra being there means Aang is no longer living and it's bittersweet. We see him as a boy who achieved so much before hitting puberty, seeing him as an older man who definitely is the epitome of badassary. The affection we have for Aang, Sokka, Zuko, Toph(seriously??? She's the youngest! And she's no longer too), Suki, Iroh, Bumi plus The Cabbage Man and many others kind of makes us sad since in Korra's world they're no longer living. When Katara kind of said it out aloud I really felt the pang of loss. And what's worse? Hearing Tenzin call his sky-byson "Ugi". Even Appa is gone! When I saw the sky-byson I actually said "Appa!" out loud. Then decided to be a bitch and call the sky-byson Ugi. Now ain't that a bitch. Excuse me while I put this bowl of onions away, it's making me shed manly tears.

F) I wish the introduction of the new characters were older. Like young adults instead of teenagers. Because I personally believe teen love is a fleeting thing and Korra-Mako romance...I don't know: something tells me it would be short-lived. I understand the need for romance to spice things up and have some drama going on but at this stage Korra needs to grow up a little more before being in a relationship with someone. Which is why if Korra was in her early 20's her romantic interest(s) would have been more convincing.

G) It's so jarring to see that within 70 years the Avatarverse have become from a nature-spiritual based to a 1920-esque metropolitan era. All in less than 100 years? Really? Well, I think Sokka is personally responsible for introducing machineries and technology with what his mecha-lust and all.

As an impartial fan of both the Avatar installments, I think we as fans should give this spin-off series a chance. Let the story go as it is and who knows we might be pleasantly surprised.

Nostalgia.

I especially loved the demonstration for Air: it felt like the sound team placed a silk cloth over a fan, turned the fan to full speed and fast forwarded the frou-frou sound.

Okay, manly tears are coming again. And this time there's no onions around. *sniff*

Please guys, give Legend of Korra a chance.

Golden Days Western Actresses

This is kind of like a long overdue sequel to my Golden Days Indian Actresses piece. I have always liked celebrities from the black-and-white movie era they're just so fucking charming!

Here are some that I would kill a gnome to meet(most of them are dead so...good luck there, right?)

~*Jean Harlow*~
1911-1937 aka The Blonde Bombshell. She was the original prototype that influnced the Blonde Bombshell concept.

"Men like me because I don't wear a brassiere. Women like me because I don't look like a girl who would steal a husband. At least not for long"

~*Marilyn Monroe*~
1926-1962.
She was a fan of Jean Harlow and wanted to be a Blonde Bombshell just like her. And she was.

"Don't let a girl know she's unloved. She will never forget it for the rest of her life"

~*Clara Bow*~
1905-1965
"The Brooklyn Bonfire, The 'It' Girl".

"The more I see of men, the more I like dogs"

~*Jayne Mansfield*~
1933-1967

"If you want the best things in life you have to earn them for yourself".

~*Sophia Loren*~
1934-now

"Hate is unfulfilled love"

~*Elizabeth Taylor*~
1932-2011

"The ups and downs, the problems and stress, along with all the happiness, have given me optimism and hope because I am living proof of survival"

~*Greta Garbo*~
1905-1990

"Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it"

~*Deborah Kerr*~
1921-2007 aka The English Rose

"All the most successful people these seem to be neurotic. Perhaps we should stop being sorry for them and start being sorry for me - for being so confounded normal"

~*Natalie Wood*~
1938-1981

"You know what I want? I want yesterday"

~*Audrey Hepburn*~
1929-1993

"I've had my share of difficult moments, but whatever difficulties I've gone through, I've always gotten a prize at the end"  

~*Katharine Hepburn*~
1907-2003 aka First Lady of Cinema

"Not everyone is lucky enough to understand how delicious it is to suffer"

~*Hattie McDaniel*~
1892-1952

"I'd rather play a maid than be one."

~*Loretta Young*~
1913-2000

"Our human connections are guided by God, and ultimately all of us are linked through His love. Thus, we have all already met, not as actress and fan but as His children, and we can never be lost to each other"  

~*Rita Hayworth*~
1918-1987 aka The Love Goddess

"I think all women have a certain elegance about them which is destroyed when they take off their clothes"

Please check my Asian counterpart of this Golden Days Actress: http://talesofaluciddreamer.blogspot.com/2010/07/golden-days-indian-actresses.html

Sakuran (2007) Review

Sakuran is based off a manga of the same name, the mangaka responsible for this intense manga is Anno Moyoco.

The movie Sakuran was directed by Mika Ninagawa, whom I came to know is more renowed as a professional photographer. This movie was her first attempt at directing.

The Premise:

Kiyoha was sold into a brothel due to her poor family state. She had been rebellious from the very beginning - having told her mother to shut up on the way to the brothel because the mother wouldn't ramble on and on about how her new life will be different from now on.
Kiyoha was promptly sold as she apparently showed "signs" of promise to blossom into a great beauty. She was put under Shohi, the top Oiran at the time. The very beautiful but haughty Shohi had shown nothing but disdain towards the spirited Kiyoha - which I personal think is a mask of her own envy for not being as strong as Kiyoha.

Kiyoha and Shohi get into a heated argument when Shohi declares Kiyoha will never make it as an Oiran because it depends on pure luck to rise as the top courtesan.

Kiyoha also vows that when the Sakura tree in the nearby temple blooms a petal, she will leave. This was responded with Shohi laughing condescendingly at Kiyoha, cruelly graining in the fact that the Sakura tree had long been dead and her dreams are already in the ditch.

Shohi soon accepts to marry a Japanese samurai lord, leaving another girl to replace Shohi as Oiran. Many years have passed, Kiyoha(played by the absolutely amazing Anna Tsuchiya) is now 17 years old. She had become a beautiful young woman - often noted on her bold, penetrating eyes.

Those eyes will take you straight to the bedchamber, on a bed, with a tangle of limbs.

Kiyoha had a string of lovers and eventually became the Oiran of her teahouse, as predicted by the Madame.

Look at that zebra-print obi. JUST LOOK AT IT.

Kiyoha have now became the most sought after Oiran and changed her name to Higurashi. We now watch as her life take drastic turns of events - with one tragedy after another.

Her most valueble patron had asked for her hand in marriage and she unwillingly consented, thinking being a wife to one man is better than being a sex toy to many men. On the morning of her wedding, Higurashi saw that the dead Sakura tree had indeed birthed a single petal.

She now knows what to do with her life.

~*~

Mika Ninagawa had managed to capture EVERY SCENE in the most stunning of visuals. As a photogapher she would know how to make a picture breathtaking using the most flattering of angle and this film was nothing short of cinematography porn.

Speaking of porn - you would encounter a good number of nude shots with raw sex scenes. These were not vulgar however as the human body in this movie is shown to be a symbol for growth from Kiyoha/Higurashi's point of perspective.

I would give this an 8/10. One mark deducted for absolutely bizarre soundtracks and another one for abrupt ending.

On the topic of mismatched soundtrack - a commentator in IMDB pointed out that such weird soundtrack was used to symbolize Kiyoha's uniqueness and out-of-this-world character for a Japanese woman of her time.

Fun fact:

1. You would notice that Kiyoha's Obi is tied to the front as opposed to the traditional style. This is to distinguish her as a woman of pleasure, yujo.

2. Her hairpins - her hairpins are a vital 'mark' to note her ranking among other courtesans. An Oiran will have the most elaborate of hair ornaments. Common courtesans will simply have hairpins made from tortoise shells and the number/hairstyle evolution will increase as her ranking increases.

3. She wears a thick platform whenever she's on a procession because she is literally on display. The tall height of the platform shoes would allow others to revel in her beauty and glamour, thus inviting potential patrons who would want her service.

*Please correct me if I'm wrong I do not wish to insult anyone's culture. =)

I would say if you're into lifestyle movies like Sakuran - you should not miss it <3

Tamil Captcha

This is the first time in my life I am seeing Tamil captcha. My life is complete.

My reaction:

Blincon BB Brown Review

I am seriously considering to ask Blincon to start paying me.

Anyhoo, this is my gazillionth contact lens review, and as usual from my favourite brand, Blincon.

This time the colour is Brown as opposed to Choco one I had used previously from the same BB series.

My verdict is that the airtight packaging of this lense was not that good. The inner crevice - the sides particularly -  where the lenses are located were not practical. Lenses can be easily damaged from the if one is not careful. I had to scoop it from the packaging very carefully as to avoid damaging. The hinges were to scrappy and sharp with roughly cut pastic edging. Blincon should improve on the quality of the packaging.

But overall, the lenses were, as usual, comfy on the eyes. You can barely feel them on. 

With flash. Ive got to say they look pink rather than light brown @___@;

Do I need to mention these are without flash and under normal lighting? Guess I should. =P

So, my mum had told me out of all the colours I had of Blincon these are the prettiest ones on my <3 

Too bad I guess they had just recently released two new colors orange and red...I had wished to try them...=P. Oh well, maybe I can buy 2 colors ngek ngek ngek.

It's That Time of The Year Again ~ Birthday!

I had known a few of my close friends would not forget to wish me but to my complete surprise friends I barely speak to have wished me. It makes everything even more special. I only regret it had to fall on a Monday [wtf]. This is kind of my habit to thank them. 

And the best present I got when I woke up:

Mumzilla had yet proven to be a true kindy teacher at heart. Just look the the adorable colors and glitters! She even laminated it! <3 Mumsy is teh best <3